Sick and tired

The antibiotics I am taking for my bronchitis have totally fouled up my stomach. I will spare you the gory details of my ailments, except that I hardly had energy to make my bed before my parents came over for Christmas Eve dinner. Instead of going to my aunt's house, Jason stayed with me to watch the Law & Order marathon on TNT and chow down at a diner. Double bah humbug. I hope I am well enough to go to Chicago on Friday :(

...Or For That Special Someone

Thank you, J, for sharing. This will provide countless hours of entertainment. The video, that is ;).

UPDATE 12/23: YouTube ran into some copyright snags, so I have changed the link to NBC's SNL shorts, the uncensored version.

Keep Christ in Christmas - Buy Bible PJs

Got any Bible-thumpers on your Christmas list? Get them Army of God pyjamas! What a fantastic synergy between the religious right and post-modern consumerist materialism.

Bah humbug

For some reason, I am just not in the holiday spirit this year. Walking around midtown, especially near Rockefeller Center and Times Square, induces homicidal tendencies. All the stores are really crowded. Luckily, I did most of my holiday shopping online or just gift certificates.

The most Christmas-y thing I have done so far is buy an ice cream maker for my company's toy drive. Kids are really sophisticated these days. Instead of asking Santa for Barbies or Matchbox cars, they requested picnic tables, XBOX 360's (way over the price limit), and kitchen appliances. I left her a note that said that the elves made an arrangement so that she could exchange it at Bed Bath and Beyond if it didn't work.

It doesn't help that I have a raging cold that felt like the flu yesterday. Thank God for Nyquil and Dayquil.

Overheard at B&N

Little Girl: (holiding merchandise) Mommy can I have this coloring book?
Mom: (looking at magazine rack) No.
Little Girl: (pointing to cover) Oh, that's Gwen Stefani!
Mom: How did you know that?
Little Girl: Can we pleeeeeease buy this?

Life Likes a Box of Chocolates

I love perks! Today a mysterious package arrived at my desk. A vendor with whom I had worked sent me a nice assortment of Jacques Torres chocolates. There goes my plan to avoid gaining weight over the holidays...

Everyone Has AIDS, AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS

It's interesting that World AIDS Day coincides with receiving the results of my first HIV test. I'm happy that it came back negative, not that I was worried. It's sad to think that a lot of people have not been so fortunate, but many people seem to be under the impression that this isn't a problem anymore. We are all at risk of suffering from HIV while there is no cure, whether we catch it our we watch our loved ones waste away.

[cue music from Team America World Police - the Lease The Musical scene]

You Shouldn't Have, No Really

According to Holidays with Style, ahot gift this year is the Wellbox. Who would really pay $1600 for a home Endermologie unit? In addition, if you receive one, what is the giver trying to tell you? Really people, give to charity or something more productive.

I still have to write up a Xmas list, or at least drop hints for my parents and bf as to what I want. A Wellbox will not be on it, neither will Twisted Sisters' A Twisted Christmas.

Gobble gobble

This was my first non-traditional Thanksgiving meal. Jason's mom made paella. It was great! We went through one and a third bottles of the botrytis semillon. Maybe I should get an importer's license.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Isn't that (nauseatingly) cute? - The Redux

Unless you've been in an ashram, you have been subjected to the media blitz of TomKat: The Wedding. They snubbed the Mayor of Bracciano, and they did not wave to the locals. Italians are warm, they just wanted a hello. Sheesh. Even though the whole Scientology schtick is too weird for my taste, I think the vow to never go to bed without discussing differences is sweet and practical.

Not sure how I feel about her dress, but I did love her sapphire earrings.

Isn't that (nauseatingly) cute?

In more cybertrolling news:

My ex now has a live-in gf and a dog. He is such a neat freak, the dog hair probably makes him insane, especially when he is studying. His new flavor-of-the-month is younger, and I bet she's footing the bill for their living expenses (he was trying to get me to do the same). Coincidentally, she looks like the model in the StaySlim commercials. Isn't that special?

Proof I Can Bake Too!

This weekend my friend F turned 29. She didn't want to do a big-deal shindig, and she didn't want her mom slaving over a stove for four days either (it's a genetic trait in Italian women that kicks in during pregnancy). So we ordered in heaps of Chinese food, and I baked a cake, a Bundt no less. It was not from scratch; I used the souped-up (or rather, puddinged-up) version on the side panel of the Duncan Hines Devil's Food box. I guess everyone liked it because the next morning I got the following text message:
Yay. Cake for breakfast! thanks again!
Last month I also baked Jason the apple cake, that was supposed to be for Rosh Hashanah, but ended up being more of a Harvest Cake. At first I thought I burned it, but it was just that the sides and top turned very golden-brown. Brought some of it to work and gave some to mom. It was very moist and crumbly, but it tasted good. I also brought in our homemade pumpkin bars after Halloween, and they hardly lasted two minutes during our morning meeting.

Yeay for baked goods, especially when they come out of my oven.

Crack(berry) addict

My boss asked me to upgrade my work mobile to a Blackberry. While I'm not against the concept, I hate the effects its availability has had on society. It makes me almost violent when people are furiously typing away way after the plane boarding door close and we're on the tarmac. Plus, I went on a date a few years ago with a guy who checked it every two minutes, and needless to say, he did not get a second date. I communicated this to my boss, and he is OK with me not being tethered to it at all hours. I also informed him of the steep upgrade costs since I was already under contract for a phone.

Long story short, I caved and took it. So far, I have been restrained. It's my new toy. Let's see how long it takes me to either chuck it against the wall or check into rehab.

Yawn

About 98% of my office is in Lost Wages for the rest of the week. The place looks like a ghost town, slightly better than how the former Andersen offices looked when they met an untimely demise 4 1/2 years ago. This is even better than being on vacation.

Scrumptdiddlyumptious

J's friend A is a chef/restaurant consultant. Since he has been working in Baltimore, a couple of us descended on a mutual friend's apartment to feast on his cooking. I was sous chef :). Everything was so good, I left nothing on any plate.

With gale-force winds attacking the northeast, I took Amtrak down to DC. The Regional seemed to take forever, especially with three yakety-yaks sitting in front of me. With only 700 miles to go until I hit silver status on Delta again (not like it's worth it), I really wanted to fly, but I most likely would have never left NYC. I ended up missing the opening hours for the Bible exhibit at the Sackler; the rest of the gallery is very nice though, especially the free admission.

Sunday we went to Wegman's, to which I have not visited since after the Finger Lakes Wine Fest last year. Yeay for Wegmans!

There's Always Next Year

The Mets just lost. Damn. This would have been the perfect year to win, being 20 years after the Amazin's. The Card's catcher looked like a big frog when he burst into the air after that last slider.

Well, we did better than the Yankees.

What If ... Maybe Not

I admit it, I troll around weddingchannel.com. Yes, I do look up registries and sign guestbooks for my friends, but every once in a while, I cyberstalk people I know but from whom I am definitely not getting an invite. People from work, acquaintances, ex-boyfriends, et alia.

Two and a half years ago, I was quasi-set up on a blind date. A co-worker mentioned he had a roommate whom I might really click with, but never followed up. So I found him on Friendster and started chatting him up. We had a lot in common - travels, interest in Soka Gakkai, IT jobs - and our emails were really long. So we met up at El Cid for tapas, one of my faves where Monica and I got fabulously sloshed. It went pretty well. I was trying to avoid meat during Lent, and he was adhering to Atkins, but we both compromised a little bit. I got the feeling he didn't like my dropping the f-bomb, and when I mentioned I went to Cornell, he told me at first he went to Harvard, but then said he attended Polytech. I don't consider myself a "label whore" and don't think I pass as one, so that was a little odd. At times conversation was a little stilted, but it definitely is not something that I laugh about with friends now. I wasn't seeing fireworks, but I was intrigued. It had potential.

Then work and travel got in the way, and he got a bad cold. We never managed to meet up again, and then Ross happened [shudder]. I always wondered what happened; our mutual friend told me he hadn't been dating anyone else. Apparently, destiny also got in the way for him a few months later since he met his now-wife in Vegas. My cybertrolling recently brought me to his wedding website. He seems happy, albeit with less hair. Maybe I'm a little superficial, but he doesn't look as good as when I met him.

I have no regrets, and I harbored no fantasies about us maybe reuniting or whatever. And I love love love my J (I know he's reading this :) ). It's just interesting to see how life pans out for people.

I-Don't-Need-a-Bag Lady

[climbing up on the soapbox]
Yes, I am a tree hugger. I care about the air we breathe and the water we drink, and I want to be able to appreciate the beauty of our natural surroundings for years to come. Those of you who know me know that I recycle obsessively, but a lot of people forget the reduce portion of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle equation. It's harder for us to fathom this since, unlike many other nations, we are never asked to pay a nominal fee for items like plastic bags and ketchup packets, but reducing the amount of things we consume means less energy is used to produce more, and there is less waste - how many of you have seen plastic bags blowing in the wind? It kinda looks like urban airborne jellyfish.

There are really simple changes to behaviors to reduce consumption. Next time you go to the grocery store, try not to take a produce bag for items that don't need it. If you are walking around the corner, ask the clerk not to double up shopping bags on non-heavy items. In fact, bring already-used bags, a cart (they're trendy now!) or a sturdier, reusable bag. I saw a lot of people in Sydney with green canvas totes specifically for this purpose. Refrain from taking plastic cutlery with your take-out if you have reusable forks and knives handy. If you're getting a drink at a fast-food restaurant, try to drink it without a straw and a plastic cover. If you buy one item at a store and you already have a bag to put it in, chuck it in your existing bag sans new shopping bag (word to the wise - make sure you take the receipt!).

Repeat the mantra after me - I don't need a bag.

Thanks for listening.

[dismounting from the soapbox]

Hungover Down Under

Last night I had some people over to enjoy some of my imports from Oz. Well, not all of them I personally brought over, some were courtesy of Empire Liquors on Queens Blvd. It was great. Ten to twelve people killed over seven bottles of plonk (Aussie for booze). My downstairs neighbor started banging on her ceiling around 1:30am, so that's when the party started to die. I was fine until the rose, then J noticed I was teetering around. Missing dinner and cutting back on carbs will do that to me.

Unfortunately, I woke up at 7am today feeling like someone hit me on the back of the head with one of the empties. Tried taking Advil and yakked that right back up. J had to scrape me off the bathroom floor. We then passed out for six more hours, and I woke up as if the headache never happened.

We're off to meet J's big bro (from his frat) and do touristy stuff in New York. I never get sick of traipsing aimlessly through Central Park and looking at exhibits at the Met. The $20 entrance fee doesn't even faze me; the museum is so huge, and the last couple of times I have entered for free with a family pass.

Burnt Out of Shape

I am really tired today. Did not sleep well last night. My job is not stressful, yet I feel out of sorts. Plus, I just took a step class, in my perpetual effort to slim down, and could only manage 40 minutes of it. Granted I had 2 risers, and the old hag next to me said "You know, it's none of my business, but you should really take one of those off, you look ridiculous." Bitch.

I need to get my ass in gear, I'm so out of shape. Think I just about got rid of the 5 pounds from Oz, but there's still the 5 I gained from travelling. And then the 10 that I wanted to lose on top of that.

I'm so depressed. At least my nails look halfway decent...