Butt Crack Quarters

Whew, I spent the better part of  today nursing a nasty hang over. I have not had one of those for a very long time, don't normally drink that much. I was just enjoying my evening so much I wasn't paying any attention to how much beer I was drinking and those shots to Fireball did not help any. 

Friday, I had a fun email bantering session in the morning, I did a few things around the house then met MJ at the Red Robin for lunch, we had a nice leisurely lunch. MJ is one of my favorite people to sit and chat with, she has wonderful stories and great insight on things. Very open and to the point, I love it when people are honest and straight forward. 

I curled at 5, we played against Loafy and Nancee's team that was fun. I'm not sure what is going on with Bob and Clay this year, maybe it's that I'm finally starting to understand the strategy of the game and now I just cannot figure out why they call the shots they do. I'm thinking I need to maybe find another team; one that I can grow with because I'm really not learning anything from this team. I know Cheryl is frustrated as well. 

I subbed on a 7 pm team that was a fun game, I played well, I was getting pretty tired by the eighth end, I think I needed more food or something. After the game I sat with the team for a bit, had some fries then went over to Loafy's table, she was sitting with Ralph and Aaron. Ralph, Loafy and I discussed the possibility of going to Arizona next week. Ralph and Sally have a timeshare they are trying to sell. After the second pitcher of beer the idea sounded really good. 

I saw one of the funniest things at the club, butt crack quarters. I have never played this game nor have I seen it, Loafy says she played in college and they did it naked. That's probably why I've never seen it, I didn't go to college. Anyway a person puts a quarter in their butt crack and walks with it to a cup and drops the quarter into the cup! Oh My God, I laughed so hard. Loafy was saying when she played they would drop the quarter into a glass of beer and if they made it they could pick the person who had to drink the beer. YUCK! I don't think I would have played, just getting naked in front of people would have kept me out of the game. 

I was up way too late, and slept too late, ate up most of my day sleeping.

I received a call tonight, Rhory's pregnant! I'm not sure how I feel about it, I'm really happy and excited for her, she has been wanting to have a baby ever since I have known her but I also feel a little hmmm unsettled about it. I've known Rhory since 1995, we were friends for 5 years and then started a relationship which lasted 3 years. After our relationship ended we have remained really close friends. It just seems odd to me, someone I have known that long and has always been a lesbian decides one day that she's going to start dating men. It almost feels as if our relationship was fake. I know that's not true but it still feels that way. I was the first person she has told besides her baby's daddy that she's pregnant, she hasn't even told her family yet. She plans on telling everyone this week. I am really happy for her and I can see her having a little girl, a little Rhory. It's going to be fun to share that experience with her. I hope everything works out with her and Rick, I have yet to meet him. Maybe once I meet him I will feel better about it. It's seems weird that I'm unsettled about her having a baby with a man, hell that's the natural way to do it, I know I would have no issues if she were in a relationship with a woman and got pregnant. Something new I've discovered about myself, I think I'll have to think on it a little more. 

Friday Morning Weigh In

0815 this morning = 137 pounds, wish I had a digital scale, I had to put my glasses on to read the numbers.

I've discovered quite a lot about my caloric intake over the last couple weeks.
1 I don't eat as much as I thought I did
2 most days I eat less calories than I'm allowed
3 portion control is the key
4 coffee does have calories, not many but they are there
5 remember to add the liquid calories, beer, wine, vanilla latte, etc.
6 two hours of curling burns 508 calories, at least for us leads, you skips probably not so much

On the whole I eat pretty healthy so this has not been too difficult. I've been really surprised by how few calories I eat, and my protein intake is really quite high for a vegetarian, I average about 72 g of protein a day, I only need 64. Using The Daily Plate to track my calories, protein, sugar, carbs etc has been working great. I can also track my physical activities and how many calories they burn. I'm sure I am taking in some hidden calories, a piece of candy here, an extra beer there but I figure I burn them off one way or another.

WORDLE

Wordle is a toy for generating "word clouds" from text that you provide. Very fun! I created a wordle today; I named it Immortality, check it out. Create your own. I might even print and frame mine.

NEGOTIATE YOUR BILLS!

I know I've said this before but it's worth repeating. Call me weird but I look at every bill that arrives in my mailbox, yes I still mail in my payments, to see exactly what I am being charged for. Today, my phone bill arrived, I'm sure I'm one of the few people who still have a landline, but I need it for my security system. Anyway, I noticed right away that my bill was higher than last month, so I checked the charges and I also took a look at the "important information" booklet that came with the bill. Sure enough there was a rate increase, my bill has gone from $23.39 to $25.01 a month. Well I discovered in the "important information" booklet that there are two types of Residential Monthly Telephone Rates for Minnesota; Flat rate and Measured rate. Hmm that got me to thinking, what is the measured rate? I promptly picked up my cell phone and dialed up Qwest. 

After pushing several buttons to get to the extension I wanted and a short wait I was able to talk with a representative. I inquired about the measured rate, what's the cost, how does it work, etc? I was told that the measured rate allows limited hours of use, great, I don't use my landline. What's the cost? 

Local Measured Service Usage Charges*: customers pay 2 cents a minute for every minute over their usage allowance of 180 minutes (3 hrs) a month. Hook me up! There is an installation charge of $18.35 which I tried to get out of but couldn't and you still have to pay taxes and other service charges, but obviously they will not be as much as before. I will be saving about $15 a month by switching. Another thing I learned is if I were to switch my cell phone from AT&T to Verizon I could save $5 per month on my landline! Hello? I'd then only pay $4.70 a month for my home phone. 

Now it's time to contact Verizon and see what kind of deals they have. I know I can get a discount through work and the fact that I have three phones, one for me, one for mom and one for pops, I should be able to negotiate something good.  

* I looked all over the Qwest website to find information about the Local Measured rate and could not find any. 

Quote of the Day

"be yourself because the people that mind don't matter and the people that matter don't mind"

I love this one

Human Weight Lifting

Just a little something...

Imam Ali, "A mathematical genius:"

A person was about to die, and before dying he wrote his will which went as follows...

"I have 17 camels, and I have 3 sons. Divide my camels in such a way, that my eldest son gets half of them, the second one gets 1/3^rd of the total and my youngest son gets 1/9^th of the total number of camels".

After his death when the relatives read his will they got extremely perplexed and said to each other that how can we divide 17 camels like this?!!, so after a long and hard thought they decided that there was only one man in Arabia who could help them, so they all came to the door of Imam Ali and put forward their dilemma.

Ali said, "Ok, I will divide the camels as per the man's will.. I will lend one of my camels to the total which makes it 18 (17 + 1 = 18), now lets divide as per his will".

The eldest gets 1/2 of 18 = 9

The second one gets 1/3 of 18 = 6

and the youngest gets 1/9 of 18 = 2

The total number of camels (9 + 6 + 2) = 17, Ali said then, "Now I will take my camel back".

Update WC bonspiel

We lost our game today, should have won it but what can I say? We lost. We play tomorrow (Sunday) at 0800 YUCK!

The banquet was really fun, did a lot of dancing and socializing. The food was good. Sally, Amy and Lisa think they are really funny. I left my purse in the bathroom, realized it about 2 minutes later and went back. It was gone, went to the front desk, "has anyone turned in a purse?" "no" Went to the bar "has anyone turned in a purse?" "no" then went back to the ballroom where the banquet was being held. I hear an announcement "Attention everyone, a purse was turned in, will Princess of the nether regions come up?" Ha Ha funny girls. Here Lisa entered the bathroom right after me and found my purse, Amy opened it discovered it was mine and she and Sally had a great chuckle deciding what to do. Do they not realize the ramifications? What goes around, comes around :)

OK, off to bed, it's going to be an early morning.

Winter Carnival Bonspiel

This is going to be short and sweet because I am tired. After the Cold Cash Margeaux gave me a great lesson on how these things are set up; a really good team plays a not so good team in the first draws so that everyone finds their places. With that I figured my team would be playing a really good team this morning and we did. The game was really fun and my team played very well, the game came down to the 7th (we were buzzed) end. We were up by one point, and had last rock, the opposing team was sitting two. All that needed to happen for us to win was for our skip, Clay, to draw in, he had plenty of space but over threw the rock, it sailed through the house. Bummer the other team won. I cannot complain we threw good rocks and had an excellent game.

Game two was also a good game, the opposing team shook hands in the 6th end. It was not that we dominated the game we just scored one point each end.

I had a really good day, some friends I've not seen since this summer stopped by the club to watch, I was able to chat with a lot of fellow curlers and meet some new people.

Tomorrow we play at 1015, I don't know who we play as it was not posted when I left the club but I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, and I decided Friday mornings would be my weigh in day, today 140, not a big surprise I've weighed 140 for as long as I can remember. I can't imagine getting down to 130 but I took the challenge so I gotta do it.

Cruising Blogs

One of my favorite things to do is cruise other peoples blogs. What I do is hit the "next blog" button and see what comes up. Today's blogs of note are:
Embrace Sweets, dedicated to organic and healthy sweets
Cinema Tarzan, movie reviews by Tarzan
Cy draws, drawings, mostly pencil
Izzah Hazibah Hab a young girls life in Brunei
Ambition Bliss has wonderful inauguration photos
Sarah Dungan, Trend Scanner, Hey I'm Cay are all blogs I stopped on to check out.

I love checking out the design, color, layout, photos, animation etc. I like the ones with music that plays, I'm going to figure out how to do that. Lots of artists post their music, photos, drawings, poetry, its wonderful.

It gives me a glimpse into the lives of other people, their thoughts, ideas, beliefs it allows me the opportunity to discover and understand what is happening around the world.

Word of the Day

AUSPICIOUS

DEFINITION: (adjective) promising good fortune; propitious.

EXAMPLE: The news that a team of British climbers had reached the summit of Everest seemed an auspicious sign for the reign of newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II.

SYNONYMS: encouraging, favorable

OK, it's old but so am I and I like it, enjoy

Daily Plate

Ok, so the other day I got my work out routine together, today I figured out how much I can eat, or can't eat in order to meet my challenge of losing 10 pounds. The Daily Plate is a wonderful tool, you can put in everything you have eaten for the day and then add how much physical activity you have done and it will calculate everything for you. Once you've gotten your account set up by putting in all of your personal information, height, weight, etc it does the work for you. According to the Daily Plate if I eat 1664 calories a day I will lose one pound a week, if this is correct then I should have no problem meeting my challenge.

Today I only ate 1200 calories which allowed me to drink this nice glass of Merlot while writing this. The Daily Plate can also help you track your protein, carbohydrates, fats, sodium and so on. Being a "pesce" vegetarian, I do track my protein, and for the most part it's not a problem. I have more issues with iron but since I've incorporated my personal trail mix into my diet that has gone to the wayside.

I'm looking forward to this challenge, it's been a while since I've taken a look at my diet and exercise so this is a good thing. And I always like a good challenge. Now I just have to figure out which day of the week I'm going to step on the scale, Friday morning the beginning of the weekend or Monday morning the end of the weekend. I'm leaning towards Friday morning.

oohwee

My legs are sore today, must have been that cross country skiing I did yesterday. I talked with Julie and she was sore too so now I feel better. I'm going ski with Val and Tara tomorrow; I'm hoping Tara can give me some tips.

I started my Pound for Pound Challenge today, which means little or no beer for the next few months, bummer. I pulled out all the papers my Fitness Specialist had given me last year and have a plan of action. I'm giving 10 pounds to charity, it's a little more than I need to lose but I have been struggling with losing 5 pounds and keeping it off so I figure if I dump 10 pounds I can always put on 5 if I don't like that weight.

Today has been one of those roller coaster days, work was good, all the happy people were there. The afternoon was good, I watched a fun curling game, had dinner with Mary Jane then met some friends out at Camp for the season premiere of the L-word. That's about all I ever see of the show, Camp always shows last years finale and this years season premiere so I see the first and last shows of the season. Anyway, while I was at the bar I saw Anne; I just caught a glimpse of her then I was distracted. Val, Tara and I got a table along with some of Val's co-workers, Julie showed up a few minutes after I got there. After about 10 minutes Anne and her friends sat down at the table right in front of us. It was kind of weird as one of the women at Anne's table is an old friend of mine and a fellow curler Mary Ann, here she is dating a different friend of mine, Trish, what a small world. Trish and Anne work together, I met Trish through Tara and that's how I met Anne. It was bit awkward for all of us. Trish and Mary Ann came over and chatted with us, that was nice. I haven't seen Trish since we raced at Chequamegon in 2007 and I haven't seen Mary Ann since last year.

I was a little thrown off by seeing Anne, I always think I'm over it until I see her or someone starts asking me about her then I realize, nope still have to work on it. It's not like it used to be, I only cussed for about 3 minutes and cried for about 5 minutes on my way home then I was done. I guess it's a good thing to see her once in a while because I know one of these times it's just not going to matter at all then maybe I can start thinking about dating again.

Ski Pass

I learned something new today; you need to have a ski pass in order to cross country ski in Minnesota parks. I guess I just never thought about it. When I skied in the past it was at an apple orchard or parks up North. I probably bought a day pass or something.

Anyway, Julie and I made plans to ski today so I needed to purchase a ski pass. Passes can be obtained in a variety of ways, by phone, internet (imagine that) mail (which everyone should use more often) or at a local Electronic Licensing System:

Get your daily, one-season and three-season ski passes using Minnesota's new electronic licensing system. There are 1750 locations around the state where you can use ELS. For a list of these, go to the ELS page or call the DNR Information Center at 651-296-6157 or 1-888-646-6367 (TTY: 651-296-5484 or 1-800-657-3929). The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has all the information you need, you can also check out local trail conditions and upcoming events. There are some candle lit events that look like a lot of fun and I hope to be able to do one of those this winter.

I went to my local ELS, at the Holiday Station in Maplewood to purchase my pass, it was quick and easy. Only $15 for the year (July 01, 2008 through June 30, 2009).

After purchasing my ski pass I headed to Julie's house, she was ready and waiting by the time I got there so all I had to do was put my gear into her car and we were off! Julie has done quite a bit of cross country skiing around the cities so she was in charge of finding the place.

We went out to Vadnais Heights, County Road F and Sucker Lake road or something, we parked the car and got on the trail right there. It was a nice wooded area. We followed the trail for about a mile and a half and then Julie had the idea of going off trail. OK by me, you lead. Julie headed up a deer trail that followed around the lake, it was fairly wide and not really a problem.

After a short time she decided we should take a break. After a short respite we decided to continue following the deer trail, this time I was in the lead. Of course now that I'm in the lead the trail kept getting more narrow as we went and at one point we hit a down hill and I was not sure whether I would be able to keep myself from falling into the lake. We finally hit a dead end, or at least I decided I was not going to chance it any longer, I had already skied over logs, around trees and skirted the lake. Let me stop right here and say this was my first time out skiing in over 20 years, what the hell I was doing off trail is beyond me. Leave it up to Julie to talk me into this kind of adventure. We turned around and headed back to the main trail.

I have to say, I really liked this adventure, I think cross country skiing and I will get along just fine. I do however believe I need some lessons as I'm sure there is a more efficient way of using my energy. I need to learn the proper way of doing this type of skiing. It sure was fun being out in the woods, listening to the birds and seeing the winter wonderland. I can't wait for the next adventure!

Pound for Pound Challenge

While perusing through my google reader I came upon an article on Healthbolt, one of the blogs I follow. Pound for Pound Challenge, lose weight and help feed America.

For every pound you lose, Pound for Pound will donate 10 cents to Feeding America - enough to provide one pound of groceries to a local food bank.

Feeding America is the nations leading charitable hunger-relief organizations, providing groceries each year to 25 million Americans at risk of hunger.

All you have to do is take the pledge, start dieting (and of course exercise) and watch your lost pounds convert into pounds of groceries for those who need them.

I don't know about anyone else but I sure have some pounds I can donate and if it helps others all the better.

Come on take the challenge, dare ya ;)

Follow the Three R's

Respect for Self

Respect for Others and

Responsibility for all Your Actions

Word of the Day

presumptuous

DEFINITION: (adjective) going beyond the limits of courtesy or appropriateness.

EXAMPLE: The senator winced when the presumptuous young staffer addressed him as "Chuck."

SYNONYMS: arrogant, audacious, conceited

You're Beautiful

Finally

I think I've finally kicked this nasty cold. I have my voice back, it's still a little froggy in the morning but by the second cup of coffee all is well. We have our big ass 6 month audit coming up on Wednesday and everyone has their undies in a bundle at work. I worked two hours of overtime tonight getting ready for it and will probably work a couple hours OT again tomorrow. I like the extra money and the work is not bad, just checking the inventory to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be.

I went out and shoveled snow tonight, I have not shoveled the last couple times it snowed so I had quite a bit to clear. It was not bad, pretty light snow, it was just really windy. It seemed like every time I threw a shovel of snow it blew back into my face.

I started my winter work-out routine on Saturday; Sunday as always, was my relaxation day and because of the overtime and shoveling I did not workout tonight. Tomorrow I plan to get back at it, I can really tell how lazy I've been. After about an hour on the bike trainer I was getting tired. I found out last winter that if I pop a movie in I can ride for the length of the movie, the more exciting the movie the better the ride. So needless to say they are mostly FX movies. I'm also adding some weight training into my workout. Lord knows I need to work on getting back some of my strength this desk job is killing me.

That's about it, I am so happy to finally be rid of this cold, it REALLY sucked not having a voice.

Only the good News

So far so good, I haven't read any bad News today. I tried to stay off the Internet as much as possible but as luck would have it our system was down at work so I did not have a lot that I could do. When that happens I we still have access to the Internet just not the programs I need to do my job. So, what else is a girl to do? Because I work for the government we have limited access on the Internet, but I did find some fun good News. For example: a rare Tree Kangaroo gave birth to twins at the Lincoln Children's Zoo in Omaha Nebraska.

I read my horoscope for today:

January 11, 2009

1. Capricorn (12/22-1/19)

   You usually have good judgment when it comes to getting to know people, but it might be a little bit clouded right now. This new person that you are dying to get to know better, for example -- are they really deserving of this level of your admiration? Think about this long and hard today, because who you bring into your life is not a choice to make lightly. Make sure you're choosing these people based on the right reasons. Disposable friendships are more trouble than they're worth.

That has me wondering as I can't think of any one I've been dying to get to know better. I do believe this is a good piece of advice for me because I have been known to bring some crazy people into my world. I've always learned something from them but it can be a tumultuous ride.

I read a bunch of Mountain biking blogs and websites this afternoon, makes me want to go out for a ride. Maybe if the weather warms up on Friday or Saturday I can get my bike out.

I put Dianetics on the back shelf as Dave, my co-worker brought in Brisingr by Christopher Paolini for me to read. I've been waiting for this book to get to the library but it hasn't arrived yet. I noticed last week that Dave was reading Eragon which is the first book of this series so we started chatting about it. I just finished reading Eragon and Eldest about a month ago, Dave read them both in the past and recently picked up Brisingr but wanted to re-read the first two. He offered to let me read Brisingr, now who in their right mind can pass up that kind of offer? I still plan to finish Dianetics but I need to make sure I am done with Brisingr before Dave is ready to read it. I love me some fantasy and/or science fiction books, give me wizards and dragons and lots of magic! Fortunately today is Sunday which is my relaxation evening, I can hear the cozy chair calling my name. I think I might even crack a bottle of that 3 buck Chuck.

This is harder than I thought

Keeping my New Year's resolution is going to be difficult especially on days like today when I really have nothing to post. I tried to stay off the Internet as much as possible today; I've been spending way too much time reading the News. I am not happy about what is happening in our world, it seems every day somebody is bombing somebody else. This is something I just don't understand. And for the most part it's all about religion. OK, I can understand dying for your beliefs but killing for them? That just goes against everything I believe.

Jihad, even writing it will probably throw up flags every where but it's what us Americans have come to know as "holy war." One of the sites I recently visited about scared the hell out of me, What Every American Needs To Know About Jihad, take a look. If you "google" jihad you will come up with so much information it would take you weeks to get through it. I just cannot get my mind around the idea of killing people because they do not have the same beliefs, ideas, thoughts, religion, whatever as I do. How can anyone truly believe that it is Ok, let alone a good thing to take the life of another human being?

I seriously need to stop reading the News and focus on more positive things. Tomorrow is Sunday the beginning of the week, I think I'll take a week off from the News, no paper, no internet surfing, just focus on some good healthy things. Like porn or something, Kidding! I think I'll work on this years bike rides and get all of my maps printed and organized. Hell I have a riding group I need to get together and set up. Sunny warm days are just around the corner.

Happy Birthday to me

Whew, almost missed my post. Ok, today's my birthday, I'm 46 hmmm can't think of anything rhymes with 46...it's kind of an odd age. I slept late which everyone should do on their b'day. I drank lots of coffee this morning. Met MJ for lunch, Thank You!

I curled at 5 pm and we won tonight! What a surprise! The team we played was/is much better than we are but they did not play so well and we did, YAY! Had several friends come up to the club tonight to help celebrate my b'day, that was really nice. Thanks!

That's about it! I had many other things floating around my head to write about today, but the beer is getting in the way so I'll write about them another day.

Peace, and thanks again to everyone for coming out for my b'day.

love ya!

Lara Logan

HOME HAZARD

Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers in America, claiming 20,000 lives each year.

Because you can't see, smell or taste radon, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared January as Radon Action Month to encourage Americans to test their homes for radon - the only way to know if there is a harmful level of the gas in your home. 

Getting a radon Test Kit is easy. Most home improvement and hardware stores carry them at inexpensive prices and many state health departments give them out free of charge. 

For more information about radon, you can go to the EPA's website.

Whiskey and Honey

I'm still without a voice, some might say that's good thing but I'm not very happy about it. I have several phone calls I need to make and I cannot make them. Example:

The bug guy came over the other day and I was not here when he arrived so he only sprayed the outside of the house and now I have a bill for it. I want them to come back and do the inside before I pay the bill, the cost is the same, so I want the full meal deal. I don't have a voice so I can't call. I'm sure they will want their payment but I'm not sending any money until they come back and finish the inside. Everyone knows I have bug issues, they simply do NOT belong in a person's house. Outside is fine, in the garden is fine, in my house NO way!

Speaking of bugs, I stayed home from work today in hopes of fighting this virus or whatever it is. I spent the entire day in the house, doing chores, laundry, dishes, cleaning, YUCK! not fun. I also shaved my head today, I just could not stand my hair any longer. it was waaaaay too poofy. We lesbians have a code we must honor when it comes to hair. We may not make many fashion statements but we do have hair rules. No lesbian in her right mind will be seen with poofy hair, it just ain't right.

I tried to talk with Val today as we were supposed to go xcountry skiing tonight, she did not recognize my voice when I called. She and Tara decided not to go and she said when she went skiing last week when she had the same thing as I have now that the cold air really bothered her throat. I reminded her that it is quite likely that she and/or Tara gave this cold to me and I am placing the blame squarely upon their shoulders. I wimped out of going skiing myself tonight. Coughing and skiing just don't seem to go together.

Margeaux, Loafy and I have decided we are going to car pool it out to Denver for the US Olympic Curling tryouts. That should be a super fun time. I can just imagine the chaos created when Margeaux, Loafy and I get in one car together. Good God! Look out Denver! We are volunteering to work the event so that we can get in for free, cheap bastards that we are. Right now we are pooling our friend resources to find free places to stay. We're also hoping to get a hook up in Breckenridge as a side trip.

Oh yeah, whiskey and honey, Margeaux suggested that I try whiskey and honey for my throat. The only whiskey I have in the house is Dr. McGillicuddy's Fireball, it's a cinnamon flavored whiskey. I don't have any honey left as I finished it off when I made the apricot bars over the holidays. So I'm having a shot, or three of the Doctor. It can't hurt, right?

Oops, I've already messed up my New Year's Resolution, I'll just have to post twice today. In my world it's still Tuesday but in reality it's already after midnight thereby making it Wednesday. Oh well, it was a super busy day. 

I woke up this morning around 0300 with a coughing fit and could not get back to sleep. At about 0345 I gave up and went out to the living room; I thought maybe if I sat up on the couch or chair I could doze off. Nope, no such luck. 

I went into work at 0600 and did not get out until after 1500. I was called into a meeting at 1400 and they just would not stop talking, I went into overtime pay at 1430 so I thought fine, keep on talking. On my way home from work there was a nasty car wreck on the Kellogg bridge which messed up traffic. It took me nearly 20 minutes to get over the bridge. I finally got home around 1600. I had to hurry up and feed Lash, let him out for a potty break and get back out the door at 1630 to meet Rhory for dinner at the Big Bowl in Rosedale.  I got to the restaurant at 1700, Rhory arrived shortly afterwards. We had a fantastic dinner. Vegetable pot stickers, curry vegetables with tofu and a couple Fat Tire beers. Yummy! After dinner we did a bit of shopping, well Rhory did some shopping I just tagged along with. We parted ways, Rhory went home and I headed to Walgreens for some cold medication. I stopped home to give Lash another potty break and change into my curling clothes. I was back out the door by about 2015, stopped for gas and got to the club about 2040. 

Our game tonight was pretty good. I thought for a while that we were in trouble; they had scored 4 points in the 3rd end. But in the 6th end we came back and scored 4 points which put us ahead by one. They scored 2 in the 7th end giving us the hammer for the 8th end. We were able to put two rocks in the house and keep them there, we won the game by 1 point! I have to say this was by far one of the longest games I have played. For whatever reason it was really slow, we did not finish until about 2315. I'm glad I don't have to work in the morning. I took the day off. 

I just finished my Alka Seltzer night time cold medication so I am off to bed. 

Still don't have a voice

What a frustration! No Voice! It does not work well when you need to answer the phone and talk over a radio as part of your job. Poor Dave had to take all the calls today. The calls that came in while he was out to lunch were a challenge, I did manage to take care of things and the guys enjoyed it. I've also developed a cough which really sucks. I'm taking it easy tonight in hopes of getting rid of this damn cold. Lash doesn't mind if I don't talk to him as long as I continue to pet him all night and let him sit on my lap. He even thinks that he should have my undivided attention at all times because I left him alone all weekend.

My new fun word is "hitherto" (up to this or that time). I can't say as I have ever used the word hitherto in my life, I know I've read it before and I just read it again in the book I started yesterday. I like it; hitherto.

Speaking of the new book, I cracked open "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard and started reading it last night. Back in the late 80's I was really into L. Ron Hubbard's science fiction books. I had heard of "Dianetics" which was first published in 1950 but really had no interest in reading it. His science fiction books always had this dark sexual undertone, at least the ones I read. In the books I read there was always a dominatrix type character and some wimpy guy, the wimpy guy actually had all the power but enjoyed getting his ass kicked. Now of course this was not what the books were about they were like little side stories within the story. Maybe that's why I liked them, who knows. So anyway, I had been researching something else and I somehow found myself cross referenced with Scientology which in turn brought me to L. Ron Hubbard. Then last week I was at the half price book store and what do ya know, there right in front of me was "Dianetics," you know I had to pick it up and at $1.98 it was a steal.

One of my favorite things is checking out peoples belief systems, call it religion if you like but I think religion is too confining. To me religion is like Lutheran or Catholic or something. A belief system is bigger than a religion, for example Christianity, that in my book is a belief. So this book "Dianetics" is right up my alley, I'm also going to look closer at The Church of Scientology, now that should be fun.

This looks like it will be an interesting book to read, Hubbard explains how to read the book and has footnotes and definitions. I've learned almost 10 new words and I'm only 35 pages into the book. This will by no means be an easy read; it's over 600 pages of small print. If the theories of his book hold true then I should be able to heal all that ails me. YAY, I can't wait to get rid of this headache.

Weekend curling

Whew, what a weekend. Saturday I spent nearly the entire day at the club. First game at 0900 against the Goodspeed team, we lost but it was fun. Those ladies are a hoot, I love it when Jane cusses. Our next game was not until 1330 so we had plenty of time to eat lunch and watch the other games. 

Funny, the only team we beat this weekend and I can't remember the name. I think it was Dahlen or something. It was a really fun game, close score. Winning this game allowed us to come back Sunday morning to play. 

After our game I cruised home, fed Lash, grabbed a quick shower and put on my "costume" for the banquet. The theme this year was Las Vegas and my team went as the guys on the street who hand out the girly cards. Nice, simple costume. I got back to the club around 1845, just in time for the raffle. I dint win anything but it sure was fun to see Margeaux win her prizes. Amy put tickets with Margeaux's name on them in all of the empty bags (things nobody wanted) hee hee hee. 

After the raffle we all headed upstairs for the banquet, good food, good conversations and fun dancing. Once again I stayed out later than I planned, I was hoping to be home by midnight and before I noticed it it was 2345. Not bad though I was home and in bed by 0030. 

This morning I thought I would finally take something for this cold I'm battling, bad idea. I was really congested and had developed a cough so I thought it would be good to take an antihistamine but it made me really dizzy and that's not good when you're on ice. Our game was at 0930; I got to the club around 0845 and grabbed some breakfast. 

We played the Matthews team, three out of the four players are deaf so it was fun for me to chat when them. Because I have pretty much lost my voice with this cold it was much easier for me to communicate with them than it was with my own team. Unfortunately we lost which ended our playing for the weekend. 

I stayed at the club and watched the final 4 games, we had money on team Busse who was playing in the third event, they won so we won!!! Our total winnings from the weekend was $56, giving each of us $14, not bad. 

Over all I had a really fun weekend, it was a little dampened with this cold but I met a lot of new people. At the banquet we sat with the team we played against Friday night and they were a fun bunch. 

As a side note I think there should be an unwritten rule that if people are inviting you to their house for a party or something they should tell you whether or not there will be children present. I went to a party last weekend and there were children there, nearly everyone at the party caught the same cold as I have. Apparently one of those kids was sick and we all know kids are just teaming with germs especially during the school year when they are playing with each other.  I'll have to remember next time I'm invited to ask whether there will be kids or not :)

Women's Cold Hard Cash Bonspiel

OK, I don't know who's bright idea it was to pit our team against a team that hopes to go to the Olympics??? Hello, our team hopes to get rocks in the house and this is our first draw? It wasn't even fun. The first few ends were not bad, they scored three, we scored two, they scored one but then things just went to hell. When I talked with other people about this the answer was "well they (the person (s) doing the draw) set it up that way so that the competitive teams are sure to advance. Fuck that, what about teams like ours who want to play well and have a good time. There are more teams like ours than there are the highly competitive teams. Let those teams play against each other, I'm sure it would be much more fun for them as well. I can't imagine that the team we played against enjoyed kicking our ass. OK, 'nough said, but it will make me think twice about playing in this bonspiel next year. 

Maybe it's 'cause I feel so crappy, I'm still battling this cold. My plan to get home early last night did not work out. Outside of having a bad game I did enjoy the evening. I was able to chit chat with a lot of people. I did not get home until about 0100 and then I could not sleep. My head is so stuffed that I'm unable to breathe through my nose so my mouth kept getting dried out, which would wake me up. I would wake up drink some water, doze off, wake up drink more water go pee doze off, wake up drink water doze off, wake up drink water go pee doze off...

Finally around 0600 I gave up. My voice is pretty much gone this morning so today should be fun. 

Our first game today is at 0900, I'm going to get to the club a bit early so I can grab something to eat. Not sure when our next game will be I guess it depend on whether we win or not. We'll be playing the Goodspeed team, it should be a fun game, I know all of their players. 

It's nearly 7 o'clock so I should be motivated. I'm hoping a hot steamy shower will break up some of this congestion and I can start to breathe again.  

New Years Resolution

I finally thought of my resolution, this is going to be a tough one. 

I resolve to post something on this blog everyday! 

So far so good, I posted yesterday and here I am again posting today.

I suppose I should write a little more. Let's see I was up at 0500 exchanging text messages with Margeaux. Power lounged a little longer in bed then moved to the couch to finish my book, finished reading about 0900, yay, it's due back to the library on Monday. Had a little snack then received a text from Amy asking if I wanted to meet at Hell's Kitchen for breakfast.  

Met Amy, Loafy, Hannah and Margeaux at 11:30 had a wonderful, leisurely breakfast. Got back home around 1430. Fed Lash, let him run around the back yard, now it's time to get ready for the Cold Hard Cash bonspiel. We have a 1800 draw time which I am happy about. My big breakfast should last until after the game at which time we get dinner. I plan to make it an early night as I'm still battling the cold I caught. I'm much better today but still tired and have a stuffy head. I'll try to rest up tonight so I can party hardy tomorrow night. 

That's all folks...

My horoscope for today

January 01, 2009

Capricorn (12/22-1/19)

Today will give you a wonderful chance to discover some new details about a person you have been trying to get to know better! They are even more interesting than you thought they were, and the two of you are going to find a whole new common ground. Your ability to connect with others has always been strong, but right now you have the right attitude and the right amount of energy required to really cement a growing relationship -- whether it's romantic or not.

I thought this was rather funny as I've been home all day by myself struggling with a nasty cold. I don't get sick very often but when I do it usually kicks my butt. What a way to start the first day of 2009. It did however allow me to spend the day reading, gotta love that! 

I still haven't come up with a New Years Resolution. Maybe I will just skip it, all the good ones seem to be taken. Ok, time to head back to the couch with my box of tissues, this better be gone by tomorrow I have a bonspiel to play in.