Stop Ashlee

Okay, this is hilarious. You may have already heard, but there is an online petition to get Ashlee Simpson from singing, touring, modeling, or otherwise occupying space in the spotlight. I wholeheartedly agree. If you want to sign the petition, head to: http://www.stopashlee.com/

Some of my favorites of the comments:
From Jack: "A message to the police. When Ashlee dies, I did it."
From Ryan F. "I can't take it anymore. She sucks at singing and at life."
From Will M. "I have more talent than Ashlee ever will. Where's my record contract?"
From Bryan: "She needs to stop. Singing is not her thing."
From Jessica S. "You're embarassing the family. If you go away now, I'll keep you on the payroll" :)

Amen!
-ry

Most Depressing Day of the Year??

Apparently, some British psychologist devised an equation to determine the "Most Depressing Day of the Year" and guess what? It's today. The equation takes into account several factors including weather, debt, time since Christmas and low motivational levels. You'd think that the sheer fact that 27 years ago today, I was born would be enough to counteract the shitty weather and the post-holiday let-down but I guess not.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great day, despite the statistics. My boss and co-workers gave me a 6 pack of beer, a bottle of wine and a birthday balloon, so I know I will. :)
-ry

Barbershop Quartets & Turkeys...

Okay, so I haven't updated in a while. I apologize. Hopefully, I'll post more this afternoon or this weekend. Blame it on old age... I'm about to turn (gasp) 27. Yikes. Anyway, I just had to mention the most random thing I saw this morning...

I was driving to work and was stopped at a light, and noticed a specialty license plate on the car in front of me. It was from Pennsylvania, and it had a little lyre (I think that's what it's called- like a small harp) and across the bottom, it said "BARBERSHOPPERS"). Ummm... this was bizarre for 2 reasons: 1) There was a college kid driving the car, so I had a tough time believing he was in a barbershop quartet and 2)I didn't know there were enough people in the world to really keep Barbershop Quartets in business, let alone to lobby the State of Pennsylvania to allow them to have their own license plate.

Well, turns out, I was wrong. The great state of Pennsylvania has a long list of organizations with specialty plates: everyone from our friends the "Barbershoppers" to "Square and Round Dancers" (there's a such thing as Round Dancing? What the F is it??) to the "Porche Club of America" to the "National Wild Turkey Federation." Remind me not to go to move Pennsylvania. Apparently there, turkeys get their own license plates. :)
http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/license_plates/plate-special_org.shtml

-ry

How surreal can it get?

For those of you who didn't see it, last night we watched the new season of "The Surreal Life" which is off the "unintentional comedy" charts. I don't think we've laughed that hard in years. Sven actually fell off the couch.

First, let me set the scene. The housemates include a bunch of people I only sort of recognize (they include the middle Brady kid, Chynna, the rapper Da Brat, & Mini-Me). Well, Mini-Me gets rip roaring drunk, which isn't too much of a surprise because he weighs about as much as a 5 year old kid. He passes out, then wakes up in a drunken stupor. He gets on his scooter and starts rolling around the house. Da Brat gets up for some reason or another and sees Mini-Me in their work-out room: sitting on his scooter, drunk and naked and uh...um... relieving himself in the corner of the room. Here comes the funniest quote (wait for it...)

Da Brat: "Verne? Baby, this ain't the restroom"
MiniMe: (unintelligible)
Da Brat: (even more confused than before) "This ain't the restroom."

Maybe you had to see it to get it, but if you can, try to catch it on VH1 sometime soon. You'll thank me.

-ry

Good Things in 2004

In no particular order, here are some of the highlights of my 2004:

- Passing the Bar exam! (This includes making it through the 3 months of waiting without having a major meltdown!)

- Going to see John Kerry speak on the eve of Election Day. I'll always be glad that my mom and I talked each other into going, regardless of the election outcome.

- The movie and soundtrack to "Garden State." I've said it before, but I'll say it again. If you haven't seen this movie or heard the music, you're missing out. Take my word for it.

- Getting to read non-school books again. One of my faves: "The DaVinci Code". I'm currently reading "My Life" by President Clinton and it's pretty interesting.

- The Pistons' championship run. Could beating Shaq, Kobe, and Company have been any more fun?!

- Our trip to Fripp Island... it was probably the most relaxed I've ever been in my life (except for the incident where I had to regulate on kids at the adult pool...). If I could go through every day of my life having nothing else to do but get a tan by the pool with some magazines and a frozen margarita, I'd be a happy camper.

- For once, having a great birthday celebration! This year went off without a hitch- hopefully, it's a sign of many, many fun birthdays to come.

- The Michigan/Michigan State football game... even if we did leave early... Thank God for TiVo.

-ry