Sunday Weigh In

Weighed in at 199 again this week. Two weeks in a row. My scale measures down to the 1/10 of a pound and I was up a half pound from last week, but it was still in the 199 range, so 199 it is. In the last two weeks, I'm up 1.0 pounds. If I stuck to my "fries no more than once a week" rule, I probably would have seen a better number, but I'm not complaining. Three weeks in a row below 200. Yay me.

I had Ken take a couple pictures of me today. I've been using a particular picture as motivation for me to keep from being a big fatty again. It was taken at the beginning of my diet. Once I lost the first 50 pounds, I had Ken take a picture of me in the same shirt. Now that I've just passed the 100 pound mark, it was time for an update. So first, here's the original before and after:

Now it's a picture from this morning:

Now I know what you must be saying to yourself... "That shirt looks the same, but it looks like it fits. Did he run out and buy a new one in a smaller size?" Well, the answer is no. I just had the shirt pinned in the back so it didn't look enormous on me. See the next picture please.

It's a little big on me now, I think you would agree.

We went out for a drive this afternoon. I didn't feel like being cooped up all day at home (which is really unlike me.) I brought the camera and intended on taking a lot of pictures, but I didn't really take too many. I'm just going to post one or two more of me, because, well, it's my blog and I'm adorable. Here's me in the car with a stick o' carb.

And then, finally, a picture of me and Carol. We stopped by where she's working to say "hey."

Now I'm about to cook start dinner. A listener of the podcast sent in his recipe for Mac N' Cheese and I'm going to make that. I haven't had Mac N' Cheese in longer than I can remember, so it's going to be my treat to myself.

Because Nicole Steals All The Good Ones

Again, stolen from Nicole, who stole it from someone else....

Here’s how it works:
1. Go to www.photobucket.com
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box
3. Use only the first page
4. Insert the picture into your Blog

1. What is your relationship status?









2. What is your current mood?









3. Who is your favorite band/artist?












4. What is your favorite movie?








5. What kind of pet do you have?









6. Where do you live?









7. Where do you work?









8. What do you look like?












9. What do you drive?










10. What did you do last night?












11. What is your favorite TV show?









12. Describe yourself.









13. What are you doing today?












14. What is your name?









15. What is your favorite candy?






To view Nicole's answers, click here.
To view Venus's answers, click here.
To view Nessa's answers, click here.
To view Holly's answers, click here.
To view Alex's answers, click here.

Oh The Trauma!!!

Today was Ollie & Lucy's annual check up. Oh how they don't like seeing the doctor. Luckily most of Lucy's health problems are under control and she doesn't have to go very often now. I can't remember if she's been to the vet since her check up last year. I don't think she has, which is a huge relief. For a while, we were going a couple times a month. Both of the babies got a clean bill of health, which makes me very happy. I found out that Ollie, the scrawny bag of bones that he is, actually weighs just a little more than Lucy, who looks like a little fatty. Ollie's a bigger cat than Lucy, but Lucy just looks like the fatter one.

One thing Lucy got today (which Ollie did not) was a mani/pedi. She does not allow us to clip her nails. She hates it with a passion, so it doesn't get done. Ken tries and tries, but it doesn't happen. He can usually get one if he's lucky. So the pros came in and did it. I've never seen her fight so hard against anything before in my life. It was actually quite funny. She's now got dull nubs instead of razor sharp claws. They won't stay nubs for very long, but I have to tell you, it was the best $6.75 I've ever spent in my life.

Lucy, being the drama queen that she is, cried the whole way to the vet and all the way home. But in the actual examination room, she was such a good baby. She lets the vet (mostly) do her job with little fuss. Ollie, on the other hand, freaks out at the vet. He hates it so much. In real life he's the friendliest cat and will let you do whatever the hell you want to do to him. He's very curious about everything and if you come to my house and he doesn't know you, he makes it a point to become your best friend. But in a strange setting like the vet's office, he gets scared to death. Poor baby.
Within a half hour of getting home, they were over their trauma and back to normal. I'm so lucky to have such good babies. I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Welcome To Earth-2

This image was released by DC Comics this week. It may or may not be the cover to Justice Society Annual #1. When I saw it, I almost cried. For me, this is the most exciting comic book event on the horizon. I've always been a huge fan of the Justice Society and Earth-2. One of the biggest travesties in comics, to me, was when the multiverse was wiped out in Crisis On Infinite Earths back in the mid 80s. The Justice Society suffered quite a bit as a result of Crisis. Recently, DC brought back the multiverse and I was happy. For about ten minutes. The new multiverse consists of 52 earths and DC started assigning them all right away without giving it much thought. I think the fun of having a new multiverse is discovering the new earths one by one. But they needed something to fill that wretched Countdown series... I'm hoping the Final Crisis mini-series will undo some of the crap that we were exposed to in Countdown. Start those earths off fresh again.

But I digress. The image above shows the members of the classic multiversal JSA. It looks like members of Infinity, Inc have graduated to the JSA, and at least one member is back from the dead. I'm sooooo excited for this book to come out. Geoff Johns is my favorite comic book writer right now and I have all the faith in the world that he will give me a story that I'm going to want to read over and over again.

Eat Your Veggies

Friday!!

I'm so happy I'm off today. To celebrate, I seem to be throwing the whole day away. Kind of. I haven't really done anything fun. Isn't that what days off are about? I did sleep in as long as Ollie would let me. He has this thing about letting me sleep past 8 o'clock or so. He usually will jump up on me and start tapping my head with his paw. He did this and I pulled the covers up over my head. Got back to sleep and slept almost until 9am. It felt good. I needed it. Got up, threw a load of laundry in, showered and headed out to the mall. Walked for an hour, ran to the pet store for food and then grocery shopping. Since getting home, I've done nothing.

Ken called and asked if I was interested in seeing Kathy Griffin again. Hell yeah! She's coming back to town in June. Someone Ken works with wants to go, too, so I guess we're double dating.

I should really motivate to go clean or something. I keep telling myself that if I do it today, the weekend is mine to lounge through.

Friday?

No, not Friday. It's Thursday, but it might as well be Friday. I decided I needed a mental health day, so I'm taking Friday off. I have issues with taking time off that I just can't shake. Before getting my current job, I spent fifteen years working at the same record store. We had a very small staff and taking time off was next to impossible. It got to be something you just didn't do. If I had a doctor's appointment or some other chore or errand, I would try to plan it around my weekday off. If I knew I wanted to do something on the weekend, I would need to make arrangements weeks in advance to have the time off. It was always a huge chore and I eventually gave up trying or caring. Now that I'm in an office setting, things are completely different. I can come and go as I please, but I still feel guilty for taking time off. Right now, I have 42 days of time (not counting sick time) saved up and ready for use. I've only been there two years. I wish I could get over the guilts, but it's good that I haven't. I like knowing I have a huge cushion to fall back on.

Lunch this week has been a little annoying. I bring my lunch to work, eat at my desk while listening to my iPod and reading comics. I usually read the various Showcase Presents books that DC publishes. And I like to be left alone on my lunch break. For some reason, this week was the week that everyone insisted that talking to me was much more important than me reading Showcase Presents The Metal Men. Fuck off, people. I'm eating, I'm reading and I'm listening to Funplex. I'll talk to you after I'm done!

Crap. Ken just got home. More to follow.

Stalking

I've been attempting to cyber stalk someone tonight via Frappr, but Frappr's website is slower than shit tonight. I'm losing interest in the cute boy whose picture I'm trying to find. Dammit.

Happy Easter

Ooooh, the B-52's in a giant Easter egg!

I'm planning on a very lazy Easter Sunday. I've done most everything I needed to do today and it's only noon. Next on the agenda is to make the bed and then go lay down and read for the afternoon. I'm not blowing the whole day online again, like I do every single weekend.

I got up early this morning to go walk at the mall for an hour. I got there and parked in my usual spot. I was the only car around, which didn't surprise me. It's a holiday today and there aren't usually too many cars there anyway. But when I went to enter the mall, the doors were all locked. And I was pissed. Sure, I know almost every store is going to be closed today, but still. So I got back in my car and drove around to another entrance, one where there were cars parked, and got in that way. I would have been pissed if I couldn't get some exercise this morning. It's still too cold out to go for any lengthy walk outside. Any day now the temperature should start getting warmer. I'm ready NOW.

My weigh in was good and bad. Bad in the fact that I was up, but good in the fact that I was 199. And it's actually less than 1 pound more than last week. My scale gives me my weight with one decimal. I love that feature. So even though I was up slightly, I don't care. I ate like a 9 year old boy left to his own devices last week. I'm just surprised the increase wasn't greater.

The new B-52s album, Funplex, is out this Tuesday. I love them.

Darn

I missed the first anniversary of this blog a couple of weeks ago. I started it on March 10, 2007. I can't believe it's gone for over a year now. I usually give up on things well before they get to be a year old. :-) Happy belated anniversary to me.

Tonight (actually, it's after midnight, so technically I should say this morning...) I finished my big iTunes project. It's been a little while since I finished uploading everything I wanted to into iTunes. The last month or more I've been going through, cleaning and organizing what I'd uploaded. I was making sure every song had album art to go along with it. I was making sure every album's title was represented only once. I tried fixing the genres and making sure one particular artist wasn't listed under multiple genres. I just finished uploading the last album art cover and I have to tell you, I feel great about it. I still have a little work to do before I'm 100% done. I've noticed that the art will show in iTunes for some titles, but on my iPod the art comes up as all black. I just have to fish those titles out and replace the art and I'm done. It feels so good.

And now that that is done, I have to go to bed. I'm so tired. One bad night of sleep in the middle of the week and I spend the rest of the week paying for it!

Bye

At work, my boss is Mike. But Mike really doesn't have much involvement with me. Instead, he's kind of put Jeanne in charge of me, unofficially. I adore Jeanne. She's the best boss I've ever had in my life. Today was Jeanne's last day in her current position. Her promotion came through and she's now going to be working at the other end of the floor. I'm really sad. I'm going to miss her a lot. I'm very happy for her, but sad for me. I'm hoping something will open up back on my end of the floor and she can come back. She's hopeful for that, too. I know if it happens, it won't be for quite a while. Congrats, Jeanne! You'll be sorely missed.

Seriously...

...I wasn't looking for any reassurance or anything when I wrote my Blah post the other day, but I can't tell you how much I appreciate the kind words I received. I think I was feeling a little down and when I feel down, I get hyper critical of myself. That's since passed and I feel a million times better (well, kind of... I'll get to that in a minute). It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for you. Thanks Nessa. Thanks Holly. And especially thanks to you, Erik. While Nessa and Holly are contractually required to say nice things, you aren't. :-)

So, I mentioned it on the podcast we just recorded tonight and now I want to mention it here. I've managed to maintain a weight under 200 pounds for three days in a row now. I've been feeling amazingly good about myself, but we can't have that for too long, can we? The last two days I've been eating things I know better than to eat. Yesterday it was chocolates. Not that I had a pound of chocolate, but I had more than I should eat. Today it was worse. I had a canoli at breakfast time and then a piece of birthday cake. And then another (larger) piece of birthday cake. That's something the old Walt would do. My hugest fear in the world is falling back into old habits. I think I've got enough willpower to stop that, it just took a couple days off. I'm going to be better tomorrow than I've been in a long time. And I'm going to keep repeating that to myself until I believe it.

Finally, I got home from work tonight and there was another package of new clothes waiting for me. Since half the stuff Ken surprised me with has to be returned, he shopped some more. This time he bought me 4 shirts in size LT. And they all fit like a dream. My memory doesn't go back far enough to remember the last time I wore a large. It's still surreal to me. I'm so afraid I'm going to wake up tomorrow to find it's all been a nightmare. I'm so proud of myself and that's something I don't say nearly often enough.

Two Days

I was below 200 pounds again today. This is great. It's two days in a row, my longest run since I was a teenager. I'm sure tomorrow is going to be a different story. There was candy all over the office today and I couldn't resist. Someone brought in Dove Dark Chocolate squares. I went a little overboard. Okay, maybe a lot. I still have a handful in my desk. I'm a glutton.

Part two of overcoming my petty fears.... I appeared on this week's episode of Terminally Single. I'd never spoken with Tim or Ryan before and I was a little freaked. But surprisingly, I was very comfortable and didn't come off sounding as nervous and jerky as I expected. Yay me!

I promised myself I would go lay down and read tonight rather than spend the night online. Looks like I lied to myself again. I need to stop this. I'm getting nothing done. I'm going to try and pry myself off the computer now. Wish me luck.

Suck It, Bitches

Eighteen months ago I set a weight loss goal for myself. Well, technically, my doctor set a goal for me. But I accepted it even though I thought it was unreachable. That goal was to lose 100 pounds and reach 200. Recently, I amended that goal. I wanted to lose 102 pounds to reach 198. Well guess what. Today I weighed in at 198. I made it! I'm one hundred and ninety-fucking-eight pounds today! Me. I've been dancing around the house most of today.

The photo below was an idea Ken came up with. He thought a visual aid would be a good idea in helping us both with our weight loss. It hangs above the scale in the bathroom. As a treat, once we've achieved our goals, we would take a trip to Europe. So he made a two-tiered track that goes across the Atlantic from here to there. There are marks for each pound we needed to lose. I only had 38 to lose when he printed the map, so my track is the top one. He had about twice the amount to lose, so he's got the bottom track. For each pound lost, you move your pin closer to Europe. If you'll notice, his pin is still in New York. Mine is in Europe. Today was the first day my weight loss was larger than the track I was following. Ken, unfortunately, is 3 pounds heavier now than when we started this back in July. :(

So all I really want to say is "Yay Me!"

Blah

I'm in an odd mood right now. I'm not quite sure what it is. I'm a little down, a little bored, a little tired. But I'm not really feeling a lot of any of those things. Not quite sure what's going on in my head.

We recorded episode 13 of our podcast today. I think it went well, but I'm hyper critical of myself. I don't think I make a very good co-host, at least compared to my other co-hosts. I'm not a good conversation starter, and I don't really maintain the chat either. I stutter quite a bit (though Nessa tries to edit out as much of that as she can.. She continually amazes me with her editing prowess.) When listening back to the show, I'm not as horrified as I expect to be, but I think of 1,001 things I should have said. Now I'm not saying this because I'm looking for reassurance or anything, I'm saying this because this is how I'm feeling right now. I want to get it out of me. That's all. Keep in mind that I love doing the show and I'm going to continue to do the show. I'm just socially awkward. I've joked about it on the show, but it's true. I own that. Doing the show is a great tool to help me overcome some of it. I hope the show helps me with my self-confidence. I know I have many issues there and I'm working on them.

2008 is the year I work on myself. I've spent all this time losing weight and I want to start turning the focus on the rest of me. The podcast is helping with some inner issues. I'm going to the podiatrist to take care of my foot issues. I'm working on getting my cholesterol back in check. It's all about me!

Love & War

A project I've been working on, on and off, is trying to hunt down every comic DC Comics published with a 1972 cover date. I've been searching for over a year, taking breaks when money is tight or whatever. I recently did an ebay search and picked up a couple more book. And they're beauties. One was a romance comic, Heart Throbs #142, while the other was a war book, Our Army At War #245. Opposite extremes in the DC line back then, but both just as good.

I like ebay, because I can usually get these books for pretty cheap. Going through a regular online comics site won't be inexpensive at all.

Another line of books I've been working on is the DC 100 Page Super Spectacular line. I'm down to needing just 6 of these suckers. And I won another on ebay last week. I don't have it yet, but I should any day now. The remaining few books I need are romance comics, and they tend to be the more difficult to find. This is the one en route to me...

Wednesday's Update

I'm purposely avoiding people online tonight. I'm too easily distracted and I'll end up chatting all night and get nothing done. I'm only going to be online long enough to type this up, sync my iPod and maybe poke around for some comics. I received a $10 credit from Mile High Comics. $10 off my next order, no matter how big or small. Yay me.

Top Chef starts in 45 minutes and I'm psyched.

My office is one small block away from the State Capital building. There are always news vans parked out front taping stories. Since the Elliot Spitzer story broke, though, I've never seen as many trucks parked out front as I have this week. Today was the single most cramped day I've seen yet. The overflow of news vans was unbelievable. I don't know how big a story this is outside of NY state, but inside it's huge. And since I live in the state capital, it's even huger. It's really a shame he turned out to be such a horndog hypocrite. He won the election by the largest margin in history, so people wanted him in office. But his love of whores really did him in. I know the prostitutes were very expensive, but if you've ever seen Elliot Spitzer, you know they earned every penny.

Clothes update: I'm even more screwed up about clothes than before. Ken ordered me some new clothes as a surprise. They arrived yesterday. He ordered all in XLT, my size. Well, I'm staring to think that I might not be an XLT anymore. Most of the things were so big (which I like), but too big. He's convinced I can fit into an LT now. Some of the things he ordered are going back and he's ordered me some replacements. I'm still freaked by this. A year ago I was in a 3XT shirt. And they weren't big on me. A couple of the XLTs fit like a glove, so I'm really confused by my size. He measured my neck today and it's 15 3/4". It used to be 20". I just don't know.

I think I'm giving on hope on Frappr. My map won't take new people on it. I can't figure it out. I've spent the last two nights playing around at the Frappr site trying to get it fixed with no luck. I'm going to leave my map there and maybe it'll start working again. I don't know. Try to put yourself on it occasionally if you want. One of these times it should take. Or ignore it. Bah!

Frappr

I've been having troubles with my Frappr map... Again. It won't let anyone join it. So I scrapped it and I'm starting fresh. Please add yourself (if it will allow you) again if you've been on it before, or for the first time if you've never been on it.

Yeah, I'm not bitter. :)

Monday

FrankenKlinger, who I've mentioned on the podcast, is on vacation this week. It's like it's my birthday. For a week. Only I walk in to the office today and there she is. Why? Why must you come in on your vacation and work a half day? Why? Don't know if this was a one time thing or if it's going to be happening all week. I was all psyched up for five gloriously quiet days.

This cracked my shit up hard today.

I don't know how prominent the news is outside of New York State, but today, our governor announced that he's in trouble because he likes high priced whores. Within minutes of the announcement today, everyone in the office went batshit and they all want him to resign. It's crazy. Here's the story from today's Times Union:

Spitzer involved with prostitution ring

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau Click byline for more stories by writer. Last updated: 5:46 p.m., Monday, March 10, 2008

ALBANY -- Amid reports that he was the client of a high-priced prostitution ring, Gov. Eliot Spitzer today publicly apologized and said he violated the trust of his family and the public. With his wife, Silda, by his side, Spitzer, a father of three, offered no details, nor did he give any indication that he planned to resign. "I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family, and violates my, or any sense, of right and wrong," Spitzer said, saying he "failed to live up to the standard I have set for myself." Spitzer, a Democrat in the second year of a troubled first term of office, may be turning over his responsibilities to Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who was seen rushing from the Capitol early this morning. Spitzer had canceled a series of public meetings today. Republican Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco said that if the allegations are true, Spitzer should resign. Spitzer, who would not take questions at the news conference, said he planned to continue the work he'd started but needed time right now to regain his family's trust. The governor, according to law enforcement sources, apparently was ``Client 9,'' a wealthy man with a stocked account to hire expensive call girls from the Emperors Club VIP. The individual is not identified by name in an affidavit from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York last week. According to affidavit obtained by the Times Union, prosecutors say that operators of the alleged sex-for-hire service were recorded in wire taps as having secured $4,300 from Client 9 after he finished a roughly two-hour hotel meeting with one of the company's alleged prostitutes at a Washington, D.C. hotel. Most of the money was for the evening with the woman, and about $1,500 was left over for the "next time" to fuel an account that had been opened previously. The affidavit notes that the client was a repeat customer who was known to propose unsafe activities. He had just about $2,600 left in his account as tried to secure the services of the woman for Valentine's Day eve in a Washington, D.C., hotel room, even though she cost at least $1,000 an hour. Spitzer, according to accounts of his travel in February and his staff, flew aboard a state plane from Buffalo to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13 and gave testimony the next day before the House Committee on Financial Services. Client 9 met ``Kristen'' in a hotel room after 10 p.m. on Feb. 13, and she left about midnight, reporting back to her bosses of a successful meeting with a man. In the affidavit Client 9 of the Emperor's Club VIP was set up with the prostitute after he had several conversations about his account. A person named ``Rachel,'' identified as Temeka Rachelle Lewis, allegedly called a prostitute named Kristen to prepare to take a train from New York City to Washington if Client 9's deposit arrived on time. The federal investigators, who included the public corruption unit of the U.S. Attorneys office and the Internal Revenue Service, tracked calls during the first quarter of the year. They found that Client 9 and Lewis had to arrange for Kristen to pick up her fees for services plus some extra cash from Client 9 to keep the account alive after the alleged tryst in a room in Washington. Lewis and Client 9 also had to work out how Kristen would enter Room 871. Client 9 arranged for the door to be left ajar. Soliciting and obtaining services of a prostitute is a crime in Washington, D.C., according to police.

Sunday Part 2

I weighed in and got a very nice official number for the week. 201. I'm very, very happy with it. I was afraid it would be higher. Now I just have to behave this week and make up for the damage I just did.

(And in case you're wondering, the damage I just did was Chocolate Molten Lava Cake. Diane from Tasty Jewelry sent me the chocolate and the recipe and I whipped it up for dessert tonight. I can't tell you the last time I had cake. And it's been even longer since I've had cake I baked myself. It was delicious and I'm forever indebted to Diane for making this possible. Unless I weigh 206 next week, then I'm forever angry!!)

It's been an interesting day. I vowed I was going to stay away from the computer. I vowed I was going to get caught up on reading and/or dvd watching and/or television watching. None of that came true. I sat on the computer 99% of today. Now I'm mad at myself.

I had a mini-breakdown this afternoon, during my 1% off of the computra. I got a bigger than usual paycheck this week and with the money, besides paying some bills, I wanted to buy some new shirts. I'm still wearing my 3XT shirts to work. I'm down to an XT (though Ken claims I can fit into an LT now.) So I bought a couple new shirts last night. This afternoon Ken wanted to see me in one, so I tried it on. And the bitch doesn't fit right. The sleeves are way too short. This is a tall size, so the sleeves should be long. The shirts themselves are too short, too. They both fit me like a plain old XL. So I got depressed. I've always had clothing issues. My whole life. Growing up we were dirt poor, so my wardrobe was basically whatever was on sale at K-Mart or Caldor. Anything everyone else was wearing was something I might be lucky enough to have in two years when no one was wearing it. It taught me not to care about fashion trends. The Christmas before I moved out of my parents' house, all I asked for was clothes. My folks didn't have much money, but they always went overboard at Christmas to make up for the rest of the year. So the Christmas before I moved out, I wanted (needed) clothes. And I got clothes. Lots of them. Every single pair of pants were two sizes too small. Every shirt, same story. It got really uncomfortable opening presents after the second or third package. I think that's the Christmas I swore of Christmas. I'm still carrying around the hard feelings to this day. And that sucks.

When I got out on my own, I started getting bigger. That narrowed down my choices. Everything I liked or wanted didn't come in my size. I grew to accept that, too. But now that I'm at a what I consider to be normal size, why can't I still buy clothes? I know, it's just two shirts, but it still bothers me that it's impossible for me to shop. I shouldn't have to be subjected to ugly or ill-fitting clothing. So tomorrow it's back to the mall to return my purchases. I think I mentioned that Ken ordered me some new clothes. Now I'm petrified that I'm going to try them on and none will fit.

Too Early

It's about 8:30 on Sunday morning. The worst Sunday morning of the year. I really hate setting the clocks ahead an hour. It takes me the better part of a week to adjust to the change. I'm really trying to battle it head on this year. I've been up since 6:30 (though my body was screaming it was 5:30, dammit!), fed the cats and headed out for my Sunday morning mall walk. I can't wait for the weather to get better. It's much nicer when I can walk around town rather than do laps with the blue hairs at the mall. Plus, I won't have to get up so early. I like to do the mall walk well before the mall opens.

Right now my body is telling me I need to climb back into bed. I'm ignoring it's advice, though. If I can make it through today without napping, I should be able to go to bed fairly early and readjust my internal clock.

Today is the official weigh in for the week. I'm sure it's going to be above the 199.5 I clocked on Friday. I'm hoping it's not above the 202 from last week. I haven't weighed in yet, but I'll post it when I get the results.

Bingo!

Stepped on the scale this morning and got the news I've been waiting my entire adult life for.


That's right! I finally broke that 200 lb barrier for the first time in my life. If I had to guess, the last time I was under 200 lbs was high school or maybe even junior high. I can't believe I made it. Of course I went out and celebrated at dinner tonight. That number will climb back up a little between now and Sunday, but I'm okay with that. If I get upset, I just need to refer back to this posting and look at that beautiful number (and the scale that could use a once over with some Windex).

Wednesday Ups and Downs

The busride home was weird tonight, though not as weird as the other day. The guy in the seat in front of me was asleep. Completely asleep. At one point, the bus drive got up and woke him up, and the guy didn't awaken easily. Fucked up. Another passenger was trying to give bibles away. His first batch he got rid of easily, but a little later during the ride, with new people on board, no one would take one. Who the fuck gets on the bus with a bag full of bibles and gives them away. I was sitting too far away from him to be offered one. If he tried to give me one, I was going to tell him I don't read fiction.

My foot is feeling so much better after this week's shot. I really hope I'm not jinxing it by saying so. I've been in pain for the last two weeks. I mention it to the doctor this week and he said to wait and see. It's not 100% yet, but it's 1000 times better than it was on Monday morning. This is a good sign. I have two more shots to go and I'm hoping they go as well as this week.

Got home from work to find two things waiting for me. The bad -- got a letter from NY State saying I didn't fill my taxes out correctly and my refund is half of what I was expecting. I'm pissed off. The other thing was a box from Candy, a fan of the podcast. She sent this amazing box of candy. I'm thrilled and humbled. Ken dove right into the box and starting chowing. MY CANDY! What a bastard. And all I'm going to hear is how fat he is. Well, if he left MY CANDY alone, maybe he wouldn't be so fat, right? LOL. I need to mail off a thank you card to Candy asap. I sent one out to Diane, who sent my first box of goodness a week or so back. Who knew the shit sammy of a podcast we do actually has fans?

I need to not play on the computer tonight. Last night's attempt at doing the podcast resulted in us being online way longer than anticipated. Tech problems will do that to you. I need to do something fun instead. Laundry. Ugh.

The Bus

I took the bus in to work this morning. My podiatrist appointment got switched to 9am, so I wasn't able to carpool in with Ken. The ride was definitely... different.

As the bus pulled up, I noticed the bus driver talking to someone on the bus. I get on only to discover I was the only one on the bus. I didn't think too much of it until two stops later, he yells out something that I still am unsure of exactly what. Thankfully someone else gets on the bus at this stop.

The next stop is in front of the supermarket up the road from me. There's a decent size crowd waiting to get on. While they're boarding, I notice a guy sitting on the bench at the stop, reading his magazine. He's making no attempt to board. That's when I notice that on the front cover of his magazine is a bare ass naked woman. Totally nude. And I'm noticing that I can make out a lot of nakedness in his magazine. Dude bought porn and couldn't wait to get home to start reading it. He made no attempt to hide what he was reading either. What a perv.

A few stops later, a guy on a Rascal is waiting for the bus. The driver puts down the ramp for him to get on and then goes to raise the front seats so the guy can park his Rascal. While he's doing this, Rascal man backs his chair up the ramp, down the aisle and runs the bus driver over. The bus driver yells out "Hey, hey!" and the guy turns around and gives the bus driver attitude.

It was one of the more surreal bus rides I've taken in a while. I was just glad to get to work and off the bus before something else happened.

Rick Astley

What's up with Rick Astley? I keep seeing postings about him all over the internet all of a sudden? I thought the whole Rick Rolling thing died out already. Maybe not. I've seen the following pie chart posted on a number of blogs recently, so, like the scumbag I am, I stole it for here. I'm also including the Pop-Up Video version of his video.

Tim Gunn Cracks My Shit Up

He does runway with a stick up his ass and is insanely ticklish.

Stolen From Nicole

Nicole stole this from someone, and I'm stealing it from her. So there.

Here is what you do. Use the 1st letter of your middle name to
answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names,
things…nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person you
took this from had the same 1st initial.

You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. Middle name letter: H

2. Famous artist/band/musician: Hanson

3. 4-letter word: Hold

4. U.S state: Ha... None.

5. Boy name: Herb

6. Girl name: Helena

7. Animal: Hart

8. Something in the kitchen: Hollandaise Sauce

9. Reason for being late? Hate my job

10. Body Part? Head

11. Drink? Harvey Wallbanger

12. Something you shout: Hey!

13. Something you eat? Ham

Positive Outlook

Remember, I'm having a positive outlook today.

My weigh in today wasn't the number I wanted it to be, but it was good anyway. I'm 202 this week. I broke out of my 203 rut. I was looking at the chart I track my weight on weekly and sort of had a wake up call. We're 9 weeks into 2008 and I've dropped 9 pounds. That's great. Sometimes it's hard for me to see the big picture. I get stuck on the little things and that's not good. All I've seen is me being "stuck" at the same weight for the last month. I didn't take into consideration that I had two really great weeks since January began. You have to balance those out somewhere. But I'm making progress again. I'm back down to my lowest measured weight (January 20th weigh in) and I feel damn good.

Ollie is telling me he's starving to death. The poor little thing. The cats get their dinner in about twenty minutes, but he's freaking out, acting like he just can't make it. He's on the floor, giving me the "tap tap" signal he makes when he wants food. He won't stop. It would break my heart if I had one. LOL.

Another "Bitching" Post

I wasn't happy with the week that just passed by. Seems like any idea I had to do something was sabotaged. Any plan I made, screwed up. Anyone who knows me knows I like structure. I thrive on a routine. I didn't get much of that. For instance, we usually go out to a specific place to eat on Friday nights. Just before it was time to go, those plans changed. Different restaurant and with another couple. I know this doesn't sound like it's anything big, but it was just a tiny piece of the week of wonkiness. I hate having to go socialize with people I don't know that well. I was starving and dinner was delayed by a couple hours to accommodate the change.

On Thurdays I like to get as much overtime in as I can. It's the first day of my work week. The energy vampires and the freak shows I work with wiped me out so much that I high tailed it out of there the second my work day was over.

On Wednesday, I planned on trying to join Archerr's group show. That was all fine and dandy until Ken called me, put a friend on the phone to tell me the front bumper panel fell off my car. This really kind of set me off. First of all, I'm on the bus, in front of a large crowd of people, unable to react properly. Second of all, he put someone else on the phone to make it all lighthearted. He knows better. Third of all, he has me call the dealership to arrange a drop off. I figure I have plenty of time to keep my recording plans, but then he doesn't show up at home for an hour and a half. Wednesday is now completely shot out of the water.

Friday night I get home and there's a message from my podiatrist's office, rescheduling my appointment. Second time in three weeks. If that's not bad enough, my foot is still hurting. Only I don't think it's the neuroma that's acting up. I think I may have broken or sprained something. It shouldn't hurt like this. I mentioned it to him last week and he kind of blew it off. I'll have to say something again this week.

Today I had plans to get together with Nessa and Holly to record our show. Only my mother-in-law invited herself over for lunch. Which meant I had to postpone my recording plans until this evening. That was annoying because we were having some major technological issues tonight.

I know I sound like a whiny little bitch, but I don't care. All these little things added up to be one big annoying thing and if I don't vent, I'm likely to explode.

Tomorrow begins a new week. I'm going to try and have a positive lookout for the week. I'm going to get up early and go walking. Then I'm going grocery shopping. The rest of the day I'm going to blow on myself. I'm doing nothing. I spent the whole morning cleaning and doing laundry today. I'm sick of it.

The end.