Success

Today, I successfully ordered a tall peppermint hot chocolate at Starbucks. After failing at this for the better part of a decade, I have finally defeated the monster!

A few of you will understand the gravity of this achievement. :o)

Thanks to Amber, I've learned the rules and was finally able to successfully apply them.

Hooray for small big victories!

J. Edgar- A Movie Review

Since the move I've found a group of ladies that go to the movies almost every Tuesday night. They have kindly taken me in and allowed me to be a part of the group. Since it's a group venture, sometimes you end up seeing movies you wouldn't have picked on your own. This week's movie falls into that category. It's been fun to get outside my movie box and see movies I might have otherwise missed.

This week was "J. Edgar". Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, this film was bound to be masterful. Even if you don't like the movie itself, you can't deny the greatness of the acting, careful attention to detail when jumping time frames, great directing and absolutely masterful makeup.

The makeup in this movie was probably the most impressive part to me. It actually took me a minute or so to realize that DiCaprio was J. Edgar.

Pretty impressive, don't you think? Here are a few others and an actual shot of J. Edgar Hoover for comparison.

DiCaprio as J. Edgar from a different angle.

The real J. Edgar Hoover.

DiCaprio as young J. Edgar Hoover.

While the movie is a bit long, and in my opinion spent a little too much time on the Lindbergh baby (though this was a major part of Hoover and the establishment of what we know today as the FBI, I thought they could have shortened the time on this a little), over all I was impressed with the movie. My comment to the Engineer was, "I appreciated it for what it was." (The Engineer is much more likely to see a historical biography type film than I am, so I look forward to seeing what he thinks of it when it comes to RedBox.)

DiCaprio gives an amazing performance. I don't know that I'd say "award winning" (the character didn't require as great a shift as when DiCaprio played Howard Hughes in "The Aviator"), but he does a great job.

When walking out of the movie the comments were varied, but most agreed it was a good movie. Most of the commentary surrounded the actual character of J. Edgar. One person thought the movie didn't portray him as nearly as bad as she had imagined given what she knew from actual history. I didn't know much at all about Hoover before seeing the movie, but what I noticed was that he almost certainly did things that would be considered unethical and immoral, but at the heart of it all he was only trying to do what he thought was best for America however misguided.

Does having the right intentions make his actions acceptable? Probably not, but it helps you to understand a little more why people do the things they do. I almost compare it to parenting. At the end of the day, most parents make decisions that they believe in their heart to be the best for their children. Sometimes they turn out to be, sometimes they don't. As the child, if you can look back and know that even the mistakes were made with your best interest at heart you can usually make peace with what you consider to be the mistakes your parents made.

There you have it. My review. I still say the most impressive and best part of the movie was the transformation of characters from young to old. The makeup is crazy-good!

DiCaprio photos are all from Warner Brothers and if you want to know more about J. Edgar Hoover according to Wikipedia, then go here.

Snow Boots

Where have these been my whole life?! 

My new snow boots might just be the warmest things I've ever put on my feet. Some days I don't want to take them off when I come inside...

A Little Yankee Doodle Humor

I've only lived here for two months and I already found it hilarious. Goes to show how many of them have moved in. There's also an affectionate interesting nickname for people from Mass... They call them Mass-holes. (Just spend a few minutes on the road near a car with Massachusetts plates and you'll fully understand why...)

On to the joke--

One day a man from New Hampshire is driving down the road with a guy from Maine, a fellow from Vermont and a guy from Massachusetts. The guy from Maine starts throwing bags of potatoes out the car window.

"What are you doing that for?" asks the man from New Hampshire.
"We've got so many potatoes," he answers, "that I'm sick of looking at 'em."

Then the fellow from Vermont starts throwing out jugs of maple syrup.
"Why are you doing that?" the man from New Hampshire asks.
"Got too many of these things lying around," the Vermonter replies.

Immediately the man from New Hampshire throws the guy from Massachusetts out of the car.

Some One is Ready

Some one is ready for the "Game of the Century" (as at least one game a year is dubbed) tomorrow!

(In case you aren't from the South or live under a rock-- we're talking LSU vs Alabama. SEC Football. #1 vs #2. Kind-of-a-big-deal football game.)

He's been telling me about it all day... literally. He has made all sorts of noises today! Lots of "talking".

Here he is trying to "High 10" --

We're hoping LSU will give us a win for my birthday. We're also hoping for some stellar announcing from the likes of Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson. At least we will be entertained even if our team doesn't do well.

(By the way, click the link connected to "stellar announcing". It's worth the read, especially if you've ever watched a CBS Game of the Week.)

Notables

1. I have yet to see any signs for bail bondsmen here. (In the big O-P we had three within two miles. They were abnormally common. Of course we also lived within two miles of the county and city jails there. I haven't seen a prison yet since I've been here. I hear they have them, I just don't know where.)
2. They do not keep the power lines as clear here as they do in the South. Trees will be missing large chunks out of the tops to keep them from touching the power lines in the South, but here they seem to be allowed to grow wild and free.
3. It has been pointed out that I have failed to mention that there are exactly 472,000 Dunkin' Donuts here. (And that's just on our side of town...)
4. I have also been asked to mention the roundabouts or rotaries. There are only a couple near us, but I hear there are a lot more that are a lot more complex on the Cape.
5. Small, family-owned local businesses are everywhere and they are some of the most interesting places to visit.
6. Where have snow boots been my entire life?! They have become my favorite shoes. Warm doesn't even cover it. I love them!
7. Our cat has gotten fatter since we moved here. We're not sure if she's power-loading extra layers of fat for the winter or if her hair has just gotten thicker. Time will tell.
8. Sixty-eight degrees feels soooo much warmer than 64. (That's the inside temp-- evening vs. daytime on the programmed thermostat.)
9. Good jobs are hard to find. This is true everywhere, but since our state boasts one of the lowest employment rates in the US (5.4%), I don't think a lot of people here have truly grasped just how bad it is in the rest of the US. Just an observation from a few overheard conversations today.
10. I have a new dentist and he is awesome. He had heard of Troy University and also watched college football. That alone is enough reason for me to fully commit to that particular office. (There are 100 more reasons why I'm sticking with this office, but they aren't as exciting or fun as the fact that he had heard of my college and that he knew that there was a HUGE game this weekend for the SEC. Even got a big "Geaux Tigers" out of him... my Engineer was pleased.)

Posting

I have not been in the mood to put together any posts. I can't explain my lack of motivation other than it exists.

It's not that I don't have things to blog about. I have about 10 drafts saved. Just no motivation to finish them up...

Hang with me friends. I will try to get back in the swing and get something posted soon.

First Snow

We have survived the first snow of the season!

The snow started falling around 7pm and fell for several hours before turning back into rain and then moving out. We woke up this morning to clear skies and crunchy, icy remnants on the driveway, sidewalk and grass. It was very much like the snow fall we had in Alabama.

 It was really exciting to see it falling out the window. We always loved to sit and watch it before we moved-- you know, that one day a year we got an inch of snow. I know the novelty of it will wear off, but for now, we are enjoying our little intro to New England snow (even if it did come before Halloween).

Indigo Girls

Mr. Awesome (The Engineer) forwent a GooGoo Dolls concert to take me to an Indigo Girls concert.

(I dare you to tell me that doesn't make him the most amazing guy in the world...)

There were some extenuating circumstances surrounding the GooGoo Dolls concert-- such as they rescheduled for a date we couldn't do. The tickets had been his surprise birthday present, but unfortunately (for The Engineer), it didn't work out with the new date. Luckily (for me), the Indigo Girls happened to be preforming that same night, less than two miles away, for half the price, AND it was a benefit concert to raise money for a local auditorium. (Are there any better reasons to use as justification?!)

Thankfully, the opening band, Common Rotation, was awesome! So awesome that for The Engineer's birthday he got to get two of their albums. (This is also thanks to reasonable album pricing by the band-- Thanks guys!) I also think this made up for the fact that we were indeed at an Indigo Girls concert for his birthday. ;o)

Indigo Girls with Common Rotation singing
"Closer to Fine"

Indigo Girls

After about three songs of the Indigo Girls I looked over at The Engineer and apologized for bringing him to Lilith Fair. It was hilarious to see a room full of middle-aged women going nuts! He was a good sport and we actually both had a great time. They sounded just as good as they do on their albums. I told The Engineer I thought this might be due to the time they got started as a band. Back then you actually had to have talent to be a star. Now, if you have the right persona and engage the media correctly even if you can't carry a tune in a bucket you can be a star. (*cough *cough, Taylor Swift, *cough *cough, Lady Gaga.)

Notables

1. The sky seems closer here. The Engineer and I both said this to different people around the same time. I'm not sure why we feel this way, but we both thought it.
2. The Fall color is awesome! Even going to the grocery store is beautiful!
3. Turkeys on the side of the road here are as plentiful as deer on the side of the road in Alabama. And, they are HUGE.
4. The Fall foliage is still showing itself in places, though from what I can tell, peak has passed. I don't have a picture, but all the trees and bushes in the Target parking lot were red and my thought was, "Well played, Target. Well played."
5. Our dog has discovered squirrels. It is hilarious! He will stand on the edge of the deck and stare at them until he thinks they aren't watching and he will take off after them. At first he didn't understand that they climbed the trees. He just knew for some reason they disappeared. He has since figured that part out.
6. Starting a business isn't hard as long as you have lots of free time and lots of money.
7. I LOVE having NPR on every other radio station, and I love that they play all my favorite programs every day. It's such a thrill to listen to them "Live" instead of just as a podcast! (Yes, that equals nerd, and I'm okay with that.)
8. Gas dropped below $3.40 last week. That is indeed notable.
9. I miss having a schedule some days.
10. Laundry and dishes are never done.