Oh the weather outside is...nice!

I don't miss snow. I don't miss ice. I don't miss brown slush. It's the end of December here in sunny central Florida, and I couldn't be more pleased about it. My biggest weather concern is whether or not I should shut my patio door at night so the temperature in my fish tank doesn't drop below 70 (it's been over a week with the new fish and everyone is still alive!). I do still have to wear a jacket - inside at work. I have to take it off to go to my car at the end of the day, though, because it's so nice and warm and sunny. And if I forget my sunglasses - well, it'll take my eyes a while to adjust to the bright sunshine.

The temperature reaches the mid to upper 70s during the day and a brisk 50 or so at night. It was overcast one day last week. That was a nice change from the boring sunny days that surrounded it. Oh, and the humidity is gone, too. I'm not sure why people want to live in places that it snows and drops below freezing. I guess some people like it, but not me. No sir, I like my sunshine and warmth.

Fish, take 2

Earlier in the month, Matt and I bought a 5 gallon fish tank. We bought several small fish and thought we were set. I really enjoyed watching them. I found it relaxing. The cats really enjoyed them as well. No more than 2 weeks later, they were all dead.

Last night, I completely cleaned the fish tank. I bought some water treatment stuff and some more fish. I also got some aquarium salt to see if that helps. It's nice to have the fish again, and I'm hoping for three weeks this time!

Road trip!

Matt and I were being lazy and doing absolutely nothing early Saturday afternoon. I suddenly got sick of being lazy, so I decided we were going to go to Charleston, South Carolina. I looked it up on Google maps, and it's about a 5.5 hour drive from Daytona Beach. Why Charleston? Two reasons - first, I could cross South Carolina off of the states that I hadn't been to. Second, Matt was stationed there for about a year.

So, within 30 minutes, we packed up and headed out. We ran a few errands in town and off we went. The drive up was fun. Matt and I talked most of the way, which we don't seem to do as much as we used to. The sun set on us after about an hour of our journey, but that made the trip that much more interesting. Somewhere in Georgia, we pulled off the interstate and found a secluded spot to look at the stars. I hadn't seen so many stars in a long time. I realized that it's almost impossible to stare at the sky at night without plummeting into deep thought. As we drove on, Matt and I discussed our views on the meaning of life, spirituality (or lack thereof), civilizations, religion in the world today, space exploration and many other heavy topics.

Along the trek up, I came to realize something about the Georgia and South Carolina coasts - they stink. I don't mean that in a metaphoric manner, I literally mean that they smell bad. Matt described it as the smell of someone's breath who hasn't brushed their teeth in a few years. Anyway, we made it up to Charleston and found a hotel room close to the base that Matt used to live on. However, sleep was not to visit on this night.

I think that we were in a room below some amateur wrestlers. Starting at about 1:00, the wrestlers stomped around in their room. They didn't stop until 5:30. At one point, Matt decided to turn on the fan in the air conditioner to drown out the noise. As soon as he turned it on, the room was filled with a smell worse than the bad breath of the state we were in. Matt described this new smell as follows - someone had peed in the fan, it had dried and stayed there for a bit waiting for him to turn on the fan.

At this point, I was laughing pretty hard. Matt did end up getting a couple hours of sleep and I learned a lot about grizzly bears from the discovery channel. The next day, we went out for breakfast, drove around Charleston Harbor, stopped at a Fort Sumter Civil War museum and went to the Charleston aquarium. We were glad to get home, though.

Here's another one!

So, what's the full name on your birth certificate? Cheyenne Marie Gillingham
Who sleeps in the same house as you? Matt, Nite, Buffy and now a bunch of fish
Who was the last person you hung out with? Everyone from work at our company holiday party.
Suppose you see your crush/ boy/girl friend kissing another person, what would you do? Oh man, I'm not sure I can honestly answer that without being in that situation. It wouldn't be pleasant.
Right now do you prefer a Strawberry Milkshake or a Banana Cupcake? The milkshake.
Is your phone within a meter radius of you? The house phone is.
Are you doing this just because you're bored? Pretty much yeah.
Whats bothering you right now? I'm tired and don't want to go to bed yet cause it's Friday night.
Who do you think you're going to spend New Year's with? Maybe Carolyn and Mat.
Was last year's New Year's enjoyable? It was nothing special.
Do you miss someone right now? If so who? All of my family that isn't here.
What does your last text message say? I haven't texted in a long time.
Can you text 60 words per minute? No problem.
Are you high? No.
McDonalds or KFC? McD's.
Krispy Kreme, Dunkin donuts or Wendy's? Wendys
Target, Wal-Mart or K-Mart? Depends what I'm shopping for, usually Wal-Mart though
What color is your top? Grey
Is that color your favorite? No
Is there a high chance of you going out to the movies soon? No
How smart do you think you are? Not as smart as I once was, but wiser.
Can you surf? No
Are you easily scared by horror/thriller films? No.
If you were given $100 would you spend it or save it? Spend it
If there was a large spider in the room, would you stay? Definitely not
Would/could you ever become a vegetarian or even vegan? No way, I like myself some meat. Medium rare. Maybe even still mooing.
Where are you right now? Home, sitting on the futon.
Do you think your crush likes you? These teenage questions crack me up.
What is your desktop picture? A digital picture of the view of Earth from the surface of the moon.
Can you swim well? Yeah.
Do you shop for clothes? Only if I have to.
Would you rather go to Tokyo or Paris? Definitely Tokyo.
Do you have a guitar in your house? A bass guitar yeah. I eventually want a regular electric and an accoustic.
Are you listening to music right now? Yep, some Jim Croce.
Who else is in the room with you? Matt, Nite and Buffy are all snoozing.
In winter, would you rather wear jackets or hoodies? Probably both, I hate the cold.
Can you make balloon animals? I never really tried.
How often do you get onto myspace/facebook? Myspace, usually everyday
How long can you go without your mobile phone? A very, very long time. I don't like it anymore.
Do you have any enemies? Not that I know of.
How much cash is in your wallet? Usually none
Ever kissed a blonde haired, blue eyed person? Nope
Last compliment? Matt told me I look nice.
What are you thinking about right now? Wondering if I should post this or not.
Would you ever be able to date someone who had a kid with someone else? I don't know
What made you laugh a lot last? A ranger with a sock puppet in front of Old Faithful.
Spoon or fork? SPORK!
Where did you last sleep other than your house? Mom and Dad's.
What are you doing tomorrow? Probably sleeping in, playing video games, going to Pet Smart to get Ick killer.

Year in review

Where did you begin 2007? At home with Matt.
What was your status by Valentine's Day? My status? Married if that's what they mean.
Were you in school (anytime this year)? Yes, dropped out though.
Did you have to go to the hospital? Nope.
Did you have any encounters with the police? Nope.
Where did you go on vacation? Just home to Wisconsin.
What did you purchase that was over $500? I don't think I bought any one item over $500 this year.
Did you know anybody who got married? Nope.
Did you know anybody who passed away? Yes, a guy at work.
Did you move anywhere? For the first time in a couple of years, NO.
What sporting events did you attend? Wow, I had a boring year. None.
What concerts/shows did you go to? See my answer to the previous question.
Describe your birthday: Uneventful.
What's the one thing you thought you would not do but did in 2007? Worked at Tel-Tron the whole year.
What has been your favorite moment(s)? Going to Wisconsin was nice.
Any new additions to your family? We just got some fish.
What was your best month? November was pretty good.
Who has been your best drinking buddy? I don't drink much, but when I do, Carolyn's my pal.
Made new friends? Yes - a few at work.
Favorite Night out? Not one in particular that I can think of.
Overall, how would you rate this year? Eh - not bad, not good. It gets a solid 6.5.
Other than home, where did you spend most of your time? Work
Change your hairstyle? No, I should though.
Have any car accidents? No.
How old did you turn this year? 29
Do you have a New Year's resolution? Hopefully lose a few pounds.
Do anything embarrassing? Probably, but nothing sticks out right now
Be honest - did you watch American Idol? Yes, but I stopped when Sanjaya kept winning.
Did you get sick this year? A cold here and there but nothing major.
Been snowboarding? I live in Florida.
Are you happy to see 2007 go? Yes.
Been naughty or nice? I'd say I've been very nice all year.

Back to the grind

It was really nice going back to Wisconsin again, despite the crappy white stuff on the ground. I had a great time hanging out with my family, but I wish I could have stayed longer. I wasn't ready to come back when I did. I made my brother buy Rock Band while I was there, and it disappointed me at first, but it grew on me. I got my butt stomped at a game of Scrabble. My husband got a telescope. I got to watch the Packers with real Packers fans. I saw my sister's new house. I got to attend an extended family function.

It always sucks leaving you guys, especially since I never know when I'll see you next. Alas, back to the grind.

Guitar Hero 3 impressions

I've given Guitar Hero 3 a solid week of playtime. Here is my first impression - IT ROCKS. It was totally worth the hype and the $90 I paid for it. I've been playing it for a week and still haven't passed the final boss battle on hard. That's a big improvement over the previous installments. It's good to have to work at something to beat it for a change. Expert is going to be almost unbeatable in my opinion.

I've read quite a few reviews about the game. I'd like to address some of the criticisms now. First, to all those people complaining about the graphics - why are you looking at the graphics? This game isn't about looking pretty, it's about the music!! And I happen to find the animatronic drummer funny.

Second, to those complaining about how there's not enough new stuff in the game and that the concept is getting old - go play something else. This game is a winner, and we like it just the way it is. Yes, it's nice to get something new once in a while, and I think we got plenty of new stuff with this version. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Another survey thing

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.

Not as easy as you might think.

1. Where is your cell phone? Home
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend? Married
3. Your hair? Dirty
4. Work? Blah
5. Your father? Tall
6. Your favorite thing? Fun
7. Your dream last night? None
8. Your favorite drink? Soda
9. Your dream car? Cool
10. The room you are in? Living
11. Your pet? Cute
12. Your fears? Few
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Bum
14. Where did you hang out last night? Home
15. What you are not good at? Social
16. Eyebrow rings on the opposite sex? Whatever
17. One of your wish list items? Fun
18. Where you grew up? Wisconsin
19. The last thing you did? Typed
20. What are you wearing? Shorts
21. What aren't you wearing? Socks
22. The website GoofyAuctions.com (filled with eBay spoofs)? what?
23. Your computer? New
24. Your life? Ok
25. Your mood? Content
26. Missing? Soda
27. What are you thinking about right now? Games
28. Your car? Boring
29. Your work? Eh
30. Your summer? Work
31. Your relationship status? Married
32. Your favorite color? Green
33. When is the last time you laughed? Today
34. Last time you cried? Awhile
35. School? No

You know where I'll be...

Saturday night/Sunday morning at midnight. Yep, I'll be at Wal-Mart in the electronics section waiting for my copy of Guitar Hero III. I've decided to get the XBox 360 version because they will be offering downloadable songs later on. I am really looking forward to it!!!

Possibly the coolest picture I've taken

We were making Halloween cookies and she threw flour at me!

Let the surveys begin

1 . Who has your heart? Matty butt
2. How did you wake up this morning? Alarm clock at 8:00AM, country station
3. Which is more romantic: sunrise or sunset? Sunset
4. Are you wearing any non clothing items? My wedding ring?
5. What did you do last night? Same thing I do every night - nothing.
7. Would you kiss the last person that you kissed again? Uh yeah.
8. Did you brush your teeth this morning? No
9. Have you ever been on the radio? Possibly.
10.What did you drink today? A few Mountain Dews and some Mango fruit punch
11. Do you like honey? Not especially.
12. What's the last thing you broke? The internet connection at work this morning.
13. Do you know the date? Uh yeah.
14. Where's the last place you went shopping? Probably Ebay.
15. Did you sing at all today? Probably
16. When is the last time you cried? I'm not sure, it's been a while.
17. How many letters are there in your last name? g-i-l-l-i-n-g-h-a-m...count yourself
18. When did you last go swimming? A few weeks ago
19. Do you love anyone other than family? Sure
20. What book are you reading? None at the moment
21. How was your day? Normal
22. Is your shirt dirty? No
23. Do you live near your best friend? I live WITH my best friend.
24. Are you a Bon Jovi fan? I like his older stuff
25. Are you scared of snakes? Not really
26. How do you like your meat cooked? Medium
27. Can you play guitar? Somewhat
28. How do you walk? This is a stupid question.
29. What do you think of Fergie? The royal chick?
30. Do you read Rolling Stone? No
31. Do you believe in love? I sure hope so.
32. Have you seen Titanic? Yes
33. Did it make you cry? No, I laughed.
34. What's the last TV show you watched? Monday Night Football
35. Do you like basketball? Eh.
36.What eye color do you like? Green is cool.
37. Last time you went out of state? I haven't been out of Florida since I moved here.
38. What are you doing tomorrow? Same thing I do every day - work and then nothing.
39. Where were you 5 hours ago? Counting down the minutes until I was done with work.
40. Who was your last hug from? See my answer to #1.
41. Are you wearing SOCKS right now? Negative.
42. What are you wearing right now? Shorts and a Brewers shirt
43. Who was the last person you talked on the phone with? A customer at work
44. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week? Nope
45. What is the last thing you purchased online? A few XBox 360 games
46. Do you miss anyone? But of course
47. Did you have fun today? Not especially
48. Do you like the number of this question? ??
49. Were you an honor roll student in school? Yes
50. What do you know about the future? It will be....now...no...now....now.........
51. Who was the last person you rode in a car with? Tracy
52. How old do you want to be when you have kids? Maybe never but no older than 40
53. Did you meet anyone new today? Only if you count on the phone
54. Do you have any tattoos or piercings? Yep

Drugs are bad mmmmkay

I recently bought a neat item to help me reduce stress at work. It's two rectangular-shaped panes of glass. Between these panes of glass is blue water and different shades of sand. The sand falls in the water when you tip it over and it creates neat looking patterns. The sand is held up by air bubbles, which makes the sand fall slowly. Lately, I've noticed that I have less air bubbles than I had before. The instructions said that all that I needed to do was put some more air in with a fine syringe.

The problem is that I didn't have a fine syringe. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a couple of other items that Matt and I needed. Matt needed a couple of cans of spray paint for his nerd club. I took the cans of spray paint with me to the pharmacy area. They didn't have any syringes on the shelves, so I had to ask the lady behind the counter if they had any.

She gave me a pretty weird look when I asked her for a syringe. She asked me how much blood I was going to need to be drawing, and I told her that it wasn't for blood, but instead for a thing that I had sitting on my desk. She gave me another weird look and eventually sold me a syringe for 13 cents. I actually felt guilty bying the thing, like I was a druggie or something!

Goodbye, old friend

I've never really been able to understand how people can get really attached to inanimate objects like a car. However, I now know how a mechanic might feel when he has to make the difficult decision to scrap the car he's worked on for years for parts.

This weekend I had to make a similarily difficult decision to say goodbye to an old friend - my computer, Hercules. I've decided that it's not worth sticking any more money into him and I bought a new Dell computer. I'm going to tear Hercules apart and sell his parts on Ebay. Is it a silly attachment? Think about this:

When I built Herc, he was the top of his kind. I had people drooling over him. That was almost seven years ago, and he still performs almost as well as middle-range new computers now. But technologies change, and it's hard to upgrade him at a low cost anymore. He's been with me through two husbands, six relationships, four states, two laptops and much, much more.

It's strange to me to feel legitimately bad about getting rid of a computer, but I do!

Slow down and watch the rain

Sometimes you have to make yourself take a step back and slow down. Tonight I decided to sit out on the balcony and watch and listen to the rain. It was really fairly cool. I watched a toad hopping around for about 20 minutes. I watched a tiny river of runoff turn into a small pond amongst the trees. I even got to see an owl swoop down and grab something out of the grass. I thought about how I couldn't stand to live in a dry climate. I thought about how in a wet climate like Florida, there really isn't a way to waste water. It all ends up as rain again sooner or later. I thought about how to that little toad, the tiny stream would be like a 30-foot wide river to an average-height person.

I've let myself become too busy. Thank goodness there's rain to help me slow down once in a while.

Make it stop!!!

Tracy, Matt, Declan (the kid I babysit) and I decided to play in the pool on Sunday. His mom provided me with sunscreen for him, which I dutifully applied to him. However, I figured that I had been out for about 3-4 hours the weekend before with only a little pinkness, so I could go without. WRONG. Matt and I are both crispy critters. Unlike any other sunburns I've had, though, this one just itches all the time. We've tried aloe, Solarcaine and lotion, but it still feels like there are bugs crawling under my skin. It's driving me nuts!!

New neighbors!

Tracy and Christian arrived yesterday. They drove straight through from Wisconsin with only three stops for food - nuts in my opinion. They are just upstairs from us, and Tracy and I spent some time hanging out and playing Guitar Hero. It's good to have family nearby again. They now get to embark on one of the more exciting parts of moving to a new city - exploring your new home! It took me a while before I was comfortable navigating, but I'm sure it won't take them long. And yes, Mom, I delivered your groceries for them :)

It started with a can of Coke

I don't think my brain got out of bed with me this afternoon. It all started as I was drinking from a can of Coke. After the third time that I took a sip from it, I realized that I hadn't opened it. I've been doing laundry this afternoon as well. I did the first load, put it in the dryer and started the dryer. I had also put a couple of pieces of pizza in the microwave between the loads. As I started the second load, I realized that I had put cat food in the washer instead of laundry detergent (they are right next to each other). I cleaned out the washer and properly put the second load in, took my pizza out of the microwave and took a bite. Apparently, I had forgotten to push "start" on the microwave. Yeah, it's one of those days.

Possibly the most fun Guitar Hero song yet?

I have to say that at first I was a bit disappointed by the song choice for the final encore in Guitar Hero - 80's Edition. It's "Play With Me" by Extreme. I had never heard of the song before. However, after playing it a few times, I'm really starting to think that it's the most fun Guitar Hero song to date. It's an extremely complex piece of music that combines all elements of GH difficulty - difficult solo passages, riffs that span the note spectrum, chords and fancy fingerwork - but yet it doesn't have that one part that you get stuck on and can't pass. I just played it seven times in a row on hard (I haven't unlocked it on expert yet, I still have one song to pass) and I liked it more and more every time. The highest score I can get is 117,000 with 4 stars.

Some of my other favorites are Texas Flood from GH1, Sweet Child o'Mine from GH2, Crossroads in GH1, Beast and the Harlot in GH2 and Carry on Wayward Son in GH2. By the way, Guitar Hero 3 is coming out this fall and some of the songs have been announced. It sounds like this one isn't going to be for the faint of heart!

Matt-less

I am Mattless for the next 10 days. I dropped him off at the airport this morning. He's now in Pennsylvania visiting his grandma. His dad and younger brother are there as well, so that's cool. We were going to go over Thanksgiving, but I told him to go now so we can do something more fun over my vacation. However, my mom is going to try and convince my sister and her fiance to visit here over Christmas, so if that happens, I'm going to see if I can't change my time off and take it then. I hope they come!

I have no plans for my time alone besides playing Guitar Hero 80s and a couple of other video games. I'm sure I'll be bored and call Carolyn and Declan to come over and play :)

I wonder how many lost a bet...

Matt and I are celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary and our 3rd year together. We went out to dinner at Chili's and spent a bit of time reflecting on the last 3 years. We've had an action-packed ride. Some of our favorite memories are sitting in the rain on the lava fields in Hawaii, seeing each other for the first time after months apart while he was in the Navy, our trip up to Wisconsin last year, our drive down to Florida and a trip we took with his family to Pagosa Springs in Colorado.

We also bought fireworks for the 4th of July. Matt loves fireworks....a lot. It's legal to buy the "good stuff" here in Florida and they have permanent stores set up. They had buy one get one free sales, so we got a lot. We're going to my friend Carolyn's house for a BBQ. We also went bowling with her and her son, Declan.

It was just about our speed. We've become pretty slow paced in our old age :)

This is excitement for me now

You know you've settled in your life when an insignificant purchase becomes exciting. For example, Matt and I have been fighting with our vacuum. When we moved to Daytona Beach, we bought the cheapest one that we could find at Sam's Club. It cost $50 and was a bagless vacuum. We had a bagless vacuum in Hawaii and didn't like it, so why we bought one again, I don't know. Anyway, we've been trying to give the little vacuum that couldn't the benefit of the doubt. However, it just hasn't been cutting it. So yesterday, I decided that we were going to invest in a new one.

I did research online, read consumer reviews and did feature comparison. I finally decided on the Eureka Boss. It's got all the features that we want - bag, adjustable carpet settings, on-board attachments, a filtration system - and the price was right. So we went to Best Buy after work and got it. Matt put it together and when he turned it on, it sounded like a jet engine - the sound of clean! I think we both got way too excited about a vacuum lol.

Homophones

A homophone is a word that sounds exactly like another word but is spelled differently and has a different meaning. I bet you never knew that I speak in homophones all the time. For example, if I say to you "Do you want to go to the meeting for me?", I might have actually said "Due ewe want two go too the meeting four me?" Your brain only hears what makes sense to it, so you'll never know what I actually mean!

The magic of Pink Floyd

I have been asked a couple of times why I like Pink Floyd so much that I'd be willing to tattoo something from one of their album covers on my arm. Normally I can't give you a straight-forward answer, but I will share with you an experience that I just had.

I'm at work right now, and I have had somewhat of a stressful day, but certainly nothing out of the ordinary that I can't handle. It's only 10 minutes from the end of the day for me, and I just finished a task that I'd been trying to get done all day. I listen to the only station I can get on my radio - a classic rock station - and I took a second to rest my head against the back of my chair and shut my eyes. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd came on the radio and I relaxed. I'm not talking about a sigh of relief type of relax - I mean I relaxed. All of the muscles in my body let go for just a few minutes and my brain just focused on the music and I couldn't think about anything else if I tried. By the time the song was over, I felt 100% refreshed. This hasn't happened in a long time, but Pink Floyd seems to have that effect on me. :-)

Culture

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. I'm still alive, just in a bit of a rut without much new to talk about. Matt and I have started playing EverQuest 2 again, so that absorbs pretty much all of my free time. I do hang out with a friend from work, Carolyn, once in a while, though.

Carolyn is from the midwest (Minnesota) as well. We're finding an increasing number of differences between midwest culture and everywhere else. It's an interesting thought because I never really thought that I had my own "culture", but it's becoming more and more clear that I do. For example, bowling is a big part of our culture. We both grew up with parents who bowled a couple of times a week. Here, it's not a part of anything. Flannel shirts are also a part of our culture - not so much here. There are a lot more examples that I can think of.

Anyway, it's nice to have a friend here that I Matt and I can do stuff with. She's got a 5 year-old son, Declan, that we'll probably be babysitting from time to time as well because she doesn't know anyone down here, either.

Smores anyone?

For the past week or so, there has been an overwhelming aroma of campfire in the air. It's really quite a pleasant smell. I can surely think of worse things to smell as soon as you walk out your door. Like sewage or pesticide. Along with this pleasant aroma has come an unpleasant smoke that irritates the eyes and makes you feel gritty and limits your visibility while driving. Yep, it really feels like I'm camping while I'm at work. In case you haven't heard about it, there are many wildfires here in Volusia county and the smoke is blanketing Daytona Beach and the surrounding areas. Fortunately, we've gotten some rain today, so hopefully that will help to put them out. I really don't mind the smell, though, but the most annoying side effect is the desire to get a stick and skewer marshmellows or hot dogs at all times :)

Shhhh, don't let them hear you

I'm whispering this, and you can't say anything out loud because I don't want them to hear you. The Brewers are doing well. Really well. I know that by posting this, I'm probably dooming them to a 10-game losing streak. But I can't stay quiet about this anymore. They are kicking butt and I'm enjoying every second of it! But please don't let them hear you or you'll jinx them!

This was totally unexpected

I am so excited to say that my sister, Tracy, is going to be moving to Daytona Beach this summer! Her boyfriend got an internship at the school that Matt goes to, Embry Riddle. What a small world. It will be so nice to have some family nearby again. It will probably be a lot easier for her being that far away from all of her friends and family. It will also be easier for them because I can help them find all of the information that they need. Hooray!

Jesus' story

I'd like to share with you an experience that I had today. I was having a craptastic day at work. There was nothing particularly bad, it was just really busy and I didn't feel like I was making any progress. I was kind of grumpy while I was on my way home. Shortly before I turned into my driveway, there was a car accident in front of me. One car had swerved off the road and an SUV clipped his back end (both cars kept going though). I stopped in plenty of time. Then I saw what the first car had swerved to avoid.

There, in the middle of the road, was a large turtle. I parked in my parking lot, walked out into the road and picked him up. I took him home. I named him Jesus (hay-soos, not the biblical Jesus). He was a pretty big turtle and his shell was a little smaller than a dinner plate. I told Matt that we were going to keep him in the bathtub (he didn't like that idea much). Then I put Jesus on the floor and watched the cats poke and prod it.

This turtle was far more mild than the one that I had as a pet several years ago. He used to bite me every chance he got. Jesus wouldn't come out of his shell, literally. After about 45 minutes, he finally started poking his head out. But I could see that he wasn't really happy with us, so Matt and I let him go in the drainage ditch behind our building (that's where I think he was headed anyway). However, he didn't seem to want to go anywhere when I let him go. Matt thinks maybe he was a suicidal turtle and was trying to get run over when I "saved" him and now he was just more depressed. I just think I scared the crap out of him.

Anyway, Jesus turned my day from a craptastic one to a pretty cool one.

Yeah, I'm dumb

For those of you that don't know me that well, I bruise and scar really easily. My husband and I joke that if he looks at me the wrong way, I'll bruise. That's not too far off. Well, tonight I'm going to bed far more black and blue than when I woke up.

It all started when I walked into the open dishwasher door at lunch. I hit it so hard that my foot went numb for a second. That's nothing compared to what I did after work. Matt and I have been running and biking a lot, and today we were out of milk and rice so we rode our bikes to KMart. We got what we needed and headed home. We had to cross a grassy patch to get home, and I got all cocky and headed down the cement drainage ramp really fast so I could make it up the small grassy hill at the bottom of it.

I didn't make it up the hill. There was a large divet at the bottom of this ramp and I went straight over the handle bars and my bike landed on me. I haven't fallen off a bike since I was a kid. I felt pretty "x-games" after that. Fortunately, I fell on grass. I just got dirty and have some impressive bruises on my legs from the handle bars.

To top off my clumsy day, I ran into the closet door pretty hard with my arm when we got home. Yeah, it's just one of those days.

I have the best husband EVER!

Today when I woke up, it was just like any other day. Easter isn't a big deal to me, and I had forgotten it was Easter at all. When I went into the kitchen, however, there were two Easter baskets with candy and stuff on the kitchen table! There was also a bouquet of flowers. In my basket, he even took into account my new low-fat diet and had mainly fruity type of stuff. There was also a cute, fuzzy stuffed chick. He has just affirmed my long-suspected thought that he is indeed the best husband ever!

What an ordeal

At 4:00PM at work two days ago, I had just come out of the bathroom and my boss handed me a few papers and told me that I had to go to the lab for a random drug test. I asked him if he realized where I had just come from, and he said that I needed to go right away anyway. I went with two other guys that had been selected, but fortunately for me, the lab was closed.

The next morning, I went to work and picked up the papers and headed to the lab. I gave them a sample, but it turned out that it was too cold. Too cold?!? They told me that I'd have to give another sample. I told them that it might take a really long time, but they said that I had to just stay and wait. I drank 26 cups of water (I wish I was exaggerating) and watched their lab DVD several times. FOUR HOURS LATER I gave them a second sample, and it was also too cold. I had tried explaining to them that my normal body temperature is normally 2 degrees below normal, but they didn't seem to care.

I learned that after 26 cups of water (1.5 gallons), you REALLY have to go to the bathroom. I've never had to go that bad since I was a kid. I felt my kidneys start to hurt. I hope I'm never randomly selected again!

I avoided the axe

Some crazy changes have been made at work over the last couple of weeks, and most of them involve the layoffs of a couple of workers. One of those people was my boss. Needless to say, things for me have changed a bit at work, as now his boss has returned from our Phoenix office and shares the office with me. The two have opposite personalities, and it's going to take some adjusting for me to get used to my new boss. He's a cool guy, he's just a bit more outgoing than I'm used to. Hopefully things will start to calm down a bit over the next couple of weeks.

I'm just glad I've still got a job!!

Espanol

I've set my mind to learn spanish. And that's just what I'm doing. I broke down and ordered Rosetta Stone. You might have seen advertisements for it on TV. They use a very interesting method to teach you a new language. Instead of memorizing words, they actually teach you to think in the new language by using pictures and a few different methods of showing you words and hearing the words spoken. I'm impressed with how fast I'm learning. Hopefully in the next few months, I'll be able to at least be able to hold a conversation in spanish!

Huh?

How in the world does Sanjaya keep squeaking by in American Idol? I really liked him in the beginning. I thought he was cute and that it was very sweet of him to be so much more concerned about his sister than himself. After this last week's performance, however, I found myself wondering if he is even trying. I thought his performance was flat and emotionless. He is starting to remind me of Michael Jackson, and not when he was cool, but the creepy version.

It doesn't really matter, though, because I think it's quite clear that it's Melinda and Lakisha's show at this point. I really like Gina (the punk chick) but she's just not quite in the same league as the other two. I like Blake as well because he's very original and can actually sing as well as his beat boxing. Same thing applies, though, as I don't think he's quite as good as Melinda and Lakisha.

It was bike week alright

Last week was bike week here in Daytona Beach. The first weekend I didn't really see why it was such a big deal. But as the week went on, I couldn't leave my apartment without seeing a biker. One day I had to drop a book off at the public library, which is normally only a 10 minute drive. It took me over an hour to get there and home. I really didn't mind the Harley bikers because they are actually fairly responsible and laid back. It's the crotch rockets that I don't like. They seem to think that they can do whatever they want, weaving in and out of traffic and going WAY too fast. But most of them are gone now and life has returned to normal here in the Sunshine State.

So who won the Guitar Hero faceoff?

When my family came to visit, my brother and I finally had a chance to go head-to-head in Guitar Hero. There was plenty of trash talk building up to it, and I don't think either of us were disappointed. We were almost a dead even match. It really came down to who was better at each particular song instead of overall skill. Out of 18 songs that we played head to head, he won 10 and I won 8. It was a lot of fun and I'm not sure he expected me to be as good as I was!

Family!

Mom, Dad and Matt arrived on Saturday afternoon and left this morning. It was so good to see them again. It's interesting because when I see them, no matter how long it's been since the last time I saw them, it feels like I just saw them yesterday. There's no awkward re-adjusting period. We had a lot of fun, too. We went to the beach on Sunday and walked around for quite a bit. Mom and Dad had never seen an ocean before, so it was pretty cool to watch as they walked along the water for the first time. We saw dead jellyfish on the beach. They feel surprisingly leathery.

That night we came back to our place and played board games and had some dinner. Yesterday we went to the Space Center. It was my third visit there, but I still learn something new every time. Again, it was really cool to watch Mom, Dad and Matt as they tried to take in all of the information that they saw. We also saw a lot of gators, and even saw one pretty close up! I got some pictures and will have them posted soon. I love you guys and thanks for coming to visit :)

The Daytona 500

So in my last post I mentioned that Matt and I were going to the Saturday race here in Daytona. Well, it turned out that my company had extra tickets and we got to go to the actual Daytona 500 on Sunday (today). I turned out being a lot more fun than I had thought.

Our day started at 9:30, when we arrived at work. We had some breakfast and headed over to the speedway around 11:30. We had all access passes as well as tickets to the race. My company had a tent in the corporate area, so we had some lunch and then headed over to the fan zone. This was the coolest part of the day. We got to actually walk around on the track and infield. We got to see a really close-up view of all of the pit areas. We also got to see some of the inspections. Then we headed to our seats, which were on the pit side.

The race was also a lot cooler than I had expected. I thought the race would be pretty slow for us, but it really flew by. Here are some of my observations from the day:

1. 50 degrees is really cold in the shade and wind
2. Anything and everything can happen during the race. Some of the top racers ended up being taken out early.
3. Hot chocolate is your friend in the windy shade.
4. The banks are really steep on the track.
5. Kelly Clarkson was not my first (or twentieth) choice for musical entertainment pre-race
6. Traffic sucks after the race (it took us 1.5 hours to get home - we live 5 minutes from the speedway)
7. There are a lot of people drinking at 9:30 in the morning before the race.
8. There are a lot of drunk people on the roads after the race.
9. The cars aren't as loud as I thought they'd be.
10. Apparently, Jim Beam and Diet Mountain Dew makes a good drink (at least that's what the people sitting next to us thought)
11. Some people think that mullets are not out of style
12. A lot of guys that go to races look like Dale Earnheart

All in all, I think we were very fortunate to have the opportunity to go to the race. If we have the chance next year, we'll probably go again. It was fun, but neither of us can say that we're NASCAR fans...yet.

Let the games begin

The redneck games have begun here in Daytona Beach. Now, I know that not all NASCAR fans are rednecks, but they seem to make up the majority. Our city has officially been overrun by racing fans. There are already a large number of people camped out in their pop-up and RV campers on the side of the road that I work on. And I mean a lot. The nice part of this is that the area always smells like grills. Matt and I are actually going to a race on Saturday. We get free tickets through work, so I figured we should just go so we can say that we've gone. I really doubt we'll stay the entire race.

My struggle with weight

I have a couple of factors working against me when it comes to my weight. First, I'm taking medication that can cause weight gain as a side effect. Second, I've got a couple of medical conditions that can lead to being overweight. I don't like it at all. I've analyzed my diet and really don't think I need to cut back on much. I don't eat much, at least not anything excessive. I worked out for an entire month, at least 20 minutes a day, when we first moved here. I gained three pounds.

I'm trying to take a new approach now. In the past, my exercise routines were very structured. I always felt like I was forcing myself to do it. I went out and bought a bike tonight. Matt and I are going to go for bike rides, not every day, but more when I feel like it. I'm also going to buy some small weights and use them while I'm watching TV. I'm not sure what else to do!!

Happy birthday, Matt!

It's my hubby's 27th birthday. We don't really have anything big planned, but I did make his favorite brownie cheesecake chocolate swirl cake. I'm thinking that we might also go out for chinese, his favorite. We don't really do much special for either of our birthdays, just enjoy each other's company.

:)

Yeah, that's a good idea

Once upon a time there was a person, most likely a man, that said "hey! Let's have a car race that lasts 24 hours!!" All of the people around him thought that this was an awesome idea because they all loved racing too. This is how I imagine that the Rolex 24 was born.

For those of you that don't know, like I didn't before this week, the Rolex 24 is a car race in Daytona Beach that lasts 24 hours. Matt and I live close enough to the Daytona International Speedway that we can clearly hear the races. This means that we're going to hear cars zipping around the track ALL NIGHT. Yeah, that's a good idea :P

I miss the night

I've been working with Tel-Tron for over a month now. I've just about become a day person, although I'm not sure I'd sleep well without the aid of Tylenol PM. I really do like being a night person, though. It still takes my brain a bit to get into gear in the morning. Above all, I'm getting in a routine, which I didn't do before. I go to bed at 11pm, watch TV for an hour or two, and make a real effort to be asleep before 2:00. I'm up every morning by 7:30. It seems to be working!

It's that time of year again!

If you haven't noticed, it's American Idol time again! Tonight was the first horrible episode. For the next couple of weeks, we'll have to watch the sob stories and the horrible singing. But then we'll get to the good stuff and start to get an idea of who our next American Idol will be. Last season was good but terribly disappointing when Chris was voted off.

In other news, work is going very well. I'm catching on really fast and I'm enjoying it so far. I might get to learn a programming language and my manager mentioned that they might be needed me to learn Spanish. I'm game for anything they're will to teach me.

Uh oh...

Chey has almost mastered hammer-on's and pull-off's in Guitar Hero. I have just beat the game on expert after being stuck on Psychobilly Freakout for a while. I've also almost completed all of the songs (included the bonus tracks) and gotten them "yellow stars", which means that I got 100% on them. Next up, perfecting hard! Matt, you better be practicing hahaha.

Here we go!

I started school today, so I'm prepared for things to be hectic for me from now until I graduate in the fall. It's going to be challenging for me to keep focused on school and keep my head in work and my mini-business. But you never know, I might actually be more focused because work seems to have my brain sharpened quite a bit. We'll see!

Well poo :(

I just found out today that I'm not going to be able to take much time off of work while my family is here visiting. There's only two of us in tech support, and my manager is going to be conducting a training session during that week and needs me to man the phones. I did manage to get Friday off, though, so that's better than nothing. We'll still be able to hang out on the weekend and at nights! It'll just be so nice to see you guys, though, so I'm not stressing it much :)