Dancing With The Stars: Shell-shocked

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Okay, Sabina/Sabrina was not my personal favorite, but given her performances up to last night, I figured she would be one of the final two. And while my sentimental favs are Jane Seymour and Marie Osmond [okay, so I'm dating myself], I knew it was time for both of them to take their final bows.

I don't know what happened with last night's voting, but if the purpose of the show is to award the best dancer, that premise got royally screwed. I realize popularity and the counter-vote culture that developed during this year's AI play a role, but come on. Sigh, Carol

Maddie on behalf of the Weekend Warrior

Monday, October 29, 2007

Maddie here.

Carol's a puddle of Jell-o on the sofa. Although she says that she's a puddle, she also complains that every muscle and bone in her body aches and she's too tired to write. I didn't know puddles had bodies. I love to splish-splash through every puddle I can find and if one had a bone, I sure would stop and grab it.

Carol finished painting the bookcase this weekend. Of course, I supervised and I think she did a fine job. For someone with two hands rather than four paws, she handles a brush quite well. Hopefully, she'll recover by tomorrow. I'll give an extra slurp tonight. Maddie

2-year anniversary

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

What was I doing 2-years ago today? I was feeding my generator gas, a routine I would have to follow for 10 1/2 days.

On 10/24/2005 Hurricane Wilma blew threw Palm Beach County. Even though I had ridden out Hurricanes Francis and Jeanne, Wilma was much more ferocious. Several urban hurricane myths got debunked that day. 1) Although Wilma came over Florida from the Gulf of Mexico, traveling west to east, it actually gained more strength over land rather than lose it. 2) The back side of the hurricane was much worse than the front side. I can still hear the wind howling.

When it was all over, I went outside with Maddie and got to work clearing out the debris. For the next few days I spent hours in gas lines as no one warned me how much gas a generator used. It was my first time using a generator. I was lucky enough to print out my book Shadow Lines and then spent many nervous hours traveling on roads with no lights to get to a post office running on a generator. I drovedrive miles to get to a grocery store that had a generator. It wasn't until this summer that the last blue-tarped roof disappeared in my area.

So here's hoping to a hurricane-free season. Wilma was enough to last me a lifetime of trials and tribulations. Carol

Weekend Warrior

Monday, October 22, 2007

Why is it that a 2-day weekend beckons with endless possibilities on Friday? Then on Sunday night you're faced with exhaustion and tired muscles?

With the proposal done, I once more tackled the family room make-over, more precisely the 16' long built-in bookcase/cabinet with all sorts of nooks and crannies. Saturday I sanded and cleaned the sucker. Then Sunday I applied the primer coat. Oh my. I divided it into 4 sections and took frequent breaks, but each section took about an hour. One not only has to paint the top of the shelf but underneath it as well. But at the conclusion of the day, aching feet notwithstanding, I had finished it.

I'd conferred with several people, and all were unanimous that I should just skip painting the interior of the cabinet portion. But I sat on the sofa Sunday night with a heating pad wrapped around my feet and told myself that I needed to gut it up. The project would just look too incomplete if I didn't paint the interior of the cabinets.

So tonight when I got home, I cleared out the cabinets. If all goes well, I'll sand and clean that section tomorrow night and then prime on Wednesday. Then the big push over next weekend will be to paint.

My feet groan at the thought. I promised them another heating pad wrap. :) Carol

Transformers/The Hunt of Researching

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

I was a bad girl tonight. I'd planned on sanding the bookcase so I can at least prime it this weekend [it covers an entire wall so I'm not even remotely going to think I can prime and paint in one weekend]. However, when I arrived home, my Nextflix envelope was in the mailbox with the movie Transformers. I'd missed it at the theatre this summer so I settled on the couch and watched it. Enjoyed it although I couldn't tell which robot was which in the fight scenes.

On the legal front, I had a good day. In this age of the Internet, I usually ask a whole series of questions about onlinw use when deposing a claimant [do you have a website, trade on ebay, etc]. In a case I had mediation in today, I'd startled a young woman during her deposition by asking if she had a myspace page...It turned out she did and what was on that page contrasted sharply with the image she was trying to portray. Her page proved very useful during the mediation.

What I love most about my job is the hunt, and when I can catch people lying or mispresenting things...sweet! I visited another blog where they were talking about research, and research is one of those links between the night and day job for me. Whether reserching Merlin or Googling a claimant's name and finding a board where he's spilled the beans about his life, I never grow tired of the search. :) Carol

The dog story part II

I woke up this morning to the news that the pet adoption agency entangled with that Ellen star has received death threats....that's ridiculous. I do fully understand and support a pet agency that is concerned about the well-being of the animals and screen families who want to adopt. Clearly, there are folks who shouldn't have a dog, etc. And that Ellen person did the usual star thing thinking she was above rules and regulations. The only thing I questioned in the whole mess was sending the police to grab the dog from the two little girls when the agency could have used the opportunity to interview the family. What I don't know/haven't heard is whether the girl's family refused to let the agency near the dog...in which case then resorting to the police may have been the only option. Then it's shame on the parents for putting their kids through the experience.

But death threats against the agency's staff?!? Get a life. I hope the police/district attorney investigate that Ellen's publicist. I heard the tape recording of her threats, and it sure sounded criminally actionable.

And I hope when I get home tonight the brouhaha is over and that Ellen person no longer has her face all over the news. I am very tired of these spoiled Hollywood brats/egos occupying the news. There are real people with real problems who deserve their stories to be heard. Carol

This Week's Bad Moves

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Okay, this Ellen Degeneres vs. pet adoption agency controvery that erupted today. While I"m sure there's a bunch of he said/she said going on, the bottom-line is the agency went and took the dog from two young girls. Come off it, folks. You could have sent that very same representative to interview the family to whom Ellen gave the dog and made sure it was a good home. The gestapo tactics were way over the top. Nice going on showing kids on how to act as adults...not!!!! Those who run the agency need to get a life. What a horrible move.

Now, more locally. The attorney rip-off bill of the year: the court appointed guardian for the Ana Nicole Smith baby. $200,000. for a few weeks work? I have several friends who act as court-appointed guardian/attorney ad litem for children. They work for very little, volunteer a lot of time and are outstanding attorneys with hearts of gold. They could run legal circles around this guy any day. Another costly, bad mistake by the now defunct judge. No wonder people don't like and don't trust attorneys. There should have been a flat fee, not to exceed $200/hr, with a cap on the amount of hours. Anything higher than that the attorney should have been made to come back to court and account for any excess before it was expended. To make a carte blanche appointment and then for the firm to take advantage...sigh.

Carol

Samantha's back

Monday, October 15, 2007

Thank God, Samantha's back on Dancing with the Stars. Drew Lacey was boring to the extreme. I never appreciated Samantha's back stage talks with the dancers until she was on maternity leave. The ladies are still rocking; I still don't have a favorite. I'll be happy with whoever wins.

Yes, I know I've been quiet, but I wrapped up a proposal this past Friday that I sent to my agent. Then I gave a workshop on 1st point of view for my chapter Florida Romance Writers on Saturday. On Sunday I hit th gardening and tried to beat back the jungle. So I'm in a state of collapse, trying to gear up for finishing up the family room makeover. :) Carol

Dancing with the Stars

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Most of the guys have to go. Finally, this year the female stars far exceed the men except for one...Helio. Hopefully tonight will see Wayne exit stage left for good and then in subsequent weeks, Mark, Cameron and then Floyd. I haven't settled yet on who I want to win overall, but the women are fantastic this year. While I won't be heartbroken if Helio ends up taking the trophy because his moves are so clean, I would love to see a woman taking the grand prize.
:) Carol

Football

Monday, October 8, 2007

I love football. Love it. I can spend hours watching the games. Happiness is when the preliminary season begins in August. Since it is a contact sport, I know there are going to be injuries, but one always hopes for the best.

However, when a player seriously injures another and then stands over the prone body of the injured player and taunts him, I draw a line. What Houston defensive tackle Travis Johnson did Sunday was reprehensible. To stand over Trent Green, who was unconscious from a grade III concussion, and verbally abuse the quaterback was obscene. A 1 5-yard penalty wasn't enough. One could argue that Johnson didn't know how injured the quarterback, to which I would reply, "Exactly. He didn't know so the humane and moral reaction should have been to be concerned. To join in the prayer for the injured player. Instead, the defensive tackle was still ranting and raving in the locker room because he had been penalized. He should get more than 15 yards for his continuing conduct; he should be slapped with a hefty fine.

Granted, I'm a Dolphin fan, but I would be outraged if a Dolphin did it to a downed Houston player. Such conduct by any player should not be condoned. This is a tough enough game; it doesn't need to lower itself to brutality. Carol