Crazy kittens

That is Neo. He has my legs pinned. I think he's trying to make me feel better.

Lucy is on my lap in front of my computer.

She moved.

I'm in a constant state...

Quote of the Day: "Why do Americans choose from just 2 people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?"...And since I sort of owe you: "Tolerance: Let's celebrate our differences and diversity even though you are clearly wrong."

I am trapped in a web....
Of frustration!!!  All of a sudden I have all this work to do.  And all of a sudden everyone I work with has decided to become incredibly stupid and require me to hold their hands through everything.  Um, I'M NOT A DEVELOPER!!!  I do not want to be a developer.  Yes, I have the knowledge of development type things like the Java and such, but that does not mean I want to do it.  I have carefully avoided that direction in life.  I want to tell the developers what to develop, without having to sit there and watch them or help them do it.  That's the whole point of their existence.  Ugh. Okay, okay. I'm done with that.


The Stock Market...
I'm not sure what exactly happened last night but things have gone horribly apumpernickle all of sudden in today's stock market.  The gains that I have been getting on my stock this past month are quickly disappearing.  I knew I shouldn't have been so excited! Curses.

Work is out of control...
I've been so busy at work lately (who knew they would expect me to actually do some work at some point!) that I haven't had time to blog or even think of anything to blog about.  I do most of my blogging from work, so actually having to do work while at work is cramping my style.  However, I am trying to take more pictures in my daily life, which I post here.  There are some in the blog below this one.

Jenn - I'll think of something soon, I swear...

GOOD MORNING...

This was moments after Lucy had ninja crawled up his chest and took a little bite out of his neck.  I think the little whore was trying to give him a hickey.  It was funny.

I woke up to Neo snuggled in between us.  Lucy has just flopped down on my chest and is purring.

Two things: 1. My chest must be very comfortable cause she's all passed out.  2. I have really long arms to be able to pull off this photo.

Lucy. Crazy cat.

She is all up on top of me.

Neo just spotted Lucy's tail.

Good Morning!!! This was in my face when I woke up.

This is an old picture of Lucy napping on Boyfriend's desk while he worked.

Random Picture Blog

Work is trying to ruin all my hard work with their devilish treats!

My phone takes some pretty decent pictures.  I thought that this leaf was interesting.  I'm easily interested.

This is the tree that was NOT supposed to come down!

Yet another view of the carnage.

Love is A Battlefield...

Quote of the Day: "I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you." -?

Play that funky 80's music...
OMG.  This day has been heinous.  Back to back to back meetings all freaking day.  Good thing I wrote down the blog topics I thought of on the way to work or there would be NOTHING!!!
Is there a way to listen to Love is a Battlefield on the radio in the car without singing along in the most dramatic fashion possible?  I didn't think so.  I hope that guy who say me didn't crash...

Filter...
What happened to this band?  How does a band rock my socks off with Hey Man, Nice Shot only to turn around and vomit Photograph at me?  Seriously, how do you start out being a hard rock band with the Short Bus album only to turn around and become a weak Oasis wanna be band with Title of Record?  Talk about musical bipolar disorder.  I bring this up because I heard Hey Man, Nice Shot on the radio this morning and 15 years later I still friggin love that song.  It also happens to be on my DROID play list.

Since we are on the subject of music...
Few things:
1. One Tree Hill - Yes, I watch it.  Yes, I love it.  But I love each episode's music the most.  The CW has a way of doing magical things with soundtrack on all their shows but One Tree Hill is the best.  Maybe it's because they crank it over the actual dialogue. 
2. Shazam - Ugh.  I like the concept of this app but when I tried to use it this morning, it wouldn't work.  That made it sort of pointless to me. 
3.  Daughtry - Is it me or does every band sound like Daughtry?  Or maybe it's that Daughtry sounds like every band?  Like there was this song on this morning (the one I tried to use Shazam on my phone to identify) and I was like "Is that Daughtry?" I may have even said it out loud to myself because I do that. Often.  Anyway, then I was like "no, maybe it's not but sure sounds like him".  Then I realized that everyone sounds the same these days.  I later (2 minutes ago) found out that it was actually a band called Theory of a Deadman.  A band that based on the Wikipedia entry I just looked at looks like a bunch of douchebags.  Actually, the lead singer looks like an even douchier version of Chris Daughtry (is that even possible?!?!?!) with hair.  And they sing like the exact opposite songs.  Like Daughtry sings all about wanting to be with the girl and love and shit.  Theory of a Bunch of Douchebags are all about "you suck, ex-girlfriend, and my life is all about being done with your dumb ass".  Except both bands' songs sound exactly the same with the only difference being the word "not" in the lyrics.  Like one will say "girl we are meant to be" and the other will say "girl we are NOT meant to be".  It's hysterical.  I wouldn't even pirate this shatner.

Friggin' Developers...
OMG, my developers are making me nuts today.  Like I care how they will read a friggin EBCDIC file into a java process and mask credit card numbers or the difficulties presented.  Just effing do it!  That's their friggin job!  My job is to say "Developers, we need to read these EBCIDIC files on this server and mask the credit card numbers before FTPing them on their way to the down stream system."  Hmmm. Jenn's job? DONE.  Now do yours!!! UGH!!!
I need to go run.

Jenn - What's on MY play list? Funny you should ask...

1. Almost - Bowling for Soup
2. Bleed America - Jimmy Eat World
3. Damn Regret - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
4. Forever Young - Alphaville
5. Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects
6. God of Wine - Third Eye Blind
7. Like a Stone - Audioslave
8. A Little's Enough - Angels And Airwaves

I'm a very busy person who just happens to sleep a lot...

Quote of the Day: "The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!" - ?

Just a few things that make my butt itch...
Figuratively.  Not Literally.  Though, I literally had egg on my face today while talking to a co-worker and that was kind of funny.  It took him like 5 minutes before he decided to let me know. 
1. Assuming that I am not talking about a streetwalker (a.k.a. woman of ill repute, lady of the night, hooker), why do women wear 3+ inch heels to work?  I guess if you are like 4 ft 9 in, it sort of makes sense so that you are not mistaken for someone's child, but other than that, what purpose could there be?  Do you really like wearing heels that much?  How do your joints not ache?  And who exactly are you trying to impress at the office?  I can't help but be suspicious.  3+ inch heels are just a bit much, don't you think?  Especially at my work, where it's basically an old guy sausage fest, you may get their attention but they aren't hearing a word you are saying.  True story.  They sometimes forget that I'm a girl and I hear things.  I'm not here to judge, though.  I suppose to each his own.  I just don't get it.  Especially the ones who wear the 3 inch heels and then walk all hunched over like they are self-conscious of their height.  Huh?  You added 3+ inches on purpose.  So stop creeping around like you are headed to the bell tower and stand up straight.  Just saying...
2. I've started to really think that I have some form of autism.  I realize that I am incapable of normal human interaction or emotion.  I have no desire for small talk nor do I really care about anyone's weekend.  In reality, I probably wouldn't talk to anyone at all if given they choice.  But, alas, to survive in society, I must pretend like I don't just want to get to the point.  Unfortunately, this leads me to over compensate and I end up chatting with people far longer than would be considered adequate.  And I have this tendency to abruptly end the conversation.  I've never really figured out how to appropriately end a conversation.  I tend to leave a lot of bewildered looks in my wake.  Or offend people.  Boyfriend has been getting cranky about it later.  If we are talking about something and I've already received the information that I require, I sort of stop listening to what he is saying.  Then he's all "were you even listening?" and I'm all "oh, I thought we were done talking about that" and he's all *pout*.  We work it out but I'm finding that my patience for any sort of lengthy discussion about anything is getting thinner.   That's usually a sign that it's time to up my meds. 
Also, I apparently lack certain human traits, like a need to discuss, at length, my problems and emotions unless I feel that there is some sort of solution that I'm not getting to on my own.  Boyfriend explained to me that sometimes people just want to say what's on their mind to someone else without the other person offering any kind of solution.  I'm pretty sure that the blank look on my face was somewhat amusing to him.  I honestly don't understand why people do that.  I suppose it makes some people feel better.  I find that if I'm faced with some sort of problem or emotion that is causing me distress and I am unable to find a resolution on my own, it only makes me feel worse to discuss is with someone who also can't help me.  IDK. It's just how I roll.  I do like to vent my frustration on the interweb because I can get feedback without having to get into a lengthy discussion.  Otherwise, if there is a situation that I can't do anything about, I just move past it. 
3.  OMG.  Freaking tree cutters.  We had two trees we needed cut down because one was too close to the house and causing damage to the room and the other one was dead.  Boyfriend put blue painter tape on them to remind the tree cutter people which ones to cut.  One of our favorite trees had a blue ribbon around it (from birthday balloons, but we haven't taken the blue ribbon down yet because there is poison ivy).  So, the tree cutter cut it down.  WTF?!?!?!  On the work order, it even clearly stated where the trees were on the property and that only two were supposed to be taken down.  So, they cut down THREE.  UGH!  I don't even want to see it.  It was a huge beautiful tree at the end of the driveway.  Boyfriend is very unhappy. -- Update: He spoke to the tree cutters and they are going to replace the tree.  What kind of tree would be pretty and grow well in central Indiana?

4.  I'm trying to listen and participate on a conference call and everyone in the cubicles around me are being LOUD.  Freaking loud.  And people are also gathering by my cubicle to have random conversations.  And the person talking on my call has a rather thick Chinese accent and I'm already having a hard time.  I may go postal. 

Jenn - I'm not cranky today, I swear...

Well, well, well...

Quote of the Day: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad. - ?

Stupid Friggin Xanga...
It's down today which is totally annoying since I need my fix of blogs.  Curses.

My life continues to frustrate me...I was again listening to the radio this morning and heard Fleetwood Mac.  Which just cemented my believe that there was once a time when singing ability was not necessarily central to the popularity of a female singer.  Cause Stevie Nicks sounds like a goat.  (Though, I guess Miley Cyrus also sounds goatlike and she has a huge career but she's really young and i don't fit that category either so DARN IT!)

Some Interesting Reading...
I found this via mancouch@mancouch.  This chick wrote this power point presentation for her friends and it has since gone viral.  Check it out HERE.

I found it to be very interesting.  It's so wrong yet so right.

Catching up with old friends...
I got to catch up with someone I haven't had the chance to talk to in a while.  It always reminds me how much I miss him.  I need to be better about contact with people. I may never see them but that doesn't mean that they are not my friend and that I don't miss them.

Not much today...
My whole body aches from the weights and the running and the getting up early.  I need to sleep like 10 hours tonight.  And eat.  Cause I'm starving...

Jenn - Not a whole lot to say today...

I wanna be a Rock Star...

Quote of the Day: I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot. -?

And the year was 1980-something....
As I was driving to work this morning, I heard a song on the radio that sunk me into a semi-deep melancholia.  The song was I Love Rock and Roll, sang by Joan Jett and the Blackhawks.  Now, some of you may be thinking that that is an odd song to cause a state of semi-deep melancholia.  The reason for my mood is that, while listening to that song, I realized that by being born in 1977, I had missed the opportunity to become an 80's rock icon.  I Love Rock and Roll was released in 1981 by Joan Jett and the Blackhawks, became a #1 hit and catapulted her into fame as a solo act. That could have been me.  I'm not going to sugar coat it, Joan Jett has a crap voice.  But she has swagger and attitude and punk rock coolness.  Plus, I think she like plays guitar or something.  So, basically, in the 80s, having a good voice was not necessarily a requirement to becoming a chick rock star.  Thus, i missed a HUGE opportunity because my parents did not have the courtesy or forethought to conceive me like a decade earlier.  I have a crap voice, but I can certainly throw around attitude and swagger.  Plus, I already have the "just woke up after a hard night of partying" look down.  Not that I ever have a hard night of partying.  I just always look like I did.  Mostly because I have no control over my hair and I am really bad at applying make-up. Anyway, point is, I could have learned to play guitar and wear ripped jeans and leather jackets.  I could have been an 80's rock icon.
So, I was feeling pretty gloomy about the whole thing.  Then, Motown Philly (circa 1991) by Boyz to Men came on the radio.  I perked up.  It's just catchy.  Following that was J. Geils Band's Centerfold (circa 1981) and Susanne Vega's Luka (circa 1987).  Right before I got to work, Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time (Circa 1989) came on the radio and I realized that Indianapolis radio was trying to tell me something.  I wasn't born too late!!!  Apparently, Indiana is single-handedly attempting to bring back the 80s!!!  (Okay, I realize that Boys 2 Men were early 90s, but I sort of lump the early 90s and 80s together).  All has not been lost!!!  I could become an 80s retro rock icon!!!
All I have to do is learn how to play guitar, write some songs, and get me a leather jacket.  Minor details. I'm ready to be famous and beloved.
I'm not crying...
So, we started Chalean Extreme Friday.  This means that I got up earlier than normal this morning to lift weights while Chalean yelled at me to not be a pansy.  Or wuss. Or whatever other word that means I'm a total baby weakling is.  That Chalean is EVIL.  We may have been cursing at her the whole time and calling her unfriendly names.  Not that we don't like her as a person, but as the lady in the exercise video, she's pure evil. I'm also in terrible shape because all the muscles between my scalp and toenails are feeling a bit delicate at the moment.  Plus, i still have to go run after work.  I'm trying to figure out if it's physically possible to sleep AND run at the same time.  I even got a goodnight sleep last night, which could be due to the herbal sleep aid I took or the placebo effect of me thinking that because I took the herbal supplement I would get a better night's sleep.  My mind is a complicated place to be.  Bottom Line: I'm freaking tired.  I might need to sneak out to my car...

Weekend Reading...
This weekend I got lazy and sat around for most of Saturday.  I read a book so it wasn't a complete waste of my brain cells.  I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.  I typically do not jump on the reading band wagon (the last time I did, I ended up regretting it.  The Davinci Code was TERRIBLE.)  I find that most books written for the masses are crap.  I decided to read this one because someone I know had recently mentioned that I remind them of one of the main characters, Lisbeth Salander.  This character is described in Wikipedia as "antisocial but extremely intelligent hacker and researcher, specializing in investigating people. She has a photographic memory, and is believed by Blomkvist to have Asperger syndrome. She has been compared to Pippi Longstocking,and a colleague has stated that Larsson conceived Salander partly as a "grown up Pippi Longstocking"." Of course, this peaked my interest. It's not infrequent that people wonder if I have some form of Autism.
The book itself was enjoyable.  I liked it enough and it was a quick enough read that I'm reading the next book in the series.  I find the Lisbeth character to be quite intriguing.  I'm not sure if I am all that similar to her.  I don't have a photographic memory (I WISH!!!) and I'm not quite so paranoid.  I can get around some levels of company web blocking (which is why i"m able to access this blog site from work) but I'm certainly no hacker.  ADD and Autism can be similar at times and I certainly have some of the social and relationship issues that a person with Asperger's can have.  I'm a good 8 inches taller and 40 lbs bigger than she is, so no one is mistaking me for an anorexic girl.  And I still haven't figured out if the comparison is a compliment or not.  At least she's an interesting character.  Better to be compared to someone interesting than boring. Still...
Have you read the book?

Jenn - SO FREAKING TIRED...

Pump Up the Jam

Quote of the Day: A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip. - ?

Rocking It Retro...
This morning, I turned the radio on in the car on the way to work for the first time in a long time.  I used to listen to the radio every morning on my way to work when my commute was 1 1/2 hours in New Jersey.  In Indiana, my commute is like 15 minutes and I can never find a decent station, so I sort of gave up.  Even my ADD brain can deal with 15 minutes of silence once a day.  This morning, I was missing radio so I turned it on.  I listened to my favorite station, SCAN, for a few minutes before selecting a station.  The basis of my selection? They were playing Pump Up the Jam.  Part of me is ashamed to admit that I stopped to listen to this song but I couldn't stop myself.
It's the most random song but it pulled my mind back to 1990, 7th grade.  That song was popular back then.  I used to get up every morning at 6am for school and listen to Eagle 106 while I showered.  Does anyone remember John Lander and the Nut Hut? (It's 6am and the sun comes up and the Nut Hut's on the air. So grab your clothes, blow your nose, put on clean underwear...).  I am rarely able to have clear memories of my childhood.  90% of the times that I'm able to have any vivid recall is usually due to some very random thing, like a smell, song, phrase, that triggers the memory.  When that song came on, I could totally remember listening to the radio in the shower, everything about the bathroom, down to the shower curtain.  That is RARE for me.  It made me smile.  I can even remember my brother yelling at me to hurry up.  It's good to know that not all memories of being a kid have to be bad ones.  Though, I am a bit confused as to why I have so much trouble with childhood memories, yet I could still recall every word to a song I haven't heard in like 15 years...the brain is a funny thing.
Stupid American Idol...
A few days ago, or last week, I went on a rant about how American Idol is dead to me.  Without Simon, Paula, Ellen, or even *shudders* Kara just makes it seem like, well, NOT American Idol.  And the bringing in of Jennifer Lopez as one of the new judges makes me want to punch babies.  In the face. Hard.  And I was sort of meh about Steven Tyler, but this morning I heard an Aerosmith song on the radio.  And then I remembered how much I friggin' love Aerosmith.  And how I've loved Aerosmith since I realized that New Kids on the Block were not really musicians. And then I got to thinking, "hmmm...if Steven Tyler is a judge, does that mean there will be an Aerosmith Week on Idol this season?  And will there maybe be more rockers than country/R&Bers this year?"  And then I was like, "Curses, I may have to watch."  I'm now sitting here shaking my head because I'm not sure what to do.  Steven Tyler intrigues me.  But does he intrigue me more than Jennifer Lopez repels me?  I'm torn.  Then I did a little research and it seems that there will be NO country week this year.  Well, that just added a huge point to the plus column.  Country week is always a disaster of epic proportions.  But still, there's that Jennifer Lopez thing that I just can't get my mind around.  So, here I sit on the fence, not sure what to do. Stupid JLo...

General Hospital...
Usually I wait like 3-4 weeks for episodes to pile up, but since I've been waiting 15 years for Stone to come back from the dead, I had to watch this week's episodes immediately.
I'm not going to lie, the episode with Stone in it might have made my tear ducts respond.  It was one of the better scenes on GH in a while.  And I'd like to mention the fact that Michael Sutton (who plays Stone) has aged VERY well.  He's actually better looking now then he was then.  And he's 40 years old!  I thought he was much younger than that!  Anyway, I really thought they were well written and not just cheesy but really meant to make Robin think. The only thing I don't get is that when they talked about memories, they didn't actually show any of them.  What?!?!  They have taken every opportunity under the sun to flash old Brenda/Sonny footage.  I just don't get why they wouldn't show old Robin/Stone footage.  Strange.
I am ready for Robin to not be in that freaking well.  I really don't understand whey she hasn't managed to climb out.  Did Anna and Robert teach her nothing? I'm looking at the sides of that well and all I see are hand/foot holds.  I guess it wouldn't be as exciting if she were to just climb out and be all "That crazy biatch, Lisa, left me down there to rot." I guess there has to be more that happens, but it's been a week already, move it along.  Okay, in GH time it's only been like a night, but still.
Funniest Scene in a long time: Brenda meets Spinelli.  I don't know how Vanessa Marcil or Steve Burton kept a straight face. Spinelli can be annoying but he can also be laugh out loud funny.  His first time meeting with "The Divine One" was freaking hysteridonkulous.  I watched it like three times.  Spinelli has really brought some really good stuff to the show, mostly in his interactions with Jason.  Jason is always so serious, but I love watching him roll his eyes at Spinelli.  That is one of the best relationships on the show.  I also stand by the fact that Brenda should only be in scenes with Jason (and now maybe Spinelli) because they are the only ones she hasn't sucked in.
Jenn - It's Friday....Get me out of here...