I Love A Sale

Dora & Alec Baldwin / Dora & Serial Mom

Hard Day Today

Today was a hard day to get through. Just rough. Not because the day itself was hellish or anything, but more because I was more tired than I thought. This morning at 3:30, the smoke detector outside our bedroom started going off. I didn't hear it at first, but believe you me, Ken did. He has an irrational fear of fires (more than anyone I've ever met in my life) and hearing a smoke detector at 3:30 am shot him out of bed faster than light. We got up and searched the house and could find no signs of smoke or fire. Only the detector outside the bedroom went off, so whatever caused it must be close by, we figured. The only thing that it could have been was a pair of sneakers. In my office, I left a pair of sneakers next to the radiator with the tip of one of the shoes touching the under side of said radiator. And the radiator in my office blasts out the heat. So I'm thinking maybe something happened and there was a little meltage or something? It took me about two hours to fall back asleep, which didn't do me much good for work today. My ass dragged all day. Minutes seemed to flow like hours. But the day is over now and I'm just about to climb into bed.

In completely unrelated news, it was announced that David Tennant is leaving Doctor Who after the 2009 specials are filmed. The most surprising thing about this is not that he's leaving (it was just a matter of time, if you ask me) but how much coverage this story has gotten in the American press. My local newspaper's website even ran the story. Was it that slow of a newsday or is this actually news that the general public cares about? I'm guessing slow news day.

Snowfall Totals

So, yesterday afternoon when I left work, the snow had started. It was mixed with rain and didn't accumulate to anything. But overnight, the brunt of the storm was supposed to hit anyway. And it did. I'm sure. Somewhere. Here? No, not so much. We might have had flurries or something, but by the time I got up this morning, whatever might have fallen was gone. This was another instance when the weathermen, bored as they can get, blow everything out of proportion. The big, record setting storm we were supposed to have never happened. *sigh*

So today at work, I chose another fucknut and had an afternoon with her. I haven't listened to Grace Jones in a thousand years. So I dedicated a few hours of listening time to her. The woman is nuts. All the way nuts.

Oh The Weather Outside....

It's still October. As in Halloween. As in Autumn. As in falling leaves and crisp, cool air. And we're about to challenge a snowfall record for the month. There's a storm a brewin' and I'm not all that thrilled about it. Depending on who you listen to, we could see 1 to 4 inches of snow tonight or 4 to 8. I'm leaning towards an inch, maybe two, but still.... it's only October. I was reading about local October snowfall records today. We've only had 8 or 9 October days where we've had measurable snowfall since they started keeping weather records back in the mid to late 1800s. Two of those days we had 2 inches of snow, the rest just an inch. It's a rare occurance, but it does happen. And now it's possible we could set a record. I'm all for setting records, but I don't really feel the need to set snowfall records. I've got to shovel that shit up. The wind is howling out there right now and it's going to be a cold night. Keep your fingers crossed that we're on the lighter end of that scale. But no matter what, I know half my office won't be coming in tomorrow. Hell, a bunch of people called out today because of the snow (which hadn't happened yet) or left early because of the snow (that hadn't happened yet.... do you see a theme here).

I had a little Kate Bush-a-thon at work today. I haven't listened to her in a while and it was nice to play nothing but Kate all afternoon. She's bonkers, but she's brilliant.

Oops

I had every intention of posting everyday last week, but it just didn't happen for whatever reason. Mostly sheer laziness, I guess. But this should come as no surprise to anyone.

This week that just ended was kind of annoying. Nothing too terribly bad happened, but it's all the little things that really added up to one big annoyance. For example, I got a jury duty questionnaire in the mail this week. I've been dreading this for a long time and my time is about to come up again. Joy. But the annoying part is I received this questionnaire a few weeks ago. One of the options to answering it is to do it via telephone, which I did. Got a confirmation number and everything. Apparently that didn't take because I got another one with a letter saying that if I did it via phone, please do it again. So this is just putting off the inevitable.

Next, I got a bill in the mail from the State of New York, claiming I didn't file my 2006 taxes correctly. I took their bill and compared it to my tax form and they are right. Why it took this long to catch the error is anyone's guess. The bill was for $47.

Then the bill from my dentist came. Seventy-two bucks. When I changed jobs three years ago, my insurance changed as well. Everything would be covered 100% if I used an in-network dentist. It took me so long to find a dentist that I like and trust, one that does great work, that I decided to stay with him. Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't cover 100%, but it's worth it if you ask me.

And my sciatic nerve has been giving me a lot of grief this week. More than it has in a while. I see another visit to the doctor in my future and I'm not happy about it. I'm trying to roll with it, but it gets frustrating after a while.

On the positive side, I weighed in at 191 again this week. That makes me happy.

You Go, Emily!

Opie Cunningham

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Sunday Quickie

I've spent the weekend avoiding people. I just didn't want to socialize, in person or online. It felt really good just getting caught up in myself. That, and falling asleep in a chair this afternoon. That was great. Uncomfortable as hell, but great to nap for no good reason.

I didn't give a weigh in update last Sunday. I was 193. But this week I had a great weigh in. I'm almost back to where I want to be. I was 191 this morning. It's taken me five weeks to lose the vacation weight. I was this weight the day I left for vacation. So to celebrate, I had probably not the best choice for lunch, but fuck it. I had a nice, tasty bacon cheeseburger with fries. And spinach and artichoke dip for an appetizer. All the progress I made last week I shot away today. Oh well. I have all week to get myself back on track and balance today out.

Sunday night tv is pissing me off. The Amazing Race was supposed to start a half hour ago. It's still not on because the fucking football game ran over (AGAIN.) Bah. Now I have to decide whether or not to watch that or Charm School first. Decisions, decisions.

That's all for today. I'll try to be better this week about posting shit. We'll see.

Runaway

I don't know what's going on with me right now. I haven't been in the mood lately to do much or to say much. All I really want to do is run away. I know I posted a few days ago that all I wanted to do was hide. It's escalated slightly since then. Everything seems to bother me right now. People bother me. Places bother me. Things out of my control bother me. Things I have a firm grasp on bother me. I really don't know the cause, either. Usually when I get like this, it's because my sleep patterns have been wonky. That's not the case right now. I've been fine in the sleep department. I know this funk will pass, because it always does. It's just that it's getting tired now. It may be this cold I've been fighting that's the root of it. I thought I was pretty much over it and then today hit. My nose started running again, my throat has a tickle again and I just felt drained. This is one of the things that makes me hate the fall. I can guarantee that I will catch a cold as fall begins to settle. I blame the weather on it. You see, I'm someone who doesn't mind the cold so much. I don't mind the heat either. But what I do mind is the process of going from the warm weather to the cold weather. I abhor it. Especially when the weather goes on a roller coaster ride... warm today, cold tomorrow, warm the day after, really cold after that. Can't stand it. One of the things that I used to love about this time of year is the fact that the days get shorter. That it gets darker out so much earlier. But ever since I left retail, I've found I'm no longer a fan of this, either. I think I liked it so much when I worked at the store because I had to work nights, so the sooner the night got here, the sooner I could get the hell out of there.

Another reason to be crabby.... my knee has started acting up. I don't know what I did to it either. It's not been so bad that I can't go out walking or anything, but I'm afraid that if I don't give it a rest, it's going to get that bad. And it's the knee opposite the side that I'm having the sciatic problems. The least my body could have done was consolidate all my aches and pains into one convenient area, right?

Sorry that this is such a whiny, crabby blogpost. I've wanted to write something here for the last few days, but I've been in such an "I can't be bothered" mood that nothing happened.

Time to go sit in front of the tv for the rest of the night. Wednesdays have become my overrun night of tv. Pushing Daisies, Project Runway, Top Design and the Real World/Road Rules Challenge are all on tonight. I'll watch half before bed and the rest this weekend.

P.S. to Erik - Your comment the other day on one of my posts just made me adore you even more than I thought possible. Hope you're feeling better.

Tell Nana To Vote

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

Video Of The Day

Local Event Becomes National News

Big ballot boo-boo: Osama for president? Rensselaer County gaffe makes national news after absentee ballots misspell Barack Obama's name

By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer Click byline for more stories by writer. First published: Saturday, October 11, 2008

TROY — It could have been Ovama or Ofama. Or even Olama. But with one "s" the Rensselaer County Board of Elections turned a single wrong letter into a national embarrassment Friday. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's last name is spelled "Osama" on some 300 absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County hilltowns. Is it a Freudian slip, intentional gaffe or a mistake? Voters are sure to have opinions, and one politician pointed out that the letters "s" and "b" are not exactly keyboard neighbors. "Of all the letters to hit by mistake," County Democratic Chairman Tom Wade said. "Unfortunately it is a mistake which negatively impacts our Democratic candidate for president." The typo was first reported Friday on timesunion.com, and quickly grabbed national attention. "It was crazy, everybody across the country called," said Edward McDonough, the county's Democratic elections commissioner. He said calls came in from The New York Times, the New York Post, Daily News, Wall Street Journal and Court TV. McDonough said he was one of the people who received a misspelled absentee ballot at home, and he didn't even notice it. Elections officials on both sides of the aisle insist a simple typographical error caused the national embarrassment. "It was a mistake innocently done," McDonough said. "We catch almost everything." Republican officials were apologetic. "We have three different staff members who proof these things and somehow the typo got by us," said Republican Commissioner Larry Bugbee. "We really apologize." On Row 1A, Barack Obama's name is spelled Barack Osama — a name bearing an unfortunate resemblance to terror mastermind Osama bin Laden - but further down on the Working Families line it is spelled correctly. The Obama camp took the controversy in stride. "We're glad officials are working to correct this error and we assume it won't happen again," Obama spokesman Blake Zeff said. McDonough said the absentee ballots with the error went out to voters in Brunswick, Nassau, Sand Lake, Schaghticoke and Schodack. Three voters called to report the error. By day's end, officials decided to issue new ballots to all 300 voters. They realized some people might cross out the misspelling and write in the correct spelling. "Election law is quite clear that any corrections done on a ballot will nullify the vote, so to be safe, we re-issued them," McDonough said. One Sand Lake resident who caught the misspelling, and who asked to be anonymous, was skeptical. "It's a little suspicious and at least grossly incompetent," the voter said. District Attorney Richard McNally said the incident is unlikely to produce a criminal investigation. "Both sides are saying this is an honest mistake, so unless we find out otherwise, I don't see it going that way," McNally said. Rensselaer County is the only county in the state that prints ballots in-house. "It saves the taxpayers a lot of money," McDonough said. Wade said it might be time to rethink that practice.

October 11th

I'm not quite sure what happened to me yesterday, but I really felt like hiding from everyone and everything. It happened after I got out of work last night. I'm not sure exactly when, though. Yesterday I was having a grand time playing on Twitter and stuff. But by the time I got home, I started avoiding humanity. I turned off my phone, I stayed away from any social interaction online. I refused to look at or write email. I just wanted to be left alone. This happens to me from time to time. I don't know why it happens, but it just does. I think it might be my way of dealing with my mid-life crisis, which I'm convinced I'm going through even though I have no evidence to support my claim. So to anyone I owe an email, a call, a text message to.... I haven't forgotten you, I'm just hiding right now.

Alison

I still can't seem to shake this damn cold. I know if I stayed home from work and slept, it would do wonders, but I've been conditioned by my years of work in the retail field that you work whether you're sick or not. Sick time is a myth. I really wish I could shake that.

Anyway, since I feel like crap, I find that listening to my favorite songs is a huge comfort. This is one of my most favorite songs ever by one of our greatest singers ever. I could put this song on repeat and never get tired of it.

Sick

I'm sick. I caught my first cold of the season over the weekend and it just doesn't want to let go of me. Can't say I'm pleased about it, but it hasn't been a bad cold. At least not yet. Just a runny nose, sore throat and general exhaustion. I'm going to be early tonight. The more rest I can get, the better.

That is all.

Rachael Ray Gives A Handy

She's such a fucking retard.

Edge

It's Sunday and it's weigh in day. Today the scale told me 194. I wasn't thrilled with that. The last two weeks were 193 and I was sure today was going to be 192 or 191. What I find amusing is for the last couple of weeks, I would show something like 196 in the morning, but when I came to Sundays, I would hit 193. This week, however, I pulled a 193 almost every morning. That was good news to me and told me I was getting back to being closer to 190 again. And then it was just slightly higher today. I think I have a handle on what happened. I've discovered that the reading I get on the scale on Sunday is a direct result of what I ate on Friday. My body takes two days to show whatever damage I did to it. On Friday night, I overdid it and I didn't really mean to. But I did and I can't say that I'm 100% surprised by my weigh in. But you know what? I'm not going to worry about it. I can't. I spend way too much time beating myself up and freaking out about my weight. When I was 300 pounds, I didn't give a flying rat's ass about my weight. Now that I'm in the 190s, every pound has come to represent 10 and that's just ridiculous. I really need to go a little lighter on myself, but not too light. I'm afraid if I do, I'll be 300 again in no time.

So, today we took a little road trip and went to see Ken's mother. It's been a while since we've seen her. We did our favorite thing when we go over to visit. We went out to Sunday brunch. There's a chain called the Dakota that we go to. We have one over here, but it sucks ass. We've been a couple times, but never again. We'd actually go more often if they offered the brunch buffet here, but they don't. They do over by Ken's mom. I'm sure the rest of the menu sucks balls (and not in the good way), but their brunch is so damn good. I gave myself permission to be a gluttonous pig today. I bet I took in more calories today than I did in two or three normal days, but it's okay. Bacon is so good. Especially when it's crisp and well done. Mmmmm.... I tend to shy away from potato dishes, but they had a scalloped potato thingie that made me want to cry. I got seconds, but the second time around it wasn't nearly as good and extra salty. But my favorite part was dessert, where I had chocolate cheesecake, chocolate cake and a cream puff. It's now seven and a half hours later and I feel like I just finished eating. I'm just feeling so damn big. But I've got all week to work it off. I'm going to need moral support when I weigh in on Tuesday. If you see this huge, depressed blog on Tuesday from me, you can't say you haven't been warned. LOL!

Ken's mom lives right down the street from an outlet mall. We rarely ever go there, but both Ken and I, independant of each other, decided that it might be a good idea to go. So we did. I had it in the back of my head that I needed to buy socks. I like a big, chunky sock and most of the ones I have need to be thrown away. They actually needed to be thrown away a long time ago, but I keep things longer than I should. I found just what I was looking for in the Bass store. They were having a big sale, too. Everything in the store was an additional 40% off. Well, everything, that is, but socks. But I don't care. I needed them and I bought them. They were already at outlet prices and I got 6 pairs for $30. My feet will be warm this winter and that's all that counts. We also went into the Izod store, which, I guess, is owned by the same parent company. They were having a sale, too. Everything was 40% additional percent off of the normal 40% off. I wasn't looking for anything, but walked out with a couple of shirts and a new jacket, all for $40. I'm sure they were still making a shitload of profit, too. I feel good about all my purchases.

I'm exhausted right now. Slept for shit on Friday night and got up at the crack of dawn today to do what I needed to before heading over the border to Mass. Thankfully I have tomorrow off, though I do have a dentist appointment. Just a cleaning, but I also need to get a predetermination done on one of my teeth. I need to have a crown, I think, to repair a hairline crack I have in it. It's getting more and more annoying when I put any pressure on it and I really need to have it taken care of.

Cringing For Michael From QCast

'Partridge Family' Remake Heading To NBC

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October 01, 2008 , 1:55 PM ET

Nellie Andreeva, The Hollywood Reporter

"The Partridge Family" has found a new network home at NBC.

The Peacock has picked up a contemporary single-camera take on the classic ABC sitcom to be written by Jeff Rake.

"Partridge" hails from Reveille, Geffen Records and Sony TV. A fan of the 1970s series, Rake plans to "turn the premise on its head."

"In the original, the kids actually recruited their mom to front the band, which I can't see happening in any family on this planet," he said. "The new version will reflect what seems to me to be the more realistic family band scenario these days: a struggling, sort of well-meaning mom pimping her kids in order to create a wholesome-slash-sexy cash cow."

The Partridge Family albums were consistent smashes in the early '70s, with three of them reaching the top 10 of The Billboard 200 between October 1970 and August 1971. The group also netted five top 20 hits on the Hot 100.