needschocolate

Imagine some random police show...they find two victims, and old man and a young woman, next to each other. The medical examiner tells the detective that the man's blood was replaced by the woman's. There is another young female victim who worked at the same restaurant as the first one. There is also another old male victim (did they say that both of the men had gone to the same hospital or medical office?). DNA from exotic animals is also found in/on the victims. and a doctor at the hospital is murdered. So, the detective checks out the restaurant and the hospital, they look into places that sell exotic animals. eventually they find some evidence linking this guy to the murders. What I am getting at here is that there was nothing about this case that required the BAU to solve it. I get why they called the BAU in for help, but I want the cases on this show to be ones that couldn't be solved without the BAU special abilities. The CM gang eventually figured out that the guy was trying to find the fountain of youth, but it wasn't necessary to solve to the case. It would have been obvious to anyone that the unsub was performing medical experiments, and that would have been enough to lead investigators to check put people that work in medical offices or hospitals. It wasn't important that he was trying to find the fountain of youth. At least have the BAU figure out why he wanted to find the fountain of youth and use that to find the unsub. Although, if they did have the BAU uncover the motive, then I would probably be complaining about Garcia's magical computer being able to cross reference "men named Robert or Richard" with "children who got lost in hospitals and met old cranky men." As for he ending, I had a feeling that someone was going to kidnap Garcia or she would realize that bad guys were watching her. So, I was already expecting something sinister to happen. Then Hotch walks in and told her she has to leave right now. She can't change out of her pajamas? It sounded like someone was on their way to hurt her, not like "we need your awesome computer skills right this instant." So Hotch taking her out of the room seemed fishy to me. I can see why people on FB are speculating that it wasn't really Hotch. I don't think it is that far-fetched to think that it was a guy pretending to be Hotch - Heck, there just an episode where the unsub put on someone else's face. I am not saying it would be good writing, but I, unfortunately, think the writers could go there.

Plus, the "E" stands for "Ethical" which starts with short e not a long e.

If one of the memory tasks was replaced with questions like "How do you pronounce Hague?" and "Are all Catholics Christian?" the other teams may have passed Joey and Kelsey up (for the record, I never held either of those instances against them - being stressed and tired can lead to brainfarts). Well then, every single woman between the ages of 20 and 40 needs to send Diana a thank you card, because they don't have to worry about Justin trying to pick them up. I would say she took a bullet for the team, but it appears she seems to like him. Chris should probably get thank you cards too.

I will cut Diana some slack. They are on a tv show racing around the world for $1 million. They have won many legs and seem to have a good chance of winning the whole thing. He is a hot head and would rather blame you than try to calm down. This is not the time to "poke the bear." But if she stays with him, it is another story.

So, maybe when L/C were complaining that "they took our cab" they thought Justin and Diana took their cab? Still, they complained about this but then tried to steal the K/J's cab? And, Logan, there is no way you would have won if your cab was still there. No way.

I love that it was completely Justin's fault last leg when J/D almost went home and this week when they didn't win a million dollars. And Diana's biggest mistake was the one where they still finished first and and her mistake earned them extra money because they got paid based on their number of steps (or heart rate?). Weeks? Probably months? I don't know what sort of job Justin has, but I picture him standing next to the water cooler, eyes still red from the crying, repeating his tale of woe, while all of his coworkers keep cases of water bottles under their desks so they don't have to go to the water cooler for a drink.

I have seen glass ornaments of pickles, and looked into why someone would put a pickle on a Christmas tree. According to Wiki, there is a tradition (probably started in Germany) of hiding a pickle in a Christmas tree and whoever finds it gets a prize. I don't think that had anything to do with Dre getting a half empty jar of pickles on Christmas morning though. I would think that Jack would still believe in Santa. Not surprised that Diane wouldn't, but she should be savvy enough to realize that if she acted like she did, she would get more presents. I like Wanda Sykes, but it is a general "like" - I am not a big fan. I haven't been a viewer of any show she was a regular on, but that has nothing to do with her. However, I don't like her on this show and I don't think it is because it means Charlie is gone. I do miss Charlie, but they could have had both characters, so I don't think of her as a replacement Charlie (although, from a casting standpoint, they probably wouldn't have added her character if Deon was still on the show). But I don't like the character she plays here. She adds no laughs, she is just annoying. The "humor" in her character seems to be largely placed on her acting like she didn't hear Dre. Not funny to me - similar stuff has been done on sitcoms for years and I expect more from this show. My only hope is that her "not hearing" or lying ends up being a sign of some sort of early onset dementia and she won't be able to continue working at the office. If that is the case, and Ireally doubt that it is, I will let the show have a few weeks of Dre trying to convince everyone that she is losing her mind, then they need to get rid of her. If she is a regular, then I predict that I will eventually fast forward through the office scenes and just watch the home life stuff. I hope he is just doing a cameo on that show or that, despite being renewed for a second season, the show gets cancelled. I heard that oranges became a tradition because there were such a rare thing decades ago. If you lived somewhere besides California, Florida and neighboring states, you wouldn't get many oranges and they were relatively expensive. I vaguely remember the kids being thrilled with their Christmas stocking oranges on Little House on the Prairie (the books, not the show). So, not only did they represent gold in color, they represented gold in their rarity.

I finally figured out who Maeve reminds me of - the woman on Rehab Addict. The looks are a bit similar - thin, angular, etc. - but it is mostly how they talk. They both talk too loud in a nasally voice, whine and complain, and use too many period when speaking - "I. Need. To win. A challenge."

"Rewatched" the episode (used quotes because I was doing other things at the same time, but my daughter watched and I heard and saw most of it). Since my daughter hadn't seen the episode, I had to stiffle a laugh when Krista commented that she hopes the task is more than just grabbing a fish. The ferry clue said to go to the Hong Kong Ferry terminal and take the Premiere Ferry. Generally, the flight clues say "Fly to Paris" and don't specify which airline or flight to take. I woudl thinkt hat if the clue said "Go to the JFK airport and fly to Paris" and a team went to LaGuardia and flew to Paris, they would be penalized. However, I don't think they get penalized if they don't follow the travel plans on the clue if their ways take longer. For instance, I don't think a team would be penalized if they drove three hours to get someplace when the clue said to take a ferry that would get there in 30 minutes. If they would have been philiminated this time, your dream would have come true. Diana questioned which ferry they took and Justin told her "it's fine." He was also told that the premiere ferry doesn't leave from there, but he didn't care. He was just happy to find out that it was the first ferry of the day - I suppose because he thought that meant they had gotten there first, although he didn't seem surprised to find out that everyone had gotten to the swimming place before him I think you nailed Logan, but I think that Chris would have said "Now we will never have orange juice again."

Or scary, depending on the size of the mouth.

First, Under the Dome is cancelled and, now, we have come to the end of ANTM...None of the other forums I read have the humor and snark of those two. I will miss reading all the comments. I would have loved it if one of the 10-year business plans would have been "After making a name for myself in the modeling world, I am going to create a TV show for aspiring models and teach them all my secrets." I can see Tyra eliminating them immediately, but I can also see her giving them the win because they want to follow in her footsteps. And Mame's mom is an even worse actress, she didn't even try to look like she cared that her daughter was "heartbroken" (or maybe her mom is as bad as Mame was implying). And then Mame says that she is so happy that her mom is there and she can share this moment with her, or something like that. I still don't understand why the aunt who raised her wasn't the family member that came for the photoshoot and finale (yeah, I do understand ...Drahma, darling) Did you have to share an apartment with 8 other girls and sleep on the floor?

I can see how that would be okay. I haven't used Uber, but it my understanding that Uber just sends information out to drivers and the drivers decide if they want the job. I believe the driver provides their own insurance. So Uber isn't a taxi company, it is a company that connects passengers with independent drivers. I am pretty sure if Uber was doing something wrong, the IRS would have noticed by now.

Charlie was a victim of a homonym because he misunderstood PETA as pita.

I think that skipping a task is a 4 hour penalty.

Very true. A CPA once told me that if a company pays someone over $600 and doesn't prepare a 1099 form, and the person who did the work doesn't report it, it is actually the company that gets in more trouble. He said that the company could possibly be liable for the worker's taxes on the income, as well penalties for not filing. This would be hard to catch, unless the company is audited. But once you appear on national TV you're out of luck.

The trikes looked like fun, but I don't see a big market for them. It seems like something you get for the person who is active and already has everything, then they use it for an afternoon or two, and it ends up just taking up space in the garage. It would be different if smaller kids could use it, but the price makes it an adult thing. I thought the glow women were good presenters, and I felt sorry for them when they were asked about other retailers selling similar products. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place - you don't want to imply that the market for what you are selling is so small that bigger retailers aren't interested, but you also don't want to point out that your competition has thousands of locations and oodles of money. The trunkster suitcase was not worth anywhere close to what they were asking. I believe the purse lady said that the bags cost $47 to make and she sells them for about $300. The purlette makes $17 a bag, so what is the other $30 spent on? I am guessing that includes the cost of the yarn, and having someone felt the wool and sew in a lining (or perhaps sew felted wool fabric into a bag, if they are not knitted into bags by the purlette). I wonder if she was including cost of maintaining the website and filling and shipping orders. No matter how you look at it, the purlettes are underpaid. It depends on whether the knitters are considered independent contractors or employees. If a elderly knitter bought some yarn, knitted it into a bag shape or knitted a big rectamgle then sold it to the woman, who then turned it into a handbag and sold it, then paying the kntter $17 is fine, if that is the price the knitter was asking for. In that scenario, the knitter is an independent contractor. Just like the people who sell hand made stuff on Etsy. The woman is obligated to give the knitter a 1099 form if she paid them over $600 in a year. The knitter is required to report it and pay self employment tax (and perhaps income tax) on it. It doesn't matter how long it takes the knitter or how much the knitter gets per hour. Each knitter is a separate business. But if the woman gives the yarn and a pattern to the knitter and tells them what to knit, then, it is very likely that, in the eyes of the IRS, the knitter is an employee (especially if she does the knitting at the woman's place of work). The woman has to withhold payroll taxes (and perhaps income taxes) from the wages paid, she has to pay the employer's share of payroll taxes, she has to file quarterly payroll tax returns, and, most importantly, she has to pay them at least minimum wage. If she has enough employees working enough hours, she may also have to offer medical insurance, and possibly vacation and sick pay. This situation isn't as cut and dry as most. There are arguments to be made that the knitters are independent contractors, but there is also evidence that they are employees, and, in general, when the situation is ambiguous, the IRS goes with employee/employer instead of independent contractor.

Finally watched the episode, finally caught up with the season, just in time for them to take a week off.... I was not bothered by Russell's demands to get a copy of the speech. I just assumed that the President said "Russell, have we gotten a copy of the speech? I want to read it before Bess goes to the UN." Then, Russell calls the SOS's office and bugs them for the speech. I was annoyed with Prof. Master General Rear Admiral Arm Candy saving the world from World War III - although he didn't actually save the world (yet), he just stopped Elizabeth from accusing Russia publicly with false information. He especially bugged me when he was complaining about Elizabeth not giving him info, when every week we saw him refuse to divulge info to her. I have long thought it was ridiculous that he would even be a handler for the CIA. Was he trained at all for that job? Elizabeth worked for the CIA, Henry is just a professor, ex-marine, paratrooper, pilot, war hero, and a bunch of other things, but never a spy. Plus, he is married to the SOS, the chance of them sharing info, even accidentally, is pretty good. There had to be someone else in the US that could have be recruiting spies. Then again...who else could it be? The show wanted to have a storyline where we get close to (or start) WWIII and they did just want it to be that the new Russian president is a power hungry wingnut who declares war on the US. They wanted it to be more complicated, and I appreciate that (it is the stuff that makes this show worth watching , IMO). But how else would Elizabeth get the info (too late) that it wasn't Russia that did the Air Force One hack. I suppose they could have just had Elizabeth get some sort of memo or email that made her realize that it wasn't Russia, but I expect more from this show than that. To make the story good, Elizabeth needed to get the info from someone close to her - someone she would talk to all the time. I guess they could have Henry at home making lasagna while Liz's best friend is a asset handler for the CIA (heck she even has friends that work for the CIA), but "we're besties, but can't discuss work with each other" doesn't have the same weight as "we're happily married, but can't discuss work with each other." Plus, having the best friend sitting in the limo making the revelation Henry made would have been more ridiculous (and they sort of had to have that revelation be made by whoever would have the info about Russia not being the hacker, in order to set the stage that they know stuff that could be important). This all ends up with Henry being the superhero husband. So, I will accept that Eye Candy is a superhero. But I still wonder - if this show was about a male SOS, would they have the wife be a superhero? I get the feeling they would have gone with the superhero best friend instead,

I think you may be my long lost twin (that my mother never knew she had). I can taste the slightest bit of coffee in anything. I understand that a lot of people, who enjoy coffee, feel that coffee and chocolate are a great combination - hence the populaity of mochas and all those mocha flavored foods. And I can believe that a regular coffee drinker wouldn't notice a slight bit of coffee in their chocolate cake, but it might taste better to them than a cake without coffee. But that is not me. I cannot stand the taste of coffee. There is no other flavor that I don't like, other than coffee.

I found the cheerleaders to be so repetitive, mostly in a whiny way. It's too heavy, it's too heavy, it's too heavy... I can't see it, I can't see it, I can't see it... and it looked like she kept swimming in the same places every time. And they were rather self-unaware - We're athletes, it's to heavy - We are good with fabric, then they go about it in a way that no one else does - you don't need to know how the parts go together, you just need to trace and cut. Plus, all the hugging of locals and seeming to think that they should/could get anything because they are cute. The cheerleaders bugged me, but I was rooting for them to make it to the mat before the penalty was gone and was so disappointed when they didn't. That is how much I dislike Justin. Five. Her first time was with Logan and the female reporter. Then she did the second one while Diana waited (which was the start of my emotional roller coaster ride). Krista's third try was Diana's first - and only. Then she did it again after Diana left. Got a pep talk from her partner. And finally found it on the fifth attempt. That was my first thought too, but then I realized that J/D wouldn't have been that far behind if it wasn't for bad taxi luck (although they didn't need to take a taxi, so it is partly on them). I am all for getting along with the rest of the world, however, if his passport is voided then we are stuck with him all the time. Can we exile him to Antarctica somehow? This made me realize that perhaps I should be rooting for Justin to win the whole thing. If he loses they would likely bring him back for a redemption season. But if he wins, he will fade into obscurity.

I find it comforting to know that Keith "stuck with the plan!"

Alex mentioned that they kissed and he got "some of these" as she pointed to her chest.

Well, I guess in this every changing world in which we live in, it is nice to have some things you can count on - like a case on GW going back and forth and back again until, right before the end of the show, someone comes up with something we have never heard a hint about, which magically ends the case in favor of whatever side Alicia is on. This time -"Oh look, the plaintiff was having trouble for two months before ChumHum started their Chummy Maps!" Nobody checked that out ahead of time? The focus group lady, who looked to be in her mid thirties, admires Alicia for staying with her husband after he slept with a bunch of prostitutes? In what universe? I can understand someone who is anti-divorce under all circumstances (how many people are like that?) thinking Alicia staying with Peter was a sign of character in Alicia, but I think the vast majority of people would see Alicia staying with him as a sign that Alicia did it for her own political or financial gain. Of course, they had to have the focus group think Alicia is wonderful so that it will support the Alicia running for Senate storyline they apparently want to have. I turned to my husband and said, "Nobody would support Alicia running after the her last election. And there is no way Peter could run for President with his background. Real candidates have had to drop out for much less." And he looked at me and said, "Donald Trump is leading in the polls." Maybe GW politics aren't so ridiculous after all. What was Eli's grand plan? Have his assistant stay with Alicia 24 hours a day? Or did he plan to hire 2-3 more people to read in the corner of Alicia's apartment? I love the assistant character, but Eli's schemes are usually a little more well thought out. With all the talk of racism this episode, I realized that not only are there only three law firms in Chicago, but there are only 2 races/ethnicities, now that Kalinda is gone. Originally, I wondered why it should be a big deal that Jason had a file on Alicia. After all, she and Lucca checked out Jason's background too. But, now that you mention it, "I work for other people" probably means something other than "I also work for L/A." How did Eli know Jason has a file on Alicia? Whoever found that out is the investigator that everyone should be hiring.

I think he did not tell Spencer. Stephen told Spencer about the advantage, Spencer voted Stephen out. If I was Jeremy, there is no way I would trust Spencer. I am not a fan of eye-rolling. However, I found Ciera's eye rolls to be fascinating. I am pretty sure I saw her eyes roll in different directions at the same time and I think there was one time that her eyes rolled so far back that they made a complete rotation and came back up from the bottom.

Perhaps the abundance of balancing challenges is because they were trying to make things "more fair." Obviously, Joe is great at the balancing challenges, but I think he would be near the top at most any physical challenge and he has done well at puzzles too (he apparently sucks at remembering details). Balancing is supposed to favor women due to their, generally, lower center of gravity (not sure how that will help you hold a statue over your head). Seems to me that Keith and Spencer both did well on balancing challenges in their original seasons. Even though the powers that be must have known that Joe would be good at balancing, they could have also thought that balancing challenges would be the most likely ones that someone else could beat Joe on. I am confused as to how knowing that your cousin is now in prison for murder is going to make you a better or worse jury member. Besides, at least 5 of the people who are still playing and got to see their family member will eventually be on the jury - how is letting the already-on-the-jury people see their family members any different? If the show had already started airing and the family members had seen some episodes, I can see how that would be very wrong. Of course, the same thing could happen to the ones who are still playing. In any case, I am glad to find out that the current jury members don't get to see their loved ones even though they will be gone for the full 39 days, only because I like the idea of Savage not getting to see his supermodel wife (this probably makes me a bad person - however, I would have felt bad for Jeremy not getting to see Val if he had gone to the jury before the family visits). Russel's medivac lead to my favorite reunion moment - Russel told the story of watching his emergency on TV. His wife was watching with him and he hadn't told her that he had gotten so ill. As she is watching this unfold, she turns to him and say (paraphrasing), "I hope you don' t die!" (if anyone remembers the exactly details, please feel free to correct me).

The show fell flat for me. The writing was funny at times, but the acting wasn't up to par, for most of them. It was like they didn't have time to rehearse much.