St. Claire

How long ago did Derek die? Hasn't it been about 2 years now? It came up during Mer's testimony ("Your husband died recently, is that correct?"), but I thought it was strange not to put a timeframe on the single mom status. If anything, you'd think that the "single moms leaning on each other" tact would work better if you framed it as a years-long, established relationship; saying Derek passed away "recently" sort of dilutes that. Also, I have learned by lesson about not reading comments on other online venues about this show. The level of vitriol toward Arizona for the fact that she was unsure about motherhood back when Sophia was conceived is somewhat frightening to me as a woman who experienced some angst at an unexpected pregnancy. The number of folks who are saying that she has no right to even consider herself Sophia's mother and ought not even be recognized as such because "she didn't even want children, EVER!!!!!" is alarming; I wonder how many would tell me that I don't deserve my son because I cried 14 years ago when I saw the positive test (since I thought I was done having babies and I'd just put my career back on track because I figured that I didn't have any more maternity leaves and such).

I think "full custody" is a misnomer. I think the right term is "primary custody," which would mean that Arizona has physical custody, but a designated and agreed-upon visitation schedule is in place and Callie still has rights in her daughter's life. Callie is not (or should not, I can't trust the writers to keep things even remotely sane) giving up her parental rights; if Sophia is visiting mommy and Miss Penny in NY during school vacation, Callie is the one who would make a medical decision in the case of an emergency and all that. This judgement was not meant to "take away" Sophia as Callie's daughter.

A friend of mine had to turn down an out of state job because her ex-husband didn't want to change the time allotted in the custody arrangements. (He was a bitter SOB at that point, but came to his senses a couple years later when another opportunity arose.) That part had me fuming- they added up her surgeries and the trivia nights, as though every one of those instances was during non-work hours (the surgeries) and all were the nights she was scheduled to have Sophia. I know that Arizona's lawyer didn't have the data handy, but I would have liked to have seen how many messages there were to show how many times Arizona took Sophia on a night when it was Callie's scheduled time, which would offset the total. If Arizona did an emergency surgery during her shift, then went to the bar later that night to do trivia with Richard while Callie was scheduled to have Sophia, that two instances of "neglecting her daughter" that are totally bogus in the span of one day! I sort of wanted to see a cross-examination of Owen's "Oh, she's just so passionate and jumps into adventures!" that highlighted the impulsive nature of uprooting a young child and moving her across the country (away from her entire support system) for a year. In a hearing that is all about the welfare of a child, the idea that it's totally cool to disrupt an elementary-school-aged child's life like that would not fly. (and didn't, I guess, since the judge decided to keep Sophia with the mom who was willing to keep her in her school, and spending time with her friends that she'd had since infancy, and the house she loves...) But I also see that Arizona's lawyer wasn't willing to do character attacks; she only focused on why staying put was good for the child. I really enjoyed seeing the sensible negotiation of how to split holiday between Jackson and April.

I thought so. I thought she looked taken aback. I'm almost doubting myself now, it's so... crazy and, no one has even remarked on it! I clipped and uploaded it here: am I misreading it?? It looks to me that there is some time between the "I" and the "mean/meant," leading me to think it was "I didn't mean to." In other words, the lip movement of "meant" would have been right after the open mouth of "I" and what I saw was the open mouth "I," a slack jawed/swallowed "didn't" and enunciated mouth movement for "mean to."

Y'know, I was eating at Panera bread when it was new and not the hip and cool thing to do. Just saying. :-)

I still don't get the leap of "Gosh, I miss this particular brand of burgers from the food court!" translating into "Hey, kidnapper dude, here is the date and time I will be at the food court in the mall so you can come stare creepily at me and hope that your wife doesn't finish her shopping whilst we make awkward eye contact!" And how did Pocky (Doug?) know where to send the flowers? Did he send them to Adam Warren, but use Ben on the card so that they went to the right room? Because the hospital wouldn't give out the room number if Doug called to ask, so he wouldn't be able to just give a room number to the floral delivery service. And he wouldn't be able to just walk in and wander the halls looking for the [grossly non-secure] room. And he'd have had to sign in and get a visitor sticker when he stopped at the front desk to find out what room Adam/Ben was in. Oh, wait. I'm applying logic to the show. Big mistake.

Dang, somebody is chopping some serious onions here at my desk.

The reason the recent casting got called out was the specific text "non-white" being used as a requirement. I saw a previous casting notice (for the impending touring company) that listed each character with the requirements being a laundry list of ethnicities (African-American, Pacific Islander, South Asian, East Asian, Latino, and a bunch of others; I think the final text said something akin to "...other visible ethnicities). You can't call out who can't apply according to Equity Rules, but it's totally OK to name everyone except white. I don't want Hamilton to be color blind casting, because color blind casting would not make an effort to have a variety; you might end up with a few people of color here and there, but not a full leading cast of Latino/African-American/Asian/etc.

I suppose I mis-spoke (mis-typed?) when I said "I know that's not happening." What I should have said is "I've read on a number of boards..." that he's no longer working in the U.S., and that I have noted a tendency among the show management to focus on bringing in new/younger talent (e.g., focus on the troupe and the promotion from within or use of SYTYCD alums) which makes me assume that they will not bring Tristan back. Edyta's return gives me hope. I have to confess that Alan is currently the only troupe member I can identify enough to match a name to a face, and only because he filled in this week. I pay so little attention to the individuals in the troupe that I don't even notice most of the time when a new pro has come through the ranks instead of coming in from outside the show.

You're in luck! Macy's ONE DAY SALE usually lasts three days, then they change name on the sale topper to some other sale.

I noticed that Mischa just stood there when Artem came over to say goodbye to Edyta and Geraldo. I thought it was very odd, and it did not endear her to me. I am sorry that she's struggling, but she should have had an idea what the show required before agreeing to participate. I hope this doesn't bring her to another breakdown, because no show is worth that. I wish Mark the best and hope he heals well, but would not be disappointed if he decided to take it easy! I'd rather see Artem take over than more of Alan (no offense to him, but I have more confidence in Artem as a teacher/choreographer than I do with Alan at this point), if Mischa gets voted off next week. What I really want is for Tristan to come back to DWTS, but I know that's not happening.

Here's the thing- I like food, like, a lot. No one is going to look at me and assume that I'm depriving myself of food. I don't enjoy food if I'm shoving it into my mouth like I'm fearful that the plate is about to be taken away. Eating that fast defeats the purpose of having flavorful, fresh, delicious food. The people on the commercial are mainlining their food, not eating. It's like how you shoot the nasty glucose drink when you are tested for diabetes- you are trying to bypass your taste buds. (And by "you," I totally mean "me." That glucose tolerance test was one of the worst parts of pregnancy.)

So those Panera hipsters are soo behind the curve. And I bet you and I manage to eat our salads without shoveling the food into our mouths like savages.

I'm pretty sure that Jessica Capshaw really is pregnant. My guess is a lot of shots behind counters and carrying big bags and shoulder-up shots. Arizona was April's doctor for the fetal surgery. April's refusal to conduct any tests that would make her a candidate for fetal surgery and her current medical state that (a) is unrelated to Arizona's field of practice- she's not a obstetrician, after all, and (b) is known to Arizona through purely social mean would point to Arizona having plenty of defense against any medical ethics violation charges. Telling Jackson against April's wishes was a crappy thing to do as a friend, but you can't be fired for breaking the girlfriend-code. Ugh, do I have to? I've been trying to forget that plotline for years.

Oh, I love me some soup and sandwich (or soup and salad), but the pretentious way that Panera advertises the "clean pairings" make me want to throat punch somebody. And let's be honest, any food commercial that makes me want to resort to physical violence is just not worth it. I can get soup and a sandwich at my deli with much less angst.

This always bugs me. Faith does not mean nothing bad happens, healthwise. I have three kids with various levels of special needs; it's not because God is punishing me for not being a good enough Christian. I understand her idea that she wants to conduct the pregnancy as though everything is fine (since she can't change if the baby does have OI and she is unwilling to abort), but to imply that her faith is going to ensure there are no problems is a bit of a mockery of what "faith in God" really means. I find this hugely refreshing. "My body, my choice" is generally presented to show how a woman should not be forced to continue a pregnancy against her own wishes. I can't think of another TV program that presented a "I am CHOOSING to stay pregnant."

And the woman is Allison Brie, from Mad Men and Community. It was bugging me that I couldn't place who it was at first.

Ken Howard received a kidney transplant in 2000 (his donor was a stunt woman who was friends with him and his wife) and I met him at the National Transplant Games in Florida. When I was talking about how excited I was to have met him, my dad swore he had no idea who I was talking about. "Dad, you watched the White Shadow; you must know him." Nope. "Crossing Jordan? He played Jordan's dad?" Even though he watched both shows, Dad still swears he has no idea who I'm talking about. One of his guest star roles that sticks with me was an appearance on Blue Bloods. He is a man with dementia that Jamie helps out; it was very touching.

Well, this picture from IMDB shows that she rocks the red carpet look as much as the AT&T chambray shirt.

I totally want Frankie with Nina. Kiki's Asian and she's with Korsack, so it's not as though an interracial relationship is a far out idea.

I honestly thought it was Tabasco, but I may not have been paying attention. Actual episode commentary? I got nothing. Stupid interactions among the married-but-pretending-not-to-be Castles, predictable villain, and lackluster supporting guests (Becker was mind numbing). Ugh.

Pardon me for being shallow, but...my goodness, Nyle is extraordinarily pleasant to look at. I know there was good dancing there as well, and that his attention to Peta so that he could follow the dance was very admirable, but...that face. Those EYES. Lord have mercy. I never thought I'd find myself feeling sorry for Mischa Barton (she didn't endear herself to me when she was on The OC), but I think Len was way to harsh. If he'd been equally as scathing toward the other subpar dancers, I would understand, but it seemed like he saved his vitriol for her and was more level with Geraldo and Doug (who I have a bit of a soft spot for because of his autism charity work when his son was young). I tend to fast forward through the rehearsal packages, so I will probably be less irritated by Ginger's new mom status than other viewers. I have to give her some credit because I was nowhere ready for dancing when I was 3 month postpartum and still nursing. She could get annoying with the peppiness, just as Kim's screeching about her scores might get on my nerves sooner rather than later. I can take or leave the footballers. I'm a DC/Baltimore girl myself, so rooting for a Pittsburgh guy won't come easily to me even if his dance talent is phenomenal and I feel like I've already seen a lot of Von Miller as he basks in the MVP shine. Did I mention that I enjoy looking at Nyle? 'Cause I really do.

May I just go on record as having never included the severity of my symptoms when I mention a condition (and believe me, I've got some conditions)? Maybe it's because I'm only in the mild-to-moderate stage of any of them, and therefore do not qualify for the drugs being advertised on TV.

"Not naming names" is what makes it art. It would have been amusing otherwise, but that just seals the deal. As much as the three of them have their moments of annoying me individually (some more than others), I am really liking the Capital One commercials with Samuel L. Jackson, Charles Barkley and Spike Lee. The one where they are singing the Pina Colada Song just makes me laugh.

That may be a sign that you have pseudobulbar effect, and you need Neudexta.