Thursday, February 28, 2008

Sarcastic and Bitter

The new guy had his first long day at work yesterday. So when he came in today he was tired and apparently when he is tired he gets sarcastic and bitter. I guess he talked to our boss at some point today. I am not sure what he said but our boss said he was going to have to move his office. Having him across the hall from me was bad news because I am making him depressed and sarcastic and bitter. How awesome is that?

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Stupid Internet part 2

I am so annoyed with rebooting my router every couple minutes I ordered an airport extreme this weekend. All I have to say is it better be the router or I am going to lose it

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Pi Day

I have decided I need to make a few pies for Pi Day. Since it is a friday so time is limited for preparation, I need to have a game plan. Probably premake crusts for everything beforehand. For chilled pies I could even make them a few days in advance. So the question is, what kind of pies should I make and how many? Since probably no one at work will know what Pi Day is, I feel I need to go a little over the top so they understand. Here is my list of possibilities:

Lemon Chess Pie (I have a few recipes saved that I would like to try so this)
Some sort of chocolate pie - options are something like a chocolate pudding or something more like a cheesecake type of thing or other stuff
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Peanut butter pie
Key lime pie (though my last attempt at that failed miserably)
Banana Cream Pie
Boston Cream Pie (which isn't actually a pie so I don't have to make a crust)
Spanakopita (I saw a recipe that called it Greek Spinach Pie so that counts right?)
Quiche (I guess I can call that egg, ham and onion pie or whatever i decide to add to it)
Coconut Cream Pie
Some sort of cheesecake/fruit type pie


The other issue is I only have 2 pie pans. Anyone have an opinion on those aluminum disposable pie pans or what my other options are?

Monday, February 25, 2008

Motivation

So apparently I traumatized the new guy at work. I said to him that people are fundamentally selfish. Everything anyone does is ultimately for themselves.

You buy a 60" big screen TV. You do this because you like to watch TV (or movies or play video games or whatever). You buy the TV for your own enjoyment. I don't think anyone would argue that one.

You spend 40 grand a year to send your kid to college. You do this because you like or otherwise care about you kid. You want them to have whatever it is you think this education will get them. This is important to you. You spend this money on something you want.

You give money to the paraplegic basketball team. You feel good because you think you have done something nice for someone else and you believe that is a good thing. You believe it is a good thing and you feel better about yourself when you do good things. Therefore, you gave them money to make yourself feel good.

Apparently this shakes his fundamental beliefs in humanity.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse in Phyllo Dough Cups

So I've had this recipe saved from World Nutella Day. I decided to make it this weekend. I took a slightly different spin on it. I made phyllo dough cups to serve them in.

Phyllo Dough Cups

These don't need an ingredient list. Lay out a sheet of phyllo dough. Brush it with melted butter. Cut into 12 squares. Stack 3 squares on top of each other at different angles and press into a mini muffin tin. Repeat for the rest of the squares. Put them in every other muffin tin so the edges don't overlap. Bake for a couple minutes. Just watch them until they are GBD. They are really thin so this happens fast. You need to watch them. Once it comes out of the oven move them off to a cooling rack so they don't burn. Repeat for however many you want.


Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Nutella (or somewhere around there, just look at the color of the mousse as it whips up and decide how much you want)
a splash of vanilla maybe somewhere around a tsp though I never measure vanilla so it's hard to say

Put everything in the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Mix it up a bit until everything is pretty well incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape everything down so that everything gets well incorporated. Mix some more until you get soft peaks. Maybe you could go a little stiffer but I didn't. Chill the mousse for a few hours to help it stiffen up a bit more.



Then put the 2 together. I don't think that needs explanation. It would be cool to toast some hazelnuts or some shredded up dark chocolate to sprinkle on top if you are a garnish person bu I'm not. I need a digital camera so I can take real food porn shots rather than using the webcam on my comp. One day.



Cornbread Casserole

I have been wanting to make something though I couldn't decide what. I was kinda upset because I was really uninspired. It was sad. Then I saw this recipe and I figured I'd give it a shot. It came out very creamy and the top has a nice crust though it's a bit bland. In the future I'll add some salt, pepper and chili powder.

1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream style corn
1 can corn (I wasn't sure if I had to drain the corn or not; I partially drained it. You probably don't need to drain it)
1 box Jiffy corn bread mix or whatever it's called, you know you've got a couple boxes in the pantry

I mixed the eggs and the butter together first so that the butter wouldn't solidify when mixed with everything else that is cold. Then I mixed in everything except the cornbread mix so that it's pretty uniform. Mix the the box just until it's wet. Pour into the pan. I used an 8x10 pan but you can use whatever you've got. Bake at 350 until it is golden brown on top. It took about 50 minutes with my oven and my pan... you be the judge of what you need.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Stupid Internet

I ordered an Airport Extreme. Stupid Linksys has issues with my Mac I assume. It was fine when I was using my desktop but I had to reboot that stupid router like 5 times in a half an hour because it kept dying. Did I mention that it's stupid?

Celebrity Chefs

So much drama in the celebrity chef world. Who would have expected all this? The whole Emeril leaving Food Network and joining Martha Stewart. And all sorts of drama about Robert Irvine. The food world is supposed to be about eating and cooking and food porn. I can accept that you get some party ideas or decorating type stuff that you get with Sandra Lee or celebrities coming on and showing their recipes or something like that but this is rediculous. Who would have thought that anyone would care that Robert Irvine made stuff up? I know lots of people who make up all sorts of accomplishments they have had but you just laugh at them and move on with your life. And Emeril leaving because of negotiations breakdown? Is the food world really that far into the celebrity world that you get this kind of drama? Next thing you know there will be pictures in the tabloids of Paula Deen making out with Ming Tsai or something. Bah. I just want some yummy goodness. And maybe a bit of food porn. Is that so much to ask?

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Lemon Wedges

Watch this video and you will have second thoughts about that lemon wedge they have with your water or other beverage at restaurants. Now I'm no psycho about germs and contamination. I know bacteria is everywhere and that's just part of life but they definitely have a good point. The lemon wedges are cut up a while beforehand and just left sitting out until they get around to using them. You wouldn't do that with any vegetables you are going to serve raw. I would bet they just give the lemons a cursory wash when they get them in, after all you don't eat the peel of the lemon. You do, however, frequently drop them into your drink (at least I did). The high acidity of the lemons will keep most bacteria from growing, except the ones that do well in acidic environments. Unfortunately, those are the ones that would also do well in your digestive tract so you can't count on your body to take care of those. There are probably too few to be a real concern but I think I'll have my water without the lemon anyway. I was never big on the lemon thing anyway, just went along with it because that seems to be what they do.

Bubble Tea

I want bubble tea! I saw a random post about it and now I want it. The nearest place is in King of Prussia. Bah. Do I really want it that bad to go that far this weekend? Also, I am taking suggestions for what I feel like making if I am home this weekend.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Stomach Protest

Yesterday we had pizza for lunch at work for the new guy. Then last night I got a free dinner for perfect attendance at Summit View. About halfway through dinner my stomach started protesting. Not sure if it was because of the food (I'm thinking either all the cheese on the pizza or the milk in the clam chowder) or my coworker who went home sick because of a stomach thing yesterday. But my stomach in seriously displeased. I must have gotten up a half a dozen times last night to run to the bathroom. Not sure what to do about it. On the plus side I have steak left for dinner tonight if I get up to eating it.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Japanese Skirts

How funny is this? I would be so amused if I ever saw someone wearing one of these.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Darwin Awards

Somehow I ended up at the Darwin Awards website. At the top of the page there is a 'random' button that goes through the stories at random. Whodathunk? Anyway, I am going through when I happen upon this one. Carbon county is one of the neighboring counties around here and some of the stories I hear about what people do for entertainment around here this is not that surprising. The only thing that makes me question the story is I haven't heard much about raccoons around here. If it were rats or squirrel or groundhogs or something like that I'd be sold but I haven't heard much about raccoons.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Snowmen

NSFW Some people make snowmen, some people make other things.... all I have to say is that it must have taken forever to make. I have been told the hood of a car is a cool place to do it although I don't think you want to be up on the windshield like that. I now realize the windshield is pretty strong but still.... just doesn't seem like a good idea.

Banana Bread


This is my banana bread. Same one as I always make, pretty much though I haven't made it in ages. It's probably been a year or more since the last time I made it. I think my original recipe came from allrecipes but I don't remember. I only had 2 bananas so that's what I used. This is my recipe:


1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 bananas, very ripe so the peel is almost completely brown
1 egg
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream the butter and sugar. I add the bananas at this point so that it mashes them rather than getting another bowl and mashing them first. Then add the egg. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together on a flexible cutting mat. Add the dry ingredients gradually to the mixer on slow speed until just combined. I also mixed in some walnuts, largely because I had them. Pour into a loaf pan and bake at 350 for an hour. I guess you should grease the pan first but I always just line the pan with foil so it's easy to clean up.


AND.... I used my new stand mixer and it seems to be working alright. No squeak, no parts falling off....

Work

So it's 6:00 on a friday night, and I am leaving work with my purse, my food bag and my laptop bag. I run into my plant manager on the way and he points out that I am moving slowly and look worn out. After this week, who isn't? Is this really surprising? I came home and slept for about 12 hours :)

Friday, February 15, 2008

Coffee Tasting Machine

I need to work for Nestle. They make fun toys like this. If it does coffee I bet with a bit of tweaking you could use it for QC in a chocolate factory too. Why am I working here again?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Computer cup

How cool is this? http://www.yankodesign.com/index.php/2008/02/08/computer-and-coffee-on-the-go/

Then you don't even have to wait for your computer to wake up in the morning. The question is, how do you was it? Does it have a 'clean cup' button like some of the touch screens at work do? And what's the power source and how do you keep from frying it when you wash it? And what's the internet source? Hmmmm....

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Chocolate prices

Price gouging chocolate?!? What is this world coming to? Well I guess it's not really that exciting. People will pay it so the price goes up. That's life. Sad, but that's how it goes.

Places to go

I need to go to these states:

Alaska (AK)
Arkansas (AR)
Colorado (CO)
Georgia (GA)
Hawaii (HI)
Idaho (ID)
Kansas (KS)
Louisiana (LA)
Maine (ME)
Missouri (MO)
North Dakota (ND)
Nebraska (NE)
New Mexico (NM)
Oklahoma (OK)
Oregon (OR)
Utah (UT)
Vermont (VT)
Wyoming (WY)


So the question is, what am I gonna do in each of them?

Update: 2-27 One down, I got a hit in Montana woohoo

Travelling for work

So I have come to the conclusion that I should not visit customers with our sales guy. I think the last time I was going with him to another customer I went to the airport and was sitting at the gate before the forecast changed and where we were going was going to have blizzard conditions. They ended up getting a foot or so of snow that day and we had rescheduled for the next week.

This time we went to Cincinnati. We got out there fine and fortunately we ended up with a Toyota Highlander with a GPS so that part wasn't too bad. We didn't get to the hotel until after 9 and got dinner after that. I couldn't sleep for some reason that night. I played with my computer for some time and finally figured I should try to sleep. Woke up at about 3 or 4 with horrible stomach pains and then couldn't really get back to sleep. Finally got up at 6, showered went down for breakfast and all. The cars had a bit of snow on them. Not too bad except that it was real cold out so there was also ice forming on the road. Fortunately we got around OK. In the hour drive from our first meeting to the second there must have been 10 separate car accidents on the road. They were pretty nasty. Let's just say it was a good thing I was not driving because it would have been time to go to the airport by the time we got to the meeting. We flew back OK, only a half hour delay and a plane change, which isn't that bad considering the weather but the drive back from there was the worst part. The drive is normally a little under an hour but we left the airport at 9:30 and got to the plant around midnight. My coworker drove, thank god. She's got a Subaru and it did great on the roads. I think that may actually be the car I may want.... maybe. Well after we got to the plant she helped me clean off my car and we both went home. The drive that is normally 6-8 minutes took about 25. I never broke 20 on the drive home but I made it. Parking at my apartment sucked but that was expected. I meant to sleep in a bit like till 7 but I didn't realize I missed one of my alarm clocks that went off at 6:15 so after that I was awake although I didn't get out of bed until later. Still made it in to work a little after 8. But now I am tired.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Friends

"If one's friends do not openly laugh at him, they are not in fact his friends. How else would one learn to avoid saying those things that would elicit laughter from strangers? The mockery of friends is affectionate, and inoculates against foolishness"

Friday, February 8, 2008

Work vs Car accident

One of my coworkers said to me that the happiest he's seen me is the day I totalled my car. He found this strange. I told him that's because dealing with the insurance company and the hospital and all was a lot less stressful and frustrating than work. The police and the ambulance were there in less than 5 minutes from when I got up the bank. I spent about an hour at the hospital. My hospital and ambulance bills go directly to my insurance company so I don't have to deal with paying any bills and waiting for them to send me money. My car was declared totalled 3 days after the accident despite it being a weekend. Work doesn't seem to go as smoothly.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Kitchenaid Rant part 3

I got my new Kitchenaid today. Now we shall see if it works the way it should. Hopefully it will and there will be one more rant about how much I love it and how wonderful it is. We shall see.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Randomness

Is it inappropriate for me to be disturbed by random people reading my blog? I have the link to exactly 6 people although I did put a link in my aim thing. Though not that many people even have my aim screenname since I changed. Hrm. How do people get here other than those 6 people who I told? And why are they reading a blog titled 'I'm Boring'? I don't get it. Where did you people come from?

My car part 3 (part 2 will get posted when I get around to finishing it)

Well my car is officially totalled. The adjuster says they will give me 11,600 after the deductible, which is a lot more than I thought it would be so that's good. I went back to the car today to grab the last couple things that were in the car and my licence plate. I found my sun glasses that I had been looking for for a few months. And from what they say my hospital visit and all should be covered by the insurance as well so that's good.

Now, what kind of car do I want? Should I keep the Suzuki SX4?

Monday, February 4, 2008

My car part 2

So here is what happened..... The apparently very long version of it.

It was Friday morning I went out to go to work. When I looked out the window it didn't look to bad. When I got out the door I realized it didn't look bad because it was ice, not snow that was coating everything. So I got my scraper out and cleaned up the car, it wasn't too bad cleaning it up and started to head to work. The worst part is usually driving up my street. With the big hill going up and the cars on both sides making the street pretty narrow, it is pretty tight but I didn't have any issues there so I was doing pretty good. I didn't even have issues stopping at the traffic light at the bottom of the hill by Sheetz. Then there's the 'highway' section where it's 2 lanes that is the rest of my drive to work. I was doing OK but there was a lot of sleet and stuff coming down so I was taking it pretty slow. I know I was because my commute is normally 6 to 8 minutes and it took me 9 to get to the Sheetz, which is less than half way.

So I am on the highway now, about a mile from work with all this sleet and stuff coming down. I was driving slower than dirt, the truck that had been in front of me at the light was long gone but I have horrible traction so that's how it goes. I went around the curve and came to the part where it straightened out. That's when I hit a patch of ice and lost control.

I remember seeing the end of the guard rail where it starts and I missed it by a couple feet. I kinda noticed but didn't really register what that meant. So the reason there is a guard rail is because there is because there is a pretty steep drop, probably about 70 degrees where 0 is horizontal and 90 is vertical, down to the creek.

I rolled toward the passenger side and then kept going. I think I rolled 270 degrees although it's possible I could have done 360 more, I'm not really sure. I guess I hit a few trees too although I don't really remember that either. I do remember thinking oh crap, my glasses are coming off and I think I caught them in mid air and put them back on. Interesting the things that happen instinctually.

The car came to a stop lying on the driver's side. I think I probably laid there for a couple seconds before I thought I don't really feel like being in the car any more. So I turned and got my legs under me and undid my seatbelt. I reached for my cell phone but it wasn't in my pants pocket or my jacket pocket. I thought damnit, I must have left it at home. I didn't know how far down I was, if anyone could see me or if anyone saw me go off so I figured I was on my own to get out. Besides which, I didn't want to be in the car anymore and I wanted to go home.

Since I was lying on the driver's side I first thought the easiest way to get out would be the passenger doors, if they weren't damaged too badly, athough how I was gonna jump out I hadn't really worked out. Well I tried the doors and they wouldn't open so next I tried breaking the windows on those doors. I pulled my sleeve down and gave it a good whack. Not even a crack. Look at that tricep strength. This clearly was not going to work.

I noticed my purse lying in the back and the contents of it everywhere. It had been in the passenger seat. Eh, I had my wallet and my cash in my pocket and my cell phone was at home (or so I thought)so no biggie. I'd deal with my bag and stuff later.

The windshield was right in front of me and I could leverage myself against the seat to get a good kick at it. So that's what I did. Apparently windshields are a lot harder to break than I realized. I was kicking it as hard as I could and I was just barely cracking it. I stopped at one point because I was out of breath, which made me start cracking up. Look at that cardiovascular strength. I kicked some more and finally created my lovely escape hatch seen in my earlier posting. The last few kicks were losing their effect because I was laughing too hard from how hard I was trying to break the windshield. In the movies they just give it a little whack and glass goes everywhere.

As I got my hole almost big enough for me to climb out of, a guy came down the bank. He was yelling and carrying on if I was OK and that got me laughing even harder. I tried to yell back but I was laughing too hard and the car was muffling my voice. I finished opening up the hole and he helped me climb out. That's when I cut my thumb. I can't get a decent picture or I would post it.

By then there were a half a dozen guys around who helped me climb up the bank, not really sure where they came from but it was a pretty steep hill and real slippery so they were pretty helpful. My thumb started bleeding a little from the glass that I got in it getting out of the car. I noticed the blood so I warned one guy that was helping me up so that he wouldn't grab it. He said it was alright. He clearly hasn't gotten any first aid or blood born pathogen training. I kept my thumb away from him anyway. Although I know I don't have anything, it's just curteous, so he wouldn't have to go to the hospital later and get tested.

When I got to the top and looked down I thought 'holy shit'. My car was down about 15 ft. The tree that I stopped on was about 5 ft from the creek. I guess there were other trees I hit but at the time I thought that was the only one. I don't really remember bouncing off or the trees although I guess I don't remember much of the roll itself.

Apparently most of my coworkers drove by it but couldn't see the car down there at all. One of the guys who helped me up let me sit in his car and use his phone. I called in to work to let them know I wouldn't be in. Figured it was too early to call my parents, they'd freak out. I guess my adrenaline was really going because I couldn't just sit in his car so I paced on the side of the road until the police and ambulance came.

I figured I'd go to the hospital to get checked out just in case. You know if I hadn't I would've had something horribly wrong and I wouldn't have known until it was too late. So they told me to get in the ambulance and they'd drive me over. I sat in the ambulance while I guess they were surveying the scene or something. The ambulance was kinda cool, I'd never seen the inside of one before. It has more stuff and it looks less sparse than I had imagined. It was also pretty warm even though the door was open, not sure how they work that.

The EMTs came on and told me they had to put me on the bodyboard and neck brace. It was standard protocol for this type or accident or something. I kinda chuckled but figured I'd go along with it.

There were probably 15 tie downs to hold me to the board and then to the stretcher underneath. The lady was strapping me in and almost put them across my arms. Then she was like oh we aren't like restraining you, you can have your arms out. See! They weren't preparing me for the straight jacket!

Lying flat on your back with the neck brace holding your head perfectly straight is the weirdest thing. All you can see are ceiling tiles. I guess the pads they had on each side of my head blocked out my peripheral vision. I kept trying to turn my head to look around but I guess they don't like that. It's weird when they are talking to you and you can't turn toward them.

They asked what hospital I wanted to go to Pottsville Hospital or Good Sam. I kinda looked at them and went ummmm..... when the lady said Good Sam is a catholic hospital but they take people who aren't Catholics too. I thought well I don't like catholics so take me to Pottsville. Apparently Good Sam is the better hospital but I wasn't that worried anyway.

They wheeled me around, all I saw was ceiling tiles and more ceiling tiles. They did a few X-rays and before they concluded my neck was not broken and they could take the neck brace off and I could get off the board. Yay! I was starting to get stiff from it. When they let me up my neck and back were stiff but I couldn't really say from what.

Then I got to put on one of those lovely hospital gowns with the crack down the back. I don't know why someone doesn't design a gown that has a bit more cloth between the ends of the drawstrings rather than putting the drawstrings at the very end of the fabric. It would make it so much more pleasant when they take you down the hall in it.

At one point while they had me waiting in the room they have me a phone and said I could call anyone I needed. I figured I'd call my parents since they'd be upset if I didn't tell them. Well I called my father because he took our old house number and I don't remember anyone else's. I only had a few minutes from when I caled him and when the doctor came in so I told him I was OK but I was at the hospital. Well he called my brother and my mother and there was all sorts of panicking. They both called the hospital repeatedly and while the doctor was checking me out they kept bringing me messages or the phone with them.

The bed in the ER was actually pretty comfortable. It had something like a Tempurpedic mattress on it. It was only like 4 inches thick but it was actually pretty comfortable, especially compared to the body board. My mother laughed at me when I told her that.

Since I told the doctor my back hurt he decided to take some more X-rays and do a piss test I guess for internal bleeding or something. Yay for walking down the hall where I didn't know where I was going in a hospital gown.

Friday February 1st 2008. The Pottsville Hospital. W. As in George W Bush. They must have asked me the day, date, year, where I was and who was president 10 times during the hour and a half from the time I got in the ambulance till the time they said I was good to go.

In the end he determined I had no major injuries. I'd probably have a few bruises and be a bit sore but nothing deadly. He gave me a doctors note until Monday and a prescription for painkillers and told me I could leave.

Only problem was I still had the blood pressure and pulse thing strapped to my arm and I was still in the hospital gown. I sat there for a few minutes before I decided to flag someone down so I could get the stuff removed and get dressed. After I got dressed I walked out of the door of the room I as in and stood there. They said I could go but didn't tell me where. I wandered around for a bit before I realized I didn't know where I was going or how I was getting there. I ended up asking a janitor for the phone so I could call someone from work to get a ride. Then I asked again so I could get out of the hospital. I am the epitome of brilliance. In my defense, all I saw was ceiling tiles when I came in so it was hard to tell which way I came.

So I called the office and got someone to pick me up. I had him drop me off at home since I figured I could go home and call the insurance company and such. Well I got up to my apartment and realized my phone wasn't there. So I was at home with no phone and no car. Great. I started knocking on doors and borrowed my neighbor's phone to get someone to pick me up and take me in to work so that I could use the phone there. It's like the office is my personal taxi service. Also, I didn't know where my car was. The police officer told me before they took me away but I couldn't remember. All I knew was it began with a T in Minersville.

So I get in to the office and of course everyone had heard about it/seen my car. The tale developed to my going in the creek and getting carried down the creek. I guess I must have swum out of the car or something in this tale, I don't know the details.

I talked to a few people and managed to find out where my car was. Ed took me over to see the car and take pictures. That's when we got most of me junk out of the car too. I noticed my purse wasn't in there. The guy at the tow yard said the police took it and had it at the Branch Township Police station. So we head over there to get it. We get there and there is no one there. The doors are locked, no sign of life. So we head back to the office.

We got back just in time to grab the last few slices of pizza left from lunch the day before. I heated up 2 slices. I managed to eat one while I was on the phone with the insurance company. I ate about half of the second before I started to feel sick.

I talked to Geico and got the claim started. They said they wanted to get my car out of the tow yard that day to minimize the cost of the tow yard where it was sitting. They needed an address to tow it to. The only place I could think of is work so I gave them that address. They reserved a rental car for me with Enterprise and got a confirmation and everything but once again, Enterprise didn't have a car. I got it from EZRentACar in Pottsville again. The lady working there even remembered from the last time I did it.

When I mentioned it to someone at work they said I should tow it to a body shop. Cheryl's sister (I think) works at a body shop and they said they could take it so I called Geico back with the new address. Well I don't fully understand but it's Tuesday and they still haven't moved the car from the tow yard.

So at this point I'm doing pretty well. I know where my car is, I gave them a good place to tow my car, I got my rental car. Only thing I still need is my purse and hopefully my cell phone is with it. I called the Branch Township police and no answer. So I called the nonemergency line and managed to talk to someone. He said the guy would get the message when he came back into the office. I didn't have much of a choice but to wait at my office until he went back to the office and called me.

He called not too much later. I guess it was getting to be about 3:30 or so. He brought my purse over to my office and he had my cell phone too. He said he had tried to call my cell phone because that's the number I had given him but when he heard the ringing in my bag as he called he knew that wasn't good. Well I got everything now. Yay. My phone was even still working.

I went inside and turned off my phone like I always do because there is no reception. I talked to a couple more people and braced myself for the drive home. I get home and turn my cell phone on only to get a message that the battery is not genuine. Ugh. So I drove back in but Cheryl had just left so I thought great. Well Beth has the same model phone as me so I decided to borrow her phone. I put her battery in mine to see if it was the phone or the battery. Well her battery worked in mine so I figured it must have just been the battery. Just for kicks and giggles I put my battery in hers and that seemed to work too. So we swapped so I would have a phone for the weekend. Woohoo. Now I could go home.

My parents decided to come out for the weekend. They didn't get going until 7 that night. At 8 I was about ready to crash so I decided to lie down. I left the doors unlocked and warned them that I may not wake up when they get here. Well they called when they got here and I answered but I never managed to get out of bed. The doors were open so they let themselves in and settled in for the night.

I slept most of the weekend. I would get up for a few hours and then be too tired to stay awake more than 6 hours or so at a shot.

My brother drove out Saturday. He had a class so he came after it. They decided they didn't like the rental car so they left me their new Suzuki SX4 so I could drive to work and such. They also brought me a ton of food. I would rotate the picture but.... well I'm lazy and you can turn your neck. I was the one in the accident. Your neck is fine.


I'm pretty well stocked for the week. They said I should expect to hurt the next day but I really wasn't bad. The Gardasil vaccine was so much worse. I was a bit stiff but really my only issue was I was really tired. Oh and I noticed a bit of tenderness on my head by my scalp. I hadn't thought I'd hit my head, as I had told the doctors but this seemed to indicate that I had. And I couldn't seem to eat much. All I ate friday was that slice and a half of pizza and I still wasn't eating much over the weekend. This actually concerned me more. Since I usually eat so much and I couldn't eat and I was really tired I was afraid that I may have hit my head harder than I realized. But my appetite is back full force and hopefully I'll be able to stay awake through a full day soon.

This is my seatbelt hickey. It showed up on Saturday though I didn't feel it at first.


I also have a cell phone shaped bruise on my thigh. You can see the body of the cell phone and a separate section where the antenna sits. I would post a pic but I couldn't get one that wasn't porn-ish and I only do food porn so that was no good.

They never actually told the appraiser about any of the moves either. He apparently went to my office, couldn't reach me because he only had my cell number, and eventually found out through Geico that it was still at the tow yard.

OK I think this is long enough. That's my story. As you see. Learned my lesson and so did she. Now it's over. And I'm glad. No sign of guilt, no feeling bad, oh.

I almost forgot about the hilarious sign I saw when I was staring at the ceiling tiles. There is a sign at the ER that says maximum 2 patients per bed. It is mounted right by the ceiling so even the people who are strapped down can see it. Maybe to provide some entertainment during your hospital visit?

Friday, February 1, 2008

My car





Explanation to come later