I've been sitting here since Kerry went to finish making dinner, by myself, in the quiet (except for the kids yelling outside and the dryer running). I'm caught up on the blogs, I watched the Bears beat Minnesota today, I called the cable company about my continuing cable problems. Right now, I don't get CBS. It's stuck on a frozen frame from last night sometime. I have sound, whatever is currently airing, I hear it. But all I see is a frame from last nights football game. I even unplugged the cable for a few minutes and plugged it back in, that didn't work. Not that I thought it would.

I'm not sure if I'm bored, or just undecisive of what I should do. I have things that are on tape that I probably should watch. I have a book I'm in the middle of that I want to finish. I also have a stack of cd's behind me that I should rip to my computer. But I'm not really in the mood to do any of that. So here I sit. I suppose I should probably start another load of laundry, but I just don't feel like it. Maybe I'll rip one cd then go read for a bit.

Ah, the joy of television! A few days ago, I got an envelope in the mail from a cable company in the area (Comcast). I don't have their cable, because the apartment complex I'm in only allows cable tv from one company, TVMax. Thinking I didn't need it, I tossed the envelope in the dumpster. In addition to the envelope, there was an oversized postcard from Comcast too, which said something about them buying out TVMax. So I realized right away I might want that envelope I just tossed in the dumpster. Fortunately, there was a lot of stuff piled up in the dumpster, and the envelope was sitting right on top. I reached in delicately, and pulled out the Comcast envelope.

Turns out, Comcast bought TVMax, so my cable is switching over to Comcast, and inside the envelope was a letter explaining some of the changes, and a form to fill out for approval to allow a Comcast technician into my apartment for the switchover. Now, keep in mind, I have basic cable. Not digital cable. Basic analog cable. I can't afford, nor do I need, all the additional channels I'd get with digital. I have no converter box, since I have no premium channels, and almost all newer tv's are cable ready. There should be no reason for a Comcast technician to come into my apartment, but what do I know?

Today I go to the Comcast website to see what channels I would get, what packages they offer, just in case I want to sign up for something different. My cable bill from TVMax was $37.15 per month, with Comcast it will be $44.04. There was an expanded digital package for only $2 more per month, that would require the converter box, and I would get a bunch more channels. I was undecided about whether to do it or not, after all, it's only two dollars a month, right?

After comparing the list of channels offered with the $44.04 Comcast package to what I currently have with TVMax, I'm gaining a few channels and losing one. I lose Sci-Fi Channel, but I gain TV Land, Hallmark Channel, Turner Classic Movies, Disney Channel (for all the rugrats I have running around here all day, lmao), CLTV (Chicagoland TV), Fox News, MSNBC, and Oxygen. What a tradeoff! I don't watch Sci-Fi that often; sometimes I'll catch an episode of Stargate, or a Star Trek marathon, or a Farscape marathon. Other than that, I don't watch it much, it's not a big loss for me. However, gaining Hallmark, Oxygen, TCM, and TV Land, is awesome!!!

The other thing I am considering, is the fact that if I upgrade to the enhanced cable option, I don't really get that much more in channel selection. I'd get the music channels, but what do I need them for? I have 11,000 songs on my computer! I would get some pay-per-view channels, because I'd have the converter box for them, but I don't buy pay-per-view movies. So in reality, I don't really need to go with the enhanced cable option. I think I'll be just fine with the standard cable options, and I highly doubt comcast will need to enter my apartment. Even if they did, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

So now I have this form giving them permission to enter, and this letter explaining everything. In the letter, it says, "Your building will be converted to Comcast services between Tuesday, September 26, and Thursday, September 28." That's all fine and good, but when I talked to one of the leasing agents tonight, that's when they will be here signing us up with the appointments to come and switch our cable over. Who KNOWS when the appointment will be! The letter also states that billing with Comcast will begin on September 29. What if I go there on September 28, wherever they are on the property, and they can't give me an appointment until September 30? Or October 1? Will I lose cable for two days? Interesting questions I can't wait to have answered!

It's Sunday morning, I'm listening to Kerry's stream, and felt the need to blog. Nothing real exciting to talk about, but I had to do it anyway.

It's been a busy weekend for me. Yesterday morning I got up about 8am, because I had a funeral mass to go to at 10am for my friend's mother-in-law. I know many people in her family from going to so many birthday parties, so felt I needed to be there for my friend and her husband. Afterward, there was lunch at a nearby banquet facility, so by the time I got home it was 2pm. I didn't get all the sleep I normally get on Saturday mornings, so I undressed, climbed in bed, and promptly went to sleep for an afternoon nap. By the time I woke up again it was 5:15pm.

I still hadn't watched Thursday and Friday's episodes of DooL, so I started watching them. I was almost done with the second one, and the phone rings. It's Kerry, telling me she won't be home in time for NTT. She suggests she could do it at 11pm instead of 9pm, but I insist that the people who play NTT won't be up that late to start the game then. I talked to the stream leader, decided I would throw a list together quick, he would keep score for me, and we'd do it as scheduled from 9-11pm EST.

We had a pretty good group there, Kerry ended showing up with two songs left, lol. Was a successful night, I believe. After that was done, I hung around to listen to another streamer for about an hour, then I went to relax in front of the tv again to watch a couple shows I taped Friday night while streaming. It was actually two episodes of the same show, Men In Trees. It's a new show this season starring Anne Heche. The series premiere was actually on Tuesday I think, but for some reason my ABC that night was having a sound problem, and I couldn't tolerate it. So when they re-aired it Friday night, followed by the second episode, I taped both and watched them last night. Very cute show!

After Kerry is done streaming in about 30 minutes, I'm off to go visit my aunt. We're going to go see The Black Dahlia, she'll fix me some yummy lunch, and I'll vacuum her floors for her. I have a load of towels in the washing machine, will have to do a couple loads when I get home later, so I have clothes to wear to work this week.

Have a great week, everyone!

Today was not my day, but tomorrow is already looking better. I think it's the weather. I don't remember the last time I saw the sun, and it seems everyone gets grumpy when there's no sun for an extended period of time. For the umpteenth day in a row it rained (surprise, surprise). We woke up this morning with this story. Fortunately, there hasn't been any flooding out by me, but the lake/pond by my apartment is pretty full. We certainly don't need any more rain, so I hope it stays away for a couple weeks at least, lol.

So today started out bad, before the rain even came. I have two alarms set to get me up in the morning...yes I said TWO alarms. The first one goes off at 5:00 AM, the second is set for 5:30 AM. I don't need to get up at 5:00 AM, it's just to start the process of making me conscious enough to get up by 6:00 AM, LOL. When the 5:30 AM alarm goes off, instead of turning it off, I (usually) hit snooze every 9 minutes until about 6:00. I distinctly remember checking my alarm clock before I went to bed last night. Either I was not awake enough to remember, or it decided to be obstinate and not go off. Either way, I didn't wake up until 7:42 AM. The big problem with that? That's about the time when I need to be leaving for work, not just waking up.

So I scramble out of bed, see the time, cuss a couple times, grab the phone, leave a message for my boss telling him I'm running late, and I should be there by 9:00. HA! The god's were against me today! I get showered, dressed, made my sandwich, and left my apartment by 8:30, which is pretty damn good for me, cause it normally takes almost an hour for me to do all that, lol. I get in my car, head out to the highway, and there's a huge traffic jam. It's all because of a new section of construction they started a couple exits up from me. They shifted lanes over, because they are going to start reconfiguring the off-ramp there. So of course, everyone has to come to a complete stop there instead of just moving over as the lines indicate. That section then sort of blends into the next section that's been shifted over about a half mile up the road for some bridge work being done prior to starting the road widening that is to start up again next year. Usually once we get past all that it opens up more and we can actually go above the posted speed limit instead of 30 mph under.

When I got to the toll booth to pay my $.40 right before I exit off and get on a different tollway, traffic came to a dead stop. All I saw in front of me was break lights. As late as I was, and not knowing what was causing the backup, I changed lanes and exited there to take my back way to another road I use as an alternate. Right after I got on that alternate road, it started pouring rain. Cats and dogs pouring rain. Buckets and buckets of water. So of course, everyone slowed down, cause you couldn't see where you were going. Back to 30mph...grrrr! By that time it was 9:05, and I was still at least 15 minutes away from work. Of course, once the rain started, there was NO WAY I was going to be able to get my cell phone out of my purse, dial my boss' number to tell him that I was going to be later than I thought. The time I finally show up to work? 9:30 AM. Now I have an hour and a half to make up for. Sigh! I figure I'll make up 30 minutes at lunch, stay 30 minutes late, and come in tomorrow (hopefully) 30 minutes early. No way on God's green earth I'm staying at work till 5:30 PM. I leave at 4:30 PM, the tollway I avoided in the morning was moving smoothly, I get just past the toll booth after getting back on the one that caused problems in the morning and traffic comes to a complete stop. WTF? About 10 miles up the road, there apparently was an accident. So we creep and crawl, and we creep and crawl, and we sit and we inch forward, and an hour later I finally get home. All in all, it took me 90 minutes to make a drive that usually takes an hour.

By that time, I was so frustrated and grumpy, the slightest little thing would set me off. I slammed the phone down after a possible collection agency called for the third time in two days, wanting someone who I have never heard of and obviously does not live here. I was starving, so I tried to make a fried egg sandwich. Since I was really really hungry, I wanted to use three eggs. So I plopped them in the same greased pan. Well, apparently, I didn't put enough butter in there, because they stuck like glue, and I mangled them trying to get them out of the pan. So I ate a scrambled egg sandwich instead. I tried to get on the computer when I got home, to surprise Kerry with some exciting news. I logged into msn, clicked it to try to send her a message, nothing happened. I clicked again, nothing. I clicked 30 more times in rapid succession, finally the msn window opened. I saw Kerry was on away, I sent her a message, filled with aggravation and grumblings about how I hate everything, no response. She was on away after all, lol. So after no response in about two minutes, I say "f**k it" and reboot my computer.

Rebooting solves all problems, right Kerry? LMAO While the computer was rebooting, I made my scrambled egg sandwich, fought with the eggs, the pan, the bread, the butter, some spice containers on top of my stove, I was rarin' for a fight with anything in front of me, lmao. After watching DooL, sort of (I ffw through all Hope/Patrick scenes and some Billie/Steve scenes), I was feeling much calmer, so I got back on my newly rebooted computer. It worked like a charm. Of course, by that time, it was 7:45 PM EST, and Bones was going to start at 8. So Kerry and I had about 15 minutes to talk before I went to go watch tv, and she was going to zone out and probably go to bed early. No Chris Young music tonight, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Now it's 9:30 PM CST, about time for me to start getting ready for bed, instead of midnight, and I haven't ripped a cd tonight. I have the hugest stack behind me on the bed, just waiting to be ripped to my computer. I hit the motherload last night at Target. Lionel Richie new cd, John Mayer new cd, Everclear new cd, Barenaked Ladies new cd, Papa Roach new cd, Bob Seger new cd, and Black Sabbath Greatest Hits 1970-1978. That makes 19 cd's I have to rip to my computer, lmao. OMG! I need to stop, I think I'm addicted! I wonder if there's a CA...Cd Anonymous?

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.~ Robert Benchley


This was the closest I could find to a quote that summed up my evening. I'm going to go all somber on everyone and talk about today and the great sadness on this fifth anniversary of the attacks in NY, Washington and PA. I did my best, as I'm sure many people did, to not dwell on it all day, and to do our best to go about our daily lives.

The day started out awful, pouring rain, heavy traffic, I was exhausted because I stayed up too late last night watching some stupid Chinese movie on The Sundance Channel. It finally stopped raining, oh some time today, not sure when, and it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, and tomorrow night, no end in sight. If I don't post for a while, I've floated away, lol.

Traffic coming home was very light, which suprised me. It normally takes me about an hour to get home, tonight it only took 45 minutes, and I left 20 minutes later than I normally do (because I was so late this morning).

So I come home (thankfully it wasn't raining), I start a load of laundry, I watch Days of our Lives, I send some songs to Kerry, she sends me some songs, I fixed some pasta for dinner...I feel like I got so much done tonight, although I know in reality I didn't do much, lmao.

The football game is boring, so I guess I'll go watch something else for an hour or so. Until next time...

Well! What can I say that Kerry hasn't already said? It was a WONDERFUL weekend! It was so nice to spend some time with Kerry, and Mike too, of course! LOL

We did go shopping on Saturday. She wanted to see Chicago, so what better way to do that than to walk up State Street. We were working our way up to Marshall Fields, when we passed by an Avenue store. They sell plus sizes, and it's where I buy a lot of my clothes. I pointed it out to Kerry, she didn't believe me that they sold plus sizes. I said uh huh they do, I buy my clothes from there. She needed no more convincing to go inside. She would have bought the store out if she could have, lol. Instead she proudly purchased a few nice tops that will remind her of Chicago every time she wears them.

On we walked, eventually reaching Marshall Fields, where Kerry would find a new purse. She actually saw three, but the first one had a clasp that went over the top, which she wasn't crazy about. Then she saw a tan one, similar to the one she had with her, and she was about to get it, when I suggested she look over in one other spot she hadn't looked yet. Wouldn't you know it, she ended up finding a purse that was quite different from the one she had been thinking of buying. It's one of those purses with such a unique design on it, people will ask where she got that purse, and she can proudly say she got it in Chicago at Marshall Fields.

We decided to start working our way back to the car, and decided to visit Tower Records on the way back. That was the other major purchase Kerry had to make while here. She ended up getting 11 cd's. They were having a sale, buy 4, get the 5th one free. Can't beat that! A bunch of stuff she was wanting to get, except she didn't see John Denver Unplugged (wasn't he always unplugged?) $142 later, we trudged back to the car, headed to my place to relax a bit before the concert.

Kenny! What can I say other than fantastic? I was singing so much, I almost lost my voice. It's been a long time since I've been to a country music concert, and it honestly wasn't much different than any rock concert I've been to recently. There were drunks there, there were potheads, there were a couple arguments, the usual stuff for any concert, lol. Our seats were about as far away from the stage as you could get without actually leaving the stadium, lol. Opposite end of the stadium, very last row. But the sound was great, and there were enough big screens so we could see most of what was going on. I was really surprised to hear on the radio that morning that there were still tickets available. For Kenny Chesney, I thought it would have been sold out instantly, but I guess not. There were a few empty seats around us, which was nice, we weren't squished between people where we couldn't move. And the seats were bleachers, with backs; I thought they'd be stadium seats. Oh well, at least the backs helped. The concert was over about 10:30pm, we probably got home about midnight.

The next day, I had wanted to take them up to Wisconsin to see The House On The Rock. But with the Brazilian restaurant being in downtown Chicago, and the fact that we were also supposed to go see another friend about 3-1/2 hours from Chicago, there was no way we'd be able to drive up to Wisconsin, back into the city, and then out StygianMuse's house. As it was, we still didn't get to her house until at least 9pm, lol. Kerry just LOVED the double-decker bus tour. We went all over the downtown area, the guide talked about a lot of the buildings, the history behind them, which ones survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, where street names came from, why certain buildings were built the way they were. I learned a lot too. I've taken a tour of the city, but this one was the best I've been on. It put us behind schedule, but it was well worth it!

What an absolutely wonderful visit! I can't wait for my turn to go back to Toronto and have Kerry show me more of Canada (Hopefully PK can go with me again!)