Saturday, January 29, 2005

Seriously

Man caught in avalanche.
Stuck in car under tons of snow.
drinks 60 bottle os beer that happen to be in his car with him
pees his way out of avalanche.
found stumbling down the street

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1261997.html?menu

best quote, "It was hard and now my kidneys and liver hurt."

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Lyrics

Some songwriters write nice little clippable songs for quoting. Others don’t. Within the second group live The Barenaked Ladies. Generally speaking, to get their songs, you must listen to them in their entirety. Which I love. And I hate for quoting. Cause now I have to put a whole song in here. Oh well. This is one of those songs I listen to when I’m feeling pensive. Pensive Whitney hasn’t appeared in a while, but she’s been poking her head out lately.

When I was born, they looked at me and said
what a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy.
And when you were born, they looked at you and said,
what a good girl, what a smart girl, what a pretty girl.

We've got these chains that hang around our necks,
people want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath.
Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same,
when temptation calls, we just look away.

[Chorus]
This name is the hairshirt I wear,
and this hairshirt is woven from your brown hair.
This song is the cross that I bear,
bear it with me, bear with me, bear with me,
be with me tonight,
I know that it isn't right, but be with me tonight.

I go to school, I write exams,
if I pass, if I fail, if I drop out,
does anyone give a damn?
And if they do, they'll soon forget 'cause it won't take much for me
to show my life ain't over yet.

I wake up scared, I wake up strange.
I wake up wondering if anything in my life is ever going to change.
I wake up scared, I wake up strange
and everything around me stays the same.

[Chorus]

I couldn't tell you that I was wrong,
chickened out, grabbed a pen and paper, sat down and I wrote this song.
I couldn't tell you that you were right, so instead I looked in the mirror, watched TV, laid awake all night.

We've got these chains, hang 'round our necks,
people want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath.
Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same when temptation calls ...

[Chorus]

When I was born, they looked at me and said;
What a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy.
And when you were born, they looked at you and said;
what a good girl, what a smart girl, what a pretty girl, hey

Tuesday, January 25, 2005


As promised. The picture of me shooting a Tommy gun. Dave got the bullet coming out of the barrel. Posted by Hello

24 24 24 24 24

Best episode of 24 last night. EVER.

If you ever have just tons of time on your hands, you must check out www.televisionwithoutpity.com. The recaps are long - up to 12 pages, but their writers are hysterical. Just one or two excerpts from previous recaps of 24:

“She gets up and slowly approaches TerrorTeen, bugging her eyes at him so far out that they're practically prehensile. "What to you want me to do?" she asks. "Talk to him," TerrorTeen says. "He'll listen to you." Yes, the voice of moderation in this scenario is the person who hasn't blinked in ten minutes.”

“Potato Face hopes Kiefer didn't rat her out, since she's "not in the mood for a confrontation." She has other moods?”

I laughed out loud at this one:
“Kiefer 2.0 signs out a weapon at the counter, while Famous Original Kiefer dumps his garment bag there to be checked. Kiefer has changed out of his suit and into more casual clothes, including a five-eighths-length coat that has the unfortunate effect of making him look even shorter. As if putting him next to Kiefer 2.0 wasn't bad enough. Kiefer 2.0 tells Kiefer that he doesn't agree with Driscoll's decision, and that he's going to be giving the orders. Kiefer agrees, and explains why he busted in on Kiefer 2.0's questioning and maimed his suspect earlier. "Apology accepted," Kiefer 2.0 says, "but if you try to exceed my authority again I will stop you cold." He holds Kiefer's upturned gaze for a moment, then walks on. Kiefer watches expressionlessly, then scurries on his bitty little legs to catch up. Okay, I'll stop now. It's 8:27:24.”

Monday, January 24, 2005

Still not feelin' it

OK, so I’m still not really feeling the writing thing. This is my problem with journaling. Neither here nor there, really.

Just in generally crappy mood today. Nothing in particular. Just so much going on, and I’m starting to feel overwhelmed. Haven’t even talked to my mom in a week. That’s unusual. Calling her right now.

Weekend was good, though, generally speaking. Didn’t get anything done, but did a lot of things, if that makes sense. That’s what frustrates me greatly. Asside from that, though, I had an incredible time on Saturday in particular.

Friday night was fun. We found out that the band members have more in common that we thought prior to the show at Andrews Upstairs. Kinda fun learning new things about people you’ve known for three years, more or less.

So on Saturday, we weren’t in a big hurry to get anywhere, which is unusual and nice. When we did finally go somewhere, it was a bit of pre-show entertainment at the Firing Lane in Athens. We took our own small, and rented very large, guns and played around for an hour or so. I think my favorite part of going to the range is that you get to use the most creative targets: a standard silhouette, but the “guy” has his hands over his crotch; a black and white photorealistic assailant in a ski mask; and finally a color photorealistic Osama bin Laden. I hear you rolling your eyes, but so what. So, having selected our targets, we rented an MP5 and a Thompson machine gun (otherwise known as a Tommy-gun – yes, the ones the gangsters used back in the day). I was surprised by two things mainly – how light and easy to shoot the MP5 is, and how unbelievably heavy the Thompson is. I didn’t go fully automatic on the MP5 since I shot up the ceiling on the three-burst setting. I did go fully automatic on the Thompson, though. And Dave got a really killer shot of a bullet coming out of the barrel. So awesome. I’ll try to remember to post that tonight.

Then Funkle Ester had a show at Tastey World. They didn’t go on until after midnight. We got there, and the place was so packed. They were on, though. Sounded better than ever. I love Funkle Ester. I know I’m married to the sax player, but I swear, that’s not the only reason I love the band. They are so amazing.

Show was followed up by mirth and fun at the McLucas household until 4am for me, 5am for Dave. Rolled out of bed at 11:30am, drove home, watched the Falcons lose, cried about Johnny Carson, drooled over Kiefer Sutherland on Inside the Actors Studio, watched the Patriots win, did four loads of laundry that are still sitting on the chair getting wrinkled in our living room.

Song lyric for the day:
When this cardboard town can no longer amuse you
You see through everything, and nothing seems worthwhile
And hypocrite used to be such a big word to you
It don’t seem to mean anything to you now
Just try to live each and every precious moment
Don’t be discouraged by the future, forget the past
That’s old advice, but it’ll be good to you
Know there’s a balance
I see it when I swing past
Between a laugh and a tear
Smile in the mirror as you walk by
Between a laugh and a tear
And that’s as good as it’s going to get for us
And that ain’t no reason to stop trying

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Seriously lacking inspiration...

OK, so I really haven't had any feeling to write this week. Honestly. It's not like there's nothing going on, but I just haven't been inspired.

So, tonight, with the very green Zhen Papaya Enzyme Mask on my face, I will write.

What has happened since the last time I blogged? A lot, actually. Well, not a lot, but something fun. Dave and I went to the Bahamas for three days. So much fun. It was a work incentive trip, so there were 17 people, 10 of whom I work with and 7 spouses. Unbelievably fun. What a great crowd this was. Everyone was so laid back.

The key to good group traveling is people being relaxed. Surprisingly difficult to find in a travel situation. But this was the group.

We flew into the Melbourne airport on Thursday morning, then took a bus to Port Canaveral to get on the boat and leave for Nassau at 5pm Thursday night. Someone missed the first flight, but made it onto the second flight, so all was good. First drama. First realization that this would be a great trip.

Everyone gets on the boat. Disney cruises are fantastic. If you've only been on Carnival, you probably think it's great - even in a horribly tacky way. But not after going on another cruise ship. Anyway, even with the majority of the boat under 12 years old, we had a great time. They don't miss a detail.

On Nassau, 8 of us rented scooters, but got separated at a traffic light very early on. Again, an opportunity for major drama that never materialized. YAY. Dave and I, and one of my coworkers rode on and covered practically the whole island in a span of 7 hours. The best part, though, was the superbly formal lunch at the Graycliff Inn while wearing tshirts and baseball caps with two attendants in white tuxedo coats at our table. After we at a lunch of lobster bisque, conch chowder, grouper fingers, shrimp linguini, and the most wonderul coffee I've ever had in my life - Cuban coffee sweetened with raw brown sugar - we took to the cigar factory and smoking lounge. What a lovely lunch hour(s). After lunch, we rode around some more, bought some Cuban cigars (one that Dave has been searching for for 10 years), and headed back to the boat.

Later that evening, our scooter companion cracked his head open on the side of the pool and required 13 stitches. We're talking a 3-4" gash on the top of his head. Instance 3 of potential drama that came out alright. Thank goodness HR wasn't on the trip, though.

The next day was on Castaway Cay - Disney's private island. After our deep sea fishing trip, on which I caught the smallest fish of the day, we move on to the adult beach. And did absolutely nothing. Well, Dave snorkeled and took some fun pictures, but the water was too cold for me. So I sat in a chair by the shoreline, and just relaxed.

That evening we hit 10-20' seas. The waves were crashing up to the fourth deck while the Falcons were beating the crap out of St. Louis. After the game, the whole group went to the top deck to watch the waves. We ended up watching the pool empty halfway out and crash up against each side. It was incredible. Then, I decided to go down to the fourth deck to watch more waves. Got there, turned to go out on deck, and it hit me. I hauled ass down two flights of stairs, ran from the front of the boat to the middle, tried my key card three damn times in the lock, busted into my room, straight to the toilet, and puked my brains out. Boy did that feel good. Then I went to bed as the ocean rocked me to sleep.

We got up the next morning and headed back home. It was a short trip, but it was wonderful.

So, this week, all I've been doing at work is catching up. Not to mention our network has been down, so it's taking me four times as long to get anything done.

Ah, but today, my boss told me that his goal is to visit every one of our distributors this year. Being that they are my responsibility, I'd be going as well. (And Dave). If I can make this happen, I will visit four other continents in 12 months!!!!!!!! All on the company dime. Of course, I'll be working most of the time, but still - Australia, England, South Africa, and India. The tentative plan is to make it in two trips - Australia and India, then England and South Africa. Dave will most likely have to pick one of the trips, not both.

I know I said I'm not inspired, and you may wonder why, since I'm looking at a trip like this. But we had this discussion last year about Australia, and that didn't happen. When I'm on the plane, I'll get inspired. But I am just a teeny tiny bit excited about the prospect.


Monday, January 10, 2005

YAY!

24 was amazing, as usual. Damn. What a show.

OK, so today was very productive, even though the early part was exceedingly frustrating. Went to buy supplies for organizaing our office. This room is a disaster. It has been collecting crap for almost two years. So I set aside today to get it cleaned. Went and bought hanging file inserts for the file cabinet we have that does not have said inserts.

Get home. They are 3/4" too long. DAMNIT! Must now take them back and go get plastic bins, since this size is the only one they had. Take two HOURS to do this, because a) Dave is driving and b) we must eat lunch. I love my husband dearly. Dearly. Seriously. But let me tell you. He loves to just drive. If he thinks the place we need to go is in one direction, he will head in that direction until told there's no way in freakin Hell that it's this way. BUT, he'll act like he knows where he's going. So I don't ask until we've gone 10 miles. At which point he says, "I don't know where I'm going." UGH. So we've gone 10 miles "looking" for an Office Depot that he thought was closer than the one at which I purchased the inserts, which is 6 miles in the OTHER direction. We manage to make a big circle, and get to the original OD about an hour later. Keep in mind that we both have issues with blood sugar and our moods. Something about a corn cob up my ass is mentioned. His wondering how big it is, in particular. Yes, by all means, that's the way to put me in a better mood.

Remember that I'm trying to tackle the office that 2 years of packrat hell hit, and it's already 1:30. And 24 comes on at 8. Seems like a long time, but you haven't seen this room.

Anyway, we arrive at OD to make the trade, and get lunch at the Subway next door, by 2pm. The Subway with the kid on meth who couldn't make eye contact with either one of us, while flirting with the two ladies in front of us in line who've already gotten their food and paid for it!!!! Not the day, kid. Seriously.

Home by 2:30-3ish. I begin.

This room is about 12x12. Not big, right? Ah, but you see, there's a mountain of filing not done in front of the only possible storage space, so that the door can't even open. It's horrible. Anyway. I begin. One huge bag of trash, some major dusting, organization, and total reshuffle of the desk, and it's 90% done. The pile of filing is still in front of the closet door, but you can see the desk, the shelves, two filing cabinets, and 80% of the floor now. Yay.

You can also see another filing cabinet that I open to begin filing - not the one I bought and returned the hanging file inserts for - to discover that this one does not have the capability to handle hanging files, either. And it's about 1-2" deeper than the other cabinet. You've got to be kidding me!!!!!!!!! I could have kept those damn inserts? Ugh, again. Was meant to be. I wouldn't have gotten the plastic filing containers, which enabled me to set aside a bunch of files for attic storage. So yay. I'll go back and get those inserts - AGAIN - tomorrow. Then I will begin filing the two years' worth of paperwork that's piled up. Hppefully at least 40% of this will be trash, anyway. Then I'll be able to get into the closet to use that for storage of the other few things that I don't have a place for.

Now that I think about it, I really wish I had before and after pictures. Oh well.

I would have begun filing in the two cabinets that can handle the hanging files, but alas 24 came on. There is no pre-empting 24 in my life.

After 24, I balanced the bank accounts - 3 checking, 3 savings, two car payments, 3 credit cards (three more can't be balanced because their damn website is down) - which hasn't been done in over a month.

So it turns out to be a day of lots getting done, but nothing getting finished. Normally, that bugs the crap out of me. But today, I got so much done, that I'm ok with it not being quite finished.



Sunday, January 09, 2005

Wooohooooo!

The most original tv show ever is back on! 24!!!!!!!!!!

Otherwise known as the Jack Bauer Power Hour.

What else can I say?

Watch it.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Strange Things for $200, Alex

So I was talking to a guy at a staffing company in Belgium. He put me on hold. The hold music was "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman.

It was a short hold, so I didn’t get to see what came on next.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Laziness

Feeling horrible today. Really busy at work, too. So I’m cheating and linking to someone else’s column.
I read this guy’s commentary at www.theagitator.com every day. Typically, I agree, though not always. I disagree with him on Irag, for instance. But, generally, we’re on the same boat. I very much love this particular column.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,142872,00.html

Sunday, January 02, 2005


Funkle Ester in Motion. It is very difficult to get fun, well-lit pictures with a point and shoot. Oh well. You get the idea. And for once, every member of the band is visible. Yay. From left to right: Bryan, James, Meredith, Andrew, Dale, Russ, Dave D., and Dave B. Posted by Hello

horn line in motion. notice the diso hat on the monitor in front. that hat was later seen at 2am on the head of a woman in an entirely different ballroom. no more disco hat. Posted by Hello

One of the main events of the evening was me landing on my butt after Stacy's failed attempt to catch me in her arms. I'm laughing here, not crying. Seriously. The worst part is that we can't even blame it on being drunk. This was pretty early on. And actually, the catch didn't fail. Holding me for the picture, while wearing heals, and not realizing that I've gained 10 pounds since the last time we did this, were the problems Stacy faced. It was a clearly overwhelming task. Fortunately, there is no picture of the fall, only the aftermath. Posted by Hello

So here's my honey with me between sets.  Posted by Hello

Sorry 'bout the red-eye, but it was late. We are the horn line's ladies. I'm married to the saxophone player, Serena in the middle is dating the trombone player, and Ellen on the right is married to the trumpet player (Russ, seen in the picture below, is the trumpet player). Posted by Hello

Russ really really liked having hair again. The first time in since I've known him. I hear he's taking good care of my wig. Posted by Hello

That's Libby and Ben - friends from college. Yep, he's wearing a kilt. Posted by Hello

Mom and I in a lovely pose. I don't think you can really tell here, but we look an awful lot alike.  Posted by Hello

Jen, Stacy, and Whitney - first drinks of the evening. Still very early. Posted by Hello

Happy New Year

Wow, how creative. Oh well, still feeling a little funky. Unfortunately, not from drinking, but from the sore throat and blocked left nostril I woke up with on New Year's Eve.

Still had a blast on New Year's.

Funkle Ester played a fantastic hotel show - you know the kind expensive ticket, dinner, open bar, 15 bands, 10 different ballrooms. What a blast. They played three sets, all incredible. It's always just so much fun. Currently my favorites are Sir Duke, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, 25 or 6 to 4, and Upside Down. I still haven't heard them play Pick Up the Pieces. It's kindof become this running joke. They've played the song several times, all at shows I've either missed entirely or left early. I don't think I'll ever hear them play that.

Anyway, Dave played an awesome solo on Miss You. So that was fun to watch. He just started playing that recently. Before, the guitarist solo'ed there.

Pictures in the posts above.