Oldies: Sunday, March 23 - Saturday, March 29, 2003...

Friday, 28 March 2003: Apparently, some greater power out there did not want Katie and I to sleep well last night.

At about 1:30 in the morning, we heard some bottles crash in the kitchen. I made my way out there slowly because the bottles we heard crash are kept right beside one of the doors to our back deck so I was wary that someone may have been trying to break in. When I got there, I discovered a bunch of bananas had fallen off this cart that we have and toppled over two bottles of Warsteiner. We keep them out there because we don't want to store all our beer in the fridge as it would take up too much room. No, it's not that we have a lot of beer, we just keep as little as possible in the fridge at any one time to keep from taking up too much space. Do you like how I scrambled to cover up that one? Keep you all from thinking that Katie and I are raging alcoholics.

It took me a while to fall back asleep because when you are already sleeping and something like this wakes you up, your heart tends to be kicking it in doubletime. So, I finally fell asleep and, around 2:45, Katie's car alarm goes off. This is the second time her alarm has been tripped in the last week. No damage done, but you can tell the weather is getting better. Our theory is that her alarm gets tripped by cats that we've found wandering around the parking lots. Some people just don't give a damn about keeping their pets indoors and these cats manage to find shelter somewhere during the winter months. For some weird reason, cats seem to love hopping up on the hoods of parked cars. I remember that Meatball always left a couple hundred pawprints all over the windshields of my parents' cars when he would escape into the garage. Must be hardcoded. And, yes, it took me even longer to fall asleep after that one just waiting for the next cat-astrophe to happen.

Wednesday, 26 March 2003: You know, I've sat here adding stuff to this website for five years now. And there have been times when I wonder why I even bother. According to my webstats, my page views are relatively minimal (except when I write about something that everyone wants to know about and they happen to find my site via search engines - i.e. Apolo Ohno last year and Joe Millionaire this year). So, yes, I truly wonder why.

Then, occasionally I get an e-mail like I did yesterday. Or two e-mails, as the case may be. I don't often read mail that winds up in my junk mail folder, but once in a while, I will relent. Especially if it has a subject line related to my site or to something I am interested in. These two e-mails had the subjects "kapgar awards" and "Hirsh v Hirsch" and were from the same person. So, I didn't delete them.

A little background in case you need it... last April, I started giving out the Kapgar.com Primetime Awards, my own answer to the Emmys which I feel to be a joke. Yes, I am in the process of putting together the second annual Kapgar.com Awards now. One of the awards I gave was to what I called the "Best Rookie Kiddie" whom I described as a young actor who is new to a series. I gave this particular award to Hallee Hirsh who played Rachel Greene, the daughter of Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) onER. Just a note, I originally spelled her lastname "Hirsch" with a "c" because that was how I found it onIMDb. They don't spell it that way anymore so I'm wondering if they've updated since last year. Or maybe I just misread it. Ah, water under the bridge.

So, almost a year passes and the only thought I've given to any of these awards is whether or not anyone will repeat this year. I open up those two e-mails yesterday just before leaving work and the first one reads...

Thanks for voting Hallee "Best Rookie Kiddie"...

Deborah Hirsh

Hmmm... I start to wonder. So I read the second one with the subject "Hirsh v Hirsch"...

It's Hirsh - I am her mom.

Deborah Hirsh

Now, not all of you may think this is all that cool. But, for me, this was a complete ego stroke. I thought it was one of the coolest things that's happened to me in terms of my website. Kinda makes it all at least a little worthwhile.

And, to Hallee and her mom, sorry I misspelled the name. It has been changed.

Monday, 24 March 2003: It was recently announced that Sears Roebuck and Company was going to perform a very patriotic act. As you know, it's law for companies to rehire employees that are in the military and are sent away to take part in some military action. However, it is not required for the company to continue paying them or maintaining their benefits. Well, Sears announced that they are going to continue benefits for their employees who are taking part in the war against Iraq as well as pay them the difference between what their salaries were at Sears and what they are now being paid by the military. Pretty noble, eh? I thought so.

Until this morning, that is, when they announced on the radio that Sears Roebuck is laying off 400 employees. Dunno if it has to do directly with the military compensation bit or not. Obviously, they would never admit it. But you can probably count on the fact that it is at least indirectly related. If you're gonna pay your employees that are no longer there as well as pay their replacements, the money's gotta come from somewhere. And Sears is already a pretty financially strapped corporation as it is.

Ah well, the things that make you go "hmmm"...

Sunday, 23 March 2003: I'm sure you've noticed that I didn't make any predictions regarding the Academy Awards this year. Why you may ask? Because I've seen so few of the nominated films and actors/actresses that I just wasn't interested in the slightest. Yes, I did watch the awards and I do have some commentary on it. But, I'm glad I made no picks because I would have been so far off, it's not even funny.

First, while Chicago came up as the big winner in terms of number of awards, the real winner last night was clearly The Pianist. C'mon, upset winner for best actor, upset winner for director, winner for best adapted screenplay. That's pretty damned good. And Adrien Brody's speech was the best of the evening. I give props to anyone that can make the Academy band stop playing.

Second, I'm sick and tired of Catherine Zeta-Jones. This woman is so in love with herself it hurts. I never want to see her face or hear her voice again. I will admit that I was thoroughly taken with her when The Mask of Zorro came out. But, back then, she was a nobody. She didn't have a chance yet to worm her way into the darkest recesses of our psyche. Now, she's everywhere. And, apparently, the movies are not enough for her. She's in all these damned T-Mobile cellular phone ads on the radio, TV, magazines, and newspapers. She's the reason I won't even talk to a T-Mobile rep. I was reading in Parade magazine (the supplement that comes in some Sunday newspapers) and there was a question about CZJ doing those ads. They asked why she's doing them if she's not washed up or her career is in any sort of trouble (which it obviously is not). The columnist responded by saying that she didn't know the exact reasons, but she speculated that it had something to do with CZJ not being able to get enough of herself and that she wants to be everywhere. In other words, ego boost. I so wanted her to lose the best supporting actress award last night just to see her get knocked back down a couple of pegs.

I would also like to give the Academy credit for not shutting down any of the speakers last night. No, I didn't particularly agree with the way Michael Moore approached his speech and I wonder how many of his fellow nominees in the best documentary category would have gone up there with him if they knew he was going to fly into an anti-Bush tirade. Yes, I'm against military action in the Middle East, but being that volitile is not going to help. You've now lost 65% of the American people's support for your next film, Michael. That's not too good.

Lastly, while I praise the Academy, I've also got to heap some blame on them. Did anyone else notice that during the "In Memoriam" segment (where they remember all those who died) that they misspelled John Frankenheimer? They spelled his name "Frankeheimer" without the second "n". If you taped the telecast, go back and check it out. That's just utterly disgraceful. That's how you want to remember the guy? By misspelling his name? In the somewhat altered words of Michael Moore, "shame on you Academy... shame on you."

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Oldies: Sunday, March 16 - Saturday, March 22, 2003...

Mar 22
Thursday, 20 March 2003: Now that we've begun our campaign against Saddam Hussein, I think I should take a moment to clarify something... To our soldiers overseas... despite what I have said on my website against going to war in...
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Oldies: Sunday, March 30 - Saturday, April 5, 2003...

Apr 5
Friday, 4 April 2003: One of the worst things about living out in the world in this modern age is bills. Rent, gas bill, electric bill, cable bill, cell phone bill, home phone bill... you name it. I realize that...

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