The Friday Five:

You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first?

Mark, of course. If he is with me when we find out, my folks.

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?

Probably a reno on our house. I love the house and the neighbourhood but there are quite a few things that I'd like to upgrade/renovate if we had the money.

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?

University tuition for my godson Matthew. He's an awesome kid and doing really well in school (he'll be graduating from high school soon) and I know that his folks aren't in a position to help out with his post-secondary education right now.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?

We'd probably make a donation to the ALS Society. Mark's mum died of ALS in 1999.

5. Do you invest any? If so, how?

We definitely would but I'm not sure in what.

I used to love Home Depot. I'm seriously beginning to hate the joint. Yesterday morning, bright and squirrelly, we bundled up and went out to do errands. As I mentioned earlier, we're going to do some painting, mostly the kitchen cabinets and, as always, we're sorting out closets and moving things around a bit. So, we go to Home Depot and the place is a shambles. I needed to pick up a set of casters but the casters aisle was missing-in-action (part of the reno they are doing). When we finally locate the casters, I realize I have to use the loo. Now, this is Home Depot, a place where (usually) I see way more men than I do women. Whenever I have used the loo at le depot, it's always super clean because you just know that women are very rarely ever in the place. Yesterday, at 8:30 a.m., the ladies loo is being closed for cleaning. I couldn't believe it...and this cleaner dude just stared at me and kept pointing at the "not in service" sign while yelling, "one minute, one minute." One minute my ass. So we head the checkout with three small items that took us 30 minutes to find in the mess of the store and there are five people in the line up in front of us. Prior to getting to the front of the store, there were tonnes of helpful folks in orange smocks standing around talking to one another, drinking coffee. I guess none of them knows how to work a cash though because they had only one cashier on. We were so pissed that we almost left our stuff in a pile and sent over to the brand new sparkly (and not a mess) Rona store but it was in the opposite direction of where were going next so I just sucked it up. I have decided though, that I will not buy my paint at Home Depot (like I usually do). I'm so disgusted with the mess of the store and the poor service that we'll stick to Rona. I would have thought that Home Depot would be tripping over themselves to compete now that the Rona store is open. Guess I thought wrong.

Today's been freezing again. I can't even believe it. We've been getting some stuff done around the house though. I've done 7 loads of laundry and we've dissembled a bed (in the room Mark's dad will be moving into). We also got rid of a couple of small bookshelves. I was going to give them to goodwill but ended up giving them to a friend for her teenage daughter. I still have a tonne of stuff to give to goodwill, don't worry. It feels really good to be emptying that room. The sooner we do, the sooner we can get the bathroom floor finished and the carpet installed.

Fun stuff huh?? I tell ya, it's just a rock'n'roll, non-stop party around here, all weekend, every weekend!!

It's the weekend and I could be sleeping in. I got up at my normal time though. I really love this time of the day, it's daytime but it's still dark out; it's quiet and still, peaceful.

It's going to be a good day because Mark's not working today so we get to spend the entire weekend together. I'm not sure exactly what we're going to do though. I've been thinking about the house a lot lately, probably because I've been working on getting the front bedroom for Mark's dad to move in. I've decided that I'm going to repaint the trim in our bedroom. When we painted it last summer, we did the whole room in Glazed Raspberry. I really love the colour but I've been thinking about how nice it'll look with white trim. The switch plate covers, vent covers, etc. are white so I think it'll look really snazzy. I'm also going to paint the inside of the closet in the front bedroom. We never did it when we painted the room and it needs to be freshened up.

The biggest project I'm going to do is in the kitchen. Ideally, one day, we'd love to gut the kitchen and redo it totally. In the meantime, I'm going to paint the cabinets, trim and wainscot. Again, I'm going to do them in white. They are a really ugly, dark stained wood with very 70's looking hardware. Not fun 70's hardware though, the kind of stuff that was standard issue in the 70's (we think that the kitchen was last reno'd then). A couple of years ago now, we bought 3 pieces for the kitchen at IKEA (a cupboard for the wall, a pantry and a rolling storage cart). They are white with "chrome" accents. I've decided to paint the stuff in the kitchen white and get new chrome hardware. It should look nice when it's done. I think it'll be something that I just putter at when I feel like it. By springtime, it should be all done and look terrific. Don't worry, I'll definitely post before and after photos!!

I think I'll go put the coffee on. Have a wonderful weekend!!

Rest in peace Captain Kangaroo, you were a really cool guy and we'll miss you more than you'll ever know....

Bob Keeshan, Captain Kangaroo, Dies at 76
By CHRISTOPHER GRAFF, Associated Press Writer
QUECHEE, Vt. - Bob Keeshan, who gently entertained and educated generations of children as television's walrus-mustachioed Captain Kangaroo, died Friday at 76.

Keeshan died of a long illness, his family said in a statement.

Keeshan's "Captain Kangaroo" premiered on CBS in 1955 and ran for 30 years before moving to public television for six more. It was wildly popular among children and won six Emmy Awards, three Gabriels and three Peabody Awards.

The format was simple: Each day, Captain Kangaroo, with his sugar-bowl haircut and uniform coat, would wander through his Treasure House, chatting with his good friend Mr. Green Jeans, played by Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum.

He would visit with puppet animals, like Bunny Rabbit, who was scolded for eating too many carrots, and Mr. Moose, who loved to tell knock-knock jokes.

But the show revolved about the grandfatherly Captain Kangaroo, whose name was inspired by the kangaroo pouch-like pockets of the coat Keeshan wore.

"I was impressed with the potential positive relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, so I chose an elderly character," Keeshan said.

Keeshan, born in Lynbrook, N.Y., became a page at NBC while he was in high school. He joined the Marine Corps in 1945.

His first television appearance came in 1948, when he played the voiceless, horn-honking Clarabell the Clown on the "Howdy Doody Show," a role he created and played for five years.

Later he played Corny the clown, the host of a noontime cartoon program in New York City.

"Captain Kangaroo" debuted on Oct. 3, 1955, and Keeshan remained in that role until 1993.

Keeshan, who moved to Vermont in 1990, remained active as a children's advocate, writing books, lecturing and lobbying on behalf of children's issues.

He was critical of today's TV programs for children, saying they were too full of violence. And he spoke wherever he went about the importance of good parenting.

"Parents are the ultimate role models for children," he said. "Every word, movement and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent."

When Fred Rogers, the gentle host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," died last year, Keeshan recalled how they often spoke about the state of children's programming.

"I don't think it's any secret that Fred and I were not very happy with the way children's television had gone," Keeshan said.

In 1987, Keeshan and former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander co-founded Corporate Family Solutions, an organization that provided day-care programs to businesses around the country.

Keeshan believed children learn more in the first six years of life than at any other time and was a strong advocate of day care that provides emotional, physical and intellectual development for children.

"Play is the work of children. It's very serious stuff. And if it's properly structured in a developmental program, children can blossom," he said.

Keeshan's wife, Jeanne, died in 1990. He had three children.

Here is this week's Friday Five:

At this moment, what is your favorite...

1. ...song?

Gabriel in the Airport by the French

2. ...food?

Anything stir fried over brown basmati rice

3. ...tv show?

Coronation Street

4. ...scent?

Fresh coffee in the morning

5. ...quote?

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I took this afternoon off from work because I was feeling kind of crappy and just wanted some chill out time. About an hour after I got home, the mailman delivered a package to me. It was my copy of Belle and Sebastian's "Fans Only" DVD. I've been watching it and it's brilliant and it's totally made me feel better. yay!

ugh

I'm home today. Feel totally yucky. I had a great sleep last night and then felt like hammered crap when I got up. I've been in bed pretty much all morning. This afternoon I've just been vegging out and trying to keep warm. Hopefully, by tomorrow, I'll feel a lot better. This being sick is for the birds!

totally typical tuesday

There isn't a whole lot going on today. I'm still feeling tired and generally blah'ed today. I think it's this bug that has been going through the office. Last night, when I got into bed, I could not for the life of me get warm. About 3 hours after I went to bed, I woke up feeling sweaty and clammy. Not fun! I was able to get back to sleep but I woke up every 45 minutes all night. When I got up this morning I felt like crap but I've been at work anyway. It comes and goes, sort of non-specific symptoms of weirdness....A little achey, a little warm, a little cold, stomach a little upset, a little bit of a sore throat, a little bit of a cough. Just generally not feeling all that shit hot.

So, other than just plain old not feeling great, there isn't much to report today. I'm just looking forward to getting home and into my sweats and curling up under a blanket with a mug of tea. 4:30 can't get here soon enough today!

Monday again, already. I’m tired today. I wasn’t tired this morning; probably because it was really cold in our office and I had keep moving or I’d have frozen in my chair. Now, it’s really toasty and roasty and warm and I’m yawning. Not good. I think that the feeling like crap stuff from the weekend is just catching up with me. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will sort me out.

We had more snow here on the weekend, not a huge amount but enough that Mark had to go out and shovel for a bit yesterday. I helped a very small amount because of my back injury deal. It was really nice all weekend actually, mild and balmy and only minus 10. Today it’s chilly and cold again, yuck!

Speaking of yuck, have you seen the Surreal Life? I was flicking around the other night and bopped into it. I wasn’t there too long as it was getting close to being past my bedtime but I was intrigued, Vanilla Ice, Ron Jeremy, Tammy Fae Baker, Erik Estrada, some chick from Baywatch and another from some MTV show were going to be living together in a house. Reality TV is just getting dumber and dumber. I am not a fan of “reality TV” in general. I’ve never watched Survivor or Big Brother or Fear Factor and I definitely don’t think I’ll be watching this. I really think that the folks who make up these programs have just given up. Surreal Life just looked a little too stupid to be any good. It’s shows like this that make me feel good about having a huge pile of unread books in my house. Perhaps it’s all just a ruse to make folks read again!

So my parents are now connected to the internet. They had cogeco come and hook them yesterday and they're now surfing away. I felt bad for my dad because they spent the whole of Saturday waiting for them to come. Cogeco told them that they'd be there to install the stuff sometime "between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m." Nice huh? Customer service up the wha-zoo I tell ya. The guys ended up not even showing up until after 5 p.m.

We went out there this afternoon to help them configure their eudora, and finish doing the set up for the programs that they want to use. They're having a lot of fun with the machine and are using a lot more than they said that they would. I knew it would happen this way! In the past week, they've bought a new monitor, USB hub, chair mat and are looking for a new chair. My dad is even drafting plans for a new desk for the computer, a whole office actually. It's really cute and I'm so happy that they are online now.

Other than that, we didn't do much today. My back was feeling better so I finished up some laundry and cleaned the main floor of the house. Overall, it was a really quiet weekend. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't been feeling yucky but it was nice all the same.

I don't have much to report today because my back has been killing me and I've spent the best part of the day on a heating pad. I think I've been fighting a cold the past couple of days (the same one that everyone in my office has had) and it's settled into my back. It's either that or I just plain old slept too much last night. Either way, it kind of sucks. I had a bunch of errands to do this morning and I basically crawled around town, getting them done.

This afternoon, Mark helped me drag the laundry downstairs and I hobbled around and got that done while I watched some TLC. Tonight, I'm back to laying on the heating pad and hoping that I feel better tomorrow. Fun stuff huh?

The Friday Five is back:

1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails?

I have my name, email address and web address. I also have a quote by Miss Piggy that I can't remember word for word at the moment.

2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?

Our high school didn't do senior quotes so I didn't have one.

3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?

I haven't given it much thought. I kind of like just blending into the crowd with my regular old plates. I'm also kind of cheap and don't want to pay for them. I suppose if someone was going to give us them for free, I'd put something like PEGMARK or MARKPEG on them but I'm not sure.

4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?

I actually have not.

5. What would you like your epitaph to be?

mmm....I'm not planning on having a stone so, again, I've not given it any thought at all.

snowy-snow-snow

It feels like all I've done for the past 36 hours is shovel: shoveled Sunday night, Monday morning, Monday afternoon...and again this morning. Fortunately, the Weather Network told me this morning (that's right, it speaks directly to ME) that we aren't expecting any accumulation for the next 24 hours.

A few weeks ago, I posted a photo of some snow that had just "rolled itself up" on our lawn. This morning, while I shoveled, I actually witnessed this phenomenon. The snow we got last night was of the fluffy variety and when I was outside this morning, the wind was really whipping. The branches in our large evergreen were heaving and small clumps of snow were blowing off, onto the ground. I saw the wind push these little clumps along until they were snow balls rolling around the lawn. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen, cool but crazy!

It's Monday again and I can't even believe it. I mean, I can believe it, I've been up for a couple of hours now, I have already shoveled the driveway and had my breakfast. I know that I have to be at work in a little while but still, Monday already?

We got mum & dad's computer delivered. I think that they were a little overwhelmed by it. It was a big jump for them, from Win 95 to XP. The machine that they have now is totally ready for internet, they just have to call the cable company and have them install the line to the machine and give them their cable modem. They may also want to get a new monitor as the one that they are using is not really the best for the video card we gave them. At any rate, they seemed pretty happy to be watching DVD's and listening to MP3's on the new machine last night, net connection or not.

When we got home from their place last night, we shoveled the drive and I just did it again. It's so nice that the really frosty temperatures are gone for now. It is very mild outside right now and it looks like the snow might be letting up. It was falling lightly the whole time I was out there but it was really refreshing. Right now, if it got cold again, it wouldn't be so bad, the snow is a nice insulator from the really cold temps and last week, when it was so frigid, we didn't have any snow and well froze our asses off. You'd think that it was January, in Canada or something. I know that we're just a bunch of complaining wimps but hey, if we didn't have the weather to complain about, what we would talk about?

It's blizzarding here. I am pretty sure that "blizzarding" isn't a word but I'm using it anyway!! The temperate has apparently gone up (obviously, if it's snowing) but it still feel pretty cold. There is a pretty massive wind out there and the little bit of snow is just blowing around like crazy. At least it gives me a good excuse to stay inside, in my jammies, and drink coffee. Yay for snowy Sundays!!

We're still working on Mum & Dad's machine. I say "we" but actually Mark's doing it all. I'm just sort of watching from across the room. It's going really well and the machine is running pretty hot. We had sort of planned on having it all together and to them sometime today but the weather seems to be conspiring against that happening. Oh well, they'll just to wait a couple of days but boy howdy, will they be surprised!!

Happy weekend folks!!

It's an absolutely gorgeous day here, breath-taking even. Of course, it's the cold that takes your breath away (and freezes boogers in your nose) but it's lovely nonetheless. The sun is shining, the sky is a gorgeous shade of blue and the roads are clear. It's great weather for running errands or walking around in, just as long as you are dressed properly. I truly don't hate this type of weather, I'm a sickie, I know, but it's true.

One of the errands we did this morning was exchanging our compaq (the cheapie one we bought at Futureshop on Boxing Day). The hard drive was pooched (ie scratched) and when Mark called them, they told him that he didn't need to bring the whole thing in, just the faulty drive. He returned the drive and was told that compaq would send a replacement drive, they'd call us when it was in. Well, they called yesterday and told us that they needed the whole unit back. This is a good thing because Mark's been doing upgrades to the machine with a replacement drive and it's still been wonky. Since Christmas, we've been collecting parts for Mum & Dad's machine.

One of our errands this morning was to pick up their machine. The one they have right now is my old 486 DX2. It was the first machine I bought, back in '93 or '94, prior to that I just lived in the computer labs at work. This morning we told them that we wanted to upgrade the machine they have. My dad was all, "well, in the spring we'll buy a new one, a good one..." yeah, right! He's just putting it off for some reason. What he doesn't realize is that between the parts we got from Pat, the stuff we have kicking around and the things we've bought over the past couple of weeks, they are going to have a kick-ass machine. We got them a new spiffy case, Pat gave us a chip set and a DVD drive. Mark's got a 60 GB drive kicking around, a new video card and some other stuff. We bought them a USB keyboard and mouse this morning. The whole thing is going to cost us less than $200 when it's done. We're not giving them a new monitor but they can get that themselves in the spring. The one they have is perfectly fine, it's just kind of small. If they want to get a 19" one, when they're on sale, they can. They also might need a new printer but seeing how printers are now almost cheaper than replacement cartridges, that shouldn't be an issue.

Mark's putting everything together right now. By this time tomorrow *fingers crossed* they should have a new machine. They're gonna be SOOOO surprised, I love it!!

Before I get started, let me just say: Happy Birthday 21st Robyn!! I hope that you have a wonderful day today!!

One of the things that I like about Fridays is that I don't have think about what I'm gonna post because of the Friday Five. So far today, they don't have one up. Now, I know that most of you are thinking that I don't have to think about posts anyway. What I do post isn't overly thoughtful most days, is it? Anyway, I'm digging back through their archives today because I feel like it (and I am totally stealing this idea from Jane, who did this a few weeks back). Here's the Friday Five from this time last year:

1. Where are you right now?

Sitting in my cubicle.

2. What time is it?

As I type this, it's 1:17 p.m. EST

3. What are you wearing?

A grey sweater, over a different shade of grey turtleneck, black pants, black socks and black Doc Martens.

4. Any people or animals around you? Describe them.

I think that there are some people on the other side of my cube but I can't see them (or hear them, I'm wearing headphones and listening to tunes right now).

5. What are your plans for the weekend?

It's supposed to be super duper cold here this weekend so we're planning on hibernating. I have a book that I want to finish tomorrow and some general house keeping stuff. It should be a nice, relaxing weekend by all accounts. Hope you have a good one too!!

I never cease to be amazed at the stupidity of spammers. I checked my yahoo mail account this morning and I had 18 pieces of spam in the bulk mail box, all advertising that Paris Hilton video. Now, I ask you, why would any self respecting person pay to see it. Actually, I know that they don't technically charge you to see it, they just want your credit card number to verify that you are actually 18. Yeah, right! Personally, I don't get what the big deal about it is. For a laugh, we downloaded it using Shareaza when we first heard about it in the fall. Okay, what is the hullabaloo about this tape? The quality is totally poor, if it wasn't for the weird glowing in her blue eyes, you'd never really even know that it was her. Also, neither one of them seem to be particularly enjoying themselves. It's just lame, to the point of being comical. Oh well, whatever floats yer boat, right?

Well, if you're interested, there's a cool show happening in the Ottawa area tomorrow night. If you're in the area and want to dance your pants off and keep yourself warm during these cold January nights, check it out:

Happy Hump Day!!

It's the first hump day of 2004, already! yay!! I hope that your week is flying by with as few bumps as mine has been so far. I'm sort of in a groove as far as work goes today and the sun is shining, too sweet huh?

The weather over the holidays was really bizarre. It was super mild and sunny and gorgeous. I was actually worried for a bit that the grass was going to start growing again and that we'd have to mow the lawn in January. This week has felt more "seasonal." We have had intermittent snow fall (with very little accumulation, thank you very much!) and it feels like winter outside. Sweater weather, snot freezing in your nose cold, that kind of thing. It's actually nice. The air is crisp and clean outside and your lungs tingle in a good way when you breathe it in.

I'm a big fan of cheesey Christmas covers so before the holidays, I was listening (almost non-stop) to that kind of stuff at work. This week, I've been listening to a lot of Marvin Gaye and Angie Stone. It's just sort of worked out that way and I've been thinking about how good they would have sounded together in a duet.

So, other than that, not much's happening this week. This is a very good thing. I had enough drama in 2003 to last me for a good long while!

As hard as it is to admit, I am totally back into my routine again and I don't hate it. Sunday night, I had to give myself a pep talk about getting back to work but this week hasn't been too bad so far. I know that I eat better and have an easier time sticking to my exercise routine when I'm working. You would think that being at home for entire days would give me time to make even healthier meals and have more time to exercise. Of course, you would be wrong. I just had more time to lay around the house in my jammies.

So, did you see the Mirror today? When I got up this morning and checked the headlines on Yahoo, they mentioned that a member of the royal family had been named in the inquest that is going on concerning the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Of course, Reuters stated that for legal reasons, they had been advised against publishing the named person but that it had been in the Mirror. Well, I scooted over to the mirror and there it was, in black and white. I suspected as much. I mean, folks liked to point a finger at Lizzie but I think that those of use who had followed the situation knew who it would be that was in the letter (kinda nice to see that it's actually surfaced). My but how the papers must have flew off the stands in the UK this morning! It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out in the press in the coming days.

I know that there are more serious issues to be concerned with right now but I'm trying really hard to not worry too much about what's going on south of the border. I felt sick when I read the article about how anyone requiring a visa to enter the states will also have be finger-printed upon entry. Nice huh?

When we first heard about it this morning, it sounded as if they would be doing it to us too but apparently we're exempt. Good thing too, because, honestly, I'd just stay home rather than be finger-printed by the US Government if I want to have lunch in Alexandria Bay. I mean, I don't have anything to hide, not at all. I just don't think that I need them calling me up because my prints "match" some that were left somewhere in bum-fuck, Idaho at a crime scene. I mean, I thought it seemed like the US was turning into a police state...This just about nails it.

Oh well, the upside of all of this is that our dollar is getting stronger every day. I heard that it should be up to 82 cents US by this time next year. Bring it on baby, I love shopping in New Jersey (they don't have retail sales tax there!!) and would love to take another trip to the land of malls...Well, just so long as I don't have be finger-printed anyway!

Wow, no posts all weekend...It's not that I'm lazy or anything, I was actually kind of busy. I suppose that is why I didn't post.

I'm back at work today. The three week break was very nice and, I must admit, it was difficult to psyche myself up to go back to work this morning. There was a winter storm warning in effect for yesterday and last night and we were sure that we would wake up to a driveway full of snow. It didn't happen though. We're getting a bit of the white stuff right now but it's just blowing around. It doesn't look like it will amount to too much.

So far the day is flying by. I've spent the morning sifting through a tonne of emails and trying to figure out what I'm going to do this week. Hopefully the week will go quickly too. I'm not wishing my life away or anything but I find that the first week back after the break is always the toughest. Once it's out of the way, the rest of it is a piece of cake!

Here is today's Friday Five:

What one thing are you most looking forward to . . .

1. ...today?

Sleep, tonight...mmmm..sleep!

2. ...over the next week?

Surviving the transition of going back to work after 3 weeks vacation.

3. ...this year?

Sorting out our finances so that we can lower our debt and actually have some money in the bank this time next year.

4. ...over the next five years?

Meeting the health and fitness goals that I have set for myself.

5. ...for the rest of your life?

Being happy.

I actually got something done today. I've been pretty lazy the past few days but the house just couldn't wait any longer. I did housework today, laundry, cleaning, chucking stuff out, the whole deal. It looks pretty good too. I'm kind of glad to see the Christmas stuff packed away. I threw a bunch of old holiday stuff out too, stuff I haven't used in ages that's just looking yucky. I managed to fill a whole garbage bag with crap. Yay!!

Finally getting rid of our clutter is one of my resolutions this year. I started to try to minimize our "stuff" in 2002. 2003 was a really successful year in terms of getting rid of junk. Mark did a huge clean out on our shed, I finally got our books unpacked and sorted out and I can't even count how many trips to goodwill we made. The stuff we got rid of, for the most part, is totally fine we just don't need it. We're just two people, in a tiny house and quite frankly, if something has been packed away in boxes for four years and we've not had to go looking for it, we probably don't need to hang on to it.

In the spring, I'm pretty sure that Mark's dad is going to move in with us and the only thing I have left to do in the room he'd be moving into is clean out the closet. I may even tackle that this weekend. It shouldn't be too bad actually. On Monday, I'll probably do another run to goodwill, I have a set of end tables, two small bookcases and some books to go over there. By the time I've done the closet, I'll probably have more. My goal is to have all three bedroom closets sorted out by the end of this month. In February, I plan to start sorting out the boxes that we have left in our office / computer room. Our house doesn't have a basement so we use the computer room for storage. I've been able to organize it a lot better than it was last year (stuff is actually on a shelving unit rather than just being piled floor to ceiling) but I'd like to get a bunch of those clear plastic bins so we could actually see what's what...and, who knows...Maybe even label stuff. I know that probably sounds really anal but I really want to get organized and, by the end of 2004, I will be!!

Anyway, World Idol is starting so I must dash. I haven't geeked out yet and read who the winner is on the chat boards. I'm pretty sure that it won't be our Ryan but as long as it's not that skank, Kelly Clarkson, I'll be happy!! 'night all!!