Gann: 1 Ruby: 0

Saturday I was sitting on the couch not feeling very well when there was a tap at my door. Then the bell chain was pulled and the bell konged. Then more tap, tap, tapping at the door. Then I get looked at like I need to drag my ass to the door. So I go open the door for the mail carrier expecting to get a package placed in my hands. Oh, hell no. This bitch wants to scrap. I deemed her a bitch on Friday when she placed the mail beside the mailbox instead of inside. She whines that she is short and it is hard to carry the mail and try and open boxes and that our crappy box on the crappy table is just too hard. Um, you are a mail carrying professional, make it happen! I can do it with one hand while toting groceries and I am short too. Whatever. She wants the box secured. I want to blow up the post office for this whining lady that 100 people would line up to do her job. I asked her name and confirmed her post office. She then LAID THE MAIL ON THE FLOOR BY MY FEET. Seriously. Reminded me of the drunk mail man in Funny Farm that just threw the mail near the house.
Sure, our mail carrier walks and delivers the mail to the house directly. We have been renovating and we got a new door that no longer has a mail slot and until we know what we will have I am not spending $350 on a mail pagoda. The fab hub wired the box to the table. I taped a note to the inside of the glass that read, "Ruby: The mail box is secured. Please do not leave mail on the floor". Monday the mail was in the box. There was a parcel on the floor. I was fine and happy. Tuesday there was mail in the box with a note apologizing for the parcel being on the floor the day before.

Lookie Lookie!

Our local paper recently had a discussion on interesting things to eat at breakfast and I was happy to see a comment I left on the food blog was published in the Sunday print. I hope someone out there tries it. I love my Italian roots. Panettone is a wonderful Italian sweet bread with little fruit bits in it. Panettone is NOT FRUIT CAKE. Not that there is anything wrong with fruit cake, you just have to have the right one and be sure there is no creepy green fruit in it. I will share with you what I make every Christmas morning. This is my own recipe that my family and friends have enjoyed around our table and I hope you will too. Yum!

Panettone French Toast

Required:

1 Panettone, sliced 1/2 to 3/4 inch rounds and laid out to dry about 30 minutes each side.
2 Large eggs
1/3 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Orange juice
1 Tablespoon sugar
Pinch ground clove
1/4 Teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 Cup amaretto liquor
Pinch of salt
Butter for the pan

Method:

Combine all ingredients except the panettone and butter in a flat bottom bowl that the panettone will fit into. Warm your skillet to medium. Melt some butter. Dip the sliced panettone quickly through the batter and place in pan. Cook on each side 2 to 3 minutes for a nice golden brown using your spatula to flatten out after the first flip. No need for syrup unless you are a syrup junkie. Enjoy!

Oh, wow!

I was recently turned on to Dragon for dictation on my iPhone. It is great. I had this fantasy that I would dictate my blog on my ride home. I tried...it will take a tweet bit more practice and less cursing at other vehicles. Just as fun and possibly more useful is Dragon Search. If you have an iPhone please go get it now while it is still free. So easy and wonderful. Just tell your friend the dragon what you ponder and he will go fetch the results. No typing.

And on the subject of why I have not been dictating on my way home.....I am effing addicted to Gowalla. Sure, go get it now too while it is still free. Less than 850 people are playing in Georgia currently so I find it a great time to be a founder. This is my first go at playing a geocatching game. I am intrigued. It also inspires me to travel more. I would rather be traveling for work than working to travel......

That is my current iPhone goodness. There are some good zoom camera apps out there. None worth giving kudos to.

Simply Amazing

We snuck down to Orlando for a visit to Universal Studios and Island of Adventure the first weekend in December. Had a blast! The Fab Hub flew in to Minneapolis and I drove down. I really enjoyed the long drive. I had an iPod adapter installed on the TT before I left for added pleasure.
We stayed at the pink castle looking hotel that happens to be a Double Tree. A-la hot cookies whenever you ask. Great location. We were upgraded to the top floor for premier Hilton Honors people because I found a wonderful little code on retailmenot.com. There were dragons all around the hotel.

We went to Universal Studios on Saturday. Had a blast. No lines. No kids. We lost count of how many times we rode The Mummy roller coaster. The only thing we had to wait on was the Rock-it Roller Coaster. You get to pick your own soundtrack and then go straight up for take off only to go plunging back down and then into loops and corkscrews. I listened to Stronger. I think the music element adds to the ride. At the end of the day we watched the Macy's Parade down Main Street and I pined after being a balloon handler.

On Sunday we headed over to Island of Adventure. This was our first time in this park. We rode The Hulk, The Simpsons, Spiderman, Dueling Dragons and got to meet The Grinch. We saw the Grinchmas Show, which was wonderful, and had great food and even some sangria. We headed back over to the Rock-It Roller Coaster and saw some balloon handler people....AND THEY NEEDED VOLUNTEERS!!! That is right, I got to carry a balloon in the Macy's Parade!!! I carried a stupid football but I don't care---I got to do it!! Macy's sends all of the balloons down to Universal after the parade.

Saturday night we went to the Cirque Du Soleil show La Nooba. The show really was like a glimpse into a dream. It tickled my mind. It was layered in a way that was simply amazing. I highly recommend seeing the show. There are so many things going on at once that really put you in pure awe of the art of the performance. The experience is mind bending. I love the escape. The performers are top notch. The costumes are outstanding. Exquisite all around.

Florida was great and a much needed break with all fun and play.

Thanksgiving and Such

I don't really care about Thanksgiving. Not a big day in my life. I do not eat meat and I spend more time asking questions about what is in something than enjoying. I love mashed potatoes. I love dressing. I love Hawaiian rolls.....just not all on the same plate. I feel like I ate a brick. Since we went over to family's house this years I made sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, a pumpkin cheesecake, a gingerbread cheesecake and fresh cranberry sauce. I did not get any dressing since it was laden with animal. To prepare for the eating festivity I participated in the Gobble Jog 5K. Yes, I actually finished. I am rather proud. Now I want to do more 5Ks and improve my time. I got magical running shoes that have changed everything. They actually fit and give my the proper support to jog.

The day after Thanksgiving the Fab Hub and I journeyed out to Augusta to see the Cirque Du Soleil show Alegria. Loved it! This show is heavy on acrobatics. The band is sensational. The opera is mind blowing. The performers are unreal. They have crafted their skills into true art. The presentation brings everything together into an incredible show.

The Best ________ That You are Not Using

I find it my civic duty to share some things with you Internet. Behold my bounty that you should be paying damn good attention to.

Pandora: Go and download this treasure if you have not already. Computer or iPhone--either way you will be good. You get to compile your own radio station. Eureka!! Pandora then figures out why you picked what you did and makes your own private radio station of recommendations. Don't agree with a selection? Give it a thumbs down. Love what you are listening to but have no clue who it is? Read more and if inclined give it a thumbs up. The idea of Tivo, but for music. I have learned of a few new bands I had not heard being played before and I love it! Oh, and it is free.

Silversun PickUps: The music this band creates is amazing. The bassist is a chic and I have a girl crush on her. I love the song Panic Switch. I cannot wait for the tour to stop in Atlanta. Complex sound that has so many layers....check them out.

Shazam: I know....more music. Do you know that song? Can you remember who sings it? What album? If you do will you remember to download it? Shazam takes care of that. Nifty little iPhone application that allows you to tag songs by holding you device up and let it "listen" to the music. In less than ten seconds it will return all the info on that song to you. Amazing. Among my discoveries: People Ain't No Good by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Beyond Here Lies Nothin' by Bob Dylan and 500 Miles by Tori Amos. It knows if you are listening to an album version or radio edit. Wow.

halfoffdepot.com: So you already use restaurant.com and love it. You get sad you cannot buy real gift cards....just print out the certificates. Not so nice for gift giving. You want a diff rent mix of deals. Super deals here. Seriously--check it out! And of course, check out retailmenot.com for a code to save a little extra on your savings. Also, sign up for groupon.com. I have used both of these sites a few times and I am in love with the savings and service. Yay!!

Stop Gloating, it is Ugly

I love my iPhone. I really do. I think you should get one too.
The Fab Hub still smiles secretly whenever I discuss how much I cherish it.

Yuppie Scum Rockstar

I love U2. I get excited when I get to see them live. I love having great seats. This combination proves to be costly.

For your consideration:

U2 fan club dues: $50 (So I could get pre sale tickets)
10th row tickets: $550 (Total for two tickets)
Parking: $30 (It was $40, but I negotiated)
Concessions: $25 (Two Miller Lite beers in a can and nachos for the fab hub)
Tour shirt: $10 (They were $40 inside, I bought a bootleg in the $40 parking lot)

Grand total: $665

I have flown to Europe round trip for less.
The show was great. Muse opened and was amazing. I wish it had been at The Ted instead. The sound was not so great at the Georgia Dome. Even though we had 10th row seats we were still pretty far away from the stage. I still found what I was looking for. A mass of people feeling music together. I adore the feeling of my lungs vibrating in my rib cage to the same music that is doing the same thing to 20,000 other people. And yes, I do sing along with Bono and dance the entire time. My feet hurt for two days because I had to wear my favorite patent leather four inch stiletto boots. I love that The Edge sang solo. The HD video was crazy. The lights and screens were mind bending. Totally worth the money. I enjoyed the PopMart tour far more for different reasons. U2 certainly delivered on the 360 Tour none the less. Once I figure out how to rip some video from my iPhone I will share a clip and a song that I shot.

Shoes for Ta Tas

So charity is good....shoes are better.

For the 2009 FFANY event I treated myself. Not sure that this qualifies as a true full price purchase. All of the shoes were donated and they were sold for half off. All of the proceeds go to breast cancer research. To continue to fuel my obsession with red shoes I just could not live without a new addition.

These will be showing up soon.