The Mystery Blogger Strikes Again

Hey Gang!

I know, I know... it's been nearly two weeks since you last heard from me. Sorry. I've been crazy busy and I still am, to be honest.

Jan and Steve came down for Christmas, which kept Cory and I dusting, vaccuuming and scrubbing for the entire week leading up to Christmas Eve. The Holidays were nice, and it was very nice to get two (that's right, two) weekends off in a row to spend with Cory. That honestly hasn't happened since before I moved to Georgia, well over three years ago.

Technically, this week, I'm supposed to be on vacation. But I'm not. I'm in New Orleans right now, covering the Sugar Bowl. Cool, huh? Not really. I worked about 11 hours yesterday, and I'm in for another just like it today. Ugh.

But, if I have to work when I'm supposed to be on vacation, I'd much rather do it in New Orleans than in my crappy, cockroach-infested office. At least I have my priorities straight.

Cory and Jan also came down here to the Big Easy. I suspect they're having much more fun than I am.

I wrote a great entry earlier detailing my first day in the Big Easy, but this crappy laptop computer ate it. Here's hoping this one hits the information superhighway in one piece.

Poli Sci 100

Lesson #1: Being leader of the free world is "challanging."

Breaking Medical News

They're doing good work at the State University of New Jersey.

Attention Tragically Un-Hip:

You need to get a new copy of The Oxford English Dictionary.

Holiday Checklist:

Assemble and decorate tree... check!
Buy presents... check!
Wrap presents... check!
Design Christmas Cards... check!
Mail Christmas Cards... check! (55 so far... but there's a handful of people who's addresses I still need)
Mail Packages... check! (I love, love, love the automated kiosks at the Post Office. We mailed our gifts at 1am without having to stand in line)
Clean Apartment... ummmm... it's getting there. The downstairs is mostly clean.
Grocery Shopping for Christmas dinner... not even close. We'll be eating peanut butter, saltines, and Del Monte canned corn if I don't get to the store soon.

Birthday Greetings!

Today (Friday) is my pal Mike's birthday. I don't have many friends that are older than me, so I love Mike's birthday, because it comes exactly ten days before mine... which means Mike is exactly ten days older than I am. I enjoy reminding him of that every year.

If you get an opportunity, please head on over to his blog and send along some birthday wishes. Oh, and call him "Michael, michael motorcycle." He loooovvves that.

Jolly Holidays!
Cory and I spent about two hours trying to take a "Christmas" picture the other night, so that we could give a copy to his mom for the holidays. Two hours of lighting, posing, smiling, cropping, and this is the best we could do.
Sad.

Setting a Bad Example

I've been such a bad blogger lately. I get so frustrated when my friends don't blog on a regular basis and I'm unaware of the daily minutae of their lives. Yet, here I am, blogging only once a week.

You'll notice that I'm barely keeping up with my 52 books... after being ahead by four or five weeks most of the year. See? I haven't had time to do much reading, either.

Last week was a fairly busy one, despite the fact that I got to take four whole days off. I spent one of my days off Christmas shopping and two more whole days cleaning the apartment for the impending visit from the parental units. The apartment, by the way, is still a mess... by traditional standards. By our standards, it's pretty much immaculate. I'm sure that those of you who know me well understand.

I also spent some time making this year's Christmas cards. I used to make my holiday cards every year, and I put a lot of work into them. But as I got busier and busier, my cards got uglier and uglier... until pretty soon I was just phoning it in.

This year, I put actual effort into them. However, I'm still not done with them. By the way, I may not have your address... so if you want a card, you need to email me.

Other accomplishments of the last week? I got to bring home the pottery I created in class over the last two months. I have to say, it's some pretty ugly stuff. A couple of the pieces aren't too bad... but those are the ones I'll probably end up giving to people. Cory took one in to work to use as a tiny candy dish on his desk. An ugly tiny candy dish, I might add.

Oh, and the Girlie Men won their regular season finale. I beat the league-leading Waukesha Blackazzez for the second time this year. Waukesha only lost four games all season, so it's pretty good that the Girlies topped them twice. The "playoffs" start next week-- it looks like I'll either play the Kirksville Vikings or the Kirksville Cornfed-- I'll try to post an update soon!

Why I Hate Mondays

Thanks to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tennessee Titans, I just got home from work 15 minutes ago.

It's 2:45 a.m. as I write this. By the way, my "bedtime" is 2:30.

Oh, and around midnight, I ran into an open drawer on Dave's desk, slamming my leg into the metal corner. Yes, it drew blood. Yes, it's bruised.

Mondays suck.

California, Here We Come

Ok... not "we" as in Cory and I. That would be wishful thinking.

I was speaking for the Detroit Zoo's aging elephants, Winky and Wanda. The Detroit Free Press has reported that Winky and Wanda will be sent to an elephant sanctuary in California.

A Moment Of Silence

For the one of the three last known Po'ouli. In September, biologists captured the little birdie in hopes to breed him... unfortunately, they never found a girlfriend for him. He died this week.

Believe it or not, "Tissue samples from the dead bird were saved for cryogenic preservation for possible cloning in the future."

Hopefully, they aren't storing him in the same facility that houses Ted Williams' head.

Bad Bloggers Anonymous

Hello, my name is Sportslady, and I'm a bad blogger. I haven't had a blog in 11 days. To be honest, I haven't blogged for a couple of reasons... First, I've been really, really busy, and second, I've been kind of depressed. Either way, I didn't need to drag y'all into it.

So, I'll sum up the last week and a half:

The Bad:

• Spending Thanksgiving at work.
• Spending Thanksgiving alone, for the third time in four years. At least I didn't eat at Shoney's or Denny's like two of the last three.
• Family Crap.
• The Girlie Men Express losing in Week 11 to Chuck's Senior Citizens.
• Two airport runs... one of which included a three-hour delay at the airport, the other being a crack-of-dawn trip before I had to work a 12-hour day.
• Working several 12-hour days, then coming in on one of my days off, trying to get material together for a massive SEC Championship Game preview extravaganza.
• Having some inconsiderate asswipe at work come into my office, remove several tapes from my desk and erase all the material that I put together on my extra-long days and one of my days off.
• Having to then come in on my other day off to re-produce all the materials that I'd put in all those extra hours creating.
• Finding out that I'll have to work on the night of the station Christmas party, therefore missing my third Christmas party in four years.
• Pottery class ending. I was really starting to enjoy my Thursday nights.

The Good:

• Finally seeing Spiderman 2 (albeit alone).
• Being invited to Thanksgiving dinner at a co-worker's house. I only got to stay briefly, but the food was delicious and it was nice to spend time with "grown-ups" (most of my co-workers average about 23 years old).
• Cory bought me a present when he was out of town. Sure, it's only a shirt, but it was nice of him to bring me something. (His mom bought me yet another fiberoptic snowman figurine... but I'd rather not discuss that. It's the thought that counts, right? Right???)
• Buying a new vaccuum cleaner. Seriously. That made me kind of happy. (and by the way, why do people call it a "vaccuum cleaner?" You don't clean vaccuums with it.)
• The Girlie Men Express avenging an early season loss to the Kirksville Vikings in Week 12, despite injuries to Tyrone Wheatley, Ahman Green, and Plaxico Burress.
• My very nice co-worker, Scrgetta, helped me to re-produce all those stories that were lost. And yes, I spelled her name correctly. I've mentioned the appalling lack of vowels in her name, and she still likes me. Go figure.

I think that probably summarizes the last few weeks fairly well. I'm sure I'm forgetting something.