Quote of the day...

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction." - Blaise Pascal

HA!

Did I call it or what?!

Agreed...

http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html

Don't you have to question their "balance" in the first place? ; )

Q: If a Cubs fan living in Chicago pulls against the White Sox, does it indicate he or she might be mentally unbalanced?

A: "If the teams are not directly competing against each other, the idea of a Cubs fan rooting against the White Sox becomes a little pathological," says Dr. Robert Burton, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University. "Technically, it probably stems from some unresolved sibling rivalry kind of thing. Otherwise, you have to wonder what a Cubs fan has to gain by pulling against the White Sox. Not too much, really, unless it's to feel better about himself. If the White Sox lose, then they're both in the doghouse.

"A resolved sibling rivalry would let you enjoy the success of your neighbor, or whomever, and root against each other only when you're going head-to-head. Any kind of sibling rivalry is commonly referred to as arrested development. Then, you get history and other issues layered on top of everything, and it can compound things. I personally pay more attention to whichever team is succeeding."
-- Mike Conklin

Guess who's AL Central champs??

THESE GUYS!! WHOO-HOO!!

What do you think?

Do bad things happen for a reason or do they just happen?

My cyborg name!

19 year old Iraq war widow ...

Maddison Campbell, 19, right, wife of Sgt. Jeremy M. Campbell, of Middlebury, Pa., is presented the U.S. flag by Maj. Gen. Howard Bromberg, left, during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005. Campbell died on Sept. 11, 2005, in Baghdad, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during patrol operations. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Negativity...

U-G-L-Y ... she ain't got no alibi!!!

Blah...

Why oh why do random guys seem to come out of the woodwork and haunt me? Well... this one isn't so random... this guy I dated for a few months last year... anyway, he's a big Cleveland Indians fan and decided I was due some torment ...

Whatever, dude!

You know...

I think its just one of those unhappy days and man do I hate those??

I actually had a pretty good weekend, lowkey, but good. Sang karaoke Saturday night. The place was dead so I sang like 7 songs. It was like "Me... in Concert"... I was good too. I'm getting better. If I took voice lessons again I know it wouldn't take long to get back to how good I was ... Blah ... something to consider I suppose.

So yeah I was in a pretty good mood all weekend and even this morning coming to work, although I didn't want to come to work...

Then its just like CRASH DOWN! Why do people - friends, coworkers, etc. always seem to insist on bringing you down with them? And why the hell do I allow it?? I've just been in knots all day long today and I'm sure it would not have happened if I hadn't been treated like crap almost as soon as I walked in and if I could just learn to assert myself better.

I talk about not being friends with people... You know, it isn't that. I don't want to lose friends but I just don't want to deal with the personal drama of other people. I hate how some people just seem to always bring you in. I mean, come on!! I try not to do that. I guess I'm the opposite of that and perhaps I should try and bring others in but you know what I mean, right??

I guess I'm just venting today and that makes me sad cause I really have nothing bad going on to vent about... I'm just so tired of some of this ongoing crap. You know, sometimes I would just love to run away, to make a total change in my life, to get the heck out of here - my job, this town, etc. etc. and really just start over new. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know ...

More about Yaga's...

The side of a three-story building on the Strand collapsed, exposing Yaga's Café and upstairs offices to the elements. An elaborate cornice of the building had been destroyed in the famous hurricane that killed 8,000 here in 1900. The fourth story was removed after damage from Hurricane Carla in 1961. Until Rita hit, the restaurant had served a cocktail called the "1900 Hurricane."

Oh no!!

Exterior wall of Yaga's Cafe in Galveston collapsed! I loved that place!!

White Sox

pathetic... PATHETIC... PATHETIC!!!!!!

At the very least I'll get a nice chunk of change back.

Just goes to show you ... stick with your teams, never "adopt-a-team"... See.. if I just would have stayed a Cardinals fan like I was when I was a kid, we wouldn't have problems now.

Its seriously something to reconsider!

No... This isn't Texas, is it?

Prepared in his own way

I got about 40 lbs of rock salt, two bags of charcoal, two cans of ligther
fluid, 14 gallons of whiskey, and put my socks and clothes in garbage bags. I
got my waders and about 35 lbs of meat that'll keep with the whiskey and salt.
Other than that, you don't need electricity to bar-b-q and the rock salt is
non-lethal in the shotgun, and good as a preservative and for seasoning. Whiskey
is an old friend -- the best thing for cuts, snake bites, meat, and rainy
days.

--Tony Fairbanks, Houston, Texas

Wow!

http://www.sturtle.com/2005_09_01_archive.html#112705482213271419

A few thoughts...

Seeing that JetBlue plane land at LAX safely last night was one of the most exciting things I have ever seen on television. Was watching the news on the Rita coverage yesterday and they broke in with the story so saw it from the beginning to end... Crazy stuff!!

And speaking of Rita ... Oh man... this is gonna be a bad one!! Looks like its heading straight to Galveston - another one of my favorite places! Looks like that place is gonna get pummeled. My cousin goes to grad school at Texas A&M at Galveston and the school has closed and all of the students have evacuated so she is now home in Houston but who knows if that will even be any safer. My uncle owns a condo on Galveston where Ellie and I guess some roomies live but I'm not sure where it is located. He used to have a house right on the beach there (may post some pictures at some point) but he sold that a few years ago. Its wood, its up on stilts, its maybe 50 yards from the ocean. My guess at this time is in a direct hit, that place won't make it. Chatting with my other cousin Mandy yesterday, I guess they're staying - not sure, she said she and her roommate went looking for batteries and they were out of batteries everywhere. She also said places were running out of gasoline which I saw reported today. So... Its going to be bad.

Horrible storms in the Chicago-area last night. Really bad lightening and thunder - scared the crap out of me - totally jarred awake!! I hate storms, I mean really really hate them! I think it has something to do with growing up in the country and having a huge backyard and fields around which look something like Dorothy's farm in The Wizard of Oz - ha ha! So I told him this morning that as I was lying there shaking about the storm I thought that at least I didn't have a Category 5 hurricane barreling towards me (you know, I'm all about putting things into perspective these days). He says I have to stop watching the news!! : )

Crappy night/crappy day...

I have been experiencing some sleeping issues recently that are sort of freaking me out. It can happen any time but I think it typically occurs around the time of my monthly visitor. Anyway, basically the problem is that I am burning up hot ... like I'm running a fever or something (and I think I am) and am to the point of delirium where I do not know where I am, what I am saying or what I am doing. This has happened two times recently, once being last night. Its scaring the crap out of me. On top of that, I can never remember what happened. I don't know what to do about it either. So I'm in a horrible awful mood this morning because of this. Actually, last night I was quite sick - stomach issues, fever, headache. Took some aspirin, tums, and went to bed an hour and a half earlier than normal. So I guess the explanation behind all of it then was that I actually was sick. Still sort of sick today and wish I wasn't at work. I don't know, thinking about going home early today but I think it will just put me in a bad mood for the afternoon. Perhaps its better to be at work and be distracted. I guess we will see what happens ... : (

Holy crap!

-- Hurricane Rita expected to reach category 4 in the Gulf of Mexico by 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, forecasters say.

Boredom...

The last two days at work...

BLAH!!!!

Cool...

Originally uploaded by -w7ĐãღMNღêŁღN@ss-.

I don't care...

I love how customers write to complain about stuff you have no control over. Guess what guys ... I DON'T CARE!!! Stop wasting words and emails by going to the trouble!

Agreed...

"When the hurricane struck, it did not turn the region into a Third World country ... it revealed one" -- actor and activist Danny Glover.

Interesting...

The pictures from Hurricane Ophelia make it look a lot worse than I thought it would be. Hatteras Island - another one of my favorite places on the planet! I once spent a week there camped on the backside of a sand dune. Climb the dune, there's the ocean!!

Random thoughts...

Several things I need to do when I get home, specifically cleaning up the apartment, getting gas for my car, etc. etc. Also need to find something to eat! I think I'm officially out of food.

My cousin is crashing at the apartment tonight cause we're all driving down for Corn Fest bright and early tomorrow morning. He gets the couch - he can sleep with the cat! I hope to be out of there by 7:30am at the latest, hopefully earlier.

Keep asking Mom when the damn parade starts and she thinks its 1 but my cousin Lisa said something about it being 11. So I don't know. Anyway, I think we're going to head uptown immediately without stopping by my parents. I'm sure we'll find them easily. I told her I was just going to go up to people and ask "Have you seen my mom?" Easy enough to do in my small hometown, especially when EVERYBODY knows my mom.

Not sure what the plan for the weekend is though especially since we'll only be around one night. My dad has his class reunion so they will be gone to that for several hours. I think we should just go drinking with my cousins. We sort of did that last year and it was fun. Sound good? The bar we would go to is within walking distance of my parents' place. You can't beat that! Other than that we'll probably just hang around the carnival or whatever. Maybe we'll try out the new Mexican restaurant in town. Yes, Sullivan officially has a real Mexican restaurant and my parents say its good. My sister tried it and she said it was good so... I'm going to have to believe her since she loves Mexican food too. Plus, they actually serve ALCOHOL! I'm really impressed they got that liquor license. There aren't many places in town that serve alcohol. I guess its mostly margaritas and Coronas but hey, thats pretty cultured for Sullivan!!

Will have to spend some time with my grandparents which reminds me that I need to go get a birthday card for my grandfather on my lunch break!!

Ummm... other than that, my cousin Lisa and her family are down so we'll probably at least bump into eachother. I don't think I have seen her in like 8 years. Haven't seen her much in the last 25 years or so anyway. Her daughter recently had a baby which makes my parents great-great uncle/aunt. I think thats kind of funny.

And, other than that I'm guessing church and a nice meal on Sunday and then back home.

President Bush in front of one of my favorite Democrats...

Whoo-hoo!!

Just picked up tickets to Games 1 & 2 for the American League Division playoff which will *hopefully* be hosted at US Cellular Field - assuming the White Sox don't blow it and believe me, they could still seriously blow it. If so, I'll get a nice refund. Anyway since they will most likely be day games (at least they were in 2000 when I went) I will be attending unaccompanied. Just me, myself and I going to the game which will be kind of weird because I've never really done that before. Oh well... regardless it will be a good time and if they turn out to be night games, I suppose I will be crashing on my sister's couch for those evenings. Hope it all works out!!

Perturbed...

Yeah so I go to Dunkin Donuts and get a bagel for lunch - I'm not very hungry but just looking for a little snack. So I get back to my desk, take it out of the sack and THEY FORGOT THE CREAM CHEESE. OK so there is no way I can eat this now. Took a look at the work refrig and there is nothing in there I can put on it. Darn it! Guess I'll take it home and have it for breakfast or something tomorrow!

Quote of the day...

"To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self"
-- Joan Didion (American Journalist and Novelist, b.1934)

Once again...

Its cute kitty day!!!

: (

I feel like absolute crap right now.

Nevermind!

No more suggestions needed, I think we have a good list!!

Girls...

I'm working on a little project for a friend of mine ... please send me any suggestions of either woman-empowered or man-hating songs that you can think of!!

Thanks!!

You ever have one of those days ...

... where you just sit and do absolutely nothing at work and can absolutely not find any motivation to do anything whatsoever? You just sort of sit there browsing mindlessly stupid websites and watching the clock? Yeah, that is today for me. I'm so bored lately. Plus I have no idea what I'm even going to do tonight? My sister came over for several hours last night but I have a feeling tonight is going to be sort of lonely ... Oh well...

Fun stuff that makes me smile : )

First thing this morning, I got a nice email from a customer... its always nice to be appreciated:

Melissa, You Rock!! (:
Thank you.
Julia

You can't beat that!!

And, I got a mention on a blog!! I like to be interesting. In fact, I think I'm way more interesting than this blog portrays. No, I don't go into detail on stuff because I sort of learned my lesson on that the hard way - unbelievably, I've had people stalk me from blog to blog for whatever purpose, people break into my blog and email accounts, etc. etc. etc. Its a very long story.

Although I can be a paranoid freak (ie, oh my god, did I turn the curling iron off??!!), I'm not being paranoid about this. I used to have an awesome blog too that I kept for almost a year. I LOVED that thing and it was really a part of me. I even had several regular readers. Unfortunately I had to give it up because it was causing me just too much grief.

I've tried starting over so many times but ... I don't know, although you may think you are anonymous on these things (if you want to be), you really are not. Maybe I'll get back to all of that someday, I hope so, because I really had some fun with it. I am thinking of starting a new little project perhaps next year.

So for now, I AM writing for myself, perhaps telling the incidental story, or just venting, but writing is something that I like to do and enjoy doing every day. It has always sort of been a part of who I am and no one is going to take that away from me.

Cool...

So I hear that one of the coolest chicks on TV - Tina Fey - had a baby. This reminds me of one of the most hilarious rants she ever went off on on Weekend Update on SNL. And the internet is a wonderous place ... I actually was able to find the text of it. This, as far as I'm concerned is CLASSIC, and I couldn't agree more:

The cover story of New York Magazine this week is Baby Panic. This goes
perfectly with the other magazines on my coffee table -- Where Are The Babies?
(US), Why Haven't You Had A Baby? (People), and, For God's Sake Have A Baby
(Time). Thanks Time Magazine, this is just what I need -- another article so
depressing that I can actually hear my ovaries curling up.

According to author Sylvia Hewlett, career women shouldn't wait to have
babies because our fertility takes a steep drop-off after age 27. And Sylvia's
right -- I definitely should've had a baby when I was 27, living in Chicago,
over a biker bar, pulling down a cool 12 grand a year. That woulda worked out
great.

But Sylvia's message is feminism can't change nature, which is true. If
feminism could change nature, Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be all oiled up on the
cover of Maxim.

Ladies, there's no reason to panic though: it's out of your control
anyway. Either your cooter works, or it doesn't.

My mom had me when she was 40, and this was back in the 70s when the
only "fertility aid" was Harvey's Bristol Cream. So, waiting is just a risk that
I'm going to have to take.

And, I don't think I could do fertility drugs, because, to me, 6
half-pound translucent babies is not a miracle! I'd rather adopt a baby. I don't
need a kid that looks like me. I was not a cute kid. I looked like a cross
between that chick from the Indigo Girls... and the other chick from the Indigo
Girls! Not a cute kid.

Love it!!

http://mikebrown.blogspot.com/2005/09/check-out-caption.html

I swear...

Kelly Clarkson's song writers can read my mind!!

LOL!

Friday night's karaoke song list!

My Songs:
1. Cowboy Take Me Away - Dixie Chicks
2. Crazy - Patsy Cline
3. Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
4. ...Baby One More Time - Britney Spears

Umm... yeah... so this was an interesting night. #1 I sing a lot and I sound *if I may toot my own horn* pretty damn good on it. I'm actually a pretty good singer. I had six years of lessons, mostly classical stuff, so singing country and pop is kind of different. But anyway... I'm still good but I used to be so much better, but anyway...

#2 a fistfight actually almost broke out when I was singing this. I have never felt MORE like a real country singer - ha ha!
#3 another one I sound pretty good on
#4 I did this as a joke but ... I couldn't follow thru and be all goofy on it. The sad thing is that I ended up sounding pretty good on this one too

TOOT TOOT!!

Hurricane pictures

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=14ewb3ap.b147fdut&Uy=nyvoby&Ux=1

Last night's little adventure...

So the carpets were being cleaned last night. Its a long story and ... well ... I was kind of annoyed that this was being done on a random Thursday night, but whatever. It looks good now. So anyway, carpets being cleaned, I'm hanging out in my bedroom when all of a sudden, lights, computer, TV, air conditioner, everything goes out. Well, bummer. It appeared to just be in the bedroom and the living room. Everything was working in the other rooms. So... this has sort of happened before when I had the hair dryer and the air conditioner on in the same room - I guess it just doesn't like this. So... go downstairs to flip the fuse box or whatever and the ones for the livingroom and bedroom would not go back into place - usually its a super simple little thing to do. So... ended up talking to the guy downstairs who is also the onsite basic maintenance dude and he didn't think he would be able to handle it then so I'm like well, whatever, its not too hot out, have some lights and have an alarm clock so I guess it ain't that big of a deal. Well I don't know what happened then but he changed his mind, ran off to Home Depot to pick up a part or whatever for the box and whoo-hoo - electricity back up and running!! Thank goodness. Like I said, it wasn't that big of a deal but just would have been annoying to have had to wait til today. Can't imagine what it was like for all of those hurricane survivors to deal with no electricity, no water, no nothing for days on end. I mean this was only like an hour!! Another thing to make you really appreciate what you have and realize your problems are minimal. That is the thought I have gone over and over in recent days. No matter how messed up things might get or how upset I might get over various things. I don't have problems, they have problems. I guess that is what you call perspective.

Oh the drama!!

My sis has a mouse in the house. This all started about three weeks ago when she happened upon it and called my mom up freaking out! LOL! So I guess they thought the mouse was gone but apparently its back - or its a new mouse. Had sort of a funny chitchat about it with her on email. Talking about our cats back home - Frisco and Babe (Babe is no longer with us). Anyway, back in the day Frisk, who usually does not hunt at all (indoor/outdoor cats!) actually caught a mouse. Mom didn't notice and she let her in the house with it. Actually she was carrying both a mouse and a big leaf in her mouth. We always joked that Frisk was actually probably chasing a leaf (she's that kind of silly kitty) and accidentally caught a mouse. Anyway, Babe ended up "re-catching" Frisco's mouse and took it outside for a nice dinner:

Sis: Our mouse is back in our apartment! AAH!
Me: Set more traps or get a cat - ha ha!! ; )
Sis: I'd love to get a cat but Katie is allergic and doesn't like animals! I have to set another trap tonight. Minnie (our mouse) was in one of the drawers in the kitchen eating Hershey Kisses!
Me: OH NO!!! Did you get any poison?? I'd lend you Willow, but she's blind as a bat so I doubt she would be any help.
Sis: Yeah. I bought poison about 3 weeks ago. Guess it didn't work! This time, we
put the poison in the drawer that she was in though so hopefully that will work. 'll set another trap tonight too. I told Jaclyn I might have to borrow one of her cats too but they've only known the indoors so I don't think they've ever seen a mouse. I need Babe!! Or if I could disguise the mouse as a leaf, I could use Frisk!
Me: Exactly ... Babe hunted that one down that day that Frisk brought it in. That was too funny! LOL!!
Sis: Yeah, I don't think she really had any clue what she was doing! Silly kitty.

There is something bothersome to me that they have actually named the mouse and are calling it MINNIE!!

Ha-ha!!

Basically ... stay out of the Atlantic!!

Some stuff...

A few interesting stories regarding the situation in New Orleans ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509060122sep06,1,785100.story?coll=chi-news-col

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0509070245sep07,1,6482254.column?coll=chi-news-hed

Quotes of the day:

The worst thing about Europe is that you can't go out in the middle of the night and get a Slurpee. - Tellis Frank

I take my children everywhere, but they always find their way back home. - Robert Orben

And, oh yeah ... I found the "missing" 'Bill Nye the Science Guy'. Seems he now has a show called "Eye of Nye". Not sure if it was on PBS but some channel like that ; )

Bloggin'

Sorry my blog is so random and weird lately. Just like me - random and weird ; ) Anyway, I do plan to try and still stop by at least once a day. I miss my long detailed blog entries I used to write. People liked to read them too : ( Anyway, perhaps I'll do that again someday, perhaps not. We shall see...

More nonsense found on the web...

Well... at least she knows she's beautiful!!

Sheesh!!!!!

http://amberie.blogspot.com/2005/09/unavailability.html

Anne Rice on New Orleans...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/opinion/04rice.html?ei=5090&en=ce2f33f8719dba9c&ex=1283486400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Yes, the Irish came too. Two branches of my family first step foot on American soil in New Orleans.

Friday night's karaoke song list!!

Song list:
1. She's In Love With The Boy - Trisha Yearwood
2. Son Of A Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield
3. I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany
4. Crazy - Patsy Cline

You have to be kidding me...

Looters and lawlessness aside ...

THIS is actually what is wrong with America today:

http://www.repentamerica.com/pr_hurricanekatrina.html

Who are these people? Yeah right, the wrath of God and all of that. What are you people smoking?

PATHETIC!!!!!!!!

Hurricane relief

Sign up here - simply your name, email address and location - and the Oxygen Network (Oh!) will donate $1 in hurricane relief..

http://speakup.oxygen.com/campaigns/neworleans/register/ 5a10b9058a1f0b4004a3009d04097080/

Definitely the most interesting thing on the internet right now ...

http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

Spinal Tap guy gets it right ...

Watching MSNBC last night and they interviewed Harry Shearer who I guess has a place in New Orleans. New Orleans is one of my favorite places, as I've mentioned, and I thought it was kind of hard to explain why but I think his explanation best sums it up...

"Well, it is a real love affair, and like most love affairs, it‘s hard to explain if you don‘t partake of the emotion. But it‘s the closest you can get to someplace that‘s not in the United States without a visa or a passport. The culture, it has a totally indigenous culture that‘s unique and original, and it‘s been steeping there for 300 years. It‘s a mix of the Caribbean and the French and the African. Every day means something in New Orleans. There‘s a ritual or a meaning or a ceremony or something that marks each day as different from every other day, and it‘s a city that, you know, the joys are great and the sorrows are great, and we celebrate both."

I think I remember reading something similar to this that Jimmy Buffett had written.

Huh...

Bourbon really sort of looks the same...