I slept a little too late to hit church this morning. I've been a bit of a slacker in that realm lately. Shame on me. But I did get ready and get out to Vanessa's bridal shower. As the queen of the camera I am at least guaranteed to not be _in_ the photos, so I'm happy. I just hope I got enough decent shots since I was unfamiliar with the camera i was using.

From there I changed, fed the water based and fuzzy based beasts, and headed to my uncles for dinner. Most definitely the best filet mignon I've had in ages. While the elders gathered for their smoke *rolls eyes* I chatted with cousin Darren for a while. We're both old. Back to the whole smoking thing, that is truly dedication. To leave the nice cool air conditioning to sit outside, sweating one's ass off for the sake of a freakin cigarette.

Back home and I tossed in a movie to appease mother. I'll be sleeping in my own bed this evening, thank goodness. The disrupted sleep from the past two nights has me a bit off.

Three cheers once again for Shakespeare in the Park. The weather this year was the most agreeable of the past three others. The play this year was "Two Gents" a twist on "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" with a western flavor and was enjoyable. Other than that my Saturday was pretty bland. I slept, got up and readied for lunch with my mom, aunt, and uncle and then came back, napping part of the afternoon away before heading to Stackhouse. Ok I guess I did get a little done in between for the teaching side of fall classes.

The sister's fam leaves for their cruise tomorrow! I am eager to see what they think. Now the countdown for mine is truly on. I so just need to go and run away from it all.

I really stunk up the place at Wallyball last night. The team I was on (and we rotate throughout the evening) didn't win a single game. Ugh. I really feel like a slow moving blob of fat lately. I can't run, never could, and my body just doesn't seem to move in the direction I want it to as quickly as everyone else can.

I know I'm just moody right now, so I'll try to shake it off. I just don't understand why they can't make miracle pills that don't have your hormones flipping in 10 different directions every couple of weeks. I narrowly averted crying in the parking lot this morning just at the mere sight of a couple coming into work together. My ex and I were once that here in this very building. Further, it didn't help that the female of the pair was rather rotund... the very thing I lost out to. I guess some guys prefer fat girls, but if that's the case why am I still single - I've got plenty o' fat? That whole thing needs to die from my thoughts, but it doesn't. It didn't help that I found old cards touting my praises and noting how SBLU(M) the other night, while hunting through the fire safe for something.

I dreamt once again of this house, I don't know the house, but I've dreamt of it before. Clearly I own it in the dream and am being forced to sell it, even though I had never even gotten to move in.

Back to real life... I'm making some progress on the notes etc I'll need to teach this fall. Pretty surprising since my semester isn't over just yet. Another week and I'll be cranking through a final, fingers crossed.

More news from the world of annoying and unconscionable. Your rights to look weird are now in jeopardy. Land of the free... as long as you're just like me. Sounds like the catholics truly have taken over.

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For prosperity's sake I will copy the text as well, since these links expire.
Article: [view full]
Six friends spruced up in fake blood and tattered clothing were arrested in downtown Minneapolis on suspicion of toting "simulated weapons of mass destruction."

...

"They were arrested for behavior that was suspicious and disturbing," said Lt. Gregory Reinhardt, a police spokesman. Police also said the group was uncooperative and intimidated people with their "ghoulish" makeup.

...

"Given the circumstance of them being uncooperative ... why would you have those (bags) if not to intimidate people?" said Inspector Janee Harteau. "It's not a case of (police) overreacting."

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Are you kidding me? So if some old lady doesn't like the color of my hair or my goth make up I could be arrested for being "DISTRUBING". Not overreacting? What do you think?

On a surprising twist my birthday gift from my dear mother was not an outfit as it traditionally is, but instead a fifth of vodka. How sweet is that? She prepped us up some charred cow and made me a cake, so I headed off to see Clerks on Friday night with a full stomach. The movie is a sequel, so the expectations aren't overly high. Yeah, disappointing when compared to it's predecessor in some ways, but still quite funny and worth the trip to the theatre.

Saturday I cranked out the laundry and dishes, and finished up my last paper for this semester then headed downtown to the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. When I saw the available tickets through work I nearly passed until I saw Galen Head's name on the list of inductees. Congrats Galen! For those curious about the Cambria County Convention Center's food etc, the food was ok but a bit bland. The service was poor, but it just reminded me of how well I'm treated when cruising. (Less than 45 days!)

Sunday included a good bit of sleep and then heading out for a little bit of shopping which turned into catching up with the Slipster and a lot of shopping. At least I did some walking. I did find another bitchin dress. Pretty bad when I have as many jerseys as I do fancy dresses and vice versa. That's saying alot.

In response to a previous comment left by a frequent visitor. I can outdrink sailors... just WAIT until vacation.

The birthday festivities were deferred to Friday evening due to Thursdays basically stinking for a celebration night and the AITP meeting conflicting. So on Thursday night I went to Hoss' for the meeting and then ran amongst Walmart and Home Depot looking for a certain type of plant. From there I hit TJ Maxx before they closed and bought a cutie Guess brand top from the clearance rack - BONUS. From there the ladies trapped me, despite my protests, and had me open gifts ON my birthday.

All I know is I got way too much and ate way too many calories in rich, thick chocolate cake. I now have beautiful stylish black dishes (setting for 8 none the less), my long desired hockey trivia game, a Guinness shirt, a new Snoopy mini-flag, awesome black and red sushi accessories, a DVD of Underworld, and my cute little vampire garlic keeper. Christmas in July indeed!

This morning got one heck of a gift on my mid-term, which helps bring me a little more comfort for the semester, but I'm not finished yet! At least now I'm inspired more for this week's assignment. And I found this after coming in to find flowers on my desk. I am truly spoiled.

At this point it would seem overly decadent to then go out to a big fancy meal this evening, so I'm quite pleased with my "meal out" decision to head to Altoona and consume at Chateau Millie. I haven't bothered to even try and pull out my grill yet this year so I'm more than happy to eat mom's grilled up delights. From there we'll be taking in Clerks deux. (Somehow my evening has turned into a french theme.) To top it of ... how does one say sloshed in French? Benoit, a little help please?

Bad news and birthdays clearly make ideal bedfellows. While I will respect privacy and omit names, I cannot not express my heartfelt sadness and love for my friends in their time of need. To those I love - I'm so incredibly sorry for this unexpected loss.

I so love the days that massages are available at work. I truly feel like I just shed a ton of junk. <best Jamaican accent>Nooo problem.</best Jamaican accent>

I returned the remaining pieces of gutter cover over lunch taking my total for that small home improvement project to around $70 for parts. Not a bad deal, let's see how well they fair on keeping the blasted leaves the hell out. Things are finally coming to a close and I will be able to push materials out to do some testing on my project. Whee! I was the queen of naps again last evening. It kind of makes it hard to make much progress on this week's paper when it's simply too hot to stay awake. This heat should make wallyball rather interesting this evening too.

Oh! And I saw another monarch floating above just in front of my car last evening on the way home too! Why am I too lazy to get up to stackhouse to get some pictures?

Schedu-mal w/ home games bolded:

Oct. 21 Pensacola
Oct. 22 at Trenton
Oct. 25 Wheeling
Oct. 27 at Wheeling
Oct. 28 Cincinnati
Nov. 1 at Toledo
Nov. 3 Trenton
Nov. 4 Wheeling
Nov. 5 at Wheeling
Nov. 10 Charlotte
Nov. 11 Toledo
Nov. 15 Trenton
Nov. 17 Wheeling
Nov. 18 at Dayton
Nov. 24 at Reading
Nov. 25 Trenton
Dec. 1 Trenton
Dec. 2 Reading
Dec. 8 at Dayton
Dec. 9 Reading
Dec. 10 Bakersfield
Dec. 14 at Cincinnati
Dec. 15 at Cincinnati
Dec. 16 Cincinnati
Dec. 23 at Toledo
Dec. 27 at Toledo
Dec. 29 at Trenton
Dec. 30 at Wheeling
Dec. 31 Toledo
Jan. 5 at Gwinnett
Jan. 6 at Augusta
Jan. 7 at South Carolina
Jan. 12 at Dayton
Jan. 15 Wheeling
Jan. 19 Dayton
Jan. 20 at Cincinnati
Jan. 21 at Toledo
Jan. 24 at Trenton
Jan. 26 at Reading
Jan. 27 Augusta
Jan. 28 Dayton
Feb. 2 at Reading
Feb. 3 Reading
Feb. 10 Wheeling
Feb. 11 Reading
Feb. 14 at Trenton
Feb. 16 at Cincinnati
Feb. 17 Cincinnati
Feb. 18 Trenton
Feb. 23 at Wheeling
Feb. 24 at Wheeling
Feb. 28 Dayton
Mar. 2 at Reading
Mar. 3 at Wheeling
Mar. 4 Toledo
Mar. 7 at Trenton
Mar. 9 Wheeling
Mar. 10 Cincinnati
Mar. 11 Toledo
Mar. 17 at Reading
Mar. 18 Trenton
Mar. 21 at Trenton
Mar. 23 at Dayton
Mar. 24 at Dayton
Mar. 25 Dayton
Mar. 27 at Cincinnati
Mar. 30 Toledo
Mar. 31 Dayton
Apr. 1 Cincinnati
Apr. 4 at Toledo
Apr. 6 Reading
Apr. 7 at Reading

Senility comes quickly. Saturday evening I had managed to completely forget I was signed up to work the Johnstown Film and Wine festival until Beff showed up to go. Gratefully she was early, which is rare for her *poke*, so I could pull myself together in 20 minutes. I didn't go watch any of the movies, which I'm sure went well, but the organization in general through the officiating office left something to be desired.

I felt like I got a bonus day this weekend, thanks to going out on Friday evening. But I blew a good chunk of my Sunday sleeping. After rolling out of bed at noon I worked for a while for my class, then finished this week's reading, and headed outside to pull weeds by the fence. Drenched with sweat and wondering if some of what I pulled was poison ivy I headed in. Exhausted after a mere hour in the nasty heat I showered and quickly decided a nap was in order. Woke back up at 9:30 and did a little more prep work for this week's class.

Big news today is the release of the ECHL schedules. I'll be posting ours later today! I'm eager to see if I can hit the Pens games that interest me w/o conflict.

Yesterday was quite the busy day. The morning flew as I worked in another building for the morning, ran back and checked my email, and headed out for the day around 12:30. Cash a money order, hit the post office, snag a balloon, and get to Greensburg to sign some paperwork and show ID such that I may teach in the fall. On the way to the college a monarch flutterby passed my car. I do feel the need to report all of the incidental ones I see as it keeps me in the mindset that I am at least noticing the small things nature has to offer around me.

Sounds like a pretty full day by 5pm, doesn't it? But that was just the start. Yesterday was Ms. Beff's birthday so we had to step back out.

After the sharing of the gifts we headed downtown to Surf and Turf. Everytime I eat there the food is great, so I don't know why I don't return more often. From there back to Richland to catch Pirates of the Caribbean. A reasonable sequel, a bit long, but I was expecting that from the reviews of others. Johnny Depp does a fabulous job in that role. I do look forward to the third flick and the planed special appearances! From the movie theatre to Denny's for the late night birthday "cake".

Today - a wee bit of lounging in bed after waking up was quite comforting. I need to get some relaxing in since I'm expecting another written assignment for this upcoming week's class. From there I made a VC run. I'm pleased to announce I now have Christmas gifts purchased!

Two cases that scream "only in Pennsylvania":
1). PA Man, 80, Admits dealing crack for sex.
2). Ever hear of a "Chicken Dump" raffle? So they sell 50/50 tickets then take the completed portion, laying them out and allowing a chicken to walk on them... whichever one the chicken relieves himself on wins the money.

Davey T is my hero. At least now I can leave for work tomorrow morning without fear that my house is a firetrap for my baby girl. He hauled up after work, we snagged some gutter covers, got them installed, figured out which circuit the evil plug was attached to, and rewired the little bugger to a plastic box and new outlet. It's also good to see the boychild again before he heads of gallivanting south. In return, a small pittance, some yummy pork and kraut (if I do say so myself - and no, contrary to some folks' feedback on a previous post it was not his last meal), and a sampling of a rather interesting brew recommended by a good chap at Little's: Old Leghumper ale. Good stuff!

It's funny how things either move at 1000 miles an hour or slow to a crawl. I'm on the down turn, which while it's a bit comforting it is also unnerving. I was able to go wander the mall and watch a movie last night!

I still stayed up a bit late to read part of the second half of this week's reading assignment. Finally reading chapter 10 ahead of schedule has paid off giving me only one other chapter to get through this week. I guess I should read ahead to chapter 6 so I'm more prepared for next week's writing assignment. I still find the legal reading a bit cumbersome but I'm getting through it. This small lapse in pressing demands has given me the chance to start thinking about what course I should take in the fall. I should probably just get the capstone over with since it seems to be the most ambiguous one. Then with just an elective to finish things off for graduation all should be fairly smooth sailing (all down hill if nothing else).

At least my mind was free enough to dream about the upcoming cruise, even if it was a rather spazoid dream at that. Less than two months!

"Search every corner, there's nowhere to hide. -Lacuna Coil"

No more fighting with the stupid front door lock to get my key back now that I've changed the lock. So far today I've accomplished more cleaning and even headed outside to trim back the hedges between my place and the neighbor's place. I was going to move the spare sump pump to another plug, but quickly decided against it after getting the jolt of my life. THAT woke me up.

Nothing worse than realizing you almost qualified for the Darwin award. Granted, I didn't do anything super stupid, I just went to pull out the plug like people do every day, but for some reason the ground on the box no longer seems to exist. I so need a man who can at least attempt to fix stuff around here. I'll exchange a home cooked meal for repairs. Any takers?

"I can't keep on waiting for you. I know that you're still hesitating. -Madonna"

I caught up on my sleep this morning after struggling to fall asleep last night. I kept hearing people outside on my street, which was odd because it was after 2am. The paper continues to mold into a final product, I could send it now, but I need another pass or two for sanity's sake.

I hit the grocery store with a craving for foccacia bread and baked garlic to spread on it and picked up my prescription that I've forgotten about since placing the order on Monday. I did some basic cleaning last night before pulling together some grub, so at least there isn't a ton of cleaning to be done at the moment.

But the real reason for this entry, after returning from the grocery store I needed to run a piece of misdelivered mail to the tenants box. While on the way I spotted an interesting butterfly. Looking through my book I believe it could have only been a silver-spotted skipper. His body seemed clunky and large for all the larger he was in total. I'm not sure why he was here in my front yard however, as my book says he would prefer "forest edges".

Today I nearly lost my mind. It seems like everything needs done all at the same time, and that is the same time that everyone chooses to not bother to reply to my emails, telephone calls and whatnot. I'll never understand how some people keep jobs when they don't bother to complete the actions they are assigned or respond to their coworkers. I sit all day in front of documents and I come home and sit in front of documents. If the end of my degree wasn't insight I don't think I'd make it.

Then the icing on the cake was my paperwork for the next year is still not done. I'm so tired of paperwork and political games. If things can't be approved as is, you re-write it - this will save me a ton of time.

At least I got to destress a little at Wallyball. It was very necessary after screaming through the parking lot just to expel some frustration. I can't do this for the rest of my life. I just can't. Most people think they've made a mistake for NOT going to school and pursuing "something more". Well the life I've built pretty much sucks and I want a do over. I can't make it to September for a vacation. Even my excitement of receiving a paycheck today for surplus vaca didn't keep me upbeat for more than 5 hours.

A bit late, but a rerun I missed first go round - even Steven Colbert is a Canes fan. Sure he joked about a ball and the frozen water stuff and the Stinley cup but go Canes none the less.

Good progress this evening. The paper is long enough it just needs smoothed and re-read for cleanup. I decided I needed the appropriate fuel to get here, and it worked. Beff and I headed to the Boulevard to take advantage of the two can dine deal. I had a yummy steak, a bite of shrimp (at least I can say I tried it again), a baked tatter, a salad (I love their salads), a slice of NY cheesecake, and a half and half for $15. Can you beat that? The winters here may suck, but Johnstown has it going on in terms of good deals. Racheal Ray - where are you? You can hit this town on $30 a day.

For any of you hitting my blog out of a search for WinAntiVirus and ExitExchange popups, I did beat this crap this past weekend. The patches for ad-aware didn't work, but TrojanHunter caught and repaired the issue for me.

So much paperwriting time lost fighting with that machine. Yesterday was all about trying to get somewhere on the paper. I've got most of my regular content, it's just case studies that are killing me now. I just don't have a warm and fuzzy, especially after what I consider to be bombing out on the second writing assignment *boo*

I'll live, I'm just moody.

"I'm not okay. I'm not o-f*cking-kay. - My Chemical Romance"

So, I'm outside pulling weeds. Why? Because anything is better than actually doing work that needs done on the computer. So this car comes haulin-a down the street. I look up to eyeball the driver because he's really hauling and I'm thinking to myself "can you go any faster ass-clowwww... oh my... that IS a clown".

I guess there is something to be said for a guy in uniform/costume. *evil grin*

It's thundering and trying to rain... again. I've had a bit of a thunderstorm of my own brewing in my head all weekend too, damn sinusy headaches. Friday was the Slipster's birthday, the first in our trifecta. So we headed out to Greensburg for dinner at the Olive Garden and a quick run through the bookstore, from there we swung into the Haven where we left pretty quickly due to the loudness and the awful mix of drinks. How does an amaretto sour not have sour mix? And a vodka martini that still has gin in it - and olives? Blah.

I cooked for myself on Saturday, and I should be eating those leftovers tonight, but I'm hoping to avoid it. It was good, I'm just not a leftover person. I've been trying to make progress on my mid-term written assignment this weekend, I just haven't found my pace. I did read this week's chapter, which is helpful for the assignment, I've selected and formulated sections and tried to flesh out an outline of sorts, I just can't get into it. I'll blame my headache, but I don't think that's it, I'm just distracted.

Oh, I also have to report the horrifyingly similar to Jessica Simpson idiot girl I saw at the Giant Eagle last night. She's there w/ what I presume is her boyfriend shopping, he's pushing the cart and trying to shop and she's thumping around in her heels like a complete clod. She was wearing a fancy looking black dress and has her uber-fake blonde hair all curled and ringlet like, but then she has a nasty looking gray sweatshirt pulled on. I thought she was like 19-20 from the way she was stomping around and acting a fool, but then I finally got a look at her face and I was horrified. Being in the sun too much DOES age you ladies. *shiver* She got lost somewhere in the store while the male counterpart was checking out (in front of me). He was then sitting on the bench looking around with a strained patience look on his face. It took everything I had to not tell him I was sorry or mumble "poor bastard" under my breath.