4/15/03
It's the vcr clock. That's why I didn't get 24 on tape again. I forgot to change it after daylight savings. Grrr. I set the vcr last night so that I wouldn't forget and so that I would be in the right mindset. So much for that. Seriously I don't know what I would do without the rerun on FX.

On Thursday I have to go with Pat to Port St Lucie where we have a northern campus. I really do want to see their library and I can finally meet the people that Carla was talking about so much this past weekend. However, I have to spend 90 minutes in the car with Pat. 90 minutes. I wonder what this is going to be like...

No sightings today despite the fact that he was on campus. How could he not come into the library?? I would've found a reason to walk over thru his building but I know that he keeps his door closed unless it's his office hours. I found a reason yesterday but he wasn't in. Sigh. I'll keep my fingers crossed that he's on campus tomorrow but it's iffy because he has a conference and he mentioned leaving on Wednesday...

I'm so pissed off at the government that I can't even talk about it. I was at Truthout and had to stop reading because I was getting all worked up at work. Such stupid people in control of the world. Then I watched Bill (I'd missed it last Friday) and I was even mad at him because now he seems to think that the war was a good thing! The war's not over yet people. And as predicted, this was just the first of many. I'm mad that my personal freedoms are being taken away even as we are supposedly giving freedom to others (I'll believe that when I see it, our track record doesn't make me hopeful). Ugh, I can't talk about it anymore.

I'm going to drink some chocolate milk and go to bed. Only two more work days until my weekend!

4/14/03
I slept until 2 today. So much for being at work on time! I managed to make it in by 3, Pat was ok with it because she had been 2 hours late herself!! Of course I missed having a sighting by about 5 minutes. I hoped for the rest of the day that he would return but no such luck. Oh well, maybe Wednesday will be more fruitful.

Tonight I bought soy milk, both regular and chocolate. I realized that the organic milk was costing $3.25/gallon and all I really use it for is my cereal in the morning. So I went with soy, which was almost half of the price. Then I had the moral dimemma of withdrawing my support from dairy farmers who are doing things the right way. What if, because customers like me turn to soy, they are forced to start using hormones?? And it will all be because of me!

Tonight I watched last week's 24 and of course it was really good. Then I shut the tv off because there wasn't anything on. I looked at alternative librarian sites, had a great time at The Whitehouse, a great parody that will entertain for hours, and I made lunches for the rest of the week. Now it's 3am and I'm not tired but I'm going to get ready for bed anyway. Because there's no sleeping in tomorrow!

4/13/03
I'm back! While I was gone it seemed like time was kind of dragging by but now that I'm home I look back and it seems to have been a blur! The weather went from cold and miserable to warmer and sunny. I'm still very happy to be back in FL, this is where I belong.

Everything in my fridge is frozen solid. Last Tuesday night I thought that the light was out but I discovered the next morning that actually the whole thing wasn't working. I had told the office to fix it right away because I would be gone (well, I would've told them to get on it asap if I'd been here too...). Ken, the maintenance man, fixed it and left a note that he'd cranked the cold and that I should turn it down just as soon as the temp was back to normal. Four full days of high cold means that my juice, the tofu, the sour cream - everything has ice in/on it. My lettace turned a really dark green and isn't usable, so much for my salad for lunch tomorrow. I wonder what happens to eggs once they've been frozen... I was going to crack one to find out but decided against it.

Since I was up at about 8:45 this morning I thought I'd be in bed by midnight. Nope. It's 2 am and I'm tired but am not really ready to turn in just yet. I want to stay up and enjoy being back at home! I think I'll go decide what to wear tomorrow. I should have a sighting so I have to look good... :)

4/8/03
To the person who found this site by looking up "crusty panty links" I just want to say sorry. This site must be a disappointment. Stop looking up stupid stuff on the internet.

The first thing I did when I rolled out of bed this morning was to set the vcr for 24 because I was determined not to forget! Well I didn't forget but I shouldn't do anything until I've taken a shower and have had a chance to wake up. I set it for the wrong time. I had even just double checked but still got it wrong. Sigh. At least I had last night to carry me over.

I take off tomorrow, I probably won't post again until Sunday. I'm almost all packed, just a few things to throw in tomorrow morning. It wasn't until I finished that I looked at the weather and perhaps things are looking up! Saturday and Sunday won't be as bas as they had predicted just yesterday, looks like it could be in the 70s. Won't exactly be a weekend at the beach but still. I'll have to put a tshirt in with my sweaters.

Carl didn't call today, I find that really unusual. I'll call him tomorrow before I go. I know that he won't answer but at least he'll have heard from me. Tonight there was a guy in who kept talking to me. I had that feeling like he wanted to ask me out and I was happy that he didn't. He was nice enough but I couldn't stop thinking that he looked a lot like Radar from Mash. I found that really distracting.

Last night I stayed up until 4am. I didn't mean to and I was super tired but I was caught up in this journal from when I lived in Greece. It was four years ago on the 17th that I left to live there. I was reading it over trying so hard to remember a few of the things I'd written about. I don't remember some of the people that I was talking about and that was frustrating because even though it's been awhile I don't feel like I should've forgotten any of it. I'm just glad that I kept a journal at all! And now I have my pita. This will be one year old on the 22nd of this month, can you believe it?

And with that I'm going to go. I hope to play around on the computer while I'm gone, maybe I will find some cool format for when I archive!

4/7/03
I forgot to mention last night that a guy asked me out while I was at work. He was kind of creepy, that's what I thought about him when he first walked in. As he was leaving he came up to the desk and introduced himself and told me that I was a "pretty little librarian lady" and he wanted my number so he could take me out and treat me right. I told him that I was not interested. He asked if I had a boyfriend and I said yes. I mean if he's going to give me that out then I'm going to take it! He still wanted my number and said that we belonged together. Then he started talking about our wedding cake and how it would be so perfect if I married him because his name is Chris and we could just have one really big C on the cake. I told him that I was sorry but that no was my answer. He left and I kept thinking to myself how it would be perfect if I married a man named Chris...

I'm just kidding, even my vivid imagination isn't skipping ahead to marrying my Dr. So I had a whopping three sightings today. The first where he didn't appear to see me, the second where he saw me but I kind of ignored him because I was still mad about sighting #1, and the third when he came into the library for no apparent reason, walked back to the books, and walked back out the door. This time I waved and we said hi but that was it. Shannon insists that he was only in to talk to me but I disagree this time. He'd seen me twice that day so if he wanted to see or talk to me, he could've done it earlier. All of us girls have taken to calling him Dr. Stupid - in that kind and affectionate way of course. He'll be Dr. Smart just as soon as he starts paying more attention to me :)

Someone found my site after searching for "small boobs pics" which absolutely cracks me up!! And someone else searched for "pictures boys speedos". I think I'm going to start keeping track of these things and once I have a good list I'll post it somewhere.

So I said that I would explain Carl's scars if I had the chance and I found out what the big one on his arm was from. While he was in his Omega fraternity he had himself branded. I knew that's what it looked like but it's so big that I didn't think it was possible that it had been done on purpose. He said he was 19 and the whole group of them all had it done (and I think they did it themselves, how scary!). Yikes. While he and I were talking about it I should've asked about the big X on his head but I didn't. He called today while I was at work, I'd forgotten to turn my phone off. I had to make a run for it in my sandals (this is when Dr. Stupid saw me, thank goodness I didn't fall flat on my face) but I just shut it off instead of picking it up. He knows I'm at work and he knows that I don't have my phone on, he didn't leave a message and hasn't called tonight. Ok by me.

I spent an hour watching Kiefer, the episode that I missed last week was on. I can't wait for tomorrow. The good thing about missing last week is that now I get two new episodes two nights in a row! Only seven episodes left.

Ok, I'm pooped and tonight I'm determined to get to bed by 2. I must've been tired last night because my calculations were off. Going to bed at 3 and getting up at noon is not 10 hours. Plus the exterminator came at 9:30 and I had a hard time falling back to sleep. Do you all feel bad for me? No, I didn't think so.

4/6/03
I'm sooo sleeeeepy that this will be short. I'm sitting in my new computer chair and I love it. It was worth getting up early for but now that it's 2am I'm wondering why I'm still awake. I think I only got about six hours of sleep, not nearly enough for me. I have to try to make it up tonight, if I'm in bed in a half hour then I can get 10 glorious hours.

I saw a lot of Carl today. He picked me up this morning for the trip to Office Max. We did have fun wheeling around the office section. He came into the library to do some work. I think he was irked because I wasn't doing his work for him. He showed up at my place around 9:30 to put the chair together and he stayed until 11:30. He wanted to kiss me but I manuvered my way out of it. I should've just said something but it seemed too out of place. I'm a wuss.

New pics at the bottom of my pita picture page. Have you guys even seen a pic of Tom before, my boy from home? And there's a good pic of Henrik too.

I just had a glass of chocolate soy milk and I must say, it was very tasty! I was going to try it in the blender but I like it plain. Good stuff. Goodnight.

4/5/03
Finally, a background again! It almost doesn't look right, I've been without it for a long time now. Haven't I? I forget.

I put in another three hours at the beach today, which was absolutely fantastic. My parking lot was full and I was really frustrated, driving around in circles with about 20 other cars all waiting for a spot. I finally gave up but it turns out that just two blocks past that lot is another one and it was practically empty! My new secret place. I waded in the water, it's so much warmer than the pacific, I like that. The sun was out for my first hour or so but then it was cloudy. I just sat and read, I finally finished Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods which I've been working on since I got here, I think that was one of the first books I checked out. After getting back I showered and just hung out around here. I should've cleaned but I didn't. I did make some mashed potatoes.

I decided not to do anything with Carl, he was disappointed. But tomorrow I'm going to get up before work and we're going to Office Depot together. We both need computer chairs and they're going on sale. Getting up is not going to be fun, especially with daylight savings. Anyway, I think tomorrow after work he and I may rent a movie. And then I'm going to tell him about how we're just going to be friends. No really I will tell him. I will.

If Carl hadn't mentioned the time change I never would've known. Someone told me that it was next weekend and I was making mental notes because that's the day I fly back home after the conference and I don't want to get the time mixed up. So one less hour of sleep.

Ugh, that means it's 2:30 right now. Too bad I'm not tired. I'm going to get tomorrow's lunch ready.

4/4/03
Carl called at 10am. What was he thinking?? Thankfully I went back to sleep, of course I didn't get up to answer it. I rolled out of bed just before noon and was on the beach by 1! I even managed to go in to have my dress altered on the way, how great is that? They'll have it done by the middle of next week but I'll be out of town. It's gonna cost me 70 bucks, how horrible! Just when I was thinking that it was a reasonably priced dress...

The beach was really nice, I don't know why but there weren't many people around. I hadn't brought my watch because I was going to bring my phone but I forgot that in the car. I'm not good at judging how much time has passed, I didn't want to get back to the car only to find that I'd been at the beach for a half hour! Turns out I timed it perfectly, I managed about two hours and have kind of burnt my back, just the middle where the strap was - such an uncomfortable spot!

I went to two grocery stores and managed to stock up a bit. I bought about 85% organic, not too bad! The OJ, brownie mix, and bananas were just regular. Oh and Erika - I found some Merkts cheese!! I guess that probably doesn't count as organic but I bought it anyway!

Carl had called because he wasn't able to make it to the baseball game. He forgot that there was a school dance that he had to chaperone. He invited me along but I passed, groups of 7th graders are rarely what I'm the mood for. He called me after the dance and ended up swinging by. He wanted to go out but I didn't feel like moving from the couch. He took one look at me and thought I was sick - what does that say about how I look when I'm lounging around?!? Plus my face was really warm from all the sun today so he thinks I'm coming down with something. Evil me, I didn't tell him that wasn't the case. He stayed for almost an hour I suppose, we just sat and talked. He brought up the whole ideal mate, marriage, kids stuff that I wasn't in the mood to really talk about. I can tell that's he's a thoughtful guy though and he has some really interesting things to say. I tried to like him, really I did! No luck. We may do something tomorrow, we'll see.

Tonight I watched Bill Maher but I wasn't giving him my full attention. I need to ignore the world for awhile to let myself calm down and take a breather from it all. Bill is usually followed by Ali G but tonight it was Def Poetry Jam instead. I wasn't sure exactly what it was going to be but I loved it! I'm going to tune into that more often. Awesome poetry, stuff that I can actually understand. It made me wish for talent as a writer.

Ok, my head hurts so I'm going to crawl into bed.

Tonight's song: This one's gonna bruise by Beth Orton

4/3/03
I almost forgot to post tonight! It's almost 3am and I should've been in bed an hour ago at least. I need to get up at a somewhat decent hour. I'm going to go get my dress altered before it's way too late, and I'm going to the beach. I thought I had more than that to do... Well I also have to get to the grocery store.

Carl and I are going to the baseball game. I have free tickets from the rental office here and I want to go. Plus it gives me something to do on a Friday night. Of course we won't stay out because I want to be home for Bill Maher. Carl was in the library tonight and I have to say that he couldn't keep his eyes off of me. It's half flattering but the other half of the time I just feel bad for him! He is really good looking, I wish that I could make myself like him. I was telling Erika about the scar on his head (which he keeps shaved), it's like the X for xbox and is at least 4 inches long. And tonight I also noticed that he has a huge scar on his arm as well that looks like the letter omega has been burned into him. Hmmm, interesting. I'll let you know if I ever get the full story on them.

The trip to London is off because flight prices have gone up too much. But my parents seem to still want me to vacation with them. They don't really like to travel together, they got on each other's nerves too much so I'd be the mediator. Hey, free trip, I can handle the both of them! We're looking at August because there's a break between summer and fall semester so it wouldn't be trouble for me to get the time off. Dad mentioned Cancun, the Caribbean, New York, London, Paris and Greece. I would love to go back to my beloved country but at the same time I think it's best to leave well enough alone, you know? What if my friends have forgotten me? My waiters, my shopkeepers... I think of them so often but it's been 3 1/2 years since they've seen me. I think my trip suggestion will be the British Virgin Isles or something.

Ok, now it's after 3 and I really should get to bed. I'm not tired though, back to my old schedule!

4/2/03
Thankfully only one more day to go before my weekend! This week had kind of been a grumpy one for me at work. Next week will be short, I'm only in the library from Sun-Tue. I'm starting to look forward to Charlotte. Ever since I found out that Erika couldn't join me I haven't really wanted to go. I spend enough time alone around here, I didn't want to go to another city to be more alone.

I had a nice sighting this afternoon. He stopped to say hi. I would've gotten to talk to him more but I was busy with someone and then he started talking to Patrick. And once you start talking to Patrick it's hard to stop. He actually checked out a few movies, including Serpico. I'd never heard of that movie before but then I saw something about it on Ed and heard someone else mention it. I decided that it was all a sign that I needed to watch it and I was actually going to check it out this weekend!! I picked it out on Monday but put it back because I didn't want to check it out until Thursday (sometimes I forget to bring things back and the more time I could have it the better). Well now you know that I'll be watching that movie as soon as it's returned!!

Carl was in the library for quite awhile tonight. We chatted a bit here and there but that was it. I called him on Monday and left him a message but he never called me back! How strange considering how much he likes the phone. I have two tickets to a local baseball game and I was going to ask him to join me. He left tonight while I was helping someone so I never had the chance to ask. Oh well, whatever.

I talked to my parents tonight about joining them in London. That would be pretty cool, I'm glad that I get along with them well enough that I think taking a vacation with them would be fun! Sadly dad can't find the cheap flights online anymore so that may go down the hole pretty quickly. Otherwise they'll just come to see me for a week which isn't such a bad deal either. Dad's also thinking of taking a cruise. I wonder if that would include me too...

Tonight I was at Excite reading over my news and there were two headlines right next to each other. The first said that the reporters were not giving fair coverage of the war. The second said that reporters in the field were helping everyone to see all sides of the war. I'm tired of people who think that the news is being too negative about the war. Is there such a thing as being too negative about a war?? Who can say that war is a great thing and that the news should only portray our successes? I'm so frustrated about it all. So frustrated that I'm going to bed.

4/1/03
I didn't even realize until almost 9pm that it was April Fools Day. A professor from England was telling us that there, all jokes have to be played before noon. Interesting.

Everyone already had to hear about my Strain saga of the day so I won't go on and on about it here. He's just so darn cute that I can't be mad at him. Mad at him for not falling all over me I mean. But of course, that is exactly what I am upset about! And it's so depressing that he's going to be gone for the summer. I have a feeling that those four months are going to drag by. Not just because he won't be around but because of how quiet campus is going to be.

I wish I could say that the sight of Kiefer cheered me up - but I forgot to set my VCR this morning! No 24 for me. I'll catch the rerun next week and that's going to have to do. Since I watched last week's rerun just last night I kind of feel like I got my fill of the show, that will help tide me over.

Alright, I'm tired and had better get to bed. Only two more days to survive before the weekend, thank goodness.

3/31/03
Well there went March, where did it go? I suspect that April will also be over before we know it. How happy Erika must be that May is finally almost here!

It's been chilly down here, I'm wearing wool socks and two long sleeve shirts to keep warm. I don't feel like turning my heat on but it's crossed my mind several times. It's actually only 52, which is frightenly close to the 45 that it is in both Pipestone and Kenosha. Burrr! I want my warm weather back!!

Today was uneventful. I didn't get to see my crush, that's my favorite part of Mondays but no luck. We were a bit short staffed and it was busy but I guess that helped make the night fly by. I already want it to be the weekend again. Next weekend I'm in Charlotte and right now I'm not at all excited about it. Mostly because it means not getting any days off. Yes, they're days in another place but not screw around days. I've decided to add up everything I do at the conference on Friday and Saturday and will count it all as comp time. Really, it's only fair.

Tonight I finished reading New Rulers of the World, it's due back tomorrow so it was now or never. I skipped over the essay on Afghanistan, it was too depressing and because of that I was putting the book down a lot and that was making it hard to get it all read on time. Very interesting stuff though. The last essay is about the Aboriginies in Australia and how badly they have been treated. How is it that first world countries can be some of the worst discriminators of their own people? Sad, it was all sad.

It's 2:30 and I'm all tuckered out. Time for me to put another blanket on my bed and crawl in!

3/30/03
It hasn't been an exciting day so I don't have much to ramble about tonight. Work was the usual. There were quite a few people around right after we opened but by the end of the night there were only a few who stuck around. We even got to leave early! I got quite a bit done and that always feels good.

Carl called me around 1 but I didn't call him back. Honestly I meant to once I was home but then it slipped my mind. He knows that I'm at work so I don't know why he called right then anyway. Ok, I'm afraid to talk to him because I don't want to have to tell him that we're going to be just friends. I like to avoid situations like that. Or I just lie, which I can also see will not be the good way to go. I was telling my dad the other night that I would have to tell Carl soon but he disagreed. Good old dad, he read an article that says that men will decide by the 2nd date whether or not they'd like to continue seeing that person. Women on the other hand, take an average of 12-15 dates to decide. Um, that doesn't sound right to me... I hadn't even gone out with Carl once and I already knew. Dad thinks that I should get a few meals out of the guy first. Sorry dad, not gonna happen.

I'm trying to get the background back up but it's not working yet. I did get all of my pitapics back up. Guess the bad thing about archiving is that my Kiefer pic isn't going to work ever again because I can't get in there to change the html on it. Oh well, you may not care and I can always just look at the pic on my computer :)

It's not quite 2 so I'm going to finish this up. I have to get a few things ready to mail tomorrow (hooray, I'm finally done with the cross stitch!!) and then I'm off to bed.

3/29/03
Ah, another perfect weekend. Lots of sun and sand! I went to the beach for Friday afternoon. The clouds rolled in and it started sprinkling so I left the beach but about a mile down the road all of the clouds parted and the sun came back out so I turned back around and had a full two delightful hours at the beach. Of course since lots of others had left when it looked like we were in for a storm I had the beach mostly to myself. Of the people who had stayed I could hear lots of French and German. The Germans were in speedos, gotta love that about Europe. No, I don't mean I actually like speedos but I like that they're all comfortable in them (even the 300lbs man, he was quite the sight). A lifegaurd flirted with me as I was heading home but a convenient fake boyfriend put an end to that. I know, I know, I complain about not being able to meet people and then I lie to the guy who tries to talk to me. Leave me alone about it.

Today I actually rolled out of bed at 9:50 to clear skies! I met Diane and her husband at a dock where they picked me up. They spend their weekends on this boat so I had been picturing something a bit bigger but it was just a small one. Not that I cared, this worked! We went up and down the intercoastals spending plenty of time oogling the mansions along the water (Ralph Lauren has a home here, it was HUGE) and wondering what it would be like to live in such extravagant places. We stopped at a sandbar so that Diane's husband could fish, she and I just sat and talked. We left when we got hungry and we boated up to a floating snack shack! We all had hot dogs, yum! You just pull your boat up and they serve you right there. I was back at home by 3 but that had been plenty of time because it was hot and tiring to be out on the water! I'm not quite sure what I did this afternoon. I guess that doing nothing isn't very memorable. I talked to Erika and my parents, that's probably where the time went! And of course I had my Sat evening lineup to keep my occupied tonight.

Tomorrow and another week will begin. Not too long now before I head up to Charlotte for the library convention. And not long after that before I'm back in MN. The weather had better improve significantly in the next month - it was snowing in the Cities today, yuck!!

I haven't read any of the news over the weekend but I will catch up at work tomorrow. It's been nice to take a break from it all but I feel out of it. Everything seems to change so quickly. I did hear (on Bill Maher of course) that now half of our troops are in Iraq (or will be shortly). Um, I'm with Bill on the fact that we're kind of asking for bad things to happen now that we're a bit vulnerable without our best troops. I give up, there's just no end to the stupidity of our government.

Alright, enough from me, I'm going to bed so I can be perky at work tomorrow.

3/28/03
I was all excited to write a pita last night after my date with Carl but then my internet wasn't working!! How frustrating. Anyway, here goes.

After work yesterday (a day with no Strain sightings), I grabbed a quick bite to eat at home because I was worried that Carl and I wouldn't be able to find a place open so late that served food. Perkins does but that was not an option. So I called him at 10:30 and he says "ok I'm on my way" and hangs up! Hmmm, guess I must've explained where I lived before I became paranoid about him finding out. He called when he was at the complex and I just went out to meet him. We drove around looking for a place to have a drink and it took quite awhile before we finally found a place called The Martini Bar. It had velvet seats, cool light fixtures, good music that wasn't too loud, and a good crowd of people our age. Carl ordered a Cornona just because I did, he claims that it was the first time he's ever had a beer. I do not believe him. He went to college in Daytona Beach, that's why I find it impossible. And he's 32 for goodness sake. We sat and talked for almost three hours, I had such a good time!!!! At the end of the night he did that stretch where his arm ended up behind my shoulders which I thought was as funny as the phone signal thing. And he tried to hold my hand a few times but I managed to wiggle my way out of it. I'm still not attracted to him (that's something 3 Coronas will usually fix, not this time) but I would love to hang out with him again. All I need to do is make it so he knows that we're going to stay just friends. Any ideas on how to go about that??? Sounds like we may hang out next Thursday too so send ideas asap.

And that was my night out. Very fun and so good to get out of the house! I will admit that several times throughout the night I was wishing that a certian Dr. was sitting next to me instead. I'm going to have to be more aggressive on that one because he's the one I want!! Today it looks mostly sunny so I'm about to put on my swimsuit and head to the beach!! Last week I couldn't believe how full the parking lot was on a Friday so I hope I can get a spot without circling around for long.

I just looked at my flowering plants out back and they are full of buds!! Hopefully they will keep on flowering and growing even though I'm sure the soil was still full of mites. We'll see how long they last.

3/26/03
Well you've both gotten e-mails today about my dear Dr so I won't torture you with more of that here. Other than to say that I really really like that boy. But not in any obsessed stalker kind of way, in a good crush way. All that said, I'm going out with Carl after work tomorrow. I need to get out of the house more and what the heck, maybe he and I will hit it off or something. At the very least maybe I'll make a new friend. That sounds cheesy, I know. He has really eased up with the phone calls lately and that's a good thing.

I came home from work and watched West Wing, such a great show and I can't believe you guys don't watch it. I followed that with Law & Order and then shut the tv off because there was nothing else on. I read up on Buffy (thanks Diana!) and I may actually start tuning into that show again. I started watching that series when I lived in Montana, seems like FOREVER ago!! Kim and I were faithful viewers, she even taped all of the episodes that I missed when I lived in Athens (I had asked her to tape the XFiles but she taped Buffy instead because she liked that show better).

I'm on the phone with the cable company trying to get the web space so I can get my images set back up. I want to archive this page but will wait until my background is back up. Woohoo, now I have space and will get all this done sometime over the weekend. I can't wait to have my pita pics back up because I like to look at those. And if I ever feel like it I can dink around in Dreamweaver and I'll have a place to post stuff! How absolutely exciting.

Today I was online and came across a list of all of the dead and missing persons from the war. It made me tear up, I would've cried but I was at work. As young as 19. WHY WHY WHY?? How can anyone justify their deaths?? And what will the total number be, now that we know that this is going to take longer than expected? Saudi Arabia is proposing a peace plan but we all know Bush isn't going to listen. They also say it's possible that Saddam will now agree to leave the country to end the war. I know that's not going to happen either.

And the world keeps going around, despite it all. Good thing that some things stay the same. Alrighty, it's almost 2:30 and I had better get going. I've got to get a few other e-mails off and then I'm crawling into bed.

3/25/03
Finally, after waiting three very long weeks, 24 was back on the air!! Such a good feeling to watch the show and know that somewhere in tv land, Kiefer is taking care of the world. Have I already said that I would marry that man in a heartbeat?? Because I would.

I spent some time on the phone with Kim tonight, exactly one month from today is her wedding! Sounds like things are going pretty smoothly so that's good. Hopefully this Friday I can get around to having my dress altered so that's taken care of. I didn't do anything for the rest of the night other than watch tv and eat my pizza. I watched a David Blaine special, his magic is so cool, so much cooler than anyone else's. Of course I think his whole living in ice thing was dumb but I'll forgive him because the stuff he does on the street is awesome.

Again I read every editorial and letter to the editor at nytimes.com. There's a column about how America should set an example of following the Geneva Convention if we're going to expect other countries to do the same. While it's true that the prisoners that we have from Afghanistan are not really POWs (because they're not military personnel), they are of disputed status which means that hearings must be held. Do you know how long those men have been in Cuba now? And we've all forgotten about them. For awhile they were back in the news when a story broke about how horribly they were being treated but that was quickly forgotten too. I hate how quickly things are forgotten in this country. Anyway, there was also an editorial about the Senate and how they're withdrawing part of the budget. Whew, that's good news too. Can't the Bush team do math?? Isn't the vp so rich that he could fund this whole war with his own personal fortune? That's what I think he should have to do. Dick is up there on my list of enemies.

Well I'll stop right there. I could go on and on but I think everyone kind of knows how I feel about it all. And it's late enough that soon I will be making even less sense. It's almost 3 again, so much for my better schedule.

3/24/03
I just finished watching a TLC show about people who have sex changes. Very interesting, especially after watching Normal the other night. I also watched Maternity Ward. I could watch women having babies for hours. I spend most of the show cringing and thinking that it will never be me and then the rest of the time I think of how cool that could be. Perhaps adoption is for me, I always wanted a little Asian baby, they're the cutest.

I thought today would be a long day at work because two people were out sick and Ethan is still on vacation but it wasn't busy until the evening and by then we were fully staffed. I saw a lot of Chris this afternoon, he's feeling better and told me to stay well. He's growing a beard which significantly detracts from his good looks. If he'd always had this beard there would be no crush. Lets hope it disappears soon. I think that a month of not seeing him has kind of helped me get over him (ha, that makes it sound like we were together or something) but you know what I mean - I didn't spend the whole night raving to Shannon about things that he said or anything.

Today I'm reading headlines but not the stories. I just don't think I can handle reading about how more people are dying on each side. The old 'ignorance is bliss' thing. The people fighting are all about my age. I guess I feel like they all have to be older than I am to be involved in something like this. I thought that too after watching Black Hawk Down and finding out how young everyone was, they were all about 24 or 25. Mostly I just wish that all of this wasn't happening.

I wish I could remember exactly when I started my daily donations to Hunger Site and Ecology Fund. I was so excited to have hit a whole acre but now that I'm up to 1.5 I feel like it's just creeping along. Of course my goal is to click my way to five acres... any guesses as to when that will happen? 2007 maybe?? Next month I think I'm going to join as an official paying member and then my donations are doubled up to 1 acre so that should help.

Alright, somehow 3 crept up on me fast. I'd better get some sleep!

3/23/03
Well my weekend went just as I hoped, it was very relaxing but I got a lot done. On Saturday I swept and mopped the floor, paid my bills, cleaned the kitchen (again), made salads for every day this week, baked brownies, and watched my tv lineup! I would've gone to the beach but it was cloudy and a bit rainy all day.

I know, you're wondering what happened to Carl. He called at 12:30 Saturday to tell me that we were still on and that he'd call me later. At 6 I showered, at 7 I was hungry so I ate, at 8 I started watching my tv shows, and at 9 I was mad and happy at the same time. I shut my phone off and just watched tv. He called at 9:30 and left a message saying that he hoped we could still get together. I didn't bother calling him back. My internet wasn't working so I just kept on watching tv and then went to bed at 2.

Shannon called this morning to say she wasn't feeling well, that's 4 Sundays in a row that one of us has been sick! Work was slow and pretty boring so I tried to get a lot done. Carl had called again so I returned his call at 6 and kept it short. He'll be in the library on Tuesday so I'll see him then but he was really asking when we'd be able to go out. I tried to be vague but I guess that if we go out after work then we'd have to keep it short because he'd have to work the next morning. Well we'll have to see what kind of mood I'm in.

Tonight I didn't bother watching the Awards because most of the time I get bored. I did happen to flip past it as they were giving Michael Moore his award for best documentary. I'm not so sure that he should've gone on like that. I really like him but I think he just should've said thanks and left the stage - getting booed off wasn't the way to go.

I haven't been watching the war news on tv but I've been keeping up pretty well online. I'm now an official addict of the NY Times online. I love the editorials, the readers opinions, and the cartoons. I'll admit that I'm one of those people who thought that the war would be over in a matter of weeks, not any longer than that. Looks like maybe that's not going to be the case. Do you guys know any people who are serving over there? I realized today that I don't - except I'm guessing that flyboy is over there on the front lines, we haven't been in touch for a long time though.

Speaking of boys from the past, Henrik will be near New York for a show this week, the same one that I was at with him last year. Wish he'd offer to fly me up there again. I got a note from him this week with more pics of his place in Lusanne and with his tour schedule for the year. He'll mostly be in Europe but in October the big DEMA show is in Miami. That's a long ways away though. Since he STILL owes me money (and perhaps it's time to just give up on that) I'm keeping track of his movements :)

Alright, I'm going to get myself into bed before 2 again tonight, go me.

3/21/03
I think today was an example of my perfect day off. I spent several hours on the beach which was fantastic. I got some color but didn't burn. It was a hot one today, my car said that it was up to 94!! I don't turn on the ac in my car unless it's 87 or higher and I have to be on my way to work. So days like today I just put the windows down. It's better for the environment, that's why.

I made it to Home Depot to pick up dirt and a few plants. I went for the flowering ones even though I wasn't going to try that any more. There is one kind of plant that seems to survive the mites so I went with that kind and just planted them in the mite-filled mud and we'll see how they do. Then I cleaned up my terrance and repotted my other plants at last. They look much better than before, they were just in those cheap containers and the roots were trying to get out. I also made it to the grocery store. This time I went to a Publix near the Home Depot which is much bigger and better than the one I go to near me. Their organic selection was much bigger so I stocked up. I now have some frozen meals, pizzas, gardenburgers, more hummus, milk, cereal, fruit, tofu, pasta sauce, and cheeze-its. I've been snacking a lot tonight and it's so nice to have food around! Doesn't seem that long ago that I stocked up but it went quickly.

I talked to Carl this afternoon and we're going to go out tomorrow night. I'm trying not to dread it because I know it will be a lot of fun. But I also know that he's thinking along a different line than I am. How do I make that clear without being rude or mean? I'm so bad at stuff like that.

Tonight I watched the movie Normal on HBO. It was really good, it made me cry a few times. There was one part where this ornry old man has lost his memory and starts crying because he wants his mother. That made me think of something that I read once about how soldiers on the battlefield often cry out for their moms. Then I started crying because I thought of the people who died today far from the loving arms of their mothers. Anyway, the movie was a good one and I followed that with Bill Maher and Ali G, both of which were good.

Ok, time for me to get to bed. I was on such a good schedule of going to bed at 2 but last night and tonight have been later. Really it all boils down to the fact that I'm afraid of going to the gym. If I start getting up earlier then I have to go and deep down inside that scares me. One of my dear friends should move down here to keep me company at the gym. Anyone up for that??

And what is up with this week's boyfriend? Get back on track Meg!!

3/20/03
Finally my weekend is here! I look forward to doing very little over the next two days. If the weather cooperates I'll go to the beach at least one afternoon. My only other plan is to go to the grocery store and possibly to repot some plants (which I've been meaning to do since early January!). I also need to clean a bit - it was smart to leave the floors until after having company.

My dad and I struggle not to talk about the war because we both get each other worked up. Mom isn't for the war but she still likes Bush, dad says he's in the doghouse for some of his comments. Even without dad I get worked up. I imagine conversations with pro-war people and I get all pissed off at them - yes I mean that I'm mad at imaginary people in my head. I read today that one pro-war supporter had a sign that said "support the war or shut up". Why aren't these people seen as fighting against everything that makes America great?? And this whole thing with S Carolina getting upset over what the Dixie Chicks said is SO ridiculous. It had NOTHING to do with S Carolina!! Don't laugh but I signed a petition about it :) I just hate the implications of what happens when one person says one bad thing about the idiot in charge. And seriously, you can't tell me that the legislature there had nothing better to be doing with their time. I wanted to send the lady a letter but I decided that hate mail wasn't the way to go and I couldn't think of any way to nicely phrase what I wanted to say to her.

Carl called me this morning but I shut off the phone once I saw it was him. I know that's mean but I was in the library at the time and couldn't take it there anyway. I seriously did mean to call him back tonight but I forgot. I'll try calling tomorrow afternoon. I don't know yet whether or not I'd agree to going out with him, I'm sure he'll ask because he mentioned it on the message he left.

Well I just blew a half hour trying to find quick recipes for my crock pot, which I thought I'd try out this weekend. Problem is that I don't want to cook with meat and the few veggie recipes I can find are a bit too complex for my very unstocked kitchen. I have some potatoes, soybeans, and ritz crackers but that's about it. I don't know what made me search for recipes because I went to Google to see if I could find a picture of the Sydney opera house with No War painted on it like Mary had said in her e-mail. I did find the picture and I think my growling stomach made me start looking up food.

Ok, it's 3 and this is the latest I've been up in almost two weeks! I can clearly hear the rain outside, I think I'll crawl into bed and let the sound put me to sleep!

3/19/03
Tonight people in the library were buzzing about how we've started dropping bombs. At every chance I had, I pointed out to them that we've basically been bombing Iraq constantly and consistanly for over 10 years now. Too bad everyone doesn't know the truth about it all. No, I'm not saying that I know - just that it would be nice if we could all see the whole pictures. There's always more to it than what the government says...

On a bright note, I was thrilled to see that the legislation for drilling in Alaska did not pass! That means it's very unlikely that it will get thru with this Congress and is safe for a few more years! I was just sending last minute letters about it last night. Mom was happy that Coleman (the Rep in MN) voted against his party on it - that was one of his campaign promises. Of course he only voted against it after he waited until the votes were in and he knew that his vote wouldn't change the outcome.

My day in Boca was nice and short because Pat wanted to be sure I was back at the library by 5:30 since no one was there to cover for me. I was happy to leave early and allowed myself enough time for a stop at Whole Foods! I didn't pick up too much, just a few things of soup (the add water instant kind). Since I was back on campus by 5:15 I decided to go over to see if Chris was in his office after class. He was in there but the door was closed so I was out of luck. Diane told me that he was still sick so instead I wrote a little e-mail to him. I just said that I heard he had come down with the deadly Asian flu (that's what he'd been telling everyone) and I asked if he was in China over spring break and that I hoped he would be feeling better soon. He replied but the note only said "Thanks, Cathy. I really appreciate it. Stay Well!" Ok so I was hoping for more than six words. Now I've used up my e-mail opportunity and he didn't give me anything to reply with! So that's the end of that I guess. Shannon says that I should've included some real questions and she tried to make me feel like just getting a reply was a great sign. I didn't buy it. Well you can't say I didn't try.

Alright, it's just past 1 and I think I'm going to get ready for bed. I'm tired and just have to make it thru one more day at Boca. Finally my weekend is almost here!

3/18/03
Ok, I won't rave too much tonight. I'm not in the mood to get all worked up about the uncontrollable downward spiral of the US. I watched Bill Maher tonight since I had missed the show on Friday and I enjoyed it as always. Dennis Miller is very conservative. I thought comedians were all liberal - no, I don't know why I thought that... Anyway, most of the talk was about Iraq of course. Inevitable war, I can't get my mind wrapped around it. I read all of the editorials in the NY Times today and I really don't see where this high rate of support for the war is coming from. I heard today that support was at 70%, can that be right?? That's for war even without UN backing. Who are they asking?? Certainly no one that I know.

This morning I was up early to take Mel and Anssel to the train station. It kind of feels like they were never even here, the weekend went by so fast and kind of felt surreal. They bought me a beautiful plant as a thank you - I hope I can keep it alive! It's an orchid, I've never owned one of those before!! It's too bad they couldn't have been around this afternoon though, the weather was so beautiful until about 5 when it started to rain. Mel went back without the slightest bit of sun but at least she had warm weather.

Last night was cockroach number 2, yuck. It was in the kitchen and I just stood staring at it for awhile as I devised a plan. I just told Anssel about it and he came and did away with it. I had really hoped to not have one while I had guests!!! But at the same time, it was nice having someone else there to take care of it :) I went to the rental office today and signed up for the pest control. They were surprised my name wasn't on the list but they never said a word about it to me! Anyway, the guy will be here next week to spray and will come regularly.

Erika has taken back her comment that she feels bad for Carl and now it's ok with her if I blow him off and break his heart. He wanted me to ditch my friends Thursday and/or Friday night and when I said no, he was all upset that he would have to go for three whole days without seeing me. I started to kind of freak out when he started reciting the outfits that I'd been wearing this week!! Yesterday he called me before work - and everyone knows how I feel about morning phone calls. I kept that call really short and he said that he'd talk to me later. I haven't heard from him and he didn't show up at the library tonight as he had promised. Ok by me. I'll keep you posted.

Alright, I'm going to get to bed since I have another afternoon in Boca to get up for. I cannot wait for this weekend so I can just sleep!

3/17/03
A pita at last!!! You're in for the recap of my long weekend which I'll try to keep short or else I'll go on forever.

Melanie and her boyfriend Anssel arrived on Thursday afternoon and after work that night we spent the evening catch up and drinking rum and cokes. We headed to Bonita Springs the next morning via Alligator Alley. It was so cool to see the eyes of alligators in the canals along the road! The parents of the bride (Angie) were putting us up at a hotel which was super nice of them. We went and met everyone involved with the wedding at a seaside condo (the bride's parents are kind of rich) and we spent the afternoon on the beach relaxing. That night was the rehersal dinner and the bridal shower, Angie was so nice to include me in everything. It wasn't a late night and surprisingly, I was actually tired by 1 so that was good!

Melanie spent Saturday with all of the bridesmaids (there were six attendants) so Anssel and I were on our own. We went out for hotdogs and then played a round of mini-golf, which was new for him. We had a great time and we both did really well! The rest of the afternoon was spent at the pool because the weather was perfect. Then we headed off to the beach for the wedding. It was so beautiful, I can't imagine a better day or better weather for the event. The sun was red and huge, setting behind the couple as they were married. The ceremony was Jewish and was short, I like that. The reception was a ton of fun with good food and a really great group of people.

The next morning we swung by the condo for brunch and then headed back to WPB. We were so excited because after driving thru a lot of rain, we came home to sunshine! So we changed into our suits and made for the beach. Sadly, in the short time it took us to get there, clouds had moved in and after about ten minutes it was raining with lots of thunder and lightening. So we spent some time at my place watching movies and then we decided to get ambitious and get out. We went to downtown WPB to City Place where we wandered around the plaza, had dinner followed by drinks at a bar that everyone has told me about, and then we went to see City of God, a Brazillian film. I'm sure that it's a good movie but much like Our Lady of the Assassins, it was just too much sad violence for me. Lots of kids killing kids and the such. By the time we finished the movie it was time to head home and go to bed!

And that brings us to today, which has not been exciting. I had another afternoon in Boca followed by a long evening at Jupiter. Another Monday without seeing my crush, though I did decide to walk over to his building just to talk to him - I get points for that. But he wasn't around. I spent too much time upset about Bush and the choices he has been making lately. IDIOT. And now I'm sitting around with Mel and Anssel, they leave tomorrow. I look forward to having the place back to myself, three is a few too many around here. Not that we're on each other's nerves or anything like that - but I need control of my remote!!!!

Ok, that was the recap! Tune in tomorrow for my ravings against my government that have been fueled by the book New Rulers of the World which I have been quoting all day!!

3/13/03
I'm writing this from work, that's a first since I've gotten here. There is only one person in the library and she's our regular lady. I still have a half an hour and I've already done everything except for locking the door.

I woke up this morning at 10:45 even though my alarm wasn't set to go off for another hour. That's unusual!! But I was awake and couldn't get back to sleep so I got up anyway. I neatened up my living room, swept my terrace, made lunch, walked to my mailbox (which was empty), and got to work five minutes early. We had our annual meeting which was boring and followed that with our staff meeting which was also kind of boring. I went to pick up Melanie and her boyfriend Anssel from the train station and took them back to my place. I wish that I could've just stayed there with them! Instead I came back to work. I made it back right before we had an unbelievable storm with torrential rain and even hail! It's stopped now but I can still see the lighing from my window.

Carl was in tonight but we didn't talk much. He left without saying goodbye and I feel a bit miffed. Not so much as a wave. We'd better still be on for next week because I was looking forward to that. Diane has told two friends of hers about me and it sounds like I'll be meeting them sometime. I'm guessing they're closer to her age (early 40s) which is out of my range, but from what she's said about them I think they'd make better friends anyway.

Well, I'm off to go make sure Tom has finished up his stuff and then we're outta here! Tonight Mel is mixing drinks and we'll just relax and catch up. We take off in the morning for Bonita Springs!!

3/13/03
Well I didn't go to Boca today because I still wasn't feeling so hot this morning. Instead I just stayed on campus and got caught up in my office which was nice. There was a slimeball who thinks he's the hottest man on earth (um, not by a LONGSHOT) and he was really on my nerves today. Then Pat told me I talked too much and that didn't sit well with me. Sometimes I think Pat would prefer it if we all just didn't talk to each other ever. She thinks if we're talking then we're screwing off. Whatever.

Carl was the highlight of my night because he always has a smile on his face and has something nice to say to me! I did it, I gave him my number. I stopped by and gave him my card with my home number written on the back. I think that may be the first time I've ever done that without someone actually asking for it. Anyway, I was very surprised when I had a message from him by 10:05 - he had just left the library at 9:15!! Anyway, we chatted for bit, he wanted to know if I wanted to go out and grab a bite to eat but I said not tonight because I wasn't up for it. We'll probably go out next weekend. How crazy is that?? This seems like it came out of nowhere!!

Erika pitys Carl because I'm going to break his heart of course. Well I still like Chris and if it had been him asking me out then I'd be on cloud 9. Instead I'm kind of on cloud 4 or somewhere in the middle. But I haven't seen Chris in over two weeks and I probably won't see him until next week at the earliest. I'll try to let Carl down easy when the time comes ;)

Ok, it's 2:30 and time for bed. Slowly but surely I'm going to bed earlier and earlier! Tomorrow I go into work at the usual hour of 1:30 and it will feel like I'm really sleeping in!

3/11/03
I'm sitting here trying to think of something interesting to write about and nothing is coming to mind. I'm kind of on a high from all of the cleaning spray that I've used in the last half hour. I scrubbed the sink, tub, and toilet. Tomorrow that leaves the bathroom mirror and counter. I'm not going to bother with the floor. I used the old excuse that it will be better to clean up after everyone has left instead of cleaning before they come and make a mess of it. No, they won't really make a mess but that ruins the excuse. I also did three loads of laundry tonight. Woohoo, what an exciting night.

Seriously, my head is spinning. I'm going to go lay down!

3/10/03
Only two nights after this one before Melanie arrives! That doesn't leave me much time to clean this place up. The tub still needs to be scrubbed, the floor deserves to be mopped, I'd like to have the terrace looking a bit better, and my bedroom still has empty walls with everything on the floor. Hopefully tomorrow night I'm more ambitious.

I was out of bed at 9:45 this morning which was not fun. I was still running late but made it to campus and arranged to take a state car. Boca wasn't really exciting. It's a much larger - and therefore much busier - library with a staff so big that they don't all know each other's names. I worked at the reference desk and spent most of the time wishing I was just at my own library where I belong. But I'm stuck doing this so I guess I should just try to learn stuff. I had a chance to stop by home for a short break on my way back to campus and changed into a new outfit. I wore a new skirt, shirt and my new sandals!! Everyone thought I looked really cute and I recieved several compliments on my shoes! I only teetered a few times and before the end of the night I was walking in them like a pro. Of course I had kind of hoped that Chris would drop in but he didn't. I always look forward to Monday nights for that reason but I was out of luck.

Tomorrow will be more of the same but I've arranged to leave later because they don't need me in Boca that early. Pat just laughed because she knows it's because I'd rather sleep!! But I'm too old to work such long days and I really don't want to be cranky in the evenings.

Artist that I'm listening to tonight: Nitin Sawhney

3/9/03
Well I'll keep this one short because I've got to get up early tomorrow and I can't stay up late! It's not even 1 yet so I should be in good shape. I have to go down to Boca for three days this week and four days next week to do some training. No, I don't need training and no one knows exactly why Pat wants me to go but whatever. It's an hour drive there but it could take over two hours getting back because of the traffic. Ugh. Hopefully I can take a car from school but I have to get to campus early tomorrow to find out and to make arrangements.

Today was very uneventful. Trish called in sick so it was just Shannon and I all day. We were actually busy for awhile early on but then it came to a stop and we had tons of time to get work done (and to talk a lot of course). The best part was that everyone was gone by 8:45 so we left ten minutes early!! That's very unusual, there always seems to be at least one person who wants to stay until the very end. I was home by 9, just in time to catch the beginning of Law and Order. I followed that with an interesting show on poligamy in Utah (those people are NUTS) and then watched the last part of The Birdcage. Like I said, an uneventful day.

Check out this article that I enjoyed at work this afternoon. So true... Bush is setting a bad example. Not exactly new news but still. Of course I didn't see him on tv the other night but now I wish I had. What's this about him appearing as though he was on drugs?? I know it had to have been bad for even my mom to admit that he looked pretty strange - and she was upset that he hadn't answered any of the questions. My dad was even more worked up but mom told me not to talk about it because once his blood pressure was up he couldn't get to sleep!

Ok, I won't get myself worked up or I'll never get to sleep either! It's only 1:30, this may be a Sunday night early record.

3/8/03
Aaaah, what a great weekend!! I wish it wasn't over, I had such a wonderful time. On Friday I got up and headed down to Ft Lauderdale and made a beeline for the outlet mall!! I had four or so hours and boy did I ever shop. Um, a few hundred dollars later... But I'm thrilled with everything. I bought some work clothes, a sundress for the wedding next weekend, a cute pair of shoes, two plant stands that already look good on each side of my entertainment center, two prints that I've wanted forever from Target (South Africa drawings that will go perfectly above each plant stand), spare pillows, lipstick (I actually managed to pick two good colors, go me), and a crock pot. That sums up just about everything. Perhaps this month I won't donate to any cause because that was a lot of money...

Anyway, after shopping I found my way over to Julie and her grandma! I LOVE grandparents. Her grandma is 82 and still plays tennis every day - in a short skirt!!! Too funny. And she'd be doing lemon shots right before I arrived. She's from South Dakota and we actually knew some of the same people! Anyway, her boyfriend Ken was also there and he was a hoot (he'd also been drinking). We snacked and just chatted away before sitting down to a really good dinner that Julie made. After that we played some mean games of cribbage. They had to teach my how to play and I must've been blessed with beginners luck because I did well! At 10 Ken went home and Carol went to bed (not before playing me a few songs on her keyboard) but Julie and I stayed up to play more cribbage and drink more wine. By 12 even I was tired!! We crawled into bed and just read until we fell asleep, it was so nice to be around people and to eat good food.

Julie woke me up at 10 and we put our swimsuits on!! Seriously there is no better way to start a day. Carol made waffles but I just had grapefruit and banana bread. We headed for the beach and stopped off at a place along the river (called the Riverwalk but not nearly as cool as San Antonio's) and looked around a bit near downtown. The beach was really crowded, especially compared to the one that I go to here. You can tell that it's spring break too, lots of frat boys drinking beer and throwing footballs. We just soaked up the sun, looked for good shells, and swam in the shallow water. We both got some color - it's hilarious because only one side of my face really caught the sun because we were talking to each other and I was always turned to look at her!!! We both tried so hard not to miss spots with the sunblock but I'm burnt along all of the lines of my suit. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. We had dinner at a place right along the beach (which played some of my fave chill out songs!) and headed back to grandma's after that. I stayed there long enough to freshen up and then said goodbye. What a great time though, I wanted so badly to stay another day.

Since getting home I've unpacked and set up the plant stands, have tried on my outfits and have struted around in my new cute sandals (wearing them in so I can wear them on Monday), and watched my Sat night shows. I'm tired after a full day so I hope to be in bed soon.

Well I might not actually sleep. While I was writing I saw something move off to the side. My first cockroach. I went and stood on the couch for a few minutes as I tried to not totally freak out (I totally freaked out anyway) and I developed my plan of action. All of my shoes were in the other room except for my new sandals which would've required getting too close and I wouldn't do that to a new pair of shoes. So instead I picked up the SLC magazine that Faith had sent me, it's nice and bulky. I bravely moved in for the kill but then it scurried a few inches which made me jump which made it scurry which made me jump... this continued for what seemed like forever before I just leaned in and dropped the magazine. Then I stepped on it to make sure because I could just imagine picking it up and finding that thing still alive... EW EW EW. Now I don't want to look so it's all still on the floor behind me. I did get up the guts to go look under the sink and it seems like he was alone here. I may not always have the cleanest kitchen but I don't keep food out or anything. How often is this going to happen?? How did he get in here?? Tomorrow I'm going to the office to see what I can do to make sure this was the first and LAST incidence.

Hopefully I will get my nerves back together and will be able to sleep without imagining that there are more where he came from....

3/6/03
I decided today that the library is a nice place with no people around. We could all talk out loud, holler across the room, or just act crazy without worrying about who was looking (which was nice because I was kind of dancing in the books...I was in a good mood). Once the day staff left I turned on some Moby in the back and just worked to clean up my section of books. The time just flew by and for once I can honestly say that I wish I could've stayed longer! Of course I could've just stayed there on my own but I have the ability to seriously freak myself out at night when I'm alone outside the comfort of my living room.

Instead I came home and watched Friends (pushed back thanks to the idiot's speech). Then I talked to Erika and my parents. I watched some Discovery channel after that but there's never anything good on Thursday nights so I gave up. I washed my dishes at last and neatened up a bit. Not exciting but it had to be done sometime.

And now I'm off to bed so I can get a good start to Ft Lauderdale tomorrow. I want at least four hours at the outlet mall, even that may not be enough!

3/5/03
Where do the weeks go? It's almost my weekend again already! The library will be closed tomorrow and Friday because of the noise and mess that's expected with the construction. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean paid days off, which I seriously think is in order. Instead, we'll go in and work in the back of the library cleaning and making sure everything is in order. I'll be going in from 12:30-9 and I should be lucky enough to miss most of the commotion. I guess it'll be a good time to get some work done without the distraction of students. Plus, we can talk at normal voice level and I can play music on my computer! They contractors swear that they'll be in and out - with everything cleaned up by the time they leave on Friday. No one really believes them so I guess we'll see how it looks later.

This is the weekend I'll be going down to Ft Lauderdale to see my friend Julie who's visiting her grandma there. She went to Concordia and was roommates with Kristi. When she lived in Minneapolis Kim and I would sometimes get together with her. She's one of those people who is just so nice and I'm thrilled she's invited me down there. I'll stop at the outlet mall for the afternoon and then will head over to have dinner with them. I'll stay the night and we'll either wander around the town or we'll hit the beach on Saturday. I can't wait for a full weekend of fun!!!!

I've been on a Beth Orton kick today and last night too. But then tonight I caught a little bit of Jeff Buckley and now I'm rehooked on Hallelujah. Had to happen sometime.

Wednesday, March 5, 2003
Kiefer makes my Tuesdays worth living for. I cannot believe it but Fox is going to make me wait THREE WEEKS for the next episode!! I don't know if I'll be able to survive or not. I guess I've gotten thru worse things.

My internet wasn't working last night, that's why I skipped a post. And internet at work was on and off too. They're doing some construction and they hit a few lines. Some of our lights aren't working, some of the computers blinked, and then the internet was up and down. The worst part was all of the noise and I guess I missed the really bad stuff in the morning. We may even close on Thursday and Friday when a large portion of our ceiling will have to be taken down. The only problem I have with that is my hours, it's impossible to adjust to a day shift but I don't exactly want to stay until 10pm all by myself either! We'll see how it goes.

Last night I made pad thai for dinner and it was so tasty. The box makes enough for two but I ate it all in one sitting. I was even hungry enough a few hours later for a snack. So stocking up at the grocery store did pay off! I haven't done any dishes since and my kitchen is a bit of a mess because of it. And then I wonder where the fruit flies come from.

Well, it's 2:30 and I'm tired so I'm going to get going. I liked staying up late better but at the same time I like being up with plenty of time before work. It's taking me a bit longer than I planned for me to have enough time in the morning to go to the gym though. It's still in the plan... some day...

3/2/03
Well there's no going hungry anymore! I went to the grocery store and loaded up. Fruit, veggies, sweets, snacks, you name it. I bought as much organic as possible. I didn't buy organic spagetti though, that cost $2/12oz and the regular kind was $2/36oz. I did find some good stuff for lunches that will make things a bit more healthy and will add a variety which is always good. The funny thing is I've barely eaten a thing tonight, I just wasn't hungry. I did have a toasted pita with hummus which was gorgeous (I like saying that, a British friend of mine used to always say that about food she liked).

Amazingly enough I have not watched tv tonight. I would've if there had been a Law & Order episode on or a good movie on HBO but nope, nothin. I looked online, I didn't even turn on the tv to check. Instead I cranked up the music of my new cd and danced around the kitchen as I cleaned, made salads for lunches, and enjoyed a beer. Life is good.

Since it's spring break we're allowed to wear casual clothes all week. You think this would make the decision of what to wear a bit easier but now I really can't decide on anything. It's too cold for tshirts, let alone any tank tops and that kind of covers my casual clothes.

Alright, I'm going to stop right here or I'll just keep going with random thoughts until I fall asleep. Instead, I'm going to crawl into bed. Yes, that means I'll be in bed before 2:30. I started this entry an hour ago but got distracted. The Bowling for Columbine site has a link to the Library at the top of the page and from there you can go to Operation Oily Residue which has some really really REALLY interesting articles (that was my way of saying go read them). But watch out, you'll stop doing work and will just read the articles...

3/1/03
The first of the month already! I forgot that rent would be due today and made it to the office after they closed. They had warned me about the fine for paying after the 1st... I wonder if they meant that. Hopefully not, I didn't mean to be late!!

It was too cloudy for another day at the beach. Instead I decided to go to the mall. My hair is getting long and is looking a bit frumpy but it's hard to find a new place to get a cut, I've been to some bad places in the past! I went to Regis at the mall and really like how it turned out. It was just trimmed about two inches but the layers look nice. I had to wait an hour and half before the appointment so I did some shopping. I had a coupon for Ann Taylor Loft but didn't see a thing that I liked (well, not something I could afford, even with a discount). I did buy two tops at Express that look cute and I got a good deal on them. I tried to just wander around without going into stores because the temptation is just too great. And I have no one to hold me back either. After getting my hair cut I decided that buying just one cd would be a treat. Why I think I deserved a treat is beyond me but whatever. I bought Ultra Chilled 3, which is excellent and was totally worth it!

Tonight my stomach has been a bottomless pit. I can't get enough to eat but I have nothing on hand!! The amount of times I have looked in my near-empty fridge is ridiculous. I want sweets but restrained myself because if I eat them all in one night I'll really be sorry. I would've just made brownies but I already boiled all of my eggs for sandwiches. I'm about to whip up a smoothie and hopefully that will hold me over for awhile.

This is probably the earliest I've done a pita in a long time! It's just past midnight. The tv is off (wonder of wonders) but not for long. There was nothing good on once I was done with my Iron Chef/Trading Spaces lineup and I decided I'd rather listen to my music. At 12:45 The Wedding Planner is on and I want to watch. A movie like that is just what I need. Then it's off to bed so I can be ready for work in the morning. Another work week is about to begin.

2/28/03
Moving to another country sounds better and better every day. I have to really restrain myself from looking at int'l job postings because I know that I need to put in a full year or more here. But oh, how I would love to be an ex-patriot. I always wondered why Americans living abroad were called that. Now I can understand because when I move it will be because this country has driven me away. I used to love it so much and am heartbroken that now I feel a need to separate myself from America. From where I'm sitting, Iles Loyaute looks perfect. Or Tuvalu.

But no, burying my head in the sand is not the answer. Instead of believing that war is inevitable (which Bush would like us all to think), I will continue to do what I can! I signed another war petition. I wish there were more to sign. I hear that the virtual march on Washington was a pretty big success and was covered pretty well by the media. Tomorrow I'm going to try to post some interesting links on the right to independant media and other anti-war places where you can take action if you'd like to!

I watched Bill Maher tonight and am so happy he's back on the air, though I wish he was still on network tv. A guy called in from WI and started out by saying that he was proud of his country and that "America is the best." Bill asks him how he knows that and the guys goes "because I live here." Bill wouldn't even let the guy ask his question because he was too busy being upset that most Americans never look over the fence, we just assume that we really are the only democratic society out there. Such an ignorant notion. Plus, I read this afternoon that 42% of Americans believe that Saddam was behind Sept 11. Um, how did they miss the whole Bin Laden thing? How can they have gotten this confused? I can't even blame that on Bush because even he hasn't actually claimed that. So we're a nation that has some misinformed people and we're not going to do anything to fix that because all of the money is going to the military, not to education. Ah, the problems are snowballing. Will it ever end? I read tonight that Bush actually wants to bring about the Armageddon, what if this is the beginning of the end?

Yes, I need to stop thinking about it. See, this is what another Friday night alone does to me!! I had a good day though, I went to the beach as planned! It was a bit cloudy but the sun came out just enough to keep me happy. And just laying at the beach listening to the waves was so nice. I only left when it started to sprinkle and was home when it really started to rain. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent online, watching tv, and reading a book. Now I'm going to go to bed - before 3am and everything!

2/27/03
Sometimes I think I hear voices when I'm in my bathroom. The more I try to listen the less I can hear. Bizzare.

It was one of those days when I look back and don't remember much of what happened. I was kind of scolded at work because I never replied to an e-mail that Pat sent to me asking for my opinion of a database. Oops. I like to put all my e-mails in folders (after learning my lesson that just deleting e-mails that I thought were useless isn't a good idea either) but sometimes once they're in folders I never look at them again. I guess the worst part is that she reminded me on Monday that she wanted my response. Note to self - stop letting everything go in one ear and out the other.

Next week is spring break. I wonder if students here go anywhere, they're already in a popular spring break location! The library will keep it's usual hours and I'm guessing it's going to be very quiet. I'm just glad we're not going 9-5 because I don't know if I could do it!! It would of course be really nice if this was a paid break.

Somewhere in the world there was Tastefully Simple party tonight. Wish I could've been there. Is the beer bread as good as I heard? I was at the website tonight and made a mental shopping list. Perhaps I'll have to check on where my nearest rep is.

There's a family of fruit flies living with me. Man those little things are hard to kill. I cleaned up my kitchen a bit, put my bananas in the fridge, and ran my disposal just so they wouldn't have any food.

Ok, this is early for me to go to bed on a weekend night but I'm tired! And the weather report for tomorrow is looking much more promising so I hope to hit the beach!

2/26/03
Only tomorrow and then it's my weekend!! This afternoon I looked at the weather report and it says that both Friday and Saturday we're expecting thunderstorms. How horrible is that?? I'm hoping they're wrong. They said the same thing for last Saturday and it turned out to be beautiful all day. I want, no I NEED a day at the beach! It will work wonders, I just know it.

Tonight I came home to my whole tv lineup. Have I raved enough about West Wing already?? I was a bit worried because they weren't saying "stay tuned for scenes from next week's all new episode..." That's ok, I need to catch up on reruns too. After watching my shows I didn't have time to watch much else. Tv has to be off by 2am on work nights, otherwise I'll be up all night! I did manage to catch an episode of the History of Sex on the History channel. It was really interesting, it mostly focused on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and talked about people's views of prostitutes and the such. It was funny because even back then boys were drawing dirty pictures in the corners of their school books!!! Some things will never change.

For the third day in a row I was early to work, today only by a half hour but it all adds up! Getting up is making me tired at night so I think this will be a good thing in the end. Now I just need to make sure that I don't mess it all up over the weekend by sleeping in too much or by staying up really late. We'll see if I can do it!

I'm listening to a bit of Gary Jules to see what Meg was talking about. I like him.

2/25/03
I managed to get up early this morning and it took it's toll. I was crabby this evening and think it's time for me to get to bed. I know, a let down for those of you who wait and anticipate my pita. Sorry! But I don't have anything interesting to say anyway. Maybe tomorrow I will have time for e-mail and exciting things will happen so I can write about them at night. For now, my bed is the only place for me to be!

2/24/03
Well adjusting my schedule isn't working very well. I snoozed for an hour this morning and got up at the same time I always get up. I did make it to work early though, I think because I didn't let myself turn on the computer which always distracts me. I'm trying to get in early every day so that it will slowly add up.

Work wasn't exciting but I kept really busy with my project for the first half of the day. Our last few hours were busy, we had lots of people in and everyone seemed to need a bit of help with something. I finally had a few good reference questions that I could really work on with some knowledge and nothing is better than knowing you really helped someone find exactly what they were looking for!! I was really frustrated with a couple of groups who came in to work and didn't want to leave. We ended up having to stay late trying to get everyone out. I wasn't in the best mood by then and next time will not be so accommodating! I've got to stop being so nice sometimes.

Chris came into the library tonight right after I had stepped into my office. Shannon called to say she needed help at the desk so I went back out and she excitedly told me where he was in the books and what he was wearing. I just laughed it off, finished what I was doing and went back to work. I think Shannon doesn't want my crush to end because it amuses her so much, she thinks it's cute. And she's sure that he was only in tonight to see me. He never came in on Monday nights before he met me and now we see him every Monday night. Well I was busy helping people and didn't end up getting to say hi or anything. It would be cool if he was coming in just to see me but I'm certainly not believing it. It does make Mondays much better though.

Tonight I stopped by the grocery store on my way home to pick up bananas because my organic ones never did ripen, they're still very green and impossible to peel. I also grabbed another pack of tofu and some bottled water. I get up to the register and the lady looks at the tofu, which has a picture of a smootie on it, and says 'you can do that with tofu??' It was so funny. I explained how it was really really good and that you couldn't taste the tofu in it at all. I don't think she believed me but she wanted to know exactly what I put in the smoothies so she could try one sometime!!! I thought that was so great. Anyway, I had one tonight and it was soooo goooood as always.

Well I wasn't even going to write a pita tonight because I was so tired but you know how it is once you get going! Hopefully I can keep being tired until I crawl into bed!

Oh and Erika was right in pointing out that the church is starting to keep up with the times (some churches have even been ahead of their time). I decided that really it all goes back to my childhood and how I can't imagine church as being anything but torture that had to be endured. And it also probably relates to my mom and how conservative she is - and how I see her and the church as being on the same level and stuff. Enough of that, I must go sleep.

2/23/03
It's 2am and I'm not hungry. I'm usually hungry right about now, which always troubles me because I don't want to eat too much before going to bed, and also I have so little spare food that having four meals a day isn't practical. I also can't make up for the hunger by drinking water because... well that's obvious since I'm going to bed soon.

On the way to work today, Shannon asks if I'm still interested in attending church with her sometime. I didn't know what to say but I told her I wasn't so sure about that anymore. I thought about it over the day and on the drive home told her that I wasn't going to go. The church stands for so much that I don't agree with - and even if the preachers aren't talking about it I don't think I'd be comfortable. I get the strangest feeling in my gut when I think about it... I can't really explain it other than that it's close to uneasiness. Did you know that the church was the biggest supporter of the KKK for years? Pastors would strongly encourage their congregation to join up and often led the pack. Looking back over history, I think the church has been on the wrong side of most issues. I would give more examples but then I'd never shut up. I'm throwing in the KKK one because I was reading up on that the other day. And I think everyone knows how I feel about missionaries - don't even get me started. I don't believe most of what the Bible has to say, I think Jesus wasn't white, I think God created all religions so that different people would have different ways of finding him, and I think most Christians are hippocrites and Republicans (to make matters even worse!). So yeah, no church for me. Shannon tried to understand where I was coming from (no, I didn't even start in on the above topics, I just said that church and I didn't agree) and she said that if there were any cool/fun events going on that weren't going to be churchy but where I could meet people she'll invite me. I won't turn down an outing.

Whew. I've actually had religion on my mind lately and like my dislike for conservatives, it's been growing and I just had to let it all out!

Must get to bed. This week my plan is to slowly adjust my schedule and by next week I should be able to get up at 10am. Must start going to the gym, I'm the weakest person I know and muscles would be nice!!

2/22/03
Saturdays are so nice. It turned out to be a beautiful day outside, despite the weather reports saying it would be cooler and stormy. It did start to storm after sundown, my power even blinked a few times and the thunder was loud enough to make me feel the rumble! I do wonder what hurricane weather will be like. I've decided not to buy any furntiture for my terrance because the rain comes right in and would ruin anything. Plus that will save me money because outdoor furnature isn't cheap.

I'm much more cheery tonight than last night, thank goodness. My day was uneventful, I took a walk, cleaned a bit, and just relaxed around here. I went out for dinner with Diane and her husband along with a couple that they know. Shannon decided to join us and we all had a lot of fun. We all just talked and laughed, told stories and the such, we stayed until the restaurant closed at 9. It felt SO GOOD to be out with a group where I felt comfortable, even if I hadn't known three of the people before. We lingered in the parking lot and I think we would've talked out there for another hour but Shannon had to get going.

Shannon and I talked/laughed all the way home about Chris. She doesn't think my crush will end. Maybe it won't end but I'm going to stop obsessing. No really, I am. Seriously. Just because I spent an hour online yesterday looking to see what I could find... it doesn't mean anything. I got it out of my system. Now I'm done. Yeah.

After getting home I was in a cheerful mood. I would've liked to have stayed out longer but oh well, some other time. I called home and talked to dad for awhile, mom wasn't home but she called me back later. They're going to Hawaii this week and they're both looking forward to that. I watched the usual tv shows, Trading Spaces and Iron Chef. I also watched a pasty competition and then caught most of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I like that movie. Paul Newman was a hottie. I was going to keep on watching tv but it's getting late and I have to work tomorrow!

I'm going to wear flip flops to work. Diane told me tonight that Pat once wore hospital slippers around for the day. Yes, she's a bit of an oddball. Anyway, Diane says that she won't say anything about shoes. I'm a bit worried about having cold toes, that's all. But my flip flops go so well with my skirts and this means that 1. I don't need more shoes and 2. I don't have to wear nylons. Hooray.

I'm hooked on ambient music.

2/21/03
The day always starts off right when the first thing I put on is a swimsuit. I headed over to campus and attended Chris's seminar. Today is actually the anniversary of Malcolm X's death. It was all really interesting, mostly just a review of Malcolm's life and why/how he's become the figure that we know him as today. I was going to quick say hi to Chris afterwards but someone else beat me to him and they actually had an intelligent question so I just left. The beach was calling me!!

I love the beach. I found myself a spot and soaked up the sun. I picked up some sunscreen this afternoon, which I don't usually wear, but it was a good thing!! In two hours I managed to burn the two little spots that I missed with the lotion and the rest of me has the makings of a tan. The bad thing about it was that the lotion made me greasy which made the sand really stick to me. I mean it really stuck. I had a heck of a time trying to get it off, there are probably still a few grains on me somewhere.

The one thing I'd forgotten to bring to the beach was my book, which I'd meant to pick up from my office while at school. It's due this week and I wanted to get it read. Since campus was on my way home I quick popped in to grab it. My obsession drove me to do as I did last week - walking out of my way to go thru Chris's building since he's in for his office hours. Why do I do this to myself? What has desperation done to me?? He was talking to someone in the foyer area and I just quick said hi and that I'd enjoyed his presentation, then I walked out the far door. Once outside I realised that from my lower calf on down the back of both legs were coated in sand. And I mean coated, not just a little sprinking. Driving home I decided to end my crush. I don't know how that'll happen but that's what I decided anyway. Yes, somehow it ties to the sand on my legs. I'm making a fool of myself and right then I knew it.

Having decided this made me feel lonely. I'm here with no friends nearby, no new friends visible on the horizon either. And I've had a heavy heart all night because of it. Iron Chef didn't cheer me up because sitting on the big couch with no one to make comments to made me feel more alone. Everything seemed to accentuate that I'm alone. Not just single, but alone.

Well, I'm going to go crawl into my big bed, alone. Hopefully I'll wake up cheerful. Shannon and I may go out to lunch or dinner, maybe I'll talk her into a movie too, we both want to see How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Getting out will be good.

2/20/03
Woohoo, my weekend is here! I feel like I still have to go back to work tomorrow, that's how fast my week went. But no, I get to go to the beach instead!!

Of course first I'll be going to Chris's seminar. I haven't seen him since talking to him on Monday. It is Chris's? Or Chris'? I never did understand that. Oh today I heard back from Concordia, finally. Turns out that I'm three classes short of the major. This may be one of those things where I get something stuck in my head incorrectly and then go on believeing it for years. This has happened to me before. So I would need two classes plus the thesis. Shannon thinks that that's even better because now I'd have to take his classes. I think that this is way too much work. Plus, my hours make going to class difficult because they're either at 8am or in the afternoon/evening. So we'll see how things pan out.

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home. I needed some chocolate and some water. I ended up with chocolate, frosted flakes, and cheezits (which are perfect at work) along with filling up my water container. Do you know what I fall for every time? 2/$-. Doesn't matter if I need it, I seem to just LOVE getting two of the same thing for what must be a discounted price. Which is why I have two boxes of my chocolate treats, two boxes of frosted flakes, and two boxes of cheezits. I also had to put two gallons into my container. What does all of this mean???

Maybe it means I should get to bed. My beach bag is already packed and my swimsuit is ready to be put on first thing!! Tomorrow looks like it could be a great day!

2/19/03
Wow, this website can be found at this site along with a million other blogs. I've tried finding it from the usual web searches without any luck. Hmmm, that makes me want to shape up and make this site just a tad bit more exciting for random viewers. I'll have to work on that this weekend! I also had a visitor pop in after searching for "Nina Bourne where the single men go in summer". How in the world I ended up as hit six on that search is beyond me!!!

It was another one of those days when I don't really remember much of what happened because it was that uneventful. I made up a project to keep myself busy and worked on that most of the day. I'm excited because Ethan told me today that Pat is considering dropping the new pt position that we have open, the one that replaces Shannon. Instead, we'd keep Shannon and hire someone full time in May. That would be awesome.

Finally, a good night of television and I caught it on tape! I've missed West Wing and absolutely loved it tonight. Rob Lowe isn't gone just yet, whew. And 24 last night was also excellent. Tomorrow I'm debating whether to tape Friends (I see it's an hour long special) or CSI. The problem with cable is that I can't record on different channels unless I'm here to switch it between shows.

Mary wrote tonight to say they'd arrived in Sydney today. She said they were tired and crabby and that the city was on their nerves right then. It's polluted (I suppose partly due to the wildfires) and there are way too many Americans. They're hoping to head right out of town and will leave time for Sydney on the other end of the month, before they leave for South Africa.

Ok, I'm tired so I'm going to make a run for bed before I catch a second wind.

2/18/03
Surprise surprise, Bush says that the protesters will not change his stance. Why would it? He's never listened to the majority before. But oooohhh, it pisses me off. What? People want peace? Screw them!! Tonight I was at care2.com and they have anti-war tshirts for sale and I almost bought one. I was going to get the one that said "anything war can do peace can do better" but I'm going to wait until I get ambitious enough to check into where the money goes. Must support a cause. Which I kind of laughed at because at the same time I'm waiting to go down to Ft Lauderdale's outlet mall so I can shop at Ann Taylor. Um, not supporting much there. But anti-war tshirt does not equal a larger work clothes wardrobe.

I thought it was Monday today. That means that Thursday is going to come quickly and that's good. My grandma corrected me tonight when I called her on my break. She's so cute, I miss all my family. I do not, however, miss living in the north where they are suffering horrid weather. At this point, I consider anything below 40 to be horrid. Sure enough, my blood did thin quickly, there's no going back now.

Well, I'll be going back in April. I finally booked my ticket home tonight because ticket prices are starting to go back up. I would've preferred to have paid half of what I did but I booked on American which is good because now I have mega miles with them. The problem is that I've been working for almost three years to accumulate the 50,000+ miles and it's going to be hard to book a flight and clear the total back down to zero! But when Diana lives in New Zealand I'm going to invite myself out there for a visit :)

I don't know what just got into me but I went and cleaned part of my bathroom. I left the tub alone but the whole sink and counter are clean - for the first time since I moved in. This place has a dust problem, an unnatural one I think. The bathroom is the worst and I think it's because of the exhaust fan, which is the same as the light switch so I can't ever shut it off (which drives me nuts because of the noise). Anyway, now I'm happy because it looks good in there.

There are water warnings out for the county and we're supposed to boil our water before drinking it. Good thing I already moved to the bottled stuff. But this is where I wonder about brushing my teeth with it and stuff. I'm sure I've used much worse water before in my travels but my luck, now that I'm at home some disease will get me. Now I'm going to blame everything on the water.

I went to bed at 3:30 last night but was wide awake until about 5:30. No more caffine for me (I'd had a coke with my pizza). Tonight I'm hoping for a better nights sleep but it's after 3 and I'm still not tired. Oh well, off to bed I go anyway because mom always said that just resting was good.

2/17/03
You know what I love about being here? That when I play my old game of 'where in the world would I like to be right now' sometimes my answer is right here! Even at work there have been times when I'm happy enough here to not wish I was elsewhere. This is a good thing.

My crush sighting really made it a better day. Sometimes you just need that little thing to make it all good. He's so cute. Once he was gone I was all giddy and talking poor Shannon's ear off. I think he's single (as in my no girlfriend kind of single) and I decided this because back when I met him for the first time Diane offered to set us up and he just blushed. I think if he had a girlfriend of any sort he would've mentioned it to her right there.

This afternoon Diane and I were talking and she said that she and her husband would like to take me to Miami one of these weekends to show me the town. Hooray! How much fun will that be?? I'm looking forward to it already, I wonder when it will happen.

Every day I take a walk around campus for my 15 minute break, usually circling the soccer feild and the buildings. Today I was walking past the pool/sports area and saw two hammocks that hang between short palm trees. I decided to try one of them out and have now made it my plan to skip the walk and head directly for the hammock with a book!! That was the best break I've ever taken.

Two things in the news that I liked today and thought I would share. I was reading about how the White House cancelled a poetry gathering because they were worried it would turn political (of course poets are against the war, god forbid they express that). Anyway, Galway Kinnell is a Pulitzer Prize winner who was talking about Walt Whitman and said "His bitterness is not because he was a bitter person or because he was anti-American or unpatriotic, it was because he loved America so much that he was continually disappointed." That's how I feel, that's exactly it!! I see so much potential for this country to do good and then we go screw up the world and it disappoints me! The other item was a poll taken by ABC that says "24 percent said they have stockpiled supplies and another 12 percent were considering it. The most popular items were food and water. Only three percent said they had stocked up on duct tape." I only like this because of the duct tape thing. Are we supposed to be stocking up on it??? Hahaha, how much do you have to buy before it's considered stocking up?? I like that they even added that to the article.

Whew, long post. Time for me to get to bed. I think the yoga helped last night, I fell right to sleep!

2/16/03
I was in bed by 3 last night, just as I had hoped. The problem was that I wasn't the least bit tired. At 5am I was staring at the clock, figuring out to the minute how much sleep I was going to get before my alarm was set to go off. There has to be a way to start falling asleep earlier.

Work was long and boring, barely anyone was in and I didn't have much to be working on. Basically I wasted the day away. We decided we deserved extra long breaks since we'd all arrived early and that was nice. I walked over to the nearby art festival which wasn't nearly as busy as they say it's been in the past few years. By 9 I was really ready to be at home!

Tonight was uneventful too. I talked to Kim for awhile and baked organic oatmeal raisen cookies that are really tasty. The package said I'd get 18 but I only got 12 and they're not that big. I was going to share at work tomorrow but have rethought that because I'm selfish.

I forgot to comment last night about how impressed I was with the world's turnout at the protests over the weekend. Wish I could've been at one too. Too bad Bush is too stupid to listen to what the smart people have to say. And we all know he doesn't care what a majority of people want. I was trying to think tonight if I could pinpoint when America became this huge superpower of the world. Was it right as we were hit at Pearl Harbor? The whole sleeping giant thing? I was trying to imagine what life would be like if America wasn't so forceful with our way of life. If we kept to ourselves, would the rest of the world be a better place?

Ok, I'm going to see if I can remember how to do my yoga so I can relax and then go to bed. 3am for the second night in a row, hopefully tonight I can really get some sleep!

2/15/03
I didn't stay up that late last night, maybe 4:30. Ok, so that is late but it's not *that* much later than I usually stay up. But I decided not to set my alarm for once so I could just sleep as much as I needed to. That was a mistake. I woke up at 3:45 this afternoon. Yikes!! I flew out of bed, my whole day was gone!! I knew I had to get to the grocery store because the organic place has short hours and I was determined to go. That took me almost an hour and by the time I was done it was too late to go to the beach as hoped. Instead, I decided to walk to a nearby park and then walked to the other side of the interstate to see what was in a shopping complex I'd seen. By the time I was home again it was cool and already dusk. So tonight I watched Lord of the Rings and Iron Chef, not exciting but it will do. I worked hard on my cross stitch because the more I work on that the more tired my eyes are. I have to get to bed soon or I'll never make it to work tomororow.

The organic store I found today was perfect. It's just past the Albertsons that I've been going to, I hadn't seen it until just the other night. I bought more juice and bananas for smoothies, crackers, cookie mix, soups, and milk. I'm still a bit stuck for what to make for my lunches at work now that I've decided to stay away from pastaroni. Back to egg salad sandwiches I guess.

I'm not tired but it's almost 3am. I'm going to bed whether I like it or not.

2/14/03
Someday I'm going to like Valentine's Day. In the meantime I still find it depressing. It's been years since I've had a date for it. Sigh.

I have a FL license plate at last! Took forever, cost way too much, and looks fantastic because I got the cool sea turtle one instead of a regular one. After that I made my stop at campus, I think it's possible that I've moved from crush to obsession and am bordering on stalker. Is this what life has come to???? I followed that with some time at the beach, probably just over an hour. The water was nice, the sand was warm, the sun was shining most of the time. I left swearing that I would get to the beach at least twice if not three times a month from now on. If it's nice tomorrow I'll be going again, this time in a swimsuit.

Shannon and I had dinner plans but instead of calling at 5 as planned I didn't hear from her until after 7 and she cancelled on me. It's not like her to do that so I don't know what was going on. She also said she didn't need me to drive to Ft Lauderdale with her. So I ended up at home all night as usual. I watched Gone in 60 Seconds, Iron Chef, a special on the Valentine's Day Massacre and then hooked my laptop up to the tv and watched a Bond movie. When that was done I watched all of my kitten movies from Utah and that cheered me up until I got depressed about having given them up. And that brings us to right now, 4am, and I'm going to head to bed.

Here's hoping that next year on this day I'll have a date.

2/13/03
Ah, Thursday. Technically it's Friday because it's about 4:15am but whatever. Work was boring except for my Strain sighting, which was dampered by the fact that he *might* have a girlfriend. Some detective work this week should clear that up. I like having a crush, I don't want it to end!

After work I watched The Majestic and have been dinking around on the computer since. I sent just a few more petitions out against the war and against Congress letting the environment slide for the sake of "national security". How did such STUPID people get elected into government?? They're as slimy as their oil. I hate them. And I have a feeling we'll pay for their decisions in many ways. Grrrr, I want my voice to be heard! Let me roar!

Ok, now it's 4:30 and I'm almost thinking that I should just stay up all night. I could go see the sunrise on the beach or something. But I won't. I'm just tired enough. And I don't want to fall alseep at 3 in the afternoon or anything! Shannon and I are going to head out for dinner but we have to try to find a place that won't be overcrowed so we'll have to try something offbeat. Maybe a little vegetarian place or something. Then we'll meet up again later and I'll head to Ft Lauderdale with her and Jason. He's flying home and I'll keep her company on the ride back. I remember driving back from San Antonio after taking Kim to the airport and it was torture trying to stay awake. And those are my exciting plans. And for the third Friday in a row I'm planning to get new license plates. Third time is a charm, right?

3/12/03
I just got off the phone with the campus police. I had that oh-my-god-I-think-I-didn't-shut-it-off panic hit me. I used my space heater tonight because my office was a bit chilly and I don't remember shutting it off! We were late to leave because we had a few last minute things come up and I wasn't paying attention to my office like I usually do. How horrible would I feel if the whole place burned down because of me?? Well I'm just glad that I thought of it, and that I knew that number off hand. Whew.

Well my vcr didn't work again but this time I figured out the problem. I had the vcr clock's am and pm backwards. With that solved, I hope to have no more mistakes. Another missed West Wing. It was a rerun but one that I hadn't seen.

I spent some time tonight trying to find a good airfare to MN for Kim's wedding but nothing is a cheap as I want it to be. I save money flying out of Ft Lauderdale but the drive doesn't justify any of it. I'm also having a hard time finding late afternoon flights out of Msp, I want to spend as much time with my parents that day as I can! Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have found something, it will be nice to get it booked and out of the way.

There wasn't a single good thing on tv tonight. I watched an old Law and Order and a show on the History channel before I gave up and shut it off. I would just read but as I'm sure I've mentioned a million times now I'm trying to get work done on my cross stitch! It's going to be nice when it's done, I'll take a picture :)

This evening, instead of doing real work in my office, I updated my angelfire site for anyone who might drop by (I'm not saying you should, the changes are tiny) and also updated Mary's angelfire site because I kind of left that hanging. Felt good to get that stuff out of the way, I'd been meaning to do that for some time now. And it gave me something to do at work!

Ok, time to make my lunch for tomorrow and then get to bed!

2/11/03
I must've set the vcr wrong, it didn't tape 24!! Thank goodness they put that replay on Mondays so I can catch up next week or I'd be seriously upset. I've got to start wearing my glasses when I set the vcr. West Wing is on tomorrow night and I had better not miss it again.

Today work was good though unproductive. I have a new computer with a big flat screen monitor and I also have a space heater now which will come in handy when they crank the air this summer. I had two crush sightings this afternoon. We didn't talk though, other than a quick hi. I wrote to the Concordia registrar to get things started, at least seeing what they say about how possible this is. If it doesn't work, I can always just take a few classes here for fun. Well, maybe not for fun but to continue my education.

The girls wrote tonight, I think they only have about one more week in NZ and then they fly into Sydney. They're so lucky to be out of the country. I wish I wasn't in the States. I like to think that someday I will live abroad, sometimes I even look for library jobs just to see. I can hope.

2/10/03
I was so happy to start off the day with an e-mail reply from Chris. I decided to start calling him by his name instead of just as 'my crush'. He told me his office hours and said that I could drop by anytime. So I did! I went in this afternoon and though I was only in there for less than ten minutes, it made my day. And I actually am thinking now that finishing my major is a good thing - for myself not for any other reason. He thinks I can get around the thesis by doing an independant study just reading and writing a few papers. No problem! He wants me to keep him posted about how things work from the Concordia end of things. Well, it's a start and I'm better off now that I was yesterday.

After a fun day at work that flew by, I came home and turned on the tv. Usually I make myself wait for awhile but tonight I saw that Tokyo was being featured on the Travel Channel. I just love seeing places that I've been on tv. So I watched that, and then tuned into last weeks 24 again (for an extra Kiefer fix). I followed that with some TLC, Discovery, and more of the History channel. Finally I shut it off and seriously, I'm going to go to bed soon. I'm actually tired and want to stay that way! It's not quite 3 so I'm in good shape.

2/09/03
Until I get around to fixing my background and my pita pics, thought some color would help!

2/09/03
Go Diana, giving the bartender your number!! I'm proud of you. And you're right, I can be agressive too and it won't kill me. So I sent an e-mail to my crush. It was simple and short, asking if I could meet him sometime this week in his office. The current plan is to act interested in finishing my History major before my credits expire (because it's been almost 9 years since my first History class, geez!) and to see what advice he has to offer. Writing a thesis sounds wretched and doing that JUST for a crush is a bit excessive. So I'll tell him I'm thinking about it for the fall semester, plenty of time to back on out - if it's even possible to transfer down here. Go me!

Getting up for work this morning was so hard to do. I slept longer than I should've and though I wasn't late to work, I need to be early on Sundays to open. The day managed to go by pretty fast. In the evening I discovered that Trish, an older woman who works just weekends, had really messed up our Excel sheet of books that we've ordered. It's going to take me most of tomorrow at the very least to get it back in order. I was pretty happy to get home. I cleaned my kitchen and then plopped down to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I talked to my dad, watched a few shows on the History channel, and kept plugging away at the cross stitch. I'm determined to get just a bit more done before I go to bed.

While I've stopped watching most political shows, I did tune into Larry King for awhile tonight because he had Clinton on. It was interesting to hear more about what he had done with Iraq and his views on N Korea. I'm not saying I agreed, but it was interesting. And later I caught part of Race for the White House which was featuring Edwards. His accent annoys me, he sounds like he has a cold. Hmmm, maybe he does, I don't know. It's so hard to believe people who are campaigning. Plus he supports the war. Is it that much to ask that I want someone who is against it??

Shannon is reading Stupid White Men and she's getting pissed off too. Hooray, I think she's going to convert! She's already trying to convince her husband that Reps aren't such great people after all. Go me (again)!

2/08/03
Too bad for me it wasn't a sunny day. No laying in the sun reading a book. Boohoo. It had better be nice next weekend!

It's been one of those days when I don't remember much of what I've done in the last 12 hours. I talked to Erika tonight, I also spent almost an hour on the phone with my insurance people (I now have renters insurance!). I went outside on to chat with my neighbors about the end of world and also to go get my mail. I read part of the SLC magazine that Faith sent to me, and I sent a few e-mails. This does not account for my day and I have no idea where it went!! That said, it's been a good weekend!

I donated $20 tonight to America's Second Harvest, they're associated with the Hunger Site. $10 is in the name of Erika and the other $10 in the name of Diana! Consider it my Valentine's Day gift to the world. It said on the sight that a $20 donation was equal to 560lbs of food, that's 28lbs per $1. I don't see how that's possible but I feel better about helping. I do wish that my groceries were that cheap.

I watched my usual two Trading Spaces followed by Iron Chef tonight, which was great as always. I also watched Goldeneye because Brosnan as Bond is irresistable. Did I tell you that while I was at home for Christmas I saw Man with the Golden Gun? Part of that was filmed in Thailand at an island that Mary and I went to. I've also been to Meteora in Greece where they filmed another Bond movie. They pick good locations, how much fun would it be to travel the world just to see those locales? Hmmm, that's not such a bad idea!

2/07/03
And the mites have it. They're why my plants are dead. Today I decided to be ambitious and clean up the mess of two planters full of failure. And there they were, so tiny I could barely see them. But I could see their little webs (I looked them up online to see what I should check for). There's really not much I can do about them. I'm mad because I was going to salvage that soil for the few other plants that still need to be repotted. The only way to kill them is to bake the dirt. Seriously. So I will probably just buy new dirt because it's so much easier and I'll be careful to wash the planters. The planters will be filled with no flowers this time, I'll have to see what else strikes my fancy. But that does solve that.

Now I'm hooked on tofu smoothies!! I decided to go with peach juice (organic of course) because I don't like cranberry and the grapefruit wasn't to my liking either. I could've kept right on drinking but wanted to save my bananas so that I can have a smoothie every day this week :) Thanks Erika, that was a good call!

Today was pretty uneventful. I slept until 1:45 this afternoon, I couldn't help it. Hopefully tonight I'll get to bed earlier. Since it's 2:30 already we'll have to see. I did walk down to get my mail and then walked to the nearby grocery store for more bananas and the peach juice. I was all happy with myself because not only did I walk but I took my new canvas bag to carry the food home in. Nothing like doing my part to make the world better. Plus that keeps me from spending too much - I can't buy what I can't carry!! I also went to the post office and then to get my new license plates. Problem was that when I got there I realized that my car title isn't in the glove box and I need that. I must've left it at home. I went in to ask how long I could go with MN plates for and the lady said I could keep them as long as they weren't expired. You'd think that was a good thing but then as I went back out to my car, I checked and my plates expired back in Dec!!! I don't think that's right because I remember renewing my tabs in March or something but maybe I don't know how it works. Anyway, I expect my parents can mail the title to me and by next Friday I can go back there and get everything squared away. They'll never know, right? I think I'm going to pay the extra $20 to get the plates with a sea turtle on them, they're cute and they do good.

If Iron Chef was on tonight, I completely missed it. I watched Finding Forrester and then Lethal Weapon 4. After that I looked to see if a replay of Iron Chef was on late but no luck. However, I did get to catch Morimoto Raw, which was about him opening his new restaurant. It made me hungry for Japanese food. All I really had on hand was popcorn so I made do.

It was 87 today, absolutely beautiful!! I loved being outside in my tank top and capris wearing my flip flops. If it's like that tomorrow I'm definately going to the beach. Getting some color would be really nice, I'm still very pasty and my hair needs to lighten up a few shades. So with thoughts of the beach, I'm going to see about getting to bed.

2/06/03
Ahhh, my weekend! I'm happy that my work weeks just fly by, I don't know where they go! I've been busy buying books and doing just the day-to-day kind of stuff. I've barely been in my office lately, it's kind of nice!

I went to the grocery store tonight. I was only going to buy milk, really. But I ended up blowing 50 bucks on food. First I ran into silken tofu and realized that I could make the smoothies Erika had talked about. Then I had to call Erika to get the rest of the ingredients! I wanted to buy all organic stuff but it just wasn't possible. Well, it's possible but difficult. One organic pizza is $7 but I could get 4 for $10 if I bought Tony's instead. I went with Tonys. I like frozen pizzas, one will make three meals for me. I did buy organic soup mix, milk, oj, and tofu though. I also bought cereal, rice, more juice, fruit, and drinking water (which tastes so good and is in a refillable bottle). I knew you'd want to know.

It's almost 4am and I'm not tired yet. I will be up by 1 tomorrow though, I've got to make sure I get to the post office and to the place with license plates. Other than that I have no weekend plans. Diane might call me to go out on their boat if they go. Next weekend Shannon and I are going to hang out, her husband has to be out of town. Hooray, maybe I won't be alone for V-day! It's not a date with my prof but it's better than nothing! That's Henrik's birthday. We haven't talked for awhile. Should I just give up hope and kiss that money goodbye?? I hope not! Ok that's it for me. Maybe putting on my pjs will make me tired.

2/05/03
Woohoo, a crush sighting!! He finally came into the library at night and would you believe we were way too busy for me to talk to him?? How disappointing! He came in, I smiled and we said hi but I was so busy trying to help others right then. Poor Shannon had to listen to me rave for at least a half hour after he left about how upset I was that I didn't get the chance to even talk to him! We decided that he came to the library just to see me :) He went to look up a book and had to come up to the desk to get a pen even though there were at least four pencils right around his computer. And I've been a bit giddy ever since. Just in that crush kind of way, you know?

Tonight I watched The Deep End and then Heist. I could've probably not watched them and have been just as happy. However, it was nice seeing a bit of Goran in the first and then Sam Rockwell in the second (even though he had a little mustache that made him look like a creep). I think I spent too much time in front of the tv. The worst part is that for whatever reason, my vcr didn't start recording and I missed taping West Wing!!! I was not very happy, poor me.

Now it's about 3:30 and once again I've stayed up later than I meant to. Shannon might need a ride tomorrow which would mean leaving for work early. I'd better get to bed!

Wednesday, February 5, 2003
Here's a daytime entry, the first in a long time from me! Found this at moby.com in his journals and I really liked it.

Reuters- "in a telephone conversation with President Jiang Zemin of China, President Bush "stressed that the United States has no hostile intentions toward North Korea, and sought a peaceful, multilateral solution to the problem created by Pyongyang's action," a White House spokesman said."
dumb question, but why can't the white house say something similar about iraq?
what if george w. said "the united states has no hostile intentions towards iraq, and seeks a peaceful, multilateral solution to the problem created by baghdad's actions."?
american foreign policy seems to be, at present, at its most overtly schizophrenic and hypocritical.
we've got a hard-on for war with iraq but yet we want to seek 'peaceful solutions' with north korea? when north korea are guiltier(if 'guiltier' is actually a word. sorry) of the evils for which we're planning on attacking iraq.
american foreign policy is screwy.
'screwy' being a germaine and sophisticated word, thank you very much.
don't ridicule me for employing erudite words such as 'screwy', ok?
american foreign policy is screwy.
thank you.
moby

2/04/03
I love Tuesdays because I love Keifer. 24 kicked butt tonight, I was on the edge of the couch the entire time!! Being able to watch the previous episode on FX last night was worth paying for cable, just for that one hour of spectacular television. I've missed several episodes this season due to the move and then the lack of cable but I still caught on to all of it. What an awesome show. I'm already sad that the season will end and I still have at least eight episodes to go! West Wing is on tomorrow night and that will also be good to see, I've missed that since leaving Utah!! It will be a shock to have no Rob Lowe.

I have decided to cool it on the political debate shows. Yelling at the tv wasn't healthy. Shannon is going to read Stupid White Men, I think because she wants to know what I've been going on and on about. To almost every conversation I can find some way to tie in what Moore said! I wonder what she'll think.

Perhaps I spoke too soon about my crush. I haven't seen him since that one day. There has to be some way to see more of him... but I can't think of how. There are only five buildings on campus (not counting the two dorms) so you would think it would be easy to bump into him. He's giving a presentation later this month, maybe I'll just have to attend! Or I could just go right to his office and say 'hey, do you wanna go out with me?' but this is unlikely.

Ok, time for me to put on my pjs. I'm determined to be in bed early tonight so that getting up at noon won't be so tough. You can laugh but come on, isn't this the life everyone wants to lead???

2/03/03
I'm watching men stuff their faces on tv. The Travel channel is doing a special on food eating contests. Hot dogs in number one, followed by things like chicken wings, crawfish, matsa balls, maui onions, key lime pie, pickled quail eggs, and I was surprised to see lutefisk too! Some guy in MN actually ate 8lbs in one sitting. Ugh. 8lbs of anything is a lot but of lutefisk??

My day went well. Pat left work early and that always make the atmosphere a little lighter. I had another instructional session which I really breezed through. Everyone just laughed at how quickly I returned, I kept it pretty short. I decided not to let Tom frustrate me, even though he put off shelving the books until the last possible minute and I had to do half of it for him. Pat suggested to me today that Tom could begin working Sundays once Shannon is gone but - and I don't know how I did it - I convinced Pat to let Shannon continue working just on Sundays. Shannon is thrilled to death that she'll still get to work at the library even just a bit and I'm extremely relieved because working a full shift with Tom would be unbearable.

Tonight I was about to make a donation to World Parks when I thought to myself 'what if I should be donating food to the hungry instead?' So now I'm deciding how to divide up my meager funds to the matters that mean the most to me. I think I'd like to stick to $10/month, which isn't much but it's something. When I win a million dollars, I'm going to have so many places to spend it!!

While I'm thinking about winning money, time for me to go visit iwon.com because I'm *still* holding out hope that I too can be a winner.

2/02/03
I almost didn't go to work today. If Shannon hadn't called to see about driving together I would've just kept right on sleeping! I turned my alarm off, that's how sure I was that I'd get up. The day seemed to drag by but looking back I can't recall much of it. I decided to dress down and wore what I would've had on if I'd just stayed home. Who needs to dress up when your boss isn't around? I'll look nice tomorrow instead.

I could not resist the call of books and came home with four more. Pretty soon students will want to come here to study :) I checked out Fountainhead, Catcher in the Rye, Everything is Illuminated, and Interpreter of Maladies. I was so excited that Diana would recommend a book that we actually had! I'm discovering that our fiction section is much larger than I first thought it to be. So I've got all these great books (10 total from the library alone, another 10 in my personal collection waiting be read) and here I am in front of the computer. I played a bit of Jeopardy but was soon bored and gave up. It's no fun without Alex. There wasn't anything good on tv so I stopped watching that a while ago.

Tomorrow I have another instructional session. I'm no good at expanding on my ideas, I'm supposed to talk for about a half hour but I could seriously keep it to five minutes and say everything I need to say! Wish me luck. I thought this would be the best part of the job but so far, it's one of my least fave parts. The best part is buying books, so much power!!

I think I'm going to hold back comments on the new Boyfriend. Here's hoping that next week will be better.

2/01/03
Alright so I didn't get out of bed this morning to get involved in my community. I couldn't help it. I need my sleep, I can't function without it! Since falling asleep last night was difficult before 4am (which has become my usual bedtime now), I decided that getting up before 8 wouldn't be healthy. Plus I wasn't feeling so hot. So instead I slept until almost 2 and accomplished absolutely nothing today.

I did start reading another book, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I also worked on the cross stitch which will be done in no time. I also watched two Trading Spaces, Iron Chef, Autopsy (on HBO), While You Were Sleeping, most of The Gun in Betty Sue's Handbag, a show on Animal Planet featuring siamese animals (two headed turtles, who knew??), and a show on crop circles. Did you know that once a crop circle has appeared, crops will not grow in that area after that? They don't even grow weeds. Hmmm, could prankers around the world be that smart??? Must be the aliens.

How horrible about the Columbia. I didn't even know they were coming home today, don't those people usually stay in space longer than that? I've never wanted to be an astronaut, never wanted to see the earth from way out there. I do like the pictures that they take though.

I'm already dreading Valentines Day. I'm sure that if I had a boyfriend it would be great, it's even falling on a Friday. Instead I'll be tortured with horrid romantic tv shows, the Food network is doing nothing but chocolate for a week, and I think TLC is doing a long lineup of Wedding Stories. Great, rub it in my face that I'm single :( Poor me, I know.

So there went my weekend. Back to work tomorrow. I'll just have to hope that a certain prof makes an appearance to brighten my day!

1/31/03
Well I went all day without turning on the tv!! I sat down and finished reading Stupid White Men instead. I got a laugh out of more of the last half than the first half. Of course then I came to the part about how the Dems are just as bad as the Reps. Looks like I'm going to have to run for president myself to make things any better! At least I know I'd have two votes! You would vote for me, wouldn't you??

Despite hopes of accomplishing things today, all I did was shop for shoes. I found plenty of cute sandals but resisted because I don't need more sandals I need work shoes. I finally found a pair of black shoes that are both comfortable and cute. I wore them around here the rest of the night to help wear them in.

Hmmm, that's really about all I did ALL DAY. It's just past midnight and I think I might read a bit more and then go to bed. I really do want to get to that green walk in the morning and the only way to do it is to get enough sleep!! I'm not tired, that's why I'll read so that my eyes will feel sleepy.

1/30/03
Another plant bites the dust. Out of 27, 7 have lived. Not good. One today looked like it was out of water but then I watered it and now it looks even worse! It could be the water itself, it does have a suspiciously funny color to it... Which makes me think I should be buying water to drink. I'll have to start doing that.

I'm watching Swordfish for the single reason that I like staring at Hugh Jackman. That tossled hair, those muscles, that accent, I like. It's a pretty stupid movie though. In fact, I just got up and changed it to VH1 where they're showing funny videos. Like Fatboy Slim's stuff, Weapon of Choice is on one, the one where Christopher Walker is dancing. I like Praise You better, the one with those people dancing around outside of a movie theater. I am thinking about reading a book instead of watching tv.

My plans for this weekend are to get new FL license plates, get my oil changed, buy new shoes and maybe a new top or two at the mall, try to get up for the nature walk on Saturday, clean up the mess I've made on the table, go to the post office to send off a few packages, and see about getting new plants. We'll see how much I actually accomplish.

1/29/03
I forgot to mention what happened with Mark tonight. He keeps calling me at work (he's the cop in case you've forgotten) and it gets on my nerves and I usually just don't answer the phone. He's the only person who would call my extension and he only knows it because he was friends with my predecessor. Anyway, tonight I didn't answer again but then he called the front desk and asked for me. I took the call and ended up telling him that I didn't want to go out for awhile yet because I needed to get more settled in. Ok so it's a lie, leave me alone. I also said that I'd rather not take personal calls and in the end it was decided that I could call/e-mail him sometime later. So that's that. No date for me. Not until my new crush asks me out and who knows when that will be. Keep your fingers crossed!!

1/29/03
Whew, I feel much better now. I sent over SEVENTY petitions tonight. I said I was going to go on a frenzy and I meant it!! You name it, I sent an e-mail about it. Save the trees, the fish, the birds, the mammals, the lives of indigenous people, the Clean Air Act, the rivers, the lakes, the mountains, the ozone layer. Stop the use of oil, of unhealthy plastic wrap, of lead in paint, of diesel school busses, of unrecyclable paper for catalogs. Stop building more dams, more nuclear power plants, more roads in forests, more gas plants in the Amazon. Stop whaling, exploring underseas for oil, logging in West Africa, mining, dumping hazardous chemicals. And more!! If I thought the govt was after me before... :)

But I feel like I did something. Like I get my little bit of say in the issues that matter, even if I'd never heard of them before. If actions speak louder than words, I was really hollaring tonight!

Tonight I tuned into the O'Rielly Factor. That's another one I never watched because I thought he was a Rep. Turns out he's Independant and he really rips into Reps. As we all know this is fun to watch. And Bill Mahr is coming to HBO this weekend, you can bet I'll be tuning in to that. I need ammunition, fuel for my fire. Otherwise I didn't watch tv tonight. West Wing wasn't on, I haven't seen that since I was out in Utah!!! I miss my shows!

Well I just spent another half hour being distracted and signing more stuff. I just found True Majority, founded by the Ben in Ben & Jerrys. For the environment, in case you're interested, I like Grist Magazine where they have a Take Action center that seems to cover just about everything.

Ok, I'll stop now. I'm going to go read a book. I checked out Love and Other Demons by Garcia Marquez that I started reading at work earlier. I also checked out some Bill Bryson books. I've decided it's fun to check out books and hoard them for myself.

1/28/03
It's 3am and the sprinklers didn't come on. Now I truly do believe the world has fallen apart.

I spent too much time tonight focusing on how the world has gone to hell under the reign of our dictator. I hate him. Like Erika, I don't know what it is that creeps me out and makes my skin crawl at the thought of him (let alone the sight or sound of him), that usually only happens when I'm around criminals. Oh wait. I decided not to watch tv (other than Headlines on Leno) to avoid listening to him tell lies to the greater public. Instead I curled up with Stupid White Men, which I think ended up upsetting me more! It's overwhelming, the things he's gotten away with and the things he's ruining while in office. The more I read the most disheartened I became. I'm about 1/3 of the way thru and I had to stop because I couldn't handle it. Instead I washed my dishes and tried not to think about how he's taking us to hell in his handbasket. What can I do? WHAT CAN I DO?? It's got to change.

On a lighter note... Hmmm... there must be a lighter note. I developed a new crush in record time. This time he's single and that right there puts me ahead of myself!! Will anything come of it? I hope so but we'll see! Diane suspects that he'll start coming to the library in the afternoons now that he knows I'm there. Wouldn't that be sweet? We'll see. I'm supposed to have my date with Mark this weekend but we haven't talked for awhile. Sometimes he calls me at work but either I'm not in the office or he calls when I'm busy. I'm hoping it won't work out. I'm not evil, I just don't want to go out with him.

Wow, it's later than I thought it was! I'd better get my butt to bed.

1/27/03
I'm not the biggest Ani Difranco fan, but some of her stuff I really like. There's one song, My IQ, that has stuck with me for years because of the line "When I was four years old they tried to test my iq. They showed me this picture of three oranges and a pear and they asked me which one does not belong. They tought me different was wrong." Anyway, I also found this spoken poem that she wrote inspired by 9/11. Here's a little bit of it:

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
i mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
and boy did he ever
and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz i am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
i've got no room for a lie so verbose
i'm looking out over my whole human family
and i'm raising my glass in a toast
here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever

The song/poem in it's entirety can be found here.

1/27/03
I was able to see blueprints for the new library today. I think it's going to be pretty impressive. It'll be two levels, one is only half there and it looks over the majority of the first floor. The windows will be two floors with automatic blinds, we'll have a bathroom just for staff, and we're doubling the number of computers. By this time next year we will have moved in! An extention is already planned for a few years further down the road that will double our shelf space. Should be cool to see the campus grow, several new buildings are planned for the near future.

I watched Oceans 11 for the tenth time tonight. I just love that movie. How can you go wrong with all those men?? And I like that it's clever, I still have to sit and figure out how they did it. I heard the other night that Oceans 12 will be in production next year. George Clooney told me. I looked up his new movie, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind but it had such horrible reviews! I still might go see it, I like Sam Rockwell, he's actually the star.

Mary and Karen flew to Christchurch today, on the South Island. I can't wait to hear more about it, I've heard such great things about the south half of NZ.

Speaking of New Zealand, I have got to buy some new black shoes. My back is killing me and I think it's because of the boots I wear. Tomorrow I have to coordinate my outfit so I can wear my brown shoes which are much better. But everything I own seems to go best with black. Sigh.

Ok, I'm going to go watch more tv. I would say that I'm going to bed because it's about that time, but every time I say that I never really do.

1/27/03
3,000 Miles from Graceland is not turning out to be as amusing as I thought it had to be. I was sure it had to be funny but it's pretty much just a bloody, never ending gunfight with Elvis costumes. I've flipped it back to When Harry Met Sally instead.

Shannon called in sick today, she thinks she might have laryngitis and it sounds like she'll be out for the next few days at least. Today went smoothly and I managed to get quite a bit of work done, it's the rest of the evenings with Tom that I'm worried about! I just get tired of it - and it hasn't even been a month!!

I was paid again over the weekend, the happiness of that being offset by the amount my parents threw at me. I owe them a lot of money. I am so lucky that they covered all of my expenses since getting out of school, I wish it wasn't going to take so long to pay them back! The fact that my recent credit card bills have been sky high hasn't helped. Good thing I don't buy furniture all of the time.

Tonight I think I'm going to head to bed early. My curtains really do the trick of blocking out all of the light, thank goodness. It makes going to bed a treat :)

1/25/03
3am. I could set my watch by the sprinkler system outside. I wish they'd be more economical about those, it rained all day today but still they sprinkle!

I feel like I got a lot done today but really I didn't. I slept until 1:30 despite having gone to bed by 3 last night. I know I did something this morning (well, technically afternoon) but I can't for the life of me recall what it was. Tonight I made my curtains, which look pretty decent if I do say so myself. That iron on hem is just amazing stuff, I love it!! I was looking around for more to hem but couldn't find anything. Anyway, all in all they look good now that they're hanging and I'm excited to see how much light they cut out tonight. Plus they add some much needed color to the bedroom.

I spent a fair amount of time in front of the tv because it was Trading Spaces/Iron Chef night. I love my shows. After that I ran to the grocery store where I was the only one in line (I love that!). I stocked up on PastaRoni because one box makes two perfect sized meals for work. I also picked up more yogurt, this time it's the kind that's already mixed instead of where the fruit is on the bottom. So I'm lazy, sue me for not wanting to stir it up myself.

Ok, I keep forgetting that I have to be at work earlier on Sundays. I had better go to bed!

1/24/03
Today when I woke up, I came out to the living room to open the shades and took a look at my pathetic plants. Two leaves had fallen off so I bent to pick them up and was quite surprised when one leaf turned out to be a fat catepillar. A look at the plants showed that one had been pretty well munched on. That doesn't explain the death of all of them from what I can tell. I wonder how many other catepillars I have, I looked but couldn't see any.

I'm hooked on Hardball. Sometimes I need to have a show where I can yell at the tv. Now that Bill Mahr is off the air (and I'm still mad about that) I haven't had a show to watch that I liked. I do get annoyed with everyone trying to talk over everyone else.

Today I got out of the house quite a bit. I went to UPS and finally have my bridesmaid dress! It's really pretty, I love it. The body fits just right but it's a bit too long and the straps need to be taken up just a little bit. Kim also included a birthday/Christmas present of two beautiful bowls with chopsticks and a Thai cookbook! When you guys come to visit me I'll cook for you! Don't be scared, I'll test food out on myself first :) Anyway, I also went to Wellington to shop. I found things at Target that I didn't even know I needed (as always), picked up some fabric for curtains, and also went to the mall where I found some cute sweaters and a couple of necklaces. I wanted to buy more but wasn't finding much else that fit well. I need more things to wear to work. If only I could wear short sleeves. I could but it's so fricking cold at work that it doesn't go over well. Even skirts make me too cold, which is too bad because I have acquired some really cute skirts.

As far as the curtains, don't think for one minute that I can sew them myself! I could if I had a sewing machine I guess and if my mom was nearby because I always manage to get the thread all messed up. What I'll do instead is iron the seams. Ah, the wonders of modern inventions. It's this tape that you can use to iron the hem, requiring no thread! Hopefully it works well and holds up. I picked an earthy red color that I think I'll really like. And I also picked up a nice curtain rod, I had to buy an extra long one because my window is six feet wide but only three feet tall. I have my work cut out for me tomorrow!

So on Thursday, I ran home from work to tape CSI because I realized at work that it was the episode that Max is in! Sure enough, there he was!! It was so crazy to see him on tv, I'm glad I have it on tape because it's easy to miss. On Wed night I was looking him up on Google to get the episode name and would you believe that as soon as I'd done the search, I got an e-mail from him! How weird is that?? It was just that fwd with the White House number, but I haven't heard from him in well over a year. Strange...

Alright, I'm going to go settle in front of the tv.

1/23/03
My crush is married. So he can't be my crush anymore. Too bad, I liked having someone to get excited about. Poor Shannon didn't want to tell me. She found a clever way to ask Diane (we couldn't ask her right out) and sure enough, he's married with kids. Sigh. It was nice while it lasted. Now I need to find someone else.

My cable keeps cutting out and it annoys me. It's windy outside but I can't imagine it's windy enough to affect the lines. If this wind does, what will hurricane wind do? Everyone here is freaking out about how cold it's going to get. I'm not concerned, by the time I wake up tomorrow it will have warmed up again! I turned my heat on tonight but it didn't work!! If I have it set on auto, it blows but without heat. I turned the fan on and now it heats but won't shut off. So basically nothing was fixed. Great.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping in the nearby town of Wellington. They have a decent Target, super-WalMart, a mall, Michaels craft store, stuff like that. I hope to buy more tops and maybe some new shoes too. I also want to buy a lunchbox for work because I always wanted one of those. I hope I can find a cool one! I was hoping Shannon could come with me but she has other weekend plans.

Karen and Mary both wrote me tonight, they're in Wellington, NZ and love it. Sounds like they're having adventures galore. Mary mentioned that they were on each other's nerves a bit for the first time, which was bound to happen eventually. Three more months for them to go!

I'm drinking tea and am working on my cross stitch for Kim. I should be done with it soon and can't believe how well it's coming along! Once I'm done I think I'm going to settle in to read a few books. Tonight I checked out King of the Confessors by Thomas Hoving, a book I read a long time ago that I've been wanting to read again. I also ILLed Downsize This by Michael Moore, and Fast Food Nation. Should be interesting stuff!

1/22/03
I should hang a sign outside my door telling people they'd better not knock before noon. Today at 10:15 the guy came by to fix my heat. I'm surprised he even came, usually the maintenance man just says they will and then no one does. My thermostat was replaced so that now it will shut off at the temp I tell it to. As long as I up I went to the post office and at long last got my key. Then I went home and walked to the boxes, they're about two blocks from me in the center of the complex. There wasn't THAT much stuff in there, I don't know why the guy said it was full. Lots of stuff from my insurance company since I switched everything over. I did get a postcard from Fiji. They're so sweet, telling me that they miss me :) I miss them too.

Work flew by, I don't know where the time goes! By the end of the night I'd ordered lots of Business books, neatened up my desk (a huge project), and I began preparing what I was going to say for my instructional sessions next Monday. I realize now that I should've gotten more done, Pat is going to want to see a handout tomorrow and I haven't done anything... oops. There's a chance I'll be going in on Friday to get it done. Yuck.

I do know that this weekend I'm going to go shopping. I have so few tops to wear that I'm struggling to not wear the same thing in one week. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so frigging cold in the library, I have to wear long sleeves.

My plants are dying and I don't know why!! I guess the flowering kind aren't for me, I'm good with the generic foliage and ivy and stuff. Sigh.

1/21/03
Tomorrow is the big day, when I finally get all my mail!! There was a note on the door that I could pick up the key in the morning at the post office. After spending 45 minutes in line today, I'm not looking forward to doing the same tomorrow, but what else can I do? I bet I'm going to have tons of stuff!!!

It's official, I have a crush. I can't tell what it is I like about him but I find myself hoping to see him early in my day when I still look put together. When he does come in, I get all giddy and don't know what to do. Shannon's the only one who knows here, I'm glad I at least have her to confide in, otherwise I'd either burst or go broke calling my friends using daytime minutes :) So there you have it, it's out in the open. Now when I talk about Billy you'll know who I mean!

It's 2:20 and I'm much more tired than I should be at this hour. I think I'm going to head to bed so I can get up early to head back to the post office.

1/20/03
"We will repent in this generation not so much for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people" Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ah, my very first paid holiday. I slept until 2 (yes, pm), did some laundry, and mostly just sat around. I didn't turn on the tv until 7:30 when Jeopardy came on and I quickly called Erika in disbelief as I realized that the contestant was in fact, the most annoying girl in grad school!! I thought it was her when I saw it on Friday but couldn't really believe it. Sure enough, it was!! I'm still in shock. I watched The Rock, saw most of Dinner with Friends, and am now waiting for Snatch, which I'm going to tape. I would just stay up and watch it but tomorrow I want to get up before work so I can run to the post office. Yes that's right, I'm going to try to do something that early :)

We heard from the girls today, they're in New Zealand at last. They loved the Cook islands and sounds like they had the perfect time in tropical heaven. Mary did get bit by a fish, she has the unusual ability to be attacked by otherwise harmless animals. Cows, goats, chickens, now fish.

Alright, I'm going to go do my dishes. I haven't been good about doing them daily and would you believe I think it's because I don't have a dish drying rack? Mary didn't think my kitchen would look good with one so instead I just put them into my dishwasher to dry in there. It may not seem like a good reason but there you have it.

1/19/03
So I'm looking back and I've only had the right year on my entry once since New Years!! 2003 seems so strange.

I watched Planet of the Apes tonight, that's the first time I'd seen it. I wasn't overly impressed but did admire Mark Walberg a lot ;) I like those muscles, not too much but juuuust right. Having HBO is turning out to be very handy, much better than just regular cable! I had begun watching Real Genius (Val Kilmer) but didn't catch the end because I wanted to watch the Ape movie instead.

Tonight I decided to turn my heat on because the thermometer says it's only 65 in here. However, after an hour of having it cranked, the temp dropped to 62. I'm not quite sure what went wrong on that one, I know I had it on heat and no air! But brrr, even with my wool socks on my toes are cold! I'm wishing for mittens. When I left work tonight I could see my breath, that kind of freaked me out. The whole reason I came to FL was to escape this!

Shannon and I had a great night out yesterday. We went to a bar for dinner because the restaurants all had such long waits. We missed the beginning of the movie because we were running so late, thankfully I think only five minutes or so. After that we went to two bars and we had fun just talking and getting to know each other better on a personal level. We were out until after 3! Bars here are open to 4am, isn't that crazy??

Bowling for Columbine was very intense, I teared up a few times and left feeling like I really didn't want to raise kids in America! Such a shame. It's all the media, that's what I got out of it. Crime is down but coverage of crime on the news is up 600%! I do find that I'm a happier person when I don't watch the evening news, seriously it's all depressing. I wonder what I can do about that... would they listen to me if I told them I wanted to see happier stuff?? There's a paper here called The Happy Herald that's just a happy story paper. It's awesome! There are stories about puppies adopted from the pound, kids adopted into good homes, advice columns on how to be happy and how to make the world a better place. Now that's good stuff.

Mark, the guy I have a date with, called me at work today. He wanted to go out before work this Tuesday but I said no. No way am I about to get up early in the morning for a lunch date. Come on, would you guys get up at 7am to go on a breakfast date before work at 9?? No. So instead we're going to go out the last Fri night of January. That's fine with me, I'm in no rush. There's this professor who's really caught my eye, his name is Dr. Billy and all I know is that he teaches something environmental because I've seen what he has on reserve for his students. Anyway, we always smile and say hi to each other. I still need to see if he's married though... kind of important.

Alright, I'm now wearing wool socks with another pair within those and my feet tucked as far into my slippers as I can fit them, a long sleeve shirt with a zip-up sweatshirt on top of that with the hood up, and a big college sweatshirt of top of it all. And I'm still cold. I wonder if tea will help warm me up. I'm going to go make some of that.

1/17/02
Oooh, I hate it when I have to restart my entry because of a computer glitch of sorts. I was working in another window after having typed up half of my pita and suddenly it opened up something else on this page and when I backed up it was all gone! I was just updating my jukebox and to add to the frustration, when it updated it screwed up all of my albums!! Like how I put all of my dance music in one album, suddenly each song is it's own album. What a project that will be, trying to get them back in order.

Today I feel like I've done nothing. I went to the post office, went to work for three hours (very boring), and then came home and haven't ventured much past the couch and this chair. I watched Behind Enemy Lines, which I thought was pretty good (a sobering look at what the war in Serbia was probably like), followed by Dude, Where's My Car. I hate to admit how much I liked that one, I was laughing so hard! Then I watched the Iron Chef, which made me hungry even tho I'd just eaten. I followed that with a Sex in the City rerun and then watched some meanless stuff. My new rule is that if, during the commercial, I can't remember what I'm watching then it's time to shut the tv off. And that's what I did, having no recollection whatsoever of what I was watching last.

It's just above 40 right now, brrr. I need to bring my plants in, I keep forgetting. Two of them have already died, they're the same kind and they went in my big rectangle plant box with the rest of them. I don't think there's hope for recovery so I guess I'll have to replace them. I'm still holding out hopes for the rest of them.

Finally a set of Boyfriends I can agree with! I especially like Billy Boyd and his cute little face. But the pic with Orlando Bloom was pretty sweet. Normally I'm a bit disappointed every time I see a picture of Orlando (maybe because he's not blond as I'd imagined him to be) but this was a very good one. Love that bone structure. And I don't say that about many people :)

It's not even 2 so I shouldn't be tired but I am! Really, I'm going to see about checking into the gym with hopes that it will raise my energy level. I know, you don't believe me either. But I like to say that I'll do that.

1/16/02
I really like that Thursday is the end of my work week! This past week just flew right by, it was perfect. Of course looking back I feel like I didn't get a thing done. I'm going in tomorrow for just a few hours so that I'm ahead on my time. That way when I'm running late or something I can just use that extra time instead of making it up.

Right now I'm watching 10 Things I Hate About You. I just love this movie and it's not just because of Heath (especially since he isn't looking his best in this one) but I like how clever some of it is. It's got commercials and during one I flipped to MacGyver for old times sake. I used to skip the first 10 minutes of French class in college so that I could watch the whole episode with another friend of mine. Anyway, what was funny is that the little bit that I did catch was where he asked for "a pastry tube, oven cleaner, and some milk, preferably 1%" so that he could difuse a bomb! It was great, how classic is that?

Shannon and I are going to go see Bowling for Columbine, I'm so excited because I've been wanting to see that. I was surprised that she suggested it. Now I'm not saying that I'm ok with Republicans, but I think maybe she's on the edge and I can flip her to the Democrat side! Anyway, today I was at the website for the movie where there are links to chapters out of Stupid White Men and a few other books. All of them were really interesting. Like why lighters are still allowed on airlines despite the fact that they've been used in a terrorist attempt. It shouldn't be a big surprise that it's because the Idiot (that's what I'll call Bush from now on) was pushed by the tobacco company to not make it more difficult for smokers to light up. Forget that people could die, let's let smokers have a light on them at all times instead even though they can't smoke until they're outside of the airport anyway. What an idiot.

Now So I Married an Axe Murderer is on. I could be up all night! Cable is such a good thing!!

1/15/02
I'm online at home!! I'm so excited. I also have my tv on just because I can. I watched the very end of Castaway and then discovered that my Wed night shows are acually on an hour later here so I caught the end of Law and Order. Ah, it feels so good to be all hooked up!

Work has been going well, my days there just fly right by. I'm getting along with everyone and Pat said today that they were just thrilled at how well I was working out and that everyone liked me. I know there will be plenty of bumps along the way but so far so good. I'm trying to get myself to focus more because by the end of the day I feel like I've gotten nothing done! I do love the hours, they suit me.

This weekend I'm going out with Shannon, we're going out for dinner, to a movie, and then to a cool bar in WPB. I'm looking forward to it, Shannon's really awesome and getting out will be so nice! And on Monday, since I have the day off, I'm going to go out with Diane, she and her husband are spending the afternoon on their boat and have invited me along! So yea, I'm going to get out! And I also have a date with a boy named Mark. He's not my type at all (burly loud Italian) but I'm looking forward to getting out with someone new and outside of work! He's a police officer who owns a hot rod so seriously, I'm really not planning on a second date :)

My place is shaping up so well. I've got maps up on the wall and everything is pretty much in order. I still have huge piles of paperwork in the bedroom that I don't know what to do with but that can be left for another time. I'm waiting to frame some of my 8x10 travel pics and once that's done I'll be hanging them up with all my framed 4x6 pics in a nice collage that I'll probably stand in front of a lot. Because I love staring at my travel pics.

Ok, I can't think of much else. You can bet I'll be back to posting on a regular basis!!

1/14/03
I haven't given up on my pita!! But it's difficult enough to get a few e-mails off during the day that I've chosen to do those instead of this. I should be connected at home by tomorrow (woohoo!!) and then will resume doing one of these daily!

I have to keep this short, I'm paranoid at work sometimes.

1/6/02
So the FL pics are online but they won't all be there for long so look while you can! I realized how much of my location they gave away - right down to my apt number! I'll be taking some of them off tomorrow. I see that my background and pita pictures are gone, looks like I've finally been deleted from the UT server space. I'll be getting some space once I have internet at home so sometime I'll work to get those back up.

Well it's a beautiful, sunny, and warm day here!! It's in the low 70s with a nice breeze. I'd never know it was January because when I got in my car this morning it was so hot that I had to put the windows down until my air came on. Hopefully the weather stays this way, I'd like to spend an afternoon at the beach this weekend.

While I will not actually kill the leafblower myself, I admit that I wish bad things on him. Ok, not him, but the machine he runs. It wasn't even 8 this morning!! Burying my head under the pillow and humming did not help. Once it finally stopped after 20 torturous minutes, my tub started thumping. I cannot handle that stress so early in my day. Despite the hour of horrible noises I did fall back to sleep. If he comes again tomorrow, which I suspect he will, I'll be complaining to the rental office because it's ridiculous. I may try sleeping on my couch to see if that little bit of distance helps but I doubt it will. My front door is paper thin and I can hear whispers in the courtyard very clearly. And yesterday I left my music on when I went to the store and when I came back I could hear it about three feet outside of my door - and it wasn't even on loud! I've made a note to self to not talk about anyone who has just left until I know they've driven away :)

Work is going well, nothing exciting to report. There are some boys playing soccer but they're on the far end of the field so I can't see them without standing up and leaning way over. All I can tell from here is that they're shirtless!

Ok, I had better do some real work.

12/30/02
Well you're out of luck on Florida pics. The "Easy Upload" isn't working (grrrr) and unless I bring the pics to work they're going to have to wait until I have internet at home. I'll try again tomorrow but am not holding my breath.

I fly back tomorrow already, feels like I've barely been at home! I thought I'd be much more anxious to return to FL but kind of wish I had just a few more days here instead. Of course being able to enjoy the weather will be nice instead of trying to not leave the house. I've been successful, I've only left the house five times in the ten days! That's twice to go to the farm, once for Sioux Falls, once to see Tom, and once to see the movie with Karen.

I think I forgot to mention it but Eric and Jenna are back together. She called here while he was home and I chatted with her for a second. I said that we hoped to see her here next year and was surprised when she said that she and Eric have already discussed it and she's planning on it! If he doesn't do something stupid and mess it up that is. When riding back to the airport with dad, Eric asked if dad thought it would be ok if the wedding was in Arizona or even Alaska since that's where most of Jenna's family is. Wedding locations?? Maybe I'll have a sister-in-law soon!! I hope they pick Alaska, what a great excuse to go up there!

Lord of the Rings was on Starz tonight so I taped it. I'm so excited to go home and watch it (which will keep me occupied until I get cable). I would've watched it while it was on but Karen's friend Jen came over for some "Christensen time". For the last few years she's come over to play games with us. We played Cranium and Balderdash, both were a lot of fun. Mary's been determined that we clean out all the half-used bottles of stuff in the bathroom and while we were playing she applied green oatmeal/avacado masks to us girls. Dad was so amused that he went and got his camera! Once done playing we watched How to Talk Minnesotan and then an A&E special about some murders that happened in our county in the 80s, which was cool because they kept showing Pipestone and people that we knew!

Ok, that's it for me. Hopefully I'll be posting again soon but who knows. I can say that as soon as I have an address and a phone number I'll be sending it out!!

12/28/02
Ah, back to the days when Saturdays blend in with the rest of the week! It's 1:30am now and this time I'm tired, despite having slept in so late today. Tom and I spent some time together this afternoon, it turned out to be a beautiful day with temps in the 50s! We walked the trail out at our monument and then went out to the brand new school to see the library that has just moved out there. It was fun seeing him again, hard to believe I probably won't see him again until next Christmas unless for some reason I spend my treasured vacation days on a trip back here over the summer.

Karen made bean burgers for dinner that were surprisingly delicious. I'd even consider making those for myself sometime! Right after that we took off for the movie theater where we saw The Two Towers!! It wasn't as good as the first movie (of course) but I loved it all the same!! I can't wait for part 3. I figure that by the time they're all out, I'll own a dvd player and can buy the whole big set of them. Something to look forward to.

Immediately after we got home I sat down in front of Pearl Harbor, which I've never seen before. It always seemed too long and depressing. Which it was. Mary had it on otherwise I probably would've skipped it again. I think I've seen too many war movies lately, I need some happiness! Of course, watching Ben and Josh wasn't exactly difficult, the eye candy was nice! Josh (Hartnett for those of you who are way out of things) is a serious hottie. Who'd of thought that MN could produce such good looking boys??? He's my new crush. He was just a little crush after I saw Black Hawk Down but that movie made me think so much that I wasn't concentrating on the hottness of Josh. I just checked to see if he was a Boyfriend and sure enough, there he was! Not the best writeup but whatever. I'm not even going to talk about how absolutely disappointed I am in the Boyfriends as of late. I only like ONE out of the past TEN. Ok, I guess two because I kind of like Jim Caviezel. But still, she needs to get it together or I just might think about not visiting the site on a regular basis.

12/27/02
It's not even 2am and I'm tired, what's wrong with me?? It's quarter past 1 and I'm about to head to bed. We got up this morning for a girl's trip to Sioux Falls for some after Christmas shopping. I was disappointed with the sales and came home with just one new top from Express and a cheapie picture frame from Target for a cross stitch I just finished. There wasn't a single good thing on tv tonight, not counting Iron Chef! I did watch most of The Man with the Golden Gun because part of it was filmed in Thailand at a tiny island that Mary and I had visited, but it wasn't a good movie so I had it on mute almost the entire time. The rest of the evening I sat in the recliner working on a new cross stitch project. I have a puzzle going too but need the daylight for that.

Tom and I were supposed to go out tonight but he had something come up. Sounds like we'll reschedule for tomorrow, he suggested a walk out at our monument since it's supposed to be nice out (with I think means 25-30). This time Erika is gone so it will just be the two of us, it should be nice. I wanted to pick something up for him this afternoon but nothing looked like the perfect gift. I've given him Into the Wilderness and The Alchemist so they're kind of hard to top. He's a very slow reader so bigger books aren't an option or I would've given him The Power of One, which I've never read but the girls raved about.

The girls continued to plan their trip tonight, I stayed in the other room to contain my extreme jealousy. I had asked my crush Alex for advice about New Zealand since he's from there and he suggested that they look into renting a car since the exchange rate is so much to their favor. The idea really took off and now they're making arrangements to rent a VW van so they can not only travel around the south island but they can also eat and sleep in it for only about $45/day. What fun!!

Ok so sometimes I still look people up on Google. Today I popped in the name Max Shippee, the guy I dated in Austin who led to Henrik. He told Henrik that he was acting in Vegas and I didn't believe him because for months now there has been no sign of him online and I figured there should at least be something. Well, turns out he was on CSI!! I haven't been watching this year, boy would that have been a big shock. He's just an extra but still. I'll have to watch the reruns for that.

Alright, I'm off to bed. Now it's 1:45 and though I'm still not too tired it would be good to be up before noon tomorrow. Only 3 full days at home yet!

12/25/02
Ah, another Christmas. I hope that everyone has a happy one! My wish is for a little bit of peace. Because wishing for a lot of peace with Bush in the White House is pointless. But who wants to talk politics?

Yesterday we opened about half of our presents and in the afternoon we headed over to the farm, where we've gone every single Christmas Eve since before we were born! It was the same as it always was, so many people squished into my grandparents small house, with way too much food!! We snacked, visited, snacked, snacked, visited, sat down to a big meal, continued snacking while the men washed the dishes, had my cousin's kids sing carols while we snacked, opened gifts (we each only get one, a really big gift exchange), snacked, and then 2/3s of us played Cranium while the others played card games. If you've played Cranium before you know how loud it can get so I think we really distracted the card players and eventually they just came over and watched us! It was a lot of fun! We all left around 11pm for the drive home. I didn't eat more than usual and it was the same stuff that it is every year, but I woke up at 3am with really bad stomach pains and was miserable for about an hour. I managed to make it all the way upstairs because if I was going to be sick, it wasn't going to be in the basement. Once I was feeling better I decided to just sleep on the couch because that was much easier. Mom woke me up this morning and insisted that I move into bed where I feel back asleep for another few hours. Thankfully I was fully better when I got up!

My grandparents came over today for lunch, mom cooked up a big turkey with all the fixings. Then we opened more presents and played some cards before Eric had to leave for the airport. Mary had her friend Josh come over for awhile (I used to have a big crush on him in high school, he's cute). He wanted to play Cranium so we had fun yet again! What a great game!! Soon we'll be needing that replacement pack too! Once he left, we had some neighbors over for dinner (turkey leftovers). Now us girls are about to sit down for our other holiday tradition - watching White Christmas. We LOVE that movie and even though we know almost every word by heart, we watch it every year.

And that's my Christmas!! I'd better get a good chair for the movie!

12/23/02
Oh, how I've missed my daily pita!! Once I'm into a schedule at work I'll be doing this again on a regular basis, I promise!!

I'm writing this from MN, I flew home this afternoon. Hard to believe that I woke up this morning thousands of miles from here. I don't think I mentioned it but from just outside of Pipestone to the Jupiter exit it was exactly 2000 miles!! How strange is that? I just love that kind of stuff. Anyway, this whole last week really flew by. Work went well every day and I'm curious to know how what life will be like once the new semester begins and once I start my evening hours. I am mostly settled into the apartment though there's lots of work to do yet to really have it be home. I'll be posting pictures hopefully this week but will make note of it here once that's done! It really hit me once I'd dropped Mary off at the airport that I was actually going to be living in FL on my own. I admit that I cried a bit in the car because I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I would be lonely and I felt like I was longing for something that I couldn't put my finger on. I think I didn't miss a particular place but I missed that feeling where you're completely comfortable somewhere. Well, soon enough I hope to feel that way again.

Eric and Mary both arrived home yesterday, followed by me this afternoon and Karen tonight. She had car trouble and left Utah several days late and we're all relieved that she made it! Tonight we celebrated over dinner because Karen actually managed to graduate!!! I admit I thought it wasn't going to happen and mom says that it's her Christmas miracle. We had wine and then made her open one Christmas gift early because we knew she was getting Cranium and we all wanted to play! Our family makes for three teams of two and it was tons of fun. We followed that with a quick card game before Mary and Karen went to the bar to meet up with friends and mom and dad went to bed. I'm pooped and will soon head downstairs myself. I don't want to sleep in the basement but don't have a choice. I'm stuck down there the entire time that I'm home.

Lord of the Rings The Two Towers is playing here in Pipestone. That means $4.50 to see an evening movie! Karen and I are hoping to go the night after Christmas. Mom wants to go but she hasn't seen the first one so either we need to rent that first or she's on her own (in which case she's probably not going to go). Mary's not the least bit interested in the trilogy. Too bad, her loss, because this is truly the best thing to ever happen. EVER. And I'm not exaggerating.

Alright, I'm too tired to stay up much longer. And I should get to bed anyway because mom says we can't sleep in tomorrow. She has our morning planned and then we'll be going to the farm as we do every year to celebrate (and overeat) with my dad's side. I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas, I'll be writing again soon!

12/18/02
How ridiculous is it that I'm cold right now?? It's in the mid-70s outside but I'm sitting on my hands (when I'm not typing) in order to save them from virtual frostbite. Why oh why can't buildings not go overboard on the air?? It had been cloudy out this afternoon but now it's a bright blue sky out there, making me wish really hard that I was done with work in 10 minutes instead of 100 minutes. Oh well, it won't be long until I'm working my night schedule and can be outside to enjoy the late mornings.

I'm so tired, I can't wait for Saturday and Sunday when I can just sleep!! It's been hard trying to squeeze in dinner and then shopping after work, taking all the new things to the apartment and then going back to the hotel to sleep. Tonight is the first night in my new home, on my new bed, near my new bathroom that sometimes makes funny noises like there's something trying to get out of the drain. Hopefully I get a lot of sleep because I have to be in Boca by 9 and it's over an hour drive at that time of day. We're hoping to drive to Miami when I'm done with work tomorrow but we'll see.

Today at work I pulled out one of my books from UT as a reference for a project I'm looking into and up in the corner were all of these kitten bite marks. It made me miss my little babies, each and every one of them. I'm teary eyed again just thinking about them.

I bought a clock for my office and since it's so quiet around here the ticking has been on my nerves. And something that's just above one of the ceiling tiles has been rattling very quietly but consistantly. Oh how I wish I could play music!!

Ok, I'm going to go see what I can find to do for the remainder of my day at work!

12/9/02
Well this will be my last pita for awhile. I'll miss it! It's after 1:30 am and I should be in bed. But I can't find my bed under the large pile of things on top of it. It looked like such a big project to clear it that I decided to see if it would go away while I got online. I have a feeling it's going to be another late night!

That said, I did manage to do everything I'd planned on doing today. Mom was sure that I wouldn't get a thing done because I did spend a fair amount of time in front of the tv (Chariots of Fire and Notting Hill) and in front of the computer (downloaded Bourne Identity and there are now more kitten pics up!). But my room downstairs is looking better than it has in YEARS! And I have only two trips to make out to the car tomorrow before take off. I think I can fit a small suitcase in so I could bring more than my backpack full of clothes. Then I could use more space in the bags for bringing things back to FL after Christmas... it's all working out splendidly!! We're taking off after lunch at about noon.

Ok, I had better go get things in order in my room. I'm only sleeping until 9 tomorrow, I hope that's enough sleep!

12/8/02
This morning I got out of the shower and found a peice of coffee cake in my room with candles lit. Mary must've expected me to be faster in getting there because they were half burnt. I made a wish and blew them out but they're the kind that start back up again. I ran the plate out to the kitchen leaving a trail of smoke behind and Mary and I managed to get all of them put out right before they hit the cake. And that's my exciting birthday story!

We all went to the farm for dinner with my grandparents. Grandma made chicken, stuffing, potatoes, fresh buns, salad, and pumpkin pie. Felt like Thanksgiving! It was all really good, I love her cooking. Mary and I decorated the tree there and finished after a fiasco with the lights. It's a very sparse fake tree so it was kind of hard to get it looking good but we did the best we could. Grandma had made all of these beautiful quilts for us kids when we got married but since she's given up on all of us, we get them now instead. I picked out a blue one that's really nice and a set of embroidered dish towels too.

It was so nice to get so many phone calls today! Not only did my other grandparents and Karen call, but Erika, Diana, and Kim too! That made it feel more like a birthday, thank you!!

Alright, it's going on 2am and even though I'm not tired, I think I'd better go to bed. Tomorrow I'm going to work hard to clean up what I'm leaving behind, to pack up the clothes I want to take back to FL after Christmas, and to make a pile of things for my parents to bring when they visit. Otherwise everything else is in the car and ready to go!!

12/7/02
Well, technically it's my birthday. But I like keeping the date at the day that I've just finished or else I'd always be a day ahead of myself on this. So I'm a whopping 28 years old. I got my presents tonight, a book and notepad from mom and dad, and a card from Mary. Not much but it was fun opening gifts!

We decorated the tree tonight, Mary and I got all the lights on and working, and put up about half of the ornaments. We stopped when Oh Brother Where Art Thou came on and we watched that. I've seen it so many times and I'm still entertained! Then I watched Iron Chef (an oyster battle) until Black Hawk Down came on. Whoa. That was intense. I spent half of the film holding my breath and the other half leaning forward with hopes of changing what was happening! The whole time Mary and I were thinking that Bush wants to go to war and this will happen to too many men (and women). Did that incident even make the news?? Do we really know what's going on out there? Does anyone care?

On to more light topics, I've got a copy of People in front of me declaring Ben Affleck the sexiest man alive. I think that's too broad of a title for anyone. When I first flipped open the magazine who should appear but Keifer! Love that man. Am trying to find Hugh (Jackman not Grant) but every page distracts me in the search. I also have the Entertainment Weekly with Pierce and Halle on the cover. Love that man too. Oooh, John Corbett is number two, I like him. I'll stop commenting on how much I like these guys, the same phrase would probably follow 90% of this list. Except for Donald Rumsfield, what the heck is he doing as guy number 5?? And I'm also not John Leguizamo's biggest fan. I mean he's great and all, but I'm not overly attracted to him. Ok, there's no Hugh (Grant is included, where's Jackman??) except for two small pics and people voting on whether he looks better with or without glasses. I think people only picked glasses because he looked horrible in the pic without them.

No more boring anyone with that. It's late and I'd better get to bed. I can't sleep in tomorrow (well, not past 11) because we're going over to my grandparents to see the family. Should be fun and I think I'm going to get a lot of birthday money :)

12/5/02
I froze my little butt off going outside tonight. I haven't left the house since Monday afternoon! Anyway, it was so cold and the snow was the kind that crunches and sends shivers up my back when I walk on it. But I had a smile on my face thinking that I wouldn't have to be cold for too much longer. I called Tom to make sure we were going to be eating and he asked if Mary was going to come along. I told him that she was giving a talk about Africa up at the library and he suggested that we go to that. I was happy, I'd really wanted to go and see her but didn't want to make him have to sit thru it if he wasn't interested. Well he had wanted Mary along tonight so she could talk about her time there so it worked out perfectly! And Erica wasn't as bad as I'd thought so that was better. After the presentation we went to a bar/restaurant for drinks and that was fun. Mary came with and that was even better. The beer tasted so good. It was only Bud Light so I can't explain why I thought it was the best beer ever. Tom had bought me a birthday card that was really cute, he's so thoughtful. And as always he was full of very entertaining stories. If I could just get him to leave Pipestone...

I only got one of my movies. As soon as half of the Bourne Identity finished I tried to get it to work but it was a bad file. And my computer went into hibernate mode and I lost MIB. Oh well. I don't really need more movies, I just thought Mary'd like to see some. She mentioned tonight as I was intently watching a long trailer for LOTR 2 that she wasn't the least bit interested in seeing that trilogy. Too bad I guess, I personally cannot wait for the next installation and will go as soon as I have the chance!!

Mary and I have out trip all figured out. We're leaving next Tuesday and will get to Erika's that evening. Woohoo, we get to spend all day Wednesday there!! I can't wait. Then we'll go down to visit Mary's friend outside of Nashville (I've never been to Tennessee before) for one night and will go to Atlanta the next day. They're only about four hours apart. We'll spend the day and that night in Atlanta, they have a huge Coke museum that's supposed to be really cool. From there we'll be able to make it to PBG no problem!! I talked to the lady at the apartment place today and she's almost positive that my move in date will be the 15th (otherwise not until the 20th so I'm crossing my fingers). Whew, two weeks from now I'll be somewhere completely new!!

And I completely forgot to mention the other day that I heard about my babies! The woman at the Humane Society called Karen and asked her to tell me that my little ones were adopted right away, one day after another. They were put out on Friday and were gone by Sunday, all to separate homes. My loved ones, may they be happy cats!!

Alright, I'm going to go to bed early tonight (well, it's 1am so not really early...)

12/5/02
Woohoo, I'm on my laptop!! And it kind of hurts to say that the problem was with my provider... not Dell. The first guy who was going to look at it didn't have an ethernet connection so he couldn't even check anything out. I called a second guy and figured that I might as well just sit down and call the internet provider here to see what they had to say. I waited FOREVER on hold but wasn't doing anything else. As soon as I told him what I was trying to do he was like "Well of course it isn't working. Try this." While what I've done doesn't at all explain why it wasn't working in Utah, here the problem was that the ISP found my address and knew the computer wasn't allowed to be connected. It used to work because dad was using a different modem. Hard to explain but boy was I ever happy when I restarted the computer and the internet came on!!! I've been connected for two hours straight now. Of course all I really have to do online is download stuff. I'm getting About a Boy, Men in Black 2, and the Bourne Identity, along with lots of music too.

I'm the packing queen. I have pretty much fit two or three boxes into one new box that is much more organized and rid of all the spacious stuff that I was afraid to throw away. Of course the room still looks like a tornado hit it because this time instead of packing randomly, I'm actually categorzing. Kitchen stuff in one box, pictures and knick knacks in another, etc. Usually I just go by what fits where and then I can NEVER find what I'm looking for when I first get somewhere. For example, this time my incense is right next to the burner and the lighters are also right there.

Tom and I are going out tonight but now I don't feel like it. It's freezing outside, with the wind it's probably around 0, if that. And I don't want to hang out with Erica. Oh well, too late now. I'm going to get more done before dinner.

12/4/02
So it's almost 1am and time has been flying by for me as I work downstairs. I went thru a bigger box and have about half of it in the toss out pile. Go me. I used to have this folder that was full of little things that I'd gotten out of magazines, old e-mails from my freshman year in college, random pictures, just stuff that I always considered important and wanted to keep in one place. 99% of it is gone, only the pictures have been kept and the one letter that I still have from my uncle who died. The rest of it I tossed! It kind of feels liberating and probably should've been done a very long time ago. Going thru the box took a long time because I found so many little bits from trips that I've taken - a bus pass from Malawi, a boat ticket from Thailand, museum stubs from Japan, stuff like that. Those have all been kept, I like to stick them on my bulletin boards. Anyway, if I keep this up, my load will be SIGNIFICANTLY lighter!! I'm also packing better than I did leaving Austin, using my space more wisely. Go me.

So when mom finished at school today we headed to Sioux Falls. We shopped a bit first at Sams and Wal-Mart, ate at Pizza Hut (I just love their pizza), and then went to the movie! We all loved it, it was very cute. Leaving the theater was cold, it was 7 outside and very slick. Can't wait to get out of the north!!

What I will miss is Pipestone news. I saw this in the paper today under Law Enforcement: Suspicious vehicles: 2, Harrassing phone calls: 2, Dog struck by car: 1, Runaway from the drug treatment center: 1, Stolen cell phone: 1, Cattle out: 4.

12/3/02
Mom's frustrated because I'm not sorting at this very moment. Ugh. I love her but she needs to just stop worrying about everything. I'll get packed in time.

I will get packed but whether or not it will all fit is another issue. Tomorrow we're checking into the price of having some of the things shipped to me. There are definately things that I want that I can get by without for a few months. I'm managing to just throw out some stuff that I know I don't need and will never want or look at again. But it's hard, like I said before, I like my stuff. Like I have these nametags from jobs from years ago and for the life of me, I don't want to throw them away. I don't know why. What if I want them five years from now?? You never know.

Books are what will really get me. I want them all with me. I was looking all over for this one book and then I remembered that I sold it for money. HOW COULD I?? Never ever again will I sell books for money unless it's a really crummy book.

So my dad didn't believe Dell either and now my computer is at a place to be looked at tomorrow. If that guy can't fix it, there's another guy who wants to take a look. Hopefully all this looking is going to get the problem solved. If they can't fix it, I'm going to be stuck but at least I'll feel like someone actually took the time to check it all out (versus Dell just trying two things and deciding it wasn't them).

I called Tom this afternoon, the Tom I used to date. It was so nice catching up!! We had a great time just chatting away. We're going to get together Thursday night and that should be fun. Except that his girlfriend Erika is going to join us. I don't like her but what could I say?? Hopefully I'll get to see him at Christmas too, he's so sweet.

Ok, 24 is about to start and I might as well watch it as long as I'm upstairs.

12/02/02
Today I was reading a Reader's Digest and I came across the quote that on average cheerful people make $14,000 more a year than people who are not cheerful. So they're saying it's based on how cheery you are. I'm just going to throw it out there that a lot of people might be more cheerful if they make that much extra money every year. You know? I'm a cheerful person, I wish that FAU would just add all that extra into my salary right now. THEN I'd believe that theory.

Well I didn't get a thing done today. I had my oil changed. I thought I was getting my hair cut but I guess that appointment is for Friday instead - glad that I looked again at mom's note or I would've been uptown for nothing. Tomorrow I really will get started on unpacking. Seriously, I will.

And that's all I have for now, stay tuned.

12/01/02
December doesn't seem so bad this year because for half of it, I'll be warm!! Oh wait, no I won't. I'll be back in MN three weeks from today. So only one week and 3 days in FL. Oh well, that's ok too. As long as I'm not cold for the entire month.

At this very moment, I strongly dislike Dell. I spent some time on the phone with them tonight as I tried desperately to get the internet to work. After two phone calls and many different things tried, they are POSITIVE that it is not their problem. I don't believe them. They think that it's my internet provider - despite the fact that I explained that I've tried connecting to TWO providers that have previously worked just fine for me. Tomorrow I will call the ISP to see what they say (the Dell guy is sure it's an internet setting that's off, even though we restored my computer settings to what they were back in early Oct). I hope that works but again, I really think this is a Dell problem.

Why am I still up?? It's almost 1, I'd better get to bed. One thing to add to my list of what I'm thankful for is electric blankets because I'd freeze to death in my bed without it!!

11/27/02
Home at last. I left early yesterday and arrived in Pipestone this afternoon. It's good to be home, kind of feels like I haven't been away for too long. It's good seeing Mary again. She's really looking thin, much more so than when I saw her in Africa. She's going to be coming with me to Florida!! She flies back the day before I do so I'll have her company for awhile. Dad thought he was booking us on flights the same day but he read my itinerary wrong. Oh well. Will be so great to have her with me for that trip!

I had a good end to my time in Utah. Karen and I spent Monday together. We drove over to Park City and went to the outlet malls. I bought a lot of stuff (the credit card bill will hurt) but it's all for work and I love it all already. Karen was a great stylist, she picked out most of the things I tried on. After that we drove to Main Street and enjoyed a Red Banjo pizza. Yum! It was a really good day. Then we went back to her place and hung out a bit before I had to get home to pack up. The next morning (feels a lot longer ago than yesterday) I had to say goodbye to my babies. Of course I cried but it wasn't as bad as if I'd dropped them off at the Humane Society - Karen did that for me this morning. I miss them, I thought about them a lot on the drive home.

Tomorrow morning we head up to the Cities to meet the whole family (on my mom's side) for the holiday. It'll be good to see everyone again and we get to eat out a lot too. I'm just happy that I'm not driving any more this week.

Things I'm thankful for: a job in a warm weather locale; Planters peanuts; kittens; James Bond movies; Kleenix with lotion to make them really soft; grapefruit; remote controls; powdered donuts; snail mail; dictionaries; credit cards; down jackets; light bulbs; and my family.

11/24/02
Ahh, the kittens let me sleep in today! I didn't get out of bed until almost 10:30. They were all curled up on top of me, that's when I like them the best. They've been napping all day and have colds, poor babies. I took all three of them upstairs after I'd showered and they played around in the front room of the house. I had set off the mouse traps thinking that I'd just let them run around the entire upstairs but they needed to be watched. All three of them crawled into the fireplace when I wasn't looking and they were filthy once I got to them! Once Maybe figured out that they were in there, he stood close watch over all of them. I have some cute pictures of him with Gabe. I've got to upload more pictures.

What's up with this week's boyfriend? I'm very disappointed. Of ALL the men in the world, come on. Sometimes I love Meg, sometimes I wish she'd get a second opinion on her choice.

Tonight I went to see Minority Report at the cheapie. I thought it was pretty good and didn't really notice how long it was. I got there late so I was very excited when I sat down just as the previews ended. I like the previews but would rather miss those than the first five minutes of the movie! The guy three seats down from me kept narrating the film to his wife/girlfriend and that got annoying fast. I actually thought that maybe she was blind and he had to explain the parts that didn't make sense with sound alone. But no, she can see, so I don't know why he had to do that. And there was a kid there, probably 3, who of course wasn't interested in watching the movie. WHY do people bring kids to stuff like this??

Ok, I'm going to go home and make myself some popcorn before bed. Or maybe some hot cereal. Something warm, I don't know. It's cold here, I can't wait to move!!

11/23/02
Woohoo!!!! I have a new place to live!! Today I called as soon as I was out of bed and talked to the nicest woman ever about an apartment. This place had come highly recommended from FL Rent Finders so I thought I'd give them a call. Next thing I knew, I'd filled out the application over the phone and was running to the post office to get some money orders sent to her to hold the place for me. Here are the details:

I'm going to be the first person to live in this particular apt because it's brand-spanking-new. Italian tile floors everywhere but in the carpeted bedroom. The bathroom has a Roman tub, you know, the really big oval ones. I have a washer/dryer right in the apt - a first for me that I'm very excited about!!! There's a big window in the bedroom and a screened terrace that will overlook a manicured courtyard. Of coruse I'm paying for all of this. But hey, it's my chance to finally live decently and I'm frugal enough in every other aspect that it won't be a problem. Plus, I get all of January free and that saves me $65 a month if you look at it that way! There's free juice and coffee for residents every morning, and there's a consierge available to do stuff for you. The most important thing that I can't believe I forgot to ask about was whether or not the place has a pool!! It had better. The only problem - and it's not really a problem - is that to get to the bathroom you have to go thru the bedroom. Oh and I'm afriad to tell my mom that the only unit they had available was on the first floor. I'm not concerned, I know this is one of the best cities in the area as far as safety, but convincing mom will be another story. I asked and she said that there's lots of security. But they always say that I suppose.

I'm going to have to buy some rugs to keep my toes warm. Because you know, sometimes it gets down into the 60s. I imagine tile will be nice and easier to keep clean over carpet. Sweeping is so much better than vacuuming in my book. I'm going to get a bigger bed, no twin mattress for me this time! I think I'm not going to be able to afford furniture for a month or two after arrival but I'm already really excited about decorating!!

Karen's friend Becca came back to town for the weekend. She got in this afternoon and leaves early on Monday, seems too short to be worth it! Tonight we went to Chili's for dinner with their friends Tony and Chris (Chris has a crush on me) and then went to see their new place. They installed a projector from their ceiling and a movie screen as a window shade. They can hook it all up and have big screen movies going in their living rooms! They're techies, bigtime. And they make movies. They're putting one together for Sundance next year and are already getting paid by people to do documentaries and stuff. Anyway, then we went to Kami's house, which is two doors down from Karen's. Lindi just moved in there because she got a puppy and had to move out of her parent's house until it's potty trained. It's SO CUTE!! She said it was a husky puppy but we think it's more like a beagle mix instead. Yep, big difference. We'll see how it looks when it's all grown up but for now it's very small.

And now I'm going home. The kittens have been horrible at night and woke me up more than ever before. Someone keeps biting my lips and my eyebrows. Nothing wakes you up like a kitten taking a chomp on your face. I sat up at 4:45 and explained to them that maybe I wouldn't miss them after all. Once they were sleeping and cute again I took that back. But I figure if I'm in bed by 10, I can maybe get 8 hours of actual sleep by 10 tomorrow!

Oh and Karen and I did go up to Log Haven last night. I had mentioned to Dave that we would be up so I'd pop into the kitchen to say goodbye. He asked what we were thinking of ordering and then said he'd send them out for free!! So once Karen and I were there we had free crab cakes (that melted in our mouths), a pomegranite glazed quail salad (which was good except for this herb-ricotta cake that came with it), followed by steamed little neck clams that were absolutely amazing. We split a seasonal fruit tart with honey lavander ice cream for dessert. SUCH good food. Dave came out to talk with us for a bit and to say goodbye, I'm going to miss him. Almost everyone on the staff came by the table to wish me well. I think Karen was close to tears because of how sweet everyone was. But I have a feeling that they'll miss me for a little while and then move right along. That's ok. I'm going to do the same thing.

11/22/02
Wow, time here is flying by!! Last night I was writing a pita when Zack must've decided to get online because I lost the connection. I didn't want to complain so I just let it go. Karen and I went over to her friend Kim's place for dinner (spaghetti, go figure!) and to watch Will and Grace. Then I went home and started to pack up. Most of my clothes have been put away, the rest I'll do on Sunday.

I'm at work but only until 2 today. Karen and I are coming to Log Haven for dinner again, yum! Yesterday Ian told me I couldn't use the $20 certificate that I'd gotten here last weekend because Joni wasn't supposed to do it that way. I don't really want to pay for meals up here but it'll be a nice treat. Tomorrow night I think we're going to Park City for my favorite pizza!

Ok, I think a manager just got here so I'm off.

11/20/02
Well when it rains, it really pours! I got a call from Arizona today to see if I could still come down for an interview. And then the San Antonio Express called to say they've got a summer internship and would I be interested. Must say that I flew over Phoenix and am happy that instead I'm going to be living where there is actually some green and with the ocean nearby. I talked to the same guy at SAEN that had interviewed me before and he said that he remembered that I moved around a lot. He told me that when I was ready for another move to send him my updated resume and he'd see what he could do. Look at how suddenly popular I am!! Despite the fact that I took the first thing to come along, I'm still very pleased with my decision.

Mary and Noel broke up yesterday. She told him that she wouldn't be able to travel there (she changed her ticket to exclude that leg) and would not be calling him anymore. I don't know if he argued too much or what but it sounds like she ended up hanging up on him and doesn't expect to ever speak to him again. She was starting to choke up when we talked about it yesterday so I just let it go. She's looking into starting grad school next fall for international public health and I think it's good she has that to focus on. I told her that she should drive with me to Florida and then fly home but the tickets are outrageous. I hope I can afford to go home for Christmas!!

Anyway, I'm going to quick send out some e-mail and then go home for dinner. Oh but first I'm going to see what I can find online for apartments in Florida!!

11/19/02
Go me! Go me! Go me! About damn time. I'm half way very excited about finally having a job. And half way dreading what I've gotten myself into. I can't move in March if I don't like it. I'm trapped. Oh dear. I'm trying not to think of it that way this far in advance! I am looking forward to the move down there, to finding a new place, to having friends visit me, and so on. And I get my own office. This is a big plus in my book.

I'm soooo tired from the trip that I don't know how I'm keeping my eyes open right now. And I have to be at work tomorrow. I already told Faith that I'd only be working Wed, Thur, and maybe part of Friday if she really needed me. I'm hoping she doesn't. I'm leaving on Tuesday and will get home to MN on Wednesday sometime. We're going up to the Cities on Thursday for Thanksgiving so I'll be right in time. I'll get to see everyone on my mom's side, that should be really great. Karen's disappointed that I won't be with her for that but I really need to get home as soon as possible. I'm already leaving a few days later than I want to.

The kittens have made quite the mess in Karen's room. She's happy that I'm taking them back because they've been waking her up all thru the night. They seem to have grown over the weekend but I know I just needed a bit of time away to really realise how big they've gotten since they were first delievered to my door. I'm going to cry a lot when I leave them, it's going to be hard.

Ok, I've got to get home. I'm still in love with Keifer. And now I'm going to start asking myself "what would Keifer do?"

11/16/02
What a day! I was so bored at work before 12 that I was just waiting for a manager to get in and then I was going to leave. Of course the phones start going crazy with people who realize they have to get stuff done before the weekend and I'm just swamped! I booked two last minute parties, took a million reservations, and typed up a lot of paperwork. Ugh. It felt good to leave. Then I ran home to pick up the jacket without pockets and returned it to the mall. The girl was surprised to see it back, apparently it's their best seller and they can't keep it in stock. After that I ran to Shopko to pick up some gel. I had bought some at Big Lots but it made my hair so sticky and clumpy, it was horrible! Now I know that it's worth the extra dollar elsewhere for a brand I know!!

I showered and cleaned up because tonight was the night Karen and I went up to Log Haven. Karen showed up and was upset because I'd forgotten that we'd agreed to wear dresses. I ran downstairs and quick threw one on (the benefit to only owning three is that it's easy to choose between them!) and off we went. We were late but I'd called to let them know that. It was so great!! Being up there as a guest is just a whole new thing. Ian had saved us the very best table, which was a big surprise to me but a real treat. Our server was one of the nicest girls I've met there so that was cool. It took us forever to decide what to order but we ended up with the Spicy Mandarin Tacos, Shredded Duck Confit and Bosc Pear Salad, and the Asparagus Ravioli. Oh my goodness, each and every one of them was so delicious!! The tacos were a mess to eat, I'd probably pass on them next time just because of that. The duck salad was absolutely amazing, I could've ordered two of those for myself!! And we finished every bite of the ravioli, which was soooo good! We were in heaven. Joni, the manager for the night, came by to ask if we'd like some wine on the house so that was an added treat. Kurt is the cool bartender and he brought it out to us personally to say hi. We couldn't resist ordering a dessert each and we split a slice of cheesecake and a chocolate hazelnut torte. YUM! To make it that much better, Joni decided to comp us on the ravioli as well and I'm not sure exactly how she did that math but our total for all of this was $29!!! That meant I got a $20 certificate back! We were just in awe because that means we can go back again!!! I know Karen had a really great time, she hasn't stopped talking about how nice everyone was, how good the food was, and how excited she is to have another night up there at no cost to her!

So I know her night ended well after a rough day. She got her BioChem test back and it doesn't look like she'll be passing the class. And one of her favorite dogs at work died in his sleep last night. A fancy dinner out is just what she needed.

I'm actually typing this as I wait for the slow printer to finish up with my handout. I think they're pretty good. After today it's too late to change them which kind of freaks me out... but it'll have to do! I can always wow them with what I talk about and the handout can be secondary.

Can't believe I leave tomorrow!! I'm not really ready to go. I've thought out my outfits but my suitcase isn't big enough. I want to have back ups in case I change my mind, you know. And shoes take up a lot of space! Most importantly I just need to have my interview suit in there. And a curling iron. And a swimsuit. And underwear. And something to wear to dinner the night before with the library director. You know, just the basics.

Alright, the printer just screwed a few up so I have to redo some. Ugh. Anyway, I'm going to go. WISH ME LUCK!!

11/14/02
Still lots and lots to get done so this will be short. But I probably won't be posting much in the upcoming days so wanted to write while I could!! I can't believe I leave in two days. YIKES!!

Tonight I got a call from the woman at the Humane Society. She was wondering how the kittens were doing and was surprised I hadn't turned them in. I told her the truth, that I wasn't ready yet! She said that Sophia had already been adopted out. Oh, my babies!!! So the plan is that Karen will be taking them there on Monday to be registered and to get some shots. Then they have to go back with her for at least a week before they can be fixed. They seem much to small to be fixed. Anyway, that gives me two nights with them after I get back. I know that it's a good thing to let them go but it's going to be hard. I want to keep all of them.

And I'm going to have to stop at that! I hope to have time online tomorrow while at work! I also hope to leave work early to get stuff done - like packing, running errands, and so on!

11/13/02
This is going to be short because I have got my work cut out for me with this presentation. Thanks Erika for the really good topic idea. As always your suggestions have been very valuable!! I went right to Karen's to get to work but someone was already online. I think I already explained that if Zack's computer is on the internet than Karen's computer can't be. No one knows why. I spent over two hours just waiting. Frustrating because it was just Zack's friend downloading music. Grrr. But now I'm about to get to work. I'm gathering my thoughts first.

It's so fricking cold in Karen's room. I'd say that serious it's in the mid-50s in here. Brrrr!!! We're going to have to figure out a way to get a space heater in here for the kittens or they'll freeze to death. Especially after growing up in the heat of my room!

MUST GET MY BUTT INTO GEAR AND GET REAL WORK DONE. PS Love the Boyfriend but there HAVE to be better pics of this man out there.

11/12/02
TWO INTERVIEWS. It's like I've moved into a parallel universe without realising it. Five paid nights in FL, life is looking up!! How absolutely depressing if I don't get either job though. I won't start thinking about it. See, I went from thinking that I'd get them both and have to choose, to thinking that I won't get either. Maybe it's a sign that I'll just get offered one... Let's hope.

So Karen's going to have the kittens for a whole week! I told her that if she didn't want them that I'd turn them in to the Humane Society this week. I'd feel just horrible, Gabe's still on formula and that tells me that I need to keep them all just a little while longer. Thankfully Karen's taking them. Her upstairs is so different from mine, much safer, the kittens can actually have most of the house. They're going to hate coming home when I'm back!! Oh that's a terrible thought. But on the bright side, they'll be all ready to find new homes.

My show 24 was on tonight but I didn't watch. I can't explain why not. Right before it was about to come on I had this sudden feeling of disinterest. What's wrong with me?? Instead I went to the library to return some books that were due and then came over to Karen's. She's been in front of the tv for awhile now, she had a big test both yesterday and today and felt that she deserved it. So I sat down with her and watched the end of Real World. After that was a show that was actually taking place in SLC! Cameras followed around three groups for a night out on the town. Four girls and four guys were all out at a place called the Fun Dome, three girls were at a Warrant concert and got to go backstage, and one LDS dork was trying to ask out the girl that he liked. I almost felt bad for him because it was so pathetic. But mostly I felt bad for the girl that he was asking out. They go out for ice cream and she tells him that another boy has asked her out and she really likes him. This doesn't stop him. He takes her out to a lookout point over the city and pulls out these toy boats. He then proceeds to tell her that two boats will be called "friend ships", get it?? He then says that there's another boat in the harbot - and actually pulls out another toy boat, and calls it a "relation ship". He wants to leave the "friend ships" behind and just board the "relation ship". Oh my, Karen and I were on the floor half laughing and half just feeling SO BAD for this girl that's stuck listening to this. He wanted to bridge to the other ship using Cher tickets. Sheesh. The poor girl said that she liked him only as a friend and then got all wierd. More wierd.

Karen says I have to get off of her computer now. Faith is gone tomorrow so I'll be online, woohoo!

11/11/02
Well I almost made it to work on time this morning. But I didn't. It would've been the first Monday on time since my first week of work. Today I don't know where the time went, I don't remember lingering but next thing I knew I was still half dressed with wet hair and had two minutes to go!! Then Alex darted out the door and made off for a dark corner of the basement. Catching him wasn't easy and I felt so bad because it reminds me that I keep them cooped up all day. Poor babies.

Work was boring. Faith and I spent a lot of time just chatting which was nice because I didn't have anything else to do. I had hoped to leave early but of course there were too many things that came in at the last minute so I didn't get out until after 4. Oh well. Hopefully I can leave early a few times this week because I need to start working on the presentation for my interview. I should know the topic by tomorrow. That gives me four evenings. It's going to be a tvless week (except for West Wing) with lots and lots to get done! And I still can't get my laptop to connect. Ugh.

Tonight I took Alex upstairs to play around since he's the one always wanting out of the room. I put him on the couch and he just froze. I went into the kitchen to put some water on the stove and peeked back in and he ran and jumped into a corner behind the couch. Right then I heard Mike come home from his weekend away and in bounded Maybe. Poor Alex wouldn't come out from under the couch and I had to have Andrew help me move the whole thing so I could get to him. He just crawled into my arms and shook, I felt so bad for him! Oh dear, I've created kittens who don't adjust well. This weekend at Karen's will be a bit of a shock but they should end up having a lot of fun. I wonder how they'll get along with the bunny.

I wrote to Dell about the problem with my laptop. If I don't have a solution by tomorrow I'll actually call. It's hard because to see if it works or not I have to be at Karen's and she only has her cell phone which I have to use after 8. I just hope that they give me what I asked for - the address of a location where I can actually take it in and have it looked at. At no cost to me of course.

Alright, I'm going to get home. I didn't watch any of my shows tonight because I was so busy online that I kind of forgot. What's the world coming to??

11/10/02
Mmmm, Starbucks. I don't treat myself to a good mocha latte often enough. But I did today. I got up at 9 and was running errands by 10. I went to Big Lots and found some really cute picture frames and picked up some peanut butter. Then I went to get gas to and PetCo where I bought a case of wet food and a bag of dry food to keep me covered (and the rest I can donate to the Humane Society). And the organic grocery store Wild Oats was right there so I decided to buy my milk and spaghetti there. It was just as cheap as the regular store for that stuff which was really cool. Then right after I finished making myself some lunch, Karen calls to see if I want to go out to eat with her. I went along to the burrtio place but didn't eat. I did decide that I deserved a latte though. Especially in this miserable weather. And it's still in the 40s, just wait til it's back down in the 20s!! I was supposed to volunteer at the library today but have decided not to go in anymore. Why? Because it's as boring as can be and I've got better things to do with my time. So I'll call tomorrow to talk to the guy and explain that I'm too busy. By busy I pretty much mean lazy but he doesn't have to know that. Besides, next weekend I'll be in FL and the weekend after that I'll be getting ready to move! I'm tentatively planning to leave the weekend after Thanksgiving.

I think I freaked Karen out about taking the kittens next weekend. When I look around her room I see all of the things they're going to climb on and tip over. But she's going to love them because they're so darned cute. I just hope they don't break anything...

Ok, I'm working hard on my dreamweaver stuff and so far it's all been going well. I'm trying to think of cool things to create just to practice with so I can get a feel for the whole program. I like messing around with it. I'm going to go home and play with it right now.

11/9/02
Karen just told me that I sounded like mom. I hate it when she says that. Karen has a big test on Monday followed by a big one on Tuesday. I asked if she had studied today and she said no. Of course I'm going to be upset!! She's going to barely pass her classes IF she passes at all. She's supposed to be graduating!! She told me yesterday that if she fails, she's not going to tell mom and dad but instead will just live in SLC and they'll never know that she's still trying to finish. She'd have to do that next fall since she'd still go on the trip from Jan-May. I realize enough people in the family are telling her to study hard but how can I help it??

Today I woke up to a phone call from FAU. Ethan didn't seem to mind that I'd missed him yesterday at all and the fare actually was still available. I feel stupid but the one place I didn't check was actually with the airline! They're never the cheapest so I didn't waste my time. Oops. Anyway, it's all taken care of. I'm flying down Sat and getting in at night, have Sunday to relax (well, to freak out), will interview on Monday and fly back Tuesday morning! I was surprised when he said that all of my food would be covered. I'd rather pay for it on my own and get brownie points but I don't know if that's how it works. And I kind of want to take advantage of this while I can!

Tonight I watched Iron Chef, alone again since Karen's out with friends. After that was Trading Spaces, they're putting on episodes all night of the rooms that the people didn't end up liking. After one I shut it off because otherwise I'd be here all night. And it's cold in this house. My house is cold too but at least I have a warm room to turn to!

Karen has really been liking Will, up until last night. He annoyed her and now she doesn't think she likes him anymore. Isn't that funny? He stayed over and all night was asking her questions about science and religion, arguing with Karen's point of view. Never argue with Karen at 4am when she's tired and wants to sleep. So I'm guessing he's out the door. Oh well, there will be a new one in a few days.

I think the kittens are almost to two pounds. I'm keeping them right up until I leave. Karen will have them here at her house while I'm gone. I figure that if I don't get the job, I'm going to move home for Dec anyway. That way I don't have to be cold ever because I don't need to leave the house. And while I won't be making any money, I won't be going into debt either. And it would be great to be there with Mary.

Alright, that means only about three more weeks of kittens. Must go home and enjoy them!!

11/8/02
Well, I went out last night and had a lot of fun. They had the biggest beers ever for only two bucks. But I drank water. The band started over and hour late and this was a good thing for me because by then I really did have to leave and got out of listening to them. Big hair 80s rock band. Actually a few of the guys were really hot and the hair was - thankfully - not real. After getting home and partially regaining my hearing, I tried to study for the interview. But didn't really because I was tired and the kittens were being so danged cute.

The interview did go well though, I felt pretty good about it by the end, despite being thrown off by a few of the questions. I guess that's what they want to do though, to see how you can act under pressure!! I only worked four hours today, leaving right at four which was really nice. I wish all days would go by that fast. I got home to a message from Ethan Allen (the guy at FAU) asking me to immediately return his call or reply to his e-mails. Of course I knew right away that I'd missed him because of the time difference. I rushed to Karen's to see what the e-mails said. They're trying to make travel arrangements for me but I needed to ok the itinerary. I feel horrible that I couldn't get back to him in time, his e-mails must've come right after I finished checking it at work and I didn't get back online. He said that if I could find the same flight at the same price to book it and I'd be reimbursed. I searched but the prices I found were quite a bit more. I feel horrible!!!! What if this means they're going to have to pay a lot more?? I don't want them to start out feeling bitter towards me! Thankfully he's going to be in tomorrow (Sat) so I e-mailed him asking to call me and explaining that I was very sorry. Anyway, I'll be flying into Ft. Lauderdale and I'm getting a rental to drive the hour north to Jupiter. They're putting me up in a Holiday Inn Express a BLOCK from the beach!!!!! A flight, a car, a hotel, perhaps a dinner, this is great! I think the change they wanted to make was flying me in on a Saturday, giving me Sunday to rest and have a look around town, and then interview Monday am before flying back that night. He said that leaving Tuesday would be a problem because I'd have to drive in horrible traffic - which one never wants to do when they're trying to get to an airport.

I watched Iron Chef tonight and am about to head home. Karen was over at a friend's place so I saw her for only about two minutes. We were going to go out to eat at Log Haven tomorrow night but she has to cook and expects it to go late. So instead we're going to go next weekend and we're going to make it be for both of our b-days even though mine is still a month away.

One month from TODAY I'm going to be 28. The adjustment is always easy for me because about two months before my actual b-day, I start telling people that's how old I am. I don't know why. Maybe because when I was a kid, we celebrated my b-day on the October date of my choice. That way it wouldn't be too close to Christmas. I can understand that if my b-day was Dec 20 or something but looking back, it doesn't make sense. Oh well, I do know that I liked getting the gifts early! Kim turned 27 yesterday, thankfully a friend sent out an e-mail so I remembered!! I gave her a quick call and that was nice. I'm so bad about b-days. I'm lucky to remember the general month but actual days? Forget it.

Alright, I've got some of the cutest kittens to get back to! Hope that you're all having a good weekend!

11/7/02
Yipeeeee!!! I was asked to go down to Jupiter FL for a real interview in just TEN DAYS!! Could I be any happier right now?? Only if they'd said 'skip the interview, we already know we want to hire you' because that would be nice. But this is good too!! This is the opposite feeling from getting three rejection letters in one day. Hooray for me!!!

I promised Karen for weeks that I would go out with her and her friends tonight but I have my interview in the morning and am nervous about being unprepared for it. So of course I sit here e-mail and doing a pita instead of wisely using my time... oh well, such is my life :)

So Don at work (ew) said that if I wanted to move to FL he could hook me up. He knows a guy in Talahassee - I stopped him here to say that I wasn't going to Talahassee but to no avail. This guy owns lots of real estates and Don could probably arrange a place for me to stay for free. I said that I wasn't going to move anywhere until I had a job. He said that this guy who does real estates is hiring. Do you know what he needs? Secretaries. I looked at Don with about the meanest look anyone has ever gotten from me and told him that I was not about to move to FL so I could be a sectretary. It wasn't until just as I'm writing this that I realise right now I'm working in a very secretarial manner. But still. It made me very mad that he was saying he could hook me up as a secretary down in Florida. Um, if I wanted one of those jobs I'd have gone there long ago. Please please please let me get a real job so I never ever have to see him again. I will miss Faith though, she's really cool.

When I hook Karen's internet cable up to my laptop, the internet works for about one minute before cutting off. So I plug it back into her computer and it works fine. So that means it's my laptop right?? I'm totally unprepared for things to go wrong with my computer... I love my laptop. You two should both get laptops. Erika can sit upstairs, her husband won't mess with any settings, she can just download stuff and do whatever she wants. Diana could start creating her own websites (or even keeping her other one current - just kidding!!), she wouldn't have to use her roommie's, she can download all the games she wants and can play around. Yes, you both need a laptop. I've decided it for you.

Now I'm going to see if I can get mine to work. Karen doesn't own a single 3 1/2 disk so I can't save it and switch it to mine. Frustrating.

11/6/02
Two entries in a day, what a treat! I don't have that much to say but Karen's internet is up and working. It's nice to be back here but I wish her room was warmer. There are only two circuits in this whole house so if she has the lights on and tries to dry her hair while someone upstairs has the lights and the tv on, everything blows. A space heater would really do the place in. Lately the power at my place has been on and off too because with three space heaters I guess the system can't take it. I don't care but since my floor is a dangerous mess in the dark, I just sit tight and wait to see how long it will be before one of the guys fixes it. Tonight it shut off right as President Bartlet was giving his winning election speach. West Wing, in case you're out of it.

I stayed at work today until 6. The two extra hours will help make up for the four I'm going to miss this week total. I had the feeling over the phone that Faith wasn't in a good mood so I didn't mention the fact I'd be late again this Friday. Hopefully she takes it well tomorrow. I'll tell her right before I go upstairs to get a drink or something. Anyway, they've put an ad in the paper to find a replacement for me. I know it's what they need to do, but what if I don't get one of these jobs? Then I'm out of luck. And out of two jobs if you think about it. I'd move home to MN early. Would be great to be near Mary but hate the thought of it. It's cold here but colder there!

Speaking of cold, we're expecting a rather large storm this weekend. Ski places are expecting it to bring enough snow that they'll be open by next week. I hate that people are excited about that. What's wrong with them???

I played with the kittens since the minute I got home and by the time West Wing was on, they were all sleeping on top of my, purring their hearts out. Hopefully I can make that happen again right as I want to go to bed! Alex can reach up to the top of my dresser if he carefully balances on the end of the bed and leans way over. I don't think he can get up there but he can get his claws on stuff that's on the edge. I had a bottle of almost-empty hand lotion on the edge and now, I cannot for the life of me find the pump that had been unscrewed but sitting in the bottle. Gone. I looked under the bed and found two and a half pairs of socks and a pair of underwear. That was Bastian, he loves to pick things up and drag them around. Cute until your socks start disappearing when you need them. Anyway, as long as I have kittens on my mind, I'm going to get home to them!

11/6/02
Yesterday was Karen's birthday, election day, and my phone interview so it was one heck of a day for me! It started off with the interview, which I think went pretty well. Thanks Erika for the phone call of luck! I'll know by next week, will hold my breath until then. Got off work and was in shock to find two messages for me, both from other warm weather places!! I have a phone interview with the univ in Miami on Friday morning, and also heard from Arizona State, who will be contacting my references and from there deciding who to invite down for in person interviews. Go me, I'm wanted at long last!!

Karen has a huge test today so she couldn't do much on her b-day. After work I met with her and took her out to dinner. No, I can't afford it. No, I can't resist spending money on Karen anyway. I bought two Lonely Planet guides for her, actually for her and Mary since Mary didn't get a b-day present from me. It wasn't the most fun b-day present but hey, they're going to come in very handy!! We ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I didn't think the food was worth what it cost but it was too late by the time we were looking at the menu. It was nice to get out anyway but why why WHY do I go out to eat spaghetti???? Makes no sense.

Since I did vote, I can complain about how things turned out. Minnesota went Republican and I couldn't be more ashamed of my state. What was up with all the Republicans getting elected???? I do NOT understand, someone please explain to me. I wanted all the Democrats to win to show Bush that no one is behind him. But this means he has a good chance of being reelected and right now nothing seems worse to me than that. I'm so frustrated. I need to see how things went in Utah because when I went to bed last night, the Democrat was ahead in the polls. They call him a Democrat but anywhere else, he'd be a Republican. But still, of all the places for a Democrat to win... It was funny because on the campaign commercials, I couldn't tell which side he was on, they all had the exact same platform which seemed way too pro-Bush to me.

My mice count hit four and then came to a dead standstill. They're actually eating everything off of the trap but not setting it off. This is the second trap that isn't working, I'm going to have to try another one. I threw away the one that was working for reasons you don't want to hear about. It was funny because my mom sent me an e-mail to kill them all! Mike is sure that if I kill a few, the rest will get the message and leave the house. Mom says that's not true. All I know is that four did not put a dent in the population and I often realize that all the kittens (with their good hearing) are sitting staring at the noise coming from the ceiling when no one else is upstairs. I'd like to have them gone.

Anyway, I'm at work and had better get going.

11/4/02
Oh my goodness, I went into internet withdrawl for a few days there! Karen's internet isn't working since Mike moved out and that has somehow thrown off the network in the house. Hopefully it's up and running later this week. I was going to get online at the library yesterday after volunteering but the line was SO LONG that I just couldn't justify it. Anyway, here is my long awaited pita1

I had a sexy dream involving Jeff Goldblum. Any idea what this could POSSIBLY signify??? Because it's very strange. I woke up feeling very differently about him... :)

My weekend was not the most exciting one ever but it was nice. I got in some quality kitten time and that was great. Alex has taken to sucking on my fingers, especially at night. I don't mind but sometimes he bites down unexpectedly and ouch, his teeth are sharp!! Gabe just keeps getting cuter and cuter. They're all developing subtle stripes down their backs. Alex and Gabe's are darker like their tails and Bastian's is flecks of white in his black fur. Super adorable.

Last night I went out with Karen and a few of her friends and we had a girls night in. We played poker with pennies and just chatted. Most of them live with guys and don't have many girl friends so it was a lot of fun. Once home I didn't fell well at all and was sick in the bathroom until 2am. Ugh, I hate that. But I did manage to get up in time for work and have felt fine all day.

So I decided to do something about the mice. Mike said he can't stand to kill them and Jeff just doesn't get around to doing things so I set two traps myself. The one behind the toilet hasn't gone off yet but the one behind the stove - I've caught four already in two days!! Three of them were caught within ten minutes of setting the trap down. I replaced that trap with a new one and I don't think it's working because twice now I've looked and the peanut butter and oats are gone but it didn't go off! I'll have to try a different one instead. It's not that I like killing little things but I'm so sick of them!! They poop on the stove. Mike said he even saw one of them pop their heads up thru the burner so they're actually in there! Ew.

There, I think I'm mostly caught up. I'm going to head home and start getting ready for the interview. It's going to be really really hard to not watch tv when I should be going over things. I got the stupid thought in my head that I do better when I'm only somewhat prepared. Like how I gave some good presentations when I knew everything but wasn't overly rehearsed. Well, keep your fingers crossed, this could be a good one.

11/1/02
November, wow. I would've sworn it was just last week that I was complaining about the end of September!!! Well, on the plus side, May will be here before we know it and Erika will be a happy girl again!

The party last night was a hit, lots of people and 99% of them were dressed up so it was a lot of fun. The Pink Panty Pull-down Punch was stronger than I would've expected and two measly cups had me long gone. I believe the previous pita shows my condition but I was careful to check my spelling!! The boys were young so I didn't do much looking. I will say that quite a few boys looked at me! It must've been my charm and the tight black catsuit. Oh who am I kidding, it was the boobs. I stuffed one of Karen's bras (she's a D cup, I got gyped in the genetic department, it took two socks on each side!!) and wow, I was very va va voom. I was so afraid of something happening to my camera that I have a few good pictures but didn't take as many as I had wanted to. Karen was asked out by Will, who's the roommate of Andrew, who is Mike's brother that was living with us for those few months. Anyway, Karen was thrilled, she thought he was cute from the first time she saw him at my house. She's so funny, she has so many boys on her plate right now.

Ok, I'd better get some work done.

I just read the pita that I posted yesterday and decided to add more to this one. I do NOT recall wanting to put a move on Zack. And I don't think I was on my third glass - though that would explain my condition. Yikes. I did manage to switch to water right after I posted that and by 1:30 was sober enough to drive myself home. I think I'm going to have a nice quiet weekend at home to fully recover though. Iron Chef is going to be the most exciting thing to happen, that's the plan. Oh and I have some cheezy scary movies at home that I might watch for the fun of it. Ok, now I'm really going to go.

10/31/02
My first drunk pita note!! I'm totally plastered, it's not pretty. I'm looking good in my skin tight cat suit. I have a cat mask to go with it or no one would know who I was. I look young enough to fit in to Karen's party. I'm dancing a lot, anyone who knows me knows that means I've had one too many. But couldn't resist posting anyway.

Being drunk makes me want to put a move on Zack. I know I said I was only going to mention hime once. Drunkness bring it out of me, I can't help it.

I came downt to Karen's room to pee but getting my suit off is hard to do. Oh goodness, I'm so drunk. Getting up tomorrow is going to be painful. What to know what I'm drinking?? Pull Down Panty Punch. Quite the name. Vodka, beer, and pink lemonade. Yum, I'm on only my third glass. Am hooked. I look hot. Everyone says so. Must get toing so more people can complement my outfit. Am going to take pictures to help me remember this tomorrrow.

Must remember this tomorrow. Look at how good I am at spelling.

10/30/02
When I woke up today, there was snow on the ground. Just after I said that it might not snow in town for a while after it did in the mtns. Jinxed again. It's cold and I haven't felt the tip of my nose for a majority of my day. Ah winter.

So go me!!! I have a phone interview on Tuesday with Floriday Atlantic University!! They're in Boca Raton. I'm so nervous already, I've got a lot of brushing up to do!! Tonight I've got to print out stuff from their website so I can know they're mission and all that other crap that might impress them with my knowledge.

Last night I skipped the library again and instead hung out with Karen. We made some pumpkin bread with our squash. Judging by how much squash we used in the bread, we can make approximately 18 more loaves of bread. Seriously. So maybe we're going to make some pumpkin bars and then we're going to give some bread away. I ate a whole loaf already so who knows, maybe I'll hoard them for myself.

Ok, West Wing is on and I must go focus.

10/29/02
It’s snowing. A lot. Non-stop all day. I don’t know if it’s gotten to town yet, it will often snow in the mtns and canyons a month or so before it will in town. And I had to get a job in the canyon. Today I pulled out my wool sweater which I’d been trying to put off. If I wear it now I’m going to like being this warm and since I only have two sweaters, I’m going to be cold most days of the week. For whatever reason, it has made sense to be cold every day of the week instead. I already warned everyone at work to expect to see me in about the same four outfits for the remainder of my time here.

Gee I’ve been bad at posting. It’s so much easier to stay at home than to go to Karen’s. On Sunday I was up by 9, isn’t that just horrible?? I slept in so nicely on Saturday but just couldn’t on Sunday. I was actually up at 8 but stayed in bed to enjoy all the love the kittens were giving to me. They can be so sweet when they’re sleepy! Bastian shies away from affection when he’s all riled up and becomes hard to handle. Anyway, I put in almost two hours at the library which was, again, very boring. After that I went to Karen’s and we ran a few errands together before heading up to Log Haven for the pumpkin carving. We had expected lots of the staff but there were only four others there – Faith and her boyfriend, and Ian and his cute kid Duncan. We had a lot of fun anyway, the chef had made us some lasagna and bread, and since there weren’t many others, we had our choice of pumpkins! Karen even managed to finish 2 in the time we had, I only got one done because sometimes I’m a really slow worker! They all looked so good by the time we set them outside and put candles in them! I took a few pics, maybe I’ll get around to posting them sometime. With the time change, we were all thrown off about what time it was. It felt like 10 but it was only 6!! Since we had the whole night ahead of us, we went and rented a few scary movies and went back to my place. The problem with movies is that I always forget about what else I’m doing. We burned to a crisp three of our six batches of roasted pumpkin seeds. I don’t like them all that much anyway, other than to suck off the salt, but still. We watched The Haunting (which was dumb) and Final Destination (which scared the pants off of me). We also had taken two more pumpkins from Log Haven and carved them, I then brought them back here so they’d line the walkway to the restaurant.

Whew, long paragraph. So now it’s Tuesday already. Tonight is the season premiere of 24, I’m so excited!!! I’m going to torture Karen with it, though I suspect she’ll end up liking it too. I’m supposed to volunteer at the library but don’t feel like it. Karen’s coming over and we’re going to have dinner and then make pumpkin bread. As far as the library, I think I’m going to tell them that I can only go in on Sundays because of my other job. Ok so it’s a lie, I don’t care. I’ll go in for all four or five hours if I have to but going in on weekday evenings just isn’t going to happen.

Alright, before this gets any longer, I’m going to quit writing!!

10/26/02
Iron Chef is so awesome. Erika, how are you surviving without it??? Tonight they're going with no assistants so that's a challenge.

Karen's going to a party tonight and she's all decked out as Wonder Woman. I didn't want to go, I'd rather stay home and relax tonight. I slept in today until noon and that felt soooo good. I was up at 11:30 but couldn't pull myself out from under the covers because I had three purring machines on top of me and I didn't want to disturb them! Karen called and came over about 2, she'd gotten a gift from work of a gift certificate to REI and we drove over there to spend it! Wish it was my mondy, I saw lots I wanted but came away empty handed. After having bought that coat for myself last week, I discovered that it doesn't have any pockets which drives me crazy. Anyway, the search goes on for a fall jacket, this time I'll be making sure it has pockets.

Ok, I'm going to go upstairs to watch Iron Chef with the others so I won't look antisocial.

10/25/02
Since I skipped volunteering at the library on Tuesday night, I got up the ambition to go last night. Everything was a rerun from what I could tell so I didn't even have to miss any tv! There was barely anything for me to do so I only spent an hour there and then headed back to Karen's. The whole reason I went back to her place was to do a pita. And I spent two hours there online and completely forgot!! Where has my memory gone to??

I'm happy that it's Friday. I have no plans for the weekend and look forward to just catching up on stuff at home. There are a few more jobs to apply for and I really need to clean up my room. Last night I went thru the very large pile on my desk and found a few bills that were due yesterday (oops) and a few other things I'd been looking for. So now I can see my entire desk!! I wonder how long that will last for. I have so much stuff on the floor for the kittens to play with that walking around the room is a chore so I'm going to get rid of a few things and vacuum again. The new litter really has kept the smell down so that's good! I had a sundress hanging in the closet and last night looked over to see one of the kittens hanging from it. It's so snagged up that they've probably been jumping for it for several days. Ugh!! Now everything that they could possibly reach is hung out of reach. Stinker.

Work has been quiet but I'm not doing all the stuff I have to catch up on before the weekend. So I'd better get in gear and do a few things!

10/23/02
Grrrr. Do you ever hit one button on the keyboard that makes everything go away? I just did that. I hate that.

Karen's about to go out on a date. That's the third date (each with a different boy) in 10 days. How can I get a social life like this? Now she's trying to make sure that she doesn't run into any of the boys at the wrong time. It was funny because two of them were at the coffee house last night. Thankfully they were both busy studying so they weren't crowding her at the table.

My babies await me, I'd better go home.

10/22/02
So yesterday I decided that checking my e-mail was not all that important. Instead I stayed home and curled on my bed with the kittens, watching tv. I used to only get five channels but then Mike told me that I just had to find the button to switch it off of the cable setting. Sure enough, now I get all the stations that come in upstairs. Why don't I think to ask these things earlier?? I only want to get the WB in my room because a lot of times the Mormon run NBC station will drop Leno on nights when they think the guests are inappropriate (bugs me to death on Monday nights for Headlines) and then the WB picks it up. They also won't show SNL - and although I'm not the biggest SNL fan, I like to at least have it available as an option!

Today after work, I came over to Karen's because we were going to make butternut squash soup. We bought the BIGGEST squash ever at the farmer's market and it was our only night to cook it up this week. We ended up making it at my place because we needed a blender. Karen had found the recipe online and we had all the ingredients so that was really cool. But the soup was so thick, rich, and creamy that we could barely eat it. It was like eating melted cheese dip for dinner (there was cream cheese in it), it would've been great as a sauce or over potatoes. Well we have a huge pot of the stuff and we didn't even use half of the squash. I think we're going to either add a lot more squash to what we have, or just make a new batch of soup using a different recipe. After our dinner of ten bites of soup, we cleaned up and then went out to have coffee. Karen and her friend Kim studied and I started reading Anil's Ghost. I'm not intrigued yet, I'm waiting for it to get good. Wonder if I'll have the patience or if I'll just start another book.

I was supposed to volunteer at the library tonight but decided to go Thursday night instead. It's such boring, mundane work that I knew they wouldn't miss me. That makes it hard to want to go. I want to do something real!!

Faith's not at work tomorrow, hope I can be online all morning!!

10/20/02
Shopping can be really bad for broke girls. I found a cute jacket at Wet Seal. It's such a teen store but the stuff fits. I also ended up buying three pairs of jeans because they were on a big sale and were only $13 each! I also bought cute underwear, terry shorts for summer pjs, and Karen picked out a few things too. The total was much higher than I wanted it to be. I'm going to shop at Old Navy to see if they have a better coat and then can return the other one.

Ok, I'm going to admit this ONCE and only ONCE. I think Karen's roommate Zack is hot. And funny, and sweet. But he's only 21. TWENTY ONE!! Geez I'm old. Or he's young, whichever. But he's tall, dark, handsome, single... You can see why I haven't said anything before and won't say anything again, but I couldn't resist because you guys are my best friends and there isn't anyone else to tell. If he was 25+, I'd be all over it. Ok, I said it. I'm not going to gush.

Instead, I'm going to go home and put on my new jeans and play with my babies.

10/20/02
Ahhh, it's been a good weekend. Just the right mix of not doing much and doing fun stuff. Friday after work I tired out the kittens and then went over to where Karen dogsits and we orded a pizza. We called home and as always happens where there's family over, we were passed around the table. We talked to the parents, our grandparents, Eric, and Jenna. Mary will be in DC until next week now (to go thru a short course on readjusting after the PC, even tho she doesn't really need it now) so we didn't talk to her. After that we took Sidney (the dog) over to Karen's house and we sat around with a bunch of her friends. It was a lot of fun and everyone loved the dog - who is SO BIG!! She weighs more than I do, she's probably at 130 or. We pretty much just sat around watching Iron Chef and all talking, it was nice. The next morning I got up early and met Karen and her friend Kim for the farmer's market, turns out this was the last week. We bought so much that we had to make a trip back to the car!! Every time Karen said she wanted something, I pretty much bought it for her. We came away with onions, potatoes, focassia bread and yummy dip, salsa, chips, cookies, a few plants, watermelon, butternut squash, and probably more that I can't remember. It was a lot of fun though, it was so nice out that we were down to our tshirts!!

Kim couldn't come with us after that so it was just Karen and I as we headed back to the place that we didn't have money for last weekend. This time we were sure to have the 3 bucks. It was worth making the trip all the way back there, it was so beautiful, even if most of the trees had lost their leaves. First we went to a place called the Tibble Resevoir where there were quite a few people fishing. The water was this amazing blue green that was so clear when the sun was shining on it. We hiked around the whole resevoir, having a good time trying to cross over all the streams that fed into it. We saw lots of fish, a Kingfisher, two beaver, and plenty of bugs. From there we drove to Cascade Springs which was pretty enough but not very exciting. On the way back, we were stuck behind this painfully slow driver. Speed limit: 30 His speed: 20 Chance of passing him on the curvy road: 0. He wouldn't just pull into a turnout to let us by and we were about 15 feet from his bumper the entire time. Grrrr. We were getting so frustrated. Then all of a sudden, out of the passenger side window, we see a can being tossed out and into the brush. Karen and I were so in awe of this litterer that we didn't think quickly enough to stop and pick up the can ourselves. However, we did take down his license plate number and all other info from the car. After about 15 miles (a very long time going 20mph), he finally let us pass. So we get to the fee station first, which you don't have to stop at since you pay on the way in. But we ask what can be done if we saw a car litter in front of us. So yes, we fill out a full report against the guy!! Because litterers are evil and I'm always mad that nothing is ever done about it. We were filling out the form as the guy drove by, the attendant gave him a dirty look but knew he couldn't do anything, it's a matter for the State. So we'll see if Karen or I get a call about it.

Once back in SLC, Karen and I went to Target and then to Krispy Kreme. We wouldn't normally go two weekends in a row but it was on our way home!! Yum. We mashed up some potatoes for dinner and then Karen went out. I stayed here and watched TV with Mike and Zack. The internet wasn't working and I was waiting around to see if it would work before I left. No luck. So I'm trying to do some catch up today since I haven't done any e-mail in awhile. Karen and I are about to go to the mall so I'm going to finish this up! So much for catching up but shopping sounds like more fun.

10/17/02
My forture today says that I will step on the soil of many countries. I hope it means many MORE countries!! I love it when it says things like that.

It's been a boring day. Work was busy enough that I always had something to do and that helps. Faith gave me the gift certificates that she'd promised. Is is horrible of me to be disappointed?? $50 is a lot but it means that Karen and I can't even order entrees and be covered. We'll have to get first courses (smaller) and then we'll have enough to each get a dessert. I mean, it's so great that at least we can have a dinner up there and all, but I had kind of thought she'd give me at least $60 and for regular diners we always suggest $80-100. Anyway, I should just be happy. We're going to wait for the fall menu to come out and we'll go up for Karen's b-day in early Nov.

Henrik and I chatted for a bit this afternoon. He's in Vegas until the 30th. I had no idea he'd be there that long. He's staying with Max and is stressing about the big show. I told him I couldn't come down during the week but if he was going to be in town for so long I'd consider going down there next weekend. We'll see. I don't know if I'm that ambitous.

Do you know what I really need? A fitful night of sleep. I can't coop up the kittens now that I've let them out at night or they'll go crazy. But I'm constantly waking up and dropping one or two of them off the bed so they'll stop chewing on me! It's driving me nuts. And Alex won't leave Gabe alone at night, he sucks so loudly that I wake up and poor Gabe is a slobbery mess! In the dark it's hard to tell who's who but I know who the wet one is :) I don't know what to do but will see if I can offer him some warm formula before bed and maybe that will do it. Who knows, maybe he's just thirsty!

Meg Wood has disappointed me these past few weeks but I love this week's Boyfriend!!

10/16/02
I love it when I have the whole office all to myself. The phones aren't ringing (tho I probably just jinxed myself) and the managers won't be in for another hour yet, and Faith has the day off. Yes, there go the phones. I usually don't mind because it keeps me busy. But now I want them to stop so I can e-mail instead!!

The kittens bite me while I sleep. It's extremely annoying and I don't know what to do. And out of nowhere, Alex has started suckling Gabe's ears. Gabe has gone back to crying for a bottle, even though for a few days he just wanted soft food instead. I'm happy to do that but thought it was a bit strange. They're more playful than ever, they just get all riled up and run around, chasing each other up over and under everything in the room.

I went to bed early last night, knowing that I'd be awaken so many time that every extra bit of sleep would be nice. But Mike woke me up for a call from Karen. She misses Max, not as a boyfriend but just as a friend since they used to talk several times a day. She went over to his place last night to return something he'd left at her place and Karen said he acted very strangely and she was all confused about what the meant and so on. But then when she was out with a friend for coffee, she saw this really cute guy that she dated a long time ago and she wanted to ask him out but didn't catch him in time. She had a date last weekend with a boy who is "cute but strange", whatever that means. Later that same night her roommate Mike put the moves on her, he and his girlfriend had broken up that night. She was freaked about it but things have been normal since. Ah, the ongoing saga.

Ok, I'm going to get to work. It needs to be done.

10/14/02
That sniper thing sure is scary. When I talked to Mary the other night she was so annoyed with all the media about it. She said they would give updates every half hour, breaking into shows and stuff. It is a bit much.

Today was a very boring day. Faith told me to leave work at 2 but thankfully I found enough to do to stay until almost 4 because I really need the hours. I'm tired of working there, it's not a challenge.

I'm watching tv at Karen's, that's my excitement for the night. The guy who gave me the kittens came by to see them. He brought a bigger litterbox with a cover, some crystal litter that he says won't smell, and a toy that they just love.

The lady on the commercial just said that having soft skin makes her feel like she can take on the world and it gets rid of stress. I use handlotion but maybe I need to buy that kind to get myself a job. Or not.

10/13/02
Sunday, where did the weekend go??? The kittens woke me up every few hours, biting my nose and swatting at my eyes. Ouch, it wasn't fun. I had tuna casserole with Karen before I headed to the library. I was there for three hours. Again, it wasn't fun and I was bored the whole time. As I was heading home I realized how horrible it would be to actually work there. Smelly people and most of the librarians are weird.

I can't believe it's after 7 already, I've got to get home to my kittens! Today I'm going to tire them our really good and maybe they'll sleep well thru the night.

10/12/02
Last night I decided it was time to let the kittens stay out in the room thru the night instead of enclosing them in the closet. At first I really tuned in to every little noise they made to see where they were and what they were playing with. Then after about 15 minutes, they climbed up onto the bed and fell asleep on top of me. It was wonderful!! I awoke at 7 to a kitten (I suspect it was Alex) on my face and have a nice red scratch across my cheek. Thankfully they calmed down and I slept until 9. I'm just happy that they really do sleep at night, I was worried that they were awake but quiet most of the time. This will work.

So after getting up, I met Karen at 10 and we picked up her friend Kim and headed to the Farmer's Market. It was chilly out but we had fun looking at the food, and it was arts and crafts day so there was lots of other stuff for sale. I sampled absolutely everything that was free, that's my fave part of the market. Karen's never had a pomagranite before (I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong, pitas should have a spell check) so I bought one of those and we picked up some apples too. We spent everything we had, which was only $1.50 in the first place. Kim went home but Karen and I drove about a half hour south of SLC to a canyon that had been recommended to me at work. It was a lot further away than I had expected and when we finally got to the bottom of what promised to be a beautiful canyon, we came to a fee station. But between us we had the 14 cents that I keep in the car for emergencies. So we had to turn around!!! It was such a disappointment, I was heartbroken to have gone all that way and then not get to see what we'd gone for. And the leaves might not be any good next week. Right off of the interstate where we were about to head back to town was this big oasis of family fun. That's the only way I can think to describe it. Shops, a museum, a hotel, a petting zoo and all that stuff. Karen talked me into going to the petting zoo (admission was $2.50 each but they took credit cards) which was fun but not nearly as cool as I knew the drive would've been. Oh well. Karen promises we'll go next weekend instead.

Tonight I'm at Karen's hanging out. I came just to download some job postings but sat down to watch the end of Iron Chef and to have dinner. We'd grilled a steak and made mashed potatoes, yum! Anyway, eventually more and more people show up, most of them boys. One of them had burnt his hand before and sure enough, someone had caught it all on tape. Boys can be so stupid, how has survival of the fittest not completely removed them?? Anyway, they pop the tape in. The boys are spitting everclear over a lit mini torch so they can blow fire. It's all working well until one of them spits a bit too much and instead of all burning off, it ignites the hand holding the fire. To actually see it on tape was unbelieveable. His hand was engulfed in blue flame, no one knows what to do because he's thrown the torch to the wooden floor where other unburned alcohol lites up and he's swinging his hand around and around. So there are three fires on the floor that everyone's trying to stamp out and this poor guy with his hand burnt. Ouch. The tape jumps to this morning and his hand was practially one big blister. Well that's what he gets. But I thought it was an interesting story.

Anyway, I'm going to get those job postings and then go to bed!! The day sure did fly by.

10/11/02
Well, the bugs have left our house but the mice have arrived. I haven't seen one yet but Mike can hear them in his wall and has seen them in the bathroom. So out came the traps. I hope I don't see one dead in the trap, ew.

I'm watching the English Patient. I started crying almost right away and had to take off my glasses because when I cry, little bitty bits of tears get on them and it's horrid. I just love this movie. Love it. And I loved the book two, I thought the two played off each other perfectly, each took a different part of the story. I've been meaning to read it again and I want to read more by the author whose last name I cannot spell.

And that brings us to my new crush!!! Ralph Fiennes is a hottie. I couldn't even dislike him in Schindlers List. I love his serious nature in this one. I want him.

10/11/02
This morning, Don brought donuts to work for everyone. I'm the only one here so I got first choice. I picked one with custard that has chocolate on top. It was SO GOOD until I hit the custard. It's the worst custard I've ever had. Now I don't know what to do. The trash bin is way outside and I think he's out near there anyway. My trash can isn't lined and is completely empty because I took it out before I ate my donut. So here I sit. With a half eaten donut (I ate all around the custard) that I don't know what to do with.

The kittens drank water today! I'm so happy. The formula doesn't stay good for too long and I was getting tired of always mixing up little batches of it. it was so funny though, they couldn't see the water so they all stuck their heads right into the bowl (the water was about an inch deep). Boy did they jump! They all cautiously went back for more and next thing I knew they were all drinking away! Even Gabe! Yesterday he moved on to soft food but only when I have it on a spoon in front of him, he won't eat it from the bowl. Today he had formula from the bottle, a bite or two of solid food, a spoonful of soft food, and a drink of water. It's time consuming for me but I like knowing that he's not hungry while I'm gone and maybe he'll start eating on his own soon. They're growing up so quickly!!

Henrik says my money will eventually come. They've fired Renee (the wife of the founder of the resort) and are reorganizing the company and moving the headquarters and stuff. I hope they don't mean that they're leaving Bali, I didn't have a chance to ask. I wanted to have friends there. Anyway, I'm hoping that he means the money will come within the next few months but who knows. I'm SO kicking myself for falling for paying for flights TWICE. What happened to learning from your mistakes? Hmmm, wasn't I saying something along these lines yesterday?? That may have been about kitten food but still.

Ok, I'm going to get to work.

10/10/02
And the kittens have discovered solid food. It was fantastic! I offered a peice of it to Alex and he smelled it for a long time and then greedily ate it up. So I put a bowl out on the floor and all three of them ate!! Even Gabe! He hasn't been taking the bottle very well today or yesterday so I've been trying to get him to eat out of the bowls because he seems to be going hungry. But this is good. I'd love to have them all off of the formula. They're having a hard time eating the whole peice so I started breaking them up. My fingers are killing me! They're tough little peices to break up. I did this for my other kittens and now I remember thinking to myself that I shouldn't do that again. I've got to start remembering things like that earlier.

I can't get Karen's computer to print my transcript so I don't know when I'll be able to get the rest of these resumes out. Grrrr. And Claudia hasn't gotten back to me. When we were talking about this same thing months ago, she would write back within the hour. But I'm trying to not read into it.

Don, the guy at work whose southern accent who annoys me, kind of asked me out yesterday. I'm distrubed and uncomfortable. So that unexpected tour came by yesterday after I'd only taken 3 bites of my lunch and by the time I got back to the desk, the top half of the sandwich was crusty. I knew I didn't have time to finish it right then so I put it back in the baggies. Don comes by, plops down in Faith's chair and starts chatting. He notices my sandwich and then says that he should take me out to dinner to make up for it. I'm like "WHAT??" and I think that made him back right off. I was not happy and I'm sure he quickly picked up on that because he left. Ugh. He's married with grandkids and I wouldn't ever be interested in him anyway. YUCK. He should NOT be asking me to dinner. Especailly not just because it got a bit crusty. Ew.

No crushes to report. And no new fave songs either. Someday I'll see a boy and will like him.

10/9/02
The office got so busy this afternoon that I thought I was going to go crazy! I had a tour show up unscheduled and the phone was ringing off the hook, I had a million faxes to send, and Ian kept handing me things to do. I had jokingly told Dave (the chef) to tell people that I wasn't in and would be back the next day. He actually told Karen that when she called!! She was all thrown off, trying to reach me at home and wondering why I'd not called her. Good thing we got in touch so that she was still there by 4 and we went hiking! It was just beautiful. I wish the weather would stay this way. It was cool out but I worked up a sweat trying to go uphill in this thin air. The trees are still changing color and it was stunning. Hopefully my pictures will turn out, they never look as pretty as it really is.

I volunteered at the library tonight. I'll be working one night a week and some Sundays. It was pretty monotonous stuff. The library is switching to a new building and changing their systems at the same time. So I put new stickers in the book that are kind of new barcodes and stuff. It was very boring actually. But the good part was that I managed to get back to Karen's by 8:30 so I could watch the last half of West Wing! I thought I was going to miss it so I was very happy.

Now I'm heading home to my babies. I want to get the tired very early. And I haven't eaten yet so I'm starved!!

10/9/02
Sometimes my best friends make me cry because they say the nicest things at the right time. Thank you guys!! I'm feeling much better about things now. And seeing as sad, happy, and all things in between are making my cry, guess it's just my emotional week! I'm still waiting to hear back from Claudia but I did write to her. Will keep you posted!

10/9/02
So last night after managing to pull myself together a bit I went upstairs and watched tv with Karen and her roommies. We watched the Justice Files and then the FBI Files, we're all fans of the forensic stuff. Then I went home to kittens who were, I believe, purposefully trying to get on my already edgy nerves. Someone had thrown up all over the place, Bastian spit out all of his cold medicine on my clean jeans, and when I finally decided that I had to get them to bed (after 1am) they kept jumping out of the enclosure. I'm just not ready to lose a lot of sleep because they feel like playing on my bed at 4am, you know? They all ran under the bed and wouldn't come out. I turned my endtable on it's side and they aren't big enough to jump up that high. One by one I lured them out with the toy on the string. Sigh. I love them but can only take so much!!

I'm going to write to Claudia to see if she'll take me on in Austin. I don't care how much it costs to live there or if it's an unpaid internship (I'm not sure if it is or not) but I need something in this profession and I need it now. It's just PT but I can take another job or two to get by. I'm going to write her next, she's good about replying right away so I should find out quickly.

Karen's going to come up and meet me when I'm done with work. We're going further up in the canyon to go hiking. I figure we'll get in a good hour before I need to head back home to eat and then go to the library. I brought my camera along so will post more canyon pics sometime soon.

Ok, the managers are coming in so I'm going to have to do e-mails on the sly.

10/8/02
I didn't get the job in San Antonio. The only job that I had a chance at and it's gone. I'm trying not to cry. It's not working. Doesn't anyone want me??

Breathe, don't cry. Breathe, don't cry.

Karen and I went out for burgers tonight. I had the special, which is a garlic burger w/cheese. I can still taste the garlic but boy, was it ever good. Tomorrow at work Faith will be gone and hopefully it will be quiet so I can be online in the morning when no one else is in the office.

Ok, I feel crummy and am going to go home and cry.

10/7/02
Karen's tears have me considering staying in Utah for a while longer. I can't deal with it when she cries, I'm such a sucker. She wants me to stay for her b-day (Nov 5) and also for Thanksgiving. She's upset because all of her friends have left and then I'm going to ditch out on her on account of the weather. Sigh. I'm thinking now of staying here until mid-Dec and then going home for Xmas and then heading to TX. Of course a job in the meantime would mean packing up asap and that would be the best!! Faith at work today said that they'd like to hire me on (and not go thru the temp agency anymore) and she says she only needs someone thru Dec. I told her I'd get back to her. I guess she told the other managers that she was going to ask because a few of them asked right away about what I'd said! Looks now that I'll agree to that but say that if (please please please) a real job comes up I'll leave. I'll decide sometime this week I guess.

The library called today and I'll be volunteering this Wednesday already. Wednesday. Of all the days of the week, they pick the ONE good tv night that I live for. I'm going to figure out Karen's vcr tomorrow so I can stop by here and record before going down there. Because I can't live without West Wing.

Alex is hissing a lot. I thought he needed to get out more so I took him upstairs. He hissed at Maybe a lot but thankfully Maybe is a really good dog and stayed when I told him to stay. Alex sniffed at his feet a lot but the hair on his little tail stood at end the entire time. The Jeff came home so Maybe barked and Alex went nuts. I was on my way thru the kitchen to the stairs when Jeff came by and petted Alex, who hissed at him too. Then Jeff started making really loud noise about two feet from me and Alex hissed and dug his claws into my neck, ouch! I had just told Jeff that Alex wasn't responding to noise or quick movements well. Grrr. Anyway, Alex was thrilled to get back into my room. I have to get them out more though or they'll be afraid of everything outside that door!

Ok, am going to go home now. Right after Proof of Life finishes. I love that Karen has cable.

10/6/02
Today I noticed how much of a tan I don't have. I hate to say how 'little' of one, how much of one makes it seem like I've got one. But I don't. And I'm depressed.

Several people have written to me about my ad online saying I want a room in San Antonio. But I didn't find out until too late that I have to pay to read them. This is a problem because I'm not going to pay anything. So I went back in and added my e-mail to the public part of my profile. I'm not too worried about putting it out there, it's the account I use for everything, not my rocketmail. Hopefully someone will write me, that would be cool. Maybe I'll be somewhere new by November. And then I can be in TX for when Erika is there!!!!! And I can see Diana all of the time! And I can eat at Freebirds!

The kittens have discovered the joy of string and that's made it an entertaining morning. Gabe didn't even wake me up this morning so I slept until 11! I hope I can get some sleep tonight or getting up tomorrow will just kill me. What I'm hoping is that no one else will be in front of the tv so I can watch English Patient. Karen was way wrong when she said that I wouldn't want to bring my VCR along, I'm really kicking myself for that one.

Resumes will be going out to TX, FL, Az, AL, VA, MO, and NC. Hopefully more will come up this week. But wow, look at me be ambitious!

10/5/02
So I managed to actually get some resumes done today. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to print them but they're all ready to go so hooray for me! I spent time tonight looking for more jobs but couldn't really find very many. I thought I'd do a bunch more tomorrow just to get more out there. Oh well :) I was looking at jobs in Alaska for no particular reason. Ok, I wanted to see if they paid tons and tons for making people live in horrible conditions. My friend Dan had worked up in Barrow (about as North as you can get) and he made tons of money. Actually, there's a library job up there right now. $53,000. Add another $10 or $20 and I'd consider it. But good lord, who wants to live where in July the temp only gets up in the 20s???

I had a nice and quiet day. I woke up to Gabe at 8, got out of bed and fed him and then went back to sleep. I managed to sleep until 11 so that was great!! I went for groceries and to Big Lots for some random stuff. I meant to go just for manilla envelopes but completey forgot about them until I was back at home! I took my movies back to the library and checked out The English Patient and a yoga video. Then I sat around with the kittens, I made a bunch of movies of the kittens, I just wish I could get them to work on my imagestation site. Now I'm at Karen's, I watched a bit of Air Force One (I love that movie) before Iron Chef came on. Now I'm watching Trading Spaces. Doug isn't listening to the poor people who are working for him. He's doing all the walls in zebra stripe and while I think it could be super cool, the couple is freakng out and Doug is completly ignoring them.

Karen's bunny is out and running his little heart out. He's actually litter trained so he runs back to his cage to poop. I changed his cage so the room doesn't stink as much anymore. It's a big job, no wonder Karen doesn't do it very often.

I'm going to go do e-mail. And check into rooms in San Antonio. And there was something else I was going to do. Is there a medicine that I can take for my memory?? Oh and I added a few pics to both the SLC and the kitten album!

10/4/02
So I'm sitting here staring blankly at the computer screen wondering what in the world I was going to write here. I had ideas but they've gone away.

I talked to Mary for awhile tonight and that was good. I think it's really sunk in that she won't be going back and she's accepting it a bit more. She talked to Noel for almost an hour before I talked to her. They're trying to figure out how it will work for them to stay together but in the meantime they'll be seeing other people and so on. He's an excellent soccer player so he's looking into getting some sort of scholarship to an American university. No clue how he'd get in without an English or even a good education but they seem to be hoping for it anyway. I just hope that it all ends well, you know? I told her that I wanted to move to San Antonio and she sounded interested so that's cool! But I'm looking into getting a room in a house so I don't think having a guest for two months is really going to work. We'll see.

I haven't heard from Henrik in a very long time. I've been so busy at work but did find time to send him an e-mail last week but never heard back. And still no money from LA. Not good. I'm not upset or bitter or anything. Almost indifferent, it's strange.

I'm tired. I'm going home to my babies. Gabe probably needs to eat and I want to tire them out so they'll get a good night's sleep and maybe I can sleep in!! They've been really good about being out in the room all day when I'm at work and I'm thinking about trying to let them out all night tomorrow night. They can get up on the bed so it could be trouble but I'm willing to give it a try. Maybe. I'll decide tomorrow.

24 starts again at the end of the month. I can't wait for more Keifer. I need a weekly dose of him.

10/3/02
My mom thinks San Antonio is a good idea. Hmmm...

Today Mary found out that the PC is pulling out of Cote d'Ivoire and she will not be returning. She's very upset, she didn't have a back-up plan because she was sure they'd be sending her back to Africa. All of the volunteers have commented about how they hate to leave it this way without being able to say goodbye to anyone. I can understand that, it can't be easy. As soon as things have calmed down, the PC will be going to everyone's house to gather up personal items and they'll be shipped back to the States. So that's the end of that. I wonder if she wants to move to San Antonio...

Today at work Faith and I worked our butts off on the menus for the big dinner tonight. Thankfully the phones were pretty quiet or we never would've finished. As it was I was there until 5:30! Faith said that if there was an extra opening that I could go to the dinner. A space opened and closed on and off thru the day but in the end, it was booked. I was a bit disappointed but at the same time I had to get home to feed Gabe and I'd have been gone all night! However, Faith felt really bad for getting my hopes up and that I've been working overtime on this - so she's going to give me enough gift certificates for Karen and I to go up there and have dinner some night!! I'm so excited!!!! This is even better than the dinner because Karen can be there too. Hooray for me!

I was watching TV tonight and would you believe - I FORGOT that CSI was on at 8 and that's what I usually watch. I can't believe that it just slipped my mind! I did catch Will and Grace which I don't usually watch but I saw that Kevin Bacon was going to be on and I couldn't resist. Now I'm watching ER and am much more caught up in the show than I wanted to be! I think Dr. Ramano will stay on the show. I couldn't believe what happened though - with his arm, they showed it at the very beginning. Yikes.

At 1am last night, Mike knocks on my door saying that Karen's on the phone and wants me to get up. She was in tears, she and Max broke up. I don't remember how it happened because I was so sleepy that I just tried to comfort. She was drunk and that didn't help! I guess she got a bit upset at him and said that it was good they were spending the weekend apart (it's fall break already) and he said that he didn't feel the same way she did so maybe that should just be the end of it. Or something like that. So I guess they're thru for real now. I said I thought it was good that she knew it was coming so it wasn't a surprise but she said that she wasted a month with him knowing he felt differently let and so on and so forth. I called her from work today and she seemed 100% better so that's good. She went to CO for the weekend so I'm feeding the cat and bunny. I'm going to miss her while she's gone! Ok, I'm going home now.

10/2/02
I feel like it's a Tuesday today, this week is going so fast for me! I've been busy at work slicing up the paper for the pretty menus we're going to put out. They're really cool, including not only the food but bios of the chef. I hope they look ok when they're done, they're not very consistant and that bugs me. Like one of the chef's pics is horrible and done in sepia tones while the others are in color. And we ran out of good paper so some pics are on the photo paper and some on just plain paper which curled up a lot. But hey, I'm not going to the dinner (unless some amazing streak of luck befalls me) so I'll just imagine that everyone will be very impressed.

I'm so ready to go home but I'm trying to squeeze in at least an extra half hour of work every day so that by the end of the week it will have added up to a few extra hours. I want the money!! I would get a second job but then I'd never be home with the babies. And I'm lazy but the kittens are a much better excuse.

Ed and West Wing are on tonight, that's going to be my excitement for the day. And that's enough for me, a quiet night nestled in my warm room with kittens crawling on me and my fave show on is going to be nice!! Ok, I'm going home!

10/1/02
Snow. I hate it. I hate the cold. I cried driving home from work today because even though I thought it was pretty this afternoon, I know that snow is what will someday drive me insane. I was also crying because my fingers hurt so bad in the cold and I had previously sworn that I would never live where my fingers would loose feeling. I left my jacket and most of my sweaters back in Pipestone, that doesn't help. Time to move on, that's for sure. I thought the snow was a sign and expected to come home and find a message asking me to move to San Antonio by next week. Boy, would I ever jump at that chance. Anyway, I realized that I'm right to only apply for warm weather places. The exception will be the DC area, I don't know exactly why. But I hate the snow. And the cold. And I hate who I am when I'm hating the snow and cold. I'm a bitter, angry person. You might not believe me but it's true. I yelled at every single other car on the road today for almost no reason.

Of course there was a little bit of a reason to yell at everyone. Because Utah drivers rival the worst drivers I've ever seen!! On a four lane interstate, they like to line up across the lanes going 10 mph under the speed limit making sure no one behind them can pass. Very frustrating! And they're rude drivers, no one waves. I always wave.

Finally, my camera came back!! I couldn't get it out of the box fast enough and started taking a ton of pictures! I was trying to take some kitten movies but it was too dark even with all my lights on. I'll have to figure something out because they're funny when they're in motion. Anyway, you can go and admire then on my site! I'm going to take the camera up to work and take a few pics of the canyon, you guys are going to love the view from my window at work!

Tuesdays sure aren't good tv nights. Usually 24 is on but I don't think the new season has started. Hmmm, I'd better check into that! Goodness knows I wouldn't want to miss any!

10/1/02
Snow. I hate it. I hate the cold. I cried driving home from work today because even though I thought it was pretty this afternoon, I know that snow is what will someday drive me insane. I was also crying because my fingers hurt so bad in the cold and I had previously sworn that I would never live where my fingers would loose feeling. I left my jacket and most of my sweaters back in Pipestone, that doesn't help. Time to move on, that's for sure. I thought the snow was a sign and expected to come home and find a message asking me to move to San Antonio by next week. Boy, would I ever jump at that chance. Anyway, I realized that I'm right to only apply for warm weather places. The exception will be the DC area, I don't know exactly why. But I hate the snow. And the cold. And I hate who I am when I'm hating the snow and cold. I'm a bitter, angry person. You might not believe me but it's true. I yelled at every single other car on the road today for almost no reason.

Of course there was a little bit of a reason to yell at everyone. Because Utah drivers rival the worst drivers I've ever seen!! On a four lane interstate, they like to line up across the lanes going 10 mph under the speed limit making sure no one behind them can pass. Very frustrating! And they're rude drivers, no one waves. I always wave.

Finally, my camera came back!! I couldn't get it out of the box fast enough and started taking a ton of pictures! I was trying to take some kitten movies but it was too dark even with all my lights on. I'll have to figure something out because they're funny when they're in motion. Anyway, you can go and admire then on my site! I'm going to take the camera up to work and take a few pics of the canyon, you guys are going to love the view from my window at work!

Tuesdays sure aren't good tv nights. Usually 24 is on but I don't think the new season has started. Hmmm, I'd better check into that! Goodness knows I wouldn't want to miss any!

9/30/02
Ah, another uneventful life in the day of Cathy. I forgot to turn my alarm on after resetting it last night but thankfully woke up at 8:40 on my own (with a bit of thanks to Gabe's crying). That's really pushing it but I hurried and the kittens need less attention now that we're into a groove. I got to work only five minutes late and no one even noticed. Work was boring, I spent a lot of time staring at my desk, which for once had absolutely nothing on it. Tomorrow and Wed Faith and I will be working hard on getting menus ready for our special dinner Thursday night. We're going all out and are putting together some really fancy menus and displays. I wish I was going to go. Now that there are enough people signed up, they won't need to me to take up space. Oh well. Someday I'll be rich and will come back and eat at this restaurant.

I'm over at Karen's to watch the new CSI: Miami. I like the Vegas one better but shouldn't be so judgemental after just one episode! Karen isn't home, I have no idea where she is, so I guess I'll get to watch it alone. Hopefully she's at the library studying, she has a big test tomorrow in Plant Systematics. That's the only class that I can remember the name to. Oh, I guess Karen was cooking. And for the second week in a row I've shown up an hour early for the show so I have to sit and wait around.

Karen has just stated that she thinks she and Max should see other people. She's a freak. She only sees him once a week and isn't happy with that. She says he's not as great of a guy as I think he is. When asked why they don't just break up completely, she says she likes him. Whatever.

Oh!! And I've donated an acre at ecologyfund! Go me!! Will be a few more days until it shows up I suppose. Woohoo!

9/29/02
Weekends go by too fast. Is that something I say every week? Kind of like always commenting on the end of every month. I don't want to go to work tomorrow, I like doing nothing at home. I shouldn't say nothing, I've been running a few errands and playing with the kittens. Today Karen and I went to Park City to see some of the fall colors and to eat at Red Banjo pizza. Because seriously, it's the best pizza in the State. I would say the nation but I have yet to try it everywhere!

Mary says people are fleeing from the large cities near her village because they expect the rebels to move to the West and start taking cities there. They've gotten more cities in the North. I wonder how long it will last. She's scheduled to go back on October 18 but no one expects that will be for real.

Ok, I've got very little to say today. I'm going to get home. I brought Gabe over to Karen's, she wanted to see if Tigger would like him. I was wary because I hate putting cats together. A few hisses later, Tigger's mostly staying out of the room. I had better get him home before he has to poop!

9/27/02
Do I always moan and groan when a month ends? Because I just CANNOT believe that it's the end of September. Or worse yet, the beginning of October. I never liked October. It would be one of my least favorite months except that January and February are so much more despised. Ugh. I want it to be May already.

So I got up extra early (double ugh) in order to get Sophia off to the Humane Society by 9:15. I was late but think that I had warned the lady last night. I'm never on time any more and getting up earlier doesn't help at all. Thankfully when I was running really late yesterday, Faith was even later so she wasn't here to notice. And she had forgotten an appointment so I took it over for her and she was all happy with me.

I'm so mad that I don't have my camera back yet. GRRRR. I wish I could kick Nikon's butt. Bigtime. I mean, they're not going to stay this small forever and I need pics!! And the leaves here are changing color and the drive to and from work is just stunning. I want pics of that too! I'm going to go send them a mean note.

9/26/02
So tomorrow I say goodbye to Sophia, my only little girl. I called the woman who coordinates the fosters because I'm concerned about how the others suckle on her ear and wanted to see if I could do anything. Well, the lady was worried since it's an open sore and right now she has a single orphan the same age. So she thought the best solution was for her to take Sophia so she could make sure the ear was taken care of and then her orphan would have company. I feel sad, she was the easiest one of my bunch to take care of! But I like to think this is going to be the best for her. So she goes to meet her new momma tomorrow before I head to work. Her new momma is also going to bring me lots of formula so that's nice!

I talked to Mary tonight, she's with my grandparents in WI. I think her time at home is going to go by way too fast. She said that mom had mis-spoken a bit. Noel actually wants to join up with the army to fight against the rebels but Mary's trying to talk him into staying put. So that's better than I thought. All the PC volunteers are being transferred over to Ghana until things calm down. It's almost funny because the two cities that are still under rebel control (Bouake and Korogho) are the two cities that all PC volunteers are supposed to go to in case of emergency. So they had to tell everyone to stay put instead or they all would've gone to the hot spots. It complicated things, Mary thought it was funny that they didn't have a back-up plan! I said that I doubted they had really worried about it. Anyway, it's hard to tell now what will happen, it's possible that no one will be allowed to go back and they might tell volunteers that they can go home or be sent to a new country. We're kind of hoping that because we're selfish and don't want Mary to go back. It's SO GOOD that she's already in the States.

West Wing was good last night. I saw Friends but wasn't overly impressed. I'm curious to see how the baby will play into things on the show. Anyway, premiere week isn't as great as I thought it would be. Oh well.

9/25/02
Ah, Wednesday. All that I really like this day for is my evening television lineup. Have to find something to like, might as well be the tv!! I'm not pathetic. I'm glad that my friends understand that. Or at least aren't mean enough to tell me otherwise.

Don, this guy from work, is interested in adopting Sofia when she's old enough. I started raving about him in a pita last week but think that I erased it because I felt bad. He's a really nice guy and he seems to have taken a fancy to me. But he's old (has grandchildren old) and his southern accent drives me MAD. But he bought me some kitten food and formula and often treats me to Subway lunches that he brings up from town. I just tire of his flirting because it's just disgusting. That said, he IS a great guy (for someone his age) ;) and I'd love to see Sophia go to a good home. She's the one who gets her ears sucked on by the others and I can't get them to leave her alone. She looks horrible because both sides of her face are always either wet or crusty. Poor girl. She looked so bad today that I took her upstairs for a face wash and was late to work because of it. It almost seems hopeless, I know they just sucked on her all day!! Oh and I've left the kittens in the room alone, the whole room. The space heater is off of the floor and shuts off if it's tipped over so that's all good. And I couldn't bear the thought of them all cooped up all day. I do worry about the mess I'm going to go home to!

I'm at work doing this, I forgot Faith had Wed off. And Friday too so that's kind of nice. I like having the little space to myself, it's easier on me ot just do my own stuff without having so much more thrown at me. Of course, I'm here to help her so I can't really complain! The restaurant is haunted, did I tell you guys that already? It's a pretty old place. Anyway, I always hear funny noises in the bathroom, which is freaky because the acoustics in restrooms are always funky so I can't tell where the sound is coming from. Ok, have to run!

9/24/02
My poor sister. This time I'm not talking about Karen. Things are fine with Karen and Max - the problem seems to have been primarily in her imagination and now all is well and completely forgotten. As it always is with her. But Mary, I feel bad for her. Her house was broken into and her most treasured posessions were stolen. Almost everything she had is gone, she spoke with Noel and he said her house was 'empty'. Mary had a suitcase that was in a pack safe (one of those strong metal mesh things) and that was chained to her support column but it was somehow stolen as well. Inside was everything she wanted to keep safe, her journals, her chocolate, photos, everything. Along with her furniture and books and just the usual house stuff. On top of that is all the trouble in the country. They've gotten all the PC volunteers together in the capital (a great feat since most are very remote) ready for evacuation if necessary. At least they're all together, Mary had been worried about her friends but so far they're all safe. This means she really won't be going back for awhile. Boys from the villages are being forced to join the army, most at gunpoint. Noel is trying to hide, children are being hidden at the missionaries house that Mary always stays at. Sheesh, I just can't imagine!! Anyway, she's flying home tomorrow (Wed) and that should be what she needs. Perhaps she'll just stay home.

Alex and Sebastian got baths tonight and boy do they ever feel and smell nice!! They didn't particularily care for it but no one complained too loudly. I was going to do Sofia and Gabe as well but they were sleeping so soundly. Plus, I'm only bathing them after they've used the box because last time Sofia had an accident and that was a mess. I just did laundry so I don't need any poopy towels! They're just so sweet, each and every one of them.

Faith gave me a bottle of wine from Seattle and Ian, the general manager and the wine expert, told me it was excellent wine and would usually be very expensive. So I can't wait to crack into that, good wine is always a treat. Maybe this weekend, we'll see.

The new CSI was ok but I wasn't overly impressed. Tonight there aren't any good premieres on. Or if there are, I missed them. I watched the first five minutes of Frasier to see Daphne and Niles getting married but that was dumb. Then I just shut it off. Tomorrow is West Wing, horray! It's going to be two hours long, which is what I think it should be every week!!

9/23/02
So the other day I found an ENTIRE ROLL OF TOILET PAPER in the trash. How do you like those all caps?? I was so suprised and in shock. I mean, this explains it all. But then I found out that it was soaking wet. I think someone had left it on the corner of the tub during a shower. But still, that explains one roll. And I want them all explained one roll at a time.

So the babies are all named! Sofia is my little girl, Gabe is the runt (I knew Benjamin wasn't going to work when I called him Benji just once), Sebastian is the black little one, and Alex is the big boy who's the strongest, most playful, and keeps himself the cleanest. They're so cute. Have I said that often enough?

Karen and I are watching the new CSI Miami show. It's ok. I'm not so sure about David Caruso. We'll see if I watch it regularly. I might already have enough on my tv plate. Ok, commercials are over!

9/22/02
Gee the weekend goes by so quickly. Yesterday I slept in and didn't do too much during the day. I did some of Karen's laundry (I know I said I wouldn't do any more but there was SO MUCH that I felt bad and did four loads) and spent some quality time with the kittens. I went to Petco and then to the library to return last week's movies and pick up two more. As I was walking back to the car I noticed that Wild Oats (the good grocery store) was having a cookout! Burgers - including veggies - for a buck! Now that's a meal I can afford. Then I went home and stayed on the floor for quite awhile until they were all sleeping. I snuck upstairs and watched Winter Sleepers (directed by the guy who did Run Lola Run). It was ok, I kept waiting for it to just end. Then I came to Karen's for Iron Chef before spending the rest of the night on my floor. I love tiring out the babies, they're so cute when they fall asleep as they play.

Today Karen called and we went out for burgers that were super tasty. Then we played with the little ones for awhile until it was time for a cheap movie. We saw YaYa Sisterhood. I cried a lot. A LOT. But it was good I thought. I could've read the book first and I would've known what was coming. Now I'm about to head home and suspect I'll be in my room most of the night. Woohoo.

9/20/02
So the leaves are changing color. That means I can't stay here much longer. Winter is coming. I want to be somewhere warm but need a place where I don't have to stay for long (no lease). Any ideas?

I'm so pleased with myself because I've figured out how to clear the history on the internet. It took me awhile to figure out that the preferences didn't work the same way on AOL. But now no one can look to see that I've been doing my e-mail a lot! Lucky me. It was a busy morning but seems to have slowed down and I'm all caught up. I have two appointments this afternoon, one right after the other so that'll keep me busy then.

Today I heard from the guy who gave me the kittens. He called to say that I would not be getting the fifth one because it passed away last night. It had been staying with the vet at his house and the wife had been feeding it every two hours but it just kept getting weaker and weaker. Too bad, the guy sounded upset about it, he said it was the most beautifully marked kitten he or the vet had ever seen. I'm also very sad but will admit that taking in another small one that needs special attention wasn't going to be easy for me. The runt I have now is barely eating and I'm trying to feed him with a dropper but it's hard. Tonight I hope to pick up some sort of warm water bottle to keep them warm at night because my room gets chilly and I can't do much about it. I cannot wait to take pictures, you're both just going to love them to death from a distance!!

Ok, I'm going to get back to work. Or at least pretend to work.

9/19/02
Ok, call me an evil mother but I don't want to go home. I'm at Karen's because I needed to download some stuff to the laptop and to update some software and stuff. I'm so tired but I know that if I go home I have some big projects in front of me. The kittens have mess a rather large mess around the litter box that needs to be cleaned. And I know I said no more baths but they are so crusty/sticky that it can't be fun for them. I need to at least try to get their faces cleaned up but boy, is that food ever stuck on them! So yeah, I'm staying at Karen's to procrastinate.

Karen's supposed to be talking to Max tonight and I suspect I'll be getting another late night call. She called me at work today just because she wasn't able to concentrate on anything else and to update me on her speculations as to why he doesn't like her anymore. Poor girl.

I finished the Clancy book a few nights ago. I hadn't looked before hand to see where the first book ended so all of a sudden it was all over! I think instead of starting in on the second book, I'm going to read Coelho instead. I think they're both due soon and I can get the Clancy book anywhere and probably anytime.

Ok, I just thought I'd post again to give me something to do. If I'm lucky and work is quiet tomorrow, I'll try to e-mail more. I volunteered to stay a bit late to show a few people around. I don't know why I do that. I'm too nice :)

9/19/02
So at midnight last night, Mike comes downstairs to wake me up for a phone call. Karen is sure that Max is going to break up with her and she was crying her eyes out about it. I feel horrible, it's hard to comfort people over the phone and I'm bad at it as it is! She explained to me what he had said (he didn't know if he wanted something serious and was acting all distant) and if Karen wasn't exaggerating, then it does sound like he's going to dump her. Funny that just a month or so ago she was worried that he was going to tell her he loved her and she was freaking about it. They had plans to go to Homecoming together and I have no clue what's going to happen. She doesn't need then when she has school to concentrate on!

Yesterday one of the babies got a bath but it was so much work to dry him off that I think the rest will just get their faces and feet washed when needed instead. The little runt dunked his face into the food so I took him upstairs right before I went to bed to wash him up - his eyes were practically crusted shut with food! Anyway, I had him wrapped up in small towel and was at the sink with him when Andrew (Mike's brother who's been staying with us) came along. He asked what I was holding, he'd never seen a kitten that small and thought it was a rat! I admit, they're in that rat stage, when they look like rats (especially when wet), run like rats, and stuff like that. Anyway, Andrew made a new friend. They woke me up at 8 but that was ok because I woke to to the scratching in the litter box and that's never a bad thing! I had time to play with them and make sure they'd all eaten and stuff. I have the door to the closet blocked with my laundry basket and that allows them extra space to play in too. I won't let them have free reign over the whole room until they're a bit bigger! I should hear today or tomorrow about getting that fifth kitten too. They're SO CUTE!!

Last night I made sure they were all tired and sleepy by the time West Wing came on TV. I cried and cried. It couldn't be helped. I'm still very sad about it. Ok, so I'm pathetic, sue me. Oh dear, I'm tearing up again. If I had a VCR I would've taped it so that whenever I need a good cry I could just watch that. Sigh.

9/18/02
Ooooh, I'm siiiiick. I think I'm coming down with something like the flu. UGH. Yesterday I thought I was going to pass out at work but managed to stay until four. I called crying to Karen, it was my turn to ask her to come over and make me some soup and buy me some orange juice. And I had already arranged to have the kittens be dropped off and couldn't cancel so they arrived at 6. I don't know what that guy was talking about when he said they're old enough that they don't wobble. They're super duper tiny and they wobble with every step!! Three weeks at the very most in my opinion. VERY CUTE!! I only have four of the five because the other required vet care and needs to be fed every few hours. Three are light colored (not quite white) with darker tails and ears, and one is black with white toes and a white belly. SO CUTE!! I just love them all to death already. They kind of eat food, I've got a mixture of formula and some soft food and they slurp at that. You should see their faces when they've had their fill! The runt will only eat if I have food on the tip of my finger and that's a challenge because he's got sharp teeth.

I went to bed at 9:30 last night, sleeping on and off thru the night. I didn't hear a single peep from the kitten basket and by 6:30 I was so worried that none of them were alive!! I was debating whether or not to get up and look, I didn't want to because if they weren't ok, I didn't know what to do. And if they were ok, I was worried about waking them that early. I decided to look and four little faces were looking at me when I lifted the towel, whew!! And they stayed quiet until I put the light on after my shower, it was great!! Once I was dressed I started to feed them and thankfully, three used the litter box, which is new to them all.

I'm taking suggestions for names. Right now I'm thinking of Benjamin for the little runt (I thought he needed a big name to grow into) and Gracie, maybe a Hannah. Karen and I need to do a closer inspection to see what we have for boys and girls, the runt is the only one we know for sure!

Ok and that's my kitten entry. Now I'm going to go and see if I can get everything off my desk so I can leave early if that's possible.

9/16/02
Still no kittens. I'm way way way too impatient! Tomorrow I'm going to call and remind them that I want babies and I want them RIGHT NOW. I guess if they had called me today I wouldn't have been ready anyway. I just went to the store and bought a small kitten-size litter box, some litter, and some kitten food. Geez, all the fun cat stuff is SO expensive!! I could've gone crazy in there if I was looking to spend a million bucks.

Work was so hectic today, I barely had time to sit down. I put in an extra hour just trying to get caught up before heading home. The forcast for this week was 90 and sunny but it's freezing outside and it's been pouring for quite awhile now. It had better warm back up! The leaves in the canyon are already changing colors. It's very beautiful but it reminds me that I'm getting older and am still no where. This is why I don't like fall. I feel young in the summer.

Ok, I'm going to go home and watch a movie with Mike.

9/14/02
Ok, if you read my entry today, forget it. I'm redoing it all. I got up this morning to go to the Humane Society volunteer meeting, which was extremely boring and not at all well done. But as we were all leaving, the girls says that if we're interested in fostering, she has some kittens immediately available. Of course I'm telling myself that I need to just volunteer and not take any animals home but how can I resist?? So I tell her that I'm interested and am willing to take the ferel or sick kittens that are in right now. So I get to see two very adorable babies and tell her that I need to go home and get my room all ready and that I'll be back. Then I head home, very excited about having little ones around! I meet up with Karen and we grab lunch and get my room put together so that the kitties can't get under my bed where I may never see them again. We drive to the Humane Society only to find that all foster kittens have gone home with a woman who works there, she thought I'd decided not to come back and didn't want the little ones to have to spend a night there. I was kind of put off, I'd told them my plans to return. So the trip was for nothing and I spent the rest of the afternoon disappointed. But tomorrow I'm going to call first to make sure they're all ready to be picked up and will go after work! Hooray, I'm going to be a momma again! I'm all ready for them and you can bet that just as soon as I get my camera back, I'll be taking millions of pictures.

Since I didn't have any babies to sit at home with tonight, I came back over to Karen's place and watched TV. I watched the last half of Raiders of the Lost Ark before Iron Chef came on, that was an exciting episode. Then I watched the first half of Raiders of the Lost Ark on a different channel (strange, I know) before settling in on Trading Spaces and then a show called Wild Weddings. Karen had gone with her roommates to see a fight thing, some kind of Mui Thai thing, I don't really know. Lots of kicking, punching and blood, the guys came back just raving about how great it had been. Now I'm just quick online before I head home to go to bed. I have to work from 10-2 tomorrow so I'd better get myself home!!

Harrison Ford is still looking good to me, I'm liking him more and more. And the funny thing is that in Karen's living/dining room is one of those big cardboard cut outs of him as Hans Solo :)

9/13/02
Friday the 13th. It hasn't been an unlucky day for me, I hope ya'll can say the same. I was swamped at work and ended up staying an extra hour to get those invitations all done, the day was too busy for me to work on them much. I gave two tours and they both went splendidly! It's a lot of fun, I didn't realize how much I knew about the place until I started answering all of their questions! I have another appointment on Sunday morning which means I'll get an extra hour of work in that day too - which is a good thing. Faith already told me that Sundays are really boring and that I can bring a book or something else to do for the few hours that I'm there. That's cool! And tomorrow I'm going to go to the meeting at the Humane Society so I don't have a day to sleep in!

Last night I was a bit upset to go home to find that while Mike was gone to work, Jeff was sitting on the couch watching a channel that was in Spanish just because there wasn't anything else on. Grrr. I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I said that I liked him, other that he's nice at first and then you just wish he'd shut up. He just blabs on and on (ok, so I'm not always one to talk) and I've gotten to the point where I try not to make any small comments on anything because he'll turn it into a half hour discussion when he has no clue what he's actually talking about. Whatever. That's my Jeff rant for the day. That and that I think he's the one wasting the toilet paper (we've gone thru five rolls in seven days!!) and he always sets glasses on the very very edge of the kitchen counter. Whew, I'm done. ANYWAY, eventually he got off his butt and I took over the couch and watched Little Voice. I had started watching Titus but after three minutes I thought it seemed very ridiculous so I stopped. I returned them today and had the library send for Sleepless in Seattle because I see no need to go downtown when they'll bring it practically to my door!

Speaking of the library, they've never called me about volunteering. I should call and ask after that because I think it would look great on my resume.

Alrighty, I'm going to go home now. I want to read a bit but will probably end up watching some tv and playing games on the computer. What an exciting Friday night.

9/12/02
Nothing but specials on last night, at least for those of us without cable :) Actually, I guess that My Dog Skip was on but I wasn't in control of the remote so we ended up watching Starship Enterprise. I only sat in front of it because I wanted some veg time and the couch is much more comfortable than my bed for watching tv. Tonight I know that Mike has to be working at his other job so I might just get to watch one of those movies I checked out last week. They're due back tomorrow so it's tonight or never!

So I FINALLY heard back from San Antonio. I'm not even going to look to see just how long it's been. But he said that they have been delayed because of the budget and asked me to continue being patient!! Woohoo! I'm not out of the game!! I was scared that the e-mail was a rejection but it wasn't! I still have a chance! Because otherwise he would've just said no, right?? I'm going to wait until tomorrow or maybe even Monday to write him back and tell him that I'll wait (only I'll say it in a professional way of course).

Work was busy and tomorrow will continue to be the same. I'm making some pretty invitations to a big dinner party put on by the chef and that's been fun. Using scissors and a glue stick is fun. Tomorrow I'm meeting with a bride to show her around because Faith (who's normally in charge of this stuff) is going to be out. Faith and two other managers are going to be out all next week and I'm a bit freaked about being on my own with only the chef in the office. Dave, the chef, is super cool but he doesn't know much about any office stuff other than what's on the menu so I have no one to turn to with questions. I've got a lot to learn before they go!!

Ok, I'm going home. If someone is on the couch, I'm going to keep reading Clancy. I'm slowly but surely making my way thru the book.

9/11/02
September 11. It doesn't feel like it's been a year. More like 6 months I think. I haven't been watching the tv, other than to peek and make sure nothing horrible had happened today. I knew that there wouldn't be anything but was just curious. I only cried once today thinking about it all and I'm surprised because it's my tearful week if you know what I mean! This stupid guy came by to visit at the office this afternoon and I think he'd been watching WAY too much tv. Anyway, he was saying that he'd seen an interview with a man who had actually been on the floor that was hit directly by one of the planes, that he'd made eye contact with the pilot, and that he had survived without more than a few scratches. Someone else had come and rescued him. Ok, I totally don't believe him. Number 1: isn't it ABSOLUTELY impossible that anyone on those floors could have lived?? Especially someone close enough to the window to have seen a person in the plane???? Number 2: I haven't heard his story before now so I think he's just trying to be a memorable survivor. Makes me mad. Enough sad things happened to enough people, a stupid guy doesn't have to be making up stories.

I wonder if West Wing is going to be on tonight or if there are going to be specials galore. If there are specials, I'm going to watch a movie or read my book. Because I don't need more sadness over past events. I need happiness. Speaking of happiness, congrats to Auntie Diana!! How exciting to have a wrinkly little thing arrive. I'm happy her b-day is on the 10th too, that should make life a bit easier.

Last night we had another Sex and the City marathon. I'm SO addicted, it's not even funny. I don't have time tonight but you can bet that I will be reading the synopsis to all of the show from seasons 1, 2, 4, and 5. Actually, I'll probably rent seasons 1 and 2, might as well go back and catch up. Thank goodness Karen has HBO. I'm so glad that I have discovered this!!

9/10/02
Yummm, I made brownies last night! Waiting that half hour is just so hard to do! I shared because I felt bad for baking and not giving at least one brownie to the boys. But then I said that they couldn't have any more. They won't last much longer, I've been eating away and over half the pan is gone! I just can't resist.

Work flew right by today and I even put in an extra hour because we were so busy. I faxed and faxed and kept on faxing, so many people wanted the information for X-mas parties, we're already almost booked. When I got back home, there was a message for me to call Karen. She's not feeling well and she has this way of saying "Cathy, I don't feel good" that just gets me every time. So I came over with some chicken noodle soup, bought some OJ and even brought a brownie. Hopefully she feels better soon, I'd hoped that we were going to finish watching Sex and the City tonight! I'm going to go find the movies right now...

9/9/02
So I've got a new look. Kind of. I didn't exactly go nuts with the changes but the site seems very easy on the eyes with colors like this. I kept (but lightened) the gray because any other color didn't look quite right. I'm not good with change, at least not when it comes to stuff like this.

I worked a bit longer than expected today and am going in early tomorrow so I just might get more hours this week than expected! And I have Saturday off - turns out I was wrong about what day the Humane Society volunteer thing was on and I get to go! I'm excited already, I hope it's cool because otherwise it will be a total let down. I also hope it's not a long meeting because it's my only day off. I'm going to be working on Sunday, I think there are three weddings lined up that day alone. Today I learned a lot more about how to start scheduling stuff so I can be of more assistance than just answering the phone.

I'm almost 300 pages into my Clancy book, there are a total of 1,461 pages in the book. I have two more weeks, we'll see how it goes! Sleepless in Seattle is supposed to be in today or tomorrow so I'll have that soon! But someone's been in front of my tv almost continually so I haven't had a chance to watch any of the other movies yet. Oh well, I need to keep on reading so the less time I spend in front of the tv the better!

9/8/02
I did it. Obviously, since all of my entries are missing! The archive link is over on the right. I just wanted it easier to flip thru and I hope to give the page a new look.

So last night, I ended up going to the Greek Festival after all. The weather cleared up, the sun came out, and Jing's boyfriend Mike (Karen's roommate) couldn't go so I went with her. We waited in line for a half an hour before we finall got to this buffet type area where you told them what you wanted and they piled it on your plate. We split everything so we had a great variety, a ton of food! We had a gyro (that actually tasted pretty decent, I'm skeptical of American gyros), Greek meatballs, Greek beans, stuffed grape leaves, spanikopita, and some Greek honey dessert. We were so full when we left! I headed home and an hour later remembered that I forgot to come back inside to feed the cats. They're vocal as it is, let alone when they're hungry. So I drove back over and fed them. The party had already gotten started, were there ever boys around here! Of course most of them are probably about 21 so I didn't even glance around. Today the house is a MESS. The floor is black with muddy footprints and it stinks of beer! Glad I don't have to clean it up.

Alright, I'm going to go see if I can find a cool background.