good excuse to eat

www.dineforamerica.org - next Wednesday, Oct 5. Eat your heart out boys and girls! It's for a good cause.

--RD

How many??

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident'

"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks..........

''How many is a brazillion ??!


*Story courtesy of Mocmoc's friend, Movie Guy.

tv head

Inspired by Karne79's blog, I thought I would blog about my favorite tv shows. Also, because I am procrastinating writing my paper, which is quite the skill i have developed over the years. Procrastinating that is.

So far here are the shows I watch religiously:
1. Gilmore Girls
2. One Tree Hill
3. ER
4. Lost (a new one)
5. Desperate Housewives
6. Grey's Anatomy
7. Amazing Race
8. SportsCenter
9. Michigan Football (even though we aren't even on the top 25 anymore for the first time since 1998, 112 weeks! wahhhhhhhh!)
10. Cnn headline news

Here are some shows I find myself watching when nothing else is on:
1. Rachel Ray (anyone of them - $40 a day or 30 minute meals)
2. Laguna Beach (or pretty much anything on MTV - cribs, room raiders, my super sweet 16)
3. Anything on HGTV
4. Supernatural (some new show on WB after gilmore girls, its very scary, don't watch it by yourself, I only watch it because I like the guy in the show, hee hee).


I am trying to get my roommate hooked. So far I have gotten her hooked on Lost. And we may be pushing for Desperate Housewives (which her fiance is seems to like =). I love digital recorder it makes my life so much easier and entertaining.

--RD

Columbus

Yesterday, Mr. Moc and I drove to Columbus to go see my best friend, "Freaky Freak", and her baby, "Bean". They flew out from Northern CA for a wedding in Columbus so we got to spend all day with them yesterday. :) As Freaky Freak stopped to get gas, I noticed an office building across the street from the gas station near the Columbus Airport. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the name of the business (see above picture). Do people seriously still use the word "retarded"? I thought the politically correct word nowadays is "mentally challenged". Hmmm, maybe I've spent too much time in politically correct California. --MM

Eleven

Today is our 11-month wedding anniversary. Can you believe Mr. Moc and I have been married for almost one year?? Yeah, hard to believe, huh? I always tell Mr. Moc that instead of less than a year, it feels like a lifetime. Haha - he knows I'm just joking. Being the romantic that he is, Mr. Moc had flowers sent to me...red roses and these yellow ones with orange tips. Pretty, huh?

Happy Anniversary, Mr. Moc!

gilmore girls

I am so excited that Gilmore Girls is back on. But I am anticipating the day that Rory and Lorelai make up and Rory moves out of grandma and grandpas house. I just have to say that in today's episode - the part where the dog locks himself in the car is so cute. I want a dog. MM are you and mr moc going to get a dog? I think you should =)
--RD

sandy-ego

I would like to apologize to MocMoc for my inconsistency in blogging. Sorry.

Anyways, this weekend I went down to San Diego with some of my EM-Crew friends (aka high school friends) to visit "Cupcakes". It was pretty much an eating fest, but thats what happens when th EM-Crew gets together. We eat and then we go do something else or pretty much wait around until we are ready to eat again.

Friday "SD" and I drove down and met up with Cupcakes. We went to some club in downtown San Diego. San Diego has changed so much since I lived there, there was actually stuff to do downtown. "Green Betty" and "Jito" came down and met up with us back at Cupcake's crib. When we got back we pigged out. We had a goat cheese empanado from Trader Joe's, Pita Chips, taquitos, and some leftovers that Jito's aunt made (ham, carrots, peas, potatoes). Then we fell asleep watching "Sex and the City".

Saturday we woke up and went to downtown La Jolla where we ate at the Cottage. SD and I shared California Benedict (like eggs benedict but with turkey and advocado) and Eggs La Jolla (like eggs benedict with spinach, and other stuff). Yum. Then we went to UTC and did some shopping. Afterwards we stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some food for a BBQ we went to by Ocean Beach at one of Cupcake's med school friends house. Let's see we got: two different kidns of chicken sausages, buns, pita chips, hummus, whole wheat crackers, spinach artichoke dip, chips and tropical salsa. We were stuffed before the BBQ food even came out. There was also chicken, turkey burgers, fruit, grilled veggies and corn on the cob. AFTERwards, we stopped by Fashion Valley and went to Humphrey's and got frozen yogurt. Most of us could only finish 1/2 of ours. Then we went back to cupcakes and watched 4 hours of Sex and the City.


Sunday we went down to Pacific Beach and ate at Cafe 976. I got the spinach burger burrito. At first I was going to get the Cobb Salad, boy am I glad I got the spinach burger burrito. As strange as it sounds it was possibly one of the best tasting things I have ever had in my life. If you are ever in that area go there and order it. I dont' care what time of day it is. Needless to say everyone was impressed with my order. And it helps with your digestive system too. haha. Afterwards we went down to Coronado and walked around the beach. While walking in downtown the cravings for more food hit. Some of us wanted boba, the others of us wanted a cocktail. (What would happen if you had frozen drinks with bobas at the bottom?) Anyways we stopped at this random restaurant and got mojitos and daquiries and ate two baskets of chips and salsa. The salsa was so good, some chipotle salsa. Even though I wasn't hungry I kept eating. When we got back to Cupcakes we all felt ill. We watched more Sex and the City, tooks naps and waited around to get hungry. We then decided it was time to head back up to LA. But not without stopping at Roberto's (for SD before she moves to NY) and having a carne asada burrito, carne asada fries and rolled tacos with quac. Even though we weren't hungry we devoured that stuff in a split second and decided it wasn't that GREAT and next time we are going to my choice - ALberto's, then Cupcake is #3 and gets Santana's for nachos. We haven't even left the city and are already planning our next meals when we come back.


the em-crew throwing up after Roberto's







--RD

This one time at band camp....

I just watched a very funny new show on CBS called "How I Met Your Mom". Band camp girl (Alyson Hannigan) and Doogie Howser, M.D. are in the show. Mr. Moc and I couldn't stop laughing - and it was the first time I've heard the word "blog" on tv. Doogie's character always wears a suit because he says "it's cool" and he's always trying to convince his best friend to "suit up". The best friend never suits up except for this one time (at band camp - hehehe) and when he did suit up, Doogie says "I'm so going to blog about this". I know, I know, it doesn't sound funny but it's taken out of context. If you get the chance though, check it out: Monday nights at 8:30PM - only 1/2 hour. --MM

Date Night

Last night was date night. Mr. Moc and I went to the Blue Point Grille in the trendy part of town. The waiter was this "frenchy" guy - at first we thought he was faking his french accent and then we realized that he was from Canada. Hahaha. His accent was similar to that of Rosanna Arquette's character in the Whole Nine Yards.

Anyway, the food was pretty good. We started with oysters baked with brie and served with grilled bread. I've never had oysters prepared this way but it was delicious. For my main course, I had the diver sea scallops with some kind of red stringy vegetables. I left the vegetables virtually untouched but ate every last bit of the scallops. The picture doesn't do it justice. Mr. Moc had the Singapore Ahi Tuna with some kind of funky veggie slaw. The ahi tuna was perfectly rare but the veggies were better left untouched. Apparently, veggies are not the specialty of this restaurant.

For dessert, we had a delicious flourless chocolate cake served with white chocolate cream and raspberries. Anyone have a good recipe for flourless chocolate recipe?

Don't worry, date night was an exception. I'm back on my healthy eating/exercise program today. :) --MM

BFL

Well folks, the time has come...I'm on a healthy eating and exercising program again. I've realized that I've gained a few lbs. since my wedding so it's time for serious action. It's actually not so bad. I get to eat 5 to 6 meals a day but of course, my portions at each meal are much smaller and much healthier. Each meals consists of a portion (size of my clenched fist or size of my palm) of lean protein and a healthy carb - throw in a portion of veggies with 3 meals/day and I'm good to go.

As for exercising, I work out 6 days a week...weight-training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with cardio on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Sundays are my "free" days! :) Which means, I don't work out and I eat whatever the heck I want. There are a few main reasons for this:
1) the body needs to rest.
2) if you fill your body with unhealthy food then your body will feel sluggish and you'll realize how much better you feel when you eat good food in manageable portions.
3) if you tell yourself no more of your favorite foods (spag and meatballs, foie gras, ice cream, risotto, etc.) and deprive yourself for a very long period of time, when you fall you're going to fall very, very hard. however if you treat yourself occasionally (i.e once a week), you keep your cravings at a minimum and prevent yourself from falling really hard.
4) one free day will not kill you.

In addition, I drink a lot of water (about 8-10 glasses/day) which isn't hard for me to do because I already had the habit of drinking a lot of water.

The last time I was on this program and took it seriously, there were definitely noticeable differences in my muscle tone and body shape and I wasn't the only one who noticed. ;) So here I am again, drinking my 10th glass of water for today and looking forward to the day I'm back in shape again. If all goes well, I'll look good for my trip with Mr. Moc to the Yucatan in November! Can't wait. --MM

my new crib

I have finally moved into my new place. I wish I had real internet up (and not stolen) internet so I could show you pictures. Since I have been here I haven't had much time to organize. I have been too busy catching up on school work. As I have been sitting here the past 6 hours working on a stupid 8 point paper. I am a bit rusty at this school work thing.

On to bigger and better things:
1. I CANT BELIEVE MICHIGAN LOST!! GRRRR!!
2. I am so happy Ohio State lost
3. I am happy LSU won - i thought it was very sad how they had to play their "home game" at Arizona State University (their opponent tonight). What sort of home field advantage is that?

I love football season. Tomorrow its on to the NFL. I am so happy for MrMoc because MocMoc and MrMoc now have two tvs, so he can watch football.

--RD

Michael Moore's Letter

Subject: Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted.Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there weres till homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps.Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moorehttp://us.f517.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=MMFlint@aol.com&YY=20596&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b www.MichaelMoore.com <http://www.michaelmoore.com/>

--MM

Please make a donation!

I had to stop myself from watching anymore TV. The Today Show did a montage of images and video clips from New Orleans and it literally made me cry. It broke my heart to see all those people who were dehydrated, starving and dying. Why couldn't we get our act together fast enough to help these people sooner??

For those of you who haven't done so yet, please make a donation - even the smallest amount is welcomed and needed. --MM

An idiot is not acceptable!

President Bush is on TV "addressing the nation". Quit wasting your time stuttering over your words and go do something. He says "a lot of people are working hard to help those affected and I want to thank the people for their efforts but the results are not acceptable..." Are you kidding me?! The results are not acceptable because the federal government is not reacting quickly enough to help the people who are working hard to help those affected. I'm sure the people who are at the New Orleans airport triaging the sick are working their butts off and the President has basically criticized their hard work. These people are not getting any sleep, working around the clock and all the President has to say is "the results are not acceptable".

And then he goes on to talk about long-term planning. WTF?! There are babies and people dying and starving and dehydrating out by the convention center right now and he's talking about long-term?! What about the short-term and figuring out how to get food, water, basic supplies and medical aid to these poor people?! Matt Lauer on this morning's Today Show made a great point. If reporters or guys like Harry Connick Jr. can get to the convention center, why can't the military helicopters or the relief workers get in?? What's taking so friggin long? --MM

Hurricane Katrina

I am glued to the TV watching the various news programs to get updates on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I've been to New Orleans a few times and was actually just there in March. In my mind, it seems like I was just there yesterday...walking up and down Canal and Bourbon streets, seeing the vivacity of the people and its city. As I'm watching, I recognize some of the locations they're showing on TV. I can hardly believe the scenes of destruction and devastation that I'm seeing. It just breaks my heart to see people in such dire situations.

On another note, whose bright idea was it to build an entire city below sea level...surrounded by water?! Obviously, the founders of the New Orleans knew it would be a problem as all their dead are not buried six feet underground as they are in other cities. For those of you who didn't know, all the dead in New Orleans are laid to rest above ground so that if it rained too much, the bodies wouldn't be washed out of their graves.

Those of you who read my blog, please donate to the Red Cross or any other reputable charity that is helping out the hurricane victims. Mr. Moc and I are planning on donating to the Red Cross because like Rocketdog said if that happened to us, we'd want someone to help us. At the very least, please say a prayer for the ones who have lost their lives as well as those who have survived and have to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives. --MM

lucky

I'm lucky for a couple reasons:
1. I found a place to live
2. I scored on Cora Bubbles and GrandCouncil's stuff to use (thanks!)
3. I am living in sunny southern california - no rain (sorry MM) and no hurricane
4. MM and Mr Moc are coming into town this weekend - yay

Please if anyone can, donate whatever you can - money, clothes, food to the Hurricane relief. Just imagine if you didn't have anything.....you'd want someone to help. I want to go there and help rebuild when rebuilding starts, anyone interested?

I took Ralphie and Boogers to the indoor playground thing today. It's like one of those mcdonalds playland things but MUCH better. They also have an art station, a minature golf area, keyboards, building blocks, basketball, and a toddler area. Oh man, it was TIRING! I was up there crawling in these plastic tubes and climbing things and going through small and tight spaces but it was worth it to see them so happy. Especially Ralphie - he loved the ball room, i would just toss him and he would giggle to death. When I asked Boogers what her favorite part was she said "the basketball", which totally surprised me! Although I do have to say, she throws like a "girl", lol. I wish I had brough my camera.

--RD