I may have a winner!!!
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: News
Well, this classifies as news...

I've found a few cars that are looking promising -- FINALLY! Check out this 1996 Honda Civic EX!! It's silver, manual and has only 88k miles on it! YAY! I think that it's a new listing, because I don't remember seeing it yesterday... I emailed the guy and he seems really nice and helpful... I ran a CARFAX report on it, and it's all clean. The only problem is that it's DC inspected, I think the guy lives in DC... but if it passed the DC inspections, I'm sure it will pass MD inspections. It's a little more than I want to pay for it, though -- considering I'm going to need to do the water pump and timing belt pretty much right after I buy it. We'll see what happens, though. I'm supposed to be checking out another civic tomorrow in Annapolis; it's a 98... but the guy had a really thick accent and didn't seem to know what he was talking about, I asked him how many miles it had and he goes "Uh... I think 80 thousand, yeah, I think..." I asked him about the timing belt and got the same response. ARGH. He couldn't even give me a clear explanation of where he lives... I'm worried that it's a lost cause. But I'll check it out nonetheless, because it's only $4600. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is -- that's what I've found.

Well, it's time to get outta here... have to swing by the store to pick up din-din.

did I mention...
Mood:  d'oh
Now Playing: Pink Floyd -- In the Flesh
Topic: Lord of the Rings

that I've seen Return of the King 3 times now??? I think that it's probably my favorite of the three. I still got misty at certain parts of the movie. *sigh*

Must see again, must see again!

Speaking of which, I just checked the box office mojo site, and since it's release, it is still in the top 3. It was in the top 2 last weekend. The least it has made in any weekend is $12 million... That's pretty incredible... it's made over $329 million in the U.S. and over $496 million overseas... steadily approaching $1 billion worldwide. It'll get there in a few months, I imagine. I just can't imagine having that much money... it's incredible. I hope that Sean Astin gets nominated for an Oscar... his performance was most certainly Oscar-worthy. I think I've said that before.

Hmm.

Ahh... back to work.

Murphy's Law
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: Pete Yorn
Topic: Weird shit
Well, today sure has gotten off to a great start...

There were no parking spaces left at work up front where I wanted to park, so I drove down to the other end of the building and parked on the hill. Got out of my car, fixed my oatmeal and was getting ready to log into the network when Donna calls me.

"Hey Lauren, have you looked outside at your car?"
No, why?

"Just look outside at your car!"

Well, shit. It had drifted down the hill about 7 or 8 feet into the back of Ken's truck. I couldn't believe it. So I ran out to my car and reparked it on a level surface... it turns out that I didn't have the emergency brake pulled ALL the way up... the position that it was in is usually good enough to stop it from rolling and it certainly wasn't moving when I got out of the car. Apparently it took it's sweet time just rolling down the hill a few minutes after I was out of it. Really weird. Anyway, the damage to Ken's truck wasn't too bad, it could have been a lot worse. There were just some scratches in the paint on the bumper; no dents or anything. He's going to take it to someone when he gets back from vacation and I'm going to pay for them to paint it or whatever. I'm just so pissed at myself about it. I actually had second thoughts about parking on that hill, because it seems to be cursed. Last winter, Kim parked on it and her car started sliding on some ice or wet leaves, I can't remember which. She was able to jump back in it and get it stopped before it ran into the little tree at the bottom of the hill, though.

I'm never parking there again.

At least that little accident didn't happen with my "new" car... whenever I get that. Went to the car place last night after work, test drove 3 cars. I really like the silver '00 civic EX, but it's been around the block a few times; in it's short life, it's had the clutch replaced and has been sold at auction 3 times. It only has 55k miles on it!! And they want $8999 for it?!! Sorry, no. It just smells fishy and I don't think I trust them. I thought that the EX was supposed to have the VTEC engine in it and this one didn't appear to. I should have checked the VIN on the engine to see if it matched the car. The VIN that they used to pull up the CARFAX report claims that it is in fact an EX. *shrug* Drove a '98 Prelude... it was an automatic and also way overpriced. Also drove a '03 Saturn, too big & boxy for me...it was weird to drive. They tried really hard to sell me a car, gave me financing and everything... I just couldn't see myself in any of their cars, though.

My mother has email now... welcome to the internet, mom!

Time to figure out plans for lunch... maybe more later!

This car buying stuff is exhausting!
Mood:  spacey
Now Playing: Wicked Game

The Ebay auction was over my limit for that car, and then the seller cancelled the listing, anyway. Good thing that I didn't get too excited about it!

There's a Saab on Ebay that has piqued my interest, it's a cute vehicle and is only a 97, but I'm not too sure on the reliability of them. I'll do a little research, I guess.

Man I'm sleepy. I hate Mondays.

Oooh, here's a 94 Jaguar with only 107k miles on it! Hmm. Don't know if that's my style or not.

*sigh*

There's a Civic DX with 86k miles on it for only 4300, but I think that it's already been sold. AHH!!!!!

blah
Mood:  down
Topic: Rants
The car that I really want on Ebay I finally bid on... and was outbid within an hour! It's still below the KBB value, so I may raise my bid. I'm going to wait until tomorrow and see how I feel about it. Since it's inspected, I don't feel quite as reserved about upping my bid. I'm still looking at other cars, but I really want that one... it's in great shape and although it's a 96, it has less than 70k miles on it. I'm hoping to sell my Jetta for $2,000... it really doesn't need that much work done to it, and I may just bite the bullet and get everything fixed that needs to be and get it inspected so that I can sell it for a little more. The KBB value is still $2400 in the shape that it's in now, so I'm pretty sure that I could sell it for $2000 even without fixing the exhaust. Hmmm.

Anyone need a car?

Gibbs and Patsy, a winning team
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: ROTK -- Steward of Gondor
Topic: Football

Check out this article from the Washington Post

Some of my favorite highlights from the article:

...During the chat, Ramsey discovered a stark contrast between Gibbs and his old coach, Steve Spurrier. The Fun 'n' Gun maximized the number of receivers, thus it minimized the number of blockers. Ramsey was told by Gibbs -- whose 1991 Redskins allowed a franchise-low nine sacks -- that the Redskins would generally use as many players as possible to protect the quarterback.

How did Ramsey feel to hear that?

"I feel good about it" said Ramsey, smiling. "But I feel whatever it takes to win. If we have to send the ball out at some point during the season then that's what I want to do." ...

...Last season, Ramsey was unofficially the NFL's most-punished quarterback. He withstood myriad ailments, including a sore knee, sprained left shoulder, dislocated left pinkie and bruised right hip, right shoulder and left forearm. Ramsey suffered 30 of the 43 sacks the Redskins allowed (an average of 2.6 per game)...

...Ramsey finished with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions and completed 53 percent of his passes. Last night, Gibbs -- who has been impressed with Ramsey's arm strength from watching film -- said it was too soon to compare Ramsey with his past quarterbacks. But former Redskins lineman Mark May -- who played for Gibbs and is an ESPN analyst -- believes that Ramsey possesses the best passing tools of any quarterback Gibbs has coached. ... <-- that says it all! Patsy is the MAN!! With a little protection, he's going to be the next Dan Marino! (or Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Joe Theisman, etc.) Patrick is going to soar to new levels of greatness, I know it. I think that a big part of it is from javelin throwing... the kid has an incredible arm... haha, I said "the kid"... he's a year older than me! Anyway, I can't wait until next season. My beloved Skins are going to rise up and kick some serious ass.

Time to get out of here, it's time to join the fellowship at DuClaw!

3rd time's the charm
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Cry me a river
Topic: Lord of the Rings
Today I am going to see Return of the King for the 3rd time. Yes, I am obsessed. I'll probably see it a couple more times before it's out of the theatre, too. Kurt and I are going with Bob, his son Bobby and Dan. It's Bob's 4th viewing, mine and Kurt's 3rd and Dan's 2nd. So at least we aren't alone in our obsession. I imagine that it's people like us who have kept ROTK at #1 at the box office for the PAST FOUR WEEKS. That movie has made so much money... it's insane! I think that it actually made more money during it's second weekend than the first.

Records that ROTK has broken:

Weekends
DECEMBER
Return of the King $72,629,713

Days
WEDNESDAYS
The Return of the King $34,450,834

CHRISTMAS - ALL DAYS
The Return of the King $13,986,220

NEW YEAR'S DAY
The Return of the King $11,950,000

According to Box Office Mojo, as of January 14th, the total current U.S. gross for ROTK is $315,555,000. Not too shabby!

The overseas gross is $466,866,724 / 51 countries.

Grand total: $782,421,724.00. Over THREE QUARTERS OF A BILLION DOLLARS!!! Is that crazy or what?

According to the box office mojo site, $94 mil was spent on production and the estimated marketing costs were $50 mil. Now, I'm guessing that those figures are relate to the U.S. market only. Now granted, my math isn't very good, but that would make the total $144 million spent on costs associated with the movie; to date they've pulled in about $316 mil... that would make the total net profit SO FAR $172 million!! Let's not even talk about how much they've made if they only spent $50 mil for promotion worldwide. I seriously doubt that. I hope that ROTK gets some Oscar nominations, because it definitely deserves them. Especially Sean Astin, he was fantastic.

That's it for now, I have to pretend to work.

Da gov'nah
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Dah Junkies
Topic: News

Governor Erlich is on the radio right now with the Sports Junkies... he invited them over for dinner on Feb. 13th. Being on the show is a great PR move for him... haha, he's got my vote next election! Actually, I think that I helped elect him. I'm pretty sure that I voted in that election... I know that I've only missed one. Hmmm.

Back to work, I'm going to actually get something done today!

friendses
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: Courthouse -- Isaak
Topic: Friends and Family
I've talked to quite a few "old friends" today and in the past few days. My friend Jeff is recently engaged and is expecting a baby! Well, his fiance is the one who's pregnant, obviously, lol. He's one of my LC friends, I met him a few years ago... so he wouldn't really be an OLD friend, but just one that I don't talk to very often. Anyway, he just completed his art college stint and is now trying to find a job... which leads me to think about my other friend Ray, who also just graduated from art college. Ray classifies as a old friend... I knew him from when he was in a punk band called Code Blue... I think they were from Bowie. Maybe Crofton? Anyway, I guess I've known him for 6 years or so... we have sporadic email contact, usually once every few months will keep in contact, then lose email addresses, etc...

More later if I have time, I have yet another headache and I need to get some work done!

ouch
Mood:  hug me
Now Playing: here without you
Topic: Work
I've got a bitch of a headache.

I think that I work in a sick building, because other people have a headache, too. Maybe it's because there was a VP meeting today and everyone is thinking about the changes that are inevitably coming. I'm sure that they won't be better, either. This place seemed so great when I first started. Now I don't think it's quite so great. I know that I make decent money, but the benefits here I'm a little disappointed in. The leave amounts we get aren't that great, our vacation, personal days and sick time are all one in the same; no differentiation. (is that a word?) I can't think, my head hurts. The medical here sucks, but I guess it's better than having no insurance. Especially for me, queen of doctor's appointments and prescriptions. Ugh.

Maybe things will change. I sure hope so.