Whine & Cheese

Hello Roger

Say hello to the newest addition of our household... Roger!  At least that is his name for now...as we pretty much dismissed the names we had come up with previously.  We adopted Roger yesterday from the AZ Humane Society where he was known as "Pee Wee" ... even at the tender age of 3 mos. he was a 2nd chance pet since after initially come to the Humane Society he was sent into foster care for the past month in order to put on some weight and grow up a little.

Needless to say, the arrival of Roger sent shockwaves through our existing animal kingdom.  Lola, the cat we adopted just about a year ago, growled, hissed and generally beat the cr&p out of poor Roger at every opportunity.  We tried to allow them to "work through things" but we were not anticipating our previously though sweet little Lola would turn into some psycho bitch (and at times that description did not seem strong enough).  Our dogs, Mindy and Toby, were in there natural curious mode -- and we had an initial chase...but overall on day one the dogs faired much better than our cat when it came to welcoming the new guy on board.

Things have already improved today...Lola is still not terribly happy, but the violent behavior seems to appear on the downslope.  Toby still wants to shadow Roger's every move...but having a 60+ lb animal even take a step towards a 2 lb kitten seems like it is an agressive move even if  it is somewhat innocent.

I am sure there will be more stories to come...

BB5: Eviction Night - Week 3

Trying to cram a lot of work in this morning (more on that later), so today's take on last night's BB5 Eviction show will be fairly brief.

Well, in the words of Diane... "Thank God and Good Riddance!" I am sure Holly is not a bad person, but did you not just flinch every time she opened her mouth? Granted last night's eviction was a "surprise" based on what CBS showed us, but I have to admit that I knew the outcome prior to the show. No, I have not subscribed to the live feeds...but I admit to checking out some of the discussion boards where the live feeds are discussed. Was still surprised it was 7-1 vote, figured there would be someone other than Jase voting for his helium snuggle-buddy.

Also, since we do not know the results of the HOH competition there is also a whole lot to talk about. But as the Democrats proclaimed this week... perhaps "Hope Is On The Way!" Ok, I know who the new HOH is, but won't spoil it...and who knows the heck knows what actually will go down anyway since Holly looked to be a lock just the other day.

Finally, since I have been getting some search hits regarding Scott's Playgirl pix, I thought I would be a good public servant and lead you on the path...check out BB5 BBQ. A quick scan of the left column should do it. The above link (and 98% of the site) is "work safe" but needless to say checking out those pix on company time is at your own risk. For those interested, you'll also find some other captures from the BB house as well a link to some naughty modeling that little 'ole Diane's had done in the past.

That's all for now... we plan to be off to the Humane Society to check out kitties this afternoon... will let you know if we come home with a little bundle...and hopefully I can figure out how to post some pix.

Have a good weekend!

Initial Tata Autopsy Inconclusive

Since I am still getting a steady stream of search hits about the death and autopsy results of American Casino's Michael Tata, thought I would post the latest news...which ain't much. Here is the official word:

"An autopsy failed to uncover the cause of death, but a Henderson Police Department spokesman said there was no evidence of foul play," Coroner P. Michael Murphy of the Clark County coroner's office said "toxicology tests are being done to detect legal and illegal substances as well as forensic tests for any undetected illnesses, diseases and infections. The test results are expected in two to four weeks."

Comments closed: for information only.

I Am Not Always Wrong

In the past 24 hours, I have had to deal with a couple of my work-related pet peeves. Both times I was accused of making a mistake. Now "accuse" is probably too strong a word, but it is still pretty annoying as in both instances the "accuser" ended up being the one in err. Now I am not saying that I never make a mistake...that would be far from the truth...but I certainly do not make them so frequently that the validity of my work should regularly come under question.

The first instance occurred yesterday afternoon. My client was concerned that a cumulative budget number was off. I was showing it in billions and he was showing it in hundreds of millions. The numbers were similar but just off by those last couple of zeros. I quickly found one respondent that had an amount of $1.5 billion, so I was confident that my numbers were right as this one person said more than the total amount of all the respondents from the client. Several emails were exchanged and I still could not convince the client (even though common sense would seem to lead that the $ figure should be billions)... a phone call finally settled things. The end result: my client was inputting that field incorrectly into his software package...chopping off the last digits of the number.

This morning another client emailed with a "glitch" in the data I provided back to them. Two groups of respondents did not have data for a particular question. I was asked to look into it...and then the capper, before determining the source of the "glitch"... I was asked to re-check all my other data to make sure there were no other "mistakes." I really hate the assumption that if one thing is wrong...everything is wrong. The end result here: the data I received (provided from this very client, btw!) did not have that data for the two groups.

Both clients did apologize ... which granted does not always happen, so that was appreciated. But I have to admit to snickering a bit when this happens. But I know my day will come. In this data business, there are always going to be mistakes - some days it is you, sometimes it is others. But at least for today, I am glad it was not me.

TAR5: A Not So Eggs-cellent Roadblock

Thoughts from this week's episode - "Who Says Pageant Girls Don't Eat?"

God Is Not Watching
This week's Contradiction Award (snagged from Charla & Mirna) goes to Team Blue Lagoon (Brandon & Nicole) with the classic line from last night's show... it went something like this: ''Even though we are Christians and want to share the love of the Lord, but when it comes down to winning, I want to be as ruthless as I can possibly be.'' The end is comical given the beginning of the statement, but in general of I have an issue with people invoking God at inappropriate times...

[rant]I really find it offensive when folks infer that God (and usually their God) is rooting for them over someone else. This happens more often then you would think in the land of reality television.... but I have seen it in sports and, believe it or not, sometime even in politics! I respect people's rights to their faith, but c'mon I doubt any God is providing divine assistance in landing you tickets on an express bus to Buenos Aires in your "race around the world." [/rant]

Caviar
I have never had caviar, nor have I had any desire to try it. But after last night's road block, I don't think I will be giving it a spin anytime soon. Everytime I have seen it (mostly on television), I usually see a little dollop or a little cupful of it. I am sure that this is partially since it is a delicacy (and therefore pricey) - but I think it is one of those things that you just don't eat a lot of in one sitting....and certainly not 2 lbs of it! I think I would not want to eat 2 lbs of any one thing in one sitting. As I said, I don't know what caviar taste or smells like...but the consistency/texture of it just looked pretty awful. Kudos to Chip for plowing it down.

That's about it for this week... suffered from a bit of DNC overload last night!

BB5: Veto Show - Week 3

Not too much to say about last night's veto show... BB5 needs a serious shake-up in the current power structure and it ain't gonna get interesting until that happens.

The whole Holly/Diane "call out" scene was pretty annoying. Granted it was not the smartest strategic move for Diane to go over and enthusiastically hug Jennifer/Nakomis after she won veto power...but after all the blatant celebrations from Jase & Scott and the not-so-clandestine meetings among the 4 HorsesAsses in the HOH bedroom...it is a little silly to be criticizing someone for having an alliance.

[POTENTIONAL SPOILER]
In the commercials for Thursday show, CBS is saying that if "Adria" gets evicted that her twin Natalie will enter the house. This bucks up against what Julie told us that they would "play as one" up until week 5 with the twin entering the house and "playing as individuals." I figured CBS had to have some contingency plan...but it still seems like they should have let the audience in on the different scenarios. But as I have said before, I am not convinced the "twists" are over...so I am sure there is still a lot we all do not know.
[/POTENTIAL SPOILER]

Preaching To The Choir?

Watched the Democratic National Convention coverage last night...and actually enjoyed it. I know, stunning for me since I am not the politico half of the household! The "shock and awe" moment of the night was when I correctly identified Walter Mondale in the crowd.

But anyways, it was hard to not feel enthusiastic and confident about the Kerry-Edwards ticket after the speeches by Dem powerhouses of Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton. But I realize that was the point... and their job this week is certainly not to convince me, but to get others to move off or jump over the fence. I doubt that any Republican minds were changed. They probably sat there looking like they swallowed spoiled milk (i.e. my face when I will be watching the RNC). My hope is that middle group of undecided votes were swayed by some of the things that were said last night. I don't like that the Republicans have the "last licks" with the conventions...since people tend to remember things that they see last.

So just some brief thoughts on the major speakers last night:

Gore did a good job of bringing up the whole 2000 election fiasco without being bitter, the self-deprecating humor definitely worked.

Carter certainly did not mince any words huh? And did it all without mentioning the man by name...kind of like a certain president talking about "the dictator" and "evil doers." Carter was my surprise of the evening... he just seems like a grandpa figure at this point, so to have this soft physical image and voice coupled with extremely harsh words for the present administration was quite startling. Go Jimmy!

Didn't Hillary give a nice introduction for her husband? Glad they did not ask her to speak or anything! I jest of course... I have a feeling this "not ask to speak...oh, okay introduce your husband" thing was just all a ruse. There is little doubt that she is one of the most influential people in the party and to have her not speak would have been unthinkable. If this woman does not get into the White House again some day I think it will be a shame. The only person who could possibly out-charisma her of course is her husband...

Bill Clinton who gave a killer speech... from using his own tax breaks (thanks to the Republicans) to support the Democratic cause, to admitting his own draft-dodging and including the current Commander in Chief, to coming up with the rallying cry of "Send me" ... it hit the right notes over and over again.

I liked that their was little negativity being emitted last night... high and harsh criticism sure, but I thought it was all generally "feel good" and civilized. I like the current shift of the Kerry-Edwards campaign where they are focusing on restoring America's pride. I can not believe there is anyone out there who thinks our country's position in the world has improved over the past four years and hopefully this is something that will really appeal to the undecided voters.

I guess this is the Republican response...
GOP Aims to Pull a 'Dukakis' on Kerry
Shouldn't incumbents be running more on their own record instead of concentrating on ways to discredit their opponent?

Dog Days of Summer

This week is going to be a busy time in our pet kingdom. It actually started yesterday when we had some of Todd's family in town only with two daschunds in tow. I think our pets were quite confused by these little dogs. Toby (our big boy basset hound) was pretty scared of them... they would out one good yelp and Toby would run away and maintain a good 3-foot safety zone around them. This eased up as the day progressed, but I still don't think Toby quite ended up bonding with his two cousins. Mindy (our elder basset matriarch) was braver, but she has seen so many pets come and go I think she is pretty tolerates any creature at this point.

We managed to figure out sleeping arrangements for everyone (including kitty Lola who was pretty much MIA for most of the day until she showed some curiosity about the daschunds late last night) - but that was thrown for a loop when we had one of our Arizona monsoon thunderstorms just around midnight. As Todd recently documented, Mindy is absolutely petrified of storms - most especially if there is thunder and lightening. So last night was a long one ... though we managed some sleep. A good thing is that these storms tend not too go on forever.

As we said goodbye to the daschunds this morning and, as I type, both of our pups are totally crashed out. Toby tired from his attempts to play with these new dogs, while Mindy is exhausted from last night's storm. But the rest will be quite brief as Lucy the pug comes for a visit from Tues-Thurs. Lucy loves to play with Toby (and vice versa), so the next few days should go well....although I can easily anticipate it will be crazy at times.

If this all is not enough either on Friday afternoon (or over the weekend) we plan to go looking for Marius' successor - a new kitten. It has seem like months have passed since he has left us (it has been just about a month), but I think it is time to get our pet tally back up to its "equilibrium" level of four pets. I know call me crazy (it is all me and not my better half on this one). We will probably be looking for a little boy kitten since we have this one male, one female pairings in our household. We had a hard time coming up Lola's name...so this time I have a few names picked out in advance so a week does not pass by before we have a named kitty (not that cat names really matter...like the come when you call?)

My "finalist" names are:
Rico - this is to pair it off with Lola ... Lola got her name since she was/is tall and lanky so we thought she had "showgirl" legs... thus a reference to the song "Copacabana".. thus Rico being another character from the song (not that we are huge "Fan-ilows" here mind you!). Also as sidenotes there is "Rico" from Six Feet Under...and probably the urge to comically refer to him as "Rico Suave."

Luis - again going with some Latin flavor and a homage to one our favorite Diamondbacks players...Luis Gonzalez.... not the the Dbacks deserve any honors of late ...and on top of that Gonzo is about to have season-ending surgery

Elvis - over the years I have become a huge Elvis Presley fan...and simply put it seems like a fun name for a pet.

I would be remiss to mention that Todd has offered up his own suggestion... Larry. No particular reason except that he is highly amused by a potential cat of this name. So what do you think? Cast your votes, but keep in mind this is no American Idol... we hold the golden power of veto on this one. We'll just have to take a look at the new addition and see which (if any! I am notoriously indecisive!) of these names seem to fit.

Friday Entertainment Tid-Bits

I am really trying to avoid doing any more work this Friday afternoon, so I have been surfing around and here are some of the entertainment (mostly television-related) stories that caught my eye:

'Sopranos' Won't Be Back Before '06
Good news, bad news. Production will not begin until next year...but there are rumors that it may be a full season instead of the the shorter season that was originally on the drawing board (this news from EW.com, not the link above).

Bravo Deals Another Season of 'Celebrity Poker'
Currently airing its third celeb poker tournament, the show will be back in the fall (along with hosts Dave Foley and poker expert Phil Gordon). Cingular Wireless dropped out as a sponsor mid-season (they still are contributing to the prize pool, but not taking credit at the moment)...the reason? Are you sitting down? They were shocked over the celebs drinking alcohol and cursing (bleeped, btw) on air... imagine that, during a poker game no less?!!? Heck, the money is going to charity so I don't know what the big deal is!

A&E Goes to Film 'Caesars,' Not to Praise It
Regular readers know that I love reality series and love Las Vegas...but after Fox's The Casino and The Discovery Channel's American Casino is there really a need for another "behind the scenes" series centering around a hotel/casino?! Well, A&E and Caesar's Palace are going to give it a try. No air date is set.

Just Jack's Back for More "24"
Don't look for many familiar faces when 24 returns for Season 4. As reported at the end of this past season, most of the cast was given notice that they would not be returning or will be but only on a recurring basis. Rumors have it that Jack will no longer be working at CTU and that Senator Keeler (Prez Palmer's foe last season) has taken over the Oval Office. Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler) has already landed a spot the original CSI.

Gay Group Says No to Cho
Margaret Cho has been "uninvited" from Unity 2004 -- a Democratic political fundraiser sponsored by the HRC. Apparently the recent brouhahas over Whoopi Goldberg and Linda Ronstadt had the human rights organization shaking in their shoes. Too bad for Cho...and a bit of a contradiction, don't you think? But it will probably be good publicity for Cho who is about to embark on her latest comedy tour ("State of Emergency") next month.

BB5: Eviction Night - Week 2

I, Robot
Don't you think Julie Chen should have starred in that film rather than Will Smith? I know the "fembot" tag has been on Miss Julie since the first season of BB...so what I am going to say is nothing new. It just cracks me up that she can deliver her lines with such a straight face. C'mon Jules... you are talking about things like the "golden power of veto," updating us on "Project Do Not Assume," and reporting on a group of jackasses have dubbed themselves "the four horsemen"... crack a little smile, give us a little wink every now and then... something that shows us that you are dealing with something less important than your "day" job.

Also BB, hire some writers! I would guess the majority of the budget goes to video editors...but we have been hearing the Thursday night script pretty much verbatim since BB1. I think they must have a cut-and-past macro for the eviction night show.... replace "Mike, the commercial painter from Michigan" from last week with "Lori, the yoga instructor from Boston" for this week. Heck, even newbies to the show I think get the patter down after a couple of weeks.

You Have Been Evicted
Though I certainly had nothing against Lori, I was a little glad that Karen is sticking around. As I said in my last BB post, she was hilarious in last week's "diary room" chats...I hope that continues...this show needs someone like this.

Drew
Mixed feelings about Drew getting HOH. He seems like a nice enough guy (and cute too boot), but at this point he really has no "strategical" reason to go against his alliance with Jase and Scott... and how annoying was it to watch those two arrogantly celebrated after Drew won? I suspect that at least one of the girls (except for Holly) will go up...with Marv also being in some danger. I really hope Adria/Natalie make it ... of course, for the payoff of seeing everyone's reaction, but also since it will add one more person/vote vs. the horses-asses.

House Calls
I don't believe I am plugging this...but since it is free (not part of the pay 24-hr live feeds)... check out the daily BB talk show called "House Calls" over at CBS.com. It is hosted by BB3's Marcellas and some chick (and Kelly Clarkson lookalike) named Gretchen. It is a fun, no-holds barred show where the two talk about the show and answer calls and emails from viewers. Shows are archived and available each night (the show airs live at 1pm EST/10am PST)...broadband connection recommended!