This My Playground...

Lady Gaga Born This Way

2011-05-22T21:50:00.001-07:00

Track by Track breakdown of the Deluxe Edition of Lady Gaga's new album (out today) Born This Way:

Marry The Night:

Starts with an organ and Gaga's distinctive voice. Beat pulses in. The chorus is strong and the song is a great choice to lead us down into the rest of the Dance/Rock infused album.

Born This Way:

The new gay anthem. This song gets lots of hate and lots of love. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this track. Released as the first single. The message breaks through the failed music video. I get if Gaga, you are an artist, and you are weird and giving birth to this new race of peoples who don't see sexuality or race. I wish you had gone more straight forward with the video. Bring a motorcycle gang subversive spin on V for Vendetta and it would have been brilliant.

Government Hooker:

This is where you might start hearing some of major influence of German metal with the thudding drum beats on the album. Interesting track. Not sure it's a fav of mine on the album, but I can dance to it nonetheless. Gaga's drawn out vocals on "hoooooooooooooker" are so much fun!

Judas:

Love the video, wish her lyrics were a bit easier to understand on the track. Might have made it a bigger hit.

Americano:

I love the thumping traditional Italian pop inspired Americano. The 'Don't you try to catch me" refrain is some of the most fun on the album.

Hair:

Hmmm.. I think i read somewhere that Gaga was inspired to write this song by Willow Smith's brilliant 'Whip My Hair". Gaga equates her hair to her freedom of expression. My least favorite track on the album, in fact I will probably try to forget that it is there, and wont include it on my iPod.

Scheibe:

Gaga doesn't speak german, but she will if we like, and let me tell you: I LIKE! I like a whole heck of a lot. It reminds me of euro trance from the early aughts mixed with early 90's pop. Brilliant!

Bloody Mary:

If anything could be called a slow song on the album, this would be it. It still has the wall of sound that Gaga does. One of the most experimental songs on the album when it comes to mainstream pop music. It works for me.

Black Jesus - Amen Fashion:

Bonus track! The audacity of Gaga: "Jesus is the new black" An interesting track that seems like a bit of reworking of an early demo from Gaga. Fashion as a theme makes its appearance.

Bad Kids:

I wouldn't be too surprised if this song gets released as a single. It's fun and catchy.

Fashion of his Love:

Bonus track! I like the song. It's the song on the album that reminds me that Gaga is still 24 and is still a pop princess. Sounds like Debbie Gibson could have released this song in 1988.

Highway Unicorn (Road to Love):

A cacophony of noise that overwhelms me. I like portions of the song, but at times it seems like everything including the kitchen sink was thrown into this one.

Heavy Metal Lover:

I really adore this track. The "oooh oooh oooh" are hypnotic. She hits the nail on the head with this track in combining metal with dance.

Electric Chapel:

'Do, do do do" i dare you not to not sing and dance along to this one! "do do do do"

The Queen:

Bonus track! I can totally understand how this song is a bonus, it doesn't fully fit into the rest of the album. It sounds a bit juvenile in fact compared to the rest of the album.

You and I:

Nearing the end of the album, we get the fully fleshed out version of the song we've heard in concert for almost a year now. Containing elements of Queen's "We will Rock You", Gaga shows her brilliance at songwriting and that while she has created her career on the wall of sound, I want to hear more classic American Piano Pop/Rock from this woman.

The Edge of Glory:

Third single from the album. This song, if stripped down sounds right from 1989, I can hear Michael Bolton this. The pulsing drum beats and drawling guitar riff brings it to 2011. Gaga has never sounded better on a track, her vocals are powerful and mesmerizing. I am so right there on the edge with her. Amazing track to end the third album.

Overall- LOVE LOVE LOVE. I'll forget about hair and the queen. I can easily do without those two tracks. Love the combination of Dance and Metal with great influence of the last 80s and early 90s pop. 9 out of 10.

What's the matter with Britney?

2011-05-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

Britney has entered the Femme Fatale era with great producers and a beautiful look. I've long argued that Britney isn't an artist, she is an entertainer. She isn't a very good songwriter, her voice is so-so, she clearly doesn't have a driving artistic viewpoint. Take the any random 10 songs from the last three studio albums and unless you are a super fan, I promise you wouldn't recognize a disorderly musical theme or identify which song was from which album originally. Its great pop music don't get me wrong but her purpose is to entertain.

She is failing. Her managers are failing. Her career is in BIG danger. Look at any of her "performances" from this new era and you see a consistent theme: Britney is disengaged, distant, vacant, bored, slow to react, confused and downright boring! She lacks energy and pizazz. I don't care that she lip-sings, I care that she at least pretend to care about what is going on around her.

Am I putting too much on Britney herself? Is she herself to blame? I don't know...

Maybe she is so drugged out of her mind that she can barely stand or focus or collect a thought.

I am honestly scared about what is going on in Camp Britney. Is anyone else paying attention? Do any of them care? Are they making too much money to care?

What's the matter with Britney?

The Voice S1E3

2011-05-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

The Voice was on tonight. I've fallen in love with the show. Christina is adorable. I'd still pick Cee-Lo as my coach. But let's get to tonights episode:

First up: Christina's team. Frenchie vs Tarralyn. Frenchie, if you remember (i sure do) was kicked off the 2nd season of american idol after the producers decided that a photo shoot she did from when she was 19yo didn't match with the family show image they wanted. She knocked the sox off "Band of Gold" in the Hollywood round (sang the duet with eventual 3rd place and highly underrated Kimberly Locke) I was rooting for Frenchie the moment she was dismissed from American Idol and I am so happy that she has a 2nd chance.

Now onto Blake Shelton: Where to begin?

First: he tweeted on May 5th "re-writing my fav Shania Twain song.. any man that tries touching my behind he's gonna be a beaten, bleedin', heaving kind of guy..." Homophobic violence much? He got the obvious scolding from the media, activists, blogs, and more than likely the producers. He tweets again on May 5th later "@gladd hey i want my fans and @nbcthevoice fans to know that anti-gay and lesbian violence is unacceptable!!!!! Help me!!!!! And DM me.." I am so confused, as were many about the "help me!!! and DM me.." huh? what? Apology?

Second: he choose Tyler (my dad doesn't know i'm a gay mormon) vs Patrick (cute all american traditional country heartthrob who fills out a pair of wranglers). Every other coach on the stage tonight said tyler did a better job. Tyler did a better job. and who does Blake choose? Patrick of coarse! Nothing against Patrick, but Tyler knocked that song out of the park and everyone knows it. Blake, what is wrong with you? You have to know this isnt going to help you.

Moving onto Adam's team: Casey vs Tim. Tim knew the song, Casey didn't Casey sand a beautiful rendition of "Leather and Lace" that reminded people of Stevie Nicks. Casey wins hands down. Good choice Adam. Smart choice. She is a cute girl with a great look and a very nice voice that I want to hear more of.

Cee-Lo: Niki vs Vicci singing Pink's "Perfect" (minus the f#$king, and i LOVE this song, and i LOVE pink!) The names rhyming didn't help me remember who was who, but in the end I am routing the one wearing plaid/gold pants over the girl with the squirel tail. (What was that fashion choice about) I love the wraspy quality to plaid/gold pants' voice, I think that's Vicci.

I look forward to next weeks show.

Songbird

2011-05-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

Glee will always be hit and miss. Currently my favorite storyline involves Santana and Brittany's relationship.

Santana sings a beautiful rendition of Fleetwood Mac's Songbird. Check it out below.

Homage

2010-10-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Last night, Glee's newest episode featured a homage to possibly one of the greatest duets of all time, at least in gay terms (and let's face it that's what matters). First up Glee featuring Kurt and Rachel:

204 happy days @ Yahoo! Video

Kurt took on the Judy Garland part and Rachel (with her sailor suit paying nod) to Barbara Streisand. Judy and Barbara sang the original mash-up duet on the Judy Garland Show airing on Oct 6th, 1963. Barbara was just 21 when she appeared on the show and had yet to appear in a single movie and had only released one album and had only been in one Broadway show "I Can Get It For You". Judy was 41 at the time and had been battling financial and drug problems for years.

While I love the character development for Kurt and Rachel and their beautiful rendition I still think the real life struggles of Judy Garland and the burgeoning career of Barbara Streisand make their version better. What do you think?

Later in the same show Ethel Merman stole the limelight and she and Judy battled it out for DIVA SUPREME. I wonder what the 21 year old Barbara was telling herself at this point in the show?

Still around..

2010-02-04T09:03:00.001-08:00

Still alive and kicking, no worries.

I am still unpacking and getting the house in order, that is taking up pretty much all of my free time that I was using to blog and bake and many other things that I haven't gotten around to as of late. I will come back. I have two recipes already made, just need to sit down and write the posts.

Stay tuned..

Something I learned today

2010-01-25T22:21:00.000-08:00

Today I learned that you must puncture the foil seal on a tube of caulking for it to really work, instead of using brute force which didn't work! in the end, the caulking gun and tube worked like they were supposed to, but in the meantime i spent about 10 minutes attempting to wash off the silicon based caulk with water and soap that had burst out the back from my use of force. if you have ever had the pleasure of having your hands and arms covered in a film of silicon based caulking, you know my soap and water efforts were futile. i eventually figured out that i just needed to dry rub it off with an old t-shirt that i had laying around. the tub looks great tho! and my hands are clean

Slow to Post...

2010-01-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

Howdy y'all...

I have been absent for a little while. I have been busy finding a house to move to with my sister. We have found a great house, been approved and we are signing the lease today. I will be moving in the next two weeks and will be a bit busy with that so posting may suffer. I have completed two recipes however have not had a chance to create the posts. They will be coming! No fear!

Orange Cup Cakes 1/10/10

2010-01-11T15:24:00.001-08:00

On the cover of the cookbook that I am cooking my way through (see Cooking The Book) there is a beautiful photo of a cupcake in a blue stripped cupcake paper with a gorgeous dollop of orange icing with a silver nonpareil. This is a marvelous looking cupcake. This recipe is not identified on the front cover, in the index, the back cover, the publisher’s notes, nor in any place in the book that I can find and I have looked. I decided that this cupcake was more than likely the Orange Cup Cakes on page 40, however with a different icing than the recipe offers. I decided to give it a go nonetheless. I honestly didn’t want to venture out to get silver nonpareils so I chose to decorate the cup cake with sprinkles that I already had.

First up, the ingredients: Unsalted butter, sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, orange juice, and orange zest. We will combine 2/3 cup sugar, 4 ounces softened unsalted butter, 1 1/2 self raising flour, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and 1/2 cup orange juice,

Looks pretty huh?

Mix together on low for 2 minutes, until blended. Increase speed for another 2 minutes until smooth.

Add in 3 tablespoons orange zest.

Mix together. Using a spoon or measuring cup, I prefer a 1/3 cup measuring cup, fill the lined cup cake tin.

Fill the cups evenly. If you run out of mix before having filled all the cake, fill the empty cup with water, this helps prevent the pan from overheating and overcooking the nearby cup cakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden. For the icing, I looked through the book and found a recipe for another icing that I felt was similar to the one on the cover. For this icing, you simmer water in a saucepan, in a heatproof bowl you combine 2 tablespoons butter and one cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons water. Mix the sugar, butter, and water with a whisk over the heat until smooth. Using a spoon, place a dollop of the icing after it has cooled off for a minute onto the cup cake. Immediately decorate the icing with a sprinkle or decoration of your choice.

In the future, I think if making this icing again, instead of using water, I would use juice instead of water. I felt the icing didn’t have any enough flavor and instead was just sweet. I would most assuredly make this recipe again, the cup cakes themselves are delicious and light with a wonderful orange flavor. Next time I will make the orange butter cream icing recipe that goes with the cup cake recipe.

Orange Cup Cakes

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 self raising flour, if you don’t have self raising flour, you can add 2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of all purpose flour.

1/2 cup orange juice

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

3 tablespoons orange zest

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons water/juice

color as desired with food coloring

What I'm Listening to These Days..

2010-01-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

Like everyone else in America right now I am listening to Ke$ha's Tik Tok: Great party song, it hits all the right spots in my ears and makes me want to groove. Her new album was just released and I may have more on that later, but there are some fun songs on there, but she really needs to learn how to perform live if she wants to go beyond a one hit wonder. This year's Lady Gaga, I think not.

David Guetta continues to create lovely body movement enducing tracks. Guetta featuring Kid Cudi with Memories brings me onto the dance floor everytime.

Coming off his new album out this Spring, Morgan Page has produced yet another gorgeous dance track "Fight For You." Unknown outside the top 40 dance world, you really should check him out if you have any inclination for being on a dancefloor.

Tiesto is up next with featured artist Sneaky Sound System. "I Will Be Here" is a dancefloor classic in the making from one of the best DJ's of the last decade.

Esmee Denters, that lovely Dutchy youtube find serves up her first single off her debut album. Signed to Justin Timberlake's label, she presents us with a very decent "Outta Here." While not exploring new worlds in dance music, this is still a great debut.

Pretzels 1/9/2010

2010-01-10T12:19:00.001-08:00

In the first of what will be many recipes, I have made Pretzels. I began by gathering the ingredients. We have flour, eggs, sugar, butter, yeast, milk, and salt both flake and rock. We start by proofing the yeast, that ever loveable living but dormant friend of ours that provides for the creation of lift and air; it does so by converting the sugars into carbon dioxide and ethanol. We put our ¼ teaspoon of sugar and one teaspoon of yeast into a bowl. One yeast packet contains 2 ¼ teaspoons of yeast. We pour into 5 fluid ounces of warm milk into the bowl of sugar and yeast. We stir it, and let it sit aside for ten minutes. The yeast will develop over this time and produce small bubbles on the surface; it will foam up and should increase in volume. This is all very good, if it doesn’t happen this is bad. It means your yeast is dead and you must start again with new yeast and sugar and warm milk.

We put the flour and salt into a large bowl, stir together. We create a well in the middle. We pour in the milk, yeast, sugar mixture and 1 ounce of melted butter. We mix it together, it combines and lumps up. It won’t be smooth at this point; we must turn it onto a floured surface and knead it for ten minutes. Adding flour to reduce the stickiness and it will smooth out.After the dough is kneaded place the dough into an oiled bowl and oil the top of the dough. Cover and set aside for an hour or until doubled in size.At this point, dough is giving off a wonderful smell, if you have not ever made bread yourself, take this moment to savor this smell. It is one of the most beautiful smells created in the kitchen. It reminds me of many times when I was younger and I would help my Mom in the kitchen making rolls. This is a lovely moment in the process.

We now must punch down the bread to release some of the gases in the dough and knead the dough again. I cut up the dough after kneading it into small pieces and placed back into the oiled bowl and cover them up while working with each piece.

We take each piece and roll them out, they will shrink back on you when rolling, but you are stronger and your force will prevail. Roll them out to about 14” to 16” inches. Shape the rolled dough into a pretzel. Create a circle. Cross the ends over each other. Twist the ends over each other. Either my hands are HUGE, or this particular pretzel is pretty darn small.

Lay the completed pretzels on a lined baking sheet. Cover, and set aside for 20-30 minutes to let rise again. Brush the pretzels with beaten egg white. Sprinkle coarse salt.Spray with water and bake in a preheated 375⁰ oven for 12-15 minutes. Delicious and golden brown, covered in salt. Soft and light and fluffy inside with a slightly crusty outside, eaten alone or with mustard or cheese sauce they make a delightful snack.

They are best if you store them in a paper bag and not a plastic bag, I would recommend that you eat them sooner rather than later (they are just a better product if you don’t leave them around too long) I wouldn’t recommend this as a make a day a head for a party snack, they simply are better the day they are made.

Recipe:

1 teaspoon dried yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

5 fluid ounces warm milk

1 1/2 cups white flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 ounce butter, melted

1 egg yolk, beaten

coarse sea salt

Cooking the Book

2010-01-08T14:24:00.001-08:00

I am embarking on a new adventure as of today. I am going to be cooking my way through a cookbook I recently received from my sister. There is a story behind this book for me. Last January my sister gifted this exact book to a friend of her's that I had just met. I fell in love with this book on first glance, beautifully photographed, simply written, wonderful recipes. I exclaimed my love for this book to my sister. She informed me that she had a copy for me but that I would have to wait until Christmas 09 to receive the book. Christmas 09 came, and the book is now in mine!

First published in 2000, The Essential Baking Cookbook, hails from Australia. Hence it includes discussions of ingredients that are not common in the US, available, but not always available at my local Safeway. Caster sugar, vanilla sugar, creme fraiche, copha, frangipane, treacle, etc. I will find them however in my adventure. There is an extensive discussion at the beginning of the book that explains what each of these are and a variety of other ingredients and terms that the recipes call for. For instance I did not know that one should not use confectioners' sugar for making royal icing. Apparently in confectioners' sugar there is a small amount of starch added to prevent lumping. The starch does not provide for the correct mixing of royal icing, sure it works pretty well, but it could be better. What is needed is icing sugar, I hoping that this is what is in my cupboard labeled powdered sugar. We will find out.

At 302 pages the book covers teatime, cakes, biscuits, slices, sweet pies and pastries, savoury pies and pastries, bread, and celebration cakes. Teatime includes scones, muffins, friands, cupcakes, buns, and traditional tea cakes, and sweets in general. Cakes covers well - cakes. Chocolate, ginger, carrot, pound, angel food, fruit, nut, and roll cakes. Biscuits are what we call cookies. Slices are what we stateside call bar cookies. We then enter the crazy world of sweet pies and pastries, tarts, puff, choux, eclairs, and baklava. Savoury pies and pastries are up next. Beef, chicken, vegetables, eggs and cheese rule in this world. Bread is the next baking staple served up. From sour to rye and rolls, the basics are all covered and then some. Celebration cakes finish us up in the book. These are the difficult, impossibly beautiful, layered, decorated, delicious and most daunting of recipes in the book. This chapter scares me. From the Rose Petal Cake, which is covered in candied rose petals, to the towering craziness that is a Croquembouche.

I will not be obsessive about completing every recipe in the book, unlike Julie Powell of Julie and Julia fame. There are simply some things I won't eat. Fish! Yuck! I have never cooked, or liked fish. Try as you might to convince me otherwise, I won't do it. I have tried eating fish in my life. Someone will say "oh but this doesn't taste like fish at all" but I disagree as I spit it out.

One of my favorite sections of the book is that with each chapter comes a "what went wrong" page. It shows pictures of correctly finished recipes and pictures of the various things that can go wrong with the recipes. Too much flour, yeast was dead, baking soda was old, the oven was too hot, the oven wasn't hot enough, the fruit isn't evenly distributed throughout the cake, etc. It gives you an explanation and a fix for each of these problems. This section I see as the most valuable the book has to offer. It tells me, the novice baker, the mistake I've made and how to avoid them in the future.

My goal is to complete one to two recipes a week. If I am feeling particularly punchy I might get to three recipes every once in a while. My co-workers and friends will be my guinea pigs. I will test the results with them. There is no possible way that I could eat as much as will be produced. I will attempt to do a Pioneer Woman Cooks style post for each recipe. If you don't know who she is, check out her blog at http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ If nothing else there will be commentary on the process and pictures of the final product, hopefully the steps in between will also be captured in digital. I plan on skipping around through the book, starting with what I believe to be the easier recipes. Should be a lovely adventure.

New Music - Kelis - Acapella

2010-01-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

Kelis has a new song out. Acapella. I love its rhythm, the pulsing beat and her vocals are beautiful. It's a banging track that I love to listen to to get me ready for the night. No video for the song yet. Yet another wonderful track produced by David Guetta.

Kelis came onto the US music scene with a vengence in the much remembered "Milkshake" in 2003, but had her debut album out in 1999. Kelis was much more successful in Europe than the US before "Milkshake." She had a mild hit with "Bossy" off her next album and subsequently began to have record company issues. She has since signed with the Will.I.am group at Interscope. Her new album "Flesh Tones" should be out in early 2010. If the first single is any idication, I am going to be in love with this album.

Progress Report 1-6-10

2010-01-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

So far so good.

I have thus far been mildly successful in perusing my new year goals. I haven't accomplished everything thus far. We are only about a week into the new year and thus some of the non daily tasks are going to be spaced out further. With daily tasks I have been able to accomplish most everything on a regular pace. I am quiet happy with my success and myself for meeting these goals. I will be taking these things slowly, letting each day come one by one. If I don't meet it today, I have tomorrow. I won't get down on myself too much for not meeting the goal for the day or week. I have time, the changes will be slow.

Summary:

Successes:

No Soda
Making Lunch
Blogging
Walking

Not yet met:

Yoga
Waking up a 6:30

New Year

2010-01-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

It's a new year, and for all intents and purposes a new decade. 2010 people. It's been over ten years since everyone freaked out about y2k and nothing happened. Its been ten years since I was in high school. I've lived in three different cities, nine different houses/apartments, and just one state. I've graduated high school and college and am now in the workforce and paying taxes. I've yo-yo'd in weight. I've been depressed. I've been in love. I have come into my own as an outgoing, out, proud, happy, engaging, smart, dedicated, and loving person. I have dealt with my own homophobia, sexism, racism and classism (the work is ongoing and won't stop.) I've grown as a person. I've learned that it is better to smile and nod, to not stir the pot, learned how to impress strangers, and that I can scare people. I've learned how to pick my battles. I look forward to the next year and the new decade.

I move forward with goals that I would like to achieve in the next year and the new decade. I call them goals and not resolutions. These are things I would like to achieve, but it won't be the end of the world if I don't. Resolutions feel negative to me. "I resolve that I will not.. blah blah blah" It automatically puts you into a "this has to be achieved or I am a failure as a living breathing human being" state of mind. A goal is ongoing. If I don't achieve it for today; there is tomorrow. If I am not able to get it accomplished this week; there is next week.

I have tried to make my new year goals smaller ideas that move me into a direction that will make me happier and healthier. Instead of "loose weight" doing things that I think will help achieve that goal in small steps. Instead of "feel better about work" it's two small goals that I think will help me in that area of my life. My new decade goals are larger life affirming and healthy goals that I would like to see through to completion by the start of 2020.

New Year Goals:

Blog an hour, 5 days a week. I fell off the bandwagon, I loved being on the bandwagon.
Wake up at 630 and do a half hour to hour of yoga before work. Flexibility and balance. Yay!
Walk 30 minutes 4 days a week. Reduce chance of diabetes, raises good cholesterol, helps circulation, being more active and not such a couch potato.
Personal Finance Plan. I am in debt, I don't want to be there. I don't really know what I spend my money on, I forget and lose track of that. I'd like to keep better track of that and manage my money better.
Better Paying Job/2nd job. I need to make more money. Pretty simple as that.
No Soda. I drink way too much of the stuff, too much sugar and calories in those things. It's too easy to consume. I would like to stop that.
Flexitarian diet, less than 5 servings of meat a week. I did the vegetarian thing for a year a while back, I felt great about myself, I lost weight, my skin was better, but I missed meat. Maybe I can do something in the middle ground.
Food Journal. I think keeping track of what I am eating, and how it is making me feel will keep me more regular, help me assess what I might need to stop eating, and assess what I need to bring into my diet.
Make lunch three days a week. Cheaper, active eating and vegetarian options made easier.
Limit going out for meals to one a week. Saves money.
Portion Control. I feel that when I sit down to eat, I don't actively pay attention to how much food is on the plate and how much of it I consume. Thinking about the food and eating it slower makes for happier and healthier meals.
Purchase Planning of Wants and Needs. Oh gosh impulse buying is out of hand. I want money to be in my bank account, I don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck. My goal is to lessen my impulse purchasing and assess my needs and wants. Create a list of these things in my life, to have more on the want list than the need list. In much the same way I want to think about the food I eat, I want to think more about the things I buy.
Work before Play, accomplish work task goals for the day before blogging, Facebook, and Google reader. Accomplishing daily work tasks and goals before getting onto the internet for my regular blogging, facebooking, and RSS reading.

New Decade Goals:

Out of Debt. I am currently in debt about $35,000 (it's a guess, I don't know the actual number) School has me in debt about $29,000 of that. My wages are currently being garnished at 15% which will at my current wage get me out of school debt within 9 years. I have about $6,000 of credit card debt. Money long past spent in my late teens and early 20's, mostly on things I no longer have. I want this burden and black mark on my life to be lifted. One of my new year goals is to create a personal finance plan. In this plan I will have it set to get me out of debt before the end of the decade.
Own Dream Car. My dream car is a Jeep Wrangler. Most of the details beyond that are up in the air. I love the sporty look and the option of it being a "convertible."
Weigh less than 200lbs. I don't even know how much I currently weigh, I don't even know if less than 200 is possible for me, I do however know that I weigh too much and want to weigh less and I think the closer to 200 the better.
Fully paying my own way through life. Earning enough money and spending money in a wiser way to not rely on my parents for my daily, monthly, yearly money needs. I hope this is accomplished sooner rather than later.

Song of the Day... Tegan and Sara - Walking with a Ghost

2009-08-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Song of the Day.. Gabriel & Dresden - Tracking Treasure Down

2009-08-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

Song of the Day.. Goldfrapp - Ride A White Horse

2009-08-10T09:31:00.001-07:00

Slip n Slide for the fearless and crazy

2009-08-09T10:24:00.001-07:00

Um.. wow!

stoping the violence with the 2nd amendment? huh?

2009-08-08T09:27:00.001-07:00

Song of the Day... Janet Leon - Heartache on the Dancefloor

2009-08-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

DJ show me some empathy, and play my freaking song! oh gosh how many times have I wanted to yell that, not for heartache, but just to hear my favorite song of the moment. oh well.. listen to this great tune from a former swedish girl group member Janet Leon

Song of the Day.. Whitney Houston - Million Dollar Bill

2009-08-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Whitney is back y'all!
Her new single leaked today!

check it out! very radio friendly, she sounds great, its retro while being able to fit into today's music scene.

John Hughes is dead at 59

2009-08-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

Director of classic 80's films The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, and Pretty in Pink, and introduced us to Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone has died today of a heart attack today. He was 59.

64 years ago today..

2009-08-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hiroshima was bombed by the United States in World War II.

the blog The Big Picture has some more gorgeous and haunting photos.

SOTOMAYOR!

2009-08-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Song of the Day.. Flipsyde - When It Was Good

2009-08-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

RedOne produced Flipsyde comes out with a great track. They remind me of the Black Eyed Peas with a bit less urban hip hop and more Euro Dance.

File this under.. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?

2009-08-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Bill O'Reilly on his broadcast last night said that there's "something very wrong" about the idea of a "major American corporation promoting the election of Barack Obama and then seeking to profit from his policies."

I wonder if Bill actually ever thinks about what he says. Perhaps he doesn't have the intellectual ability to understand that what he says could in fact be called hypocritical. Gee Bill, did you forget everything that has happened on the network you call home since it's inception? Fox "News" is the one of the biggest examples of a large corportation seeking to profit from the promotion of a President's policies. It's entire premise since its dawning has been to tear down Democrats and build up Republicans.

There is something wrong with Bill O'Reilly.

Song of the Day.. Colin Hay - I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You

2009-08-06T09:28:00.001-07:00

Long title, beautiful song..
The grey cool morning weather has me in a mood

Silly, just silly

2009-08-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

UGH!
When I want to post a song of the day, I go to YouTube to find the video. It is a great way to highlight some of my favorite songs, new and old. I grab the embed code, and bring it on over and post it here. However, there are many music labels out there that disable the embed option on their artists' music videos, thus not allowing me to bring that content over to my little tiny blog. Isn't the point of a music video is that of selling the artist and the song and the album? Wouldn't it make more sense to allow people to spread the music far and wide to increase popularity of the song and artist? Wouldn't that maybe help sell more records and tickets? What is their concern about embeding the song? I'd love to showcase some great talent but in their over zealous protection they prevent that. I think that is just silly.

Song of the Day... Gossip - Love Long Distance

2009-08-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

The just released new single from Gossip! Love the song, so excited to see them in October. The video is um.. well interesting.. I think I like it.. I don't think any of the band members were actually in the video tho!

Love Long Distance

Song of the Day.. Eva Simons - Silly Boy

2009-08-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, a low quality song leaked, it was claimed to be that of Rihanna and Lady Gaga teaming up together. The Song: "Silly Boy". Both camps denied it was them. It turns out it is an artist named Eva Simons. If the song "Silly Boy" is any indication she could turn out to be the musical love child of Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Enjoy!

Song of the Day.. Livvi Franc - Now I'm That Bitch

2009-08-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

In the footsteps of Rihanna comes another islander RnB pop star.. her first single "Now I'm That Bitch" is out now, already reached number on on the US Hot Dance charts.. produced by some big wigs, RedOne and JR Rotem.. I for one will remember her name

Song of the Day... Cascada - Evacuate the Dancefloor

2009-08-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Song of the Day... Darin-Runaway

2009-08-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

Gossip..

2009-07-31T15:38:00.000-07:00

I got my pre-sale tickets today for the Gossip's Oct 24th show here in Portland. I am so super excited!

To celebrate my excitement, the Gossip put out their new single and video today. "Love Long Distance" I am not really sure what to make of the video. I don't actually think the band members themselves are in the video, but can't be guaranteed of that.

Check it out yourself on their myspace page.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=61313499

Song of the Day... Smoke Jumpers-My Flow So Tight (Chris Brown)

2009-07-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

Really says it all:

Song of the Day... Aqua - Back to the 80's

2009-07-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Aqua has come out with their greatest hits album, yes it includes their one hit "Barbie Girl" but if you ever ventured beyond that song into their catalog you would have found some great jams. "Around the World" "Doctor Jones" "My Oh My"are just a few of my favorites.

Here is their newest single, out a couple weeks now: Back to the 80's

Madonna's Celebration

2009-07-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

Madonna's new single "Celebration" has leaked today, it rocks my socks. It feels like a combination of some of her early hits like "Holiday" and "Into the Groove" with some of her best as of late "Hung Up".

Extra song of the day! Mika - We are Golden

2009-07-29T11:57:00.001-07:00

Mika's second album is about to come out.. here is the video for the first single released last week, the video premiered today.

Song of the Day.. Calvin Harris - Ready for the Weekend

2009-07-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Calvin Harris' new album comes out in August, here is the video for the lead off single "Ready for the Weekend"

With 107+ degree predicted temperature predicted for today, I am so ready for the weekend when a cold front will be moving in and it will cool down to the high 80s!

Song of the Day... Bananarama - Love Comes

2009-07-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

The new single from gods of the 80's, Bananarama. Don't call this a comeback, if you can remember they reformed a couple years ago and put out some banging tracks. "Look on the floor" was my fav!

anyways.. here is the new single off their upcoming album

Kinda creepy

2009-07-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

So the secret of nimh is kinda creepy as far as kids movies go

Song of the Day... Edara-Saw Red

2009-07-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

A remix of one of my favorite songs of the summer:

Song of the Day... Dolly Rockers - Gold Digger

2009-07-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

Song of the Day.. Booty Luv -Say It

2009-07-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

Song of the Day... Phoenix - Lisztomania

2009-07-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Lisztomania is the first single off Phoenix's new album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

Forever..

2009-07-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

Now this is a walk down the isle!

Madonna's Celebration Cover Art

2009-07-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

Madonna's upcoming greatest hits album has its official cover art debut! In addition to being the cover art for the album it will also be the cover art for the new single, also called "Celebration".

The image may look iconic Madonna done by Andy Warhol, however the image is actually a combination of two iconic photos of Madonna both from the early days of her career.
The face of this picture:

With the hair of this:

Created by artist Mr. Brainwash, the image invokes the famous painting of Marilyn Monroe

And stuff

2009-07-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Don't really have a whole lot to say at the moment. I am awaiting the arrival of my friend Morgan and her husband, Josh. They are on their way to Seattle for a family reunion. They will be staying with me tonight, which I'm super excited about. Morgan is going off to the Cleveland to continue her education at Case Western Reserve. We are going to go watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We are all geeky people like that. We also like board games and reading. They are both fun. Josh is such a lightweight when drinking, he gets buzzed off one beer and has a grin from ear to ear.

I have a family reunion myself this weekend. My sister and I will be traveling on Saturday morning to Sunriver in central Oregon. We are going to be meeting up with our parents, grandparents, and a bunch of aunts and uncles. I am apprehensive about it all. Some of my family are conservative religious racist homophobic sexists, I will be avoiding them in most cases. I will be taking my iPod and a good book to escape them. I do however adore my parents and my grandparents. I hope we get to play some pinochle.

Song of the Day... David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland - When Love Takes Over

2009-07-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

The song is a couple months old now, but it's a great jam, one of the early contenders for Summer Jam 09 (of which I still don't think we have a clear winner) Kelly sounds a looks amazing, I hope she comes out with an album based around her new found dancedivadom. David Guetta has always impressed me and his new album comes out in August.

I'm a Popera Star

2009-07-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

This is my fantastic friend Conrad performing as Katya Sminoff-Sky, yes she really is singing.

Project Runway All Stars!

2009-07-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Lifetime the new home to homoliciousness, "Project Runway", will air a two hour special "Project Runway: Allstars." Bringing back some fan favorites and some love to hate personalities to compete for a prize of $100,000. The special will air just prior to the season six premium on August 20th.

Among the former contestants: my "boyfriend" Daniel Vosovic (Season 2 Runner Up) and perhaps the gayest contestant ever on the show Chris March (season 5 drag queen).The rest of the line up includes:

Santino Rice (Season 2, original jerkface)
Jeffrey Sebelia (Season 3 jerkface winner)
Uli Herzner (Season 3 flowy print dresses)
Mychael Knight (Season 3 "ghetto"tastic finalalist failure)
Sweet P (Season 4 beautiful tatoos)
Korto Momolu (Season 5 gorgeous african woman)

Song of the Day... BoA - I Did It For Love

2009-07-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

When can I buy tickets?

2009-07-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

The Gossip, the Beth Ditto fronted awesomesauce band, have announce dates for their upcoming US tour to support their new album Music For Men. They will be going on a 15 city tour starting in Washington DC on October 7th. They will be coming to Portland, their band home town, on October 24th at the Wonder Ballroom.

10/7, Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
10/8, Philadelphia, PA (TLA)
10/9, New York, NY (Terminal 5)
10/11, Boston, MA (Paradise)
10/15, Detroit, MI (Majestic Theater)
10/16, Chicago, IL (Metro)
10/17, Madison, WO (Orpheum)
10/19, Denver, CO (Bluebird)
10/20, Salt Lace City, UT (Urban Lounge)
10/23, Seattle, WA (Showbox)
10/24, Portland, OR (Wonder Ballroom)
10/25, San Francisco, CA (Regency Ballroom)
10/26, Los Angeles, CA (Henry Fonda Theater)
10/29, Austin, TX (Emo's)
10/30, Little Rock, AR (Vino's)

Gossip - Heavy Cross:

Lady Gaga's next single? all about the boys!

2009-07-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Rumors are that Lady Gaga's next single the US will either be Boys Boys Boys, or Summerboy.. You know how i love them boys in general.. I've always thought that Summerboys would be a great single.. but Boys do buy us drinks in bars..

Here they both are:

Lady Gaga's Boys Boys Boys:

Lady Gaga's Summerboy:

Lady Gaga and Republican.. secret besties?

2009-07-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

CNN is currently running a story that says that the G.O.P. big wigs were shown a parody of Lady Gaga's massive hit "Just Dance". This parody is titled "Just Tax". The video, created by recent college graduate and show to Republican's in order to highlight its abilities to use technology and new media. I find just a few things wrong with this..

First, song parody isn't using technology or new media in any way shape or form. I'm a child of the 80's and remember the brilliance that is Wierd Al's "I'm Fat" and "Like a Surgeon". Using today's pop cultural equivalents to make parodies isn't using new media or technology... FAIL

Second, Lady Gaga gonna rip you apart!

Third, G.O.P. your outdated message of high taxes isn't going to resonate with the youth of America and the aging class that message will resonate with don't have a clue who Lady Gaga is, just like many of you.

Fourth, this just reminds me of the funniest part of the national party conventions of watching the middle aged and old white people dancing in suits to music that are shown during any break in the staged show. Can't you just imagine seeing McCain, McConnel,Hatch, Boehner etc... suit, ties, and loafers.. HAHA

back..

2009-06-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

im back.. long time gone, back now tho

Been sick..

2009-02-26T11:10:00.001-08:00

Yuck, cough, sniffle, barf!

I have the flu, I think. It is going around. Four people out of a staff of eight at work have it.

All Star Pop Culture Trivia

2009-02-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Last night was another match of the Portland division of All Star Pop Culture Trivia. Aretha's Hat went into the night with a decent lead in points for the Portland division. After weeks of badgering the head honcho for a Madonna round of trivia, he acquiesced and the Super Six was dedicated to the Queen of Pop herself.

First round was all about Chick Flicks, we rocked this round. 9 out of 10 correct. Second round was the year 1992, we ran the table that round with 9 out of 10 correct. Third round was a tough one for us. Name "THAT GUY". You know... That Guy! Him! He was in that one movie... He played so and so.. name the actor.. 5 outa 10, ouch!. Half time question was "Who of the following did not guest star on Friends? a. Slema Blair b. George Clooney c. Hugh Laurie or d. Kate Walsh" We answered dear ole Dr. Addison Montgomery and thankfully got it right for the ten points. Onto round four for "Name the place" This show was set in what city? 5 outa 10. ouch again! Round five: One Hit Wonders.. some very obscure stuff. We were shaken but not stirred after two bruising rounds with a strong start. Marcy Playground, Concrete Blonde and Luscious Jackson et all. I was really hoping for some Los Lobos. We did alright with 7 outa 10. Going into the Super Six we had accumulated 45 points out of 60 possible.

Question one: What is the name of the James Bond movie that Madonna recorded the theme for and had a cameo in? Our Answer: Die Another Day.

Question two: What was the name of her first single? Our Answer: Everybody

Question three: What is the name of Madonna's first husband? Our Answer: Sean Penn

Question four: Who opened for Madonna on her first tour in 1985? Our Answer: Beastie Boys

Question five: What Oscar nominated film maker directed Madonna's Express Yourself music video? Our answer: David Fincher

Question six: According to IMDB.com what was Madonna's first appereance in a movie? Our answer: (we left this blank) We couldn't remember the exact name of the first movie Madonna appeared in which was a TINY independent film shot in 1979 before she became famous. We also hesitated becasue we weren't sure if IMDB.com would have listed that or the first mainstream film she was in which is Vision Quest.

Drum roll...

We got them all right! GO US!

Now for the scores to be tallied and the winner announced...

WE WON! A resounding thumping of the other Portland division teams. We scored a 60. the next closest team was Google This with 35 points. We have further increased our lead in the league.

Now we just have to keep winning and hope that we get the Oscar Pool points!

Go Aretha's Hat

UK to Fred Phelps... HECK NO YOU CAN'T COME!

2009-02-19T15:34:00.000-08:00

Fred Phelps and one of his many daughters were planning on taking their clown show on the road to the United Kingdom. They had planned on protesting outside a local production of The Laramie Project.

Phelps has now been bared entry into the country. UK Border Agency and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith have banned Phelps from entering the UK, saying it opposed "extremism in all its forms".

Song of the Day... Madonna..

2009-02-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

Get em all...

http://www.mtvmusic.com/madonna

Watch them all..

In the last two days I have!

He said what?

2009-02-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

“They’re mean. They want to talk about being nice. They’re the meanest buggers I have ever seen... It’s just like the Muslims. Muslims are good people and their religion is anti-war. But it’s been taken over by the radical side.” —Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars

Sen. Buttars is referring to the "gays".

File this under.. It's about time!

2009-02-18T10:05:00.001-08:00

The Black Eyed Peas have announced that their new album will be coming out mid-summer. June 9th to be exact.

The new album, titled The E.N.D. will be the first in 4 years for the group.

Song of the day... Madonna - Like A Prayer

2009-02-18T10:00:00.001-08:00

He said what?

2009-02-17T17:46:00.000-08:00

Q: So you don't subscribe to Rush Limbaugh's "I hope he fails" school of thought?

A: That was a terrible thing to say. I mean, he is the President of all of the country. If he succeeds, the country succeeds, and if he doesn't, it hurts us all. Anyone who is pulling against the President isn't exactly thinking rationally.

That was asked and answered by one Pat Robertson... yeah.. THAT Pat Robertson of the 700 Club.

Song of the Day... Madonna - Frozen

2009-02-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

In honor of this week's All Star Pop Culture Trivia Super 6 every song this week will be from Madonna.

What causes someone to do this..

2009-02-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day..

2009-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

I don't view Valentine's day as the smaltzy romantic mushy holiday that many want to make it out to be. I love it for its celebration of love. I love many things -- above all else, my friends and family. I show them my appreciation and love on this day and many others throughout the year.

With Valentine's Day I get to pretend I am in grade school again and giving the silly cards to everyone and decorating my brown paper sack and taping it to my desk for others to give to me.

So here is to all forms of love and appreciation, so go appreciate someone today or tonight or tomorrow or the day after that.

Heart made out of Conversation Hearts... so damn cute!

Song of the Day... Lady Gaga - Love Game

2009-02-13T12:20:00.001-08:00

The newest video from the amazing first album by pop goddess Lady Gaga. I am so excited to go see her in concert when she comes to Portland in March.

All Star Pop Culture Trivia

2009-02-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

We won again last night, it was a very close hard fought match. More to come later.

Portland Japanese Garden - Free Admission

2009-02-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

The Portland Japanese Garden will be open for free on Monday February 16th from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

The garden was designed by Professor Takuma Tono beginning in 1963, though the garden opened to the public in 1967.

In a study conducted by the Journal of Japanese Gardening, it was ranked first out of 300 public Japanese gardens outside of Japan and considered to be one of the most authentic.

I plan on being there Monday.

Only in Portland

2009-02-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

Over at a favorite blog of mine, Blogtown of the Portland Mercury they are featuring a story that really seems it could only happen in Portland. A coffee shop in SE Portland has come under the ownership of its four employees in which they aim to be "anti-profit." The plan is to use any money that the business makes to pay the business expenses and the personal expenses of its four co-owners.

Read the full story here.

Judd Gregg withdrawl...

2009-02-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

Sen Gregg (R-NH) has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Obama cabinet position of Commerce Secretary. He cites that he has irresovable conflicts with Obama administration.

"It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census, there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy."

What is up with Obama's cabinet appointments? For a campaign that prided itself on sound judgement in time of crisis and the what was billed as the smoothest quickest transition in history, they sure have made more than a few mistakes in picking the cabinet and getting down to fixing many of the messes made by the previous administration. I find all the rhetoric at this time of bi-partisanship to be a bit disenguine. The Republicans have no interest in being bi-partisan, their interest lies in stalling the Obama administration and attempting to make the new administration a failure. When will the Democrats and especially the Congressional leadership get the backbone that the last two elections have inspired. We won the election with a resounding victory, ACT LIKE IT!

Happy Birthday...

2009-02-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today in history both Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born in 1809. They would both be 200 years old today. Probably two of the most influencial people of the modern age, they both carved out huge legacies in their lives. Happy Birthday!

Song of the Day... Madcon - Beggin

2009-02-12T13:37:00.000-08:00

All Star Pop Culture Trivia

2009-02-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the latest installment of All Star Pop Culture Trivia. Aretha's Hat (my team) has solidly taken first place in the Portland division.

The leader board for the Portland division:

Aretha's Hat : 167
Team PDA: 145
Bologna Nipples: 115
Google This: 107
The Pussies Galore: 83

Last week we won our first match after two agonizing weeks being the bridesmaid and never the bride. However each week we increased our score and had in many ways the most solid performances for the Portland division thus far.

Despite a strong showing Bologna Nipples was unable to match us in the Super 6 round. We were tied going into the final round and we ran away with it by getting 5 of the 6 questions correct and they only got one correct. We talked with an emissary from Team PDA who had realized by now from our solid performances that they were out gunned and wanted to let us know that they were going to go all Tonya Harding on our asses and we'd be screaming "WHY ME?!?!?!"

Original team member Branden is moving to South Korea and will no longer be playing with us. Adrian may not be able to come tonight due to his sore back but I know he is motivated to come.
George is unsure of his ability to attend tonight.
but Ted and I are both very excited about kicking some butt.

Tom Baxter - Tragic

2009-02-11T20:20:00.001-08:00

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Hotmail welcomes POP3

2009-02-11T15:44:00.000-08:00

POP3 has finally come to Hotmail, bout time!

You will now be able to forward your hotmail e-mails automatically to google and other services. If you signed onto hotmail years ago and want to transfer to a better service but don't want to leave behind the years of built up use this is finally the solution that hotmail was waiting for.

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

Thank you Windows Live team.. now just push out Windows 7 and most everything will be forgiven for Vista.

2009-02-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

A couple years ago the authors of one of my favorite books, Freakanomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner were sued by John Lott. Lott is a research scientist at the University of Maryland and is well known conservative gun rights advocate. Lott claimed that in their book Levitt and Dubner had dismissed a study that Lott had performed that went to show that carrying concealed weapons lowers crime rates. Levitt and Dubner were sued because Lott said they had defamed him and his research because as Levitt and Dubner had correctly pointed out that other researchers had not been able to replicate Lott's findings.

Lott said in the lawsuit that the claims of the authors "damages Lott’s reputation in the eyes of the academic community in which he works, and in the minds of the hundreds of thousands of academics, college students, graduate students and members of the general public who read Freakonomics."

He lost, he appealed and now the appeals court has turned down that appeal stating "To the extent that Lott is complaining about an attack on his ideas, and not his character, he is barking up the wrong tree. The remedy for this kind of academic dispute is the publication of a rebuttal, not an award of damages."

I wonder where Lott stands on the traditional conservative idea of a frivolous lawsuit.

Starbucks Pink Slips..

2009-02-11T13:24:00.000-08:00

Starbucks today announced that they are doing some management reshuffling of their business model and with that they are letting go 870 assistant store managers and 500 non-store employees. Rumors are flying that this amounts to every assistant manager across the nation, but the Seattle Times is reporting that the number amounts to roughly half of the currently employed assistant managers.

Starbucks:

Dear Partners,

As we communicated on January 28, Starbucks is reshaping our operating model and organization structure to support the long-term health of our business. This includes both organizational changes and the difficult decision to reduce our global workforce. These changes are necessary as we navigate through this challenging economy, and they are critical to ensuring we have a sustainable and successful business going forward.

Based upon the company's current and anticipated future needs, certain non-store and store positions have been eliminated or restructured globally. In some cases, certain roles or functions are being eliminated, and those partners will be separated. In other cases, there will be a reduction in the number of similar positions. The first part of this process took place last week with notifications in Partner Resources and Partner & Asset Protection.

Today, approximately 500 U.S. and Canada non-store partners are being notified that their positions have been eliminated. Of these, approximately 300 are at the Starbucks Support Center (SSC) in Seattle. Similar notification and consultation processes are currently taking place in company-owned international markets in accordance with local employment laws.

As part of a broader labor efficiency initiative, approximately 870 Assistant Store Managers (ASMs) are being notified today that their positions are being eliminated. An additional 530 unfilled open ASM positions will not be filled. This change reflects our current business environment, along with recent and new store closures and the reduction in new store openings. The ASM role continues to be critical; however, we no longer require as many positions.

A number of organizational changes are being announced globally to ensure that we have the right structure and leadership to support our strategy. These changes include:

• Canada and Latin America will be combined into a single region (Americas) in order to leverage regional talent and leadership and to make SCI more scalable.

• Our U.S. Field Operations structure will be realigned, with DSVPs focused on setting national strategy and implementing enterprisewide programs. RVPs and their RDs and field teams will focus on ownership of their respective regions and on localizing implementation of company strategies.

We are thankful and proud of the contributions our partners make to the organization, and we are committed to treating all partners with respect and dignity - those who are departing Starbucks and those who will stay.

Over the next week or so, partners who will continue on the journey with us will have a series of meetings with their leaders and workgroups. We will use these meetings to map out a direction for the future.

In the meantime, partners have many resources available to provide support. In addition to your leadership team and Partner Resources staff, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available for all partners. In the U.S. and Canada, EAP counselors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at (800) 682-0364. International partners may refer to the EAP numbers in their respective regions or markets for assistance.

We realize how difficult it is to say goodbye to partners who have played such a critical role in the success of Starbucks over the years. We thank you for your passion for Starbucks - and your fellow partners.

Regards,

Chet Kuchinad

Koala named Sam saved from the fires raging in Australlia

2009-02-11T12:48:00.000-08:00

The fires have killed over 150 people and that number is expected to rise to possibly well over 200, but one Koala named Sam survived.

Michelle Obama on the cover of Vogue

2009-02-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

The First Lady who is expected to save the fashion industry is gracing the cover of the March issue of Vogue..

The photo was taken by famed Annie Leibovitz..

I don't know how to say this without sounding like a jerk.. but something went wrong in the photoshopping of this pic...

Michelle is a beautiful woman and this photo just looks off kilter. It just doesn't look right. Her head looks a little small and her hand next to her neck just doesn't match up with the shadows of her face and chin.

Love the dress and her arms tho!

Song of the Day... Morgan Page - The Longest Road

2009-02-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

Republican Governor of Utah comes out for Civil Unions and gay rights..

2009-02-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

Republican Governor Jon Huntsman Jr of Utah has come out in full support of a legislative effort in the state championed by Equality Utah. The bill, Common Grounds Initiative, would among other things would extend health care benefits and provide for employment and housing discrimination protection.

The Governor, and remember Republican from Utah, has further come out in favor of civil unions.

ABC 4, of Salt Lake City asked Gov. Huntsman:“You support civil unions?”

Gov. Huntsman replied, “Well, its something I have given a lot of thought to and the answer is yes.”

It is rumored that Gov. Huntsman is looking to position himself as a compassionate conservative for a run at the White House in 2012.

I for one will be interested in how he moves forward.

Where dreams become heart attacks...

2009-02-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

is it bad that at least some of these look like something I would want to at least try? Not that corn dog pizza.. EW!

New Lady Gaga - Fashion

2009-02-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

Lady Gaga song from the soundtrack of the upcoming film Confessions of a Shopaholic

I love Ellen and Lady Gaga.. in the bathroom?

2009-02-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

I could do without the John Mayer though, I don't really care for him. Oh well this is still fun..

Still A Rock Star...

2009-02-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

It is slushing outside right now, not rain, not snow but slush...

Tonight is "That's So Gay Trivia" at Crush hosted by the beautiful Michelle..
Tonight's hints:

Trivioake: Country Divas (think reba, the chicks, loretta, dolly, etc.)
Mystery: Literature (think famous characters...)
Picture Pages: Celebs in High School

I still haven't decided if I am going tonight. I feel like I need a week off, though Aretha's Hat will be showing up to defend our All Star Pop Culture Trivia title this week on Thursday. This week's Super Six hint is "The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences" aka The Grammy Awards.

Song of the Day.. The Ting Tings - Great DJ

2009-02-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

Chris "Forever" Brown and Princess RiRi... um wtf?

2009-02-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

So reports are all sketchy and not much detail is available so far other than this:

Chris Brown allegedly assaulted someone late Saturday night after the Quincy Jones Pre-Grammy Bash
Rihanna is the person that Brown allegedly assaulted

That seems to be it for now...
There are of course so many rumors running around out there about these two even before all this happened.. a mini-recap is necessary

Chris Brown allegely is gay and dating Zac Efron
Rihanna is a big diva and broke despite having some of the biggest hits of the 00's

And oh.. where are the paps pictures? Don't they practically stalk these celebrities?

So many questions.. so few answers at this time..
I hope Rihanna is ok...
I hope Chris Brown gets help for what he may have done...
I hope the Oprah/Barbara Walters interview with them happens soon!

And I hope Kathy Griffin talks all about it when she comes to Portland in March!

Come and play with me

2009-02-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

Who knows what the heck is gonna happen around here. Hopefully I will enjoy myself, maybe others will be drawn to it and I can finally get my major movie/book deal! HAHA, not looking for that to happen at all.. too much work and I am far too lazy to write a book or a movie. Heck I am not a great writer.

But here we go nonetheless...