Sunday Evening

I'm exhausted. I managed to spend another complete weekend glued to the computer. I really didn't want to do it, but my obsessive/compulsive side won't let me away from it until all my cds are uploaded to iTunes. I think I have a little over 3000 cds in there so far. I've finished going through the artist section and started the compilations today. After that, I have the soundtracks and then the stack of stuff sitting in the basement. I'm hoping to be done in about a week. After that, I can take a breather before getting on with creating playlists, editing the tracks, searching out duplicates that don't show up easily and making sure album art is available for each cd.

I went out walking this morning at the crack of dawn. I intended on napping at some point today, but it didn't happen. Luckily there isn't anything on tv tonight, so maybe I can get some sleep.

The weigh in was pretty much what I expected. If you remember, I dropped 5 pounds last week. That's not usual for the stage I'm at. But I had that number in my head and I indulged more than usual this week. I fell back on an old habit, which was alarming. We went out to eat on Wednesday, and even though I wasn't hungry, I ate a big, full meal. Every last bit of it. The meal itself wouldn't have been so bad if I asked for no starch. I didn't feel like a baked potato, so I ordered fries, hoping they would suck. But they didn't. They don't really go with salmon, but I don't care. Deep fried things in my world go with EVERYTHING. But I digress. I weighed 204 pounds this week. That's plus 2 from last week, and still amazingly close to my goal. I'm going to behave this week because I want to reach my goal and then that's another thing I can let up on. My obsessive/compulsive nature can't deal with two major projects at the same time. It's either the diet or the music, dammit. Not both. It's killing me.

I still haven't listened to the first episode of the new podcast. I'm putting it on my iPod and will listen to it tomorrow at work. Holly & Nessa both assure me that we're good. They wouldn't lie, because that would go against our mean nature.

I'm trying to find time to watch the dvds I have that are starting to pile up. I took myself away from the computer last night to watch two more episodes of the first season of Dynasty. I'm half way through it now. I'm so glad the show got re-tooled after the first season. It wouldn't have lasted if they didn't. I forgot how much I hated Matthew Blaisdell. I also watched the first episode of Torchwood season 2 today. I've got the second one to watch yet, and I thought I would get to it today, but no such luck. When I sign off here tonight, I'm going to watch Trading Spaces. I taped it last night because Paige is back. When they fired her and reformatted the show, they made it unwatchable. I don't know if it's something that I can get back into, but I'm willing to give it a look. I used to be so obsessed with the show.

We're Still Mean

Okay, so we taped the first episode of our podcast this afternoon and I figured I could go and not have to think about it for a day or so, but the amazing Nessa got it all edited and posted all in the same day. If you want to download the first episode, you can follow this link to get it:

http://weremeancauseyourestupid.libsyn.com/

We should be available on iTunes soon, but the libsyn site is where you can get it for now. I don't know if I want listen to it. I'm scared to death. I'm assured that it came out way better than any of us thought it would, which is nice, but still... I HATE the sound of my own voice. Give it a listen and tell me what you think.

We're Mean Because You're Stupid

Today is the day. Today Holly, Nessa and I record our first podcast. Our title is We're Mean Because You're Stupid. I'm a little nervous about this. I hope I don't come off sounding like a complete moron. A little bit of one, sure, but a complete one... We're not exactly sure what we're doing, but we'll get into the groove of it, I'm sure. We haven't recorded a show yet, but we have voice mails already, a Facebook group, a myspace page and a blog. We rock!

Vote Emu

Follow this link and please vote for the emu. I'll love you forever if you do.

http://digitalmeatloaf.blogspot.com/2007/12/adopt-wild-one_18.html

No Time To Post

I'm not spending any time online tonight. That being said, I just ordered the new (old) Lisa Loeb album that came out today and I'm going to watch American Idol. That's it.

Confetti

Two weeks ago, the fabulous Laura Smith sent me the link to a website about organization. I wanted to go through the filing cabinet and purge what I could, but I really had no clue about guidelines. Every January I go to do this and all I really end up doing is straightening out the mess I've made since the previous January. But with the website open, I was able to go through all my folders and purge unnecessary paperwork. Here's the pile I pulled out. It doesn't look all that impressive in the picture, but it was quite massive.


I grabbed the shredder from the other room, emptied it and brought it into my office.
And I started shredding. I filled that sucker up. Not once....
Not twice....
Not even three times...

But four times. I was shocked. I thought I had enough to fill it once, maybe twice...


And yes, that's Ollie, the shredder inspector. He wanted to make sure I followed all safety instructions and he also wanted to make sure everything was properly shredded so no one will get my personal information.



Damn, I feel really good. It's liberating getting rid of this shit. I know I probably kept a little more than recommended, but still. I think I managed to empty half of the folders out.

Sunday Morning Quickie

Ken's best friend Jim just called. He asked if we wanted to meet him and his partner for lunch. While that sounds like a normal type request between best friends, this is different. Jim lives in New Jersey, so a casual lunch isn't an everyday occurrence. Jim and Mike are going to be in Woodstock today and that's close enough for us to pop down and meet them. This doesn't really go with any of my (rather loose) plans for today, but I'm all for it. First of all, I haven't seen Jim or Mike in forever, secondly it will get me out of the house (which I'm never usually for) and most importantly, away from the computer. I spent 90% of Saturday on the computer and I'm pretty sure that's how today was heading, even though I vowed to myself this was not going to happen.

One of the most enjoyable things I did on the computer last night was talk to my friends Nessa, Holly and Michael. It's the first time I've used Skype for talking (as opposed to IMing). I had a really good time, especially since my mental retardation and social anxiety didn't really kick in at all. (At least in my opinion. Not sure about the others.) I just wish for two things. One, I wish I had a glass of water with me. I got dry throat big time. Two, I wish I didn't distract myself editing songs in iTunes and writing emails urging people to Vote Emu at digitalmeatloaf.com (scroll down until you see the Adopt An Animal thread and Vote Emu!! Don't let that goat win.)

If it's Sunday, it must be weigh in day. I freaked myself out today. I weigh 202 pounds today. Two hundred and fucking two pounds. I don't know how that happened. That's 8 pounds in the last two weeks. It shouldn't happen like this, this far into the diet. I'm prepared for a rebound next week, but hopefully it will only be a pound or two. And I'm going to eat like a flippin' pig for lunch today, because I can.

Busy Lesbian

I took today off. Amiee at work put the bug in my ear on Monday that I should take today off. The weather was going to be bad and it's the beginning of a three day weekend. Why not make it a four day weekend? So I hemmed and hawed about it for a couple of days and then I found out that the majority of the office was taking today off, so I caved into peer pressure and did it. I never take days off. I think I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 or 9 weeks of time on my time card at work.

Today is not turning out to be restful, but that's by design. The more I get done today, the less I have to do over the actual weekend. So I got up at my regular time this morning, drove Ken into work, went to the mall and did laps with the blue hairs for an hour, went to the vet to get Lucy's food (prescription diet for my special needs baby), did my banking, went to the odd lot store the next town over (they had jigsaw puzzles there over Christmas and I bought one. Just finished it and wanted another. The selection was almost wiped out, but I found one!), went grocery shopping, started the laundry (about to start load #3) and have been working on uploading more cds (I'm half way through "O"). It's now about quarter after 1 and I feel very accomplished, but there's still lots more to do. I'm just not sure where exactly to start.

Tough Night

Last night was rough. I got into bed and just laid there. I couldn't fall asleep. And while laying there, my thoughts drifted to Puss Patrell, my old cat. I started thinking about her a lot. And I started getting upset. I was just about two years ago (give or take a day) that I had to have her put to sleep. One day she stopped eating. A trip to the vet revealed a gigantic tumor inside her. It was pushing on her stomach, making her feel full. She was also dehydrated. The vet rehydrated her and we got to bring her home for what ended up being two more days. It was the worst situation I had ever had to go through in my life. I got Puss not long after I moved to Albany, back in 1990. She was this runty little thing, crabby as all hell and pretty much my perfect match. She was the single longest relationship I ever had. I still miss her every single day. She was the best friend I ever had.

Quick One

Not too much to say or even too much time to say it, so this will be quick. Ken picked me up from work tonight because we had a wake to go to. Our friend Mary Jo's father passed away on Friday. The wake was today and gave me a really bad case of deja vu. Last March we went to her mother's wake at the same place. It doesn't feel like it's been almost a year. Really sucks bad for her and her sisters.

I vowed to not spend as much time on the computer tonight as I have been. This infernal box is sucking my life away and it should probably bother me, but it doesn't. In some strange way, the fact that it doesn't bother me bothers me. Does that make any sense?

I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with tv again. American Idol starts tonight and I'll be glued to it, I'm sure. It starts in a half hour. I think I need to start watching it while on the treadmill. I haven't walked since Sunday and that's a no-no.

Got a myspace bulletin from Julia Fordham that her new album is available on some website. I'm thrilled, but will probably wait for iTunes to get it. I'm lazy like that.

iPod

So I did it. I just placed an order for a new iPod. Ever since my Creative mp3 player was messed up, I've been bummed out. Sure, I've got a 2 gig iPod already, but it only fits about 400 songs plus my podcasts. I've been thinking about upgrading since the whole Vista incident, but I wanted to make sure I had the extra money before buying. The way I figure it, the new 80 gig toy is only going to set me back about $37. I had $100 in amazon.com reward certificates from my amazon.com Visa card and my mother-in-law gave me $100 for Christmas, which is still sitting on my bookshelf. There's $200 bucks right there. I think I can swing the extra $37. I can't wait to start uploading all my shitty music onto it. And QCast videos, too!

Overwhelmed

I have to say, reading the replies to yesterday's blog entry have me a little overwhelmed. When I started this blog last year, it was really just an exercise to get me to start articulating. That's it. Sure, if someone found it, good for them, but it was really just for me. Over the months more and more people have found it, many of whom have become good friends. I want to thank you all for the support you continue to show me. It really blows my mind sometimes. Thank you all so much. You all are the best. I'm lucky to know you.

I'm A Ridiculous Mess

I really am. With the whole diet/weight loss thing. I can't ever let myself be happy for myself. I don't know why I'm like this, and quite frankly, it's getting old. I need to change my whole attitude. I was talking to Ken about this last night. I told him that when I started my diet, I would be so incredibly happy if I could get down to 250 pounds. When I hit 250, sure I was proud (for about ten minutes) and then I went back to being not satisfied. At the very least I'm aware of my idiocy, now it's just getting past it.

Today should help. All week long I was yoyoing between 208 and 212, which makes sense because I was 210 last week. This morning I was 207. I'm now below my previous low of 209. I got a chance to get out there and do some outside walking this week. The weather was beautiful for the first half of the week, with temps getting up from the high 40s to the low 60s. I took full advantage of the mild weather. This morning I did laps at the mall with the blue hairs. I usually do five laps (which is 3 miles), but I had a little extra energy and did a 6th. I feel really good about myself today. I'm going to try and take that good feeling with me everywhere I go this week. It's a whole new me!

Stolen

I stole this freely from the Pod Is My CoPilot blog. This guy is fucking hot. And he really must be to get me to talk like this, because I really don't ever. But man, he's hot.

Making Progress

I've been busy today. I'm feeling pretty accomplished and it's only 2:30. Slept in until about 9:30, which is pretty late for me. Got up, fed the cats and then went right back to trying to get my cds uploaded to iTunes. Worked on that for a little while then realized that if I didn't motivate right then and there, nothing was going to get done today. Ken went in to work today so he was out of my hair and I could clean. We've really let the house go to hell since before the holidays. So much going on and then when it stopped, so did we. I don't think the house has been cleaned in a couple of weeks. Downstairs is clean now, all the Christmas stuff is packed away, the dishes are done, the laundry is done... everything. Upstairs is another story, though. The bedroom isn't too, too bad. I won't touch Ken's office. Mine is still not back in order after getting the new desk last weekend....

... which reminds me. I'm PISSED off. We went to Ikea last Saturday. We probably should have put the trip off until this weekend because Ken was sick, but we went anyway. If we waited until today, we not only would have gotten to see the freak that's living there this week, but Lisa Loeb is stopping by to play an impromptu concert. Can you freakin' believe that? I'm missing one of my BFFs.

In Conspiracy Theorist news, yesterday C.T. asked me if I read (whatever the name of the Afghanistan writing is). I tried not to roll my eyes when I said that I didn't. He then help up what he told me was Osama Bin Laden's death certificate. He died in 2001, but the US Government is keeping him "alive." And it's true, because he printed it off the internet. Hmmmm, I wonder if Osama is one of the 12 people Hilary Clinton had killed. I should ask him.

Video For Thursday

Random Songs

Time to play the Random Song game. I've been a busy boy trying to get my music library uploaded to my new computer. I've got about 22,000 songs uploaded so far. So here are the first ten songs that come up (hopefully nothing embarrassing will show...)

"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" by Marvin Gaye
"Missing" by Everything But The Girl
"Total Control" by the Motels
"The Fourth Man In The Fire" by Johnny Cash
"Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)" By Judy Garland
"Lotta Love" by Nicolette Larson
"The Letter" by Kristen Hersh
"Make It With You" by Dusty Springfield
"The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" by Prince
"Talking Old Soldiers" by Elton John

Play the game. Tell me the next ten songs that come up on your iPod or in iTunes. It's fun.

Twelve

So "Happy Birthday To Me" is on vacation this week. I like that. It means the crazy factor drops exponentially. Or so I thought. At break today I was reading msnbc.com and a story about Hilary. Carl, a co-worker comes up to my desk and makes a comment about he thinks she should drop out because he'd never vote for her. She's a woman. Women can't lead. I couldn't believe my ears. Well, actually I could, but still. Just then, the guy that sits next to me pops up his head and starts going on a rant about how pure evil Hilary is. She single handedly gave the Chinese plans for some top secret nuclear missile when Bill was in office. She brought massive amounts of cocaine into Arkansas when Bill was governor. She's a member of the Bush Crime Cartel. Then he says, "Do you know how many people she's had killed?" to which I replied, "Twelve." He then says back to me, "Probably." My cube mate is a huge conspiracy theorist. It's all I hear about. I should know better than to look at anything on my computer that's even remotely political when he's around, even though I'm doing it in the privacy of my own cube. I can't deal with crazy well.

One Hundred

I did it! Today is the 100th consecutive day that I've been soda free. I really only did it to see if I could jump start some weight loss for a month. Well, one month turned into two, and two was more than half way to one hundred, so I said "what the fuck!" I can't believe I did it. I've had a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper in my desk at work since September and a couple times today I took it out and gave it kisses. What I'm most happy about is not having some soda tomorrow, it's knowing I accomplished my goal and the pressure is off. If I want a soda tomorrow, I'll have it. If not, I won't. I'm going to try and go longer as a show of support for Venus and Nicole, who have both vowed to give up the soda in 2008. And as far as I know, one of them hasn't faltered yet. (Yes, Nicole, you know what I'm talking about!)

Last Saturday, Ken and I took a road trip to Ikea. I fucking love that place and I'm sad there isn't one that's closer. The closest one to us is in Paramus, NJ. It's about a 2 hour trip, give or take. I had a mission this time. Well, two missions. The first was to bring back a stack of catalogs for the office. Ikea was all out of them. Not a single one to be had. They were wiped out at Christmas. Next trip I'll get them. The main mission was to get me a new computer desk. The one I had was nice, but not very ergonomically correct. And considering the arm and back pain I've been experiencing, it was time to get something new. I've looked at desks around her and haven't liked any of them. Ken was browsing through the Ikea catalog a month or so ago and showed me a couple in there. He found the one I was looking for. It's the Mikael. Very simple design and very spacious. I got the matching cabinet since it had no drawers. I'm a very happy boy.

Hula With Me

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"Happy Birthday To Me"

I was going to post this last night, but I got sidetracked in an IM bitching fest with some friends, so this never got written.

If there's one thing I've learned about my current job, it's that we celebrate EVERYTHING. Having a baby? We celebrate. Getting a promotion? We celebrate. Having a birthday? We celebrate. It's Tuesday? We celebrate. There's always food around for whatever we're celebrating. For birthdays, there's usually a couple of cakes (because we're ravenous fuckers) and no leftovers.

Yesterday I went in early for some overtime. About an hour after I got in, my co-worker (we'll call her FK) showed up carrying a cake. I figured she was up to something, but I couldn't figure out what. No matter what she does and no matter who she does it for, it's really all about her. Attention whore is probably an apt description. Anyway, she brings this cake in and plops it down on top of a file cabinet for all the world to see, with no explanation. She plops a can of frosting down next to it and that's that. People come by and ask me what the cake is and I just shrug. Sometime around 11 am I get an email from my boss. It's a forwarded copy of the email FK sent to all the immediate area supervisors saying that at 11:15 we were going to be having cake to celebrate her birthday. Oh, and we can celebrate any other January birthdays, too. But, like always, it's all about FK. I got up from my desk and went to talk to some of my friends who sit nearby, but just far enough away. We were all laughing hysterically about this. Who throws themself a birthday party? It's an office first. 11:15 comes along and a small handful of people gather and then I hear FK start singing. "Happy birthday to me..." For real. So not only is she throwing her own birthday party, but she's singing her own birthday song. It was really pathetic. She cut the cake and started handing out pieces. Not very many people had cake. You see, as much as she thinks everyone loves her, FK is not very popular at all. She tried handing cake out to people, and I know of at least four people who took the cake to get her off thier back, only for them to throw the cake away. I learned a new trick yesterday. You take the cake and when no one is looking, you wrap most of it up in a napkin and throw it away. Leave the crumb covered plate on your desk and no one will ever know you didn't eat it. I'm going to have to try that.

I think I know where the idea for the cake came from. The day before we had an ambush celebration for another co-worker. Her son was injured over in Iraq. He's not with the military, though his job is military support. Because he's not technically military, his family does not get the same perks when it comes to visiting injured him. Donna, the co-worker, is going to have to pay for lodging and stuff when she goes to see him next week, and she can't really afford it. We took up a collection behind her back and Thursday was the day we ambushed her with it. We raised just over $1000 for her. She was really touched and completely caught off guard. So because there was such a big spotlight on Donna, FK couldn't have that. So she arranged her own party.

What kills me is even the least popular people on the floor are given parties. But in the couple of years I've been there, no one has lifted a finger to celebrate FK's birthday. Last year, when no one bothered to acknowledge it, she brought in the birthday card her son gave her along with the 50% off Christmas ornament he bought her for her birthday. She put them on display without saying a word. Again, people would come by my desk, which was right next to the display, to ask me what was that. I would shrug. It was her way of telling everyone that we missed her birthday again. I do think there's a difference between missing and passing on a particular birthday.

At the end of the day, FK scrambled to get rid of the rest of the cake. She did, but it took her a while. I'm sure most of the cake ended up in the trash. Just my opinion.

I'm So Grossed Out By This, But She's A True Professional

Mileage

When I got my current job, it meant no more driving to work since the parking situation downtown is a nightmare. That meant that my car would end up sitting home more than not. So I started keeping statistics on mileage and gas usage. I figured that since it wasn't being used all the much, it would be easy to keep track of. Now it's New Year's Day and I can total up my records for the year.

I drove my car 5,766 miles in 2007.

I put 246.423 gallons of gas in my car in 2007.

That gasoline set me back $732.57 in 2007.

The average price per gallon I paid was $2.97.

My car got 23.398 miles to the gallon in 2007.

It cost right around 12.7 cents for every mile driven in 2007.

The figures from last year are as follows:

I drove my car 6745 miles in 2006.

I put 247.573 gallons of gas in my car in 2006.

That gasoline set me back $660.59 in 2006.

The average price per gallon I paid was $2.67.

My car got 27.244 miles to the gallon in 2006.

It cost right around 9.8 cents for every mile driven in 2006.

January First

First post of the year. Woo Hoo. I'm very confused. It's my last day off before work starts up again and I've got a lot that I want to do, and I'm overwhelmed by it. I've been playing on the computer most of the day so far, but i don't want to be on it for much longer. I got a couple of dvds for Christmas and I want to start watching them, but I also have ten new podcasts that I want to listen to, a pile of comics that haven't been read yet..... I don't know what to do. I'm only playing online for another ten minutes. That's when I'm going to start cooking a late lunch/early dinner. But do I go watch movies or do I read comics or do I listen to podcasts? I might put a movie in and work on my jigsaw puzzle. Then after dinner, maybe I'll play online for a little bit until the Fattest Loser starts. I'm not ready for new tv shows yet. At some point later tonight, I'm going to have to go out and shovel the driveway again. Ugh. I want it to be 8:30 this morning again.