Wait for it....

I never watched How I Met Your Mother when it was on the air. I resisted when people told me it was totally my thing. Then, a few weeks back I fell in a Netflix hole, and binge-watched several seasons in a weekend - and now I'm hooked.

If only someone had told me how similar HIMYM is to Friends, I'd have been on board years ago!

I know millennials don't like the comparison. I understand - no one likes to hear a show that defines their twenties is similar to another show....that defined another generation's twenties. There's no way people that old could have ever been twenty and cool. Right?

But I can show some parallels. Don't believe me? Watch. It'll be legen...wait for it!...dary!

Since I am still watching older seasons, I did not watch Monday's series finale - but I did read the spoilers. One bit is mentioned below, so -

****SPOILER ALERT****

First we meet Ted Ross - uber-smart professor, often sharing facts he loves, but others consider boring and useless, who is constantly correcting others. Ross Ted is a hopeless romantic who dates, but never commits because his heart belongs to Rachel Robin, the beautiful new-comer who enters their lives in the pilot episode from a foreign land - Long Island Canada - and grabs his heart. The two would go back and forth between dating one another, even living together as roommates at one point, before eventually finding their way back to each other in the final episode.

At one point, Rachel Robin even dates one of Ross Ted's best friends, Joey Barney, the womanizing player who seems like he'll never settle down. That is until the day he realizes he's in love with Rachel Robin.

Then there's Chandler Marshall - the guy who wants to go along with his friends' schemes, even though he can't lie and eventually backs out. Mostly, he makes sarcastic comments. He's in love, and eventually marries and starts a family, with "group mom" Monica Lily, the responsible, dependable one who keeps the group together with her cooking and her schemes.

Of course, the two TV shows aren't exactly alike. A few "major" differences:

• Five friends instead of six
• They meet at a bar instead of a coffee shop
• The first group couple starts the series off that way, rather than connecting mid-series
• There is never any mention of rent control regarding Ted and Marshall's apartment, leaving it unclear how a struggling architect and an unemployed law student could afford a Manhattan apartment with that many rooms.

Most TV - especially sitcom TV - follows a formula. Why?

If it's not broke - don't fix it.

I love Wednesdays

Saturday is my favorite day. It's the one day every week where I not only don't have to rush out of the house (usually), I also don't have to worry about rushing out the next morning.

Friday is my favorite work day because I can dress casual, many of my clients are off, and I'm staring down the barrel of Saturday.

But Wednesdays? I love Wednesdays. I've usually gained some momentum on my work week, and am doing OK. But it also feels so much closer to the weekend. Once you survive Wednesday, it's just Thursday, which is practically Friday - which is ptactically the weekend.

Plus - Wednesday is Shemar Moore Day!

(Criminal Minds, 9 pm, CBS)

This and that

A few things to mention, but nothing that really warrants a full post...

July is my birthday month! The best thing about birthday month is all the coupons and free stuff I get from all the places where I spend money throughout the year. Sephora, DSW, Famous Footwear, and Victoria's Secret are my favorite. 

I've decided to launch a new business, largely to pay off vet bills, but also to make some headway on

other stuff, as well as just have some extra money. Not to mention - the discount! As of a couple weeks ago, I am an Independent Stylist for Stella & Dot, a boutique-style jewelry and accessory company that sells exclusively through home parties. My official launch party is Wednesday. Feel free to shop here, and buy yourself a gift for my birthday.

I'm addicted to NCIS and all too happy when the USA Network has a weekend marathon. 

The addiction more disturbing than my NCIS addiction is my addiction to Bridezillas. 

My dad got a Samsung Galaxy S4. I'm excited to go upgrade my phone to the same. Birthday money for the win!

I am looking forward to the All-Star Break, mostly because Derek should be back after, and then the baseball season can really start.

I have a couple other things on my mind...but for right now, I'm choosing to focus on the good, fun stuff. 

Happy Sue's Birthday Month July!

My thoughts on Paula Deen

Paula Deen uses the N-Word. Or, at least she did once, 30 years ago, in reference to a man who burst into a bank where she was a customer, and robbed it at gunpoint.

Here's the thing...if I was a customer at a bank (or anywhere) and some guy put a gun to my head and took my money, I imagine I'd call him a variety of colorful names. None would be friendly.

But none would be the N-Word, either.

Why? Because I believe it's wrong to use that word.

Using that word implies that the guy robbed the bank because of his race - and that any member of that race would do the same thing. Wrong. The guy robbed the bank because he was a jerk. OK - maybe he was someone in a desperate situation who made a poor decision...but most likely he was a jerk.

But Paula Deen admits she probably used the N-Word in that situation...and I would say if she could use it in that situation, she probably used it in other situations, too.

Yeah, sure...anyone could defend her behavior by saying she comes from a generation (1947) and a place

They have the video here.

(Albany, GA) where that's acceptable...blah, blah, blah.

At some point we all have to take ownership for our own mistakes. Ms. Deen is 66 years old; I think it might be time to stop blaming mom and dad for her actions and start apologizing.

But instead, she defended herself - by pointing out that nobody is perfect. Which tells me she doesn't think there's anything wrong in what she did, or her attitude, and she's not really sorry.

Lumping people together by race, and judging the whole group, is racist. Do I think Paula Deen is a racist? I sure do. Do I think she should have been fired for making racist comments? I actually don't. But...

I also don't think that's why she was fired. I think Paula Deen was fired for the same reason anyone else would be fired: She's no longer effective at her job.

I'm sure The Food Network doesn't care what Ms. Deen says in private conversations, and I bet they don't care what she said during a bank robbery 30 years ago. They do care whether or not she can make them money. If she's a bad public relations risk, and advertisers don't want to be associated with her, then she doesn't make them money. Period.

Not only that - if they renew her contract, the network has to invest time and money rehabilitating and defending her image - as well its association with her brand . So now, not only isn't she making them as much money - she's actually costing them money.

How many people do you know who could stop earning money for their boss, and cost their boss money at the same time, and keep their job? I bet not too many.

As far as the endorsement deals go...Smithfield and Wal-Mart and Caesers didn't enter into contracts with Paula Deen because of her bubbly personality or because they like her cooking. They did it because of her name recognition - which comes from her TV shows on The Food Network. But now she doesn't have TV shows anymore, and her name is tainted. So what can she do for them?

Not too much.

I used to work for Wal-Mart. Trust me when I say theirs is not a corporate culture of tolerance and inclusion. Privately, I bet they would applaud Ms. Deen's attitude. But publicly? It's about business. Wal-Mart has customers who will be offended by Ms. Deen, and her products will collect dust sitting on the shelves. Time to move them out of the way and make room for something that sells.

It's all about money. If she can't show them the money, any business is going to show her the door.

It's been a while

I haven't been around in a while. Truth be told I was going through some stuff...and work was busy...and then I found West Wing on netflix and the whole thing fell apart.

(For Christmas, X bought me a blu-ray player that streams netflix, among other things. Genius.)

Also, I've been hoping I'd be able to move this little corner of the internet over to the Times Union's corner, so though I was working on some posts, I kinda wanted to save them in case that came to fruition. It hasn't (yet, anyway). I'm sure when/if it does, I'll have something to say.

I was going to do the NaBloPoMo February prompts to get myself back in the groove - but the theme is love and sex, which I don't talk about too much (here, anyway). Maybe I'll do March over here - but in the meantime...


found it here


...back to why I've been gone.

December and (much of) January were not easy. Did you ever have someone in your life who dragged you down? But you really like this person, so you were determined to keep him in your life because darn it, you can make anything work? Who you don't want to walk out on because he needs you, and you don't want to be the bad friend who wasn't there to help?

That was my December and January.

It took a lot of soul-searching and crying and guilt (stupid Catholic upbringing) but I finally figured out that it was OK for me to look out for myself. I remembered that it is perfectly acceptable to protect my own happiness and my own self-esteem (and frankly, my own safety), and doing so does not make me a bad person or friend. I reminded myself that it's better to be alone for the right reasons, then with someone for the wrong reasons.

So I drew a line in the sand a couple of weeks ago and said no more. No more tears, no more heartbreak, no more putting my life on hold waiting for something that was never going to happen.

I realized what I really want is better - and better is what I really deserve.

Bridezillas

Got a bit of a wedding theme going on this week....yes, that's just a coincidence.

While I generally prefer crime dramas when I watch TV (except for Big Bang Theory, which is just the best show ever), I'm not opposed to the occasional, reality TV train-wreck. Sometimes, the bigger the wreckage, the better.

If you agree, then Bridezillas is a show you simply must check out.

The WE original follows two brides per show in the days leading up to their wedding, showcasing all the ways in which a wedding ceremony can turn a (seemingly) normal woman into a fire-breathing monster from the planet She's Insane - otherwise known as a bridezilla.

No job is too big, expense is too high, or request is too outrageous - for everyone else. Their freak-outs are embarrassing at best, and bordering on painful. They behave like spoiled brats, throwing temper tantrums if anyone doesn't jump at their every order. One bride brought her bridesmaid to a tanning salon and yelled at her, and the technician, when the color didn't come out the way she wanted.

So why do I watch? These women are so ridiculous it's entertaining. Also, it is hard to look away - like a train wreck.

Not to mention, they are so horribly behaved, they make me look like an angel.