*Big DumpTruck*

Blog Income

I was reading over at Big Pink Cookie about the tip jar concept (which has never worked for me) and how people attempt to make any amount of money at all to defray the expense of running a website. My only income from running this site is what I get from Amazon.com referrals (If you use the link on the right to get to Amazon, I get a small commission on the sale). Last quarter this brought in $45. It's not a lot, but it's more than nothing, right?

I'm torn about advertising - I had banner ads, etc., and yet when I found a program I really wanted to join, Google's AdSense, I was told my site didn't qualify because it was a personal website. Well, that just stinks. And why is MY site not qualified but other blogs are? What changes can I make that would get my site the thumbs-up I so desire? Market it as a humor magazine? Decide on a theme and only talk about, say, snowblowers?

No Mail

Mail is back.
I'm having mail problems. Just wanted to let you know in case there was something important you were trying to send me. If you leave a comment here I'll get back to you later.

Update: It's a server problem, but the mail isn't being lost. Eventually, I'll get all the lovely fan mail you guys send. Not.

Why, I Oughta!

If I catch the guy who gave me back my horrible, hacking cough, I'm gonna....I'm gonna....

Update: Unless it's Junior. I'm not going to thump him, so just stop dialing up DSS.

I Could Work in Casting!

When this whole Lacy Peterson thing occurred, I remember looking at the photos of Scott and thinking "My God, it's Dean Cain!" I told some people that Dean Cain could play him in any made-for-television movies, but by that time Scott was sporting facial hair and the "oh the clorine in the pool must have turned my hair red" look. Suddenly everyone was telling me that he was a dead ringer for Ben Affleck, and I was full of beans for even mentioning Dean Cain.

Guess who just got the nod for the USA Network's movie about the crime?

So, any other movies you need help casting?

3rd Nano Novel

From November 1st through the 30th I'll be working on my NaNoWriMo novel, so remember to visit my NaNo Blog.

Minty Fresh

I am really digging the Hot Cinnamon Ice Breakers gum. I only have one more piece in my pack, which is sad. It's hot this hot little flavor bits that sometimes simulate when you chew gum after eating corn chips - you know, at first you think maybe it was something you had stuck in your teeth. But then the crunchy bit burns because it's actually come kind of condensed cinnamon flavor. It's not just gum, it's a whole bloody adventure!

Speaking of gum, I was having a flashback to trick-or-treating when I was a kid. Back then my parent's house had a "mud room" and that's where mom set up the Halloween candy. (Is mud room a regional thing? I don't even know anyone else who has one, to be honest. It's a room before you got into the main house, unheated, where you could keep coats and shoes, etc. At my house it was the room we kids could play in without fear we'd mess something up.)

Anyway, I was thinking about how much I loved getting Beechies when Trick-or-Treating. Beechies were the little boxes of two pieces of gum. I assume they were competing with Chiclets, as they were the same size and shape. But Beechies had non-fruit flavors, like spearmint and Pepsin (whatever THAT is). Now every once in a while you find Beechies, but they don't have the flavors I like. And if Junior just HAPPENS to get a little box, I'll just bet you it's peppermint. It makes me sad. Beechies Pepsin is the definitive Halloween candy for me.

Doing a Happy Dance

Just saw that
Albert Finney's Scrooge is FINALLY OUT ON DVD! Finally! Sheesh, do you know how long I've been waiting for this? Since I got my first DVD player, that's how long.

My friend Tim, he of the massive Christmas Carol collection, will explain over and over why other versions are better, but this version just has a special place of honor in my home and in my heart. I'm going to order it this very instant. Oh, and yes, I realize it's time to update the Xmas Music page with this year's picks. I swear, I will do it asap.

Updated the template

Okay, I just updated the template on my NaNoWriMo page. It has a lovely fall feel, I think.

What I'm currently listening to:
Okay, don't laugh. I said don't.

I bought a new CD over the weekend. Mannheim Steamroller Halloween. I said don't laugh. It's a 2-cd set, one is sound effects, but the other is a collection of classic and original creepy tunes. Toccata in De Mole, Funeral March of a Marionette (better know as the Alfred Hitchcock theme), Night on Bald Mountain, Ride of the Valkyries, and more. Very very cool. Very Mannheim Steamroller, in places, but I'm okay with that.

Sucking them In!

I got another one hooked - Andrea, who now has a Nanoblog that looks amazingly like mine (interesting choice of a template!) is going to participate in NaNoWriMo. So is Mr. Dump (or so he says). Anyone else out there going to give it a shot after seeing me do it for the past two years?

Friday at midnight, baby!

Donating Our Rain to California

I wish I could send our predicted 2-3 inches of rain out to California tonight. The San Diego fires are only about 3 miles from my father-in-law's house, so I'm especially concerned about those. Actually, the whole thing is so horrifying to me - I can't quite grasp how huge these fires are, how many acres they are consuming.

So no-wind, lots of rain vibes headed to the west coast today...

Unique Rabbit

Wind and driving rain. Ahhh, Monday. At least it isn't snow, right? Right?

My brother-in-law bought a Nintendo magazine over the weekend because they just got a GameCube. I don't know that I was aware such a thing existed, but with Christmas looming, I grabbed it to peruse the potential gifts. One thing they had was a page dedicated to Animal Crossing, which we haven't really played regularly since I stopped being unemployed. It's the kind of game you have to play all the time, mainly because you don't want to miss any special festivals and fun stuff, have weeds take over town or have your house become overrun with cockroaches. That's right, you miss too many days in a row and your house gets cockroaches.

Well, we didn't play most of the summer, which stinks because there are fish and bugs that you can only get in the summer (you want to get one of each for the museum, plus you can sell anything you catch.) But looking at the magazine, we realized that it has a whole Halloween element that we didn't know about - special Halloween furniture! Halloween clothes! Candy for sale at Tom Nooks to give to Trick-or-Treaters! So Junior and I got all excited about the game again and actually played for a few minutes this morning. We have plans to play again tonight when we got home. Who says we don't know how to have fun?

Oh, about the post title:

Q: How do you catch a unique rabbit?
A: Unique up on it.

Q: How do you catch a tame rabbit?
A: Tame way, unique up on it!

Worst License Plate Ever

I didn't see this one personally, and it's probably good because I would have driven off the road laughing.

"PAP SMR"

Gah. Had to be a guy, cause even a female Gyno wouldn't put PAP SMR on her license plate. Ever.

And It's Not Even My Birthday!

I'd like to thank the Florida Marlins for the early birthday present. I know my birthday isn't until January (in case you're looking, here's my Amazon wishlist. Buying me the expensive stuff earns you more brownie points than the spatula, just FYI.

Oh, so anyway, great game, I hope Beckett wins the Cy Young just based on last night's game. That was a thing of beauty, and I was particularly thrilled when he got the third out in the 9th on his own. Good game boys.

Blogrolling Hates Me

I like that my blog is listed on blogrolling as "recently updated" but when I look at my blogroll, it isn't actually listed as updated. It either is or it isn't, right? And I can get the pinger to work from my home machine but not from work. Very odd. So this pointless post is just to update my blog to see if I can actually get the site to appear as "updated".

Weekend Planning

I'm not sure what my plans are for the weekend. There are a lot of things to do, but at this very second, I don't feel like doing anything. I have high hopes that this will change by tomorrow, but giving the nature of my blah's (let's put it this way - I've been craving chocolate the past few days) who knows. But the weather forecast looks delightful, and it's down to the "this could be the last good weekend until next year so we have to enjoy it!" time of year.

This weekend at Sholan Farm in Leominster they are having a scarecrow contest. We haven't ever been to this but I heard it's fun. Of course, to participate you have to have your scarecrow completed at delivered to them by 2:00pm tomorrow. The rules, while simple, are all online. There's always Marshall Farm in Fitchburg, where we can spend $4 for an all-day pass for the moonwalks. This can kill an hour MINIMUM, and exhaust the kid at the same time! They're also having a big Halloween "party" on Saturday. How to choose!!!

Sunday we have our choice of two different Halloween parades to attend, although we've done the one in Littleton for the past 4 years or so. Why mess with tradition?

One Year Ago Today

You know, it's not often that you can use a photo from exactly one year ago and have it be completely appropriate. Granted, I don't have that table out on the deck anymore, but
everything else looks eerily similar.

When I left home, branches were already drooping under the weight of some seriously heavy snow. There was much less of it at work, which is southeast of home.

I'm a Winnah

I don't usually buy soda at work, because it's a big honking waste of money. It kills me to pay $1.25 for a 16 ounce bottle when I can buy a 12-pack of cans for $2.00 when it's on sale. So generally I stick with the free water (complete with free ice!). Except this week I just felt the need for an afternoon beverage, and Diet Pepsi was the drink of choice.

They're having a contest - the name of a football team is under the cap. Match two caps and you win an NFL team hat. Guess who won a free NFL team hat? Thank you, Detroit Lions!

Now granted, I need to find a "box or padded envelope" to mail these back to Pepsi, along with my name, address and team choice on a 3x5 card. And I have to pay THAT postage. Suddenly, there's a lot of work involved to get a ten dollar hat. So the big question we must all ask ourselves...will Jody actually claim her prize?

Trail of Belongings

Today was Junior's field trip to pick pumpkins. It was 40 and drizzling out. He had his winter coat, hat, mittens and boots. They picked apples and pumpkins.

So when I picked him up tonight - he had the hat, the boots, one mitten, no apples and no pumpkin. He thinks he left the mitten on the bus, the pumpkin at kindergarten, and the apples somewhere at daycare. He thinks this because he gave an apple to one of the daycare teachers. No other apples were spotted. I KNEW this was going to happen.

p.s. Update on the snow...they're saying we might get four inches. AAAAAAH!

Snow?!

You know what makes a good alarm clock? The DJs on the local radio station talking about snow in the forecast in the middle of October. Boy, I woke right up when I heard that. Now that is the kind of stuff that makes a clock radio a good investment.

The snow is predicted for tonight/tomorrow. "Accumulating" meaning we'll be able to see it on the grass, and it will cause traffic horrors, but not deep stuff. I hope.

In a panic I had Junior try on last year's winter boots. Whew, they still fit. So does his winter coat (well, one of them, anyway) but I don't know about the snow pants. We can try those on tonight. I remember last November when I was looking ahead in the weather forecast and saw a possible storm, and I ran my butt over to Bob's to find him some boots. My kid was one of the only ones around who could go outside to play in the snow because I planned ahead. I'm sure these boots won't last all season, but my first worry is getting him pants that fit, we can save the boots for another paycheck.

Add-on to the post below...

(I'd say the previous post, but in Blogger-land, the previous post is physically the "next" post and I didn't want to confuse you.)

When I went to Junior's Kindergarten one morning, I was there when they did the Pledge and two kids actually sat it out. I don't know why I found that fascinating, but I did.

I bring this up, because Junior recited it for me last night for the first time, and he was FLAWLESS. He enunciated each word, there were no mistakes, no words left out, added or mangled. He sounded like a little professional. If I could figure out how to make it a file of reasonable size, I'd post it here. I'll have to work on that. But it was amazing, and I'm not even a big fan of the Pledge.

Harvest Partying

Junior's daycare is having a "harvest party" on Oct 30. Not the 31st, because that might be perceived as a Halloween party. I'm confused - Halloween isn't really associated with any specific religion, so what's the deal with celebrating it? What if there are anti-farming families out there who are offended by the thought of a harvest party? His kindergarten, which is accredited by NYAAC or something like that, can't do anything for Halloween either, as part of that accreditation. So when they go pumpkin picking on Wednesday, it's not in any way related to Halloween, let's just get that straight.

Silliness. I can see not celebrating Christmas or Easter or Passover or what-have-you...but Halloween? The official holiday of the National Candy Association? Why is Valentine's day okay...it's actually SAINT Valentine's day, right? Or SAINT Patrick's day. But actually, maybe they aren't allowed to celebrate those either. I guess I'll find out next February and March.

Groovy

My son just used the word "Groovy" in a sentence. I'm scared.

Mr. Rogers Rocks

Junior never ever got into Mr. Rogers. He's watching it today, which is VERY COOL because it features the cast of STOMP!!! Can I just tell you how much I love Stomp?

I just learned something very very very very important. I recognized one of the guys in Stomp from another kids' tv show...picture the song used to end the Disney Channel show "Out of the Box" - know how Tony does all the rhythm with his hands? He's from Stomp! I knew I liked him! (Viv I can live without. I'm pretty sure he's just waiting to beat her with a big heavy stick.)

Come Back Later

No, not you. Well, sure you. Remember, each and every time you visit, an angel gets its wings. Or at least my counter goes up and for some reason, that's the only thing keeping me going right now. The steady "thump thump thump" of the web counter showing visit after visit.

I was actually talking to my work email. Like my alarm clock, I make heavy use of the "snooze" function. I set reminders for things I need to do, like a good little ADD person. *Bing* it's time to finish the XYZ report. *BING!* Update the ABC document to refer to LMNOP. Except they provide you with a snooze function, and you can tell it "Remind me again in 5 minutes." Or ten, fifteen, thirty..8 hours...two days...

I just snoozed something for 4 hours. "Come back and bother me later today, I don't have time for you right now." I have some that pop up every 15 minutes and I say "not now" and I know I'll have to do it again in another 15. It's just not the highest priority this Monday morning, but it will keep bugging me, much like my son does when I'm on the phone.

Speaking of Junior - three, count 'em, three - pairs of pants went into the charity pile this weekend. STOP GROWING!

Nothing to Say and Nobody to Say it to

It's slow around here on weekends. I think I get a lot of traffic from people slacking off at work. You know it's bad when the highlight of your day is a wrong number.

Made it up to Target today (I know what you're thinking - how can I live with the excitement?) and picked up some light bulbs. I hope the Journal of the Mundane is catching all this. So we spent all afternoon at the Mall, bought very little, and then when I got home I rushed to mow the lawn before it got dark. I realized how early it gets dark when I finished, came in, de-grassed myself and am sitting here for the first time today...and it's only 6:20. It was freezing out too. I had a hat on and a sweatshirt - I knew I'd warm up quickly once I got going - but my face was FREEZING. My cheeks are still cold! I just checked, it's 44 degrees. Oh, that would explain it!

Speaking of having fun in the freezing cold, last night we decided to go to the Drive-in to see Good Boy. What a cute movie! It was a perfect pick, and I'm glad we went last night because the man running the ticket booth explained that it was going to be the last night the place was open this season. I think they made that decision when only 22 cars went to the movie on Friday, and I'm guessing only a few more than that last night. He said they can't compete with all the local sports, football especially. I guess I can see his point. It wasn't my place to mention to him that in years past, they'd cater to an older crowd once it got this cold out. R rated movies, actually they did some adult films back then.

But we had a blast, ate like piggies, enjoyed the movie, and only needed to start the car about every 30 minutes to de-fog the windows. What more could you ask for?

Is It Naptime?

Man, I'm wasted right now. I should be outside mowing my lawn and I just want to curl up somewhere. I fear I'd curl up in a pile of leaves if I went out there. I've had it with mowing the lawn, can't I just let it go until next spring?

I'm reading a book set in 16th century Scotland right now, and while I think parts of it are historically accurate I'm afraid not enough of it is that I can say "that's what it must have been like for my ancestors who lived back in 16th Century Scotland. I did trace the family back fairly far, possibly not back as far as this book, but it's not like my relatives just sprang from the earth from seeds planted by visitors from another planet. So at some point I had relatives living in 16th century Scotland. Anyway, I should try to find a better book to learn the types of things they ate, etc. I have to imagine they weren't quite a civilized as these folk are. I'm guessing they were more like the peasants in the filth in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. "Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"
I tried a latte at Dunkin Donuts today, because I was the only one in the place (up in Hollis NH) and that way I could take my time asking them if I'd like it. I got the mocha one, and it was better than I'd hoped, once I realized all the sugar was at the bottom. But it was still too strong for me, you know? I'm such a coffee wuss.

Okay, one last thing. You know how I was telling you Junior likes games where he takes care of little creatures? Well today his step-brother is visiting and they were playing, and J-P somehow lost track of the 6 yellow ones, and the end of the day came. You have to return them all to the place where they live at the end of the day or they get eaten. And they got eaten. And Junior burst into tears and ran off to his room. He was beside himself that we'd let these six little things die. "I miss them!" Oh, my sensitive, sensitive little man. This is why we don't own a cat or a dog.

Don't You Just Love a Bargain?

No, I wasn't at the Christmas Tree Shop, but that's a good idea. I haven't been in a couple of months. So anyway, I decided to treat us to a new GameCube game, if I could find a cheap one. It costs $6 to rent one from Blockbluster, so if you play a game for a few weeks, you're ahead of the game. I told Junior that I would ONLY buy one if it was on sale.

There's a game I'd had my eye on since I was scoping out what system Santa would bring last Christmas. I heard nothing but good stuff for the game "Pikmin" and Circuit City (or as Junior calls it, in all seriousness, Circus City) had it for $17.99! Oh my goodness, that's SO COOL! We've been playing it for a couple of hours, and finally have the hang of the thing. Junior's funny, he loves the games where you control or raise little people. The Chao Gardens in Sonic, the characters in Animal Crossing, even these things in a Playstation game that was good in theory but too hard in execution (I'm blanking on the name). I happen to love those games too. But in this one you sometimes lose Pikmin in battle or because you forget to put them back in their spaceshippy thing before night falls (and big bugs eat them). He's freaking out because he doesn't want any of them to die. Uh, well, that's just part of the game - it's hard to keep track of 100 of the little stinkers.

Okay, so I also got Dido's new CD because I've been a good girl and I waved all my paper route money for it. Maybe tomorrow I'll even get to listen to it!

No, No, I'm Fine

Just busy, and keeping a low profile. I mean, anything I'd write would be all dark and gloomy anyway.

I did bring "Consolation Cookies" in to the office today, because I wanted to cheer myself and my fellow Sox fans up. I shared them with on Yankees fan because he's a nice guy and didn't rub it in our faces. The other Yankees fan, however? He can get his own cookies. Gloating doesn't get you free pastry, my friend.

Pooping on Grady Little's Doorstep

I'm not going to make good on my threat to poop on door steps. Except for Grady Little. Pedro shouldn't have even started the 8th inning - and when he faltered, you left him in? What are they paying you for, that you can't stand up to Pedro and say "sorry, you're coming out". And where the hell was Williamson last night? Why wasn't he pitching relief? That cubs' fan is practically beloved compared to how New England feels about Grady Little right now.

I'm so very very sad. I can't even think about this anymore.

Oh my GAWD!

4 - 0! Holy crap, I never imagined it. Boys, this is our game to loose. They need FIVE to win. If you don't keep them down, I will personally poop on each and every one of your doorsteps. No really, I'd do it.

I must be a Boston fan, I can't bring myself to even THINK the words "we're going to win this game." See you in 5 innings. If we win, I'll be looting in my kitchen, possibly causing all sorts of trouble in the living room. I don't think I'll be tipping my car over, cause it's kind of heavy. Plus I need it to get to work in the morning.

What Snacks Will You Be Consuming?

Peanuts? Cracker Jacks? Okay, you laugh, but I bought some in our cafeteria just to throw around the house like I was selling them at Fenway. I was happy with the quality of the popcorn portion, but the nuts were WAAAAAY at the bottom of the bag, and the "prize" was crap. CRAP I TELL YOU?

Dear Frito-Lay,
Are you kidding me? You call that a prize? A little graphic puzzle that takes two seconds to solve, even if you don't accidentally see the solution which is obviously right there on the next piece of paper. I have to ask you this: Why Bother? Don't call it a prize. Cereal boxes give you a prize. McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, even the place my kid gets his hair cut gives away a "prize". A 1 x 1 piece of paper with a drawing of a puzzle on it? I wiped my butt with it. There's your prize.

Sincerely,

The DumpTruck Driver

(Okay, maybe it got a little harsh at the end, but after struggling to locate the peanuts, I was faced with that? Harrumph.)

You Know What Makes Me Mad?

Bad pie makes me mad. If you can't make pie properly, don't make it - that's my motto. But that's not the motto in the cafeteria. I'll give them some credit - they'd don't bake there. I don't know if it's an effort to keep everyone thin, or laziness, but the cafeteria doesn't really have a dessert section, other than some random puddings and a few cookies. They aren't prominent and I think if you didn't know where they were, you wouldn't know they had them.

Anyway, when I was at Allmerica they had a huge sinful "pay by the ounce" dessert every day that was just killer. Blueberry crisp, chocolate trifle, strawberry shortcake, etc. Every day there were a couple of cakes. But here there is none of that, which I can deal with.

So it was a big deal to me that they had a big pile of "Fresh Baked Pie!" today. Apple, of course, but I like apple. Everyone was buying a piece because it looked good, and because it was so unusual.

It was horrible. The apples weren't cooked, the crust was just mushy dough, and the spices were off a bit. But it was the apples that got to me. How hard is it to cook the pie enough so that the apples don't taste like you just picked them off the tree? Hell, even *I* have been known to make apple pies, tarts and crisp and cook the apples. Grrr.

I got all excited that there was pie and then I couldn't even finish eating it, so you know it was bad. And THAT is what makes me mad.

Surreal, Man

I can't watch the Sox game live anymore, it's just killing me. KILLING ME. I can't handle the stress of these playoff games a single second longer. So I told Junior he could have control of the television. He decided to pull out the Playstation. His game of choice? Major League Baseball. Oh good God, he's set it up so the Sox are playing the Yankees, and the play-by-play keeps making me look up, because I forget it's the game. In his capable hands, Nomar homered, Nixon got a double, etc. etc. So he didn't want to watch baseball, but this is different? Not from where I sit.

I keep switching to the gameday live coverage online - that's about as much stress as I can handle. Can they keep the lead? I guess we'll know shortly. One more inning and I can breath again.

Life's Harsh Little Realities

All you parents out there know that when it comes to dealing with kids, there are times you tell them the truth, and times that you protect them with the time-honored tradition of making stuff up. I should have done that this morning.

I'm feeling pretty crappy about choosing "truth" this morning - one look at his horrified little face and I thought to myself "Oh, that wasn't good."

See, he was watching Jimmy Neutron, and Sheen and Carl are arguing about where balony comes from. One said balony trees, the other said something else, which escapes me right now. Junior asked me which one of the two was correct.

"Neither," says I. "It comes from pigs."
"How do the pigs make it?"

Now see, this is the point where I should have shut the heck up, you know?

"They don't make it. They kill the pig and make it from the pig meat."

Insert look of horror here.

"Uh, they, uh, don't kill the little babies to make it, do they?"
"No, just the big old fat ones."
"Oh, so they have to kill them because they're old."

At this point, I just agree with him, but I do throw in that we get other meats from pigs too - ham, hot dogs (ya, I know they make beef franks), pork chops, bacon, sausage...

I have no idea why I decided this morning was an appropriate morning to explain where meat comes from. But it's not like he eats it anyway. We didn't discuss chicken nuggets, for the record.

Halloween Candy of 2003

I had to make a big decision Monday. It was time to choose which candy I'd be giving out to trick-or-treaters this year. We camp at my sister's house, and it's a popular spot. The kids know they'll get a LOT of candy at her house, because there are three families giving it out. This year my sister is actually giving out glow bracelets, so you know it's going to be the hot, happening house to hit.

I went for M&Ms this year (plain and peanut, I don't discriminate) because it just seemed like a good idea. Not enough people give them out, and I think they make the perfect snack. Of course, the fact that they were on sale helped. I was going to supplement with something else, but I decided I always have too much left over at the end of the night. If I really need a Snickers fix, I can just buy one from the vending machine, right?

Har

Just wanted to give you a heads up that from now on, when I think of Don Zimmer, I'm picturing Tor Johnson from Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Interchangeable, no?

Fontastic!

I love fonts. I don't use a lot of fancy fonts because, well, I'm a little scared of them. I've taken enough UI design and usability courses to know that it's not all about the fonts I like, it's all about the fonts people can read.

And I'm no fool - I don't want to overwhelm my readers and send them into Fun House spasms. Keep it to only a couple of fonts and faces - so if you're going to start using bolding, or different sizes, that's it, baby. Oh, and what of the whole serif vs. san-serif discussion?

Sure, I could find someone somewhere who would tell me it's perfectly okay to add a little more oomph to my page. But like I said, it's a big scary fonty world out there. I don't want to pick the wrong one(s). I'm not looking to uglify my life - I don't want an "Ugly Site of the Day" award. But if I had my way, I'd load up on fonts. New ones everywhere. This place would look like a crappy diner menu.

I'm just sayin...

Oh, right, "Journalism"

They sell the New York Post in our cafeteria (along with the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the Boston and Worcester papers) and I picked it up because of the photo on the cover, showing Nelson and Garcia, who they say will be charged with something related to the Williams' attack. I turned to page 4 because that's where the full story was, and the sidebar caught my eye. I have to assume it was an editorial, but it didn't appear on the editorial page, it was on page 4 with the other news. And the following snippet caught my eye and lodged in my skull. I paraphrase, because I didn't want to have to buy that nasty piece of trash just to get the quote correct.
"the grandpa was hurled down by the nasty, millionaire punk."

Uh, wow. Grandpa. Well, I guess if he's a grandpa he's 100% innocent. Grandpas never do anything bad. Or wrong. Or stupid. I like that we're referring to him as a grandpa. He's probably too soft to be holding the position he does, then, right? Unfriggingbelievable. Every time I think I've calmed down enough to get past that game, I read something like this. You know, if some wacko takes it upon himself to somehow hurt Pedro to avenge "Grandpa", every single person who wrote trash like this Post "journalist" should be held accountable. Cause sweetheart, when you write stuff like this, you're no better than anyone else who got involved in the skirmish out on the field. Takes a punk to know a punk.

And in The House That Dewey Built...

I'm going to link you all to a great summary of "the Incident" over at The House That Dewey Built, a baseball fan's blog. I think his opinions hold more weight than mine, even if they are similar. I also didn't have the back story to understand why some people are rabidly calling for Pedro's head, practically canonizing Don Zimmer. I should point out, for the 400th time, Pedro didn't seek out and charge Don Zimmer, kids. And as I pointed out on someone else's blog, one of those video shots shows that half the reason Zim fell is because of the forward momentum and lack of balance he had.

Anyway, what bothers me most is when I read that people forgive Zim's attempted assault on Pedro simply because he's 72. That is just wrong - you can't draw a line in the sand and say "oh, he's 72, that's on the "do whatever the hell you want and nobody can touch you" side of the line.

Michael Bloomberg, you big honking idiot. How DARE you say Pedro should have been arrested but refuse to comment the attack ON Pedro, OR the way the bullpen ganged up on the groundskeeper. If that happened in New York you would have arrested the perpetrator? Well wouldn't that mean Zimmer would have had his only comfy seat in the back of a cruiser as well? I cannot fathom this turning a blind eye simply because Zimmer is 72. Outrageous!

It Feels Like Fall

It's Columbus Day, and while my company doesn't have the day off, I do because Junior doesn't have school or daycare today. We did our Walmart errands (I wish Target was closer, but I just didn't have 45 minutes to drive each way to Target) and now I'm trying to get some work done. Junior earned himself a Bionicle because last night he helped me carry stuff up from the toy room up to the newly-designated toy room. I'm not even done yet, but what we did yesterday took a HUGE bite out of what needs to be done. Plus I ended up with two boxes of yard sale toys (and a whole bag of stuff that went in the trash that he didn't see.) So I feel good about that!

Too bad yesterday wasn't as nice as this - it would have been great to have that extra day to get stuff done around the house. Now everything is wet from the rain, plus I'm supposed to be working. Oh well...

Wow, I'm Good

I could be a baseball official. Read down a bit to see my "who was wrong" list and match it up to the fine listing from MLB:

"Zimmer, Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez and Yankees outfielder Karim Garcia were each fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball in the wake of the events."

Now I had Nelson on the list but they are still reviewing tapes etc. of what happened out in the bullpen. But you watch. I'm good.

One More For the Unbelievers

Adam over at Boston-Online.com posted this great link. I'm trying to figure out whose feed this is, but they never showed this angle last night on Fox. You watch this and tell me Don Zimmer wasn't gunning for Pedro. Thank you NECN, for the link.

Witchee-poo

I don't know if I mentioned that I'm going to be a witch this year for Halloween. I can reuse a cape I bought two years ago, and I have a new hat and wig. I should put the wig on for all of you. I'll take a webcam pic and leave it up when I do. Anyway, I think I'm just going to do a black turtleneck and black jeans when we're actually out, because quite frankly, I don't know where one goes to shop for a black leotard if you aren't in gymnastics. Plus, it's probably not a clothing items I'd get a LOT of use out of. It would be cool if I knew how to sew, because I'd like to wear a cool skirt - I'm picturing one of those Stevie Nicks deals circa 1980, but only in black, but if I made it I'd be afraid I'd be naked by the time I got to the third or fourth house.

The witch thing was easier to pull together than the superhero plan we were using. Everyone in our Halloween group (5 kids, 6 adults) were supposed to dress as superheroes. Easier for the size 8 gals to find something, that's for sure. Then one family decided they were going to be animals, my son and nephew wanted to be Power Rangers (they don't really qualify as superheroes, do they?) and that's when we realized we could all be what we wanted.

I like my hat, I just need to figure out what to put in it to make it stick straight up.

Sunday Morning Summary

People Who Were Wrong:

• Pedro for hitting Garcia
  
  
• Pedro for gesturing that he'd hit Posada in the head
  
  
• Garcia for sliding cleats-first into Walker
  
  
• Manny for starting the whole thing by over-reacting to a pitch
  
  
• Zimmer for charging Pedro
  
  
• Garcia for jumping the fence into the bullpen to get involved in that skirmish
  
  
• Nelson if it turns out he started the fight with the groundskeeper, who has cleat marks on his back and Cops who say Nelson started it.
  

God help us all, but I have to say Clemens was one of the cooler heads yesterday. Whoda thunk it.

Rage Against the Machine

Okay, I just posted this over at the Wicked Good forum, and I thought it covered my thoughts well enough that I'll just copy it here. Which probably means Adam won't pick up the thread for his Boston Common page, cause he owns the Wicked Good Forum. Anyhoo...
~~~~
Look, I'll be the first to say that it was embarrassing to be a Boston fan tonight, but let me ask people this: How could Pedro, who wasn't even in the middle of things, touch Don Zimmer unless Zimmer went TO him? And what reason under the sun would Don Zimmer have to go to Pedro in this situation?

Zimmer charged him, pure and simple, and Pedro reacted. What, our starting pitcher should allow himself to be attacked, hit and knocked down by a guy who outweighs him by double?

Way to go Don, way to set a good example for your team. Those Fox announcers crabbing at Pedro should all be ashamed for defending Zimmers actions simply because he's an old man. He sure wasn't acting like one when he attempted to blindside Pedro.

And Pedro, what the hell were you thinking, threatening to hit someone in the head? You know, that kind of crap is embarrassing to those of us who are longtime fans of the team. Cut the crap. I don't care who you are. Good for Manny for admitting he was wrong about the pitch, but a little too late, dude.

I swear, this is the last thing - the rightfielder who got injured in the fight in the bullpen? Dude, what the hell were you doing in the bullpen anyway? Itching for trouble? Let security handle it, arsewipe.

Jody, raging tonight

Pinky the Sno-Ball

Got a note from my old boss this morning that they will be ending The Great Hostess Sno-ball Experiment
today. Yes, they STILL have the sno-balls, and yes, they STILL look the same. Here's what he said in the announcement about the end of the experiment:

"Results to date have shown that Hostess Snoballs can withstand significant exposure to sunlight, heat, cold, dust, and general irritation (we moved two years ago and packed them up in a box). They currently resemble fuzzy pink half-round bricks but are still easily recognizable as Snoballs. "

Wow. You have to laugh that they still have them. I left that company in November of 2000, so that's a long time they've been under his watchful eye. I'm just glad that he didn't mail them to me.

It's a Glorious Day!

I worry that I complain too much about bad weather here at the dump (in my effort to remain queen of the mundane, of course) so I feel obligated to tell you what a great day it is. Blue sky, indian summer, Sox won game one of the ALCS series against the Yankees. I mean, I may even be able to forget that my head is full of melted marshmallows and that I'm slowly using up every tissue on the planet.

I was going to say Kleenex(R) up there, but I didn't want the fine folks who make my favorite nose-wiping material to send me a "hey, it's Kleenex Brand Tissue, you dolt" email.

So all you people who are wandering in here after visiting my Emeril page - where in the heck did you all come from? Did Emeril do something and interest in him re-piqued? I mean, double my normal traffic on that page, and lots of you wandering over here for more Fun Jody Moments(sm).

Okay, time to go harass Yankee's fan Jim who sits across from me. I think I'll say "Cowboy Up" about 30 times over the course of the day just within earshot of him. Heh.

Snacks

Is it bad if I start eating my game snacks up to an hour before the game begins if in fact I'm pretty sure that I'll be sleeping before the second inning is over? I just want to know if I should feel guilty.

All Red Sox, All the Time

It's like we're on the cusp of a holiday weekend around here. Oh wait, we are. But I'm not talking about Columbus Day, I'm talking about Red Sox vs. Yankees day. Game 1 Day. Junior's after school daycare place sent home notices last night that we should feel free to dress our kids in Red, White and Blue to cheer on the Sox (Wow, how American is that! Someone tell the President! If you don't let the Red Sox win, the terrorists have won...)

Mr. Dump was lucky enough to have to be in NY for a business meeting today, and I need to ask him if he brought his Sox cap to wear around town. He should be back in plenty of time to watch the game from a more appropriate state.

As for me, well, head cold land. They're lucky I didn't wear PJ's and fuzzy slippers. I'm in shades of brown and green, lovely earthy colors that happy to be comfy. I have mucho doubts that I'll stay up for the whole game tonight, and I don't have TV reception in my bedroom, so they may have to win this one without me yelling things at the television.

Stress, Oh Yes

Last night's Red Sox game put me through all new levels of stress. I mean, nothing I face during my day will raise my blood pressure and give me anxiety attacks as that game did. The bottom of the 9th, with bases loaded and us only up by one? I almost threw up I was so nervous (and that's actually not an exaggeration). I came VERY close to just pausing the Tivo, then fast forwarding to the end to see if we won or lost.

Third night in a row that I had an uncontrollable scream - Saturday night I had to stuff a throw pillow in my mouth so I wouldn't wake up the kids - last night I cut it off pretty quickly, but there are some things that you just can't control, and my relief over the damned game being over deserved a scream. And it only took an hour for me to calm down enough to fall asleep. The fact that I'm coming down with something nasty is NOT going to be helped by my lack of sleep last night.

Oh my God, Johnny Damon - thinking of you

That was one of the ugliest collisions ever. I mean, I don't want to see it again. If that throws off the team so much that we lose, I'm gonna cry. And cry.

And cry.

Manny! Manny! Pedro! Pedro!

I do be loving my Red Sox! Is it too early to be so happy? I know the bullpen, if needed, could completely farg up our lead...

I'm Nobody, Who Are You?

J-La sez:

First of all, a shout out to my girl Emily Dickinson for the subject line. That what it feels like out here, watching all the world gather for a blogging conference, bloggercon, and knowing that a) I've been doing this since 1996, even if it wasn't called blogging back then
b) Not only am I not considered A-list, I think I might be D-list
c) The people who make up the meat of the great Bloggers couldn't afford to attend the conference if you offered them a 50% discount. Hell, a 75% discount.

Hey, I would have liked to meet Adam Curry - I'm friends with his sister. I would have told him to take back some maple syrup when he went home, because she really likes it and they don't sell it in Europe (not like here, anyway).

I would have liked to just BE there, even if I have nothing Big and Important to say. But that's right out, not unless I start making a LOT of money doing this whole web thing. Or if I get to be pretty and popular and the quarterback asks me to the prom. But I'm 7, almost 8 years into this web site and I think I've made about $450 total in that time, mostly from you guys clicking on my Amazon links before you buy stuff over there. (Thanks again, kids!) Wow, $450! That offsets my costs by, well, let's just say that it doesn't even keep me online a whole year. So no, unless someone comps me a seat at a conference (maybe because I'll hand out "Hello My Blog's Name Is" badges) I guess I'll just be watching from my living room.

J-La's In Tha House

My step-kids were up for the weekend, and the 11 year old and I went to Sears Saturday to use my $5/off coupon (good only on the 4th). We somehow ended up over in the jewelry section looking at all the "costume" jewelry, and we decided we needed to each buy the biggest, gaudiest diamond-y ring we could find. Let me tell you, cubic zirconia rocks. My gigantic sparkler, with 14k gold electroplated setting looks real. It's a blue-ish round diamond (gotta be like 3 carets of CZs) with a pear-shaped and two small round CZs on each side. Like, celeb-sized looking ring. For ten dollars! My God, who needs real diamonds!?

So then when we got home I started to refer to myself as J-La, which annoyed my step-son enough for him to mention that I was talking about myself in the third person.

But that's what J-La does, people. I wore my bling-bling (or is it blang-blang if it's fake?) to work today, although I think I might take it off if I have to go to a meeting. I mean, I don't want anyone to think J-La is being overpaid.

Did You Hear Me Scream?

I'm pretty sure if you were in the Northern Hemisphere you could hear me.

Jesus loves the Boston Red Sox; Trot Nixon told us so.

Hoo ya!

Why yes, I did stay up and watch EVERY SECOND of the game last night. That was certainly a game where you scratch your head and say "What the hell was THAT?" My one comment for the A's is this: Didn't anyone ever tell you boys to always always touch home plate? I mean, who stops running between third and home? I'll be the first to say that Bill Mueller obstructed him. But I learned back in Lassie League when I was 12 that you finish running and tag the base, no matter what. Is that not a rule in major league baseball? They can bitch all they want, as I said to Mr. Dump as it was happening, if he'd actually run home and scored (which he probably would have given the horrible throw to Varitek) this would all be moot. But he stopped running and didn't give the umpires the option of giving him the run.

And Byrnes, you big stupid baby. Hope you enjoyed shoving Varitek. He sure enjoyed tagging you out for not touching home.

Can't wait until 1 o'clock. I can't believe we have another game schedule 13.5 hours after the last one ended. Amazing. And hey, I'm a realist, I don't know that we'll win. But at least they didn't sweep us.

Inside Jody's Head

A special report by Jody's Brain

It's pink in here. And warm. It's cozy in Jody's brain. Look, she's thinking about getting out of bed and taking a shower. Okay, let's jolt her awake. We'll make her think that she has an early meeting that she can't miss, even though she doesn't. That usually gets her up.

Ahhh, shower time! It sounds like a lovely rainstorm in here. Let's give her something to think about while she's waiting. I love doing this. We'll give her stuff that makes no sense. Check out THIS train of thought!

1. That new shaping/slip undergarment I bought yesterday is too tight to be comfortable. Maybe I don't need shaping.

2. They had one that gave you an hourglass figure. That must be twice as uncomfortable. At least it was made of spandex or something like that.

3. In high school B.H. (or her mom) had something similar that you were supposed to wear around your waist to make you sweat off weight. It was made of rubber. How uncomfortable to spend all day with a tight piece of rubber around your middle.

4. I wonder why nobody on XYZ mailing list ever responded when I said that in high school I got stuck playing a boy in the dance scene of West Side Story. I had to wear B.H.'s rubber thing to flatten my chest. It was fairly humiliating. I can't remember if I was a shark or a jet.

5. Was there a dance scene? I can't remember West Side Story that well right now. There must have been some kind of school dance. God, those actors were playing high school kids and they already had crow's feet.

6. Which of the two guys in Twin Peaks played Tony? Did Dr. Jacoby play Riff?

7. "...Always the population growing, and the babies crying. I like the island Manhattan..."

HA! By the time she gets to 7, she won't remember why on earth she's got the song "I Like to Be in America" in her head. I love when I do that!

Things that Make You Say "GAH!"

I know you're expecting me to say the Red Sox, but I'm done talking about them until they win another game.

No, I'm talking about the yellow jacket (bee, wasp, whatever) that is kind of jammed in the latch of the slider door. As in "Was just minding it's own business when someone locked it, and caught it there." Except it doesn't look like it's caught, it looks like it's trying to figure out how to unlatch the door so it can get out. But it's only about 40 degrees out there, so maybe the wasp is actually the one that locked the door. You never know. I've seen crazier stuff than that in the movies.

So if it's still there tomorrow (what, you think I'm going NEAR it? Are you crazy?) I'll spray it with Windex(tm) for good measure, cause that's all I've got that I'm willing to spray IN the house, and then somehow remove the little dead wasp carcass. And on THAT note...I'm going to bed.

4th Jody of the Universe

Somehow, this site has made it to the top, baby. If you Google "Jody" (and I know you Google me, you naughty readers) I'm the 4th Jody listed. Not bad for a crappy little "Mundane" website like mine. I feel like I need to make this place worthy of my top 4 finish. More flair. More Pizzazz. More answers to questions like "Is Abe Vigoda Dead?" (No.) and "Are Bart Simpson and Rufus the Mole Rat voiced by the same person?" (Yes.)

So remember, come to the Big DumpTruck for all your Jody needs!

15 Hours

I'm thinking that MLB needs to review how they set up playoff games. If an east coast team plays on the west coast, howzabout they get an earlier start for the first one and more than 15 hours between when one game (should) end and the next one begins. I know they play like this during the regular season, but this isn't the regular season. And I don't care if it's us or another team, I don't like if one team is given an unfair advantage over another this way. Bankies get a day and a half between playoff games, we get 14 hours. 14 hours in which to get back to the hotel, calm down enough to sleep, sleep, then get back to the stadium and get mentally and physically ready for the game. Fantastic.

Good luck, guys. All of Boston and New England will be watching you today. Make us proud.

Dumper of the Day

A Big DumpTruck Salut to Dump regular Sharon, who was keeping an eye out for non-family friendly content. The crap has been removed (much like dog owners clean up after puppies, if you must know) and we can all carry on now.

Bank Rant

Last week Mr. Crunchy had bank problems (with "Fweet" as he called them, to escape their google radar) and this week I'm in a blind fury over some of the practices at, uh, BlankNorf (not as catchy as Fweet, but you get the idea).

I am SO DONE with this bank. When it takes 3 days for a CASH DEPOSIT to clear, folks, there's a big honking huge problem. Here is the situation:

1. I stand in line at a branch after work on Friday and deposit $420 CASH into an account. Cash. As in not a check.
2. When I ask if it is available in the account, she said "Not until the next business day if a check comes through, but if you want to withdraw it from an ATM it will be there."
3. Another bank tries to do an EFT for car payment on Saturday. Saturday, a day when all the branches are open. Heck, our branch is open on Sunday. You'd figure Saturday is a business day, given that they're OPEN FOR BUSINESS. And given that most other banks consider Saturday a business day.
4. EFT request "bounces". Bank charges the account $26 for NSF and $16 for a failed electronic transfer. That's $42 because they refuse to acknowlege that they took $420 CASH out of my hands on Friday. It's sitting in the account, but just not "available" yet. And then of course there will be fees from the bank with the car loan because they couldn't get the payment.
(Note: They did refund the fees when pressed, and when we went high enough up the food chain to complain.)

Someone is going to have to explain to me why this blatent consumer rip-off is allowed to occur. Cash deposits shouldn't take three days to clear. And if they aren't going to process deposits on Saturday and Sunday, they shouldn't process withdrawals on Saturday and Sunday. Period. You can't do one and not the other, people.

I contacted the state Banking Commission to complain about this shady practice, but they told me I had to contact the federal Comptroller of the Currency because that bank is Nationally chartered, not state chartered.
When approached about this this morning, the bank claimed they are "only following FDIC rules". Uh huh.

Can I give a shout out to my cousin John, the Chief Operating Officer of the FDIC? Yo John, I know you've read my site in the past, but if you happen to see this one, could you drop me an email? I'd like to talk to you about how my bank is using FDIC regulations to steal money from the accountholders on a regular basis. Maybe it's time to revisit the rule and how it applies to cash deposits made on a Friday night. You can just email jody at bigdumptruck.com.

Whew. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. And yes, I'm going to be getting a new account over the weekend, somewhere where they actually consider Saturday a business day.

Octoberish

You know what's wierd? Having a kid who is suddenly aware of months. He looked at our wall calander yesterday, maybe for the 2nd time in his life, and said "It's the last day of September, tomorrow is October."

Whoa. Simple stuff like this, that he never really knew, is suddenly old hat for Mr. Kindergarten man. I love love love when he learns new things. He really has turned the corner and is now a really fun companion. Less needing mommy 24/7, more my little co-conspirator. I love the little guy.

No, wait. He just told me the counters are filthy. He's got to go.