Link Round Up: Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras and Everything In Between

People always remember Valentine's Day in Feburary, but what they should really be remembering is Mardi Gras. Which, if you didn't know, is today.  For a holiday that may or may not have been inspired by the springtime orgies of ancient Romans, this gets surprisingly little recognition outside of New Orleans. So make your own party: cook up some jambalaya, mix some drinks, make yourself a Mardi Gras mask and see how many beads you can earn (no flashing required).

I'm currently working on a story for Saint Rose Chronicle about this one: formspring.me. Valleywag calls it "the sociopathic crack cocaine of oversharing". I have one, and I encourage everyone else to have one. Cause with a name like that, it has to be good.

I stumbled across this beauty and I couldn't help but share: Price Chopper, a grocery store with which I am very well acquainted, has started a blog. As a former grocery store employee (with the battle scars to prove it), I am both fascinated and disgusted by this new development. All I can say is this: let me see the blog of a Price Chopper Employee, a la Waiter Rant, and there will be one more satisfied customer. Or, better yet, let me write that blog myself.

Another airline mishap: "Silent Bob", aka actor, writer and film director Kevin Smith, was pulled off of a Southwest Airlines flight on Saturday because he "needed more than one seat to complete his flight comfortably."  After the YouTube success of "United Breaks Guitars" and the controversy over the sizing of Delta's new flight attendant uniforms, I'm willing to guess that the PR departments at these airlines are going to have their hands full.

And, finally, ladies (and gents): if your Valentine turned out to be a dud, take heart with some of these stories: the good, the bad and the funny.  Sometimes it really is better to break it off.

I'm Baaack!

Yes, it's true. I know it's been a few months since I've posted, but I'm back and ready to entertain. For now, I'll start you off on a light note with the thing I've been cracking up over for at least the past couple of weeks. Find it here.

I'll be back soon with the much-anticipated "Deeper" review that I promised after I did my stint at The Walmart Novels, so stay tuned!

FYI: BRB

So, loyal readers, the time has come for me to say goodbye. For a few days.

Don't worry, I'll be back. I'm just taking a few days to wrap up school, start Christmas, and get myself home to begin Family Time. Also, I'll be working out content for a 44 page travel guide during the next three weeks, so my writing reserves are gonna be pretty tapped for the time being.

I'm still finished Megan Hart's romance novel Deeper, in between all my finals, papers, etc., so a review will be forthcoming (as promised). Check for it in a few weeks--I'll post up an alert first so we're all on the same page.

On that note, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and I'll be back before you know it!!

Happy Days Are Here Again!

Ok, so since I've moved away from home and signed a lease, etc, I've beeen learning some of life's lessons the hard way. And I'm willing to bet I'm on the same page as many of my fellow college students and twentysomethings when I say: this sucks.

There are bills to pay and snow to shovel, papers to write and tests to take and roommate and relationship drama to work out, part-time jobs to live through, dinner to make and laundry to do and while you may have figured this out awhile ago, it really hits you around this point that there's no one there to do it for you.

If you're a child of the 90s (like me), this might help bring you back to simpler times when life gets way too stressful:



Try not to freak out when you realize they're younger here than your baby cousin is now. You still have a few years before midlife crisis becomes legit.

With all the hype over Taylor Swift, Taylor Lautner, Taylor from (2) seasons of the Vh1 reality show Tough Love, and You-Tube craze over a certain airline's mistreatment of one musician's Taylor guitar, it's nice to bring it back to earth with a little Taylor Hanson (though he is now, by the way, somebody's dad).

(video via YouTube.com)

Liveblogging: The Office!

9:01 pm: Can I just say that I love The Office? I've been to Scranton, Pennsylvania (sadly), but even that bad experience can't take away from my love for the show. Oh, and Andy's wearing a pink shirt!

9:06: Oh, shit. Michael Scott just offered to pay for the college education of a whole group of disadvantaged high school kids-- and he can't. They're cheering for him. God Help Him.

9:10 What's not cool is that Dwight is trying to get Jim fired. I know Dwight is freaky and funny and all that, but c'mon, writers-- if you get rid of Jim, you get rid of half your fan base. Dwight, you a--hole! Stop setting him up!

9:15: They're called Scott's Tots, and they are rapping, "whatcha gonna do when their dreams come true?" The teacher has named him a DreamMaker. There are speeches occurring about guardian angels and President Obama. This can only go downhill...

9:20 "I've done something stupid and I'd like to share... tuition is very vaulable, but so is intuition! Does anyone out there have intuition? You know what's gonna happen next? No? You're gonna make me say it? I'm so proud of you!...Well, Zion, I'm not going to be paying for your tuition. And that brings me to my main point: that I'm not going to be paying for anybody's tuition. I am so, so sorry."

9:25: They better not be firing Jim. Just because there's a cake with his face on it and a big scandal going on around him. Dwight is doing some good impressions of his coworkers on the phone while he complains to corporate, yeah, but I'm hating Dwight more and more by the minute. Yes, he started employee of the month. And he won it. And his wife was in second place. But it was not his doing. God!

9:30: Phew, okay. Michael Scott destroyed 15 young lives today, Dunder Mifflin might be going under, but Dwight didn't destroy Jim's life, so I guess it's okay.

May I Have Your Attention Please

I stated in a previous post that my neighbors and/or the neighborhood crack addict had stolen my copy of Deeper by Megan Hart before I had a chance to snatch it from my mailbox. This was an incorrect assessment. I found the package fully intact in the mail today, and a review will be forthcoming just as soon as I can give the book its deserved attention.

Thank you for your time and keep an eye out for the post later this week.

Reese's Links: Things That Made Me Smile This Week

Here there are the top things that made me smile this week, as decided by me. In no particular order. Enjoy :)

Thanksgiving. I know I complain about it, but any excuse to drink beer and eat pie is actually just fine by me. Yes, beer. Not wine. That's how the Pilgrims did it, after all.

And I found a recipe for a twist on the thing I whine most about: lasagna on every holiday. Mexican food + lasagna? These are a few of my favorite things!

How about some positive energy? I got my hands on a copy of an Abraham Hicks lecture on CD this weekend. It's a little floaty and hard to take at first, but it goes along the same lines as the bestselling book The Secret, which I reviewed earlier in this blog. Appropriate, methinks.

Along those lines-- how about some good news for a change? The Happy News is glad to offer it. We could probably use that, don't you think?

Yeah, well, I can't stay shiny and happy for too long. So let's talk about Twilight. I find it as obnoxious as everyone else who is not 14 and rabidly obsessed with it. But seeing a new Facebook page pop up, entitled: "Team Edward? Team Jacob? How About Team Shut The Fuck Up?" warmed my still-beating heart.