Quick Oscar Notes

I am going to try to post a bit more on this from work tomorrow (my laptop is acting a bit wonky this evening), but I just wanted to say how happy I am that Diablo Cody won for best original screenplay for "Juno!" That was the only category I was really passionate about this year (even though I was hoping Ellen Page would also win for Best Actress, I figured she didn't have a shot with the amazing competition she was up against), and she far and away deserved that award. I'm glad the Academy felt the same!!! Also, how cute were the "Once" couple who won for best song???? I cried when they won and cried again when Jon Stewart had the girl come back out on stage to get her speech in. How sweet!!!!

Okay, going to bed now....

2008 SELF Challenge - Day 1

Even though I stayed home sick from work today with a terrible sinus migraine, I was inspired to register for the 2008 SELF Challenge and am very optimistic about actually following it this year and hopefully losing weight and generally feeling better about myself. I am constantly feeling tired and sick (more so lately than in the past) and I am hoping that living a healthier lifestyle can counter-act that. We shall see how it goes ...

Happy Thursday

I am at work and I feel miserable. However, I am heavily medicated (I have copious amounts of robitussin, dayquil, claritin and halls cough drops running through my body) so that makes it a little bit better. And I'm eating yummy chicken noodle soup from Schlotzky's Deli.

Also, I just got the following email ...

"the2ofus" at Luv2viewmovies.com would like to say "CONGRATULATIONS" as the computer has drawn your entry for our current contest. You have won a:
GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT (Complete First Season)DVD!

Your DVD will be sent to the address you listed on your entry (below).

In 2008, please keep checking the Luv2viewmovies.com web site for MOVIE and DVD REVIEWS, contests, and promotions (and F U N !)

I have never actually watched General Hospital: Night Shift, but have been a GH fan my whole life and I know that Night Shift features my favorite GH character, Robin. So I am very excited! I never win anything, so the Powers That Be must be feeling sorry for me because I've been feeling sick for so long ...

New Podcast Episode - Coming Soon

Good news! I have a band-aid fix on my laptop (and am hoping Dell comes through with the more reliable fix soon - *crosses fingers*) and will start working on a new podcast episode which I hope to record, edit and upload by Sunday night. Wish me luck ...

Sinus Relief

** This is a cross-post from my 1/29/2008 LiveJournal entry.

I have had allergy and sinus problems all my life, but they seem to have gotten worse since I moved to Texas (I am pretty sure it has to do more with my roommate and his friends smoking inside our apartment than the geographic location) and have been pretty much a constant issue since around Thanksgiving. I have been completely miserable on a daily basis for several months, getting temporary relief with the use of my Walgreens-pharmacist-recommended Vicks Sinex Nasal Spray which, contrary to its 12-hour relief claim, helps for only an hour or so after use and cannot be used more than twice in a 24-hour period (which I know from personal experience because using it more than that makes me really shaky and jittery). So, after being basically bed-ridden because of sinus problems for most of last week and the preceeding weekend, I finally went to see my friendly neighborhood Walgreens pharmacist again (because that is much easier than going to the doctor for a lazy and increasingly agoraphobic person such as myself) who suggested using a Vicks Waterless Vaporizer and sleeping with it next to my head and "tenting" my covers (pulling the covers up over my head basically). I have been doing this every night for the last 5 nights and I cannot tell you what a difference it is making! I feel 100 times better than I have in months, and every morning I wake up feeling even better than the day before. I am crossing my fingers that I have finally found the "miracle cure" I was looking for. And with a box of 6 refill vapor pads costing less than $5.00 (actually, they are $3.64 at Wal-Mart), it is a pretty cheap miracle cure at that! I just thought I'd share this info with anyone else who may be having sinus issues. Anything to help my sinus-suffering comrades.

BTW, I have not received any compensation for my endorsement of Walgreens. This help from Walgreens is just the latest in a long line of reasons that it holds a special place in my heart ...

OMG - MMC!!

** This is a cross-post from my 1/27/2008 Livejournal entry.

Wow. I am such a nerd. So, yesterday at work a few of us were talking about shows we used to watch as a kid such as Kidd Video, Jem, Kids Incorporated, etc., and we found clips of a bunch of them on YouTube and I started getting all nostalgic about coming home from school and watching Kids Incorporated and The All New Mickey Mouse Club on the Disney channel (even though I was probably a little beyond their target age group as I was a freshman/sophomore in high school when MMC was on - but whatever). I was still thinking about it on the way into work today, so when I got here I looked up MMC on Wikipedia. That made me remember the group "The Party" that 5 of the cast members started (and I'm only partly ashamed to admit that I owned 2 or 3 of their CDs in high school) and that I had a huge crush on Damon. So I clicked on his link to see what he is up to now and found that he and Albert (one of the other members of "The Party") have started some new hip hop project and have a page on MySpace! So of course, I checked that out and friended them! Sometimes I really can't believe what a huge dork I am. But, that's why y'all love me, right?

Hypersensitive Podcast - Episode 01

The first official episode of my podcast is finally up!

Please check it out HERE!

Don't forget to leave a comment on the podcast site to let me know what you think.

Thanks!

~Lisa

Podcast In Production

Ok, guys. I am working on the first official episode of my podcast and I'm looking for some volunteers to help me with some sound-bite type things I want to use to kind of separate different parts of each episode and/or just mix things up a bit. In case you want to check out the really crappy intro episode and have the podcast website address for future reference, you can check it out here:

http://hypersensitive.podbean.com/

I need some people to record the following phrases in WAV or MP3 format and email them to me. If you would like to help out but don't have the capability or know how to make such a recording, email me and I will send you my cell phone number and you can leave the phrase or phrases you want to be a part of on my voicemail. If you would like to do more than one phrase, you can combine them all on one WAV, MP3 or voicemail - just leave a few seconds of dead air in between each phrase. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Here are the phrases:

1) "What are you, like, twelve???"

2) "Hey, what's going on with that book-thing of yours?"

3) "Well, what exactly DID you do this week?"

4) "Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh at you or pity you."

5) "And your whiny cry-baby opinion would be ... ?"

6) "Does your train of thought have a caboose?"

7) "Do you even KNOW who I AM????"

8) "Geez, when are you going to get a Tivo already??"

9) [laughing] "You REALLY made me a mix tape???"

10) "Sweetie, your iTunes library could REALLY use a makeover ..."

Any recordings I receive before 7:00 PM this Friday (Nov. 16th) will definitely be used in Episode 1. I will integrate any other recordings I receive into later episodes. Thanks in advance for any help you can give on this - I am really excited about this project and working hard to improve the quality and make it successful!

Love,
Lisa

Top Ten Reasons You Found a Garden Gnome by Your Bed This Morning

10. Friends don't let friends shop in the Wal-Mart lawn & garden section while on a three day bender.

9. You live next door to Happy Acres, the old age home for gnomes. One of the aides will come looking when he's discovered missing.

8. Travelocity wants to know if what they've heard about you and Priceline's William Shatner is true.

7. Technically, the gnome found you next to it this morning given you're now out in the yard with a killer hangover.

6. During your drunken escapade last night you vaguely recall hitting on some small, yet incredibly attractive, woman wearing a funny hat.

5. It already has your underpants, but it wanted to see if you knew what step 2 was.

4. Hey, if it scares you, it'll scare your cat enough to prevent him from waking you up at 5AM.

3. It had been creeping closer every night while you slept, but you thought it would maintain some personal boundries.

2. The people who gave you the horse head last time have been to sensitivity training.

1. You glued it to your Roomba and programmed it to bring you breakfast in bed.

I <3 WikiHow

I have a daily "How To" from WikiHow (a user-editable How-To Guide sponsored by the Wikimedia Foundation which also operates Wikipedia) as part of my Google Home Page. It's always very amusing to read but rarely provides any information that is useful to my life. However, today's How-To seems to be right up my alley...

HOW TO CONTACT FAMOUS CELEBRITIES

Related How-Tos are also suggested, such as ...

How To Talk To Celebrities

How To Ask A Celebrity For An Autograph Or Photo

and, my personal favorite

How To Talk To A Celebrity Without Annoying Them

Top Ten Things You Should Have Left Out Of Your Resume

10. Your self awarded PhD from The School Of Hard Knocks.

9. The fact that you're a level fourteen Paladin with a mighty Vorpal blade.

8. Honors: Voted Most Likely to be on "Cops" - Class of 1997.

7. Letter of recommendation from your 3rd grade teacher.

6. The thing with the cheez whiz and the crossdressing and the lizards.

5. The decorative butterfly stickers you added "for effect".

4. Excellent with that thingie, the one with the bits and the noise.

3. Fluent in Klingon and currently studying Wookie.

2. Leadership Rolls: I am the GM of my D&D group and Rimlock says I have the best storylines.

1. World record holder for high score on Minesweeper.

Fall 2006 TV Schedule Ramblings

Considering TV is pretty much my biggest passion in life, I thought I'd review some of the new shows on the networks' fall schedules that piqued my interest after the up-front announcements ...

VANISHED - FOX, Mondays @ 9:00 PM ET/PT - Looks interesting. Undertones of "Alias." And I absolutely ADORE Gale Harold!!

STANDOFF - FOX, Tuesdays @ 8:00 PM ET/PT - Not a very unique premise, but the description says it has "the relationship banter of audience favorites like 'Moonlighting,'" which is sorely missing from my TV repoirtoire. I also really like Ron Livingston. And, HELLO, Gina Torres!!!! I have to support my Big Damn Heroes in their new shows!!

JERICHO - CBS, Wednesdays @ 8:00 PM ET/PT -- This sounds like it could be very a very interesting social commentary. I'm curious to see what they do with the basic premise of a completely isolated small midwest town (I'll definately be keeping my hometown - Pekin, IL - in mind while watching). Plus, you know, it's always a plus to get to watch Skeet Ulrich for an hour ...

THE NINE - ABC, Wednesdays @ 10:00 PM ET/PT -- Sounds like "Lost" without all the supernatural/conspiracy stuff. I'm interested. And I'm very excited to support Scott Wolf -- I'm very relieved to see that he's working again ...

SHARK - CBS, Thursdays @ 10:00 PM ET/PT -- Freaking JAMES WOODS!!! I would watch this show even if it was about a guy sitting in a chair reading a newspaper! But it's about LAWYERS!! A defense attorney becoming a prosecutor!! L.A.!!! Spike Lee directing!!!! If this show isn't amazing, then I might just lose faith in everything that television stands for ...

SIX DEGREES - ABC, Thursdays @ 10:00 PM ET/PT -- Hm, looks like I'll be Tivoing this one (conflicts with "Shark," above). Apparently, they decided the underlying stories on "Lost" worked so well that they split that idea into 2 seperate shows! This one is from JJ Abrams himself, so there is a good chance it will be worth watching. Again, interesting premise. Good cast - Jay Hernandez, Campbell Scott and Erika Christensen. We'll see what they do with it...

BETTY THE UGLY - ABC, Fridays @ 8:00 PM ET/PT -- I'm a huge fan of America Ferrera, so I'm excited about this one! And it sounds like there might be hints of "The Devil Wears Prada," which is one of my all-time favorite books!!

DAY BREAK - ABC, mid-season -- Sounds interesting, like "24" meets "Groundhog Day" perhaps? If they can keep it more like "24" and less like "Groundhog Day," it might be worth watching. Again, gotta support my Big Damn Heroes (Adam Baldwin)! And, you know, Taye Diggs is always fun to watch ...

SURVIVOR - Open Casting Call in Baton Rouge!!!

Interested in trying out for CBS' "Survivor?"

There's an Open Casting Call in Baton Rouge on June 10th from 1-3 PM at Gerry Lane Chevrolet on Florida Blvd.!!!

An Open Casting Call is an event your local station holds for SURVIVOR. When you attend an Open Call, you will fill out an application and be put on camera there. You do not need to bring your own tape, and you do not need a copy of your passport. Open Calls alleviate the headaches and expenses of making your own tape, transferring it to VHS format and mailing it.

These events are also lots of fun. Meet fellow SURVIVOR fans, make some new friends, enjoy. Your local station will send the tape directly to the casting department, where it will be watched by the casting team and the same as it would be if you sent in an individual tape yourself.

Good luck, and have fun!

Attorney Word of the Day

pleonasm
\PLEE-uh-naz-uhmnoun:

1. The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; as, "I saw it with my own eyes."

2. An instance or example of pleonasm.

3. A superfluous word or expression.

Dougan uses many words where few would do, as if pleonasm were a way of wringing every possibility out of the material he has, and stretching sentences a form of spreading the word.-- Paula Cocozza, "Book review: How Dynamo Kiev beat the Luftwaffe", Independent, March 2, 2001

Such a phrase from President Nixon's era, much favored by politicians, is "at this moment in time." Presumably these five words mean "now." That pleonasm probably does little harm except, perhaps, to the reputation of the speaker.-- Eoin McKiernan, "Last Word: Special Relationships", Irish America, August 31, 1994

Motivational Quote of the day

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own."

~Benjamin Disraeli, British politician (1804 - 1881)

First Post

In between projects at work today, I looked up the blogs (or blawgs) of a couple of speakers from this Legal Technology seminar (CLE) which I attended earlier in the week. The first is Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog, which was very informative but contained a lot of information he covered at the seminar. I added his RSS feed to my Google Reader so that I can keep up with his future posts. The second is Ernie the Attorney, a blog posted by Ernie Svenson, an attorney who left a large New Orleans law firm to open his own practice after hurricane Katrina. He was one of my favorite speakers at the CLE, and his blog is immensely enjoyable! His most recent post about the outcome of the mayoral election gave me a little more hope than I had before (while at the same time increasing my sadness over Mitch's loss). Anway, reading those -- and other -- blogs today motivated me to create my own ('cause I'm not at all convinced that non-livejournal users take livejournal seriously).