survivor =biggest loser

As a sports nut I need to address a situation. With the MLS and LA galaxy's signing of David Beckham few years ago to try to get soccer's profile in America bigger and the sport more popular, here's something that I don't understand...You sign him in a multi year-multi million dollar contract, bitch and moan about the lack of success, the spectator numbers not increasing and him going to AC Milan for the winter break and then when he does deliver and gets his team to the final, you have the final be on a SUNDAY NIGHT at 8:30pm??? What's wrong with Sunday night you ask? Well lemme tell ya. Football, American football is the number one sport in this country...baseball is also big, if not even bigger but the season is over so now it's all bout football...it is played predominantly on Sundays...there's a designated slot for Sunday NIGHT football when the whole country is watching the one and same game, which this week happens to be an Eagles game...there's a designated Monday night slot which has been the same for the past 40 years...those 2 are well known and well watched TV slots...so WHY would MLS have their most important and the final game of the season be on a Sunday night trying to compete against Sunday night football? Die hard football fans who might be otherwise open to watching soccer and maybe be curious about Beckham and the final will not turn channel to soccer while football is on. This is a BAD strategy to try to win more fans...

Speaking of soccer...what the hell is wrong with the ref who allowed France's OT goal??? This very much solidifies the impression that all refs are totally BLIND! or bribed...or both! WTF? Even Thierry Henry said it was a handball...not just ONCE but TWO TIMES?!?!?!?!?! Thankfully Finland was not playing in that game cuz I would have had a heart attack and after I recuperated I would have gone and bunched that ref! I'm sorry Ireland, you will be missed!

ok, moving on... As I was laying in bed last night and couldn't fall asleep I got to thinking...Biggest loser is just like Survivor. Why, you ask? Lemme explain again...They both start with players divided into teams, in survivor into 2, in BL into teams of 2. In the beginning you play as a team, you win as a team and you lose as a team. How well you are able to contribute to your team decided whether you are staying or going home. You have a challenge in which the winning team gets a price, in survivor it starts with food, matches and other important things, with BL it starts with food lessons and dinner from famous chefs...Later on it can be special fun on Survivor, in BL money or vacations. In both shows the teams are re-divided at some point and later on join as one. Then it's everyone for themselves. The game strategy comes into play...Who I don't like? Who is my biggest threat?

There's a second challenge where the prize is either immunity (on both) or weight advantage (on BL). And who ever loses has to send a player home. If you don't perform, you might be going home...if you don't have your alliances in place, you might be going home...And there is always, always backstabbing! Which is probably why these shows are so popular...there are obviously other reasons as well but it's one of the entertaining sides of these shows.

There are usually 2 types of contestants in these shows; the players who are there to win the game, win the prize money and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it (both), and the ones who are there for the experience (Survivor)/the ones who want to change their lives (BL). With biggest loser you pretty much can see who's who early on...and the choices you make with your prizes. This season had a major player with Tracy who was there to play the game...she has since gotten the boot. But when you are willing to eat cupcakes during challenges to get the almighty power while you should be trying to change your eating and life habits...where's the big picture?

I got into the show last season when Tiffany was watching it. I didn't see it from the beginning but when I started to follow it I was immediately a Tara fan. She bitched and moaned occasionally about having a big bulls eye on her back (for winning so many challenges and being a big threat for others) but she never lost the sight of the big picture. She was there to change her life, lose the weight, get her life back and she was willing to work her ass off to achieve it. And it wasn't just to get the money, it was for good. In this game, if you don't want to go home, you need to stay above the yellow line and you need to be willing to put the work in. And she did. She didn't win the whole thing but she also looked great at the finale. The winner was underweight...

This season I have felt like I'm cheating on my faves from last season. I don't have a clear cut favorite but I have players I dislike. I guess at this point I will cheer for Amanda as she's from NJ so I'm keeping it local!

Anyway...to get back to why I'm even talking about survivor and BL...you start up with a bunch of players, they play the game, they go through the challenges, they eliminate players and in the end one player wins the prize...and everybody loses weight! Biggest loser changes lives and lifestyles and the players get to or close to their ideal weight...with survivor it's a crash course to losing weight...you don't get to eat much, you're in brutal conditions, you have couple of physical challenges and in the end you go home a skeleton.

As far as ideas go, they are the one and the same...as far as health goes, I'd choose Biggest loser. Even if I had the weight to lose, I would never be able to survive Jillian Michaels and her workouts!

I need to go move the car..alternate side parking here...and then go to the farmers market. Later!

Halloween, this and that and the most amazing dining experience!

So it's been awhile and a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. Our friend Erin had a Halloween party and costumes were mandatory so we decided to go as Vilma Flinstone and Betty Rubble. The Vilma costume wasn't really Tiffany so she wanted to try the Pebbles costume. She ROCKED it! I have never seen anything as funny and cute as her in her costume. You agree? Take a look at the leg warmers and the shorts! they were AWESOME!

The second picture has the Village people, Erin as a construction worker, Christy in her navy white, Tiffany as Pocahontas and Sue as a cowboy...Can't remember the names of the 2 others. We apparently met them last year at Erin's Halloween party as well but I was in so much pain that I can't even remember the people from that party!

The actual Halloween weekend we spent at Tiffany's moms. I got my hair done, we went out for lunch, ran some errands and then headed to Billy and Amanda's to see Carly. She was dressed up as a gold fish...the cutest little goldfish ever! I believe all of you will agree with me when you see the pictures. Carly is the happiest little girl, she calls Tiffany "TiTi" like all the kids do and me "Neni". When she was younger I figured I'll teach her to say my name correctly since no one else will but there is no other Neni's in her life so that name is all mine. She'll learn eventually. We've seen quite a lot of Carly since we go to their house almost every Sunday to watch the Eagles game and Carly hangs out with us. I have no idea what's going on in the game half the time because I am laughing at something she says or does. She more than makes up for the fact that I am not close to my nieces and nephew. It's sad but they are all in Finland and I was never close to my sister or my older brother anyway so I guess it's to be expected. I am friends with my 2 older nieces on facebook and check out the pictures of my brother's kids regularly. But anyway...back to Carly...here are some pictures of her from Halloween and recent weeks.

Aunt Olivia caught a fish!

I don't have patience to play with the settings so the pictures are all over the place.

We spent the evening trick or treating with Tiffany's sisters Olivia and Victoria and a bunch of their cousins and friends. This was my first trick or treat experience. It was little chilly and then towards the end it started to rain but the kids were able to get a lot of candy and they had fun so that's all that matters. It was Olivia's 8th birthday on Sunday so we ended the night with birthday cake.

There is nothing to report on the job hunt front. I am still frustrated with the whole deal but sending resumes and applications left and right. Trying to stay positive...

We did not have plans for this weekend so we stayed home. On Saturday Jaime and Jenn invited us to a local restaurant for pizza. Apparently it's very famous and turned out that it's not far from us at all. There were pictures of famous people on the walls. We had to wait for 20 minutes in the cold to get a table but boy was it worth it! It was an Italian restaurant with an emphasis on pasta. I order chicken parm (chicken breast filee topped with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce), Jaime ordered the same and Tiffany and Jenn ordered rigatoni ala vodka (pasta in a vodka sauce ) and bow tie carbonara (pasta in a cream sauce with bacon and mushroom pieces). As we are sitting there waiting for our food to arrive our waiter brings out this little appetizer plate which had clams in a tomato broth and shrimp. Then the owner of the place comes to our table and tells us that it was part of their special "Chef's table" which included a lot of different appetizers and 4 kinds of entrees for 35 bucks pr person. The couple that was sitting next to our table had it and we were drooling while watching them eat. The owner leaves and them little later on comes back and tells our waiter to bring on 2 plates of appetizers, a shrimp cocktail and baked clams. I heard the word shrimp cocktail and I was in 7th heaven! Our food arrived and I said to Tiffany that I hope they'll bring out the shrimp cocktail because it's now in my head. And they did! There is only one thing that's better than great food and that's great FREE food! OMG all of it was soo good...I had 2 pieces of chicken left to take home and we had little pasta to go with that. But wait, I'm not done yet. After we stuff our faces with all this awesome food the owner comes back and asks our waiter if we ordered dessert. Then he tells him to bring us the dessert plate from the chef's table! OMG. Take a look! (Picture taken with Tiffany's phone) It had tortufo (ball of vanilla ice cream in a dark chocolate cover) covered by some more ice cream, whipped cream, 2 chocolate mousses and 2 brownies! We were super stuffed after that! And then the bill came and it was less that 60 bucks for the 4 of us...15 bucks per person! And then Jenn goes and pays for it! Thanks Jenn!

Oh yeah, we did have some pizza too. Jenn ordered a slice for appetizer so that we could taste it.

Hope you are having a good day. Later