Thursday, January 27

Now I know that what I'm about to say could probably get me beaten up, but please read it all before you throw that punch.

I'm kind of annoyed that the packers made it into the Superbowl.
There I've said it.

Here is why- any normal Sunday, Packer fans are over zealous about their dedication to the green and gold and that is putting it mildly.  But now, the Super bowl???

I can't even imaging the variety and green and gold baked goods and other products that will greet me at the grocery store over the next two weeks.

Further more, I can only imagine the amount of snow sculptures that will be created with some kind of Packer theme over the next week should be have any new snow fall.

Now I understand that it's the dead of winter and everyone needs something to look forward to, but seriously, I have one word for your people: MODERATION.

Ok, I've said my piece.  Now I'm off to practice making cakes in the shape of a football.

Wednesday, January 26

So if you read this with any regularity, you may remember a post a bit ago about a guy I was dating "Pete" and a whole incident involving smoked meat.

What I like best about him is that he brings humor into my life.

So last night he calls me and he's heading out with his load ( he drives a big rig) and tells me this story about how he is driving along and he hears this loud bang.  He starts looking around, thinking something fell over in the truck or maybe he even blew tire.  So he gets ready to pull over so that he can check his tires, looks in his side mirror and sees a wing flapping at him.

Apparently, the loud bang he heard was a bird hitting the trucking and wedging itself between the mirror and the truck.  This poor little birdie hit with such impact that the mirror was moved and it took incredible force to remove said bird from the accident site.

Now I certainly am not about cruelty to animals, but seriously, it's a little funny, don't you think?  I mean, birds can fly, they have many different ways to travel to avoid these types of accidents. I think the poor bird did it on purpose.

So I write this as a cautionary tale.  Watch out for birds trying to kill themselves and then blame it on your vehicle.  Apparently it's the new thing.

Tuesday, January 25

In this day and age, it's very easy to take things for granted.  This morning, I was woken up by a friend of mine who called 3 times in a row.  We all know that is never a good thing.

She was calling to let me know that a man we had both worked with and adored was killed in a car accident yesterday.  He left behind young children and was just a really great fellow.

What I found amazing was that even though this happened in North Carolina, the news spread like wildfire amongst those of us who knew him through out the day.  In this day of internet and cell phones, you no longer have to wait for the newspaper to bring you day old news when these sorts of things happen.

I found myself looking at his Facebook page tonight and I have to say, it was a neat thing.

You can keep scrolling back and see pictures and posts, glimpses of his life over the last years.  It's like he's still there.  And then from today, the posts of sadness and prayers from his friends, grieving his departure.

I know that some people don't get Facebook and think it's a waste of time, but today I think it surpassed what it's creators had envisioned for it.  Today, it connected people who all feel a loss and in the process, left something pretty cool for his kids.  When it comes time to say good bye to our loved ones, what could be better that a snapshot over time of their life, in their own words and own way?

Saturday, January 15

So this week I started a new term at my "grown up " college.  Now there is a reason that I put grown ups in quotes.  The first night, this is what I encountered.  The guy who sat to my left brought his laptop and spent most of the class manipulating a spreadsheet that was clearly not related to the class.  I said most of the class because at about 9:00 pm, he packed his stuff up and left like he couldn't take it anymore.  We finished at 9:30 that night.  On  my right was a young kid who sent and received text messages from his iPhone all night.  Now don't get my wrong, I love text messages as much as the next person, but there were only 13 of us in the class, so it was pretty obviously.  I like how they think they are so clever and do it below the face of the table, like everyone doesn't know what they are doing.  Maybe I'm getting old, I just found this behavior rude.  It's not like we have to be there, we all choose to go to school there.  The same night, this guy showed up half and hour late with a pen.  Just a pen, no folder, notebook, paper or book.  I ended up giving him some paper to take notes on because I luckily got in my group.  ( imagine my good fortune).
On night two, guess who shows up like 30 minutes late? No paper boy and since we had met the night before, he sat next to me , where of course, I again provided him with paper for notes.I just don't get it.  It's not like you woke up in the morning and decide, I'm going to go to school tonight.  you have to register ahead of time.  You would think that time would allow for the purchase of a notebook.  

Thursday, January 6th

So recently my mom had some abdominal surgery and each of us girls took a week of helping her.  So I came home for a few days this week to do my "shift".  I no longer have a room here, so when I stay at their house, I have to sleep on the couch which is in the middle of all the activity in the house.  My dad works second shift, so he comes last night and I was awake and trying to find something to watch on the TV to fall back asleep.  He looks at me and goes, "try channel 545" so I do only to be greeted by a movie called "Group Sex". Obviously it was not his intention to direct me to soft core porn, but it happened and was appropriately awkward for a moment.  I quickly changed the channel.

Tuesday, January 4th

You know, as we get older, we realize that things are not always as they once were.
As the times change, people now feel free to talk about things in the open that were once taboo.
In some cases, these changes are good and in same cases, it should have just been left alone.

Sometimes, I watch TV during the day.  During day time TV, they have commercials that are obviously more pointed towards women.

Falling under the category of things that should not be talked about is the commercial for Northern Toilet Paper where they talk about how not only TP should clean your hinder, but also keep "you" clean as well.  Seriously, who talks about this kind of stuff?  I can tell you, my friends and I don't.  We don't go out for lunch and compare toilet paper how it works.

I miss the old days where some things were taboo.

Monday, January 3rd

Well, here it finally is, the wonderful 100th blog entry.

It took so long to write because I wanted to make sure that I found just the perfect topic to write it about.

After much thought, I have decided to profile 3 of my regular readers.  If I missed someone, I'm sorry.  But I think that there are only 3 of you.

First and Foremost, there is my mother.  Like any good mom, she not only reads my blog, but encourages other people do so as well, specifically my aunts.  I don't know if she does this because she really finds my blog funny or to put me on notice to be careful what I write about them.  I would now like to share a recent exchange between my mother and I.  ( please note this was before her recent surgery, so she can't blame it on the percocet)  In middle December I realized that I was starting to look kind of pasty, so I embarked on a vigorous routine of self-tanner and exfoliating my face to find the perfect balance between a healthy glow and smooth skin.  While home over Christmas and excited about this new routine, I came out of the bathroom one morning and I asked my mom if I looked tan.  Used to my mild bouts of hypochondria, my mom looked at me and said, " No, the only way you would look tan was if you were in liver failure"  Apparently  my self tanning was not working as well as I hoped.

Secondly, there is J-HO.  He not only reads my blogs as soon as they are posted, but also regularly gives me shit about then I skip many days in a row of posting.  Although the reminder is annoying at times, it is nice to know that someone other than my mom reads this on a regular basis.  He also sometimes calls me with follow up questions and infers things from the postings that may or may not be there.  He must have read chapter 4 in my English book from last session on "reading between the lines."  Now I know that he would be disappointed if at some point here I did not refer to him as awesome, because he is super humble.  LOL
So, just for the record, J-HO is awesome, mostly because he was once willing to go to the driving range at 8 am on a Saturday morning when it was 4 degrees below zero ( they have heaters, it wasn't that bad)

Lastly, there is my friend Jen K. ( I know it's not K any more, but to me, you always will be)
She reads my blogs in bunches and then always lets me know.  She leaves me thoughtful little messages on FB with comments and always tells me she misses me after she reads them all.  And that was the whole point of the blog....it's like a little piece of me everyday when you don't see me.

I am sure that there are others of you who actually read this and although I didn't single you out, I can't be sure who actually reads this anymore but love your feedback if you do.