Monday, May 24, 2004

Don't Solve the Problem, Ban the Evidence!

Rumsfeld Bans Camera Phones in Iraq

*sob* Angel *sob*

Alas, one of my favorite shows on tv, Angel, has ended, leaving a vast void of darkness in my television viewing world. The Buffyverse is no more. I went from having three Joss Whedon produced hours of comedy/drama/horror/sci fi a week to zero in the past year! Well, at least I have the Firefly movie to look forward to but still, Waaaahhhhh! I won't talk about how it ended for those of you who haven't watched it yet (ahem, Billy) but I will state for the record I was extremely satisfied with the gut wrenching open-endedness of the finale. I'm still hoping our beloved vampire with a soul will return to my life next year in the form of a tv movie?

However, my mourning over Angel was put on the backburner last night when I witnessed the Best. Sopranos. Episode. Ever. If you saw it, you know what I mean. WOW.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Yay Massachusetts!

I love how happy the couples all look in this photo gallery from the Human Rights Campaign website.. I think that any couple that wants to be committed for the rest of their lives can only help the instituion of marriage, not hurt it.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Russert on the Daily Show

We have to find out who in the United States government authorized that, not because we're trying to punish America, but what we're trying to say is, "We're better than that."

-Tim Russert on "The Daily Show" last week about the Iraqi prison abuse photos.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Bulk Shopping Goodness

I wonder if I should be concerned about the fact that I am so excited about our new Costco membership? It might just tarnish the ultra-hip persona I've cultivated for myself as, you know, a mother of two who lives is Bartlett, Illinois.

In other household news, yesterday I vacuumed my entire house before I realized I accidentally had the vacuum set for "bare floor" instead of carpeting. I corrected the problem and re-vacuumed everywhere, removing an entire cannister of dirt from my carpet. My resounding faith in my Dyson has once again been renewed.

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

John Kerry: Lamest Candidate Ever?

How can it be that our president has endured one of the most damaging and scandalous months for a U.S. leader in recent history and STILL ends up 50/50 in the polls with his opposition?? We've listened to the 9/11 commision hearings, countless authors coming out with books about the administration's disregard for pre-9/11 intelligence, rising insurgency in Iraq, hostages being taken, refusal to testify under oath or even document testimony, refusal to provide information about any policies under investigation, duck hunts with Supreme Court judges, doubts about National Guard service, people STILL being detained indefinitely in Guantanamo with no charges, still no WMDs to be found, and now this horrible abuse of Iraqi prisoners to top it all off. YET, the polls indicate that Bush and Kerry are more or less dead even. Plus, it seems that the majority of people who support Kerry are doing so less out of faith in him but more out of hatred for the President. Seriously, could John Kerry be any more of a non-entity right now? And this is coming from someone who would love to see the current administration run out of office. Is this the best the other side can do? Where is Howard Dean when you need him? Or better yet, swap Kerry out for Hillary and let's get it over with.

Ending rant here.

Friday, May 7, 2004

I Really Should Do This More Often

Ok, I'm feeling good enough now to rant about how much FUN Jason and I had last weekend on our little Las Vegas getaway! Let me state for the record that I am SO HAPPY we decided to sell our Coachella concert tickets on Ebay and stay in Vegas for the whole weekend instead of splitting our weekend between Vegas and the concert. Now, never in my right mind would I have sold those tickets if we didn't already have tickets to see the Pixies play in Chicago this November. Since the Pixies were the only reason I wanted to go to Coachella in the first place, I gladly took the $400 the friendly person on Ebay sent me! More money for us to spend on vacation! Plus, I'm definitely not an outdoor music festival kind of girl, and I've never liked camping that much either- especially in 105 degree weather. I'll take my air conditioned hotel and cocktails on the Vegas strip- thank you!!
But back to our marvelous trip. I knew we were going to have a good time when we our first Elvis impersonator wearing a security uniform and unloading luggage at the baggage claim area. It's funny, because we had set aside a couple hundred dollars for gambling but once we actually got out there, the idea of feeding the slots for the whole two day had kind of lost it's luster. I did throw some cash away to the machines and Jason played a bit of the video blackjack and poker but mostly we re-allocated our money to food and drink as we trolled around all the ritzy casinos on the strip. Our hotel left a lot to be desired so we spent our time at fancier places like the Bellagio and the Venetian (one of which we are totally staying at next time- I don 't care what we have to do!) We were out until 2:30am- which felt like 4:30 to us central time zone dwellers so we were pretty exhausted when we made it back to the hotel. On Friday we hit the street again after a greasy diner breakfast and walked through a lot of the shops, picking up a few little items including matching "Vegas Girl" t-shirts for me and Juliana. I also took a photo of Jason next to a wax Whoopi Goldberg outside of the wax museum. That night we had one of the best meals ever at a French restaurant called Le Cirque. It's probably the only fine dining establishment that serves it food on plates decorated with dancing monkeys. After polishing off our decadent desserts we spent the rest of the evening on the patio at the Fontana Lounge watching their lights and fountains dance along to the music of Frank Sinatra. Vegas is probably one of the few places where one can get a job choreographing for water fountains.
It's funny because it doesn't seem like we really did a whole lot outside of our big dinner on Friday but that's precisely why I think we had such a good time. We had nowhere to be, nobody to take care of and nothing to worry about for two full days. We basically got to stroll around in the beautiful weather outside during the day, and hit all the hot spots at night. We were on our feet constantly but I still felt completely relaxed. When can I go back now?

Thursday, May 6, 2004

Oh My God, Do I Need A Tan or What???

This is what Happy-Well-Rested-Whiter-than-White-Tracey looks like on vacation:





Ugh.

There is nothing I would rather do right now than write about how unbelievable super-fun our Vegas vacation was last weekend but unfortunately the punishment exacted upon me for enjoying such a wonderfully amazing getaway is to now be hiedeously, horribly ill. Our whole family has managed to come down with terrible colds all at the same time with me seeming to bear the bunt of the ickiness. All is balanced in the world now. Please excuse me while I attempt to remove the vice grip that has metaphorically clamped onto my head.