Seven days, some fun in between...

So last Friday, JB, Katie and I did go to lunch and it was great. I definitely hope that becomes a habit. I enjoy spending time with those two. Friday after work I spent the next five hours cleaning my apartment, top to bottom, in preparation for Aaron. His flight was supposed to get in around 11:30. It became 11:30 and his flight was delayed until midnight. Then it was delayed until 12:30. Then to 1:15 and finally to 1:30. So it was really late when he finally landed. I picked him up, and we went to Jay's diner for a late night dinner. He paid, so nice.

We left for home around 10am and the weekend went pretty well. Saturday afternoon we (aunts, uncles, Aaron) went to the casino, then after we went to Nola's basketball game. Her team won and afterward we went to the bar to celebrate my mother's birthday at the bar for a couple hours. It was pretty bad. A lot of country hicks standing around singing karaoke and drinking bad beer. I bought mom some alcohol and eventually got tired of everything and went home with Nola and Alex.

I bought a sheet pizza for everyone, picked up mom and Aaron around 1am and brought them home. The night was pretty strange. Sunday we woke up around 10:30 and got ready and went to my aunt's house for a birthday celebration for my uncle, mother and sister. There were 18 people there. Big family. The food was good. We went home, I gathered my stuff, did some laundry and then left for Rochester. I needed to get back to do home with my group. I got to school, we worked for a couple hours and then I went home. Ugh, busy busy.

The week went fast, partly because we only worked 3 days. :) Monday evening was homework evening. Tuesday we played badminton during lunch, which was so much fun. Tuesday evening was class. Good news was we got out early. Wednesday we got out of work at 2, I went home and prepared and finally left for home around 4. I stopped at the mall, walked with Deb, visited Nola at Totes and then went to mom's to drop off some stuff. I stayed for awhile, but mom and Molly were readying the house for a dinner party for a ton of people and I heard they were going to the bar. So I left and went to Deb's place.

I hung out at Deb's for the night, reading and watching TV. Finally got to bed and Deb woke me up at 6am. Apparently she left the turkey thawing out all night and was worried it was now full of salmonella. She wanted me to go buy a fresh turkey. I told her I didn't think it would be bad. I smelled the turkey, it smelled find. It was still very cold and even frozen inside. She called grandma and grandma told her the same thing. So we cooked the salmonella turkey :) and made a bunch of other stuff. Deb cleaned. Alison finally came over with Bob and the girls and brought cheese and crackers. Grandma, Mary Joan, Frank, Alex, Aaron, Nola, Molly and mom came over around 12 - 12:30. In total, we had 14 people. Not too bad, considered we didn't have a table that big. We had to bring in a card table and the kitchen table and extended the dinner table. It was quite interesting.

Food was of course very good. I brought rolls and everyone loved them. They went fast. I bought 40. I didn't have any turkey, just in case.. shh.. don't tell Deb. I was very good. I didn't overeat. Heh. It was a good day. We sat around until about 3:30 and finally everyone left. I went through the sale papers and planned my black Friday. I finally left around 5:30 and went back to my mom's place. Mom worked the evening. I hung out with Molly, Mark, Nola and Alex for the evening, watching movies, shows on my laptop and Molly played 'The Sims' on Mark's computer. Apparently, he and Alex now have bedrooms in our house. It's funny. I sleep on the couch now. :)

Mom woke me up when she got home around 12:30. Nola woke me up at 4am instead of 5am to get ready for shopping. She said she wasn't going to go. I tried to sleep again for an hour, but couldn't. So I just sat there and waited. I packed the car, got ready and left around 5:30. I got to Big Lots at 6am, got my free gift. I walked around inside just to see if anything else was good and got pushed out of the way by someone getting a SpongeBob action figure. He went by with four of them. He went to some woman and she said 'Why did you get FOUR?' He yells back 'I didn't know how many you wanted!' These people are funny as hell.

I then went to Staples, bought some DVDs and stuff, checked out. I got on the thruway, sped off to Office Max in Victor and went inside. There were 300 people in line. I turned around and left. No amount of free stuff is worth a full store of people pushing and shoving. I went to KMart, checked out the comforters. Was disappointed, decided against it. I went to Target, bought a quesadilla maker for Mary Joan for Christmas and left. That store was full of people too. I headed into Rochester, went to Super Walmart in Chili. That place was even more full. Oi. It was around 9:30 by then. I got in and couldn't find a couple of the items I needed but I passed by the quesadilla maker for $5 cheaper. Ugh. I bought that one too, and planned to go to Target to return the other one. I bought some razors and an electric mixer for myself.

I went to Target, returned the item and then went to the Henrietta Walmart and went in to see if any of the sale items were left. I think this Walmart had the entire state's supply of stuff. They had piles so large I don't think they will sell out for months. I found the quesadilla maker for $18, so $3 more than the other Walmart. Phew. But then I found the same damn mixer for $3 cheaper. Sigh. So I bought that along with some other cheap appliances. I lost $4 stuff. I returned the other mixer and then headed to OfficeDepot. I went in, was disappointed with the selection (it was pretty empty of people). I went into Big Lots, bought a candle. I went into Radioshack and woohoo! Not only was I greeted 10 TIMES by sales people, but the store was full of people. I found some sale items and ended up buying a DVD player for $20. I was told it would play DVD+Rs, the kind I burn, so I was excited. $20 is cheap and if it plays my DVDs.. then this would be a great present for mom. I was tired and ready to go home, so I headed back.

Since then, I've been watching TV, movies and Law and Order. The cat is happy to see me.. and I happy to see her too. I ate my leftovers from yesterday (yay.. Thanksgiving twice) and now.. I'm ready for a nap. :)

Thanksgiving Photos

Family Picture


Aaron, Mom and I at Thanksgiving


Mom & Nola


Nola, Aaron, Mom, Me & Molly at Thanksgiving

Actually had fun this week...

Monday night was simply homework with my group for 4 hours. Which isn't to say it wasn't fun, but first we went to a review session with the TA and then worked on the homework for several hours, finally getting it all done.

Tuesday evening we had class. Three hours of mindless drivel. I kind of understand regression and whatnot but its not like its fascinating material. Thank goodness we only have three more classes. I ended up leaving and got home by 9.

Wednesday at lunch I went to the gym with a couple people and we played badminton. They needed a fourth and I was it. I had so much fun! It's amazing, trying something new. I worked up quite the sweat and had a good workout.

Thursday at lunch I played volleyball with the usual crowd. My team won three games out of three, so we rocked. A new guy played with us, Mike. Always nice to play with new people, but they always seem to not know what to do. Hopefully they catch on. I'm still trying to get Katie & JB to play with us. :) After work I went to the Spot and had a nice chat with a friend, then after, I went to my office to find my wallet (I couldn't find it and then it dawned on me where I hid it) and then went to Walmart for some supplies. I developed 2 8x10 pictures for my wall, bought some soda and such and went to blockbuster to rent 4 movies for the weekend. Aaron is coming home for 2 weeks on Friday night and my family loves movies. I got 4 coupons from blockbuster online rental and used them. :) Got home, watched TV, nothing exciting, but I felt so productive.

This morning I scheduled an appointment for my car for its 30,000 miles maintenance. So scary I've driven it so much! It's gonna be like $120 for this damn maintenance and I don't even think the car really needs it, but the warranty requires it. I tried to cancel my blockbuster online membership today, but they offered me a free month. So I took it. :) I also finally got the Bursar to remove the hold they have on my account. I forgot to turn in my tuition waiver in September, so they were billing me for $3900. Eeek!

Today, JB, Katie and I are going to lunch. Can't wait.

Now for a couple items in the news headlines:

Porn destroying lives. Watch out, naked pictures are hurting your brain as much as cocaine or heroin.

Debt limit to rise to $8.18 trillion. Makes me wonder what the US Government FICO score is. :)

Five teens arrested in turkey-hurling incident What else can we throw through windshields?

A zinger of a weekend!

So, Wednesday I did get my haircut. The lady messed up the front of my hair and I regret having my sideburns removed, what little I had. Well, good thing my hair grows fast. I waited for 2 hours to get my hair cut, so no groceries for me. I think Wednesday was just a night of relaxing, watching TV and talking to people online. Jake never showed up, fortunately, so I got a solid night of sleep and wasn't late in the morning like I usually am when he stays over.

Thursday morning I had to go into work early to help the freshmen register for classes in ITS. Fortunately the system didn't crash and only a couple kids needed help. So Mike (coworker) and I just sat there until noon. I went the gym and the rest of the day was pretty mindless. Thursday night I got to watch a bunch of TV from Wednesday night that I missed, including 'Lost' and a bunch of stuff from SciFi channel. I also went and got groceries from Wegmans, and bought a turkey to cook on Saturday. I had this big day planned.

Friday was so dull and boring I couldn't believe it. Friday night wasn't any better. But it went by fast. Saturday, I got up after fighting what seemed to be a heavy weight on me. It was so hard to wake up. I finally got up around 9 and went to Walmart for some supplies. I got the turkey ready and into the over. I spilled some blood onto the floor (oops) but the cat got to it. I had a list of chores to do, including cleaning a bunch of stuff, including the bird cage. I made guacamole and have plenty of leftovers. I also watched several moves, including Hellboy, Star Wars, House of Sand and Fog and Daredevil. Turkey came out around 4 and I had dinner, with all the fixings. The cat found the cooked liver and was happily chowing down on that. I later found it, stinking up my apartment.

Sunday I woke up pretty late, got up and moving around noon, and went to my sister's last soccer game in East Rochester at 1. I had a great time.. once I found an ATM to get money out for the entrance fee. I've never sat through a whole soccer game. It's so exciting to watch someone you know play. I bet its fun to play too. Been a long time since I've played soccer. I got to talk to Nola after her game, plus my mom's neighbor's and Nola's friend. She wants me to get her into UR. Ha. She thought I worked in admissions... :) After saying goodbye to Nola, I went back to my place for a quick nap before homework fun with my group at Simon.

We worked from 4:30 to about 8:30. Not a lot of fun at all. We're not lost, but we're not masters of the material. Hopefully Monday night's session will be better. After I got back, I chatted with a friend online for awhile and then went to bed.

Hmm, now for some things I found interesting in the news.

Conservative groups complain about everything. People seem to need to protest everything. Please, this guy advanced science, what's wrong with that?

Some worry evolution dispute hurts image. Well, duh! Evolution isn't exactly an atheistic notion. It's called science, absent of religion. If you wanna teach your kids that the Earth was created in 6 days, then do that on the 7th day and let the professionals teach our kids information that will get them into college.

Cabinet members resign, including Ashcroft. Oh thank god, I guess that's one glimmer of hope. Though Colin Powell was a beacon of reason, and now he's leaving.

Slow, yet delightful, Wednesday

So on Monday evening was Kelly's baby shower, which I was invited to. It was in the chapel in a nice conference room. Kelly got a ton of nifty baby gifts, the food was good and it started to snow. By the time I had left at 7, there was almost an inch of snow on the ground. Yikes! Too early for snow!

Tuesday was good, except for class. A long 4 hours of restlessness and coughing and I even sneezed unexpectedly, which made Carrie and Katie laugh. Glad they had fun at my expense!

During the mid-class break, we all went to check out the new Java Cart in Simon, which was fantastic. They even have Ben & Jerry's ice cream, if I ate that. One thing about Simon is that any time there is an event, be it a pizza party of Indian Food party, leftovers are brought down to the lounge.

So I had Indian Food for dinner, which was fantastic. I didn't want any of the leftover pizza, but the chicpeas were wonderful. Class got done and I stayed for the lab for awhile until I just had to leave. I wasn't getting anything out of it.

Today has gone well. It's much warmer out than it has been in days and today's volleyball match was pretty fun. I worked up a sweat. :) No big plans for tonight... I'm gonna get my hair cut and I might stop to get some groceries.

Don't kill me, I was sick!

So Monday I woke up very ill, with a headache and a sore throat, but like a trooper, I went to work anyway. I started work on the IPC project and by noon, I was dizzy and ready to throw up. BUT I went to the gym anyway. At 1:30, I went home ill and slept the rest of the afternoon. Fever, dizziness, nausea, sore throat, chills, the works. At 5, I went back to school to study with my group for several hours, since we have a midterm on Tuesday. Studying went well, I felt a little better.

The rest of the night was ok, I tried to relax. Tuesday I woke up even worse. I had dreamt of stats during the night unfortunately and I couldn't breathe, two bad combinations. I called in sick to work and called the Dr. to make an appointment. They got me in at 10:30 and I rode my bike to the Dr. and waited in the waiting room for almost 90 minutes. I felt like I was going to die and I had no voice.

The doctor said it was simply a viral infection and most of the symptoms I had were dehydration, so to drink more and get more rest. He even wrote me a note for being sick for my class (which the test was that night.) I relaxed for a couple hours until Mom came up with food and drink. She did my dishes and cleaned up a little. She eventually left for work and I felt much better for the rest of the day. My instructor said I didn't need to take the final, so I took that opportunity and slept the night away until the election results started coming in. I watched, saddened, and eventually went to bed. I had a rough night coughing and not being able to breathe, though.

I went to work on Wednesday to finish up the IPC project and started getting cold chills early on. My headache returned and I started coughing. I finished up the project by 11:30, but my boss said I needed to go to a meeting. So once the meeting was over, I went home and slept for the rest of the day, fever was back, chills back, sickness all back in full swing. It sucked. Jake came over and I tried to keep him from getting sick from me.

Thursday I wasn't feeling better. I hardly moved the whole day and tried to take it easy. I went to my old boss's retirement party at 3:00 in Helen Wood hall and had an ok time. I'm gonna miss her. Thursday night was just sitting around and watching tv and movies. I watched Lord of the Rings Return of the King and took it easy.

Friday I went to work, Jake dropped off his dog and I worked on a couple projects for the rest of the day. I went home, Jake got there and we spent the evening watching tv and eating Pizza from a local place. We played video games pretty late and eventually went to bed. We got up pretty early, I felt remarkably better and we went to Jay's Diner for breakfast. I saw my coworker Mike there eating with a friend and after that we went to the junk yard to find a part for Jake's Sentra.

We went back to the apartment, played video games ALL day, then we went to get Paola's for dinner. We also went to Record Archive, Jake bought a bunch of CDs, I bought 2 DVDs (buy one get one free) and we went back for another round of gaming. This was a gaming weekend for sure. Later that evening we went to a bar on Alexander Street and played pool for several hours. Jake bought me a drink and we had a good time. We left around midnight.

Sunday we woke up and resumed game play. At noon, Jake left with the dog to go to a picnic. I watched a movie, took a nap and watched some recorded tv for the afternoon. Jake got back, we went to Brockport and watched the Incredibles with Lindsey and got a late night dinner at the Brockport College dining hall. We came back, watched some Bill Mahar and then went to bed.

Exciting weekend, for sure.