toofeses

Teeth. Yes, teeth. My ongoing fascination with teeth on television will be tonight's rant.

First of all let me lay the groundwork for this by recalling the "Friends" episode where Ross wanted to whiten his teeth for a date and left the whitening strip on his teeth for too long. His teeth were not only white they were too white. When the lights went off his teeth glowed in the dark. It was hilarious. 

That episode is always in the back of my mind when I watch the news shows that I always seem to have on. It seems to be a prerequisite that an online personality, or anyone that is going to be on air, or wants to be on air, has to have their teeth whitened. The problem has become that the level of white being achieved is not a natural white. We have gone past that. Way past. We have achieved blue-white. Just like the headlights. 

Yes, we now have headlights for teeth. And like the annoying, in-your-face brights, you can't avoid the pearly whites in the split screen world of today's news broadcasts. When three of the four mouths going ninety miles an hour are flashing like morse code and one poor little mouth is in a corner merely speaking, you can't help but notice (well, I can't). Sadly, that person is usually a "normal" person, i.e. not in any public relations industry, a lawyer, a legislator, or in show business. And their teeth aren't by any means yellow - their teeth are normal and merely white. Just not glow-in-the-dark blue-white.

Not that there are not good reasons to whiten your teeth. How much whiter can we make them? They are turning faint blue already - take a look. We have halogen teeth, people. This is just a trend that has gotten way out of hand, and I think the next thing we are going to see, and I don't know how long it's going to take to see it, is the costly repair of over whitening. There's a reason nature didn't want us to glow in the dark when we smiled, and just because we don't get pounced on when we smile at night now doesn't mean we need to do it. Moderation people, moderation.

part deux

Now where was I before I got so engrossed by the speech? Oh yes, the chat rooms. I found that I was really turned of by these people who were so familiar with the talent, the on-air personalities. They weren't really there for the news, they were there to chat up the talent. They get all familiar with one another and then the talent gets familiar-ish with them and then it gets clique-y on the part of the chat people (I'm extrapolating here since I wasn't really around long enough to see the process start to finish). 

I don't know - it's all friendly and everything, but for me it's disquieting. I like that glass wall. I like the personalities up on the screen. It's not that I don't like the talent, because I do, very much. Especially on that show. But it felt like going to a Star Trek convention when I was in the chat room. You know I loved watching Xena but going to a convention ONE time nearly kept me from ever watching again. It's one thing to love a show, it's another thing to LOVE a show. 

Luckily, there was the weekend without the morning show, and the news on the weekend is not nearly as good, so by the time the Monday show came around the nasty taste in my mouth was forgotten. Unfortunately, though, I was also sleeping better and haven't been wanting to try to stay up to watch the show and now the trip to Atlanta game is over. If I win that would be awesome. If I get my t-shirt it'll be a miracle! If I get to go to Atlanta INSTEAD of the t-shirt.... yeah, that would be better.

Itching like crazy..... must take medicine before I start taking my skin off. I can't cut my fingernails any shorter. When I take these pills I really sleep, when I eventually get to sleep, but I sleep really late in the day. ACK!!! BRB 

the cost of winning

As I wait for the President's speech to begin, wondering if I should start this or not, I look back on the past few weeks and my time spent with the "talking heads." I'm going to go ahead and write this because I have an overwhelming need to write today, for some reason and the thought of just sitting here and twiddling my thumbs is abhorrent, for some reason.

I still haven't received my t-shirt from Headline News. I wrote an e-mail to the person who sent me the "winner" notification and got a very nice email in return saying that they had had a very hectic schedule and were behind at the moment. Still, I go to my mailbox every day and look for it. I have played the game two more times, only placing in the top ten once. I did find out the way to win the trip to Atlanta, it seems, is to be a winner of a t-shirt. They will be in a drawing for the trip. Well, I actually feel better about that at least I'm in the running. 

Interestingly, in the days following that, I found I was kind of repelled by the news. I'm not sure why, but I think it might have something to do with the news groupies in the chat rooms associated with the game. It's not that they weren't nice people. For the most part they were. The first day the group, as I left, were very supportive and congratulated me as I left, and as I signed on the next day congratulated me again. However, there was one guy the second day that acted like a teenager who needed to be slapped down, who was looking for a fight, posturing and primping like the jerk you just want to avoid. The worst of all chat rooms. 

Headline News, in the morning, is very loose and chatty. The online chemistry is friendly and cheerful - that's very much the charm. They have, I think, eight different chat rooms going on as the news goes on during the morning. They encourage bantering and the on-air personalities jump into the chat rooms during the breaks. Even Robin Meade's mother popped in the other day. 

***Yaaayyyy - Janet Napolitan is coming into Congress right now, having just being introduced as a member of the President's Cabinet. Way to go, Janet!!!!

***I wonder if the President's hand ever hurts the morning after, after shaking so many hands the night before?

More later

babysitting and stuff

Cassie and Vinnie Christopher stayed over last night so Josh and Alex could go to Tulsa for Valentine's Day. I was very excited about them coming over. Vinnie sat on my lap every chance he could but Cassie pretty much parked herself at the front door waiting for their return. For most of the time Ozzy seemed to be kinda depressed. If the three of them went outside, the other two would come in and he would be sitting outside at the door and I would have to ask him if he wanted to come in before he would. 

However, something must have clicked in this afternoon because he was wild and wooly and ready to play. He got up and was trying to coax me into the living room. I wanted to take a shower first but it always takes me a bit to motivate myself first. As I was sitting there he started biting and picking on Cassie, then reached over and stole the blue squeaky elephant from Vinnie!! Talk about feeling your oats! I threw the squeaky for Vinnie and let Ozzy continue to believe he had Cassie right where he wanted her.

My other big news this week is that I won a trivia contest on CNN's Headline News on Wednesday. I drank a mocha frappuccino in the evening the night before and was good to go when Morning Express came on at 5 a.m. I decided to try the Challenge game that they are always talking about, since I was up anyway. They play from 7-9. It's a jump in and play when you want to, but you only get the questions as they come up and they're only asked once. Anyway, I ended up in third place, which I thought was pretty good. There were some pretty hard questions in there, and some predictions like "Will she say "Morning Sunshine" when she comes back in?" or "What was the first newspaper that she read the headlines from?" I was tired but attentive. Did I mention that I had another mocha frappuccino somewhere along the line? I got some I wasn't even aware I knew. The other people in the blog room said that getting into the top ten is pretty hard.

They pick a random winner and the top winner every day, and then there's a grand prize winner. I got an e-mail later that day that said I was a winner in the game. My first thought was that I was the random winner. After all, I finished in third place. So I filled out the information they wanted and sent it back to them and set my alarm for just before 7 am this morning. This was the same night I had three dogs going in and out and up and down off the bed and not enough sleep from the night before. But I woke up and played again, listening for Robin to say my name. 

I didn't do as well in the game today. I seemed to have used up my trivia juju on my winning day. The reason I wanted to play again was thinking that the grand prize (a trip to Atlanta) might be accumulated points. But I still tried but didn't end up in the Top Ten, even though I was within ten or twenty points of it. Listening to the news, Robin announced that HLNfanatic (I think) was the random winner. Hmmm, I thought that was what I had won. I must now keep watching. So I did. I watched and played, not well, very sleepy, and then it happened. Robin said that Vickilea was the winner of the Challenge game and had won a t-shirt and an autographed photo. Hoooooray!!! I'm a winnner!!!! Never have had anything like that happen to me before. She not only said it that one time, she said it one other time, too. I'm guessing the two people that were in first and second place had already won before and were ineligible. Fine by me. I like being the winner. And the people in the chat room congratulated me as I left yesterday, and again this morning. I thought that was very nice.

I had fun doing it both days and think I'll keep the alarm set. Maybe even try setting the coffee on automatic. Today, though, there was an idiot in the chatroom that was annoying everyone. I'm not sure there was a moderator in there cause he was insulting, even though an automatic warning about the blogging rules comes up every now and then.

So, those are my two big days for this week. And then today I got my WWE mag in the mail today, so I can come down slowly (nah I read it already). Ahhh. Life is good.

storm season already

A tornado touched down in north OKC today. It did a lot of damage but so far it doesn't seem to have caused to have caused any fatalities. Three minor injuries. It sucked a man out of the window of his mobile home, but it didn't kill him. They don't know what it is on the F scale yet, but the meteorologist I watch thinks it will be an F3. 

Josh called me first thing this morning to let me know there was a tornado watch, but my weather radio had just awakened me and I had the TV on to the weather alert. He called me off and on during the day to make sure I was still okay. He's such a good guy. He was watching the weather coverage while he was at work.

This is only February and this was a serious storm. Storms like this don't usually hit until the spring, which definitely isn't in February. I have no idea what this means for the storm season this year, if this is an El Niño or La Niña year. I'm just glad that, if the storms are going to be like this, I live in OKC cause the weather coverage here is top rate. You can watch it on TV, get it simulcast on your car radio, get it on the web and I can also kinda get it on my iPod.  

On a different note, I ended up watching the presidential speech at 3 a.m. on Fox, who showed it with the press conference afterward. I never thought I would be thanking Fox for anything political.

stoopid TV guide!!!

ARRRRGHH!!! I wanted to watch the presidential address tonight - the first one of the new administration. I figured it out, with eastern standard time and all, for seven o'clock.... but the guide... noooo, the newwwwwss said eight. I hate them. No, that's too strong. I need to watch my words. They have so much power. Not MY words, just words. I should know better. I'm ranting. Deep breaths. Breathe. Breathe. Dang it.  I had to have it on cable tonight. Crap. Of all nights to be watching dumb videos on YouTube.

Thank you, Keith Olberman, for saying the name of the "hero pilot"  of Flight 1459 correctly. It's Chesssssssley, not Chellllllsey. Unless it's like Bret Favre and it's tricky. And I'm pretty sure its not. 

I think YouTube rotted my brain.

more talk, no action

I'm watching the Senate debate the Stimulus Bill today, as the Republicans say over and over again that they can't see how the bill would create jobs. It's amazing to me how the partisan system creates tunnel vision along party lines. 

CNN.com today has listed what has been cut from the the bill in the Senate so far. Eye opening. I can see where some of the cut programs could be cut, but I can see a lot more of the programs providing jobs, particularly in housing (yes, housing) and construction. The Republicans have been pounding the pulpit about this bill not providing for housing needs and yet they have demanded the housing cuts. Do they rely on America only hearing what they say and not ever reading or seeing the facts?

The Republicans have had eight years to screw up the economy from the abundance that Clinton left for Bush. Now they're on the Hill crying that we need caution to keep from making a mistake. The camera is close in on the Senators, of course, but I'm curious to see how many people are actually in the chamber today. Although they are technically in session today, I'm pretty sure they show up for their twelve minutes to speak and leave. They want their speech in the Congressional Record. If the camera were to pull back, I'll bet that there aren't more than fifteen or twenty people in the entire chamber, if that many.

Obama has only been in office for short of three weeks and this is close to getting out of his hands. They are saying that he is going to hit it hard, like a campaign, starting Monday. I know he was busy building his cabinet and certainly has been working, but this seems to have needed more "hand holding" than anyone anticipated. Don't forget, even after it gets through the Senate it has to go back to the House and Nancy Pelosi, the Queen of the playground and protector of the education parts of the bill.

We're in for an even bigger fight when it leaves the Senate. What is the unemployment level going to be at by then?

my turn as a talking head

ARGH! The Republicans are making me crazy!! Reaganomics - I wish that craze would just go away. It didn't REALLY work and now the GOP is dragging it out as an alternative to the stimulus package. 

No, it didn't work. Reagan cut taxes ONE time during his time in office and then raised taxes continually after that because the tax cut was so massive he had to adjust it over and over again. Check the facts. Trickle down economics is a joke. This return is part of a Legacy Burnishing, just like they're trying on Bush, but time away is helping. But don't get me side tracked. Still, last night there was a big board up on the Senate floor with the bullet points of Reagonomics. Oy.

What good is it going to do to give corporate tax breaks if there are no customers to keep businesses open? Republicans want tax breaks for families..... oh and singles, too. McCain, for example, thinks that government is inefficient in spending money so therefore it is up to the private sector to bring the economy back. Great in theory, but the private sector is tanking and thanks to greed mongers like Bernie Maddof, even the elite are taking a hit.

This is the GOP being the GOP. Unfortunately, Obama went too far in being bipartisan when he delivered the stimulus package. He's like the nice girl meeting "Mean Girls" who have lost their money but not their meanness, which is their power. As soon as the Republicans realized Obama was trying for a bipartisan victory, not just a victory, he gave them power, and they took it, and they've been gaining more every day. It took him a week to start asserting his presidential muscles in the news again, and now he's got a mess on his hands. 

Unfortunately for Obama, the stimulus was left in the hands of Nancy Pelosi in the House, who's attitude towards bipartisanship was "We won," which only fanned the flames of "Oh yeah, well look what we can do to you anyway." Someone needs to tell her that you can be the big kid on the block and still be gracious.

The GOP's new battle cry is "This is a spending bill!" Well duh. That's what stimulus is all about. And of course the government is going to do it. They're the only one with money in this economy. And the statements that the Republicans, no matter what state they are from, that the bill is all pork you have to take with a grain of salt. The guidelines were that the projects had to be shovel ready (and that was 70%, last I heard), and governors were consulted as to what they needed in their states that keep people from losing jobs. For example, schools being built means teachers wouldn't be laid off, in addition to the construction jobs it creates. Is that pork for the education lobby? And by the way, even if whatever government department got a bunch of computers, which I'm sure they needed, wouldn't that mean a huge order for some business, and several manufacturing plants?

Stimulus means spending. Economists, without (D) pr (R) in front of their name, and one with "Nobel winning" in front of his, have said that money has to be spent to kick start this economy. In fact, they fear that the stimulus is far TOO SMALL. Our economy is huge, the largest in the world, and we're starting to penny pinch, in a manner of speaking. The figure the economists have thrown out that would be necessary to turn around the economy is 2.2 trillion, not even half of what Obama has proposed. 

Oh, and banking. It was announced, or revealed which might be closer, last night by the congressional oversight committee that the amount that we were getting for our investment in the banks under Bush's secretary of the treasury Paulson was $66 for every $100. Paulson reported that we were getting "par" performance - basically $100 worth of investment for every $100 spent. But with independent audit, it was found that we paid $256 billion for stocks and warrants worth $176 billion under the TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program). That was under the GOP watch, and I use the term "watch" really loosely. 

One of the first things Obama did was make the process transparent and put watchdogs in place. We're going to be getting more value for out money. We're on the board of directors now. Still, he has to start flexing his muscles and stop letting the mean kids try to pick on him. We chose him to lead him because we need hope and direction. We need a clear leader. When it gets murky and messy like this, we need someone to come in and spray things off and put things back in their place. The Republicans need to stop "politicking" and remember that we, the people are in desperate times and need something done now.

perils.....

Here are a few perils that have crossed my obviously not-busy-enough mind lately:

• NOT changing the channel when you're doing something else. Unfortunately, I was all caught up with shredding papers from my office tonight and left the channel on twice when I should have turned it off. Now I'm plenty warped. I watched a police reality show about the perils of police work with each incident more horrific than the next. This particular show seemed to be misnamed. It ought to have been named "They're Out To Get The By-Stander!" Now I'm afraid to drive my car.

Not traumatized enough, I watched the Comedy Channel where my innocent and passive viewing was punished by the train wreck that is Jackass 2.5. I was well into it, and recognized Wee Man from Celebrity Circus, when I realized I couldn't turn away, even as it got stupider and more disgusting. Oh, the humanity. 

• SURROUND SOUND! Okay. First of all, most people that upgrade their audio systems have some sort of expectation of the sound that will come out of their speakers. Josh has upgraded me twice now. Each time the sound quality has improved, the last time pretty dramatically. Still, this past Sunday, while watching the Super Bowl, it surprised me when the sound effects came on. Those of you without surround sound, or without it right at your head, might not have noticed how much one particular graphic sounded like my heater coming on, but I did. I was getting up and going to the kitchen and I heard the heater coming on - odd - then coming on again right away. How weird is that? Worried me for a minute is so as I went about my business in the kitchen trying to figure out why the heater was doing that. I sat back down and heard it again, this time in perfect timing to the graphic, and coming out of the speaker. Drat. Got me again. Earlier in the game I heard what I thought was gravel hitting the door, as did Ozzy, and we almost got up to check out what was going on until I figured out what it was. 

You know, all the sounds they're putting into music and shows are driving me and my dog just a wee bit nuts. He and I are all the time looking at each other and turning off the sound to try and figure out if it's the TV or "real life." Live or Memorex, to the Nth degree. 

Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't change it for anything. I would like a scorecard every now and then. Just to keep everything straight.