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 =)