I agree with you completely, AuntiePam. Planning is always Step 1, and that includes determining (a) what you have; (b) what you need; and (c) what it will cost to go from (a) to (b).
I would have replaced all the carpets. But you’re right that it should be sufficient to simply shampoo them. It’s probably also all that’s within the budget and time frame.
Heh.
Oh my god, she was awful at the desk. Especially compared to her competitor (Verna?).
He was embarrassed by the Stacie flameout. He learned from his mistakes and is being more calculating with Verna. He’ll wait for a quiet time to destroy her. This is why he’s The Trump. Along this line, I enjoyed his, Unless you’d like to waive your exemption moment, and John looking like he was about to wet his pants.
I did the same thing with my stove grease catchers. Walked to Home Depot and spent $17 on aluminum shells, and it was like a brand new stove. Fear me and my renovations!
So, what have we learned:
As Scuba_Ben said, change the toilet seats.
Shampoo the carpets.
Wash the walls.
Hook up the cable.
Have a bedside lamp.
Put a trash can in the room.
Be quiet.
Have gift bags, alcohol, and a really great breakfast.
Free newspapers for all!
To be fair…would we know all this without the colassal failure of our Apprenticers?
That’s the point of my “lessons learned” series – analyzing failures leads to figuring out some of the most important lessons for success.
And now that you mention it, Rysler, you’re absolutely correct about providing cable TV in all the rooms. That’s a very good point!
There’s a lot of Erin hating going on. While I agree with the hating, I think people are also underestimating her. She’s a sexual harrassment attorney, who has said in interviews that she “sues any and all men that she can”. We’ve seen that she’s manipulative (the post-Verna-breakdown interview), and I think we can attribute that manipulativeness to her weepy display in the first episode. I don’t think she believed that “emotions were running high” or that they “all got along so well”.
I think she’s setting herself up nicely for the Final Four, and I’d give her favorable odds to win the whole thing. But I do hate her so.
I have a strong sense that Stacie may have threatened a lawsuit over what happened to her in season two, and may have been paid a settlement to shut her up. In the grand finale last season, Trump was backpeddling with her all the way. He was probably advised by counsel not to infer that someone is a nutjob again. So he comments that she ‘made a comeback’, while mentally marking her for dodo status. Just a supposition.
Her leaving was a typical flight response to pressure. Pretend to be sick, quit the task. She’s got a high fear factor, which won’t land her a job.
What’s with that chick with the early Cher hairdo?
You’re dating yourself, hon – that’s the one everyone’s snarking on as the Ashlee Simpson clone. I think. I’m also of your vintage. 
BTW – I played an Apprentice quirk in my fantasy TV league last night – but the wrong one. I thought Street Smarts would kick ass on this task – wrong-o, Mary Lou. It didn’t occur to me that the PM would just arbitrarily start spending money like a blonde with her first paycheck. I did love “Budget? I had a budget! Oh, you mean, other than the limit you placed? Uh…”
Mullinator – brilliant as always. My only cavil is Verna being in Elementary School rather than Nursery School. C’mon, she walked off the task – and then just wandered around Seaside Heights pulling her suitcase behind her like a bag lady. Or is there a rule than a player can drop no more than two places in any week?
[sub]Lil – aw, you’re embarrassing me. I’d add the embarrassed smiley but it looks like a choirboy giving a blowjob to me. Um, looks to me. 
[/sub]
Nursery school is only for fire-ees, I believe. Verna’s not there, yet.
Already I like this cast better than the last. Their are individual personalities instead of cliques. It is a joy to watch. If only Burnett used this style of casting on Survivor! Of course there, “looks good in a bikini” matters more. Though we DID see one of the BS members make the pool party better with the black bikini. It was liekly Stephanie or Kendra but it COULD have been Bren…I’m don’t recall!
A few random thoughts:
Carpet first. In ANY renovation, the carpet has to come up first. It absorbs all the smell and any particles or debris are going to get in the carpet (C’mon. We all learned about gravity from Elmer Fudd, people!)
Last week I knew Brian was going to be a burn out. The dinner with Trump showed his true personality. Worst performance EVER!
Danny redeems himself. He was solely responsible for the win. This was what I expected of a wild card like Danny. Weird behavior, but out of the box brilliance. And I liked his steps to please Trump. Danny could stay in the game a while. If he keeps himself in check, and performs well (no flying under the radar for Danny), I could see him playing the Andy role. Someone Trump likes but has no intention of hiring.
I LOVE Audrey and Angie. Audrey seems like a no-nonsense problem solver. Angie is not afraid to be rough at times. I hope they develop a good cop-bad cop partnership. And I would have snapped and told her to Shut the f*** up as well!
Erin did look weird in her confessional. Was she hanging out with Ravi Shankar? Was she wearing a wig? She reminded me of Michael J. Fox from Back to the Future 2 when he was playing his own daughter!
I did like Erin’s take on Verna. You HAVE to “poor baby” her to her face. If you don’t lose the task, you don’t want her to freak out the next task. But what she did WAS unacceptable. She wigged and did so without notice! She may be a snoot, but I don’t want her fired just yet. She is good television.
Watching Verna was a surreal experience. She flipped out. I was ashamed of myself for watching. This is done for my entertainment? It was worsened by the fact that she had the least stressful job possible. I did laugh once when she “volunteered” to be fired if they lost. I was thinking “NO FUCKING SHIT!” Michael handled that moment better than I would have.
Bren gets credit for the nice audible and took over for Verna. I like him. I see him getting further down the road if he doesn’t implode while PM-ing.
I am convinced that John is Vince Vaughn’s slightly overweight brother. He acts, sounds, and kind of looks like a puffy version of Vaughn. You’re MONEY!
In fact, this cast is full of “s/he kind of looks like” people.
The reward was hilarious. I loved Forbes’ speech about customers. Even if you have a terrible personality that scares babies. Was he being autobiographical? One real downside was “UNBELIEVABLE” reared its ugly head.
To add another Bradford moment to CrazyCatLady’s offering, I smiled when John held his immunity. I chuckled at Trump’s smirk. Had these guys seen the first few episodes of last season yet? I got the impression they had not.
I have to agree with Auntie Pam. When Chris “came strong”, I asked my wife who he was. She had no idea either. Way to put the target on yourself. His sin was Bradford lite. All risk. No reward. Now someone is on record reccomending your firing. If it happens in episode two, you usually burn out midway through.
:smack:
Danny gives me the jim-jams. I think he’s two-faced and backstabbing. The guitar-as-prop routine irritated me from the moment I saw him.
What’s with the hair this season? With the exception of about three people, it’s all bad in all ways.
Why do the women, in their outdoors monologues, often look like Victoria’s Secret models? (Again, the hair.)
Note to video editors: Can we ditch the WHOOOOOOOOO! moments? At least twice a show, everyone’s getting together in a circle, joining hands, and singing praises. Blccch.
I’m finding this season far more enjoyable than the last, and I’m hoping Erin and Kristen stick around for several more weeks, for sheer entertainment’s sake.
I was looking over the cast and I figure I have a positive opinion of quite a few.
MY FAVORITES:
John- I like the Vince Vaughn act. I think he has potential to go far.
Bren- Rather pleasant. He wants to win, but doesn’t want others to lose.
Audrey/Angie- I like them. Especially Audrey. I hope a partnership forms.
PLAYERS I HAVE KIND OF LIKE:
Danny- Big move up from “KILL HIM, NOW!” He could move down.
Alex- Works hard. Seems to want the team to succeed. Gives me a Wes from Season 2 vibe. Will make it pretty far, but get fired for being unexceptional.
Michael- Seems pleasant. Has a win under his belt. But seems middle management.
Tana- I like that Iowa girl!
DISLIKE, BUT IN A GOOD WAY:
Erin- I love a sexual harrassment attorney who uses sex appeal to get ahead.
Kristin- It will wear thin, but her antics amused me. Incidentally, she WAS right in her complaints.
DISLIKE, BUT NOT IN A GOOD WAY:
Chris- I hate people who create trouble for themselves just so they get camera time.
Verna- Makes me ashamed that I watch “reality” TV.
LITTLE TO NO OPINION:
Kendra/Stephanie- I can’t tell them apart. Whichever one was in the black bikini moves up a notch into the positive column.
Tara- I do like her confessionals. They aren’t biting, but they give concise resets of what is going on after they come back from commercial breaks…
Craig- He has potential. I almost put him up higher. I liked his “where do I set up my shoeshine?” bit.
And because no one asked:
My early final four prediction: John (SS), Audrey (SS), Kendra (BS), Bren (BS)
I think that is said about as well as possible. My reaction to the task (had I been on it) would have initially been of the “No freakin’ way, this sucks” variety, but after an hour or so I would have realized the true point. And you are right, it doesn’t really appear that any of them did.
He gets into the PhD class for a couple of reasons. He has a win and he has pushed the right buttons so far. He managed a task well. He did his best to help out an obviously floundering PM in the other. He will have ample opportunity to screw up, but at this point, he is far and away the best after two weeks. But, one bad week and he drops like a stone.
A couple of things, a turn as PM will clear things up. Either she meets our low expectations or does a superb job. I think failure is likely but half the fun is in the disagreeing. As for the uber-attorny face she is putting on…she’s 26. Based on this article, she worked as a lawyer for all of 6 months, and that involved research and paperwork for the people that actually worked in the courtroom. Frankly, her vast legal career is a good bit of puffery on her part and on the show’s part. Looking at her website, her goal isn’t so much the courtroom, as it is being a TV personality. She might talk a big game, but until I see otherwise, she’s a buffoon that wants to use The Apprentice as a lead-in to greater on camera fame.
If I could throw her in a level of fetus school and keep her there I would. Maybe I need to come up with a special Lamaze level for this quitter.
FYI the extended Yahoo scenes shed some light on Verna’s handbag issue. As Bren was showing her which side of the paint roller to use, he suggested that she put it down in the corner. She refused, and when he asked why she said it was because there was a lot of money in it, as she was the accountant.
She was all kinds of worn down too. My eyes got mentally tired just watching.
Remedial classes, maybe?
That was the most entertaining episode ever! What a horrific mess that was.
Brian is an ass, Verna has lost her ever-loving mind and Kristin has been using Homer Simpson’s makeup gun. “You’ve got it set on ‘whore’!”
I wanted to tell Kristin to shut the F up, so I loved Angie getting in Kristin’s face and doing just that. But afterward, I was expecting Angie to perform one her 65 songs about Joe, and I was disappointed.
Good season so far!
Yes! That’s it–I was trying to think who he reminded me of.
How about we CAST THE APPRENTICE SEASON 3 MOVIE ADAPTATION!!
That was the most entertaining episode ever! What a horrific mess that was.
Brian is an ass, Verna has lost her ever-loving mind and Kristin has been using Homer Simpson’s makeup gun. “You’ve got it set on ‘whore’!”
I wanted to tell Kristin to shut the F up, so I loved Angie getting in Kristin’s face and doing just that. But afterward, I was expecting Angie to perform one her 65 songs about Joe, and I was disappointed.
Good season so far!
Sorry about the double post. My road runner hasn’t has his coffee today.
And sorry about wasting a post to apologize for the double post.
::slinks away::
I work for 300 attorneys, and only a small fraction of them have seen the inside of a courtroom. The ones that I know to be top-notch seldom ever go to court - the goal is a settlement. That aside, that’s not something that develops over a brief 6 months.
But I don’t think she’s putting on an uber-attorney face. She’s trying to put on an uber-naive face to catch people off-guard. Time (and a PM job) will tell.
I just looked at her web site and discovered that this skank is selling autographed 8x10s on there.
I think that tells you right there that she doesn’t get anywhere near the final four.
.