The wonderfulness of wintergreen flavors

Today I am chewing gum while at work for the first time in years. I know this seems probably insignificant to many of you, but having worked at an information/receptionist desk where I held the role of Director of First Impressions, gum was not allowed. Seriously, who wants to hear someone chomping on gum when they call to get the phone number for a student they are stalking? And who wants to see someone’s jaw moving up and down (whether the mouth is open or not) while they ask where the clearly marked restroom is? So our rule was simple: no chewing gum while working at the info desk.

Well, now I’m in my own office, my phone hasn’t rang since yesterday afternoon at 4:30 and I decided for once in my life, I’m going to chew gum while working. So I am, and I’m loving it!

To add to this funny, a month ago I was sifting through my bosses recycling, which he keeps under his desk. We have to shred certain documents, which he thought the recycling guys did, but apparently our recycling guys do not, so I was sifting through to find the stuff we need to shred. Anyway…while sorting through his bin I found a dozen gum wrappers so I was giving him a hard time about it. You had to be there, but it was funny. We chalked it up to a conspiracy set forth by his predecessor and left it at that. Of course we would chalk it up to that since we both were feeling pretty loopy that day – he was stuck on the computer typing up reports and I was sitting on the floor sorting through documents, all while lighting and thunder and rain poured down outside. A great day, really. :)

Light Headed

I’m feeling light headed today. Partially because I haven’t been sleeping well lately. Well, I take that back – I have been sleeping great, like a rock even (if rocks sleep – they roll, which I also do, but not sure about the sleeping) when I actually am asleep, but I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night a lot lately. And that’s due to several factors: 1) I keep my window open at night to cool down my 3^rd floor apartment (sometimes I miss living in the cold basement), 2) because the window is open I can hear everything going on in the parking lots and roadways right outside – there are more car alarms and police/emergency sirens here than there ever were in the cities, and 3) I just seem to wake up easily in the middle of the night – probably because of #1 and #2.

Anyway, so the light headedness is stemming from my just now purchase of a computer. Ugh, clicking that Confirm Order button with that massive amount of $$ attached to a tiny piece of equipment is killing me. I’m trying to counteract it with donating to American Idol’s “Idol Gives Back” charity fundraiser today, but that’s probably part of the light headedness – I’m not donating oodles of money to that, but I’ll shell it out for a computer. Where are my priorities? Seriously?

Lord knows, I don’t NEED a computer – wanting and needing and two different things. I want a computer. I haven’t blogged in ages, except for these rare occurrences where I type an email to myself and then will upload it whenever I can get to the library. I miss blogging. I miss checking in with my friends this way. I miss checking email.

But I don’t miss leaving the computer at work and not dealing with it when I get home at night. I really like not having to think about that. I’m a workaholic anyway, so ordering a device that could allow me to do some work from home is a little nerve wracking. I like being able to just leave my apartment whenever without the thought, “Well maybe I should just check once more to see if anyone wrote me or commented on my blog” which always turns into another 30 minutes of surfing or just the depressing feeling (when there aren’t emails or comments) that I’m really not as cool as I sometimes think I am.

But whatever, I guess. I’ve done it. I’ve ordered the computer which will be handy to have at home, granted, and I’ll get set up with broadband which will make things supposedly run super fast and then I’ll have it at my fingertips. And soon all my faithful readers will be once again inundated with overwhelming entries of nothingness.

Easter Blog

I love writing these blog entries weeks before I’ll probably actually publish them… oh well.

So Easter was great. Mom and I went to my younger older brother’s place to have lupper with him and his wife and kids. After we ate, the oldest, Jake, was showing me what the Easter bunny had brought him – plastic eggs filled with candy, how fun. But some of the eggs were egg-shaped sport balls – like basketball, soccer ball, football and my favorite, the baseball. Jake didn’t know what the baseball was (apparently my younger older brother thinks baseball sucks so he doesn’t talk about it at home) so I explained what it was and said, “The team you need to remember is the Cleveland Indians. They are THE team in baseball.” Whatever, Jake didn’t care, he just wanted the candy.

Well, I, being the great aunt and all that I am, brought him an Easter basket too – with eggs filled with M&Ms, sugar-free Peeps, some bubbles and some flash cards with letters/pictures. I held up the B which had a baseball on it and Jake, in all his brilliance, couldn’t remember what it was but instead said, “The Indians play that.”

Apparently last night my younger older brother held up the eggs to Jake again, asking him which was which, and when he saw the baseball egg, Jake said, “The Indians play that. I know that because Aunt Moe told me so.”

Ah, what a smart kid. :)

A Meme from April

Okay, so I stole this from Megan, borrowed actually. And since I don’t have a computer as of yet, I must say this was written April 2 at appx 8:30 am.

10 Firsts
1. First best friend: I’m not sure if this was Else or Eric. I’m thinking Eric since we grew up on the same block and he’s in most of my little kid b-day pictures whereas Else is not. Hmmm. And what’s fun is now Eric and I work together!
2. First car: A light blue 1986 Ford Tempo – nothing exciting, but it worked. However, the first car I ever purchased for my very very own was a Mini Cooper…that’s a nice step up.
3. First love: I’m with Megan, I love reading as well. It’s usually one of the first things I look to do if I have nothing to do.
4. First vacation: I think this was our trip out west. And by ‘out west’, I mean to the Black Hills .
5. First job: I began babysitting when I was, like, 9. But my first official job was at Arby’s. Yeah, I know…
6. First piercing: My only piercing is in my ear lobes. I got these at age 12, I think, and the woman who did it screwed it up because she didn’t like the idea of girls having more than one hole in their ear (not counting the canal, obviously) so she put it just high enough and just in enough that to add a second hole will look dumb. Boy was I pissed when I figured that out.
7. First concert: Lord, I don’t know. I want to say Merle Haggard and Clint Black, but I’m not positive on that.
8. First record/CD bought: My first record was the one with the frog on the front and they sang the annoyingly repetitive good morning song. Either that or the Mini Pops – young kids singing songs from the 60s…not bad, very popular in the 80s, sort of. I wonder what happened to all of them. First CD? I think it was Ella Fitzgerald, but I’m not positive on that either. Apparently being old makes you forgetful of these essential details in life.
9. First real love: Didn’t we answer this one?
10. First screen name: Man, I don’t remember. Probably something like my last name first initial or something stupid like that.

9 Latest
1. Latest alcoholic beverage: I haven’t had a drink in weeks, but the last one I had was a Guinness, of course, in Rapid City and it was 32 oz worth.
2. Latest car ride: Car ride, as in where I haven’t been driving? I guess that’s the one where my friend took me to my apartment to help fix my dishwasher. Usually I drive everywhere and my last car ride was here to work.
3. Latest movie watched: This is sad: Where the Heart Is…because it was on TV last night.
4. Latest phone call made: Where I dialed the number? One moment while I check my outgoing calls list (if this can count since I’m just pushing redial)…apparently that was to mom yesterday afternoon.
5. Latest Jacuzzi bath: Hmmm…I don’t usually do the Jacuzzi bath thing, so how about this: Chena Hot Springs, 11 months and 3 days ago. J
6. Latest played CD: I think it was the soundtrack from Sliding Doors or one of the Ella Songbooks. (Megan – I love Lily Allen!)
7. Latest time you cried: Last night, that movie…grrr, what is wrong with me? I’m such a sap.
8. Latest meal: I just ate oatmeal out of a cup. yummy. Not. But it’ll fill me up and keep me going.
9. Latest curse: Obsession with this damn marathon I’m going to run. You’d think I was insane. Oh wait, I probably am. Oh and my obsession with moving my office around and dumping some of the unneeded huge furniture. It’s much roomier now. I should have taken pictures. (but if you’re talking curse words, and you don’t want to count the damn I wrote in this answer, then shit is usually my word of choice)

8 Things You Wear
1. BDUs
2. Combat Boots (someday my niece can tell her friends, “My Aunt Moe wears combat boots!)
3. Underwear, usually
4. My green Nike hoodie I got for St. Patty’s day. Sooooo soft.
5. My typist shirt, my Dooce shirt or my fussy shirt.
6. Black long sleeve favorite t’s from Gap
7. A green bracelet of sorts my brother made me for the Soldiers/Airmen etc. overseas. I’ve had it on for almost 4 years now.
8. One spinning ring with my name in Arabic and English that I got in Turkey

7 Have You Ever
1. Dated one of your best friends: Yes
2. Been arrested: No
3. Fallen in love at first sight: No, but I’ve fallen in like and lust
4. Been in a TV program: Captain 11, baby! WOOHOO! (does that count?)
5. Had your heart broken: Too many times.
6. Said you love someone without meaning it: Unfortunately
7. Made a prank phone call: Kind of, in college I answered my phone as “Kessler’s” (the local grocery – our number was one number off) and shockingly the person on the other end was trying to reach Tony, whoever Tony was.

6 Things You’ve Done Today – not in any particular order
1. Watched Saved By The Bell (I’m not proud of this)
2. Driven to work
3. Cursed the fact I’m now the supposed resident expert for the copier
4. Showered (It’s only 8:35, people!)
5. Avoided work
6. made a PB&J sandwich

5 Favorite Things
1. Sleep
2. Running
3. Warm to hot showers or baths (the latter with bubbles, of course, and both of these are especially nice after running)
4. baking/knitting/reading (my hobbies)
5. My family/friends who love me for me

4 People I Can Tell Anything
1. Best Friends
2. Debbie
3. You know this is tough because I do keep some things from some friends and I keep other things from other friends. (not for any reason really, I just do)
4. I don’t have many people I feel truly comfortable with where I could tell them anything. If I had a therapist, they’d be all 4 of these numbers.

3 Choices
1. Black or white? Black, natch.
2. Summer or winter? Given these options only, then summer, but my real love is late spring and early fall

3. Chocolate or chips? How about just chocolate chips? Or neither, really. I tend to not eat a lot of chocolate, and chips just make me swell. Though I would probably say I’m a salt-aholic before a choc-aholic.

2 Things To Do Before You Die
1. Run a marathon or two (I’ll at least do the one and then probably will die)
2. This is provided that I survive number one this year: I’d love to write a book, or travel Europe or Australia .

1 Thing You Regret
1. I’m sure there are many things I regret, in fact, I know there are, but seeing as you’re probably not the person listed in number 1 or 2 from the question above, and you’re not my therapist, I’m not going to tell you what it is I regret. Like I said…I don’t tell everyone everything. :)