Quote of the Day

"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." - Robert Frost

Cool stuff...

Big & Rich concert tonight and we're well connected (free tickets)! This email just received:

I just got John Rich's autograph !!!! =) Talked to him for 10 min. He's taking 3 hot chicks to Sacks 5th Ave and 2 other stores I can't even say or spell. LOL!

Pretty freaking cool!

Check out this shadow!!

I have too many friends!

Ha ha !! OK ... thats not true. No one can have too many friends. But, I do have too many friends for my purposes. Still trying to lose weight you know. I seem to be doing more "maintaining" than losing lately though! People want to go out to dinner, drinks, lunch. And I'm so damn popular lately, I seem to have something every single day. No complaints though cause it wasn't like this for several years. But anyway... its trying on weight loss. I just can't say no!!!

Wow!

-- American hostage Jill Carroll, kidnapped in Iraq January 7, has been released, the FBI and The Christian Science Monitor say.

By the way...

Can everyone tell I'm bored today? I'm stuck at work late. Who knows how much more bloggage is possible today! Whoo-hoo!!

: )

So here's something interesting...

So, what do you think about this??

Know my friend who has the problems with her ex? OK, so you don't "know" her but you know who I am talking about. Anyway... so last night she and her current boyfriend went out to dinner and then back to her place to hang. When he was getting ready to leave, he went out to his car and his back window was busted in. Ummm... yeah.

So she immediately thinks its her ex and that was the first thing that came to mind to me too. She told the cops and gave them his contact information. So her boyfriend talked to the cop and the cop told him that he doesn't think it was the ex-boyfriend, as there's been lots of reports of people having their car windows broken and it seems to be a pattern of driver side windows being somehow blown or knocked out. The cop said it looked like whoever did it probably used a bee bee gun. Her boyfriend thinks if it was her ex, it would have been his windshield that would have been broken, rather than a driver side back passenger rear. He agrees with the cop and thinks it was just a stupid teenage prank.

I don't know... seems like there could be more to it to me. We're going to do some fishing and see what we can find out. I guess her boyfriend usually parks in her driveway but this time he parked on the street. How would the ex know it was his car unless he has been watching them, right? I guess that is the thing that potentially creeps me out about this more than a broken window. He would have to know when he's typically there (I know her bf comes over every Wednesday) and that that is his car - otherwise, it could be anyone's car parked on the street.

Kids? Perhaps. But the most simple explanation to me is that the psycho finally went psycho and did it. I think he finally just reached his "last straw". When psycho calls her anymore he typically will not leave a message and he makes sure the call comes in as private so when she sees those calls at work, she won't answer them. But Tuesday her boss was working in a foreign country and when he called, the calls were coming in differently on the caller ID and showed up as "private". So she took a call, talked to her boss, and hung up. She said five minutes later another call came in and she was hesitant to pick it up but she did and it was her boss again saying he had forgotten something. And then five minutes later another call comes in and she assumes its her boss but no... its Mr. Wonderful. So he starts in like she wants to talk to him or something and she says "Oh god..." and hangs up. Personally, I think that finally got him and he freaked.

The whole thing is just too coincidental in my book.

IU gets new coach...

but OUCH!

Yeah ... good luck with that!

-- The U.N. Security Council unanimously approves a statement demanding that Iran suspend uranium enrichment.

The high road...

I think the important thing is to always take the high road ... no matter what ... smile, pretend you care even if you don't ... make the other person feel good... do not delve into bullshit... if it doesn't matter in the outcome of the world... keep your damn mouth shut. Right??

I'm sorry I'm so weird today. Its one of those weirdo days for me when I start thinking about things in really abstract ways like I'm trying to figure out the meaning of life or something. I hate it when I get like this.

Decisions

I often wonder about the decisions I make and if they are the right ones. I mean, of course, sometimes they aren't right, but I stress about them either way. Good or bad, it doesn't matter.

Why is it that sometimes even when I am far removed from a situation, I still feel like I'm in the thick of it? I mean ... years could pass on some of this stuff and its like it just happened today. Why can't I let go?

Why do I care when I know no one else does? Or do they? I just don't know.

Fessing up...

... can feel weird.

Know what?

Sometimes I just hate people...

OK, that was a random ranting...

In other news, I received some very very sad news today. One of my very good friends may be moving away - far far FAR away. I'm so sad.

Enough for now.

Linkage!

I am being linked to by another blogger! Whoo-hoo!

And... can't I relate...

Cool!

http://www.diserio.com/top15-skylines.html

How much do I love this song?

"Just Might (Make Me Believe)"
by: Sugarland

I got miles of trouble spreadin' far and wide
Bills on the table gettin' higher and higher
They just keep on comin', there ain't no end in sight
I'm just holding on tight...
I've got someone who loves me more then words can say
And I'm thankful for that each and every day
And if I count all my blessings, I get a smile on my face
Still it's hard to find faith..

[Chorus:]
But if you can look in my eyes
And tell me we'll be alright
If you promise never to leave
You just might make me believe

Its just day to day tryin' to make ends meet
What id give for an address out on easy street
I need a deep margarita to help me unwind
Leave my troubles behind...

[Repeat Chorus]

I used to believe in us
When times got tough
But lately I'm afraid that even love is not enough

[Chorus:]
But if you can can look in my eyes
And tell me we'll be alright
If you promise never to leave you just might make me
Oh, you just might make me
You just might make me believe

THIS ROCKS!!

Totally HILARIOUS!

LOL!

Feeling like a winner right now
Feeling like a damn gorgeous model right now
Feeling like a winner
I rock
I am awesome
I can't get over how awesome I am

LOL!!!

Isn't it great when you have this feeling?

OK so I'm overstating it a bit but .... I like it when things work out the way they should. I can't imagine!!!!!!!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY ME!

OK, I have said enough. Don't want anyone carting me off to the funny farm just yet. I mean, just yet! THERE IS ENTIRELY TOO MUCH TO DO!!!!!

Tell me that I don't know this person either!

DEAR ABBY: I'm ready to tear my hair out. My boyfriend of two years refuses to divorce his wife. He tells everyone he wants to marry me. He says he doesn't love her, he just "doesn't have time" to go and get the divorce.

She was in a mental hospital for a while for killing her boyfriend. Now they talk a lot, and he says he feels sorry for her. I want him to get the divorce so he can marry me.

Am I pushing too hard on this, because I told him if he isn't divorced by July 4, I am leaving. -- CONFUSED IN INDIANA


DEAR CONFUSED: I don't think you're pushing too hard, and I also don't think he is being completely honest with you. Your timing seems logical to me. What better time to declare your independence than Independence Day?

More!!

OK ... I'm not sure I have ever received THIS compliment before:

Melissa-

You are money! I am up and running. Thank you so much for your help and patience, I really
appreciate it.

Another blog marathon?

Lets see... what can I write about?

So last night went out for some dinner and drinks after work. It was very nice. More yummy Bob Chinn's mai tais and my favorite chicken salad of the moment. I love chicken and I love salad - its a perfect combo. Ironically, that is what I just gone done eating for lunch too. I could eat chicken for every meal I swear. I'm such a weirdo...

So that was nice and then home, sort of watched ER but I konked out yet again! I don't know what it is with me! So fortunately the DVR taped everything I wanted to watch last night so I can just watch it tonight cause so far no plans. Oh well, I will be happy enough to spend a quiet evening at home on a Friday night. Can't think of any plans for tomorrow either but I'm sure something will materialize.

Ummm.... this morning's phone shift was just insane. Fortunately I have like nothing to follow up on EXCEPT yet another issue that doesn't even belong in this department. This one the buck was passed point blank. I basically spoke to the person who should be handling it and she wouldn't take it. What is that about? Oh well... Above and beyond for me again. I guess this must be why I got my latest performance bonus. Did I ever mention that? Yeah, all of this bitching but I do get rewards. And, this is actually the second time I have gotten one. I got one a few months ago too. They don't give them every month and you have to be nominated by your manager and I guess the VP chooses so its sort of a big deal to get one. Pat on the back for me. They are't a lot of money but every little bit helps!!

So... phone shift, chicken salad for lunch, and I'm pretty much just hanging here for the rest of the day unless any of my cases decide to call back. I'm pretty updated on everything so I'm not sure I'll hear back from anyone.

Woke up to a skimming of snow this morning but its mostly gone now. The weather isn't so bad out. I think its supposd to start warming back up this weekend but with some snow/rain mixes. Oh well, I'll be so happy when the weather is good again. I need a real break at some point. I have all of this vacation time now and no where to go really at the moment. Since I have been at my job for 5+ years I have a month of vacation plus two weeks of sick time. And, thats wonderful to me, but the problem with that is that none of my close friends or my sister or whomever has that amount of time built up yet so its not like we can just run away on extra trips or whatever.

So that is it for the moment. I may be back for more later when I'm looking for something else to do.

Later!

More accolades...

Another nice note from a user regarding the outcome of problem #1 I detailed in yesterday's entry:

Melissa, Thank you from the bottom of my heart. When I am giving my presentation here in Seattle, I will be thinking about all of you at XXXX, you, Melissa, and Shirley, the receptionist who was so helpful and a big thanks to Jess who was part of the solution, too. Thank you to everyone!

I need a drink!!

Man oh man ... the crazies are out in force today in the tech support world. OK, not the crazies but just your typical every day crap that goes on that we have to deal with.

1) User calls in a panic that her program is not launching. She had had a new operating system installed prior to her business trip (where she is making a presentation that requires our software) and did not test her applications after the install of the operating system. So - surprise surprise - she goes halfway across the country only to find out her software won't work. Yeah, well, thats because its not supposed to be installed on that operating system. So... she's in need of a patch. Well, this usually should not be that big of a deal to just go and download it from our website but she only has a dialup connection where she is, the patch is huge, so its going to take hours. Cue me jumping thru hoops trying to get something shipped to her for AM delivery tomorrow. Above and beyond ... following thru with something my department typically does not do. We're tech, not admin ... but nonetheless... So far its looking like its going to happen for her - we'll see. The lesson here is, make major change to your machine - do some testing. Speaking of going above and beyond in stuff that is technically not my job but I get roped into, got another nice message from a user about something like that just today:

"I just forwarded you the last e-mail we received from Service. They sent a
new code after your e-mail yesterday and I was able to verify it this
morning with a faculty member. We would not be up and running without
your assistance -- I also know it wasn't your job! Thank you so much!"

Anyway...

2) User calls who barely speaks English. OK, this is wrong. User seems to speak English perfectly but with an EXTREME Mexican/Spanish accent. And, she speaks very quickly. Everyone says that when you hear other languages spoken they aren't speaking quickly, it just sounds like that and if you spoke another language, English would sound the same way to you. OK, this is probably true but .... She was speaking English so quickly with such a strong accent that she might as well have been speaking another language. Really, she should have just tried the Spanish on me. I have 3 1/2 years of classes - I think I could have given it a shot - really! It would have been better than the conversation we were having. I was somehow able to understand the problem she is having and it is a common problem with some typically easy fixes but there was going to be no way we could have done the troubleshooting on the phone and survived. It would have taken hours and as it was, she had to repeat her email address at least four times to me in order for me to get it. So I coolly but professionally let her know there were all of these things that she could try to fix this and that it would be so much easier *for her* if she were to just read the instructions from email and go thru them one by one. So that is what we did and I even added additional instructions to the email. Surprisingly enough, it went thru (guess I got the address correct) so now we'll just wait to see if she writes back to say it worked or not. Keeping my fingers crossed but not counting on it!!

3) Just got stuck on the phone with a user for like 45 minutes who had somehow screwed up his network install. I have no idea why it wasn't working. All I had him do was uninstall, reinstall with me walking him thru it and now it works perfectly. Calls like that always seem like such a waste. You would think that the average person has the imagination to think... oh, this didn't work ... let me try it again just to be sure. At least thats how I handle things. I don't understand the mentality behind some users who will install once and absolutely refuse to try and install again and call us and all we find out is that they have a bunch of junk installed on their machines and its amazing that anything even works. They think they are required to get it on the machine once and what happens after that is up to us. Bull......

Anyway, its always a fun day at the shop. Seriously, I am in need of alcohol. There ain't much more I want to do today.

So last night I ended up at the bowling alley - I haven't been in a few weeks. I'm talking about the local bowling alley, not the place from last weekend. OK ... I'm not some bowl nerd or something. Sadly, the bowling alley seems to have one of the best bars nearby. We used to hang out at another local bar where they have the NTN Trivia and Texas Hold Em but they got rid of those machines so we're not so big on that place anymore. So now the bowling alley has it, plus we've become pretty good friends with a bunch of people who hang there, as well as the bartenders. They also have karaoke every Wednesday night, some decent parties and drink specials and packages and 50 cent bowling on Tuesday nights. Its like I've died and gone to Sullivan. The big joke in Sullivan is that the bowling alley is the only place to hang - or at least to eat. Well, thats not really the truth about Sullivan anymore but you know what I mean.

So yeah I go in there last night and play some trivia and had maybe 1 1/2 beers as I don't really drink anymore. Anyway... psycho boy was there and he started talking to me asking me about his ex's current boyfriend. I said he was a really nice guy. He wanted to know what he looked like and if he was a "small guy" and I'm like ... no, I'd say he's average height and build. Then he mentioned something about how he heard he was quiet or whatever and I said he was a little quiet but I thought that might be because he was meeting people for the first time and he was being teased about singing karaoke when he didn't want to. So then he goes... "Sounds like he's the opposite of me" and I started laughing (couldn't help it) and said "I would say he is the EXACT opposite of you." It was pretty funny.

Anyway, have a few things I need to wrap up here this afternoon. Wish I could chat longer. I have about a million things on my "to-do" list for the next week. I am so not looking forward to it.

LOVE!!

- Melissa

PM headaches

I don't know what it is with me anymore but I just seem to always feel so YUCK in the PM's anymore - headachey, lethargic, just all around bad. Its no wonder that I can't make myself go workout. I have like no energy. I need to take some vitamins or something. Also, I'm usually typically a night kind of person but the last few days, I'm going to bed early and sleeping late. I feel like I'm out of it by 9pm. Last night I even almost konked out at the beginning of The Amazing Race - yikes! - I can't miss that! But I managed to awaken myself and forced myself to stay up through it. Then I went to bed immediately at 10pm and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Weird. Thats happening more and more lately!

Ha!

I could have told you this!

The weekend...

So remember me mentioning that guy that I used to date that my friend and I run into on occasion? Ummm... yeah. So long story short I ended up spending my Friday evening with him.

OK ... not like that ... as a group and he has a girlfriend now (thank god) so... I was able to deal with it but it wasn't exactly my first choice for St. Patrick's Day.

One of these days I'll get all the way into the *sordid* tale. Its actually pretty interesting.

But anyway, out Friday night. His girlfriend is OK. She's a little annoying in that she pretty much can't shut up but other than that, she's OK. Not the cutest, but whatever. Not every girl can be as cute as me, right?? ha ha! Whatever...

So anyway, ended up bowling out in the burbs at an "all you can bowl" laser bowl thing - open bowling til 2am. We stayed til 12-something. It was OK... I never do well at laser bowl - I just can't see that well. So I sucked more than normal but whatever. What I need to get back to are my 50 cent bowling Tuesdays and get some more practice. I was doing pretty well there for a while. Even bowled 148 one night which is probably my second highest ever. Thats good for me, a chick who doesn't bowl too often.

So anyway, the two of them are living together - their place is fairly nice - in Downers Grove, one bed-room apartment. Nothing too special but nice enough. She was playing the gracious hostess and all. We sat around, drank some beers and watched basketball. Got to see Kansas lose which was just wonderful to me because 1) I hate Kansas and 2) Its this dude's favorite team and 3) He was even wearing a Kansas shirt that evening. After that headed to the bowling alley.

The guy is a piece of work - which is why it didn't work out between us - but the new girlfriend seems to be ruling him with an iron fist. She must really want it to work out because she is going above and beyond what a girlfriend should do but whatever makes her happy I suppose. For one, she got him on medication. I am so not kidding about that. I think its valium but if you ask me, he needs something stronger. He freaks out because of his job and his life and this makes him drink. Blah blah... She has supposedly banned him from hard alcohol. Yeah ... we'll see about that. I have to check out what he's drinking the next time my friend and I run into him at the bar after work. And, they're even going to Las Vegas and she is going to be controlling the money. So basically what he has is some mommy figure. But like I said, if that's what she wants. Fine.

Its funny how I think that Rule #1 in any relationship is that you cannot change someone - no matter what. Don't even try, its not going to work. To me, she's breaking Rule #1 and while it seems to be working at the moment... how long will it work? How long til he goes back to his old ways and treats her like shit too? How long til she has to go away on business or something and he's *home alone*? I'm sorry but someone with the problems that he has, its just not going to go away like that. Whatever ...

So it wasn't a horrible evening but also not what I would have picked out but what can you do? If I have to see him again, at least I know that I can deal with him, and she's nice enough. The thing I will not do is lie to her. If she asks me any questions about the "past", I will tell her the truth and the truth isn't going to be pretty. Its not my job to hid the kind of person that he is from her.

Saturday and Sunday I spent in my hometown of Sullivan, Indiana! Went down for my Grandma's birthday and pretty much the whole fam was there except for my cousin Grant who had to work. My uncle from Texas came too but his family didn't come. It was a good time - out to dinner, watched some basketball, etc. etc. It was a very nice visit. I need to get down there again sometime soon. We'll see how that works out.

Thats it for now - maybe more later!

Mel blog marathon!!

Welcome to my Friday... Welcome to me being done for the day even though I'm still at work. Unless something pressing comes about, I plan on doing nothing for the remainder of the day so I have decided instead to put on a blog marathon where hereby I will inform you of every little tiny thing that I'm thinking about? Excited? You should be.

First up...

My nails!!

I got my nails done today at lunch and they absolutely ROCK!!!! I had sort of taken a break from them and they just looked horrible so time to go back. I made the wise decision of soaking them off myself with some direction from my friend Dawn. I had never soaked them off myself before and 1) hate having to pay the extra $$ to have them do it at the place or 2) hate not paying the extra $$ at the place and just have them rip them off - it hurts like hell! So, did it on my own, it was a success and that is how I plan on doing it in the future.

But anyway... went in and there was this new chick there that I had never seen - actually spoke English - and discussed my options. Thats a first. So we decided to do a french manicure with gel. I had done gel in the past but not in the last several years because the acrylic is a little cheaper and I found that I didn't have any problems with it. Some of my friends had complained about how the quality wasn't as good and how it really dries out your nails. I never really had this though so decided to save some $$ and stick to acrylic.

So she does my nails and ended up doing like 4 steps I had never seen before. They look great!! I really can't get over it. The place I go to is sort of a firstcome-firstserved kind of place so I'm hoping this girl is available the next time I go. If they always looked this nice then I know for a fact that I wouldn't put off going like I do.

So... happy stuff for me!!

And ... a HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY to all of you! I had written a nice St. Patrick's Day post earlier but Blogger decided to eat it for lunch so it never got posted. Anyway, anyone up to anything special besides drinking? Isn't it always nice when St. Patty's Day is on a Friday? Of course, Chicago had its big St. Patty's Day celebration LAST weekend. And, for the second year in a row, I didn't really participate. I think I've sort of outgrown the drunken bru-ha-ha. I may do something tonight though but not sure what yet. Sort of leaning towards just going to a local pub for a couple of drinks although I do have the option of going out to Plainfield for a party. Not sure I'm up for the to/from drive. Its like an hour each way! We'll see what develops. I have a lot of stuff I need to take care of this weekend such as filling my gas tank, washing my car and doing some laundry. It has to be done!!

I'm wondering ... did I ever blog about last weekend? I don't think so... So yeah, I was going out with my friend and her new boyfriend (my friend is the one with the psycho ex). Anyway, her new boyfriend is super nice and fairly good looking too. He's kind of quiet but that might just be about meeting new people. We had some dinner, had some drinks - super strong margaritas - went to another bar for karaoke... sang some songs (not him though). For the life of me... oh yeah... I DO remember what I sang. Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" (this is a song with a kind of inside joke between me an her ... we have a dance actually - LOL!) and "We Belong" by Pat Benetar. By the time I got to my second song I was so drunk I sounded like crap which is sad cause I'm a good singer. I stopped before it was over even. Its funny how some people get better at karaoke the drunker they are. And then there's me, the opposite, who just sounds worse. Oh well... it was a great night and we're already planning on getting together sometime soon again.

Actually I went out with her on Tuesday night after work. We "bumped in to" this guy I used to date... blahh... long story. I bump into him a lot and I'm OK with it because there was never really a lot of emotion in the whole thing anyway ... OK so thats not entirely true, there was emotion but it was misplaced emotion... we pretty much managed to avoid him. He's like 33 and the type that still has to go out every night. What a freaking drunk! Like I said, long story. After that we took the train out to the burbs and went to our current favorite bar. They have this nice $1 off mai tais and margaritas on Tuesday deal that we like and the mai tais are YUM!! They are those Bob Chinn's ones (if you've ever had them)... and these are the full cups, not the short cups like they have at Wrigley Field. So we ate and drank and I don't know if it was lack of food or what but I was pretty loopy. She was pretty loopy too but may have just been picking up the vibe from me. So we decide to walk to Osco after this and buy some candy. What? Yeah, I know, totally random. Actually, she is trying to quit smoking and is doing quite well but she's been eating candy to help curb the cravings. I'm not sure thats a good idea but its not like she's eating chocolate and stuff like that. She's pretty much sticking to Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers and gum. So whatever... so in our stooper we go to Osco and look at all of the candy and have like serious conversations about it... it was funny. Like... how come there are so few choices for gum flavors these days? Remember when we were in junior high and there were like 20 flavors? You guys know what I mean? I mean, think about Bubbalicious, HubbaBubba, Bubble-Yum ... if you look at the typical drug store today, you might see five choices of flavors. I remember full walls stocked with various flavors back in the late 80s/early 90s. I remember buying mint chocolate chip gum. I mean, how disgusting is that? But anyway... so we talk about the candy we love, she buys her stuff and I ended up buying a bag of that strawberry sour punch. I don't know what it is with that stuff and me but its like a weakness and its not like its something you find that easily. But anyway... we were so goofy. We checked out at the liquor counter and quizzed the check-out girl if we looked like we were still young enough to card. So random. LOL! Thinking aboaut it now ... man, I bet we looked like real quality gals that night.... and it was a TUESDAY! Oh well... fun is fun!!! Anyway, we had a really nice time that night.

I'm trying to think of what else to post right now and nothing is coming to mind. My sister emailed me that Iowa lost to Northwestern State and I have to have a big ha ha over that. The Big Ten champions lose and my measley (sp??) Hoosiers are still in? OK ... so they were the Big Ten TOURNAMENT champions and not the Big Ten champions. But you know what I mean!! I wonder though... because of that loss, did Mr. Steve Alford just punch his ticket to Bloomington?! One can dream I suppose.

Today as a matter of pride (and having nothing else to wear) I am wearing my CRIMSON (not red) Indiana Hoosiers sweatshirt. Whoo-hoo! Red you say? On St. Patrick's Day? Yeah ... I am also wearing my shamrock necklace - which I actually wear everyday - and it has two green emeralds in it. So my green is covered. No one has tried to pinch me yet. I wonder if I should be disappointed...

Later!!

Sears Tower update

Here is the correction...

LOL!

CLASSIC!

Hair update!

I just wanted to let all of you, who I know were so very concerned about my hair situation, know that everything turned out A-OK last night. I ended up going to this one girl who had done my hair way back when and had done a good job. I'm much blonder than I was - I like it. I think I'll stick with my regular chick and see what ideas she has in the future but I'm very happy with my hair right now. The other thing I am happy with is the cut. I have been obsessing the last few years about making my hair as straight as possible when, in reality, my hair ain't all that straight. It has a lot of body and wave in it and I have decided that fighting what I have is futile. Sure, I've had some great cuts in the past that have helped and I have tried every kind of straightening gel and straightening iron known to man and ... sometimes it works... but I guess it just ain't me. Yes, at one point in my life I did have poker straight hair but then hormones happened and I just don't have it anymore. Pointless to fight it- I think natural is better- and I am very happy with the way it looks this morning. Thanks for listening.

Naysayers

I hate being smug about sports cause anything can happen at any point but I just needed to wish all of you naysayers who counted my Hoosiers out in the first round of the NCAA tournament a big F-U this fine morning! Yep - I'm saying it!! Sure, they won by a last second shot and sure they'll probably get their ass handed to them in the next round but HA HA HA HA HA! Hope they busted your brackets. I know I made the right choice!!

Yeah so...

That article I linked to earlier about the Sears Tower ends up being a bunch of sensationalized bullshit!

We got the actual story from building management today and

1) The incident did not happen three weeks ago, it was six months ago
2) The individuals were not taking pictures, they were parked in a no-parking area and left immediately when asked

Crazy... you would think that media outlets around here would be more responsible when doing their reporting. It sounded like there were some upset people around here and I'm not sure I blame them!

Oh geez....

Suspicions at Sears!!

And in other news, my train got stopped this morning on the way in. We sat there for not too long but long enough that it was annoying. Something was up and I'm not sure what. There were lots of cops walking around the tracks, cop cars, cops walking down alleys. It seemed to me that they were looking for *someone* and not *something* ... at least I hope so. Eventually they let us go and nothing else happened. It was kind of weird though.

A term for the affliction!!!

Word of the Day:

megalomania: a mental disorder characterized by delusions of grandeur.

Great ... I wondered what that was called!

Sound like anyone you know? Yeah, well, it sounds like about three people I know!

So bummed out...

I am supposed to go get my hair highlighted today. I always go to the same girl at the same place. Well anyway, they called me this morning to let me know she had called in sick and they would need to put me with someone else. Blah!! I haven't been to anyone else in years. So I asked if she possibly had hours tomorrow if she might be in and she doesn't so... I am going to go to someone else even though I really really don't want to but I really really need to get this done because it has been a while! The girl I'm going to I actually went to once upon a time one time and she's good. My concern is that I had planned on making a change this time. I have always been blond but not super blond as we typically do a mix of highlights and lowlights. Historically (ha) the highlights have outnumbered the lowlights. But the last several times I have actually been going darker and darker with less blond. This time I wanted to start phasing back into blond. So... I'm trying to decide if I should just wait and phase back into blond the next time and go with what they have me in the computer as being or just let this girl know and go for it. I know she's been there a long time and she is good. I just don't know.....

Auugghhh!!!

To say that I am starving right now would be an understatement!! What the heck is going on?!! Errrr....

I might have to get a snack for the train ride home which I hate doing but I'm hungry to the point of being ill!!!!!

TWO Words of the Day

Ides: the fifteenth day of March, May, July, and October, and the thirteenth day of the other months.

uxorious: excessively fond of or submissive to a wife. (I like this one!)

Since this, *sadly*, goes along with my job...

HAPPY PI DAY!!

When it rains...

Oh man last night the weather was just nuts - and I can't say the nuttiness has really stopped just yet.

Last night, the wind and the rain.... It was rainining harder than I think I have quite possibly ever seen it. And it was burst after burst of this weather. It was really really weird. No idea how much rain we ended up with but I would say several inches.

Then the weather got even weirder after that. It has been fairly warm but this morning when I left my place it was 65 degrees. It has since dropped to 41. I wore a jacket this morning when I left for work. I knew it was going to get cooler but there was no way I was wearing my heavy winter coat this morning so I have a fleece on so that plus the jacket ... I think I'll be OK.

Water water everywhere this morning! You know, one of those mornings where everything is so waterlogged that the earthworms are out of the ground and all over the sidewalks. Reminded me of elementary school days after big rains when we would play outside on recess and the boys would fling the worms at us. Not that this scared me ... I was the type of girl who just flung them back. Ha ha!!

I have about a million and a half things going on this week. I don't know how I'll keep it all straight. Plus, I'm not feeling all that great... icky girl stuff. Blah!!!!! I'm craving every kind of junk food known to man. I wonder if I'll go work out tonight?? Hmmm... Remains to be seen I suppose.

Anyway, thats about it for now. I guess I have a lot of things I could write about but no interest in really continuing this post. I may be back with more later!!

And yet... somehow...

The Hoosiers pull through!!!

Basketball suckage

Supposedly my *mighty* Indiana Hoosiers have managed to score a whole 15 points by half time in their game with Wisconsin today. Yikes! On the other hand, Wisconsin only scored 19. Still... I think my elementary school basketball teams scored at least 15 points by half time in an average game. How sad is that?

Yes, folks, its time for March Madness. And, somehow, despite IU not making the tournament in the last couple of years (if they will this year remains to be seen), I am still somehow able to get in to it. Actually I have won some nice dough the last couple of years in some pools. I think its because since my heart was out of it, I was able to think with my head and therefore make some good picks. I won our pool at work here last year- beat all of the boys! You have to love that. And now I've even been put in charge of the pool here in our Chicago office. LOL! How funny is that?

So, gonna put in a few dollars again this year and see how I make out!

Good idea

Well, that was quick!

-- Dubai-owned company has decided to transfer fully the U.S. operation of P&O ports in North America to a U.S. entity, according to Sen. John Warner.

Wow!!

Maybe perhaps they can *sometimes* stand up to The Man!

Spring-like weather

Currently a balmy 57 degrees here in the Chicagoland area. Nice! I hear its going up to a high of 65 today. I was a little warm in the winter coat on the train this morning. I think its supposed to cool back off tonight. Wish the weather would just decide to stick around. I am so ready for it to be spring and start back with all of the fun stuff that goes on in this area in the spring and summer!! Festivals, baseball, outdoor activities, just being able to walk to and from the train. I'm really looking forward to it!!! Not going to count my chickens though cause it isn't unusual for us to get a snowstorm in April! Oh well... spring will be here soon enough. Wish I could head down south for a bit but I just don't think I have the time this year.

Headache

I don't know what it is but I have the worst headache right now. I just ate lunch and should be doing well. Let me tell you about my yummy lunch. Actually it was leftovers from last night's dinner.

I usually shop at Jewel and they were having this "buy one, get one free" deal on these panini sandwiches. They're not made in their deli ... I'm not really sure what brand they were but they come wrapped in brown paper ... anyway got this for dinner last night and it was super yum! It was also a ton of food so I had the rest of it and an orange today for lunch. I will definitely have to get them again!!

Anyway, stuck working til 6 tonight. Oh well... and I really need to go workout. I'm going to force myself to, no matter what. I've been doing really well on watching what I eat and just need an extra push I think. I have started back working out some but I'm going to need to start hitting it hard to make a difference, I think. I am also vowing that beginning in April I will start walking to the train every day instead of parking at my friend's place.

Oh yeah, speaking of my friend, this is the one with the psycho ex. Anyway, things are going really really really well with her and her new boyfriend and I'm even going to dinner with them this weekend and will meet him for the first time. So that will be interesting. Anyway, psycho boy STILL hasn't stopped calling her. Its not as constant as it was and he's even gotten to the point where sometimes he will just call and hang up and not leave a message but every once in a while he will leave a message.

So pycho boy is out in Tahoe this week with another friend of his (yes, sadly, I still know what is going on in his life) and even though he's supposed to be out there having fun and being on vacation or whatever... he's still calling and he left her a message yesterday. What a freaking loser! He was all talk before he want to Tahoe or whatever about how he was going to hook up and "get some" out there... Blah blah ... yeah, right! I'm sure he was just talking that crap in front of me cause he thought I'd go and tell my friend and it would upset her. 1) I didn't tell her anything; and 2) She wouldn't have been upset anyway.

I don't think he understands that this new relationship is really going someplace and when I say its going someplace... I mean, they might end up together. I honestly think that. She loves the new guy. Yep. How much of an asshole does this guy look like now that not only is he still bothering the crap out of his ex but he's bothering the crap out of his ex who is in love with another man that she potentially has a future with? Again ... LOSER!!

So cause my world goes round and round as everyone else's does and ... one story seems to be connected to another ... lets continue on with this. So I saw psycho boy a couple of weeks ago. I've seen him twice maybe recently and I know I had said I wasn't going to be in the same vicinity as him anymore but thats really kind of difficult because I have other friends that I want to hang with and well... I can't avoid everyone all the time. But I have definitely become less friendly to him and the last two times I saw him I really didn't even speak to him. He knows I'm pissed at him and he knows why so whatever. I'm not hanging around the group for his company!

Anyway so the story is told ... oh and let me just say since he has been planning this trip to Tahoe... its like non-stop talk from him about all of the fun he's going to have, and the bars he's going to go to and the chicks he's going to hook up with. Like I said, I've been around him twice recently and even I got sick of hearing about this stuff non-stop. So this friend he was going with, I met him once ...maybe twice, I don't remember. So psycho boy is telling this story about how he's going to have to get to the airport super early for the flight and all and it really sounded like he was going an unreasonable amount of time early so we're all like... umm... you don't need to go that early. And he says that he does because of certain circumstances and then proceeds to tell us that he has to go early because the friend he is going with is ON THE TERRORIST WATCH LIST. Holy crap!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! First ... yikes - I know someone on the terrorist watch list. What is that all about?! So we were asking him as to why and he says that his friend will not tell him. So some of us surmise that this guy like freaked out on a flight or was drunk on a flight or did something stupid at one point or another and got himself flagged in the system. The guy also has a super Irish first and last name so I was thinking, OK ... maybe he has the same name as some IRA dude or whatever but if that were the case, don't you think he would tell that story?! So yeah... nice friends you have there psycho boy.

My friend was definitely slumming when she was with him and she knows it and wonders what she was thinking and believe me, I can relate. I think we've all been there but man... some people in this world really have problems. And its like... some people in this world have REAL problems ... like they're poor or sick or homeless or something like that. And then there's people like this who have problems but its of their own making. Psycho boy is the son of a surgeon and he grew up in a beautiful house in an exclusive neighborhood in Burr Ridge and yet he somehow just ended up being a piece of crap.

Word of the Day

Maybe we'll get lucky...

putsch: A secretly plotted, sudden attempt to overthrow a government

Trying to be nicer today...

Plus there's so much sad stuff going on right now.

First Kirby Puckett and then Dana Reeve.

I couldn't believe that when I heard about Dana Reeve. How sad. I feel really bad for their kid!

Militant Melissa

I don't know why I'm just so politically pissed off lately. I just can't stand it anymore. What country are we even in anymore!! Auugghh!!!

OK, I'm really a good caring girl. I mean, really, I am!!

Fun stuff I'm looking forward to is the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert that I just obtained tickets for! Can't wait!!!

You see, wackos...

You see wackos, the majority of most parents while undoubtedly disappointed are understanding and don't want one mistake to potentially alter the course of their teenage daughter's life. Its you haters that have that problem!

I think I might be coming down with something...

I'm not sure ... last night I was positively exhausted. I had worked out for an hour so I sort of chalked it up to that but ended up falling asleep on the couch for a bit between 8 and 9. At 9 I got back up and just went to bed which is at least an hour and a half earlier than I go to bed normally. I fell right asleep. It was nice to get so much sleep but I woke up and my throat hurt. It may have just been dry - I don't know - but its still kind of scratchy now. And in the last 15 minutes or so I have sort of gotten a headache. Blah.... I don't know what my problem is. Going to try and work out again tonight. I really need to because I have been so lazy lately.

Wacko story of the day...

Pizza Magnate Modifies Plans for Fla. Town

I have never been able to stomach Dominos Pizza anyway. I have tried it several times - mostly because its cheap. I always thought it was the sausage or pepperoni making me feel gross. So I tried just the cheese - same thing. Now beginning to believe it was something else entirely making my body reject it!

OK...

So perhaps yesterday I was overly politically negative. It happens. Oh well... I still stand by it.

Up bright and early this morning cause I had to work eary - ugghh! I don't have to do that too often anymore but the person who usually takes this shifts is in training this week and it is known that although I don't prefer these early shifts, I don't really mind them either. So anyway...

Its like chaos in the department lately. People leaving, new people, new people not sticking around blah blah blah... I think those of us who are here at present will probably stick around for a while and not necessarily because its a great job. As someone said in a meeting the other day... we all have "ulterior motives". Mine is that I can wear jeans to work every day and have four weeks of vacation and get paid fairly well for it. Can you really complain about that? I don't know, we'll see how it goes. I really have no "career goals" of any kind which is kind of sad but its how I feel lately.

Posting another nice note from one of my users here. Everytime I get fed up with certain people or just really want to run into the bathroom and pull my hair out (which I almost did two weeks ago), I try and remember that there are some people who are really nice to work with:


Dear Melissa,

Although I will need continued support, I want to thank you for being so responsive throughout the day. I am grateful that you were able to provide direction. You are perhaps the best technician I have ever worked with. Congratuations on a job well done. I suggest you forward this note to your managers, so they know what a fine employee they have.

Girls...

If you live in South Dakota or Mississippi, its time to MOVE!

I cannot get over the lack of respect for women that these two state governments are showing.

If you're pregnant cause you got raped or Cousin Jim Bob Joe decided to play "doctor" with ya... well ... just too damn bad. Get in the car and go out of state to get your abortion cause this state thinks you probably deserved it.

Free food rocks!

We have management meetings going on in our office this week so they're bringing in lunch everyday and us peons are getting the leftovers. Can't beat it though! Yesterday veggie sandwich and today cheese pizza! LOVE IT!!