I'm BACK!!!

Got my new 'puter in the mail today. I haven't even opened it yet. It's still in the cardboard box, so I haven't even seen the Mac logo yet. :-( I had it delivered at work so someone could be around to sign for it when it arrived. I hate having to go to the FedEx or UPS office to pick up a package that can't be delivered at home when I'm not there.

ANYWAY, I got my 'puter. I'll be back to blogging for real tonight.

Yippee!!!

Time to upgrade

My poor laptop is on life support, and I'm coming dangerously close to pulling the plug. I've finally decided that it's time to upgrade and get the Mac that I've been putting off purchasing for so long. Until I make that move, I may not be posting. But keep a look out. I WILL BE BACK!

Diversity at the Golden Globe Awards

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was somewhere smiling today as not one, not two, but THREE African Americans received top honors in acting (Jennifer Hudson, best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for "Dreamgirls," Eddie Murphy best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for "Dreamgirls," and Forest Whittaker best Actor in a Motion Picture for "The Last King of Scotland") at this year's Golden Globe Awards. These awards coupled with awards for "Dreamgirls" best Picture, Musical or Comedy; "Grey's Anatomy" best Series-Drama, created by sista girl, Shonda Rhimes; and even best Original Song "The Song of the Heart" performed by Prince made tonight's Golden Globe Awards particularly sweet. I was also happy to see "Ugly Betty" (one of my favorite shows) receive the honor for best Series, Musical or Comedy, and my girl America Ferrera receive the top honor as best Actress, Musical or Comedy in a Television Series. All I can say is "Times are a changin'."

Don't get me wrong, I was also very happy to see Kyra Sedgewick, Hugh Laurie, Helen Mirren (LOVE HER!), Meryl Streep, and Emily Blunt win their awards as well. I mean "we" can't win all the awards...LOL I like to see all talented people receive their deserved honors. But, it's also nice to finally see black and brown people (and not just one or two) finally get the recognition they deserve. I hope to see more of this at the Oscar's this year.

Oh my aching back: The update

Today's trip to the masseuse had its ups and downs. The best part of the massage was when the masseuse firmly pressed the heel of her palm on my back and slid it from the top of my back to the bottom, putting particular pressure on the area between my lower back and buttocks. It hurt like hell but felt really good at the same time.

Unfortunately the worst part of the massage was when it ended. The masseuse had concentrated most of her attention to my lower back and that area became extremely sore. It was so sore, in fact, that when I attempted to get up from the table I could barely move. Every movement involved in getting off the table and putting on my clothes was met with spasms of pain (humph). Fortunately, with a little stretching, the spasms went away and I started feeling a lot better.

It's now been about 3 hours since I left the masseuse and I still feel a little achiness (particularly in my lower back), but overall, I feel good. I'm hoping I'll still be feeling this good when I get out of bed tomorrow morning. I may even try some more yoga tomorrow.

Oh my aching back

Today, I did something I should have done 3 years ago...

I made an appointment with a professional masseuse to get a much needed hour-long deep tissue massage.

Over the past 3 years, I have lived with almost constant back pain that has hovered somewhere between a minor ache and take-my-breath-away spasms. I've tried pain medication, back massages from my sisters (who are both trained physical therapists) and boyfriend (who is not), and have even tried an expensive electric Shiatsu back massager with rollers that my boyfriend gave me one Christmas. All of it has provided some relief, but has ultimately resulted in continued back pain.

Anyway, I'm not sure if the pain is genetic (my dad has suffered from chronic back pain for years) or from over exertion (which is highly probable since I am still bad at letting Derrick carry heavy stuff like grocery bags and laundry baskets around the house...what can I say, I'm an independent woman...and a little stupid) or a bit of both, but I'm hoping that my trip to the masseuse will end the excruciating spasms that I have been experiencing of late. I can deal with the minor aches, but lately, getting out of bed or up from the couch has been met with what can only be described as seizing back spasms. It ain't pretty, ya'll.

This morning the pain was particular bad, so I tried to ease some of the pain and tension by doing some yoga. Can you say PURE COMEDY?! It was one back spasm after another. I'm going to see the masseuse before I try that nonsense again.

Anyway, tomorrow I will get a 1-hour Swedish/deep tissue massage that I've been promised will make me feel much better. Stay tuned. I plan to blog all about it. I know they promise relief, but all I've had since I made the appointment are visions of piercing screams, moans, and purple bruising all over my body.

And I bruise easily. Uh huh, more pain.

Ouch...

Down but not out

One of my resolutions for this year is to blog more. I was doing pretty well with that resolution until this past week. I tried to upgrade from Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 7 and my computer, which is already on its last legs, crashed. I've not been able to log on to the Internet for a few days. As a quick fix, Derrick installed Mozilla Firefox onto my computer last night until he can get my Internet Explorer back up and running again. So my blogging will continue. Please stay tuned....

$1100 vet bill: Save him or let him go?

Derrick's dog Rocco, a 9-year-old rottweiler, became sick over the Christmas holiday. He looked extremely pitiful. He was lethargic and wouldn't stand up (even to pee), so Derrick took him to the vet. After an initial exam, the vet told Derrick that he suspected that Rocco had lyme disease, and because it was a holiday weekend, Rocco would have to stay with the vet for a couple of nights to have X-rays taken and some other tests done.

Total cost for the exam, housing, X-rays, tests, and medicine = $1,100.

(Say it with me: "OUCH?!")

Spending $1,100 when you're not expecting to will hurt you anytime of the year. When it's the weekend before Christmas and you still haven't finished your Christmas shopping -- coupled with the fact that you also spent money on nice gifts for your son and girlfriend's birthdays earlier in the month -- it can be particularly devastating. BUT, my man LOVES his dog, so there was no way he wasn't going to spend the money for Rocco to get better. Thankfully, when we picked Rocco up from the vet two days later, he looked like his old self. However, the vet discovered another problem.

The X-rays revealed that Rocco has calcification in his spine in several areas. Apparently this is faily common in older dogs (at 9, Rocco is geriatric, ya'll). This condition can be painful for Rocco, so the vet suggested keeping Rocco comfortable with pain medicine (for the rest of his life!). Also, the poor dog can no longer go on long walks, run, or jump (all things he loves to do). Doing too much of any of these things could result in his paralysis. Another suggestion not highly favored by the vet was surgery. Surgery on each area of calcification would cost at least $5,000 for EACH AREA. Five thousand dollars, people! As much as Derrick loves his dog, even he wasn't sure if he could handle that.

So, I must ask the question: Is your dog's life worth more than $5,000? How about $1,000?

What's the most you would you pay to save your dog?!

Wow! I've been discovered

In one day I've probably received at most 12 visits to my blog (and most of them are me!). Any other visits are most likely from a couple of family members, a few friends, and some friends of friends. Not much interest but, hey, I'm cool with that.

I decide to add my blog to DCBlogs.com this week and I get a little more traffic. I think, "Oh, that's nice." But TODAY, I go to check Site Meter and I'm like: "Whaaa?" I've received 74 visits today. (That's, by far, a record for me.)

Anyway, I'm wondering how this happened, so I check to see where all the traffic is coming from and it appears that my blog received a mention on DCBlogs Noted (right on the home page).

Wooooow!

Thanks, good folks at DCBlogs.com and thanks to you visitors for visiting my little ole site. You've made my day.

Pay up before you roll out, heifer!

Picture it:

A group of seven 30-somethings are dining together at a restaurant. The conversation is great. There's laughter. Everyone is having a good time. Then... the bill comes. One guest immediately stands up, slips the host of the gathering some money (presumably for her portion of the meal), and says her goodbyes. In a flash, she's out the door.

Can you guess what happens next?

Uh huh, you guessed it. She stiffed us! She only left $15.00, when she ate more than $30.00 worth of food. Apparently, the cheap heifer had expected some dude she's been seeing to join us at the restaurant, so he could pay for her meal. She knew he wasn't coming when she arrived at the restaurant but instead of saying anything, she ordered her food, ate, and rolled out on the check.

How she was able to face the host (her friend) after the gathering is beyond me.

Trifling, heifer!

If I were running the show it would have never happened. My motto: NO ONE leaves the table until the bill is settled. Period!

Ugh! Just trifling.

Dexter: Only 9 months away!

Is Showtime for real? I'm sitting here watching a boxing match on Showtime and a little image of the guy from Dexter pops up in the corner of the screen with a caption that reads Dexter premieres October 2007. Um... isn't it January 2007?!

Don't get me wrong. I love Dexter, the Showtime series about a serial killer who only preys on other killers. It's been a guilty little pleasure of mine all this fall, but to start putting out little teasers in January for a show that won't be showing again until October is just WRONG!

Anyway, is it just me or is Michael C. Hall a cutie. I never saw it when he played David, the gay funeral director, in Six Feet Under (loved that show) for obvious reasons, but I'm really feeling him as Dexter, the "good guy" serial killer...

...

Ok, I'm weird. I just made it official.

Yes, I can afford $4.19!

What is with the retail industry? Does no one care about offering customer's good service these days? I've posted about this before, so please bear with me as I share yet two recent encounters with the service industry:

Encounter 1
Place: Ledo's in Laurel
Offense: The cashier who assumes a $4.19 cheesecake is beyond our means

On occasion, Derrick and I like to treat ourselves to cheesecake, Ledo's cheesecake in particular. Yum! We are particularly fond of the fudge swirl cheesecake, but lately that flavor hasn't been available. Anyway, we are at the counter trying to decide which type of cheesecake we'll try. We ask the cashier a few questions about the cheesecake varieties that are on display. One cheesecake had a very colorful topping, so I asked the cashier what kind it was.

Cashier: "Starburst."
Me: "Ok. What's in the Starburst cheesecake?"
Cashier: "Um, I don't know. Starbursts I guess."

Um people, from his response I assumed the Starbursts in question was Starburst candy. I had to assume because that's all the response he could give me and he wasn't trying to check with anyone else to find out. Anyway, if it was Starburst candy (I don't think it was), I wasn't eating it because it didn't seem appetizing. So Derrick and I moved on to the next cheesecake, which was a strawberry cheesecake.

Cashier: "You know that cheesecake is $4.19, right?"
Me (in my brain): "Whaaa?"
Derrick: "Why do people keep telling me that?" (A saleswoman at Macy's asked Derrick a similar question when he was purchasing my $300 Coach bag for Christmas) "Yes, I know how much it is. I can afford it. I don't look like I can afford a $4.19 cheesecake? You know that question is offensive, right?"
Cashier: (looking totally clueless...and stupid!) Uh, no. Sorry.

What an idiot! The day a $4.19 cheesecake becomes too expensive for us, we'll keep our asses at home. Thankyouverymuch!

Oh yeah, I guess we really frazzled the cashier because he forgot to give us our cheesecake before he moved on to the next customer. (Did I mention he was an idiot?)

Encounter 2
Place: McDonald's in Laurel
Offense: The cashier who cuts people off so he can ARM WRESTLE!!!

Derrick and I pulled up to the McDonald's drive thru to place an order. As Derrick gives his order, the cashier repeatedly cuts him off, rushing him to complete his order. Derrick mentions this as we move up to the window. Derrick pays the cashier and moves on to the next window to get his food. As we get to the next window, we look inside the restaurant and see the cashier ARM WRESTLING with a coworker.

Another idiot! Actually rushing a customer so he can hurry back to his ARM WRESTLING match.

Derrick and I are seriously thinking about offering our services as secret shoppers because this mess really has to change.

Mental health break

My first work day of the new year will be Wednesday, January 3 and NOT Tuesday, January 2. Why? Because I needed a BREAK!!! I worked through the Christmas holiday and unlike most of the Christmas holidays I've worked in the past, I actually WORKED this time. My client had me hopping all week.

So, when I hit the alarm several times this morning and even re-set the alarm a couple of times and STILL couldn't budge out of bed, I decided to email my boss to let him know that I needed a mental health break and wouldn't be going into the office today. I was just too exhausted. Wanna know what my wonderful boss's response was?

"Refresh your batteries and we will see you tomorrow."

Did I tell you that I'm liking my boss (in the New Year!) ;-) Just kidding. He's cool people.

Anyway, my girl Monica (who also took a mental health break) and I spent our day looking at a beautiful million dollar model home. WOW! We also went to see "Dreamgirls". LOVED IT. I especially loved Jennifer Hudson's rendition of "And I Am Telling You" and Beyonce's "Listen". Totally awesome!

Breaks are great!

Happy New Year!

Ok, I'm a day late but the year is still new. ;-)

How did you spend your New Year's Eve? Me? I slept through it. I was planning to make it to my friend Mai-Le's New Year's Eve bash, but I was just too exhausted, so my bed won out.

Anyway, I did get out on Monday. Derrick's sister's birthday is New Year's Day (how cool is that?!) so Derrick, I, and a bunch of her friends got together at Kobes Japanese Steakhouse to celebrate. A good time was had by all.

Oh, if you ever go, try the Mai Tais; they're delicious!