WALKING STATS

STEPS....45
MILES....0
CALORIES BURNED....0

Saturday Netflix

This evening I watched Rumour Has It... with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner. It was a pretty good picture. I rented this one because last year I really wanted to see it but could not find the time to go to the movies. Also I liked the premise of the movie. It was about a woman (Jennifer Aniston) who discovers that the movie, The Graduate, was based on her family. Gaining this knowledge she then tracks down the man whom the Dustin Hoffman character is based. She does this because she wants to find out whether or not he is her father. Overall the movie was a pretty good standard romantic comedy. No complaints here.

I also watched a movie starring John Cusack and James Spader, called True Colors. The movie was extremely predictable. It was about these two college friends, one rich (James Spader), the other poor (John Cusack). The poor guy is a bit of a hustler. He constantly goes for the easy way out by manipulating situations to his advantage. Eventually, he steals the rich guys fiancee and engineers a run for political office paid for by a mobster. I bet you can imagine that things turn out bad but eventually the rich guy and poor guy make amends. Like I said very predictable. My only reason for watching it was John Cusack . Which by the way he looked very good in this picture. My favorite scene in it was when he was wearing this black and white sweater while on the mobsters yacht. He looked simply delicious in that scene!

Anyway, while watching the movie it made me wonder, What the Hell has happened to James Spader? Yeah, I know his career is not dead. Yeah, I know he is on Boston Legal. And.... yea, I know he’s aged since the movie first came out. But its like he has completely let himself go. He went from several years of being a hottie to pudgy. On Boston Legal I can barely tell him apart from William Shatner! In Season 1 of Boston Legal he looked pretty decent but this year its like whoahh, What the hell has happened to the man? Its down right shocking!

WALKING STATS

STEPS....4779
MILES....1.05
CALORIES BURNED....163

This evening I went to another downtown takeout, Crazy Greeks. When I gave the guy at the counter my ten dollars to pay for the order he said, Oh is this a $100! This of course made me wonder if he was just trying to be funny or if all the downtown carryout workers know each other and gossip among each other.

As you can recall last night I mistakenly gave another counter guy at another restaurant $100, thinking I had given him $10.

Oh, well I guess I will have to lay low from downtown takeouts for a while. I will try to weigh my odds with Weight Watchers and Lean Cuisine dinners.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on green slacks, a black cardigan sweater, a striped multicoloured turtleneck, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....9031
MILES....1.99
CALORIES BURNED....337

This evening I did something really stupid. I paid for takeout food at Shanes on Fayette Street with a hundred dollar bill. This all happened because I thought I handed the guy a ten dollar bill. I felt so embarrassed. He had to go to a special place in the store to get change for me. I apologised profusely and offered him the ten but he was not having any of that. In retrospect I think I was being silly for apologising. I did pay for the food, after-all, just with a higher domination of money.

Also, I have to admit that I was looking over my shoulders when I left out of the takeout. I was afraid that maybe I had made too much of a scene and that it was a distinct possibility that I might get robbed. The restaurant is in a shady part of the city. It is near the old abandoned Grey Hound bus station. Luckily, nothing happened.

Just for the record I almost never leave out of the house with that much money. This was an isolated incident that I hope never occurs again.... especially in that neighborhood,....at night.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on brown slacks, an olive turtleneck, and a multi coloured dark v-neck sweater. On my feet are Nike MaxAir tennis shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....9187
MILES....2.02
CALORIES BURNED....334

MORNING COMMUTE
It appears that the regular bus driver is still on vacation! The bus arrived at its scheduled arrival time, 6:04. The regular driver arrives anywhere from 6:06 to 6:12. One thing is for sure, I will be on time for work today.

THE DEAD PRESIDENT
I recently learned that President Gerald Ford died. I do not remember him much. The reason for this is because I was a toddler when he was in the White House. My only knowledge of him comes from old Saturday Night Live skits with Chevy Chase portraying him as being extremely accident prone. The only other things I know about Ford is that he pardoned Nixon and he used to be a male model.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a black mock turtleneck, a fair isle knit sweater of red, black, olive, and white, green khaki pants, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....10724
MILES....2.36
CALORIES BURNED....387

This morning I was on time for work! This was due to the fact that I caught a cab down to light rail station. I know that I can not keep catching cabs to avoid catching the perennialy late #20 bus. I will have to think up another less expensive strategy for being on time. Walking in extreme cold aggravates my asthma. You know the thing is that if the #20 driver were arriving at the time she is supposed to be I would not be in this predicament.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a turquoise v-neck sweater, oatmeal long sleeve Lycra top, blue jeans, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....9263
MILES....2.04
CALORIES BURNED....337

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I got up this morning to make a breakfast from the present I bought myself. I bought myself a breakfast gift box of pancake mix, coffee and sugar free syrup. Then afterwards I wrapped presents as I watched a Christmas movie I had never seen before, Meet John Doe. I have to say that I enjoyed Meet John Doe more than Its a Wonderful Life. I wonder if that can be considered as blasphemy?

After all the wrapping was done I headed out into the rain to deliver the presents over my fathers house. The gifts did become a bit wet with all the rain. In fact the handle to my fathers gift bag broke as I was walking down the street towards his house.

When I finally arrived I was shocked to notice that this year they had a real tree up instead of an artificial one. It appears that they bought the tree on Christmas day. Despite this, I still kind of miss the old artificial tree being up. Anyway, under the tree were tons of unopened presents. My youngest niece, Alexis, explained to me that they would not be opening presents until 5:00pm that evening.

I was also shocked to see my brother, Carlos there. I was shocked because I did not have a present for him because I was previously told that he would not be able to make it. Oh, well.....

As luck would have it I bought along my digital camera and laptop. So I took a lot of pictures as I promised my eldest niece, Lisa I would do. I was taking the pictures because she could not make it over because she could not have the day off from work. I must have taken a zillion pictures! In addition to taking pictures I trimmed the tree along with her daughter, Shay. Sadly, my father and my brother did not want there pictures taken. Also some time during the evening my nephew Little David showed up with a posse of his cousins. My Uncle Leon also called up to see how everyone was doing. All in all it was a pretty stress free evening.

The present I got from my niece Alexis was a Cranberry bath set from The Body Shop. It came with glitter lotion, soap, butter lotion, and lip gloss. This was great because I love bath sets. The only problem is that it had bar soap instead of liquid soap. I prefer my soap liquid because liquid soap does not leave as much soap scum or soap residue as bar soap does. Despite this it was the best present ever! I just love the glitter lotion. It makes me look all sparkly.

JAMES BROWN IS DEAD
I was sad to find out while I was watching the evening news with my dad that James Brown had died. I feel bad for his family. For them, Christmas, a normally joyful occasion will be forever linked with sorrow. May the memory of the Godfather of Soul live on!

WALKING STATS

STEPS....5171
MILES....1.14
CALORIES BURNED....183

This morning I almost left out for Church. The thing that prevented me from going was that every time before I leave out for church I check out the churchs web site to see what the service is going to be about. Today, I noticed that there was no service listed for 11am. They only had evening services listed. I am not sure if the morning service was eliminated today in lieu of special evening Christmas services or not. By the way I wonder if I am the only person who checks out her churchs web site to see what the service is going to about before she heads out the door?

In other Christmas eve news.... I watched Its a Wonderful Life on NBC. Sadly, I started to nod off as Jimmy Stewart first meets Clarence the angel on the bridge. This is the first time that I can remember that I have fallen asleep while watching this movie. I love that movie! I still can not believe that I was fighting to stay awake while watching a movie I love.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....3632
MILES....0.80
CALORIES BURNED....123

The only bad thing that happened today was when I realised in horror that my clothes did not match. I was out shopping in the mall when I opened my coat and realised my faux pas. So thus there was not much I could do but keep my coat closed. This all happened because I was in a rush to leave out to finish up holiday shopping before the crowds descended upon the malls.

This time I was shopping for my older nieces, Lisa and Alexis, and their brother, my nephew, Little David. Who am I kidding the only shopping Little David requires from me is a trip to the old ATM. He is extra easy to shop for because his only request is cash. My two nieces on the other hand are a bit difficult to shop for. So I did the only thing I could think of. I called one of them up and asked.

So thus, my nieces have two gift cards from Victorias Secret and my nephew has a hundred and something for Christmas. I also bought my father a new coat. I am not sure if he will ever get to use it as he rarely leaves out the house in winter. Also being extra cautious I asked my niece if my brother would be over for Christmas. I would hate to have him over there and not have a present for him. My niece assured me that Carlos said that he would not be able to make it over for Christmas. So thus I sighed a sigh of relief.

Also earlier today I downloaded a widget to my MacBook dashboard that allows me to listen to any BBC channel available for broadcast on my computer. Today, I listened to a full cast recording of a Christmas Carol on BBC7. This makes the second day in a row that I have listened to a radio production of A Christmas Carol. However, I have to say that this production was much better than the one on NPR last night. I also listened to a bit of BBC Gloucestershire. I chose to listen to this station to see what local BBC radio stations sounded like. Also my family is from Gloucester, Virginia so I was curious as to what Gloucestershire would sound like. I was disappointed to find out that it sounded like a regular radio station.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....7634
MILES....1.68
CALORIES BURNED....297

Today was the annual Christmas luncheon at work. Also earlier today I got something I have always wanted all my life..... a red Santa Clause hat complete with white fur trim! I was absolutely over the moon with joy when Keisha (who also by the way is a kick ass cook) gave me the hat. To be fair she gave almost everyone a Santa hat. But little did she know that a Santa hat is something I have always wanted! WoW! Nearly, all my holiday dreams fulfilled!

As far as the Christmas luncheon goes it was pretty ho hum. I believe for me this was because neither Arnold nor Arvada showed up for work today. In previous years I have enjoyed sharing a table with them. I missed hearing Arnolds jokes and watching Arvadas reactions to them. By the way he acts at work you would never know that he has a very quick wit.

Sadly or thankfully there will be no Christmas luncheon next year. The reason being is that the company said that instead of the luncheon they will just give us the day off.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a grey fair isle knit sweater, white turtle neck, blue jeans, Nike MaxAir shoes and a SANTA CLAUSE HAT! Whooopeeeeee!!!

WALKING STATS

STEPS....6944
MILES....1.54
CALORIES BURNED....270

Today, I had the day off. I usually take the first day of winter off so that I can celebrate Yule. As per usual I went to the Winter Solstice Ritual that they do every year at the Church I attend.

Ever since last year I have gotten over the groundhog dayness to the service. Every year its the same format, the same songs, and the same people leading the service. I now feel comforted by it. I even looked forward to seeing the same group of kids doing a pantomime honouring the sun deities in the story of Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess. I also looked forward to singing O Solstice Tree and of course saying Blessed Be in public.

The only big difference with this years service was that there were so many people in attendance that the piano player ran out of Joy To The World as we were gathered in a line to receive cookies and wassail. In all the years that I have attended our Winter Solstice Ritual this has never happened. Joy To The World is usually still playing as we make it back to our seats to eat the treats. Also I noticed that they added some Christian elements to the service, the choir sang, Song of Peace: Dona Nobis Pacem.

The only weird thing that happened during the service was as I neared the front of the church to receive my cookies and wassail the guy who had the tray of wassail jumped in front of the guy who had the plate of cookies. This made me feel very nervous. I do not know why he did that? Was he doing this to get my attention? All I knew at that point was that I was afraid to pick up the wassail before I got the cookies. What if I picked up the wassail first and then I could not go back to get my cookie? I was paralysed with fear. I was on the verge of a panic attack. Why did he have to jump out of line towards me? In the end I slowly picked up the cookie then the wassail. I was shaking with fear. I hate it when things jump out of order. After that episode I was shaking until I sat back down at my seat. I calmed myself down by slowly taking a bite of the cookie then a slow sip of the wassail. I have never felt this panic stricken in church before.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....7353
MILES....1.62
CALORIES BURNED....250

This year at work instead of having an informal get together to exchange Secret Santa presents it was catch as catch can. I felt a bit disappointed about this. Then again what else could one expect. Our department did not even have a tree.

So sometime in the morning I gave Lisa her Secret Santa Christmas present. I am not sure if I did a great job of explaining that I was her Secret Santa. I hope that she did not throw away the fancy red bag that contained her Target gift card.

Later in the day I discovered that Richard was my Secret Santa when he came to my cubicule with the Walmart gift card I requested.

If I have not said it before.... I really, really miss having a pre-designated time to exchange Secret Santa presents.

WHAT I AM WEARING;
Today, I have on a black Christmas shirt that has a Christmas tree on it as well as a reindeer with two bells on his horns that actually jingle if you move around too much. I also have on green slacks, a red cardigan sweater, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....6828
MILES....1.50
CALORIES BURNED....270

MORNING COMMUTE
This morning I was on time for work. I attempted to walk down to the light rail station. Halfway towards my goal I saw a #20 bus and hopped on. The bus was not driven by the usual driver who kind of reminds me of a female zombie. I hope this means that she will be off work this week. I do not like it when she is driving because she is always late which in turn makes me late for work.

MY FIRST TARGET EXPERIENCE
Yesterday, for the first time ever I physically shopped at Target. My previous encounter with Target was through online shopping. I bought my Doctor Who sweatshirt from their online store.

The reason why I ventured off to Target was because the woman whom I was the Secret Santa for wanted a Target gift card.

To me Target felt slightly more upscale than Walmart. I even found a bag specially designed to carry a yoga mat. I would never be able to find a yoga bag over at Walmart. I know because I tried to find one there.

Also while there I bought a couple of clothes items. I have to say that they do not have much of a Plus Size clothing section. It was almost as if they added the section as a brief afterthought. There were just about 2-3 racks of clothing to choose from. I do not know if this is indicative of Targets attitude towards plus sized women or if it was just this store. Or maybe even the attitude of the Towson/Lutherville area. One time I went to the Old Navy store in Lutherville and could not find a single item in my size. However, when I went to the Old Navy store in Security Mall I had no problem finding plus sized clothing. I dont know maybe the reason they do not stock much plus size clothing in that area is because fat people dont exist there...

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on some of the new clothes I bought last night at Target. I have to say that the clothes fit just like one would imagine clothing would fit from a store that has only 2-3 racks of plus sized clothing. The clothes are in my size but they cut wrong. They fit much tighter than they would if I had bought them from Kohls, Lane Bryant, or even Walmart.

The clothing I have on is a new pair of chocolate coloured slacks, an oatmeal coloured long sleeve spandex top, and a turqouise hoodie. I also have on my Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....9437
MILES....2.08
CALORIES BURNED....323

Today, I was late for work. This time the reason was that I had trouble flushing my toilet. It turns out that the chain inside the tank had become undone. I did a temporary fix by attaching a safety pin to reattach the chain. I wonder how it was that it became undone? I have never had any problems with it before.

WHAT I AM WEARING
Today, I have on a sage green sweatshirt, ecru turtleneck with a small patchwork design, beige khaki pants, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....12444
MILES....2.74
CALORIES BURNED....484

Today, was yet another busy day for me. It started off at Church then ended up at the BSO.

At church the sermon was presented by our new ministerial intern. She did a good job. I liked that her sermon was very energetic and dramatic. It was a nice change of pace from the usual presenters. Dont get me wrong I am often enlightened by the sermons of our usual ministers. It was just nice to hear a fresh young voice with an upbeat attitude.

After church I headed over to the annual BSO Christmas Show. The Christmas Show is the first show of my season subscription at the BSO.

This years Christmas show featured Sandi Patty. I did not know quiet what to expect. I only know that Sandi Patty is a fellow BBW and a contemporary Christian singer. I was not sure if I would enjoy the show or not. One thing I knew is that I did not want to watch a show that felt like an endless Christian indoctrination session.

First off I have to say that for a brief second I thought I was in the Pearlstone Theatre at Center Stage when I arrived inside the theatre. The reason for this is that a proscenium arch was erected on the stage with two giant nutcrackers flanking either side of it. Also most importantly there was a very lush red curtain hanging from the stage. WoW! The BSO went all out for this Christmas show. I was immediately enchanted by the stage design and could not wait for the curtain to rise so that the show could begin.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. It was truly a Christmas show not a Christian sermon show. Sandi Patty did a great job as hostess. I liked that she had numerous costume changes into glamorous sparkly gowns. She was like a plus size Barbie doll. She had a phenomenal stage presence and was a pretty good singer.

The routines I liked in the show included the tap dancing Santas, the Carol of the Bells ballet dance number, and this old time radio bit they did. I also liked Dan Menendez, the piano juggler. Since I play the keyboard I was truly in awe of his skills.

The only bad part in the BSO Christmas show was when this group of singers sang Seasons of Love from the Broadway musical, Rent. I really love that song. In fact I love it so much that it is on my iPod. The group of singers who sang the song were great. The problem was this one guy who had a solo towards the end of the song. His solo completely ruined the song. It was as though he was singing another song. He sounded out of step with the song. He was so off key that I felt embarrassed for him. Despite this one uncomfortable moment the show was outstanding and very entertaining.

In fact as I was leaving I heard someone remark that the show was as good as the one they have in New York. I assume that the show in question that they were talking about was Radio City Music Halls Christmas Show. Since I have never been to Radio City Music Hall I feel that in a way after viewing this show I have a gist of what Christmas shows in New York are like.

Today was a very busy day. I had two activities lined up for today, yoga class and a show at Center Stage.

The Yoga Drawing class went great. I kind of felt sad that it was the last class of the three week session. I hope that the class returns. For our last class we did a lot of challenging poses. We even did my favourite pose, tree pose. After the class our instructor photographed our drawings. She said that she would email us the photos. I hope that she will not forget.

After class I had just enough time to grab something to eat then head over to Center Stage to see The Boys From Syracuse. I was ushered to my seat again by Paul. I used to have classes with Paul when I was a theatre/art major at Towson. Since he never gives any indication of previously encountering me I never say anything to him like, Hey did’nt you used to go to Towson? I think we had a class or two together! Anyway, his non reaction is not the least bit odd to me because odds are he does not remember me as I am not a very outgoing memorable person. I think the classes we had together was either Mojo Gentrys or more popularily known around campus as just plain old, Mojo drama class or perhaps it was Stan Browns drama classes for voice and movement. I can not remember which...

The Boys From Syracuse Quick Review
Overall, I enjoyed the musical a lot. The only problem I had was staying awake. You see I usually like to see matinee performances. When I had a subscription for evening performances it never worked out for me because I often found myself falling asleep. The main reason for this is because I usually am in bed around 9pm and evening performances last until 10pm. So thus I was up beyond my usual bedtime.

The reason why I switched my usual matinee subscription tickets for evening tickets was because I did not want to miss the last Yoga Drawing Class. I felt that seeing one peformance at night would not be so bad. This of course was foolish on my part as I was yet again fighting to stay awake. What I saw of the play was pretty good. It had a fast manic comedic pace. The singing and dancing were top notch. I also liked that it had a multi-racial cast. It was like every colour of the human rainbow was represented on stage. I only wish that I was not coming back from a yoga class when I saw it.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....7090
MILES....1.56
CALORIES BURNED....243

Today, at work I gave out the Christmas cards and candies I bought last night at Walmart and Rite Aid. I wanted to get it out of the way because I have a busy weekend ahead.

It should be noted that in handing out all of these cards and candies that I had no idea who all of the people were. As I have previously written I got the names off of a list I got from my Supervisor. I have to say that it took quiet a while to sort out who sat where.

You may ask, Why give out things to people I barely know? Well, I like to do it because I feel that it is important to be kind to people. We are on this earth for a short time and I would rather spend my time practicing random acts of kindness as opposed to cruelty. In short I like to think that by doing this, I am doing my part, in making the world a kinder, gentler place to live.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a multi coloured striped turtleneck, green pants, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....10006
MILES....2.21
CALORIES BURNED....374

This morning it was foggy as hell outside. It should be noted that it was also a little foggy in the evening.

Afterwork, I decided to head over to Walmart to buy more candy for my coworkers. Somehow candy canes did not seem like enough. Also I wanted to hand out my cards and candy tomorrow before my schedule becomes too hectic with Christmas shows and shopping.

While in Walmart I ran into coworker Arvada who was also Christmas shopping. She told me that she and a coworker were going to exchange presents tomorrow. I felt that this was great because I would also be handing out things tomorrow. It was almost as if synchronicity were at work. Friday was the unofficial day to hand out holiday gifts! And I did not have to receive a memo about it. This made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

In the end I bought several plastic Christmas balls filled with either Hershey Kisses or Reeses Cups. The Christmas balls were earmarked for the day staff. I also bought 10 of these fancy looking ceramic Christmas themed character heads filled with candy. The ceramic heads I gave to the Christmas Club members.

On the way home I stopped off at Rite Aid where I found a Helly Kitty Christmas Ball. This was an unexpected strike of luck. This was a strike of luck because the ball was perfect for one of my coworkers who has a major jones for Hello Kitty. So thus she is the only coworker who does not have a gift that is identical to anyone elses. Also while at Rite Aid I got the evening staff and people who were new little Whitman candy samples. I felt I should include the evening staff because I tend to work beyond my shift.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a purple turtleck that has a leaf design on it, blue jeans, a black cardigan sweater, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....10526
MILES....2.32
CALORIES BURNED....400

Wow! What a difference a day makes! Two people, Angela and Debbie, offered to drive me over to the restaurant! In the end Debbie drove me over. The restaurant was pratically up the street from the light rail station. In total not including me there were 10 people in attendance Richard, Linda, Angela, Lisa, Arvada, Vanessa, Bonnie, Debbie, Michelle, and Tyra.

Overall, the dinner was outstanding. I had a shrimp and crab alfredo along with a Caesar salad. My drink of choice was diet Coke. I have to say that the servings the restaraunt had were huge. I could hardly finish my plate. In the end I finished it and I was thoroughly stuffed! It is a good thing that I skipped lunch this afternoon.

The only time I felt uncomfortable was when the pre dinner discussion turned to the recent tragic events involving the mistreatment of babies. My breaking point was when they started talking about a news story about someone who had put a baby in a microwave. I had to get out of there before I started crying. The imagery that was passing through my head was so horrifying that I had to leave. I told them I had to use the ladies room as I quickly exited the restaurant. While in the ladies room I cried and tried to calm myself down as I did some yoga asanas. I have no idea how long I was in there. All I know is that by the time I went back into the restauraunt my dinner had arrived.

One interesting thing I learned was that one of my coworkers really loves his dog. He even has a picture of his pooch on his cell phone. Somehow I never had him pegged as an old softie when it comes to his dog.

I am not sure if there will be another Birthday Club next year. If there is I hope that we will be able to hold another end of year dinner. Despite at one point being driven nearly to tears I had a great time.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a grey fair isle knit sweater, a white turtleneck, stone washed jeans, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....9218
MILES....2.03
CALORIES BURNED....330

My only concern for today is tomorrow. At work I am a part of a Birthday Club and tomorrow we are going out to dinner. We are doing this to everyones amazement because the Birthday Clubs has collected by years end enough money to treat the members to a free dinner.

My problem is not the dinner but how will I get there? I do not own a car and do not know if anyone will bother to drive me over or even remember that I am a part of the Birthday Club.

Oh, well I guess I will have to stay tuned for tomorrow...

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on powder blue denim jeans, Nike MaxAir shoes, and a pink tweedy sweater, along with a pink turtleneck.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....8795
MILES....1.94
CALORIES BURNED....323

After several months I decided to turn on my desktop iMac computer. I have never turned it on since I bought my MacBook. Much to my amazement it came on with no trouble what so ever! In fact the reason I went out and bought a new computer was because my iMac was acting funny. The problem I was getting with my iMac was that I kept getting this blinking folder that would not go away. I figured that the reason behind that was because my computer was near the span of its life span. I have had the previous computer since the fall of 1999. I do not plan on turning on my desktop again lest I get the blinking folder again.

WALKING STATS

STEPS.....410
MILES....0.09
CALORIES BURNED....10

Today, I went to church. Today was no ordinary day at church for it was the annual, Winterfest! I know it might be considered shamelessly crass to write up a review on my church’s annual Holiday Pageant. But hey, what else do I have to write about?

Overall, I have say that this years Winterfest was ok in comparison to the ones held in previous years.

The standout performer by far was this guy that sang Motherless Child. I am surprised that he is not in the choir. Then again he probably can not be in the choir because of his age. I swear at my church it seems as though there is a requirement that you have to be 50 and over to be in the choir.

As usual the guy who portrayed Winter had on a kick ass costume on. His costume is very reminiscent of an old world Santa Claus. It is basically a long, all white Santa suit complete with beard. Its the coolest winter costume ever!

Oddest number or what the hell is this about moment was when the Sunday school kids marched across the room simulating a rainstorm by snapping their fingers and then stomping. What the hell does a rain storm have to do with winter? This display would have been more appropriate for a Springfest. Then again Im not sure if we have a Springfest? Anyway, when I think of winter the first thing that pops into my head is not a rainstorm! I felt embarrassed watching the kids perform a clearly out of season rainstorm number. Maybe they should have performed a snow dance instead?

After church I went to the drug store and found 52 candy canes for $4. That settles it! I will be buying candy for everyone in my department! This is ok with me because I like to give out cards and candy. Heck, I do it nearly every year. When it is all said and done this will be the most candy I have bought for my coworkers since I worked there.

WALKING STATS

STEPS.....6524
MILES....1.44
CALORIES BURNED....223

Today, I went to my Yoga Drawing class. I was again late but not as late as I was last week. Before coming to class I bought a new yoga mat. In hindsight it was stupid to go out and purchase a new yoga mat. Then again maybe I was wise not to bring my purple mat. I noticed that one of the students in the class also has a purple yoga mat identical to the one I have at home. The new yoga mat I bought today has a very groovy 1960s orange and pink floral design on it.

The yoga class was again very refreshing and enlightening. I really enjoyed engaging my entire body in the art process. I also feel that I came up with a lot of good work that could be the basis of a new series of paintings. I especially loved this picture I drew of a steaming cup of cocoa and cookies. It made me want to go out and eat some!

Also today I learned that the instructor also teaches another Yoga Drawing Class at Midtown Yoga. I believe she said that she teaches the class every first Saturday of the month. I have no idea where MIdtown Yoga is. However, I would love it if they extended the yoga drawing class at the Patterson.

I always feel as though I have learned something new about myself and my art after each class. Also I feel so relaxed. Well, more relaxed than I do after a 20 minute Yoga Zone dvd. This of course may be because the class is two hours long....

WALKING STATS

STEPS....8100
MILES....1.78
CALORIES BURNED....313

It is very cold outside. It will not get out of the 30’s. I suppose this is what it will be like for the rest of the season.

Ordinarily, I would not care that it was cold in December. Because...well,... it usually is cold in December. However, this year is different for me because I have been doing a lot of walking outdoors. Since I have been walking out in the cold I will have to devise a way not to trigger an asthma attack. As Ive previously written my asthma is triggered by cold weather. I wonder what strategies I can come up with. Perhaps, I will have to start indoor mall walking. Mall walking could be dangerous for someone like me. Dangerous in the sense that I could possibly be over come with the incredible urge to shop.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a black Doctor Who sweatshirt, a bright blue turtleneck, blue jeans, and Nike MaxAir tennis shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....8161
MILES....1.80
CALORIES BURNED....310

It looks like I will be buying cards and holiday candy for almost all of my 60something coworkers. At least those whose names were included on a list I got from my Supervisor earlier this month. She gave me the list after I inquired if it was possible to have a list of everyone who works in the department. I am not sure if the list she gave me includes absolutely everyone in our department. There are these people that work in the back of the room sorting, signing, and folding things. I am not sure if they are part of our department or not? For all I know they could be temps. I do not have anything against temps. I used to be a temp. Also last year I gave cards and candy to all the temps we had in our department.

I especially would not want to leave out that guy that always uses the printer near my cubicle and seems to really like the Baltimore Ravens a lot. Even though I do not know his name I would feel as though I would be slighting him if I did not include him. This feeling of a possible slight is based soley on the fact that I see him everyday. Then again maybe his name is on the list and I am not possibly slighting anyone.

I know, I know.... I can not be expected to give cards to every single person that I see at work. I know, no one is going to go postal because I did not give them a Christmas card. I know my Christmas cards will not save the world, stop global warming, or end the war on Iraq. The only thing is I do not want anyone to feel slighted.

My change of heart about buying cards for everyone at work occurred this evening when I found two very expensive boxes of Christmas cards on sale at Rite Aid. These cards were fancy looking with glitter and gold gilding. I just could not believe how much they were reduced in price. Not to mention that the two boxes were enough to cover 60 people. This made me realise that everything goes on sale around the holidays! Which means that buying cards and candy for 60 people would not be such a hard feat. Its not like I have to spend money on gas or child care. The world is on sale during the holidays!

So there you have it. This Christmas, cards and candy for everyone-!! ......or almost everyone...... Im still not sure how inclusive the list my supervisor gave me is.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....8195
MILES....1.81
CALORIES BURNED....297

Sadly, today there was very little to do at work today. I hope that this is not the start of a downward trend that could end with layoffs. Hopefully, there will be more work to do tomorrow...

After work I went over to the library to pick up more books on tape or more precisely books on cd. I have recently noticed that I enjoy books that are in this brand new genre called, Paranormal Romance. I think this due to that fact that I am a Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Star Wars, fan...AKA, a female geek. All I know is that I find it hard to get into a book where no one is in any type of potential physical danger.

So far my favourite authors in this genre are Mary Janice Davidson. I adore her outrageously zany Undead vampire series. The series is about a recently dead wisecracking 30something vampire queen.

Another one of my favourite paranormal romance writers is Charlaine Harris. I love her humorous Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery series. I mean how could I possibly dislike a series that includes Elvis Presley as a dimwited vampire named, Bubba? Also as an extra added bonus HBO has ordered an hour long pilot of the series to be written and directed by Alan Ball. I hope that Ball will be able to capture the fun, kooky, off the wall feeling of Mrs Harris books. As I understand it the series will premiere sometime in 2007. No word yet on who has been cast for the series

I also enjoy reading Tananarive Due. As far as I know she is the only African American female besides the late Octavia Butler who writes in this genre. I have read all of Dues vampire books, My Soul To Keep, and The Living Blood. As you can see, so far there are just two books in the series. As I understand it Due is currently working on the third book in the series, The Colony. She has recently completed a mystery book with the actor, Blair Underwood, and her husband Steve Barnes, called Casanegra: A Tennyson Hardwick Story. The book is due to come out this summer. I can not wait to get started reading the book of hers I picked up tonight, Joplins Ghost.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on another fair isle knit sweater. This one is coloured sky blue, lemon yellow, white, and grey. I also have on a dark blue turtleneck, blue jeans and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG:

STEPS....10261
MILES....2.26
CALORIES BURNED....380

This morning I again took a cab over to the light rail station. Luckily, I am on time for work!

LOCAL TRAGIC NEWS STORY
Today, I am feeling upset over the local news story about a baby that was killed by a car driven by an immigrant woman. The immigrant hit a grandmother who was pushing a stroller that contained her grandchild. The immigrant did not bother to stop she kept plowing down the road with the stroller still attached to her bumper. According to reports she drove the car for several miles before she stopped to dislodge the stroller. After removing the stroller she kept on driving. I can not imagine that anyone could be that cold as to remove a stroller with a dead baby in it and then keep on driving down the road like nothing happened! What kind of human slime does something like this! I am deeply outraged, angered, and saddened by this womans lack of humanity.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a fair isle knit sweater of black, red, olive green, white, and black. I also have on black slacks and black canvas tennis shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....10888
MILES....2.40
CALORIES BURNED....390

This morning it was very, very, very very, very cold and windy. I took the cab down to the light rail. I did this because my asthma has been acting up all this weekend. It tends to act up more often in cold weather than in any other type of weather.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a black cardigan sweater, and an ecru turtleneck that has a patchwork design on it. On my feet are Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....16159
MILES....3.57
CALORIES BURNED....577

Today, I went to church. It was a very exciting day in church. It appears that a member of our church is a part of a landmark class action lawsuit that starts tomorrow. The lawsuit involves allowing same sex marriage in Maryland. By the way I am pro same sex marriage. If a gay or lesbian wants to marry their partner, the way I see it, its nobody’s business but their own. As long as they love each other, its all good.

The other really exciting thing about church today was that there was a film crew inside shooting a documentary. The documentary as I understand it will about about this particular church members plight to marry his partner. The director came all the way from Los Angeles to shoot the film. They filmed the service from beginning to end. I can not imagine that the documentary will show the entire church service. I wonder what they will keep in and what will be left on the cutting room floor? Also I would love to see the film when it is finished.

Overall, I wish the church member well in his lawsuit to allow same sex marriage in Maryland.

Today, for the first time ever I attended a yoga class. Im not sure if it can be considered a real yoga class because it was a yoga drawing class. My main experience with yoga is through DVD’s, primarily, various 20 minute Yoga Zone dvds. Gosh, I own probably about 20 of them along with various other yoga dvds. So when I saw that a yoga drawing class was being offered at the Creative Alliance I said, Eureka! Sign Me Up! ......Also it did not hurt that the class would only be for three Saturdays. So if yoga drawing did not work out for me it would not be too much of a financial lost.

Sadly, I was late for the first class due to a bizarre mix up on my part. You see the majority of the times that I have been over to the Patterson was at night. So getting over there in the daylight felt odd to me. I did not have my usual visual markers to alert me as to where I was. I ended up getting off the bus on Conkling Street and walking down the block until I saw the big Patterson movie theatre sign that houses the Creative Alliance.

Despite this, the first class went great. The moves were not too hard to follow. Also, I liked the fact that the class was small. There were just two other women in the class. They were two older women whom it appears also attend the morning drawing class that the Creative Alliance holds on Saturday. I also learned that I was the only one who had paid for the class before Friday. The two older women had signed up at the last minute.

The teacher was also great. She appeared to be about 30something and seemed to know what she was doing. I believe she said that she graduated from MICA in 1988 and also one of the students in the class is also a MICA alumni. So it appears that I am surrounded by a couple of folks that have an actual art education. Overall, I really enjoyed the non judgemental laid back atmosphere of the class.

WALKING LOG:

STEPS....5170
MILES....1.14
CALORIES BURNED....173

Today, I summoned up the courage to ask my supervisor for a list of all the people that work in our department. I wanted the list so that I could get an idea of how many Holiday cards to buy.

I have been dreading finding out the total number of people who worked in our department for some time. Over the last couple of months our department has grown by leaps and bounds. Last year at this time there were about 15-16 people in our department. To my shock I soon learned that there currently is about 57 working in the department not including a couple of people who I assume report directly to my supervisors supervisor. Including those people there is about 60something people working in the department.

As you can imagine, after receiving this list my heart was filled with anxiety. Will giving out Holiday cards make me go bankrupt? Will anyone really care if I do not give out Holiday cards? Oh, well I have a couple of weeks to make a final decision.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a pink tweedy sweater, jeans, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING STATS

STEPS....10064
MILES....2.22
CALORIES BURNED....370

This morning I was again on time for work! One thing I have to say about this morning is that it is foggy as a mo-fo outside. Its the type of fog I imagine they have over in the UK.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a tweedy green sweater, powder blue jeans, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....9900
MILES....2.18
CALORIES BURNED....358

This morning I was on time for work! After work I went over to the Creative Alliance for there monthly art critiques. At first I did not really want to go then as I was leaving the light rail train about to change my mind I saw this man get off the train with two paintings of the Inner Harbour. The paintings were obviously originals that either he had painted or knew who painted them. They were done on plywood or some other wooden material. Seeing this encouraged me to head over to the Creative Alliance.

This is the second or third art critique that I have attended this year. Unfortunatley, I did not bring any work to show. Oh, well maybe next time. Also George was not there. On the two other occasions I was there, George was there as well. George is this senior citizen that does incredible art. Despite his absence I have to say that people bought in a lot of really neat artwork tonight.

This biker guy bought in these beautiful abstracts that he did in crayon. The colours were amazing. They reminded me of jewels.

Also this woman bought in these sculpture she did. The sculptures were of cloth and wire. She had an amazing technique. She said that she soaked the cloth with lemon juice then fired it in a trash can. By doing this she got lots of interesting random forms that were shaped by fire.

There was also a woman there who did photography. She bought in these black and white photographs that she took of suburbia at night. The lighting in the photos was stark, almost clinical. It made suburbia look scary.

Oh, another interesting thing seen tonight were these paintings that were done in beeswax. I never knew that you could paint with beeswax! The look of the paintings reminded me of marble.

Overall, I enjoyed myself greatly. However, I was saddended that George was not there. I don not know maybe next time I will bring in some work to show. Hmmm, I wonder how long I can get away with attending art critiques without showing any of my work?

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on an ecru turtleneck that has a design of tiny red patches on it, blue jeans, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG:

STEPS....11486
MILES....2.53
CALORIES BURNED....408

Today, I was late again for work. I really have to come up with a strategy to be on time again. I hate being late. Being late is not a habit I want to develop.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a purple turtleneck that has a leaf design on it, blue jeans, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG:

STEPS....10753
MILES....2.37
CALORIES BURNED....394

I left out for work on time unfortunately I was still late.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a long sleeve denim shirt, blue jeans, a red cardigan sweater, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....10183
MILES....2.25
CALORIES BURNED....358

Today, I went to Church then afterwards I went home to watch the dvd of the storyboard to Howls Moving Castle. The storyboards were not as exciting as watching the movie which I watched yesterday after work. I was fighting to stay awake during the whole ordeal. It was all so monochromatic. The colours used in the storyboard were brown and orange. By there appearance I gather that they were either done in pastel or conte crayon.

However, it was nice that the storyboards where synched to the voice track of the movie.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....4102
MILES....0.90
CALORIES BURNED....167

Today, I decided to do some overtime at work. The primary or secondary reason I went in was so that I could set up my Christmas decorations.

Every year at work I like to be the first person with Christmas decorations up. I like putting them up because it is the one time of the year when I can artistically express myself at work. Besides, the earlier you put them up, the longer Christmas lasts!

I like to go for an over the top look. If I could, I would put up a solid wall of a thousand blinking coloured lights and some of those giant blow characters like Santa Claus or a snowman in my cubicle. But somehow I think I would not have enough room, besides, coworkers might complain......

Yes, ladies and gentlemen if I had a house with a lawn I would be one of those neighbors that gets a thank you letter every year from BG&E because of all the electricity they used for elaborate Christmas light displays.

WALKING LOG:

STEPS....8082
MILES....1.78
CALORIES BURNED....323

This morning I took a cab down to the light rail station. The cab driver had red eyes. He looked like he might have been on something. When I got in the cab he immediately asked me how much money I had. I told him I did not know. Then he asked if I had five dollars. I did. So I gave him five dollars and he drove me down to the light rail station. I am not sure what he did afterwards but I assume that he went off to score some drugs.

When I made it down to the station I almost went over to 7-eleven but then I remembered that the trains this week had a tendency to pull off early. I assume that this is due to perhaps the regular driver having the week off for Thanksgiving. I assumed correctly. The train pulled off with me on it four minutes earlier than its usual departure time.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
I have on a purple turtleneck with a leaf design on it, blue jeans, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....9552
MILES....2.11
CALORIES BURNED....360

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

This year I went over my fathers house and bought along my new laptop and my old Olympus digital camera. I bought along my computer so that I could immediately add more minutes onto his phone. Also I wanted to show him some of the pictures I recently took. As usual he complained a little that there were no people in my pictures. However, this year I did not feel that bad about the fact that my photography primarily consists of inanimate objects like buildings and trees.

Also I showed my youngest niece, Alexis the video camera on the computer. She and her daughter, Blessyn where fascinated by seeing themselves broadcast live on the computer. Since my niece asked about the computer I am thinking about buying her a laptop or some other type of computer Christmas. It is a guaranteed lock that I will get her daughter clothes for Christmas as I already do for her cousin, Shay.

The one thing that was different this year was that the Christmas tree was not up. I asked my niece about it and she said that the tree was in bad way and that they would have to buy a new one. Oh, well I kind of liked the idea of having a Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving.... Another different thing was that my nephew Little David and his big sister Alesea and her daughter Shay were not there. Somehow it did not entirely feel like Thanksgiving without them there. I was told that they were in New York. Also this year I was enlisted to help make the stuffing. No one has ever asked me to prepare any type of dish before on Thanksgiving. The best that I could tell is that no one complained about the stuffing. So I suppose that it I made it correctly. Also this year I was not offered a plate to take home. I am not sure if the reason for this was because my other niece, Alesea, was not there or because they really did not mind eating lots of leftovers.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....5661
MILES....1.24
CALORIES BURNED....203

I was late for work again. However, I was on time yesterday.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a pink tweedy sweater, pink turtleneck, blue jeans, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....9688
MILES....2.14
CALORIES BURNED....377

Today, I am feeling rather ironic. I am wearing a Dr. Who sweatshirt as I am reading a book on tape of The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I got so caught up in this book that I forgot to break for lunch at my usual time.

Overall, I found the book to be brilliant. It was so brilliant that I did not want it to end. I will be forever be haunted by this beautiful book. It was part love story and part science fiction, just the combination I love! I hope that Audrey Niffenegger writes a sequel to this book.

I can not wait until the movie comes out in 2008. While reading the book I was picturing John Cusack and Kate Winslet in the roles of Henry and Clare. So far Rachel McAdams is in talks to play Clare. I do not know who they are in talks with to play her husband, Henry. Personally, I can see John Cusack in the role. If not Cusack then maybe, Johnny Depp, or Christian Bale. God, I love this book and cannot wait to see how it realized on film.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a dark blue Dr. Who sweatshirt, blue jeans, and Nike MaxAir shoes. I just noticed that the white of my shoes has a pearlescent look or sheen to it.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....7741
MILES....1.71
CALORIES BURNED....313

Unfortunately, I am late for work today. However, I feel greeeeat with my new shoes on!

WHAT I AM WEARING:

I have on a green tweedy sweater, a black turtleneck, blue jeans, and the afore mentioned New Balance 653 walking shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....12697
MILES....2.80
CALORIES BURNED....450

WALKING LOG

STEPS....533
MILES....0.11
CALORIES BURNED....6

I finally went out and bought a new set of walking shoes! My new set of walking shoes are a Nike Max Air and a New Balance 653.

I do not know much about what type of walking shoes to select. I simply selected these because they were on a list I found on the internet that was made by podiatrists who specialized in sports medicine. The shoes I bought were listed amongst those that were considered good for walking. So in a sense my new shoes were doctor recommended.

It turns out that the heavy rain we had yesterday was a storm. You know, I can not believe I was out walking around yesterday in a rain storm! I thought it was just a little rainy. I had no idea it was a storm! Anyway, now that I look at it, it all seems pretty cool. This more than anything proves that I am dedicated to walking for fitness.

BALTIMORE RADIO NEWS
It appears that Light 101.9 has temporarily flipped there format to 24/7 Christmas music. I felt all happy and giddy inside while listening to all the Christmas music until ITcame on. IT meaning, the one Christmas song I have nothing but hate for. The one Christmas song that makes me want to go over to the house of anyone who requests the song and bitch slap them over and over again. The one Christmas song that makes me so angry that I want to bust a cap in someones ass. Ok, maybe I am exagerting a bit.....

But, I can not deny the fact that I really, really, really, really, hate this alledged Christmas song. The Christmas song I hate the most is The Christmas Shoes. God, how I loathe that song!

I just want to know Who are in the inbreds that keep requesting it? If they would just stop requesting the song it would fade away back into the sewer it came from.

I would like to start a movement to rid The Christmas Shoes off of Light FM's Christmas playlist. Its Christmastime, I do not need to hear any songs that are specially designed to make you feel depressed on the holidays. It makes me wonder how many suicides The Christmas Shoes is responsible for provoking?

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a sky blue pullover, a red cardigan sweater, dark blue slacks, and Dr. Scholls walking shoes.

WALKING LOG

Unfortantely, I forgot to record my daily result from off of my Omron pedometer.

I am starting to get close to being on time for work. I caught the light rail on time but unfortunately all the passengers on the train had to unexpectantly switch trains at the North Avenue stop. I was so darn close to breaking this lateness funk. Oh, well maybe I will do it tomorrow.....

Yesterday, at work we had a Thanksgiving luncheon which I avoided by eating lunch early. Today when I went to the cafeteria at my usual time the place was balls to the wall crowded. I had to get out of there. I could not believe that they were holding yet another Thanksgiving luncheon!

I had to get out of there because I was feeling claustrophobic. Also, I would have to share a table and I feel extremely uncomfortable eating with someone directly in front of me. The only person at work I feel comfortable eating in front of is Arnold. The only reason for that is because he does not say much.

So, despite, it raining heavily outside I decided to walk up to the light rail station and eat my lunch under the enclosure they have there. All in all it was a pretty nice experience. I was nice and dry as I watched the rain pour down.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a new turquoise long sleeve pullover, new jeans, and old squeaky Reebok walking shoes. My shoes shoes squeak because the rubber is worn away on the soles of the shoe.

WALKING LOG

Unfortunately I forgot to record my stats.

Oh, no late again for work! This time I was almost on time. Well, on time enough to watch the light rail train go by me. Oh, well maybe tomorrow things will be better....

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a sage green top, jeans, and non squeaky sounding Dr. Scholls walking shoes.

WALKING LOG
Unfortunately, I forgot to record my stats for the day.

Egads! Late again!

It appears that last night I set the alarm clock incorrectly. Hopefully, after noticing this faux pas, albeit a little too late, I will be on time tomorrow.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a brown turtleneck, blue jeans, and squeaky Reebok walking shoes. I really should get around to replacing those darn shoes!

WALKING LOG

STEPS....10781
MILES....2.38
CALORIES BURNED....404

Today, I was late for work. I was late because I forgot to reset the alarm on my clock. On Saturday, BG&E came by to read my meter and they turned the electric on and off for a few short seconds. It was so short that it did not register to me that I should reset the alarm along with the time.

Also at work the new cubicles are up. The office now has a much stronger claustrophobic feel than it previously had with the small ladies room and the the small lunch room. In certain sections of the office there is barely enough room to move through the aisles.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....7561
MILES....1.67
CALORIES BURNED....303

I did not go to Church today. I decided to just stay in.

I had the opportunity to do overtime today but decided against it. It appears that today they will be putting up new cubicles. I would have found it difficult to concentrate in an environment where there is a lot of noise.

As far as BG & E are concerned it appears that they did come by this afternoon to read the meter. The electricity went off for a few seconds just like they said it would. Hopefully, my next electric bill will not be too substantially high.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....342
MILES....0.07
CALORIES BURNED....0

Brit pop group The Feeling

Im not sure if I love this new song by a group UK group called The Feeling or not. You see after hearing their song, I Love it When You Call, about twice on two seperate occasions I can not get it out of my head. I even woke up a couple of days ago with that happy song buzzing around in my brain. Which makes me wonder if the song is buzzing around in my head because I like it or is it my own personal earworm? I heard the word, earworm, used a while ago on NPR as a term used for when catchy songs get stuck in your head.

I have to admit that I Love It When You Call, is one of those catchy feel good power pop songs. Trust me if you heard it you would feel compelled to tap your toes whether you wanted to or not.

Below is a post that someone put up of the song on YouTube. The post is unique in that it is only the music to I Love It When You Call, no video is included. So sit back and enjoy a little power pop or welcome to music hell....

Now that Im on a sort of a music tip. Just for fun I thought it would be interesting to post my 25 most played songs on iTunes. The songs listed are a little old and a little new. As you can see I am still fascinated by I Love It When You Call by The Feeling. I suppose the big shocker is that a mellow song about heroin use, Golden Brown, by the punk rock band, The Stranglers, is number 1. In case you have forgotten how the song goes or have never heard it before I have included the original 1982 video of The Stranglers Golden Brown at the end of this post.

By the way the play count for these songs was calculated by iTunes. So here, without further adieu is:

Gail’s 25 Most Played Songs on iTunes
The week ending 11/11/06

Title.......................................... Artist...........................Spins

1. Golden Brown............................The Stranglers...................................30

2. Boston.......................................Augustana.........................................16

3. Love It When You Call................The Feeling........................................11

4. How to Save a Life......................The Fray............................................11

5. One Step Closer..........................Linkin Park .........................................8

6. Superman..................................Five for Fighting.................................7

7. Here (In Your Arms)...................Hellogoodbye.....................................7

8. Nothing from Nothing................Billy Preston.......................................6

9. 100 Years...................................Five for Fighting.................................6

10. The Freshmen............................The Verve Pipe...................................6

11. Survivor......................................Destiny's Child...................................5

12. Where'd You Go..........................Fort Minor..........................................5

13. Carrie Anne................................The Hollies.........................................5

14. The Three Stooges Theme..........Various Artists....................................5

15. The Adventure............................Angels & Airwaves..............................4

16. Sugar, Sugar..............................The Archies........................................4

17. Bodies........................................Drowning Pool...................................4

18. It's Garry Shandling's Show.........Joey Carbone.....................................4

19. Confetti......................................The Lemonheads...............................4

20. Goodbye To You.........................Scandal..............................................4

21. It's Hard Out Here a For Pimp......Terrence Howard................................4

22. Animal I Have Become..................Three Days Grace..............................4

23. Theme to Magnum, P.I..................Various Artists..................................4

24. Lawyers Guns and Money..............The Wallflowers................................4

25. Check Up On It..............................Beyonce Ft Slim Thug........................3

Here's the original 1982 video to The Number One Song of the Week, Golden Brown by The Stranglers

Above is a photo I took.

It was raining pretty heavy this morning. So I did the unthinkable. I took the #20 bus that usually makes me late. Amazingly, the bus got me to the light rail sation on time. I suppose the zombie looking driver works best in inclement weather.

However, my elation was short lived as I saw a light rail train go by. Then I noticed that it was a Timonium bound train and was surprised that everyone at the station had gotten on it. My goodness they unwittenly took the wrong train! Well everyone who needed to go further than Timonium got on the wrong train, that is! A few minutes later the Hunt Valley train arrived. The train was nearly empty. As you can imagine it was at regular capacity when the train reached Timonium.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a plum coloured henley, black slacks, and squeeky Reebok walking shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....9667
MILES....2.13
CALORIES BURNED....370

ELECTION DAY!!

Since I already voted last week via absentee ballot I feel great! Today I do not have to worry about rushing out of work to be home before the polls closed.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a sage green v-neck top that has an undershirt peeking underneath. I also have on blue jeans, Dr. Scholls walking shoes, and a black button up sweater. I usually keep the sweater at work to put on when it gets chilly. However, last Friday I accidently wore it home.

WALKING LOG
Neglected to take stats off my pedometer.

This morning I walked down to the light rail station and saw no bus in sight. So thus I was on time for work.

BIG EVENT OF THE DAY

The big event of the day for me was calling up BGE aka Baltimore Gas and Electric Company. I had to do this because this weekend they sent me a scary letter saying that they had Investigated my records and that I might not have been billed correctly. This of course got me feeling nervous. Like why are they all of a sudden investigating my records? Is this because I switched to internet billing or maybe they read my blogs and decided I was the type that needed investigating. Basically, the letter made me feel really, really paranoid. It made me wonder if next I would receive a flurry of letters from other companies I do business with saying they had investigated my records and need to recheck something.

After contacting BGE it turns out that the reason they sent the letter was because the gate was locked when they came to read the meter. So they have to set up a date with my neighbors to have the gate opened so that they can read the meter. Geez I can not believe I was constructing conspiracy theories over nothing! Oh, well I guess I can rest easy for now....

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a brown turtleneck, squeeky Reebok walking shoes and new Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. I am mentioning this brand name because I can remember back in the day when they did not make desiner jeans in my size.

WALKING LOG
Unfortunately, I neglected to transcribe the stats off of my pedometer.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a purple turtleneck that has a leaf design on it, blue jeans, and Dr. Scholls walking shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....11547
MILES....2.55
CALORIES BURNED....430

Last night I went to bed late so thus I woke up late. So I had to do a lot of rushing around. I walked down to the light rail station then halfway through my walk I saw the #20 bus. It was being driven by that female driver who looks like a zombie. I resisted the urge to get on the bus. I felt like a stronger person for not taking the bus but I was still late for work. Alas, damned if I take the bus and damned if I do not take the bus.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I am wearing the new winter coat I bought on Monday. The coat is in my favourite colour, purple. I also have on a red cardigan sweater, stone washed jeans, and a sky blue scoop neck pullover. I also have on my Reebok walking shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....12848
MILES....2.83
CALORIES BURNED....464

BALTIMORE MORNING RADIO

It appears that Mickey and Amelia are now doing the morning show on 98 Rock. Kirk and Mark are moving to WHFS in 2007. This to me is very shocking because Kirk and Mark have been doing the morning show on 98 Rock for I believe well over a decade. I suppose Dave Lambrossi must have shown them the obligatory suitcase full of money. Sadly, newsman Josh Speigel will not be joining them. This is understandable because he did leave WHFS to work for 98 Rock. The one thing that I am happy about is that this means that that ADD show The Junkies will be off the air in a couple of months. Yahoo!!!

I swear I will try to listen to Mickey and Amelia until Kirk and Mark start on the new station. I have to admit that I rarely listened to Mickey and Amelia’s afternoon show because they played music. I tend to like morning shows that are primarily comedy talk and no music, except song parodies.

I only occasionaly listen to 92 Q’s Mark Clark and the Big Phat Morning Show because they play music. Speaking of... I can not stand Mark Clarks new sidekick, Porkchop. He sounds like the Cookie Monster. I say bring back Troy Johnson. Troy had a much clearer speaking voice than the new Cookie Monster sounding sidekick.

Speaking of morning show sidekick change overs... I have to say that I never listened to MiX 106’s Jo Jo and Kenny and now with the change over to Jo Jo and Reagan... Im still not listening! The show is still horrendous.

I thought I’d never say this but I miss Kenny and his stupid parody songs. I miss that song they used to play for their annual Thanksgiving food drive where they would stuff a bus with donated food. The song was done to the tune of Conjunction Junction. I think it was called Stuffing a Bus.

As far as the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show on Magic 96 morning show is concerned, I rarely listen to it because it seems as though it is for senior citizens who still think they are hip.

I have to say that Steve Rouse is doing a great job on that Light Station. His show sounds just like I rembered it on the late great WQSR.

Also Chris Emery is doing ok on The Bay. However, I can not stand his sidekick, Michael Filapeli (sp?). The sidekick sounds like he is on heavy narcotics. I swear the man seems to be barely paying attention to the very show he is on.

Well that’s it for my opinion on what’s going on around the morning radio dial.

WORK NEWS
It appears that a coworker has been let go or maybe he quit. Either was I am not surprised because he rarely showed up for work. Come to think of it. It has been a while since I have seen this other coworker who always seemed to wear a denim jacket. Which makes me wonder if the mysterious denim jacket that was on my desk for several days was hers?

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a turquoise top, beige denim pants, Dr. Scholls walking shoes, and my usual fall jacket.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....10640
MILES....2.35
CALORIES BURNED....377

Happy Samhain! -er- Happy Halloween! I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans along with a black sweatshirt that has a cloth and embroidered witch on it. The witch has moveable orange hair. The hair consists of four strands of orange yarn. Throughout the day I have had fun posing the hair in different configurations. Also I have on Reebok walking shoes and my usual fall/spring coat.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....11724
MILES....2.59
CALORIES BURNED....420

Today, I had a pre-scheduled day off. On my day off I went down to the Board of Elections and I bought a new coat. Well, they were not selling coats at the Board of Elections I had to get that elsewhere....

Anyway, the reason I went down to the Board of Elections on Fayette Street was so that I could vote in next months general election via absentee ballot. I wanted to do this because as I have written numerous times I do not feel comfortable using the Diebold made voting machines. They leave no paper trail and anyone can hack into them and put in whatever results that wanted.

While requesting a ballot I was surprised at how simple the procedure was. All I had to do was fill out a card then a woman behind the desk gave me a paper ballot for my district. Instead of mailing it in I decided to fill it out right in the office. They had these carboard boxes on a long table that served as makeshift voting booths. I pulled up a chair and sat crouched under a box. I quickly noticed that the ballot had to filled out with a number two pencil. Luckily, there were plenty of number two pencils on the table. It was just like those tests you had to take in public school. To select a candidate all you had to do was fill in a circle with your number two pencil.

Overall, I feel good about who I voted for. I also feel relieved that I will not have to rush home after work to vote. Its already been done. One thing I noticed while at the Board of Election was that there seemed to be an awful lot of people in there requesting absentee ballots. It was nice to see that I was not the only one who did not trust the machines.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....10301
MILES....2.27
CALORIES BURNED....380

Today, I did a lot of things. I went to Church, the library, and visited my father.

The big horror story of the day is that the numbers on my pedometer got accidently erased. I believe that somehow while I was reaching for change in my pocket I accidently erased my total daily stats. I sleep with my pedometer on and only take it off when I shower. Anyway, the last number of steps I recall seeing before I left from my fathers house was around 9000 steps. So you can just imagine how horrified I was when I got home and saw numbers much lower than I previously saw.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....1276**
MILES....0.28**
CALORIES BURNED....50**

The events leading up to my seeing Three Sisters at Center Stage were somewhat surreal. So surreal that I will have to bench my review of the play for sometime later next week.

Anyway, the really big shocking event of Saturday occured when I woke up and turned on my trusty lime green, late 90's, cute as hell iMac. When I turned it on all I got was a grey screen and a flashing folder that would intermittently flash a question mark. I had no idea what was going on. The computer was working just fine last night. I feared the worse. The worse would be that my Mac after several years of devoted service had finally gotten a virus. After calling around I found out that this was not true. The problem was that for some reason my computer was failing to recognize its own hard drive. I put this problem down to age. My computer had only about 128 of memory. The computer was near the end of its life. In a since it had developed Alzheimers.

Since I have been saving up money for some time to buy a new computer. I took it as a sign to finally do it.

I went to the Mac Store at the Towson Town Center and picked up a new Mac. The reason I bought a Mac is because I am a bit of a Mac snob. I can not imagine why anyone would want to buy a virus infested Windows based computer. Besides my last Mac lasted for such a long time and Macs rule!

My new computer is a MacBook. I have always wanted a laptop and now I have it. In fact I am typing this very entry while sitting in my bed.

The other reason I picked up this computer was that they were having a sale in the store. You got a free printer with the purchase of a computer. The printer I selected is a printer/scanner/copier combo. I feel great!

I suppose next week I will go back to the store and see if they can fix the problem I am having with the hard drive on my iMac. I would really like to transfer some of my iTunes files to my new computer.

I have to admit that I am bit afraid to do this because at the store they would not give me a price estimate. They told me that they would have to see the computer first before they could calculate the cost. I hope that the cost will not be in the range of my new MacBook. I still have a few songs on my old computer that I did not bother to burn to disk.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....8987
MILES....1.98
CALORIES BURNED....320

This morning I felt frustrated while listening to NPR. They did a story where a Sudanese cell phone mogul named, Mo Ibrahim, was doing something good. He will be giving away a vast amount of money to an African leader who stays clean and does not become corrupt. The reason for my frustration was that NPR never said what cell phone company he owns. Everytime they do a story on Bill Gates they can not help but mention that he runs Microsoft. But this African mogul and the company he owns remain nameless....

Later today I have something to look forward. I see the first show of my 06/O7 season subscription at Center Stage. The show I will be seeing tonight is Three Sisters. I hope it will be good.

WHAT IM WEARING:
I have on blue jeans, Reebok walking shoes, a bright blue turtleneck and a black Doctor Who sweatshirt. The aforementioned sweatshirt has the logo from the Paul McGann tv movie that was produced by Fox tv in the nineties. Yes, I am a sci-fi geek.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....16600
MILES....3.66
CALORIES BURNED....601

I woke up this morning at 3am with a horrible pain in my right leg. There was nothing I could do for it but slather on some Rite Aid arthritis cream. I do not have arthritis or anything. The reason I have the arthritis cream is that a couple of years ago I had a twisted ankle and noticed that the ingedients in the cream were similar to those in a more expensive pain reliever. I suppose that the reason for the pain was that either I was sleeping in a bad position or I need to add more dairy to my diet.

This morning I again walked part of the way to the light rail station. Then to my amazement the #20 bus pulled up again with the female living dead driver. I knew that it would be best not to take the bus. However, I could not help myself. I got on the bus knowing that despite being on time there would be a distinct possibility that the bus would make me late. Again, to my amazement the bus made it to my usual stop on time. I did not have to make a run for the train.

I do not know if this was a fluke or if the night of the living dead driver has mended her ways. All I know is that I will walk until I see a bus.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a pink tweed sweater, and Dr. Scholls walking shoes. I also have on my usual jacket.

WALKING LOG

I am getting close to replacing my pair of walking shoes. The reason they have to be replaced is, according to various books on walking for fitness, I have read you are supposed to replace your shoes every 300 to 600 miles. I believe I am closing in on 300 miles.

STEPS....10999
MILES....2.43
CALORIES BURNED....394

This morning I almost missed my train. This happened because I walked part of the way to the light rail station. This was completely unplanned. I got on the #20 bus as soon as I saw it. I got on it because it is rare that I see it when it supposed to come. I hopped on the bus not knowing it was the driver who always makes me late. The driver kind of looks like a black older version of Morticia from The Adams Family. I almost wonder if she sleeps in a coffin.

Anyway, as soon as I got off the bus driven by the undead looking woman I made a run for it. I had to do this because it was the only way I could get to my train before it pulled off. I was out of breathe gasping for air when I got within a few steps of the train. The light rail driver said over his intercom to me, "If you want this train you better step up!" So I had no choice but to step up my pace to get the train. Looking back, it was nice of him to wait for me. Other light rail drivers would have pulled off and not said a damn thing.

I was so out of breathe that when I finally got on the train I only had energy enough to plop down on the entryway steps and gasp for air. I ran for about 2 and a half blocks! This I believe is the farthest I have ever ran in my life.

In the end everything worked out. I made it to work on time. However, I will have to make a mental note to avoid taking the bus and stick to walking. I swear that zombie looking driver always makes me late even on the rare occasions that she is on time!

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on stone washed jeans, Reebok walkign shoes, and a purple turtleneck with a print of leaves on it. I also have on my usual fall jacket.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....10282
MILES....2.27
CALORIES BURNED....369

I am starting to sniffle a lot in the morning. I think it might be time to start switch over to bathing at night. You see I like to change the time of day I bathe according to the season. In the summer and spring I usually wash up in the morning and in the winter I bathe at night. I wonder if I am the only person in the world who changes the time of day they wash up according to the season?

The reason I do this is because I feel that since in the spring/summer its warm outside it would not matter much if my skin is not entirely dry. I wash in the evening during fall/winter so that my skin would have more time to dry. You do not want to leave out the house in cold weather with half damp skin. Doing this I feel would put one at greater risk to catch a cold. I have not one iota of science to back this up. Despite this I feel its a pretty good system.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a long sleeve blue denim shirt, and Dr. Scholls walking shoes. I also have on my usual fall/spring jacket of green, blue, grey, and white.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....12706
MILES....2.80
CALORIES BURNED....438

I feel it sad to report that this morning I was late for work. Despite this small set back it was a a very productive day.

After work I headed down to the main library where I picked up some art books as well as a couple of books on cd. I had not been to the library since last spring.

Because of this as I was checking out my books the elderly librarian who was tending the desk asked me if I had anything with my address on it. The only thing I could find was my pill bottle for Metformin.

When she read the label to find my name and address she immediately knew what they were for. Her eyes literally sparkled with recognition. She then asked me how many I have to take a day. I told her three a day. She told me that I was lucky. Which makes me wonder how did she mean that I was lucky? What is the norm for diabetics to take? How many did she have to take a day? Or did she mean that I was lucky that I was diagnosed early as opposed to late in life like the majority of patients are.

Then she went on to tell me that almost everyone in her family over 60 had diabetes. I did not know quiet how to respond to this as she was clearly much older than me. I was clearly much younger than her and had a disorder where the majority of patients are senior citizens.

Maybe, I should have told her that a lot of my aunts as well as my late mother had diabetes. They also were diagnosed in there 60's. Then maybe I should have told that my sister was diagnosed realitively early (40something) with diabetes. Since we both have a family history of diabetes we could be considered on a fast track for ultra thorough blood sugar testing. Then again who knows maybe if someone was dilligently testing my aunts and my mothers blood sugar they might have noticed irregularities in there 30's and 40's instead of there 60's.

The last thing the librarian asked me as I was about to leave was, was I any relation to Bruce? Wow! I had not heard that since high school. So I laughed as I said no. The Bruce in question she was asking about was actor, Bruce Willis. Bruce Willis was recently in town filming a sequel to Die Hard.WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a turtleneck that is coloured ecru. It has a design on it of flowers and small plaid cloths. I also have on my Reebok walking shoes and my fall/spring lined jacket that is green, grey, blue, and white.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....11044
MILES....2.44
CALORIES BURNED....387