yay!!!

from what I understand, they are almost done! yay!!!

Pictorial Status Update

Yep, it's one of THOSE Mondays.

Too Funny Not to Share

For a good little giggle, check THIS out.

Words I Hate

Be not fooled that I am in a foul mood, for I decided to dust off the zippy car today for the summer season...I am a gleeful shark. Nonetheless, I just happened to come across the following for the umpteenth time which reminded me how much I detest this phrase:

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Thought leader is a buzzword or article of jargon used to describe a futurist or person who is recognized among peers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights (thinklets)."

Ergo, thought leadership is having innovative ideas and demonstrating the confidence to promote or share those ideas as distilled insights, right? I'm guessing because there is no actual definition in the traditional sense of the word that I can find for this crap word.

I've got some innovative ideas on what to do with folks who use the phrase "thought leadership..."


and THINKLETS?? I definitely envision that little nugget appearing in a future post of "Words I Hate"!

This creeps me out

Maybe if I knew there was a freaky little imp waiting under my dinner to give me a creepy smile after I cleaned my plate I might think twice about eating. Hmmm... could I have possibly discovered a new weight loss tactic to try?

Natural Trauma

So I can be a fairly rough and tumble kind of girl - I am a Navy veteran, after all. I don't mind getting dirty, I can withstand nearly any odor (well, vomit kind of gets to me but other than that), and me and Mother Nature are tight. For goodness sake, I sometimes eat fish for breakfist - I have an iron constitution!

Or so I thought.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went camping last week in Ludington, Michigan. To be more accurate, I 'camped' at the Best Western the first night (don't judge - they have a water slide and a hot tub - if an RV is 'camping' then so is the Best Western!). Then I moved over to the state park where I set up my tent and communed with the Great Outdoors. Speaking of the Great Outdoors, the pairing of Ackroyd and Candy in that movie is priceless! I will never look at a hot dog the same way again...

But I digress.

So Ludington State Park is this really beautiful place on the northwestern shore of Michigan's lower penninsula. There are trails and sand dunes and boating and (wait for it) fishing. I have never been too interested in fishing - but the kids begged thier mom and dad to go so I tagged along for kicks. Plus, I heard that there is a lot of sitting involved, and I'm really really good at that.

We hoofed over to an idyllic spot where families happily cast their lines into the water and big fishies were jumping right off the surface in daring acrobatic manoeuvers. In fact, here's a picture of that precise idyllic spot:


Each of the older kids had a rod and reel; the girls (ages 13 & 10) with regular poles and Jack (age 7) with this awesome yellow & orange plastic Scooby Doo-themed kid-sized contraption with the push-button casting reel that cost like $1.50 at Wal-Mart. Within seconds of arrival, my S-i-L sent the bro back to the campsite for the forgotten sunscreen and moments thereafter, my 3 y.o. niece chimed in with, "Mommy, I have to go potty!"

That left me with a foam box full of worm poop and baby nightcrawlers and 3 kids looking up at me expectantly. My face said (at least I hope), "Sure honey, I'll be happy to bait the hook for you" and "Don't worry, worms don't have the same nerve endings or feel pain the way we humans do". Meanwhile, inside my head was a prolonged silent scream of utter disgust and horror keeping rhythm to one long prayer that my pronouncement about the nightcrawler's nervous system was even remotely true. I can come through in a pinch, though, so I pinched one of those nasty little suckers in half and skewered its writhing phallic body onto that hook like my life depended on it.

Delighted, the children ran to cast their lines and fish their little hearts out. I returned to sitting and enjoying the idyllic location. I survived fishing! Yay!

Wait - what's that? Happy shouts of joy from the middle one? My actual voice saying, "Wow! Congrats!" while my inner voice ran an ongoing monologue of "You caught a WHAT? Oh crap - where's an adult? Any adult? David? Amanda? Crap, neither is back. How the hell long does it take to find freakin' SUNSCREEN!!?? Dammit - couldn't you have just let the little one pee in her pants!!!??? Couldn't that stupid fish have waited five more minutes to bite!?"



Now how can a big scary shark like me be afraid of a tiny little perch flopping on the end of a string with a facefull of metal hook, you ask? When's the last time you held one of the slimy little suckers on your fin? EW EW EW!!

I confess that I squealed like a little girl this time and the kids thought my performance was Grade A hilarious. I got so worked up that I dropped the fish on the dock and had to pick the poor thing up AGAIN to throw him back. I am almost certain that if I ever go back to Ludington there will be an army of angry perch and nightcrawler relatives waiting for me to dip one little dorsal in that damned river.

The whole experience taught me that I am definitely a 'city' shark, but while I was down, I was not defeated. I promptly highjacked Jack's Scooby-Doo pole after he decided to make an old-fashioned one with a tree branch. I didn't even get a nibble; I guess my bad reputation spread fast under the surface. I still enjoyed the sitting, though.

I'm baaaaack...

Gotta get caught up on worky-work this morning, but I survived my weekend adventure. Despite the widely-accepted belief that I was glued to the massive tv, I was actually camping *gasp* and fishing *super gasp* and hiking *oh my!* Sorry I couldn't tell you in advance, but since I announced to the world via the Shark Tank that I bought a giant tv, I didn't want to say to the unsavoury element, "hey folks, I'm not home so come rob me!"

Anyhoo, I'm back now and while tired and slightly traumatized from fishing (I'll splain later) I'm no real worse for the wear... :-)

Time Out

Literally. I have a matter that will occupy my entire existence for the next two days. Unfortunately, that will preclude any posting here in the Shark Tank.

I'll be back on Saturday, though, so come back then!

xoxo lady shark

Housekeeping in the Shark Tank

Now THIS is the way to do the dishes:



I'm inviting these dudes over to my house this weekend to finish up from the Big Dig.

Pictorial Status Update

.
Yes, that's Baby Drowsy - one of my few and favourite baby dolls. Her eyes are perpetually droopy and when you lay her down to sleep her eyes close all the way.

I was never one much for baby dolls when I was a wee tot, but I did love my Baby Drowsy and my Mrs. Beasley. I was more for my stuffed panda named Ming Ming or any other fantasmagorical plush creature. Regardless, I'm so sleepy right now I sure wish any one of them were here for me to snuggle up to for nap time under my desk...

The new phone book's here!

Yeah, okay, not really. But I just can't resist the opportunity to quote from one of my favorite films:


That just gave me a great idea - I'll have to get NetFlix or something like that so I can rent "The Jerk". Why now, you ask? Because lookey-loo what showed up on my wall this weekend:


So who's coming over to watch with me? I'll supply the popcorn if you bring the beer...

If I had known the AP was going to 'out' us like this, I certainly wouldn't have told you how much I enjoy watching Dexter.

Read the whole story HERE.