my neighbors are assholes
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: Rants
Heather (my roommate) called me tonight while I was having dinner with Brian to tell me that someone put a letter in our door saying that my MR2 was going to be towed tonight! Fortunately I had spare keys, so she was able to move it for me when she got home.

Let me tell you, the parking situation here is not a good one... so I can completely understand that residents aren't supposed to use visitor spaces... I was in the wrong and that's fine... but what the hell?? Why can't you put a note on the car or in the door asking to move the car first - not just "silver car will be towed tonight." WTF?? So now MR2 is down the street a little ways, which is fine, I'm sure he'll be okay there... maybe. Except there are lovely high school children that love to screw around here and do all sorts of nasty things.

We're almost positive that it was our neighbor Mary who is president of the HOA..... she's a nosy busybody that has nothing better to do than report people for any stupid reason... she actually reported Heather for trash in her backyard???? God she pisses me off. Anyway, Brian got mugged here last year right after we started dating... our court is extremely dark and there's only one itty bitty streetlight at the top of the court. Mary said that she'd bring it up and try to have more streetlights installed in our court. It's a year later and NOTHING has been done. There is still graffiti all over the place and the neighborhood still looks the same.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Bastards!

The good news is that the car never was towed, but it still pisses me off.

The other good news is that my passport finally came in the mail today, so I can REALLY start planning my trip to France.

Grrr.

But I'm still pissed off.

okay, now I'm getting pissed
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants
I have great news and the post that I typed about it for some reason won't work... I try to copy & paste it all in here and when I submit it, it's not registering. GRRR. oh well. I'll have to retype the whole stupid thing most likely.

The good news??

I've been offered a new job!! :) YAY! I'll be working for Wilmington Trust in their Baltimore Wealth Advisory office... it's in the harborplace tower, I'll be on the 26th floor... beautiful view of the inner harbor, great benefits and pay. So I'm pretty excited... last day at Harms is next Wednesday, \the 20th... things in my life are just going really well right now... I'm very happy! :) Brian is taking me flying next Friday... I'm also having my birthday party next Friday (22nd), so if you want the details about it, email me... everyone is welcome to come, but I'm warning you in advance that it might be a little crazy... everyone is welcome to stay at la casa as well... no playing bumper cars as my ex-roomie Diesel would say. He's going to be there too, of course. Good times.

That's about it, really.......... that's the summary anyway. Start the new job on the 25th. If you email me, please email me at my hotmail address, the harms address is not defunct and I can't retrieve any of my emails. I'm pretty pissed about that, but there's not much I can do.

Hope everyone is doing well.... talk to you later!!

is this week ever going to end???
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: counting crows
Topic: Rants
It just seems like it's been a long one. Maybe I'm just anticipating too many things. I hate waiting. I'm not a very patient person. :-P~ Ugh. I don't have as much of the cough today, so maybe I'm getting better... I sure hope so, I really don't want to be sick. Not that anyone would ever want to be sick, but some times are better than others... this is not one of those times, I just have too much going on. I'm thinking that I'll probably be moving within the next 2 weeks... so yeah... I guess that I just want to get it over with & get settled in. I haven't bothered settling into my mom's too much because I really wasn't planning on staying there for long.

will it ever
Mood:  hug me
Now Playing: Evanescence
Topic: Rants
stop raining??????

I am so sick of this nasty weather.... it's gloomy as all hell. yuck.

Couldn't it at least snow so it would look pretty? Well, maybe I don't want it to snow..... since I'm in Baltimore for the moment, driving would be a real bitch, and so would parking. Hmm. Oh well. I'll just put a snowplow on the front of Roxie. She'll love it. For those of you wondering who Roxie is, she is my car. Here she is, sitting happily in the lot of Brown's Honda:

I'm pleased to say that I've even kept her clean! I've never been very good about keeping my vehicles in good shape, but I've taken good care of her so far. Granted she's a bit dirty from all the rain we've been having, but she'll get a bath once we have a few days of sunshine.

Guess that's it..... I've been busy at work today, but I really haven't felt like doing anything. Guess that's not too much different from any other day!

If a Cowboys fan is pushed out of a moving vehicle at 60 mph...
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: velvet revolver
Topic: Rants


And is then run over by a truck, would that be considered murder? I mean, he could have just fallen out, right? Oh, gee... he wasn't wearing his seatbelt - oops! Never underestimate the power of stupid people in small groups. We have two Cowboys fans at work. Fan number one is in our fantasy league and talks a lot of smack (you can see previous entries about him, he's always doing something to get under my skin), fan number two sits near me upstairs, thinks he is God's gift to women, and also talks trash. I could say a lot of mean and hurtful things about fan number one, since I know some other things about him, but I won't. He only wants to piss me off because his own life is so shitty. Fan number two I'm not so sure of, although I think he has a major inferiority complex.

At any rate, Monday of this week following the hundredth time the Redskins have squandered a lead in the 4th quarter, #1 did his usual taunting. My blood boiled, but I didn't say anything. Then yesterday, while I was doing phones, #1 had given me something to type as #2 walks into the lobby and says, "How `bout them Redskins?" It took so much self control to not start screaming obscenities at him. They've been bottling up for the past several years as the Skins continue to lose.

Kurtis tells me that I take football too seriously. That's probably true, but what is more accurate is that I just take things personally. By attacking my favorite team, you're essentially attacking me, and I'm quite easily provoked by certain people. Okay, I'm easily provoked by everyone. I'm not quite sure how to get over it, either... I think that it's just in my nature to be overly emotional. I was the girl in elementary school who would cry if I got a question wrong when the teacher called on me or asked me to stop doing something. I'm not saying that I would be boo-hooing hysterically or anything, because I was too embarrassed to do something like that... instead I would put my head in my hands and wipe the tears away so that my classmates wouldn't see. Yep, I've always been like that. I still get like that at times... I hate being so sensitive, it makes me feel ridiculous. I find myself tearing up while watching cartoons, listening to the music from Les Miserables... hell, I'm tearing up now just THINKING about that crap! What is wrong with me?

Just FYI, I wrote part of this post yesterday, I'm not as pissed off at those idiotic bastards today. Those Cowboy-loving-no-good-stinky-feet-sushi-eating corrupted assholes!!!

Everyone have a lovely weekend and safe & fun NYE, hopefully I will have an opportunity to post at some point. :-)

wtf??
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: Rants
I can't believe it!!! Mr. Borderline showed up!?>?!!? I haven't seen him yet, but I saw his car in the parking lot. What the hell do you say to somebody like that? "Oh hey, nice to see you?" "Glad you're not dead?"

???????????????????????

If they don't do something to him, I am seriously going to start looking for another job. NOW. It just pisses me off that he can get away with whatever he wants and have the balls to complain about other people! Not to mention that if I had done the same thing, I'd probably be out the door. Why he gets the preferential treatment, I don't know. It's not like the clients love him or anything. If this were any other company, his ass would have been fired *months* ago. The last I heard, his ex-wife was going to file a missing persons report on him. The guy has a 10 year old kid! Don't show up or call to work, okay -- but to not even call the mother of your child to let her know that you're still alive?? To not call your son?? Now he's just going to waltz in here and pretend that he didn't do anything wrong. GRRRRRR

Do I even acknowledge his existence? Do I do any work for him? I guess that I have to if he gives it to me. It makes me so mad. Can you tell??? I think that I'm justified in my anger. I guess it's not him that I should be mad at, though -- it's management. Bastards.

They're taking us to Ruths Chris today for lunch, so I guess that I'll bite my tongue for now.

Why are people so gullible?
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: xmas music
Topic: Rants
If you know me at all, you know that I can't stand the stupid rumors/urban legends that arrive almost daily in my inbox. Okay, so they don't usually end up in my inbox, because most of my friends know better than to send that crap to me. Why? Probably because I humiliate them when I do a "reply to all" and send a snopes link and story about their bogus forward. It's my hope that those people check snopes before sending their bogus emails forward, so I'm doing my own part at cleaning up all the junk on the internet. Act locally, think globally, right?

This morning, I have a blinking light on my phone - gee, I have a voicemail. Listen to the voicemail and it's a general message for the whole company - "effective such and such a date, telemarketers will be able to call your cell phones, so you must sign up on the do not call list for cell phones, the number is 888-382-1222." Me being the skeptic (or maybe realist) that I am, went immediately to my trusty snopes.com site and found the following info: You must register your cell phone with the national "Do Not Call" directory before 1 January 2005 to prevent your number from being provided to telemarketers: False.

It goes on to say: Some versions of the exhortation to cell phone users to add their names to the Do Not Call Registry erroneously state there is a 15 December 2004 deadline for getting listed. Says Lois Greisman, the Federal Trade Commission official who oversees the anti-telemarketing registry: "There is no deadline; there never has been a deadline to register."

However, belief that there might be such a cut-off coupled with the e-mailed alerts themselves have served to multiply many times over the number of registrations. Since the initial wave of sign-ups following the 2003 launch of the list, registrations have come in at the rate of 200,000 new numbers a week. Yet in the final week of November 2004, nearly 1 million new subscribers were added, and in the first week of December 2004, that figure jumped to 2 million. At this point in time, 69 million phone numbers are contained in the registry.

Adding one's cell phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry (even if currently unnecessary) won't likely have any adverse effect, but customers should be aware of exactly what that action will or will not accomplish.

At the bottom of the snopes page, there was a reference to a Washington Post article written a week ago... so I looked it up, and the following info is from the article: It's not clear where the e-mails originated, but industry and government officials say they are an urban myth; they are not true. There is no list of cell phone numbers being turned over to telemarketers, and telemarketers are barred from calling cell phone numbers. [...]
Telemarketing officials say companies review their lists twice a month to eliminate any cell phone numbers, as FCC rules require. Even without such a rule, "we don't want to call people's cell phones," said Tim Searcy, head of the American Teleservices Association, which represents call centers. "We know it eats up their minutes, annoys them, and the likelihood of them buying anything is very low. It would be a waste of our time."

What did I do? Oh, I made copies of the aforementioned Washington Post article and posted them ALL OVER the office! I asked Teddra (receptionist) who told her to put the message on voicemail. Pat in accounting. This doesn't really surprise me. Pat tends to freak out over the smallest things, and worries needlessly. This is the same woman who is convinced that no one is capable of doing anything, and she has to do everything herself. Last week was the FIRST TIME in (at least) 4 years that she didn't stay until the end of our tree-trimming party to clean up. It took a lot of convincing to get her to believe that we were quite capable of putting the food away, throwing away trash, etc. without her help. Granted, we did do body outlines in tape on the lobby floor, but that was just for fun.

McAnnoying is being annoying today. Shocker. Did I mention that he has a green tweed jacket that he wears everyday, with every single outfit? Today it's particularly awful, because he's wearing a different shade of green checked shirt with the tweed jacket. Probably the most interesting combinations have been the jacket with his purple silk shirt that he wears at least once a week. This guy has the same wardrobe all year long! I mean, there are certain things that I'll wear year-long, but I generally don't wear long-sleeved shirts in the summer. Yep, the purple silk shirt is a summer staple. So is the tweed jacket. He even wore the jacket to the Christmas party. I bet it smells lovely! I think for Christmas we should all pitch in and get him another jacket.

BTW, the Melting Pot was WONDERFUL. Coincidentally, we had the same waitress as before, and didn't refuse to serve us! She definitely remembered us, of course. Kurtis gave her a very generous tip... I'm sure that all is definitely forgiven now, if it wasn't before. :)

this will be quick
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Rants
I made a private/buddy post about my entire experience at dinner last night, but I'll give you the general gist of what happened... and I'm still not happy about it.

I've been wanting to go to the melting pot (fondue restaurant) for a while.. Kurtis thought this would be a good opportunity to go, he thought his mom liked that kind of thing too (she's been here since Thursday visiting us and friends from out of town)... to be nice, he invited his brother Kraig along -- Kraig only likes steak. MP has steak, he says it won't be problem. To make a long story short, it ended up being a problem. There was quite a scene made in the restaurant and I'm going to leave it at that, but I was not pleased at the way certain unnamed people in our party acted. *cough* *cough*

So Kurt and I will be going by ourselves another time. It seems like a really nice place and I'm bitter that things got so screwed up.

Bobby Flay Haters unite!
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: HFS (yeah, you know...)
Topic: Rants
Looks like I'm not the only one who Bobby rubbed the wrong way! Read this article, titled "The Staggering Dicketry of Bobby Flay"... here's an excerpt from the article: And then there's Bobby Flay. Host of the long-running programs "Hot off the Grill with Bobby Flay" and "FoodNation," Flay is the successful chef-owner of Manhattan hotspots Bolo and Mesa Grill, and a core member of the Food Network's stable of talent.

He is also a total dick.

Bobby Flay is arrogant and unpleasant, cocky and dismissive. He isn't just the biggest dick on the Food Network, he is the only dick on the Food Network, and the absence of others makes his offenses seem all the more egregious.

Here are some responses that the author of that article received:

His attitude is puke inducing..."
07-01-03

Hey Alissa, your article about Flay was hilarious! That guy thinks he's the source. I was just explaining to my dad last week what a jerkhole he is, and how pompous he acts on his shows.

His abrasive, obnoxious, New York "I'm better than you" attitude is puke inducing (and that's BEFORE I knew about the Iron Chef incidents -- sounds like he really stepped up and showed a lot of class there as well).

You hit the nail on the head in every respect.

Tony Longo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"As a chef..."
06-25-03

Good distillation of Flay's cooking shows. As a chef, I'm curious to know if you're aware of "dickery" as a general character trait among chefs increasing exponentially as one works their way up ranks of successful restaurants. I seriously believe Bobby shares this attribute with many other FN chefs such as Anthony Bordaine, Mario Batalia and especially Emeril Lagasse. Its just that they do a better job of hiding it.

Why? Because for the most part they are out of their element. Put them in THEIR restaurant and they become bossy, demanding, mean assholes. If you've seen the episode of two aspiring chefs bumbling around in Babbo's restaurant as they try amid the jeers and jabs of Batali and his underlings to reproduce dishes on Babbo's menu, you'll see exactly what I mean.

Have a great day and keep writing.

Tony Gill

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Bobby has friends...?"
06-25-03

Two questions, "Bobby has friends?" and "Does the Food Network pay them?"

I am just trying to find a gig and food lackey sounded interesting.

Rodney Fleisher


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That's Flay's basic charm..."
06-19-03

Of course you're right, but to that I say, what's your point? That's Flay's basic charm (such that it is), that he's an arrogant, extremely American asshole. The Food Channel needs such dicketry (is that a word), if only to give its programming some texture. I far prefer his kind of strutting bitchiness to Emeril and his group of high fat rowdies, who never saw a dish that couldn't be improved by tossing in another stick of butter or a cup of heavy cream, all orchestrated to the hoo-ya, fist-pumping chants of his studio audience. Anyway, enjoyed the article, thanks.

Mike Backus, NYC


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"I remember his rematch vs. Morimoto..."
06-19-03

Thank you for flaying Mr. Flay. I remember how, in his rematch vs. Morimoto, he won by basically just opening a bottle of his trademark spice blend and rubbing it on whatever the theme ingredient was. And they still gave it to him, just to keep up appearances. Maybe you can do the same to Nigella Lawson next?

Nick Sywak


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I printed the article..."
06-19-03

Best article I have read all year!

You hit it on the head! Well for the exception of Rachel Ray. She is annoying with her YUMMMS and her thumbs up but she still is fun to watch and informative!

I am sure you would have liked to say in your article that BF is a MF but I know you can't print that. Just wanted you to know I printed the article and it will be displayed prominently on my fridge to read while I cook better than Bobby.

Peggy Truksis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I cannot beleive what a huge ass that guy is..."
06-19-03

I read your article on Bobby Flay and could not agree more. I am a regular watcher of Food TV and cannot beleive what a huge ass that guy is. A total fraud.

Jim

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I met Bobby Flay when he came through Milwaukee..."
06-19-03

Alissa,

That was a phenomenal article, roasting him golden in the gonads. I met Bobby Flay when he came through Milwaukee shooting his FoodNation thingie at a friend's place. We brought all the beer and my husband was interviewed by Bobby on the show. We were all anticipating a fab, fun afternoon with the man, but we saw the food star only. Mugged for the camera, publicity shots, but other than that, cardboard the rest of the time. I thought he would have genuinely enjoyed the outdoor cue, but apparently it was a bit of a burden or letdown or both. You nailed it right, thank God for honest journalists that don't have to kiss ass to anyone!

May in Milwaukee

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kudos..."
06-19-03

Kudos on a great article about Bobby Flay -- I referenced it in my blog today. He is a total dick.

-- Jenn

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's uncanny how you have captured FoodTV..."
06-19-03

Dear Alissa,

A friend of mine just e-mailed me a copy of the article you wrote on Bobby Flay and all of his dicketry. Besides the fact that I love adding a new word to my vocabulary, I am writing to tell you how much I enjoyed the article and your writing style. It's uncanny how you have captured FoodTV. I have frequent conversations with a friend (the friend that sent me your article) about various programs. Whenever either one of us mentions Mr. Flay, the other will undoubtedly respond, "Bobby Flay is such a dick." Enough said.

The satisfaction that you have provided by siding with us is more valuable than saffron!

Regards,
D. Darlington, a new FAN!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You touched a nerve..."
06-18-03

Alissa, you pretty much told bobby flay to suck it.

Good call.

I think you touched a nerve with a lot of people who wanted to say the same things, but just didn't quite know how to say them without getting all choked up with feelings of nausea and disgust. Most people can only bring themselves to shout curse words when describing Mr. Flay.

Good article,

-- Donnie Boman

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You were SO RIGHT..."
06-18-03

Oh, Alissa,

I just stumbled upon your writing on the personalitites of the Food TV -- you were SO RIGHT!

I simply could not agree more with you -- in fact, I stopped watching FoodTV long ago, because I cannot stand some of their "regulars". The good people are long gone. I don't know if you used to watch Taste by David Rosengarten, now THAT was a good show. Two Hot Tamales, another great learning experience....

But your assessment of Bobby Flay is simply PERFECT.

I do wish that the people making decisions on FoodTV would swallow your words, digest them properly, and DO SOMETHING TO IMPROVE THE CHANNEL!

Thanks a million!

Keep up your excellent work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm inspired to write to the Food Network..."
06-17-03

Thank you VERY much for exposing that snob who embodies everything I hate about New Yorkers. Only wish you hadn't stooped to kissing his butt in the last couple of paragraphs.

I'm inspired to write to the Food Network asking them to axe him now that I know I'm not the only person who's noticed his disrespect of true experts in their fields and his egomania.

Bravo!



God this is funny....

Try out Bitter Waitress... it has a collection of rants about famous people from waitresses... freaking hilarious!!! You can read about the crappy tips that they've gotten.. they have a whole database.

If you Google "Hate Bobby Flay" you will come up with an insane number of sites...Results 1 - 10 of about 4,490 for hate Bobby Flay. (0.20 seconds)

The Anti-Bobby
... 33. lemur down under Join Date: January 10, 2002 My personal website, if you do
a search on "i hate bobby flay" on google you get me at #2, I think :). 34. ...
www.ringsurf.com/netring?action=info&ring=bobbyflay - 36k - Cached - Similar pages

A Joshua Tree In Every Pot: Review of Bobby Flay's Bolo
August 07, 2003. Review of Bobby Flay's Bolo. I hate Bobby Flay. I hate
his TV show. I hate the way he makes fun of his co-hosts. ...
www.quartzcity.net/blog/archives/ 2003/08/07/review_of_bobby_flays_bolo.html - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

Flak Magazine: Letters for The Staggering Dicketry of Bobby Flay ...
... But your assessment of Bobby Flay is simply PERFECT. ... Thank you VERY much for exposing
that snob who embodies everything I hate about New Yorkers. ...
flakmag.com/about/lettersflay070203.html - 22k - Nov 8, 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Flak Magazine: The Staggering Dicketry of Bobby Flay, 06.17.03
... The Staggering Dicketry of Bobby Flay Food Network ... Reader Email "I met Bobby Flay
when he came through Milwaukee..." This, and many more Flay letters ?. ...
flakmag.com/tv/flay.html - 25k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from flakmag.com ]

The Amateur Gourmet: Food Network Maraton: 11:30-12:00, Hot Off ...
... I hate Bobby Flay. He is so arrogant. It still makes me mad that he won the rematch
against Morimoto on Iron Chef. It was fixed I tell you! Fixed! ...
www.amateurgourmet.com/the_amateur_gourmet/ 2004/08/food_network_ma_4.html - 36k - Cached - Similar pages

The Anti-Bobby
... My site...with an anti-bobby flay page; lemur down under My personal website, if
you do a search on "i hate bobby flay" on google you get me at #2, I think :). ...
www.ringsurf.com/ netring?ring=bobbyflay;id=1;action=next5 - 3k - Cached - Similar pages


Booby Faly Hot off the Grill and Food Nation
... Flay, Bobby. Bobby Flay who hosts Hot of the Grill and FoodNation is a very accomplished
and very controversial chef. People either love him or hate him. ...
primetimetv.about.com/od/bobbyflayshows/ - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

The Anti-Bobby Flay Webring
Why do we hate Flava Flay? Read on: Allez Cusine: Iron Chef; Bah (Bobby Flay); Fillet
Flay! Bobby "Corndog" Flay Do you dislike Flay too? He is NOT a real Chef. ...
monkeeschat.com/three/bobby.html - 4k - Cached - Similar pages

A Waist of Time
... In fact, I said, "I hate Bobby Flay with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns."
I don't remember where that line originated, but it has always been a ...
www.hungovergourmet.com/ archive/2003_04_01_waistoftime.html - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

A Joshua Tree In Every Pot: August 2003 Archives
... August 07, 2003. Review of Bobby Flay's Bolo. I hate Bobby Flay. I hate
his TV show. I hate the way he makes fun of his co-hosts. ...
www.quartzcity.net/blog/archives/2003_08.html - 38k - Cached - Similar pages


Well, I think you get the idea. I'm not alone in my feelings!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants
I've got PMS and a hand grenade -- any questions?!?!!?

I'm trying to do this assignment for English and I am getting so pissed off! The stupid book has the line numbers all wrong, so the line numbers probably aren't going to be quoted right, and I'm trying to do this, and then Kurtis is asking me what's for dinner!?!? Why couldn't he ask me EARLIER?? So then I had to stop in the middle of a thought -- which isn't coming easily for me right now because my brain has stopped functioning --- and discuss what we're having for dinner. I could care LESS about what's for dinner, my main focus right now is to get this assignment done, which, by the way wasn't originally on the syllabus, it's just one of those surprise homework assignments... it was supposed to just be to read acts 3-5, which I could have dealt with. I HATE SHAKESPEARE!!! Why are they still teaching this crap anyway, it's 400 years old!!??!!? We're reading Othello, by the way. So now, here I am, pissed off, trying to do this measly 300 word assignment and I am STUCK. Oh, and did I mention pissed off? Funny, my shortest entries on my blog are usually more than 300 words, but I can't do this 300 word thing. Argh.

I'm just going to try to finish it tomorrow at work, I don't see myself finishing it tonight.

I'm just so frustrated because I've done so much analysis, and I work so hard at it, and I'm getting A's on everything... it's just that I assume that she's assigning this CRAP because some of the morons show up late to class, or don't bother coming at all, or don't care need extra work to understand what they're supposed to be doing. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHR:LDIKFJSD{"OPRIFJWEDOPIHJWE{TOFRHI

Okay, I'm done.

Still pissed off, though.