Stick a fork in me, I'm done!
Mood:  on fire
It's about a million degrees in my office right now. Okay, maybe not a million, but our little thermostat is off the scale, registering above 90. I thought I left Florida to get away from this.

Speaking of Florida, I had such a nice time! It was really hard to leave, especially after the adventures my sister and I had. They culminated on Sunday with a loooooong shopping trip to Sawgrass, which is like Arundel Mills on crack. It's supposed to be shaped like an alligator, but apparently it's one of those modern art up to interpretation alligators because I wasn't seeing it.

We got ice cream on our way out of the mall at this place called The Marble Slab, which is like Maggie Moo's if you've ever been there. You pick an ice cream and then you pick one or more "toppings" and they mix it all together on this cold marble slab (hence the name of the store). It was just before mall closing and my magna cum laude master's degree achieving sister couldn't quite figure out how to follow the directions. However, I must say our server left much to be desired and was not much help. After taking our orders and getting started on the mixing, our server decided she was done and just walked off. Liz and I looked at each other for a minute, confused, and I was seriously concerned my ice cream was going to melt before she got back. Fortunately, another girl stepped in and got us our orders. (Mine: swiss chocolate ice cream with a peanut butter cup; Liz: swiss chocolate ice cream with peanut M&Ms.) As we left, Liz imparted that I had to write about this in my blog. Hopefully she'll approve of this entry more than she did the last.

Back to the heat in my office (sorry if I'm a little scatterbrained. I suffered a head wound in the shower this morning - don't ask). The last time it was this hot in the school, I ended up praising the porcelain gods in the bathroom because I was suffering from heat exhaustion. Yeah, it's that hot. Let's hope that doesn't happen again.

For all those who care, only 17 shopping days until my birthday!!!

Ken (democrat groupie cynical chain smoker Ken) says I'll stop caring about my birthday when I get older. I don't think I will. And honestly, I hope I will always enjoy my birthday. What's not to love about gifts and cake and ice cream? And did I mention the cake and ice cream?

I'd like to give another shoutout to my buddies Sal and Gary at the sleep lab. I'll be up there Monday night for sleep study number 2 (read: sleep study where I have to wear the mask and use the machine as demonstrated by Paul Bunyan in the sleep apnea video). Can't say I'm looking forward to the mask or machine, but given how tired I've been lately, I'm willing to try just about anything. Well, anything legal.

I've finished most of the updates to my site. GH quotes and STFBE quotes are up. There's a new Kerry fact posted. I've updated Hour Follows Hour, my latest STFBE fic and my other STFBE fic - Magic Rainbow - is posted in all its glory. And don't forget to post comments to my blog! Ken (pornography I'm so lazy I need to hire a cleaning lady even though I live with two other guys Ken) has been the only one commenting so far aside from John (I also am too lazy so I hired a cleaning lady even though I live with two other guys John). Let's not let them take over my blog! :)

Au revoir!

Quote of the Blog
"When you crash a chopper in the Sahara with a woman, you get to see what she's made of. Unless she doesn't survive and the vultures get her. Then you really get to see what she's made of."
~ John Jacks, General Hospital

So apparantly I'm cheaper than a motel...
Mood:  silly
I'm in Florida visiting my sister who, just minutes ago, was describing what she thought her dogs voices sounded like. Melville, she said, had a deep slow voice, kind of like Crush from Finding Nemo. "What's happening, dude?" Quee Queg, on the other hand, being female and hyper is more like a cheerleader. "I'm so happy! Let me in! Let me in!"

Needless to say, it's been a pretty entertaining vacation so far. I arrived Thursday around 10:30 pm after a fairly (thankfully) uneventful flight. Friday we lounged around the house, relaxing, and then ran some errands. These errands including taking the two aforementioned dogs for baths. We took them to this pet store that had this room with a tub like thing and blow drier and towels and the like. Let's just say it was pretty entertaining washing these two dogs. My sister views it as an experiment for me in pet ownership. I view it as my sister taking advantage of the fact she can boss her little sister around again.

We've also decided we're like a MasterCard commercial:
plane ticket to Florida: $176
gum at the airport: $1.50
spending time with your sister taking dogs through a car wash (in the car, this wasn't a secondary bathing method): priceless

There's some things money can't buy (like family) for everything else, there's MasterCard.

I've been enjoying the fact that at everything my sister says or does she qualifies it with "this better not go in your blog." What she doesn't realize is that from some severe blow to the head that I'm sure I've suffered from at some point, my short term memory is practically nil, so by this point I've forgotten most of the things she's told me not to include. Except for the talkng dogs and motel comment.

My sister is married to a guy named Michael, whom I call Mike. He's very nice but a total cornball. Case in point: the note I am looking at right now post-it-ed to her computer: "You fill my heart with happiness." Happiness is qualified by an * which leads you to the footnote reading "* also see delight, joy, love, overwhelming desire..." and I'll just stop there.

Well, I should go before she catches on to what I'm doing. More to come soon!

Laura in FLA

Quote of the Blog
"His name is Paco and he doesn't speak much English, but that's okay with me." ~ me

living la vida loca
Mood:  not sure
They don't have an emoticon for tired, so "not sure" is the best I can do.

I'd like to give a shout out to all the guys down at Mile One who have been snooping around my website. :)

Apparently I missed the memo telling me that today is opposite day. On my drive to work today I witnessed not one, but two cars who had on their right turn signals as they proceeded into the left lane of the highway. I was tempted to join in the fun and drive in front of them really slowly - opposite to my usual 10 miles over the speed limit. However, I refrained. But perhaps it's time to re-address my suggestions for people who misuse turn signals: Driving Under the Influence of Electricity.

I'm also in the process of updating my website. So, here are some of the changes:
o New STFBE fic: it's a funny one! And you don't even have to watch the show to understand it.
o You can now post comments to my blog! And please do! They are moderated, so it may take me a day or two to approve them, but I had to do it that way to prevent crazy people (like Democrat Hippie Groupie Ken) from posting inappropriate things.
o New design: at some point I'll get a new masthead up there.
o Quotes: right now, I've added some STFBE quotes and General Hospital quotes.
o Links: are all being changed to lauradugan.com from the much longer angelfire addresses.
o Facts about John Kerry: Need I say more?

Toodles,
Laura

Quote of the Blog
?I guess you could say I was inspired by our refrigerator.? ~ Lucy in Sue Thomas Deaf Bee Eye and the Case of the Magic Rainbow also known as What Was in that Steak and Pizza?

I have a Ty Beanie Baby named Lefty
Mood:  special
I'm special.

I remembered the other thing I wanted to talk about, and it's probably not that entertaining, but I'm proud I remembered, so I'm going to do it anyway.

I have on my laptop desktop (my work computer) a picture from Sue Thomas F.B.Eye. It's the same one on my website: https://www.angelfire.com/home/lalilo/stfbe.html. I was staring at it today as I was instant messaging (cause I do a lot of work at work) and realized a couple of things about the picture, the first of which being I have way too much free time.

Anyway, the picture shows the cast of STFBE, all the people that work for the FBI and Levi who, from what I have seen, is smarter than most humans, including George Bush. And I guess for the sake of the picture, they moved some things around. For example, both Jack and Bobby (2nd and 3rd from left) have their holsters on their right sides, implying they are left handed. They are not. Dimitrius (2nd from right), on the other hand (literally and figuratively) has his holster correctly on the left. Myles is the only male without a gun, at least not that I can see. Which brings me to my other point... Where are the ladies' guns??? Tara (1st on left) is a field agent as is Sue (middle). Where are their guns? I mean, I can understand Lucy not having one - she's not field rated. Is this some sort of sexist statement?? Or am I just over-analyzing things? Yeah, you're right, probably the latter. This is what I get from taking a gender studies class.

In case you were wondering, PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS is supposedly the longest word in the English language.

Quote of the Blog

Hope is on the way.

Vote John Kerry/John Edwards

Pornography Ken Strikes Again (hey, that rhymes!)
Mood:  not sure
You'd think by now he'd learn that I'm going to blog whatever he says to me... This time, Pornography Ken asked me if I was voyeuristic because I have a blog. So now I write pornography and am a voyeur. Who knew?

A large part of my job - large part of why I don't always like my job - is making phone calls. All the damn time.

I would like to lodge two complaints to anyone who is listening. What is the deal with call intercept? And with people not having voice mail? I'll deal with the latter first.

It's 2004, people!!! Come on!!! How can you NOT have voice mail or an answering machine? They are NOT that expensive. You can get a cheapy answering machine for $10 at Target. I hate calling students and hearing the phone ring and ring and ring and ring...

It's almost as irritating as call intercept, which was developed by the good people at Satan Rules Earth, Inc. For those of you unfamiliar with call intercept, it's for people who are too lazy to read the Caller ID display. My work phone number shows up either as a bank or as an unknown number. There is nothing I can do about this. What I don't understand is why can't people just look at their caller ID display... not answer... let me leave a message and then either pick up or call me back. It's NOT that much of an effort, is it? But no... People have to get this stupid call intercept which means every time I call them I have to record my name and company ("The person you are calling has call intercept, a feature that serves no other purpose than annoying those who are calling") and then listen to the same ridiculous musak over and over until I finally here "You are now being connected to an answering service" after which there is no answering service. Instead, I am sent into the void where all things mysterious rest like black holes, Michael Jackson's original skin color, and Halliburton's records.

Speaking of evil, I think (well I seriously hope) that Bush is in trouble. I watched part of the DNC last night... and I've been reading about the two previous nights. It seems to be going well! And Richard Schiff was there, which is always a good sign. I really, really like John Edwards and I am very proud to have voted for him in the primaries. And he's certainly not bad to look at. :)

I'm thinking about selling t-shirts to people who are supporters of Kerry... Arica got me into this t-shirt making business and I thought, hey, why not use my new hobby to support my man Kerry? I have a "Rock the Vote" shirt that Arica made me.. and I made myself one that says "Only you can make a difference" on the front and "rock the vote" on the back. I'd be willing to make any "vote Kerry/Edwards" shirt. So let me know if you're interested. All proceeds go right to Kerry.

Um, I feel like there was something else I was going to talk about but it's gone now. Maybe later.

Quote of the Blog

Josh Lyman: You know what, CJ? I really think I'm the best judge of what I mean, you paranoid Berkeley shiksa feminista... Wow, that was way too far.
C.J. Cregg: No. No. Well, I've got a staff meeting to go to and so do you, you elitist, Harvard, fascist, missed-the-dean's-list-two-semesters-in-a-row Yankee jackass.
Josh Lyman: Feel better getting that off your chest there, C.J.?
C.J. Cregg: I'm a whole new woman.

The West Wing