Giddy Up

Well tonight I fly out of Orlando to Chicago to begin what should be a very interesting and fun road trip back to Florida. Ann has the whole thing mapped out perfectly and I feel confident in saying that I have absolutely no idea what route we are taking or any other vital information you would think I would make myself aware of for this trip. I figure, if she tells me now I will most likely just have to ask again later, so I am actually saving time. It turns out that not only will we be encountering Memorial Day weekend traffic, but that we will be on the same route as those traveling to the Indy 500 which begins Sunday. What fun.

I've only been on one other road trip besides this one (meaning one of 20+ hours)--and that one was definitely one for the books. The week after Junior year of college broke for summer, 6 of us piled into a van and set off for Missouri (one of my friend's family lives there and let us all stay in their kick ass house). We grilled out, jet skied in their lake, golfed and pretty much had the best time ever. Later on in the week we left Missouri and set out for the Kentucky Derby. Man what a day that was. I vaguely recall seeing horses, but thank God I have pictures to prove that we actually did watch the derby race. All of us were probably the most drunk we had ever been..and of course when they are selling bottled water for $6 and Mint Juleps for $3--being sound economic professionals, we opted for the money saving beverage.

I had never known that actually getting into the derby was such a feat. Well let me correct myself.. getting in WITH ALCOHOL was a feat. The night before the derby, we watched experienced derby goers as they prepared their alcohol smuggling schemes. They had water bottles filled with Vodka and had then glue gunned the tops back on because apparently security checked the seals. We had bottles of soda that had been opened, half emptied, and then the same tactic was applied. They knew what juice bottles to get that looked "most natural" when tampered with, and what 2 liters to buy that would perfectly match our alcohol needs of the day. We all listened as they told us stories about hollowing out bread loaves and inserting bottles into them as well as acting like it was no big deal when they searched our cooler. It was crazy---crazy fun.

I think everyone at some point should try and take a road trip even to some place that doesnt sound even remotely interesting. Its the company you keep that makes the trip worthwhile. Although it has its downsides-- (6 people, 6 peoples worth of luggage- all in one van for 25 hours-- you do the math)- it can be one of the most amazing experiences ever.

I'll be back Tuesday...have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Comes with the territory

As you are most likely aware, there are statements coming from the Attorney General warning the U.S. of possible Al Qaeda attacks this summer.
Apparently there has been "credible intelligence" from different sources saying that the plans for an attack on the U.S. are almost complete and that they plan to "hit the U.S. hard".

This has always been something scary to hear of course, but now it hits me in a different way. One of the possible targets of terrorism this summer is the Republican National Convention in NYC. The convention is being held August 30- Sept. 2, which means I will be living there for about a week by then.

The feeling that this gives me is a sense of helplessness. There is nothing I can do to prevent anything like that, or prepare myself for anything like that. I guess I can just avoid the Madison Square Garden area on those days. I suppose this is all part of moving to New York City and is something that comes with the territory. It is definitely frightening though. How do you New Yorkers deal with the stress of something like this possibly happening?

A Newfound Appreciation

So I know I've hit IT guy's pretty hard on this blog just based on my experience working and studying in IT.

Well this morning when I booted up my computer at work, it decided that it would remove the option to connect to my company's network- which therefore didn't allow me to log on at all. So I call IS&T, put in my work order, yada yada yada-- they will be by soon to fix it.

Meanwhile, 4 hours later, I am still at my desk with no computer functionality. Whats weird is that I dont really care and have no desire to go home. Instead I pull out this awesome book I got on NYC and begin reading.

Finally, I call back after lunch to see what is taking so long. I am told that the guy assigned to my case is working on another problem and most likely wont be able to make it over to me until tomorrow morning. Then the guy says that if I bring my laptop over to him he can probably fix it there.

So off I go, laptop in hand, venturing to the IS&T section of the other building. I had never been there before and let me just tell you, it is like a different world there. Things that I have never seen computerized are on a screen there, available to whoever is walking by. The guy who helped me had more books in his cubicle than I have probably had to use in my highschool and college careers combined. Of course these arent just any books, they are about 8 inches thick and on topics that would first lead me to endure physical torture if it meant I didn't have to read them. This guy had 4 HUGE screens in his cube, plus 2 laptops, all of which were running. I watched him at work and in awe as he fixed up my computer in about 2 minutes. As I left his cube, I passed through a series of little hallways, which were adorned with certificate after certificate of whoevers cube I was passing at the time. Amazing.

I came away from this with a newfound appreciation for this IT department, and IT employees in general. Your technical skills amaze me and I think you rock- in a cool, dorky sort of way.

PS- The guy I emailed about lunch responded today with this:

I’ll disregard the spreadsheet. But regarding “lunch or something sometime,” I would love that. I’ll be back in the office for a few weeks next week. Mind if we catch up then?

Score. Sort of. I mean I'm not exactly trying to date him, since I dont know his gf situation. Either way, now I'm nervous, but what else is new.

"Consideration for others is the basis of a good life, a good society"- Confucius

Maybe it's because I was brought up well, or maybe it is because people are just idiots, but I have come to see that very rarely do people have manners anymore.

Case 1: Common Knowledge- at work
There are a a good amount of people here that defy the laws of ettiquette almost on a daily basis. These arent just any manners they are breaking, but the ones that any human should instinctively know. There is this guy who always seems to be "running" somewhere. Thats not a problem, but he is constantly running INTO people around corners without saying "excuse me" or anything, he just kind of gives you that deer in the headlights look. He also doesnt seem to haven any manners when it comes to the elevator. Everytime we come up to our floor, the doors open and he is there and walks right in, before we can even get out, causing everyone to shift around him. It really amazes me that he still does this.

Case 2: PDA's
Some people have taken this much further than should be allowed for the public to see. I have no problem with exchanging a kiss with your loved one, but I dont need to see your mouth open to the size of a honeydew while you attempt to devour his/her face. When I was at the mall a couple of weeks ago I saw this couple, both of them no older than 13, and they were speaking to the girls mother. Nothing weird about that. Well, except for the fact that the 13 yr old boy had his arms draped all over the girl, rubbing her body and kissing her neck as they both spoke to her mom who acted like nothing was wrong with the whole thing. Gross. No daughter or son of mine will ever behave that way in front of me. What are these kids thinking?

Case 3: Personal Space
This might be one of the biggest pet peeves of mine. When I was at Islands of Adventure this past weekend I got an unhealthy dose of this lack of personal space. Lines are squishy to begin with, so the last thing I want is people leaning up on me,when they dont need to be, in 90 degree weather. There was this girl behind me who for some reason always had to have her skin touching mine. This was like a 16 yr old girl- and we werent THAT squished. Then of course I had a group of girls behind me who were laughing and joking around and continually kept bumping into me. After the first bump they did the "oh sorry", but after the bumps that followed they acted like it didnt even happen. Now maybe I'm weird, but when someone bumps me hard, even as an accident, it lights something up in me and my hands turn to fists. I just have no tolerance for it. It took me 2 death stares and one blatant "excuse me" to get these girls to realize they were pissing me off.

Case 4: Pleasantries
Please and Thank-you. Two age old building blocks of the manner code. "Please"- 1 second to say, "Thank-you"- 1.5 seconds to say----so why dont people say it? I use to work as a hostess at a restaurant in college and it amazed me how I would say "Hi, how are you doing today?" and they would respond saying "2, non-smoking, booth". Is it really that hard to say "hello"? I mean do certain people have some kind of condition that prevents them from saying things of this sort? The worst is when they would leave and I would say "have a good day/night" and they would look me in the eye, and walk out the door. Unbelievable.

Such a wuss

I don't know what it is about me, but I definitely don't think I was made for dating.

There is this guy that works here, that I've thought for a while is pretty cute. For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while now, you might remember him as the guy who invited me out for him and his friend's birthdays--they did it through evite, and apparently all of their friends were joking around about the two of them being best friends and there were a lot of "gay" insinuations. Sooo, I wasnt sure what to think. Long story short, he's not gay, and has/had a girlfriend in Jersey.

Anyways, we've worked on a few things together and I realized last Friday that I am really attracted to him. Since I haven't really ventured outside my department as far as going out to lunch or anything, I thought I would ask him. Sounds like an easy task right? You would think. I mean he has a girlfriend, and I'm not on some mission to break up that, he's just a really cool guy that happens to be handsome to boot. Well, it took me about 35 minutes to actually get my 2 line email the exact way I wanted it. Sad isnt it? Not to mention the 10 minute span where I contemplated hitting "send". Finally I forced myself. Now its done, and for some reason I feel all jittery.

He hasn't read my email yet. The worst he can say is no right? I hate when people say that. There is ALWAYS something worse than "no" that can be said. Well, I'll let you know what happens...

PS- I saw "Love Actually" for the first time this past weekend and thought it was sooo good. So now I'm all in the "maybe it would be nice to have a boyfriend" mode. Bear with me, I'm sure it will wear off by the end of the week.

I hear "moron" is especially tasty

Alright. So I live in Florida. In Florida there are gators. Lots of gators.

Every summer I hear about kids or adults getting eaten up or injured(mostly) by alligators while swimming. Now I'm sorry, but I have tried and tried and can't seem to think why on earth these people are "shocked" when they are bit by a gator when they are swimming in murky water in some ditch behind their house- get a clue people.

Yesterday morning the "breaking news" in my area was about a 13yr old boy who was bit in the head by what they believe was a 7ft gator. Tragic? Of course. Stupid? Most definitely, and I'll tell you why. They interviewed the boy and his grandmother (it was at her house where this occurred). Apparently the two had been painting the house and had used gasoline to remove the pain that had gotten on their bodies. The boy decides at this time he is going to go rinse off and play in the lake/ditch/pond behind the house.
At this point the reporter asks the grandmother:

"Had you ever seen gators in the lake before?"

Grandmother: "Oh yes, many times before, but no one was ever bit by one, so it was ok"

Ummm- WHAT? How dumb is that? Oh sure, lets just send your kid into a lake full of gators and hope that he doesnt get eaten.

The worst part of all this (by the way the kid is fine)- is that these gators are hunted down and killed after these attacks... and for what? For acting in their instinctive fashion? For acting like alligators? Since when is this ok? In my opinion if you take the risk of swimming in a gator-plenty lake, then you take the risk of being eaten- and the gators have every right to, without penalty. Who are we to go barging into their homes and then kill them for acting as nature intended? This pisses me off. And who knows if they even got the right gator. It seems like these days they just pick the first one they see near the area and say "Yea Bob, this is him, I can see it in his eyes". For all we know he was completely innocent.

When gators start coming to our doors and seeking us out as food, then its time to get defensive. Otherwise, if youre dumb enough to put yourself on a plate in front of them, then dont be surprised if you become din din.

Here's your ticket to heaven, oh and umm...have some koolaid

Ok, so there should be a new law that peepholes in apartment doors should be at least at the 5 foot level. In most apartments, this is not a problem, but for some reason in my last 2 apartments you have to be at least 5'5 to see out the peephole. This of course results in me either yelling "who is it?" or having to run and get a stool(mildly entertaining to watch). Well, since I always pretty much know who is coming over and when, when I got a knock on my door on Tuesday, thinking it was my sister, I opened up the door. Mistake. There stood 2 old men and one older lady with bibles in their hands. Oh great, no turning back now. Ok, so they tell me they are from some Baptist church and ask if I wouldnt mind participating in a short survery for them. So I thought, ok what the heck, a few questions wont hurt (yea Im dumb). So they proceed to ask me questions like "Why is church important?" "What do you think the church should do to reach out to others?" etc etc etc...OK, so not too bad. Then it came. The guy starts this little story using this picture box thing. Ok, so I indulge him and listen. Hes going on and on about the Bible and stories from the past. Then he stops and says (mid-story)- "so you know what we need?....a blood sacrifice". I hadnt really been paying attention to the story but when three strangers are talking to you outside your door and the words "blood sacrifice" come out of their mouths, well you start to listen. At this moment I'm thinking "Oh my God, these people are from a cult and are going to push me into my apartment and sacrifice me". I got really scared for a minute because his pause was so long after he had spoken those words. Finally, he continued and showed in his little picture box that he was referring to Jesus dying on the cross. Phew. So anyways, I was definitely ready to close my door then, but he persisted in asking me "Do you want me to help you make sure you go to heaven?". So I responded "no thanks, I'm already going". He didnt really like that answer and started on and on with Bible quotes. After a few more rounds of the same exact question I got pretty irritated. Who are these people that think that THEY have the power to make sure I get to heaven? Anyways, they got frustrated with my answers, shoved some literature in my hand, and went upon their way, where I listened, giggling to myself, as my neighbors went through the same thing. In summation, always use a peephole.

Nada

No post today...my mom is in surgery so I'll be at the hospital all day.

Any positive thoughts sent her way are appreciated :)

I could use a nap.....and a bottle of Chianti (in reverse order)

I'm starting to feel a little overwhlemed like Adam these days. There is a lot going on this week, with my mom going into surgery and all and its causing a tightness in my shoulders. I think I need a massage. I feel like I have a knot the size of a golfball on my left shoulder and it has Fordham's name written all over it. Its funny, because out of all of the massages I have given-- I never really received a good one back. If they werent so expensive I would just get one for my birthday.

All this NYC planning is going along pretty well. I might even have a possible buyer for my apartment here in Orlando- which gives me one less thing to worry about. I feel guilty lately because I find it hard to concentrate at work. I feel like its more of my "NYC workstation" because I research so much. Oh well, my works gets done so no worries right? My boss is wearing a long jean skirt today that makes a racket when she walks giving me clear warning if she is coming. Not that I'm scared or anything, but I know if she walks by and sees an NYC related website up on my screen, she knows my head isnt there.

Things I would like to request for the rest of the week:
My Mom's surgery is successful, all goes well, and she has a speedy recovery
My Dad is given the strength to deal with all this
Brian has a safe trip back to Florida- woohoo!
It doesn't rain on Saturday
Lisa has a happy birthday on Thursday!
And even though I am off work tomorrow, I magically get paid anyway

Sucks to be you

Well I'm sure you all may or may not have read about the guy who took naked pics of his girlfriend with his cell phone and was jailed for it. The guy apparently took naked pics of his 17 year old girlfriend and then posted them on the internet. Ok, so the picture taking I guess I can understand. Posting on the internet- uh uh. What makes this little story even more fun is that the girl is 17 and the guy is 20, so the minute he posted the pics on the internet he was dabbling in child pornography. What a dumbass.

So now he is jailed for 6 months and then after he is released, he is banned from using a cell phone or computer for 2 YEARS. Can you imagine that? I mean not everyone is a nerd like me who lives and breathes computers, but a cell phone too? Why cant he just have one that doesnt have picture taking abilities? How do they monitor this anyways? What about school, doesnt he need a computer for that? Sounds to me like he is screwed.

All of this of course brings me to my pondering of the day:
If you had to be banned for 2 yrs from either a cellphone or a computer- which would you choose?

So which one are you?

After years and years of movie watching I have categorized movie watchers into a few different categories. If I have left any out, let me know.

They are as follows:

The analyzer: This person watches the movie, and rips it apart afterwards saying "well that could never happen", "that wasn't realistic", etc. Is it so hard to "imagine"? They take a great movie and make it so that if you did like it before, you dont anymore.

The questioner: This person likes to ask questions before anything happens even if you haven't seen it before. Therefore, you miss all of the text that follows. "Is he going to die?" How the hell should I know? Watch the movie and shut it.

The sleeper:This is the person who falls asleep for about half of the movie and then wakes up at the very end, not asking any questions....and then after the movie says it sucked or was just "ok".

The multi-tasker: This refers to home watching mainly, but its one of those people that starts out watching the movie, and then about 20 minutes into it gets up to unload the dishwasher, or do some laundry, or make some food, or whatever. Then they come back and do the whole "ok so what did I miss?". Is it so hard for people to sit still for 2 hrs? If you can't committ to that I say don't watch the movie.

The phone talker: Now this one can definitely get to you. Its the person who answers their cell in the middle of the movie and continues to have a conversation sitting right there versus going into another room. Everyone in the meantime is straining to hear as their rage builds. I swear these phone talker people are mental.

The movie snob: This is the person that is a complete movie buff and has a huge appreciaton for film. That's good and all, but what comes with that are strict criteria for their viewing pleasure. The movie must be shown in a "good theatre" which I'm guessing is comprised of a suitable screen, stadium seating, and a great sound system. I have had to walk out of a movie I went to see with one of these characters, because they weren't showing it on the biggest screen and he therefore couldn't enjoy it.

The normal, prepared viewer: This is the one I LOVE--because its the one that I am. This person gets all of their "to-do's" done before the movie and is able to sit there through the whole thing and just watch the movie without questions, errands, sleeping, or whatever. A lot of people think they are the normal viewer, but in fact are not.

Soooo, which one are you? Now don't everyone lie and try to be the normal one, because deep down you know the truth...and so do your fellow movie watchers.

"Kids Being Kids"- not an excuse

If there is one thing I can't stand, its a bully. Maybe "bully" isn't even the correct word for it anymore. No I didnt just finish watching "Mean Girls", but I just finished reading an article referring to this kind of behavior. What is it about kids/teenagers that make them do these awful things to each other and not think twice? The author of Woman's Inhumanity to Woman, Phyllis Chesler-MD, recounts a story of one of her patients:

At 13, Kelsey hung with a pack of five girls in her Washington parochial school. Now 20, she recalls in vivid detail the day her pals took her behind the chapel and handed her a note.

"They made it seem like something good, like an invitation or something," she says. "They were smiling. I opened it and it was written in all different colors of inks and handwriting, saying we don't want to be your friend, don't look at us, don't call us, don't come near us. Everyone put it a different way -- they all wrote it."

What is it that possesses kids to do such things? I never had any experiences with bullies or mean girls in highschool or in grade school so I can't really share any first hand experiences, but it must be an awful thing to deal with. I remember in 8th grade there was this girl in our class who was "unpopular". She definitely went through an awkward stage, but who of us didnt? Anyways, she was constantly bothered by the guys in our class. For Christmas, our school did this little market type thing where the kids can buy cheap gifts for their families. Well they had some dog treats for kids to buy for the family pet, but instead, the guys thought it would be funny to buy a whole bunch of dog biscuits a leave them on the girls desk. So mean. I realize thats nothing compared to what some kids go through. This other boy in my grade school class was real quiet and shy and had the most beautiful eyelashes I had ever seen on a guy. Well the guys in my class of course made fun of that, and a few days later I walked into a classroom where I saw him with scissors up to his eyes, trying to cut his eyelashes. It was just so sad. The worst part is that I guess you really dont know how stuff like this affects a kid unless you talk to them. My friends and I found out that 3 years later this boy killed himself.

Even after all this, people still say "its just kids being kids". Well guess what, its not. I never acted like that, my friends didnt act like that--its a shitty excuse. Oh and that main ringleader of "boys" that was involved in bullying both of the kids I mentioned is now in jail for murder. If that doesn't give people a clue, I dont know what will.

I'll take two tickets please, in exchange for my left kidney

I cannot even believe how exspensive theme park tickets are these days. I'm taking my little sister to Universal's Islands of Adventure next weekend and the tickets are now $55 a person. That's crazy. I mean it would be one thing if it was all inclusive, including a meal or something, but judging by the amount of money Ive spent there in the past, one meal comes to around $12 a person--and thats at one of those burger places- not a restaurant. Wow I am the queen of run-on sentences.

Anyways, doesnt anyone remember when Disney or Universal tickets were like $30? Man that was nice. By the time I have kids I dont even want to think what it will cost to take the family to Disney. Every theme park has risen in price except one... and that's Wet 'N Wild. I guess you cant really count it as a theme park, but with all of the discounts they give to FL residents, plus the discount I get at work, a ticket comes to like $12. I get a discount at Universal too, not that it helps much, but I guess its better than nothing.

I am actually really excited to take her there. I just thought it was about time she rode a real rollercoaster, I thinks shes going to love it. I rode my first one when I was 8, I'll never forget it. We were at Busch Gardens and it was called "The Scorpion". It might even still be there, havent been in a while. My poor dad had to go on all of these with me since I was too young to go alone and no one else wanted to go. What a good dad. After that ride on the scorpion my dad took a mini hiatus from rollercoasters with me...aparently I was grabbing his leg on the ride,holding on for dear life, and didnt realize I was pulling out all his leg hairs.

You know you have at least one...

Whenever I am on someones blog I cant help but wonder a few different things about them. Where they went to school, what they do for a living, what area of the country they live in, what they look like, etc. (and other stuff that sounds less stalker-ish).

So for all of you inquisitive wonderers out there, Im giving you two questions to ask. They dont have to be about me unless you want them to be. So go ahead and try me, and I will answer honestly to the best of my ability.

And so it begins...

Well as you all know I am thrilled, but it all seems so surreal at this point.

Since I am a nerd and have an incessant need to "plan", I was already on craigslist this morning looking at some apartments. I know its early but I just wanted to get a feel for what was out there. So anyways, I found this great apartment, pics look great, good neighborhood, so I emailed the realtor saying that Im sure its to early for this apartment but if he knew of anything opening that was similar to this apt, in the August timeframe. The conversation that followed is somewhat interesting:

Realtors response to my original inquiry: I will ask the owner of the building, but you may be looking too soon.

Me: Yea, I figured as much. Can I ask you a question? My friend and I are moving there in late August and one of us will be attending NYU and the other will be at Fordham. What neighborhood would you suggest as a good middle ground between the 2 schools?

Realtor: Where is Fordham again? (um ok, fair enough I guess, but I would think an NYC realtor would be up to date on this kind of info)

Me: It is in the Lincoln Center area

Realtor: Where is Lincoln Center? (OK- LOL- WTF? I KNOW he has to know where Lincoln Center is even if he IS a moron---at this point I dont know what the heck is going on)

Me: Lincoln Center is in the Upper West Side ( I attached a map- I cant believe I am attaching a map to give to a realtor of a city I dont live in, but one that he makes his money in based on real estate)

Realtor: She'd take the cross town bus, you'd take the downtown 4,5 express.

Me: (in disbelief)- Well thank you, that was helpful, but what I was really asking was if you could suggest a neighborhood to look in for apartments that would be between to the 2 schools.

Realtor: You'd have to live those lifestyles to figure it out. I am about as clueless as you are. When you are in town, call me and I can show you some apartments.

HAHAHHAHA-- Did this conversation actually just happen? Does he honestly think I am going to call a realtor that didnt even know where Lincoln Center was?

Oh man- I hope they all aren't like this. Any of you New Yorkers have a suggestion as far as location to look?

OH MY GOD

I WAS ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New York City here I come!

Thank GOD!

Ok, so I'm a sneaky little terd

Ok so all of you know about my whole Fordham drama going on and how I am still waiting to get a letter. Well, I was thinking this morning that maybe I could write an email to the guy that interviewed me and was helping me in this whole process. In the email, since my letter was mailed 10 days ago, I would think that HE would think I would know by now. So I was going to play it coy and just say thanks for all his help and that I am so glad the admissions process is finally over---but very clear to not mention whether or not I got my letter. Then I added that if we "ever meet" that I would take him to lunch for all of his help. So I did all of this hoping that he would return my email saying "Oh im so glad its over for you too, congratulations and we will see you this fall!" and then I would know I was in.

So I sent my 3 line email.

I just now received a response:

Laura,

No worries at all.....happy to help in anyway that I can.

If you're planning to visit in the next couple of months and want to take a walk around campus, have any other questions, etc....just let me know.

Best,

(fordham guy)


Ok- so whats your take on that email?? He would know if I was accepted or not right? Even if he wasnt making the final decision? If he didnt know if I was in would he really take the chance of mentioning visiting the school? Ok so maybe I am just too positive for my own good, but this email made me happy.

What do you think? If I am being jaded, all brutal honesty is openly accepted :)

BINGO!

Well this past weekend I did what every 24 year old girl does on a Saturday night- I worked the church bingo. Yea, my sister Lisa and I got roped into "volunteering" there in place of my dad who was originally signed up to do it- but since we are such good children, we gave him a break and went instead. I wouldn't have minded this so much when it was first suggested if it wasnt 4 hours long- but we went along our merry way anyway. Well when we got there the night took a turn for the interesting when we saw a completely HOT guy that was going to be working with us. Lisa went up to him and gave him a hug and then he asked me how I was doing- all the while I was thinking "who the hell is this?" and "holy crap you are hot". Well it turned out he was a guy from Lisa's class back when they went to grade school together. I hadnt even recognized him and I had known him and his family very well when we were all younger. It is amazing how some people change, even though he was always one of those little boys that you just know is going to be good looking when he is older. So that definitely made the night more fun.

Lisa and I were kind of freaked when we first got there. Some of these bingo players are hard core and will get real pissed if you interrupt their game. For instance- here are a few things we encountered:

- many, many little "good luck" items such as trolls, pictures, you name it

- some really fiesty old ladies telling other ladies to "SHUT UP!!" if they were chatting a little too loud

-people getting pissy if you gave them popcorn when they didnt want it

-some lady asking me why the church isnt giving out flowers after the masses this Sunday....umm do I have "church administration" on my forehead?

-the bingo announcer telling me he wants to train me to "call the numbers" --haha yea right they would rip me apart

All in all, it wasnt a bad night at all, except for leaving the church hall smelling like chili dogs and coffee. It made made me feel good to do something like that and a little guilty for kind of whining about it before we left. But the little old bingo ladies who looked at us like we were just the best girls in the world for volunteering..well that made those 4 hours well worth it.

I'm not bitter

I'm starting to think this is all some test. A test to see exactly how long I can wait to get this damn Fordham letter before I go completely mental. This Monday it will be 13 weeks. I am almost to the point where I just insanely laugh at my mailbox everyday that it isn't there. I reconfirmed yesterday with the Admissions office that it was mailed April 30th. So what the heck then? Does it really take a week for a letter to get from NYC to Orlando? I'm getting all of my other mail, so I cant blame the post office. I'm left with no options other than to sit and let the madness and frustration consume me. I was going to leave straight from work today back to Melbourne for Mother's Day, but now I have to drive all the way back to my apartment first to check my damn mail. I swear if its not there the nearest person in grabbing distance is going to lose a limb.

Muppets Take Manhattan

"The Olsen Twins turn 18 next month!"---

Are you kidding me? Are we that desperate for any kind of news that we have to write articles about these two muppet's birthdays that wont even happen for another month? Who really cares anyways? From the articles I was reading, the whole hype is about all the millions of highschool and frat boys who have been waiting so long for them to turn 18. But why? Well obviously they are "legal" then, but what do all these boys expect? If they think that as the clock strikes midnight on their birthday that they are magically going to become whores and open their doors to the men of Manhattan just because they can, well sorry to burst your bubble, but thats not going to happen. They are going to be just as unattainable as they are right now, whether 18 or 30.

Personally, Ive never understood the whole obsession with them to start. Sure they are cute, but in a weird muppet/alien looking sort of way. Ive seen many regular girls who I think are prettier. Is it because they are twins? This is also another phenomenon that I am yet to understand. What is the obsession guys have with twins? Is it the raunchy thought of the possibility of being in the middle of a twin sandwich? Nevermind, I dont want to know.

I guess if they just did something I respected, maybe I would like them more, but that New York Minute movie- barf- just in the commercials you can see there are zero acting skills present, which is strange because they did use to be good child actors. Plus I find it hard to respect two girls that everywhere they go they have to hold hands, yet get upset when they are defined as one entity. Detach yourselves then! Oh and I love how they are always held to such high acclaim for their "empire" and how much money they have made. I think that their managers and publicists probably have a tad more to do with all that than they do. Although, this New York Minute movie has "their idea" written all over it.

Mary-Kate: Hey sis, lets make a movie or something!

Ashley:Oh we soo should! Lets make it about us running all around New York city in cute outfits and lets make there be hot guys in it too that are freaked out because we are twins!

Mary-Kate: Wow, what a great idea! Lets hold hands and skip down to tell our manager!

"We got the same thing"

Maybe its just me, but does anyone find the new Burger King commercials as enjoyable as I do?
They are really quite funny and I haven't gotten tired of them yet- which says a lot since commercials get old fast and I am pretty quick to dump on bad ones. Its a nice break from the "bah bah bah BAH bah" and all of the other tired fast food commercials that are now employing hip hop and teenagers running around eating their products. Gay.

Finally there are fast food commercials that you dont have to think about- and they're funny. Nice work Burger King.

Sasser-ific

Ok apparently I am getting a lot of hits due to my posting of the "sasserworm" virus. I guess since I put the 2 words together, when they search for "sasserworm patch" or anything similar, they are getting my site.

Here people, this is what you need:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/sasser.asp

You want a piece of me? You got itttttt!!!

I forgot to mention in Monday's post how good the Seinfeld show was this past Saturday. He was really hilarious, as always, and I also got to see Carol Leifer, a comic/writer/producer and the real life inspiration for Seinfeld's "Elaine"- and since Elaine is pretty much my idol- that was pretty cool.

The one thing I didn't enjoy about the night was that there were actually hecklers in the crowd. Ive been to stand-up shows before, and there are always one or two- but I guess I just never expected anyone to do it to Jerry. This lady in the front row would just spurt out these random things during his act like "youve got no idea Jerry!!!" and other stupid things like that, completely interrupting what Jerry was saying. What amazes me is how comedians can keep their cool and not lose their place. He eventually had to tell her to "shut up" and after that she was pretty much done. There was also this other guy in the upper bowl section that would just yell out random stuff, but REALLY yell out. Jerry was asked right before he left to do a "hello Neuman"...so as he was preparing for it and just about to open his mouth, the dumbass from the upper bowl yells out "Helllooooo Neuman!!!!!" in an effort to drown out Seinfeld's voice. Well lucky for him, Jerry had hesitated before delivering the catch phrase and we were all able to hear him say it. If that guy would have ruined it for all of us I would have been more than willing to join the group that would jump him in the parking lot.

Ponderings

Things I still don't understand

*Some people's fascination with lawn ornaments. Why can't anyone just have ONE and not 300?

*Why "Charmed" is still on the air

*Why people get so wrapped up in politics thinking they know everything that goes on and why the President makes certain decisions. We don't know shit, so get off your high horse.

*How people can actually sue fast-food chains, blaming them for their obesity.

*How someone can sit through an episode of Seinfeld and not laugh. I've seen it happen.

*The obsession some have with stuffed animals in the back window of their car. These arent cute little Hallmark animals either, these are the nappy, cheap stuffed animals that you get out of that claw machine. Why do people put them there? Is it possible that they think it looks nice?

*Why skinny people always think they are fat.

*How walking through a museum is torture to some people.

*How anyone can eat cottage cheese as a snack. You know it isn't good. Stop faking.

*How some people think that dogs dont have feelings.

*And finally- you guessed it- how it can now be 11 weeks and 1 day since my application was in and I still don't have a letter. Yep.

He got me

*Well it has been a funfilled sasserworm morning. Why is it that when a virus is out and spreading like wildfire everyone becomes either a wannabe IT genius or a 5 year old child? About an hour after we all logged in this morning we were all greeted with the lovely "your system will be shutting down in 50 seconds" box. I had seen this before and I knew it was a virus, however, people in here were going nuts. Keep in mind that I am the only IT person in a marketing department. I had to laugh as I hear all these people throughout the hallways "wow whats going on??" or "oh my god its shutting down again!!" - "I thought this is what our antivirus software is suppose to prevent!!". Yea well I laughed too soon because before I knew it there was a little line outside my cubicle asking my "techie" advice. What do they think I am, the gatekeeper of all virus patches? Has no one ever heard of www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com? Well, since I am such a wonderfully nice girl, I helped anyone who needed it by simply finding the patch and installing it. So I am once again hailed by them as some computer genius when all I did was something most 10yr olds can now do.

*So what is it about hunger that make people go nuts? I'm not sure, but I was reminded by how crazy people can be when I went to go heat up my lunch this afternoon. We have 2 microwaves on the whole floor, which everyone shares to heat up their food. There is the white one, which is the crappy one and you have to add on about 4 minutes to the time it would take a normal microwave to cook our food thoroughly. Then there is the coveted black one--this one is the new one that everyone tries to get to first. So anyways, I walk into the kitchen, go to the fridge to grab my lunch and then proceed across the room to the black microwave which is luckily not in use----then I hear her. From around the corner, like we were in some football game, comes this lady sprinting, with lean cusine in hand, towards the black microwave. She of course gets there waaay before me, considering I am not a nutbar and am simply WALKING to the micro. She then pops her food in, punches 7 minutes into the timer, and then looking very pleased with herself, exists out the other door. Lucky for her that other micro was available or else it would have been go time.

PS- If my letter was mailed on Friday, it could be here today. Cross your fingers.