This time I'm going to be moving it to WordPress, so I may break every link on here and things might be all wonky for a few days... but I will return!

Mac love knows no bounds.

Now I won't get to skip lunch and play MacWorld Bingo with my co-worker.... ARRRRGGHHH!

Seriously. This means it will be the best keynote ever since I'm going to have to miss it. BLEH!

Hope everyone's Christmas and New Year's was good. I saw lots of family and friends. I ate too much.

The Hawks lost their bowl game, but only by 2 points and we played in a way that gave me hope for next season. Of course, the pork-wrapped pork that was available for consumption during the game could've made it all seem better than it was. That and Doogie's new HDTV. So shiny. So crisp. Actually, the Georgia/Virgina Tech game made my head hurt because all their uniforms were so bright.

Stupid Michigan. They don't bring anything but pain and suffering, no matter if I cheer against or for them. Ohio State better not disappoint next week.

My quest to watch all the Academy Award Best Picture winners continues. I think I have 20 left. They're kind of wearing on me since so many that I have left to watch are pure dramas and I'm just really not a fan of dramas. I'm also falling behind on seeing possible the Oscar nominees for this year. Though a review of my ticket stubs from 2006 shows that, other than Crash, I saw the 2006 nominees within a month or so of the awards night. But this year I need to see things early since my Oscar weekend will actually be spent in LA getting ready to go watch the red carpet arrivals for the ceremony. (That's right, I'm getting as close as a regular non-nominated, non-attached to a nominee, non-Jack Nicholson human can get to the Kodak Theatre on Oscar night! More on that later...) The other thing that is hampering my movie going this past month or so is the existence of Casino Royale. I can't motivate myself to see anything else as long as this movie is still in the theatres. I just want to see it over and over and over again. I saw it for the third time on Christmas Eve. I haven't loved a movie for the pure entertainment value of it like I love this one forever. I think everyone is probably sick of me talking about it. But still, if you haven't seen it: SEE IT!

Beyond planning a trip to LA (that will hopefully include attending a taping of 'The Price is Right' before Bob retires), Harry is going back on tour. I assume all my readers know that when I refer to Harry, I'm talking about Harry Connick, Jr. So tickets for shows in March need to be procured and all that. I really need to get back to reviewing shows. I love my old reviews. They're so entertaining to me. In addition to Harry touring, my boys from Bonerama are striking out on their own (in that Mark and Craig are going to be doing Bonerama full time and not touring with Harry) so I've got them to follow about. Hopefully.

Oh yeah, and I've also got tickets to see John Mayer after I see the bones, but before I go to LA.

And then Josh has me wanting to go to Jazzfest....

I need another job. Or a new job. Seriously, anyone got anything that might be of interest out there? I need a lot of vacation days.

My roommate, Rachel, comes back tonight (at least I think she does). She's been gone since Dec. 20th... It seems like forever. I've kind of gotten used to having the place to myself. And if I could afford it on my own, maybe I'd make it my own place. Rachel got into an orthodontics program in Oklahoma, so she'll be moving after she graduates at the beginning of June. So I've got to buy the place or get out. And if I get out, do I want to really get out, as in out of Iowa City completely and try something new?

So my living arrangements are something I have to now deal with. I'd been tabling thinking about any of that until after the holidays. Stupid holidays ending. This is probably why I have a headache.

Actually my headache is better now. Maybe typing is more therapeutic than I thought.

22 more minutes until I go to the gym... the weight loss resolution deserves its own post. Maybe tomorrow.

Here's a way to link over to some of my knitting photos and then go from there...

well that didn't work like I wanted... so here's a direct link into my knitting photos

and to all a good night!

Harry's going back on tour this spring!!

You have to register with the site to finish the quiz, but that's why you have an extra disposable email address, right?
Come on, its fun. Play along.

• Wednesday after work I finished getting all my "these must be mailed" Christmas presents ready to go in the mail. I then stopped by the Steele abode to drop off Antalya's cutest. sweater. ever. and found Jerry's sister, Savannah, was visiting. Which then turned into us all going out to the Hamburg for dinner. Jerry and I had a collaborative meal since I wanted an omelet and french fries and he wanted a tenderloin and pancakes.
• Thursday was my holiday party at work (budget code: 707003) and I continued my yearly tradition of attempting to eat my weight in cream puffs. There was the added bonus of chocolate covered cream puffs AND a chocolate fountain this year. The chocolate covered cream puffs were tasty, but one just can't consume the same quantity of those in comparison to the plain ones. The chocolate fountain was fun, but most people just stood around it, unsure how to proceed. Grab a skewer and plunge on in!
• Friday night was a birthday party for Colleen at her and Doogie's place in the CRapids. They always throw really good parties. There were drinks, there was a lot of good food, and a little too much dancing in the living room. I also got to try my grip on the Nintendo Wii, thanks to some random guy who brought his along. I'm better at virtual bowling than I am at real bowling. But I can see why people are excited about that gaming system. Its really social and easy even for people who aren't really gamers, like me. At the end of the night, I was prepared and I had brought along my toothbrush so I crashed in the guest room.
• Saturday morning I woke up way too early and headed back home where I then slept for a few more hours, waking up to find MacGyver was sleeping on my hair, pinning me to my pillow. That was interesting. I managed to rouse myself in time to run one failed shopping errand in search of Keebler Munch'ems crackers (seriously, can you get those anymore anywhere??) before heading to a cookie exchange at my co-worker Laura's home in West Branch. It was nice to see her place after hearing about projects and such over the past couple of years. Met some nice people and Laura's cat, Tigger, thought I was really nice. I took sugar cookies to exchange and came home with about 6 dozen assorted cookies. Knowing I was going to get all these cookies was the catalyst for the party that Rachel and I then hosted on Saturday night. We were going to be very laid back about it and just have the cookies for eating, but somewhere along the way we freaked out and made all kinds of other food. We had 23 people over, but we probably had food for 75. *laughs* But it was a really good time and a good mix of my friends and Rachel's friends. Props to Frosty for making really great hot chocolate. He even made real whipped cream on the spot! There was a white elephant gift exchange and a round of my new Scene It game. (It was very clear who among Rachel's friends didn't know me because one of the guys who was on my team was just amazed that I was answering most of the questions right. *chuckle*) The party broke up around midnight and Rachel and I pushed as many bags of goodies on as many people as we could as they left. We cleaned up most of the mess that night and I got to sleep around 1:30am.
• Sunday morning I fought the bad urge to sleep until Monday and went to church with the Steele family to see Jerry sing with their church choir. It was a really nice service, the choir sounded great, and we got to sing four good Christmas hymns which made me happy. My only complaint (because I always have to have one *wink*), was that 'Hark, the Herald Angels Sing' was being played in a lower key than it is originally in because it was no challenge at all to sing the fun 'Gloria' part. Sara's parents and grandmother had also come to town for the service and Savannah was still in town. After church, I joined them all for dinner at Bob's Your Uncle. Then, because global warming is trying to make me crazy with this complete lack of cold and snow, Jerry, Savannah, and I joined Frosty and Jerry's friend Mark for 15 holes of Frisbee golf at the new course out by the dog park. It was a lot of fun, I still totally suck at frisbee throwing, but its a fun time just walking and Frosty's always very encouraging no matter how good or horrid one is. I got home around 5pm completely exhausted and not a little bit cold. I needed to knit, but I ended up just collapsing in my recliner with Mac and watching 'Battlestar Galactica' and the 'Survivor' finale before attempting to go to bed. Because the weekend hadn't been long enough, my insomnia decided to visit and I was awake until sometime after 1am.

It was a really really great weekend. Thanks to all my friends who made it so.
But man, I need a nap!

Thanks to mom for the zipper work!

Shiny!

I honestly had no idea that the members of Congress didn't move to Washington DC while they served. Most fly back and forth to their homes in whatever state they are from every week. Really? I had no idea. I assumed if you were elected, you moved your family to Washington since that's where your job is and I assumed it was such an important job that you needed to be there pretty much all the time. I know that the members have offices back in their home states that they visit, but I didn't realize when I voted for someone I was making them basically a consultant who has to travel back and forth all the time. That seems like it would really make these people travel weary eventually and make them even less effective than they really are already. So people just live out of hotels or what when they are there during the week? Who's paying for that? Who's paying for all those flights every week?

This quote just killed me: The new schedule poses a headache for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who runs her 7-year-old daughter's Brownie troop meetings on Monday afternoons in Weston, Fla. "I'll have to talk to the other mothers and see if we can move it to the weekend," she said.

Um, you're in Congress. Somehow I think your constituents expect you to be in Washington getting something done, not playing with Girl Scouts. Get someone else to run the troop!

Apparently I'm a more ignorant voter than I realized.

[update] Apparently, I'm not the only person who wonders about this... the original post author disagrees with me for a semi-valid point, but the commenters make a lot of good points more in my vein of thinking. These people knew they were getting elected to Congress. It wasn't like it was a random promotion they didn't want and now have to deal with it affecting their own and their families lives... they asked, practically begged, for these positions. They all need to get to work and put their butts in the seats so we can see them on C-SPAN.