Really Oprah, Really?

Let me preface this by saying that I have always been an Oprah fan. I watched religiously through the 90's and even through college I was pretty dedicated. With the introduction of the DVR and my introduction into the working world, I've drifted away from Oprah's circle of influence. That brings me to my issue with Oprah right now. Her newest gift to America....Oprah's No Phone Zone (http://http://www.oprah.com/packages/no-phone-zone.html). Don't get me wrong...this is not a terrible idea. I can't say that I'm pro-distracted driving because that's like saying I'm pro murder or something, but what I am saying is that Oprah is not the person to push this on me. She has zero credibility on the subject. Do you really think the woman has driven herself anywhere in the last 20 years?!? No way. I doubt she still holds a valid license. She's just sitting in the back seat of her fancy town car texting Gayle about what suckers the American people are - driving themselves around not talking on their phones. Aside from having no credibility, she doesn't have a viable solution. The no-phone zone is the abstinence method of distracted driving. There's no way everybody is just going to stop using their phones. Now if somebody with a 45 minute commute came out and met me halfway, I might be able to get on board, but this is just Oprah seeing what kind of ridiculous stuff she can get us to do.

The One About My New Favorite Show

It's no secret that I watch a lot of TV. There's a lot of crap on TV, but every once in a while a new show comes along that changes that. A new show is like a new relationship. It's fresh and new and mesmerizing. My favorite show of all time is Friends, and at this point in my life I don't think that's going to change. Friends made me who I am today. It will always be a part of me. (I know you love my dramatics.) I remember when Grey's Anatomy first started I loved it. I thought I loved it more than Friends. I think I even wrote about it on my Xanga site (yeah, I had a Xanga site - you can probably find it if you google me, but I will not be including a link). I have since realized that nothing could take that top spot away from Friends. Grey's wasn't the only show I've been enamored with over the years. Dawson's Creek, Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, Big Love and many others have been short-lived obsessions turned long term loves (none can hold a candle to Friends of course) This brings us to my current obsession, Parenthood. If you haven't watched it yet, do it now! That's an order. It is amazing. I am, at this moment, head over heels in love with Parenthood.

Under Pressure

So much pressure. I'm feeling pressure about a lot of things, but most importantly, to write more. This pressure is mostly brought on by myself, but still... And now I'm finding more and more friends with blogs that just really adds to the pressure to not only write more but to write better. I feel like I write better when I live by the quantity over quality mantra.....If I'm just firing out short little blogs, they tend to be more entertaining. Probably just because there is less room for it to suck.

Anyway, I think if I get this filler entry out of the way I'll be able to write something worthwhile without all the pressure. In the meantime, check these out....http://hersaturdayshoes.blogspot.com, http://ashtoneller.blogspot.com, http://ashleeshondell.blogspot.com, http://http://leslieannpaul.blogspot.com, http://clubtrillion.blogspot.com. Some are more public than others. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who has ever read Ashlee's so sorry for that. Time to step it up! :-)

I'll have more to report in a few weeks. So many secrets! :-)

Karli Shondell is...

...In a Relationship.

OK, not really(ish). I'm talking about facebook relationships so don't get too excited, but I'm wondering what the protocol is for becoming "facebook official". There was no Facebook, when I was dating in high school and college...OK, who are we kidding, I didn't really date in high school. Honestly I didn't date much in college either...Hmm, scratch that. It is accurate that there was no facebook, but apparently not extremely relevant because I still may not have had a need to change my relationship status. Anyway, when the facebook came out I was already in a serious relationship so under relationship status I put in a relationship. I did change it to engaged and then married, but those are kind of no-brainers (we don't really need to dig all that up, anyway). I'm getting off-topic. What I want to know is how do you go from single to in a relationship. I have asked people about this before, but have never gotten a straight answer. I would think there would have to be a conversation at some point. Really, the facebook relationship status update could be a good icebreaker for this kind of sometimes-awkward discussion of "what are we?". On the flip-side, facebook could help you avoid this question. Instead of having the conversation, you just update your status and hope that your boyfriend accepts your request. However, I see how this type of avoidance could really come back to kick you if your in a relationship person doesn't accept your request. Then your mind starts spinning...did they do that on purpose? should I send it again, just in case?, now he's going to think I'm crazy, what if he never mentions it, should I mention it?, now what? Really, a rejected relationship update is just as good as a break-up. I don't see you recovering from that very easily.

I also think it depends a lot on how old you are. I imagine there's a lot of facebook game playing going on in college....probably even more in high school, but if you're as old as me you just want people you never see to know if they should be offering to set you up or not. Now, if you get much older than me I don't really think you need to be messing too much with that part of your profile. Say you're married, if you're married so your high school sweetheart doesn't think they still have a chance, but then leave it alone. Oh, and one other thing, I don't think it is ever appropriate to go from married to it's complicated. Even if it is complicated! You just need to keep that to yourself. I'm really not a real big fan of the it's complicated status in any context, but can see how it might be fun to play with if you're in the 15-19 year-old range.

All in all, facebook relationship waters seem kind of tough to navigate. I think I'm an advocate of a simultaneous, possibly drunken update. Short and sweet. Just rip it off nice and quick, like a band-aid. Please let me know if you have any insight, and I'll update you if I come up with any on my own.

I Heart Aldi....and some other stuff

I've recently become fairly obsessed with Aldi...the grocery store. (1. I'm constantly tempted to call it Aldi's, but I think that's just the Hoosier in me and 2. one of my favorite things about Aldi is the fact that it is a grocery store and nothing else). Let me back up just a minute...I've always been a bit of a shopping snob. I don't like digging through clearance bins, I don't like generic canned goods, I like things to look nice and new when I purchase them. That being said, you can imagine why I had never stepped foot in an Aldi until recently. It gets a bad rep as a low-end grocery store...shockingly, I've even heard some refer to it as WT shopping. Well, the facts are that it's not WT at all. It's brilliant! They only have groceries so it's quick and easy to find what you need. They have great produce and cheap wine. The best part is that when I walk out of there I typically spend HALF of what I would spend at Wal-mart...not to mention what I'd spend at Marsh. I'd like to give a quick shout out to Aaron for introducing me to this amazing environmentally and economically friendly shopping center. :-)

OK, I'm getting bored with this entry already, but I want to also mention how impressed I am with Bluebell ice cream. Well, more specifically Bluebell's marketing team. The ice cream is good, but not necessarily the best ice cream ever. But this marketing campaign I love. Bluebell Ice Cream - Now available in Indianapolis. They are rolling it out like it's a car or cd or something cooler that I can't think of right now....and believe it or not, it's totally working. There is a definite buzz around Bluebell Ice Cream in Indianapolis right now. So much so, that I witnessed a women at Meijer visibly distraught....practically throwing a fit because the Bluebell was so picked over. If it hadn't been after 10 pm, I might have thought she was planted there by Bluebell. So Kudos to Bluebell.

And I have one more prop to give out today....indyspectator.com. Brand new newsletter dedicated to cool stuff going on in Indy. Love it. :-) OK, that's all for now. Yay for it being Friday!

Bandwagon

I understand when Bengals, Bears or Browns fans get mad at people during football season for jumping on the Colts bandwagon. I don't agree with it, but I understand. If you've stuck by your team through more downs than ups, you're bound to be a little bitter. Well, the NCAA men's basketball Final Four starts tonight, right here in town, and Indiana's got a team playing. And it's Butler. Not a lot of people saw that coming. Probably because we weren't watching. So the city is excited. It's all over the news, bars are now full of new Butler fans, they're selling t-shirts at CVS, the list goes on. Well, I just saw on facebook (yeah, Lent's over so I'm back on facebook) a Butler grad complaining because everybody is jumping on the Butler Bandwagon. I have a couple of issues with this...1)It's your team...don't you want people to cheer for them?? and 2) When did it become wrong to root for the home team? Everybody else's teams lost so we're cheering for yours. You're welcome! I've never claimed to be a die-hard Butler Bulldog fan, but I'm excited that they made it this far and would love to see them win the thing. The home team thing relates to Colt's fans too, but I'll save that for fall.

Go Bulldogs!