I Went to My Town.

Yep, this weekend I was in my town, aka BeanTown, i.e., Boston. I've always loved Boston and have wanted to live there forever, but this time, not so much.

It was in the 90's, stifling, it smelled and we got stuck in Old North Church for over an hour during a horrendous thunderstorm with rain and hail.

Sunday, we went to Fenway Park for the Police Concert. Go to this link to see us there. Look good don't we? Concert was good, except Mr. Bean says they messed up a lot. Also, they made changes to a bunch of songs which we didn't like. Seems to me that if fans are paying $100+ per ticket, they should play the songs the way we want to hear them. Some agree with us; and some don't as you can also see here.

I'm Done.

Well, my book relationship with good ol' Harry is done. I finished it at 6:05 a.m. No, I didn't stay up all night reading it. I woke up at 4:45 a.m. and finished the book.

Don't worry, no spoilers here. But I will say that I really enjoyed it, was happy with the ending, and can't wait to see the movie. I will miss, however, reading the stories and anticipating each new book's arrival.

Now, I need to see the movie for Book 5.

I will make a prediction. I believe that J.K. Rowling will miss the series so much that she will go "Star Wars" on the book and do a "prequel" showing the lives of Harry's parents, Sirius, Snape and of course Tom Riddle. And I would be one of the first in line to buy those books.

But for now, I'll wait for Hogwart's to be built in Universal. And if anyone has any recommendation for books in a similar vein, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks Rowling, for a great ride.

Yes, I'm One of the 1.2 Million . . .

who bought the latest Harry Potter book this weekend. I have the previous six (except for the first which was loaned to a now "former" friend who has not returned it) and have read them all. And I'm currently on page 350 of the 7th.

But to be honest, I wish I hadn't started reading it yet. I wanted to savor it, look at the cover and anticipate reading it when I felt the time was right. Yes, I'm one of those people. I like to keep birthday and christmas presents in their boxes for as long as I can before I use the item. I like to savor it. I like to keep the newness of it. It drives Mr. Bean crazy b/c he wants to use the new item asap. And it drives him even more crazy if it's something he gave me. He just doesn't get it that, for me, part of the fun of the new item is to keep it nice and new for awhile. For example, I got an awesome purse from my SIL Christmas 2005 that I just started using January 2007. I got a great WDW bag in October 2006 that I haven't used yet. The longer I wait to use an item, the more it shows I like it.

An even better example for this topic is the 6th Book of Harry Potter. I bought it the first day it was being sold in 2005. When did I read it? A couple of weeks ago on my Adirondack vacation - and yes I loved it.

So, here I am reading a book I really didn't want to read right now and wanted to savor having the new book first. And it frustrates me - don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it immensely; but I really wanted to savor the anticipation of using it. But b/c of reviews and spoilers, etc., I'm too afraid NOT to read it b/c I don't want to find out what happens without reading it myself.

So thanks to those of you who are attempting to ruin the books for others. I'm now being forced to read a book I wanted to savor until at least 2009.

TGIF and other Musings

Well, first full week back from vacation. Aren't they the worst? Not only do you have to do that week's work, you have to make up the previous week's lack of work. So this week was long, stressful and exhausting. I would say I now need another vacation; but considering how the last one went, I think I will pass.

And I know that next week is going to be even worse.

On a happier note, Mr. Bean and I are going to Boston next weekend to join Sting and the gang to listen to a little Police music. Thanks to Priceline, we have a beautiful four star hotel for not much, and it should be a nice time. I'm really looking forward to it. I just hope it doesn't rain as the concert is at Fenway Park.

This weekend, I plan on doing a big fat nothing except possibly working on my tan at the pool. And I may even be too lazy for that. And I have to get veal parm b/c I REALLY want some. YUM!

Well, that's it for this week. I hope something inspiring happens so I can blog about it.

Apprentice, Celebrity Style?

Why won't Donald Trump just go away? I'm sick of his assertions that he had the "number one show", his messed up hair, his feud with Rosie and now I'm stuck hearing him on Sirius radio on commercials asserting he has the best program to teach you how to be rich. Yeah, have a daddy who is rich and leaves you a lot of money. Now pay me my $49.95.

And now, when I at least thought The Apprentice was gone, it's now been revived. And with celebrities? What "celebrities" would possibly want to waste their time to do this show? And who the heck is going to watch it? I, the self professed TV junkie, am bowing out and refuse to watch it. No thank you.

One show I am addicted to, however, is that new Scott Baio show. He is one messed up dude. And I feel like a voyeur learning WAY too much about his "relationship" with Erin Moran and other woman he has used and abused. And I felt something I never thought I would feel for him - I felt pity and sadness. What a sad guy. But he still looks pretty good. That's one show (of many) I refuse to miss!

Rumors of My Demise Have Been Highly Exaggerated!

I know some of you are wondering "where the heck has Bean been?" and some of you could care less at all. For those of you who do, I apologize for not blogging much lately. I feel like I have lost my muse. Nothing is really ticking me off or inspiring me to feel like writing, you know? It's hard to keep up a blog when you can't think of things to write - I have writer's block. I have to write a lot for work which has been EXTREMELY busy; so it's hard to want to come home and do some more of what you did all day at work.

Then this past week was vacation. Normally, Mr. Bean and I have been highly successful and lucky with wonderful vacations. We always say we have a wonderful two weeks while the rest of the time sucks. Not this time. I guess we were due for a crappy vacation. We went to the Adirondacks and dealt with (1) a dead mouse in the toilet; (2) a burst water pipe so we didn't have water for 8 hours; (3) I got food poisoning; (4) it rained a lot; (5) Mr. Bean was a grump. So we came home early and did stuff around the house. A boring vacay and a waste of vacation days. Well, that's life.

So, dear readers (the 2 of you left), I will promise to get inspired and motivated to blog more. It's the least I can do!