Here’s my current stats:

Days of pregnancy left : 100 days
Pounds gained : 27 (I know, I know)
Pairs of pants I fit : 5
# of people who have touched my belly : @ 50
# of people I have forced to touch my belly : 1 (redpac)
# of cities visited since being pregnant : 6 (not counting stopovers, which would add about 4-5 more cities)
# of plane round-trips : 11

I know all of you over in the east coast/midwest have already seen it, but I’m on west coast time, so here’s my play by play of the Golden Globes. I missed the first half hour because I was eating Chinese food and getting ice cream (baby’s gotta eat!)

8:42 - Best Actress, Drama - I loved it when Geena Davis started off her speech with “On my way here, I felt a tug on my dress. It was a little girl, all dressed up, and she said to me, “Because of you, I want to be president someday.”" Of course, the crowd ahh’d at the cuteness of the thought, and she later continuted, “But that didn’t happen.” Loved it.

8:38 - Best Actor, Drama - Hugh Laurie had an awesome speech, picking names randomly from pieces of paper in his pocket.

8:52 - Best Actor Comedy - Steve Carrell said that his wife wrote his speech, which was really cute, especially since it said, “Thanks to my wife, who put her career on hold for mine, who would appreciate it if I called when I was going to be late so she could put her life on hold…” He had the cutest little smirk on…

8:59 - Aww, how cute is Ryan Phillippe for giving Reese a little backrun as they’re calling out her name for her nomination. I’m glad they’re still together. Reese is so adorable, I was hoping her Southern twang would come out during her speech.

9:04 - Mary Louis Parker for Weeds! Wow, I was thinking Felicity would get it, but I love Mary Louse nonetheless….she’s great.

FYI - my internet connection could die at any moment, so this post could end at any moment…if that happens, I’ll post the rest of it tomorrow night when I land HOME. Oh home! How much I miss you!

9:47 - What happened for the last 40 minutes? I turned my eyes away from the TV to surf the internet and I missed almost an hour of the show. To go back a bit, I don’t understand the hype of ‘Desperate Housewives’. It’s a great show, but I love Entourage much more and think that ‘My Name is Earl’ totally kicks ass. Hopefully I won’t have to see those chatty banshees up on stage again next year…

Tags: Reviews by Yano
3 Comments »

The Golden Globes are on tonight. I don’t know if I’ll be watching or if I’ll head out to check out downtown Las Vegas, but I’ll definitely be checking the results.

So here’s my predictions for the outcomes tonight:

Best Motion Picture - Drama

A History Of Violence
Benderspink Productions; New Line Cinema

**Brokeback Mountain
Focus Features/River Road Entertainment;

The Constant Gardener
Potboiler Prods./Scion Films; Focus Features

Good Night, And Good Luck
Section Eight/2929 Entertainment/Participant Productions; Warner Independent Pictures

Match Point
A Jada Production; DreamWorks Pictures

---

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Maria Bello – A History Of Violence

**Felicity Huffman – Transamerica

Gwyneth Paltrow – Proof

Charlize Theron – North Country

Ziyi Zhang – Memoirs Of A Geisha

---

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Russell Crowe – Cinderella Man

Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote

Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow

**Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain

David Strathairn – Good Night, And Good Luck

---

Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy

Mrs. Henderson Presents
Heyman Hoskins Productions; The Weinstein Company

Pride & Prejudice
Working Title Prods.; Focus Features/StudioCanal

**The Producers
Brooksfilms; Universal Pictures/Columbia Pictures

The Squid And The Whale
American Empirical/Peter Newman-InterAL; Samuel Goldwyn Films/Sony Pictures Releasing International

Walk The Line
Fox 2000 Pictures/TreeLine Productions/Catfish Productions; Twentieth Century Fox

---

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Judi Dench – Mrs. Henderson Presents

Keira Knightley – Pride & Prejudice

**Laura Linney – The Squid And The Whale

Sarah Jessica Parker – The Family Stone

Reese Witherspoon – Walk The

Line

---

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy

Pierce Brosnan – The Matador

Jeff Daniels – The Squid And

The Whale

Johnny Depp – Charlie

And The Chocolate Factory

**Nathan Lane – The

Producers

Cillian Murphy – 

target="_blank">Breakfast On Pluto

Joaquin Phoenix – Walk The

Line

---

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

**Scarlett Johansson – 

target="_blank">Match Point

Shirley MacLaine – In Her

Shoes

Frances McDormand – North

Country

Rachel Weisz – The Constant

Gardener

Michelle Williams – 

target="_blank">Brokeback Mountain

---

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

**George Clooney – 

target="_blank">Syriana

Matt Dillon – 

target="_blank">Crash

Will Ferrell – The

Producers

Paul Giamatti – 

target="_blank">Cinderella Man

Bob Hoskins – Mrs. Henderson

Presents

---

Best Foreign Language Film

Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas)

France
Nord
Quest Productions/Senator Film Productions/The Bureau Artemis
Productions/Media Pro Pictures/TFI Films/Les Productions de la
Gueville; Sony Pictures Classics

**Kung Fu

Hustle
China
Columbia Pictures Asia/Huayi Brothers/Taihe Film Investment Co. Ltd/Star Overseas; Sony

Pictures Classics

Paradise

Now
Palestine
Augustus Film/Lama Films/Razor Films/Lumen Films/Arte France Cinema/Hazazah Film; Warner

Independent Pictures

Promise, The (Master Of The Crimson Armor)

China
Moonstone Entertainment

Tsotsi
South Africa
UK
Film & TV Production Company PLC/Industrial Development Corporation
of South Africa/National Film & Video Foundation of South Africa;
Miramax Films

---

Best Director - Motion Picture

Woody Allen – Match

Point

George Clooney – Good

Night, And Good Luck

Peter Jackson – King Kong

**Ang Lee – Brokeback

Mountain

Fernando Meirelles – The Constant

Gardener

Steven Spielberg – Munich

---

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Match Point
Written by

Woody Allen

Good Night, And Good

Luck
Written by George Clooney, Grant Heslov

**Crash
Written by Paul

Haggis, Bobby Moresco

Munich
Written by Tony Kushner, Eric

Roth

Brokeback Mountain
Written

by Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana

---

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Syriana
Composed by Alexandre

Desplat

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The

Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Composed by Harry Gregson-Williams

King Kong
Composed by James Newton

Howard

Brokeback Mountain
Composed

by Gustavo Santaolalla

**Memoirs Of A

Geisha
Composed by John Williams

---

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

“A Love That Will Never Grow Old” – 

target="_blank">Brokeback Mountain

“Christmas in Love” – Christmas In

Love

“There’s Nothing Like a Show on Broadway” – 

target="_blank">The Producers

“Travelin’ Thru” – 

target="_blank">Transamerica

**”Wunderkind” – 

target="_blank">The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe

---

Best Television Series - Drama

Commander In

Chief
Touchstone Television; ABC

Grey’s Anatomy
Touchstone

Television; ABC

**Lost
Touchstone

Television; ABC

Prison Break
Original Film/Adelstein-

Parouse Productions/Twentieth Century Fox Television; FOX

Rome
HBO Entertainment/BBC; HBO

---

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama

Patricia Arquette – Medium

Glenn Close – 

target="_blank">The Shield

**Geena Davis – 

target="_blank">Commander In Chief

Kyra Sedgwick – The

Closer

Polly Walker – Rome

---

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama

Patrick Dempsey – Grey’s

Anatomy

Matthew Fox – 

target="_blank">Lost

**Hugh Laurie – House

Wentworth Miller – Prison

Break

Kiefer Sutherland – 24

---

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Desperate Housewives

target="_blank">Entourage

Everybody Hates

Chris

**My Name Is Earl

Weeds

---

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

Marcia Cross – Desperate

Housewives

Teri Hatcher – Desperate

Housewives

**Felicity Huffman – Desperate

Housewives

Eva Longoria – Desperate

Housewives

Mary-Louise Parker – 

target="_blank">Weeds

---

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

Zach Braff – Scrubs

**Steve Carell – The

Office

Larry David – Curb Your

Enthusiasm

Jason Lee – My Name Is

Earl

Charlie Sheen – Two

and a Half Men

---

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television

Empire Falls

**Into The West

Lackawanna Blues

Sleeper Cell

Viva

Blackpool

Warm Springs

---

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Halle Berry – Their Eyes Were

Watching God

Kelly MacDonald – 

target="_blank">The Girl In The Café

**S. Epatha Merkerson – 

target="_blank">Lackawanna Blues

Cynthia Nixon – Warm

Springs

Mira Sorvino – 

target="_blank">Human Trafficking

---

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Kenneth Branagh – 

target="_blank">Warm Springs

**Ed Harris – Empire

Falls

Bill Nighy – The

Girl In The Café

Jonathan Rhys Meyers – 

target="_blank">Elvis

Donald Sutherland – 

target="_blank">Human Trafficking

---

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for

Television

Candice Bergen – Boston

Legal

Camryn Manheim – Elvis

Sandra Oh – Grey’s

Anatomy

**Elizabeth Perkins – 

target="_blank">Weeds

Joanne Woodward – 

target="_blank">Empire Falls

---

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Naveen Andrews – 

target="_blank">Lost

Paul Newman – Empire

Falls

**Jeremy Piven – 

target="_blank">Entourage

Randy Quaid – Elvis

Donald Sutherland – 

target="_blank">Commander In Chief

Anyone wanna try to pick some winners? We can see tomorrow who’s got the best picks…

Tags: Daily by Yano
4 Comments »

….unless it’s picture of me dancing on a stripper pole in a party bus…

The story behind this is quite innocent. Last week we were staying at the Aladdin, but because of scheduling conflicts, had to move the second half of our meetings to a new hotel. So after the main group finished up, the little sub-group that I’m part of packed up their stuff and got ready to go to the other hotel. Since there were about 14 of us going, we needed to rent a bus to get there. The cheapest bus that they could find was one of those party buses that they use for bachelor parties and strippers (guys, don’t tell me you DON’T know what that is…). What was funny was that most of the people in my group were older people who had no idea what kind of bus this was. So there was no party on the party bus.

But I decided before we left the bus to have some fun with the stripper pole, because anyone who was at my bachelorette party knows of my skillz. Of course, I didn’t do too well because of my big belly, but it was still fun.

So I’m considering taking up stripping to raise money for my unborn child.

Eh, maybe not…

Tags: Pregnancy, Travel, Pictures by Yano
4 Comments »

Dear Lovie Smith,

I know you have a big game ahead of you tomorrow, and you probably have a lot on your mind right now. But I just wanted to ask you for a teeny tiny favor. Nothing huge. I just need the following to happen (all of the following, not 2 of 3):

a) The Bears win the game
b) The first score of the game is a field goal (either you can score that field goal or limit the Panthers to scoring a field goal first instead of a touchdown)
c) Have over 3 field goals total (between both teams) for the whole game. You can have as many or as little touchdowns/safeties as you want, but lets have a lot of field goals.

See? It’s not that hard, right? I mean, you guys have the best defense out there, and have prevented teams from getting touchdowns all season, forcing them to try field goals when the time came, and it shouldn’t be any different for the Panthers game tomorrow.

I admit, I have some money on the game. I’m in Vegas, and I have to admit that I’m a bit of a gambler, and hell, while I’m here, why not place a little bet on my favorite team?

I’m not doing it because I’m greedy for the money…I’m doing it because I believe in you, Lovie, you and the rest of the Bears team. You guys can win it all. You’ve played the Panthers before and had 3 field goals (btw, if you get three this time I’ll get my money back.) Not only that, but you also managed to sack QB Jake Delhomme 8 times and kept them to 3 points, where they had averaged 20 the weeks before.

So I believe you can beat them.

…and I believe you can my my requests come true, therefore getting me out of my gambling debt and help my unborn son go to college.

You want him to go to college, don’t you?

Thanks Lovie, you’re the best.

GO BEARS!

Tags: Daily by Yano
4 Comments »

So I didn’t gamble on Wednesday, after losing $50 the night before (hey, $50 is a big deal to me!!!)

However, thanks to my wonderful pipe cleaning skillz, I got a prize at our company meeting for best use of pipe cleaner (see the post below). Seriously. I couldn’t even joke about something as silly as that!

So I won $50. Yes. For making animals out of pipe cleaner.

So…..since I had lost $50 on Tuesday, and won $50 today, I decided that I was then even for the week.

Which of course means it was back to the tables for me!!!

Then I was down $65.

I was on my last $5 when I started hitting my numbers on the roulette wheel, and built myself up to $67, $2 up from where I started. I put $50 aside and tried using the last $17 to give me a comfortable lead to end the night (or morning, which you can see by the time of this post). Then I lost that $17, plus $5 from my “DO NOT TOUCH” bank.

By my calculations, I’m $20 down, which really isn’t too bad. Then again, I’ll be here for another 5 days (dear God, when will it end?!?!?) so I don’t want to even think about how far in the hole I’m going to end up!

Yes, I have a problem.

But hell, if I can’t go out binge drinking with my coworkers (I’m tired of ordering fruit punch!) then I’m going to get my high from gambling, dammit!

Tomorrow, I’ll try rubbing the chips on my belly for good luck.

My baby isn’t even born yet and he’s already being exploited for my monetary gain.

I’m a great mom! A great mom who’s 6 months pregnant and sits at the roulette table at 1 in the morning the night before work!

Tags: Daily by Yano
5 Comments »

I’ve been in meetings and training for the past couple days. During one training session, the trainer gave us some pipe cleaner to keep us active and awake, which is a great idea. So of course, I spent more time concentrating on my pipe cleaner creations than the class. However, I did learn a lot. I’m great at multi tasking.

Tags: Pictures by Yano
3 Comments »

Managed NOT to gamble today - with the schedule we had during our team meeting, there wasn’t time. I ran back to my room to watch LOST (all today’s events from 7:30am til about 9:15pm) and after that, passed out til now. I swear, I had run out of gas at about 3:15pm, after that I was running on fumes.

Boy, I’m pooped!

However, we had a Mexican Buffet for dinner, which included flan and churros for dessert. I love churros!

How are you all doing?

Tags: Daily by Yano
5 Comments »

Down $50.

Meaning that I lost the $70 that I won PLUS $50.

I need help.

This place is my weakness!

Tomorrow I am locking myself up in my room after dinner.

…after a game of blackjack or two.

NO! NO! NO BLACKJACK!

Hmm, but I’ll put down $5 on red in roulette and see what happens.

$5. I can do that. And then I’ll stop.

Really.

I hope.

Tags: Daily by Yano
10 Comments »

Greetings from Vegas!

This team meeting I’m at for work is so-so. There’s a lot of information that I’m trying to process. Last year when I was at the team meeting for the other company (the one that bought us out in ‘04 - this current company bought us out in ‘05) was in Columbus, and there were about 40 of us. This time around, it’s in Vegas and there’s about 250 of us. What a change! Once again I’m sitting around in a group of unfamiliar people half understanding what most of the presentations are about. It’s nice to be around familiar faces that I’ve gotten to know over the last year. I did learn a lot, though, but the next couple days should be a lot more interesting since we’ll actually be going over the product rather than the sales and R&D stats from the last year.

Afterwards, I hung out with the crew at the casinos. Everyone wants to try out craps, but the craps tables were pretty packed. I found a roulette table that was pretty empty, so sat myself down there. I love playing roulette, even though it’s easy to lose a lot of money fast. You’ve gotta start big to win big. I lost my first $$ pretty quickly, but threw in some more and started hitting my numbers. After about an hour (maybe an hour and a half, I don’t know…when I get that gambling high time stands still!) I had racked up $100 from what I started from.

Of course, I got greedy and didn’t stop playing, under the assumption that since I was winning I would continue to win. Yes, I was wrong. However, since I was surrounded by coworkers I was able to stop myself and cash out before I lost all my winnings. I managed to leave winning $70, being the only person in my group to win.

I guess my buddha belly is good luck!

Ugh, there’s still 9 more days for me here. That $70 isn’t going to last too long!

Tags: Travel, Daily by Yano
7 Comments »