Halloween and Nothing to Be

I came to the sad, sad realization this evening. I have no orange shirts. None. How the hell am I supposed to be an upside down-pumpkin if I have no orange shirts? I even went to TWO stores to look for those plastic leaf bags that form giant pumpkins. NOTHING! man...this is sucky. I guess I could dress like I did in highschool...which is basically wear really baggy clothes. And my letter jacket.

TV questionnaire

Moonlight will be canceled soon. I can feel it. Also, it does not help that the opening credits are craptacular. I think the only other credits I've seen on par with these is Raines. And look how long that show lasted.

But I digress. I have a bit of an obsession with Moonlight...alright, it's more of a guilty pleasure, but still, I watch it. I don't watch it on TV when it airs, I watch it online with limited commercial interruption. And I have come up with a questionnaire about shows:

1. Which TV vampire is the best?
a) Drusilla from Buffy
b) Spike from Buffy
c) Angel from Buffy/Angel
d) Josef from Moonlight
e) Mick from Moonlight
Answer: Honestly, I have to go with Mick. But this is mostly because I find him less sullen and sulky than Angel, and better looking than Spike. Actually, I think if Angel was always 'bad' then I would have taken this category. Also, Dru was up there because she was so awesome with the random crap: "I've named all the stars. But there is great confusion because I've named them all the same name" "Dru, sweetheart, we're inside, you can't see the stars. Besides, it's daylight." Also, Jason Dohring can't pull off Josef. He does great playing a high school bad boy. Not so great at a 400-year-old vamp.

2. Which Private Investigator would you hire?
a) Veronica Mars
b) Keith Mars
c) Mick St. John
d) Angel (I think he was a PI wasn't he? in the spinoff show?)
Answer: Obviously the answer is A. Because nothing can top V making fun of the people she's trying to help.

3. Best Crime fighting team:
a) V. Mars, Mac, Wallace, and grudgingly Piz
b) Mick and Beth
c) Buffy, Xander, Willow and Oz
d) CSI: Miami cast
e) CSI: NY cast
f) CSI: LV cast
g) Shark's team of DAs
Answer: None of the above. House and the Cottages would win (hey, I can consider MRSA and Ergot poisoning a crime syndicate can't I?) But, no, if I had to actually choose from the above grouping, I would choose the Buffy Clan because not only did they solve their given crimes with wit and aplomb, but they also had time to ace their finals.

4. Best Cross over show:
a) CSI: LV to CSI: Miami
b) CSI: Miami to CSI: NY
c) Jag to NCIS
d) Buffy to Angel
e) CSI: LV to Without a Trace
Answer: Even though it hasn't aired yet, I'm going with the CSI: Las Vegas to Without a Trace. Actually, the show I'd most like to cross over is Criminal Minds to CSI: LasVegas.

5. Best change to a vampire:
a) Moonlight (blue/gray eyes, fangs)
b) Buffy/Angel (cromagon brows and fangs)
Answer: Buffy/Angel by a landslide.

6. Best Ensemble cast:
a) Heroes
b) House
c) any of the CSIs
Answer: Heroes. Duh. Did you really think I was going to choose the red headed step child of CBS?

7. Most Surreal show:
a) Moonlight
b) Journeyman
c) Quantum Leap
d) Reaper
e) Pushing Daisies
Answer: I'm going with Pushing Daisies on this one because it's so Big Fish and ultra saturated.

8. Which is the better time travel show:
a) Journeyman
b) Quantum Leap
Answer: Quantum Leap. Ah Scott Bakula, where have you been? You know, Journeyman should have Scott Bakula guest star once...it'd be awesome if they could get the guy that played Ziggy as well.

9. Best Pet:
a) Eddie on Frasier
b) Backup on Veronica Mars
c) Digby on Pushing Daisies
d) Steve McQueen on House
Answer: There are only 4 options because I can't think of any other TV shows that have pets...weird, especially considering something like 50% of people have pets. Anyhow, I'd go with Backup. Never go anywhere without Backup. However, it seemed the writers would forget about him for about 5 episodes at a time. At least Digby's been in every epi so far of Pushing Daisies...and Eddie was in a bunch of episodes of Frasier...So the writers for those shows get special kudos for continuity. And Steve lost out because he was only on like 3 episodes of House. Though, the writers did bring him back for the season finale (House needed a rat to test a theory and he at least knew that Steve McQueen was clean as House had been taking care of him for months).

10. Best mid-20's something playing a highschool student:
a) Sarah Michelle Gellar
b) Kristen Bell
c) Jason Dohring
d) Alison Hannigan
e) Tina Majorino
Answer: Hayden Panatierre because she actually IS 18. Oh wait, she wasn't an option. Right. Uh Tina Majorino then.

11. Which show should be canceled based off the craptacularness of their opening credits?
a) Moonlight
b) Raines
c) Shark
Answer: Raines. Duh. Though, as I said, Moonlight is very similar to Raines. And Shark's opening credits remind me of 90210 for some reason. Numbers should be on this list, but they fixed their opening credits by getting rid of them. Which is good.

12. Which show has the best opening credits?
a) the Office
b) Chuck
c) CSI
d) Criminal Minds
Answer: It's a tie between Chuck and Criminal Minds. Though I think Chuck edges out ahead because of the use of the generic 'men' symbol most commonly seen on bathroom doors (or in Catch Me if You Can).

and I shall deem it "Blue"

My new car is here!!!! it's exciting, no? Unfortunately, however, it is a stick shift and I cannot drive stick. Thus I am relegated to driving around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes at a time and trying not to stall out while at stop signs.

Good news though, I've only stalled out like 3 times. And one of those times is because I took my feet off the pedals BEFORE turning off the car. And this, I know, is just a bad habit from driving automatics--I always want to make sure the car isn't going to move before I turn it off, so I take my feet off the pedals while the car is running. The other times were at stop signs--the first time the guy behind me was nice and didn't honk...though I think it was pretty obvious something was up because it was nighttime and when you pull the key out of the ignition, it will bring up the dome light, and when you start the car it turns off the dome light...and I've got another bad habit of when my car dies, I will turn it off and take the key out of the ignition (thus why my dome light turned on). The last time I stalled out was this morning and it was because I freak out that someone is going to be behind me at a stop sign so I try to start out without giving the car enough gas, thus the stall. And that lady was a dirty bitch and honked. Bitch.

I will post pictures when I'm not being a lazy butt.

The paper signing only took an hour and a half. And that included turning in the satan saturn. Sadly, we only got $500 for it because the dealership said they weren't going to sell it...actually the salesguy told it would probably be taken to Mexico. He did not elaborate past that.

The only "extra" we got was the extended warranty. And we only got that because I said "these are the things that went wrong with the Saturn in the first 5 years that I owned it: Alternator, Battery, Tensioner, Transmission, and Starter" To which, Shawn replied "yes, but the car is 12 years old and that's only what's gone wrong in the last 5 years" But still, we got the extended warranty (7 yrs 80k miles)...besides they were having a sale on the warranties...and when the Honda service guys charge $90/hour, I think it's a much better deal to just have it so they can't charge us on parts and labor because we have the warranty (the basic warranty was 3 yrs).

The only other thing that may have been nice was the window tint. But we can get that at a later date if we so desire.

Now then, I'm off to go drive around the neighborhood for another 20 minutes to get my muscle memory to remember where the clutch point is.

You know what else tastes like Almonds? Cyanide

The other day was my birthday. And everyone was super nice to me.

Then the guy showed up and dropped off the M&Ms.

Yep, some random guy dropped off a bag of M&Ms for me. And I don't have a clue as to who it was. But (and this is a big But), because I work for the guvmint, I can't eat any of them until I know who gave them to me.

Besides, they may be laced with cyanide.

Want an M&M?

Random Crap

1. So help me God, if you do not come over to my house and tell me how wonderful the kitchen looks (hint: The stove top and the fridge especially), I will cut you.

2. Why yes I've been cleaning the house for my parents impending arrival, what would ever make you think that?

3. Yesterday was "Blog about the environment day". And I didn't. HA! I'm horrible about helping the environment...but (!) I will say that I absolutely love the H2 stuff from Shaklee. The stuff is great. 2 drops in 16 oz of water makes a great glass cleaner. And when you use the microfiber cloth, you can actually SEE out of your car windows...which, sadly, is an entirely new concept to me. I have also been using the laundry stuffs they sent as well--unfortunately, I do not like the scent of the laundry detergent/dryer sheets. But I do totally dig the fact that the dryer sheets are recyclable. Yay for recycling!

food

So, Shawn's been out of town since Tuesday AM on a recruiting trip to Colorado for National Instruments. This of course means that it's just me and the cats. This also means that since there isn't anyone else around, I'll just eat when I'm hungry. I have found that I am apparently hungry very infrequently. For example, I made and ate dinner on Tuesday night. I had an apple Wednesday night (while making apple dumplings). And last night I had a serving of cooked carrots. Yep, that's it. And I haven't been hungry for the rest of the night...I find it kind of intriguing...but it does appear that I do in fact eat more fruits and vegetables when Shawn isn't around.

McKinney Falls

I think it's quite possible that Shawn and I are never meant to hike the Homestead Trail here. We have gone to the park 3 times now. And each time we couldn't go on the hike. The first time it was because it had rained a bunch earlier in the week so the fecal contamination of the river was high...and the water was high, so we couldn't cross the river to get to the trail. The second time we got to the park and just as we left the car is started to rain. Hard. We insisted on walking around for about 20 minutes before we realized that it wasn't going to stop any time soon. We then spent the next hour trying to drive home in the pouring rain. The third time (which was this last weekend), the trail was closed because of some expo going on at the Texas Parks and Wildlife main building. I don't know what it was about, but we kept hearing gunfire so it obviously didn't make us want to push our luck by crossing the river and walking on the forbidden trail. Well...maybe next time.

Things to do in Austin Part 2

So then, my parents are coming down for a visit and of course my mom said "Start planning things to do!" So, I decided that a list form is, once again, the easiest way to get my mom a list of things to do in Austin...however, this time we have to separate out the things that Shawn and I want to do and suggestions for my parents (though I think I will take off at least one of the days that they're down here).

1. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center
2. Innerspace Caverns (Dad has decided this is a must)
3. Tour de Fat (Mom has decided this is a must)
4. Bess Bistro (I figure mom and dad would like the joint)
5. Capital Building
6. Bob Bullock Museum
7. Alamo Drafthouse (more than likely)
8. Grilling something on Shawn's grill...Mom says we have to because it's a fancy grill...
9. LBJ Ranch (something for Mom and Dad to do on their own)
10. Driftwood Winery (something for Mom and Dad to do on their own)
11. San Antonio Missions (something for Mom and Dad to do on their own)

HOA

Yes, we got another letter from the HOA...goddamn unpaid for home owners association. This time, thankfully, it wasn't about our lawn but about the north side of our house. "there is a 'greenish' tinge which may be mold or mildew" No shit. We're working on it. We have been working on it. Do you have any idea how hot it is outside and how I totally don't want to be spending an entire saturday in the heat and humidity spraying, scrubbing and washing the side of my house? The side of my house that is in the back yard mind you. Not even the part that is in the front yard. You know, if we had a 6' privacy fence I question if they even would have noticed the mold/mildew/whatever.

Actually, it just makes me wonder what else they're looking at...like are they stalking us or something? hmm, maybe I ought to start shutting the shades before changing.