Blah Blah Blog

not the welcome walk we need

Time to update, but there's not much going on that is big and exciting with the Jacksons. But the title of the blog is "Interesting to Us," so you will read every minute detail no matter how irrelevant you find it to be.

Dana and I have done some more gardening. No, we learned nothing from the hydrangea bush we tortured to death by planting in scorching Alabama sun and watering once a week almost two years ago. Instead we've decided to not only try our hand at flowers on the front walk, but also some camellia bushes. Why would we do this, you ask? Well because our front walk was in a sad state, and the only greenery was a hideous vine plant left behind by the last owner of our house. The vine, in addition to being displeasing to the eye, carried the added bonus of giving ants and spiders a gateway into the crevices of the house. So, a few weeks ago I pulled that up and we've since replaced it with what will surely be the envy of all the neighbors on Cottage Lane (especially old man Sapperstein who has been in a positive snit lately. He used to speak to us when he was out watering his rose bushes, then he began just nodding. But now, he just pretends he doesn't hear us at all. Well, he can kiss borrowing our snip shears goodbye, that'll show him).

Before...

and...

after...we'll keep you posted.

Now that I've painted the picture of a fully domesticated male, how bout updating you on some manly stuff...like our American Idol Challenge. Yeah! Manly! That Aaron Kelly exudes the same masculinity as all the Old Spice guys put together (Of course, I'm not exactly John Wayne leading with gardening and Idol). The Tone-Deafs - my team - got on the board two weeks ago by correctly predicting Didi was headed home. The score stands at 6-3 in favor of The Ripe Bananas. Dana was more than a little upset that Didi got the boot. I have become more and more detached with every viewing. There is no one on the show that I like that much. Bowersox is the best of the bunch, but really that is like being the best smelling sock in the UT locker room. It was nice to see Mike Lynch in the same room as Ruben Studdard so that it is proven once and for all that they are not the same person.

"I like to wear little hats. They do NOT make me look like a giant."

Speaking of Mike, I don't think I would have been all that upset if he'd been sent home even though it would have been a crushing blow for the Tone-Deafs. He annoys me with all his antics. Someone should let him know that just because a camera is pointed in your direction, you don't have to assault the person sitting next to you or try to contort your face in as many ways as possible.

My favorite moment of last week's viewing came when we had been watching for 10 minutes and Dana commented on how she had actually been liking Kara this episode, that she was the best judge. Kara then immediately rewarded that by singing during Simon's critique of Katie. There's only so many ways I can say this, but I wish I could hire someone to turn a fire hose on Kara every time she began to speak. Nothing good ever happens...ever. At least with the hose, we could look forward to her turn each time.

Going forward, this week I have a rec league game on Tuesday and will miss American Idol, so the Bananas have an advantage in the picking who gets tossed. It's still early though. The main thing is final placements because the top 8 finishers earn the bigger points for our game. Oh yeah, and I heard Adam Lambert was going to be on the show this week. I'm really going to hate to miss his advice to the contestants. "Have you thought about screaming during that part of the song? What about a sitar? Can you work that in? If you follow my instructions, maybe you can finish second like I did."

In other news, Dana won our family's NCAA bracket this year and a grand prize of $1 and some bragging rights. After losing one of her Final Four teams in the first 3 hours of the tournament (Vanderbilt Commodores -- YEEEEEP Yeep yeep pppphhhtt), she was written off. But she hung around and came back and beat her brother out for first. I finished 7th. Dana wins the sports stuff, and I win the Oscar picks and American Idol stuff.

Speaking of the tournament, I have never liked Duke, but was particularly put off by this year's team. Scheyer, Singler, and Zoubek make up the worst threesome in college basketball that I can ever remember.

The Jon Scheyer face...second only to the John Mayer face

They had an easy road to the championship and then fittingly beat a team that everyone else liked. Butler was a tough team that was fun to watch (although not because of their style of play which can be described as Wisconsin-esque), and I was pulling as hard for them as anyone I've ever watched in the tournament. So, it stunk when they came up just short (and even though the refs blew that charging call near the end, they gave Butler almost every break up til then, so we can't fully blame them). Something else I was disappointed in: they had Jennifer Hudson sing One Shining Moment instead of sticking with Luther. Wha?!?! That virtually assures the fact that they're going to 96 teams as they spat in the face of tradition and quality for new and "improved."

With bathing suit season looming and my "fondness" for sun and fun, I've been thinking of ways to try and lose a little weight (I've begun by stopping myself from eating Cadbury Eggs by the handful).

Milk chocolatey goodness leads to buying bigger pants

There's a blogger who posts his weight every few days online in an effort to shame himself into losing a few lbs. I think I may employ this strategy if things get any worse. I think it is important to hit this head-on instead of ignoring it the way Phil Mickelson seems to and just wearing tighter shirts.

Until next time, this is the Jacksons, signing off.