Watercooler Debate & Friday Shuffle

At work today, we had a stellar water cooler debate. Okay so it wasn't really at a water cooler, or water fountain, or bubbler, if you prefer. It took place in the middle of our poorly cubiculed office. I ask that you all chime in.

Chicken Wings: White Meat or Dark Meat?

I of course, know the answer, as does Hilda who was part of the hilarity. But I will defer answering, thus giving all of you a chance to answer; rightly or wrongly, as the case may be.

Let it be known, I was shocked that the responses in the office were about 50/50 and each side held to their beliefs as tightly as a naked butt cheek sticks to a leather carseat in Phoenix*.
*A little shout out to Sari at The Geek Inside

In the mean time, here is my Friday Shuffle:
(This idea is courtesy of Hilda at The Mind Wobbles who turned me on to 'Friday Shuffle')
Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On"
Willie Nelson, "Mama Don't Let Your Boys Grow Up To Be Cowboys"
Paul Simon, "Mrs. Robinson"
Gillian Welch, "Elvis Presley Blues"
Alan Jackson, "Itty Bitty"
Soggy Bottom Boys, "In The Jailhouse Now"
Queen, "We Are The Champions"
Beattles, "Yesterday"
Tony Bennett, "The Way You Look Tonight"
Beres Hammond "My Woman Now"

Fav Foods

Commenting on Dixie Peaches site in a post about Big Macs, I was motivated to start a Food Meme. So here it goes! Bon Apetit!

Favorite Gourmet Item: Beef Wellington

Favorite Snack at Home: Peanuts or Oreos

Favorite Fastfood item: Currently...Checkers burger. But if I could I'd have a FatBoy's burger - we just don't have any here.

Favorite Food When Driving: Mickey D's French Fries

Favorite Food With a Beer (or other libation - please specify): Beer & chilli.

Favorite Food for Invoking Romantic Intentions: Beer & chilli. Sorry couldn't resist the imagery. Grilled meats (for me) and seafood (for her) and artichokes.

Least Favorite Food: Fish & seafood. I know its a crime that I live in Florida.

Food that Conjures a Childhood Memory: Sloppy Joes.

Food that Conjures a Sad Memory: None. That would be terrible.

Food that Conjures a Happy Memory: Wedding cake.

I've tagged Curmudgeon, Hilda, PoppyMom, Sari and Cris with this meme but anyone else is also invited to answer on their blogs. Please reply to this post if you've done it.

I Am a Wiener!

As I posted last Wednesday, I had competed at my Toastmasters club's Humorous Speech Contest using the 'Phoenix' speech. Having been to 'Phoenix', I believe that this speech is giving the town more notoriety than it may rightfully deserve, but so be it.

So, how did I do? Out of three contestants, I came in first. And I learned that it was NOT a landslide so I have some work to do before I compete at the Area Contest two weeks from tomorrow.

We actually had two contests. The humorous speech contest and the evaluation contest. In the latter, all contestants (we had 9) listen to a test speaker. We are then given 5 minutes to prepare our notes. Then all the contestants, except for the one who drew to go first, are escorted out of the room and each contestant gives a 1 to 2 minute evaluation. Once the contestant has finished they can stay in the room. I am happy to say that I placed first in that contest as well.

I guess that makes me a double-wiener.

Wish me luck for both contests!

Funny

I was blurfing (means to surf blogs, or to vomit out of a fast moving train, plane or automobile) and I came across a cartoonist's blog: Basic Instructions. Here is a link to a funny strip on his blog:
http://www.basicinstructions.net/2007/08/how-to-open-snack-quietly.html

Thursday Thirteen (on Friday)

A new meme from http://thursdaythirteen.com/ via http://anyapples.blogspot.com/
For the record, this is supposed to be done on Thursdays, hence the name, but I only found out about it this morning, so you are privileged to see it today.

1. What's your favorite song?
"Little On Up" by Nils Lofgren

2. If your life were a sitcom, what would the intro song be?
"Go To Extremes" by Billy Joel

3. When you think of high school, what song comes to mind first?
"School's Out for Summer" by Alice Cooper

4. If you could ban the existence and erase all knowledge of any song, which would you choose?
"All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You" by Heart

5. You've just been granted the gift of a beautiful voice, and an amphitheater full of cheering fans - what song do you sing?
"Silent Night"

6. What was the first song you learned all the words to?
That I recall? I'd say it was "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.

7. What song surprised you when you found out what they were really singing?
"Flower" by Liz Phair.

8. What song plays when your cell phone rings?
None

9. What song is a must have for any road trip?
Anything by Meatloaf

10. What song would best describe your day?
"A Day in the Life" by the Beatles

11. What's your favorite "sing out loud like a goofball" song?
"Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro or "I Started a Joke" by the Bee Gees

12. What song has made you cry?
A tie between "Daniel" by Elton John and "Vincent" by Don McLean - and both for the same reasons

13. What song do you want played at your funeral?
Anything by Jimmy Buffet or Paul Simon

No tagging but if you do it, let me know!

How cool is that?

I am sitting at work and I was looking at a photo of our son Wesley. I was reminded of something that happened a few weeks ago. It was in the morning on a weekday and I was trying to get Wesley ready for daycare. He was in his own little world, standing next to his bed and holding firmly onto the bed rail while arching his back. I was trying with great futility to get him dressed. Impatiently, I pleaded, "Wesley, would you help me please?!?!" With that, he turned around brought his face to be only inches away from me, smiled warmly and said "Okay, daddy.", while stroking my cheeks with his little hands. He gave me the help I needed. So what if we were 5 minutes late that day? He reminded me what's important. How cool is that?

What's in a Name?

My buddy at http://themindwobbles.blogspot.com/ had this meme on her blog so I figured I'd give it a try. Here are the instructions:

Go to Google.
Click on Google images.
Type in your name and search.
Re post (w/ a link) the picture of the oddest, craziest, strangest, coolest, oldest, etc. person that shares your name. Post multiples if you find a few you like.

It isn't clear whether it's first name only, or first and last, so I did both! I'm not going to tag anyone. If you want to do it, just let me know in my comments.

First Name Results

Last Name Results

What Happens in Vegas May Stay in Vegas…but Phoenix Ain’t no Vegas!

That is the title of the speech that I will be competing with this evening at my Toastmaster's humorous speech competition. The contest is at my club, and the winner goes on to compete at the area ( 7 clubs compete), and the the winner there goes on to compete at the division (5 areas) and the winner there goes on to compete at the district (10 divisions). Our district covers the state of Florida and the Bahamas. The speech is about going to Phoenix last weekend to attend the Toastmasters annual conference and International Speech Contest which has two more levels of competition than the humorous speech contest. Do you think that we like to compete, maybe just a little?

So, for your reading pleasure, here is my speech...

Last weekend I had the opportunity to watch our very own Jim Bussey compete in my first ever Toast Master International Speech Contest.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit Phoenix, Arizona for the very first time.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to:
learn the latest in traveling fashion
make a new special friend on an airplane in a special way
experience the joy of dry heat
experience a blazing fire…in my mouth

Madame Contest Master, Fellow Toast Masters…what happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in Phoenix becomes fodder for a humorous speech contest! In order to be in Phoenix, one must get to Phoenix so on Friday morning there I was at the airport. While waiting to board my plane in MIA, I heard this sound. [squeak, squeak, squeak]. It got louder. [squeak, squeak, squeak] I turned around expecting to see Norman Bates, or maybe a mouse...on steroids. But instead I saw these two precious suitcases. They were neon pink and had "Cinderella" plastered across the front of them. Naturally, I looked for the little girl that would have these suitcases. Nothing. Then I looked for maybe a little bit older of a girl. Nothing. Then I looked for maybe a young lady reliving her youth? Nothing. Instead I say a man. A tall rugged looking man. No one else. Just the man and his luggage approaching the gate agent. There was no daughter, no niece, no female child at all in his vicinity – just him. In fact the agent even asked if he was traveling with someone else, and he just walked off - alone with his pretty, pretty luggage and a special spring in his step.

So now I’m on the plane for the first leg of the trip. I was flying standby with another member of my Toastmasters club and we were grateful to be on the plane. Of course, we were seated separately and I was seated in the middle seat of my row. Nothing funny ever happens in the middle seat. Nothing exciting happens in the middle seat, except for when Troy is sitting in the middle seat! I was very tired, the air was stuffy, there was no movie – so I fell asleep. The thing is, when I woke up I realized I had snuggled my head on the shoulder (pause) of a really big guy next to me. Complete with spittle. He gave me a special look and I just knew he wanted my telephone number. Did I give it to him? [flutter eyelashes] A gentleman never tells.

Once we arrived in Phoenix I quickly departed the aircraft. When we exited the terminal and got outside, I realized that my traveling companion was hot! I mean smokin' hot! Of course at 112 degrees Fahrenheit even Donald Trump is hot. Yes ladies and gentlemen, 112 degrees. Of course [air quotes] they (who are they? The locals, the weathermen?) tell you, “Well, it’s a dry heat – so it’s not so bad”. Yeah, guess what – [air quotes] they’re lying. It is bad. It is unbearably bad. Oh and the whole “it’s not as bad as Miami” because there’s no humidity. Uh, no…the humidity is why we wrinkle less than they do. That damned dry air makes you shrivel up like a raisin in a big cereal bowl full of sand. Give me my 86 degrees with 112% humidity any day – at least my tongue doesn't feel like sandpaper.

But that’s not all the heat I was going to experience. Oh no. Apparently our friends in Phoenix are not content with just external unbearable heat. It seems they enjoy a raging inferno on the inside as well.

On our way to the hotel we stopped at a restaurant and I ordered an American classic: Macaroni & Cheese. I tend to like mild food and how could I go wrong with that? Ha! It had macaroni, it had cheese. It had also had Jalapenos, Scotch Bonnets, and Habaneras. It was served with a bottle of hot sauce and a damage waiver. Folks in Phoenix are crazy! That bowl of fire should've been called "Macaroni and oh please this is hot"! Bottom line: If you aren't crying at the end of a meal in Phoenix, then your meal consisted of water.

I’m not saying to not go to Phoenix, it’s a beautiful city. You'll have a great time as long you carry pink luggage, find the perfect airplane neighbor, go naked and most importantly bring a mini fire extinguisher for dinner. And always remember: What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in Phoenix could seriously hurt you!

Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

That's the sound of me opening my blog. It most assuredly has been a while. And there is no greater motivator to blog than (pick one):
a) being bored at work even with tons of work to do
b) a pink gerbil named Hal who lives in your desk drawer
c) a fellow blogger who pesters one into blogging submission who shall remain nameless other than to say that her name rhymes with Gilda.

So, what to blog, what to blog? For starters, how about some updates?

Our soon-to-be 2nd born will no longer be Spencer. From now on he shall be called forth upon the people and shall be known as Nazareth Zion Abraham Judas Maximilius Omega Gelinas. We'll call him Bob for short. Yeah, not so much. His name will be Dylan. Dylan Quinn Gelinas. We may call him Dill, or Dilly, or Silly Dilly, but my wife has made it perfectly clear that we won't be calling him DQ.

Other things going on...

We are in the middle of bathroom renovations. Not the most fun experience. One quickly forgets how much a pain in the ass home renovations are until one comes home from work only to find their toilet in the living room. Not far below that on the scale of home improvement annoyances is going through the painstaking process of covering everything in the adjoining bathroom only to find the workers cutting drywall inside the living room.

I just got back from a leisure trip in Phoenix. I wrote a speech about the experience for my Toastmasters club that I will post shortly.

I sold a house a last week. I sold it to my friends and its directly behind our home. It will be cool.

Okay, that's about it for now.