A Tour of Central California

I never knew life in Central California could be so interesting. I witnessed a cat fight in Bakersfield. We seriously thought there would be a fight on the bus! I helped rescue a bird. Well I more watched, Eric and Claudia rescued the bird. I had to deal with bitchy people in Fresno including a pushy reporter. And finally I celebrated my faux birthday with Jess and Eric in Modesto. It was quite a week and I don't think I'll ever have experiences like that again.

My Faux Birthday Celebration

So since I couldn't spend my birthday with my two favorite people, we decided Wednesday, May 14, 2008 would be my faux birthday celebration. In honor of my birthday, Jessica and Eric made me a birthday crown and made me Queen of the PPA! We drove around Modesto looking for a fun place to eat and ended at Mike's Road House for some fun time and great drinks. By 11 o'clock I had too much to drink, too many pictures and oh so much fun. Since I had such a good faux birthday celebration, I've decided to forgo my real birthday celebration. Thanks to Eric and Jessica for giving me the best birthday I've had since my 21st! You two are really the best!

School Project Gone Wrong

My mom sent me this as an e-mail I and just had to share it with everyone else. This is the perfect post for a Friday afternoon...enjoy!

An elementary school class started a class project to make planters to take home to their parents. They wanted to have a plant in it that was easy to take care of, so they decided to use cactus plants.

The students were given green-ware pottery planters in the shape of clowns (I hate clowns!) which they painted with glaze. The clown planters were professionally fired at a class outing so they could see the process. It was great fun!

They planted cactus seeds in the finished planters and they grew nicely, but unfortunately, the children were not allowed to take them home. The cactus plants were removed and small ivy replaced them and the children were then allowed to take them home instead.

The teacher said cactus seemed like a good idea at the time!

Deadliest Catch

If you have never seen this show before then you are totally missing out. This is absolutely one of the best reality shows that has ever been made but it is not your typicaly "reality" show.

Deadliest Catch is done in a documentary-style and follows 5 of the nearly 80 crab fishing boats who flock to Dutch Harbor from October to February during the dangerous crab fishing seasons. This show is real people in real situtations - not paid actors being told what to do or what to say. These men risk their lives in freezing cold tempatures and are at the mercy of the very unforgiving Bering Sea.

Last night my boyfriend and I watched the Season 4 preimer and we were on the edge of our seats the whole time! I can't wait to see what happens to Sig, Phil, Johnathan and the rest of the fleet. If you haven't seen the show yet, I dare you to watch just one epsiode. By the time the credits start rolling, you'll be wanting more!

Virgle

I just heard about this new venture between Google and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. They have joined forces to form Virgle. The name alone was enough for me to investigate further into this new adventure.

Apparently, Virgle is the first human settlement on the planet on Mars. Those settlers, Virgle Pioneers, will locate new life on Mars, try to repopulate and see cool things along the way.

Branson, a world traveler and adventure, and Google founders invite everyone to apply. The first step in the application process is take a quiz to see if you're Pioneer material. I took the quiz and this was the response I received:

"Okay, let's just get this over with quickly, like ripping off a medical adhesive: you did not do well on this test. You are not, by all available evidence, well suited to be a Virgle Pioneer, or any sort space explorer, really, or for that matter, any profession which requires leaving behind your creature comforts, your nice warm bed, your lovely wardrobe, your gourmet meals, your high-end home theater, your friends and family -- oh man, what have we gotten ourselves into here? We're kind of freaking out ourselves, actually. Help! We changed our minds! We don't want to go! [Clicks heels.] There's no place like home! There's no place like home! There's no place like -- [ Long silence. ] Hello. Still there? We're sorry about that unpleasantness with our previous reviewer. We can assure you, you tested just fine and would make a fine Pioneer."

The second step in the process is to submit a 30-second You Tube video as to why you would make a wonderful Pioneer.

So being the PR professional that I am, I do a little research and go through the press releases, fact sheets and FAQs. Come to find out...this is all an April Fool's joke. I actually believed this for a split second! Well kudos to Google and Virgin for pulling this one off. I'm sure there were tons of Star Trek geeks ready go where no man has gone before!

What was he thinking?

I was browsing around Digg when I saw this story "Dad gets 25 years for microwaving baby." With a headline like that, I just had to read more!

According to MSNBC a young father in Texas put his baby in the hotel microwave for 20 seconds in May of 2007. Allegedly he was having a mental breakdown that caused him to place his infant daughter in the microwave and hit start.

Little Ana suffered second and third degree burns to her left ear, cheek, hand and shoulder and required two skin grafts after being in the microwave causing part of her left ear to be amputated.

The father plead insanity because he was angry that he was in a loveless marriage and took it out on his daughter. Just before placing the baby in the microwave, he had punched the baby and put her in the hotel-room safe and refrigerator. This guy has a history of violence and of lying about being mentally ill to get out of trouble. That's a total red flag right there jury!

So here's the kicker...this guy originally told police his daughter was just severely burned but later changed his story to this whole alleged mental breakdown.

The jury only sentenced him to 25 years in prison and $10,000. The prosecutor asked for life - which I think he should have received - and the defense asked for probation because he "was insane" at the time of the incident and needed to continue his psychiatric treatment. I mean come on...you've got to be kidding me!

I think pleading insane is a total cop out. Don't get me wrong, I understand there are many people out there with mental illness and people who legitimately need help. But if you're perfectly healthy and you just don't want to go to jail then don't commit crimes. My mom always says, "You made your bed, now sleep in it." This guy went through with harming his precious baby girl, now he must face the consenquences.

I guess I can't believe someone would have the audacity to put their baby in the microwave. I understands kids don't always behave but violence isn't the answer. Put the kid on a time-out. Put yourself on a timeout. There are other ways to deal with stressful situtations than violence. Now because of her father's idiotic actions, this baby is scared for life - emotionally as well as physically.

Japanese Tetris

I saw the funniest video on YouTube and I had to share. Can you imagine if the writer strike wasn't resolved, we might end up with reality shows like this.