Jerk of the Week

It's been a while since I've posted one of these. This guy might just be the Jerk of the Year.

Today, investigators FINALLY released a photo of the guy who tossed a molotov cocktail at the Governors mansion. I say he's a jerk because, let's face it, if you're going to set a pretty important piece of Texas history on fire, you're not a nice person.

I'm no fan of MoFo, but still. He wasn't even living in the house when it burned. Even if you don't like his politics, there are better ways to handle things. And if this guy's just a fire bug who wanted to see what would happen, perhaps his punishment should be a molotov cocktail down his pants. Wonder what would happen?

Read the story here and watch the video. I hope this idiot is caught soon.

Why So Serious?

So you're a 20-year-old guy, excited about "The Dark Knight." You go see the movie. Perhaps you buy some figurines.

Does your fixation end there?

Nope.

You do what this genius did: steal the paraphernalia from the theatres. Dressed as the Joker. With full face makeup.He might have gotten away with it had he stopped before the face painting. But thanks to young Spencer Taylor (and the officers who took the made-up and naked face mugshots), I've been giggling all night.

Summer Style

What's your summer style?

Does it look something like this?
If so, you must be under the age of 25, shorter than 5 feet, and a gazillionaire to pull it off.

The reason I ask is I watched this piece on the NY Times about what women are wearing on their feet this summer. Surprisingly, most of the ladies look a lot like Mary Kate Olsen - from the ankle down. I see it and admire the shoes - except those gladiator sandals. I think of the trouble it takes to buckle all of those straps. And I really don't think they look good on anyone.

However, these have become my shoes of the summer.Sparkly converse I got at Target. They're comfy. They don't require any flip-flopping. They don't need to be tied. They go with almost everything.

Maybe the sneakers appeal to me because I'm getting old and I just want comfortable shoes these days. Don't get me wrong. I like a higher shoe, but if I have to walk more than a few feet I want to be on something that's going to keep me from hitting the ground.

New Bunny Movie

My favorite bunnies have tackled one of my favorite gangster flicks: Goodfellas.

See it here. A warning about the language - it has almost as many f-bombs as the real movie.

I'm Going About This All Wrong

I read an article tonight in the NY Times about bloggers. First off, when it comes to giving blogs high marks, apparently those with franks and beans get all the glory. I write that with anger because I think I'm pretty darn good at blogging. I try to make at least one post a day. I give you my homemade videos. I give you pictures. What more can you people possibly want from me? Blood?

Oooh. Nicole's angry.

And speaking of herself in third person.

Once I get past that part of the article, there are mentions of other well-known bloggers (ladies). They're so well-known, I haven't heard of most of them.

Whatever.

Then, I see that at least one of them gets all kinds of stuff from companies who want her to either give things away to readers or try them out and write about them. So here's my pitch:

Corporate America, send me your goods. Even if I don't like them, I'll write nice things about them. Small companies or start-ups, send me your products, too. I'm not picky. I'll pimp whatever you send me - as long as it's not naughty. If you're a REAL company, put your website and contact information in the comments section. If you're some weirdo who just wants to tease me, take your comment and suck it.

Bring on the swag!!

Home Ownership Isn't Always Fun

Don't get me wrong. I love my house. It's great to have my own space with no shared walls, floors, ceilings or parking with people who don't respect their environment. I love that if I want to turn up the music loud and sing along, I'm not going to get a knock on the door from management telling me to stop (I also have not noticed a pack of dogs hanging outside my front door, so I guess I'm not that loud).

Now to what I don't like.

• Yard Work. This is why I pay a guy to come over every other week and take care of what's left of my yard. I do plan to get rid of the shrubs that are overgrown and weird. I don't want plants that need to be shaped. I want native plants around my house that are low maintenance. However, it's too hot to tend to them right now. I'll wait for it too cool down. Probably in November.
• Maintenance. I do the cleaning. However, I hate doing things like take out the trash, clean my air filter (stores hardly ever have the filter size I need so I have to cut my own - jerks).

I have a whole list of things that need to be done. I need a new fence. That's probably where my tax return will go next year. Later today, I'm putting new weather stripping around my doors (I can see sunlight, which is probably why I had a $200 electric bill!).

But the thing that stresses me out the most is my air conditioner. It's 8-years-old. I've written about the whole thermostat mess. I'm no longer in the energy saver program. But now, I'm beginning to wonder if there's something wrong. Last August, I sweat through three hot days while waiting for a repairman to show up only to add freon to the unit. Everything appeared to be OK with it until Friday night. It felt warm while I slept. When I woke up Saturday, the thermostat said it was 78 degrees (way too warm for me to doze). I didn't hear or feel any air blowing in the house. I walked outside to hear the unit running. I got closer to it, put my hand over it and felt hot air blowing (that's a good thing). Then, I took a closer look. Ice. I shut the unit off at the breaker.

I came inside and called the home warranty people and was informed it would be MONDAY before the company would schedule an appointment. By 12:30, it was 84 degrees inside. I walked out to take a peek at the unit. There was no more ice. I turned it back on. Everything was working fine. Still, I didn't want to cancel the service call. After the last experience, I was thinking I should just keep my fingers crossed that there were no further problems as the heat is definitely on again. So imagine my surprise when the a/c company called at 9:30 this morning! The main guy was on a call 20 minutes away and wanted to come by! YAY!

He gets here, checks everything out inside, then goes outside. He hooks up some gauge things and says I just need freon. So while he's doing that, we talk about my a/c and what I need to watch out for (you know, things you never know are supposed to be done because you've always been a renter). Let me share a couple of tips he gave me - especially handy if you have a home warranty because if you don't do these things and the a/c goes out, they won't cover it. He said to put ant killer around the unit because they can really mess it up. He also told me to gently wash the outside coils.

He told me not to worry about adding freon once a year. He said if it gets to the point where I'm doing that a few times a year, there's a problem.

If I had a husband, he would (hopefully) know these things and take care of them so that I could go about doing the things a girl should do. I have no shame saying that's man work. I want nothing to do with it.

Suck It Oil Companies, Pt. 6

I use that title with a little less anger than I've used in the last few weeks. Why? Because I filled up yesterday for $3.86 a gallon.

It is wrong that price actually made me happy.

Well, happy is probably not the word for it. Relieved? That might be the word.

I have gotten in the habit of filling up whenever my car reaches 1/4 of a tank. This time, it cost me just under $40 to top off the tank. I don't want to hear from those of you with large trucks or SUVs. I know that wouldn't fill half your tank. WAAAAH! Did it really sound like a good idea to buy a vehicle that gets 20mpg on the highway?

The folks at AAA predict prices will fall another quarter by Labor Day. Yay. That's a real steal (she says with sarcasm). It could always be worse. Alaskans are paying the highest prices in the country: $4.68 - and it's as much as $8.50 in remote areas! Yikes!

And if you haven't looked back at what you were paying a year ago, I've done the research. Prices now are 65% higher than they were last July.

Jerks.

Dolly's Crazy

So, having spent most of my life along the Texas coast, I know a thing or two about tropical weather. I know that most people don't hit panic-mode with a little Category 1 (and even Cat. 2) storm. Strong, gusty winds aren't uncommon. Seabreeze showers don't scare us. And when it does pour, the flooding lets up pretty quickly.

When I heard Dolly was headed towards South Texas, my first thought was "OOOH! Maybe it'll rain at my house!" This morning, I woke up to sprinkly showers. Then a twister (or two) touched down on the opposite side of town from me. I thought, "I'm glad I don't live THERE." And about the time I normally get dressed and ready to take Charley for a quick walk before I leave for work, Julie calls to tell me a tornado could be headed my way.

What do I do?

Seek shelter?

Nope.

I grab my camera and head outside. I start taking video of the neighbor's tree, swaying in the wind and then -BAM- rain is coming at me sideways. I scramble to get in the door. Here's the proof.

I begin to think "This is it. I'm gonna be wiped away by a silly tornado. If it's anything like the 'Wizard of Oz' I will wind up under the house with my legs sticking out from under the house. Is it too late to shave my legs?"

Lucky for me, the rain stopped. At least I thought it did. I put Charley in his rain slicker and headed out for the mailbox. The rain tricked us and returned once we got to the sidewalk. The sudden pauses in this video are from Charley refusing to keep up with me.

I eventually made it to work. My house is still standing. Unfortunately, so is my fence. I had so hoped it would come down with the stormy weather so I could get a new one.

Dolly, if you have the ability to surf the internet, I'm speaking directly to you when I say get the heck outta here. I'm over you.

So Cute!

Despite moments of attacking each other, Charley & Chaplin are starting to like each other. For the last two days, I have walked into my bedroom to see them napping on my bed. I've managed to take pictures without them jumping off the bed (my big fear with Charley as he could hurt his back).The black lump at the top is Charley, nuzzled against he pictures. And there's Chaplin, laying on top of my clothes.

Brothers. So cute!