shhhh...

Quiet, reading Harry Potter... doing nothing but reading. Up to chapter 18 now. =)

Ferals

Ghost Hunters

This show always freaks me out. I love it. It is one of the few ghost shows that doesn't go over-board with the dramatization. They kind of do it with a "just the facts" kind of experience. Basically these two Roto-Rooter guys decide to explain paranormal activities in places of interest and people's homes. They get real emotional if a child is being haunted in a home. They are family men. Anyway... they walk around creepy places with cameras and other fancy equipment. They explain everything. And are actually pretty jumpy for doing this all the time. Guess sitting in a dark room waiting for a sound makes you jittery no matter what. Tonight they go to some old navy ship. Those things always make noise. The thing is on water, duh. Can't wait to watch it. =)

Boston road trip

Went on a road trip to Boston over the weekend. Had a great time. Had lunch at the "tourist" Cheers. Did some walking around. The weather was fanatistic. Then Saturday night we hit the North End for Italian dinner. Finally a few Irish pubs for beer and sailors. Good times. Had brunch on Sunday then started the long drive home. I've got more sleep to catch up on.

a little advice

You boys can take it or leave it, but here comes some advice. First off if you are in your early 30s, read something else besides the Da Vinci Code. Next, drinking with your buddies (every other night) is not the way to a girl's heart. Do something interesting. And don't call/text said girl to tell her how drunk you are. Maybe I've grown out of that or maybe I'm a bit angstful. But either way, its annoying. Like when I was little and boys would pull at my hair or something.

"birds do it, bees do it
even educated fleas do it
let's do it, let's fall in love"

Lost Drives and Props

Where have the A & B drives gone? Its not fair that as we advance in technology, and old technology is left behind, it is very difficult to clean up. The old 5" and 3 1/4" floppy drives are gone, PCs don't even come with them anymore, yet the OS still refers to those drives as A & B. Can't get them back. Anything after C is given letter assignment automatically. Sure there are like 24 letters left to use, but it just stinks when you are working in an enterprise environment. Space can get tight when applications and departments are fighting over the use of the letter M because they like it. Anyway, the OS would need to be altered anyway to make it work. Who knows maybe they'll actually do this clean up work on the next version of Windows.

Also, big huge mega props to the firemen in my hood. There were at least 2 rooftop fires that I watched. Those poor guys in heavy coats and equipment trying to get up ladders quickly and make sure that a little grill fire doesn't get even worse on a sweltering hot day. Plus I always like men in uniform. So thanks, you guys rock Prospect Heights.

Elvis

Garbage Card Game Rules

Garbage Card Game Rules

HAND	Card Combinations	Wild Cards
1	2 sets of 3	1 in each
2	2 runs of 3	1 in each
3	1 set of 3 & 1 run of 4	1 in each
4	2 sets of 4	1 in each
5	1 run of 5 & 1 set of 3	2 in run & 1 in set
6	3 sets of 3	1 in each
7	1 run of 7	3
8	1 run of 6 & 1 set of 3	2 in run & 1 in set
9	2 runs of 4	1 in each
10	2 sets of 5	2 in each
11	1 run of 9	4

Notes:

• Jokers and 2's are wild
• Low Score wins
• Aces are high
• Deal 11 cards to everyone. If the exact amount is picked for deal - subtract 50 points from score.
• if discard is not wanted - cover and player who discarded picks up.
• If discard is wanted - pick up. That card does not have to be played immediately.
• Wild cards can be picked up from table if replaced with their value.
• If you can't play before someone goes out you stay on that hand until you can.

Points:

Joker 50

Aces and 2's 50
8 - K 10

3 - 7 5

Emily Songs

Here are a list of my favorite Emily song's

• "See Emily Play" - Pink Floyd (vinyl is best)
• "Emily, Please" - Luke Doucet
• "Emily" - Barbra Streisand
• "Emily" - Bowling for Soup

....more to come!

Feral Cats

This week I'll be taking care of a feral cat colony in my hood. The usual people are both away and I raised my hand to volunteer. There are about 10 of them in this backyard. They recently moved from an empty lot because it is going to be torn up soon. It is really important to keep the colony of cats together. Anyway, one of the neighbors commented on finding "caca" in their yard. I had to listen to this whole explanation about the "caca" and the cats jumping into her yard. She totally has a legitimate right to voice her opinion about this... but I just can't help to laugh at the work "caca". Love it! Haha!

Summer Movies

Here is my must see summer movie list:

Spiderman 3 - it was going to be a must see, but now I don't feel it so much.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - going to the Ziegfeld baby (digital!)

Daywatch - Russians know how to do it with less money, can't freakin wait

Fantastic 4 - never had anything bad to say about the 1st, the 2nd will kick ass

newly added... Stardust - Neil Gaiman finally gets what he deserves, a big budget movie, with big name movie stars too. (another novel movie coming out next year starring Dakota Fanning, very cool).

The Bourne Ultimatum

Transformers (duh!)

The Simpsons Movie - it just can't possibly be bad, so it will be funny.

Hot Fuzz wasn't exactly on the list, but I went to see it last week, laughed through the whole thing. It is brilliant!

last by not least, Harry Potter, a book and a movie... what more could I ask for!?

School's out for summer...

The finals for school are over and I'm freakin' happy. Catching up on all of my shows tonight. The Sopranos, then the Tudors, and finally Entourage. I laughed and I did shed a tear. They always throw in the best episodes at the end of the season. Love it.

I've been tanning as of late. I decided that white really isn't my color. When I went today, they actually closed the salon and moved it down 10 blocks. Totally annoying. But in the end, it's all good. Got 2 more sessions plus $9 lotion. Plus I got to try the Diamond bed. You won't get red from it. Pretty cool.

Anyway... I'm happy for the chilled out nights to come and a bit less stress. At least for now. :-)

UPDATE: got an 80 on the final and total class score of 84.3 (B)!! Yippie!!

Give Blood

Last week I gave a pint of blood. Haven't done it a long time and it felt really good. There has been a huge need for it, there is always a huge need for blood in not only this city but because we are at war. I even plan to give again in a few months. Next time I'll go see a movie afterwards instead of attempting to stand on the subway train for an hour. Hey, you live and learn. And the best part... got cookies after it was all over. :-)

Trip to Florida

Just got back from a lovely, relaxing trip to Florida. Had a great time hanging with mom and step-dad. Then for a few days I was with my big bro and sis-in-law. She has this amazing way of looking at the world. It's a treat to hear her latest thoughts. We were admiring the big yachts in the harbor where we at a late lunch (early dinner?). I always love the boats that actually have another boat on board. Assuming its used for taking to shore or something. My sis-in-law remarked that is how you know you've made it. When you are able to have one form of transportation carry another form of transportation. Since they have a bike rack on their car at home, they now know they've made it. I'm still working on it. Maybe if I have my bike on the subway. That's about as close as I can get. :-)

what new york is

For me New York City is observations, people watching, and walking commentary. Like yesterday, the first thing I said was "Medium hazelnut with cream and sugar". Funny, huh? Today a woman on the train had two different shoes on. I felt bad, I mean one was brown and one was black, totally different. What can you do? Now that I'm on the east side of the island, working in Murray Hill I've noticed a lot more. People are generally just walking around here. In midtown west side, people are going to work, going to a meeting, going to lunch, no real leisurely walking. The other afternoon I saw these two police officers chatting a guy and his little boy. The officer was giving the kid a low-five. The boy then demanded(!) a high-five. It was too cute. More to come...