Apparently, my email address was chosen to “win” a prize: US citizenship!  This is no joke – a scam, surely, but the following is a copy of the actual text contained within this email.  It’s one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read, although I have to admit that the “disclaimer” text at the bottom (in italics) seems very authentic – despite the numerous spelling and grammatical errors in the email!  So  Happy Constitution Day – according to my 4th grader, anyway – celebrate by reading this B.S. email and laughing out loud (and praying for the poor people who are actually victimized by this garbage).

CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE A WINNER!!! U.S. PROGRAM OF GREEN CARD LOTTERY-YEAR 2009/2010

We are here to inform you that you are among people selected that  have won US Green Card lottery.  Your email was selected so you are now citizen of United State of American. USA president has offerd you free ticket to United state of American. Live, Work and study in United States.

Kindly contact your claim agent Dan Gold  usafis_organization_green_card@live.com on more details of how to get your traveling documents and free air ticket to USA.

Congratulations once again.

Sincerely yours,

Lisa David

USA Department Of State     From the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Services:
The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 to provide for a new class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” (DV immigrants). Alien petitioners for the Diversity Visa Program will no longer be permitted to submit a petition by mail. Instead, the Department will require that all petitions be submitted to it in an electronic format, using an Internet website dedicated specifically to the submission and receipt of Diversity.

Take a look at this trailer for the 1951 version of Raiders of the Lost Ark (click the video to go directly to youtube for a larger version)!

What, there was no such version you say?  So what was was this then since the actors are real 50s stars?  Give up?  Go to this youtube link that breaks it down for you. 🙂

Incidentally, this isn’t this guy’s first work on a trailer like this.  Click here to see a couple more goodies.

Not much time right now, but I just wanted to share something that made me laugh today.  BTW, I am almost done with the camp DVD I’ve been working on- over two months late 😮 .so hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

Apple keynote in under two minutes:

As a frequent visitor to Orlando Florida, the United States theme park capital, the following news stories caught my eye.  Disney World and Universal Studios have been competing in an epic battle for tourists for a few decades now, and as a result, us tourists are the real winners!  Check out the two new additions to each park!

Universal Studios is adding a Harry Potter-themed world!  I’m not even a fan of the series and the pictures and descriptions of this place excited me!  I might have to read a Harry Potter book or see some of the movies before I check it out!  This answers the question I posed in a previous blog post – What will happen to Marvel Superhero Island when Disney buys Marvel?  Answer:  who cares?  Universal will have the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

Not to be outdone, Disney has released that they are doubling the size of their current Fantasyland area, adding a Little Mermaid attraction, among other things.  If the rumors on this blog are true, it seems to me like Universal is going to win this time.  More meet-and-greet space at Disney?  Yawn!  Bring on the thrill rides!  But if I know the folks at Disney, they have more than doubling Dumbo and adding more Disney princess meet-and-greet up their sleeves and just haven’t leaked that part of the expansion to the public yet…  So stay tuned!

I seem to have a bit of it. Funny how not having anyone at home gives me time to do other things. 😉 But where oh where is Jamaihsh (one of Tangents most frequent bloggers has been missing for a week). I know where one blogger is (no internet for Froggy). One may be taking a break (I really hope not, but that is his call). What about the Cabbages? Or Mare Mare? Hmm, is my extra blogging taking their space? 😉

On to different things. I had to get a new phone today. I’ve been thinking about getting rid of my land line for a long time. Recently I decided to keep it because I like being able to give people that number if I don’t feel like giving them my cell number. But my last phone decided it didn’t want to dial out anymore. I couldn’t read the messages on the answering machine either. And to top it all off, the wireless extension didn’t work either.
So I got a new phone. The answering machine is up and running again, but with a bit of a difference. I really like my cell phone greeting, so I put it on the home phone too. So Sorry Admin, but I like that greeting.

I knew it was going to be a busy day today before I even woke up, and I was dreading having to get up early.  I am very lucky (thanks to my wonderful husband) that I don’t have to get up early every day; I’m not a morning person.  But today there was an early morning dentist appointment and someone also had to be here for the plumbers (more on that later).  So I had begrudgingly set my alarm, but someone nearby decided to mow their lawn early this morning, there were dogs barking (turned out to be ours, of course, doh!), and a weird smell in the house (like someone had just gotten a perm, yuck).  So I got out of bed a half hour before my alarm even got a chance to  make a peep.  And when I went downstairs, I found this where our downstairs (and most popular) bathroom used to be:

Well, ok, so it wasn’t a complete shock.  We had scheduled the plumbers to come today to fix our bathroom floor bulge, but I wasn’t expecting the bathroom to be missing!  And obviously the plumbers’ estimate of the work is going to be way low (and the estimate was frightening enough in the first place!) since much more of the floor was affected than they originally thought even before they tore it to pieces.  Tomorrow we find out if the plumbing itself is “worse than they thought” as well, which would add yet another day to this project and who knows how much money, yikes!  Plus we still have to get a new bathroom floor; to be installed by a different contractor all together –  how much is that going to cost?  Did I mention I’ve had a headache all day?  The plumbers’  drill isn’t helping; it seems like they’re drilling my head open…  All this after we put a bunch of money into house stuff earlier this year when my husband sold his software which we considered a blessing at the time (more on that later).  We got rid of our humongous, room-sized furnace and put central air in the house, and then ironically it was the coolest summer on record and we barely needed the new air conditioning system.  We have the strangest luck  sometimes.  I  wouldn’t go so  far as to call it bad luck; after all, the irony is born from good things we’re receiving, so how can that be bad?  I do get a new bathroom floor out of this, at some point anyway – we might have to try the primitive classic wooden look for awhile…  And while I’m venting about the frustrations of today, let me just go off for a bit about how darn inconvenient it is to get things done while sharing a house with a few (extremely talkative) plumbers who are tearing apart the bathroom!  Not only do I have to keep the kids away from there, but I have to bring the whole gang (of kids – not the plumbers of course!) with me upstairs every time I need something from the bathroom!

And back to the stress of my husband’s work right now…  Back in the spring when his business deal went through, we were ecstatic that we would be able to pay some bills, fix some things on the house, and most importantly, spend the summer as a family without having to worry about work as much.  It was a great summer, but now we have come to find out that a major company wants the software that was sold and is willing to pay much much more than for what it was sold just months ago.  In short, if we had waited to sell the business for just a few months, we would be…  let’s just say ‘in a very good financial place’ right now.  I’m learning a bit about the lessons of patience and greed (ain’t human nature grand?  Just months ago we were perfectly happy with the business deal the way it was, and now I think about regretting selling because it’s worth so much more money), but it’s frustrating; especially on a day in front of little sleep and after the destruction of my beautiful bathroom.  Does this make sense?  I feel like I’m rambling a little bit…  I stopped in the coffee house drive-thru on the way back from the dentist appointment, and it’s been a while since I’ve had a White Lightning, so I kind of feel  like I’m all over the place…

But anyway, I should get the kids out of here and away from the busy plumbers (imagine that, a gaping hole in the bathroom floor attracts kids like flies to… well, I won’t go there.  At least the drive this morning to the dentist through the NW Ohio countryside at the beginning of the beautiful fall season relaxed me a little.  If only there was time for a nap before I go and try to lead a group of 13-year-old spastic seventh-graders…

One of the things I remember doing (OK, I still do it 😉 ), was talking to the animals at the fair in their own language. Yes, I would snort and grunt at the pigs. Moo at the cows and steers. Neigh and bray with the donkeys and horses. And of course baah with the sheep and quack with the ducks.

Of course, I would then tell my children exactly what the animal on the other side of the conversation said. I don’t know if I ever convinced any of my girls that I was ‘talking’ to the animals, but I had fun doing it. Still do.

This year at the fair, I heard an animal sound that I never heard before. Llamas in my experience were always very quiet. I’m not sure if this is a normal case, since I only see them during the fairs, and they are not very common at our little fair. It was an interesting sound and I got curious as to what type of vocalization they do. So I found this site that had a sound close to what I heard. Check out the humming vocalization. When one llama made this noise, the other responded. It was cool to see and hear them react to each other. It will take some time listening to the llamas to be able to converse with them, so I will have to wait until next year.

And for those who had a movie come to mind with this blog post, I will leave you with this.

I’m not going to pretend to know the latest texting lingo.  I know ASAP and TTYL and even oic, but that’s about the extent of my in-house texting-acronym dictionary.  Not that I care too much – it doesn’t even make me feel old or out of it because texting itself is amusing to me; not when texters are behind the wheel though, that’s just scary.  I saw that graphic UK public service video with the girl who was texting and crashed her car.  Awful stuff, I DO NOT recommend you watch that; it was incredibly disturbing.  But anyway, I do know the acronyms I need to know for my chosen profession as a SAHM = Stay At Home Mom.  And last night, I officially became a member of MOPs = Mothers Of Preschoolers.

It was really different and very nice – after dinner I left the house alone for a change.  Poor hubby got left with all 4 kids and a messy room to get cleaned.  I didn’t feel guilty; I knew he could handle anything without getting so frustrated he would melt down for the rest of the night, which is more than I could promise for myself.  And after all, I had been waiting for my turn to go out ever since Hubby was in his last community theater production and I got stuck home with kids during his rehearsals.  But that was a year ago, and in the meantime, there was just never anyplace to go that would have not been more fun with my entire family.

So last night, Hubby fared well; the room was cleaned (sort-of), but the most important thing is that no one was stressed out, and 2/4 kids were actually asleep when I  got home – BONUS!  As for the MOPs meeting itself; it was different than I was expecting…

I was expecting a few women from our church who I know have young children, but when I  showed up, the parking lot was full.  I went in, feeling a bit intimidated since everyone else seemed to be with a friend or two.  And there were about 60 women, dwarfing my prediction of 5 or 10.  Not only that, but there was a sign-up table, where I learned that you were supposed to sign up ahead of time in order to be assigned to a group.  Oops – guess who  hadn’t signed up?  So I crashed a group, but I knew at least a few of the other women from church, so it wasn’t really like crashing.  Our poor friend Jeremy, the teaching pastor at the church, was there to make a church-related announcement, and I’ve never seen a man look so out of place.  He stood before 60 women in a room oozing with femininity – an endless sea of scrap-booking supplies, flowers, chocolate, and scented candles… And he looked like there was anywhere in the world he’d rather be; it was hilarious.  He gave his spiel, left in a quite a hurry, and then we snacked, chatted about our families, and made our scrap-booked our place mats which will be at our tables every month during our meetings.  Overall, a very fun evening, and we even got to take home some cute little fall trinkets.  I found out that childcare is available, so next month Hubby can have a break too while the kids play.  I learned that many MOPs are also SAHMs like me, so we have kind of a girly little community.  And that reminds me; I was really amused when the coordinator asked, “Does anyone have any special announcements?  We have gifts for any of our members who are expecting or adopting.”  I guess in a room full of dozens of women in their child-bearing years who already have young children, asking if any are expecting doesn’t really come from left field.  So of course, not one, not two, but three women came up to share their blessed news.  Then we also heard from two who had recently had babies and brought them to the meeting – talk about a dose of baby-itis!  But for now it’s fun to talk about our kids and our lives – I’m the only one in our group with more than 3 children; which surprises me –  I thought large families were making a comeback?  But for any other moms out there who want to join a fun Christian-based peer group, check  out this link for a MOPs group near you!

Well this is the start of my 3rd week without children at home, almost. I say almost since my darling youngest daughter has come home the first 2 weekends and will be home the 3rd weekend too. I don’t run around as often, but the drive is a bit farther now. Sure there are good excuses for all of the home trips, so I won’t say too much about that.

I did find it funny/strange all of the young ladies my daughter rooms with have gone home for the first two weekends. I’m kind of glad at that. If I were in that situation, I would hate to be the one left behind on the weekend.

So on to me. What have I done the past two weeks.. Well, same old same old except I was a bit lazy last week. I found a web comic from an artist I enjoyed in my youth, and I’ve been reading his stuff. It may take me a while to catch up. Anyway I was looking for this, but I found this. Years of comic stories too catch up on. It may be something I will need in my personal library, but so far the web comic is ok. On this site I did find the original comics that drew me to the artist. Back in my D&D college days, I remember reading Phil and Dixie on a regular basis. Then the Myth series of books that Phil Foglio illustrated. Such fun memories..

• We lost our most celebrated player…  FOR THE SEASON.
• Our new pro-bowl quarterback had the [statistically] worst game…  OF HIS CAREER
• We had other key injuries…  THREE OF THEM (yes, three MORE)
• Our consistently amazing special teams unit made a huge error…  THAT MAY HAVE BEEN FATAL
• Our defense looked good all game, but when it mattered most…  THEY CHOKED
• They were not playing a normal Sunday day game, it was a night game…  ON NATIONAL TV
• It was not any game, it was against the Packers…  PUBLIC ENEMY ONE

I’m going to try and answer some common questions often asked after a game like this…

Q: What positives can you take out of a game like this?
A: Well, I didn’t die while watching it, and that’s always a good thing.  (Good for me anyhow)

Q: Can the team bounce back next week and win big in their home opener?
A: Nope.  They play the Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.  The only thing the Bears can hope for is a Steelers team that gets arrogant and fails to come ready-to-play.  But, hey, this is not just a good team — these are the Superbowl champs!

Q: How big is the loss of Brian Urlacher?
A: Brian who?  Never heard of him.

Q: Should Offensive Coordinator Ron Turner be fired?
A: Football is about the fans, and I’ll tell you — the fans do know the sport.  I personally think Ron is just plain boring for our offense.  If we’re not going to win I at least want us to be exciting…  We have some speed, we have a top running back, and we have a [supposedly?] pro bowl QB.  Lets roll!

Q: Want to make a season record prediction for the Bears this season?
A: No, but I will anyway…  I predict they will start 0-1.  The only noble thing to do is predict that they will go 18-1.  Fifteen wins during the season, 2 wins in the playoffs, and one in the Superbowl!  The only loss being that abomination in Green Bay at the start of the year.  (But if they went 8-8 I wouldn’t say I was surprised)

Q: Would you trade Jay Cutler back to the Denver Broncos for Kyle Orton and some dog food coupons?
A: No.  That is a ridiculous question…  Well…  How much coupon savings are we talking here?

……end of my self interview…… wait, one more thing…..  no, wait, the self interview portion of this blog post is over……

I am doing the rest in bold.  Why, because the Bears lost and I am pouting so I can do what I want!

Oh man, I just remembered…  I am trying to work on being less obnoxious, so off with the bold!

Well folks, the bottom line is that my beloved NFL team the Chicago Bears lost this September 13, 2009 to the Green Bay Packers (see what I did there – all the keywording, it is so Google (Hi Google!) will know my blog post has info about that exact game).  We lost the game, we lost good players, we lost confidence, and I lost my mind…  Oh boy…  Another NFL season is upon us!