Pink Cadillac

This is me, sweating my ass off and lip syncing (kind of) to Natalie Cole's "Pink Cadillac." Thrilling, huh?

Without

About a year ago I kept seeing the same challenge pop up on multiple blogs I read.  That challenge was to take the artists you listen to most often off your iPod and go a month without them.  With those artists missing, you're more likely to uncover something you haven't heard in a long time.  I ignored that challenge, mostly because I was working my way through my entire iTunes library, making sure that I'd listened to each song in my library at least two times since uploading them all to iTunes.  I made it through that challenge many months ago and now I think it's time I take this one on.  According to last.fm, the fifteen artists I've listened to the most are as follows:

1) Dolly Parton

2) Tina Turner

3) Cher

4) Barbra Streisand

5) Elton John

6) Diana Ross

7) The Cure

8) Queen

9) The Rolling Stones

10) Spandau Ballet

11) Indigo Girls

12) ABC

13) Barry Manilow

14) Eurythmics

15) Prince

Most of these artists have substantial catalogs and that's why they're my most listened to artists.  

I just unchecked all fifteen artists and synced my iPod.  I've got an 80 gig model and just by unchecking those artists, I managed to free up 9.5 gigs of space.  I'm a little surprised those 15 artists took up that much space. 

Here's to a month (and a day) of listening to other stuff.

Dead

Today I did something I'd never done before.  I went cemetery hopping.  Ken and I got in the car this afternoon and searched out three cemeteries to do some research.  A few months ago, he signed up for ancestry.com to do some research on his (and my) family tree.  While learning the site and finding his way around, he found that you can sign up to do grave searches in your area for people also trying to find out their family histories.  The weather has finally shown signs of being agreeable, so this morning he printed off a list of people who are being searched out, the cemeteries they are believed to be buried in and directions to the cemeteries and off we went.  All told, we had a list of about 20 people to search for.  Most have been dead since the early 1800s.  We actually had some success in locating the headstones of about half the list.  A lot of them were extremely weather worn, but not enough that we couldn't identify them.  Ken took pictures to post at the website for the people searching.  It was much harder to read some of the headstones in the pictures than it was in person, so hopefully the information will be acceptable for the people looking for their ancestors.  

I'm really curious as to how people get the information that an ancestor who has been dead for over 200 years is buried in a specific cemetery.  Some of these cemeteries aren't much bigger than my yard.  But it was actually great fun and it was nice to get out of the house and do something different for a change.

Happy Birthday

Not only is it the birthday of super-star LaToya Jackson...



It's also the birthday of her sister, super-star Rebbie Jackson.



Who knew?

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?

Bike

Tonight, to keep boredom from setting in, I traded the elliptical for the stationary bike at the gym.  I still can't get over how much it kills my legs.  There is apparently one set of muscles I don't really use much of that you need if you want to succeed at the bike.  That part of my legs is so sore right now.  I know that the more I do the bike, the easier it's going to get, but right now the bike is not my friend.  Sure, we're on speaking terms, but we are not friends.  Tonight was the second time I made it my full 70 minutes and I did about a mile and a half further than the last time.  And I sweat.  And sweat.  For some reason, the bike really makes me sweat a lot.  I'm burning slightly fewer calories than when I'm on the elliptical, but I get so much sweatier.  It seems to me that it would be the other way around.  I feel like I'm moving a whole lot more on the elliptical.  On the bike I'm sitting there, pedaling and playing Scrabble on my phone.  Go figure.

Early Anniversary Present

I got an early anniversary gift from Ken today.  The anniversary isn't for another week and a half, but it arrived today and I'm basking in it.  That gift...  The Casey Anthony trial.  He's obsessed with it and has been glued to the tv since we got home from work.  I'm going to have months of nothing but peace and quiet while he goes over every second of this trial.

Birthday Week Has Come To A Close

My birthday was this week and it came and went just the way I like it... uneventful.  I really don't like a big deal to be made about it, though there was a recent birthday that was the exception to the rule.  Honestly, it's slightly more than just another day as far as I'm concerned.

The actual day was Wednesday.  I took the day off from work.  It wasn't planned to work out that way, but ended up that way.  I was originally going to take last Friday off.  I've been in need of a mental health day in a really big way and that was going to be it.  However, Ken was sick and ended up home from work the entire week.  He went into work on Thursday and couldn't make it the whole day, so I figured he wasn't going to go in Friday.  I was right.  Since my birthday was a few days later, I decided to do that instead.  As much as I love a three day weekend, taking a day off right in the middle of the week certainly does break the week up nicely.  I wish I could do that every week.

I told Ken Tuesday night that I wasn't working Wednesday and I told him flat out that there were rules.  The major one was that I was going to take myself out for lunch and he was forbidden from calling me.  The last two times I took a day off and went out for a quiet lunch, he managed to call just as I was sitting down to eat.  And wouldn't get off the phone.  I was looking forward to just having a little peace and quiet both those days and he took that away from me.  Talking to him later that night, he said that not calling me that day was the hardest thing for him to do.  And I believe it.  But he didn't call, I had a nice lunch out (chicken marsala pizza!) and it was peaceful.  Before lunch, I ran to the mall and treated myself to the new reissue of the Go-Go's first album.  It's the 30th anniversary edition and it makes me feel really, really old.  How can that album be that old?

I let Ken take me out to dinner that night.  I was thinking that I wanted the diner, but he mentioned another place that we eat at occasionally and it sounded much better.  It's called Wine N Diner.  It's got diner food with a little twist on it.  I saw a tip in FourSquare saying to get the sweet potato tater tots, so I ordered them only to find out they were all out.  Instead, we got the deep fried brie.  To say it was amazing would be an understatement.  For dinner, I got the Mac n' Cheeseburger.  It's a cheeseburger smothered in mac n' cheese.  I wasn't sure how I was going to like it, but tried it anyway.  It was great.  I'm so getting that again.

On the way home, we stopped and got ice cream and made brownie sundaes.  All in all, it was a great day.  What made it especially nice was the mid-afternoon nap I managed to sneak in.  I don't take enough naps.  Today I was looking forward to one, but never found the time.

I spent most of the week eating poorly.  I don't know what's happening in my head, but I find I've been making a lot of bad food choices and I've been making them on a much more regular basis than in the recent past.  I know that I'm working my ass off at the gym, but that's not a good enough reason to be eating like I've been.  I've somehow lost the balance between an occasional treat and out and out gluttony.  I end up feeling full of shame for some of the things I've eaten, but it's not enough to dissuade me from doing it the very next meal.  I keep a picture of me at my fattest at my desk at work and I think I need to move it to a more prominent place, a place where I will constantly see it.  I'm so scared of becoming fat again.  I can't allow it.  I did not work as hard as I did to get healthy just to throw it all away.

Last night I slept for shit.  I blame the Rapture.  Minutes after I got into bed last night, we lost all power.  The whole neighborhood did.  This was just after 11.  It was warm in the bedroom without the fan on, so I opened the window.  Three times I would just nod off when I'd hear neighbors whooping it up out in the street in front of the house.  The rest of the night was spent kind of restless.  I kept waking up for no reason at all, all night long.  I had the alarm set pretty early to get up for the gym, but ended up hitting snooze for an hour before I pulled myself out of bed.  Tonight is going to be a very early night.  I've had a slight pounding headache for the last couple hours.  I'm sure it's just me being beat.  I've got a book to start and a pillow calling my name.

1000+

I just broke the 1,000 mile mark tonight.  One thousand miles since January 1st.  Holy shit.  I'm going to celebrate by climbing into bed and passing out.

Miscellany

√ I hate small talk.  With a passion.

√ As much as I hate small talk, I love brownies.  That's how much I hate small talk.

√ I have a picture of Georgia Engel on the wall next to my computer.

√ I think the check mark next to this post is nifty.

√ I'm going to clean up my Facebook friends list this week.  I have a lot of people who I don't interact with there.  Some I've never really interacted with on Facebook, some have shunned me but not enough to delete my ass, some have drifted away.  I'm going to enjoy the purge.  It's been a while.

√ I've been in need of a mental health day for a couple of weeks.  I was going to take last Friday off for a couple reasons.  One, it was supposed to be beautiful out.  Two, I love long weekends.  Three, last week felt like the longest week ever.  I ended up not taking the day off.  Ken was out of work all week and being home together is not what I have in mind for my day.  Instead I'm taking Wednesday off.  I plan on lounging around the house, maybe going to the gym, taking myself out to lunch and then maybe a nap.  Wish me luck.

√ The Red Tornado trade paperback wasn't very good.  It had a decent enough premise, but the execution sucked ass.

√ I haven't seen a recent picture, but I've always thought Margot Timmons was one of the most beautiful women in the world.

√ Ollie woke me up ten minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off this morning.  I tend to find that much more infuriating than if he woke me up an hour beforehand.  At least then I could have gone back to bed.

√  I do a great job at making little plans to do things, but I do a shitty job in actually getting around to doing them.  My time management skills are lacking.  The second I hit the computer, I might as well kiss any plans I have goodbye.  I need to work on that.

√ I haven't watched this week's episode of Doctor Who yet, but three episodes in and I'm not quite sure I'm in love with this season.

√ I've been putting pictures of my t-shirt collection up on Facebook and I'm having a ball doing it.  Today I posted a picture of my Batwoman shirt.  

√ I found that I'm doing fewer and fewer social media things and I like it.  I've got the aforementioned Facebook (which I still adore), I post on Instagram, I have my last.fm profile and I just set up a Grindr profile.  I dumped Twitter a year ago and haven't missed it a bit.  It was too much and I was pretty fucking sick of logging in only to read the drama of the day.  

√ I'm still not sure how I feel about the new Kate Bush album.  I like it, but I don't love it.  And will I still feel the same way in a few months after I've listened to it a lot more?

√ I just bought some new banana shampoo at the Body Shop and I'm in love with it.  I love how it smells.  

√ Do you play Words With Friends?  If you do, look me up.  I'm pusspatrell over there.  Start a game, but tell me who you are.  I think I have about 15 games going right now.  I love it.

√ I've got a bunch of plans I want to make for the rest of the spring and this summer.  I need to get cracking if I want to get anything done.  Ken's already got our winter plans booked.

√ My mind has just gone blank.  It's a good time to end this.

12 Of 12 (May 2011)

I read about this 12 of 12 thing on another blog I read and wanted to give it a try.  I sat down last night to post my pictures, but blogger was down.  Of course.  Anyway, I've copied the rules from another blog and here they are:

You are new to this? Okay, here is what you need to know ...
1) ALL PHOTOS MUST BE TAKEN ON THE 12TH OF EACH MONTH.
2) After you post your pictures onto a webpage of your choice (Livejournal, typepad, MySpace, Flickr, etc...) please post the TIME, LOCATION, and A SMALL COMMENT in the pic.
3) You own the rights to all of your pictures. The idea "12 of 12" is mine (=Chad's!). While credit is not necessary, please don't credit someone else with the idea.
4) The original concept was at least one body part in the picture. That idea was slowly faded away. The important part is that it are 12 pics.
5) When referring to the project, please refer to it as "12 OF 12" - not "12 ON 12."
6) Once completed, please e-mail or post the PERMALINK of the post AND the city and state or city and country of WHERE THE PICTURES WERE TAKEN. (If you are on vacation, it's where the pics were taken.)

6:15am -  I drive past the drive-in on my way to work every morning.  This week's movies are RIO and DIARY OF A WIMPY KID.

6:30am - I drive to the park and ride and take a bus in to work because parking downtown sucks out loud.

 8:00am - The crack whore that sits near me is away from her desk and has chained it off so that no one can enter.  Because she's a crack whore.

11:15 am - My desk.  I've got all sorts of crap that I'm working on.  Whoopie.

 1:00 pm - I need sugar!

3:45 pm - There's a vehicle parked at my bus stop.  They're doing all sorts of road work on the street where my office is, but it's all supposed to be after 5pm. 

3:50 pm - I got new shoes! 

 4:30pm - The exterminator came today to fog the attic for bees.  The cats had to be taken out of the house for an hour.  Ollie took it all in stride.

 4:30 pm - Lucy not so much.  All we did was sit out in the back yard for an hour.  I'm so happy it was beautiful out.

 4:30pm - A tree in my yard.

 4:50 pm - A small wooded area in my back yard.

7:30 pm - I'm sweating my balls off on the elliptical.

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

One weekend away is enough to derail my normal routines for days after.  I feel like I'm just finally getting back into the groove of my normal life again.  

My friend George turned 40 and Ken and I were invited to NYC for the weekend for his party.  And it was quite a shindig.  The party took place at a bar called the Landmark.  It was closed for the party on Friday night.  And the place was packed.  I had no idea George knew as many people as he did.  I was a little afraid that I wasn't going to know anyone there, but it turns out I knew a few people.  I knew George's sisters and a couple people from the cruise we were on last month showed up, too.  I don't normally drink, but since it was a special occasion, I threw caution to the wind.  I say I only had 7 or 8 beers, but Ken disagrees.  I don't know who is right nor do I care.  I got pretty hammered.  I have zero tolerance when it comes to alcohol anymore.  I paid a little bit on Saturday, but not too bad.  What I'm still paying for is all the eating I did over the weekend.  I managed to gain 7.5 lbs.  How I have no clue.  I'm down almost half that already and I'm hoping for a decent drop tomorrow.

Tonight at the gym I passed another milestone.  I'm now over 900 miles on towards my goal.  Seventy-five percent of the way.  I'm so fucking impressed with myself.

Ken managed to catch himself a nasty, nasty cold.  Our hosts were just getting over colds when we were in NYC, so it's likely he picked up a little something from them.  He's feeling so bad that he went to the doctor today.  He put him on meds and I hope it helps.  If there's anything worse than being sick, it's me having to deal with a sick Ken.  I am the world's worst nursemaid.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I suck at it.  And he demands being babied.  Kill me now!!!!!

I can't believe it's almost my birthday.  Next week.  Yikes.  I'm getting older and older and I don't like it.  Why can't I be 28 eternally?

I'm getting to the point where I need to do some major trimming of my social networking sites, Facebook especially.  I keep reading all this annoying shit being sputtered by people on my friends list and it just makes me want to delete the whole damn thing.  And I have a lot of people who I've friended to keep in touch with but we're in no more touch now than before we were FB friends.  Why bother?  It's springtime, it's time for a little bit of spring cleaning.

Poak Chops

Monday, Monday

I thought I got a really decent night of sleep last night.  I realized that even if I did, it didn't help once I got to work this morning.  It hit me in the face not long after arriving.  I was hit with a big wave of tired.  Not the way I wanted to start off my week, but I got through unscathed.  I want to hit the sack relatively early tonight.  Let's hope I don't get sucked into surfing Wikipedia page after Wikipedia page again tonight.

The last couple weeks my sciatic nerve has been acting up.  Not bad, but it's been reminding me it's there.  I was trying to figure out why it's acting up all of a sudden.  I wasn't really aware of doing anything to set it off.  Then I remembered vacation last month.  I was 190 lbs when I left for the cruise.  The night I got home, a week later, I was 204 or 205.  Over the course of the week I got home, I managed to drop back down to my pre-cruise weight and the next week I managed to get all the way down to 186.  The weight came off maybe a little too quickly and I'm sure that some of what I lost came from the area insulating the nerve.  Every time I've taken off just a little too much weight, that's where it's come from.  Luckily the nerve is almost completely back in hibernation (knock on wood) and is barely noticeable again.  Here's hoping it stays that way.