David Cook and the Anthemic Borgata Hotel and Casino

I am fully aware that I have been severely slacking when it comes to blogs lately. There haven’t been as many as usual and, furthermore, the quality hasn’t been up to par. I do apologize for this but, today marks the one year anniversary of the last time I saw David Cook live and since I have written about all the other artists I’ve seen since starting this blog, I thought today would be a great time to go back and reminisce.To Start off, the picture at the top is the only picture I have taken that every band member was in, and something about it makes it one of my favorite photos have have ever taken*.

David Cook

Andy Skib

Guitar, Keyboard, Backup Vocals

Kyle Peek
Drums

Monty Anderson
Basist

Neal Tiemann
Lead Guitar

You may recall, I spoke about my first trip to Atlantic City (which was March 2009) in Life of a David Cook fan. Luckily, in September I managed to not vomit before boarding the bus, always a plus, but it didn’t mean the trip went off without a hitch. The plan was that we wouldn’t get a hotel room to save money, after all we barely used it in March anyway. After an amazing performance and random slot playing, this “genius” ideas was not turning out well. Here we were, exhausted and room-less when all of a sudden we saw someone roaming around looking as weary as we were, Monty Anderson.



He had a nice chat with us, joked that his room was free when we told him how much a room at the Borgata cost, and then we sent him off to get fat burger because he was tired (not pissed off which is how he identified himself in this picture) and, even more hungry. About a half hour later, we gave in and got the after midnight half (ridiculously) priced room and as we were heading up to the elevator, Monty saw us and yelled, "Night Ladies," holding up his bag of fast food. We in turn laughed and waved our key. We had all given in to temptation.


*For All Pictures of this concert:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063413&id=46304571&l=2fa6370f06
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063543&id=46304571&l=d584de0e57
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063596&id=46304571&l=258f714034

Dirty Dancing: A Lifetime Love Affair

As early as I can remember, Dirty Dancing was my favorite movie. While other little girls were watching THE LITTLE MERMAID on repeat, I wanted to go fall in love in the Catskills in the 1960s. I wanted to be Baby and I used to dance around the house to TIME OF MY LIFE and pretend that Patrick Swayze was my boyfriend. I was probably still in Preschool but that didn’t matter; I knew that that was what I wanted love to be like when I grew up. What could be more romantic than leaping into your dancer boyfriend’s arms and have him mouth the words to a love song to you as an entire auditorium danced around you?

I obviously didn’t understand many of the other things that happened in the film like illegal abortions, sleazy waiters sleeping around, or what exactly Johnny Castle did to Baby after they danced shirtless in his bedroom. Those realizations came later in life but it didn’t change my thoughts and I continue to count the movie in my favorites, and probably always will.

In my mind Dirty Dancing will always be one of the greatest love stories that has ever been told and perhaps it has ruined me a bit for real life romance. To this day, whenever I have on a nice dress, there is still a part of me that wants to be lifted off of a stage so I can run to my waiting lover’s arms as Jerry Orback realizes that he was wrong and that he really is a good man for me.

One week in

Having a puppy is like having a baby, in fact basically everything with nannying applies with Graham, and I figured I should update you on our first week.



House Training:
Graham does not use the wee wee pad. All "incidences" that occurred happened near it, but never on it. The good news, when researching how to get a puppy to use the product I learned that they are actually counter productive to house training because, when a dog is praised for using the pad, he or she learns it is okay to bathroom inside the house.

Also, Graham isn't that bad with accidents. He makes it all day without any problems. The only issue we have is that, when he wakes up in the morning, he is excited to see people and play and he piddles. Until he learns bladder control this will probably continue.

Walks:
Graham loves walks! He still doesn't use the stairs but he enjoys sniffing and prancing around and, as Cavapoos are dogs who love to please, gets very excited when he is praised for using the outside as a bathroom. He no longer is scared to cross the street.

Sleeping:
The excitement leading to piddles when Graham saw humans thing meant that every time my father (who is the first person up everyday, but not the one who would be giving Graham his first walk) would get up there would be an accident. To rectify this situation and allow Graham to sleep later, training guides said the answer was crate training. Unfortunately Graham cried when in the crate so that was not going to happen.

The problem has been rectified by keeping him in my bedroom on his purple pillow. He sleeps through the night, unless I have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, but then I quickly corral him back in. The adjustment was simple for him but it is odd for me as Britney and DJ never ever slept in my bedroom. However, since he's happy and (knock-wood) behaves all night, it is not a problem for me.

Toys:
Graham loves to play. I believe humans are actually his favorite toys but he also has a stuffed crayon which he likes to drag around sometimes, A stuffed squeaky cow that he loves to run around with in his mouth, a pink tennis ball that he (kind of) fetches, a big pacifier he mostly ignores, a squeaky sheep from my bosses that he throws around and hides, and a Miss Piggy head that he goes crazy for and often looses under furniture.

I feel a bit jipped

Ever since I was a little girl in Ruby Red shoes there has always been a strange curiosity about tornadoes. I know they are destructive but they are a bit mythical too, at least for a little girl from New York City. I can imagine in the Midwest they can become a bit tiresome. Apparently, when I was a baby, I was on a plane that was being trailed by one but other than that, my tornadoes have been limited to L. Frank Baum and Michael Crichton (author of Twister.)

So yesterday, there I was on my way home from Jamba Juice when what happened but I was caught in my very first Tornado and do you know what? I thought it was just a thunder storm until the news reported it was actually a tornado. The winds picked up and it began to rain a bit and then the sky ripped in two and I got soaked but I didn’t see any funnel cloud ( I know because Lauren said, “it looks like a tornado or something,” and I began to watch the sky.)

I didn’t get to say, “GiGi I don’t think we’re in Chelsea anymore!” You would think at the very least, when I got back indoors a “Wicked” poster would’ve flown passed the window but that didn’t happen either. When it was all over, I was still on the New York side of the rainbow; there was no big green city; or color changing horses (or dogs for that matter); I had not befriended any wild beasts, straw men, or a tin fellow; and nobody traveling via bubble gave me as a pair of shoes that look amazing and are comfortable on long walks!

Gosh, it’s like you can’t believe everything you read or something. Now if you’ll excuse me, Graham and I will be in the closet trying to figure out which way it is to Narnia.

In which I become a tennis fan and David Cook heals a baby

I played tennis in elementary school, and I was rather good. Not go pro good but definitely able to hold a relatively competitive match and had a decent chance of winning, good. Because I had this prior experience I then took tennis in college because it was an easy A and it would boost my freshmen GPA. This is the extent of my Tennis knowledge and I could care less about watching it as a sport. That was until I found out a few weeks ago that David Cook would be performing “America the Beautiful” at the men’s final which was scheduled for yesterday.

Now to say that I was excited was an understatement. I really love “America the Beautiful” and I was going to be able to see Cook for the first time over a month. I had, since realizing that US Open tickets are too expensive to buy for a 4 minute performance, planned to be home at 4pm on September 12^th and there was nothing that could make me break that promise to myself. However, yesterday in New York was rainy so 4 was pushed back to 4:45, 5:15, 5:45, and then 6:30 before the game, and therefore the performance, was postponed until today at 4. Luckily, Cook was able to spend the extra day in New York and I decided that I would do my best to be inside Ms Baby’s apartment.

Being inside for several minutes is normally not an issue as there are a lot of toys and normally 4 is between feedings and after second nap. Today was more complicated (I mean it wouldn’t be worth seeing him if there was no challenge) because Ms Baby is being terrorized by some very large and even meaner molars but miraculously we managed to be in the apartment and while she was a bit fussy, as long as I held her, there was no screaming. I became rather excited to hear the introduction, and better still is, as soon as the first note came across the air, Ms Baby stopped wiggling and fussing and just looked at the screen smiling. Much like he has done for me many times, David Cook provided her anodyne.

I mean really who could blame her?

Not surprisingly, I now have a new favorite version of my favorite patriotic song and I do believe Cook has a new tiny fan.

Red Bull, now I get the wings thing

"Red Bull, It Gives You Wings," I'm sure you've heard the slogan a thousand times but, acording to the information below, apparently the wings are actually because you are dead. Or perhaps you think you can fly because it is a hallucinogen.

I tried the God-aweful drink once when my cousin (who has a faulty heart and really shouldn't be drinking it, which I told him, since it is apparently better than 10 cups of coffee) asked if I wanted to taste. Luckily I didn't like it, I much prefer my coffee over any other "Awake" product. I have also never had Red Bull and Vodka because I hate both drinks but it is (or was) a very popular drink with the college crowd.

So here's your PSA for this weekend:

France & Denmark have banned it from the country...

Do NOT drink this drink anymore!!

Pay attention; read it all.

As a public health safety, please pass on this email to all the contacts in your address book especially those with teenage children?

This drink is SOLD in all the supermarkets IN OUR country and our children ARE CONSUMING IT ON A TRIAL BASIS, IT can be mortal.
RED BULL was created to stimulate the brains in people who are subjected to great physical force and in stress coma and never to be consumed like an innocent drink or soda pop.

RED BULL IS the energizer DRINK that is commercialized world-wide with its slogan:’ it increases endurance; awakens the concentration capacity and the speed of reaction, offers more energy and improves the mood. All this can be found in a can of RED BULL, the power drink of the millennium.

'RED BULL has managed to arrive at almost 100 countries worldwide. The RED BULL logo is targeted at young people and sportsmen, two attractive segments that have been captivated by the stimulus that the drink provides.

It was created by Dietrich Mateschitz, an industrialist of Austrian origin who discovered the drink by chance. It happened during a business trip to Hong Kong, when he was working at a factory that manufactured toothbrushes.

The liquid, based on a formula that contained caffeine and taurine, caused a rage in that country. Imagine the grand success of this drink in Europe where the product still did not exist, besides it was a superb opportunity to become an entrepreneur.

BUT THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS DRINK IS ANOTHER THING:

FRANCE and DENMARK have just prohibited it as a cocktail of death, due to its vitamin components mixed with GLUCURONOLACTONE’, a highly dangerous chemical, which was developed by the United States Department of Defense during the sixties to stimulate the moral of the troops based in VIETNAM, which acted like a hallucinogenic drug that calmed the stress of the war.

But their effects in the organism were so devastating, that it was discontinued, because of the high index of cases of migraines, cerebral tumors and diseases of the liver that was evident in the soldiers who consumed it.

And in spite of it, in the can of RED BULL you can still find as one of its components: GLUCURONOLACTONE, categorized medically as a stimulant.. But what it does not say on the can of, RED BULL is the consequences of its consumption, and that has forced us to place a series of WARNINGS:

1. It is dangerous to take it if you do not engage in physical exercise afterwards, since its energizing function accelerates the heart rate and can cause a sudden attack.

2. You run the risk of undergoing a cerebral hemorrhage, because RED BULL contains components that dilute the blood so that the heart utilizes less energy to pump the blood, and thus be able to deliver physical force with less effort being exerted.

3. It is prohibited to mix RED BULL with alcohol, because the mixture turns the drink into a “Deadly Bomb” that attacks the liver directly, causing the affected area never to regenerate anymore.

4. One of the main components of RED BULL is the B12 vitamin, used in medicine to recover patients who are in a coma; from here the hypertension and the state of excitement which is experienced after taking it, as if you were in a drunken state.

5. The regular consumption of RED BULL triggers off symptoms in the form a series of irreversible nervous and neuronal diseases.

CONCLUSION: It is a drink that should be prohibited in the entire world as when it is mixed with alcohol it creates a TIME BOMB for the human body, mainly between innocent adolescents and adults with little experience.