What do you call it?

This very topic is always one in my house. Considering I am a transplant to Ohio. What do you call your carbonated beverages? I have always called it "soda". Here it is called "pop".

The picture below is a breakdown by state and county of what certain demographics call soda.

I find it very interesting as in all of my travels I holds relatively true to this map.

Oprah here I come!!!

Today a wish came true for me... I was finally able to get tickets to the Oprah Show.

My girlfriends and I are going on a weekend trip to Chicago in March and we figured we would try to see Oprah. Tickets were available on February 13th. I was unable to call Friday as I was traveling to Southern Ohio with my boss. I tried ALL day on Friday, including my hubby and one of my girlfriends that is going on our trip.

I was calling on 2 phones approximately 10 calls a minute... Multiply our efforts by a solid 6 hours and yeah, you get the math.

I was very pissed at Oprah yesterday because I was able to get through but missed the voice prompt due to a crabby baby. Ugh... So today I figured I would give it a shot here and there in between work. Ten minutes before I left I was winding down my day and figured what the hell... What do I have to lose? I tried about 6 times. THE PHONE RINGS!!! I couldn't believe it... Today I kept getting an "all circuits busy" message. A message I didn't receive yesterday. So I fully expected the same messages for the remaining 10 minutes of my day. So... back to THE PHONE RINGS!!!

I am prompted by a friendly Oprah Winfrey employee voice. She said if you want ticket reservations, Press 1 -- what I missed yesterday. Now comes the hold music. I text my girlfriends and tell them I got through and told them to pray. At 4pm CST Oprah's phone lines close. With my luck I was totally expecting my call to be dropped. I continue waiting... and waiting...

The hold music changes and an my Oprah Angel, Mark, answers the phone. He tells me what days there are available, all Wednesday's and Thursday's and one Friday. I sigh in disbelief. I am disappointed, but I accept it. I then ask what time she tapes again as I was dumb founded and couldn't remember. I fly into Chicago on a Thursday around 3. I then ask if we could go on a stand-by or a waiting list... I told Mark that this is our only chance... We are away from our hubby's and our babies and it's a girls weekend. Mark then says he has 3 available seats for her morning taping... I damn near jumped through the phone. I told Mark if I could jump through the phone I'd kiss him. Afterwards he took all of our information and gave us instructions for the show and told me he'd "see us at the show". Before I said good-bye I told Mark he was an Angel and I thanked him profusely. He was so pleasant and kind. I can't imagine having to be in that position of having to answer the phone of crazed fans... Perhaps that's why you listen to calming hold music for 20 minutes!

I am *bleeping* excited I can't stand it. Never in a million years did I ever think I'd be given the opportunity to go see her show.

I just won the lottery, literally...

iPod revisited

Back in September 2005 I wrote about iPods. I wrote because I didn't understand the concept of a small "thing" that played music without a tape or a CD.

Well fast forward to now... I own an iPod and I LOVE IT! I finally have grasped the idea of an iPod. I listen to it at work and while I work out at the gym.

And I didn't pay for it. I earned enough points from my bank to get it for FREE!! I love that word.

So cheers to me and joining the new electronic age. So long to carrying around a shit-ton of CD's in the truck and HELLO little iPod.

Never say never...

I am not well versed on politics. In fact essentially what I get is what I catch on FoxNews on my XM to and from work. I may listen on my XM in the office if I am bored with my play list on my *new* iPod.

I must admit I pretty much swore I would never write about politics or religion on here for the pure fact that I don't want to get flamed for my beliefs or views on the world. But hey, what the hell?

Admission #2 - I was a sore loser in November. While I wasn't pro-McCain(the person) I was pro-McCain for the Republican party as a whole. I really liked Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney and wonder what would have happened had their name been on the ballot. I chose the lesser of the "Weenies" who wanted the prestigious title of President.

I know a lot of Republicans voted Democrat because Bush "effed" up the whole economy. But here's my analogy... Much like football the coach gets all of the brunt. If the star quarterback throws 4 interceptions. The teams star wide-receiver fumbles the ball and screws up who gets the blame?? The coach. Essentially there is more than ONE person running this fabulous country we call the United States of America. But ONE person got the blame.

Here are two examples that chaps my ass and I am SO SICK of hearing:

Hurricane Katrina, Bush was blamed, why??? What did he have to do with Mother Nature?? Why didn't the blame and the bad rep go to the local government?? No, it was Bush's fault. Period.

Iraq - Bush kept terrorists at bay from the US by having our soldiers do what they enlisted to do. Fight for OUR country. Now within 16 months Obama is going to pull our troops. For what?? Another Vietnam? How sad after all of these years. It makes me sick. I must say though I wish there was an end to our "War on Terror". I hate that our troops are still in the "Sandbox" and I want them home with their families. I have family and friends who are over there or who have served and I pray daily they come home safely. These men and women enlisted for a reason. Whether it be to follow in the footsteps of their father, to carry on a family tradition, to fight for America, or for a college education. All of our enlistees are serving because they wanted to.

Admission #3 - I honestly thought a black man would ever be elected president in my lifetime. I am not prejudiced at all. But I am a people watcher and watch the idiots who are interviewed on television. I still see such a division of race, everywhere.

After Obama was elected the blacks in my area are interviewed on television saying now Obama is going to fix "everything". What is this man?? Jesus? Come'on. Honestly. Please. We already have government aid available to you if you are eligible. You do not need a black democrat in office to feed you and pay your bills.

Admission #4 - I have told my very good girlfriend during the election that I "Republican" is a swear word to her. She went to the inauguration. I thought it was "insane" mainly because there was a ton of people there and I couldn't handle it. She went there to view history.


Admission #5 - When Obama speaks I think he is trying to sounds like Martin Luther King. I think he is trying to follow in his footsteps.

Admission #6 - When I hear the audio of Obama's Presidential Oath I cringe and I get very sick to my stomach. Hussein shudders through my body and it creates a state of panic. Not that he is Saddam, but the co-relation is enough. The mental images in my head from when Saddam was in power.

Admission #7 - This "Stimulus" package scares the bloody hell out of me. I think my kids and my grandkids are going to be screwed in their adult lives. I was listening to Glen Beck today and he said it right... "This is not a stimulus package it is a spending package."

Our main focus right now needs to be the housing market and jobs. Obama speaks of a stimulus package for small businesses. Ok, sounds great, but how good is the stimulus going to be when all of our countries small businesses are going out of business?? My in-laws own their own business and have been laid off over half of their employees and this has been since November. They do not see business picking up for months. In their 33 years in business this is the worst they have ever seen things. How scary is that?!

I think we need a "Blended Party".... One who is not soley Republican nor Democrat. I think we need to educate our young... America is not a totally socialist country. I work for my money and I would love for nothing more than to keep it. Why do I want to give my hard-earned money to someone else? I have a family and a roof over my head to maintain. If I wanted to support others I would manually sign up for it not be forced into doing it.

I am going to get off of this rant now... I have said enough...