Wednesday, March 14, 2007

October Road


October Road

I hate it when solicitors come right up to the door. No matter how many times this has happened, I’m still always a bit shocked when I find them peering into the house and looking around through the front door window.

You might say, “if you’re so annoyed, get some friggin’ window treatments for the door”. Thanks for the advice, but I like the way the door looks without it and I’d simply prefer that no solicitors come to our house anyway.

About a year or so ago, I came home from work to find a flyer attached to our front door. Since this was nothing new, my initial thought was, "oh great, someone was again looking into our house as they dropped off a solicitation for lord knows what". We’ve had leaflets left for everything from cleaning services, to tree removal, to babysitting. I can only guess that our guard cats were sleeping during these visits and weren’t awake to deter the unwanted predators.

But this little handout was not the norm. It said that our home had been selected as a possible filming location for an upcoming television series. I just laughed, thought momentarily about this ridiculous “offer”, and chucked the thing in the recycling bin. I never thought about it again, and never told Doc. B. about it. After all, that’s what I do with all of the other pamphlets I find on our property.

But then, a few months later, we were doing our normal Sunday morning jog through our neighborhood and we came upon a filming crew. They had massive vehicles parked on one of the side streets with thick wires running right up into a two story house; a house that resembled ours and even had an upper porch.

Doc. B. said, “I wonder what they are doing?” I immediately knew what they were doing so I responded with “they’re filming a television series”. Doc. B. of course wanted to know how I would be privy to this information. All I could do was fess up and tell her the story.

I don’t know if there is a moral to this story, so feel free to offer one up, bitch. But the reason I’m telling you all of this now is that the television series that was partially filmed in our neighborhood is finally making its debut. So this Thursday night, right after you finish watching Grey’s Anatomy, stay tuned in for October Road. I have no idea if it’s going to be good, but CNN says it may already be a winner.

NOTE: click on the link next to the photo of the television to see what CNN has to say...

Friday, March 09, 2007

Me? Like Country Music?


Photo courtesy of CMT.com


Little Big Town

I attended my first country music concert this past weekend and actually enjoyed it. Little Big Town opened up for Sugarland. And I’m not talking about just hopping MARTA down to the state of the arts Phillips Arena at the CNN Center. Instead, we made this a truly memorable event by driving two hours to Chattanooga, TN and becoming part of the crowd at the 1924 Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. The venue has obviously been renovated since 1924 but it still had the feel of an old-fashioned concert hall.

I was initially struck by all of the orange attire in the audience. There were orange jackets, orange sweatshirts, and orange accessories. Even the NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. number 8 baseball caps were orange. Then I remembered that we were in one of the largest towns in Tennessee, and the home of UTC – The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. I half expected to see Pat Summitt and her hoops squad show up, since I’d not been in a sea of orange that large since last witnessing her “Lady Vols” beat up on yet another suspecting women’s basketball team. For those of you that don’t know Pat Summitt, she’s coached the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team for more than 30 years and has over 900 wins in her career. Oh, and she earns over $1 million per year.

I found the crowd to be very friendly and diverse. In fact when the 60 year old couple to Doc. B.’s left, asked the three young girls in front of them if they wouldn’t mind sitting down during one of the most upbeat, danceable songs of the evening, the girls sat down without a fight. After seeing that cordial interchange, I decided to simply enjoy the humor in the fact that the man next to me was spitting chewing tobacco into his plastic coke bottle throughout the entire show. At least he put the cap back on after each spew.

As much as I enjoyed the music of Little Big Town and Sugarland, I must admit that my favorite moments were when they sang “non-country” songs. Little Big Town’s rendition of “Go Your Own Way” blew me away. I whispered (wait, yelled) to Doc. B. that I thought it was better than Fleetwood Mac’s original. And while Kristian Bush is no Jon Bon Jovi, he did a fine job filling in on “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”.

Could it be that I’m a little bit rock and roll AND a little bit country?

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

RCS




Haiku of the day:

"Restless Cat Syndrome

interrupts my sleep but still

I love the dang cat"

If you've watched ANY television lately, you've seen the commercials for the drug "Requip". It's from GlaxoSmithKline and it's for restless legs syndrome or, "RLS". Apparently this is a condition that makes your legs "jumpy" and interferes with your ability to fall or stay asleep. At least that what Doc. B. tells me it's like.

While I don't have RLS, I do have RCS - Restless Cat Syndrome. This comes in the form of an almost 19 year old kitty (pictured above). Her name is Maddie (Madison) but we've recently begun calling her, affectionately, Helen Keller. She really can't hear much at all and her Cataracts, appropriately named, are causing vision issues. I don't know if Helen Keller had thyroid problems, but Maddie has that too - two pills per day worth. Oh, and did I mention low functioning kidneys that require subcutaneous fluids once per week?

The vision problems can't be all that bad for little Miss Maddie since she can still peer through our second story bedroom window and spot a fellow feline in our neighbor's backyard. And we've strategically placed a bird feeder below another of her favorite perching windows for her viewing pleasure.

Lack of hearing does not seem to be a problem for her either. As long as I make sure she is aware that dinner is being served, that's all that matters in her little brain. Sometimes I have to do sign language into her paw, but she usually gets the picture well before then. Although her hearing is not a problem for her, it IS a problem for me. She's like a 100 year old woman whose hearing aid has been slowly failing for years and who starts talking louder so that she can hear herself better. What used to be sweet little chirps coming from her cat lips, are now shrieking squawks. She clearly has no idea what her voice sounds like or how loud it is, but to give you an idea, I found this clip of a peacock.

This cat has ALWAYS slept with me. For 19 years, this cat has snored next to my pillow. Pre-deafness, she never bothered me. She would just fall asleep, get up when she felt like it (without interrupting anyone's ZZZZ's), purr, and perhaps makes a cute little noise if you accidentally disturbed her cat nap. But not anymore. One wrong move, like rolling over just slightly too close to her, and out comes that ear piercing sound. If I wasn't awake to roll over, I certainly am now. It's definitely interfering with my ability to fall or stay asleep.

GlaxoSmithKline - do you have any treatment in the works? Put me down for the drug trial; I'll try it before it's FDA approved!