Shuffle
A rare Saturday Evening Post! Har!
Anyhow, I'm home alone this evening, working on my freelance project and also listening to music really, really, really loud. I have a huge playlist cued up on the Media Player and I've put it on shuffle. I'll share with you what I'm listening to and what memory it invokes.

Jane -- Barenaked Ladies
This is one of those songs that shows up repeatedly on mix CDs that I make to get me through the 40+ minute commute to and from work. Usually sung at the top of my lungs while tree after tree on the Ohio Turnpike get left in the dust.

Ain't No Stoppin' Us -- Jason Mraz
Just a cool tune by the M-R-A-Z. One of many on this playlist, off his album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come.

Ain't No Stoppin' Us -- Jason Mraz
Apparently the computer likes this song, as it has chosen to play it again.

Daniel -- Elton John
Daniel is travelin' tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights
Heading for Spay-e-yay-yain
This song reminds me of being in the dentist's office when I was little, but other than that, there's a cool version that he did with Ryan Adams that's probably going to come up on this mix somewhere that I downloaded illegally (ahem -- I mean, obtained through totally legal means.)

What a Fool Believes -- Doobie Brothers
Everyone always makes fun of me for liking this song. This reminds me mostly of my childhood, when my mom would blast this song on the stereo and we would dance in the living room and cause my dog to go spastic. We'd grab her front paws and make her dance with us.

Gettin' Jiggy With It -- Will Smith
Before Owen and I started dating, back in early 1999, I think I played this song on a jukebox at a bar we were hanging out at. It must have been my impeccable taste in music that attracted him to me. You can't help but bob your head to this Fresh Prince tune.

Hard to Make a Stand -- Sheryl Crow
This is a song that Owen's band is covering when they play live. I had never heard it before that, but it's a pretty cool song.

Marvin Gaye -- Josh Rouse
This song has absolutely nothing to do with Marvin Gaye. But it's very cool nonetheless.

For Once in My Life -- Stevie Wonder
This song reminds me of my senior year in college. It was one of those winter days where the temperature actually rises to the 50's and people appear outside in short sleeves. My housemates and I were out on our fabulous front porch and the hippies who lived across the street were jammin' to this song. It has become one of my all-time favorites, until Justin Guarini ruined it -- almost.

Best of My Love -- The Emotions
Reminds me both of the beginning of the movie "Boogie Nights" and of the first few months when Owen and I first started dating.

Love at First Sight -- Kylie Minogue
This song was on the mix CD we created for our wedding reception. It is also one of Owen's favorites.

Seven Days -- Craig David
This is another one that ends up on a lot of mix CDs that accompany me to and from work. Sounds better the louder you play it, and also at that volume, it drowns out my pathetic attempt to sing along.

Hot in Herre -- Nelly
Now we're rockin'. Nothing accompanies writing about jojoba oil like a little Nelly. That's what I'm discovering. Is he saying "I got a friend with a phone in the basement?" And if so, what does that mean?

Answering Bell -- Ryan Adams
The song which introduced me to Ryan. And easily my favorite of all of his songs.

In Da Club -- 50 Cent
This song was ruined for me when it was played at the office Christmas party and people were shakin', shakin', shakin' like a polaroid picture (sorry, wrong song)

Love Vibration -- Josh Rouse
Off his newest CD, 1972. This has recently become the song that I'll play when I'm stuck in traffic and I can feel the rage building (which is a lot these days).

Strange Condition -- Pete Yorn
God, I love this song. I don't really understand the words, but it's fun to sing and easy to play on guitar.

Idiots Rule the World -- Ryan Adams
I'm not sure where this song came from. It's another one that I completely legally got off the Internet. Except not.

Closet -- Pete Yorn
I swear, there are more than four artists on my playlist. The computer must be feeling my Pete/Ryan/Josh vibe, though.

Only Heart -- John Mayer
Add to that my other favorite main man, John Mayer. If John Mayer and I had gone to college together, he would have been the guy in my senior year Creative Writing class who I kind of had a crush on but kind of hated because he was a better writer than I was.

Extraordinary -- Liz Phair
I like this song, because it's about stalking someone. I love the chorus:
"I am extraordinary, if you ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average everyday sane/psycho supergoddess"

Rich Girl -- Hall and Oates
Say what you want. I like Hall and Oates, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Had enough? So have I. Besides, I think I've put in a solid chunk of time on my freelance project for the evenin.

Food Friday
Grace has deemed today's Food Friday topic to be eggs.
I know no good recipes, other than a good old egg sammich.
The key to this is timing.

Here's how I do mine:
Heat a pat of butter in a medium frying pan on medium heat
When butter melts, do these things in succession:
Crack egg into pan, and use fork to shoosh up the yellow part (that's a technical term)
Put two slices of bread in toaster.

Cook egg to desired consistency. For me, this is crispy around the edges, yellow is completely cooked. Reduce heat to low. Place one slice of cheese (American for me) on top and allow it to melt slightly.

Butter toast and serve it up!
My favorite Saturday morning breakfast.

Recommended Reading
I'm currently about 1/8 of the way (which translates to approximately 150 pages -- it's a huge book!) through Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. I think I called it "Gods & Demons" in that now-infamous e-mail thing that Grace sent that we all hit "reply to all" on.

Anyway, this book is the predecessor to The DaVinci Code which everyone in my immediate sphere of influence who has read it, has raved about. And which I have not read, but is on my bookshelf, awaiting its turn.

The premise thus far, is that there is an ancient secret society called the Illuminati, a group of scientists (I think -- this science stuff sometimes is too much for my pea brain to comprehend) who oppose the Catholic church, even though they both seek to answer the same questions (e.g. "What is the meaning of life?" "What is our purpose on this earth?") So this rogue group steals this highly destructive agent known as anti-matter, which is the opposite of matter (again, WAY over my head but I think I get the gist of it enough to follow the story) and infiltrate Vatican City and plan to have it explode during a conference between all the cardinals in the world to decide the next pope. So, as you can imagine, this plot MUST! BE! STOPPED!

It would make a great movie. This is not heavy reading by any stretch of the imagination, and supposedly the Illuminati really exists or existed at some point.

So if you're looking for a way to kill some time, about 700 pages' worth of time, that is, go out and get it. I can vouch for it, at least the first 1/8 of it.

Whee!
I got the information for the freelance job that I'm doing. The woman I'm doing for work is trying to start her own business of soaps and lotions, and she thought it would be helpful for me to be familiar with her product to be able to write about it, and so lo and behold, I got all kinds of fun soaps!

This should thrill my husband to no end. Our linen closet already resembles a retail shelf at Bath and Body Works. One of these days, I will humiliate myself and give you a HWG-style listing of all the lotion in my possession. It's shameful. And yet, I feel fairly confident that someone will be able to outdo me.

New mantra
I think I am going to adopt Bad Lady's universal catch phrase for everything work-related:
"It's not my problem."
This seems to get her off the hook for doing everything from a last minute ad (which I do all the time, thank you very much, it's what I am employed to do, as is she) to doing anything she deems as too much work, or that would require her to actually do some independent thinking (e.g. writing her own copy, which she never does).

Sorry to vent, but I hear her on the phone with clients saying her mantra to them, and I think to myself, "Why am I not using that line? It seems to be working well for her."

What was I thinking
What am I thinking about this morning? Here's a sampling.

Deadlines. Because I consider myself a courteous person, I always try and get people the things they need way in advance of deadlines. However, on the flip side, when I try and invoke a deadline, almost no one gets me what I need, when I need it, causing me to scramble to get my own work done.

Babies. Lots of pregnant people in my life right now. Two people in my department at work, another good friend. My husband and I aren't quite ready, yet, but soon. Our families are all ready. My grandma has even purchased a baby outfit for her first great grandchild (she's had it for over a year).

Hairstyles. I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow. I had actually forgotten about the appointment, and had planned on coming to the office tomorrow. My hair is getting kind of long -- at least for me. Once it goes down past my shoulders, it's time to cut it. I don't really have a hairsyle, rather, it just kind of hangs. But I'm afraid to do anything. I don't really spend that much time on my hair, just kind of blow dry it and occasionally put a little anti-frizzing stuff on the ends, and a once over with the hairspray, but that's it. So while I'd love to go for something stylish, I can't commit. And no, T Diddy, I'm not getting a femullet or a rat tail. Because I know you were thinking it.

February. The first month of 2004 has come and gone. And while I have cursed daily, multiple times, about the snow, this month has actually gone rather quickly. Feburary is going to be a blur, because it is my busiest month of the year. And this month, we have the added bonus of Leap Year! Whoo!

Shoot. I think Incompetent but Likeable's birthday might be on Monday. I'll consult the birthday list.

MacGyver. My husband unfroze the lock last night. How'd he do it? By rigging up the giant-sized, orange 20000 foot extension cord through our kitchen in order to plug in my hairdryer, which he then blasted at the lock. It worked. He's a regular MacGyver, that man.

Brrrrrrrr
It's so cold outside.
How? Cold? Is it?
It's so cold that the lock on our side entry door to our house froze. I can't even get my key in there. Luckily the front door hasn't frozen... yet.

Mole
OK, so my Mole pick was just blown out of the water last night. I admit it, I was wrong.
Now I have to scramble and make another pick.
I'm going to go with Mark Curry. He has been acting so strange of late. I don't think it's Tracey. Dennis is too weird to be the mole. His double-pierced nose gives me the heebie-jeebies; just thought I'd mention that as well. And would they really make the supermodel the mole twice in a row? I think not.

So put all your money on Angie to be the mole.

Real Dumb
On last night's Real World, two cast members were arrested on the same night, at the same bar, for two separate incidents. It was great. Both incidents basically had to do with other bar patrons making fun of them for being on the Real World. Which made it even funnier.

Scary doctor
So this morning was my annual trip to the gynocologist, a.k.a. the Scary Doctor. I went to a new S.D. because my old doctor retired, and I had decided, even before he (yes, I had a man) retired, that I was never going back there again. This is because at my appointment last year, they were playing the Christian radio station. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-Christian. But I think that in a place like a gynocologist's office, you may have some women coming in there who have very tough choices to make. And I believe in a woman's right to choose. So... that's a slight conflict of interest there.

Anyway, my new doctor was really cool. She is probably in her 30's and bears a striking ressemblance to actress Tracey Gold, currently showing on Celebrity Mole: Yucatan. I kept wanting to ask her how Kirk Cameron was doing these days but decided, nah.

DND
The message light is blinking. Out of the corner of my eye, I see it. I glance at it, then look away, and then look back. Message. Must retrieve message.

No! I put my "do not disturb" button on my phone for a reason. The reason is for me not to be disturbed with phone calls. But someone called and left a message. What if it's urgent? Must retrieve message.

No, no, no! I'm up to my ass in work, and this afternoon I told myself that I would focus (that's working well -- considering that I'm blogging).

Blink. Blink. Blink. Must retrieve message.

Gah! I can't stand it anymore!

I have no self-control. Absolutely none. Stupid DND button.

Ice, Ice Baby part 2
I have to say, though, that there is someting satisfying about chucking an island-sized piece of ice off the hood of the car. Or breaking an icicle and having it shatter to the ground. Maybe it's just me, and I have some aggression issues to work out.

Ice, Ice Baby
Number of minutes it took me to get home from work last night: approx. 80
Number of minutes it took me to get to work this morning: approx. 60
Number of minutes during said trips to and from work that I contemplated the warmer climates to which I should move: every excruciating second.

Hmm
Today has been an interesting day so far. Highlights:

1. Bad Lady came clean about her personal life. This has long been an issue because she has been keeping secret from all of us in the department (except for one, and that one person told us, so it hasn't been so secret) that she a) got divorced; b) met someone new; c)sold her house; d) bought a house with new guy; and e) was going to marry new guy in February. Yeah. This has been going on for over a year. The divorce was finalized in August 2002. I've known since prior to that. But up until today I had to pretend that I didn't know. So she pulled Jonesy and me aside and spilled the beans about everything. It was hard to pretend that this was all news to me. I guess that the wedding is postponed though because something about her 16 year old not getting financial aid for college if they're married. You got me. So anyway, the cat's out of the bag, as they say.

2. Incompetent but Likeable referred me to one of our managers who was looking for a freelance writer/proofreader for a job for his wife, who is starting her own business. Since I'm kind of looking for that type of work, I jumped at the chance. I don't expect this to launch me into a freelance career but it's a nice resume builder (right there under photography director -- LOL.)

3. So far the Snowstorm of the Apocolypse has not hit. But I'm thinking that there's a few minutes before I go home, and it should hit right about then.

The countdown begins...
Less than one week til All-Star Survivor!
Can you feel the excitement!
I am going to be the nasty wife who drags her husband away from the Super Bowl party so that we can get home in plenty of time before it starts.

ETA: I just want to add that Tracie is my new hero, because she met Rupert this weekend.

Oh no!
Ryan Adams broke his arm during a concert.

Thank you, drive through
After determining that there was absolutely nothing of interest to eat in my house, I decided to treat myself to a Wendy's baked potato while running my errands this afternoon. At the first drive-through window, where I paid, the teenage girl gave me my change and said, "Thanks! See you tomorrow!"

I thought to myself, she obviously has mistaken me for someone else. A Wendy's regular, someone who frequents the fast food circuit.

Then at window #2, where I got my baked potato (and chicken strips, I couldn't resist), the teenage girl at that window also said she'd see me tomorrow.

OK, I thought. Either I really resemble one of their favorite patrons, or this is some kind of new gimmick that Wendy's has come up with.

It doesn't matter. It just made me feel weird, either way.

Captain Kangaroo died!
Another icon from my childhood, gone.
Truth be told, I thought he had kicked the bucket a long time ago.

Go about your lives
Thanks to Green Tuna, and, I've been informed, Grace, I now am featuring the terror alert level in my sidebar. It's very cute while being very informative.

This just in
to my inbox:

QUEER EYE UPDATE #8
Friday January 23, 2004

Happy 2004! Here's the latest news from QE-HQ.


. . . . . NEW EPISODES RETURN FEB. 17 . . . . .

The drought is almost over! Look for a batch of all-new
make-better adventures to begin brightening up your Tuesday
nights starting February 17. In the coming months, get ready
to meet:

...Ralph, a strip-club DJ and '80s rock enthusiast
...Kevin, a lover of '50s lounge & Tiki culture
...Warren, an up-and-coming musical theatre composer
...Rob, a telephone engineer whose look is off the hook


. . . SUPER-WHAT? BRING ON THE QUEER EYE BOWL! . . .

Are you ready for some Queer Eye? In a marathon so big that
it takes two networks to hold it, we're bringing you a Fab
Five-filled super Sunday on February 1, 2004. Start on Bravo
at Noon ET/PT with John V. and keep going throughout the
afternoon with George K, Josh D., Tom M., Alan C., Jeff T.
and Richard M., plus *two* airings of What's That Sound: The
Making of the Queer Eye Music Video. Then hop over to NBC
for three more hour-long episodes, beginning at 8pm ET:
John B., Ross M. and Andrew L.

And more blah
Kind of a slow day here in Kat-town, er, Cleveburg. So, what shall I share with you? Ah. Well.

Had an interesting conversation with Incompetent but Likeable last evening about what he called "realism" television. He said that on Wednesday night, he was using the "clicker" to channel surf, and on every channel he was distraught to find these said realism shows. You have to understand, this is a man who watches only Fox News, the History Channel and Country Music Television. He didn't understand the appeal of the realism genre. But he was remarkable able to ask, "Didn't one of the American Idol contestants make it big? What's her name, Kelly...?" So even in his isolated little reality -- I mean, realism -- that nugget of pop culture knowledge found its way in.

And, after 500 tries, he finally e-mailed an attachment without my supervision. At least I think he did.

I also taught my boss, who is not quite as computer illiterate but close, how to burn a CD.

In another shocking development here at the office, Bad Lady seems to be getting along with New Girl. I have to say, this is so refreshingly rare for her to get along with anyone, it's scaring me. I guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts.