Randomness

Started my day by getting stuck behind a giant truck that said "Lubrication Specialists"... and that's all I have to say about that.

Plea for Help

Talk It Up! - a new application on kodak.com (where I work in case ANY strangers read my blog, though that's VERY unlikely) that I worked on, just went live. It lets you add speech balloons to your pictures. Here's one of my cat Punky:



So please help me (and my Kodak friends) get a bigger bonus... I need the money for an organ transplant (I'd like to transplant the organ of my body from Rochester to California for a short period of time). Please join kodak.com, try Talk It Up!, and it would also be a big help if you would click on the Birdcam, then click on the ALL VIEWS link and just leave that up on your screen (or move it off screen if you really don't want to see it). =)

Starving

The other day at lunch, Jenny pointed at my yogurt and granola and said (in a very accusing but concerned tone), "Is that all you're going to eat for lunch?! Do you know that if you don't get enough calories, it's very bad for you... " etc. etc. etc. I said, "don't you worry about me, I'm going to have dinner at my Mom's tonight and I'm sure I will eat enough calories for 2 days." Sure enough, got to Mom's and had the following:

- 3 pieces of italian bread w/butter (would've eaten more but it had sesame seeds on the crust)
- tuna noodle casserole
- a piece of cube steak
- a tall, cool glass of Coca-cola
- a frosted jelly donut
- a few of grandma's cookies

Yep, I'd say at least 2K, and that doesn't include the hand full of Whoppers I ate 5 minutes after I got back from lunch with yogurt remnants still on my tongue.

Nope, I don't think anyone will ever have to worry that I'm not getting enough calories!

Adding to Guster

Oh, as I get time, I will add to my Day of Guster.

Day of Caring

Did the United Way Day of Caring (a.k.a. Day of Busting A**) yesterday with Abby, Jenny, Sarah, Matt, Ken and others. We did mostly hauling trash and raking up leaves and trash. Basically did more work in one day that I did all year on my own house. It was actually very fun (thanks to the great teamwork) and very fulfilling. The house we helped clean is that much closer to being a counseling center and the area around the church looks great.

I took a long, hot shower when I got home and washed and shampood twice. Last night I had a dream that my overalls were covered with crustacean-like bugs (wasn't it bad enough I was wearing overalls?!!). I had to scrape them off with a spatula like thing, Eeewwwwweeeeee. Let it be noted, however, that in my dream I did not freak out and start tearing off my clothes, like I would have done if my clothes were, in reality, covered with bugs.

Back to not caring...

Seventh Heaven

I'm still floating on air from yesterday's fun-filled activities. I woke up and almost immediately won the opportunity to go to WBER to have meet and have lunch with Guster - my favorite band. Holy crap, could this day get ANY better? So I grab Abby, we ditch the First Annual Kodak.com Chili Cookoff, I leave my crock pot of chili in Jenny's hands, and we head to wber. We meet the band, I give them brownies and Grandma's homemade pizzelles in an attempt to suckup and maybe, just maybe, have them remember me if, for nothing else, my ability to bake a mean batch of Betty Crocker brownies. Joey called me a psycho fan and made Adam very weary of eating my brownies... but he finally gave in and munched one and gave me the thumbs-up.

Basically we (the fans) spent most of the time standing or sitting around, eating pizza, listening to Guster give their interview. Two and a half hours later, the interview finally ended and Guster came and spent about 20 minutes with us. Ryan drew me a picture of my Grandma making cookies... very cool, even though he didn't get the shoes quite right. They were all so nice and personable. I showed Brian the mc3 and the 4800 because, after reading in his road diary that their digital camera is old and decrepid, I thought I'd try to get Kodak to donate one to the cause. It's not quite worked out yet because of course Kodak wants some sort of link or something, but I took the opportunity to show off the cameras - and especially the opportunity to get my picture taken with them =) Here are some pics:


Me and Brian... as it was being taken Brian said, "best friends" (sure, he says that during every fan photo).


Ryan drawing the picture of my Grandma


Adam using the mc3 to take a video. Download the video.

MMMMMMM

I overheard Jo order her wedding cake and I am drooling. This is what I heard, "blah blah blah white chocolate mousse filling blah blah blah rasperry cream filling blah blah blah ganche, blah blah blah french vanilla buttercream frosting"... that sent me over the edge. MMmmmmmmmm.

When she hung up I found out that she was calling to set up a cake tasting. How's this for a racket... you call up bakeries and tell them that you're considering buying your wedding cake from them and want to taste the goods before you commit! Aha, I'm genius!! One small problem... Chuck would never go for doing this with me for two reasons... 1) he's on a diet and 2) he's too damn moral. So I'm putting out a personal ad... "MWF seeks man for cake tasting relationship. No physical relationship, only cake." Then again, Jenny is such a dessert fanatic, perhaps we could pose as a "modern couple" and do some cake tasting =).

Finally Furniture

On Sunday the 8th we finally trekked up to Ikea in Canada and bought an entertainment center. A week later, on Saturday, we finally got it assembled (or should I say Chuck finally did). Tuesday I finally took a picture. Today I finally downloaded the picture and sized it... so here's a picture, finally. If you want more details about the other little odds and ends, you can look at furnitureExplained.jpg.



(wow, Blogger is like lightning tonight!)

Sadness

I found out this week that my girlfriend Noel's Dad dropped dead on Friday. He literally was fine one minute, playing golf with his son and son-in-law... on the 13th hole (irony?)... and the next suddenly fell over dead. He was only 53. Noel said he had come home from work early on Thursday and played with her kids all day. At least her last memories of him will be happy ones, not a consolation at this point though.

She called me for support, knowing that I had lost my Dad and, in some way, looking for answers about how she should feel. I wanted to tell her that it gets easier, but I don't think I totally believe that. In some ways it's easier, 10 years later... in some it's more difficult. I, of course, didn't really have answers for her because everyone deals with grief in their own way, but I think she was relieved to have someone who could relate on some level.

Easter Weekend

I had a v.g. Easter weekend, hubby got the new entertainment center put together, looks fab. My nephew Nick helped, he also brought his PlayStation 2 over and Chuck and Nick were playing the PS2 NBA Basketball game. Chuck opted to be the Utah Jazz, his fave team, and we were commenting on how much the PS2 players looked like the real thing... then out came John Stockton. Chuck was visibly upset and in all seriousness said, "that's doesn't look like John Stockton. It looks like someone who's been badly burned and reconstructed!" Nick and I about fell over laughing!

The real John Stockton:
I'm still trying to find a pic of his PS2 badly-burned-and-reconstructed-alter-ego.

(oh, we also watched Almost Famous on DVD through the PS2 game... v.cool)


Made Easter dinner for 10 people, quite a feat! I even made a Pumpkin Layer Cheesecake (which I got raves for) and decorated Sugar Cookies (which looked adorable... bunnies, lambs, tulips...) at the insistence of my Little Gram. She makes me cookies EVERY week, so how could I refuse her?


Speaking of my Little Gram, I think I've mentioned before that she has very funny shoes for her very deformed feet. We call her Gepetto and she does a little dance for us. She had to have her shoes specially made. I'm pretty sure they are wider than they are long. You really have to see them in action to get the full impact, but here's a picture of my Little Gram's funky shoes:



Baaa haaaaa haaaaa (sorry Grammy).

Ikea Envy

Jenny said she is having Ikea envy because I got to go on a shopping spree there. She wants to come over and help assemble and arrange. I say, "What time is good for you? I will clear my schedule!" Two days have gone by and we've only yet assembled the end tables, which consisted of screwing four legs into a top, no tools needed. The other stuff is a different story. I think Saturday will be The Day of Assemblage. Unfortunately Jenny will be in Pennsylvania, derrr.

Digital Rochester

Abby and I went to Tonic tonight for Digital Rochester. While I enjoyed the free pizza (4 pieces!), Abby was scoping for hot guys, which was about as successful as looking for Britany Spears at a convent. Andy was also there, checkin out the ladies. Again, other than the hoochie with her gigantic breasts boosted up to put her cleavage in everyone's face, there wasn't much to look at. The moral of the story: don't scope for hotties at a computer geek event. Thursday looks to be much more promising for them, we're going out after work.

Naked States

Jenny had a word for wierd coincidences, can't remember what it is, but one happened to me yesterday. Joel sends out this picture that looks like rolling sand... look closer... it's many many naked people. Supposedly from a Phish concert but I think it might actually be the one from Woodstock (that an 18 year old boy invited me to go to... how sweet). Last night, I'm flipping the channels and come across the documentary, Naked States: America Undercover. It's all about this photographer Spencer Tunick who travelled across the country taking pictures with naked people in them in each state. I actually see them taking the exact Phish/Woodstock picture that Joel sent not 12 hours earlier! Amazing!

Waterworld

I'm really trying to be good about drinking enough water - hoping it will magically make the dimples on my thighs go away. No miracles so far, but I do have to pee every 20 minutes or so. So I'm going to start blogging each pee with a simple "p".

p

Had a v.g. weekend. Saw "Bridget Jones Diary". Very funny. Colin Firth is a doll. Went with hubby, Abby, Jenny, Aaron, and Matt. Jenny tried to yell at the screen. I bet she thinks they have microphones that feed directly back to a crack team of digital editing experts who will change the outcome based on audience reaction... They MUST do that, right?

Sunday went to IKEA, the shopping version of Nirvana. Got many things which will hopefully be assembled and up before the Christmas. Spent FOUR hours there! Could have spent more. Had swedish meatballs. Drove back in 80 degree weather... a fabulous day... UNTIL... revenge of the swedish meatballs ~10pm. Boking felt imminent for over an hour, then subsided, thanks to Tums. Reminder to self: though they taste good going down, DO NOT EAT the swedish meatballs next time!

Here's what we got (pics to come later):
- a Bonde entertainment center in Birch
- two birch end tables
- two night-stand-dressers in Beech (we're going back to get the matching wardrobe sometime soon)
- a funky floor lamp with a paper shade
- a cool cd holder to be mounted on the wall that looks like a checkmark
- various organizational aids (baskets, boxes, etc.)
- two aluminum planters (but could be used to hold magazines and such)
- two chrome things to mount on the wall that you hang hooks off of - then hang stuff on the hooks + hooks
- towels for hubby's golf-club-making hobby
- wicker coasters
- 3 2-packs of colored frames, 1 red, 1 blue, 1 green
- 2 sets of art cards to go in said colored frames
- 1 pack of 4x6 clip frames (ie, glass held together with four little metal clips)
- 1 pack of 5x7 clip frames (same as above)

I know the new stuff will help me to become an organized person, thus a neat person, thus a happy person, thus a NYS Lotto Jackpot winning person.

Yikes, just found this site, www.respectthepussy.com - "it's not what you think"...

I'm not sure if I'm disgusted or amused. At least the pictures are really cute.
ok, must sleep now...

OK, we DID get a TV with Picture in Picture (which I wanted so I could see both Survivor and Friends - though hubby thinks it's to be used as Golf in Picture so he can watch golf every possible waking moment of his life), but alas, can't figure out how to make it work with digital cable. This is ridiculous. When the heck is all this crap gonna go wireless and figure itself out? If we can put a man on the moon, can't we make electronics easy to use? I want to exercise my brain with more important and/or interesting things, like rating mullets.

I went to pick up my dry cleaning yesterday. I had four pair of pants, two sweaters and a skirt, all in shades of either gray or black. I don't experiement with color too often, I like the classic neutral tones, "safe style". So imagine my shock and horror when the clerk guy grabs a gaggle of hangers holding what I can only explain as a bunch of sweaters that were probably even considered hideous back in 1977 when they were IN style. Heavy knits with bright colors (one had that lovely turquoise, orange, yellow and pink combination thing going). I could only mutter with great disgust, "uh, those are the WRONG sweaters." The clerk guy says something to the effect of "are you sure" - as if he could totally picture me in one of these alert-the-fashion-police-we-have-a-live-one-here garments. Ugh, the indignity of it all.

Uh Oh

Uh oh, it's quarter after midnight and I'm not tired. Wound up from watching Sopranos and Queer as Folk. Damn daylight savings... am going to be all poofy-eyed and icky looking tomorrow.

Spent all weekend watching our new tv - 32 inches of pure entertainment heaven. (Hello, my name is Tina and I'm a tv addict). Almost got the 36" but when it didn't fit in the truck, thought it might be too big in the house. It throws you off when you're at the store looking at them in the context of 40' ceilings and vast expanses of aisles. They get you to think, "oh yeah, the Sopranos will look mighty fine on that 63" tv" and you get it home and you're so close it sends you into epileptic seizures.

Also seemed to be a weekend of Julia Roberts movies. As I was flicking around yesterday, saw that Stepmom was on. Hadn't seen it, got sucked in, cried so hard I had to rinse off my contacts. Then, finally, rented Erin Brockovich. Must admit, I didn't really want to see it until I realized she swore like a trucker in it. Must be the Italian in me. It was good, more tears though. Then Notting Hill was on today. Julia's forhead veins were really flaring in that one.

Well, I'm going to go douse my pillow with my Origins Sweet Dreams spray that's supposed to help me sleep. It smells EXACTLY like Fruit Loops - yum - I'm surprised I don't dream that I'm swimming in a vat of Fruit Loops. Hey, wait, do they spell it like that or are they Froot Loops? Well, either way, must sleep now.