Don't Let the Door Hit Ya ....

(nice sweater!)

Dear David & Victoria:

I hear David wants to leave the LA Galaxy and go play soccer for a team in Milan. This is probably a good idea since no one in this country really pays any attention to Major League Soccer anyway. Also, can you please take Tom and Katie with you?

And Vickie, no more come backs please. Your "band" sucked the first time around and you can't sing.

Sincerely,

babspeapod

Vegas Anyone?

I think companies that are taking bailout money should have to account for every single penny of the handout they are accepting. Now, this is hardly a unique or genius opinion, but after hearing two stories on this morning's news I'm a little bit livid.

Wells Fargo took a $25 BILLION handout, and guess what they are -- rather, WERE -- planning to do with it? I'll tell you: They had planned to host a 2 night retreat in Vegas for 40 people. Rooms were booked at both the Wynn and the Encore hotels. Why? Because the employee recognition conference is a tradition and an important part of their culture. Now I'm not saying they shouldn't continue to recognize employees, but a freebie to the Wynn?? Couldn't they at least stay at Circus Circus, or something? Or better yet, do what my company does and skip the trip and give them free ice cream or a $5 coupon for lunch at the cafeteria. I mean, seriously. How can these people sleep at night? They're using my money and yours to book vacations. I want to use my money to book MY vacation!

As an aside and rather ironically, I was actually the benefactor of one of the lavish employee recognition trips sponsored by Wells Fargo, years ago. My sister won an employee recognition award, and they sent her and a guest (moi) on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. All expenses paid ... gifts ... off shore excursions .... posh posh posh.

Anyway, the second company I wanna punch in the face this morning is Citigroup. They took $35.6 BILLION (I keep capitalizing that word because it's so huge I can hardly even fathom it) in taxpayer money and guess what they had planned to do with $400MILLION of it? Again, I'll save you the research time. They were going to buy naming rights to the Mets' stadium.

Thankfully, both of these fiscally irresponsible giants have been shamed into "reconsidering" their use of bailout money. But, I can't help wondering what else is going on that we don't know about. Personally, I think any company that takes a bailout should have to detail how they plan to use all of the money before they get the check ... then, they should be required full disclosure of all accounting once they receive it. There should be reviewers assigned to monitor everything they're doing for a period of time going forward. Any inappropriate use of funds should carry severe civil and criminal penalties for the executive decision-makers.

I'm sorry, but how else do you hold them accountable to exercise appropriate discretion? Apparently, the honor system ain't working.

And no more bailouts until appropriate controls are in place.

The CLAMorous Life

Yesterday I received a Lobstergram in the mail (as you may know from my previous post). It was a Lobster dinner/feast for two that my sister gave me for Christmas ... and it was fantastic.


Part of the dinner was a choice between clams, shrimp or mussels. I chose the clams. They arrived looking like this:

Yum! I steamed them in butter, garlic, parsley and white wine. Two dozen of them ... expecting them to turn out like this .....

Guess what? Ever hear of a geoduck? (It's pronouned "gooey duck") Well it's a type of clam, and it's the kind that arrived in my lobster dinner feast. So I cooked them up , and here's what they looked like ...





















Imagine two dozen of these staring you in the face.

Goodies

I've gone a little crazy with the online shopping over the past week. As a result, I've had a parade of delivery guys and a stack of pick-up slips on my front door. Well, "parade" and "stack"may be a slight exaggeration, but since I never really buy anything online it seems like a lot to me.

Anyway, here's what I've been finding on the world wide webmall:

Shampoo - My Mom left a near-empty bottle of her shampoo when she stayed over the holidays, so I decided to use the last of it before throwing the bottle away. It's a special shampoo that she used when her hair was growing back after chemo, and the label says it's for fine or thinning hair. I loved this stuff. My hair is very fine, and thankfully after my own bout with hair loss it's all grown back .... but, I dig this shampoo and want to keep using it. I couldn't find it in a regular retail store, but Amazon came through!

Camera - I've been taking pictures with the same Spiderman disposable for the last 2+ years and a digital camera that I got for Christmas about 8 years ago. I really do like to take pictures, so it was time to make an investment in something decent. Let's hope it's not too hard to use! I've been stalking this camera for about 2 months, and found it online for half the price of anywhere else. Nice!!

Curtains -- OK, so I didn't turn my house into a theatre and the curtains don't look anything like this, but I need curtains for the french doors in my bedroom. Thank you, Target!

Piano music -- I bought a piano over the holidays, which has been great. If you thought my blogging hiatus was long, it's nothing compared to the 25 year vacation I took from my first love. Not only am I pretty rusty on the ivories, but my music is terribly outdated. One book cover boasts that it includes "Everyone's Favorites" -- "What's Love Got to Do with It" and "Axel F" (you know, the theme song from "Beverly Hills Cop") Another book of "Today's Hits" contains the theme to "Hill Street Blues" and "Tomorrow" (from Annie). Now, the majority of what I play is classical music, but still .... it would be nice to have something a little more up to date. So what did I do? I ordered a book of 400 Broadway Show Tunes!! I CANNOT WAIT to have a big singalong party!!! (I know, it may just be Schue, my sister and I for that one!)

And the grand finale of deliveries .....

My sister gave me a Lobstergram for Christmas. Today, I'm working at home because the lobsters are live and have to be cooked the same day. The "Down East Feast" dinner for two contains:

Live Maine Lobsters

Lobster Bisque (I picked this over Clam Chowder)

Corn on the Cob (or potatoes)

Clams (shrimp or mussels are the other choices)

Bibs

Shell crackers

A lobster pot

Lemon

Butter

Thanks Laura ... I'm really excited to try this out, and will call to give a full report!!

Room 503

I've been on an unplanned blogging hiatus for the last 2 months. Computer problems were overtaken by work travel ... then Christmas and party hostessing took center stage ... then de-Christmasing the house ... then back to work and now I've been mesmerized by the wonders of Facebook.

Anyway, enough of that. Here's a funny little story that happened this past week ...


I went to the doctor on Tuesday because I haven't been feeling too hot. After asking the usual littany of questions and looking a little puzzled about my mystery symptoms, the nurse instructed me:

"We want to collect a 'sample'. Go around the corner, down the hall to the last door on the right. Clean cups are in a basket on the floor. Urine room 503."

I nodded as she talked to me, trying to remember all of this stuff while contemplating why they keep the pee cups on the floor. At the end of these instructions, I replied "Okay, Urine Room 503. I'll be right back."

So I wandered down the hall, around the corner, down another hallway looking at the room numbers. Where was Urine Room 503? And what a weird name for a bathroom. There was a closed door which I thought might be it. I asked a passing nurse, just to confirm "Is this Urine Room 503?"

She replied "Yes, this is a bathroom."

So I did my thing and wandered back to my examination room. When I got to my room, I noticed a sign by the door "Room 503."

It occured to me, the nurse didn't send me to "Urine Room 503" ... she was telling me "You're in 503" so I'd know where to go when I returned.

Am I the only person who would've gotten that wrong? Duh!!!

The Spectacular is Spectacular

Last week a lifelong dream was fulfilled -- I got to see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.

My friend Sandi had come for a visit back in November and mentioned how much her brother really loved the show when they went last year. She didn't seem particularly excited about it and said she probably wouldn't go back for a while, but I was salivating at the thought of all the glittery costume, high kicks, and Christmas regalia.



Lo and behold, Sandi had a change of heart and decided to take her kids and Mom for a day trip into the city to see the show -- and she invited me. (Thanks Sandi!) We went to a Tuesday afternoon matinee last week.

Not only was the show everything I wanted it to be, but I even got to see one of the Rockette's wipe out! Nice!

It was a great day, and Sandi's family is simply wonderful. Her kids are of the rare breed that I didn't mind dining with in a public. Her 4-year old son Aidan was charming as he flirted relentlessly with our waitress. Ava, at age 2, told me she was "fashion foward" and would behave "like a lady" in the restaurant -- it was all true!

Sandi, thanks for letting me join you for the day ... it was fantastic!

VICTORY!!!!

This past week has been one for the books. Everybody knows the Phillies won the World Series, putting an end to whatever mythical curse has lurked around our city for the last 28 years.

Can I tell you how good it felt to be part of it all? (No, I'm not on the team ..... or one of the ball girls .... I wasn't even at the game.) But I watched almost all of the games from the beginning of the season. With each milestone that was reached, Phillies Phever grew. As a Philadelphia sports fan you get use to being disappointed -- better celebrate this milestone in tall fashion because the likelihood of making it to the next one is pretty much nil.

I drive past Citizen's Bank Park almost every day of my life on the way to and from work. On the first day of Game 5 I looked at the park from the highway and thought, there's good karma coming out of the that place .... this is it. This is the game that's gonna make history.

I was right in more ways than one. The big weird rainstorm rolled into town and shut things down in the middle of the 6th inning. Night one of Game 5 was indeed a night that made history, but in a way no one ever expected. It wasn't until 2 nights later that our team of heroes did it! I watched the game, barely breathing for at least the last 5 minutes of the game. In my heart I was convinced they'd win, but you just didn't know until the last strikeout came. And then all hell broke loose!

The scene in my South Philly neighborhood was unbelievable. Even the hardest of hard-nosed sports fans, people with skin thicker than shoe leather celebrated, cried, hugged and danced in the streets. It went on for hours. No, sorry .... it went on for days.

And so that's where I've been. Soaking it all in with my fellow Philadelphians.

Friday I got to go to the Championship Parade, and I'll never forget it. If you've never been surrounded by 3 million people who are nothing but happy and proud, then you've never experienced what's it's like to be a Philadelphia sports fan with a winning team.

The parade was incredible, and as the floats carrying our players, owners, managers, and announcers rolled by, I was right in the thick of it. This disco bubble was so excited I thought I'd nearly burst! My heart was pounding as I took pictures and Queen's "We are the Champions" blasted from the speakers at the party behind me. The players sang, I sang, and we took pictures of each other. Have I mentioned how spectacular this was?

And did I mention how hot Jayson Werth is?

Anyway, the parade was positively exhiliarating. Every person in the city was in a good mood. Happy and proud to be a Philadelphia Phillies fan.

I never thought I'd say this about anything, but it was even better than Christmas.