Random

Where do I start?

1) What's with the raids on Anna Nicole Smith's doctors' offices/homes? And the talk of digging her up? Didn't they already do an autopsy? Let the poor girl rest in peace.

2) Just watched Deal or No Deal which I declared a losing proposition back in December 2005 (my God, has it already been on that long?) and they were trying so hard to give away a million dollars that they gave the contestant eight chances. And she picked a million dollar case! But sold it for $115,000. I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make with this, but she took the deal because her friends/family advisors told her it was guaranteed and she could invest it and turn it into $1 million. I hope she does.

3) Ann Coulter is a fucking whack job. Good for Donny Deutsch for challenging her. The scary part is that he said he thought she didn't do it intentionally, that she really didn't think she was saying anything wrong, that she wasn't saying it just to be extreme and get attention. Yeah, that's my point. She's a fucking whack job. There. Someone had to say it.

4) I joined the gym and last night I went to a class called Reduce Your Assets. My assets are killing me today.

5) Today is October 12 and I still have not turned on the heat in the house. My hands are cold as I sit here at the keyboard. The temperature is dropping and I don't know if I'll make it through the weekend without turning the furnace on. I made it until October 14 last year, and October 19 the year before that. Stay tuned to see how long I hold out this year.

20/20 Vision

I can't focus.

I know there are craploads of things I could/should be doing. But I start one thing and run into problems and suddenly everything devolves and I find myself just going in circles.

Tonight it was the damn camera. I just can't seem to get the computer to recognize the camera. Plug and play my ass. I've gone 'round and 'round with this thing oh so many times before. And why is it that the stupid camera and scanner wizard doesn't have Canon listed anywhere? Agfa, yes. Lexmark, even, sure. But not a Canon camera anywhere from which to choose.

Not that it matters. The computer can't see that the camera is connected anyway.

Heavy sigh.

I've started reading a local political blog and I'm enjoying it, but it also repeatedly reminds me of why I loathe politics. Just a bunch of crooks and cowards anonymously slinging mud. And then you get the smart ass 'expert' who goes ahead and proclaims that s/he can identify an anonymous comment by tracing the IP address - "I have done it before for a client attacked in a similar fashion." And, of course, the expert makes this claim anonymously.

I just shouldn't even go there.

After wondering aloud where all the bugs were, I now am scratching constantly. Noseeums. I thought it was just a colloquialism until I looked it up. On my forearm, my knees, and now the top of my foot.

Looks like these file piles are going to live to see another day. I'll be lucky if I can just find those retirement account papers I need for tomorrow. Tried to rollover three accounts into two and ended up with one big mess. They've been mucking around with it for a month now. What do you think my chances are of them compensating me for putting the funds in a money market account for the past 30 days instead of investing it appropriately in the carefully selected funds I told them to roll it into?

Yeah, I thought so.

Rambling

Am I the last to know that postage is going up again? I'm still working through my holiday stamps, thank you very much. Speaking of which - I need to remember to send a birthday card to my friend Diane.

Made corn and cod chowder for the last time this season on Saturday. Once spring and summer hit, it's just not the kind of meal you crave, you know?

Watched Casino Royale and didn't hate the new Bond.

Did my taxes over the weekend. Looks like I only owe $200 instead of $400, so that makes me MUCH happier. I feel like I just 'found' $200!

One of the women over in accounting who walks past my cubicle six times a day to go outside and smoke a cigarette? Said she won $4,000 at the casino over the weekend. On the same machine that doled out $2,700 to her a few months back. Some people have all the luck!

Actually, if I'm to believe The Secret, we all have the luck - it's just some of us know how to better cultivate it. I'm trying. Thinking positive thoughts and trying to attract positive outcomes to me.

Hard to do when you follow up on a job lead to find out that you aren't even getting an interview. But then you come home and hit the job boards once again and see a training position that might be a fit and you happen to know the executive director so you email him to get more info.

'Cause if it doesn't pay at least what you're making now, there's no sense wasting that $0.39 stamp.

Wanted to tweak my template and was actually looking to use the lovely drag and drop feature that New Blogger has. Except the Layout option seems to have disappeared. It's like I've gone back to the dark ages again. And I really don't want to sit here and go through the whole transfer process again and I don't think I should have to - other New elements (such as tags) are showing up. Why is it that I seem to have simply lost the layout feature - just when I wanted it.

Grrrrrrr......

Various

1) It's freaking cold here today!
2) Time compression - have you noticed that you now have less and less time to pay your bills? I got a bunch of bills on Feb 1 that are due on Feb 22. Exactly three weeks to pay the bills. Whatever happened to 30 days? Good thing I open my mail - if I didn't the bills would pile up and I'd be evited just like Kathy in House of Sand and Fog. Great movie. Totally disturbing, but great movie.
3) I'm as old as the Super Bowl - which, by the way, I may or may not watch tonight.

Various

1) I Knew It!

New guy started December 18, and since no one else stepped up, I invited him out to lunch on his first day. He asked how long I thought you had to stay in a job before you left. I predicted he wouldn't last six months. He only lasted two weeks (actually, eight days since we had Christmas and the day after as a holiday).

2) I really need a new tagline.

3) Score One For the Little Guy

Last fall I flew Independence Air to Las Vegas for my sister's wedding. I had originally booked the ticket, but then saw there was a big price reduction, so I rebooked and even after paying $25 rebooking fee, saved $95. Then Independence Air filed for bancruptcy. Just got a notice in the mail - there is a chance that I may actually get that $95 credit! I filled out the paperwork; we'll see.

4) Not Bad If I Do Say So Myself

I'm very pleased with myself for moving some money around in one of my retirement funds. It's grown 5% in the last quarter, and that's without any additional contributions. Granted, the market has been hot, but I think that my moving the funds around had something to do with it as well. And I have a meeting with a financial counselor coming up in January to address another account.

Still, I doubt I'll be retiring any time soon.

5) What A Crock!

I asked for, and received, a new crock pot for Christmas. The old one was too small. The new one? It's the difference between a Yugo and a Mercedes. If you have any to-die-for crock pot recipes, send them my way 'cause I'm a working girl and I ain't got time to slave over a hot stove.


File This Under: Various

Random

The refrigerator did NOT get delivered today. I sat at my freakin' desk all day, working, and the delivery folks never called. I ate my lunch (actually, just leftovers from yesterday) at my desk, waiting for that call, for crying out loud.

I have a crink in my neck/shoulders that is killing me.

Online access to my new employer's retirement account bites the big one. You can only transfer percentages between funds, and, it seems, only 100% of a given account. What if I want to transfer 55% of Fund A and distribute it 15% to Fund B and 20% each to Fund C and Fund D? Can't do it!

Was browsing my Amazon store and one of the featured products (I forget under which category) was a 15 count package of Bounty. Why would anyone buy that many rolls of paper towels online? Sure, I'll go to the wholesale store - BJs, CostCo, Sam's Club, what have you - but why would you order that online and pay shipping to have it delivered? Unless of course you are smarter than I am and you are buying so much that you get free shipping in which case it's pure genius because then you don't have to even go out - it gets delivered to your door! But still.

Just tried checking a few little used email accounts and - surprise! They have been deactivated. Whoops. I'll bet that's why I didn't get a NaNoWriMo reminder - I registered under one of those seldom used accounts.

I haven't done anything with my Flickr account in eons.

It's been even longer since I listened to my iPod. Longer still since I purchased a new song from iTunes. Come to think of it - where is my iPod?

Rich is sound asleep and snoring.

I have a surprise for you. I'm not ready to reveal the details just yet, but I will in 10 days. Two of you (you know who you are) already know about my plans; the rest of you will have to wait.

10,368 Miles Away

I love checking my site stats to see who has visited and how they got here. Just a few minutes ago, I saw that my latest visitor was from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, AUSTRALIA. That's 10,368 miles away.

It's a small world after all.

Take last night, for example. I had a cocktail party and once again I tried to mix things up. I invited new co-workers, neighbors and friends. It's interesting to see if/how the different worlds collide. So I was surprised to see Rich's friend Ed immediately walk up to my boss's husband and say hello. Turns out they used to hang out together in the same dart league. And then later, I saw my yoga friend Lisa chatting with my friend Cindy and they grabbed me to ask Jill's last name, and I remembered that Cindy was friends with Jill who used to also be in our yoga class. And it was fun to see Jim and Jane arrive at the same time - I didn't know they knew each other and neither one of them knew that the other knew me!

All in all, another great party. There was a steady stream of people all night long - the first guests arrived right after work at 5:00, a second round of folks who don't work in town came between 6:00-6:30, it was almost 8:00 by the time Susan and Julie arrived and then things were a blur until 9:30 when things started breaking up but it wasn't over yet - Amy arrived just before 10:00. Everyone else said their goodbyes and then it was just the two of us, chatting until almost 11:30.

We talked a lot about relationships and community and identity and I realized that I am still struggling with that last piece - identity. Who am I? I'm not what I do, yet it's hard for me to define myself outside of the context of my job. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Do I need to be anything? How can I find a job that I love and still make a living at it? Questions that were fine to toss out when I'd been drinking for the last five hours ... a little too weighty for me this morning.

Back to cleaning up the porch ...

Wide Awake

Getting old sucks.

Ever since I moved back into the house, I've had problems sleeping. Ignoring the obvious fact that Rich is not by my side, I can't figure it out. Why did I wake up at 4:00 a.m.? And why was I not able to simply close my eyes and go back to sleep? It's not like I laid there staring at the clock. I closed my eyes. I inhaled and exhaled deeply. I was calm and relaxed. Sleep, she just did not come.

So up I got. Isn't that what they recommend? To just get up and do something? Fine. I've still got the dishes from Sunday that need to be done, especially if I'm going to be cooking dinner for Rich tonight. And videos that need to be collected and returned to the library. And rebate forms that need to be filled out and mailed in.

I am so going to need a nap by 2:00 p.m.

****************************************
Was going through my greeting card box the other day and was reminded that September is National Potato Month. In case you want to make note of it.
****************************************

Did I tell you about the UBND? He is now simply the BND. Yes, believe it or not, he got a job! Mostly for the benefits - you know, health insurance. Again, sucks getting old.

****************************************
I don't know whether I'll do it or not, but it seems that change is in the air. I'm thinking of going back to my roots - whatever they might be. How would I look with Hot Cocoa colored hair? Yes, blondes have more fun but I'm just tired of having to color my hair every month. I'm thinking of doing a darker rinse in, one that's supposed to be temporary/wash out, but which will be permanent if applied on top of my totalled stripped and bleached blonde hair.

Of course, if I don't like it, I can always go back to being blonde. I'll let you know ...
****************************************