Ah Winter Is Upon Us...

So, tonight as I was out and about I noticed it had started to snow/sleet. Realizing that winter was approaching in full force, I asked myself why I came back here from the west coast. I generally only ask myself that question two or three times a year when we are hit by a really big know storm or cold front. Other than the winter (and lack of an ocean), I greatly prefer the midwest to the west coast, but when it gets cold, I long for the constant sunshine and (relatively) warm weather.

I hope every one enjoyed the long holiday weekend. I broke from tradition this year and did not hit any of the Black Friday sales. Though, there were a few things on sale that I really wish I had had the money to buy, but otherwise, I just missed the craziness with my SIL. We generally go out at midnight on Thanksgiving or early Black Friday and get incredibly slap happy and giggly. It's very fun and I missed that, but there's always next year.

Saturday we had a get together in which we played more Celebrity in one night than I have in years. It was a lot of fun. For those who do not know, there's an element of Celebrity that requires charades and watching the SIL and another one of our friends act out the celebrities is one of the funniest experiences one can hope for on any given night. It was a great time!

Also, congrats to the latest of my friends having babies, the Wudchuks! WOOHOO!

Well, I guess that is all I have. I have to go get ready for work tomorrow.

Until next time,

~Shel

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

I am heading out to brave the Ike to get to the City, so that should be fun. Then, I get to drive from the city to the hometown, which should really suck with the holiday traffic and all... But all the while I will be dreaming of the turkey, turkey I get to eat tomorrow. I do love turkey.

So, while you gorge yourself on yummy food, watch sports, argue/tease/make fun of family and otherwise have a turkey-day good time, remember, it's only 34 days until Christmas and we get to do it all over again.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving - the turkey of course, midnight shopping with my sister-in-law, oh and the family time, too!

Happy Thanksgiving. Drive safe, eat well and have fun!

Until next time,
Shel

Thus Endith My Career... AND Baby Thumper has arrived!

Not to worry, I mean my short-lived career planning baby showers. A couple of friends and I hosted a shower over the weekend. It was fun, tons of food, good friends and a bunch of adorable little ones running around all crazy like. Anyone's definition of a good time! But now I'm done. Congrats to the Peaches family and I hope you got tons of useful stuff AND had a good time at the shindig. Actually maybe it was more a little bit of hoot and a whole lot of nanny, to quote Seth Green. So, no more planning showers for me. My favorite part is playing with the babies once they are here and then giving them back at the end of the day! I can't wait to play with the next little one, coming in February to a hospital near you (well, me).

Big ol' CONGRATULATIONS to Thump and her hubby on the arrival of our British addition on the 8th - YAY! Another baby boy for me to play with!!!!

And now for a subject near and dear to my heart - television. That's right, I love television and while recent years have left a lot to be desired for quality tv, with the unfathomable popularity of reality shows, I still love it. There are quality shows that rock - 24, Psych, Smallville, NCIS and tons of others. I'm not really on the Heroes bandwagon, but I'm giving it a shot. Admittedly, my heart will always belong to Joss Whedon...

I've been reading a lot about the writer's strike and I completely support their right to strike, as well as supporting their demand to be given a piece of the streaming video pie. If they create a product, they deserve to get a fair share of the revenue created from the sale and use of that product, no matter the form of the use. Period.

The lame ass excuse of the studios that they do not have a business model for the possible or expected future revenue from these sources is less than persuasive. If I understand the WGA's position, they are asking for a percentage of the revenue, just as they have a percentage of the DVD revenue. This is a static percentage, it will not change no matter how much revenue is generated - can the studio not figure out that x% is x% whether they make $1.00 or $1 billion on a specific product? It's math - go ask the guys from Numb3rs, I bet they can help... that is, if they do not smack you around for making them strike.

This being said, can I say that the original members of the WGA were idiots? I was just reading about how the charter members of the union signed a contract assigning the studios the role of "authors" of the work once the product has been sold to the studio. And basically gave away the copyright of the works. Whomever was negotiating on behalf of the writers sold them out in a serious way.

I could understand if a writer is retained by a studio to write a specific product - for example, Warner Bros. comes to me and says, Shel, we would like you to right a screenplay about a supercool chic who has nothing better to do at 9:30 on a Wednesday night than blog about a writer's strike - the studio having a lot of control because the basic idea was provided by the studio and the writer was retained to create a specific product. But even in this example, the utter lack of control or right to a product created by the writer is astounding.

But when a person comes up with an idea, writes a screenplay and then approaches a studio to invest and produce the end product - I stunned at the horrible precedent set by those original few. I suppose I never thought of the writer being in a union, as you hear about contract negotiations between actors and studios all the time. I guess I assumed writers negotiated contracts for the sale of their works as well. I'm learning all kinds of new things with this strike, so if nothing else, it's been an educational experience. I have much more to say on this topic, but I do not want to have all the fun in one sitting.

Now, my problem is that I am going to have serious Jack Bauer withdrawals if this strike lasts for long. And what about NCIS, Chuck, Smallville, Psych and all my other favorites? Seriously, if I do not get new episodes of Psych in January as promised, I may cry. My dvr is already half full of last season's episodes! So, enjoy the new shows remaining and we'll meet back here in January when all the new eps have aired and discuss what books may fill the void!

'Til next time -

~Shel

Hail Janet & Random Acts of Kindness

So Saturday, my partner in crime and I went on Bel's Big Adventure. Part of the big adventure was dinner at Texas Roadhouse. As we approached, a lady well yelling from her car. I did not pay much attention, but then she calls "Young ladies!", so we turn around.

She tells us that she and her husband had checked in for a table, then because the wait was too long, went to dinner somewhere else, but accidentally took the pager with her. She hands me the pager and tells me to check in as Janet, table for 2 as they no longer need the table! It was fantastic, we walked in on a packed Saturday, were seated right away and we had the cutest waiter - he was probably 18, but he was a cutie!

So, all hail Janet - the fairy Godmother of Fun!!! She will have a starring role in our book - Cuddling Grandmother's and Other Lies They Told Me.

'til next time,

~Shel

Ugh!

So, a friend of mine is having a baby. Ok, actually several friends of mine are having babies, but I am currently planning a baby shower for one with some of my other friends. So, now for my mini-rant - why is it that certain things are categorized for boys and others for girls. Why is a frog a "boy" thing? I like frogs, why can't girls like frogs? Dogs are categorized with boys, dinosours, monkeys, gators and crocs, boats, reptiles of any kind and tons of other things that I do not think are just for boys.

I am so sick of commercial companies telling me that if I am a girl, I am supposed to like cats, butterflies and flowers and pink, every freakin' thing pink - and that's pretty much it.

Last night I was shopping on the Kohl's website for clothes for my one year old nephew - "the Ladies Man" from last week's post. Now, that shirt was funny. All of the clothes I found for boys of his age to age 3 were either sports or cars. If the clothes did not have those designs they were plain or stripped.

I find this so annoying. I'm ok if girls want to like kitties or butterflies, but only if they want to like it, not because Kohl's tells them they have to because they are girls. Why can't a boy like stars or butterflies? Butterflies are cool, they are wormies and then they can fly - that's awesome! Also, why can't baby girls wear blue? And why can boys only wear blue, green or maybe yellow? Stupid. I want to start my own kid line of stuff where anyone can like anything, to hell with convention or what people say you have to like.

O.k. I'm done. I just had to vent. Big thanks to Alexandra Ivy for sending me a signed copy of her new book Embrace the Darkness, book 2 in the Guardians of Eternity series! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Gotta run - I have an episode of NCIS waiting on my dvr.

'Til next time,

~Shel