tebow

Gross

Make Your Man a Flamer
Mmmmmmm. Fresh Meat.

Posted by Emily Bryson York

Love a man who smells like grilled meat? We all do. For a limited-time only, Burger King is offering up Flame, a body spray with "the scent of seduction," and a "hint of flame-broiled meat." It's a favorite of the King, they say. The website to promote the scent is essentially a sequence of Barry White cover albums: sunset at the beach, a bath with candles, roses, a creepy looking guy wearing a Burger King mask on a shag carpet. All the usual stuff. It's not a joke, in the sense that you can actually buy it, online or at Ricky's NYC stores for $3.99. [Editor's note: If the sight of a half-naked BK King repulses you, do not keep clicking on the bottle of Flame.]

vino

Mike and I had the best Saturday... we joined a great group of people to celebrate Mike's friend, Josh's, birthday. Eleven of us rented a luxury bus and were chauffeured around Texas hill country.

We started at Becker Vineyards, where there were beautiful lavender fields. The sommelier started us out with a Viognier, which I would have never tried on my own (I'm not a fan of whites) but was absolutely wonderful. I then tried the Provencal, which they called the "picnic wine" because it goes with everything. I then tried the Grenache, Barbera, Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet-Syrah (don't be alarmed, it was only small samples not whole glasses!) They made us all finish with a strange wine experience... we were each given a little cup and told to dip the side of it in carmel. The cup was then filled with port and we were given a few pieces of chocolate. The process was lick the carmel, drink the port and follow with the chocolate. It was gooooooood!

Next we stopped at Torre di Pietra Winery. This place was beautiful... when we walked into the wine tasting area it felt like we were in a castle. Spending my weekends tasting wine by a fireplace- I could get used to living like that! The wines here all had fancy names and infusions of chocolate, berries, carmel and other fancy/delicious flavors. They were also very expensive... I sampled a $100 bottle!

Our third stop was Luckenbach, a German town established in the 1800's. We drank some beers and toured the little town... with a general store that had been there as long as the town has. Their stage is lined with license plates from all over the United States and we found one from Broward County! How funny is that?

Our last stop was the Salt Lick BBQ. Because the restaurant is in a dry county everyone is encouraged to BYOB, which I thought was hilarious. The food was AMAZING. I'll never be able to eat Sonny's again.

It was definitely a great weekend. We are so lucky to be in a place that offers so many amazing experiences with such great people. I have a feeling we're going to stick around Austin for a while :)

ps- It's snowing again! but this time at NOON! brrrrr

holy moly

IT'S SNOWING IN AUSTIN!!!!

well, now it's more sleeting... but it's AWESOME!

I made my first snow(ice)ball!

see where it says "Rollingwood" to the left of Austin? THAT'S WHERE I AM!

so sad

'Joe the Plumber' Looks to Stretch His 15 Minutes

New Book, Website, Tour Turns Erstwhile Campaign Headline Into Media Brand

By Marissa Miley

Published: December 04, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In the beginning he was just an average Joe. Then he became Joe the Plumber, star of the presidential debate. And with fame came other epithets: Joe the Concerned Citizen, Joe the Fraud and Joe the Opportunist.

Now Samuel J. Wurzelbacher can add Joe the Brand to his many nicknames.

Samuel J. Wurzelbacher is taking his Joe the Plumber persona on a book tour.

Photo Credit: AP

Make of it what you will, but later this month a book he co-wrote with relatively unknown author and publisher Thomas N. Tabback, "Fighting for the American Dream," will come out. Thousands of copies have already been pre-ordered at $24.95 each via a star-spangled website (theme: "It's about we the people, not we the government") that also offers Joe-approved merchandise and the ability, for a price, to post to its blog and forum.

Telling his side
With all the Joe tales told since October, when Mr. Wurzelbacher first gained notoriety after questioning the tax plans of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, Mr. Tabback believed one story was noticeably missing, Mr. Wurzelbacher's own. "We felt he had more of an interesting story to tell aside from the more tabloid-style events around the election," Mr. Tabback said. "And it turned out we were right."

His 2-year-old husband-and-wife operation, PearlGate Publishing, will publish the 192-page hardcover, but a set publication date has not been determined. Those who pre-order the book by Dec. 8 on SecureOurDream.com -- a website Mr. Tabback developed for Mr. Wurzelbacher in conjunction with Visuplay, a media producer based in Dallas -- will receive a signed copy by Christmastime. But everyone else will have to wait until after the holiday for the book. Mr. Tabback said it will be available through Barnes & Noble, but that his firm is "still discussing with distributors and buyers about the broad retail market."

Still, the media outlets are lining up for after Christmas, when Mr. Tabback expects a national book tour for Mr. Wurzelbacher, with stops in New York, Las Vegas, Texas and Mr. Wurzelbacher's home state of Ohio. He named "Good Morning America," the "Laura Ingraham Show," the "Mike Gallagher Show," and "Fox & Friends" as outlets that have already expressed interest. And he also will reach out to other press with early review copies and what he calls a "complete marketing kit."

Plugging products
Messrs. Tabback and Wurzelbacher have talked about promoting products on SecureOurDream.com, but right now "that's in development," he said. There is a "Shop Joe" tab on the website that to date lists only "Fighting for the American Dream."

Mr. Tabback said he reached out to Mr. Wurzelbacher two days after the third and final presidential debate, and "was very frank with him" about his book proposition. "I said, 'Others will be in a position to offer you a very large advance, [but] we're a small publisher, we don't have the capability of doing that.'" Still, Mr. Wurzelbacher accepted the offer, which did not provide an advance but a profit-sharing arrangement based on the number of books sold.

Mr. Tabback declined to discuss details about the financial contract, but said that early demand for Mr. Wurzelbacher's book from SecureOurDream.com warrant a first print-run of 10,000.

"Fighting for the American Dream" is part biography and part current events, Mr. Tabback said, adding that it gives a behind-the scenes account of Mr. Wurzelbacher's encounter with Mr. Obama and what happened in the weeks that followed. It will also dip into Mr. Wurzelbacher's personal history and his take on American values.

Mr. Tabback said that the site is Mr. Wurzelbacher's new platform to give voice to those that may not have one. "[It] will help galvanize an effort for regular folks in the country to be heard on Capitol Hill and local and state governments," he said.

Joining Joe, for a fee
But that will come at a cost. For $19.95, Mr. Wurzelbacher fans can become "Freedom Members" with posting rights on his blog and forum. With membership they also get a monthly newsletter from Mr. Wurzelbacher and 10% off "Shop Joe" merchandise. For that price, they also become "an integral part of an American movement to preserve our American Dream," the site claims, but what that means remains unclear.

Mr. Wurzelbacher's book will be the second title for PearlGate. Its first, the novel "Things Forgotten," was written by Mr. Tabback and released earlier this year. "It would be naïve to say that this hasn't put us on the map," Mr. Tabback said.

memories

I was going through my old bookmarks and found the ratties' baby pictures!

Baby Cherie:
Baby Bijou with her brothers and sisters:
I miss them so much! Let's take a trip down memory lane....

They were such good ratties... who could have known those little angels would have had such an impact on my life?

RIP my little love, Bijou and my fattie rattie, Cherie <3>

pomegranate phone

This is amazing!

http://www.pomegranatephone.com/

...but there's a catch!

I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!!!

ummmm

I sent my teacher a copy of my research proposal and this is how he ended his email back:

"This looks like a fun research agenda! You could always stay and get a PhD..."


SCARY!