I am such a friggin idiot. Went out to see The Bars last night, had a couple of drinks, felt good, had a couple more drinks, felt even better, had a few more drinks, started seeing double, had to have someone else drive me home in my car, threw up in my own back seat all over myself (a new low for me) and have spent all day just trying to keep down water. The urge to wallow in self-pity is totally upstaged by how mad I am at myself and the only reason I'm posting this is because the humiliation needs to be maximized if I am to remember how pathetic this is and not do it again. Twenty-seven years old and I still haven't found (or chosen to acknowledge) my fucking off switch. Ugh.
On a side note, from a strictly weightloss perspective, I can see the appeal of bulimia. I have lost 4 pounds since yesterday morning. I can't say I'm upset about that part, but what a fucking way to have it happen. I would have much rather eaten salads and exercised for two weeks...
So the cool part about last night, aside from the merry making, dancing and good music in the first part of the evening, is that I was asked to redesign the back of The Bars shirts for 2006. So many people are wearing the new design! It was sort of surreal and totally awesome to see my handiwork on the backs of a ton of intoxicated bikers. Below are the old and new designs.
Note: "Attitude Check" is a de-stressing exercise which occurs between songs when Kenny, the lead singer, yells "attitude check!" and the crowd responds with yelling "fuck you!" and raising their middle fingers in the air. Yeah, it's crude and rude and all that, but it's totally amazing what being able to scream "fuck you!" at the top of one's lungs will do for one's mental outlook after a long week. *shrugs* I enjoy it.
Shirt front (flames are green this year)
Old back graphic
New back graphic
I'm going to go lay on the couch again and watch Armageddon.
Posted @ 8:33 PM
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Maybe it's cheesy, but I made this for Erin and her baby, Nova (Donovan), who underwent heart surgery today. Call me crazy, but I believe there's power in positive thought, so if anyone wants to post the Nova ribbon, please feel free to steal it. You even have my permission to hot link if you'd like. The code is below.
Posted @ 7:03 PM
Saturday, February 18, 2006
It is sooooo friggin cold here; 5°F but the wind chill is -12°F according to weather.com. Yesterday we had such strong winds that power was knocked out all over the state. We had to close work early because although we could make do with the light from the windows, without the furnace, the temperature dropped fast and once it started getting dark, there was really no reason to be there. Power here at home was out for about six hours. Jay and I went out to dinner rather than sit in the freezing darkness with nothing to eat. The good thing is that we happened to find an awesome restaurant called the Granite Steak & Grill where we both happily munched in well-lit warmth on the best prime rib ever. Unfortunately, Dave and Michelle still don't have power at home, so they're at the Marriott in Portsmouth with the kids, which means the belated holiday staff party was cancelled. With everyone's hectic schedules, we probably won't make it out until friggin April, but maybe that'll be good. A reward for making it through another bitter New Hampshire winter...
In other news, the car accident ordeal is finally over. Case settled, money in bank. I also went after my own insurance company for trying to dick me out of what is an insignificant amount of money to them (but matters to me) and I won. To make a long story short, although they found me 0% liable for the accident initially and the police report agreed with that, at some point (unbeknownst to me) they changed their minds to 50%, didn't tell me, paid out more than they should have, put a surcharge on my premium due to the payout, and only refunded me 50% of my deductible. I only knew about this when I got the check for half my deductible in the mail with no explanation and thought: What the hell is this? Although I am usually totally spineless when it comes to this kind of thing -- a chronic non-rocker of the boat -- this really pissed me off, so I filed a complaint with the New Hampshire Insurance Department and pressed the surcharge issue until it was resolved. Then, when my insurance company thought I was done and happy, I pressed further with a great bitchslap letter and got the rest of my deductible back. Assholes. I am mostly happy with how this turned out except for the fact that I am kind of stuck with this company now because anywhere else I've called will charge me according to that 50% payout and won't take the adjustments into account. *sigh* I guess it could be worse.
My nose is cold. I'm not really happy about that, as the smiley would suggest, I just don't have an unhappy smiley in a winter hat.
Happy Saturday, all. I think I'll go make a cup of tea.
Posted @ 8:38 PM
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! OK, well... Jana defected (or semi-defected) to myspace.com, so I went there to see what she's been up to, only to find that I couldn't view her full profile and pictures and stuff unless I myself joined, so I did. Let me mention that I really have no interest in myspace.com as it has way too many links and buttons and crap to think about and with genericblog.net, it seems redundant to me to have an account. I am also anti-social and don't really have any desire to network, as I am with people all damned day as it is. Anyway, for some reason I don't quite understand (fate, maybe? LOL!) tonight I was tinkering with my profile and decided to see if anyone from my high school had an account or profile or space or whatever the terminology is. I found my best friend from middle school! My mind is reeling with memories of being thirteen. We used to dye each other's hair (much to our mothers' horror, I'm sure) and conduct these little séances to attract the likes of two lame boys we were after. Lol. Those were the days! Now if I can only dig up the pictures!
Posted @ 8:38 PM
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Have a good one!
Posted @ 9:37 AM
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Erin’s Original Apple Graham Crumble A scrumptious and extremely non-diet apple treat made with graham crackers and lots of butter!
Ingredients
6 large gala apples 6 large golden delicious apples 1 box (14.4 oz.) cinnamon graham crackers 1 package (4 sticks) butter 2 ½ cups brown sugar (packed) ¾ cup all-purpose flour ½ cup rolled oats 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Directions
Filling: · Peel, core and cut the apples into ½” pieces. · Heat 4 tbsp. of butter in a skillet on high until bubbly and fragrant. · Add ½ the apples and stir to coat in butter. Cover tightly and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 6-7 minutes., stirring frequently. · Mix in ¾ cup of brown sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon with the apples. Cover and increase heat to high. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. · Transfer the apple mixture to a cookie sheet to cool. · Repeat process with second half of apples.
Crust & Topping: · Crush graham crackers into coarse pieces. · Mix in ¾ cup of all-purpose flour, ½ cup of rolled oats, 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1 cup of brown sugar. Mix until well blended. · Melt 3 sticks of butter and drizzle over mixture. Stir to ensure even distribution of butter. Mixture should stick together if pressed. · Press 1/3 of the graham mixture into the bottom of a 9” x 13” baking pan. · Use a slotted spoon to transfer the apples from the cookie sheet to the baking pan. There should be leftover syrup on the cookie sheet. This can be discarded or to top off the crackle if served with ice cream. · Cover with the remaining graham mixture and pat down lightly.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping.
This is a recipe I invented yesterday. It's wicked good as is, but I think I'm going to try it with less sugar and butter next time. Maybe 1/2 cup sugar with the apples and 3/4 cup sugar with the topping/crust. Also, I'm thinking 2 sticks of butter for the topping/crust and a couple tablespoons of water to help it stick together. Anyway, if you get a chance to try it, lemme know.
Posted @ 3:26 PM
Friday, February 10, 2006
I have this really cool new layout I've been working on, but I've hit a brick wall with a stupid table. One of the cells has a height of 100% and everything in it is vertically aligned to the top. The cell to the right of it should be the same, except the contents absolutely will not vertically align correctly. Argh. Rome, you wanna tell me what the problem is? Do I have to set a specific number of pixels? I'm getting mad, but true to my Taurean nature, that only makes me more stubborn and determined to get it right. Argh!!
I have had all these great thoughts to post over the last few days and true to form, I have forgotten all of them. Oh well. I guess y'all probably expect this from me by now, huh?
There are two things I wanted to bring to your attention: energy efficient lightbulbs and colon health. (Sorry, there's no poetic way to introduce those things together, so I just came right out with it.) Anyway...
I replaced all my lightbulbs recently with energy efficient lightbulbs from Noli Control Systems. (Don't be turned off by the website -- it's not incredibly well done, but many reputable sources cited them favorably as a place to purchase Energy Star rated goods.) The bulbs were around $9 each, but they last up to 7 years and use less than 25% as much electricity for the same amount of light. Not only do they offer quantity discounts, but additional discounts are offered according to where one lives. I got a case and a half of these. I knew when they had arrived and that Jay had switched out the old ones because I could see the lights on in my house all the way at the end of the street. They're cool.
Secondly, my coworker Dianne mentioned that she does herbal colon/anti-parasitic cleanes from time to time and at first I laughed at her, but when I started researching it out of curiousity, I was horrified. I am seriously considering doing an herbal cleanse myself. I know it sounds nasty and it's one of those things "you just don't talk about," but the build-up that happens in there is unreal. I'm sure plenty of sludge has built up over the 27 years that I've been digesting. Here's a site if you're interested: click. WARNING: DO NOT GO INTO THE PICTURE GALLERY UNLESS YOU HAVE A STRONG STOMACH!!! And also know that though at first glance this site might look like a bunch of alarmist hype, I have found the same info and pictures everywhere. This is not new!
On that note, I'll leave you to have dinner. *evil laughter* T.G.I.F.
Posted @ 5:26 PM
Sunday, February 05, 2006
I was just editing pictures for the patient gallery on my work website and I was overwhelmed with this warm, fuzzy feeling about the hospital and my job. I love working with and for Dave and Michelle and I am so proud to be a part of something so good. I know it's not my business, but I can't help taking a sense of pride and accomplishment in how far we've come. I am honored to have played a part in making it what it is and what it will be.
Here's a couple of my cute little friends. The one on the left is Misty, a Pug/Poodle mix. As much as I hate the practice of purposefully creating mixed breed dogs when there are so many homeless as it is, she really is too cute for words. Her shirt had "Bad to the Bone" written in rhinestones. On the right, we have T-Bone, am extremely gassy French Bulldog. I asked his owner whether the raincoat was truthfully for his or her benefit and she swore straight-faced to me that he won't go outside in the rain without it. They're such cool dogs.
Yesterday I went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Rochester to see if there were any good comfy hippy clothes I could send my sister as a belated birthday present. (And no, I am not being cheap -- if you told her she could get a whole new wardrobe at the store of her choice, I can almost guarantee you she'd pick a second-hand store.) Anyway, people in the more affluent towns nearby must dump their old stuff there, because there was tons of GAP, American Eagle, LL Bean and other expensive brand names. I found some great jeans, a couple of sweaters and a wicked nice chocolate brown suede GAP jacket for Jay -- only $19.99. I'm so glad my mom taught us that there's nothing to be ashamed of going into a Salvation Army or Goodwill.
In other news, the pain and depression which followed my car accident was not very conducive to maintaining my weightloss/exercise goals and I am sad to say I've gained 20 pounds back (of my total 50 lost) over the last year. On the bright side, I have a renewed commitment to get healthy by summertime (or at least healthier.) So far, so good. I took Indie for a brisk 30-minute walk yesterday afternoon and my legs are sore, so that's good, right? I managed to make myself exercise four days last week. That's major progress for a lethargic couch potato like me.
One other nice thing that happened to me yesterday was that I went to the mall to get a Yankee Candle for my sister's birthday box and one of our clients works in the card store I was going to. I picked out three medium sized candles: one for sis and two for me, because they were on sale. Well, when I went to check out, Carol (our client) leaned over and whispered to me, "Honey, if you want to go grab the next size up, we have a Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon you can use." Well, that's a $20.99 coupon, so of course I went for it. I asked her "So do you just have a bunch of these coupons floating around or what?" She said, "Well actually, I got this one in the mail and was saving it for someone special." How nice is that?? That makes me so happy that I have been a positive presence in her life. Her little dog, Jed, loves me and always jumps up and down at the counter trying to get in to see me behind the desk whenever they come over. If I'm not up there, Jenn says he searches the whole lobby. Isn't that cute?? *sigh* Pets are good.
I'm gonna go see if I can get Stinky (Indie) in the tub. She hasn't had a bath in months and even though she is one of the cleanest pups ever, she's starting to smell a bit like a dog. Can't have that! Lol.
Happy Sunday!
Posted @ 1:13 PM
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
As I'm sure Angie could attest, sometimes in Vet Med, we come across a pet that could be categorized (understatedly) as "fractious." In other words, so out-of-control-crazy-vicious that it needs to be sedated to even get near it. Well, funny thing about sedation: in Vet Med, sedation is not a touch of Valium to take the edge off, as it would be with a person. It's out cold, can't move, can't blink, nothin'. Anyway...
We had this insane cat in today who needed some wounds clipped and cleaned and she was not about to let anyone do it, so out came the drugs... As you can see in the picture below, she managed to glare at us even while out cold. This photo is not altered in any way. I love cats, but maybe some of 'em are just plain evil...
Oh, by the way, her name is Sybil. How appropriate!
Posted @ 7:35 PM
I'm not really happy about that, as the smiley would suggest, I just don't have an unhappy smiley in a winter hat. 
