Delaware, you are small but mighty?

10.30.2010


Its been a busy few weeks for me. Perhaps you've noticed by the infrequent blog posts .... or because you've secretly hacked into my webcam and seen the bags under my eyes. I'm really hoping its the first one.

But, last week I noticed that I had hit another milestone and since you read my blog - or at least are entertained by the pictures - you know that I only have one goal in life and that's web traffic. So Folks... I have managed to snag my 43rd state.

In honor of such a momentus occasion and the ONE PERSON that visited me from Rehoboth Beach ... I'm going to give the rest of you a list of 10 interesting facts about Delaware. Your welcome in advance.
  1. Small State - but not the smallest. Rhode Island is smaller.
  2. Lowest State. What does this mean you wonder? Oh, it means that Delaware's average altitude is the lowest in the nation at 60 feet above sea level.
  3. Most amount of Ph.D.s (as a percentage of population). Apparently if you do decide to live in Delaware, and you are smart - or just paid a lot for someone to say you are - you aren't going to be alone. All of your friends will be smart as well.
  4. Only state without a National Park. Sad.
  5. State dessert is peach pie. Which seems a bit confusing since Georgia is all about peaches right? I bet these two get into fights over this...
  6. If the conundrum over the state dessert wasn't enough for you, the state fish is called the "weakfish". I don't know about you, but I'd want something that at least sounded strong.
  7. If you thought I was over the whole "peach thing", you'd be wrong because the state flower.... is.... the peach blossom. Maybe this is how they fell in love with peach pie?
  8. At its widest point, Delaware is 35 miles across. This means that my friend Matt, who recently attempted to run a 100 mile race but had to concede at 75 would have been able to run from one side of the state to the other - and back.
  9. There is a law that says it is illegal for Rated R movies to be shown at Drive-In theaters. Good thing there aren't many drive-in theaters anymore...
  10. Since I love silly laws.... here is another silly one: "Alcohol may not be served in nightclubs if dancing is occurring on the premises at the same time."

In the spirit of accuracy - or at least reporting sources ... here are the websites I got my facts from... so don't be blaming me if they aren't accurate :)
Fact: 1 2 3 4 (link); 5 (link); 6 (link); 7 (link); 8 (link); 9-10 (link)

Excellent Advertising...

10.29.2010

Its no secret that I love Kraft Mac & Cheese. Its also no secret that I love my Tivo.

So what happens when there is a Kraft M&C ad on my Tivo? I don't fast forward through it. Seriously.

I saw one of the new ads maybe a week or so ago and thought it was totally hilarious. A quick YouTube search reveals that there are 5 of these bad boys out there and so I'm going to share them with you. Here are my 3 favorites:
"Homestyle Deluxe"


"Skimming off the Top"


"Punishment"


So as to not make this post too long... I'm going to send you to YouTube for the last two... Don't worry, you won't be disappointed you went:
- Opportunistic Crime
- Cheese Lover

Soothing Voices

10.27.2010

A few years back I was thankfully given a TomTom GPS. The GPS has traveled the country with me as I've taken vacations in various locales and nearly always brought me to my destination. Because of the solid relationship that we developed, I of course had to name my faithful companion and for no good reason I picked Fiona. Fiona has been a rock, despite the fact that in the nearly 3 years that I've had her I have not updated the maps once.

Dear TomTom, your map updates are way too expensive. I'd rather buy a new Fiona.
Keeping my bucks to me, Hopelessly Not Yours

And yet... TomTom still sends me emails although I really think I have unsubscribed 3-4 times at this point. Normally I delete them right off the bat, but I found this one entertaining.


I'm pretty sure I'd find all of these voices not the least bit soothing as I navigated city traffic. But since I love ranking things, here is the order I'd pick them:

1. Pepe Le Pew
2.  Bugs Bunny
3. Daffy Duck
4. Sylvester
5. Yosemite Sam

But since I'm not dropping bucks on maps, I'm certainly not dropping $12.95 on a voice when I have Fiona.

Sightings in the Big Apple

10.26.2010

A few years ago, I gave up "celebrity gossip" for Lent. It was challenging for sure - but very revealing as to how much time I was actually spending checking in on Britney Spears mental status or Paris Hilton's latest boyfriend. I'm honestly not sure why I find these things interesting or compelling, but I do. As a result, all of this time spent in the Big Apple brought me a bit of hope that I would see a celebrity or two. I managed to make it through all of last week without a single sighting but thankfully my luck has changed.

This morning, I was at Starbucks on 35th and 5th when I spotted a 12 year old in fedora. Now, I guess I can't be sure that it was Wolfie from "9 by Design" but it sure as hell looked a whole lot like him. Since we know I need to fact check even my own facts ... I found an article on AOL's Housing Watch that essentially said the family has moved on/out despite being unable to sell the pad. I'm not totally sure that the fam has up and moved to the other side of the town near me... but who knows.


So, maybe I'm wrong. But who knows. (Pic Source). All I do know is that I posted it on Twitter and Facebook - and if I post it there that means its true. No?

Moving on.

When I left my building for lunch today I saw a small film crew setting up right outside on the curb. As I was getting lunch yesterday, I saw signs posted throughout Madison Square Park alerting people that by being in the area they were essentially giving their consent to be on film, so I wasn't totally surprised to see more action today. One of the guys that I was with asked one of the crew what they were filming and apparently it was for a "documentary on trailers". Now, I lack a certain bit of clarity on what kind of trailers ...

A quick Twitter search revealed a bunch of pictures that people had taken including this one:

According to Twitter (not sure I ever thought I'd quote Twitter), Gary Busey is in town filming the Apprentice and taking part in a challenge with Lil Jon and Mark McGrath. Can't say, I miss seeing Mark McGrath but here's hoping I run into Lil Jon again and perhaps his Crunk Juice.

Target Audience?

In this day and age where email is nearly my primary way of communicating with loved ones - and businesses .... I expect that the messages that make it to my in-box to be pretty much on the mark with interest level.

So... you can see why I find it puzzling that Delta thinks that I want to go to Sao Paulo. I've never done any research on the region - or even the continent in probably 6-9 months and certainly not on a Delta website.

But regardless... the thing that totally blows my mind is why they think I'd like to leave from Detroit.

Dear Delta, I live in the Northeast ... and probably always will. No hugs for you, Hopelessly Confused


Little Kids are Cute

10.22.2010

I'm a sucker for a parody. Now, obviously the best parody is two fold. What fold you ask?
(1) funnier
(2) made with children

Thankfully, I stumbled upon one that suits those qualifications to a T.

So, take a break from your busy week and enjoy this little gem about Project Runway. I'm not sure which character is my favorite but you can't help but laugh at a little blond child butchering Swedish and sending a toddler designer on their way.

Life Update

10.20.2010

I started working nearly 6 weeks ago. I've done a bit of traveling since that fateful day .... including a week in the Washington DC area ... and now a week in NYC.

yep, as you can see from the picture... Times Square.

NYC is quite the adjustment from working from home. Beyond the obvious fact of having to "get dressed" each day, I am eating all of my meals from restaurants than the kitchen cabinets. The city sounds are far different from the beach sounds that I've become used to :) There was literally a jackhammer working outside my hotel window at 9:30 last night.

To celebrate that I've made it through nearly 6 weeks of work, I'll share the pictures I took during my last sunrise at Minot beach.




Hopelessly in love with the beach.

Sharing is caring?

10.19.2010

I don't pretend to get video games. I can't even pass the easiest of levels in Mario. My sister and I may be known for getting little brother Jake to come and do our dirty work for us.... and then letting us do a super easy level. In fact, Kerrianne got so frustrated last Christmas break playing Mario that she had to tie her sweatshirt over her face so she would stop yelling while my Mom was trying to have a work call.

True Story.

Oh, and here is the picture.

Anyway. I don't get video games. But, normally I get commercials. But I really don't get this one for DJ Hero 2. I find it super weird and ... bizarre. Yes, I know those descriptive words are similar - but they work. So check out this video and try to tell me that you understand why these people shared their braces, lip rings, and freckles.

Marketing Fail

10.18.2010

My friend Carrie sent me this picture this weekend from Charlottesville.

In the event you can't read the words (like me), she thoughtfully included what Dr. Scholls is hoping you do on this lovely marketing device.

Get this... they want you to REMOVE YOUR SHOES ... and then step on this platform. Yep, put your foot on this filthy measuring device so they can tell you what orthodic will fit your foot.

I'm not sure which part of the marketing department dropped the ball here ... but I think we also need to wonder about the people that are willing to take their shoes off in a CVS and step on the foot fungus breeding ground.

Amazon... you are the love of my life

10.16.2010

I've always been a huge fan of Amazon. I love the breadth of their product offering. I love the customer service. But perhaps above all, I love being an Amazon Prime member.

Amazon Prime has completely changed my buying habits. I hate going to stores even more now - why go when I can see if Amazon sells it? You might disagree with me, but do you have an Amazon Prime membership?

To show how diverse Amazon's product categories have become I'll show you all of the items that I've bought from Amazon in the last two weeks:

 Yes folks, that would be a compass for my brother, new carry-on suitcase, pomegranate k-cup tea, Athletic Foam Roller for my sore knees and .... a cake pan in the shape of a cat.


Oh, and I also rented a (poor) Katherine Heigl movie that was streamed to my Tivo for a mere $3.99. I don't blame Amazon for letting me rent this movie, but I do applaud how quickly and seamlessly it "arrived" in my living room.

So in conclusion.


Dear Amazon, I love you. Xoxo, Hopelessly Yours

Ten facts about Oregon

10.15.2010


So, yesterday I dedicated a whole post to my little sister's 23rd birthday. Because she has A LOT of friends on Facebook, I got a lot of hits on my blog. Now, I know the hits are related to her birthday but I'm going to pretend its because I wrote a ridiculously witty and sweet "electronic" birthday card.

But no thanks to her popularity - perhaps - I got a hit from Portland, Oregon the day before (Wednesday). Now, if you've been paying attention, you might recall that Oregon is one of the states that had yet to visit my blog. Since I have no idea what this person looked at - only that they came - I have to give the credit to the baby girl.

Regardless.

In honor of such an occasion as a visit from a new state, here are 10 "interesting" facts about Oregon so we can all learn something. Now, I think they are interesting and since I'm the blogger I get to decide. Fact.
  1. Oregon has more ghost towns than any other state. 
  2. Oregon and New Jersey are the only states without self-serve gas stations. 
  3. The small village of Bickelton is filled with bluebird houses seen on the posts of every house. 
  4. The Seaside Aquarium was the first facility in the world to successfully breed harbor seals in captivity.  
  5. The Carousel Museum contains the world’s largest collection of carousel horses.
  6. Oregon residents own one-fourth of the country’s total llama population.
  7. Has a law prohibiting the transport of babies on the running board of vehicles.
  8. In Portland, people are banned from whistling under water.
  9. Portland was named by the flip of a coin by its two original settlers, Asa Lovejoy and Francis W. Pettygrove.
  10. The State beverage is "milk" 
Less exciting, but also important.... Portland is an example of excellent urban planning (and known as City of Roses) ... Nike is the largest employer ...  Square Dance is the official dance.

Also, Vermont if you want your 10 interesting facts.... then someone from Vermont should leave me a comment indicating as such ... or I'll get bored and just do it without any request. Both are solid options.

Since, you know I love links - and accuracy. Here are the websites I got my facts from... so don't be blaming me if they aren't accurate :)
Fact: 1 2 3 4 (link); 5 6 (link); 7 (link); 8 (link); 9 (link); 10 (link)

Happy Birthday to my little sister!

10.14.2010


Today is my baby sister's 23rd birthday. In honor of such a memorable occasion, I am dedicating this post to her. She has many incredible characteristics of which I've chosen to highlight a few both through picture, video, and audio. Yes, that's right. Its a trifecta of incredible memories.

AUDIO
Let's start with something that obviously sets her apart from others. The way she describes circular carbohydrate treats. What are those you may ask? Bagels. I'm talking about bagels. Now, I know I promised audio - but you'll settle for an "audio" reason why she's bananas.

As you can see, Kerrianne's mother is not featured in the video ... and that is because she is traveling this week. But she kindly sent a Blackberry voicenote with her thoughts on how Kerrianne says bagel.

Now, Kerrianne is 23 years young and as you can see, she is so creative that she is the only one that I know that pronounces BAGEL in such a fashion.

PICTURES
Here is just a little album of some gems we've captured of Kerrianne in the last few years. She's such a peach and you can see it in all of the photos. (Hint: If you turn on "captions", you can see when and where each picture was taken.)



VIDEO
Lastly for the video.... I wish I had the facilities to upload some of our old family videos. There are some pretty choice ones of Kerrianne growling at fellow babies trying to take her cookies. Fact. But, she does have a thing for Disney movies and as you can see in this video ... she is clearly belting out one of her favorite tunes.

and perhaps the one that you all might have seen before... but a personal favorite of mine. This video is from our joint graduation party in May where she challenged me in an inflatable boxing ring in the front yard. I'm pretty sure that nobody will forget this.



So there it is. Happy Birthday little one!

Farmer's Markets.... are my weak spot

10.13.2010


Its Wednesday... and that means its Farmer's Market day in Scituate.

I am a huge sucker for crates of fresh fruits and vegetables. So delicious and inspiring. I anticipate seeing a lot of apples today, which will make me think about apple pie, apple crisp, or just apples with peanut butter. All great options.

One of the best parts of the Scituate Farmer's Market is getting tasty meat products from Harvest Food Club. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical of all the claims of delicious steak but our friends were not wrong. The steak is friggin' delicious. So today here are the things that are on my shopping list:
  • Niman Ranch Bacon ... Uncured Smoked Applewood (sinfully delicious)
  • Meyer "All Natural" Half Eye Rib Roasts (... a new one for the house)
  • Meyer Ranch Steak... Prime, Dry Aged, All Natural Sirloin (of course)
Harvest Food is featuring some delicious cheese as well from Pineland Farms in Maine. I might even pick up some Sharp Cheddar Cheese ... although the Horseradish "Spreadable" Cheddar sounds quite appealing.

FYI, I'm already thinking about the Steak.

Update: Amazon/Heidi Klum v. Lululemon

10.12.2010

Ok, I admit my blog title might be a bit misleading. As far as I know, there is no war being waged between these two parties - although Lululemon fans think there should be.

I find it a little surprising that there isn't much more out there beyond blog entries of people commenting on the shockingly similar designs. I would think there would be one article that would have at least contacted both parties and those individuals would have some legally approved comment on the matter. But I did not find anything ...

I did take a look at the Amazon Page for the HKNB line - that would be "Heidi Klum New Balance" - and saw the items designated as "Project Runway" pieces.


$168 - HKNB Project Runway Dress with Inserts
$158 - HKNB Project Runway Zip Hoodie with Inserts
$118 - HKNB Project Runway T-Shaped Top With Inserts
$98 - HKNB Project Runway Pant With Inserts

The designs seem to have changed just a bit from the original (see below pics from Lifetime website) which is not totally surprising given HKNB was going to actually sell the pieces, but what is shocking is the crazy price tag. Sorry HK/New Balance/Amazon but who do you think is buying this stuff? There is no way I'm spending this kind of change on something that I can't attest to the quality of.

 I'd much rather drop some bucks at Lululemon. In fact, I've been pining away for this Savanasa Wrap since it looks so comfortable - and it is ... I lovingly tried it on in the store pre-Labor Day. And, while I'm pretty confident I'm not going to drop $118 bones on this bad boy, I'm much more likely to do that than buy something from the HKNB collection.

VERMONT VERMONT VERMONT

The day we have all been waiting for has finally come.

Someone from Vermont visited my blog. I originally blogged about my interest in Vermont a few times ... more specifically three. (Quest for Blog Traffic, 9/13/10) (Really Vermont, 9/9/10) (Goals Update, 8/31/10)

WELL.


On October 8th, someone from the Montpelier vicinity graced Hopelessly Techie with their presence. They even visited 3 pages. I'm thrilled.
I have no idea who this person is, but if you can prove to me that you are the person who visited my blog, I'll send you a homemade baked treat. I would say a Starbucks Gift Card but perhaps since you are from Vermont you probably love Green Mountain coffee and scoff at Starbucks.

So this is where we stand right now on "state visitors". As you can see (barely), Delaware has still evaded my grasp. So, they are now on the hit list.

Dear Delaware, 

Please visit my blog. Vermont did and it worked out for them. So I'm sure you won't regret it. To help out, I have started to follow your "official" Twitter page (@delaware_gov) as you can see.
Hugs and Kisses,
Hopelessly Yours

The music taste of 11 year old boys

10.11.2010

I will admit that I have questionable music taste at times. I have openly and knowingly procured an embarassing amount of pop music fit for the collection of teenage girls. I'm not going to share my music library with you ... but I'll leave you with the fact that I own the entire KeSha album. Fact.

A few years ago, my sister and I gave my brother an iPod nano. He loves music and from an early age played with iTunes. Frankly its intimidating how he can name artists, whereas his oldest and most beautiful sister (that would be me) can only name pop stars and none of the "old greats" that everyone else seems to know.

Besides this, Jake has less than 200 songs in his iTunes. He's crazy selective and will actually delete music. I am completely the opposite and will keep all of my music forever. I just checked and I have 3,297 songs. I'm not saying its all quality - but that's what I have.... after all I do have 27 Avril Lavigne tracks and 18 Ashlee Simpson tracks.

BUT.

I gave Jake my entire music library and told him to pick the songs he'd like me to give him... and this is what he picked.


He also asked if he could be Eminem for Halloween ...

Oh well.

Copycat? No?

Do these two look similar to you at all?

They do to me.

I was watching Project Runway this week and when I saw this design by Andy, the first thing I thought of was the Lululemon trademark. I kept waiting and waiting for one of the judges or fellow designers to say something - but nobody did.

I'm not sure I would expect him to know all of the fashion brands in existence but I guess I think Lululemon is well known enough that between the 4 judges and 6 designers someone would have mentioned the similarity.

I did a quick Google search and found a few hits... so I'm not crazy. 

Buy a Wonderfile!

10.10.2010

Infomercials are pretty great.... for a few key reasons.... of which I'll share with you of course.

1) 50% of the time the solution actually makes sense - this is not the case with the "Wonderfile"
2) The people are genuinely happy to act like idiots
3) The item always seems to come in more than one color ... and usually one specifically for kids
4) If you call right now, you can get another one free.

To be fair, I saw this one on Ellen last week - or maybe it was the week before ... but regardless, I saw it on Ellen.

I'm not sure who would use this - but I'd love to see someone use it... and be serious about it.

Graffiti...

I'm always intrigued by what people who do graffiti decide to paint.

Now, to be clear I'm not in any way condoning defacing public or private property for that matter...

But I think its pretty neat anyway.

On last Saturday morning, I went with my mom to Fort Revere in Hull. I had no idea this place existed and I'm pretty sure that most of the South Shore also doesn't know it exists. The site is pretty cool and is run by some arm of the Metropolitan Park Department.

Although the park as pretty much completely defaced with graffiti, the view is totally incredible. You can see Boston Harbor Light on Little Brewster Island. Gorgeous. The day was so crisp and clear that the view was great.

Here is some of the graffiti that I thought was kind of different. The place was totally covered, but I wanted to take pictures of pieces that were more "messages" than ::ahem:: slightly graphic drawings...
Dear Sad Boy Don't be Sad
What a woman no one compares to you
Follow Me!
Love Peace & Happiness
Meow :)

Shopping on eBay

In the last year or so, I've become more and more comfortable buying and selling on eBay. Now, to be truthful... a fair amount of my "buys" have come from China. Its always a little bit entertaining to get the package from China and see whether or not the seller has declared it as "gift" or "purchase". I'm not too well versed on Chinese exports - but I imagine the seller pays less tax if they mark the item as a "gift".

A few weeks ago, I purchased a new wireless mouse on eBay for a whopping $3.74 including shipping. Incredible right?

When the package came, I did my usual check to see whether it was labeled as a "gift" and was pleasantly surprised to see it was not. Upon further examination, I literally started laughing when I saw who was named as the sender of the package ... (see below)

Yes, I would say you were "CRAZY" for selling me a wireless mouse for $4 .... and sending it all the way from China.

Note: the mouse was a piece of crap. you get what you pay for apparently ....
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