- October 15, 2012 -

Long weekend. Ever see a picture that made you laugh so hard that you couldn't breathe? Sure, it's a funny pic, but it's probably not THAT funny. I guess it was just the right picture at the right time. Saturday after I posted we went to pick Josh up from work & stopped in at QT for roller food. I don't know what it is about that stuff ... I know it's not "good" food, but wow, I really like it. Those roller cheeseburgers are GOOD! Probably because I'm just burned out on everything else. When we got home I dusted the bathroom & bedroom lights, fed the cats & dogs, dusted the misc. decor in the dining room, checked the smoke alarm, hosed off the front porch, dusted my office PC, & swept the living room. I checked eBay & then made some macaroni & cheese for lunch. I updated a couple of my Website pages which required some programming, knitted another panel of the afghan & now only have 2 panels to go & the afghan will be finished (woohoo! I can't wait).

posted when I finish it). We got to bed early & on Sunday I checked the Sunday paper, we picked Josh up from work, took Kyle to Boy Scouts, came back & I cleaned the bathroom counters, Windexed the bedroom mirror, dusted the dining room blinds, went through the kitchen cabinets & decided on a nice spaghetti dinner for the evening, dusted the electronics in the living room, mopped the hall, dusted my office PC, watered the flowers outside, swept the

hall, neatened the outdoor seating, & checked the fire extinguisher. I finished just in time to pick Kyle up from Boy Scouts, came home & checked YouTube for any cool new Sims 3 videos & found a new lot to download, checked eBay for a good deal on hair color, knitted the final wide panel of the afghan & now only have 1 thin panel to go & the afghan will be finished (photos will be posted when I finish it). Then it was Sims time. I completed the

master bedroom in Heart of Texas & then started a new game called Graveyard. This game is for Sims working part time in the Graveyard ONLY. This game is in Appaloosa Plains & the Sim I created is named Daniel. He has commitment issues, no sense of humor, hydrophobic, workaholic, light sleeper, & decided to become a Renaissance Sim. He's got to master 3 skills. Any 3, doesn't matter. Working only part time, this should be easy.  He likes Dim 

Sum, custom music, & hot pink. He's an Aries. His companion is Urban, a Korat cat. Not being able to meet anyone at work at a part time job, he went to the library to read up on a skill & he met Gracie Loveland. A pretty girl who was rich (hey, he's going to get out of this 1 bedroom house although it's a CUTE 1 bedroom house). They were doing very well. he called her every day & when their relationship was doing well, on his 1st day 

off he invited her over & she spent the night. They were doing great & then the next day he went to work, she cheated on him right on his work property. He got off work, accused her of cheating, smacked the crap out of her (I wasn't controlling this & couldn't cancel the actions), & then he hated her. Their relationship status was solid redline & there was no fixing this one. Damn. Looks like I have to start over. His next set of days off, he got online to try

meeting someone on there. The 1st 2 women he met were celebrities, so he couldn't call or interact with them directly. The 3rd was Benni Hennessey. She was a teen, but that's OK. He'd wait. They became best friends & boy did she look like a teen. Dressed like one & everything. LOL! When she finally aged up into a young adult, they got married & adopted Izzie Cat (a Birman) to keep Urban company while they settled into their new marriage,  

worked on skills, & did their thing. They moved to her place, a nice 3 bedroom home (perfect size) had a baby girl & named her Christine (2nd generation) who hates the outdoors, is good, a Taurus, likes Chinese music, tri-tip steak, & the color turquoise. Christine will work in this game's field of part time Graveyard. Benni's lifetime wish is to be a firefighter, so that's what I had her get a job as. Sims that marry into the game don't have to work at the Graveyard & can fulfill their lifetime wish as whatever they like. Meet the candidates tonight at 6.

At work, walk over to someone's desk to talk, go to the watercooler, force yourself to move. It'll relieve physical tension.

Discouraged by your failure to __________, you turned to a life of crime but were caught __________.

Drew Carey debuts as new host of The Price is Right (2007):

On this day in 2007, the comedian and actor Drew Carey takes over hosting duties on The Price is Right, the longest-running daytime game show in television history. Carey replaced Bob Barker, who retired at the age of 83 after hosting the show for 35 years.

Barker, who was born on December 12, 1923, began his career in radio. In 1956, he made his national TV debut as the host of the game show Truth or Consequences. He began hosting The Price is Right on September 4, 1972. The show’s format centered around contestants bidding on the retail value of one product; the contestant who came closest to the price without going over was able to advance and compete for bigger prizes. A previous version of the show, hosted by Bill Cullen, had aired from 1956 to 1965. In the late 1970s, Barker became a vegetarian and an animal-rights activist. He started ending each show by telling audiences: “Help control the pet population; have your pet spayed or neutered.” He also convinced the show’s producers not to offer fur coats as prizes or any other products harmful to animals. Barker’s final original episode as host of The Price is Right aired on June 15, 2007.

After a highly publicized search for Barker’s replacement, Drew Carey was selected for the job. Carey, who was born on May 23, 1958, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (his trademark crew cut hairstyle dates back to this period) before beginning a career as a stand-up comic. From 1995 to 2004, he starred in his own television sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, on ABC. From 1998 to 2006, Carey hosted the American version of the improvisational comedy program Whose Line Is It Anyway? His first stint as a game show host came in 2007 with The Power of 10. On July 23, 2007, Carey announced on The Late Show with David Letterman that he’d agreed to host The Price is Right. He taped his first episode the following month, and it aired on October 15, 2007.

Go to bed at the same time & wake up at the same time each day. Not only will you sleep better, but this routine will help you develop an organized bedroom routine as well. (I try, but this never really works. I follow Pete's schedule. Whenever he goes to bed, so do I & then I set my alarm for 8 hours later. It varies a lot.

If you have kids, there's a pretty good chance you're going to spend some money to help encourage their hobbies & interests. That comes with the territory, & it should be a fun & rewarding experience for everyone. Just keep an eye on your financial situation - & your kid's desires & abilities - & make sure it's a reasonable amount of money.

Mars & Jupiter are separated by what?

A. An asteroid belt

B. A ring of stars

C. A band of radiation

D. A black hole

Pianistic:

1: Of, relating to, or characteristic of the piano. 2: Skilled in or well adapted to piano playing.

Wang performed as if she were claiming ownership of some of Prokofiev's pianistic ideas.

Unsurprisingly, the origin of "pianistic" is "piano." But the "-istic" suffix is less than ubiquitous & deserves some attention. It's used occasionally to create adjectives that correspond to nouns ending primarily in "-ism" or "-ist." (In this case, both "pianism" & "pianist" predate "pianistic," but only by a few years.) Etymologists report that "-istic" comes from Middle French (-istique), Latin (-isticus), & ultimately Greek (-istikos). As with words formed from the suffix "-ic," words ending in "-istic" can sometimes find life as nouns - for example, "autistic" & "characteristic."

Plants vs. Zombies:

Winner of more than 30 Game of the Year awards.* Plants vs. Zombies™ was spawned from the fertile minds that created Bejeweled®, Peggle®, Zuma® and Bookworm®.
Get ready to soil your plants as a mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home. Use your arsenal of 49 zombie-zapping plants — peashooters, wall-nuts, cherry bombs and more — to mulchify 26 types of zombies before they break down your door.
Game Features:
50 FUN-DEAD LEVELS
Conquer all 50 levels of Adventure mode — through day, night, fog, in a swimming pool, on the rooftop and more! Replay levels in the all-new Quick Play arena.
NOT YOUR GARDEN-VARIETY GHOULS
Battle zombie pole-vaulters, snorkelers, bucketheads and more. Each has its own special skills, so you'll need to think fast and plant faster to combat them all.
SMASHING FUN
Try to survive all 9 unique levels as you battle zombies hiding in vases. It's smashing fun!
SMARTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE ZOMBIE
Be careful how you use your limited supply of greens and seeds. Zombies love brains so much they'll jump, run, dance, swim and even eat plants to get into your house.
FIGHT LONGER, GET STRONGER
Earn 49 powerful perennials and collect coins to buy a pet snail, power-ups and more.
GROW WITH YOUR GAME
Earn 44 awesome achievements and show off your zombie-zapping prowess.
COIN PACKS
Need coins for great new stuff? Buy up to 600,000 coins right from the Main Menu.
MORE COOL FEATURES
- Full Retina display support—zombies have never looked prettier.
- Compatible with iOS 4 multi-tasking.
- Loads of performance enhancements and bug fixes.
*Original Mac/PC downloadable game.
Discover More Plants vs. Zombies Fun:
Follow us on twitter.com/PlantsvsZombies
Find us on www.facebook.com/PlantsversusZombies

Steve Bartman catches ball (2003):

On October 14, 2003, a Chicago Cubs fan named Steve Bartman plucks a fly ball out of the air before outfielder Moises Alou can catch it—a catch that would have been a crucial out—in the sixth game of the league championship series against the Florida Marlins. As a result of Bartman’s interference, the Cubs lost their momentum and the game. Bartman was escorted from Wrigley Field by security guards as bloodthirsty fans hurled beer cans and other debris at his head. The next day, he went into hiding—but not before he told the press that "I’ve been a Cub fan all my life and fully understand the relationship between my actions and the outcome of the gam—I am so truly sorry from the bottom of this Cubs fan’s broken heart."

It was the eighth inning of the sixth game of the NLCS, and the Cubs were just five outs away from their first World Series since 1945--five outs away from proving once and for all that the famous Curse of the Billy Goat was dead. (Legend has it that a local bar owner and Cubs fan brought his pet goat to the fourth game of the 1945 World Series against the Tigers, but got thrown out in the middle of the game because, his seatmates said, the pair smelled like a barnyard. The goat’s insulted owner then declared that the team would never win another pennant. When Chicago lost to the Tigers a few days later, he sent a telegram to Wrigley that said simply: "Who stinks now?")

Pitcher Mark Prior had a 3-0 lead, and he was on a roll. Cubs fans were sure their team was finally going all the way. Even when Florida’s Juan Pierre hit a double, things still looked good for the Cubs. Then, all of a sudden, they didn’t: Switch-hitter Luis Castillo stepped to the plate, worked a full count and cranked the ball hard toward the left-field fence. Moises Alou raced backward, jumped up and reached for the ball. He would have had it, too, but just then Bartman reached out and grabbed it just before it landed in Alou’s glove. The ump called the ball foul; Castillo went back to the plate; and an agitated Prior walked him in nine pitches. In the meantime, Pierre had moved to third on a wild pitch. Florida had men on the corners, the tying run at the plate and just one out.

All hell broke loose. A single to left scored Pierre. Then Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez missed a routine grounder and the bases were loaded. After that, team manager Dusty Baker said, "we couldn’t stop the bleeding. They just started hitting the ball all over everywhere." By the end of the inning, the Marlins had scored eight runs and forced a seventh game.

Making matters worse for Bartman, Florida won the next game—and the NLCS—9-6. The Sun-Times printed his name and his picture under the headline "Cursed." A Chicago alderman pointedly suggested that Bartman might consider moving to Alaska; Florida governor Jeb Bush gleefully recommended that he consider moving south instead. It seemed clear, as one Marlins fan noted dryly, that "this guy is their new goat." Chicago has begun to forgive him, but it’s unlikely to ever forget. Meanwhile, the Cubs still haven’t won a pennant.

What museum is the largest in the U.S. dedicated to the work of just one artist?

The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

What musician’s name was tweaked to provide the name of the title character in the popular stage and Hollywood musical Bye Bye Birdie?

What kind of sports competition is a roleo?

Logrolling.

Which are there more of?

A. English words

B. Human genes

C. Motor cars

Which heavyweight boxer now markets his own grill?

A. Evander Holyfield

B. Mike Tyson

C. George Foreman

D. Muhammad Ali

Answer: C. George Foreman

Your souffle flops. Or 1 friend arrives with an unexpected guest.

The flopped dessert? Have a fallback.

The uninvited guest? As discourteous as it is for someone to spring such a surprise on you, be gracious. No polite host would ever send an uninvited guest packing. (Although I personally might not invite the person who BROUGHT the uninvited guest back again).