Booze is Good For Late Night Laughs

On October 26, 2016 By ls1228In entertainment, Extreme Blonde Moments, headlines, health, SafetyLeave a comment

flipcup This morning a tease of a Page Six article: NBC worried Jimmy Fallon’s boozing got ‘out of control’ grabbed my attention. I love Jimmy Fallon and some nights fight to stay awake just to see him so I can go to sleep giggling. Thankfully it linked straight to the article so I could skip the main page headline and picture of Kim Kardashian. GAG!

Since the late night guards changed a few years ago from Leno and Letterman to Kimmel, Fallon and Colbert, the show content has, not surprisingly, changed as well.

carnakthemag Gone are the Johnny Carson days with his, boisterously laughing from the sidelines, sidekick Ed McMahan, and his orchestra, led by Doc Severinsen. The bygone “Mad Men” era of weeknight cocktail parties when people stayed up to watch the 11:00 news and couldn’t wait to see who Johnny’s guests would be each night! It was accepted and even slyly joked that his coffee cup, and those of his guests, held things other than coffee while they:

Talked about movies
Tame news topics
The host or a guest up and coming comedian made jokes
The guest might sing a song to the accompaniment of the orchestra
The host did skits that were aimed at a generation of adults that thought, Carnac the Magnificent, dropping pumpkins from the tops of buildings, or a man with a sledgehammer smashing watermelons was entertainment

Now ratings are the king.

poopwaterwithhgates Generation X and Millennials aren’t likely to tune into late night shows to see a host drone on about politics, to hear a celebrity talk about their latest movie, or, God forbid, reality show. They will tune in to watch Jimmy Fallon drink poop.

Jimmy Fallon has been very good for NBC. His admittedly drunken, or maybe just buzzeddriving heavily buzzed (but kids, as the commercials say: Buzzed driving IS drunk driving!), exploits on the air brought in viewers they had, lost in the post Carson, Jay Leno years to CBS when David Letterman cut into their late night dominance.

martiniswithfergie Fallon has a freshness, he’s funny, witty, creative, can carry a tune, he is Gen X, and has a huge network of Gen X and Millennial friends, which is the demographic NBC needed to grab.

While viewers obviously don’t want to see Fallon injure himself, get divorced or get fired, they do tune in to see him:

Perform duets with Justin Timberlake and other singers
Drink Poop Water with Bill Gates
Do Lip-Sync battles with the stars
Play Flip-Cup with Margot Robbie
Make and drink fancy martinis with Fergie
Host Celebrity Drinko (They all want to play)

For what it’s worth, the Page Six article does include a quote from NBC downplaying and denying any suggest that they are upset or questioning the host of the Number 1 rated late night show: “Bob Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, told us, “Jimmy is one of NBC’s biggest assets, and we’re extremely proud that ‘The Tonight Show’ continues to be the late-night leader in all metrics, including ratings and social-media awareness. He’s in a class by himself, and we’re also looking forward to him hosting the Golden Globes in January. As a producer and star he delivers over 200 hours of television a year, and any suggestion that we have concerns about his behavior or have given him any kind of ‘warning’ is completely false.”

NBC can make sure he’s safe on the set and can insist he use a driver on their time to and from the studio, etc. From what the article on Page Six says, it appears he is taking the steps to make sure he stays in control during the rest of the time. As long as all parties are safe, I say to those commenting from the peanut gallery, “Stop.” Hmmm

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Fat Cell Reduction Without Drugs!

On October 23, 2016October 23, 2016 By ls1228In Exercise, Extreme Blonde Moments, health, Product Endoresements, TechnologyLeave a comment

I’m feeling chubby and scientific today….a very dangerous combination!

yoda_swsb Few of us regular folk work out for the sheer enjoyment of it. Most of us do it because we need to. I like the end results, but to be honest, if I could sit on my butt, drink wine and eat comfort food with the same result, I’d choose the latter. Unfortunately my biology doesn’t work that way (THANKS MOM!), so, as Yoda would say, “Work out I must.”

Thanks to a discovery I read today from an article in Health Magazine, there might just be a little more motivation to get my workout on a little more often: it seems that not only does a good workout put your body to work burning icky brown fat, but research shows that the release of the hormone irisin during exercise is thought to do double duty by stopping your body from forming new fat cells. Hallelujah!

Soon after the disovery of the existence of FNDC5, A.K.A. “irisin“, scientists began disputing whether irisin is just an inert, naturally ocurring hormone or if the human body is actually capable of increasing production and circulating it via exercise.

A team of researchers at Harvard Medical School, led by Professor of Cancer Biology at Harvard Dana -Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Cell Biology and Medicine, Bruce M. Spiegelman, PhD, introduced the discovery of irisin and its production in both humans and mice, in 2012. Dr. Spiegelman presented the findings as part of a discussion, “Toward a New Generation of Therapies for Diabetes, Obesity and Muscular Disease,” at the University of Houston College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. But not everyone in the scientific community was convinced.
Duke University questioned the Harvard results, suggesting that they couldn’t single out the prodution of exercise induced irisin due to the existence of other proteins in the blood that could have tainted the results.

In 2015, attempting to settle the dispute once and for all, Spiegleman and the rest of the Harvard team went back to work and conducted more precise testing using a technique called quantitative mass spectrometry to isolate the irisin protein.

pauley-perrette-aka-abby-sciuto-ncis-girls-25700162-1024-768 For those of us not at the leading edge of scientific discovery think: Abby Sciuto of NCIS and her, frequently mentioned, “Major Mass Spec,” tool used for breaking down chemical components when the team is solving a crime.

PowerPoint Presentation Once the protein was isolated they were able to conduct a more precise 12 week study comparing the amount of irisin present in subjects who were sedentary to the amount present in the subjects who participated in a measured amount of aerobic interval training in the same 12 week period.

Their findings were published in the Aug. 13, 2015 issue of the Journal Cell Metabolism (Cell Metabolism, Vol. 22, Issue 4, p734–740), finally settling the lack of concensus.

The data concluded:

The amount of irisin present in the blood of the sedentary subjects was 3.6 nanograms per mililiter of blood at the beginning and the end of the 12 weeks;
The amount of irisin present in the blood of the participants in the aerobic training increased from 3.6 nanograms per mililiter of blood at the beginning to 4.3 nanograms per mililiter at the end of the 12 weeks (23.96% increase); and
The 23.96 increase could be directly attributed to the amount of exercise the non-sedentary study participants completed.

That bit of science was good enough for me, so, while I toiled over the citations and details (plus the fun Yoda & Abby Sciuto references), I pulled my dusty Cubii under desk elliptical machine out and decided to create some irisin while I worked.

cubii In a really shameless, totally unsolicited plug, I backed this fun device when it was under prodution as a Kickstarter campaign and then had to have major foot surgery, so it’s been sitting idle for about 4 months. It connects to my iPhone (via app), syncs with Fitbit, and is a non-impact way to not let your desk job ruin your good health!

In 125 minutes (2 hours 5 minutes) the health results for my semi-sedentary, Cubii workout while researching/blogging were more than I expected, although I was admittedly dripping wet when I finished:

Burned 1243 Calories
Took 14,244 Strides
Logged 5.84 Miles from my dining room table & without shoes!

My only complaint with the Cubii software is that the calories burned comes in much lower than my Garmin Vivofit 2 (so, of course I am using the Garmin count) Hmmm. It gave me a good tally, but next time I’ll put my heart rate monitor on for an even more accurate calorie burning count.

Something For the Men

On October 19, 2016October 19, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde Moments, healthLeave a comment

And by “for the men,” of course I mean for the benefit of the women as well. Hmmm

Rachael Schultz at Men’s Fitness Magazine did a great job of getting to the nitty gritty of this article, and I’ve included the link so you can read ALL about it, but for my purposes, I’ll just summarize the list of supplements that could help a guy keep his flag pole straight up instead of having to go see a doctor about a prescription for a Viagra.

The Best Supplements For Your Penis

As many as 30 million American men suffer from Erectile Dysfunction, and one in four who seek treatment for ED are actually under the age of 40, according to a study in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

ED can be caused by a handful of things, but one thing’s for sure: You need a healthy supply of the neurotransmitter nitric oxide (NO) to get and maintain an erection. NO is produced in nerve tissue and helps jolt your Johnson by relaxing the smooth muscle so blood can fill the penis. After the initial release of NO, your body releases a cascade of chemicals—including more of the neurotransmitter—to help keep you hard and happy, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The problem comes when your body can’t produce enough nitric oxide to get and keep you going. Meds like Viagra fix this problem, but herbs, vitamins, and amino acids have been eliminating erection problems long before the magic pill came around.

One caveat: Even though these supplements are all natural, vitamins and amino acids can interact with other medications, so be sure to talk to your doc before you add anything to your daily routine—especially since countless studies have shown ED is typically linked to larger health problems, including heart disease.

#1 L-Arginine: L-arginine, or arginine, is an amino acid found in red meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products that helps expand blood vessels and increase blood flow. “The body uses this semi-essential amino acid as the primary building block for nitric oxide,” explains Harry Fisch, M.D., clinical professor of urology and reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College/New York Presbyterian Hospital.

While the rationale behind why it would work is airtight, the research on arginine’s actual effect on erectile dysfunction is slim, points out Charles Walker, M.D., assistant professor of urology and cofounder of the Cardiovascular and Sexual Health clinic at Yale University. But given its solid safety profile, minimal side effects, and potential benefit on heart disease, it’s worth a try, he adds, especially when taken in conjunction with other herbs on this list, which studies have shown can be more effective.

However, you might actually be better off going one step back in the chain reaction and taking a L-citrulline supplement. While your body converts L-arginine to nitric oxide, it also metabolizes it too fast when the amino acid is taken in an oral supplement, according to a 2011 study from the University of Foggia in Italy. L-citrulline, which the body converts to L-arginine, is actually a better option to follow the same metabolic pathway and serve as a treatment for ED, the same study found.

#2 – Vitamin D: According to a study at Johns Hopkins University, Men who are Vitamin D deficient are 32% more likely to experience trouble getting it up. Vitamin D is crucial for keeping the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels healthy. If they aren’t healthy they can clog the vessels and restrict blood flow. No or low blood flow = No hard on.

#3 – Yohimbine: Enhances sexual performance by blocking certain neurotransmitters in the brain and increasing the release of nitric oxide in the cavernosal nerves of the penis. When combined with L-arginine, yohimbine usually is successful in helping men achieve an erection, but it can raise blood pressure and anxiety levels, so do check with a doctor first.

#4 – Horny Goat Weed (A.K.A. epimedium): Helps improve the erection by inhibiting PDE-5 and increasing nitric oxide synthase. This basically is exactly what Viagra does.

#5 – Vitamin B3 (niacin): Improves erectile function in men with high cholesterol by reducing inflammation and increasing blood flow. B-3 is also important in the production of sex hormones and is best when taken in combination with L-arginine and propionyl-L-carnitine.

#6 – Panax Ginseng: Helps create harder, longer lasting erections, and improve testosterone levels which also boosts libido.

#7 – Folic Acid: This B Vitamin stimulates nitric oxide. A Turkish study showed that men with ED also suffered from low folic acid.

#8 – Ginkgo Biloba: Helped counteract sexual dysfunction caused by the use of anti-depressants in 76% of patients experiencing the side effect.

Who knows, maybe there would be less need for the anti-depressants if their penises were working. Hmmm

Important Facebook Privacy News of the Day

On October 4, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde Moments, TechnologyLeave a comment

Facebook promised the ability of all 900 Million Messenger Users to encrypt their messages and keep them private last July. Today, according to an announcement on Wired.com, that has finally happened.

There are caveats, of course:

The encryption is “Opt-In”
No one can read the conversation except the two people involved in the conversation – not Facebook, law enforcement or government agencies
It has to be done new with each conversation you want kept private
You can only maintain the privacy of the conversation on the same device (phone, tablet, pc) that you started it on
Senders can choose a Snapchat-style expiration time for messages, ranging from five seconds to one day
You can’t send GIF or Video files in the messages, but you an attach JPEG and stickers
In order to receive encrypted messages both parties need to be using the updated Messenger App

The new tool is called “Secret Conversations” and when you update to the newest version of the Messenger App, you will now see an option to start a “Secret Message” at the top right of the new message screen.

If encrypting your messages, and keeping sensitive conversations truly secret, is important to you, here is how you turn it on:

If you want to start a new encrypted conversation:

Tap the new conversation icon at the top right.
Tap “Secret” in the top right.
Choose your recipient and begin messaging.

If you want to turn an ongoing conversation into an encrypted Secret Conversation:

Open the message thread.
Tap their name at the top of your screen.
Tap “Secret Conversation” to switch it over.

I’ve Had it With The 2016 Election!

On September 30, 2016June 16, 2022 By ls1228In election, Extreme Blonde Moments, Pisses Me OffLeave a comment

election2106 I have had all I can stand of the 2016 Presidential campaign! There were stories today that the people of America needed to hear more about before they make a moral and ethical call on the candidate who will be best suited to lead us into the next four years and beyond, but the television media didn’t cover them.

Yesterday the media uproar was all about Donald Trump calling Miss Universe 1996 a slob, pig, etc., and how he fat shamed her well before it became a “thing” on Twitter and Facebook, instead of covering Newsweek’s bombshell on Trump sending an advisor to Cuba and spending money there during the embargo then trying to cover it up after the fact as a catholic charities trip.

Today, instead of continuing on the illegal Cuba spending coverage, the media has shifted to Donald’s intent to smear Secretary Clinton with the decades old story of her responses to getting blindsided by her husband’s affair (s), instead of covering another bombshell that hit the wires last night regarding the legitimacy of The Trump Foundation.

Two weeks ago all any news channel was doing was hunting up John & Mary Q. Public to see how they feel about Hillary not sharing that she went to the doctor, got antibiotics to clear up the nagging cough & congestion in her chest (a.k.a. the “walking pneumonia”) Friday, then ignored her doctor telling her to take the weekend off, so John/Mary Q. Public went on the record stating “that” makes her untrustworthy.

Hour upon hour of coverage listening to pundits interpreting “what she was thinking not telling America she has what is equivalent to a really bad chest cold!” We have HIPAA people! With her permission, her doctors have given the results of her most recent physical, which was obviously before her doctor appointment last Friday, and he provided the press and all interested parties a report of overall good health. Sometimes people are going to get sick, sometimes people go to the doctor because they have an infected ingrown toenail, sometimes they need an antifungal cream, Viagra, prescription strength vitamins, etc. There is no reason that routine visits to or by the doctor are anyone’s business but hers and her doctor. Once Mr. Trump’s doctor has given his report of his overall health and fitness, he is under no obligation to hold a press conference every time any minor ailment comes up for him either. HIPAA protects us all from those intrusions in our privacy!

Married or single, gay or straight, and with or without children, women in the 21st Century wear many different hats. They can be:

stay at home mothers or homemakers;
members of the 9 to 5 work force;
members of the military;
single parents working multiple jobs;
students;
owners of corporations or small businesses;
politicians;
volunteers, or community activists;
part time employees;
unemployed and looking for work;
unemployed by choice;
or retired and loving it.

No matter what hat they wear, they all are highly likely to have one thing in common: they burn the candle at both ends to make sure that everyone they are responsible for is clothed, fed and happy before they even consider taking care of themselves. Does no one consider that this is likely the case with a woman who happens to also be running for president of the United States of America?

Apparently Donald Trump, Mike Pence, the vast majority of the media covering this Presidential election don’t want you to consider it to be the case and they want as much doubt to be cast Secretary Clinton’s way as possible so they have just a tiny bit more hope that they can somehow convince the voting public that someone who has easily handled the responsibility of being, among many other things: Lawyer, Children’s Advocate, wife, mother, grandmother, First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of The United States of America, Senator for the State of New York and Secretary of State for the United States of America; somehow is just not mentally qualified or able to stand up to the physical requirements of being President of the United States of America.

Having nothing substantive to say about their candidate, the Trump campaign pounced on a grainy video showing Secretary Clinton losing her footing getting into her vehicle as she left the 9/11 15th Anniversary gathering at the former site of the World Trade Center. She’d been battling the cough, as we’d all seen reported, for a few weeks and, the warm day, large crowd, highly emotional retelling of the terror and sorrow of September 11th, 2001, combined with dehydration made her feel dizzy, so she sought out her secret service team after 90 minutes so she could go to her daughter’s nearby home to rest. Obviously, she waited just a few minutes too long, as her dizziness caused her to stumble as she stepped off the curb to step into the vehicle and the stories spun from there. Once she reached her daughter’s home drank some water and cooled off she began feeling much better. Conspiracy theorists suggested a body double replaced her. COME ON! Maybe her hair looked different because she took a cool shower to refresh. WTF People?

It’s no big news that people get sick occasionally. But, according to the Trump Campaign, Mike Pence, some within the Republican National Committee, many of the talking heads on the cable news networks and pundits across the internet, Hillary Clinton is not only not allowed to get run down and catch a common cold or the flu, but if she says she has, the RNC says there must be a giant Democratic Party conspiracy to hide a much more serious ailment (cue the body double LMAO). This woman, the first in modern history to be the candidate of a major party for the highest office in the land, is under a scrutiny that is unprecedented and bordering on violating her rights!

If Secretary Clinton’s campaign, when announcing her weekend schedule, had simply made a statement mentioning the visit to get a prescription to knock out the lingering cough and mild related upper respiratory irritation, the stumble getting into the vehicle might have been a non-story. The truth, that she was dehydrated (antibiotics can be very hard on the body while helping it heal) and just needed to get out of the sun and get something cool to drink, might have helped to avoid the excessive speculation and negative coverage today.

If, on the other hand, Mr. Trump had been overheated/dehydrated, showing signs of fatigue from the grueling schedule that is being maintained by both candidates for President in this election, and had lost his balance stepping down from a curb and up into his vehicle, it would have been highly unlikely that there would have been the wild speculation that he has some unrevealed or terminal illness. He’s a man and an excuse would have been made that he tripped, it would have been laughed off, lampooned by the late night hosts, and the topic would have been dropped. We saw that truth when Trump sniffled and gulped water during the first Presidential Debate when he was getting schooled by Secretary Clinton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWq0M85xMyM

The late night guys got their jokes in, the mainstream media suggested he was coming down with a cold, internet conspiracy theorists deduced that he had “obviously” snorted Adderal or Cocaine, and then a couple of days later the subject was dropped.

Secretary Clinton has been campaigning on her merits as a stateswoman of experience and knowledge of the players and situations that are challenging the World and the United States, while Mr. Trump’s campaign has utilized attack ads, negativity and divisive social issues that bring out the hate and ugliness in his supporters.

Trump focuses on racist fears, he accuses others of improprieties without concrete proof: he implied that Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs (like those perpetrated by the thrice married Mr. Trump himself, about which he pled the 5th 97 times during his 1st divorce deposition, and documented in a recent book ) are somehow a negative reflection on Hillary’s potential as a President, he goes off on rants and makes wild accusations, and he applies ugly monikers (“Crooked Hillary“) hoping that his ugly reality show performance will keep the attention of the haters and “conspiracy theorists” long enough to get them to come out to the polling places and cast their votes for him in November.

His campaign’s lack of clear agenda & his frequent change of message and campaign staff turnover has been a sideshow:

No Republican Heavyweights, including former Republican Presidents and Vice-Presidents, will give him their endorsements, nor will they campaign for him;
They have had multiple changes of Campaign Leadership Since June 2016;
Fact checking mistakes are a common occurrence in live speeches and interviews;
His current Campaign Manager, a former Pollster, continues to perpetuate a known falsehood by quoting a poll that is known to have been fabricated two weeks ago by the Trump Campaign, and yesterday she admitted on The View that Trump spent money in Cuba during the time of the Embargo (admission of illegal activity!);
Evidence of an illegal payment to Florida’s Attorney General four days after she publicly expressed consideration of joining other states in suing Trump University/Donald Trump for Fraud;
Evidence of intent to commit tax fraud when the above payment of $25,000 was shown to be entered on his tax form as an entirely different payment made to an organization he had (and has) never given a single cent to;
Allegations of Campaign Contribution Fraud when he repaid his foundation with funds from his personal account after being fined for the alleged error in entering the illegal contribution and fundraising event he hosted and attended for the Florida Attorney General at his Mar-A-Lago Resort;
yesterday, the Attorney General for the State of New York announced that The Trump Foundation does not hold the Certifications necessary to solicit cash donations; and that’s just a small sampling of the last month or so.

Because they don’t want to defend the actions noted above and have nothing to say defend their candidate’s lack of knowledge of world affairs, experience with international diplomacy, or ability to lead our nation with 6 weeks to go before election day, the Trump Campaign is instead heading back into the gutter and continuing to fight for electoral votes as if they are lobbying for viewer votes on a reality show.

In the end, I have to believe that knowledge of what is morally right vs wrong is going to lead Americans to make a decision against hate, racism, sexism, and every other ugly thing that Trump stands for, by voting against him. I do know that I am done watching another minute of the horrific media coverage that is attempting to sway voters by refusing to give viewers an unbiased, unsensationalized look at the candidates!

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Thank You Vin Scully!

On September 23, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde Moments1 Comment

vinny

It’s impossible to imagine how it will feel not hearing Vin Scully describing the game of baseball. His insight into the players, coaches, managers, and owners; his preparation before every series with tidbits to keep viewers and listeners interested; and then there’s his vast knowledge of little bits of trivia and memories of the 67 years he’s spent behind the microphone for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That is just not something that can be replaced.

I listened to Dodger games with my grandparents on a transistor radio every summer while we laid beside Lake Gregory in Crestline, CA. My Dad always had the TV or radio on listening to the games and, the one thing he insisted on having last year when I moved him to an assisted living facility, was Time Warner Cable so he could have the Dodger Channel.

It’s sad to know that a generation of kids won’t know who Vin Scully is. They won’t hear his stories about long lost legends of the game, about how he delivered breaking national and world news or hear his memories about how historic times played into his baseball broadcasts. They won’t hear the thoughts that are so very uniquely Vin Scully. Come on, how many broadcasters see the camera operator focusing on a sleepy child with her thumb in her mouth and whip out, from memory (at just 2 months shy of 89 years old!), Shel Silverstein’s Thumb Suckers Poem?

Thanks to the internet, we can relive 5 of his best calls ever.

http://https://youtu.be/SLexiZHy9wI

Vin Scully’s Broadcasting highlights include:

Three perfect games (Don Larsen in 1956, Sandy Koufax in 1965 and Dennis Martinez in 1991) and 19 no-hitters.
Johnny Podres’ shutout of the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series, which gave the Dodgers their first World Championship.
The Dodgers’ first game in Los Angeles at the Coliseum on April 18, 1958.
The Dodgers’ return to the Coliseum on March 29, 2008 in front of a Guinness World record-breaking crowd of 115,300
The Dodgers-Yankees exhibition game on May 7, 1959 that honored Roy Campanella before a then-Major League record 93,103 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
The Dodgers’ playoff win over the Milwaukee Braves and World Series victory over the Chicago White Sox in 1959, which gave them their second World Championship; and other World Championship seasons in Los Angeles in 1963, 1965, 1981 and 1988.
Don Drysdale’s 58.2 scoreless innings streak in 1968 and Orel Hershiser’s 59.0 scoreless innings streak in 1988.
Hank Aaron’s 715th career home run that broke Babe Ruth’s Major League record at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium on April 8, 1974.
The dramatic 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, where Bill Buckner’s error allowed the Mets to force Game 7.
Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 71st, 72nd and 73rd home runs in 2001.
The rookie seasons of international superstars Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 and Hideo Nomo in 1995.
The four consecutive homers hit by Los Angeles on Sept. 18, 2006, the only time in franchise history that has happened
Back-to-back Division Series wins in 2008 and 2009.
Single-handedly getting A.J. Ellis to trend worldwide on Twitter in 2012.

Huge thanks to KTLA, Channel 5 in Los Angeles, for making it possible for all of Southern California to enjoy hearing “It’s Time For Dodger Baseball” just a few more times, even though we don’t have one of the few cable/satellite systems that The Dodger Station is carried on.

Reality of his loss will only hit home for me come 2017 Spring Training & Opening Day when the only voice I’ve ever associated with Dodger Baseball isn’t there. Only then will I be willing to accept that Vin Scully will have truly called his last Dodger Game.

Until then, I can hope that the Dodgers don’t blow it, make it to the World Series, and somehow, “The Powers That Be” manage to convince Vin Scully that he must broadcast the World Series for whatever network is broadcasting it! I’m sure Joe Buck, or whomever would be in the seat, would be glad to put their ego aside to sit beside the legend for what would truly be the swan song of his career. My fingers are crossed.

Thank You Vin Scully!

tyvin

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Is Your Relationship Doomed Too?

On September 21, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

Bringing the 2016 tally to 43 celebrity relationships that have ended, yesterday Angelina Jolie shocked the world and filed for divorce from Brad Pitt. Damn real life intrudes on the wealth and the seemingly carefree lives of a beautiful high-profile couple yet again! Hmmm

If you read the headlines on the covers of the magazines that line the check out lanes at the grocery store, you’d think every relationship, celebrity or every day Jane & Joe, ends up doomed to failure.

Today the Huffington Post ran an article warning women to watch out for signs that their husband has become “emotionally disconnected,” but you can search the internet and find similar headlines in one women’s magazine or another nearly every month. I just googled, “have you lost interest in your relationship?” and Google returned 9,230,000 results! Headlines on these articles range from blaming, “What you can do to fix your broken relationship,” to therapeutic, “Signs you (or your spouse) are losing interest,” but all circle back to the same things:

Relationships are hard
Day-to-day stresses of life wear equally on both parties in a relationship
To make a relationship last takes work, love and understanding

So, because I love all of my loyal Extreme Blonde Moments followers, I’ll summarize the latest articles so you can:

Troubleshoot your own relationship
Figure out if problems you have are minor or deal breakers
Decide if you’re in a relationship worth salvaging and either: A) Cut through the bullshit and get back on track; or B) Stop the bleeding and get out

First, there are some universally agreed to signs that you or your partner have disengaged from your relationship:

Do you dread spending time together, prefer time with friends instead of time with your significant other, feel like it’s an obligation, feel exhausted or mentally drained after a day together? Do you start fights to avoid plans together, do you fight more often than not?
Does your relationship lack intimacy? Hugs and kisses, casual touches, hand holding, and other small intimacies are the first thing to go when a relationship is dying, the absence of these things is a big warning sign.
Does your relationship lack sex? This is a huge problem! Dry spells of a week or two, even a month happen with the everyday stresses of life, work separations, illness, etc., but when you go months at a time without one (or both) of you desiring the most vital of intimacies, you have a serious issue. If the thought of making love to your spouse stirs NOTHING in you, and you don’t miss or desire an immediate change (as in take steps to change the status quo) then your relationship has very little hope of survival. This is especially true if it is only one partner that is disinterested in maintaining the sexual relationship.
Are you withholding everyday stuff, sharing conversations, concerns, stresses with someone else, seeking someone else’s opinions instead of your significant other’s? That’s a death blow for your relationship.
Do you not care what your significant other is doing? If hearing the details of their day, their opinions, stories, or even their voice is of no interest to you….I think you get the picture. Doomed
Are you losing your self esteem? If you have become unhappy, feel unwanted, undesired, and so unimportant that deep inside you know you should get out of the relationship, you can start feeling trapped, angry with yourself that you’re still there, and wondering how you ended up with this person. This can lead you to start questioning your own judgement which leads to increasingly negative feelings about yourself.
Do you hate coming home, spend extra time at work, at the gym, in other activities, anything to avoid being in the same place as your significant other? Do you complain about unimportant things, are you passive aggressive, or have you become verbally or physically aggressive toward your significant other? Get Out
Are you fantasizing about others or acting like you’re single when you are not with your significant other? Do you daydream about what life would be like without your significant other, are you reaching out to old flames, do you use “I” statements instead of “We“: “I am going to Costa Rica next week” vs “We are going to Costa Rica next week.” You are testing the waters to see what the response would be (and how it would feel) to you being single.

The Huffington Post article pointed out gender specific indicators that a spouse has checked out of a marriage:

Men:

Hypercritical of everything his spouse does, less generous of mistakes
He stone walls or is in constant “Silent Treatment” mode: closed off body language (crossed arms, pursed lips, turned back) and/or zero verbal feedback or engagement, even when a response would be appropriate and expected.
Visibly angry when tasks aren’t done, impatient and short
No playfulness, not visibly happy hanging out with spouse, appears distant or to be just going through the motions, or to be putting on a show of attentiveness when others are present
He confides in others or has more intimate talks with others than he has with his spouse

Women:

Men complain to therapists that “she seems to have changed overnight.” He fails to recognize warning signs like requests to improve the relationship have been ignored or belittled and she’s finally become fed up, stopped seeing him in a romantic light and become disillusioned with the marriage.
He starts hearing “Nothing” or “I don’t want to talk about it,” when he notices she has withdrawn or changed her behavior. She’s tired of tying and given up hoping for change.
You barely touch anymore.
It feels like you are living two separate lives.
All you talk about is the kids and household logistics (or jobs, etc.).
Your wife speaks brutal truths instead of being kind, considerate and accepting of your quirks and idiosyncracies.

If you feel a kinship to any of the behaviors you have two choices, talk about them and reolve them, or resolve to move on. None of the behaviors are healthy for any romantic relationship, especially if it’s a marriage and there are children involved. Children observe and learn what you are living, so give them the best chance of having healthy, loving adult relationships by living them yourself.

It’s Not All About Brangelina Today

On September 20, 2016September 20, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

brangelina The internet, gossip rags, and television are all abuzz about the breakup of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie today. But, once the OMG has passed, deep inside didn’t we all expect it? To me it seemed inevitable: he seems way too laid back and she seems far too high strung for bradjen their relationship to last forever. I don’t feel sorry for them. They had many years to figure their relationship and parenting styles out. Sometimes relationships, especially those that began in the clandestine manner theirs did, while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston, just run their course and end. The person I really feel sorry for is Jennifer Aniston’s new husband. As if being the man she finally married after 11 years of her being the famously single former Mrs. Pitt and the never-ending Brad / Angelina/ Jennifer media hysteria wasn’t enough, now Brad’s single just over a year into their (if you believe the tabloids) already rocky marriage . Let the reconciliation speculation begin…

But let’s move on.

There are a few other important things happening today, like:

It’s 49 days until the election. www.usa.gov wants you to know these important things before you place your vote:

Make sure you are registered to vote. Check your voter status at: www.canivote.org. If you’re not registered go to www.vote.gov, select your state and get registered ASAP!
Research the candidates, the League of Women Voters has a guide that can help give you tips on how to evaluate the candidates at www.lwv.org. You can also find a guide on what to listen for when you are watching the debates. There will be a lot to sort through in the 3 debates: all of us need to ignore the personal attacks, smoke screens, and non-answers, to hear the candidates real intentions and plans for the country moving forward.
If you know you won’t be able to vote in person on November 8 2016, make sure you have registered to cast your ballot via mail. To find out your state’s requirements for casting an absentee ballot, visit www.usa.gov/absentee-voting.
Make sure you know your polling place and put it in your schedule like any other appointment. Make sure you schedule ample time, as polling places could be crowded. Also make sure you bring a form of government accepted ID. If you don’t know your polling place, or want to review your state’s election day requirements, visit: www.usa.gov/election-day#item37327.

News has leaked that former Republican President(s) are voting Clinton

Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend, the former Maryland lieutenant governor and daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy posted a photo of herself with Former President George H.W. Bush with the caption, “The President told me he’s voting for Hillary!!”
Our 92 year old, 41st President reportedly made the statement at a private event held in Kennebunkport, Maine yesterday. CNN says that according to sources close to Bush, he shared his plans with board members of the bipartisan Points of Light Foundation Monday. So, I wonder if the rest of the Bush family is following suit. Hmmm

Congress is working to protect Americans’ right to give negative Yelp reviews. The Senate has already passed a similar Bill, now the House of Representatives are voting on a Bill that guarantees companies can’t enforce clauses that attempt to intimidate customers’ with threats to sue if they post negative reviews to popular websites like http://www.yelp.com, http://www.amazon.com, and http://www.tripadvisor.com. Once passed, the two Bills will be reconciled and an agreed upon unified Bill will be presented to the President for his signature into Law.

Companies are hiding “non-disparagement” clauses in their terms of use agreements and penalizing customers if they post negative reviews of services received from those companies. Example: “In California, Yelp is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling that asked the company to remove some negative reviews of a law firm, saying it could set a precedent for the removal of other negative reviews and leave consumers with a skewed assessment of restaurants and other businesses. The firm has said the reviews are defamatory.” (Source: www.cbsnews.com)
While the non-disparagement clauses are still legal, Yelp is trying to let users know about them. The company is now tagging some companies’ Yelp pages with a warning: “This business may be trying to abuse the legal system in an effort to stifle free speech, including issuing questionable legal threats against reviewers. As a reminder, reviewers who share their experiences have a First Amendment right to express their opinions on Yelp.” (Source: www.cbsnews.com)

While Hollywood, it’s stars, and the projects they produce are certainly important means of diverting us from the everyday stresses of life, there are so many more important things that we should be spending our time worrying about, like the rapidly approaching Presidential election, as well as the sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical things that make me go hmmm. 😉

Um, Yuck!

On September 12, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

rumpledimages I’m not sure about you, but now that I am a grown up, I really appreciate crawling into clean, fresh-smelling sheets. When I was young, my mom used to threaten us with the teenage horror of getting acne if we kept going to bed without showering and not washing our sheets weekly. It didn’t always result in us getting them to the hamper every week, but at least I remember her threat. Hmmm

I have heard the nightly news headlines about how gross hotel bedding can be, but never really thought much about it in terms of my own bedding because I assumed the problems that happen in hotels had a lot more to do with the large number of people staying there than anything else. From what I’ve been learning, apparently I was very, very wrong.

sweat When we sleep most of us sweat, I know I do! Think about the kinds of things that we leave behind on our sheets & pillow cases when we’ve been sweating, tossing and turning all night:

hair, skin cells, body oil, saliva, bodily fluids (if you aren’t wearing any clothing), lotions, deodorants, perfumes, hairspray, makeup, dirt, anything chemical you might have encountered during the day (especially if you didn’t shower before bed), etc.
pets in/on your bed are leaving behind much of the same plus traces of fecal matter (their own plus that of any other animals their faces, paws, and coats picked up from sidewalks, grass and other places they were during the day), urine, fur, dander, pollen, etc. Hmmm

A very unscientific poll was conducted by a Colorado radio personality, just in his office, and his results were about what I’d expect to find if I conducted the same poll among a random group of people. He shared that, ” It was funny to see their reactions as they looked at me and said, after giving me their answer, is that bad? I found it funny how many people had similar looks on their faces and how one, who will remain unnamed, really had to think about the chore and when the last time it was done.” For the record, I wash mine once a week.

bed_sheets_chart-630x424

Things that might cause me to wash them more frequently:

I am having frequent overnight visitors and my guest room is getting a lot of use;
A visiting child spills juice or some other icky stuff on the comforter;
Said visiting child has an unfortunate accident on the bed;
A pet (or 3) sleeping with us, comes in from the outside with muddy paws;
One of said pets has an unfortunate accident (grr!) on the bed;
It’s shedding season and I can’t keep up with the daily fur attack;
One or both of us has been sick, feverish and/or sweating at night;
Close your ears and eyes boys, “Aunt Flo” comes calling in the middle of the night; or
Action starts heating up more frequently in the bedroom. 😉

Otherwise, I generally stick to a weekly machine washing of the sheets, blanket & comforter, but, because I allow my labs and cat on the bed, I also maintain a pretty strict daily routine of:

Shaking and thoroughly pounding together of the decorative bed pillows, then using my Shark Pet Perfect II to suck out as much dust as possible;
Vacuuming the fitted and top sheets (I recommend the Shark Rocket Deluxe Pro);
Shaking off the comforter;
Brushing the comforter (The Evriholder Fur Remover is a GODSEND!) to remove as much remaining dog & cat hair, dander & dust as I can before also giving it a quick vacuum;
After all of that is done, and the bed has been remade, I then sweep the hardwood floors of the bedroom where I can reach, and run our Roomba at least once before mopping our hardwood floors to grab anything I might have missed.

Doing all of that generally keeps the fur, dust, and dander under control in our bedroom, as well as the rest of the house, and helps to keep my allergies and asthma from flaring up. Speaking of “Dander,” did you know that dander is the primary food source for dust mites? Oh wait, we haven’t talked about dust mites yet, have we?

Here’s a quick Dust Mite Primer:

House dust mites are microscopic bugs (Not Bed Bugs) that live primarily on dead skin cells that regularly shed from people and household pets;
Dust mites are generally harmless to most people;
Dust mites don’t carry diseases, but they can cause allergic reactions in asthmatics and others who are allergic to their feces; Um yeah, their poop. When they eat our cast off skin they naturally poop it out, and that gets left behind in your sheets, on your pillow cases, on decorative throw pillows, blankets, and anything else that gathers fur, hair, dust and other environmental cast off in your house. DISGUSTING!

In addition to dust mites, www.diply.com highlighted a couple of other gross things that can gather on your pillowcases if you don’t wash them frequently:

Mold: Most household pillows contain mold spores. Mold exposure can cause a potentially fatal lung infection called chronic pulmonary aspergillosis;
Bacteria: Bacteria on your pillowcase can result from leaving it unwashed and can lead to…yep, ACNE!

The best way to avoid mold, bacteria and dust mites on your bed linens is to avoid spikes in humidity. If you keep your room cool you will reduce the likelihood that you will sweat while you are sleeping. Wash your face (and your entire body when you can) before you go to bed, to remove the bacteria and dead skin from your face and lessen the chances that you’ll be sleeping in the day’s accumulation of environmental contaminants, microscopic bacteria, along with a big build up of sloughed off skin cells, vacuum your mattress when you change your sheets every week, invest in good zippered pillow protectors to keep dust mites, mold and bacteria from getting into your pillows, and keep your room as dust free as possible by sweeping, vacuuming and dusting your bedroom every day or two.

Sports Can Be Very Funny!

On September 8, 2016September 8, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

https://vine.co/v/eYamuuUh21Y/embed/simple
This sports double entendre may just be one of the funniest moments in recent sports history. That it happened to hall of fame broadcaster, Bob Miller, pains me, because he is my favorite. Make sure you click on the link and enjoy.

If you aren’t a hockey fan, you probably don’t get the double meaning of the comment Mr. Miller made in the clip above. Hockey fans died laughing. If you are the significant other of a sports fan who seems to have lost their mind because it’s Fall sports season, you have probably begun to also find yourself alone all weekend because you don’t share your significant other’s love of entire days spent watching sports on TV.

While some significant others feel left out, I don’t! I LOVE SPORTS. I watch them all! I haunt Twitter for any information about teams and players I care about and follow my favorite sports writers and on-air personalities. I search the sports talk first on Twitter and, inevitably, end up involved in tweet chats involving my favorite teams. I take on the big boys with passion (last week I called out ESPN’s Chris Fowler over his obvious Alabama bias during the broadcast and, without defending his bias, he instead debated me about calling those charged with Felonies, “Felons”), I research my positions, I back down when I’m wrong, but I fight to win when I think my position is supported and I’m right.

It may not look like it now, but I grew up a tomboy! My mom wanted to buy me cute skirts and dresses but I wanted Toughskins like the other girls and boys at Vejar Elementary. I didn’t sit in the halls playing paper dolls with the other little girls. My girlfriends all played every sport at school like I did. Kickball, tetherball, handball, dodgeball, football in the rain? I was in! Team sports? I played organized and then school soccer, volleyball, and tennis. But softball and basketball were the sports I played from 2nd grade through high school and beyond, and the ones that I loved the most.

If my dad was watching a football, baseball, basketball or hockey game on TV, I was planted right beside him watching and yelling along. It’s what we did. I think the hardest day for him was the day he had to tell my mom to make me wear a t-shirt under my softball jersey because he could see my C-Cup bra underneath the mesh. Poor guy. I think it was probably the first time he realized I really was a girl and not his oldest son!

I Love:

Wearing my favorite team’s colors: #Fight On, #Beat The Bruins, #Go Trojans; #Go Kings Go!, #Beat The Ducks; #Go Lakers;
Sitting on the couch, or sitting in a bar yelling & throwing high fives;
Eating food I shouldn’t and drinking cold beer; and
Cheering wins and feeling the disappointment of losses with friends.

But even if you aren’t one of those who grew up in a household that revolved around sports and sporting events, you can still come and feel like part of the gang!

Watch for funny headlines like the one about Alex Rodriguez to the left with it’s hilarious play on words. Commit them to memory, or even cut them out for reference and throw them into a conversation during the next baseball game you’re watching with rabid baseball fans. They’ll appreciate your effort.

Don’t zone out while everyone else is watching the game. Get into it. Listen to the banter, pay attention to what the announcers are saying about the game even if you don’t understand it, and if you time it perfectly, you may just get to throw out a well timed sports double entendre!

Some examples of sports double entendres:

Watching Basketball? If someone has the ball and is bouncing it up court (AKA “dribbling”) they are the: Ball Handler. If you hear someone refer to poor ball handling or they say he has “weak/bad/poor/shitty, etc. ball handling skills” you can whip out a witty comeback of, “I bet he’s great at pocket pool.”
In football, when a player is getting tackled it can be said that the opponent, “rode him to the ground.” Groan! Alright, it’s crude, but your amongst beer drinking football fans, it’s bound to be a little rough and tumble.
Again in basketball, if a team has 3 very tall players on the court, they have. “a lot of length down low.” wink wink

Whip one of these out and you’ll be the one your significant other’s buddies are anxious to have there every time they go out, not just when they are watching games! You’ll show a little bit of knowledge about the game you’re watching and you’ll be funny too! Before you know it, you’ll be the one getting the high fives instead of your significant other!