Detroit Diva

Tonight was my first hour long cardio challenge class at the Y. The instructor was working our butts off and even though it was hard, I was liking it. Right up until about 45 minutes into it when I passed out. Yes, literally passed out. Talk about embarrassing. We were doing squats while holding dumbbells and all of a sudden I felt dizzy. I just thought maybe I needed a drink of water so I walked over to my water bottle and woke up on the floor with the instructor leaning over me.  She was really nice but kept saying things to me like "When you're not used to working out..." Which was really depressing considering I work out 6 days a week and have for almost 2 years now and not to mention the 1/2 marathon I did last fall.  Anyway, now I don't know whether I should be worried or not considering I've never passed out in my life and I don't know if I should go back to the class where I will forever be known as the chick who passed out.  Maybe I should just stick to the treadmill. Maybe I should go to the doctor. I feel perfectly fine now so maybe it was some weird fluke thing.  But for now, I'm going to watch the premiere of the new season of The Amazing Race.

Happy Fat Tuesday!  One of my co-worker's brought in Paczki (pronounced punch-key) which are a Polish tradition on this day. They are basically giant lumps of dough filled with jam or creme and rolled in sugar or glaze and containing too many calories to count but quickly neutralized by drinking a diet coke.  They are giant lumps of goodness and in Metro Detroit, they sell hundreds and hundreds today, which is one reason why we are continually ranked as one of the fattest cities in the country. Mmmm, mmmm.

As if the whole Detroit City Council & the Detroit Zoo thing wasn't bad enough, it has now taken an ugly turn. Earlier this week, the State of Michigan offered the City $4 million to help save the Zoo. The State put a deadline on accepting the money which compelled black Councilwoman Barbara Rose Collins to respond, "Blacks aren't owned by white folks anymore." That remark led L. Brooks Patterson, old white guy and Oakland County Michigan Executive (that's his official title and I have no idea what he does), to respond "Barbara-Rose Collins has distinguished herself this week saying Detroit is not a plantation. That should tell you about the person you're dealing with. I've been saying that I'd rather own a 1947 Buick than own Barbara-Rose Collins." And that led black Councilman Kwame Kenyatta, to call L. Brooks Patterson, "Grand Dragon of Oakland County."  Oh yes, folks, we made it through the SuperBowl without incident only to embarrass ourselves by making an innocent part of childhood a racist event.  Looks like the Zoo thing won't be resolved soon or at least not until more disturbing words are flung.

The Governor of South Dakota is about to sign into law a ban on abortion. Any doctor who performs an abortion that isn't necessary to save a woman's life could be sent to prison for up to 5 years. If you are a woman in the state of South Dakota who is the victim of rape or incest or just want control over your own body, you are sol.

I typically try not to say negative things about Detroit on this site but I have something to say to the Detroit City Council:  What the fuck is wrong with you?  The Detroit Zoo is owned and operated by the City of Detroit (and is visited by 1 million people each year). The financially strapped City is cutting funds left and right and one of the places it's cutting from is the Zoo.  The City has the opportunity to retain ownership of the Zoo but turn over the management to the Detroit Zoological Society, and although it would cost the city some money, it would supposedly save money in the long run.  What do the dumbasses at the City Council do? They reject the offer which means that the Zoo will most likely close.  Way to go DCC! The Mayor supports the agreement, by the way, which is probably why the Council voted it down.  The DCC and Kwame have never been able to work together.  I am so upset - the Zoo I have been going to since I was a kid and still go to every summer will be closed because of the idiots on the DCC. Detroit City Council - You SUCK!

Just finished watching the Constant Gardner with Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.  Bloody brilliant!

I love the song Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge and it turns out that Joaquin Phoenix has directed the video for the tune. Watch it here.

Have you seen the trailer for the new Will Farrell movie, Talledega Nights: Ballad of Ricky Bobby? Will plays a race car driver with 2 sons  - you've got to watch the clip just to find out their names. Too damn funny. 

Have you ever noticed that when you save a website to your favorites file that sometimes you get the Microsoft Explorer E next to the name of the website and sometimes you get a picture of some sort? I've always wondered why that was and how I could get one and now I know. You create it yourself at Favicon and it's super easy. You can use a picture of any sort, photo, drawing, etc., save it to your computer, go to Favicon, upload the pic and licketysplit, they create a little icon for you. You have to upload it to your blogging program bt that was really easy, too. With Typepad, I went to help, typed in icons and got a page called "Adding a Personalized Icon to your Weblog'.  Way too easy. So now, if you add me to your favorites (and I am one of your favorites, right?) you'll get a little Old English D (yes, I know it's original) next to the title. Cool!

I stole this from Moby (Moby - feel free to come to my house and bust me or I will be coming to Teany sometime St. Patrick’s Day weekend), who took it from the Daily Show. It's hysterical.

With no word from Cheney, "The Daily Show" stands in.
Dick Cheney still hasn't appeared in public to
discuss his accidental shooting of a 78-year-old man,
but there are plenty of people willing to speak on
the veep's behalf -- among them, Comedy Central's Rob
Corddry. Playing the role of a "vice president
firearms mishap analyst," Corddry explained it all
Monday night for "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart:

Stewart: Rob, obviously a very unfortunate situation.
How is the vice president handling it?

Corddry: Jon, tonight the vice president is standing
by his decision to shoot Harry Whittington. According
to the best intelligence available, there were quail
hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time
there were quail in the brush. And while the quail
turned out to be a 78-year-old man, even knowing that
today, Mr. Cheney insists he still would have shot
Mr. Whittington in the face. He believes the world is
a better place for his spreading buckshot throughout
the entire region of Mr. Whittington's face.

Stewart: But why, Rob? If he had known Mr.
Whittington was not a bird, why would he still have
shot him?

Corddry: Jon, in a post-9/11 world, the American
people expect their leaders to be decisive. To not
have shot his friend in the face would have sent a
message to the quail that America is weak.

Stewart: That's horrible.

Corddry: Look, the mere fact that we're even talking
about how the vice president drives up with his rich
friends in cars to shoot farm-raised wingless quail-
tards is letting the quail know "how" we're hunting
them. I'm sure right now those birds are laughing at
us in that little "covey" of theirs.

Stewart: I'm not sure birds can laugh, Rob.

Corddry: Well, whatever it is they do -- coo --
they're cooing at us right now, Jon, because here we
are talking openly about our plans to hunt them. Jig
is up. Quails one, America zero.

Sorry about the screwy formating but I can't figure out how to fix it.