Movie Review: The Internship

Our original movie choice for Saturday was Now You See Me, a cat-and-mouse thriller about The Four Horsemen (illusionists) who pull off robberies of corrupt businesses during their magic act. The FBI works to track them down.

However, when we were in line for tickets we decided to see The Internship. This surprised me because I didn't think Bob wanted to see this movie.

It ended up that both of us thoroughly enjoyed the movie. For those of you who don't know about The Internship, think Google. Two washed-up wristwatch salesmen who are in desperate need of new jobs come up with the brilliant idea of interviewing for internship positions at the tech giant Google.

Yes, the movie is one big Google commercial. The thing is, it was filmed at the real Google complex (Googleplex) in California's Silicon Valley. So that's interesting to see; we likened it to an ovder-the-top college campus atmosphere. Most of all the movie is funny and touching.

Two middle-aged, tech-deficient charming nerds (Owen Wilson and Nick, Vince Vaughn as Billy) interview for internships at Google via video. They are pretty darn funny trying to impress the interviewers with their technical knowledge. After a close vote by the powers that be at Google, they are both invited to Silicon Valley for internships and a 5% chance of working at Google.

After you pick up your jaw from the floor from seeing the Google campus, settle in for a fun, think-outside-the-box movie. Even though the two "old guys" don't know much about computers, they do have a handle on living life.

After an initial company orientation, teams are chosen. As might be expected, Billy and Nick aren't on the A list of potential teammates. After all the dust has settled in choosing teams, only the outcasts are left. Billy and Nick are the last team to form, by default.

What follows are team challenges: a Quidditch match (from Harry Potter tales); customer service, as in answering Google technical help-line calls; and an outside sales call to sell Google online advertising. Billy and Nick, having been around the block a few times, offer emotional, inspirational and life-experience support to the young-'uns. The movie plays to the difference in ages and abilities and how each generation can help the other.

The movie had its moments of inanity and stupidity especially involving Will Ferrell's cameo; my least favorite part of the movie. If you need to go to the bathroom or get snacks, go during the Vince Vaughn/Will Ferrell mattress-store-portion of the movie. Trust me, you won't miss much.

Don't miss the movie all together, though, because of one dumb scene. Go for the laughs and watching Vince and Owen play off each other. Go for the look at Googleplex in Mountain Home, California (much of the movie was filmed at Google's headquarters). And go for the understanding that develops between the generations. We hope you like it as much as we did.

Travel Bug out.

V is for Violated -- Thurs., Apr. 25

What would you do if your husband called you from work and told you to do a Google search for a piece of property? Both of you search Google Images at the same time on different computers and find pictures of the property. BUT as you scroll through the photos, you see pictures of yourself, your cats, places you've been, photos you took yourself?

Freaky, right? That's what happened to me today. I am very pissed off. I clicked on one of the photos and it was able to link to the web site (not mine) where my photos and all my blogs have been duplicated. (See below.)

It looks like someone has copied all my blog posts, along with someone else's blog posts into a blog titled "Travel Information." That is not the web address they've given it.  Enter: "Travel Information The Twilight Bark Blogspot.com" into Google. When "Travel Information shannonspet-sittingtwilightbark blogspot.com" comes up as a search result, go to that site. Look in the archives. You will see what I am talking about. Approximately 95% of the content is mine.

I don't know who the person given credit at the top of those blog posts is (for sure it's not me), but he has other sites as well. The name of the blog itself looks like it came from someone else. I have written to the lady whose blog name is similar to the blog name this person is using to let her know as well.

Have you ever checked to see if anyone is stealing your blog content? I feel violated. I am shaking right now.

Whoever this person is, they are not ethical. They along with their blog have been reported to Google as copyright infringement.

You may want to check your own blog to see if anyone is using your stuff!

What would you do in this situation? I'm at a loss.

Please give me feedback if you've had any experience with this and how you dealt with it.

Thanks. I feel fortunate to be part of our close-knit blogging community.

Snug as a Bug in our Rig -- Tues., Jan. 8

Yes, we had rain today, and more rain and more rain...no downpours, though. I ventured out at 11:50 to meet other RV ladies for lunch at Cheddar's Restaurant. MapQuest said it would take 28 minutes to reach my destination.

Before leaving the rig, MapQuest AND Google Maps were consulted for the best way to the restaurant, this being an unfamiliar area to me. What a disappointment. Google maps dumped me in the middle of northbound IH-35, no exit number given or any further instructions. Mapquest had me exiting at Forum Parkway and doing a U-turn, going under I-35 and under 1604 where it showed Cheddar's as being on the other side of I-35. Epic fail. Wrong-o on both counts. Are you lost yet? I was.

I ended up exiting at 1604 going south, exiting that, and using the "turnaround" that Texas frontage roads have. At that point I was on the frontage road that would take me to Cheddar's. When I saw Cheddar's, I turned right into a driveway on that side of the road only to find out I was in the parking lot for an athletic store with no way to go through to Cheddar's. I hopped back out on the frontage road and made sure I was pulling into Cheddar's lot on my next turn.

To add insult to injury, there was a major wreck on I-35 north (the direction I was headed). A semi truck had jack-knifed in the fast lane. The cab of the truck was facing back toward the way it had come and was wedged against the center concrete divider. A pick-up truck was on the right grassy shoulder, spun around facing back toward the way it had come. Traffic was backed up about a mile but was barely moving. I exited at the frontage road and was able to get around the accident and a lot of the back-up.

I ended up being about ten minutes late. Four other ladies were there: another Susan, Peri, Colleen and Margareta. 

Susan A., Peri, Colleen, Margareta, me.

Lunch was ordered and we had lots of time to talk. (We were there 2-1/2 hours!) Quite a discussion was held regarding picking up hitchhikers. Margareta used to hitchhike, so she has picked up hitchhikers in the past (not currently). It should be noted, she has a German shepherd who rides in the front. If the dog doesn't like someone, she won't let them ride. We also discussed our fur-kids, world travel, upcoming travel plans, feral cats, fresh-water spring-fed swimming holes, different campgrounds, and the cost of propane. How's that for a variety of topics. We want to meet once a month and include other women RVers who are in the area. For our next lunch, we discussed going to Zio's Italian Kitchen in Universal City.

By the way, lunch was very good at Cheddar's. Margareta and I had tilapia with shrimp on top, rice pilaf plus two sides; I opted for mashed potatoes with gravy and coleslaw. When the food came, I had mashed potatoes and broccoli. I mentioned to the waitress that I ordered coleslaw. She looked at the ticket and said, "That's what I wrote down. You can keep the broccoli, I'll bring out your coleslaw." Nice. 

By the time we had talked for two hours, we decided to order dessert. Cheddar's has little 99 cent desserts served in shot glasses. I got Chocolate Trifle and Red Velvet Cake. The other choice was Key Lime, which a couple of the other ladies ordered. They were very good and not over the top on size like the bigger desserts they had.

I headed back to our rig, picked up our mail and settled in until Bob came home. Mom called me and we chatted for a little while. Then Bob asked if I wanted to go see, "Lincoln." Yes, I did. Off we went. 

We headed to the Santikos Bijou Theater at Wonderland Mall. The entire food court in the mall was already closed (7:30 p.m.). Not to worry, though, the Bijou Theater has a restaurant. You can order at the snack counter or you can order from your seat and they will bring the food to you. We opted to order a Greek pizza at the counter and wait for it in the lobby. The theaters have long tables for your food and drinks. So we ate while the commercials and previews were on. The pizza was excellent and just the right amount for two.

"Lincoln" is a very good movie. Unfortunately for me, I slept through about 1/3 of the movie (the first part). It's rather slow-moving, talky and had quite a bit of nice music. Lala land for me. Bob woke me up a couple of times. By the middle, I stayed awake through the rest of it. I will have to rent it to watch the whole thing.

Through the years I had never fallen asleep at a movie. However, in the last 8-10 years I'd say I've fallen asleep more and more. Not for long, but enough to miss some interesting stuff. Is it just from getting older? I love movies!

When we exited the movie the rain was coming down harder and the wind had picked up. Driving home, we encountered a few spots of deep water near on and off ramps and on the side streets. It's still raining, but not a downpour.

That's it for today. Tomorrow promises to be a quiet day for me. Thursday is my dentist appointment. Yay, it's finally here. I'll find out what has happened to my teeth and upper jaw; then what will be needed to fix it all.  

It is midnight and the thunder has arrived along with the promised downpour. Wow. The rain pounding on the 5er roof sounds so dramatic.

P.S. Today's title brought to you by Bob. Isn't he clever?

Travel (snug as a) Bug out.