Friday, August 31, 2012

$4 Console Table

I told you a few weeks back that the hubs was working on some built-ins...well, he has been doing a great job on them!  Since he was in the building mood, he decided to make a console table with all the scrap MDF he had laying around to hold extra toys. We found our inspiration Here..there were plans, but we didn't have enough MDF to make the exact same table, so there was some improv building. The reason it's a $4 table is because I had to make a quick trip to Lowes to get one 1x3 board. 
I helped a little(held things in place, painted, moral support), but he was definitely the brains behind the job:o) I'm so proud of my little handy man:o)
The canvas baskets came from T.J. Maxx. 
The rug is from Marshalls.
I found this cute little owl and the sign at Marshall's too.
 Lamps and lamp shades(clearance find) from Walmart.
 And here are the beginnings of the built-ins. We recycled our entertainment center, and attached it to the wall. Then the hubs made the window seats. He finished it out with trim across the bottom. Eventually there will be more added on, and the whole thing painted white, but right now he needs to focus on his thesis.
 Hasn't he done a fantastic job?!? 
 I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday weekend. We have ours filled with food, football, friends and family...it doesn't get much better than that!

Participating here:


Furniture Feature Fridays


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Canadian Media Merger Creates High Market Power and Runs Against Concentration Trends Elsewhere

The proposed merger between Bell Canada Enterprises and Astral Media will shortly be considered by the Canadian Radio and Television Council (CTRC). The merged company will own 70 television and cable channels, more than 100 radio stations, and some of the country’s most popular websites.

The combined company will serve nearly one-third of the national TV audience, more than 40 percent of the national cable TV audience, and about 30 percent of the nationwide radio audience. In addition the merger will increase Bell’s vertical integration and its power over distribution systems used by competitors. This later factor is particularly important because Canada lacks much of the regulatory control seen in Europe and the US over business practices of distribution systems that are also used by competing firms.

The merger will benefit the two companies by giving them more market power and permitting efficiencies at the corporate and divisional levels. It is also likely to produce efficiencies at the operational level by using more common content, something that is especially likely in its radio operations.

Investors will see benefit in the future. Share prices often go up before mergers as speculators jump into the market and then sell before the merger is completed, but prices typically decline after mergers when the realities of the costs of integration reduce short- to mid-term performance.  It will take some time before the benefits of the consolidation reach investors as dividends and heightened share value.

The downside of the merger will be borne by consumers and advertisers because the combination will create more market power to push up prices and reduce incentives for better service and quality. Competitors will also face a stronger company that controls the distribution infrastructures for their products and this should lead to higher prices. Additionally, one can expect social harm because the merger reduces plurality of those selecting content and the original content made available—particularly in radio—will probably be diminished.

How the CTRC will respond is unknown.  However, Canada has traditionally permitted far greater media concentration than other countries arguing that it helps strengthen Canadian ownership. It has permitted media concentration levels 2-3 times higher than those found in US and Europe and has one of the most concentrated media markets in the world.

Most other countries have been using broadcasting law and competition law in recent decades to reduce concentration in content provision and those policies have been quite successful. Why not Canada?

Canadian policy has been hampered by its nationalistic rhetoric, a significant degree of regulatory capture, and also because there are inconsistencies among broadcasting and competition policies  that allow regulators to downplay public and consumer interests.  The CRTC deals with station ownership, for example, but has set a market cap of 45% on total national television audience—about twice that in most countries. The Competition Bureau can review media mergers, but has tended to be concerned only about effects on advertising prices. Existing policies do not effectively address cross media ownership effects.

Ironically, the public service broadcaster (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) was heavily criticized when it served about 40 percent of the television audience. Commercial firms were particularly vocal arguing that having such a large firm distorted the market and their complaints led Parliament to reduce support for the CBC and over time its audience has been cut in half.

It will be interesting to see whether CRTC is willing to take a broader view and is willing to stand up to the interests of Bell and Astral when it considers this massive merger.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

What’s an Academic Fraud?

I recently discovered I am an academic fraud. Now, I am sure there must be people out there whose immediate response is “of course you are”, “knew it” or “I am not surprised”, but I was.

Admittedly, what amounts to fraud when publishing as an academic isn’t always entirely clear to me – which, to some, is enough to be suspect (if not guilty-till-proven-innocent) already. I do get the extremes; I’m not that daft: If one writes up a truly new academic study giving the full account of the research underlying it, it ain’t fraud. If you make up the data – emulating the now infamous Diederik Stapel – it is. But sometimes in between, I am not always sure… Let me give you a few potential examples.

• Last month, at the Editorial Board Meeting of the Academy of Management Journal, the editor reported that the journal would now start screening every submitted article for plagiarism. The software turns up whether parts of the text have been copied from earlier publications, including articles by the same author (in a case of self-plagiarism). After this, a fellow board member asked “can we access the same software to pre-screen our own articles before submitting them?” There wasn’t a murmur or hint of discontent in the room following this question, but I found it strange and uneasy. If you copy a piece of text, then pre-screen it and the software tells you you would be found out, you rewrite it a bit plugging in a few synonyms here and there and then it is ok and no longer considered fraud and plagiarism?!

Geert Hofstede, one of the most highly cited social scientists ever (citations are considered a signal of “impact” in our academic world, and I seem to remember him once telling me that he had more citations than Karl Marx…), became famous for developing dimensions of national cultural differences. He published these dimensions left-right-and-centre – in academic journals, magazines and books – which greatly contributed to their and his exposure. He nowadays would be covered in tar and feathers and chased out of the ivory tower for self-plagiarism?

• Situation A: PhD student A copies a paragraph leading up to one of his hypotheses from a working paper by someone else he found on the web, without citation. Situation B: PhD student B copies a summary of a previously published academic article from a third, published paper who summarised the same article. Situation C: likewise, but with a citation to that third article, but no quotation marks. Situation D: likewise, but with citation and quotation marks. Who should get kicked out of the programme? At London Business School we have already dealt with situations A and B (the students were chased out), and D of course, but I am left wondering what we’d do in situation C.

• An academic – and an obvious fan of the Matthew Effect – buys 20,000 followers on Twitter. Yes, if you didn’t know, buying (fake) twitter followers is possible and easy. In fact, yesterday, I learned it is as cheap as chips. Yesterday, the Sunday Times covered the tale of an aspiring English celebrity who bought about 20,000 followers on Twitter to boost her profile. It just cost her a few hundred pounds/dollars. And, in fact, it sort of worked; she did raise her profile. But when she was found out – which isn’t actually that easy – she was ridiculed and quickly chased back to the dubious and crowded ranks of the British B-celebrities. But what would we do? How would we react to an academic buying 20,000 “followers”? Tar and feathers or applause for bringing the Matthew Effect to practice?

I am – apparently – a shameless self-plagiarising fraud because I sometimes get approached by business magazines who say “we read your blog post X and would like to republish it in our magazine”. And if they’re half decent (even by business magazine standards), I tend to say “yes”… In fact, I sometimes make the suggestion myself; when some magazine asks me “would you like to write an article on X for our wonderful magazine?” I usually say “no (way), but chapter X from my book would suit you well. Feel free to republish that”. Some acknowledge it was previously published; some don’t.

And, frankly, I don’t really care, and I will probably do it again. If it is my work, my copy-right, the magazine is fully aware of it, and it doesn’t harm the reader (they will know if they’ve seen it before, and otherwise they probably didn’t, or they might suffer from an enviable dose of business magazine amnesia), I won’t fear or dodge the tar and feathers. In fact, who knows, you may have read this very same post before!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Fall Dinner-Chicken Spaetzle & Homemade Bread

I can't stand it any longer...Fall needs to just get here and stay here:o)
It has been a scorcher for the past few days after we were taunted with cooler weather. I am stubborn by nature, and have made soup and homemade bread, regardless of this horrid heat, hoping this will show Summer that I have had enough of it, and am ready for it to go away:o)
 Chicken Spaetzle is one of my favorite soups in the whole wide world. I order it from Bruegger's every time I visit that restaurant...which is a lot:o)
I looked for their recipe, and couldn't find anything but the calorie count online...I DON"T CARE what the calorie count is...IT"S DELICIOUS!
So anywho, I found a few recipes online and kind of tweaked here and there, and this is my version of Chicken Spaetzle.
recipe adapted from HERE
  • 2 chicken breasts (about 1 lb total)
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 cups chicken broth 
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 large onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 2 teaspoons salt 
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning1 package of potato Gnocchi

    Combine all ingredients, except the gnocchi, and cook on low for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, shred chicken in the soup, and add gnocchi. Cook gnocchi in the soup according to package directions(just don't drain;o). Serve with homemade bread.


    I found this homemade bread recipe to go along with our soup.
    Food Processor White Bread
    from breadworld via Jennifer Judd-McGee
    makes 1 loaf
    3 cups all-purpose flour
    2 Tbl. sugar
    1 envelope RapidRise Yeast (do not use any other kind - just RapidRise)
    1 1/4 tsp. salt
    3 Tbl. butter
    1 egg
    3/4 cup warm water
    Insert metal blade into food processor. Add flour, sugar, undissolved yeast and salt; process 5-10 seconds. Add butter and egg.  Begin processing, then slowly pour warm water through feed tube just until dough forms a ball, about 10-15 seconds.  Continue processing for 60 seconds to knead dough (I let it go longer, more like 2-3 minutes, just for good measure).  Remove dough onto a lightly flour surface. Cover and let rest for 10 min.
    Roll dough into a 12 x 7-inch rectangle. Beginning at short end, roll up tightly as for jelly roll.  Pinch ends and seam to seal.  Place, seam side down, in greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan.  Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until double in size about 30-45 minutes (I've let it go much longer than this and it is just fine).
    I usually brush it with egg wash or a bit of cream to give the top a nice shine, but you don't have to.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until done (30 minutes is always just perfect for me).  Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack (be sure to remove it because otherwise the bottom will get soggy while it cools).  Slice and enjoy!

    This was a wonderful dinner, and I am so glad that we have air conditioning because when you eat soup, it warms your insides...who wants to be hot on the inside and outside;o)
    The kids loved the soup, so we have a winner in this household...when we actually get cooler weather, this recipe will definitely be a regular on the menu;o)

The Business on The Playa 2012

Taking The Business to the Spirit World for a special desert session on Thursday August 30th:

Chris Garcia
Caitlin Gill
Alex Koll
and very special guest
Moshe Kasher
plus
Cory Loykasek
Donny Divanian
and Cornell Reid
Thursday August 30th
7:00 & Edelweiss (SE Corner)
Black Rock City

The Business August 29th 2012, The "No Burning, Just Men" Edition

The Business is proud to announce a new employee for San Francisco's finest alternative comedy showcase. It's Mike Drucker, regular Business guest and comedian extraordinaire. He's performed at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, written for The Onion, IGN, McSweeney's, and Saturday Night Live, and his cuddly exterior masks a virile man's man.

That's what this week's show is about: manliness. Chris Garcia, Alex Koll, and Caitlin Gill are busy taking The Business to the Spirit World with a Thursday sh

ow at Burning Man (two admissions for one dream catcher; bring-your-own-peyote), so regulars Bucky Sinister, Sean Keane (and now Mike Drucker!) are leaving out the Burning, and delivering nothing but Men.

One such man is Anthony Bedard, of the legendary bands Hank IV and the Icky Boyfriends. Mr. Bedard books Club Chuckles, a monthly comedy series at the Hemlock Tavern, and runs Talent Moat Records, producer of comedy albums by such artists as Brent Weinbach, Nick Flanagan, and Bucky Sinister. Mr. Bedard is extremely manly, having once built his own log cabin out of old-growth redwoods and remaindered Styx albums. You can follow his collection of ridiculous band PR on Twitter at @FolderRock.

Another manly man is Ben Kolina, fresh off a killer performance at the Savage Henry comedy festival in Humboldt. Kolina's pretty savage himself, having once fist-fought a grizzly bear to a standstill in the forests outside of Livermore, and made a rug out of its carcass. He's performed at the SF Punch Line and Tommy Ts, and he's got more testosterone in his bloodstream than Melky Cabrera.

 
Finally, man's man Joey Devine joins us. The former most inspirational player from Tim Hardaway's basketball camp, Joey also destroyed at the Savage Henry festival. He also once destroyed a small fishing village just by shouting at it. He can grow a beard faster than a lumberjack, and he can charm an audience faster than a three-legged stripper. Joey is a member of acclaimed sketch group Frown Land, the creator and host of Joey Devine: After Dark, and a three-time MMA champion.

Even with all this manliness, The Business is still just five bucks, and fist bumps are totally free, bro. Bring your own burrito policy is still in place, although if you bring a veggie burrito, we just might slap it out of your hands at the door and douse you with Axe body spray. Men!

Friday, August 24, 2012

Family Night Recipe


So last night, life got in the way. The hubs needed to get the lawn mowed, dinner was made late, phone calls and emails needed to be taken care of, and S.R. ended up with a fever just before dinner.
Our family night didn't happen...that's just the way things go sometimes. 
But, even though all of this was going on, we still got to take just a moment together and indulge in homemade Peanut Butter Cups....one word....yuuuuum!
I found the recipe in the current All You magazine(September edition)
If you want to take a swing at these little delectables,  you can find the recipe 
WARNING:You will not be able to eat just one!!!!
Have a great weekend y'all!


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Allowance/Money Holders

Ok, so I said I would post about these on Monday...well Monday has turned into Thursday for sure...but I am finally getting around to sharing with you our newest endeavor....allowances...enter shiver/shudder.
We now have to make our children be responsible little helpers...which makes us have to be more responsible because we have to remember to remind them to do their chores....and on top of that, we have to remember to keep $6 in 1's on hand, so that we can make sure they get their $3 a week.
Sheesh!
Who knew it was going to be this involved:o) 
I kid, I kid:o)
E and S.R. have been great about getting their chores done for the past two weeks, and we are so grateful. Not only are they learning valuable lessons in doing a job and doing it well, they are lightening the load on their poor pitiful mother;o)
So here are said money/allowance holders.
All items used to make these money holders were purchased from Hobby Lobby except the buckets. I found the buckets in the dollar section at Target.
 I've seen and heard, for the past few months, of parents using three categories...Share(or give), Save and Spend. I think that teaching the kids to divide their money up now is an awesome life lesson. The earlier they learn to save their money and to give of their means, the better off they will be when they are adults. 
Last Sunday they were actually able to give their own money to the collection plate at church. I didn't get to see it because I wasn't feeling well and stayed home, but I know that before they left for services that morning, they were really excited about giving their dollar.
It's the little things, right?
So what do you think? Are you inspired to make little helpers out of your rugrats? I promise it is well worth the effort!
 Here is a list of items if you want to make your own.
1 plywood board
3 oval shape wooden discs(optional)
scrapbook paper
letter stickers
Mod Podge
Paint for the plywood board(optional)
Drill(for holes)
Ribbon(to hang)
3 buckets with handle
3 mini cup hooks 
Wood Glue
I hope that all of you who started school this week have had a fantastic first week back. I know we sure have. I am still adjusting to getting up early....too bad I can't drink coffee...boo!
Family night tonight...I'll post recipes tomorrow...maybe;o)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

First Day of Pre-K

Today S.R. started preschool. She was so excited, and I was happy that she wanted to go. She was lost yesterday without her big brother to play with. I expected there to be an adjustment period....
 This little thing is a ball of fire, and sweet as sugar.
 I had so much fun taking her pictures. She already has a dramatic flare, and this type of thing was right up her alley...center stage, with all eyes on her.

 This is a rare shot of her being still..it doesn't happen often;o)
 I am so glad that she lets me play with her hair...now that it is FINALLY growing out.
Just like with E, I let her take some goofy shots. I caught her here when she didn't know I was snapping pictures.

 Attitude in it's purest form...:o)

 This has to be my favorite though...daddy's little girl. 
This child has been a light in our lives. She always has a smile on her face, and can light up any room that she walks into. God knew what He was doing when He sent us S.R. She is independent, but still wants to curl up in your arms and snuggle, and I LOVE that.
 She is considerate of her brother and her friends, and is almost always willing to help out.
Speaking of her brother, her demeanor completely changes when he gets home from school now. It's like she hasn't seen him in ages:o) They play together so well.
We are so blessed!!
******
Hopefully tomorrow I will get around to sharing the kids money holders...:o)

The Business August 22nd 2012, The "LoyKLASSIC!" Edition

If you were lucky enough to get into the sold-out Business last week, you saw what we have all come to call “The Perfect Business”: Two-and-a-half hours of amazing comedy, surprises, fluid energy and rolling laughter. Now you ask: Will lightning strike twice? Can we repeat perfection? Hell yeah, and you best bear witness lest you miss out on the transcendent and supreme, true believers. This week The Business welcomes Cory Loykasek and Mike Drucker to help us reach the top of the mountain again. Testify!

Cory Loykasek’s flawless golden mane of hair warms a mind boiling with astute and challenging comedy. Cory uses his stand-up, as well as sketch and video work, to approach a variety of topics with grounded profundity, mixed with left-field thought through a layman's lens. Some call his approach casual, but just because you’re laid back in the drivers seat doesn’t mean your not still steering the ship right. He’s a lion of a man: Commanding, hairy and sometime he sleeps in the dirt.

After dropping in as a surprise guest on last week’s “Perfect” Business, Mike Drucker returns again this week to continue what is shaping-up to be a nice little residency here at the The Dark Room. After all: practice makes perfect. You know the stats: Writes for IGN, The Onion, McSweeny’s, SNL, Your Mom and Your Grandma. Terribly talented and horribly funny, he’s the nerd who can turn a word. He’s a gummy bear of a man: sweet, semi-opaque and you’d love to pull his head off and attach it to something else.

Joining these perfect beings are regular Business Employees Bucky, Caitlin, Sean and Alex. We are once again Chris-free this week, both Garcia and Thayer holding it down Hollywood style. But they are easily replaced by a burrito from the neighborhood.

The Business is at 8pm, the perfect time for comedy. We are still just the perfect price of $5,

Monday, August 20, 2012

First Day of Kindergarten

It's official. I am the mother of a kindergartner. It was a great day for my little guy. He has a fantastic teacher, he knew 6 kids in his class, and he got to do all sorts of fun things that only kindergartners get to do. He was all smiles when I picked him up today, and that made my heart swell because just a few hours prior, I was doing my best to hold it together. Where has the time gone? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was holding a little lump in my arms...and now look at him..all grown up, at least according to him:o)
 We had a little fun yesterday taking some back to school photos. Usually it's a nightmare trying to take shots of the kids. They are always little pills when it comes time to take pictures. You'd never guess it by looking at these shots...
 Mini marshmallows will work wonders on 4 and 5 year olds:o)
They behaved wonderfully when I started popping them in their mouths. 
After we got some serious shots, we started goofing off....love this shot..this book came from the hub's grandfather's farm. I thought it was perfect for this type of photo shoot:o)


 Oh yes, he's really in his element now...Oh, how I love this stinker:o)

I'm so proud of this kid, and I pray every chance I think to, that he will be a strong leader and Christian example to all of those around him.
I am so thankful that the Lord blessed me with this child.

Contemporary Trends Change Magazine and Newspaper Printing Markets


The markets of magazine and newspaper printing firms are undergoing significant changes, reflecting on-going transformations in the customers they serve.

Some of the changes have been under way for 2 decades with traditional printing companies morphing into printing service companies offering more profitable value-added services and products.  These included high-end specialized printing capabilities and services, database printing, and wide-ranging distribution services. At the same time, the increasing number of magazine titles, accompanied by lower average press runs, pushed the companies toward higher efficiency and acquisition of presses and systems designed for lower press runs.

In this environment, many printers could not effectively compete and consolidation began creating large regional players in the industry.

Shorter-term trends have also played havoc with the printing industry by killing off some magazine and newspaper titles, lowering the average number of pages printed because of advertising reductions, and by decreasing demand for catalog printing by mail order companies.

These changes created excess capacity and financial problems for many printers, opening the way for private equity firms to purchase trouble companies, restructure their operations, and consolidate the industry even further. Walstead Investments, for example, bought the St. Ives Group, Southern Print and Wyndeham in the UK to do just that.

About the only bright spot for the printing industry has been that many newspapers have now decided to outsource printing—increasing the number of customers in that segment for the short term, at least. Even some large newspapers that had given up commercial printing decades ago have changed the size capacity and flexibility of their presses to gain more production options and they are now offering printing services to other publishers and advertising service firms.

The consolidation has allowed big players to grow bigger. Donnelley has expanded by acquiring firms across North America.  Quad/Graphics has moved into Europe and Latin America. The German publisher Guner & Jahr acquired Brown Printing in the US and Prisma Presse in France.

The current economy is limiting the ability of these firms to push up prices, but one can expect that to occur when better times return and capacity utilization increases.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Chore Charts

Usually on Friday's you can expect to hear about the previous evening's family night. Well, every once in a while, we have what is referred to as a "family date night." That usually includes dinner and a movie...last night was just dinner at Red Robin. We had a delicious but very expensive dinner, and then the hubs picked up some ice cream. We also got to go on an evening bike ride, or as S.R. likes to call it, a "bike walk."

So instead of giving you ideas about how you can spend time together as a family today, I wanted to share with you our latest endeavor...chores:o)
The kids are very good at helping out around the house, and we thought now would be a good time to introduce an allowance.
So, me being me, I needed to make something cute and crafty to help them keep up with all of the chores that need to be completed through out the day. 
I looked online for various ideas of chore charts, and decided to make my own. 
This one is E.'s
 And this one is S.R.'s
 I found the backgrounds at a neat blog named Sprik Space. I downloaded them and used publisher to add the grid and the fonts. 
Super easy:o) 
I also used my favorite self laminating sheets made by Scotch, to make them re-usable.
I found clipboards at Walmart, and used Command wall hooks to attach them to their bedroom doors.
They are at the right level for the kids to mark off their list. 
They think that they are so big, and they are really going to think they are big once they start getting paid.
I have been working on money holders for them, and I will share them on Monday. I like how they are turning out, and I can't wait for you all to see them.
Have a great weekend! We'll be soaking in every minute, since school starts back for us on Monday.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Gearing Up for Back to School

We are getting ready for school around here. The kids are super pumped, and so are we since both of them got the teachers we wanted them to:o) I have been labeling the day away. We meet E's teacher this afternoon and drop his school supplies off. Just a few more days of last minute play dates and odds and ends that need to be done before they go back and leave me all alone:o)
I am also working on some chore charts and hope to share those with you guys here in the next day or two. Have a great rest of the day!

The Business August 15th 2012, The "Karmel Coated Kinane" Edition

Our guests this week are so great we could just EAT THEM UP. Since we can’t literally devour them, here are some quotes about things they have eaten in the past:

Mr. Ian Karmel on delicious things enjoyed on recent travels:

“I had cheese steaks in Philly, BBQ in Austin, breakfast burritos in Austin and Panda Express in the Mall of America... but the best thing I had on the whole trip has to be the Juicy Lucy in Minneapolis, a hamburger with cheese INSIDE of it. WHAT!? HOW? Dark magics, only explanation.”


Mr. Kyle Kinane on accidentally eating a chocolate chip cookie with bacon in it:

“Yeah, it was disgusting at first, but it got better the more that I ate it.”

These two are making the Business their dessert after some seriously sexy Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction (http://
www.brownpapertickets.com/
event/263704) where they will be battling a few of your Business regulars for erotic supremacy.

We are happy to welcome Ian Karmel. Ian came from an improv background, which included time with The Groundlings and the Upright Citizens Brigade. Ian was honored as the 2011 Funniest Person in Portland, won the 2010 Portland Amateur Comedy Competition and has performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot, Portland’s Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia’s Helium Comedy Club, Austin’s Cap City Comedy Club, Seattle’s Comedy Underground and Los Angeles’ Comedy Store. In addition to stand-up, Karmel has appeared on television, playing a character in IFC’s sketch show Portlandia and as a post-game analyst and commentator for the Portland Trailblazers.

Friend of the show and Iron Comic CHAMPION Kyle Kinane will join us as well. Kyle Kinane has been up and at it for almost half his life, mostly searching for what "it" might be. He has performed in the Leicester, Vancouver, Washington D.C., Portland, Just For Laughs/Chicago and the USCAF/Aspen comedy festivals, and has been on the TV via "Last Call with Carson Daly," "The Very Funny Show" on TBS, "Live at Gotham," "Comedy Central Presents" and "The World Stands Up" on the BBC. He was called "bleak and misanthropic" by the London Evening Standard, which he still feels may be a compliment.

We are also very pleased that Chris Garcia and Alex Koll have returned from their adventures to join us this week. There is still a Chris Thayer sized hole in our hearts, but he would want us all to enjoy the show even though he can’t be here.

Don’t miss this one! Get your $5 and print out a coupon so you can bring a friend.

The Business sells out. With this line up, the Business will SELL OUT. Get there on time and BYOBurrito.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Family Night-The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's

Friday means it's time to share our family night theme again. 
We watched the Wonderful Wizard of Ha's this week. It was a mix between the Prodigal son parable from the Bible and the Wizard of Oz...it was so cute, and the kids loved it.
For my weekly email to the hubs, he received the menu below. I found the picture from Christians Best, and used Picmonkey to add the menu.
  If you think you might want to re-use this picture, feel free to copy and paste...or go to the link above, and create your own.
Here is our delightful spread for the evening. 
 We had homemade strawberry lemonade in mason jars, and since we were watching Veggie Tales, I decided to add in a few veggies:o)
 We were supposed to have mini hamburgers for dinner, but I forgot to thaw the hamburger meat...we made a quick trip to visit grandparents on Wednesday, so I didn't fix the Ham and Cheese Sliders that evening. They were a quick and delicious fix! The hubs loved them!
For dessert, we had Bob the Tomato cookies. I used store bought cookies and cookie icing. They were fairly easy to make, and you can kind of tell who they are supposed to be;o) We also had a slew of unhealthy candy....we had veggies, so that counteracts all the sugar, right?;o)
 Here is a closer view of the Bob's.
 I also found these cute coloring pages from the same website from above. The kids loved this part as well, especially S.R.
Since the movie was short, we put in the real Wizard of Oz to finish the night off. 
Another great family night!!!