water under the bridge...

By now, most everyone has heard about the crazy Vietnamese man Lam Luong who chucked his four children off a bridge in Dauphin Islan.

It's an absolutely terrifying story, and I can't imagine what that woman must be going through. The kids were aged 4 months to 3 years, and I don't even want to know what was going through their minds as someone they trusted picked them up and flung them to their deaths.

However.

That being said, one must try to find some sort of light side in the wake of a tragedy such as this. Though this is a horrifying tale of bad parenting, there is only one thing more horrifying than the deaths of the children.

And that is the woman that CNN chose to speak to and broadcast in a video I found on CNN.com.

Some still photos:


Here this lady is, in all her glory. All the reporters seem to be hanging on to her every word.



Can you blame them? She looks like a pretty credible source.



"Thems was just BABIES! Baybies...them dint deserve that...thems was BAYBIES!!!"



Check out that sweet hairdo. Two scrunchies—that do ain't goin nowhere.



This is the moment where she just got fed up with all the reporters and decided to leave.



Look. At. That. Face.



She's outta here.



The reporters later explained that she felt so moved and compelled to lay flowers at the site.

Silk flowers.

These kids are DEAD lady. You couldn't have sprung for some live ones? Or at least taken the time to rip them out of someone else's yard on your way over?

This is Alabama they way the world sees us, folks.

snow big deal

So this weekend, we got some snow. Finally. Everyone was waiting for it, though I was still not quite certain it was even cold enough to snow. But snow and behold, there it was, covering my apartment complex on Saturday morning.

I remember talking to my mom, either the day of or the night before, and she said, "I saw on the news that ya'll are supposed to get some snow this weekend. Have you been to the store? Do you have enough supplies?"

The first words out of my mouth were, "Yes, mother. I have milk and bread, and a jug of water in the fridge."

Then I stopped myself. I don't even know why I said that. I'm not particularly fond of milk, and I don't have anything to put in between the bread in the first place. Why does every feel the need to run out and get bread and milk as soon as the weather gets bad? We've been doing that since before I could remember.

not-so-cordial cherry

I've written a blog before about the many disgusting flavors of soda there are out there. Pepsi and Coke have each had their own foray into flavored fizzies, but when it all comes down, Dr. Pepper has really taken it to the next level. A level that I, and perhaps some others, was not quite prepared for.

Kaitie and I were in the sketchy Wal-Mart (the one out on Lakeshore - Stephanie, you know what I mean) purchasing some necessary items. We'd been discussing purchasing a soda inside, and soon after we walked in, Kaitie announced that she was really in the mood for Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper, but hadn't seen one in a while.

As we walked over the cooler near the front of the store, I gave out a cry - I thought I had actually found a CVDDP.

Alas, I was mistaken. Upon closer scrutiny, I realized that this was not a CVDDP, nor was it Berries 'N Cream, or any of the others. No, no. It was worse.



Yes, folks, it was Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper.

On a whim (actually, we debated about whether or not to drink it for a few minutes), we decided to check it out. I took the first swig. When it first hit my tongue, I was thinking, "Okay, not so bad."

Then came the after taste.

It was so nasty. It was just....ugh. I don't even know how to describe it. Weirdly enough, it did taste like chocolate and cherries.

And crap. Don't let those cute little cherries dripping with chocolate fool you. Aesthetics are only half the battle (or the bottle, rather), my friend.

Here is the description you can find on the Dr. Pepper Web site:



I have to say, I wasn't quite 100% satisfied. I wasn't even 50%. I was almost willing to trade in some extra calories for some flavor. Thank GOD it's only for a limited time. I can't imagine many tears will be shed when they take this little jewel off the shelves.

Bottom line: No soda should ever incorporate the flavor of chocolate. Never.

cape (cod) crusader

Whelp...I just booked my flight - I'm going to see my dear sweet biffle, Melanie, January 24-30. I'm so psyched! I can't wait. I haven't been to Massachusetts in a little over two years. We're going to see G. Love in Boston the Friday night I'll be there - superfun.

And in other news...who is this joker? He's on Law and Order Criminal Intent and looks like Patrick Swayze. I just don't like the looks of him.

when red-eye goes horribly awry

I was fixing some old pictures to put online from a friend's birthday, and I realized that I had a ridiculous amount of red-eye to correct. In order to make sure my friends didn't look like posessed demons in all the pictures, I sat down to work.

If any of you have ever used the red-eye reduction function, you know that it has a tendency to not work. Or worse, it has a tendency to turn other things blackish-blue. Sadly, while touching up a picture of my friend Kevin, this happened:



It reminds me of the commercial that Joey did on Friend's for Ichiban, Lipstick for Men!



I will never be able to look at/think about this picture (of Kevin) and not laugh.

I'm laughing now.

More on Ichiban:

No, no - after you

This morning while I was in the elevator, I was joined by a gentleman with a rolling case (not sure if it was of the suit- or brief- variety, but either way, it had wheels). We both entered on the first floor, and soon found out we were both headed to the third floor.

At the second floor, we made an unexpected stop, and were consequently joined by a well-dressed young woman and her Starbucks. She was on her way to the fifth floor, and would be along for the ride as well.

As we approached the third floor, the doors opened, and the young woman scooted back as to let us both through. I motioned to Rolling Case Man, and said, "Go on, you first."

To which he replied, "No, no - after you."

This little tennis match went on for about 20 seconds, when I finally relented and went out the elevator doors. As I exited, I heard the girl in the elevator sigh and say, "I just love Southerners."

So do I, lady in the elevator. So do I.

(***This week is traditionally when the new interns start to fill in, and they come from all over the US. I'm under the assumption that she was the new corporate intern, seeing as the old one (a good friend of mine) just left a week ago.)

Christmalicious

Oh, my Lord. This is amazing.

publishing humor

I just so happened to click the "next blog" button on my browser window, and the very next blog had a post of publishing jokes. I thought they were cute :) The first one is my favorite, but you can check out the original for the entire post.

Q: How many copy editors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: I can't tell whether you mean 'change a light bulb' or 'have sex in a light bulb'. Can we reword it to remove the ambiguity?