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Looooong Weekend
Sunday, November 30, 2003 04:26 p.m.

I didn't really do much this weekend. Spent a good portion of it sleeping. I'm not complaining though. I needed the sleep.
Friday afternoon, I brought a plate of Thanksgiving fixings over to Paul, and we watched a little tv at his place (college football). After I left there, I came back home and decided to tackle cooking my turkey. I made the brine for the turkey to soak in and set it in the fridge to soak overnight. Then I settled down to watch more college football. At some point, I fell asleep, woke back up, walked my dog, took a shower, and went back to bed.
I woke up Saturday afternoon, did what I needed to for cooking the turkey, popped that sucker into the oven, and settled down to watch 4 hours of 24 (I taped them and hadn't gotten around to watching them), which was perfect because it took 4 hours for the bird to cook. I misread the recipe though. It said to cook the turkey breast side down for 3 1/2 hours, then turn it breast side up for the last 1/2 hour. I did it opposite so when it came time for me to flip the bird (HA!!!) over, it fell apart on me. Which was fine because I was just going to cut it apart anyways, but next year, I'll have to remember that it's breast side down first, then flip it.
So, today, I pretty much am eating a whole bunch of turkey! I did make a trek to Target to look for hanging beads but they didn't have any (oddly enough). So, I'll have to hit a mall at some point.

Happy Thanksgiving
Friday, November 28, 2003 11:37 a.m.

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.
I went over to Susan and Dave's, like I pretty much do every year, for dinner. It was a good meal. I went off the diet for the day so that I could enjoy myself. But I'm glad to say that I didn't pig out just because I could. I took small portions of everything and enjoyed it. Dave cooks a mean turkey! Susan and I were responsible for the fixings and I always feel bad that I usually just bring mashed potatoes (although, last year, I also did a great mac-n-cheese from scratch) while Susan makes broccoli and cheese, stuffing, and gravy, so this year I made a spinach and cheese bake, which they enjoyed, but I didn't (I realize that I'm just not a spinach person). I meant to leave the mashed potato flakes (yes, I made them from a box this year) with Susan and Dave since I won't be eating them, but completely forgot so when I was packing up all my stuff to go home, I packed up the potato flakes. Ooops. Will have to give it to Paul then when I fix him a plate and take it over to him.
We actually managed to eat pretty early this year (7pm). Last year, it was 8pm, and the years before that, it was usually 9pm or 10pm before we'd eat. I remember one year, I went to a friend's house for Thanksgiving, at dinner/lunch at 1pm, hung out for a while, left their house, went to Susan and Dave's and had another dinner at 11pm. It was crazy!!! Anyways, after dinner, we played a board game called Easy Money, which I actually won (go me!). Then Susan and I played a couple rounds of Boggle (and she naturally kicked my ass). Then we sat down to watch a little tv. Once tv viewing was over, Dave felt the need to exact some revenge on me for winning Easy Money (he usually wins), so we played 2 games of Rummy, in which he trounced all over Susan and me! My mom would be ashamed if she knew how horribly I played. :-)
I got home around 1am, walked Sharky and then went to bed. I was, naturally, awoken around 7am by The Jerk and his music. At which point, I walked Sharky again and went back to bed (with headphones on listening to the Evanescence CD). I woke up about an hour ago and that's been my day so far. I'm going to fix Paul a plate of leftover Thanksgiving goodness and take it to him after I shower and whatnot. I was going to go shopping, but then realized that it's Black Friday so I'm just going to wait until Saturday or Sunday. I'm not dealing with crowds today.

Happy Holidays
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 11:48 a.m.

From my company to you: Happy Holidays

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 09:34 a.m.

I went to bed last night at 8:30pm. How sad is that? But on the bright side, I woke up this morning before my alarm went off and I actually got out of bed on the first buzz of the alarm, instead of hitting the snooze button 3 or 4 times.

Moving Day
Monday, November 24, 2003 05:01 p.m.

On Friday, we packed up all our desks and stuff and today, Voila! We're in a new office. Much nicer. I spent most of my day, unpacking boxes for my department and getting them set up, and then unpacking my desk and setting it up the way I wanted it. If I had been thinking clearly, I wouldn't have worn a sweater but it was cold this morning. But now my cube is all done and decorated and I'm good to go for tomorrow.

Exhausted!
Monday, November 24, 2003 04:27 p.m.

Man, what an exhausting weekend. Yet I really did a whole lot of nothing.
Friday night, I finally watched the Extended Edition of TTT. It was awesome. It's slightly interesting because it introduces a character that's not going to be introduced until the theatrical release of The Return Of The King. I went to bed fairly early Friday night because I was tired and because on
Saturday, I was supposed to go to Susan's to watch the USC vs. UCLA game, but I felt like crap in the morning. It got really windy during the night and I had left my windows open so my apartment got really cold. I had to get up at 3am to close my windows and Sharky was following me around so I ended up walking him. Then I went back to bed. Around 8am, I was awoken by the lovely stereo of The Jerk, so I got up, ran over to Radio Shack to buy a 4.5v power source for a portable CD player I bought (you'd think they'd mention on the packaging that you need one but noooo, all it said was that it worked with 2 AA batteries; it neglects to mention that you have to jumpstart it with a 4.5v power source. bastiges!) and ran some other errands (like getting gas, buying dog food, etc.), thinking that I'd feel a bit better if I got moving around, but I was wrong. So I called Susan to tell her that I wasn't going to come, and laid down until the game started at 12:30pm. After the game was over, I walked the dog, watched the cast commentary for TTT, and then decided to read a book I had bought on Amazon a few days ago. It's selected short stories of Philip K. Dick. I really like his stories, which unfortunately get turned into sometimes crappy movies. I mean, Blade Runner and Minority Report were pretty decent movies but they are so far removed from the stories that it's almost like 2 different entities. But Impostor is pretty much lifted straight from the short story and it really didn't work as a movie. And now they're making Paycheck into a movie (with Ben Affleck no less). We'll see how that turns out. Anyways, I read some of the stories, then got onto the computer to play some games, read my email, and whatnot. After that, I decided to watch some tv shows that I had taped that I didn't get to during the week. Once all that taped tv viewing was over, I watched a little bit more real tv and then went to bed.
Sunday morning, I was again woken up early by The Jerk, so I decided to go grocery shopping for all the Thanksgiving stuff for Susan's. After grocery shopping, I came home and watched the director/writer commentary for TTT. As if that wasn't enough, I then watched Identity and 3 episodes of Season 2 of Highlander (I really like Netflix). I set my vcr to tape Alias and I hunkered down to watch my other shows. And then it was bed time.
Like I said, exhausting, even though I didn't really do anyting. It's kinda sad really. I think it means that I'm getting old.

Exhausted!
Monday, November 24, 2003 04:27 p.m.

Man, what an exhausting weekend. Yet I really did a whole lot of nothing.
Friday night, I finally watched the Extended Edition of TTT. It was awesome. It's slightly interesting because it introduces a character that's not going to be introduced until the theatrical release of The Return Of The King. I went to bed fairly early Friday night because I was tire and because on
Saturday, I was supposed to go to Susan's to watch the USC vs. UCLA game, but I felt like crap in the morning. It got really windy during the night and I had left my windows open so my apartment got really cold. I had to get up at 3am to close my windows and Sharky was following me around so I ended up walking him. Then I went back to bed. Around 8am, I was awoken by the lovely stereo of The Jerk, so I got up, ran over to Radio Shack to buy a 4.5v power source for a portable CD player I bought (you'd think they'd mention on the packaging that you need one but noooo, all it said was that it worked with 2 AA batteries; it neglects to mention that you have to jumpstart it with a 4.5v power source. bastiges!) and ran some other errands (like getting gas, buying dog food, etc.), thinking that I'd feel a bit better if I got moving around, but I was wrong. So I called Susan to tell her that I wasn't going to come, and laid down until the game started at 12:30pm. After the game was over, I walked the dog, watched the cast commentary for TTT, and then decided to read a book I had bought on Amazon a few days ago. It's selected short stories of Philip K. Dick. I really like his stories, which unfortunately get turned into sometimes crappy movies. I mean, Blade Runner and Minority Report were pretty decent movies but they are so far removed from the stories that it's almost like 2 different entities. But Impostor is pretty much lifted straight from the short story and it really didn't work as a movie. And now they're making Paycheck into a movie (with Ben Affleck no less). We'll see how that turns out. Anyways, I read some of the stories, then got onto the computer to play some games, read my email, and whatnot. After that, I decided to watch some tv shows that I had taped that I didn't get to during the week. Once all that taped tv viewing was over, I watched a little bit more real tv and then went to bed.
Sunday morning, I was again woken up early by The Jerk, so I decided to go grocery shopping for all the Thanksgiving stuff for Susan's. After grocery shopping, I came home and watched the director/writer commentary for TTT. As if that wasn't enough, I then watched Identity and 3 episodes of Season 2 of Highlander (I really like Netflix). I set my vcr to tape Alias and I hunkered down to watch my other shows. And then it was bed time.
Like I said, exhausting, even though I didn't really do anyting. It's kinda sad really. I think it means that I'm getting old.

FIGHT ON!!
Saturday, November 22, 2003 04:35 p.m.

Fight On for Old SC
Our team fights on for victory
Our alma matter dear
Looks up to you
Fight on and win
for Old SC
Fight on to victory
Fight on!!!
47 to 22 BABY!!!!!!!!
That's 5 years in a row we've beaten UCLA!!!

DVD Extras
Thursday, November 20, 2003 09:08 a.m.

So, you all know my plan for when I got my EE DVD of TTT (see Extended Edition DVDs entry from Monday).
Well, since my DVD got here earlier than expected, I was all in a tizzy. I mean, I do have tv viewing that needs to happen during the week. I was in a bit of a quandary. I decided last night to watch the appendices instead of the movie. I got home from work, walked my dog, showered, got snacks and drinks, and hunkered down to watch the extras. That was about 5pm. I got through all of Disc 3 and the first 2 extras in Disc 4 before 9pm hit. So I stopped to tape Angel and to walk Sharky. After Angel, I went back to watching the extras and managed to get through about 2 more before I decided that I had better go to bed. That was 11pm. Thankfully, my upstairs neighbor (henceforth referred to as The Jerk) turned off his music so I fell right asleep.
I just checked what's on tv tonight and the only thing I watch on Thursdays is the CBS line up of Survivor, CSI, and Without A Trace, which I tape anyways and watch on Saturday, so I'm all good for more TTT viewing tonight.

The Two Towers
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 02:35 p.m.

Guess who got her Extended Edition DVD of The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers a week earlier than expected?!?!?!

It's A Horrible Day In The Neighborhood
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 10:16 a.m.

I intensely dislike my upstairs neighbor!!!! He always plays his music loudly at any given point during the day. At night, he turns it down but it's still loud enough that I can't sleep.
Last night at 10:30pm, I knocked on the wall to let him know that I couldn't sleep because it was too loud. He ignored me until about 11pm, when I called my landlord to complain, then banged on the ceiling with a broom. My neighbor immediately came downstairs and started yelling at me about how he can't live his life according to my sleep schedule and that if he wanted to, the music could be much louder than it was. He then said that if I had called the cops to complain, they would laugh at me because you can't hear the music from the outside. At that point, I was tired and severely pissed off, so I told him that the point was that his music was loud enough that I couldn't sleep which meant that it was too loud. He then said that I should call the landlord, if I had a problem and not bang on the wall. I then put the phone up to my ear and said, "Vic? Did you hear all that?" My landlord said yes and then told me that he would talk to the guy the next day. The look on my neighbor's face when I got on the phone with my landlord was priceless. I don't think he thought I would go through with it.
The stupid thing is that 15 minutes after his confrontation, he turned his music down to a level which, had I not been so wound up and pissed off, would have been perfect for me to have fallen asleep. Which obviously means that he can hear the music at a lower level (which was his main arguement in the first place; that he could barely hear it at the level it was). Asshole. And I'm still totally pissed off about it today!! Because the guy has such a passive aggressive retaliation method, I'm worried about what he'll do while I'm not home.
I'm seriously looking into moving out, but I have to wait until after the holidays because I can't afford to do it right now. Plus, I'd have to find a place that would take Sharky. Crap on a cracker.

Movin' On Up From The Eastside
Tuesday, November 18, 2003 12:38 p.m.

So, this is the last week that our office will be in Westwood. We are cutting the apron strings from UCLA (YEAH!) and moving westward down Olympic in what's known as the Olympic Cooridor. Our office is all aflurry with boxes galore and tags and stickers and cubicle numbers. Granted, we're not moving until Friday, but some people have already packed away non-essential files and stuff. Me? Leaving it all until Friday afternoon. I have boxed up stuff that I'm taking home, like photos, a bunch of pens, a stuffed toy, etc., but other than that, all files, essential or not, will not be boxed until Friday. If I were moving out of my apartment, I'd be boxing up a little bit every night so that the day of the big move, I'd have most of it done. But as this is work, I'll wait until the last minute. Or not. We'll see if my anal retentiveness gene kicks in.

Quiz Time
Tuesday, November 18, 2003 10:11 a.m.


You are an enzyme. You are powerful, dark, variable, and can change many things at your whim...even when they're not supposed to be changed. Bad you. You can be dangerous or wonderful; it's your choice.

Which Biological Molecule Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Extended Edition DVDs
Monday, November 17, 2003 04:45 p.m.

I love these. I love all the little extras that come with DVDs. It takes me forever to watch a DVD because I'll watch all the behind the scenes stuff first and then I'll watch the actual movie. Sometimes, the extras are more interesting than the movie (Darkness Falls, I'm looking in your direction).
So, tomorrow, the extended edition of The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers comes out on DVD. I pre-ordered it from Amazon.com and it will be shipped to me by November 26, which is perfect because it's right before Thanksgiving Weekend, which means I can spend all weekend watching the DVD and all the little extras (the movie, the cast commentary, the director/writer commentary, the design/sound commentary, the behind the scenes stuff) that come with it and I won't have anyone bugging me about it (Drew, Susan, Alyson, I'm looking in your direction).

Star Sightings
Monday, November 17, 2003 10:26 a.m.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that while I was at the movie theatre on Saturday night, I literally ran into Katie Holmes (she of Dawson's Creek fame) buying a ticket to see Master & Commander. She was in line ahead of me (I'm not quite sure why she was at the Sherman Oaks Galleria; there are much nicer movie theatres in LA, so why she was in the Valley is anyone's guess) and she turned around after purchasing the ticket and walked right into me. Let me just say that the girl is TALL. I mean, she's already 5'8" to begin with and then she was wearing boots with a heel on them so she was easily pushing 5'11" which then makes sense why she didn't see little ol' 5'4" me. She did apologize profusely; I assured her it was o.k. and she and the guy she was with went on their merry little way. Might I just say that she is very pretty and looks the same in real life as she does on tv/in the movies?

Weekends Are Too Short
Sunday, November 16, 2003 06:23 p.m.

Technically, my weekend started early since I didn't go to work but as I pretty much spent all day and part of the evening in bed because I felt like crap, it pretty much was a waste of a day. Granted, it was better to spend all day Friday in bed feeling miserable so that I felt o.k. on Saturday and Sunday rather than feel miserable all day Saturday and lose that whole day.
Anyways, I talked to my friend Pamela on Friday night and found out that she was going to be in Topanga finishing up some stuff at her old house on Saturday, so I made plans to come by and visit her (since I'm not sure of the next time I'll see her or her family because they moved to BFE). I ended going to bed relatively early on Friday night (11pm), which was good, because my asshole of a neighbor started in with the music at 8am again on Saturday morning.
Since I was up at 8am, I took my dog out for a walk, then made some breakfast, checked my email and just generally futzed around, cleaned a little bit, and whatnot. Then I sat down to watch The Core, one of the 3 movies that I have out from Netflix. Not a bad movie. Certainly not as bad as critics made it out to be. Not a great movie though. A LOT of cheesy dialogue, but that's really o.k. because sometimes cheese is what you need. I certainly wasn't expecting this movie to be a great classic, so maybe that's why it was pretty decent. It seems that when you have high expectations for a movie, sometimes it really disappoints. Anyways, after the movie, I walked Sharky again and got a call from Pamela, saying that she was up at the old house, so I hightailed it out of there, picked up lunch for the two of us (baked chicken for both of us, potato salad and fruit salad for her, and tuna fish and egg salad for me) and got to her place around 12:30pm. We ate, then I talked with her while she packed up some stuff and cleared stuff out of the bedrooms. Around 3:30pm, she had a renter come to look at the place so that's when I left. I got home around 4pm, walked Sharky, then settled in to watch #2 USC beat the snot out of University of Arizona 45-0 (a shut-out, thank you very much and on their own turf). At one point, we pulled out our 3rd string quarterback to play against UofAz and they still couldn't score against us! Now, not only am I excited by the fact that we shut them out, but also by the fact that they beat UCLA last week. And UCLA lost this week to University of Oregon, so HAAAAA! We play UCLA next week, so this gives us a chance. Now, granted, anything can happen at the USC/UCLA game, so I'm not going to be over confident, but I am rooting for my team!!! I'm sorry, I seemed to have strayed from my original topic. Oh, right, my weekend. So anyways, after the USC game, I laid down to take a little nap, and woke up around 10:30pm and went to the movies (by myself) to go see Master & Commander: The Far Side Of The World. I originally was going to pass on the movie simply because Russell Crowe is in it and I really don't like Russell Crowe movies. But my future husband, Billy Boyd, is in the movie, albeit in small role, and I saw a behind the scenes and it looked somewhat interesting, so I decided to go see it. I wasn't expecting much from it so I was pleasantly surprised. Some parts of the movie do lag and I did fall asleep at one point somewhere in the middle, but overall it was decent. The actors, though, do a phenomenal job of making you care about their characters so when something happens to one of them, you do get involved and a bit emotional. I think I got home from the movie around 2am, so I walked Sharky, then showered and went to bed.
I woke up Sunday around 11am, walked my dog, then went right back to sleep until about 1pm, when I was once again awoken by the thumpity thump thump of my neighbor's stereo. It was about time for me to be up anyways, so I got out of bed and called Drew about going to the movies to see The Matrix: Revolutions. We went to a 3:35pm showing, which means the movie really started around 4pm and didn't end until almost 6pm. I didn't have high expectations for this movie. I had seen Reloaded and was really disappointed in that, so I wasn't expecting this one to be good either. It wasn't. I'll give it this: it was better than the 2nd one, but it still wasn't good. It really didn't answer a whole lot of questions and the ending really sucked. I won't spoil it for anyone who's not seen it, but that's just like Sloane saying that the Rambaldi machine was only good for one thing when he assembled it on Alias. I'm not buying it! Anyways, once the movie was over, Drew dropped me off at home, where I had to take 3 Tylenol because the movie was so loud that my head was pounding. I had some dinner and that's where I am now. I'm going to take Sharky for a long walk. Hopefully, the cool air will help me get rid of my headache.

Mirgraines And Too Much Information
Friday, November 14, 2003 09:44 p.m.

You might want to skip this entry if you don't want to read all about my female problems.





Man, sometimes being a female SUCKS big time!! Falling off the roof, getting a visit from Aunt Flo (or Your Friend), whatever the hell euphamism you want to use for it, being on your period is the worst!! And for me, it's getting worse. I don't know if it's because of the thyroid medication I'm on or because I'm getting older, or both, but I am having the worst time during my "time of the month." Nausea, migraine, massive cramps, stiff joints and muscles, and tons of blood! I bleed so much during the 1st 3 days of my 7 days that I have to use both a tampon and pad and I have to change both every 2 hours. I actually missed work today because I was thisclose to vomitting. I took some Excedrin Migraine (the only thing that seems to work these days), took a really hot shower, then laid down and tried not to move while I tried to fall asleep. It didn't help that my neighbor was blasting his radio all day (in all fairness, I'm usually at work during the day, so I didn't march upstairs to his apartment and vomit all over him to prove a point). I finally managed to get rid of the migraine around 6pm. I'm still crampy and achy though.

Wacky Weather
Thursday, November 13, 2003 07:18 a.m.

So, the rainbow yesterday? Not a radio station hoax. Totally real. It was on the news last night.

Further proof that California is going to Hell: hail/snow in Watts!!!!!
First the fires, then the rain and flooding, next Arnold as Governor, and now hail/snow in Watts. I'm telling you, we're all heading towards the final level of hell. If we get locusts or any sort of bug infestation, I am so out of here.

Rainbow Connection
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 05:03 p.m.

As I was driving home this afternoon on the 101 South (or East, as the case may be sometimes), the skyline was all weird. It was like it was split 3 ways. On the left, you could see the mountains and you could see tons of storm clouds. Part of the sky around the 134 East (Burbank/Glendale area) was all dark and you could see where it was raining. In the middle, the sky had shafts of sunlight peeking through the clouds. But the weirdest part was the big honking RAINBOW on the right side of the sky. I mean, it was MASSIVE and it was pretty much an up/down (versus somewhat arc'd side to side) rainbow. I was listening to my tiny radio in the car and the guy on the radio said that the rainbow was being brought to you by the station but that it would only be up for another hour. Now I'm wondering if he was telling the truth or if the rainbow was just so freakin' weird that he just said that to make a joke. I mean, it was a pretty solid looking rainbow and it was slightly overcast so I'm wondering if it was something the radio station did.
And now it's thundering outside and I'm freaking out because I HATE thunder and lightening so I'm going to go shower and then snuggle under the covers with a good book.
In the meantime, here's a quiz that's a tie to my entry title:

Which Sesame Street Muppet Are You?

Quizzes
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 04:49 p.m.


Which toe are you?

The Densa Quiz

How Well Do You Pay Attention?


Tomboy

What's your sexual appeal?
brought to you by Quizilla

Chopping Broccoli
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 06:57 a.m.

Yesterday, I was making broccoli-cheese soup and I cut my thumb chopping broccoli. Right on the pad of my thumb. Hurts like a mo-fo.

A Quiz From The Sinner!
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 06:35 p.m.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Veterans Day
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 06:15 p.m.

Today, please remember all of the soldiers who fought for our country to keep us safe and to help other countries in their times of need.

No Wire Hangers!
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 06:03 p.m.

Does anyone get that reference, or am I just showing my age?

Remember I was talking about how I did laundry? Well, I was going through a lot of old clothes that I don't wear anymore either because they're too small or I just don't like the outfits anymore and I came across a bag full of wire hangers. I'm trying to think of where they could've possibly come from because I don't remember having them when I moved in here and I don't get stuff dry cleaned. Hmmm..mysterious wire hanger bandits, perhaps?

Sunday night, I walked Sharky at 9pm and was in bed by 9:30pm. I was exhausted! I woke up at 2am, though, aching all over. I actually had to get up and take some Tylenol. I went back to bed until my alarm went off at 5am and then it was business as usual.
Monday night, I went to bed super early as well because I had a killer headache and I thought I might be getting a migraine. Luckily, it turned out to just be a simple headache, but again, I woke up at 2am, only this time it was to sneeze. And sneeze. And sneeze some more. I must have sneezed about 20 times, once even while I was trying to blow my nose. I don't know where the sneeze attack came from, but when I went back to bed, I had to sleep at this weird angle so that I could breathe out of my nose. I woke up at 5am with a horrible crick in my neck.
Today, after I got home and walked Sharky, I decided to do all my lunch cooking for the week, so I portioned out my salad mix (lettuce, cheese, etc.), made some tuna fish, and made a broccoli and cheese soup. Pretty damn good if I do say so myself. I mean, seriously, I don't cook. I hate to cook. If I were rich, I'd hire a cook (and a maid (because I hate to clean), and a chauffer). But being on Atkins has forced me to start looking into cooking my own food so that I can stick to it.
I never did go get those boots at Payless.

Babies and Laundry
Sunday, November 9, 2003 05:15 p.m.

This weekend was chalk full of excitement for me, if you count doing laundry as exciting.

USC didn't play this weekend, which was good because I actually had something to do this Saturday and it would've been bad for me to tell my co-worker, "Sorry, I can't come to your baby shower. I have to stay at home and be a football hag."
Friday night was fairly uneventful. I came home from work, walked my dog, made some dinner, and went to Target to shop for a baby shower gift. Unfortunately the registry machine only printed out every other page, so I just bought some cute stuff that all went together. When I got home, I wrapped the gift (and by wrap, I mean "stuck in a purple gift back and signed my name") and then snuggled in with my dog to watch the second season of Coupling on dvd. Half way through, I realize that Joan of Arcadia was about to come one so I stopped the dvd player to watch. Man, any happy I had going from Coupling was wiped out by JoA. I was a huge sobbing mess after that episode. I was still crying when I took a shower right after the show. I decided I need to come back from the sad so I finished watching Coupling and then went to bed around 12am.
Saturday morning, after waking up at 4am to walk the dog and going back to sleep, I was promptly woken up by my asshole of a neighbor and his fucking loud music at 7am. I continued to lay in bed for another hour, trying to ignore the deep bass of the cello in the classical music he's got going (yeah yeah, it was classical, but it was still LOUD), but can't so I got up, cooked breakfast, and watched some stuff I taped from the week. Around 11am, I started to get ready for Joy's baby shower. I can never gauge how long it will take me to get someplace, especially a place I've never been before and on a weekend (because weekend traffic is never the same at any given point) so I made a point of leaving about 5 minutes before the shower was supposed to start so that I'd be fashionably late but at least one of the first people there. I don't have that hang up about being first at a party but I don't like to be right on time. At least not for parties. For everything else in life, I like to be either on time or early. Finding the place proved relatively easy and as there was no traffic, I made it there about 15 minutes after the scheduled start time. Not only was I the first person there, Joy's family-in-law weren't done setting up. I felt weird about just sitting there, watching them set up, so I went outside, sat on a large rock in the sun, and made some phone calls. About 15 minutes later, more people started to show up. The shower itself was nice. Lots of good friends and family and fun games. I did go off my diet for lunch, but I was right back on for dinner and Sunday. I left about 1/2 hour before the shower was scheduled to end (pretty much after they opened their gifts) and went home, where I proceeded to spend about 1 1/2 hours sorting all my laundry into baskets. I didn't have any cash on me and only enough quarters to do laundry for 2 loads so I picked the most important loads to do--black and green/yellow. Yes, I sort my clothes into color spectrums: black, white, grey/brown, green/yellow, red/orange, and blue/purple. I also hang my clothes on appropriate colored hangers. I'm weird that way. Get used to it. After the laundry was done, I played on the computer a bit and then got a call from my Aunt Bev, which was just weird because I've never been all that close with my dad's family (although closer with them than my mom's family, whom I've never met [because they live in Vietnam]). So, my aunt and I had a very long, but pleasant conversation, just talking about this and that. After I got off the phone with her, I ate dinner and watched a little tv before going to bed early because I was going to go to a laundromat the next day to finish off my laundry.
Sunday morning, I woke up early to walk the dog, then go back to bed, only to be woken up by the dulcet sounds of my upstairs neighbor tromping around like a fucking herd of elephants. I had to get up early anyways so I got out of bed, made breakfast, loaded up my car, walked Sharky really quick, then drove to my normal laundromat only to find it closed. Man, that was a total bummer. So then I spent about 20 minutes driving around looking for a place that looked clean, not too busy, and didn't have a bunch of unsavory characters hanging around. Once I finally found a place, I was pissed because it was $1.25 for a wash and the dryers gave you 20 minutes for 25 cents and 6 minutes for 10 cents. 26 minutes on high heat is not enough time to dry my clothes. But, I stayed because the benefits outweighed the cost. I did 13 loads of laundry. Yes, 13! And that's not including the 2 loads I did on Saturday night. But, all of my laundry got done. Sheets, pillow cases, bathroom and kitchen towels, bathroom floor mats, blankets, bed pad, and all my clothes. I never realized how many pairs of underwear and socks I have (why are pants and underwear called pairs? I never understood that). I have a 3 month supply of both. Let me tell you, putting all the clothes in my car, hauling it out of the car once I got to the laundromat, getting it all into washing machines and then dryers, getting it all back into the car, out of my car into my apartment and then folding and hanging everything back up was exhausting!!!! I think I sweated away 10 pounds today just from doing laundry! I am achy and tired. I'm going to set my vcr's to tape Alias and Carnivále so I can go to bed super early tonight. Anyways, after I got finished with the laundry, I realized that some stuff needed to be ironed but I don't have an ironing board and I thought it was too late to go to Target to buy one, but then I realized that it was only 3pm, so I went to Target and bought an ironing board and this thing called an Ironing Valet, which is just a thing to hang all your ironed clothes on so that you don't have to keep getting up and down to hang stuff. While I was at Target, I noticed a Payless across the street and since I did need new sneakers, I decided to go and get some. Saw this really nice pair of boots, but since I didn't have socks on, I couldn't try them on. I know, Payless has those bootie type socks that you can use to try on shoes, but I will probably be wearing socks when I wear these boots, not 'hose or trouser socks so I need to try them on with socks to see if they're comfortable. I'm going to go back today after work and try them on. If they fit, new boots for me!

Oh Those Wacky Kids At MIT!
Sunday, November 9, 2003 01:29 p.m.

MIT students with too much time on their hands (if the link doesn't work, you have to copy and paste). http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/www/Info/condiments.html

Magic....Mushroom....Snaaaaake!
Sunday, November 9, 2003 01:27 p.m.

Enjoy!

Total Eclipse Of The . . . Whatever
Saturday, November 8, 2003 04:28 p.m.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Solar and Lunar eclipses. Enjoy.

A Car Of My Very Own
Friday, November 7, 2003 01:04 p.m.

I made the last payment on my car and DriveTime sent me my pink slip, so I now own my car outright! Woo hoo!!!! What will I do with $340/month extra? Pay other bills!!!!

Addicted
Thursday, November 6, 2003 05:58 p.m.

I am so addicted to this game!

No Soup
Thursday, November 6, 2003 07:02 a.m.

So, I ended up not making any soup last night simply because when I looked at the recipe again, it called for more ingredients than I had. Which means another trip to the grocery store tonight.
On the upside, it wasn't as cold last night as it's been recently.
And it's not nearly as cold in the office today as it was yesterday.

Soups
Wednesday, November 5, 2003 10:07 a.m.

With the weather now getting colder, I'm starting to look into making foods that are warmer than say salad and tuna. So I looked up a bunch of soup recipes online yesterday and found about 3 soups that actually sound easy to make, sound like they might actually taste good and stay within my dietery considerations.
Last night, I was planning on just eating my salad and waiting until tonight to go buy the ingredients for the soups, but I was damn hungry so I went shopping last night for all the stuff I needed and I made soup last night. I made egg drop soup. It's pretty darn tasty, if I do say so myself (see my diet blog for the ingredients). And I rarely cook, so this is a treat. Tonight, on the heels of my egg drop soup victory, I'm going to try to make roasted eggplant and green onion purée soup. I think it'll be fun. Plus, it'll require me to use my oven, which will heat up my apartment, which will be nice at least for a little while.

Transients And Microwaves
Wednesday, November 5, 2003 09:50 a.m.

The front door of our office is locked for security purposes. The employees all go through coded side doors and all "visitors" (FedEx, UPS, random people) have to knock on the front door. Which means that those of us near the front door have to take turns getting up and answering the door. Now, there are security cameras in the hallway that show who's at the door, but really, even if we don't know who it is, we're still going to open the door. Well, this morning, one of the mail clerks (Johanna) was sitting at the desk in the reception area so she got up to answer the door. The guy at the front door just barrelled into the office past her and walked over to my co-worker (Cicely) and asked if he could use our microwave to heat up his burrito. She asked him what office he was from. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Upstairs." When she asked which office upstairs, he didn't answer her so we knew that he was a homeless guy. She told him that we don't lend out our microwave and sorry. So, he went over to the desk right next to Cicely's to another co-worker (Steve) and asked to use the microwave. Um, hello? The 3 of us all sit right next together, so we've heard the whole coversation. It's not as if one of us is going to say yes at this point. So, Steve is confused as to why the guy is standing in front of his desk, when I finally state, "You can't use our microwave. Please leave our office." So the guy left after that. I feel really bad that I had to reprimand a homeless person but we do have an office policy against such stuff and who knows what he was like mentally. I mean, not all homeless people are mentally unstable. Personally, I wonder about the mental capacity of some of the FedEx and UPS people we let into our office as well.

C Is For Cookie
Tuesday, November 4, 2003 02:22 p.m.


What Kind of Cookie Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Cold As Ice
Tuesday, November 4, 2003 09:15 a.m.

It is freezing in our office.
It's about 60 degrees (F) outside but it's like 55 in our office. I actually have gloves on and am trying to type.

Commercials
Monday, November 3, 2003 08:57 p.m.

I love all the California Cows commercials (especially the sheep one that's a take off of Braveheart) that are for the California Dairy Council, which I'm guessing are only shown in California.
I hate that Subway commercial where Jared is dining in a restaurant and some people see him and tsk tsk him for eating there. What, like he's not allowed to eat at a nice restaurant? And like the nice restaurant wouldn't have healthy meals? I mean, I could understand if he was spotted at some greasy taco stand on the corner of Ghetto and Gang, but for god's sake, he can't live on Subway alone!

Playing With Your Food
Monday, November 3, 2003 05:00 p.m.

I got this from a friend's blog. Enjoy. Mmmmm....

The Birds
Sunday, November 2, 2003 02:20 p.m.

Just went grocery shopping and when I came back, there were about 30 crows and blackbirds all squawking and cawing in the trees where I park. Kinda scary.

Visiting the Waymires
Sunday, November 2, 2003 11:39 a.m.

So, this weekend's been pretty uneventful, as are most of my weekends. I went up to Pamela's house on Saturday to hang out with her and Gillian (and to pay her back for buying my new battery). We had lunch, talked about this and that, watched my video tape that I made of Huntsville when I first got my new video camera, ate dinner, talked some more, and then I left. It was a nice day. When I got home, I was futzing around on the computer when Susan called me to get me to watch the USC game (we beat WSU 43-16) and we were on the phone with each other while watching that game and then we switched over to ESPN to watch the VirTech vs. Miami game (exciting to see #11 VirTech beat #2 Miami 31 to 7). We've decided that we're college football hags now, as we'll pretty much stop what we're doing on Saturdays to watch college football, even teams that we really don't care about (like Miami and VirTech). And here's the answer to the burning question about Virginia Tech's mascot, What the hell is a Hokie?
Today's pretty much been a "sleep the day away" day as I went to bed around 11:30pm and woke up this morning at 7am, walked my dog and then went back to sleep until about 1/2 hour ago. At some point, I'm going to have to get dressed and go fill up my car and go get food, but for right now, I'm just vegging.

November Rain
Friday, October 31, 2003 10:07 p.m.

Hee...I love when I can use old song titles as entry titles.

Yeah, I know it's still October, but I wanted to archive October and make room for November.
It's raining right now. Which means it's cold in my apartment. But, at least maybe the rain will help put out the damn fires! Of course, the fires burned away all the brush and grass and trees and stuff, so when it rains, we'll now face mudslides! Fall in Southern California. Gotta love it.

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