leeshka has a new bobo
Nov 24, 2008 friends and family, life
Anybody remember those ads where the little weiner dog has a toy Bobo and the mommy has to take it away and buy a new one?
Well, Rhon and I were in Walmart and they were clearancing out some pet toys, so we took a peek. Lo and behold, we found the perfect toy for Leeshka…a pink Bobo. Even better proceeds from its sale go to breast cancer research and it squeaks.
But would the baby like her new toy?
I think she does. LOL
Super Soap Weekend @ Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Nov 22, 2008 movies and tv, photography, writing
This year was the last year (supposedly) that Walt Disney World will host the popular ABC Super Soap Weekend at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. For 13 years, soap opera fans have converged in droves to the park to try to meet their fave actors/actresses, but ABC feels from now on, a traveling tour of the stars would be a better idea. I think they’re shooting themselves in the foot, especially since the event draws tens of thousands of people to the park during a time when attendance is generally down (right before the holidays).
Granted, it’s a crazy weekend. Picture over 100,000 rabid soap opera fans in one location. There’s pushing, shoving, stroller wars (seriously-I can’t count the times I’ve had my feet run over or my legs bruised by a stroller) and other fanatic behavior. What’s really scary is when the women start screaming the character name instead of the actor.
So why was I there you ask? No, I’m not really a fan of any of the soaps. I got stuck watching them up in Wisconsin when gramma was sick because all I had was 3 channels on the TV, but never really became a fan. But I had the day off and figured I’d take some pix to see if I could do a story on it. Of course, this was the day that the cold front decided to roll in, so after five hours outdoors, I was frozen. And I decided just to shoot the parades and the stage interviews instead of racing around to shoot the autograph sessions, so I pretty much planted myself along the parade route the whole time. I got the best shots during the All My Children parade/talk since it was still daylight.
I uploaded the best to Flickr but here are some of my faves:
The stage shots were the toughest because I couldn’t get up close so I had to really get in close with the zoom lens, which meant I couldn’t move at all during the shutter release. That any of those shots turned out is a miracle. LOL And I like the way some of the car shots turned out with the actors in focus and the crowd all blurry. That was just blind luck they turned out that way.
The interviews weren’t too bad, except for the last panel “Men We Love”, which was hosted by Sherri Shepherd of The View. It was like listening to a Cosmo mag panel – “what do you like in a woman?” type of stuff. Blech! I mean, yes, the guys were cute, but treating them as pieces of meat is just boring to listen to. I ended up leaving afterwards.
This next week all the Holiday stuff starts at Disney. I’m not a huge “xmas” person per se, but I do love the pretty lights and parades. 
Plus they have Neil Patrick Harris doing the Epcot candlelight processional the first three days of December. That should be cool.
win a bathtub full of cereal (half-naked man optional)
Nov 22, 2008 contests/freebies
The zany Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA, has come up with an interesting contest to win a bathtub full of cereal (52 boxes worth of the breakfast stuff).
All you have to do is post a twitter about his contest saying “RT @tedmurphy is giving away a bathtub full of cereal. Help a family in need http://urlbrief.com/0910d7″ or write a blog post about it with one of the promotional images/video and link back to his original post. Then leave him a note in the comments of that post that you did so.
All the details you need are at his blog and you have until tomorrow night (November 23, 2008) to get your entries in.
I think if I win, I’m going with either blueberry muffin mini-wheats or frosted rice krispies. A lot of people say they are planning to donate their cereal, if they win, to local food banks, but since finances have been a bit tight here, I could definitely use the cereal for myself and Rhon. We eat it once or twice a day to keep the food budget down.
Tags: cereal, contest, IZEA, ted murphy
night ranger @ epcot
Nov 21, 2008 music, photography
A couple of weeks back, Rhon and I went to see Night Ranger at Epcot. They were the second to last band playing the park’s Food & Wine Fest and we’ve both been fans since the mid-80s, so we were super-psyched to see them.
I would say it’s probably been ten years since we’ve seen the band in any incarnation and it was so much fun to hear all the hits played live again. In fact, I’d forgotten how many hits they actually had but with playing three sets each night, they had to pull out a lot of classics to fill the set lists. Of course, “Sister Christian” made it into each set. It’s not that I don’t like the song, but I’ve never been in love with it…though drummer Kelly Keagy does an amazing job singing it. No, I’ve always liked the band’s rock stuff more than the ballads and my fave track of theirs is “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” because I love the play on words in the lyrics.
Well, the first night, the band didn’t play “Don’t Tell Me…” until the end of the third set. But it was cool because they also did the second set acoustic and threw in some Damn Yankees (“High Enough”), which vocalist/bassist Jack Blades was a core member of in the early 90s. But that first night, I got the feeling the band was kind of getting a feel for what the Disney crowd would want to hear.
The second night, the sets were definitely more rock-orientated, and I got to hear my fave song twice, plus they snuck in Damn Yankees “Coming of Age” (I was hoping for my DY fave “Come Again” but I love any DY track).
They also did an impromptu segway during the acoustic set that included a variety of snippets from classic rock songs including Deep Purple’s “Highway Star,” The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues,” and even AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” which the band let the crowd sing the chorus to so they wouldn’t violate Disney’s “no profanity” clause. Rhon and I were trying to sing along, but we dissolved into a fit of giggles at the thought of what it sounded like hearing a couple hundred or so people singing “We’re on a Highway to Hell!” at the tops of our voices in the middle of Walt Disney World.
We had so much fun those two nights! I’d forgotten how much fun a Night Ranger show was. I’m hoping either Disney brings them back for next year’s festival or maybe Universal brings them in for Mardi Gras. Or they go on a proper tour, though looking at their website, it seems they book groups of dates rather than doing a full tour nowadays. Oh and during the two nights, they played a couple of tracks off a recent CD that had somehow escaped my notice. I’ll have to look for it in the stores, because from the two tracks I heard live and what I’ve heard on their myspace pages, it’s a great album.
And in between singing and dancing myself silly during the two nights, I took like 300 photos of the band. I culled it down to like 70 and put the best ones up at my Flickr account. Here are some of my faves:
I also realized after attending these shows how much I missed the old days when I ran my own music mag in Wisconsin and went to see rock bands every weekend. The last few years with losing mom, dad and gramma, I’ve really pulled back from going out to see live music and that is something that I really need to start doing again. I even have an idea for a blog, but until it’s live I’m not going to talk about it.
Anyone else out there like the 80s rock bands like Night Ranger?
Tags: Brad Gillis, Epcot Food & Wine Festival, Jack Blades, Kelly Keagy, Night Ranger
new layout…
Nov 18, 2008 work, writing, zengrrl updates
If things look a little different around here, it’s because I changed out the layout. I’ve tested it in most recent browsers and it worked fine, but, as always, if you spot anything a little wonky, let me know.
I loved the old layout with Joss Stone, but after a while, it was just too much pink. Pink’s never been one of my fave colors, but it suited the old layout, so that’s what I went with. But after a while, I couldn’t take it anymore. The purples in this layout are more my color scheme…plus I’m sure they’re easier on the eyes. LOL
The difficult thing was doing all the coding with the brace still on my right arm/hand. The thing has steel plates running through both sides to immobilize my hand, so it makes it difficult to type with my right hand. But it’s better than that splint thing I had before that made my hand look like a mummy. I still have two weeks to go until I see the doc again, so I’ll have to work with it until then. I’m also back working at the store, which is so much fun with the brace. < insert sarcasm >
Anyways, feel free to leave comments as to what you think of the new layout. I’ve also got some new stories online if you want to read them…
From Suite101:
- Explore Dublin with Free Podcasts
- McCormick and Schmick’s Happy Hour Budget Dining
- Delta and Northwest Airlines to Merge
From Why Go? Las Vegas (formerly Las Vegas Logue):
- New TV Series Showcases Rehab Pool Party
- Pink Jeep Tours Rolls Out New Vehicles
- Vegas Dining News: AJ’s Closes, SushiSamba Drinks the Vote, Boyd Offers New Options, More
- Vegas Entertainment Shorts: Porn Awards Return, Thunder From Down Under Wins, George Wallace Rewards Voters
Thanks to all who do read my stuff online and to those that click on the ads at these sites. It helps me pay my bills, so it’s muchly appreciated.
Ok, I’m headed off to bed. I work at the store tomorrow and need to do grocery shopping beforehand. We just had a new Aldi’s open up just up the road, so Rhon wants to check it out and see what kind of deals they offer. We had one in Baraboo, where gramma lived, but I never went in it. When I do grocery shopping, I tend to be a creature of habit and stick with the same stores. But if it offers good deals, that’s what counts – esp. with the economy the way it is.
g’nite….
Tags: blog layouts, budget travel, Las Vegas
Michelle Snow. Journalist. Photographer. Web Designer. Graphic Designer. Traveler. Geekgirl. Browncoat. Musicologist.
RSS Feed