little tests thanks to mrs.twink (and whoever she got them from)

$3790.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

321 WATTS Body Battery Calculator - Find Out How Much Electricity Your Body is Producing - dating

Your Body is Producing 321 Watts!
This is 28% MORE wattage than the average person
You could light up 3 light bulbs
You could power 80 iPods
You could power 2 Xbox 360s
3 of you would be needed to keep a refrigerator running

i think i'm the only person ...

... who can get a neck injury simply by turning to look for traffic as i'm driving home.

ladies and gentlemen, i have glass bones and muscles, i swear to god. last night, while taking the exit for my neighborhood, i turned to look make sure the way was clear and devoid of traffic when suddenly i felt a sharp pain on the left side of my neck. my head immediately felt immobile and every movement; every bump in the road, sent a sharp stab of pain through my neck.

seriously? what the fuck. i just got over a neck pain that was affecting much more than just my neck ... it hurt to take a bite of food and swallowing was difficult and i couldn't look to my right. now, however, i'm able to eat and look to my right, but looking left is virtually impossible. sitting upright and watching tv last night was a challenge, and laughing during scrubs didn't feel too great and sleeping ... forget about it. i think i maybe got about 2 hours last night. i slept through my alarm this morning and, consequently, was late for work.

i think my warranty has finally run out. it's a sad state of affairs when a person can get injuries in a vehicle without being involved in some sort of accident.

i took some aleve with a strong cup of coffee this morning and the pain has lessened a bit already. oy! someone buy me a walker ... i've hit my peak.

fear in dundalk ...

i think i'm a target ... not sure how it happened or who i've crossed, but the cross-hairs are in the middle of my forehead. there's nowhere to run ... there's nowhere to hide ... i'm a marked man ... by the soccer-mom mafia.

this morning, as i was leaving my apartment, in good spirits, i might add ... i found a gift right outside my front door ... a perfectly folded and bleached white sock. i immediately looked around to see if the giver of this unusual gift was around. i was alone. the hallway ... deserted.

"hello?" i tentatively called out. the only response was my echo. i looked down at the sock again and kicked it away as if it were a snake poised to strike. a ripple of fear coursed through my body and i quickly turned, pulled my door shut and locked it. i hurried from the building and climbed into my jeep and sped out of there.

i've heard tales of the soccer-mom mafia many times so i'm familiar with their methods. their first threat is a bleached and perfectly folded white sock. not too long after that, you wake up one morning with a bottle of tide next to your head on the pillow. soon, strategically placed fabric softener sheets will spring up here and there, a constant reminder of their vigilance and that they are watching you ... when they're not at sporting events with their children, i mean, but you get the picture.

i'm not sure what to do or where to turn.

or ... it could have just been a plain white sock found in the laundry room that someone mistakenly thought was mine and left it there for me to find. who knows. let's pray for the latter. i just thought it was strange to see a sock placed equidistant between the door frames where i was sure to see it as soon as i stepped out. jamie musta spooked me last night.

catching up ...

i know it's been a while since my last post but i have had absolutely no time to read anyone's blog much less comment or write my own. i'm sorry. the past couple weeks have been pretty busy here at work so i've not had the opportunity to post anything. i know, i know ... i could create a new post at home, but seriously? i'm in front of a computer all day at work and sometimes the last thing i want to do is sit in front of one in my living room. half the time i don't even turn the great humming beast on, though bills are due soon so i'll have to tonight, i'm sure.

as many of you know, i work with medical insurance and currently i'm contracted with an insurance company dealing with psychological claims and during the holidays, as i am sure some of you may know, many people suffer from depression or seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and thus, the number of claims that we receive basically doubles and sometimes triples in quantity. more claims = more work for me = no time for playing around on the computer at work. boo. today seems fairly light so far so i've managed to eke out a few minutes.

recap:
two saturdays ago i attended a party in whitemarsh at tom's place where a group of 25 people were split into two teams, salt and pepper. after said teams were formed, we had a choice of ingredients to choose from to create 3 courses: appetizer, main course, dessert. i'm going to direct you to terri's page because she has pictures and has explained everything that i could put here. i'm just going to sum it up by saying that i had an amazing time and can't wait to do it again!

so ... last week, on wednesday to be exact, i was inundated with a hefty workload ... one that i was sure i wouldn't be able to complete before 5:30 (which is when my shift was supposed to end, assuming i didn't stay late to finish) thus leaving me with a lot of work upon my return after the holidays. so, i'm working as hard as i can and it looks like i might actually be able to get everything finished by 5:30 ... but just barely. then the big boss decides to spread some holiday cheer.

big boss: we will be closing the office at 3 p.m. today in preparation for the holiday. happy thanksgiving.

now, normally i'd be thrilled to be leaving work early ... not today. i'm pissed as now i know i won't be done. so, 3 o'clock rolls around ... everyone in the office leaves, but wait ... what's this? geoffrey is still hard at work while everyone is busy relaying holiday greetings and shoving people out of the way in a race to get out, yelling obscenities, and then leaving burning rubber streaks in the parking lot, driving up over curbs, destroying shrubbery, horns blaring, plumes of smoke painting the air ... in that mad rush to get the eff out of dodge. ok, so it didn't really happen like that, but it's what i imagined as i was stuck behind a computer working. bleh. finally, at 3:30, i decided that what i don't have done can wait. i leave. buhbye.

thursday morning i was up at 4 a.m., leaving my place at 5 for my trek down to richardsville virginia to visit my mother and the rest of the collective. traffic was light at that hour and i made it down there in about 2 hours, a few pee breaks on the way (i was well into my 3rd cup of coffee as i left 7-11 that morning.) when i walked in the house the first words out of my mouth were not those of greeting as they should have been ... no, instead it was "holy shit, there's a lot of people in here." sprawled out over every conceivable flat surface were air mattresses, blankets, pillows, lumps of bodies and stuffed animals. i had to carefully navigate through the mine field of flesh to avoid triggering anything and i managed to make it to the kitchen unscathed where my mother was already elbow deep in stuffing for the bird.

long story short:
everyone arrived who wasn't there already and it was actually nice to be surrounded by family again. i got to see nephews and nieces i hadn't seen in years and finally got to meet my great niece who is absolutely precious (though she did pee on me friday morning!) this was also the first time in years that my mother and all four children have been together in one place so that was especially nice. i do have pictures of all of this but, as you all know, i'm horrible with posting pictures. i'll have a post later of all the pictures i was supposed to post and never did. if i get time. lol. i had a great time during the visit, though i was actually sick the entire time. that's the reason i left early into the weekend (friday night instead of saturday night or sunday morning) as i just wanted to sleep in my own bed and try and get better. i still feel like crap today and i have a lingering cough along with a spot of congestion. wheeeeeee!

i hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday. i thought about you all while i was away but i didn't have access to a pc. i will get around to reading blogs and posting comments either today or tonight when i get home. i promise i will do my best.

dundalk dinner party

it's wonderful to have friends and it's equally wonderful to be able to have them over and cook for them. i've always loved cooking but, in the past three years or so, i've found it difficult to actually place myself in the kitchen and prepare a decent meal that didn't constitute microwaving leftovers or thrusting frozen dinners into the oven. my previous domicile had two very anal-retentive occupants who, when i cooked and then cleaned, rolled up behind me to clean again, though i have no doubt in my prowess with a soapy sponge. however ... they apparently did.

now that i have my own place i find that it is much easier to create the mess and clean it up after with the knowledge that my practices will not be scrutinized later. thus, the dinner party begins.

last night i hosted an informal blogger convention/dinner party amid unpacked boxes and the smell of new carpeting. the guests of honor included: mrs.twink, the mr., jamie and theresa, 4 people who i adore and am very happy to know. well, except theresa because she dropped key lime tart on my carpet, but i digress.

my guests all arrived bearing gifts, each with a bottle of wine and mrs.twink and the mr. bringing along mini-tarts for desert as well as some amazing artichoke hummus that mrs.twink made from scratch. impressive and quite delicious.i decided to bake a lasagna and, mind you, it's been about 7 years since i've actually made a lasagna so i feared that my skills might be a little rusty, however, i found a great spinach lasagna recipe online at theveggietable.com. spinach lasagna? you may ask ... yes ... you see, mrs.twink is a born-again vegetarian and i felt that it would be far simpler to make everything vegetarian than to single her out and make her eat ruffage while the rest of us enjoyed juicy and meaty steaks. so, for a starter, i created a cool summer asparagus salad (i know it's not summer, but i love asparagus and i love salad thus, i love asparagus salad) with the lasagna playing center stage. i won't lie ... i had a fair amount of trepidation regarding the outcome of the meal, but i am certainly pleased with the results.

the salad was nice and cool with a light, citrus flavoring and the tang of kalamata olives topped off with a hint of mint. (ooh, i rhymed!) however, i feel that i had put too much onion in, though i followed the recipe exactly, except i forgot to crumble goat cheese over the top! oh, i was so angry. that's the part i was looking forward to the most even if it was only an optional ingredient.

the lasagna, made with a four cheese alfredo sauce instead of the traditional marinara, had quite a bit of flavor and wasn't as heavy as many lasagnas tend to be. though the recipe didn't call for it, i added several cloves of garlic as, in my opinion, garlic has a place in virtually any meal, especially italian fare. everyone, save mrs.twink and her amazing figure, had second helpings of each. damn her and her skinniness. i just think she didn't like it.

throughout the course of the night and the meal, we managed to drain the 3 bottles of white wine, though the types fail to come to mind at the moment. i do remember the riesling, as we saved it for last as more of a deserty wine to have with/after the mini tarts.

after dinner we lounged and chatted, mrs.twink and the mr. snapped some photos, though i felt completely gross after working all day and then slaving in the kitchen, so i wasn't very cooperative where the photos are concerned. the mr. and i bonded a few times ... i believe there is photo evidence of that and i would appreciate copies of those, thank-you-very-much-mrs.twink!

all in all, i think the evening went well and i can't speak for everyone, but i had a great time and i am sincerely glad that they came over to see my new place and to spend some time with me. i haven't seen mrs.twink, the mr. or theresa in quite some time, so i was super excited to see them. thank you guys and gals so much for making my night so enjoyable. i [heart] you guys!

an additional thank you to jamie for sticking around and helping with the dishes even after i assured him that i wasn't too worried and i would take care of it. finally, i gave in and he helped me clean up. so, thank you very much, jamie-poo!

side note:
i will be having a housewarming party at some point once i get all my boxes out of the way, so have no fear.

also, i managed to get my xbox360 working last night, though i don't know for how long, but at least i am able to get some use out of it before i send it off to the nazi-corporation, microsoft.

edit: comments and jokes last night were just that ... jokes. hopefully people know me enough by now not to take shit i say seriously. however, though it goes against every conceivable evil bone in my body, i apologize if i offended unintentionally. ooh, apologizing hurts.

i smell like wet dog ...

two posts in one day is an amazing feat for me considering that i am hardly ever able to post twice in a week!

bag-lady, for the longest time, has been threatening to bring her dog--affectionally nicknamed 'piddle-puppy'--in to pee on me and bite my throat out. her and i go at each other almost every day, pretty much, and i am usually the one standing victoriously upon her broken skull. i win!

so, anyway, she's been threatening me and she finally brought him in to work today as he had a vet appointment earlier. i went out to see the ferocity that is 'piddle-puppy'.

zomg, he's so cute. he's a husky/wolf mix and his name is fenrir (awesome fucking name ... look it up if you don't know what it is) and he neither peed on me nor bit out my throat. he was a bit hyper, but adorable nonetheless and he loved being pet. he had these intelligent brown eyes and his coat was silver and white (would go GREAT with my minolos). i was terrified. i told bag-lady so.

bag-lady: i warned you.

but ... now i smell like wet dog which is probably the most unattractive smell next to cabbage farts. oh well.

they say it happens in 3's ... i've already had 2 ...

last night, after a long day at work and a subsequent drive to my old residence to pick up my paycheck that my temp agency had mailed there instead of the new address they've been aware of since before i moved in, i picked up a new game for my xbox360 that had just come out. 'assassin's creed,' a game i've been waiting for for close to 6 months, was finally available for purchase and once i picked up it--having reserved it months ago--i drove home.

i walked into my apartment, showered, dressed into my lounge-wear and turned on my xbox360, preparing to have some fun ... except ... i didn't get the usual green lights in the front on the 'ring of light' ... nope, instead i got the infamous 'red ring of death' known throughout the gaming world as one of microsoft's major fuck-ups.

the lights blinked and taunted me. i went online and looked up support and did everything i was instructed to do. all for naught. nothing helped. finally, i got fed up and dialed their 800 number and was greeted by a jovial computer voice named 'max'. max was very friendly and offered to wait for me while i attempted things he told me to do. (i had sudden flashbacks to 2001, a space odyssey.) finally, i concluded that max was beyond retarded and i said into the phone, "operator."

max: please hold while i see if anyone is available.

a few minutes later (a surprisingly short hold time) a woman answered the phone, her indian accent thick. i could hear people in the background talking very loudly, some in indian (i think it's called punjabi, not sure) and some in english. she introduced herself as 'claire.' riiiiight. claire. sure, ok. whatever. i tell her my problem. she repeats everything i say back to me, inserting a "now, let me be sure i have this right, joff (that's how she pronounced my name), you are calling because [insert whatever i have already said here]."

me: i have 3 blinking red lights on the front of my xbox.
claire: now, let me be sure i have this right, joff. you have 3 blinking red lights on the front of your xbox?
me: ::sighs:: yes.
claire: what color is the light on your power box?
me: green.
claire: now, let me be sure i have this right, joff. the light on your power box is green and you have 3 blinking red lights on the front of your xbox?
me: yes ::so not amused::

(a lot more of similar transactions so i am skipping ahead a bit.)

claire: well, joff, i am sorry to inform you that i will have to open a repair ticket at this time and your xbox will have to be sent in to be repaired.
me: you're joking with me, right?
claire: i'm sorry, joff.
me: this is ridiculous. i've had this xbox360 maybe a year and a half and it's doing this? this is utterly ridiculous ... retarded, even.
claire: i'm sorry, joff.
me: ::heavy audible sigh:: what now?
claire: i see here your warranty has expired in april of this year, 2007.
me: oh, of course it has. how could i expect anything less?
claire: however, for this 3 blinking red light problem, microsoft gives an additional 3 year warranty.
me: ::sarcastically:: yay, a silver lining.

she proceeds to tell me that all postage will be paid. they will send me the pre-paid box to pack my xbox360 into and instructions on how to pack it and when i should expect a return. i'm so utterly frustrated at this point. you'd think that if you spend close to $500 on something you'd expect it to work, yes? apparently not. i couldn't resist hanging up w/o being a smart-ass tho.

me: now, let me be sure i have this right, claire. you're going to send me a box to pack my xbox into and instructions on how to pack it and my return time could be anywhere between 1-2 weeks with a worse-case scenario of 4-6 weeks?
claire: yes, joff. is there anything else i can assist you with today?
me: no, you've been spectacular. ::hangs up::

so, first my jeep was being shitty with me ... now my xbox360 is being a dick ... what's next? maybe a meteor will crash land on my cable box and i'll be forced to use an old wire-hanger to gain reception so i can watch tv.

jeeps and babies ... oy.

so i woke up early today so i could be into work by 8 and hopefully be home at a reasonable hour. sounds like a good plan, eh? yeah, it would have been had my jeep started this morning. that's right, my jeep is a ginormous piece of shit and decided to break on me today.

my first attempt at starting 'christine' this morning resulted in nothing. it wouldn't even turn over. just sat there, laughing at me, still in the throes of whatever fantastic dream that jeeps dream. i got angry. i yelled at her. nothing. after taking several deep breaths i tried to sweet talk her into starting. she ignored me. i got angry. i yelled at her. nothing.

me: come on, you sweet little thing you.
jeep: ::silence::
me: just start, please.
jeep: ::silence::
me: start you piece of shit!
jeep: ::silence with a slight hint of mocking::

a few minutes of sitting in silence later, i tried again. this time i was greeted with a click-click-click-click-click-click! so, it's not the starter. i decided that i needed to clean the battery terminals.

i went upstairs and grabbed a diet coke from the fridge, a pair of pliers and a sponge. seeing as 'christine' likes diet coke, i emptied the can on the battery terminals (this is a trick to eat away at any buildup. the acid in coca-cola works wonders. it's also good at cleaning your windshield. bet you didn't know that one!) i used the pliers to loosen the bolts securing the thing-a-mabobs to the terminals and i cleaned them with the sponge as well as the terminals themselves. i reconnected everything and got back behind the wheel and tried again, urging her to turn over ... which she did, grudgingly, and with a grunt she went silent again. i screamed. neighbors stared.

i tried again, pumping the gas pedal this time and she finally caught. yay! she went silent again. no yay! i cursed ... and i flooded my engine. double sarcastic yay!

me: ugh, i hate you.

i went back upstairs and watched the rest of 'heroes' while giving my engine time to get un-flooded. by this time it's 8:45 ... 45 minutes later than i wanted to be at work and 15 minutes until my scheduled shift. irritation reigns inside my skull. after the show ended i went back outside to try again and lo and behold, she started. i let her run for about 5-10 minutes then turned her off, let her sit a minute, then started her up again. (i refuse to be trapped at a 7-11 trying to start my jeep again so i wanted to be sure she'd start right up).

i got to work at 9:30. bleh. by the way, the whole time i'm dealing with my jeep, it's pouring outside. god hates me. but at least i felt so butch! i even got grease on my hands! omg! i could totally take apart an engine block and put it back together right now! not promising it'll work afterward, but, you know ... minor details.

babies
so, anyway, this morning at work, shortly after i arrived, the 'good mother' comes in with her baby who is the cutest-thing-i-have-ever-seen-in-my-life-and-i-want-one-NOW! she's so adorable and she's healthy, which is a definite blessing. yay for babies! i got to hold her for a bit and was afraid i'd break her, but i did great and i hated to give her back, but i had to.

ok, well, back to the grind. thanks for letting me vent! and yay for babies!

headaches, correction tape and martinis ...

i totally meant to post on friday, but circumstances prevented me from doing so. i'm going to cover a few days in this post today, though nothing interesting, i assure you ... but when have my posts ever been interesting?

tuesday
so, tuesday night i started feeling a bit gurgly in my stomach region and i was using the restroom far more frequently than i am accustomed. toward the end of the night i was vomiting from both ends. it was very unpleasant. i finally fell asleep--at around 3:30 am--in a fetal position on my sofa watching tv.

wednesday
morning came and i woke up, my stomach lurching, and made a call into work to advise them of my impending absence. yay, now i had the day to lounge and get better. yeah ... my luck prevented that. i get a call a bit later from my boss. she needed me to come in because the one other person in the office that knows how to correctly operate the scanning machines was out. i reluctantly agreed to come in, but in a limited capacity. i arrived at work at 10:15 am and left by 1:30 pm, went home, fell out on the sofa, and tried to sleep.

thursday
the pain in my head was excruciating. i woke to the sound of blood rushing in my ears and my eyes clenched tightly to ward off the light from the television. i picked up my cell phone and through bleary eyes noted the time of 4:15 am. i called out of work. i didn't care. i wasn't going to answer the phone later if anyone called either. i promptly fell back asleep and woke much later with a glare to rival the sun bathing my living room in fire. i knew then that i must go and find drapery hooks to replace the blanket i currently had hanging across my sliding glass doors leading to the balcony--which left about a foot and a half gap at the bottom allowing the painful brilliance to come in uninvited.

i slowly got dressed and steeled myself to leave my apartment. sunglasses on, eyes squinted, i left, got into my jeep and drove to homo depot. once there i meandered my way to the point where i assumed drapery hooks might be. nada. i asked an employee for help and, still squinting behind my sunglasses that i was wearing indoors and cringing at the loudspeaker everytime some jackass put it into his mouth and gargled incoherently, i was given directions to the proper location. i bought the hooks, sped home and hurriedly hung my drapes--rather haphazardly, i might add. ah, cool darkness. yay. throughout the course of the day my headache eased a bit--partially due to the fact that i was eating tylenol like smarties, but i still had a sensitivity to light and sound. not fun. oh well. sleep finally claimed me and i had to work on friday.

friday
i woke up and my headache was almost gone. no longer did i have any sensitivity to light or sound, so in my world ... all was as it should be.

now, in a previous blog i wrote about how i was running tests on one of the scanning machines we use here at work (ties into the character recognition software we utilize). anyway, well, thursday i had to run more tests but to do so, i had to cover up the numbers assigned to each medical claim--that i had previously scanned--so that i can rescan them for the test. so, several hours and 4 boxes of correction tape later, i was ready to scan and everything went smoothly, so yay. apparently the virus scan we have on the server was conflicting with the scans and it was removed completely for this test. however, it cannot remain removed. so, thankfully i haven't had to be on any conference calls to inform the jerk-off of this finding. oh well.

saturday
steven and paul stopped by and picked up up to go out to dinner. we went to the cheesecake factory--which i love--where i devoured a serving of ahi tuna appetizer and a filet mignon. i saved the cheesecake for later. i enjoyed too 'well-mannered dirty martinis' with four olives, please. yum. i love martinis.

after dinner we went back to my place and watched '1408' which i have to say was actually a decent movie, though i didn't care for the ending. steven and paul had left about halfway through the movie. i had fallen asleep and i was woken up by my phone ringing. i answered it.

me: hello? ::slurry, groggy voice::
steven: geoffrey! ::chipper, giggly voice::
me: hey boy.
steven: hey! i left my phone at your place!
me: ::looking around to find his phone and not seeing it:: you did? i don't see it.
steven: you're using it.
me: ::pulling phone away from my face and looking at it ... realizing steven was right:: oh! oh, ok. weird. ok, i'll bring it to you tomorrow. hafta visit my dad anyway.
steven: ok, thanks bud!

sunday
i drove to odenton, dropped off steven's phone, hung out for a bit, talked to mrs.twink on the phone for a few minutes, made dinner plans with them for this thursday, and then drove to my father's house, hung out for a while, played with hachiko, then finally went home and relaxed. sorry i missed your ladies clothing exchange, mrs.twink! next time, i promise! <3 you.

strutting naked thru my apartment ...

this past weekend i finally moved into my new apartment in dundalk and i have to say, i love it. even the area isn't so bad (my apologies go out to the guy who left me a comment about the beauty of dundalk ... i forget who you are and i'm too lazy to go searching through comments at the moment. be happy i mentioned you again.)

so, i am going to start off this blog by first thanking everyone who helped me out on saturday. first and foremost, i want to thank my father--even though he doesn't read this blog, it's the sentiment that counts. secondly, i want to thank jamie who, by the time i called saturday morning a bit after 9:30 a.m., was already almost to my old place to help us load up the truck. you truly are a great friend, jamie, and i love you. i also want to thank steven and paul--without whom my television set would still be in the back of the u-haul--for their help with the loaded and unloading of the truck. even though steven sat on his ass more often than not, i love him too much to be irritated by that fact. lol. and finally, thank you to terri who also helped to unload the truck and was the unofficial truck security officer, making sure that no one came off the street and genked one of my boxes. she was also the resident OCD interior decorator:

terri: i like the bed there and the bookshelves there.

::we move the bed and the bookshelves in place and step back to examine our handiwork ... somewhere else in the apartment, steven cackles::

my father: do you want your bed against the wall to their bedroom? ::refers to eric and his boyfriend keith, my neighbors::
terri: ooh, good idea. you don't want your bed against that wall. move the bed there. ::points to the wall that is currently occupied by the bookshelves:: then move the bookshelves over there. ::points to wall currently occupied by the bed::

::we begin moving furniture and this new setup makes the room appear much smaller::

me: i think i like the bed back on that wall, actually.
terri: oh, i wouldn't. you guys share a wall.
me: yeah, let's move stuff back.
terri: are you sure you want your bed there? i think it would be better on that wall. ::points to the wall that previously housed the bookshelves and now was currently in the process of re-housing the bookshelves::
me: ::ignores terri and moves bed back::

i love you, terri! :)

so, that first night at my new place i got my bathroom all set up and i couldn't wait to take a shower. i felt so gross. dust from the boxes and stuff, sweat from moving, and just that overall feeling of exhaustion from the stress leading up to my move and the big day itself. next i got my bed set up so i had a place to lay my head and that was pretty much it the first night. the next morning i woke up and started unpacking more. i hooked up my shower head and worked on the kitchen a bit, finding boxes of dishes and unloaded them into the cabinets. i didn't get a chance to wash them yet as i didn't have any dish soap, a sponge or a drying rack at all yet, so ... bleh. i waited around all day for the cable guy who was to show up between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. he ended up showing up a bit after 3. i told you!! so, i have cable ... i hooked up my wireless router--all by myself, i might add! damn i'm good!--to the internet and now i am all connected in my place. my pc is in the bedroom, laptop in the living room .... my own little network. yay.

that night i discovered that my DVR wasn't working correctly. called comcast and spoke to two different people and they sucked and did nothing for me except make me jump through hoops and not get anything resolved. it still wasn't working on monday morning and after work i called comcast again, ready to deal with another idiot. instead, i was blessed with heather ... the uber-comcast princess. she fixed my DVR within minutes! she rocks. she gave me her extension so if i need help again in the fiture i can get a hold of her directly. yay!

so, i went grocery shopping saturday night after the comcast guy left and bought a bunch of shit for my place. it was fun, but i'd forgotten how expensive the first shopping trip is. oy! i spent $250.00 and it barely looks like i went shopping. i'm telling you.

i will be having a house-warming party at some point in the future, but right now i am too preoccupied with getting everything in order. i still have a few housewares i need for my place: hand towels (ones that actually dry. i swear the ones i have now are scotch-guarded. water beads up on them and only smears the water around ont he surface of what i am trying to dry. yeah, not very effective), a dish rack, drapes for the living room, silverware (using ancient crap atm, but it works), a trashcan, and ironing board, etc .. the basic shit. i'll probably grab that stuff this weekend if i go out shopping. i don't have time during the week, really, and tonight i'm off to my old place to clean and pick up a few items i neglected to pack or grab before i left. wheeee!

so, all in all i love my new place. it's nice to have my own space and have the privacy i need (aside from the big gaping window in the living room where everyone can see my strutting naked thru my apartment). soon i will have it set up to some semblance of order and then i'll start having people over.

mrs.twink, expect to eat dinner around the coffee table if you come over for dinner anytime soon. i have yet to find a dining room table but i am going out with my father on the 17th, i think, to BJs and whatnot and he suggested going to a furniture store to pick up a dining room table and a pantry, so we'll see. :) and once all the boxes are put away, i'll be painting! yay!

thank you again to all those who helped and thanks also to all those to wanted to help but were unable. the thought is appreciated.

loooong work week ... and today is a special day for me.

thursday ... that means it's almost friday. i'm so excited!

work has kinda been a drag this week. i've been shuffled around from department to department, donning new hats whenever they were handed to me. i don't mind, though, as it shows my versatility in the workplace and if i make myself more useful, the likelihood of my going permanent is more and more guaranteed.

so, i had a conference call on monday (my first with this company) and it was rather annoying. one of the software engineers on the call was an arrogant prick who claimed his software could do no wrong. we've had issues for a while now with one of our scanners in the office and we've got most of the problems resolved, however, there's a lingering ... "lag" issue (best way to describe it) when trying to get medical claims to go from the scanner to a couple of our many queues. the software engineer swears up and down that it's a hardware issue, but throughout the week i've been running tests on this machine and have all but confirmed it's not a hardware issue. it's either a software issue or a problem on the server side, which is located in colorado. anyway, so i did my little excel wizardry and created another spreadsheet (i did one earlier in the week) showing the various times it takes for the claims to be scanned and shuffled to the correct area. i got kudos from my boss for that, as the person before me used to hand write everything and hand it in to her. um, no thanks. so, today i have another conference call with the same people and the same arrogant prick so we'll see what he has to say today.

new lease on life
well, as the title of this post states, today is a rather special day for me. you see, i leave work at 1 o'clock today and i go to view my apartment, sign my lease and get my keys. i can't even begin to describe the mix of emotions i have right now. i'm excited as hell ... it's been about 10 years since i've lived without roommates. i'm also nervous as hell ... it's been about 10 years since i've lived without roommates. i'm stressed ... i hate packing and i'm still doing it. i tend to get lazy wen doing something that i hate. so now, i'm at the point where i am just throwing anything in a box and labelling it 'miscellaneous'. this is definitely a great thing for me and i'm very happy and can't wait. i can finally walk around my place nude as the day i was born ... shades drawn and mirrors covered, of course.

so, saturday morning is the big move. my father, jamie and steven are helping me load up my u-haul and unload it at my new place, so i am very thankful for that. thank you, also, to the other wonderful people who have offered to help or have shown regret at not being able to. i very much appreciate the offers and you can make it up to me by buying me something great for my new place ... like a dining room table. (just kidding ... or am i?) so, this weekend, obviously, is going to be pretty busy, what with the move and then the subsequent unpacking. comcast is supposed to arrive at the apartment on sunday between 10 and 1 which means they'll be there around 4, i'm sure. don't worry, people ... i will be having a dinner party or something at some point soon.

i'm also kind of sad as friday is my last day going to the same dunkin' donuts i've been going to for a long time. i know, i know ... i bitch a lot about bad coffee and lesions and whatnot, but selene, my coffee wife--as she dubbed herself--gave me a huge hug today and told me she's going to miss me. she's been comping my coffee all week and i will honestly miss seeing her. she was always smiling and having a good time. this one goes out to you, selene ...

::pours some coffee out on the ground::