Whine & Cheese

I've Been Googled: The List

Work is crazy today (why do things always seem to get hellish right before a getaway?!)... so not much time for a full-blown entry. But I thought I'd alert you to another fun feature here on W&C...

One of my favorite things is checking out the strange and often hilarious search hits that I get on this site. I have often commented on them in this blog. But since TypePad has the cool "list" feature, I figured I would start a running sidebar list of some of the better ones... it is much easier to add a quick item to the list instead of put together an entire blog entry about them.

I will still do that from time to time, but if you scroll down past the Fine Wine hunks on the left and you will see the inaugural crop of my favorite and most recent search hits.

Yes, if you click on those links it will take you to a search engine page where W&C will often be one of the primary "finds" - talk about twisting your words around?!

Have a great weekend!

Fine Wine #12: Jamie Denton

It has been over 20 days since we had a new addition to the Fine Wine list! Am I just being overly picky or has there been a slowdown in the number of hunks in October? Well, I am still not too sure of what that answer is.. but alas, on this uncharacteristic cool and rainy day in Phoenix, the drought is over.

Welcome the latest addition to the list... James Denton aka Mike Delfino from Desperate Housewives.

All of a sudden ABC's breakout hit is dominating the current crop of hotties. Who would have thunk it? Here I thought my enjoyment of the show would come purely from its talented cast of ladies - Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, and Nicolette Sheridan. But with creative team that sprinkled with "family" members, I guess it should have been no surprise that we would be treated to some good looking men who are often required by the script to strip down.

While Jesse Metcalfe is the "boy" of the show, there is little doubt that Jamie is the "man." Last week, we were treated to Mr. Delfino doing some yard work... shirtless in jeans and work boots, sweaty and shirtless (thanks to "risoto fotos" for this borrowed screen cap). Need we say more? With these two guys, it makes you wish you lived on Wisteria Lane -- where are these guys in our neighborhood?!

The ruggedly handsome 6'1" actor hails from Nashville and turns 42 in January. Most of his early career was spent on the stage. Denton has made a couple of feature films (Primary Colors, Face/Off) but has spent a good deal of his career in television guest spots including JAG, Ally McBeal, and The West Wing. He had a featured role in last season's Threat Matrix. But as the mysterious "not really a plumber" Mike Delfino, I think Denton has his breakthrough role.

Alas, with Denton's addition we must bid farewell to another Fine Winer. Much to my surprise, I am eliminating [gasp!] Josh Duhamel. Hey, NBC pulls Las Vegas for a week to air the Radio Music Awards and things like this happen! Decisions, decisions?!

Jeff Probst is about the best thing on Vanuatu and his recent guest-host appearance on Live With Regis & Kelly cemented his spot for a little longer (gotta love those dimples!). And alas, Denton's DH castmate Metcalfe is still working it as the young stud who is allergic to shirts... so he stays. Hey Josh, get those LV writers to get you some action...even if it is with Mary!

For more information and pix...check out his official website!

Reflux Redux & TAR Models

Have not been feeling very bloggy lately... guess it is a combination of lack of time and subject matter... or should I just be hip/cool and blame it on acid reflux?

So I will lead you to other places instead of try and be creative:

Model Citizens Lead 'Amazing Race 6' Cast
The teams were officially unveiled on CBS' The Early Show this morning (well, except for that too late to catch before it went to press TV Guide article) -- Zap2It has the team run-downs and as the title suggests 6 of the 11 teams have someone claiming to be a model.

Speaking of which did you happen to catch Godel Brandon in this week's Sunday circular for Target? I did a double-take when I was flipping through it. Thanks to Beaverhausen for leading me to the online link.

Also check out The Amazing Race Homepage over at CBS.com and mark your calendars for November 16th!

Because Blood Is Thinner Than Oil

Found this website via Yahoo! ... and got a chuckle out of the whole idea, so thought I would share:

Bush Relatives for Kerry - their tag line is the title of this blog entry.

Now before you get too excited -- these distant relatives who have never even met to the President (2nd cousins to be exact - grandchildren of Mary Bush House, the sister of Prescott Bush, who was the father of the Prez George P. and grandfather of W.) .

Their goal?

To help America heal from the sickness it has suffered since George Bush was appointed President in 2000. We invite you to read our stories, and please, don't vote for our cousin!

Here are a selection of other "family" testimonials:

George W. Bush is a man of limited vision and seemingly little compassion.

President Bush has exploited that fear and used that horrible tragedy to convince people to accept the mistakes he has made.

My Christian faith moves toward greater inclusiveness and acceptance, George Bush moves toward punishment, division, and exclusion. My Christian faith seeks to bring people into the circle of decision-making, George Bush seeks to keep them out. My Christian faith seeks to afford equal rights and responsibilities to all, George Bush seeks to reserve more rights for the privileged few.

We can't continue to ravage the air, earth and oceans of this small planet. We must support the presidential candidate who most cares about who we're leaving the place to. I think that person is Mr. Kerry.

I urge the vast majority of Americans who are not among the richest, most privileged in this country, to examine whether this president’s “patriotism” and “conservatism” is aligned with their own interests.

London Bridge Not Falling Down

For our upcoming trip to Las Vegas next week we are contemplating a side trip/detour. I forgot Daylight Savings Time was ending this coming weekend... so we lose an hour (or gain an hour back?) when we cross the Nevada border -- so why not take advantage of the extra time? You know how it goes when you lived some place for a fairly long time and never get around to seeing one of the more famous sites -- never the "tourist" in your own state or city... so maybe it is time to do it. No, we have already seen the Grand Canyon -- but we have yet to visit the London Bridge.

Yes, the London Bridge is in Arizona. For more than 140 years the bridge spanned the River Thames but in 1968 in started to sink. The city of London sold it for $2.5 million to the founder of Lake Havasu City, Robert P. McCullock... piece by piece it was dismantled and shipped to desert lake-side community on the Colorado River -- three years and an additional $7 million dollars later -- it was rebuilt and connects Lake Havasu City to an island in the lake. Pretty strange, huh?

So instead of heading directly north and west to Laughlin (our first overnight stop prior to Sin City), we may just head west almost to the California border and then head north up the Colorado River. I don't really expect we'll stay all that long in Lake Havasu -- maybe grab a bite to eat -- but I grew up in a family where at most tourist spots you got out of the car... looked (ooh! aah!)... checked it off the list... and headed back to the car and onto the next destination.

Hello Dolly

When it comes to concert-going there are not many people left that I am absolutely dying to see... in my 20+ years of concert going I have seen a lot...

Rock (Bruce Springsteen, U2, Melissa Etheridge, Eric Clapton)
Pop (Elton John, Billy Joel, Annie Lennox)
Country (Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain)
Blues (BB King)
Gay-cons (Bette, Cher, Celine)

But alas there was one music legend who I was still hoping to catch live... and that was taken care of just a few minutes ago... we are going to see Dolly Parton on December 8th!

I know it seems a little cheesy... but what's there not to love about Dolly? Exactly! So giggle if you like, but I am pretty stoked.

Billed as the "Hello, I'm Dolly" Tour it is her first major concert tour since 1993. Dolly says "The show itself has every color of me in it, from gospel to bluegrass to country to the bigger production numbers, and to the pop hits that I've been fortunate to do through the years. I think there will be something for everybody. I wanted to do it in a big way so all of us can enjoy it."

And I am sure Dolly will have us laughing as well... with her famous lines like "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap" and more recently speaking of her famous body part as her "weapons of mass distraction... shock and awe."

We Love Lucy

It is hard to believe that today is our last full day of dog sitting - Lucy returns home tomorrow. The time certainly seemed to fly by -- although thinking back to day she was dropped off at our house seems like eons ago. She is really a wonderful dog and I think she had a blast. She had a fairly constant playmate with Toby -- so it is always sad to see her go... even in our pet-plentiful household, Toby is sorely lacking in active playmates. Although there were times he certainly seemed to have enough of her, I think he really likes the attention.

The visit was not without its moments. Early on, we had another dog scrap between our dogs. Toby just gets all weirded out when it comes to feeding time. He pretty much prefers defending his food bowl rather than eating what is in it. So with the added frenzy of another dog getting fed, we had our fears of another fight...and it happened. This was not a good one as Toby got a hold of one of Mindy's ears and drew blood...not good at all... and we are still out of ideas of how to prevent it... so meal times have been quite nerve-wracking as do the "food bowl dance."

The cats very much adjusted to the guest pug. Lola has had much more experience with Lucy, so there was no real issues there. Our new kitty Elvis took a while to warm up. He pretty much laid low for the first few days, but got bolder as time moved on. Over the past couple of days, he has even been reaching in with his paw to steal stray bits of dog food through the fenced-in pen that we feed Lucy in.

So it is back to "normal" tomorrow... while things have certainly been frenetic at times, I am sure it won't be long until we are looking forward to our next visit with Lucy.

TV Show Shuffle

Well the networks have already started scrambling around their line-ups... and it is helping to weed out some stuff on our TiVo.

First off, we axed dr. vegas -- it has not moved time slots or been cancelled, but we were already two episodes behind with no strong "have to watch" inclination -- so we decided to give it the boot. Sorry Rob...

On our TiVo "death row", is LAX -- LAX is moving from Mondays to Wednesdays where it will replace Hawaii (originally Hawaii was going on hiatus, but now I hear it has been yanked). This puts LAX up against ABC's Lost -- so LAX loses that battle pretty easily. Granted we have two TiVos, but we don't feel strongly enough about LAX to double book the time slot. Sorry Heather...

Next -- the WB's Jack & Bobby (one of our top new faves of this season) is moving from Sundays to Wednesdays. While the J&B has been picked up for a full season it is still good to see if given a chance since it has been getting pummeled by NBC (one of the Law and Orders I believe) and ABC's Desperate Housewives. However, what makes little sense to me is its new competition - The West Wing. 2 TiVos once again save the day... and averts what was looking to be a three show conflict between J&B, Housewives, and Arrested Development.

CBS is moving Dean Cain's Clubhouse to Saturdays -- despite its hunky leading man we never latched onto this one... but the news is good since it opens up a spot for The Amazing Race! TAR6 will air on Tuesdays and kick-off with a two-hour episode on November 16th.

College Daze

Are you getting tired of all the Presidential election political polls? It is pretty overwhelming... Bush ahead by 3 points, Bush ahead by 4, Kerry ahead by 2... the race is a dead heat.... it just goes on and on and on... and we won't even get into a discussion about the margin of error! But the greater question is who are these pollsters calling? You pretty much never hear what the geographic diversity is or what portion are Republicans or Democrats... and who the heck knows what a "likely voter" is?!

But as we are all too familiar with from the last go-round... the popular vote does not choose the President. It is the Electoral College -- a system by which each state gets a number of electors equal to that state's representation in Congress (Senate + House). It is these numbers that are tallied and decide the election. This time around the magic number of electors to win is 270. Civics class dismissed.

So that is why I find the following site so interesting... it is Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004 -- a website looks at polls by a state-by-state basis... classifies it as either "strong," "barely," or "weak" for either Kerry or Bush... or [drumroll please!] "exactly tied." Now all the same questions I raised above still apply with regards to polling... but at least this eliminates the the geography issue and in a "random" sample within a state you will probably get a relatively good breakdown of the state's actual political make-up.

You can see the current estimate electoral votes (updated every day) in the upper left hand corner of this blog. Now if things change for the worse, I might move this graphic around a bit... hey, I never claim that this is a unbiased blog... so if it is not there, just look around and look for the bad news. Nevertheless, I vow to keep it on W&C until after the election (or dare I even say, until we know who the next President will be).

But alas keep in mind that this is only one interpretation of the status of the Electoral College. I just watched The Today Show and they had a segment on the current electoral college that showed totally different numbers and Bush ahead... so even if you are wary of these national polls, for the time being it looks like the Electoral College guessing game is not going to provide us with any more clarity.

Oct 18: Today In History

1967 Walt Disney's "Jungle Book" is released

1968 Circus Circus opens in Las Vegas

1968 US Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith & John Carlos for giving "black power" salute as a protest during victory ceremony

1969 Federal govt bans use of artificial sweeteners known as cyclamates

1973 Congress authorizes bi-centennial quarter, half-dollar & dollar coin

1974 Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You" tops the music charts

1975 Simon and Garfunkel reunite on "Saturday Night Live."

1977 New York Yankee Reggie Jackson becomes only the second player to hit three home runs in a World Series game

1979 Following extensive renovation to return Radio City Music Hall to the look and feel of its 1931 art deco glory, the venerable New York City theatre reopened

1982 Former First Lady Bess Truman dies in Independence, Mo at age 97

1983 Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton add another gold record to their collections -- for their smash "Islands in the Stream"

1986 Kathie Lee Johnson and Frank Gifford walk down the aisle

1988 The TV sitcom “Roseanne” begins its 9 year run

1989 The space shuttle Atlantis was launched on a mission that included the deployment of the Galileo space probe

1990 Racial discrimination became illegal at South African libraries, swimming pools, parks and other public facilities

1990 Mikhail Gorbachev wins Nobel Peace Prize

1991 Confirmed Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas swore to uphold the Constitution during an oath-taking ceremony at the White House

1992 Toronto Blue Jays become first 1st non-US team to win a World Series Game. The pre-game ceremony was marred by a U.S. Marine Corps color guard that mistakenly presented the Canadian flag upside-down

1995 NHL Winnipeg Jets sold to Americans who plan to move them to Phoenix

1997 Dedication of "The Women In Military Service for America Memorial" at Arlington National Cemetery

1998 Steve Wynn's $1.6 billion 3,000 room Bellagio Casino opens in Las Vegas

1999 Career prosecutor Robert Ray was sworn in to replace Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and wrap up the wide-ranging investigation of President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton

2001 The FBI and Postal Service announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of anthrax mailings

2004 National Chocolate Cupcake Day

2004 Blogger tries to come up with gimmicky entry for his birthday

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Yes, it is the big day! If you go back and check out when this timeline begins you can do your own math on how may years it is...

Happy Birthday to the famous folks who I share the day with:

Pam Dawber (Mindy of "Mork and Mindy"), Erin Moran (Joanie of "Joanie Loves Chachi"), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann from "Gilligan's Island"), Peter Boyle ("Everybody Loves Raymond"), musicians Chuck Berry and Wynton Marsalis, Martina Navratilova, former Senator Jessie Helms, author Terry McMillan, playwright Wendy Wasserstein, Jean Claude Van-Damme, sportscaster Keith Jackson, and Mike Ditka.