Oh, 'Push' not 'Push'.

I had a moment of real confusion reading the headlines this morning.

Sundance honors `Push,' `We Live in Public'
I thought to myself, isn't Push that new rip off combination of Jumper and Wanted starring the "flame on" guy from Fantastic Four? It seems really weird to me that Sundance would be celebrating this movie! Guess I was right -- there's another movie named Push out right now. Talk about bad timing!

Did you know that Angelina Jolie is only a few days older than me, and yet she's already managed to make a million movies (most of which I haven't seen), play a deeply annoying know-it-all animated tigress, be Oscar-nominated, adopt / grow a tribe, steal someone else's husband, become a United Nations something or other, get married like 10 times, wear a vial of someone else's blood around her neck, AND make out with her brother?

5 Things I Want, But Not Enough to Pay For

There are some things that I visit online at least once a week, but that I just can't bring myself to pay money for.

The Applause Super Shallow Electric / Acoustic
Price: $200 - $350
Why Do I Want It? I've wanted one forever. I love the idea of a super shallow electric / acoustic. Plus, Josh would probably be amused if I could play guitar along with our singing, and his songs I could totally handle (1, 2, 3 chords!)
What's Stopping Me? Oh, like I have time for another hobby. Plus, I haven't touched a guitar except to move it out of the way in 10 years.

Kindle
Price: $360 + books
Why Do I Want It? I love the idea of having my books electronically, like my music. It could reduce clutter.
What's Stopping Me? I buy most of my books used, so they're under $5, not an option for Kindle. And I recycle them back out to book sales, so clutter isn't the issue it used to be. Did I mention it's $350, plus the cost of the books ($10+ each)

Wii
Price: $250 + games
Why Do I Want It? I just love this console. It has great games, a tremendous game experience, and I suspect I could use it for exercise.
What's Stopping Me? Lack of free time and my husband's implied negative judgment. He hates video games and regards all game systems as a waste of money. But this one is coming home eventually!

An Event Apart
Price: Too much to contemplate paying out of pocket.
Why Do I Want It? Web designers learn mostly from each other and from conferences. This is the conference thrown by Jeffrey Zeldman, the Pope of Web Design. Naturally, I want to go.
What's Stopping Me? Funding. So sad. But if I win the lottery, I'm so there! Boston 2009, baby!

Sarasota Real Estate
Price: $150,000 (give or take)
Why Do I Want It? Since my in-laws turned me on to Sarasota and it's surrounding beaches, I just can't get enough. It's my life long ambition to retire to the Gulf Coast of Florida (which might be a little further inland if we don't get this global warming thing under control).
What's Stopping Me? Other major expenses, all of them under 21.

A Force for Change?

I sure hope so, and so does the rest of the country. Congratulations to Obama on his swearing in, and good luck to us all in pulling out of this horror show economy and world-wide political quagmire.

It was a pretty good speech, which I've now heard in it's entirety twice. I loved that it recognized that things are dire, and that we have work to do -- but it was still a message of hope.

And Now a Word on CSI

I'm like two weeks late and have still not seen Grissom's final episode all the way through, but I saw the last (*cough rip off of ER cough*) scene and then just went and read the spoiler on MSNBC like I do most weeks. Maybe I'll catch it onDemand (in my spare time, ha!!).

I really hope that, although I know they won't, CBS will have the good grace to close up shop and let Miami and New York carry on the tradition. Like many people, I only watch CSI for Grissom. Why? There are 10,000 crime procedurals on TV, and most of them are at least as clever than CSI. But I started watching that show because I like William Petersen. I even kept watching it after he grew that alarming beard (wtf?), started wearing that perplexing hat (huh?) and EVEN after the writers started in with that Sara / Grissom Romance nonsense (gag). But, come on. This isn't Law and Order, where a rotating cast of characters is expected. It didn't work for ER (although no one told them that -- that show has marched on like a vampire in the night, dead and waiting to be staked, for seven years), and it isn't going to work here, either. At least not for me. I'm all done with CSI -- if they don't get canceled (along with the rest of the CW), it may be time to start paying closer attention to the Winchester boys.

If they hadn't killed off Liev Shreiber's character after his short stint, I might have kept watching. I didn't expect to like that substitution (and honestly, I thought the story line kind of sucked), but he was a great fit. No offense to Laurence Fishburne, but Morpheus has no place in Las Vegas.

Classmates

Still hate ClassMates.com!

Dear Jen,

Did you forget? You've received 0 Classmates Emails from friends—and 0 of them are still unread and waiting in your message center at Classmates.com.

Um, OK. I'll rush right over.

Why Is Everyone So Surprised That Consumers Expect Deals???

I read an article this evening about concerns in the retail industry that consumers now have expectations that "sale" means more than 50% off.

Well, duh. That IS what sale means!

That's just the rest of the world catching up with me and my cheapness. Seriously, if your merchandise (I'm looking at you, Banana Republic) costs 60% more than it should at full price to start with, and you lower it by 60%, it's still 60% more than I'm willing to pay for it. And that's why I am still not spending my money at Banana Republic, even though I love their clothes.

However, The Children's Place has GREAT sales that require me to spend no more than $7 on a pair of fleece pants for Mr. Poopit. If pants were $7 at Banana Republic, I'd be buying that place out.

We live in southern New England. We don't need $2000 hand bags, and where would we wear them, anyway? Bickford's? Not that Banana Republic has $2000 bags, I'm just saying.

Awesome

They beat me to the punch, damn it! I was planning to ask congress for a 5 billion dollar bailout. Honestly, if the big 3 can get free money, why not Larry Flynt??

Porn Kings to D.C. - Help Us Through Hard Times

[Joe] Francis sees his industry like the big three automakers, only BIGGER: "Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration."

Supernatural Spoiler!!

Wow, Mr. Winchester has been busy, according to Spoiler Chat:

Let's just say that if you happen to look like these dreamy dudes above (and God bless you for it), you should contact the CW right away, because I'm hearing that yes, you guessed it! There just might be a third freaking Winchester brother out there. Hear that? It's the sound of my mind exploding! I'm told that the possible third brother has not been cast, but we'll start hearing rumblings of another son courtesy of Dean and Sam's father John Winchester, aka Jeffrey Dean Morgan, this season. Seriously, does that dead dude get around or what?! Meanwhile, I'm dying to know what you think of this twist and if anyone out there could possibly be delicious enough to pull off the same genetic code as Jensen and Jared.

My vote is for Chase Crawford.