A Disney Halloween

We are celebrating my birthday a little early with a stay at the Contemporary Hotel. Unfortunately, it's raining...

It wasn't raining when I first work up at 7:15, but it sure was dark out! Can't wait for daylight savings this weekend!

Happy Halloween from the Happiest place in earth!! :)

Porn at work

Yeah I said it ... Porn at work. Would you do that? Did you know that some people can without the fear of losing their job? ::giggle:: Yeah, it's true. Not sure I ever thought about it before because in my head even if it's not a firing offense there is NO WAY I would watch any porn at work! What I do in the privacy of my own home or in a dark corner in a public location ::cough cough:: is not my coworkers business. In fact, if my coworkers want to think I'm a virgin then more power to them! Of course, we are all sexual beings, so I guess it's to be expected that everyone watches porn. But, at work? So, here's what happened because i know you want to know! There's this guy who works in an office across the windowed-atrium in our building. That's right, windows. We can see out our windows into his. Yup, that's right, you guessed it ... we saw him watching porn on his computer. It was odd! Not the porn part, that's natural. Just ... at the office =:-O!! Really?? I'm sorry, I don't get it! And to watch him, one hand in his lap, another on the power button of the monitor periodically turning it on and off (maybe someone was walking by?). Apparently, he's a principle at the job, so he's teflon. I brought our receptionist to the window to see and we had a good laugh about it. Then I brought a few others in to have a giggle as well. Ten years from now this is going to be a funny story! "Remember that guy ...." Anyway, everyone got a laugh about it. Luckily, no one was offended. Everyone just thought it was too funny, as in, pathetically funny. Then our receptionist called their HR Department. Talk about pathetic! Here we are laughing about it, no one was offended, and my loser receptionist decides to call their HR Department and let them know what was going on. This is how we found out he's teflon. Because, my loser receptionist, who can't say a sentence without a sexual connotation, or blatant reference to sex, decided to call their HR Department and attempt to make this person lose their job. I mean, we all know that's what usually happens, right? I can't tell you how disappointed I am in my hypocritical receptionist! To call with the intention of defaming another person over something we found funny! Everyone was laughing. Why would you do that? Thank Gd that guy didn't lose his job. I would have felt terrible! Maybe I'm wrong to be so upset at our receptionist, though. Maybe complaining was the right thing to do. I say no, but I'm willing to hear other opinions.

I want to read a book

I discovered a new author this weekend. The problem is, I don't think this person considers herself to be an "author". I mean, she hasn't written a book (that I know of), but she has a blog. It's the only blog I've ever come across from which I couldn't pull myself away. It occurred to me that if she wrote a book, I'd read it. I love how she writes. It's sad that her writing is non-fiction. It's real. And although it is completely heartbreaking, I'm filled with hope for the ending. It's a story of how life really sucks, but how we are resilient and can make it through even the worst of things. It's a story with sadness and drama with attempts at happiness too. I haven't gotten to the end yet (which will be many years down the road), but I know happiness is coming. I can't imagine the story any other way. I say this because my Sister-in-Law has been through something similar. Five years after the passing of her husband she's now living large. Sure, what happened sucks... big time. But, it's not healthy to hold on to what could have been. I know that my SIL had a phenomenal life and marriage. Now, she's seeing someone new and I think she may have found that happiness again. Not without regret, but what in life isn't?

Here are a few things I know (from an outsiders point of view)... the first dates after the loss of a spouse are awkward. Telling people you are going on a date is hard too. I remember when my SIL said she was starting to date. It was a bittersweet feeling... the feelings of being happy that she's moving on with her life, and the sadness that, well, as much as we don't like it, we have to let go a little more. During our last visit, her new guy stayed in that house. Nope, I didn't like it one bit... but she's happy! I can't begrudge her happiness just because it makes me sad to think my BIL is being replaced. You want to be happy for your loved one that is moving on with her life and heading toward happiness, but why does it come at the cost of letting our lost loved one go a little more? No, it's not easy, but she is happy. She has a phenomenal second chance. I'm excited for her. After all she has been through she deserves the happiness heading her way. I know she hasn't forgotten him. She never will. And neither will I.

Go Hokies!!

It's that time of year when we made our trip to Virginia Tech. There is nothing like Hokie game. What's more exciting is that the oh-so-exciting game that we just went to is now on youtube! I can watch it over and over again!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbi-VgSgf9g. From the beginning of the game, with reading "Hokie Respect", to Metallica on the board rooting on the Hokies, to the players running on the field with "Enter Sandman" playing. According to ESPN it's one of the best game entrances in the country. It's so loud in that stadium! it's so exciting ... we never sit, because ... well, why would you want to? Every time the Hokies get a first down you hear the band and then H-O-K-I-E-S Hokies! The youtube video is 30 minutes long but what's funny is how often you hear "H-O-K-I-E-S Hokies" throughout. We got first down after first down after first down. Crazy! And then at the end of the game... with less than 3 minutes left, UM Canes got a touchdown to come ahead for the first time in the game. But then about a minute later in the game the Hokies are driving and get stopped at the 46 yard line. The 46 yard line! I knew then that we were going to win the game. We got stopped on the 46! No one else may understand it, but I knew we were going to win. Why did I know? My Brother-in-Law, who played for the Hokies, wore #46. My husband and niece were wearing #46 on their chest and back. And yeah, that 46 yard line means something to our family. Go ahead and think I'm crazy. I'm sure there are people out there that do, but the fact remains, we did win the game. "Enter Sandman" was played 3 times in the stadium that day. The crowd went wild! The energy in that stadium is like no other! Do I like football? Not really, I can take it or leave it. Do I like the Hokies? Hell YES! And we can't forget the stories that go with our trip. It's always about the stories, not so memorable without a story .. well, can't really say that because, as usual, the actual football game did not disappoint with plenty of stories, but the other stories for the vacation...

• a last minute kidnapping my nephew for the weekend
• my broken toe
• tailgating with the Oleys
• my nephew LOVING the game (even though he hates hates hates sports)
• partying (?) with the Merrymans
• the road trip with my niece

I just can't wait for next year!

Philosophizing

The good news is I've gotten an elliptical. The bad news is that I practically have a home gym in my house. If I just would have bought an elliptical straight out I could have saved a lot of time and money. Oh well, at least it's here. The bad news is now I have no more excuses ... none .. ever. I'm just a blatant failure if I don't use this machine. Of course, I managed to work against myself on the first day, I made homemade potato chips. Recently, I bought a fryer. It was only 20 bux ... how could I go wrong. Today I finally took advantage of it. Not with the donuts I had planned to make, but with homemade potato chips. I don't think I'll ever buy potato chips again! YUM!

I read something recently, can't remember where, about laughing 12 times a day. If I knew where I saw it, I would go back and read more to find out the story behind this theory. It did make me think, "Do I laugh 12 times a day?" I may have to start logging my laughs. With the new iPhone blogger app, I could easily do this on my blog. I do like that blogger app. I wrote my Sept 11 blog while on a road trip. Nothing is stopping me from blogging anymore ... except for myself. Wow, kinda sounds like my working out too .... Ok, enough philosophy for one day even if it was only in my head.

Remembering those we've lost recently fighting for our freedom:

This Week with Christiane Amanpour notes the passings of record producer Sylvia Robinson, Nobel Peace laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai and Frito-Lay executive Arch West. In addition, the Pentagon has released the names of sixteen service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

US Army SGT Andy C Morales, 32, Longwood, FL US Army SGT Rafael E Bigai Baez, 28, San Juan, PR US Army PFC Carlos A Aparicio, 19, San Bernardino, CA US Army SGT Tyler N Holtz, 22, Dana Point, CA US Army SPC Francisco J Briseno-Alvarez Jr, 27, Oklahoma City, OK US Marines LCpl Franklin N Watson, 21, Vonore, TN US Army SPC Garrett A Fant, 21, American Canyon, CA US Marines 1st Lt Ryan Iannelli, 27, Clarksboro, NJ US Marines LCpl John R Wimpey Cagle, 19, Tucker, GA US Army 1LT Andres Zermeno, 26, San Antonio, TX US Army 1LT Ivan D Lechowich, 27, Valrico, FL US Army SPC Steven E Gutowski, 24, Plymouth, MA US Army PFC David A Drake, 21, Lumberton, TX US Marines SSgt Nicholas A Sprovtsoff, 28, Davison, MI

According to iCasualties, the total number of allied service members killed in Iraq is now 4,795; in Afghanistan, 2,748, which includes 157 Canadians. During this same period, Iraq Body Count lists 106 Iraqi civilians killed, for a total of 335 civilians killed in September.