Useless Quiz of the Week

Who is your "Lost" Alter Ego?

You scored as Charlie. You're Charlie! Sweet, adorable and caring but with a bit of a bad habit. Claire 69% Charlie 69% Hurley 56% Kate 50% Jin 50% Locke 50% Jack 44% Sun 44% Shannon 38% Sawyer 38% Boone 31% Michael 31% Sayid 19% Who is your "Lost" alter ego? created with QuizFarm.com

New Year's Plans

My husband had this fabulous idea for New Year's this year. Since we live so close to New York City, we could come in and watch the ball drop. We both don't care much for the crowds and aren't too keen on standing out in the cold for hours on end, but we figured that we could get a room at one of the nice hotels in Times Square, with a view of the festivities, and watch the ball drop from our hotel window. Great idea, right?

As an added bonus, we wanted to bring Pepper as well. We feel bad that every time we travel, she never gets to come anywhere with us. There were a suprising number of dog-friendly hotels in New York, so that didn't seem to be a problem.

So I called a number of hotels. Yes, a number. It seems that even in mid-August, rooms in New York City are long gone for New Year's Eve. Everyone else was probably having the same idea as me.

I found a great hotel near Times Square that would allow Pepper, but it didn't have a view of Times Square. Scratch that.

Most other places I called were completely booked.

The Marriott Marquis had room, but didn't take dogs over 25 pounds. (Pepper is about 52 lbs.). At this point I was pretty much out of other options, so I decided we could always take Pepper another time. They did have rooms overlooking Times Square, and they had availability for New Year's. Yaay! They said there was a three-night-stay minimum, which I found completely understandable, and wouldn't really be a problem for us. So I asked them what the rates where for those rooms. They said that the 29th, 20th, 1st, and 2nd would be $369 a night. Okay, so that was a little high, but completely understandable. After all, this is New York, these rooms overlook Times Square, and the Marriott is a pretty posh hotel. But the night of the 31st, you ask? Well, that night would cost us a cool $1500.

Yep. I didn't accidentally put an extra zero there - you read right. Fifteen Hundred Big Ones.
It took all I could to keep from choking. I thanked the gentleman and hung up, then called my husband and said, "Let's forget about New York for New Year's." I went on to explain the situation and finished, "Let's just stay home and enjoy New Year's in front of the TV with Pepper." That's good enough.

Although, I was impressed with that first hotel I mentioned above - The Muse, on 46th, between 6th Ave. and Broadway. They even offer what they call a "Pampered Pooch" package (scroll down a ways to see the description). I told my husband we should go, not necessarily for New Year's or anything special. Just to go, hang out in New York City, do more dog-friendly things for Pepper. It actually says on the hotel's website that there are a few stores in NYC that are dog-friendly, so we could take Pepper there. Though I probably have to check size requirements. I think when they say dog friendly, they're thinking little rat dogs - Chihuahuas, poodles, etc.

But it works out well - we've been meaning to go to Tiffany's to check out the rings there, and my husband's new favorite store is Brooks Brothers. How cool is that?!

I Love the 60s

I must be in a somewhat nostalgic mood. Nostalgic, going way back to even before I was born. A sudden resurgence of 60's influenced music seems to be gaining popularity. I've become somewhat reminiscent upon that era...

One of my favorite movies ever is "That Thing You Do", for a number of reasons:

1) Steve Zahn - "Are you crazy? A man in a really nice camper wants to put our song on the radio! Gimme a pen, I'm signin'! You're signin'! We're all signin'!"

2) Tom Everett Scott - 'I led you here, sir, for I am Spartacus. "

3) Liv Tyler - so classy as the girlfriend to the lead singer of a 60s fab-five-esque band

4) the music. VERY authentic, classic, Beatles-like.

I can't tell you how many times I asked people are you SURE the Wonders weren't a real band from back in the day? It just sounded much like songs you would've heard from that time period, and the story, in fact, seemed so realistic, it was pretty cool!

Fast forward to 2005, and enter The Click Five. Check out the website, hear the song and tell me if you don't think they sound - not necessarily authentically 60s - but heavily influenced by aforementioned era. Their song "Just The Girl" royally kicks ass.

The new fab five. Not from Liverpool, not from Erie, PA, but from Boston, home of the newly victorious Red Sox.

CD comes out Aug. 16th, and lemme tell ya, I'm going to be one of the first in line to buy it.

There. I've conducted my shameless plug and promotion on behalf of The Click Five.

Thank you for your attention.

*stepping down of my soapbox*