Tag: movie palooza

A ray of hope and more

I wanted to start this post out with a pithy or witty saying. Alas, it’s almost 10am and my well is dry. In any case, M & I visited our lovely nephew and his sweet parents. B’s the cuddliest and cutest little thing. 🙂 And his parents hooked us up with lots of produce yet again! I mean, we left with some beautiful zinnia flowers to spruce up our bland apartment, lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and some spices (rosemary, basil, etc). You should see their garden. I wish I had taken my camera with me. I cannot wait till my next visit to see the little guy who is the center of their world now.
This is a picture of one of the zinnia flowers that we plucked from their garden. The daisies (yellow) were bought by M from Wally world. I’m currently uploading pictures of our flower bouquet on Flickr and here’s the link to go feast your eyes. In other news, M & I are going to hit the trails hard today for some much needed exercise. I am so looking forward to it both as a distraction from the pressing task of finding a J.O.B. and just to exercise because I’ve been feeling, for lack of a better word, soft.

I opened up a Rollover IRA with Fidelity and am beginning the task of making sure things don’t get lost in transit. I’ve already run into a few snags that have since been rectified. Nevertheless, it left me a bit weary of the process already. I’m looking forward to the learning about funds and the like. Oh, and remember the beautiful matching I  was receiving from my soon-to-be previous employer? I’m not vested so poof! All I’m getting is the money I’ve contributed i.e. approximately 5% which is not a whole lot. We could do with some cash, but I won’t withdraw it because those funds are pre-tax dollars which, if prematurely withdrawn i.e. before 59.5 years of age, would be subject to a 10% early withdrawal tax and another 20% for federal taxes. lol. Yes, it’ll be a much smarter decision roll this money over. I’ll also have to do without health insurance despite the fact that I’m eligible for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) Continuation Health coverage. There’s just a tiny detail they forget to tell people about this so-called coverage: I’ll end up paying more than I’m making just for the privilege of being in the health plan. Hell to the no!!:D I’ll rather sign up for some other short-term plan. I hope to be employed soon and speaking of which, I have an upcoming interview. Ha!

Oh, I finally saw Cinderella Man with M. It was awesome. Have I told you I really really like Russell Crowe? Well, I do and his performance there was stellar. I loved the little lessons I learned from the movie i.e when his son stole some salami for the family, Russell (his dad) made him bring it back to the butcher and told him “we never steal, no matter what.” We made our way to the local video store again and scored another bunch of movies. 🙂 They are: The Last King of Scotland, The Bourne Ultimatum, Joshua, The Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Hunted.

Preparations, preparations

Questions keep running through my head, but after all is said and done, I know that whatever will be will be. And right now, it will do me utmost good to let sleeping dogs lie and not try to over-analyze things. Because when I do that, I end up with analysis that makes me out to be the major baddie. lol. Here’s to staying positive and having that little thing called faith, the substance of things hoped for. J & J visited yesterday and it was refreshing. She’s had a relatively smooth pregnancy for a first time mother and when it’s M & I’s time, I want it to be like hers! Seriously, she didn’t experience morning sickness. She just became really drowsy and more recently, suffered (still has) edema. That’s the worst of the complaints. I’ll bet her delivery will be just as smooth if her mother-in-law’s pregnancy genes have any effect. 🙂

I was too lazy to ride yesterday and when I mustered up enough strength, it started to shower. That effectively sealed the deal. I put my time at home to good use though. I watched Rambo IV and man, it made me long to watch the previous 3 movies back to back! It was short and to the point. Most importantly, they spared us the standard and gratuitous shot of the leading man’s rippling pectorals. I could definitely do without the overdeveloped view. 🙂 Anyhoo, I loved the point the movie kept making about people who visit war-torn places to provide relief. I believe keeping the oppressed people healthy and well-fed is obviously a priority. Also a priority is defending themselves, but you can’t do that if you are ill. So, majority of them are needed and they do this out of the goodness of their hearts. However, a few of these providers wear rose-tinted glasses i.e. the head of the relief party in Rambo IV’s case. He was unbelievably naive and actually wanted to turn Rambo in for killing a pirate who would have done them all in! This is not the first movie I’ve seen where there’s a bleeding heart in there who chooses a really bad time to whip out his moral stick (Deliverance). When I got done watching Rambo IV, I popped in “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead“. Now, I absolutely loved the plot twists in this movie and I think even M will like this movie. First of all, this movie has Phillip Seymour Hoffman who I am enthralled with since watching his performance in “Charlie Wilson’s war“. It’s got Ethan Hawke who was in “Training Day” and he pretty much plays a role where he’s someone without control of the situation. I’ll start from the top. (Spoiler alert, I pretty much talk about the entire movie. 🙂 If you want to skip this  and read a real review, check this succinct and well put-together analysis of the movie. Continue reading Preparations, preparations