Black Friday is Bad!

This makes me sick! I can't believe people! I didn't buy anything yesterday except a couple of bags of melokheya, pumpkin seeds, and ceylon tea-not because it was black Friday but because I was hungry and I was at the Pita House-yum.

I think I just decided that I cannot participate in after Thanksgiving sales again. This is going to break Alex's heart because it's the best time to buy electronics. Since we stopped giving/receiving Christmas presents, the whole season is really making me sad. I can't stand hearing Christmas music right after Halloween. I used to like it but I am afraid that it was for the wrong reasons. What happened to Thanksgiving? It's getting lost somewhere in between.

Ay me!

lazy weekend

Alex and I have been wearing an awesome set of headphones while listening to things on the computer lately but today I had to throw them away because the dog, one of them or maybe all three, chewed the cord in several places so that they were broken beyond repair. Grrrrrrr.

We made ourselves feel better by having chocolate milkshakes and I finally watched the Sex and the City movie. ahhhh, all better.

I also received several issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 8 in the mail. I had got quite behind and now I get to catch up. I like reading more than one at a time anyway.

I ♥ Joss Whedon

Yay, the new Dollhouse trailer!

ooto

I wasn't feeling well and I had to leave work early today. I went to the Doc and I have a severe kidney infection. Yuk! He said that my urine was full of puss. TMI. . .I know.

We called off the Thanksgiving camping trip because it's supposed to rain. I guess I will be sharing my day with many family members.

I really don't like celebrity gossip. . . really

But Jennifer and I laughed at this all day!

bacon

Hey Julie! I don't know if you will read this but this is for you!

something I heard on the radio

I heard an interview on Morning Edition while driving to work today. It was with Studs Terkel, I had never heard of him but he was described as a “legendary oral historian”, I liked what he had to say this morning about the human voice so I thought I would post it here.

Click to listen to the audio recording on the NPR site.

The legendary oral historian Studs Terkel was always a lover of what he called "vox humana" — the human voice. And he noticed when it was missing, as it was one day on an airport shuttle train in Atlanta.
A machine-like voice rang out from above informing Terkel and his fellow passengers that the train was about to leave the concourse. Otherwise, he recalled, it was dead silent.
The pneumatic doors were closing when a young couple pushed them open to get in, Terkel said.
"Without missing a beat, that voice above says, 'Because of late entry, we're delayed 30 seconds.'
"People looked at that couple as if that couple had just committed mass murder," Terkel said.
The two cringed — and Terkel spoke up.
"George Orwell, your time has come and gone!" he yelled out. The passengers greeted his attempt at humor with complete silence.
"And now they look at me — and I'm with the couple, the three of us are at the Hill of Calvary on Good Friday," Terkel said.
"My God, where's the human voice?" Terkel asked the passengers.
After noticing a baby on the train, he asked another question.
"Sir or madam," Terkel said to the infant, "What is your opinion of the human species?"
And the baby started to giggle.
"I said, 'Thank God — the sound of a human voice.'"

Fall Back

I've been 30 for one week now. It wasn't a great week. Marley got sick. It started with an upset stomach but he quickly got too weak to walk and he was vomiting so we took him to the vet. We switched vets a year or so ago because the people at Blue Ridge Animal Hospital are rude! The new vet was out of the office so Marley saw his substitute. The sub said that Marley probably had cancer because it is very common with golden retrievers that are his age (he is only 5!) and he said that he could do exploratory surgery but he thought that we should consider having him put to sleep to avoid subjecting him to unnecessary pain. I thought that was crazy so I called my Mom (that's what I do when I am upset-I'm a big baby) and she got us an appointment with her vet for a second opinion. Dr. Patch is the best vet ever! We didn't think that he was accepting new patients (that's why I had my Mom call-I'm also sneaky) but they said that they would and now we have a new vet! He thought that the lump in his belly could have been a cancerous tumor but was more likely and object so he gave Marley and IV to help with the dehydration and they kept him overnight to flush his system. The object moved out of his intestines and we were able to bring Marley home the next evening. He is skinny but back to his happy self. I am so thankful that he is feeling well. He really is the best dog that I have ever had and it just wasn't the same around here when he wasn't home.

Alex surprised me with a huge breakfast on my birthday, then my family came over and we all went to Lieu's Chinese Bistro for dinner. It was fantastic, even my Nana liked it! I can't believe that I haven't been there before. We came back to the house and played Rock Band and ate cake. It was a great evening. Alex bought me 1960: The Making of the President, one of the games on my wish list. We haven't played it yet but I have read the rules and I hope we will get to it this week since it's already dark when I get home from work. My neighbor, Mark, gave me some really cool stools that his father got while he was in Japan. I have been coveting them for quite sometime and he gave into the pressure. I will have to take a pic soon.

The cruise was loads of fun and very relaxing. It was quite a contrast from our honeymoon cruise that we took six years ago. Back then, we we spent tons of money and we did all kinds of crazy stuff. This time we relaxed and I got sunburned. I was able to talk Alex into entering the Hairy Chest Contest but he was eliminated in the first round. I think he was robbed. Most of those men were a lot older than him so he may have a chance in about 30 years. We were so frugal on this trip. I am so proud of us, $8 umbrella drinks do add up fast! I love that I am not as careless with money as I used to be! I posted some pics to my Flickr account. We also went to Kennedy Space Center on our way home. I love space! We got to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour being transported on the crawler to the launch pad! I haven't been able to upload those pics yet because I am close to my monthly limit on Flickr. I am considering a pro account so I can upload everything. My photography skills stink but I am going to try to improve. It is just not my thing but I have so much to document so I will have to work on it. I also really want to start Project 365 on January 1st. I think it would be good for me. I don't really like having my picture taken and I can't make good photos so maybe a year of making myself uncomfortable and taking pics will help.

My Mom is raising money for Jerry's Kids© and MDA, I know it's a long shot but I thought I would post her donation page just in case anyone reads this and feels like being charitable.

I have so much more to write about but I am going to stop now. I will keep the ideas for days when I don't have anything to say.

Happy November!