When I left my job at the bank, the ladies there presented me with a great sendoff, and as a special added touch, they gave me a $50 gift card to Borders Books and Music. So I broke down and finally bought the first season of Numb3rs. For those of you who don’t know the show, its a hit crime thriller drama that plays on friday nights on CBS. It stars David Krumholtz and Rob Morrow as the Epps brothers, one a genius mathematician named Charlie, and the second a dashing lead FBI agent who work together to solve crimes. Charlie somehow always finds a way to solve the crime with mathematics, and leaves it to his brother Don to bring in the bad guys. I was firstly amazed that I have not managed to EVER see any of the first season of Numb3rs, despite thinking I had seen all the reruns despite missing the first season. So I spent a good part of this weekend catching up on some of Season 1. Meanwhile on Friday night, new episodes of Numb3rs returned to CBS, and I diligently DVR’d them to enjoy on my whirlwind saturday, of which I will explain my intense pleasure of doing absolutely nothing but watching TV. So, to my point… I was watching the new episode of Numb3rs, being in a raving state to which I’m loving everything Numb3rs right now, and they had a commercial on which just made my day. Its a preview for the new season of Numb3rs, designed to parody the Mac/PC commercials (which are some of my favorite commercials ever!!!) So I just had to share them with you… When the new one (the one I happened to see) is released via YouTube or CBS.com, I’ll definitely have to make a link to it.

and the second:

Now, these two are very similar, except for the end of the two, which diverge a bit. Both are excellent, even though, being a Don fan, I think I like the first one the best.

This is first and foremost a reaction to a phone call I just recieved. So pardon if I get a little heated. Being now that I work over an hour away (and in another state), and also remembering the fact that I’m horrific at packing lunches without causing huge delays, I decided to try a new grocery delivery service from Safeway. Most of you living in the United States should know Safeway or its partner Dominicks. I go through the website and take my time and order the basics… chicken, tuna, vegetables and fruit. Toss in a 12pack of Diet Sierra Mists (they were out of the Diet Dr. Pepper I ordered as well) and a little something for us women, and that was my order. I placed the order on Monday and it arrived yesterday. The first problem I encountered is that it took the coupon I had for free delivery (a $12.95 charge otherwise) but when I went back in and tried to grab something I forgot, it wiped out the coupon. I called the customer service center, and believe it or not, they couldn’t even find the order I placed! The lady actually then asked for my login and password (which I was loathe to give out, but I called them, so I did) and sure enough, the order is right there in my history. So she told me most likely the coupon will still go through, and if it doesn’t, then shipping on my next order will be free. Fine. I’m okay with that one, except I’ve got another coupon for free delivery before the 12th of April, which is soon approaching. I doubt I could use two orders within a week, but time may tell.
I was still okay with the service with which I was provided until the actual delivery came. I kid you not, I was missing half my order. I was missing the actual following items: chicken, apples, grapefruit, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, and carrots. The big problem here was that it was my planned lunch! The delivery time was set between 10 and 12noon, though the order didn’t arrive till after 1pm, which means i really went hungry well after I intended to have lunch. That made me annoyed.
So after throwing together a bit of this and that which did arrive, I called the customer service line again. They actually weren’t surprised I called complaining that half my items were missing, which bothers me a bit, because to me that means they knew half of it wasn’t arriving then and didn’t do anything to warn me of it before hand, or else it happens to so many people they’re used to it. If the first, they could have called or sent an email. If the second, then they are well deserving of this criticism and have a deeply flawed system.
So then they tell me they can only redeliver the items as late as 8pm. Well, sorry buddy, but I’m not waiting around till 8pm to receive something I should have at noon! I still had to cross state borders and go to the gym! So they promised me that the delivery would be between 10 and 1pm today. At 12 noon, I recieved a phone call from the driver stating that he won’t get to me till about 3pm! He tried pawning it off to “I don’t know why they put it on my truck, its impossible for me to get there at that time” crap. At this point, my attitude is this: Whatever. Just deliver the darned things, since my credit card has already been charged for it. Not to mention that i’ve been charged for a delivery that should have been free.
This is my first delivery order with Safeway.com. After this experience, I’m not sure they are worth my continuing to giving them my business, even with two more free deliveries due to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still continue going to my local Safeway back in Maryland, but this has been a huge blow to my unfailing love for the Safeway companies.

PS: on a futher note, if this problem is pandemic to all of safeway.com’s delivery service, I would like to point out that if it fails in its grocery delivery as it does its pharmacy delivery, they could seriously kill someone for the pranks they have pulled on me this week. Someone may be relying on that date and time to continue necessary medicine regimens, and delaying service for a full day could have serious consequences.

Do you dare IM Me?::


very annoyed

What I am going deaf listening to::
Little Girls ~ Annie Soundtrack (yeah people, I’m annoyed even when listening to the Annie Soundtrack, that says something!!)

So, I said i was going to go the gym starting yesterday. The plan started out well… got the gym bag packed in the morning, which made me really late leaving out of the house. But the day went downhill from there. First, I left my sneakers upstairs in the office, so I had to backtrack back to the office, setting my departure time back by a little bit. by the time I got home it was after eight pm, and the only reason I stopped at home first was because I realized my normal sport headphones don’t work with the iPhone because it has a recessed port, which means the jack has to sit striaght out and be thin enough to go in. Well, I didn’t have any of those at hand, and I need earphones to watch my TV show (which i downloaded that morning onto the iPhone, so I had to quickly stop at home to get a pair. That, and I didn’t bring my bottled water with me. Going home was my downfall… because once I saw the time, remembered I was getting up early, and that fact I was already home and didn’t yet have dinner, I duped myself out of going. *hangs head in shame*
Well, tonight I am not stopping by home. I’m heading out a little earlier from work, and bygonit, I will go to the gym!!! grrrr!!!

Do you dare IM Me?::


determined

What I am going deaf listening to::
Mrs. Darcy ~ Pride and Prejudice Jean-Yves Thibaudet

maybe tribulations is too strong of a word, but when people get on your nerves, every little action they do, good or bad, is a real test of your strength. Yesterday in particular, I was clearly giving off the “don’t mess with me, I’m half dazed and I want to sit and do absolutely nothing” vibe. But I wasn’t just doing absolutely nothing. When I returned home from spending the night with a friend, I started laundry. Now, laundry is one of my little eccentricities. Being a bigger girl, naturally less clothes are necessary to fill a load, and since I’m horrific at changing clothes at least twice a day, the laundry does pile up quickly. I’m also not really good at doing laundry. I know what is washed in cold water, and how to remove stains, but I am horrible at folding laundry. I just don’t ever want to do it. I even have a flip fold to help me get the wretched t-shirts in order. But part of me just wants to leave it all in the dryer and in the mornings, just run it for a few minutes and pull out fresh warm clothes to jump into. Plus yesterday, I barely wanted to move, let alone do anything that would actually involve energy.

at this point i might come back and edit more of the story in here. gotta do something and come back.

NY TIMES 3/27/08: Personal Best: Running Can Make You High
This article gives me something to strive for. Don’t get me wrong… It’ll be a long time before I can run without looking like a freak being as out of shape as I am, but this actually does explain a lot about why I see people at my gym hitting the hour and a half mark running at a good seven miles an hour and I’m casually walking at about three and a half, desperately trying not to count down by the second till my time has ended. I’ve never really enjoyed exercise. Even when playing basketball in grade school, while I was good and enjoyed the game, I never enjoyed running my behind down the court and back. In the middle of the article, this quote brings immeasurable hope:
For athletes and nonathletes alike, the results are opening a new chapter in exercise science. They show that it is possible to define and measure the runner’s high and that it should be possible to figure out what brings it on. They even offer hope for those who do not enjoy exercise but do it anyway. These exercisers might learn techniques to elicit a feeling that makes working out positively addictive.
That is exactly what I need to actually stay on my goals. This kind of research, while it doesn’t seem to cure cancer or Alzheimers, definately has the very real potential to help the millions of overweight unenthused dieters constantly grappling with their issues of lack of confidence, self-doubt, and a downward spiral of failure that could have started years earlier.
So, while I’m spilling the beans and being totally honest. Here are my issues:

1. I really love food. I enjoy my pallet being sensationalized by combinations of spices, fresh fruits and savory carbs. I am in a love/hate relationship with potatoes. I love going to new restaurants and testing out exotic flavors, and I also enjoy going down to the local pub and scarfing down potato skins and cream of crab soup. Maybe if everything tasted like cardboard, it would be better for me and one in every four Americans.

2. I have an oral fixation. I am always craving to be drinking or eating something. I also stress eat. People who quit smoking notice their oral fixations quickly when they suddenly gain thirty pounds by letting go of their cigarettes. I’ve never been able smoke, thank heavens, because of allergies to several leafy greens, including spinach and tobacco. But that doesn’t mean that when I wasn’t out studying on a porch in college, I didn’t want one. I never realized until then when I thought to myself, damn, I could use a cigarette to do something other than reading. It was then I realized that I could simply bring along with me a snack and that craving was satisfied. Hell, now that I know about it, I’ve always wondered why candy companies just can’t make potato chip flavored gum, because then I can enjoy something other than sweet foods and spit it right back out without being accused of bulemia.

3. I don’t enjoy exercising. For me, the hour I’m on the treadmill is hopefully an episode of whatever TV show I’ve downloaded from iTunes onto my iPhone and only sixteen minutes of gruelling counting down to when the machine turns itself off. If I could walk still enough to concentrate on a book, that would be one thing, but I’ve never been able to manage to read and exercise at the same time. I can’t read and drive at the same time, but maybe that is a good thing afterall. I do enjoy swimming. I specifically joined a gym with two pools, one for the kids, and a small lap pool. Fortunately the lap pool isn’t overcrowded with semi-pro swimmers, but usually old ladies walking. I enjoy being the youngest there, and I enjooy going even just slightly faster than the old ladies. The only big problem there: I hate seeing myself in a swim suit. And shopping for one is even worse.

4. My current work schedule. I just changed jobs and am now working in Virginia. But my home and my gym are in the suburbs of Baltimore, and even then there’s a fifteen minute difference. I’ve got to get a schedule down that I can actually enjoy (and avoid traffic one way or the other!) and just simply plan it in. This weekend I’m hoping to really sit down and figure it out.

5. Partners. I don’t know whether I want a partner or not. On the one hand, if I have a partner, I feel obligated not to watch my iphone movies and acutally talk… Maybe one in five times I exercise I might want to chat, but most of the time I expect I’d be silent (and that is a rare thing for me at all!) Secondly, I’d have to work around someone else’s schedule. My own success depends on getting up and going to the gym WHENEVER I feel the urge, and I would be less likely to go if I normally have a partner and he/she couldn’t make it. I’ve got to overcome my own inertia to going to the gym, and I need the total freedom to do so. But the big sinch on this issue is accountability. On the one hand, it might motivate me more to be held accountable for reasonable successes, like going to the gym when I don’t want to because I have a scheduled exercise date with my partner. Hopefully that person will also be the motivation for me to succeed becuase they celebrate every little success. But, on the other hand, I might become resentful that I should be held accountable to someone else, and I really don’t take criticism when it comes to my own health very well. If I get scolded even once for missing a gym date, I’d feel horrible. So horrible in fact it would actually enable me to cancel the partnership altogether rather than motivate me not to let the partner down. It may not make sense, but then again, I never claimed to be sane. This is about as crushingly honest as I’ve ever been concerning my weight issues. I’ve even tried, and failed at online communities of like minded people also trying to overcome obesity. Part of me wants to open up because of the potential for some really good motivation, but most of me wants to keep it all to myself because of the horrible meanness of the general population. No doubt, if anyone comments on this entry, one will inevitably be “you fat ass pig, etc. etc. etc.” and demean my entire honesty. Then that will the last you hear of my struggle. period.

anyways, I originally wrote this blog entry to share a NY Times story, but it made me think, and it made me share, so that’s that for now.

(oh, and PS: The avatar is of Eowyn, a shield maiden of Rohan and kickass warrior from Lord of the Rings. She was in wicked amazing shape in order to defeat the Witchking of Angmar, and she would be my personal role model for getting in shape. )

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Pensive

What I am going deaf listening to::
nuttin’ honey

What I am enriching my mind with::
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out ~ Richard Feynman

Yeah, so when January 1st came around, I made up my new list. Among the many plans and goals for this year were the following:
1. Get fit.– so I joined a gym, and then was forced to work massive amounts of overtime at the bank so I was too exhausted to go. Still paying for it, and come April 1st, I’m right back in… you know why? See item #2.
2. Get a new job– I DID!!! I DID!!! No longer am I a poor and broken banker. I now work for a defense contractor, making a decent salary and now commute like most of the US over an hour to get to my office, which is right next door to the Pentagon.
3. Save more money. Kinda needed the new job to do that, but now that I’ve got that one figured out, time to put some of that paycheck away into pitiful interest bearing savings accounts.
4. Get back to blogging. So that one didn’t go so well… unfortunately, it seems like if I take some time off from blogging, I’ve got to come back and write out this massive huge “everything going on in my life” so that I can get back on track. But it never happens… So I’m trying a different approach. Small ones whenever I feel like it. I won’t tell you about my new job today or about the horrors going on at my old one. But maybe in a few more posts I will.
5. get a boyfriend. Hrm. Well, that hasn’t happened yet, but at least now I get to see a whole slew of men in uniform. *happehsigh*

My new goals, now that we are a quarter of the way through the year:
1. Get fit… April 1st, I’m making it work, even with the two hour commute each day.
3. save more money… yeah, still gotta do that. I want to buy a house about Christmas this year.
4. get back to blogging. Hopefully I’m back, and hopefully I’ll have a few more readers than the spammers who come around. The one good thing I like about my security here is that none of the spamming ever gets through to the public. No one will ever have to see long links lists of viagra or whatever it is their reading. Its a waste of time and electricity (for those spambots) to waste their time on this site. MUAHAHAHA!

Do you dare IM Me?::


a bit ditzy… way to early in the morning!

What I am going deaf listening to::
Awkward mix of Good Charlotte, the Beetles, and Boyz to Men

What I am enriching my mind with::
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out ~ Richard Feynman

So i think thats my name in Arabic… but then again I’ve not properly recieved instructions on it… i’m just following what is in the book!
Anyways, its been quite an August. I actually meant to put in at least one entry in August, but that just didn’t happen… I officially started my new position with the bank August 16th, and while things are very different from my old banking center, its not necessarily an improvement. I went from a standard, decent schedule to a hectic and overworked schedule… I am now averaging 60 hours a week with no time to do laundry let alone keep up with my arabic class or AMUN stuff… Ive got to get everything done this sunday… so no time for anyone else…
And I’ve really got to get laundry done!!! *sigh*
Well, anyways, this week I actually completed the first part of my training for the bank… I had to do it in Washington DC, which was a bitch of a drive Monday, Tuesday and Thursday… traffic sucks ass… But I could not take metro as I had to then drive out to Annapolis for my Arabic Class, which I would not have been able to make if I took Metro… I only took metro on Wednesday because I went out with my much missed AMUN family… But Wednesday in general was a good day… after work, I had about two hours to kill before drinking down in Eastern Market… So I set off from Bank Central on 18th and K street in NW, walked back and forth from 18th to 16th street down from Farragut North/West down to the White House, back to OAS and Daughters of the American Revolution (my DAR patron is Captain Jonathan Tipton from Charlotte, NC!) and back toward the Vietnam Memorial… I stopped at my favorite memorial, Declaration Island, and relaxed for a few minutes… for those of you who do not know Declaration Island, its a small island in the lake to the north of the Tidal Basin, just diagonal from the World War Memorial lining Connecticut Ave. Most people don’t know its a memorial, but if you read the cement bases to the bridge to the island, you would know it was… its incredibly simple in its design… there are slabs of marble with the signatures, names, trades and homes of all the signers of the Declaration, honoring the men who signed their death sentences if the war for independence had failed… the natural scenery is beautiful, especially as the hour before dusk, and so few people know about it that you can be left alone for a few moments of solitude and peace… I total walked about four and a half miles in business clothes and carrying a good 20 pound purse… I kick ass!!!

Anyways, I may just put a little more soon!

Do you dare IM Me?::


ready to sleep for a week

What I am enriching my mind with::
arabic class

long story short people… i’m quite tired… I spent 1200 bucks on a bunch of swords for my sister’s birthdays and christmases for the next two years because the entire brand is going away, and I had to get a bit tiffy with some really rude paypal people… had an extra unexpected guest who arrived about one thirty in the morning (we were already expecting one, so it wasn’t a total surprise…!) and then at about 9:45, my banking center had a bomb threat called in! We spent two hours in the heat watching as AA County cops and bomb squad, AA County Fire Department, and the Federal Department of Homeland Security peoples search the entire banking center before clearing it… (yeah, calling in a bomb threat to a member of the federal reserve brings in the DHS people!) And then to top it off, as a “sales and service specialist” stand-in (until I get my promotion to the SSS position at another banking center) I got hit with all the people walking in the building with the “OMG I saw the cops today!! Were you guys robbed??” which meant that I told the story over and over and over again! This was of course happening while I was playing phone tag with my corporate recruiter working out my final propotion wrinkles, just really small ones like what my salary will be, when I get to move into the new postion, etc. Did i forget to mention the freakishly wierd nightmare I had about a worm/centipedeish creature who was trying to bite me, and whose bites were deadly, which meant at best I started today with only about four hours of sleep?

Its only nine pm, but I will very soon be hitting the sack and bring this day to an end!

Do you dare IM Me?::


about to collapse

What I am going deaf listening to::
Ender’s Shadow Audiobook by Orson Scott Card

So friday night was a bit hectic… it didn’t help that I had to work a ten hour shift right before heading up there! Now that I think about it, with the other book premieres I got a chance to sleep until about four or five, which explained why i could last all night reading… definately made a difference. I chose to go to the Barnes and Noble at PowerPlant in Baltimore, which could potentially be the largest book store in the state… its positively huge!! Anyways, Kev met me at my house, and I took a little mindless break before picking up Erin to hit the bookstore. I sillily found my HP robes and danced around the house in them… I even packed them in my purse in case I felt the absolute urge to wear them later. The trip up there was easy, and we found absolutely wonderful parking… I don’t think people realize the wonder of one way parking garages. Rather than having everyone go up and down the same slopes, some newer garages have opposite slopes, each going one way… every two ramps or so, they intersect for people to exit. I immediately went back to exit rather than go up five or six floors, and we found that NOBODY had parked on the exit side ramps… we were just one floor up, right in front of the elevators and stairs, which was closest to the street we needed to be on! It was fabulous thinking on my part… I might be a very smart girl afterall!
Anyhoo, the store was relatively quiet when we got there at eight, but we were certainly not the first to arrive… My sister and her boyfriend arrived an hour earlier, and landed us our relatively great spot in line, #103. Now that might not sound fabulous, but considering there were about two thousand people in line to buy books, I think 103 is good enough!
The night was beautiful weatherwise… we couldn’t have asked for much more at all… Twilight on the harbor was striking, and to show my point, I snapped a few shots of the Baltimore Inner Harbor for you folks out there…

This, btw, was the view we had from the sushi restaurant we ate at, sitting on the harborside balcony in that weather!! Just a short walk took us back, hands loaded with ice cream, to the sight that was Barnes and Noble. But then that was when the night got crazy… It turns out that the Japanese Anime Convention, OdiCon, was in town, so some of the crazier people were out for the party as well… there were people running around in all sorts of odd costumes… it would have been one thing if we were all in hp robes, but seeing some of the absolutely mental people there, I held back from pulling out my robes and just chilled as a muggle. About half an hour before the book was to be released, we actually went inside, but were shuffled and shoved around hurriedly. I had to fight my way to be one of the first in the “hundreds” group in the line, I had been shoved that far back. But in the end, I walked out with five brand new books and I only waited twenty minutes total from release to my escape from the store.

Was it worth going? Absolutely. Its rare for any kind of literary event to happen these days… booksigning sessions are rarer and rarer, and it is pitiful at the press and raves potential books get these days… if more book releases were like major movie releases, maybe people would read more! But on top of that, I knew friday night was historical, and I chose not a small bookstore, but a huge mob to be a part of it. Its a memory that will be tied to a story that has been a big part of my life the past seven years that I’ve been a HP fan. It is a literary revolution that has swept the world, and it has brought people back to the written word in ways not many have done since the dawn of the television and the silver screen. And its been a part of my journey.

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nostalgic

I’ve completed the last ever installment of Harry Potter, some mysteries came to a conclusion, some I don’t think did. All in all I’m okay with how it ended. I will not give out any spoilers here, and if any one comments, leave readers to find the answers themselves. I cried, I laughed, and i’ve mentally tallied up my favorite parts of the epic to include sections of book seven. But I’m not saddened with the knowledge that there will not be a new Harry Potter book to look forward to. My fascination with the series is partly due to the expansion of the world… most of my enjoyment of the world of harry potter is the extensions i write into it, not necessarily only the dogmatic limitations. Rowling created a world we can step into and find homes in, and it is that characteristic that makes a science-fiction/fantasy story really shine out above the rest. For me it always has been… Lewis, Asimov, Herbert, Tolkien, Card… and of course in that list is Rowling and Lucas. Heck, I’m just kinda glad she didn’t end the world as it would conflict with my extensions… it took me a while when Lucas changed around my version of the Star Wars universe to settle back into the prequels… I had nearly lost my fandom until I could negotiate a settlement with my own extensions and the prequel dogma.
alas, i still must sigh with the completion of this epic. I don’t think we’ll ever hear from the magical world of Harry Potter again, but just as Harry Potter swooped into literary history, so too will another tale unravel itself for us muggles to enjoy!

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*sigh*