Sights and Sounds of the Car Show

When I post about a car show it’s usually all about the cars, right? Why wouldn’t it? I mean I’m at a car show…and there’s hundreds of glistening, colorful, hoovered, shined and polished automobiles from various eras in various shapes and sizes. That most of us can’t afford.

Anyway,

I decided to make different observations. For one thing, this car show is probably exactly like the same one a year ago. I bet 90% of the cars are the same ones that were here last year.  I will admit that it does get mundane. But the baked goods are fantastic. And there’s a Subway across the street. And a flea market. You’ve seen one ’57 Chevy Bel Air you’ve seen them all (that is no diss on the ’57 Chevy Bel Air-but there had to be at least 25 of them!).

This is a small car show. There were only about 150 cars. I mean we’re talking Bath, PA here people. Population as of 2010? 2693. Yeah, and they’re all probably related somehow.

The first thing I thought was funny was that inbetween 50′s and 60′s music, the DJ played the theme to “NCIS”. That was random.

Then there were these:

Yes, there’s a dog under that blanket. He was cute though.

And this…

Another dog

Then there was this:

Oh look! A dog!

As well as….

Wow, A DOG! You don’t see too many of them at car shows!

I counted 6 all together.

Ok, enough of the canine humor…..

I’ve seen people hanging out in their cars during a show. Usually when it’s chilly or drizzling, or very hot. this guy had other ideas:

Look hard….yep, he’s napping! And oh look, guess what he’s sleeping in? A ’57 Chevy! One of the 25 that were there!

Just goes to show you how much room was in those cars! You couldn’t do that in an Acura! Or Kia!

There was an Elvis wanna be but I couldn’t grab a picture. Then the guy with the mohawk and shorts with leather jacket. I didn’t want to look too obvious that I wanted to take his picture. I mean it wasn’t because he looked good, that’s for sure. This is Bath, PA after all.

But this was the highlight of the show in my eyes. It wasn’t the ’59 Cadillac Miller Meteor Ecto-1, but someone took a Ford LTD Stationwagon and did a damn good job with it.

Sorry, but the obvious caption for this is: WHO YA GONNA CALL?!

This was this annoying little boy, about 11, who was just gaga over this car! I felt sorry for the owner because this little kid wouldn’t leave her alone!

But I had to video tape it because it was so cool!

I didn’t tape the whole thing because you get the idea. We have better things to do than listen to the Ghost Busters. You have to admit, though, it makes you start head boppin’!

But the driver side sun visor was autographed by Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man! And one other person. I couldn’t make out the name. Maybe you can. The owners were too busy talking to other people, so I didn’t bother to ask.

The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is really just a softie….har har har…..

It also has equipment in the back. Not sure if they were original movie props, but they certainly weren’t plastic toys!

This annoyed me:

I should have known better than to wear new sneakers. And my feet were wet. And cold. Whoa is me.

It wasn’t the most exciting car show. Aside from the local weather station screwing up the weather all week, it was a nice day out of the house.

Things I’ll Never Understand

I’ve been kind of dry with ideas on what to post. I don’t have the most interesting life, domestics can be boring, and when the mail delivery is the highlight of the day you know you’ve got to get a life.  The following ideas perplexed me the other day when I couldn’t for the life of me figure them out.  I just don’t get it with these things. So until something more exhilarating pops into my meek little world, this is it.

Boxing – The sport of beating the crap out of another human being. Why bother with the gloves? It certainly didn’t help Mohammad Ali.

Wrestling – Man on man contact. In spandex. Just.Not.Right

WWF Extreme – more man on man contact…with less spandex….just mutilating eachother in sweat. I can’t imagine what the smell of the arena is like.

Garlic Festivals – Really now….? I hope they sell lots of breath fresheners. You’ll never see a kissing booth at any of these!

Ax Men Program on History Channel – Lets take an already dangerous profession, add a camera crew, and make unnecessary drama out of cutting down trees.

Low profile tires – It’s like a steely with a rubber band

Frozen Yogurt (not the soft serve stuff) – Eat ice cream for gods sake!

The Olympics – Countries that hate eachother compete against eachother for two weeks, leave the games still hating eachother even more for either being beaten or being smug for beating a rival country. “I’d like to teach the world to sing….in perfect harmony….” c’mon everyone…together now……

Opera – Unless you speak Italian, this is just a waste of time.

Polar Bear Club – I can’t stand getting undressed to get into the shower! You mean you’re going to get undressed and stand out in sub zero weather just to go swimming in ice cold water?  It’s one thing to step outside on a cold morning and feel the exhilarating coolness upon your skin….while wearing something warm. But to downright strip and swim is just insane!

What things don’t you quite get in life?

Password Please.

Scenario:

You’re stuck in your job. You’re boss is a mini Hitler. You’re co workers do more fraternizing than work. It’s a 45 minute commute to work. You’re mentally and physically exhausted when you get home. You’ve had enough.

So you look for a new job. One with more challenges, better environment, closer to home, of course, more money.

Like a light from the heavens, you find one in your local paper.

You submit a resume and within a week they call you in for an interview. Wow, what a break!

You dress yourself in the most professional outfit you own. You get to the interview on time. You’re escorted into an office of the potential boss. Everything is going great, you feel comfortable and at ease. You think this could be it.

Then you’re asked if you would give them your Facebook password to verify information. To make sure there isn’t anything that you have posted that could be detrimental to their company or embarrassing.

Now, I, myself, do not have anything on my Facebook account that could incriminate me. My birthday is bogus. I don’t even have my location down. Or anything. I guess what pages you “like” could be a problem if you work for a finance company and you “like” a competitor only because you’re friend works for that company. Or you like a “Ford” page and you’re going to be working in the Payroll department of General Motors.

Should this hinder your possibilities for employment? Not only is it an invasion of privacy but it totally goes against all EEO policies and procedures!

Companies want to have access to potential employees Facebook pages to make sure they don’t have any conflicting interests that would jeopardize the company they may be working for. Facebook isn’t going for it. As aren’t a couple senators. Employers can not ask about race, age, marital status, social security number or even if you have children during an interview process. Many people have this information on their Facebook pages.

I find this to be a devious way to obtain privileged information. They say they’re checking for security reasons on the company’s behalf but what other info are they going to be privy to once you hand that  password over?  Also, if they find out what your birthday is, they can decide you’re too old for the job and that would end that. That’s against EEO policies.

I guess you could just tell them you don’t have a Facebook page. You just better hope they don’t find out that you do. But then again, it’s none of their business if you have one, right?  You would hope they wouldn’t judge you on what you have on your page. Even if you don’t have any “like” pages that could do harm to the company, what would they think about your choices? So you really want them going through your photos?

This has to be one of the most gaulish requests an employer could ask!  I can’t see this being legal. No job is worth having your private information and personal effects being judged and reviewed by some employer who’s just worried that you’re going to cause damage to their company!

What do you think? Would you give out your password to a potential employer, no matter how badly you like or want the job?

The BA’s.(Bloggy Awards, not Bad Asses, though you all are in my eyes)

When I first started blogging, I was so thrilled to get my first award!

“They like me, they really like me”.

(Thank you Sally Fields)

So I proudly displayed it on the side bar of my blog.

Then I got another one.

WOW, I was honored!

So I displayed that after answering the 15 questions about myself, thanking the giver, and nominating 7 others. Again.

It got to the point where I decided to make another page for the awards. I’m not bragging here or trying to be narcissistic, but I had about 6 of them at this point. The side bar was getting messy.

I was honored and it felt really good to know that people felt I was worthy enough.

So, one more time, I would follow the rules of protocol.

I’m not sure if anyone has ever noticed, but I don’t have that kind of blog. I don’t do “Wordless Wednesdays”. I don’t post blog hops (anymore).

Not that receiving blog awards is trivial or stupid. Honestly, I’m tickled when someone nominates me. Everyone loves a shout out!

I don’t like singling out people. You have to admit it, people, when it comes to that “nominate” part, it’s a tough one.

No one likes to hurt anyone’s feelings, especially when it comes to having to nominate someone.  We all try SO hard to post good posts. We lash out on our keyboards, sometimes for hours, editing, rewording, checking spelling, definitions (I’m dictionary.com’s biggest fan as well as their thesaurus section), and just making sure it makes some sense. It’s tough getting your feelings out  in words sometimes.

I’m not saying if you’re going to nominate someone, you should nominate EVERYONE. Many bloggers have. There are certain things in life that you have to choke up to not being #1. Like being picked last in dodge ball or not being picked for the midget cheerleading squad (though everyone in my town get’s picked because we don’t want any little feelings hurt-this is a blog post all it’s own for another time).

But this isn’t a competition. So, if you nominate me, I thank you. Very much! But I will pass. I don’t like being put in a position where I have to chose who gets an award.  In this case, everyone does.

Bathroom Humor

I don’t know if it’s because it’s a bathroom, but I’ve never seen marketing or packaging like this for any other rooms in the house.

What are we back in the 50's? Were these the same people that made "Slice-O-Matic?

"JUMBO"? Excuse me, but are they insinuating something here? My toilet is standard size! Is this for "JUMBO" toilets for all those that have JUMBO rearends? Do they make "MINI" KANT LEAK wax rings? And why the cute spelling for "KANT"?

BLT

Had an interesting comment on my Facebook the other day.

It all started like this:

Jr. and I went to “Eat Fresh” at Subway the other day after going to the eye doctor. He ordered some sort of teryaki chicken sub and I ordered a BLT sub. Nothing fancy. Just a BLT on a long roll. I figured I would give Charlie the other half.

The clerk asks what bread I wanted. Since I couldn’t make up my mind (I mean really, it’s just a BLT…would Honey Oatmeal Herb make a difference?) I just said “the regular stuff” and she proceeded to get a plain roll.

“Mayo” she asks.

Ok, I guess some who are on the Jared diet might have declined the use of mayo on their BLT because of the extra calories. They had “light” mayo, but I didn’t care. “Yes, please” I answered. And squirts on a liberal amount.

“Lettuce and tomato”? she asks.

For that glimpsing moment I thought to myself, “I did just order a BLT”. I get bouts of second guessing myself occasionally because I’ve thought one thing and ended up spewing something totally different from my mouth and then ended up with something I didn’t want in the first place. I’m not sure but I think there’s a scientific name for that. “Stupidity” comes to mind.

I shook my head and smiled and said “Yes, please…….it is a BLT, right?”.

She smiled a little and then put the 5 pieces of microwavable bacon on, put the top on the roll and sliced it in half. Rolled it up in the paper, put it in a bag and handed it to me. I thanked her and proceeded to check out.

I don’t think she even realized what she said. Not that it was important that she asked me if I wanted lettuce and tomato for a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, but it was kind of funny.

My friend on Facebook posted a comment that caught me off guard:

“Eww, you have tomato and Mayo on your BLT? ICK!”

Um, yeah.

What else would you have on a BLT?

I asked her what the “T” would stand for?

“Triple Bacon”.

Oh.

What is your version of a BLT? Obviously this must be a Pennsy/NJ/NY East Coast thing??? Let me know in the comments.

Ode to Jaffa Cakes

How much do I love Jaffa Cakes?  Let me count the ways!  Jaffa Cakes are a United Kingdom and Ireland snack that were introduced in 1927 by McVitie and Price and were named after the jaffa oranges native to Jaffa, which is some super ancient port.(thank you Wiki).

Mine are made by Jacobs via Wegmans.

Now that we got that tid bit of boring info out of the way….

These little nuggets of round sponge cake like cookie goodness with a dollop of orange jelly type sweetness on top and covered with dark chocolate coating.

You can’t eat just one.

No. You. Can’t.

Or can you eat just two? You have to eat the entire box.  Like my son and I did while I was shooting these pictures.

Oink oink!

Is it a cake or a cookie? Biscuit?

They’re so light, you have the false insecurity that will have you thinking “I can eat a couple, they can’t be THAT fattening!”

They are.

And you don’t dare share because there won’t be any left for you. Fights will break out and wars will begin over Jaffa Cakes. Don’t even attempt to ask me if you can have one. I usually hide my box because things disappear in this house with two grown boys. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is safe.

Get your own box.

I can only find them in my local Wegmans grocery store in the British import isle. Along with the “Treacle” and “Spotted Dick”.

Go ahead and laugh.

And Heinz Baked Beans. And Robinson’s Barley Water.

You know how people moan over bacon? With a cup of tea and a box of these little delights, I make the same sound.

There are many videos on YouTube about people eating as many Jaffa Cakes as they can in one minute. Some claim the record is 12. But that’s not the proper way to eat them! What a waste! You have to savior them! Take a bite and enjoy the orange and chocolate flavors. The sponge cake is just for the ride.

These are probably what is keeping England afloat in their economy.

There’s also a Jaffa Muffin! A JAFFA MUFFIN! OMG! But that’s not sold here in the US. Brits get ALL the fun!

McVitie makes Jaffa Mini Rolls that look like Yodels, there’s Jaffa Cake Bars, Jaffa Mini Cakes, Jaffa Snack Packs and Jaffas that come in 12, 24, or 36 pack. Even in a tubular container!

Mine only come in a 10 pack. These aren’t McVities but they’re close enough!

Wired

I’ve had my share of caffeine today, probably more than I needed. Cup of tea in the afternoon. Cup of Vanilla coffee after dinner. I’m hyper to begin with. Caffeine just makes it worse. We went to Home Depot to get tile for the bathroom. That only took 1/2 in there. That’s a record!

So it’s 1:00am in the morning and my body and brain show no signs of fatigue.

I’m hungry as hell though because Guy Fieri is eating the most delectable sandwiches and diner food. Why can’t my area have descent diners? There are a multitude of them but none of them are ever going to make it into the FoodNetwork list of places to eat in northeast Pennsylvania. Not many “outside” people like Miracle Whip and liverwurst.

One more good reason to move back to New Jersey–Diner capital of the country!

Got disgusted with watching “Extreme Homes” on HGTV. Waaaay too much money out there with waaaay too many people not knowing how to spend it. Is it really necessary to make your home look like a shark?

Not a hell of a lot happens on Facebook when you’ve only got 21 friends (that’s my choice).

Wrote two blog post drafts but will probably delete them.  Even I can’t stand my own ranting sometimes.

Twitter had some priceless tweets tonight. Someone was tweeting from a strip club and was giving blow by blow (no pun intended) reviews of the strippers. Kind of grossed me out. Especially the ones about the where some of those dollar bills went.

I’m still trying to figure out how a glazed donut can have 0 grams of cholesterol.

Thypolar and Hacking Vegas make #coupleoftheyear.

5 Things About Me You Could Careless About:

1. I wish I had blue eyes.

2. I’m a Brit stuck in an American’s body. That needs to lose some weight.

3. I hate jogging.

4. I know how to sail a boat.

5. I don’t own a single Justin Bieber CD. Nope. None.

“Rachel” from “Card Holder Services” must die.

My hands are so dry. This past winter has been murder on them. No amount of moisturizer helps.

It’s already Saturday morning here on the east coast. My friends over on the west coast are living in the past. I can tell you the future isn’t that exciting at the moment.

It’s 6:30am in England. They’re just getting up to start their day. Most of the US is still up and running and haven’t gone to bed yet.

I’m still hungry.

I’m waiting for the infomercials to kick in.

OMG, another episode of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”.

Cable stations that show the same movies as they did LAST weekend are lame. USA Network is showing “National Treasure” AGAIN. It was on all last weekend, all weekend. Along with Indian Jones.

I’m not sure I like Guy Fieri’s spiky ass hair. Oh wait, this is a repeat of the episode at 8:00.

I wish the cat knew how to shut the door behind him. Now I have to get up and close it.

TV sucks this time of night/morning. Turned it off. Silence is golden…except the cat is snoring. Do cats get sleep apnea?

The windows in the room are leaky. I can feel the cold air coming in. Why won’t the heat kick on? At least the cat is keeping my one foot warm.

For once I don’t have a song stuck in my head. For the longest time I had “Party Anthem”. I really want need to buy that Kelly Clarkson’s song off iTunes. I have no idea what the name of it is, but I’ll know it when I see it. I also want to buy Rhianna’s song “Love In A Hopeless” place. And one from Adele that I know I’ll know when I see it. I have a lousy memory.

I really miss Star Gate SG1. Michael Shanks is hot! A whole lotta sweetness going on with that guy! Richard Dean Anderson isn’t anything to sneer at either!

Umm, ooh, yeah....wow. Mmmmmm....(image via Listal.com)

I haven’t mentioned Jeremy Clarkson. That doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about him. Probably because I’m ALWAYS thinking about him.

Jezza. By request from Joseph.

I have to remember Jr. has appointments on Monday. I know I’m going to wake up Monday and remember the last minute. At least the first one is in town.

Ok, I’m going to end this nonsense and try to rest. The heat finally kicked on. I closed the door again.

And I’m still hungry.

The Inevitable Brady Post

With the passing of my childhood sweetheart Davey Jones, the one memory that comes to mind and it’s the one program that I’m sure everyone thought about as well was the episode of “The Brady Bunch” when Davey kissed Marcia’s cheek and she (and we) went all gaga and swore she would never wash that cheek again.

Bitch.

Jealous? HELL YEAH! DUH! What girl wasn’t??

I loved the Brady Bunch. I watched it faithfully. But I don’t know why.

Bummer!

Marcia made me sick. Her “I’m popular and you’re not” attitude made me want to smack her time and time again. I don’t think she was that pretty either. Cute, maybe, but not like they portrayed her. She and I wouldn’t have gotten along in school. I would have snarled at her when I past her in the hallway. I wouldn’t have voted her “Class President” or “Most Popular”. There were plenty like her I had to deal with. I wished that the football broke her nose and it healed all wrong!

The only thing I like about Jan was her hair. I always wanted long hair. Mine was always short. Jan didn’t have split ends and it had a beautiful wave to it. But Jan was a whiner. Nothing was ever fair to her. Indeed, everything was “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia”. Marcia tried to be the understanding big sister because she knew Jan would never be as popular or as beautiful as her so she always did the “There, there, sweet Jan, you can’t imitate perfection. I understand why you tried to emulate me by wearing my clothes and makeup.” *gag*. Sucks being the middle sister I guess.

There was a girl two houses down from me that I called “baby” all the time. Because she acted like Cindy Brady. Cindy was perpetually 5. Even when she turned 10, she was still 5. I don’t think it was until the very last season where she actually looked her age. But by then the show was on it’s way out. Where was school intervention when it came to speech therapy? That lisp drove me nuts.

I had a problem finding a more grown up picture of Cindy. She was perpetually 5 years old in the show!

Greg was cool, savvy, and sneaky. And got better looking as he got older. As I got much older I always thought Greg and Marcia would make a cute couple. And it turns out they were doing eachother behind the scenes during shoots. What an episode that would have been if Greg confessed his intimate love for Marcia! They were just step siblings. It’s conceivable! Wouldn’t that have sent Carol and Mike Brady into a tail spin! They could have Dr. Phil on as a guest star! Lord knows what would have happened to Jan! She probably would have sunk into a deep depression being that even her step brother was attracted to her older sister and she couldn’t even get the dork in her class to notice her. How would Cindy have taken it? Probably just would have withdrawn into herself. Who knows what the other two boys would have thought! Peter probably would have high fived Greg! Bobby would have made a face and continued pretending he was Joe Namath.

I’m seeing a great title for a porn flick here…”Greg does Marcia-A Forbidden Love”. Has potential.

Peter was just this laid back kid who took things in stride. He had his moments, especially with girls. But he was always the one with the pranks and the comebacks. I was so glad when his voice changed. It was always a couple octaves too high for my liking.

I actually had a classmate that look identical to Bobby Brady. This kid could have been his twin. Could have been his double in some of the scenes. I mean instead of Greg hoe tossing Bobby, they could have used this kid!  And he was heavily teased for it. Bobby was the punching bag. He always had the most questions about life. Things never seemed to make sense to him. His world and welcome to it. He would have been my punching bag, too. He annoyed me. “Just-shut-up”. He got the whiny gene from Jan.

Alice rocked! What patience this woman had! Jon and Kate plus Eight could have taken a cue from this woman! We know who raised those kids! And it wasn’t Carol. It was Alice! What is  it about the housemaid that always has the profound answers?

All I can say for Carol and Mike Brady is that if I broke that stupid vase, I would have had my ass whipped by my father!

Jon and Kate could have taken a few lessons from these two!

I could never figure out why the kids were so scared to admit who broke that stupid thing! It wasn’t like Mike was going go prehistoric on them or anything. He never raised his voice for gods sake!!

This is why "Nerf" was invented!

Then there was Oliver. He showed up to try to save the show. The little kid antics were waning because the kids were all growing up. I mean having Greg get someone pregnant (Marcia? OH, what an episode THAT would have been!!) or Jan getting busted for weed (Oh where did Mike and Carol go wrong!?) would have just ruined the shows squeaky clean image. Oliver reminded me of what John Denver would have looked like when he was little.

"Take me hoooome, country rooooads, to the plaaaaaace, I beloooooong...."

Still this show lingers in my heart as a favorite. The all American family. And they lived happily ever after. Sort of (Bobby managed to get into a race car accident). It was silly. It had it’s tender moments. It was “rot your teeth it’s so sweet”.

*this is no reflection on the actual actors, just the characters.*

Only Shades of Gray

One of most favorite Brits died today, February 29, of a heart attack. He was only 66. I will always remember Davey Jones as smiling, joking, loving life. I just recently saw him on PBS. He looked great. He just toured last year with Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork. Still had the boyish look and smile about him. He was the first. I was about 5 years old when I was introduced to him…on The Monkees first album. My love for the Brits never ceased. I’ve always loved his singing voice. Soft, gentle, soothing. Just what a hyper active brat like me needed.

I will miss him.