I've Been Censored!!!!

So I was going to tell you about my new blog (yeah like I have time for this one)! I am going to start doing a series of book reviews. I published my first post yesterday, just a short introduction. I looked at it today and I've been BLOCKED! Apparently something triggered the Blogger robots into thinking I was spam.

I've filled out there little form verifying that I am a human being, and they are taking my case under review. Hopefully, I'll be back in a couple of days. So keep checking-right now the link is off to the side with the other blogs.

Cat Pics!!!

It's been way too long since I posted any pics. Here ya go:


It's darn near impossible to get them in the same shot, so I have to settle for this. Bootsie's in the back-you can barely see her, she matches the bed! And Hershey is up front. They do sleep together at night but I only see it if I happen to wake up.

And this is Bootsie in one of her favorite positions:
She lays on the floor like that all the time, and loves to have her belly rubbed. Even if you're not rubbing her belly she'll lay like that. She was helping me make the bed that day, as seen here:
And this one is just too darn adorable:
Hershey doesn't stay still long enough for me to take her picture, but here's one of her:
She's usually up, down, up, down, up, down, you get the idea. Or if she is doing something cute she stops the minute I pick up the camera.

Not a very good blogger, huh?

The writer's strike is over, guess I better get back to work :) Seriously, I've had some family stuff going on that's not put me in the mood to write. I started a post about it and I'm not sure if it's going to make it out of draft form, but we'll see.

So Mike found this cool site last week called Librarything.com. Off and on over the years, I had looked at various software to catalog all of our books, but I never found anything I liked. Librarything isn't software, it's web-based. It's very easy to add books, simply type the author, title, or ISBN. I use the ISBN because I also like to keep track of paperbacks and hardcovers. You can rate the books, mark if you're currently reading it, write review, upload covers, mark when you added it to your collection, there's all sorts of cool things. There's also a neat little widget that lets you show random books from the library on your blog-check it out on the right! I've been working on adding my library, and I noticed it's changing the books on my widget. There's also links to sites that have book swaps, so I might check that out next time I'm ready to thin out my collection.

Writers' Strike-Blessing or Curse?

I know, I'm the 56,009,247th person to post about the writer's strike. Better late than never, right?

Why is the writers' strike great?
-More time to watch movies. The Netflix account has been getting a workout after being neglected for a while. The irony is that I'm using this time to catch up on a TV series-Battlestar Galactica (the new version). If you get a chance, check it out. It's not campy like the old one.
-I don't feel chained to my television. Even though we have Tivo and rarely watch live TV, you still have to keep up with what's on so you don't get that plot spoiler when your office mates start talking about what they watched last night.
-More time to blog. Although I'll let my reader(s) decide if that's good, bad, or indifferent.

Why does the writers' strike suck?
-Reality TV. I could deal with it if it's interesting bordering on educational, like Top Chef, What Not To Wear, and Meerkat Manor, but Dance Wars and American Gladiators? My IQ just dropped ten points.
-I enjoy the shows that I watch. Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't watch them. I'm not pining away here wondering if Sam and Dean from Supernatural are ever going to be back slaying demons, but sometimes you just want to space out in front of the TV.
-Britany Spears. OK, she has nothing to do with it but the media makes her out to be the Devil Incarnate, so might as well blame her for this too.

Looks to me like the strike is mostly a blessing. No matter what, it can't be all that bad for us to maybe put down the remote for a while and start connecting with one another again. Or watch Terminator, the Sarah Conner Chronicles. The previews for that show look pretty good.

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything! Sorry I've been away, it's been a hectic couple of months. Work has been driving me crazy, and it's probably a good thing I haven't blogged about that. Bank mergers suck, end of story.

But it's not all been bad. If you read Mike's blog you've been keeping up on what we've been doing. A trip to Chicago, Thanksgiving at home with friends, Christmas in Milwaukee, some good movies-that pretty much sums it up.

We didn't do too much for New Years Eve. We were invited to a couple of parties but wanted to go out to dinner and see a movie instead. We tried to go to Farren's, but they were closed and decided to try Nitaya Thai instead. We hadn't heard completely positive things about that place, but you don't know until you try, right? The service was great, but the food was only ok. I had shirmp pad thai, which was rather oily. They also left the tail on the shrimp making it messier to eat. Mike had pad see ew, and while the meat and veggies were good, the noodles were overcooked and mushy. But overall the experience was good, and while we probably won't go back I'm glad we at least tried. After dinner, we headed to Boardman's to see Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. I gave it three stars on Netflix-there were some great performances, but the way the story was told was a little too melodramatic. I think the movie was trying too hard to be like Memento with the flashbacks. We then went home, opened a bottle of wine, and watched a little TV before deciding to watch Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

We finished watching the movie this morning (wine makes me sleepy!!!), and haven't done much of anything at all today. It's snowing outside, and both of us are feeling pretty lazy. I've got Italian beef in the crockpot, and the first ever NHL outdoor hockey game in the US on TV-I love hi def! We were invited over to one of my coworker's for the Rose Bowl, but I think we'll just stay home and watch it here instead-I really don't feel like leaving the house! Maybe later we'll pop in Live Free or Die Hard. I'm really enjoying the writers' strike-we're able to catch up with a lot of movies.

More later, but for now Happy New Year!

Shoes 2, Trixie 0

While in New York I stopped at a Nine West store. I needed a new pair of brown shoes for work, and I found a pair of shoes I really liked.

Heel's a little high, but nothing I can't handle. I have another pair of Nine West shoes that are almost this high and I absolutely love them. I tried these shoes on, and my right foot kept popping out of the back of the shoe. The very helpful salesgirl gave me some pads to put inside, and that seemed to help. So I bought them and brought them home, and I couldn't wait to wear them.

The first day I wore them I didn't do so well. I've learned that even though I sit behind a desk, I need to bring a backup if I'm breaking in a new pair of shoes. I was so confident in the fit I didn't do that. Which means by 10:00 I was taking them off. All of my weight was concentrated in the front of the shoe, so the bottom of my feet really hurt. Plus, the front of the shoe seemed tighter than I remembered. It was so bad I went home for lunch to change shoes. My old shoes are getting pretty ratty, but boy were they comfy after that!

Yesterday I decided to try again. This time I used a second set of pads in the front of the shoe, and took out the pad from my left heel. Walking around at home, it seemed pretty good. Just to be on the safe side, I brought my ratty old shoes with me. Good thing too. The adhesive from the pad started rubbing my foot on the walk in from the parking lot (I have about a block walk), and I literally got in the door and changed shoes. I mean literally-I walked in and sat down in the stairwell. I now have a blister on my foot about the size of a quarter.

When this blister heals up, I am going to try again. This time I will check with my foot doctor, Dr. Scholl, and see if he can recommend anything. I have a pair of Doc Marten sandals that turned my feet into bloody strips the first few times I wore them, but now are ridiculously comfortable. But just in case, I'm going to find another pair of brown shoes......

Things I loved about New York

In no particular order:

-Dinner at Perilla
-Finding out our luggage arrived (was contemplating not getting out of bed if I had to rewear my clothes!)
-Lots and lots of walking (so I didn't feel guilty about all the eating!)
-Central Park on Sunday morning
-Sunday morning brunch (mmmm...crepes.......)
-Watching the Packers beat the NY Giants
-Power shopping!!!! (although I didn't buy too much as our luggage space was limited)
-NYC brick oven pizza (mmmmm......sliced meatballs and fresh mozzarella.......)
-Madison Square Garden and all of it's history
-Seeing Rush at MSG
-Finding Labatt Blue on tap at MSG
-Upgrading to first class for the flight home

I'm sure there's tons more I'm forgetting, but the main point is we had an awesome time!

NYC, Baby!

Well we finally made it to the Big Apple. It was starting to look a little touch and go, since the first leg of our journey didn't get off to a great start. When the plane that we were going to be on landed, the pilot did his visual inspection and found a puddle of hydraulic fluid on the ground next to the right rear wheel. Not a good thing! After much of what looked like nothing getting done, a couple of mechanics came out to take a look at it. They disappeared after a while, and we were told that there would be further delays while they got parts. After what seemed like eternity, they came back and got everything fixed. We knew it was a good sign when they started loading our baggage! So I don't know exactly what time we left, but it was late enough to miss our connecting flight. Luckily another one was there and we managed to get on board just in the nick of time. We ended up in the back next to the engines, but at least we were there! All in all, we got to NYC only 45 minutes late, which wasn't too bad.

Of course when we got to LaGuardia we found out our bags didn't. No big surprise there. We had reservations at Perilla, which is owned by Top Chef season 1 winner Harold. The food was terrific, the atmosphere was wonderful, and the service was outstanding! I started out with an appetizer of crab salad, while Mike had the special-diver scallops. We were both really impressed with our dishes. My main coarse was spinach truffle ravioli, yum! Mike had fluke with a butternut squash puree, and that looked really tasty as well. We shared a side of risotto, which was made with a whole grain rice and just melted in my mouth. Dessert was a dark chocolate tart with peppermint ice cream. The mint was real mint-you could almost taste the leaf! A thousand times better than mint flavoring.

We wandered back to our hotel, stuffed, buzzed, and sleepy. American still had not called us about our bags, and they were not waiting for us when we returned. Luckily we had our toiletries in our carryon, but the only clothes we had were what we were wearing. So plan B was to go shopping first thing in the morning. However, when we got up this morning Mike decided to call the desk and sure enough, our bags were here! So now it's off to wander the Big Apple, and thankfully in fresh clothes!

Guys, is it so hard to follow the beat?

I've been going somewhat regularly to kickboxing classes at the gym, and it's pretty much the same people all the time. It's mostly women, but there are a few guys that show up semi-regularly. These guys drive me nuts. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not always that coordinated. Sometimes I zig when I'm supposed to zag, and when the instructor tells us to shake our groove things while pretending to hit a speedbag, well, my groove thing doesn't shake that well. That being said, I look like the picture of grace next to these guys. Fellas, it's not a contest to see who can punch the fastest. Stop and listen to the beat. One, two, three, four. Not onetwothreefour and wait a couple beats to catch up the rest of the class. It's pretty distracting to see your limbs flailing about like a drunken octopus. I understand if the internal metronome may not be working properly, but you do have eyes and you can watch what the rest of the class is doing and follow along. There's one guy in particular who is the worst offender, and I was near him today because I came in late. A couple of times, he was racing ahead of the beat and turned around to wait for the rest of us and almost was introduced to my fists.

If they're this uncoordinated and are hurrying to finish during kickboxing, I feel sorry for their significant others.

mmmmm.....cupcakes............

So I learned from one of my coworkers that there is a new bar opening in downtown Champaign in October. It's not your typical downtown bar though-it's better. It's a CUPCAKE bar! How cool will that be? I can taste the frosting already........

Look in, to the eye of the storm

Tuesday morning, from the employee parking lot.

Feeding Frenzy!

I thought feeding Hershey and Bootsie was bad until I saw this.

Sheesh!!!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

So I had a hair appointment this weekend, and I decided it was time for a change. No more long hair, no more red. I dyed my hair back to close to my natural brown color, and had it cut real short. Meet the new Trixie:



It's taking me some time to get used to this-right now it feels like it's in a pony tail but without the tail. Washing it this morning was a little weird too, I'm used to being able to grab my hair and wring it out, but I can't do that anymore! I guess with all the money I'll save on shampoo and conditioner I'll spend on styling products.

Warning on a sunshade

"Do not drive while sunshade is in place"

Seriously, you gotta tell me that?

Idiocracy isn't too far off!

Home Alone

Mike's off in Detroit Rock City for a few days, so it's just me and the cats right now. I'm going to indulge my inner nerd-I netflixed the new Battlestar Galactica. I heard it was pretty good, and I don't have any baggage about the original show, so what the heck? Word of advice if you do the same-get the miniseries first and then get disc 1, etc., because the miniseries is really disc 1 and disc 1 is disc 2. Huh??!!???

Got my car back yesterday, and she's 90% fixed. She's still missing a running board (it'll take them a couple of days to get it), and the open door sensor is permanently on (will be fixed when running board is installed). It felt really good to drive it again. I liked the Jeep, but it felt really big and it was kind of a gas hog. The best feature was the way the seats folded down-one tug on a strap and done! Much easier than taking out the headreasts, pushing the seat out, and folding the back down.

Temporary Wheels

A few weeks ago I was in a car accident. I was going down Springfield Avenue in the left lane and a girl in the right lane sideswiped me to avoid hitting the car that supposedly stopped suddenly in front of her. I didn't see anything, only felt and heard the impact of my passenger side being hit. We both pulled over at a nearby parking lot and I called the police. Champaign's a small enough town that if you tell someone "I'm in front of Pia's on Springfield Ave", they should understand. Not the dispatcher at the police department. He kept asking for an exact street address or the cross street. This is on a stretch that's probably a good three blocks long with no cross street, and we were smack dab in the middle of it. He finally got it figured out. If I would have told him we were in front of Carmella's Donuts someone would have been there in five minutes!

The girl who hit me got a ticket for improper lane usage (DUH!), and we were both sent on our merry way.

Like I said, it really wasn't too bad. Neither one of us were hurt, just shook up a little.


Her insurance agent turned out to be very helpful and nice. I just had to take my car in for an estimate and have the shop send it to them, and once they approved it I could make arrangements to get my car fixed. They also offered me use of a rental car if I needed it, which I do! Mike and I have had enough of sharing a car! So I spent my lunch hour one day getting an estimate, and before you know it the insurance company got back to me and gave me the okay. About 10 minutes after talking to the insurance agent, someone from Enterprise called me wanting to know when I had the repairs scheduled-he had an SUV ready that day if I needed it! So I called the repair shop, and got an appointment for today. I called Enterprise back, and in the small world it is, found out I was dealing with the husband of someone who works at one of the Bloomington branches whom I've worked with many times on customer issues. Nice to know he'll probably take good care of me! Plus, the insurance agent had already mailed out the check for repairs, so it's sitting in the savings account earning a whopping 1/2% interest for the next week.

So I dropped the car off this morning and Enterprise picked me up at the repair shop. How awesome is that? Ever notice that all those guys who drive the courtesy vans for the dealerships are retired? Same with Enterprise. Sure beats working at Walmart! So this gentleman picks me up in a silver Jeep Cherokee Laredo, which sure enough, turns out to be what I am now driving for the next week. I think it's a little excessive-I would have been happy with anything, but I'm not paying for it! And truthfully, it's not too much bigger than the Tribute, it just seems like it. It has a very nice ride and is pretty quick to accelerate. And it's four wheel drive, so if I get the urge to go off-roading I'll be ready!

Wild Wedding Weekend

This is long-if you don't feel like reading it here's the summary-Laura and Dave got married, and everyone had a lot of fun!

Thursday morning saw an early start with breakfast at the Original Pancake House. We were probably the youngest people there-we saw a lot of gray hair and couples sitting together reading the newspaper. Looking around, I couldn't help but wonder if Mike and I would be here 40 years from now, regulars having breakfast on a weekday morning. After breakfast, we hit the road and headed to Milwaukee.

The drive up was fairly easy, and we only made one stop for gas. We hit town about 1 o'clock and checked into our hotel room right away. After a brief pause, we went to Southridge to get Mike's tux. There was some concern about the abilities of the lady who measure Mike for the tux, but she got the measurements close enough and the tux fit ok. We also ran into Mike's dad as he was leaving. Actually, we heard him before we saw him-he was talking about his surgery. Next, a tour around the mall to find new shoes for Mike and a new dress for me. I've had so much trouble trying to find a dress that fits, and when I walked into JC Penney I found two right away that were perfect, and both were on sale. Gotta love "big city shopping"! Mike found a pair of shoes (that had to be returned later-defective!), and a couple of shirts. Then we went to his parents house, and Laura and a couple of her friends from out of town came over. Ron threw some burgers and brats on the grill and we had a nice cookout. We went back to the hotel, where Mike chilled out while I went out with the girls. The first stop was Brian's Cocktail Lounge, which is known for it's frosty drinks. You tell the bartender what flavors you like and he whips something else. I had a Peachy Keen, which was quite tasty. The decor is very 70's and the place was pretty quiet. I guess on weekends it gets pretty crowded. After that, we went to the Safehouse, which is a really cool spy theme bar. It's so secret that we couldn't find it-Mapquest directions are not very good. We ended up calling Mike at 11 pm to get better directions-yay laptop and wireless internet! Laura, Rachel and I knew the password, but the other three girls didn't, so we got in and made it to the bar in time to watch them gain entry. If you don't know the password the "guard" makes up something humiliating that you have to do. In their case, they had to make bunny ears with their hands and hop around until the guard let them in. The best part-they still weren't told the password! There was another bachelorette party there, and to put it nicely they were pretty snotty. Guess they didn't like the competition! After a slow start (and difficulty getting served), things got going and the night got interesting. The only detail I'll mention is the guy we met who could take off his boxers without taking off his pants. He did, and Laura got a souvenir (which made it's way to the nearest dumpster upon leaving!). Then it was off to George Webb's for breakfast. I dropped everyone off (the out of towners were staying at the same hotel we were, and you can fit four girls in the back of the Tribute if someone sits on a lap) and went to bed. By the time I fell asleep it was 3:30.

Nothing like waking up at 6:30 to the sound of the guy in the room next to you slamming his door! I couldn't fall back asleep, and I had to get up at 7:30 anyway for our spa day. Thankfully I only had the peach drink at Brian's, otherwise I really would have been hurting. I met up with the other girls and we went to Starbucks to meet everyone else. After some coffee, we headed over to the Aveda school at the Vici Salon. I got a manicure and pedicure, and I almost fell asleep a couple of times, it was so relaxing! Mike picked me up from there, and we went back to his parents house for a little while to relax. Then back to the hotel to change for the rehearsal. I ended up wearing one of my new dresses, and I'm glad I did because it was pretty warm out. We had also learned that the reception building was a historical building and therefore did not have air conditioning. Nothing to do but make the best of it! However, the park was beautiful , and the setting by the river was perfect. We also had a long staircase to descend, which was very dramatic. After rehearsal we headed to Walker's Maple Grove for dinner, which was a lot of fun. At that point, Dave and some of his friends decided to have a guy gathering at his parents house, so Mike took me back to the hotel where I vegged out. I did pretty good for three hours of sleep but at that point I was done.

Saturday morning we received a phone call from Laura. All I could hear was Mike's side of the conversation, and it didn't sound good. Turns out the water was out at her parents house-nobody on their whole block had water due to a main breakage. So Laura came over to our room to shower, and then I went back with her so we could go to the mall and get our hair and makeup done. Of course, by the time she had come over the water was back on, but it was still probably a good thing she came over. We got to the mall and after straightening out a bit of confusion on the appointments (a couple of people cancelled and they didn't have that info) started on our hair. I was still indecisive about what I was going to do-I was thinking about straightening it but wasn't sure. I happened to turn around and saw one of the stylists, and the way she was wearing her hair was kind of what I was thinking of. As luck would have it, she ended up taking care of me! Since mine was pretty simple, I was done first, so I took pictures of everyone else getting done. Everyone's hair looked absolutely gorgeous! Then off to Boston Store, where we split up-the moms went to the Estee Lauder counter while Laura and I went to Clinique. Another mixup here-Clinique didn't have our appointments and there was only one lady working. Luckily, she was very good and took great care of us. Because of this, we were a little behind on time but no worries-we made it back to the house in plenty of time to get to the park. Laura did something different which I really liked-we did pictures before the ceremony, so guests wouldn't have to kill a lot of time in between. The weather was a slight worry, and it did rain briefly at one point, but by then we were already inside. It also stayed cloudy which was nice because the sun wasn't beating down on us. Guests started arriving, and before you knew it, we were walking down the stairs and starting the ceremony. It was brief, with Laura's Uncle Fran officiating. There were tears and laughter, and then Laura and Dave were married! The guests then went on to the reception hall while the bridal party went to the room where we had changed and waited to be introduced. There was a bit of a delay while we tried to figure out the bustle on Laura's dress, but that got straightened out and the party really started! The rest was pretty much a blur-the food was really good, and the cake was excellent! We had a great time between dancing and talking with the family. It's been a long time since I've seen a lot of them.

Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and went back to the mall to return Mike's tux. After that, we headed over to his parents' house for the gift opening. It was kind of an impromptu get-together, with Dave's parents and one of his aunts coming over. Les also came over, and she already had some of her pictures developed. Laura and Dave got some really nice gifts as well as some cash to take on their honeymoon. We hung out and ate tamales from El Rey (the best!), and then it was time to go home.

Laura and Dave, congratulations!

It's 10:30 on Wednesday morning, and I just got out of the shower. What does that mean? I'm on vacation, whoo-hoo! Laura (Mike's sister) and Dave are getting married this weekend, and we're both standing up in the wedding. So we're heading north tomorrow to start the festivities. I decided to take a few days off both before and after because I really need some time off, especially after yesterday's big announcement. We assumed that the branches would close, but to have to sell them as well as the accounts is quite shocking. There's also some really good people at those locations that I don't want to lose. But to be perfectly honest, there's one or two that I won't be sorry to see go.

So what's on tap for the rest of the day? Maybe a trip to the mall, but a really quick one. I want to spend some time outside soaking up the 90 degree sun. Picture a field of freshly fallen snow with the sun beating down on it. You know how white that is? Well let me tell you, my legs are even whiter! Something tells me while I'm sitting in the sun I may have to have a mojito or two to cool off. And JB's coming over after work tonight-she's keeping an eye on the cats while we're gone. And then running a few errands and packing. I'm sure I'll have some pictures to post once we get back!

Guess What I Ate!!!!!!

Yep, I had my first crawdad yesterday at lunch. It looked pretty much like this, except it was bright red and dead. If it had looked like this I don't know if I would have eaten it. I wish I would have taken a picture but I didn't think about it until it was too late.

And where did I get this exotic creature? At the Chinese buffet of course. A coworker and I went to lunch at Four Seasons and they had a whole pot of crawdads. He's had them before and showed me how to eat them. First you snap the tail off, then you peel it and grab the meat out. Simple, right?

Messy is more like it. The first crawdad I tried ended up having a little bitty tail so it was really hard to get any meat out of it. Also, you know how shrimp have the "poop chute"? Crawdads have it to, and it's much bigger. The second crawdad I ate had a huge one, and I pulled it away from the meat only to get it stuck in my fingernails. So not only do I have the greasy juice from the stuff the crawdad was cooked in all over my hands, I also have crawdad intestine in my fingernails. I think I went through about twenty napkins to clean up. I ate a third one, and that was enough.

And the verdict? Eh, it was okay. The meat did taste like shrimp, so that was a plus, but it was way too much work for not a lot of reward. But as Lou pointed out, a real Southerner would have eaten about a dozen in the time that it took me to eat three. So I think those were my first and last crawdads. But at least I tried them! Next time I will stick to the potstickers and seafood delight.

Further evidence that the fortune cookie writers have completely given up. Lou's fortune was "You can't aim a duck to death". WTF?????? What does that mean? My fortune was "Your fortune is on the way". I'm still waiting...........

Into Thin Air

I just finished reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. This is an absolutely amazing story of his trip to Mt. Everest in May 1996. Jon was a journalist with Outisde magazine at the time of this trip, and his assignment was to write an article about the commercialization of Everest. Instead, he told the story of the death of five of his fellow climbers, including two guides.

I've caught Everest on the Discovery Channel a few times, and I was just stunned at the determination of these climbers. Often, these climbers would frostbite, sleep deprivation, and oxygen deprivation. They would also commonly pass the bodies of other climbers who didn't make it, or even worse, climbers who were still alive but with no way of rescue. Similar situations are described in this book, and there is no shortage of traumatic events on this climb.

Near the start of the story, Jon talks about the moment when he realizes just how high he is going to climb-the same altitude as the plane he is taking to reach Everest. That put the height of Everest in perspective for me, otherwise 29,028 feet is just a number. Jon also intersperses his story with a history of Everest, and this brings a lot more richness to the story. There were some knocks from Amazon reviewers who thought that the narrative was a bit scattered, but I didn't think it was hard to follow at all. In fact, it was really hard for me to put the book down. I wanted to know what drove people to climb this high, and how the disaster unfolded. It also made me wonder if I would have the drive to do something like this. I think it would be quite an adventure to go to Everest, but I don't think I'd want to go much higher than Base Camp.

Thanks, Motos, for putting this in your garage sale. It was definitely a worthwhile read.