Happy Holidays!

Well this will probably be my last blog post of this year. I'm getting ready to head out for the holidays. I'm looking forward to heading home, but not going to enjoy the cold weather of Illinois! Its been down right cold up there. I think it was 4 degree's the other day. Yikes! And it looks like I'll have a rainy ride as well. As long as its not snowing I'm good.

Welcome to any new Shawsters Blog viewers. I sent my blog address in my Christmas cards this year. For new viewers, I do a Shout Out after each blog. Each Shout Out is something random, and usually goofy as well! Without further ado.......

Shawster's Last Shout Out of the year: Shaw's Go Elf Yourself
From Nashville, Tennessee this is my virtual holiday card from me and Fraiser to you all. A high speed connection may be needed to view this one - but its worth the viewing, trust me!! Please enjoy and have a safe and happy holiday season!

My Bad - Wrong Dude!

Ha Ha, ok I'm laughing at all the comments for my Skid Row post. I just googled Skid Row and found that site. Didn't realize that was not Sebastian Bach in the photos. I just saw brown hair, sunglasses, hats and attitude and assumed it was him. Did I look closely at this - I guess not. But whoever this guy is he is kinda hot. Here is the real S.B. - He's still a hottie! And looks like he still has attitude as well! Link

Now, here's one that did age! Remember Warrant? Cherry Pie and Uncle Tom's Cabin anyone? Beware what you are about to see is NOT what you remembered! Is that Sting? Whats with the suit? Wheres the leather pants and doo rag? Link

Since when does Wikipedia put 80's bands on their site? Whacked

Shout Out: To homegirl Jami for figuring out the internet and leaving a message on my blog! WTG Hoe! KIP Winger for ya!

Skid Row

So I was driving into work today and turned the radio over to the rock station. They were playing 18 and Life by Skid Row, which gave me a good giggle and took me back to my high school days. Anyone remember how big Skid Row was and how hot Sebastian Bach was! Remember when the video to Slave to the Grind came out. He was all screaming and walking along those railroad tracks. You remember I know! Don't deny! I miss MTV videos. So that made me think where is he now and is he still hot? Has he aged? Does he have wrinkles? Does he still scream like that? Does he still wear tight leather pants - probably pinching his boys, hince making him scream like that! You be the judge of that and click the below link.

Shout out to the 80's hairband: Skid Row

Four Christmases

Shout out today goes to my friend Jules for the movie hook-up last night. Jules had a free ticket voucher for two to see a sneak preview of Will Smith's movie Seven Pounds. So we headed that way and got there 30 minutes before showing. The voucher said to get there early and it did not guarantee entry. We got in the back of this long line to get in and they stopped the line about 15 people ahead of us. We sat there and waited a bit and finally a guy came out and said the theater for the movie preview was full. He then told us we could come in and pick any movie we wanted, except Bolt and something else, and see it for free! We both wanted to see Four Christmas's, so we did, for free! The movie was so funny, we laughed throughout it, and I'm still laughing today. So if you want a good funny Christmas movies to go see, I recommend that one.

Shout Out: Four Christmases

Gourmet Cupcakes

Howdy folks. I disappeared again. I keep thinking about bloggin, then I don't! What up with that? So I thought I'd grace your computer screens presence today with a new blog.

I took off work last Thursday as a day to myself to go out and do my Christmas shoppin. I really enjoyed the day off and enjoyed going out and about away from my regular routine. However the weather that day was disgusting! It rained all day and was windy, and eventually turned to snow on my way home. I spent the first part of my day shopping in downtown Franklin, TN. For folks out of town, this area is kind of a neat and touristy spot, with also a lot of history behind it as a major Civil War battle took place there. But now, its filled with local shops with a bit of character. I decided it was nice shopping somewhere local, putting money into the ecomony locally, and not in big chain stores. Although, I hit the chain stores in Cool Springs afterwards.

While shoppin in Franklin, I discovered a new eatery called the Curious Gourmet Cupcake Cafe. Store clerks in the stores I went in along the way kept mentioning to me to go in there and get a cupcake. So I did, and yummy! I had lunch there first, a bowl of the most awesome tomato basil soup. Then I had a Celebration cupcake - chocolate cake topped with Italian buttercream and garnished with sprinkles. Let me tell you, these are no ordinary cupcakes!! These things were awesome! Very very tastey, smooth icing, good cake, not too sweet, just right. I keep hearing about these places that sell these gourment cupcakes on the news around here. I kind of thought, ok, it's just a cupcake, how special is that? Well it is special! If you have any of these gourmet cupcake places in your area I recommend going to try it out. You'll be in for a treat!

I worked at the theater all weekend long. The Nashville Ballet has redone their version of the Nutcracker. They have an all new set and new costumes. It really is very pretty. The costumes are beautiful, and the set color scheme are rich pastel colors. I recommend going if your here in town.

So babies seem to be in the air lately. Friends Jodi and Tony from back home just had their second little girl. The Fabulous Illustrator (link to your right), friend Mary here in town, is scheduled tomorrow to have her second child, a little girl as well. There must of been something in the water around April! Found out college roommate Staci is expecting her second son in March. So hurray for all the babies!

Shout out for today: Curious Gourmet Cupcake Cafe

Stuffed?!?

How was every one's Thanksgiving break? Good I hope. I stayed here in Nashville, and the parents came in for a few days. We had a nice time. Instead of trying to cook in my small apartment kitchen, we decided to go out to eat instead. We went to Cracker Barrel to eat and it was so awesome! The food was really good and didn't cost much. For $8.99 each we got dinner, a drink and dessert. Not bad. No cooking and no cleaning either. Just a bit of waiting to get in, about 45 minutes or so, so not too bad.

Were getting snow flurries here in Nashville today. I guess its now December so officially time for that stuff. No accumulation predicted, just some flakes flying around. There were some flakes out on the road as well when I drove in to work this morning. How come here in Nashville the minute the weather gets dicey people start really driving like idiots? Does the cold mess with their brains or something? I had two people tailgating me on my way into work. I was doing the speed limit, so I wasn't driving super slow or anything. But it was wet out so a bit of caution was needed. I had two different cars behind me driving too close, like I was driving too slow or something!

Today's Shout Out goes to my Home Girl Jami
She's kickin it old school with da jams. Over the weekend fly girl sent a link to us on Utube to a musical old school mix. Time frame is late 80's early 90's. I jammed out to it today at my desk. Took me back to the old high school days of going out clubbin - yes I use to go out clubbin! Ha Ha, we always had fun! So go out clubbing at your computer today here.

Happy Gobble Day

Happy Gobble Day from the Shawster.  I hope you get to eat all kinds of goodies and enjoy time with friends and family.  Is anyone traveling anywhere this year?  I get to stay put this year as the parents are coming here.  They are traveling in today.  

On a food note, this past weekend Jules and I went to Greenhills to check out our new health food store called Trader Joe's.  It was quite a neat place and the prices were very reasonable.  They had all kinds of stuff that looked really good.  We sampled some cider and cranberry gel and both were quite tasty.  If you have one in your area, go check it out!  Trader Joe's 

Shaw's shout out of the day:  Spotted Dick Pudding?!?!?

Today's shout out goes to my BFF and her hubby for sending this one on to me.  I have to say I got quite a laugh when I saw this.  Apparently this is a real product produced in England.  It is called Spotted Dick Pudding as you can see from the photos.  Now who's gonna eat that!?!  I guess the Brits huh, Ha Ha.  They bought this in a grocery store in their area and of course the bag boy had to laugh about it!  I told her she needed to fix this and try it!  So lookout maybe this is a dessert they will bring to their Thanksgiving outing!   Have any of you ever heard of Spotted Dick Pudding or have ever tried it?  Looks like it has raisin' s in it, thats all I can tell from the label.

Where did I go?

Howdy folks. I've not blogged in a long while. I've been a bit busy. The group I work for goes to a big conference in the fall. I've been very busy these past few weeks printing for them. This time around I had the largest group I've ever had for this conference. So I've been a bit out of it lately. But I'm now resting up and getting back into normal life again.

This is old news now, but I am quite excited about our new president elect. I am happy he got elected and I believe Obama will make a lot of positive changes this country needs right now. It may take some time for changes to take place but I think it will get there maybe sooner than we think.

Shaw's Shout Out of today:
To a very snazzy store I like to go into here and there. It is the perfect woman store. It has clothes mixed in with kitchenware and housing ware and is all very hip and well designed. The store is called Anthropologie. Here in Nashville, there is one in the Hill Center over in Green Hills. Go check it out.

Brain Science

So did anyone see this on 60 minutes last night? I just happened to walk into the living room and saw it on TV. Since I work with numerous neuroscientist I found this very fascinating. Basically the guy in the main story, who happens to be a neuroscientist himself, has been paralyzed from a disease and can not move anything but his eyes and he can smile. He can not speak, but his brain functions just fine. They put this cap on his head and it contains sensors in it that can record brain waves, or neurons firing up. He then looks at a computer screen filled with flashing letters and thinks about the letters he needs to create words, and the computer records the brain waves from the cap and writes the words for him. Now that's pretty darn cool! It really was very amazing, he is basically thinking, and the computer is picking up his thoughts. You can read the entire story here.

Shaw's Shout Out - to the Obama slognator again. Because it was just so much fun the first time around I have to do it again! Also its a reminder for tommorrow to go cast your vote!

Generate a Barack Obama Quote!

"You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about Starbucks prices. Well I think Americans are tired of the same old dead bugs. Ordinary Americans believe in clouds, they want less
fart stink, they just aren't sure if their leaders believe in smaller bootys."
Generate your Barack Obama quote at Buttafly.com

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloweenie from the Shawster. If your going out trick-o-treatin with the kiddies enjoy it! Or if your going to a Halloween party have fun. Don't eat all the candy at once. I did not dress up this year. We didn't have a costume contest at work this year. Not enough interest this time around, mabey next time. That's ok, I didn't have any good ideas for a costume this year anyway.

Shaw's Shout Out:
To my favorite candy bar at Halloween time - Twix. What's your favorite?

Go vote early!

Today I went and did my civic duty early this time around. I went and voted for the next president this morning. There have been record numbers of Tennesseans voting early this time around. There have even been lines for early voting as well. So that could be a sign for whats to come Tuesday next week. I decided to cast a vote early and I'm encouraging all to do the same. Your vote does count. If anything, it could cancel out your neighbors vote with the annoying sign in their yard!

Shaw's shout out today:
Today's shout out is to my favorite Dream Dictionary online. You can plug in key words from things in your dream, and see what the meaning is. Pretty insightful at times.

Dream Dictionary Link

Tree Nads

Well thanks to Jules for informing me about the "large balls" that are falling off of thoses tress I've been seeing. They are called Osage trees and the balls are sometimes referred to as Hedge Ball, Horse Apple, Green Brains, Monkey Balls or Mock Orange. I googled it and have learned squirls enjoy pulling them apart and making a mess, big surprise. And apparently cows occassionally try to eat them and choke on them. So I wonder if the cow wanders under the tree, one falls off and hits it on the head and knocks it out. It wakes back up and sees a large yellow thing infront of it and decides to try to eat it. I also learned Lewis and Clark sent seeds and planted some of these along their way. Didn't realize this would be a history lesson as well.

Shaw's shout out
Todays shout out is to the Starbucks Oracle. This is one angry cup folks. Heres what it said about my favorite drink of choice, which happens to be peppermint hot chocolate.

THE ORACLE OF STARBUCKS

The all-knowing Oracle of Starbucks	Behold the Oracle's wisdom: Personality type: Clueless You don't go to Starbucks much; when you do you just tag along with other people since you have nothing better to do. You would like to order a Tazo Chai Crème but don't know how to pronounce it. Most people who drink Grande peppermint hot chocolate are strippers. Also drinks: Wine coolers Can also be found at: The mall

Large Balls

What are these things and has anyone every been killed by one droppin on dare head? I don't want one droppin on my head! I black barred it for its protection.

Shaw's Shout Out Today:
My shout out today is to my fav Woodchuck Draft Cider. Can I have one now!
Link

I See Stars

.......Nashville Stars that is!

Living in Nashville, TN, I always get the question from folks elsewhere asking have I seen any Stars when I'm out and about. The answer to that is yes, from time to time I have seen a few stars. I've seen Vince Gill and Amy Grant more than once - once at a hockey game, once at a resturant and bar. I've seen Kenny Chesney hanging at a restaurant bar, and Allen Jackson at a school football game. Saw one of my old highschool hairband favs, Gunner Nelson of The Nelsons at Red Lobster. I almost ran over Ben Folds of Ben Folds Five as he was crossing the street on Music Row, and didn't look up before crossing! Luckly I didn't run him down! I also saw a few other celebs while I was waiting to meet a friend of mine at a conference at Opryland Hotel. I saw Paula Poundstone, Johnny Cockren, and some at the time MTV real life stars walking on by. I also met Dave Gibson, former singer of the Gibson/Miller Band and his wife Daisy Dern, a very wonderful talented singer as well. They attended a cheese tasting party I was at and also sang for us all. It was quite a treat, both the cheese and the singing!

There are other celebs in the Nasville area that get spotted here and there. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have been seen in Bongo Java having coffee. Jessica Simpson lives here now and apparently Kelly Clarkson as well. There have been story's of Justin Timberlake hanging out at clubs near downtown. I read an article that apparently celebs are moving to Nashville more and more because they do not have to deal with Paparatzi here. They are for the most part left alone here, and are not followed everywhere they go. I guess Nashville is too southern for the paparatzi or something.

I have on numerous occasions passed individuals that had to be stars, I just didn't know who they were. Which brings me to my next story.....

Last weekend I worked a show at the theater I usher at, and I took tickets so I was out front greeting everyone as they came in and scanning their tickets. It was the World Premier of the Conway Twitty Musical. His children decided to have his legacy live on and they arranged a musical to be formed about his life. The very first showing of this musical was right here in good ol Nashville, at the theater I happen to work at. So, there were all kinds of celebs at this event. The problem is, I didn't know who any of them were! I guess I need to brush up on my country! Or mabey not. The only one I could remotely pick out is who I believe was Kid Rock, but I can't be totally certain. I was polite to all of them and smiled as they came thru. I scanned their tickets and told them which way to go, as they all pretty much ignored me! There were a lot of media cameras at this event. At one point there was one pointing right at me as I was taking their tickets. So I have to laugh, there are photos or videos out there somewhere with me smiling at the camera taking tickets of famous people I don't even know! Ha Ha. I have been looking online for links to news blurbs about this event. CMT put a blurb on their site, and it listed some of the folks that were there that night. You can read it here.


Shaws Shout Out:
Todays shout out goes to a news clip about a large fire that occurred last week at a Murfreesboro fireworks store. Basically the whole thing blew-up and fireworks were shooting out everywhere and of course there were on lookers - its Tennessee you know! If you watch the video that is off to the right side, at one point you can hear people in the background oohhing and awwwing! Ha Ha, did they move out of the way? Probably not!

http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=9172446

Sassy Pants

Ok Ladies, this one if for all! I have found the coolest new pants ever and now I'm going to post about it all. I went shopping a few weekends ago with my friend Jules. I seem to have good luck finding good things when I go with her. My agenda that day was to find a couple pair of nice pants to wear to work, as my old ones from last year were yuck. We all need new clothes sometimes. Work is a pretty casual place for me, so I usually go with khaki's or jeans. I tried on these pants from Lee and ended up buying two pairs, and I'm glad I got two. I now want more! Listen up ladies...they are called Lee natural fit extended tab pants. They are stretchy, comfy, look hot and best of all, hide all fat of any kind!! No hips poking out, no belly hangin out and no booty rollin out! And if your bloated no one will even know, not even yourself! You no longer have to go find your sweatpants on bloat days. They are the perfect pair of pants, which is why I want to share with all! I purchased Indigo Rise, which looks like dark jeans - very slimming. I want to purchase a khaki pair to see how that would be. Here's the link to them, and look they are on sale, even better!

Most Awesome Sassy Pants Ever Click here

Shaw's Shout Out of today:
Today's shout out is to my coworker Carol for sending this funny to me. Since the economy sucks I thought this was fitting to read.

401-KEG
If you had purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago, you would have $49 left. With Fannie Mae, you would have $2.50 left of the original $1,000. With AIG, you would have less than $15 left. But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drunk all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have $214 cash. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. It's called the 401-Keg!

Nashville in the Spot Light!

Well Nashville was in the spot light last night as the Debate was at Belmont University here in town. This really was a big deal around here. All the buzz on the news. I work around the corner from Belmont and drive past it every day back and forth from work. Had to alter my route a bit yesterday cause they had motorcades, roads closed, and there were police officers all over. I did watch the debate last night, the first one I've decided to watch. I've already made up my mind who I'll be voting for, but it was good to see them both discuss issues. Although they didn't always answer the questions given to them! That gets a bit frustrating to watch. I've also have made it a point on Saturday nights when I'm home to watch the beginning of Saturday Night Live and watch Tina Fey as Sara Palin. Its just funny how much they really look alike! It gives me a good giggle.

Well a bit of a scare at my apartment complex over the weekend. There was a two alarm fire in one of the buildings. My building was fine and all is good, but the building that caught fire is quite damaged. They still have not said anything to us regarding the cause of the fire. It started at five in the morning, so most those folks probably were not up. Everyone got out OK and no one was hurt, but that side of the building is fenced off and boarded up. Not fun to see that.


Shaw's Shout Out of the Day:
My shout out today goes out to my friend Jules for sending this one on to me. If you have ever worked in a large office/cubical environment you will appreciate this one. Or, if your lunch has ever been stolen, as my entire lunch bag was, you will appreciate this. You'll just have to look at this one!

http://www.skforlee.com/independent_work/lunch_bag.html


Just an update from my previous post. I never did see the Juke Box Dude again. I did however see a flyer posted on the boards in my building about some frat party and it had a Juke Box reference to it. So, I think it was a frat prank and an odd way to advertise their apparent party. No more lurking around campus with a camera for now! But I did get a request for more photos like that! Ha Ha. I had a bit of a problem posting the photos from my computer from home. It appeared to post, and really didn't. I'm still learning these functions on this blog postin! I'm gettin there.

My Digital Perpetrator

So in an effort to find the Juke Box Dude I saw on campus, I decided over my lunch break today to go lurking around on campus like paparatzi with my digital camera to see what I could photograph. My goal was to catch undergrads in their natural habitat and hopefully see the human jukebox again. I unfortunately did not see the Juke Box dude, but theres always tommorrow. I tried to blend in as much as possible, but when your holding a digital camera you get some looks. I'm now calling my camera the Digital Perpetrator. I walked around snapping shots, and also sat at a couple of benches trying to blend in. Heres a few photos I took. I also took the liberity to "Black Bar" these kids so their identities can't be stolen or something.

My first photo: Titled Lawn Mower Man

This is the first photo I took, and I think it is my favorite. It appears a student film crew is interviewing the lawn mower man! Wow, I bet that will be exciting. "So lawn mower man what to you do here on campus?" "Well I sit and mow all day long!"

Photo Title: Big Ol Headphones!
Whats he listening to!?! Nice Headphones dude!

Photo Title: Cool Dude
Is he looking at me? Nice specs.

So thats the jist of my digital paparatzi perpetratin experience today on campus.

Weirdo's on Campus

Ok, since I work on a college campus, I tend to see some weird undergrads walking around talking smack, acting like dumb butts and strutting around in either flip flops or stilletos - no joke. Every year I try to determine what the latest undergrad trend will be, since they tend to wear something new and dumb each year. Last year I never did pin point any one thing. They were mostly boring last year just wearing jeans, mini skirts and t-shirts. Nothing spectactular really. This year, so far, the only thing I can pin point is these white 80's style bulky roundish sunglasses. If I see them more than once on numerous undergrads, then I deem it as a current trend. So far that is all I've picked up on.

I've been thinking to myself as I walk around campus, I really need to carry my digital camera with me. Not my cell phone camera that really just takes crap photos, but the actual digital camera so I can take a good shot. Lately I keep seeing weird things while I'm out and about and I wish I had the chance for the photo opt. WELL, this week proved I need to start carrying a camera. I think on Wednesday, I was walking back from the gym, and I could hear this noise, like a boom box music kind of noise. I look over, and no joke, here is this "guy" walking along, with a cardboard hand made Juke Box on him. Only his arms and legs were out, and there was a slot for his eyes to see, and his head was covered. The box was all painted up to look like an old fashion Juke Box, and he was carrying an ipod, with speakers attached to it so all could hear, and it was playing techno type music! Now I've seen some weird undergrad things in the past 8 years of working on a college campus, but never anything as bizzare as this guy! I just watched him walking along, trying to figure out what his purpose or message was, and thought DAMN, I wish I had my camera on me! I blew it off, but as I was walking along the next day I saw this guy AGAIN! Same thing, Juke Box box on him and techno music playing away. So since I saw him twice, I am now going to try to remember to grab my camera before I head out and mabey I'll see him again to get a photo opt. If I do, I'll definantly post it here on my blog. Definate weirdo on campus!

Shaws shout out: Political Bingo
Ok, last election in 2004 there was this website with bingo cards you could print out that had all different funny canidate sayings with photos on it. The idea was you played bingo while watching any of the presidential debates. These cards were halirous. Everytime a canidate either said or did something on your card you marked it off to play bingo. This was fun to do with a group of folks. So I decided to see if that was still out there for this election. I found the website that created the political bingo cards, but there are no funny photos on it this time. While on this site I started to explore it, and found a funny Obama quote maker. Its like playing mad libs, you insert a few key words, and it generates an Obama style quote. It also gives you the html code so you can attach it to your blog, which I will attempt to do.

Website: http://www.buttafly.com/

Generate a Barack Obama Quote!

"These people haven't had low taxes for fifty years. So you can't be surprised if they get bitter and cling to their Itchy balls and their scrots and their blue balls. That's what my campaign is about. Teaching all the little people in this country that they can have kittens."
Generate your Barack Obama quote at Buttafly.com

I have Gas!

In my tank that is......

Well I was successful last night in finding a gas station that actually had some gas. Imagine that! And there was no line, bonus! I had to pay $4.19 a gallon which is insane, but now I can get back and forth for a few more days at least. They say things will be back to normal by this weekend. Apparently they have rashened the gas stations as well in the amount they were being given. Closing the pumps down in the Gulf affected the flow. Darn hurricanes!


Shaw's Shout out of the Day:
In celebration of me starting my very own blog, I'm going to add my own shout out of the day to each post. It will be random whateveras, so look out!

Todays shout out is to Rachel Ray and her awesome food recepies! This is my latest favorite recepie I made the other day and it is da bomb! It is called Jalapeno Rice - except I'm not a big fan of hot food, so I substituted a green pepper instead and it was awesome! But if you like hot, go for one jalapeno. Heres the recepie:

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2135

Got Gas?!?

Ok Nashville is having a gas shortage right now, and I'm not talking about farts either! I drove to numerous gas stations this morning and every single one of them is out! What up? Nashville is apparently on the pipeline from Texas. Due to the two recent hurricanes, brother Ike and dorky Gustav, they screwed with our supply. Now when a shipment comes in to a gas station, all the rednecks here flock to the station, causing a traffic jam, and the gas is drained out in a couple of hours or less. They keep telling us not to put too much in, so that supply can catch up with demand. Except some of us need to get to work and the media is forgetting rednecks don't listen. Today was the first day evera that I had to call gas stations and ask "Do you have gas" fart fart!

My first blog

Dear Blog,

Hello, and welcome to Shawsters Blog! This is my very first blog, how exciting! Its September 21, 2008 today, its about time I started bloggin. I'm bloggin from Nashville, Tennessee home of country music - and no I do not like country music. I prefer top 40's and rocking out music instead. I live here with my dog Frasier, he is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He is quite the sassy one and has a mind of his own. I work as a Graphic Designer and have done so for the past 10 years. I'm also an usher at a local theater here in town.

Well enough bloggin for now. I'll blog some more later!