american horror story

Something about this TV series kept me watching even though I set my DVR to record it and for some reason it stopped recording.  I searched for it on ON DEMAND to watch the last three episodes.  Problem is you can't pause or fast forward or go back with ON DEMAND and I tried to pause and I must have messed something up cause I couldn't get the rest of it to play.  So then I had to look for it on line and was able watch.  But it was really difficult to watch on a small screen cause it was sooo dark.

All in all I was really quite happy with the way they ended the first season.  My husband caught bits and pieces of this show and thought it was totally weird.  I thought it was weird too but no weirder than it was supposed to be I think.  And all the dead Harmons around the Christmas Tree was remarkably festive and......appropriate.  And the family with the actors from Third Watch were really funny. Actually there was something darkly funny about much of the show. Thumbs up and  I forgive you for what you've done to Glee and the mistakes you made on that Glee Project thingy.

merry christmas

My 69 year old husband and I planned to spend Christmas Eve with his family and stay overnight and spend at least part of Christmas Day with them as well.  But after dinner he was feeling tired and a little dizzy and almost fell when he bent over to pet the dog.  I had been up since 5:30 and put in a full day of work and I was tired too.  So we decided we needed to go home.  I always feel a little out of place with his family, especially when his ex-wife is there.  They have always been really nice to me, but they are all outgoing and noisy and I am usually quiet and contemplative especially at this time of year.

So we didn't have anything planned for meals on Christmas Day and hubby was still feeling not so good.  And I wound up at Walgreen's after visiting three different convenience stores looking to buy something my husband would eat.  Me-the person who believes Christmas has become too comercial goes out shopping on Christmas Day.  I have worked in the restaurant business and in retail most of my life where the only holiday I could count on not working was Christmas. And there were a couple of Christmases that I worked in a restaurant that was open on Christmas.  But what was cool about shopping on Christmas day was that there weren't very many other people out there and traffic was not nerely as bad as it had been in the days before or has been since.  Cool.

melanie amaro

Melanie won the X Factor competition and I am happy for her.She has a very good voice, she deserves it , she will work hard etc. etc.  But as I was watching the show I thought Josh was more polished and comfortable as a performer.  Also I wonder if because of his age, this might have been his last chance.  Will opportunities come to him at age 30 just from appearing on this show?  I hope so cause I think his choice of music will be more interesting than Melanie's.  He doesn't look like a star however and she does. Crazy me, I voted for both of them.

terra nova finale

Sorry Stephen Speilberg but I was disappointed.  And I don't even know why.  Maybe because there was a question as to whether the series would return they felt like they needed to end with a bang (lol) and a hook to make us the veiwers wamt more.  I can understand that.  Maybe I need to re-watch the finale, cause I know from what I read online that some folks liked the final episode way better than everything that happened before.

I ususally like shows that are character driven, and I don't mind taking my time getting to know the characters.  I stuck with Lost through thick and thin for six years because those characters became important to me.

So it seems like the Terra Nova people came to the end of the season and still didn't know if they would be back so they threw in an explosion, and the badlands which we have heard nothing about before and an 18th century ship????  Now that doesn't remind you of LOST?  Oh well at least at the end they are looking up at the sky instead of down some hole in the ground.


Don't get me wrong I will probably watch (or DVR) this show if it comes back.  I am a sucker for this kind of show and I kind of like the characters and maybe the story will go off in an interesting direction.  Who knows it could be another LOST, but I don't think so.

meryl streep and i are the same age

I really can't think of much to say about that,  but for some reason it makes me kind of sad.  I realize every day that I am closer to the end of my life than the beginning and I kind of wish that I could see that I have accomplished something more than taking up space and consuming goods and services.  I'm pretty sure that Meryl Streep doesn't think about that, though I suppose there are others my age that do.

And then again I provide service to people.  And while I will never be Meryl Streep I do have time to be a better me.  And I can choose to use my time in such a way as to accomplish that much.

suss

So on Survivor it was Sophie who won the title sole survivor and the million bucks.  I was a little bit disappointed-I really don't know what Coach was thinking.  Personally I find the most remarkable thing about Sophie was that she knew the meaning of and used the word suss.  I kinda thought I knew what it meant but I had to look it up for sure.  Her final words to the jury sounded memorized and she spoke really fast but she turned to be the least of three evils for a jury who didn't want any of them to win.  It was probably a good thing for her that the jury didn't hear her at the challenge when she yelled at Albert to come pick up her tiles.  That was just strange.  And a little bratty as Ozzy would say.

Coach could have won if he had just been a little more honest a little sooner--or if he had stayed true to Brandon and that other guy uhhh Rick, or if he had listened to Albert and gotten rid of Sophie or even if he had kept Cochran to the end.  I think he was sincere when he said at the end of tribal counsel that there were just so many cross roads and he just kept making wrong decisions.

Really looking forward to the new Survivor season in February.  I think the One World twist should freshen up the show as long as they cast some interesting survivors.  Just wish they would go back to a final two instead of a final three.

FIRE HYDRANT!!!

I have always loved game shows-from Password to The Match Game to Let's Make a Deal from long ago and far away to more recently, Deal or No Deal and Millionaire.  Even Minute To Win It was fun for a little while. But I couldn't get into You Deserve It until the third episode where the guy was trying to win money for his Mom so she wouldn't lose her house.  He was a nice guy, kind of lucky, but he didn't know all the answers.  He made you want to root for him.  I knew Justin Timberlake before he did, and Kermit the Frog, and I found myself screaming FIRE HYDRANT at the television three clues before he knew the answer.  He won a lot of money for his Mom and I was happy.  And I was happy I know a lot of the answers too cause I didn't know any from the first two episodes.

more about people who make stuff, sell stuff, and buy stuff

My husband bought me an mp3 player for my birthday and I have music on my computer.  We bought the player.  We bought the computer.  We buy the service used to download the music and paid 99 cents or $1.29 plus tax or something like that for each song, but is it ok to transfer the music to the mp3 player?  I know I sound like an idiot, but I'm old and technologically challenged.  I know people share music and rip and burn discs or whatever the proper word is.  I also know that when I used to buy records(back in the vinyl age) I could play them on any record player I owned.  Or I could take them to a friends house and play them there.  Didn't need to copy them, they were portable.  I suppose there were pirates back then too but I never knew about them.  But now days it's so much easier to steal someone's creative work.  No one buys records or even cd's anymore.  Soon no one will buy books anymore.  We will have to download them onto something.  I love reading books.  And I am hoping that that process of purchasing electronic books will be easy and not too expensive, cause this old dog isn't getting any younger and I'm not sure how may new tricks I can learn.

thoughts on competition reality shows

I'm not sure I would allow my child to compete on The X Factor or America's Got Talent especially if she is female and actually has some talent.  Everybody knows that as far as the younger voters go, they are more likely to vote male than female.  Nicole was wrong not to vote.  Marcus should have gone home just as Drew went home the week before.  Once again The X Factor disappoints.

I am pretty happy with the results of The Amazing Race.  I kinda wish "the boys" would have made it to the end but they screwed up-pure and simple.  And Cindy and Ernie are kinda cute.

Survivor ends this week also-and I can't guess what Coach is up to.  Why would he not want to take Cochran to the end?  Does he seriously believe the jury will choose him if he is sitting next to Ozzy or even Albert?  Looking forward to this.He's not exactly Boston Rob but he has played a good game.

another birthday

So my most recent birthday was, I guess, a milestone of sorts.  My mother retired at 62 and if my memory is correct, I believe my father worked another year or so after he turned 62.  My husband began receiving social security benefits at age 62, but continued to work part time.  He wound up making too much money and had his benefits reduced for awhile but we came out ahead in the long run.  I just turned 62 this week and I am not able to do either of those things.

When I was young amd idealistic I believed that materialism was not a good thing.  A lot of stuff wasn't really necessary.  A roof over your head, reliable transportation and a healthy portion of freedom was important and could be achieved without working the kind of job that paid big money.  I truly was unwilling to give up more than 40 hour of my week to earning my living.  By the time I was graduated from college I knew I couldn't do the job I had learned to do. But I was sure I could do something.  And I did.  I did several things over the years,  enjoyed my feedom, paid the bills and kept a roof over my head, but didn't make a lot of money.  And what I did earn  I spent.  Just call me grasshopper.  And then when I married--I married another grasshopper.


So I can not retire on what my social security benefits would be at this time--particularly since I would have to pay for my own health insurance.  If I were to work part time I would need to work at least 24 hours per week or my company would drop  my health insurance.  The ecomomy is bad and nobody wants to give their employees benefits anymore--too expensive--and lots of unemployed people to choose from.  I understand all of that and accept it.  But I'm old and tired and deep in my soul believe that I will probably need to work at some kind of job until I die.

But that's ok.  My work is just work.  I doesn't define me or make me feel more or less important.  it takes only 40 hours out of a week-sometimes less-and it's purpose is just to pay the bills.

people who make stuff, people who sell stuff and people who buy stuff

It seems to me that what might be wrong with this country's economy is that there aren't any ( or very many) people who make stuff.    Oh there are people who think of stuff for other people to make.  People in China, or Bangladesh, or Mexico.  Or we can secretly invite Mexicans to come here--and make Jumbo Jacks, and Quarter Pounders.  We all think we are too good for that sort of thing--those of us who are the people who buy stuff.

We bought the idea that a college education would guarantee us a good living, and we borrowed the money to go to school.  And now we don't really want to pay it back because it just wasn't as easy as that.

We bought the idea that everyone should be able to own their own home.  And we borrowed the money for that also.  And jobs disappeared.  And the value of homes disappeared.  And we want to blame the people who sold us stuff and the people who lent us the money and not be accountable for the stuff that we bought.

Last weekend was Black Friday, the kick off of the holiday shopping season. the time when retailers make their profit for the year.  Every year they open earlier and earlier, offer bigger and better deals (maybe) and the people who buy stuff get crazier and crazier.  And then there are the people who steal stuff mugging the people who bought stuff in the parking lot outside the store.  And we blame the people who make stuff and the people who sell stuff.  We say it's awful how they compete for our dollars-make their emloyees give up their holiday and all just to make a buck.  But the truth is they wouldn't do it if it didn't work.  And we buy their stuff as if we didn't have a choice. And that is pretty sad.

occupy whatever

So.....I've really wanted to write about this occupy Wall Street thing going on for awhile now, but I still can't quite wrap my head around it.  I grew up in the fifties and sixties and participated in one anti-war march, believed in the civil rights movement, and distrusted the military-industrial complex.  I've called myself a Democrat and I've voted Republican over the years, but now I consider myself an independent and (sadly) often choose not to vote at all.  My question is what do these "occupiers" want?  Or what are the against.  it seems to me that they just occupy space and would like others to take care of them.

I have (reluctantly) become a bit conservative in my old age.  I don't believe it is the government's job to provide us with health care, or jobs, or even social security for that matter, but since I've paid into social security for 40+ years, and I could have invested it rather than just let it sit there I want it back when the time comes.  I've never needed to use food stamps or collect unemployment.  Lots of folks wouldn't necessarily consider me successful but I have been able to take care of myself most of the time.

So what is all the complaining about?  Just get out there and do something other than occupying space.

X Factor Attitude

I think they got it right when they sent Stacy Francis home.  I had finally decided that the reason no one criticized her pitch was because Randy Jackson has some kind of patent on the word.  I think she was so often off key and out of control and often screaming instead of singing.  I  would have thought Simon would have pointed that out, but we have a kinder gentler Simon now.  And she has a sad story to tell and she's a sinle mother yada yada yada.

And then there's ASTRO who thinks since America didn't vote for him, he will just give up.  And blame the voters for not appreciating Hip Hop.  Well he's just a kid after all, gotta give him a chance to grow up. 

And I still haven't found anyone I just love,  Maybe Melanie but I didn't like her last performance much. Simon has to find the right song for her.

just a few thoughts

I am still disappointed by The X Factor.  I think the opening number was horrible tonight.  And I really feel bad for Paula.  America please get rid of one of "the boys" next week ok?

I am loving Survivor this season.  Don't know whether its the casting or the editing but I'm really impressed with how these folks are playing the game.  Any one of several of these people could win and I would be happy.

I need to stop recording The Chew; it takes up too much room on my DVR and I will probably never watch all of them.  Especially since I've found two new shows to watch.  Grimm and Once Upon A Time are kind of interesting.  I am kind of losing interest in American Horror Story though.

Participating in a neighborhood patio sale this weekend and going through a bunch of useless stuff I've been saving thinking it might become useful one day.  Wondering if anyone else will find any value in any of it.

This stuff about Herman Cain, Joe Paterno, and even Justin Beiber i find really depressing.  I need some seriously good news, and the sooner the better.

Well those are my thoughts. best I can do today.

Wednesday Night TV

So it looks like Wednesday night and Sunday night will be my favorite nights for television this season.  Tonight I had Survivor, The X Factor, and Harry's Law all opposing each other on different networks with American Horror Story representing Cable TV later in the evening.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't exactly like The X Factor; there seems to be something phony and overdone about it.  But for some reason I want to like that old guy Leroy who is almost my age, that young kid Rachel, the guy who makes burritos,  and the group of kids they threw together from the leftover solo acts.  And Melanie, I really really like Melanie and I hope I've spelled her name correctly but so many folks spell their names all kinda different ways these days so maybe I haven't.  And the judges keep sniping at each other about song choice and I haven't cared for any of them.  But then who am I?  Just an aging baby boomer.

Meanwhile Survivor was pretty cool. Remember how Sandra won the million twice by playing the "as long as it isn't me voted out" game?  I'm thinking it will not be possible to play that game anymore.  We got people making some really risky moves this season.  We have people really playing the game not just playing it safe.  We got nerds and bullies and atheletes and cowboys and medical marijuana sellers who play poker.  Weird huh?  And then there is the Dragon Slayer who is so mellow and almost spiritual this time around.  Of course there are the usual floaters as they call them on Big Brother, but I don't think one of them will take the million.  I'm kind of hoping it will be Coach, or Cochran, or Albert just because he is he is sooo good looking.  Or maybe Dawn cause she is old like me.

World Series

I am not a baseball fan, not usually anyway.  Back in Wisconsin when I was a kid, my mom used to follow the Milwaukee Braves. She used to listen to the games on the radio in the kitchen when we lived on the farm.   And then the Braves  moved to Atlanta and boy was she upset.  Eventually she renewed her interest in the game and became a Milwaukee Brewers fan.  Then she was able to watch on television.  And it wasn't until after she died that I found out she also enjoyed playing the game when she was a girl.

As I stated at the beginning of this post, I am not a big baseball fan.  The games usually take too long and I don't know all the rules and stuff that makes the game interesting to people who really know baseball.  I was forced to play the game in school physical education classes but was never any good, and never learned anything other than the most basic of basics about the game.  I've actually learned more about the game from my husband who is a White Sox fan from the south side of Chicago.

I moved to Arizona from Wisconsin in 1985 and the following spring my parents came out to visit and we went to a Brewers spring training game.  My mom really enjoyed it.  I didn't care for it too much.  After I met my husband in 1991 we went to other spring training games and then regular games when Arizona got the Diamondbacks and that was kind of fun.  The Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001 and I had jumped on that bandwagon much earlier that year and actually knew a lot of the players names.

So tonight is game seven of this years world series, and two teams that I don't really care much about are playing.  But I did watch the last couple of innings of game 6 last night and found it really really interesting.  So it's the 5th inning the score is 3-2 Cardinals and the bases are loaded and I am wondering if I would still be watching if I lived in a different time zone.  But you know what?  I would be, because now the game gets even more interesting.

So thanks guys.  Maybe I can get interested in baseball.  Doesn't look like there is going to be any basketball this year and Arizona's football team is pretty bad so these last two games have been pretty cool.

Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is one of my favorite tv shows this season, and not just because it scares me.  I think it's  that classic good vs. evil stuff that runs through almost all really good fiction.  And when you pull together a diverse group of strangers and pit them against the bad guys or unknown evil stuff that you don't know how to fight, well that makes everything even more interesting.  I remember how the old disaster movies of  30+ years hooked me the same way.  Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, those were my kind of movies.  And Stephen King's "The Stand" is probably my favorite book.  I think the level of intensity is more difficult to maintain in a television show than a book or movie.  I loved "Lost" from the beginning and really wanted to love it to the end, but I must admit I was disappointed.  I probably should blame the writers but I would like to blame ABC if only because they have this habit of splitting a season into two parts.  You start watching, then all of a sudden the show disappears and you've got sports or specials in it's place.  Then a few weeks later it's back but it's lost momentum.  If  I'm not mistaken that's what killed "V", FlashForward  , Detroit 187, and The Event.  So it's not just ABC that does it, CBS and NBC do too.

Anyway, right now I really like "The Walking Dead".  I really like the idea of characters to get to know better, to be frightened with, and sad with, and hopeful with again.  I was afraid that this season it would turn into just another zombie show but I think not.  Thumbs up guys and please AMC don't screw with this show.

X Factor

I used to like American Idol,but not near as much without Simon Cowell.  that's why I was kind of looking forward to watching the X Factor.  I am just a bit disappointed, and not just because they drink Pepsi instead of Coke.  Though I've seen (and heard ) some really good performances, I haven't found anyone I can care about.  Way too much drama involved in the back stories for my taste.  But then the tastes of folks my age are really not relevant anymore.  What appeals to me and people like me, is not considered commercial.  And these judges are not afraid to say that what they are looking for is talent that will sell not just talent that impresses them.

Maybe I was just so blown away by The Voice, and that is why the X Factor disappoints. The judges drank neither Coke nor Pepsi, there were a lot of likeable singers, not quite so many tatoos, and just the right amount of drama.  And guess what- I bought some of those songs, downloaded from ITunes.  So I guess it was commercial too.

waste

This is my new goal.  I will eliminate waste from my life. That's a good goal, right?  Just hoping I don't waste a lot of effort trying to eliminate waste.  But seriously, we waste a lot of food in our household.  We cook too much, save the leftovers.  I might eat some of the leftovers, but eventually they get thrown out.  Sometimes we go crazy, but all kinds of produce, thinking now we will eat healthy food.  But then we don't have time to actually prepare the food, and then that goes to waste too.

So this is my goal--cut down on wasted dollars, wasted time, wasted food, wasted effort.

fast forward

So the new tv season has started and though I have found a number of new shows I really want to watch,  I am upset with  ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX for scheduling the best shows opposite each other.  I realize it's just their way of capturing ratings.  It's what they do.  So my DVR is full and I'm spending a lot of time fast forwarding through commercials.  Problem is I can only record 2 shows in one time slot, sometimes there are three I want to see; and that's not counting cable shows coming up soon.  So I've got to go online, or use OnDemand and I can't always fast forward there.  Bummer.  But I'll get over it.  It won't be long before they start moving shows around.  And then for sure, they will cancel one of my favorites.  I could attempt to influence programming by contacting sponsors or advertizers like they did int the "olden days".  But I am not in the right demographic.  Besides...I fast forward through all the commercials.

In Search of a Theme

I was thinking that there should be something linking all of my posts together.  Something that would keep this blog from being just the meandering thoughts of an old lady.  So I decided to look for a theme, or purpose or something to tie all of my posts together.  First I googled baby boomer--27 million results. Next stop Wikipedia.  Here I found a much more managable amount of information and the name of the author of that book I read almost 30 years ago. His name is Landon Jones.  I also learned that the last half of the baby boomers-those born after 1954- are called Generation Jones.  This is new to me. Also logical.  I was born in 1949 and dont really feel any connection to those folks born in 1964.  I'm pretty sure they looked at Watergate, 9/11, and even the current economis problems differently. 

But I didn't really find a theme- not yet anyway.  Seems like a lot of work figuring it out.  Maybe I will just meander for awhile longer.

All About the Party

I was in 8th grade when President Kennedy was killed.  I wasn't particularly interested in politics at that time but I spent the entire weekend watching television--NBC and CBS mostly as I recall.  I still watch a lot of tv today, too much really.  But I think everyone spent that weekend watching tv.

Later I chose the Republican Party after listening to the 2 most popular boys in class debate politics.  I watched the almost the entire Republican National Convention on tv the year that Barry Goldwater was nominated.  After Goldwater lost the election I lost interest in politics again.  There were so many other things for a teenage girl to be interested in--music, movies, tv, basketball (our high school had a really good team for two years).

But then that pesky old war in Viet Nam refused to be ignored.  And in that tiny town in Wisconsin there was nothing I could do for Eugene McCarthy, but I could watch on tv.  And then everything went crazy.  I graduated from high school in 1968,and was somewhat protected from all the turmoil that summer because I lived in a very tiny town,and because I had very conservative and very strict parents.

In college things were different.  Even though McCarthy was out and Bobby had been murdered, now I could actually DO something other than watch.  I joined the Young Democrats and campaigned for some young guy  running for congress against some career politician.  His theory?  We needed new people in politics--if you're in there too long you are controlled by the system.  He won!! And he is still in congress 40 years later.  Or maybe not--he may have been beaten by one of those Tea Party people.  I moved away from Wisconsin years ago so I'm not sure.  But that was cool I thought.  A candidate I supported actually won.  There was a big party after, and all the "young dems" got drunk, even those who were under age.  And eventually I left the Young Democrats because there was just way too much partying.

I went to one SDS meeting, and they were all very serious.  But I discovered the were pretty much into parties as well and I wasn't cool enough to be invited.  For awhile I thought of myself as a hippie, but those folks partied in ways I didn't want to get involved with. 

My third year in college we had a really good basketball team--I went to every game that I could and a few parties after the games.  And I set political parties aside for awhile

Getting Started

I remember reading a book, oh maybe 30 years ago, about the baby boomers.Talked about how this massive group of people did, could and would affect our culture, finances,politics, and everything else.  Now it turns out that we will bankrupt the Social Security system, destroy Medicare and what we watch on TV doesn't matter anymore.  We thought we were important, but we have endangered future generations, and raised children who don't appear to be doing any better than we did.  I wonder if the guy that wrote that book is still around, or if he has plans for an update.

I've wanted to start a blog for some time now, whether I think I've got anything to say or not.  Maybe it will improve my attitude just to write things down.  I had big dreams back when the baby boomers crowded the schools, and big plans when we split into hippies and yuppies.  Now it may be too late for some things--for others....I'm just getting started.