I'm not a big fan of the Sopranos, but I know a lot of people who are, including girly-girl Patty and #1 Hubby, Tom. A&E just purchased the rights to the Sopranos reruns from HBO. They will begin airing it in 2006. Of course this is with "edited" scenes ala Sex & The City on TBS. They are, however, considering showing the more explicit version late-night. Turns out A&E has also purchased the rights to show CSI: Miami & 24.
Speaking of TV, Medium on NBC is my new favorite show. It's *such* a great hour of entertainment. I love it. In fact, it makes me not miss LAX at all **and** it just got a 22 episode renewal from NBC. YEAH! Now I have 4 must-watch shows a week to see: Desperate Housewives, Medium, Lost & The Apprentice. Ooh! This Thursday on ABC is a 2 hour Happy Days reunion special. Thank goodness for DVRs. :)
On another note, I registered a domain for my TS2 walls site - dulcewalls.com. I couldn't help it - it was only $8.00/yr. So even if the site is a flop, I won't consider it money wasted - I can lose $8.00/yr just by buying one too many magazines in the checkout line. I set up domain forwarding so hopefully sometime on Tuesday you'll be able to enter the domain name & go right to the site. Tony - renew your domain with GoDaddy.com - it's the best price around.
Ok, Evan & Emily.....Here it is! I made an entire site for TS2 walls. :) There are currently 43 available for download. Look around, download those you like & sign the guestbook, please. :) I'll probably post on a few messageboards on Monday night to see if it's even worth continuing to pursue, but I think all the wallpapers came out fabulous.
Dulce Walls for The Sims 2
Since I have too much free time as it is (hee hee), I'm hard at work on a Sims 2 Wallpaper site! I may advertise it around some of the newsgroups & I'm hoping Evan will point people to it if he deems it worthy. I'm sure like most of my projects it will fall by the wayside when the newness wears off, but as of now it's one of the most fun projects I have going on. I'm not putting the link up here yet because it's still propagating through the servers, but when it's ready I hope you'll all give it a click. :)
Heaven is having a dishwasher that finally works! Ours started leaking about a year ago this month. Then our garbage disposal broke & the dishwasher stopped draining altogether. Our friend Rick came out around Thanksgiving and installed a new garbage disposal for us. Dishwasher still leaked (which by the time I ran it I had forgotten about!). Turns out it was leaking from the water pump.
Well, he came out to install the dishwasher we bought over the weekend and we couldn't get the water to the house shut off, so it was a no-go. I called the City this morning and they sent someone out to do it today. Rick came over tonight and as of right now we are washing dishes in our brand-new-non-leaking-perfectly-working-dishwasher!!!! It's so fabulous.
P.S. - That first sentence should be edited to read "Heaven is a friend who is super-handy around the house"! Love you, Rick!
This post is for Evan & Emily since they're the only 2 people I know who sometimes play TS2. Thanks to a tutorial on Snooty Sims website, I finally was able to make wallpaper in Homecrafter. I was going to upload them to Modthesims2, but honestly I don't think they're up to the MTS2 caliber of creation, but I may change my mind. Anyway, hope you like them! I think the Mediterranean one is Ugly and I haven't tested it in-game, but all the other ones look great in the game!
*Edit: Images removed. See
Dulce Walls for all my TS2 Wallpapers.
*Caution: This is a link-happy post!*
When I was younger, I was a big cartoon fan. Every Saturday morning I woke up early to go downstairs and sit in front of the floor model tv watching cartoons. Around noon I'd finally be ready to do something else. When I was getting ready for work this morning I was flipping around because at 9 am there's not much news on and the People's Court doesn't come on until 10. I found that Boomerang has the
Shirt Tales on! I used to love the orangutan on that show. I know Gina was a big fan of the Shirt Tales too. ;)
Anyway, that's just another reason that
Boomerang by Cartoon Network kicks butt! Wingnut's page with classic cartoons reminded me about some of my other favorites from when I was young:
Magilla Gorilla - We got a gorilla for for sale, Magilla Gorilla for sale!
Shazzan
The Banana Splits - which also showed the
Hillbilly Bears
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop -when I was little I wanted to be Penelope Pitstop. As everyone knows, I have issues ;)
Josie & the Pussycats
Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch
Amazing Chan & the Chan Clan
Inch High Private Eye
Superfriends
Hong Kong Phooey
Wheelie & the Chopper Bunch
Grape Ape - *one of my all time favorites!*
Dynomutt, Dog Wonder & Blue Falcon
Scooby's All Starr Laff A Lympics - *another all time favorite*
Shmoo - Oh how I *loved* Shmoo!
Captain Caveman - Caaaappppttttaaaaaiiiiinnnnn Caaaaaaavvvvveeemmmaaaannnnn! Unga Bunga
Kwicky Koala
Smurfs
Pac-Man
Richie Rich and his dog Dollar!
I'm sure there are hundreds more I watched, but don't remember.
Ah, Childhood!
Sorry for two long posts in a row, but on the results page of the link in the last post, there is a "Risk Attitudes Profiler" that had even more amazingly accurate (kind of scary how accurate, actually) information. The RAP determines the strength of expression of mutually opposed psychological qualities & the relationships between them: on one hand, aspiration for emotional order, peace and safety and on the other, aspiration for "kicks", risk & activity. The proportion of the strengths of these aspirations determines the character of a person and the style of his/her behavior in life. These 2 psychological features form the basis of may other personal qualities. Here's mine. My primary type is "Ponderous" with 45%. My secondary type is "Rational" with 32%:
Ponderous
Preliminary Notes
People, whose personality type is described below, are notable for strong,
firm character and are distinguished by inexorability and courage.
Together with it, they possess some features which impede their way to
success. They are often intolerant and explosive, liable to conflicts,
poorly adapting to a group of people and to ever-changing life
circumstances.
Here you will get recommendations, which will help you to abate these
negative features as well as to diminish a higher for this kind of people
risk of cardio-vascular and psycho-somatic diseases. You will also get
advice for a rational selection of professional activities.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT
You are self-confident, firmly convinced of the rightness of your beliefs. People who do not share your opinions irritate you and you do not mask your annoyance with their views which appear wrong to you. You are inclined to give advice to others to keep them from making mistakes but you yourself do not like being given unsolicited advice. Typically, you never entertain doubts or hesitations and you cannot understand people who constantly rummage in their souls. Most of all you value order and stability in everything around you, from your family relationships to the way your house is furnished. Order and stability are your priorities in interaction with your colleagues and the way your organization functions. From your family members you demand strict obedience to the rules you impose. You expect your children to excel in their studies and behavior although perhaps you were not outstanding in these in your own childhood. You punish your children severely for bad marks at school and for misbehaviour. You are likewise demanding of your subordinates, making no excuse for their smallest setbacks or disobedience. You do not countenance the slightest infringement of your rights by your superiors, and you are prepared to go to the limit to uphold them. Your superiors appreciate you as an industrious worker while you appreciate your supervisors for their clear and concrete directions. As a rule, you try to control yourself, especially in regard to the relationship with your superiors. However, you are inclined to outbursts of anger after which you generally quickly get hold of yourself and recover. But not always. In situations where, due to your subordinate status, you are unable to respond adequately to an insult, you do not forget the offence and imagine revenge against your offender. On the whole, you are a person with a practical turn of mind and character. You possess a highly developed sense of reality and the present is what you value most of all. You are not inclined to daydream about the past. Although you regard the future with caution and distrust, you hope that it will be like your gradually improving present. You do not like what you consider frivolous or unexpected expenses. However, the comforts of life for you and your family are important to you. When inviting guests, mainly from among a long-established circle of close friends, you experience a feeling of pride in your home. You occasionally make improvements to your home, and if possible, you prefer to make them yourself. The circle of your friends is small but constant. You like to spend your leisure hours together with them in common pursuits and recreation such as sports, fishing, and watching TV, rather than in conversations on abstract topics. On television you prefer watching athletic events such as football and hockey rather than political and analytical reviews. You are fond of thrillers and do not dislike violent scenes which show rape and murder. You like to vacation together with your family and select well-organized and easy travel along approved routes. Politics are not among your special interests. At election time you vote for the candidates who stand for principles of power and who seem capable of ensuring rigid order even by tough measures. People of your type are usually sturdily built and physically strong although many tend to psychosomatic diseases such as high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, skin diseases, etc. You have a good appetite, like a plain menu, and are consistent in your preferences, attaching great importance to the preparation of each dish exactly to your taste. In your love affairs the sensual aspect of a relationship attracts you more than the romantic side. However, when the relationship breaks up, you suffer very little. If your self-esteem has been wounded, or your rights or interests infringed, you can become aggressive. Under such circumstances, when you defend yourself you are capable of a strong offensive, ignoring the fact that you might be endangering your life. In an extreme turn for the worse ? social upheaval, for example - persons of your type react strongly to the event by active protest. As they have a good sense of reality they are able to correctly judge the very core of social demands and needs. Due to their audacity they are frequently at the head of public social movements. Although they clearly express the public's dissatisfaction and show the way to social protest, they never forget their own personal needs and material interests which always come first with them. After achieving victory, they have no doubts about using the results of that victory to satisfy their own personal demands and gain corresponding privileges. Persons of your type are successful in small to middle-size businesses, or as department managers in a large enterprise. They are considered to be perfect candidates for the law-and-order services, such as the police, where spontaneous action and courage are required. Men of this type were the pride of ancient Rome where they were centurions, and in our day they frequently fill high positions in the military. Women of this type can achieve success as administrators or managers. In order to successfully point up your positive qualities you must learn to control your hot temper and become more tolerant of the people around you. You should take good care of your health, especially of your cardio-vascular system.
Rational
Preliminary Notes
You are a steady and cautious person. You are highly intellectual and
able to weigh your abilities sensibly and consider consequences of your
deeds. A rich imagination and sense of reality are inherent to you.
The latter will prevent you from many erroneous acts that don't have
any chances to success. However. this sense of reality may sometimes
turn into exaggerated caution and limit realization of your abilities
hindering your advancement to success.
You should be aware of the weak aspects of your character and be able
to compensate or remove them totally.
Below is a description of a psychological type of your personality
and recommended ways of its improvement. You will get advice how to
master an art of communication with different people and your behavior
with them in various circumstances.
We also recommend how to choose such types of activities that mostly
correspond to your character and with which you will be able to get the
most success.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT
You are a steady and rational person. You can define goals precisely, distinguishing between what you really need and what you can easily do without. You are able to learn from previous experience. You feel and value the present and think seriously about the future. You take your projects seriously, evaluating carefully their importance to you as well as the feasibility of their implementation. You are capable and disposed to evaluate soberly your possibilities within the context of various circumstances. You consider the consequences of your actions. You have the courage to make a decision but also, when necessary, to reject it. Having made a decision you don't hesitate, but carry it out energetically. You are cautious but not shy. In trying to reach your goal you are capable of overcoming many obstacles and difficulties. At the same time, you can evaluate the importance of this goal to you and your potential for achieving it, as well as your possible gains and losses. The moral aspect of any affair is of great significance to you. You are, first of all, preoccupied with solving your own psychological problems and only afterwards with objective external ones. You easily become friends with people who make a good impression on you and you have many friends to whom you gladly give whatever help you can without expecting compensation or profit. You are socially active. You have your own opinion on many social and political issues, but don't like to thrust it on others. You are open-minded but don't like extremism or aggressiveness. You are not vain, and at times this leads to insufficient ambition. A sense of self-dignity is intrinsic in you. You are aware of the limits of your abilities and are satisfied when you have exploited them to the fullest. You are not egotistical and do not need to prove your merits to others nor demonstrate superiority over them. Men of this personality type treat women with respect, being especially aware of their physical attributes. Women of this type prefer clever and spiritually attractive men. Your relationships with the opposite sex are based mainly on spiritual empathy. You like to eat well but don't demand gourmet food. You prefer an active vacation - traveling to interesting places that are new to you. Your nature is well-balanced between stability and safety on the one hand, and risk and daring on the other. You try to set yourself realistic goals but this limits the level of your expectations and the realization of your potential. You must force yourself to be more daring. Success will encourage you to aim at higher levels and to attain goals you previously never hoped for. Men of this character type resemble Benjamin Franklin and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and women resemble Margaret Thatcher.
Someone on Mod The Sims 2 posted a link to the Myers-Briggs Personality Test and since I love taking tests online I took it. I have to say it is remarkably "right on":
Your Type is ISFP:
(Name) (Strength of the Preference)
Introverted 89%
Sensing 11%
Feeling 33%
Perceiving 33%
Strength of the preferences %
I am:
very expressed introvert
slightly expressed sensing personality
moderately expressed feeling personality
moderately expressed perceiving personality
More Detailed Explanation:
ISFPs are the first to hear the different drummer. Many eagerly plunge into new fashions, avant garde experiences, 'hip' trends--some even setting the trends.
More in touch with the reality of their senses than their INFP counterparts, ISFPs live in the here and now. Their impulses yearn to be free, and are often loosed when others least expect it. The ISFP who continually represses these impulses feels 'dead inside' and may eventually cut and run. (One ISFP friend has become nonambulatory within the past few years. He will still, on impulse, leave home in the middle of the night and go to Las Vegas or wherever, regardless of the difficulties of his physical condition.)
ISFPs may be quite charming and ingratiating on first acquaintance, flowing with compliments which may (or may not) be deserved. On other occasions, the same individual may be aloof and detached. Some ISFP males are fiercely competitive, especially in sport or table games, and may have great difficulty losing. This competitive nature, also seen in other SP types, sometimes fosters 'lucky,' 'gut' feelings and a willingness to take risks.
Organized education is difficult for the majority of ISFPs, and many drop out before finishing secondary education. Their interest can be held better through experiential learning, at which many excel. ISFPs will practice playing an instrument or honing a favored skill for hours on end, not so much as practice as for the joy of the experience.
Differential diagnosis:ISFPs are less fantasy-oriented than INFPs. These types are often confused, however, INFPs lean strongly to daydreams, poetry, prose and more philosophical pursuits; ISFPs often live out 'id' experiences rather than writing or even talking about them.
ISFJs are driven by the conventional, by 'should's and 'ought's; ISFPs internalize their Feeling (by nature a judging function) which bursts out spontaneously and leaves as quickly and mysteriously as it came.
Because of these variant expressions of Feeling judgement, ISFPs are sometimes confused with ESFJs, but keep themselves more aloof, more often concealing the feelings that ESFJs are so apt to expose.
ESFPs express thoughts more readily (and, in the main, skillfully). ISFPs can and do perform admirably in the spotlight, but generally have little to say about the performance. For example, few ISFPs would be disc-jockeys, a field strongly represented by ES_Ps.
Functional Analysis
Introverted Feeling
Feeling, unbridled by the external forces of society and substance, is the dominant function. ISFPs spontaneously develop their own codes and credos, about which they are quite sober and intense. ISFPs are questors, driven to find the pure and ideal, as personally and individually defined. Feeling may temporarily turn outward, but cannot be long sustained beyond its cloistered home.
If the individual has values greater than herself, feeling may express itself in valiant acts of selflessness. Turned in upon self, however, it becomes an unscrupulous, capricious enigma, capable even of heinous acts of deception and treachery.
Extraverted Sensing
ISFPs keep a finger on the pulse of here and now. They are more adept at doing than considering, at acting than reflecting, at tasting than wondering. As do most SPs, ISFPs keenly sense color, sound, texture, and movement. It is not unusual for ISFPs to excel in sensory, motor, or kinesthetic abilities.
ISFPs cherish their impulses. Some of the most beautiful, graceful, and artistic performances are the result of this drive for physical, sensate expression.
Introverted Intuition
Tertiary intuition works best in the background of the ISFP's inner world. Perhaps this is the source of the "gut feeling" SPs consult in matters of chance. However "lucky" the ISFP may be, intuition as a means of communication is a poor servant, evidenced in spoonerisms, and non sequiturs and mixed metaphors.
Extraverted Thinking
The ISFP may employ Extraverted Thinking in external situations requiring closure. As is the case with inferior functions, such Thinking behaves in an all or nothing manner. Thus, as with other FP types, the ISFP's Extraverted Thinking is at risk for a lack of context and proportion. In most cases, persons of this type enjoy greater facility operating in the open-ended style of sensing, implying the opinions of feeling values in the indirect fashion characteristic of introverted functions.
Famous ISFPs:
Marie Antoinette
Auguste Rodin, sculptor
U.S. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Millard Fillmore, and Warren G. Harding
Fred Astaire, dancer
Marilyn Monroe, actor
Liberace, pianist
Elizabeth Taylor, actor
Yogi Berra, professional baseball player ("It's deja vu all over again.")
Dan Rather, news anchor
Orrin Hatch, U.S. Senator
Ervin "Magic" Johnson, NBA basketball star
Patrick Duffey, actor
Dan Quayle, U.S. Vice President, 1988-1992
Paul McCartney, Beatle
Michael Jackson, performer
Kevin Costner, actor
Greg Louganis, U.S. Olympic gold medalist--diving
Brooke Shields, actor
John Travolta, actor, dancer
Ashton Kutcher, actor
OMG - I share my personality type with a pedophile, a former-hoochie NBA star & lots of famous people. lol. Take your free quiz
here.
Some stupid-ass senator from San Antonio has proposed adding kids weight & BMI to their report cards stating that parents should be just as concerned with their child's physical health as they are with their academic performance. WTF? Of course proponents are saying it would violate a child's privacy. I don't agree with that argument as, honestly, children don't have much of a right to privacy. They have a right not to be abused or mistreated, but not to privacy. I still don't think it's a good idea. Can you see report card day? "How much do you weigh? What's your BMI?" "I knew you were a fattie." If parents are concerned about their children's physical health, they should be getting them regular checkups where they would be aware of their weight!
I officially *hate* ABC. You can't end tonight's episode of Lost like that & then show a rerun next week! You can't! It's cruel & unusual punishment!!!!!
I told Tom at dinner tonight that I haven't had hiccups for at least 5 years and he looked at me like I was crazy. As a matter of fact, I can't even remember the last time I had hiccups, so I'm thinking it's a lot longer than that - perhaps college or even earlier (which, dating myself, makes it over 13 years ago). Is that weird?
Doodle-board is back up. Must have been doing some maintenance. :) Why is it that in Blogger I have the time set correctly (GMT-6, I checked), yet the posts still show as being posted an hour later than I actually did it? For example, it's 12:24am right now, but blogger thinks it's 1:24am.
Hmmm- apparently doodleboard is down since it's COMPLETELY disappeared from my page! This weekend I spent Saturday playing Sims 2. Sunday I went to Patty's for awhile (where she made me yummy, low-carb parmesan crisps). Then I came home around 6:30 and did laundry, made dinner, cleaned the bathroom sink & played Sims 2. Can't beat that for excitement. :)
Sims 2 University is supposed to be in stores on March 3. So, I've taken 1/2 day vacation that day and also took off Friday & Monday. Gotta get my game playing in!
I know
TONY is not getting on me about updating! :) There's not much to update. Since last Friday I haven't been up to much. I played Sims 2, drank what seemed like a million gallons of water (yay me), smoked about 1/2 a million cigarettes (bad me) and exercised. This past week I've worked, gone home, exercised & gone to bed. It's a super-sexy lifestyle I lead, I'll tell ya. One super cool thing that happened, this webpage in Belgium had pictures of Ed from their show there this past December. They finally emailed me back giving me permission to use the pictures on Ed's site. So I uploaded those Monday or Tuesday. And they are HOT :)
P.S. - there's an update on the
Atkins blog
Hahahahah - this man totally deserved what he got:
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) - Osama bin Laden take note: You wouldn't be safe in Costa Rica. A startled taxi driver shot and wounded a jokester wearing a plastic mask of the al-Qaida leader, police said Tuesday. Leonel Arias, 47, told police he was playing a practical joke by donning the Bin Laden mask, toting his pellet rifle and jumping out to scare drivers on a narrow street in his hometown, Carrizal de Alajuela, about 20 miles north of San Jose. Arias had startled several drivers that way on Monday afternoon. But when he jumped out in front of taxi driver Juan Pablo Sandoval, the motorist reached for a gun and shot him twice in the stomach. He was hospitalized in stable condition. "For me and I think for anybody else at a time like that one thinks the worst and so I fired my gun," Sandoval told Channel 7 television.
Wow! Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston have separated. I really like both of them as actors & I'm sure they would have had *beautiful* kids. How sad for them.
I got my car inspected today & it passed with no work needed (thank you, Jesus)! It's really sad - the counter guy at Firestone remembered me - name & everything and I haven't been there since October. Just proves how often I was there in September and the first half of October.
I'm doing well on Atkins. I think I've ingested between 20-23g of carbs each day, slightly more than induction allows, but still better than being high carb all the way.
I watched the new show
Medium that was on NBC Monday night. It was *really, really* good. There's another episode on Thursday night, although it's regular night is Mondays. (I think it took
LAX's place in the lineup.
16 days until a new
Apprentice starts. This time instead of men vs. women it's college education vs. street smarts. That should be an interesting twist.
It wasn't just me last night. The "Blog This" button on the google toolbar is jacked. *sigh*. Anyway, I've updated my
Atkins Blog in anticipation of my first day (which although is theoretically today, I'm not weighing in, etc. until I wake up). Keep up with my progress. It will be *better* than last year!
Here we go again! :) Last time I started Atkins (Jan 30 2004, I believe), I wasn't nearly as succesful as I wanted to be. I started it at a silly time - I went to Tijuana the week after I began & it was all downhill from there! Anyway, Today, January 2 is my start date. Technically when I wake up, but I'm almost ready for bed, so some string cheese should hold me over (cheese is low carb). I'm VERY determined this time. I have all my cheerleaders at work, I have a new subscription to Low Carb Energy magazine, and I have Low Carb & Lovin' It from the Food Channel set up on my DVR. :) I'll post with my weight, etc. tomorrow. Last time I lost 16.5 lbs. Not too bad for being off the lifestyle most of the time I was "on" it.
I've erased last year's posts so I'm not reminded of my failures from then. This is a new era!
