What a world

This story is awful and another example why our country needs to get a MUCH better healthcare plan in order quick....

A 49-year-old woman collapsed and died on the floor of a waiting room at a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital and lay there for more than an hour as employees ignored her, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which on Tuesday released surveillance camera video of the incident.

Upon her admission, Green waited nearly 24 hours for treatment, said the civil liberties union, which was among the groups filing suit against the facility last year seeking improved conditions for patients.

The surveillance camera video shows the woman rolling off a waiting room chair, landing face-down on the floor and convulsing. Her collapse came at 5:32 a.m. June 19, the NYCLU said, and she stopped moving at 6:07 a.m. During that time, the organization said, workers at the hospital ignored her.

At 6:35 a.m., the tape shows a hospital employee approaching and nudging Green with her foot, the group said. Help was summoned three minutes later.

Can you believe it? When they finally found her on the floor, the attended nudged her with her foot first, then called for help.

I hope Michael Moore sees this and includes it in one of his new movies.

Sad....sad...

As the world turns

Seems that they are building a moving skyscraper in Dubai. I think the "idea" of a spinning building is cool, but not sure that I'd enjoy living in one.

They'll probably have to put dramamine in the water.

Drunks might also have trouble living in a room that is already spinning before they start drinking.

Guess I'll have to stick to renting non-moving apartments....

International Boogie

This guy, Matt, traveled to 42 countries over the course of 13 months and filmed himself doing his silly dance in each location with a variety of locals. He managed to do it with a sponsorship from Strid gum.

His "Where the Hell is Matt" site with info on how it all started is a lot of fun to read.

I wonder if Cap'n Crunch would sponsor me to do a Crunch Berry dance around the world.

Hmmm.....

D-list Mardi Gras

Tonight's episode of "My Life on the D-list" is the one where Kathy Griffin hosted the Pink Flight from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia for the Gay Mardi Gras. I was on that flight , as many of you know.

I'm not sure if I'm on camera anywhere in this particular episode. I tried to avoid them...but you never know.

Should be interesting....

Will kissin' Dave

Will Smith was on Letterman recently and was his usual charming self. However, on this particular visit to the show, he and Dave seemed to get along particularly well....



I can't wait to see Will's new movie, "Hancock" in July.

Saved by the bra

I guess I'll be packing one more item next time I decide to go on a hike into the mountains...

An American hiker stranded in the Bavarian Alps for nearly three days was rescued after using her sports bra as a signal, police in southern Germany said Monday.

Berchtesgaden police officer Lorenz Rasp said that he helped lift 24-year-old Jessica Bruinsma of Colorado to safety by helicopter on Thursday after she attracted the attention of lumberjacks by attaching her sports bra to a cable used to move timber down the mountain.

Rasp said the cable was only within reach because the timber transport system was out of service. When a repairman restored the line on Thursday, the cable car started moving up the mountain and Bruinsma's bra reached the worker at the base. He knew of the missing hiker and immediately called police.

Hopefully she was wearing clean underwear too.

Although, contrary to what moms all over the world would have you believe, I think lumberjacks probably wouldn't care one way or the other.

Super Mario

Maybe it's the 111 degree heat AGAIN today, but after I poured myself out of the car, got the mail and went into the house....I noticed something that took my mind off of the awfulness outside.



The cover of the new People magazine and the header "Mario Lopez Bares All".

Hmmm...I needed some inspiration and was certain that it was a humanitarian story of his struggle making it as a latino actor in the model-eat-model city of Los Angeles.

I was right...



The story begins with his challenging upbringing on a deserted island with Brooke Shields.

After swimming for 3 weeks in the open sea, he managed to be rescued by a Monk in a passing boat and brought to the U.S.







It described his days as an assistant stylist to the stars...



Then working as Richard Gere's stunt double in "American Gigolo" to pay the bills....



Then, his life in Vegas working at Cesar's Palace as a gladiator greeter to the masses...



To better days as a Corona spokesperson.

It was really inspiring, I have to tell you.

Now, if he would only just work out a little bit, get some facial reconstruction surgery and a new set of teeth....

I really think he could make it.



It's all about what's INSIDE that counts and, with his average looks and body, I have a feeling he has a lot going on inside.

Update: Photobucket deleted my original top photo of Mario in the famous Burt Reynolds pose on the rug (his naughty bits were covered). Me thinks they are a tad bit too quick to decide what is inappropriate...

I hate this weather SO much...

It is 111 degrees today and it feels as if you'll just burst into flames the moment you step outside. Honestly, it's too early in the summer for this kind of heat. If this is a preview of things to come, I may need to take a summer trip to Alaska very soon.

The heat made me think of Madeline Kahn's confession speech in the movie "Clue", mainly the part where she talks about how much she hated Yvette, the maid (before killing her)...



God, I miss her!

She was one of the funniest character actresses of her time. And that movie, as cheesy as it is, has some hilarious stuff in it and another of my favorite actresses, Eileen Brennan (also hilarious as Mrs. Peacock).

I also happened upon a Web site that used to sell "Mrs. White Flames" tshirts. It says they're sold out, but I'm gonna email them anyway and see if I can arrange to get one now.

How could you not?

That's HOT

This visual just might explain why it's so #%##@!! hot here today. It was 106 degrees today when I got out of my car....

ONE HUNDRED AND SIX!

What a world....I'm melting...I'm melting....



Focusing on a different kind of heat, it appears that Mario Lopez has recreated his own version of a famous Marky Mark ad for Calvin Klein underwear. I don't like to choose favorites, so I'll just wait until they have the hot oil wrestle-off, then make my decision.

Have I mentioned it's hot today?



Seems to be some heat in this kitchen too. I read this article today on JoeMyGod about the new Heinz ad that begins airing in the UK soon.

Heinz is set to challenge some viewer expectations with a light-hearted TV campaign that features two men sharing a kiss. The TV commercial, which promotes a new range of dressing called Heinz Deli Mayo, breaks tonight and will be supported by a press campaign. Heinz' new ad opens with a family on a normal morning routine with a young boy and girl getting ready for school and their father preparing for the office.

All I could think about while watching this commercial, besides how cute it is, was how lucky those kids are to have someone to make them a sandwich and wish them a good day.

I really need to learn to cook...or win the lottery so that I can hire a full-time chef.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my usual Fruity Pebbles and Cap'n Crunch...but having a meal with actual nutritional value once in a while, would be a nice change for me and my digestive system.

And finally, wrapping up my "Mabel, is the heat on?" entry, check out this clip of Olivia Newton-John singing "Burn, Baby, Burn" from the upcoming LOGO TV series "Sordid Lives: The Series" that starts airing next month. It looks pretty funny and has many of the original cast members from the movie, including my favorite, Leslie "Beverly Leslie" Jordan.



She looks great (can you believe she's 59?!) and still has one of the best singing voices around.

Of course, she sang "Xanadu"...so she'll always hold a special place in my heart.



Xanadu....uuuuuu....UUUUUU!

Blowin' in the wind

"I'm just gonna look outside and see what the weather is like...."

I just read about this amazing photo, taken last Tuesday in Iowa. I'll bet it wasn't exactly what she expected when she went to check the weather that afternoon....

When the weather turned violent and stormy on Tuesday evening, Lori Mehmen, who lives in the small farming town of Orchard in northeastern Iowa, looked out her front door and saw a funnel cloud bearing down — and evidently had the presence of mind to grab her digital camera and capture this shot before taking cover.

As deadly as tornados can be, I've always been fascinated by them. Growing up in Ohio, we were certainly used to regular tornado warnings over the years. Fortunately, we never had one actually touch down near our home.

If I ever looked out my front window and saw THAT image...I'm pretty sure that it would be time for a Depends change.

Happy Birthday Frank

I just realized that today is Frank's birthday....the first one since he passed away in March while I was traveling.

It's been such an odd thing to have him just.....gone, since my return. After 17 years of caring for him, almost full time in the past year, and having him be such a huge part of my life, it's been weird adjusting to the fact that he's just not physically here now, like he was before I left.

Usually, people experience a death, then go to the funeral, then grieve until life eventually takes over.

But, since it happened while I was gone, it feels more like he just disappeared.

Sad.

Well, wherever you are Frank, I hope you're happy and at peace. And, if they have horse racing in heaven, I hope you have a front row seat at every event!

You are missed.

Fishues

Our last day in Houston was spent searching for sights that featured air-conditioning, so we ended up at the Houston Aquarium. Now, I'm not a big fan of things that swim in the ocean, hence my resistance to scuba diving, eating seafood (unless it's deep fried enough to let me imagine it's anything else) and such. I'd be just as uncomfortable having sea creatures roaming the aisles at my local Ralphs (Is that Lance Bass?), so I try to avoid floating around their natural habitats too.

However, I'm fine visiting places where I can view what is out there, without me actually having to brush up against them.

Yes, I have fishues.

After spending a good deal of time roaming the halls of the aquarium, here are some great examples of creatures that keep me land-locked...



I prefer Smuckers jelly, instead of jelly fish.





One doesn't encounter these kinds of creatures in a public swimming pool, which is fine by me.



Piranhas anyone? No thanks...I don't care if they are gold-plated.



The Wayland Flowers fish, although pretty, is not something I'd like to encounter while snorkeling or re-enacting scenes from "The Blue Lagoon".



The Ed Sullivan fish must have been feeling blue on this particular day.



This Lidsville fish is also nice, but better off in the ocean and not fluttering by my little piggies.



Surprisingly, this aquarium also had four white tigers on display. I didn't realize that they spent any time in the water, but they are beautiful to look at behind VERY thick plexiglass.



Nice kitty.



They also had a ginormous boa constrictor on display...sweet dreams.

I didn't get a picture of the Bird-eating Tarantula for two reasons....one, its habitat was all fogged up, so difficult to get a good shot. Two...I couldn't stop twitching from the idea that this big, hairy spider can actually eat a bird...so, buh-bye birdy!



They also had this Boo Berry Shark floating over us during the "Shark Experience" (which wasn't much of an experience after all). It has a face that looks like the Ghost of Fishmas Past.



After leaving the aquarium, we just wandered the city a bit more before heading back to the apartment to nap.

Houston is a nice, clean city with a variety of unusual odors floating around (we must have missed the giant litter box art sculpture that I am sure was there somewhere). It's way too hot and muggy for me to consider ever living there.

But, it might be worth a trip back in the fall sometime...

Or not.