Amanda Tapping on Supernatural

This got posted on Twitter yesterday.  Looks like Amanda Tapping (of Sanctuary and Stargate fame) is going to have a recurring role on Supernatural for season 8.  It's a little sad how excited I am about this considering that I don't even watch the show.  But I'm pretty sure I'd watch just about anything that had her name in the credits.  I guess there's another show on the list for the hubs and I to watch. 

Clearly I Should Not be Left Alone

This weekend my husband went away for a guy's weekend.  His best friend is getting married in September and they're having his bachelor party.  While I wasn't really looking forward to a weekend spent alone at home, I didn't really think it would be too bad, but evidently I was wrong.

I woke up on Saturday feeling pretty good about being by myself for the weekend.  I decided to put food in the hummingbird feeder because it was empty again (they finish off our huge feeder just about every day).  For the first time ever it was actually an easy process.  That should have been a sign that something would go wrong.  I think I managed to pull the hanger off the hook because when I let go the whole thing crashed to the ground.  Somehow the glass survived the drop, but the plastic part is in a million pieces now.  In the process I also managed to get myself covered in sugar water as well.

Later I decided to drive into town to get a few things.  On the way home my air conditioner crapped out (which is so much fun when it's 95* outside), which it's been doing because I thought it just couldn't handle the giant mountain that my car has to climb to get home.  Then when I got home I looked at my dash to see that my car was majorly overheating.  Thank goodness I made it home because otherwise that would have been terrifying.

I know it could have been a lot worse, but it still sucks and none of these sorts of things happen when my husband is around.  Probably because I would have had him refill the hummingbird feeder and we would have taken our other vehicle to go shopping, but still.  I think he's just not allowed to leave me again.  Or maybe the next time he leaves I'm just going to lock myself in the house and hide.

Oh, I also had to kill my own spider and it was huge.  Finding that thing right before I went to bed was not good for me.  

This is Just Wrong

I was checking out Cupcakes Take the Cake this morning and searching for some yummy inspiration when I happened across their blog post on this baby. 

Photo from bettycrocker.com

Seriously?  This just seems way too lazy.  I will be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a cake snob and I prefer scratch cupcakes over anything from a box (and don't even get me started on canned frosting), but this just seems like absolutely no effort whatsoever.  "Just add water?"  Really?  What about eggs or oil?  What's that going to taste like if all of your fats (which are supposed to hold the cake together) are made from some sort of powder?

I can see the benefits if you have a last minute cupcake emergency, but in general it doesn't take very long to mix up a quick batch of cupcakes.  This reminds me of that pancake batter in the bottle.  That freaks me out too.  I just don't trust foods that are that easy to make.

Out of curiosity, if there's anyone out there who has actually tried this stuff I'd love to hear about how it worked and how it tasted.

Why I Hate Pop Culture

A few weeks ago, I saw this on Pinterest:

 

At first, I just laughed at the sentiment.  My husband and I have had the conversation many times about the difference in female characters (and male characters too, but we're focusing on females) in the awesome sci-fi shows we watch versus some of the more popular shows on television.  This pic has stayed with me over the last few weeks and it honestly makes me a bit sad now.

I will admit that I don't recognize the first three woman on the geek culture row (I'll get there, I'm sure, but there's only so much tv we can watch in a day), but the last two are both well-known to me as they come from two of my favorite shows.  Those two woman are great role-models for young girls.  Both of them manage to be completely brilliant while managing to also be kind, beautiful, and just generally good people.  They are not sexualized, despite the fact that they are gorgeous.

The women in the top row are largely famous for doing nothing more than exposing themselves to the public and allowing their stupid decisions to be broadcast to the entire world and yet I'd be willing to bet that most people could identify more people from the top row than from the bottom. 

I think about my four-year-old niece and the types of female characters she will grow up with and likely idolize as many children do.  She will see these women and perhaps think it's normal to show off her body to everyone or spend all of her time partying.  I wouldn't have a problem with it if these women were also intelligent and were showing off their bodies while also explaining astrophysics.  I think Jeri Ryan's Voyager character, Seven of Nine, shows that it can be done.  And certainly the women in the geek culture line-up also happen to be gorgeous.  I mean, Terry Ferrell used to be a model and Amanda Tapping, at 46, still looks stunning, but the characters (and in every case I've seen so far, the actors as well) are very intelligent women who don't use their looks to get what they want.  I think those are the types of role models little girls need (and little boys as well).  This idea that being stupid is fun or funny and that being intelligent is only for losers needs to change.  It's not science fiction to think that women can be both beautiful and smart and I'd like to see some better role models for my future children.

Resistance is Futile

I tried to resist; I really did.  Everyone kept posting about Pinterest and I thought I didn't need another social networking thing.  I even checked it out and spent some time looking at stuff before I signed up and I didn't really get the whole point of it.  So I waited and occasionally went back and checked it out.  I watched my friends posting on Facebook that they had pinned something new.  Then I found a few interesting recipes and some funny pictures and I decided to join.  Now, this is exactly how I feel:



I even found this on Pinterest.  I borrowed this from here. 

So suffice it to say I have a new time suck and I plan on spending even more time there.  If you haven't checked it out I highly recommend it.  Unless, you know, you have things to do in which case I don't recommend it because those things will never get done.  Don't say I didn't warn you.