Wildlife geek alert!!

Here it is, Friday night, in our Nation's Capital. What have I accomplished? Well, I had dinner with my sister, had a beer; then ran home, grabbed another beer, and watched the latest episode of Meerkat Manor! Have you seen this? It's the work of the Kalahari Meerkat Project (a long term field study done by Cambridge University near the Botswana border). Interested? Animal Planet. Fridays. 8pm (EST). Hop on the Meerkat train folks! If my excitement doesn't sell you, maybe this will: try to imagine what would happen if Days of Our Lives cross-pollinated with Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom - all narrated by Sean Astin (for those lesser geeks out there - he played the Hobbit, Samwise Gamgee {aka - Frodo's faithful friend and sidekick; guy ROBBED of an Oscar}, in the LOTR movies). And if that STILL doesn't get you to tune in, or at least TIVO, this should:

New Release Thursday!

Greetings! That's right - it's Thursday, and I have chosen to make this day of the week my 'new release' day for the ear candy pick as well as Primate of the week. Why Thursdays? Well...

1. I abhor Mondays.
2. New record albums are released on Tuesdays.
3. New comic books are released on Wednesdays.
4. New movies are released, usually, on Fridays.
5. Weekends tend to be hit and miss.
6. Why the hell not?

So, without further ado, this week's album is... Ring of Fire: The Legend of Johnny Cash. Told you my taste was eclectic, didn't I? I LOVE this album because it runs the entire career of Cash from Big River to his version of U2's One. If you do nothing else, download his haunting cover of NIN's Hurt. The 'Man In Black' made the recording shortly after his wife, June Carter Cash, died in May of 2003. I promise, Cash's pain will tear you up even deeper than Trent's did.

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Now, to catch up on a few things. The first being that I LOVE New Yorkers. Not because mom is a native Manhattener, or because I grew up in Jersey not too far away, but because they have the balls to publish headlines like this:

God bless the Post! And not just for Page Six either. My sis and I had a conversation about this particular headline and have decided that they're going to have to lay the SOB in state just so we can all make sure that he gave up the ghost rather than go to hide in the 'bunker'.

In other news, VIVA LA FRANCE! Although the German's lost their match (talk about heartbreaking - 119th minute?!?), France prevailed over Portugal thanks to a PK in the first half. But can they outrun Italy on Sunday? Only time will tell. My pick? As I would like to see Henry go out on top - France 1 Italy 0, with one overtime.

Speaking of the French - they are in their glory in the sports world right now - wow! Not only do they have the World Cup in their grasp, but the cyclists are touring the country side (Viva La Tour!) and their tennis mavin, Amelie Mauresmo, is headed to Saturday's ladies' Wimbeldon final. However, I'm more looking forward to the Wimbeldon gentlemen's final. Can Swiss sweetheart, Roger Federer, fourpeat? He's going to have to get through the semis and the Swede first. And once all this craziness is over, I can finally get back to that good ole' American pastime, baseball. That is until NFL preseason starts!!!

The cold, icy hand of death reaches for...

Yes, ladies and gents, that's correct. Ken 'Kenny Boy' Lay, the corrupt former CEO of Enron, and major supporter of the Bush administration (does anyone see a pattern there?), died of a massive MI in Aspen, Colorado early this morning. This news was apparently brought to the attention of the media by Mr. Lay's pastor - Dr. Steve Wendt. Yes, his PASTOR, the 'doctor'. And I'm thinking that 'Dr.' ain't no MD, DO, PhD or anything that would qualify him to ascertain the condition of the body of Mr. Lay. Hello? The real doctors have performed an autopsy and the results are out - they're calling it 'coronary artery disease with no foul play seen'. I'm personally going to hold out for the tox reports and see what his blood stream has to say about all this. Somehow I'm not buying that 'The Foreman of Fraud' just up and bought the farm conveniently two months shy of his sentencing. However, if he was thinking about the possibility of becoming somebody's bitch, that just may have done his candy-ass in.

That being said, we should all remember that Mr. Lay had a family. For their loss, I have sympathy.

Happy 4th!

'Rhythm and Booms' (2005) - Madison, Wisconsin

Restoring my faith in humanity

So as the blog evolves, so does my way of thinking. I was all set to sit down and type out my rant on how the drivers in the greater DC Metro area seem to have gotten their licenses from Cracker Jack boxes; but instead I found another post from my unknown, who will now be known as 'rex'. Anywho, it seems that 'rex' believed I was offended by his/her group's use of the word 'Monkeyshines' to describe yucky tasting beer and was kind enough to offer to remove the use of said word from the group's vocabulary. Just to clarify, I was not offended in any way - just disappointed that two things I appreciate so much were put together in a way I never thought possible. To be honest, I found your usage quite amusing - very clever in fact. Beer made of monkeys? HA! However, your gesture tells me that there are good people left on this Earth; and for that, I thank you. In honor of this greatness, I have placed several links to some of my favorite charities under the 'Improve your Karma!' heading in the sidebar. So have at it people! Let's try to make this world a better place.

And now for something completely different...
Still somewhat sad that England lost yesterday in World Cup play. Seems that 100 rounds of 'God Save the Queen' couldn't save the boys, but what a match! When it comes down to PKs you know you've seen something special. And way to go France! Seems that age and wisdom can conquer (this is of course if you consider 30 to be old!). An all European final? When was the last time we saw this?! 1982 to be exact (yes, I'm a sports geek). Personally, I'm a bit surprised (as is probably most of the South American continent) but am enjoying it nonetheless. I would LOVE to see a Germany/France final. But first, I will plan to sit on my keister for the Germany/Italy semi on Tuesday and route heavily for Deutschland! Log on for all the mayhem - http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/index.html

'In The Black'

Well, it's been all of three whole days and I've already switched my template. I have to say that I'm MUCH happier with this. The natural springy green was all well and good; but somewhat hard on the eyes, and really didn't fit my personality all that much. So now I'm 'in the black' and I can feel my blood pressure lower as my devil horns rise...

Also, please note that I'm getting a handle on my HTML(!) and my links are starting to come together. The first will remain as my 'musical selection' of the moment (although I see the name of the link changing to something more catchy). This will change periodically and you'll be able to link up to an album or artist I'm currently enjoying on the home PC, office PC, MP3, or living room sound system. Seriously, it's a reason to keep coming back because I have VERY eclectic taste in music. Everything from Mozart, to Metallica, to this week's pick - Matisyahu.

In other news, I got my first comment from an unknown! Should I be this excited? Probably not as this individual and their cronies use my nickname as another word for 'skunked' beer. How sad for me as I do adore my beer (especially this and this) and would hate to see my 'name' be used in a negative way towards something I love so much. However, I fear that I will have to get by as these folks were most likely using the word WAY before I.

What's in a name anyway?

So, here we are on day two and I think that I should provide the 411 on the title and the address of this here blog. Let's start off with the title: Monkeyshines. The dictionary definition of the word monkeyshine is a playful or mischievous prank (often used in the plural form). Also, it seems that 'Monkeyshines' is the name of a 1988 movie, adapted from the book of the same name by Michael Stewart, where a little helper monkey with a part human brain becomes evil when her person starts to date again. This, I gotta read! However, neither of these inspired the title.

The title is derived from a nickname that my dear friend Nathan once used when speaking about me to another one of his friends. If you haven't figured it out by now, I adore monkeys. And as it turns out, my job is working with the little darlings (yes, cool, I know). So, when he was speaking to this said friend, he referred to me as 'Little Miss Monkeyshines'. Needless to say I found it rather endearing and decided to keep it. There, now you know.

Happy Paul Bunyan Day!

Yes, you read that correctly - it's Paul Bunyan Day. The legendary enormously large lumberjack who had a blue ox, named Babe, for a pet. Don't ask. I'm not certain why, but the folks in the northern woods of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan celebrate and even have statues erected to the man and his four legged friend. One of the originals (if not the original) is in Benidji, MN, but I personally like the one in Eau Claire, WI better.

So anyway, what better day for me (a former Wisconsinite) to enter the blogosphere. I'm not exactly sure as to where this is going to go, but at least it's started. Stay tuned for the further adventures of moi as I battle life in Washington DC (personal and professional), try to find my way in this world, and perhaps post pictures of my pets and friends if they're all game (well, the pets really have no say). Welcome to the wild ride that is MONKEYSHINES!