Joelle said around dinner time on June 7, 2007
Well, that was fun — if you like feeling like you’ve just wasted all your off time for the last three weeks and revisiting your lunch.
Around 6:00pm PST, I was tinkering with my CSS to make one tiny area a bit cleaner. Somehow, faster than Paris Hilton gets out of jail, my thumb accidentally brushed the touchpad on my laptop and I wiped out my CSS entirely.
Yes. Yes, I did.
I never use my touchpad and I guess when I did a system restoration a couple months ago, I never went back to deactivate it, so without even thinking I hit “save” and sayonara, CSS! And guess who didn’t back up her stylesheet. Aw, go on! (This is the part where my lunch comes in, followed by a few thousand expletives that rhyme with “duck”, “truck” and “other shucker”.)
I am totally retentive about backing up my client’s templates and stylesheets — like a freak about it. I have no idea why I didn’t back up my own. After a few minutes of inconsolable ranting and raving, Kathy (oh-so-patiently) suggested I contact our illustrious host, Hosting Matters.
If ever I wanted to shout from the rooftops my praise for our host, it’s now. Mitchell of Hosting Matters, today you are my own personal hero! He restored my site and managed to keep everything, save one or two minor CSS edits. Hosting Matters tuned crisis into calm in just under 60 minutes. How’s that for service? Thank you, thank you!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go turn on everything that backs up anything in the history of ever.
Joelle said in the late morning on June 7, 2007
So, I was watching one of those endless, cut-rate celebrity-laden list shows on VH-1 and it occured to me: why do people even make videos anymore? Who sees them? Where do they play?
MTV sure doesn’t play them. Jenny McCarthy and dating show Singled Out paved the way for a deluge of crap. Don’t get me wrong, I have a strange fondness Jenny McCarthy and Singled Out — I’m not sure why. But now it’s nothing but intellectual gems like Pimp My Ride, My Super Sweet 16 and Who Wants to Be a Baby Prostitute? OK, that last one isn’t real, but for a second, I bet you thought it might be. See? They’re that bad.
Then there was MTV2. Oh, OK, this must be where they play the videos. What a crock! It’s all the same crap. In fact, if you visit their website, it’s almost purely advertising.
Alright, fine. VH-1 it is. I really used to love VH-1. I’m a whore for Behind the Music. I could watch a Behind the Music marathon for days if you let me. You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Behind the Music marathon. They claim they still run it, but I’ll be damned if I ever see it actually on. Now it’s just more of the same ol’, same ol’ — list shows about shocking celebrity hairdos (which if they think Andre Agassi’s mullet was shocking in 1991, they really should have brought their camera crew to my local mall) and D-list, hack no-names who have nothing better to do then pass off flaccid, milquetoast critique as comedy. Did they run out of artists that screwed up their lives or something? Cough it up, VH-1! There’s a coke-head, born-again, has-been bass player out there somewhere. Where’s my Behind the Music?!
OK, so there’s Fuse, but I feel too old for Fuse. Not only are they starting to creep into the crappy tv market, but I don’t know who half those bands are. Most of them sound the same to me (though, I’m sure chickrawker would totally disagree) and I find myself wondering where everyone’s mom is. How do you even get your body into pants that skinny? With the exception of OK Go, who I think are fantastic, not only musically, but for their clever foray into YouTube viral marketing, I really don’t connect that much with newer bands.
I’ve never been a huge video watcher, but what happened to them all? Occasionally friends will say something like, “You know, like in that video...” or “Remember that video?” Nope, sorry! But, I do enjoy some from time to time, especially if it’s a great song or if it’s got cool creative direction. Too bad I never find any actually on during waking hours.... I just can’t figure out why they need to blow millions of dollars producing videos no one sees.
So, I’m left with The TUBE music network, which has no real rhyme or reason to it. One minute I’m enjoying some Earth, Wind and Fire and the next it’s Michael Bublé, then it could be Poison for all I know (or, like now, The Alarm). You never know what it’s going to be, which can be fun when there’s nothing on, I guess. Ooo! Ooo! Bryan Ferry’s Slave to Love just came on! La la la la la....
I feel a bit sated, but I’m still pissy about Behind the Music.
It is absolutely gorgeous this morning. I snapped that at around 7:20am. Then, about an hour later…
Joelle: The front door is open and I’m watching a cruise ship port, the sun is shining… I’ve got some Brazilian samba action playing… it’s a good day!
Kathy: Here its hot and muggy like the underside of a nutsack.
Apparently, it’s not only hurricane season in Florida, it’s nutsack season, as well. I wonder if that’s like Duck Season vs. Wabbit Season. All class, kids. That’s our commitment to you.
Joelle said around lunch time on June 5, 2007
My British neighbor across the street is outside right now watering her lawn or otherwise gardening while singing at the top of her lungs. The breeze off the water carries most of it away so I can’t quite make out what she’s singing, I just get little accented snippets wafting in from time to time. That’s awesome. 
(The comment form was inadvertently inaccessible on this entry for whatever reason, but I’ve since fixed it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Deltus!)
I was thinking about my aforementioned friend last night while out at my favorite karaoke dive. And when I got home, I noticed that Deltus hit the nail on the head in my comments when he suggested that perhaps my friend’s need to speak to me was greater than I realized. In hindsight, I think I was too hard on him. I’m a very forthcoming person as just about anyone can tell you. I don’t think to the point of abrasiveness, but if I feel something, I usually say it (provided it’s not rude or would hurt someone’s feelings). So, I forget sometimes that not everyone is like that and maybe I should have been taking notice of the nuances. I called him this morning and apologized for not paying closer attention and we had a great 45-minute talk. It’s not all about me… sometimes, you just have to suck it up and admit that.
Anyway, as I said, I went to my local karaoke bar last night to meet up with chickrawker for some girl talk and cocktails. I sang a few songs, mostly the usuals, including my favorite cheese: Captain & Tennille. I don’t sing a lot of music written past 1970 and tend to stick with swingin’ songs like Nat King Cole’s “Orange Colored Sky” or torchy tunes like “Lover Man”. It’s not often I see other people my age singing that stuff, but last night there was a girl in there that was ahead of me in the line-up with songs like “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”.
Every time I’d come off-stage she’d ask me what I was going to sing next. I rarely know what I’m going to sing next. I get overwhelmed by the amount of songs in that book and can never make a decision. She informed me that she was going to do Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”, but I could do “I Fall to Pieces” if I wanted. Well, thank you for the hall pass! She was very sweet, though I sensed as if she wanted to make sure I didn’t tread on her turf. I assured her that Patsy was a lovely choice (though, in honesty, I love Patsy Cline, but would rather eat a stranger’s socks than listen to a karaoke version of “Crazy” one more time — nothing against her) and that I was going to try my hand at something different.
That bar used to be my stomping grounds, but I’ve long since outgrown the bar scene. I can appreciate she doesn’t want some girl coming in singing her repertoire. I remember thinking that back in the day and she had nice voice, so I made sure to applaud loudly and let her know I wasn’t there to steal her thunder. Because I’m just a big Thunder Stealer like that. heh. That’s my Native American name, by the way. Perhaps you’ve met my friend, Shops with a Fist.
Speaking of, Kathy and I have been working on a cocktail for a while we’ve called the Moxie Muffin. Yes, I know, I know. Get your mind out of the gutters, people. Or don’t — whatever blows your dress up. It tastes just like a blueberry muffin, I kid you not. It would make an incredible brunch cocktail… if you feel like getting loaded at noon on a Sunday, of course. We’ve been tinkering with it and tinkering with it, trying to get it just right so it’s easily drinkable and smooth, so last night I asked the bartender if he could help us out. I think we’ve worked it out on two levels: as a shot (for you party animals) and as a martini.
Moxie Mini-Muffin
Shake well with ice, strain into shot glasses. Ooo. Ahh. Have another. We’re not “creamy drink” types, but this was delicious.
Moxie Muffin
- 2 parts blueberry vodka
- 1 part Cuarenta Y Tres
- splash Frangelico or Amaretto
Shake well with ice, serve straight up in a chilled martini glass rimmed with finely crushed graham cracker crumbs. Mmm. (It should be a light almond-y color and not too heavy.)
We also came up with another blueberry creation that is so divine, I want to drink them all day. We sipped some “over brunch” one weekend and both came away feeling warm n’ fuzzy. We’ve dubbed it a Blue Note.
Blue Note
- 1 tablespoon of frozen blueberry puree
- Almond Champagne
- fresh blueberries to garnish
Drop a dollop of the frozen blueberry puree into the bottom of your champagne flute. Top with well-chilled almond champagne and garnish with the fresh berries. You can mix it together to get a lovely blue-violet color or, as the puree warms, it releases tendrils of puree into the champagne creating a really pretty presentation.
If you decide to try any of these drinks, please drop us a note or leave a comment to let us know how you liked it. Consider it Beverage Beta Testing. 
Moxie Design Studios™