Big Brother 19: Meet the Cast, Part 3

Mark Jansen is 26, from and still residing in Grand Island, NY. His CBS bio lists him as a personal trainer. Being originally from New York myself, I had to look up exactly where Grand Island is -- it's in Erie County in western New York. Y'know, I honestly LIKE this guy. He seems like such a nice, well-balanced good guy. Alas, that isn't always the best candidate to win the show.

His favorite previous hamster is Brandon. I'm not all that keen on that choice, but Brandon too had a lot of nice guy kind of qualities. I do understand his choice. While Mark comes across as a nice guy, he also seemed interesting and intelligent enough that he won't bore me. But he just might be too nice a guy to win it all. He will need to throw some sneak in there. 
 

Raven Walton is  23, from and still living in DaValls Bluff, AR.  As per her CBS bio, she's a dance instructor. I need to get this out of my system -- I'm not a fan of Mickey Mouse ears hairstyles with bows. I'm just not. That said, I kind of like this gal.

Mentioned in the Jeff interview, but not her online bio, Raven has a pacemaker and takes life on as a second chance to live. Very admirable! Yet, she did turn me off with mentioning Frankie as her favorite previous hamster. It makes me wonder if she'll treat this opportunity as some kind of audition much as Frankie did. Gah! I'll have to play a wait and see game whether I'll enjoy her on the feeds or not.

Dominque (the Dominator) Cooper is 30, originally from Tuskegee, AL, currently residing in Woodbridge, VA. Her CBS bio lists her has a government engineer. While she claims in that bio that her hair and skin mean everything to her (and she's very pretty), this young lady is anything but shallow!

She boasts advanced degrees, likes to write and is definitely a very intelligent woman. What is she doing on the show, I ask? Well, she's a fan. Hopefully her people skills and intelligence will keep her in there for some time to come. I'm a bit tired of vapid folks in the house.

Cody Nickson is 32, from Lake Mills, IA, but currently residing in Plano, TX. I actually liked a lot of things in his CBS online bio -- he knows the show, he has never taken a selfie shot, his favorite previous hamster is Evel Dick, he's a show fan, he will never allow himself to be put up as a pawn, like Cameron (to be delved into in my last installment) he's into Rubik's cubes, etc. 

But his Jeff interview was disappointing -- he came across as boring, hating his job and rather distant. Some of the things he mentioned in one or the other is that he never cries, never wore a suit, never wore cologne. Hmm. Will the real Cody please stand up? 




More to come! You can catch all my Big Brother 19 posts at this link right here.

Big Brother 19: Meet the Cast, Part 2

Jessica Graf is 26, originally from Cranston, RI, but now residing in Los Angeles, CA. According to her CBS bio, she's a VIP concierge.  She's a fan of the show, listing Janelle as far back as BB6 as her favorite player. She says her boobs are real. Um. Okaaaay.

She wants to team up with a strong male competitor. She claims that, when she was young (!), showmances made the show for her. Yuck, I say. She isn't adverse to being in one. I'd be willing to bet she just might try her hardest to get in one. Next!

Christmas Abbott is one of the "older" hamsters at 33, originally from Lynchburg, VA but now resides in Raleigh, NC. Her CBS bio lists her as a fitness superstar. Now, I personally have no clue about any fitness superstars. But I am impressed that she has written a bestselling book and just published a second book. Her favorite previous hamster is Helen Kim because she could manipulate people.

That aside, I liked her in her Jeff interview -- she made me laugh! If they can get me in that interview, they just might have me on their side for the entire season. We just might have a contender in Christmas.

 Elena Davies is 26 years old, originally from Fort Worth, TX but now living in Dallas, TX. Her CBS bio lists her as a radio personality. She lists James Huling as her favorite hamster because he made things fun. Okay. Not sure I'd want to be the recipient of his pranking, but I have my own James soft spot. 

We know her boobs are real -- she mentions that she had a breast reduction. Now, that's different for a BB hamster! I kind of like her. Will she win it all? I just don't know.

Jason Dent is 37, the second oldest hamster. He is from and still resides in Humeston, IA. I have no clue where that is. From his Jeff interview, I see he has no clue about BB. So, we're even. His CBS bio lists him as a rodeo clown. And that is what he is -- a rodeo clown named Whistlenut.

I've seen rodeo clowns -- they're the ones who distract the charging bull. They have to be very fit. If he makes it to a slip and slide comp, he should fall well and recover! While he doesn't know the show, he realizes that he can't really set a strategy beforehand because conditions may change. Many of the big show fans going in don't realize that. He, like Christmas, made me laugh a bit in his Jeff interview. I think he will be entertaining.

More to come! You can catch all my Big Brother 19 posts at this link right here.

Big Brother 19: Meet the Cast, Part 1

Jillian Parker is 24, originally from Celebration, FL but is currently living in Las Vegas. According to her bio on cbs.com, she's a timeshare sales rep. She says she's bubbly. Hmm. I'm not too keen on bubbly. One thing not in her bio online is that she told Jeff that she has lost 50 pounds since January with weight loss surgery. 

Her favorite BB hamster is Daniele Donato. She has this convoluted strategy of an alliance of guys and giving them information from the girls. We'll see how that works out. I say ... I doubt she'll win it all.

Josh Martinez is 23, originally from Miami, FL and now residing in Homestead, FL. According to his CBS bio, he's in hair care sales. My gosh, this guy is jumpy. I watched his Jeff interview and he couldn't keep still. Plus, he seems to have no control of his cussing in an interview like that! 

He's way too confident in his own bad little self. He might rub people the wrong way, I think. His favorite previous BB hamster was Evel Dick in BB8. I liked Evel Dick, but I'm not sure I like Josh.

Kevin Schlehuber is 55, from Boston and still residing there. According to his bio on cbs.com, he's a stay at home father. Oh geez, BB did it again -- stick ONE person who's more than 20 years older than the rest of the cast! Gah! He likes Derrick, possibly because he met him. It sounded to me in the Jeff interview that his kids wanted him to try for the show. He has seven of them!

Huh. He was Mr. Massachusetts in 1986 and won a Hunk contest on Geraldo Rivera. Oh my. He came across as mellow. I think I'll like him, but I don't think I'll like him for the win.

Ramses Soto is the youngest hamster at 21. He's from Grand Rapids, MI and still resides there. According to his CBS bio, he's a cosplay artist. I watched his Jeff interview. He comes across as a bit Floyd-ish (TAR fans will get the reference). He's a comics fan. I like that! He calls himself a superfan, but he's only two years older than the show!

His favorite previous BB hamster is Dan Gheesling. Well that's a good choice. He has all these big strategical plans that I feel will all fall to the wayside once he's in the house. He thinks his social game will be strong. That I do believe. 



I will be following up with more tomorrow evening ... and at an earlier hour than this!

BB19 Cast Reveal on CBS All Access Today!

Unfortunately, due to my work schedule, I won't be able to post immediately today on the cast. Expect me to delve into a few of them late tonight, more tomorrow evening and I should have a look at all of them posted by Wednesday!

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 18, 2017

Happy Father's Day!

An undated photo of my father and I in sailor hats at my grandparent''s house. I recognize the furniture and wallpaper of that home! I'm thinking I was about two years old or so in this photo. My father was a great guy; a hard-working man who passed much too young. He's been gone around forty years now. I often wonder what he would think of the world today. I wish I had gotten to know him better on an adult child level, but that opportunity never really came.

Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. Things here on the blog will be changing up this week.

Tomorrow is the cast reveal for Big Brother 19. Unfortunately, I won't be home from work until after 10pm and have to be up early for work on Tuesday. But I'll post what I can and should be all caught up by Wednesday, my day off. 

Life goes on here. Well, to think of it, that's a good thing. The alternative isn't really acceptable. Let's see ... what's been going on here?

Um. Um. They've been repainting the fire escapes at my apartment building. Ten years ago they did that. The last state five-year inspection passed them. Now they failed once again. I'm not quite sure how painting them increases a safety level, but there ya go. I also noticed the super doing lots of work in the apartment next door which was a showplace just over a year ago and the current tenant fought to keep the state inspector out. I wonder what happened.

I haven't heard anything about my apartment. I would guess I'll get word that they will need to replace my bathroom ceiling tiles, damaged from the last flooding from upstairs but not a current leak. I don't think there's anything else. I certainly hope they don't feel the need to paint. I hate my life disrupted.

The landlord/company raised my rent with the lease renewal. Yeah, I have an increase of $3 a month! Outrageous, I say. Heh. An ex-landlord here raised it $50 a month more every year he had the building. Now that I have the letter with the increase, I'm going to call the landlord office to complain about kids once again -- 1A and 3G. I see the security glass near 1A is now broken. (I think it was intact during the inspection.) NO, it's NOT okay to let your children run loose in the hallways. Be a parent, for gosh sakes! 

I'm also going to report Joe's apartment across the hall. I really think he might have passed (at a hospital, not in the apartment) and relative/friend squatters are in there. They put trash bags in the hallway for hours or even overnight before taking it to the dumpsters. There are people coming and going at all hours. Joe wouldn't accept that. He's definitely not there. They also threw out most of his stuff. I didn't want to complain until I got my rent increase/renewal notice because I don't want them to think I'm a chronic complainer. But things are going downhill after doing so well under this new owner. Sigh.

Oh! Something good! I bought an 8-speed tower fan with a remote control this past week. I LOVE IT! It works so well that I'm sure to save on some air conditioning bills this summer.

Onto the photos for this week ... clicking on an image will open a larger version in a gallery setting.

One open, three closed

The flower of an hour was closing as I caught this shot. They seem to actually be open for a bit more than an hour. In this shot, it's clear they are related to hibiscus.

New awnings

They installed awnings on Maria's and the adjacent restaurant on North Avenue. Nice, but now you can't really see the names on the businesses -- which is why I'm calling the one restaurant "adjacent." I forgot its name.

Where is he?

A solitary starling on a wire. She seems to be looking for someone.

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