Something Squirrelly this Way Comes

I had a couple ideas in mind for today's post. Then I met up with Kelp on the one bus to work. Got her advice & suggestions on something & then managed to talk about a lady who was walking right in front of us. Nothing bad. I was just saying that she normally rides this bus but I didn't see her today. Let me just say this. She was wearing a different coat & had a different bag.

So far, this week, I've come to work twice and both times I've had mildly embarrassing things happen. Both of which were (mostly) my fault. Okay, so maybe part of me will always blame the escalator. What can you do? Kinda makes me wonder what'll happen on Friday. Thankfully I have tomorrow off.

I get to my cube and there's a pile of balloons on my desk. No note but my gut tells me it's Kelp. Are my powers of mind reading that excellent? Do I have a stellar sixth sense? Perhaps. But the fact that I decorated her cube & have assisted her in decorating other cubes was the tip off. Super Detective am I. After I finish laughing I call her & thank her. Thanks Kelp and Dani :)

Unrelatedly, while talking to ma mere yesterday, she asked me something pretty darn funny. I had told her to read the blog to find out how my day started (annoying micro-manager was hovering & I didn't want to get into the deets). Told her it was pretty painful and she asks me, "Did you get bitten by a squirrel trying to be a good Samaritan?" I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. It's quite obvious where my knack of asking utterly random questions comes from.

Hockey
Sadly the Canes lost last night :( As did the C(r)aps. At least the Avalanche won. And before yall ask, No. I haven't checked to see who was traded where for what. Maybe later today or tomorrow I'll check on that.

This is Ms. Graceful checking in for the day. I may have slid on the escalator at the metro. I may have skidded down two treads on my left knee. I may have almost cried. I may still want to cry. I may also have a knee that looks like it's been grilled. I may wish that I hadn't come into work today.

Okay, so all of the above is true. Well, except for the graceful part. On the bright side I didn't slide down the escalator on my face. I can still walk (hobble). It's almost the end of February - which I'm mostly ambivalent about, but figured I had to list something else. :)

So the wintry mix turned out to be 90% snow and 10% freezing rain and drizzle. I guess that's still a mix. There's about 3.5 or 4 inches near me although it's been right at freezing or just above all night, so all kinds of melting going on. Which translates into work opening on time. Bummer.

I'm sure lots of folks will either be out or late. I'll be one of them but only because I want to limit my driving with the crazy people (i.e. the people who live here and don't know how to drive on roads that are wet, much less ones that have patches of snow and ice on them). I'm not saying I'm a stellar snowy road driver, living in the south for seven years kinda takes away your skills, but I know I'm better than a lot of the people on the roads.

Unrelatedly, I started reading You Suck: A Love Story last night. It's amusing and different from my usual reading fare in that it's more satire.

Hockey
Canes won this weekend! C(r)aps won one (Sat) of the two meetings with the devils this weekend. I was rather surprised at the sheer number of folks who showed up for the game on Sunday. The ones that went got to see AO end his streak of no goals. Sadly they didn't get to see a win.

I'm a big fan of The Melting Pot. For those who don't know, it's a fondue restaurant. Melted cheese as a course, chocolate as another. What's not to like?

Unrelatedly, we're supposed to get a "wintry mix" storm tonight/this morning so I had to cut my activities short. Bummer. But that's okay, I can always cavort to my heart's content next weekend :)

Frulequet - So very glad that you're okay!!! The pictures are crazy scary. Let me know if you need me to send some lavendar oil your way.

I was chilling my heels for about 1.5 hours yesterday afternoon in a room with strangers. There was a tv playing what I thought was a Seriously lame horror movie. It seemed like the entire time (except for the jingly commercials) there was something's going to get you! music playing. I kept snickering at the tv which, I'm pretty sure, wasn't what the filmmaker(s) were going for.

I just looked up what "movie" it was. Yall ready for this? Twas Stephen King's Rose Red Pt 1,2,3. I'm pretty sure I was watching part 3. Some whacked out lady running around screaming "EMERREEEEEYYYYYYYY". So sorry Mr. King, but I wasn't scared in the least.

Canes won last night! They beat the Flyers 3-2 in OT. I got the text in the middle of my U2 fest. Which, actually, wasn't hard since I was up til midnight watching Elevation DVD. Well, parts of it - songs 10 & 12 mostly. The Edge singing then playing an acoustic guitar. Does a heart & soul good.

C(r)aps blew a 2 goal lead last night to the Sharks. Lost in a shoot out 3-2. I mostly watched the game as I read a book. Rarely do I multitask like that. But the book was much more interesting to me than the game (if it had been the Canes, no way the book would've won). However, I want to do my (if tiny) share and support hockey on tv so I left the game on in the background.

Unrelatedly, it's funny how someone who's up at 4 in the morning can still be 15 minutes late to work. Even when eschewing public transpo and driving in themselves. Mind boggling almost.

Mornin, my lovelies. MLK did, in fact visit me last night. Multiple short visits actually but that's cool. I'll take what I can get. Thanks for your help with that, c.

Canes & C(r)aps both lost last night as did the Flyers. Before someone gets bent out of shape about my mentionig the F team, lemme explain. I had two hockey viewing options last night C(r)aps vs Canadiens and Flyers vs sabres. I didn't see either. I never turned the tv on.

Right, now I gotta get to work.

It's 01.20, do you know where your REM is? Hopefully you do. I seem to have misplaced mine. I didn't even nap today - err yesterday. It's probably the lack of caffiene. There's a certain point where caffiene makes me sleepy and if I don't have enough, I'm wide awake (I'm not sleeping).

And for those U2 peeps out there, yes I know I was Bad in my post today. But I feel I'm entitled. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, pity. Go listen to the U2 songs I've mentioned, it'll make sense. Mostly. :)

Good Mornin'. Good Mornin'.
Sunbeams will soon smile through.
Good Mornin'. Good Mornin'
To you and you and you and you.

For those of you who dont recognize the song, it's from the movie Singin' In The Rain, which I watched this weekend. I've been humming the songs ever since.

Thankfully I'm off today. I'm sure my coworkers would want to smack me if I went around humming such a cheerful tune on a Monday morning.

There was a great hockey game last night. Penguins vs C(r)aps. Penguins won 3-2 but I found myself cheering for both teams and yelling at the refs on both of their behalfs. That's just wrong. I blame AO for this. I never used to have a problem disliking the C(r)aps. Ah well, that just means I have more opportunities to be happy that a team I (almost) like won, right? Canes beat the Canadiens on Saturday 5-3. I'm 100% thrilled about that :)

Get Well Soon, Dearheart

I spent last night hunkered down in a pile of blankets watching TCM. They (it?) showed two Audrey Hepburn movies, Sabrina and Breakfast At Tiffany's. So while the wind howled & knocked ice, snow & tree limbs akimbo I was sublimely happy.

No hockey games were played last night that I was overly interested in. Canes play the Rangers tonight tho.

Yesterday work was nice enough to let us out at 2 pm - which, for me is two hours before I normally leave. My apartment shuttle's first run is at 3.30, getting me to my apt at about 3.50. I checked the metro rail & bus schedules & plotted out a route to get me home at 3.05. Excellent.

I leave work at 2.02 catch the second bus to the metrorail. First one is packed like a can of sardines. I manage to get a seat on the next bus but it was still packed tight. I get to the metro stop and have to pass on the first train for the very same reason. I thread & shove my way pass the hordes of people to clear spot on the platform and wait 10 minutes for the next train.

I'm the last person to squeeze on that train, entirely because I shoved my way on. See the federal government closed at 2 pm as did all the businesses that tell their employees to do what the fed gov't does. It was a madhouse. Three hours of rush hour all crammed into a 30 minute time frame.

I stand all the way to my stop, elbow to elbow with other passengers. I get off the train, make my way to the bus stop & then check to see what time it is, 3.01. Yeah, I'd missed my bus. Next one supposed to show at 3.17.

Bus arrives at 3.25 and I climb on, only a little wary of the impending ride. I'd picked this bus & route entirely because it would be on the main roads. It'd been sleeting heavily since 12.30 or 1 and I didn't want to risk a bus on the side roads.
I get to my stop, get off and start the not quite 0.5 mile walk to my place.

What time did I get home? 3.50. The same time my shuttle would've dropped me off and almost two hours after I left work. Now the real doozey of a question is - how far do I live from work? Less than five miles.

In other chilly news, the Canes beat the Kings last night 2-1 and the sponsor of the goal cams in the Avalanche vs. Ducks game was an online dating service. The NHL or VS tv must be seriously desperate for sponsors. That's just so wrong. At least the Avs won 2-0.

Also, despite the roads being Much worse, it only took me an hour to get into work today. We had a delay so I didn't show up here til 8.20. This place is deserted.

Well I managed to go 12 days without going to a grocery store. Pretty darn good, if you ask me. As it is, I followed the protocol established when I finally admitted to my problem. I got Rach's permission & a spending limit. Isn't she great? To be my rock in these trying times. My guidepost. My way point. add as much sarcasm to the preceding as you feel it needs

Only allowed $20 & nothing that wasn't on my list. I spent $18.53 & got everything except the extra virgin olive oil. I could've gotten the oil if I had only gotten one container of cranberry juice.. but it was on sale so I *had* to get two. Well, technically, I didn't have to get two, sale price would've been present even on just the one bottle... but I'm still recovering. It's not like I can give up grocery shopping forever. I have to learn the give & take. Yeah and umm to avoid sales. As it is I saved $5 with the sales enabling to get (mostly) everything I wanted.

Hockey Stuff
Only one hockey game last night. Flyers trounced the Red Wings 6-1. I know Don Roberto is happy. Rennie tho, well, he's prolly crying in his wheaties. I know how he LOVES the Flyers. 0:)

Tonight the Canes take on the Kings and the Caps will have to start practicing harder with goalie Brent Johnson as Olie is out three weeks with a knee injury. I feel the Caps will once again be embracing their name. Crapitals. Umm no offense Brent. You're out of practice & the Caps allow the most shots on goal in the league (at least they did, last time I checked).

Apparently the name Scott is synonymous with February. I know four Scott's born in the shortest month. Actually, I think I only know five Scotts so it's weird that all but one are born in Feb. Even odder is that I know a person with a birthday for the first nine days of the month (different people, not someone born nine times). Of all the people I know that were born in Feb. all but two are Aquarius. Obviously they didn't get the memo that Pisces is better. ;)

What's not at all odd about this is that I have yet to wish any of these people a Happy Birthday. I'm bad, I know. So for all you February Birthday people HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Sorry I'm late/early and umm don't be expecting a card from me.

In other news it wasn't a good hockey night in my books. I mean it was good in that I got to watch a game but none of the teams I wanted to win, did. Red Wings vs Flyers tonight.

Kelp directed me to this amusing site where you flag bad drivers using their license plate number. You can also give Awards (they let you in), Hazards (brake lights don't work) & Winks (you think they're attractive). The site lets registered users comment on the postings. I had a big laugh yesterday when a user commented with "An AWARD on a Maryland plate? Must be a forgery...Someone call Homeland Security!" Truer words, bub. Truer words.

Canes won last night! They beat the Bruins 5-2(sorry other b) and the Penguins had to go to a shootout against the Flyers? What happened there?

Erik Cole - I hope the injury isn't serious. Get well soon! No repeats of last season, please.

Laugh if you will at the story about an Owl who cut power to 23,000 people in Wyoming. I'm not laughing. But then I know about ACORN. The Owl's kamikaze mission was part of Operation Black Hoot, which was planned out after thorough study of Operation Black Nut. Obviously the animals found a more efficient way of impacting the humans. A greater number were inconvienced at a deadlier time of year.

Apparently blogger is part of the Honorary Owl Observation Team (HOOT for short) as they won't let me post a picture of one of the lookouts during the Kamikaze mission. Obviously HOOT feels I didn't doctor the Owl's identity enough. Ah well.

It's a snowy, wet & cold morning here in the nation's capital. Lots of school delays & closings. Sadly my work wasn't closed. I had a glimmering of hope that it would be delayed but no. I was here at 6.30. Okay, 6.45 but that's alright. The bus drivers were being cautious & since I was on board, I really appreciated that.

Lot of people are running late today as it's after 7 & the place is much quieter than usual. Maybe they're just scared to come in & face the massive piles of work that showed up yesterday afternoon. I know that weighed a bit in my hope for a delay.

I won't go on about the temperature and wind chill factor since the majority of yall live north of me & would just give me grief. "It's 0 degrees here with a windchill of 20 below & you think 11 degrees is cold? Pffftt!!" etc. Let me just say this. I'm in the south. We have thinner blood. Eleven degrees to us is like 20 below to you, so stop mocking our freezing selves & commiserate a little.

Hurricanes won last night! Woooohooooo! And the Caps lost to the Bruins (SO). Which is good because the Caps don't need any more points & the Bruins don't really seem to be in the playoff race (even tho they have the same pts as the Caps), so I'm not overly worried about them knocking the Canes out. Please don't let me have jinxed the Canes with that!

Mainly I want the Canes to win & win & win & the Leafs to lose. As well as the Islanders, Lightning, Senators, Canadiens & Penguins (sorry b). If the Thrashers were to lose some, that works for me. And, as I'm sure yall have figured out, I'd rather the devils & sabres lose often anyway.

Sunday about 5.15 one of my neighbors shows up with two cops. Apparently he had been renting space from the people who are subletting the apartment next to mine (we share the longest wall - LR, DR & Bath). Last week I came home to find a maintenance guy changing the lock on the neighbor's mailbox & one of my neighbors standing in the hall locking & unlocking the door. There are so many different people that go in & out of that apt, I can't keep track. No idea where all the extra keys came from as the office only gives out two keys per bedroom & that's a one bedroom apt.

Anyway, from what I gathered whilst listening through the walls (for the record, holding a glass to the wall to hear better doesn't work) the subletters kicked out the guy who brought the cops. Unwanted Guy's (UG) stuff was still in apt. According to ppl in apt, UG owes them money. Cops leave after about 30 mins. I think UG stays in apt.

Then about 7.30 or so, other residents of that apt show up. Much yelling ensues in some language I can't understand. Cops are called again. This time four show up (two of which had been there earlier) and are there nearly two hours.

Apparently the people that were in the apt when the cops came the first time were just friends of the subletters who were staying there "visiting". The people who showed up around 7.30 were the ones actually subletting. The people's whose names are on the lease never did show up. UG gets his stuff & takes it to his car, where he's been living for the last five days. Actually the police & subletters & subletters' "visitors" gather up UG's stuff as UG wasn't allowed back in apt. Plans were made for all parties to go the courthouse on Monday.

From what I overheard, it's unlikely that the subletters will ever get any money they say UG owes them because they have no records or receipts. And the subletters could be kicked out because there is no paperwork in the apt office showing that they are living in the apt. And the "visitors", who have been there at least two months, are likely out of there as well. No idea about the people listed on the lease.

I heard no shouting from the neighbors last night, well not these neighbors. I did hear someone go in & out of the apt. I'm mostly hoping the cops don't have to come back because things were pretty intense during the second incident. A lot more shouting & banging around. Lot of "calm down"s from the cops.


Unrelateadly - Red Wings beat the Rangers last night which was good & bad. I rather like the Rangers & usually like for them to win. However, I don't want them to get any more points since the Canes are on the cusp of the playoff teams. So yay the Rangers didn't get any more points! but boo they lost :(

Yeah Bears! Oh wait... I actually didn't care who won. I was mostly entertained by the relentless rain, the turnovers but not the commercials. They were crap this year. Especially that one for the butt ugly car with men gyrating around it. WTF?? Careerbuilder had the best ads with the workers surviving in the jungle. Obviously I'm a big football fan ;)

Canes don't have another game until Tuesday. I hope they can get things going again in that time frame, start winning again.


Tomorrow - Police (real cops, not the group) at my building. Twice.

The winter storm we were forecasted all week to get - didn't show. It's just rain.
The Canes lost last night.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report on Global Warming comes out today & it doesn't look good for the Earth.
I'm out of cereal. If I stop at Dunkin Donuts to get a croissant, is that different than stopping at the grocery store to buy food?
That godforsaken commercial for Target is stuck in my head. And the commercial just came on. Grrr. Why did The Beatles sell the rights to Target?? Gah.

I think I'm done whining and complaining for the morning. Now I gotta shower & get dressed for work.

Bright side - Finally Friday! and the Canes go to White House to be honored as Stanley Cup Champions
Neutral - Penguins won last night
Grr Argh - See entry above

I have a serious problem. An addiction. I'm not sure how I got this way. It's not illegal, so no worries about me ending up in jail for it. But it's a troublesome issue nonetheless.

I've already taken the first step to helping myself. I've admitted that I have a problem. Now I'm taking another one by admitting it to everyone here. I'm addicted to buying groceries. Laugh if you want but I spent over $300 on groceries in JANUARY alone! That ranks as a serious problem. I don't have $300 to be spending on groceries on a monthly basis. Yes my freezer is full of food & not barren except for ice cubes, batteries, flour & frozen drinks.

Lately I haven't been able to go into the grocery & come out without spending at least $50. It's not like I plan to do that. I still have things on my list that I haven't bought because I was trying to keep the costs down. Vanilla extract, for example. Ground ginger. Chicken breasts. Cereal. Bread.

The last two times I've gone in, I've had to take stuff back in & get refunds because items that had sale tags didn't ring up on sale. That saved me $10.

So I have all this food at home and what did I bring for lunch today? Veggie Bites and a Boca Burger. No bun because I don't have any bread type products. Just the burger & some yummy veggie bites.

I've made a deal with Rach. I'm not allowed in a grocery store the month of February unless I clear it with her first. I'm hoping this will put me on the road to ending this crazy addiction.

Confession time is over. Tonight the Canes play the Lightning. C'mon Canes! Let's end this losing streak!!!!!