Suzanne Calling

Thank God for iPod Ed noticed it first. "Your car radio is broken." My response was "No it's not. I get my stations just fine." It wasn't until I wanted to find the local NPR affiliate that I realized that he was right. The combination of the funky Beetle antenna and the unforgiving Florida sun have conspired against us listening to more than the three stations I prefer. The offending article. I think I've mentioned before that my car is what VW called the Satellite Blue special edition. It came with a year's subscription to XM and something very unusual for the time, an iPod jack in the dash. No dopey adapter setups for me-my car has a plug! The rarely seen factory installed 2004 in-dash iPod plug A plug that for a long time did not work. It took a year for me to discover this, as Ed bought me an iPod for Christmas 2005. VW probably has since corrected the issue, but it was my complaint for four or five visits to the dealer that the thing ST...

There's a quiz going around on Facebook for the past month or so. In it, you create a questionnaire about yourself. Mine is very tough. No one has scored 100% on it, so perhaps it's a little TOO tough on my friends. But for fun, I'll put some of the questions up here and it will probably give you a little bit more of a glimpse into who I am. Where did Ed and I meet? a) Bar hopping on LI b) the Mall c) At Nassau d) At a Hess gas station e) At Jones Beach Which band have I seen in concert six times? a) Rush b) Squeeze c) Depeche Mode d) U2 e) Marillion Which is not one of my hobbies? a) Blogging b) Gardening c) Photography d) Cooking e) Reading Of these activities, name the one I didn't do in high school: a) Swim team b) Choir c) Drama d) Newspaper e) Yearbook Which topping will not be on my pizza? a) Pepperoni b) Olives c) Onions d) Peppers e) Pesto 8) What is my all time favorite comfort food? a) R...

When I was a kid, the first day of school would start with telling about what you did on your summer vacation. It's funny, I can remember one classmate's trip to Walt Disney World in 2nd grade, with a detour to Georgia. A few years later, someone came back with a Hawaii '75 shirt. At the time, my summers were full of fun, riding bikes with friends, playing in the big woods off the Campgrounds and just generally having a good time. A trip somewhere would have been the icing on the cake of summer. The summer I was headed into fifth grade, Dad announced he was taking us younger four on vacation for a couple of days. The day was packed with fun, but the trip was supposed to be four days in upstate NY. Thanks to Ramada for screwing up the reservations, we arrived back home about 24 hours after departure. The following year, my dad opted for a different hotel chain and a different destination with three kids this time. Inspired by watching the movie "Rollercoaster...

The title is inspired by Chef Jr (soon to be a Double Digit Dude), who wanted to play the Lawyer Eyes game tonight. You'll understand why soon. When we first moved to Florida, it astounded us how many billboards have pictures of the professional who is advertising for business. As long as I've had the blog, I have been thinking I needed to take pictures of some of these billboards, because they probably do the opposite of what the professional intended. For instance, there is a lawyer who we call the "Possessed by the devil axe murdering lawyer" because he is not smiling a warm, welcoming smile in supersize on these signs. Rather, his expression says "I am going to cut you up into little pieces when I'm done taking the picture." Sorry, if you can't smile with your eyes as well as your mouth, stick with the stoic look. (Maybe he looks harmless in small, pixelated form. Imagine this in 5 foot by 5 foot, staring DOWN at you while you wait for tha...

Two classes down, yippee!!!! It's a good feeling to head into a final and know that a grade of 80 or better assured me of an A in the course. As a result, I didn't sweat the few questions that were really tough. Yes, I got a few wrong. Contrary to Ed's belief, I am not part cyborg. The score on the final: 92. The grade in the class: With a 95 overall average, I am well in the A camp. GPA for this semester: 4.0 . Squeeeeeeee!

Living with a child on the Autism spectrum, you learn to dread certain things. Summer breaks. school vacations. going to sleep. The first two, because any alteration in the routine is a recipe for trouble. The third, because you never know what havoc your child will cause while you try to recharge your body from the stresses the child has caused all day long. In our case, as Game Teen has aged, some things have improved, but it's a given that the lack of a rigid schedule during school breaks means that he is going to nag you incessantly for games, get more game time and as a result, become more of a pain in the ass. If you cut back the games, well, he will make your life a living hell, bugging you every 2.5 minutes "Can I play?" The child does not know how to interpret the increasing frustration in anyone's voice, so he will nag/monologue/drive you to insanity to the point that he's punished and doesn't fathom why you've told him fifty times to STOP, da...

Week Five: the halfway point of this season's Next Food Network Star. Who has made some improvements and should go on and who should have been left behind? We shall soon find out. The remaining six enter the Food Network kitchens. Now it's crunch time-they need to show that they can cook ON camera. This trips up the most seasoned of contenders. The six watch a video of Rachael Ray to find out challenge one for the week: take something that isn't normally considered kid-friendly and make it so kids will like it. Who better to judge this than kids? Debbie and Katie are given squid to prepare, Jeffrey and Jamika tofu, and Michael and Melissa brussel sprouts. They have two minutes to present to camera on what they did to make their dish appeal to the pickiest palates. A panel of three kids, Rachel and Bobby will taste the food and the team of judges will rate their on camera performances. Not expressly stated, but implied is that the FN panel will be looking for poin...