The Big Adventure - Day 2

File Under: The Big Day or 40 is FUN!

Monday August 18 was Dan's 40th birthday. We woke up to the smell of breakfast being cooked. Luis was busy in the kitchen scrambling eggs, frying bacon and SPAM (this was Dan's birthday after all!) and brewing a pot of coffee. One by one we assembled in the dining room, took our seats around the table and enjoyed a delicious meal. And yes, the first of the final round of envelopes was presented.



The envelope accompanied a gift, which Dan was told he would wear on our outing.



After the unveiling of the shirt, we all helped clean the kitchen and then we went to change for our day's adventure. Luis made all of us shirts to wear for the day, we surprised Dan with our shirts as we met him at the front door. Our shirts each had a Muppet character and Luis wrote clever comments below each one. The back of our shirts said "Dan's Big Four-Oh-Oh!"


Luis' shirt said "I love that pig." Sweet, huh?


The day started out absolutely lovely at Disney Hollywood Studios. We toured the park for the day, some went on rides (I'm not a rider, I'm a watcher), we all enjoyed some shows.



We were treated to an impromptu "High School Musical" production. Yes, we all stopped and watched.


Luis had to rest his head for a minute as Polo expressed a deep thought.

As is typical of Florida in August, clouds roll in mid-afternoon and sometimes it rains. It did. We sat out the storm while watching an extreme stunts show. Afterwards, the rain had stopped and we enjoyed the park for another hour or so.

Here we all are, in our coordinating shirts. Cute, huh?

The surprises continued. We arrived back at our villa and dressed for dinner. Dan did not know where we were going, he was just told we were going a little dressy. We arrived at the Contemporary Resort where Luis had made reservations at the very chic California Grill. The restaurant is on the 15th floor of the hotel and offers beautiful views of The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, and the surrounding resort properties.

One of the bartenders took this picture of us. It's a great picture, unfortunately my camera did not flash so we're orange. Don't we look great though?

Dinner was spectacular. Dessert was equally spectacular, especially since Luis arranged for a cake to be delivered to our table. It was at this point that Dan announced that he was humbled by our efforts and was happy to be spending his birthday with us. Who wouldn't be? :-)

Still more fun and surprises. Luis arranged yet another spectacular event. A moonlight boat ride on a private boat around the resort properties. Our guide gave us a great tour, pointing out many parts of the properties that are no longer in use, showing us a bird sanctuary (trees filled with birds, fast asleep), and then parking the boat in the water, dead center in the lake behind the Magic Kingdom, where we had front row seats for the fireworks show. We were all silenced and in awe as we watched the show.

One thing I'll point out, even as late as dinner, the sky was still mostly overcast with clouds. By the time we went outside for our cruise, the sky was clear - it was a perfect night!

Envelope 40 was handed to Dan by Luis. It was a message from him, to Dan. After he read it, Tina presented Dan with 4 more envelopes, one from each of us, with our personal wishes for Dan on the occasion of his 40th birthday. Finally, we were finished with the envelopes!

One of the resort properties glowing, as seen from the boat.

Fireworks! That's Dan watching them.

Our boat, decorated for Dan's birthday celebration, all of us looking festive and relaxed.

After the boat ride, we got back into our car and headed back to the villa. It was a perfect end to a grand celebration.

Next up..."Auntie Fay" comes a-callin'.

DANCE!

File Under: With The Stars

The new cast of "Stars" for the new season of Dancing With The Stars was announced today. This summary is courtesy of The Chicago Tribune's Red Eye Newspaper:

KIM KARDASHIAN Actress, model and reality television star Kim Kardashian shot to stardom after the first airing of her hit E! reality series, “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” The series follows the exploits of Kim, her siblings, her mother, Kris, and her stepfather, Olympic Gold Medalist Bruce Jenner. Kardashian recently completed her first feature film, “Disaster Movie,” and will also be seen on The N’s series “Beyond the Break.” Partner: Defending champ Mark Ballas, who returns for his third season.

I'm so not excited about this contestant. I don't consider her a "star" but suppose she's being brought on to attract the trashy reality television fans. I guess it could have been worse, the could have invited Tila Tequila or Danny Bonaduce to be on the show. She did get a good partner, it'll be interesting to see if he can work around her big ass.

LANCE BASS Lance Bass has sold over 50 million records as a member of the phenomenally successful pop group *NSYNC. He also executive-produced and starred in a number of film and television projects. In 2002 he successfully trained to be a cosmonaut at Russia’s Star City and was certified by both the Russian Space Program and NASA for a mission aboard a Soyuz capsule. Lance has released his memoir, Out of Sync, for Simon Spotlight Entertainment. Partner: 2006 U.S. Youth Latin Champ and 2007 World Swing Dance Champ Lacey Schwimmer teams with Lance to make her series debut.

Aww...Lance. I always found him cute and liked him more when he came out. I want him to do well and think he will.

TONI BRAXTON The winner of six Grammy Awards, Toni Braxton is a Billboard chart-topping singer and actress, selling over 40 million records worldwide. Her U.S. No. 1 hit, "Un-Break My Heart," is the second-biggest single by a female artist in history. She has also appeared in two Disney Broadway shows, “Beauty and the Beast” and Aida.” “Dancing with the Stars” marks her return to the spotlight after a six-month health hiatus. Partner: Season One champion Alec Mazo, who returns for his fourth season.

Okay, so she'll be the "Marie Osmond" of the bunch. Just coming off of a "health hiatus," watch for her to faint at some point or be dragged off in an ambulance. I hope she doesn't "unbreak" something.

BROOKE BURKE A host, actress, entrepreneur and celebrity mom, Brooke Burke has truly done it all. She has graced numerous magazine covers, has her own top-selling swimsuit calendars and is regularly ranked in men's magazines as one of the sexiest women in the world. Recognized worldwide as host of the hit travel series "Wild On!," Brooke has since hosted several high profile network series, including "Rock Star: INXS" and "Rock Star: Supernova." On the acting front, she has guest starred on such television series as "Las Vegas," "Less than Perfect," "Eve," "It's All Relative," "The Bernie Mac Show," "Monk," "Rock Me Baby" and "That's Life." Brooke is a mother of four and recently launched her own babystore, BabooshBaby.com, a site where she shares her secrets (and some products she used) to get back in shape after giving birth. Partner: Derek Hough, who returns for his third season.

Yawn. *sigh* No comment.

ROCCO DISPIRITO The James Beard Award-winning celebrity chef and author Rocco DiSpirito combines his world-class cooking with a passion for empowering home cooks. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Rocco opened the three-star Union Pacific in New York City in 1997. In 2003 he launched Rocco’s for the reality series “The Restaurant.” Rocco will next appear on the A&E series “Rocco Gets Real,” beginning in October, along with its companion cookbook, Rocco Gets Real: Cook at Home Every Day. Partner: Karina Smirnoff, who returns for her fifth season.

Okay...YUMMY! I hope he's hot on the dance floor because I want him to be around for a while. His partner is cute, they should be fun to watch.

MAURICE GREENE The winner of two gold medals in the 100m sprint and the 4x100m relay at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics, track star Maurice Greene was dubbed the “World’s Fastest Man” during his career. In addition to being the former world record holder in the 100m sprint and winning multiple world championships, he also won silver and bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. He is the current Indoor World Record holder in the 60m at 6.39 seconds. Partner: Two-time champion Cheryl Burke. Cheryl returns for her sixth season.

Mmmkay, an athlete. Yeah, okay, fine. He's got a good partner though, kind of cocky but she's been a winner a couple times so maybe she's allowed to be cocky.

CLORIS LEACHMAN Actress Cloris Leachman’s storied career has been recognized with nine Emmys, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. She has the distinction of being the only woman to win eight Primetime Emmy Awards and one Daytime Emmy. Cloris has starred in a wide range of theater, television and motion picture projects, creating such indelible characters as Phyllis in the TV series “Phyllis” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Frau Blucher in “Young Frankenstein,” Nurse Diesel in “High Anxiety” and Ruth Popper in “The Last Picture Show” (for which she won an Oscar and a BAFTA). In 2008 she has already completed three new films, “The Women,” “American Cowslip” and “New York I Love You.” She is in the process of writing her memoir and is currently touring the U.S. with her one-woman show, “CLORIS!” Partner: World Latin Champion and Mark’s father, Corky Ballas, who makes his series debut.

I ADORE Cloris Leachman. I hope she'll do well and be safe. She's 82 years old! I will be nervous to see her dance, hope she doesn't break a hip. She'll be fun.

CODY LINLEY Cody Linley will be the youngest contestant ever to compete on “Dancing with the Stars.” He is best known for his role as Jake Ryan on the wildly popular Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana,” a role in which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award. He also helped the show garner an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Children’s Programming. Cody’s film credits include “My Dog Skip,” “HOOT,” "Miss Congeniality" and "Cheaper By the Dozen.” Partner: 2-time “Dancing with the Stars” champ Julianne Hough, who returns for her fourth season.

Who? He's got a cute partner though. I wonder if he'll pop a woody the first time he has to dance with her in front of a live audience. I mean he's all of 18 years old...he's a walking pile of hormones. Unless he's gay, just being near a cute gal with perky tits in a skimpy clingy outfit will cause him to pop his load in his spandex dance pants. Okay sorry, that was crude. :)

SUSAN LUCCI As the most famous face in daytime television history, Susan Lucci has held audiences spellbound for years as the sexy, sassy, beautiful "woman you love to hate," Erica Kane, on ABC’s “All My Children.” In May 1999, all of America stood and cheered when Susan won the Emmy Award for Best Actress. While competing on the show, she will continue her work on “All My Children,” and will celebrate her 10,000th episode this November. In addition to her performances on Broadway and in cabarets across the country, Susan is an entrepreneur, having launched successful cosmetic, fashion and jewelry lines on HSN. Partner: Tony Dovolani, who returns for his sixth season.

Not as hot as Cameron Mathison but I'll enjoy seeing Erika Kane twirl and twist on the dancefloor.

MISTY MAY-TREANOR Beach Volleyball champion Misty May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh captured their second Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and became the first team ever to repeat as back-to-back champs. The victory also marked their 108th straight match win. Misty and Kerri were distinguished as AVP Team of the Year for four consecutive years (2003 through 2006). Misty was also named Most Valuable Player in 2005 and 2006, Best Offensive Player in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and Best Defensive Player in 2006. Partner: Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who returns for his fifth season.

Another athlete. Watch for a "sports" themed number if she sticks around for a while. She's dancing with Maksim, who I think is delicious. Glad he's back. It won't be the same energy as he had with Melanie Brown (Scary Spice). After a couple of their numbers I needed a moment alone.

TED MCGINLEY Actor Ted McGinley’s extensive television credits include “Married … with Children,” “Hope & Faith,” "Happy Days," and recurring roles on the critically-acclaimed series “The West Wing,” “Sports Night,” “Charlie Lawrence,” “Dynasty” and “The Love Boat." He has also starred in such films as “Pearl Harbor,” “Daybreak,” “Dick,” “Major League: Back to the Minors,” “Wayne’s World 2” and the cult hit "Revenge of the Nerds." Partner: Newcomer Inna Brayer, the current U.S. Amateur 10 Dance Champion.

I always thought Ted McGinley was kind of cute, but I find him kind of boring. He's the "jump the shark" guy, whenever he's brought onto a show, it suffers. Hmm...

JEFFREY ROSS Comedian Jeffrey Ross, a.k.a. the "Roastmaster General," has delivered numerous show stopping performances at celebrity roasts honoring the likes of William Shatner, Hugh Hefner, Donald Trump, Pamela Anderson, Bob Saget and Emmitt Smith, inspiring New York Magazine to crown him "The Meanest Man in Comedy.” As a comic, Jeff has appeared on several late night and morning shows -- “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The View.” Jeff’s other TV credits include "Weeds" and "C.S.I." He has also appeared in such films as the Farrelly Brothers' "Stuck on You,” and the critical sensation "The Aristocrats." Jeff continues to tour regularly. Partner: Edyta Sliwinska, who is the only pro to compete in all seven seasons of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Oh goody, a comedian. At least it's not Carrot Top.

WARREN SAPP Recently retired defensive tackle and Superbowl Champion Warren Sapp played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders during his 13-year career. His 96.5 career sacks are the second-highest career total sacks for a defensive tackle in the NFL. Warren was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999, played in seven consecutive Pro Bowls and won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003. This fall he will co-host Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” and will be a studio analyst and game commentator for the NFL Network. Partner: Kym Johnson, who returns for her fifth season.

Another athlete? Jeez...don't really know him, can't comment.

I think we're in for an interesting season. I still have difficulty identifying all of the dances and knowing what to watch for but I enjoy the show and will do my best to summarize each week and perhaps provide some clever commentary.

It all starts September 22. Consider yourself warned. :-)

The Big Adventure - Day 1

File Under: Arrival

As you may recall, the task was to deliver to Dan 40 envelopes over the course of 4 days, the final envelopes would be given to him throughout the day on his birthday.

Sunday morning, Polo picked Denise and I up, then we waited around the corner from Dan and Luis' house for the limo to arrive. Envelope # 30 was forgotten by Polo (left in his hallway when he locked his door) but luckily he had extra blank envelope parts and were able to make another one. This one said "Get in the car!" We gave it to the driver, told him to ring the bell and give it to Dan. He did. Later we learned that the driver said "The people in the car told me to give this to you." We also figured out that Dan knew we were in the car because our luggage was in the trunk. However, at this point, he still didn't know where we were going. We arrived at Midway airport, where Tina was waiting, with the next envelope, telling him that we were off to Walt Disney World.

An interesting aside regarding the limo driver, Dan identified him as a stripper that we used to see perform at our favorite hangout, Jackhammer. However, we did resist tipping him by stuffing dollar bills into his pants.

The flight was completely uneventful, save for the fact that we had an attractive flight attendant and we asked him to hand Dan his next envelope. It really didn't have much to say, it just told him to relax and enjoy, perhaps the flight would sing "Happy Birthday" to him. They did not. That was fine with Dan.

We arrived at our destination mid-afternoon. Luis had a lovely villa reserved for us at Saratoga Springs, one of the Disney World resort properties.

Happy travelers, waiting in the lobby.

The view from our balcony:



Luis and I went grocery shopping, the remainder of the bunch went out to the pool to relax. We took full advantage of the fact that we had a kitchen and we planned on using it.

Luis made reservations for us to dine at Bongo's, a restaurant located in Downtown Disney.




Our waiter was cute and fun, and at the end of our meal Dan was serenaded with "Happy Birthday" from a group of wait staff. Our cute water was banging on his tray. I think Dan wished he was spanking his ass.



After dinner, we walked around Downtown Disney, visiting a number of stores, looking at everything from Mickey Mouse clothing, Christmas ornaments, kitchenware, stationery, jewelry, and bedding. Lots of mouse stuff.



We ended our evening back at the villa, and gearing up for our first full day in Florida, and Dan's 40th Birthday!

I Owe You

I still owe all of you a vacation summary and lots of pictures. I'll take care of that this week, pinky-swear! I've just been kind of winding down from all of the crazy excitement from the last week.

Stay tuned...

The Collective - Update

Hi...finally an update. I have been attempting to get online but for whatever reason I was unable to connect at our resort. Long story short (because I'm sitting at the terminal at Orlando International Airport), we surprised Dan with a trip to Walt Disney World. We left Sunday morning, had dinner at Bongo's that evening, went to theme parks each day. Monday night we had dinner at the Contemporary resort to celebrate Dan's birthday, then watched The Magic Kingdom's fireworks show from a pontoon boat. Tuesday and Wednesday it rained, thanks to Hurricane Fay, but we made the best of it and went to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Plenty of pictures to share, will do so when I get home and can upload some.

Peace out!

The Collective - Update

Last night, Dan, Luis, Polo, Denise and I, along with our friend David had dinner at LaDonna. It is one of Dan's favorite restaurants. Absent from the table was the charming Tina, who had 2 other celebrations to attend. She's quite the party girl. Anyway, dinner was nice, so was ice cream afterwards. Then Denise went home, so did Polo, leaving Dan, Luis, David and I to go home and rest. But no, they decided to go out for a while. I went with them but started feeling sinus-y so I left about an hour later.

Where will today's adventure lead...stay tuned.

Happy 50th

Today is Belinda Carlisle's 50th birthday. I'm a total dork, not only for knowing this but celebrating it the way I've been. No matter, I love her and think she deserves it. So here you go, another clip from the Regeneration Tour. Here she is, singing my favorite of her solo hits.

Belinda Carlisle - "Mad About You"

One more day...

Today is Madonna's 50th birthday. I'm sure I could do a search and find thousands of blog entries from her adoring fans wishing her a happy birthday. That's cool, I'll mention her too - Happy Birthday, Madonna!

But this posting ain't about Madonna. She's got enough devoted and adoring fans. This is just a reminder that tomorrow is Belinda Carlisle's 50th birthday.

Here's another clip of her from the Regeneration Tour. This is from the Los Angeles stop. It's a portion of her song "Live Your Life Be Free," and it's the first time I've seen her perform it live at a show where the song sounded true to the original. In recent years she performed it in sort of a modified acoustic style. It was great but there were no big kicks as you'll see in this clip. Enjoy!

The Collective - Update

It has been revealed to Dan, via one of the envelopes that he is going somewhere, tomorrow. He came home from Target and was told to pack a bag for 5 days, 4 nights. He doesn't know where he's going. He's not pleased but a stiff drink helped settle him down.

We all met at Sir Spa for some well-deserved pampering. Dan, Luis, Polo and David got massages, I got the hand and foot detail (manicure and pedicure). Afterwards we all met in a room at the spa and had champagne. Polo enjoyed his massage. He was hard the entire time. Really, he said so. Probaby didn't need me mentioning it here though. Oh well. He's scheduling another massage this week.

More to come... (no pun intended)

The Collective - Day 2

File Under: Dan's 40th Birthday

Last night was Dan's birthday party at their house. Luis organized a cookout. It was a perfect night. Clear, mid 60's, perfect for just relaxing outdoors.

Dan was sent on a number of stops after work, each stop had a series of envelopes waiting for him. He would ask for them and the envelope would send him to the next place. At the last stop, he was told to "Text the Collective" and we went to pick him up. Tina and I drove him around for about a half hour, blindfolded, before returning to the house. Once there, he was surprised and he could finally enjoy his party.


Polo had napkins printed for the occasion:





Tina created "butt-ons" for everybody to wear.





All of the buttons featured Dan's prominent ass crack.




The yard was glowing with lights and you can see that it was full of friends celebrating the special event.


One of his envelopes contained a riddle about his friend David, who lives in Washington, D.C. who flew in for the occasion. Here's Dan with David and me.




The "cake" was actually cupcakes. Tina added some pig cookies for good measure. Dan loves pigs.




Not sure what's going on here, so we'll just say that upon learning that Belinda Carlisle is celebrating her 50th birthday on Sunday, Luis and Dan began singing "Vacation, all I ever wanted" while doing the arm movements she does when she performs the song in concert.


Friend of Francesca's, who spent most of the evening asleep in the basement. He was festive, but not as festive as Dan in this picture!




Tina with the fantastic and festive rainbow Jell-o shots that she made for the occasion. Aren't they beautiful?


This morning, the festiveness continued with a Mexican-themed "Fiesta" at a local pancake house. We took over their party room and had a grand old time with Luis' family. We had a delicious breakfast and concluded with a pinata, inside was yet another envelope.






The message said to go home and relax. Of course, that was short-lived as when he got home, another envelope was wedged under the front door. The message in that envelop told him to go to Target, purchase some travel items, including a rain poncho and bug repellant. Hmm...

To be continued...

The Collective...UPDATE

Dan has now received 1/8 of his envelopes. Envelope # 5 arrived at the office this afternoon, delivered by a friend/former coworker of Denise. Those of you who don't know, Denise and Dan have been friends for about 20 years and for two years now have worked in the same showroom.

Envelope 2 arrived with flowers.
Envelope 3 was delivered by me, I met him at work for lunch.
Envelope 4 was also delivered by me, I handed it to him after lunch.

More to come...


p.s. Two more days until Belinda Carlisle's 50th birthday!

Viva La Collective

File Under: Good morning, Dan!

(l-r: Polo, Tina, Luis, Denise, Jim)

Wow…check us out! This picture was taken Thursday August 14, 2008 at 7:00 pm. Cute, huh? We think so. Let me introduce you to The Collective (not The Covenant or The Cohorts).

Our mission is to help Dan celebrate his 40th Birthday in style and promote fun and festiveness (is that a word?) along the way.

Over the course of the next four days, Dan will be receiving envelopes. 40, to be exact. Each envelope will provide him with instructions or send him to do specific tasks. He will moan and gripe about it but The Collective is a powerful force and he will find that it is in his best interest to comply. Plus he may have some fun along the way. And that is what we’re all about, right?

The mission started this morning, Dan has received his first envelope about an hour ago. It read:

Good Morning, Dan!

Over the course of the next 4 days, you will receive 40 envelopes. YOUR mission, should you choose to accept (and you really don’t have a choice), will be to:
a) Follow the directions of every envelope
b) Ask no questions
c) Text The Collective should you find yourself at a destination with no envelope.

Love,
The Collective

So, stay tuned as I will do my best to provide updates as they happen.

And yes, this is why I blogged about envelopes. Did you really think that I had such a fascination with them? Who do I look like, Martha Stewart? Okay, perhaps a little.

Here’s to you, Dan. Have fun. I love you.

Envelopes

File Under: What's inside

Tonight I came home from work, opened the mailbox and a stack of mail fell to the ground. I hate when that happens. I had a number of envelopes addressed to me, containing various things. As I often do, I sort my mail as I’m walking upstairs, deciding which I would open first, which looked the most important. That got me thinking about the vehicle itself, the envelope. Call me strange, I sometimes focus on the minutiae. This is one of those times.

Envelopes have a very important task. They carry information from point A to point B, and sometimes to Point C and D, especially if it’s an inter-departmental envelope. When we were young and a family member handed us an envelope, it usually contained a card and some money. So early on, we learned to like envelopes. Every February, in school, classrooms filled with children handed envelopes to each other and we learned of who wanted to be our Valentine. Sometimes there was candy, too. As we got older, we got our first job and our first paycheck came in an envelope. With that first check, maybe you opened a bank account. A month later, a bank statement arrived in the mail…in an envelope. Maybe you became excited when, while shopping, you were offered the opportunity to open a store credit card account. Cool…until the bill arrived…in an envelope. Ouch. You bought a car, a payment book arrived in the mail, in a thick envelope. A thinner envelope arrived one day. Inside, a summons for Jury Duty. Not one of my favorite envelopes to receive. Then there are those envelopes that are marked “TO BE OPENED BY ADDRESSEE ONLY, ADULT MATERIAL ENCLOSED.” Considering the stack of mail that arrived that day, you opened that envelope first, admit it. I did.

So on a day like today, when I opened one envelope that contained a check, one that contained a credit card offer, one that contained a renewal invoice for a magazine (Martha Stewart Living…yes, I love my Martha…but that’ll be a different blog entry), and one that had a solicitation for a charitable donation, I appreciated the journey that each one took and the fact that they reached their intended destination.

The next time you receive an envelope, appreciate the journey it took as well as the contents it brought your way.

Belinda Carlisle - Regeneration Tour 2008

File Under: Yet another Belinda Carlisle post

Belinda Carlisle is on tour as part of The Regeneration Tour, a package tour featuring a number of 80's acts including The Human League, ABC and a Flock of Seagulls (or as my friend DeDe said "A Seagull" since there is one original band member remaining). Unfortunately the tour is not making a Chicago stop so I don't have a Belinda fix this summer. Thank Xenu for YouTube and the dedicated fans who know others want to share in the excitement. Here's a clip of Belinda performing the Go-Go's "Vacation." From all accounts, Belinda has been putting on a really amazing, energetic set, I think this is proof. The videographer cut off the last bit of the chorus but you'll get the point.

Again I say, not bad for a gal who's turning 50 on Sunday. Bet you can't wait to see what I post on her birthday? LOL


Thanks to YouTube member SoulPatrol120 for allowing remote linking to his videos.

Paris Hilton for President

File Under: Funny stuff

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a fan of Paris Hilton. I find the whole "celebutante" thing quite nauseating. She bugs me, I generally think she's a waste of oxygen. But, I don't mind saying that I find this hilarious and I'm impressed at how well this was done. Go Paris!

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Work

File under: Show me the money

For the past two evenings I had to go to work. I do Human Resources and our Affirmative Action plan year is ending and all of the data on our applicants needed to be logged into our tracking program. Normally the logs would be maintained throughout the year. That's now how I roll. I wait until the last two weeks and do a big blitz. Happily, one of my offices is about a 5 minute drive from home so after work each night, I came home, had dinner, then went back to the office to hammer out the data entry.

On the way to work last night, I drove past the new home of my friends Dan and Luis. I glanced over, saw the front door open and saw Luis standing in the foyer wearing only a pair of shorts (which at first glance appeared to be boxer shorts). I backed the car up and was going to yell at him to put some clothes on if he was going to do housework with the door wide open. I was waved in and ended up visiting for about a half hour. For the record, Luis was wearing athletic shorts. I was amazed and happy to see the house so put together considering they moved in 4 short days ago.

I left, went to work and did my thing. While at work, a gigantic thunderstorm rolled through Chicago, tumbling trees and power lines and tearing homes apart in the suburbs. City damage was pretty much limited to toppled trees and loss of electricity for some. By the time I left work last night it was just drizzling and there was some spectacular lightning.

Tonight was another evening at work, but the weather was much more pleasant. After work, I did a Starbucks run and walked around for a little while.

No more late evening at work this week. Can't wait for that paycheck. Yes, I get overtime!

Holla At Your Diddy

File Under: Funny stuff

I forgot I had this on my computer. I forget about it often and then when I come across it, I laugh like it's the first time I've seen it. I have no clue where I got this, I right-clicked and saved it from some website. I would absolutely give credit if I knew to whom I should give credit.

Enjoy!