Jump back? Gah!

Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour. Love that computer clock that does it for me already. Though I stayed up an hour late and just turned my clocks back then so when i got up it was like getting up at the normal time and not an hour earlier.

my body is sore. well, my left shoulder. it aches. yesterday where i broke my arm in first grade was sore - which is right above my left elbow. i felt a low pressure front working its way in. usually my knees will be sore also, but maybe they didn't catch this one. i dunno.

ah, a nice quiet sunday morning, time to get me a newspaper and some coffee.

I Can't Believe It

Amazing.

The Boston Red Sox win the world series. Not just win: sweep it in four games. They won the last 8 games straight, which has never been done before. Just like no team had come back from a 0 to 3 deficit in the league championship until the Red Sox did it against the Yankees. Amazing.

I still can't believe it.

Top that off with the Patriots winning 21 games in a row to each week set a new record for most games (including playoffs) won in a row. They also beat the 1933 - 1934 Bears record (official!) for most regular season games won in a row. heee! And they also set their own record for best ever Patriots starting record at 6 and 0. And they beat the Jets for the AFC East lead. eeeee!

Amazing.

Whatta Night

Ahhh. Whatta night. I've made my first meat loaf. I've got Dead Like Me on the dvd player. I just got a chocolate lollipop from my mom. And I've got a beer. Maybe a little Grand Theft Auto: Vice City later. I don't have a PS2 or I'd get the new GTA. ::sigh::

Prince: The Only man I find attractive?

Prince oozes sex.

Everytime I hear a Prince song that is what I think. I was listening to Kiss today on the way home and that was one of my first thoughts. Some other thoughts: this guy is hot, his singing is amazing, listen to that!

Dang DLS what the . . .

So I got DLS. Yeah, supposedly so much faster then telephone modem 56 kps. I'm not that impressed. Maybe it is just me, but my telephone connection seemed almost as fast. And the connection at my old college was faster.

Though I have fallen head over heals for FireFox. I downloaded the internet browser about a month or so ago, but only used it once to try it out and didn't bother with it since then. I've been using MS's internet explorer. the user interface is about the same as with IE: it has a tool bar, menu bar and shows the current URL all along the top. But with FireFox you can open something in a new tab or open a new tab. So rather then having 20 browser windows all open I can have one browswer window open with many "tabs" open along the top. they look kinda like tabs for filing and they show thecomplete description of the url (the [title]).

Where to look. And what you'll find.

Oh, I'm not going to tell you where to look. I don't need to for you're already here. heh. But if you will look, you can find all kinds of wonderous tidbits scattered across the four winds of the world wide web. Why? I don't know.

Friday, Friday

Fridays at work seem to be a different place then Mondays though Thursdays. It seems to be part of that whole "casual" day informalness. We, the office people that is as manufacturering gets to wear them all week due to the nature of their work, get to wear jeans and tee shirts. Usually people wear the company logo sporting shirts and entire that we are able to buy a couple times of the year (nice quality stuff from the likes of Eddie Bauer).

But it isn't only the jeans. Everyone seems to be in a more playful spirit. Less wound up, more relaxed. We take a little longer for lunch and go somewhere different then the Mall. We chat a bit more about non work related stuff.

Red Sox Beat Yankees!

Woohoo! The Red Sox beat the Yankees to win the American League. Finally. I'm not a big baseball fan, football is my thing, but I remember 1986 and I'm sure Red Sox fans do. So this year seems to be The Year. I went to bed early last night, and when I checked the score before I slipped off to sleep it was 2 to 0 in favor the Red Sox, of course, it was very early in the game so I didn't give it much thought. Then something happened that doesn't normally happen: I woke up in the middle of the night. Befuddled, I checked the time, and it was two minutes to midnight according to my clock. I turned over and went back to sleep. When I woke up this morning, I knew something momentous must have occured last night. Something that made a million plus souls cry out in happiness, something so stirring to move the cosmic forces to wake me up in a start like I did.

And yup, the Red Sox beat the Yankees. heh.

Beer, football and dreams

So my boss had not been in the building less then 30 seconds when I asked her if I could have Monday off. I plan on going to my mothers Sunday and watching the Patriots vs. the Jets game but it doesn't come on 'till 4:05pm, too late to stay and watch the whole thing and get back at a decent hour Sunday. So I figure I'd just take off Monday, stay and watch the game and spend the night at my Mom's.

The Meeting Zone

It was kinda like the Negative Zone in Superman comics: you get put in there as a prison sentence, time passes on the outside, but you don't grow older. ::sigh:: I lost two hours of my life to a meeting today.

Okay, so I'm being pretty melodramatic. But I couldn't help but snicker to myself though the meeting at all the little Dilbertisms. The big boss and the bigger boss and the sales guy talking about something totally unrelated to the meeting for the first 20 minutes. So much that the other sales guys grabs a print for me and the engineering manager to lok at while the other guys are talking to each other.

then once they stop talking cue a 2 minute dead silence while the big boss is off thinking about something and no one can either think of anything to say or wants to interupt his thought process. ::snicker::

It was like being in some kind of strange time wrap. before I knew it, by ass hurt and two hours were gone.

Automated Phone Service

So I call Verizon to talk about my order for DSL. It is a 1-800 24/7 tech support line for their broadband customers. So when I get an computer talking to me, eh, nothing new right? This one seemed pretty good at voice recognition: it asked for me to speak my number and then it correctly repeated it back to me. It then asked me if that was correct and to say yes or no. So I said yes. And it didn't get it, it started from scratch: what was my telephone number. So I put it in again and it repeated it back to me. I said yes when prompted and made sure to speak clearly and loudly. It then didn't get my yes again.

::sigh:: So I punched my number into the keypad. It then asked me if the number it repeated back to me was correct. It didn't ask me to hit either 1 or 2 for yes or no, but asked me to speak to it again.

Frustrating. So after 5 minutes of stupid questions, it puts me on hold to wait for a "human" operator. When she gets on the line, she asked me for my phone number.

Umm, why did I spend 5 minutes trying to get the machine to say it if I was just going to give it to her anyways? I didn't ask, as the operator was super nice and really polite. Helped me out an resolved my problem.

So I'll be getting DSL (1 GB downloads / 356 kb uploads; with an option to go to 3 GB / 756 kb for an extra $10 a month) at the start of next week. For just $4 more a month then what I'm paying now for 56K telephone internet access, the DSL is a pretty sweet deal. Much better then $49 / month for cable internet, 'cause I'd also have to subscribe to cable for another $39 or more a month. And I don't even own a teevee, why the hell would I want cable.

Eeee! 20 in a row!

So the Patriots have won 20 in a row. Not only did they break the "unofficial" record last week with a win against the Phins, but now they are one game better.

Wow. They stepped up when they needed to and played some excellent football today. Though there were still mistakes (eee - interception. eee - fumble not recovered by us!) but the number of penalties were down, and we won! I just loved that the defense stepped up and stopped Seattle from getting the touch down with only a couple seconds left to play even though if Seattle did score, they wouldn't have won.

So now the Patriots are tied with the 1930something Bears for the most consecutive regular season wins. I just get down on my knees and pray to the football gods that they win against the Jets next weekend. It is going to be a big game: for the AFC East lead and for the 18th consecutive regular season win to beat the Bears record. eeee!

What was the question?

Do we even know what the question is supposed to be?

To figure out the answer, you need to know what question to ask. If you don't know the question, you can't find the answer. So how to figure out what the question should be?

Oww my thumb

It got burnt trying to move a candle.

And after soaking it cold water (everytime I took it out, it hurt like the dickens), I realized I had some pain relief cream. So I put a dab of the cream on my thumb and the pain stopped. But now I've got a little white blister ('bout the size of a dime) on my thumb. Try not using the thumb on your writing hand all day. Pain in my tookus. I can't imagine going thru life with any handicap, as this little booboo on my thumb was just a pain in my butt. And I can't imagine the pain that burn victims must be going thru. this owie hurt whenever i removed it from the cool water, I can't imagine if it was my whole body, or even more then just my thumb.

I just scratch my head

And wonder why.

From Yahoo!News "Some towns around the country are decreeing that Halloween be celebrated on Saturday to avoid complaints from those who might be offended by the sight of demons and witches ringing their doorbell on the Sabbath." I guess these towns forgot that Saturday is Sabbath for Jews. But maybe the Christians who don't want Halloween on Sunday just think Jews are Heathens anyways so it is okay for them to celebrate on Saturday because Sunday is "Christ's day. You go to church on Sunday, you don't go out and celebrate the devil. That'll confuse a child." I say to those who rather "celebrate" Halloween on Saturday then Sunday: don't be surprised if your house gets "tricked" on October 31st. And for jeepers sake people, this is more about kids getting free candy then the devil, at least nowadays.

Doesn't it seem like every year there is a flu shot vaccine shortage? Maybe I should get into the flu vaccine business, I just overestimate what we need every year, and we'll be golden.

Jobs I've had at one time or another

I've done a few things in my life thus far. . .

Babysitter
Bagger (grocery store)
Cashier (grocery store)
Military Police Officer
Comic book store clerk
Security Guard / Dispatcher / Supervisor
Service Desk (grocery store)
Pharmacy Technician
Research Assistant
Chemical Engineer.

Was there any logical progression?

Wow, 7am!?!

Used to be, when I was in college, I'd stay up to 1 or 2am and then get up at 9 or 10am ~ if I didn't have classes that day. I used to work midnight shift, so I know how sleep schedules can be changed, even though your body may not like it, it can be done.

So when I find myself waking up at 6am or like this morning, 5:55am, way before the alarm clock goes off, and ever so early in the morning, I can understand how and why, but I still shutter. I dislike getting up early. I rather see the sunrise 'cause I've been up all night. My favorite time of day is evening, that time right before sunset when the sky is just getting a bit dark.

And it isn't getting up to go to work that I really dislike, though it ain't tops in my list, 'cause I didn't really mind getting up at 10:30pm to leave at 11:15pm to go to work. When it comes down to it, I'm just not really a morning person.

Life Is Good

I've got a Magic Hat #9 by my hand. I've got the first season of Dead Like Me playing (episode 3 right now). The Patriots just beat the Phins for win #19 in a row (now to beat Seattle next week to tie the '33/34 Bears 17 regular season wins). I've a great (paying) job. Cool coworkers. Gerhard has complimented the site and Dave and him put it in the last phonebook.

19 in a row! eeee!

Lego my Eggo

So my fave dessert of late is Eggos. Eggos, butter, real maple surup and milk (low fat skim type). Taste eats those Eggos.

Almost as tasty as saurkraut.

The Drive Home

My drive home takes about twenty minutes. Thirty if the traffic is bad. And it is so Plymouth County. Turkeys. Cranberry Bogs. Heck, I've had lunch within spitting distance of the Mayflower replica. Quaint New England vistas, the autumn leaves changing colors, the Cape Cod houses beside the shore.

On the way to work I always listen to 94.1's news at 7:20am. Then sometimes to either NPR or Howard Stern. But it has to be talk radio. I can't listen to music on the drive to work. I've got to clear my mind, enter this almost zen state. I'm in the drive. I'm in the moment of driving my car. I enjoy each second before I get to work.

You know, take my mind off the 9 or so hours of work.

It isn't that I hate work. I actually find it really interesting. It is just that it can be stressful at times, I don't want to fuck anything up and disapoint my coworkers, my boss. . .At work I can feel so self confident at time, I know the answers to the questions off the top of my head, I can troubleshoot what is wrong and figure it out. Other times I'm blindsided and don't know what the hell is going on. Either I know what is going on or I'm totally out of the loop. It is that totally out of the look that messes with me.

So I clear my mind and try not to think about it either way or the other. Just enjoy the moment.

The swearing and the cussing.

Fuck.

Surprise how much I didn't even really notice it. I've watched all the episodes in season 1 about 5 times each, if not more. I kinda know the lines by heart. So when I found myself saying "Open up Georgia, it's Daisy. Daisy Adair." "Fuck Me." "I heard that. Open up." along with the show. . .

That is when I realized that the FCC is full of shit. Well, I actually knew it before then, that whole Janet Jackson nipple thing. Like seeing a bit of nipple is going to kill anyone. Like you could even really see anything unless you recorded it on your TiVo and went to slow-motion frame by frame capture it and then blew it up so you might see it.

So a cable show says Fuck I didn't realize it. Just part of life. The characters didn't say it every five minutes, or even every 10 minutes. But the uproar when someone (Hello Bono!) uses it on "regular" broadcast teevee. seesh. People, really, get a life. People are starving in this world. People are dying of genocide in this world. People are dying from preventable diseases in this world. And too many more horrors to speak of and people get their knockers in twist because someone says Fuck or they see a nipple on teevee.

I really hope these people don't watch cable. They might flip a lid. . .umm.

10 years ago

10 years ago today I was in Cap Haitian, Haiti. At the airport there actually. Sitting in my team's humvee with my team, guarding the airport. Heat. Humidity. No showers. No flush toilets. No hot food (not that it wasn't hot enough to make the MREs hot, but you know what I mean).

While I was there it was the longest 4 months of my life. At least it seemed like it. Now it has been gone almost 10 years since I've been there. I've gotten out of the Army, gotten divorced, come out as a lesbian, went to college and gotten my BSChE. . .the years have been full of experiences. Sky diving. Learning to ride a motorcycle. My first kiss with a girl.

10 years. That is twice as long as I was in the Army. Another experience I thought would never end at the time. I couldn't believe it when I graduated college with my engineering degree. Another experience I thought wouldn't end. Now I'm at my first engineering job, and I'm taking it all in. I realize that time flies by, and to savor the time we have doing whatever it is we are doing. You have to make experiences happen, they just won't come to you.

10 years since I was deployed to Haiti. ::sigh::

Mail

You know when you're looking forward to something and it doesn't arrive? I was looking forward to something in the mail, and it wasn't there. Prehaps it will be tomorrow. I don't know. I didn't get confirmation that it would even arrive. I just asked nicely for it. I'm hoping it'll show up soon.

I had a dream last night (totally unrelated from the above paragraph I know, get over it). I was going to fly a helicopter. I was in the pilot's seat, starting it up, making sure the door was locked (!?!) and getting ready to take off.

Then I woke up 'cause I had the window open and it was very cold. And I had to go to the bathroom. If I don't go to bathroom, but just go back to sleep, then I have dreams that I have to go to the bathroom and that I have to find a bathroom. Umm.

My head hurts and I'm tired. ::yawn:: All that and I didn't even drink today. seesh.

18! ohmygawd! Just one more! One more!

The Patriots have just won 18 in the row.

Okay, so it is an unofficial record. But still, pretty cool. Up there with the Bears, the Broncos, the Phins and some other team I can't remember now. . .but still. Pretty cool. 18! Who would've thought that the Patriots would win two Super Bowls in three years and now win 18 games in a row. weeeee!

I better knock on wood before I jinx 'em. ::knockknock::

'Till next week and the Phins.

Sleep

I used to work the graveyard shift. At first it was 11pm to 7am, and then it switched to a "true" graveyard shift: midnight to 8am. I worked this shift for four years. And I loved it. Sure, it was hard sometimes getting home at 8:15am, and having to sleep in 90 degree heat with high humidy and the bright sun shining down. But just crank on the fan, put a blanket over the windows and put some earplugs in, and sleep was possible.

I like the midnight shift because it was quiet. There was a small shift on during that time, but compared to the couple thousand that worked there during the day and swing shifts, a hundred or so employees was small. So I could walk around the majority of the plant in the dark, by myself, with only my footsteps and breathing as the only noises around. And on the weekends, it was even quieter, 'cause then there was no workforce there but us security guards.

And unlike working "normal" hours, after I got off shift, I could still do stuff. I could make doctor appointments, take my car to the mechanic, and even go to school without having to take time off from work.

Part of me misses walking around in the dark, listening to the crickets and the soltitude.

The day I quit work, I was still on a midnight shift sleep cycle. I went home and slept during the day. It didn't take me long to switch back to a "normal" sleep cycle, but it did take me long to get used to the sun being out, all the people and the buzz of the day.

I don't think I'm still totally used to it yet, part of me will always be a midnighter.

If I were President pt. 2

If I were President:

• I would stand up for is Right. Even if the majority were against me.
• I would tell the truth. If I did not know the truth, I would say so.
• I would serve the public. Not special interest groups. Not my advisors. Not big business. I would serve the public. Even if you did not vote for me, if you are an American citizen, I, and all the government, work for you.
• Just because I serve the public and work for everyone, does not mean I owe you anything except my promise to do the best job as President that I can.
• I would try to impart to everyone the feeling I get when I look at a flag waving, hear the national anthem play, and when I hear Taps play.
• As one of the US Army leadership principles state: "Lead by example."