something sparkly this way comes… » tv

And here I thought the Hallmark Channel was all “family programming.”

bipolarbear — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:32:20 +0000

I guess they’re ﬁnally broadening their horizons. (That’s Martin Mull in the background.)

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On this day: Something old, something new… 2006

First snow

bipolarbear — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:30:46 +0000

The ﬁrst one that stuck, anyway. The ﬁrst one of which I got pictures. Here’s the view from my upstairs bath off the master bedroom, of our miniscule back yard:

And here’s from the front door, of our porch out to the street.

It stayed very cold all day, we kept the ﬁre fed, and G made a delicious gumbo for dinner. We watched the recorded Lighting of the Rockefeller Center Tree (everyone except Josh Groban was lip-synching), and Heroes. I can’t barely wait for tonight’s season ﬁnalé!

Cablevision Is Dead! Long Live FiOS!

bipolarbear — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:36:01 +0000

We just got home from a Peekskill Common Council meeting where there was a public forum on the vote for Verizon’s FiOS television service to be available to Peekskill residents. The Council voted a resounding YES on the contract, and we will no longer be under Cablevision’s tyrannical rule. G got up to speak a short piece about how FiOS availability was one of the top reasons why we moved to Peekskill, and the Verizon reps thanked him after the meeting (I’m so proud!). No more irritating Optimum Online ads hogging tv time, no more incompetent techs and reps, no more cable whatsoever. As many of the speakers noted, competition is healthy and a good thing for all concerned. Of course, there were some of the usual suspects who got up to speak (most notably Ray, a guy we refer to as “Timmy/Jimmy,” after the South Park characters. He’s in a motorized wheelchair, is on public assistance, lives in a HUD apartment, stutters and stammers, and generally has no clue as to what he’s talking about. Ever.) Every time the Cablevision guy (hisss) spoke about some point, someone from Verizon was right there to combat his views. There were union people there, Verizon workers, ofﬁcial reps. When the Council voted in the afﬁrmative, there was thunderous applause. One of the Verizon guys took down G’s name and number; we should be able to sign up mid-October. Hallelujah (cue Handel’s Messiah)!

Simple pleasures

bipolarbear — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:40:38 +0000

We went to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday and spent a ridiculous amount of money on pale blue linen curtains (what was I thinking? I’ll have to iron them all!) to put up in the dining room, and some green and yellow striped viscose (I think) ones for the living room. So that our nosy neighbors will stop watching our tv. We also bought some accessories for the master bathroom. Every time I look at them, it makes me smile. I may turn the mat around so that it’s facing the loo.

Dropped off a pair of baby socks for MNK’s as yet unborn baby. Found out from my sister that the other pair that I’d knitted for Z. will be too small for him by the time it’s sock-wearing season, so I’ll drop them off for TH, who’s due in February. I found out today that BMM’s expecting, too. I start my new job on Tuesday at 9:30 am. Squee! G. said he’d take me to Woodbury Common Outlets tomorrow to clothes-shop; I’m in dire need of acceptable clothing. One pair of khakis to my name, and Dockers at that! Not that there’s anything wrong with that…I’ll have to try Daffy’s and Dress Barn Woman and Lane Bryant too, I think The Gap is going to be too expensive.

I’m working on Knitty’s Hallowig out of some horrible hot pink Caron Simply Soft Brites (No Dye Lot!). I’m suffering along using a pair of Clover Takumi bamboo circs, because I needed to start knitting this thing and Flying Fingers is temporarily closed while they bring in their fall yarns, and Cornwall Yarn Shop is just a little too far away to justify the gas for one pair of needles (I also can’t trust myself to only buy the Addis I need once I’m there, and not to fall into a bushel of OnLine Supersocke). The stickiness of the acrylic yarn coupled with the grabbiness of the bamboo is making for some very painstaking knitting. I’m assured, however, that the end result is going to be completely awesome. (I’ve decided that I really need to stop saying “awesome” ever since watching an episode of Eureka where most of the geniuses turned dumb and to illustrate this point, they had one of them use the word in a surfer tone of voice. Must. Stop. Saying. It.) The better part is that it’s moving quickly. And they were only eight dollars.

I’m on page 119 of Deathly Hallows, most of which was accomplished waiting for G at the dentist’s ofﬁce. It’s really good.

Saw Dr. W today and we’re reducing my dose of Wellbutrin down to 75 mg BID from 100 mg BID. We both agree that it isn’t doing me any good any more, and there is always the risk of it producing mania. He gave me another boatload of samples of Geodon. That’s another $500+ saved, thank you. I hate insurance companies.

Painkiller Jane

bipolarbear — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:55:20 +0000

We’ve watched the ﬁrst four episodes of the series, with plans to watch the rest as soon as we are able to. According to Wikipedia, “The Sci-Fi Channel Original Series based on the character stars Kristanna Loken as Jane Vasko. The series’ pilot aired Friday, April 13, 2007. The name of the heroine in the show is the original comic name of Jane Vasko as opposed to the Jane Browning character from the television ﬁlm. The series has received lukewarm reviews. On August 15th, 2007 it was announced the show will not return for a second season.” Which comes as no surprise. The acting is kind of soft, and the plots are a little lame, always trying to get a real point across, rather than just banking on shoot ‘em up scenes with lots of special effects. I keep expecting André McBride’s character to be that guy from Wanted, another short-lived tv show. But he’s not as tough. I know, a funny thing to say about “m’kay? guy” from Ofﬁce Space, but still, on Wanted, he kicked ass.

Tomorrow, I will hopefully be hearing about the series of Very Exciting Things that happened over two weeks ago. Fingers crossed, everyone!

Farewell, Martha Jones

bipolarbear — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:54:54 +0000

We watched the season ﬁnalé of Doctor Who. I’m still teary-eyed from knowing that The Doctor is once again, alone. There was just too much tumult, too much tension in these last few episodes. On the bright side, Gary found The Scissor Sisters’ “I Can’t Decide,” the theme music from the last episode “The Last of the Time Lords”), and Rogue Traders “Here Come The Drums (Voodoo Child)” from episode 12. The music is really catchy. I met the mother of one of The Scissor Sisters at work, I was admiring her pendant; it was the scissors/legs logo of the band. Cool, that.

We have ﬁfteen people coming to our July 4th mixer so far, including Councilman Schmidt and my ex-husband, Timothy. Gary’s working on the music mix. Time to start cleaning the house!

Blink…don’t do it

bipolarbear — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 05:20:22 +0000

Quite possibly the scariest episode of Doctor Who I’ve ever seen. Brought back horrid memories of ghost stories told at Leela Kolt’s birthday party all those years ago. The one about the china doll with fangs. This episode had it all, from moving statues, to the lights going out, to being watched, to fangs…everything. Then, as I’m outside at 1 am putting the grill cover on, G makes a hissing noise from the darkened bathroom window while standing on the toilet seat. I jumped about three feet. Holy baby jeebus! I hate being scared. I startle very easily. Man alive!

Tomorrow I go to submit the job application. I have therapy ﬁrst, so I’ll go over it with my shrink. Wish me luck!

Cut to black

bipolarbear — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 05:07:05 +0000

I cannot believe the end of The Sopranos. Totally unsatisfying, unless you go with the supposition that references Tony’s conversation with Bobby Bacala about, “When it happens, you don’t even hear it.” So, is Tony dead? Is that it for Big T? I’m slightly distraught. The past two seasons have been, well, not very meaty. Kind of whiny. David Chase said that the show is about family (with a little “F”) ﬁrst, and “this thing of ours” second. I’ve been a faithful follower, watched every stinking episode, usually on Sunday night (it was the only thing for which I had HBO), I ditched out of family obligations early, dumped off of phone calls midstream, anything to get my weekly ﬁx. Maybe I need to go back to the beginning, watch the series over again, see if I can see where it went wrong. I’m at a loss.

I fell asleep standing up

bipolarbear — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 04:30:04 +0000

I really did. I woke up at 5:30, woke up again at 6:07, cursed, and flew into my clothes (no time for a shower if I don’t want another fucking tardy on my record), and rocketed down Route 9 to be at work by 6:45. I pull into the empty parking lot at 6:43 am. I curse. I begin to freak out. I call the company voicemail to see if there are any messages on there about changing the training schedule. There aren’t. JA pulls in in her Lincoln (what a cool car!) and looks at me. I get out, and say, “What the fuck is this shit?” We bullshit awhile, pondering the state of things, when ST ﬁnally rolls into the parking lot at 7:05. Apparently there was a roadblock or some such bullshit. All I know is that I busted my ass to get here on time and now we’re all late. JA and I wrote our actual arrival times in the time edit book in GG’s ofﬁce. No way I’m getting called out for that.

So we’re in this training class for the new point of sale system and we’re joking around, but I can’t stay awake. I had so much trouble falling asleep last night, I didn’t get to sleep until after 2:15 am. I actually fell asleep on my feet. JA poked me and said “Lys! Wake up!” Wow. I didn’t know I could do that. At around 2 pm, I told NTP that I was delirious from lack of sleep, and he said, “But you’re smiling! You’re smiling!” Ass.

G did an awesome job of cleaning up the house in preparation for his parents’ visit. The kitty room is cleared out, the attic looks great (no holes for Harry to climb into and under the floorboards). Garrett came over for dinner, so did my mother, and Tony from up the street stopped by before The Sopranos series ﬁnale to let me know what the ofﬁcial opinion was of my application. I just need to rewrite it, with no typos, and it’s ready to hand in. Wheee! We’ll be watching The Sopranos tomorrow since we had company this evening. And more Doctor Who, too. I just can’t watch any news shows or talk to anyone before tomorrow. I had to stop my dad from talking about it when he called. I can wait.

The last few minutes…

bipolarbear — Thu, 03 May 2007 03:40:48 +0000

…of my 39th birthday will be spent snuggling up to my sweet hubs, who gave me the funniest card. I’m getting a yarn spree for my birthday (wheee!!!) instead of stuff for the house, which is what we had agreed on earlier for birthdays and stuff, stuff for the house. But I like the yarn spree idea much better. I got cut roses and an flowering plant from my brother, a pearl necklace from my mother, and a check from my father. At work, JA announced over the intercom that it was my birthday (“It’s Lys’ birthday. The girl in the red shirt. Let’s sing happy birthday to her.” She is *loud*) and then proceeded to sing Happy Birthday at the top of her lungs. Oh. My. Dear. All day my cow-orkers wished me happy birthday and after JA (her name is an anagram of “jaunty as inane” on Sternest) pulled her little stunt, all the customers did too. It was really nice, even if my face turned as red as my shirt. (“Birthday girl to the register bay, birthday girl to the register bay.”)

I’m close to being done with The Bug’s carriage blanket; I’ve started on the white, have two blocks of that and then two blocks of the dark purple. Maybe I can ﬁnish it by the shower (Saturday. Today’s Wednesday. Night. Hmph.). I’ve got to drive it like a Mack truck if I want to get it done.

I’m listening to Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab, ” (“You’re tryin’ to make me go to rehab and I say no, no, no…”) from her album “Back To Black.” She’s really good, really loungey. They’ve been playing “You Know I’m No Good” at work. Awesome. I didn’t know who it was, but NiHu told me. We saw her on some chat show on the BBC with either David Tennant or John Barrowman. They were making fun of the “Rehab” song. Well, time to go to snuggle. ‘Nighty night!