M&M Candy Commercial - Go Fish - 1972

Retro-M&Ms commercial. I was too young when it aired to "get" the punchline.

Home Cookin' No Longer Seahawks Edge

The Seattle Seahawks were soundly for the second home game in a row as they lost 42-24 to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were bolstered by Quarterback Matt Cassell, who threw a career high 4 touchdown passes. Seahawk QB Matt Hasselbeck threw for 282 yards and had two touchdown passes, but also had two interceptions and a costly fumble.

Adam West Has Growing Facebook Page

He is a native Walla Wallan and a graduate of Whitman College. He is also without a doubt a television icon. Adam West, who played Batman in the 1960s, is held in high esteem in the Eastern Washington town that I grew up in. He apparently has staying power worldwide, a Facebook fan page where West frequently contributes has almost 50,000 participants.
Here is the description of West on his page..
"Adam West is a true American icon whose career in entertainment has spanned half a century. He is most well-known for his role as TV's classic Batman and for his work as Mayor West on Family Guy."
Last year, a page wanting Betty White to host SNL went viral and earned White an invitation to host the show, perhaps Adam West will be the next star of yesteryear to do so.

The Apprentice--Steuart Walks The Plank

Trump walks into the suite while the candidates are celebrating. First thing he does is redo the teams. Brandy is put with Liza. Clint and Steuart remain teammates. It is now Men vs Women again.

In this week's task, the teams will fly by helicopter to West Chester, Pennsylvania to the QVC studios. They will pick a product and then try to sell it on the shopping channel, the team that makes the most profit wins.

Steuart and Clint plan strategy on the chopper. They will pretend to go for selling watches and then pick purses, which can sell for a higher mark-up. Liza is project manager for the women, her only plan is too let Brandy present. Brandy, has had success in the past as a presenter. Steuart will present for the men.

The Men's strategy goes as planned, they give the Women the choice of product, while they choose the time slot. Women will sell watches, the Men will sell purses. The Women are comfortable with that decision. Their presentation seems rocky because Liza is overwhelmed as a director.

The surprise is that the Women win. After a mostly friendly boardroom, Steuart is fired.

Big Snowstorm Hits Seattle Area

The Barers of Maple Valley are home safe after a huge snow storm that blocked the roads and made for a 3 hour drive home last night. Today, we are driving to work a little later as one inch of snow can shut down the whole area.

The Mayors--A Great History Of Seattle

You can see Burl if you chose to watch the entire video!

Saints Shred Seahawks In Superdome

Drew Brees had a career day, throwing for 382 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead the New Orleans Saints to a 34-19 victory over the the Seattle Seahawks. Seahawk quarterback Matt Hasselbeck played valiently, throwing for over 366 yards, despite a broken left wrist. It was the most yards surrendered by the New Orleans defense this season. The problem was, the 'Hawks were only able to get one touchdown, a two yard pass from Hasselbeck to Ben Obumanu. The rest of the points were Olindo Mare field goals. The photo above is courtesy of the Seattle Times.

Brandi Carlile The Story

A highlight from last Friday's Concert.

Homegrown Brandi Carlile Dazzles Benaroya Hall

Brandi Carlile, who grew up in Ravensdale , near Maple Valley, performed last night with the Seattle Symphony to a screaming, toe tapping, hand clapping audience.

Starting with only her band, Carlile began with probable her best known song "What Can I Say" pointing the microphone to the crowd who was singing the chorus along with her.

Many of Carlile's song are somewhat dark, lending themselves well to the strings in the orchestra. She spoke fondly of the venue, Benaroya Hall saying that she frequently drove past the place in her youth, only dreaming of playing there.

Her ablility to engage the crowd was reminiscent of another home grown band "Heart". Brandi announced that she was making a live album with last night's performance included.

The Apprentice: Weak Player Trips Contender

It has been pretty clear throughout this season that the women's team does not work well with Liza, it seams that she has squeaked by this season through team wins and weaker players, her teammate Stephanie is very capable and qualified, but impatient and cannot seem to own up to her own errors. On the other team, Clint and Steuart work well together but cannot seem to find synergy with Brandy, the only woman on that team.

This week's task is to do a 30 second TV commercial for AT and T and FloTV a system that allows TV streaming on a cell phone.

Stephanie is project manager for Fortitude, while Steuart is PM for Octane.

Stephanie begins by rejecting all of Liza's ideas, preferring to make her a "go-fer". Her concept is to shoot in a sports stadium, however Liza cannot secure filming rights for any ball field. She tries the idea of a back drop, which also does not work. The final idea is a board meeting where a boss complains about the lack of enthusiasm amongst his workers. One of the workers, watching his favorite team score on Flo TV stands up and cheers to the delight of his boss.

Although Steuart is Octane's PM, Clint take charge right away, setting up a potential problem for Steuart later, should he go "head to head" with Clint in the final. Clint gets to be in the commercial as someone who is left out of everything until he gets Flo TV. Their commercial includes a shot at the AT and T store.

Octane wins, Stephanie and Liza go back to the board room. Donald, Jr says that the only energy Liza shows is in the boardroom, however, Trump hated Stephanie's idea and fires her with a warning to Liza that he does not like her performance either

King Felix Wins Cy Young Award

In what has really been the most dismal year in Seattle Mariner history, there is finally some good news. This year's American League Cy Young award (best pitcher of the year) is our own Felix Hernandez. Known as "King Felix", he had 13 wins against 12 losses in spite of pitching on a team with essentially no offense. Congratulations to Felix Hernandez!

Windstorm Does Damage

A vicious windstorm hit the Maple Valley area Monday evening, knocking out power in the area for up to nine hours. This house in the Belmont Woods area sustained damage to it's fence.

Seahawks Defeat Cardinals Again

Matt Hasselbeck passed for 333 yards leading the Seattle Seahawks to a 36-18 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Hasselbeck hit Deon Butler for a touchdown in the second quarter,
while Seahawk running backs Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett added rushing touchdowns. Olindo Mare had 5 'Hawk field goals.
This is the first time that the 'Hawks have swept the Cardinals since 2005 and gets them back on the winning track after ugly defeats on the road in Oakland and at home against the Giants. After the 49ers overtime victory against the Rams, the Seahawks are in first place in the division with a 5-4 record.

Cougs Rise Up And Defeat OSU

The Washington State Cougars ended their 3 year draught of wins against conference opponents, defeating the Oregon State Beavers 31-14.

Fans Pay Last Respects To Dave Niehaus

Thousands of Seattle Mariner fans showed up at Safeco Field today to pay tribute to Legendary broadcaster Dave Niehaus today. The above displays was placed at the gates to the field. Although entry into the stadium was easy, there was a very long line (above) to get on the field were there were additional displays. The television screens carried Dave's play by play. It was billed by the Mariner organization as an informal tribute with a formal remembrance to be announced.

Thanks, Dave.

The Apprentice--A Cheater Gets Caught

In a move that has never happened before on the show, the teams were called to the boardroom before the task. Trump says that one of the candidates had sent a text message to the outside world, a clear violation. Anand is fingered and tries to lie his way out. It is to no avail and Trump fires him.

This week's task is to sell a the Kim Kardashian brand of perfume. I don't know much about Kim Kardashian, besides the fact that she seems to have replaced Paris Hilton as every one's favorite "rich girl". The teams are evened as Liza joins Stephanie and Poppy to take on Stueart, Brandy, and Clint.

Clint gets frustrated that Brandy is not putting more input into the task. Clint is PM and Brandy, the only woman on the team, is expected to help the guys, who are not well versed in the art of selling cosmetics. Poppy is PM for Fortitude, she immediately isolates Liza, who cannot get along with anyone and is considered a weak player. Poppy must not be familiar with Kardashian because her display does not seem to conform to her tastes. Octane wins the task. Poppy is fired for being PM on the losing team.

BOMV Honors Our Vets!

Seattle Mariners - Edgar, Joey & Junior Amazing 95 season

In honor of the great Dave Niehaus, I believe that this will go down as his "signature" call.

Seattle Mariner Voice Silenced

It was like a wrecking ball crashing into the Space Needle, it was announced on the radio today that Dave Niehaus, broadcaster of all but 90 Seattle Mariners games since the team's inception, has died from a heart atack. I know of no other figure who had captured the heart of this town in the way that he had. So long, Dave, My Oh My!

Tributes To Jan Curran Around The Blogosphere

The picture above was taken at my parent's wedding in 1956. Jan Barer, my cousin, is second from left, a bridesmaid. This was posted on facebook by my brother, Steve in honor of Jan, who passed away a week ago yesterday. Jan, a journalist by trade, made her long struggle with cancer public by her blog Jan Curran Events. With her style and positive sense of humor, she made life better for both for cancer patients and their loved ones, many whom she never met or may not even have been aware of. Anne Erdman, the Public Information Director for Pasadena, CA, was a longtime friend, she writes this about Jan.
My dad, Jan's first cousin, knew her since her birth he has some funny stories from growing up together in Walla Walla. Jan's brother, Burl, included the write up in the Palm Springs Desert Sun in his story, Jan's cousin on her Mom's side, David Zarkin, also has some childhood recollections. My brother Danny weighed in also.
Finally, Jan's son, Lee ties it all together in this lovely piece.

Seahawks Game--Suite But Not Sweet

While I have blogged reports about the Seattle Seahawks since their Super Bowl year of 2005-2006, I usually filed the report from my observations on TV. This was the first regular season game that I have attended at Qwest Field in several years. My Father-In-Law, Bob and I had tickets to the KIRO TV suite as a result of a UPS Store summer contest.

Although it was a fun afternoon, it wasn't victorious or even close, the 2010 New York Giants appear to be the 2010 team of destiny and even a raucous loud crowd and the hallowed "12th Man" was not going to stop it. Charlie Whitehurst was starting in place of Matt Hasselbeck and the result was disaster. The Seahawks suffered their first loss at home 41-7. Next week, Hasselbeck should return as the 'Hawks head to the desert to face the Cardinals.

The Apprentice--Another Character Gets Axed

This episode begins with the remaining contestants sitting in the suite. Once again they get in a fight as Anand chides Stephanie for what he sees as negligence on her part during the last task. It's obvious to the viewers that more arguing and fighting is shown this year than ever before.
The task starts in front of Macy's in Herald Square, Trump says it's the largest department store in the world. There is a Donald Trump line of clothing out and teams will promote it with a 4 page print ad. Before beginning, as he does every season, Trump realigns the teams. Clint, Brandy, Steurt, and Liza become Octane, David, Anand, Poppy, and Stephanie are on Fortitude. That will be harder to remember than when the teams are separated by gender.
David, volunteers to be PM and starts out with some good ideas, and it seems like he is getting serious, until he gets in a big fight with Anand and gets hung up on some male model. Fortitude has the misfortune of not having models show up, so they decide to go it alone with Steurt and
Brandy.
Fortitude wins with an ad that may have been thought to be risque. However Donald Trump often rewards a team that takes a risk. David seemed to be getting into the swing of things since the previous week. Being on the losing team, he brings Poppy and Stephanie into the boardroom, but David's luck has run out. He is fired.

Apprentice Update To Be Late

Due to time constraints, this weeks wrap up of "The Apprentice" will be late. Look for it tonight. Thanks for reading.

Farewell To My Beloved Cousin

Jan Curran has passed away at 73. Jan was my second cousin, my father's first. Her blog, Jan Curran Events, inspired me to begin a blog of my own.

Jan was born in Walla Walla and graduated from Walla Walla High School, she went to the University Of Washington and met and married Alan Goldberg. Together they had 4 children. Jan and Alan divorced in the early 70s. She was briefly married to Donald Curran. Although she lived in California for almost all of her adult life, she would bring her children to Walla Walla every summer to visit the Grandparents, which is how I would meet Lee and Karen and later, Linda and Tod. Just about a year ago, she completed the book "Active Senior Living" a warm hearted comedy, based on life in a senior living center.

Through her blog, she was able to start what she called the "Jan Curran Fan Club", the idea behind it was for members to donate their old magazines and books to cancer treatment centers rather than throw them away. The Jan Curran Fan Club currently has a group on facebook with over one hundred members.

Click here for a wonderful article in the Desert Sun, the daily newspaper in Palm Springs.