It finally happened

It was a sunny, cool day, the perfect day for battle. The horse and rider eyed each other: the horse, Ms. Glori, is pissy because her stablemate, Reiny, is eating hay while she is getting tacked up to be ridden. The rider, Heather, is quite eager to try out the used Dressage saddle that she is thinking about buying. She notices the gleam in Ms. Glori's eyes, yet chooses to ignore it because she only has a few days to try out the saddle before taking it back.

Heather, knowing that she needs to work Ms. Glori up to a sweat so that she can see the sweat pattern under the saddle to see how well it fits, makes Ms. Glori walk, corto, and canter around the front yard. Ms. Glori, getting more and more annoyed that each time she goes around the yard, she sees Reiny eating HER portion of the hay that was put out, decides to do some small bucks to test Heather to see how committed Heather is to this workout. Heather, knowing that today was going to be a battle, gives Ms. Glori more leg and continues to make her work. Heather asks Ms. Glori for the canter, and the battle begins!

Now, one must understand that Heather is trying out a new saddle. This is a leather saddle, which is unlike her synthetic saddle. Riding in a synthetic saddle is like riding on velcro: you don't really go anywhere unless the horse does a really bad spin or throw. The leather saddle, if you aren't balanced well, can make you feel like you are sitting on a slip and slide that's greased up with baby oil... hey wait, that has some interesting possibilities! Umm... I digress.

Anyway, Ms. Glori is putting on a show. She's not doing anything too bad, but she is protesting quite a bit and is saying she has had ENOUGH. On that thought, she does a buck and a turn at the same time, and off goes Heather. Ms. Glori suddenly realizes that something is very wrong: Heather is on the ground and she is NOT happy. Ms. Glori's eyes get very large and she stands there looking at Heather on the ground as if to say, "what are you doing down there?!"

Heather, with much cursing, gets back on Ms. Glori where they have a little spinning match to see who is in charge. Heather proceeds to make Ms. Glori work for another 15 minutes, making her walk, corto, and canter. This time, when asked to canter, Ms. Glori goes quite nicely. It looks like Heather won this round!

Isn't it creepy when someone writes in the third person? I couldn't help it, it just sounded like something that needed to be said like a sports commentator. I'm ok, for the most part. I wrenched my thumb and I'm pretty sure that my hip is going to have a wonderful bruise on it tomorrow and I'll definitely be sore. Thank goodness I was wearing my helmet when I went off... the ground is pretty hard out there and there isn't any grass to cushion me.

The look on Ms Glori's face was priceless though... her eyes were so wide and she didn't walk away from me. She just stopped and looked at me on the ground like she couldn't figure out why I was there! After I untacked her, she kept watching me and finally came up to me for a scratch and a hug. I think she was trying to say she was sorry. (Gotta love putting human emotions on animals, eh?)

All in all, it was an interesting experience. I've heard it said that if you ride, you will fall off horses at least 3 times in your life, and so far, I've gone off twice. Thank God I have small horses so it isn't that far to fall!

Oh, and I won't be getting the saddle. It doesn't fit my horse well enough, so the search continues!

Ahhh... laziness!

Nothing says Laziness like ordering your pizza online. I so need a life!

Coolness

I finally got a domain name and I should be hosting my website somewhere else very soon. Stay tuned for details. :)

Sad but true

I couldn't agree more with this.

Via words mean things.

Um...

Ya know... at some point, you just have to get back into your car and drive away. I don't think I've ever been pissed off at someone enough to bite off their finger because they scratched my car. Now granted, I was pretty mad when I got in my car accident, but I still didn't feel the urge to bite off someone's finger.

And in other news, a plane takes off by itself

The owner "was working on the engine, I guess, and it got away from him," said Sonoma County sheriff's spokesman Phil Coughlin.

Those darn planes. There should be stricter leash laws for planes so that they don't get away.

Angels Among Us

This song has special meaning to me. Merry Christmas, everyone, and may Angels watch over you.

I was walking home from school on a cold winter's day
Took a shortcut through the woods and I lost my way
It was getting late and I was scared and alone
Then a kind old man took my hand and led me home
Mama couldn't see him, but he was standing there
But I knew in my heart, he was the answer to my prayers

Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with a light of love

When life dealt troubled times and had me down on my knees
There's always been someone there to come along and comfort me
A kind word from a stranger to lend a helping hand
A phone call from a friend just to say I understand
Ain't it kind of funny at the dark end of the road
Someone lights the way with just a single ray of hope

Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with a light of love

They wear so many faces
Show up in the strangest places
Grace us with their mercy
In our time of need

Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with a light of love

"Angels Amoung Us" - Alabama

Neighborhood Party

Last night I went to a party over at my mom's place at Whitelock. It was our Christmas party for the group of people that I ride with. It was also a Neighborhood party, since a lot of those people now live out at Whitelock. We did what is called a progressive dinner, in that we had a part of the meal at each person's house. This was a lot of fun, since we got to see some of our friends' houses that we haven't seen yet. I can tell you truthfully that I was in house envy when I went into a couple of the places. I love my house, but there are definetly things that I would change if I had a chance to build instead of buying a home. The neat thing is that I got a lot of ideas of what to do for when I remodel my house, so it's all good. Not to mention the ideas I have for building my barn. Oh to win the lottery. :)

Yeesh

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Salon seems to have an over abundance of pop up ads for every page of an article you read on their site? I don't ever remember it being as bad as it is right now.

And I'm spent!

Ok, I'm done with the changes. :) I put up a little snow since this will be the only way I'll see it down here in Florida. Happy Holidays!

Christmas decorating

Ok, so it's a little late to be decorating for Christmas... bah, get over it. ;) Anyway, I'm making my blog look a little more Christmassy, so excuse the weirdness while I work on it. :)

Christmas vs Xmas

It's hard to believe that this year will be over with in 8 days, not to mention the fact that it is going to be Christmas in 2. Speaking of Christmas, I was curious as to the origins of people using "X-mas" instead of Christmas. Being the ignorant person I was, I automatically assumed (making an ass of myself) that people were indicating that Christ didn't belong at the beginning of the word, hence "X-mas". Well, to my surprise, it is actually a legitimate way to abbreviate Christmas. According to Santa's Net - Christmas Facts, here is why it is used:

The common abbreviation for Christmas to Xmas is derived from the Greek alphabet. X is letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name in the Greek alphabet.

Something else of note is that the letter "X" is a logogram in the English language that could stand for 'cross' or 'Christ'. To facilitate reading and indicate what is meant the logogram is written with a phonetic complement -ing or -mas:

Here's another little interesting tidbit of information:

Many Christmas customs are carryovers from pre-Christian celebrations. Hanging gifts on trees is supposed to stem from tree worship of the Druids, and the belief that the tree was the giver of all good things. The Druids are also partly responsible for the use of mistletoe at Christmastime. They regarded the mistletoe as sacred, made certain that it never touched the ground, and dedicated it to the Goddess of Love, which explains the kissing that goes on under it. Originally, when a boy kissed a girl, he plucked a berry from the cluster and presented it to her. When the berries were gone, so were the kisses.

If you're wondering why men may have not flocked to kiss you under the mistletoe, the answer may be that it was said that it will only work if the person you are kissing is a virgin. On the sixth day of the new moon, a Druid priest used to cut mistletoe from an oak tree with a sacred sickle. A passing virgin was called upon to catch the falling plant, which was not allowed to touch the ground.

There are lots of interesting little tidbits on that page, so go check them out and learn some stuff about this holiday that you probably didn't already know. ;)

And in other news, taping kids to chairs is now part of punishment in school...

This is just disturbing.

It is unclear whether Zeisler's actions were meant as a joke that went awry. One of the girls, fifth-grader Jennifer Vasquez, said the teacher said he was ''just joking around'' and that other students were laughing as he applied the tape.

''Maybe for him it was a joke, but to me it wasn't,'' Vasquez said.

Ana Rivas, 12, said she and Vasquez were helping another student on a computer program when Zeisler allegedly told them that he was going to glue them to their seats. He then approached them with tape.

''He said, `Ana, sit down. Stay still.' He forced me,'' Rivas said. ''He was holding me. And I was trying to get out of it. Some of the kids were laughing. Then he taped me. First legs. Then arms.'' She said he wrapped the tape around her several times, making it hard for her to move.

I would so be hunting this teacher down if it were my kid.

You can't get rid of it...

Drop it from a building? Shoot it with a machine gun? Hardly any damage to it. The only way to get rid of it is run it over with a sport utility vehicle or kick it like a football and it crumbles, according to a just published investigation into that evergreen Christmas question: How can you get rid of the fruitcake?

Via Fark

Poltergeist, for real

Remember in the movie Poltergeist, where you find out at the end that the developer purchased an old cemetery and the moved the tomb stones but left the bodies? Well, down in S. Florida, there is a cemetery that dug up the remains of people and dumped them in the woods behind the cemetery so that they could make room for more bodies! What is this world coming to?

Via Fark.

Pong!

I love Pong. I loved playing it when I was a kid, I thought it was so kewl to have an atari set when I was a kid! Here's a little twist on the whole pong thing.

Via Captain Rooba.

How long was it from when Bilbo left to Frodo's leaving?

Xkot, Netsloth, and I were having a lively discussion about the Lord of the Rings, and part of the discussion was around how long it was from when Bilbo left to when Frodo left the shire. I was doing a little research and found this summary on the net since I didn't have my book with me to confirm. When Bilbo left, Frodo was 33. Gandalf came back a couple of times over the years to see Frodo, but his final visit to Frodo was during Frodo's 50th year. Frodo left the shire on his 50th birthday.

More useless trivia for you. ;)

And there was a sigh of relief

Yesterday afternoon, I was contacted by mom. "We are going at 5:45pm. Can you go?" I thought I was going with someone else, so I said no, and so my cousin didn't get a ticket for me. The Man had to go out of town rather suddenly yesterday, and I didn't have anyone to go with. I left work early and rushed to the place, muttering to myself and hoping that I could go. I pulled into the parking lot, and walked up to the counter and with a hopeful look in my eye, asked them if they were sold out for the 5:45 showing and was told No.

Thus begins the final minutes of my wait for the movie of the year, the one I have been waiting for years to come out. Yes, yesterday I went and saw The Lord of the Rings and it lived up to my expectations and more. It was incredible... so much so that I don't even know where to begin. And actually, I won't say much about it because you have to live the experience for yourself. I will say that my 16 year old cousin, who liked Harry Potter enough to go watch the movie twice and read the books quite a bit said "It was so much better than Harry Potter!". I'm so proud of her! ;)

If you haven't seen it yet, you really should go. They do a very good job of explaining events so that even if you haven't read the books, you will understand what is going on in the movie and you will want to read them just so that you can enjoy the experience. Do yourself a favor and go see it... and remember, this is only the first "book" of the three. There will be more to come. :)

Fox news reported something wrong?

"Someone from Fox made a huge error in not making sure the facts were there before going on the air," said NPR's Dvorkin. "Mistakes will be made by all journalistic organizations. Making sure that you 'fess up is also part of the profession."

So let me get this straight... the news is supposed to report the truth, unembellished? What a novel concept! So having a talk show host would definitely be the best one to be reporting on the war, right?

Lesson of the Day

Spell checker is man's best friend. It keeps you from spelling grocery incorrectly.

Lesson of the Day

Grochery shopping on an empty stomach = a very large bill.

Please Hammer, don't make me watch it!

Ok. He was somewhat entertaining while I was in highschool, but to make a movie about him?

Cable fun, part two!

Well, about a week ago, I made this post about my experiences with trying to get my cable bill issues resolved. It's a good thing I didn't hold my breath, since they still haven't posted the payment to my account. The rep that I talked to the second time on the phone did not call me back (surprise!), so yet again I had to wait till I got in to work to find out what was going on. I spoke with another representative that was very friendly, and she asked me to send her some information and she would see what she could do to get it resolved. Being that at this point I was tired of playing the game the *right* way (I had gone into pending disco again), I spoke with someone that I know that is working to get the problem resolved. I know that it is the back way, but what to do? At least I get to let this person know that the second rep did not live up to her promise of calling me back.

Ah well. I still love my cable services. I generally don't have a problem, and this wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't used the old account number in the first place. I only had a bad experience with one of the three people that I talked to, so go figure. I guess it's the luck of the draw.

Sorry!

I know, I've been very bad. I haven't updated my blog in a couple of days and I'm reallly sorry.... ok, not really. ;) I've been going nonstop the last couple of days, and when you add in the fact that I was sick for two days last week, I just wasn't up to writing. I had one of those nasty little colds, but I'm feeling much better now.

I have an announcement to make.... ::drumroll:: I'm dating! Woo hoo! Life is grand. ;) I won't go into any details at this point cause I don't wanna jinx it, but so far so good. I'm vera vera happy.

Went caroling on horse back yesterday, which was very entertaining. We weren't quite on key, but it was still a lot of fun and I hope that it will continue to be a tradition in the neighborhood. Nothing like getting a little silly from time to time and just having some good clean fun!

My final personality test

"You have been known to have worked for two evil empires during your lifetime. Instead of shopping for clothes, you would much rather go to a tack store for horse stuff. People you hang out with like to stick their heads in ice chests and have hot dogs sticking out of their pants. If there is a picture of you holding a can of Spam that someone turned into wallpaper on the Internet, then you had better believe that you're..."

Search

I added a search engine to the site, so now you can look stuff up. Enjoy! ;)

Lesson of the Day

You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

Grumble

So tonight I come home and get ready for another stimulating night of tv, when I turn on the tv, I hear no sound. Hmmm... bad sign. As the picture comes up, I don't see any colors on the screen, it's black. Another bad sign. Right in the middle of the screen is the infamous "Call us about your bill, please" message that happens if you are just one day late on paying the cable bill. The problem is that I did pay my bill and that I show the money as coming out of my account and going to the cable company.

I'm slightly annoyed at this point because I had called in last week to speak with someone about this situation. See, I used to work for the cable company, so therefore, I got my video services for free. However, I no longer work for them so I have to pay for services. The problem is that the last time I paid a bill, the cable company was using a different billing system and had different account numbers. When I paid the bill online, the information used was from the old account which I realized after it was too late to stop the payment and change the account number. When I discovered this, I called the cable company and informed them of this situation. (Let me say now that I'm a contractor to the cable company, although I work in a different department. I still have access to the billing system, so I could see that notes were put on the account). The rep I spoke with was very friendly and said he was doing some research into it to find out what happened. End of story, I thought.

This brings us to tonight. As I said, I'm a little annoyed that the cable is in this state, but since it was my fault, I'm dealing with the situation. I call to speak with someone (didn't have to wait long) who proceeds to tell me that I'm in a Pending Disco status because they haven't received my payment. (Really? No kidding!) Appearently, she didn't read the notes that were on the account about the research being done about my payment. She told me that she was going to have to do some research as well to find out what happened to the payment. No mention was made of cancelling the disco order or anything like that until I pushed the issue on it. I, afterall, do not want to have my cable turned off. It's my only form of entertainment these days. Not to mention the fact that I have a cable modem and phone service through them as well.

Anyway, she started getting a little bit of a 'tude with me because I got pushy with her about the payment. I'd like to know where the money went, ya know. She told me that she was going to call me back once the research was done on the account.

Should I hold my breath?

Slow on posts

I'm working on another project right now, so my posts might slow down a bit. I'll still post daily though! :)

Lesson of the Day

Lack of communication on your part is not my fault! :)

Amazon Wish List

Ok, I tinkered a little with the Wish List for Amazon and it should be working now, I hope. :) If it isn't, let me know and I'll play with it some more. ;)

ARGH!

I had this nifty post all written up about the Lord of the Rings and how excited I am about the movie, and Blogger lost it. ::sigh:: Figures.

Anywho, the more I watch these specials on the making of the movie, the more excited I am getting about seeing it. I can't believe it's almost time!! You can get tickets now at Moviefone, so as soon as I find out when my friends are going, I'm getting my tickets. I can't wait!

Wish Lists

Well, after the oh so enlightening help from Illuminations, I went ahead and put together a wish list from Amazon as well. Hopefully this will help anyone who was wondering what I wanted for Christmas.

Guess I took the fun out of it

Being a woman on the internet can be an interesting experience. Guys seem to think that we are just sex crazed maniacs and that the best way to pick us up is to ask us in numerous ways if we want to have sex. Here's a conversation I had on ICQ today.

kb: have you had your butt eaten?
Shadoefire: well that's a little personal, wouldn't you say?
kb: kind of. yeah.
Shadoefire: do you always walk up to people and ask them, point blank, "Have you had your butt eaten?"
kb: not usually.
Shadoefire: Ah, so why do you do that on here?
kb: i'm just curious.
Shadoefire: Uh huh, so let me get this straight, I just want to make sure I understand.... you wouldn't do that if you were face to face with someone, but because you are on here, you have no problem with asking someone, "Have you had your butt eaten?".
kb: i have asked a few if they've had their butt eaten, in person, but only in bed.
Shadoefire: uh huh, so you usually wait til you get to know someone before you ask them that sort of question, eh?
kb: that's true.
Shadoefire: so yet again, why would you choose to ask someone that rather bluntly when you haven't even said, oh, I don't know, hello?
kb: it's fun.
Shadoefire: how is it fun?

I guess I ruined his fun, since he didn't respond back.

Change is good!

Ok, so now that I have had this up for a month, I've decided it's time to start playing with the layout. Excuse the mess while I work on it. :)

Good Stuff

Last night, after trying all day to figure out what the plans were for the evening, Xkot and I decided to go to dinner and see Ocean Eleven. The movie was great and I advise anyone that is looking for a quick moving action/comedy, go check this movie out. The only thing I wasn't happy about was our seating: we got into the theater so late that we had to sit in the second row and my neck was killing me when the movie was over. (We did have two seats at the very back of the theater, but one of them had a suspicious looking white drip mark on it and I was NOT going to sit in that seat).

Anyway, the movie was great. Go see it, it's a good "There's nothing playing until The Lord of the Rings" flick.

grumble

There are some problems with my Illuminations wish list in that when you click on it, it doesn't work! Nifty, eh? Well, I emailed them about it and their response was the following:

Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately due to technical difficulties the wish list feature is not working properly. We are looking into it and hope to have it corrected shortly.

If you have any questions, or if you require any further assistance, please
contact us at custserv@illuminations.com, or by phone at 1-800-621-2998. Our
phone center is open to assist you with your purchase Monday through Friday,
from 7am - 5pm Pacific time.

Thank you for your interest in Illuminations.com. We look forward to
serving you in the future.

I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised. Standard email customer care response. ::sigh:: Hopefully it will be working soon.

Happy trails...

The only problem with going riding on Saturday is that I have to get up at the butt crack of dawn in order to get the horses ready to leave by 8am. This means that I get up earlier on Saturday mornings than I do during the week day, ugh. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not a morning person. I generally walk around like a zombie for about 2 hours after I wake up. Regardless, no matter how difficult it is to drag myself out of bed, it's always worth it when I get on my horse.

So the riding place today was Princess Place, which is one of my favorite places to ride in Florida. The park isn't that big, but it's really beautiful out there and the trails are great. The footing is excellent and most of the trails are shaded by huge old oak or pine trees. There are plenty of places along the trails where they have provided water (water hoses and troughs), and the horse trail head is a really nice, open area with plenty of grass and shade. They have a well at the trail head so that you can water and wash your horse. Overall, the place is very horse friendly and I love going out there.

We had my family's big rig today (Exis 4 horse slant load with living quarters) because me, my mom, and my mom's boyfriend were riding today. I'm very intimidated by the slant load trailer, which I need to get over because I plan on getting one some day. I think the problem is that I don't like the idea of getting into the trailer with the horse to unhook them. With a straight load, you don't have to worry about that. You just unhook their head, open the back of the trailer, and the horse comes out. You can't do that with a slant load because of the partitions in the trailer. You have to get into the trailer to open the partition so that the horse can get out. While this isn't a big deal with Reiny Man, it's a whole nother story with Ms. Glori.

I'm still not sure what happened with Ms. Glori prior to my purchase of her in regards to the trailer. The people that I purchased her from said that she was in a trailering accident, but they didn't go into any details as to what happened in the accident. However, her behavior with trailers does not indicate that she was in a wreck of some kind, since she loads willingly. The problem happens when it is time for her to come out of the trailer. She flies out like a cannon ball, which anyone that has unloaded horses before knows that is very dangerous. If you don't get out of her way, you will be trampled. We have tried everything from trying to distract her with food while someone is opening the back door to using a crop and popping her on the butt anytime she tries to back up while the door is opening. It slows her down a little, but not much. Last weekend, she broke the butt bar on my mom's new trailer because I didn't get it out of the way in time.

My mom's boyfriend (Denton) has had Pasos all his life and he is happy to work with me whenever he is here. Today we tried a new approach with Glori that wasn't all that successful. He got into the trailer with her and I closed the door behind him and latched it. When he unhooked her, she immediately tried to fly out of the trailer, which didn't work because the door was closed. She banged into the door a couple of times and when she finally stood still, I opened the door and she flew out of the trailer. She was scared, and Denton thinks that she might have gotten her feet stuck under the back of the trailer at some point in the past when she was getting out, and this is why she reacts the way she does. She flies out as quickly as she can to avoid getting caught under the step. We talked about it, and we decided to try doing something that seemed to work pretty well the last time we attempted it, which was to turn her head around and let her walk out of the trailer.

When we got home today, Denton got in the trailer with her and she acted a little silly when he unhooked her, but when I opened the door she was standing quietly in the trailer looking at me. He walked her to the door and she jumped out, but it wasn't as bad as the last time we attempted this. She was much calmer, so we may be making some progress. The only problem is working her with a straight load trailer (for an explanation on straight load vs. slant load, see this post). I think that what I'm going to have to do is find a way to secure my trailer and then start putting her daily feed it in. That way she can get in and out of it on her own and she will learn that it isn't dangerous. My eventual goal is to get a slant load trailer, but for the time being I have to make do with what I've got.

If there are any horse people that are out there reading this blog, if you have any suggestions on what to do to help with this, let me know. :)

BTW, the ride was great today. My cousin and I got ahead of everyone and let our two out a little bit. Since you may not know this, Pasos tend to be very competitive little horses. Without any urging from either of us, Glori and my cousin's horse, Habs, starting racing each other, which was really fun. Habs has a very fast largo while Glori has a nice canter, so they went head to head for a little while until they tired. It was a lot of fun out there today, the weather was gorgeous, although it could have been a tiny bit cooler.

Overall, it was a great day!

Raver Meltdown

Sick of the Ravers? Check out this site. Make 'em melt down!

Via Monkeyfarts. (With a name like that, you gotta check out the site.)

When I'm a parent

I'm going to pay strict attention to what my child does on the internet. Thank goodness for articles like this that explain exactly what I should look for when my child is playing on the computer.

Tongue in cheek, people.

Via Doyce

Well Duh!

Headline of article: Students use school laptops to download porn

Like this is a shock or something.

Via Salon.

Oz

I'm verra verra happy. There are two shows on HBO that I really like: Oz and Six Feet Under. After waiting months, it looks like Oz is going to be starting up Season 5 on January 6, 2002 and I can't wait. I don't know what it is about this show, but it's highly addicting. If you haven't seen it before, basically, the show is about a prison called Oswald State Penitentiary, specifically an expermiental unit of it called "Emerald City". The whole premise is that they combine different groups of inmates and force them to live together so that they can get used to living that way once they leave prison. Great idea in theory. Doesn't work too well in practice. It's incredibly graphic and violent, and yet for some reason I can't stop watching it. If you haven't seen it before, turn on HBO at 11pm on Wed. nights, they are currently showing season 4 over again. The good thing about this is that you can jump into Oz at any time and pretty much figure out what is going on, they are very good about explaining the story line. The other cool thing to know about this show is that the actors don't know if they are going to get killed off until they read the script for that episode.

Check it out if you get a chance. Please don't let your kids watch this show, though, it's definetly not suitable for them unless you want to scare them about prison.

The ultimate survey!

I am an Oompah Band. My baseless fertilised granite tankers meet with personal nightly dictators. I deposit graded noses of flowers outside barrels of wind. My fun directions take spinning elephants. How do legs write transistors? The Utterly Surreal Test

Can you see what I am saying?

Via Doyce

Wil Wheaton Updates

I'm really glad that Wil Wheaton is going to be in the next TNG movie. He's in the process of filming his scenes, and it's pretty neat to read about some of his experiences that he's having on the set. I love how delighted he sounds at just being back on the set and hanging out with the cast. Check it out.

Oh dear LORD

Ok. The fasion industry has appearently lost their friggin MIND! Is it really necessary to make butt crack a fad, I ask you? The last thing I need to see is people showing the crack of their ASS and thinking they are sexy.

Via Xkot.

Lesson of the Day

Just because you aren't participating in the conversation doesn't mean that the conversation is about you.

The telephone game

I had some very amusing information told to me tonight. I used to work for a, uh, unnamed company and was about to be laid off when I was hired by the new company to work as a contractor for the unnamed company. (confused yet?) After coming on board as a contractor, I have become a valued addition to the team of the unnamed company, but I like working for the new company. Anywho, appearently the unnamed company would really like to have me come back to them some day. I was told that they didn't think they would be able to bring me on board because they thought the following:

1. I like being a contractor
2. The reason why I like being a contractor is because it allows me to have more flexible hours.
3. I supposedly was working 12 hours a day 5 days a week for the unnamed company which wasn't acceptable
4. I had just had kids!!!! which is why I wanted to be a contractor because my hours would be more flexible so I could spend time at home with my kids.

Well. Anyone who knows the situation would laugh at the above lines. The truth is:

1. I like working for the new company
2. The hours I worked prior to coming on board with new company as contractor were actually the same as what I am working now
3. I definetly do NOT have kids, other than my 2 horses, 4 cats, and 1 dog.

I have to wonder how they got the above impression of me. :)

Yet another goofy damn survey

If I were a work of art, I would be Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory. I am a surreal landscape composed of several disjointed and bizarre components. I like to keep an eye on the time, although the very concept is fluid for me. People are never sure what they are seeing when they look at me. Which work of art would you be? The Art Test

Must Get Life!

Via My Wacky Web

Lesson of the Day

Hmmm... lesse, today I learned that when I was watching Mash in the morning, I got to work on time because it's only a 30 minute show. Now that FX has changed it's morning lineup to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is an hour long show, I end up getting to work about 15 minutes late. I must find something else to watch while I'm getting ready for work in the morning.

"I am alone"

No, this isn't a pity me post. I'm listening to Beetlejuice while I'm surfing the net, and the scene were Lydia writes her suicide letter was on and I just thought it was funny.

My two barn cats, Rascal and Foxy, are hunting now. I know this not because they are leaving me dead animals on the porch for me to find. No, instead there are a bunch of feathers scattered all over the floor in the feed room. No blood. No bird carcus. Just feathers. There's just something a little... creepy about that.

Oops! I did it again!

Damn it. I have got to stop mixing up my days. Why do I keep thinking Wednesday is Thursday? I keep coming home from work thinking that tonight is Thursday night and I'm going to see my favorite shows and then I get disappointed.

Wait a minute. Did I just write this about being disappointed because I have the wrong night for my favorite tv shows? Well that just confirms it. I have absolutely no life. ARGH!

Fresh Market

Since I was obviously in need of an attitude adjustment tonight, and I'm single, I had to get the next best thing, which is chocolate. I love me some chocolate... yummy. Of course, the best place around to get some good chocolate is The Fresh Market.

I love shopping at The Fresh Market. I can't do it very often because it's pricey, but damn the food is good. For those of you that aren't familiar with The Fresh Market, it's a high class grocery store. The selection is limited but they stock things that you wouldn't be able to find in your every day grocery store. The bakery is incredible and the deserts they make are to die for. I got a chocolate truffle today that was just yummy, and I'm back to my normal cheerful self.

Mmmm.... chocolate. Now I just gotta find a man to feed it to me and I'll be all set.

Well, it's official!

And the verdict is...

Appearently, this doesn't necessarily mean that my weblog is boring. I just enjoy talking a lot more than writing. I have a busy social love (yeah right) because my friends love having me around. They just can't get enough of me. I might be wishing that I could spend more time online, but I really shouldn't. I'm already right where I belong.

Via HostileReadhed.com

Yeesh

I definetly sound pissy today. Looks like I need to get some chocolate on the way home!

Military Intelligence

Ya know, I love oxymorons. They generally bring a smile to my face when I take a moment to think about them. However, there is a term that is floating around the news right now that is upsetting, and that is "friendly fire".

People, there is no such thing. The article doesn't specifically say who dropped the bomb, but the fact of the matter is that it was dropped on our own forces by mistake. Calling it "friendly fire" makes it sound polite, cleaned up. It takes emphasis off of what happened.

**Note from the editor: Yes, I know that the military uses the term "Friendly Fire". Just because the military uses the terminology does not mean that I have to like it or agree with it. The whole point of this post was to say that the press calling it "friendly fire" makes it sound less than it actually is. There is the tendency with the press these days to throw around terminology and catch phrases to make things stick in your head(i.e. "America Strikes Back), and hearing that phrase just annoyed me today, so I wanted to post about it.

On the first day of Christmas..

So how much would it cost to get all of the things in The Twelve Days Of Christmas for your loved one? Well, according to this, it would cost you 3.5% more than last year, or $15,748.

Someone has a little too much time on their hands.

Second Lesson of the Day

It is VERY important to proof read your blog prior to clicking the "Post & Publish" link at the top of the page. Otherwise, you get very entertaining posts. Hmmm... maybe I shouldn't proof read them.

Wish List

Ok, some people have been asking me what I want for Christmas. I haven't found a horse catalog site yet that has the ability to generate the wish lists, but Illuminations does have that ability, and I LOVE candles. So, if you don't know what to get me, you can look here.

Love me!

After much complaining on my part (ok, not really, I just made one post) about my favorite blogs not updating as much, Doyce told me about a nifty little site called "BlogSnob". Basically, what it does is you add a small amount of code to your blog and then it randomly generates a link to a blog of anyone who has signed up for Blog Snob. This way, you get a new blog on your list for each time you access your site. Pretty nifty, eh? Not only that, but your site gets displayed on other sites as well. All well and good as far as I'm concerned.

Watch out for that....

I hate driving through construction zones. I get tunnel vision, my fingers clamp down on the steering wheel, and I get completely paranoid that I'm going to run into one of those big giant you-can't-miss-'em safety orange barrels. Not only that, it appears that people forget how to drive when they enter into a construction zone. Since they started widening the road near my house, there have been two accidents. One of them was a fender bender, which I can see happening in a construction zone. You gotta rubber neck and see what work has been since the last time you drove through there, right? No need to pay attention to that car that is in front of you! I have no clue how the other accident happened... somehow, the driver managed to flip their car completely over. He was fine... car was totaled.

I felt like I was driving in a race tonight on the way home. There were people that would come flying up behind me, get right on my bumper, then swerve out and pass me. Did I mention that this was just on the highway? With plenty of room for people to pass me on my left, since I was in the far right hand lane and there wasn't anyone in the two left hand lanes? What the hell is up with that? Do I have a target painted on the back of my truck?

I really don't get the whole "let's swerve in and out of traffic because it will get me to the place I need to be one second faster" attitude. I love it when I see someone who has been weaving in and out of traffic get caught at the same light I do. All I wanna do is stick my tongue out at them and say "neener neener neener". Course, these days it would probably get me shot.

I guess that since I haul horses all over the place, I try to be a little more cautious about how I drive. You have to be more aware of your surroundings and of other drivers when you are hauling. You have to be able to anticipate what the other driver is going to do so that you don't get into a dangerous situation. You think it's difficult stopping when someone cuts you off? Imagine having 5,000 lbs of trailer pushing you along when you hit the brakes. Hence the braking distance thing. If you see a huge amount of space between someone how is hauling and the next car, it's not because they are going slow. It's because they know it's going to take them a long time to stop. Trust me, folks... don't get into that space unless you get on it and get out of their way. It would really suck if you ended up being someone's hood ornament.

Lesson of the Day

Time flies when you have a deadline to meet and people NEED you and you are no where near getting the project done.

::snicker::

So I was needing a little bit more in the form of Blogs since the ones I like haven't been posting much lately, and I came across JOHO the Blog. Those of you that enjoyed watching Dennis Miller on SNL will probably like this blog, since the humor is practically the same. I really like it, so it's going on my list. You should go there. Like right now. What are you waiting for? Are you still here? Get going already!

Hey, say something!

Ok people, I know that you are reading my site because the hit counter is going up and I'm blocking my computer from being counted, so it's not me that's increasing the hits. This means that I have at least one or two people who actually read what I am saying. I have a huge favor to ask... There is something at the bottom of each post called a "comment" link. If you click on it, a magical thing appears... another window where you can enter comments! Imagine that!

Don't make me beg... unless you are really cute, then I might consider it. ;D

Lesson of the Day

On the day when you need the most peace and quiet to get something done, everyone seems to need your attention.

Tis the season!

Ok, call me silly. There is one main reason why I like Christmas. Yes, I love spending time with my family, seeing the houses lit up with lights, taking time off from work... but the main reason why I like Christmas is because of ::drumroll:: Christmas Carols.

I love Christmas Carols. I'm not sure where this is coming from, but I know that I love singing them. It's probably because I was in chorus for a long time, and it was so much fun to put aside the serious music that we did for the first part of the year when we were preparing for festival. The best part was when we would take the traditional carols and sing different parts to them other than the standard melody. I remember us singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel without any accompaniment... it had such a beautiful sound to it. Another really fun song to sing (although some people find it annoying) was Carol of the Bells. This one was great because each voice part got to sing a different section of the "bell". It's very difficult to explain, but it was incredibly fun to perform.

This year we are going to start a tradition in my mom's neighborhood. My family lives in an equine community called Whitelock Farms. This will be their first Christmas there, and we are going to go caroling on horse back. My cousin is part of the local Pony Club and they are going to come out and go caroling with us. It's going to be a lot of fun... nothing like a bunch of kids and adults riding around this community singing to people. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Pink!

So the other night I was watching MTV because I can't get enough pop commercialism (please note sarcasm cause I'm layin it on pretty thick) and Making the Video came on for Pink's "Get This Party Started". It looked like a fun video, so I continued to watch instead of flipping the channel.

The song, "Get this Party Started" caught my attention. It was a lot of fun to listen to and the video was very entertaining... it was refreshing, for lack of a better term, since most of the top 40 crap that is out there is boy and girl bands flaunting the whole sex thing. This video was sexy but it was not the whole focus, it was about having fun, hence the title.

Anywho, I decided to get the CD and I was very happy that I did so. The songs are a mix of pop, grunge, and R&B and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I like just about every song on the CD. Usually I'll like one or two and then I'm stuck with the rest of them. It was really cool to listen to some music that actually means something instead of "Oops, I did it again!".

I would highly recommend that you get this CD, it rocks.

Think and Link

Today is Link and Think day. Link and Think is an observance of World AIDS Day in the personal web publishing communities. Formerly "A Day With(out) Weblogs", the project involves hundreds of webloggers, journalers, diarists and other personal website publishers, each linking to resources about HIV/AIDS or publishing personal stories about how the AIDS pandemic has affected them.

My own personal experiences with AIDS have mainly been through researching it's effects so that I have a better understanding as to what it does. Education and understanding are the best ways to protect yourself, since there is no vaccine or cure at this point.

The other day I was having a discussion at class with a fellow classmate and he mentioned something about the elder population and AIDS. It appears that the cases of AIDS are on the rise with them and so I chose to do a little research into this today. Those of you that have seen "Grumpy Old Men" probably remember the scene where John and Ariel are about to, uh, get it on. The question of safe sex comes up and because it had been so long, they thought they were going to be ok. While it was a funny scene in the movie, it's just not the case in reality.

"Individuals aged 50 and older account for over 11% (81,000) of AIDS cases in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) AIDS cases among individuals over the age of 50 have increased 22% since 1991. The CDC also estimates that 14% of all individuals living with HIV infection are over the age of 50. Notably, in the state of Florida, 25% of all HIV cases occur in older heterosexuals. "

What is most concerning to me is that women over 50 are not as concerned about using a condom because they are unlikely to get pregnant. This increases their chances of contracting AIDS. Other concerns are that the disease is not properly diagnosed because physicians wrongfully assume that their older patients are not that sexually active. For instance, some "doctors may mistakenly assume that night sweats and depression are only symptoms of menopause rather than HIV/AIDS." I'm sure there are many of us out there that shudder at the thought of our parents having sex, but can you imagine how you would feel if you found out they had AIDS, and not only that, it wasn't found out until it was too late to really do much about it?

It's ironic, but I'm thinking about talking about this information with my family. To me, the only way to protect the people I love is to discuss issues like this. Now granted, I won't be going up to, say, my mom and ask her "Are you practicing safe sex?" That would be just too weird. However, my family tends to discuss a wide range of topics when we get together, and you can bet that the research that I conducted today will be discussed.

Articles to Read:

The Body: AIDS Action - Policy Facts: Older Americans and HIV
Never Too Old: For Sex or AIDS
HIV, AIDS, and Older People
AIDS May Escape Diagnosis in Older People

"Victimhood is more appealing than self-responsibility"

I just finished reading this article on Salon about "America the scapegoat", and I'm trying to understand why many people in the world feel the way they do about the US. Let me preface this by saying that the author was from Australia and was very supportive of the US.

Why is it that there are many people in the world who feel we had the WTC bombing coming, let alone deserved it? How can they think such a thing? Is it because of their perceptions that we have things so much better over here, that we are an arrogant group of people?

Get over it already. You criticize us for acting too much, and then you criticize us for acting too little. It's easy to lay the blame at our feet, we're those damn Americans. All we care about is oil and money, right? It's a wonder that we don't become isolationists here, it would be easy to do. Close our boarders, kick everyone out and concentrate on what is going on at home.

And yet, to do something like that would go against everything that America stands for. We are a country of misfits. There are so many different cultures here, you would wonder how we have managed to stay together for so long, and yet, we have. Oh, we bicker amongst ourselves like any family would, but when you threaten us, we protect our own.

Perhaps there is a lot of self absorption in our country. Can you blame us? We work hard, we play hard, we do the best that we can to be successful so that we can raise our children to have the things we didn't have when we were growing up. Sometimes, it's all we can do to get by. One of the points in the article was that Americans overlook other countries. Perhaps this is the case with some people, but not all. Part of it stems from the fact that when your news media constantly focuses on what is going on within your own boarders as opposed to outside them, it's hard to look beyond them. I can tell you that I would love to be able to travel outside the US... to visit Australia, Ireland, England, Spain, etc. Goes back to the "getting by" comment I made earlier... I'd love to go, and I know others would as well, but who can afford it?

When there is vast amounts of ocean between you and the rest of the world, it's easy to sit back and feel safe. It's easy to focus on what is going on inside your own boundaries and not pay as much attention to what is going on outside them. The events of September 11 changed all that. It was a wake up call to the American people. To some of you, we reacted predictably by retaliating, yet what would you have us do? If your family had been in the WTC or on one of the planes, what would you do?

Terrorism has to stop. Do I think that the US routing out the Taliban and bin Laden will make it end? Not hardly. It's always going to be there, someone will always be willing to die for their cause. Do I think that if it had been another country, the results would have been different? No. Perhaps I am naive, but I'd like to think that if any other country had this happen to them, they would have reacted in the same way, and we would be there to help because that is the way we are.