I've Never Claimed to Be Perfect Either, Dad

Okay, so I've mentioned "the previous DC trip" in several posts now. I figured it was time to post the pics from that oh-so-fun time. But I couldn't find 'em scanned in on my computer; so I had to run to Haley to have her e-mail them to me. So, thanks Haley! :-) And the rest of y'all, enjoy!



Well, I've been up TOO LATE every night this week working on something or another. Tonight, I'm going to bed early. That way, when Mom & Dad decide to get up at the crack of dawn in the morning & want to get on the road, perhaps I can pull myself up out of my deep slumber. Why is it that when you get over 50, you can't sleep past 8 am anymore? Is that a rule somewhere? Show me where it is written, please. Silly, silly parents. But I'm GLAD they came. Even if they haven't enjoyed it to the extent that I would've hoped. Oh well... here's hoping we have a GREAT trip home tomorrow. Hopefully everyone will be in better moods. ;-)

I'll leave you with a little lyric for your amusement... if you're interested:
If I woke up one morning with my memory gone,
I'd pick out some clothes and I'd put them on,
And walk down the street, and find a cafe,
I'd order a Guinness, and I'd sit there all day.

Peace out.

Certain Unalienable Rights: Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness, and the Right to Fly, Of Course

Usually, the city of DC and I get along really well. We're buds, mostly. But this area around Dulles airport... and specifically, the Hyatt Dulles... we are NOT tight. I spent HOURS today driving around trying to find my way to this stinking dump of a hotel. Okay, okay, it's not that bad... but I was MAD that I couldn't find it. I swear, Jenny & I could spit on it about five different times and just COULD NOT find a road that would take us to it! Grrrrrrr. And then, dang if I got myself all lost again... this time with Mom & Dad along for the ride... after having picking them up from their very-adventurous jaunt on the Metro. I'm sooooo proud of them for having tried the Metro... even if they won't ever do it again (due to Dad's motion sickness.... who knew Dad had motion sickness? I thought that was Mom's affliction! Well... evidently Dad doesn't do well with the underground-ness and stop-and-start-ness.).

Anyway... Mom & Dad will set off again in the morning to do some more sightseeing. I'm oh-so-jealous b/c I just looooooooove touring around DC. Wish I could be with them. Wish Haley could be here too... since I think she loves it about as much as I do! (Seriously... who could forget the too-funny pics we took together here last time!?!? Haley... go find those on your computer & post 'em to your blog! I can't find them anywhere on mine!) But, alas, I have a day of venting, trying to think of meaningful stuff to say that won't get me laughed at, attempting to be my usual charming, witty, and oh-so-classy self (ha!), and just generally meeting with the HR management team. Fun, fun.

OK... going to bed early tonight (without having finished all of my work tasks... or having put in my standard 8 hours POST 5PM). But I really NEED to get to bed early since I've been STRUGGLING with getting up. In fact, I missed YET ANOTHER keynote speaker this morning at the conference. Oops. But, tomorrow, I don't have the option of sleeping in at all. Dang it. I love sleeping in... not having to worry about getting up... just staying in the bed all. day. long. Maybe that day will come around again sometime soon. Here's hoping...

If You're Listening, Sing It Back

In keeping with the late nights and posts that carry over into the next day, here I am again waaaaaay past my bedtime. It's tough attending sessions all day and then coming back to the hotel for a full 8 hours of work! And that, my friends, is why I DO NOT feel bad AT ALL when I miss a little 8-5 job time.

It sure is sucky to be out of my routine. I'm missing all the good posts on MySpace. By the time I get around to the most recent bulletins, I have to pull up the whole darn list of posts so I can just see which ones I've missed! AND... I STILL have two of the surveys that were posted a week or more ago as Word documents on my computer. I had every intention of posting them. And shoot, I probably still will. Just because I'm a dork like that... and like Lil' Nik, I LOVE SURVEYS. :-) And oh my gosh, Nik, I just read your Yes/No... how INTERESTING!!! When I get a few spare moments (probably not until next week!), I HAVE to ask you some "explain that" questions!!!

Anyway, I'm tired and up too late yet again. No, I didn't make it to the early session this morning (7 am came and went), but I did get to the keynote that started at 8:30. Well, maybe I walked in by 8:40, but David McCullough didn't mind. He was allllllll the way up in the front of the HUGE assembly hall, and I was no way no how anywhere close to the rudest one (as far as walking in late or leaving early)... hello, Miss Clicky Heels... don't you know you should at least TRY to keep them quiet? It's kinda like coming down stairs in flip flops... you've GOT to make the effort to keep 'em from slapping so loudly!

Hope you guys are all comfortably tucked in. I'll have to catch up with you later on anything substantial. Must. sleep. now. Have a happy morning... happier than you've had in a while! Remember, waking up is the first good thing that happened to you this morning!!! All my love from our nation's soggy capital. XOX

I Know I Should Get Some Sleep Since I'm at the Beginning of Another Long Week

How many of you know what SHRM is? How many of you care enough to go look it up? Eh... don't bother. It's the Society for Human Resource Management. And their annual conference and expo is going on right now at the DC Convention Center. Thus, my trip to DC. I really didn't want to come to the SHRM conference, but when my good buddy JC (huh... it's interesting how many JC's I have in my life!) dropped out (by RESIGNING!!!) at the last minute, I was tapped to take his place. I'm glad I came, too... I've already had two lovely dinners with my good friend Jenny. And I got to catch up on some ZZZZ's this morning (oops... did I say that out loud? never mind about that...), and I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 sessions I attended this afternoon. Plus, it was pretty convenient to have Jon just drop me at CLT on the way back through to Statesboro (after the weekend's festivities in les montagnes). I was disappointed, however, that I didn't make it to the convention center in time to hear Colin Powell speak. I think I really would've enjoyed that... regardless of what Mary thought about him. :-)

Anyway, I'll just post a few quotes from today's afternoon session that really grabbed ahold of me. Hope they're meaningful (or at least interesting to you). All of these should be attributed to Barbara Glanz or otherwise (but Barbara repeated 'em today, so I'm not going to take the time to look up who they actually belong to... mainly b/c I didn't buy Barbara's book and my note-taking was less-than-perfect during the session).
- How is what you do making someone's life better?
- People may not remember what you say or what you do, but they know how you made them feel.
- We don't remember days. We remember moments in our lives.
- Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. (That one was Mother Teresa.)
- My idea of heaven is a place where we'll see all those people whose lives we touched and didn't even know it. (I love this one! Fits right in with my answer to one of the "WHY?" book questions. Maybe I'll explain later...)
- Are you contagiously enthusiastic?
And finally,
- There's a lot less traffic on the extra mile!

Also, I won a t-shirt at the Monster booth. How fun is that?!?!?! And perhaps found a possible "in" for another job. Not really. Well, actually, kinda. Anyway, it's fun and more than a little selfish to think about.

So... I've got to get to bed. The 7:15 session tomorrow will feel ultra-early (if I can drag my sorry butt out of bed to get there for it!). Can't wait 'till Mom & Dad join me in DC! Even if I won't get to sight-see with them, I'm happy, happy, happy to share the usually-lonely hotel room with them and hear all about how much fun they're having. :-)

Today's Festivities

Oops... we kinda forgot to take a lot of pictures, but Jason's & Callie's wedding was just beautiful. I had the best time being one of the girls! I thought I'd show you a few... hope Callie doesn't mind! :-)

The Couple of the Day



The "Clubhouse" Crew
(and stars of front porch concerts -- no paparazzi, please!)


Ironically, Callie & Jason are headed in the same direction as Jon & me in the morning. They leave CLT @ 11:30 am just like I'm supposed to. Unfortunately, I have to go to DC while they get to jet off to St. Thomas!!! I'm sooooo jealous!

Oh well, I thought you might enjoy a few pics of today. Hope you like... and they make you smile. For now, I'm sleepy AGAIN!!! So, I must get to bed (and probably before I leave, think about packing)! Enjoy the trip to D.C. What? You're not coming with tomorrow night? Figures! Oh well, at least promise me that you'll have a great week next week! :-)

The Next Time Between

Oooh... I think I just BARELY beat the fresh start (00:00) for tonight (in the time stamp of this post). Since I did, in fact (and as semi-predicted), miss yesterday (I was reaaaaaally tired when I got to M&D's last night), I really was hoping to get this one in while it is/was still Thursday. Nice thing about Blogger, though... you can start a new post, take FOREVER writing it, and the time stamp is always the time you created the new post! I've fooled you guys several times with that snazzy trick. I LIKE to keep my posts on the days that they're supposed to happen. And I often find myself writing at the very end of a very long day/night that stretches very quickly into tomorrow. And I really dislike two posts to fall under the same day's header. It's just a little confusing and not organizationally sound. And I'm a tad silly (or "weird", if you will) about little things like that.

Anyway, moving right along...

So, now that I've gotten a little older, I'm pretty good at remembering details of things. For example, I can have an e-mail conversation with a colleague, file it away in my e-mail archive (which is HUGE ... and if I ever leave the COR, I'm going to have one HECK of a time saving), and remember YEARS from then that I had that exact conversation. In fact, I can usually remember exact words or phrases from the e-mails to use in a search of the e-mail folder. And I'm great at remembering faces and names. That's my secret weapon for doing well in social settings (deja vu... I think I've told some of you this before). Anyway, so this good memory of mine is a VERY recent development in my life. If anything happened in my life prior to about 2000, I don't remember very much about it AT ALL. Just little snippets here and there is all. Of course, I have the big players' stats pretty well memorized, but I can't visualize those big plays (and especially the small plays... that's a completely hopeless cause). So, I say all that to put a series of questions to you - another little social experiment, if you will. If you were asked to write a transcript of the last conversation you had... wait, even better... of the last meaningful (i.e., touch-your-heart or pull-at-its-strings important) conversation you had with someone, how much of the conversation could you capture on paper? I haven't tried this for a while, but I have done it before... and (of course, since 2000) I have been pretty darn pleased with my success. Of course, "pleased" in this case (where the exercise is extremely difficult and one wouldn't EXPECT to succeed to any great level) sets the bar pretty low. Anyway... give it a try sometime. In my experience, a one-hour conversation can usually constitute one page (single spaced). But, again, I consider that a pretty darn good memory; so don't tell me if you can squeeze more pages out of a one-hour discussion.

OK... there's lots of stuff to do tomorrow. Many, many wheels are in motion; balls are up in the air; to-do lists are jam-packed. And I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. Perhaps some small wooden sticks would help prop them. OWWWW... that was a bad idea! My advice? Keep small wooden pointy objects away from your eyes.

Well, until next time, my pretties... and, of course, there's ALWAYS a next time.

Afloat on the Aegean... and Me Without a Personal Flotation Device

What is it about MySpace that keeps Haley ADDICTED? One of the funniest movies of all time is on (the Oregon classic... Without a Paddle) and she cannot look away from the 'puter screen! Uh oh... now she's typing. Could it be another blog posting? Oh, man, I hope so! She's so interesting when she blogs. :-)

Well, we finished the second coat in the dining room this evening. It looks MUCH better than coat #1. Just as we suspected... just like toenail polish! I only did one coat on the tray ceiling, though (since we couldn't even make ourselves do the first coat the other night when we did the rest of the walls... but I was inspired tonight, I guess). Other things we finished: the chocolate cake and the big bottle, but not the t-shirts or the collage. Hmm... we're going to have to pay attention to tomorrow... where's that motivation found again? We need some. Pronto.

Okay, well, I decided to look through some old pics tonight and found some fun ones to share. These are from May/June 2001 and our trip to Skiathos, Greece. Gosh, that was fun. I've GOT to go somewhere like that again SOON. Like maybe somewhere in the Caribbean.

The Oracle at Delphi. I asked it lots of questions...
...still looking for the answers.

I LOVED this day trip. Too bad Jon got all kinds of sick during. I just couldn't get over being at this ancient, storied site. I mean, seriously... who among you WOULDN'T want to converse with the Oracle at Delphi just like Oedipus and Cadmus?!?! Too bad the priestess wasn't around to talk with.

Being Silly Posing for Pics... and the sanctuary (Tholos) of Athena @ Delphi

The City... and From the Deck 'o the Pool at the Hotel

Oh yeah, last thing... probably driving tomorrow night, so don't expect too much (if anything) here! HOW MANY TIMES MAKING THIS TRIP IS TOO MANY TIMES MAKING THIS TRIP (over the course of about a month or two)? I'm not there yet... just wondering if anyone else has an opinion. :-) See you soon.

Enjoying That There's Not Always Title/Posting Agreement

What do you do when it's late and you really don't have anything to blog about? You post pics. (Phew! Glad I took my own advice & didn't post 'em all when I first got them saved to my computer!) Sorry for those of you looking for some ultra-insightful yet random musings this morning/afternoon/evening/whenever you have a moment to sit down with your coffee/doughnut/DC/computer to read my random musings about nothing. I warned you way up front on this here page that I didn't really have a lot to talk about and that it wasn't gonna be all that interesting. But, you decided to come here. You can't say I didn't tell you so...

First and foremost, I found the card reader. I mean, really, who WOULDN'T have thought to look in the FSU plastic cup in the FROG? Of course that's where the maids put it. Duh.

Anyway, then there's another of Forsythe. (That's Haley out front in case you missed her.) And, of couse, the obligatory doggie pics (with Haley included in the last one). We had TOO MUCH fun with the sunglasses, I think. But they didn't mind it too badly. And it makes for SUCH cute pics! Anything for the laugh, right Coop-the-clown?



Finally, I'm very proud to be from NC tonight. GO CANES!!!!!!!




Keep on keeping it real cause it keeps getting easier indeed. Much love from the 'Boro... tonight and every night.

There Was Just This One Thing I Wanted To Tell You

Okay, Dad, you're right. Painting is a pain-in-the-rear-end job! I still like it very much... but it is TIRING! After spending the evening taping (okay, Haley & Jon spent the evening taping), Haley & I put the first coat on in about an hour and a half. We definitely got better as we went. And the fourth (and last) wall we painted was, by far, the best. We dropped the idea of painting a 2nd coat tonight when we noticed it was MIDNIGHT! Oh well. At least we got the first coat completed... well, except for the tray ceiling. But the upper part of the wall was so hard to paint, we decided the tray portion was definitely a job for another day. Anyway, here's the proof that we really replaced the Shortbread in the dining room with Spanish Tile. It's streaky... just like a first coat of red on your toenails... but we're SURE the 2nd coat will even it out and make it look AWESOME! We're already pleased with the depth and variety this color gives our open floor plan. Even though I think he's displeased with the streakiness (HELLO, I SAID the 2nd coat will help that!), Jon is itching (after seeing the red dining room) to paint at least one other room (to break up the Shortbread-land that we live in on a daily basis). He says the next one on the list is the Carolina room (otherwise known as MY 2nd bedroom)... which Jon says we're painting Carolina blue, but I know I'm painting Denim. I had a Carolina blue room at Mom & Dad's (still do), so I think I want a little deeper shade in this room. Anyway... I can't imagine doing much more TAPING in a room. I always thought I'd like to do an interesting pattern with paint on the walls, but ... um, never mind. I don't want the hassle of taping it off!

Before and After

Oh my gosh... please just look at this picture for a while. HOW CUTE IS MY SWEETIE-PIE?!?!?!?!


So, how 'bout them HEELS!!!??? We've enjoyed the heck out of watching the baseball games on HD and the big TV! (Jealous much?!) Can you believe how well the Heels are doing? Gosh... I hope I don't jinx 'em by writing about it. How do you reverse a possible jinx? I'm going to try turning around counter-clockwise three times, bending down to touch my toes, saying "Happy Father's Day" five times (progressively louder, of course), and watching SATC on Tivo one time before going to bed. Ahh... winning is great. I like winning. G'night!

Your Sweet Smile is Something You Can Keep All Your Life

I'm seriously losing it. I thought Jon was gonna have to call the crazy house for me. I searched for my camera for HOURS today. I couldn't remember where in the world I put the darn thing. I called Mom, thought maybe I'd left it at home. I searched my bag (yeah, I know... I still hadn't unpacked), looked through my purse, looked in every room, searched the car, etc., etc. I looked ALL DAY. I mean, I remembered having it on the trip back to Statesboro... b/c I took a few pics trying to capture the coloring of the storm I drove through around Columbia. But where in the world did I put it when I got back home??? Duh... of course... on the speaker, beside the mirror TV, in the treadmill room. Because, of course, why WOULDN'T you need the camera in the treadmill room on the speaker beside the TV? Oh wait... dang it... I guess I was gonna try to take a picture of chubby. Phew... glad that didn't work out. You so didn't need to see that.

Speaking of chubby... Shakira, girl - these hips don't lie either. And in case you can't hear them from here, they're saying Sonic every day, baby.

The reason I was looking for the camera? Man... Jon's dogs were so bad today. I was running and they'd been out of the room for a while. So long, in fact (and it was so dangerously quiet), that I had to stop for a moment & go find 'em. I HAVE to remember to make sure Jon has closed the door to the upstairs after he leaves. And I HAVE to remember not to leave ANYTHING on the floor... especially Baked Doritos bags. Well, Kona & Cooper had an ultra-yummy lunch today. And their breath smelled like Doritos well into the evening. Well... until the Sonic bag incident. WHO told Kona that she could rogue a Sonic bag from the trash can? But, man oh man do they LOVE the fast food wrappers!

So, I saw my new favorite movie tonight: Pride and Prejudice. I think it was made for me! You have to pay attention to make sure you keep up with the dialogue, but when you do... it's absolutely fabulous!

Okay, a few funnies from "Two and a Half Men" (last week's Tivo'd version):
I think God gives us children so death won't come as such a disappointment.
I know what it feels like to be so in love with someone you want to crawl inside them so that you're wearing their skin like a leotard with nipples.

Okay, let's go finish the "Trading Spaces" marathon to clear off some of the Tivo to-do list. :-) Oooh... maybe I can't clear it off when I'm done, though. It's one of my faves! The crazy red room and the Cuban room. I want the Cuban room sooooo badly. Do you think I could get Gen to come do it for me? Wait... what am I saying? Didn't I want to do my own Trading Spaces-inspired room sometime? Perfect opportunity... maybe I can make one of the extra bedrooms my very own Cuban room! Think about it. Get back to me.

I wish there were some cheap flights between SAV and Chicago this weekend. I would LOVE to accompany my Lis to the Sunday shows at the Taste of Randolph festival this weekend. Jake, get with it, boy. You only live once, and when you miss an opportunity to do something fun, it doesn't come back around again. AND it's another fun memory you miss out on having (and sharing with your besties) -- don't you also wish we had more fun stories to tell from SCE (and I mean without having to make them up!)? What's a 2.5 hour drive anyway if not an incredibly great opportunity to talk to your wife and enjoy her beautiful blonde company. ;-) Oh sorry, Lis... that's right, you're NOT the blonde blonde.

By the way, has anyone seen my card reader? I swear... this is so not even funny. Maybe I'll find success tomorrow with the card reader. Then maybe I'll upload a photo or two for you. I've got to stop uploading so many at once. I get carried away all on one post, and then I don't have any left for the next few posts. Who's the blonde now, right?

Okay, here are two that struck my fancy tonight... from a while back... sorry:
1) Is Sydney rolling her tongue? What's up with that?? Haley, when did you teach her that trick?


2) Just recently someone (who was that again??? was it Carrie, I-look-just-like-my-sister? Maybe... don't really remember) told me that I look just like my mom. I love my mom. I think she's beautiful. I'll be proud to be able to look into the mirror mirror on the wall and say I am my mother after all. Oh wait... right... Carrie's point is that day is here. Except for the sighing (which she continues to point out to me), I think I'm doing all right! What do you think? Do you see the resemblance? Of course, the main reason I wanted to post this picture is not because it's the greatest ever of the two of us... but because it was taken at a place that we both dearly love. :-) Love you, Mom.


Shoot! I meant to be working while I was watching TV tonight. Darn it! Now I'm gonna have to do more work tomorrow. Well... here's hoping I can at least knock off a little bit early & head to the pool for a while. I mean... during my lunch break. Yeah, that's it. So, pool or no pool, I hope you enjoy your Friday! Sending you some of my favorites (X's) as I sign off... Much luv!

Things That Make You Say Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

There was a time back in college when I spent a lot of time listening to Dave Matthews. I just loved Crash (still do, actually... so if you don't like it, tough nuggets... mmm, Haley, nuggets). Anyway... I especially liked the song "Too Much". I used to sing it at home (after listening to it a few too many times during long trips up & down the mountain). But Mom didn't like the words so much, especially in this one little section: "Ooh traffic jam got more cars than a beach got sand. Suck it up, suck it up, suck it up, fill it up until no more."

Oh, sweet little Mom. Oh, how she wishes I would've stuck to those tame-by-comparison words/phrases. Nowadays, Mom & Dad are too-often-disappointed by my inability to accurately express my feelings with my relatively-advanced vocabulary. Instead, I forget those SAT/GRE words and revert back to the worst choices. On a daily basis. Multiple times. And the biggest reason? KONA.

I ran across a cute little blog on a quick tour through a few "Next Blog"s on Blogger yesterday. (How many times can you use the word "blog" in a sentence?) The bloggist had made an effort to document the times in one day when she felt, well, let's call it frustrated. She quit counting at about 10... by about 10 am... and I can completely identify with her. I tried to notice over the days (yesterday and today) what really pushed me over the edge (!). And I was amused to find that the two biggest culprits of my language problem are: yes, Kona... and myself. (What's the appropriate form of that pronoun there, Mom? Myself, me? Not whom... I know that much, at least!) So... like the bloggist... I found myself calling people names or otherwise using verbalizations to abuse them (albeit secretly from the safety of my home or car or head)... and then realizing it was ME who caused the lunacy. An example: the stupid girl at the drivethrough @ Sonic gave me FRIES instead of tater tots. Geez! Oh wait... did I say I wanted tater tots? Duh... NO. I'm sure there are tons more where that came from (examples, not tater tots), but I'm starting to get sleepy myself. Maybe I'll come back to this topic someday when I care again.

Anyway, that song ("Too Much") definitely goes on my AGGRESSIVE HYPER playlist. I needed that list this past Friday. What is it about being pissy and starting out on a 6 hour drive that makes me so aggressively hyper... or hyperly aggressive? I really must put together some PLAYLISTS. The music collection is much too much too much too overwhelming without a little organizaiton. Any suggestions for other collections that might be fun to listen to at some point?

I'm tired of looking for a pic to post tonight. Sorry... I truly meant to post SOMETHING to give you a little visual stimulation instead of relying completely on the words. But, alas, it's just not meant to be. Take it easy and enjoy the rest of the week!

Gettin' Down With the Upper Tier Soundtracks

I had this big, elaborate blog post planned in my head. Shoot... I'll admit it, I even wrote out a title and a few ideas on my PDA as I waited in the Sonic drive-through at lunchtime today. But, the Tivo and SATC sucked up my entire evening. Well, that and the fact that I spent hours before even starting going through my Tivo "LIST" working on organizing my tunes on the iPod. Geez... that can take FOREVER. And I'm not even anywhere close to being finished!

Oh well... everything will just have to wait. I'll watch more of the "LIST" tomorrow and work more on the tunes organizing tomorrow and possibly even get some work done tomorrow. Who knows? I may even get that blog post written tomorrow.

Today was a big fat rainy day. I meant to take a picture of Alberto, but I'm always promising pics and I almost never come through. Chalk this one as another one of those times.

How great is the soundtrack for French Kiss? I mean, I KNEW it... because I've watched the movie about a million times. But, when I came downstairs just now, Jon had it on again. And as I sit here listening to the credits (funny, "listening" to the credits), I'm struck yet again by the sweet soundtrack: La Vie en Rose - Louis Armstrong and Someone Like You - Van Morrison especially. And speaking of songs that I like, I have to give kudos to Jennifer for introducing another one of my new faves to me via her MySpace page: "Give Me Up Again" - Jonny Lang. And speaking of other songs I love... the next movie on HBO has another fab soundtrack. The movie, however, was a little hard to watch the first time; but I've come to appreciate it after watching it, oh, like 10 times. (That would be The Wedding Date... GREAT soundtrack... but where is the Air Supply in that movie?!?! I'm waiting for the suprisingly poignant lesser-known ballad!)

Anyway... my friend Ragan was too funny tonight in a MySpace bulletin post (I love that there are THREE new posts in the last few hours about JJ's little mishap from today). I do feel for ole' JJ (I am, like Ragan says, also Southern) b/c I can just imagine how terrified he must've been approaching the traffic stop... enough so to attempt a dumbass U-ie to avoid it! Anyway... here's Ragan's take on it... hope she doesn't mind that I copied & pasted right into my blog!

Hello Peeps. I got in late from work and called my friend Jennie and she gave me the good news about J.J. Reddick (I like to hyphenate Red-dick. It's funner.). Anywho, you all may well be aware that he was caught in quite a precarious situation driving under the influence. Apparently smarty-pants did a U-turn in front of cops to avoid a traffic stop. That's the intelligence level of a Dook Grad. Whatever... I just thought I'd spread the news so you all could have a warm fuzzy like I had when I heard. But, still I'm Southern so I feel obligated to say, "Bless his heart."

Duke is Puke,
Ragan

Ragan's too funny. We love her. We also love Kate. Haley's maybe-new-roommate is too sweet.

Let's see... what else? Eh, forget it. I'm going to watch more of this movie until I can't prop my eyes open any longer... and all so I can do it all over again tomorrow. I'll leave you with a cute little pic from the weekend of festivities. Okay, so Haley's cute in it. :-) Hope you had a great Tuesday and are looking forward to a fantabulous Wednesday. See ya soon, baby. Can't wait till you come visit me. :-)



Oh yeah, and there was one more thing I wanted to say in this here blog post. Lis, in response to your comment... hello... I distinctly remember getting my curves whistled at and hit on by "creepy" guys in SCE. And there were those Gay Hulks(???). And there was the Maroon 5 night. Mmm, and right when the "Secret" part comes on in the movie! :-) C'mon now... give the sometimes-party-girl some credit for all those good times!

Boyfriends are DMB... hee hee, wouldn't that be nice?

When the world ends
Collect your things
You're coming with me
When the world ends
You tuckle up yourself with me
Watch it as the stars disappear to nothing
The day the world is over
We'll be lying in bed


Or not.


Hope you had a good Monday night. Not boring and endless and boring (did I mention that already?) and frustrating... like mine. Eh, some days are like that. Thanks to the few of you who kept me company for a few minutes. :-)

Okay, well, I'm tired and going to bed. Hope all is well with y'all and yours. Don't forget to make your 11:11 wish. Oh, darn. No wonder it didn't come true... I missed it by 4 minutes. Many X's and O's from the 'boro. Yes still.

For Real? Word of the Week: Ludicrous

You've got to be kidding me. In BOONE? NO WAY! And if it hadn't happened to me, I might not have believed it. Word to the wise... SEARCH for the signs as you enter any fast food restaurants across the street from popular bars even if they're closed for the evening. In Boone. Yes, I know. (insert eye roll here).



But, up until that point, it was fun, fun, fun. Haley... sooooo glad we went. :-) Thanks, baby.

Just Me... Yes, AGAIN. Why Am I ALWAYS Here?!

Okay, so you know I've been running again... but I didn't tell you about the changes Jon made to the room. Not much, really, but there is this one thing that is too funny. So, you know he bought the TV for upstairs (yes, the one-you-can-see-from-space... see pic below). So, the one that WAS upstairs got moved to the bedroom, which leaves the one from the bedroom for my treadmill room. So, its screen is flat. And it has a nice reflective characteristic. And damn if it doesn't act as a stooopid mirror... which is not all that flattering to look into when you're bopping around in a sports bra and shorty shorts. It's weird, though. The sun shines in the window on my right, so it's also an unbalanced reflection. I'm really disturbed by the chubby. Ugh.

Enough of the talking... bring on the pics. Doggies rooting around in the bushes; the beginnings of our backyard neighbor's house; attempts at artistic photog; my punkin' Coop curled up like a punkin'; the moon over my hammy... oops, I mean Forsythe; and one final attempt at being artistic (I love this pic... too funny that this is the mini tree at the side of our house when it looks like a reeeeaaally tall tree reeeeaaaaching for the sky).



And without further ado... the two major purchases of the last few weeks:

Pick a Lyric, Any Lyric

"We're gonna see some nasty now." Don't let your imagination run away with you now, this is a direct quote from the commentator for tonight's Canes/Oilers game. (Is a hockey event a "game" or a "match" or something else? Note to self... ask Andrew. Or don't. He might think I'm stupid for asking that.) So, HOW 'BOUT THEM CANES?!?!? Man... and how much FUN is watching hockey on a big TV? Well, that and when you care about at least one of the teams playing. Ha... second funny quote of the hour by the hockey commentator: "Carolina by a fist-full" (it's 5-0).

Let's see... there were some other things I was going to talk about tonight...

Oh! The big news from today? "The hot car" is no longer with us. Let us take a moment. *********************************************** Okay, that's enough. That car was TOUGH to drive! It was a virtual sweat-fest anytime you drove it anywhere below the Mason-Dixon line. It was even a sweat-fest ABOVE the Mason-Dixon line on some days! And who can forget the time it TOTALLY let us down in Pittsburgh? I'm still a little sentimental about it. I mean, it has taken me this long to learn to drive her pretty well. And she does have such low mileage. But, alas, it was definitely time. I mean, seriously. Jon & I both have pretty darn good jobs. And we live in a pretty nice house. But we still park a 1992 Nissan Sentra in the finished garage? Don't get me wrong... I'm not trying to be all snobby. But it was TIME. So, today, Jon officially replaced old April with yet-to-be-named Superfly Super Black Frontier.

The other thing... despite the icky sickness (which, btw, seems to be relinquishing its control of my upper respiratory system)... I ran for the 3rd day in a row today. And I finally got somewhat close to where I was before my little break. Although, it still didn't feel as good as it was feeling before. But, hey, the knee AND the ankle are feeling great! Maybe tomorrow will be even better. Well, no maybes. Tomorrow will definitely be even better.

And can I just TRY to get some good work done tomorrow? Geez... I hate getting these way-laying phone calls that suck up half the day (or more!) in pure frustration.

OK... should've been in bed hours ago. Although the time on this post reflects a somewhat-early start, I sure did let the time slip by between the start and finish. So, thanks, you MySpace and non-MySpace users, for helping me while away the evening. Hope you had a great one! X's & O's

"The Other Voice" is Back

Words to live by, from Samantha Jones: "Sweetheart, you can't go listening to every freaking little voice that runs through your head. They'll drive you nuts!"

Tivo and SATC ... two of my best little buds.

And a handful of landscapes for you from home:



Hales... hope your trip was smooth as silk. Been thinking about you all day. You really should call your sister back, especially when you KNOW I've got to be all kinds of curious about how your evening ended. :-) And Dad, you should know... at last night's homeowner's association meeting, CJ asked when you were coming back to town. I'm glad you have more friends in our neighborhood than we do! He said to get you back down here ASAP.

I Just Can't Not Post a Quick One Tonight

Who would've ever thought that the ring of your phone could be so essential? Cell phones have really revolutionized the way we think of rings, haven't they? I mean, used to, the phone rang the same way every time someone was calling you. It was always at the same volume, it was always the same tone and tune, it was always the same pitch. But, with these high-tech gizmos the youngsters are all carrying nowadays, there's such variety out there! I mean, take my mom and dad, for example. Neither one of them would've ever imagined being alerted to a caller by anything other than "brrring, brrring". (Right, M&D?) And now, Mom's phone (although, who the heck knows who set it up this way???) plays a funky little song while she fishes it out of her purse. And even Dad has joined the technology age... although he shares his mobile with Joel... and HIS phone even plays a little jingle. Of course, there are those simpletons out there who choose the boring ring tones designed to sound like an old-timey phone. And the lame-o's who choose to keep their phones silent all the time. Some of us choose to switch back and forth between manner mode and full volume... just to be considerate of those around us trying to study, work, sleep, or what have you. But, by far, the coolest part of the cell phone revolution has got to be the special ring tones for each unique caller. Okay, so not the COOLEST part... that honor would probably have to go to something that we completely take for granted nowadays... like being able to take your phone with you anywhere. Anyway... something that I think is pretty darn cool... ring tones by contact. If you haven't explored the options in this area, do it soon. It's like an audible caller ID display. Within 5 seconds of the caller dialing the last digit of your number (or as quickly as you can identify the tune/tone), you get to feel the rawest of raw emotions about the caller and how you feel about him/her calling YOU. ..... Woohoo! Dang it! Crap! Whew! Ah ha! Ugh! Huh! Eh! ..... And how many of those emotions/feelings can you identify by the simple words/phrases I use when I'm feeling them? LOL... it is the IM/e-mail/text messaging age... and if you're gonna be talking to me anytime soon (and understanding the words that I'm "saying"), you might ought to think about it. Or not. Your prerogative completely. Anyway... that was a pointless post. But YOU know what it means. Sorry for the rambling. And, once again, just sit still. It'll all be okay.

And by way of excusing myself for that silliness... I am feeling snuffly and just overall rough. I think my stuffed-up head is refusing to allow me any wit for my post this evening. That and the runny nose is distracting. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Catch you later, taters.

Looking for the Pause-Live-TV Button for Life

How FUN is Tivo??? I'm loving playing with my new toy. And the TV that goes with, well... like I said yesterday, it's HUGE. It's lotsa fun to record all these shows (and movies!) & have TONS of things to watch tomorrow (well, and tonight... what am I still doing up? well... of course, I'm watching the Real World marathon! dang it... I'm forgetting to FF through the commercials again!). Anyway, when I find a couple new batteries to go in my digital camera, I'll have to take a pic for y'all of the TV-you-can-see-from-outer-space.

...................................................................................

Okay... sorry, I just had to take a long time out to converse with my girl Lis and watch my first ep of "The Hills". Shut up... all you TV snobs... I don't watch bad TV. "The Hills" rocks the house. LOL!

So, I must share the too-funny pics of Jake & me clogging. Well, I was clogging. I'm not sure WHAT Jake was doing. Thanks, Lis, for sharing. :-)