You Know You're Evolving Into A Yinzer When...

You stand in your kitchen contemplating a new way to prepare your frozen pirogies. My solution: grilling on the Foreman. Do I recommend it Yinz ask? Not particularly, I still prefer boiled and slathered with butter and onions, but the Foreman will do in a pinch.

The more I live in the this area, the more I'm understanding and adapting to the Pittsburgh way, but I'm not sure I'm even close to becoming a real "Pittsburgher". I actually think this title is completely unattainable to me for several reasons: I don't particularly like or watch the Steelers, ahem "Stillers", I think ketchup is disgusting (I don't care if it IS Heinz), and I'm not all that fond of Primanti sandwiches ahem "sammitches". I do however marvel at the Pittsburgh accent and usually watch the local news to hear it in the interviews, and have noticed myself using the terms "jag-off" and "nebby" a little more than I'd really like.

My whole point of this post, actually, was to draw attention to a local commercial that seems to be running a lot lately for Isley's chipped-chopped ham. First of all, I'm not completely sold on anything with the phrase chipped-chopped, but the commercial gets me every time. At the end, a Pittsburgh local describes his love affair with the ham as "fluffy and wonderful". I'm IN! Get me to a deli ASAP. Unfortunately I'm having difficulty finding the commercial to post.

I'm Back To Celebrate Earf Day!

A big and overdue apology to anyone who may have been bored enough in the past few weeks to drop by and hear what I had to say. I've been out of the blogging routine for a while, and am slowly getting back. It seems my life has been in a bit of a rut lately. Even a funk, you could say, of nothing to do and even less to say. (Not that I ever have much to say, really, but at least I usually have motivation to say it!) However, I only find it fitting to make my ceremonial rise from the ashes on Earth Day. (Yeah I'm not sure either).

How did I celebrate you ask? Well, I made sure to arrange for 4 big buses to drive an extra 40 miles out of their way today. No, really. But I did do my recycling today, AND I bought new pillows made entirely out of organic cotton and recycled plastic bottles. I originally bought them just for the sheer novelty of sleeping on plastic bottles, and not expecting them to be comfortable in the least, but as it turns out they're pretty comfy. I've been in the market for some new bed pillows for some time now. I'm quite particular about my sleeping arrangement, and have used the same two pillows for a very long time. They had just gotten to that point of optimum comfort and had molded to my body only to become unbearably lumpy almost immediately, and I haven't slept well since that point. Not only that but their fun for the Earth in a pretentious "hey look at me I buy organic" kind of way! (Which I am and I do)

I hope everyone had an enjoyably green Earth Day today, and I'll try to be a bit more consistent with my posts.

Impulse Buy Of The Day

Tagged...

So, I've been tagged by Jen-nay to write my six word memoir. Since I don't really have many "blogger friends", I'm only tagging two: Elisabeth and Kati.


My six word memoir:

"Thank God I think I'm funny."

The Rules:
1) Write your own six word memoir.
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5) Don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

A Recent Conversation...

between myself and a middle aged blue collar woman peddling maple sugar candies at the Meyersdale Maple Festival.

after paying for a bag of candy:

Woman: "You probably want a bag, since I see you don't have a purse."
Me: "Yeah, I left mine in the car."
Woman: "Oh, good. Because if you did, I would have to call security and say 'Look at this guy walking around with a purse!' Just like that man who's having a baby, and all that!"
Me: "Oh, can't have any of that at the Maple Festival."
Me (to Jen-nay and Julia): "Get me the fuck out of here."
Jen-nay: "I like my maple candy with a side of homophobia."

Understand The Risks, See The Benefits

I am a true creature of habit, especially in the morning. One thing different, and it has the potential to throw my entire day off. My early morning routine consists of shower, getting dressed, watching the morning news while drinking coffee. Because of my strict morning agenda, I've also noticed a few other morning routines that have totally pissed me off. And, as usual, they are minute and insignificant.

The first morning peeve is the Nelly song about the Applebottom jeans and the boots with the fur, (the name escapes me) which is played almost ritualistically at 6am every morning on the only radio station I can tune into on my shower radio. Having music in the shower seems to help me wake up, and I generally like the station, however I can almost sense the song coming before it even starts, and I have to shut off the radio before it gets to the inane chorus.

Number two is this annoying and ridiculously long Celebrex commercial. The first time I saw it several months ago, I thought it was a joke. Not only is the commercial almost 3 minutes long, it's incredibly dull and grating. I'm not sure if the lady calmly rambling about pain medication myths or the scrolling text that forms into outdoor scenes annoys me more. But what is for certain, the non-stop repetition of the same mellow guitar riff is enough to send me over the edge. I see the commercial every morning during the local news break, and I have to immediately change the channel. I usually try to pop back to the news when I think enough time has passed, but I'm generally off and end up catching the last 20 seconds of this bullshit commercial. Check it out if you're interested, but only if you've got some time to kill.

WTFTD?

April Fool's Day is upon us, and to my disappointment, I neither received or pulled any good pranks again this year. Usually on April 1, I have at least a minor joke to play on someone. Usually the recipient is my mother, as today is her birthday. (My two personal favorites are the time I told her I discovered I father a child several years earlier and the time I filled her car completely with helium balloons at her work while she was working) It always shocked me that she fell for the jokes every time and never seemed to expect it. You would think that at some point, one would catch on. But alas, perhaps I'm becoming a little too grown up for my liking, or, even more likely, just become lazy or apathetic, no jokes this year.

Instead of the birthday prank for my mother, I decided to send her some flowers to her work via FTD. I had never sent flowers through FTD before, and simply assumed that the order was forwarded to the nearest FTD florist of the recipient. So, I logged on to the website, browsed for a while, and $75 later I had purchased my mother some birthday flowers (at right). Completely outrageously priced birthday flowers might I add. I was a little thrown off yesterday afternoon when I received an FTD e-mail notification telling me "my order had been shipped". When my mom called this afternoon to tell me she had gotten the flowers, and absolutely loved them (I would hope she does for the price, but really, this is the same woman who raved when I made her mud sandwiches and would put dandelions I picked in a centerpiece vase on the dining room table), but she couldn't understand why they came so elaborately packed in a box from California! I payed out the ass to have flowers shipped all the way across the country! Perhaps next time, I'll call a local florist where my mom lives.

Happy April Fool's Day Fools!

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!