We Weren't Ready...

...for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip when it came out. The show ran from September '06 to June of '07.

The show, which was written and created by Aaron Sorkin, is like West Wing meets Glee... and we weren't ready for Glee in 2006. It's smart like West Wing. It's sweet and entertaining like Glee. It's witty and charming.

More to the point: 30 Rock came out a month after Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and it's more accessible. I like 30 Rock; but, it's what we call in teaching "high interest, low readability"-- super engaging, but easily accessible.

Then, you peek at a list of events in September 2006... and it's clear, people were ready for Bubble Yum and not Tootsie Roll Pops--no one wanted to work for their joy.

And so, I conclude: We just weren't ready for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. If only they could bring it back now.

Critter Pics

I'm back on the blogging bandwagon. Here's some critter pics from tonight. (I tried to fix the red eye in one of the pictures... that's why it looks a little weird.)

Donors Choose

My pictures for the project funded in September are up on Donors Choose.

Why I Love the Internet

When I was in high school, I'd listen to this Christmas song. I thought it was called, "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe". It isn't. It's actually called "Our First Christmas".

At any rate, I've been trying to find the song for a long time. But, particularly since it was on a compilation CD, I couldn't find it. I didn't remember the artist, or the title of the CD... but then, I found it.

I understand the wonders of the internet, but still I couldn't find the song as of last year. It was just this past week that it finally popped up and finally, finally, although a month after Christmas, I found the song.

Here's 3o seconds of this awfully romantic sappy song :)

Winter's Bone

Scratch that--tonight we're NOT going to see Winter's Bone at Bear's Tooth Theater Pub. Winter's Bone is one of the 3 Best Picture nominees that I haven't seen. I have yet to see The Kids Are All Right and 127 Hours, but hope to see them both before the Oscars.

It's kind of funny, because, some years, I've seen almost all of the films and other years hardly any. This year I'm on a roll to seeing all 10 of the nominees... or NOT, I guess I'm going to have to work a little harder ;)

*Black Swan
*The Fighter
*Winter's Bone
*Inception
*The Kids are All Right
*Toy Story 3
*The King’s Speech
*The Social Network
*True Grit
*127 Hours

Community Acupuncture

I've been doing community acupuncture. Community acupuncture is where you pay some amount on a sliding scale-- I think the one I'm going to is $20-45 per session. You choose an amount that works for you. My first session was private, then my second session was with 2 other people. It's an interesting approach... but, for me anyway, it's what makes it affordable-- the difference is like $120 vs. $30.

Acupuncture has made a difference in my energy and the tension in my neck. I tend to slep A LOT the day I have it done, but the day after is much better.

If you're interested in trying community acupuncture, Jade Spirit in Phoenix (35th Street and Indian School) offers free acupuncture on First Fridays and $20-40 acupuncture otherwise. It's cross-listed in many places and has 1 positive yelp review, but I don't know anything about this place in particular. Let me know if you try it :)

Here are some other community acupuncture locations:

Los Angeles, CA, Eagle Rock Community Acupuncture
Washington, D.C., Little Bird Acupuncture
Boston, MA, Acupuncture for Everyone or Acupuncture Together

&

I've been going to Spring Wind Acupuncture in Anchorage, but here are some other Anchorage Community Acupuncture locations:
Snow Blossom Acupuncture, Massage Now!, and Spirit Path Acupuncture

or AcuTribe in Fairbanks, AK

Yahoo Maps

I never use Yahoo. I mean, for virtually everything, I avoid Yahoo. Maybe it was the stupid howling commercials??? I'm really not sure what my aversion is. But, I really don't care for Yahoo... EXCEPT for Yahoo's maps. Their driving directions are great! You can drag to change your route to adjust for ways you might want to go or avoid. Two thumbs up.

Groupon

Ah... so I've acquiesced. I've joined the land of the groupon. The local electronic coupons. It's cool... great for local businesses (letting way more people know about a company) and for customers (who get great deals and learn about something new).

Tap Root

We're going to Tap Root tonight to see Spiff. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Acupuncture

I went back for acupuncture today. I had a different practitioner who had a different approach. I think she was thinking more long-term. She did some heart lines. It hurt. Last time it didn't hurt at all. It's interesting. It had made a big change in my energy level initially; so, I'm hoping to have more success with it this week and next.

The Dilemma

Last night we saw The Dilemma. I know it had bad reviews; but, I was sure that it was going to be like Wedding Crashers or maybe Old School.

It's not. It's terrible. John said it had 20 minutes of funny, 1 hour of awkward, and 45 minutes of awful.

What was Ron Howard thinking?!

If it's in stock,

we have it.

...This was the marquee on a store in Vegas. Too awesome not to share.

Catching Up

I'm so behind in writing! Here's the quick update to get me back on track.

Last weekend John and I joined Kyle, Tracy, Dad, and Margo in Las Vegas to celebrate Dad's 60th birthday. We all had a great time.

We saw the Lion King.


We ate at Hubert Keller's Fleur. Our friend, Judd, had recommended it. It's tapas style and we got to try all sorts of delicious foods--meatballs, a cheese plate, rock shrimp, skirt steak, kobe sliders, mussels, and more. The dish that I expected to hate, but was actually delicious was the raw tuna tacos. So delicious... and I hate raw stuff.

We saw the Titanic and Bodies exhibitions at the Luxor. The Titanic exhibit is cool... just like the one that was at the Arizona Science Center. They did have a huge piece of the Titanic named "The Big Piece", which wasn't in Phoenix (at least I don't remember it). My favorite is still the re-creation of the Grand Staircase. I'm not putting any pictures from the Bodies exhibit. I really wanted to see it. I'd wanted to be a doctor and thought I'd love it. NOPE. Hated it. I found it so disturbing and nauseating. I was shocked!! No thanks.

We also completed CSI: The Experience at the MGM. It was basically a field trip for adults. It was nice to be on that end of a field trip.

We at the Paris's Eiffel Tower Restaurant.

It was a jam-packed few days. We finished the weekend in Phoenix, spending just Saturday evening and Sunday day with Mom, Kerry, Mina, Dodd, Jimmy, and Arash.

Acupuncture

I had acupuncture done today. The thought of it is worse than the treatment. But, it did seem to help with the headaches I've been getting.

Waive the Hamburger

Tonight John and I went to the Arctic Roadrunner for dinner... think In-and-Out, but not as tasty... close though.

It was originally an 8' x 30' trailer and has been around for 46 years... which would indicate nearly a half century of surviving consumers. Very promising.

Tonight John and I both ordered cheeseburgers with mine cooked medium and John's medium rare. In Anchorage, all burgers are generally cooked medium well or well. Arctic Roadrunner cooks all burgers medium well unless you specify otherwise, which we did.

They brought us the burgers and our receipt to sign-- supposedly as a waiver. I'm not a lawyer, but don't think signing the receipt does much in the "waiving my rights" division.

The BEST part of this was... the burgers were both cooked medium well.

Ahhh Anchorage!