Unconscious Mutterings

1. Concert:: Venue
   
2. Sydney:: Austrailia
   
3. Shower:: Stall
   
4. Patterns:: JoAnn Fabrics
   
5. Market:: Day
   
6. Chair:: person
   
7. London:: Fog
   
8. Reception:: Wedding
   
9. Republican:: Rush
   
10. Cough:: Annoying
    

Unconscious Mutterings

Second Job

Yep, I have a second job. Did I tell you about this before? I don't remember. Well, way back in August I applied for a part-time permanent job at the College of Lake County. In the Admissions office, evenings, no Fridays, only work til 8. Nothing too bad, right? Well, it took forever to get called in for an interview, and I didn't get the job. Well last week they call me up and ask if I'd be interested in a temporary job, starting as soon as possible and running through mid-January. So I took it. My first day (night?) was yesterday. Not too bad thus far. Mostly me learning how to do certain things, what's needed on what forms, how to look this up in the computer, how to do that, etc. Yesterday was the first day that the most "senior" of students could register for the next semester. It's based on whether or not you're currently enrolled and how many previous credits you have. Today is the second tier to register. Next Monday is open enrollment. That's when it should get busy. Some classes are already full. Some people can't read directions. Great that they're in college, eh? How about going back to 1st grade to learn to follow directions. Like those posted above the registration terminals telling you how to sign up for classes. People get really mad at you because they don't know that a six digit PIN number actually needs to have zeros in it if it starts with a 0. I know it's just a place holder people, but punch it in anyway, would ya? Oh well it's a community college, not Harvard, right? Harvard probably has the same problems.

Weekend Update

Friday night TNG, Christine, and I went and saw Gothika. It was pretty good. Not bad, nothing that will win any awards, but good. Not too gory, but suggestive mostly. Sort of The Ring meets Sixth Sense meets What Lies Beneath. I probably won't buy the DVD, but I will say it's worth the price of admission. Much better than Matrix 3, which I haven't seen, but have been told not to waste my money on.

Saturday TNG and I went window-shopping at the mall. We wanted to get ideas for what to get each other for our upcoming birthdays (mine is two weeks from today - YAY) and Christmas. After that we came home and made a Rice Krispy Treat Castle. Yep, and we weren't even high. We came up with this idea awhile ago, we wanted to make a Gingerbread House for Christmas. But then we thought it would be cool to make a Gingerbread Castle. Since we both like medieval type stuff, anyway. Then we go the brilliant idea of making the Castle not from Gingerbread (or Graham Crackers) but of Rice Krispy Treats, since those would look more like stone. Well, they didn't turn out quite as we had envisioned. We took pictures, which I hope to post soon. You'll see what I mean. :)

Today. It. Is. Freaking. Cold. Right now it is 19 degrees outside. 19. That's cold. Today's high is expected to be 25 and we're having flurries. FLURRIES. To those folks in the south that's SNOW that doesn't quite stick or accumulate. Wind Chill is 13 degrees. WE HAVE A FREAKING WIND CHILL. To sum up, it's cold. I was pumping gas this morning and my fingers were almost too numb to grab the receipt at the pump. Mental note: time to break out the gloves while pumping gas. Ah, Chicago, the only place where you can have a white Thanksgiving and a totally green Christmas. LOL

Lunch

I'm hungry, but I really don't want what is being served in the cafe. Hmm. Don't want to go out either. Woe is me. How y'all doing?

I have the best boyfriend ever

Today is our two month anniversary. Can that be right? Only two months? Yep, only two months. Seems like forever. In a good way of course! Last night he brought me a present. It was a print from my favorite artist, Amy Brown. I love her work, but before yesterday, didn't own anything by her. She has an online store that sells her work and other fantasy artists works called The Faery Shop. Check her out, and if you're interested, here's a picture of what he got me.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

It's raining. It's November. Temperatures today are expected to get into the 60s. It's November. What's wrong with this picture? I feel like Axl Rose and that "November Rain" song GNR did years ago. Probably the last hit they ever had. Well, I guess it's better than snow. About 1" of rain is equal to 10" of snow. So let's see... Yep, if it was a bit colder, we may be looking at 30-40 inches of snow on the ground. I think I'll be happy at the rain.

Uh Oh

That guy looking for his receipt last week must really be in trouble. He's now searching for:

rice krispy treats problem

Unconscious Mutterings of the Week

1. Plan B:: What the hell happened to Plan A?
   
2. Seattle:: Frasier
   
3. The lady wore:: RED
   
4. Upsetting:: News
   
5. Tampon:: Toxic Shock Syndrome
   
6. Celebrity:: Crimes
   
7. Baja:: California
   
8. 64:: Nintendo
   
9. RGB:: Roy G. Biv
   
10. Milkshake:: Steak N Shake ~ Mmmm Steak N Shake
    

A Little Visitor

This morning as I was getting ready for work Hobbs was, as usual, playing in the kitchen. He usually finds something to play with. Milk carton rings, ribbons, whatever he can get his little paws on. It's pointless to buy him toys. He either ignores them or plays with the noisy ones at 3AM. So he was happily playing with something this morning. But it was more than playing. Usually if the thing gets stuck he gives up and loses interest. This morning he was trying to get whatever it was he was playing with out from underneath the vacuum cleaner. Being as determined as he was, I went to investigate. I figured he had cornered a bug that had made it's way in. I moved the vacuum cleaner over a bit and saw it. Something. Something dark, something bigger than your average bug, something that moved too fast for me to see it. So I picked the vacuum cleaner up to get a better look, fully expecting a box elder or some other kind of odd beetle that didn't get the message to be hibernating this time of year. What I found was neither. A small gray mouse was under the cleaner and, having been exposed by me, was now franticly trying to run for cover from Hobbs. Now, I wouldn't normally consider myself to be the type of woman to run screaming from a mouse, jump on top of a chair, and yell at the cat to get "that wretched little thing". And I'm not. I didn't jump on any chairs. So now, my precious little baby is at home probably at this moment trying to catch the mouse. Or he's sleeping, who's to say? Part of me is worried that Hobbs will get rabies or something horrible from this mouse, part of me is worried about the poor little mouse! I mean he's just trying to find some place warm to sleep, right? Maybe he'll find his way out of the house, having figured out that my place isn't ideal for him. Another part of me is worried that I'll come home to find a dead mouse in my bed. Or maybe just the head, ala The Godfather.

Trials and Tribbleations of Winning an eBay Auction

OK, really, not winning an eBay auction, more like the ups and downs of bidding on an eBay auction. I know in this day and age many folks have "been there, done that" and buying something on eBay is old hat. Not for me. I've never bought anything off of there. Not sure why, just never did. Well, TNG is major in to it, he sells and buys stuff off of eBay and doesn't do too bad. Last week he bought us a Playstation 2 console. New, not from eBay. I want to play The Sims. Our Blockbuster NEVER has it in. They have one copy for rental and want wayyyy too much for a used copy. So I've been trying to win one on eBay. If you've never done the eBay thing, let me tell you, it can be an emotional experience. The exuberant feeling of knowing you're the high bidder, the bitter disappointment of getting the "You've Been Outbid" email. I can only imagine what winning an eBay auction would be like. How happy I would be. How joyous. How I would stand up from my desk, do a little dance, and then proceed to IM all of my friends at work to tell them the good news. They would not care. They would think I'm crazy. Sabrina, it's just a game, it's only the Internet. Calm down. But calm down I shall not. For the adrenaline rush that is eBay is calling. And I shall answer it.

But if anyone wants to sell me the game for $15 I'd be more than happy to take it off your hands.

Health Update

I'm feeling better. I'm about 96% right now. I say not totally 100% because I still cough now and then and my ears are still clogged. What? I SAID MY EARS ARE STILL CLOGGED! So was I worried last week that I was going to come back to a desk piled with work and spend the next month trying to dig myself out? Nope. Actually, quite the opposite. Last week I was worried that my co-workers would realize just how little I do and that they really don't need me. Christ, I'm blogging at work! No, I don't have a whole lot to do. I mean, I do have stuff, but I like to spread it out. No sense in getting it all done at once, right?

BTW I find it interesting that Blogger's Spell Check does not have "blogging" in it's database.

Search Term Bingo

This one popped up recently:

Receipt for Rice Krispy Treats

Um, try your wallet, I think that's where you left it.

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Leapfrog:: Annoying commercials
   
2. Co-workers:: Leave me alone
   
3. Mustang:: Ford
   
4. Wafer:: Catholics
   
5. Nicotine:: Patch
   
6. Fast food:: McDonald's
   
7. Suffocate:: CSI
   
8. Myth:: O-Logical
   
9. Lane:: Bryant
   
10. Unexpected:: Consequences
    

I'm baaaaaaccccckkkk

at work, actually. Whee. I can hardly contain my excitement. Spent the morning going through emails, doing stuff that needed to be done, back reading all the boring databases, and seeing what I missed for lunch last week. It was Hamburger & Hot Dog day last Wednesday. Dammit. Well, my Barenaked Ladies CD that I ordered the week before and had delivered to work came in. Woo. I'm pretty excited about that. I wanna get listening to it. Perhaps I'll pop it in my CD-ROM drive here. My left ear is still clogged. Did I tell you about that? It's pretty annoying. Everything on my left is muted. I don't like it. It's better than it was but still clogged. Sort of like the left side of my head is taking a plane trip and no one told the right side.

OK so I told you that TNG and I are talking marriage. Yeah, we got a date set and all that. We're "casually" looking in to stuff. We went to a local Bridal Show yesterday. Seriously, people, set up a coat check. Yeah, it was in a heated tent, and yeah, it was November, but it was warm in there. And refreshments, need refreshments!!! Even if I had to buy them! One place was giving away pieces of cake, which was yummy, but it was near to torture to give you that yummy cake and no milk to wash it down with. Sort of like that Got Milk commercial a couple of years ago where that guy dies and gets to the afterlife to find it filled with cookies but all of the milk cartons are empty. OK, yeah. We're going to another "bigger" one tomorrow. Hey, it's cheap entertainment. Plus I won something, a sitting or photo discount. I forget what. But it's better than nothing!

Fun With Doctors Redux

OK so I went to the doctor again today for my follow-up visit. I'm happy to report that I did not see scary-crazy-stroke-slipper-wearing freak doctor. I know all about respecting people and their different abilities no matter what age they are, but when you can't hold a pen, let alone a syringe and are screaming at the staff, perhaps it's time to retire. Just a thought. Anyway, I saw a PA today, someone who was certainly much more aware of her surroundings. She had different thoughts. I have a sinus infection! And she put me on different antibiotics since the other ones weren't doing any good. So, that's the update. I'll still be out of work tomorrow, hope to go back on Monday. One can only take so much of the Game Show Network, really.

On another note, I found out that some people were "hyperlinking" to my images. Bad idea. No-no. I found out who you are and changed the file names. Don't do that. Next time I'll get mean about it. Get your own server to store your images on. I don't care if you copy the images from my site, just save them to your own servers.

Fun With Doctors

I left early for my Dr appointment yesterday. It was the first time visiting this one, so I knew I'd have paperwork to fill out. The weather was really nice yesterday, though a bit humid. Filled out the paper work, got called in, and started to wait. And wait. And wait and wait and wait. I think I waited over a half hour in the exam room. With nothing to do. They had this in house television network, ERN, which had all sorts of programs you could watch while you waited for your doctor. No wonder health care costs are going up. I kept thinking "Well, the doctor will be here soon, so I won't watch anything." It's not like they had anything interesting, just the latest news on hypertension or erectile dysfunction, that sort of thing.
So the doctor finally comes in. Now remember, I hadn't seen this doctor before. The door creaks open, and an elderly gentleman in a lab coat is in a wheelchair.
"Hello there! I hear we're having a baby!"
"Uh, not me," I said back to him. He gets out of the chair with help from the assistant. OK, no biggie, people in wheelchairs are just as capable as those who aren't, right?
The doctor comes in the room, walks up to me sitting on the bed thingy, looks into my ears, my mouth, and my eyes, and says, "You're sick kid." No duh. He then pokes my stomach and says, "Have you been heavy all your life?"
Damn lucky he's an old man and I'm sick because that got my blood boiling. I did not come in to get lectured about my weight. I told him that yes, I had been heavy all my life. "Made any attempts to take it off?" he asks, "Yes." I tell him. "And how did those work out?" Hmm. Let's review. You just poked my stomach and asked if I had always been heavy and you aren't capable of figuring out how diets in the past have gone for me. "They haven't worked" I said through clenched teeth.
The doctor then drops the subject, and yells at his assistant to write this down. She doesn't have a pen. She leaves to find one. Then comes back. "Write this down!" He yells again. She goes to write what he wants. "Get out of my way!" He yells at her. She gets out of the way, he grabs the pen, and looks at the form. "I can't write any damn thing after this damn stroke, write this down!" He says, giving her the pen back.
He then recites some sort of medical information to her and spells it out, because the gal doesn't know how to. I wouldn't either, so I suppose I can't blame her too much. Then he says "We're giving her a shot." OK great, of what? I'm thinking. He yells at the girl to get some sort of medicine. It's not in the cabinet in that room. She goes into another room, comes back with it and another person. A nurse? I'm not sure. Well, there wasn't enough medicine in the vial so the assistants had to go find more. As they are in another room finding this stuff, the doctor is yelling at them, "DO WE HAVE ANY OR NOT???" Oy. Meanwhile I'm in the room, with him, my pants undone because I'm getting a shot in my ass soon, and the exam room door is wide open.
They finally find more medicine, get it sucked into the syringe, and the nurse/assistant type person hands it to the doctor. Oh great, cantankerous old crazy doctor with the shaky hands is going to give me a shot. Can't wait. He yells at her, "No, you do it, my hands are no good after the stroke." She shakes her head and says, "Oh no, I don't do needles." What? What? You work in a doctor's office, but you don't do needles. Um, am I the only one who sees this as a problem? Perhaps I don't know enough about how doctors offices are run. So I get the shot, of what I didn't know, and the doctor tells, no, yells at me, that I need to come back in a couple of days and that I'm getting a prescription. The nurse tells me the other doctor will be in shortly to write that up for me, and that this doctor has to see another patient. That patient is across the hall, also sitting on the bed, and I know this because my door is wide open and so is hers. She has this look of utter horror on her face as the doctor comes in to examine her. She was clearly pregnant and I'm certain she was nervous.
So then the other doctor comes in, tells me what the other doctor gave me, writes out the script, tells me what to do, and just what is wrong with me. I have an upper respiratory infection. The doctor injected an antibiotic in me, and gave me pills for another antibiotic. And I get to go back tomorrow! Whee. I can hardly wait.
I'm still out of work but I have a note from the doctor's office. I may go back on Friday. Possibly Monday. Depends on what they say. I'm supposed to be contagious so that's why I had to stay home. So, that's how it went at the doctor's office yesterday. They say I'm supposed to live.

Update

Still sick. I have a 1:15 appt today at the doctor's though. I think this may have developed into a sinus infection. Still coughing, still occasionally have a runny nose, sore throat, headache, ears clogged, and now my eyes are bothering me. :( Overall I'm feeling better but still have the nasty symptoms.

In other news, I have the most wonderful boyfriend in the entire world. He's come over to take care of me every day. He's made meals for me, gone out to the store to get me stuff, brought me things, washed the dishes, taken the garbage out, and straightened up the house. How did I get so lucky to have someone who's willing to do all that, see me when I'm spewing phlegm, and still love me and tell me I'm beautiful? He's the best.

Sick AND Tired

What the fuck. I am STILL sick!! I am tired of this! I've been sick for nearly a week now. This sucks. I'm coughing, have a runny nose, my ears are clogged up, I have intermittent headaches and sore throats. I'm not all achy all over any more but my head feels like it's going to implode or explode or some kind of plode. I'm tired of this! I feel like shit and I'm not going to take it any more. Christ, I mean, how much phlegm and snot can a body produce? Too bad I can't sell it because I'd be rolling in the dough, let me tell you.