Sink geysers.

I'm trying to become a better cook. This is sort of a goal I've had for years and years. Over time, I think I'm at least more adventurous than I used to be. I've been trying my hand at recipes and things and some have been successful (like my mini pizzas made out of a roll of refrigerated Grands biscuits. Really good!). Some have been a failure due entirely to human error (like, putting 75% more butter in the cake because I mistook the frosting recipe for the cake recipe). But last night's adventure was that my garbage disposal blew up while I was peeling potatoes. I guess you're not supposed to put potato peels down the disposal? I didn't know this... But, regardless of whether you are supposed to be able to put them down the disposal or not, mine suddenly became a geyser of water + potato peel bits spewing out the other side of the sink. It was like a fountain. I've never seen anything like the spectacle put on by my sink. The entire kitchen, me, and the cat's food and water bowls were hit by water and potato peel. It was gross, but laughable. I went to the apartment office to sheepishly file a maintenance request and the lady put 'garbage disposal backed up' on the sheet and I thought to myself, 'No...this thing BLEW up.' I don't know if the maintenance people could show up today or not, but hopefully by the end of the week, the garbage disposal will be up and running again.

I think I'm definitely going to give the cake another go because we're having a snack day at work on Monday in celebration of Fat Tuesday...awkward, I know. But, on Mondays we're closed to the public, so it's easier to do stuff like this. I wanted to make a red velvet bundt cake and then, either try to make a glazed icing or just dust it with powdered sugar. It shouldn't be too hard, I hope. I am going to be extra careful with the directions and my alterations of the directions this time 'round.

I made it through "Downton Abbey" on Sunday night without crying one single time! This is a great improvement over the week before, when I wept uncontrollably through the last half of the show. I don't remember ever crying so hard at a television show. Even while I was sobbing, I was thinking, 'This is a tv show; these aren't real people. Get a hold of yourself.' And then I'd start bawling again at the next scene. I cried so hard I gave myself a freakin' headache and couldn't fall asleep that night. I vowed not to do that again. It was ridiculous. Sybil was my favorite character and I am a bit doubtful about their ability to somehow make the other characters become as awesome as she was. The Abbey has a definite deficit of awesomeness now.

Biggest 2012 Olympic failure = NBC.

So, the Olympics? I'm frustrated by the constant spoilers everywhere compounded by the fact that NBC might be the worst broadcasting channel in the history of tv. First of all, if you don't have cable (like me), you can't watch the games online through NBC. You can try to trick BBC into thinking you're actually in the UK, but frankly, I don't care enough to do that and when you go to the BBC page, they've already got all the results. So that spoils any results for an event you were hoping to watch anyway. I get my tv OTA, but NBC doesn't reach me. It's the only channel that I don't get. So, I'm pretty much up a creek as far as these Olympics go if I want to watch it at home. Boo. 


It makes me even happier that I went to Omaha last month to see the swimmers since I'm not really able to actually see them now.

I did go to my Dad's house and watch last night, but NBC annoys me with their 'highlights-only' philosophy. I did see some rowing during the day on some other channel that's airing stuff. That was neat. And some archery today. But, the evening prime-time stuff is ridiculous and goes way too long. All the asinine personal drama stories they insist on featuring to drum up sympathy and drama? Dumb. Only showing 'highlights' from major events? Dumb. Oh, and I really really don't like Ryan Seacrest and loathe his role as the 'social media commentator'. I can't look at him without cringing. All in all, this is such a disappointment! No offense to London, who are holding a wonderful Olympics with lots of excitement and upsets (Honduras beating Spain in men's soccer! Yessssss!). No doubt, they are having a lovely time over there. 


Meanwhile, the USA broadcasters are failing in extraordinary fashion over here. NBC seems to be priding itself on not spoiling anything for the viewers. Well, bully for you, but ESPN, ABC, CBS, AP, PBS, etc. are all spoiling things right and left. So, you should probably have tried to deal with that prior to, uh, now. Just make it available online for free, fools. This is ridiculous.


I don't remember Beijing being this bad with the commentators and the spoilers? Or the coverage issues? It's like NBC had a meeting to decide the most stupid way to handle the 2012 Games, and here we are now.


Rar.

Secondhand home theater!

In all honesty, I'm not that into television. I like it for the purposes of attaching a dvd player to it and watching movies, and I enjoy watching sports games on it sometimes, but I don't have cable, so I can't even watch that stuff in my home unless its on the only channel I sometimes get with my digi antennae. I have one television show that I watch because life is just not worth living sometimes without The Big Bang Theory. (That was not a joke. I am that serious about the awesome power of that sitcom.) Also, I have a small living room, so there's not really any reason to put a lot of money into a gigantic tv. And I never would, on my own, but....

I have awesome neighbors and one of them rang the doorbell over the weekend and offered me his 36" tv that he doesn't want any longer. He got himself a 50" tv (holy. cow.) and was just going to throw this one out if I didn't want it. So, of course I said I'd take it. It's big! It's got a flat screen, but is still a real television with some junk in the trunk, so it takes two to carry it. My previous tv was big enough for me and it has a vcr on it, so I don't want to get rid of it since the other one doesn't have that. So, I dragged my littler tv upstairs and have created a little tv/vcr movie area next to the record player. It's like my guest room is becoming a 'past technology museum' filled with stuff that most people don't use any longer but that I happen to still enjoy. As I type this, I'm watching Rock Hudson and Doris Day argue over their telephone line in "Pillow Talk". I couldn't possibly give up these old movies...

Anyway, I've discovered that I've been missing some cool stuff by living in the past of smaller tvs. Movies are suddenly waaaay more fun to watch (theater-esque, you might say), the newer tv gets better reception from my digi antennae and I got the severe weather coverage on my local news without having to mess with the antennae last night at all. And, most surprising of all, is suddenly how cool video games have become. I only have a wii system and have maybe 5 games to play because I rarely see any video games that pique my interest enough to buy. But, wow, those five piddly little games look waaaaay cooler on this bigger tv. It's more exciting all of a sudden. I ran out the battery on my wii controller playing various games.

I'll stop going on and on about it now, although it's obviously pretty exciting to me. I mean, who has neighbors like this?! It's crazy awesome. I never could have afforded to buy a tv like this and to have one for free suddenly dumped into my lap by my super nice neighbor? Spect. Acular.