MORNING COMMUTE:
I feel horrible. I feel like crying. In fact as soon as I came into work I went into the ladies room and started to cry non-stop. The reason why I was feeling so bad was because after visiting my father yesterday I felt so powerless. He was so weak and fragile looking and there was nothing I could do to reverse his condition. A woman came into the ladies room as I was crying. I was surprised that she stopped to say something enlightening to me as I was crying. I think her name was Tracy or something. The only thing I can recall about her is that she is leaving from our department and has a different Weight Watchers cup than I do.

I have no idea how long I was in the ladies room crying. In fact I barely remember what I did at work today. My mind was so preoccupied with worry over my father and my nieces financial situations. I hope and pray that everything works out in the end. Who knows, they just might find a cure for heart failure one day....

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a bright blue short sleeve button down blouse, black slacks, and black canvas tennis shoes.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10690
MILES....2.02
CALORIES BURNED....361

VISITING MY FATHER
Today, I took an unexpected day off work. I decided that it would be much better to spend time with my father than at work. Besides, my sister’s surprise visit in the middle of the night scared the heck out of me. It made me realize that there is no way of knowing how much time he’s got or Ive got on this Earth.

When I arrived at his house he was bedridden. He seemed very thin and weak yet was extremely happy to see me. This is a change from the norm. On the rare occasion that I visit him on a workday he would sometimes chatise me for not being at work.

I immediatley noticed that there was a plate of breakfast food in front of him but he did not touch it. He told me that he did not have an appetite. This made me feel very sad. I hope that he eventually eats something. I would hate it if he were just wasting away.

Last summer he stopped taking his medication for Heart Failure. He stopped taking it because he said it was too complicated to follow. The doctor gave him several different pills to take that had to be taken in a certain order. The fact that he has Heart Failure is ironic. For the vast majority of his life he has avoided salt like a vampire avoids garlic. He is also a nonsmoker and thin. The whole idea of him having Heart Failure baffles me.

He is 77 years old. He is the only one of his eight siblings who has never had any heart trouble. He is also one of the last of his siblings to still be alive. The only other one who is still around is, Uncle Leon, who is a bypass surgery survivor.

I spent almost the entire day with my father. Most of the time he slept. He would now and then get up and talk a little then fall back to sleep. I noticed that his feet are still swollen.

When it was time for me to leave my little grandniece cried. I am always amazed when they do that. Im not that exciting a person and do not understand why small children seem to like me.

All I can do now is pray that my father regains his appetite and voluntarily seeks medical help for his condition. We can not force him into going to the hospital because he is not senile. He is a very smart, cognizant man. He probably knows more about whats going on in the city and the world than your average news pundit. All I know now is that I love him and want him to stick around for several years more....

WALKING LOG
STEPS....7814
MILES....1.47
CALORIES BURNED....260

A WEIRD DREAM AND AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
Sunday morning I had a weird dream. In the dream my father told me that my mother was dead. This was odd because my mother has been dead for several years. I woke up thinking geez, that was weird.

Later that evening my sister came banging on my door at 11pm at night. I was startled because of the hour and I had just turned in to bed. She told me she came over because she was worried about me. I had not spoken to anyone in the past few weeks. She told me that our father was OK. I did not quiet believe her. She does not normally come over my house at that hour of night frantically banging on my door. She practically lives on the other side of town. I knew that mostly she was scared and perhaps my father was not doing well. My father was diagnosed with heart failure last year. He stopped taking medicine for it about a year ago. He has been having difficulty breathing. His feet are swollen he is not in the best of health. So seeing her made me feel very worried about my fathers health. I do not know how much time he has. Heck, I do not know how much time I have. All I know is that I should make a point of seeing him for my sister’s sake and for my own.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
This afternoon I watched the last installment of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth. It was great. Mr. Darcy and Lizzie got married in a double wedding with her sister Lucie and Mr. Bingham. Was surprised that Lizzie’s youngest sister married that con artist guy.

Also surprised the man who played Mr. Collins, there minister cousin was played by a man named David Bamber which made me wonder if he was related to Jamie Bamber, the guy who played Archie Kennedy on Horatio Hornblower and Apollo Adama on the new Battlestar Galactica. I thought this because Bamber is not exactly a common name an their both English. It turns out there not related and Jamie Bamber’s father is American and his mother is Irish. Since Jamie Bamber’s father is American and David Bamber’s father is obviously English, they are not related.

Also shocked to find David Bamber is married to a woman in real life because during his comedic performance he seemed extremely effiminate. Also in the documentary that followed the movie when out of character he still seems effeminate. So I was surprised that he was in real life married to a woman and not a man.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....667
MILES....0.12
CALORIES BURNED....9

MORNING COMMUTE:
Huh? It’s Saturday.. Yep, it’s Saturday and I decided to come in today to do some overtime. I did not come in last Saturday and really regretted it. As you can see from last weeks’s walking stats I barely did any walking last week. I’m coming in mainly to make extra money and keep my walking stats up. Since Saturday is not a usual day I work I can not make comments on if the bus or train was late. All I know is that the train showed up at 7:07. Which is OK with me. I rarely am on time on Saturdays and have never been on time for Saturday overtime since I have worked for the company since 1999.

The thing I like about Saturdays is that the dress code is not in force. I can show up in shorts and no one will say anything about it. OK, I have never showed up for work in shorts on a Saturday until.... today.

LOW BLOOD SUGAR
After work I went to Walmart to pick a few odds and ends. I had to go back there after I got home because I realized that I had left two items in the store that I had paid for. I have to admit I was feeling a little out of it because I did not have anything to eat all day and had not taken my diabetic medicine for 3pm. I kept forgetting things as I was leaving out the door to return to Walmart. In retrospect I should have eaten something before I left for my return trip. My blood sugar was dangerously low.

After I picked up my items from Walmart I stopped by Wegman’s and picked up a couple of light grocery items. Nothing that had the potential to melt on the way over. Also I had to get something in me to eat. I felt as though I was in danger of fainting.

THE KIDS ON THE TRAIN
On the ride home about 10 boys who ranged from age 8-12 got on the train. Before hand about four or five of them were tossing around a football in the light rail station to pass time before the train arrived. I wonder why that many boys were out together unsupervised?

Anyway when the ticket checker showed up at the Lutherville stop they got off the train because some of them did not have tickets. The reason was that while one half of the group were tossing around a football the other half were at Gamestop. The group that was tossing around the football had to run to alert the other half that the train had come thus they did not all have enough time to buy a ticket. I assume they got off at Lutherville and bought tickets.

I noticed that just as the ticket checker was about to board the train some of the kids had a panicked look on their faces. A couple of them had money out indicating that they had money to pay for their tickets. It was funny watching them make a casual run for it before the ticket check lady got on the train. I think it was nice that the kids who had tickets decided to stay behind with the kids who had yet to purchase theirs.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....14166
MILES....2.68
CALORIES BURNED....527

MORNING COMMUTE:
I left out to catch the bus at the usual time. The only thing was that the #20 bus was four minutes late. Also as per usual the driver was different. Today he kind of looked like the father on the Fresh Prince of Belair. Since the bus got to the light rail station at 7:12, two minutes after the train might or might not have arrived.

As I have written before the train sometimes shows up extra early and pulls off. So I can’t say for sure if it arrived at 6:10 it could have arrived at 6:07 for all I know. Anyway, since the bus arrived late I decided to walk down to the Camden Yards light rail stop. I saw a big Cal Ripken, Jr. banner on the side of the stadium. The banner is up to celebrate his induction into the baseball hall of fame. I wanted to photograph it but didn’t have my digital camera with me...

CONCERN: MY MORNING BUS..
I know that I have probably written about this last year but I strongly feel it should be reiterated, How come the #20 bus has a hard time getting drivers to work during the morning drive? I hate that every day there is a brand new driver with a different idea of how to drive the route. At least with the consistently late driver of fall/winter you knew she would be late. Now everything is kind of up in the air. Maybe todays driver shows up early, maybe right on time, or even extremely late. There is absolutely no consistency on this line. Do drivers not like driving #20 line in the morning? Is the reason that everyday there is a different driver because MTA drivers have no love for the #20.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a white blouse, green pants, and black canvas tennis shoes.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....11369
MILES....2.15
CALORIES BURNED....379

MORNING COMMUTE:
Again, I saw a #10 bus roll by this time it sped off at 5:55. Yesterday, it sped by at 5:57. The #20 bus arrived four minutes late. Todays driver bore a striking resemblence to Isaac Hayes or maybe, Errol Brown, the lead singer of 70’s British soul group Hot Chocolate. You know the fact that I still remember a group that had there biggest hits when I was in kindergarden (You Sexy Thing) and 2nd Grade (Every 1’s a Winner) kind of floors me. I can even remember seeing them perform on Soul Train and being tripped out by the fact that they spoke with English accents. Back then I had no idea that there were black people in England.

.....Anyway, back to my original narrative... I was afraid I was going to be late because ever since the summer MTA driver switchover our light rail driver sometimes pulls off earlier than the scheduled time. Luckily, he arrived at 6:10 and it appears I will be on time.

I think that the fact that the MTA has moved the bus stop a little down the street has been a big factor in my ability to catch the train on time. They moved the stop due to construction. I hope that the stop will stay permanently there. It is now on the same block as the light rail so I do not have that far to run when the bus is late. Oh, before I forget today we had two cars on the train. Yesterday, there was just one car. Oddly, enough there was also one car on the train on the way home.

CONCERN: MY CLOTHES:
Recently, I’ve gotten the feeling that I may have gone down a pants size. I have to wear a belt with almost all my pants and still with a belt on it can not hold in all the fabric. Also it seems to me that my blouses seem to fit too big. Tommorrow Im going to try on clothes one size smaller and see how it fits on me. I feel as though Im not wearing my clothes but my clothes are wearing me. They’re just hanging oversized on me.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on New Balance 653 shoes, olive green khaki pants, and a dark blue shirt with white flowers on it.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....11614
MILES....2.19
CALORIES BURNED....373

MORNING COMMUTE:
My morning routine went swimmingly. The weather outside was weird it was overcast clouds with the sun peaking through and a light drizzle. When I left out the door to catch the bus I saw the #10 bus fly by. Thankfully, the #20 bus showed up on time! This time the driver was a young dude who looked a little like L.L. Cool J. He wore a blue backwards baseball cap.

When the light rail train showed up at 6:10 it was short one car. Im not sure if this means we will have to switch trains at the North Avenue Station. Also while on the train I overheard one of the passengers voicing one of my concerns about about the Hunt Valley train. The concern is that sometimes the train is early, sometimes its on time. Its not as consistent as it was during the other driver’s tenure.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a heather grey henley, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10639
MILES....2.01
CALORIES BURNED....339

MORNING COMMUTE:
Everything this morning was going great until I neared the bus stop. At first it looked like it was just two women who were waiting at the bus stop. This was a little unusual because I am usually the only one on the stop at that of the morning. I didn’t mind much the extra company. Then as I neared the stop I noticed the two cop cars and the two cops who were talking to them. Also a campus police car was parked across the street surveying the situation.

Then I noticed for the first time that one of them was wearing an extremely short tight black dress. Then it occured to me that maybe they were in the process of being arrested for prostitution. There clothing did look just a little too tight and fancy looking for six in the morning. Just as I reached that conclusion a bus was about to drive. I guess she saw the cops and figured it would be a bad idea to stop there. I suppose seeing all those cop cars probaly made her nervous. I had to run and flag down the bus to get her to stop. She stopped.

I was still almost late for work because the light rail train showed up at 6:08. I was in Duncan Donuts adding Equal sugar to my iced coffee when I saw the train show up. I cursed under my breath as I took up my sugars and ran for the train. Luckily, the driver did not drive off and let my board the train. The train pulled off at 6:09. So today, I am on time for work, despite the morning drama..

WHAT IM AM WEARING:
blue jeans, New Balance 653’s, and a tan and white Hawaiian shirt.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....12080
MILES....2.28
CALORIES BURNED....405

MORNING COMMUTE:
Its dark and overcast this morning. The weather this weekend has been quiet comfortable. Right now its in the 60’s. The highs today is supposed to be in the 70’s.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today I have on a black t-shirt, olive green khaki pant, and Nike Max Air Shoes.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....11140
MILES....2.10
CALORIES BURNED....367

I did not go to Church today because the subject of todays service did not interest me much. It had something to do with poetry. From the summary on the website it sounds like church members are going to read from their favourite poems. Im not that much into poetry. So I spent the day watching movies from Netflix. Today, I watched Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Furth. I had never seen the movie before. Also I watched Kinsey and A Perfect Murder.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....409
MILES....0.07
CALORIES BURNED....0

I didn’t really go anywhere today. I just spent the day reading spoilers from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows. So I guess you could say that today I am in semi-mourning mood over the fictional deaths of Hedwig the owl, Dobby the house elf, Fred Weasly, Lupin, Tonks, and my favourite character, Professor Snape.

Despite this sadness, I did feel a bit wisfully happy that Harry named one of his sons Albus Severus Potter. The name was in honor of Albus Dumbledore the late head of Hogworts, and the late Severus Snape, the bravest man that Harry ever knew.

I still can not believe the series is now over. What ever will I latch on to next? Doctor Who does not start up until sometime next spring whilst Heroes does not start up until sometime this fall.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....601
MILES....0.11
CALORIES BURNED....0

MORNING COMMUTE:
Oh, My Goodness! This morning I am finally on time for work! I caught the #1 bus at 6am. I tried to get some breakfast at 7-11 but they were out of breakfast sandwiches. I walked over to Duncan Donuts but they had a long ass long. I did not want to risk missing my train so I went to the light rail stop and waited. In contrast to yesterday the train pulled off at 6:13. As you can recall yesterday it pulled off at precisely 6:10 which made me just miss it by this much. I was almost to the doors when it pulled off. I know the driver saw me but alas its his train.... I feel that the plan for being on time will work as I have stated before the only wild card in my plan is the MTA buses. Hopefully, everything will work out.

OTAKON and POSSIBLY RACIST TEENS
It appears that Otakon, the anime festival is back in town this weekend. I saw a bunch of strangely dressed teens board the light rail train at the Lutherville stop yesterday on the way from work. I felt very disturbed by them mainly because they all stood up instead of sitting down. I wonder if the reason they did not sit down was because that if they did they would have to sit next to a Black person. This of course made me wonder if in addition to being into anime that they were also racists as well. I noticed that they did not begin to sit down until seats were empty of black passengers. I do not know if I am wrong or right in my assumption of them being racists. It just seemed weird for them to just stand and stand through several stops when they could have just sat down. Whenever I see a white person doing something like that on a bus or train I just assume that the reason they are not sitting down is because they must be racists. I wonder what do they think they will catch by sitting down next to someone like me? Do they think that Blackness is contagious?

I thought at first when I saw them that they must be headed to MICA but they did not get off at the MICA stop so it must be OTAKON. To the best of my knowledge this is the earliest that they have held it. It usually seems to run in August. Also I believe this is the first time it has run the same weekend as Artscape.

Someday, I would like to go to Otakon but I think I would feel uncomfortable surrounded by teenage and twentysomething geeks. Is there an anime con out there for thirtysomethings? Also later this evening the Harry Potter book comes out. Since its the last one I might head over to Barnes and Nobles and wait in line for it at midnight. No doubt I will be joined in line with some of the OTAKON folks.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on olive green khaki pants, black canvas tennis shoes, striped v-neck short sleeve shirt of pink, orange, brown, tan, yellow, white, and magenta

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10202
MILES....1.93
CALORIES BURNED....339

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I was almost on time. I left out the door earlier than I have in weeks. This was due to adjustments I made from observations I made yesterday as to how long it actually took me to do things. In the end it all came down to the wild card, the bus. Despite having control over how long it took me to get ready in the morning I can not control what time the bus arrives. The bus that would normally get me to the light rail station on time was two minutes late and it was being driven by a different than it was a couple of weeks ago. I should have known there might have been trouble when I noticed that the driver had straped on him a bright orange safety belt. Uh Oh! He is probably going to drive extra slow and cautious at that hot bed hour of the morning 6am. I am of course kidding about 6am being a busy hour of the morning. As I had suspected he drove extra slow and cautious. I thought that I might have a fighting chance to be on time if I ran. The bus made it to the light rail at 6:09. I ran down the street but no dice the train was about to pull off. As I was running towards the train I saw a woman who looked like one of my co-workers getting off the train. It could not have been her because it would not have made sense for her to be getting off the train when she should have been getting on it. In the end I had to catch another train. The train pulled off at 6:10. My only wish is for some consistency in bus drivers and how they work the schedule. In the end I suppose my best bet is to forego the buses and simply walk down to the light rail station. The reason being is that it seems that everyday there is a different bus driver commandering the bus who has a different idea as to the time the bus should arrive.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on green slacks, Nike MaxAir shoes, and a v-neck short sleeve striped shirt of turqouise, pink, lime green, white, and purple.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10803
MILES....2.04
CALORIES BURNED....376

MORNING COMMUTE:
I’m late yet again this morning. Oddly, enough I got up an hour early yet managed to still be late.

However, I made progress in that this morning I timed myself doing things such as showering (10 minutes), putting on makeup (15 minutes). I was surprised that I spent so much time in the morning putting on makeup. I feel that the reason for this is because about a week or so ago I added under eye concealer to my morning makeup routine. This addition bumped up my makeup application time from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. Normally, I would just put on foundation, powder, and lipstick. Now its concealer, foundation, powder, and lipstick.

With this new information I will have to adjust my morning routine accordingly. I am glad that I got up an hour early to time myself this way I found out what I was doing that was suddenly making me late for work. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be on time for work now that I know what my problem area is.

MICHAEL VICK
I am sickened to hear that it appears he was running a dog fighting enterprise out of his Virginia home. What Michael Vick is accused of doing is both sick and cruel. I hope that he will be punished to the full extent of the law. The very thought of people watching dogs fighting to the death horrifies me. I like dogs.

The only dog I ever owned was Sebastian, the afghan hound. I was a kid when we had him. Thus I was not responsible for his care or upkeep. He was more my cousin, Renee’s dog than mine. Sebastain was a cowardly yet loveable dog. May Sebastian, the afghan hound rest in peace.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a brown short sleeve blouse that has lace and wooden beading around the neckline. On my feet are brown and tan leather slides.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....12186
MILES....2.30
CALORIES BURNED....387

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I am extremely late for work, 40 minutes to be exact. I hate this. Two buses on the way down to the light rail station passed me by. They were both crowded up front but had plenty of room in the back. I never understand when I see buses like this during the morning rush how come the bus driver never seems to tell the passengers to move to the back. Does he not realize that there are other people who are also on their way to work? And always they speed by instead of picking up more passengers. What are they afraid of? Its just people who are on their way to work who are most likely sleepy. To the best of my recollection not many acts of aggression occur during the early morning hours. People are groggy. Its evening passengers who are most likely a little more jacked up. And maybe a little more angry if the driver told them to back up. All I know now is that I must figure out a better strategy to get to work on time. The only other option I can think of is to simply walk down to the light rail station. Hopefully that strange man who was always standing on the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard during the early morning winter hours is gone.

NEW SUMMER OVERTIME CONTEST
This summer for one week only we are having an overtime contest of sorts. This time it lasts for just one week. The prize is an iPod Shuffle. I already own one of those. I suppose it would not hurt to own another one. I could always sell the extra one on eBay.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a short sleeve magenta top, blue jeans, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....12045
MILES....2.28
CALORIES BURNED....395

Today I had a prescheduled day off from work. The main highlight of today was going to the bank and to the supermarket.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....6074
MILES....1.15
CALORIES BURNED....200

This morning I went to Church. I was late again by 25 minutes. I left out in more than enough time to be somewhat on time. I have now come to the conclusion that the northbound light rail train does not begin to run until 10:15. I was waiting for that train for a good 35 minutes. So now I know that I should take the bus down to Charles Street and walk up the street to Church instead of waiting for the light rail train.

After Church went to the movies to see Transformers. I fell asleep during the big finale. It was not as good as Harry Potter was.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....12037
MILES....2.27
CALORIES BURNED....401

SATURDAY OVERTIME
Today, I decided to do overtime because quiet frankly I need the money. Ever since the incident of last week and living on 40 dollars for two weeks I felt I should do some overtime.

As per usual I am late. I do not know why but I tend to be late when I do Saturday overtime. I usually come in around 8 instead of 7. Ive been doing this ever since I started working at my job about 8 years ago. So far no one has said anything to me about it. After work I intend on going to the movies to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Transformers. I may see one today and the other tommorrow after Church.

PANDORA MUSIC SERVICE
Yesterday, I while listening listening to NPR’s, All Things Considered I learned of an increase in internet radio fees. The fees as I understand are going up on Monday. They are so high that it will force some internet radio stations to close. The only internet radio stations I listen to are Virgin Radio and Live 365. On the show they had a representative from Pandora, an internet radio station that I have never listened to before. The music that Pandora plays is individually taylored to your musical tastes. It is a part of the Music Genome Project . From the description of how the station works I decided to give it a listen to.

The station I started first was based on the one song I have had on iPod the longest. In fact it was one of the first songs I immediately put on it after I bought it. I have never felt the need to erase it. I love that song! It makes me feel happy. Its Sugar, Sugar by The Archies. After I chose that song to start a station with the very next song that played was Carrie Anne by The Hollies. This had me immediately stunned. Guess what other song has been on my iPod for a very long time? CARRIE ANNE BY THE HOLLIES! So there you have it Silent Gail has a thing for sixties bubblegum music and is dumbfounded with joy over Pandora.

So far Pandora has been a great success for me. I suppose I will make up other stations based on other songs and artists I like.

Below for kicks I have included videos to two of the songs that have been on my iPod the longest, Sugar Sugar by The Archies and Carrie Anne by The Hollies. As an extra viewing bonus the video for The Archies shows Ron Dante not that cartoon characters singing. The video for Carrie Anne is a 60’s era black and white psychedelic promo clip. ITS FAR OUT MAN!

SUGAR SUGAR by THE ARCHIES (Ron Dante)

CARRIE ANNE by THE HOLLIES

WALKING LOG
STEPS....12051
MILES....2.28
CALORIES BURNED....449

MORNING COMMUTE:
Im late again! The bus did not show up until 6:07. Since it was late it was crowded. I’m not sure if the old guy who was driving the bus is filling in for the young guy who was driving the bus or if he will be the permanent driver. The celebrity he most resembles is 70’s Saturday Night Live performer, Garrett Morris. I hope he is just a fill in and that the regular driver who was usually on time will be back. I do not want to go back to the days of last fall and winter with the terminally late driver. He is supposed to arrive at 6:03. I will have to make a new resolution to leave out early enough to take another bus or simply walk down to the station.

BECKS AND POSH HAVE ARRIVED!
David Beckham and his Spice Girls wife Victoria Beckham have arrived in the States. They are here because David was recently signed to the Los Angeles Galaxies soccer team. I don’t really follow soccer but since they are a glamorous couple with cute kids who have posh names I thought I’d mention it. For the record the only sport I really care about is tennis. Roger Federer rules!

WHAT IM WEARING:
Blue jeans, New Balance 653 shoes, short sleeve tye-dyed turquoise shirt with an ecru and tan design on it.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10814
MILES....2.04
CALORIES BURNED....383

MORNING COMMUTE:
I can’t believe this happening. I left out the door on time to catch the bus. However, the bus was late and crowded. The bus was not being driven by the usual driver so it was not his fault that the usually on time bus was late. This is horrible! I hate being late for work in the morning. Its like one bad thing after another happened this week. First we have the heat. It was so hot early in the week that I found it difficult to sleep. Because of this I got up late. Next the light rail has a power outtage and I have to take a shuttle bus and be an hour late for work. Today, my usual bus driver is not on the job. I wonder what horror I have to face tommorrow. On the upside it was nice and cool outside this morning. Highs are expected to be in the 80’s. In other words the heat wave is over! I suppose we’ll have to wait around for the next one to hit.

AFRO PUNK
Yesterday, as I was on my way home I was listening to this black show on NPR. They had a forum on there made up of black bloggers they were discussing the NAACP’s symbolic burrying of the th N-word. Anyway one of the bloggers had a blog about the black rock movement called Bold As Love, which is a line taken from a Jimmy Hendrix song. Somehow I had never thought to look this up before. I am black and like to listen to rock music more than hip hop. I wondered what does black rock music sound like. Going to his site hoping there would be links to YouTube videos and the like and I found absolutely next to none. The only thing I could find were musicians talking about there music. There is something called ghetto metal but no examples of what it sounds like. I found it to be frustrating. So I remembered in the 90’s there was something called the Black Rock Coalition formed by members of Living Color. I went there hoping that maybe they would have music up by black rock musicians. No dice. Then I found a site about a movie called Afro Punk. It seemed pretty interesting. I think I would like to the movie. There is a good chance that Im going to both days of Virgin Fest. I know that odds are I will probably be one of only a handful of coloured people there. Somehow being the only black person at a place has never bothered me much. Im not sure if that means Im very secure about who I am or just plain stupid...

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a short sleeve pink t-shirt, blue jeans, and Nike MaxAir shoes with a pink swoosh on the side.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....11242
MILES....2.12
CALORIES BURNED....368

MORNING COMMUTE:
The ride to work this morning was a complete and utter disaster. The bus came at its usual time. The problem today was with the light rail system. The trains were will not fixed from yesterday. I overheard someone saying there was a power outage that had to be fixed because of yesterdays storms. The train went up to North Avenue then we had to wait for an eternity for a shuttle bus to pick us all up to go the the Falls Road Station. When the train got to the station there must have been about three hundred or more people waiting for the train to take us further North towards Hunt Valley. As we all waited shuttle bus after shuttle bus pulled up and dropped off passengers off. In this constant flow of new passengers and waiting for a train to show. It made me wonder if it was humanely possible for all these people to fit on the train. The train eventually came. Some people as I imagined had to stand up on the train. I luckily got a seat. I made it into work a little after eight. I was a whole hour late for work but this time it was not my fault. When I got off the train I was the first company to make in the office. This I feel is due to the fact that I do a lot of walking and my body is probably more conditioned towards walking really fast when push comes to shove. One of my co-workers went missing. Everyone was trying to find out what happened to her. She called up but no one saw her on the train. This was highly odd because she often times is the first one in the office in the morning. She did come in a about an hour or so later. I wonder what happened to her on the way over? We were all getting pretty worried.

I stayed over to do some over time. I have a trip on Monday and have to rebuild spending money and pay utilities. Im just going to DC to visit museums. I have not done that in a while. I feel its due time I see the National Gallery again.

NOT AGAIN!
For the first time since the incident of last week I went on the net and checked my email. Surprised to find that the companies that stole money from out of my checking account were trying to take more money out but of course they could not because I closed that account down. I can not believe the gall of those crookd. I got an email from PayPal alerting me to the fact that the five companies that stole money from me tryed to access my account again but could not because the account was closed. How many times will these crooks try to steal from me? Anyway they could not get anywhere because I closed the account down. It will be a cold, cold day in hell before I give PayPal new bank account number. Never Again, I say!!!! Never Again!!!

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a black tee shirt and green olive khaki pants. On my feet are brown and tan sandals.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10647
MILES....2.01
CALORIES BURNED....364

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I am late again for work but not as late as I was yesterday. I again found it difficult to sleep because of the heat.

BEAT THE HEAT
Yesterdays high in Baltimore was near 100 degrees. Today its going to be more of the same. To avoid the heat and save money (as you can recall Im broke because of internet thieves) I did overtime at work. I figure it was best to stay at work under their a/c and work as opposed to go home and sweat under my dinky fan.

Normally, my solution to beat the heat would have been to go to the movies. Since the incident I have to seriously watch my cash. I do intend on seeing the new Harry Potter movie when it comes out on Wednesday. There’s a 50/50 possibility I may have enough cash to see Transformers after work this evening.

I am seeing this movie solely based on the glowing reviews that Amelia from the Mickey and Amelia Show gave it. Also the movie has gotten a lot of good reviews from real live critics.

A bonus for me is that Josh Duhamel from the TV show, Las Vegas is in the movie. He’s the really cute guy on the show. I remember Duhamel from back in the day when he played Leo Du Pres on All My Children. On the show Leo and his mother were grifters. The duo reminded me of the characters that Angelica Huston and John Cusack played in the movie, The Grifters. So as you can see I go way back in my knowledge of the career of 2002 Daytime Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy winner Josh Duhamel.

Another reason Im seeing is because that Shia LaBouef kid is in the movie. I don’t know much about him other than lately he’s been getting a lot of work and will be in the next Indiana Jones movie. Also I’ve noticed on IMDB on the Indiana Jones page he gets top billing over Harrison Ford. So that could possibly mean that he will either be playing a young Indiana Jones or Indians Jones’ son or Grandson. I also understand that he is signed on for two more movies which means that he will taking over the Indiana Jones franchise.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on black slacks, a turquoise crinkly fabric blouse with wooden beaded detailing around the lace v-neck neckline. On my Maybelline Wet Shine Diamond red Cherry Carats #460 coloured toenailed feet are brown and tan leather slides. I wear finger nail polish on feet because I feel it looks rude and uncouth to walk around with your feet bare and nothing colouring the nails.

LUNCHTIME WALKING:
Due to the heatwave I have not walked as much during my lunch break. My intention is to pick it up in the evening when it has cooled down. Or perhaps simply go to a mall and walk there. Also on a good note I just checked my bank account this morning and the money that was stolen from it is back! Im not as down and out poor as I was yesterday. Well, Im still poor but not down and out poor.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10648
MILES....2.01
CALORIES BURNED....364

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I’m late for work. I found it difficult to wake up from the puddle of sweat I was sleeping under. Last night was very hot and I found it difficult to get to sleep. I don’t have air conditioning just fans. Today, its suppose to be around 100 degrees. So as you can imagine I was not exactly anxious to get to work. The heat wave is suppose to last until Wednesday or Thursday. I took a cab to the light rail.

It was a cab I never heard of before called, Liberty Cabs. The driver seemed very shaky like maybe he was on drugs or something. He asked if I wanted to pay upfront. I asked him how much a ride to Hunt Valley would be. He said twentysomething. I decided not to take him up on the pre pay option because quiet frankly he scared me. I was afraid that if I handed him cash up front he would rob me and take the money to buy drugs. Or worse rob me, kill me, and dump my body off somewhere between Baltimore and New York.

The driver was either white or Latino it was difficult to say. One thing for sure he was definetly not from Baltimore. He sounded like he was from New York. I can’t say which borrough in New York but definetly he was from New York or maybe New Jersey. Anyway, what’s a New Yorker doing driving a cab in Baltimore? Isn’t cab driving a profession for foreigners?

AFTER WORK PLANS
Looks like I will be doing mall walking today. I know that it is a guaranteed lock that I will be going to the movies to see Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix sometime this week

. Right now there is not any movies that I am chomping at the bit to see. I’ve already seen Die Hard, 1408, Pirates of the Carribean, Knocked Up, and Oceans 13.

I am boycotting Fantastic Four because of Ioan Gruffudd (Horatio Hornblower/Mr. Fantastic) dismantling a website his fans put up 9 years ago. He took down the site because his fiancee, Alice Evans, didn’t like his fans criticizing her fashion sense. Ioans actions in my opinion is tantamount to firing his fans. Because of this stupid action on Ioan’s part I can no longer support his work.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a short sleeve light blue v-neck blouse, black slacks, and beige and brown leather sandals.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....8919
MILES....1.68
CALORIES BURNED....307

Went to Church this morning. I caught the #10 bus at 9:50. When I got to the light rail station there was already people there. So I figured things were looking up I would probably be 5-10 minutes late for Church. The train would likely show up at 10:00. The bus by the way made it to my stop at about 9:53. Not one but two trains arrived headed in the opposite direction that I needed to go in. My train did not arrive until 10:15. I made it to Church at about 10:27. When I made it in I was happy to see a member there I had not seen him in a while. Recently heard he had a tumor or something on his kidney and was due for surgery this month around the 20th. I hope he pulls through.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....4971
MILES....0.94
CALORIES BURNED....166

Today is my niece’s 27th birthday.

Happy Birthday Alesea!Sorry, I can not make it to your party.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....2109
MILES....0.39
CALORIES BURNED....59

MORNING COMMUTE:
I am late again this morning but not super late. It was difficult to get to sleep. I had a killer ear ache last night. I hope there is not an insect or something stuck in my ear. Also I turned the fan on and did not feel a thing then I noticed that the metal grill to the fan was covered with lint and dust. Cleaned it off and the fan ran just fine. Did overtime last night. There was a mountain of work to do. I came in from work about 9-ish much later than I usually do.

Make-Up Woes
I always wear make-up on workdays. I have an uneven skin tone. My face literally resembles a jig saw puzzle without makeup. Thus, I feel more normal looking when Im wearing foundation makeup. Also I have weird coloured lips. My natural lip colour is a light pink colour. I have always felt self conscious about that. I do not know many other black people who have pink lips save my Grandpa Bob. Which is whom I believe I inherited that weird lip colour from. So I have always aimed to find a lipstick colour that is a regular lip colour.

Last week I was at Towson Town Center and found a Mac Cosmetics store. One of the salesgirl there suggested a foundation colour that would be good for my skin color. I usually wear Revlon Colorstay in Cappachino. In Mac I wear NC55. The problem is I like to walk during my lunch break and when I walk I usually sweat because I like to walk fast. The Mac makeup ran off my face like melted ice cream in the hot sun. I was truly horrified. When I use the Colorstay stuff it stays on my skin through sweat and everything. Sadly, Mac does not make sweat proof makeup. Im sure if I found something in there professional theatre line it would most likely be waterproof.

So today I have on a mixture of Colorstay and Mac. Im going to see if I can find a Colorstay shade that matches the Mac shade I have. The Mac colour is closest to my real skin colour. The Colourstay is a tone deeper but I had no way to try the makeup before I bought it. I only bought Cappacino because it was one colour down from Caramel. Caramel I noticed on the Revlon display was the colour it said Haley Berry had on. I do not think I am the same exact complexion as Haley Berry. I imagine if I saw her in real life I would find her to be an extremely light skinned woman. Im sort of at a weird inbetween shade not light skinned and not dark skinned just somewhere in the middle. I could not find any caramel Colorstay makeup last night to see how it compares to my Mac colour.

I absolutely have to find a colour that comes close to Mac because the Colorstay makeup I used to wear did not match the rest of my skin. It was slightly darker and you could notice it whenever my neck was exposed.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, Nike MaxAir shoes, and a turqouise, ecru, and tan tye dye coloured short sleeve blouse.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....9463
MILES....1.79
CALORIES BURNED....320

MORNING COMMUTE:Extremely late again for work. I have a really bad tooth ache. I think I should get it checked it out. My tooth ached all yesterday. I hope it does not have to be pulled or anything severe like that. Then again it may all be psychosomatic in reaction to being electronically robbed on the internet.

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on a blue and white striped t-shirt with red detailing around the neckline and sleeved. I also have on stone washed jeans and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10899
MILES....2.06
CALORIES BURNED....370

HAPPY JULY 4TH
Spent July 4th watching Life on Mars. Learned that they will be doing an American version of the show produced by David E. Kelly. Also there will be a sequel to the show in 2008 featuring the Gene Hunt character in the 80’s. This time its a female cop who is transported back into time. The name of the show is Ashes to Ashes which is the name of another David Bowie song.

Also last night it was hard to distinguish between the sound of fireworks and the impending thunderstorm. I could not believe that the neighborhood kids would still set off firecrackers with all the thunder and lightening that was going on last night.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....299
MILES....0.05
CALORIES BURNED....3

MORNING COMMUTE:
Late for work. I still have no money. None of my utilities have been paid. I hope to be able to pay them all by my next pay check.

UNSHOCKING NEWS;
Who amongst us is not surprised that Bush pardoned Scooter Libby?

WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, Nike MaxAir shoes, and a grey short sleeved Henley

WALKING LOG
STEPS....10711
MILES....2.02
CALORIES BURNED....392

Took the day off work to go to the bank and get everything straightened out with the electronic theft that occurred from my checking account. It now appears that I filled out every form available. Hopefully, the money will be returned to my account. Also PayPal has had the charges reversed. So everything is taken care of on there end. Its now all up to the bank.

TORCHWOOD vs LIFE ON MARS
After I got home from the bank for the first time ever I watched Torchwood. I just watched the first episode. I was not particularly wowed by it.

LifeOnMars
Originally uploaded by willisgirl

Then I decided to watch the UK cop show Life on Mars. Above is a picture of the two stars of the show Philip Glenister who plays DCI Gene Hunt and John Simm who plays DI Sam Tyler.

I watched about 5 episodes of the first season. I only stopped watching because it was getting late and I had to go to work in the morning. I plan on watching the rest of the episodes of the first season then move on to the second season. I can safely say that Life on Mars really grabbed me.

Its about a cop, Sam Tyler (John Simm) from 2006 who gets in a car accident and is transported to 1973. The show reminds me of a 1970’s American cop show only with a sci-fi angle with the time travel thing. Will Sam ever make it back to his time or is he permanently stuck in the 70s?

My favourite character on the show hands down is DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) Hunt is the politically incorrect Captain of the police squad.

Its wild looking at this show because they are doing things that would be frowned upon today. Everyone smokes in the squad room there are blatant abuses going on. If Gene Hunt were a cop today he would have been fired before his shift was even over. Im a left wing, feminist liberal and Im not ashamed to say, GENE HUNT ROCKS!

WALKING LOG
STEPS....2914
MILES....0.55
CALORIES BURNED....103

SUNDAY...CHURCH DAY
Today, I did something I do not normally do, I took a cab to Church. I felt it was important that I made it in today because it was our intern minister, Allison Farnum’s last day.

I have really enjoyed the sermons she gives. They are filled with youthful enthusiasm. My favourite memory is during the morning childrens story she did a story with using puppets. I also liked during the Martin Luther King Day Service when we all stood in a circle inside the Church and sang, We Shall Overcome. Afterwards, we attached coloured cray paper messages on the fence outside the Church. Another thing I will remember about her tenure is the giant banner that is now up on our Church that reads, Civil Marriage is a Civil Right

At the end of the todays service the choir sang the Gene Autry classic, Happy Trails. I felt very sad. It was the end of a brief era. Good Luck Allison where ever you are!

DOCTOR WHO: The Last of the Time Lords

After the service I went home and watched the season ending episode of Doctor Who, The Last of the Time Lords. Some of the things I loved about the episode was the Masters opening music video moment to the Rogue Traders song Voodoo Child. John Simm as the Master was rock em sock em good. Even though he is evil he still seems like fun!

I also loved the shocking revelation that Captain Jack is the face of Boe. Boe is a million year old being that lives in jar. I was also shocked that the Masters wife, Lucy Saxon, shot him.

The last shot of the episode is very open ended. You see a closing shot of a red fingernailed woman’s hand picking up his ring and a male BWwwwhaaaaaHaaa laugh in the background. I interpret this as the Master pre arranging that his wife shot him in order to fake his death thus he can escape going to jail. He seemed more than happy that Francine (Martha’s mother) had a gun and wanted to shoot him. He was practically encouraging her to shoot him.

Weird moment during the show was the Doctor being aged to the point that he resembled Dobby, the house elf from The Harry Potter books.

Overall, it was a pretty good episode. I felt uncomfortable with the concept that Martha travelled the Earth to spread the word about the Doctor. It almost seemed like they were elevating him to being a God like being. It just smacked of pseudo religiosity which makes me feel uncomfortable. I watch the show to be entertained not to watch pseudo religion.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....5020
MILES....0.95
CALORIES BURNED....160