Friday, April 30, 2010

Friday ConeZone #14

Time for another installment of Friday ConeZone! This week I'm sharing a remote shot during the Writer's Strike in 2008. Conan decides to go to the doctor when he has a sore throat, mostly to mine it for material for the show. I had my follow up eye exam today to check into my high eye pressure. Turns out I likely have very early Glaucoma. Fantastic. So when trying to think of a clip to share today, this one immediately came to mind for this reason. This clip is "mirrored", which is done to try and keep the web spies off the track of hot Conan clips. Doesn't affect the funny though.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Come On In

I reallyreallyreally want to paint our front door red. It's a big wish on my house project list. I have to figure out the right shade, if it's possible to protect it from sun fading (which is a current problem with our front door), and how you go about painting your front door without your house filling up with bugs. Young House Love has a tutorial on painting your front door red, which I'm sure I will rely on when I'm ready to take the leap.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

New Math

Today I wanted to sing the praises of social networking sites. In particular Twitter. I've mentioned on here before that I've decided I want to start college in the fall. I haven't been in school for over 10 years. That's a pretty long time. I took a practice placement test online a while back and failed the math portion horribly. Ten years is a long time to be expected to remember geometry and algebra II, especially when you have used it a grand total of ZERO times since high school. Anyway, I'm trying to refresh my math skills before I have to take the real-deal placement test for school. What does math have to do with Twitter? Well, here's the story:

I follow Mindy Kaling, like many people do, on Twitter. She made a couple of jokes based on fake band names. I followed suit and made a couple of jokes on fake band names. Because I'm nothing if not original. Someone cruising the tweets with that hash tag found me, enjoyed my tweets, and started following me. Then days, maybe weeks, later I tweeted about how I hated algebra. And this guy informed me that he works for a company that makes software to help prepare math-challenged students for for-credit classes. And he set me up with a free download of the software this weekend. I worked through two lessons last night and it's actually really neat, developed in part by staff from Carnegie Mellon University. So, I got free, fancy math software all because I made a couple of jokes on Twitter.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

How Does My Garden Grow?

I finally FINALLY got my veggies into some dirt yesterday evening. I planted my herbs a while back, but had been planning on getting some different planters for the veggies, which was the cause of the hold out. I can never find just what it is I'm picturing in my mind. But when I realized that my strawberry plant was actually growing tiny little strawberries I figured I'd better get them in some earth and I can transfer them to the bigger, better containers of my dreams as soon as I can hunt them down. I had a strawberry, a pepper, a tomato and, as it turns out, a cantaloupe plant to get arranged. The cantaloupe came as a surprise. I thought I had picked up a squash plant. Unfortunately it was an unwelcomed surprise because I hate cantaloupe. I stuck it in a pot all the same, but if it actually grows anything you can perhaps look forward to receiving a cantaloupe from me because I won't be eating it. I deadheaded my two rose bushes while I was outside too. Here are some pics I snapped!

strawberries
Wee strawberries

tomato
Tomato tot

pepper
L'il pepper

rose3

rose5
Roses

Monday, April 26, 2010

Weekend Roundup

This weekend went by far too fast, partly because I worked on Friday and partly because Persuasion arrived in the mail and I had to watch it repeatedly. Yes, I said "had to".

Friday:
-Work, yuck
-Walk
-Get ready
-Load in at The Moon
-Grab some Fuzzy's Tacos and chow down at home
-Fate Lions at The Moon with Holly
-Beers after at the house with the guys
-Crash

Saturday:
-Up at 8 to start math software download, back to bed
-Sleep in
-Walk
-Try our bikes out, oy that's gonna take a lot of practice
-Shower
-Cheese & crackers for lunch with Josh
-Install math software
-Start Persuasion
-See Josh and the boys off to Denton and Oklahoma
-Nearly finish Persuasion before Holly arrives
-Grab some grub at Central Market for me and Fuzzy's for Holly
-Watch a couple of W.C. Fields shorts and Groundhog Day
-See Holly off, get ready for bed
-Finish Persuasion
-Fall asleep watching some Simpsons

Sunday:
-Sleep in
-Clean up cat vomit, oh joy
-Work on menu and grocery list, while watching Persuasion
-Walk
-Shower
-Bowl of cereal and finish grocery list
-Grocery shopping
-Salad and sandwich for dinner
-Josh get back from OK
-Clean and prep veggies for week
-Sweep house
-Finish the rest of the W.C. Fields shorts
-Get ready for bed
-Watch Persuasion one more time, clearly I need help

Friday, April 23, 2010

Friday ConeZone #13

Lucky number 13! Three weeks until I'll be in the real life ConeZone. I can barely think of anything else people! Anyway, had a busy day today so popping in to share a classic Conan moment before I start my busy weekend. I love it when Conan tries new things and participates on the show. That definitely includes his hilarious attempt to learn to swing on a stripper pole after interviewing Sheila Kelley about her pole dancing workout program. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Resurrected

Phew! I'm back in the land of the living. Finally feeling better after a week or so of sore throat, runny nose, sinus headache and coughing. A little congestion left in my chest, but nothing I can't get through the day with. We had a good time at our party Friday night, I'll try to share a few pics this week. They're on my home computer, so I don't have them on hand just now. I've barely left the house since last week. Most of my time was spent watching old movies and some TV on DVD. I managed to do two hours of math work yesterday, although as long as it takes me to figure things out two hours doesn't equal a whole lot of progress. Anyway, that's why things have been so quiet here. Now that I'm more or less back to being a functioning human being here are some of the things I'm looking forward to:

-Fate Lions show Friday night with Holly
-Getting my veggies planted (They're still unplanted but have stayed watered so doing alright for now)
-Taking our bikes for a spin
-Getting caught up on the new season of Glee
-Watching some W.C. Fields shorts
-A bit of house tidying
-Plugging away at more math
-Three weeks until Conan!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Friday ConeZone #12- Party Edition

Our Conan birthday party is tonight so I'm busy tidying house and getting things ready. I'm a little too busy for a full ConeZone post today, so here's a cute Conan pic instead. I used this for the FB party invite. Also, if you weren't already in the know, you can get the inside scoop on what's going down with Conan's tour by checking out the Teamcoco. com Blog, updated by Aaron Bleyaert. All sorts of little tidbits you can learn about the tour experiences they're having. Have a great weekend and I'll fill you in on our Conan party next week!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Under the Weather

I went to bed last night with a sore spot in my throat and it was still there when I woke up. I went ahead and stayed home. Not 100% sure if I'm sick, it's allergies, or something I ate might have scratched me even. But when you're boss is undergoing chemotherapy it's important to not compromise his immune system and best to play it safe. Unfortunately I was planning on taking Friday off so I could clean house before the party. Which means today's sick day has also become today's cleaning house day. And hopefully I'll be feeling fine for work tomorrow and can do a half day on Friday so I'll still have time for some party prep. I have to say it is hard to motivate yourself to clean when you aren't feeling tip-top (hence the blog post, procrastinating), but then I remember I'd prefer if kitty tumbleweeds weren't meandering past our friends Friday night.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Weekend Roundup- Conan News Edition

This one is a bit slapdash. This weekend went a little something like this:

-Plant herbs
-A few errands
-Steph's birthday at Top Golf driving range
-Laundry
-Grocery shopping

That pretty much sums it up. We got a late start on Saturday so my chore time was almost nil, then my lady problems had me laid up most of Sunday, so a little laundry, watering my plants, and grocery shopping were about the extent of what I got done that day.

I didn't get around to posting yesterday because there was all sorts of excitement in the nerdy world of Conan fans. Conan will have a new show on TBS starting in November! And yesterday was the first day of his 30 city tour! Last night he kicked things off in Eugene, Oregon and the show included special guest Jack McBrayer and musical guest Spoon. I wonder who the guests might be in Dallas?! So much excitement!

Additionally I've been doing some party prep the past few days. We're having a party on Friday in honor of Conan's 47th birthday, which is this coming Sunday. I had the idea to carry through on the message of his final Tonight Show speech, so we're having a "Be Kind" Shindig. We're asking our friends to each bring a can of food, which we will donate to the Tarrant Area Food Bank. In addition to that we're starting with a total of $47 (for his age) and for every guest that comes we will add $5. That money will be donated to Labels Are For Jars, a hunger charity in Massachusetts which Conan is on the committee for. We'll have some Conan clips playing on the TV, but aside from that it's just a regular party and a good excuse to hang out with our friends. Looking forward to partying!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Friday ConeZone #11

Guys, I have to tell you that I am very excited. I know it's still 5 weeks until I get to MEET CONAN, but the tour starts on Monday in Eugene, Oregon. I am so excited to see what kind of tidbits and behind the scene videos Aaron Bleyaert will be sharing on Teamcoco.com once the tour kicks off. I am so excited for Conan to get out there and feel the love from his fans in person. And I'm so excited that the sooner the tour starts the sooner he'll be here for the Dallas gig! In honor of being on the road, I thought today I'd post a remote from his trip to San Francisco a few years back. He did a week of shows there and took a little trip to visit Intel, who underwrote the show being in California. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Incompleter

If I was a "New Character" on Conan I'd be "The Incompleter". I am terrible at finishing things I start. I always have a million ideas and never enough follow-through. I stopped by Lowe's yesterday after work, as I said I would. I picked up a couple packets of moonflower seeds, two basil plants, a cilantro, a small tomato, a strawberry, a dwarf pepper, and a squash plant. I also got some soil to mix with my regular soil and compost, and two planters which I've already decided I'm going to return. I'm going to go to Handley Feed Store on Saturday to find bigger ones. Anyway, I don't even have anything planted yet, and today my mind has already moved on to trying to figure out what I'd like to do with our bedroom. We never got around to painting it, since several straight weeks of painting had completely put me off doing any more when it came time to do the master and spare bedrooms. There's nothing wrong with our bedroom. It just isn't finished. The furniture is all taken care of. I'm fond of our bedding although it could use some finishing touches. I finally found bedside lamps awhile back that I liked and would work alright with our space. I dislike the wall color, although it's just a beige, so not technically offensive. We have nothing hanging on the walls. And there's the fact that I insist on watching television in the bedroom, which means I need my big black satellite/DVR and dvd player too, naturally. Hmm, I wonder how long I'll be pondering this one before I've moved on to my next purely-in-my-head project?

P.S. Don't worry, I'm totally gonna get those veggies and herbs planted. They may not live long while I'm off staring at paint samples and pillow shams, but at least I'll have half-finished the job. Which is a lot more than I can say for most things I take on, ha.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Garden Party

I'll be leaving work shortly and I'll be stopping by Lowe's before heading home. I've decided the time has come for me to start my plans for growing some herbs and veggies before we get too far into the season. Of course I would decide the time to do this is the week/weekend before we're throwing a party. A party which I will fill you in later, but I have done almost no real work on, aside from jotting down my to-do list. Luckily it's gonna be a loosey-goosey sort of hang out, but with my penchant for planning everything down to the last, itty-bitty detail I'll still manage to make it a monumental task.

Lowe's has some fruit and vegetable plants on sale and I already needed to go by there to look for some larger pavers to support our rain barrel. Hoping I'll find some decent tomato, pepper, and strawberry plants on sale. Oh, and some basil. My life just might be complete if I can manage to not kill some basil. Okay, maybe not complete, but certainly slightly more delicious. The list of projects inside the house has certainly not gotten that much smaller, but it's just the time of year when your mind wanders to the outdoors, isn't it?

Photo from Real Simple

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Weekend Roundup

Friday:
-Work, yuck
-Make dinner
-Eat: salad, salmon burgers, oven frites
-A little jazz and a cold beer
-Hit the hay

Saturday:
-Up early for haircuts
-Lowes for screen door and look at sheds
-Leftover salmon burger and chips while menu planning and grocery listing
-Help Josh work on putting my bike together
-Grocery shopping
-Chipotle for dinner
-More bike work
-Bedtime

Sunday:
-Sleep in
-Breakfast and coffee
-Shower and get ready
-Head to Doug's place for pre-show rehearsal
-Deep Ellum Arts Festival for Sunward show
-After party at Doug's w/ band and Omar
-Home, Wendy's on the way
-Pass out on couch for the night

Monday:
-Stay home to recuperate from partying too hard
-Post hangover junk food and TVathon
-Shower
-Clean and prep veggies for the week
-Pizza for dinner while looking at vacation ideas
-Bedtime

Friday, April 2, 2010

Friday ConeZone #10

Hello and happy Friday! Time for another ConeZone. Can you believe it's been 10 weeks since I started sharing a little Conan love to get us ready for the weekend? Time is flying by. Hopefully that means it won't feel like much longer before his mandated banishment from television is over. Like I said last week, I try to keep my ConeZone posts a bit topical. So in honor of Easter this weekend here is Conan's appearance on The Martha Stewart Show. It was her 500th episode, too. They decorate Easter eggs and, um, glitter a ham. Now you just have to watch it, right? How can you not be intrigued by a glitter ham? I LOVE Martha and Conan together, it is always a guarantee for laughs. So, enjoy and happy Easter!