January 12

1) I forgot to mention one last detail about our trip to NYC on Wed. When we came home and were driving through Downtown Albany up to our apt, I noticed that there were a lot more cars/limos in the parking lots than a typical weeknight. Then it hit me. HANNAH MONTANA. How could I be so stupid and forget!? It's only been all over the media as the biggest concert of the year.

When we stopped at a traffic light, a scalper tried to see if we wanted tickets. The concert had begun, because there was absolutely no one around. To amuse myself, I rolled down the window just to see how much he was selling them for. I had heard of people paying thousands to see this teen-super-star-duel-personality-daughter-of-famous-country-singer-TV-hero:

"You have tickets?"

"Yeah. Two seats (he pulls off two tickets in a stack of four). Real good."

"How much?"

"For you, 150."

"150! (mind you, it's 7:30, the concert has started, and this guy is about to eat these tickets) I couldn't pay that much."

"How much do you have?" (light switches to green)

"Nothing."

"Nothing! You've gotta have something!" (Sandy is giving me the look, and about to throw me out of the car and drive herself home)

"I've got like, $10."

"You have five?"

I had no idea if that meant he was going to give us the tickets for $5 each or something else. Regardless we drove off and I was laughing to myself.

2) Last year I predicted a few things that I thought would catch on. Some of the ideas were successful, others not. This year I haven't given it as much thought. One thing that I have noticed is the anti-plastic bag campaign. At Price Chopper, they have this plasticy type of reusable bags. Also if you bring your own bags you save $.03 for each one. At Target last night I noticed that they had similar bags for sale. The packaging of items, as well as the transportation is critically important as we as a society continue to "go green".

3) The Hills. Is it real? Is it fake? Why is Justin-Bobby such an ass? Who really cares. It's a slickly produced quasi-reality show about "real people" in their early twenties who happen to live in LA that appeals to people. Not just those of us under twenty-five care about. I'm talking I've had real serious convos about the show with co-workers pushing the 30+ age bracket who could keep up with any 19-year old Bud-Light drinking sorority girl.

When I check out of the above mentioned stores, I can look on the covers of the weekly magazines and see their tanned faced with white teeth staring back at me. And I realize, I've never seen any of the "characters" on The Hills doing a photo shoot. This leads me to conclude that how hard is life for these people? Not very. Boo hiss, LC and Whitney got fired from Teen Vogue according to Perez. I'm sure they're going to have a real difficult time in LA finding work.

Is it time for the spring season to begin yet?

4) I made taco soup last night. It's definitely a keeper. But it tastes a lot like chili. I also made some great corn-bread.