Jamilyn's Journal - October 2005


	Date: 31 October, 2005 Time: 4:27pm Subject: Halloween Treats * * * * * Well, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures at work today. I was locked up in a little room away from the distractions of the little kids who came to trick-or-treat. Shame, because they were rather cute. The only picture I took at work was of Beth. Isn't she cute? click on her picture for more detail I also took this picture of me, wearing my Cindy Lou Who headband. You know...Cindy Lou...from How the Grinch Stole Christmas... But enough of this Halloween. Considering I got about 4 hours of sleep last night, and the alarm is set for 4:30am again tomorrow, I plan on sleeping through much of the frightful fun. I figured it would be fun to pull out all sorts of pictures of friends and family that have costumey elements. Enjoy!! Pretty Princess Scott, my fall Goofy hat, Joe: always a bridesmaid... bull-headed Chris, monster on my head, Wolfie the Pooh fun with wedding decorations, virtual dress-up IncrediScott, Blues Brothers, TOGA! Pretty Princess Jamie, miner Scott, more virtual dress-up And the ultimate Halloween dress-up kit: Happy Halloween! jlm, 10.31.05, 4:59pm \| Date: 30 October, 2005 Time: 6:35pm Subject: Sneak Peek * * * * * I thought I'd post a preview of tomorrow's entry: "Pics from Halloween at Work." How? Well, I've heard that one of my managers is going to be dressed as a VERY desperate housewife, complete with curlers in her hair and bathrobe, one will be a witch, and then there's Beth. Beth is dressing as a "Runaway Bride," with a jogging suit and my veil. Since Beth was going all-out, I thought I'd try to match her. I was going to go with a classic bridesmaid costume (since I have an $80 skirt from David's Bridal with the tags still on it), and then, up until a few hours ago, was going to go as a homecoming queen. I was going to wear my dress from Dad's wedding: along with a tiara and sash that said Homecoming 2005. But then Beth came over to pick up my veil and I was whining that I was having trouble with drawing the "g" in Homecoming with my glitter pen. So she suggested I be a Drama Queen. ("there's no G in drama queen.") This costume idea thrills me on so many levels: a) no dress - black pants and black shirt, with my green and blue silky scarf a a "dramatic" accent b) I still get to wear the tiara and the sash c) this is the perfect excuse to wear my pink ballet slippers! Honestly, it's a silly costume. What drama queen wears a tiara and sash? But I think that's the point of Halloween. The last time I dressed up, I was a Trill from Star Trek DS9. I suppose this in par with that silly outfit! jlm, 10.30.05, 6:59pm \| Date: 30 October, 2005 Time: 3:57pm Subject: All Treats Today * * * * * Did you know that October 30 is National Candy Corn Day? In honor of candy corn and other Halloween treats, I present some candy-coated fun and games. Get your insulin shot ready!! Can you identify this candy bar by its cross-section? image and game courtesy of the Science Museum of Minnesota Decorate your own pumpkin with candy pieces! From the nice folks at Hershey's Warner Brothers presents the SWEETEST movie ever... Enjoy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory games, or check out selections from the soundtrack (Veruca Salt is my favorite song) Too much chocolate?? Read up on the History of Candy Corn. And finally, a not-quite-edible chocolate greeting from me to you. Don't lick the screen! jlm, 10.30.05, 4:23pm \| Date: 29 October, 2005 Time: 1:10pm Subject: Trick or Treat * * * * * Today I have been inspired to commemorate Halloween. All throughout AOL journals, people have created a "trick or treat" entry and others are bouncing around leaving comments as treats. Lame? Yes. But we're all comment whores desperate for attention! And it's working! So in honor of All Hallows Eve, I present two halloween surprises for you. One is a trick, one is a treat. Be sure to click on both! Happy Saturday! jlm, 10.29.05, 1:27pm \| Date: 28 October, 2005 Time: 11:54am Subject: 911? Are you kidding? * * * * * Last night, I got involved in the craziest situation. A man called us because he was unable to reach the front desk of his hotel. He said if he didn't get through soon, he was going to call 911. The operator said "do you need 911 sir?" To which he replied, "I'll discuss that with the manager when he calls me back." And he hung up on her. When we were finally able to reach someone at the resort (about 10 minutes later), the guy at the front desk said that he had just spoken with the guest...after the nice folks at the fire department called him to let him know that the guy needed a remote control for his TV. That's right, he called 9-1-1 because he needed a remote control!!! That's it - I officially give up on humanity! So the duty manager and security went to his room just to make sure he didn't really have a medical emergency...and hopefully give him an object lesson on the difference between and emergency and an inconvenience. Actually, the remote control is a pet peeve of mine. I've probably had a half dozen experiences of my own with people complaining about how they didn't spend (insert $$ amount here) to not have a remote control. a) you didn't fly all the way from Bumblefudge, AK to Orlando, FL to watch TV. b) you have two teenagers - make one of them get up and change the channel. c) no, I'm not rebating your entire vacation because there was no remote in your room. When I got home at 1:30 this morning I would have had a glass of wine and a nice soak in the tub...except the only wine we have is a bottle Mom brought from Arkansas, and I was deliriously tired. We had a scheduled power outage that threw the last two hours of my shift into complete chaos. PC's at workstations froze (and we found out that six weren't connected to the emergency generators...oops!), people couldn't see their keyboards by the emergency lighting, I had to reboot the five computers that set and monitor the wake up calls, etc., etc., etc. Oh yeah - and the A/C is also not on emergency power. With running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I worked up quite a glisten! At one point, I looked at Jim and told him I was going to go home and have a good cry. He laughed and told me I'd earned it. Actually, I'm eternally grateful that I've had so much thrown at me during training, because now I know I'll be able to handle this stuff on my own when I'm flying solo...three weeks from now. jlm, 10.28.05, 12:10am \| Date: 27 October, 2005 Time: 10:09am Subject: Ugh * * * * * Does anyone out there have a spare $900 laying around? Apparently half of my transmission is defunct and the cost to repair said transmission is $1900. But don't worry -- we have a $100 off coupon. Thanks to some serendipitous overtime, we have $1000 right now, but without a credit card to put the rest on we're still kinda screwed. The "nice" man at the car place said they usually charge $25/day for storage, but if I brought him the $1000 today as a deposit he'd waive that fee. And no matter what math I do, it looks like my holiday bonus is going to be the next time I see my car. It's not the end of the world...It's not the end of the world...It's not the end of the world... jlm, 10.27.05, 10:16am \| Date: 26 October, 2005 Time: 12:25pm Subject: Waiting... * * * * * I still haven't heard from the car guy. What ever happened to "I'll call you first thing tomorrow?" And to make matters worse, Scott is distraught with worry, which was bound to rub off on me eventually. My theory on potential crisis is wait until there's something to actually worry about, and then do something about it. His theory is worry until it makes you vomit. At least yesterday I could point his head in the direction of the dolphins and go "look...dolphins!" and he'd calm down. Now we're trapped in the apartment with nothing on TV playing the waiting game. I still think we're ok. Even in the worst case scenario, we can scrounge up the money in a couple of weeks. It's times like this I really wish we had a credit card or two. I'll be getting a holiday bonus in about 6 weeks, and considering we'll be working either the same shift or exact opposite shifts during that time, we can absolutely make it with one car. What's the big deal? jlm, 10.26.05, 12:35pm \| Date: 25 October, 2005 Time: 9:47pm Subject: Vacation! * * * * * OK, so we're not on vacation. We did, however, spend the day today at a theme park not owned by Disney. And boy did I take a lot of pictures! click on the photos to see the rest of today's adventures In other news, we took Frances to the transmission doctor today. I should get a final estimate tomorrow. All I know now is that it could be anywhere from $500-$1500. Let's take a moment of silence now to send positive chi to Mike and the guys at the transmission place. We really did have a great day. And I'm going to sleep well tonight! jlm, 10.25.05, 9:52pm \| Date: 24 October, 2005 Time: 6:52pm Subject: Red sky at night... * * * * * Doesn't even look like it was taken on the same day, does it? Reports from my family on Florida's west coast are positive. Unfortunately, Joanne down in Ft Lauderdale didn't fare so well. No one was expecting the east coast to have winds over 100 mph...and she apparently spend 6 hours huddled in a closet. My mom talked to her for a while...long enough to know that the roof is damaged, something had fallen against the front door, and there were downed power lines in the back yard. Hopefully her house isn't totaled. When they spoke, the storm was still pretty strong and she hadn't gone outside to see the extent of the damage in her neighborhood. According to ABC news, Wilma is now being referred to as a "super storm," since it merged with TD Alpha earlier today. So do they refer to it as Wilma/Alpha from now on? Or does Alpha completely lose its identity? jlm, 10.24.05, 6:58pm \| Date: 24 October, 2005 Time: 11:20am Subject: Hurricane? What hurricane? * * * * * I'm obviously not part of any ride-out crew. They ended up just having people come in early or late to avoid driving in the worst of the storm. And it turns out it's a pretty nice day to sit at home and listen to the rain. In fact, as windy as it is here (25ish m.p.h.), the wind is blowing across our balcony and not toward the door. It's 60 degrees outside, so we've got our balcony door open and the AC turned off. The cats are enjoying unfettered access to the great outdoors, and it's nice to listen to the rain. Here's the view from the balcony: Of course, I'm pretty worried about my family in the Ft. Myers area on the west coast of the state, and my family in West Palm, where the eye is currently sitting. We in Orlando have once again dodged a bullet! courtesy of weather.com Strangely enough, Disney and Universal closed their parks for the day...but Sea World is open as normal. We were almost tempted to go, but then common sense prevailed. More on this "story" as it develops. jlm, 10.24.05, 11:28am \| Date: 23 October, 2005 Time: 1:30pm Subject: Strange Day * * * * * So...I hear there's a hurricane coming. The jury is still out on whether or not there's going to be some sort of ride-out for work, or when said ride-out would begin. Scott's most recent gossip has said possible 4am-4pm. This would be bad for me, since I'm working until 1am. I'm almost tempted to pack a pair of comfy pants in my work bag, just in case, although if I do that, I certainly wouldn't need them! Anyway, back to Tales from a One Car Family. Today Scott is working 8am-4:30pm. How convenient, since I work 4:30pm-1am. I woke up this morning to go into work with him and then turned around and drove home. I watched Elf (which I actually enjoyed - JJJJ out of JJJJJ for totally heart-warming holiday fare), then went back to sleep until 12:45. If I don't get to sleep tonight, that 2ish hour power nap may keep me going. Note: I reserve the right to be grumpy anyway. I am now off to watch three-day-old episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report so that I can rewind the tape and get ready to tape Sunday night TV. Then maybe I'll get dressed and ready for work. jlm, 10.23.05, 1:36pm \| Date: 22 October, 2005 Time: 7:02pm Subject: Saturday? Must be college football * * * * * I just heard something strange. I was sitting here minding my own business and all of a sudden my husband yelled a guttural man-yell "yeah!" That was the sound of the Crimson Tide rolling over Tennessee for the first time in about a million years. I have never even seen him pay a lot of attention to football. Last week I was all over the spectrum of "oof"s and "yahoo"s, but I expect that of me, and so does Scott. Neither one of us expected him to yell like that. I believe he scared himself. Since our only thawed & prepped option for dinner was hot dogs and noodles & sauce, we decided to stop and grab Chinese food on the way home. We got a quart of beef & broccoli, a quart of pork lo mein, crab rangoons, and an egroll. And there's enough left over for us to fight over it for lunch tomorrow. mmm... Penn State-Illinois started at 7, so I think I'm going to fall asleep tonight to the soothing sounds of Joe Paterno going for win #350. Life is sweet. :o) jlm, 10.22.05, 7:09pm \| Date: 21 October, 2005 Time: 7:21pm Subject: Memorable Reads * * * * * Weekend Assignment #82: What was your favorite bedtime story as a child? My favorite bedtime story was one my mom would tell me about a mailbox that got old and busted up and then refinished and put in front of a new house where dogs peed on its post. Really, it's a sweet story...I'm obviously not doing it justice. As a little little person, my favorite book was called (I think) Two Kittens. I memorized it, including the page turns, and people thought I knew how to read it. "I have two kittens named Jill and Marie..." Mom can still recite most of it. And as an older child, I adored the Anne of Green Gables series. I read them all. These are books I'd definitely pass on to a girl of my own. Extra Credit: As an adult , have you shared that favorite bedtime story with a child? Nope...not yet...but most of the kids I know won't sit still long enough for a story. On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to answer Janette's question about my work (training) schedule. It's really funny (if you're not me) and I thought I'd share with the group. Next week I'm 4:30pm-1am, then for two weeks after that I'm staggered shifts, some 4am-12:30 and some 6am-2:30, and then another week of 4:30pm-1am. After that (Thanksgiving week, if you want to think in non-abstracts), I'll be on my regular schedule with regular days off. Did I mention that during the four weeks of training that my days off flip-flop? Is anyone laughing? Anyone? Bueller? Unrelated Note #2: It's once again time for the Fantasyland Ride a Thon. Due to my evening work schedule, I won't be able to attend, so I'm throwing my support behind Beth (scroll down a bit to my fairy tale if you'd like to know why* I'm supporting her instead of other co-workers). This year, Children's Miracle Network has made it easier than ever before to support a thonner. Just click here, take a look at Beth's cute picture from last year (she's the one with the big mouth all the way on the right) and send $5 her way. We'll love you forever! Unrelated Note #3: Campbell's Golden Butternut Squash Soup - comes in a big juice box - tastes about half as good as Wolfgang Puck's squash soup - that's still pretty darn good. I recommend it! Unrelated note #4: Click on the Frapper! I want to know where you are! jlm, 10.21.05, 7:40pm* \| Date: 20 October, 2005 Time: 8:51pm Subject: First Day * * * * * Today was my first day in my 4 1/2 weeks of help desk training. And I actually took calls. And I'm pretty sure I didn't screw anything up. For the first half of my shift, every time the phone rang I thought I was going to vomit. Talk about stage fright -- it's like having a solo in front of a choir of your peers when half of them think they can sing it better than you can. gulp Alas, I survived. In addition to my stressful day at work, I had to wake up at 5:30 to drive Scott in, turn around and shower, and then go to work. The adrenaline kept me going until about 2pm...and then I crashed. And at Candlelight rehearsal tonight, we were joined by one of this year's guest conductors. And we ran through the whole show (except for the processionals and the recessional...because he doesn't conduct that). What a rush! And now...to bed. There's still a chance I can stay awake through The Apprentice, but I doubt it. And as long as Scott and I are working these opposite shifts and sharing a car I don't know when I'll have the chance to watch all the TV that I've been taping! jlm, 10.20.05, 9:00pm \| Date: 19 October, 2005 Time: 6:57pm Subject: Map * * * * * Alright you people! Time to stop treating Jamilyn's Journal like a passive medium. Put your fingers on the keyboard and prepare to type for yourself! I have a map now and I want to know where you're reading me from. Ready? Go! jlm, 10.19.05, 6:59pm \| Date: 19 October, 2005 Time: 9:44am Subject: Oh the Irony! * * * * * Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Beth. She and her handsome prince Brian were scheduled to marry on October 22 in New Orleans. The wicked Hurricane Fairy stepped in and threw a horrible storm at New Orleans, forcing Beth to postpone her wedding. Ever the positive force, and having pre-approved vacation time, Beth and Brian decided to book a short Carribbean cruise for the weekend of their "un-eymoon." That Hurricane Fairy has one wicked sense of humor, doesn't she? jlm, 10.19.05, 9:47am \| Date: 18 October, 2005 Time: 12:21pm Subject: Laughable Foliage * * * * * Florida: land of subtly-changing seasons. I love palm trees. I think they are grand and unique and strong enough to stand up to a hurricane. They do not, however, change color. So you can see my trouble with this week's Monday Photo Shoot: Capture the changing seasons with a shot of the fall foliage near you. Scalzi did try to help me out of my predicament, noting: In a part of the country where the leaves don't change? Snap something else that says "fall" to you. I just couldn't resist showing off my own fall foliage (or as Alicia and I used to say, "foilage."). Here are some trees visible from the balcony of my apartment. It's rather unnatural to photograph trees from above, but other than seeing them speed past my car windows, it's how I see them most often. The edges of the palm fronds do look a wee bit brown, but I don't think that's climate-related. After all, highs here are still in the mid 80's. Lows have slipped into the comfortable 60's though. Can days of open windows be far away? By the way, there are other AOL users in more climately-diverse areas who had some pretty spectacular pictures. Go check them out through the link above! jlm, 10.18.05, 12:32pm \| Date: 18 October, 2005 Time: 12:09pm Subject: News * * * * * Well, it's official. I'm allowed to tell the world that I've gotten a monumental promotion. OK, so I'm still hourly. OK, so I'm still in the Call Center. But I'll actually have a little responsibility and accountability and I couldn't be more thrilled. Actually, they're so short-handed at the help desk right now that they're starting my training as of Thursday when I go back to work rather than wait for Sunday. Fine with me!! Since my new schedule is 4:30pm-1am (not sure when those hours are going to go into effect), Scott is going to adjust his schedule so that we can carpool again. Speaking of Scott, he's at some convention for the next few days, getting paid OT which is going to go straight into my transmission...and maybe a nice dinner. I've been sitting here reading the third 'Sisterhood' book since I woke up, and am now getting restless. I may have to put on some presentable clothes and take a walk around the complex. eeeeeeeeeee! jlm, 10.18.05, 12:15pm \| Date: 17 October, 2005 Time: 7:53pm Subject: Nondescript * * * * * Today was one of those days that just...was. I worked for 8 hours. I came home. I had dinner (ok, not dinner, mozzarella sticks). I played on the computer. Keeping secrets doesn't agree with me...and still no word on when I'll be able to open my big mouth. It's getting really hard, because there's a handful of people at work (and not the ones I thought it would be) who are concerned about my predicament and I can't tell them anything. Maybe the magic spell will be broken during my weekend (did someone say weekend? yay!!!) and I'll be able to speak openly by Thursday. Nice thought, huh? jlm, 10.17.05, 8:07pm \| Date: 16 October, 2005 Time: 6:57pm Subject: Ahh... * * * * * According to Scott's fancy clock, it is 79.2 degrees outside. It's perfect. When I got home from work, I decided to spend some quality time out on the balcony with my babies. I had 100 pages left in my book ("The Second Summer of the Sisterhood" by Ann Brashares - more on that later) and figured I could enjoy the fresh air and the cats could do whatever it is they do out there. Milo beat me out the door. Kilo wanted to stand in the doorway and watch, which was ok with me because I'm a nice mommy. He came out a few minutes later, and I left the door unlatched so that I could let them in and out without getting out of my chair. I get the impression that Kilo doesn't really like the balcony, but he goes because he doesn't want to feel left out. Milo, on the other hand, comes alive out there. He rolls on the concrete, he chews on the plants (shh...don't tell Scott), he rolls some more. It was really special, and I'm so glad I decided to go out there rather than sit inside and watch TV. The book was sweet. It's the sequel to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which I read after seeing the movie. The books were obviously written for 13-16 year old girls, but somehow I just get them. There are four friends who have grown up together, seeing eachother through birth of siblings, deaths, divorces, and all that other crap that kids go through. Of course I, not having long-term friends, don't really get what they have in the book so much as I wonder about it. I guess we get out of life what we put into it. I found out recently that someone from work remarked to someone else that I'm perceived as a loner. Part of me wants to go, "no I'm not!" And part of me wants to sit on the balcony with my cats, or go to a movie by myself. I guess being a loner isn't so bad...but the term has such a negative connotation. Loner. Alone. I don't feel alone - I feel content. That's ok, right? I know so many people who crave attention, and fret about aloneness, and I'm glad I'm not like that. Well, I've typed long past sunset. I guess it's time to find something for dinner. jlm, 10.16.05, 7:46pm \| Date: 15 October, 2005 Time: 8:12pm Subject: Hell * * * * * I saw a great bumper sticker today. It said "I would tell you to go to Hell, but I work there and I don't want to see you every day." First of all, I WANT THAT STICKER! Second, it was on a car in the Epcot cast lot. And if I had to guess by the flag in the back window, I'd say it belongs to someone who works in the Norway pavilion. What could be so bad about that? Scott and I went over to Epcot to do Food & Wine today. Honestly, I wasn't that impressed with the offerings. Some of my old favorites were missing this year (where's the chocolate kiosk???), and some of the ones I loved last year were lacking coughescargotcough. We had Canadian cheddar cheese soup, escargot and chocolate creme brulee in France (neither was very good - the creme brulee wasn't set, so it was like chocolate milk with a crispy top, and the escargot was fishier than I remember), hummus and lemon chicken in Morocco, spicy tuna roll in Japan, and potstickers and ginger ice cream in China. To drink, Scott had (crappy) "coco polada" wine and honey mead wine (which had notes of sour apricot and vinegar), and I had a glass of Rosa Regale. I love that stuff! After we left Epcot, we headed home to watch some Penn State Football. I got to see the second half of one of the best games I've ever watched. Although Penn State lost to Michigan in the last seconds of the game, it was such a great half. If football was always that exciting, I'd watch more of it. I have to tip my hat to Scott's Crimson Tide and Chuck's Buckeyes, who both pulled out wins today. Bama is actually still undefeated. Not many of those teams left out there. Back to work tomorrow, for a whopping two days before my weekend. On the schedule: absolutely nothing! In fact, Scott's going to have the only functioning car, so I'll be home watching movies...possibly Cinderella, which I still haven't watched. jlm, 10.15.05, 8:25pm \| Date: 14 October, 2005 Time: 9:15am Subject: Happy Birthday Mom! * * * * * Wow...that's a lot of birthdays! Happy Diamond Jubilee!! jlm, 10.14.05, 9:19am \| Date: 13 October, 2005 Time: 8:50pm Subject: Science Fiction * * * * * Science Fiction is definitely not my favorite genre. I love Star Wars and some Star Trek (DS 9, in my college years), but it's the second-least represented genre in my movie collection (after horror -- I hate horror). So I didn't really have many options to choose from for this week's Weekend Assignment: Share one of your favorite science fiction movies. And so I present my all-time favorite sci-fi movie: Spaceballs How can anyone not love such a brilliant parody of Star Wars? Pizza the Hut! Yogurt! Dark Helmet! In my opinion, Spaceballs was the greatest story Mel Brooks ever told. Extra Credit: Who is the coolest science fiction character ever? Queen Amidala, hands down! She's the most powerful teenage girl ever, and what a wardrobe! "I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war." jlm, 10.13.05, 9:04pm \| Date: 13 October, 2005 Time: 8:18pm Subject: Stupid Car * * * * * Frances and I are in a fight. She has recently decided that going from 2nd to 3rd gear is just too difficult and she won't do it without jerking me around. Today, to add insult to injury, she has decided to forego reverse almost entirely. Parking has become...interesting. Pull-through spots only. Luckily for us, we're off tomorrow and Saturday so that we can go down south for Mom's surprise party -- oh wait! that got cancelled when she made other plans -- and then Beth is going to drive me in on Sunday and Monday, we're off Tuesday and Wednesday, and that's as far away as I have planned. I'm considering throwing myself on the mercy of my management and begging for a schedule change. For now, big news on the horizon, but I've been sworn to secrecy for the time being (unless you're in my family, on my mass-mailing list, in which case you already know). jlm, 10.13.05, 8:42pm \| Date: 12 October, 2005 Time: 6:33pm Subject: Think Before You Send * * * * * I'm pissed. I got an e-mail two days ago and it's been living in my head rent free ever since. Below is the text of the e-mail, followed by my response. "How Ironic is this??!! They don't even believe in Christ and they're getting their own Christmas stamp, but don't dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property? USPS New Stamp This one is impossible to believe. Scroll down for the text. If there is only one thing you forward today.....let it be this! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks in Saudi Arabia! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE! REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001! REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks! Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class holiday postage stamp. REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp when purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors. REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know!" ***** "Wow J...I had no idea you were so biased and closed-minded. Saying that all Muslims are responsible for bombings is like saying every white Christian is a member of the KKK. And since there's a CHRISTMAS stamp every year, why not celebrate another religion's holy days? So much for R.A.V.E., huh? Jamie" I did a little research on the USPS web site just now. It turns out that the United States (read: no national religion) Post Office currently offers five holiday stamps: one Hanukkah, one Eid, one "Holiday Traditional" with Mary and Jesus, and two cutesy holiday stamps featuring Santa. Why not boycott the Christian slant? I feel for anyone working in the post office who may have to deal with the people who "adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp." People need to get over themselves. After all, do you think the Jewish community is sending out mass e-mails about boycotting Christmas stamps? About all of the CHRISTIANS who KILLED innocent Jews during WWII? After all, Hitler was a Christian, wasn't he? puh-leeze! By the way, I like the stamp. I think it's classy, and it matches my color scheme this month. :o) jlm, 10.12.05, 6:48pm \| Date: 11 October, 2005 Time: 6:25pm Subject: Belly Laugh * * * * * This afternoon, Scott and I took a little road trip to Wal Mart, and on the way stopped to get the mail. Scott opened the mailbox and pulled out a key to one of the larger boxes, waving it triumphantly in the air. I yelled out "is it my DVD? or just a big pile of crap?" ...or maybe both. His shoulders sank when he looked in the box. And as soon as I saw the pile of stuff he pulled out I started to laugh. I continued to laugh when he tried to balance the pile and throw away the coupons, and by the time he walked over to my side of the car and dropped it all on my lap I had tears streaming down my face. Today's mail has been brought to you by Utah, Oklahoma (the brown box), North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Idaho, Kansas, New Hampshire, and Nevada. Plus there was a movie from NetFlix, 3 catalogs for Scott, and the Cinderella DVD and 4 bonus lithographs!!!! Scott told me that my new-found love of travel guides (why?) has gotten "ri-gosh-darn-diculous!" I imagine our postal carrier probably agrees with him. I'm in hog heaven though. :o) jlm, 10.11.05, 6:33pm \| Date: 11 October, 2005 Time: 3:07pm Subject: A Story * * * * * Once upon a time, there was a kitty who loved to climb into strange places. One day, the kitty found a basket and couldn't resist the temptation to climb into it. The basket tipped and the kitty fell out. The kitty got angry and tried to kill the basket. When he was unable to kill the basket, the kitty was very depressed and tried to throw himself out with the trash. The end. This story has been made possible by my desire to clean out some clutter today. Of course, now there's even more stuff strewn all over the place, but at least the counter is cleared off! jlm, 10.11.05, 3:18pm \| Date: 11 October, 2005 Time: 10:33am Subject: Junk (food, that is) * * * * * Your Monday Photo Shoot: Have a favorite snack? Show it! I read this right before dinner last night. I was already planning on having my favorite "junky" dinner - Kraft mac n cheese - when I read the photo shoot and decided that I needed a nice big side of Crispy Crowns! The resulting meal was carb-a-licious. I sat like a rock for about two hours wondering what I'd done...but it was so worth it. What I like about that picture above is that the crowns are just about life-size. Blurry, but what's new about that? For anyone out there who doesn't know, crispy crowns are like tater tots - tiny rounds of shredded potato that you can deep fry or bake and they taste like tiny hash browns. Growing up, I usually had them on a plate with fish sticks and frozen mixed vegetables, with a dippy pile of tartar sauce and a dippy pile of ketchup. As you can see, I've now moved on to simply mixing my veggies (peas) into the mac n cheese and limiting myself to one dippy pile! By the way, I thought I'd try something new and buy the white cheddar mac n cheese. I'm not really a fan. I ended up throwing in a handful of real cheddar to flavor things up a bit. Then it was quite tasty...although not very pretty to look at. jlm, 10.11.05, 10:45am \| Date: 10 October, 2005 Time: 7:28am Subject: Early Morning Quickie * * * * * It's time for another episode of everyone's favorite interactive blog tool: create-a-caption! Today's picture is the sight I was welcomed by this morning when I got out of the shower. Generally, the lid of the cat box is ON TOP OF THE CAT BOX, and the pooper scooper is on top of that. I don't know what happened here. Maybe Scott was throwing hints...maybe the cats were throwing hints. I took the hint and scooped the dang box - before my morning oatmeal. I'm pretty sure the actual caption is "ok, Mom, we've done the hard part for you. NOW will you scoop the damn box?", but I submit caption 2: "Quick Kilo, to the Cat Cave!" jlm, 10.10.05, 7:32am \| Date: 9 October, 2005 Time: 8:08pm Subject: Is It Just Me? * * * * * I hope it's PMS. I really do. Because if people in this town are as stupid as I think they are, the human race is doomed to de-evolve to hunting wabbit and cooking it over an open fire. "How do I get to where the rides is?" "Just take the bus over." "What area is where the rides is?" "All of the parks have rides." I just...can't...handle...the stupidity anymore! This conversation rubbed me the wrong way for two primary reasons: 1. The grammar shudder 2. This family paid a lot of money to come from St. Louis...to spend a week in Central Florida...and doesn't even know why they are here. Well, I'd love to stay here and complain, but Scott's cold has led to my need to do housework. I already cooked dinner (ok, hamburger helper...but I also steamed broccoli), and now there's dishes to be done. Plus the cat box needs attention. And then...my favorite two hours of TV. :o) jlm, 10.9.05, 8:17pm \| Date: 8 October, 2005 Time: 7:23pm Subject: Cheating * * * * * Scott and I bumped into a former co-worker of mine tonight when we grabbed dinner. He was with a woman I didn't recognize and actually made an effort to hide behind her when we walked near them. We didn't say hi. I dislike him - a lot - and it was obvious he didn't have any desire to speak to me. They got up and left right after we sat down, going out through the wood chips rather than (I believe) risk being seen by me. As I may have already implied, I have a rather unpleasant history with this guy. He once tried to stick his tongue down my throat in the breakroom at work and I made the mistake of not having him fired. Instead I laughed it off and tried to maintain a peaceful working environment. He didn't try again. He did, however, take advantage of a friend of mine one night when she was extremely drunk, planting a kiss on her that made me blush (she was so drunk, by the way, that she puked in my car about 20 minutes later) while his wife was in the kitchen cleaning up from our party. The guy is scum. So this woman he was with tonight was not his wife. Well, to be fair, I don't even know whether they are still married. This got me thinking about infidelity. Sure, cheating is cheating. But I really believe that there's different levels. There's temptation that you choose to avoid, and there's intentionally seeking out some sordid activity. Why would anyone do that? Really, the thought just turns my stomach. Why get married if you don't want to act like you're married? Why not just step up and act like an adult human being instead of acting like a penis with legs? Well, I'm off to watch the Penn State - Ohio State game (until OSU is up by 20 or I fall asleep, whichever comes first). UPDATE (10:53pm): Final Score: 17-10 Penn State. What a great game! Honestly, it brought tears to my eyes. PSU is now 6-0, and the only team in the Big Ten that's undefeated in-conference. jlm, 10.8.05, 7:41pm \| Date: 7 October, 2005 Time: 8:14pm Subject: Germs * * * * * Scott is sick. He has a sore throat. I have one too, but I was attributing it to my grueling Candlelight rehearsals. Of course, I now have a bit of a cough and a boogie nose, so I think it's time to admit that there are germs afoot. I stopped at McDonald's tonight to grab dinner and won a small mcflurry and 3 best buy bucks. Woo...I'm a winner! I must admit, this is the second time I've had one of the new "premium" chicken sandwiches and I'm not a fan. I miss the days of white bread and iceberg (burg?) lettuce. The wheat bun is too dense, and even the chicken doesn't taste as good. I would've gotten a happy meal, but the toys were crap. Where's Cinderella?!? Speaking of Cinderella, the elusive DVD still has not shown up. I decided against an angry e-mail because I would've had to put more thought into writing it than they would put into reading and replying and would've just ended up angrier. Besides, it turns out on the web page in tiny tiny gray letters it actually said "will ship on October 4." Still, it's the 7th and I bet I won't get it until the 10th or after anyway. Travesty! Before I go off to my early bed, I just wanted to mention my new favorite food: Yoplait Whips - chocolate mousse-style yogurt. Wow! Who knew 160 calories could taste so good? It's really like eating chocolate mousse, but with the same bite as yogurt. The stuff is great. And at 50 cents a pop at Wal Mart, they work well for breakfast or a snack. jlm, 10.7.05, 8:26pm \| Date: 6 October, 2005 Time: 6:17pm Subject: Tammy, Traffic, and Terribly Taxing Tourons * * * * * There once was a tropical storm, with weather out of the norm. I tried just ignorin', But then it kept pourin', And now I'm inside keeping warm. So yeah - Tammy - gray skies, intermittent rain, not fun. Today would've been a great day to stay in bed and read and listen to the rain fall. Instead my alarm went off at 6:45. I had to drive to and from work in horriffic traffic (of course, the overturned truck on the 27 entrance ramp didn't help things. thank God it was the opposite direction from my travels!). I had to talk to angry people all day. I had to stop for gas on my way home, which involved waiting for a pump, and then standing in the rain while pumping. On the bright side, I had an interviewee sitting with me this afternoon when I got my best call of the day: "yeah, we just checked into our room and there's dirty underwear hanging in the bathroom." The guy on the phone was remarkably cool - wasn't asking for a room change, just wanted someone to come and pick up the underwear. THAT'S unusual. I also talked to an insurance agent who was working on a claim where his client rear-ended one of our buses. hahahaha I still haven't gotten my Cinderella DVD. Here's the latest from usps.com: Status: Electronic Shipping Info Received The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper or shipping partner on October 04, 2005 to expect your package for mailing. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date. Delivery status information will be provided if / when available. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later. Once again, like I did at Christmas, I am going to e-mail disneydirect and voice my disappointment. And again, like they did at Christmas, they will e-mail me back a form letter thanking me for my feedback. I'm really not in as bad a mood as it sounds from reading this. More than anything, I'm tired. Thursdays are always rough for me. Maybe there's still time to curl up in bed and read - Scott picked up Bridge to Terabithia for me, and I have three states worth of travel packages to go through - and maybe I'll even indulge in some hot chocolate. jlm, 10.6.05, 6:32pm \| Date: 5 October, 2005 Time: 6:06pm Subject: Potato Parts * * * * * Today was rather full - breakfast with Beth at Boatwright's (where we bumped into all of our area's senior management - tres awkward), foot doctor appointment for Scott, trip to Target (I got a big orange tub for Christmas ornaments - $4! - the clear ones are $10+ - like I care what color it is), and the most fun impulse buy of the day: I got a whole box of accessories for the Darth Tater I bought "for Scott." Now (s)he can be a total touron, complete with goofy hat selection, sandals, autograph book, Buzz Lightyear blaster, Mickey balloon, or seasonal selections like the pumpkin trick-or-treat bucket or santa hat. Be warned: there will probably be a photo montage of Potato Head Fashions in the next few days. What I didn't get yet is my Cinderella DVD. When I pre-ordered the DVD from disneydirect.com, I made the assumption that their pre-orders would be treated like a major book pre-order - you get it the day it comes out (yesterday). It didn't leave the warehouse until today. I could've bought it today for $19.99 minus 10% and gotten a free pin out of the deal. Instead, I'm waiting at least two days, paying more (stupid shipping), and only getting 4 lithos, which I'll probably never even display. I'm so peeved! Oh well...at least I have my new Potato friend to ease my disneydirect disappointment! jlm, 10.5.05, 6:18pm \| Date: 4 October, 2005 Time: 1:54pm Subject: Stories and Pictures * * * * * First, I'd like to open with two pictures of me and Rose and Gary taken during their recent visit: Today we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn - ok 8am - when something very bad happened. I'm not sure what it was, but the entire fire house down the street responded. There were tons of sirens going down the road. Since we were awake, we decided to head out to Cracker Barrell for breakfast. Mmm...biscuits and gravy... After breakfast we did some grocery shopping at Wal Mart. While I was picking out yogurt selections, Scott got a bottle of milk, and then took the cart to another cooler case. I looked over and realized that our cart had sprung a leak - there was milk dripping into an ever-growing puddle on the floor, and a 10 ft. trail of milk drops across the aisle. Oh how I laughed. I found a Wal Mart Associate two aisles away and explained to him that there was a trail of cow tears on the floor...still laughing my butt off. We also bought a mop, which I carried out to the car while contemplating its possible uses in quidditch. We named the mop Moppus 2000. Look! Our road is open! And we drove down it! And we learned a new lesson about the cats today. Milo is afraid of bubbles. Kilo is not. It is, however, difficult to take non-blurry photos of cats playing with bubbles. We tried...a lot! Scott had to go into work for an hour for a meeting. I'm home alone...doing nothing...but the cat box will soon be needing some attention. jlm, 10.4.05, 2:13pm \| Date: 3 October, 2005 Time: 10:08pm Subject: Ahh...Weekend! * * * * * It's my first weekend of the month, and boy am I glad! Today at work, I had a guy actually say "F* You" to me on the phone. I assure you this was not my fault. He wanted to talk to someone in programming because of something Donald Sutherland said that made him angry, called me a Marxist, and swore at me when I told him all I could do was connect him to the comment line. "Fine - here's your comment - F* You." To which I replied...well, nothing, because I hung up on him. I also talked to someome that I've spoken with before. Last time he called, he kept asking me the same question about the same hotel over and over again (I wrote about it on July 10). This time it was pin trading questions. "Where can you buy pins?" Oh for goodness sake - just about anywhere these days. There's a big pin store in every park, and other places to buy pins in the parks, the resorts, the freakin' cruise ships... FOUR TIMES he asked me about a specific location and whether they sold pins. Umm...YEAH...just like the first three times you asked! For the first time in the year and a half I've worked there, I almost "accidentally" disconnected the call. I can't handle people with really short term memory problems! After work was Candlelight rehearsal, which was fun. I made a new acquaintance - a manager at Scott's favorite under-the-sea restaurant. Today was her first rehearsal, and she sure picked a doosy. We were working on Hallelujah, and Dirk decided to torture the soprano section by making us sing the following section of Hallelujah over and over. It might not look like much, but it's taxing when sung multiple times. When we were done, I wasn't sure whether to pass out or check my throat for obvious signs of tearing! After Candlelight rehearsal, I decided to treat myself to a movie. I went and saw Just Like Heaven (Reese Witherspoon - I want to be her!). It was such a good movie. There was no sex, no violence, and not really a lot of bad language that I can remember. It was definitely a feel-good chick flick (speaking of, I hear that "chick flick" and "bikini wax" were added to the Merriam Webster dictionary this year). I'm glad I saw it without Scott, because he would've hated it. I won't review it, but I will give it JJJJ out of JJJJJ. Well, I've had quite the long day. I think it's time to get a glass of water to soothe my throat and call it a day. Coming tomorrow: pictures! jlm, 10.3.05, 10:44pm \| Date: 2 October, 2005 Time: 5:55pm Subject: Grumpy much? * * * * * Today at work I got all the angry calls. "I can hear the elevator from my room." "I might hear the night club from my room." "I'm locked out of my room." "The smoke alarm went off last night and traumatized my children." whine * complain* moan * groan On the bright side, Scott worked a morning shift today, and is now home to cook me dinner and watch Desperate Housewives with me. Oops...I mean play on the computer for two hours while I watch ABC. For dinner, he picked baked potatoes and broccoli, and I picked pork chops with shake n bake. I offered to make cheese sauce for the broccoli, but we don't have enough butter. I may make it anyway. Then I can make a broccoli/cheese potato, just like Wendy's. :o) jlm, 10.2.05, 6:05pm \| Date: 1 October, 2005 Time: 9:06am Subject: Call In * * * * * I left work early yesterday. I had a sore throat that was negatively impacting my morale and it was so slow I was dozing off between calls. Besides, I had a hot date last night and didn't want to be too pooped (or sick) to party. Aunt Rose and Gary are in town for the weekend, and they and Scott and I got together last night and had dinner at Citricos at the Grand Floridian. If you go, I highly recommend the carrot & ginger soup, the halibut (mmm...spinach risotto...), and the lemon cheesecake. I lucked out on the first two, but had the tropical fruit creme brulee (oh shut up! it was on the menu...I HAD to have it!) for dessert. And it was really good - just didn't hold a candle to the cheesecake. This was the first time that Scott has met Gary, and he had only spent a few minutes with Rose two years ago during the Food and Wine "Fesshival" when we were all a little tipsy (except Scott, who was at work). And oh boy did we have a good time. We caught up on family gossip and talked about everything else under the sun. Worms, poisoned herbs, limoncello, cooking school - we were all over the place. After we had split up, Scott said he wanted to adopt them. Not in those words. Now he gets why they are my favorite extended family. Of course, you'll notice there are no pictures. I had my camera in my purse, but it takes such lousy pictures indoors under low light that I figured they wouldn't come out anyway. I called in today. I can't figure out if I'm getting sick, or if it's just my throat acting up. I hope it's just my throat. in case you were wondering about the background this month, it's the tiles from the grill at Dave's house. I thought they were pretty, so I stole them and put them here jlm, 10.1.05, 9:24am \| Looking for September?