The Amazing Race 20 Blog Party - April 29

Oh, wow. The show is going to start on time again here on the East Coast. Amazing! From the promos, it looks like this week will be full of Brenchel drama and Mark's health is failing him. I really don't want to see the latter. 

I'm one who always claims that folks who need the money "that bad" shouldn't bother with being on television competition shows. But I really enjoy watching Mark and Bopper! Their relationship is fantastic, they don't argue, and they really work at staying in. I only hope they can.

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this entry with the major events. However, the real fun is in comments ... come join us!

There is a Fast Forward -- Brenchel is the first to try to go for it as Dave and Rachel can't. Ralph and Vanessa are also trying for it. It's the shaven head FF we saw a few years back. Cue Rachel drama.

The Roadblock has other teams making 40 feet of rope from husks. Rachel of Brenchel infamy, did NOT shave her head. She "needs hair to be pretty." @@

Detour - Pachy-derm or Pack-a-box. Decorate a live elephant or pack ginger for shipping.

Bopper and Mark JUST left the Pit Stop as others are approaching the Detour. Hopefully they will go for the not-yet-taken Fast Forward. They're at a Speed Bump, painting a tiger on the belly of a dancer.

YES! Kentucky is going to check out the Fast Forward!

1. Rachel and Dave - won ten grand each!
2. Brenchel
3. Vanessa and Ralph

Vanessa thinks that Brenchel cheated on the wheel barrow counts of elephant dung, now we have MEOW.

4. Sigh. Art and JJ.
5. Bopper and Mark ... Philiminated. Wah! 

Off Topic: That Was The Week It Was - April 29, 2012

Good morning everyone! It's Sunday morning once again. And, once again, it's time for my weekly off topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken. 

I've had a bit of a stressful, hectic and just plain annoying at times week here. The weather has been at times cold and windy, other times rainy and it really wasn't conducive for photography. Yet I got in a few good shots and noticed some out of the norm kind of things. 

At home, the people upstairs managed to flood my bathroom once again. Thankfully the floor plans are in line here -- their bathroom over mine, bedroom over my bedroom, etc. So nothing of my own got damaged. Well, the brand new roll of toilet tissue I had put out was a goner. But it's not like they flooded my computer equipment or anything. I hope they finally get whatever up there fixed this time. Since I moved in here 11 years ago, it's been one thing after another leaking and subsequently fixed. 

There was some excitement here very early yesterday morning. Although I don't have to get up as early on Saturdays as I work later, I tend to wake up by 5:15 or 5:30. Well, I heard a ruckus in the hallway with police radios involved. Hmm ... I turned on my scanner. It turns out that a man fell from the fire escape shared by Crazy Joe across the hall and new tenants in the apartment next to him.

Now, they may call him Crazy, but Joe's not stupid. Nor is he athletically inclined. He's a retired guy who's lived here for nearly ten years without climbing the fire escape. So I would guess it was either the new tenants or a burglar. Since the cops didn't say anything about an arrest, I assume tenant. It's possible they only have one key, lost the key, didn't know who to call, aren't on the intercom system yet (as they connect the intercom to a phone number) or something. A compound fracture of the arm and a head injury. I bet he won't climb that again.

On the other hand, I wish I hadn't chucked my old small Hibachi years back. Although totally illegal, it would be so tasty to cook up steaks on a grill using the fire escape outside my bedroom window! I'm sure if I still had it, I wouldn't have the nerve to use it. But, still ...!

This week's quirky observation  -- when an automatic IN door doesn't function, a crowd will gather and stare at it instead of just pushing the door open. They'll back up and look. Then they'll get closer and give it a hard stare. But will they push it open? Nope. 

Since I had the hectic week, even to the point of working really late last night, I have a treat coming to myself with a Peapod grocery delivery in a few hours. I get the deliveries about once a month now. It's heaven not to worry about heavy items without a car. Plus, I do like the cuts of meat better than at the local supermarket a few blocks away. Yet I do stop in there on occasion because their produce department is fantastic!

Onto the photos ... remember, as of last week, they're hooked to my PhotoBucket account. Clicking on an image will bring you to the shot there, click again and it's large, close that window and you're back here!   

The NYC taxi again by the Plainfield Police Station

Nope, this is not the photo I took a week or two back. But it is the same passenger in the cab. Very odd. I'm not sure if it's the same taxi driver, but it could be. I don't feel bad spending $6.95 for grocery delivery when I see something like this! I edited the shot to leave only the taxi cab in color.

Up Close and Personal

Despite temperatures below freezing a few nights this past week, the flowers continue to bloom by the Bridgewater Train Station.

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

Survivor: One World Blog Party April 25

Survivor fans ready? The show is about to start here on the East Coast. As it airs, I'll update this entry with major happenings. However, like always, the real party is in the comments area!

Will Troyzan survive another week as the main target of the women? Can he keep winning (or finding) Immunity? Will he be able to convince anyone to jump the Women Ship? I guess we'll find out! Come join us ...

Tree mail promises them that "your powers of perception will take you away." There are little effigies of each castaway. The premise is that they answer the majority rule on questions about each other. The reward is a helicopter ride and feast.

The group thinks Christina doesn't deserve to be there. They feel they can trust Kim with their life. They've knocked Troyzan out of the comp by cutting his figure down. Who most needs a wake-up call in life? Kat. Tarzan is out. Chelsea is out.


Who is the biggest poser? Troyzan. Who does the least for the tribe? Sabrina. Kat is out. Sabrina is out. Who would you most like to be stranded with on an island? Kim. Christina is out. Who do you hope to never see again? Troyzan. Kim wins Reward! She chose Alicia, then Chelsea as the second.

Troyzan, of course, works on the remainders.

Kat cries.

With all back at camp, the girls expect Troyzan to kill a pig who wanders into camp. Pig apparently survived and it's time for the Immunity Challenge. We're talking a slip and slide course, grabbing rings, into a ring toss and rounds of play. Whoa! Troyzan is knocked out in the first round by Tarzan.

Kim wins Immunity!

Plenty of worries that Troy has an idol. Plenty of talk about splitting the vote between Christina and Troy -- with five votes for him, he'd go. We're about to see.

The tally: Chelsea, Troy, Troy, Troy, Christina, Christina, Christina, Troy.

Welp, the end of Troyzan.

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!***