Seriously. This summer has been one of the busiest in my entire life. Every weekend we've had something going on. Last weekend was pretty nice. We went to see The Simpsons Movie. All I have to say about that is Spider Pig. I'm waiting for that movie.
We also had a nice BBQ with the Thornburgs. Other than that, we were busy getting ready for our upcoming trip to Michigan. Yes, people from Ohio can enter that state up north without spontaneously combusting. Although, I'm technically from there, and Chris is from Minnesota, so who knows.
I love vacations. Who doesn't? Well, maybe the Griswolds. But, man I hate packing. Always have, always will. And the traveling that's required to get to your desired destination. Maybe someday they'll finally perfect the teleporter and I won't have to worry about all that. Until then, we get to spend every free minute this week figuring out how to pack enough stuff in my car to sustain 3 people, including one mini-person, for a week. Oh yeah, we have to fit in the car, too. It might end up looking something like this:
I've been found out as an American Idol geek. I have watched the show every season since the first one, and actually wanted Justin Guarini to win instead of Kelly Clarkson. Obviously I should not be allowed to have my own record label for this reason.
Still, I've never actually bought an album by any AI folks, or seen any of them in concert. Until this weekend. Since our trip to Ann Arbor was cancelled, I decided to take my mom to see Clay Aiken with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra at the Picnic with the Pops. She's always said that she loved his voice, and I think she actually does own one of his CDs.
Clay was touring in support of his latest album, which is a cover album of a bunch of cheesy '80s songs. He actually did great versions of some songs that I probably shouldn't admit to knowing the words to. And his backup singers were fabulous. There was just one place it went wrong. As the Columbus Dispatch put it:
His current tour also features medleys of 1970s and ’80s television themes and of “ fast songs you can do with an orchestra,” the latter of which included such silly gems as Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back, Usher’s Yeah, and Kenny Chesney’s She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy. (my emphasis added)
Yes, you read that correctly. Baby Got Back. And one that's not mentioned is "OPP" by Naughy by Nature. If you don't know what OPP stands for, you're on your own to find out. This is a family blog. In any case, it was frightening. Clay is very white. And not very cool in the traditional sense of the word. He pulled off the Kenny Chesney song just fine, but let's just say he should stay away from hip hop and R&B.
I get bonus points for correctly identifying the theme songs to "Perfect Strangers," "Growing Pains," "Full House," "Who's the Boss" and many other songs in the TV medley. Now if I could just figure out a way to free up that wasted brain space so I could use it for more important things.
Overall, I have to say I enjoyed myself. The weather was perfect, there was plenty of great people watching, and the music wasn't half bad.
For some reason, I have been particularly annoyed by commercials lately. Maybe it's because I can now fast-forward through them if I'm watching something I DVRd (generic term for Tivo). In any case, it seems like advertisers have no idea what they're doing.
Case #1: "Let's go, girls!" and the Stanley Cup Here's the ad:
I have several problems with this commercial on its own. First, I hate how the woman says, "Let's go, girls!" It's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard. I also hate how all the women take down their hair before getting in a convertible. Any woman who's done this knows the consequent pain of spending hours brushing out tangles like you wouldn't believe. And of course, one lets go of her scarf as they're driving down the road. Right.
What really makes the commercial bad is the fact that I saw it multiple times during each of the Stanley Cup playoff games. Yup. Some genius decided it was a good idea to buy ad time during professional hockey playoffs and run an ad that is clearly aimed at women. Is that really the best use of your advertising dollars? I don't think so.
Case #2: Old ladies sliding down banisters Sorry, I couldn't actually find the ad online for this one. YouTube, you've failed me! Anyways, this ad is for OsCal, a calcium supplement. You may have seen it during a pricing game on the Price is Right. Anyways, their ad talks about how taking OsCal reduces your risk of hip fracture by 29%. Which is great! Who wouldn't want to reduce their risk of hip fracture. Except then the ad shows a woman sliding down a banister. Judging by the "Mom Jeans" on the woman, she's no spring chicken. Something tells me sliding down a banister wipes away that 29% risk reduction, and possibly even increases your risk for hip fracture. Especially if you're wearing Mom Jeans.
Case #3: Restless legs syndrome or gambling addiction? Okay, to be fair, this one isn't so much about the ad, but the product. Mirapex is a prescription medication used to treat Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), and sometimes Parkinson's. RLS is this weird condition (which I think I have) that makes your legs have very strange tingly, prickly sensations when you're trying to sleep. I've never heard of anyone going on disability for it or anything (note: I am not an expert in this field). Here's what bugs me. This is straight from the Mirapex website:
There have been reports of patients taking certain medications to treat Parkinson’s disease or RLS, including MIRAPEX, that have reported problems with gambling, compulsive eating, and increased sex drive.
"Wow, it's so nice not to have those pins and needles in my legs anymore. I can actually get some sleep now. Unfortunately, I've gambled away my life savings, lost my house, and now have no bed to sleep in. Thanks, Mirapex!"
In general, I think advertising prescription medications on TV is horrible and makes people think they have problems they don't. I'm sure doctors don't appreciate people coming in because they saw some TV commercial and decided they needed that prescription. That's just my opinion, though.
So, those are my pet peeves. Thanks for letting me rant.
Sometime about 5 or 6 months ago I remember thinking, "Geez, I can't wait for Lauren to be able to get around on her own." This was obviously the thought of a first-time parent not knowing what she was wishing for. Sometime around the end of June, Lauren started crawling. And that was great. She couldn't really go very far, and hadn't figured out that moving on her own meant she could go anywhere she wanted. Then the light bulb went on. Now, we spend our days following her around saying one or more of the following: --"No, Lauren." This one is always involved. --"Don't play in the cat food." --"Cat litter is icky." --"Those are Mommy's books." --"Don't play with the cords." --"Don't pull the chair over on yourself."
To make things even more fun, she's now figured out how to pull herself up to standing. And she tries to do it on all sorts of inappropriate things, usually those that have wheels or sharp edges. Apparently she likes a challenge.
Her latest accomplishment, other than completely covering her crib and herself in her own excrement (ask Chris for complete details): climbing stairs. So far the record is 5 stairs. Her usual target is one of the cats, who are equally as frightened of Lauren's new mobility as I am. So, I guess it's time to give some more cash to the baby industry for the purchase of some hideously ugly yet completely necessary baby gates and other assorted babyproofing devices.
Now, I can't wait for her to start talking so...oh wait, never mind.
Wow. Time flies when you're having fun. Or just really busy. The last few weeks have been pretty crazy, but I guess that's what happens in the summer.
My excursion to see Wicked was excellent. The girls went out for some great food and wine, and more wine, and more wine, at Due Amici, a little restaurant near the theater. And just about the only restaurant in downtown Columbus that's open for dinner on a Sunday. The next day we all agreed that more food and less wine would have been a good idea. The show was great, even though the understudy was playing the role of Glinda. For my first Broadway show, I thought it was awesome. I'll definitely check out other shows as they come through Columbus. Spamalot, The Wedding Singer and The Lion King are on my radar. Riverdance is not.
I also survived three 12-hour days of volunteering in the media tent for the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational golf tournament, part of the PGA's Nationwide Tour. The tournament went extremely well, and even set a record for the Nationwide Tour: an amateur, Daniel Summerhays, won the tournament for the first time in the history of the Nationwide Tour. It was also only the 5th time since 1950 an amateur has won a PGA-sponsored event; Phil Mickelson was the last one to do it in 1991. He now has the opportunity to declare himself professional within the next 60 days and join the Nationwide Tour for the rest of 2007 and 2008. Or he can wait until January and join just in 2008. He's got some big decisions ahead of him. He was very nice when he came into the media tent. In fact, all the players who came in were very down to earth. I suppose most minor-league athletes are since they're not rolling in the dough yet.
Chris and James also got a chance to check out the tournament. One of the perks of volunteering was the 2 week-long passes I received for family and friends to use. I hear it was a good time. I'm planning on volunteering again next year. Just maybe not for 12 hours, 3 days in a row.
Next up was supposed to be a visit to the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair to see Chris' mom at work. However, she did extremely well at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Colorado, and had to pull out of her next two shows, including Ann Arbor, to prepare for other future shows. So, we won't be making the trip to Ann Arbor. That's probably a good thing for us since we can use a weekend at home. We'll try to catch up with the Bileks sometime around Lauren's birthday.
