After a crazy weekend, life returns to normal...

Yeah so this past weekend was sort of non-stop for me.

Thursday early afternoon I flew to Manchester, NH and then drove down to the Boston suburbs for my friend's bridal shower. It was a nice event. I was a little late cause I didn't know about the shower before I booked my airfare and then my plane was like an hour late. Kind of crazy driving down there - I really had no idea where I was going. But I made it. Watched her open gifts, had some food, hung out a bit, and then pretty much just back to my room for the evening. I really knew no one else there except for her family and they were busy for the evening. So headed down to the hotel bar for a cocktail and a salad, watched TV and pretty much called it a night.

More of the same Friday. The wedding wasn't until 5pm so I hung around the hotel, went to breakfast and lunch and pretty much just watched TV all day. Caught the shuttle to the wedding around 4:30. It was a super nice wedding. It was in like an open-sided barn so it sort of had that outdoor wedding scene to it. The background was beautiful with green rolling hills. Unfortunately it was raining so they had to pull the plastic down around the barn but it was OK. It was a very nice ceremony. Then on to the cocktail hour which was in the same location ... talked to one of my sorority sisters and her husband for the most part and drank a bunch of wine. Then on to dinner which was in the other room. It was a super nice dinner - great food, drinks, nice cake. My friend's husband is from Denmark so during a lot of the wedding and reception they had added a lot of interesting customs from his country. One thing was that during the reception part it wasn't really a lot of dancing and partying. We pretty much stayed seated for the majority of the evening and many many people got up and spoke and gave toasts. We had to stand for each toast and say like rah, rah, rah or something like that. Know the tradition of clanging your glass so the bride and groom will kiss? Well, they do the same thing but the bride and groom have to stand up on their chairs and kiss. Then if the guests stomp their feet, the bride and groom have to go under the table and kiss. Another one was if the bride or groom leaves the room.... so say if the groom left the room all of the men at the reception had to come up and give the bride a kiss. It was kind of funny. I'm trying to think if there was really anything else. That was pretty much most of it. So... I consumed a good amount of wine. Thankfully that was all I was drinking so I was pretty loopy by the time the event was over. Thankfully there was a shuttle back to the hotel. I pretty much immediately passed out when I got back. LOL!

Kind of some background drama going on at home though which creeped its way into my weekend away. So... remember psycho boy? The guy that my friend was dating who was basically stalking her? Yeah well, so his phone calls have never really stopped but he typically does not leave a message anymore. So evidentally he has a new girlfriend. The thing that creeps me out about this is that we all know this girl as she used to live in the area and was friends with "the group" including him. They have known eachother for at least 10 or more years. And now they're hooking up? Whatever... This girl has some serious issues too so the mean part of me says that maybe since they have decided that they won't end up with anyone, they might as well end up with eachother. I mean... ewwwwww..... I can't picture doing something with some guy I have known and supposedly have been friends with for 10 years and had no prior history. It just creeps me out for some reason - I don't know why. So I got on the horn to his ex to tell her the story and she's happy for the reason that she's hoping that if he has someone he will once and for all stop calling her. Yeah ... but so far, that hasn't happened. So we're planning something... I think he's due a little bit of hell over this for having a "girlfriend" and continuing to harrass his ex. Something is gonna happen.

Anyway, morning after the wedding ... hung over in that icky stomach sort of way. I hate that ... its worse than a headache. Drove back to Manchester and caught my flight to Baltimore where I had a layover of a little over an hour and then caught a plane to Indianapolis. I was flying in there cause the next day was the Indy 500 and no since in me going back to Chicago. So hung at my parents' friends' place as is normal for our Indy 500 weekend. It was kind of low key this year. Pretty much just visited and ate a bunch of food. It wasn't wild at all. I'm not even sure that I finished one beer. Took a quick walk over to Georgetown Road to observe the crazies but didn't walk the whole thing. Last year it was super wild and borderline dangerous (its getting back to the old days over there) so we really weren't up for dealing with all of that.

Sunday was the race which absolutely rocked! One of the best races ... if not the best ... that I have ever seen!!!!!

After the race drove immediately back to Chicago. I usually go home for the rest of the weekend after the race but didn't this year and that was fine cause I was home all weekend the weekend before for my mom's retirement party. Traffic wasn't too bad.

And then pretty much vegged out the rest of the weekend which was nice.

I don't know if all of this drinking and eating caught up with me or whatever but the last two days I haven't felt well and its all been stomach issues - ick. I'm doing better now but not 100%. Hopefully I will improve cause I really need to get back to working out so I can drop the few pounds that I probably put on this past weekend. Ha ha!

Well thats about it for now ... Just here at work hoping for a slow call shift this PM. We shall see.

Later!!

Indy 500

Best Indy 500 I have ever had the privilege of witnessing this past weekend and I think I can say that being that I've been there for 22 of them!

Here is a great wrap-up of the race!

Mario is #2??

Completely disagree...

Ohhh... puuuuleeeze!!!!

Did they have to make Earnhardt #3 because he was #3?

Why am I watching this show??

So... #1 or #2 has to be Richard Petty... but who is the other one??

WRONG!!!

#4???????????????????

BULLS%$# !!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it gonna be Dale Earnhardt? I won't agree with that either....

I'm sorry but...

Jeff Gordon is NOT the #8 driver of all time!

Blogging from home...

So yeah... doing something I don't normally do here today cause *shock* I actually FORGOT to blog today at work. It wasn't like I was busy or whatever... just completely forgot.

Anyway, its been a so-so kind of day, week, etc. but not too bad. Just kind of crazy with a bunch of stuff I've got going on... hopefully that will finally slow down tomorrow and I can breathe and relax and chill and all of that good stuff.

A drink might be good right now. Too bad I don't have anything here at home. Well, at least nothing good anyway. Tomorrow and Friday and Saturday and Sunday AND Monday there will be alcohol consumed for sure!!!

Watching this thing on ESPN Classic right now about the top 20 race car drivers of all time. If A.J. Foyt isn't in the top 3, I'm gonna blow a gasket.

I hear former Senator and VP candidate Lloyd Bentsen died today...

And in honor of that ... a classic moment in American history. I may have only been in 8th grade when this happened but I was watching and it was damn memorable!

BROKAW: And if you cite the experience that you had in Congress, surely you must have some plan in mind about what you would do if it fell to you to become President of the United States, as it has to so many Vice Presidents just in the last 25 years or so.

QUAYLE: Let me try to answer the question one more time. I think this is the fourth time that I've had this question.

BROKAW: The third time.

QUAYLE: Three times that I've had this question - and I will try to answer it again for you, as clearly as I can, because the question you are asking is what kind of qualifications does Dan Quayle have to be president, what kind of qualifications do I have and what would I do in this kind of a situation. And what would I do in this situation? I would make sure that the people in the cabinet and the people that are advisors to the president are called in, and I would talk to them, and I will work with them. And I will know them on a firsthand basis, because as vice president I will sit on the National Security Council. And I will know them on a firsthand basis, because I'm going to be coordinating the drug effort. I will know them on a firsthand basis because Vice President George Bush is going to recreate the Space Council, and I will be in charge of that. I will have day-to-day activities with all the people in government. And then, if that unfortunate situation happens - if that situation, which would be very tragic, happens, I will be prepared to carry out the responsibilities of the presidency of the United States of America. And I will be prepared to do that. I will be prepared not only because of my service in the Congress, but because of my ability to communicate and to lead. It is not just age; it's accomplishments, it's experience. I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president of this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. I will be prepared to deal with the people in the Bush administration, if that unfortunate event would ever occur.

WOODRUFF: Senator Bentsen.

BENTSEN: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy. (Prolonged shouts and applause) What has to be done in a situation like that is to call in the -

WOODRUFF: Please, please, once again you are only taking time away from your own candidate.

QUAYLE: That was really uncalled for, Senator. (Shouts and applause)

BENTSEN: You are the one that was making the comparison, Senator - and I'm one who knew him well. And frankly I think you are so far apart in the objectives you choose for your country that I did not think the comparison was well-taken.

And don't you forget it!!

LOL!!

Things MAY be getting better but...

Last night around 3am the said persons who did not have to work yesterday or today, as I mentioned, decided to throw a random drunken prank which I didn't find all that funny. It was really sort of nothing but they thought it was freaking hilarious. Kind of one of those things that made me roll my eyes and go back to sleep. Whatever... It was very very random.

Health-wise I seem to be doing better. Work is OK even if it has been sort of nutty here this morning. That is likely to continue for the next hour or so. I have several things I need to work on this afternoon. I hope it goes well.

Ummm... I wonder if I will ever be able to go out thru the week again. Maybe tonight? Maybe not. A lot going on and a lot of stuff upcoming that I need to work on. So we shall see.

Have some errands I need to run today - bank, grocery and stuff. Other than that, no real thrilling plans.

Love it!

Quote of the Day...

"Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine." - Fran Lebowitz

More blahness...

1) Some medication I am on is making me feel sick
2) Our support database is down so I have no way of looking up users and assigning them case numbers. I guess we'll just have to wing it which sucks.
3) I'm super anxious to get out of here. Some people have today off and I don't and I wish I was with them!!

Thats it for now. May be back with more later!

Yeah... I'd cry too!!

Crappy day...

It is rainy and it is cold! I mean it probably isn't actually cold but it feels cold and its definitely gray outside. Blah... One of those days where its raining so much that an umbrella doesn't make a bit of a difference. I'm going to go home and go tan and lay there and pretend like I'm out on a beach or something. I have been tanning lately - I have never done it before in my life and sadly, its sort of growing on me. I'm real pale so I only go 10 minutes at a time and it didn't seem like it was making a difference but all of a sudden in the last week or so its really sort of started popping out on me.

Other than that, not really sure what else is up for tonight. I really do need to do laundy but not sure if I'll do it at my place or the laundry mat. There is only one washer/dryer in the apartment basement and sometimes it makes it difficult to get a chance to use it. The laundrymat is right down the street but its such a pain to drag all of my stuff around like that. I guess we'll see. Better to do it tonight than Friday night I suppose.

The weekend is going to be somewhat eventful but I'm not sure if it may depend on the weather or not. We shall see.

Anyway, thats about all for now. Sorry for yet another boring post!!

Speaking of what we were talking about yesterday

Hmmm... most of my ex-boyfriends did sort of have an evil look about them...


CHICAGO - Women looking for a long-term relationship like men who like children — and they can tell which guys might be interested in becoming fathers just by looking at their faces. Those are among the findings of a study of college students published Wednesday in a British scientific journal.

"This study suggests that women are picking up on facial cues that are perhaps related to paternal qualities," said James Roney, a University of California at Santa Barbara psychologist and lead author of the study. "The more they perceived the men as liking kids, the more likely they could see having a longer-term relationship."

Experts said evolution has apparently programmed women to recognize men who might be interested in propagating the species by raising a family.

The study wasn't all bad news for men not interested in settling down. It found that women can look at men's faces and figure out which of them have the highest testosterone levels. Those men — rated the most masculine by the women — turn out to be just the kind of guys they would want for a fling.

"Women make very good use of any information they get from a man's face," said co-author Dario Maestripieri, an associate professor of comparative human development at the University of Chicago. "Depending on what they want and where they are in their lives, they use this information differently."

In the study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, researchers looked at a group of 39 men, ages 18 to 33, at the University of Chicago. Each man was shown 10 pairs of photographs and silhouettes, one of an adult and the other of an infant, and asked to rate their preferences. Meanwhile, their saliva was tested to determine testosterone levels.

Photographs of the men's faces were then shown to 29 women, ages 18 to 20, at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

The women were asked to rate the men on four qualities: "likes children," "masculine," "physically attractive" and "kind." Then they were asked to rate how attractive they found each man for short-term and long-term romance.

The study found women did well at rating men on their interest in babies, and those they rated masculine generally had higher testosterone levels than the others.

For example, the men who indicated they liked children the most were rated as above average in liking children by 20 of the 29 women. The men who showed no interest in children were correctly rated as below average in that category by 19 of the women.

The higher the women rated the men for masculinity, the higher they were rated as potential short-term romantic partners. The higher they rated men for their interest in children, the higher they were rated for long-term romance.

The features that research has suggested denote high testosterone levels include a prominent jaw and a heavy beard.

The findings came as no surprise to those in the business of studying human behavior — and love.

"What this study illustrates is that there are genetic programs that increase survival of the species because there are hormones in women that are cuing their reactions to the hormones of the men," said Dr. Daniel Alkon, scientific director of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute in Morgantown, W.Va., and Washington.

Or as Kristin Kelly, a spokeswoman for the online dating service Match.com, put it: "They call it `love at first sight' for a reason. They don't say `love at first sentence,' `love at first word.'"

It is unclear just what about the men's faces tipped the women off about their interest in children. While Maestripieri guessed it might have something to do with "a more rounded face, a gentler face," Roney said the answer might be found in the expressions on the men's faces.

He explained that after the study was completed, five graduate students were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 7 whether the men looked angry or happy. Though the men were instructed to have a neutral look on their faces when photographed, some apparently looked happier than others.
"It seemed that the men who picked more infants in that test had a happier or more content look on their face," he said.

Today...

One of my "I'm never having kids, just going to be the cool uncle" guy friends and his wife had a baby. Hmmm... Do you think people mean that when they say it? Do most end up coming around on that after maybe a few years of marriage? Or, do perhaps accidents just happen? ; )

Awesome!!

Drawing a blank...

Still without a topic! Errr...

Anyway, Cinco de Mayo today. Not sure if I'll go out or not.

Kentucky Derby tomorrow - whoo-hoo! Will go somewhere and make some bets. Last year I won $100 on a $2 bet. You've gotta love that!

Need to get back on my diet and back to working out. Our little outing last weekend really threw me off and I'm still off. I just need to get my head back into the game I think.

Thats about all I can think of right now. May be back with more later!

How much do I not want to take calls on my call shift right now??

More...

I just haven't had a very good week in general. My mind is spinning again and I hate that. I don't know why I'm like this. I've just been so shaky this week and I don't like it. Now my stomach sort of hurts. I don't know, perhaps I'm coming down with something.

Anyway, just thought I'd stop by and say hello. I may be back with more later. Trying to put off work. I'm just so annoyed with work lately! : (

Time to play catch up!

Yeah so I didn't really have a chance to write yesterday so to get caught up today...

Friday night out with my friend and her boyfriend. It was a good time, ate a bunch of fattening food, drank a bunch of margaritas. And then out for karaoke afterwards where more alcohol was consumed. Like I said, good time, but not without its annoyances. She was running like a half hour late and I forgot my cell phone (I have a habit of doing this) so had to wait and wait for them to show up. She was having some kind of family drama or whatever. But anyway, by the time she even showed up, I was pretty well liquored up. Oh well... what can you do?

Saturday didn't do much of anything. I mean, really... I think all I did was sit around, watch TV and surf the web. The weather wasn't good anyway so its not like it mattered.

Sunday was the awesome Faith and Tim concert!! It rocked! How awesome are they?! I tried to get some pictures with the camera phone but they just didn't turn out. I couldn't believe real cameras were allowed in - seemed like everyone had one! Wish I did!!

Yesterday was kind of an interesting day in Chicago in that we had that immigrant rally. Actually, it was very interesting. I went outside and watched a good portion of it. They marched by Sears and I would say the march to the park alone took over two hours. I can't believe how many people there were. I took a bunch of pictures with a disposable camera I just happened to have in my bag and took some video on my cell phone. We were warned by the train service what a nightmare the commute home was expected to be with all of these extra people but it really was not. I got permission to leave an hour early and then went and sat on my train a half hour early so I would have a seat. It probably wasn't necessary but I guess its best to plan ahead.

My work schedule is sort of screwed up this week and I'm not liking it. I had to be here by 7am today which meant - because of the wacky train schedule - I had to be on the train at 6:09am this morning. I was so not a happy camper. I have not had this schedule in a long time. And I have more oddities the rest of the week. I think it might be time to have a little chat with my boss about this. I didn't sign up for this - certain other people did - but sometimes I feel like they stick me with it because I usually don't complain. Time to speak up I guess.

Thats about all for now. I may be back with more later!

I'm starving!

And I'm sort of torn about eating or not. I had a small breakfast ... I typically just have a breakfast bar or something ... but I haven't had lunch yet.

I am no longer on an official diet but I do try and watch what I eat and I have been working out several times a week and trying to walk more. So far its working. I'm down another two pounds in the last couple of weeks and I haven't gained any back since I started losing. So thats good.

So the thing is, tonight, I am going out with my friend and her boyfriend to the Mexican restaurant that we love. Its really hard for me to say no to any food and drink at this place because its just so awesome. I mean, there is going to be greasy tortillas, cheese, beans, rice, etc. etc. consumed tonight along with probably a couple of pitchers or margaritas. So you see the predicament. And I hate people who are on a diet and say, OK, I'm just going to have a salad before I go out and then order healthy stuff off of the menu. Yeah, I could or should do that, but this place is not worth it! I rarely get to this place so when I go, I want to make the most of it. Food aside, I'll probably consume more calories in booze anyway!

So I want lunch to be very small or even non-existant today so try and compensate a bit. Well, I don't think I'm going to make non-existant cause as I said, I'm starving. I'm sitting here looking at another breakfast bar and considering it. Or maybe I should go get a fat free latte at Starbucks or something. Hmmm... decisions, decisions.

I need to eat *something* though or I'll be immediately trashed on the first margarita. These things are STRONG!! I don't need an empty stomach to add to that.

Jack's Back!!!

How awesome is this? LOL!!!

This song is seriously growing on me...

(although I hate the cheesy video!)

What Hurts The Most

by: Rascal Flatts

I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house
That don’t bother me
I can take a few tears now and then and just let 'em out
I’m not afraid to cry every once in a while
Even though going on with you gone still upsets me
There are days every now and again I pretend I’m ok
But that’s not what gets me

What hurts the most
Was being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was tryin’ to do

It’s hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go
But I’m doin’ It
It’s hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I’m alone
Still Harder
Getting up, getting dressed, livin’ with this regret
But I know if I could do it over
I would trade give away all the words that I saved in my heart
That I left unspoken

What hurts the most
Is being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do

What hurts the most was being
so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do

Not seeing that loving you
That’s what I was trying to do

Zzzzzzzzzzzz.........

I'm so bored I'd almost chat with anyone right now!

I'm bailing in a half hour!!!!!!

Yawwwwwn....

Email "ha-ha" of the day...

One morning while making breakfast, a man walked up to his wife, pinched her on the butt and said, "If you firmed up, we could get rid of your control top pantyhose". While this was on the edge of intolerable, she kept silent.

The next morning, the man woke his wife with a pinch on each of her breasts and said, "You know, if you firmed these up, we could get rid of your bra."

This was beyond a silent response, so she rolled over and grabbed him by his "dangler." With a death grip in place, she said "You know, if you firmed this up, we could get rid of the gardener, the postman, the pool man, and your brother."

News of the weird in Melissa's world!

OK... so I'm going to a wedding! Weddings are fun, interesting, etc. This one should be especially interesting. The bride and groom are getting married on a plane and then sky diving out of the plane after the ceremony. Ummm... yeah! OK, so they're both avid sky divers. So, no, I won't actually be witnessing this marriage as my feet will be firmly on the ground. Should make for some good pictures though.

Took the 9:07 AM train in this morning from the burbs and it was loaded with Cubs fans headed to today's game. Now, this may not be all that interesting to hear about except for the fact that they were all already pretty much loaded - 9:07 in the AM!! And since alcohol is allowed to be consumed on the Metra, some of them had cases of beer with them just sitting there drinking. Why is this supposed to be fun?

I actually went to a Cubs game Monday night which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I have taken some heat for it from some of my White Sox friends. Why is that? I go to Cubs games every year and I KNOW some of these people do too. But whatever... Anyway, got to sit on one of the Wrigley rooftops across the street from the park to watch the game. I had never done that before and it was cool and totally worth it. Plus, the night was free so I drank all kinds of free beer - good stuff too ... Heineken and Amstel Light - and ate free food! Can you really beat that? I say no!!

And finally... This morning I got off the train and walked outside and a tourist came up to talk to me. Actually ... he was a fairly good looking guy with a cool accent. Can't really place where he might have been from though - definitely Mediterranean of some kind. But anyway... he asks me where the "old city" of Chicago is and I think about it for a second and I'm like ... "What?"... So I just sort of pointed to the Loop cause... "Old city?" Then I think about it for another second and I'm like ... "Oh, do you mean 'Old Towne'"? "Old Towne" is a part of the city but I don't really consider it the "old city" of Chicago. He said, yes, maybe that was what he was asking and I said... well, take such and such El north and that I wasn't sure what stop it was but to ask at the El and he said OK and I walked on. So I started thinking about it more here this morning and you know what? There is no freaking "old city" of Chicago. The whole damn thing pretty much burned down in 1870-something so that pretty much eliminated anything super "old" around here. Hope that guy knows what he thinks he's looking for cause otherwise, I don't think he's going to find it!

The latest...

So my sister and her boyfriend are *sort of* back together. Hmmm... She said they got together last night and that both of them were miserable and didn't really want to break up. So she says they have some things they need to figure out. So... I don't know. She said that she thinks he's freaking out about the future and that he feels like he needs to know what he wants now and she says she doesn't feel that way. What? Since when is she so laid back about that stuff? OK... well, maybe she is and I just don't know that about her. I'm not anything like that. I want to know all about the future ASAP! Know what I mean? The only relationships I have ever been that casual in are relationships that were just for fun or didn't include any deep feelings. But anyway, if she does feel that way about it... more power to her. I suspect thats the attitude the dating person is supposed to have but do they ever really have it? In the past she has told me about some of their little issues and I was sort of assuming that some of the current problems may have had something to do with that. Perhaps not, but if they do and she's using all of this as an excuse? I just don't know.

Family drama

My sister and her boyfriend (yes, the one who took her to Spain) have broken up! I don't know the full story yet. She emailed me and said she was too upset to talk about it so... I don't know what happened.

OK...

So yesterday... Yeah, yesterday started with a really really bad morning. Remember how I said I thought the cat was getting better? Well, she seemed to be and then took a turn for the worse. And I was like freaking out. I mean... I was sort of wondering if she might still be with us when I got home from work. It was not a good morning. So.... sort of started the night before in that I found blood in the tub and yesterday morning found blood outside the litter box where I guess she had "missed". So these are not good signs to me. This coupled with the night before last her roaming around the apartment and seemingly trying to "hide". Not a good thing when an animal is sick cause you know how some animals can get with all of that. So she was like doing that - hiding behind the TV, hiding in this table. She never does that. She has also started digging thru the bathroom trash like a dog would or something. All of this super weird behavior. She just seemed so out of it too when I left yesterday. I don't know if you can tell if an animal has a fever by feeling their ears or not but hers were burning up. So I was like sick to death even going to work. Came home, she seemed a bit better. Took her to the vet and NOW he finally says its a urinary tract infection. This is what I always thought it was but he didn't think so - as she wasn't running a fever. A little mad that it takes blood in her pee and a second trip to the vet and me scared to death before he figures out what I always thought I knew. Might not sounds so serious but if they aren't treated, they can die from this. So she got two more shots and more pills and now is supposed to be on them for the next three weeks which is going to be serious fun. Hope this makes a difference! Other than cleaning her litter box, he didn't offer any other suggestions. Went to Target and found some better cat food which will hopefully help address her issues and we shall see what happens I guess. I get too attached... I was just a mess about it yesterday.

Then there were some other little things going on in my mind yesterday which weren't making me feel any better. I won't get into all of that but suffice it to say that maybe I am the one who needs the Valium - LOL!

Today is going much much better - I think.

I don't know what it is with me lately but I just have this general feeling of paranoia or whatever. Perhaps its just stress? I don't know, cause it ain't that time of the month or anything. I just feel insecure. I need to chill out or something, do something special and just get my head screwed back on straight.

Suicide morning in Chicago...

An email just received from my friend:

My office is located at Randolph & Wacker. A guy jumped from the bridge into the water over here by us (across the street). From our office, we can see the fire department and a boat in the water with divers looking for the body.

Funny Quote of the Day

"Never wear anything that panics the cat."

- P. J. O'Rourke


Speaking of cats... I think... I think... I hope... that the cat is finally getting better! She coughed up something totally without description ... so I won't even try ... and since then... I don't know... things in her "bathroom" seem a little more normal.

We'll see how it goes. I'm still really worried about her.

Glutton

Sometimes I just think I'm a "glutton for punishment". Why oh why do I do this to myself? Siiiiggghhh....

Blah...

Whatever...

I HAVE SO MUCH STUFF TO DO AT HOME AND NO INTEREST IN DOING IT!!!!!

I can't stand it ... I mean, really. I have like a STACK of laundry that needs to be done ASAP, grocery shopping which needs to be completed, workouts I need to be doing in the PM. I can't get over how much stuff I have to do and I just keep putting it OFF! I have no idea why I am such a procrastinator!!!!!!

Have I mentioned in this blog yet that my mom is retiring this year? I can't think if I have or not. Anyway, she is and is super excited! She has been a preschool teacher for 31 years so you can imagine! We're in the process of planning something special for her but what would be a good retirement gift? Any ideas?

A great weekend!! : )

Hey all, I'm back! Took Friday off and drove down to my parents' place for Easter weekend. It was a lovely wonderful weekend and I was very happy to be there. The weather was nice too so that made it even better. Its just nice to get away every once in a while but that is a pretty long drive when you are by yourself.

So anyway, Friday out to dinner and just visited with my parents and grandparents. Saturday was a lazy day and my dad made his famous pizza for dinner and oh yeah... big Saturday breakfast too - my dad is sort of known for those. Ummm... Sunday was church and a nice Easter dinner before heading back. All of this about food, right?

Anyway, it was great! The drive back wasn't too great as the weather decided to have a meltdown. Stormed part of the way back including even a tornado WARNING in the county I was driving thru. I sort of freaked my mom out about that by telling her "Well, I looked around and I didn't see it so I just decided to keep driving." LOL! Oh well, what can ya do?

So thats about it... What do you think about someone who is not invited to a particular event or party or whatever showing up anyway? Someone who thinks that just because another relative may be invited that they are automatically entitled to attend? What the heck is up with that? A lot of people have a lot of nerve. If I didn't receive an invitation, I would never in a million years even consider that I was "entitled" to go and then actually go. People need to learn some serious manners!

Its gonna be a slow one...

OK, well at least the morning is. We'll see what happens after 1pm but its gonna be slow til then. At least we get a free lunch today since there's a meeting in the office - whoo-hoo!!

I *think* the kitty is getting better - I'm not sure. She still is making a bunch of trips to the litter box with nothing happening so I don't know. She's getting her medicine and pills and generally hating life when she has to do this but she's not so bad to deal with either. I hope its making a difference!!

Trying to think of anything else to write about at the moment. Nothing of interest going on this weekend at all.

Heard we're in for some nice big spring storms this weekend as is typical of Easter weekend. Isn't Easter weekend one of the biggest weekends (no matter when it is) for like tornados and general storm chaos? Is it Easter or Palm Sunday? I can't remember, but one of those weekends is historically bad regardless of if it occurs in March or April. I'm not a big fan of storms. Some people love 'em, but I really don't.

I have had a few bad storm experiences. Actually, every storm was somewhat of a bad experience for me growing up. My backyard out in the country looks just about like Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz and that sort of freaked me out. What I mean is just country and barns and land... wide open spaces so to speak. Seeing black skys against that ... I don't like it. Had a couple of smallish tornados in my hometown but nothing of real damage - made a couple of trips to the basement though. Had some other tornados on some camping trips that were super scary. Had one driving experience alone at night by myself driving up to northern Wisconsin which was just horrible - I think I'm still shaking from that one and it was about seven years ago!!

I think the one that scarred me the most was camping one weekend in the farm lot at my great-grandmother's farm. OK .... I know that doesn't make much sense so here's the story:

My family still owns the original family land down in southern Illiois where my grandfather grew up. Anyway, when my great-grandmother moved out of her house (my great aunt/uncle took care of her for a few years before she was in a nursing home and later died... she lived to be 96 years old), when we went to visit the area we would stay in the old house. Well, eventually they started renting the house out and its like... where are we going to stay now? Well, my grandfather's cousin owns the other house on the lot and he allowed us to bring our campers/tents and just camp out in the farm lot. It was lots of fun - really! We brought family friends from time to time and made weekends of it. It was/is just a great place to hang out - totally rural, in the country, farm land, woods, ponds, lakes, etc. Its about a 45 minute drive from St. Louis.

The nearby towns are cute little towns - everyone (including myself) is of German decent. They all even still have this weird accent down there. My grandfather's cousin has it, even my grandfather's brothers had it... my grandfather does not which I always thought was kind of weird. They all do/did speak German fluently though. Anyway, the towns are nice - small - but each town has about 5 restaurants with huge outdoor beer gardens and fish fries every Friday night. Its a great time!! There are also some German bakeries around - although the original one that my dad loved and was super authenthic has been gone for several years. And, they're big on their "home killed" meats down there. There is this one butcher shop we always go to and stock up big time to take home - the best brautwurst on the planet!

But, I digress... its a great place to visit and sort of feels like a second (or is it third?) home to me. I think my sister and I had more fun hanging out at their town homecoming festivities one year than we have ever had at Corn Fest in our hometown. Gosh... when I think about it ... we really did make some special trips down there each year. We would go down for this German festival they had each summer ... Werschtsmart? Something like that? I'm not sure how to spell it? Anyway, it was a big brauts and beer fest... lots of outdoor games. Really fun stuff. We haven't been for several years as the group my family is honorary members of (thats another story) no longer put it on. Another group does now I think. Actually... I think this type of festival is quite common down there and there may be several during the year in all of those towns down there.

OK ... where was I and how did storms lead me into this story?? Yeah so one spring we were camping in the farm lot. This was one of the times that our family friends came with. My parents, my sis and I went one night early and the two daughters of our friends came with us too - their parents were coming the next day. I'd say I was about 12-13 years old. Anyway, this is when we had the pull-type pop-up trailer. The weather was so bad by the time we got there that there was no way we were even going to set the trailer up. It was horrible -black and windy and downright scary. I mean... I can't even begin to tell you how frightening it was. Before we went to *bed* (yeah right, like we were going to sleep) my grandfather's cousin's wife showed us how to get into their storm cellar. Now, I'm not talking about a basement here - I've done that a million times - I'm talking about outside, life the lid and get inside and close it behind you. How country is that?

So... me, my sis, and our two friends slept in the bed of my parents van. This was 1987 (I remember now) and my parents had a *real* van. One of those conversion vans and when the back seat folded down it created a bed that was probably somewhat between a queen to king sized bed so there was room for the four of us. My parents slept in the chairs. It was a horrible night, I don't think we got any sleep.

The next night my friends' parents were there and same thing. I can't remember exactly what happened now but basically another night of horrible weather and us kids ended up sleeping in the vans again - I was just too scared to sleep in the trailer. The trailer must have been up. I was in one of the vans (my friends' parents had one too) with one of my friends, all of the trees looked like they were gonna fall over - I remember that being the scariest thing about all of this. We look outside and we see my parents outside running. And we're like, crap, are they going to the cellar? Well, looking at it now... why did we think that? They never would have left us there like that if they were. But anyway, we thought they were so me and my friend come running out and run to the other van where my sis and other friend were staying. I guess my parents and my friends' parents were running outside because they were trying to put down the camper before it got shredded. So... it was another night sleeping in the vans. By this time, my nerves are shot. I was always uncomfortable with storms prior to this but this just sort of sealed the deal for me as far as making me afraid. I still look back on it as two of the worst nights of my life. I mean, it was really bad.

The next night they decided to pop up the trailer inside the barn. I'm not sure what good that would have been if there had been a tornado and the barn blew away with it. But anyway, it was windy as crap all day long but it was just wind. I don't remember there being a storm that night at all - of course. Anyway, its one of those stupid stories that I always tell everyone and its not anything that I'll ever forget!!

Back to something I mentioned earlier ... us being "honorary members" of this club. So the story on that is that my grandfather's family owned a bunch of land in this area and its handed down thru the generations. Anyway, this club *rents* (for a great deal) some of the land on the family land. They were allowed to do whatever improvements they wanted so they built a club house, shelter house, outdoor game/family area, and like 3-4 small lakes on it. Yeah... nice, right? It is nice. So now when we go visit over there we don't camp in the farm lot - we either camp at the club or we even put out some sleeping bags in the club and just sleep there. Its still a fun thing for me to do. I don't think I went down there last year but in the two previous years I did. Another thing that I like about going down there is that we go to St. Louis Cardinals games from time to time. I'm sort of hoping to get down there sometime this year so we can go to a game at the new stadium. That would be cool!

So sorry about the tangent here but I guess it gives a little more insite into my life ... and it gave me something to do ... so anyway, thats it for now!!

Alas...

Renaming and copying/pasting files *only* took 27 minutes.

Stuff...

Still waiting to hear back from the vet regarding the rest of the kitty's tests. I don't know what its going to be. Get to give her pills and medicine which is ever so much fun... I don't know if its working. Poor kitty.

So much on my mind lately. I just got bombarded with work the moment I walked in today and it has been nonstop ever since. Right now I'm on lunch so I get a bit of a break then I have to call back a user and hold her hand regarding simply renaming files and moving them from one directoy to another. Simple, right? I bet we're on the phone for over an hour. I'll let you know.

Bunch of stuff to work on at home, etc. I don't know how I'll ever get anything done.

My mind is spinning and I hate that!

Quotes of the Day

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. - WH Auden

I have just returned from Boston. It is the only sane thing to do if you find yourself up there. - Fred Allen

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives. - William Dement

Kitty update

Well... so far so good. The vet has run some of the tests and nothing bad has come back. He has a few more tests to run. If he finds nothing, his suggestion is just to keep her on the medication for a week and see what happens. A part of me is beginning to wonder if the kitty isn't just a head case.

Kitty

So... I thought or hoped it was going to be something simple with the kitty cat, but maybe not. Doc couldn't find anything wrong with her and she wasn't running a fever which I guess is what typically happens with an infection. So he gave her some kind of shot, two prescriptions and took some blood. Supposed to get the test results today. No idea what this is going to end up being. Poor kitty. I just can't get over how happy and healthy acting she is though. She is her normal self. Other than the trip in the cat carrier and in the car... she was fine. I'm really stumped by this. I hope it doesn't end up being something serious.

Ho-hum

Really nothing to write about here. I would say I'm at about 97% health-wise. I still feel some ickiness every once in a while. This one has really taken some time to kick. I am going to see if I can start maybe easing back into working out tonight. We shall see... I might go for a little bit.

Remember me mentioning that the cat was sick? She is indeed sick. Ok, well maybe "sick" is saying a little too much. She seems her happy little self but she has bathroom issues. Basically she keeps making trips to the litter box and I'm not sure if its a #1 or #2 problem. I'm thinking bladder infection but she's on her way to the vet tonight to find out.

I feel like I'm bored with the internet these days. The only real things of interest out there are the blogs and picture sites anymore. I'm just not interested in the other stuff. I have a whole list of bookmarks that I try to visit every day and most of them I'm not even looking at anymore. I need some ideas for entertaining sites.

A little bit stressed out here at work today. I have a whole list of work stuff and personal stuff that I need to attend to and I'm slowly but surely making my way thru the list but its stressing me out. Its a head-ache afternoon.

OK, thats about it for now!!

Jill

Finally...

Quote of the Day

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it. - CP Snow

Quick update!

Just been kind of crazy around here today but I think I'm finally caught up. Got my work done, paid my bills, took care of a few random things.

I'm not 100% healthy yet but feeling 100% better. Does that make any sense? I'm still tired and I have a nasely sound to my voice but I can breathe and I'm STARVING so thats a good sign.

Don't know what is up for tonight other than spaghetti for dinner. May go out or just stay in. We shall see!!

Blah...

The last few days have been complete and utter .... *&$#!!!

You fill in the blank.

It started out just great Friday night going to the Big & Rich concert. Met the group at a nearby bar, had a couple of drinks and then headed over. I wasn't feeling too great in the tummy but thought it was probably something I ate. Had a bruchetta appetizer that was just loaded down with garlic and sometimes that makes me feel icky.

So went to the concert felt so-so but had some more drinks and it ended up being a great time! It was a really cool concert. They really only played like an hour so the played all of their hits, a few new songs and a song or two from their next album. We had "special" tickets - this I did not know. It was pretty much a free concert event from US-99 so the entire downstairs of the bar was just crammed with all of the listeners who won tickets on the air. They were packed in down there - couldn't really move. Well, our tickets were for the "balcony" section. The numbers were small up there, you could walk around, hang at the railing and had an all-around great view. It was really nice and a really good time. They played all acoustic and Cowboy Troy even came out on a few songs with them. It was pretty cool.

Well somewhere during the evening I started getting this little tickle in my throat. I wasn't too concerned but didn't like it. Saturday morning I woke up and I could barely talk. Welcome my first cold of 2006. I usually get one in late winter/early spring so this one may have been slightly expected. I wasn't even sure it was a cold at first. My mom typically gets larengitis (sp?) around this time each year because of bad allergies. Stuff is starting to bloom and I was thinking that maybe this was just another gift I had inherited from her. In the beginning it was just my voice, I pretty much felt fine. That was sort of the last for "feeling fine" for me. I have pretty much been sick since then. I even missed three days of work. The throat got worse, then it moved to my nose and now its pretty much gone from the throat but still sort of in my nose and now its in my ears which just sucks!!! I don't think I have really slept in three nights because I can't freaking breathe. Last night was the first night I got a few hours - I think the Robitussin I took finally helped and I was at least able to lie on my back and breathe. So I was finally able to come back to work today. I seriously would have LOVED to take the rest of the week off. I still need to rest - big time. I'm pretty much fine in the hours after I take my Tylenol Cold but once it wears out ... I feel crappy again. And, if you ask me, I am sort of running a fever on and off. I think the cat might have it too - I'm not kidding. The last two days all she has done is lay around and hasn't been her playful self at all. Sorry Willow! LOL!

But I'm a survivor and I'm hoping by tomorrow I should be A-OK. I hope I can try and have some fun this weekend but I'm not sure what is up. Came in here this morning and talked to my boss and got her to give me email shifts for support the next couple of days. There was no way I wanted to be stuck on a 4-hour phone shift feeling like this. I seriously could have killed someone.

So that is everything that has been going on in my life in a nutshell the past couple of days. Got to watch some White Sox baseball and so far, not so good. Oh well, its only April, right! LOL! Got to see my soap (Days of Our Lives) in real time instead of watching it on the DVR. That has been the curse of the DVR for me. I have gotten back into soaps after not watching them for years! It just became too much of a pain to record on the VCR every day but the DVR sort of solves that problem. I've been watching Days since I was like 2 and it was always a huge event each lunchtime at the sorority house to watch it - LoL! Those were the days. Does anyone else watch it? I have some serious thoughts on some of the current storylines and was considering blogging it.

Alas, that is it for now. I have a bunch of stuff I need to take care of this afternoon and then I might try to bolt a little bit early.

Note to self...

It doesn't matter how you got here; all that matters is that you are here now.

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!!