X-Rite's Online Color Test

Have you taken X-Rite's online color test yet? It's actually called the FM100 Hue Test. I took it a year or so ago, and it was very challenging. I don't remember exactly how it turned out, so I might give it another try.

To take this test, you have to move little squares of color around and try to put them in the correct order. It's not as easy as it sounds.

X-Rite is the industry leader in color science and technology. The company is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has locations in Mexico, Spain, and France, to name just a few.

If you're interested in taking the test, make sure you give yourself plenty of time. Let me know how you do!

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Waah!

Yesterday morning, I managed to bang the heck out of my toe. Actually, I think two toes are involved, but since I'm afraid to touch them, I can't be certain. In any case, the front of my foot hit the piece of exercise equipment I had recently begun using faithfully every day. Do you think I've been able to use it since then?

No.

I can barely get around on my lame toe(s). I'm not going to try to put on my shoes, and I really don't want to exercise in my sock feet--not that I think my toe(s) would appreciate it even if I did want to. I don't know how long it will be until I can get back to my exercise plan. And here I was building up my stamina, gradually increasing the length of each exercise session.

Waaah!

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Vampires on TV

If there's a TV show about vampires, chances are very good that I've seen it. In fact, many of my all-time favorite shows were about vampires.

Here are my favorite TV vamps:

Caleb Morley (played by Michael Easton on Port Charles)

Damon Salvatore (played by Ian Somerhalder on The Vampire Diaries)

Spike (played by James Marsters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel)

Recently, I started wondering which actors had portrayed Count Dracula, the most famous (or infamous) vampire of all time, on television. We all know that he's often been depicted in movies, but he's also been on TV plenty of times. Since I was curious about it, I decided to do a little research. Satisfying my curiosity was so time consuming that I figured I'd go ahead and write an article about my findings. I get paid for page views, so please feel free to check it out if you're also curious about TV Draculas.

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Urgent! Dogs in Danger!

Are you interested in adopting a dog? If so, please check Dogs in Danger. The dogs on this website have been placed on urgent status; they don't have much time left unless someone adopts them. Not all death-row dogs are listed; the listings depend on shelter participation.

There's more than one way to search the site. One option is to select a breed, type in your ZIP code, and choose a radius.

I always conduct my search by pulling up my state in the dropdown menu. That gives me all the listings from participating shelters in my state.

If you look on Petfinder, you'll see some pets designated as urgent. This usually means they've been there a long time and the shelter needs to make room for newcomers. Unfortunately, Petfinder doesn't have an "urgent" filter, but there are several ways to search, and if your search yields any urgent pets, they'll say "urgent," "emergency," or something similar.

While I'm on the subject of pets in dire straits, here is a page from some people looking for their dog. Ursula is a missing great dane/bullmastiff mix from Mayville, Michigan. Mayville is located in the Thumb, but Ursula could be anywhere by now. She disappeared in May, and her owners are desperate to find her. The page is public, so you don't need a Facebook account to be able to see it. If you think you've seen Ursula, please contact her owners with the information.

If you decide to adopt a pet, please don't forget to check for those with an urgent status. It could make all the difference in the world.

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Turkey

I like turkey and eat it pretty much all year. I like roast turkey with mashed potatoes, gravy, and cornbread dressing, but I also like to get turkey from the deli counter.

Even though I like deli turkey, I'm picky about it. It can't look all chopped and formed, and it should be smoked or flavored with honey or maple. I've cut back on it somewhat because of the nitrites and sodium but haven't given it up completely.

Deli turkey is the basis for some great sandwiches. There are many different combinations, but grilled smoked turkey and cheddar is one of my favorites.

If I roast a turkey, I might make a sandwich or two out of it, but mostly, I prefer to have it on my plate with all the trimmings.

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Super Soap Weekends

People are often surprised to learn that many of my favorite stars aren't movie actors. Most of them are primarily on television; in fact, quite a few of my favorites are soap stars.

For thirteen years, ABC Daytime stars participated in Super Soap Weekends. These huge fan events took place twice a year and alternated between Disney Land and Disney World. I never went, but I thought about it more than once. I really wanted to see Michael Easton, Thorsten Kaye, and the other Port Charles stars who normally attended the event. Then, in 2003, my favorite soap was cancelled, and its stars were no longer invited to participate unless they had moved to other ABC soaps.

Five years later, the final Super Soap Weekend was held. There have been other large fan events, though, with many of the same stars in attendance. Of course, with the obsolescence of ABC Daytime, there won't be many more opportunities such as those.

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Restraint

Restraint is a good thing. It's not always easy, and it can be downright hard at times. For example, I have a hard time using restraint when it comes to certain foods.

Sure, I can eat two potato chips or two mini candies. No problem. After all, the idea is to have something that will put a nice taste in my mouth, and more than two would be unnecessary. Why waste them when they could come in handy later?

The problem is using restraint when adding black pepper to food. It's funny, because I didn't even like pepper until I was well into adulthood. I could eat it if it was already in something, but I probably didn't add it to anything on my plate before I hit my thirties. My tastes changed, and I started using it.

I don't use pepper on everything, but I do like it. So does my husband, which is why I was surprised when his eyes widened one day as he watched me shake pepper onto my food.

I finally found out what his deal was. I had switched from buying regular fine black pepper to coarse ground pepper, and it's much stronger. I understand that it's possible to get too much, but I wasn't even close during the aforementioned incident. Now I have to be careful and use restraint when cooking, since I don't want to ruin his meal by overdoing the pepper.

Things sure have changed over the years. He used to marvel about how much salt I added to my food. Well, I cut back drastically on salt long ago. I guess it's pepper's turn now.

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Quotation Marks

While trying to decide on a topic for my first Alphabe-Thursday, I came up with a few possibilities. Then something interesting happened.

I came across The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks recently while trying to figure out why some people put quotation marks around the names of pets. The last paragraph of Marinka's comment is the reason it showed up in the search engine, and it's a good one.

All I can figure is that people who do this think it isn't the pet's real name. For example, Sir Barks-a-Lot of the Waggy Tail might be affectionately called "Waggy" or "Barkie," complete with quotation marks. I can understand this; I don't agree with it, but at least I understand it.

However, this theory breaks down when a pet already has a simple name, such as Jasper. Even if that's his whole name (other than the owner's last name), the same people who would use quotes for Sir Barks-a-Lot would also use them with Jasper.

Why use quotes with animals but not with people? If Ellie, Kenny, Angie, and Mike are pets, they'll often end up with quotation marks around their names. If they're people, that's unlikely to happen.