Wednesday, January 31, 2007

football squares

i have 2 this year. colts 3, bears 2 and colts 6, bears 1. i'm crossing my fingers, and it'll be easier to root for the score when noone i care about it playing.. last time i was cheering for a certain team to not score so i could win, i got some really nasty looks..

the hunts are all coming to the 'cuse this weekend. "mr and mrs" are going to stay till monday, and "mr and mrs to be" are going to go home sunday. i can't wait for the zoo to show up!! i've missed those hellions!

i think we all have the intentions of having a very productive bridal planning weekend, but if the past is any indication, i'm predicting that little to nothing will get done. :)

i have a killer zit on my face today, it's horrible. hahahaa

here at work we are almost in our new space. the furniture was delivered and assembled yesterday, but they put it in wrong, so we've had to move it which means spackling the wall, and sanding, then repainting, so who knows no when i will get in there. my boss is already in. :(

but i'm getting some good use out of these headphones, they really work well. its frightening how loud the noise is here in the server room when i take them off, it's as though i work underneath a waterfall its that loud.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

open call for new mail art recipients

i have finally finished my last piece of mail art from the first round of solicitations.. so i need some more recipients. if you want a piece sent to you please let me know via the comments on this posting. i most likely have your address, if i don't i will contact you and get it, you don't have to post it here.

there are no restrictions as to who can sign up, if i've already sent you a piece, that doesn't matter..

actually there is one thing... to make this next round more interesting i'm going to take a page out of sam browns book and ask that you send me a "title" for the piece (leave it in the comments), and i will make up the content.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

3 movies.

i watched 3 movies sat night. thank you for smoking was marginally entertaining. a prairie home companion should be avoided at all costs unless you are looking for a cure to insomnia. and a scanner darkly i am still not sure about. i thoroughly enjoyed the style of the movie, illustrated.. and the actors were pretty appealing, a bunch of old favorites, but it was sci-fi and i just don't get most sci-fi..

tomorrow night are the SAGs.. i hope the office wins something!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

all the reasons i love snow.

before i start my list, i saw catch and release tonight. it was good. the only thing that i didn't like was the main guys white white teeth. they were distractingly white. kevin smith made the movie. he's a pretty great actor, and i like that his "friend" character got the girl.

okay, here are the reasons i can think of right now...

there's the way it crunches and squeaks under my boots and car wheels.

there's trying to figure out what type of animals are running through the yard.

there's the way some mornings you can literally just blow the snow off your car windows. that's called a "dusting".

i love it because its usually snow that makes the djs on the radio read off minutes and minutes worth of schools names. even though i don't go to school anymore, the first time i heard "ted and amy" read through the long listing i held my breath when they got to the Fs. hearing all the school closings gives me that magical nostalgic feeling.

then there's the way it sparkles, that's my absolute favorite. it sparkles like my sisters hair.

please don't let me get so old that i hear myself saying "i hate snow" and "i hate winter". hate's such a negative word.

bridesmania!!!

i feel like i've been sucked into bridesmaid hell. :) for the past 2-3 nights cath and i have been diligently trying to get these STDs out the door for SBs wedding. last night we had to resort to going to kinkos to get them made. the beautiful counter guy helping us really made the situation easier though. his australian accent made cath and i weak at the knees, but maybe we were just weak from malnourishment from tuesday nights non-dinner, in any case, we got what we needed to start putting together the goods.

so last night during american idol (i never watch this show either, but there is absolutely nothing on right now on tue and wed nights) we assembled about 100 pieces of the pie! today cath is printing the other half at work, and tonight she and mike will attach, stuff, seal and stamp the envelopes. and when i get home i will mail merge sarahs 95% completed mailing list onto labels.

*huge sigh*... now the dress buying can begin. i've been instructed to buy the following dress in black for my july wedding. very conservative... i called a local place and she told me that i should order it soon cause it can take 6 months to come in. WTF! in six months i could sew the dress myself! if that is true and it does take 6 mos, i better get my ass moving on the dress i will need for SBs wedding which is 2 months earlier than BDs wedding. :(



when you order these dresses you put $100 or half of the dress down as a deposit and pay the balance when it comes in. :( that is going to cut into my european getaway money.

i was really hoping that i could just cruise through these next few weeks dreaming about paris and london (maybe italy, if KG gets some plans together) but i have been shocked into the reality that is wedding season.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

sometimes lunch is just enough.

i should have realized that last night as i was in the kitchen putting away my lunch bag last night as cath made dinner. we started chatting about our days and i believe i started to tell her how i bought a new red sox shirt when i was in boston last weekend and fatty jumped up on the kitchen table. i told her to get down, twice. fatty glared at me and curled herself on mikes placemat. fine, its his cat, and i don't have to eat there. he can make her get down. well, not a minute goes by and thank god i noticed, but fatty starts licking herself and something plops onto a napkin on the table. "leftovers" from her last trip to the litterbox. i am horrified!!! cath is brave and throws it away and disinfects the kitchen table while choking back puke. strike one..

cath made some sort of salmon filets that she found in the freezer as their entree, noone could remember buying them they were that old. cath took a bite and had to throw out the whole pan. apparently age old dethawed fish is not good. strike 2.

so after the horror of the cat shit on the table passes (it really hasn't still, but we tried blocking it out) i scoop a cup full of zatarrains jambalaya into a bowl for dinner, i get about 9/10ths of the way through and look down at my spoon, sure enough, a dead worm or some sort, like a mealworm. ugh. strike 3...

see. sometimes we're not meant to eat dinner, last night was one of those nights.

Monday, January 22, 2007

long weekend...

it was not until this afternoon that i recovered from my seemingly harmless saturday night.

here are the pics...

Friday, January 19, 2007

afternoon in cambridge.

the weather leaving syracuse was crappy at best. but i quickly left that behind. the weather here in boston is gorgeous.. i met fjk at her work in cambridge and we walked down to the tibetan restaurant around the corner in central square. yum... we chatted and discussed some must sees/dos in paris. if she had her way i would be moving there she gave me so many ideas.

fjk warned against going to rome, she has never been herself but highly discourages it.. i'm starting to think that maybe there is a reason that we have just not been able to get our acts together enough to book our trip there. maybe we should just stay in london. even 2 cities in one week is probably too much. if we cut out italy, we would prob save ourselves hundreds of dollars and lots of stress.. plus london is a pretty expansive undertaking. maybe we could go out to the burbs on the weekend instead.. i'll talk to KT and BD tonight.

then i drove over to jk's house where i sit outside in my mobile office sucking internet from the nearest home waiting for him to get home from work. i also took a bunch of pictures of my drive over here. i think i am going through a "mobile picture taking phase", i get in my car and instantly want to take pictures while i am driving. i think i just invented a new extreme sport...

fjk pointed out to me one glaringly obvious thing that never occurred to me before.. we will be in paris for mardi gras, for those of you that don't know mardi gras means "fat tuesday" in french. and mardi gras is always the tuesday before Lent. i never realized that it was tied into a religious holiday. duh.. i thought it was just one of those drinking holidays like st pattys day and cinco de mayo. i didn't realize there was a reason for it...

i am a little surprised with myself at how much i still remember how to get around here in MA. it didn't seem like it took me too long to forget how to get around in syracuse. but here, i can still get around like a pro. :) actually, i should take that back. finding the big dog tomorrow might be dificult. :(

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

instant gratification...

i love computers and the internet. i've done another search for a kitty hat.

which one of these do you my faithful readers like more?

cold day..

to say its cold today would be an understatement. mike said that it was too cold out for the temperature gauge to measure the outdoor temperature. i looked at the web, and one site said 1 degrees and another said 11. my boss seemed to think it was 7, so that's what i'm going with..

i woke this morning to my usual radio, and then i dozed off and woke again when i didn't hear any radio, that indicated to me that it was well past 9, cause my radio goes off at 7 for 2 hours. i look at the time and see that the power is out. relief! i wasn't late for work! lucky for me i am on call so i brought my work phone to bed with me. i phoned cath. she seemed to think we could still take warm showers. that is when i started smelling the smells of camping... when the power goes out the pellet stove hopper stops spitting pellets in to feed the fire, and it eventually goes out. when you don't bury the fire in ash (mike told me this morning) the fire smoulders out and smokes out the entire house. cath didn't smother the fire..

after dark dressing and lunch making i started up my car. it was a cross your fingers situation. i thought it wasn't going to turn over. and believe me, i don't remember my leather seats ever being as cold as they were this morning. i felt like i was sitting on a block of ice and steering with another round block of ice.

but i did decide to wear my legwarmers under my pants this morning though. i won't be bitten by jack frost again today! i still don't have a winter hat yet. i'm afraid i've lost my kitty hat, and i can't find a suitable replacement online. :( i loved that hat! i had some great times with that hat, the memories are flooding in.... i'll save them for another post.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

let it snow!

it has been snowing here all day.. light whispy snow, the kind that crawls up your pant legs and stings your bare legs..

it was a pretty harrowing ride home from work actually, so naturally i took some pictures..


here is one of me at the light by mobil.


here is one of the flower shop.


the snowman guarding the house.

i love cauliflower

being in my new field of broadcasting i am starting to understand sweeps. sweeps happens 4 times per year. Feb, May, July and November.. during these times the networks air their most viewer promising shows.. and the viewership during those time periods is what advertising dollars are based on... so... if you think about it, every major television event most likely occurs during these time periods.. superbowl, series finales, anticipated series premiers, awards shows, everything...

this coming month is no different. i did a little research on my shows and i'm getting so excited for the coming weeks!

next monday 1/22 prison break starts again..
wednesday 2/7 LOST starts again for 16 weeks straight.
thursday 2/8 Survivor Fiji starts. Em, get the pool started, LK wants in this time...
sunday 2/18 Amazing Race - All Stars they've announced the teams! we should do a pool for this one too!

Monday, January 15, 2007

europe=expensive.

i've been doing some number crunching in regards to my upcoming whirlwind three major european cities in one week tour, and it's not going to be cheap. :)

i think that i am going to save the cash by booking private ensuite hostel rooms. i'm glad now that i never saw that movie.

tonight are the golden globes. I can't wait! i love award shows.

Friday, January 12, 2007

yum..

uhmmm, red wine did the trick... the grey cloud has disappeared and has been replaced with a happy fuzziness.

i saw the pianist. it was okay, it was about WW2 and this jewish pianist. it must have been hard for him to be in almost every scene by himself.. now i am watching the croupier while i sip dry red wine. i'm drinking BreeD's favorite, Folie a Deux Menage a Trois. its a blend of zinfindel, merlot and cabernet. mmmmmm...

clive owens character keeps referring to gamblers as "punters". it bothers me each time... oh no. he's going to cheat on his g-f that he only half loves.... i hate infidelity... i have one more glass of wines worth of points for the rest of the day plus .5 points... if four ounces is 2 points, then 1 ounce would be .5 points. how will i be able to measure out 1 oz? shiiiiiiiiit.

just not feeling it today..

today is one of those days where i am just not feeling it. nothing is exciting me today. i feel like that little white bouncy thing in the prozac commercials that walks around with the cloud over its head. honestly all i've been thinking about today is a big fat glass of red wine.

now that it's the football post season, i kinda feel like starting to pay attention.

i just itemized the movies waiting at home for my eyeballs to SF, so that gives me something to look forward to i guess. i have the pianist, thank you for smoking and the croupier. (and all the pay channels that have just about every movie you could think of on demand)

i wish it was 6pm. :)

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

that crazy cathy!

this story is too good to not write about...

so the other day i'm getting ready to leave work for the day and i get an email from cath:

hey, the neighbor just came over to say that her cat and daughter were just attacked by the wild black and white cat that stalks around here. sooooo if you drive in and see it anywhere, call us on the phone and dad will come out and get you. the doctor said that the little girl, should have the rabies shots, in case the wild cat has rabies. yuck!!!

so i'm thinking, holy shit! there is a wild rabid cat hiding in the bushes near my house, i better run inside after i get home and park...

i get home and notice that the back door light is on, my dad must be standing guard behind it in case this dangerous cat tries to attack me.. so i jump out of my car and run to the back door, adrenaline pumping through my veins, all the while keeping an eye out for the cat that just mauled my neighbors. i turn the handle and nothing!!

the f-ers locked the door on me. i bang away at it furiously hoping that i've avoided the cat.. what seems like ages later mike ambles to the door from the kitchen where they are lazily eating dinner. wtf!! i could have been killed!!!! i still don't know why cath threw up the caution flag with that email if they were going to be eating dinner with no regard for my safety.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Acupuncture Visit #2

today i had my second treatment. and i must admit my ears are a little sore. i had about 60 needles this time, 8 in each ear and some more in my legs, like in my shins... but she said my tongue looks better and my pulse was better.

i stole one of the needles, so i could show all the people that keep asking me. maybe next time i will ask her to take some pictures. :)


its very thin, and the end is a coiled copper guitar string looking thing.


its no longer than a business card. it only sticks into my body about this much.

this past saturday i saw the fleurys.. their kids are so cute!!


this is anna and hailey..


ethan is so cute in his big boy clothes.

i had to marvel at how beautiful NY really is. they live in a really cool old house southeast of syracuse and the hills and unique little houses and farms are so picturesque.. i really should have stopped and taken some photos..

i spoke to my travel partner MK tonight and she suggested that we go to venice.. i asked my cousin about it and she said to make sure its not flood season in feb when we are going.. i'll have to look into that..

i've successfully booked just about every minute of my weekend jan 19-21. literally every minute. why do i do that to myself?

i saw little miss sunshine tonight, it was dark and funny. the best kind of movie!! this weekend i saw clerks II. omg, so funny, its on my list of movies to own. ya porch monkeys, i'm taking it back!

Friday, January 05, 2007

finally.... i saw my movie..

shannon was right when she said that she thought the children of men was depressing like "twelve monkeys". she was right, it painted a very dismal picture of the future... but clive owen was damned hot.

i wanted to wait a day or two to be sure.. and its been 3 days, and i am feeling/seeing a 95% difference in my BMs. i won't get into graphic detail, but i am functioning like a normal person i think.. and just to test fate last night, i had chili right before bed. :) no problems... none. i could not be a stronger believer in acupuncture, i think i might quit my job and sing acupunctures praises full time!!

i go again on monday, i can't wait to see what she is going to do then! i hope she'll take my pulse again and i can see what she says, if its improved...

i rc'd "little miss sunshine" and "clerks 2" in the mail today. i think i'll squeak one in tomorrow morning before i go and visit the fleurys.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

happy irony...

i don't know if i've revealed or told anyone, but right now my two primary Drs, (PHP and Acupuncturist) are Dr Brown and Dr Shu. LOL... i amuse easily...

in other news. i've been contacted twice tonight by people from the past.. within minutes of the other.. there must be something in the air.

one is an old high school friend that i am delighted to be back in contact with.

the other is someone i used to know back when i first lived in MA.. i'm not so sure how i feel about re-establishing contact with him.. we had a falling out of sorts and i'd like to think that i am better off not having contact with him (my favorite therapist agreed, back in the day, btw). on one hand we did have some hella good times, i have a lot of things and good times i still associate with this person... if i had to sum up our friendship, i'd have to compare it to binge drinking though... you have a great time while in the moment, but the after-effects can cause a serious headache and some serious regret... on the other hand....it has been at least 6 years... and geographically i'm no where near where he is now, so chances are our paths will never cross... and people are bound to mature after 6 years right? i'd like to think i have.. i've also been aware of his blog for some time now and have been actually expecting this day...

so "the audience" is usually right, what is the consensus, should i let this person back into my life? give him a "2nd chance" so to speak? perhaps let go of some of the anger i still carry around in regards to this guy? let me know your thoughts.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

children of men

i heard "the children of men" starts friday. who wants to go see it?

danny bonaduce was on adam carolla this morning. it wasn't horrible, they got rid of dave damashek. i kind of feel like it won't be long until danny is off the air though, adam seems very stable and danny seems very not.

oooh, cath was chosen for jury duty today. hee hee.

another humorous thing my acupuncturist told me was that drinking ice/cold water this time of year is not good for digestion. :) hmmm. i drink cold water like its going out of style. ice cubes by the dozens... i should be drinking room temperature or warmer water..

ps... its so nice to have my "office" back! can you tell?

acupuncture

today i had my first treatment of acupuncture to try to rectify the digestive problems that i have. all in all the appointment took about 1 and a half hours. it was very interesting, here is how it went down..

i arrived and had a little interview of sorts, she asked me what my problem was and i went on at length about the heartburn, choking, vomiting and "loose stool". i also asked her if there was anything she could do to help stimulate weight loss. she wrote it all down. then she asked me to take off my shoes, socks and pants and lay down on my back on her table. then she came in and took my pulse and looked at my tongue. she took my pulse on both my wrists but told me that it was the pulse on my right hand wrist that mattered for my digestion as that is the side of the body that deals with digestion. after she checked those things she told me she was going to put some needles in my ears to curb any sort of cravings i might experience and to subdue hunger feelings. i wonder if there are place she can stick needles to combat boredom, cause that is my problem i think. :)

anyway.. all the needles she put in my body were pretty symmetrical, meaning when she put three needles in my left ear, she put three in my right ear. i would say in total she put between 40 and 50 needles in my ears, my stomach, the veins around my elbow, and the veins around both my knees. none of it really hurt, there were a couple of areas that were a little uncomfortable though. like my ears. she put them to my skin then it felt like she tapped them in with a little plastic hammer. after they were all in she seemed to wiggle them around a little, almost like massaging them in.

then i had to stay still for 30 minutes. then a nurse came in and removed the needles, that might have hurt a little more than they did going in, but only slightly. i had a tiny spot of blood on my left arm that bled through to my shirt and it looks like it will be slightly bruised.

i am to go back twice a week for a little while, then i will go once a week. i should know that its working when i start having some solid BMs.

wooo who! i'll let you know if i feel any different or better.

here are some of the pictures from the NYE party. good times.







here are the rest of the pics from NYE...

'07 is here..

... and i welcome it with open arms. i love new things, cause new things mean change. i don't really have anything in mind for this next year, but i just know its going to be different. :)

last night i went to the fischers for a NYE party. it was quite a splendid time. there was lots of family there, my family, SF's family, and PFs family. we drank and were merry, and em even caught a few winks. sometimes when emily reaches maximum capacity of fun she passes out.

tomorrow the dogs go home. i'll be sad, i love having to watch them like a hawk to make sure they are not eating antique bears, or computer cords or just running full speed through the storm door out into the front yard. but it will be nice to have my desk back.

so i finished "a long way down" by nick hornby. it was a pretty compelling read. there were 4 main characters and the whole book was told alternating from each of their points of view. the commonality all these characters had was they were all going to kill themselves. there was a moment of clarity that the youngest member of this suicide gang had, it was along the lines of everyone being connected to someone else as if by a rope. that was how she explained why none of them could actually kill themselves. makes you think about who you're connected to..

i watched a bunch of movies this weekend. fast times at ridgemeont high. i don't really see why this film is such a classic. it wasn't even that funny, and i couldn't really stand sean penn. i saw what's eating gilbert grape. leo dicaprio was pretty spectacular, i see why he was nominated for this. then i saw intolerable cruelty. eh.

tomorrow i go in for my first acupuncture visit. i can't wait. i'll be sure to write all about it.