A pause.

Ayo Technology the Sequel

2008-10-04T22:39:00.004-04:00

So, after this long without blogging about anything, the thing that really gets me off of the couch and onto the computer is a silly comment by my husband that there's "nothing really special" about the Samsung Alias: the bomb-ass new cell phone that we both got recently. Yes, I traded in my trusty Treo for a flip phone. But, not just any flip phone, no...in fact, the one thing that is extremely special about the phone is that it flips both ways! Both "portrait" like typical phones for talking, and also "landscape" for texting. The keyboard looks a little funny because the numbers are sideways in landscape mode and there are a bunch of letters all over the place in portrait mode, but its very easy to get used to. If that's not special, I don't know what is. It's taking some getting used to, but the buttons were the easiest transition for my texting that I could find after trying and immediately hating other Verizon phones like the enV and Glyde. Those who cannot appreciate new technology do not deserve to own it :) You must exude a certain level of awe for these sorts of things...a certain level of overeagerness to obtain them...a certain level of unnecessary loyalty to the piece of tech for as long as it is convenient. After years of watching me get cool gadget after cool gadget, my husband joins in claiming that he never gets cool tech stuff. And when he does...blasphemy. Okay, that's a little dramatic, not quite blasphemy, but ridicularity (one of the new favorite made up words I've cycled through lately).

That's all for now. Though I may write something about the election if I feel like ranting. PS, our new Verizon service is way more bang for our buck than AT&T.

The Essentials

2008-08-09T11:18:00.003-04:00

I've been hoarding topics again. Some are events long since gone...but the thoughts have stuck in my mind. And I think, therefore I am, ergo I blog.

A little while ago we had a blackout that lasted like two days. It was oh so fun trying to figure out what to do as we couldn't find any flashlights. Luckily we had some hardcore flashlight thingy for the car that was unopened and it provided a lot of light and could be propped up. Some tea lights that I had from Ph also came in very handy. Candles really do shed a lot of light, no wonder people could survive with just that for so long. What I mean to say is, we've (I've) become totally dependent on electricity, its sad.

Next was the water issue due to a broken water main or something. We had no potable water for a few days. I hate the word potable because what the hell does that mean anyway. We couldn't drink the freakin' water. Never have I been one to jump up and run to the store and clear out the shelves at the first sign of trouble or natural disaster. But, this time, I had to go and get water. It actually was a lifesaver. Especially with a baby. I bought some small water bottles even though I usually try to stay away from them because I think its a waste of plastic. I was not at all happy with this situation in general. And again, too dependent. I'm certainly privileged as I know that there are many many people who live without drinkable water, yet must drink it anyway and who live with no electricity. Such is life. But, I try to do my part to help others.

Speaking of people who are down and out and helping others. Recently there was a man on the side of the road with a sign...you know, the one that says they are homeless and need food or whatever. The car in front of me had his hand out of the window and was holding something. It looked like a pack of crackers. And then, he chucked it on the ground. He actually threw the food onto the ground and made the homeless man pick it up like a dog. I was absolutely disgusted. I'm still mad about that. What, he didn't want to touch the man's hand? The line of cars wasn't moving so it wasn't that. I guess I shouldn't judge because there could be any number of reasons why he did that. Maybe he was worried for his safety or the safety of those in his car and didn't want to have the window all open where the man could just reach in. But, I didn't get that vibe at the time. The casual way that he chucked it on the ground did not give me that impression. Anyway, we were on our way to get something to eat, and I thought about the situation briefly and then promptly forgot about it. I think that is something from which many of us suffer. We know there's a problem, we think about trying to help, but then our lives interfere and we go about our business. Though I envy those who go beyond that. I think that's partly why I wanted to do the ESL tutoring. I wanted to do my part. And its very enjoyable. It's not helping homeless people, in fact my students seem to be quite well off, but its my part, nonetheless.

Green is for Gimmick

2008-06-08T21:27:00.004-04:00

So, I may not be a popular person for saying this, but I have to say it. I'm over the whole "green" movement. While I agree with taking action to preserve the environment and limit waste, etc. and do my part to some degree, I find the commercial and fad-like turn the movement has taken to be annoying. Everyone has "green patrols" and "green initiatives" and green this and green that. I mean, recycling, electric cars, solar power...these things have been around for years. But, for some reason the green thing only took off within the last couple. I wonder if there was one thing that triggered this or if it was several things, or if we are just evolving as a country and society. Well, regardless, we still managed to turn it into an advertising campaign/gimmick/money-making thing.

The good thing is that at least more people are taking action now. Though, there's so much out there that its confusing. Personally, I don't know what's true and what's not, what's safe and what's not. We've bought those new light bulbs that use a lot less energy and supposedly last forever. They shed the weirdest yellow light, but I'm over it...in the name of the environment. But, they have mercury in them or something so they are dangerous if they break and you're not supposed to touch the debris. Then again, I read that that's ridiculous and you should be careful and just not run your fingers through it and then lick them. If I'm having trouble sorting through all the green crap, I can imagine what most of the country is thinking...well, at least I know there will be some more interesting and helpful car options in the next few years. According to this article, the electric revolution is on the horizon and then some. Compressed air powered cars...who knew? Hybrids are great for now, but I think we could do a lot better. Can't wait to see...how much they cost...

So Much to Say

2008-06-01T01:12:00.003-04:00

...so much to say, so much to say, so much to say, da da da da da da. Okay, that particular DMB song didn't translate well. But, the notion is valid. I recently got back from a trip to the DR, what what! Okay, just the Dominican Republic. But, when you say it "DR", it just sounds cooler and warranted the extra whatever that was I added. It was a nice trip to participate in my brother's wedding. We stayed in the Dreams resort which was very nice. However, goodness gracioius the bed was so damn uncomfortable!!! It was the worst bed I've ever slept on in my life. They must get a lot of massage business. That must be why they had ads for their spa everywhere you turned. I didn't get as much sun as I had wanted. I can obtain a nice tan when I try. But, alas, I wasn't really trying. I did get to watch more TV than I had expected. I happened upon an interview with a young woman who had just come back from Iraq sans both her arms (most of them at least). It was a very sad story, though she and her husband seemed to both be getting along. Well, on the way home from the DR (holla!) I was listening to a song by an artist Brendan James that I thought really spoke to what is going on right now and what has been going on for the last 5 years with Iraq and all. I randomly bought his EP off of iTunes several months ago and I really like his voice. It's like a young slightly more modern James Taylor. Doesn't sound very appealing, I know but he's good. I will leave you with a link to a video of him performing it and the lyrics...it is called "Hero's Song":

Here I am
In the desert again
A compass and a weapon
A lost American

I started out with a simple plan
And a locket in my hand
But the sun is so unforgiving
And the wind so hard to stand

Fall out, fall out
With the rest of your brothers
With the rest of your sisters
Heroes on the line

Carry out what your leader says
For what his leader says
Is that his leader says
This is right for the people

No one will ever understand why
Thousands of beautiful healthy young statues must fall
Smoke and explosions surround me
A flood of hate, it drowns me
I cannot live this way
No I cannot live with
Doubt and confusion
They find me
They run up right behind me
I cannot die this way
No, I cannot die this way

In the water, in the sand
Is the blood of a culture
Is the blood of an ancient people
In whose holy war I stand

I hear the world like a cannon roar
Say I can't win this war
I promise them this
Isn’t what I signed up for

No one will ever understand why
Thousands of beautiful healthy young statues must fall
Smoke and explosions surround me
A flood of hate, it drowns me
I cannot live this way
No I cannot live
With doubt and confusion
They find me
They run up right behind me
I cannot die this way
No, I cannot die this way

No one will ever understand why
Thousands of beautiful healthy young soldiers must fall

Smoke and explosions surround me
A flood of hate, it drowns me
I cannot live this way
No I cannot live
With doubt and confusion
They find me
They run up right behind me
I cannot die this way
No, I will not die this way

Presently

2008-05-18T23:50:00.002-04:00

My 3 year (I think) blogiversary was last week and while my blog topics have become more far and few between, the happenings in my life have sorta increased in number. That is a weird roundabout way of saying that I have slightly more of a life, but haven't blogged about it. So, instead of blogging about "real life", I'll blog about something else we all love...spam.

So, lately I've been getting tons of spam from "foreign people" trying to give me money. My favorite is one with the following subject line: "I am presently at JFK airport". I knew that one would be good. Apparently, I've left Frank Chambers (a diplomat from the Caribbean) hangin' in the airport with 7.5 million dollars. Hopefully the Internet access is free since he is literally emailing me from the airport.

Well, I lied...a little real life. I'm really enjoying teaching English as a second language. Did I blog about that already? I can't remember. Well, if not, surprise! I'm tutoring two Korean students and its fun and rewarding. Taught one how to say "banana" like an American. I had to somehow explain that I have no idea why the "ban" in "banana" sounds like buh and "ban" the word sounds like, well, ban. I mean, seriously. I love words. I've always been interested in them and how they fit together to form language, and slang, and grammar, etc. And I've always known that the English language could be really weird and annoying, specifically pronunciation-wise. But, it's really becoming more obvious to me as I teach. I feel really bad for anyone who has to learn it as a second language. It's mostly memorization instead of logic. Ridiculous word of the hour: aisle. No one new to the English language could ever figure out how to say that on the first try. Let alone a second or third.

On a more positive note, one of the newest additions to the American population, my son, will hopefully have limited problems learning to speak English. He doesn't really say any real words yet and has, in fact, stop saying uh oh, but he has got several different letter combination sounds down. And he started walking this past week!! He's a-growin'!

Can it be I stayed away too long?

2008-05-05T22:37:00.002-04:00

A little Jackson 5 for ya there. I gotta get back in there with the musical titles...

So, several things have happened lately that are interesting, to me at least. The first is my bonafide good samaritan moment. Well, really my husband and I. We were at the library so I could check it out for my ESL tutoring (I'll get to that next). When I came back to the car, an SUV next to us was pulling out and leaving. There was a stroller on the sidewalk in front of the space. Ted seemed kind of dumbfounded and said "I think they just left their stroller". So, I was like...let's follow them so we can tell them! Of course, they were almost out of the library parking lot by this time so we had to hope that we would catch up. By the time we got to the main road, I saw the SUV disappear to the right onto the main, main street. We somehow saw it turning left after that and kept following (what we thought was the right car). After another minute or two, luckily they turned into a townhouse complex. Otherwise, I don't know how much longer we were going to follow them (certainly not onto the freeway, especially if it was the wrong direction from our house). We drove around the complex until we saw the car parked. The woman was still in the car seemingly deep in thought. I knocked on the window and told her about the stroller and how we totally followed her all the way from the library. She was very grateful and said something to the effect of "See, that's how much is on my mind!". I'm glad we were able to help...she obviously had other issues to deal with other than trying to figure out where her stroller is and possibly having to buy a new one (those things ain't cheap). It was a little adventure. Yes, that's sad that that's the type of adventures I have these days.

So, on to the ESL tutoring. I've become a tutor for a local Literacy Council chapter. I went to two all day Saturday trainings and have been assigned two South Korean students (adults). Our first session was a little awkward because I've never done this before and we had to be sorta out there in the library because the private tutor rooms were booked. We actually went down to the children's section where it was a little quieter surprisingly. Except for the little girls at the next mini-table smiling in our direction (probably because they knew we were doing something strange--me reciting some simple words/sentences and the students speaking back), there was no problem. I didn't have much time to prepare for that first lesson, so I looked forward to having a whole week the next time. Today went soooooo much better. I've booked tutor rooms for all our lessons so it was a lot easier. We had a good time. The time went by so far (just an hour). We spent the last 5 minutes with one of the students trying to say something to me that I just could not understand. Typically I have no problem with understanding them (they can communicate well enough to function). Ultimately, I finally figured out that she was basically trying to say time flies when you're having fun and we all laughed :) We meet twice a week, so I'll have to really prepare for this coming Thursday. It's a lot of work (for now), but I really enjoyed today and I hope I continue to enjoy it.

Off With Her Head

2008-04-20T21:30:00.004-04:00

Wow, almost 3 months have gone by and I haven't posted a thing. No, I'm not pregnant again :) which is what happened the last time I went this long without posting. I think some of it has to do with that my craziness at work finally died down and I was probably sick of staring at a computer screen more than I had to. That and, I just go through periods of anti-technology. Or really, anti-computer (no more than I absolutely have to for checking my email, ordering groceries, paying bills, that sort of thing). I guess I'm over it now. That, and I've been seeing the 60 some notifications go by in my other email address connected to my facebook, myspace, etc page that there are things going on that need my attention before people think I'm ignoring them. Oh well, better late than never. And its easier with technology. You don't write to someone over snail mail and you might never talk to them again. With this, I can just jump right back on the carousel, which never stopped spinning just because I wasn't on it.

There were several things that I have wanted to blog about. I'll have to either try to remember them or come up with new things. I'll have to do something if there is to be any chance of regaining or obtaining readership (though I don't think it was that robust in the first place). Unfortunately, my life has become somewhat less interesting since having a baby. He just turned 1 year old. I can't believe it. There was no hoopla about it (partly because he was sick). But that's okay, he wouldn't know what was going on anyway.

Well, off to catch up on other stuff...

Viva Obama No More

2008-01-27T13:11:00.000-05:00

So, I'm kinda disappointed. Up until now, I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the presidential race activities. I know that I will vote Democrat. In general, I agree with the overall agenda to further "social causes" regardless of how difficult or unrealistic that may be. I feel it is the right thing to do. Therefore, I will always vote Democrat. However, the specific candidate to endorse? That's a whole other question. Since, I am not tyring to research the hell out of each of their websites or constantly watch television trying to figure out what the differences are in their campaigns, I instead turned to the Washington Post. I took a little quiz on there (well, not little, it was quite robust). It was called Choose Your Candidate. I thought it was pretty comprehensive...many issues covered where you choose which stance you agree with most. The expanded views could be quite long and it took me at least an hour to do the whole thing. I think it defaults to hide the person you are agreeing with. So, as I went along, I could see that I clearly supported one candidate's stance over the other two (between Obama, Hillary, and John Edwards). Isn't it nice that Hillary is on a first name basis with the country? Anyway, I thought for sure that my choices were leading me to agree with Hillary more. I thought this because one of the stances I thought for sure was hers. I was all set to abandon my leaning towards Obama in favor of Hillary. But, low and behold, all along the stance I was choosing over the other two belonged to John Edwards!!! I was shocked and dismayed. Why? Because I don't like John Edwards. Not really for any good reason, he just gives me a bad vibe. I've been told otherwise, that he is really nice, etc. But, whatever, I feel what I feel. Also, I feel like he is really politician-y and I'm sick of hearing about his childhood. And I'm pissed about how the 2004 Democratic campaign went (they thought they could win the country over with intelligence). But, now what am I gonna do? Assuming the Washington Post did good research and didn't put out a bogus quiz thingy, I'm all for John Edwards. I can't deny it. I'm not sure I have the energy to further pursue the issue. But, I certainly will be paying a lot more attention to what John Edwards says. It's just unfortunate that he probably won't win the candidacy. He's like the third wheel right now. And just when I was starting to like him...

Vile Viral Video

2008-01-09T23:23:00.000-05:00

Okay, so you know how my profile over to the right says I like to jump on the various bandwagons of society and life. Well, I fully did just that tonight. And I wish I hadn't. While watching an episode of Best Week Ever, they alluded to some disgusting video circulating the Internet and how videos of the reactions to the video were getting more circulation than the video itself. Now, we're super behind on what's going on in the world and I have steered clear of youtube for the most part partly because I don't have time to get caught up in videos. Anyway, of course, Ted and I immediately go to the computer to see if we can find it on youtube. Not difficult to find, of course. We watched a few reactions, which are indeed funny. But, why? Why is it funny to watch other people almost throw up? I just have to say that the actual video is truly the most disgusting thing I've ever seen and I didn't even watch the whole thing. I couldn't. I had to leave the room and even put my hands over my ears and yelled lalalalala until it was over so I wouldn't have to hear the music in the video reminding me of what was going on (there were no sound effects, just music). I honestly didn't know how I would react, but I didn't think it would be all that bad. In general I have an okay stomach strength, if you will. But, this...was unspeakable. And the phenomenon of how this video and the reactions spread across America, and even the world, is evidence of the true sickness of pop culture. I am ashamed to call myself apart of it. But, I guess it makes life fun. For the few people who may be reading this, I am not going to link to the video. If you are dying to be grossed out beyond anything you have ever in your life experienced (at least probably 95% of people are), I'm sure you could find it. And that's all I have to say on the matter.

New Year's Resolution

2008-01-06T23:36:00.001-05:00

I started this post on Dec. 28th. I thought I'd get ahead of the game. Be able to post it before new year or on New Year's Day. But, alas, it didn't happen. And here I am on the 6th of January posting it. Anyway, it has lost some of its luster or associated excitement, but I'm posting it anyway with my ending added. Happy New Year!

So, I've never really taken new year's resolutions seriously. And even if I sorta made one, I was like 95% making it. This time, I have one that I really want to do. Not necessarily because it is the new year. But, because it is the right time for me and it happens to coincide with the new year. I was very recently reacquainted with a school of thought / philosophy that I had been interested in. As I take up this thinking once again, I plan to be positive in the new year. Not that I will always be successful, but I will at least make a distinct effort to be consciously aware of my thoughts, feelings, and actions. Hopefully this will lead to good things in my life and will spill over as a positive effect on those I come in contact with on a daily basis.

Good Medicine

2007-12-28T02:08:00.000-05:00

Have a laugh...

Merry Christmas, if you care

2007-12-25T21:32:00.000-05:00

And happy holidays all around. Or happy no holiday if you don't celebrate anything. What a month it has been! And I just got home from a visit to my parents house. The whole family came to spend Christmas together. And it was Mitch's first Christmas! He absolutely loved the wrapping paper on his presents. It was difficult to get it away from him. We played lots of games and stayed up really late. This always happens, but makes it difficult to get up the next day. I must say that Catchphrase is pretty dang fun. We've played it before, but I don't remember it being this fun. We were so loud at some points we couldn't even hear the buzzer going off, which of course caused more commotion about whether the buzzer went off or not and when.

I had something interesting to blog about, but I can't remember it. Well, to address an earlier thing I mentioned, I'll just say that the world is definitely moving forward as I saw an iPod vending machine in Nordstrom's a couple of weeks ago. Now, I don't shop in department stores really or the mall, so I would have missed it, had I not been passing through on the way to pick up something at the Sharper Image. It was a huge monstrosity of a vending machine. It was all lit up inside and had all the iPods and accessories. At first I thought it would just have some Shuffles or Nanos. No...it had everything from those to full blown video iPods and even iPhones. It had this nifty touch screen ordering thingy, too. I was amazed. Later in another part of the store, or another store on another trip (I can't remember), there was an Xbox 360 there to play, and I assume to buy. This is very random because it wasn't like it was near electronics or anything in the department store, which doesn't have much in the way of electronics anyway. It was just randomly by some clothes. They really get your attention, though.

I'm looking forward to a productive, yet not insane 2008. Which means I'm not really looking forward to it for the most part. I guess the highlight will be the new things Mitch will be able to do. He still can't crawl or talk, but he's almost there on both fronts. Though, the latter will be a very slow progression. But, he does new things all the time, so maybe in a week he'll be able to say Happy New Years! :) Or not, maybe just dada on command (and not as two syllables that sould like da and da).

Wintry Mix of Crap

2007-12-06T20:04:00.001-05:00

Okay, complaint time. Wouldn't you complain if yellow water was raining from your kitchen ceiling? Wednesday evening (the same day that it snowed for the first time this season and made everyone in the area drive like idiots), I came home to water raining from my kitchen ceiling, onto all the stuff on the counters, and soaking into the carpet at the entryway to the kitchen. The toilet upstairs randomly overflowed (luckily nothing nasty) and had been dumping water onto the floor up there, which subsequently came through the kitchen ceiling, for who knows how long. Some of the bedroom carpet is also soaked. I've been dealing with it, making phone calls, waiting for phone calls, doing work from home in between, and trying to help my husband who is ill, all day today. It's been wonderful. A real treat. We'll probably have to get the whole ceiling replaced, and maybe part of the surrounding walls, bleach everything, including all the baby bottles and accessories that were on the kitchen counter, move stuff from the living room and kitchen into other rooms in order to take care of the water damage even though there is no room to do such a thing in this tiny townhouse, pay $1000 deductible for our homeowners insurance (after that the damage is covered), and hope that we don't have a major plumbing problem (fixing pipes/the cause of the problem is not covered)...the list goes on. Well, that's all I have to say...there are a couple of things I wanted to blog about, but they have been superseded. Maybe in a few days I'll mention the following when things aren't crazy around here: iPod vending machine and Morse code.

Where Art Thou, Thanksgiving?

2007-11-20T00:50:00.001-05:00

So, I've never been overly into Thanksgiving. Though, I always like when it comes around because I can enjoy it and appreciate it without feeling like some kind of fraud like with religious holidays. Though, I usually think at least once each year about how Native Americans were thanked for their kindness with slaughter. But, I digress. I know people say this every year, but Christmastime seems to come along earlier every year. But, this year, it really did come earlier!! WASH FM, the soft rock/adult contemporary radio station I listen to sometimes always plays Christmas/holiday music starting the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas. But, when I turned on the radio today, I was astounded to hear something strange...a song from The Grinch or something. I thought maybe it was a fluke (a wierd fluke), but I was later validated by what sounded like a Michael Bolton holiday song. What?? It's not even Thanksgiving yet. What happened to Thanksgiving? It's like no one cares anymore. There are day after Thanksgiving sales, but that doesn't count. The food tends to be the same at Thanksgiving and Christmas, which works for me since its usually yummy. And its family time. When your family is scattered throughout the country, it's nice to have a reason to get together, even if its just the once for the holiday, even though we all know we shouldn't wait until a holiday to see our family if we can help it. But, once is better than none. Maybe I missed the memo, but I still like Thanksgiving, even if it is just a precursor to Christmas.

Inappropriate

2007-11-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

So, I've been meaning to blog about the reality show Kid Nation for a while now. I haven't seen it. And I don't plan on seeing it. Perhaps I'm judging too quickly without the facts. Call me uptight or whatever. But, I think it's totally inappropriate to put young children in a reality show situation, and then on top of it, a survival situation. I know the producers probably played it up, but the one bit I saw was on Best Week Ever (and they certainly play things up) where this one child basically had a mini-breakdown. I would not be able to watch this show!! Yes, it's funny when the little drama queen, debutant girl pitches a fit about doing chores...but, I'm not sure this should be used as fodder for the American adult's sick sense of humor and obviously colossal appetite for drama. When is it going to end??!! I mean, I watch reality shows...I have a few favorites and I'm not proud of it :) But, they involve adults! People who, hopefully, can mentally handle whatever it is they've gotten themselves into.

Anyway, the reason why I finally posted my above thoughts is because I came across something else inappropriate yesterday. There is a catalog called What on Earth. I'm not even going to link to it, but one could find it on their own I suppose. I must say that I'm totally going to look through it for fun gifts to give people. But, the one on the cover struck me as so inappropriate. It's a Hillary Clinton nutcracker. And guess where the nuts are cracked? Between her thighs. The website actually says "Hillary the Thighmistress has rock-solid stainless steel thighs for getting the job done". The thighmistress!! Perhaps there is a double standard at work here, but how is that okay? The sexual and gender connotations are endless.

Cna yuo raed tihs?

2007-11-08T23:07:00.000-05:00

So, all I can come up with for now after not posting for a little while is a bit of intellectualness:

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh?

McFunny

2007-10-23T19:47:00.000-04:00

So, I was at the McDonald's website today. Why, you ask? Well, I've become a little obsessed with their nteenth round of Monopoly lately. It all started with a radio commercial. I never used to eat McDonald's. I stayed away from it after I worked there one summer about 10 years ago, not because I worked there, but because I don't really like the food (with the exception of the fries)...the food never seems fresh (at least Wendy's seems fresh even if it isn't). Anyway, I heard on the radio several months ago that McDonald's was now serving sweet tea for a buck. Well, it was a really hot day, and I was right near it because it's near the daycare. So, on that whim, I rolled up and bought my $1 sweet tea. It comes in a large cup and it is soooooo good. Ever since, I've been getting it a lot. And from other places, too (Wendy's has it now). It then blossomed into getting a little breakfast food and after all the Monopoly sticker thingys I've gotten, we're now going slightly out of our way to get more.

So, I'm looking at the menu online to see what I want. Well, let me just say that there must be a 21 year old running that place. The website is very new and hip looking. There's all these sound effects and what not. And even podcasts. Are you kidding? Who wants to listen to a McDonald's podcast? But, anyway, the best part of the website I've seen so far is when you go to check out what's on the dollar menu. The scene on the page is a hippie looking dude sitting in a room with stuff all over. First, he introduces you to the page. You can mouse over the stuff to see more as well as look at the menu. But, all the while, he's talking...random, "I'm a loser" sounding stuff, like wondering aloud what he should do that weekend (for example, stock up on carpet samples for his place). He just goes on and on. Funny stuff.

Open Mouths Closed

2007-10-18T21:50:00.001-04:00

So, apparently we're in the "I should have kept my mouth shut" days right now.

First, today I hear about President Bush scaring everybody by saying that if people don't get on Iran's case more, we could be inviting World War III. Dude, lay off it and prepare to exit office. You're not helping right now.

Then, I hear about this renowned scientist who busted out some super racist, unfounded and just plain idiotic remarks...and then somehow was baffled by his own remarks. What?? Reminds me of Don Imus and the nappy headed hoes. Reminds me of Michael Richards and his comedy club rant. I love that people say things that are messed up and then agree they were completely untrue and wrong. I find that sad. I guess I'm not really trying to judge. Because I've said things that I had to think about first, but then after saying it realized I really didn't come to the right decision and should not have said it. But, I don't think its been anything egregious. And it just seems to be happening a lot lately and I'm annoyed by it. Just when you think we've progressed as a society, someone mucks it up and reminds us that we have a long way to go.

And we have so many priorities backwards, too. It's random, but I was just discussing Britney Spears with someone and how she's become so utterly ridiculous that its almost like its fiction. You're gonna tell me that a loving gay couple has to jump through all sorts of hoops to adopt and take care of a child that has been orphaned, but Britney Spears doesn't have to do anything to become a mother and screw it all up? As my friend would say, people should be required to take a test before having children. End rant.

Totally Totally

2007-10-05T19:30:00.000-04:00

So, I said "totally" like 3 times in my last post. While I may be in danger of people stumbling across this blog and thinking I'm a shallow valley girl, I know that I am not one at heart :) When I turn off my formal writing, I really turn it off.

On a side note, I just heard about Body Worlds (The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies) today. All I can say is "ew", yet it is very interesting. Though, I'm not sure how I feel about looking at flayed open people in person. They're coming back to Baltimore next year in February. Should I attempt to see it? Probably not. Do I want to see it? Totally.

Hoes and Toes

2007-10-04T13:49:00.000-04:00

So, there was this nappy-headed ho driving along...

Just kidding. I'm not Don Imus. And the woman wasn't even African American. And how do you spell that ho anyway? Ho or still hoe? Anyway, my mom and I totally witnessed a guy and his bike pretty much get run over by a car yesterday. The woman driving didn't seem to see him as she made her left turn. And he didn't seem to realize she was going so he proceeded to cross in front of her kind of. Once the car made contact with him, you could tell he was trying to stop, but couldn't because the car was kind of taking him along with it. He eventually fell to the ground with the bike and I swear the car totally ran over his legs. My mom said she just ran over the bike, but it really looked to me like he was run over himself. Well, she stopped in the middle of the road, got out and went over to him. He had gotten up almost immediately and took his bike to the sidewalk. His legs seemed fine. I didn't even really detect a limp. Is it possible that getting your legs run over by a car might not fracture or break them?? If not, I guess it was just his bike that got ran over. We were the first car in line to turn right at the spot where she was turning left, so we saw it up close. As we went to make the turn, I rolled down the window and asked if they needed help. I don't think he understood what I said as he might not have understood English well. The woman talking to him in Spanish stopped and said he was okay. Normally, I might not have just taken her word for it, but the guy was standing over the front wheel of his bike and moving the handle bars as if he were trying to bend the bike back into shape. I guess if he had been hurt, he wouldn't be worried so much about the bike. So, we moved on. But, it was crazy.

Now, onto toes. I totally had an ingrown toenail. I know, gross, right? It was sooooo painful. I couldn't dance at my company party last weekend :( Well, I say "had" because I just had the ingrown part removed. Ew, it was bigger than I thought it would be and I can't believe it was all under the skin. Well, there's not much else to tell, but I can't get my toe wet until Saturday, so I'm not sure if I should attempt to take a shower without getting it wet, or bum it out tomorrow and work from home without showering. Wonderful options.

My World of Greatness

2007-09-27T22:47:00.000-04:00

So, I got this really strange message on Reunion.com. I have a profile there for semi-keeping in touch with old classmates like classmates.com. I don't really keep up with this one, but I noticed in one of the billion update emails their system sends me that I had a message from someone. Regardless of the fact that the English is most likely not this person's first language, it is just weird...

hi sweetie GOD is amazingly great that some people were specially created and were blessed with are character, beauty and physique. And with all the profile i have seen and read in my entire whole life, this is the most fascinating and captivating. So such people that are specially made by God are still here and you are the best of all of them....I am cherry,single and searching for true love...i like your profile and i wanna be your friend so as to explore your world of greatness...you can add me on my yahoo i.d.....[email here] ......you can also send me yours so that i can add you.... God bless you an you give me this opportunity....Thanks.cherry.

What the hell is that? Their profile in the system has two pictures of a dude. But, not the same dude! Very weird. I can only imagine that if you email them, you get spammed or something. Otherwise, I'm glad someone thinks I am a world of greatness.

Ode to Spot

2007-09-23T14:50:00.000-04:00

So, I thought I would share a little bit of Star Trek Humor. From The Next Generation show, to be exact. I am not really a Trekkie, per se, but I certainly love Star Trek. I've been watching re-runs. I, in fact, have at least 50 Voyager re-runs on my computer that's I've been hoarding thanks to TiVo (again, love technology). I recently came upon a TNG episode where Data has taken up writing poetry. It of course is a miserable, yet hilarious failure due to his lack of emotion. I find it very funny, though others may not. It is interesting that all of the Star Trek installments have found humor in the characters that exihibit little to no emotion. Data being one of the ones that provides the most humor. Warf being my next favorite. Anyway, here is Data's poem about his cat, Spot. Very cleverly written in classic Data fashion.

Ode to Spot

Felis Cattus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
a singular development of cat communications
that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
for a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,
it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.
O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

Ayo Technology

2007-09-23T12:38:00.000-04:00

I love technology. The new thing for this round of fall TV is Pilot previews prior to them actually airing. We watched the pilot for Bionic Woman, Journeyman, and The Big Bang Theory through our TiVo. I wish all new shows on all networks did this so we can weed them out before watching on regular TV. The Bionic Woman was cool enough. I'm not extremely pressed to watch it, but I'm definitely interested. I like the leading lady more than I thought I would. As for Journeyman...pure bombness. I loved the pilot and I can't wait to see where it goes. It's like a nuevo Quantum Leap and now I know that I must make it a point to catch it even if it conflicts with another show on another network. The Big Bang Theory, while a sitcom (and I don't tend to watch sitcoms anymore) was quite funny. The problem for me with sitcoms is that they are usually good, but lack the substance I would prefer. So I prefer dramas (usually scifi related)...the 1 hour shows that I've come to love. But, I could possibly make room for this one.

My Husband's Dream

2007-09-15T16:48:00.001-04:00

Your baby's bound to be an Athlete

What's Your Baby's Claim to Fame?

Brought to you by Tickle

A Month in the Life...

2007-09-09T18:28:00.000-04:00

"Oh man I was gonna post something today."
"Oooh I really want to blog about that."

Those are just a couple of the lines that have gone through my head in the last month. Well, here I am. Better late than never. Life is grand, but also hectic...especially with an infant. Mitch will be 5 months old next week. Amazing. He's soooo big. Right before we were about to go shopping at Target for some bigger clothes, we decided to check the "too big" stuff we already had at home...and ended up shopping at home :) Almost everything we had will now fit him or will soon. We're ridiculous for almost buying more clothes. Anyway, I have been saving up blog topics, and in fact jotted them down (okay, typed into my Treo) so here they are. Now that I think about it, they aren't that interesting. But, they make up the general contents of my life in the last month.

The first thing is a hilarious situation my new little family found itself in several weeks ago. Ted was holding the baby in the sling we have (fabric thing that slings around you kinda like a messenger bag, but the baby is the bag and is in the front) and we heard a very unpleasant "bathroom" sound. We decided to delude ourselves for a little while and say that it was just sound and no substance. Bad idea. It was all substance. As we realized after bringing the baby upstairs, it was essentially liquid poop. I won't go into too much more detail, but suffice it to say, he was absolutely covered to the point where we had to cut off his clothing. Yes, we cut the clothing off of the child. Ted had to cover his nose with his shirt while I used umpteen wipes to clean the baby. We then gave him a bath. It was gross, but hilarious. The baby didn't really think so, though. He cried the whole time.

We also went to visit my parents at the beach...twice. The first weekend was ruined (in my, new mom, obsessed with documenting my first child, eyes) because we forgot half of his cute little outfit that I wanted to capture on video. Hey, the kid needed a hat to protect from the sun, too! Without it, disaster :) So, I got over it and it was still fun because I got to see my older sister and she got to see Mitch, but we came back the next weekend, outfit in tow. It was fun and I got to see my little sister this time. We took video and pictures and all was well. Disaster averted.

Now on to more somber news. I'm pissed because I got my period back. That's ideally not supposed to happen as long as you're nursing, but it does happen. And it did. And to top it off, it started the very day that I gloated to my coworkers at lunch that I didn't have it. Oh well, a few months of bliss is better than none.

Last but not least, I wanted to mention Michael Vick and the dogfighting charges he's come upon. Well, I had a whole rant or something, but the story has lost its appeal to me at this point, so I'll spare any readers my point of view. Let's just say that I'm glad Michael Vick hasn't been a total ignorant ass about being caught doing something horrible and I hope the situation has informed other people who are truly ignorant of this crime.

And, sorta like evolver, let's see if I can keep up with my blogging :)

For the Love of Movies

2007-08-07T15:46:00.000-04:00

So, what was great about the 90's? 1993 in particular? Well, don't think too hard because I'm not going to tell you what I think was. But, what I can say is one thing that was not great. The movie Doppelganger. It's no secret that I'm a scifi nut. So, when the TiVo suggested this movie, we thought it might be decent. It's about, surprise...a doppelganger, or supposed one anyway. And it had Drew Barrymore in it. Interesting on the surface, yeah? Well, it was horrible. It was the worst movie ever. It was so badly done...the direction sucked (which I totally pay attention to more now because of watching On the Lot on TV), there were so many holes in the story and just a problem with the continuity of the movie in general. The acting was also very lacking, especially in Drew's case, which is unfortunate, because she's pretty cool. Though this was obviously prior to her comeback. There was even a part in the movie where I thought it was a joke. I literally thought they were being facetious, but were really being serious. That scene was like watching a skit put on by children.

Anyway, I've been really busy and decided that when I found time to blog, I would write about that ridiculous movie. We've been watching more movies in general since the Amazon Unbox service started up with TiVo access. They have specials every weekend where you can rent a movie for 99 cents! It goes right to our TiVo and we can keep it for 30 days. This past weekend, we watched The Holiday with Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Jude Law, and Cameron Diaz. It was good, but there wasn't enough Kate and Jack. Too much Jude and Cameron. Though I do like me some Jude. Jack Black's character was sweet but funny in a Jack Black way. I love him. I wonder if that's how he is in real life.

I also saw the new Harry Potter film with Phillip. Hubby saw it the day before :) Gotta love scheduling around the baby. The movie was good, but not as good as the previous ones. I found it difficult to connect with anyone and it seemed like they were trying to squeeze too much stuff into the movie which made it seem to lack real substance. Oh well, had to happen sometime. Though I was convinced each one would be awesome. I also read the first Harry Potter book. Well, I have a little more left, but I read more than 3/4 of it in a day. Like I expected, it was simple...a little excruciating for me, but a fun story. I'm not sure I'll continue...I don't have tons of time. I'd rather spend reading time reading Stephen King :) I just finished the Dark Tower series finally. What an ending!! Wow.

The Idiot and the Wizard

2007-07-19T17:38:00.000-04:00

That sounds like a book title...sort of. Anyway, it's my dumb way of introducing two stories I came upon today. The first is about the last Harry Potter book coming out soon. I haven't said anything about it until now because, frankly, I don't care that much. I haven't read them. I've seen the movies and I absolutely love them. It's the only movie series I can think of that has had 4 great movies (and will probably have more great ones). Alien is the only movie I can think of that has three more to go with it, but they weren't each completely awesome. Anyway, I have read a little of the first book. It didn't impress me. I think my mind is too narrow when it comes to books. I pretty much read Stephen King. Everything else fiction is compared to that...and it's hard to top him. I know that's not fair to compare everything to him...and in some cases it is completely apples and oranges, but that's my dumb mind. I also need complicated writing to read...helps keep my brain sharp as a needle!

As for the article that I saw today, it was about how copies of the book have popped up early in stores and been sent to customers who bought it online. That's funny, I thought the book wasn't released yet. Oh, I see...consumerism kicked in and mean retailers let it get out anyway :) And then someone did a review on the book. They didn't reveal the most deep of secrets in the book, but they did reveal some stuff. Lame. True fans may not care that much and will not be deterred, but it still kinda sucks.

The other article was just a funny little thing about an idiot who called 911 to help him because he was surrounded by police. The police didn't actually do anything to him...he was just a drunk idiot. Lotsa those running around I reckon.

Human Failure

2007-07-12T21:20:00.000-04:00

What is the world coming to? What in the hell is wrong with people? Tonight, I have heard about two extremely disturbing things. I almost hesitate to mention them because they are ridiculous to me and a real downer. Feel free not to read if you are in a good mood. I was listening to the radio and the DJs on WPGC were discussing these items and taking emotional calls from listeners. I had to get out of the car at the time, but I looked up the two stories online. I almost wish I hadn't.

The first one is completely unconscionable. It is about a young woman in Wichita, Kansas who lay bleeding on the floor of a convenience store while patrons stepped over her. No one did anything for 2 minutes. She struggled there, while at least five people did nothing. And the really disgusting part: someone had the nerve to snap a photo of the dying woman with her cell phone. I literally feel sick thinking about this story. There's an accompanying video that goes into some detail. It's unfathomable to me. A psychologist says it may have been because of group think. Group think my ass you ridiculous, ignorant people. It is alarmingly sad how weak people can be psychologically. I'm not saying I am not susceptible to errors in judgement due to psychological factors. But, give me a freaking break people. Absolutely disgusting. But, it may have also been a "street code" thing. One of the listeners called into the radio station I heard this on and ranted on and on about how there's a code of the street and you don't snitch and go telling about stuff like that. Ugh. I don't claim to know one damn thing about the street, being street, or surviving on the street, but ugh is all I can say. Oh, and the woman died. The 2 minutes of idiocy may have saved her life. They know what happened because of store surveillance footage. I hope they track down those people and do something...anything to punish them. If this situation doesn't fall under some failure to render aid law, it should.

The second story is on par with the first. But, I suppose a little more believable in that it happened in a supposedly dangerous housing project where violence is common, and therefore neighborly response is expected to be lower. In West Palm Beach, Florida (a few miles away from the rich folk), a mother and son were brutally beaten and raped by teenagers. This went on for 3 hours. As if receiving this torturous treatment from assailants isn't bad enough, the mother was forced to perform oral sex on the son. Absolutely unbelievable to me that no one did anything in response to the screaming. One stupid little call to 911 would have done it, but you know..."snitches get stitches" as the article mentions. A resident actually said to a reporter "So a lady was raped. Big deal" "There's too much other crime happening here." That is sad. And no one will be punished for failure to render aid here as it was just another occurrence behind closed doors. I could never live in a place where rape is considered getting off easy and I have to fear for my life because of trying to save someone else's.

But, I have that choice, don't I...What's dreadful is that these things happen all the time and have always been happening. Yet, the world still turns. I live my happy little life with my great job, health care, my Palm Treo and my TiVo, my silly little complaints, and the choice of living where not cutting your grass or painting your door the wrong color is a big deal, while millions of people live in abominable conditions, suffer miserable existences, and cannot trust their fellow man when the chips are down.

Hot Bangin' Super Sexy

2007-07-10T18:59:00.000-04:00

So, on the way to pick up my hubby from the metro, there's this hold up in the road. I quickly see that the hold up is being caused by a person. A man...a scraggly looking man...a very scraggly drunk looking man who is moseying across the street as if there aren't like 10 cars on either side. He finally gets out of the way and proceeds to pull his pants down as he continues to walk to the bus stop area. His underwear looked at least a month old and had a lovely shade of brown running down the middle. Definitely not hot, bangin', or super sexy (the name of a new song I heard on the radio today).

Then, as we pull up to the house, I notice something near the communal trash can...plastic...plastic in the shape of a torso...plastic in the shape of a female torso with boobs and everything laying on the ground. It's just the front half, like you could place it on the front of yourself like a body-fitting shield. It's probably packaging for something...but what? Do I really want to know? Honestly, the first thing that came to my mind was that it belonged to someone who wanted to be hot bangin' super sexy. Ew. Ideas are welcome on what it is...

As a side note...why doesn't blogger have an underline button in the post creation area? I know how to do it with html, but why isn't there a button like for bold and italics? I actually have two other suggestions for blogger now that I think about it: don't make me log in when posting comments to my own blog. And it would be great if I didn't have to do the verification thingy either. And don't alert me via email when I post a comment to my own blog. I know I just posted one.

Hot, Hot, Hot

2007-07-09T21:59:00.000-04:00

I'm officially complaining. It is toooooooooooo hot. 100 degrees today. That is not acceptable to me. 100 degrees! I hate hot weather. I like warm weather. It is never a nice day to me when it is really hot, I don't care how sunny it is. I had to gallavant around town today, all the while baking my baby, because he needed to see the pediatrician and then I had to get medicine from the pharmacy. We weren't out all that long I suppose, but it felt like forever. I'm starting to think that Seattle is really the best place to live. It supposedly never gets too cold or too hot...and there are no earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes. I could probably get used to the rain, but my hair wouldn't like it much. I guess I could just get braids...then I'd be set. But, it's soooooo far away from here. Not that I know all that many people, but I've sorta set up shop here and have been here for about 10 years. My parents no longer live in Seattle...just my little sister. But, she may not stay forever. Sigh...I'm probably destined to live in the DC area with it's mid-atlantic weather forever. Until I move.

Happy Belated Independence Day!

2007-07-09T20:34:00.000-04:00

I just kinda noticed that I didn't mention Independence Day in my post on the 4th of July. Perhaps it was because I no longer really pay much attention to many holidays, even the ones that I should because they really mean something. Or maybe it was because I learned in a history class recently that the Declaration of Independence was actually signed on July 2nd. I didn't so much as see a firework (hehe I don't think you can make that word singular, but it's funny to do it). I did hear some, though. I think I'll be more into it in a few years when little Mitch can enjoy it. Or he may just scream because it's scary. Hopefully the former...

As a side note, blogger is pissing me off because it's hit or miss with being able to actually get my cursor in the Title field while typing posts...

And When I Die

2007-07-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

Boy, I'm just bloggin' it up, aren't I. Today is a little different because my baby has a cold :( and he slept a lot today. Anyway, we watched an episode of Medium tonight from the last season (we're so behind) and it had a song in it that really caught my ear. Don't know why...but when I looked up the lyrics, I thought they were great. It's a song called "And When I Die" by Blood, Sweat, & Tears. I totally bought it on iTunes, too. We're talking early 70's here (1969 anyway). The song sounds a little hokey (make note of the yee-haw in the middle of the song), but there's a part in the end (the part that grabbed me on the show) that is slower and sounded very piercing to me...dunno why it struck such a chord with me...maybe because lately, my relatives keep dying. My grandmother died soon after my baby was born. My mom's cousin just died of cancer way too young and randomly within like a month of finding out she had it, and my dad's uncle just died. Getting old sucks. So does cancer. Anyway, here are the lyrics for your reading enjoyment.

********
I'm not scared of dyin',
And I don't really care
If it's peace you find in dyin', well then,
Let the time be near
If it's peace you find in dyin',
And if dyin' time is near
Just bundle up my coffin,
'Cause it's cold way down there,
I hear that it's cold way down there, yeah
Crazy cold way down there

And when I die,
And when I'm gone
There'll be, one child born
In this world to carry on, to carry on

Now troubles are many,
They're as deep as a well
I can swear there ain't no Heaven,
But I pray there ain't no hell
Swear there ain't no Heaven,
And I'll pray there ain't no hell
But I'll never know by livin',
Only my dyin' will tell,
Yes, only my dyin' will tell, yeah
Only my dyin' will tell

And when I die,
And when I'm gone
There'll be, one child born
In this world to carry on, to carry on, yeah yeah

Yee-haw!

Give me my freedom
For as long as I be
All I ask of livin'
Is to have no chains on me
All I ask of livin'
Is to have no chains on me
And all I ask of dyin'
Is to go naturally
Only wanna go naturally
Here I go! hey hey

Here come the devil, right behind
Look out children, here he come,
Here he come, hey

Don't wanna go by the devil
Don't wanna go by the demon
Don't wanna go by Satan
Don't wanna die uneasy
Just let me go naturally

And when I die,
And when I'm dead, dead and gone
There'll be one child born
In our world to carry on, to carry on, yeah yeah

8 Things

2007-07-08T12:33:00.000-04:00

So, I saw this on Phillip's blog, and it was posted semi-recently, so I'm doing it. If anyone still reads my blog after my pregnancy/baby-induced semi-hiatus, perhaps it will provide some semi-entertainment (that semi- didn't belong...I just put it there because I had used it genuinely twice already and figured I'd do it again).

THE RULES
1. All right, here are the rules.
2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
3. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
4. People who are tagged write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
5. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
********
8 things about moi...(I may have already used one or more of these before, but I don't care...)

1. The first habit that I just have to do (call it an OCD tendency if you want): tap on my soda cans with my fingernail prior to opening them in a certain rhythm "tap-tap tap-tap". I've been doing this for over 10 years without fail (I think) since me and a friend devised it in high school (I have no idea why)

2. The second habit that I just have to do (there are 4 total): Say either out loud or if necessary, in my head "and knowing is half the battle" whenever I read, hear, or say myself "Now I know" or "Now you know". Yes, this is from the little semi-"public service announcement" after the GI Joe cartoon and has been done for at least 5 years, definitely more but I'm not certain of how long so I don't want to fabricate...

3. The third habit I just have to do: Do eenie-meenie-minee-moe (how the hell do you spell that) in order to choose which fortune cookie to eat after ordering Chinese food. It always ends in "and you are not it" so I actually do this over and over until only one fortune cookie is left. I have been doing this for 10 years at least, probably more...I think since I was a young child. I usually say it in my head, but point to the different cookies. But I even point at them in my head (with my eyes) while in a group of people (because I would never bust that with people around). It sucks when there are a lot of cookies. I distinctly remember being pissed when I was younger because when my family would eat Chinese out, people would sometimes take one before I got finished (there are 6 people in my family, so that's at least 6 cookies). And I'd have to start all over! Oh, and I have to eat the whole cookie before I can read the fortune...

4. The fourth and final habit: This is a new one, but if I think about something bad happening to my baby...even the slightest little thought, I have to knock on wood. Even if it's not a real knock, just a tap, or a brush, with a finger, hand, or foot. And even if it's a wood derivative! If there's no wood around, chipboard and paper will do.

5. I really like using ellipses when I write, especially e-mails, though I use them way too much and usually go back and edit them out. I don't know why I like them...especially at the end of sentences going into another sentence or phrase.

6. I don't like thinking bad thoughts about people for fear that they or someone around me is psychic.

7. If I say or do something stupid that's hurts someone's feelings, or makes them react a certain way, I remember it and re-live how bad I felt for having said or done it for years...

8. I am lazy and it takes considerable effort not to be...and I don't always succeed (though having a baby has cured this somewhat).
********
So now you know. And yes, knowing is half the battle.

No one to tag really...so if you read this...have at it if you want.

It's All About the Benjamins

2007-07-08T09:11:00.000-04:00

I really thought I was seeing things yesterday on the way home from the store. There are some townhouses and houses being built and they had signs up advertising them. Now, the townhouses said "from $600,000". For this area, that is normal. I would never buy a townhouse for that much personally...it better be a single family house for that much. But, then next to that little development, I saw a sign for some future single family homes that said starting at 1.1 million! Are you kidding me?? That's insane...we live near some richy rich areas, but this is not one of them. Apparently some people would like to make it one. It's all about the Benjamins, spending it and making it. But, seriously, which people around here are going to buy those homes? Maybe I'm out of touch. Very possible since we don't get out that much. Sigh...we plan on buying a nicer home than the starter townhouse that we have now, maybe in 2 or 3 years. But, not at that price. It will most likely be at least $400,000 if we want a single family home. You could get a near-mansion for that much in other places. But, if you live in the DC Metro area, forget it. Man this area sucks.

Ignorance Times Two

2007-07-05T18:17:00.000-04:00

I got to jump start someone's car today. And thank goodness she knew what she was doing, 'cause I had no clue. I mean, I knew in general what happens, but I wouldn't have known in which order to connect the cables, and any other details. In fact, I don't think I had even been under the hood of my car until today. It is fairly new (2005), so I feel like that is somewhat okay. So that was my ignorance for the day.

The second one was on the way home from work after jumping the lady's car and picking up the baby from daycare. There were seriously 3 car accidents/incidents in the road within a 1/2 mile stretch. It was ridiculous. I don't know if the farthest one caused a back up and because of the backup, two more incidents occurred or what, but it was certainly ridiculous. I am convinced it was due to ignorance on some level. As a matter of fact, I have noticed lately that a lot of people drive badly. I have a feeling that these are the people that cause most accidents. But, don't take my word for it, of course...

Never Gone

2007-07-04T19:45:00.000-04:00

Apparently, I am 251 years old. Yup...that's me, born in the good ol' year of 1756. Maybe that's why I wasn't succeeding at keeping up with my blogging. I fixed it, but my blogger profile randomly changed my birth year. Must have happened in the upgrade.

All's well on the home front...just settling back into a normal daily routine now that I'm back at work. I started back a couple of weeks ago and so far so good. The baby started daycare and had no problems. I'm actually quite focused. Hopefully, I'll be back to blogging like usual (usual was about a year ago...). The baby is sleeping through the night now and daycare hasn't completely broken our bank despite how expensive it is, so life is good, and I'm back!!

Mermaid or Manatee?

2007-05-25T06:30:00.000-04:00

So apparently Christopher Columbus had real issues, other than the fact that he completely got lost, incorrectly named an entire people and then slaughtered them. I just read this article that talks about the origins of certain mythical creatures. This is right up my alley being a big scifi nut. I thought the funniest thing was that Columbus apparently thought that he saw mermaids in the ocean. Scientists think that what he really saw were manatees. Now, I've seen a manatee, mind you only on television, but still. They surely do not look like people to me. They look like big gray blobs...overgrown seals or something. Too bad I can't go to the American Museum of Natural History and check out the exhibit they have on this. They superimpose a picture of a mermaid over a picture of a manatee to show how the mistake could have been made. I suppose from afar the mistake could have been made, but I'd have to see this exhibit for myself. Sounds ridiculous to me :)

Belatedness

2007-05-14T13:38:00.000-04:00

Happy belated blog anniversary, Mother's Day to me, and 1 month birthday to Mitchell (the baby)! :) I started this blog 2 years ago this past Saturday and Mitch also turned 1 month old that day. Unfortunately, the blog has sputtered out a little lately, but ya know...see previous good or not so good excuses regarding that. As far as the baby, I didn't know if I'd be someone who would celebrate or acknowledge every single little milestone my baby has, but alas, I care that he is 1 month old. I guess you have to with babies anyway since their age is referred to in months until they are 2 years old. I always thought that was a little ridiculous...come on, a 20 month old? Dude, the baby is 1 years old...1 and 1/2, if you must. But, I'm rambling.

My first Mother's Day was cool. Ted's family came to visit and see the baby. Ted gave me two necklaces engraved with the baby's name. One of them also has his birthstone on it, a diamond. It is actually very interesting that his birthstone is a diamond because I've always had a secret wish to name my first son Diamond (or any son I guess). I know, I know, that would just be begging for him to get teased and beat up every day at school, so I would never do it, but I still like the name for some reason. It was the name of a boy in a book I read in a college English class, about a Native American girl's dramatic childhood...the title was something about a yellow raft...maybe a yellow raft in blue water, or the river or something. Anyway, I don't get the name, but I get the birthstone :)

Mitchell is so big! Probably 10 pounds and something by now. He's fallen into a schedule somewhat...eating every 2 hours or so during the day and every 3 to 5 at night (which is the bomb because if I go to bed around 11pm, he only wakes up once around 2:30am, and then again around 6am which is when I have to get up anyway). I'm certainly more used to taking care of him...diaper changing has become pretty second nature, as is picking him up and holding him and stuff. It's a little difficult to maneuver him when I have my thumb splints on, but I don't always need them and I've started physical therapy for the issue. That's a whole other thing, but basically the tendons that go from my thumb up my arm are screwed after having the baby and using my hands so much...it's called De Quervain's Tenosynovitis or tendonitis or syndrome or disease or something. I have no idea who or what De Quervain is, but I hate him or her or it. Oh well, life goes on.

The Baby is Here!

2007-04-21T16:44:00.000-04:00

The baby has arrived and we've been doing our best to take care of him over the last week on our own. My parents couldn't stay with us as planned, but in a way I'm glad because this way we probably learned faster about what to do (not that we're done learning or anything!).

He is soooooooo cute...lotsa hair. He was 9 pounds 2 ounces! Luckily I didn't have to go through labor :) I was worried he wouldn't fit into his newborn clothes, but he is just fine and is going through them like anything. For now, we do just one load of baby laundry per day. That may change, though. We're doing alright on sleep. Naps are important. Ted, I, and the wall of the baby room have all been peed on. I think only I have been spit up on so far. I've taken a billion pictures and we have some good video, like of his first outing (I had to get my c-section incision checked).

Well, theres so much to say about everything so far, it's hard to decide what to say, so I'll stop now :)

I'm Coming Out

2007-04-12T07:31:00.000-04:00

I can see it now...the baby singing I'm Coming Out as he is removed from his snug little home. Yes, removed. I won't be induced, but will be having a C-section today!!! It turns out that my body is not at all in a state conducive to being successfully induced and the doctor didn't recommend that we even try. I'm cool with that. I can't wait to have my body back under my own control and for things to finally change. Being able to sleep on my back, being able to pee with more than 15 minutes having gone by before the last time, being able to eat yummy food (mmmm, Indian food, brownies, ice cream, fruit, gatorade, pizza...ya know all the things I shouldn't eat either because they're bad for me or have a lot of sugar), being able to walk up the stairs without having to think about all the things I'm bringing up at the same time so I don't have to make the trip again...the list goes on. Oh yeah, I'll have a cute little baby, too :)

Sigh...I can't sleep. I only got about 5 hours and I feel like I got none. I have to go the hospital in 4 hours! And I can't eat so I'm starving.

It's been an interesting experience, and on the whole, not bad. No predictions on plans for another...I'll just stick with this one at the moment :)

This is Camille, signing off for now...

Party all the time

2007-04-07T15:17:00.000-04:00

Okay, I totally slacked off on the blogging and I'm not partying all the time. Time goes by soooo quickly. I'd like to offer the excuse that I don't get into our computer room at home after work because I'm pregnant...so, there you have it. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd have much to blog about anyway, I think my brain has been squished along with my other internal organs. Though I have one thing to mention (in a bit).

But, first, on to me! :) I'm 40 weeks pregnant today. I've been sitting at home, taking it easy, watching tv, reading, not blogging for two weeks waiting. And today is my due date. So...I'm thinking the same thing you are...where the hell is the damn baby?? It's still in my stomach. Okay, not in my stomach (which is squished up into my lung cavity right now), but you get the point. According to my sonogram last week, the baby is already like 8 pounds 10 ounces! That's huge...okay not too huge, but bigger than I would like. Because of my gestational diabetes, the doctors won't let me go past 41 weeks (I guess for normal people they let them go until 42 weeks before inducing labor). So, if I don't go into labor before, I'll be induced on the 12th. That's 6 days!! So, I'll have the baby in 6 days or less, whether I'm ready or not! Of course, for obvious reasons, I really can't vouch for the frequency of blogging at that point, but who knows, perhaps I'll pull a reverse and blog all the time :)

As for current events and interesting stories, I have one. It is disturbing, but I guess not surprising. Race is still a big issue in this country even though we'd like to think it isn't. Is white still preferred over black? See what kids think 50 years from the last time this was asked.

Murder was the case that they gave me

2007-01-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

Omg I'm 30 weeks pregnant. That's, like, 10 weeks away from full term. That's, like, only 2 months. And cut valley girl accent...

So, looks like I do have gestational diabetes. That bites my ass like you wouldn't believe. I have a class Monday to learn all about it and how to draw blood from my finger 4 times a day. Yay.

On a lighter note, heh, I am so pissed that I missed the State of the Union speech. I TiVo'd it, but the recording didn't work or something (even though I watched part of the recording that night so that doesn't make sense). Then the TiVo didn't even work when I recorded the Daily Show with Jon Stewart the next night to at least laugh at what he had to say about it. I only got the Colbert Report, which is fine, but I really wanted Jon's take. Anyway, I'm sure I can find a video of it online, I just would rather chill in bed watching it than at my computer.

On a heavier note, I was surprisingly shocked by this story. Some soldiers murdered some detainees in Iraq because they were ordered to?? How A Few Good Men is that? But, this is worse, at least in the movie the kid died by accident. I obviously don't know the stress and other conditions to which our soldiers are subjected, but goodness that's sad.

On a random note, I think I should title my posts with songs more often. I like that. Lines from songs go through my head constantly anyway.

Current Events

2007-01-21T13:38:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a little while since my last post. Much has happened...Christmas has come and gone. New Year's has come and gone. Welcome 2007. Saddam Hussein was killed. Lotsa soldiers were killed. President Bush seems to have taken responsibility (verbally, at least) for the failures in the war in Iraq, though he seems dead set on circumventing the age-old checks and balances system. The list goes on, but I can't think of anything else right now.

Pregnancy is moving along nicely. Nothing much to worry about. My glucose screening test was high so I have to do a 3-hour tolerance test next week where I have to get my blood drawn 3 times in 3 hours. I'm not looking forward to that. Hopefully I don't have gestational diabetes or that will suck having to super duper watch what I eat and prick my finger throughout the day and all that. In the meanwhile, I am basically attacked from the inside throughout the day. Luckily the kicks that make me jump and yelp have only occurred at home. Not painful, just startling sometimes :) I'll have a trove of stretch marks to remember everything by later. We'll be taking some classes soon on birth and infant care. I'm looking forward those.

My last comment is on a movie we watched last night: Lady in the Water. We missed it in the theatre. It was definitely good. I loved it...very clever and unique. Honestly, if I hear one more film critic completely smash M. Night Shyamalan's movies, I'm going to go crazy. Grow and imagination or shut up. It's fictional and fun. It doesn't have to follow so-called rules and if you aren't into scifi or fantasy or anything attempting to be different, go criticize something else. Granted, I'm totally biased because I love scifi and fantasy, but geeze people really seem to pan his stuff and I don't know why.

Pausing Paradox

2006-12-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

Ya know, I just realized that while this blog is supposed to be "a pause from the pandemonium of life", I frequently talk about the pandemonium of life. I'm going to have to do something about that...by perhaps changing the slogan...maybe a pause from the pandemonium of my life would be better, referring to me stopping to comment on things. Of course, that would require that I stop a little more...pause a little more, if you will.

I'm going to have to think more on this...

Can't afford them, kill them!

2006-12-10T13:21:00.000-05:00

So, this is a late post. But, I sent the article to myself so I wouldn't forget. I need to do that more often because I frequently see things throughout the day that I want to mention here, but I'm so busy that I forget.

Anyway, the article I originally saw on Yahoo! isn't there, but I found it still up elsewhere. It's about these rare lions that were poisoned in an Ethiopian zoo because the zoo couldn't afford to keep them. Apparently, this is normal practice for that zoo. According to this article, the zoo administrator actually said "We can send them to the forest and to some governmental palaces but most of the time we send them to the taxidermists".

I obviously do not know about, understand, or even fathom the lives of people in other countries not like the US because the US is so freakin' cut off from everyone else, but I find this practice really sad. Especially because I know there are so many organizations that would probably be willing to take in these lions rather than see them poisoned and sold. I watch a lot of animal shows on television, so I know this to be true. 'Cause ya know, television tells you everything you need to know about the world :) Oh well, its the best I can do...

Turkey and Spam

2006-11-27T11:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to anyone reading this who cares about the American version of this holiday. I spent time doing a lot of nothing at my parents' house with family. We saw the movie:

Deja Vu, which was very cool. Though, it wasn't really about deja vu per se. (Am I allowed to put that many foreign words in a sentence?) Anyway, I deemed it good. Nothing mind-blowing, but a nice and satisfying, fun movie.

When I came into work this morning, I noticed that the email spammers have gotten more clever. Instead of just strange combinations of words in the subject line (though there was one: incredulity presidency), there are now sentences and portions of literature:

One subject line: There are some small things you need to pay attention to when creating this: namely you have to follow the Google xml schema, and you have to be diligent about tracking and fixing errors in the code.

Another subject line: With the Surprise badly damaged and much of his crew injured, Aubrey is torn between duty and friendship as he pursues a high-stakes chase across two oceans, to intercept and capture his foe.

Then in the text of the email, surrounding some stock quote information is a whole bunch of text from a conglomeration of other stories (two of which being a couple of lines of what may be the screenplay for The Matrix and one of the Lord of the Rings books).

I really look forward to these emails, to break up the day I suppose.

It's a boy! (in like 4 months)

2006-11-21T17:20:00.000-05:00

Yeeessssssssss!! I will not have to hear "I love you more than bunnies!" come from any freaky doll's mouth in the near future! Because I'm having a boy :) I wanted a boy, so that's cool. And Ted is glad he won't have to do anyone's hair. Should be interesting...

It's Movie Time!

2006-11-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

Lately, Ted and I have been watching a lot of movies. We're trying to keep up with things. He is especially a movie buff so our previous lack of movie watching was getting to him. So, what have we seen lately?

The Departed - non-Mafia gangsters duking it out, something I would never allow my children to watch (I find myself thinking more those terms now :) and Leonardo DiCaprio's hotness; deemed awesome

The Guardian - rescue divers and the ocean duking it out, was typical but enjoyable. Oh, and Ashton Kutcher's hotness; deemed okay

The Prestige - European magicians duking it out, especially due to Christian Bale's hotness and Hugh Jackman's close to hotness; deemed awesome

A Sound of Thunder - people and evolved dinosaurs in a messed up future duking it out, a scifi film that has solved a 15 year puzzle for me! When I was in like 8th grade, I read a short story about people who went back in time to hunt dinosaurs and if they did anything off this path, they could change the future (which someone of course does). Anyway, I always wondered what this story was...well, Ted picks up this random straight to dvd movie in Blockbuster that is about that very thing. It is in fact the movie version of the short story (by Ray Bradbury) that I had been searching for for years. Now, looking back, I could have looked it up prior to finding this movie because I remembered the main aspects of the story. But, I just never did...I would just ask people randomly over the years if they knew what it was. Anyway, the special effects were pretty bad, like in a hi-class Scifi channel movie, but in general; deemed okay

Nacho Libre - fake Mexican and strange people duking it out, a little late on seeing this, had to rent it. Was weary of watching because I felt it was possibly in poor taste...and I can be a stickler about that sort of thing. In fact, the movie was just poor. It was excruciatingly bad. We sat in virtual silence almost the whole movie...and it was supposed to be a comedy. Don't get me wrong, I love Jack Black to death, but; deemed horrible

Howl's Moving Castle - wizards duking it out, a neato little anime film by Hayao Miyazaki, a master of anime. Was interesting and very Miyazaki-like. Oh, did I forget to mention that one of the main voices was Christian Bale?; deemed good

Savage Planet - idiots in the future and mutated bears duking it out, I watched this while ago, but I had to mention this ridiculous movie on the Scifi channel that we tivo'd because it seemed decent. It sat on our tivo for months (probably because we sensed it was lame). I finally watched it and wasted hours of my life doing so. I'll just say that people usually use medical tape to keep bandages on, not the dried blood of the wound. Oh, and running into a rock should not make your head get knocked off; deemed just ridiculous

Stranger than Fiction - no one duking it out, but Will Ferrell is so good he's funny when he simply repeats something that someone else says. Was on the mellow side and could be slow, but I didn't care. I was immersed. I really liked it. I wasn't blown away, but it was different; deemed great

Soon to see:
Deja Vu (I'm not researching where to put the accents)
Saw III
(Not) Borat: blah blah blah...again with the bad taste

Picture This

2006-10-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

So, I don't usually get much of a kick making fun of rednecks. It's just never caught on with me. For instance, I don't find Jeff Foxworthy that funny. However, we saw a very interesting ensemble at a restaurant the other day that just made me wonder. Picture a man, with a orange and fluorescent green tie dye shirt on. Then, a shoulder-length mullet. Then, a rat tail. But not just any rat tail. A braided butt-length one! With, may I add, some kind of metal things hanging from the end that to me looked like razor blades. To top it off, he threw on a Nascar Dale Earnheardt jacket that said "The Man" on it. It was definitely an interesting sight to behold. I've really never seen a rat tail that long. But, there's a first time for everything. It least it was nicely braided in a fishtail pattern.

Inexperience Guardrail

2006-10-26T15:30:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love spam? I've been getting a barrage of emails at work that are being caught by our little spambot or whatever. Then it sends an email with a list of the ones it blocked in case they were accidentally caught. I love how they all have these strange subject lines. Here are some recent funny ones:

inexperience guardrail
nostalgic disgraceful
sister sanity
placenta
supportive folksy
heated go-ahead

Amazing. Either people really put a lot of thought into trying to make these emails appear real, or they all (or the same person) uses some program that throws random words together. I get way too many of these emails that list all the emails I haven't been getting, but I like them for the entertainment factor.

The Unexpectedly Deep Fortune

2006-10-23T21:23:00.000-04:00

"Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation"

- My fortune cookie from my Chinese food dinner this evening

So, that's not really a fortune. I've noticed that trend in the last several years. Nowadays they just tend to say any old thing. But, I really liked this one. I feel like they stole it from some history book...like its something someone in the Continental Congress said while deciding to break away from the British or something. Well, it is pretty well suited for these days as well. Let's hope that the discontent in this country finally gets high enough to get things onto a better road in this country...beginning with the next presidential election. Seriously, eventually, everyone...even the people who live in the middle of the country, have got to realize that things are f'd up.

I love you more than bunnies!

2006-10-10T23:04:00.000-04:00

The title of this post came from a ridiculous commercial I saw on TV for Amazing Amanda, a cute little doll that talks. I was in fact disgusted by that line. But, that's what I have to look forward to...unless I have a boy :) Anyway...on to my promised topics:

1. Bad parenting moment - My mom and I went on a shopping trip to Motherhood Maternity because I'm starting to really not be able to fit the pants in my existing wardrobe. No, I haven't "popped" yet, but there are some issues. So anyway, there was this woman with two kids who were running all over the store most of the time we were there. They were probably around 4 or 5 years old. They were being a little loud, but nothing too bothersome. I assume the woman was their mother. As we were walking out, the mother tells them to be quiet or something, I think particularly talking to the little boy, and then follows it with "ya know, no one will miss you when you're gone". Okay, excuse me...I almost turned around to say that she needs to come up with a better method of getting her kids to calm down. Perhaps if the boy was older, like, not 5, it might be at least somewhat acceptable. But, I don't imagine a small child's brain can process that in any way where they could just shrug it off. However, it might not have even phased the kid because of his age. Well, it was just lame and I left the store and didn't say anything. It wasn't earth shattering so who am I to criticize someone else's parenting?

2. Organic milk - oh, it's gross. I didn't actually drink it though. I just smelled it. I have a very keen sense of smell which has been augmented by pregnancy I believe. I didn't like the way it smelled straight after getting it at the store. Thanks, but no thanks for the idea, mom.

3. Algebra and why I'm the shit - Sorry, I just had to brag about how bomb I was the other day when I was doing this math problem in a little IQ puzzle book I have (yes I do that type of thing for fun). It was a crazy problem in the vein of so-and-so had some amount of apples. He gave 1/2 to someone and 1/4 to someone then ate 2, then 1/2 of the amount he gave to the other dude plus something equals what number? Well, I came up with this convoluted, fraction-, parentheses- and bracket-ridden algebraic equation to supposedly solve the problem. Well, I totally solved it! I was sure it wouldn't work as I whittled it down and subtracted fractions and divided crap all over the place on either side of the equal sign. Now, mind you, I have taken a college math class within the last 5 years so I have brushed up on this stuff a little since last taking an algebra class in high school over 10 years ago. But, still. I'm the bomb.

4. Brief thoughts on pregnancy so far - sigh, I've written so much already, this will have to wait. Plus, I don't want this to become a pregnancy blog. Though, those of you reading will probably have to endure some stuff...I'll try to keep the "too much information" tidbits to myself and force my husband to listen to them at home.

Coming up next

2006-10-04T09:58:00.000-04:00

Okay, without further delay...well, a little delay. I'm so backed up on blog topics. But, alas, you aren't missing much because my proposed topics are not that interesting. To be blogged on soon:
1. Bad parenting moment
2. Organic milk
3. Algebra and why I'm the shit
4. Brief thoughts on pregnancy so far

'Till then...

No longer MIA

2006-09-22T17:53:00.000-04:00

Right, so...I'm pregnant :) And for now, I'm just going to post what I've already written to others:

I did not disappear from the face of the earth. Normally I am all over the Internet. But, that was before I was pregnant! ...bout 3 months along now :) The last couple months have been interesting. I now don't want anything to do with at least two of my favorite foods and I was somehow averse to the computer. No computer games, no blogging, no catching up with friends on here. Though that might have had more to do with our uncomfortable computer chair and my lack of laptop use now that I finished school. So, I apologize. But, I'm back now.

Camille

Looking for Stardust

2006-07-31T17:26:00.000-04:00

So, I've been away from online-world lately (except to play City of Heroes). But, I wanted to mention this. I will soon be helping scientists look for stardust!! Go here to find out how you can help! It starts tomorrow!

From the website:
Q. What is Stardust@home ?
A. Stardust@home is a space science project in which volunteers from the general public help scientists locate particles from distant stars. The particles were captured by the spacecraft Stardust and are embedded in collector plates made of aerogel, which were carried by the spacecraft. The aerogel plates, and the particles within them, were returned to Earth in a sample return capsule on January 15, 2006. The purpose of Stardust@home is to find the particles within the aerogel plates. The project is expected to launch in May 2006.

Fukitol...the new wonderdrug!

2006-07-14T16:32:00.000-04:00

And speaking of drugs...um, our house used to be occupied by a notorius drug dealer. I'll be speaking on that later.

Music Revived

2006-07-08T01:34:00.000-04:00

So I added the Music of the Moment portion of my sidebar back. However, I changed the name to Music I Pause To. Ya know, I gotta stick to the theme. I've been more into new music lately since Ted bought a bunch of CDs and I got them on my iPod and can listen to them over and over incessantly at work. They're all rock. I get a good dose of Pop, R&B and Rap on the radio so I dont feel too deprived. Of course, if I get a car radio hookup for my iPod, that might change. But anway, I am loving Anberlin to death, specifically. I didn't dig Fiona Apple's new album that much at first, but its growing on me. I do love her so I knew I had to give it a chance. I really hate that. When I love love love the first album from an artist, and then the sophomore album fails to compare...or some other later album. I know its a little unfair to the artist. But, I really get into it and just love when song after song after song is good on multiple albums. U2 is a brilliant example. They have hits on every album they make...and they've been doing this for years and years. Third Eye Blind is another one where I have loved all the albums with no qualms. John Mayer so far is another. Mariah Carey has done pretty good, though I think her latest album is way better than her last two or so. Coldplay is another one. And Janet Jackson. I played Alicia Keys' second album like 1 time. Not sure why...maybe I wasn't in the mood that day. It doesn't happen that often, but occasionaly I'll get an album that I listen to only once, decide its nothing special and then never pick up again. I have noticed actually that I haven't been buying much current R&B lately at all. The last one I bought was probably Kelly Rowland's CD or maybe Beyonce's solo album. Strike that, I bought Bobby Valentino after hearing him talk on the radio about how awesome it was...I listened to it 1 time. Oh yeah, I bought the Black Eyed Peas, hmm and Usher...okay so fine I have bought some R&B recently. But probably more Rock and Pop.

Anyway, I'd like to get back into buying music again, and right when it first comes out. I keep not doing it, and then by the time I get around to it, I don't want it anymore. With some people, I'll never have that problem, like Stevie Wonder, Enya, or other timeless/classic artists that I know I want everything of regardless, but don't have everything. Part of my problem is that I've been all up into New Age music again and was ignoring mainstream music completely. But, I'm out of it now. But there's always space in my life for the New Age station on Yahoo! music and for Enya in general.

Superman Returns

2006-07-04T01:05:00.000-04:00

We saw Superman Returns this evening and it was awesome! It was the bomb. I thought Brandon Routh was perfect as Clark and as Superman. It was great. It was better than great. The special effects were awesome. Kevin Spacey was really good and Parker Posey was hilarious. It had several funny parts and a crazy awesome storyline. I will say no more.

Superman

2006-07-01T17:39:00.000-04:00

I am excited to see Superman Returns. And in preparation for it, we've been watching all the old Superman movies. The first two movies were fine...a little late 70's, early 80's looking, but hey, what are you gonna do? The third movie was another story entirely. I was actually in pain while watching it. It was excruciatingly bad. First of all, most of the movie wasn't even about Superman. It was about Richard Pryor and some lame bad guys. It was such a horrible movie. It was so hokey. Though, I did come to realize that Office Space totally took its premise from this movie (the diverting of extra less-than-a-penny amounts into an account thing). We haven't watched the fourth movie yet, but I guess we will because I actually remember it and would like to see it again. As for the third, I remembered like one scene. Now I know why.

I'm really looking forward to the new one because it looks awesome and Brandon Routh looks awesome.

As an aside...I just saw a woman crying over Brazil's World Cup elimination on TV...goodness gracious people take that game seriously.

SOS

2006-06-20T23:24:00.000-04:00

So, I went to my 10 year high school reunion this past weekend. I had a really good time. It was very strange at first. A lot of people looked almost exactly like they did in high school. I got to catch up with old friends and even made a new one. Also, one of my friends is moving to Virginia soon, so I'll hopefully be able to catch up with her more. Ted and I also celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary and had a nice vacation together. I didn't want the reunion night to be over, or the vacation. But, alas, I had to come back to the real world. Now, I'm about to fly out to North Carolina for work. After that, I'll be able to relax a little. Same Old Shit, but life goes on.

The Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia

2006-06-11T00:18:00.000-04:00

I think this Saturday Night Live short came before Natalie Portman's gangsta rap video. Perhaps it was the inspiration. It's hilarious....true that, double true!

I Need Protection from You

2006-06-10T01:49:00.000-04:00

Marriage needs to be protected. This is what people are saying. Marriage is between a man and a woman, and this needs to be protected by banning gay marriage. WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO PROTECT IT FROM?? I've been trying to answer this question for a while and am so far from an answer, I'm back at the question. I need protection from those people.

Dear hetero people who are trying to protect hetero marriage: If two gay people get married, does it invalidate your marriage? Does it degrade your relationship with your spouse? Does it make you get a divorce? Does it hurt you or your family? Does it mean no more hetero people can get married? Are you paying for these people to get married? Are you paying for them to get divorced? Does the marriage have any ill effect on you? .....a big NO to all those questions. My hetero marriage has nothing to do with anyone else's hetero marriage...what does a homosexual marriage have to do with anyone except the people getting married?

What this "protection" is really about is that people want to exclude people from the happiness they so easily enjoy for no other reason but tradition, religion, and a lack of understanding. Religious groups are just that...groups. For example, if Catholic leadership doesn't like what a person is doing, they can be kicked out of the Catholic club and the person can go on to live their life. Why is it that people part of a religous group within society get to say that everyone in society has to adhere to their rules?? Why can't they just kick them out of their club for not "adhering" and leave them alone??? Or refuse to let them in the club? Instead, they are saying that they cannot do what every other hetero person can do at the drop of a freaking dime, regardless of whether they are part of the club or not. Why not "protect" marriage from hetero people who don't give a crap about religion, but get married? Better yet, why not protect marriage from people who get married for dumb reasons and then procreate dumb kids and further the dumbness throughout society? Why worry so damn much about what people who really love each other and are committed to each other are doing and worry about the hetero people who are crapping on marriage every day?

Oh, and this is rich. In this article about the recent Senate vote on the Constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage, it mentions how this one Senator said "The Republican leadership is asking us to spend time writing bigotry into the Constitution". And then someone said "Does he really want to suggest that over half of the United States Senate is a crew of bigots?" in response. Um, okay....yes! You wanna kick these people out of the Christianity club, fine. But, American society is one club you don't get to kick people out of without valid reasons...that's what America is all about. And numbers don't matter. A hell of a lot of people thought slavery was okay, but that doesn't make it actually okay. You wanna disagree with people being homosexual? Fine. Don't you also disagree with hetero people who commit sins all over the place? You don't stop them from getting married. Deliberately prohibiting something in the country's Constitution that has absolutely no ill effects on you is utterly ridiculous. It doesn't even exist literally in the first place (so you obviously don't have any reasons to back it up). Marriage is a state of mind with financial benefits. It is all about the two people involved. Look, you don't have to run out and amend every dictionary to say that marriage is between anyone, and you certainly don't have to run out and codify gay marriage everywhere and anywhere in the law books. But to outright amend the Constitution of the United States to say that everyone cannot do something, because your group's belief system said so? You can't do that...especially if you are getting the idea from a belief system that not everyone else adheres to. Just don't let "the offenders" in your club if you're so worried.

Leeeeroy Jennnnkiiiins!

2006-06-03T12:29:00.000-04:00

This classic gaming moment is so hilarious, I had to rehash it.

The Old College Try

2006-05-28T23:17:00.000-04:00

D-O-N-E, no more pointless school for me! I'm done, hey hey, I'm done! S-O-M-E, some can gain from a degree, not me, uh uh, not me!

I've given new meaning to the old college try. I have actually finished school after 10 years (on and off). I just turned in my last assignment. Of course I won't get the actual "piece of paper" for a month or so. My mom wants to send out graduation announcements that mention how I went to 5 schools and how it has been 10 years. She wanted to make sure it was okay with me first. I said I didn't mind, but that she could always put the truth: that part way through, Camille realized that society's supposed "requirement" for getting a college degree was rediculous and unneeded as she was intelligent enough to be successful without it...she did however decide to get the piece of paper, despite her principles, so that her parents would stop hounding her and to at least do them the courtesy of making the sinking of all that money worth something.

But that would be a bit much for people to understand. And that's okay. I'll just send it out into cyberspace as a last ditch effort to maintain the inegrity of my principles. Oh well, perhaps I can gain...maybe I'll get a raise out of it.

Horoscope

2006-05-27T14:55:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm completely freaked out by Yahoo!'s daily horoscope. Today, it said "You're an expert when it comes to solving puzzles and mysteries. Anything involving wordplay stimulates your brain. All this fun isn't without its purpose -- it leads you to new solutions for old problems too."

Now, it's not enough that I do indeed love word games and puzzles...like more than any other type of game. No, that's not enough. It is just that last night, I decided to check out the games on Yahoo!. They've come up with so many new ones that I wanted try them out. And which games did I mostly play all last night?? Word and puzzle games. Wait, not just puzzle games, but puzzle mystery games! Specifically puzzle and mystery (like one called Inspector Parker and another called Mystery Case Files)! Those two are the only ones I decided to download so I could play more! And I was playing them right before I read my horoscope today. I think that is so weird. My horoscope from Yahoo! has been dead on before, but this takes the cake.

12 Months of Blogging

2006-05-21T23:24:00.000-04:00

Boohoo, I missed my 1 year blog anniversary, May 12th. I put a reminder in my phone and everything...but apparently I don't know how to use the task feature. Either that, or I mistook the alarm for another one that has been going off every day for like three weeks that I subsequently silence out of frustration instead of actually doing what it says to do. Well, at least I got the month down.

Not much going on these days, but have indeed been busy at work. That probably accounts for not being online much lately. Plus, we're really behind on TiVo'd shows so there's been a lot of TV watching lately, as well. Let's see, I now have ONE more week of school, ever!! Oh yeah, my parents were here again this weekend (they were just here two weeks ago). My dad had to fly somewhere out of Dulles real early on Saturday, so they drove up and my mom stayed with us until he came back real early on Sunday. That's too much traveling for my taste, but that's my dad. It was fun. We went to a home improvement store to see a free class on putting down laminate floor (since we did ours out of order and started before going to this sort of class). It was weird because I saw someone from work there. And I KNEW I would see someone I knew. I don't know how I knew, but I just did...and I decided to listen to myself and not dress like a bum ;) In fact, I looked quite cute in some kind of surfer looking elastic skirt that really had shorts under it. No bulges where one doesn't wish to see bulges...it was quite young and trendy...yuck ;)

Ya know, I've noticed for a little while now that I will frequently say something like "not much going on lately" and then proceed to go on and on about all these things that have happened, hehe.

PostSecret Still Going Strong

2006-05-08T01:36:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I mentioned PostSecret. I thought I should rehash it and reiterate its bombness. It is definitely a must-frequent. This secret is the best one ever! (along with so many other awesome ones). Again, my heart goes out to everyone. I have not sent a secret in as of yet. Don't know if I ever will.

Something Silly

2006-05-08T00:25:00.000-04:00

This is interesting. A Do Something Silly day. I would probably never do any of these types of things in public. But, apparently people do.

Rally to Stop Genocide in Darfur

2006-05-02T00:44:00.000-04:00

So, this past Sunday I went to the rally in DC to stop genocide in Darfur (the banner in my horrible picture says Save Darfur), an area of Sudan that has seen 400,000 people killed by government sanctioned militias and a ridiculous amount of people hurt, starving, and displaced. Go here to learn about these atrocities and what you might do to help. I was supposed to go to an Orioles baseball game with my husband, but was planning to sit it out by sitting at home. I've been holed up at home lately with reading material and new found interests. But, my dad called and said he wanted to go to the rally, but would prefer to go with someone. So, I agreed to go with him. I essentially traded three hours sitting in the sun watching the Orioles suck for three hours of standing in the sun and listening to interesting speakers and stories. It was definitely worth the trade (though only half of me was in the sun so I'm hehe, half-baked). There were highlights (seeing/hearing the likes of Barack Obama, Manute Bol who I didn't know was from Sudan, George Clooney (woo!), and the real "Hotel Rwanda guy", as well as just being in the place where so many demonstrations have taken place in our country's history, two of which had impact on me and/or my family (MLK Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and The Million Man March). There were also lowlights (a band playing some ridiculous song about not wanting to freefall into the disco ball, being somewhat sunburned on one side of my body, walking the somewhat long walk between Union Station and the Mall (where the rally was) twice, and not getting any good pictures with my Treo (I recorded video of George Clooney and his father talking anyway)).

The only problem is that a rally won't stop genocide, people will. And it seems silly for me to complain about any of the things I mentioned. I don't have to walk anywhere if I don't want to and don't necessarily have to worry about being randomly killed because someone else hates me for no reason, I have access to all the food I need and all the medical care I need whether it be for sunburn or the flu or cancer. I have the ability to buy my Treo or a bike that I can barely ride. I can get the education that I've spent years getting (and complaining about) because I wanted to get what I wanted to get...it goes on and on.

All this, while tons of people, many children, in this world are being raped, maimed, starved, and slaughtered just for existing and trying to survive.

Go on with your bad self, Pink

2006-04-26T23:49:00.000-04:00

Ya know, it is sad that songs like this have to be written. But here is a link to a video of a live performance by Pink. The song is called Dear Mr. President.

I really wonder how much he knows about what goes on in mainstream America. Does he know about this song? Has he heard it? What does he think? Does it even put a dent his conscience or his ego?

Bike Riding and One Week Down...

2006-04-24T01:14:00.000-04:00

...and five weeks to go! My history class has started out okay. I will be completely rid of school five weeks from now.

But, onto the bike riding. First, let me start by saying that I am the lamest person ever. We bought our bikes and picked them up in the rain on Friday. I was so eager to ride. I had to wait until Sunday afternoon to do so. Well, bike riding is not easy. It is not remotely easy, especially when you are an out of shape blob like me. Maybe its just me. I have always wondered how people use a stair master for any length of time because it would always kill my quads/thighs. Well, ladies and gentlemen, bike riding is worse. It was horrible. Apparently I have even less in common with my childhood self than feeling like I have to wear a helmet as opposed to not wearing one back then. I can't even ride the damn bike as compared to back then! Tragedy! And woe is me. Not to mention that I hate the stupid helmet, my brakes were squeaking loudly, and I have no idea how to work the gears.

Anyway, I'm not giving up on it, though it is not fun like I expected. Yeah, yeah, I gotta build up to it...well that bites. Amazingly, running was actually easier for me. So, it looks like I might have to do the complete opposite of what I thought. I may have to run to build up my stamina so that I can ride my bike! At least me and hubby have matching bikes :)

Pictures

2006-04-20T23:29:00.000-04:00

I can't think of anything to write, so I took another picture. No, this blog is not going to become all about my cat. However, I will probably have more pictures than I used to simply because of the Treo factor. It's easier to take them. So, since I just said that, I will try to take more interesting pictures. Like non-cat pictures. I tried to get a squirrel the other day that was doing something cool, but I missed it. Oh well, more to come I guess.

Good Morning

2006-04-20T06:01:00.000-04:00

Right, so I've been awake since 3am. Why? Not because I couldn't sleep, but because I went to sleep at 7pm! Why? Because Ted and I were supposed to take a nap, but ended up sleeping all night. Why? Because there was only one alarm and he missed it and I never hear his and I was dead tired from staying up until 3am the night before.

Oh well, I'm all caught up now I guess. We fed the poor starving cat, ate "dinner", watched tv, and I did school work and what not. Now I'll get ready for work like normal. I guess I'll see how the day plays out and when I'll start getting tired.

Sex, Crack, and Other Rigamarole

2006-04-18T23:20:00.000-04:00

Okay, no sex, but my other title wasn't working. I'm not sure this one is either, but life goes on. Well well, much has happened and not happened. I've been sick, I've been busy...and sick of being busy! I planned to catch up and blog this week, but I had a seminar in downtown DC yesterday and today (Time Management - don't all cheer at once if you know I needed this). So, I got home late. After eating and what not, there just wasn't a lot of time for online stuff. Especially today because Ted and I went right from the metro to eat out and shop...but that's for later. Anyway, I go online in cycles it seems. Some weeks, I'm online all day every day, even while eating, watching tv, etc. But at other times, I'm not on at all and the thought of going through my regular online routine is exhausting.

I think the advent of the Palm Treo in my life has actually brought on my current Internet lull. Besides the issue of my incessant text messaging, I have it set up to check my Yahoo! email and my Gmail account at like 30 minute intervals. A little excessive? Yes. Am I trying to imitate people with "Crackberrys"? Yes. Is it fun and does it make me feel important? Yes. Do I need to do it? No. Would I set it up to check my work email if I could? No (it would just be imitation crack). Are Treo's awesomer than Blackberry's? Hell yes because I said so. I love electronics...gadgets...things that are supposed to make me more productive but do the opposite. Or things that are put on the earth purely to allow me to waste hours at a time playing on or with them.

On a completely different note, I love idea jumping. That's what I do. I love to try things out. Even if it costs a little more to do so. The latest idea is bike riding. After dinner at Applebee's, Ted and I went to look at bikes. We then proceeded to buy two bikes. Do we have anywhere to put them in the house right now? No. At least I'm not giving up on finding ways to exercise. I haven't given up completely on running...it got a little cold, and there were several setbacks...blah blah. So no marathons in my immediate future. Shocker. I do plan to take it up again now that it's getting warmer in the morning. However, I want to try the bike thing first. The idea is to build stamina, etc. on the bike, therefore facilitating the running, which will facilitate the use of the expensive treadmill I own, which will facilitate weight loss, which will facilitate me sticking to one of the many diets I have tried out because I am more motivated, therefore facilitating all the other things I want to accomplish in life, therefore securing a peaceful and unregretful death bed experience!

So, that's the plan. But for now, I'm just going to pick up my newly assembled bike in two days and ride around my neighborhood in a dorky bike helmet. I miss the days of not caring about safety measures. Back when I was a child and rode in a car with my head on the floor and my feet in the air instead of wearing a seatbelt...the days of riding my bike without a helmet...the days of careening down a steep hill on my bike for the hell of it and hoping not to flip over because of a rock or smash into the building in front of it...all without a helmet or pads of any kind. That was the life. Luckily I survived.

Life with Treo and Without Textbooks

2006-04-05T23:12:00.000-04:00

Say hi to Scooter! Let's see, what's been going on lately? Several things. But, only two that I can remember and are worth noting. I bought a Palm Treo 650. And I must say right now that it is the bomb. It's several electronic devices in one--a phone, a pda, a computer with Internet access, and a pretty decent camera (yes that's my leg). I love it to death. I bought it two weeks ago. I did exchange it once already because it reset twice by itself (once I lost a bunch of settings, but luckily had it synched up with my computer already). I had also thought there was something wrong with the ringer, but it turned out I just had it set in two different places and one was canceling out the other. I've taken tons of pictures and some videos on it. I've also deleted many pictures and videos because I ran out of space ;) I definitely have to get an SD card to expand my storage space. I downloaded a bunch of random applications and games, too. I've specifically been pretty addicted to Bejeweled 2. I also love Sudoku and Backgammon (Backgammon is a must have for any PDA I have or will ever own). I think I might actually keep this "phone" for more than a year! I don't think it will get old for a while...

The other thing is that the hell class is over. And I got a B. I rock because I would have gotten an A, but I decided not to do the work one week with things going on and what not. I really think my little exercise in not doing everything 110% has been interesting. Part of it is because I just don't want to do it anymore (at least for a little while). But part of it is also that I get to feel "normal". Anyway, I have a week and a half left of my current course, and then one after that and I'm done. For real done. I don't ever want to see another textbook again (until I inevitably give in to my insane drive to learn).

Hard Wired

2006-03-24T22:48:00.000-05:00

So, there's this new reality tv show called Unan1mous. Yes, with a 1 in the middle instead of an i. It's crazy. In a nutshell, a bunch of people are stuck in a bunker of sorts and have the task of deciding who is going to get 1.5 million dollars...and the vote has to be unanimous. Not only that, but after the original vote, the money starts to decrease every second they don't come to a decision. Also, anyone who drops out causes the money to immediately be cut in half. Then!! After they vote, they all pick three secrets (they're anonymous) out of a pool of secrets that belong to the people in the group. They then all discuss which one is "the worst" and that person gets kicked off. The first group of secrets were ridiculous. One person filed for bankruptcy despite making $100,000 a year. One person was arrested for carrying live ammunition. And one person had once been in a mental institution. Now, to me it is obvious which one is considered "the worst". How could someone actually think a mental illness is inherently "bad"? Also, the people chosen are all sterotypical versions of some type of person...the hardcore Christian minister, the outspoken homosexual, the soccer mom, the southern trucker, the sleazy poker player...it's ridiculous. And of course this supposedly causes all sorts of arguments.

Anyway, I'm of course completely sucked into this horrible psychological game of a tv show...even more so than the Joe Shmoe show, which was horribly mean. It makes me think of a Tracy Chapman song on one of her more recent albums. She totally addresses the lameness of this type of thing...

Hard Wired by Tracy Chapman

Your wants, desires, needs, and wishes
Will be duly noted
Processed, filed, and catalogued
Labeled and coded
Turned into sitcom dialogue
And advertising slogans

We’ve got a box to put in your brain
Hard wired for downloading
All the secrets and the mysteries
You’ve been selfishly withholding

The dreams and hopes that once were yours
Will now be collected and dispersed
So the first to come with cash to spare
Will be the first one served

We’ve got a box to put in your brain
Hard wired for downloading
All the secrets and the mysteries
You’ve been selfishly withholding

Make you think you like to be watched
Displayed on the auction block
Invaded in your own home
Stripped naked on the television
Humiliated in front of millions

We’ve got a box to put in your brain
Hard wired for downloading
All the secrets and the mysteries
You’ve been selfishly withholding

We’ve got a box to put in your brain

Your wants, desires, needs, and wishes
Will be duly noted

V for Vendetta

2006-03-21T02:28:00.000-05:00

Continuing on the Natalie Portman kick...

V for Vendetta is the best movie ever. It makes a loud statement that hopefully some people will hear. Unfortunately, the people who need to hear it probably won't, even if they see the movie.

And that is all I have to say about that for now.

How bomb is Natalie Portman?

2006-03-14T13:56:00.000-05:00

I wish I had seen this episode of SNL with Natalie "gangsta rapping". I don't watch SNL because it tends not to be that funny to me...but the guests can sometimes be the funniest parts.

Baby oil

2006-03-11T12:16:00.000-05:00

"So she steps out of the shower, dripping wet, and grabs the baby oil..."

Now what do you think that came from? No, not an erotic novel...but a Johnson & Johnson's baby oil commercial. And, get this, the person "saying" that is a baby. Now, who in their right mind decided that that was a good way to open a commercial? If their plan was to catch our attention, they've certainly succeeded with me...But I'm not rushing out to by baby oil, that's for sure.

Cruel Intentions, Part 2

2006-03-08T20:08:00.000-05:00

Well, well, well...the picketers are going to stop in Oklahoma...for now. As a follow up to my Cruel Intentions post a little while back, here is an article that talks about the fact that some states have gotten the legislation through to prevent picketers from a Kansas church from being cruel and picketing solider's funerals (again, not because they are against the war, but because they think the soldiers are being punished for defending a country that harbors homosexuals). They say the legislation is shredding the Constitution...I say good riddance.

Dead meat

2006-03-07T22:18:00.000-05:00

That's me. Dead meat. Remember my awesome but horrible, work intensive class? Well, it's been a little tough, but I'm managing. But, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse...I find out tonight that I have another class starting! Okay, so technically I already knew that I was overlapping these two classes...but I had forgotten!!! So, now I don't have my book and the class started yesterday. I assumed my current class wouldn't be that difficult. Well, you know what they say about assuming...

I certainly do not have enough time to work, do two classes, work out, and watch all my riveting television shows. What an existence...oh, what a world what a world...

Lackadaisical

2006-03-02T11:03:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a while...I've been very busy after my birthday. And wouldn't you know, the one thing that gets me to finally blog is a linguistic issue. I am disheartened by my own self. I just looked up how to spell lackadaisical...and it's lackadaisical. There's no 's' sound after the lack...and I really thought there was. Like lacksadaisical. Mind you, I don't use this word much, and to be honest can't remember ever using it. But, I was just about to use it in an e-mail. And my hopes and dreams were dashed as I saw the correct spelling, and thus the correct pronunciation. This doesn't warrant a rendition of "Tragedy", and it's not important to life in any way, but anyone who knows me knows that I think hard about these things. It's a little sad :)

Happy birthday to me...

2006-02-17T18:07:00.000-05:00

happy birthday to me...happy birthday dear meeee-eeeeeeee...happy birthday to me.

I know a really nice person whose birthday is today-0...T O D A Y, T O D A Y, T O D A Y whose birthday is today-0.

For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good....wait, never mind.

(like Stevie Wonder) Happy birthday to ya, happy birthday to ya, happy birthday.

Happy birthday Mr. President...hmmm...

Go me, it's my birthday...we gonna party like it's my birthday...

And cut.

Movie Scene Quiz

2006-02-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

I rock. I got 20 out of 30 movies correct. This is a pretty cool quiz. You get 30 screenshots from a movie. I missed several of the obviously 80's/older ones. Oh well.

Brain damage pending

2006-02-13T17:04:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness. I'm going to die for the next 6 weeks. My new class is horrible. I don't know how I'm going to survive. I'm not brain damaged from my electrocution incident, but I may as well be and my brain could certainly suffer some damage by the time this course is over. I think this class might actually trump The Art of Drama as being the worst class ever. But mostly for a different reason. The topics of the course are extremely interesting, relevant, and insightful. Basically, I have to work my ass off to get what I want out of it. I almost wish I didn't care about the topics so I didn't have to work my ass off. It is the capstone seminar that is supposed to tie everything together and be about something relevant in today's world. The topics change over time and the one I got is basically on disabilities. The four different sections of the class are:
- Social Construction of Disability and the History of Disability
- Cultural Competency and Western Medicine
- Deaf Culture and Disability
- Stigma and Cultural Competency

Awesome topics! But the amount of work is INSANE! The first four weeks involve a bunch of reading and writing 200-word answers to 3 to 4 discussion questions. There is also a 1,200 word research brief tacked on to each of those weeks. I also have to read a whole 300-page book on the culture clash involving a sick child from Laos for week 2! The fifth week involves drafting a 6 to 11 page paper as well as reading and commenting on four others. The sixth week, the final paper is due.

I don't know what I'm going to do...and I don't have a lot of time to figure it out.

Shocker

2006-02-08T08:24:00.000-05:00

I was just electrocuted in my ear.

I hate being shocked. No matter what time of year, I pretty much always get shocked getting out of my car. I'm always shocking my cat and I'm worried he is going to remember and subconsciously be afraid of me. Just now, I'm sitting at my desk and have one earphone in my ear (the other side broke and I want to be able to hear what's going on around me anyway). It's hot, so I decided to slide out of the zippered sweater I was wearing. Bad idea. Not only did I get shocked from the jacket side, but it somehow transferred up to my earphone and shocked my ear repeatedly in fast succession. It really hurt. That is unacceptable. I am not safe in my own clothes. I could be brain damaged. I'll keep you posted.

Cruel Intentions

2006-02-07T08:12:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh. I am floored. I can't imagine why, but I am surprised by what I've learned in this article. Luckily some states are trying to pass legislation to stop it...but it's difficult with free speech being thrown in the mix. It's a difficult thing to get around sometimes. It'll probably become a matter of privacy vs. free speech and rights to protest.

The absolute gall...the audacity and cruel mind involved with picketing at people's funerals is astounding to me. Who the hell holds a sign that says "Thank God for Dead Miners" and "Miners in Hell" at the memorial for the 12 miners who died in the Sago Mine disaster?? Or at a soldier's funeral who died in Iraq?? And do you know what they are protesting?? Not the war...they are protesting homosexuality! America harbors homosexuals and adulterers. Are you absolutely kidding me? If I were at that memorial, I might have to literally get into a fight with one them. And if it were a funeral for my very own dead husband, you better believe I would have words with them, at the very least. I don't even know what I would do. And bringing their children to also hold signs?? Talk about corruption. What idiots. I don't even care if they are right and God is punishing people! You just don't do shit like that. Mind your own damn business...worry about where you are going after you die...take your supposedly righteous self and move to another country if you're worried about America.

Fours meme

2006-02-05T08:26:00.000-05:00

My husband tagged me...so, all about me in neat little fours:

Four places I have lived:
Brooklyn, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Cerritos, CA
South Hadley, MA

Four jobs I've had:
McDonald's cashier
Security Guard
Systems Monitor
Administrative Assistant

Four movies I could watch over and over:
The Princess Bride
West Side Story
The Fifth Element
Krull

Four TV shows I love:
Stargate SG-1
Star Trek in general(either TNG or Voyager are favs, can't decide)
Lost
Battlestar Galactica (new)

Four places I've been on vacation:
Paris
Japan
Romania
Jamaica

Four websites I visit daily:
Yahoo! (for mail, news, music)
Dictionary.com
Blogger (to post or read)
Neopets (though really not as much anymore, I couldn't think of anything else)

Four of my favorite foods:
Cheese
Pizza
Strawberries
Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream

Four places I'd rather be:
Any place with a view of major works of nature (ocean, forest, etc.)
Otherwise, can't really think of any

Four albums I adore:
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
Enya - Shepherd Moons
Christina Aguilera - Stripped
Clay Aiken - Measure of a Man

Four people to tag:
Please...as if I have anyone to tag...

Tragedy...

2006-02-01T08:32:00.000-05:00

...when the feeling's gone and you can't go on it's Tragedy...

and cut.

This is becoming a pattern now with the song intros. I don't know if that is an original Steps song, but it sure sounds like a remake. Anyway, the tragedy is that I've gone seven weekdays in a row of getting up early and working out (either running or walking outside, or strength stuff inside), and then...today I just couldn't do it. There was no convincing me. I just didn't feel like it. Well, I'll try not to let it discourage me and in order to get some kind of exercise today, we'll try to work on putting down our laminate floor in the back room of the house. There's still a bunch left. Though this time, I'm surely not crawling around on my knees the whole time. They literally are just now recovered from the last time...and yes, the knee damage was from putting down laminate floor and not anything else for those of you who may be thinking something else...you know who you are.

Also, another tragedy...dumb driving. Newsflash people...driving is a two-way street (no pun intended). I'm not the perfect driver, but I at least have some respect for other drivers. Anyone who has no problem with driving in a dumb way, more power to you...I just hope you don't cross the path of my car. If you know the merge area is short for someone and they have their signal on to get over, don't chill in their blind spot so they can't go anywhere and then decide to speed up at the last minute because they started to get over assuming you weren't going to move! Yeah, I'm talking to you tan colored SUV from this morning on 370. I totally beeped at her, which was probably unnecessary. There's another thing I hate (unnecessary beeping), but I was so mad. That is the worst merge area ever. There's a solid line going on forever before you can "officially" get over, but by that time, there's hardly any road left before you are forced to go the wrong way if you don't make it over.

...when the morning cries and you don't know why, it's hard..to..bear, with no one to love you you're going nowhere...

Did Jesus exist?

2006-01-27T12:07:00.000-05:00

What a strange lawsuit. A man is taking a priest to court in Italy for claiming that Jesus existed on the basis of fraud and impersonation laws. Very, very interesting. Apparently the man is doing this because he really wants to get the issue to the European Court of Human Rights (which I've never heard of). I'm not sure what to make of it. It would be interesting to see what happens. I suppose we never really know if anything from the past is real, but even I don't have a problem believing Jesus existed. That's not to say he did or didn't I suppose.

Marathons, here I come!

2006-01-25T06:46:00.000-05:00

I've been a little hesitant to put this on here because I don't want to jinx it. But, what the hey. Okay, remember that weird stint a while back where I was "on a mission". Well, I'm on another one. It has only been three days, but I've been exercising at the crack of why am I awake. And running, at that. And I don't run. Monday, hubby got me up around 6:30am and we ran. It was a crazy move because we had just been putting down some laminate flooring the day before and I was starting to get sore. But, we did it. I'm really out of shape. It was horrendous. I had to stop and walk one time. My lungs were burning toward the end and I couldn't get any deep breaths. We walked the rest of the way. Horrible. Um, and all of this in the span of only 20 minutes or so. But it did not daunt me. I just figured I was crazy and that was the end of it. Tuesday came. We got up early again, this time a little earlier (though it took more coaxing to get me out of bed as my soreness was still in full effect and killed). I couldn't run, but we walked instead. It was great. I really enjoyed exploring our neighborhood and talking about different things. I haven't spent a lot of time with hubby in the recent past, so this was a nice change. Now, I totally overdosed on Smarties yesterday and may have undone some of the good work with empty calories, but oh well. Then comes today. I totally got up around 6am (was supposed to be 5:45). Ted has a temp assignment in DC today and I've got to take him to the metro early so we had to somehow fit in the running. And we did it. I didn't stop the whole way (though at some points I was almost not running at all). I ran farther before having to stop and got there faster, I could get full breaths the whole time, and my lungs didn't feel like they were completely on fire. Yay! Marathons here I come...

But, I always get too eager with these things and end up disappointing myself, so I'm not really going to go there just yet. I'm just going to stick with running for 20 minutes with my husband for now. It's a lot easier.

What's News?

2006-01-23T23:53:00.000-05:00

I'm going to bed after this because I have to get up early and run possibly tomorrow (that's a whole other thing for another time). But, I just had to comment real quick on this article. Why on earth is it newsworthy to find out what President Bush thinks about "Brokeback Mountain"?? We all know he would probably have issues with it. He may very well not even care. From what I've heard, most people think it was very good. Is there no other trouble to stir up or something? I wonder if he's upset about "Will and Grace" going off the air soon. Gee, I sure wish someone would ask him that. I'm dying to know. In fact, I wish someone from the Associated Press could ask him and then have Yahoo! text the headline to my phone along with the other amazing late breaking news stories I've been getting through my little subscription with them…like the latest one I just got: "A member of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation board says Tim Nardiello has been reinstated as skeleton coach". More power to bobsledders, but I have no idea what that even meant. And better yet, send it to me at 1am in the morning like the one I got last night about Kobe Bryant scoring 81 points in a basketball game. That is actually a pretty cool feat, but goodness. I guess I assumed these texts would consist of things like major terrorist bombings or "hell has frozen over" types of things. I wish I could filter out some of the "breaking news".

…and to all a good night.

Last Weekend at the Beach

2006-01-23T23:36:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time…I shouldn'ta left you…without a dope blog to surf to.

And cut.

Sorry, I felt the need to do a little cheesy 80s rap throwback.

Anyway, it has been a while.  A lot has happened!  But unfortunately for anyone reading this, it isn't all that interesting for the most part.  Just my life…being lived.

Two weekends ago, hubby and I went to my parents' house on the water in Virginia to celebrate my older sister's birthday.  We had a great time, though the weather was a little bad.  We celebrated my sister's birthday by waiting to get a table at the Cheesecake Factory for an hour and a half, stuffing ourselves, and then coming home and further stuffing ourselves with a birthday cake my Dad busted out at the last minute.  It was pretty fun.  However, the highlight of the night was the crackhead idea that my sister had.  Right, lets go gallivanting on the beach and look at the waves while the wind blows snowy razor blades into our eyes!  Great idea…my sister, my mom, and I got all bundled up in coats and scarves and gloves and blankets and went outside to the water.  At first it wasn't that bad because my parents' house is set back from the water with mostly open sand in front of it with houses on either side that are a little closer to the water.  The snow was blowing around (which in itself was weird because we were on a beach).  But, once we cleared the next door houses and were on the open beach, it got 10 million times worse and we could barely walk straight, let alone actually see anything.  Shoot, had my mom not warned me, I would have fallen right off the side of a cliff made of sand carved out by the wind and tide.  It was several feet off the ground and it would have hurt badly and would have been a very startling surprise…and apparently would have been very funny as my sister informed me the next day.  Well, we of course realized very quickly that we couldn't stay out there and live so we hurried back inside.  It took at least a good five minutes for my eyes to stop watering and I don't want to know what my hair looked like.  But, it was fun.

The next day, my sister, mom and I went out to the beach again, bundled up the same way because it was cold.  But, there was no snow.  Just strong wind.  My mom said she saw a seagull flying in place!  I felt like a total idiot in the getup I had on, but I was definitely warmer because of it.  A lot of the shells on the beach were broken, but when we went near this wooden jetty that ran from the beach out into the water, there were several good ones.  The water was splashing up against the jetty so we had to do a little screaming and scurrying to try and not get wet by the splashing or the tide.  I got two blue shells that looked very cool.  I gave one of them to my sister that had weird "Alien Nation" spots (as I called them) on it and I kept one that had lots of ridges going along the outside of it.  My sister also got what seemed to be an old oyster shell.

Overall, the trip was really fun and we had a nice long weekend.  It's always really fun when I hang out with my family.  I was glad to have some "bonding time" with my older sister because I don't see her that much since she lives in California.  We spent the Monday after (Martin Luther King Jr. day) at home.  This is the first job I've been at that gave us that day off.  I saw a few things on tv and I read some articles about things going on. But,  I feel like I should pay a little more attention next year or actually try to do something with myself.  It's not just some bunk holiday.  In fact, I'm not sure any of the holidays in the U. S. are bunk.  But, I don't pay much attention to any of them.  Always too caught up in my own life.  I'll have to think about that.  Hopefully, I've got lots of life left.

Pure Genius

2006-01-11T23:12:00.000-05:00

Check out the Million Dollar Homepage. Very interesting. It is amazing how easy it is to make money on the Internet. Basically, this kid wants to put himself through school. So, he sells pixels...advertising space for a buck...genius!

Also, speaking of genius, Yahoo! Answers is the new crack. And you can consider me your friendly neighborhood drug pusher. I am totally addicted and there are people on there who say it is better than drinking or drugs. Well, I wouldn't really know about the drugs part, but wow...the Internet just may get people to not drink alcohol.

One-eyed Cat

2006-01-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

I'm so shallow. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I would be strong enough to care for this poor little cat. It died after one day, but the picture is etched in my mind as the strangest thing I've seen in a while. I think people are at least somewhat accustomed to deformities in general. You see them every once in a while in animals and people, but it's nothing crazy. I'm sure children are born with one eye, but not in the middle of their face! What if my child were born this way? What would I do? I wonder what percentage of children are born with really severe deformities and live...and who takes care of them and how their lives are...

So much for being productive

2006-01-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

Sigh. I should definitely be doing my schoolwork right now. It's already late. I just hate this class. The teacher is missing in action most of the time so far. Luckily, I don't need him to necessarily be around in order to learn anything. But I really don't feel like doing schoolwork at all. I've been kind of blah since the break has been over. Didn't really jump into things like I had hoped. So much for new years resolutions of any kind...for now.

I haven't blogged much lately...nothing interesting to say really. I got to talk to my friend Bobby last night for a while online. I haven't talked to him in a while and have barely seen him since I met my now husband. It was good to catch up. We've now known each other for like 9 years. The longest friendship I've ever had.

As Slow as Possible

2006-01-06T20:34:00.000-05:00

So, if the world ends in 2012 as some believe, this 639-year-long concert will never finish!

Apparently All Things are Possible

2006-01-05T23:54:00.000-05:00

Okay, so my team actually all logged on tonight at once. Though the online chat room area that we are supposed to be able to use to communicate in real time was not working right so we only had this little baby preview chat room window. If too many posts went by, you couldn't go up to see the other ones! It was so annoying. Waiting for the posts to refresh...trying to talk in short sentences so it can be seen in the preview window...Well, long and short of it is that we got the stupid assignment done. Of course it's like two hours later.

Moral of the story, every time I say something is impossible when it comes to school work or work work, it's not. It's just that I know it is unrealistic and insane. But it is possible. I have to work my ass off, but it is possible. To quote my dad, all things are possible to those who believe...his roundabout way of saying all things are possible to those who practice Christianity. He puts this at the end of his voicemail message. But, it's all good, he's not harming anyone...and because he's my dad and is like the nicest loving man in the entire world, it makes me feel good to hear him say it; it kinda makes me believe him...in my own way :)

Okay...must...go...to sleep......so...sore...from pulling up our carpet all night last night and cleaning the nasty mold-ridden floors...that's a whole other story for a whole other time.

Lame and lame

2006-01-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

Mmm-hm, my teacher is definitely having some issues. He did not assign my team a question to pick for the case study that was assigned. But today at 2pm posted that we are to just discuss it and choose one of the questions. We are supposed to have this discussed and a draft of the answer submitted tonight! That is not possible. This is not real-time school. It is online, therefore accomodations must be made for ya know, time zone differences and what not. I am totally going to speak my mind to him at the beginning of the assignment that I will probably post tonight if no one else on my team logs in. Ugh.

Anyway, double ugh. Pat Robertson...go away. I am sick and tired of hearing about him running his mouth. I have no problem with him as a person or with TBN, or the 700 Club tv show. I have watched the show before and have been interested in what they have to say. But must he take the news of the world and turn it into a personal mission to berate and wish ill upon other people? I don't know much about the whole Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but I know that the Prime Minister of Isreal had a stroke. A human being had a horrible physical thing happen to his body, and Pat Robertson basically says he got what he deserved because he's dividing God's land (pulling out of the Gaza strip). Again, I don't know much about the whole situation and I don't know much about what God said about Israel, but goodness gracious, the man had a stroke. Perhaps I'm overexaggerating...he didn't actually say he got what he deserved, but why the hell bring it up in response? Why does he have to comment about this stuff in any such negative way. Like with hurricane Katrina and how it was cleansing the New Orleans area from sin or whatever he said. Are you kidding me? I wish he would just worry about his own damn self and where he is going after he dies. Don't publicly bash other people and be negative. I think I have a good idea of what God said about doing things like that.

Managing Human Resources

2006-01-04T20:18:00.000-05:00

My current class is quickly sliding down the path to being the next to the worst class ever (Art of Drama took the top spot). It supposedly started on the 2nd. Two days later, the teacher has barely assigned us to teams, moved the due date of the first assignment (a team assignment) to tomorrow, and not given us the question we are supposed to collaborate on to answer yet. He said he was having connectivity issues. I hope that's all it is or this is going to be a long and frustrating class. Nevertheless, it is my fourth to last class ever! Then I'll have my stupid Bachelor's degree so I can have that stupid piece of paper that somehow means I'm actually worthy of the success I have already achieved without it. Oh, and I'll probably get more money, too. Hooray.