Val Kilmer

Remember when Val Kilmer was the hottest Batman ever?

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Oh, and yes. I do realize that I put a Tombstone pic up there. My love for Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday knows no bounds. I'll be your huckleberry.

Choxie

This weekend, Special T, YayCoffee and I went to Target. We were all having a bit of a chocolate craving, so we perused the candy section. I mentioned seeing a Hot Chocolate bar that was supposed to be spicy (like the chocolate in Chocolat) made by Choxie. It became our quest to find and taste this bar. It was hidden up at the registers instead of with the rest of the Choxie stuff. We ended up with 2 Hot Chocolate bars, 1 coffee toffee and a box of the square truffles with flavors ranging from toasted marshmellow to key lime pie.

Reviews...

Hot Chocolate
Not as spicy as I had hoped. It only had a twinge of spice in the aftertaste. I was hoping for something really hot given the chipotle chili heat it advertised. But all in all, it was okay. It just tasted like dark chocolate with a hint of pepper.
Grade: C+

Coffee Toffee
This was the best one in my opinion. It was chocolatey, crunchy and had coffee undertones. Well done. Try this one.
Grade: A+

Toasted Marshmellow
A bit disappointing also. I expected it to be cream filled when it was actually more of a marshmellow flavored caramel. The flavor was right. The texture was all wrong.
Grade: B-

Champagne Chocolate
It didn't really taste like champagne. There was a definite alcohol taste, but not necessarily champagne.
Grade: C

Cinammon Caramel
This was surprisingly good. I don't like cinammon flavored candy, so I was worried about this one. I thought it might be the hot cinammon which I loathe. Turned out to be quite tasty.
Grade: A-

I didn't try the rest. You will need to get the reviews of those from YayCoffee and Special T. They ate the crazy fruit flavored ones.

James Lipton

You know, my morning was not going so great. It's Monday. It was really cold in my apartment because I am an idiot and don't know how to operate my thermostat apparently. I overslept. My hair was being all weird. I am out of soda and breakfast foods of any kind. My boots are pinching my toes. But all of that just went away. My sour mood has evaporated. Why, you might ask. What has altered MAV's mood so drastically?

James Lipton (Inside The Actor's Studio) reciting the lyrics to K-Fed's PopoZao


I had to sit on my hands to keep from clapping them in delight. Watch. It will change your entire outlook.

Online Dating

Online dating terrifies me for a variety of reasons, and being murdered by my "true love" is not one of them.

Reasons To Be Terrified of Online Dating

1. The matches. Occasionally, I open those "matches found in your area" emails that show up. Are one of these guys really my soul mate?

2. If those are the kinds of guys I can hope to meet, what does that say about me? Not to be really conceited or anything, but I thought I was in a slightly higher league.

3. The Christian Singles in my area listed one person to match me. Chrissy99. Really, do I come off lesbian? Not that I mind that, but maybe if I am perceived as so very lesbian then perhaps I should give that option a little more consideration. Maybe it hasn't been that I haven't met the right guy. Maybe I haven't met the right girl. That would explain so much.

4. You don't know what would happen to your picture once you submit it. How embarrassing would it be to see your own picture end up in a H0t L0c@l $inglz ad? Even worse, what if my picture ended up in some mean blog. Sorry guys from item one.

Just something to ponder.

Pei Wei Blazing Noodles

I just couldn't resist posting this picture. I may have posted it previously, but really, it just doesn't stop being funny.

Last night, YayCoffee and I went to Pei Wei. I have recently discovered my love for the Pei Wei. Blazing Noodles rock!!! They burn so good. And the next day, they are even better. My tongue burns; my lips tingle; my nose runs. That is some good stuff. Spicy food is my favorite. How did I survive this long without knowing the greatness of the Pei Wei Blazing Noodles?

So happy.

Hooked On Hoff

Just when I think I have seen the funniest or most bizarre thing on the web, something new appears. Check out this act of pure insanity by the Hoff. More puzzling than the Lettuce movie. More bizarre than Arnold Does Brazil. By the way, check out the other two links, too. You won't regret it.

I Am A Winner

This is a shameless self promoting post. I just returned from an awards banquet where one of my eLearning courses won third place in its category. My company swept the category. But it was my first year, and I was working under some serious design constraints. For one, the template I had to use was yellow. Yellow is a highlight color; it isn't a base color. Anyway, I am pretty happy with myself. Plus, it is fun to say, oh, I have an awards banquet tonight. Or, I am being honored tonight.

So, pretty sweet night for MAV. Hey, it is exciting getting recognized for your work. And by the design community makes it even better.

Oil Pan Bargains

So, over the weekend, I had a bit of an accident. Nothing major. I just ran over a median that was hiding in the shadows over the turn lane. Awful scraping sounds ensued. So there I was, straddling the median wondering what to do (and no, I was not drunk). Special T drove past (I suspect she pointed and laughed) and gave me guidance on the next course of action. I was thinking big, burly men could pick the car up. Special T suggested driving over the curb as it was not too high. More awful scraping sounds eminated from beneath my car. But, nothing appeared to be hanging down below, and no lights came on. I assumed there were scrapes and dings below, but nothing major.

Yesterday, it was brought to my attention that my car was leaking some sort of fluid. It was dark before I was able to leave the office, so I was unable to really study the fluid. It seemed dark, but that was all I could tell. So, I knew that it was either transmission fluid or oil. As I drove home, I noticed a new wind noise. Something below the car was catching wind.

When I got home, I called my auto repair guru, Fisher, and sought his counsel. He confirmed my oil/transmission fluid suspisions but threw in the possibility of radiator fluid and coolant. He inquired as to the color, and I restated the problem with the setting of the sun and lack of light. And no, I don't have a working flashlight (must get on that). He told me that transmission fluid is sweet. I decided to forgoe the attempted poisoning (I didn't think our breakup was that bad) and wait for morning to investigate further. As for the wind noise, he didn't know, but thought something had just gotten knocked loose.

Morning came, and I went out to my car. The leak was black, and my oil was low. I found the source of the noise: my air dam appeared to have come loose. Since there was still oil in the tank, I decided to go ahead and drive up to Lewisville for the car repairs. Pep Boys was suggested to me by someone that obviously hates me and wants to see me broke, homeless and begging for cheeseburgers at the intersections. Pep Boys wanted to charge me over $670 for the repairs: new oil pan, new oil gasket, oil change, and new air dam. I considered crying, but instead began to call around to other shops. Fisher called to check on the progress of my repairs and clarified that I didn't HAVE to replace the air dam right away. I just needed to get it removed so as to not cause further damage to my car's delicate underparts. JLay suggested I call Merlins in Lewisville. They quoted me $328 for a new oil pan and gasket. I called Pep Boys to share my findings. They scoffed. How could this be? Merlins must be putting a used pan on the car. I confirmed that it was indeed a new pan. I asked for an adjusted quote for just the oil pan related repairs (no air dam). The quoted me over $480. I asked why they were charging almost $150 dollars MORE. They had no good answer.

So, I retreived my car and paid for the highly overpriced diagnostic fee (I don't think that some guy look under my car, pointing to the oil pan and saying that needs to be replaced is really a diagnostic test. Had I had a handy car lift at my apartment, I could have done that). Off to Merlin's. I asked about the possibility of a used pan (it just holds dirty oil, why go new?) Larry the Good, said he would look into it.

I just called to find out about the price. The oil pan, oil gasket AND an oil change were only $290. How AWESOME is that? Larry the Good of Merlins, I think I might love you.

Am I the best bargain shopper or what? $687 down to under $300. Sweetness.

A Day Well Spent

So Sunday, I accomplished quite a feat. I watched all but 4 episodes of the first season of Veronica Mars. That's 18 episodes. I would have finished out the season (I had watched a couple of episodes a few days before) had I not taken a break for The L Word. Considering what a let down the season premiere ended up being, I should have finished out the season.

In case you were wondering, there is a tie for most awesome scene in The L Word premiere: Shane is a white, fluffy dress, and Helena attempting to console the absolute bonkers Alice. Those two scenes made up for all the bad parts in my opinion. Here's hoping that this first episode put all of the pieces into place for a great season.

Unfair!

I might have posted about this before, but my outrage is still so great, that I feel I must post about it (again?). I like the police for the most part. I do. I really do. I don't even mind traffic cops all that much. They are trying to keep our roads safe. They catch drunk drivers and red light runners.

But to ticket me for going 70 in a 60? Unfair! So wrong. And on a TOLLWAY!!! Everyone goes 70 on the Tollway. In fact, I normally consider going 70 to be kind of slow. 70 miles per hour?!?! That is just mean. That's right. I said it. Officer Griffin, you are MEAN. I don't like you very much. I hope you get a paper cut on that ticket.

90210

The Moments That Made 90210 Quite Possibly The Best Show EVER (in no particular order)

1. Donna’s clothes with special appreciation paid to the “Gone With The Wind” dress and the mermaid costume.
2. Kelly’s One True Love(s): Kelly and Dylan John Sears Dylan Brandon Dylan Brandon Colin Brandon Matt Dylan 4Ever
3. High school students with receding hairlines
4. David Dylan Kelly Donna is addicted to drugs. You would think after the first few times they would have been able to spot the warning signs a little better.
5. Steve’s mullet
6. Donna’s alien boobs
7. Donna is a fashion designer (snerk)
8. Brandon moves to WASHINGTON DC to work for the BOSTON GLOBE. Hee. I mean, they are kind of close, but that is still a bit of a commute.
9. Brandon gets LOTS of action (Emily, Donna’s Senior Buddy, Lucinda Williams, Kelly, Susan, Tracy, Emma. AND he almost hooks it up with Andrea, Claire and Valerie)
10. Dylan is rich. Dylan isn’t rich. Dylan is rich.
11. Dylan’s dad is dead. Wait, no, just kidding. Fake Roman Brady LIVES!
12. Donna’s magical virginity.
13. Donna Martin Graduates!
14. “Nice Girls” (Kelly, Donna) with many enemies
15. Kelly is in a huge fire and ends up with a few burns on her hands and neck while the girl trapped with her is horribly disfigured.
16. After those HORRIBLE burns, Kelly joins a (maybe)cult. The Cult Master is after the fortune she made on that ONE cover of Seventeen magazine. He tries to get her to hook it up with Dylan since Mr. McCay has oodles of money and Brandon does not.
17. Instead of marrying Dylan for The Cult Master, she toys with the idea of becoming a lesbian with the burned girl (burns are miraculously all gone…Kelly likes ‘em pretty).
18. “I choose me … or the lesbian girl … or Colin … or that guy that David is living with … Oh, who am I kidding? I can’t be alone. EVER.”
19. David saves Donna from the stalker that is going to take her flower and kill her because Donna does some quick thinking (I know, shocking) and calls him, “Dave.”
20. Kelly gets single white femaled by Tara, a.k.a Veruca, the Werewolf that broke up Oz and Willow… bitch.
21. Brenda slaps Aaaaahndre-aaaah because the acting coach liked Aaaahndre-aaaaaah’s tour better. (who didn’t want to slap Aaaahndre-aaaaah?)
22. Donna has an ice skating champion for a cousin (mmmm, Vanessa Marcil), I mean sister. Well, guess it depends which side of the family tree you are looking at.

There are many more, but I am ready to be done with this post.

Awkward....

This post was actually written a long time ago, and just not posted for some reason. But I thought it was amusing, so I am posting it now...

So, I had a date recently. This was my first real date in a very long time. I am beginning to think that this might have been my first date ever. Sure, there have been hook ups and “hanging out,” but this was a real first date. There were no previous group events. No hanging out. Just a real date bursting with Awkwardness. First, there was the question of where to go, what to do. He suggested Café Brazil. I apparently did not meet this with the proper amounts of enthusiasm. But really? Café Brazil? That’s were I go after shows or for brunch or to chat. It isn’t really a “dinner” place in my mind. Maybe I am wrong. I am sure some readers are already raising their fists in protest. So I suggested Mint. It’s my favorite. Plus, it would put me in familiar surroundings and give me a slight advantage. Yes, everything is indeed a competition.

Dinner was great. The conversation was your typical first date conversation. Very exploratory. Very Awkward. You know, what kind of movies do you like? What do you like to do in your free time? Can you read? Stuff like that. He is a little more into the sci-fi than I would prefer, but PLW is proof that you can be a cool Trekkie, so I will not judge too harshly. Battlestar Galactica. That’s all I will say. The conversation was really awkward. We would both just blurt out another question if there was ever a lull in the conversation. The people around us could tell that we were on an incredibly Awkward first date, and they were embarrassed for us. I swear, I saw some of them snickering. I probably talked too much about mundane things. I sometimes babble when I am nervous. I resisted the urge to tell too many of my fiasco stories. Thought I should save some things in case there is a second date.

We left the restaurant and headed to my place. I am furiously running through what to do next in my mind while I tell a mildly ill-fated story of my one and only bridge dive. Should I invite him in for coffee? Do I even have coffee? I know I have no creamer. What if he insists on creamer? What about a movie? Should we watch something OnDemand? Is it too late? He mentioned not liking to stay out past 9 on work nights, and it was past 9 already. If I ask, will he feel obligated to come in? So, he walks me in. Then, he proceeds to stand at the entry area. I am very confused by this. Is he leaving? Should I be offering him a seat? A drink? He said he is trying to not drink as much anymore. What to do?!?!? I tell him to have a seat; we can chat for bit. More Awkward conversation takes place.

Time passes. I have insulted his television viewing and chastised him for not reading Nick Hornby. I am mucking this up quite nicely, if I do say so myself. Then the part I had been dreading arrives. The good night. Will there be kissing? I did invite him in after dinner; is that a sex invite? That was certainly not my intention. Kissing I could do with. Should I kiss him? Will he kiss me? Aaaauuuggghhh!!! I walk him to the door. He gives me a little peck and mmkay, bye! He does say that we should do it again. But it was all so Awkward. I could tell he was running away from the Awkwardness. I wish I could have done that, but since my residence was the site of the Awkwardness, I was unable to flee.

Are all first dates this bad?