Crappy Bloggers

Just saying that all you fremamilians have really slacked in your blogging responsibilities. We're about production here! Mush! I want some prolific bloggers, else I'm gonna blog all over ya face!

The Gainful Employment Dance

. . . is a dance we should all do for Krisit, who just got a job in Manhattan, KS!!!



p.s. Did you know that Bob Dole is from Kansas?? Just saying.

BADSAD IN WICHITA

So, as most of you know, Wichita blows. Hard. The stairs are narrow, the buildings are short, and people want to take your stuff. As I am a perpetual optimist, I was willing to overlook most of these badsad facts until this morning. It was then, dear readers, that I discovered that I WON'T HAVE INTERNET AT MY HOUSE UNTIL NEXT FRIDAY. WTF?????!?!$PUI($UP@$ULASDJHJLSAJFHSLJDF. Now that I have no friends, I anticipated that internet would hold me through those long and lonely nights. Instead, I have resigned myself to watching Gilmore Girls DVDs and crying myself to sleep.

On a completely unrelated note, I have made a few friends. We went to this gay bar called Fantasy and enjoyed a thoroughly mediocre Drag show. It's comforting to know that some things (like lame drag queens) just don't change.

love from Kansas. xoxoxoxoxo

The New Addition

OK sports fans...the eminent arrival of our newest blogger is quickly arriving. It looks as if it comes to PawPaw to administer the "baby pool" so here are the rules.
Since the projected arrival date(s) are 9/30 or 10/1, the date range for the pool will be 9/20 thru 10/10. The cost to enter will be $5 with half going to the winner and the other half going to Baby Little. You can choose to give all to the baby but that will be your choice. You must pick a date AND a weight of the baby. The weight thing is in case of a tie. The contest will be closed as of 9/9 for obvious reasons. I will keep all records so please send all inquiries to me. Current dates chosen are 9/25, 9/27, 9/28, 10/1 and 10/8. The weight guessed range from 7-4 to 9-3.

Let the games begin and good luck!!!!

Life Post-Potter

I must apologize to my legions of fan (just the one) for my conspicuous absence from the Fremamily Blog. I've just been really busy wrapping up every loose end here in Columbia, MO. The Big Move to Wichita, KS is in nine days, and I'm trying to marry all these really excited feelings in my tummy to the more anxious ones by my big intenstine. I'll let you know how that goes.

On a gastrointestinally-free note, I've entered a period of deep bereavement in the wake of Harry Potter. I've been reading those books for nine years, and now there aren't any more for me to eagerly anticipate. It kind of feels like he and I are breaking up. Despite this period of estrangement, we remain quite close.

Anyhoo, if any of you fremamilymembers are Potter nerds like myself, e-mail me, and we can dish on all the attendant craziness that was book seven. JK sure can weave a good yarn.

xoxo

1st Post in 2 weeks

Ooookay, so no one's posted in a while. And I don't even see Kari and LJ on the list, what's up w/ that? Do they need ANOTHER invite to the blog? And if so, has their email changed?

Anyhoo, I miss the Fremamily, but since I just found out I'm three days over on my vacation, I won't be going anywhere for a while. So when are you people coming to Memphis?

<3,
JenO

Questionable Content

Jeff got me hooked on this comic called Questionable Content, or QC for you hipsters in the know. It may surprise you to know that the comic contains surprisingly little questionable content (though Mom may read it differently than I do. :)
Anyway, today's comic reminded me of Kyle for some reason. Perhaps it's that I could see him in this outfit.

So go look at it already!

And if you have oodles of time in front of an IntarWubs connection, read the archives from the first comic and marvel at how much his art style has improved. Let this be a lesson to you all: doing something every day HAS to make you better at it.

Blah blah blog

This blog is severely lacking in current events updates. So here's a little start: how does everyone feel about Paris Hilton going to jail? I personally feel that it was a long time coming. Who gets their sentence reduced from 45 days to 23 days?? I realize this is probably a major issue to her, but if anyone else was convicted of driving on a suspended license wouldn't they be having to spend like a year in jail? I don't know but that's what I think. I love celebrities as much as the next E! watcher but seriously. If we have to have a day-to-day news post of how she's doing in prison, I think I'm going to give up on the justice system completely. It's like prison has become the new rehab. It's the hip new thing to do. Whatev.

Teaching pawpaw how to post a link

Using the example below...

That YouTube video

A must view

You Tube
Tom Rush
Remember Song

Ohhhh how I can relate!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG, DFW IN THE ICT

. . . which roughly translates as "Oh, My Gosh! Down For Whatever in Wichita!"

Kari, Ellie, and I are road-tripping through the great state of KS this weekend. Where we'll stop, nobo-- ok, everyone knows we're stopping in Wichita, and I realize that joke wasn't very funny. I'm just so excited about finding some new digs and the chance to get some QT Fremamily time with Kristi and Mary.

I'm looking at a few apts to rent, a few condos to purchase, and a room in the house of a guy in my MFA program. He seems really nice, but the kicker is . . . he has "exotic" pets. He has exotic pets, and yet I can't get a puppy. wtf. I told him I'm expecting a partial rent remission if a snake eats me. eeeek.

Wish us luck as we mingle among the movers and shockers. More lame WSU jokes to follow.

Memphis in May Music Fest

We had a great time at Music Fest last weekend. Here's a picture of my favorite band, the Unclothed Gentlemen. Hopefully I won't get sued for image impingement, or something.

Memphis in May Music Fest

Note Richard's t-shirt.

Rock the Shocker!

Well, fremamily . . it's official. This fall I'll be matriculating at Wichita State University's Graduate School. I'm not exactly sure what a "shocker" is, but I'm told it involves corn. Wish me luck as I shuck my way through the next three years.

xoxo

The Arms

So I saw ultrasound pictures of Kari and LJ's future offspring today for the first time. Does anyone else see this kid doing the arms? It's like, "woo-hoo, first grandchild!"

To wit:

I vote for a restart

Just to get it out there: this week sucks! Has anyone else noticed?? Today at work everything that could have gone wrong did. We spent the entire day fixing a major issue from yesterday so we didn't even have time to deal with current business from today. We got more calls this morning about the problem than we've had in the entire past two weeks. It's like someone decided to make this psychotic Wednesday. I was under the impression that the middle of the week was supposed to be the hump heading toward the good part of the week but at the rate we've been going I don't want to know what Thursday and Friday are going to bring...

OOOOOOOO-klahoma!

Here's an idea I've been kicking around in the old noggin. What interest would there be in a fremamily trip to Discoveryland one weekend to see Oklahoma under the stars? There are shows every Saturday night until the end of August. We're booked until the end of June, but is there a weekend in July or August that might work in general?

Ticket and direction information available here.

The Hills

I feel like total nerd admitting that I watch The Hills but I do. And I love it. I even get emotional watching the touching parts like when Whitney just fell down on her GMA debut. Oh snap that would be embarrassing. Other embarrassing shows I have watched tonight include: Dancing with the Stars...umm ok that was about it but geez that wasn't very cool. Anybody else have any shows they want to admit to?? I kind of need a boost on my TV watching...

Kari, I've found your belated birthday gift!

www.bakersedge.com

Yay Mom! YAAAAAAAY!

Happy birthday to Mom, who turns "30" today! Hope it turns out to be wonderful!

Just for general interest, you share your birthday with such luminaries as Reese Witherspoon and William Shatner, and such less lumnaries as the mime Marcel Marceau and Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Yay for birthdays!

Work Butt

Ok something I've been contemplating over the past few days. Even if your boss seems really nice and is super fun to work with, if she creates a personalized candy drawer for you...she's only doing it for a few reasons. Here are some that I came up with: 1) she wants to make/keep you fatter than her to make you look like the new slob at work, 2) she wants to make/keep you fat and happy so you are tricked into thinking the job is more fun than it is, 3) she just likes to laugh at what little willpower you have against the evil dark chocolate lurking in your top desk drawer. I just joined Curves and had my first workout today, so I resolve that first thing tomorrow I am giving the candy back. I will not be suckered into being one of those ladies whose buns exactly fit between the arms on her desk chair. By the way, if anybody likes dark chocolate and Snickers the new Dark Snickers is really awesome. I have three of them in my candy drawer if anyone wants me to save one for them.

Wild Hogs

A movie must see if comedy is your angle...Wild Hogs. Very funny without much substance. Great if you want to leave your mind at home and just laugh.

Baby Got Back.

A new twist on an old favorite.

I have the mp3 ripped if anyone wants it.

Since there's been some favorable response, here's a link to a site where you can listen to his music. And here's his own website.

I am Ty

This is a tribute to TY...Barker at Walkers...Destroyer of Ta-das and Stealer of Mogarcycles. If anyone would like to tell of their fondest memories of him please do so...I will be checking to see what you remember.

A Formal Apology

I would like to issue a formal apology to Chick-Fil-A. For years, I have consistently underrated their establishment, believing them to be just another fast food outlet. It has been my recent experience, however, that this is clearly not the case. In every location I have visited, the staff has been friendly and courteous, the prices are reasonable, and the food is both consistent and delicious – particularly the breakfast burrito that I had this morning courtesy of The Hartford Company which was better than it had any right to be. And while I will not be making Chick-Fil-A one of my “must haves,” I will no longer protest it on face as a suggestion.



I will, however, continue to curse it as I drive by on Poplar. A chicken sangwich, no matter how delicious, cannot possibly be good enough to justify stopping traffic on a six lane street.

Spamalot

Oh, god, I thought, they've found a new way to scavenge Monty Python. This can't possibly be good.

But it is. Oh man, it is.

The show is built around the general storyline of the movie, and the first act is reasonably close to the original, albeit with several new musical numbers as well as oddball references to other Broadway favorites and Python sketches. The second act lags a little, as they're pretty well out of story at that point, so they filled it in with a heavy dose of Broadway mockery, including songs titled "What Happened To My Part?" and "You Won't Succeed On Broadway If You Don't Have Any Jews".

It's every bit as ridiculous as you'd expect, but dressed up with costumes and sets and dancing so it really does feel like a whole new thing. Watch for it at your local performing arts center.

J-Rock

After sorting through the onslaught of new music from New Years (and to a lesser degree from looting LJ's "downloads" folder), I've found myself with a pretty steadily rocking playlist. Unfortunately, I'm always on the lookout for something new/different.

What, I ask you, could be more different than French rock/pop or some Japanese heavy metal? Some joker linked these in an article about why iTunes sucks (you can't buy music from the foreign iTuneses, in case you were curious). It's actually pretty good, once you get past the whole "what the hell is he saying?" thing. (For that matter, most American metal is pretty unintelligible.)

Enjoy, kids.

Great. Now I hate Tyra Banks

I never really gave two thoughts about Tyra Banks before the NYE holiday. Ever since LJ's ranting, though, I've been paying a bit more attention.

In my office there's a breakroom w/ a TV. Whenever I have to go to the bathroom, I pass through this room. It's always on one of the crap daytime talkshow channels. Tyra's show comes on in the morning. I swear, it's as though she's trying to be Oprah.

Tyra. Sweetie. You are not Oprah.

Discuss.

Hello to all

I too would like to issue a Happy BDay to my middle child. Kari invited me to join so I hope that is ok. I got to see the MO. house. VERY CUTE. I hope to see more activity now that PawPaw has arrived.

Does anybody read this???

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday, Kari!!!!!

Hi, all!

Just wanted to say hi to everybody! I miss the fremamily badly!!! Thanks everybody for your good thoughts as I try to figure out where to go from here. I love you all! We need to figure out the next fremamily reunion. :)

Enjoying the ice?

Hi, you all! Oklahoma is currently "enjoying" about 2 inches of ice on all our streets, and the temperature today is 20. arg!

I didn't have to go to work today (Monday--Martin Luther King Day) because of the ice. The dogs don't quite know what to do with all the ice--they keep trying to eat it, like they did with the snow drifts, but that doesn't work very well. Have fun!

How many dice

does one need to play FARKLE? Please advise.

So what is a fremamily?

Fremamily refers to the people in your life who aren't merely "friends", but aren't exactly family either. If you are a friend or family member of the fremamily, you are in.

We all just got tired of referring to different fremamily members as "my husband's sister's husband's brother" or "my brother's wife's brother's wife". Or whatever. Now, thanks to our wordsmiths, we can just say "he's in my fremamily; check out our blog if you have any questions."

Fremamily Reunion I