System Admin Appreciation Day

We often take our system administrators for granted until the day our computers cannot connect to the network and we can't get on the Internet to check our emails. No kidding! And I should know...I'm married to one!

The last Friday of July has been designated as System Administrator Appreciation Day and we bloggers who have joined Bloggers Unite want to encourage everyone to participate and show your appreciation for the system admins that keep us connected (wired and wirelessly - if you want to be specific!) as well as for the other IT people that work with the admins.

Being a system administrator is not all that easy, trust me. System Admins have to monitor all the scripts that keep programs running, trouble shoot, and often have to work odd long hours to fix things when the system just doesn't want to work the way it should. And when you get technology-challenged people calling in for assistance and the IT Help Desk can't resolve the issue, then the matter moves up to the next level for assistance. It can get crazy, but it is hard work trying to find the "root" of the issue especially when the computer user is unable to explain or point out specifically where and how the problem started. So the IT person (and system admin) ends up having to do a lot of investigative work on the system and that often takes hours!


On the other side of the picture, being married to a system administrator reminds me of my life as a military spouse (he was in the service when we first met and got married). When duty calls, your spouse is going to be "unavailable" to you for awhile. There was even a time when we were on vacation (on a road trip in fact!) and we had to pull over at the parking lot of a business three hundred miles away from home because of an emergency at work. He had to log on to his work laptop and connect wirelessly to the office and do his stuff. Luckily things like that don't happen too often. And luckily, there's plenty of ice cream available at the convenience stores (LOL!).

But you know, in spite of such a crazy life, I'm proud of my "system admin" because I know he keeps things running smoothly at his workplace and he keeps our home network running great so I can blog all I want or check out my favorite rock stars's pages (hello, Sebastian Bach!). Thank you, system admins around the world for helping keep us all cyber-connected!

Tarsha's Second Life

I wanted to invite all my readers to check out this new rockin' video from one of my Myspace friends, Sheldon Tarsha, a vocalist who has previously worked with Steven Adler of Guns N Roses before breaking out on his own. He sings lead for his band of the same name. Kinda looks like Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers, doesn't he?


See the pic of Anthony Kiedis below:



If you want more of Tarsha, check out his myspace site here.

More metal from Rest Among Ruins

Rest Among Ruins promo photo from Myspace

Check this out, my metal friends. Rest Among Ruins from the Baltimore-Washington DC area made a demo track of Feven available as a free download. Click here to download the track for free.

The band has also released a schedule for an upcoming East Coast tour:

August 13th in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania @ Phillips Emporium

August 14th in Cherry Hill, New Jersey @ Seven@Seven

August 15th in Newark, Delaware @ The East End Cafe

August 16th in Kingston, NY @ The Basement

August 17th in Cambridge, Massachusetts @ All Asia

August 18th in CT @ TBA

August 20th in Danville, VA @ Plan B

August 21st in Florence, SC @ Irby’s Bar and Grill

August 22nd in Greensboro, NC @ Somewhere Else Tavern


Check out my May 2009 archived articles for information about this band as well as links on how to order their album online:

http://liggybee.blogspot.com/2009/05/rest-among-ruins.html

My Top Five Gothic Bands With Female Lead Singers

1. Evanescence - Amy Lee has the most angelic voice in gothic rock music. She is also an amazing performer, with excellent stage presence. Her personality lights up the stage. I can't wait to see this group perform in town again.


2. Within Temptation - Sharon Den Adel of this Dutch band also has an angelic voice. Together with her band, Within Temptation's music puts you in a beautiful spell.


3. Lacuna Coil - Cristina Scabbia (no H in her first name! she reiterates) lends her beautiful singing voice to this Italian band whose music consists of guitar lines overlaid with prominent keyboard work, and contrasting dual female/male vocal harmonies (as described in Wikipedia). My friend from Vanquish introduced me to Lacuna Coil music a couple of years ago and found the band to carry a unique sound that borders from gothic to alternative metal.


4. The Divine Madness - Victoria Mazze of this American band is the brainchild of this talented group. She is not only seductively appealing but she has a beautifully haunting voice which makes this band's music perfect for horror movie and suspense movie soundtracks. They have done soundtrack music for The Hitchhiker, Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse, and Transmorphers.


5. NightWish - has had a change in lead singers since I had first started listening to them. I like both female lead singers as they both had qualities of their own that added power to the band's music. I find this Finnish band a treasure of masterful and mesmerizing music that will grab your mind and your soul while you listen.

Two Positive Things on Tuesday

I don't want to sound like I'm bragging but you can't be a rockin' chick like me without the awesome support of the people closest to me (tee hee!). Take first of all my hubby - JB!!! Our relationship is one of two positive things I wanted to share on this week's BlogDumps Top Sites Tuesday post.


We have our ups and downs like every normal couple, but we're not about to go Kate N Jon and make our lives a media spectacle...besides that, we don't have that many kids (and I can't ever imagine having that many anyway!). And though we have our different addictions (I'm a blogger, he's a gamer; I'm a metalhead, he's a countryboy; I'm short, he's tall - LOL!) we both want the same things in life for our family. And that, my dreamz reader, is one thing I can be proud to share.


My second positive thing is (are) CARTOONS! Yeah, what would our childhood lives have been like if we didn't have cartoons? I mean I could tell you everything that went on in every episode of The Flintstones, Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo (and still be excited about it, too!) I admit that I've continued to watch the newer cartoons with my kids. (Dora and I have become pals).

And guess what? The Sunday Comics section was my favorite part of the newpaper. My favorite comic was the Calvin and Hobbes series, which Bill Watterson finally retired (sigh!) in 1995. I always dreamed of having a son as imaginative, honest, and spontaneous as Calvin. The same year that Calvin and Hobbes went into retirement was when I met my future hubby and three years later, I had my own "Calvin".

Wow, what happy thoughts! I think Tuesday is going to be a positively dreamily day with all that in mind now. How's everybody else's day going?



Come Join Top Sites Tuesday and be #1 on BlogDumps!
The purpose of this Meme is to encourage
Networking between bloggers to have fun while doing it!
Make sure to visit all the other participants and leave comments.

Sneak peek at Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 is another sequel I am looking forward to watching. I enjoyed the first movie (and seeing how hot Robert Downey Jr. still looks after all these years)! Now the new issue of Entertainment Weekly is going to give us all a sneak peek at the new movie which will feature Scarlett Johansson as the femme fatale Black Widow.


I know that when Scarlett was picked to play the part, the initial reaction of a lot of fans were "Why?" or "No!" but look at the picture EW released of Scarlett here...

Hard to picture that as the Scarlett Johansson we've seen more often as just a sexy blonde, isn't it? She really looks the part, doesn't she?

Still having comment problems

I thought I had my commenting problems fixed because I still get sporadic comments. But I heard from a few of my readers that there are still issues getting comments to post.

If you have had the problem here I apologize for the inconvenience. I'm not a computer whiz so I'm probably gonna have to wait till the week-end to work on the issue. I think it started after I tried (and decided to remove) the JS-kit (like commentluv). It must still be embedded in my template somewhere.

So sorry if you can't comment...you can try, but it might not get posted. In the meantime, I hope you can just enjoy some of these posts. Or visit my humor blog:



I'm not having problems there so stop by and visit if you haven't already.

Transformers 2 Review

I finally got to see Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen this past week-end and I was impressed by all the action sequences, the robot fighting, and the interesting way an Autobot's death can make a human movie-goer cry. Yes, I shed a tear when I watched it...but no spoilers here so I won't tell you what part that was! (Even though I would guess that as much as the movie has already grossed at the box office, you probably already saw the movie anyway!).

And for those who haven't seen the movie yet, I will tell you one thing that's sure. This movie was not about Sam Witwicky (Shia Lebeouf) nor was it about Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox). Although you can tell from the obvious scenes that Megan Fox was needed in the movie to satisfy the virile instincts (like ahem! see the movie still below):


Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen was really more about the battle that ensues when the Decepticons return to Earth on a mission to capture Sam Witwicky. Why Sam? You have to see the movie to find out. Or if you saw the first movie, you would already know why he's such a vital character to the robots.


I gave the movie both thumbs up because I think this movie was worth any ticket amount to go see. And if you're lucky enough to be able to watch it in an IMAX theater, go for it. The action will take you out of your seats!

Megadeth's Headcrusher

It's coming! Megadeth's next album is called Endgame. It's being released thru RoadRunner Records. Only until Wednesday morning (July 8, 2009 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time) will you be able to download a free copy of their single, Headcrusher. Here's the RoadRunner Records link to get the download - CLICK HERE. But you have to hurry! I got mine already this morning and it kicks serious a$$!!!

Megadeth's music is a MUST HAVE for anyone who digs heavy metal music. While you wait for the album to be released in its entirety, here are some others you might want to check out and add to your heavy metal music collection:

Rust in Peace

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?

United Abominations

Countdown to Extinction
(my personal favorite)


And check out some of their DVDs so you can watch Megadeth as well as listen to them on your home theater system:

That One Night - Live in Buenos Aires

Megadeth - Rude Awakening

The Arsenal of Megadeth

Ice Cream

Did you come by my page today looking for something on rock music (because I'm a cool headbanging mama? LOL!) Or did you stop by because I often post something about my latest favorite book and movie - Twilight? Well, SURPRISE!!! Today, I'm going to tell you about something I can't resist - ice cream!!!


No, I didn't mean the Ice Cream Game, silly! I mean ice cold, creamy, yummy, delicious ice cream with whipped cream, drizzling hot fudge, chopped nuts, and red cherries on top. Yes, just like a good ole banana split sundae!


Yes, place a bowl like this in front of me and watch it disappear. Oh gosh, I'm making myself hungry now. By the way, you don't have to break a good healthy diet to enjoy a treat like this. There are actually gluten free, casein free, soy free, and even dairy free recipes for ice cream and other cold treats that can be easily made. I recommend checking out the book Mother Necessity Gluten Free/Casein Free Ice Cream, Smoothies & Protein Shakes by Cristin Fergus for more on that. Meanwhile, I can't write anymore. I have to head over to my freezer and see what I've got!





Come Join Top Sites Tuesday and be #1 on BlogDumps!
The purpose of this Meme is to encourage Networking between bloggers and to have fun while doing it!
Make sure to visit all the other participants and leave comments.

Thank You, BlogDump Readers!

I was pretty thrilled to see my site included in the top hot blogs of the day at BlogDumps when I checked it out this morning.


I know it's hard to see it in the pic but if you click on it, you can see the actual size image I copied off my screen so I can remember to thank BlogDump and the readers who check out my blog from there.


By the way, I think for my next post, I'm going to participate in BlogDumps' Top Site Tuesday Theme and see what happens...Oh yeah, thank you again, BlogDumps!!!

Tribute to America

Since it's America's July 4th holiday, our Independence Day, I thought I'd share a professionally made music video from a local Hampton Roads, VA band whose founding members are US Navy veterans/servicemen. I don't personally know this band since I've never had a chance to go to any of their shows, but I hear about them a lot around here. They are an excellent-sounding band! Their sound reminds me of Stone Sour and Pearl Jam, although they have a unique sound of their own. Their songs have received airplay on radio stations across the country already. Trust me, I heard their song playing on the radio when I was traveling out of state!



For more videos from Chasing Corona (including clips of their live performances) visit their YouTube Channel. And to learn more about this awesome band, please check out their Official Website or visit their MySpace profile.

Have a Careless Whisper?

Photo courtesy of music.aol.com.

Hehe...Seether has really gone all out in promoting their remake of George Michael's Careless Whisper. They not only just recently released the accompanying music video that was made in a classic arcade video game style, but now they've launched a site where fans (and just about anyone) can go and share a secret, a careless whisper if you will, of their own and remain anonymous. What a unique promotional tool! Doubt I'll use it but if you want to see what it's all about (maybe just bored?). Then check it out here. The site is sponsored by Wind-Up Records.

Angelina Jolie Quotes

I admire Angelina Jolie. She literally grew up in the public eye. She's gone through her good times and bad times before our eyes. But she is one grown up beauty who learned from all her experiences and does not regret one bit of anything she has done (other than perhaps the Billy Bob tattoo which she later had removed and covered up).

I mean, we all "go through phases" ourselves, but getting out of the disastrous phases and not repeating them takes a great sense of intelligence and maturity. Angelina possesses just that. So I made some little digital cards bearing her image and quote. Feel free to use these if you like them.



<a href="http://liggybee.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/ziggyliggy/Comment%20Images/angievamp-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Angelina Jolie"></a>


<a href="http://liggybee.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/ziggyliggy/Comment%20Images/AngelinaLife.jpg" border="0" alt="Angelina Jolie"></a>