The Amazing Race 20 Blog Party - April 22

It's truly AMAZING! What is? Well, The Amazing Race is actually going to start on time here on the East Coast! I don't know if my heart can take it. While my blog pool random pick team is Ralph and Vanessa, I don't like them all that much. I don't care for Rachel, yet if I were on the race with her I wouldn't get all personally insulting to her. I'd just avoid her a lot or have little to say to her. Vanessa definitely has a mean streak in her and I don't like people who bully others even if the others are Brenchel.

The team I'd like best to win and enjoy watching the most is Kentucky -- Mark and Bopper. While they're surely backwoods, they're fun to watch. They get along well together and are doing much better stats-wise than I thought they would. I guess they don't really have much of a chance of winning with such alpha teams all around them. But it would be cool.

As the show airs here, I'll update this entry with major events. But the real fun is in the comments area. Come party with us as you watch the show!

The teams are heading to India. They encounter a Roadblock which has them learning a Bollywood dance routine.

Rachel and Dave are first to the Detour -- Cricket (the game) or Clutch It (rickshaw driving).

Pit Stop --
1. Rachel and Dave -- won a trip to St. Lucia.
2. Brendon and Rachel 

Sigh. Mark and Bopper seem to be goners. Mark tried and tried the Bollywood routine and finally gave up when Mark was almost at the point of collapsing.

3. Art and JJ
4. Vanessa and Ralph

All the teams have made it to the Pit Stop and Mark is giving the dance one more time so he won't be a quitter (for his children). He makes it through. They finally make it to the Pit Stop -- NON-PHILIMINATION!!! Woohoo! They're still in the race!

Off Topic: That Was The Week It Was 4/22/12

It's Sunday morning, time for my weekly off television topic foray reflecting on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken. And, this week, I even got to experiment with technology while composing this post. Such fun!

First off, Blogger went to a new composing page. Since I've been dealing with various programs for too many years to mention, I know sometimes stuff just has to change because ... well, change is GOOD. (Cough) Okay, it's just a matter of figuring where they moved everything and what they've added. I can deal with that.

But then my photos started all sticking together like a long run-on sentence. I thought it had something to do with the new composition page until I somehow opened the real old Blogger photo upload page. I've hit my limit! I can't add any more photos to the Google Picassa album.

No real worry as I have a paid Photobucket account with pretty much unlimited space. However, the last time I tried to use that to post photos here, they were huge and knocked my blog sidebar askew. So I figured I'd have to resize all to a small size to fit on the blog and direct folks to the Photobucket pages to see the larger view.

Not so! Since all the world is owned or hooked up to Google and I have been using the newer Blogger format, I can post them normally with captions even. Coolio.

So that was my nightmare. 

In other news, there isn't much other news. We had a light rain (very light) one night during the week. We're expecting heavy rain through most of today. It started last night with sudden wicked winds and rain so that I had to run about closing windows. Then it stopped. We really do need the rain. Brush fires around the area have been the worst I've seen in years. Of course, we're under a flood warning, so it's one of those "be careful what you wish for" scenarios. 

Let's see ... what else? Oh, I know! I found this rather disturbing. A young person attending a local college was standing in front of clock. She asked me what time it was, her back to the clock. Instead of pointing at the clock, I was polite and said "Quarter to three." She replied, "No, the other way." "What?" "Numbers." "Um ... like 2:45?" "Yes! Thank you!" 

Oh my gosh. Now, I know the kids are raised on digital clocks, but plenty of old school clocks are all around the world. I can only think if I were coming of age in these times, I'd teach myself to tell the time on standard clocks. It would drive me crazy not to know such a basic thing or understand what "quarter to" or "half past" means. 

I won't even mention folks who stand in front of clearly marked automatic EXIT doors and don't have a clue why the doors aren't opening for them.

But I do feel the need to mention the folks on the block in back of me whom I've dubbed "The Deliverance Family." They've moved into the most rundown house in the area, wear their wife-beater undershirts (dirty, of course) with or without dirty down jackets or dirty plaid flannel shirts, sit on their front steps selling exotic birds (cockatoos, parrots, lovebirds, etc.) which are probably stolen ... and THEY HAVE A ROOSTER. That darn rooster crows constantly from before sunrise until around sunset. I live in the city limits. GAH!!

What the Deliverance Family doesn't know is that they've moved in next to the live Mexican Polka Band All Summer Long People. That might be interesting. 

Onto the photos. Hopefully, (remember I'm posting them from Photobucket), clicking on an image will open it larger in a gallery feature. Well, scratch that. It opens the image in a separate window, clicking on it at that point brings about a larger image, closing the window returns you to the blog.

Disorganization

The birds better get their act together if they plan to overthrow humanity. Oh. Wait. Humanity is always in a state of chaos, too!

Purty planter

They put out pretty flowers in planters and throughout the lawn at the corner Scottway Townhouse off of East Front Street in Plainfield.

Yes, yes they are

This ad is on the back of a New Jersey Transit 819 bus. I love it! So does Vincent. However, Vincent really has to learn to sleep vertically in the bed and not hog it up horizontally!

***HIT THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS!***

Survivor: One World - April 18 Episode Blog Party

Survivor fans ready? The show will be starting in a few minutes here on the East Coast. It sounds like it's going to be One World against One Man this week. Troyzan is definitely on the outs with the world! Will he survive? I guess we'll find out!

As the show airs here, I'll update this entry with major events. However, the real fun is in the comments area! Come join us! The water is fine, the beverages flowing ... and we all get comfy floats in the pool.

It's auction time! While others spent on food and letters from home, Troyzan went for the clue to help him in the next immunity challenge. His advantage is that he's automatically forwarded to the second round of the challenge. Now he's searching for another hidden idol.

Untangling ropes in the first round. Second round with four including Troyzan is knocking out targets. Oh my, Tarzan was first, Kim and Christina. Troyzan is moving on to the next one. It's Troyzan and Tarzan. Yipes! The final round has the two slingshotting coconuts at a paneled wall doing a tic-tac-toe dealy.

Troyzan wins Immunity!

If the girls stick together, it will be Leif or Tarzan out. Troyzan is pushing the underlings -- Alicia, Christina, Tarzan and Leif to join in with him in voting out Kim.

Tally: Leif, Leif, Leif, Kim, Kim, Tarzan, Tarzan, Tarzan, Leif.

Leif is history.

The Amazing Race 20 Blog Party - 04/15/12

Hopefully (I wasn't watching CBS), the show is about to start here on the East Coast. As it airs, I'll update this post with major events -- tonight has a double U-Turn and more! But the real fun is in the comments area! Everyone is free to jump in with your comments on the happenings!

Detour -- Water supply or air supply. The first has them going to a well, then delivering water. Air supply has them patching leaks on bike tires.

Bopper and Mark are in the lead and didn't U-Turn anyone, nor did Dave and Rachel.

The Border Patrol U-Turned Rachel and Brendon. They thought they were first to the U-Turn as Dave and Rachel had promised to U-Turn Brenchel. But they weren't.

Brenchel U-Turned Vanessa and Ralph. No surprise there!

The Roadblock has them collecting honey in protective bee suits. Fun, fun, fun!

Border Patrol has cut their ties with Rachel and Dave over the U-Turn promise. Bopper and Mark are having trouble with Mark's knee heading to the Pit Stop. But they make it FIRST ... yes! Rachel and Dave are second. Bopper and Mark won a trip to Hawaii.

3. Art and JJ
4. Brendon and Rachel
5. Vanessa and Ralph
6. Nary and Jamie just couldn't catch up. They were Philiminated. 

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - April 15, 2012

It's Sunday morning, time for my weekly off television topic post reflecting on the past week in both words and photographs I've taken. Remember, tonight there will be a blog party during the east coast airing of The Amazing Race -- if you watch the show, please stop by and share your thoughts! Of course, since CBS doesn't know how to juggle shows and sports well, I can't guarantee the show will start on time. I will be putting the post up on time, though.

Let's see ... what happened this week? Hmm, a heck of a lot of nothing for me. Well, not really nothing, I guess. I worked. I ate. I slept. I spent an inordinate amount of my time at home under a purring cat. Work has been hectic with lots of folks either picking up a stomach bug or perhaps it's spring fever. I don't know, but I was certainly there all week unlike many. I don't want to waste my paid time off being sick!

The weather here has been pretty -- many a day with few clouds in the sky. However, the overnights and early mornings have been chilly down near the freezing point. The wind has been much too much, too. As we've had hardly any rain for nearly a month, wildfires are popping up aided by the winds. Oh, they're nothing like the fires I witnessed in California when I was a young child. But they're scary nonetheless. Heck, even one of those swampy areas near the NJ Turnpike caught fire. (A side note -- I always thought those swamps were the perfect place to bury mob hit bodies!)

Starting yesterday the temperatures have been going up. It sounds like today will be a glorious day with highs in the mid to high seventies. Tomorrow, too hot. I don't want 85 to 90 degrees! Say nothing about too early, I don't want those temps ever! I'm not a fan of hot heat and humidity. I like spring and fall so much because the temperatures usually average out in the 70s with cooler overnights. 

Time to go onto the photos -- clicking on an image will open it larger in a gallery-like feature.

By lamplight

This is one of the lamps at the YWCA on East Front Street in Plainfield. It's now almost daylight as I make my early morning trek to the train station. I edited this show to leave only the lamp in color.

Some call it a weed

I call it nature's magic.

Don't fence me in

Despite the lack of rain, the spring colors are flourishing in "the wild." This is the field of geese, also known as the toxic superfund site in Bridgewater NJ by the train station.

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