Crime and Punishment

Conviction!

Crime and no punishment

There must be something about my cars that makes them seem appealing to thieves. For the 3rd time since moving to the greater Seattle metropolitan area, my car was broken into. The thieves apparently were jonesing for a stereo. A 7 year old Sony cd/am/fm stereo. The one I had installed after my last stereo was stolen. To give you an idea of how ridiculous it is that someone broke into my car, here's what my car looks like (imagine a Yakima bike rack on top):



The challenge of breaking into a 19 year old car with an ancient stereo must have been daunting! I don't really care that much about the stereo - it's not worth that much. What I care about is the fact the the center of my dashboard is completely destroyed; there is no light behind the dash (so I couldn't see how fast I was going on my drive home from the park & ride tonight) and the passenger side front window is completely destroyed. They could have at least had the courtesy to break the small rear window and then unlock the rear door. Makes me wonder how much meth you can get for a 7 yr old stereo? Probably not enough to get you through the afternoon.

To make matters worse, it's raining so there's a white trash bag taped to the door in an attempt to prevent the rain from pouring into my car. I like to joke that I have the ghetto car of the neighborhood. I wonder if this violates some covenant?

Thankfully, there was a card left by the Issaquah police department with a number to call, the report number and a request for a list of missing items. Wish me luck with my insurance company. ;-)

Check this out!

Cupcakes!

My sympathy for the "devil" didn't last long

Taken from Slate today:

Bushism of the Day
By Jacob Weisberg
Posted Wednesday, May 24, 2006, at 12:02 PM ET
"The point now is how do we work together to achieve important goals. And one such goal is a democracy in Germany."—Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006

Minor Quibble

Does the NYT really have nothing better to write about than the public/personal lives of the Clintons?

Overheard at Starbucks

A group of women discussing the latest teddy bear offering – the golfing bear.
“I may get this for one of my guy friends. He has a metrosexual side. His apartment is decorated really nicely. I don’t know if he would have this out though.”

Question 1: Can you have a metrosexual side? Aren’t you just straight, gay or metrosexual? Or is the same thing as ‘being in touch with your feminine’ side (if you are a straight male?

Question 2: Would any self-respecting metrosexual display a teddy bear wearing a golf cap, sweater and a golf bag?

Monday

I’m not terribly coherent today so I decided I would just put up a list of things that have crossed my mind in that past few days:

• I can’t help but feel a little bit bad for Shrub. He’s actually trying to do something reasonably sensible on immigration but he’s getting excoriated by members of his base. A friend and I like to call them the ‘jingoistic xenophobes.’ Wouldn’t that be a great name for a band? The first cd could be called “God’s Army.” Shrub’s problem is that he’s trying to be nuanced and the base doesn’t like nuance. I would say this is the perfect time for feeling Shrubenfreude but I guess I’m being charitable today.
• Can someone explain to me why “7th Heaven” is coming back for another season; this time on the newly formed network, The CW? Someone?
• I had another Glenne Headly moment on Friday. Her name is Eve Matheson and she spent 2 seasons as one of the main characters on a Brit com called “May to December.” She showed up in the Mystery! program running on PBS/KCTS/KBTC – “Jericho.” Of course no one is going to appreciate this but I find it amusing.
• MC really is very thoughtful (see my entry re: my MIL). He taped an interview with Nick Collison for me and then waited for me to get home to watch it. I’m sure he would do the same if it was a Jan Ullrich interview.
• I find that I’m becoming hopelessly addicted to Slate’s Political Gabfest podcast.
• In an effort to boost viewership for “Veronica Mars” we are in the process of indoctrinating another friend. Now all we need is for one of us to become a Nielsen family.
• I’ve decided that the country can’t handle any more scandals, bad behavior, warrantless spying, torture of prisoners, suspension of civil liberties, extraordinary rendition programs, bribery, etc. I think we are exhausted and can’t get worked up over any of them anymore. I know that I’m on the verge of a breakdown from reading the news. I simply can’t process any of it without coming close to tears. In fact, I was reading an article about Al Gore’s new movie about global warming and all I can do is think about what might have been.
• I used to complain that the NBA playoffs lasted too long and were pointless, but this year has proved me wrong. Most series, especially in the Western Conference have proven to be entertaining, drama filled games. What more could you ask for? Well, lower tickets prices, but that’s a different blog entry.
• I bought the new Snow Patrol cd a couple of weeks ago and I am very happy. You should check it out if you have the chance. “Eyes Open.” They’ll be here in Seattle on June 15th at the Paramount. You’ll find me up in the balcony (I can’t possibly stand for over 2 hours at a concert). I’m that old.

Time for Summer

Now that the sun is shining (which is to be short lived if the weather reports are to be believed), it's time to let Nick Collison rest easy. The reason? The professional cycling season is in full swing with the Giro d'Italia. For the unitiated, the Giro is like the Tour de France, except, get this, they race in Italy! Amazing. This year's Giro started in Belgium which could cause some confusion. As an aside, the Tour de France started in Ireland one year. And now, back to the topic at hand. Professional cycling season means lots of photos of my favorite guy ever to wear magenta, Jan Ullrich. He's 'racing' the Giro this year in preparation for Le Grand Boucle (roughly translates to the big loop, the Tour de France). A friend of mine thoughtfully provided me with a new Ullrich photo (see above). I can't even begin to describe how much I look forward to the Tour every year. This year especially. I've got my fingers crossed that it's going to be competitive, dramatic, and with luck, a forgone conclusion before the second time trial. by that I mean that Ullrich wins the second time trial just for the glory of the stage win and not a necessary win to keep Basso from taking the overall..a girl can dream. :-)

Veronica Mars!!!!

It’s a good day! VM has been renewed for a full season on the CW. But, they might cut it down to 13 eps if the ratings are good. So, in the interest of keeping this EPIC show on t.v. I’ve been working on getting more people watching it. I’ve got one new viewer in the office...now we just need about 2 million more.

Catch up

I went home for mother’s day. Much to the delight of my mother, of course. We actually managed to spend the entire weekend without getting into a fight. It’s only happened a few times before. Perhaps I wasn’t home long enough? No matter, I think she had a good time and enjoyed all of her gifts. We did have the dreaded “when are you going to have a baby” conversation. Which apparently, was a common theme for the weekend. With my mom, it’s more like the “I guess you are going to be a horrible daughter and never give me grandchildren” talk. She’s resorted to calling the cat, the “grandcat.” A term I find appalling and called my mother out on the use as she has had this cat for 13 years – long before she was ready to have grandkids. But I digress. As we were in the car for the drive back from shopping, I realized that my mother had not stopped talking for at least a half hour. In fact the drive home was non-stop talking on her part. I managed to get a few comments in but really, she wouldn’t stop. I can see why my dad tunes out. I would.

Mother’s day was an odd one; spent the morning with my parents, stopped by a friends’ house on the way back to Seattle and then made it home just in time to see my in-laws. I then proceeded to make a horrible joke about MC to my MIL as she was telling me how wonderful he is. I’ll back up a little and give you the start of the exchange so you can really get a flavor for the conversation. It went something like this:

MIL: Your husband made us the most delicious dinner!
Me: Yes, MC (not his real name) told me he was cooking for you.
MIL: Well, it was just so delicious and such lovely presentation.

(By the way, I detest that she uses the term “your husband” to refer to her son, who has a NAME!)

* * *

MIL: He’s is just so thoughtful.
Me: :Yeah, he is...most of the time. (smirk on my face)
MIL: Oh no, for a man he really is very thoughtful.
Me: Oh sure, except when he eats all of my food...

I should know better than to dissuade my MIL from her belief that her son is PERFECT. Really, I should. I know that he’s thoughtful. But he isn’t PERFECT. No one is. It’s my own warped response to hearing a parent GUSH about their child. I don’t believe I have ever heard my mother gush about me. She’s more likely to insult me than praise me.
So my natural tendency is to make some snarky comment to bring a dose of reality into the situation. Let’s just say, it didn’t go over very well. I ‘confessed’ the whole incident to MC. He just gave me a bemused smile and I can assure you that he will forget all about it. I, on the other hand will do the same thing again and laugh about it later, because sometimes, I’m just not very nice.

The Suspense is Killing Me!

'Twas the night before the Veronica Mars season finale and all thru the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Not really, but it's like waiting for Christmas morning! Or waiting for Fitzmas (the Scooter Libby indictment)! Truly. I've done my best to put all of my wacky 'who dunnit' theories aside so that I could get some sleep. It might be a little bit harder tonight. Who blew up the bus? Who was the 3rd kid molested by "Mr. Goodwood"? Is it Beaver? Did Beaver blow up the bus? Or was it Kendall and the Fitzpatrick's? Or is it really Woody? Is Kendall going to show up and ruin another good moment between Veronica and Logan? Will Aaron be punished for killing Lilly? Is Logan going to shoot Aaron? Will Logan save Veronica? Is Lynn still alive? Will she show up, kill Aaron and then disappear again? Let me just say this: If Donut shows up to save Veronica and/or pledge his undying love for her, I will a) throw something in the general direction of the tv, b) scream, c) send a scathing letter to Rob Thomas, or d) do all of the above. I'm watching the season finale at a friends house so I promise I won't throw anything that could damage the tv. I swear.

Movie Boycott

Did you know that MI:III is opening this Friday? Seriously, haven't you seen all the ads with Toothy Tom? I will admit that I enjoyed the first two Mission Impossible movies but I'm boycotting this one. Not that my act of defiance against the summer blockbuster will make a difference. (I'm unusually immune to the allure of the summer movie - haven't seen MIB, Independence Day, Armageddon, Forrest Gump, you get the idea). I know that MI:III will make it's millions. I just can't stomach the idea of spending money on a movie that stars Tom Cruise. His relationship with Katie Holmes makes me cringe. I really should have bought that "Free Katie" t-shirt when I had the chance!

I will make an exception for the X-Men movies...how could I possibly turn down a chance to see Hugh Jackman with those sideburns? Hee.