If I Did The Netcast

The Enquirer has a NetCast that I appear in every week. I never post it because it's not particularly interesting.

So this is how I'd do the Netcast if I were the writer/producer. I spent about 45 minutes this afternoon editing the footage and adding the ridiculous hilarious broadcast-y news sound clips.

I must admit, I was cracking myself up.

What, No 'Turn Me Loose'?

Perhaps you've noticed my new poll over to the right there and are contemplating your answer to the question... What should Gina's montage song be?

This is indeed a difficult query. I've been pondering it myself lately, ever since a colleague of mine told me that my LSAT woes were nothing that a good ol' fashioned montage couldn't cure.

Indeed.

Start with a boiling pot of difficulties, time contraints and pressure, toss in a handful of helpful friends, add a dash of humor and hard-work, mix it up with a saucy song and - voila - triumph!

It's an outstanding recipe. The only thing I lack to make this concoction is a tasty song. (And possibly a snazzy star wipe.)

Think it over.... then vote.

Whichever song comes out on top is the song I'll use for my newest movie creation, which will feature LSAT books being thrown around and cameos by some of my favorite actors people.

It's Official

Polls are the new Thai.

From My Inbox This Morning

Subject: Hey there, sunshine
From: My colleague Kevin

I was hoping you could put aside your eternal, dark hatred of me for one day, and help a brother out. In lieu of Jon's absence, do you think you could write week in review? You don't have to put the page together; I'll still draw the InDesign boxes and whatnot.

You're a ray of light in this dark world.

A pretty funny email considering it was 8:35 a.m.

Roadside Attractions

My friend Aaron and his wife Kelly made a surprise stop by the Daugherty Farm last weekend.

It was fun for me to return a phone call from my dad and suddenly hear Aaron's voice on the line. Kinda crazy but not entirely shocking. Aaron had met them once before and I think found them entertaining. He found the house by knowing it was a.) near Wal-Mart b.) close to a restaurant I lovingly call Rosie's Real Italian Shithole and c.) knowing the house is blue.

They stumbled upon it easily enough by finding my dad in the front yard playing with his new hunting pups.

Aaand since Aaron was there, he kindly grabbed me the few remaining peaches from Billy's peach tree for me and took some photos.

My favorite is this one of him, Kelly and my dad standing around my dad's old Ranger with the wood bumper that got totalled last summer. "The Classic" as my dad calls it.

It's like a tourist attraction.



Sad news about The Classic, my dad has given up and plans to sell it to the junk yard as soon as he finds the title. Poor ol' Ranger. Though I was assured he'd be getting another "classic" soon. (Classic = junk truck.)

Also, Aaron captured my mom and dad with Billy's peach tree. All the peaches have been picked and eaten sans the bag of five Aaron brought me back which I haven't cut into yet. I imagine I'll do that this evening.



And cute overload warning! Here's a photo of my dad's two new hunting pups, Pokey and Smokey. (Not sure which is which, but I did name Smokey, sight unseen.)



That's all from the Daugherty Farm. I plan to visit myself this coming weekend. If you're in the neighborhood, stop on by.

Gooder 'N Hell

Five years or so ago, when my brother, Billy, was selling his house, he replanted his peach tree in my parents' backyard.

He was so proud of it. He and his wife had planted it, and he wanted to ensure its continued growth even after they moved.

The first few years after he replanted it didn't flower at all. And the next year, my dad says, a big a wind storm blew off the few peaches it had on it.

Billy will be dead three years this November. It was the spring after he died that the windstorm took down all his peaches.

The last few years it's gotten a few more peaches on it, but not enough to speak of.

But this year has been a Big Year for Billy's peach tree. My mom and dad said it's had so many peaches they don't know what to do with them all, so they've been eating several a day and giving bags full of them to my aunts and uncles and my mom and dad's friends.

"Billy'd be so proud of 'em, you know," my dad says. "He'd sit there in that high-armed chair and lean back with a big grin on his face. You know he would."

I knew as he was saying this that my dad was sitting across from that chair, imagining Billy in it.

Since I've never seen the peach tree bloom, my parents mailed me a handful of the peaches from it last week. My mom called Wednesday to tell me they should arrive on Friday. They wrapped the peaches in newspaper, put them in a box and shipped them through the Post Office.

Not surprisingly, they arrived on Friday badly bruised, squished and beaten all to hell. One of them was completely mashed in.

I was crushed when I opened the box and saw them. And I was angry that my mom and dad had so carelessly wrapped them and put them in a flimsy box. They should have overnighted them, I thought. With dry ice to keep them cool.

Of course I realized it wasn't really my mom or dad or the peaches I was upset about.

Two of the peaches, though, these two, were almost salvagable. They're nearly hollow from bruises in several places, but if I'm lucky I might be able to get a bite or two from them. If I can ever bring myself to eat them.

I called my mom and dad Friday evening to thank them for being thoughtful enough to send them. And I asked my dad how they taste.

"Gooder'n hell," he said. "That boy can grow some peaches."

The Best Photo I've Ever Taken

It was right when Julie and her friend toppled off the mechanical bull at Cadillac Ranch.

I had the honor last week of judging a bull riding contest, and I must admit, I took my job pretty seriously. Sadly though, since it was a CiN sponsored contest, Julie couldn't win. But I'd have given her a 10.

Afterwards, Julie and Michael and I went down to Fountain Square to shoot some photos and found the Square to be lovely at 1 a.m. A couple was making out, a cop was riding around on a bike and a smattering of people were sitting at the tables and chairs taking it all in.

While that was going on, we shot these photos, where you'll also find some more of Julie on the bull. Yee haw!

PBR

At HPT&G

O' The Times, They Are A Changin'

Things change. Times are different.

To remain relevant and competitive in this ever-changing world, Gina's Blog must change too.

This might be difficult for some of you. Some of you have been readers here for a long time (OK, a month or two), and you might feel like things are comfortable the way they are.

But Gina's Blog must change or die, people. Change or die.

So rather than wait to release some of the new innovations, I'm just going to curtail the unwarranted speculation by some bloggers out there by fessing up. To your right, you'll notice a new poll feature, where Gina's Blog will ask YOU, the reader, what YOU think.

Some call this user-generated content. Others think of it as crowd-sourcing. It can even be called online-only content. Whatever you call it, just make sure it's hyphenated.

As with all new adjustments, things are not perfect. Think of this as the "beta-phase" of the poll feature. I'm testing out some different poll models, each with their own strengths and limitations. We'll see how things go. It might be a rough ride at times, but I hope hope we can get through this tough period together.

It's an exciting time. I hope you'll stay tuned.

I Could Bring Punch... Or Chips

I received this text message at 9:51 a.m. this morning:

Mine n dannys bday party this Saturday at 9. My house in colerain. COME!! Love Flea...

I don't know anyone named Flea or Danny, but somehow the short text message made it sound like fun anyway, in an androgynous sort of way. (Boy and girl? Girl and boy? Boy and Boy? Possibly girl and girl?)

I texted back to say I thought they had the wrong number but that their party sounded fun.

All I got back was :) sorry

No directions or anything.

I Could Get Used To This

Me being sick is a real drag, especially for the Tall Drink of Water - because I turn him into my man-servant!

Advil. Cold water. Cut up fruit. More Advil. Homemade hot fudge.

Nothing is off-limits.

All I do is knock on the wall and a few seconds later, here he comes from the living room.

Though, apparently my requests have been interrupting his "playoff" game on XBox.

This Is A Joke

Look how happy we are!

Welcome To OurPerfectDay.com.

Hello friends and family! So nice of you to click our way in an anticipation of the Big Day! It's sure to be the BEST DAY of Paul and I's lives. It truly is a dream come true - finally! (I'm not getting any younger! :) )

If you haven't already heard - though how could not have I've told everyone - Paul and I got engaged at one of our favorite restaurants, La Mexicana, where that clever devil put my two carat diamond ring (who gets a one carat ring anymore, no one!) into my chicken taco and I bit right into it. Thankfully diamonds are one of the hardest stones out there!

After nearly choking to death, I spit that beauty right out and immediately put it on my hand. I'm spoken for, world!

Then of course I burst into tears and called 50 of my closest friends. By the end of the weekend, I had already planned our entire ceremony and reception. And I only cried four times. (But once was when I was alone and so no one really knew and therefore it doesn't count.)

If you're reading this then we're already severely close (only the closest of our 400 friends and family were invited) so all of you know that my dream since I was a little girl was to walk down the aisle to Beth, by Kiss. (I was REALLY into that song when I was a little kid. So I'm keeping with my childhood vision.)

We're having a sunrise ceremony overlooking the Ohio from Alms Park (since it's so early we figure no one will notice and then we won't have to pay the rental fee) and we'll be serving an assortment of Busken doughnuts (breakfast food is SO cheap!), along with tea, coffee and Bloody Mary's.

The ceremony will start at 5:30 a.m., but everyone MUST be there at by 4:45 a.m. because you'll have to set up your own chair as the rental place "doesn't do mornings." But I think it will be fun to watch all of you work for your delicious chocolate and sprinkles covered doughnuts! (Though we're having our photos taken afer the ceremony so it will be an hour or two before you can tear into them, so you should eat a snack beforehand.)

I'll be wearing a giant wedding dress (I've gained a few pounds since the engagement), with lots of crinoline, layers of taffeta and I'm having an extra long train attached to the back. Think Sarah Jessica Parker in the giant pink tutu she wore during Lovely perfume ad campaign - that was my inspiration. If you know exactly what I'm talking about, don't tell Paul, he doesn't have a clue!

My maid-of-honor Jen and her husband, Pat, will do the only reading, a dramatic interpretation of Robert Barrett Browning's Porphyria's Lover.

Some people may find Porphyria's Lover unsettling (her lover does strangle her with her own hair, after all), but I've always admired Robert and Elizabeth's passion for one another, and I think this poem really exemplifies what people are willing to do for love. Plus, Jen's hair is really long, which fits perfectly with the poem, and she's a really great actress. She was in speech and drama in high school.

After the ceremony we'll have a Mimosa toast, following by the throwing of my bouquet. Maybe one of you spinsters out there (I'm lookin' at you, cousin Shannon), will catch it. And I want to see some excitement and fighting. Blood even. Let the flowers fly!

We really can't wait for the Big Day and know that all of you have burned the date into your memory. It will truly will be the wedding I'd have dreamed of as a little girl if I had been the type of little girl to dream about her wedding!

Until then, I'll leave you with these lyrics to Beth that have so inspired me over the years:

Just a few more hours
And I'll be right home to you
I think I hear them callin'
Oh, beth what can I do?
Beth what can I do?


Joke inspired by Share Our Joy from Shouts and Murmors in the May New Yorker. It's a sarcastic and hilarious spoof on a couple's wedding Web site, complete with lots of wedding ridiculousness and over-the-top celebration details. I loved it. It made me laugh out loud. And since I'm kind of sick today, I decided to write my own parody Web site.

The Bane of My Existence

The LSAT and I are not getting along.

Our relationship was tenuous from the start. But I thought we were on good terms after the logical reasoning section.

Then the analytical reasoning/logic games came along and things went south real quick.

Last night I was trying understand a question where five people - Joe, Sally, Billy, Mandy and Rob - all get their cars washed. Each gets a regular, super or premium wash. They get them washed Monday through Friday. Except when Billy has the flu or when Rob punches Mandy in the face. But always on Tuesdays when the Price is Right is on. But if Joe gets a premium wash, the Price is Right is a rerun and so Bob Barker comes back and Sally can't get her's washed because she's such a huge fan and... Well, it was anarchy at the car wash.

I'll just sue them all, I decided. Then I threw the book across the room and went to bed.

That book had it coming.

Actually, I Was A "B" Student

Ball State's most famous alum, except for this guy, has finally let his alma mater show him off.

The new $21 million communication building will be dedicated to David Letterman. (Here's more from the Indy Star.)

The year I graduated from Ball State's College of Communication, Information and Media, they had just announced this sparkling structure.

Al Neuharth came to get us pumped up. Hundreds of us piled into Emens Auditorium to see the founder of USAToday speak.

The old journalism building was in the Middle of Nowhere (West Quad), and unless you were a journalism student you couldn't even find it.

They opened parts of the new building a few years ago and I toured it along with some other classmates of mine for a Ball State Daily News reunion. We looked around bitterly at the food court, the pimped out classrooms and the fancy new DN offices (plural)! But mostly we were bitter about the coffee shop located just inside the atrium. A coffee shop! In an atrium! Those kids don't even know how rough we had it.

Anyway, good for Ball State. And good for ol' Dave for putting us on the map.

A Top Ten List from the Indy Star to celebrate the occasion:

"The Top Ten reasons Ball State named its new communication and media building for David Letterman."

10. Even "C students" need love.

9. The football team can now find inspiration without the funny man appearing for a pep talk.

8. It was either this or risk getting turned down by fellow alum and "Three's Company" star Joyce DeWitt.

7. The dean of the communications school promised to stop hitting up "Late Show" staffers for tickets to the show.

6. College kids should know there's more to late-night than "The Daily Show."

5. Football stadiums (a la "Dave Letterman Stadium") can't hold a candle to communications buildings.

4. It softens the blow of being beat out for funniest graduate.

3. The communications school's publicist can now fully retire.

2. Letterman's mother drove through a snowstorm to take him back to campus one year.

1. It brings his 2001 list of "Top Ten Good Things about Having a Degree from Ball State University" to 11.