It's Hump The Hunk Day

OK, I only wish. But it's Wednesday and it's Hump Day and all Hump Days have Hump Day Hunks, so why not Hump The Hunk?

Well mostly because the Hunks would object, but let's let fantasy take over, because it's more fun!

And now for my hunks:



The lovely Lodgey



Mmmm, suddenly I'm focused on the green eyed one.

Not to worry, I didn't forget ole' blue eyes!



And to add some variety...



Elvis and Justin...erm...I mean a squirrel.

What? I can't help it if Justin's squirrelly all the time!

The Clipboard Of Fun

Did anyone ever watch Full House? Ok, I'm the only one, I know. But when the Tanner family and Co went to Hawaii they had a clipboard of fun. Their whole vacation was outlined by Daddy Danny Tanner.

That's what I'm planning on doing for our Atlantic City trip next week. There are so many places we want to go to and things we want to eat..erm...do, that we need some kind of schedule.

So far I've broken the three days up.

Moody Concert 1: Friday
This day we'll spend mostly on the Marina taking in all the sites and sounds there. I'm sure we can find some great things to do there. I don't know much about the Marina in Atlantic City, so Friday is a day of exploration.

Moody Concert 2: Saturday
Saturday is all about "THE BOARDWALK!" I don't know if I'll be able to get everything I want in in the time we have, but I want to make sure that I get to see all the necessary sites. And damn it I'm going to ride the merry-go-round at the Steel Pier.



Seriously, could you resist such a beautiful ride?

Sunday we head back to Pennsylvania. I plan on going to Longwood Gardens to see all the beautiful flowers and the CHIME TOWER!



After we finish up there, we head towards home, stopping for dinner at Plain and Fancy Farm Then we'll start heading back to our sad pathetic boring lives, which will have been made better for a few days of moody filled fun and excitement.

Can you tell I'm ready to go now? I don't know if I can wait 9 more days!

Take Me Back Tuesday

1. Which band, past or present, would you like to see reunite?
Oingo Boingo, because I still think Danny Elfman has a lot of music left in him. Not just the fantastic film scores that he does either.



2. What are your three favourite songs by this band?

Try to Believe
Spider
We Close Our Eyes

3. Which album do you think was the band's best?

Dark at the End of the Tunnel



I've always been partial to this album. It was one of the first Oingo Boingo CDs that I bought. It has so many darkly beautiful songs on it, Try to Believe is one of them. It's Oingo stepping away from the 80's.

Recommended Reading

I think everyone that's battled with their weight should be required to read this book.



It's a fairly short read, clocking in at about 342 pages. It's fast paced and funny. The story of one woman's attempt to become fit and fabulous on a reality show.

I think just about everyone will identify with the heroine, Kat the Brat. Her thin goals are much like everyone else's. When she gets thin...this and this and this are going to happen and life will be wonderful.

The trials and tribulations of a reality show as well as an online relationship that suddenly isn't online help her grow and accept herself and her body. Something we all need to do.

In the process of all this, she manages to lose weight, though she doesn't become the size 4 she longs to be, she also finds love in an unexpected place.

I found myself wishing the story would go on long after I had finished it. The characters were real and I could identify with each of them in one way or another. They were very real people. In fact, most of them seemed to be a bit like people I know.

So if you want to read something fun and entertaining, you can't go far wrong with this book. It's a perfect beach book or a lay out on a lawn chair in your yard book.

Random 10

It's time to recap my weekend in music. This weekend was, of course, all about my birthday!

The Beatles - Birthday
The Smiths - Unhappy Birthday (I love this song)
Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn (I was listening to disc 4 of the Time Traveller Box on the way to and from Wheeling)
Tony Orlando and Dawn - Knock Three Times (One of the most annoyingly infectious songs. They played it while we were eating dinner at the Island Buffet)
The Eagles - The Long Run
The Moody Blues - Talking Out Of Turn
Question Mark and the Mysterians - 96 Tears (This was played at the car show in Wheeling)
The Moody Blues - Your Wildest Dreams
The Moody Blues - Highway (OK, this song so needs to be done live!)
Madonna - Like A Prayer (Her Live 8 set included this song)

Honorable Mention
Paul McCartney - Hey Jude (Again...Live 8. And can I just say Paulie's still looking fine!)



Personally I think because Paul looks so good, he deserves more than an honorable mention. That's why he's this weeks picture.

What a fun day!

I'm back from Wheeling and what a fun time we had! We saw the car show at Heritage Port.

There were some interesting classic and not so classic cars there.

This one




is one of my favorites.

The river was busy. There were speed boats, barges and ducks everywhere. It made for some interesting photo oportunities.



I never realized how well my zoom lens worked until I took a few shots of the speed boat and could really see the passengers inside. Oye!



Thank god for the ducks! One day I'll tell you the story about my childhood name for mallards.

But the real reason I was at this park was too get pictures of the Suspension Bridge. This bridge is probably the most beautiful bridge. Ok, not as pretty as the Smithfield Street Bridge in Pittsburgh, but it's unique. It's part of the National Road, which for those of you not familiar with that, it's US Route 40.



The bridge that runs parellel to it is part of Interstate 70. At night the Suspension Bridge is gorgeous, but so far I haven't really been able to get a good shot with the lights. I'm still trying to figure out some of the settings on my camera and nighttime shots are the hardest for me. I get some that are good and some that are awful.



I took that one a few weeks ago. It's not as good as I'd like it to be, but it's not as bad as the rest. I'll post more of my bridge pictures over at my photolog later. All in all, today was a nice day. Oh and I stopped at the mall to innocently pay my Kaufmann's bill...yeah, I spent more money on clothes. Bad me! Bad but very well dressed me!

Sunday already?

Why are birthday's always so darn disappointing? I mean it's not as if I was expecting anything earthshattering and life changing to happen yesterday.

Not like I thought



he would show up on the doorstep. Though I'll admit that would have been nice.

~Pauses for a moment to have a lovely daydream~

Mostly yesterday was boring. I went to work. One word: YUCK! I came home and piddled on the compter and I went to Red Dawg's for dinner. Oh and I went to Walmart.

I think I have all the clothes for Atlantic City that I'll need, unless I intend to change clothes every 15 minutes.

That probably wouldn't be a good thing, because I'd miss out on the things I really want to see in Jersey. (And I'd never get time to eat..and besides seeing the Moody Blues, I really want to eat in Jersey!)

Speaking of food, I had a really good dinner for my birthday. Which was about the only good thing yesterday. (Well that and those Moody mpegs)

I had a very very very strong strawberry margarita and some yummy spicy cajun chicken tortellini.



Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos that takes pictures of food.



The margarita put me to sleep before midnight last night. How sad is that? I was asleep before midnight on a Saturday night that was my birthday.

Ah, we know that's sad, but I'm going out on the town today. The town being Wheeling. So I'm going to get the party started now. I hope to have some pictures to post later today, that aren't of food.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Moodymistress sent me a wonderful present, 4 cdrs worth of mpegs, all Moody Blues clips.

Squee!

So I promptly attempted to screen capture a few of the clips. One of the prettiest ones was The Moody Blues on Solid Gold in 1986. Anyone remember that show? I used to watch it all the time.

Justin looked particularly lovely in these shots....but then again, so did Lodgey.



Is that a little pink Lodgey tongue I see there? Squee! I could think of a few things he do with that tongue.

BAD ME! But I'm entitled, cos it's my birthday.



Mmmmm what a lovely birthday present. I can't wait to screen capture some more things!

31 Songs For 31 Years

Ok, since tomorrow is my b-day, I'm going to list a song for each year I've been on this fine planet, starting with 2005 and working back to 1974.

2005 Rob Thomas - This Is How A Heart Breaks
2004 Duran Duran - Astronaut
2003 Elvis Costello - Still
2002 Grey Eye Glances - The One
2001 The Moody Blues - We Can Fly (One of the band's best!)
2000 Sarah Brightman - A Whiter Shade Of Pale (Another phenomenal cover of this song)
1999 Blondie - Maria
1998 Grey Eye Glances - The Lost Coast
1997 Justin Hayward - I Heard It
1996 Midge Ure - Breathe (The Swatch commerical song)
1995 Pulp - Common People (Best song of this year!)
1994 Erasure - I Love Saturday (One word, perky!)
1993 Robin Zander - Reactionary Girl (One of the best songs ever!)
1992 Shakespear's Sister - Stay (Gorgeous song and fabulously gothic video)
1991 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Shadowtime
1990 Oingo Boingo - Try To Believe (One of Danny Elfman's best!)
1989 Annie Haslam - The Angels Cry (W/Justin Hayward)
1988 Tanita Tikaram - Good Tradition (Kudos to Brian for introducing this album to me)
1987 The Smiths - Unhappy Birthday (Kinda appropriate, right?)
1986 Glass Tiger - Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone (86 was a hard year because the songs were all so darn good!)
1985 Arcadia - The Promise
1984 Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane
1983 Madonna - Borderline
1982 Paul McCartney - Here Today (A beautiful tribute to Lennon)
1981 Stevie Nicks - Kind Of Woman
1980 Justin Hayward - It's Not On
1979 George Harrison - Blow Away
1978 The Moody Blues - Top Rank Suite (Justin getting funky!)
1977 John Lodge - Summer Breeze (This and Street Cafe are my favorite songs from this disc)
1976 ABBA - Knowing Me, Knowing You (Elvis Costello does a smashing live version of this song)
1975 Blue Jays (Justin Hayward and John Lodge) - Saved By The Music (My favorite off this CD)
1974 David Bowie - Diamond Dogs (Bow Wow! Ruff Ruff!)

As always, if you want any of these tracks let me know and I'll upload them for you. That's a lot of music, but hey, I've been around for 31 years tomorrow!

Another Musical Meme

I promised Amelia that I'd do this meme again, just for her. I've done it a few times before, but most everything changes after a week, so what's one more time, right?

1. Total amount of music on your computer.
Well, if you've been to my playlist there's about 4420 songs. Some are from a few live shows I have waiting to be burned. (I really should do that soon)

2. Last CD you bought

I just got a shipment from BMG. I bought 3 CDs






3. What is the last song you listened to before reading this message?

Elvis Costello - Either Side of the Same Town

4. 5 songs you listen to often, or mean a lot to you.
I don't have songs that really have meaning for me, but there are some songs I can't stop listening to.

Justin Hayward - Penumbra Moon (I absolutely adore this song and I love the Night Flight CD. Justin doing cheesy 80's! Bless his cotton socks!)

The Moody Blues - Send Me No Wine (We know John really doesn't mean that!) Another Lodgey song that sticks in your brain.

Elvis Costello - Deep Dark Truthful Mirror/You Really Got A Hold On Me (Medley) This one does have meaning for me. It's one of the best songs he did back in 2002 when I met his sexy self.

The Moody Blues - Lovely To See You (It's quite likely my favorite Moody Blues song)

Manfred Mann - The Mighty Quinn (Love it, and the chorus is damn infectious!)
Again, if you want any of these songs, let me know. I think I might even have the live version of Deep Dark Truthful Mirror around here somewhere

Top Five On Friday

It's time for another Music Memoirs meme!

Top five songs with animals in the title.

OK, I could do almost all of this in Beatles songs. After all, there's:

Hey Bulldog
Blackbird
Octopus' Garden
And Your Bird Can Sing
Blue Jay Way

But that would be a bit too easy...right?

But on my list And Your Bird Can Sing is one of my absolute favorites.

The Monkees - All The King's Horses



Elvis Costello - Leave My Kitten Alone (This is an awesome cover from the Kojak Variety disc)


Mary Fahl - White Bird (This woman has an incredible voice. All her songs are wonderful)
The Moody Blues - The Swallow (Did you think they wouldn't have done at least one animal song?)



Justin Hayward - Silverbird

If you'd like any of these songs, give me a shout and I'll upload them for you.

Well It's Done

I've chosen my job. It's now a matter of time. I took job number 2. So it will just be a matter of time before I'm back to having a real-ish job again.

I guess I'll be knowing more about it in the next few weeks. I do know I get to go to Texas all expenses paid for training. That's probably what makes me the most nervous about this. I think I've said a few dozen times that I've never been on a plane before.

Well, it will be a new experience, that's for sure. I'm still a bit nervous about it though.

Still, it's time to move on and this might be a very good experience for me. I'll pretty much be running the place, which is nice. I've managed before, though it's been awhile. Hey, who knows, maybe through all this I'll get so skinny that I'll make Norda Mullen look like a heifer!

Ya never know, right?

Going over the hump

Well the week has hit its midpoint, thank the dear lord for that, because this week is going no better than last.

I still have no clue on what I'm doing with my life. I've been turning the whole job 1 and 2 thing over in my head for the last 24 hours. So far all I have is confusion.

I've been on again off again at job 1 for 2 years now. I'm going to feel like shit quitting that one, because there's no way in hell he's ever going to find another secretary. Anyone that knows me even slightly well knows what I'm talking about here. (Which would actually be a good reason to let that job go)

Job 2 I've been at since February. I took it as a part time job because of job 1. It's fun and it's helped me lose 20 + pounds. It too has it's drawbacks. First one being weird hours. We're closed from 12:30 to 3:00. Second of all, there are the rumors going around that I mentioned before. Those don't have me feeling too good.

~sigh~

The pros and cons are pretty even here. And I really have to have my decision made soon. (Probably today)

Anyone know anything about Waco, TX besides the fact that it was where David Koresh had his compound?

Oh and I think I need a Hump Day Hunk.



Simon can read to me any day.

In my life confusion

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Today I'm faced with the making a weighty decision, one I'm not too sure I'm ready to make. Job 2 is now subject to become full time. Job 2 is going to send me to Waco Texas for a week for training all expenses paid.

Job 2 is run by a woman that's just as daffy as my boss in Job 1. I've heard rumors that the place was going to be sold.

ARGH!

So if I take this, do I know if I'm guaranteed a job if ownership changes hands?

I don't know.

I know slightly more than nothing.

Boss at Job 1 wants me full time if the power company gets their act together and turns the electricity on in the new office.

I'm so confused, scared and nervous. I don't know which decision is the right one at this point. I really don't.

Take Me Back Tuesday

It's time for another Music Memoirs Meme!

1. Name your three favourite songs by your favourite artist. (this means by the same artist)
First of all, picking my favorite(spelled without a "U" cos I'm American) is not easy. I think I should surprise you though. Favorite artist?

Elvis Costello

Everyday I Write The Book
Battered Old Bird
How to Be Dumb (Seriously, there are some people out there that I would so like to dedicate this song too, but I'll keep quiet for now)

2. Name your three favourite albums by the same artist.







3. Name three duet partners you'd like to see your favourite artist perform with.
None really. Elvis has already done a duet with Paul McCartney, which was fabulous. I hate the others he's done.

But if I had to choose.

Diana Krall: He helped the better/lesser half with her album, why not?
Justin Hayward: Because this man has so much snark that needs to be released. More snark than imaginable I should think. (They should write a whole album together)

Truly, I can't think of a third, because for the most part, I hate duets. You're lucky you got those two.

What a weekend

I had a great time yesterday. The comedians we went to see were fantastic and they all seemed to take notice of me.

~grins~

The Waterfront is a beautiful place, filled with loads of shops and restaurants and...FOUNTAINS! Sadly none of them are of the chocolate variety though. Damn! I guess I'll just have to wait until my birthday and go to Wheeling to have that kind.

Just to give you an idea that Pittsburgh isn't as awful as I'd like you to believe it is, here are some of my photos from last night. The others will be over at my photoblog. If you like them, right click and do as you please with them. In fact if you click on them, you'll get the full version of the image.



This is the fountain in the center court by Starbucks. Gorgeous isn't it?

This one is new, or at least new to me.



Oh and the food at the Improv is a bit pricey, but it's very good. My sister and I both enjoyed the Tequila Chicken Pasta. Very yummy!



A good time was had by all!

Random 10

I can't believe this meme is already 10 weeks old! I dare you guys to play along and share your weekend playlists! When you're finished, go to Music Memoirs and leave a comment so we know you've played!

1. Dean Martin - Ain't That A Kick In The Head
2. The Moody Blues - Long Summer Days
3. Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
4. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
5. Stevie Nicks - Stand Back
6. Rob Thomas - Smooth
7. Herman's Hermits - Sunshine Girl
8 Tom Petty - Letting You Go
9. Traveling Wilburys - Margarita
10. George Harrison - Gone Troppo

The song choices are a result of my summer mix CD and the music played at the Improv last night in Pittsburgh. If any of you would like any of these songs, let me know and I'll upload them!

And now for the picture

Playlist time!

Ok, it's time I posted my mp3 list. If you want anything off it, there are a few rules.

1. 5 mp3s at a time. If you can take a zip file, let me know so I can zip them if you've requested more than 2.

2. If there aren't many requests and yours have been filled, you can request more.

3. Be patient, I will fill all requests, but I do have 2 jobs, so I might not get them sent as fast as I used to.

4. Make sure you have a valid email in your comment. Haloscan won't show your email when I open the comment but if I go to the regular site, your email will be there.

That done, here's the playlist! Request away.

Sunday Stuff

So much going on today. So little time to get it done in.

~ Going to the Improv tonight to see a random comedian because the cost was so darn cheap that I couldn't turn it down. I promise some pictures of the Waterfront later, because I haven't really been giving my camera much love lately.

~ I'm down to 132 lbs! Down another pound and a half! My size 4s are fitting again. Did you read that? My size 4s! Next person to call me fat gets the camel curse put on them.

What? You don't know the camel curse?

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the

crotch of the person who screws up your day

and may their arms be too short to scratch.

~ For the first time in a very long time, I'm tan. Yeah. I didn't pale myself this summer, which is highly irregular for me. It comes from having free use of the tanning bed at job 2. So I'm skinny and tan. I think that may be a good thing.

~ I promised a few people some mp3s.

Mellow, I have to dig up the Coke jingles. I have em somewhere, as soon as I find them I'll post them.

Until then here's a photo from the print ads that ran in the 60's.



The other mp3 is the remix of The Moody Blues - Sitting At the Wheel. That download will be available for 7 days.

Do you guys think it's time for me to post an updated playlist? I'll probably have some time over the week to get mp3s sent to people. Let me know and I'll do an updated version of my mp3 list.

See I'm feeling generous today!

Almost finished

Well I went to work today and things were good. This is job number 2, the job I never thought I'd hate, but I do. Survived 4 very long, very boring hours. I came home and made myself look presentable and then went to get my picture taken for my new driver's license.

On a plus note, their camera did not break!

Yay!

Now all I have to do is a week and a half worth of laundry.

Yick!

If I still have my sanity after I finish that, I'm going to finish reading my current Janet Evanovich novel and hide somewhere for the rest of the day, possibly looking at pictures of sexy men in ugly shirts!

And this is the ugliest shirt I've seen in a long time. It makes this one look good.

Blogger said I could do this

Ok, blogger now has a photo hosting thing. Let's see if it works, shall we. Nothing else seems to be working on this blog today.

I've edited half of June's posts so that the text is visible. I hope to get to the rest tomorrow after I do the zillion and one things that need to be done this weekend. (Namely get photo taken for my new drivers license and the laundry)

Anyhow, I'm going to post a picture now, just because I can.

I wonder if this new feature is what screwed up my template. Hmmmm.

Template Help!

ARGH!

This happened last year when I first put up this template. Something in a previous post has messed up my coding and it screws up the fonts in the posts. All the links are ok, but the text is a mess.

I haven't a clue what did it. But I'm going to have fun tonight trying.

ARGH!

The rest of my archives are fine, it's just June. Weird. Weird. Weird. But it seems as long as I type the code for my font color in the post, all is well, or at least partially well.

Until I get this sorted, I'm only keeping one day of posts on the main page. All the rest are in the archives. (Screwed up! Grrrrrr!)

Anyone that knows HTML, I beg of you to help me!

Top Five On Friday

Here's this week's Top Five from Music Memoirs.

Top 5 songs of summer or songs that remind you of summer

Elvis Costello - The Other Side Of Summer
John Lodge - Summer Breeze
Duran Duran - Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)
ABBA - Our Last Summer
The Wallflowers - Feels Like Summer Again

Odds and Ends

~ I need my sleep and for some reason, last night, I felt the urge to stay up late. And thanks to my having 2 jobs, late = midnight. Which means I only got about 5 1/2 hours sleep, before my body's alarm clock jolted me out of bed. Grrrrr! There's a strong possibility I will fall asleep in the tanning bed tonight at work.

~ Everyone is seeing the Moody Blues before me this year! ARGH! I'm jealous. I know I'm going to see them twice in July, but those are the last two dates on the tour!!! It's getting hard, this waiting. I want to see Justin (as long as he doesn't wear that ugly new shirt of his) and John. (I really want to see John in his new flesh baring shirts!! Mmmmm skin on Lodgey. One word: YUM!

It's kinda like this



And lordy we haven't seen that much skin from Lodgey in years.

Bless his flesh baring heart!

~ The heat has returned in full force. I have mixed feelings about summer weather anymore. It's way too hot, but when it cools down, it's really cold. There's no happy medium. Oh and I still want to know who has been holding "Spring" hostage for the last few years. I miss it. Spring is nice.

~ I'm reading 3 books right now. Why? Because I'm a nut. Seriously. I have a book in the bathroom and one at each job. I'm also becoming addicted to Janet Evanovich novels. Have a mentioned that? I'm halfway through the Stephanie Plum series.

~ On the weight loss front. I'm at 133.5 and I've lost a total of 21.5 pounds and 42 inches.

5 from my bust (sniffle, sob)
6 from my waist
7 from my abdomen
13 from my thighs
6 from my arms

Isn't that spiffy?

It's hump day!

The week is almost half over. I think that's a very good thing. I will be so glad when this week is totally over, even though it will bring me one week closer to my birthday, which, as usual, I'm not really anticipating. Nothing is going right this week, nothing at all. This week will be best left in the dust.

Oh and thanks to Karen...I found some dirty blogthings to share.

I had two of them ready to post, but when I did, it fubarred my template.

So I'm just going to post them as they read:

To pick up John Lodge:

If I could rearrange the alphabet... I'd put you between F and CK

Now if only it would work!

And if you want to pick me up, though I can't imagine why you would:

To pick up Andrea:

Be unique and different - just say yes

And now it's time for the hunks!



I don't know what I want to touch more, his bare chest or that shirt. Hmmm, is it getting hot in here?



Yup..definitely hot.

I think this Fashion Police SVU needs to go offer that man assistence when it comes to wardrobe. I'm all for the baring of flesh on the Jays, but couldn't the shirts be passable to look at?

I guess in Justin's case, the answer is no.

For Shits and Giggles

I'm taking my sister to the Improv this weekend. Why? Because I got an email from the Improv offering me seats for $2.50. I figured that was as good as any excuse to get the hell out of the house on Sunday. Plus I'll get to go to the Kaufmann's at the Waterfront. (Mmmm, we all know how much I like shopping)

We're going to see Joey Kola.

All I know about him, is that he's on Comedy Central. The sad thing is, I don't really care that I don't know him. I'm just excited that I'm going out.

OK, I'm more than a little bit excited.

This occassion calls for getting dressed up all spiffy, just for the hell of it. Plus I'll have the oportunity to take some pictures of the Waterfront with my new camera.

Hey, after all, how often can you see a comedian for under 5 bucks a person. I'd be a fool to pass up the opportunity!