detroit zoo, doubles and singles, side trip on the way home, and all the stuff in between...

so last night we started bowling our doubles and singles events at about 7:30 (an hour late). six straight games, no break. no amount of gatorade and oj could keep my blood sugar up. doubles came first, and i bowled a 145, 178, 127. singles i bowled a 166, 129, and a 92. in my own defense - by the time we got to that 92 game - it was about 1:30 in the morning and all the steam was totally gone. i'm not placed very well in any of the events so i probably won't win prize money this year. but i did bet $40 in brackets and turned that $40 into $85 - so that was kinda cool at least...

anyway. we also went to the detroit zoo yestereday. big place.

and on our way home today we took a side trip to warren dunes state park to visit the beach and lake michigan ocean (as we always affectionately called it).

and then i have all these photos - which don't fit into any other categories.

i'm pooped. yesterday was a long day with a short night of sleep followed by a lot of time in the car where i dozed off several times - but didn't actually get any substantial sleep. i'm sore and stiff - between bowling my brains out and sitting in a car all day. i have to take a shower and get some sleep and then try to function at work tomorrow. plus - the cats are still waiting to have a word with me about leaving for four days - so i have to give them their face time...

night!

team event

in this evening's team event i bowled a 158, a 152 and a 100. series a 410. i guess i choked in that last game huh?

tomorrow we have doubles and singles. we start at 9:30 pm and it can take 4-6 hours to bowl all 6 games. gonna be one late night...

in the meantime, enjoy these pictures and these pictures.

and we're off...

leaving first thing friday morning for the women's national bowling tournament in exotic detroit. jealous?

stay tuned...

all in a day's work?

morning got off to a fine start.

everything went to pot at noon when our phones went dead. weren't sure what the problem was. turned out to be some miscommunication someplace about our office move next month. someone thought the phones were to transfer over june 16th - not july 16th.

left for lunch at 1. came back at two to discover four fire trucks, five police cars, to fire chief vans, 3 first response vehicles parked in front of our building. we pulled over to a lot where two of our coworkers also just happened to land on their way back from lunch. the guys working outside our building digging a trench for the sewer hit a gas line.

2:30 - get the all clear to go back inside. smells kinda funky but they assure us it's not dangerous. but we find out that we can send emails out - but nothing can be sent in to us due to problems in new york.

3:00 - the trench diggers start playing with paving the spot they dug. tar and gas fumes combined with something that smelled like paint thinner starts giving everyone headaches but the gas guys can't detect any harmful gases in our building.

3:30 - call for a ride home cause my stomach is turning and my head is starting to ache.

4:00 - go home. where i am now, and working on work things to make up for the time lost by not having phones, emails, or a building with breathable air...

happy monday!

i've corrupted my child

we spent 45 minutes tonite watching nkotb videos on youtube (btw - i'm liking their new video more and more!) she's placing nkotb on her list after the jonas brothers - but i think it's only to please me. she wants me to put in the movie and see if i can still do the dances - somehow i think i wanna skip that part...

but we did find this father daughter wedding dance video and it cracked us up. you have to get through the first 45 seconds to get to the funny part though...

i so happy!

7 am - watched new nkotb video on vh1. it wasn't as bad as i thought it might be - but they have come a long way from chasing the girls around the carnival and locking eyes across the tilt-o-whirl.

6 pm - come home from a long ass day at work to find happy happy nkotb tickets in the mail. life is good.

6:30 pm - nina finds this in the depths of her closet (where it landed after we moved - along with her teletubbies videos). i'm gonna sneak out of bed at 2 am one night this week and watch it....



oh jordan. i can totally overlook your lameass stint on the surreal life where you came off looking like a weirdo with that whole boxes in the doorway o.c.d. thing. just give me one quality rendition of i'll be loving you (forever) - high notes in tact. i'll forget it ever happened...

i am the proud owner...

of 2 tickets to see New Kids on the Block on November 10 at Scottrade Center.

Section 117 - Row GG - seats 1&2

that's the right stuff all right!

ever since i got my laptop

bailey hates it. she's jealous of it. she's been trying to find a way to get around it to her favorite place in the world - my lap.

she finally said "screw it" and found a way...

you have no idea how hard this makes it to play solitare...

there's still time!

visit my kidney walk page to learn more about how you can help in the fight against kidney disease!

this week on "why you won't be my next american idol"....

welcome to a very special episode of "why you won't be my next american idol". i'm your very smart, talented, clairvoyant karen seacrest. i apologize for not getting this to you sooner - but i was celebrating the night away because i - for once - ACCURATELY PICKED DAVID COOK AS THE WINNER!!! yeah me!

honestly - i don't know what everyone is so suprised about. it seemed like a no brainer to me.

so - let's not beat around the bush. david archuletta - you won't be my next american idol for the following reasons:
1. you have no range. you can only sing the powerful ballads that people sing on telethons. every song you sing sounds exactly the same.
2. you may be young - but you are by no means hip or marketable.
3. your daddy spent too much time training you on stage presence - and not enough time training you to have a personality.
4. and because lindsey's husband is right and you do sound like vera di milo (performed by jim carrey on in living color) when you talk - and it's freaky!!!

and that means that DAVID COOK - YOU ARE MY NEXT AMERICAN IDOL! and nina already wants your first cd. so that's one cd sold...

and your from missouri - so that's a bonus. i will have to work on you being a royals fan though....

until next year - this is karen seacrest - out...

idol finale...

nina won't shut up about the jonas brothers. nick jonas is oh so dreamy...

and that archletta performace on "it's too late to pologise" sucked. i hate that song. anyone notice how he didn't even sing real words? just aaaahhhhs.

and i guess jordan sparks is feeling better...

edit - digging the jack black, ben stiller, robert downy, gladis knight thing way more than celine and elvis last year. lmao...

edit - george michael looks terrible. he looks like a george michael impersonator...

edit - and now we're waiting. you know - i appreciate george michael music more than i used too. but i couldn't watch him perform..

david cook's guitar hero was better than david archuletta. david wasn't even a sperm when that movie came out...

waiting. fluffy comments. can we just get to the results. wait - did simon just admit wrongness?? david cook must be winning because simon wouldn't take it back otherwise...

there's the envelope...

certified blah blah blah...

here we go.

winner

is

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

woot woot!

nkotb - nov. 10 at scottrade center!

idol thoughts...

round one. david cook. singing u2. still haven't found what i'm looking for. i always hated u2 back in the day. have a better appreciation for them now. this guy is such a rock star. i'd pay to see him concert. that was good. i liked that. vote for david cook!

wait, did randy just say that this is the duel of 2007??

edited to add.

round one. david archuletta. don't let the son go down on me. is his daddy aware that this was an elton john song? and it was performed with george michael?? i bet if they had let him backstage - he would have thrown a fit. this kid's a 50 year old man in a 17 year old body. i don't like him. he's dancing like he has to go potty.

round one winner. cook. clearly.

edited again. are the judges clearly on something. that wasn't unbelievable. or flawless. or the best he's done so far. ick. and simon's speaking bullshit. oh look. he's crying. BE A MAN ARCHULETTA!!!

edited AGAIN.

spelling "sun" - S-O-N in my archuletta commentary and then talking about his daddy - was totally an accidental freudian slip. i swear.

more editing.

round two - david cook rocked AGAIN. and the judges are on smack.

david archuletta sounds weird. aaaaaahhhhhhaahhhahhhhh. what is that?? he has no range. none. has he managed to successfully do an upbeat song all season? NO.

and that song kinda reminded me of "don't cry out loud" for some reason. ICK.

i'm going to add randy mentioning "singing the phone book" to my drinking game. he's used that about 30 times this season.

round 2 - VOTE FOR DAVID COOK. ARCHIE SUCKS!

editing again...

david cook. collective soul. i love this song. i literally have chills right now. how can you deny that this man has an abundance of talent? he's far more marketable. have we not learned anything from the success of daughtry? that was beautiful. now he's crying. aw. how sweet. at least that was an emotional performance. i FELT that. so his crying is justified.

paula's standing again. someone clue her to her seat please. and i think simon's a stupid head...

edit again.

okay - we had to take a break to go get nina from girl scouts. we're back with archuletta doing imagine. haven't we seen this before? he's kinda all over the place. and once again. totally not upbeat. this kid has zero range. he's not a pop star. he's a "very special episode telethon performance" performer. and his mouth is kinda shaped funny. and he has pig nostrils.

and i felt zero chills.

randy's on drugs. he was pointing in the wrong direction when he said the best singer in the season was right there. oh man. he's crying again. he has zero personality or originality. and have you seen the mayor of the town he comes from???

if david cook doesn't win - i'm losing faith in america...

bet you guys are wishing i never got this laptop...

VOTE FOR DAVID COOK!

if anyone needs me...

i'll be in morris, illinois...

nina's dance recital - hip hop

i wish i had got this yesterday - it was better then...

nina dance recital - tap

nina dance recital - ballet

nkotb reunion

so i watched one of the performances from the today show today. something about 30-35 year old women screaming like 13 year olds is kinda scary...

i'm still bitter about their lack of coming to st. louis....

and just out of curiousity...

is anyone still reading my babble? i know i let this thing go for awhile - but i'm back now. at an almost annoying state. but i feel like i'm talking to myself...

csi season finale

i saw that coming when i heard it was warrick's last episode. but that ending kinda turned my stomach. i found it very disturbing for some reason.

now i realize that there was a strike that disrupted the season and all - but i found this season to be, overall, quite diappointing. from the beginning. even before the strike. the conclusion to the sarah story. revisiting the child prodogy storyline. the green blood people. last week's episode with the comedy show (i bailed halfway through that one. and the warrick/mob storyline. all not their best stuff.

dear writers of csi - you better do a better job next season. i've been a faithful viewer for 8 seasons now. don't make me regret it by throwing it all away with a second bad season in a row...