beenie

Yay!

The radio station I listen to has what they call "The 5-O'Clock Workout,"
which is a request show for the ride home. During the Workout, they have a
little contest called "What Year Was It?" They play snippets of 3 songs,
and you have to call and guess what year the songs were popular. I try to
get through every once in a while, only when the prize is really good or I
KNOW I know the answer. I've NEVER had anything but a busy signal - until
yesterday. I got through, and I won! McDonald's, here I come - I won a
4-pack of premium salads.

It's a beautiful thing

These two women have been together for 51 years. And finally, they have been permitted to do the one thing most people in love don't have to think twice about: they got married. :D

A little late

It's Saturday, but I'll post my first-ever participation in the Friday Five.

When was the last time you...

1. ...went to the doctor? Last Tuesday, Frbruary 10th.

2. ...went to the dentist? Confession time: I haven't been to the dentist since I lived in NY. I moved to Wisconsin on July 2, 1998. 5.5 years. I'm the kind of person who doesn't go unless/until something is actually bugging me. I guess I've been lucky, but now I'm just afraid, because I've been told that if you haven't gone in a long time, the initial cleaning is brutally painful.

3. ...filled your gas tank? Tuesday night, February 17th. The only reason I haven't had to fill it since is because I took a sick day on Wednesday and didn't use the 4 or 5 gallons it takes me for a round-trip to work. How's that for convenient? Not only did I have a day off work (albeit miserable from medication side effects), but I saved 7 bucks on gas!

4. ...got enough sleep? Last night

5. ...backed up your computer? Ummm, yeah. We're currently on a borrowed hard drive because we *didn't* back up. We'll be getting ours back next weekend and thankfully our wonderful friend Bill was able to save our files.

Heh

You will be smothered under a rug. You're a little
anti-social, and may want to start gaining new
social skills by making prank phone calls.

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
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SP'd from D.

QOTD

"On a bad day, I have mood swings -- but on a good day, I have the whole mood playground." ~sig line of a guy on a message board.

Why did the pharmacist have to be right?

Zocor does really give you a gut ache.

I feel like Special Ed

All I can think of is "I made healthy choices, yaaaaaayyyyyyy!"

I very recently found out that I have Metabolic Syndrome, so the eating well (which I've been doing somewhat) needs to increase and the exercising (which I never do) needs to be started.

I had my arm twisted into going willingly went to Panera for lunch today, and I made some choices that I'm proud of. I had the You Pick Two, which gets you two of the three - a cup of soup, half a sandwich and a small salad. I picked the cup of soup (Vegetarian Tomato Basil Bisque at less than 5g fat) and the Turkey Fresco sandwich (less than 10g fat for the half you get with the special).

I'm so proud of myself! This is MUCH better healthier than the Asiago Roast Beef and Broccoli Cheddar I usually get.

Heh heh heh.. yeah.

MTV2 had a Beavis and Butthead marathon on last night. I totally got sucked in.

Do you have any TP?

General retardation

School board: No credit for Hooters work

Short story: High school has a work-study program that lets students leave school early so they can work for vocational course credit. Quote from the article:

Vocational education programs at the high school allow students to leave the campus early each day to work at retail, administrative, service and other jobs. Students earn credits for the courses based on their supervisors' evaluations of their work ethic and performance.

Well, the school board won't allow her to use her job toward this program becasue, get this, she works at Hooters. Not as a Hooter girl, but as a hostess, wearing a collared shirt and long pants. Apparently the school board members can't handle it.

What an effing crock.

I have no idea why I'm like this

I often fail to point out little things that make me happy and keep me content. My wonderful hubby pointed out in his last comment that while I posted pictures of my car and the snow, I failed to mention that he started my car for me so it would be nice and defrosted and warm and reeady to go when I was done cleaning it off. He also partly cleaned it off for me.

He is truly a wonderful husband, a fact I fail to mention enough.

Let is snow, let i... oh hell, why can't it STOP snowing?!?!

This is the second day this week I'm not at work, and I have to work tomorrow to make up for it. This is what I get for having a 50+ mile commute. But just for Mel, here's some snow pics!

The huge pile at the end of the parking lot, my car, the pile between my parking lot and the building next door (and the front end of my car), and between my car and the one next to mine.

Remind me again why I work here?

I really hope I get the other position I'm applying for.

Excerpt of an e-mail I got from HR after I asked for tomorrow off due to a huge storm headed our way (winter storm warning in effect from 6 tonight until noon tomorrow):

"We have a large number of employees who live far away or who may concerned about the weather on any given day, but we still have a business to run, have customers to serve and the expectation is that the employee will do what they need to do to arrive to work and on time."

Which may as well have said "remember, we here at XYZ company don't care if you're DEAD, just as long as you made an effort to get here."

Hell yeah!

Mel pointed me to a blog with a great post on the gay marriage/civil union thing. Go have a looksee.

Now, if only I had a sax.

Which Simpsons Character Are You?

Well, I'm about as big as one, I wouldn't necessarily say I AM one...

You are a fridge! You can keep your cool, even when faced with a heated situation. You enjoy being the center of attention, and people come to you for advice or when they want something. People also like to stick things to the front of your body.

what kitchen utensil are YOU?

Since I only just saw the movie for the first time...

What Finding Nemo Character are You?
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Way late with this...

States I've visited. Wow, I thought there were more...

create your own visited states map

I just don't understand

I went to high school with this girl. I didn't know her, other than to know who she was - she graduated two years ahead of me at William Floyd High School, but was in choir and shows and such. She was beautiful. She taught elementary school music. She directed the choir at my church. She'd only been married for five months, to a man who proposed to her in front of her students and their parents at a holiday concert she was conducting, dressed in a Frosty the Snowman suit. And now she's dead, killed at my freaking high school bus stop. Less than a block from the house I lived in in NY. My parents' house. My house. Killed by a coward who was driving a stolen vehicle, was speeding, hit her car, and then RAN AWAY.

COWARD. Lying, thieving, murdering COWARD. Turn yourself in, you piece of shit, scum, disgusting sorry excuse for a human being COWARD!!!!!

I don't get it.

Newsday takes articles down and makes them subscription-only after a certain amount of time, so the text of the article is in the extended entry.

Newlywed Killed In Crash

By Denise M. Bonilla
Staff Writer

January 31, 2004, 9:43 PM EST

They were only three blocks from home and their cozy bed on Tyne Road in Shirley. Newlyweds JoAnna and William Berggren, both 29, were coming back from baby-sitting her sister's children in Mastic Beach, when a driver in a stolen Jeep plowed through a stop sign and slammed into their car.

JoAnna Berggren, a beloved elementary school music teacher and church choir director, died from injuries received in the crash. Her husband of five months remains hospitalized. The driver of the other vehicle has not been found by police. "She was loved by everyone, she inspired everyone," her sister Angela Zippel, 36, said through tears yesterday. "She was an angel. I can't believe this happened."

The couple, who lived with JoAnna's parents, were heading west on Tyne Road about 2:30 a.m. Saturday when a 2001 white Jeep Cherokee came barreling south on Lexington Road and plowed through a stop sign, Suffolk police said. The Jeep struck the passenger side of the Berggrens' 2001 Mitsubishi Galant, then came to a stop a half-block away, its occupant fleeing on foot.

JoAnna, who had been in the passenger seat, was pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center. Her husband was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital in stable condition, police said.

Police said the Jeep is a Verizon four-door work vehicle that was reported stolen Friday afternoon from a company repair yard in Holbrook. Seventh Squad Det. Lt. Tom O'Heir said the Verizon emblem on the side of the vehicle was painted over with white paint, O'Heir said.

O'Heir said the jeep was traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck the Berggrens' car. The speed limit for that area is 30 mph, he said. The investigation is continuing. JoAnna Berggren was a music teacher for Boyle Road Elementary School in Port Jefferson Station, where she was the director of the school's drama club.

She performed in theater productions herself throughout school, graduating from William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach in 1992 and from Wagner College in Staten Island in 1996. She later earned a master's degree from Stony Brook University. Berggren's passion in life was music, her sister said. She sang every Sunday at the 9:30 a.m. Mass at St. Jude's Church in Mastic Beach, where she was also the choir director. Funeral services will be held there.

Last summer, she sang the National Anthem at a Long Island Ducks baseball game. "She had a beautiful voice," her sister said. "I told her 'Why don't you go out for American Idol?' but she said she was too old."

Berggren married in August of last year. On the LI Weddings Web site, JoAnna wrote that in December 2001, William, a truck driver, proposed to her by dressing up as Frosty the Snowman during a winter concert at her school, popping the question in front of all her students and their parents.

Physically, William will recover, her sister said, but the loss of his wife has left him devastated. JoAnna " just made everybody so happy," her sister said. "And this guy who did this has got to come forward. I don't know how he can live with himself." Police are requesting help from anyone who may have noticed a white 2001 four-door Jeep Cherokee being driven in an erratic or suspicious manner. Anyone with information is asked to call Seventh Squad detectives at 631-852-8752 or Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

Absolutely freaked out

Ricin was found in a mailroom that serves Sen. Bill Frist's office. One of my girlfriends works there.

Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said the 16 people exposed were decontaminated late Monday as a precautionary measure.

My friend was one of them. Sounds like she's okay though. OMG, I'm freaked out.

Um, yeah. This one is right on.

You are a black cat, stubborn yet friendly, you stick to your values and preferences, and no one can convince you otherwise! You are the legendary cat of mystery.

What color of cat are you?
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