And The Oscar Goes To...Hell

What happened to the Academy Award shows I used to love? I guess it would have helped to see some of the movies that were nominated. I think the only one I saw was "Eastern Promises" so I'm going to root for Viggo to win. I just saw his performance in Chainsaw 3 on cable. That was a trip. Anyway, a few good jokes by John Stewart does not an award show make. Where is Billy Crystal? Letterman? Even Ellen might have livened up things (Best Actress for crying over a dog). This year in my book Katherine Hiegl wins for Best Dressed for evoking the spirit of Marilyn Monroe. Best Supporting Actress Tilda Swinton (Queen of Narnia) looked more like Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" although her acceptence speech was sincere. More to come tomorrow after the show (if I make it to midnight...)

DramaRama

The guys in the office were incredibly ruthless today. I was already on edge from being in the Middle School principals office every morning this week, and now I have to deal with the "children" who work in my office. These so-called friends/co-workers readjusted my chair settings so I had no back support, they sang songs about me, and they pretty much just made my day miserable so it was impossible to do my job. And these are adult co-workers. No wonder my 13 yr old is having so much trouble in Middle School. I tried explaining to him that there will always be irritating people in your life; they don't disappear when you get older. There will always be people who will try to break your spirit. Even if sometimes they do it out of love. This is life. And there's nothing we can do about it but live it.

Biggest Loser

The Herald health club has organized The Biggest Loser competition at the company gym. I have entered even though I don't anticipate winning the contest. I'm paying my $5.00 a week to keep myself aware of exactly what I'm eating. So far so good, I've lost five pounds. My eating habits only needed minor fine tuning so eating healthier isn't difficult for me (easy for me to say as I sit here drinking a Cosmopolitan and chomping on Pepperidge Farm Goldfish). I'll let you know how I do this week when I am weighed in on Thursday. Last week I was in third place. Not bad.

Continental Breakfast

Ahh. The Continental. Who knew this imitation dining room of the Titanic could be so exciting. Our Christmas Eve dinner was marred by a fist-fight at the next table. The holidays always bring out the best in people. I wasn't as shocked by the violence in the dining room as I was when I got the bill for dinner. Happy Holidays! God Bless Us Every One!

We Missed The Boat (or Vice Versa)

My best friend Paul and I decided to spend the day on the Casino Ship that sails out of Lynn Harbor. In typical Paul & Scotty bad luck fashion, the ship's trip was cancelled today only after I took a vacation day to go on it. We drove to Lynn and boarded along with everyone else, waiting to get out to sea so the gambling could start, and before we could even eat anything from the buffet, the captain announced "generator problems" and we were asked to de-board. I knew "generator problems" meant "terrorist threat". Okay maybe I'm paranoiod. We didn't waste the day though. We hopped in the car and headed to Connecticut! We just can't wait to spend our hard earned money. What followed was a Seinfeld episode (as usual when we get together, complete with missed exits on the highway, handicapped lunch lines and dice flying off the tables. I broke even which is a win in my book. Paul may have even come out ahead. Of course he got the benefit of listening to me talk for 2 hours on the way down and another 2 hours back. I learned a few things on the trip as our discussion ran the gamut from gambling to God to kids to pets and everything inbetween. And neither of us were bored. Now that's what friends are for.

Moving Day

We're moving again. For the seventh or eighth time. Although we've been in the same house for seventeen years. Every so often we pack up and move each room into another room. The dining room becomes a bedroom, the bedroom a den, the den a laundry room, the bedroom an office and so on and so on. It's great to clean and paint and make a new start every so often. It's a lot of work, but it sure beats the hassle of selling the house and uprooting everything time and time again. Someday we'll move for the last time, and I have a feeling it will be right here where we are now.

Gone Fishin'

It took me a month to get back here, but I'll make it worth the wait. My family spent the afternoon at a barbecue at our friend Jeanne's house. The weather was awesome, blue blue sky and big white puffy clouds. Ideal. Dinner was great, barbucued chicken, rice and green beans with Jeanne's specialty dessert Coconut Cake. Delicious.
Fishing at the pond was terrific. Max's friend Alex caught a 12" large mouth bass, I caught a small bass, and Jeanne was the winner with a 14" 7lb. large mouth bass. Jeanne was so excited as it was the biggest fish she ever caught. We had lots of fun. Jeanne's neighbor, nine year old Aris, came over to give me some fishing tips. She's a great fisherman and her advice really helps. I don't know why everyone in the world doesn't fish at sunset on a pond somewhere. It would solve a lot of the world's problems.