Sheba

My beloved pet dog, Sheba, was put to sleep this morning. She was 10 years old. She had developed lymphoma near her spleen and according to the vet it spread very quickly.

I thought she was only going to the vet to be examined so that we could find out why she had been so lethargic over the past few days. I wasn't prepared for this. I am too exhausted emotionally to write much more at the moment. I really loved her very much and my heart is broken.

Texas Longhorns football team cranking dat soulja boy

This reminds me of when I was in high school, when we would just break off into a dance if a song we liked started playing. Too funny! :-)

(My favorite is the comment from the guy who added this video to YouTube: "If the defensive line played as well as they danced they may have beaten the spread." HA!!!)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4US7L6ypRk4

Example of why you ALWAYS need a Plan 'B'

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "Life comes at you fast!" I just realized that I have NO idea who actually coined that phrase. I only recognize it from the Nationwide Insurance commercial.

In case you don't read this blog regularly, here's a quick summary of the current state of my life. My husband applied to law school early in 2006 thinking that due to his age, and a few other factors, he'd never actually get in. He just wanted to say that he had applied. During the Spring of 2006, he gets accepted into law school! Now, we realize that if he goes part time, it will take about 5 years. Spending 5 years in law school is just not an option at this point in our lives. At all. We determine that we can almost afford to live on my salary alone, and decide that he should try to go full time. The fact that my mom decided to retire around the same time and keep my daughter while my hubby was at school and I was at work confirmed that he had to go for it. Without the second daycare fee to pay for, we knew that we could manage.

We are now at the end of 2007, and my hubby has 4 weeks of class left in this semester, which means that he has gotten through 1/2 of his total time in law school. My grandmother began living with my mother late last year. This past week, my grandmother got very sick. So sick, that she ended up being hospitalized. They told us that they were keeping her overnight. That same evening, my mom was told that my grandmother had pneumonia. We just didn't see that one coming. The next evening (Friday), my mom was told that my grandmother didn't have pneumonia. Praise God! I was so relieved. I went to visit my grandmother in the hospital yesterday (Saturday). She seemed to be doing well, but she kept having episodes where she wasn't able to catch her breath. So at this point, I believe the doctors are running all the tests they can to rule everything out. If the tests reveal nothing that the doctors can remedy via a hospital stay, I know that eventually they will have to send her home. This will leave my mom caring for her full time for an indefinite amount of time.

So this leaves my hubby and I with some quick decisions to make. I can't keep working from home...I need to be in meetings with my colleagues...I need the mental stimulation of being around other people with various technical skills that I can bounce things off of...I need that second pair of eyes...and to be frank, they need me as well. So what do we do?

That remains to be seen... :-/ More later...

Justice...FINALLY

Breaking News on CNN.com...Genarlow Wilson has been released from prison.

Developing Story

Four Things

I found this on Snarky Momma's blog and I liked it. Here are my responses:

Jobs I’ve Had
1. Software Developer (Choicepoint)
2. Investment consultant intern (Watson Wyatt)
3. Tech support rep (OFS)
4. Sales clerk (Rich's)

Places I’ve Lived
1. Atlanta, GA
2. Decatur, GA
3. Athens, GA
4. Douglasville, GA

Foods I Love
1. Chocolate Chip cookies
2. Submarine sandwiches
3. Fried Shimp w/Cocktail Sauce
4. Pasta

Websites I visit
1. Reformed Chicks Blabbing
2. Carsonified
3. Miscellany
4. La Shawn Barber's Corner

Places I’d Rather Be
1. Orlando, FL
2. Camp Greenville
3. Wednesday evening CORE service
4. Cruise ship to the islands

Movies I Love
1. Back to the Future
2. The Devil Wears Prada
3. Lackawanna Blues
4. Dodgeball

TV Shows I Watch
1. The Office
2. Medium
3. The Hills
4. Young and the Restless

Weight Management: Figuring it all out

**Scroll to bottom for update**

I cannot sleep. I was showered and in the bed at 8:15pm. I checked my email, surfed for a few moments, and shut down the computer at 8:30pm. As I was about to rest my head on the pillow, I saw a news story that made me decide to call my mom to chat with her about it for 2 or 3 minutes. We talked for a solid hour. :-)

At 9:30, I laid my head on my pillow to go to sleep. Never happened. Let's go back...waaay back.

Back in May of 2006, my hubby and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. I had begun exercising pretty regularly for about a month or so prior and I was feeling very fit at the time of the vacation. I wore lots of cutesy outfits because I felt great and I was very confident. I weighed 180 lbs.

By the end of the following summer, I had lost another 15 lbs or so and was down to 165 lbs. By the time Christmas rolled around, we began planning for our Spring 2007 trip to Orlando. I wanted to get down to 155lbs by the time the Orlando trip rolled around; I know that I can fit into my size 8 pants and shorts at that weight. So 2007 rolls in, and I decide to kick it into high gear. I began taking fat burners and working out everyday. Why the fat burners? They suppress my appetite, and I get to the point where I'm only eating because I know that I should. This means that I wasn't craving anything in particular, and was fine with eating fruit for breakfast and bland skinless chicken breasts and broccoli spears for lunch and dinner everyday. I do not endorse fat burners for everyone; you have to be very careful and be sure that you know what's good and what's bad for your body.

I hit 155 by the beginning of February! There were still about three pair of my skinny size-6 pants that I couldn't fit into comfortably. So I decided why not lose another 7 or 8 lbs or so? By the time March 1 rolled around, I was down to 143! When I look back at pictures from the Disney trip earlier this year, I just love how skinny I look.

So now it's October of 2007. Seven months later. And I have managed to gain 24 lbs back. I currently weight 167 lbs. How do you gain 24 lbs in seven months? You have a good friend give you the best chocolate chip cookie recipe on earth. And you bake said cookies "for your kids" every other day for 3 solid months. Oh, and you also abandon the gym, and instead, eat a burger and fries from Wendy's for lunch everyday. Yep, that'll pretty much do it. Not to mention the fact that when you're 5'9, you can carry a lot of weight before it starts to become obvious that you've gained too much.

HERE'S THE QUESTION: At what point am I making the switch from working out everyday and eating healthy to eating like a pig and skipping the gym? That's what I need to figure out. That's why it's really good to keep a journal or a blog. I can go back and look through my posts over this past year and determine what my mindset was, what my actions were, and hopefully I can get an idea of where exactly I keep crossing the line from fit to fat.

More on this later...

=============================================

Update - 10:20am

It was just brought to my attention that I never explained how this all ties in to my insomnia last night. The fat burners that I mentioned above have high amounts of caffeine (which ties in to the loss of appetite). Therefore, when you take them for the first time (or the first time in over a year) your body and mind have to resynchronize themselves, so to speak, due to the sudden boost to your metabolism. This makes it difficult to feel tired enough to sleep during this adjustment period. Don't worry, my body will be adjusted by tomorrow at this time I'm sure. Crash and burn much?

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Okay, so this is the funniest thing I've seen in a VERY long time. Laughed my butt off! Jeff Dunham is a genius.

Please pray for the Johnson family

This is such an awful tragedy. I found this story on Malkin's site a few moments ago. Heart wrenching. This family needs our prayers now.

Story here

Scariest scenes

I blogged a little over a week ago about what I felt were the 10 scariest movies. I've been watching a few good horror flicks lately to get in the October mood, and I'd like to revise that list. I'm also adding what I feel were the scariest scenes from each of these movies.

10 Vacancy
Scariest scene: When the couple in the hotel room began to realize that the horrific scenes they were watching on videotape actually occurred in their room

9) Joy Ride
Scariest scene: When the 18 wheeler comes barreling through the ICE truck

8) Final Destination
Scariest scene: Anytime the John Denver song began playing

7) Signs
Scariest scene: a) Graham in the cornfield at night b) Merrill watching the televised news scene from the birthday party in Brazil c) Graham wheeling the TV into the living room

6) Scream
Scariest scene: The opening scene of the movie

5) Cape Fear
Scariest scene: The kitchen scene where it's discovered how Cady was getting in the house *hint* cross dressing!

4) The Shining
Scariest scene: This whole friggin' movie scared the crap outta me...the creepiest scene overall must have been the bathroom scene with Jack Torrance and Delbert Grady

3) Mothman Prophecies
Scariest scene: The phone call John Klein received in the hotel

3) Final Destination 2
Scariest scene: Scene leading up to and including the gruesome elevator scene. "Nora! A man with hooks is going to kill you!"

2) The Ring
Scariest scene: a) Opening scene b) Closet scene with cousin Katie c) Samara enters from tv

1) Halloween
Scariest scene: a) Annie walking back to the car with her keys b) Laurie searching for her friends across the street

Tricky, tricky!

I just found a really cool prank that you can play on your friends just in time for Halloween. Digg had a post from a guy who created a perl script that you can use for some office fun. You add the message of your choice to your script, complete with the IP address of the affected HP printer you want to use, and your message will appear on the LCD! Can you imagine the looks on your co-workers faces as they approach the printer to make a few copies and see the message "Get Me Out Of This Printer" Ha!! Of course, the size message you should send depends on the size of the printer LCD.

The post is here complete with instructions on a useful installation to use if you want to run perl on Windows.

Too much depressing news

There are so many things on my mind right now that I'm having trouble sorting through them. The news is ABSOLUTELY depressing today. The news is depressing everyday actually. Whenever I hear about someone losing their life, I always pause for at least a moment to think of what this person's family and friends must be enduring at that moment. But today, it's been a little much. Children dying at the hands of depressed/neglectful mothers, a toddler realizing my worst fear at one of the world's most spectacular wonders, the remains of the skydivers have been found, nooses at Columbia University, it's all too much. If I go back and refresh CNN.com, I'm sure new devastating headlines will appear.

*moments later* See what I mean? I just refreshed the homepage, and now there's a report of a shooting at a school in Cleveland, OH. 5 shooting victims so far, and the gunman is reported to still be in the school.

Best Suspense Movies

Those of you who know me well probably know that I am in love with scary movies. I don't ride roller coasters, bungee jump, or parasail, but I'll sit in my living room at night with all of the lights off and a bowl of popcorn on my lap while watching a bone chilling thriller. I know a lot of people who will do all of the aforementioned risk-your-life type activities, yet they will not sit with me to watch a suspense/horror scripted series of events, even in a theatre full of people. It's so interesting how we are all wired so differently!

Yesterday, "Right Wing News" posted the following question, just in time for Halloween: "What Are The Best Suspense Movies You've Ever Seen?" Here is a list of my faves:

10 Primal Fear
9) Stir of Echoes
8) Joy Ride
7) Signs
6) The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
5) Cape Fear
4) The Shining
3) Final Destination 2
2) What Lies Beneath
1) Halloween

Video Clip of the Week

For those of you who watch "The Office", Thursdays on NBC at 9pm (and even for those of you that don't), this may be the funniest opener ever on the show. Enjoy!

Clarence Thomas vs Anita Hill revisited

It's been 16 years since the controversial court hearing heard around the world.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has written a book entitled "My Grandfather's Son". I will try to get around to reading it if time permits. I am interested in hearing his perspective on things. Being a young teen at the time, I was pretty much told how to feel about Justice Thomas and never took the time to actually listen to all of the details and think the whole case through for myself. This is probably typical for most kids, so that's neither here nor there.

In other news, how do 16 years go by without Anita Hill aging one single day? She looks awesome! (Of course I would notice that) :-)

CNN story here

CNN Video here

Also, La Shawn Barber, who has actually met Justice Thomas, shares her thoughts