Happy birthday Grandpa

Today would have been my grandfather's 85th birthday. I decided to honor his birthday by donating blood. Grandpa used to donate blood reguarly, and for the past few years, I have too. Grandpa even made it into the newspaper at a WWII veterans blood drive in the 50's with Debbie Reynolds in attendance to thank the boys. The picture that made the paper was of Debbie kissing Grandpa on the cheek. Donating blood was just one of the many ways that my grandfather made a difference in people's lives, and by donating blood today, I can only hope to carry on his tradition.

For more, go to Listmaker for another example of the many ways that my grandfather greatly affected people.

Peapod wins the Beanpot

My freshman year at Clark is not full of many good memories. Among the few are meeting my current roomate, going to a Red Sox game (aganist the Orioles) and getting on TV, and the Pea Pod Squad. The Pea Pod Squad is Clark's improv troupe, and they never fail to put on a great and entertaining comedy show. University of Delaware's equivalent, the Rubber Chickens were no match for the Pea Pod Squad. So this weekend, when Allie invited me to a competition at Impov Boston featuring the Pea Pod Squad, I of course jumped at the chance.

The Beanpot Competition at the Improv Boston featured 8 area schools, and was set up like March Madness. We went on Friday night, and Clark beat Northeastern and Harvard's ass, and made it to the semifinals the next night. We went again last night, and again they beat Suffolk to make it into the finals aganist Boston U. The competition was very close, but the Pea Pod Squad pulled through to win the treasured Beanpot!

The moment of victory




The improv champs with their trophy

Don't touch me cause I'm electric, and if you touch me, you'll get shocked!

Over the last month or so at work, I have been in a shocking situation. For some reason, the building that I work in has been giving me big problems in the forms of numerous electric shocks throughout the day. And not just puny electric shocks. These are hardcore. I will be walking around the halls, and be inches away from a wall, and still get shocked. Shocks have even gone through someone I am standing next to, onto me. It has become quite the problem. Is there some sort of anti-shock device that I can invest in? If not, I am going through the rest of the winter with staticy hair, or I might really be electrocuted and meet an early end. Any suggestions?

Watch this

Thanks to a co-worker, I have been introduced to this very funny video, created by some Emerson students. It is a take-off of Brokeback Mountain's trailer. Watch it here.

I am so ashamed

As mentioned before, I often tend to scoff at many pop cultural phenomenon. For the past four seasons of "American Idol" that had been the case. But one night, I guess nothing else was on TV, and I got hooked into one of the audition shows. Watching people make fool's of themselves is always funny. Plus, it was great to see the few people among the many that actually had some talent.

Now the show has moved into the finals, with 12 guys and 12 girls left in the competition. I can not believe it, but I am actually really rooting for two people, and actually care. American Idol is evil for luring me into its addicting and commercial filled clutches.

Paris Bennett

This 17 year old from Georgia is great. She has the sweetest, softest speaking voice, but when she sings, she becomes a different person. For her first finals song she sang "Midnight Train to Georgia" better than Gladys and her Pips.

Taylor Hicks

This guy is totally different than the rest of the guys this year, which for the most part are pretty boring. I like Taylor and want him to win because he looks like Kirk from "Gilmore Girls" and performs like Ray Charles.

While I am not as invested in this show as many Idol fans, I will still be watching it every week until the end. And shaking my head in shame the whole time.

Valentine's Day with my iPod and roommate

Valentine's Day. For the single gals, just a day like any other. On the way to work this morning, I was listening to my iPod like any other day. The songs that played on my way to work on the shuffle feature were all suspiciously nostalgic. I can only attribute these song selections to being played strictly for Valentine's Day.

Song 1: "Amie" by Pure Prairie League
This song never fails to make me misty eyed. Yea, I know that Amie is not how I spell my name, but it is still my song. I would constantly beg my dad to play this for me as a little kid. I used to think that the lyrics were "I could play with you" instead of "I could stay with you." Now, whenever I hear it, I think about being a kid, the excitement of hearing it, and listening to it with my parents.

Song 2: "Allison" by Elvis Costello
This song is not very nostalgic for me personally, but it is my roommate's name, so is therefore personal for me in turn.

Song 3: "The Last Date" by Floyd Cramer
This is the song that my brother walked down the aisle to at his wedding. It puts a smile to my face because it reminds me of the wedding, and how I felt seeing my older brother walking down the aisle and feeling so happy for him.

Song 4: "Death in the Park" by Archers of Loaf
This is one of my favorite Archers songs. Vee Vee came out when I was in 7th grade. 7th grade was not the best year for me, and I remember being really bitter towards some of my fellow stupid classmates. I would listen to Vee Vee on tape every morning on the bus on the way to dreaded school, and thought that I listened to such better music than my fellow classmates. While 7th grade is not a fun time to reflect on, Archers of Loaf then and now still puts me in a good mood.

By this point I had arrived at work happy that my Valentines Day ride had provided me with such nostalgic songs. For Valentine's Day, I gave silly Ninja Turtles cards to my co-workers. I am celebrating tonight by having dinner with my roommate while watching TV together. What a great Valentine's Day.

Fantasmagoria

Today I am seeing a dentist for a routine cleaning. I have only seen two dentists in my life, so it will be interesting to see another one. In my search to find a dentist near work, I really did not care who I went to. Then I saw a name that made me decide that this dentist was the one for me. My dentists name is Dr.Fantasia. I just hope that he is not like this dentist:


With a name like Dr. Fantasia, I can only hope that I will be leaving his office like this:

Superbowl weekend for a girl who could care less

This weekend, Allie, Sam, and I went to see some band in Boston that I had never heard of called Hellogoodbye. They were not bad, good performers, with very catchy songs. Go here, and listen to "call n return" for quite the catchy song. Although the band was enjoyable, I was quite put off by the audience that was there to see them. The audience consisted of a bunch of 16 year old girls who were screaming the whole time. Apparently the band just premiered on MTV, so that should not be a surprise. But how can you not like a band who performs the last song in ketchup, Santa, and hot dog outfits?

Waiting to get inside, I had to take a Fenway shot.


Silly costumes are always fun


Sunday, we went to the mall to get Heather a Build-A-Bear. Heather has been very sick for the last couple of weeks with a sinus infection, strep throat, and mono. To top it all off, she has to get her tonsils removed next week. I collected money from people in the office to get her a bear adorned with a robe, Bearaspirin, a thermometer, and an ice pack. Cheesy? Yes. But if I was sick, I would love it.

We rushed home to get ready for the Superbowl. Allie had invited a couple classmates over. One of them is from Croatia, and thought that she was coming over to watch a big soccer game. Being from Seattle, Allie of course was very excited for the Seahawks making it to the Superbowl for the first time.

A Seahawks cake was made.


As were Seahawks cupcakes, which the sick bear enjoyed immensely.


In the end, the beloved Seahawks did not win the Superbowl. But when cake, cupcakes, beer, and pizza are involved...who cares?