Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: Graduation Day -- Isaak
Topic: Weird shit
Success! I picked up my Levoxyl with no problems!

I just got off the phone with Kurtis a few minutes ago. First he called me to ask if I was still stopping at Food Lion on the way home and if I was to pick up cat litter and some swiffer dust thingies. I have to pick up a chicken for tomorrow. Making a special lunch. ;-)

This guy at work (Rich)is talking about this woman named Eva Cassidy. He definitely fits in here, he is such a freak. He raves about her all the time and talks about how wonderful she is. He said something about her being "bigger than the 'Stones, man!" What a weirdo. I told him that I guess that she isn't because I haven't heard of her! And I'm quite a wealth of knowledge when it comes to unknown artists.

Anyway, Kurtis called back a few minutes later and starts freaking out about me ordering something from Hong Kong. I won an auction on Ebay for an Estee Lauder eyeshadow for $2.50, and it's usually $16 or $17. Anyway, he's worried that it's contaminated and has SARS or something crazy like that! Talk about paranoid. I told him that it's sealed and it's brand new, not like anyone has been trying it on or anything. He asked me how much I paid for it and told me that he would give me the money if I would just throw it away. Seems like it defeats the purpose of finding it for so cheap, right?? I know that there's nothing wrong with it, he's just being weird about it. If he presses me to get rid of it, I'll give it to a friend or something, there's no need for it to be wasted.

When I heard my name being paged over the intercom to take my call, I'd been talking to Jeff and Carl and Jeff had been saying that he saw on the news that they have rocket launchers on the Mall in DC. That's so weird. I remember going there right after 9/11, either a week or maybe two afterwards and it was so weird. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, but there was no one there. There were cop cars parked on the grass, but nothing like rocket launchers. I did see some however at the Pentagon, almost every time that I drove by. I'll never forget the way that I felt when I saw it after 9/11. I was going to see Laughing Colors play at a place called Main Street USA in Annandale, VA and I took 395(I think that's the right road) right by it. It was a few days after the workers had unfurled the flag next to the hole. The Pentagon is such a huge building and to see all the damage that was done to it was quite incredible.

I have a lot of work to get done before I leave, so I'd better get to it!

Christmas Eve
Mood:  special
Now Playing: John Mayer -- Your body is a wonderland

Well Christmas is almost here! I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I guess. The weather is pretty crappy, its all foggy and rainy. Not my idea of Christmas! It was nice last year because it snowed.

This morning when I came in, I was showing Teddra my early Christmas gift (my earrings) because I'd forgotten to show her on Monday. Well, she showed me her early Christmas gift -- an engagement ring!! It was beautiful! I am so jealous. ;-P~ Not really, I'm happy for her. Can't help but wonder if I'll ever get one of those.

This week I'm kind of wishing that I hadn't gone to Atlanta for auditions... if it weren't for that trip, I would be able to take off time for Christmas. Now it's going to take me until at least April or May to accrue enough leave time for a semi-decent vacation. C'est la vie!

I'm hoping that K-Mart is open until at least 1 today, I have to pick up my thyroid medication, I've been procrastinating picking it up for the past week. Hopefully people won't be there shopping, I don't feel like fighting any crowds today. I still have to call my mom to tell her that I won't be coming over on Saturday, I'm putting that off until the first weekend in January. I'm only going to have 2 full days with Kurtis's family, since I'll be working most of the time that they're here.

Stef hasn't emailed me about New Years. I guess she doesn't like any of my ideas. Oh well, I'm just a big boring loser these days! No wonder I have no friends. :`( Being boring has its advantages, though, no drama and no excitement less stressful than living the normal early 20-something craziness. I think that I was going through the early craziness from 13-21. Thank God all that's over!!! 22 kind of sucked, too, but 23 has been pretty damn good.

Well, more later -- I'm supposed to be working!

Current events
Now Playing: Little Drummer Boy -- David Bowie version
Topic: News

I've been meaning to write something about our current elevated terror level. I'm still not sold on the whole color coding thing. In case you've been living under a rock for the past two years, this is the 4th time that we've been at a level Orange terror alert level, which is 2nd highest. The fun part is that Kari & her family are flying in to BWI at 9:11 a.m. Now, why can't the airline have said 9:12 or 9:10? I'm not superstitious by any means, but I do find that to be a bit disconcerting. Would I still fly? Sure I would! You have to assume that the security is going to be 10 times tougher than any other time. At least, you would hope.

Speaking of airport security, I had my first taste of it in April of 2002 while flying from Dulles, VA to New Orleans. I was going with some girls to a bachelorette party... anyway, one of the girls was a marketing rep for a company and she'd taken a bag with her that she'd used in that particular job. Well, said bag had 6 or 7 promotional box-cutters in it and we didn't find out about them until we were ON THE GROUND IN NEW ORLEANS!!!! They were in her carry-on!! Talk about disturbing! Maybe I should further clarify; this girl didn't know that she had them in her bag and it wasn't until we were at our hotel unpacking that she realized they were zipped into one of the side pockets.

Before he left work, Kurtis told me about a guy who won a Carnegie medal of honor, pretty freaky. I'll copy and paste the article here just in case you don't want to follow the link.

PITTSBURGH -- A Canadian man was one of 15 people awarded a Carnegie Medal on Monday for an act seemingly pulled straight from the tall tales of the American frontier.

Dr. Eric Fortier, 34, used a pocket knife to attack a polar bear on Canada's Baffin Island, just south of the Arctic Circle, to save two friends who were being mauled.

Fortier, an orthodontist, first encountered the bear in July 2001 when he felt what he thought was a dog leaning on his tent wall.

"My first thought was to push it away," he said. "A few seconds later my girlfriend saw the shadow of a bear's paw through the tent fly and then it started ripping through the ceiling."

The two screamed to frighten the bear and warn their friends in a tent several yards away, but the bear ripped into that tent and began mauling 31-year-old Alain Parenteau.

"Their screams changed," Fortier said. "I grabbed my glasses and my knife and unzipped my tent and headed out."

The bear dwarfed the 6-foot-1 Parenteau, knocking him to the ground, he said.

Fortier threw a large rock at the bear, distracting it and allowing Parenteau to escape, but it then turned on 25-year-old Patricia Doyon, who was in the same tent. Again Fortier threw rocks at the bear and again its target was able to escape.

"The bear gave chase and I gave chase," he said. "At some point, Patricia tripped or the bear tripped her and was at her back. I was beside the bear's head and I stabbed it with an upper cut below the jaw in the neck a couple of times."

The bear ran off. While there was some fur and blood on the 3 1/2-inch blade, Fortier said he doesn't think he hurt the bear badly. Both Parenteau and Doyon, however, were bleeding badly.

Fortier and his girlfriend lashed two canoes together and paddled five miles along the Soper River. Fortier traveled another two miles by foot to seek help in the nearest settlement.

Both Parenteau and Doyon were airlifted to a hospital and survived, though Parenteau had a gash within a centimeter of his jugular, Fortier said.

The bronze medal is given to people who "risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others."

Industrialist Andrew Carnegie started a hero fund in 1904 after being inspired by rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people. The award comes with a $3,500 grant.

Pretty hardcore, eh? I don't know if I would be brave enough to chase down a polar bear and stab it in the neck with a pocket knife!! Well, I have to finish up on my days work. Will post tomorrow!

Ate too much!
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: BR549 -- Little Ramona's gone hillbilly nuts

Yeah, I know the name of the song sounds super-redneck, but BR549 are an awesome band. You could classify them as rockabilly, I guess. They're a lot of fun to see play, Kurtis and I saw them play at Ram's Head with Blaine and Jeanie. (who are going to Florida, damn them!)

Our women's Christmas luncheon was today and I really overdid it. I feel so freaking bloated, ugh!

Last night I watch the first half of the Raiders/Packers game. Brett Favre had an incredible first half, I think he had a near perfect pass rating, 3 TD's and 305 yards. I thought that was really great and it would have made his dad proud. His father passed away Sunday night, but he made the decision to play the game anyway... he's now started 205 games in a row, that's the most of any NFL quarterback, he's also second of all time in career touchdowns, only Dan Marino has more than him. I can't remember the stat, but I'm pretty sure that it was over 300. So congrats, Brett! It was incredibly moving last night to see how he was interacting with his teammates, my eyes were definitely tearing up a few times.


Well, I'm going to do a search to see if I can check out some more people's blogs, I need some friends on here! :-P~

Wow, I'm a retard
Mood:  d'oh
I just posted a comment on someone's blog and got impatient and hit refresh, so now I have two comments on their page. Oops! Oh well. I have no friends in the blogging community, and I get a little lonely not having any comments on my pages, so I'm going to expand my horizons and visit other people's blogs.

I had the worst experience today at lunch, I'm just going to cut & paste the email that I sent Kurtis after lunch because it's too long to explain. I went to Annapolis Mall at lunch just to pick up a book from Border's that I'd already paid for at Amazon.com, and I was thinking that it was going to be a piece of cake; that I could just be in and out of there in no time. Ugh, boy was I wrong!!

It's a good thing that you didn't go with me. That was without a doubt the absolute worst experience that I've ever had shopping, even including Mills. It took me at least 45 minutes to find a parking spot. It was awful, I thought that I was going to have to spend Christmas in the freaking psych ward!! It's no wonder that the suicide rate is highest during the holidays!! I left the mall at 1:35, after only being there about 15 minutes. I was not a happy camper. So then I decided that it would be easier traffic-wise to go out Bestgate Road. That turned out to be probably just as congested as West Street to 50. And THEN stupid me took the wrong freaking exit and I ended up going WEST on 50, I was thinking that the exit was on the right, because I'm used to us taking that exit on the way from downtown. Oops! So I'm on 50 West and am thinking, okay, should I turn around or just bite the bullet and take 97. I decided to take 97 and then got stuck behind a Ford driver going 55 miles an hour, everyone was flying by me so fast that it wasn't even safe enough to get into the left lane and pass him. Then when I finally COULD get around him, this Ford utility truck type thing was coming off an exit ramp and almost broadsided me, it was not fun at all. So now I'm finally back to work and I'm eating my lukewarm Mongolian grill lunch which had all of the juice leak out of and into the bag, at least the bag didn't have a hole in it, that would REALLY suck.

So that has been my day. My printer keeps screwing up and I've thrown away about 100 sheets of paper, I wish they would get me a new one. You'd think that me of all people should be able to get one, but NOOO! Can't show favoritism, after all. Well, the day is over and I have to head home & make some chili. Tomorrow will be a better day. It has to be!

3 days left until Christmas
Mood:  rushed
Now Playing: Here without you -- 3 Doors down
Topic: Weekend happenings
Speaking of 3 doors down, Kurt and I are going to see them on January 25th at DAR Constitution Hall, never been there before... he bought the tickets on Saturday.

Had a great time at the Christmas party Saturday night, although it was a little chilly at first. It was at the Elkridge Furnace Inn which I found out is where Bill and Marilee were married. They were sitting at our table as well as two people from the Frederick office, Chris and his wife Kathleen(?), and Rick and his wife, I didn't talk to her much, so I can't remember her name. As a matter of fact, I'm shocked that I remembered Kathleen's name as horrible as I am with names!

I was flipping through the channels yesterday and saw a special on The Smile Foundation that just about broke my heart. I guess that's what it was meant to do, though, right? Anyway, I'm thinking about contributing to them.. I already contribute to the United Way, but not to any specific charity, only the community safety net. I guess if I donate to the Smile Foundation that I'll feel I'm helping people around the world while United Way is local. Their administrative costs are low because they have mainly volunteers and 95% of contributions go directly to helping children, that's unheard of for most charities. I think that the United Way's administrative costs are something like 18%, which is still pretty good.

More later if I have time, I have to run to Annapolis to get one final gift!!

Almost done my shopping, yay!!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: the ceiling fan
I've been a bad girl and haven't posted in a few days. I've been pretty busy in between work and home... saw ROTK wednesday, I loved it! We're going to have to see it again, though because people kept applauding, talking and generally being annoying in the theatre. We even had a crying baby! Who on (middle) earth would bring a baby to a 3 hour 40 minute movie???

Thursday I went with Fuzz, Kevin and Kathy to our Christmas luncheon to City Lights in Baltimore (Harborplace). I had the steak & cake, quite tasty! That evening I went to Kohl's and purchased one of Kurtis's gifts as well as a flannel sheet set for the bed that we'd seen previously but couldn't find in the right size. Spent a lot of money there, but got great deals, so I can't complain. I also tried finding shoes to wear to the company Christmas party tonight, but I didn't have any luck.

Yesterday was hella busy at work and I also had phones, which compounded the problem. By 4pm, there were only 5 or so people left in the office, it was sooo empty! Next Friday (after Xmas) is going to be even worse, I imagine. Kurtis left early to go Christmas shopping and then he called to ask what we were doing about dinner. We decided to both do some shopping and then meet at Glory Days at 6. There was a bag sitting on the table and he told me that I could have one of my presents early, since I would need it for the party tonight. At the top of the bag was the bra I needed to wear with my dress. At the bottom of the bag, there were some ribbons and I asked him what they were... he told me that he didn't know what they were doing in there so I pulled on them and out popped a jewelry box! Inside were beautiful diamond earrings!!! :):):):):):):)

I have to get ready for the party now, hopefully I'll be able to do more updates later this weekend. :)

Happy Hump Day!
Mood:  rushed
Now Playing: Isaak -- Two Hearts
Topic: Lord of the Rings
This will be just a quick post, since I am leaving work in half an hour to go see The Return of the King!!! It's been getting glowing reviews so far, I can't wait to see it. :) Even that old cranky critic Ebert gave it 3.5 stars out of 4. :-P~

Right now I'm trying to finish up on some proposal processing. Yuck! If I have a chance, I'll post my review after the movie tonight. Kurt and I are meeting with Bob & co at DuClaw afterwards to discuss... we're going to the 2:40 showing and Bob is going to the 3:20 showing. No, we couldn't wait. We had to see it on the biggest screen!

Bye for now!

Reflective
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: Black eyed peas -- Where is the love? (I looove this song, if you haven't heard it, you have to find it!)
Topic: Introspection

Who would have thought that I'd become such a fuddy-duddy at 23? Thinking back, 23 has been a pretty positive year. I can't think of any other year that has been as good as this one since before I was a teenager. I don't have much angst anymore, I guess that's a good thing. It's nice to have a fairly stabilized life. Sure I'm broke and am in horrible debt, but now I realize that a lot of people have it a lot worse than me. At least I have a job that can get me out of debt eventually! I may hate my job at times, but this has been the best place I've ever worked. Some day I'll get a college degree. My therapist wants me to get some testing done so that we can see if I have some kind of learning disability. There is a question as to whether or not I have ADD, so I want to get that cleared up before I start taking any classes.

I think that I've wasted enough time at work today, so I'm done until tomorrow! :) (unless I write more at home)

Gonna be a busy rest of the week
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Courthouse -- Isaak (one of my favorites)
Topic: Lord of the Rings
Kurt and I are taking off a half day tomorrow to go see the final movie, "Return of the King" in the Lord of the Rings series. I can't wait, I've been waiting for this since the last one!

We're going to the 2:40 showing... the Bobses (aka Bob, that's our Gollum name for him) is taking his son and 3 other family members with him to the 3:20 showing, since they have school they are seeing it separately from us. Kurtis wanted to see it on the "big screen" and the largest theatres at Muvico are 11 and 14 (I think that's right), and the showing on one of those was at 2:40. The movie at 3:20 is on the second-largest screen, but that's not good enough for this movie! 'Tis the best movie, so we must have the best movie theatre! And what better place to go see ROTK than the largest-grossing movie theatre in the whole U.S.; none other than Muvico at Arundel Mills! After the movie, we're going to meet at DuClaw (brew pub, tasty food, tasty beer) to discuss it. We may watch TTT (the Two Towers) tonight (extended version, of course) to gear up for ROTK tomorrow. Right about now, 100 movie theatres in the U.S. are showing the Two Towers. Today is "Trilogy Tuesday" and a select group of theatres are playing all 3 movies today, I think that ROTK won't come on until 11 tonight, though. So those people are only getting a one hour advanced showing, really. We considered going to the midnight showing tonight (Muvico had it showing on two screens at 12:01), but since the movie is 3 hours 40 minutes long, we wouldn't be home until probably 4 or 4:30 a.m., and that is just a little too late to be up. I would have done it 2 or 3 years ago, but I fear that I'm getting old.

(continued on next entry)