I'm home but where are my parents?

I guess I should be used to the fact that my parents are never home, particularly right before Christmas, but it's a little weird for me to travel all this way home - to sit alone at the house! I could do that just fine back in Syracuse.

During the day, I ran some errands for my mom; namely, I bought Christmas presents for my dad. Pretty uneventful but I admit that I forgot what it's like to take about 20 minutes to go 6 miles because there is a lot of traffic. In Syracuse, that doesn't usually happen.

When I got home, I decorated our Christmas tree. I remember a time when my parents talked about getting two trees to decorate and now we barely decorate one. The tree is, as usual, gigantic and is kind of a pain in the ass to decorate, but it is pretty. They should be happy to see it decorated, I'm guessing. I'm trying to be nice and helpful in whatever ways I can while I'm home. While I decorated, I of course listened to some of my parents' Christmas tunes. That's a prerequisite for tree decorating, as far as I'm concerned. Luckily, they have some Christmas CDs because I did such a bad job of providing traveling music for myself. I spent time yesterday morning burning a CD of various music and then when I got in the car, it didn't even work. Also, I somehow forgot to bring home my Gavin DeGraw CD, which I about have memorized because I listen to it and love it so much. However, as I was going through my parents' Christmas music, I came across a CD with 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' sung by Gavin!! So that will have to make do this next week. And maybe my brother will let me burn a CD while I'm over at their house this week. Or not.

While I was driving around this afternoon, I remembered some of the restaurants that I take for granted here that aren't in Syracuse. Some, like Steak 'n Shake, do not make me too sad. I barely like Steak 'n Shake. However, I do like Donatos, Dairy Queen and Chipotle, none of which have made it to the 'Cuse. It's a travesty, it really is.

Home!!

Yep, I made it back safe and sound to Cleveland in the typical 5-5 1/2 hours. Thank God there were no traffic or weather problems. I was originally going to leave at like 11 am but as we all knew, that wasn't really going to happen, so I sort of figured 1pm was a better plan and I would therefore avoid rush hour traffic when I hit Cleveland. As it turned out, I left at about 1:30pm. And got to my parents' house at about 7pm. On the way, I made my obligatory stop at the last rest stop before Buffalo where they have a Pizza Hut so I could buy a personal pan pizza. I love love love personal pan pizzas, you have no idea. However, this one was lacking a little something. I don't know what, but perhaps it is good if my love for the personal pan pizza diminishes.

I was super psyched to pay $1.99 for gas. Less than two dollars for a gallon of gas?!? How I love Ashtabula, Ohio. Syracuse is pretty much $2.35 all over and while Ohio is typically cheaper, that is a huge difference! More importantly, I was able to fill up my tank for less than $30, something I haven't done in a long, long time. Ah, the small joys.

Cleveland seems to be the same. Except not. It's weird to see Gund Arena now referred to as "The Q" Arena. I'm sorry but that's just stupid. Call it Quicken Loans Arena; don't call it "The Q." Also, it seems that all the stores at Crocker Park are now open, which was not the case the last time I was here, or at least not the last time I was here for more than two days. Umm, I'm sure there are many more small differences but overall, I love being back here and knowing where I'm going at all times!!

Blown off

Yesterday, the internship supervisor was supposed to come visit me at the med school library but he bailed and decided to just do the interview over the phone, which I guess is okay. However, imagine the uncomfortableness that can be an in-person conversation with someone you don't especially like and then triple it by having to converse with that man over the phone. Ugh. It sucked. But the best part was that it was only about five minutes long. At least he remembered me from the first time we met (oh, two weeks ago)...

Also, because it was the last day of the semester for Upstate, it was supposed to be "slow" at the library and they made reference on-call all day - meaning that no one was assigned time at the reference desk and librarian aid would only be sought if someone showed up with a question and specifically demanded help, yet because I was there, they figured I could sit at the desk anyway. So I did and it was by far the busiest of any days I've ever been there. I must have had eight phone calls over the five hours I was there and while that may not seem like much, typically I am lucky to get one phone call! I am happy to be gone from there for two weeks, I have to tell you, although being away for two weeks just prolongs the whole experience.

Before heading home, I got to see some of my friends last night. My friend Brian & I went to get something to eat at Friendly's, which was his idea but enabled me to try to play matchmaker with him and this friend of mine (Khris) who works there. Brian agreed that Khris is a nice guy but wasn't interested. That's fine; I wasn't that convinced there would be a love match. After Brian left, I called some friends to see if they were at the bar and they were so I headed there to hang out with them. That was nice!

More movies

I watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith yesterday, as I again pretty much did nothing all day. It was an okay movie, improved by the fact that Vince Vaughn was in it. How I love Vince! But then I started to think about how creepy and incestuous the whole Hollywood community is... with Vince now supposedly dating Jennifer Aniston and Brad & Angelina dating after making that movie together.

Today, I'm feeling a little better but I don't know, I still don't feel like doing anything. I'm currently finishing up my hours at my internship, where I had to work from 1-6. It's been a little busier than what I'm used to and I am happy to actually help some patrons. I almost called off sick but it just would have meant that I would have had to make up the time, so I'm glad I didn't do that. I am breathing a little easier, just coughing a bit.

I have two more movies from the library to watch - Batman Begins and War of the Worlds (yes, that would be Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise, respectively, another gaggy Hollywood couple). So maybe I will just stay in and do that instead of heading to the bar to hang out with a couple friends.

Stuffed up and sniffling

Ugh, I have a cold and the worst part is the stuffed nose and the sneezing and sniffling. I despise that. So far, it's not that bad of a cold but anything that prevents me from breathing easily is not good by any stretch of the imagination.

As a result of me being sick, I've basically done nothing this weekend. I did manage to sit at work (my internship) for five hours yesterday, although I kind of don't even remember how the time passed since I was kind of out of it. After getting home last night and then all day today, all I did was sit on the couch and watch movies. I've got a bunch of movies taped from cable and a couple on DVD that I've never seen so I'm trying to go through those. I finally watched Road to Perdition, which was one I wanted to see since it came out and just had never gotten around to it. It was really good. I also watched My Life Without Me, Gigli (yeah, I know, it wasn't really THAT bad), Alfie (now that one was bad), and I don't remember what else. Nothing too fantastic. I'm sure I'll watch more tomorrow, although I do want to get some resumes sent out, too.

Bye-bye Megan

My roommate moved out today and I've been so sad about it. Don't get me wrong, part of me is thrilled to have the place to myself and to not have to pick up after her (not that I really picked up after her but she is definitely more messy than I am, particularly when it comes to doing dishes) but it was so nice to have the companionship and as soon as I had my first afternoon without her, it made me realize that I really have nothing else here. I only really have one other good friend here and he works a lot so we don't see each other much. The only other person I feel any sort of close kinship with is the guy I used to date, and I honestly think that is completely one-sided, that he really can barely tolerate me and is just too nice of a guy to say that to my face. There are a couple other people who I really, really like but we are really different and sometimes it's hard not to notice that.

Anyway, I don't mean to feel sorry for myself or anything, it's just that with Megan leaving and the semester ending and me officially graduating (although I still have 30 hours of my internship to finish up), it's like the end of an era and it's an era I'm not entirely sure I want to end yet. Maybe if I had even the slightest idea where I was headed next then it would be more exciting than sad but right now I only feel sad. I hate getting close to people only to have them walk out of your life to possibly never see them again.

Interview!!

I had my first official librarian interview today at a local, suburban public library. I was SO nervous about it all, but luckily one of my best friends here works at the circulation desk and was on duty when I came in so he calmed my nerves a little and then I talked to another sort of friend who works there so that helped too. She gave me some tips. Overall, I thought the interview went well and I think the director really liked me, but I have no idea who else she has talked to or how those interviews have gone. She is very chatty and so I felt like I didn't get much time to talk. But I think I said a lot of the right things.

Anyway, would I even want this job? I don't know. It's only part-time, but I guess that means at least 30 hours a week so that isn't bad and she's in the process of seeing about getting health care benefits for all employees who work over 15 hours so that would be pretty sweet, too. It involves sitting at the reference desk all day, though, so I don't know, that kind of sucks. Like, doing nothing but sitting at the reference desk. Which is something that I really don't like doing at my internship - just sitting there waiting for customers to come. And if they don't, then you just sit there. But, the director seems really open to ideas and if I can get some good ideas about how to improve things, which I think I might be able to do, then it might actually be a really awesome opportunity. At least for a year or so, where I can get some experience and then maybe be ready for another move somewhere. I don't know. We'll see. Second interviews will start after the first of the year.

The new internship I hate

I don't 'hate' it quite yet but it's losing its shine a bit. Everyone there is apparently divided into one of two factions and the one side feels like they are being edged out and forced to leave and all this drama. Hearing the other side makes me think that they really aren't paranoid and that this is truly happening. However, I just want to go in, put in my time and leave and not get mixed up in all the melodrama.

There is this older librarian there who I was warned about - warned that she was bossy and pushy and that I shouldn't listen to her, that she has no authority over me and all that - and she's been nothing but nice to me! She thinks I'm being taken advantage of, though, and I have to say that I kind of agree. Today I was only scheduled to work the reference desk from 5-6pm and ended up working it from 2-6pm because the one librarian suddenly had to run to the bank and the other librarian had to go to a meeting. What would they have done if I hadn't been here to sub for them? But then again, why else am I here as an intern if it isn't to sort of be taken advantage of. I mean, it's not like they are asking me to murder people or work myself to the bone. It's just sitting at the reference desk, waiting for questions. All day I probably had like four questions. And at least if I get to sit at the reference desk, I have a computer in front of me and therefore can surf the Web if I need to.

I am a little worried about Saturday when I'll be all alone without any other reference person here. Hopefully it will be really, really dead.

Last big assignment

I've been in the computer lab on campus for approximately 8 hours today working on this big usability test paper. I have more than enough pages but it's just not the right pages, if that makes sense. I am looking at a couple more hours here, at least, probably. Although I should get dinner at some point. Anyway, once this is done, I'm basically finished with all of my assignments and - quite possibly - my academic career!

Usability testing

I got two of my friends to do usability tests on my library Web site - well, not my library Web site but the one that I'm testing. That was kind of fun! It's fascinating to see how other people approach things. Although Mark said I made him nervous by watching him...

Other than that, Mark made me sign up for MySpace so I now have an account there. We'll see how that works out.

Oh yeah, and I listed some things on eBay. More to come on that front...

Internship winding down

The faculty advisor, who I haven't heard a lot of great things about, had to come visit my internship today so that was interesting. I wore a short skirt because I hear he only hires pretty gals. In other words, he's kind of a pig. Anyhow, it all ended up being fine and my site supervisor, Fred, apparently talked me up and all that. In fact, he didn't stop talking. He went on and on and on and it was kind of crazy because he's not very talkative when we are alone. I can't tell you how many times he doesn't answer my questions.

I only have one more day there and I am so excited, you just don't know!

I do have a TON of homework over the next few days, though, so ugh.

Cranky

Today was not that good of a day. First of all, my left leg is so sore from those huge bruises I mentioned yesterday. Then, on my way to work, I totally fell on the ice and now my left butt cheek hurts like hell, too. I don't even want to see the bruise for that one.

At work, we finally figured out the rest of my schedule. I need 60 more hours to finish up my internship and although I was told I could finish in ten weeks, it's going to end up being twelve... although even finagling that was a bit of trouble. I said I would work some Saturdays; however, during the holidays and around this time of year, many Saturdays do not have reference service. Instead of letting me make up time on other days, my supervisor wanted me to keep working until I can do Saturdays. Umm, I don't want to be at this internship until March just so I can get a few Saturdays in. Luckily, I talked her into letting me work some Tuesdays and now my last day is scheduled for January 21st. It's just really frustrating to me. I was really hoping to be finished by January 14th... I guess one week doesn't make a big difference.

Finally, immediately after work and before class, I had to meet with a group for a presentation for class tonight. The meeting went all right - as good as can be expected for the hell that is group work - and our presentation went off fine, too, but this presentation was only the first step in a major final project that is due Dec. 16th. Now, with people leaving for winter break and whatnot, we basically decided we need to get it done by Dec. 11th. So we had to set up a meeting time when everyone could show up. Catherine suggested Saturday. I said I had to work until 5pm. Everyone seemed to agree that meeting at 5pm would work well. Well, maybe a half hour later, group member Michelle suddenly remembered she had to work from 4:45 to 8pm on Saturday. So, Catherine decided that it would make more sense to accommodate Michelle (yes, she would be the group member who does nothing in the group because there is always a coattail-rider) than to accommodate me and the meeting was moved to 3pm, with me being able to join them like at 5:30ish or whenever I could. Provided everything was not finished by then, of course. Which it very well might be. This had me slightly miffed at first, but then, the more I thought about it, I remembered how we all agreed to meet at 9:30pm on Monday night to accommodate Catherine. We all were willing to meet up at a totally inconvenient time just so she could join us. Why do I not get the same treatment? It's just really frustrating for me. ESPECIALLY because I volunteered to do the 'executive summary' - something that would be a whole lot easier to write if I actually get to hear what everyone has to say about their parts. And ESPECIALLY because the only reason Catherine wants to meet earlier is so that it doesn't cut into her drinking time. I am not sure how to say all this stuff without coming across as a bitch.

The good, the bad, the ugly...

The good - Today I got a call from a nearby public library that I had sent my resume today and I am going to meet with the director next Thursday. Yay! My first official library interview. It's only a part-time opening and I'm not sure if I should even consider taking something like that if I am only going to continue to look for something full-time but everyone I talk to seems to agree that it's not horrible to do that. We'll see. The best part of that job is that I have friends who work there.

The bad - Actually, nothing really is bad, but I did have a LONG day on Monday, starting with my third-to-last day at the engineering firm, where I actually kind of enjoyed my time for once. I had to try to find a bunch of articles and that involved searching WorldCat, Google, various government Web sites and more. I was impressed with my ability to think of ways to find things. After that, I stopped home briefly to grab a change of clothes for later and headed to campus to attend the IST holiday party with my roommate and her GA friends. It was fun! There was ample free wine that I took advantage of... I stayed at the party to the bitter end, where I then persuaded Dan that we should hang out at his house between the end of the party and when we needed to meet with our group. That evolved into actually conducting the group meeting at Dan's house... until midnight. It was just a long day. I was definitely ready to go to bed by the end of it.

The ugly - I had difficulty sleeping last night (which I often do after consuming alcohol) partly because every time I tried to sleep on my left side, my leg was in a lot of pain. I could tell I had a bruise there but only this evening did I realize the extent of the bruises. Yes, there is more than one. They are nasty, quite colorful ones that I have NO idea how I got. Am I the only one who is constantly finding bruises on her body and having NO clue where they came from? You would think I would remember something causing such damage, but nope.

Start of hell week

I realized today that I kind of have a LOT to do and going on this week and it will pretty much suck but I guess after it's done, I will be totally free of schoolwork for possibly forever.

I went to campus to use their high-speed Internet and ran into friends in the computer lab so I don't think I necessarily got as much done as I could have. I did find some articles that relate to my reference class final project, though, and I pretty much decided on a subject, too. So yay!

Tomorrow is going to be a LONG day.

I helped a patron!

So, yeah, what do you know, at my internship today, I actually helped a patron. I kind of helped more than one, but there was one guy who I solely helped all by myself. Yay! I can do it! Of course, do I have any idea if I actually did help him after he walked away from the desk? Nope. But he didn't come back so I'm thinking positively!

After work, I washed dishes, made dinner, watched Serendipity and worked on ranking bed & breakfast Web sites for my Information Architecture class. My friend Dan helped me with that, which was so incredibly nice of him because it probably doubled his time commitment to that project, but at least he helped me to kind of understand what I was doing.

Snow snow snow

Today we had a pretty good snowfall. I only went out for a brief time and the roads were getting a little bad - so I went back home! Ha! Winter is not my favorite season.

I applied for a job at a local public library, though. The more I think about it, the more I actually think I might like working for a public library. But it probably depends on the situation. While I sent my info out to be rejected, I also talked to the manager(?) at Borders, who told me I was too late for a job, that he already filled up all the interview slots. He sounded like kind of a dick, to be honest. I've never heard of the job interviewing tactic that consists of giving out interviews to the people who call back first. I mean, usually isn't there some sort of preliminary ranking order of people you want to interview or, at least, the number of phone calls match the number of interview slots or something? He only called me on Thursday; I tried to call him back unsuccessfully Thursday afternoon and evening and then Friday morning, when I did get ahold of him, it was too late. Although, he might call me Monday if one of the interviews didn't work out apparently. Oh joy! Lucky me! I can't wait!

I got this DVD from the library on the Amish rite of rumspringa. It was kind of interesting. I'm determined to find a blog by an Amish person tomorrow while I'm at work, sitting at the reference desk. There has to be one, right?

Thursday

My internship at the engineering firm is down to only about 14 hours or so. Three more days of work, as I see it. Next week, the internship faculty advisor from school is coming to interview us, so I'm so dreading that. Today, Fred had me work on a Dialog search, although I couldn't for the life of me tell you what exactly I was doing since he simply had me type in the commands and hit enter.

Other than that, I turned in some paperwork to allow me to continue my education next semester (and therefore get more government financial aid) and also tried to write the perfect cover letter for a local job. I don't even know if I want the job, but I figured I should at least apply for it, right?

Also, Borders finally called me about a job there, after I turned in the application about ten days ago. I couldn't get ahold of them, though, as it seems to be Borders policy that phone answering is the lowest priority. When the phone did finally get answered, I was told that "Mark" was not available and that I could not leave a message. Nice. So I have to just keep trying back?

Interior Decorating Librarian

Today at my internship, I was asked to help the one librarian move to her new office. Mind you, as asinine as this might seem, it really did not bother me much because I would rather do something useless like that than sit at the reference desk shadowing a reference librarian who gets no questions. I spent a good hour or more helping Rebecca decide where she wanted to put her desk and helping her move everything into her new office. I also had to fill out my learning agreement, which is due after 30 hours of work. I feel like I should be way past the 30-hour mark there but I guess that makes sense. I want to start adding extra hours sometime soon so I can be at like the 70-hour mark by the end of December.

The funniest thing about the move, though, is that the Head Librarian made it sound like it was all Rebecca's choice to move and that it was such a better office. Rebecca, on the other hand, whined to me about having to move and told me how much she really liked her old office and didn't want to move to the new one at all, where she felt the view was crappier (she had a point). So hmm, whose idea was it for the move?

Back to the grind

Well, "grind" is probably not accurate to describe a 20-hour workweek and 2 courses but I did have to get up somewhat early after four days of sleeping in.

I'm down to only 18 hours left at my engineering library internship and I'm psyched!! Today I spent most of the day cataloging. The list of journals actually held by the library is significantly greater than the list of journals the library catalog says are there so I had to add and correct entries of missing journals. While having a catalog that actually matches your holdings might not be that important for a small library like this one, I can't for the life of me understand why this hasn't been done. I'm still really trying to figure out what the heck Fred does all day.

Thanksgiving weekend

After Thursday, I had a really nice, tame weekend where I pretty much did nothing. I refrained from doing any Black Friday shopping, despite tempting sales offered by many stores. I have no money to spare and cannot go crazy buying stuff I can't afford. See how good and responsible I am? On Saturday, my friend Brian came over for a few hours so it was nice to catch up with him. He keeps himself way too busy!! Sunday I dedicated to job searching and found a few jobs to apply for. Did I actually apply for any? No, but they are all ready to go! Overall, I really kind of forgot it was a holiday weekend, let alone my first Thanksgiving away from family.

Tofurky Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with my friends in Syracuse was a good time. We had a LOT of food - way more than three girls need - plus wine and a Johnny Depp movie so really, we had quite a bit to be thankful for!! Here are a couple pictures of the food, one of the entire spread, plus one of the tofurky. I have had more requests for information about tofurky than I ever thought possible. "Tell me how that tofurky is" was the statement of the week! Honestly, it didn't taste too bad, although I would probably prefer turkey in the future.

The way of the pilgrims

Well, it's a holiday and I'm staying in Syracuse and celebrating with a couple friends. It should be a good time and we plan on having quite a bit of food, regardless of whether we are with family or not! The only thing missing will be turkey. Instead we are having tofurky.

Anyway, as a holiday greeting, here's a link to a e-card that my friend Nancy sent me. It's cute and made me laugh. Happy Thanksgiving!

Halfway done

I thought I'd already reached the halfway point of my loathed internship at the engineering firm but I was wrong. After today's time there, I have now logged 27 hours, so I have only 23 more to go. Therefore, only after today did I reach the halfway point. Phew. Today was particularly unbearable, for some reason, although Fred did share a bit of information about how things are done at Liverpool Public Library, where he is a substitute. It's interesting that he seems to be more forthcoming about his work at the public library than he is about his day-to-day work at BBL. Not sure if that is because there is more to say or due to some sort of confidentiality he feels for BBL or what. Regardless, it was a little interesting.

No matter what, though, my skin crawls when he tells me to "dilete" something. I thought the word was "delete?"

Where have I been?

So, I had this big 10ish-page paper due Saturday morning so I spent quite some time working on it Thursday and then literally ALL day Friday, too. It was not a fun way to spend a couple of days, but I do actually think it was a pretty good paper. We'll see when the grades come in...

Then, yesterday and today was class from 9-5. Well, more like 9-4:30 but still, it's a long day sitting in class covering topics that we've discussed in detail in other classes. Everyone in my class has whined and complained about the waste of time that is this class and while I agree to some extent, it's hardly the first class I've taken here that has repeated content from another class. In fact, most of the issues overlap in every class.

After class, I spent some time applying at Borders, where I was given over 100 psychological test questions. It was such a pain in the ass. I just want a mall job for the holidays! Who knew it would be so difficult to do that? Ugh. But, I also updated my resume so I can apply for some "real" jobs.

So, yeah, that was my life for the last few days.

Madonna CD

Relying on AOL for free Internet is good in some ways. For instance, I'm currently listening free to the latest Madonna CD, "Confessions on a Dance Floor." Umm, the title is pretty appropriate so far. It's like the music you would hear at a dance club, where they play the extended supercool remix versions of songs and therefore, repeat the same lyrics over and over. I would bet none of these songs have more than 20 total different words in the lyrics. The song I'm currently listening to (which I think is 'Forbidden Love') says something like this over and over "Just one kiss. Just one love." It's got an okay beat to it, although I haven't been moved to get up off my ass to dance. Next is "Jump," which is so far the best of the bunch.

I am so out of the loop that I have no idea which song(s) has been released as a single. Anyway, I'll let you know if anything fantastic comes up on the remaining four songs.

Webcast

I attended my first Webcast today as part of my medical library internship. It was on patient safety. Basically, it started off reminding us how many deaths occur due to errors, either in misinformation or misdiagnosis or incorrect drugs or whatever... So, we are supposed to, as medical librarians, try to improve this situation by making sure there are good information flows. Well, that's the gist of it anyway.

Other than that, I had an okay day at the reference desk. Again, no reference questions. I shadowed and then talked to the consumer health librarian in depth today and that was pretty fascinating. They have some amazing content on their site. Seriously, I'm impressed and think I will be referring people to it for some time to come. Jim (the librarian) even might have a project for me that involves editing some of their Web sites, which would be sweet!

Gastric Emptying

So I was at my internship (the one I loathe) and inputting all these articles into their catalog and the majority of them are about 'gastric emptying.' Uh, yeah, that's pretty much what you would think it would be. A lot of the articles involved timing the gastric emptying (i.e. how long does gastric emptying take?) and featured titles along the lines of "What are the differences in gastric emptying between men and women" and "How different meal choices affect Gastric Emptying." Lovely, it was.

Kathy Griffin

Last night, comedienne Kathy Griffin came to campus and performed. For students, it was a mere $4 to see her and, despite some effort in getting people to actually go with me, it was a good time and those of us who went were happy with the price-to-entertainment value ratio. Two things I liked about Kathy's act:

1.) She is queen of the tangent. She'll go off on this tangent in the middle of a story and then off on another tangent and so on and so on... yet she ALWAYS gets back to the previous story and finishes it off. It's quite amazing actually.

2.) Rather than telling jokes, Kathy is more of an observer of the oddities of people... celebrities in particular. That's what I enjoy, though. It's like hanging at the bar with one of your friends listening to her stories about hanging out with ass hole celebrities.

Anyway, I definitely enjoyed it!

Library of Congress internship...

Before the engineering firm and the medical school internships, there was the Library of Congress, remember? Well, when my roommate got the latest issue of American Libraries in the mail today, there was an article about our treasure-hunting activities over the summer! Yay! No pictures of me, though.

And the second internship is under way as well...

My second internship - at SUNY Upstate Medical University Health Sciences Library - began today and it went so much better than the first one. There was official training put in place, where the head of reference showed me how to search for E-Journals and use the primary medical database, Medline. Apparently the most popular questions are along these lines. I did a tutorial on how to use Medline as well and pretty much read everything there is to read on the library's Web page. We set my schedule at 12-5 on Wednesdays and Saturdays so that's not bad. Because they are understaffed currently, she wants me to do Saturdays by myself soon. Scary!

One internship started...

So I finally started one of my internships. After MUCH frustration and a LOT of red tape, I started at the environmental engineering firm this morning. It was awkward and unpleasant and I thank God that I did not sign up for 150 hours there like I would have done had there not been 6 weeks of paperwork hassle.

The librarian is not so much a librarian as he is a 'resource-getter.' Requests for articles or books come to him and he simply has to find the best way to obtain these articles. He might trek to one of the local university libraries and photocopy the article or retrieve it from one of the databases they have access to... He might interlibrary loan it... He might buy an article on a per-article basis... I'm sure there are other options.

I did expect the library to be smaller, though. It has six or seven compact shelving units as well as a couple metal regular units, too. And there seems to be little free space for new acquisitions.

We spent the three hours I was there walking back and forth to his supervisor's office, where the supervisor never was, as well as trying (unsuccessfully) to get in touch with someone from Human Resources. He also had me search Worldcat and submit an ILL request to obtain articles that were requested that day. On Monday, I apparently am going to help organize things, which sounds more exciting at least. He promised I'll get dusty. Good times, no?

You don't know what you've got til it's gone

A friend and I were talking about the HAPRL ratings... ratings about public libraries around the country that are published annually in American Libraries, which is the journal of the Americal Library Association. The compiler uses data including circulation, funding, staffing, hours, etc... to determine the "best" libraries in the nation. I have said this to anyone who will listen in the last year since I've been in library school, but it's shocking to me how lacking the public libraries are in Syracuse. Even those in Virginia, where I was this summer, were less than stellar compared to what I'm used to. Little did I realize that I'm used to the best. Ohio ranks first as a state and a great number of Ohio libraries that I've been to throughout my life rank highly in their specific categories. They divide the libraries by population served and in their respective categories, the Cuyahoga County Public Library ranks 4th and the Porter Public Library in my hometown of Westlake ranks 1st. Hooray for them!

Halloween reading

I've been reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire for weeks but it is pretty appropriate for today. 'The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West' is the subtitle. Unfortunately, although I've been wanting to read this for years and just never got around to it, I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. I LOVE the idea behind it but eh, not so much the reality of it. I really don't want to give it up, though, because I've tossed aside so many books I've wanted to read in the last month. Nothing suits my mood. But hey, at least I'm reading for pleasure, which is something I did not do the last two semesters.

I'm back and that calls for some total randomness

So I vow to do a better job of posting on my blog again. I don't know why, I just vow to do so.

And now the random news of my life:

- I am never home on Thursday nights at 10pm because I'm almost always at the bar but I have had a splitting headache all day so I decided to stay in tonight. There is NOTHING on TV right now, so I'm watching some ABC news mag that is detailing a constantly fighting married couple from Rochester. Do I care? No. Yet I watch... Why did the World Series have to end so fast?

- When I get a chance, I am going to try to make a few changes on this site, changes that I've learned from my Information Architecture class.

- I applied for my first library job today. I STILL don't really have an internship but I applied for a job anyway! It's a little backwards, but that's me.

See you soon!

Missing...

Yes, I've been missing from here for quite some time. However, my adventures over the summer, working at the Library of Congress, are partially documented on my other blog.

I'll be there for you...

And I would SO be there for this movie...

Internship

I've been a little MIA over the last couple of weeks, sorry. I'm moving and also I'm going to be heading to Washington DC for an internship at the Library of Congress. I'm not sure exactly how much time I'll have to write over the summer, too, once I start the internship!

More Amazing Race...

This article (via TV Tattle) is really funny. Its headline "It's all about Rob and Amber: Couple deserve to win finale of Amazing Race" makes you not want to read the article, but soon you realize that the author is being sarcastic and it's pretty funny. Dead-on, too.

Amazing Race finale news

Don't forget, the finale is on tonight! This article about Kelly is interesting. It says her comments are always taken out of context. While I'm sure that is possibly true, I can't imagine the proper context for the "You got out of the Army and therefore you lack commitment" comment. The best part of the article, though, is the comment from the woman who knows Kelly and says she "didn’t believe that contestants on “Survivor” lost weight from going without food during taping." Heh. Also interesting was this sentence: "Kim Keller, 42, of Greer has known McCorkle since the two were in grade school." Umm, the CBS Web site says Kelly is 26 so how could those two have gone to grade school together?

Surprise celebrity wedding

I heard on the radio on my way home from work that Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney got married. How weird is that? I always think it's weird when people date for a long period of time and don't get married, but meet someone and run off and get married after a short period of time. Here, they have only known each other four months. I just read yesterday that they were dating at all and Us Weekly made it sound like even though they have known each other for four months, they were only dating for a week. That's a cute picture attached to the article, though.

Borders/Waldenbooks coupon

Here is a link to a 30% off coupon at either book store. Not a bad deal. It's good Thursday through Sunday. I'm in the midst of trying to clean up stuff - my apartment, my emails, my saved links, etc... Yes, that is just another way to procrastinate.

New column...

Here is the ultra-secret link to my latest Inside Pulse column. I've figured out how to get it displayed without being approved by the editors or whatever they are because God only knows when they get around to approving it. There are many times when I post a column in the afternoon of one day and it doesn't show up on the Inside Pulse TV homepage until almost 48 hours later. I don't think it actually even requires approval or anything, but just like an extra step of allowance onto the homepage. But, anyway, I like this week's column, where I talk about Janu quitting Survivor. I didn't spend that much time on it (who has the time during Hell Week?) but I think it turned out well.

Desktop Apprentice

Heh. This article (via TV Tattle) talks about how "ugly" and "useless" actual office workers find the "Desktop Apprentice" that Staples is now selling after The Apprentice episode on Thursday. I kind of thought that it looked rather large for a regular desk, but I will be honest that I kind of enjoy office caddy things like that, with little compartments to hold different stuff. However ugly and useless people may find that, I can't imagine that they wouldn't say worse about that desk that the other team designed.

Constantine's band gets record deal

So says this USA Today article, which is great. I mean, I'm sure they'll sell a lot of records and Constantine won't even get the money apparently, since it says he signed over his rights. But my question is: why sign with the label that signed William Hung? Wouldn't any other label be interested? I would have some serious credibility issues with the label that signed William Hung.

The headlines say it all...

Cavaliers, James Fall Short of Playoffs

Cavaliers Win the Battle, Lose the War

My name is not CHERIE

I wonder if I will ever NOT be annoyed when people misspell my name. Here I am 32 years old and it still annoys me in certain circumstances when my name is misspelled. I am fairly used to strangers having no idea how to spell my name but when I get an invitation to a baby shower and my name is misspelled by relatives or in-laws, it really kind of irks me. It's unacceptable from friends, too.

Another thing I hate - my name isn't Cheryl. Or Cheril. It's Cheri L. There is a space between the first name and the middle initial, in the same way you wouldn't call Michael J. Fox by the made-up name of Michaelj. You would not believe how often that happens, also. It happened again twice in the last week.

Still a chance...

All I can say is... "PHEW!" One more game.

New Gilmore Girls

It seems like it's been about 8 weeks since a new episode of Gilmore Girls aired but finally, it's back tonight!! A fresh episode, as the WB likes to say. I can't wait, although I'm not sure when I'm going to get a chance to watch it as I'm committed to watching American Idol during that timeslot and I have loads of homework.

Yay to Estelle!

Not that she is ever going to read this but I finally got someone to help me with my Fall 2005 Registration - Estelle from the MySlice Helpline. I talked to various people from the Registrar's Office, various people from the Graduate School and one person from the School of Information Studies, all of whom told me I should be good to go to register - but I wasn't. Estelle has fixed the problem for me and I am grateful! So, thanks Estelle.

Season finale dates for CBS

Here is a link to all the CBS primetime program season finales. Of most interest to me are Joan of Arcadia's finale on April 22nd (which could actually be its series finale as the show is in trouble of being renewed), Survivor: Palau's finale on May 15th (therefore, six more episodes - which also must mean that we won't have any of those annoying recap episodes this season) and The Amazing Race finale on May 10th (therefore, four more episodes - of which another one must be a non-elimination round since we are already down to 5 teams. I was wondering how the show would last until May sweeps until that stunt they pulled at the end of tonight's show).

Britney is pregnant

Yep big news for Britney Spears' fans. I just hope the baby doesn't come out orange-colored, because it seems like they always have pictures of her in the tabloids eating Cheetos. Have to say, though, isn't she worried about her husband leaving her now that she's pregnant? Didn't he leave the last gal when she was pregnant?

My Annoying School

My school, the School of Information Studies, has updated its Web site finally... No, not any of the out-of-date content of course (why would you change that?!) but the pictures and set-up are updated, I guess to incorporate the new building they are moving to soon (which seems to not be anywhere near finished, though, by my estimation). This feature they added to the faculty pages is SO annoying - tell me you are not annoyed by the rotating faculty heads at the top of the page. They continue to move the whole time you are in the faculty section.

'C' is for... carrot?

Cookie Monster, who was always my favorite Sesame Street character for some reason (I think I liked his voice), has apparently gone healthy!! So says this amusing article (via TV Tattle), anyway. Cookie Monster will continue to eat cookies, but he is going to learn moderation and will not only eat cookies now but will also eat some healthier foods. Umm, what? Apparently, this is part of Sesame Street's plan to help fight child obesity. I get how they want to help but I find it hard to believe that kids out there have been chowing down on cookies because they watched a furry blue Muppet do so on television. After all, how many kids are living in garbage cans after watching Oscar the Grouch all these years?

How great is Stephenie?

Seriously, after watching last night's Survivor, I think Stephenie is one of my all-time favorite players. And, yes, I do realize that she hasn't done anything but lose but boy, she is so amazing. And despite her presumably getting merged into a tribe of 8 and seeming like the odd woman out, I don't think she'll be going anywhere soon. I expect those eight Koror to duke it out amongst themselves finally. You know they are just ITCHING to strategize and make a move at Tribal Council. Seriously - it's been 24 days (nearly a month!) without really having to go to Tribal Council. Willard was a gimme.

I'm so enamored with Stephenie that I'm almost inspired to write an Inside Pulse column about my love for her, even though Murtz gave me the week off. We'll see. Maybe I can take next week off.

Papal Conclave

Heh. This article from the USA Today (via MediaBistro) cracked me up. I totally have been quoting info from Angels & Demons regarding the Papal Conclave and The Vatican, in general. I'm not so stupid to think that there is no fictionalization there but I think it's pretty obvious that Dan Brown did do major research. Probably what's more amazing is that I actually have some recollection about a book I read a couple years ago.

Click Here to Donate Free Books

This site, The Literacy Site, donates free books to children in need every time the red button on there is clicked. So, it's quick, easy and can be done every day!

Amazing Race Tuesday

How amazing was it to see all that African wildlife? However, I was SO sad to see the brothers eliminated on The Amazing Race. They were so fun and funny and just enjoyable to watch. How goofy were they to change into their bathing suits and winter caps at the end in the hope that it was a non-elimination round and they would have to do the entire next leg in those get-ups? Of course, I worried that as they stood there getting into costumes, they could have been driving to the pit stop and winning the leg, but it probably wasn't really that close.

Kelly was just unbearable, wasn't she? She got all bent out of shape when Ron told her to chill for a minute and thought he said the 'f' word to her. She called him a redneck! Whatever, Kelly. What happened to that love passage from the Bible you were quoting in the beginning of the episode, Kelly? She has got to go. The poor guy was a POW in Iraq and now he's stuck with her. How much misery does a guy deserve?

I am definitely full-on rooting for Uchenna & Joyce now. They seem like such a great pair.

Oh and the supposed spoiler regarding the players backgrounds on the CBS Web site (see here via TV Tattle) is still valid with the ouster of the brothers.

Getting Over Being Sick

So I spent basically the whole weekend, not to mention Monday and Tuesday, in bed feeling completely sick and lousy. I must have slept about 80 hours over the last 5 days. I woke up today at 3:30pm. Now, the problem is that I'm feeling a LOT better and it's closing in on 2:00am and I'm not the least bit sleepy.

I was given a two-week breather on my Inside Pulse column, thankfully. I did do my American Idol recap tonight, though. I still want Anthony Federov out of there.

LaundryView

This LaundryView monitoring Web site is probably the coolest thing I've heard about in a really long time. My school paper ran an article about it today. Basically, it lets someone check via the Web whether there are any available laundry machines in the laundry room without having to trek there. Also, you can see when your loads are done - without having to run up and down to the laundry room eighty times. How awesome is that?

American Idol prediction...

My prediction for this week's vote-off is either Anthony or maybe Scott. I'd like to see Anthony go next. He just doesn't impress me that much, especially compared to the others. Here's my recap of last night's show. I also wrote this week's column on my prediction of how they'll end up. I predict Carrie winning it all.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday! Sorry I can't be there to spend it with you - or spend Easter with the family, either.

"Good" Friday

Not so much for me. Although, I guess, in the religious world, "Good" is kind of a misnomer, too, since that is the day that Jesus is killed. For me, it was just a matter of me getting dumped by a guy I really like(d). Sad.

Survivor Palau

So who's with me? Thank GOD James is finally gone. I've been wanting that for weeks, definitely last week at least. And boy, was he surprised to see his name, Mr. Bobby Jon-would-never-vote-for-me. Didn't Bobby Jon vote for him last week? Maybe that was Ibrehem. Ulong may not be winning a single immunity challenge but at least they can boast two tie Tribal Council votes back-to-back. That has to be a first. And how about that Stephenie? Changing her vote during the tiebreaker vote two weeks in a row also. People think I'm indecisive.

As glad as I am to see James gone, I have to say that it is sad to see Ulong lose so much. Those three remaining Ulongers seem like some really nice people. And how horrible is it to see them in such a terrible position when that horrible Katie is still sitting pretty (and making jewelry) over at Koror? Next week, assuming a merge is not coming or that someone won't get traded to the other team (a la The Apprentice), FIVE people will have to sit out of the challenges - meaning, yes, someone WILL have to sit out back-to-back challenges. Huh.

American Idol screw-up

So, you all might have heard by now about how American Idol messed up and now the results show is TOMORROW instead of tonight. Now, I have to recap a whole hour of useless television tonight so they can do a re-vote when I was expecting to only have to recap 30 minutes. Also, I can't do Thursdays so I won't be able to do a live recap of the results show (unless I skip class...). It's kind of a pain. Here is my recap of Tuesdays's show, though.

I'm not the only one who is anti-Rob

Of course, I should have known going against the great Rob Mariano in a column for Inside Pulse last week would surely result in hate mail from the site's primary readership, which also happens to be the primary fan base for Rob - twentysomething, loser-ish males who view Rob as some sort of hero because he smarts off to others, jokes to the camera and ultimately got a babe to agree to marry him... However, I am glad to see that I'm not the only person who doesn't like him and his gameplay and in this small paragraph about The Amazing Race, I think the critic hits the nail on the head. I wonder how much hate mail he will get.

Silas firing

Yeah, so I heard all about the Paul Silas firing by the Cavaliers yesterday and while I admit I was shocked at first, the more I heard about it, the more sense it made. I listened to everyone from Kenny Roda on WKNR (who I love) to NBA TV to ESPNews to the Pardon the Interruption guys talk about how it was probably a good idea and they all convinced me. This Plain Dealer article talks about the stupid ways Silas was acting and it makes sense... But, pretty much what put the final nail in the coffin for me is when that jackass Jay Mariotti called it a dumb move on Around the Horn. I pretty much disagree with everything he says, so sure, that sealed the deal.

Also, how about the talk that the Cavs might hire Phil Jackson next? How great would that be? Phil Jackson in Cleveland? No way!!!

Not so encouraging news...

As I consider a career in news librarianship, here is the report (via MediaBistro) of the state of newspapers from 2004. In it, it states that newsrooms are in trouble and have had to face cutbacks. I'm sure I'm not crazy to assume that librarians are an easy target when a newsroom has to make cuts...

Borders/Waldenbooks coupon

Here is a link to a 25% off one item coupon from Borders or Waldenbooks. Not a bad deal, if anyone is interested... It's good today through the 14th.

Oh "yeah," and there is a basketball game, too

It cracks me up how quickly the Cavaliers are now Usher-ful. Their Web site almost has more pictures of Usher than they have of Lebron and when I got my email newsletter about the game tonight, all it talked about was the fact that Usher would be there attending the game tonight. Like, if you didn't want to go to see the game, maybe go and see Usher sitting in the front row. I realize the team has lost six straight or whatever it is but I would think the basketball game would take precedence over who is sitting in the audience. How soon until they are selling an Usher jersey? Interestingly, from what I can see, Usher makes no mention of the Cavaliers on his Web site.

The Amazing Race - what is it? - 7

So I finally got around to watching the season premiere of The Amazing Race 7 today. I like it so far! It seems like there will be some sneaky play and that should be fun! Also, no model boyfriend-girlfriend teams, which is a huge plus. So far, I like Debbie & Bianca, who are clearly sneaky, smart and travel-savvy. I like when they told the groups to start digging in the 7:40 pile - how stupid are you if you listen to what other teams tell you? The only thing I don't like about them is their constant kissing of each other. Are they a couple or are they just weird? I also like Susan & Patrick - I think this is the first-ever mother-son team! Usually, it's father-daughter teams. I also love that they are planning on being sneaky and deceptive. Fun! Also, it doesn't hurt that they are from Ohio. But, the other Ohio team, Ray & Deana, does not impress me at all. I can't believe that Deana is 27, either. I put her at 37 at least. I don't mind if they are eliminated soon. Same goes for Ron & Kelly. I mean, it's horrible he was a POW and everything but she seems like an annoying priss and I was bummed they beat Ryan & Chuck to the mat by seconds. At least the latter had some personality. Also, as I look at their ages, I can understand why no one ever believes I'm as old as I am.

Oh and I'm not even going to talk about you-know-who.

Anyway, episode 2 airs tonight and the previews promise fighting - but not the Jonathan-Victoria kind!!

Coming to town...

Is it wrong that I'm excited that they are apparently going to build a Walgreens within walking distance to my apartment? Not that I'm probably going to still be living here when it's built, but any sort of retail expansion - bringing new stores into the city (there are no Walgreens here right now) - excites me. Yay.

Also, I can't believe that this intersection qualifies as a "busy" one. Scary. But that's small town living, I guess.

More readers perhaps...

So, Inside Pulse has now gotten some sort of partnership going with SirLinksaLot, which many might know as the preeminent source of television links on the net. If you want to read about a show, particularly a reality show, the best place to start is SirLinksaLot. As a result, Inside Pulse TV articles will be included in the SirLinksaLot lists. You can see for yourself that my very own American Idol recap from last night is listed! My name and column title (Cheri-Vision) is even there. I have to say that I think that is way cool. I definitely think that could mean an abundance of new readers - particularly when I do the recaps live and people want to see what happened immediately. I only kind of wish that it had been the case when I was doing Survivor recaps because I think they were much better. Or better yet, my Survivor profiles because they were unique and I didn't see a whole lot of content like that out there.

American Idol results

Yep, here's my latest LIVE recap, which was kind of live and kind of not because it wasn't posting on the site right at 9pm and then I got a phone call in the middle but, do I care? Anyway, I mean not to discourage anyone from reading the fine piece of journalism that is my recap but here are the highlights: Melinda, Sarah, Jared and Judd all got sent home. I honestly don't think there are any major surprises there. Sarah and Jared were pretty much shoo-ins to head home after their performances. I didn't really care for the other two, although Melinda did get some praise for her Celine Dion song, I think. Jared put us all to sleep with that horrible Marc Anthony song. Whatever... Anyone I remotely like is still in it for now so that's cool.

I'm getting the hang of doing the recaps too. It's a damn good thing I can type fast. Or maybe it's not because the recaps are way too wordy...

Roar!!

This is only one of the reasons why I wouldn't want to be working at the Reagan Presidential Library!

Recap mania

I am all over Inside Pulse. I finally finished last week's recap of The Bachelorette. Then, I tried my first American Idol recap and here it is! Tonight, I'll be doing the LIVE recap of tonight's American Idol. I also have my flagship column in the works... That should be up before the night is over.

American Idol finalists

Since my new recapping job is all American Idol all the time (hey - the damn show is on three times next week!), I thought I should read some info about the newly selected contestants. Here is an article (via TV Tattle) that talks about some of the accomplishments of the 24. Most notably: baseball player Ozzie Smith's son is one of them. Also, it seems like a really old crowd with a lot of over 25 people. In fact, there are THREE 29-year-olds. The cut off was 28, but you only had to be 28 at the time of the audition so apparently three have turned 29 since then. Not that I'm complaining. I'd rather see adults than the Diana DeGarmo types.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is my friend Rachel's birthday! Happy Birthday, Rachel! Hope your day is great!

On the topic of Survivor...

This is an interesting ranking of the top 50 moments in Survivor history. I wouldn't agree exactly with the order, but for the most part, he's dead-on. (article via TV Tattle).

Palau...

How weird it is to be watching Survivor as just a casual observer again - it's been years since I have done that and I have to say I loved it. SO relieved that I didn't have to try to figure out all those people's names because don't they all look alike? Well, a great deal of them anyway. Except for Wanda. Singing Wanda. Angie might think she has the outcast role all sewn up, but when it was her and Wanda standing there, waiting to be picked, EVERYONE and their mother knew Angie wasn't going anywhere. Who wants Little Miss Sing a Sucky Song on their team, no matter how many tattoos Angie might have? I did enjoy the picking of the teams (especially with each person picking the next person) and ironically, just like the last time that was done, in Thailand, we have a team with all young, buff people in Team Ulong. A team that lost the first challenge and got rid of their leader, too. Not saying I wasn't happy to see Jolanda go, because I was, but at least she was willing to step up and make some decisions. I just can't imagine them doing well - at all. But I know it's still early.

Basically, everyone I like is on Team Koror and that includes Tom (who seriously could be John Slattery's brother), Ian, Janu, Caryn (gotta love the hometown gal) and yes, Coby. I can see why some might not like Coby but I enjoy anyone who starts playing the game from the very first moment. He basically single-handedly got Jonathan eliminated and I know he looks kind of shitty for not picking Angie, but, hey, maybe he liked the idea of having an ally on the other team.

Man, though, when Koror's boat tipped over on the way to the new island - I laughed so hard! It was SO funny. But then I immediately realized the horror of that and remembered Jeff talking about the "heavily weighted" containers. Oops. Hopefully, that container with the flint won't be that hard to retrieve. Heck, it could be good practice for an upcoming challenge - there always seems to be a challenge like that.

Four days until the next Survivor...

Well, it's almost that time again and here is an article about the upcoming season where Jeff Probst makes all kinds of promises that probably won't come true concerning choices and new challenges. But, he confirms something I predicted about the 'three people going home in the first episode' rumor - which is that they pick teams and two people just don't get picked and head home.

Yay!

Tom Cavanagh, who I love from Ed, got a pilot deal with CBS. Not that it means he'll definitely be on TV regularly again, but the show does sound kind of interesting.

Fascinating news story...

This is a pretty neat story about a woman who talks for the first time in 20 years after being seriously injured in a car accident.

Sucky things, though: She thinks she is 22 and that it is the 1980s still. And the drunk driver who did this to her was sentenced to 6 months in jail.

Finale tonight

Don't forget - The Amazing Race finale airs tonight between 9pm and 11pm. I can't wait, although I'm not sure I'll be able to watch it live anyway. (Too much homework!) I will be praying that Kris & Jon win, though. Please let them win!!

More Super Bowl..

Well, I wrote my Inside Pulse column on the Super Bowl - just a bunch of stupid rhetorical questions - and I submitted it last night at like midnight and I guess one of these days it will actually show up on the site. Keep checking, I guess. I don't really understand what the deal is but then again, I can say that about most of the site...

Yawn

That's my take on the Super Bowl. Yawn. Close game, sure, but no surprise ending. Yawn. Commercials were blah. There were a couple that were kind of cute but I'm not sure what people will be talking about tomorrow. P Diddy driving a Pepsi truck? Cedric the Entertainer (aka Ceddy Bear) and his designated driver dance? Guy frozen from driving his Mustang Convertible in the winter? Yawn. Lastly, the half-time show? Yawn. Sorry, Sir Paul, I love your music but I was bored.

The best part is that now that it's over, the Browns have a new head coach and can get started on a new era.

Super Bowl Sunday

In honor of the Super Bowl, I thought it would be funny to share a story from The Onion that talks about how children are still traumatized from last year's Super Bowl halftime show. Enjoy.

Bachelorettes

Apparently, last year's "Bachelorette" Meredith is back on the market after her relationship fizzled with her choice, Ian. It kind of amuses me that this is news-worthy, but okay. Also, I forgot about that runner-up, Matthew, from her season until I read that article. He was C-U-T-E! Cuter than any of the guys on the show this season.

Anyway, as far as this season goes, I wrote my latest episode recap last night and here is the post.

TV Tonight

Tonight, American Idol finally will air its visit to Cleveland, which actually was the first locale for tryouts this season, but had not aired yet.

In other news, I hate to break it to you, but I'm fairly confident that this is a non-elimination round tonight on The Amazing Race. It's kind of a bummer, but at least I won't have to worry about having a panic attack every time someone gets ahead of Kris & Jon.

Death in the family

My great-aunt Thelma passed away over the weekend. She was nearly 90.

Dave's back

David Letterman is back doing new shows this week and will have his first opportunity to pay homage to Johnny Carson. Sure enough, he did. It's an all-Johnny tribute. Done better than Jay's, I'm sure. But I'm biased. Check it out tonight.

Tax Free Week Returns!

One of the coolest things about moving to New York is the tax free week. Starting tomorrow and through Feb 6th is the second of these in the five months I've been here. The article says that this is the last one, though.

Inside Pulse writings...

I have two new articles posted on Inside Pulse: one is my recap of The Bachelorette in which I do a LOT of Fabrice-bashing. Like I have any other choice. And, my regular flagship column is about The Ashlee Simpson Show. Hey, it's no surprise to anyone that I never have any good ideas for that column.

Oscars...

The Oscar nominations were announced today and here they are. I don't think there are any big surprises. Clint Eastwood was nominated for Best Actor, over Paul Giamatti - that was a bit of a surprise, I guess. The Aviator is the big movie of the year, with 11 nominations total. Of course, I haven't seen any of the nominated movies or performances, save Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but there's still time. Ray comes out on video next week.

Couple of interesting television tidbits...

By way of TV Tattle, I learned today that Paige Davis is leaving Trading Spaces in March as they go to a "hostless" format. I'm a little intruiged but I have to say that since I very rarely watch the show anymore, it doesn't really affect me. It does surprise me a little, though, as she has become so synonymous with the show that most people don't even realize she wasn't the only host. I doubt Paige will have any trouble landing on her feet, though. Am I the only one who foresees her helping to host The View while Elisabeth is on maternity leave?

Interesting tidbit #2: In the controversial Desperate Housewives-Monday Night Football promo, Nicollette Sheridan was supposed to seduce John Madden, not Terrell Owens. Ew. And people were offended by what they saw - imagine what they might have seen.

Super Bowl Set

Well, unfortunately, the New England Patriots are heading to yet another Super Bowl under the "genius" of their head coach, Bill Belichik. Needless to say, I'm rooting for their opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles have a cuter mascot, anyway. The Super Bowl is February 6. Yes, that means two weeks of hype.

Watching The Apprentice...

They roped me in to the new season, at least so far, even though I told myself I wasn't going to watch. But, I have to say, that I'm already sick to death of the stupid 'book smarts vs. street smarts' hook. The street smarts people seem like a lot better candidates than the book smarts, but that has nothing to do with their education. It's because they are idiots. Not everyone who goes to college is intelligent - I think we all know that. I also don't really like the idea that they are trying to devalue an education. Someone without one might win a reality show, but that doesn't mean that person will be hired at every job. Also, it seems like the majority of the "street smarts" are real estate agents and, last time I checked, you do need some sort of education for that whether it is a college degree or not.

That being said, I was glad to see Todd get booted. He sucked. And, Danny, oy. How annoying is he? And how bad was he with that marketing plan? Of course he's from Cleveland, too, to further bring my hometown down. He graduated from Cleveland State, too, so does that really say a whole lot for his education? I'm not sure. And, doesn't he look like a thin Michael Moore? And his teammate Erin looks like Ashlee Simpson. Stephanie reminds me of Ereka from Season 1, too. On the other team, Tana looks a little like Amy from the first season and Tara looks a little like Omarosa.

Tax Evasion

One of the more surprising news stories of the last couple of days is first Survivor winner Richard Hatch not paying his taxes on his $1 million winnings. Huh? What was he thinking? He won the money on national television with like the biggest television viewing audience of the year watching. Did he think the IRS wouldn't find out? If I worked at the IRS, those reality show winners would be the first people I'd check out.

I'm Back!!

So, I've been a little MIA for the last month or so. I was out of town and did not have regular computer access so I didn't bother to try to post. I kept up with my Inside Pulse duties, though, and here is my latest column. It's about the Golden Globes.