No Turning Back

How Do You Know You're on a Diet?

When you dream about the comfort food you used to eat. And then you wake up hungry and realize it was only a dream.

Ugh. I hate the word "diet". Everyone is on a diet; a diet is the food you eat. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

My old diet had a lot of pizza, breads, cheese, eggs, and very few vegetables, fruits, protein, etc. Needless to say, that packs on the pounds pretty easily, especially when I didn't work out consistently.

But I'm 10 days into the diet New Eating and Exercise Habits, and so far, so great! I have lost more pounds than expected. But on the other hand, I have experienced plenty of hunger pangs. And grumpiness. And grief over the loss of the freedom to eat whatever, whenever. But that was a loss I need to go through. It can only get better from here.

And my success has come even though I have not been perfectly strict with the diet NEEH. Come on, what's 4th of July or campfires without smores? Or in my case, one lonely smore? So I don't feel like I'm slave to the NEEH. And that goes a long way. 

New blog unveiling coming this weekend. Pinky swear!

A Mosaic for You About Me

In a recent post, NPW did two things: she made her first Flickr mosaic, and inspired me to do the same! So here's how you do it.

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

I am happy with all of them except the last one. I only had one picture to choose from. And #11 did not want to share with the mosaic tool, which is just as well, since I couldn't decide on one word for me.

And I will also award super friend/blogger points to anyone who knows who #5 is. Mrrawr.

Iz Be Around

Oh dear KK, don't worry. I've been around. I've been keeping tabs on most of you out there. I've been in the process of moving over to another blog service. I enjoy TypePad a lot, but am exploring other options too. Stay tuned.

Another Meme Friday Five

Whew, what a week! We had our big user conference at work this week, capped off by our 30th anniversary party here on the grounds at work. The words "medieval carnival" have been used to describe it. Over 600 people (we have only 200+ employees). Jousting (on real horses, with real people in real armor). Yes, that's right, we had horses on our property. A palm reader and a magician, maid Marion & Robin Hood, and even more. Our back property was really transformed into a Renaissance fair. I really had lots of fun. They went all out & I realize I'm very fortunate to be working here.

Up next for me? The Rochester International Jazz Fest starts next weekend and I can't wait! There are 4 acts I want to see, and 3 of them are on the free stages. Yay me!

Meanwhile, this weekend I will be laying low and trying to beat this cold I've been harboring this week. Plus it's going to be god-awful hot & humid this weekend so I'll stay in the A/C as much as I can. Thanks, really.

Thanks to Julia for posting her meme today and tagging all her readers, so here's my meme for my Friday Five.

And you're all tagged now too!

1. What I was doing 10 years ago?
Hmm 1998. I was one year into my job as a technical writer working for a company that makes software for higher ed. I think the company has changed names twice since then. But oddly enough I've run into several coworkers from that job over the past year, so it doesn't feel that long ago.

I think 1998 was also the year I journeyed west and took a solo vacation to California. I went to Sacramento to watch an AVP tournament, then down to San Francisco for a couple days to stay with an old roommate, then down Highway 1 to LA. I stayed with my oldest friend Tricia in Pasadena. Met her now husband. Saw Bill Nye (the Science Guy) speak at the CalTech graduation ceremonies that I crashed and then I left to go tour Hollywood. 

I really didn't think twice about traveling for over a week by myself, and doing all that driving.  I guess it could have been a dangerous thing, but nothing did happen. Just some interesting challenges with air travel.

This was also the year (I think) that I started working at my part-time job. I have been there off and on for 10 years now. Wow. Considering some of the others that work there were only in grade school at the time, I can safely say it makes me feel old.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today? (not in any particular order)
- work at FT job
- work at PT job
- get my Friday Dunkin Donuts coffee on (done!)
- nap between FT & PT job tonight
- ?

3. Snacks I enjoy
- Cheez Its
- cheddar Goldfish
- nachos
- veggie chips
- M&Ms

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire
(no particular order)
- Sell current house; buy new one and get new appliances and a set of matching, new furniture!
- Stop working full-time
- Take a long vacation to Hawaii
- Take a longer vacation to Europe & the world
- Buy a new car
- Pay off all my debts, personal and creditors
- Go to school / take classes
- Give to charity
- Hire a personal trainer & chef
(can you tell I've thought about this one?)

5. Places I have lived
- Henrietta, NY
- Fairport NY
- Slippery Rock PA
- Havertown PA
- Victor NY
- Penfield, NY
- Rochester NY
- East Irondequoit, NY

Five Answers

I decided today's post would be in answer to Julia's question "What are your top 5 websites and why?"

Well there were many ways I could go with this question. Top 5 in terms of:
- most frequent?
- all-time favorite?
- blogs?

I'll go with my top 5 most frequently visited websites. So aside from intranet pages at work, here are the five sites I visit the most on a daily basis:

1. My bank. For the last 2 years or so I've been on a tight budget. And got burned way too many times with bouncing checks/debit transactions so I have become super-balanced-account woman lately. It's almost an obsession. It's become much easier to track finances since I've had no credit cards for the past year. But that's a story for a different day.

2. The website of the volleyball place where I play and work. (I prefer not to list the URL for this one.... trying to keep some anonymity!) Though I haven't been playing lately, nor working, I still check out the league standings, schedules for friends, tournament schedules, photos, etc.

3. Google reader. This is where I can track all of my favorite blogs (Except you PnF! Or have I missed the RSS feed?) It's quite a handy little tool. Though I'm sure Google is gathering information about me that I wish they didn't. But yes, I check it periodically throughout the day to find nuggets of wisdom. And the latest news on Britney & DWTS.  And lolcats.

4. The Rochester daily paper. I've just gotten into the habit of checking out the news throughout the day. But don't get me wrong - when the finances pick up again, I will resubscribe to newspaper delivery. Nothing better than a Sunday morning with the newspaper and a warm cup of coffee.

5. Stuck in the '80s. Yes, I admit I'm stuck in the '80s. Hopefully my style isn't anymore, but my music taste is, for sure. I'm a little too excited for an upcoming wine tour I'm attending mostly because it has an '80s theme. That's happening at the end of the month. I'm sure I'll share some bitchin pictures from the event.

5 1/2. And when in season, Lost Pop Candy. Not only do I read all the comments of the recent Lost episode, but she posts some other cool tidbits in there too. It's killing me that I can't look at it today because I didn't watch last night's episode yet. I was SO excited to see it because last week's was so good. WTF is up with Claire??? Anyways, I fell asleep last night before the show started, so I am running home after work to watch it on Tivo.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday Randomness

Yes, Virginias, I'm still alive and well. I have been checking out your websites while not updating mine. I'm the selfish one in this relationship, I know.  But I thought it's about time to post something. Just for you, my Virginias.

1. You are correct -- I have no finished my SOP recap. And technically my one-year-limit has expired, as this week is the Lilac Festival, the very event that kicked off my SOP last year. I think I will upload my photos from SOP to the blog because at this point, the memories are starting to fade. Sorry. I truly meant to keep up.
   
   
2. See this flag?
   
   This is something you will NEVER see at my house. However my next-door-neighbors have this by their front step. It makes me giggle whenever I see it, since there's no chance in hell that thing would ever decorate my homestead.
   
   
3. I went to the grocery store over the weekend with a bent for healthy food. Call me crazy but it has happened before. What's unusual is that I have actually eaten the food instead of throwing it away. I actually had some carrots at work for a snack today. Crazy talk, riiiight? But yes, 'tis true. I'm slowly incorporating the healthy food one step at a time. For example, last night I grilled some chicken G. Foreman style and it was pretty tasty. So were the scalloped potatoes. Were the potatoes a healthy choice? Probably not. But having them was incentive enough for me to go through the agony of grilling the chicken - all four minutes of it. Next time, I will add vegetables to the meal. I'm just a wild woman.
   
   
4. I'm a bit sad that I won't get to see my out-of-town FHS friends this summer. For the past 2 summers a group of us has gathered together, but this summer it seems logistically impossible. I guess we have to wait until the official reunion next year. Drats.
   
   
5. And this past weekend I got sucked into both days of ANTM marathons. I even recorded a few of them so I wouldn't miss them when I went out on Saturday. Sunday's marathon was for the current season, whose finale is tonight. Yes, I'll be watching it. Just because I have to see it to the end, right?

The Yin and the Yang

This morning I received great news and some sad news. On the shallow, selfish side, I was jumping for joy to see my Economic Stimulus tax rebate thingy deposited into my bank account. I didn't expect it for a few more weeks. Wheee!

Then within the hour, I learned of the untimely death of someone close to my cousin. Although I didn't know this man, my heart is still just weighed down with sadness for this situation.

I was going to recap the weekend for you, but I really just feel shallow trying to detail my night at Mulletude, my long Saturday full of volleyball (congrats PSU!) and friends and drinks, another Sunday sucked into ANTM, and then my joy over receiving my economic stimulus money.

It's one of those things that just puts things in perspective. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the fallen officer.

Answers: Round One

I was inspired to solicit your questions from Noelle’s blog, so it’s only fair I answer her question first =) Check out her site for some of the interesting questions she was asked, and answered!

What person, living or dead, do you wish was a blogger?
Great question! Once I started thinking about it, I realized there were several people whose life I’d like to read about. I couldn’t narrow it down, so this single Q&A is today’s Friday Five.

1. Any of the contestants on the Amazing Race, as they’re competing. Obviously that’s not logistically likely to happen, but I want to hear about some of those crazy details you don’t get to see, as well as some of those small experiences you have when traveling in foreign countries. I think I’d want to read a blog from one of the all-girl teams (like the beauty queens) just to get some perspective on their experiences abroad.
2. My cousin Karen. Frequent commenter & discussion-stirrer on my blog, but she really needs to do her own blog, instead of the one she does on MySpace (I say selfishly because I can’t get on MySpace at work). Plus she writes some pretty funny shit.
3. Actually I wish all my family members would blog. All of my family except for my parents live in other states, so I don’t know them too well; never have. Frankly I think a few of them could benefit from the opportunity to purge crap from their heads into cyberspace. But more importantly, I’d just like to know my extended family a little better. Oh heck, I can say the same for my parents too. I don’t talk to my dad on a regular basis. He’s made many positive changes in the last decade or so, and it’d be cool to know what’s on his mind on a more regular basis.
4. John (my ex-bf but still very good friend), partially because he can read my blog but I can’t read anything from him =). But seriously, he’s a really good writer. Even for an ungeneer. I am often impressed anytime I read things he writes … beyond emails and text messages, that is!
5. My friend CarrieG. We used to work together at my previous job and we don’t get together as much as we’d both like. But when we do, we pick it right back up from where we left off. She’s a pretty bright, fun, and generally cool chick.
   Quick facts: She continues to be someone I go to for professional advice, even though she’s younger than me; she converted to Judaism before marrying her husband, so I often ask questions about the faith; she taught me how to knit(!); and she’s having her first baby in less than a month!

On that note, I’m giving a big shout out to my cousin Johnny and wife Melanie on the birth of their third son, Noah yesterday! Huzzah! I hope to meet him sometime this year!

And I will answer the other submitted questions at a later date too, and not necessarily in Friday Five style. Feel free to submit more than one question too. I don’t mind!

Happy weekend!

We're On a Break

So I've taken a mini break from posting lately. At first I felt bad, like I wasn't living up to the expectations I put on myself. But I'm just not feeling it. So, I'm giving myself the permission to take a break for a bit. I mentioned recently that I'm in a bit of a funk so maybe this is just what I need.

Of course by saying that, something will motivate me to post. But if that's the way the world works, then so be it.

By the way, if you followed the discussion in this post and are curious about the outcome of the trial of the "Order in English Only" sign down in Philly, read here.

And one more thing to make the day brighter

Forgot to mention in yesterday's post: I received an unofficial talking to at work about my frequent Internet use. So I'm trying to be a good girl (again) and back off the Interwebby. I'm kinda pissed about the whole thing, but I will refrain from saying any more at this time. Except: Grrr.

And that I'm excited about my upcoming long weekend. Unfortunately I need to work at my part-time job Friday and Sunday nights, but since the IRS is still demanding I pay them money for last year's taxes, I guess I'll have to do it.