Running, running, running...

To get everything done before I go on "vacation." Why is it "vacation" and not vacation, you ask? Because I'm going to see my brother graduate from college (a big shout out to Stimpy!) and both of my parents are going to be together in the same place (but not under the same roof) for the first time in almost a year and a half. Unfortunately, their divorce still isn't final, although that wouldn't necessarily make things any easier.

Anyway, I don't consider babysitting my parents a vacation so it's a "vacation." I'm going out of town but it won't be for some non-stop fun and excitement. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm very excited for my brother and I am looking forward to seeing my parents and I'm excited about introducing Michael to the rest of my family...it's just...I don't know. Weird. The whole "my parents are going thru a divorce" fall-out isn't complete yet, and everybody's tense about it. But. Michael and I have decided that we are going to have fun this weekend even if no one else is. I'm going to stop complaining about the situation (starting now) and stop complaining about how annoying my parents are (G, I feel a lot better now after our conversation the other day) and just enjoy myself. It's the last time we'll be together as a family, fractured tho it may be, until someone gets married or dies, whichever comes first.

So, I bid you adieu for the next few days. Have to get some work done so I can leave at 4:30 today. Love and miss to all and hope you have a great weekend.

Panties vs. Underwear

So, I come home yesterday and check my mailbox, as usual. Nestled among the circulars, the "Have you seen me?" flier and a solicitation to become a member of Triple A, is a V!ctoria's Secret catalog. Not that there is anything unusual about this since they send them to me about 3 times a month (why bother since I only shop there about twice a year?), but I couldn't help but flip through the pages of pretty underwear and it got me thinking: only VS calls underwear "panties." I never say "panties." Unless I'm talking about how I never say it because I prefer "underwear." Panties just sounds way more sexy than underwear but underwear is way more practical than something called panties. But even when I wear something a little more sexy than plain briefs (even though they were purchased from VS) I still call it underwear.

Normally I have deeper thoughts than this, but I figured this subject would provoke absentee commenters to show me some love. So, which is it: panties or underwear?

Still a cubicle dweller...

So the big move at the office finally arrived and many of us are still unpacking and sorting and finding new places to put everything. While I am in a new location, my cube is configured pretty much the same as it was before except that my big filing cabinet is in a new spot. Not very interesting. And the cube walls themselves are totally disgusting b/c we've had them for 20+ years b/c non-profits are poor and are always getting hand-me-downs from for-profit companies that can afford to buy new stuff every 3 years. Anyway. At least my new cube is close to the fun people in the organization. And I'm not in a pod.

So I guess I should try to get some work done before I leave for the day. I no longer have the excuse that my computer isn't hooked up yet to justify not getting anything done. T.G.I.F.

My boyfriend rocks!

Yes, yes. Gag. Barf. Retch. I know. But he is so awesome and here are a few reasons why:

- he puts up with my tendency to be bossy
- he genuinely likes my dog
- he taught me to drive a car with a manual transmission and doesn't flinch when I stall out or make the car jerk around trying to get into first gear
- is a feminist man who believes in the freedom of choice so much that he went to the March for Women's Lives with me last month
- let me drive his car to work today so he could take my car to get the brakes done someplace across town and then took the bus to get to work this morning
- serenades me with songs (but never THE song from "Cheers")
- introduced me to "The H!tchh!ker's Gu!de to the G@l@xy" and books by @l Fr@nken
- is sweet, kind, super-smart, romantic, and one hot babe!

And so, amidst a chorus of retching sounds, Michael, I love you.

Inefficiency Part II

Well, now I have a title memorandum for my car and once I get my emissions check, I can go get my registration and new plates. You'd think they would offer e-check at the title agency or the license branches but they don't. Instead they want you to drive all over the state of Oh!o to do all this crap and write lots of different checks all in the name of Inefficiency. So, for today, I will get the e-check done and possibly go take my driver's license test (depending on how long the e-check takes). I have studied the rules of the road and took a practice test so I can demonstrate that the only difference b/w the rules of the road in PA and OH are...wait! There is no difference! Even the B.A.C. is the same! Wow...how about that?

Then there's the whole car issue. Most of you know already that my car has been in the shop 3 times in the past week for transmission trouble. The service mgr. says it's all fixed and even offered to drive it home and back as an additional test-drive before returning it to me later today. I hope I don't have to take it back to the dealer again until it's time for another oil change.

I sort of feel bad that the last couple of postings have been so negative, but dealing with the BMV has been a royal pain and last week, I really did have particularly bad luck with the car, dog and apartment. But, the car is (supposedly) better, the dog is better (I'll spare you the details on what I had to do to find out what was wrong with her), and the apartment, well, I haven't figured that one out yet. But. At least I am in good health (knock on wood or rather faux wood and plastic), I have a good job and friends and family are doing well. Relatively well. And we got to go to the March for Women's Lives last weekend and it was awesome! I really couldn't do the experience justice here but I will say that it was even better than I remember it being in '92. I am really excited going forward and expect that the energy from the March will inspire others to get involved b/w now and election day. Love to all!