jozjozjoz.com :: brain barf

And now, for something completely unrelated to gallbladder talk

Would you do this chick?

(Thanks to OutOutBlogger for the story!)

Contestants in transsexual show to sue Sky

Jason Deans
Thursday October 30, 2003

Miriam: contestants discovered the 'gorgeous creature' was a man after the winner was chosen

Six men are suing Sky TV after they took part in a reality TV show in which they competed to win the affections of a beautiful woman - who later turned out to be a man waiting for a sex-change operation.
The contestants have instructed law firm Schillings, which specialises in media cases, to begin legal proceedings against Sky One and the show's producer, independent company Brighter Pictures.

The men claim they were tricked into kissing, cuddling and holding hands with the "woman", Miriam, and say it was only after three weeks of filming that they were told she was male.

While viewers know from the start that Miriam is a male-to-female transsexual, the contestants, who include a Royal Marine commando, a ski instructor and an ex-lifeguard, only discover the truth when Miriam picks the winner and then lifts up her skirt.

One contestant was so furious he is said to have punched the show's producer when he found out.

The programme, There's Something About Miriam, is due to be broadcast on November 16 but the contestants are now trying to stop it going on air.

A central element of the case is said to revolve around whether contracts the six men signed - giving Sky permission to broadcast the show before filming began - are legally binding.

There's Something About Miriam was filmed in Ibiza over the summer.

It pitted seven single men - all aged between 20 and 35 and described as "lively and outgoing" - against each other in a contest to win Miriam's affections.

The men had to pick the woman they found most attractive from a line-up and all selected Miriam.

Members of the Brighter Pictures production team on the show are said to have been very upset by what happened and have offered to help the contestants in their legal action.

Cameras filmed the men attempting to woo Miriam, including scenes of them kissing and fondling her.

It is understood one of the areas of legal contention are the consent forms they signed.

Sources say they were signed just before Miriam's secret was revealed, although neither Schillings nor Sky were available for comment.

A spokesman for the programme makers said they had made a point of never referring to Miriam as a woman when getting the men to take part.

"As Miriam is a transsexual, I would never refer to her as male or female. She is a gorgeous creature," he said.

There's Something About Miriam follows in the footsteps of US show Joe Millionaire, in which a group of women vied to win the hand of a wealthy businessman, only to discover he was a cash-strapped builder.

Another article...

TV suitors shocked as dream girl turns out to be a man
By Catriona Davies
(Filed: 31/10/2003)

Six men who competed for the affection of an attractive brunette called Miriam for a reality television programme have threatened legal action after discovering that the object of their attention was a transsexual.

Contestants have accused Sky One, which is due to broadcast the show, and Brighter Pictures, the programme makers, of offences including conspiracy to commit a sexual assault.

The programme, called Find Me A Man, was filmed in Ibiza over the summer and the contestants, all aged 20 to 35, were invited to pick the most attractive woman from a line-up. They were then filmed on dates with her.

All of them chose Miriam, who, unknown to them, was born a man.

Some of the men are believed to have been intimate with Miriam before discovering at the end of the show that she was a pre-operative transsexual.

They were allegedly asked to sign release forms, before Miriam's secret was revealed, consenting to their appearances being screened.

Lawyers for the six men have written to Sky and Brighter Pictures accusing them of conspiracy to commit a sexual assault, defamation, breach of contract and personal injury.

They have also asked for the programme not to be broadcast until after a trial or court order.

Sky said: "We have received a letter of complaint regarding this programme. We will examine its contents carefully before making any response.

"The transmission date has not been confirmed and the show is not in the Sky One schedule at present."

A spokesman for Brighter Pictures said it had made a point of never referring to Miriam as a woman when getting the men to take part.

"As Miriam is a transsexual, I would never refer to her as male or female. She is a gorgeous creature," he said.

Brighter Pictures is a subsidiary of Endemol, the company that makes Big Brother.

Whew!

I just talked to Yoshi about half an hour ago.

Sounds like there was much improvement overnight. When Yoshi's voice came through the phone, it was a voice that wasn't drugged out and sedated.

Yoshi hasn't needed demerol today... for the first time in several days. I think that's a good sign that the pain is not so bad that they don't need to administer more pain killers.

A procedure (I assume the ERCP) is scheduled for later this afternoon. I hope this will help determine a definite plan of action so that my Hunny can come home soon.

Update from last night...

I actually sent this to our friends (who don't read this blog) at approx 1:45am last night. Since I haven't talked to anyone since then, this is the latest on my end.

Thanks to everyone who has called, left voicemails, and sent emails sending good wishes. It is good to know people are thinking of us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 1:47 AM

I am too tired to give a full update.

Yoshi's parents drove down this morning and spent the day in the hospital while I was at work. I am grateful my Hunny wasn't alone all day.

The pancreatitis is being stabilized. This takes time, depending on the individual. Until this is stabilized, they don't recommend gallbladder surgery unless absolutely necessary. The GI Specialist came by at about 9pm to evaluate & is recommending ERCP (procedure using a lighted scope (endoscope) with X-ray pictures so a doctor can see the system of tubes that drains the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas). I have learned a lot from WebMD by searching "pancreatitis." This will give the doctors a better picture of what is happening.

Anyway, depending on how long it takes for the body to heal from the pancreatitis (this could be anything from a day to several weeks) and what they see in the ERCP will determine when Yoshi will get the gallbladder surgery. They also plan to have some bloodwork done tomorrow, so that should also answer more questions.

I just want my Hunny to heal quickly, come home, and get/stay healthy.

I also want sleep. Thanks again for everything.

Gah!

I thought gallbladder removal surgery was supposed to "easy" and "quick." That's what everyone kept telling us.

Maybe it would have been less complicated if the surgery could have been done prior to things getting worse.

So the latest word is that they are stabilizing the inflamed pancreas (pancreatitis) so that they can schedule surgery.

They think this will take a week. A WEEK!

HELLO!?!?! Yoshi went to the E.R. LAST MONDAY. That was 10 days ago! We weren't even given a surgery date until yesterday... and it would have been another 6 days of waiting if Yoshi hadn't been checked in yesterday.

)*(#&%)*#&$)@^#)$%^#$

I WANT TO BREAK THINGS. (Keep me away from your expensive toys.)

At least Yoshi has company now while I'm at work... Yosh's parents drove down early this morning from up north & is sitting and hanging out in the teeny room... still wish I could be there...

Yoshi update

I am going to write a quick post about what happened tonight... the detailed version is more horrible than the condensed version.

Yoshi was dropped off by ProfessorEric at the hospital at like 3:20 and admitted at 4:00.

At 7:20 (when I was driving to the hospital), i got a call from Yoshi's cell phone... Yoshi was BAWLING in pain... NO ONE had been there to see/take care of my Hunny.

Yoshi had been sitting there for over 3 hours with no doctor to visit... No drugs for the pain had been administered (the last vicodin taken had been prior to noon).

By the time I got there, Yoshi was delirious in pain sitting on the bed (still wearing the street clothes... not changed into a gown) puking in a bed pan. after more than 3 hours in the hospital, waiting... they had JUST administered demerol.

When I went to the nurse's station to ask what the hell was going on, no one seemed to know who was responsible for the patient. Evidently, when Yoshi got there the admitting doctor didn't know who Yoshi was... turned out a different doctor in the group WAS expecting Yoshi, but for how many hours, no one bothered to check on my Hunny?!?

I guess it was ok to just let someone sit there in a bare room (no phone, no call button, no tv remote) in extreme pain? Yoshi wasn't even allowed to take the previously prescribed vicodin because it wasn't "authorized."

By the time I paged the doctor and started bitching, the head nurse (who i think was just starting her shift) realized i was MAD and then relieved the other nurse that was just starting her shift and took over herself. I think I scared the head nurse because she took over and gave extra special care after i got there... i think she knew i was about to start bitchslapping people.

Within 20 minutes of me getting on the phone with the doctor (the nurse heard me calling and complaining) the ekg and chest x-ray were done, blood was drawn, and also IV fluids/antibiotics put in... this more than 5 hours after Yoshi arrived at the hospital.

Around 9:40pm, the head nurse came by to check up on yoshi, who was still complaining of stomach and back pain, asking for more pain killers. So the nurse called the doctor and i guess the blood work came back and the amylase levels were high, indicating pancreatitis so the recommendation is that Yosh be seen in the morning by a GI specialist & and deal with the pancreatitis first before scheduling gallstone surgery.

Must sleep so I can wake up early and get an update from the head nurse before she leaves her shift.

More wildfire photos (& earthquake, too!)

OutOutBlogger sent me this link for some amazing fire pictures. I also really like the link to the satellite photos she has.

As I was typing the above sentences, I felt the building move. My boss came out of his office and asked if we felt it.

It turns out there was a 3.7 magnitude earthquake 5 miles north 3.6 magnitude earthquake 1 mile northwest of Simi Valley. That's all they need out there. Fires, earthquakes, and aftershocks. When the locusts come, I'll be hiding out in my bomb shelter. Wake me when they're gone.

UPDATE: If you felt the earthquake (it was pretty little), fill this form out...

Reason #387104397034: Why I love ProfessorEric

So Yoshi's HMO/hospital/doctor FINALLY scheduled the gallbladder removal surgery for Monday.

Of course now that we finally have a date scheduled, I get a call from Yoshi at work today, "I don't think I can make it until Monday." I guess the increasing doses of vicodin has not been able to block the pain.

So, Yoshi is going to the ER right now to have emergency gallstone surgery (if they have a bed available, that is).

I had to call ProfessorEric and ask him to play chauffeur so that Yoshi wouldn't try to take the wheel and drive to the hospital in pain.

The minute The Professor heard my voice, he said, "What do you need? Ok."

So obviously, I love Professor Eric.

If you don't believe me, check out the love letters we exchanged. They are truly moving.

Ok, is this guy evil or just plain crazy?

And if he's crazy, he should still burn (no pun intended) in hell for trying to start another fire.

Authorities Arrest Suspected Arsonist

Hikers In Eaton Canyon Reported Man

POSTED: 10:04 p.m. PST October 28, 2003

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- A man was arrested Tuesday after deputies caught him setting a fire in a steep, remote canyon filled with dry brush and large trees in the Angeles National Forest, according to sheriff detectives.

Hikers in a remote trail about a half-mile north of the Eaton Canyon Bridge in Altadena saw a man making a fire there and alerted authorities, sheriff's Detective Ed Nordskog said.

Los Angeles County Parks officials and deputies arrived about 10 a.m. as the man was standing next to a fire about four feet in diameter. He warned the deputies to stay away and not extinguish the blaze, Nordskog said.

The man, identified as Dikran Armouchian, 23, of Pasadena, made comments about the fire he had started -- and a smaller one nearby -- as it was extinguished, Nordskog said.

Officials noted that the area was ripe for the fast spread of a fire, he said.

Armouchian, who had been reported missing by his family in Glendale, was booked at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station and held in lieu of $50,000 bail, Nordskog said.

The U.S. Forest Service's Law Enforcement Section and the Sheriff's Arson/Explosives Detail are investigating the case, Nordskog said.

Copyright 2003 by NBC4.tv. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Breaking news... this just in....

In a related story to Jozjozjoz's last post, a close friend of mine sent me some really incredible photos from her cul-de-sac in Simi Valley - one of the areas in Southern California affected by the fires.

Her family and neighbors were up all weekend armed with hoses watering down their property, and keeping watch on their homes. They all had their valuables packed up in their cars - which was parked at the end of the street in case they needed to flee. Thankfully - their homes were spared. They were part of the lucky few who escaped damage.

The sky is gray-orange-brown.

I went outside to go to the other building and found that I couldn't breathe when I got back to my desk.

I just had to use my inhaler... and I'm not even close to any of the fires.

Whether you're in Ventura, Simi Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, Hemet, or San Diego... If the fires are close to you, please be careful.

Here is a particularly detailed account about one San Diego community from the L.A. Times

Life-or-Death Choices on Staying or Fleeing

By Scott Glover, Jack Leonard and Megan Garvey
Times Staff Writers

October 28, 2003

LAKE VIEW HILLS ESTATES -- The phone woke Joe McLean shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday and outside he saw the red glow of flames in the hills surrounding his rural San Diego County home.

He woke his daughter and wife, then alerted a few neighbors. Up and down this winding canyon road, residents were waking to the smell of smoke and the noise of barking dogs and honking horns.

With no help from fire crews and no instructions from authorities, families packed up cars, and others set out on foot. There was only one way out: Muth Valley Road.

Neighbors in this tight-knit community just south of the San Vicente Reservoir had only minutes to make choices. By dawn, four who lived on the street would be dead, and half the homes would be destroyed. On Monday, the survivors told their stories.

The McLeans had the best vantage point in the hilly neighborhood of 10 custom homes. They could see towering flames closing in and wasted no time collecting any possessions.

In three separate cars, the McLeans were the first through the neighborhood's security gate about 3:15 a.m.

Concerned the electricity would fail and the families would be trapped, Bob Daly, 75, opened the gate when he got word of the fire from McLean. Then Daly headed back home.

Along the bending Muth Valley Road, fire rose as high as the neighborhood's towering pine trees. Joe McLean trailed his wife and daughter, raising his hand as he drove to shield his eyes from the heat. He worried that heat would melt the plastic windows in the ragtop Jeep driven by his 18-year-old daughter Jennifer. But there was no turning back, he recalled thinking.

Rodney Weichelt, 35, and his father, Bob, 59, were close behind. They could see McLean ahead. Embers pelted Rodney Weichelt's van, sounding to him like machinegun fire. He dripped with sweat.

At his home up the road, Stephen Shacklett, 55, corralled his four Irish wolfhounds, got them into his RV and drove toward the gate. His girlfriend , Cheryl Jennie, 59, was still at the house, planning to leave soon in her own car.

In the neighborhood that night to housesit, Natalie Corbett, 39, called 911. The operator told her she was on her own. She asked if she should leave, and the operator said to go if she thought she could make it. She loaded her dog into her Bronco and fled past the gate, driving through a curtain of fire. A fallen cable was stretched tight across the road and flipped her truck, sending it skidding off the road. Surrounded by flames, the Bronco resting on its side, Corbett said she wrapped herself and the dog in a sunshade and prepared to die, sucking on a wetted washcloth she had brought with her.

Other families were still at home.

The Hamiltons — Steve, his pregnant wife, Jodi, and their toddler son — had decided to take two cars. At first they could smell smoke but couldn't see even a glow. Hurrying but not frantic, they began packing collectibles and photo albums. Steve Hamilton, 43, took their 2-year old son Alexander in his car. Jodi Hamilton, 38, put their boxer, Libby, in hers.

Larry Redden, 64, had awakened at 12:30 a.m. to the smell of smoke. Redden, who retired last year after three decades with the San Diego Fire Department, walked out on his deck to check on the fire, then went back to bed. He and his wife, Laureen, 44, woke again when McLean called. The Reddens roused her parents, who lived with them, and got ready to leave.

The Shohara family — James, Solange and their grown son Randy — were the newest family in the neighborhood. At their home near the gated entry, they too prepared to flee.

About the same time, Bob Daly and his wife, Barbara, 67, pulled out of their driveway.

By 3:30 a.m. the Hamiltons, Reddens, Shoharas, and Dalys and Cheryl Jennie formed a six-car caravan through the entry gate. With Redden leading, they were stopped by wall of fire. The families turned around and headed home to decide what to do next.

At their expansive Spanish-style home, Steve Hamilton, vice president of a construction company, began moving vehicles and equipment out of their garage as his wife and son waited. Jodi couldn't understand why he was wasting time. Nearly hysterical, she woke her mother up in Connecticut to tell her the fire was close. Her mother, who had visited before, told her to take her son and head for the nearby reservoir. Leave Steve behind if you have to, she advised.

The Dalys conferred with the Shoharas, who were walking toward a dirt road to the reservoir.

"I don't think you should go down there, it's too rough a road," Bob Daly told them.

Solange Shohara told him they were going anyway.

Minutes later, the Dalys considered following. They walked in the same direction as the Shoharas, but after taking a look down the rough access road, his vision blurred by smoke, Bob Daly made a decision.

"No way," he told his wife. "We're going back to the house to jump in the pool."

Jennie cast her lot with the Reddens and followed them back to their tiled-roof home. You look like you know what you're doing, the retired firefighter recalled her saying.

Larry Redden, drawing on his years of experience, decided defending the house was the best way to survive. While his in-laws, wife, neighbor and dogs huddled in the living room, he donned his old firefighting gear and poured water from the pool around the perimeter of the house.

The others held out hope that help was on the way. Laureen Redden said her husband leveled with them: "Hey, they've written us off. We're on our own."

Jodi Hamilton decided to take her mother's advice. She got into the driver's seat of her husband's car, planning to head to the reservoir. Her husband said they would never make it. He had another plan. They would drive to a dirt flat near their house and try to dodge the flames in their SUV.

He hosed down the SUV, turned on the air conditioning and raced the vehicle back and forth, trying to stay away from the fire. In the backseat, Alexander, shrieked: "Hot. Hot."

"You couldn't see — the smoke, the ash," Jodi Hamilton said. "It looked like hell or what I pictured hell to be."

The Dalys had gotten back to their house to find it already in flames. Fully clothed, they plunged into the pool. Bob Daly urged his wife to keep dunking her head underwater so embers wouldn't ignite her hair.

As fire burned everywhere, they began a running dialogue about what they could hear exploding; the propane tank, the windows. The fire got too hot to bear. They jumped from the pool and ran across the street to an area the fire had already passed through.

Up the street, with flames too close to keep wetting down the house, retired firefighter Redden joined the others inside. Fire roared on all sides. They could hear it rushing over the roof.

"We just watched it come and prayed," said Laureen Redden. To her mother, Judy Bloomfield it was "just this horrible roaring wind. There is nothing like it."

Also surrounded by fire, Jodi Hamilton placed another call to her mother from their car. "I don't think we're going to make it out of here," she told her. They said their goodbyes.

Then almost as suddenly as it had descended, the fire passed. The Hamiltons were alive. It was about an hour after they and the other families had first turned back from the gate.

Bob Daly and his wife surveyed the destruction. At dawn he began to walk the street to check on the others. He had last seen the Shoharas on foot. But down the block, he saw their car, a melted shell, with two bodies inside. He dialed 911. They told him they would send paramedics. He told them to send the coroner.

About 100 yards away, he discovered another body. He believed it was the Shoharas' son Randy.

Jodi Hamilton, hearing of the deaths, thought her family would have died too if her husband hadn't stopped her from heading to the reservoir. After taking their chances dodging the fire in their car, they returned to find their home spared.

Outside the gate, along Muth Valley Road, Larry Redden found the burned-out shell of Stephen Shacklett's RV and a body inside.

Natalie Corbett was on the road too. She had been certain she would die after her car overturned.

She had tried doze off to escape the pain. At dawn, she was finally able to see well enough to find her cellular phone. She dialed 911 again. This time paramedics came, smashing a window to free her and her dog.

On Monday, Joe McLeansaid he was grateful to be alive but tormented by a sense that he had not done enough to warn the others.

"The thing that haunts you " he said, standing outside his home, his eyes welling with tears. "Had I remembered, had they known five minutes earlier, maybe they would have gotten out."

Copyright © 2003, The Los Angeles Times

Overwhelmed.

So what else is new?

Just so much happening. I'm a wreck.

The extra hour we got this weekend was spent at Office #2.

Actually, on Saturday, I went to Office #2, then to Job #3, directly back to Job #2 until 5:30am on Sunday morning.

Then I got up 3 hours later and headed for Job #3 again, but not before swinging by Tiffany in Beverly Hills to pick something up for Job #1.

Then it was back at Job #3, where I waited until the day was over so I could take my Jobe Benjamins home.

In all of this, I'm neglecting everyone I care about, including Yoshi, who is still waiting for surgery.

Why do I do this to myself???

UPDATE: Do not taunt happy fun ball.

I should give my grats. too!

I am grateful that I finally have a plan for my Halloween costume!

It started when my sister told me that she is planning to be a 50's housewife. (I will be in s.f. this Halloween, and spending it with sister and friend.) Hmmm... I thought, what could I be that could go with that. Ponder ponder ponder. Got it! Since she will be someone from the 50's, I am going to be someone in his 50's (my dad specifically, dirty undershirt, jeans, flannel shirt, grey hair and beard, and of course an AARP card!) Simple and fun. But what will my friend be? Got that too! Since sister will be from the 50's, and I will be in my 50's, she must be 50! 50 Cent that is! I think it is clever and very stupid; just the way I like things. What are y'all gonna be? Curious...

belated friday gratitues...

1) for the geko 201 gps

2) for my girlfriend mentioning that we should get a gps unit (and for me having the sense to buy it) for our hiking trip into Utah's Paria Canyon Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness area - Coyote Buttes and the Wave

3) for my girlfriend learning how to use it

Buy Jobe!

I've been bad. Very bad. I feel really guilty even though everyone says I shouldn't.

So over the course of the 8 years or so I've worked (part-time) at Job #3, I've managed to resist the urge to blow my cash on stuff.

I finally caved and bought stuff today. I am amazed I held out as long as I did. A few months ago, I saw the work of a certain photographer, and I wanted it.

What did I do? I bought 2 prints by Jobe Benjamin.

I've been debating for a week (since I was here at Job #3 last Sunday and got a glimpse of a few pieces that Jobe had brought by to be sold)...

Here are the two from last week (not the ones that I bought)...

Comfort Zone (PHOTOGRAPH BY BENJAMIN Pigmented inkjet print and photograph: "Comfort Zone" by Jobe Benjamin (American, b. 1956), points of color playing over the back torso of a nude woman, 22 1/2" x 15", signed lower right; unframed. Est $600-800)

Americanization (PHOTOGRAPH BY BENJAMIN Pigmented inkjet print and photograph: "Americanization" by Jobe Benjamin (American, b. 1956), red and blue striations on a nude woman arched across the seat of a chair, 15" x 22", signed lower right; unframed. Est $1000-1500)

Do you want to see the ones I bought?

Red Stripe (Description: Original color-enhanced photograph, "Red Stripe" by Jobe Benjamin (American, senior photographer Getty Research Institute), artist's proof, initialed lower right; 15" x 22 1/2". Est $1000-1500)

Blue Stripe (Description: Original color-enhanced photograph, "Blue Stripe" by Jobe Benjamin (American, senior photographer Getty Research Institute), artist's proof, initialed lower right; 15" x 22 1/2". Est $1000-1500)

Everyone keeps telling me that I really shouldn't feel guilty. I work REALLY hard and never buy anything for myself. I guess I just feel like I shouldn't be spending my hard-earned money on something as "impractical" as art...

Oh well, too late now. Once I get over the guilt & once I spend more money to get them framed so I can hang them up, I think I will start enjoying them...

The good news is, Jobe will be coming by in December & I'll get to meet him. I'm excited about that...

... Right now I'm in shock (and just finished working the auction, so I can pay for the dang things!)

Mr Don & Ms Joz (and Sean, too!)

This is the only picture that we were able to take before my camera battery died. Thanks to Don for driving out to Santa Monica and also to Sean, who joined us at CPK a little later in the evening.

It was nice to meet you both and I hope to spend more time with each of you guys, soon!

(Yvonne, we missed you!)

lucy in the sky with diamonds...

i'm funny when i'm high. at least, everyone seems to think so. i talked to my brother for 1/2 an hour today, i haven't heard him laugh like that in ages. and i was talking to tcubed, and she was laughing at me too. maybe laughing AT me is different than me being funny.

so i take vicodin every 4 hours to keep my stomach and back from exploding. vicodin makes me weird. it makes me itchy, too. but i seem to have a knack for using big words and making up silly songs when under the influence.

and have i mentioned my obsession with food?

i'm told that millions of american women suffer through this food obsession when they're dieting. depriving themselves of sustenance in hopes of losing that extra pound or two.

i'm being forced by my gallstones to give up food, but if i had my way i'd be eating anything and everything my mind can dream up. and i do mean dream. i'm dreaming about food. i close my eyes and i have visions of chips and salsa, grilled chicken over salad greens, spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread. cold tofu with green onions and soy sauce. i want food so badly i can smell it.

why do people go through this voluntarily?

i was driving home from my consultation with my surgeon, thinking about stopping at every taco stand and fast food place on the 9 mile drive. knowing full well that i couldn't eat any of it, yet still blinded by the thoughts of just one bite...

and my surgeon says it may be two weeks before i can be scheduled for my surgery. i think i'll have myself committed before then.

SCORE!

Free food!

Because I didn't bring my lunch today, I planned to get a salad from the lunch truck. I was really bummed when the lunch truck wasn't out there at 12:30 like it usually is.

I went to the receptionist to ask if he knew if the truck would be coming today and he said "Hold on." He led me into the executive offices where a meeting had wrapped & they had leftover sammiches, pasta salad, and giant cookies. And I got a diet coke! Woot!

Except for the fact that I have to rush and get some stuff done for Job #2 before going to meet Don tonight, I'm glad to finally have an evening of something other than (all) work. And maybe I can get Don to buy me dinner tonight?!?!

If you're in the L.A. area tonight & want to meet up for a late dinner, we're going grub at a fine establishment in Santa Monica (near 3rd St. Promenade) at 8pm. [email/comment me or Don if you want to know the details!]

Although Yoshi will be stuck at home, resting up for surgery, rumor has it that Yvonne and Sean may make appearances. Stay tuned!

(Bows to skits, the Queen of Meatspace.)

I plead "sleep-deprived"

Oddly enough, I'm not that tired right now. I feel weirdly sore all over & also have that gross acidic feeling in the bottom of my tummy... both normal side effects of sleep deprivation.

The strange one is the cussing and swearing for no good reason. Obscenities keep sneaking into my conversations... I caught myself in time before I blurted out something stupidly rude and inappropriate in my meeting this morning with my boss.

The words dumbfuck, shithead, asswipe have all spilled from my fingers in IM or in comments. I'm not even in a bad mood or anything. It's just that my damn vocabulary has been hijacked by a pirate, I think.

Yeah. A sleepy pirate. Damn him!

PS- If a sleepy pirate signing comments ::jozjozjoz:: has visited your blog today & said something stupid, I am not at fault. Really.

BUSTED!

Doh. At the same moment that Yoshi called my cell phone to see why I wasn't home yet, 2 different people IMed me and said "STOP WORKING AND GO TO SLEEP!"

I'm so in trouble now...

I'm really leaving Office #2 now... really I am...

Keys found!

Yosh!: the number one reason why the jozjozjoz needs to hang up the keys when she gets home...
Yosh!: they tend to fall off the sideboard when there's 1,001 things on it.
Yoshi!: your keys were between the sideboard and the couch.

Um. Oops. THANKS HUNNY!

Ow, my head. And where the hell are my keys?

I woke up EARLY (between 5 and 6am) this morning to get some work done before I left for work.

Among other things, I was rifling around in the loft for some stuff. As I was leaving the loft, I bonked my head REALLY REALLY hard on the doorway (obviously it's not a standard-sized door). There is a giant bump on the top of my head and it still hurts, almost 5 hours later.

And then I tried to walk out the door to get to work on time & couldn't find my car keys ANYWHERE. I had to wake Yoshi up and borrow the Hunnymobile to get to work. But not after wasting 20 minutes looking for the damn keys. The latest word is that Yoshi still hasn't seen my keys anywhere.

I know that I brought them in the house because I had been sitting in the car, talking to Gingersmack when I got home last night. Well, actually, I had dropped by keys on the asphalt and my remote door key fell apart into 6 pieces. I had to put it back together in the dark and test it to see if it still locked the doors.

It did, and I walked in the house... where they promptly disappeared...

Arrrgh.

my body is my enemy...

after a trip in an ambulance and some really good drugs, i now have to make an appointment tomorrow to have my gall bladder removed. yay.

jozjozjoz is NOT happy about this.

i was at work, minding my own business when i experienced the most excruciating pain i have ever had the pleasure to endure. my pharmacist says it's worse than labor and childbirth, without the payoff in the end (which i'm assuming is the joy of having the kid). anyway, i was incoherent and had the security guards in the building trying to figure out what to do with me (they eventually decided to call the paramedics) and then had to try and explain the nature of the pain to an emt trainee. there's nothing i like better than to be a 'teaching case' for a newbie.

anyway, i couldn't seem to remember where i was, and they repeatedly asked me what i wanted to do, but all i could think of was hitting my head really hard on the table to try and knock myself out so i couldn't feel the pain anymore. i guess i said i wanted to go to the hospital, because i ended up in the back of an ambulance and was deposited in the emergency ward of a very small, very busy hospital.

but they gave me demerol. ahhhhh.....that's the ticket. and yes, i did remember to call jozjozjoz and tell her where i was. or was it my brother who called?

so they came to draw blood. then i got a nifty trip through the corridors and a bunch of lube on my midsection (where do i get me one of those lube-ovens? it was niiiice and warm when the tech was squirting it on) for the ultrasound. then it was back to the er, where i waited 45 more minutes for the results.

but at least jozjozjoz was there to keep me company. in my loopy, demerol-induced haze.

the doctor returned to say that indeed, i did have gallstones. so they wrote me a prescription for vicodin (which i am currently under the influence of, if you hadn't already noticed) and had me sign my life away, then they let me go home.

i went to see my doctor today and he recommended surgery. my nurse practitioner friend also recommended the surgery. jozjozjoz would rather i dissolve the little bastards and keep the gall bladder. but the fact that i can't seem to ingest food without an attack seems to be making me consider the surgery even more.

sigh. tomorrow will be lots of phone calls and research, weighing my options and finding the best place to have surgery. maybe a second opinion. or 12.

must sleep now, the vicodin's making me type funny.

$48,400 wasn't enough?

Oh please. And by the way, according to this, it's Sajak who fears bear hugs from contestants.

[rolls eyes]

Man Sues 'Wheel' Host Sajak Over Hug
Winner On Show Seeks $2M For Back Injury Claim

POSTED: 8:52 a.m. EDT October 21, 2003

A "Wheel of Fortune" contestant isn't feeling the love from a hug by Pat Sajak -- he said he's feeling the pain.

Will Wright is suing the show for $2 million claiming that Sajak wrecked his back when he gave him a bear hug and wrapped his arms and legs around him.

Wright tells the Washington Post that he stuck out his hand after winning $48,000, thinking Sajak would shake it.

Instead, he said, Sajak jumped onto him.

He says when Sajak did that he thought to himself, "Don't drop Pat Sajak!"

Wright says he's needed back surgery and months of rehab.

Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Suing TV's 'Wheel' for a Fortune
Lorton Contestant Took Home Money and a Bad Back
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 18, 2003; Page B01

Contestant Will Wright had just won $48,400, and the "Wheel of Fortune" audience was cheering with abandon in a D.C. auditorium where the show was being taped. Suddenly, Wright says, host Pat Sajak leapt at his body and wrapped his arms and legs around him.

Sajak's midair bearhug that October 2000 night at Constitution Hall was edited out of the broadcast, Wright says. But Wright, who is no longer in the market for a vowel, remembers it well. This week, the 38-year-old puzzle-guessing champion from Lorton filed a $2 million lawsuit against the show's producers over the back injuries he says he suffered from Sajak's moment of unbridled enthusiasm.

"I stick out my hand thinking he's going to shake it," Wright recalled. "Instead, he jumps onto me, with his legs and arms. . . . All I remember thinking was: 'This is Pat Sajak. Don't drop Pat Sajak.' "

Wright, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 153 pounds, said he nearly buckled under Sajak's full-weight embrace. And despite having won nearly a year's salary by solving three word puzzles and receiving a warm hug from letter-turner Vanna White on the show, within minutes after the show wrapped, Wright said he began to feel sharp pains in his back.

Since then, the father of two and computer circuit designer said, he has had back surgery and months of pain and rehabilitation, for which he contends "Wheel of Fortune's" producers, Sony Pictures Entertainment, should be forced to pay.

The incident took place during a road trip the game show made for a special "Washington Week."

Wright won $13,000 for guessing the phrase "You've Got Everything Going for You," $17,400 for "Caught in the Act of Congress" and $18,000 for "Foreign Dignitaries." He lost the bonus round, "Toboggan." He had only three letters and 10 seconds left to guess that one, he said yesterday.

"They say I signed a release . . . but that was for things like if you hurt yourself spinning the wheel," Wright said. "It doesn't cover the host jumping on a contestant. If it did, Pat Sajak could pretty much do whatever he wants to you."

A spokeswoman for Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. would not comment on behalf of the show. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

"We don't comment on lawsuits we haven't seen," said Susan Tick, Sony's head of corporate communications.

Wright said Sajak "didn't act with malice. He just didn't think." In his legal papers, Wright's attorney accuses Sajak, as an agent of Sony, of "reckless disregard. . . . and reckless and negligent conduct."

Gregory Lattimer, Wright's attorney, said his client first approached the company, which has $6.7 billion in annual sales, about providing a five- to six-figure medical settlement when a neurosurgeon told Wright in January 2001 that he needed surgery for a herniated disc. But Sony was "adamant" that it wasn't responsible for Wright's injuries, Lattimer said, and that upset the longtime "Wheel" fan, who had watched since it went on the air in 1975.

"They just kind of blew me off," Wright said of Sony's legal offices. "I wondered if Pat was even aware that I had been injured."

Through a spokeswoman, Sajak declined to comment. The popular and voluble Sajak, a Chicago native who got his start as an Army radio announcer for troops in Vietnam, was doing the weather on Los Angeles television when he was hired by Merv Griffin to host "Wheel" in 1981. Original host Chuck Woolery had decided to leave the daytime program after a seven-year stint. Sajak has said that he expected the show's popularity to fade in a few years and was stunned when it gained steam and a nighttime slot.

In addition to the shows Sajak taped in Washington in 2000, he spent a year here in 1970 after his discharge from the Army. He tried without luck to find a job in radio or television and instead worked as a hotel desk clerk.

Wright said he and his wife, Casandra, continue to watch the show regularly. "I still love the game," Wright said. But they notice that Sajak now keeps his distance from contestants who show the slightest signs of excitement.

"My wife said that all those years we watched, Pat Sajak never jumped on any contestants," he said. "She asked me: 'Why you?' "

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

Hello Summer!

I just got back from lunch.

It is 90 degrees out there. I think I am now slightly toasted. Last time I checked, it was October. Did someone mess with my calendar?!

Since I also managed to spill sauce and breadcrumbs on myself, I thinking that perhaps the weather gods were in the mood to make some Joz Au Gratin.

Whoo hoo for Job #2 and Job #3

If you count the fact that I was at Office #2 until 4:30am... and that I will be at Job #3 from 11am to approx 5pm... and that I'm planning to be back at Office #2 from 6pm until past midnight...

I will have worked 16.5 hours in one lovely L.A. Sunday.

And don't forget, I get to go to my regular Job #1 on Monday morning...

Wheeeee!

Please excuse the dust

Stuff is happening with the jozjozjoz blog.

It's all good.

But if you come by and see my blog gone, stuff messed up, etc... just come back again later... things'll be up again soon!

Thanks!

--The Management

Can you hear the Jeopardy theme in the background?

Ok, instead of going to Office #2 on my Friday night (as planned), I have just been invited to join the KTLA's Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) Trivia Bowl team.

If you read the article from last year KTLA has won the dubious honor of the "Top Ramen" prize for coming in last place. As of last year, the big loser streak is 3 years in a row. Out of a possible 75 points, KTLA only received 23.

I think I've been invited to join the team to help maintain that streak. I checked out the questions from last year and I am pretty sure my sleep-deprived brain will be instrumental in helping our team hold on to this prize.

Wish me luck.

Rumor has it...

...that The Professor will be back in L.A. sometime this weekend.

Whee!

UPDATE @ 4:50pm: My sources were correct! He just called to say that he's back!!!

Par-tay!

So except for me, all the people in our office are downstairs for a studio taping.

As BossMan is walking out the door he says, "Well, we're leaving you alone with all the toys. You can turn on and off all the lights, type on the typewriter, open and close all the file cabinets, send and receive all the faxes, use any one of 5 computers and more!"

I said I would try to take advantage of the opportunity and do all of that while they were gone.

I lied. I just stayed here at my desk.

And you don't even have to be Catholic to do it...

Just check this out.

I have sent the link to everyone on my buddy list. Now I'm waiting to see if I can recognize any stories from any of my friends. :)

Am I the only who snickers at this headline?

Grand Opening. Hee hee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grand Opening Of Erotic Museum Delayed
Museum Spends $250,000 In Anticipation Of Gala

POSTED: 5:54 p.m. PDT October 13, 2003

LOS ANGELES -- The opening of the Erotic Museum on Hollywood Boulevard has been pushed back to January, but the museum has spent $250,000 on new artworks for the festivities, officials said Monday.

The museum is the second of its kind in the nation, following New York City's Museum of Sex.

The brainchild of two Russian immigrants, it's in a 6,000-square-foot, two- story building at 6741 Hollywood Blvd. -- a stone's throw from the Hollywood & Highland complex.

The museum includes a range of erotic art, including a collection of dry-point etchings by Picasso, as well as sex-themed displays, antique "pleasure machines" and a screening room/performance space.

According to curator Eric Singley, the new acquisitions include works from Julian Murphy and Jason Mecier, whose mosaics include a portrait of Jerry Seinfeld done in cereal, the comedian's favorite food.

Copyright 2003 by NBC4.tv. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I'm NOT clicking on that...

So my for a good part of a week, James, Hot-Asian-Guy-Friend-Who-Hits-On-Me-Via-Drunk-IM™ kept sending me (via IMs at work) links of Britney Spears photos, starting with the Esquire pictures.

I'd already seen them & told him I thought they were nice but not really that hot. I guess this just made James want to prove to me how hot she is. So he kept sending more links of her pictures.

Then the links started to end in things like /britneyboobies.jpg, /britneynaked.jpg, and /britneyhothothot.jpg.

He'd send a link and I'd reply "I'm at work, I'm NOT clicking that!" The more adamant that I was about not clicking his links, the more it made him want to send me more and more links.

So even he had to admit it was perfect when I sent him this link and asked "Is that you, James?!"

Judge Calls Man 'Fixated,' Orders Him Away From Britney Spears

Man Must Stay At Least 300 Feet From Pop Star

POSTED: 1:50 p.m. PDT October 7, 2003
UPDATED: 5:58 p.m. PDT October 7, 2003

LOS ANGELES -- A judge issued a permanent injunction Tuesday ordering a Japanese businessman to stay away from pop idol Britney Spears, ruling he was "was abnormally obsessed and fixated with Spears."

"This cries out for injunctive relief," Superior Court Judge Alan Haber said.

"It was an obvious pattern of harassment and emotional harm done to a person of notoriety and her attorney met the burden of establishing emotional distress," Haber said.

Spears, 21, first sought a restraining order against Masahiko Shizawa in December 2002, alleging that he "tracked and attempted to contact" her at her home in Los Angeles, as well as at her second home and one of her parent's homes, which are both outside California. He also allegedly sent photos of himself and notes reading, "I'm chasing you."

Shizawa, whose visa expired, has been back in his native Yokohama, Japan, since last December.

The judge said the evidence showed that Shizawa was mentally "off."

Shizawa's lawyer, Simon Robert Hiller, said his client was a law-abiding citizen. "He was in love," he said.

The permanent injunction calls for Shizawa to stay 300 yards away from Spears for three years.

The pop star recently made headlines with provocative poses in a current issue of Esquire magazine.

Appearing on the cover of the magazine, Spears is wearing a short white sweater and little else.

The photos are part of the magazine's 70 Years of Women We Love November issue, which also showcases Cameron Diaz, Pamela Anderson, Catherine Zeta Jones, Sharon Stone and Madonna.

In an interview that accompanies the photographs, Spears explains why Esquire wanted her to appear on the magazine's cover.

"Well, some people might say it's just to make money and sell magazines," said Spears. "But another reason -- a better reason, and the one I choose -- is that they do it to inspire people."

Inside the magazine are other photos shot by James White, featuring even more revealing pictures of Spears, who is outfitted in solely in a pair of panties and some carefully placed necklaces.

Elsewhere in the article, Spears claims to have resisted her record label's attempts to sexually exploit her.

"Actually, the record label wanted me to do certain songs, and I was like, 'Look, if you want me to be some kind of sex thing, that's not me,' " said Spears. "I will never do that. I'm still doing what I love to do."

Copyright 2003 by NBC4.tv. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

What a drag.....

Here is a photo from a great fundraising event my girlfriend and I attended last night. It was a blast, and I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.... eight "bitches" in heat ..... ahem ...... ladies.... and I use that term loosely.... competed in the "best in drag show" at the Wilshire Ebell theater. It was a fundraiser for Aid for AIDS and an event honoring it's creator Alexis Pittman - who passed away from AIDS in 1999.

Ms. Florida - Sunny Delight was crowned the winner, Ms. New York - Eatin Disorder was the runner up, and other contestants were: Ms. California - Amber Alert, Ms. Minnesota - Malla America, Ms. Vermont - Mabel Syrup, Ms. Texas - Anita Longhorn, and Ms. Hawaii Aloe Ha. Celebrity judges included in the photo: John C. Reilly, Terri Garr, Kathy Griffin, Caroline Rhea, and Sarah Chalke.

In total the event raised over $125k for the charity. If you are interested in donating to a great charity, who actually does good work for a community - please consider giving a gift to Aid For AIDS, and make it in honor of Alexis Pittman. You can donate by going to their website. The link is above. Thanks for reading my post, and considering giving a gift to a great AIDS charity.

Alexis we all miss you......

hello, wrong number

thought i'd put this on a blog that people actually read, as opposed to my own...

is it just me, or are people getting more stupid? this woman has been calling me for two days looking for someone named nancy. i don't know where she got it in her mind that my phone number is nancy's number, but she did. she started calling me about an hour and a half ago, and when i picked up the phone she said, 'i'm sorry, i must have the wrong number, are you nancy?' she's called about every 10 minutes since 9:30.

if you were a person looking for nancy, how many times would you call and get the wrong number before you stopped? personally, after the second time i dialed a number and it turned out to be wrong, i'd start to feel dumb and would stop calling.

ok, the first time you call, what do you do? you ask for the person, if it's the wrong number, you verify that you dialed correctly and then hang up. if you try again, and you get the same wrong number, doesn't it stand to reason that somewhere along the line there has been some miscommunication? then i'd go back to the source to try and get the right number.

calling the wrong number back in hopes that miraculously, nancy has somehow gotten into my pants and now has my phone? odds are against that one, folks.

the last time this woman called, she inquired if i'd had this number for a long time. apparently, i've not had it long enough for her to figure out that she's still dialing the wrong number.

that's it. people are just getting dumber.

Yawn.

I'm always yawning, it seems.

When I yawn, my eyes water. Then when I rub my eyes (I know I shouldn't rub them), my eye makeup gets everywhere.

Right now it looks like I applied my makeup this morning while on a bull riding machine.

Oh yay.

Wedding Season is officially over for me!

Thank goodness. I am grateful that I have survived... sanity & pocketbook (mostly) in tact.

With the wedding in San Diego over, I can officially end the jozjozjoz Summer 2003 Wedding Season which consisted of:

5 weddings (none of which were mine)
4 bridal showers
3 bachelorette parties
2 times I got stuck wearing a hat to a wedding
1 time I got yelled at by my mom for forgetting my hat
0 times I caught the bouquet (whew!)

I am proud to announce that at the 4 weddings where the bride actually did a bouquet toss, I managed to successfully avoid catching it every time.

I was quite happy that for the two family weddings that my cousin Jennifer & I attended, Jenn caught the bouquet both times. She's less than a year older than me and everyone kept asking us "Who's next?!" and we'd sit there pointing at each other. Of course, at the first wedding, I grabbed Jenn, pulled her to the middle of the floor, pointed at her when her sister was going to toss the bouquet, and I held her in place so she couldn't move away from the spot her sister was aiming for. The bouquet bounced right off her torso and fell into pieces on the ground. Jenn turned around and started handing pieces of the bouquet out to everyone. The second time, the bouquet was flying right at me and as I was panicking and trying to decide if I should run away to the left or the right, I saw her hands fly up over mine and the flowers land squarely in hers.

Anyway, this means that the pressure is happily off of me to be the next bride. I mean with two bouquets caught at two family weddings in the same summer, she's going to have to be the next... because it's sure not going to be me. More importantly, people will remember that she caught the 2 bouquets and will focus their attention on her and be nosy about her love life, etc, etc.

For the record, it's not that I don't want to get married, because I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit envious of all the beautiful brides I've seen this summer. But weddings are an awful lot of stress, time, and money. I've already got too much stress and not enough time and money. And as I always say when people ask why I don't want to get married yet... "I've got an awful lot of work to do before I can get married."

Anyway, aside from not catching any bouquets, I also did not win any bridal shower prizes. I suck a bridal shower games. I am totally and completely terrible at them. You'd think that by the fourth one, I'd possibly get the hang of it... not so. At the last bridal shower I went to (the pajama party one), I got a prize at the end of the night because there was one left over and I was the only one not to win any games that night.

So long as we're talking Wedding Season stats:
15 *separate* weekends (since June 28) when I had to do something wedding-related
Hundreds and hundreds of dollars spent on gifts, travel, food, alcohol, etc. for all this wedding stuff
6 new pairs of shoes (ok, I didn't wear any of them to any weddings, but I did buy them while *looking for* new wedding shoes)
4 weddings where my poor brother got stuck with me as his date
3 manicures and 2 pedicures
Lots of dancing (some of it lame)
2 weddings that my car ended up carting stuff back to the bride & groom's home
1 wedding on a boat
1 wedding involving Korean traditional garb and date tossing
2 male strip shows
1 wedding at the Ritz Carlton
1 reception at a country club
1 spa day
1 wedding with cool HP stuff
Countless extra empty calories from all the booze
1 wedding afterparty
1 wedding afterparty afterparty
1 wedding on a military base
1 trip to Vegas
1 cheesy bachelorette party photo with mostly naked guys
2 money dances
1 trip to San Diego
1 ruined dress
1 betta fish (named Eme) we had to fishsit when our friends were on their honeymoon
0 new wedding clothes
...and many new friends and acquaintences :)

So if you're wondering why I am weddinged out, the above should give you a clue. I did not count the two weddings I attended earlier in the year as part of the Summer Wedding Season. And I've been informed of at least one wedding next year that we might be attending.

However, my cousin Jennifer beat me in the wedding count... she's been to seven (or was it nine?) this year... and was in the wedding party for several of them. But the doctor I met at my cousin's wedding last week took the cake... he had already been to TWELVE this year... with SEVEN MORE to go!

I guess I don't have nearly as many friends and family as that guy does, but I still am appreciative of everyone who invited me to be part of their special day.

Miss the zonkboard?

As you may have noticed, I had a free zonkboard which has now expired.

I was never really a fan of the zonkboard, but I had it up since it was free, so you know, why not?

Well, now that I have to pay for it to have it, I am debating whether or not to keep it. It's obviously not the money (it's not that expensive), but now I guess I should probably think about it...

What do you think?

Headed to San Diego!

So as soon as this long-ass work day is over with, I get to go home, pack for the weekend & prepare for the wedding that I can't find appropriate clothes for.

And tonight after traffic has died down a bit, I shall make the drive to San Diego, where I will be spending the weekend.

Fair warning: If I have your number, I may call you. (This applies to people not in San Diego, as well.)

Maybe being in the land of awesome San Diego bloggers, some of their blogger mojo will rub off on me...

Yawn.

Ow.

At work because I only have 3 sick OR personal days a year. And yesterday would have been day 2.

My benefits suck.

For your amusement...

...and mine, too.

Don't think anything perverted about me in the tub... this song DOES NOT DESCRIBE ME!

I just ran across these lyrics for a song by The Wyrd Sisters (pronounced "weird") and thought they were funny. So in the absence of anything exciting happening today, I thought I'd share these lyrics.

Again, I found this entertaining, but it's not reflective of me. Thank you.

--The Management

'The Faucet'
by The Wyrd Sisters

my sexual preference is
my bathtub faucet,
you might say that I'm in a water closet.
my tank's too small
my water bill's high,
but my faucet and I get happily by
faucet and I
bye, bye, bye
I'm a HYDRA sexual...

My headache didn't go away...

... in fact, it got worse.

Much worse. With dizzy spells as an added bonus.

It was so bad that I did not go to an important monthly board meeting for Job #2 last night. (If Joz skips an important meeting, she must be feeling really shitty.)

I stayed home and rested and took a bunch of Excedrin. It didn't help.

At 2am, I called in sick. I went to bed again and slept in. (Joz never calls in sick or sleeps in.)

And now I'm up again... my head still throbs and I can feel my eyebrow twitching.

Help...

I just met Lola

Yes, this Lola (from the Osbournes).

I am grateful she didn't crap on me or something.

(I need to be visiting Genevieve & Goomi soon... I miss them!)

My head hurts.

It really hurts.

I never did find anything to wear to the wedding this weekend. And I have to drive to San Diego in Friday night traffic.

Gah.

I'm moving to Canada...

Idiots chose their favorite circus performer and now he's going to run the asylum.

I liked the former leader - he may have been a little plastic, you wouldn't really want to hang out with him, but he was a good guy put into a bad situation from the get go (can we say Oil and Bush?). What a very sad day indeed.

So now I'll either start a new recall or move to Canada.....

That is all

Exercising my right to vote... 8 times.

So I finally made it to work today, after going way-way-way out of my way to vote. For the privilege of casting my vote, it really wasn't any kind of sacrifice at all, actually. (More about this in a separate post.)

I mean...

Had I actually turned in my request for an absentee ballot on time, then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of actually going to the polling place today.

Though (in reference to voter fraud) the famous phrase "Vote early! Vote often!" was coined about Chicago, this phrase really could have been used today at my fabulous polling place behind the Orange Curtain in Anaheim, California.

I got to the polls this morning just past 7am, right after they opened. It was a total zoo. There were lines (the word "line" is used loosely in this case) of people going out the door. I knew that this would be the first "rush hour," so I was prepared to wait... I just had no idea I was going to be as bad & disorganized as it was.

Evidently, there were three different "lines" for people to check-in by their last name (A-H, I-P, Q-Z). This was not apparent at all. I had been in the giant line out the door for a good 10 minutes before I realized I might have been in the wrong line. I was kindly directed to the correct line by other voters, who were also waiting. Basically, the line for I-P was mixed up with the line for Q-Z, which was mixed up with the line of people who had already checked in & were waiting to get their ballots.

That's right... instead of getting your ballot at check-in (what I'm used to), to get your ballot, there was a separate line that you were supposed to get into after you "checked-in." This also happened to be the line that was going out the door. And there was no rhyme or reason to any of this & the polling volunteers (bless them) were too short-handed to deal with any of this.

So basically, there was nothing stopping anyone from just getting in the "line" for your ballot without checking-in first. There was also nothing/no one stopping anyone who had already checked-in and voted from getting back into line and getting another ballot. And people were standing in line saying that if they had time, they'd vote again and again. There was really no stopping people from doing so.

In addition to the "line" lameness, I was also annoyed by the ballot itself. I understand that L.A. County has touch-screen voting, but I guess since Orange County was bankrupt from government fraud (yay Republicans), they are too poor to do anything other than the paper ballot. Because there were so many freakin' names on the ballot, it was so huge that they couldn't do the punch cards (yay! no hanging chads) that we normally have. The ballot itself resembled a big ol' scantron, except you had to use a black pen instead of a No. 2 pencil. Oh, and you had to provide your own pen. They didn't even have pens inside the voting booth. I somehow managed to lose my sleek silver pen (gah!) between the "check-in" line and the "get your free ballots" line, so I had to get one from someone who had already voted. And I am a pen-o-phile, so I was really distraught about losing my pen.

They had to have these special "sleeves" (giant paper covers) to cover your ballot with after you voted. And evidently, they didn't have a large supply of these sleeves because the reason the "get your third ballot" line was so long was because there was ANOTHER LINE of people who had already voted & were waiting to turn in their ballots (and they had all the sleeves covering their ballots). That's right. After you voted, you had to stand in another line to turn in your ballot.

So the poor little old lady (who was trying to give people their 15th ballot for the morning) was frazzled because she was waiting for the poor little old man who had to rip the (giant) "stub" off the of the giant ballot and put the sleeve/ballot into the giant ballot box while holding on the little tabs on the sleeve, letting the ballot "fall" into the box & removing the sleeve from the ballot box and hand her the empty sleeve. (Yes, it was that long and drawn out and about 10,000 times worse in person than it was reading about it.)

By the time I got back to my car, I was really pissed off. I was in such a rush to get out of there, it didn't occur to me to take pictures of the place so I would have some proof of what was happening. So I called my poor brother, woke him up early and asked him to go immediately to the polling place and take as many photographs as possible of the "voting" mayhem.

He reported that though it wasn't as crazy as it was when I got there, there were still quite a few people in the same "lines" I had told him about. He took a bunch of pictures before getting chewed out by someone. At 11:05 this morning, I called the # for the Orange County Registrar posted in my polling location ("Call 714-567-7580 if you have any problems voting." Um, yeah!) and left a detailed message with my concerns about people not checking-in/voting multiple times. You can bet your patootie that I'll be filing a formal complaint to the Orange County Registrar, the Secretary of State, and anyone else I can write to.

(No, I didn't really vote 8 times. Maybe Wil will go deep behind the Orange Curtain and cover this?)

The Office Floor Plan

So today is The BossMan's birthday and he's been getting calls and gifts all day.

Late in the morning while the BossMan was out at a meeting, the Guard Gate called up to the office to say that flowers had been delivered for him. We asked the assistant to pick up the flowers from the security guards and she brought them back and left them near my desk for BossMan when he returned.

It is a really beautiful & fragrant arrangement of white roses and I have been lucky enough to have them in my office to enjoy. Later in the day, BossMan called to thank to the people who had sent the flowers and this is the conversation I heard:

BossMan: "Hi [flower sender person 1]! Thank you and [flower sender person 2] for thinking of me today! I was out at a meeting and I came back and saw these flowers sitting in the foyer and saw my name on it and..."

Evidently, my office is the "foyer."

As much I as I work here, I would say "Servant's Quarters" would be more accurate. It would explain a lot around here if the mini-fridge is really the "Wine Cellar."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.S. to professoreric: I sent that conversation to K while BossMan was on the phone and she LAUGHED SO FREAKING LOUDLY. I have no idea how I keep from cracking up here most of the time.

P.P.S to professoreric: Guess who the "Flower Sender People" are?! (Do not leave your guess in the comments!)

The Strip will be different without them

In my many trips to Vegas & many stays at the Mirage, I've never seen Siegfried & Roy's show (though we have seen the white tigers in the entrance of the Mirage).

Since the show has been canceled indefinitely, I guess I'll never have the chance.

Roy Horn Of 'Siegfried & Roy' Critical But Improving

POSTED: 6:52 a.m. EDT October 6, 2003
UPDATED: 1:48 p.m. EDT October 6, 2003

LAS VEGAS -- Roy Horn, of Siegfried & Roy, remains in critical condition after being mauled in the neck by one of his own tigers.

But it could be days before doctors have a prognosis for him.

More details are emerging about what happened.

The attack occurred halfway through Friday night's performance at The Mirage hotel-casino. The tiger weighs about 600 pounds.

Horn told the tiger to lie down. When it refused, Horn tapped the cat on the nose with a microphone to get its attention. The animal grabbed at Horn's arm, causing the entertainer to stumble.

The tiger then lunged at Horn, who tried to beat the animal away with the microphone. It bit into the left side of Horn's neck and dragged him off stage by the neck. The attack barely missed severing Horn's carotid artery.

The stage crew used fire extinguishers to distract the tiger and free him. He was rushed to a hospital and went into surgery.

Horn's undergone several surgeries since Friday's attack.

Hundreds of people gathered Sunday night for a candlelight vigil outside the hospital.

Many of the more than 200 people who went to the vigil were show employees who came to support Roy.

The famed animal trainer and performer remains in critical condition.

Those who attended chanted, "We love you Roy," and signed a giant get-well card.

MGM Mirage officials also delivered some good news at the vigil. Roy was able to move his hands and feet Sunday, a sign that his condition is improving.

That's something officials haven't been able to say since he was mauled by the tiger Friday night.

But many of the employees were also upset about losing their jobs. MGM Mirage officials have promised to help them find new employment.

The Future Of 'Siegfried & Roy'

If you haven't already caught "Siegfried & Roy" in Las Vegas, most likely, you'll never get the chance again.

Shortly after his partner was dragged behind the stage by that tiger Friday night, Siegfried Fischbacher came onto the stage and told the packed house the performance was canceled.

Later, officials at the Mirage Hotel said the show's canceled indefinitely.

Siegfried and Roy signed a lifetime contract with The Mirage two years ago. They perform six shows a week, 44 weeks out of the year. They've been onstage in Las Vegas for more than 35 years, starting at the Tropicana.

Siegfried and Roy met in 1957, when both were entertaining on a cruise ship.

Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I *am* weddinged out.

I am pissed off because I had an entire blog entry written and it just went *poof!*

I'm going to go to bed now before I break my keyboard into tiny bits.

Big day today

Today is my cousin's wedding (the one with the cool toys!). I'll be gone all day.

Yoshi was great enough to buy me a new memory card for my camera (256MB) so now I can run around all day and take lots of pictures... that is if my battery doesn't die out on me.

Maybe I'll have energy to write tomorrow.

If I haven't been weddinged out, that is.

"Master Debaters" are we...

I quite enjoy a good debate from time to time.

I love the excitement of a debate: the verbal/literary sparring, the witty repartee, wordplay at its most glorious…

I share none of that with Michael. Check it out…

10/2/2003
me (10:43:39 AM): bleh
him (10:43:46 AM): bleh bleh
me (10:44:03 AM): Hee
him (10:44:17 AM): hee hee
me (10:44:27 AM): Hee hee hee hee
him (10:44:35 AM): lol
me (10:45:11 AM): Have we totally run out of things to say?!
him (10:45:32 AM): lol
him (10:45:33 AM): i dunno
him (10:45:34 AM): have we?
me (10:46:06 AM): [cry] Maybe we have!
me (10:46:22 AM): we are like an old couple now!
him (10:46:36 AM): you can change my diaper
him (10:46:41 AM): or give me a sponge bath
him (10:46:44 AM): or chew up my food for me.
me (10:46:44 AM): Bleh
me (10:49:07 AM): Is it a rule that every other thing we say to each other is "bleh?"
him (10:49:30 AM): bleh
him (10:49:33 AM): perhaps.
him (10:49:33 AM): bleh.
me (10:55:33 AM): bleh bleh bleh

Holy Flying Fuck!

I usually do my voting via absentee ballot.

I am *supposed* registered as a permanent absentee voter... meaning that they are supposed to automatically send me my ballot in the mail. I found out at the 2000 Presidential Election that there is some problem with the system (no shit!) and that if I don't request an absentee ballot at every election, I don't get it.

Anyway, I *thought* I had sent my request for a ballot in, but guess what I just found in my messenger bag?!

This means I have to go out of my way to go vote (I had planned my day around the fact that I would not need to go vote in person). Now I have to tell my boss that I'm likely to come in late that day to vote. Eeek.

And this is an important election, too. Yeesh!

I *heart* California

With news like this, earthquakes, smog, and the possibility that Ahnuld could be governor, what's there not to love?!

Those Damn Germans!

Before professoreric and I start getting hate mail, let me just say that we have nothing against the Germans. In fact, I am still waiting for my German lessons from MamaBear. (((Hugs to MamaBear)))

Those German lessons would have come in handy for something professoreric has been dealing with for work...
~~~~~~~~~~~
10/1/2003
him (11:15:13 AM): let me tell you what i did since my day has been so stressful.
me (11:15:16 AM): Okie
him (11:15:58 AM): i got an e-mail finally from a german [vendor] who still hasn't sent his/her [product], and which we most likely will not be [using] because it wont get here in time.
me (11:16:16 AM): that sucks
him (11:16:18 AM): well he/she sent the email in german, which i do not read or speak
him (11:16:51 AM): so i translated this crazy long e-mail on babelfish and all it said was that they recieved my message and understood it
him (11:17:45 AM): so being annoyed and confused why they responeded to my e-mail in german, i decided to send them a message that made it sound like i was trying to speak german to facilitate getting their message quicker
me (11:18:36 AM): What did you do?
him (11:19:59 AM): so i sent them this, which is a poor translation of what i wrote in english:
him (11:20:17 AM): Ich bin nicht sicher, wenn wir Wille Ihren [product] rechtzeitig recieve. Und ich verliebe in Sie. Senden Sie bitte Ihren [product] so bald wie möglich. Und lassen Sie mich wissen, wenn es nicht genügend Zeit danken Ihnen gibt.
him (11:20:37 AM): which means
him (11:21:07 AM): I am not sure if we will receive your [product] on time. And I am falling in love with you. Please send your [product] as soon as possible. And let me know if there is not enough time. thank you.
him (11:21:34 AM): (so i sent it and thats what they get!)
him (11:23:21 AM): i wish i could see their face when they recieve it
me (11:27:15 AM): LOL
me (11:27:51 AM): You should blog that
him (12:14:37 PM): sure... but i dont want those germans to think i am making fun of them
him (12:26:54 PM): oh whatever, they're german
him (12:26:58 PM): post it
me (12:27:06 PM): And can my headline for the post be "Those damn Germans!"?
him (12:27:15 PM): sure
~~~~~~~~~~~
I pray that in his next life, professoreric does not come back as one of those hostage negotiation people.

Who wants to be Sharky's partner?

Er, Amazing Race partner, that is? (She already has a sweetie, sorry!)

Sharky was the one who introduced me to this show & she keeps talking about how she would love to be on this show. I don't think I'd be any good at it, so I feel like I should try to find her a race partner, if I can.

I saw over at Erica's that they are taking applications for the Amazing Race 5!

Oh, maybe I should have consulted Sharky to see if it is ok to pimp her out for the show? Naaaah!

Oh well, if you know of anyone who WOULD be a good partner, let me know!

It's bad but it's not worse.

Remember that skin disease I had a few months ago?

Well, it's back. With a vengeance. Via Smurfs.

... it's called the "Joz Needs to Learn How to Put the Cap Back on Her Red Blue Pen Disease" (aka Joz is a Dork Syndrome).

Evidently it's not contagious, but is prone to slight mutations and recurrences every few months.

Luckily, it's not nearly as bad a case this time.

Send a Happy Birthday BOOYAH...

Please stop by Meeta's and leave her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOYAH!

And Wendy, too! (No BOOYAH necessary for skits.)

Thanks.

-The Management