Almost Friday

Not much went on today. There was road construction all day long (how unusual...not) that made the house shake but that's about it. Looks like they're getting ready to pave the first five or so meters of everyone's driveway. Since mine is gravel you'll get no complaints from me. It was loud though. I will be so happy to never hear heavy equipment or power tools again.

The weather was absolutely beautiful - 50's and sunny, which is hella unusual for this time of year. Perhaps it's compensation for the sucktacular summer and fall we had. I went for a short walk during lunch, which was lovely.

Well, not much else going on. So far I've made it through two nights on call without being paged. I had insomnia last night so I'm praying to make it three.

WOOHOO!!!

Let's see. Yesterday I was nearly in tears because

1.) I was SO stressed out about work

2.) I found a whole bunch of new what-had-BETTER-be settling cracks upstairs, causing me to spend hours on the web attempting to find more information and frantically looking up inspectors because I was freaked out about structural issues.

Well today I'm STILL worried that my house may be doing more than just settling, but:

1.) Work is now under control. Busy, but under control.

2.) DEMOCRATS in the HIZZOUSE!!!

• House is now under Democrat majority.
• Senate is tied.
• Governorships is now under Democrat majority.
• Rumsfield is GONE.

It is a Good Day.

Monday Already?

Didn't get to post on Friday due to having to actually, you know, work. I went to a fundraiser for the local humane society. It wasn't one of those super-fancy fundraisers - pretty casual. It was a lot of fun except for the "concert" which featured local college kids, some of whom needed more, erm, practice.

Saturday was pretty much a lazy day. Dr. Z and I watched a bunch of "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" episodes back to back. (P & P is a very bizarre but most excellent show that lasted on Nickelodeon for three seasons back in the early Nineties.)

Sunday I went out to Plattsburgh with MomTook and FINALLY bought a new television to replace my broken one that's had a horribly blurry, sometimes hourglass-shaped picture for TWO YEARS. This means I get to make my First Trip Ever to the dump to get rid of the old television.

So now it's Monday again. Sigh. Nothing much new foreseen for today - work, Karate training and Monday Night Football with Dr. Z. An average Monday.

She's Baaaaack

Well after being gone for nearly seven months I've decided to dust off the ole' blog and at least attempt the occasional entry or two. To keep it short, since April I've:

• Bought my first house
• Moved five hours away
• Bought my first car
• Learned how to drive
• Took up canoeing and started paddling competitively
• Went on my first backpacking trip - five days in the Colorado Rockies
• Received a promotion
• Took up Shorin Ryu Karate and gotten to green belt
• Attended my sister's wedding

Suffice it to say, I've been FREAKING BUSY here, people.

Whew.

LiveBlog of Scrubs

This one's for Jay...

8:33: Church choir...hee. Cox's "spiritual" dancing...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

8:35: Baby Dominoes - Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!

8:36: Constant pages...ouch. That's hitting a bit TOO close to home.

8:39: "Inflatable five!" Oh how I love The Todd.

8:41: "Maniac" in barbershop quartet with Ted pouring water down himself? Brilliant.

8:45: Love the Wizard of Oz, although "thanks" for getting "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" stuck in my head.

8:47: "And where do we meet up in heaven?"
"BY THE MILKSHAKE POOL ON THE LESBIAN CLOUD!!!"
"I love religion."
Best exchange ever.

8:49: "DEAD PEOPLE SHOULD BE DEAD!!!!" HAHAHAHAHA!!!

8:55: Okay, can someone get the tissues? God DAMN I hate this show sometimes! And...wow does "Ted" have a great voice.

Closer to Success...

I just found out that my offer on the house I want has been unofficially accepted, which is great news. My realtor and the contractor (it's a new build) are just hashing out contract details. I should be in escrow within 24 hours. I am SO psyched! I found out the flooring allowance - I've chosen light bamboo for the first floor and will go with beige-ish carpeting (still needs to be picked out) upstairs. The benefits of buying a house while it's still being built. I also found out that the countertops will be tile. It's more work, but I really do prefer the look.

In driving news, I had my third lesson today. Hill stops and main roads were the lessons of the day. I'm FINALLY at the point where although I'm still not a great or even good driver, I'd feel comfortable getting behind the wheel and practicing by myself.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be calling a lawyer and house inspector.

Notes from a Greyhound

Dear Big Black and Canadian:

Your phone is in fact NOT surgicially attached to your ear. You do not need to talk on it for five hours straight. Shut that shit off before I ram your cellphone so far down your throat that your doctorcan use its camera for your next colonoscopy.

Thanks,
The girl across from you who keeps giving dirty looks


Dear Travelling Suit:

This may be difficult to believe, but your precious luggage doesn't get its own seat on a full bus. If you really want it to ride in comfort I'll be happy to stow you in cargo.

Thanks,
A light packer


Dear Headache:

I'm so glad you returned. After all, I hadn't seen you since yesterday and really missed you. I assume Big, Black and Canadian invited you. Good thing I have no Advil on me.

Go away,
Pip


Dear Girl in Front of Me:

Thanks so much for getting on your cellphone as well. Now I have annoying phone conversations in stereo sound.

Shut up,
Pip


Dear Lead-in-the-Ass:

While we're all relieved that you are obviously concerned about your passengers's safety as evidenced by your refusal to go over -40 mph, we'd also all like to get back to Boston sometime before the next ice age. Please pick up the damn pace, especially since the highway is deserted. And no, the eighty-year-olds passing us do not count as "traffic."

Thanks,
A better driver than you.


Dear Cellphone Part Three:

Ah, I had forgotten: stereo sound is so Eighties. Thanks for correcting my oversight and giving me Cellphone Assholes's latest in full surround sound.

Not!
Me.

Quiet Weekend

Didn't do much over the weekend except take a ton of Dayquil and Nyquil, watch television and pray for death. I had to cancel on both StarWarsGeek Friday night and SevenofColorado last night.

I'm feeling better today, although probably won't be attempting Tae Kwon Do tonight. (Which is fine anyway because the cats will stage a coup if I don't go to the grocery store and buy more cat food before supper.)

Didn't Mean To Disappear

...but it's been a crazy month. Thanks to a huge project I was working 65-hour weeks while being on-call AND getting back into Tae Kwon Do by going six hours a week. The result?

I've managed to give myself the kind of flu where even after taking Nyquil and Dayquil for 24 hours my temperature is 99.3 degrees.

Better than the 101.4 it was, I suppose.

My Mom Rules

E-mail that showed up in my Inbox this morning after U2'a sweep of the Grammys:

--------

Hee hee -
Just wanted to congratulate you on all the awards your rock group took at the Grammy's last night. Be sure to let Bono know we're all very impressed!

Love MOM

--------

I love my mother.

Also: My appointment with the Famed Podiatrist that UsedCarSalesman recommended is this afternoon, so hopefully he can figure out what the hell is going on with my foot and I can get on the road to recovery. Stay tuned!

BlogSpot Hates Apple

This is my first post from my new iMac, and I have NO formatting options nor do I have the "Edit HTML" tab.

WHY must you hate Safari?

For SHAME, Blogspot!

How Life Is

Jay asked an excellent question: "So, other than your foot and your ass, how's life?"

The problem is that even when I AM healthly, my life is pretty damn boring. Now that I pretty much spend all day and night in my apartment, it's even moreso. It's funny - I never appreciated until now what a huge part of my life Tae Kwon Do really is. Of course, when I'm healthy I do spend about 15 hours a week there.

So...how's life? Outside of either setting up, waiting for, or going to doctors' appointments (which would fall under the "foot" category), pretty much it's just work, television and the occasional dinner with SevenofColorado or StarWarsGeek. In other words, fine, but dull.

Another Techie Question

I still haven't dealt with the last techie question (getting digital feed to work for my DVD audio), but have another one:

How can I get my damn PC to play nice on my Mac Airport router with WEP enabled? Right now I'm wide open, which scares the HELL out of me, even with setting the unit power to 50%. If I had my own house, it wouldn't be a big deal but I live in a large apartment complex. I can only get it to work without WEP.

HELP!

Happy February!

Although I don't usually quote Garfield, he was right in that "February is the Monday of months."

Not much new here. Most of this week has been spent waiting for my podiatrist appointment on Friday. The anti-inflammatory (basically prescription-strength Aleve) he prescribed doesn't seem to be doing much. Maybe now he'll actually, I don't know, RUN SOME TESTS. It's frustrating - I've had six different doctors either scratch their head or throw a prescription at me , which would be fine IF THEY WORKED. At this point, I'll be happy to at least start definitively ruling shit out. (Like the ARTHRITIS you SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH WITH before telling me to come back a WEEK AND A HALF LATER. Like, nice TO BE CONTINUED, DOCTOR, but I don't want a part in your heart-stopping SERIAL.)

I'm going to tell him, "Look, I realize you can't fix this until you know what it is, so let's get with the diagnosing, okay? Tests, biopsies, scans...bring it on. PLEASE." And if he gives me a referral to a rhuematologist like he was hinting at last time, I'm going to force him to run at least some basic RA and gout tests before I waste my time waiting for ANOTHER specialist to be able to fit me in his schedule.

My toes don't hurt, just look bad, but I seem to have a huge pain in my ASS. *grins*

My Weekend

Friday after work I went to the other Apple store to try my luck again. I had to wait a bit, but once I got someone, she stood there for a good half hour at least answering all my questions. I walked out with an iMac, Microsoft Office, a 3 year extended warranty, a subscription to mac.com, and a nearly $1800 charge on my credit card. Ouch. Can I just say how much I love it though? Since everything is contained in the flatscreen monitor (kinda like a tablet PC on a stand), it takes up like no room. The keyboard has not one but TWO USB ports to plug stuff into. (Something I have looked for for months in the PC world). The keyboard and mouse also work with my work laptop so I'm no longer killing my back.

StarWarsGeek picked me up since he wanted to see my new toy and we were going to watch Battlestar Galactica. It was wicked easy to set up. That was also the last time I really played with it since I can't use the Internet with it while on-call until I buy a router. Battlestar Galactica sucked (for them) by the way. Next week has mucho Starbuck, which, yay! Unfortunately the preview has her suddenly turning into an alkie, which...WHAT? I *hate* character assassination. It's why I stopped watching ST:DS9 after they turned Kira into a high heel wearing softie.

I was paged at 2 Friday night and stayed on the phone until four. Not usually a problem on the weekend, but I had to be up at eight for a facial. (Yeah, I know, but it was the only time she could fit me in and I was't expecting to be up all night.) I was the living dead but the facial was great. However, people need to stop asking about the pain of my piercings and tattoos because...well, piercings are over in an instant and tattoos have nothing on the pain of what they call "extraction." (I.e. They squeeze out all and any gunk in your pores.)

Came home and chilled out for a while. I ended up going to bed pretty early since I was so sleep-deprived. I slept for ten hours. Luckily I was much more productive yesterday - did laundry, grocery shipping, the bills, cleared off a spot on my desk for my new iMac, and even gave myself a manicure.

As for today, well, they call it "Monday" for a reason.

Yum!

My Indian neighbors are cooking some garlicky curry type thing. It smells too good for me to be mad about it infiltrating my entire apartment. I'm tempted to knock on their door and get the recipe. If they weren't, you know, busy cooking and eating dinner.

Ignorance can be Bliss

I went to the podiatrist yesterday. Seems that what started out as a "small infection that should start clearing up in a couple days" a month ago is actually "inflammation that along with chronic hip pain points towards fibromyalgia or arthritis."

I've been put on prescription-strength Aleve for the inflammation and have to go back next Friday, but the doctor's already mentioned going to a rhuematologist. Joy.

On a brighter note - tonight is dinner night with SevenofColorado. Yay! And tomorrow I finally get to go to the tailor's and pick up my new clothes I bought last week. Double yay!

ER in the ER and Sucky Customer Service

It's certainly been an...interesting weekend here. Lump #2 was painful enough that I couldn't even wear sneakers comfortably, so I called the doctor. Unfortunately neither she nor the same-day clinic had any openings, so you know what that means. Yes, I went to the ER for the first time.

I have to admit I talked to some pretty cool people during my three hour wait - AnkleExpress, who ended up having sprained and possibly fractured her ankle in a spill down the stairs and was waiting in a wheelchair, CrazyGrandma, who had bandages from her feet to above the knees and despite being the most injured waited the longest, and NoPants, a nice-but-not-the-brightest-crayon-in-the-box type whose girlfriend had come in with a siezure.

I was finally called in and explained the whole story to the PA, who like the three doctors before her was baffled. She ended up writing a prescription for a different, broader spectrum antibiotic and instructed me to come back on Sunday to have it rechecked.

I pretty much took it easy the rest of the weekend, soaking my feet and watching television. My hair was driving me insane on Saturday, so I called a random salon on Newbury ST and begged for an appointment that day. I managed to get one with Giovanni, who did right by my hair. After the slaughter seven months ago I was very afraid but he did a great job.

Saturday night my personal laptop refused to boot up in anything but Safe Mode after a reboot for a Norton update. I decided to rectify this problem by finally making the switch to Mac. (My laptop is over five years old anyway.)

I went to the Apple store today and loitered around the laptops and desktops for HALF AN HOUR with no one saying as much as "I'll be with you in a minute." Now, I understand that it's Sunday and you're all busy, but I watched as people looking at $15 accessories were helped when I was looking to put down FIFTEEN Gs on a NEW COMPUTER. I finally left in disgust.

I then went back to the ER since I was already halfway there. It was really bizarre because the television in the waiting room was set to NBC, which played two back to back episodes of "ER." I only waited about 90 minutes this time and was taken back. I was put in the "splint room" for some reason. It was a two-bed room, with a car-accident victim in the other bed.

The PA reviewed my file and I explained that the antibiotics weren't helping. He took an x-ray and said there wasn't any infection in the joints, which is good. Unfortunately this means Doc #5 struck out too. He told me to finish the antibiotics, start using Lamisil in case it's fungal, and make an appointment with Podiatry because "They look at this kind of stuff all day." He told me to make sure to mention I was in the ER twice with this so that they would try to get me in sooner. Unfortunately he couldn't give me an ETA of their wait for appointments.

As I was getting my stuff together, I heard the Doctor Lecture going on behind the curtain. Seems that this kid (More ink than brains) was not wearing his seatbelt, but somehow miraculously had no more than some bumps, bruises, and strained muscles. The doctor likened the impact to falling from a four-storey building. Is it wrong that I think it would have been good if he had, maybe not nasty internal injuries, but some nice orthopedic injury to make him learn a lesson - say, a broken tib/fib or fractured ankle? I only say this because the kid was totally, "Uh...whatever, man" during the lecture. I really have a hard time believing that he's gonna start wearing a seatbelt.

So, yeah. Do I know how to party it up on the weekend or what?

I Rule, My Feet Suck

I managed to get up this morning at six and walk for an hour. (I would say at the crack of dawn, but it was still pitch black outside.) It was nice though - I walked along the beach and watched the sun rise over the ocean. Definitely made it worth waking up at an ungodly hour. (It wouldn't have been so bad, but my business line woke me up at 12:30 in the morning. They didn't even leave a message. I've become addicted to the caller ID on my business phone, but from now on that bad boy goes OFF at night.)

Also, my toe seems to have halted its onward growth of The Lumps That Won't Go Away. It's even, dare I say it, looking better. I've been soaking my foot in salt water hot enough to cook my toes, a trick I learned healing my piercings, and it seems to have helped. Unfortunately, I now have ANOTHER one on the big toe of my OTHER foot. I am PISSED. I actually suspected a couple days ago because the knuckle had started itching just like the other toe had in the beginning, but didn't look because I didn't want to even think about having the same problem all over again.

At least I already have an appointment with a supposedly excellent podiatrist set up, even if it's not until the ninth. In the meantime, my left foot will now be joining the other one in the soaks.

Sigh.

Restaurant Review

SevenofColorado and I went to Finian's in Quincy Center last night because I had a $20 "New Neighbor" coupon. That they sent after I had already been living in North Quincy for four months.

Unfortunately they probably NEED to send out these coupons. Our waitress was a very nice older woman, but horribly slow with the service. Also, the chicken fingers I ordered were drier than the Sahara. Even *I* can fry up some chicken fingers better than that.

The one saving grace was their Spanish Coffee, which was delicious. Or maybe that's just the Kahlua in it talking.

GO HUGH!

Major congratulations to Hugh Laurie for winning a Golden Globe. (Not to mention giving one of the funniest acceptance speeches I've ever heard. "I'm going to pick out three names. The rest of you can lump it." HEE!)

A/V Geek Question

I have successfully hooked up my cable box to my receiver, with my television receiving a composite video-only input. I attempted to hook up my DVD player to the receiver via a digital optical cable, but it didn't work, first giving me audio only, then nothing. I plugged in a composite A/V cable instead, which works. Although it won't make much difference for my old television I would strongly prefer to have digital sound.

So...what's going on? Anything I should check before I put out for another optical cable? (I can't think of where I went wrong. You plug one end in the optical output of the DVD player and the other in the receiver where it says "Digital Optical Input - DVD." Not exactly brain surgery.)

Another questionnaire

I don't know why I like these things so much, but here goes...

TEN Random Things You May Not Know About Me:

1) I once one a gold medal at a national level Tae Kwon Do tournament
2) I have a mild thyroid condition
3) I am deathly allergic to seafood to the point where touching shrimp has caused me to break out in hives.
4) I'm left-handed
5) When I was very young my great-grandparents babysat me while my mother worked.
6) I have seven (biological, adoptive, step and ex-step) grandmothers.
7) I was a scarily obsessed Star Trek geek as a teenager.
8) I remember nightmares I had as a four-year-old.
9) My little toes are both so messed up from sparring that they have almost no toenails.
10) I can wiggle my ears and flare my nostrils.

NINE Places I've Visited:
1) New York City
2) Spain
3) France
4) Texas (Austin and Houston)
5) Canada (Montreal and Vancouver)
6) Nebraska
7) Mexico
8) Caribbean (Barbados, St. Martin and Martinique)
9) Florida (Tampa, Fort Myers and South Beach)

EIGHT Ways to Win My Heart:
1) Flowers. I LOVE fresh flowers but never buy them for myself.
2) Know your football and baseball.
3) Make me laugh. For real. Funny is so important.
4) Cuddling. It's very stereotypical, I know, but we can cuddle WHILE watching football.
5) Like animals. Kick my cats and I kick you. Hard. Plus a man who volunteers at the local shelter and/or donates to the ASPCA is hott.
6) Distract me when I start obsessing over something I cannot change.
7) Be a little take-charge. Sometimes, those of us who have stronger personalities attract men who are a little passive, and while I understand that, it won't win my heart. I've broken up with some otherwise wonderful men because I had a bigger set than they did.
8) Be as much of a dork as I am. Watch Battlestar Galactica. Listen to embarrassing music. I don't have the time or knowledge to be cool.

SEVEN Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
1) Go to Ireland and Scotland, drinking REAL Guinness and standing on many remote cliffs overlooking the ocean.
2) Own my own place.
3) Take lessons, buy a car, and start driving again.
4) Find that special someone.
5) Become a fourth degree black belt. (That's Master level.)
6) Have a big birthday bash with all my best friends attending.
7) See David Bowie in concert.

SIX Things I'm Afraid Of:
1) Stinging insects - bees, hornets, wasps, etc. My biggest phobia by FAR. I freak the fuck out around those things.
2) Crowds - sets off my claustrophobia something fierce. (You would hate it too if you were only chest-high to everyone.)
3) Dying alone in my apartment, with no one knowing.
4) Losing friends and/or family.
5) Waking up from surgery still intubated.
6) Airplane takeoffs.

FIVE Things I Don't Like:
1) Insects.
2) Coconut.
3) Vertical blinds.
4) Bananas.
5) Tomatoes.

FOUR Ways to Turn Me Off:
1) Patronize me. I can have boobs AND understand football.
2) Not watch any television/be a PBS-only snob.
3) Have horrid grammar. I try not to be all grammar police on people, but constant egregious misuse of the English language drives me insane.
4) Be an Ugly American.

THREE Things I Do Every Day:
1) Stretch my back multiple times. I REALLY need to get a separate keyboard for my laptop.
2) Daydream about being swept away by one of my current male obsessions.
3) Eat something that only a twelve year old would consider "food."

TWO Things that Make Me Happy:
1) Walking around during the perfect night, with a crisp breeze and a full moon.
2) A good laugh, be it from a funny e-mail or witty conversion with a friend.

ONE Thing On My Mind Right Now:
1) How the hell am I going to arrange my surround speakers for decent acoustics in my weirdly-shaped living room?

Pardon Me While I Bitch

Sorry, but it's been one of those weeks:

1.) The tattoo thing still has me so angry that I can barely concentrate on work, so I haven't gotten much done this week. Plus, it's not like I can even FIX the tattoo until it's healed. What REALLY pisses me off is that there's "blowout" on one of the clock hands, which can't really be fixed. (Blowout is when the ink "bleeds" a bit, so it's not a nice sharp line.)

2.) My toe is looking even WORSE, so venting via Tae Kwon Do is STILL out of the question. Once again, I'm supposed to WAIT for it to magically clear up on its own. However, for this I'm going to call UsedCarSalesman, who said he knows an excellent podiatrist he's referred other people to.

Okay, bitching done. On the bright side, I'm hanging out with SevenofColorado tonight, which will be Most Fun. Also, tomorrow night is the new Battlestar Galactica episode. Yay!

ARGH!!!

Well, the "scabby, multicolored flakey" phase of my tattoo is finishing up and I am NOT happy. Check it:




No, not the color. That's just my camera being stupid. It's the missing spots of color. I am NOT happy. I know it's not the tatooist - as you saw, it looked great pre-healed. It just lost pieces of color during the healing process, which I've heard can happen. It is also easily fixable. I'm just really annoyed because now I have to trek all the way back out to Davis Square to get it touched up. (Not to mention go through the whole "can't sleep on my side for a week" thing again.)

Well, I have to let it finish healing anyway. Maybe once it's completely finished it will look better. Since my other tattoo is on my lower back, I couldn't inspect it as closely so I don't know if that went through the same thing.

I'm also not ecstatic about the shading.

CHRIS GARVER, WHERE ARE YOU?

New Ink!

This is for Liz, since she has a seeming inability to see photos attached in e-mail.

*grins evilly*

The Year in Review

Stole this off of Liz's blog because I don't feel like working:

1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?

Stayed by myself for a week in a city where I didn't speak the language.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Oh god...I always make all these grandiose resolutions and never end up keeping them. And of course I made more for this year. I believe I've already broken about four of them. *LOL*

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yep! CrazySis! Hence the introduction of Poopsalot.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Nope, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?

Spain and France.

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?

A car and a significant other.

7. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

November 4th, when I arrived in Madrid and KornGirl wasn't at the airport. Because it was the most terrified I ever was. Also September 11th and October 13th, when I tested for and received my black belt, respectively.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting my black belt.

9. What was your biggest failure?

My social life.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Well the saga of The Right Amount of Synthroid continues, but otherwise just one bad flu.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The material for my duvet cover. LOVE!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

SevenOfColorado, for moving out to Boston.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

My father's. As always.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Well I live in Boston, so rent. Moving and the trip to Europe also ate up he-yuge chunks of money.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The movie adaptation of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." Too bad the special effects disappointed. Some great sets though.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?"

"Somebody Told Me" by The Killers

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder - Hmmm...slightly sadder.
ii. thinner or fatter?-- About the same.
iii. richer or poorer?-- Thanks to inflation and no raise, actually poorer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Everything. Working on some big goals. I didn't accomplish much this year.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Watching television.

20. How will you be spending New Year's?

Alone at home. See above re: my social life.

22. Did you fall in love in 2005?

Not really, no.

23. How many one-night stands?

One.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

Toss up between Scrubs, House and Boston Legal.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

No.

26. What was the best book you read?

A Movaeable Feast.

27. What was your greatest musical (re)discovery?

iTunes.

28. What did you want and get?

A redesigned bedroom. My black belt.

29. What did you want and not get?

Driving lessons and a car. My CISSP.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

Oooh...tough one. For now I'll say King Kong.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I actually went home. Was supposed to do a 16-mile hike, but got rained out so we went shopping in Lake Placid instead.

.32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A relationship.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?

Work-from-home chic.

34. What kept you sane?

I'm not.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I love me some Jason Isaacs.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

The continued existence of the Patriot Act.

37. Who did you miss?

Sarah. Bitch moved out to Framingham and suddenly she's too good for me. We need to go on vacation so you can be a bad influence again!

38. Who was the best new person you met?

PoopsaLot.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005

Sometimes it's just not your year.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"So no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA. It's like you're always stuck in second gear. When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month or even your year."

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Today was my first day back to work. I managed to sort through my e-mail last night, so although I was pretty busy today it wasn't too overwhelming. (Plus a fair amount of people took today off.)

The Handyman came and fixed my bedroom window, which had gotten stuck slightly open after I had flipped it down to clean the outside. (NOT a good thing in this weather.) He also looked at my water heater. He tinkered with it a bit, but didn't see anything wrong. I guess running out of hot water in the shower in fifteen minutes is NORMAL, even with a 40 gallon tank and a specialist being sent by building management because I was using so little water that they thought my meter was broken. *sighs* (Since it started out hot and got cold pretty fast, I was sure that the bottom element had burned out.)

And tonight I desperately need to go grocery shopping. All in all, a fairly typical Tuesday.