Friday, July 4, 2008

Four Random Things



Happy 4th Of July!

Cake architect Emily Rose's top down view and cross section of the plan. Pound cake, cool whip, strawberries and blueberries to make the plan happen. Little Sissy Rachel is there to help attack, er-um, eat the finished product. There ain't nothin' nutritious about this one!

------------------------
Opposite of Jeopardy is Wheel of Fortune:

We have a friend who was just on Jeopardy! I don't know if she won or lost, but I figured she must have won if she was going to have a 'Viewing Party'. Why would you have a party for your television premiere unless you came out looking good. We planned to go to this party, so this is my conversation with Emily about it.



Me: "We are going to watch "jane" on Jeopardy tonight"
Emily. "Oh, I know Jeopardy. That's the show where you have to be really smart, right?"
Me: " Yes, you are provided with the answers and you have to give the questions. "
Emily. " What's the other one, the opposite of Jeopardy?"
Me: " I guess a show where you are asked questions, and have to give the answers, right?"
Emily. " No, it's the one where you have words, and you have to guess the letters."
Me: "You mean like the one I was one?"
Emily. "No, that one was lame. This one is really hard...the people are super brains - Oh, I know- Wheel of Fortune!"



I always thought Wheel of Fortune was the dumbest show ever. They've even reduced it to giving you like 12 of the 26 letters in the alphabet. The contestants are sooo much pressure to have to choose from a whole 26 letters - And the prizes you had to choose from in the show's 'younger' days sucked. Remember? Really, who wants a capidamonte leopard door stop anyway? Nowadays, I think they just give you money. Maybe a trip or a car, but no more living room suites and ski-doos, too much to choose from. But I digress....



You're not supposed to tell anyone if you won or lost. In fact, when you tape your show, you sign a non-disclosure statement. They could take your winnings away from you if get caught squaking or reveal any top secret information. I know all of this from personal experience as I, too , was on a game show which aired last September. "Merv Griffin's Crosswords". Kind of a lame show (according to Emily) with no studio audience. As an avid crossword puzzler, I answered an ad in the LATimes for contestants. Yada, yada, yada - I made it on the show. I taped in July of '07 and it aired in September. One of the first shows, too! I did not tell anyone, because I did not win (#1) and I wondered to myself - "is that what I really look like?" (#2) and I did not win (#3). -Even if I did win - I think the most you could win was like $2500 and an equally lame trip, to like a deluxe guest room the Redondo Beach Marriot, or something. (note: now they have changed the show after realizing that the first contestants were actually 'throwing' the answers instead of having to win and pay taxes on lameness). I did, however receive a consolation prize -the ugliest watch I own- for my efforts. I taped my show early ( they tape about 5 a day), so I didn't even get to stay for the catered lunch. Bitter much?

So- we saw "Jane" last night. She did not win - in fact, she had a few good runs on categories (like TV theme songs) - of which I swept the category, but came in 3rd place. I know how it is to know an answer, hit your hand buzzer, get all flummoxed , and try to stay in the game. You keep thinking to yourself "I knew that", or "something's wrong with my buzzer", or "man, what's that guy been doing for the past 8 years...memorizing the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, and 14th century Czarism?" Good going "Jane" but if I were you I wouldn't have told anyone until I saw it first. Win or lose, you gotta make sure you look good on TV before you set the DVR and send out the invites.



---------------------


Economic Stimulus

I took out a mailbox yesterday. Backed straight out of a curved driveway. I've never done that before. Pretty crappy scratch on my car...and mailbox paint. I think I just figured out how to spend our economic stimulus check. I wanted to use it to stimulate Vegas' economy....or not.
I cried about it yesterday. Oh- and the mailbox is fine, in case you were concerned.

--------------------

The Best Chocolate Ever

We went to dinner at a pretty upscale Italian restaurant here in town. A place that I normally wouldn't take kids, but mine are well behaved and eat a variety of foods, so I wasn't that concerned. The server was real genuine Italian (as were 1/2 the employees there). From Tuscany. We were chatting about the kids being chocolate freaks, and she starts to go on and on about the very best chocolate and mint she has ever had. In her fantastically rolling Tuscan- American accent - my mouth was watering as she described it. Then, a few moments later, she comes back with a treat. She hands us a ...York Peppermint Patty! A frickin' York Peppermint Patty? That's the motto bene-est chocolate and mint decadance you've ever had?? I accepted her gift and chuckled all the way home.



-------------------

And, finally....


Fireworks in Thousand Oaks. Not the Capitol Steps - or the Magic Kingdom for that matter. but just as effective.


I always wondered why- with half the state on fire ...they let these celebrations go on. Now, for some left over Flag Cake....yummmmm!

9 comments:

Cristin said...

Love the cross section of the cake... how meticulous of her!

I can't believe you were on a game show! It does sound a little lame but still cooler than anything I've done!

Remember the stupid dog statue in the old Wheel of Fortune? Was it a dalmation?? People would actually choose that as their prize..

Alison said...

That IS cool that you got on a game show, even if the prizes were lame. I totally understand that it is much harder to play for real than when you are shouting out answers in the living room.

Also, I have hit two mailboxes with my car (when I was in college.) Neither of them were hurt, either. Stupid mailboxes need to get out of my way!

Anonymous said...

Whos mailbox did you hit? I ran over one while leaving a bunco game...in front of a 1/2 dozen woman. OUCH...The woman who's home it was had bigger problems as she just found out that her husband has another family including a child with this other woman. OUCH...she told me to forget about the mailbox..many others had hit it in the past (whew).

Tiffany said...

Hey, I just had a friend on Jeopardy.. how random is that. And, we came close to going to the Oaks for the 4th, but in the end just opted to stay where we were...which I will tell you in tomorrow's post...

Wineplz said...

that cake looked yummy and I loved the blueprints. :)

and your fireworks? very cool...much better than the 2 mini-fountains that I got for $9 at the fireworks shack set up in the parking lot of the grocery store. :) Can't wait till my boys are a little older to go and at least see the community ones (and maybe we'll someday brave the crowds for downtown DC). :)
and I would LOVE to be on Family Feud...I dream about it...otherwise I'm only bright enough to be on celebrity Jeopardy. :D

Really? A York Peppermint Patty? That's hilarious!

Teri said...

Tried out for Family Feud in 1979 - my mom (the leader) didn't quite get the gist of the game - so we didn't make it. It was kind of hilarious, actually.
That cake looks yummy. How many hours did it last? :-)
Great post.

Teri said...

Oh, and my husband scraped the heck out of the side of my van on OUR mailbox last year on the way to a funeral. Way to set the mood for the evening.

Lula! said...

There was so much good stuff in this post...but the best was the York Peppermint Patty. I was hoping she was gonna break out some decadent Italian chocolate truffle...so I was as disappointed as you. Sigh...

Anonymous said...

I'm with Lula....so thought it was going to be the most heavenly chocolate and I was going to argue with you and tell you that of course, the greatest chocolate comes from England, just like moi!