I'm Jackie and I watch TV. I'm not proud. Bookmark the blog now as your source for live feed reports from inside the 'Big Brother' house! Come, join in on the fun ...
Welcome one, welcome all! The blog party is ready to start! Everyone is welcome to join in with comments as the show airs here on the East Coast or even later in West Coast time. As the show airs, I'll post major events here, but the real fun and most of the reactions are in the comments section. See you there!
Look out, it's the product placement family episode! Chase won reward and chose Sash and Holly after telling Fabio he would choose him. @@
Yay! Fabio won immunity!
Chase and Sash both played their idols. Jane voted out.
Sigh, football again even for the season finale! I'm not a football fan at all to begin with and it really bugs me that CBS constantly schedules full episodic television on nights they KNOW the games run over. They ought to juggle the schedule and, if need be, schedule the football until 8 PM with commentary or whatever and lose a show on Sunday nights.
TAR is delayed by about a half-hour here in the NYC viewing area. Once it starts, as it airs here, I'll update this post with major happenings. Later tonight (or at least by morning) my show review should be posted over on TV Squad. But the real fun will be during showtime right here in the comments area. Everyone is welcome to join in! I'd like to see either Brook/Claire or Nat/Kat win, but all three teams going into this finale are strong!
NAT AND KAT HAVE WON THE AMAZING RACE!
Jill and Thomas haven't even gotten to the final task yet. Brook and Claire almost to the final pit stop.
Brook and Claire, number 2.
Jill and Thomas in, didn't show them doing the final task.
Wow! Next season's "Unfinished Business" looks like a bunch of great teams including some from this season!
Sunday morning, time to take an off television topic glance back at the week gone by in words and photos I've taken. My photo fodder is lacking a bit this week as the temperatures were frigid here in the Northern Central NJ area. Since my jacket pockets don't keep my camera warm enough, I've been putting it in my tote. Plus, I had gloves on, too. So photography was a bit time consuming each time I wanted to take a photo. Sigh.
It did get a bit warmer yesterday with highs up in the 40s. Yay! Thankfully we were spared the snow that other parts of the country received. But today, with the higher temps again, we're expecting wind-driven rain all day, ending as snow tomorrow morning. Then it's back to the cold. Oh well, it's almost winter. I guess it's to be expected.
Anyone who regularly reads this off topic weekly photo post knows I talk about birds taking over the world. Well, this week I peeked for Plainfield, NJ, on YouTube. THIS video (not taken by me) is of the recent blackbird migration going through Plainfield. Beware -- the person filming it has a bit of a PG-rated vocabulary --
See. It's not just me thinking the birds are taking over! It's not all in my mind!
I also found a video someone took in line at the Pollo Campera grand opening on East Front Street last week. Once again, it's not just in my mind. They lined up all the way down the block --
Then I found bizarreness with something from ithappenedinPlainfield.com. I checked it out and the writing is a bit too convoluted for me, plus it's set in areas of town I don't know well. But you'll recognize the train station in the video --
In this last video, there's this bar crawl in Plainfield. They ended up at Casanova Pizzeria on East Front Street. Huh. When I was photographing that place, the owner didn't want to be in any shots. Maybe it helps if you order pizza ...
Okay, so there's a taste of the town. I don't really know the bar scene so much, nor have I seen any celebrities involved in deep dark mysteries.
My life is a bit quieter. It's especially quieter since my rowdy ne'er-do-well neighbors in the apartment next door vanished. I do believe they're really gone. I know the maintenance folks were there drilling the door and I see new-looking locks. Good riddance, I just wish it hadn't taken that long!
My day to day social life tends to include my train commute friends. That changes as people retire or, in one case, NJ Transit closed down a friend's destination station. Yet I remain friends with the local to me train buddies, seeing each other outside of the train life. I don't know how these things happen, but most of the friends are men. Huh. Go figure. Their wives seem to approve and I've gotten to know the families, too. I guess I don't need to go to a bar to meet people!
My latest train friends are Frank and Chris. We sound like the start of a bad joke -- a blind guy, a white woman and a black man enter the train station ... It's odd how people tend to gravitate to each other and become friends merely over a commute. That doesn't happen in a car stuck in NJ traffic, for sure!
I've rambled enough ... onto the photos of the week. Clicking on an image will open it larger in a new window.
The latest
In the continuing saga of the bird feeder whose tree died and fell over, this is the latest solution. There are no birds because it's empty. But you just know if they went through all of this trouble, bird feed is on the shopping list! East Front Street, Plainfield.
Watching, always watching
This European Starling looks ready for the attack.
They control the landlines.
Bridgewater Train Station, NJ.
Vacancies
These apartments usually house migrant workers who head to nicer weather come winter. This is on North Street right across from the train station. While it might be better than TV at times, I wouldn't want to live there. I prefer to hear the train whistles in the distance from my own apartment. That's pleasant. But they have to endure all of the station announcements on the PA system, loud on-top-of-them trains, plus the area itself is somewhat rowdy at night.
Speaking of the train station ...
That person found out that they will NOT open the doors for late boarders once the doors are shut. I always make sure I'm at the station five minutes before the train is due. I'd rather be ten minutes early to the station than 20 seconds late.
Done up for the holidays
The Plainfield Police Department decorated trees around the memorial with blue and white lights. No, I doubt it's for Chanuka -- the blue most likely represents the police themselves. Watchung and East Fourth, Plainfield.
Fall falls
The mums (planted way too late) on East Front Street are getting frostbitten. Perhaps they should have little petal mittens?
Foggy windows time at the bakery
Yep, the windows on Danny's Bakery (North and Watchung Avenues, Plainfield) are all steamed up once again. That's always a reliable indicator of low temperatures.
Snow on the roof
We had lots of bouts of heavy snow flurries, but none stuck on the ground. The only place I saw snow was atop of the old Miron warehouse which is undergoing a rehab into apartments. With the very low temperatures, I have noticed that the snow pile (shaved ice from the Zamboni) at the Rock Ice Pavilion skate center in Dunellen is huge! There's snow there in a pile all summer. But it's now taking over a stretch of the old defunct railroad tracks.
Sunrise
It's a black and white world when you sleep on the train and miss stunning sunrises. I edited this one to leave only the window in color. NJ Transit.
As dawn arrives
Watchung Avenue, Plainfield. This is a similar location to the one I took in the fog a few weeks back, perhaps a bit farther from the train overpass.
Ta-ta!
The house on East Front and Richmond is finally in full gear. The house kitty-corner from it is also full of decorations. But I haven't caught that one in the dark with its lights on. And, when I pass in the morning on my later mornings (not Monday), it's daylight and kids are waiting for the school bus. I don't want their parents to think I'm some kind of whacko taking photos of their kids!
All it needs is snow
Another angle on the house above.
You say Santa Claws is coming?
"What do you mean, have you been naughty or nice? With a face like this, it's obvious that I'm just a sweet innocent NICE cat!"
Sure, Vincent. Innocent, yeah ... right. But, yes. NICE cat. (When he's not attacking my ankles from his hiding spot under the bed. I had to trim his claws because he actually slashed my ankles! Of course, he thought he was just playing. Ow.)
That's it for this week. Tonight's The Amazing Race season finale will probably be delayed due to double-header football coverage on CBS. But I'll get a blog party post up at 8 PM ET anyway. I hope to see you there!
Welcome one, welcome all! The blog party is ready to start! Everyone is welcome to join in with comments as the show airs here on the East Coast or even later in West Coast time. As the show airs, I'll post major events here, but the real fun and most of the reactions are in the comments section. See you there!
Chase won reward, taking Holly and Jane with him after promising Sash he'd take him. Uh-oh. Sash is the odd man out between the two alliances.
Sigh, football again. The show is delayed by about fifteen minutes here in the NYC viewing area. Once it starts, as it airs here, I'll update this post with major happenings. Later tonight (or at least by morning) my show review should be posted over on TV Squad. But the real fun will be during showtime right here in the comments area. Everyone is welcome to join in!
1. Brook and Claire but took taxi instead of subway or walk - 30 minute penalty
Really 1 - Jill and Thomas, won a trip to Argentina 2. Brook and Claire 3. Nat and Kat
