• April 19, 20012 •

Had a pretty decent day yesterday, even visited Pinterest & uploaded some pics of vintage toys. I got distracted on one though. Does anyone remember the Magic Window? It was flat, oval, & had white & blue 'sand' in it? It would make the most beautiful patterns when you moved it around. I loved that thing! I always wondered how they did it. If it were just blue & white colored sand, you'd shake it & it would become just light blue looking sand. No, they stayed separate just enough to create beautiful designs ... like oil & water. Anyone have any idea how they did it? I looked on eBay in an attempt to recapture my youth & there are only 2. The 1st is an auction starting at $20+shipping & the other is $60 buy it now. WOW! It wasn't $60 back when it was new! But if I had the $60 to throw away on a toy from my past, I'd buy it. :-)  I spent some time in Mexico this morning (in 2nd Life) & it was great! I wish I had the nerve to go in real life. Maybe if I had a posse of 12 guys with me to keep me safe, but otherwise ... no way! I have a replacement keyboard & mouse & for the 1st time in YEARS found a keyboard & mouse I like better than my old one. I always used the Microsoft wireless keyboard & mouse, this is the same thing, but mine was a 4000 & this is a 7000. Looks entirely different but is SO comfortable! I love it! The mouse is so round it feels like a tennis ball, but talk about comfort! Onion festival Saturday!

 

A project with many facets will mesmerize & frustrate you, all at the same time. Your chase will lead down avenues until it peters out at dead ends -- it'll climb up branches & split into twigs. There must be a more productive way to do this.

 

Bandsintown Concerts:

Bandsintown is the #1 live music application for fans and artists. This application connects with your Facebook account and makes sure you are the first to know when your favorite bands are coming to town.
Already the hottest live music app on Facebook, used by millions of fans worldwide and artists like Lil Wayne, Shakira, LMFAO, and The Dave Matthews Band, the Bandsintown mobile app is a more personal, more social way to discover local live music on the go.
This application requires you to connect with your Facebook account.
• Scans the music on your iPhone / iPod music library
• Concert recommendations & notifications based on your Facebook Likes, last.fm, Pandora, iTunes and more
• Find best local concerts through a personalized concert cloud
• RSVP to Facebook events right from your phone
• Share with friends on Facebook & twitter
• Alerts as soon as your favorite bands announce a show in your area

 

Emory boards:

They're great for nails - & smoothing nicks in drinking glasses.

 

Halcyon:

1: Calm or peaceful. 2: Happy, golden. 3: Prosperous or affluent.

Although Grandma spoke longingly of the halcyon days of her childhood, Jamie suspected all had not been as perfect as she claimed.

According to Greek mythology, Alkyone, the daughter of the god of the winds, became so distraught when she learned that her husband had been killed in a shipwreck that she threw herself into the sea & was changed into a kingfisher. As a result, ancient Greeks called kingfishers alkyon or halkyon. The myth also says that such birds built floating nests on the sea, where they so charmed the wind god that he created a period of unusual calm that lasted until the birds' eggs hatched. This legend prompted people to use "halcyon" both as a noun naming a genus of kingfisher & as an adjective meaning either "of or elating to the  kingfisher or its nesting period" or "calm."

 

Here's the drill on home-buying. If you don't pay cash for it, you don't really own it - at least not for a while. Lots of people don't have the luxury of being able to pay cash up front for something as expensive as a home. I tell them to save up & make a down payment of at least 20%, then go with a fixed-rate mortgage of 15 years or less.

 

How much money is awarded to the syndicate behind the winning yacht in an America’s Cup race?

Household:

The ideal purse will have an interior pocket that will fit your keys & cell phone. These are probably your most accessed items so you want to put them in pockets that will not move. Now you'll always be able to find them.

Kate Moss has put on weight - & she looks much better.

 

My Big Fat Greek Wedding released (2002):

As a struggling actress in Hollywood in the early 1990s, Nia Vardalos had been told to hide the fact that she was of Greek heritage, or to pretend that she was Italian, in order to get film roles. Frustrated, she decided to write her own movie to star in, based on her experiences growing up in a huge Greek-Canadian family. The result, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, was released on this day in 2002.

Born on September 24, 1962, and raised in Winnipeg, Ontario, Vardalos started acting in high school. She later joined Chicago’s Second City comedy troupe, where she met fellow comic Ian Gomez. They married in 1993, after Gomez was baptized Greek Orthodox (an experience that Vardalos wrote into the movie for her onscreen love interest, played by John Corbett). According to an interview with Vardalos later published in Redbook, her career stalled after the couple moved to L.A., where Gomez got roles on The Drew Carey Show and Felicity. When she began shopping her screenplay around, Hollywood execs wanted to cast a name actress (such as the Italian-American Marisa Tomei or the Puerto Rican-American Jennifer Lopez) in the lead role, a change that Vardalos refused to accommodate.

While performing a well-reviewed one-woman comedy show in Los Angeles, Vardalos impressed one particular audience member: the actress Rita Wilson, who happened to be of Greek heritage and married to one of America’s favorite leading men, Tom Hanks. With Hanks and Wilson signed on as producers, My Big Fat Greek Wedding was on its way. Filmed on a budget of $5 million, the movie told the story of a 30-year-old “ugly duckling” (Vardalos) working as a waitress in her family’s restaurant who finally attracts the man of her dreams, a WASP-y teacher (Corbett), and is faced with the bigger challenge of introducing him into her overprotective family.

From a limited release on April 19, buzz for My Big Fat Greek Wedding grew steadily through word of mouth, and the film began earning more and more each week. It would eventually rake in some $240 million at the box office, becoming one of the most profitable movies of all time based on its budget-earnings ratio. My Big Fat Greek Wedding received generally positive reviews, although some critics saw the humor as more suited to a television sitcom than a big-screen comedy. The overwhelmingly enthusiastic reaction of audiences spoke for itself, however, and at the Academy Awards in 2003, Vardalos received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

The CBS network greenlit a sitcom spinoff, My Big Fat Greek Life, which all the original cast members except Corbett (who had a conflict) signed on for. With Vardalos, Hanks and Wilson as executive producers, the series debuted in February 2003, but was cancelled after only seven episodes.

Nosy questions: Survival techniques:

Question: "Did you make a killing when you sold your house?"

Answer: "We did just fine, thanks."

Remodeling? Skip the sledge hammer & opt for gentle removal of fixtures, cabinets, sinks, doors, etc. Donate used items to Habitat for Humanity Restore, or sell or give items away via Craigslist. Think of all the landfill space you'll save.

Today, sharing your hopes and wishes with friends shouldn't make you feel embarrassed -- it should make you feel proud! Sure, you have some huge goals to reach -- but for some people, just aiming high is impressive enough. You and your buddies might not quite be on the same page, but that only makes things more interesting for all of you. Embrace your differences by asking them what their hopes and wishes are -- then turn the tables and let them share with you. It will bring everyone closer.

What 1980–82 sitcom used Billy Joel’s 1979 hit “My Life” as its theme song during the opening credits?

Bosom Buddies, starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari.

What were the character stereotypes in The Breakfast Club?

The athlete, the brain, the virgin, the criminal, the clown, the princess, the plain Jane, the basket case.

The athlete, the brain, the criminal, the princess, & the basket case.

Which city staged the World's Fail 1st, 2nd, & 3rd?

A. New York

B. London

C. Paris

BCA. The London venue was the magnificent Crystal Palace, destroyed by fire in 1936.

Which detective was born 1st, 2nd, & 3rd?

A. Raymond Chandler

B. Dashiell Hammett

C. Kenneth Millar

Your people are all on your side again -- any little fractures should have healed by now. One of them needs to give you some advice, though neither of you may recognize it as such until tomorrow or the next day.

You've got to make sure that your sweetie knows that you can handle the serious stuff as well as the good times, so try to cultivate a new kind of focus on the issues that matter most to them.