The color of infinity inside an empty glass

I can't recall what we did for July 4th last year. I suspect the answer is nothing. We probably tried to make plans, but ended up doing nothing.

This year, we did stuff. It was good.

At 9;00, in Edmond, which is half an hour or so north of us, we did the LibertyFest parade. It was a 1 1/2 hour parade of.. god, everything. Local Police and Fire crews. Local high schools. Local businesses. Even one of the local sports teams joined in. It really was a good time.

Then we came home, exhausted, and we ALL Napped.

Got up, puttered, and then we went outsides for our night time performance. There was no way boy was going up for fireworks, so we'd bought party poppers and snaps and we went outside and had a good time playing with those. We even let R pop some of both, with our supervision (and a lot of "No, you can't put your hand over THAT end of the popper.")
BEST TIME EVAR!

We also made a special holiday dinner: steak, garlic mashed potatoes and garlic apple tarts.

All in all, it was a really good day. We actually DID something for the holiday and it was good!

(/well-being)

Well.. got back from Buffalo a couple days back. Buffalo was.. not what I hoped.

Mad at youngest brother, who decided he had better things, like going to a friends' BBQ, than to see us or Robert. Frustrated with dad too, because he either had no idea what the plan was or totally forgot it due to ChemoBrain. I can't blame dad for ChemoBrain and at least he's done with the Chemo in six weeks, but still frustrating.

Robert had a tough weekend too. We were supposed to wean him down to a single 1 mL of Prevacid per day and he woke up two nights in a row crying. We're pretty sure, since we checked all other issues, it was Acid Reflux.

We were supposed to pick up furniture and bring it home, but that got moved back, which worked out just as well given how badly we slept this weekend with Robert keeping us awake. K's parents are supposed to be driving it down here in a couple weeks. But that may change. More on that to come.

Got home late Monday, in the middle of a heat wave. At the end of May. This summer's gonna suck. :/

Spent yesterday just.. relaxing. Trying to get over the weekend. Oh, and we signed up for Netflix for Wii, which I'm really having alot of fun with. Started watching the Hitchhiker's Guide Mini Series, Dilbert, the Animated Series, Heroes and K and I started Dr. Who. Lots of stuff to keep me amused for a while.

Then I got a call late yesterday, about 4:00, setting up a phone interview for today with D***. This job is in Charlotte, North Carolina, which I have decidedly mixed feelings about moving to, mostly because I know no one there and I'd miss my friends in Baltimore and DC if I moved.

Phone interview was today. I think it went well. I think I am a serious contender for this position. Last week, they told me I was one of two people they were interviewing. I've already gotten contact information from the company and they're deciding what the next step is, either another phone interview with people I'd be working with in Raleigh, or an actual interview. Color me nervous.

The timing is good, because today.. I've been out of work for six months, a fact I am not happy about. Though I am significantly happier than I would be if the latest news was the I-don't-know-what-happened in PA.

And I've got plans with Chu this weekend. R and I. K *WAS* considering coming, and may still show up, but she was offered a chance to work overtime Saturday and she's taking it.

There's a bunch of minor things I could talk about, and I WANT to post, but I'm not specifically sure I know what I'd want to say.

Freestyles is over.. for another approximately six months. Six months to prepare ourselves for the next Freestyles. Well, really, six months to finish up Bronze I, begin working on Bronze II material and practice whatever we can. :)
Though I have no doubts that Michael will wants us to do more in the next Freestyles than we did in this one. More opens, at least.

I've been thinking alot of dance-related thoughts.
For example, how we nearly dropped Foxtrot for Bronze I, which would have been a pity because I'm GOOD at Foxtrot. (I'm pretty good at most of the dances, but I struggle with moving my legs move properly for swing and think it'll take me a while to learn Cuban Motion (K seems to have much more of a knack for it than I.)
For example, how gratifying it is to still feel like (and still be reminded of by others) how much better I'm getting and to concentrate on the positives and not the negatives.

Next week we head up to Buffalo for Easter/Passover. I need to call my grandmother tonight (oops) to make sure we're on for our half-plans for dinner on Saturday (it may not be a full Seder, but that's OK. She'll have leftover food and that's what I want. ;) )
I'm actually not thinking too much about Buffalo at all, which is better than freaking out about it. We won't be in town THAT long and I'm not too worried about too much either family will do.
And I want to see my other three fuzzy dorks. The ones living with Josh!

Past that, there's a whole lotta nothing to say right now. So... I shall end this instead!

Josh called me just as we were leaving to get some final Christmas presents bought (*evil laugh*).
Mom's back in the hospital with pneumonia.
I don't have a hospital number to call yet. I also don't know if she went in to the hospital BEFORE things got bad, or BECAUSE. Hopefully Before :p

In other news, K and I and other members of the Watershed Concepts team in the Alexandria office are going bowling today. Hope I can keep my mind on the pins.

.. Hope I can keep my mind on work!

EDIT:
Bowling Cancelled.

Heard from Josh. Things aren't good. They took her to the hospital BECAUSE she got very bad. She's stuck in bed, right now, not allowed to move.
They mentioned the R word again last night as well :p

My mom is out of the hospital. She's holed up at home with an oxygen tank and various drugs, but, at the last, she's back home. Now hopefully someone can beat some sense into Joshua so that it's a relatively painless however long at home until mom goes back to school.
I swear if it isn't, I'll beat the shit out of him myself.

I've been running tired lately. When I say tired, I mean borderline exhaustion that's made me stupid if I'm not careful. I keep waking up at god awful early. I think I'm going to try to kick my ass in the gym today (it's time to start lifting weights.) and then go to bed early again. I went to bed early last night, and slept like a brick until about 4:30 AM.. then I went in and out of sleep until 6:30 and I just feel tired again today.

I'm having serious problems relaxing lately. Some of it is just the stress from this last month: Kristen's family, my family, seriously considering a future with Kristen and what that REALLY means (In 20 days, Kristen and I will have been together for a year and a half. In itself, that's great, but I think, especially with Kristen's family dealing with Katie's wedding right now, we're getting a little taste to some of the nightmares we have yet to face.)
Some of it is the weather. As many of you know, I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (I get depressed in the winter). It may not be snowing out, but when it's not sunny, it's this miserable cold drizzle rain that sucks and it depresses both Kristen an I.
And Kristen too... it's difficult to deal with Kristen and I snipping at each other, which we've done all too much recently because we're both overstressed and not dealing with it as well as we should and we've been running pretty hard.
And then there's the running... my day feels absolutely solidly booked. Wake up at 6:30, run to get ready for work, at work by 8:00, out of work by 5:00, if I can, off to the gym and out by 6:30, home by 7:00, in bed by 9:30. It doesn't REALLY leave me alot of time to get much of ANYTHING done: not relaxation and not stuff like cooking and cleaning and scooping cat litter. But if we leave that for the weekend (which we have a bad habit of doing), then the weekend is suddenly overbooked.
All of our weekends last month felt overbooked.. whether it was running around and doing errands or running off here or there or, even, pushing ourselves to go out to a movie or dinner or something.
We've probably pushed ourselves far too hard.
Maybe we should just take this weekend off. At least as much as we can, Kristen. Where we can clean your place a little bit on one day and cook the other day and that's it. No running around anywhere. Well, maybe the gym if you go to church, but that's it. Just.. relax. I'll grab West Wing and Farscape.. and that Down Periscope movie because it's amusing and it's fluff and that way I can get some amusing fluff in between the more hardcore stuff :) Or, I could bring my games over and we could do some of that too. I don't care, so long as we stay home and relax, OK? :)
And then there's the iPod. What I WANTED to do is rate everything before hand and then know what to put on the iPod. Stop laughing at me! Unsurprisingly, I feel like I've been crunching through stuff since I brought it home Saturday and I KNOW it's taking away all the other free time I might have relaxing so I think I'll probably just toss a whole bunch of stuff on it next and sort through it on the go. (Yay for the ability to rate on the iPod) Maybe try to be intelligent and set up autoupdating for anything that's checked (basically, anything four or five stars) and a smartlist of unrated songs when I have the time and interest. Because I want that hour or two back before I go to bed to read or veg in front of a game or something that will actually help me relax some.

So, yeah. This was a longer post than anticipated. But... I just needed to vent about feeling exhausted and overstressed.

So the past two nights I've been at my old high school, listening to my brother be the male lead in the musical.
Poor Josh, he's sick. I don't know if it's a cold, a sinus sickness or whatever, but he sounds stuffy and he's run down.
Despite that, he sounded pretty damn good. You could tell he was stuffy and, on Friday, he coughed a little, but he sounded good!
I'm impressed anew!

So, Friday night, Freddy came down from NYC to see Josh. Our cleaning lady, Linda, came too and gramdma's friend, Dorothy. Oh, and Marc and Stacey (Marc's girlfriend.). Marc is looking shaggy again. He said he won't shave until he finds a Kosher Razor.
A KOSHER RAZOR.
I'm not the most knowledgable on some aspects of the Jewish lifestyle, but I'm pretty certain that being Kosher refers to food only.. and not a razor.
*boggles*
Saturday night, uncle Jeff, aunt Janice and Josh (my youngest cousin) came down from Toronto and saw Josh perform.
Today is Josh's last performance and I don't know if anyone special is going. He said he didn't care if mom didn't go.. and I can't. I slacked off yesterday so need to do homework today.
Including I need to start my presentation for Friday!
(As a reminder, I'm off to Syracuse Friday)

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day. Warm, Sunny, about 65... I wimped out of trying to jog outside though *gryn* S'cool, though. I got in a good workout. Did the elliptical for half an hour and jogged for 20 minutes.. and worked out my arms (I like arm day. Better than leg day. Possibly because I see the results better than I do the leg exercises.)
Unfortunately, it got cold and VERY windy last night. Thank goodness, we didn't lose power... (yay, buried power lines!)

The exercise routine is going pretty decently...
I can't believe i've already lost 50 lbs. (probably more) of fat, though. I'm still impressed with it. And everyone notices it. Even I notice it (and that's important!)
I gotta take half my clothes to goodwill, though. NOTHING fits anymore that I haven't bought in the last few months.
No wonder, though. I'm wearing an XL shirt (instead of XXL) and 40 waist pants.
Actually, I hope to get a new spring jacket this week. The old one fits.. but it's too short. It doesn't have the length I need. Plus, it falls off me in even the slightest breeze and while it may be the point for some people to ahve the slightest breeze take their clothes off, I wear my jacket because it's cold and want it on!

Not much going on that I can think of to write about. It's been pretty quiet, but busy. I wanna try to get pictures from last weekend up today if I can. Depends on how long I end up working on the presentation and stuff.

I miss all my ChaoticMUX friends. Hopefully, I'll see y'all soon! :)




All ducks aren't sweet and innocent and you prove that. You have a nasty streak.

Find your inner rubber ducky.

Still don't have "Closer to Fine".

It's bloody cold out there.
Arctic blast, indeed!
*shivers*

So, it's monday now.. I just waved goodbye to Jen and Robby and sent them on their merry little way to Boston. I expect, as they left about 9:15, I expect Kar will post her version of this weekend at approximately 7 at night. (having gone through the 40 or 45 other friends posts between now and then, of course :) )
Not to suggest Kar is addicted to LJ...
which she is...
which she proved yesterday morning...
as I, being the addict I am, waited impatiently for her to finish so I could read too ;)

The concert was good. It's a real pity dawnstar and kolys didn't get to see it. It was just the two of them performing... good good stuff, most of it.
The opening band, the Cash Brothers, were okee too...
I find it... ironic... extremely extremely Ironic that, in the end, Dawn and Oliver couldn't make it up after having gotten them tickets, having gotten them a ride to and from Rochester, having watched Star and Phinnia fight and makeup (as Star screams we need a backup plan in case they don't) and having Star change the plans at the very last minute.
I'm not angry at all... mostly amused.
This goes as further proof that Lord Murphy rules supreme!
Mathematically speaking, the higher the number of ways for things to go wrong, the higher the probability that one of them will.
LITE's version of Murphy's Rule right there.
If you use, quote me ;)

So, here's how everything really happened yesterday.
Started off at about 10:00 in the morning once everyone was actually awake. Went downstairs after Kar checked LJ, checked my email and there was the email from Dawn "Kolys has the plague. We can't make it up." okee.
Tell Kar.
At, I'm guessing, approximately the same time TalPhinnia (one of the two) got the same message... and, somewhere along the way, got very fearful that the transportation system wouldn't even get them TO the mall and their car seat was broken.
So instead we made plans to hang out with them at their house.
We got there (having nearly got lost once. Yay for Jen because *I* would have probably have gotten lost on my own. It's tough enough driving where you don't know where you're going, but looking for signs that weren't there (get this...TalPhinnia's exit was only available via the 190 South.. NOT the 190 North. What the hey?) and reading the map so I know where I'm going? No way.
So we got there, hung around for about half an hour.. met the gang (Talphinnisean and two rather small white bears, i think... they were a bit large to be cats ;) )
I dunno... maybe it's a guy thing... I know I was more comfortable cuddling up to kitties than I was to get too near to Sean.
Odd that, I think.
Jen, on the other hand, cuddled up to everyone (kitties and babies alike)
and Robby cuddled up to Jen ;)
So, after TalPhinnia's we ran to the Galleria to meet Trillidork... were there 10 minutes late (which worked out in our favor because I got to scare the hell out of Trillian. She was turned away from us and watching the other side of the mall. So I "snuck up" and yelled "Boo!" and she nearly jumped five feet! >:D)
Which is further reason for her to call me SATAN, I guess >:D
Had another delicious dinner at Johnny Rocket's (only hampered by my own drippy nose that I had to keep excusing myself to blow because I didn't feel it was... cool.. to blow it whilst others were eating.)
We hung out with Trillian in the mall till 3:30 (i got myself a cute little zebra striped cow (named: Incowgnito and a book)
went to visit the Mac store (which must be pretty new, cause I don't remember it from when Trillian and I walked around the mall last summer) and to Sears to look for a Carseat/Carrier for Talphinnia.
Then we went back home for a couple hours.. watched most of Moulin Rouge, went off to Chang's Garden for dinner (I thought the food was OK but I recall the shrimp and walnuts being better than it was.. (not that it was bad, I just recall it being better, ya know?))
Then off to the concert which rocked, home, sleep and that was it.
That was yesterday.
Thrilling, yes?

Today... I dunno.
We may or may not meet Marc for dinner. It all depends on WHERE he wants to meet and if we can pick up Josh... here's the issue..
Grandma doesn't want to meet Marc for dinner (which is shocking in it's own right. That's a MAJOR thing in our family. My grandmother believes that family is everything... she invites him to her house for the high holidays and thanksgiving and such... but to not want to go out with him?)
Maybe it's just my perspective.. she was tickled pink when we invited her to my pre-commencement dinner to Daffodil's and she's tickled pink at going to see Josh perform next weekend.
Maybe that says it all.
Anyways, grandma doesn't want to have dinner with him. I certainly as hell don't. And mom doesn't want to go alone. And add to this, we need to be around to pick Josh up from practice.
So... I dunno.
My major plan is, after class, run to Wegman's and get some milk for my mother and myself and catch up on sleep (I like having guests over, especially good friends like Jen and Robby, I DON'T like losing sleep because I have to feed the baby and he eats faster than the other cats, so he gets bored and looks for trouble (including pouncing suspicious moving things under the covers) while I try to SLEEP! )

Finally, before closing this post, let me post my weight for the week. Keep in mind, part of it might be due to lingering sickness (but I dun think so), my weight for the week is...
*drumroll please*
251!!
That means... *1* lb. away from 50 lbs. of WEIGHT LOSS :D
51 to go :D
*does a happy jig*
Actually, by my math.. if I lose approximately 5 more pounds, I can no longer be called medically obese, I'll simply be overweight instead. Trust me, that's a BIIG improvement on my health.
Even Jen noticed I'm not as poke-able as I was last summer.
Yay, me! Yay, weight-loss.. Yay, finally getting healthy (slowly but surely)
OK, time to post :D

It's been a looong, depressing week. I haven't posted because there's been nothing TO post. I'd stay home, look at the snow, shovel, come back inside and watch movies. No gym, no going out, nothing.
Today I have alot to report.
Today I think I experienced the highs and lows life has to offer: from the beginning (birth.. well.. not fully.. but you'll understand) to death to everything in between.
Well, probably not everything...

The day started early. Woke up, look outside and there was SUN! The sun WAS OUT! Wooo! Woke up, got dressed, posted to livejournal etc. I took some pictures of the snow outside. I plan to shrink them and post them so that all you bastards wishing for a white christmas can see what it REALLY means... at least in Buffalo.
The driving ban had lifted, we were all in the midst of major cabin fever and we needed things.. so we made a list, checked it twice, but didn't bother figuring out who was naughy and nice.. and we headed out.
Before going out, however, I started to scour the house. My MP3 player is missing and I'm not certain where it is. At this moment, I'm pretty certain it isn't in the house. HOPEFULLY it's in my car (which is at the mechanics.)
Did I mention my car? Let me tell you.. Wednesday (in the middle of a snow storm), we brought the car into my mechanic. My first time driving in the snow... I hated it. It was NOT fun. Mom says I did a decent job of it.
Anyways, he called me Thursday. There was problems with the electrical system. Electricity was arcing and he wasn't certain why. Problem: Thursday afternoon and Friday the city shut down. The city is STILL in a state of emergency and not dug out (as you can tell by reading phinnia's livejournal. So, as far as I know, he hasn't been able to locate the problem yet, forget being certain how to fix it and how much it will cost. So the car is at the mechnics and HOPEFULLY the mp3 player is in it. Otherwise, I need a new one. I can't work out without it... it's just waaaay too boring to do cardio without SOMETHING to listen to. The radio may work for a day or two (and I may try it tommorow), but I'll probably get bored of it quickly.
Life lesson #1: Shit happens. It just happens. You make the best of it and move on. I don't really want an extra expense to get a new mp3 player, but I need something, so i'll get something.
So... anyways... we need to go out.
First stop... Tops Supermarket. Got some stuff for homemade spaghetti sauce, some milk stuff like that. Nothing special. Just keep in mind we have frozen onions and milk in the car.
Stop two... I KNOW I mentioned my mom is hell-bent on getting a kitten, right? So she drives all the way to the SPCA (luckily, it's open and accessable) to A) get pre-approval so that when she FINDS a kitten, she can adopt it no problem and B) look for kittens.
I (silly me) figure there's absosmurfly no way that there will be kittens. The SPCA has been closed for a couple of days.. how would they get there? I was wrong.
There were 7 kittens there when we came in. Not all of them were "good enough" for us. Two were longhairs and we prefer shorthair breeds (partly because brushing kittens is not easy nor fun and partly because we just like the way they look better. When we think of cat, we think of something along the lines of an american shorthair, applehead siamese or russian blue. Not a long-haired persian or even a Maine Coone with the big fluffy tail.), one was a hisser... there were three that got out attention, though.
One was a little orange and yellow striped kitten (you'd probably call it tiger) who was happily chasing a toy mouse around the play room. I had dreams of calling such a cat Spitfire or FireBolt or something akin to that.
The next was a little grey cat who reminded me of Smokey without the white in his fur. He was trying very hard to get the ball out of one of those toys where the ball is in a circular track. It kept trying and trying and we thought it was very cute (We like playful troublemaker type of cats.)
The next was a little mostly black cat who LOVED the teaser I was shaking around. It jumped and lunge and was too cute.
So mom was like "we need to decide." and it was a difficult decision. In the end, I think it was when I lifted the little grey one and it put it's head on my sweatshirt and looked sweet that decided it for us. So we got the little grey one.
When I say we got, I don't mean we brought it home. Tommorow they're closed. Monday, he'll get fixed, Tuesday they're closed and Wednesday we'll bring him home.
We'll probably call him Sherlock (we were bouncing names around in the car and that one came up. Choice #2 is Shadow.) but... who knows, right?
Once I get the kitten home Wednesday, you can all expect pictures of course.
So, with that stop out of the way, next stop was Blockbusters to return some videos and return more. We ended up leaving with Saving Silverman and Scary Movie 2, which my brother wants to watch and I don't care to.
Next stop, Target. Mom is looking for photographic paper and she likes the cheap walmart and target brands which are as good as Kodak and HP, but cheaper. We also leave with a thermal top for myself and a couple of other things.
Next stop, Barnes and Nobles. Mom is looking for a certain book. No luck, though.
By then, it's about 2:00 and my belly is yelling that if we don't eat soon, it'll start eating me from inside. So we go out to eat at the Buffalo Wild Wings.
Finally, we go to Rite Aid and go home.
Listening to the messages, my friend Dave's grandmother, Eva Niles whom I knew from when I worked in Beechwood Nursing Home has passed away. Eva hasn't been the same since an accident a couple weeks back and her health has been deteriorating. I haven't gone to see her because I don't want to think of her as any way besides how she was when I worked there (more on this in a few). So I told Dave I'll be at her Funeral (Monday morning at 11:00).
Issue: Monday is New Years Eve and we were SUPPOSED to have a big New Years Eve bash, but he's not up to it (he wasn't looking forward to it anyways, for a few reasons none of which I'll discuss.) I suggested that we modify the bash to a few small friends and I'd be glad to host. In other words, if he can get away from his family, come to my house... hopefully we can get Carl, his girlfriend, maybe our mutual friend TJ. Whatever. Just a small Friendly New Years Eve party.
I hope it happens. I really do. I don't wanna be stuck spending New Years Eve with my mom. I love her, but.. that's not my idea of a blast of a time. On the other hand, mom says if it doesn't happen, we'll try to go see a movie, so that's cool.
Eva Niles... I remember her very well, even if she never remembered my name, she certainly remembered me. She hassled me and I hassled her (and for people who know me, that's how I treat the people I love. I give them hard times and joke with them.)
I remember that the nurses (who disturbed and angered me because I never felt like they cared a bit... well, most of them.) complaining that she'd take these fortified orange drinks, bring them into her room to drink and forgot about them completely. They went bad and the nurses had to clean it up. She was such a matchmaker. She'd always ask me.. am I married? She'd often point to some of the female workers on the floor and said "I bet she's single. You should ask her." She'd also come and help me put table clothes on the tables. It gave her someone to talk to when her family wasn't here. I remember, she loved to play bingo. (she loved all the activities. Hell, she was jewish and she'd go to the catholic masses and stuff, because she wanted to be out and about and do things.) One day, I was her "lucky charm". I came over (having finished my floor) to help her play bingo and as I sat, she won not once but twice. If I saw her in her room, she'd offer me one of her many peppermint patties her family would give her.
I do remember Eva Niles. She was... definately a personality. (Much like the rest of her family)
Continuing on with the day...
After calling Dave and taking a nap, we went out AGAIN. This time, we started off at Rite Aid (her last prescription had recieved part of a shipment, so she got some.). we went off to the mall and, despite the fact that I figured it would be swamped, it wasn't. We were at the mall to look for thermals for my mom and a snowblower (all sold out. Surprise Surprise, I guess.)
Then we went to Walmart where I got some more thermals, some of my flavored water (yum!) and a bedspread for my mom.
Came home, watched Saving Silverman and then watched the news.
Now they're saying we might want to stay home tommorow due to blizzard-like conditions (not because of new snow coming done, but high wings resuspending the snow into the air and whiting out our vision. Not to mention a REALLY cold Wind Chill.)
Let the frustrations continue.
And so, that's my day... a new family member, the death of a person I liked and frustrations with life.
I guess I'll post this and head to bed. Good night everyone. Have a safe and warm New Years Eve if I don't write before then. And wish me luck in finding something cool to do!

Twas Two Days After Thanksgiving
And All Through The House
Not a critter was empty.
Not even Mr. Mouse.
The fridge was stocked with turkey sky high,
With Stuffing and carrots and sweet potato pie.
The residents were groaning, their belts a bit tighter
(except for Howard, who's just a bit lighter)
*****

OK OK, so I don't know how I did it, but the weight readings do not lie! (snigger) and I have actually LOST a pound between the day before thanksgiving and now, and I haven't been to the gym in two days! Well, I guess I chan chill over stress because I didn't go to the gym for a couple days. The weight loss continued.

So, let me tell y'all about Thanksgiving in my house. It started on a bad foot. My brother called at 11:00 (while mom and I were watching Planet of the Apes) to say "I can't get a ride. You need to take me!" and after the many and various calls where Marc did the same thing to grandma who, despite the fact that she doesn't like Marc as he acts now, didn't feel it appropriate for even Marc to not be with family Thanksgiving Night.
So we tell him "we'll meet you at work." (he works at the Olive Garden near the Walden Galleria Mall. It's a bit of a walk away from his house, but it's easy to find and we're comfortable going there (compared to Marc's neighborhood, the roughest neighborhood in all of Buffalo.) Marc whined and wheedled but finally accepted.
Then Marc springs "You guys are gonna come in and see the apartment and the cats, right?" and mom says "Well, we'll see."
Then *I* get pissed.
I was looking forward to the idea that Marc wasn't going to be able to go to dinner with us (did I mention I *DON'T* like him?) but then to make us run down to the Galleria Mall and then to my grandmother's house (Northern Edge of Buffalo, for people like trillain, dawnstar and phinnia, who have a geographic sense of how we're going out of the way here), but then to stop at his house having picked him up, having had dinner with him and having had to drive him home? No, I don't think so.
So I tell Mom to tell Marc we're NOT GOING IN. She doesn't.
Fight ensues.
Eventually we cool off, but I guess it shows how much NONE of us want to pick Marc up or be a part of this.
4:00 comes and we're JUST about ready to go out the door. We're making sure we have everything and, sure enough, Marc calls. He "missed his bus" and we need to pick him up someplace. Furious, mom gets the place (an intersection of a couple of other big streets.. Walden and.. I forget.) and calls grandma to find out how to get to grandma's house from there.
So we get to the intersection.
Do you think Marc was there waiting? Do ya?
AHAHAHAHAHA!
Of COURSE not!
So I get out of the car and sprint to the corner, spot a plaza he MIGHT be in, we go, look, nope. Finally as we pull out and get ready to give up and just go to grandma's, we spot him, walking towards the spot he said he'd be at, smoking.
Josh gets out, gets his ass in the car and suddenly I am OVERPOWERED by the smell of Marijuana. Marc must have just been smoking some. Grrr!!
So we get to grandma's house. Dinner was good. Who was there, you ask? It was me, mom, Josh, Marc, our great uncle Alan, grandma and grandma's neighbor Laura.
Personally, I couldn't sit still. I didn't want to be in the room with Marc (despite the fact that he was following Josh and I around), but at the same time... that's where the food and comfortables chairs (not the dinner, cheese and crackers and veggies and dip.) were in the other room.
The nice thing was Uncle Alan (he hates it if we call him Great Uncle, so.. whatever.. :) ) noticed the weight loss immediately (yay!) and thought I looked great :)
Dinner went off without a hitch. Tired of hanging around Marc, Josh and I volunteer to go outside in the chlly air and take a nice walk. Marc volunteers to come along (*groan*) and before an argument takes places, grandma cuts us short and more or less says "Marc is going."
Now, the fun starts. Josh, who can't ignore Marc and is furious he can't get AWAY from Marc starts talking shit (You know, stuff like "Your rap sucks." (and it does.) and "We need to cut your beard off" (And we do. His beard looks terrible. ) and Marc talks shit back. Finally, I just give in and go home. Watch half the Everyone Loves Raymond episode and go into the kitchen to talk with mom and grandma and laugh at the fact that my mom, a teacher, can't get any of her biology experiments (like...put a potato in a maze and watch the roots get out into the sunlight.) to work!
Finally, we go home. Luckily, Marc got a ride home from his girlfriend. We were thrilled. Honestly.

Other things happening Thanksgiving Day. Well.. one important one. We got the holiday paper and, of course, everyone is having sales for the day after Thanksgiving. I, personally, wasn't planning on going out at all, ya know? Only madmen go out, right? So my mom shows me the Best Buy add and, suddenly, I'm a madman, because for $150 I can get an HPA Jordana Colour PDA with Windows CE and 16 MB Memory. It seemed like a HELL of a deal, even if it was Windows CE.
So, Friday, after the pictures, our plan is to go to Best Buy (and Best Buy ALONE!) and get this PDA, right? Just remember that!

Friday comes along.
As you may recall (or may not), today is the day we have to get our pictures taken for my father and stepmother. So Josh and I get up early (*groan*) and drive to Dad's house. After the pictures, we'll have a "typicall" Hannukah Dinner (only a couple weeks early!) and get our presents.
So we get up and get to dad's house on time.
He tells us to open our presents now. Especially as he wants us to wear one of them to the pictures. So we do.
I get.. a nice sweater for the picture, a couple of other very nice shirts (one I'll wear, one.. eh, one... never! I'm returning for something better!) and a Car Emergency Kit (THIS present I like.. it has all sorts of goodies.. jumper cables, flashlight, flare, cone, emergency water. Stuff like that. So this is a GOOD GIFT (that I'll hopefully not use much!) ) I put my sweater on and Marc and Aaron (Elaine, my stepmother's son. He's pretty cool.) arrive. We take the family portait.. one of all six of us, one of just Marc, Josh and I (for mom and grandma and anyone else in mom's side of the family) and one of Dad and Elaine and just Aaron (for Aaron's father's side of the family)
Not too painful, if not fun.
We get back home and dad's like 'we'll be serving lunch in an hour."
ERK! We don't really wanna sit around the house with Marc wandering around and making comments and Marc's crappy Israeli (well.. it wasn't necessarily crappy but.. jaunty.. it jumped around from theme to theme. That grated on me. I'm used to gradual changeover like you hear from classical music and even today's rock operas), so Josh was like "Want to go to Media Play so i can get some Playboys??"
Whatever.
So we go. Media Play is, of course, mobbed. But Josh finds two Playboys and $50 Playstation 2 ($5 off because it's The Day After) called 007: Agent Under Fire. (The graphics on this game are SWEET, Man! Much better than Goldeneye. I wonder if the multiplayer mode is akin to Goldeneye, that'd be sweet too!! ) and I go to Circuit City (which is just a two minute walk away, to look at PDAs and see if there's a better deal than that Jordana)
Get back, hang out for another 20 minutes and lunch is served.
Lunch was.. lacking somewhat. Apparently the traditional hannukah meal is potato pancakes, applesauce and some thing with squash and apples. It wasn't particularly filling. So, we sit and talk for another 20 minutes, maybe half an hour (my father is thinking of getting Adelphia Powerlink, the Cable Modem I'm on now) and then leave.
Grandma comes over with even MORE leftovers! We have so much turkey! After we're done, I doubt I'll want turkey again until NEXT thanksgiving! Luckily, turkey is very much on my diet :D
So then we decide to go get the PDA. Remember, One Store.. and we know exactly what we're looking for. We get there and they're all sold out. They sold out in *20 MINUTES* SOB!
He does try to hook me up with a SONY CLIE, but I say I wanna look around a bit more.
We go to Circuit City and CompUSA to see if A) they have that PDA and B) They'll match the price in the ad. Neither one had it (It must have been going out of stock with the new Jordana's, hence the price!), but since I don't wanna drive with the other madmen BACK to Best Buy, we decide to pick at CompUSA. I come out with a very nice Handspring Visor Neo.
And hence, I HAVE A PDA! I HAVE A PDA!

And I need it too! My organization skills are severely lacking and I have my information all over. In my email box, written down in books, on little bits of paper, etc.
That's why I wanted/needed a PDA. Not just because it's EXPECTED in the Engineering Profession, but because I could use the extra organizational boost.
So I'm now looking for all the bits of information I have and need and putting them into the Visor (along with a small selection of fun things.. like a couple of games and a tarot card program.)
But I've got all my homework in there, and email adresses of people at school and my friends. Important birthdays, Holidays etc.
I already feel more organized :)
Get home, take a nap and my oooold friend Todd Fryburger who I haven't seen in a while since he moved down to Pittsburgh for his job is back up for a couple of days. We'll probably get together today and chat and catch up. I've invited him to go see Monsters Inc. with us tonite too, and I think we're going.
The rest of the night I spent playing with my PDA!

Got on the scale today and Lo! I have a new lowest weight and I have LOST WEIGHT over thanksgiving without exercise!
Wheeheeheeheehee! :D :D :D
Well, that's all I can think of. Ciao folksies!

Yesterday was the 2nd night of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. To those of my Jewish friends out there in Internetland, I wish you a new year.
As many of you already know, though I am Wiccan, my family is Jewish. We still celebrate the Jewish Holidays. In general we do so by having dinner at my grandmother's house. Yesterday was no exception.
We had potatoes and carrots, brisket and gravy, homemade applesauce and green bean casserole. It was delicious and I had way too much. (Let's not even talk about the "Lo-Fat" Swiss Cheese and Veggies I had BEFORE Dinner. My grandmother serves QUITE a meal.).
My brother, Marc, the one I can't stand showed up for dinner. He looks like he's turning ultra-Jewish. He brought a pitcher to wash his hand and "wouldn't eat' any dairy products (though he DID have Green Bean Casserole and that has melted cheese in it). He's got a scragly beard, a mustache and looks like he should be walking around in all black with the funny black hat.
He makes a mockery of Judaism.
Because you can't be jewish but have no respect for the 10 commandments or, indeed, any sort of moral rightness.
Amusedly yesterday we were discussing my diet (the scale CURRENTLY says I'm 286.5, but we'll discuss the scale reading later in this post) and how I'm going to a gym nearly every day to do my cardio workout and to work the weight machines. As I'm a UB Student, getting into the gym is free.. which is great for me! It doesn't have everything a Club might have... no classes, no trainers (We have attendants who know how to work the machines and act as spotters as need be, tho) etc. But the price is right and *I* am not complaining!
So, anyways, I'm talking about and Marc's eyes sparkle. He says "it's free?' and I say "Yes." and he's like "So, can I "borrow" your Student ID?" And I'm like "uh.. no..." Cause without the Student ID I can't get in to the gym. And he's all "Well, I can wait until AFTER you're in." and I'm shaking my head no. Even if I liked him. I'd be very uncomfortable about doing it this way.
So that was an interersting couple hours.
So, I've been doing alot of reading. I've almost totally gone through "Exercise For Dummies" and "The Hacker's Diet" and learned some interesting things.
Exercise for Dummies has been invaluable. It's helped me find a workout schedule I'm happy with. I'm now on a new schedule.. the self-called Push/Pull schedule. Basically, I divided the 12 Weight Equipment exercises into two programs.. Push and Pull.. Pull is almost exclusively exercises where I pull things back or sideways (except for one extra Push exercise, the Fly, that I added to Pull so that I had six exercises per class.)
My Pull Schedule is..
Two or Three Sets of 10 Reps of the Following Machines
Arm Curl
Leg Curl
Multi-Hip
Rowing
Ab Crunch
Fly (the one Push exercises added)

My Push Schedule is...
Two or Three Sets of 10 Reps of the Following Machines
Leg Extension
Chest Press
Shoulder Press
Back Extension
Tricep Extension
Leg Press

Today is a Pull day. :)
The Hacker's Diet, on the other hand, I haven't accepted as fully as Dieting for Dummy, but I've learned some interesting tips including the idea of taking your weight daily but taking a running average out of it. And so, I take my weight daily.. the ups (I'm up 1.5 from yesterday) and downs (I WAS 285 yesterday) and plotting them and the running average trend suggested through their Excel Worksheet. The reason I'm doing this instead of how I WAS Plotting (the occasional check on the scale every three or four days) is because.. basically.. weight is as much (if not more) of a measure of how much water you have in your system at the time as it is how much fat you have on you. On the other hand, if your trend is generally pointed downwards, than yes, you are losing fat. Myt trend is downwards.. and alot slower than the weight the scale reads. (Because the idea that I was REALLY 285 lbs. and I'd losr more than 6.5 pounds in a week and a half or two weeks was a bit scary and up another 1.5 pounds from yesterday's dinner was scary and wrong. And so I copy down the number into my excel spreadsheet (that i hope to post soon so that everyone can see my weight go down :D ) and watch the trend go down. Right now, I think the trend isn't completely capturing the amount of weight lost, but it may take another month's worth of numbers to get an accurate trend. (Right now my trend suggests that My actual "Average' weight is 289 lbs. Which *IS* a loss so that's good.)
Also, I've started using the WebMD Diet and Fitness Journal. It gives a decent estimate of how many calories I eat per day and how many i burn per day. It's hardly perfect and some of the estimates are too big and some too small, but as an estimate of how many calories I'm NOT eating and as a decent nutritional journal telling me I AM getting enough of the nutrients and vitamins I need, I wouldn't give it up for the world (Depsite the fact that I DON'T know how many cups of Starfruit I'm eating when I eat five slices and have to guess.).
So, to summarize.. I've got some new tools (Running Average on my weight, Diet and Exercise Journal) to help me track my weight loss. I AM losing weight and everything is, therefore, good! :)