Whine & Cheese

Thank Heaven For Little Dogs

Our Thanksgiving guest has arrived. But we won't be setting out an extra plate...it will be a bowl. We are dogsitting Lucy, the pug puppy. So far, it has been sheerly exhausting (but highly entertaining) watching our 4 permanent four-legged family members adjust to the new arrival. There are animals running in every direction..and they are everywhere!

With the exception of a few hissy-fits, the two cats have mostly stayed out of the fray. Mindy, our elder basset hound, showed early curiosity...but now seems more than happy to let the youngsters, including our often rambunctious 1 1/2 year old basset hound Toby, work themselves to exhaustion. If dogs can be thrilled, Toby is thrilled to have a playmate. In a house where his "playing" is more often that not met with scorn, it is certainly a special day to get some full-fledged receptive behavior from a fellow four-legger.

Pugs are often said to be "a lot of dog in a little body" and Lucy (maybe 12-lbs) is certainly giving the 60-lb Toby all he can handle. She is a sweetie pie...equal parts Cabbage Patch kid, Energizer bunny, and pit bull.

Wait...I think everyone is asleep! Don't pets always end up proving you wrong? I knew the "calm" would have to happen eventually, but I didn't think it would be so soon. Ah, yet another reason to be thankful.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Bartlett Thanksgiving

VCR & TiVo Alert!
If you are looking for a new TV Thanksgiving tradition, check out these two classic West Wing episodes airing on Bravo:

Shibboleth: President Bartlett must pardon a Thanksgiving turkey, but it is up to CJ to choose among the two candidates.

The Indians in the Lobby: Besides the title story, this one is best remembered for Bartlett's phone call to the Butterball hotline.

These Are Not A Few Of My Favorite Things

I do not know why I watch Oprah's Favorite Things show anymore. For those unfamiliar, the queen of all media each holiday season devotes a show to her favorite products of the year. This is the show taping you want to be at. Yesterday, each audience member walked off with just under $5,000 worth of merchandise each! Or a total audience haul of $1.5 million. Much of the hour was spent gaining control of the hysterical audience...and not hysterical "ha ha"...but screaming, weeping, and nearly fainting people!

It just seemed overly excessive. I guess that is the point, the show gets bigger each year. But with the power of Oprah over the years, it reeked of an hour-long infomercial. An Oprah endorsement is often literally worth millions to a company. (Though, I have to admit when she gets behind a product I love, like TiVo I am definitely all for it!)

But did we have to go through over 20 items? It was a true embarrassment of riches. After racking up nearly $1,500 of stuff in the opening minutes you could almost sense the "ok, what's next" boredom of such "small" ticket items like a $25 facial scrub or $38 cake batter.

The Circle of Life

[WARNING: Sappy animal lover blog entry below.]

Are dead birds some kind of omen?

A few months ago, I found a baby bird, not young enough to fly, lying in the backyard ...a bit beat up and unfortunately being attacked in the often cruel "circle of life" manner.  I carefully wrapped up the bird and I believe it died in my hands.  It was strangely peaceful experience.  A relief that the little bird's misery was over.  At  the time, I had a very sick cat who I was trying to come to terms with about putting down.  In some cosmic way, the bird helped in my decision to say goodbye to my Maggie, who was lying limp just on the other side of the door...no longer interested in eating or drinking. 

On this chilly Arizona morning (temps in the upper 30s), I went out to find a dying quail. We have a family of quail that often march across the top of our block fence. The bobbing little crew always reminds me of the opening to "The Partridge Family." Again, a bird in trauma with little hope of survival.  Feathers were strewn across the patio and around the swimming pool.  At first I feared one of our pets was the cause - but there was no evidence of the bird or a scuffle just hours earlier.  Likewise, the dogs and our one new sneaky feline escapee were not outside in the couple of hours that had passed since their first supervised outdoor trip of the day. 

Again, I carefully lifted up the bird and placed in on the top of the block fence that is often the quail family's "sidewalk."  But alas, this story does not end any better than the first...the now motionless bird did not respond to my psychic pleas and miraculously fly away.  Again, I wondered whether this is some "sign."  Some celestial guilt trip with the biggest bird-eating holiday just days away?

Ok, maybe that is going a little too far.  But today's fairly anonymous bird, made me remember the first little one and certainly swelled up some of the emotions that I was going through that time around.  While Maggie's "successor," the spunky but very sweet Lola, has eased her absence...perhaps today's little life lesson was to once again appreciate her life at this time of reflection and thankfulness.  But still I 
don't like when death literally lands on my doorstep.

More on Marriage & Survivor

I got a comment...hurray!  And here I was thinking I was writing in some vacuum that only 3 people (who I personally know) were maybe reading at all. Thanks Nick, I am a Zionide fan!  If there is anyone else out there (Bueller, Bueller.... Bueller), feel free to let me know.

Anyways, Nick's comment definitely got me thinking more deeply about my last post about gay marriage.  I agree with you -- having it be a "marriage" would absolutely be the ideal scenario.  However, I just do not think the climate right now will allow it.  Heck, this is a country that I don't think is even going to consider electing a non-white male president any time soon.  Unfortunately, I see same-sex "marriage" further down Acceptance Road... there is significant public opposition, a Republican president and Congress, a Supreme Court with a shaky future (present?), and even "friendly" Democrats who seem to be unwilling to take on the issue.  Now I know that the women's and civil rights movements were not easy battles either (and certainly worth fighting for), but I fear waging this battle now will set things back more than they will move it forward.

As I said in the last post, the word "marriage" carries a lot of (too much?!) baggage - and that seems to be the initial (and very high) hurdle.  Do I like the phrases "civil union" or "domestic partnership" -- no, not really...they are both pretty antiseptic.  But then again, I don't like any of these either:  husband or spouse (too "straight"), partner or significant other (pretty sterile), lover (ugh!), boyfriend (getting too old for that).  I tend to use "we" and "us" a lot.

Do I want to be "married"?  Not really.  (Can I still register at Crate and Barrel though?).  It is yet another word/label that I am not totally comfortable with.  However, would I like the legal rights of it...absolutely!  I don't  consider "civil unions" or the ilk to be riding on the back of the bus -- across the aisle perhaps -- but as long as I can go along for the ride (and maybe that is settling), that is good enough for me.
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Okay, back to your regularly scheduled trivial blog entry...

This time last week, I was lamenting about Rupert's invincibility and the inability of his fellow castaways to vote him off Survivor: Pearl Islands.  Well, what do you know this week the big lizard was mercilessly swallowed up by the island snakes (please, CBS if I wanted to really see that I would watch The Discovery Channel). 

It was time for Rupert to go.  His hubris outgrew his man-skirt to the point where anyone winning a challenge or having a strategic game thought that did not include him was an affront to morality and goodness.  This was only summed up in his exit speech... lamenting over that he always gets hurt trusting people and that somehow winning Survivor would have righted the wrongs he experienced in life.  I've watched  Survivor seven times now...when are people going to realize that the show is not about trust, goodness, morals, and "deserving" to win?

That said, I know I have been pretty tough on Rupert, who arguably is the most popular Survivor contestant ever.  If his portrayal on the show is accurate, he is certainly an  upstanding, honest, big-hearted, highly capable, and loyal human being.  I was not rooting against him - but just frustrated that he thought his best qualities would take him to the end.  His popularity, ability and "goodness" sunk him by the end of Episode 1.  I am sure his post-Survivor life will be all the things he wished for even without being the sole survivor.  And I have a feeling we'll be seeing 'ole Rupert again...he was mysteriously "unavailable" for the usual CBS's The Early Show morning after interview this morning.  Could he be off surviving again?!

You Say Potato

Can we just call it a "civil union" and get all this "gay marriage" stuff over with already?! What seemed to be get people's panties to bunch up the most yesterday in regards to the Massachusetts court ruling, was the word "marriage." For the up-teenth time I had to hear George W. call marriage "a sacred institution between a man and a woman." Yes, and I am guessing it took five instances of that sacred institution to create these five guys.

Is it somehow anti-"sanctity" when a person can not visit their partner in the hospital when it is limited to "family" only? Or make a decision in regards to life-or-death surgery? Or inherit a house without being heavily taxed? Or collect death benefits?

The four horsemen of the apocalypse, huh?

Ticket Stubs

I save ticket stubs.  Ticket stubs for anything and everything... theatre, sporting events, tourist attractions, and even movies.  Don't worry they are all neatly contained in a ziplock bag, but they are all there.  Why I do this, I don't really know. Do I really need to  remember that I saw the movie Sling Blade on March 29, 1997 at the Chandler Laguna Village AMC Theater (a $3 matinee no less!)?  Probably not, but there are a lot of memories in that bag that is for sure. 

I saw a stage production of the musical 42nd Street this past Friday. I was telling my mom how it really did not stand up to my memories of the first time I saw it.  Back in my younger days, for three consecutive summers I headed into NYC to catch a Broadway musical.  I would first trek into the city with my grandfather to buy the tickets, then return later in the week to see the Wednesday matinee show with my grandmother.  42nd Street was the show of the second summer.  I found the stub again yesterday, it was August 1981...making me 13 years old at the time. 

23 years later, 42nd Street has come around the corner again. The show has not changed terribly, but life certainly has.  My grandfather died of a stroke just 4 years after that summer of 1981, while my grandmother, after a long illness and ravaged by Alzheimer's, mercifully left us just five years ago. 

The pretty carefree, but not-terribly cool kid from NJ is now a marginally cooler adult living in Arizona.  The wide-eyed youngster overwhelmed by the big city and the buzz of Broadway, now parks his Honda at a suburban theater designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and dares the production to "wow" him.  After nearly 50 different musicals (I have the stubs to prove it!) later, that "wow" does not happen as often as I would like. 

But even if the show is bad, I still enjoy going.  I hope my grandparents do too.  They certainly left me with a legacy.  More than two decades later, it is me, at least in spirit, who is taking them along to the show now.

Random Musings

Just some (okay, many) random musings...

The Bette Midler concert situation (see Nov 13th entry) resolved itself nicely this morning. I was "this close" (visualize two fingers almost touching) to paying the $60 annual fee for pre-sale access to tix (and potentially others for the next year), but received a pre-pre-sale offer since I am a season ticket holder to the "Broadway in Arizona" series. So that was cool, got $89.95 lower level tix (prices ranged from $44.95 nose bleeds to $154.95 floor) two days in advance of the regular pre-sale and five days before the "general public." As I said a couple of days ago, I think it is probably impossible these days to get great concert tix on the day the actually go on sale to the public!
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Watched All The President's Men over the weekend since Todd had recently read a book about Richard Nixon. Everyone knows this is a good movie, but it was really interesting to see how far things have come in 30 years... people using typewriters, dialing phones, and [gasp!] smoking in the workplace. Also, keep your eyes out for small roles played by Polly Holliday ("Kiss My Grits" Flo from the sitcom Alice) and Meredith Baxter (from Family Ties)... now I am really showing my age!
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Speaking of feeling old, the tennis season finally drew to a close this weekend. The pretty much year-round season is tiring to the players and even for tennis fans such as myself. This year I really took a step back from being a tennis fanatic... stopped writing for an online tennis magazine, attended a couple of sessions as a paying "fan" vs. practically every session for two weeks as media at the local tennis tourneys, and did not religiously watching every match that turned up on the TV. I think part of the reason is that I no longer relate to the players on a peer-level. With the exception of Andre Agassi and the seemingly ageless Martina Navratilova, the bunch of young 20-somethings lighting up their tours seem so far removed from this mid-30 something guy. Now, don't get me wrong I still watch waaaay more tennis than the average American, still check out the tennis scores/news daily, and still try and outwit, outplay, and outlast hundreds of other players on the coolest tennis contest site on the Web.
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Hey, I have the same vintage travel poster hanging in my house as Kate Fox (played by Alicia Silverstone) does on Miss Match! I am trying to figure out if that is a good thing?!?
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Kinda bummed about Karen Sisco getting shelved by ABC until March. Let's hope the network keeps its promise to give this show another shot on a new day/timeslot. Just don't put it up against another show I am TiVo-ing... I just hate having to watch "live" TV these days (like Friends vs. Survivor).
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So, the word is that Debra Messing's pregnancy will NOT be written into Will & Grace...so will she just "get fat" when her marriage to Leo (Harry Connick Jr.) hits the skids as this coming week's previews suggest? There is also talks that NBC is developing a sitcom for Connick... ummm, do they realize he is really not that funny?!

Rupert Love-Fest

Should CBS just fast-forward through the rest of Survivor: Pearl Islands and just hand Rupert the $1 million? I do not know how many more episodes I can stand of seemingly everyone talking about getting rid of Rupert but than wimping out or, as they did last night, simply handing him immunity. Now I know that Rupert's reign will come to an end before the finals (or else this may be the most stupid Survivor crew ever), but I dare say not since Richard Hatch has one contestant seemed to have such a hold over his fellow castaways.

Unfortunately, it looks like we are going to be stuck with dweeby Jon for awhile -- since his is well ensconced as the one everyone feels they can beat in the end. That is, if snippy Jeff Probst does not ring his skinny neck before then. Speaking of annoying, are there any two more annoying voices than Darrah and Christa? I think my ears would bleed if I had to listen to a conversation between those two. And "Ryno"...very scary with your final words... "you have got to remember one thing: I'm on the jury!!" -- ummm, your vote is really not going to matter.

Oh, stumbled across the "unofficial" cast for the All-Star edition of the next Survivor. If it is accurate, it is a pretty interesting mix. Will alliances form between the past returning winners, between people from the same show, or the ever popular gender lines?

Concert Prices

Have you noticed the latest trend...trying to getting people to spend even MORE money on concert tickets? It's the Internet pre-sale which allows you to buy tickets, usually good ones, before they go on sale to the general public. This usually involves paying a fee to join a club/program that then gives you a password to use on a Ticketmaster or other ticket site.

I have mixed feelings about it. Part of me thinks it is a total scam to milk more money out of people for already overpriced tickets. The other part does not have an issue with paying for NOT having to camp out outside a department store, speed-dial, or have heart palpitations waiting to see if a web page will spit out something other than "no seats found."

For the Dixie Chicks, I went ahead and paid $40 annual fee to join their official Yahoo Fan club. I really could not care less about the exclusive news or videos on the site, but ended up with 3rd row seats thanks to the pre-sale. I think they were $65/seat tickets...so $85 each for unbelieveably great seats was definitely worth it.

For Celine Dion's Vegas show, I decided not to join "Team Celine." Again, a $40 annual fee to the "club" would allow me to purchase tickets in sections set aside for members. But it takes up to 2 weeks for Ticketmaster to get members into their system. I knew my desired date was going on sale soon, so I did not want to take the chance of not being in the system. Likewise, I heard that the Colisseum did not have "a bad seat." So even without being a member of the team -- and three Ben Franklins later - still had good seats.

This past week I got an email pre-sale offer for Shania Twain...and best of all it was no-strings-attached. The fine print said I was being afforded the opportunity since I purchased tickets in the past 2 years for a show at America West Arena (the Dixie Chicks??). I heard Shania was coming in December, while I like her...I didn't feel any strong "have to see her!" feelings. But here was this offer just tempting me. What the heck... $80/seat later (plus $8/ea "convenience" charge plus $3/ea facility charge, don't you just love that!) we had our seats. I probably would not have got tickets at all, but the lure of "pre-sale" was just too much.

Now the latest. Bette Midler is coming to town next February. I have seen the Divine Miss M once already and it was right up there on the all-time entertaining concert list...so getting tix is a definite no-brainer. Tickets go on sale in 2 weeks, but in my research I stumbled across yet another pre-sale offer. For a $60 annual fee I can join Clear Channel Communications' (the biggest concert promoter in Phoenix) "getAccess" program and buy tickets early. Do I think I will have any problems getting decent tix when they go on-sale to the public? No, but still I have this desire to not worry about it. The $60 seems a little steep, but if I am able to get even one more pre-sale in the next year I think it would be worth it (despite what it seems I really do not go to that many concerts a year, maybe 2 or 3 max).

So does it make sense to spend extra for entertainment "peace of mind" or am I just being a sucker?!