hola, como estas?  estoy bien!!  i started my spanish class!!  textbook finally arrived.  i can now say, “la leccion es muy interesante” and “mis padres son liberales” and “mis amigos no son conservadores” :O and almost know what i’ve said

lost starts tomorrow!!! and, of course, i’m going to miss it ;( i can only pray that The Powers That Be have it available to watch quickly after.  there aren’t many tv shows that i really like, but lost is one that i do.  i avoided watching it for ages, because when there’s that much hoopla, i’m usually let down.  then one day… i was bored.  and i found all the episodes online.  and.  the rest is history :o i’m a fan!!!  <3 jack, <3 sawyer, <3 kate, charlie, hurley and all the rest!

digging into candidates for DA… i’ve so far narrowed down the list of who i absolutely won’t vote for.  i’ve detested rosenthal, our current da, and i must say that i’ve been a bit gleeful at his latest difficulties.  he’s out of the race for good and may find himself in jail with any luck.  here’s an idea of what our “blessed” district attorney was like:

read on...

i pulled out all my crochet stuff over the weekend.  several unfinished projects that i’m considering actually finishing :o baby blankets that were for a gift, tho the intended giftee never gave me their address.  another afghan that was for my ex-sister-in-law - you do my bro badly and i lose all motivation to finish your gifts.  i’m weird that way.  SO, now i’m pondering finishing these and putting them up for sale.  my baby hoodies used to sell well, as did the dolls i used to make.  i’d really like to do some more thread crochet, too.  while i have the eyesight to do it, i should get back to that!  which reminds me, i need to schedule an eye appt, so they can monitor the tears in my retina :| no retinal detachments for me, kthx.

baby hoodie made for a coworker.  pity i didn’t have a better way to display it, but i was rushing out of the house to get it to ‘em.  baby hoodie = lil blankie for newborns, complete with hood

added some photos of houston to the gallery. some came out well, some not so.  i do love the houston skyline and driving downtown on a sunday, there’s ~no one~ around.  most shots were me sticking my arm out the window and snapping a photo, thus their not coming out so well :| like this one:

i feel the need for a daytrip soon, so maybe i’ll catch some more photos… and better ones.

in the meantime, off to walk the puppy.

marvin zindler of houston’s KTRK has passed away.  it’s hard to imagine an eyewitness news program without marvin zindler.  he’s been a part of channel 13’s newscast since i was a child.  always an advocate for the poor and elderly (”it’s HELL to be poor!”), he will be missed :(

Marvin Harold Zindler (August 10, 1921 - July 29, 2007) was an iconic and influential American television news reporter for Houston television station KTRK-TV in Houston, Texas, USA. His hard-hitting investigative journalism, through which he mostly represented the city’s elderly and working class, made him one of the city’s most influential and well-known media personalities.

....

Zindler made local and national headlines when he closed the Chicken Ranch in Fayette County, Texas, near La Grange, after he made a news report on it in 1973. The Chicken Ranch story was featured in two 1974 issues of Playboy magazine, was the basis for the Broadway and film musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and served as the basis of the song La Grange by ZZ Top. The closing did not go well with the Sheriff of Fayette County, who later attacked Zindler in a fight that left Zindler with two fractured ribs.

....

Zindler was also famed in Houston for his self-described Rat and Roach Report, where he read details from his controversial City of Houston Food Inspection Program restaurant reports on the air. These reports conclude with restaurants that were reported to have slime in their ice machines, which is referred to on the air by Zindler as ”Sliiiime in the Ice Machine!”. Hundreds, if not thousands of restaurants in Greater Houston have made at least one appearance on his reports. Ironically, KTRK-TV’s own commissary was cited on one occasion.

Zindler’s Rat and Roach Reports were traditionally broadcast on Friday nights live during KTRK’s 6 p.m. newscast and rebroadcast later during the station’s 10 p.m. newscast.

* The worst of the worst resturants in his Rat & Roach report were mentioned in the last segment of the report, with the intro, ”an’now an’now an’now for the big big big big big big S!”, going off to name the restaurants....
* After the reports concluded, several Marvin Zindler “clones” popped from the ice, shouting ”And what did they have? All together, gang!” before a graphic sequence came in, along with Zindler’s voice over, ”Sliiiiimmmee in the Ice machine!”. A funk chorus later sang ‘He said “Slime in the ice machine!”’ afterwards.
* Usually, when the live shot went back to Zindler after the report, he would say, “Most of those restaurants have since corrected their problems. Have a good weekend, good golf, good tennis, or whatever makes you happy...” before signing off.

....

Zindler’s reports on KTRK also included international stories, many involving trips to various third-world countries, segments in which local business owners (known as Marvin’s Angels) provided services to a less fortunate person in dire financial or physical health, and stories focused on the elderly, including nursing home abuse reports that are similar to his trademark restaurant reports. On his Friday reports, Zindler had also reported birthday and wedding anniversary greetings on air, usually involving those celebrating their 100th birthday or at least a 50th wedding anniversary. The station has stated that over 100,000 requests for help from Zindler were received yearly. In choosing stories, Zindler focused on two factors, neediness and chance of success. While low income was a key factor, being selected for a story had more to do with an injustice than with income.

Marvin Zindler’s trademark signoff at the end of each report was, nearly shouting: ”Marvin Zindler..... Eyyyyyewitness News!” To which the anchor, usually longtime KTRK newscaster Dave Ward, calmly replies “Thank ya, Marvin”.

marvin wiki

read on...

i just got this in an email and it’s stupid-scary how close to accurate these are! :O

Rules of Houston, H-Town, 3rd Coast, Bayou City, The Dirty 3rd, or whatever you wanna call it.

1. You must learn to pronounce the city name. It is “Hue-stun,” not “Ewe-stun”, or “house-tun”.  Oh yeah, the street is pronounced “San Phil-ee-pay,” not” San Phil-eep” (San Felipe). Enunciate, you idiots!

2. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Houston has its own version of traffic rules...Hold on and pray. There is no such thing as a dangerous high-speed chase in Houston. We all drive like that.

3. All directions start with, “Go down to Loop 610”.... which has no beginning and no end.

4. The Chamber of Commerce calls getting through traffic… a “Scenic Drive.”

5. The morning rush hour is from 6:00AM to 10:00AM. The evening rush hour is from 3:00PM to 7:00PM. Friday’s rush hour starts Thursday morning.

6. If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear-ended, cussed out and possibly shot. When you are the first one off the starting line, count to five when the light turns green before going, to avoid getting into any cross-traffic’s way.

7. Kuykendahl Road can ONLY be pronounced by a native Houstonian.

8. Construction on I-10, I-45, US 59 and Loop 610 is a way of life and a permanent form of entertainment.

9. All unexplained smells are explained by the phrases, “Oh, we must be in Pasadena!” or “God, I hate Baytown!” or “Mmm, smell that Texas City!”

10. If someone actually has their turn signal on, it is probably a factory defect.

11. All old ladies with blue hair in a pink Cadillac have total right-of-way.

12. The minimum acceptable speed on Loop 610 is 85 mph. Anything less is considered downright sissy. In turn, the minimum speed on Westheimer is at least 45mph…

13. The wrought iron on windows in east Houston is NOT ornamental.

14. Never stare at the driver of the car with the bumper sticker that says, “Keep honking, I’m reloading.” In fact, don’t honk at anyone.

15. If you are in the left lane, and only going 70 mph in a 60 mph zone, people are not waving when they go by.

16. The Sam Houston Toll road is our daily version of NASCAR.

17. If it’s 100 degrees, Thanksgiving must be next weekend.

18. When in doubt, remember that all unmarked exits lead to Louisiana.

22. If you live in Katy and I live on the south side of Houston we’ll never hang out.

23. The best thing about being drunk between 2-5 am is Whataburger will serve both breakfast and normal menus.

24. You are always able to be pulled over by any police vehicle, even if you were just given a ticket.

25. You don’t have to wait for an exit to get off a freeway, just follow the ruts in the grass to the feeder like everyone else. This is how Houston residents notify Texas Department of Transportation where exits should have been built.

26. Elsewhere, they are called frontage roads… Here in Houston, they are called FEEDER roads, so don’t look stupid when we say “Exit the feeder road and use the loop-d-loop”.

27.  Stink-a-Dena is Pasadena Tx

28. If someone says How-d means to you that means he know your lost and he can give you directions or just saying Hi.

29. Convenient store clerks will never give good directions, only to the next rival store that is a cross the street.

30. Warning in the fall on Saturdays if you see a convoy of cars at same speed, Leave them alone that is a football team headed for war and they mean business. The team mom will usually cut you off before you can make a move.

from houston chronicle’s headlines comes this jewel : “Many inner-Loop teens can’t afford fairytale prom”

the article goes on to say -

Students at some schools say the cost is a big deterrent.

NO!  really?!?

take this student, for example:

The 18-year-old paid about $2,000 for her big night. That included her dress, getting her hair and nails done, going to the tanning booth, the limo, buying dinner, helping with rent at the Galveston beach house and, of course, the prom ticket, which at Cinco Ranch was only $30.

gosh.  you mean that everyone can’t afford that?!?!

it just annoys me that this can possibly be news to anyone.  poorer kids can’t afford things that wealthier kids can - ALERT THE MEDIA!  what troubles me about the article is that i *know* there are people out there who DON’T know this, who have never considered their lots in life and how they might compare to someone else’s. 

i know they exist, because i went to school with those kids.  i went to school with the people who shelled out $2,000 for prom night.  these were the same kids who were shocked to find out that poor people, whom they took christmas gifts to as part of a school endeavour, had...floors.  and refrigerators.  and tvs. 

i will never forget the girl upset that she’d had to take her dad’s jaguar to the function, because she’d totaled her bmw.  after handing out christmas presents all afternoon to disadvantaged kids, her comment was, “omg, what a waste of time.  like it’s not ethiopia, they had FLOORS and REFRIGERATORS and TVs...how poor can they be?”.  all the while her friends bobbled their little heads and agreed that it was just so UNFAIR to have to waste their time like that.  :|

this is not to say that the kids in this article or at the named schools were like my old schoolmate; however, i know those people are out there.