Happy Fat Tuesday!

A.K.A. Mardi Gras, Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday, or Paczki Day.

Mmmm.... paczki. I don't think you can get them here in Atlanta. Maybe I'll just have to settle for some donuts instead...

Anyways, my family has always given up sweets for Lent. If you've ever been around my family for very long, then you know how difficult this is for us. We loooove our sweets. So, since Fat Tuesday is the last day before Lent, we always ate a TON of candy and desserts on that day. Not only that, but when I went to Christian school, Fat Tuesday was the one day of the year when we were allowed to bring in candy and eat it all day.

Since Debbie is in Texas tonight, maybe I'll just skip dinner and go straight to dessert. I have a feeling this is going to be a tough Lent, what with the entire case of cotton candy, giant bag of Skittles, pound of Jelly Bellies and pint of Haagen Dazs in my apartment. And just to make it clear, all of the above mentioned candies were unsolicited gifts from my family. My sweet-loving family.

Confession.

I'll admit it. After 4 seasons of blissfully ignoring the show, Debbie has finally managed to get me hooked on American Idol.

Taylor Hicks, you're my main man. I actually tried to vote for him, but the line was busy.

I was a little sad that Bobby got kicked off, although I figured as much. It's not that I thought his singing was great, it's just that he is so much more entertaining than all the boring other guys that I was hoping he could last a few weeks more. Oh well. Bobby, you will be missed.

Today's mashup: "No One Takes Your Freedom"

Chad Hedrick is a jerk.

Shani Davis, you rock!

SI article to prove my point.

Weir's greatest hits

A sampling of classic quotes from figure skater Johnny Weir:

"The next morning the papers came out and all of a sudden I was causing a stir because I told Phil Hersh he looked thin and I was wearing a chinchilla scarf that someone thought was a boa. First of all, boas are so out. Secondly, I would never wear a boa to a press conference."

"I'm not worried about PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The first time I see a chinchilla wearing a person, I'll stop wearing fur. "

"I never felt comfortable in this building. I didn’t feel my inner peace. I didn’t feel my aura. I was black inside."

"I am a princess."

"The costume is hard to get into. I have to squeeze myself in like a sausage."

"That girl, I would buy her diamonds if I could afford it. It seemed like the type of fall that could render someone unable to have children. It looked like it hurt that much." (about Zhang's fall in the pairs skating competition)

And, on a sports-related sidenote, I just heard that NBC is planning to call its primetime Sunday NFL broadcast "Football Night in America", a totally transparent take-off of "Hockey Night in Canada". What's next, "Shuffleboard Night in Boca Raton"?

Today's mashup: "Sweet Home Country Grammar"

We report. You decide.

As Mike mentioned, Charleston residents seem to have him mistaken for William Hung.
As you can see, there is a slight resemblance, but only insofar as William Hung looks like a much less attractive version of Mike, with Down's syndrome and crooked teeth.

Olympic fever

I'm soooooo bummed I missed Johnny Weir's short program last night. He describes his costume as a "sexy swan" and named it "Camille." Now that's entertainment, people.

Even though the Winter Olympics are kind of like the ugly stepchild of the Summer Olympics, I still really enjoy them. I just wish that I had cable so that I could see more of the action.

Today's mashup: The Temptations "Papa was a Rolling Stone" with Coldplay's "Clocks".

Ethical Dilemma

It's a pretty trivial but here's my dilemma:

I was running late for my clinical this morning and so I decided to park at the hospital visitors' lot although students aren't really allowed to do so before 4pm. It takes about 15 minutes to get from the student parking lots via shuttle bus and I figured that it would cost me less than $10 to park for the day and so it was worth not being late for clinical.

Anyway, when I was leaving, the lady at the booth starting questioning me. She asked me if I had gone to see a patient. I thought she was on to the fact that I wasn't suppose to be parked there, so I said yes. Then, she asked me the patient's name like she didn't believe me. So, I made up a name and said, "Smith." Then, she asked me the patient's room number like she really didn't believe me. So, I made up a room number. "Are you sure?" she asked as she jots something down on a piece of paper. Of course, I was sure. Can I have my change and get out of here? The questioning was making me very uncomfortable. I was really starting to feel guilty about do something that was pretty trivial. I mean, who would really want to pay $8.25 a day to park when you could do it for free elsewhere?

Back to the story, she hands me what I thought was $2 and a receipt and let's me go. I was really due back only $1.75 but I figured maybe she didn't have any quarters. When I get home, I realized that she gave me $7 dollars back. The receipt was actually a five. At first, I thought she gave me change for a twenty and not a ten, but the math didn't add up. Then I realized that they must give a discount to MDs who come in for short patient visits. She must have thought I was a resident or something. A Chinese man with glasses in Charleston near the hospital must be a doctor. Seriously, I didn't even have my ID badge on. But it's definitely better than being mistaken for William Hung and that's happened a few times here already.

So that's my dilemma. I accidently ripped off a little old lady for $5.25. The question is should I do anything about it? On one hand, it was an accident and parking is exorbitantly priced. On the other hand, it's not my money and it was a little old lady.

Dick Cheney shot a guy.

Cheney's Top Ten excuses for shooting his hunting partner:

10. Sure, like you've never seen seen giant game birds wearing day glo orange vests
9. Warrantless domestic spying revealed he was getting phone calls from al Queda
8. If the Vice President does it, it's not against the law
7. Hoping to put him in a persistent vegetative state so the GOP could pass a law to keep him alive
6. Thought he was hunting Dan Quayle
5. The love between them could not survive back in Washington
4. Birds, Cows, People-- with my eyesight I'm lucky I hit anything
3. Positive the guy's family will welcome him as a liberator
2. Pheasants? I thought we were hunting peasants
1. It was just collateral damage

(found on Slate's discussion board here and here)

Dirty Pictures in My Pocket

I got one of those Kansas state quarters today and a thought occurred to me. I know it's probably not a conspiracy and the artwork for the back was chosen for aesthetic and state-specific reasons. But after reading the articles in Slate about the Kansas state attorney general's campaign against teens necking, I have to wonder if the anatomically correct buffalo on some of the new nickels didn't make the cut because that would have been too shocking.

Grammy Recap

Of my list from yesterday, only 1.5 wins. That's worse than random chance.

Why Kelly Clarkson? She won a surprising number of awards. I don't know if she's preferable to Mariah or not, but I just don't see it. Plus, Kelly Clarkson had a song about her dysfunctional relationship with her dad, which automatically puts her into the "should be forever disqualified for any awards" category in my book.

When Mariah came out to perform, I thought to myself "Wow! A dress that's actually tasteful." Then, I realized that what she was wearing was actually a skanky dress with a long, flowing skirt attached. I genuinely expected that bottom portion to come off mid-performance, at which time the crowd would have cheered and she would have launched into a more up-tempo song. Didn't happen, but that's probably for the best.

I waited all night for the Kanye West/Jamie Foxx performance, and I was not disappointed. As I told Mike, it was so good it almost reached Outkast-level goodness.

Was the Jay-Z/Linkin Park/Paul McCartney performance a way of subtly showing approval for Danger Mouse's Grey Album? Maybe, because I can summarize the flaw in that performance with two words: Linkin Park.

Today's mashup is "Beethoven's Fifth Gold Digger."

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards will be handed out tonight. I don’t make predictions for these awards because I care too much. Instead, I just watch, root for my favorites, and boo the unworthy winners.

The thing that always confuses me is that a lot of the nominated stuff just seem so OLD. I mean, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”!?!?! Wasn’t that song popular, like, 5 years ago? And I distinctly remember Maroon 5’s “This Love” being popular when I was still living in Michigan.

Anyway, here's a list of who I’ll be rooting for:

Record of the Year: “Gold Digger,” Kanye West
Album of the Year: L.A.M.B., Gwen Stefani
Best New Artist: Given the track record of those who have won this award, wouldn’t it be smarter to root for someone I don’t like?
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: "Hollaback Girl," Gwen Stefani
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing," Jack Johnson
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: "My Doorbell," The White Stripes
Best Pop Vocal Album: Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: "Revolution," Eric Clapton
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: "Speed of Sound," Coldplay
Best Hard Rock Performance: Really tough choice between "Doesn't Remind Me" by Audioslave and "B.Y.O.B." by System of a Down. I mean, I really like "B.Y.O.B", but I also enjoy Audioslave simply for the fact that probably bugs Brad.
Best Rock Song: "Beverly Hills," Rivers Cuomo
Best Rock Album: X&Y, Coldplay
Best Alternative Music Album: Get Behind Me Satan, The White Stripes

The problem is that the awards rarely go to the nominees I like. So I'm fully expecting Mariah to win every award she's nominated for.

In related news, I have lately discovered the joys of mashups - the musical genre that takes two or more songs and jumbles them together into a totally new song. And you can download them! For free! Some of them are funny!

For instance: This mashup combines the surf-song "Wipeout" with D4L's "Laffy Taffy." Maybe not the greatest musical triumph ever, but quite humorous nonetheless. Now if only I could find someone to turn my mashup fantasy into reality: "Get Back" by Ludacris with "Don't Stand so Close to Me" by the Police.

What the...

I guess your website can get jacked too. Oh well, so is life.

A list of things about me that evidently impresses people:

1. Purely by coincidence, I own a pair of shoes and pants that are exactly the same shade of green.
2. I remember to put clear packing tape over the address when mailing a package.
3. I am observant enough to notice when the person sitting next to me on an airplane leaves something behind on their seat.
4. I have the ability to perform repetitive tasks for long stretches of time.
5. I include the specific type of jelly I want when ordering a peanut butter and jelly bagel at Einstein’s.
6. I can apply eyeshadow with my fingers.

I think this explains why I was late for work today.

I made the mistake of turning on the TV while I was eating breakfast, and what do I see? The entire studio audience is full of English and French bulldogs. At that point, you couldn't have pried me away from the television with a crowbar. I love French Bulldogs like a fat kid loves cake.

The guest included Tyson, the Skateboarding Bulldog and an absolutely adorable little Frenchie who could say "I love you". At the end of the show, Martha introduced her newest pet, a little fawn colored Frenchie.

Surprise!

Well, Michael's blog progress has slowed so much that it's actually going backwards (posts are starting to disappear!).

So, I've managed to recall my password and now I, Becky, am here to save the day.

My first order of business: Happy Birthday to Debbie! Welcome to the quarter-century club!

Next: The Oscar nominees were announce earlier this week. And thus I now begin the arduous task of choosing who I think will win. As perhaps very few of you know, Eulynn, Clare and I have an ongoing competition over who can make the most accurate Oscar picks each year. I have had a semi-decent record over the years, but Clare and Eulynn are formidable opponents. Plus, they often have the advantage of having actually seen some of the nominated films.
So this year I've decided to step it up. I have plans to go see Brokeback Mountain this weekend. After that, it'll either be Capote or Walk the Line. Whichever one is showing at the dollar theater.

I do have one iron-clad pick, though: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Best Actor. He's one of my favorite actors and I think this might be his year.