Stellar Nursery

from NASA's Image of The Day

Confession

I have a confession to make. And since I haven't believed in the catholic type of confession in years, I figure here is as good a place as any to wipe my conscience clear. I haven't been to the gym in 2 1/2 months. I could come up with a laundry list of excuses: The holidays! Who wants to think about working out during the holidays? The holidays are made for overindulgence and gulity feelings. Then, the week after Christmas - when everyone starts to feel their guilt and go to the gym - I got some nasty stomach thing, and couldn't do much more than moan and feel sorry for myself. Then I went out of town over New Year's, and it took me a week to catch up on my sleep - because trust me, you do not want to deal with me when I'm in Lack-Of-Sleep mode. Then in January I started my new job - which, as excuses go, is a really bad attempt since the new job actually gave me MORE free time, not less. Then I had to rush home to...feed the cats, and take out the garbage and fix dinner...and...um... Like I said, a list of bad excuses (Except for the sick-thing. That's a good one. Right? RIGHT? ) Well, that all stopped today. I hate the gym - I think I've made that clear in the past. This is because being lazy takes up so much energy that I have none left for sweating. If I turn on the fireplace for long enough, I can break a sweat being lazy, and surely that counts for SOMETHING. And all that lifting I do to get the wine glass to my lips...I just know that burns a few calories each time. And I do many reps of that exercise. So I was doing my part. Or so I thought. Until I got on the scale yesterday, and let's just say the scene in the bathroom before I got in the shower - which should be a happy moment, unless you ruin it by realizing you're half the weight of a pregnant pony - THAT scene should have won me the Oscar for "Best Performance By a Woman Approaching 30 Who Finally Realizes Her Body is Trying to Tell Her Something." Today, I went back to the gym. My thighs hurt. My arms hurt. My calves hurt. My hair folicles hurt. I think I strained a fingernail. Damn, I feel good.

I Should Be Working

I really should get back to work...but I came across this: Nerds: The Musical And now I'm distracted. A Musical about NERDS! Have I died and gone to heaven? If I find out they serve free chocolate and red wine at the performance, the answer is undoubtedly yes.

Not Going to Work Today

8 AM I call my (new, wonderfuly smart and normal) boss: Me: I'm not going to be coming in today. Boss: I figured as much since you're usually here by 7:30. Me: Ok, I'm gonna go lay on the couch with my medicine. Boss: What's that, a bottle of wine? Me: No, it's 8 AM - that would mean orange juice and vodka for the vitamins and minerals. Boss: God, I didn't want to know that. It's 9:30. I'm not really drinking vodka in my orange juice. But hubby and I are planning a day of relaxing and recovering from the (admittedly very minor) cold that has infected our home. We have to be well - we're leaving the country in three weeks! And yes, I can find a way to slip a reference to the London trip into ANY conversation. So be warned.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Chocolates I Have or Want Some days, I just need chocolate more than others. I won't go into the reasons why, other than to say if I could, I would get rid of the reason because I'm never going to have children. Today, the craving for chocolate has overtaken me. So, today's Thursday Thirteen is all about chocolate. The first 6 are varieties that are currently on my desk, thanks to the basket of candy I keep handy (I don't really eat that much - but I get a lot of visitors at my desk, because everyone knows I have a candy basket). The next seven are what I wish were on my desk. Nestle Crunch Heart: part of my hubby's Valentine's Day gift, I've eaten the other two. This is the last one, and I'm saving it. I'm not sure what for. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup: No, I will never put this in my mouth. But I actually have a couple in my candy basket because they were in a mixed bag that I bought. This is the one piece of chocolate on my desk that I will not fight over today. Dove Smooth Milk Chocolate with Caramel: Oh my gosh. I need a private moment when I eat one of these. Hershey's Nugget of Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate with Chocolate Mint Truffle Filling: this is hidden in my cabinet. I have one left. It is for emergency purposes only. I bought a bag of these on sale after Christmas and put them in my basket. As soon as I tasted one, I pulled them all out of the basket and hid them in my desk. These are not given away. Hershey's Kisses: Several are left over from my Valentine's Day bag. I'm not a big Kiss fan. But it'll do in a pinch. Thin Mint Cookies: these are the real deal, Girl Scout cookies. Oh My God, I live for February when I get my box of Girl Scout cookies. I hate peanut butter, so the Tagalongs are just Thin Mints that got messed up. Thin Mints are god's gift to coffee. And me. Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Therapy™ - Chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and swirls of chocolate pudding. I would need more than one private moment if I had a bowlful of this right now. I would need an entire evening. I am craving this so badly right now... (but I think it might only be available in their ice cream shops, because it's not listed in their flavor locator on their website. Yes, I went and looked after I thought about it for...oh, about 2 seconds.) Chocolate Cheesecake: I don't ever need a reason to crave cheesecake. The craving is just a part of life. Chocolate Milk: In a fit of weakness, I bought one for breakfast yesterday morning. Now it's all I can think about drinking. Pan au Chocolate: This is what I ate for breakfast every morning in France. I want to go back to France NOW. Twix Bar: crunchy, creamy and wonderful all in the same bite. Lindt Truffle, any variety will do (except for the white chocolate). Oreo Tallcake from Ruby Tuesday's: Well, they used to be called Oreo Tallcakes, now I think they're just Chocolate Tallcakes - which probably means the sandwich cookie is no longer Oreos. Who cares when there's that much chocolaty goodness in one bowl? Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Gina 2. Raggedy 3. Chickadee 4. Amy (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Chayote Squash

A few weeks ago, I posted a list of 13 things I want to learn to cook. Well, I tried one of them - and found a new vegetable to love. My husband is not nearly as excited about the addition of another "fruity type thing" to our menu. But since I do the cooking... :) Chayote Squash isn't a beautiful thing to look at...but man, is it tasty. I cut it in half and got rid of the pit in the middle (although you can eat it, and many recipes don't mention getting rid of it) and then sliced it nice and thin. I sliced up a white onion and sauteed them together with some olive oil, garlic, black pepper and oregano for about 10 minutes. I don't have a picture of the finished item...but it was incredibly yummy. And even my carnivorous husband admitted it "Wasn't at all disgusting." Does he know how to compliment my cooking, or what?

Cats By The Fire

It's a pretty quiet household around here tonight. It's cold enough to have the fireplace on, which the cats love. The fastest way to make them happy - and quiet - is to turn on the fireplace. We get so spoiled by this instant pacifier that when Spring comes and they start going nuts, Hubby and I look at each other like "Now What?" It's SUCH a good thing we are not having children together. Somehow, I don't think they'd respond as well to the magic of the gas logs.

By now, I hope you've checked your peanut butter to see if it's safe to eat. If you haven't, then read this and do it.

What I didn't realize is how many problems this company has had with food safety in the past 4 1/2 to 5 years. This is all shamelessly pulled from Kate at Accidental Hedonist; you might want to check it out, as she's got far more interesting commentary than I do.

• July, 2002 - ConAgra Foods Inc. recalled 19 million pounds of ground beef and beef products nationwide after at least 16 people became ill with E. coli bacteria-related diseases from eating meat packaged at the company's Colorado plant.
• December, 2002 - ConAgra voluntarily recalls approximately 36,000 pounds of fully-cooked, frozen chicken products that may be contaminated with plastic.
• June, 2003- ConAgra Poultry is recalling 129,000 pounds of chicken due to fears that a number of products may contain glass.
• December, 2005- Almost 3,000,000 pounds of 2.6-ounce packages of Armour Lunch Makers Cracker Crunchers made with ham, bologna, turkey, and chicken are recalled when it is discovered they may be contaminated with listeria. Conagra owns these brands.
• February, 2007 - That's right, just this past Tuesday ConAgra recalled more than 400,000 pounds of pasta and meatball meals that may have been underprocessed.
• February, 2007 - Conagra recalls peanut butter that contains salmonella.

I wonder how many of their products I have in my house right now? If a politician made this many career mistakes, he'd never get off the front pages of the newspaper, and people would never stop talking about him. But a food company? oh well...there's more interesting stuff to worry about. Besides the PB, I only remember hearing about maybe one of the above things. Granted - in 2002 I was still in college and probably didn't buy a whole bunch of ground beef. Or worry about much more than my job and which person would be hosting Friday's party. But still...this is NOT a good track record.

Thirteen Things to Do/See on my trip to London Hubby, StepSon and I are headed to London 4 weeks from tomorrow. So you know we've been planning up a storm lately to decide what we're going to do. Here are the thirteen things I'm most looking foward to in Merry Ol' England: 1.) British Museum - so much to see, that I know I won't see it all. 2.) Westminister - is it weird that hubby and I seem to like to go visit dead people? The first thing we did in Paris was visit the Cemetery of Père Lachaise, where we spent too much time looking at graves, mausoleums and head stones. And we finished off the trip with a visit to the Pantheon to see the graves of Voltaire and Rousseau (among others). 3.) Portrait Gallery - because if we can't visit dead people's graves, at least we can look at their pictures. 4.) Food. This should have been number one, but I'm too lazy to rearrange the order. The absolute best part of visiting other places is the food. I've been told the Indian restaurants are unbelievable, and the Chinese a close second. Hubby is trying to convince me there's no such thing as a Mexican restaurant in London - but I've made him promise that if we find one, he has to eat in it. I'll be doing research on that shortly. 5.) The Tempest staring Patrick Stewart. Do I really need to say more about this? I squeeled as I hit "purchase" on the website for these tickets. Then squeeled again when I got the confirmation email. I will TRY not to squeel at the actual performance. No promises. 6.) Men with sexy British accents, any variety will suffice. So many different accents...each sexy in their own way. Yum. (sidenote: my hubby thinks he can do a sexy british accent. He can't. It just makes me giggle.) 7.) Harrods. Does this need any explanation? I think I'd better wait til the end of the trip for this one so that I don't spend all of my money on the first day. 8.) Canterbury - we're taking the train on a day trip to the town of Canterbury. More dead people to visit, since Thomas Becket was murdered here - part of a church problem a few hundred years ago that my husband and stepson will probably spend hours debating while I shop. :) And if I'm good, I'll get to climb around some more castle ruins. 9.) Riding on the Thames. not sure what the ride will consist of, or how long it will be. Hubby's been talking about some kind of trip where you ride the boat - which will be tons of fun - and then they drop you off and you walk around a bit before walking through a tunnel that goes UNDER THE RIVER. I'm still working on the courage for that part of the adventure, and he's promised that we'll get alternate transportation if the tunnel thing freaks me out too much. 10.) Going to Hastings (well, the town is actually called Battle ). This will be a second day trip, and it's a pilgrimage that my British Historian Husband has to make on every trip to the UK (or so I've been informed). This means that Stonehenge is out, but that's ok since they don't let you touch the rocks anymore. 11.) Shopping, Shopping, Shopping! 12.) Just walking around the city. Hubby lived there for a while, and he knows so much history about everything that he'll could keep us entertained for days. 13.) Buckingham Palace. Something else that needs no explanation. So what did I forget? Let me know in the comments! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Shelly 2. Bubba 3. Karen 4. ms. george 5. catherine 6. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Tornados and Chocolate...With a Dash of My Neurosis for Extra Fun

Last night we had a nasty storm system move through Alabama. Nasty enough to make a Southern Fundamentalist think that god might have decided that Mississippi and Alabama had failed their mission to show the rest of the country the “true way” and were now being wiped off the map. Nasty enough to make the transplants from the North think “I traded 6 inches of snowy winter-funland for THIS?” And it’s not even spring yet. They have no idea what they’re in for.

Seeing as how I work so far from home, I keep an eye on things when the atmosphere gets in its party mode. I like a shake-down and groove-out as much as the next gal…as long as I’m home, not driving at 80 75 miles an hour. And this was shaping up to be the Rave Of The Month. (mom: see the definition for Rave here. Just kidding – I know you’re “in” on our little party words!) So I left work 30 minutes earlier than I had planned (god, I LOVE my new job), and pulled in my driveway just as they were issuing the tornado warning for my little slice of southern Shelby County. I briefly thought of calling the National Weather Service to thank them for holding off on passing out the tabs of Ecstasy until I was safely at home, but I figured they had more important things to do. Maybe I’ll make them some special brownies for their next party or something. So I availed myself of the open bar, and tuned in to Mr. Spann, the life of any Tornado Party. He makes suspenders look GOOD.

The weather map looked like it always does – all red, green, orange, and yellow. Kind of like (what I imagine) looking at a Christmas tree after dropping LSD would be. They were really getting into the party (or they had sprung for the good drugs) if they were pulling out all those little flashing circles all over the map and using the free-drink code word (tornado) so much. Which meant I needed to get my trusty box of important papers and put them in the laundry room – because when my roof is ripped off, that little box that doesn’t even latch shut is going to keep my marriage certificate safe. One of the circles was moving my direction. Nothing kills a party like one of those nasty circles. They’re worse than cops at an under-age drinking party (not that I’ve ever…oh hell. Who am I kidding?)

Did I mention my hubby wasn’t home? He was at the gym. Promised me he’d call before he left, in case the weather was bad and he had to ride out the party on campus. At this point in my evening, he’s between me and the storm. Here’s a rough transcript of our call:

Him: “Hi hon---” I hear his truck running in the background and my blood pressure skyrockets

Me: “What the hell are you doing!??!!”

Him: “I’m driving home, whatchya---“

Me: “ARE YOU INSANE? THERE’S A TORNADO HEADED YOUR WAY!!”

Him: “Where is it?”

ME: “BRIERFIELD! YOU PROMISED YOU’D CALL -”

Him: I’m calling now, aren’t I?”

Me: “-BEFORE YOU LEFT! GET OFF THE ROAD! IMBECILE!”

Him: Well, if it’s in Brierfield, then I’m about 4 miles in front of it and I’ll beat it home.”

At this point, I think I blacked out. He knows the party rules: Only in small enclosed areas with no exterior walls! We don’t party while driving in this family! Safety is important in a Rave.

So, I sat there, watching the map, willing all the colors and circles to keep their nasty habits and pills and party fun away from him on the road. Of course, the wind and rain were bad enough that it took him twice as long to get home. And he called me back once:

Him: “Did you remember to check the mail, or should I do it before I run in the house?”
Me: “The WHAT?”

Him: “The mail. It’s raining, and I don’t want to get wet if you’ve already checked it.”

Me: “I NEED MORE VODKA TO DEAL WITH THIS.”

Him: “Ok, but did you check the mail?”
Me: “YES! YES! THE MAIL IS SAFE! NOW GET HOME!”

And then five minutes later, the circles and colors were passing about 10 miles to the south of us, and he was pulling in the driveway. I met him at the door. He handed me a white paper bag with “I love you” cut out of it and red tissue paper inside. He had brought me party supplies to a party he missed because he broke the cardinal rule: No partying on the road.

In the end we were fine and life moved on. The Weather People took their mind-numbing flashing colors away, and now we’re stocking up on our supplies for the next party.

And the bag that my hubby brought me had chocolate in it. I refused to open it for about 20 minutes, because I still had a lot of yelling to do and chocolate should never be given in anger. It’s too beautiful of for that. But it made coming down from the party-high much easier, and almost negated the “crash” that inevitably happens.

And lest you think I’m crazy….here’s a picture of the storm that was zeroing in on him as hubby was driving home:

http://www.jamesspann.com/wordpress/?p=889

I'm reading an article about Marine boot camp and it talks briefly about the part of their training that involves live gun fire; it's stressful for the instructors because they're responsible for making sure that it scares the bejesus out of these guys, but they also have to keep everything safe. Safety, safety safety. Then I read this sentence:

"Students who make mistakes with live rounds often will endure an immediate and very direct correction by their supervising sergeants."

I read that, and thought:Well, isn't that a nice way of saying "if anyone gets shot, you will immediatly be cussed out as the most incompetent person EVER in language that would make your mother cry, embarressing you so horribly that you will wish YOU were the one with a bullet wound."

"immediate and very direct correction".

I'll be chuckling all day over that one.

Coffee Irony?

There's a report floating around out there from Consumer Reports; they did a taste test of Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King and McDonald's coffees.

McDonald's won.

The funny part? The McDonalds restaurants in the northwest recently started serving Seattle's Best as their coffee.

Seattle's Best is owned by Starbucks.

Thirteen Things I Love About My New Job 1.) The hours: I can come and go pretty much as I please, as long as I work 80 hours every pay period. There are a few rules, but this is so much better than the strict 7:30-4:30 regimen I’ve had. I had forgotten how much I loved being able to make my own hours. Does that make me less of an adult? Yes? Good. 2.) I don’t have to waste an hour on a lunch break, unless I want to. It’s never taken me an hour to eat ANY meal, which means that after 20 minutes I’m ready to go back to work. Which leads to me falling asleep while I wait for time to pass…which leads to a not-pleasant wakeup after only 30 minutes of napping. Naps are to be enjoyed and reveled in, not stolen on a lunch break. 3.) My new boss. Have I mentioned him around here yet? He doesn’t lose my emails (not that I send him many), he doesn’t need me to use small words, and he doesn’t expect me to do his job. And dear god, I don't have to explain myself everytime I crack a joke! Finally, someone who understands how marvelously humorous and witty I am! >G< 4.) Getting home before my husband. Call me old-fashioned, but I like being home when he walks in the door. For the past year and a half, he’s almost always beat me home, and was usually waiting at the door. Now it’s my turn to give the welcome-home hug. 5.) I’m home on Monday nights, so I get to cook dinner for my stepson. Sure, he actively dislikes the green things I put on his plate. And he’s not nearly as excited as I am about this – he’s been getting pizza, burgers, or something equally nutritious once a week because I wasn’t around to do the hard task of opening a can of corn. 6.) Reading material. Yes, I know that I’m not really supposed to read all of the journals that come across my desk word for word. But when an article has the word “castrating” in the title – and it’s not talking about male anatomy – sometimes you just have to read a bit to see what they’re referring to. 7.) I’m no longer part of the coffee-club drama in the front. This deserves another post entirely to itself, so I’ll only say that my absence in the coffee club is a hole in the caffeine-circle that created a vacuum. The life is being sucked out of everyone because of something that should bring nothing but joy. 8.) I get to see the sunrise every morning. So far. Yeah, you’re not supposed to be nature-watching while traveling at 75 miles an hour. But there is something about being up and awake enough to see the blacks and grays and blues turn to reds and yellows and oranges in front of your eyes. And every day it’s different. 9.) I don’t have to leave my desk to refill my coffee cup – I have an urn that I bought and fill up with a half pot of coffee, and it sits within reach of my hands at all times. It’s the first thing out of my bag when I get to my desk in the morning. And it’s already got my favorite cream in it, so all I have to do is pour until it's gone. 10.) My chocolate stash on my desk is lasting a lot longer these days. Sure, the library staff knows that I have a basket full…but the students aren’t eating it anymore. 11.) I get to play with spreadsheets. They aren’t complicated one with formulas and stuff that will make me cuss and rip hair out as I try to figure out if the “$” symbols are all in the right places (which I love to do, btw)…but that could change, if I have my way about it. Our new personnel system means we have to keep a lot more stats. And I love doing percentages. 12.) I get to learn a new software program – Microsoft Access. I’m now scheduled to begin that process in the middle of March (when I should have started the classes yesterday). It’s not a new or anything…but I love learning new stuff like that. And then I’ll drive my boss batty with it, because I know all I’ll want to do is play with all the cool features. And he’ll keep telling me “But that’s not really necessary…” And I’ll be like, “yeah, but I can DO it!” sometimes, ability outweighs necessity. 13.) I just like the new job, ok? I knew I’d like it, and I haven’t really said why in this post. But I like it even more than I thought I would. Maybe I’m just meant to do the boring and mundane on a daily basis. Because really, there’s nothing exciting about underlining the first letter of every article’s title, or putting a period after the author statement. But I’m loving every letter and period. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

What I'm Reading When I Should Be Working

Diary of Saad Eskander

I don't know if this counts as professional reading - it is about a library - but it will certainly give you yet another perspective on how things are going in Baghdad. Saad Eskander has the task of keeping the Iraq National Library & Archives open, and his diary on the British Library's website is scary, inspiring, and ... well, go read for yourself and then throw in a few more adjectives. I have to finish reading so I can get some work done.

Too Early for Wine, Too Late for a Mimosa...I Must Need a Margarita

I've been looking forward to today all week. I get to go to a class - all day - on how to use Microsoft Access. From 8 am to 4 PM, I'd be playing with a new software program. And there's always a good chance that we get out of those classes early, so I could be home even earlier. And it counts as a full day of work - I get paid for it! And I'd get to sleep a little late. And - one of the best things - I get to wear jeans. That's gives me an extra 5 minutes of sleep right there. And so, last night I stayed up a little too late, after drinking one too many glasses of wine. I checked my phone this morning: I called my best friend at 10:13 PM, and then we talked for 39 minutes. I was up after 10 PM! On a WORK night! It's almost like I slid in past curfew without my parents noticing. Not that I ever did that, Mom! I was your perfect child! ahem. So I overslept. Not too bad, and I was out of the door less than ten minutes after getting out of bed, because how good do you have to look for a bunch of computer nerds? They don't notice. I had to stop and grab a handful of caffeine on my way (Diet Mt Dew, since it's easier to guzzle down than coffee), but I was on the Interstate at 6:45. I had an hour and fifteen minutes to get on base. Which in my obsessive Never-Be-Late-For-Anything mind was cutting it close, because I'd probably only be 5 minutes early. And what if I needed to stop for more caffeine? Why had I only bought one bottle? For the first ten miles down the interstate, I debated with myself over the likelihood of a mere 20 ounces of liquid goodness lasting til lunch. This is the woman who brings not just a travel mug but also a 6 cup coffee urn to work with her. And then I have a Diet Mt Dew for lunch. You'd think there would be no contest - 20 ounces is barely enough to get out of bed for. But if I stopped, I'd have no margin of error on the timing. And thinking that much in the morning did not help my hangover headache. And then my phone rang; it was K, from work, calling to let me know there was a HUGE accident on the interstate. Well, that settled it. No caffeine stops for me. She suggested I get off at an exit 15 miles north of where I usually do, because the accident was pretty bad. And the secondary roads were horrible getting into the city. 30 minutes later, as I approached the exit she suggested, I debated (headache rising again) and decided to go a bit farther. In 7 miles, I would know how to get to work without the interstate, and I would still be at least 6 miles north of the accident, which had happened over an hour ago. Surely, the worst of the traffic would be over, right? BIG MISTAKE. 2 miles later, I'm sitting in a parking lot that was once an interstate. I'm 3 miles from the next exit - and I have no CLUE where that one goes. I have 25 minutes til my training starts, and obviously it's going to start without me. I turned off NPR (which almost killed me) to look for a local station that had some kind of traffic update. Found Nothing. why can't NPR do local traffic? Oh...yeah...that "N" stands for National. Whatever. I needed a traffic update. And I probably missed every one of them because I was flipping around like a maniac, because I don't live in this blasted city so I don't know the good radio stations. Should I take the next exit? If I do, will I ever find my way home again? Because those Ruby slippers...they look awesome, but they don't REALLY work. And finally, as we approach the exit that I'm sure leads into the bowels of Alabama...or worse, will take me to Mississippi - I notice that I HAVE to get off there. The interstate is closed. For the next ten miles. I was going to get lost with no caffeine in the middle of a cotton field. I just knew it. Luckily, my MacGyver qualities came through, and I remembered that my rear-view mirror tells me what direction I'm going. I needed to head south. And since most of the traffic was probably going to the city, I'd just follow them. And then if anyone got lost in a cotton field, we'd all be lost together. And surely, there would be someone I could beat to death and steal caffeine from. Cotton fields are great places to bury bodies. I was actully kinda looking forward to the whole thing. Instead, we all just drove south at 2 miles an hour. How boring. One HOUR and ten minutes later I drove on base. Of course, the Access training had already started. And it was too late for me to join, so I came to work. Only to find out that when my boss saw the traffic jam this morning, he turned around and went home and decided to wait til noon to come in. Sometimes, I think it might be worth it to move down here. Because then, I could have gotten three more hours of sleep. And brewed a couple of pots of coffee.

I'm feeling so smart, I think I'll do my taxes

Thanks to Debra, I've gotten completely addicted to the Set Puzzle. The game is addicting enough...throw in the intense competition over at her site, and it's a weekly challenge I can't refuse. Which is not to say that I often perform well, because I'm really not good at things that are based on speed. So I started out playing along and not posting my scores. And by starting out, I mean for about a year I played at home and never made a peep on her site. Then, one day, I checked out everyone else's scores, and for once I wasn't the slowest person around! I felt so incredibly smart, that I just had to brag about my score. So I left a comment that said something like: "1:47" I wanted everyone to know that I was smarter than someone else, and that was my way of saying "take that, world! I'm smart too!" But then the next day, I realized that if I only posted when I wasn't the slowest person, that was kind of like lying, because most of the time, I'm really horrible at the game. So I made myself start posting my score every time that I played. Because there are countless people that I will never meet nor have an actual conversation with over at the Deblog, and I don't want them to get the wrong impression and think I'm smart or something. Can you take personal honesty too far? Anyway, Debra has a weekly challenge, and I won. So this picture is my prize: I'm going to take this genius that's obviously rolling around inside of me and apply it to my tax forms. Because that's how I reward myself for a job well done.