Smiley’s

I’m No Ebert

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I am not a movie reviewer.  I like what I like and sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason (lookin at you  Mummy 1 and 2).  In fact, I usually don’t like to disclose my favorite movie list because I’m pretty easily swayed.  What if I tell you one of my favorite movies and you tell me you hate it?  Then you proceed to tell me why you don’t like it.  It ruins my movie because now I see the same flaws.  Yep, I’m that easily influenced on some things.  So, I usually don’t like to discuss such things as movies, books, people in general, clothes, music, politics… You get the idea.

But I belong to Blockbuster.com and the darn queue keeps getting hungry.  Greedy little thing keeps sending me notices in my email begging for contributions.  I’d let it starve but I’m paying $9.53 a month to sustain it.  Why do I pay it?  Blockbuster automatically withdraws money from my account around the 9th of each month.  If I cancel any time before that, I basically lose money because I won’t get a refund for any unused portion.  So, the trick is, I need to cancel on the 8th so that I feel like I get my money’s worth.  I usually remember I want to cancel on the 10th.  Doesn’t make sense?  Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to make sense to you, only to me.  And it does, so everything is fine.

Back to the story, I have this Blockbuster membership and a very greedy queue.  Although, I don’t watch as many movies at home as I used to.  When I was younger, I could literally watch movies all day.  But I’m older and my attention span is now pea-sized.  Plus, I enjoy actually going to the movies.  Especially matinees.   If I get to go to the theater in the middle of a weekday, that means I’m not at work.  Yay for me! 

Lately, I’ve seen few movies and I thought I’d give just a quick overview of what I liked and didn’t like.  Keep in mind, some of the movies I had no intention of ever seeing.  I just have to keep the queue satisfied.

Eh:  I’ll start with today’s choice.  Bubba, T, and I went to see Chronicle at the theater (a matinee no less – thank you very much Presidents!)  I wanted to see this movie a couple of weeks ago but got out-voted.  More about that in a second.  As for the movie, I was disappointed.  Probably because my oldest niece, MM, warned me right before I left that “It was disturbing” (told you, easily influenced). I think she meant boring.  It was a long 90 minutes.  I’m still waiting for the plot to take off…

Eh:  Last night I watched Water for Elephants.  I had to concentrate very hard to type the name right.  For some reason, I want to call it Like Water for Elephants.  Not sure where that came from.  This was a queue filler.  I played solitaire for the first half of the movie.  Talked with MM for part of it.  Looked at Facebook for a portion.  And wondered why Robert Pattinson is considered cute (sorry Edward fans).  He kind of has an odd look about him.  Plus, I had to visit imdb.com to see how much older Reese Witherspoon is than him (10 years if you’re wondering).  And while on that site, I had to see the actress’ name that played Barbara Jean on Reba (Melissa Peterman).  That stemmed from a previous discussion that resurfaced during the movie.  But the movie did have a happy ending.

Yay:  The weekend before Valentine’s Day my friend asked me if I wanted to see a movie.  I chose Chronicle.  But it was her turn to pick and she wanted to see The Vow.  I didn’t really want to go to a chick flick the weekend before V-Day (dumb holiday) with another chick.  But I acquiesced.  I’m glad I did.  I enjoyed the movie and the fact that it was based on a true story, made it even better.  Plus, Channing Tatum isn’t exactly hard to look at for two hours.  Even if I do keep calling him Tatum Channing.  The lesson I learned from this, the lower the expectation I have for a movie, the more I enjoy it.

Eh: Eat. Love. Pray.  Another queue filler.  I discovered within the first five minutes that I wasn’t going to like this movie.  I wrote one of my blogs while it was on.  Here’s my take of it: “Oh woest me, I’m unhappy.  I must break my commitment I made and go find myself in a land far, far away.” Boo!

Eh:  I don’t blame the movie since it was based on the boring section of the book.  But Harry Potter 7A was a snoozer!

Yay:  Harry Potter 7B, however, was based on the more exciting part of the book.  Although the movie takes some liberties from the text that I have to adjust to.  I don’t remember Harry hugging Voldemart and jumping off the ledge.  And my favorite part of the book (the WAR scene) was omitted.  No matter, it wrapped the series up nicely and, incidentally, was the last movie I watched with my mom.

Eh-Yay:  I saw the first movie.  I know I did.  But I can’t really tell you much about it.  When I went to see the second movie, I was kind of lost for the first half.  Eventually, I liked it, more or less.  Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows had a lively action sequence and an ending that had me wondering for a second, (SPOILER) “Did they seriously just finish off this series with the second movie?”  I only wondered for a second, though.

Eh:  The ending of Captain America ruined the whole movie for me.  I don’t care if the powers-that-be are making a movie and he’s needed in it.  Boo for an ending that isn’t an ending so that another movie can be made about the beginning of a different tale.

Yay:  I was iffy going into Thor.  It turned out to be one of my better choices.  I became acquainted with Chris Hemsworth’s fine, um, acting ability.  This was another movie I went into with low expectations.  The previews weren’t impressive.  Thor looked like he was the product of a drunken make-up artist.  But then I saw him in context and I have to agree with Jane, “It’s a good look.”  Sure, it has another set-up ending but I saw this first.  It wasn’t a predictable pattern yet so I can forgive this ending. 

Those are just some of the movies I’ve seen the last few months.  You probably don’t agree, but don’t tell me!  You’ll ruin my yay movies.

Why it’s Pretty Much in Everyone’s Best Interest that I Take Next Week Off

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Yesterday I decided I better take next week off from work.  Actually, I decided this on Sunday but it took me until Tuesday to get the courage to ask my boss.  Do I want to use up a full week’s worth of vacation in February?  No.  Am I doing anything fun?  Does sleep count as fun?  Here are the three reasons why I’m taking a full week off on such short notice.

  1. I’m cranky and I could bite your head off.  In a passive-aggressive sort of way, of course.  My temper is short these days.  Snarkiness is leaking out in comments.  My patience, small as it was to begin with, is running on fumes.  Today I walked past the front window behind the receptionists.  Unfortunately, I started choking on my gum and well, my saliva.  Very embarrassing.  My face turned red and the only way I could clear it was to, well, cough like I was clearing things out.  Not pleasant.  One of the receptionists later commented to my office mate that she “better wear a mask” because Corina sounds horrible.  I was choking. That remark moved her to the dreaded list.  I learned about the list from my sister-in-law, CC.  Whenever someone ticks off CC, she says that person is “on my list.”  I’ve never seen the complete list but I think it must be pretty long by now.  Unless, there is redemption and a person can be removed.  I’ve never asked her how that part works.  I’ve only heard names added.  Well, my list has grown exponentially lately.  And before I say or do something incredibly stupid, I need to regroup.  And I think it will take a whole week.
  2. Call me Walter Mitty.  My focus, already the size of a gnat, has shrunk.  Sometimes at work I catch myself just staring at the computer screen.  Not in a productive, “I must study this data entry and figure it out” sort of way.  But more along the lines of, “I wonder how far that little ant that was wandering on the bathroom floor traveled?” I went in there twice and he was just roaming around in circles.  If he was bigger and could talk I’m pretty sure he would be mumbling, “Must find food.  Must find food.  Must find food.  They won’t let me back in until I get food.  Must find food.  Must find food. Must find food.”  If he could understand me I’d tell him, “Dude, there’s no food on that tile piece.  You circled it a hundred times since I’ve been watching.  Try another tile square.”
  3. I’ve lost my coherent abilities.  I’m just not making sense anymore.  Last night, WM asked me if March 24 was the last weekend or second to last weekend of the month.  She expected it to be a simple answer.  I looked at her.  “Well, General Conference is the first weekend of April,” I said.  Sometimes thoughts get stuck in my head so I try to dig them out with words.  Lots and lots of words.  Strung together in no particular order.

She nodded her head, “Yeah.”

“And the 24th is the weekend before General Conference,” I continued.

“So it’s the last weekend,” she surmised.

“But,” I wasn’t finished yet.  “General Conference is on the first Sunday of April but the last Saturday of March.”

I think by this point she was regretting asking me.  “Does anybody have a calendar?”

“So,” I tried digging my way out.  “That weekend is the second to last Saturday but the last Sunday.”

She waited to see if I was finished.

I was proud of my explanation so I reiterated.  “It’s the second to last Saturday but the last Sunday of the month.”  That tied everything up quite nicely I should think.

J-Girl walked by and muttered, “That was the longest explanation I ever heard.”

WM tried to wrap it up.  “So, it’s the second to last weekend.”

“Saturday,” I started to clarify again.

“I got it,” she laughed at me.

I laughed too because it was the most absurd answer for such a simple question.  And I have found if you laugh, people might think you did it on purpose to be silly.  Not because you are just a hopeless dork.  I’ve said it before, you can’t hide dork. 

Those are my basic reasons for taking next week off.  It may not be the best list of reasons but it will work for me.  I’ll think of you while I’m…. next week.

I’m Pretty Sure my Sister is Tougher than Your Sister

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I grew up in a Wyoming town.  Wyoming doesn’t have cities we have towns.  And sometimes, it’s more of a group of people living in a general area.  I served an eighteen-month mission in Texas living in East Texas and two suburbs of Dallas.  After I returned, I moved to Laramie, Wyoming – a college town.  Then I moved to Denver for a while.  That could be a blog in itself.  From Denver I moved to Salt Lake.  Coming from Denver, I felt the Utah metropolis was “cute.”  After Utah, I moved back to my hometown.  I’ve been back seven years and Salt Lake is now big and noisy and I hate driving there.

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Randomness in Pictures

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I am trying to be fairly regular about posting and wanted to get one more blog in this week.  But all my creative efforts have been poured into preparing for New Beginnings.  It’s my turn to be in charge of the big event.  Due to a scheduling conflict, we had to move it up two days.  This means our planning activity had to be moved up a whole week.  So, we are going to prepare and make official invitations this Tuesday instead of next Tuesday.  Long story short, I had to hurry and get things done today.

For my first stop, I went to the mecca of under-budget events: the Dollar Store.  I often hear success stories of fabulous and cute decorations found there.  I’m not short on creativity – until it comes to crafty things like this.  I text J-Girl to see if by chance she was available to help.  She wasn’t.  I went alone and wandered through the store.  It’s possible I walked up and down the party aisle a bazillion and one times. The invitations just would not work.  Our theme is the same as the mutual theme for the year, “Arise and Shine Forth.”  I searched for some cute “light-themed” decorations.  Nada.

It wasn’t a total waste.  I found some paper for the programs with candles as a border.  Sure, they are birthday candles, but it will work.  I think.  I also got supplies for another upcoming activity. 

As I walked to the check-out stand, I saw an array of artificial flowers.  Mom’s grave doesn’t have a headstone yet (something about it being too cold) nor any sod.  Basically, her dirt mound looks quite pathetic and very sad.   I decided to take a cheap vase and anchor it in the ground.  We can at least put some flowers there.  The cemetery probably won’t like it but I want to make sure passers-by understand she is not forgotten.

My purchases came up to $5.78 but I still needed invitations.  There is no way I’m going to run to Wal-Mart on a Saturday.  I went to K-Mart.  There were some really cute ones that said, “From one princess to another,” with a picture of a crown on them.   At that moment, I wished the girls would have picked “Daughter of a King” for the theme.  But, they didn’t.  So, I refrained from buying the invitations.

K-Mart purchases on left. Dollar Store on right.

I found some plain-janes that I can make work.  I’m just going to make a little something to go on the back to tie in the theme.  Three packages (30 cards total) cost me over $15.  The tight wad in me grimaced as I paid more for the three items than I did for six items at the dollar store.

 

Speaking of my fiscally retentiveness, I had to get some cold-sore medicine yesterday.  For some reason, I have been suffering from cold-sores almost continually.  My third one in a row just popped up yesterday.  To be helpful, people ask me if I’m under stress.  Yes, from all these cold-sores I’ve been getting. Actually I didn’t think I was under stress now.  A few months ago, yes, but not now.  The other piece of unsolicited advice I get is to go to the doctor.  Um, I’m hiding from my doctor right now.  The moment he walks into the room where I’m waiting he looks at his computer.   His computer annoyingly reminds him that I’m past due for the big C.  The doc then loses focus on my other ailments and wants me to set up an appointment to have that taken care of.  No, thank you.  I’m more focused on the other end, right now.

Abreva next to my jump drive. I call it Gold-Cream!

So, I went to Wal-Mart yesterday looking for over-the-counter relief.  I had seen a commercial for Abreva and thought I’d give it a try.  This little guy cost over $14!  When I opened it, it has a little seal that needs to be punctured.  As soon as I popped a hole in the seal, the ointment spurted out of the tube.  “Hey!”  I scolded it.  “You are the equivalent of Gold-Cream.  Do not jump out of your tube uninvited!”

Falling from the ceiling

Today, I came home and found this piece of molding on the couch.  Just sitting there waiting for me to return.  I’m not sure why it decided to drop today but it did.  I’m just hoping it isn’t joined by its friends soon.

 

And finally, this disturbed me so I’m going to share.  Click on this to see what I’m referring to.  Now, I’m not one to judge so all I’m going to say is, “Alrighty.”  But I will mention a couple of things.  First, if I were going to kiss a car, I don’t think I’d kiss the front.  It seems like I’d have to spit out a few bugs later. 

Can you imagine?  “Looks like you got something in your teeth.”

“Oh, that’s probably a fly.”  That’s just gross.

Although, looking back on my sentence, I’m not sure what part of the car I would kiss.  I’ve never done it so how would I know?

Secondly, the make of the car surprised me. I was expecting a sporty or muscle car.  I’m just saying, if someone is going to have an intimate relationship with a vehicle, a Porsche makes more sense (I can’t believe I just typed that). This looks like something that would be a teenager’s first set of wheels.  A hand-me-down car.

Now that we’re all disturbed for the day, I guess I have nothing more to say.  Have a great weekend – and good luck getting the images of that last bit out of your head.  I’m still working on it.

Why I’m Pulling for the Giants

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I’m not a hard-core football fan.  I’m not even soft-core.  I’m more of what you would call a “Bowler.”  The only televised football game I watch all season is the Super Bowl.  Unless my one inherited team (Denver Broncos have been my dad’s favorite since before I can remember) makes it, I have no idea who to root for.  Since I don’t watch any games leading to the big one, I have no investment in any other team.  But I still like to watch the Super Bowl.  At least, until halftime. Plus, with the Super Bowl comes Super Bowl food.  I’m in.

So how do I decide who to pull for?  Sometimes the game has to start first.  I have this natural instinct to pull for the perceived underdog.  Or, as my brother puts it, be the antagonist.  But I like describing myself as the underdog cheerleader.  The team nobody else is cheering for or the second one to score.  This means I have cheered for a lot of losing teams (did I mention the Broncos are my inherited team?  I’m used to it).

This year I already determined the underdog was the New England Patriots.  The New York Giants are more of a machine than a team.  Don’t argue with me.  I realize all teams are more franchises and businesses than actual teams.  But for some reason, the New York Giants sounded more corporate than the Pats.  All I can say is that it makes sense in my head.  I can’t really connect the dots for you.  Sometimes you just have to nod and agree with me so that I’ll move on.

However, once I discovered who the quarterbacks are for the teams, I have switched alliances.  For the second year in a row I am picking my Super Bowl team based on the off-field antics of the quarterbacks.  It worked for me last year with Green Bay (thanks Aaron!).

The New York Giants’ quarterback is Eli Manning.  I mainly know him from the cute commercials he does with his brother, Peyton.  I’ve heard a lot about the Manning family.  Everything I’ve heard has been centered on football.  No scandals.  No off field shenanigans.  Strictly football.  Since that’s his career, I like that.  I appreciate the fact I haven’t read about him anywhere else.  And, I’m so gonna sound like a girly girl, but I think he’s cute.  But don’t tell my brother that’s how I pick my team – I’ll never hear the end of it.

The New England Patriots’ quarterback is Tom “KenDoll” Brady.  It’s not that I have something against extremely beautiful people.  Well, maybe I do.  But it’s more the fact that I’ve read a lot about Brady in entertainment news and I’m sick of him.  He’s become more celebrity than football player.  I’ve read too much about him.  I know too much about him and not what he should be known for.  I just can’t bring myself to cheer for him. 

On Sunday, while we are gathered to watch the Super Bowl, I will be the only Giants’ cheerleader in a room full of Pats.  So, I guess I will be the underdog again.  Go Giants!

Word of the Day: Presenteeism

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I learned a big word yesterday.

“Presenteeism is defined as lost productivity that occurs when employees come to work but perform below par due to any kind of illness. While the costs associated with the absenteeism of employees has been long studied, the costs of presenteeism is newly being studied.” (Levin-Epstein, 2005)

“Presenteeism is a new term used by human resource professionals to describe circumstances in which employees come to work even though they are ill, posing potential problems of contagion and lower productivity” (CCH Incorporated, 2003). (Sloan Work and Family Research Network).

So, basically there is a big fancy word for coming to work sick.  I learned this lesson years ago.  When I worked for Attila the Hun a very difficult boss who made my life miserable.  I didn’t dare take a day off because I didn’t want to make the call in the morning.  The flu season hit and it knocked me for a loop that year.  I went to work coughing, dripping, and feeling like a bus had run me over.  Backed up.  And run me over again.

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This ‘n That

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The Dilemma

The hallway in the office is long.  It runs the length of the building.  When I turned the corner I saw a coworker at the other end.  She crossed the hall but before she disappeared around the corner, she paused, smiled and waved.  We have said hello to each other in passing but the physical gesture seemed to jump to a whole new level.  Were we ready to commit to more than a polite hello when in hearing distance? 

It seemed odd to me.  Then I realized.  What if somebody is behind me?  I have been known to assume someone is making contact with me when in reality – not so much.  In fact, I kind of do it a lot.  Surely somebody was behind me.  Somebody who was on a waving basis with this co-worker.  That would make sense.  But how could I know without turning my head and looking?  That would just look silly.

Hence, the dilemma.

So, do I wave and risk being mocked for intruding on somebody else’s wave or do I not do anything and be known as Ms. Snooty-Patooty?  I waved.  I also never looked behind me because I didn’t want to know if I was wrong.  Better to be laughed at for over-friendliness than to be ostracized for being rude.  Especially in an office filled with women.

The Update

I called the Ford store today to get help with my radio/clock situation.  First of all, the person’s name who answered the phone was Corina.  I’m sure it wasn’t spelled that way but I spell-checked it for her.  That never happens to me.  This must be what Jennifers feel like.

After I recovered from my shock, I asked her about my radio.

“What?” she responded.

“My battery went dead and I need to reset my radio/clock.”  This was the third time and second person I explained it to.

“Huh,” she said, “I’ve never heard of that before.  Let me find someone to ask.”

My confidence in this being a simple task faded fast.

She got back on the phone.  “Is this a factory stock radio?”

“Yes,” I responded.

“That’s weird.  That shouldn’t happen.”

I decided not to tell her that according to the owner’s manual, that’s exactly what it needs.  Last night, I found a little blurb under the battery section but it didn’t give details.  It just says to reset the radio after installing a battery.  Installed battery?  Check.  Reset radio?  That’s why I’m calling you.

So, Felix, the Ford Explorer, has an appointment at 2:00 on Friday.  Too bad I’m not a betting person because then I’d start a pool of how much this is going to cost.  I’d have to win though because I have a feeling I’m going to need help paying the bill.