vivian.

My car went into the dealership yesterday for some help. It started making some not-so-great sounds last week, and I was getting nervous driving it for fear of getting caught in a car fire. In the past, I've had panic attacks when told the total cost for repairs, so this time I was prepared. I anticipated costs up to $2500. That way, when the total was less, I'd be relieved instead of anxious. It worked. The total was a mere $1268.22- of which $902.50 was labor. I find it hard to believe that it took them 9.5 hours to fix my car, but what can you do. They replaced the serpentine belt and tensioned dampner (which was interfering with something and caused the noise that was worrying me), replaced the hood latch (because the hood wouldn't open), and performed the 60,000 mile maintenance. So now my car's happy, which makes me happy. Although next time I'm due for a new one, I think I'll steer clear of vw's.

blood.bash

Last night was the annual blood donor recognition event at the seaport/world trade center. I'd gone to donate that morning, and k told me I could sit at their table with the blood techs since I didn't really know many of the other regular donors. It was great. They had several speakers- parents of kids who were sick, a 16yr old who'd had several heart surgeries, etc. It was nice to hear how appreciative they all were. We got a gift too- a whole auto emergency kit with all the fixings to save your butt. At 10, when they were kicking the last of us stragglers out, we all went to the bar in the hotel. That's l (one of the phlebotomists) over there with r, the bloodmobile driver. I think she looks like scarlett johansson. On the right is l again with c and j. They'd all taken advantage of the open bar at the dinner. It was fun to hang out with them outside of the blood center. It was a little disconcerting seeing them all dressed up though...especially when I'm used to seeing everyone in scrubs and lab coats. It was a great time. I took a trip to mcdonald's for a cheeseburger happy meal around 10:30 this morning!

trunk.monkey

My dad sent me a funny email with these video clips attached. I want one.
trunk monkey 1
trunk monkey 2
trunk monkey 3
trunk money 4
trunk monkey 5
trunk monkey 6
If you want to see more, go to this site.

cell.hell

I need to get a new cell phone. I cracked the screen of the one I have now, and the liquid indicator isn't looking too great either. I have another year left on my contract, so I can't even extend it to get a deal on a new one. I checked out ebay to see what was listed for verizon. (That's another thing- it's crappy that verizon phones are set differently than every other plan. There's definitely a better selection for all those other carriers.) Even used phones are expensive when you're used to getting them for free! I'm also not convinced that I'd get a good used one. Knowing my luck, I'd probably end up with a scratched screen and a battery that won't hold a charge. I may try to dig up my old phone and charger and just reactivate that for now. Unless any of you have a verizon phone you want to give me a good deal on....

i.liked.this.quote

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.

Thomas A. Edison

holidays.and.holy.days

Last year, I waited until december to pick up the new inserts for my planner. Actually, that's not quite true. I went to bloomingdale's and tried to get them, but for some reason, they had stopped carrying the kate spade refills. So by the time I made it down to the newbury street store, it was december, and they were sold out. I ordered them and they got to me sometime mid january. This year I was more prepared, and grabbed the pack last weekend. I had a few dates to write in it too.
Today I was looking through the new calendar, and spent some time on the two pages that make up the "holidays and holy days." They list tons of holidays, and note who celebrates them- canada(c), japan(j), mexico(m), united kingdom(uk) or united states(us). Most of the holidays were pretty standard (christmas, mothers day, presidents' day, etc), but there were a bunch that were creative, and they are all celebrated in japan. Here are some examples: nation's foundation day (feb 11th), greenery day (april 29th), constitutional memorial day (may 3), children's day (may 5), marine day (july 20th), respect for the aged day (sept 15th), health & sports day (oct 8th), and my personal favorite, coming of age day (jan 8th). I think I may start celebrating some of these- along with all our regular ones of course.

one.too.many

Before I go to bed, I turn on the tv and watch whatever happens to be on. Sometimes I turn it off, but usually I fall asleep and then wake up a half hour later to turn it off. It's a habit I need to break. Regardless. Last night I got stuck watching "one too many" on tlc. It's a show about people born with extra body parts- fingers, toes, heads...etc. Most of these people (I don't say kids since many of them were older teens) lived in third world countries, and they surmised that lack of prenatal care was largely responsible for the extra parts. There was a 16 yr old girl with 24 fingers and toes (one extra on each), an 18 yr old girl with an extra "leg" (it was more like a second torso complete with a belly button and hair and a y shaped end), and a baby girl with a second head. The head and the extra leg were caused by a twin who didn't survive and joined the other fetus. There was also a 10 yr old kid in India with 6 fingers on each hand, 6 toes on one foot and 7 toes on the other. The cool thing was that they all worked! So typing was as easy as pie for him! Generally, extra fingers and toes don't have any muscle control and just hang out. In most cases (except for the boy from India), they brought the kid to america or china, and performed surgery to remove the extra parts. They showed the surgery in detail, and although it was gruesome, I couldn't turn away...until I fell asleep.

girls.night.out

I had a fabulous night with the girls. Their parents had a dinner to go to, and since friday is the only non-homework day of the week, I decided to make it a fun one. It started off with a movie- flushed away was the choice for tonight. It was very entertaining for a kids movie. Then over to ac moore to pick up some embroidery floss for friendship bracelets, and 25 cent fuzzy bears which are crucial to the trading opportunities available in 1st and 3rd grade. When given the choice between a sit-down dinner somewhere or mcdonalds, they simultaneously choose the sit-down dinner. Surprising, yet good. We tried john harvards since it was next to ac moore, but the wait was 45-50 mins, and since it was already 6:30, we had to pick somewhere else. Chili's was the consensus. *e* got pizza, *m* got pasta, *l* got ribs, an I got a chicken fajita with a side of seasonal veggies to get in my five a day. Everyone was happy, cooperative and thankful the entire night, which made it much more enjoyable for me!

peeping.e

*e* got in trouble at school today. Last thursday she got in trouble for not listening (surprise, surprise), but she had shaped up since then. When I picked her up, her teacher told me that *e* had something to tell me. I couldn't tell if it was a "something she has to tell me because she got in trouble" or a "something she has to tell me because she did something good" type of something. Turns out it was the first. Apparently she and another 5 year old were caught spying in on a boy in the bathroom. She got read the riot act by all of us, but I'm not sure how much it will sink in. She's too independent to really let anyone get her down. I wouldn't be surprised if she grew up to be a big hollywood actress with tons of drama surrounding her. I told her when she's rich, to share some with me. She said okay. So I don't really feel bad for her. Who I do feel bad for is that poor kid. Only 5, and he already has two girls laughing at him with his pants down.

trot.trot.

Today was the first day of the "turkey trot", an annual competition at my gym. It's on for the whole month of november, and the goal is to do enough cardio to get from boston to plymouth rock during that time. For every 15 minutes, we get a turkey leg hung up next to our name on the bulletin board. Three turkey legs make one mile (despite the fact that running for 45 mins could get you a lot further) and 10 miles get you one huge turkey leg. They set 90 mins max per day so people don't try and work out for 5 hours a day and die. Last year I won, but this year there are already a lot more people signed up, many who had done 90 minutes by the time I got to the gym today. All that means is that I'll be doing an hour and a half every day for a month unless something physically prevents me. Bring it on turkey trot.