The hurricane

It's just so sad to see and hear all the horrible things resulting from the hurricane down south. Here I am worrying about what the weather's going to be like for the wedding, and down south there's coffins being washed up onto shorelines, and people not being able to eat or drink or even go to the bathroom, and looting, and families who can't find their loved ones, and all that horrible stuff... It's weird to think that something like this could happen in the good ol' US of A. We think we're so immune to disasters of any kind, and this whole thing is just completely surreal.

What's the saddest thing is that my first thoughts were, "Jeez, those people should have just left!" when they knew a horrible storm was coming, but I was ignorant enough to not know that some people just didn't have the means, the money, the transportation to get out. All the federal relief organizations should focus their funds on actual evacuation and getting the poor and elderly and needy and their families out rather than supporting people in the aftermath, because at least then there wouldn't be so many casualties. It's just crazy.

That's my comments on the whole thing. Sorry to bring the party down... but it really is very sad.

Very soon....

So yes, this weekend is the wedding. I'm-a gonna get married. I'm-a gonna be Mrs. Bailey. Hey, wait, that's Jay's mom's name!

Apparently, women diet before big events like this. I apparently am not a woman, as I have not "dieted" ... ever. Oh, sure, I tried doing a bit of exercise a few months back, but nothing stuck... I'm still tubby in the belly. So I eat potato chips and drink beer and down lots of Coke, and I'm still doing that this week, and people at work say that I shouldn't do that, but does it really make a difference? I know my dress fits on my tubby belly, and hey, I'm okay with that. I'm not going to lose 15 pounds in a week. If I did, I'd be frightened of myself.

One more time, c'mon let's celebrate

So last night we rode on up to the Alley for a final farewell to our good friends Jodi and Felix, as they are moving to good ol' Tennessee today. It was great to see everyone, we had a really great time. Derek did some great cookin' on the grill, Dave offered up some delicious chicken with some secret-recipe marinade, there were hot dogs, beers, filet mignon (so tasty!), veggie burgers for Jay... All in all, it was a very good Alley showing for Jodi & Felix's last night.

Here's some Alley memories:






And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DENNIS!

The fuzz

I got pulled over on my way home from work today. I'm not usually a speeder; on the contrary, I am alert to speed limit signs and such 97 percent of the time. Well, sometimes when I am excited about the place I am driving away from or about my destination, I tend to get a little hyper and tend to drive a little faster. Not like a speed demon; I just do it unconsciously. So I stopped by this cute little farm store, and it was like a mini version of Wilson Farms! So I got some good vegetables at a good price, and even picked up a cider donut for Jay, 'cuz he likes those. Driving back home, I was all excited that I had found that place, and I was excited about using our new George Foreman grill to grill the veggies I just purchased and make a grilled veggie salad!! And then I passed a cop. Doh! I apparently was going 40 in a 30 (I thought it was a 35). But he was very, very nice, and didn't give me any attitude, and he just gave me a written warning. I just have to remember to lay off the gas pedal when I'm super excited.

Shopping for tasty foods

Jay and I hadn't been grocery shopping in a heck of a long time, and I'm not exactly sure why... I think my trip to Florida messed things up, then after I got back I was busy at work... but anyways, we finally went grocery shopping. We picked up a yellow watermelon, just 'cuz it looked neat. The cash register girl was like, "Why's it yellow?" And we're like, "Umm, 'cuz it is...?" And she went on to say, "They take fish genes and splice them with strawberries to make them redder and juicier." And we're like, "...Gross." I believe that people that ring up your groceries should keep their food-related opinions/weird science facts to themselves. Where I think I was really going with this is that I made dinner last night for the first time in weeks, and it was good.

I think Jay might be getting sick. ::sad face:: Hopefully he won't be too sick, and hopefully he'll recover quickly. We got that thing happening in like 11 days or something.

Oh, by the way, the yellow watermelon was delicious. Tasted nothing like fish genes.

Another weekend!

Just a pic of our handsome Abraham. He's smelly, you know.

So today is Jay's bachelor party. I get to go to the first appointment with the DJ (yes, the wedding is in two weeks; and yes, we haven't met with the DJ yet... what?) and then out to Central MA to my sis-in-law's baby shower. Weird to think that my brother's going to be a dad. So anyway, back to this bachelor party, Jay is very excited about it. He's all giddy. I guess the boyz are going disc golfing all day and then heading back to Will's house in Worcester for a BBQ. I expect that Jay will drink all day, probably spend a bit too much time in the sun, and then eat lots of veggie burgers. All in all, it will be a good day. With lots of beer.

Oh, Jay got his drum kit - he got a used one off of Craigslist. This is Jay and Dennis jamming out last night in the basement:

I think Jay's excited about his drums - he likes to play.

Exchange of gifts

This weekend, Jason and I "exchanged" wedding gifts. We actually hadn't bought anything for each other yet, but we told each other what we were getting. So I told Jay that I would get him a drum set, but that I didn't know anything about drum sets so he could pick it. Then he told me he was getting me a digitial video camera and he was going to set up my old G4 with video-editing software and stuff! Weeee!! So we still haven't gotten the drum set - Jay's still shopping around. But we went out on Sunday (tax-free day) and got a Sony digital camcorder. It's so little! I'm very excited to take honeymoon videos. Of scenery, you pervert.

Also, you'll be glad to know we're having a freakin' buffet at the wedding. And the reception goes till 10:00. Ten o'clock at night?? Yowsahs!

quips

So the week started out crappy, but that was mainly due to my negative outlook on things in general, but now I have to admit it's getting better [better], a little better all the time [it can't get no worse].

So now it's Thursday, and I just remembered that I had made an appointment to give blood today. I don't know why I did this, because the last time I did it, I didn't really feel well afterwards. You see, I used to not weigh enough to even donate blood. But then I started drinking beer, and suddenly I surpassed the 115-lb. minimim! So the first time I donated blood was last year in Lowell, and they took a shitload of blood out of me and didn't give me anything back. It really hurt (eww, I'm getting queasy), I got really woozy, and they didn't even have good snacks! But it's for the best. Sick people need blood. And vampires. Here's Pat's take on blood donation. And another take.

Last night Jay and I went out with our old Starbucks commrades. The kids we used to work with were like sophomores and juniors in high school at the time, and now they're all graduated from college and stuff. Weird! But it was good to see everyone -- a little weird, but good nonetheless. We went to the Tin Alley in F'ham. I don't have much to say about that.

My looong weekend

Man, it's good to be back. I left last Wednesday for a convention in Florida for the court reporting association I'm reluctantly a member of. The association is based in the South with most members from the South, and I thought Southerners were supposed to be famous for their hospitality and all, but lots of these people are kind of mean and passive-aggressive. But maybe that has more to do with the fact that they're court reporters than the fact that they're Southerners... My sis is a member, and we have to keep up our continuing education credits by attending seminars. The seminars pretty much have nothing to do with our actual job (for instance, try the seminar on ettiquite, parts 1 and 2, where you learned which side of your place setting the bread plate should be on; or the business ethics panel, where it was just a forum for selfish mean people to rant about how people don't respect them nearly enough). To make matters worse, a creepy guy took a liking to me and I spent the rest of the convention trying to avoid him. My sis and I stayed up way too late and drank way too much free wine the last night, and we missed our 7:00 a.m. flight. Luckily, we were able to get standby seats on the next flight, so it ended up okay.

So now I'm back, and now it's time to crack down on wedding plans. I'll be soooo happy when it's time for our honeymoon... St. John.... so nice.... so tropical... margaritas and veggies & dip.... I hope they have veggies & dip.... ooo, and steak.... but not necessarily at the same time.... yeahhh...

Gots to do more laundry now.