The Big DumpTruck

Email friends of mine have successfully put the song "Brand New Key" into my head. It's been there for two days. Stop it! Stop it!

I came up with a book title yesterday. I don't have a book to go with it, but I'm giving the book title away for free. If you use it, be sure to at least send me a free copy of the book. And then I'll pull a Wright on you and go on some anti-American rant and people will stand on your front lawn and yell things about you because you took my suggestion for the name of your book. HA! I will PWN you!

Here is the title:

English as a 10th Language

Okay, so go get writing. I'll be sitting here thinking up titles. I'm working on one right now, the draft version is "English as an 11th Language." Too clichéd?

Labels: books, earworm, writing

Noticed an ad at the bottom of my page today for http://www.gardenstatueshop.com/ and I have a feeling I should just mail my paycheck to them.

I wonder if I can set up a wish list with them?

Labels: gnomes, shopping

As you've undoubtedly heard by now, there was some kind of massive (nationwide) outage that impacted NESN and ESPN2 and therefore people who got up to start their day with a cup of coffee and the season opener could not actually see it on television.

We were among those who had to resort to listening to AM radio inside the house. Not cool, DirecTV, not cool.

Granted, we were already up at 6am, but I'm betting there were a LOT of people who set the alarm just that much earlier.

At least we won it, 10 innings later (not an easy win, and not a pretty one, but a win nonetheless).

Labels: angry, Red_Sox, television

The last signs of winter slip away. The day might not have been as warm as I would have liked, but I spent more time outside today than I have in at least 5 months, so all is good with me right now.

I would just prefer to have another good day puttering around with a camera instead of facing another week of work, but what are you going to do?

We could skip the candy if you would just bring me a warm, sunny day. I realize that Easter is way early this year, so normally we're dealing with April temps instead of March ones, but still, I have certain expectations about Easter that just aren't going to be met.

Historically (and I mean back when I was a kid through recent years with my kid) after Easter dinner we would get in the car and drive over to the Leominster State Forest and look for salamanders and fish. I know, seems silly, but you must know, Easter Bunny, that you were the one who would bring us the butterfly nets that we used to catch the salamanders. You do remember that, don't you?

We took all the kids (and when I say that I'm referring to my son, niece and nephew) to the park a couple of times to either throw a frisbee, a baseball, or fly a kite. All things I do not want to do tomorrow because it's going to be too cold. So I'll ask again; instead of sugary stuff, can you give me a 55 degree day with puffy clouds and no wind? That would rock. (Of course, I wouldn't turn down the warm day AND some of those chocolate covered marshmallow rabbits that I love...)

Labels: fun, holidays, kids, weather

This morning, while looking for something in my bedroom a pile of stuff that should not be in a pile but hey, that's my life, I found the lined leather mittens I've been looking for all winter. So that is certainly handy on the first day of spring. It's about as appropriate as finding your lost bathing suit in October.

So let's see a show of hands; do I leave the mittens in the pile, because now I know where they are, or do I take a chance and move them into the big bag of hats and mittens that will soon have to be washed and put away? It could be risky, either way.

Labels: clothing, spring, winter

Okay, now that we're over the lady with the toilet seat embedded in her behind, we get this lovely headline:

"Woman Goes for Leg Operation, Gets New Anus Instead"

I'd rather have my ass absorb my toilet seat.

Labels: holy_crap, News

I do no like my winter shoe selection. I'm quite unhappy with it, to be honest. I don't have enough very comfortable shoes that are also stylish. It's hard to keep your feet happy when you have to go to work somewhere with dress code. Granted, I'm not trapped in nylons and high heels (I'd quit) but still, they'd be happier if I was than with my personal take on business casual.

So yesterday, when it hit 50-ish, I was actually wondering to myself if it was time to take the sandals out of storage. 50! You know last fall, when it dropped to 50 for the first time, that was not even a consideration. I practically wrapped my feet in wool and animal skins to keep them warm. But in spring, why a 45 degree day feels like summer!

This morning it was snowing when I woke up. I can totally understand why winter is a depression-a-thon. The sandals will have to wait for another day. Certainly not Easter Sunday, which looks like it will have a high of 37 for the day. Ya. 37. Nuff said.

Labels: holidays, shoes, weather

If I can say "Well, at least my ass didn't grow around my toilet seat" I'm having a good day.

Labels: fun, holy_crap, News, odd

Longtime fans of the Big DumpTruck know that I have odd obsessions. Some come and some go. Some appear to come and go because I don't talk about them as much as I used to. Michael "Lord of the Dance" Flatley, ice cream trucks, and Adam West come to mind (because I used to do a weekly Lord of the Dance update and talk about Adam West sightings, which I don't do any more. I still love them both.)

My current obsession is with garden gnomes. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. I love them. I don't own any, but that's part of the appeal. Not having one means I get to focus my life on finding just the perfect one.

So now my family points out any television show or commercial that features garden gnomes. It's nice to have people trying to make me happy. Yesterday Mr. Dump sent me a link to a YouTube cartoon that had a very small garden gnome appearance that made me laugh out loud.

And today in the news there's an awesome report of a garden gnome terrorizing a small town in Argentina. Viva la scary gnome!

Labels: fun, gnomes, News, video

I'm kind of a freak. I'm over forty and I love Nerds candy. Basically crunchy sugar nuggets, they make me happy. The other day we were in Rite Aid and found a bag of candy that I had to buy just on principle.

Nerds Bumpy Jelly Beans

And I loved them. LOVED THEM. But because I fear they're going to be limited to Easter season, I'm about to take out a small loan to buy all the bags they have on the shelf and store them in a secret location in my house. (That's because both boys love them almost as much as I do. We're all doomed.)

Has anyone else tried these? Do they make you as happy as they make me??

I had another thing I wanted to review, food-wise, but I can't remember what it was. I don't know if that means I did not think it was good enough to remember to tell you about it or not. Did I hate it? Who knows.

I've been busy learning how to play Halo 3. I stink at it. Okay, I don't stink, I'm just not very good at all. Last night my approach was to hide in a corner and hope that someone walked by me. Now I hear this is a perfectly valid approach, but I'm trying to picture a game where all the players are just hiding in corners. I'm guessing not very much would happen. That's okay with me, because as I may or may not have mentioned before, I hate having people jump out at me. I never liked playing hide and seek as a kid. People can say what they will about video games making kids do violent acts, but my playing Halo does not in any way impact whether or not I want to play hide and seek. Which I don't. People who would blame this game on a violent act are way off base - anyone with a normal psyche is not going to run out and buy assault weapons and plastic armor, okay?

Labels: candy, food, review, videogames

We filed our taxes about a million years ago. Or maybe it was a week ago. Anyway, we are due for a refund and I would really like for them to pay me because I have some bills that aren't going to pay themselves, doncha know! Plus Mr. Dump's vehicle was making a $386 noise. When he took it to find out what the problem was and get an estimate...oops, we fixed it without calling you to tell you how much it was going to be. That's so not cool. I won't name the place because I really like them, and the work they do, but this was a big stinkball to have to pay it today.

Also, for those of you in the Leominster area, we popped in to the Blue Marlin for lunch. You have GOT TO SEE THIS PLACE! The decor is beyond excellent. I'm not even going to spoil it for you, but you have to go. I know, it looks ultra swanky from the outside, but the menu is definitely not. Heck, I could have gotten a hot dog for lunch. Or dinner (because the menu is the same). Go go go and then come back and tell me what you think of the place. (p.s. I can highly recommend the clam strips.) Everything is freshly prepared on-site except for some of the desserts, which they get from Auntie Ellen's Creative Confections next door. Oh, by the way, we popped in there to check it out. Take your wallet and GO. We took the triple chocolate mouse and the bananas foster cheesecake home with us, and we couldn't decide which was better.

Labels: food, Leominster, money

I'm tired of American Idol. Can we just give the prize to David Archuleta and be done with the horrible pain of listening to most of the other competitors? Please? I'm begging you.

I like a couple of the guys (David A. and Jason) so I watch on Tuesdays but the girls get NONE OF MY ATTENTION because I don't like them. None of 'em.

Okay, so I know what you're saying - if I dislike it so much why not turn off the tv? You know what? If I even made a move to do that there are a couple of guys in the house who would bite my hand off at the knuckle. We have some big Idol fans here at the house.

I taped myself rambling on my Flip today so maybe I'll have time tomorrow to pull together another crappy podcast for the tens of you who read this blog. Wooo!

Labels: American Idol