I do believe my husband is allergic to the holidays. Last Thanksgiving he was sick & couldn't go with me to Patty's house. This Thanksgiving he was also sick, but went to Patty's because he didn't want me to go off about celebrating Thanksgiving without him 2 years in a row. Our first New Year's Eve living together he was sick and asleep and I rang in the new year taking a shower by myself. This New Year's Eve, I get home from work at 11 and yup - he's sick and laying on the couch with all the lights off, about to fall asleep.
He apologizes all the time & I feel bad that he doesn't feel well, but it makes me wonder why he gets sick so much during the holidays. I always get sick in April - allergies and whatnot, but something just seems strange around here. :)
Christmas Eve I was supposed to work until 10pm. Well, the person who was supposed to change the phone system to allow calls until 10pm (since we normally close at 7 right now) apparently didn't do that since we received no calls after 7. We all got to leave at 8 and that was a very nice Christmas present :) I'm working till 10 tonight and although it would be nice, I guarantee that the phones will work till 10 which kind of sucks.
Christmas Day was nice. Tom & I didn't do anything except go to Bennigan's that evening. We didn't get each other Christmas presents because we're going home for a week in January & that was expensive enough. :)
I've started playing Dark Age of Camelot again. Tom plays in my "realm" which he normally doesn't do, but he's doing it because he knows that's the one I like to play on & it's more fun to play with him than by myself. I got my girl from a level 16 (which she's been for about 7 months now) on Friday to a level 20 as of last night :)
Tomorrow we're going to Glenn & Patty's for some good ol' home cooking. Glenn is going to smoke a ham and if the one at Thanksgiving is any indication, it will be FABULOUS.
I talked to my friend, Michael, last night. I haven't talked to him for almost a year. It was so nice to speak with him again. I didn't realize how much I missed him until then. I told him we need to go out this weekend to see a movie. It will be so fun. I can't wait. :)
Hm - I do believe I've overdosed on the smiley faces today. At work I have 5 1/2 of 11 reviews written. Good thing since I only have a week and a half till they're due. Then I have 22 monitors to do & 11 one on ones to write, so it's busy times. You can only write that someone's frugal so many different ways, so I had to take a break from writing for fear that they're beginning to sound alike.
I bought 6 tickets for the Megamillions lottery last night. The pot was $155 million. I spent all last night dreaming of what I'd do if we won. Of course, I only won $3 but like Tom said, at least I won. I think we're going to keep playing (maybe not 6 tickets each time) since they do drawings twice a week. Maybe someday it will pay off. I don't need the millions, but even $175k would be nice. We could use that to pay off the house, then we'd have TONS of disposable income.
Have a safe & happy New Year's Eve. Please don't drink & drive.
I found this website called 419eater.com --- it's some people who actually bait the scammers who run the Nigerian 419 scam like in my last posting. If you go to the letters archive you will see emails sent back & forth between the scammers and these people. It's really quite hilarious. Beware - there is mature language and innuendo, so Nana, don't go there!
Today I started reading about how yet another person has been scammed by the Nigerian 419 email scam. I started reading the article with a "haha stupid sucker" attitude. However, by the end of the article I felt so sorry for this man. He has a disabled wife and now is over $300k in debt. Yes, he was being stupid, but he honestly thought it would mean a better life for he & his wife. I wish I were a billionaire so I could just call up people like that & say "Hey, I read your story & I'm going to help you. Here's $300k to pay off your debt, but don't EVER do that again, got it?".
But I'm not. At least I can keep him in my Christmas Eve prayers & hope that this taught him a huge lesson. A lesson that most 10 year olds already know. You can read the article
Here.
I was reading about the September 11 Victim's Compensation Fund today and how 95% of those families eligible filed for compensation (the deadline was yesterday). People who survived are eligible too. Families are being paid between 1 & 7 million dollars tax-free. The only caveat that I saw is that you give up your right to sue the airlines or any American companies over September 11. One widow doesn't like that at all, even though she did file: "Golinski is still angry the program was designed to protect the airline industry, security companies and other entities such as the operators of the World Trade Center in New York from possibly crippling litigation."
I can understand that you're angry. I probably would be too - angry that my husband died in such a tragic way, not angry that the fund that's going to give me compensation is designed to protect these companies. We could debate all day about how much of 9/11 is the airline industry's fault. The words above that astonishes me the most is "....and other entities such as the operators of the World Trade Center....". How on earth is 9/11 the fault of those who ran the World Trade Center? Were they standing on the roof giving the finger to terrorists just to taunt them? Did they force tenants to hang signs in their windows says "F you terrorists"? That just makes no sense at all to me. The safety features of the buildings were standard for the 1970s and I'm sure they met whatever guidelines the city set forth. Why don't you blame New York City while you're at it for being such a damn enticing target? All those stupid bright lights & Dick Clark's New Year's Eve, what were you people thinking? Gimme a break. This lady is going to get at least a million dollars and she's still pissy because she can't sue everyone else and their brother. If you're so sue happy, why not sue the victims on the planes that hit the WTC & the Pentagon. They should have fought for control like people did on the airliner that crashed in Pennsylvania.
**I am not trying to make light of this tragedy & I am not trying to say that the people on the WTC & Pentagon airliners did not try to fight - I'm sure they did. I'm just trying to point out the complete absurdity of her statement. I think at least once a week about the people who died on 9/11 and it's making me tear up now. It's just so completely rude to me to have made a statement like that.**
Just read about this & although I'm sure the ACLU will have something to say about it, I think it's a fabulous idea! Read it
HERE
It seems that Dallas/Ft. Worth is in a 7-Eleven crisis. Well, I've only noticed signs of this issue in Watauga/North Richland Hills, so I guess I'm overstating the issue, but still. Let me explain some background. Last year was the Burger King crisis of 2002. It's bled over a little into 2003, but most of it happened last year. Burger King's far & wide were just up and closing. No warning, nothing. Now we're down to like 1 BK in a 40 mile radius so it's very rare that I get to enjoy those fabulous chicken sandwiches they have. Granted, there is one about 3 miles from my house, but since I rarely see them anymore I've actually forgotten this one exists sometimes. lol
Now it's the 7 Eleven crisis. I would say within a 5 mile radius of our house there used to be 5 7-Elevens. Now there's 2. I wonder what it is about companies that makes them figure that 1 7-Eleven per mile was a good ratio. Obviously it wasn't. It's just sad to see a store close & disappear so close to Christmas. I've noticed in the last week and a half that 2 7-Eleven's near me are now gone. One I used to go into a lot and it's sad to me that these people have lost their jobs during the holidays.
Stupid business needs.
Tony wants an update, so here it is! :)
This past week at work was insanely busy. I always think I can't get busier than
I was the week prior, but that's just not true. I have 11 reviews to write which are
due by January 9 - the day before I leave on vacation. I suggested a new review form
and process via email to the VP Of HR yesterday. I'm sure it will just be sent to the trash,
but at least I tried.
Found out today that my brother's girlfriend is pregnant! Only by about 2-3 weeks, so that makes her due
in July or August. In addition, my sister-in-law is pregnant and due in June (not sure if I ever mentioned that).
It's babies galore, but it makes me happy. I just wish now that I lived closer.
WOO-HOO! We captured Saddam Hussein! Read all about it
here.
Went to Six Flags yesterday for my Christmas Party. It was nice to have the entire park closed for just our company. I got to ride all the roller coasters that were open without a line, so that was cool. Unfortunately, Texas Giant, Mr. Freeze & Batman were closed, but I still got to go on 3 or 4. I also went on the Superman Freefall ride. It was *scary*, but fun. :)
Tony wanted an update, so here it is. I was right about feeling stress at work coming on - it hit full force. Just busy, busy, busy. So busy that I haven't even turned on my computer during the week - Evan prolly thinks I've quit his game again, but I haven't.....I'm just so exhausted when I get home. Tomorrow is our Christmas Party at Six Flags, but it's supposed to be 43 degrees so I don't know if I'm going or not. Tom's Christmas party is Sunday night, so we have a busy weekend ahead of us. He's sick and I'm exhausted, so it's not the best time to have a busy weekend. :)
We're both going to PA in January for a week since we can't go home at Christmas. That should be fun. I'm really looking forward to a week off. I haven't had a straight week off since February. Going from 3 weeks vacation a year to 2 weeks vacation a year (only 1 this year since 1 week is awarded on your 6 month anniversary & 1 week is awarded on your 1 year anniversary) is not an easy transition to make. :)
I feel a stressed out period coming on at Work. This used to happen to me at EarthLink every few months when I was slammed with work. Right now I'm slammed with new procedures and I currently have 17 programs open on my computer. Ack! I think my eyes are about to cross.
Ok, my winter theme is officially in place. It's not the retro Christmas look I was going for, but that design was only for moveable type & I tried to configure it for Blogger, but failed miserably. I think this one's nice & it will last longer than a month.
ORANGE CITY, Fla. - A woman who was trampled by Wal-Mart shoppers during a holiday sale on DVD players has made numerous injury claims against stores, including nine against the world's largest retailer.
Patricia VanLester, a 41-year-old former Wal-Mart employee, has received thousands of dollars from the discount giant in injury and workers' compensation settlements, records show.
VanLester was first in line to grab a $29 DVD player Nov. 28 and was knocked to the ground by a frenzy of shoppers. Paramedics found VanLester unconscious on top of a DVD player.
Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said he had no details about the past settlements, including one filed by VanLester's sister.
"We're going to investigate this claim as thoroughly as we have investigated the other 10 claims that this woman and her sister have brought against us in the past," he said.
A case manager for VanLester's attorney, David Sweat, said Friday that the lawyer wouldn't comment on his client's past claims. Sweat told Orlando's WKMG-TV that his client hasn't filed a formal injury claim against Wal-Mart from last week's incident.
Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for EVAC Ambulance, which treated VanLester at the store and airlifted her to a hospital, said VanLester was admitted to the hospital's trauma center. "The hospital admitted this woman for two days," he said Friday.
VanLester's previous claims date to at least 1987. She collected more than $1,800 in workers' compensation claims for slip-and-fall incidents at a Publix supermarket and another Wal-Mart in 1995 and 1996.
In another claim, she said she slipped on a puddle of hand lotion in 1991 while shopping at an Orange City Walgreen's pharmacy, causing "permanent injury, disability, disfigurement (and) mental anguish." The case was thrown out.
Holy Canoli! I've gotten a *huge* anti-pink backlash. This saddens me because although it's pepto-bismal overdose, I think the new design is funny. That means I'll have to spend a few hours this weekend looking for another cute template to quelch the war that's about to begin from the anti-pink aficianados (which I know I spelled wrong). **shakes fists angrily at anti-pink crusaders**
Patty was tired of my old style, so I decided to bring back the man-ballerina-dude. He was my template a few months ago, but only for a day or so until I changed it. It took me too dang long to put everything back the way I wanted it, so I hope you don't mind the sweet, cotton candy-ness of the site, cuz you're stuck with it for at least a month or so. :) Tag-Board's at the bottom & I'll bet Tony is happy to be classified as "Yummy" once again.
