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!!

More of the same...

Nothing to discuss... Wanna see where all I have been in the US?




create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Blah...

I can just tell this is going to be a wasted week. I'm so out of it, so un-motivated... So do not want to be here.

No real reason... I'm just not interested in work right now. Wish I could go away for a weekend or something and do something fun.

Unfortunately stuff like that probably won't be happening for me any time in the near term. Oh well...

Just so you know...

Big Brother is watching...

The Da Vinci Code

OK... I had put off reading this book for as long as I could. For one, I'm not really into reading the "trendy" book of the day - other than John Grisham who I am like addicted to. I am more interested in reading the "classics" or finding new authors on my own. But this one seemed to be one that everyone was reading so I got the book for Christmas - started it recently and just finished it today.

It is a very good book although not as gripping as how I have heard it described. Maybe its because I have watched too many of those History Channel documentaries about it before I read it or maybe ... I don't know. It is very interesting though especially a lot of the history. I sort of wonder how much of it is exactly true and how much of it is fictional.

I will have to say though, the last chapter ... that was almost worth the read. The last chapter was something - I actually felt like I couldn't breathe when I read it so... I guess I would recommend this book and say it is worth the read but just look at it with an open mind.

Dream vacations

What would yours be? Give me some ideas to keep me warm this cold afternoon!

Yikes!

A big whoo-hoo to the working class!
-----Original Message-----
From: BreakingNews@MAIL.CNN.COM [mailto:BreakingNews@MAIL.CNN.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 10:38 AM
To: TEXTBREAKINGNEWS@CNNIMAIL12.CNN.COM
Subject: CNN Breaking News

-- Eight workers at a meat processing plant in Nebraska are the winners of a record $365 million Powerball jackpot, AP reports.

Well...

In case anyone was concerned and I know you were all just freaking out ...

I am happy to report that my phone was in my car afterall!

Thank goodness!

Ok, that is about it for now. Perhaps I will be back with more later!

Auurrgghh!!!

I'm sort of bumming right now. I have no idea where my cell phone is! Its brand new too so that totally sucks. The thing is, I think its in my car but I'm not sure. The story is that this morning I left the apartment and forgot to take it. So I made it downstairs and and realized this and went back up and got it. I don't know what I did with it after that. I'm guessing that I did not put it in my purse because it isn't there. I hope I just put it on my car seat and went off and left it - I'm parked at my friend's place so if I did that, it should be safe. But the thought is crossing my mind that I put it in my coat pocket and if I did that - well, its definitely not there so it would have fallen out of my pocket and would now be lost. So I'm totally bumming about this because its brand new and really cool. Blahh... Oh well... worst case is if I lost it, I would just buy another one because I want that phone!!!

Stuff

Well, yikes! I guess the weather was kinda bad down home last night. Mom said they had warnings when I called yesterday evening to congratulate my dad on Mike Davis resigning. I had spoken to her earlier in the day as well and she said it was 70 degrees. No wonder!

"In Indiana, an apparent tornado on Thursday blew the roof off a church in
Terre Haute, and the roof on an Ivy Tech State College building partially
collapsed. Another suspected tornado damaged nearly a dozen homes in
Vincennes, about 100 miles southwest of Indianapolis, authorities said."

In other news ... ummm.... yesterday on my way home someone told me to be careful. I should have heeded the warning cause as I'm entering the train station (and it was raining outside and everything was slick) and took one step on the escalator I proceeded to fall and slide all the way down the bottom. I am so not kidding. I guess you could say it was embarrassing but I get embarrassed by very little - at least stuff like that. Some guy basically picked me up off of the ground. I couldn't believe it - I was like sitting there in shock at the bottom of the escalator. At least it was one of those short ones. I didn't get hurt which I guess was pretty lucky although I do feel sore today and it seemed to have ripped off two of my acrylic nails - I need new ones anyway.

So I don't know if it was the achey-ness of it all of what but then I overslept this morning by 20-25 minutes so I ended up taking the later train which wasn't that big of a deal but I look like crap right now. Took a shower and barely dried my hair even though its like 20 degrees out. Threw on some clothes and ran out the door. At least I made it here in time.

Thats about all of the drama going on in my life at the moment. I may be back for more later. We shall see...

So... just how important IS it?

A nice note I got from one of our users today at the FBI after helping him write some code. Hmmm...


Melissa ...
This worked perfectly. Thank you so much for your PROMPT support and attention. You have no idea how important this is.

Quote of the Day

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Its gonna happen!

Holy crap!!!!

Birthday gift...

What would you want as a birthday gift say $200 and under?? I need some ideas!

Dr. Phil

Now who all watched the Dr. Phil special last night? The little bit on Paula Abdul was cute. The part on the other guy - what an ASSHOLE! I mean ... wow! You know, I swear my sister dated that guy a few years back. OK so not exactly him but someone who played the exact same game on her. I'm so not kidding about that. The one thing that Dr. Phil said - and believe me, I'm not into the whole "Dr. Phil" thing myself, but this was a good one - he said to the blond girl that she was in love with the man that she wanted him to be; not the man that he was. Yeah... aren't we all guilty of that one from time to time? Believe me, I know I have been!

PLEASE tell me I don't know this person!

DEAR ABBY: I am being married in May. I want to wear my wedding gown to the airport and on the plane. Is this common? Is it proper? Please let me know. -- BRIDE-TO-BE, TERRE HAUTE, IND.

DEAR BRIDE-TO-BE: There is no "law" against it, but I would recommend against wearing your bridal gown to the airport because the idea is impractical. Airport floors are dirty and could soil the gown. A trip up or down an escalator could tear the hem. The compulsory security screening could also create a problem, and so would the seating on the aircraft.
It would be much better to do what brides traditionally do: After the reception, change into comfortable traveling clothes and leave your wedding gown at home.

So.... who thinks this is true?

http://lifeandstylemag.hollywood.com/

Go Sox!

More blog fun!

	Cheer Bear You're the Care Bear cheerleader! Your spunky personality and optimisim lifts everyone's spirit. Though you want everyone to be happy, you stand your ground on issues you feel strongly about and this can bring disunity among your friends. Despite this, you are a true believer in working together.
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

Stuff...

I took what I like to call a "Melissa Day" yesterday which is why I wasn't around. It was just lovely doing nothing all day long.

Dos Hermanos has reopened as Tierra del Sol. I am assuming it has a new menu. I may check it out this week for a co-worker's going away party.

And in news from Hoosierland, Mike Davis is talking like this will be his last year coaching at IU and believe me, I think it will be. I expect it will be a race between him and the administration as to if he resigns first or they fire him first. I thought all of the talk about bringing Steve Alford in to coach was stupid, but now I don't think so. And would he leave Iowa? You know, I think he would - given the opportunity to coach at his alma matre, and the fact that I hear they pretty much don't like him in Iowa. Why would he not want to?

My dad's birthday this Sunday and I got him a hilarious card and added a bunch of stuff to it. He's going to flip. What a great birthday for my Dad - the Daytona 500 and everything that day. LOL!

And in news from my hometown... I received some super exciting wonderful news from my family in recent days... I can't go into here just yet but there are some great changes abrewing! I am very happy for them!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Take the quiz:
Which famous movie kiss are you?


Sixteen Candles
You are the Sixteen Candles kiss!

Quizzes by myYearbook.com -- the World's Biggest Yearbook!

Is it just me?

Or maybe I'm getting old or something but ... are the prom styles bad this year or what?

Meow!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Stuff that freaks me out...

So... last night around 3am I am awakened by a strange noice out in the living room. I finally decided it was the cat up to something. So I decided to go out and check on her. Anyway, she has recently had her front claws clipped and she appeared to be trying to dig her claws into the top of the couch and I think she was a little freaked out that she had no claw there so she was doing it over and over and it was making this strange noise on the material. So I pet her and she was all happy to see me as usual, purring and stuff but Willow, I have to go back to bed. Talk to you in a few hours. So go back to bed. Get up this morning a little after 6. The front door to my apartment is wide open. So.... like I'm totally freaked out. (Also glad she didn't decide to venture out although I don't think she would have made it far). This is the inner door inside the apartment so its not like it was opened to the street or whatever. You go downstairs and then to the door to the outside. But yeah... anyway, completely freaking cause the door was closed when I went to bed and it was also closed when I got up to check on the cat. So I'm guessing - or more what I'm hoping - is that the door wasn't completely shut or whatever and opening another door in the place created a draft which popped the front door open. And, lets face it, that is probably what happened - I've seen it happen before - plus the door expands and contracts so much lately in this varying weather that sometimes you really have to pull hard to even get it to shut - its weird. Regardless I will now always be deadbolting but still... part of me worries that maybe someone was trying to get in or something and that was what caused the cat to start acting all weird and they bailed when I got up. I don't know... I hope that wasn't the case. The door doesn't seem damaged and the lock was still "locked" even though the door was open. Freaky freaky stuff!

Taking a break...

Just too busy to blog the last couple of days. I'm not leaving but I may be taking a break for a bit. It all depends on how busy I am at work - who knows, I could be back tomorrow.

Take care!

No more Dos Hermanos!

Dos Hermanos is the Sears Tower is closing. Its a pretty good place and great Mexican restaurant for the Loop area - good food, great margaritas. I haven't been there in forever but I'm going to miss it! My favorite trip to Dos Hermanos included me and my friend Amanda heading out together after I went thru a breakup. We proceeded to drink our own personal pitcher of margaritas each. We were TRASHED but had a great time! Definitely my best and most favorite trip to that restaurant. Sad the place is going though.

My other favorite place in the downtown Chicago area is Fernando's and I haven't been there in a year. I have to get there sometime- I miss that place.

I now have lots of favorite suburban Mexican restaurants that I go to - Amanda introduced me to one! So I think I have that food world covered!

Frisco

My sweet little kitty, Frisco, that I have had since I was 15 years old and a freshman in high school - 1989 - died this past weekend. She was almost 16 1/2 years old. She was a total sweetheart - one of the sweetest cats I have ever had (I would say its pretty close to a tie between her and little Willow). She had a great life and was just really old and had some problems - she had a tumor in her ear and had lost a good deal of weight in the last year. I'm sure that it is one of those things that it is for the best.

She had the tumor removed a few months ago and it most likely cancerous but they didn't test it. Anyway, it had grown back in recent weeks and she was very uncomfortable. Mom took her to the vet and they said they could let it go or operate but it would be like operating on an 85-90 year old person and she may not make it. My parents opted to have her put to sleep and thats fine. I would never have wanted her to suffer. She was a sweetheart though and I'm seriously going to miss her. Its going to be so weird now to walk into my parents' home and have there not be any pets of any kind. They're all gone now and I think my parents are done with that part of their lives. My dad is going to partially retire next year and then they're going to travel more so I don't blame them in the least, but its still going to be weird. I can't picture my house without a pet living there - at least a cat. At least I still have Willow and I plan to always have a cat myself.

The story of Frisco, and her brother Babe, is kind of an interesting one. It started one September afternoon in 1989 when my grandfather went down to the storage shed to look for something. He heard meowing and opened the side door and found six kittens. My grandfather always had a soft spot for cats - theirs, ours, strays that would show up on their doorstep - and went and got some cat food and milk and set it out in the shed for the mother cat. A day later, it hasn't been touched, the second day, still the same and at this point the kittens were getting very weak. One ended up dying. It was a little black one and it didn't seem quite "right" to begin with. I don't think it would have lived if the mother had been around. Six kittens is a fairly big litter anyway. They had their eyes open but I would guess them to be maybe around 11 days old. So we got eyedroppers and, milk - as we learned a day or so later, baby formula was the best to use - and started feeding them. It ended up being a little too late for one of the kittens who was a twin to our Frisco. She ate but then went to sleep on my mom's lap and didn't wake up. It was very sad - we were just a little bit too late. We saved four of them though and that is where the fun began.

We fed them, we played with them, we went down to my grandparents house every day to see them. They were our babies.

You're probably wondering now why I'm not saying we were keeping them or keeping Frisco or Babe or whatever but there is a little bit more to this story.

The cat that I had had since I was six years old had died in July of feline leukemia and it was horrible. One thing I have always said is that pets in the country tend to live very good lives but they also seem to die some bad deaths - and thats true. Anyway, I had been really torn up about it when he was sick and everything and it was a really bad time for me because I was so attached to him. My parents had raised me and my sister to believe that pets were special and they weren't to just be cast aside and replaced immediately when they were gone. But I remember my dad had told me when Puff died that I could have a kitten if I wanted one. I didn't want one - just because I didn't want one plus we still had Puff's brother Fluff (yes, I know, what names! but I was six and my sister was four when we named them!) and I wasn't sure he could deal with a kitten.

Anyway, as time went on we became more attached to the kittens and I was especially attached to Frisco. A stray had shown up at my grandparents' place before and had kittens and we had named them. We always named them fairly generic names since we wouldn't be keeping them and we did *sort of* the same with this litter. One of the black ones we called Blackie, the buff colored one was called Buffy, little Babe was originally called Bright Eyes because even as a kitten he had amazing eyes and Frisco my mom had started calling Frisky, but I didn't like it, I thought she needed a better name so I changed it *slightly* still thinking that we wouldn't be keeping any of them.

The time to give them away was approaching and I really really did not want to give her up but I really didn't know how to tell them that or ask them. They figured it out because they eventually pretty much told me we were keeping her, not asking me if I wanted to and thank goodness. So we took Frisco home with us - by this time knowing she was a girl and not a boy. Its kind of hard to tell when they're teeny tiny and I had given her a sort of masculine name thinking because she was so active and liked attacking the other kittens that she was a boy. Turned out, she was a girl... all of the others were boys - LOL! We tried "Frisca" for a while but I didn't really like it as much ... my mom sort of always ended up calling her that though. So the first night we had Frisk home we put her in a box in the laundry with this little Smurf doll that my sister had so she had something to cuddle with. She cried for the longest time - just like a baby. And I could hear her in there for the longest time and it was just breaking my heart. I wanted to go get her and bring her into my room but I knew she had to learn and eventually she must have gone to sleep. I don't think I heard her cry after that. Fluff was very good and accepting of her. He was amazing in fact. I don't think that any other cat we ever had would have accepted a kitten like he did - he was around 10 years old at the time too. Even Friso would not have been that accepting with a kitten as he was.

The other kittens ended up getting adopted out - Buffy went to a neighbor of ours and Blackie went to a little boy in town. All that was left was Bright Eyes (Babe). He was kind of a runt, real scrawny and he must not have been getting enough food because his fur was actually falling out. My grandparents decided that they would keep him. At the time, however, my grandparents were still doing a lot of travel all over the world and they were going on like a three week trip to South America. Mom knew that we would have to take care of Babe. So he came to live with us during this time - and there was no way he was going to go back after that. Mom started calling him her "baby" so his name for a while became Baby and then finally Babe which fit him oddly enough in a way I could never explain. Babe was something else - lets just say he was a unique individual for a cat.

And so we had for awhile three cats. Frisco and Fluff were really good friends. Babe just wanted to play with Fluff and Fluff just wasn't really up for it by that time. Fluff used to sit up on this stool and Babe would grab his super fluffy tail - it was hilarious. I like to think that somewhere Fluff is in heaven sitting on a cloud and Babe has him by the tail. And now Frisk is with them.

I'm doing OK, I'm just really going to miss her.

Blah...

This diet thing ain't going so well the last couple of days. Gotta get back up on that horse!!!!!!

Testing...

1-2-3...

Hey, psycho boy, how about this one!

"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable than risk being happy." - Robert Anthony

There is something very sad yet oddly funny about this ...

Stephanie Tanner, how could you!!??

I think...

More than anything, she just hurts really bad. There just seems to be such an ache there in her writing that goes way beyond politics. I can't imagine how I would feel.

This would be a disaster for my social life - LOL!

Karaoke curfew imposed!

Sometimes...

I don't know why I do the things I do or say the things I say or wonder why I care what other people think. It sort of drives me crazy. As soon as I claim not to "care", I realize I do care and it drives me crazy. I guess I'm just not very good about letting things go, letting stuff roll off my back and actually not giving a crap. I guess I'm just not that kind of person - I do care about things - and sometimes I get hurt when I realize that other people don't care the same way I do. It really makes me second guess things like 1) Am I wrong to care; 2) Do I read too much in to things; 3) Am I just out of my freaking mind. And then I end up like this. I once said that I need to learn how to make a decision and stick to it. Well... that issue still remains, I do need to learn how to make a decision and stick to it and only worry about how it effects me and stop dwelling on other people. Its really quite annoying!!

Lean Cuisine doesn't feel like a "meal"...

Its more of a snack!!!!

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse than yesterday...

It has managed to get much MUCH worse today!

Alcohol will be consumed tonight - CALORIES BE DAMNED!!!

Bordering on mental exhaustion...

I can't get over it. It was dead yesterday and today it is nuts. I can't get over it. Actually, I do this to myself. One of these days I'll write a rant about all of this... it won't be pretty!

Cool link of the day!

Airfare Watchdog

Kelwhy is funny today too!

LOL!!

O'Reilly prevails... sort of...

Read here.

Trick's got some new underwear!

I want 'em too!!!

I don't know ... could be a good idea ; )

Little email conversation with my friend regarding her psycho ex and his continued phone calls:

-----Original Message-----> >
From: Melissa
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 2:09 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: hey... whats up?

Long boring day at work today! Anything new with you?

: )

- Melissa


>> On 1/25/06, Dawn A. wrote:> > Nope...same old calls from "it"

-----Original Message----->
From: Melissa
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 2:12 PM
To: Dawn A.
Subject: Re: hey... whats up?

You should put together like a "greatest hits" cd and see if you can make some money off of it ; )


On 1/25/06, Dawn A. wrote:> Omigod...I almost just spit my soda all over the screen!!!>>

-----Original Message-----
From: Melissa
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 2:16 PM
To: Dawn A.
Subject: Re: hey... whats up?

LOL!!Didn't some rapper do that? Like he did a song and sampled some of his ex-girlfriend's pathetic voice mails into the recording?I can see it now!!! : )

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dawn A.
Date: Jan 25, 2006 2:17 PM
Subject: RE: hey... whats up?
To: Melissa

You're hilarious!!

OK...

I am officially caught up now and no one has written me with ideas on how to waste the remaining amount of time in my day. Hmmm... actually, maybe I can sneak out of here a bit early since I came in early. That should work.

Been writing a few emails... maybe I should send out a general "what's up" email to my address book. I'm known for those!

Help me!!!

The utter boredom continues. I have one case I need to work on but I'm too bored to do so. Does that make any sense?

Went on Ebay and bid on a cell phone - its one I really want but should probably wait til my contract is up so I can either get it free or seriously discounted. I don't care. I've wanted the thing for months and I HATE my cell phone AND I have Christmas money still to burn!!

Yesterday, purse; today, phone.

Doesn't mean I'll win it. In fact when I get outbid in Ebay auctions I pretty much just let them go. If its meant to be, it will be - ha! So, we shall see. But if I get it at this price it will be sort of a good deal and if I do not, my heart won't be broken either. I'll either find another one to bid on or will simply wait.

I'm sure by the time my contract is up in November there will be something new out there that I will want, but I don't care.

If anyone has any suggestions about how I can "un-bored" myself, please let me know.

And the lunch decision was...

OK ... so it was sort of in the middle... I had a salad with the dressing on the side but I had a cookie too. I couldn't help myself. Its so hard to stay on a diet when you don't have a specific goal. Perhaps I need to set up a series of mini-goals. Hmmm... that might work!

Bored out of my mind!

Can't decide whether or not to give into the darker forces and have some junk to eat for lunch or go eat my Lean Cuisine chicken with rice that is in the freezer. I can really see it going either way right now.

Not too much in my track at work today but the things that are are total nightmares!!

Today

Not a heck of a lot going on today. Customers have been real __________ today (you can fill in the blank yourself).

I have had to put two thru to sales to figure stuff out. A third hung up on me for denying her support when her maintenance contract was expired. Called back a second time trying to get someone else (ha ha- I had already sent an alert message out to the department warning my coworkers in regards to her rudeness, we do that!), the second rep denied her. She proceeded to cuss out the second rep and the rep transferred her to sales. Not sure if she stayed on the line or not. Wouldn't I have LOVED to be on the other side of that conversation?

Anyway, just got back from my "lunch". Went shopping on State Street. Started at Marshall Fields. I wanted to buy a designer purse with some of my Christmas money but everything there - no matter what designer was totally BUTT. If I'm going to spend some money, I don't care how "trendy" it is, I want it to look nice. So went to Filene's Basement instead where I ended up buying a really nice purse which is probably "so last season" (but I don't care), retail was $200 and I got it for $75. You can't beat that.

Thats about it for now. More fun this afternoon here at work!!

Blah...

So much going on right now that is giving me the worst freaking headache! I have this problem I can't resolve at work; I'm working on a little "project" with some friends which is becoming more of a pain than I expected. What I have learned about people today - give an inch, they take a mile. I can't deal with it. I'm just going to have to lead and make the decisions and now people aren't going to like it. Oh well...

On a happier note - what an awesome basketball weekend it was. IU beats Purdue and Duke loses! Does it get any better than that!!??

: )

HA HA HA HA HA!

Boys, men, however ya'all like to be referred to at this point:

LISTEN UP!

Don't even TRY to tell us that how you act towards us "post-breakup" doesn't count. Doesn't count? Yeah, thats bull*&#@! I think one's actions during this time says WAY more than the good times ever said.

I don't care whose fault the breakup was!

If you have a Mac...

Get it NOW!!!!!

Not too much to report

Out with my same friend that I went out with last Thursday night tonight, same place, same time, all of that.

Other than that, not a heck of a lot going on.

Kind of tired and I'm not sure why cause I went to bed pretty early last night!

Diet blow-age!

Well, not really... I just haven't been as good as I was last week but I have a medical condition at the moment that is probably causing that - ugghh... Anyway, using a few "fun points" but as long as I don't go over I figure no harm, no foul?

Is that how you spell foul? I'm not a very good speller as many of my friends know.

Speaking of fouls or whatever, how about the IU-U of I game last night. My Hoosiers won! Whoo-hoo!

Anymore I'm not sure if I get more excited to see the U of I lose or to see Bruce Weber lose. I think it might be the latter actually. What a smug little a$$*&#!

; )

Oh my...

My sister's boyfriend is taking her to SPAIN for Valentine's Day!!!

The smallest most stupid things ...

... make me smile the most.

Sometimes that is cool.

Sometimes that is just annoying!

Some people

Yeah so my friend's boyfriend STILL won't let it go. Called her work this morning and left a 5 minute voice mail going on and on about how he was going to tell all of these people about all of these secrets from her past and then still proceeds to say "I'm only doing this because I love you." He is f-ing delusional.

Well in a round about way all of this stuff with him is now causing ME problems and that is where I have to draw the line. So I have had to make some changes that I didn't want to make and perhaps some other people may be upset with me but I don't care. I don't need this type of negativity in my life.

As far as I'm concerned, if he is still in "the group", I no longer am. I'm done with it!

Done

I just got hammered during my phone shift. I mean it was horrible! So, I'm declaring myself done for the day unless something minor comes up!

Very true....

“Friendship may, and often does, grow into love, but love never subsides into friendship.”

-Lord Byron

"Most Americans are two paychecks away from being homeless."

Is that true?

Diet progress!

So... so far so good. I actually dropped 7 pounds in one week. I find that a little scary but I'm guessing it was mostly water/holiday pounds which probably comes off a little more quickly. This after having a one night disaster which included beer, birthday cake and ice cream! I'm sure the weight loss will slow down now. I feel great though so I'm not worried. Just hope I don't get bored with this!

Crazy day!

I think its time to call it a week!

Lots of house cleaning to do this weekend probably beginning tonight cause goodness knows I have no plans.

Oh well...

Well duhh....

If you consider birth control for women a prescription drug, I'm not sure why this is all that surprising.

The cutest thing!

Last night I did laundry and I had a ton to do so it took forever. So anyway, I'm down in the basement and the guy who has the small basement apartment had his door open to let his kitties run around in the basement. He does that every once in a while. I met the kitties the first time during the "Great Circuit Breaker Incident of '05", they were still pretty young then and so cute.

Well they're bigger now and still so cute and sooo active. They are some of the nicest cats I've met. I wouldn't say they are quite full grown yet but I don't think they are going to be big cats either. One is black and white and one is all orange and anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot in my heart for orange kitties.

Anyway, they were all over the place climbing in my laundry basket, around my feet, letting me pick them up. The black and white one is sooo friendly. The orange one is really sweet but a little more shy. When I first met them she wouldn't let me pick her up but this time she did. Still a little shy though.

They really made me smile and laugh. I love kitties!

Personal vow

I will work out Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Count 'em up!

OK so... still doing the Weight Watchers thing and I think I'm starting to get in the groove except well for ... some plans tonight but I'll get into that later.

Anyway, I bought these things called British Crumpets from Trader Joe's the other day. First off - Trader Joe's is like one of the coolest places around. There are so many cool "Traders".

Trader Joe's and his cool grocery store
Trader Vic's (mentioned previously in this blog) and his awesome drinks
Trader Todd's and his karaoke bar in Chicago

Man, the list just goes on and on...

Anyway, back to my story. So British Crumpet... I'm not even sure what a British Crumpet is but if I had to describe it, I would call it a sweet English muffin. Hmmm... and they're both British. Coincidence? Anyway, so bought the crumpets on a whim - they are the cinnamon flavor - and I just LOVE them. This will be a regular purchase from now on. I toast them and spray them with that fake zero point "I Can't Believe Its Not Butter" spray and the whole thing equals 2 points. Now ... I know what you're thinking ... only two points for breakfast, shouldn't you break it up a bit more? Well the thing is, I actually don't enjoy breakfast very much but I think when you're dieting especially its good to have at least a little something first thing in the morning. That way you aren't starving when you get to work and immediately looking to snack - if a coworker brought in Krispy Kremes they will be much easier to avoid!

So yeah the crumpets and then for lunch today I had one of those microwaveable bowls of Progresso Vegetable Soup - this is the one with the veggies only in it. Anyway, the whole thing equals only 2 points! Its very filling too so you can't beat that. On the side I had 7 Reduced Fat Triscuits (Triscuits rock!) and a triangle of the best low fat cheese on the planet - Laughing Cow. That side equals only 3 points. So it was a 5 point lunch when typically I go around probably 10 points for lunch. Ten points for lunch may be a little much I have realized cause then I'm really sort of limited for dinner. I only get 22 points a day cause I don't have much to lose. Then you get like 35 extra points a week which I guess is what I would call "fun" points. They recommend that you break that up like 5 extra points a day so a max of say 27 points a day. 20 points is the fewest you can have and I'm almost there and when I get there ... yikes ... I'm not sure how I'm going to handle that but my guess would be no more going out for lunch and adding more veggies or something.

The thing is, I don't have a particular "goal weight" or a date I need to make a "goal" by. I think I look good now, I just have gained a few pounds back since I quit the South Beach Diet and I would like to lose that back and get into a routine. I also have not started back exercising. I will probably do that next week. I also have not weighed myself and actually plan to try and not to maybe for another week. I'd just like to eat healthy for a while and not worry about what the number says. In fact, I think it is more important to just eat healthy and not worry about the number than anything anyway. So that is my philosophy at the moment. I can tell its working though already although I'm sure all I have lost is water weight. Every diet I have ever been on, I swear, like 5-6 pounds of weight on me is water. The thing I noticed this morning is that most of the poofiness on my stomach is gone and those muscles are definitely still there. I love it when I can see my stomach muscles - not that I have ever had a 6-pack or anything remotely close but its nice to know they're there. Know what I mean?

But I digress... The only bad thing about me on a diet is that when I really get into them, I sort of get obsessed - seriously. I feel it happening again too. I really think that is why I needed to back off South Beach at the time, I was too in to it and I had a bunch of other stuff going on in my life there towards the end anyway. But like I said, I think the most important thing with my diet now is my laid back attitude - I'm not going to freak out losing, not losing, I'm just going to go with the flow, eat better and see how it goes.

That leads us to tonight. One of the reasons I cut back on my lunch today is because I'm going out with one of my friends after work today so I know there will be beer involved. Lets see... I have 15 points left so I could have maybe 1-3 beers (depending on their size) - a Miller Light bottle is only two points. Hmmm... I need to check on the points of wine, maybe I should switch to that. Anyway... So between 1-3 and then to eat I could probably get like a salad with some chicken on it or something. I think that sounds completely reasonable and if I do go over, no big deal, I still have a bunch of "fun" points left over this week.

So I'm going to try not to turn this blog into a diet blog but it is definitely somthing that is on my mind right now.

Oh yeah ... a couple of little "treats" I have been adding to my meals in case anyone else doing Weight Watchers is reading this. These aren't that creative but if you haven't thought about them...

The flavored sparkeling water from Wal-mart (Sam's brand) is zero points and to me it tastes like soda. The flavor is really strong - much stronger than other brands I have tried in the past. I LOVE it! Also, if you have extra points and want to fill up on something healthy and dessert- like, check out different applesauces. The Jewel brand applesauce is 1 point per half cup. A half cup is a lot too. Last night I had two points left so I had a whole cup for two points and I was stuffed when I was done!

ENJOY!

Freako!

Oh my god ... I can't get over my freakish night of sleep last night. I have no idea what is up with me the past two nights. I have started this diet - nothing weird, just Weight Watchers - and I sort of wonder if maybe the change in eating habits isn't doing this to me. Yeah, I eat healthy foods and now I can't sleep - LOL!

Anyway, the night before last I had one totally terrifying dream to the point where I got up and turned on lights. I mean, what a spaz I am.

Last night it was bad dream after bad dream. I don't even know how many - 10 or more, just short snippets, different every time, over and over and over. I woke up this morning shaking with my heart pounding. Its insane!

So I don't know if its the food or if my mind is just in a weirdo place right now but I DON'T LIKE IT!

!!

I didn't know the old Trader Vic's closed! I was sort of reading this article in a panic until I realized they were moving to a new location in River North. Whewwww!! I loved that place - especially half-priced mai tai Thursdays! River North will definitely make it more hip and definitely more busy. I sort of liked the "off the beaten path" feel to the place even though it was a classic Chicago hangout!

The slippery slope

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Former Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick, booted from the team last week for his behavior on and off the field, was charged Monday with pulling a gun on three teenagers during an altercation in a restaurant parking lot.

Vick surrendered at the Suffolk magistrate's office after three warrants were issued for his arrest Sunday, Magistrate Lisa Noel said.

My friend...

So yeah, I ran into my friend at the train stop this morning - the friend who is having problems with her ex. Anyway, she said was gone part of the day visiting relatives on Sunday and came home to find her ex basically hanging out in her backyard.

She told him to leave immediately or she was calling the police. He kept going on and on about how he didn't understand and just wanted to talk. She told him about three more times to leave and I guess he finally did. She did not end up calling the police.

I told her if he pulls that crap one more time to call immediately, say nothing, just call. If it were me, I would call for much much less than this crap!

Oh my!!

Swank Splits From Lowe

"The Insider"'s MARC MALKIN reports that double Oscar winner HILARY SWANK and her husband CHAD LOWE have decided to split.

Swank's manager, TROY NANKIN, tells Malkin that "Hilary and Chad have decided to separate but they are hopeful they will be able to get through this tough time."

It was this time last year when Hilary was accepting the Oscar for Best Actress ('Million Dollar Baby') and thanking Lowe, "last, but not least," for the support -- after her glaring omission when she won the Oscar in 2000 for 'Boys Don't Cry' and forgot to acknowledge her then-hubby.

The couple married in September of 1997 and have no children together.

More happy feedback from a user about moi!

Comment: Your software and support are great. My recent support from Melissa was outstanding. I am a long time user of xxxx and expect to be for a long time more. Thank you so much.

Respect my "elders"? Yeah, right.

The lack of maturity in these so-called "elders" continues to amaze.

Anyway, didn't end up really all that sick last night but still not 100%. I'm just so blah and yucky!

Went to Victoria's Secret last night and to my "amazement" I guess I do not actually have the body of a Victoria's Secret model. Shocker!

; )

I think I'm sick...

My stomach is KILLING me! And its not the "Blah! I ate too much candy stomach-ache", its the "I'm going to be up all night puking stomach-ache". I'm really really icky and I have chills. This sucks!

On top of that I have errands I wanted to run after work and right now am so not in the mood for it. Going to try and chill out at my desk here for a bit and see if I feel better.

Isn't it funny how much I've stopped by here today. I'm usually a fairly lame poster!

BLAH!!!!!!!!!

Oddly funny in a sick way...

http://www.local6.com/news/5784303/detail.html

I think its more scary that there is a "Potty Time with Elmo" toy than anything it might say!

LOL!

Red-state escapee

Oh my... my former "local" NBC affiliate is now participating in censorship. Oh yeah, sorry, its the "regulatory atmosphere" of the networks ... I forgot!

STEP AWAY FROM THE KOOL-AID!



Two NBC affiliates throw book at 'Daniel'

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Two NBC affiliates in Arkansas and Indiana are turning the page on upcoming series "The Book of Daniel," which has been drawing criticism for its portrayal of Christianity. The series depicts an Episcopalian minister, played by Aidan Quinn, struggling with an addiction to Vicodin, among other problems in his diocese. Jesus is actually a character on the series, depicted in imagined conversations with the minister. Last month, the conservative American Familuy Assn. began calling on affiliates and advertisers to bail out of "Daniel." Many stations have been flooded with e-mails and calls from viewers objecting to the series. KARK-TV in Little Rock, Ark., and WTWO-TV in Terre Haute, Ind., announced Wednesday they would pre-empt "Daniel," when it premieres Friday at 9 p.m. Both are owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group,
KARK-TV declined to air "Daniel" citing "careful consideration" of viewer feedback. Little Rock's WB affiliate, KWBF-TV, will air "Daniel" instead.

However, WTWO general manager Duane Lammers said he is not pre-empting "Daniel" due to its content but rather to protest what he views as the networks' strong-arm approach to affiliates, as well inconsistent federal oversight of indecent content.

"This has nothing to do with the program and has nothing to do with the AFA," Lammers said. "I think the system is screwed up. I think the network thinks we are going to do whatever they tell us to do. I think the regulatory environment is flawed."

The network stands by the series, according to Vivi Zigler, executive vp current programming at NBC Entertainment, who cautioned not to judge the series on the basis of promotions for the show.

"People are reacting based on not having seen it," she said. "They're seeing the advertising, not seeing what the core of the show is."

Jack Kenny, executive producer of "Daniel," dismissed claims that the series is anti-Christian. "We are not in any way satirizing Christianity or Jesus," he said. "It's done with love, honoring those things."

But Lammers isn't taking exception with "Daniel." Rather, he is using the pre-emption to air multiple grievances with industry practice -- especially network-affiliate relations.

"In the last few years, the networks have responded in a unilateral manner in their treatment of affiliates, whether it's about compensation, exclusivity or other issues," he said. "I am now reaffirming my right to treat them unilaterally."

Lammers also decried what he sees as a double standard in the lack of content regulation regarding cable. "I'm saying the regulatory atmosphere is unfair," he said. "If this gives me a chance to talk about it, that's fair."

WTWO is alone so far in its pre-emption of "Daniel," but other affiliates wrestled with the decision.

"There's been an enormous amount of discussion about the show," said Steve Poulsen, vp marketing at KSL-TV, NBC's affiliate in Salt Lake City. "This one happens to have religious overtones to it and is causing a little stir. We determined on this one to let the viewers determine the success or failure of this show."

KSL, which caters to a heavily Mormon viewership, has not been shy about joining the small group of stations that have pre-empted NBC programming in the recent past. Among the NBC series that have been yanked in recent years, include "Coupling," "God, the Devil and Bob," and "Stressed Eric."

Lammers, who also serves as executive vp and chief operating officer of WTWO parent company Nexstar Broadcasting Group, is known for taking aggressive stands on behalf of his company. He pulled multiple Nexstar-owned stations off Cox Communications and Cable One cable systems for most of 2005 in order to negotiate cash for carriage -- an unprecedented arrangement. Both operators settled with Nexstar late last year.

WTVO, which is the 150th-largest television market in the U.S., will air theatrical "Simon Birch" instead of back-to-back episodes of "Daniel."

Hello? What up Parnz!

Here are the lyrics and other links:

http://thejames.onfinite.com/20051222/2154.html

One of the most awesome things on SNL in YEARS!

Here!

Interesting...

Sorry I missed this. Goodness knows I was AWAKE!

Lots of stuff today about lots of stuff

1. Leave me alone. If you are bugging me, snooping on me, just doing anything that has anything to do with me. LEAVE ME ALONE! I am serious... PLEASE LET IT GO!!!!!!!!

2. Along these lines my poor friend did open that can of worms yesterday that I was afraid she had but I think she probably expected it and I know I did. Maybe she wanted that can of worms. Unfortunately the can of worms is clogging up my inbox with a bunch of email crap between she and her ex-boyfriend (now ex-friend). All of this back and forth. He wrote an email and copied a bunch of us on it and it was COMPLETELY out of line. I mean, COMPLETELY. Everything that she said in her email yesterday that we were copied on was nothing new. It was nothing that she hadn't told me before and more than that, it was NOTHING THAT HE HADN'T QUOTED HER AS SAYING BEFORE ALREADY. His response today was completely uncalled for. I mean... he went into details about their sex life and a minor (albeit embarrassing) health issue that she has, along with some stuff about her CHILDHOOD. Oh my god... I mean... I knew most of this stuff anyway but only because he had spilled the beans to me about it when he thought he was "confiding" in me. But she doesn't know that I knew it. I can only imagine what she thinks. I mean, I don't care, it doesn't effect the way I see her but if I were her I would be freaking out. I basically wrote her and said, "Someone who claims to love you as much as he does, would never spill intimate details like that about you to anyone." Case closed I think. I just hope if they are going to go another 10 rounds on this that they do it via email and don't actually have some kind of personal altercation. They can, however, stop CC-ing and BCC-ing me on everything and that wouldn't bother me a bit.

3. I came to an odd revelation about my life this morning - from out of the blue, it just hit me. You know how I'm always talking about "crossroads"? Well, this is one that I sort of missed. I finally figured out where my disconnect from my past... my "pergatory"... and my present happened. I don't know why it hit me and it was a random little thing but something I can't forget. Sadly, this happened several years ago and I don't know why I didn't realize it at the time. I mean, I think I must have sort have, but was afraid to admit it and well... I'm not sure how this revelation happened this morning. When I was home over Christmas I had some long talks with my mom but didn't really come to many conclusions. I have really stopped trying to analyze my own life and just live but ... I mean, hey, I only lasted three therapy sessions when I went - ha ha! There is only so much time I can spend thinking about myself. I'd rather butt in to other people's business ; )

4. Crap ... I still need to change that eyebrow wax appointment. I have to do that in the next few minutes.

5. Going to go spend my Victoria's Secret gift card today too - nothing too spectacular. I need some practical underwear! LOL!

6. Talked for a super long time last night to my friend in Boston who I haven't talked to in a while! It was so good to hear from her. She is currently planning a wedding which I am going to try my date-less darndest to get to!

LOVE TO ALL!

I don't care!!!!!!!

Its none of your business, enough said. I don't have to tell you anything - good or bad - so whatever happens, I don't care. If you want to hate me, hate me. Fine with me. I'm probably better off. Get a life!

Oh my...

So yeah, you know my friend who I mentioned is going thru a really bad breakup and her boyfriend who is also a friend has turned into a real psycho? Oh man .... its getting so much worse. Well, I say the boyfriend is a "friend" but only incidentally a friend to me - he is more of a "friend of a friend" and I became friends with the girl because of us all hanging out together so... her boyfriend is not someone I would choose as a friend on my own but he's part of the "group" so what can you do...

The guy ... and this has been going on for weeks now ... won't leave her alone. She has had to change both her home number and her cell number because he was literally calling her hundreds of times a day. He was doing the same thing to her work number too - which wasn't a good idea; she's a legal secretary - and if she won't do some harassment thing against him (and she's trying not to), her lawfirm may go ahead and file it themselves. I guess they have all of the paper work and now its a matter of if they do go thru with something. The company has even had her speak to the police. I am not sure why it hasn't been filed or if she is trying to stop them from filing or what because this thing sounds pretty simple to file and especially for a lawfirm which is one of the more famous ones in downtown Chicago. But anyway...

So after she changed the numbers and all, of course he couldn't call her anymore at home. He was still calling at work but I guess the number of calls had finally tapered off. I told him when he was calling me and asking for advice that I thought for him to call more than three times a day was psycho. Personally, if someone is not returning your phone calls, its psycho to continue to call at all but three or less I can still sort of see as borderline.

I didn't realize that the emails had not stopped though - real pyscho rude ones with bad language. The scary thing in all of this is how he's back and forth on how much he loves her and he's really just trying to get her back. How can you threaten someone back with you and try and make them love you though? Dude, that ain't gonna work! If I were her, on Day 2 of this whole mess, I would have filed a harassment complaint, a restraining order, the works!

So then I guess yesterday his mom emails her wanting to know what happened. We aren't sure if he put his mom up to this or not but at first my friend wrote the mom back a very vague response. Then she got more harassing emails from him today so she wrote back a long response to the boyfriend, copied the mom and me and some other friends on it. Well now... he has really flipped out! She should have just BCC'd the rest of us on this because she should have known that copying all of us on this would have opened up a can of worms. So now... he's calling her and she has forwarded some of the voicemails to me and... I'm just trying to decide if I would consider these actual threats now - I mean like threats to violence or if he's just going to go do something stupid like egg her car - he's the type who would still think thats funny at age 32.

So anyway, I may add more about this drama here later... Before I just thought this whole thing was freaking annoying and don't we all throw the word "psycho" around so much in the dating world about people's actions... when they're not ... people do strange things, and say strange things, and place strange phone calls when they're hurt but now I'm really trying to decide if he may in fact actually be psycho!

My weirdo sleeping habits...

I don't know what is up with me. Perhaps its a combination of my changing time zones in the last several weeks - to Vegas, back to Chicago, down to Indiana, back here - who knows but anyway... I've become somewhat of a night owl the past two nights.

This is weird for me because even though I'm 31 years old I still believe in "bed time" like I was a 3rd grader or something. I'd say 90% of the time thru the week I go to bed at 10:30 on the dot every night. The other 10% I may go at 11 or even earlier on nights when I have to work early the next day.

The last two nights however I find myself up around 10ish deciding to surf the net and when I look up, its midnight! Now its not like I haven't seen the internet before and its not like I'm chatting with anyone because I don't chat anymore - honestly... just with my mom and coworkers regarding work stuff. No one chats with me at all! I don't even login at home anymore.

Yeah so I'm roaming aimlessly around the WWW and its throwing off my sleep habits! And, if you read my entry yesterday, you know I came into work late yesterday and the same thing could have happened today if I hadn't literally thrown myself out of bed.

But anyway, thats my random weirdness for the moment - hopefully I can stay away from the computer and get more sleep tonight!

What is up...

1. Christmas at home with the family -good; lots of great gifts including a serious amount of cash. You can't beat that!

2. Granddad not doing so well as I mentioned in a previous post. I would say its actually a little worse than Thanksgiving - constantly wanting to know where he is at any given moment, not knowing the people around him occasionally. It is also taking up to two hours to even get him dressed. Right now they're thinking a nurse at the house to help with some of this stuff. I'm not sure he'll be very cooperative though. I even think at times he is a little bit afraid of people except for my Grandma and Mom. So thats not good.

3. Running errands with my mom and grandparents while I was home. We were all over the place which for reasons above was interesting at times.

4. Missed connection with my friend from Texas. I'm not sure if her dad passed along the message that I was home or not. Plus, she's pregnant and had some troubles so maybe she just didn't want to deal with me.

5. Tons of food most especially cooked by my dad who is an awesome cook - I seriously need to go on a diet but that has been next to impossible. I seem to be little miss popular with my friends up here lately and I'm even going out with one of them tonight so... The diet will have to wait. I just need to get in gear!

6. Driving to and from by myself - my first big drive by myself in quite a while. I don't like driving so it sort of sucked!

7. Back up "here" for NYE ... well, if you consider "here" to be Wisconsin. Little trip up there just for the night and back the next day. Was really no big deal - out to dinner, drinks in the hotel room ...tra la la ... very low key - even more low key than last year!

8. Back to work today... and... I actually overslept and came into work like an hour late. Oh well... they're pretty forgiving of that stuff here.

I think that is about all for now. This year is going to be nuts.

My TO DO LIST and a few RESOLUTIONS:

Make appointment for eyebrow wax
Go spend my Victoria's Secret gift card
Go pick up my newly ordered contacts
Go shopping with my sis on Saturday
Start working out
Start dieting
Try to stay in better touch with old friends
Possibly start the occasional tanning appointment - I've decided that I'm just too pasty white! I don't really want to get into the tanning thing too much cause for one, it ain't healthy, but I suppose if I just did it on occasion it wouldn't be so bad... I don't know.

I feel like there are a million other things that should be on my to-do list but that's all I can think of right now!