Booky McTattleman

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Kitty Kelley has written another tell-all biography. This time, the lucky winner is Oprah Winfrey. Kelley has also written about the British royal family, Jackie Onassis, Nancy Reagan and others over the years, and according to this suprisingly well-documented entry at Wikipedia, has yet to be successfully nailed for libel. Her most famous unauthorized biography — His Way: the Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra — prompted the Chairman to slap her with a $2M lawsuit (which he later withdrew). I read the book ten years ago, and I must say that I’m certain it was infuriating to have someone say those things about oneself and not be able to do anything about it. Where does reporting stop and slander begin?

Regardless, his lawsuit just skyrocketed the book to the top of the New York Times Bestseller List, so there went that effort. Oprah’s people are probably kicking the cat right now too, since the tattlefest debuted at the top of the Times list.

*drumming fingers, drumming fingers, drumming fingers*

I must buy it.

Interesting quote from Richard Roeper in his op-ed in the Lake County News-Sun (formerly the Waukegan News-Sun — remember, Mavis??):

Oprah isn’t offering comment on any of the claims Kelley makes in the book — but wouldn’t it be awesome if she booked Kelley as a guest? It would make the James Frey beatdown look like a love-fest.

Heh.

Happy Tubesday. It’s almost the middle of the week, yippity.

Hotel

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Remember that TV series from the 80s? I liked it.

Yesterday, I finalized all our lodging for the Route 66 Odyssey. Took me 12 hours. The Thriller and I are both getting bigtime excited for the journey. Hotels will be our life, with the occasional laundromat thrown in. And we’re long on variety, too, in an effort to experience some off-the-beaten-path Route 66 gems and other quirky, cool places, in addition to the mainstream chains. Oh, the places we’ll go!

Behold the stops along the way, and some on the way back home:

  1. Red Roof Inn – Joliet, IL
  2. Budget Lodging – St. Clair, MO
  3. Munger Moss Motel – Lebanon, MO
  4. BoomR and BluVox’s Paradise – Dallas, TX – the nicest resort of them all
  5. Days Inn – Austin, TX
  6. Sleep Inn – Amarillo, TX
  7. Rodeway Inn – Gallup, NM
  8. America’s Best Value Inn – Needles, CA
  9. Wigwam Motel – San Bernardino, CA
  10. Orleans Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas, NV
  11. Canyon Country Inn – Williams, AZ
  12. Super 8 – Denver, CO
  13. La Quinta Inn – Omaha, NE

That’s a partial (but almost complete) list. More will appear when plans to visit Mom of Thriller firm up. Do you think we’ll be sick of living out of a suitcase after 2+ weeks? I think I’ll love it.

But for now…it’s Mondayne, and time to go to school. Yay.

RF, jonesin’ for July

Since it’s Sunday & all

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As is customary, I don’t know how I got to this site, but I daresay it’s been an interesting read for the last hour or so. So much so, I haven’t even made the coffee yet.

Ship of Fools.com is an irreverent (smart-aleck, actually), wittily-written site from UK, dedicated to forcing believers to have an honest look at the “religion” part of their faith, and to slap themselves in the back of the head once in awhile for being pompous or idiotic. Humor figures in heavily within sections such as the Caption Contest, the Fruitcake Zone, and my personal favorite, Gadgets for God (the Apps of the Apostles, hahaha).

Though I rarely speak/write publicly about it, those who know me know I have some issues with organized religion. Raised in a strict Baptist home, I know my bible pretty well, and I know the wages of sin. I also know that some churches shoot their wounded — either as euthanasia or punishment — instead of pull them off the battlefield to give comfort and help. That’s as far as I’ll go on that, but suffice it to say that I was grateful to find a “religious” website full of believers who take a realistic, and often funny, view of themselves as faith-based beings. Refreshing.

I also found interesting the reports from the Mystery Worshipper section, featuring folks who show up at various churches for worship, then report back on their experience.

OK, now I’m going to make the coffee. Then maybe read some more. Good stuff! Happy Sumday.

FO


Kinda difficult…

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…to do a blog post with a 2-year-old “helping.” :-)

But I had to tell you about what we found this morning. Jakey likes to sit with Grammie at the computer; we look up pictures of bunnies, puppies, kittens, and all his favorite animals.

On a “horses” search, we came upon this horrible photo:

We both felt sorry for it, and I wondered how it happened, so I traced the photo source and found an article from 2008 on the carriage horses of New York City. We saw many of the famous horse-drawn carriages while there recently. Our step-on tour guide made a rather flippant comment about how the “horses are union workers now,” and that they had to have so many hours of rest per day, and were only permitted to work so many days per month.

The article shows why that law was enacted.

I’m no on-the-fringe activist, but I do believe that we use animals for our entertainment far too often. Obviously, these horses were worn out, injured, and mistreated (through ignorance, mostly) for far too long, and advocacy folks finally stepped in. I’m glad they did.

Hey, it’s Saturday, Jake is here, coffee is hot, and Singin’ in the Rain is open on the table. What to do? Yeah, I agree. Go watch Cars.

:-)

PSA V

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Every once’t in awhile, I come across some life lesson/self-discovery stuff that really makes sense — and in this case, sense enough to share. A friend sent this to me yesterday, from a site run by a guy named Craig Harper, a motivational speaker from Australia. The article is called “Getting Out of My Own Way.” Really makes you think. I plan to implement many of these into my own personal goal set. Behold:

What to Do?

So, if (like me) you’ve been known to shoot yourself in the foot from time to time (or maybe all the time) here are twenty-two no-brainers to help you overcome the cycle of self-sabotage. Some of you might want to put this list in a prominent place where you’ll see it often – like (stapled to) your forehead.

1. Stop being a people-pleaser.
2. Stop waiting for the right time.
3. Choose your attitude.
4. Stop relying on (or waiting for) motivation.
5. Get uncomfortable.
6. Stop being so safe.
7. Be prepared to fail.
8. Find the lesson.
9. Ask better questions.
10. Stop looking for approval, permission, protection and praise.
11. Learn your own truth.
12. Be solution-focused, not problem-obsessed.
13. React better.
14. Don’t sulk – seek.
15. Control what you can, let go of what you can’t.
16. Invest your emotional energy wisely.
17. Stop waiting for people to care.
18. Don’t wait for opportunities – create them.
19. Talk less. Listen more.
20. Don’t do what’s easy. Do what works.
21. Stop giving away your power.
22. Identify your core values. Live in alignment with them.

So do you see yourself in any of these? I think they represent some good advice, especially for those of us who fall victim to self-sabotage on occasion (or even regularly).

Week’s almost done. Jakey stays with Grammie tomorrow night. Fun times.

FO