Kitty Love

September 17th, 2005

Thought I’d post this picture of Kitty, taken a few weeks ago when he was ever so graciously letting me do a kitty photo shoot. Unfortunately kitty isn’t the most photogenic cat in the world, and although the pic is cute … I can never seem to get a picture of him that portrays his true personality, the most lovesick kitty in the world that wants to cuddle, love, purr, and play rolly-polly all day long. He tries to be a tough boy when I snap the camera but don’t let him fool ya … he’s definitely not the hard-ass he tries to portray himself to be!



Nothing much else going on. Went to Kings this afternoon and had a small portions turkey dinner .. yummm! Todd got his strawberry milkshake so his foot should be all better. Other than that, not much. I haven’t had nearly enough coffee today yet so I think I’m going to make a pot and settle down and create something on the internet.

Later.

Family is great

September 16th, 2005

Regardless of how strange I think my entire family is, they’re still the best ever. My grandma called me after work today and she really made me feel so much better. Without even having to say it and be agreed with, she gave me the advice that describes exactly how I feel. It is hard not really having anyone to confide in sometimes when I’m down. My grandma is awesome. Yesterday was her 66th birthday. I’m glad I have a youngish grandma who understands me. Really, even though she is a bit crazy sometimes …. she’s like a mom to me. And its good to have a level-headed rational modern thinking grandma when I have a mom who is completely insane …. but I love her too. Shortly after talking to my grandma, my mom called. Yeah …. guess I’m popular today. My mom’s birthday is on Sunday … she’ll be 46. She called to thank me for the birthday card and was crying because she said I gave her too much money. I felt bad because she never gets to buy things for herself and honestly I don’t have any need to hoard money away somewhere. The world could end tomorrow and what would I have to show for it? I’d rather die knowing that my mom was happy with her glitter pens, the latest Harry Potter Movie, a good book, or a new sparkly ring to wear on her finger. I mean, if she doesn’t have a ring on every single finger then she’s not very happy. I love my mom. My dad stole the phone again and began to rant about the fleas on the cats and how he was going to slit their throats or take them to the animal shelter. I told him to stop being insane and told him I’d come home soon. He sounded so sad and said he missed me and loved me. I love my dad too. And now I’m just sad that I’m here by myself with absolutely nothing to do on a Friday night. I feel like there is nothing left for me in this place and I don’t feel like being alone tonight. I just want to go home so I have someone to talk to and be around people who love me.

A list of unimportant things

September 13th, 2005

Here is what is on the agenda for the next few days if anyone cares:

Today I will be cleaning my apartment and cleaning the cobwebs out of my bedroom. I’ve decided its time to start sleeping in my bed again. I’m probably going to cook my chicken, green bean, and stuffing casserole. It’s better than it sounds …. in fact its darn tasty!

Tomorrow I’ll be working and plan to take half the day off and even if my job doesn’t think I am, I still am because I already made plans and I’m not usually a plan breaker unless I get sick. I tend to get sick more often than I’d like, but thats life.

Thursday I’m going to a local park for a “fun day” and since I’m taking my camera I promise there will be pictures.

On Friday I plan to work another half day … but I haven’t decided what I’m doing for the weekend.

In other non list-type news:

I was thinking about life today. I’m starting to like people at my job. I hated this one guy with a passion until today. But today I had the important task of obtaining ssn’s of some quite affluent Pittsburgh folks before the hour of 3:00. That was when the world was going to explode. I accomplished the task by noon and was thanked at least 5 times by him. He’s no longer on my shit list for the moment. Last week this lady who is evil and bitchy asked me for a favor and I did not treat her like shit as she does to everyone when something is asked of her … although I should have. But I’m so busy at work, I just don’t have time to remember to be mean to people just because they suck. Anyways, she is now acting like my new best friend. And, I have an assistant who is the ripe age of 21. He’s smarter than me and I don’t even have to show him how to do anything. He’s perfect. I’m starting to feel some relief on the job front. And one thing about always being busy, is that for 8 hours of my day I don’t have time to be upset about anything or even think about my life outside of work …. which is good because my real life sucks.

There are a lot of stay at home mom’s with blogs. On an unrelated note, I was reading this girl’s MySpace thing one day and she was talking about how she would be a great housewife and sometimes life got so stressful that she just wanted to be married so someone would take care of her, blah blah. I thought I related to her for about a second, then I realized that something like that could never cross my mind. What would I do if I didn’t have a job? I’m done with school …. which is kind of like a job. The only time I remember not having either a job or being in school since I left home was the summer I moved to Pittsburgh. But I was quite preoccupied with maxing out my credit card and having a new boyfriend, so I guess times were pretty exciting. I love having long weekends and weekends in general, but I think I’d go stir crazy after a while. When I’m really stressed out, I think about food … or cigarettes. Sometimes if I have plans after work, it really really helps me get through the day. Or even if I have plans for the weekend. As long as I have something to look forward to in the forseeable future. Especially if it includes hanging out with someone cool …. or cuddling. I don’t really think that kids or marriage would make me less stressed. Then I’d just be thinking about how I would get to that place … and to get to that place would mean I would have to have a wedding, and weddings scare me. If I had to choose between being single forever or having a wedding and wearing a white dress so everyone could make a fuss over me … well I think I have to pick staying single. Maybe I should just be one of those single career girls.

A life where men and families are no longer necessary. A life focusing on my career. Maybe I’ll take some classes or improve my skills in web design or accounting software so I can be the “do everything” awesome girl. I’ve got the college degree under my belt and I have tons of planning experience, so I think I’m going to quit my job and work somewhere that will allow me to utilize my skills and work my way up the ladder until I become the CEO of a company. I could definitely see the panic attacks arising, haha. Actually – this brings me back to the time I lost my debit card and had a hissy fit. Todd and I were at Wendy’s one day and I couldn’t find my debit card. I realized I must have left it somewhere and proceeded to freak out. Most likely because every cent I owned was on that card and I knew that I would have no means of getting cash until it was replaced. I didn’t handle that well. But this is like what happens every day at my job … some crisis is always arising and I’m the one handling it like a calm and sensible person! People at work often send this kind of crap to me because they know I won’t spazz and I’ll figure out the most practical way to go about it. Maybe I’ve adapted or maybe I just completely separate work from real life. If I lost my debit card now, I wouldn’t even care though. There is no money on it and its ugly anyways. But I also have a savings account, a credit line, and know that my bank would give my money back if it was stolen. I’m not desparate and penniless like I used to be.

I’m very tired for some reason. Maybe because I run around all day like a flapping monkey. When I get busy I can’t stand still …. but I also can’t concentrate on one thing. I’ll be writing an email to somebody and then remember I need to take something down to accounting and run down there. Then I race back to my office because my phone is ringing and there are packages for me at the front desk or someone is there to pick something up. And by the time I’m done running around I’ve forgotten what I’m doing ….. I’m taking a new tablet to work tomorrow. If not I’m going to have to start sticking my postits to the floor cause I’ve run out of room on my desk. I’m tired. I said that already. I’m done ranting for today. Bye.

Old Stuff

September 11th, 2005

In chronological order, here are some of my entries from April – June 2002. They’re also over in the archives section. Many of the entries contain pictures that go along with the events that took place. Just read the titles … obviously I was a lot more exciting back in the day when I had roommates and a boyfriend …. or just a life. Anyways, I really put forth some effort into these. I was 20 in April 2002 ….. it seems like these things just happened yesterday, others I feel like were a lifetime ago and written by someone else. Some fun times were definitely had.

APRIL 2002:
The one with the CrossXRoads Mugs
The one with the secret Gin Blossoms Concert
The one with the Wooden Meat Mallet
The one with the ugly neighbor
The one with the Dead Girlfriend
The one where I rant about eggrolls
The Gin Blossoms Concert

May 2002:
My first post livin’ in da Burgh
The one with fake engagement pictures
The one where I have a boyfriend!

JUNE 2002:
The one where Courtney stole my fan and then cut off all of my hair!
Why is there a knife in our bathroom?
Long ass reflection on my life
Very unorganized post which also contains a time machine

The internet is a wonderful thing

September 11th, 2005

Where would I be in life today without the internet? I really don’t know. I love information at the tips of my fingers but I still get frustrated about the lack of things I’m able to find. It’s not perfect … yet. I wish I got paid to find things on the internet …. I have so many great techniques. Here is a list of great things I have accomplished on the internet.

1. Nights of entertainment, searching through free criminal records of people I went to high school with.
(reason: curiosity I guess. Wondering if the jerks in high school really made it anywhere, or if they are rotting in a jail cell somewhere.)

2. Finding MySpace blogs of people I went to high school with.
(reason: curiosity, boredom)

3. Endless mindgames played on people (Julie as my partner in crime) via fake AIM screen-names and fake identities. I was once a boy named Jason who just happened to “accidentally” email my ex-boyfriends new girlfriend. Oh and Jason just happened to know my ex-boyfriend. Soon we had a flourishing online relationship and courtesy of her best-pals email, I found out she was seriously contemplating on meeting me in real life. I’d had my fun …. I let things end.
(reason: revenge, jealousy, anger, a way to curb my desire to stab certain individuals)

4. I met Todd
(reason: lonlieness, boredom, curiosity, hoping to find someone)

5. I made many websites
(reason: everyone else was doing it … seemed fun, now I’m addicted!)

6. I found out my landlord wasn’t paying his taxes and realized the house I was living in was going up for sherrif’s sale. As of May 2005 it was bought for $6,000 by some company in California. This knowledge saved me from potentially being homeless although I highly doubt I would have stayed much longer than I ended up staying anyways. It kind of sucked there.
(reason: investigation upon finding notices that gas was being shut off, coming home to find I had no cable, endless calls from bill collectors on the main line at the house)

7. I know who has babies and have read many obituaries.
(reason: curiosity)

8. By use of keylogger I found out my ex-boyfriend’s email password, went into his email, slightly modified his lover’s email address in his address book, set up an email account at that modified address, and waited. Two days later I recieved an email from him to “her” stating that he was sorry she was upset that he was seeing “me” again but I had just bought him a Blink 182 ticket and he really wanted to go so he had to pretend to like me. Yeah, the truth hurts and sometimes you think you are better off not knowing, but I’ve learned that when you feel wrong about something, there is usually something really wrong about it. Needless to say, he didn’t make it to that concert.
(reason: just confirming my worst fear. Unfortunately I was right. Unfortunately if I hadn’t sought the truth in such a sneaky way I would still to this day never really know that I was being lied to. Some men are good liars even when you think you know everything about them. 3 years ….. wasted ….. think twice before you claim to know someone.)

9. Many lovely IM conversations that still make me spit out my coffee when I read them.
(reason: boredom, entertainment)

10. Found out that this crazy guy who used to call me at work everyday is truly crazy. Now you know I’m not lying when I say that “nuts” call me at work. He wanted us to assist him in getting a citizenship in another country and we got a background check on him and found out he wasn’t even allowed to leave the state. But he still kept calling … he finally gave up after police were brought into the picture. I guess his backup plan didn’t pan out very well either.
(reason: just by chance … it was a headline in the paper)

So yes, the internet is a great place. And perhaps you understand my reservations about revealing much on this website …. how am I to know that some psycho who calls me at work, or some scorned lover wouldn’t come across me and find some really good way to fuck with me … I mean, I’ve done it.

Finding old stuff is Great!

September 10th, 2005

Last night Todd and I were having a discussion about webpages and CSS while I was being useless in helping him figure out why his page was messed up since I really don’t understand percentages or anything really about CSS except I know that the way I do it works and thats all I know. Anyways, he went back to his webpage from like 1995 on AOL and was like, this was all hand-coding! I was like, yeah the good ol’ days before I discovered movable type, wordpress, and CSS. There was no such thing as a template, I just made everything with Microsoft Publisher and it looked good! Which made me think back to the webpages I’ve made before. Curiosity got the best of me so I searched through my computer and found my old page I made when I went to Pitt. Some of you might remember this:

And upon further investigation I found all of my entries from April – December 2002! I completely forgot that I was creating html pages for my journal before I discovered livejournal. Prior to the page above, I had a Diaryland journal in 2001, which has been deleted and purged. Same thing with my LiveJournal entries from January – August 2003. So, people …. don’t use online diaries because you’ll never get your stuff back. Now they have fancy import / export tools with just about all blogging programs, and since Livejournal was bought by Sixapart its a lot more like movabletype, etc. But this was way before any of that went down. Anyways, if you look closesly above you can see that the entry is actually from February 2003 because I was doing this thing with LiveJournal where it would automatically crosspost something to my website when I updated LiveJournal. However, my webpage did not create an html page of this because it would just overwrite the entry on the main page each time I updated and then give a link to LiveJournal as the source for the rest of the entry. So anyways, I’m going to work tonight on uploading a select number of worthy entries from April – December 2002 into my archives on this site. Most of it is about how cool Todd is, how cute he is, and how much I love him … since we met in May 2002 and I was just a drooling lovesick dork for most of the year. It also chronicles my move to Pittsburgh from Indiana, learning how to ride the bus, and learning that Pittsburgh is a scary place to live when you grew up in a town with a population of 3,000. Yay!!!

Looking for a scanner

September 10th, 2005

I want a scanner and I want one now. I have oodles of pictures that I just feel like scanning for no real reason. I just have it in my head that I need one. Anyways, I was at Best Buy earlier today and was all about buying one until I saw that the cheapest one was $132. I’m kind of a cheap person and I don’t like to spend money on things I don’t really need, and $132 for a scanner doesn’t fit into my spending plan at the current moment. I really don’t need a scanner that will read 35mm film negatives or scan my picture with such a great resolution that I could take it over to Kinko’s and have a full sized poster made out of it. I just want a crappy scanner. I bought a scanner back in 1998 for $96 at WalMart, but technological advances killed my scanner and even after visiting the manufacturer website multiple times and downloading new software for it, it just absolutely refuses to work with any operating system higher than Windows 98. I’m pretty computer savvy too …. Its just dead, and there is no making it work with my computer. I don’t even know where it is anymore. I guess its probably at my parents house somewhere collecting dust.

I also wanted to buy some gadgets that will allow me to transfer VHS tapes onto my computer to make DVD’s. I saw some VHS to DVD recorders in the $200 – $250 range, but if I really want to work on all of my parents home videos I need something that will record onto my hard-drive for editing. Our home videos need some editing. For instance – the time my dad recorded the humming-bird feeder for a whole hour waiting for a humming bird, or the time I was watching home videos with some friends in high school and after the shot of me dancing around the house and making fun of my brother, a clip from a porno came on the screen briefly before switching over to the next home video. Taping over things doesn’t erase them! So .. I need some editing equipment in order to make some quality DVD’s for future generations to enjoy.

Todd talked me into purchasing a battery backup UPS thing today. Actually he has been selling me on one ever since time began, and especially since my computer hard-drive died this summer during a power surge during a storm. I just assumed that my awesome new 3ghz computer couldn’t die. I bought it in February so its only 7 months old … and was only 5 months old when it exploded. So I guess having some backup in case of power-failure is a good idea, even though I still have my broken hard-drive sitting on my kitchen table. Since I know exactly how to stick it back in the computer and run the illegal data-recovery software I found online … well I figured that I could resort to that if I absolutely had to. I just hate spending money on practical things that I can’t get immediate gratification from. UPS = no fun. Scanner = fun!

I do have means of backing things up. I have a cd burner, a dual layer dvd burner, and I think I have Norton Ghost and I could burn an image of everything ….. but alas I’m a lazy fool. I would cry for days on end if I really lost all of my pictures and things I have written, funny IM conversations I’ve had, and the stupid pictures Todd has drawn in Paint. I’m not worried about my programs because they are the one thing I have backed up on CD. Now if I had actually purchased programs I’d have the original installation CD’s but of course everything I have is not exactly legal. Oh well, at least I’m not out shooting people or causing riots.

Todd made hot-dogs on the grill today and they were much much better than my hot-dog from 7-11 on Labor Day. I ate two of them and still feel pretty full and that was hours ago. Not eating sure makes you get full faster when you do eat! At one point I probably could have eaten 4 of them. And over the summer we had lots of cookouts and I would eat a huge hamburger and a hot dog and usually something else. Yes, I’m a piggie. I was also rejoicing in my “I eat beef again” phase since I refused to eat hamburger meat or anything from a cow for like six months. I was on an anti-pork thing for a while too. And unless it is lunchmeat or prepared by a restaurant or Todd, the only thing meaty that I cook around here is pepperoni on pizza or chicken breasts. Or turkey TV dinners! I think that Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine need to come out with an “Ultimate Thanksgiving” TV dinner. I’d be quite happy if they did.

I’m tired and kind of grumpy right now. I feel weird because I was up until 6am and slept until 1:30pm. Now that is something I haven’t done in a while. Well when I was panic ridden I would tend to be unable to fall asleep until 7am, but usually had to be somewhere by 9am so I’d do my thing and come home and pass out for hours. But since I’ve been working a regular job I’ve been mostly sleeping normal hours and even on the weekends, I’m always up by 11am at the latest. I used to love to sleep in, but now when I do I just feel like I’m wasting my day. I guess I have a new found apprecation for “time” since I realized how little of it there is when you work all day and live in a cave at night. Aahh ….. this has been a great rant.

Bye!

Happy 103!

September 9th, 2005

Even though Julie beat me to it on her site, our great-grandmother made the paper! Names mentioned also include Julie’s grandmother, my grandmother, and my mom! Woohoo mom, you’re famous! And thanks to Kim I’m posting the picture too 😛

Click HERE to read all about my awesome great-grandmother and my awesome family. Yeah, I’m breaking away from the norm in revealing real life names and such, but this is a special occassion! Not many people get to experience the joy of turning 103!

No more lettuce

September 9th, 2005

Up until two days ago I thought that I absolutely HAD to have lettuce on my sandwiches. I can’t just slap some lunchmeat between some bread and call it a sandwich. I need that extra crunch and something to absorb the vinegar and oil I’m bound to squirt all over it. But when I buy sandwich making ingredients I’m either forced to buy an entire head of lettuce or shredded lettuce in a tiny bag that usually costs twice as much as a whole head of lettuce. I usually buy the whole head, but then I’m compelled to eat salad every single day for the next week or let my surplus lettuce rot. So the other day when I went to the grocery store I decided that I was boycotting lettuce. Instead I chose to purchase a bag of coleslaw – the dry cabbage stuff. I knew that Primanti Bros. sandwiches were good so I decided to give the coleslaw a try on my ham and cheese sandwich. It is really like the best discovery of the year. I’m in love with crunchy cabbage and turkey / ham sandwiches. No more lettuce, ever. Oh and I bought swirly bread … the rye and pumpernickel. The best bread EVER. I’m so happy. Exciting stuff huh?

Elaborating on my last entry that was one sentence long goes kind of like this: I was doing ok despite everything, but one stupid thing happened and I contemplated walking outside with a sharp knife and stabbing the first annoying person to walk by …. I was getting over being sick and was up to my eyeballs in work the past two weeks because we are having a kick-off event to launch our new initiative (heh). We ordered, literally, thousands of shirts, maps, posters, stickers, and other promotional crap. On top of managing all of the incoming crap, we’re trying to plan an entire weeks worth of events and I just want it to be over. And then the day before yesterday I had a relapse or something, and now I have a sore throat, chills, and think I might have a touch of the flu. And missing work isn’t an option, really … I know my health comes first but if I’m not there things aren’t going to happen. Not to sound like I’m the president of the world, I’m not, but I can’t be sick right now. I’ve literally been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, not eating, not sleeping well, and I’m just burning out. But I was ok. I was just dealing with it and not getting too upset. I felt that I was in control.

THEN, the other morning I woke up and started my usual ritual of turning on the coffeemaker and jumping in the shower. No big deal. After my shower I dressed myself and headed back to the kitchen to retrieve my coffee. It was dark and I picked up the pot but it felt empty. I thought “crap, I forgot to put water in, I really must be losing my mind.” So I turned on the light and discovered that my coffee was all over the kitchen counter, soaked through a towel, and dripping onto the floor. I was mad but I really wanted coffee so I cleaned it all up and attempted to make the coffee again. Same thing started happening, total coffeemaker meltdown which in turn caused me to have a nervous breakdown …. and everything that had been making me nuts the past few weeks just started flooding in and I wanted to punch a wall or stab someone. It was seriously the worst day and I couldn’t even sum it up into one reason that I was mad. It was like having PMS, except worse. And it wasn’t withdrawal from coffee because I just stopped and got some on my way to work. It just set me off.

So, I’ve been pretty cranky due to the fact that I’ve been sick for like a month it seems and I’m overwhelmed at work. And then when I come home I don’t even have the luxury of being an alcoholic to drown my sorrows in. Instead I come home and drink another cup of coffee so I don’t pass out and get mad at myself when I wake up at 11pm, starving, too late to buy food, no food in the fridge … go back to sleep, wake up in the morning and do it all over again. Ughh. Sometimes its coffee, most times its the sleep. I just hate being sick. And I always feel 10x worse the minute I walk into my apartment. Perhaps there is poison here. I sound like a depressed loser, don’t I?

I don’t know why its always so hard to think of something good happening in my life. Well, there was the thing about the coleslaw and my tasty new bread. And due to circumstances that prevent me from eating, such as work, no food in the fridge, being too cheap to order food, and just the desire not to eat, I’ve lost 9 pounds in the past few weeks, which brings my new weight to six pounds below my beach weight. I gained three back after the beach because I stopped exercising and ate a lot of pizza. As of this morning I am now 134 pounds and quite proud of it. For some people that might be skinny, but when you are barely 5’3 and all of your extra weight likes to hang out in your stomach and butt, then its not so skinny. I don’t really have a target because I don’t remember ever feeling good about my weight, except for the time I went to the prom in 11th grade. I think I was around 120 pounds, so maybe that is the long term goal. I just have to stop eating pizza. I stopped eating french fries though – except when I went out with Julie, Nate & company last Friday. I had a huge plate of cheesy french-fries. I was having a really bad day though … so I indulged.

Today I interviewed someone, which I have done a few times before, but today it was weird because I was actually the one asking all the questions and I didn’t think it was going to be like that. After running around since 7:30 this morning, it was 11am before I knew it and I had an appointment with this kid from an agency that we recruit people from sometimes, kind of like internships for people with psychological problems who are really smart but can’t handle a regular job. The meeting was with the HR lady, myself, the kid, and the lady from the agency. Well I was pretty unprepared for the interview because people had been coming in all morning, so I ran upstairs and grabbed a job description I had written for the last person we were supposed to hire and ran off to the interview. So anyways, it was ok …. I liked him because he has computer skills which is like imperative where I work. He had been writing the newsletters for some place and went to college and got a degree in computers and art. I really need some relief upstairs because I’m working with three people in two different departments and planning events and just going nuts, but the stipulation to hiring someone is that I’m in charge of their work. This makes me sound like I have my own personal assistant, but if I really did … they would hire someone permanently and someone who doesn’t have special needs … oh and I’d make more money. But the fact that I’m being given enough credit to manage someone like that gives me some feeling of satisfaction. Anyways, its time consuming to train people and have them do things the way you want them done. Like, its almost easier if you just do it yourself. I just hope he’s a quick learner. But anyways, I’m excited about it. He’s starting on Monday.

It’s ok with me and don’t ask me why, but I’m really good at getting along and relating to people with these problems. Maybe its because I’m crazy myself – who knows … but I swear that people with schizophrenia or a similar disorder are pretty cool in my book. The last guy we had there had a disorder that was kind of schizophrenia but I don’t think he heard voices. He was just kind of paranoid and had a lot of worries and anxiety (hey, that’s me!) No … really it was obvious he was really nervous about everything. Anyways, everyone just treated him like he was a kid and talked down to him. Or they would be really fake when talking to him, and just because you have a mental problem does not mean you are retarded or that you are a moron! He knew he was being talked down to and I just think its rude. You don’t have to pretend that a problem does not exist with someone like that. I liked to talk to him about his feelings and I tried to relate, which in many cases I could. He had gone to Princeton and was really intelligent, but sadly I don’t think that anyone even knew that.

Anyways, I’m going to end my ranting. That’s a summary of what is going on in my ever so exciting life. I’m just happy its the weekend. Goodbye.

Blah

September 7th, 2005

I’m not happy and I don’t want to talk about it. That’s a first.