Rick-Rollin' Good Time

I don't know where I've been that I've only recently caught on to the Web phenomenon known as "Rick Rolling." The concept is easy ... someone does a search for something -- say, "three on three Dachshund action"-- then clicks on the top search result, only to land on a YouTube clip of Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up." Brilliant!

Perhaps I'm late to the RR game because I don't have time to do extraneous, subversive Web searching. Regardless, I'm glad I'm in on the joke now, because it gives me an excuse to link to the "Family Guy" clip above (which, I swear, I referenced a couple times in the last few weeks just because I thought it was clever). And, of course, I have to admit that I do love the Rick Astley song (reminds me of those fun and carefree days of my late teens), and enjoy the retro kick of seeing the video.

On a related note, you'd think with all that soul brimming from his voicebox, Rick Astley would've had some rhythm. Negative! Last night I watched George Michael: Behind the Music on VH1 Classic, and noticed that he rocked a lot of the same moves as ol' Rick ... George Michael didn't have much rhythm either ... go figure!

Anyhoo, my original point was that I do dig this song, and find the oh-so-'80s video kinda charming.

Where the Bleep Does the Weekend Go?

It's 11:14 on a Sunday night; so much for getting eight hours of sleep tonight.

Now that I'm a 9-to-5er (technically, an 8:30 - 5:30er), my weekends are way too hectic. There's just too much to do. Take this weekend for example:

Friday night:
Rush home after staying a little late at work so I can catch the premiere of High School Musical 2. (Enjoyed it, but not as much as HSM, but more on that later.)

Saturday:
Get to Lifeguard Station 26 at Santa Monica by 8:30 a.m. for triathlon team workout. Ride along the bike path and up one killer hill at Temescal (hour total), then walk (My bad back prevents me from running anymore) for about 40 minutes.
Run a couple errands, get some lunch, then crash on couch with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World on TCM in the background. Skip screening of The Simpsons Movie in the Valley.
Get up, get ready for and drive to a birthday party for a friend in Santa Monica. Arrive by 9:45. It's a fabulous soiree with hottie bartenders out on a designerly backyard/patio of a recently remodeled home. I have one of the house martinis, then a couple waters and am home by 12:30.

Sunday:
Sleep in. Skip Farmer's Market and company picnic. Clean house, go swimming (1050 meter workout), then head to the Valley to run some errands and see a screening of The Bourne Ultimatum. It's the most attended TV Academy screening I've gone to in quite a while. As a result, I have to sit in the second row, and fight the feeling of seasickness for most of the flick.
Head back to the Westside, and stop in at my laundromat of choice to do three loads. Get home by 9:40ish.

I blew off/skipped so many things, yet I'm still exhausted. I'm almost looking forward to the week, which shouldn't be as draining as the weekend -- although I do rise at the crack of dawn most days so I can work out at my company gym for 30-40 minutes and shower/get dressed before heading into the office. Tomorrow I'm taking the day off from the morning workout since I'll be going to a swim workout with the triathlon team at 7:30 p.m.

Yes, I've been working out a lot, but I have a college reunion that I'd like to look hot for in October. (plus a full triathlon I'd like to do in October, after September's Nautica Malibu Tri, so I need to be in tip-top shape.) I've also been eating well, and I hope I can keep it up.

Now, about my under-21 crush Zac Efron and HSM 2: I enjoyed it, esp, the "I Don't (or is it 'I Can't'?) Dance" number. The movie was very cute and extremely high-energy. But, I have to admit that I (gasp!) liked the original better. The songs were more infectious, and I do love that Drew Seeley's voice. For some reason, the movie producers used Drew for just about all of Zac's singing in the original movie. Although Zac has no problem carrying a tune (see Hairspray), and he insisted on doing his own singing for HSM 2. Anyhoo, I imagine that I have the same reax to the movie as all the other fuddieduddies out of the target demo -- and they echo those of the NY Times reviewer (especially the comment about the out-of-control use of bronzer on the cast. WTF?).

OK, enough stream-of-consciousness typing (esp. when I should be working on pages for my upcoming workshop critique). I hope I can get through tomorrow on just six hours of sleep...

I Got It!

Here is is, my "free" MacBook Pro -- all 5.6 lbs, 15.4 inch screen and 120GB of it! About 4 1/2 months ago, I started filling out offers through one of those marketing sites ("Get a FREE MacBook Pro!") so I could qualify for it. Yes, the process was tedious, required much attention to detail, and I have a pile of facial products, posters, language and Video Professor DVDs to try and sell on eBay, but I did receive my Apple laptop.

In the end, this baby cost me approximately $1450. Of that, about $102 was sunk costs (paying for subscriptions/services/products I didn't use; shipping costs); I used $383 in services (Disney DVDs, eMusic, Blockbuster, wine club shipments, restaurant coupons). So, you could say my actual cost was about $1056 -- even less if I get around to selling any of the $900 in unopened/unused products I now have.

I'm so jazzed, now I think I'll try for an iPhone! It's offered by these people: http://www.electronics-netpathreward.com -- just do a Google search for the correct link, spend some time on their questionnaire, then you'll land on their three levels of offer pages. Here we go again!

Fare Thee Well to FW

Parting is such bittersweet sorrow. Much more so when you're left hanging. Does Tanya Turner blackmail the lecherous owner of Earls Park down to his very last quid, or does he just go to jail for murdering Roger? Does Lucy have a biracial baby? Will Liberty ever model again? And, most importantly, what the dickens happened to Amber's (or as Conrad pronounced it, um-BAH) baby?

Those questions and more will never be answered, alas, because "Footballers Wives" was canceled before everything could be wrapped up neatly, or just explained away as Bob Newhart's ecstacy-induced dream.