Appendages HNT

This past week has been nothing but a blur of music stands, risers, percussion equipment and U-Hauls. I get up in the morning, go to work (which is actually the only real time to get online), then leave to either set-up, move or rehearse, and get home sometime after 11. Of course, I can't get to sleep right away, then I have to get up early the next morning and do it all over again. Fortunately, I'll be done Friday afternoon!

All this time consumption, of course, has cut into my HNT time. This post was put up by a guest. I had no ideas for a picture, or time to take one if I did. And then it happened. Anyone who has been around here for any length of time knows that I generally injure myself during symphony week. Or at least draw blood. I'm happy to report that the trend continues...


Sure, it's not as exciting as past efforts, but I've got two bruises forming there on the right that are going to be quite attractive, and the scratch, though minor, bled enough to probably ruin a tux shirt (which actually needed to be replaced anyway)! So there you have it. If you want something more colorful, click the picture. A leftover from last week's HNT that I didn't get done in time to include...

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Now here's a set of appendages that make stopping by here worthwhile. Granted, the "mystery" part of Mystery Guest is sort of lost here, but what the heck. With legs like that, I can live with it! But for those of you who don't recognize them, let me help you out...

This has been a tumultuous 12 months for our MG. One might say she's become a different person. To some degree, she has. But not so much as she may think. She'll be getting back into teaching her pole class this weekend--just another sign that she's easing back to "normal". She's one of your favorites--certainly one of mine!

We'll reveal her later on Thursday evening, for those of you who still don't recognize her (or are too new to know!).

This one should have been fairly easy. It was, of course, Evening! And to answer a question or two from the comments--yes, she does have a pole in her bedroom! Check out this week's HNTs, and see some video of her in action, too!

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With my apologies, "...the Other HNT" will be delayed by a day. The good part of that is that it gives some of you an extra day to send something in. Sort of like Leap Day. If you've never participated over there, it would be a great way to celebrate that oddity known as Leap Year! I can say that the ones that have come in so far will make this a definite NSFW week!

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Don't forget the big theme for next week--"I Love My Mac!" HNT. Click the link (or the one at the top of the sidebar) to get all the juicy details!

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A little bit of blog pimping.... BadBadGirl started a naughty little contest over on her site. While it was a guy that made her think of a contest, I suspect that the ladies are encouraged to play along too! Go check it out.

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Lastly--a nice little story from Monday night. The two concerts we played on Sunday and Monday were held at the Cathedral of St. Helena. I've shown pictures of it in prior posts. It's a major focal point of the Helena skyline, such as it is (other than the mountains...). Anyway--we play/sing behind the main altar. The bad thing about it, and the bane of my past week, is that the whole orchestra has to be struck so that they can have daily Mass during the day. We got a concession that the chorale set-up could stay, but the orchestra had to clear out. That means I was back at the church a full 2 hours before concert time to reset the orchestra. All the chairs, all the stands, lights on each stand, and percussion equipment.

I noticed that a frail looking woman was wandering up and down the aisles, looking at the stained glass windows and various artwork. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place her. I figured she was an usher that just happened to be there quite early. About an hour before the concert, the audience started coming in, and she sat quietly in the front pews. By this time, I'm sweating, and wondering if I was going to be done by the time the concert started. With about 20 minutes to go, I'm almost through. I have my hands full with the conductor's podium, and this same woman approaches me. I'm ready to find someone who could answer her inevitable question. (At this point, I should note that if I'm focused on something, I really don't like any sort of distraction, and can ignore just about anybody. And generally do.) I look at her, and she tells me to stop for a second (she HAD to have been a teacher in a past life). So I stop and set the podium down.

"I've been watching you for over an hour now, and just wanted to tell you that you're one of the hardest working people I've ever seen. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate it..."

Dammit. I hate it when people are nice...

Mystery Birthday #2!

That's right! Another birthday today! This little girl has been blogging for quite awhile. I discovered her shortly after I started up, and found that we both have an awful lot in common (but not any of the following). She's a fitness nut, and loves to spend alot of time outdoors. She also likes long weekends inside (if you know what I mean...). Yellow is her favorite color for undies. She owns a rat for a pet, and is currently investigating bringing a cat into the family. She's single, she's hot, and she's a smokin' redhead. And I'm more than happy to call her my friend! Stop by and wish her a Happy Birthday!

Mystery Birthday!

Doing a different sort of Mystery Guest here today. This pretty little girl is celebrating her birthday today! She's graced us with her stories. She's not afraid to call 'em as she sees 'em. She's been a long-time, but somewhat inconsistent, HNTer. In fact, she posted a couple of years ago what I have long considered to be the absolute best HNT of all time. She's shown us her loving relationships with her son and her relatively new husband. And she's regaled us with stories of bodily functions, school, run-ins with the bank, and her desire to get knocked-up. She's also been known to design a website or two! Stop by and wish her a happy birthday! And promise to send her lots of presents. She specifically requested lots of presents this year!

Symphony Week Hell

Three concerts
Six rehearsals
Three different venues
Three different stage set-ups
Three different stage tear-downs
Eight days

I know I bitch about my symphony weeks, but this one really took me by surprise. Getting home too late at night to really surf or chat. And really not bothering to answer emails. Just too damned tired. And sore. Lots of heavy lifting and twisting and balancing and adjusting. And Lord knows no one wants to lift a finger to help...

I'm halfway through, and it'll get easier for the rest of the week, as long as nothing unexpected happens.

It snowed last night...

Theme Alert!!

Those of us who are savvy enough to know the advantages of Macs over PCs have, for years, hidden in the quiet corners of the internet. Smug in the knowledge that we would never have to be subjected to the Blue Window Of Death. And that we've had 4 usable versions of what the PC people call "Vista"--years before Vista came out! We feel a kindred spirit with other Mac users, and are more than happy to pontificate and explicate about the virtues of Mac over PC to those poor unwashed souls.

Two different HNTers posted pictures this week with their Macs. And more than one of you noted that fact. Yeah--Macs even look good with half-nekkidness! So..... On Thursday, March 6th, the theme will be "I Love My Mac" HNT! Pose with whatever computer(s) you have that run on the MacOS series. Even if you're on OS7! Your iMac, MacBook, PowerBook, iBook, .....whatever!

What about those of you without Macs? Well, because of some outside pressure, I'll include any of the iPod series (even though we did that no too long ago). iPhones will be OK too. And vintage Apple computers (think Performa or Apple II). Those would be cool. Or Apple/Mac accessories. Anyone still have their Apple stickers? Those could be well-placed!

If you don't have any of these things--you can still (and should) post your HNT. You just won't be quite as cool as the rest of us! UNLESS--would any of you post yourselves with a lapful of macaroni?? That would certainly be cool too!

Colorful HNT

I received a Valentine's Day box of tasty treats from Q last Thursday. Gourmet popcorn, but all of it sort of candy coated. Including two bags of "corn-fetti", which was a mix of all the colors. Orange, red, blue, green, purple... Each color had a flavor to it if you picked them out separately, or some interesting tastes if you ate them by the handful. She also told me that if you eat one color at a time, your tongue would turn colors too! Well, there was a HNT idea if I'd ever heard one!

Unfortunately, she didn't tell me that it takes two days for the color to go. Even with severe scrubbing of the tongue (and lordie, that hurts like hell!). That made time a factor, so it just wasn't going to happen. Besides, the tongue pictures are really ugly! But I really liked the color thing...

So I went out and got me a 5 lb. bag of M&Ms. I've really been getting into the whole color thing recently--the blue from a couple of weeks ago. The reds of last week. The greens that will inevitably happen next month. I don't want to get into an entire rainbow theme like certain bloggers have. But I wanted to do something with the colors of the M&Ms. So the best way of contrasting them? Photoshop!! So here is my first attempt at using Photoshop. HUGE thanks to Leesa for guiding me through the missteps I took. Hope you like! (be sure to click, too!)

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In my time of need, I had a couple of you step up to be this week's Mystery Guest. And what we got this week is a first-timer! She's a relative newcomer, compared to many of you, but she's always got some very classy shots up. I wouldn't necessarily classify her as a party girl, but she certainly knows how to have a good time! She's one of those California girls, and you know what they say about them! We've seen her sassy, we've seen her girly, and we've seen her when she's got her mojo going! She won't be revealing herself, but you might be able to recognize her. Leave her a note if you think you know who it is!
Apparently, the MG is a bit of a "dumb-ass" (her words, not mine!). She thought that "reveal" meant showing her face. We know better than that! This is Mojito Mojo. Go tell her hi!

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Not a huge number of submissions for "...the Other HNT", but it's always been quality over quantity there! NSFW, but nothing "dangerous"! Be sure to stop by!

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Ever have one of those days where you do something for someone, not because you felt obligated to do it, but because you wanted to do it? And it made the other person feel better too? And it made a difference in their life? I had one today! I'm feelin' pretty good!

What I've been doing since the band broke up...

Not to toot my own horn, so to speak, but go check out what Q found at her local Wal-Mart!

President's Day Weekend

Wish the title implied some sort of a great post, but I'm trying my damnedest to come up with something to write about...

Moose leaves back to MN in the morning. Check out her pictures from the Park. Rachel's, too! Some glitches during her trip, but I believe she had a good long weekend!

Most of the snow in my neck of the woods is melting. Other than the large piles of it in the parking lots. It's gradual, but I think spring might be coming!

Going out Monday for beers with a couple friends. This will be our Christmas beer. Yeah, we've all been a little busy.

Speaking of busy, we've got three concerts coming up in the next 10 days. Plus 4 rehearsals, 3 different venues, and 2 staff meetings. Can you smell the enthusiasm??

Ooh...got a Valentine's Day present in the mail from Q (is that the official new name?). I'm trying to work it in for HNT this week...

That's about it. Hopefully something exciting happens during the week!

RED HNT

CODE LETTERS FOR THE DAY...HVDHNT!

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Valentine's Day. A day that is either loved or hated. It's almost always that red or white. Rarely do you find someone who looks for the shades of pink. Personally, I've secretly loved the day for years (though if you repeat that, I'll shoot you with a hundred of Cupid's arrows and deny it). Though I don't necessarily subscribe to a specific "day of love". One year ago at this time, I was just a tad gooey with my thoughts about the day, but I was in love, so it was OK. A year later, even though things didn't work out, I still like the day. Just not as gooey. And I officially wish each of you a very Happy Valentine's Day!! Regardless if you're a red person or white person, or even one of the pink ones!

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I didn't want the theme this week to be about Valentine's Day. There's enough people out there that hate the day that I went the next best way I could think of. RED. The common color of love, passion, hate and rage. A little something for everyone. Though I suspect that most of you will do the hearts/love/Cupid thing, I'm sort of looking forward to those of you approaching it from the other side!

Which brings us to MY HNT. Yep, it's another one of those "good-ideas-gone-bad" ones. Reaffirming the idea that the best HNTs are the ones taken spur of the moment... I am liking my shaved head look, so I went in for a touch-up. But I had a great idea!! Leave a heart on top, and I'd dye it red, and that would be my valentine for you guys. I should have come up with something better...

The woman who cuts my hair (longtime friend) doesn't work on the weekends, so I had to have her do it on Friday afternoon. I wanted to enlist the help of Rachel, but she wasn't going to be available until Sunday afternoon. So I had to run around with the patch of hair on my head all weekend. That's why God invented baseball caps... Rachel starts putting the stuff in my hair. It starts spiking. Even worse, you can't even really tell the shape. So we try to slick it down some. A little better. But then we took a look at the pictures. There's no other way to describe it, other than looking like I was scalped, and the bloody mess is all that was left. At least that's what they looked like in the small camera window. It was even worse at full size. Not a bloody mess, but a truly a bloody failure... To salvage it, I even had Rachel put the stuff on her lips and plant a big kiss on my head. The stuff ain't lipstick. And she's been in bed sick since the weekend. I think I poisoned her.

So I go with my background picture from last year's VDay post, and you can click through each of them to see the disaster that was my great idea. I artsy-fartsied a little bit, just to help me feel better about the utter failure that this whole thing was... Come back later Thursday, and I promise that there will be something better!

As promised--something better! Moose made it to town last night, which meant quickly heading to one of the few places open late on a school night to drink beer! Rachel didn't join us, because she's still a little ill (I poisoned her. I know it...). Here's a math quiz, kids! If she were in the picture with us, we'd have 1/2 of the founding members of HNT together. Instead, we just have 1/3 of the founding members. How many founding members are there??

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Ah, the waiting!
The anticipation.
That breathless moment just before things are about to happen.
The slight chill on the skin.
The warm rush of blood.

Even if you're by yourself...

Check back to find out who this week's Mystery Guest is!
The lovely lady that belongs to this tummy is our lovely Londoner Charlie! She was kind enough to give us a double shot of HNT on her site. Be sure to go visit if you haven't already!

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Love has even hit "...the Other HNT"! Be sure to check out this week's submissions! Yeah, it's NSFW, but take a chance! And leave a comment, too!

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Is this not one of the finest looking dogs you've ever seen??


This is Uno. Best of Show winner at the 132nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

MOOSE IS COMING!!!!

Sorry I haven't been around much over the past couple of days... MOOSE IS COMING TO TOWN!! So I've been cleaning. You people don't quite know what that entails. Fifty y.o. bachelor, no cute French maids, crap that hasn't moved from its position in 4+ years, dust bunnies that have set up entire colonies. And don't even ask about the bathroom....

I have realized that I need to toss a large amount of stuff. I have a box that is still taped up from my grad school days. I know exactly what's in it, but I haven't opened it in almost 25 years. That's just not right. Along those same lines, I've noticed that I've got a bunch of links in the sidebar that, quite frankly, shouldn't be. People who have closed their sites; people who did HNT once; people that I have no idea who they are or why they're there. When the time comes, I'll be sure to let you know, in case I mistakenly deleted you!

Don't forget tonight's RED HNT theme!!!

Roy Scheider, 1932-2008

Roy Scheider died Sunday at the age of 75. I have always been a fan of his acting. Perhaps, unfortunately, he will be remembered most as the sheriff in the movie "Jaws" (I'll let you go to imdb.com on your own).




My personal second-favorite Scheider role would be as Dr. Heywood Floyd in "2010", the sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey"....






...and my absolute favorite role--playing Joe Gideon in "All That Jazz". I've mentioned him before in that movie. Singing, dancing, smoking, pill-popping, dying. Oh, and sex anytime he could get it. I must make time this week to watch it again.

Gonna miss this guy...

Late Night Movie

I had honestly given thought to going to bed early tonight, but I made one last quick surf through the channels. And there it was, on the local cable access channel..."Reefer Madness"! If you've never seen it, get thee to YouTube and find it! Possibly the FINEST movie of 1936! As the lone, non-dope-smoking musician in America in the 70s, I remember how campy this movie was (and is). And it still holds up to that campiness. It's got a little bit of everything: reefers and rape; marihuana and murder; criminal insanity and chronic infidelity; marihuana addicts and merry sex fiends; pot and piano players; dope and deception. There's not another movie quite like it. Some stills:


Of course, the piano player was the biggest doper of all...

Of course, I then skimmed the channels one more time before heading to bed, and come face to face with the Robert Duvall and Martin Sheen/Wagner helicopters/surfing scene from "Apocalypse Now".

"...I love the smell of napalm in the morning..."

This is on until 2AM. I'll work on that sleep thing tomorrow...

Sleepy Tired HNT

It's that time of year when my sleep cycles get all screwy. I force myself to get up at the same time every morning, regardless of when I go to bed. So sometimes that means I'm getting 5 hours of sleep, or on rare occasion, 8 hours. What's the problem? It's all my own doing. I'm going to bed regularly past midnight, and often after 1AM these days. Whose fault is this? Mine. Whom can I blame? Myself. Am I going to do anything about it? Probably not anytime soon. What you see here is that first look in the morning, as the alarm goes off, and I'm excited to start the day. Can't you tell?? Thank God, He invented naps!

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We've got another repeat appearance for this week's Mystery Guest. She's always willing to give things a shot. Since her Bears weren't in the Super Bowl, she was rooting for the Pats, and made a bet with a Giants fan. She lost. And she paid up within minutes of the final gun! She's been doing some mild complaining about the rain in her area, which brought forth the idea for the wet t-shirt. While the rain would have made a perfect shot, it's still a tad chilly out, so our MG just jumped into the shower this time around. Hoping to get her to do one outside in the summer! Her identity will be revealed Thursday afternoon, but stop by and check out her bet payment, if you know who it is!
Hopefully this was a fairly easy one! This, of course, is Kate! If you didn't see her early bet with BTE, be sure to stop off at both sites! (pssst...did ya click??)

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There's a nice collection of pictures over at "...the Other HNT" this week. As usual, it's NSFW over there, but they'd appreciate your comments!

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Don't for get that next week's HNT is the RED HNT theme. Love, passion, hate, rage. All represented by the color RED. Regardless of what your personal feelings are for the day next Thursday, the color RED should take care of it!

شموخسف ش يهسشسفثق

ُاهس هس صاشف اشححثررثي مشسف رهلاف صاثر ّ فقهثي فخ فغحث ش قثسحخرسث فخ ش ذخووثرف. ّف قثشنثي وث خعف تعسف ش مهففمث زهف، هب غخع ذشر هوشلهرث!

This is what I got last night when I was posting a comment on someone's site. Now to backtrack...

I found reference to some freeware in Macworld that would take out the localization files. They're the files that all Mac applications have to allow them to work around the world. German, Korean, Turkish, etc., etc. Files that my computer will NEVER access. Taking up hard drive space. They're generally smallish files, but there's literally thousands of them. Some guy came up with a nice little program to get rid of the ones you want. Also an option to delete the Intel versions and G5 versions (I only have a G4). And lastly, an option to take out the international keyboard options. Chinese, Japanese, Cherokee--all sorts of languages. So, of course, I download the freeware, install it, and start deleting files.

When all was said and done, I regained over 1.6 GB of hard drive!! 1.6 GB! That's pretty damned good! So I went surfing, and found a post to comment on. I started typing, and the cursor went from right to left. And with the squiggly lines similar to what you see above. I went to the keyboard preferences (properties, for you PC types) and found that the default keyboard language was Arabic. So I changed it back to U.S. English (which is vastly different than London English--just check with Charlie!). But nothing happened. I immediately panic, realizing that I was going to have to spend the night reinstalling my OS, as well as all my applications. Then, in a fit of inspiration, I opted for the tried and true fix-it that Mac owners know. Turn it off and restart. Ta-da! No more localization files, 1.6 GB of new space, and an English keyboard! I don't recall what exactly I wrote up above, but it certainly looks pretty!

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I was checking on some available domain names at work today, so I thought I'd check out if hnt.com (or some version) would be available. Well, the answer is no. 'HNT.anything' They're all registered already. But I expected that. HNT is a common acronym. So then I check 'halfnekkidthursday' as a domain. Guess what? SOMEONE ALREADY OWNS THESE!!! Both the .com and .net domains! Which one of you suckers did that?? Fortunately, I'm not interested in my own domains, but damn, someone's really into the speculation! Happy to report that 'osbasso.anything' is still available!

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A reminder that the RED HNT is for next week, not this week!!!

Stupor Bowl XLDCIIVX or something...

OK--since I'm watching the game by myself, and I have plenty of pithy comments to make to no one around here, I'm going to keep a running commentary...

At what point was it announced that you didn't have to have your hand over your heart during the National Anthem? Brady is the first one they showed doing it, and that was towards the end of the song...

Looking forward to "House, MD" tonight!

The "pre-game" show. The "pre-kick" show. The "pre-coin toss" show. Gimme a break!

I might get bored with this, but I'm sure I'll have something to say about the commercials...

The roof's closed. They say it was "cool". Talk to the Packers about "cool"...

First commercial--Bud Light. Breathing fire. Ooh--that was weak....
Second commercial--Audi. Also weak. Hard to mimic the "Godfather".

NYG-3
NEP-0

Third commercial--Diet Pepsi Max. Pretty blah until Chris Kattan walks through at the end. Still won't drink it.
Fourth commercial--Spam commercial--just what we need...

Fifth commercial--Bud Lite. Big cheese thing. Better than the first.
Sixth commercial--Under Armour. Huh?

End of quarter:
NYG-3
NEP-0

Seventh commercial--Bridgestone. Screaming animals. Eh.
Eighth commercial--Doritos. Chick singer. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum...

NYG-3
NEP-7

Ninth commercial--Wanted. New movie. Won't bother.
Tenth commercial--G2. Diet Gatorade. You knew Peyton Manning wouldn't go through the game without some sort of appearance.

11th commercial--GoDaddy.com. Yes, I went to the internet commercial. Hawt! Has to do with beavers.
12th commercial--Dell. Nope.

Damn, these are coming fast all of a sudden.
13th commercial--FedEx. Pigeons. Sorta funny. UPS is still cheaper. So is USPS!
14th commercial--Cars.com. Still nothing decent yet...
15th commercial--Tide. Talking stain. Sorta funny, but why would Tide spend money during the Super Bowl??

Interception

16th commercial--Budweiser. Hank the Clydesdale. YES!!! Finally! Showing some great imagination! Too bad the beer sucks...
17th commercial--IronMan. The movie. Nope.

18th commercial--Toyota Corolla. Sleeping badgers. Would have been better with blood splatters from inside the car.
19th commercial--Leatherheads. Oh, that has possibilities.
20th commercial--Garmin GPS. Napoleon. Another "short" joke.

21st commercial--CareerBuilder.com. A walking heart. Oh, yeah!!
22nd commercial--Life Water. Thrillicious.com. OK--dancing reptiles are cool. "Thriller" is cool. Even better than those prisoners who did "Thriller" on YouTube!

Brady sacked two plays in a row. Oh, yeah!

23rd commercial--Yukon Hybrid. don't know if it was great for Super Bowl, but the artwork was pretty neat. Stone of Sisyphus. Look it up.
24th commercial--Bud Light. Picking up girls. Eh.

A thought--when did Haloscan start putting ad banners in the comments for those who use Haloscan? I didn't approve that...

25th commercial--Narnia. Didn't see the first one...
26th commercial--Planters Cashews. Couldn't figure out where this one was going. Sorta funny.
27th commercial--T-Mobile. Don't we ALL have someone like Charles Barkley in our faves?

28th commercial--Pepsi. I liked it. Maybe just to see Justin getting beat up. Still won't drink Pepsi though.
29th commercial--Doritos. Mousetrap and big mouse. Nope...

End of the 1st half...Giants looking pretty good, in spite of trailing.
NYG-3
NEP-7

Ooh! The Sobe Life Water Halftime Report. Time to heat up a pizza or chili or something.
And now, the Bridgestone Halftime Show. Is it time for HNT to sponsor something?
Thank God they're not lip-synching! Seems like the guys in Aerosmith (who are older) moved around a whole lot more when they had the halftime show... I'd bet that half of the kids on the field have never even heard of Tom Petty. OK--halftime wasn't too bad. Still liked Aerosmith better. At least there wasn't a wardrobe malfunction.

Oh, goodie. Another Will Farrell movie that's well below his talent level...

Second half starts...

30th commercial--Cars.com. I see a theme. But no car in my future.
31st commercial--The spam company again. Nearly racist...
32nd commercial--Vitamin Water. Shaq as a jockey. Cute. Kid picking his nose helped.

33rd commercial--Bud Lite. Cavemen build the wheel. Bottle opener was good!
34th commercial--IceBreakers. Carmen Electra. She couldn't even save it.
35th commercial--Bridgestone Tires. Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons. Not much of a commercial, but you had to hope that Simmons was going to be taken out...
36th commercial--Careerbuilder.com. Almost cute. Good to see the Jiminy Cricket character buy it in the end.

Cheap ass call against the Giants (too many men). Shouldn't be something that's reviewable.

37th commercial--Hyundai Genesis. Nope.
38th commercial--New Pixar movie. Wall.E. If you've got Buzz and Whatshisname introducing it, it must be good. Can't tell from the clip though.

39th commercial--Jumper. Old commercial. Looks like an interesting movie though.
40th commercial--E-Trade.com. Baby on webcam. Bodily functions helped.
41st commercial--Bud Lite. Ability to fly. Another old one.

End of third quarter.
NYG-3
NEP-7

42nd commercial--NFL Network. Chester Pitts. Plays oboe. That's kind of cool!
43rd commercial--Ford F-150. On a centifuge. Fourth time I've seen it. Must be the Denver Fox station's commercial... Anyone else see this one?

Why another set of commercials one play after the change of quarter???

44th commercial--Sunsilk. During the Super Bowl???
45th commercial--Coke. Stewie and Underdog fight it out over the streets of NYC. Ha! Charlie Brown triumphs! OK--I liked that one.

Ooh--I smell a Giant TD coming!!

WOOHOO!!!!
NYG-10
HNP-3

46th commercial--Coke. Jinx. Ha! Not bad for a political career.
47th commercial--Toyota Sequoia. Life doesn't wait. Good advice.

48th commercial--Zohan. Oh, goodie. Another Adam Sandler movie that's well below his talent level...

49th commercial--E-Trade.com. Baby at webcam again. First one was better.
50th commercial--Taco Bell. Fiesta Platters. ¡Hola!
51st commercial--Gatorade. Dog slurping water. Loudly. There's a selling point... Ah, Gatorade. OK...

52nd commercial--Bud Light & Will Farrell. OK. Not a bad combo.
53rd commercial--Hyundai Genesis. First commercial didn't grab me. Neither did this one.

This doesn't bode well...
Shit.
NYG-10
NEP-14
C'mon Eli! Don't puss out now!

54th commercial--Victoria's Secret. OK--this definitely has a place in the Super Bowl. That one was a keeper.
55th commercial--Amp. Only gets good marks for the heavy-duty nipple clamps.
56th commercial--American Idol. Big Ben shouldn't sing.

Holy shit! What an escape! What a catch!

YES!!!!
NYG-17
NEP-14

Congrats to the NY Giants!! I heard commentators since mid-season keep saying to watch out for the Giants. I certainly didn't expect this. As for the Pats--18-0 doesn't mean a thing if you don't take it all the way. Kiss the perfect season goodbye! For as much as I was apathetic towards this game, I couldn't have asked for a better ending!

My vote for MVP--Smith, WR for Giants.
My vote for best ad--Hank the Clydesdale.
Have a great week, all!

Blue, Red and VD

I love the fact that I can play some of you like a fiddle. I knew full well that many of you wouldn't read all the way through and see that my 19 y.o. date was my niece. Thanks for not disappointing me! Oh, and for those of you who asked...the blue on my face was water-soluble. Not grease paint. It came off/out remarkably quickly!


We had a great time. It's the first time that I've had an "adult" conversation with her, as opposed to being "one of the kids". I took her to dinner, then we headed up to the concert. She had NO idea of what to expect, whereas, I had a just an inkling. If you've never been to a Blue Man concert, let's just say that there's alot of visual stimulation. And audience participation. The music, for the most part, wasn't anything you'd recognize, but it didn't matter. The back-up band was superb (and tight). And other than the James Taylor concert I went to in 2001, this was the BEST sound I've ever heard in that building. Even better than the Chicago concert last August.

The only downside of the night was the presence of the Camera Nazis. Digital cameras were not allowed by the venue (I wonder if they'd have the same problem with a 35mm camera with a honkin' big zoom??). BMG encourages photos to be sent to their website, so it wasn't their decision. I snuck a few pics in before I could feel the steely gaze of "security" aimed in my direction. Oh, well. Here's a couple that I got (click 'em to big 'em!):

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Ah, the color RED. It means so many things. It's the color of love and of passion. It's the color of danger. It's the color of hate and rage. Such a versatile color. Valentine's Day falls on a Thursday this year. People tend to have polar thoughts about the day. You either love it and look forward to it, or you hate it and hate those who love it. Well, since we can't change the day it falls on, we'll need to make the best of it. That means--A THEME!!

For the HNT on Valentine's Day, the theme is RED. That means wearing red lingeries, or red-heart boxers, or showing off your red hair, or some other form of red in your pictures. Of course, that means that red blood dripping from a dagger or a Dear John letter in red ink works just as well! The theme, then, is not love, nor hearts, nor Cupid per se, but the color RED. Have fun!

BTW--Pink is not RED!

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For those of you who ARE in love, Exile has a fun thing to try. It's the 14-Day VD Treatment! It's already started, so you might have to improvise or catch up. Click on the button below to check out the details. Looking forward to daily reports from some of you!