I've got Lance in my pants ...

No, the crackers ... I swear! Do you hate those radio commercials as much as I do? Sometimes I just wish I hadn't strayed from Sinatra and James Taylor, I'm tellin' you.

I know you're all dying to know how my first few days of work went, right? Well. The first day I sat next to a girl that seemed really nice ... and she was. And, her name was the same as mine, and we drive the same kind of car, own the same shirt (she was wearing one that I own and I accidentally wore the same shirt the next day) and lives about 15 minutes from me (in the complex next to the one I used to live in). It was all very wierd. The first two days were all about HR and customer service and benefits and all that. Today was the first day of what will prove to be a very boring two and a half weeks. This is what I learned about all you in New Jersey: You have to carry tons of insurance, and there are a lot of fraud cases because of it. That is all. Thank you very much.

So except for the ridiculous drive (usually an hour) everything seems to be doing fine. I really need to find a place in South Tampa. I can't do this whole drive any longer than July. Can't do it.

it's peepilicious!

My Easter weekend was beautiful fun. And it came with no occupational strings attached. That's right, folks. I am no longer an office supply guru -- I am now an insurance claims adjuster. For New Jersey. Yes, I live in Florida. The regional office is in Clearwater, and we take care of the entire East coast. Texas has the Western region. Headquarters in California. Yeah, cuz we're cool like that.

Anywho, about the weekend. I was pretty sure it was going to be fun. Friday night I had drinks with some of the girls from work. Let me tell you, four beers are still too many for me. It was happy hour and I had four, and came home sloshed and happy. Saturday my sister came over to use my sewing maching (even though I did most of the sewing) and spent the night. We went bowling (high score 148, other scores 121 and 119) and tried to get my bowling ball from the south Tampa sports store but they didn't have it done. When you promise something to get done in two days, don't you deliver? Well, they didn't. I bought a ball Thursday afternoon and the guy said it would be done Friday, so I said I'd pick it up Saturday. Yep, not done. They said they'd have it done on Monday for me, so we'll see. I had to use the alley ball again, but that's okay. I'm use to it. A quick trip to the mall and we were home in time to order a pizza and hang out. I love 12-year-old girls. (don't make that something it's not)

My air conditioning broke Saturday night, so sleeping wasn't in the cards, but Sunday we got up early to do the sunrise service thing. It's out in the park, and as usual I made fun of everyone on stage, but it was very cute. A visit with the grandmas and the grave caravan (where we put fake flowers on all the dead people that we know's graves) and then it was poker and ham at Nana's for 5 hours. Great fun, I tell you.

If it weren't for this dern head cold, I'd be great. I thought it was a sinus infection, but I'm doing better so I think it's a cold. It needs to go away. Now.

Thank God Almighty!

I'm free at last!

Today was the last day of work. Seriously. And I must say it feels good to be outta there. I called out the last two days because I was so sick (sore throat that was reaching into my ears and a wheezy cough that made my upper chest sore; Thursday I also woke up with a killer headache on top of my other symptoms) but I had to go in today. I live by the same creed my mother brought me up with -- if you don't go to school (or work) then you can't go out that night. And by golly, I'm going out. I've got a date with a bunch of friends from work for drinks down the street. Woohoo!

Anywho, I've not been much for talking, but maybe I'll have something to say later. Toodles!

had to post it.

Ivan sent me this quiz, and I had to take it. Had to. And then I had to post it, just because TMBG rocks like autistic kids rock (don't look at me like that, my brother is autistic and it's his favorite joke). I don't know how true it is, but it's a good album. But you don't know what songs I'd put on my all time album if I could, do you ... huh, do you?

You scored as John Henry. John Henry kicks off with a wicked accordion part in "Subliminal" and keeps up the groove, with tracks like "Snail Shell" and "Destination Moon". John Henry is a great all around album. John Henry 100% The Spine 80% Factory Showroom 80% Mink Car 80% Flood 70% Lincoln 60% Apollo 18 60% Sever Tire Damage: Live 60% Dial-A-Song 60% They Might Be Giants: Self Titled 40% What They Might Be Giants Album Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

what happens when good aligators go bad ...

I found these pictures on Panela Veia's Web site, and normally I would just direct you there but I never know what's going to be on that site (that's why I wrote "mature" next to it). Sometimes the pictures are harmless, sometimes they're interesting (like these) and sometimes they're definitely in the rated XXX catagory. Now you're never going with me to Bear Island campground, are you?

I am the vine and ye the branches -- bear fruit.

This was on a church sign of a Christian school for prom -- sorta the wrong message to send to those kids, eh? Watching the Trio channel again, and it's some sort of prom special.

Books I've read today:

Just Checking by Emily Colas. I respect the form of this memoir, which is more in the form of snippets of life, scenes from a hat than a true memoir. Colas has OCD -- she's afraid of blood, and germs and people grinding up hyperdermic needles and putting them in her food. It makes a mess her early adult life and ruins her marriage. But as much as I respect the form, it by nature doesn't allow for enough depth. I wanted more. That's all; I wanted more. But all in all, very witty and harrowing. Although I have my obsessive tendencies -- I actually twiddle my thumbs (sort of hooking my fingers together and rubbing my thumbs together making patterns in the skin), I have to have everything at 45-degree angles from the edge of the counter when I clean -- the lamps next to the speakers next to the candles; chopsticks, knives. When I'm in the car and I'm not driving my feet move in sequence to the openings in the edges of the road -- where roads cross and driveways and shop entrances. I know, I'm wierd. What are your idiosyncrasies?

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell. I love Sarah Vowell. Love her. She witty and interesting and smart and appeals so much to my nerdiness. Patriot is no different. Organized into essays, it's filled with social commentary, wit, sarcasm and lots of nerdy history. Yum! From Amazon.com, " Looking for insight into why she prefers Little Bighorn and Gettysburg to Martha's Vineyard, Vowell (author of the witty Take the Cannoli) calls her friend Kate, who works as a counselor for survivors of torture, who says, "That's how we try to make sense of the worst horrors. We use humor to manage anxiety." If Kate's right, then Vowell is managing her anxiety very well. Her best short, personal essays (anywhere from about two to 12 pages) focus on her ambivalent relationship to American history and citizenship: no one in recent memory has been as insightful on the direct pleasures and perils of voting, the misuse of Rosa Parks as a metaphor, the appeal of Canadians (who "ha[ve] this weird knack for loving their country in public without resorting to swagger or hate") and the relative merits of presidential libraries. Further undone, perhaps, by her devotion to such topics, Vowell also offers an eloquent defense of being a nerd: "Going too far and caring too much about a subject is the best way to make friends that I know." To wit, her hilarious essay "The Nerd Voice," which chronicles her political e-mail group as "the all-time nerdiest thing I've ever been involved in, and I say that as a person who has been involved with public radio and marching band."

and yes, I was in the marching band.

Stupid miserable rain.

I started this post earlier today saying that it though it's been a wretched rainy week, it hadn't rained today.

Yeah, well it did. And not that "sheets of rain curl up with a good book" rain, or the "sweet shower on a sunny afternoon" rain, but the "harder than a drizzle so you don't want to go out but not hard enough to relish snuggling under the covers" rain. Wretched. Fortunately, I had already worked, gotten off work, gone to lunch with Christen (a cheeseburger at Alehouse), gone to DSW and bought two pairs of adorable shoes to go with my new crop pants...

... and two necklaces from Target, returned my library books (that place is never going under with the amount of fines I pay them), got some from my list (updated "muddlin' through") and came home. So I had a full day. I think it helped that I had to be at work at 5 a.m., so everything happened earlier than usual (and for that it helped that I took a couple 5-minute power naps in copy center).

Speaking of shoes, there's a pair that I really want (this is the real reason why I keep going back to DSW) but they haven't had them. Alli bought them last month, but at my DSW they have them in white, pink and brown but I need them in black -- I have to have them in black. To refres everyone's memory (and Alli's too), these are the shoes:

... and if anyone can get them for me, I'll send you money for them and shipping! please!!!!