You Are a White Flower

A white flower tends to represent purity, simple beauty, and modesty. At times, you are dignified like a magnolia. And at other times, you represent great ecstasy, like a white orchid. And more than you wish, you're a little boastful, like a white hydrangea.

What Color Flower Are You?

You Are a Centaur

In general, you are a very cautious and reserved person. However, you are also warm hearted, and you enjoy helping others in practical ways. You are a great teacher, and you are really good at helping people get their lives in order. You are very intuitive, and you go with your gut. You make good decisions easily.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Short post tonight, going to go get ready for bed. Had MORE rain today, when will it stop?? (I know, I know...it'll stop when the snow comes.)

My trip to Hawaii is all settled. I leave on January 5th and return on the 13th. OMG, I can't wait! My sister and aunt are splitting the cost of seven hundred some dollars roundtrip, that is my Christmas present from the two of them. Keeping my fingers that I lost another pound or two when I weigh myself on Saturday. It would be great to be more lightweight when I go over there.

Have a great Friday!

Finally a day without rain! Of course, it's freaking COLD! And we're supposed to get more rain on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, lol. I'm hardwired, and I got my money back from Best Buy for the wireless router, USB adapter and 50 foot network cable. That was nice seeing a credit go back to my account for 170.00. Then I went to pay my first cable bill, which came in the mail at 257.20. I had complained about the installation charges and part of that had been credited to my account. So I was thinking about 220.00 would still be due. I went to pay online, and it said 257.20 was more than what I owed. Since I hadn't made a payment yet, I was kind of confused. I tried again for a payment of 200.00, again it said it was more than what I owed. Now, it does give you the option of going ahead with the payment, but I couldn't understand how I didn't owe all this money all of a sudden. I tried a new amount, 140.47...the amount just for the cable service from 9/29 to 11/10. Again, it said it was too much, but I didn't want to take any chances so I finished the payment for that amount. Will be interesting to see my next bill and find out why they said I didn't owe anything.

I went out to spend my normal Sunday afternoon with my aunt. She has had a taste for turkey with all the trimmings for about a month now, but never felt up for fixing it. She finally did, so we had a pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner today. I didn't do too bad; I didn't over-stuff myself, I stopped when I got full. And I brought some turkey home for lunch tomorrow. After lunch we were supposed to go see The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman. But my aunt was not feeling well at all, so we felt it was best if we didn't go see the movie this weekend. Instead her sister and I drove to a small town west of there called Malta, where there's a farm that also grows apples. They have this little shop where you can purchase all different kinds of apples, you can buy fudge, a donut, apple pies, caramel apples...omg it was so tempting. The only thing I got while I was there was some Amaretto fudge. (winks at StygianMuse)

Last night we played NTT at www.thewolven.com. Kerry hosted and I kept score. Lainie missed another chance to get in my box...sigh! Voodooman won a close game. Most of the artists are ones you would recognize when you hear them, but not the song. And Kerry's hubby even came in and played! I had fun and I hope those who played also had fun.

Going to try to rip a couple cd's before The Amazing Race starts. Not sure if Kerry will pull her nose out of the book in time to watch it with me. Will wait and see.

If your apartment fills with smoke, what do you do?

Trivia question for you. Do you...

A. Open all the windows

B. Open the door to the hallway

C. Both


Under NO circumstance, if there's no fire, do you open the door to the hallway. All that will do is fill the hallway up with smoke, the fire alarm will be triggered, the building will be evacuated in the middle of ER, two firetrucks will arrive, firemen will bring in fans to blow the smoke out of the hallway, and you'll get the honor of standing outside in the cold for 20 minutes.

I thought this song would be appropriate since it rained AGAIN today!


Who'll Stop the Rain by Credence Clearwater Revival

Long as I remember the rain been comin down.
Clouds of mystry pourin confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages, tryin to find the sun;
And I wonder, still I wonder, wholl stop the rain.

I went down virginia, seekin shelter from the storm.
Caught up in the fable, I watched the tower grow.
Five year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains.
And I wonder, still I wonder wholl stop the rain.

Heard the singers playin, how we cheered for more.
The crowd had rushed together, tryin to keep warm.
Still the rain kept pourin, fallin on my ears.
And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain.

Your 1920's Name is:

Blossom Esperanza

What's" Your 1920's Name?

I thought I'd post the letter written by the Management of my complex, to be given to the technician on Thursday.

Dear Comcast and Affiliates:

This letter is to allow Comcast Technicians and or any of its affiliates to run cable from a room through the common adjoining wall, which shall feed through bushings installed on both sides to make the additional outlets in the adjoining room.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the management office.

Sincerely,
Country Lakes Management


I decided to call the office and speak to Gwen, who I have been dealing with since Saturday. I wanted to make sure they were aware that I was wanting the 2nd bedroom wired, not the first bedroom. To give those of you that have not seen my apartment an idea of what's involved, let me describe my apartment to you. When you enter the door, in front of you is the living room. There is a bedroom to the right and a bedroom to the left. Straight ahead on the opposite wall is the sliding glass door leading out to the balcony. Right next to that, on the left, is the fireplace, which is at an angle (not perpendicular to the sliding glass door.) That wall that the fireplace is part of, is the wall that separates the living room from bedroom number two. The cable coming into my apartment from outside is on that same wall as the sliding glass door. The wall separating the livingroom from bedroom number one is where the tv is, due to the necessity of being close to the cable outlet. Bedroom number two is where the computer is, and therefore the cable would have to be split off (probably outside), run across the balcony and drilled through the bricks outside and into the second bedroom.

Obviously it would be much simpler if I were having the cable going into bedroom number one, they could split the cable off inside, go through the wall, put the outlet there, and it's done. NO, I have to be difficult and want cable in the opposite bedroom from where the cable comes into the apartment, lol. Gwen assured me that it was still no problem, and they should know what to do when wiring the bedroom. If they have any questions about what to do or how to do it, she told me I could call and ask them to page the Service Manager. Apparently, there's some Town Hall meeting they all have to go to, so the leasing office will be closed at 1pm. Just in time for my appointment from Comcast, lol.

Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything, except over technology - John Tudor

More computer issues! Grrrrrr!! I have been on this wireless cable internet for two weeks. I have streamed three times, not without problems, but I've streamed. Friday night, I go into chat, listen to Kerry stream, get all set up, reboot, come back in, connect to producer, 30 seconds later I get disconnected. I try again...same thing. I go in another room and talk to the owner, stream leader, and tech guy. They have me turn off a bunch of stuff that they feel is blocking me from connecting to the stream server. I try again...disconnected after 30 seconds. The tech guy has me set up to allow ports within a certain range to be accessed from my computer, I try again, doesn't work. I was on the phone TWICE with the stream leader. Nothing is working. After two hours, I give up for the night.

My only options are to see if I can get this room wired for direct connection to the cable and ditch the wireless, or go back to my dsl. Saturday I set the alarm for 9am, call my leasing office, and find out I CAN get this room wired for cable tv/internet. They state all I will probably need is a written letter from them to give to Comcast for permission to drill the holes for the cables. I call Comcast, and now have any appointment for Thursday afternoon between 1pm and 5pm CDT to have this bedroom wired. Saturday night before NTT I advised the stream leader and the site owner of what I'm doing and they both agree that will solve my problem.

So once I have the cable hooked up to my computer, and I am off the router, I should be able to stream again. Man, did I miss streaming Friday night! I hope Best Buy will let me return the router, adapter, and network cable. Although I don't have the original packaging for the cable, it was in that plastic crap that I had to tear to pieces to get the cable out. I would really like to get the $170 back I spent on everything.

So in a few days, I should be good to go, keeping my fingers, legs, toes, eyes...all crossed!

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary.If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not a lot to talk about this weekend. I hosted NTT last night (where was lainie?), with Kerry keeping score. We had a lot of fun, even with all the funny names that came in. A chat name was misspelled, instead of pilem, someone typed it as oilem, and it grew from there. Oilem became Oinkem, which became Boinkem, then of course, pokem, strokem, and chokem all had to come in. It was quite funny as I was running down the list of names in every mic spot, trying to kill time while Kerry was finishing up all the guesses and points. It seemed like everytime I opened the mic, another name came in and got me giggling again, lol. We finally asked all the names to leave, because it just got too confusing trying to keep score. One of the culprits for the names forgot which window she was in and accidentally sent her guess to Kerry using that name instead of her real name. NTT is Saturday nights at www.thewolven.com from 9pm-11pm EDT.

Some good football games were played this weekend, too. My favorite college team, the Iowa Hawkeyes beat up on the Purdue Boilermakers Saturday, 47-10. Today Da Bears beat Buffalo 40-7. Wish I'd been able to see that game. Maybe it will be re-aired again later tonight on cable. Then my boys, Dallas, well they got beat pretty good in a tough divisional game against Philadelphia. It was a close game when I was watching in the first half, but apparently things sort of fell apart in the second half. Oh well! Better luck next week!

Can't mention all this without lamenting about the Leafs losing to the Canadiens. Kerry and I were cheering them on while we tried to host NTT. The Blackhawks also lost Saturday, to Columbus. Chicago actually has a pro hockey team? lmao

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians reading this! Have some turkey and stuffing for me!

They say dreams are the windows of the soul--take a peek and you can see the inner workings, the nuts and bolts. Henry Bromel, Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991

I've had some really strange dreams the last couple of nights. They weren't very involved or long, but they were really really strange. And those of you that know me pretty well are used to my strange dreams.

Monday night I dreamed that I was outside my apartment building, and I noticed going from building to building were a couple of the maintenance guys from my WORK office building. They were carrying these black boxes with handles that were about the size of small shoe box. They would go into one building for a couple minutes, walk back out, then go into the next one for a couple minutes, etc. So I followed the one named Jerry (yes I know his name, no he's not single, lmao) into one of the buildings to see what he was doing. He went up to the second floor, stood in the hallway for a couple minutes, just standing there. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was getting GPS (Global Positioning System) readings for our building so the whole complex could be mapped out.

That was it, that was all of it. Weird huh? The next one is just as strange.

Tuesday night I dreamed I was listening to the local country station, US99, in my bedroom. The morning dj was on, Ray Stevens. Not sure if it was actually morning in my dream, I just know he was on the air at the time. While I'm listening, this guy calls into the station and they put him on the air. He says to Ray, over the air, that he had called up the station for something (not sure what, he didn't say) and he talked to this really nice lady with a pretty voice. Well somehow, without them saying anything, I knew it was my sister. (For those that don't know, I have one full sister who isn't talking to me, and hasn't pretty much for the last 17 years.) You guessed it, it was this sister working at US99. So anyway, Ray Stevens tells this guy that he shouldn't have talked to her, and shouldn't have mentioned her on air, because she works behind the scenes and they weren't supposed to talk about her on the air. They told the guy, whoever he was, that he had to hang up and not call back to her, lmao. And I'm sitting here thinking, in my dream, Wow! I had no idea she worked at US99! LMAO

I will go weeks without remembering any dreams, then all of a sudden I'll have one or two that I remember and make absolutely no sense! Like this week, lmao.

Time to go get ready for bed, and hope for a peaceful nights sleep without any crazy dreams!

I finally reached a live human being tonight after sitting on hold for about 15 minutes. Here's a summary of our conversation:

The $140.47 was for the period 9/29 - 11/10, or 41 days. It's $99 monthly, plus part of a month, resulting in $140.47.

The $99 one time charge was broken down into two pieces. $59.85 and $39.15. I was told it was because two technicians came to do the install. I explained the whole story about the mixup with the times, etc, so she removed the $39.15 off the bill. I wish it had been the $59.85, but beggars can't be choosers. She also explained to me that when the technician installed everything, the workorders that I signed should have had the installation charges listed on them. I told her I didn't remember seeing any charges printed on them, the technician didn't point them out, and of course, I didn't read the workorders that closely. I didn't even think there'd be monetary charges listed there. I was too rushed to get to work so I didn't have to take more than a half a day vacation. She also told me that the amounts I was charged were also reduced amounts. Normally, the charges for installing the internet and voice is $99 EACH, and the tv is $44.95. So I still got a deal even when charged $99 total! Then I asked her, politely of course, why I would be charged an installation fee when THEY bought my cable company and THEY had to come out to hook up their own cable connections. She advised me that Comcast doesn't see us as TVMax customers, only as "new" customers to Comcast. So we're all being charged installation charges for whatever we're being suckered into buying.

Then I asked her about my TVMax bill. I just paid it when the Comcast guy came and switched everything over, and it was for the period of 9/17 to 10/16. I only used 10 days of the 30 days I paid for in advance. Was I going to get a refund for the 20 days I didn't have TVMax service? Apparently, there's a third party that's working on all that, to go through all the TVMax accounts and probably figure out what people are owed for pre-paid service that switched to Comcast in the middle. I have the number, and I might try to call tomorrow.

As it stands now, I still have my Comcast service, and I just need to cancel all my phone services now.

Got my first bill from Comcast today, was scared to open it. I was right to be scared! $257.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are gonna get a call from me tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a week this has been! Let me recap for those that don't know...

As I mentioned in a previous post, my cable company was bought by Comcast, so they were coming around a couple weeks ago to talk to all the residents about the switch over, trying to get new or additional services signed up. I had already tentatively planned on just keeping what I had, standard cable. When a Comcast rep showed up at my door one evening, I thought about it some more, and realized the "Triple Play" option would save me about $30 a month for the next year, and after that, I would be back to paying about what I'm paying now. Only difference is I would have more cable channels, cable internet (instead of dsl), cable phone, and only one bill instead of three.

So a couple days later this same gentleman calls me on the phone to schedule an appointment. I explain that I work during the day, and with the internet being installed, I'd like to be here to make sure everything works ok. He tells me that he has set me up with an appointment the next evening between 6pm and 8pm. I get all excited cause I'm getting new stuff! I come home from work the next evening, and I wait...and I wait...and I wait. At 10 minutes to 8pm, I call the guy who sold me this deal and gave me the appt. No answer, so I leave him a message! I wait 20 minutes. At 8:10, I call Comcast direct and speak to a representative there. He tells me I never had an appointment for 6-8pm that night, I had one from 2-4 that afternoon. News to me! But then things started making sense. At work that afternoon, I received a call from the leasing office, saying they had a technician there and could he go into my apt to install the cable. I said, "Hold on, they're installing both tv and internet, and I had an appt for 6-8 tonight."

She said she'd explain it all to them, so I "assumed" that I'd still get a technician here between 6 and 8pm. The second thing I realized is that when I got home about 5pm, there was a message on my answering machine that had been cut off. It was from a Comcast technician, there to install my cable. The time? 1:59pm!

So I arranged it with the representative on the phone to have someone come the next morning between 8am and 12pm, and I took a half a vacation day. He showed up at 8:40, and was very polite, and knew what he was doing. But there's a kicker! Something NO ONE told me during all of this signing up for new services...they aren't allowed (yet) to wire into rooms that aren't already wired for cable. So, my second bedroom, where the computer is, that isn't wired for cable, AIN'T GONNA GET DIRECT CABLE HOOKUP. I either have to move my computer into the living room right by the tv (NO WAY IN HELL) or I go wireless! And then! My phone was originally going to be installed on October 4, but he set it up while he was there. BUT! I can only have a portable phone hooked up to the converter box thingy, and it'll be the ONLY phone I have. Regular wall phones won't work no more. Ok, that ain't no big deal, I can handle taking the headset around my apartment with me, it's not like I'm in some huge ass house and have a phone in every room, lmao. But still, it would have been nice to know all this beforehand, cause I might have made a different decision!

So the technician leaves about 11:30am, I put on my work clothes and I head to work. Thank goodness traffic is light then, I made it to work at 12:00pm, and I didn't really need to be there until 12:30pm. After work, I head straight to Best Buy, because I've been told I now have to buy a wireless router, an adapter card, and because I'm not moving my computer, a 50 foot network cable to hook up the router and computer while it's being set up. Once that's done, I don't need the cable again. Someone suggested I then return the network cable, but what if my computer crashes, and I have to re-install the router? I'll need the network cable again, and it will be much easier to have it here, then to run out and spend another $36 for one.

All told I spent $140+ dollars at Best Buy getting all this shit. Fortunately, I brought it home, and it was very easy to set up. I haven't had a problem since I did. I've set up my new email addy, now I just need to tell everyone...OH YEAH! Forgot one other thing! I was originally going to keep my same phone number. HA HA, NOPE! Found that out at the last minute too, they can't do that, only way they could do it is if for a couple weeks until the router was updated or some shit like that, I could receive calls, but I couldn't make any. Now, I don't make a lot of phone calls, but just the thought of not being able to made me say Ok, give me a new number! So now I have not only a new email addy, but a new phone number to give to all my friends, family members, acquaintences, cute strangers on the street, just kidding on that last one.

Tonight I was planning on sitting here at the computer, logged into my old email account, sending emails to everyone advising them of my new addy. Well, that didn't get done, lol. Maybe tomorrow while Kerry's at school I can do it.

Time to start getting ready for bed. Hope you enjoyed my adventure in the world of Comcast Cable! LMAO

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...