Amen

Back in January, when we were discussing things we love to hate, I mentioned how much I hate when people complain about the way waiters are treated in the cases when they're actually really terrible waiters. This week the New York Times featured articles listing the things restuarant staffers should never do. Sometimes, I wish people in the service industry would realize that it's their responsibility to provide exemplerary service, and that's the point this veteran of the restaurant industry is making. The list can be found here and here. Enjoy!

Producers shouldn't act nor enable others to do so

Here's something that has been bothering me for quite a while. I love the show The Office. However, one character I do not care for at all is Ryan Howard, pictured below on the far right with the other major players of the show.

He is played by B.J. Novak, who is also a producer for the show. Though the character sucks (not in an enjoyable way) he has persisted for all of the seasons, given story lines, and is one of the "stars" identified in the opening credits. Even though he never really has story lines about him, and when they are there, they are forced. I have to believe the fact that he is a producer has something to do with it. If he wasn't, I'm sure he'd be written out. His character has dated the office ditz, Kelly (played by Mindy Kaling) who has some funny moments but overall isn't that great. But she's a producer too, so, she's still there. Please, NBC do something about it. (Girls, do you have any pull?) There are so many better actors/characters in that big ensemble!

In similar "my favorite TV shows" developments, Roxy Olin who now appears on MTV's fake reality show, "The City" has what looks to be a recurring role on one of my favorite favs, Brothers & Sisters.

I mean, she's okay. But whenever I see her on the show, I can't help but think about the fact that her parents are actors on the show, and I believe her dad produces and/or directs.

I don't know if it's just my knowledge of the situation that ruins it for me (probably) or she really does kind of suck and is extraneous. If you're on a reality show it seems pretty obvious that you are trying to act and be famous, and so here, it's kinda like, you could cut the nepotism with a knife.

It's fun and delicious when shows/films do a good job with casting, but it can really mess things up when  they let it slide.

Weddings and more

So 17 days to go before the big day! Getting really excited, stressed, nervous, anxious, anxiety, you name I feel like I have it :)

We started out dating over two years ago, for about a year of it we spent in airports waving goodbye or hugging hello. I lived in LA he lived in the big city. So finally a year and a half ago I decided to move here.  

I did love LA and most of my family there, or at least on the west coast, so for me this was a huge change, but for the best!

Now were just in the final stretch of organizing our wedding. I kind of feel like weddings are more for family and friends and less for you. We have had a lot of fun making our own favors, decorations, ect to bring out our personality's to the reception part.

I have made little soap owls for the bathroom, covered in tea tree and lavender oils. (I think my roommates who I live with now will be so excited when our apartment has less fragrance in it)

:)

Joe and I together now have made chocolate covered acorns and painted the tops of them silver and some gold, put them in little boxes and carving are names in the top of the box. (kind of going for the woodsy style)

Were having our reception up at Sundance Screening room. He filmed and edited a movie a little over a year ago and were going to be showing that along with one that I am currently working on.  Here is the one he made while I was living in Los Angles.

Dreamy TV Man Pick of the Week: The Mentalist

You thought I was going to say Simon Baker, didn't you?
Not this week!
This is the guy on The Mentalist who never smiles, almost always wears short-sleeved/button-down shirts with a tie, is surprisingly jacked-- Agent Kimball Cho, played by Tim Kang, is my pick for this week.

Girl Wednesday's Picture-Perfect Weekend

I'd been wanting to do a pumpkin weekend for a long time. I had so wanted to channel my junior-high love for Halloweens and homecoming bonfires and that time when everything is cozy and cool and echoey and spooky.



After a planned pumpkin-picking weekend with Girl Friday got rained-out, I had another opportunity with my boyfriend and some friends from work-- and seized it! Behold, my picture-perfect autumn weekend.....

Location: Long Island, NY

Corn Maze!!
(I'll admit, this was my most anticipated part of the trip, but I decided that while beautiful, the corn maze needed a little edge. Maybe nightfall could have been rapidly approaching and we couldn't find our way out, or a devil-possessed serial killer was chasing after us, or we consumed a bottle of vodka while trying to find our way out).







Pumpkins!





Pies!






(photos courtesy Si Hobbs)

Wednesday's Exciting Moments in TV Production: Safe Cavin!

This Wednesday I bring to you the aftermath of my funnest, wildest moment in TV production to date: cave exploration.

For a weather story on a cave flood from 1979, I went back to the original cave where the story took place. I met with the original rescuers (pictured with me, left) and crawled through scary-small places of the wet cave in northern Georgia.

Because Georgia had been hit with so much rain just days before my adventure, I was really nervous. But once inside, I didn't panic at all! In fact, I had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat.

"Safe cavin," as they say. Or as that one guy says- the guy in the red jumpsuit. He signs his emails that way.

Like a chaperone at a high school dance. . .

My blackberry buzzed somewhere between Dupont Circle and Woodley Park on Thursday morning as I received an e-mail notifying me that my Mother had made a suggestion that I add my father as a "friend" on facebook. I'm sure I'm NOT the first to experience the full-family social networking, but it doesn't make me any more okay with it. Granted, I've already taken precautions with my profile-- I've turned off all broadcasts, I've turned off the wall, and I've limited the number of people who can search me. But there's something odd to me about having my Mom & Dad on facebook. I don't mind them seeing my game day rants about poor football performances, nor do I have any problem with them viewing my pictures or reading my cranky late-night-at-the-office status messages, but there is just something about it that I find odd.

My parents have ALWAYS been tech-savy. My dad was on the internet when all there was was compuserve and text-based message boards accessed using MS-DOS. He had a "portable" compaq computer roughly the size of a carry-on suitcase which my brother and I used to successfully conquer Math Blaster and the first version of Where in the World is Carmen San Diego. We had a cable modem as soon as they were available in the boonies, and they rigged wireless internet throughout the house faster than you can say linksys. They talk to my nephew across the country on a webcam, and they've got more cables wired into their new house than most office buildings.

Lucky for me during college, they never got in to InstantMessager or bothered with Friendster, MySpace, or even LinkdIn (though I'm probably wrong on that one). I called them once a week, e-mailed occasionally, but their virtual presence was relatively minimal. But now they have iPhones, macbooks, and facebook profiles. When I check status updates from my blackberry, I can see my mother's musings or learn my father's evening plans. My mom spent her entire visit to see my nephew taking and uploading pictures with her iPhone. My brother started chatting with me this afternoon on FB to try and determine how to launch a war against the adult infiltration of facebook.

Don't get me wrong, why shouldn't parents and other adults be able to reap the same reconnecting benefits we all enjoy about facebook. We all enjoy the random friend request from your childhood neighbor or the congratulatory message from the roommate you've lost touch with. I'm just weirded out knowing how much I stalk people on facebook and wonder if my mom and dad are now doing the same to me and my friends. And then there's the fact that the ever-growing facebook population that makes me wonder if we'll reach a point where parents and children communicate by Facebook message, notifying eachother of locations or curfew changes via status message. Who'll need chaperones if apple invents an iPhone app that tweens carry with them while their parents wait at home watching on the webcam?

After drafting this post last week, I ran across a CNN.com article yesterday discussing the trend among tweens lying about their age and bucking the membership agreements for social networking sites: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/02/kids.social.networks/index.html. Perhaps there's some real truth to my predictions. . . Frightening.

Beeeeuuutiful

I live in the most beautiful place on Earth. I love looking in almost any direction at almost any time and having a scenic, ever-changing view to cast my eyes upon. The leaves this fall have been particularly spectacular and the drive back last night from the airport was unbelievable. Fog rolling out across the mountain tops, making it look like whitecaps, glowing fall leaves brightening the mountainsides, an orange to pink to ice blue to navy sunset, and a full moon. Wowzers. If any of you out there have never been to the Southern Appalachians, they come highly recommended. But as the locals say, “please don’t move here.”

When You Miss a Flight

So I have never in all my years of flying missed a flight (for which it was my fault) – I’ve always been terrified that I would, either:

1. End up not making it to my destination
2. End up not making it home for days
3. HAVE TO PAY OUT THE ASS to prevent 1 or 2. Or in addition to 1 and 2.

But over the weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing what happens first hand. BoyfriendFriday was scheduled to go home Sunday afternoon. Or so we thought. But on our way to breakfast Sunday morning, a cursory check of the flight time lead to a discovery of a 6:40 AM flight. Not a 6:40 PM flight. Oooops. My bad.

Anyway, here’s what happens when you miss a flight. NOTHING! It’s grand. They just put you on the next one they have available (that you want) and you pay a $50 change fee (geck, but it could be worse). So he flew home at 6PM. No problems.

I can see how missing a flight at the holidays could cause a problem, or other airlines may be worse, but overall, I have been worried all those years for nothing. Not a really exciting story, but a good piece of information for those of you who get to the airport 2 hours early……..

But I do have some good stories about running to planes carrying my rolling luggage (it’s so much easier if you’re in a hurry to carry rather than try to roll, navigating kids, curves, and transitions to the moving walkway) to be greeted by a plane full of cheering people (they cheer when you get there because it means they can finally leave – it’s not like I’m a celebrity. Although I tell myself that).

One Year Ago Friday

We miss you Mr G.