As many of you already know I am a fan of American Idol. I don’t really watch TV much at all during the year, except this cheesy reality show, and then I’ve averaged almost every other year (I don’t always find the contestant’s interesting enough to warrant spending time in front of the television). This year was one of my seasons to watch.

From about the top 12 in the competition one contestant caught my attention. I’ve been rooting (and voting) for him all season, and he happens to be in the top two now, with the deciding performances happening tonight. He’s been referred to as smug and cocky by some as the competition has progressed, though I haven’t been of that opinion about him. After all, who would Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, or any other good rocker be without a little attitude? They’d be really boring if you ask me. Kind of like the other contestant in the top 2 this year. Great voice, but absolutely no stage presence and no personality.

Yes, you guessed it…my pick for American Idol this season is David Cook. He’s a talented singer, musician, and songwriter, come to find out. He’s been playing the bar circuit for several years, and even put out his own solo CD (not under contract by any label…totally independent) before his appearance on American Idol. There has been some controversy surrounding his choices for songs, some of which were arranged by others, though actually credit was always given. AI seems to like controversy…it makes for better TV that way…but I think the public is smart enough to figure it all out for themselves. What David Cook has done is he’s brought some freshness to an otherwise stale and aging show with his performances of songs that he’s resuscitated from the depths of time, whether by his own arrangement or borrowed from others. Having heard his music and songs he’s written from before American Idol it is apparent to me that this guy is the real deal. He’ll be able to “move units,” whereas his competition may not be able to even have a chance charting on an Adult Contemporary chart.

I hope David Cook is crowned the American Idol this year. I am going to be voting my fingers to the bone for him, for sure. But really, even if he doesn’t win, I predict he will still outsell, and outshine, David Archuleta after all is said and done. He has a great career ahead of him, and I for one will be waiting with great anticipation to hear what he comes up with in the future.

So, tell me, David Cook or David Archuleta? Will you be voting?

Has American Idol jumped the shark?

For a mini-recap of tonight’s show, check out the American Idol Season 7 blog here on Xanga sometime after it airs!

My motherboard decided to die recently. This, plus being low on funds, required yet another unplanned break from Xanga.

The good news is I now have a new system, I’m up and running, and I’ll be back with a post later this afternoon.

There is no bad news.

~ Lisa

I said this coming week will be better. The week is supposed to start on Sunday, right? I’m going to say it will start on Monday…the start of the work week, because come hell or high water this week will be better than last week, and today has not been the greatest of days.

One of the things that has not been great is I have been getting the Blue Screen of Death for the past week:

I will be trying to figure out what’s wrong tomorrow. I think one of my cooling fans is going out. Not sure which one, though. I hope it’s not the one on the power supply, or the one on the processing chip, and I hope my hard drive isn’t getting ready to crash…if that’s the case I may be out of commission for a little while.

I’ll be back when I’m operational again…

I’m keeping it positive. I have to.

No joy in getting a doctor’s appointment for Marisa yesterday, so I did the next best thing (the only option left to us at the moment)…we went to the E.R.

This is a brand new facility we went to, an
annex of sorts to one of the major hospitals we have in the area, in a very nice suburb not a half a mile from where I grew up.

Over the last year I had seen that they were building this gorgeous place, and I knew it would house some sort of medical facility (like doctors offices and such) but I didn’t know until my sister told me yesterday that the building also housed an Emergency Room. This E.R., she was told by a friend, had no waiting time, which is amazing considering you can spend the better part of a day (or night) at the main hospital’s ER just to get into an exam room. I thought it was worth a shot to check out this rumor.

When we walked into this place it was like walking into the Ritz Carlton. It was truly palatial:

We got back to an exam room in less than five minutes. Marisa was triaged, and in the span of less than an hour was examined by a very nice, young female doctor. The doctor ordered a test for Mononucleosis after confirming that her infection was not bacterial, and ordered a n injection of a steroid to reduce the inflammation, along with Tylenol 3 with Codeine.

We were to wait the hour and a half that it took to get these test results back. No matter, at least we had a flat panel TV to watch in the exam room:

Marisa was diagnosed with Pharyngitis after the test for Mono came back negative. We were in and out of the ER in less than 4 hours, which is amazing to me. And it was the first ER I’ve visited that I was actually sorry to leave. Heh. The meds she was given started to kick in before we left, and she finally was getting some relief from the pain.

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I felt the earth move this morning!

An earthquake, centered all the way in Illinois, near the Indiana border, was felt here in the Miami Valley. It’s not the first tremor I’ve felt here, but it’s been a while…and this one was the biggest I’ve ever felt in this area. I was the only one up in the house at 5:38 AM, but I don’t think anyone believed me until it made the news.

And we had a big aftershock just a little while ago.

(ETA: No damage here, though. We’re all okay and safe!)

Have you ever felt an earthquake?

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The whole week has flown by. I just don’t know how it could go as fast as it did. I haven’t gotten half of the things done I’ve needed to, and I’ve promised some people some things I haven’t been able to deliver on…you know who you are…and I’m sorry. I will get to it. I just couldn’t yet.

At some point today (or this evening?) The Xanga Team has posted on the Xanga Team blog, and on the Xanga Front Page (under “From the Xanga Team”) that I am the Featured Themes Designer for this week.

I am honored that they would ask me to participate. Thanks, Xanga Team!

That’s my special news for the day.

The link to my themes site CynaraJanesThemes is always available, however.

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I’m going to have to take DD#2 to see a different medical professional today. Her ear hurts really badly, her throat is very swollen, and I am certain that she needs antibiotics for a bacterial infection.

How is it that when a rapid strep test comes back as negative that it is automatically assumed that the infection is then viral? (To my semi-trained mind it just means it’s probably not strep). It seems to happen a lot. I understand that the medical powers that be want to shy away from over prescribing antibiotics, but it is inconvenient and expensive to have to go to two different places and pay an arm and a leg both places – - not to mention causing undue pain and distress to make my child suffer any longer in the condition she’s in without proper diagnosis and treatment. Can’t they just get it right the first time? I know, they aren’t all seeing and all knowing…I am as her mother. They should listen to me more. Ha! [ /rant ]

That said, I am pretty sure we won’t be going back to the grocery store urgent care place any time soon.

I am off to call the doctor…

Be back later.