A Tale of Two Deaths

It was the best of times

Carl Karcher, founder of Carl's Jr., died on Friday at the age of 90. He turned a minor hot dog cart business into the empire that became Carl Karcher Enterprises. He stayed involved in his business until health issues forced him to retire several years ago. He had a long and happy live, stayed involved with his business and his growing family.

We're having lunch at Carl's Jr. today in his honor.

Here's an article about his death.


It was the worst of times

I happened to catch a story on the news a little while ago because the television was on where I was grabbing some lunch. A female pregnant marine had gone missing, and there was concern that she'd been kidnapped, her disappearance happening days after her meeting with military prosecutors, though they didn't disclose what the issue was about. I had figured that she must have been a witness in a case or something, and whoever the case was about might have arranged for her disappearance. It has since been revealed that she was accusing a fellow Marine of rape, and the rape is what resulted in her pregnancy. They have now found the burned and buried remains of someone on the property of the man who she said raped her. He left a note denying he had killed her, but saying instead that he'd buried her after she committed suicide in front of him. Evidence apparently refutes the suicide claim and instead points to her being killed. The male Marine has gone missing. They're examining the remains to see if it's the female marine, and there's an ongoing investigation. Authorities have so far declined to state whether the remains include those of a child. She was due to give birth in mid-February, so the child she was carrying was close to full term.

Once she went missing, I would figure it was presumed that they weren't going to find her alive. But the discovery of what are presumed to be her remains is still devastating, all the more so given the circumstances of her rape. And then there's the child. No one knows yet if the child is alive or if it's another case where the biological father killed the mother and the child him/herself. Yeah, I know, there's no conviction, and he's not even been charged with a crime yet. But all the evidence seems to point to it. Authorities had figured that once the child was born, DNA tests could be done to prove the paternity of the child, thereby providing proof of the rape if the results came back positive. Maybe that would provide additional motivation for killing the child. But I'm hoping and praying that whatever happened that resulted in the death of the mother, that the child was spared. That's about the most that can be hoped for at this point.

Here's a story about the case.

Home Grown goodness

We discovered the Home Grown line a few years ago. We saw some of the figurines in a Hallmark store, and I thought some were cute and some were weird. Well, a lot more have come out in the line. Let me share some of my favorites with you.




This horseradish seal is the only one I've purchased for myself. I only saw it a couple months ago, and it was just too cute.





I'd not seen this one before, but a friend got this eggplant porpoise for me. I think it would have been billed better as a killer whale, except for the coloring, because the shape resembles more of a killer whale than a porpoise or dolphin, but I still think it's really cute.





This is another gift from the same friend. I'd seen the radish polar bear before but hadn't picked it up, so it's a nice addition to my polar bear collection.





This potato hippo is something that we bought for a friend. Pretty cute, huh?





I saw this corn seahorse just before Christmas and had to pick it up for a friend who likes seahorses.





I picked up this starfruit starfish for the same friend. I had thought about getting it for myself, but it went really well with the ocean theme, so I got it for her instead.





This banana octopus was one of the first figurines I'd seen. Cute and ingenious.





These carrot rabbits were also in the first batch that I saw. I loved that they were cute and that they made the animal from one of the food that it eats.





This pineapple turtle is a favorite of mine as well because I think it's a great usage of the fruit.





I think these peapod caterpillars are just adorable.





I just saw this online recently, and I think I'm going to have to pick it up. I absolutely love brussel sprouts, and the fish looks cute.





I saw these strawberry hens, and they look pretty funny. Not something I'm going to pick up, but I still like them.





I think this is good use of grapes to make a poodle. Weird colored dog, though.





This kiwi mouse is kind of interesting.





This cucumber alligator is cool but creepy. Good use of the fruit.





I laughed when I saw this. Who even knows what durian is, and a hedgehog isn't exactly the most well-known animal either, so I guess it's a good match. (Tangent: I like durian ok. Some people don't like it because it has a very strong odor and taste. I don't mind it if it's fresh, but if it's remotely not, it's awful.)





This is billed as a zucchini frog, but it looks more like it's made from a small cucumber to me.



Each figurine comes in a little box that has a really cute "nutrition label" on it. It also has a little line at the bottom that says "Ingredients: resin".

Forbidden Mountain

One year ago today, I discovered Everest. No, not that big cold scary you're-going-to-die-there mountain. I mean Expedition Everest inside Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. We didn't go to Animal Kingdom on our first visit to WDW in November 1999, but when we made our second trip in January 2007, we did decide to include Animal Kingdom in our plans, partly because we wanted to see the park in general since neither of us had been, but mostly because we wanted to ride Everest.

We ended up riding it twice - once in the daytime and once at night. Both were absolutely thrilling. It was a clear day, so in the daytime, you had a great view of the surrounding areas. At night, you had an amazing view of everything all lit up.

I absolutely loved this ride, and I think it became my favorite Disney coaster. It was a great coaster, AND it had a great theme. We weren't able to use Fastpass because they were already all gone, but we didn't mind waiting in stand-by. The line wasn't terribly long, and the queue had so much to look at that we didn't even get a chance to see everything. It was the same feeling I got when I first went on Star Tours or Indy at Disneyland, with their amazingly detailed queues. The queue for Everest was even more elaborate - they basically recreated a Tibetan village, and as you went further through the line, there were various outposts for travelers, and you also learned about the legend of the yeti and what it meant to the locals.

I loved the backwards section of the ride, and I loved the shadow view of the yeti, but I especially loved the yeti himself. In all the commercials, they never showed him, so it was a great payoff when you actually saw him on the ride.

A friend of mine managed to get great video from the front seat, and he has given his permission for me to show it here. Thanks, Mox!

Two things to note about the video:

1. At the broken track section, right before you go backwards, I remember an eagle (or some kind of similar bird) rising up next to the twisted torn track. I didn't see that on his video, and I'd heard that the bird sometimes didn't work, so maybe it wasn't working at the time he took the video.

2. The animatronic yeti wasn't working during his ride, but he said they had a strobe effect going that made it look like it was moving, and he said it was really cool. You'll get just a few short quick glimpses of the yeti because of that. When I rode it, the yeti was working just fine, and I was screaming and ducking out of its way. Both times. Yeah, ok, so I'm a coward and an idiot. :p



Expedition Everest from Jeffry Moxley on Vimeo.


As with Star Tours, the ride exits into the adjacent merchandise store. They had a lot of cool stuff, including a great t-shirt that I ended up getting, but my favorite was that they had a yeti as part of the roundie collection. You don't really have to ask if he came home with me, do you?




I can't believe it's been a whole year, and the only consolation for me about not being at WDW this year is that since this particular bout of feeling completely like crap has lasted a couple months now, there would be no possible way I could go on Everest at the moment, so I'd probably be even sadder to be there and not be able to ride it. Or I'd ride it anyway and feel even more like crap. Blech.

But it'll be there next time I go back. Everest calls, and Everest waits.


If you want to read my trip report notes from the WDW trip, go here.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

OK, first, a disclosure. I didn't make up the blurb that I'm using as the title of this entry. I saw it on a website that I read, and it took me a second to figure it out, but once I did, I loved it.

OK, so I've had a few Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments in the last couple weeks:


Situation 1

This has been going on for a couple of months now, but the component parts have just escalated. Now, people who know me well will know that I do not suffer fools easily. But sometimes, when the fools are people I have to deal with because of work, I have to suffer them more than in non-work situations. Screaming at someone, whether on the phone or over email, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?" is not something that I can do at work. It's taking everything I've got to maintain a professional demeanor with this person ("A"), and I've already decided that I'm keeping all my interaction via email only. With email, I can wait until I've calmed down before I respond, and I can edit and re-edit my response before sending it. I'm not confident that I'll have the same self-control on the phone.

strike one

There had been some discussion on a particular document I was working on as there had been several drafts. When asked for the latest, I sent through a July draft. "A" references an October draft of the document, that the October draft must be the most current, and can I confirm the terms of the document. I reiterate that the July draft is more current and explain the circumstances of how it arose. "A" again responds that the October draft must be most current, and "A" just needs me to confirm the terms. Pissed off beyond all belief that I even have to make this distinction, I point out in no uncertain terms that while it was November 2007 at the time, the October draft was not in fact more recent than the July draft as the October draft was clearly dated October 2006 whereas the July draft was clearly dated July 2007. OH MY HECK!!!!!

strike two

With regard to a different document, "A" told me that the current annual number of 9600 is incorrect as the number had been increased, so I should use 1200 instead. I responded to say that we're using annual amounts, not monthly, so I need the annual amount. "A" again responded that it should be 1200. I asked one more time if "A" was sure that the number had been decreased from 9600 to 1200 or whether "A" really meant 12000. "A" responded that oh yeah, "A" meant 12000. OH MY DOUBLE HECK!!!!!

strike three (and you're out)

Regarding a different annual number, "A" said that the current 3600 is incorrect and should be 2600 instead. I responded to ask if "A" was sure about that since 3600 had been what's been used in all other similar situations. "A" responded that yes, it's 2600. Another person asked if it shouldn't be 3600 since the monthly number is 300, which you multiply by 12. "A" then responded that oh, yeah, it's 3600. AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!!


Situation 2

Yesterday, I had lunch in a cafeteria-type environment. I was enjoying my soup and the book that I was reading. Random person walking by my table pointed to my book and said to me, "Where'd you get that book?" I looked at her and said, "At the bookstore." She smiled back at me and said, "Oh, yeah, the bookstore" and continued on her way.

This wasn't like a doctor's office or something where there's a corner of reading material, and someone might not know where the reading material was. And I've gotten stopped before by random strangers because they liked my shoes or my shirt or my jacket and wanted to know where I got it. That at least makes sense since particular designs are available in particular places. But a book? Aren't they pretty much available in lots of locations? OK, so maybe the local grocery store or the kiosk at the airport won't have something because they only carry a small number of books, but any large bookstore or something like Amazon would either have in stock or be able to order pretty much anything.

And I wasn't reading a rare book or a first edition or anything limited like that. It's a very popular book, so much so that even though it's not a recently-released book, I picked it up off the shelf at Borders a week ago.

"Law and Order", "Celebrity Apprentice" and "Desperate Housewives"

"Law and Order: SVU" - This was a really good episode, with the hallmarks of SVU. The story of the homeless kids and the families that they create on the streets was heartbreaking. (That scene with Olivia and Elliott eating in front of Josie was just cruel!) Some of what the homeless people do is reprehensible, but when you find out what Cassidy had to deal with as a child, you can almost understand how she's gotten where she is and why she's so adamant about helping her "children". Your heart breaks for her when she's testifying against Cole, and he just completely loses it on her. But then comes the twist - Cassidy is not in fact an abused runaway. She was a bored, bratty Park Avenue debutante who rebelled against her parents and ran away, and it turns out that she was ultimately the one responsible for the death that the detectives were investigating.


"Law and Order" - The series returned with two back-to-back episodes and three major cast changes. Fred Thompson left the show because of his run for president, so Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy is the new District Attorney, and a new actor has been hired as the new ADA. In addition, Jeremy Sisto joins the cast as a newly-transferred-in detective. I remember him from the cancelled TV show "Kidnapped". I liked him in that show, so I'm happy about his joining L&O, although I did like the lady detective who was there the last two seasons.

I thought the shows themselves were ok but nothing really special. Jeremy Sisto was very good, and I think he's going to fit right in. However, I did not like the new ADA. He's a sort of renegade, almost an ADA version of Mike Logan, but I like him. I guess I'll have to see if he grows on me.

My major concern, though, is about Jack McCoy. When I heard that he was the new DA, I wasn't sure how the show was going to go. The DAs that I've seen on the show aren't on it much, just making an appearance here and there, so was Sam Waterston going to be reduced to cameos? Well, they're apparently changing that dynamic as Jack was on screen more than Arthur generally was, but then, Jack now seems to pretty much be babysitting the new ADA. I'm not sure how much I'm going to enjoy that aspect, but what I'll really miss are Jack's closing arguments. Sam Waterston was a master at that.


"Celebrity Apprentice"

I've seen a handful of episodes of "The Apprentice", but it wasn't a show that I watched on a regular basis. And celebrity versions of shows don't always catch my attention, but for some reason, this particular one did. I think the major curiosity factor for me is Gene Simmons. The thought of him going up against Donald Trump sounded like it was going to be fun.

The first show started with the introduction of the celebrities. I'll admit to not knowing most of them, but then, they're mostly from areas that I don't follow. The only ones I really knew were Gene Simmons, Marilu Henner (from "Taxi"), Nadia Comaneci (though I would never have recognized her - but then, it's been a billion years since I've seen her), and Stephen Baldwin, and I've heard of Lennox Lewis, and once they identified him, I got that Piers Morgan was the Simon Cowell-esque judge from another reality show. I never watched "The Sopranos", so I didn't know that actor. And of course, I'm familiar with Omarosa.

Once they divided the groups into men vs. women, the two groups were sent off to come up with their group names. I liked Empresario ok, but I really loved Hydra.

With the hot dog selling challenge, the men in general and Gene Simmons in particular had the right idea. They're celebrities with lots of contacts. Instead of selling $2 dogs for charity, why not sell $1,000 dogs for charity? Using the phone was a way to expend minimal effort with maximum results.

On the flipside, though, Omarosa's declaration that they were going to go with selling the product itself rather than using the celebrity and the women seemed like a thud idea, but the other women ultimately went along with it.

As expected, the men crushed the women, raising something like $52,000 to the women's $18,000.

And when it came time for the boardroom, Omarosa reverted to form, her protestations of her change notwithstanding. She never really accepted the blame for insisting on the failing business model and instead blamed other people. (And what the heck with the Latina news person who was totally backing her up? Yeah, she was perfect in every way, except that when it came to choosing the very foundation of the plan, she picked a sucky one, so the entire thing crumbled - you don't think that's her fault?) I'm not really sure why Omarosa focussed on Tiffany. But Tiffany never fought back adequately. When Donald Trump asked why she didn't call her major contact (Hugh Hefner) when Marilu Henner had called people, she didn't stridently tell him that Marilu did it by going against Omarosa's explicit directive. Instead, she went for the "I'm saving him for something better" route. That was her downfall. Had she laid the blame on Omarosa where it really belonged, she might have still been let go, but I think she would have at least had a fighting chance instead of going out with a whimper.

Next week's episode looks interesting with the tease that Donald Trump is going to go after Gene Simmons because of some comment about Ivanka.


"Desperate Housewives"

This episode was all about the aftermath of the tornado. There is some tension as they're digging out the Scavos, but the drama ends as we expected it to - Tom and the kids survived, but Ida didn't. Much of the episode is about Ida, or more accurately, what we didn't know about Ida. Lynette is stunned when Karen tells her that Ida used to be on a baseball league, and she was a star at it. But Lynette is even more stunned when her oldest son tells her that Ida basically sacrificed herself to save Lynette's husband and children. Lynette is appalled at the flippant attitude of Ida's niece (I loved the "you passed bitchy 10 minutes ago" line) and manages to "save" Ida. And the scene with Lynette and Karen on the field scattering Ida's ashes, the ensuing police chase and then the two of them heading out for some beers was terrific. I hope they develop that relationship further.

Gabrielle's story got a little more interesting with the funeral scene where Victor's father blackmailed her into leaving before the service. It's been nice watching Mike Farrell in this role. I used to love him as B.J. on "MASH", but circumstances had made it difficult for me to watch him anymore. And we find out that Carlos has been keeping a secret from Gabrielle - he's blind from the accident. (BTW, when Gabrielle kept clicking on the pain meds for him and they pretty much took effect immediately after she kept pushing it repeatedly - BZZZZTTT, thanks for playing. Yes, you can medicate yourself, but the machine only lets you have so much medication in a certain period of time, no matter how many times you continuously click it.) But I'm still not that engaged in this story. Of everyone, I think Gabrielle is the least sympathetic character. She has blatantly and unrepentantly cheated on both her husbands, and she is much more self-centered with many fewer redeeming qualities than the other women, and I don't think they've really shown the other side of her that they've even managed to show in Edie.

Bree and Orson end up staying with Susan and Julie, which Susan at first dreads, but when Bree ends up playing mother to both of them, Susan doesn't want to let Bree go. I liked the last scene between them when Susan admits that she needs Bree there. I was a little surprised that they played the angle of Bree trying to use Andrew to seduce the contractor into fixing her house after all. After the whole reconciliation and everything, it just seemed really callous, especially since she didn't get his permission or even warn him about it ahead of time.

But the kicker to the entire episode centered around Katherine's big secret. She kicks Adam out since he did in fact have an affair, but just before he leaves, he finds the note that Katherine's aunt wrote that had fallen under the bed. And he leaves on his own terms, but not before letting her know that he knows her secret. And at the very end, Dylan rustles through the ashes of the not-quite-burned paper and finds out the secret herself.

AAAAUUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!! This is the one story that I've been most engaged in, and I've been happy with the little bits we've been told regularly, but now, nothing. This was the last episode completed before the writers' strike, so nothing else will come out until that whole thing is settled. I'm dying to know what the secret is, but part of me wonders whether or not Marc Cherry has even come up with it yet.

Teach your children well

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Teach Your Children Well" was the first song that came to my mind as I thought about this topic. But in looking at the lyrics more closely, there wasn't anything that seemed to say what I wanted.

I think Pat Benatar's "Hell is for Children" does a better job.

Love and pain become one and the same
In the eyes of a wounded child
Because Hell
Hell Is for Children
And you know that their little lives can become such a mess

This was a song I loved, partly because the video was so incredibly awesome. I love Pat's moves and the whole look and feel of the video, and of course, she's got an amazing voice. But the subject was also something that really spoke to me.

Children learn a lot from their parents, but it's not always good. Of course, the scenarios put forth in "Hell is for Children" is on the extreme end, but there are all kinds of hell that children can be put in that don't have quite the same scars.

I've been doing a lot of lurking on a couple sites that focus on relationships with family of any sort - by blood, by marriage, in-laws, step-families, whatever. In many cases, the parental figures have caused a lot of damage in their children's lives, and sometimes, the children can fix the damage, and in others, they're trapped in it forever. In so many of the cases, it's not about physical abuse - it's about emotional abuse and hurting with words, and there are times where even when confronted, the parents don't see that they've done anything wrong. Now, that's not to say that if parents aren't perfect, they're going to screw up their kids' lives. Of course all parents are going to make mistakes. It's the nature of being a parent. But there are systematic behaviours that parents can exhibit which can hinder or even cripple their children's ability to develop into being healthy adults.

One of the books recommended by multiple sources is called "Toxic Parents". I picked up the book recently and just started reading it today. For me, it's not a matter of the subject being parents per se. It's about understanding how one's development can be affected by what they see, hear and learn, and how one can change their reactions to people who can, even occasionally, exhibit toxic behaviours.

I've always been a fan and student of psychology and sociology, so on an intellectual level, I am interested in these topics. But I can also relate to them on a personal level. I've seen parents who have put their children squarely in the middle of their divorce battle, and I cringe for how the children will turn out. I knew someone whose husband had an ex-wife with whom he shared custody of their daughter. The daughter had developmental disabilities, but her problems were compounded by her mother using her as a pawn long after the divorce was over, and by her father being mostly unavailable emotionally. The mother didn't seem to be interested in actually having half-custody - but if she had physical possession (and yes, she sure seemed to treat her daughter like a possession) of the daughter, that prevented the father from having her, and depriving him was what was most important. The father fought to have the daughter with him, but when the daughter was actually in his house, he practically forced all responsibility for her onto his new wife, the child's step-mother, yet the step-mother was not allowed to ever discipline the child, no matter what. I don't know what ever happened to that child. I hope she made it through ok.

I've seen other less severe situations where I'm not sure if there was any affect on the child, but it still concerned me. I knew a mother who was going through a really bad time, and I was witness to her saying things to her young daughter that I thought she really should not be saying, but I had no ability to intervene. The child might have been too young to really understand what was being said to her, but her response did indicate that she was confused by what her mother said. There's a part of me that understands the mother was in a bad place, but I guess for me, there's never an excuse for laying those problems at the foot of your small child.

Some people seem to have a serious disconnect in how they view children. On the one hand, they'll tell you how quickly their child is learning this or that because he/she sees the parent doing it. And then, in the next breath, they completely don't understand that the child is also listening and learning when the parents are doing bad things too. I think children understand a lot more than some people give them credit for.

I would not put my parents in the toxic category. Yes, they made their share of mistakes, and there are some things I really disagreed with, but overall, it's not a big deal. But that doesn't mean I'm not still dealing with some issues.

One major affect of my parents' behaviour is something that I very recently realized still permeates how I react in certain situations. One of the things I hate the most is being blamed for something I didn't do. If I'm at fault, then I can't really object to the consequences, even if I think the consequences are severe. But to be accused of doing something I didn't do - that's something that infuriates me to a level above what one might consider normal. And last year, for whatever reason, it finally occurred to me why that is. When I was a child, my parents would often give me instructions about chores to do while they were gone. Usually, though, they were chores that either had to be done by my older brother entirely, or we had to do them together. They were rarely things I could do on my own. It was up to me to relay my parents' instruction to my brother. Being the teenage boy that he was, he often didn't want to do things. No matter how much I would cajole him, sometimes it didn't work, and it just resulted in him getting mad at me for bothering him. But when that evening or the next day would roll around, my parents would get mad at me because the chores weren't done. To this day, I have no memory of them being mad at my brother, just me. And I was helpless. I got yelled at by my parents for chores not getting done, and I got yelled at by my brother when I tried to get him to help me do the chores. I was neither the one who instructed that certain things needed to be done nor was I the one who was responsible for completing them, but I was blamed for both. In my adult life, I have noticed that when I am accused of something that I didn't do and/or have no control over, I react almost viscerally. The amount of hurt and anger that I feel almost makes me unable to react, and there have been occasions when I've been completely speechless and on the verge of tears as someone has hurled accusations against me. I'm so shaken up by it that I can't even begin to try to defend myself. In thinking about those moments, it felt similar to how I felt as my parents and my brother got mad at me. No matter what happened, I couldn't get them to understand that it wasn't my fault.

One other major point is a story that my mother used to tell about me, in front of her friends when they'd come to visit, or sometimes to visiting relatives. She'd tell the story, and they'd all laugh. And never once did any of them consider how amazingly hurtful that story was to me. It wasn't like they thought I couldn't hear because I was in the next room. Usually, I was right there. And while I don't remember how old I was when I first heard the story, I do know that on multiple occasions when I remember hearing the story told, I was definitely old enough to understand what the story was about. The story was supposedly meant to be funny, but every single time I heard it, it made me feel awful. But I could never tell them that. The reaction probably would have been that I was being too sensitive, and that it wasn't a big deal. But over the years, I have often thought of my mother's story, and it still hurts.

So, back to "Hell is for Children", I think of the things that parents do and say to children, without even thinking about what effect their words and actions are having on them. The same can be said for anyone else in a parental or authority role, and whereas in some situations (like your boss for instance), you might not be able to say anything, there are other situations where you have to recognize what affect those words might be having on you or what affect your words are having on others.

texting questions to Google

My niece told me recently about a search function offered by Google where you can text them a business name and city, and they'll send you back the address and phone number. Then I found this link where you can apparently get all kinds of info from Google through texting. So far, I've used it to get scores for some games, and I've tried some locations, though the info you're looking for doesn't always come up. The responses are seriously fast. I'm glad I have a text messaging plan now, because I can see using these features a lot.

my football schedule

So we were watching the NFL playoffs today, and I was noticing that there are some similar-type team names. The husband and I actually managed to come up with the names of all the teams on our own - he knew there were 32 teams. When we were missing the last two, he came up with the Saints, and I ended up coming up with the last one - the Rams.

Here are the match-ups I came up with:

Tennessee Titans vs. New York Giants
TITANS/GIANTS - Obvious connection.

Seattle Seahawks vs. Philadelphia Eagles
SEAHAWKS/EAGLERS - Two prey birds.

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Washington Redskins
CHIEFS/REDSKINS - Obvious connection.

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Carolina Panthers
JAGUARS/PANTHERS - Two big cats.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Minnesota Vikings
BUCCANEERS/VIKINGS - Ship-based marauders.

Atlanta Falcons vs. Baltimore Ravens
FALCONS/RAVENS - Two prey birds.

Indianapolis Colts vs. Denver Broncos
COLTS/BRONCOS - Two kinds of horses.

Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
PACKERS/STEELERS - Two blue-collar workers.

Detroit Lions vs. Cincinnati Bengals
LIONS/BENGALS - Two big cats.

St. Louis Rams vs. San Diego Chargers
RAMS/CHARGERS - Rams are known for charging.

San Francisco 49ers vs. Dallas Cowboys
49ERS/COWBOYS - Same kind of time period.

New Orleans Saints vs. Oakland Raiders
SAINTS/RAIDERS - Saints and sinners.

Cleveland Browns vs. Chicago Bears
BROWNS/BEARS - Lots of bears are brown.

Arizona Cardinals vs. Buffalo Bills
CARDINALS/BILLS - The bird has a bill.

New York Jets vs. Miami Dolphins
JETS/DOLPHINS - Jets fly through the air, Dolphins fly through the water.

New England Patriots vs. Houston Texans
PATRIOTS/TEXANS - No connection really, but they're the only ones left, and it would just be funny to see the Patriots kick the Texans' ass, especially since the Texans have the stupidest name ever.


The husband thought it would be fun to have the teams actually play and then see who is the final winner, but we don't have the John Madden game.

Where's my time machine?

This time last year, I was preparing to go on our trip to Orlando - Walt Disney World mostly, Universal parks some.

This year...I'm not.

extracurricular activities

Are you in a relationship but need something more? Well, join the website sponsored by the Ashley Madison Foundation.

I heard this ad on the radio, and I thought it was a fake ad, but I was intrigued enough to actually check it out. Hmmm, guess it's real.

I find it interesting that in the "relationship status" drop-down, it wants to know if you're attached if you're looking for the opposite sex, but if you're looking for the same sex, it doesn't care if you're attached or single. So if you're straight, you have to admit to whether or not you're cheating, but if you're gay, you don't have to. Hmmm.

There are some interesting links at the bottom of the page where you can find out more about the foundation and comments and such.