Tuesday, December 25, 2001

Getting Ready

It's getting close to go time. As in go to Brazil. I have to get up early tomorrow and do 5 million things, then finish my packing. I sense overpacking in it's early stages.

First time outside the US other than close-to-the-border-parts-of-Canada and the Caribbean, but they don't really count, because it's very easy to get in and everyone speaks English. Trip of a lifetime. I think I'm getting nervous.

Anyway, probably not a good idea to stay up until 4am tonight as I have for the past few nights. Must sleep.

Wonderful Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas. Last week, I got spoiled with great gifts from my friends and my Sis. This morning, after having breakfast and presents with Chuck's family, went to my Mom & Stepdad's. We watched The Grinch with Jim Carrey. I like the cartoon better. Mom was extremely generous (as usual), not only giving lots of good gifts, but lots of cashola to help fund our trip to Brazil. She also gave me money for a FBPOTM... Thank You Momma!!! ...hmm, wonder if there's a Sephora in Sao Paulo...

We brought Punky (my cat) over too. They'll be kittysitting for the next 2 weeks. Punky (recently nicknamed Pukey) will probably barf all over their house. Hopefully his furball-remedy food and treats will help, but he doesn't like his treats. Picky Punky.

I found myself very sad on the way home. Not sure why. I know I miss my Dad around the holidays and I'm going to miss my family while I'm away, but probably mostly just hormonal.

All Hail the King

CelebornI took the Lord of the Rings Test and apparently I'm Jenny's husband, Celeborn...


Celeborn, Elf, King of Lothlorien, husband of Galadriel and grandfather of Arwen.

I don't know what that exactly means, since I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm just pretty sure I feel OLD if Arwen is the HOT! HOT! HOT! archer elf I keep hearing about from Sarah, Jenny, Trina...

Crack Cookies

Slowly I'm gathering proof that my Grandma puts crack in her cookies... they make me stay up VERY late and they are addictive. She gave me Pizzelles to bring to Brazil with me. I probably would've gotten attacked by drug sniffing dogs with those on my person. Good thing you can't import home baked goods... now I know why...

Merry Christmas

And a belated Happy Hannukah to many of my friends also... may you all be blessed with happiness, peace, health and love!

Congratulations Joel & Lara

Joel and Lara had their babies. Twin girls. Olivia and Leah. Congratulations and many wishes and blessings for health and happiness.

You Won $10,000! NOT!

My Mom always gives scratch-off lottery tickets as gifts, as she did this evening. Then she remembered the cruel joke she played on my brother a few years ago. He had just moved to LA, was totally broke, unemployed (waiting to get back surgery) and was living on a futon at a friend's house who had offered him a place to stay. My Mom sent him a fake lottery ticket. The kind that looks totally real except for some tiny print on the back. He scratched it off... then became ecstatic, thinking he'd won $10,000. He immediately called Mom, proclaiming his joy and excitement at getting a break in life. The only break he got was that of his heart as she told him, "check the back". He cried for two days straight.

Tonight she said, "what was I thinking, sending my poor, destitute son a fake lottery ticket?" Then we all laughed. It's funny now, years later, for US... not sure if he's recuperated.

So if you think I have a demented sense of humor, now you know where I get it from... my crazy Momma ;-)

Sunday, December 23, 2001

FBOTM

My favorite beauty product of the moment is
Lip Venom.

It's a gloss that is supposed to make your lips look bigger (bee-stung... venom... get it?). I'm not sure it really accomplishes that, but it's still a cool product. It makes your lips feel tingly, makes them nice and glossy, and smells and tastes yummy.

The DuWop online store has a couple other goodies that I may have to purchase one of these days, including Shades of Venom lipstick.

Subtlety

Don't you just love it when you're trying to be discreet and get someone's attention with a look or a gesture and they yell out "WHAT? What's the look for? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" So much for subtlety!!

That's exactly what hubby did to me today in front of the in-laws. I was trying to motion to him to change the music and didn't want to just "say it" because I didn't know if they were enjoying it or not and I didn't want to be rude. It's always better to be offended by your son than your daughter-in-law.

So instead of being rude, I just looked like an ass.

Friday, December 21, 2001

Favorite Beauty Product of the Moment

As you may or may not know, I am a beauty product junkie. I love anything that smells good, smooths on, scrubs away, exfoliates, moisturizes, prevents zits, diminishes wrinkles, makes my hair shiny, makes my hair curly, makes my hair straight, goes on my eyelids, nails or lips and so on. This does not mean that I wear so much makeup I look like a hooker, nor does it mean that I am high maintenance, it just means I have a well stocked bathroom.

On that note, I'm going to try to do a "Favorite Beauty Product of the Moment" every so often. I love to read about stuff people have tried and like, so now I'll do the same.

My FBPOTM for today is Terax Crema. It's a rather rich hair conditioner. Makes my hair feel lovely. I highly recommend it. If you live in Rochester, you can't buy it in town, I got mine in Toronto... but you can buy it online from Heaven and Earth for $16 (thank God for online shopping, but can someone PLEEEAAASE open a Sephora in Rochester?!).

Tuesday, December 18, 2001

Hey, Wanna Touch my Keypad?

In doing some research on kiosks today for work, I came across this little number, available through www.thekioskfactory.com...

I know I have a perverted mind, but doesn't this jackal/pharoah kiosk look a little off to you?



Joel said, "at least it's a keypad and not a joystick."
Baaa haaa haaa.

Monday, December 17, 2001

We're Legal

Chunk and I FINALLY got our visas to go to Brazil. I never would have imagined it would be such a pain in the ass, mainly because of where we live. The closest consulates are in NYC, Boston, DC, and Toronto - a minimum of a 6 hour RT drive.

NYC (our jurisdiction) doesn't take applications by mail - they suggested using a service, which tacks about $150 PER VISA onto the regular fee of $45. Basically I could fly down to NYC and get it myself cheaper. And I contemplated that... if only Jetblue hadn't sold out of their $29 each way fares.

Sooo, we decided to get them in Toronto, the closest Consulate. We left at 6am this morning after about 2 good hours of sleep, luckily Chucky let me nap... saintly considering he was dead tired too. The good news, they turned them around in one day for us (they list 3 days). I rewarded them with chocolates. They were very nice and helpful.

On top of that, got to have lunch with Squib. I really enjoy her company! She has a fabulous new hair cut and is getting thinner by the second. Her self control is envious - she even resisted chocolate! She is determined and thus successful... I wish I could be so good... moreso about exercise, just to firm up the jigglies. No one believes I have jigglies because I'm small, but believe me, my thights have more dimples than the Backstreet Boys. Those in Brazil will have the rare opportunity to see. And NO, I will not be wearing a thong bikini... the nightmares abound just thinking about it.

Friday, December 14, 2001

Why You So Ugly?

The feature on Mohammed Ali is up in our eMagazine... I helped a little bit on the usability... It's very cool, check it out, let me know what you think...



My Mom also told me that when we met Mohammed Ali in Vegas in 1980, he said to my brothers, "How come you so ugly and your sister so pretty?" Pretty cool considering I was a very chubby 12 year old with a unibrow.

As Matt pointed out, that encounter (and flattery) probably started my affinity for celebrities (OK, Matt used the word "stalking").

Thursday, December 13, 2001

Veruca Salt

I took the new emode test, What Flavor are You?, that Squib pointed to and apparently I'm a blueberry. Here's their explanation:

Mmm ... blueberry! Tangy and sweet, you're as fresh as a mountain sunrise and as natural as homemade jam. If you were a Broadway musical, you'd be The Sound of music — we can just picture you twirling for joy in an Alpine meadow. Best with breakfast cereal and pancakes, you're simple and refreshing, with just a touch of tartness to give you an edge. Always a favorite, people can't get enough of your spontaneous nature and easy-going approach to life. Who wouldn't be attracted to your sporty, summery flavor? Fun-loving and genuine, you're a truly tasty treat.

Sound right?

Spidey

Sony sent me a link to the very cool new Spiderman web site today. Not only cool Spidey stuff, but a very cool Flash interface for the sight.


Vroom Vroom

A bunch of us went out tonight for Sarah's birthday (Happy Birthday Sarah!). I made the mistake of having Chai at 8pm and now, at 12:19am, am WIDE awake. If it's not sugar (which kept me up Monday until 2:30am), it's caffeine. Then again, I think I'm just genetically programmed to be a night owl and I should quit my day job (so to speak) and work the late shift at Krispy Kreme. Then I'd be sleepy AND fat.

On summer vacation from school, I'd stay up until at least 2am (yes, Joel, watching late night cable), and sleep until General Hospital came on at 3pm. So, not only do I like to go to sleep very late, I like to sleep for MANY MANY hours. My Mom is the same way. On Christmas morning, my brother would pop up at 6am and beg Mom for about 5 hours to get up so he could open presents (does that sound about right Mom?). I fear my kids will have to do the same for me... either that, or they'll inherit the "sleepy gene" and I'll have to wake them up. I can only PRAY for that!

Sunday, December 09, 2001

Squibnocket & Toronto

Jenny and I drove up to Toronto yesterday to have lunch with and go shopping with Squibnocket. It was so much fun.

We met Squib's bunny and hubby (in that order =) and got spoiled with really cool presents. Squib made Jenny and I each a VERY cool hat. We look exceptionally cute in them.

We were going to go the annual Umbra warehouse sale, but the wait was 3 hours out in the cold. Good thing, because I was starting to get hungry and might have had to gnaw someone's arm off. So Squib treated us to lunch, then we caught some cool shops on Queen. The finale came when went to a Japanese/Chinese mall with numerous stores with Hello Kitty, MashiMaro, Tare Panda, ... and all those other EXTREMELY cool Japanese characters like you can find at dreamkitty.com.



I thought Jenny and I were going to pass out. I also, FINALLY, got my lucky bamboo.



I wish Rochester had good shopping. Other than Firehouse 15 and Parkleigh, we just can't get much of the funky stuff or the really cool cosmetics like MAC, Urban Decay, Tony & Tina... thank goodness for online shopping!

Oops

Those of you who looked at my blog yesterday (The "How YOU doin?" blog where I proclaimed "this guy is HOT! HOT! HOT!!"), may have seen this picture:



I have not gone mad. I do NOT have the hots for a 102 year old Jewish man (not that there's anything wrong with that). I just used the relative url (which calls a different picture daily, duh) instead of the absolute url of the picture. Squibnocket pointed it out in the car in Toronto yesterday. I almost passed out! I *think* I have now safely linked to the archived version of the EXACT picture I was talking about. I will reference my links more carefully in the future. Meanwhile, look below for the picture I was really talking about.

Friday, December 07, 2001

How YOU doin?

This is the KODAK Picture of the day for today:



I don't know if you'll all think I'm wierd, but I think this guy is HOT! HOT! HOT!! The photographer writes, "I asked him to strip and took a photo with his tattoos in the foreground." I think I'm going to become a photographer...

Float Like a Butterfly and Sting Like a Bee

I had breakfast this morning with Howard Bingham today (me and about 10 others). He is the photographer who has been taking pictures of Mohammed Ali since 1962. They've become great friends.



Howard was wonderful. He is so witty, a bit of a (as Matt so eloquently put it) ball buster. I love that in a person. He's not only funny and charming, he has alot of very interesting stories to tell and he takes incredible pictures.

We are doing a feature story next month on Kodak e-magazine about Howard's pictures of Ali in real life and his pictures from the movie set of Ali, with Will Smith. I helped with the usability. It's going to be a great piece, I'll post a link when it's up.

Wednesday, December 05, 2001

Catch up

Ok, what's been going on? Last friday night, after shopping for door prizes for our office holiday party (I LOVE shopping with someone else's $$), Chuck, Jenny, Aaron and I went and saw Shallow Hal.



It's about a guy (Jack Black) who has a curse put on him so that he only sees the inner beauty in people. So though he's dating a rather LARGE woman, he thinks she looks like skinny little Gwyneth Paltrow. It was mostly good, but I could've done without (STOP reading if you don't want to know part of the plot) seeing a human with a tail. UGH. That image is burned in my mind... GROSS. Especially the wagging. Ugh.

Saturday was our office holiday party. It was alot of fun. The DJ sucked at first, playing songs such as "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf and "Keep your Hands to Yourself" by the Georgia Sattelites. I mean, COME ON! (Note, I do like Meatloaf, I just don't want to hear 'the longest song every recorded that you can't dance to' at a holiday party). You would think that after he repeatedly cleared the dance floor, he'd get a clue that he SUCKS. Anyway, after demanding that he stick to our request list, the dancing commenced.

Tuesday, December 04, 2001

Post for MOM

Ok, MOM, here you go... the links to the pictures I promised I'd post for you.

Remember, to get in to Ofoto, use your email barbara_a_hic... (you know the rest) and the password is the name of your street.

Tina turns twenty-nine, again

Mikey goes to Vegas

Thursday, November 29, 2001

Feeling Better

After lots of sleep, Niquil and chicken noodle soup, I'm finally feeling better. I still feel like my head is hollow and my words reverborate through my head, but at least I can breathe through both nostrils.

Got a flu shot today too. If this stinkin little cold made me feel so bad AND made Chuck worry that I had Anthrax, then imagine what the flu would do!

On a side note, if and when my face is ever zit-free again, I think I'm going to throw a party. Right now I look like a clumsy vampire tried to bite my forehead. Ugh!

Tuesday, November 27, 2001

Saturday, November 24, 2001

Estamos indo a Brasil

Thanks to a very generous invitation by Daniela and her family, Chuckie and I are going to Brasil!! We are going for 2 weeks over New Years, to both Sao Paulo and to her parent's beach house on the ocean. It looks like paradise. I am sooooo excited! I've never been anywhere outside of North America.

New Year's Eve will be wonderful. Daniela has told me a little bit about the customs... you wear all white and at midnight you wade into the water... This will all bring good luck. There is also a tradition involving underwear, but I'll have to brush up on the details. I know that it must be new and you wear a specific color to bring you love, money or health. I'll be wearing the color for money (no, it's not green).

Here are pics from Daniela's site of the beach where her parents have a house (now you can see why I'm so excited!):

Mmmmmmm

Well, Thanksgiving was great this year. My stepdad makes the best damn turkey and gravy! My stuffing came out good too, but the Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake was an even bigger hit.

Tuesday, November 20, 2001

Pumpkin Pie

Well Natalie, now I'm baking pumpkin pie (for tomorrow and thursday) and it smells yummy. Of course it's courtesy of Mrs. Smiths, nothing homemade. I will be making, from scratch, Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake (Grammy goes nuts for it) and I'm even going to try my hand at homemade stuffing - after tasting how yummy Sarah's turned out. If it comes out bad, there's always Stove Top =-)

Monday, November 19, 2001

Birthday Bash

This birthday had to be one of the best ever! It got kicked off to a great start with the visit to Daniela and Su in CA and ended in a finale of owls and wizards. I was showered with gifts, cards, and good wishes, ate lots of cake, and got a GORGEOUS bouquet of velvety red roses from hubby (from Arenas!!).

On Thursday, I had dinner with the family at Gram's. My Uncle and his girlfriend got me an adorable little plant. After I raved about it, Gram came out of the kitchen, saw it, picked it up and exclaimed, "thank you! thank you! thank you! Is this for me?" Nobody could speak... we didn't have the heart to tell her... but she quickly figured it out and started giggling... we all had quite a laugh over it.

Friday was my actual birthday. After getting spoiled at work, we met everyone out for dinner at Jack Astors. I couldn't believe how many people showed! It was Jenny & Aaron, Abby, Matt, Andy, Sarah & Denis, Jo & Steve, Joel & Lara & Hannah (she's such a cutie pie), Kenn & Jen, Tony & Ange, and of course Chuckie. The "Astors" made me get up on a chair, stand like a teapot, pointed out to the whole place that I was turning 21 (I told the guy I was turning 33, he lied FOR me... I liked him after that), and sang a version of "I'm a Little Teapot". How embarrasing! But fun. Jenny coordinated it and set the locale, so she'll be the one I seek revenge upon ;-) Not sure any place in Rochester embarrasses you MORE than Jack Astors, but I have a few months to find out!

Then most of us went to see Harry Potter (thanks to Matt for ordering tix online and making life easier). Not as amazing as it was hyped to be, but a good movie. I think it may be better to people who haven't read the book... I was thinking too much about what matched, what didn't, what was going to happen next... etc. I give it a 7.

Thank you again to my family and friends who all made me feel very special. I am a lucky girl!

Friday, November 16, 2001

Blessed

I am truly blessed with a wonderful hubby, a loving family, and kind, thoughtful friends.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and cool gifts and a dozen long stemmed red roses from hubby, too!!

More to come... for now I have to run off to an evening planned with fun and frolic.

Wednesday, November 14, 2001

IQ

I took an online IQ test this evening. Got 138. The site says: A person whose IQ score falls in the range of 129-143 is considered to be "highly intelligent". But considering Madonna got 140, I don't feel too great about myself right now.

...I took it again and got 158. Now I'm "gifted". THATS more like it! Left Madonna in the dust and I'm catchin up to Bill Gates.

Is taking it again cheating?

Oops

Oops, I think I left off a quote in the image tag in my last post (the one entitled Zit Face). It screwed up the post and now I can't edit it.

Anyhoo, THIS is what I look like today:



I thought one of the benefits of getting older was no more zits. I was sadly mistaken.

Zit Face

This is what I look like today:

Zit Face

This is what I look like today:

Tuesday, November 13, 2001

Nickelhead

My Mom finally has internet access at work and is now reading my blog. She told me today that she had an early birthday present but wanted to tell me about it so I wouldn't go buy it. I said, "ok, what is it?". She said, "Nickelhead." I said, "you mean Nickelback?" Hee hee.



Yep, Mom read my blog and saw that I was wanting the CD. Hmmm. I'll have to try hard not to abuse my blogger power to manipulate my Mom into buying me stuff =)

Monday, November 12, 2001

Chat with Me

I used this Liveperson chat tool today to talk to an advisor at RIT. It was very cool. They have a 6-day free trial. Good luck actually catching me online and able to chat, but I thought it'd be fun to try.

So if you see the little button on the left say "click to talk with me LIVE" sometime this week, give it a shot!

Mike Wazowski


A gang of us went to see Monsters, Inc. Friday night. I usually have a hard time with animated movies when I recognize the voice, but I guess I'm getting used to it. It was a very cute movie. My absolute favorite thing was Little Mikey - Mike Wazowski's (the eyeball) stuffed monster doll.

Smooth Goodness

This weekend I also tried my new Soy Body Facial by Get Fresh. It's supposed to get rid of "yucky skin texture", but I bought it because you can use it like a mask (slather it on and let it dry), then jump in the shower and it lathers up like a body wash. Dual purpose spa products... aaahhhh.

I did notice an improvement in my arms but let's face it. I don't really try all these spa products because I think they'll work. I like them because they smell so yummy and feel so good. Hello, my name is Tina and I'm a spa product addict.

Friday, November 09, 2001

I'm an Icon

THANK YOU to Jenny for creating an iconic version of me. She was doing some cute caricatures for work and I seemed to be the only one who noticed that she had a starring role. I then said, "me too, me too, me too" and within 10 minutes, I'm ready for my role on South Park.



And finally, here's a decent picture of me and hubby from my sister's wedding. Though I think the digitization process made Chuck look a little funky.

Breakfast at Tiffany's anyone?

Thursday, November 08, 2001

TI 2

So, was I the only sap who watched Temptation Island 2 last night? I didn't mean to, it was an accident. I just wanted to relax a bit then on to other things, but there it was, in my face, TEMPTING me to watch it all.

Jenny's not the only one addicted to tv. Chuck asked me last night if I thought I was a couch potato. I think he thought I'd deny it. I said, "yes, I am. I am a tv-addicted couch potato." He said at least I admit it, that's the first step. TV Addicts Anonymous, here we come. Do you think they meet someplace that has cable?

Aaaaaaaahhhhh


I am going to bite you and keel you with my eye "lasers"


Thanks to Natalie for the great link to the kitties (the cute ones and the insane looking ones =).

Mac Attack

My new computer (my Mac at work) crashes at LEAST 5 times a day!! In calling Apple support, I had to recite my serial#. For security purposes, I won't type the whole thing, but this is a significant portion of it: FCKSD

I think that's an omen about my relationship with my Mac.

Tuesday, November 06, 2001

Sooo Tired

Despite the fact I could barely stay conscious on my drive home at 9:30pm last night, I still stayed up until after midnight. Ugh. Time to check into the sleep disorder clinic. Today, I am suffering.

Monday, November 05, 2001

I'm Baaack

Back to the burbs for me. I had a great time in San Fran visiting Yelli, Su and H. Heidi cracks me up. I got her a little gifty of nail polish, without realizing she's a bit "different" when it comes to beauty products. She swore she could barely lift her drink from the extra weight on her fingernails. This makes her very different from Jenny, despite evidence to the contrary, because though Jenny doesn't wear alot of makeup, she's still very much a beauty-product-addicted-girly-girl like me.

Oh Deer

My drive home is like being in a Deer Hunter video game. They're everywhere, just waiting to walk across the road and be mowed down. I find myself compelled to slow down, roll down my window, and yell at them like I'm their mother, "get away from the road! Go back into the forest! Go on, shoo, shoo!"

I wish there was someway to signal oncoming vehicles that there are deer near the road. I flash my brighties a few times, but I think the other drivers just think I'm an a**hole who's blinding them. When they get closer, I make little hoppy signals with my hand, but I don't think they can see me. Guess I'll have to invent some kind of warning gizmo and become rich and open Jamba Juices throughout the western NY for those I leave behind as I move to LA and become a professional shopper and fly to San Fran every week to go out with Yelli.

Friday, November 02, 2001

Weekend in California

The Daniela-Tina-Birthday-Halloween-Brazilian-Party on Friday night was very cool. I had a few Caipirinhas, but I made them myself so they were mostly sugar, not alot of alcohol. Good thing. Daniela's friends are very funny, particularly Heidi and Jason. Even with all the Caipirinhas I made him, we couldn't get Jason to put on his Zorro costume, but we did joke that he was going to put it on and stand in front of Target, saying something (in a very authentic latin accent) like, "allo, welcome to Target. I am slashing prices today."

We had a great time this Saturday too. Daniela hit on the main points of interest. While we were at the Irish pub with the Russian bouncer, we watched a couple, who appeared to be from Utah, who also seemed to think it was 1985 and they were starring in Flashdance, kick it up on the dance floor. I mean this girl had her hair flying up like she was an astronaut. I got an ab workout from laughing. At the second Irish Pub/Disco dance club, Daniela got the most CLASSIC line from a faux Irish guy named Damon. Here's how it went down:

Damon to Daniela (in a fake Irish accent, making him appear authentic): "Do you have a little Irish in you?"
Daniela: "No"
Damon: "Would you like some?"
Tina thinking: "Oh SNAP, he just laid the oldest line in the book on her."

It took me a while to realize he was not actually Irish, especially since he spoke pretty good French to Su before he went back to his Indiana wonder bread boy accent. I think after he said "I'm corn-fed and hand spanked", I realized he was just a drunk jerk.

Daniela told me later that she should've replied, "yes, it was very little and I didn't like it."

Heaven Can Wait

I'm made it to San Francisco, no terrorist attacks or plane crashes. Daniela picked me up and luckily, we did NOT (and will NOT) have to drive on any bridges!



I had Jamba Juice today, a Razzmatazz with a Vita Boost. Happy, happy girl.

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Don't Forget Me

I'm flying to San Francisco on Thursday, so the news telling Americans to be on "high altert" for another potential terrorist attack has me more than slightly scared. I will be wearing my sneakers and I'll be ready to kick some terrorist ass.

I told Chuck that if anything happens to me, he should wait a month before hooking up with another woman, but after he voiced his concern that he'd be "vulnerable", I told him I'd forgive him if he were "taken advantage of". I also quizzed him on some of my favorite things so he won't easily forget me if/when I'm gone.

Favorite actors: Kevin Spacey (he reminds me of my Dad) and Jeremy Piven (I don't know why, I just like him!)
Favorite comedians: Eddie Izzard and Dave Chapelle
Actors I think are hot: Ryan Phillipe and Brad Pitt

That's about as far as we got before the conversation turned to insurance payouts and what stuffed animals should go to whom.

Seriously, if anything does happen to me, I will leave this earth as a blessed person. Blessed with a loving, caring family. Blessed with a wonderful group of friends. Blessed with a fulfilling 32.9 year long life. Blessed with health and happiness. The wealth escaped me, but 2 out of 3 aint bad. =)

I Vant to Suck your Blood

Good weekend was had. Friday night watched Shadow of the Vampire on DVD. Frankly, I wasn't impressed. Sure, Willem Defoe was great, but isn't he always. There was a bit too much John Malkovich flinging his hair around to show how upset he is at the vampire for eating his crew.

I did, however, especially like that Eddie Izzard was in it, he's one of my very favorite comedians, though he's much better looking in drag.

Saturday was Abby's Halloween party. I realized that I need to loosen up when I play games. I turn from a very free-spirited-do-what-makes-you-happy kind of person to a you-must-follow-the-rules-to-the-letter-of-the-law kind of person. I must have developed it as a defense mechanism as a youngest sibling.

Sunday Jenny and Aaron actually made friends with Grizzy! Grizzy used to be pretty wary of strangers and was a bite risk, but he seems to be mellowing out in his old age. Sure enough, after a couple treats and some kind words, Grizzy had a new best friend. I think Aaron could've leaned over and licked Grizzy's face and Grizz would've been fine with that (I might not have been, but Grizz would've =)

Friday, October 26, 2001

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday toooo youuuu
Happy Birthday toooo youuuu
Happy Birthday dear Danieliiiiiiii
Happy Birthday toooo youuuu

Thursday, October 25, 2001

Junior

Ugh, I think the little kid doing the usability test right now is a bizzarro (parallel worlds version) of the son of one of my coworkers. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means he's a little nerdy kid who thinks he could program for Nasa at the age of 12.

Morning in Pittsburgh

Though I REALLY hate getting up early, today was an early one. I had to be checked out of the hotel and picked up by 7:30am. (*&#(^%^^. But the driver took me on the scenic route (mainly to avoid traffic) and it brightened my morning.

R.I.P. Quality Customer Service

I agree with Joel on the shitty state of customer service. Ted and I arrived in Pittsburgh after midnight. The first hotel had us booked in smoking rooms. Though they were nice, they still blamed it on OUR travel agent and couldn't help us. So we had our travel agent get us rooms at the Renaissance, Pittsburgh's #1 rated hotel. It was after 1am when we arrived to an empty front desk. Here's how it went down:

- "Mike" finally appeared, didn't crack a smile, barely said hello
- typed away like a feind then announced that he couldn't find the reservation
- Ted offered the confirmation # in the car
- Mike, "that won't help if I can't find the reservation"... no spec of friendliness
- Ted, "it's late, do you just have two non-smoking rooms?"
- Mike (snotty tone), "yes but if there is a reservation you will be charged for a no show." That's it, no offer of assistance, almost accusing tone (accusing of what, I don't know)
- Ted walked away to get the conf#
- I stood there trying to muster up the courage to tell Mike he was being a rude ass, when Ted came back almost immediately and laid into Mike, "it's 1am in the morning and you could stand to be a little more courteous...", then left again to get the conf#
- Mike didn't even look up as Ted told him off, got a back handed apology, "I'm sorry YOU feel that way
- Mike clicked away as I again contemplated saying something to him myself
- Ted came in with the conf# and as Ted started to read it to him, Mike said, "I don't need it, I found the reservation."
- Ted, "oh really, how did you find it?"
- Mike, "the name was spelled wrong", taking absolutely no blame
- Mike got us our keys and became slightly more friendly, but still a very disappointing arrival at Pittsburgh's #1 hotel


The admin at the company we're working with called and complained, threatening not to send any more business their way, and out of that Ted got a fruit basket. Tina got NOTHIN! I'll have to send in a separate formal complaint and perhaps I'll get a bit more than a banana and some grapes.

Monday, October 22, 2001

Insanity

What led up to this moment is unclear to me... but sometime after September 11th, I lost all semblence of sanity and decided to DRIVE to Pittsburgh, in a UHAUL, with a coworker (Ted), taking a kiosk to do usability testing.

The original plan was to fly to Atlanta on Oct. 1st. Post "Attack on America", I was not comfortable with flying, so the suggestion of driving a van and transporting the kiosk ourselves came up. I was all set to do the test in Syracuse, but we wanted a big city. Somehow, Pittsburgh won. I was hoping for Toronto, knowing it was the closest, but it was not to be. The test got pushed out to Oct. 22nd, GOOD, more time to get the hardware and software ready. Then the BAD news, the kiosk won't fit in a normal truck, we need to rent a Uhaul. At this point, someone should have brought me to my senses, but no one did. The grim reality did not hit me until I was in the Uhaul parking lot looking at the monstrous trucks.

So now here I am, getting ready to drive for 5 hours in a Uhaul, wishing I was waiting at the airport instead. Ugh.

Where o where has my sanity gone.

Itchy and Scratchy Show

As for the person who stumbled across my blog by searching on "my dick itches"... you might want to get that looked at by a professional. Either that, or email Dr. Drew from Loveline. He's always got good answers. Try loveline@earthlink.net. Good luck with that.

Weekend Update

Friday was quite a hectic day as I prepare to go to Pittsburgh tomorrow for work. In the frenzy, Jenny and I decided to let Chuck and Aaron decide what movie to see that night. They picked Corky Romano. I hesitated to complain too much as I was just glad to have had a decision made for me. It was better than I expected... mostly lame but with some very funny moments. I need to see something of substance soon... then again, I watch the news for more substance than I can handle sometimes. Maybe that's why I'm so into brainless movies these days. Oh SNAP (from Zoolander).

Saturday I had to get up early to work, then came home and took a 3 hour nap. Very tired. Visited my sis to see more pics from the wedding. Unfortunately most of the ones from church have BAD redeye. I'm going to get Sherri one of those redeye pens that colors over the redeye. Joel says they work well - and if Joel didn't sh*tcan them, they must be good.

Today I went to Jenny's 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party. It was alot of fun. Of my top 5 favorite foods ever, Jenny had 3 of them: brie with brown sugar, artichoke dip (newly added to the list), and pumpkin pie (homemade no less!!). I ate like a little pig, with no regard for my fellow carvers. Yep, I was chomping away as they gutted and carved. Lucky for them I wasn't big on the chocolate chip banana bread (which looked VERY good but just not my cuppa tea) or they'd have had about nothing to eat.

MMMMMMmmmm.

So Jenny, even if you are a food enabler and helped me gain 5 pounds in one day, it was all deliciously worth it... THANK YOU =) The wagon will have to pick me up another day.

Thursday, October 18, 2001

Going back to Cali, Cali, Cali

Woo Hoo, I'm going to visit Yelli for her birthday. Ok, a week late, but still close.

I will have bad breath while I'm there. Why, you ask? To avoid this scenario:

- I'm waiting for my connection at the Philadelphia airport
- I'm feeling a bit stale, so I crack open my tin of Altoids and pop a couple
- I unknowingly spill some of the white powder that is found at the bottom of every tin
- they announce a gate change so I wander to the new area
- a short while later, an unsuspecting woman from Des Moines finds a suspicious white powder
- she reports it
- the entire airport is shut down, everyone is tested for Anthrax, we are all put on Cipro
- I arrive in SF a day late, making Daniela leave her own birthday party to pick me up
- no one will come near me for fear I will give them Anthrax
- a week later I am home safe, no Anthrax, just a terrible yeast infection

So I'm leaving my Altoids at home.

Oh God

My sister, for some unknown reason, really looks up to me. She loves my style, goes on and on about how beautiful I am, highly values my opinion, asks me to shop for her (or give her my clothes) and even goes so far as to tell single men all about me as if she's going to hook us up on a date. Yes, she's a nut. She's a huge ego booster, but a nut.

So Michael, her new hubby, continuously hearing "Tina this" and "Tina that" gave me the nickname "God". For example, on a topic she needs advice on, Michael will say, "if God didn't do it, you don't have to do it". Apparently he's been calling me God for awhile, but she just told me the other night. I guess she figured if he's about to be my Brother-in-Law, I have the right to know.

How's that for a hellofa lot to live up to.

But I reap the benefits, because while they were in Toronto for their honeymoon, Sher bought me a rather pricey but very cool shirt from Bebe. It's black with a design in crystals. It's very "heavy metal". I love it. And as if that weren't enough, she also went to Sugar Mountain and got me about 10 more packs of Love Hearts. Being God has it's perks.

Monday, October 15, 2001

I too am a copycat. I added Blogback.

Spent half the evening putting pictures from the single use wedding cameras into album pages. Won't that be a nice surprise for Sherri and Michael. They'll probably want to reorder all 324 of them. There are many pictures of me, Chad (the best man) and Christina (fellow bridesmaid and sister-in-law) making the most ridiculous faces. On purpose, thankfully. I don't mind looking like an ass in a picture if I did it on purpose.

Natalie is Back

Natalie is blogging again!!

Sunday, October 14, 2001

Sherri's Big Day

My sis' wedding is finally over and it was wonderful. The ceremony was beautiful... especially touching was the analogy the pastor used comparing dancing to making a relationship work (Sherri & Michael are both ballroom dance instructors). "Take the steps... " ok, I don't remember any of it, but it was great. I didn't get too nervous or fall or screw up - whew. I DID look like Audrie Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys. Pictures will be coming soon - IF I can find any, out of the 9000 that were taken, where I don't look like I have a double chin, gigantic arms, no top lip, etc... As Jenny might say, "yeah, good luck with that".

The highlights of the evening came from Michael's brothers. Chad, the best man, provided pictures & commentary documenting Michael's youth, his days as a big-hair-band drummer (voted Best Drummer in Rochester at one point in the 80s), then as a competitive bodybuilder (shown wearing only tiny little briefs that were strategically wedged to show off the gluteus maximus), and his current profession as a ballroom dance instructor. It was hilarious, with a sweet and touching closing.

Then there was Jimmy, the baby brother (now about 21?) who caught the garter and proceeded to do a dance rivaled only by a Chippendale as he worked his way over to Joyce, the bouquet recipient. Priceless!! I think he may even be a bigger ham than Aaron, but I won't commit to that based only on that one performance.

Sherri and Michael's wedding dance was incredible and shortly thereafter, the dance floor was taken over by psychos... er, I mean, dance instructors, who put the rest of us to shame. The freestylers (those of us who don't ballroom) broke onto the floor a few times when we could, relieved that they couldn't Rhumba to "YMCA"!

It was a memorable evening and my sister has never looked happier or more beautiful. **sniff sniff**

Data

I definitely didn't mean to offend Sarah by suggesting she was a Trekkie (not that there's anything wrong with that), I just know she likes Star Trek and might understand why Data is annoying.

Apart from that, I have robot envy. I'm the only one (other than Sarah), who got a negative result. The rest are all cute, innocent, loving, funny, goofy or wise, not annoying. Except Daniela, who is "cold, calculating, built to kill". That's just downright cool.

Friday, October 12, 2001

Data

Because I can't yet drag myself away from Bob, I took a little quiz and found out that as a robot, I'm Data from Star Trek. And apparently, I'm annoying. If I were a Trekkie, I'd know why. Maybe Sarah can tell me.

Click here to find out what robot you really are

It's Here

My new Dell, which I've named "Bob", finally arrived at 4:30pm, after which I promptly left the house to get on with my life. I set Bob up at midnight and am now playing. It was quite nice that things seem to set themselves up - like Road Runner and my printer. I have yet to use any heavy duty programs though, so I have not yet experienced the raw power of Bob. However, I'm quite sure that Bob will be put to shame by Alec, my new Mac G4 I'll be getting at work.

Ketchup Anyone?

Dinner was quite fun, we went to Tokyo, a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food in front of you. The chef did some very cool Tiger-Woods-esque eggwork with a spatula. He also had a fake ketchup bottle - the kind with a little red string, and "squirted" it at my sister Sherri - she about fainted. It was hilarious. That kooky chef.

After dinner we shot pool and played darts. My brother Eddie was going on and on about how good Christina (his wife, my sis-in-law) is at darts. I proceeded to win 3 out of 4 games against her. Ha ha! I guess I like winning more than I realized. Even if it is mostly luck.

The wedding is getting very close. I'm getting more and more nervous. Insomnia is in full swing as it is 1:45am and I feel as though I could run a marathon. Wondering if there was crack in my Samurai dinner. I'm more nervous about this wedding than I was for my own. My brother Mike has offered me some Paxil if I need it.

I met Chad, Sherri's soon-to-be brother-in-law. I am walking down the aisle with him. **Bonus** - he's rather good looking. Bodybuilder. Yep, he'll need those muscles to hold me up when I fall, as I'm sure I will.

Thursday, October 11, 2001

The Waiting Game

Though I have 5000 things to do today, I find myself waiting at home for my Dell to be delivered. The ticket said they'd come between 10:30am and 5. Just like in the movies, it seems that UPS will arrive 2 minutes before 5pm. Either that or they'll come while I'm in the bathroom or something stupid like that.

Wednesday, October 10, 2001

STRESS

Ok, now I'm officially stressed as I prepare for my Sister's wedding. My brother and his wife are here from Las Vegas today. They were going to stay with me which caused me and Chuck to clean and organize like maniacs, compiling about 14 bags worth of clothes to donate... but then, on Monday evening, call me to say they "remembered" that Christina is allergic to cats - ugh! But I'm glad I got all that closet cleaning done.

Speaking of closet cleaning, tomorrow is National Coming Out Day.

Back to stress.

Here's everything I STILL have to do before the wedding:

- figure out what shoes to wear with my dress
- if I don't have shoes to wear, go shoe shopping
- try on my dress to make sure the alterations are good
- see if the strapless bras I own look ok with the dress
- if the strapless bras don't look good, panick like mad and figure out what to do
- find a picture of how I want to wear my hair
- get a manicure
- if I wear open toed shoes, either get a pedicure or do my toenails
- wrap my brother Eddie's birthday presents and sign his card
- wrap my sister-in-law Christina's birthday presents and sign her card
- go shopping for my brother Mike's birthday present
- get a birthday cake for Eddie, Christina and Mike
- pack for the night of the wedding (we're staying at the hotel with the family)
- figure out if Sherri needs help with anything
- take 2 valium and eat reduced fat oreos

Friday, October 05, 2001

What is it about the Butts?

I saw today that I got hits based on a search for "his little butt was tight" and "shot in butt while sister watched". How on earth did these two phrases lead to me? I know I mentioned Marky Mark in tight leather pants, but I don't think I commented on his butt, especially since the picture only showed him from the front - and I KNOW I didn't comment on that (not that I wouldn't, I just know I didn't).

But, in making me think about cute butts, I will say that the pictures last year in Rolling Stone of Brad Pitt in a dress were quite a turn on for me. And with that, I begin my weekend.

FDNY

I just bought this FDNY shirt from Girlshop. All the proceeds go to benefit the NY Firefighters. Is it bad to get something in return for charity?



Chenny

I see that Jenny posted about Morning Glory and liked the sad little character Cooni. But I was curious about Chenny. Is it mere coincidence? The names so close? The description of long eyelashes, clumsiness, goofing around? Is Jenny really Chenny?

Thursday, October 04, 2001

Neglect and Candy

Ok, I've been very neglectful of my new friend Squibnocket. She definitely deserves to be linked to, not only because she has interesting things to say and not only because I've actually met her in person, but MAINLY because she led me to Sugar Mountain in Toronto where I found the luscious fizzy tart candies of my childhood.

"There is no kinder gesture than one of a sweet nature." - Robert Frost

OK, Robert Frost didn't say it, I made it up, but it sounded good.

On a related note, Joel has dubbed me "Queen Frostine" from the game Candy Land, but apparently someone else has that url. At first I thought it was porn, but then I realized that it's Tyra Banks and the content seems to be from a young girl, not sure. Either say, I found a really cool page of "Adopt a 1980s Cartoon Cutie!". I pick her:

When Arthur Met Eunice

My sleep patterns are totally screwed now. I was so tired yesterday after having to make an 8am physical therapy appointment, I thought I'd go home and fall asleep early. NOPE. Instead I found myself at midnight struggling to stay awake to see more of "When Harry Met Sally". What the HELL is wrong with me?

On another note, I think I'm going to start tracking movies I see that show the WTC twin towers. W.H.M.S. is now added to the list, along with Serendipity.

Wednesday, October 03, 2001

Other Bloggers

In adding Cindy, I realized I had neglected to add Matt and Sarah's blogs. My apologies. Everyone is now on my list.

New Blogger

Cindy has started a blog. This is becoming quite the national network of blogs - a large group of us in Rochester, but with others in Mountain View, San Francisco, Seattle and now San Diego. Along with new friends met through blogging in Toronto.

Tina Fact

Now if only I could think of something witty to talk about. If anyone wants to suggest a topic, feel free to email me or post to my guestbook.

How about a Tina Fact? Since it's "all about me" anyway.

Tina Fact #2: I grew up amongst hippies and Hell's Angels. My Dad owned a motorcylce shop in 1973 where he met and became friends with many bikers, including quite a few Hell's Angels. The memories are strong. The distinctive sound of a Harley rings familiar to my ears and brings me back to when I was five years old and eager for a ride around the block. The memories of my Dad's long flowing hair and his many tattoos are still strong. Today, the site of a burly biker on a Harley brings me warm fuzzies. The H.A.'s were actually really nice guys, I guess I didn't see their bad side. Rumor had it that if they saw any other bikers wearing their colors, they'd beat the crap out of them. Not sure how true that is. I often drive by a biker bar in Rush and, on Thursdays when the Harleys are lined up out front, I have the urge to go in and announce, "did anyone here know Ed [lastname]?" I bet I'd get at least one yes.

This unique childhood is part of the reason I often feel that "run away with the circus" type emotion. As if I were meant to be doing something more unique and interesting in life - no, not dealing drugs or shaking people down, just more interesting than poking away at a computer all day.

Tuesday, October 02, 2001

Computer Heaven

I am getting new computers both at work and at home. I am very excited, since both current computers are POS computers. My home computer is a 200mhz pc which, as of last week, is officially dead. To replace it, we got a Dell. It's a 1.7GHz with 256MB RAM and a CD Writer/DVD drive. Should keep me computer current for a month or so. Had to get a PC so hubby can install his work software which is only for PC. I wanted an iMac pretty bad... maybe next year I'll get my own sweet little iMac and name it Sally. For now, here's my not so cute, but dark and hansome Dell:



The situation at work is even more delightful. I am getting an 867MHz Mac G4 with 512MB RAM (woo hoo!!! zing! zing!) with a Superdrive. Yep, a SUPERDRIVE. That means I can crank out CD's and DVD's. Ok, the reality of it is, I won't use the full capability of this Mac and I almost feel bad getting it knowing that the Visual Designers could benefit so much more from it. But then I remember that I've been suffering with this POS Mac since well before and long after they all got G4's. So maybe everyone will be jealous for a while, but then they'll all get Dual 800's and I'll be the little match girl with the crappy computer again. So for now, I will revel in it!

Monday, October 01, 2001

Well, the past week and weekend flew by. Finally my sister's shower is over, so I can relax, right? Wrong. Now I get to get worked up about the actual wedding - getting shoes, fitting into the dress, preparing the house for the arrival of my brother and his wife (IF they stay with us) and my Mother-in-law. I am VERY stressed and I don't know if it's from all this wedding activity or from the events of September 11th. Sleep is becoming even more elusive - as I long to stay up and watch a little more tv or read a little more of my magazine. Shallow bits of behavior. Why can't I do something redeeming instead of looking at pictures of Marky Mark in tight leather pants? What's happening to me?

On top of it all, Daniela is a mere 400 or so miles away (in Boston) instead of the usual 2500 miles and I can't even get over there to see her. That sucks.

The Weekend

The weekend did have it's high moments. Friday night we danced the night away at Red as Tony dj'd - and made fun of "leather pant thing" who started off being called "leather pant guy" until we realized he was a she. She must've watched too much Solid Gold as a kid, the dancing was quite over the top.

Saturday was Sherri's shower, which wasn't really "fun", but was nice - alot of hard work followed by SLEEP. I woke back up around 9pm and watched "Return to Me" on DVD. Sobbed like a little kid. Couldn't take the scenes of the dog missing the dead wife. I asked Grizzy if he'd miss me. His eyes seemed to say yes, but I think he'd only miss me for a few weeks, not a whole year.

Sunday was lots more sleep, then cleaning, then "High Fidelity" on DVD. That is a hilarious movie. I love Jack Black. He even made "Saving Silverman" worth my $7. Then we were off to Aaron's birthday party at the bowling alley. I bowled a 129 on my second game, not bad considering I SUCK at bowling. I love the look on everyone's faces after they throw a bad shot, too funny. And it was fun watching Chuck do his special little move (that he doesn't even realize he does) - he swirls his hips twice, then bounces his butt three times - then takes his shot. He does a special little butt wiggle in softball too. Part of what made me fall in love with him =)

Wednesday, September 26, 2001

Conspiracy Theory

I have 3 weeks until my sister's wedding. Monday I had to put on my bridesmaid dress for the seamstress to get it taken up. It's a strapless number, in black. Cute, if you're tiny. I've been tiny before but at the moment, I'm a little further from tiny than I'd like for this dress - got some bulges and bumps showing through and the flabby arms are in full view.

So, with only 3 weeks to go, I decide I'll just buckle down, lay off the junk food, eat well and drop a few pounds - then begin pigging out again at the wedding. But I think my family and friends are conspiring against me. Last night, Grandma brought Pumpkin Pie to Mom's for dinner. PUMPKIN PIE!! It's like she sat around and thought, "what is the one food that is really fattening but Tina won't be able to resist? Hmmm, I've got it - Pumpkin Pie!" I had one bite. Then, I get in to work today and Jo has brought in donut holes. DONUT HOLES!!! Is she trying to knock me off the wagon? I had one. Later in the afternoon as I came back from a meeting, I find an open bag of Oreos out for sharing. OREOS!!!!!!! Enough to prove the world is conspiring against me! I didn't have any oreos, basically because there weren't any left, but I did sniff the bag.


Sad

This morning was a rough day for me, tears welled up with every American Flag I looked at. I think I'm hormonal.

Thursday, September 20, 2001

Hey, is that Greg Kinnear

I've found that it's very easy to press Jenny's buttons. Just point at some random guy and say, "hey, isn't that Greg Kinnear?" Heh, heh.

That said, I do, 100% and totally, concede that Judd Nelson easily could have been mistaken for Greg Kinnear. It was a very valid statement. They DO look alike in a not-so-dark room. However, I do not want to lose sight of the fact that it was Judd Nelson after all (ie, I was right). What this all really says is that I am a competitive person who likes to be right and apparently likes to point out when I am right. Character flaw. Ugh. I'll work on that. But it's so fun being right,

Monday, September 17, 2001

Being away from the news has made today a slightly better day, yet I know once I get home, I will be jumping between CNN and MSNBC and won't be able to peel myself away. I don't know what I expect to hear, but I can't stop listening.

As for now, I'll take my mind off things and talk more about Toronto. On Thursday night, we hung around the theater where Serendipity was premiering... we didn't see John Cusack or Jeremy Piven, but Eagle Eye Chuck spotted the actor that plays "Ted" on one of my favorite shows, Queer as Folk. Ted's the cute sensitive one who has trouble getting dates.


He almost qualifies as a Bizzarro Chuck (ie, looks like Chuck).

We had heard Harvey Keitel was going to be arriving at the next movie, word was he went in the back.

On Friday morning, we saw Serendipity ourselves, it was quite a wonderful romantic (HIGHLY UNREALISTIC) movie, but I imagine they will delay it's release because it had lots of scenes of NY, the Twin Towers, and a couple cross country flights. Yep, it will be interesting to see how much they change it.

After Serendipity, we headed to see the very unique and hilarious movie American Astronaut. Who sits right behind us, but Gale Harold, the star of QAF who plays "Brian". Brian is the really hot promiscuis guy who has some form of sex with practically every guy he comes in contact with. Gale was with a woman though, so I think he's just a REALLY good actor.



I wanted to say something like, "Hi Gale, I really enjoy your work", but I didn't want to be a stalkerish dork. Thank God for Matt, he came in and sat directly behind me, which allowed me to turn around and talk... and sneak in peeks at Gale without looking like a stalkerish dork. I am kicking myself for not saying a little something, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded the praise. ** kick, kick, kick **

At the hotel lobby, while waiting for Matt, I spotted David Paymer... but I am apparently the only person on the planet who knows who he is. Everyone else gave me a blank stare. He was in City Slickers, I swear!



That night we had another proximity encounter. I saw a guy and a blond trotting across the room and joked that it looked like Judd Nelson. Jenny thought he looked like Greg Kinnear. It was dark but not that dark. As I make my way back out of the ladies room, this guy and his blonde are still blocking my way and as the guy turns to get out of my way and says, "Oh, sorry", I realize it IS Judd Nelson. I ran to tell Jenny and she proceeded to circled the restaurant to get a good peek. Then we watched as he sat with two blondes and tried to figure out which one he had something going with. I think he was trying to kick it with both of them. You go boy.

Sunday, September 16, 2001

We almost didn't go to Toronto this weekend for round two of the Toronto International Film Festival. Our thoughts... Is it safe? Is it inappropriate? Is it frivoulous? But we decided Canada is a safe place to be and we needed to try to take our minds off the horrific events of the past week, if only for a little while. Jenny and Aaron are two of the most fun people I have ever had the pleasure of being around and I am so glad we did go. It was a small bit of emotional relief that I really needed.

Today, back at home and watching the news again, I am heartbroken and emotionally drained. I cannot fathom the pain of those wondering the fate of their loved ones. I am also pained by the thought of lost pets and rescue animals. The port authority policeman who was rescued told of his partner, a yellow lab, that did not get rescued along with him. I cried as he told reporters about telling his dog, "I'll be back for you."

Thursday, September 13, 2001

The Americans

A rather timely speech by Canadian Gordon Sinclair spoken in 1973 and ringing all too true this week.

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

Emotional Hell

Yesterday was so devastating. My heart is broken for everyone who had to go through the airplane hijackings, the crashes, the building collapses, and now, the rescue effort. My heart is broken for everyone who will never feel the same way again and who will never forget this. I thank God all my loved ones are safe... for now.

Monday, September 10, 2001

Proximity Heaven

Well, Jenny put the pressure on me to blog about the celebs we saw at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend. Seeing as though I am somewhat obsessed with trying to have proximity encounters* with celebrities, I suppose it's only fitting.

*A "proximity encounter" is my terminology for seeing, walking by, or being near a celebrity. As I've mentioned before, I'm not really interested in getting their autograph, taking their picture, or really even talking to them... I just really want to see them... up close. Of course if the opportunity arises to have normal dialogue, I'm all up for that. (Just to clarify, here's an example of what would be a good opportunity for normal dialogue: --- I'm line for ice cream. I order two scoops of Death by Chocolate. As I take a lick, I hear a voice behind me, "wow, does that taste as good as it looks?. I was going to get the Rocky Road, but now I'm not sure." I turn around, it's John Cusack, I am not phased. I say, "words cannot describe how decadent and delicious it is, you have to try it." I offer my cone, John licks my ice cream. John says, "mmmmm, it IS good. So do you taste as good as YOU look?"... --- Ok, I got a little unrealistic, but you get the idea.) Normal, non-forced interaction is a bonus.

First, on Friday night, we saw Ed Burns, talking to the audience at the premier of his movie "Sidewalks of New York" (which I thoroughly enjoyed). He was too far away to count as a proximity encounter, but we did see him.

Then, at the next movie, "Thirteen Conversations about One Thing" (which was good but way too long), we saw Matthew McConaughy. He was wearing a skirt, a tshirt, and flip flops. I think he's a bit of a freak. He supposedly saved the woman who had an epileptic seizure, though I don't remember seeing him over by her. I think she faked it. I am practicing my "choking on a piece of popcorn" routine for next week so I can get Jeremy Piven to give me the Heimlich Maneuver.

Alan Arkin also sat near us at T.C.A.O.T., he seemed very pissed that someone was interrupting the movie. His lips didn't move, but his expression said, "damn those epileptics".

On Saturday afternoon, while shopping, we had a true proximity encounter with Julia Stiles. She walked by us, crossing the street the opposite way from us. I tried to give hints to Jenny, Aaron and Chuck without yelling out, "THERE'S JULIA STILES", but I kind of choked. Luckily, she glanced to the side and they got to see her after she passed.

Saturday night, after going to the Short Films feature (which were all pretty excellent except the one about golfing and worm collecting), we headed over to see "Prozac Nation". In a last minute strategic move, Jenny and I decided to move to the front in an effort to get a good look at some celebs, despite the fact that we'd be very close to the screen. It paid off, we were a mere 10 feet from Christina Ricci, Jason Biggs, and Michelle Williams (not pictured, but she was in the movie "Dick" also) as they stood in the spotlight while the director talked. Christina is too skinny. Jason is cute. There's more to tell about the apple pie, but that'll come later.

Sunday morning, we went and saw "Novacaine" with Steve Martin. Steve didn't show up but the movie was very good. On to eating and shopping. Chuck and Aaron saw Steve Martin and Michelle Williams. This called for desperate measures... time to head to the Four Season's lobby... where we struck gold. Chuck spotted Kristin Scott Thomas (but called her "the chick from Four Weddings and a Funeral"), then we saw Kevin Kline, eagle-eyes Aaron spotted Jennifer Love Hewitt (and swears she was checking him out... then branded her Faux J Lo). Leelee Sobieski showed up next, she was very pretty and flashed us all a wide smile (maybe she was smiling at Aaron). We also saw a very cute, familiar looking face and later figured out it was Hayden Christensen who will be playing Anakin Skywalker in the next Star Wars movie.

So that was it. The Four Seasons lobby was the place to be. We will be going there next weekend for tea and crumpets.

Thursday, September 06, 2001

achoo

itching and sneezing and kleenex, oh my!

Allergy season is in full swing. My eyes itch. My face itches. My nose itches. My throat itches. My ears itch. How the heck do you scratch the inside of your ears? Or better yet, how do you scratch the inside of your nose without looking like your trying to "pick a winner"?

Tuesday, September 04, 2001

The Weasel

My brother Eddie called me last night but I was in the shower... I was going to call him back right after Road Rules, but he called me back first to say, "Why didn't you call me right back? I had Pauly Shore waiting to say hello to you." At first I was upset, kicking myself in the a**, but then I realized, I have no desire to talk to Pauly Shore on the phone... what would I say, "how's the weasel?"

It was still a significant moment though because it shows that my brother is very thoughtful and went out of his way to try to do something he thought I would really enjoy. I mean how many people would have the testicular fortitude to ask anyone, much less a semi-celebrity, to say hi to their little sister on the phone? My brother's quite the unique person. Every one of his friends I talked to in LA gushed about him... I mean literally GUSHED about how great he is. You don't hear guys gushing about other guys too often.

So anyway, I told him he should have said something so that I knew to call RIGHT back, so we came up with a code... if he calls me and doesn't get me, he'll say, "call me right back, I have a QUICK question", then I'll know he's got some celeb willing to say hi to me on the phone. Next thing I know, he'll be handing my business card to Patrick Swayze and asking him to drop me a quick email.

Monday, August 27, 2001

TV is Good

New mood... I'm sick of being made to feel shallow for loving tv. TV, especially cable, has alot of great stuff... the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, the History Network, the Travel Channel, the Weather Channel, the Food Network, Cartoon Network - some great learning material there. I believe that, because of tv, I am a much more educated person, a more tolerant person, I've seen places I'd never have even known about much less visited, I'm a funnier person, I have more conversation topics, and I'm filled with useless information that would probably help me do well in Jeopardy... OK, so it's not all redeeming... YES, I love watching South Park and Real World and The Family Guy... but studies have shown that humor is a very important part of mental and physical health... so I'm a healthier because of tv too.

SO THERE, I'm not horrible or shallow because I watch TV. AAAHHH
I'm feeling very shallow, unmotivated, and immoral. I was reading the Appalachian Trail story, 5 Millions Steps, on our website. It documents the daily thoughts and experiences of Sneetch, a former coworker of mine, who took a leave of absence from work to take 6 months to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail (ie, hike from Georgia to Maine). At first I though, "this is alot like my blog". Except she hikes about 20 miles a day… I take the elevator to the 3rd floor. She hardly watches any tv and what she does see, she thinks is ridiculous as she is used to "the honesty of the woods"… I am hardly ever in the woods, watch way too much tv and love every second of it, especially the not-so-honest stuff. She is Vegan (eats nothing containing any animal byproducts) and eats vegan chocolate bars, vegan mac and cheese and cheeseless pizza… I am a full-fledged carnivore and eat pepperoni pizza with extra cheese, cheeseburgers, steak, milk with my cereal, cheese sticks, Jamba Juice made with frozen yogurt, and, apparently, very milky chocolate bars.

So though I feel shallow, unmotivated and immoral, I wouldn't change places with her for anything. I like my mostly-sedentary-tv-addicted-meat-eating lifestyle and I don't mind being a bit "meaty" myself. Maybe tomorrow I will take the stairs instead of the elevator. It's a step in the right direction (get it? step... lol) .

Thursday, August 23, 2001

99.3% Sure

After telling my story to Aaron about spotting who I suspected to be Seann William Scott in LA, I am now 99.3% sure it was him. Aaron said that he had seen SWS on The Tonight Show last week (ie, he was in LA), WITH a beard (ie, the look matches up with what I saw), and that SWS said that he still had a little apartment in LA (ie, he probably lives right near there and had walked over for a bite of a great steak).

I believe Abby now feels the painful sting of regret nibbling at her rear, as do I. I should've have been more emphatic, like "ABBY, TURN THE CAR AROUND IMMEDIATELY!" Live and learn, live and learn...

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

I'm BAAACK

Well, after spending the rest of the week away from internet access and getting trapped in travel HELL Sunday/Monday, I'm back in action. I LOVE that I have gotten posts in my guestbook from complete strangers! Somehow I'm still suspect that they are my friends (read: Yelli or Jenny) trying to boost my ego, but I'll do some research.

Since I last left you on Thursday in LA, I struck celebrity gold... well, old gold anyway. Ironically enough, they had a reception for Red Buttons at my hotel, so while waiting in the lobby with Jo and Steve, we watched as the celebs got wheeled in, hobbled in and even, in some cases, walked in of their own accord. Here's who I saw:

RED BUTTONS

Dick Clark (New Year's Rockin Eve, American Bandstand)
Suzanne Sommers (Chrissy on Three's Company, thighmaster...)
Ryan Oneal (Love Story, Irreconcilable Differences, many more)
Pat Sajak (Wheel of Fortune)
Robert Loggia (lots of stuff, see him here)
Milton Berle (vaudville?)
Carl Reiner (comedian)
Dick Van Patten (dad on Eight is Enough)
Merv Griffin (Merv Griffin show)

I'm also about 97% positive that we drove by Seann William Scott (from American Pie, Dude Where's My Car, Evolution) on Saturday night but Abby didn't drive around the block to let me confirm - ugh!



He had a beard, but I had seen him on TV that week with the beard, so I'm still 98% sure it was him. If only Abby had driven around the block...

Thursday, August 16, 2001

Make Sex Interesting More

Yikes, someone found my blog by doing a search on "make sex interesting more". Well, I'm sure they were sadly dissapointed as my blog probably does not contribute any valuable information in that realm... UNTIL NOW! Based on my years of reading Cosmopolitan, Jane, Glamour, Self, and other cheesy women's magazines, I do have some recommendations. I in no way claim to have tested these ideas, but here's a few based on what I've read:

- role play, a pirate and a wench, a doctor and a nurse, Ben Affleck and some cute girl visiting from NY he met at Starbucks... (you get the idea - use your imagination)

- toys, toys, toys (enough said)

- talk dirty (try not to crack up)

And last, but not least, my favorite (in theory)
- FOOD... chocolate, whipped cream, and so on... I saw a special on HBO all about "sploshing", which is basically slathering food all over. Go on, give it a try, so you gain a few pounds, it'll be worth it. And just a thought, you might not want to try this as dessert to a dinner of Nick Tahou's, Dinosaur BBQ, festival food, any type of mexican food...

If these work for anyone, or you'd like to contribute more, let me know via my guestbook.

Wednesday, August 15, 2001

Proximity Encounter

FINALLY, I had my first proximity encounter today (my terminology for spotting a celebrity). Walked right by Larry King. Yep, Larry King. Woo hoo, start the parade [read: dripping sarcasm]. But still, it's better than Danny Bonaducci (the only proximity encounter I had last time I was in LA - and twice in one day no less!!).

Other Stuff

Other than that, some other stuff to babble about... So far, at the Bev Hilton, I've seen a lady who I think was hiding out to recuperate from her lip injections - they were gigantic! She must've paid good $$ to look that ridiculous and unnatural. She could've paid me much less to punch her in the mouth a few times... heck, it'd probably even be cheaper to fly me out every week for a punch to keep them nice and plump. The Rhinestone Cowboy Convention was interesting... not sure what it was all about, just know that many people were dressed in sparkly western wear. Them there were fancy folk. There was also the Wedding of Bad Fashion. Many women, all dressed up in 1980's bridesmaid dresses and Tammy Faye Baker makeup to enjoy the occasion.

Oh, and after being inspired by many many cool animations (like "Say Cheese" by Derek Flood), I want to become a 3D animator and use Maya and Pulse3D and work for Pixar or ILM or EA and make 3D movies with animated monkeys and elephants and cute, furry things... Either that, or open a Jamba Juice franchise.

Tuesday, August 14, 2001

SIGN MY GUESTBOOK

I finally have a guestbook! The site didn't seem to like my woodstock.com email and wouldn't send me a password. Hotmail worked like a charm, so please SAY something to me.

Put me in the Movies

While walking by the Pixar booth at SIGGRAPH, I couldn't help but notice that they are hiring for a User Interface Engineer. My heart raced - how cool would it be to work for Pixar!!?? Then I look at the qualifications - they want a damn programmer. I was DUPED. They are totally CLUELESS about UI. Just because a computer geek can code an interface (and they ALL can), doesn't make them a User Interface expert. So apparently, they want someone to make an interface for their software, but it doesn't have to be easy to use or meet the user's needs or provide a good experience. Poor, poor animators. No wonder they're all a bit strange in a mad scientist kind of way - they have to struggle through software interfaces designed by a Linux programmer. Rant over. Thank You. Sorry if I offended any computer geeks, animators, or mad scientists.

Breakfast

Well today was the 2nd time Jo, Steve and I ate at The Pantry - a greasy spoon restaurant with big, cheap breakfasts. We chowed down, eating enough to sustain us through to dinner. I am still VERY full and it's been 5 hours since I ate (I'm usually starving within 2-3 hours of a meal). I had French toast, fried eggs, toast, and hash browns. Jo ate pancakes and eggs and hash browns. Steve ate less than both of us! I took a before and after picture, but haven't found a spot to download yet. I think Jo has a wooden leg. I myself just have a cavernous gut.

Monday, August 13, 2001

Cute Asian Girl

Oh, and did anyone else notice that someone found Jenny's blog by doing a search for "cute asian girl"? Does this mean that Jenny specifically called herself a "cute asian girl" or does that mean she wrote "cute bunny poster" and "asian ceramic bowls" and "the girl had blue hair" and they found her that way?

I guess I should follow Aaron and Jenny's lead and find creative ways to boost my traffic.

Free sex pictures. There, that should do it.

More Babblings

This place is so wired, it's the Mac Daddy. Get it, Mac Daddy - Mac computer - wired... ha ha. Ok, not funny. I'm on a quick break, have more to say...

I just drank an ENTIRE Diet Coke - and I actually liked it. This is monumental!! I've always DESPISED diet pop, but I gave it a shot since I've been otherwise eating decent and walking and climbing stairs alot. I think I may be able to make the switch. I will save thousands of calories a year! I will weigh 5 pounds less in 3 years from the calorie savings alone! I have been saved!

Oh, but then there's the Bacardi 151 I added to my Diet Coke, some calories there... I have been drinking heavily since I got here. I'm drunk now. I think I have a problem. By tomorrow I think I will have to check into rehab. Jenny, do you know the name of the place Ben Affleck checked into... that should be here in LA and should be as good as any. ;-)

SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH is in full swing and I'm here dabbling in stuff mostly irrelevant to work I've done up until now... in an effort to make it relevant. (For those who don't know, SIGGRAPH is a conference on Computer Graphics, 3D, Animation, etc... I am a User Interface Designer, concerned mostly with making apps easy to use) Then again, even the conferences I've been to in my field have mostly irrelevant stuff.

Ugly Donkey:

Yesterday was a cool session with the creators of Shrek. One problem, it was more the computer programmers who wrote the tools for the animation rather than the artists, but still interesting. I didn't like Shrek because the Donkey was ugly. Yep, that's my whole basis for not liking it. They really should've gone with a much cuter Donkey, which would have resulted in millions more $$ in both ticket and merchandise sales. Didn't they do any focus groups? Anyway, they did show the flub up where a new engineer screwed up some code that messed with the hair length on the donkey and he looked like a complete fuzzball until they fixed it. Thing is, he was much cuter as a fuzzball with no features. Oh well.

Today is "Intro to Computer Graphics". Thought I'd get a complete overview of the basics to ground myself. One problem, it's all about 3D graphics, cart before the horse so to speak, but still interesting.

This conference definitely has alot more interesting looking people, as opposed to UIST (last year's conference) where there were mostly people who had "I'm a computer geek" tattood on their foreheads.

Well, time to go pay $95 for a pizza and a coke for lunch. Mmmm...

Sunday, August 12, 2001

I Love LA... NOT

Well, I'm here in LA... Did I grab a cup of cappucino and strike up a conversation with Benjamin Bratt? Nope. Did I eat fried eggs at Mel's Drive-In and hear Cameron Diaz talking with her agent the next booth over? Didn't happen. Did I spot Vince Vaugh buying gifts for his girl at Trashy Lingerie? No such luck. Did I find myself riding the elevator in the Beverly Hilton with so much as Gary Coleman? Not a chance in hell. I have not seen one single person even remotely resembling someone famous. I think I have a force field around me that drives them away. The stupid part is, I don't want to get their autograph, take a picture with them, or even necessarily talk to them (though this would be ok if it was a normal, natural conversation... not "OH my GOD, you are so great..." it would have to be more like, "yeah, I know, can you believe we don't have them in where I live [read: Jamba Juice]"), I just want to SEE them.

I did get to visit some very cool shops on Melrose, and enjoyed a Jamba Juice - a definite highlight. Cindy and John came up from San Diego and we had a good time, it was great to see them again. Had they not come up, I would have had a lonely Saturday night in LA since my brother bailed on me (though he has been calling every one of his LA friends bugging them to entertain his little sister).

As for LA, surprisingly it does not seemed to be filled with size 0 girls, there are all shapes and sizes here... thank GOD.

OK, conference time... more later.

Thursday, August 09, 2001

HELL

Holy crap, it's 101 degrees here today. ONE HUNDRED AND ONE - in ROCHESTER! I'll be glad to get to LA where it will be a cool 80 degrees!

Tuesday, August 07, 2001

La La Land

I leave for LA in a couple days and pre-travel insomnia and procrastination are in full swing... You would think that if I'm not tired, I'd do the things I need to get done. Nope, I'm an 11th hour kind of girl. So I'll probably be up until 3am thursday night doing laundry, paying bills, cleaning and packing.

I wasn't sure what the "style" is in LA, so I had my brother make some calls. I know I shouldn't care what those pretentious-carb-hating-stick-thin-rich-beautiful-shallow people think, but I don't want to stand out like a little match girl either. So my bro asked some of his chick friends in LA and they said - it's not what you wear, it's how you wear it - just have the right attitude. Does that mean act like you're God's gift even if you're wearing Kathy Ireland jeans from Kmart because you can't afford Frankie B. jeans? I somehow doubt it.

Apparently, from the looks of this ad, Frankie B. jeans are worth the money! (~$120/pair)


Then he added, "but chunky shoes are out". Dammit, I love chunky shoes. I read on the web that platforms are out, but are platforms the same as chunky?

OUT:

More importantly, chunky shoes are a helluva lot more comfortable than heels. And I'm all about comfort... there's no way I'm hobbling around on heels all day. I'd rather wear sneakers... yeah, the sortof cute ones with no heel...

IN??:

Batty

Jenny posted pictures of ugly bats. Not the whole story, there are many cute bats out there. Such as Stella, a Flying Fox (fruit bat):



And this adorable little guy who looks like a chihuahua with a little leather jacket on:



See, they're even cuter in print:

Monday, August 06, 2001

Bad Me

Bad me for not blogging in so long, but it's been a busy week. Grizzy is doing well after the emergency room visit. Tuesday was the bats at Bellydancing. Jenny leaves out that she screamed like a banshee, "shut the dooooooor" as she trampled my hand. It was rather hilarious.

Thursday we went to see Planet of the Apes. Marky Mark should've gotten half naked because his acting merits just don't cut it. It's all about the biceps, baby.

Friday was Abby's birthday and we made a night of it. Jenny actually had the equivalent of 1 margarita. This is big, because Jenny doesn't normally drink as she is actually somewhat allergic. Well, no problems on Friday night with the margarita and we were all treated to a livelier version of normal Jenny.

Snuck in the Park Ave Fest, Andy's party, and dinner with Sis and her fiance over the weekend.

I had a frozen chocolate covered banana from Abbots, they are obscene to eat, but they taste too good to be vain about it. I just keep the wrapper on as long as I can. I dropped a piece of chocolate and managed to sit on it, so I had this big brown smear on the back of my shorts... oh lovely.

Tuesday, July 31, 2001

Emergency Vets

Grizzy (my Black Lab) had to go to the emergency room yesterday. I won't get into the gory details, but he was a hurtin puppy. He was so good with the vet though, I was impressed. The vet poked and prodded him all over the place (now I know why I didn't want to become a vet) and Grizzy didn't snap, snarl or whimper even once. The vet said that he probably got stressed at the kennel. Now I wonder if we will have to give him Valium each time he goes to the kennel. Then I'll have a drug addicted dog like Brian on The Family Guy. He'll be saying, "hey, you two look like you need a vacation. Just give me my Valium, drop me off at the kennel, and everything will be aaaaaaallll right."

Back on the Wagon

Well, I didn't throw the golf tournament. As a matter of fact, I sunk a 5-foot putt for an eagle. For those of you who have no clue about golf, just know that it was a very good thing!

Other than golf, the weekend was mostly spent eating, which is a damn shame because I was good all last week and had even dropped a couple pounds. First, after golf there was a buffet dinner (buffet = eat until you want to die). I didn't pig out though, but I did have one piece of very greasy fried chicken, mmmm. Sunday was another story. The inlaws took us to Brunch - the most dangerous meal to a food-addicted dieter (me). I did pig out, eating more in one sitting than I had been eating in a whole day - and washed it all down with a french vanilla capuccino (aka, a cup of crack). I feared that it would spark my addictive behaviour and I'd be stopping night and day for a cup of crack, but I've been good. Yesterday and today I've been back on the wagon - but leary… I hear the little miniature candy bars calling to me - teeeeeeeeeena, teeeeeeeeena, we know you want us. They are to me what 'Nsync is to millions of teenage girls - craved but forbidden.

Saturday, July 28, 2001

OW!

On the drive up to the 1000 Islands (where I am now), Chuck rolled the window up on my finger. I really wasn't hurt that bad, but the shock of having the window move suddenly and seeing it smoosh my finger, combined with the sharp stinging pain, caused an instant sobbing reaction. I felt like a five year old. The weird part is even though I immediately started crying, I was also cracking up because it was pretty funny. Chuck almost crashed from laughing, then, after a brief insincere apology, began to insist it was my fault... getting mad at ME for sticking my fingers out the window (I was throwing crumbs out). He says he looked over, I was not near the window, then turned back and hit the button, then heard "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" (my scream).

I will seek revenge. We are in a golf tournament tomorrow and I think my injured finger will have a negative impact on my performance and cause our team to come in last. I am also going to submit him for the Heinous Husband Award that they do in Redbook or Family Circle or one of those silly magazines. He doesn't do wrong or bad things too often, but this ones a doozy.

Nobody crushes my finger with a power window and blames me... NOBODY...

Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Tina Fact #2

I have a apiphobia - fear of bees.

The Buzz on Bees

I inherited my apiphobia from my Grandmother who didn't even go to the family reuinion because it was outdoors. Her life revolves around avoiding bees. I'm not that bad (yet?).

At lunch outside last week, I fled from the table a few times as we had the unwelcomed "visitors". Everyone tried to talk me out of being afraid, including Joel... I had to remind them that a key ingredient in a phobia is IRRATIONALITY. Sad to say, it will take more than the advice of my good friends "not to be afraid" to cure me, it will take heavy duty psychotherapy that I am not willing to commit to. I'm not afraid of the pain of a sting (though I've never been stung), I'm not afraid of stuffed bees, cartoon bees or even dead bees. Just ones that are within a 20 foot radius of me and airborne. Little bees, those gigantic bees (the kind that supposedly don't sting), large flies that can be mistaken for bees, wasps, and let's not even discuss the killer bees, ugh!

Ironically, Joel got stung this weekend. He is allergic. He doesn't have apiphobia because his fear is real, not irrational... but he will be running away from the table with me nonetheless.
Got to see Natalie yesterday, a good friend and former coworker who moved down to DC. Why do all my friends move away? Never mind, I know the answer to that. Rochester pretty much sucks - especially in winter!! The real question is, why don't I move away? Natalie looked great! She is a skinny-minny now - said it's from the medication she's taking, she couldn't eat dairy (and she's an even bigger cheese fanatic than me!!). I say, pass me some of that medication please!

Hung with Mom and sis (Sherri) last night too. Mom is on medication and seemed drunk... slow, slurred speech. Sad and funny at the same time. We took her to get her hair cut and she asked the girl to cut it like "Tina Turner but not as floppy". I think the girl thought she was insane until I mentioned the medication.

I also had to buy my dress for Sherri's wedding. While I was at the bridal store, they were playing the song Butterfly Kisses - a Dad singing about his little girl and how she's all grown up and getting married. I started bawling in the dressing room. The memories of losing my Dad just before my wedding combined with knowing he also wouldn't be there for Sher's wedding, not to mention how proud (and shocked ;-) he would have been to see Eddie get married... it was too much to take. I think Sher thought I was crying because I thought I looked fat in the dress. Actually, the dress looked pretty nice - but I'm definitely going to need some of those super-spandex-suck-everything-in-and-smooth-it-out type pantyhose.

On that note, I'll add my new feature:

Tina Fast Fact #1

My Dad owned a motorcycle shop in 1973 where he sold Harley's to the local Hells Angels. They became fast friends and from the age of 4 to 10, I was surrounded by big burly tatooed bikers, loud Harley's, drinking, gambling, and drugs. It's a miracle I'm normal.

Friday, July 20, 2001

Cravings

My food addiction is getting the best of me. After eating Kettle Korn for dinner AND dessert on Monday, I had a good day on Tuesday and thought I was back on track (I'm trying to drop a few pounds before going to LA). But then, on Wednesday, Jenny and I ate at a local diner (Jine's) and I (against my better judgment but weak and hungry) ordered a hamburger... which came with chips. Normally one might be disappointed with chips instead of fries, but not me. See, I LOVE to put potato chips on grilled burgers. It was DEEELICIOUSO, well worth the 3000 calories it contained... delicious enough to spur my need for more, more, more. So last night at our group picnic, I had ANOTHER burger with chips on it. It wasn't as good as the one from Jine's and left me wanting. So today at lunch, guess what I HAD TO HAVE. Yep, a burger with chips on it. That's three days in a row!! And the one today wasn't so great so here I am.... debating whether to ask Abby if she wants to eat at Jine's tonight before East End Fest. I need an intervention. I'm also flooded with thoughts of fried eggs and toast. Must have fried eggs and toast. Must have fried eg... DAMMIT! Damn food addiction! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!

I think the only thing that will break my current downward spiral is a trip to the gym. Which I HAD been planning for tomorrow, but I have to wait for the cable guy in the morning and just got in under the wire with my hairdresser for tomorrow afternoon. He's only in town one week a month, the rest of the time he's in NYC - and tomorrow is his last day here until August. My friend Donna called him a "little bitch" - he is rather snotty at times, but I like what he does with my hair. I usually leave there feeling like a supermodel. A supermodel with a double chin and a fat ass, but GREAT hair!