"Clean" Glasses

Last weekend when I was in Boston, I stayed at the lovely Seaport Hotel.

However, I didn't use the glasses in the bathroom because my friend Gwen had sent me this clip and I couldn't get it out of mind.

Ash Wednesday

I think of the 40 days of Lent as a time to be reflective and repentant as way of preparing for Easter, the holiest day in the Christian calendar. For me, it's a time that, in some small way, parallels the 40 days Jesus spent wandering in the wildness being tempted by Satan.

Lots of people "give up" something as a means of sacrifice during Lent. Because I didn't grow up doing that, I've often tried to "take something on," usually something that will require more of me than I usually give.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and I haven't decided what to take on. Certainly, I could be more "chipper" at work and nicer to folks I don't particularly care for, but I think I want to reach higher this year.

So here's what I've decided:
I want to be able to go to bed each evening knowing that I've lived a good day- that I've strived, honestly and sincerely, to be a better person than I've ever been.

Personally, it's not practical to think about being "the best person I can be" because that'll set me up to feel like a failure for 40 days, especially since I'm not even sure I know what my "best" is. But I do know when I've done "better" than before, which means that I'll have a means of self-reflective and evaluation.

I want to wake up on Easter morning knowing that I've spent this time constantly striving to be a better person, with the intent that it'll put me closer to the person G*d intended me to be.

Odds and Ends

I just got home. I left work early since my schedule bombed out. "All is not lost," I thought. "I can go vote." Imagine my surprise when I wasn't listed in the official books, and I had to vote by affidavit, on paper. The poll volunteers were very nice and quite helpful, but still, I wanted to use the machine! I got to use it in 2006. I even have my little post card from the Voting Commissioners verifying my registration.

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I spent this past weekend in Boston at the Yankee Dental Congress, one of the largest dental conventions in the US. And lest you think I was there with only 30 or 40 other folks, here's an article BiblioDiva sent me about it.

Can you imagine? 28,000 dentists all in one place?

It was a blast!

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SuperBowl Champs!

Once again, my Jeremy Shockey jersey and I propelled our NY Giants to a win. And this time, it was the ultimate win. Despite the nay-sayers. 17-14.

And BiblioDiva owes me 20 recipes. So remember darling, I don't like raspberries (in any form!), and I'm not a big dairy eater so no recipes full of heavy cream, cheese and the like.

Go Giants!

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Oh, and today, my UNC women beat Duke at home: 93-76. Woo-hoo!

21st Century

Welcome to it!

I have cable! Woo-Hoo!

NFC Champs!

The Giants are going to the SuperBowl! I even wore my new Jeremy Shockey jersey.

The gf and I watched and celebrated with wine and popcorn.

Woo-hoo!

Shiny Red Shoes

I shook things up at work today. I usually wear my black clogs but today I wore the red patent leather ones.

It's amazing how many more smiles I saw today. I guess shiny, fire engine red shoes'll do that.

ET, Phone Home!

The dial tone on my landline ran away. And before that, there was so much static on the line it was impossible to talk.

Read: I was paying for a phone that, intially, I could barely use (and recently, couldn't use at all). I didn't even know about the dial tone problem until someone told me they'd called me and not gotten an answer. When I tried to call out, there was no dial tone and when I called in, it didn't ring.

Today, after 3 trips to the basement and 2 trips down the road, a Verizon repair guy has corrected the problem. Woo-hoo!

Call me! A phone with a dial tone is standing by.

My friend BiblioDiva makes me laugh so hard it hurts.

She posted one of our email conversations on her blog this week. Even though I was a part of the conversation, reading it still made me laugh.

Church Ladies Unite!

Last night I went to Alice's first "let's get together to knit" gathering. Alice is a friend from church; her daughter is close to my age. Two others joined: one my age; one Alice's. We had a blast! And I even did some knitting!

I'm looking forward to next week.

Highway Robbery

The gf and I have a membership to one of those giant wholesale clubs. The one near my house Upstate has a gas station. This is nice since gas for members is cheaper than for nonmembers.

I bought gas last night. Pump #1 told me that my card is expired so the pump defaulted to market price (#3.36/gallon). My card expires in March of 2009. This same pump did the same thing 2 weeks ago. I pumped nearly 2 gallons befored it occurred to me to try a different pump.

Last night, pump #8 accepted my card just fine and charged me the member price of $3.25. The nice young male attendant indicated to me that the store knew about the problem with that pump (and one other, incidentally), but that they didn't do anything about it.

I called the store this morning, because, frankly, this is tantamount to stealing. The manager didn't seem to know anything about the problem and promised he'd look into it. Honestly, if it happened to me twice, how long has it been a problem? And how many people have been erroneously overcharged?

I emailed my local ABC station (WTEN) to ask my question. And whaddaya know, they responded!

Apparently, I caught their broadcast of RetroTV on its very first day. They are still in testing mode. If they decide to keep it, they will not only advertise, but also include in on cable.

I feel like I've hit the jackpot.

And to all you "glass half-empty" folks out there: it's NOT the same as Nick at Night. It's better, if only because I don't have to stay up past 9pm to watch the shows.

To Cable or Not to Cable

So I've finally signed up for cablevision. I'm still waiting to arrange for installation. I called twice today, but was on hold so long I gave up both times. I'll call back, but here's my dilemma:

The new TV gets HDTV and low and behold, many of my local stations have "extra" HD channels. For example, my local ABC affiliate has its regular programming station** as well as "Retro TV," the Retro Television Network. Guess who watched "John Boy" from The Waltons on an episode of Marcus Welby, MD. Guess who also saw an episode of The Rockford Files.

So the question begs, will I still get Retro TV once I have cable? And what about the cool "extra" PBS stations I get, including CreateTV and PBS World?



**My local ABC station, WTEN, is channel 10. The HD programming is on 10.1 and RetroTV is 10.3. Interesting enough, 10.2 is local weather, 24/7.

Zappo's Joke of the Day

Q: What did the alien say to the gardener?
A: Take me to your weeder!

It is so funny!

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Ok, who even knew Zappo's had such a thing? I called ask about the order I returned, and when listening to the phone tree, I couldn't resist listening to the "joke of the day."

HELP! I've Run Out of Windex and Can't See!

Today, at Sears Auto:
I am waiting at the counter for the nice man to finish putting my information into his computer so they can take care of my car.

A woman in a Benz drives in, parks, and tells the nice man that she has run out of washer fluid. Only she calls it "car windex." She has run out and doesn't know how to put it into her car (her words). He tells her to go inside the store area (we are in the garage area), purchase it, and he will put it in for her. When she comes back, she is waiting for him to finish with me, and is a bit impatient. I remark to her that if she pops her hood, she can probably figure out where the fluid goes.

She looks at me and with a straight face, says, "I don't know how to pop the hood either."

Are you kidding me?! You drive the frickin' car and don't know how to open the hood?! Is it just me, or does that seem insane?

Ok, maybe that's harsh, but honestly. "Helpless" women get on my nerves.

Woo-hoo!

My biopsy results are in: BENIGN!

And my sister continues to recuperate. She has her ups and downs, but is doing well medically. She enjoyed hearing me read all the well wishes.

So even though it's freezing outside and my little feet are cold, it's a good day. Celebrate!

Surgery Update

First and foremost, huge thank yous to everyone who sent comments and well wishes. I was able to read the first few to my sister before she went into surgery this morning. Late this afternoon my stepmother called and left the message that while the surgery was difficult and had taken longer than expected, my sister came through it and will be fine. She's in recovery and will be kept sedated overnight. So, I'll read her the rest of your well wishes tomorrow, when I expect I'll be able to talk to her.

Thank you!

Prayer Request

My sister has been in and out of the hospital over the last few weeks. She went back over the weekend, and is having surgery tomorrow morning. The surgery is considered "routine" but still, it's scary and the decision to actually have it was not an easy one for her to make.

So, please, think of her tomorrow morning at 9.30am EST, the surgery start time. BTW, she's in Atlanta, and has been known to identify herself on blogs as "Sheree's sister."

Send her good wishes via the comments section, and I'll read them to her tomorrow evening when I talk to her.

Thanks!

I is Educated

The other day, I bought a few things at the grocery store. My bill was $10.22. I gave the cute little cashier one ten dollar bill, one quarter and two pennies. When she tried to return the pennies to me, I replied: "I don't want the pennies. That's why I gave them to you."

She stood there for upwards of 15 seconds counting the money, then finally punched "$10.27" into the cash registered. For a moment, I thought I'd have to tell her how much it was.

She seemed surprised when "$0.05" came up as change.

Pitiful, I Know

Oh, I need new coats too. Notice the plural, as in more than one.

My coat inventory includes:
*a London Fog trench coat I bought at Good Will last year for $10
*an LL Bean field coat I bought when I moved to Boston in 1997
*an LL Bean parka I bought when I lived Western Mass and was playing in the snows of New Hampshire (circa 1995)
*a Peacoat I bought my first year of college. Yeah, in 1984.

I guess I've gotten my money's worth, but it's really time- ok past time- to buy a coat or 2.

Oh, I forgot about my current "dress coat:"
*a wool Herringbone coat that belonged to my paternal grandfather who passed away when I was in 6th grade (c.1978). And it had belonged to one of his sons before that.

And as sad as it is, that really is my coat inventory. I have 2 fleece cardigans and a fleece anorak (won at a raffle in my Western Mass days) as well as 2 or 3 cotton jackets for Spring and Summer. I know, pitiful.

But, I figured out that I can squeeze another year out of the field coat if I cut the cuffs off and reattach them because they are so frayed. And I've ordered a nice wool coat from LL Bean. It will serve as my new "dress coat" and since I'm trying to look like a grown-up these days, I'll probably wear it several times a week. I haven't had much luck looking in brick and mortar stores, so I'm doing the mail order thing.

Once I have the coat, I'll take a picture. I've ordered red!