Ok, Ok...so I haven't posted every day like I thought I would....
Ok, Ok...so I haven't been working out every other day like I said I would (although I did make it there one day this week, I guess that says something)
Maybe I set my sights too high. Maybe I need to aim to post in this blog 'frequently' instead of every day. Maybe I need to aim for twice a week at the gym instead of 3 days during the week and one exercise day on weekends. Not a very lofty goal but maybe one I can better stick to.
I have had too much real life hitting me upside the head to post anything. Not that anyone reads it, but I like to think that maybe I might be interesting enough.
I've been theorizing about the John Titor site from last post. I've had plenty of discussions about the contents of the site so at the very least, if he's not real, then he's forced some people in the world to consider the state of our society at the moment and what the potential fallout could be. Interesting indeed.
Mr. Creepy is getting bolder in his phone chats. He talked for an hour today at low volumes about things like 'is it flexible like one of those jelly ones', 'make sure you push it all the way in there, nice and deep', and 'you like how that feels, don't you'. The fact that anyone could think they could have these discussions in such detail at work is amazing to me. Anyone walking by could have heard him. Is it none of my business? Maybe, but the fact that I was answering calls and there were 3 voice mails when I got up to go get a drink say something about how he is affecting my work day. So hasn't he then made it my business?
Going skiing this weekend for my birthday.I don't really want to go now because of various things that have happened but I think I am probably locked in since the tickets have been bought, the skis have been rented, and the reservations have been made. I am ready for less stress I suppose. What I really think I need is what my Canadian friend suggested....a weekend away from everything and everyone completely alone. I am considering it but have no clue where I would go. There's something to think about on the drive up there through the snow...

This is by far the most interesting thing I have read in a while. A guy I work with sent it to me today as we were discussing things we read when we were bored at work. This guy (the one in the web site) is a time traveler from the year 2036. If you read the first page it explains. He has some fascinating things to say about the differences in government, events that happen (wars, etc.) and also medicine. Definately worth a read.
Also today I found my political compass:
Economic Left/Right: -0.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.72

So i'm not as much a democrat as I thought i was...I always thought I was more Libertarian...this kind of proved it. Interesting nonetheless.
Time to go home now.

The Darkness is probably the funniest band I have seen in a while. I hadn't watched MTV in a long time and I turned it on briefly on Saturday morning while I was looking for the weather channel. The lead singer looks a lot like Freddie Mercury and they have a very strange sound...they don't look like they sound, and they don't sound like they look if you know what I mean.
Apparently I'm not alone in my observations... The London Call Girl seems to think the same way. I read her blog daily now. It's surprisingly well written. I don't know why that's a surprise though...
So I haven't posted all weekend because, well Saturday was a busy day of connecting and setting up my mom's new Dell computer that had been sitting in a box for 2 weeks. What I thought would only take a couple of hours took nearly 6, plus dinner, plus after dinner conversation...makes for a long day...and I'm not getting paid for it. I guess it's my dues though.
Sunday I did nothing. Not A Thing. I like to do nothing on Sunday. I like to sit around in my pj's and relax. I think that's what Sundays were made for. I'm not saying that Sunday didn't have it's share of ups and downs...just that I saw no one and went no where which is how I like it to be.
It's less than a week now til my birthday. I am thinking about some things to do, but I don't know what yet. Skiing is a possibility, money is an issue though so I suppose I'll need to wait a day or two to figure that out.
Ricola cough drops are yummy...and written in 3 different languages too..bonus.

What a day. It started out raining and it's now....still raining. Such is Washington 'liquid sunshine". I actually got out in the middle of it today. Had an appointment. I always like the ones that fall right in the middle of the day. It seems to make things flow a lot better and the day wraps up fast. The funniest thing about "downtown" Silverdale is they play music. It's kind of that ethereal, flowy, incence burning type music that they play in "new age" stores. "Downtown" Silverdale is comprised of about 3 blocks of buildings so it's kind of weird to call it a "downtown" but that's really what it is, just on a much smaller scale. All of the businesses there used to be houses that people lived in so it's kind of interesting.
On the way back I stopped at the Golden Star for some bbq pork (you know the pork with the red rim on the outside) with hot mustard. Here's a link to the reason chinese hot mustard makes your nose explode and your eyes run. Good for clearing out the sinuses though.
So tonight I'm thinking about making something with my hard won chicken stock that I so lovingly froze into little cubes this week. I haven't decided what yet. I'm hoping it'll come to me... maybe a risotto. It's cold and rainy...good risotto weather...
We're supposed to get snow this weekend. Great another storm comes along to stop the city dead in it's tracks. At least it's a weekend this time...

It must suck to live in New York City. Here's an article I read in the NY TImes.
"As if falling debris, unstable scaffolding and suspicious packages were not enough, New Yorkers now have something else to worry about: that the ubiquitous plates covering holes on streets and sidewalks around the city might just be electrified."

And you thought it was a pain to sit in traffic on your way to work...

One of the realities of working in a hospital...there are patients here. I get calls from people and in the background I can usually hear what's going on. Today I got a call from the ED. In the background I could hear moaning. LOUD moaning...then someone yelling 'HELP ME!!" I realize there are people in this world who are not the same as me. They have problems much worse than mine. It's still a little disconcerting to hear on the other end of the phone though...

Grrr another day missed. I had good reason though. I missed work. I stayed in bed and slept all through the glorious day. It was wonderful...aside from the coughing and periods of dizziness when I stood up. I felt much better by the end of the day though and am feeling ok today. I still have the lingering of the cough and congestion but the dizziness is gone.
I also yesterday got a great start on my region in Simcity. I'm attempting to recreate the town in which I live right down to the street. It should be fun. Or at least a way to wile away the hours...
I have managed to sell about $100 worth of cookies for girl scouts. People love em. What's not to love about a whole box of Thin Mints to youself? =)
Two things I noticed when I walked down to get some water.
a)The housekeeping staff here where I work will walk in on you if the door is locked and they need to clean the bathroom....saw it happen...
b)People who speed around on those little motorized carts have little care if they nearly run you over. Have you seen how fast they go? I would have to run to keep up with them sometimes. Shouldn't there be some kind of rule that you can't go any faster than you would walk? If the woman had been running through the hall, it would seem inappropriate. Why then, is it ok for her to go speeding through the hall at a speed at which I would have to run to keep up?

I've been greeted today by many people saying 'You sound terrible' 'Poor thing, you should be home in bed' and things like that. It's nice to know that people feel bad for me, but also slightly embarassing because I indeed feel like I should be home in bed instead of hacking and sneezing all over the place. Things haven't improved on the health front. In fact, I think I'm worse off today than yesterday. I cough and sound like a pack-a-day-for-fifty-years smoker. I can't breath at all through my left nostrile and my right one isn't far behind. I have a strange ringing in my ears. The doctor says I have an ear infection in my right ear. This is apparently also causing me to lose my balance and feel as if I've just gotten off of one of those rides that spin you around and around. It's not the best way to feel at work, but I'll go for martyrdom. My boss of course 'expects' me to be here since she was here with laryngitis a few weeks ago...all 3 days of it...and she didn't miss work then so neither should I apparently. I tried to come in late this morning so I could sleep in only to be met with 'Oh...well see you whenever you get here' which means 'You lazy twit, get your ass to work'. I should go sneeze on her keyboard...
My first duty as the point of contact for tracking software in our department was to try to determine when our meeting should be to discuss changes to it. No one cares when we have it, why should they? It's not as if we all have tight schedules and meetings every day. Other people didn't even bother to take the 2 minutes it takes to reply. Oh well. I tried. At any rate, my boss's boss said he thought it was a good email.
Today has been, thankfully, a very quiet day. I got my latest Mil Mailing-List Mail so that provided me with a lot of reading material.
It really sucks to not be able to taste anything. It takes all of the fun out of eating. Someone brought in chocolatey cupcakey things today but I couldn't taste them. I figured, why waste calories on something I can't taste? and threw it out. I should go eat some brussel sprouts or peas or something...

OH NO! I didn't post yesterday. Maybe it's because I was schlepping heavy boxes up to my mom's attic? Of course it was... Not only am I sick as a dog, but I had to help her move some stuff. I won't complain (much) but if she couldn't breathe through her nose, would she be willing to help me move stuff? Doubt it...
I did manage to get a little Sim City in yesterday. Not enough to finish my project though. I'm such a nerd, I swear... I managed to get a nasty virus in the process. Thankfully (with the help of a 2nd computer) I was able to remove it but it took a long time. Damn you Kazaa... I suppose it's karma.
So, after a sleepless night of coughing and near asphixiation, I'm here at work spreading the love (or germs) around for all to share.
Ok, not really...I'm OD'ing on hand sanitizer and respectfully going to the hall to get rid of the...erm...nasal congestion. I should have stayed home, but NO I'm here diligently working away.
I could use some of the narcotic cough syrup my daugher was on right about now...

I did some stuff today. I have a story I wanted to put here about what I did in the earlier part of the day, but it's at work so it'll have to wait until Monday.

**OK so here's what I wanted to put in on Saturday but had to wait til today. It's from an old blog.**
Forget about everything you've seen or heard about getting a facial. Yeah the first part is relaxing and soothing...then comes the extraction. That's when they take a tool that has a wire loop on the end of it and bore into your skull to get the nasty stuff out of your pores. It hurt so much the woman made me cry. I mean i was quivering lip and tears running down my face. It literally felt like she was going to go through my skull at any moment...but she said she got all the bad stuff out...or most of it anyway. Then I tried deep breathing...that didn't work either. It was as painful as getting my tongue pierced, but it was drawn out for about an hour. OUCH.
The aesthetician gave me some good cleanser stuff to use on my face to get rid of all the whiteheads and blackheads and she said if I use it, then the next time I come in (i had to laugh at that...)she won't have to do so much extraction. I had to ask her “don’t you mean torture?” She seemed to get a sick pleasure out of it. Ok enough whining... lol


Went to my cousin's wedding. Short ceremony, good food, nice people etc. I took pics but it's way way late...maybe tomorrow.

And again...this just might put you in the hospital...

Here's a WTF link...strange, but oddly sentimental. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Found out that my other favorite celebrity chef has a web site as well. Well, why not? Alton Brown cracks me up. And his show is immediately before JO on Wednesdays so it's a great time to sit for an hour and just watch. I got his cook book for my (birthday?) (christmas?) last year from my friend Julie. I returned the favor this year by buying her a Rachel Ray cookbook. I think I am becoming a foodie.

My day has been totally turned around. I got here and nothing was working so I couldn't do what I normally do (which is look at web sites and check email). Ok, it's not ALL I do, but when I'm not busy it's what I do. It sucks to break the workday routine like that. I had to leave for an appointment for an hour but came back feeling...the same...but I'm glad I went anyway. I think I'm coming down with a cold. I have that yucky sore throat kind of feeling in the back of my throat. I must have caught whatever my daugher had.
So what have I done? Not a thing really. It's Friday. It doesn't really seem like Friday though. More like a Wednesday or something. I messed around on the Internet a bit, you know, normal every day work stuff. =) I looked up what fennel looked like so I could buy it at the store (where they call it Anise which was confusing). I located the nearest GNC so I can go stock up on overpriced dietary supplements. Had to meet with my boss's boss about some work related shtuff. Looks like I may have a smallish promotion in the works. He said to think it over and talk to him on Monday. Basically I'd be doing the same thing as I do now, only I'd be a point of contact within my department for one of the software applications we use for tracking user problems. (are you bored yet?) yay me.
I had to pimp for people to buy Girl Scout cookies from my daughter. Some people bought as much as 9 boxes. They're only $3 a box so it seems like you're getting cheap cookies, when really you're not. Think about it, would you go to the store and buy $20 worth of cookies? Not likely. The Thin Mints though.....can't start eating those or I won't stop until the box is gone. That seems to be the general consensus among the cookie buyers. Everyone loves the Thin Mints. The are divine...especially if they've been frozen. As disorganized as my daughter's troop is, they seem to have it together for cookies.
One good thing happened today...I figured out how to get around the firewall to go to the JO site. =) Oh happy day. Sometimes it's the little things that can make you feel just a tiny bit better.

You know what sucks?
Going to pay your bills and finding that you have no checks left in your checkbook. So much for trying to get ahead by paying when I have money in the bank...
Working out and feeling better about yourself only to find out that you have gained 3 pounds. I think I am retaining water. What do I do for that? I don't eat salt. I haven't had alcohol in forever. There must be something else wrong with me..
Reaching a major personal milestone only to realize that there is still a lot of things to be done and none of it will be easy. In fact, most of it will be quite painful.
The Jamie Oliver website has been blocked by the firewall gods here at work. How could they block JO?
Yep..all of that sucks.

I need to listen to Aqua...
be happy
be happy
be happy

Vrey Inretsing

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

So...how hrad wulod it be to do all of my psots tihs way?

So what can I say? Nothing terribly exciting has happened. I'm still waiting for an oppurtunity to get some more screen captures of MrCreepy, but I haven't really felt like it. I guess it's that whole real life thing. BUT, I will feel better tomorrow. And the day after that, I will feel even better. And the day after that, I will feel even better. I have to try to force myself from those nasty feelings that bring me down. I will be ok. Everything will be ok. I just need to wait for it.
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
OK NOW.

heh =)

Too much real life coming at me all at once right now...maybe I can think of something tomorrow...

HAHAHA.
HA... i say.
The timing could not have been more coincedental.
Mr. Creepy comes over and asks me what my station ID is. He then tries to remote view my workstation (I, however, have taken precautions that would eliminate anyone doing it without my knowlege...gotta think ahead people!) but cannot because it asks for my permission first. (haha) He goes on to say that he noticed his mouse was moving around kind of funny and went into check the settings for his workstation. It turns out (gasp) that someone could have been remote viewing or controlling him without his knowlege! 0=)
I played it off. I didn't sound shocked or anything. I just said 'Well you better make sure you aren't doing anything you're not supposed to be doing'. (haha!) All he said 'yes indeed'

indeed... =)

AHA! I have found them...but now I am debating whether to post them here or not...oh what the hell...no one reads this...

I had been suspiscious of Mr. Creepy for a while because he 'accidently' gave me proxy access to his email one time and sort of forgot to take it away. I caught a few emails that were interesting but nothing like I was about to uncover. For a while I had seen Mr.Creepy sitting at his desk typing away. When I would look over at his screen, I could see that he was talking on IM to someone. He was frequently doing this in spite of the fact that the phone was ringing off the hook, which pissed me off to no end. I finally got an idea of how to see what the hell was so interesting that he did it all day every day. What could he possibly be saying? Who could he be talking to? (he's married) I decided to do screen captures of his screen one day. We have a system here at work where we can remotely view, and sometimes control, other workstations. It's meant to be a tool we can use to help out the end users...this time it was going to be something I used to see just what the hell was going on over on Mr. Creepy's screen. This is how Mr. Creepy spends his day at work. He frequently leaves his desk and goes...somewhere...although I'm pretty sure you can guess where it is...

MrCreepy: and the short quick fast sucking get it going
MsSlut: you were amazed the very first time i did that to you
MrCreepy: oh god the things you know and do with that mouth
MrCreepy: you are my suck queen (excuse me while i vomit...)
MrCreepy: love it so much
MsSlut: i'll give you more too

MrCreepy: and i love to be in you
MsSlut: i do want more
MrCreepy: and you are the first that wanted my cum deep in you
MrCreepy: and never jumped up and washed or wiped it out
MrCreepy: and oh god baby you are the first one to take me deep in your throat and then cum from doing that

And there is more where that came from. It almost is comical, the things he says here, like he stole it from a porn movie or something. I mean come on!
Sure you could say 'what if it was his wife he was talking to?'. The reason I know it wasn't is that his wife works here too in a different department. She had just been in to see him a few of the times I took the screen shot. Sometimes immediately before he said these things. He's a creepy, dirty old man. (/heebie jeebies)

Since I got a big kick out of it, I quietly let it be known to a few other people in the office what he was up to. The 'boys in the back' as everyone calls them...the network techs...decided to get an even better view of what he was doing. They wanted to find out how he was managing to do chat when everyone else's had been disabled. So they did a lot of boring technical stuff and were able to see exactly what I saw, but they didn't have to be as sneaky as I did. Finally, one of them took pity on the poor guy and let MrCreepy in on the little game we had been playing....in a way. He let him know that he was being watched (but not by whom) and he should stop what he was doing. Mr. Creepy's reaction? "Oh Shit". hehe Mr. Creepy assumed it was our boss watching him and immediately ceased and desisted his cyberspace pimping. (he was talking to more than 2 women at the time...) Now he does his pimping the old fashioned way...he sends emails on his personal email account. I've grown tired of spying on him so I have stopped the screen captures..for now...

Well, I looked, but couldn't find the screen shots I have of Mr. Creepy and his rauncy x-rated filth. I'll have to keep looking. It's interesting enough.
Tonight I went to the gym. Yay for me. I bopped along to Aqua and Coldplay and some other stuff that I picked out. (i think i have covered that already...) I really dislike working out. I like working out at the gym even more, but for now I'm stuck until it stops getting dark at 4:30pm. I had a nutrition profile done today online. According to it, I'm even less healthy than I thought I was....great. But it made it sound simple to get my act together. I just need to sort out the blood sugar and hormones and I'll be good as new...or something like that.
Here's a link to where I found it. It offered a £5 discount. (that breaks down to about $11 I think...) Just click on where it says 'Get a free diet profile' in the ticker at the top. I saw a thing on tv yesterday (Food Network..go figure) talking about the "low carb craze". I absolutely dispise low carb diets, but I might need to go on one in order to fix myself...dunno yet. I say any diet that eliminates an entire food group can't be good for you. Plus then I can't eat my "dried plums" and Craisins...

Instant Messenger software in the workplace. What the hay or no F@!%ing way?

Today I got 'caught" using MSN Messenger by my boss. She's kind of from old-school management that believes if you're not at your desk doing work all day every day then you are not doing your job. I beg to differ... Not only do I hardly ever use it, but if I'm getting my work done on top of using messaging software, what's the big deal? It helps me deal with work better. I've been known to ask a friend online about a problem I'm having at work and have been able to come up with solutions that way. I understand some people abuse it...like Mr. Creepy who sits next to me, but I was just talking. I was not talking about raunchy x-rated things with someone I looked up on a Yahoo profile like Mr. Creepy. (and I have the screen shots to prove it...hmmm that gives me an idea...) It's because of Mr. Creepy though that we can't use it anymore. That and maybe a little pet peeve my other boss has about Instant Messenger. It's a 'victimlesss crime'. If she wanted to go after people who are "breaking the policy" as she put it, then why not go after Mr. Creepy who goes out to who knows where doing who knows what with who knows whom for hours at a time sometimes and who sneaks into the server room to talk to 'someone' (who is not his wife) on the phone. C'mon...it's so obvious! Then there are the long conversations he has at his desk where he talks in a mere whisper/mumble and says things like 'oh yeah, you know what I like' and 'it's getting harder'. GAWD why doesn't she go after people like him??
It won't be long before I am unable to blog at work.. THAT my friends would be a serious serious tragedy!
more later....

Another long day of Simming. Well, I didn't waste all day doing that of course... I made a good dinner. I made a roast with potatoes and onions. First time for making one of those and it was really good if I do say myself. E didn't like the potatoes though...she said they were too chewy .
I also went and got all of the supplies that I will need to set up my aquarium. I got rocks and all of the water testing stuff so I don't kill the poor things when I put them into the tank. It's kinda fun and once the fish are in, looks nice. I just hope this one goes better than the last one I had. The last one I had, I had one fish that kept eating all of the other smaller fish...except for one. That one we named Ed. Ed held his own against the big fish. He wouldn't take any shit. I was sad when I had to give them away. It's hard to move fish accross the country though.
One cool thing that happened at the pet store. I was standing there trying to decide between purple, black, or green rocks for the bottom of the tank (i chose black in the end...) and I saw some movement off to my right. I looked and there sitting on the shelf amongst the fish food and the rocks was a hamster. It kind of startled me at first because I thought it might have been a toy, but then it turned around and scratched itself. E went to get a store clerk to put it back. Maybe I should have left it there. Maybe it was thinking, 'Yay I'm finally free!' and I went and ruined his plans for escape... It has to be safer in a cage for something that small...especially with cats around.
Anyway..... it's late so I should get some sleep Work tomorrow...blahh...

Woo hoo..just made the 'deadline' for today. Go me...
Well did a few things today...Got up at about 6:45 to go get my hair cut. It was the only time she had available that day so I had to take it. I was going to take E with me, but decided she could stay at home alone for an hour while I went and got my hair cut. I've been working her into that lately...I think I was about 10 or so when my mom started leaving me home for short periods of time by myself. Anyway, she was still asleep so it's not like she was going to get into trouble... I need to remember to find out what kind of shampoo she used this time...smelled really good. I got to listen to her tell me the story of how she found out her husband is bisexual and how he cheated on her with her own brother...very gossipy and what you would expect the conversation with your hair stylist to be like I suppose. went to a shower for my cousin who is on her 2nd kid with a 2nd father. It's not exactly the best situation in the world but I commend her for making the best of it. It's lucky that she has people around who support her. It's very important in those kind of situations. She's having a boy so I got her some little clothes for him and a blanket. I love shopping for baby clothes...everything is so teeny tiny. Shoes are the most fun.
When I got home, I got to work taking down the christmas decorations and making dinner at the same time. I decided to make something that wouldn't need constant attention so I made some spaghetti...it was very yummy. I used a different recipe this time. I like to use a different one every time....makes it more interesting. I might stick with this one though because even my daughter liked it and she doesn't usually like the sauce that much. I started with 3/4 of an onion, garlic and olive oil. I added bacon...then meat. (one thing about the meat...I had to call the store to make sure it wasn't some of that mad cow recalled meat...I think I may stop buying hamburger meat for a while....ewwww) After that was all cooked through, I added wine, then tomatoes, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. i let all of that cook down and then popped it into the oven for a couple of hours....the best kind of no hassle food is the kind you can stick in the oven and forget about for a couple of hours.. hehe Anyway, It turned out really good.
By the time it was done, I had most of the Christmas undecorating done, just had to finish boxing it up. I have all of the ornaments I had as a kid and have picked up a fair share along the way so this took some time... Finally got it all done and boxed and up into the attic. Thank god christmas is done. On to better things.
I did manage to catch JO on tv tonight. They are running his 'Happy Days Live' series right now. It's all very obviously choreographed, but not in a bad way, kinda funny. And, he used recipes from the book I have of his...my favorite of course for more reasons that one. I think the only thing I haven't done is join the fan club lol. Ok, I'm not that pathetic am i?
that's about it really. it's cold in here now so i'm calling it a day...

Magnets.
I have a collection of magnets on my desk. You know, the ones that have words on them and you're supposed to make quirky, funny, witty sentences out of them. I can't remember how I came to have these magnets, I just do. All of them have to do with computer related stuff...which makes it really hard to find something funny or witty to put together. Here are some of the things I have come up with...
"He is such the mega technoweenie" (yes 'technoweenie' came with it) The 'he' is kind of an inside joke...with myself. It refers to the other guy I work with (I still think I should come up with a name for him...).
"She needs a bomb. User Friendly?' - Conversely I use bullet...both work fabulously in my opinion. The 'she' is obviously me.
"I am expert @ being hacker" - After I did a fair bit of spying on said guy I work with. I think i wrote about that before...
"Fix my bells and whistles" - People here always want the fastest and best computers...then they break it and want us to fix it.
"Floppy joystick competition" - I think working in an office full of guys inspired this one...
"Chat can always drag into love only...proof" - Again, the product of my spying. It makes sense in an odd way

This movie looks very interesting. I doubt I'll be able to see it, but I really want to. Tim Burton always has a kind of dark quality to his films. I don't think this one is any different. Besides, any movie with Ewan McGregor in it can't be awful.=)
I'm very glad today is Friday. The weekend doesn't look like it'll be very quiet, but the week is finally over. It's seemed to go on and on. I think it has something to do with the snow (which we still have plenty of). It kind of weighs everything down and makes things slower.
I managed to make it to the gym last night, although they cancelled Girl Scouts. Walking on a treadmill is so much more boring than regular walking. I don't really have a choice though. It's not like I can walking after work in the dark. I really like the music I picked out to walk to though. It's very upbeat. Have you ever listened to music that moves you, puts a bounce in your step..as if you can feel the energy of the music? That's the kind of music that I picked to walk to which is very handy because, frankly, I hate to exercise. I should say, I hate to exercise now. Once I've gotten back into the routine of it, I'll like it again, but right now it's a chore that I have to do when I'd rather be doing something else. (like playing SimCity 4 =) )

It's been a quiet-ish day here at work. No downtime. No widespread outages. No people eating in my ear. A good day.
So boring in fact that I have nothing interesting to talk about...although I did learn today that amputations are very loud and so are hip replacement surgeries. Hey, it pays to have connections...

The snow is starting to melt away now. It's back to gray Washington weather again. I'm kind of sad that it's going, but also glad because by now it's brown from the dirt trucks coming by every morning and throwing dirt on top of it. I'm not sure what that's supposed to do outside of make a huge mess everywhere. I suppose it's meant to make the roads less slippery but I think that only applies to snow. What's there now is this slushy mess which, when dirt is thrown on top of it, makes the road look like a giant icy mud pie. It makes no sense to me...

It's the last half hour again before I leave to go home. Going to hit the gym tonight I think when E is at Girl Scouts. All a part of my resolutions. Here's a haiku I just thought of...
I need to work out.
So that I will not be fat.
It's hard to go every day.
I want a private trainer.

Ok, so I never said it would be a clever haiku...

Thought for the day:
The most beautiful people in the world are the ones with whom you can talk, share deeply, discuss honestly and laugh about life, share common interests, and in short, develop lasting bonds of friendship and relationship that go beyond superficialities.

The above is so true. That's all I have to say right now.

Oh yeah...and Happy Birthday Elvis...

Ahh the brilliant people I work with.
There is a man in my office (I should think of a name for him) who obviously thinks he's the coolest guy around when he gets to transfer people on the phone. He'll get a call, go to transfer the person and then...without fail...ALWAYS says something like the following "When I press the warp transfer button, 'so and so' will be automatically transferred to you for your convenience." He then presses the transfer button and yells 'GO!' He does this no matter who he's transferring the line to. Maybe he hasn't grasped the whole concept of transferring. That seems to be a common theme in these "complicated" phone systems. What is so hard about hitting transfer, dialing the number, saying hey 'so and so is on the line' and then pressing transfer again? No yelling GO! No making an arse of yourself with the 'warp transfer' nonsense. Sure it may be funny the first time...maybe even the 2nd. But when you do it every time, you just look like a moron.
Then again, who said he isn't?

The commute (all 3 minutes of it) into work today was interesting. I managed to get chains installed on my tires last night, which made for a very bumpy ride on the less snowy/slushy bits of the road, and made the very snowy/slushy bits not so bad. I only spun my tires twice on the way in. The real danger came while attempting to walk from my car into work. It took 10 minutes. Not only was I trying to dodge the oncoming cars doing about 50 up the street and showering me with muddy slush, the snow/slush on the sidewalk was ankle deep and I did not have boots on. I thought I would fall on my arse a few times, but I eventually made it in ok.
Not many people braved coming into work today. We have about 6 people here and the phones are just dead. Oh well, more time for misbehaving on the internet.
I was sad to see that E's snowman had fallen down this morning. I told her she would have to try to rebuild it later if the snow sticks around. It's raining now so I doubt that will happen. It was fun while it was here I guess. We made our snow angels, I buried her in snow, and drew messages on the car windows. The kid in me will always love snow.
Right now I'm starving so I need to grab a bite to eat...

Just went out and snapped a few more pics. To give you some idea...it's night out, but these pics look like daytime because of the amount of light reflected off of the snow. Cool, huh?
Disregard the white-trash(hehe) look that my back porch has at the moment...

Here is the snowman my daughter made.

And here is the front yard. Looks like frosting...snow is so pretty. =)

The green dot on my lawn is a light that I had shining on the house (haven't managed to take the lights down yet...). To give you some scale, it's about 6 inches high and there's another one beside it that's completely covered...yep we got about 8 inches...

Ahhhh snow. We had some today. About 8 inches worth. Yep. It snowed all day and it's still snowing. It's great. We finally got a snowman made but we had to wait until it warmed up to just under freezing so that the snow wasn't so dry. My daughter made a snowman so we will have something to remember the snow by. Needless to say I stayed home from work. I saw many morons trying to drive in the snow today. Mr. SUV with the 4 wheel drive nearly flipped it sliding down the hills in Seattle.... I was supposed to have a ride from my mom, but she wimped out before she even got down the road apparently. It's hard to drive in snow. Tomorrow should be fun trying to get to work with my teeny tiny car...
I finally figured out how to add pictures! yay for me. So here you go...
I buried my daughter with snow....only her feet were sticking out...
she eventually got out though....
here's me...snow gear and all...


Yippee. Now that I've figured that out, I can show you the pictures that I was meaning to show you before. Whoever you are....=)

OMG...yuck yuck yuck. eww. eww. eww
I just read an article about the whole 'mad cow' thing, talking about how these 'downer' cows that were found to have the disease are used in fast food meats ("you deserve a break today" has a whole new meaning now....)... this is a quote from it.

"The technology, developed a decade ago, uses hydraulic pressure to force extra pounds off cow carcasses, producing filler for processed foods like hamburger, hot dogs and pizza toppings. Consumer groups initially complained that bone was getting into the advanced meat recovery product and argued that the product should not be labeled as beef. Then, in 1997, federal agriculture officials announced that they had found spinal cord tissue in some of the meat."

It's enough to make me want to vomit. Now I know why JO is always going on about how he never buys his hamburger already minced...he does it himself so that he knows what goes into it...Yeah so he doesn't end up with SPINAL FUCKING CORD in his back-yard barbeque burger!! bleeeeeck..

Apparently laughter isn't always the best medicine?

The latest news is about Steve Irwin "dangling" his 1-month old son over a hungry crocodile. I've seen the pictures and the video of him doing this "dangling". It probably wasn't a good idea for him to do this with cameras watching, as he had to know how people would react. As usual, with nothing else interesting to talk about, the press has to blow everything out of proportion and sensationalize things and whip everyone up into a frenzy. I'm willing to bet that Steve Irwin, having worked very close with these creatures for the better part of his 41 years, knows a lot more about how safe it was bringing his kid into the croc pen than the rest of the unwashed masses. All they see is the tiny baby...then they see the huge crocodile...and they automatically scream 'bad parenting'. Let's all remember that a)he's a professional at what he does b) his wife was right there and, if by the slim chance something did happen, he could have tossed the baby over to Terry and distracted the croc. c) just because it's not something we would do as parents living in are "safe" suburban homes, doesn't mean that he shouldn't and really ought to get his kids aware of the fact that they are living (as Steve even said himself) in crocodile territory. So the world can get it's collective panties out a bunch and relax as I'm sure the poor guy's career will be affected by the good old media frenzy that will follow this.
What else is new...hmm, not alot actually. It's another busy day here at work as everyone has come back from their holiday vacations and forgotten their passwords...forgotten how to open files...etc. It's supposed to snow tonight...a lot. Half of my office has said that they are not coming in. It's a lame excuse really. Snow in Washington happens like this. The snow falls late at night and it gets really cold. The next morning, the whole town is thrown into hysterics because they can't handle the thought of driving in winter weather. By noon all of said snow has turned to brown yucky slush that, outside from being ugly and a pain to walk through, does not affect driving any more than the 'liquid sunshine' we see so often here in the Northwest. Again, I blame the media. It never ceases to amaze me. I've lived in very hot places (Florida) where the news people complain that it's too hot. It's August. It's Florida. Get a clue! Now I'm living here where they complain when we get snow. It's January. It's winter. Get a clue! I on the other hand, only complain when it's cold. It's not a complaint so much as "I can't believe it's so cold". I like cold weather. It's fun to bundle up and go out or stay in and curl up and (play SimCity 4)...I mean watch tv or something like that. I guess that's why I'm fat. =)

doh! well i didn't make my commitment to post every day already and it's only 4 days into the new year. I had an excuse though as 'real life' does tend to intervene on my cyberspacing.
It's colder than haites here. The high today didn't even make it to 30 and the overnight low for tonight is supposed to be 10...that's Farenheit! That's COLD!!
Not much of anything new except my newfound obsession with SimCity4. I've decided that all of my cities will have something to do with the word Small. So I have Smallville, Tiny, Wee City, Diminutive, Miniscule....still thinking on another one....
It's time for bed....gotta get up early to defrost the car.... fun never ends...

YOU wanted the littlest....YOU got the littlest...

Mushroom Mushroom and The Cheese Family (my fave)

for more like this, go here.

Ahh my resolution is in full force. Instead of going down and getting my usual 3 hard boiled eggs to make an egg salad sandwich for breakfast, I brought to work with me some dried fruit. They don't make just regular dried fruit anymore. Americans don't want to eat anything that doesn't have added flavor or sweetness. I got dried cranberries with cherry flavor added (which rock, I must say...new fave snack) and "dried plums" with orange essence. There was a time when dried plums were called prunes and only your gramma ate them to "stay regular" but now that's all changed and they are dried plums. I had never tried them before because of the whole gramma thing but they are actually pretty good, even without the orange flavor. Kind of like a huge raisin. So that's my first step in eating healthier. I feel full and I have only had a few handfuls of Craisins (the dried cranberries) and 5 'plums' (I had better stop at that or i'll be running to the bano every 5 minutes...). I also am keeping up with the water. I don't drink anywhere near the galloin that is recommended per day...
This morning my car doors and windows were frozen shut. It looked as if my car had been hosed down with water and put into a freezer. I'm not sure what the low was last night but I wish if it was going to get that cold, it would snow or something to make things pretty. As it is there's ice everywhere and it makes things very inconvenient (geez listen to me whine...)
The dinner making last night went ok, although I guess I failed to look closely at the amount of time it would take to make the meal. It took 2 and a half hours for me to make dinner and a dessert that I thought looked easy enough, but was infact rather messy. When it was finished the risotto was a very good texture...i didn't put too much cheese in it this time...and it tasted ok. I think it needed more salt or pepper or something...it was a bit on the sweet side. The thing I didn't like were the seeds that were supposed to be roasted along with the squash and the chestnuts (which turned out to be inedible...lest I break a tooth or something). The seeds came out ok but the shells were a bit tough to chew. I think I may leave them out if I ever make this again. Also figure out a different way to get the chestnuts. I am not sure what I did wrong but something tells me that I wasn't supposed to use raw chestnuts... oh well. I do like risotto though. I just need to find one that I like. The last one I made had too much cheese...this one...was ok. I'm not all that keen on the mixture of flavors, but that's probably because I did it wrong. I'll try it again tonight and see if I like it any better.
The dessert I made was panna cotta. The recipe was from (you guessed it) ole JO. The store was out of pomegranate (which are very good to eat plain) so I just left them out as I couldn't find grappa either. I'm not sure where I went wrong with this, the flavor was good, but the texture seemed off. It kind of felt like jello and custard? I'm sure there was something wrong with my technique.
I was very happy to be able to use my new pots and pans and my new knives though. I had been waiting to be able to do that and I did. The saute pan was perfect for the risotto and the saucepan was just the right size for the milk/cream/vanilla mixture. I am going to cook something else this weekend, but I havne't figured out what yet. I want to make pasta but I know that I'm the only one who will eat it so I'll have to think of something more simple...
I think my obsession with JO goes beyond food. He's a genious at making cooking seem very accessible, like anyone could do it. I had seen him on Food Network forever, but I hadn't really listened to what he was talking about and when I did it really got me interested in cooking. He seems like a nice enough guy. I think what I admire about him is his enthusiasm and passion for what he does. It's inspiring to hear him talk about food the way he does. I'm not good at it yet...at least I don't think I am. I guess that will change if I practice it. I also admire his compassion and commitment that he's put into his Fifteen project. I read something that said he would try to do the same thing in New York. The world needs more people like this in other fields. He seems genuinely caring and very down-to-earth. I feel bad for his wife though. It has to be frustrating living with someone who is as busy as he seems to be. Such is the life of a celebrity though I guess.
Geez I can really ramble on, can't i?

Forgot to mention...today is the first day of my year-long post-a-thon. I'm going to attempt to post to this blog every day for the next 365 days. We'll see how that turns out...I can just tell you are on the edge of your seat waiting in anticipation already...

Happy New Freakin' Year.
I'm at work today. NO ONE has called. I'm basically being paid to sit here and browse the internet. I'll take that though. There are much worse things.
Today is a day for newness. It's the first of the year 2004 and it leaves a lot of time for reflection both on the past year and on the coming year, which I hope will bring a lot of changes. I want to lose 50 lbs. by this time next year. Even though doing that will still put me about 50 lbs. overweight, I will be a lot more healthy than I am right now. I will also feel much better. One of the ways I plan on doing this is by working out. I haven't figured out yet what I'm going to do, but I know walking and running will be involved (if my knees and ankle cooperate and don't give me too much trouble).
I think I may cook up some risotto tonight. I made it once before and it was so good. I think I want to try again with some different flavors. This time I"m going to use butternut squash, bacon and chestnuts a la JO stylie.
Here's the recipe:
Pumpkin, Sage, Chestnut and Bacon Risotto

1 small sweet cooking pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, about 2 1/2
pounds
Olive oil
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
Sea salt and ground black pepper
12 slices bacon or pancetta
2 ounces shelled chestnuts (vacuum packed are fine)
15 fresh sage leaves
4 cups chicken stock or canned broth
3 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
5 small stalks celery, finely chopped
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth
4 tablespoons butter
3/8 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
About 1 cup mascarpone, optional.

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Halve pumpkin lengthwise, and remove seeds;
rinse seeds, drain, and reserve. Cut pumpkin lengthwise into thick slices,
and spread in a layer across a large baking sheet. (If using squash, cut
into quarters.) Sprinkle pumpkin with olive oil, and set aside. Using a
mortar and pestle, pound the coriander seeds until crushed. Sprinkle over
pumpkin along with salt and pepper, and bake until soft, about 40 minutes.

2. Remove pumpkin from oven (leave oven on), and spread bacon over it. In a
small bowl, combine reserved seeds, chestnuts, sage and salt and pepper to
taste. Add tablespoon olive oil, and mix well. Sprinkle over pumpkin and
bacon. Place back in oven until bacon is crisp, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Remove pumpkin from oven. Scrape bacon, chestnuts, sage and pumpkin seeds
onto a small plate; reserve. Finely chop about half the pumpkin. Chop other
half so that it is slightly chunky; reserve.

4. Place chicken stock in a small pan over medium-low heat. Bring to a
simmer, then reduce heat to very low to keep warm. Place a large saucepan
over medium heat, and add tablespoon olive oil, shallots, celery and a pinch
of salt. Stir, cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high,
and add rice. Stir constantly until rice is translucent, 2 to 3 minutes.
Stir in wine until it is absorbed, 1 to 2 minutes.

5. Begin adding broth to rice, a ladleful at a time, stirring constantly.
Allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding next; process will take
about 20 minutes. When ready, rice will be soft with a slight bite. Season
with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Remove rice from heat. Add chopped pumpkin, and stir vigorously until
mixed; fold in pumpkin chunks. Mix in butter and Parmesan. Place a lid over
the saucepan, and let sit for 2 minutes. To serve, place a portion on each
of 6 serving plates. Top each portion with crumbled bacon, and sprinkle with
mixture of chestnuts, sage and pumpkin seeds. Add a dash more cheese.
Garnish each plate with a dollop of mascarpone if desired, and serve
immediately.

Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Yield: 6 servings.

Adapted from Jamie Oliver


I'm sure my daughter won't like it but she may try it. There's nothing in it that sounds bad to me tbh. I miss the days of cooking for people who would eat it...