....March 9, 5:30 PM
 
 
 
Taking Small Steps
Sarah Maria Lopez
Home: Queens Village
Age: 20
Height: 5’2"
Weight: 128
Stats: 36-30-35


The best way to describe Sarah Maria Lopez is well rounded. Dabbling in the modeling world for the past two years doing various ads and fashion shows, she has also performed as a singer in talent shows and even starred in an independent movie called “Hard Rock.”

“I love modeling, but I’m not saying I want to be Tyra Banks or Paris Hilton or someone like that,” she said. “I’m not going to put all my eggs in one basket. It’s important to be a well-rounded person. You need to be interacting with every walk of life.”

Sarah Maria is also pursuing a pre-med degree at Hunter College and says she has a thirst for learning. Though she has not decided on what specialization her medical degree would be, she likes what the medical world is all about.
“It’s like a puzzle and it’s about trying to put it all together.” Sarah Maria said of her studies. “I love the challenge that it offers.”

Even with her busy schedule, Sarah Maria still puts aside time to enjoy her Queens Village neighborhood. When she can, she attends mass at Incarnation Church and is a graduate of St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows. She doesn’t describe herself as a party person and can frequently be caught reading a book at home – though she does enjoy hanging out in Manhattan.

Up to this point, Sarah Maria said she is very happy with what life has brought her, and is excited to experience even more.

“I have goals and I have to work towards them,” she said. “I know it’s not going to happen overnight, I just have to take small steps.”
 
 
Gotta Love Liz

A quote from Liz Taylor (top) was the subject of identical references by GOP gubernatorial candidates Randy Daniels (left) and John Faso (right) at a Queens Repub party.
It’s tough being a politician, constantly thrust in front of audiences, forced to have a stock of hackneyed, fallback lines that can be dragged out at will. The key is to make sure that your anecdotes are not too commonly used, and at the very least, the speaker preceding you didn’t just use the same joke.

A good example of that maxim came during an awkward moment at a Republican Party fundraiser in Howard Beach for Sen. Serf Maltese (R-Glendale). Two candidates for Governor, Randy Daniels and John Faso, both used the same story about Elizabeth Taylor.

Daniels was the first speaker of the night and claimed his remarks would be brief (they were not, as it turned out), quoting Taylor as having said to her eight husbands, “Don’t worry, I won’t keep you long.”

John Faso, a late addition to the event’s lineup, must have showed up during Daniels’ speech, but sometime after that anecdote. In a hurry to another function, Faso spoke next, and delivered a slightly different version of the same story: “I’ll tell you people what Liz Taylor told her fifth husband, ‘I won’t keep you long.’”

Oddly, the joke seemed to get a laugh both times, a testament to the politeness of political audiences, especially those shelling out a few hundred bucks at a fund-raiser.
Overzealous Ticketer

The sticker (top, right) & the ticket (above) with the same inspection number; the ticket says the sticker expires 2/14/06; the sticker's actual expiration date is 6/14/06. Oops!
At least one Flushing transit cop seems to already thinks spring is in the air.

A QConf staffer was parked in Municipal Lot 1 for a 109th Precinct press conference last week, when a ticket officer by the name of B. Chunn decided to display the bright orange summons on the reporter’s windshield a little too soon.

According to the ticket, the inspection on the 1986 jalopy expired in February, but clearly stated in black and white on the front windshield, it reads the sticker is good until June 14, 2006.

Sure, Chunn probably writes dozens of tickets each day on the five-acre, 1,100-spot downtown Flushing lot, but it seems pretty obvious to anyone who can read numbers, this mistake was clearly uncalled for.

Sorry, Chunn. Not Guilty.

Rocco Rocks Radio

Rocco DiSpirito
Despite a weekly radio show on WOR radio being canned in December, Queens-raised celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito still thinks he’s got a chance to make it on the airwaves.

DiSpirito, who got thrust into the national spotlight for the hit show “The Restaurant,” has decided to kick his career up a notch by taking it to Philadelphia. He recently tried out a radio show called “Rocco Right Now,” from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. with special guests, including designer Isaac Mizrahi, "Soprano" actor Stephen Schirripa and his 80-year-old mother.

Hey Rocco, if the Philly thing doesn’t work out, come on home and open a restaurant here. Just be sure you know where to send the comps.

Martha & The Donald Still Feuding

When giants ruled the earth: The Donald & The Martha
We know that child of Queens, Donald Trump has been upset with Martha Stewart, refusing to apologize for a nasty letter he sent her venting his anger after she blamed him for the failure of her “Apprentice” show.

“Today” show host Katie Couric, who has always said she loves the Donald “to death,” asked Trump if the letter wasn’t going just a bit too far.

“No,” Trump replied. “She should learn to take responsibility for her own failure.”

Trump had blasted Martha in a letter stating that he knew her show would fail from the first time he saw it and that her daughter’s “monologue” added to the failure of the show.
Couric asked the Donald if he would apologize to the Kitchen Queen and he replied, “No I will not apologize.”

Trump’s son and daughter, who sat with him on the set, said that their “dad can be very loyal but if you mess with him he takes the extreme opposite.”

The next morning Matt Lauer had Stewart on “Healthy Cooking With Martha” and asked, “What’s going on, I thought you two were friends?” to which Stewart grabbed one of the bigger knives she was using to cut her vegetables and replied, “You just have to ask him that.”




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