Am I overthinking this?

I thought we would be able to stream The Interview through PlayStation, since that’s a Sony product but found out that the only gaming device available for streaming is XBox.

Why wouldn’t Sony release their movie onto their own platform? It seems strange that they would let a competitor (or various competitors: YouTube, GooglePlay, etc) stream the movie. Or maybe, not. Maybe Sony is running scared after data breaches and hacker threats that they don’t want to leave their gaming system vulnerable. Perhaps I should say “any more vulnerable than they already are” after what happened on Christmas.

I find it odd that a movie studio won’t stand behind their product. Shouldn’t they be interested in making as much money as possible once it’s released? Any high school student knows that their channels of distribution are taking their cuts and giving Sony a pittance for the rights. There’s no prescient here, and I hope that this is a unique case, but it seems as though everything Sony is doing in response is a bad business decision. Did they ask to be hacked, of course not. It’s their reactions that I find questionable from a business standpoint.

This has been your business news update.

Putting this here because I don’t want to put it there.

Every family has it’s story of someone who causes a commotion, right? That person who makes it all about herself. Sometimes it’s a brother, sometimes it’s a cousin, in our case, it’s a SIL who is married to The Mister’s brother. It’s the 2nd marriage for both and they’ve been married 5 or 6 years.

When the B’nai Mitzvah invitations went out in late November she was miffed that her 27 year old son (who does not live with them) was not included on the invitation. My BIL called his mother to ask if her son was invited. While he was on the phone with my MIL, the SIL ranted in the background “who do they think they are? They always treat me like shit. How dare they not invite my son.” My MIL told him that it probably was an oversight and left it at that. My MIL later told the story to my SIL (her daughter) and to The Mister.

A few days later The Mister got a hold of his brother and told him that it was a mistake and of course your wife’s son is invited. The Mr is the oldest child of three and works hard to keep the peace. He’s a mensch when it comes to family.

A week or so afterwards I sent out emails from work to The Mister’s friends and siblings inviting them to his birthday surprise party. I heard back from everyone except his brother. I sent a text to his brother’s cell yesterday asking if they received the invitation to the party. He immediately responded back that he is taking his wife out to dinner.

Last night I was going over party plans with my SIL (his sister, with whom I am pretty close). She asked who was coming and I told her that her brother wasn’t coming. She said she knew they weren’t going to show and they probably weren’t going to be at the B’nai Mitzvah either.

When I asked her why she thought that, she told me that the SIL called my MIL herself to ask why her 27 year old son was not invited to an adult birthday party [where he wouldn’t know a soul except his mommy]. Although she wasn’t ranting like a lunatic (like she did in the background on the previous call from my BIL) she did shake up my MIL. My MIL (bless her heart) asked why he would want to go to a party with people who are his mother’s age. My SIL told her it was the principle to which my MIL said “fine, stay home with your son if you are so bothered by this.” My MIL is now screening her calls from her son and his wife.

A blintz for every culture

Think about it for a minute. Nearly every culture has some type of pancake wrapped around a filling. Savory or sweet, baked or fried.

Burritos, of course.

And then there are crepes.

Eggrolls, which are probably more western than we’ll admit.

And here are some kati rolls from India.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls.

Palatschinke from Central Europe.

Now, in my mind, I picture a Busby Berkeley musical scene with chorus girls coming down the stage with blintz head dresses. But that’s just me.

Posted on 12/22/09

Celebrating

I’ve decided to give you a little gift for my birthday.
First, a little background. In September I suffered from a detached retina in my right eye. It was surprising, horrifying and frightening all at once. During my various treatments, procedures and recovery I had to remain absolutely still, with my eyes fixed forward. For over 4 weeks. Needless to say, the Internet was my friend.
I spent a large chunk of time online. I polished my Twitter skills & made a bunch of groovy new friends. I surfed a lot. I started this blog.
So, in honor of MY birthday, I’d like to share some fun I have discovered. This will also give you a peek into my psyche, which could go either way for us.
But wait! It *is* the holiday season. Tell you what, we’re going to combine this birthday gift with a holiday gift. You feel gypped? Tough. My parents pulled that crap on me every year of my life.

Blogs- These blogs were all (except CakeWrecks) discovered through Twitter.
OurAnnoyingWorld His take on balloon boy was dead on, and I just like the way he thinks.
BakeMyFish I think he is the oracle of Twitter
Ruthakers the daily life of a funny mom with a really cute brood
Cakewrecks Every day it is entertaining. Genius

Sites and othe stuff:

Apelad‘s flickr photostream is a great place to see creativity in action, and have a laugh.

Archie McPhee Where to go when you need bacon mints.
Grocery lists Been reading this for years. The commentary is as funny as the spelling.
IMDb Settles every argument, every time.
Urban Dictionary When I want to see what the young kids are talking about.
Veer Going here for years for whatever creative mojo I need.

A special shout out to some Twitter friends ALSO celebrating birthdays on the 10th. Happy Birthday @HemiRT5pt7 and @CinderellaJoey. I am bringing the rum cake to the party.

posted 12.7.09

1000 tweets

I missed it. I was going into my followers lost for some b0t removal early this morning and there it was. I had passed my 1000 tweet mark. And passed it virtually UNNOTICED. I am so ashamed and chagrined.

In an effort to rectify this egregious situation, I am going to offer a colossal Follow Friday listing as a thank you. To those who star me, recommend me, pimp me, make me giggle and make me pee my pants.

You saw me, just a kid hanging on the edge of the playground and gave me a chance to kick the ball.

You filled me with coffee and bacon wrapped donuts in the early hours: @HemiRT5pt7, @debihope, @Tony_E_NC, @CynicalNihilist, @Toy_A, @bluedream420

You offer me memes during the day and watch me swipe meeting food without ever telling anyone: @sandwichpolice, @carrmah, @annoyingworldm @girlmonkey

You encourage workday office supply closet crafts: @JeeNeeBee, @drinkerthinker, @bonisteel, @Capsaholic

You commute home with me and, well really, that’s enough: @WadetoBlack, @Mela_De, @MrBigFists, @Trick_or_tweet

You watch my favorite shows with me in the evening: @CourtneyofDoom, @CinderellaJoey, @JustMarciT, @Pasqualena

You are sassy and sexy and make me blush.: @thebenbrooks, @redtothetone, @rbok, @bestgirlbetty, @GSouder, @GroverViolet

You are the village that will raise my kids I am sorry to say (are you available to sit this weekend?): @CousinBrandon, @ruthakers, @GPappalardo, @topnotchtutor, @wordtoyourmom, @BrilliantOrange

And you are loved for all your awesome qualities: @TerriSueWho, @theacerbic1, @NoirGeek, @TheDelicateFlwr

And some new found friends of like minds: @snackajawea, @yowhatsthehaps, @krabifff

I have a way to achieve World Peace

Below, a two-part plan that will involve a lot of moving around. But, if you think about it, humans have been moving around for thousands of years. So what’s one more move…for WORLD PEACE?
Part 1: Smokers to Europe.
Let’s face it, America and Canada HATE smokers. Europeans love to smoke. So, all the people who smoke will move to Europe. Europeans who don’t smoke (I’m looking at you, Denmark) can move to America and enjoy a smoke-free world. Even kids who think they might want to smoke will benefit. They’ll see the Louvre and learn to smoke in a country that appreciates them. Tobacco companies can charge more for American brand cigarettes abroad. And, the government can charge export tax. Win-win.
Part 2: Swap Cuba for Israel
Poor Israel. A tiny sliver of land surrounded by pesky Arabs. Poor Cuba. A tiny island country holding onto Communism way past its expiration date. Do you see where I’m going here?
If we can blow up the moon, certainly we can figure out a way to move all the religious relics and ancient buildings to IsraelIsle (patent pending).
I’m sure Cuba will do just fine in the Middle East. The 1950s cars will be a big attraction for rich sheiks who collect vintage cars. As for industry, former Cubans can move right into the Kibbutzim. Communism, who cares? They’ll be living on communes for crying out loud.
Just imagine, the Holy Land only a short flight from West Palm Beach. What a boom for the depressed Florida real estate market. You can pray at the Wailing Wall in the morning and be home for the deli dinner special at 4:30.
Don’t get me started on the tourism opportunities! Family cruises to the Holy Land and Aruba. College kids can go to Bethlehem for Christmas and Jamaica for New Year’s Eve. Forget Easter Mass in Vatican City (too smokey) take a luxury cruise to Jerusalem!
I’ll be here until next post, waiting for my Nobel Peace Prize.

live theater is fun

Day 2 of the blog and I’m already off subject. We’ll get to a really good word in a minute. But first, I must talk about the fun night we had last night.

For our 15th anniversary, we decided to get tickets to see Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway. In this family, we love musical theater and we’re not afraid to admit it. Now the secret that I listen to show tunes when I cook is out. I feel better already.

We had amazing seats, 2nd row center orchestra. That would be the center of that blue A section, 2nd row, about 12 seats in from the right. When you are sitting there, you really feel as if you are part of the show.

About 3 songs into the show, there was a problem with one of the plexi panels of the set. We saw it sag, and then a hand supporting it from the back.  John Stamos and the teenage girls were onstage for Put On A Happy Face and John broke character to ask if the audience would indulge them while they fixed the set.

The house lights went up, the curtain came down and Stamos and Gina Gershon were standing in front, stalling for time. Gina ducked behind the curtain while John recognized his friends in the audience. Bob Saget and Don Rickles were there. He convinced Saget to come up on stage. Rickles said he was too old, but continued to heckle from the audience.Priceless.

When Saget got onstage, he offered Stamos a mint and he reached for his phone to Tweet about it, calling it a “Twitter moment”. They were trying to keep the jokes clean, as Stamos warned that there were kids in the audience. Saget was at a loss but got a lot of mileage out of the fact that he had to speak into the microphone in Stamos’ hair.

We took three pictures with the phone. Of COURSE we got in trouble with the usher, but we got this picture. Unreal.

Bill Irwin did some physical comedy to pass the time, which was a riot. Spoiler Alert: Irwin steals the show as Mr. McAfee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQZgLW6YZlc Gina brought out an old Full House poster of John from backstage and got a few laughs.

A half hour later, the set was fixed and the show was back on.  Stamos had a line about waiting a long time and he broke up for a few seconds. The show was a lot of fun, very energetic and well produced. Sets (once fixed) were adorable and the costumes were perfect confections of color.

Oh, did I mention how adorable Nolan Gerard Funk is as Birdie? Gaze and admire. Ok, that’s enough.

As promised: the word.

Macaroon

Rhymes with Pantaloon, has the precious double “o” and can be considered trancendent if they are made correctly. And it fits in nicely with the “confection” reference above. As a bonus, the colors match the costumes, which is good for my OCD.

Now, I’m not talking about the so called macaroons from Maneschewitz at Passover. Those are coconut posers and should not even be in the same class as a real, almond based macaroon.

REAL macaroons come in flavors like Pistachio, and Nutella, Vanilla Bean, Blood Orange and Lemon Drop, and my favorite Chocolate Peanut Butter. They are light and fluffy, sweet but not too sweet and you can really taste the flavors. They are treated preciously and packed in clear cellophane and tied with satin ribbons. They are the perfect dessert.

Yum.

sometimes I have more to say

I’m still home on medical leave. I need something to show for it, or else my 4 weeks (and counting) will have amounted to watching NetFlix movies EVERY DAY.

So, I have started a blog.

Last night on Twitter someone mentioned their love of words. I absolutely love words. If they contain a double “o” they’re even better. I like archaic words, words that sound goofy (see what I did there?), and words that instantly conjure a mental image. I said to myself, “there’s a good idea for a blog”.  I want to honor one word with each post. Coming up with silly sentences, rhymes and haiku. Just for fun, you know?

Pantaloons.

See, I bet you are giggling right now. The word is so darn funny to say. The first image that comes to mind is Scarlet O’Hara getting dressed for the party at Ashley’s plantation, primping in her pantaloons. Of course, P words are inherently funny; add a double “o”, make it old fashioned – word hat trick!

And now, a pantaloon haiku:

yoga pants, sweat pants

anything with pizza stains

newish pantaloons