Something Squirrelly this Way Comes

So today is the last day of November which means it is also the last day of the Hurricane season (weather hurricanes, not National Hockey League Hurricanes) and the last day of NaNoWriMo. Sadly there were no good hurricanes (storms) this season. Yes, I'm a weather nut. I acually *like* storms and the idea of an approaching hurricane (storms & hockey players) gives me little tingles of pleasure and anticipation. What can I say other than I'm a tad squirrelly at times.

As for NaNo, well, this year didn't go so well. I think I hit about 25,000 words. I need to type up what I have written on my legal pads to know for sure. So I might have reached the halfway mark. My theory is that I'm not supposed to finish NaNo in even numbered years. Or maybe years with pitiful hurricane (storms) activity. Eh. Either way, I didn't finish although I did write more than I normally would have, so that's something. Watch out NaNo 2007 here I come! Hmm. I think I'll hold that thought until October 2007.

The brain has been flailing about trying to think of something to post today. I finally decided to give my pal Hater Dictator's blog a plug. It's called The Great Hate (TGH) and should prove to be highly entertaining. First post is about how Lost is a crap show. Obviously I approve! :)

For those concerned, TGH is Not about discrimination of peoples but more a commentary on the lack of Taste of peoples. Here's HD's credo: Hate is great. Hate is not great if you are a racist, homophobe or misogynist. Anything along these lines will not be tolerated and will be deleted immediately without further explanation. Hate for the right reasons.

I'm not gonna sit here and type out all that saccharine sweetness about how good it was to see my family over the Thanksgiving holiday. Or how much fun I had going shopping on Black Friday with my mom & sis-in-law (despite my having to drive in fog so dense the street lights appeared to be floating). Instead I'm going to tell you about the two best incidents from my trip. Both involve my two year old nephew JT.

During JT's nap on Saturday my dad and brother set up the Christmas tree. It's a pre-lit variety so there was no hilarity at watching them untangle and drape lights. Anyway, JT gets up from his nap gets to the top of the stairs, sees the tree and is Very excited. "Tree! Lights!! YAY!" and a very cute "wow" whispered in awe with wide eyes. The tree is plugged into an outlet that's controled by a switch across the room. So my dad & brother get the bright (no pun intended) idea to make it look like the lights on the tree are controlled by clapping. Dad claps, brother flips switch. JT is MUCH excited by all this and proceeds to clap repeatedly. Brother flips switch. JT squeals and giggles and shouts "Yay!" We finally get him to stop clapping by saying the tree is tired and needs a nap (JT was clapping three or four times for every one flip of the switch).

Awhile later my brother gets out his camera and I man the light switch. I attempt to flip the switch for every clap by JT. I fail miserably much to our collective amusement. JT didn't seem to mind the delay though. I haven't seen the video yet. Hopefully it's as entertaining as being there was.

The other incident which brought me Much joy and amusement was on Sunday night. Just JT, the folks and I (bro & sis-in-law went home & left JT with the grandparents for the week). Folks & JT had gone for a drive to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood so I took the opportunity to pop in the Zoo TV DVD. I thought I had resisted playing the DVD fairly well since my folks have a massive big screen TV. Folks & JT return just before Bullet the Blue Sky is coming on. JT had been known to shake his booty to BTBS so I managed to waylay his wanting of the movie Cars to be played by saying, "This is your favorite song! Remember?" JT pauses and looks at the screen and kinda smiles but no booty shaking.

We (dad, JT & I) play cars (roll cars back and forth under couch) for a bit, all the while Zoo TV is playing. I fast forward through some songs until I get to ones my mom knows (I've converted her into a U2 fan). JT and my dad climb into a recliner just before Where the Streets Have No Name comes on. As the music builds and the lights start pulsing, JT starts bouncing up and down on my dad's lap. He claps. He says "yay!" and I beam with joy. Woohooo JT!! Obviously my excellent music taste has been inherited by you :)

Yeah, haven't posted anything last couple of days. Only reason I am now is so that I can annoy my brother with my loud typing. He (& other family members) are watching MI3. I have no desire to watch it. This is my (not so) silent protest.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! :)

I was packing for my Thanksgiving excursion last night (shocker! I packed the night Before and not the morning of!) whilst watching the Canes/Rangers hockey game. Let's just say my packing went Much better than the hockey. Stupid Rangers.

I had a mental checklist of what I needed. Plus I was chatting on YIM and friends were giving me reminders.

-Laptop - Nah. Don't need it.
-PJs - Umm shirt but no bottoms
-Toothpaste - Nah. Only big tubes, will bum from relatives.
-Toothbrush - Check!
-Eyeballs & their entourage - Check!
-Clothes (cleverly disguised as laundry) - Check!
-Fi-pod - Check! But will update music on it from laptop. Cd-rom drive not found??!! WHAT??!!
-Laptop (now needs once over by tech support) - Check!
-Curse at referees for missing penalties - Check! Check! Check! CHECK!
-Berate Commodore (Canes defenseman) for stupid penalty - Check! Check! (the twerp)
-Take out trash - Err no.
-Pack bottles into 1 one-quart sized zip top baggie (even things like chapstick which is not a liquid but maybe a gel?) - Check!
-Water plants - Uhh no.
-Open blinds a crack so plants will have sunlight - Oopsie
-Camera - Check!
-Extra batteries for camera & fi-pod - No.
-Text frequent flyer & query about carrying on backpack And laptop case & get into random tangent about how much makeup he wears at midnight** - Check!
-Cram everything into small bag & laptop case - Barely.
-Get some sleep - Check
-Call dad on cell before dawn & ask him about the laptop/backpack scenario since Frequent Flyer wasn't helpful (a trunk for makeup. Puhleeze!) - Check!
-Repack everything at 5.30 in the morning - Check!
-Eat breakfast - No.
-Pack pb&j for brunch - Check!
-Clobber people on metro & metrobus with backpack, laundry bag (I mean suitcase!) & laptop case - Check. Check. Check. Lots more checks.
-Get understanding smiles & okays - No.
-Get grunts & nods - Check.
-Get a snarky, "EXCUSE YOU" from grumpy person - Check (so what if I accidentally hit her with my backpack again while shifting so as not to Brush her any more. It's not like I did that on purpose. Maybe.)

But that's just the stuff I can remember from my mental list. Obviously it needs some tweaking.

**That is the conversation was at midnight. I don't mean that he only wears makeup at midnight. Although, that might be the case. Mental note: Ask Frequent Flyer how much makeup he wears at midnight.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.8
Mind:	6.4
Body:	5.7
Spirit:	8.8
Friends/Family:	None of your beeswax
Love:	None of your beeswax
Finance:	5.8
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Sadly, I now have that song "It's my life" running through my head.

Dar Williams show last night was Great! Just Dar and her guitar on stage. She's recovering from a "bit of the ick" so her voice was a little huskier than usual which worked well for some of the songs. The higher notes, not so much but her voice didn't crack so it's all good. She was chatty and fun, lots of laughter from her and the audience. She did an "impersonation" of Martha Stewart too. Said she was looking at the lights and how there were red & blue gels and that in crossover areas there was purple. An Obama purple. Then she thought of Martha Stewart coming out with a new purple paint color called Obama. It was funny.

I didn't get wet waiting outside for a line number either. The stage area is general admission so you go early to get a line number, then wait for your number to be called. There were four of us in line, under the overhang along the building about 15 feet from the front door. Quite obviously standing in a line. This lady arrives in a taxi and parks herself in front of the main entrance and yaks on her cell phone for the next 45 minutes. The line grows and grows and still she acts like she's fine. After the wind dies down and there's no longer any way ward raindrops coming down we shift the line to the Entrance and the three people ahead of me, inform the lady that she is not in line, that we are the line. She says, "Oh but I just went were it said Entrance." They explain to her how the process works and she gets all snotty and says, "I was here before you were." They say "No, you weren't." Her reply was, "I was at the entrance, you weren't" and she got back on her cell phone and didn't move.

Stupid cow acting like she was clueless but I overheard her inside talking to the people she met. She's been there many times before and knew Exactly how the lineup procedure went. Grrrr! I had the satisfaction of accidentally bumping into her as she was getting her bag searched. Not my fault she was blocking the door.

Only time I got really wet was inside when a pitcher of ice water on our table sprung a leak. The napkin levee burst and my leg was soaked. Granted when my leg was drenched is how we found out that there was a leak. The lights were down, opening act was on, who was looking at the table to see if there was water pooling? Caroline Herring is much less country in person, tho she does have that deep south accent. I'm still not sure if I'm a fan. A friend bought one of her cds & I'll borrow it to see if I like it.

I had planned on going to the Canes vs Craps game tonight. However, somewhere between my place & my cube I lost $20. There goes my ticket money for the game. Ah well, I'll just watch it at home and pretend I'm in the arena. But hey, I saw Dar last night! :)

I got to work today at just before 6 this morning. Well, technically I got to the parking garage at just before 6. I got to my desk at 6.03. The reason for coming in 30 minutes early is the Dar Williams concert tonight. Wooo hooo! It's at a general admission venue, box office open at 5 for handing out line numbers and the doors open at 6. So I'll get there about 4 (hopefully) wait on line for an hour, get a low (please, please, please) line number and then go have an early dinner with some peeps at this Fantastic Thai restaurant around the corner.

Some chickie named Caroline Herring is opening for Dar. She may just be a little too country for me. At least the handful of songs I listened to on her website were. Maybe she'll folk it up some, since she's touring with Dar.

*Happy Dance*

Yay! Dar show tonight! The Canes won last night! The craps lost, sabres lost (YES!) and possibly the most shocking the Flyers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Wow. Who'd have guessed that?? Not only did the Flyers win, they won 7-4. Again, I say Wow! Ducks were second in the NHL & the Flyers were dead last. After last night, the Ducks are still second but the Flyers are now Tied for last. Big changes ;)

Some people should stop and think before they say or do things. Okay, alright, MOST people should just plain think. I was at one of the public libraries last evening, scribbling away on my NaNo novel when I hear this older woman fussing at Chloe - an adorable little girl of about four, I'm guessing.

The woman walks up to this table where two people are busily studying, their books & jackets spread all over the place. Woman nudges a coat to the side to set down her books, all the while fussing at Chloe to "Hurry up. Get over here. You're disturbing people who are trying to study! Chloe! Get over here. NOW!" Chloe wasn't making a sound, only reason I even knew she was there was because of the old windbag. The lady wasn't yelling but she wasn't whispering either. "Chloe, stop fooling around & put your book here." Woman starts tapping her finger on top of her pile of books. Tap. Tap. Tap. All the while glaring at Chloe & urging her to hurry up.

Chloe finally gets to the table, puts her book down. Woman tells Chloe to sit down while she goes to look for another book. Woman walks off and Chloe struggles to pull out a chair to sit down on. She manages to pull the chair out, sit down on it, get her book when the woman hisses at her from the stacks to "Get over here now." Geez lady, make up your mind.

So Chloe gets down & goes over to the woman. Just as Chloe gets there, woman moves on, they're back in the stacks for a couple minutes and then I hear "Chloe! C'mon! Stop playing and let's go!" The woman then emerges from the stacks, no sign of Chloe. More tapping & urging from the woman, "don't make me come get you!" Two seconds later the woman is moving back into the stacks to get Chloe.

"Chloe Annabelle let's go! Stop playing! You're disturbing the people trying to read! Let's GO!" Couple seconds of quiet then, "Chloe! You know what will happen when we get home! CHLOE! One. Two. Three!" The woman then grabs Chloe's wrist (they were only one row back & I could clearly see them) and starts dragging her back to the table. Woman lets go of Chloe, gathers up her books, grabs Chloe's wrist again and heads for the check out desk.

Chloe finally speaks up. "No! Let go! I want my mommy!" and more cries along those lines. I felt bad for little Chloe. The woman was, by far, disturbing more people than Chloe was. The security guard approached them and things seemed to settle down. About ten minutes later, I packed up and headed out. As I was sitting in my car, waiting for another car to back up and get out of my way, this car passes in front of me (99% of the time I back into spaces) and there's Chloe Annabelle in the front passenger seat and mean old lady at the wheel. My first thought was poor Chloe next thought was shouldn't she be in the back, in a car seat? No way she was over the weight or height limit, she was just a little thing. But then again, I don't know the car seat laws here in VA.

Unrelatedly, the Rangers beat the Devils last night. Wooohooooo! However, Rangers play the Canes tonight. Let's Go Canes!

My case of Mondayitis continued through the day & into the night yesterday. The Canes lost to the effin sabres, the Avalanche lost, and the Crapitals won. Not a good hockey night. Altho the Flyers actually came close to winning. Which is surprising but then again, they were playing the Penguins.

I ended up crashing about 9.00. Just couldn't watch the Flyers/Penguins game any longer. Tonight the Rangers play the devils on a channel I'll be able to watch. C'mon Rangers!!

As for non-hockey stuff. I got nothin. Sorry folks.

So I had a nice little blog entry all typed up, spell checked (yeah, I know I should do that more often but I don't. So bite me) and ready to go. I click Publish Post and blogger kerpluies. I get an error page. I try going back, didn't work. I try refreshing - nada. My blog entry is gone.

Then blogger itself acts up and tells me that it Can't Find MY ENTIRE BLOG and I nearly scream ...inappropriate things at the webpage. Which would've been bad. Very Very Very bad as I'm at work. So I'm periodically copying this & saving it into a word document so that I won't be screwed over by Mondayitis yet again.

My initial post consisted of a rant about Mondayitis & coupons. I started out with my brief battle with one of the copy machines. It claimed a paper jam yet there wasn't one. I was trying to copy a sixteen page document and had to "clear" the paper jam between Each page. I'm pretty sure the copier was just toying with me. It wanted me to sit my arse down on that cold, cold floor (copy room is kept to a balmy 65 degrees F) and fiddle around with its innards. The sadistic bastard. Needless to say, I won. And that copier's ears may still be ringing from my slamming of the doors & drawers. Mwahahahahahaha.

Then I babbled on about how grocery store coupons and sales are part of a vast conspiracy to get you to buy stuff that you just don't need but Can't pass up because it's "such a good deal". For example I've had this coupon for a $1.00 off two jars of sugar free jam/jelly for a couple months now. It doesn't (didn't) expire until Jan or Feb 2007. I managed to not buy the jam/jelly because the sugar free stuff costs more than the sugar laden variety, even with the coupon. They also rarely have two different flavors that I would actually eat. Plus I already have a half jar of grape jelly in my fridge, I don't need any more.

Well, on Friday the sugar free stuff was on sale AND I had my coupon. Not only that but the store had blackberry And raspberry! Rarely do I see both flavors in stock at the same time. Vast conspiracy I tell you! I now have 2.5 jars of jam/jelly in my apartment and I can't even remember the last time I used the one I already had!

I didn't even tell yall how I was waylaid by a coworker explaining to me how he Didn't overflow the coffee pot this morning. He told me this while my arse was going numb on the copy room floor. And I have a papercut. And my coffee is cold. And there's a funky smell in the air.

In short, I have a bad case of Mondayitis.

Okay, not really but I wanted something that started with the letter F and some alliteration. One of my quirky moods.

Last night was a GREAT hockey game!! Not only did the Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Washington Crapitals 5-0 BUT Erik Cole got a hat trick (3 goals in one game), Trevor Letowski got a goal (he was clobbered during the Penguins game in mid Oct., knocked out & taken off the ice on a stetcher - left behind a sizeable pool of blood too, so it's so good to see him skating well & scoring!) and Cam Ward got his first career regular season shut out!!! Woohooo!! Way to go boys!!! (Other goal was scored by Eric Staal, who also had an assist for the night).

Hope those of yall with the day off are enjoying it, those who are at work are having the day go by fast (if that's your desire) and that everyone remembers why Veterans' Day is a holiday in the first place.

Veterans' Day ...is observed elsewhere as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day. All major hostilities of World War 1 were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice. From Wikipedia

Also see the History of Veterans' Day from the U.S. Army's website.

What is going on? The full moon was last weekend. Why are people acting so oddly? They're in happy, cheerful, sing song moods. Quite obviously they haven't heard the "song" Window In The Skies. I'm thinking because tomorrow is a holiday (Veterans' Day for those more out of it than I) and therefore today is the end of their week. Well today is the end of my work week too but you don't hear me all chirpy and peppy and calling out GooOooOd MoooOoRrnnings! to people halfway down the hall. Heck you won't hear me sing songing greetings to people right in front of me. I'm not a kindergarten teacher, after all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not in a bad mood. Just baffled at all the uber morning greetins. I had fairly productive evening yesterday. Before crashing to bed at 10.30, I had confirmed Thanksgiving travel plans, taken a 2.5 hour nap & crossed the 11,600 word mark in my NaNoWriMo novel, currently entiteld Running To Stand Still. So I have reason to be in a happy place. Just not in a sickeningly sticky sweet place.

Perhaps I should go visit Charlie today.

So c sent me a link to find a page where I could download U2's newest single, Window In The Skies. I excitedly went and gave a listen. Umm. Hmm. What can I say? It's not their best? It reminds me of the Joan Baez album Gone From Danger - so much going on that you can't hear the song. I'm told that a song like that is overproduced. I don't know the jargon, I'm just a humble listener. I do know that there's too Much in it. You can't hear the guitar, the bass, the drums or even the lyrics sometimes.

If they'd just strip it down. Maybe the concert version of the song would be good. I dunno. I did upload it to the fi-pod and will give a listen - at my own risk - today. I had that sing-songy melody & falsetto stuck in my head for hours last night. I woke up several times & groaned cause it was still in my head. Last couple times I woke up I had The Cure's song Trust in my head. Draw your own conclusions from that one, folks.

On another bad note, the Canes lost in 6 OT to the Devils. Stupid penalty by Commodore early on gave the Devils the lead. I don't know how he thought he'd get a way with putting his hand on the puck and covering it. The nitwit. Perhaps he should let his hair grow out now. Maybe it'll bring some common sense with it.

I got nothing for yall today, except..... Canes vs Devils tonight!! Set your stations to Versus at 7 pm Eastern. Yes. It's a hockey game.

Let's Go Hurricanes!!

Today is such a Monday. I nearly rip my finger out of its socket this morning shutting my front door. My KU class ring got hung up and didn't want to move, so my finger did. The neighbors should thank me for only mentally screaming & shouting in pain. I had to take my ring off as my finger started swelling immediately. Thankfully cans of soda work really well as ice packs.

I grab my mail from Saturday, shove it into my bag and run out to meet my ride. Due to the lack of driving skills of 99% of the people here, we get to the Pentagon later than usual and I'm on the metro platform at 6.20 with 7 minutes to kill until the next train comes through. Fine. Dandy. I'll be late to work. Again.

I get to work at 6.41, which means I'll have 19 minutes for lunch - unless I want to stay later. Yeah, right. So I unload my bag and see a letter from my health insurance in there. I opened it up and find out that my insurance coverage had been stopped on 9/30/06. The letter was dated 10/31/06. Aren't they just swell? Waiting an entire month to tell me that I was no longer covered. I check my pay stub (also came in Sat's mail) and see that my fantastic, wonderful, lovely employer is Still taking money from my paycheck to cover health insurance. Hmm. Something's not right there. I called HR and left a voicemail. Then I emailed the HR guy & one of the VPs asking, basically, what the heck is going on??

Then I banged my shin on my cpu (it's on the floor) and had to redo some work I had just finished. Err I didn't have to redo the work because I banged my shin. I had to redo it because I lost my ever loving mind and messed up.

On the bright side the Canes won and the Sabres lost! Wahooo!! Two seperate games. Neither of which I got to see. Is it Tuesday yet?

Actually, I can't say that I am. I just felt the need to use the word jazzed today. Gee, I wonder why that might be. ;)

Anywho, I had the day off from work and have lounged about all day in my cat in the hat pajama bottoms & a tshirt. Good times. Sadly I am currently being productive as I'm doing some laundry.

So there you have it. The big uber cool day that I had. At least there's a hockey game on tonight. Sadly it's the Crapitals but at least it's a hockey game.

Last night was a great night for hockey. Too bad I didn't get to see ANY of it. Stupid cable was on the fritz, not that I'd have gotten to see any games had the cable been working. Grrrr. Who the heck cares about Basketball??? Come on people! Hockey is a SPORT. Basketball is just tall men chasing a ball back and forth. If the sport doesn't require padding, involve water or ice, then it's not a sport! But I digress.

The Canes won. The Avalanche won. Heck, even the Penguins won (that was just for you, b). Sadly they beat the Kings (sorry Joelya). Big kudos to Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins for scoring a goal in every game of his first six in the NHL. First player in 89 years to do this. You know it's big news in the sports world when my sorry news station covers it in the sports recap. Despite there being a hockey team here, they just don't cover the sport. Again, I say, Grrrrr!

In other news I've written 302 words. All of that on my bus ride home yesterday. Pitifual way to start the month.

It's November 1, my little lovelies and you know what that means. NaNoWriMo begins!! Wahoooo & holy crap!! 50,000 in a month. I have a beginning of a plot and four characters.

Okay, okay, OKAY. So it's more like I have an idea for a beginning of a plot. An incident anyway. And more like three and a half characters. Hoo boy. This should be interesting....