Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 16, 2013

Good Sunday morning to everyone! I hope all the fathers out there have a great Fathers Day. My own father died young, so please cherish your dads while you still have them in your life. A good father is priceless.

As it is Sunday, it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. On television topic for a moment -- there should be news tomorrow on the new Big Brother house and, by the end of the week, on the new cast of hamsters. You can still get the Early Bird Special on the live feeds at cbs.com. If you're having trouble signing up for the live feeds, my only advice would be to clear your cache or reboot your computer. It might be easier to sign into the CBS site with your Facebook account if you have one.

Onto the week ... it rained. And then it rained some more. On Wednesday, my day off, it actually did NOT rain! Woohoo! I took a trip into nearby Westfield to visit Mindowaskin Park for a photo stomp of flowers, water fowl, bugs and the cicada "invasion." Here's a video I shot at the park with the cicadas singing their mating song as the background ...

Once I hit Trader Joe's, I was thrilled to find out they're expanding and taking over the whole building at their location. It's now twice the size! YAY! Although everything is still under construction, I already found new items I've never seen before. Trader Joe's is my favorite grocery store and the Westfield location was so tiny. I'm overjoyed for sure!

On the home front, the new landlords sent me the notice of a lease quit/renewal and rent increase. I had been worried as, even though I'm paying above market rate due to past mismanagement, they've been doing a lot of improvements to the building. My lease isn't up until September 1st, but I usually get this notice this time of the year. Okay, they raised my rent $5 more a month. I can deal with that. About the only thing better would have been no increase or a decrease. I can't see that happening!

One thing the new landlords should do, however, is learn their math. The state legal form was led off with an apology for the way it was worded (these notices required by the state always sound like you're getting the boot), how they understand how tough the economy is and blah-blah-blah. Then they said my rent increase is so tiny that it ends up being less than 75 cents a day! Um. Do the math. I believe it's more in line with 15 cents a day.

I found six dollars on the ground at the Bridgewater Train Station last night. I'll put that towards my rent increase! Onto this week's photos ... due to the never-ending rain for most of the week, the majority of these were taken on my Wednesday in nearby Westfield. 

Is it an ALIEN?

Nah, it's just a Magicicada. More on these in a bit.

Hey! Paparazzi! Stop shooting my butt!

My, what a big mouth he has! I guess he wanted to let me know he wasn't just a sitting duck.

Morning glory!

These are lining the chain link fence at the back of my apartment building.

Whatchoo lookin' at?

You know, it's rude to honk with food in your mouth, Goosey Lucy.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Falling Skies: Chicken Little Ain't Got Nothin' on the Overlords!

I'm sure I'm dating myself here a bit. But, one of the things I love about Falling Skies are the special effects. Y'see, I grew up in the days when black and white television went color. I grew up suspending my disbelief at poorly depicted aliens and their turfs in The Outer Limits, Star Trek: The Original Series, The Twilight Zone (original) and Lost in Space. The stories in those series had me compelled to watch and I forgave the somewhat ludicrous and fake-looking monsters and aliens akin to the way I forgave them in early Japanese Godzilla movies. At least I wasn't dealing with subtitles!

Fast forward to today's summer TV fare from TNT -- Falling Skies. It's Steven Spielbrg, for goodness' sakes. It's Robert Rodan, the writer of Saving Private Ryan. It's computer effects so realistic that one might think skitters, mechs and overlords really could exist somewhere in our nightmares of an apocalyptic world.

Tonight, the third season of the show kicks off with the high action, the superb effects and a decent, albeit perhaps a bit derivative, tale to tell. A few new characters are introduced; we bid adieu to a few other folks we've gotten to know over the past season or two. After all, unless your name is Mason on the show, you're probably expendable. Heck, I'd say even a Mason might not protect them from the latest onslaught.

My own personal favorite character on the show is Ben Mason. If this were real life (what? it's not?), he'd be the guy I want in my corner -- harnessed by the aliens, saved by the humans kind of sort of only to become a liaison between rebel skitters and the humans while, in actuality, he has traits of both species. Not only that, but he's easy on the eyes to watch, especially if I were decades younger!

Thanks to the kind folks at TNT, some weeks back I received the first five episodes of the new season. They don't tell me I have to like them. They don't even tell me I have to post about the show. If I do post, I can be as critical as I want with no repercussions from the network. They pay me nothing to promote the series.

But, this is one summer series I don't want to miss.

I'm posting this before tonight's series premiere airs, so I won't give you any real spoilers, per se. I will go as far as to say there's a new overlord on the scene and it's a bit of a shocker. And, then there's a Chuckie kind of thing going on. That's all.

Will you be watching? Or, if you're reading this after the show ... what did you think? Favorite characters? Comments on the special effects? Talk to me, 2nd Mass followers! 

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 9, 2013

Good Sunday morning to all y'all out there! Yes, I know I don't have the proper Southern accent for that. However, writing is cool. You can have any kind of accent you want when you write. Since it is indeed Sunday morning, that means it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken.

I posted a bit on Big Brother live feeds earlier this week. If you're a fan of the show, check it out! On a totally different television note, Falling Skies has its season premiere this evening. I've already seen (thanks, TNT) the two hour two episode premiere and plan to post on that. I don't think I'll be doing that throughout the series as it's on the same night as Big Brother and BB is why a lot of folks come by.

After a pleasant week's staycation, this past week started off very rough. As many of the folks reading this aren't on Facebook, here's a rather long FB post I made Monday evening:

Wah. After spending my entire staycation waking up early enough to go to work, I overslept today. Then it rained on me as I walked to the train station. Then my office was typical office upon return from vacation (stuff moved around, stuff not done, etc.) and I had a new person to train in there. Then I stayed late because I came late. Then I got rained on again heading to the train station. (Yes, I had my umbrella, but still ...!)

Then I got home, hit the elevator button because it's NEVER on the floor I want, got my mail out of the mailbox, made it back to the elevator in time for the door to open. As I stepped onto the elevator, I was fumbling with my keys to get my apartment door key ready. I accidentally dropped my keys ... DOWN THE CRACK FOR THE ELEVATOR SHAFT! Wah! Wah! Woe is me! I went down to the basement and tried putting my umbrella in the shaft. No go. It didn't even touch bottom. I almost lost my umbrella down the elevator shaft.

Where is my 24 hour number for the super? Is it in my cell phone? No, of course not. I have it on my refrigerator. Thankfully, there are some good neighbors I know well enough to ask for help. Cletus from the first floor called Mario, the super. He got me into my apartment with his copies. He's going to make copies and leave them for me tomorrow. And, he's going to have the landlord call the elevator people because they're the only ones who can get down in that below basement level elevator shaft. I told him any money they find down there is mine. Any small children or rodents they find are NOT mine.

It all ended nicely, though. The super fished out my keys himself using a string and hook with a flashlight to see them. I don't know how long it took him. But I bet it wasn't on the first try. I had planned to do the same once I got copies of the keys and could secure my apartment as I fished in the basement. I gave him a decent tip as he didn't have to do that for me.

Meanwhile, the old landlord for my apartment building was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for his multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme. Karma, baby.  The new landlords have been making building improvements, keep the elevator running (although it steals keys!), have a super who is bilingual, intelligent, trustworthy and a nice guy, too. The supers under the ex-landlord usually didn't speak English, didn't know how to fix stuff, weren't anyone you'd trust alone in your apartment and two even got evicted!

The week did improve for me, but the weather did not. It rained for about two days straight with the remnants of Andrea. Had we had the rains from this "post tropical cyclone" mixed with the winds of the last one (Sandy), we'd be in dire straits right now. Right now the reservoirs are full and we've had more rainfall than average for the year. I'm sure by August we'll be crying drought.

Onto the photos I took this week ...   

My chauffeur arrives

Although it was cloudy when the train picked me up Saturday morning for work, Andrea's constant rain was gone.

Starling on a wire

Perhaps not the prettiest bird, but the array of songs, chirps and such are beyond cool.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Big Brother 15: Live Feeds Information and Stuff

They recently released the information regarding the new live feeds via CBS.com for this season. As I previously mentioned, Real Networks is no longer partnering on the live feeds.

I have signed up (of course) and suggest anyone here wanting the live feeds, do it before the early bird cut-off of June 25th. You can sign up directly at the CBS website or various websites dedicated to the show. Since I know Hamsterwatch is a one woman effort, if you check out her site and sign up via the link she has there, she earns money. Alas, I don't have such a set-up for this blog. (If I did, I'd be asking you to sign up here!)

As in previous seasons, once the live feeds start, I'll be posting condensed versions (or stuff I really found interesting) of the live feeds two to three times a day, screen caps, coverage of endurance comps, blog parties on show nights and such as I have in the past. Supposedly, some content -- although not the live feeds per se -- will start on the feeds on June 11th. That should probably be the media day coverage during which various web writers do a mock-up of an eviction in the actual new house.

The season premiere is June 26. The cast won't be announced for a while yet. They're usually in the house four or five days before the premiere to give the producers film fodder for said premiere. They're usually in sequester for about a week before they go into the house. So, I'm thinking cast reveals should be around the 15th, give or take a day or two.

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 2, 2013

Good morning, afternoon, evening ... whatever it is whenever it is that you're reading this! Since, for ME, it's Sunday morning, that can only mean one thing. Yep! It's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way.

I was on a staycation this past week. I still am, for that matter. It's over when I go to work tomorrow morning. I really didn't do a heck of a lot of anything other than relax. In the beginning of my week, the weather kept me in. Then there was a nice day, then more rain. Then we went into a heat wave.

Now, if I were a "normal" New Jersey person, off for a week during a heat wave, I would have headed down the shore. But I'm far from normal. I do love beaches and the ocean. I really do. I just don't like them crowded with people when the water is still too cold to go in. I'm not a lay on the beach blanket all greased up to tan (burn) type of person. I'm pale. I prefer to stay pale. The only alternative to pale for me is red. Plus, I'm not good at getting up from the floor with the knee replacements. I can get up, but it's very awkward. I don't need strangers pointing and laughing at my exploits when I don't even have much clothing to hide me. "Hey! Look at the chunky old chick trying to get up!"

Nope, not for me, thankyouverymuch. My perfect beach day is anytime that it's not summer. Stormy winter weather on the beach? Gorgeous! Sunrise off season? I'm so there! But during heat waves, my best friends are my air conditioner and some good books. Oh. And a cat. Can't forget the cat.

Same random observations on the week (or on life, too):

• I didn't travel far during my week off. The farthest I went was to the farmers market in Scotch Plains, an adjacent town. I saw not a one cicada. So much for the 17-year invasion around here.
• My upstairs neighbor, still a stranger to me, seemed to have a child up there last weekend. Thankfully, it went away.
• The rowdy new people in the front of the building who arrived in March are already gone. 
• The elevator of my building smelled like Braunschweiger yesterday. That's not good. I prefer it smell like fresh laundry from the basement, please.
• I visited Park Liquors in Scotch Plains on my outing yesterday, buying some Brooklyn Lager and some Samuel Adams Summer Ale. The liquor stores around here in Plainfield tend to Budweiser and various Central/South American beers. I'm not a big beer drinker, but I do like to have one now and again on summer days. I like to experiment around trying different kinds. I can't recall the last time I had a Budweiser.
• Yes, yes, I can. It was in the 1980s. That was also the last time I had a kamikaze. Do you know they glow in black light?
• I don't like to sweat unless I'm doing something physical. Standing still in the shade is NOT physical. It's too early for heat waves.
• Vincent was supremely spoiled all week, more so than usual.
• I'm tired of television commercials for the Jersey Shore singing "we're stronger than the storm." Enough already.
• There was a shooting last night at Kennedy Fried Chicken on Park Avenue in Plainfield. I heard it on my scanner. The police were already dispatched to a fight when the Shot Spotter doohickey indicated shots fired. A man was shot in the shoulder. The police stopped a car driving away with no lights on. Voila! A gun. Good work, Plainfield PD!
• Of course, I wouldn't be there at 2 in the morning. 

Here in Plainfield, the primary is coming up this Tuesday. As it always seems to be, it's a heated Democratic brouhaha between the incumbent and others. Although it really doesn't mean much except to the local folks in town, I endorse (with this mighty blog) Adrian Mapp for mayor. We really need change. The current mayor isn't doing the job for me. How 'bout you?

Onto the photos I took this past week ...

Allium ball

I took this shot on Berckman Street in Plainfield. It's odd -- directly across the street, the allium flowers have passed. It's like they're in two different climate zones or something. Did you know that the generic "allium" is the Latin word for garlic?

She went and CLOSED the window!

Yes. In the second day of the heat wave (three days at 90 degrees or more), I closed the window and put on the air conditioning. Sorry, Vincent.

So pretty!

Typical me, I have no clue what this flower is. I can tell you it's growing on Berckman Street in Plainfield, though! I wouldn't know what allium is except for someone telling me. Maybe someone will tell me what this one is and I might even actually remember. Maybe.

Deadly nightshade

Ohhh! Ohhh! (Doing my best Horshack impression.) I do know this one! It's deadly, but very cool.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**