Site Closed Til Further Notice (Yes, there will be cursing.)

This is what happens to your like-new prized vehicle when some cocksucker plows through a red light in Tampa:

What you can’t really see from this angle is that while the driver’s side wheel is at a 45 degree angle, the passenger side wheel is positioned at 90. As for the obliteration of the steering and front suspension, I wasn’t surprised by it having known that the force of the impact sent the truck into a spin into oncoming traffic. Not good. While it doesn’t appear to have frame damage, I’ll wait to breathe easy after they take it apart and put it up on the rack to have a look. It’s a b-pillarless cab and those are more susceptible to flex. Hence my cautious optimism.

So, thirty-five hundred dollars (rough estimate for repair), five days, and one broken arm later.. here we are. Luckily, my sister wasn’t hurt worse. I have to say though, living with a broken right-arm when you’re right-handed is a hell that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. Monday is the appointment with the orthopedist. The plan is to switch out the soft case given in the ER for a more traditional hard cast. Hopefully, the added stability will increase functionality, particularly with the fingers of the hand (writing, eating, typing). It’s a spiral-type fracture. So, twisting the forearm (say like to smooth down your hair or to work a mouse) isn’t possible. Monday is going to hurt, but things should steadily improve from there. No-one died in the accident and the other guy walked away well enough to scream “bitch” in Spanish over and over again.

The douche bag has insurance and I’ve got a hire car. Now, it’s just a waiting game to get through the red tape with the insurance companies. He was cited though for running the light. Though I’m shocked he wasn’t popped for Reckless when he was going north of 55mph (45 zone) and didn’t slam on the brakes, but rather attempted to swerve.

Regarding the Curry/Racism thread, I appreciate the patience of the people who regularly post on it in our discussion. I’ve been keeping tabs on your posts. I just haven’t been able to respond. Things are a bit overwhelming right now.

Not sure what else to say as it has taken me roughly four days to write this.

Please be careful out there. If you see anyone running red lights or driving dangerously, please report them. You never know when you could save a life.

Site Update: All the Shite Going On.

Well, what can I say?

Yesterday, I took Cujo in to see the vet. The two pills (by two pills, I mean the “don’t give more than two pills in twenty-four hours” two pills) hardly did anything to sedate him. If anything, he was a wee bit docile. We lucked out though. There were only a few people in the waiting room and at most it was 15 minutes. But there was this stupid bitch who obnoxiously squawked on her mobile phone. At one point, she reached down and actually opened her cat carrier bag thing. I was just waiting for that little runt of a cat to hop out. Cujo doesn’t like cats. I don’t like cats. We. Don’t. Like. Cats.

While I’m on the subject. What ever happened to bloody leash laws? I’m not concerned about Cujo attacking another dog. I’m concerned about some jackass person letting THEIR dog off a leash or on a long lead.. it RUNNING toward us and Cujo misinterpreting its intentions. If a dalmatian comes barreling toward me, I’m going to be a bit on edge. Plus, it’s not nice to let your pet shite in the yard of your neighbour. Jesus. Moving on.

So, the dog got his shots, but during an examination the doctor felt something. We were told to bring him back today for a biopsy of one of his lymph nodes. He said it was probably nothing, but better safe than sorry. That went down well. They sent us home and now I’m just waiting on a call to pick him up. They will also clean his ears and clip his nails. No sign of ticks either. All we need to do now is spray the yard.

Regarding FlickR, I actually made it to the boat show, but the photos came out crap. It was absolutely amazing the size of these things. They were huge. Even if I were a block away, half of them wouldn’t fit into frame. Just gorgeous design. There’s one I tried to get decent shots of (thought probably failed) that was the most wicked yacht. It was very much stealth in a goose gray (Mum’s description). Very angular and with a modern war-time feel to it. On the bright side, I have about a million Aston Martin photos to post. Couple other little gems in there as well. It’s most likely going to be a week before most of those are uploaded though.

Let’s see. What else.. oh. So much for the notion of vacation. Mum’s radiation will continue on indefinitely as she has explained (queerly enough). She’s also lost weight, which isn’t good. She’s an adult. Her responsibility. Though clearly, she’s made her decision. I’ve elected to squeeze in a weekend back to Tampa. I’ll be leaving Friday morning and returning Sunday evening. It’ll be nice to sit out back on the water and just relax. I’ve missed the quietness and the peace of it. Who knows, maybe I’ll get some great photos while I’m there.

Went through a couple pages of spam and cleaned all that crap out. Hopefully, the next time I post.. I’ll be sipping hot chocolate, petting Brando, and watching the sun set over the gulf soaking my worries away.

Cheers for now.

Site Update: I. Hate. Ticks.

Yea. I never thought I’d ever have to use that as a bloody title to an entry.

As you can deduce from that, we (I) have a tick issue. Now, about ten years ago (when we first moved here to the Hollywood House), the grounds had a bit of a tick issue. Some would say “infestation”, but I’m not sure it was that bad. The prior owners had at least one pet. The house had fallen into a state of disrepair. So, we weren’t exactly shocked when we got a dog and it came inside coated in ticks from a short-lived frolic in the back area. Yea. Twelve years old and here I am picking 30 or so ticks out from in between the toes of Cujo. He was about 2 then I think. We bonded quite a bit from that. Seriously. Anyway. We learned about all the latest pet medications for him. After a few dips and groomings, he was tick free. The grounds of the house had also been sprayed with some sort of pesticide we purchased from Home Depot. We’ve been tick free.

Well, til this past Thanksgiving. Patricia brought Brando from Tampa Bay over here with Daddy. It was quite nice having everyone together (even the puppies) until we found Brando filled with ticks. Out of the four years we’ve had Brando, he’s only ever had one or two ticks. One day, I’ll have to write about the two dogs as they are fascinating creatures with two very different personalities. Anyway. Brando is very much like a kid. He runs and hops and dives through bushes in the back. Very much like a little boy playing Indiana Jones. Cujo doesn’t play in bushes. He chases garbage trucks and defends his turf. I also never allowed Brando in my bedroom here in Hollywood because I was concerned Cujo would feel put out by it. Cujo usually sleeps in the door way or up next to me in bed.

Cujo also has the habit of “rolling” into my spot (I sleep upside down on the bed. Head at the foot. Don’t ask) when I get up for a drink or to go to the bathroom. Naturally, I was quite irked to return from the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning only to discover a tick crawling across my beautiful new Lotus Polar Blue sheets (And yes, they’re an exact match.) after having made the sleepy puppy move.

Last weekend, I spent standing on my head brushing, dipping, bathing, medicating, brushing, medicating, (and brushing smore) the dog. I stripped my bed of its linen and had Stanley Steamer torch all the carpet in the house. Finally, I could lay back and enjoy the plushness of my purpley room (walls, carpet, linen and accents) while bonding with my puppy.. which really means.. him curled up at my side snoring.

It was great til early this damn morning. Again, I got up to get dressed in the bathroom. Upon my return to the bedroom, puppy was curled up in bed.. again.. in my spot. He was asked to roll over back to his side of the bed and he complied. After a thorough examination (which I do regularly now), I spotted one tick. It had fed but wasn’t huge like they normally are. Clearly, the medication is making them fall off. I just have the misfortune of having them fall into MY BED.

Going by this, we’ve now determined that he’s ACTIVELY getting the ticks from the yard. I haven’t gotten any sleep as I keep waking up feeling itchy. Probably gonna nap on the couch for an hour, then get up and get some of that spray for the yard. He’s booked for shots on Tuesday and then grooming some time after that.

-sigh- Christ

Oh, the RAM upgrade turned out stellar. It took just a few moments after getting orientated with the diagrams. It’s been such a pleasure now working with this laptop. Right clicks no longer take 15 seconds to summon the auxiliary menu. The Thermaltake cooler is a brilliant piece. I just love it. Perfect for the bed because it has the angled up bottom and support legs so that the bedding doesn’t constrict flow of air to the concealed fans. Not loud at all.

God I’m so tired. It’s taken me two hours to write this if that’s any indication. I’d go through and format links into this entry, but I’m too beat. Anyway. I’m going to take a nap and get up to go to Home Depot. I’ll spray the yard and groom the dog before feeding him. If there’s anytime left, I log on here again, go through spam and posts to respond.

While sitting in traffic yesterday (took loads of photos as well), I got a brilliant idea for a fun little music trivia quiz series. I think I may also bring back the automotive crossword. They’re pretty quick to do as long as I spell check the answers unlike the inaugural one.  Another plus side of the RAM is increased photo posts. Keep an eye out for those. FlickR is set to get another round of updates in the next few days.

Tomorrow (Sunday), I’m gonna go for a drive to Miami and see if I can get some nice shots of the Yacht show. Love me a SunSeeker. Assuming of course I get any sleep at all. Looks like I’ll be camping out in the guest room until this tick issue has been dealt with.

I appreciate the patience. It seems like there’s one interruption to this blog right after another.

iTunes has been freaking out lately, but I’ll address that in another post.

Anyway. I’ll either post again tonight or tomorrow. Wish me luck guys.

Oh, and if you know of any really good products to put on canines or to use to sanitize/protect linen or yards.. please post them here! Thanks!

Remember, if you’re in the area of the Miami Beach Convention Center this weekend to Monday.. consider swinging by both the indoor AND outdoor sections of the Miami International Boat Show! The weather has been fabulous this whole weekend.

Ciao for now.

Technical Advisory

Yea. My laptop is one of those Compaq V2000. And for whatever damn reason, it only has 386mb of ram. Great laptop. Mobile. Wide screen. CD/R/RW/DVD/R/RW (whatever). But it is just slow as molasses.

A friend of mine informed me that I could buy higher RAM and replace the lower RAM spec.. chip.. things. So, I decided to do that. For under 70 bucks, I bought a gig. A whole gig of RAM. Since I’m a photographer and I handle a lot of media (plus photoshop), it was becoming very frustrating when the laptop would lag with PSE and AIM open. It would be really nice if I could have PSE, AIM, Mozilla and MP3s playing. Mozilla is more of a priority to have open because I’m constantly researching locations and car models so the tags on my flickR account are accurate. Plus, it gets boring as dog shite editing photos in pure silence. As you can see, my Last.FM account (from 50 plays/day to 4) has been suffering for it.

Yea. I’m gonna unplug, de-battery, power discharge and open this little pannel over here. All the posts on forums and technical guides that I’ve read are very straight forward. It’s just like replacing batteries in your remote control. It should just take a few minutes to pop off the cover and unclip the old chippy-thing to replace it with the new one.

However.. if for some reason.. I disappear.. for a month.. then you’ll know this has gone horribly wrong and I’m curled up in a corner somewhere crying my eyes out. But! I will take precaution and copy all my files to my lovely Western Digital 500gig MyBook. LOVE that thing.

If the new RAM doesn’t help me at the very least with running Mozilla and Photoshop, I’m going to have to get a new laptop. I can’t function as productively as I could with a “faster” system. Perhaps, “flexible” is better suited a term.

Anyway. I’m sure everything will go well. I also bought and absolutely awesome cooling pad for it by ThermalTake (T2000). It’s perfectly designed for those of us who use our laptops in bed. It’s angled up in the rear on firm support trusses. It’s a bit Ferrari looking isn’t it? After shopping around, I bought it off of Amazon. Even though it’s only got a “3 star” review, if you read the review you’ll understand why. The review is the result of the buyer not thinking.

People are so stupid when they review things. Just because you can’t understand how to get something to work (when a 100 other people give it a stellar review), doesn’t mean you should give it a 1 star review. If you get it broke on delivery, don’t give it a 1 star review. It’s not the product’s fault that some jackass at UPS smashed it in a door.

Anyway. If you’d like to find out if you can upgrade your RAM and what kind you should purchase, visit this site and they’ll run you through a quick check. One thing though, LOOK at the photos of the RAM. I almost bought the incorrect type because another site failed to properly label what they were selling. The one I needed for the laptop was square while the item they had listed was rectangular. Thank God I took an extra moment to clarify which was which.

Be sure to do research on how to install it. I used a combination of forums and official booklets. The posts on forums allowed me to read other people’s experience (troubles they ran into, tips and tricks) while the official documentation (which I found on the manufacturer’s site in the form of a “service guide”) offered clear diagrams of what things were and where they were located.

If you’re not sure, ask!

Okay folks. Wish me luck! If this all works out, I’ll be able to have more media posts on here and the Eye-Candy series will return!

My First Bitchy Comcast Service Tech Experience.

They’ve been making a lot of changes lately at Comcast. Just like with AT&T and Cingular, there’s going to be interruptions and issues. That’s just how business in tech areas work. You deal with it. The service outages (while irritating) never angered me. It was the fact half of them were scheduled upgrades or maintenance and they didn’t bother to notify us. Communicate with your customers. Most of my upset is with decisions from corporate and policy. It isn’t the tech’s fault. They’re following procedure. With my Blackjack situation, it was frustrating as hell. But each time I called tech support they were very responsive. It was their employee working with me to troubleshoot the phone. They were all very nice and communicative with me. We talked about was being said on the forums particularly with WM6 Upgrades and all that. Unfortunately, it took three phones to get one that worked. Turns out there was an issue with the coating in the antenna. Samsung refused a recall and instead quietly reissued/replaced phones. Somebody leaked an internal memo about it to the forums.

I say all that to get the point across that I know CS Techs have a difficult job and I’m sure people treat them like shit. Fortunately, I’ve only had maybe a couple bad experiences. One of them was today.

Regular readers are probably aware of my ongoing issues with Comcast service. In the last six months, I’ve had maybe 6-8 techs out to the house for various service and equipment issues. Today, the digital/on demand box in my bedroom spontaneously stopped receiving programming. The other four boxes and cable modem are fine.
Sometime around 1pm (estimation) I lost all guide information and the television began showing “One Moment Please” and “To Be Announced” messages on channels and a “Cannot Connect to VOD Server” message (215) for OnDemand.

About a month previous to this, I had issues with the very same box. Last time, I was receiving the “Cannot Connect to VOD Server” message, but regular programming was fine for the most part minus one or two channels here and there. It ultimately turned out that the box was late in receiving a programming update that effected the format of the channels. You’ll understand why I mention this in a minute.

For times when my modem connection isn’t an issue, I use Comcast’s online chat support. It’s great and things seem to run smoother typing than via phone. I highly recommend this for people who have had crap experiences in the past. All of the techs in the chat have been really helpful and nice. Well, until today.

So, at about 4:00pm, I decided to do essentially a hard reset on the box by unplugging it, waiting, and then turning it back on. After the customary 30 minutes of waiting for programming and menus to restore, I checked and no dice. That’s when I made the decision to log on to the Comcast Tech Support Chat to troubleshoot the issue. The first person I got (I think his name was Jason) was just as nice as usual. He sent a reset to the box and told me to let it cycle and wait 30 minutes. If that didn’t work, I was to do another hard reset and see. If neither helped, he instructed me to return to the chat, tell the tech what he told me and go from there.

So, I did. This time “Tiffany” was assigned to be my tech. It was a disaster from the start. The Comcast Tech Support form limits how much you can write to describe your problem. Because of that, my explanation was truncated about halfway through. Here’s the result:

Problem : About an hour ago, I entered the chat to troubleshoot an issue with one of our digital boxes. Channels had been showing the “one moment please” message or two hours and Error 215: “Unable to connect to VOD server” showed up with on demand. The tech rese

Vee > About an hour ago, I entered the chat to troubleshoot an issue with one of our digital boxes. Channels had been showing the “one moment please” message or two hours and Error 215: “Unable to connect to VOD server” showed up with on demand. The tech rese
Tiffany > Hello Vee, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Tiffany. Please give me one moment to review your information.
Tiffany > I will be happy to assist you today.

Vee > Thank you. There’s additional details might help you to know.. but there was a typing limit.
Tiffany > Can you please clarify your last statement for a better understanding?

Vee > I wasn’t able to add that the tech reset the box and instructed me to wait 30 minutes. If programming wasn’t restored, I was to unplug the box, wait 30 seconds, and then try again. If neither methods worked, he advised me to return here for further assistance.

Vee > I’m still getting the “One Moment PLease” and the VOD Server message, but now the guide and show info has returned, which is an improvement.

I realize I failed to insert the word “that” in between “details” and “might”, but was it really that difficult to get the jist of what I was saying? That was no big deal at the time. It went steadily down hill from there.

 Tiffany > Did you check your connections to make sure they were secure?.

Vee > Yes.

Vee > I haven’t touched the box in 3 weeks. I came home a few hours ago and saw the message.

Tiffany > This does not answer the question presented

Tiffany > Did you check them when you contacted us last

Tiffany > ?

Vee > I said yes.

Tiffany > Sorry

For whatever reason, Tiffany from Tech Support failed to distinguish between the answer to a question (I can comprehend a question that’s been posed to me in English as shocking as that may be to some of you), in this case a “Yes.” and additional information in a follow up post. The reason why I mentioned that the box hadn’t been disturbed in 3 weeks and worked fine up until “a few hours ago” was because the last time I had service issues.. I informed the tech of when it happened and it coincided with a scheduled maintenance. Rather than it being a malfunction, they had just interrupted it for upgrades. I also figured that knowing the estimated time of the outage might be relevant if other people began experiencing problems around the same time. Oh well. I guess people aren’t as active of thinkers as others. There’s always got be a bottom of the class.

While I know it’s probably the first thing on their list to ask, she’s the only Support Tech to ever ask me that patronizing question. It’s sort of like asking if it’s plugged in to power. I fight the urge to say, “Well Sparky, I’m sitting here on broadband chatting to you in a browser-based support room via a wireless laptop and router that I set up myself. I’m also a functioning adult that pays her Comcast bill on time and even has a big house and many TVs to hook this shit up to.. but you know.. it never occurred to me to check if it’s plugged into the fucking power socket or that all wires are secure.” But, of course, I never say it because it wouldn’t be productive.

Tiffany > Do you want to set appointment to exchange or do you your own at our office

Vee > I would prefer an appointment if I can have it in the next day or two. If it’s longer, I’d rather go to an office on my own.

Tiffany > A technician is scheduled to come out to your home on 2/13/2008 between the hours of 8-11am. This is the earliest date available. Please have someone there 18 years or older to meet our technician. We will attempt to contact you the day of your scheduled appointment at the telephone number you provided between the hours set. Please be advised, if we are unable to make contact with you, our technician will not arrive for the service appointment and it will need to be rescheduled.

Bitch. Didn’t even fucking ask me if that was okay. It’s not okay. Mum has radiation treatment at fucking 8am Monday through fucking Friday and my sister will be at work. As Lewis Black would say, “Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuckity-fuck”. That’s really fun to say. I highly recommend that at times of extreme frustration.

Tomorrow I’m just going to call Comcast, cancel the appointment and take trade in the box my damn self. Jesus. It’s now a quarter after seven. About thirty minutes ago it shut off and refused to come on as if it was locked. The box has since restarted itself and now flashes the “One Moment Please” notice with the guide.

I don’t expect this behaviour with future contact. They’ve always been really helpful and even.. warm. Maybe she was having a bad day. Maybe she’s a bitch. Who knows. I better move my laptop and stuff into the guest room so I don’t miss Idol and Nip/Tuck tonight.

Reading back over it, it was funny. Frustrating in the moment, but sort of humourous afterward. C’est la vie.

50th Annual Grammy’s Coverage

Here’s a link back to my other post featuring the list of nominees and my picks.

So, here I am on a Sunday evening watching the Grammy’s. It has been such an exciting year or two. I love Amy Winehouse. I can’t wait to watch her performance. Cher has a contract in Las Vegas. Can’t wait to see her.

And yes, Alicia Keys doing a duet with Frank. It’s amazing what can be done with technology. Love, love, love it. She’s never sounded better. As talented as I know she is, she still bores the hell out of me most times. In the next post, the Grammy’s Fashion Post, you’ll see me loving Alicia’s outfit. But, I’m gonna say it here as well. She’s very curvaceous, but doesn’t always make the best decisions when it comes to a cut of a dress or the shape of an outfit. However, this green number she’s sporting tonight is perfect for her. She can’t walk in it. It is just impeccable.

GO CARRIE! Awesome arrangement. LOVE those earrings. My favourite track of hers. Well, my ONLY favourite track of hers. For as soulful a voice she has particularly in this track.. she lacks any real personality when performing. Well, maybe not personality.. she just.. doesn’t have any expression. No pizazz. Rock it out Carrie.

Prince. Jackass. Suing a housewife over a baby dancing to a 30second clip of his song. Jackass. Seriously. Jackass.

The Time. Hm. Go Rihanna. Love it. Work it.  Nice to see Tom has lost the weight. He looks quite young.

That chick sitting to Ringo’s left is quite pretty. They say.. you’re either a Beatles fan or an Elvis fan. I’m definitely a Beatles fan. This is amazing. There’s something about their music. A Day in the Life is a brilliant track. Awesome car trick. Brilliant. I remember they used Let It Be in the ending of a season of Nip/Tuck. Terribly fitting. Terribly sad. What a powerful production.

Come onnnnnn Amy. Come on Amy. YES!! WOOHOO AMY won.

Jason Bateman.. whoever that is.. he isn’t funny.

Woohoo. Kanye. -grooves-  That sample of Daft Punk is wicked. Those sunnies are fresh. Daft Punk’s Alive album is awesome. It’s Daft Punk! How sad. Poor Kanye. As much of a right cock that he can be. It’s so sad. My heart goes out to him.

Fergie and John Legend. Hm.

It’s nice to see the Beatles continue to be heard and to have an impact through their music. It was great to see Ringo up there accepting the award for best Soundtrack.

Cher looks stunning. Ooo Beyonce. Love the arrangement. Nice tribute. Beyonce has always been a performer. She’s never boring in her shows. There’s Tina Turner. Lookin fab. -grooves- She’s sixty-eight. Lovin it. Tina and Beyonce doin Proud Mary. Let it flow. Rockin out. Work it.

Nelly Furtado looks so old with that blondish hair. She looks so.. unhappy. Roselyn Sanchez is gorgeous. Amy won the Record of the year award. Congrats to her.

Hate the Foo Fighters.  Moving on.

And best Rap Album is.. Kanye won. Meh. It was a good album. But I was rooting for Jay. Lol. They’re putting the music to him.

Aretha. Hm. She looks less.. She looks.. smaller.

Carol King looks.. ew.

Feist bored me to death.

Keely Smith and Kid Rock. Wow. A young Keely Smith reminds me a lot of the actress Michelle Forbes from Homicide.

25 time winner Stevie Wonder. Alicia Keys again. Like her better with her hair down. She needs to watch her weight though. She’s a bit.. not fit. Oo John Mayer not looking like a douche bag that can’t dress himself. He looks quite sharp actually.

Vince Gill was quite clever with his “Music is where democracy truly lives with every note equal” line. I also liked his jab at Kanye over Ringo. Cheers.

Rhapsody in Blue. How amazing. Herbie Hancock is amazing. Congrats to him on the nomination and winning Best Contemporary Jazz Album. He’s up for album of the year. I think it’s the first time in 40 some odd years that a Jazz album has made the nominations list and only the second time total. I’m torn between him and Amy winning. She must be closing the show.

Rihanna and Jay-Z won for Best Rap Collaboration.

Cuba looks pretty Gooding. Heh. London.. live via.. satellite. Come on Amy. Yea baby. She’s nervous, but she’s coming into it. Work it Amy. Her voice is absolutely amazing. She looked very grateful.

Is Natalie Cole really tall or is Tony Bennett really short?

And Record of the Year goes to.. Amy won. she’s gonna cry. She’s so freaking out. Oh my God. I could cry for her. Lord. I hope this really helps her turn things around. Nice shout out to Camden. Whew. Amazing.

There’s Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban are doing a duet in honour of Pavarotti.

Bonnie Raitt is awesome. I love her. She looks great. Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis are rockin out with John Fogerty. Rock it.

I do not like Will.i.Am. He’s such a crap artist.

There’s Usher and Quincy Jones. Lookin nice. Here to present the final award of the night for Album of the Year. Come on Amy. Amy’s gotta win. Another little stab at Kanye by Usher. Herbie won. Damn. That’s fantastic for him. That’s a legendary event right there. So awesome for him. I still feel bad for Amy though.

CBS just aired a PSA with Khandi Alexander. Wow. She’s gorgeous. She’s the coroner on CSI: Miami. I remember her from back in the day acting in the role of Peter Benton’s sister on ER.

Well, that’s it for this year. It was pretty good. Gosh, I wish Amy had won. If possible, I would’ve said the award to BOTH Albums. Both were amazing.

Congrats to all the winners!

P.S. Did that chick in the white dress have a nipple out?

Site and FlickR Update

As for the Mum thing, I wrote it up, proofed it, and wrote some more. Went back and read it and cringed. Seriously. I cringed. While it’s all the truth, it is a bit severe. It does approach my relationship difficulties with my mother in a very clinical way. Perhaps the decision was made to use that sort of cold tone because I know that I’m not the only woman or even person who struggles in their relationship with their mum. Maybe at a future date I’ll post a shorter version or even the article in its entirety after she passes on. My first reaction is to say “out of respect”. But that would be a lie. I guess, I really don’t need another issue to contend with at awkward family dinners.

While we were rained out of the car show on Friday, I did have the pleasure of shooting some lovely vehicles earlier in the day. Mum had a doctors appointment in Plantation and just down the car park was this beautiful scene of a Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano parked beneath trees. The sun was bright and the reflections were great. They’ve been freshly added to my Ferrari gallery.

I did, in fact, find the cache of photos that hadn’t been uploaded. So, I’m slowly working through that. There’s a whole Shelton shoot from January that I haven’t even gone through. Tomorrow, I’ve got some errands to run. With a little luck I may have some fresh shots.

Grammy’s are on tonight. Cher will be introducing the Tina Turner and Beyonce duet. That should be wicked. I might do a little fashion review tomorrow. We’ve had a lot of amazing music this past year.

Here’s a list of the nominees. And here are my picks:

• Record of the Year: Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around…Comes Around
• Album of the Year: Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
• Song of the Year: Rihanna - Umbrella
• Best New Artist: Amy Winehouse
• Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Christina Aguilera - Candyman
• Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: Michael Buble - Everything
• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals: Timbaland - Give it to Me
• Best Pop Vocal Album: Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
• Best Electronic/Dance Album: Tiesto - Elements of Life
• Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: Nickelback - If Everyone Cared
• Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: R. Kelly and Usher - Same Girl
• Best Contemporary R&B Album: Akon - Konvicted
• Best Rap Solo Performance: Jay-Z - Show Me What You Got
• Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Kanye West and T-Pain - Good Life
• Best Rap Song: 50 Cent and Justin Timberlake - Ayo Technology
• Best Rap Album: Jay-Z - Kingdom Come
• Best Female Country Vocal Performance: Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats
• Best Country Song: Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats
• Best Comedy Album: George Lopez - America’s Mexican
• Best Long Form Music Video: Madonna - The Confessions Tour

If Souljah Boy wins.. Christ. Shoot me now. You know, Amy Winehouse has a bad rap. Rehab (compared to the other cuts on Back to Black) is a crap song. There are so many other tracks on that Album, which deserve recognition. Rehab was fun the for 100 plays. Then it got annoying. Frank was an awesome album as well. I’m so rooting for her. She needs to win. She really does. She deserves it, earned it, needs it. Plus I bet her performance will be rocking. Amy’s looking really healthy.

So yea, those are my picks. Make sure you tune in to CBS tonight at 8. There were some strange rumours about MJ. But we’ll see.

Personal Revelation: Mum

Stemming from much thought and frustration (Think Brad Pitt as Mr. Smith in the therapist’s office making those very accurate strangling motions with his hands regarding his wife), I’ve decided to do a bit of an essay about my Mum. Well, by essay I mean that I’m too poor to afford real therapy and if I don’t vent somehow I’ll probably lose what little sanity I have left.

As a therapist would say, I’ve had a personal revelation, a breakthrough in my relationship with my Mum. Still doesn’t change the sad, pathetic reality of the state of our relationship. But hey, rarely do we get what we want in life right?

So, I’ve got about 15 minutes before I have to fetch her from la officina del medico. Probably, I’m just going to outline it and won’t get to writing it til later today. Hopefully, I’ll have it done before tonight as I’m considering going out to Tower Shops. Haven’t been in a week or two. If it isn’t posted today, it’ll definitely be up by the first part of tomorrow morning. Thank God it’s Friday peeps.

I’m also contemplating adding another section to this site as a companion to the “Short Stories” area. Rather than making my articles/essays a regular posting, I might make them static on a nonfiction-defined page. Some of them have already been posted. So I’ll have to look into the logistics of that and how it effects the comments (if any) on them.

Yea. That’s about it. Oh, there might be some updates to the flickR account. For some reason, I think I’ve got a couple folders of photos that I somehow overlooked in the uploading process. Dunno. I’ll have to go back over that.

Ciao for now.

Sam Lufti Lutfi What-the-fi-ever’s new publicist is an idiot.. seriously.

Here’s the video. It’s playing really choppy for me. But just let it load. Pause it and just let it load all the way before you play it:

Remember, this is the publicist that Kaplan (Kevin’s attorney) fired. He is now “representing” Sam to the media. You gotta wonder what kind of information regarding the case Michael Sands could possibly be privy to. That alone proves he’s unprofessional. The fact he would take on Sam as a client without fear of a conflict of interest? Okay.

Like I posted in the comments section there, this guy clearly thinks he’s the dog’s bollocks. You know, it’s like he’s involved in this big espionage/FBI bit. Great. Talk about your now-client and how you thought he was an evil guy. Brilliant.

I’m sure his ex-wife REALLY appreciates him talking about her medication that he “crushes up” and the mental history of his family. He doesn’t take medicine, but goes postal and has been sober 12– no 14 years? Uh huh. Okay. He’s been in a locked unit? Okkaay. Jesus.

Heath Ledger?! Wow. Wow.

Sam her manager? Ugh. Ugh. Sands is probably hoping that he’ll land THAT press deal. He hasn’t spoken to his mother in 2 years. His custody. His marriage. What’s his issue?

Perez Hilton talked about how someone was shopping around Sam’s experience to ET and other entertainment shows. Well, we know about it now. Sands is horrible at his job. Now he’s commenting again on his feelings regarding his former client/case with Kaplan.

He’s right about having to protect people who are bi-polar.

Clearly, Mr. Sands, you didn’t “click” with Mr. Kaplan. He doesn’t ask about his client? He doesn’t know if he’s a PI or not? Wow. Contradict yourself much? What about all that information from his “contacts on the up and up”. Jesus.

Hm. Adnan needs to be removed from the US because he came here illegally and is a bad guy? Can’t go into details. Okay.

It cut off for me at “Scape Goat” dunno if there’s any more to that video or not. Maybe connection issues. Dunno.

Anyway, here is a digest of my other posts relating to Britney Spears:

**Updated** Spears Released! Spears Saga..

Breaking Britney News: I Fall… to Piece– Piece.. Piece.. They Want a Piece of Me.

Quick Thoughts: Spears and Hogan (Probably Going to Curse. And Rant.)

Spears Status

**Updated w/ Stream** And It All Falls Down.. for Britney

Britney Spears New Video + Insomnia = Death of Brain Cells

The Britney Spears/Lindsay Lohan Gimme More Video Connection

My thoughts on Britney.

**Updated** Spears Released! Spears Saga..

For some reason alliteration makes my OCD happy in the pants. -shrug- What can I say?

From a legal stand point, I think most all would agree that the Spears Saga (heh) poses some interesting law-related questions. Regarding the paparazzi (I just have to mention them.. they’re like the pack of imps sent out by the evil dark force enemy or whatever), it still amazes me all of the bullshit they’re allowed to get away with. If you gave me a dime for every instance a paparazzo is actually FILMED breaking a law, I’d be rich. Seriously. We have kids being arrested based on videos on YouTube and photos on MySpace. Why aren’t the paparazzi being arrested for HOW they obtain these images? Yea, I’m going to sit here and swallow the bullshit lie of it being legal for a crowd of photographers to leap out into traffic and swarm a car at a traffic light.

Anyway. I was just reading on Perez Hilton that Rolling Stone has put out an issue covering all that has gone on with Spears. Used to, I had a subscription but that was canceled as there’s no real point in keeping ANY subscriptions because half the time I’m at another house on the other coast.

You know what.. I’m going to hop in the car and drive to Barnes & Noble. They should have it on their newsstand by now. I’ll be back in thirty.

Hold that thought.

Annnnd… as I’m walking out the door (rather putting on my heels) I hear from MSNBC in the bedroom..that Britney Spears has been released from the hospital and made a nice quiet departure. What happened to that 14 day psyche hold?

More details should be made available by the time I get back from the newsstand.

**Update @ 6:35pm**

That only took me an hour and forty minutes. Anyway. I have to wait a week for the new issue of Rolling Stone to arrive. Meh. However, I did pick up some lovely car magazines. And dinner.

Back to Britney. I’ve sorta gone off of TMZ again. Their coverage of what’s going on is.. well.. tres bizarre.

Well, the first post I’d like to link to is basically a transcript/reprinting of the declaration filed by Britney’s mother Lynne for the purpose of seeking an injunction/restraining order against Sam Lutfi. So, read that and take a minute to digest it. Some pretty heavy stuff in that document there.

The parents of Britney Spears aren’t exactly up for Parents of the Year awards. I think we all know that. It’s basically coming down to them versus Lutfi. I almost didn’t believe the things being said by Lynne until I really went back and read through everything Lutfi has said and done. Man. He’s.. wow.

Perez and a lot of people are saying that Lutfi is an evil con man. Initially, I thought the same thing. After reading this, I’m starting to think he’s mentally ill himself. The fact he would say that the note she wrote him was “cute”. He thinks a 26 year old, mentally ill woman writing an elementary school note to a man to communicate is “cute”? That speaks volumes about him right there. Maybe he thinks he’s some incredibly intelligent sociopathic con man that has everyone fooled and says stupid shit because he’s arrogant.. maybe he thinks no-one is clever enough to pick up on it. Either way, he’s not right. I do hope he tries to contact her and gets his ass thrown in jail for violating the restraining order.

She needs on going therapy and management. I can’t believe they’d just release her. There ARE legal maneuvers that can be made to keep someone. It’s not difficult at all.

If someone doesn’t step in and really take control.. (I would’ve thought the conservatorship would’ve taken care of that) she’s gonna die. She’s either going to go off the deep end or somethings gonna happen to her. How many times have we seen this? Not just with celebrities, but with every day people?

People also talked about how Kevin was a scum bag and only married her for money. But you know, I’m not so sure about that either. When you’re living with someone who is an unmedicated bi polar.. let us not forget postpartum depression.. it’s not a pleasant experience. That by no means excuses some of the dog-like things he’s done.. but it does add another layer of detail to it all.

That’s sorta all for now. I’ll keep an eye on the news to see if anything pops up worthy of an update.