Awwww, Sherman

Awww, look at Tara's big puppy. Isn't he sooo cute? Awwww. Who's the cutie? Who's the cutie? Cute things have a way of reducing people to baby talk. An interesting concept, eh?

I think I am still resentful of never having had a real pet when I was younger, other than a tank full of fish and Tuddle the turtle. I had caught grasshoppers in the field beside our house every day of the summer to feed Tuddle, and walked him in the grass in the back yard, and let him swim in my blue kiddie pool, while I stuck my feet in the water, but then one day when I came home from school, I found him out on the porch, frozen alive in his container of water-turned solid ice. A bit of a tragic experience for a child.

NYC

We had lots of fun in NYC. Sure, it was cold and the subway was closed down, and we had a few bad things happen, but for the most part our trip was successful. Everything started out fine, the traffic wasn't as bad as we had expected, but after I got off the bus, the door closed and Tami and Emily kept going. My life flashed before my eyes as I figured I had been abandoned in New York City, left to fend only for myself. Fortunately they stopped again and we met back together. First we got standby tickets for the View because they are giving out Christmas presents to audience members, but they ended up turning away even ticket holders. Next we walked around, got Starbucks, ate at Rachael’s, went to Macy's, and tried to get tickets to Letterman. Little did we know that they interview you when you sign up for them. They asked how often we watched the show, so we lied and said a lot, of course, but then they wanted to know what our favorite bits were, and we morons just sat there like lumps on a log, looking at each other. Needless to say, we didn't get those tickets, lol. Finally we made our way to Rockefeller Plaza to look at the Christmas tree and NBC studios to go to Conan! They threw us free t-shirts so that made us happy. We had very good seats to watch the show, but I was a little disappointed with the stage. It is so grand, and seemingly large on TV, but kind of small and crappy in person. Conan is really skinny and tall, but he seems like a very cool guy. Tami had the lucky red mark on her chair so she had to crawl out of her seat while a member of their staff sat between Emily and me. So the side of my face made it onto TV, how exciting! After Conan, we went ice skating in Bryant Park which was a nice outdoor rink. That was definitely fun. Then we made our way to a comedy show, but after walking 20 blocks we decided we had hit a bit more of shady area and decided not to go any farther for fear of our well-being.
Then it was time to go home but at the restaurant I had put the directions down on the table and apparently the waiter had taken them away with the plates. Soooo, we had no directions on how to get home! Obviously we took the NJ turnpike south but after never finding a place to turn onto I-78, we stopped at a service center and asked 'Joe' for directions. We had to go way out of our way north to get back to Pennsylvania, believe it or not. And after napping at a Wendy's we finally made it home!! I'm glad we decided to go even despite the strike. Fun, fun.

Why a strike today?

WHY? why? why? Someone hates me. All NY transportation services went on strike today which just happens to be the day before we planned to go.

Why? Who is it that wishes malice on us? Those Conan tickets were so hard to get, we planned our whole trip perfectly even at a minimal cost. Fortunatly NJ transit is still working, which we were planning on using anyway, and a "contigency plan" is supposed to be in place by tomorrow morning for the subway and buses. I know we can still go and still have fun. This will not hinder my last piece of excitement in the year 2005, I will still go to NYC, and that is final!

(Picture is from the subway in March-I love the blurriness, doesn't it just say I'm on a speeding train deep under the surface of the earth?)

CONAN

So, I am a little perturbed. We are going to a taping of Conan O'Brien on Wed, and who are the guests? Tea Leoni and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Who on earth are those two people? One is a B list actress and the other an old woman who wrote a political book or something. Why is it that the day we choose to go to NYC there are crappy guests that I've never heard of? At least there is still hope for the band, I can't find listed anywhere what band will be playing, but I am thinking good thoughts...

Giant Paint Cans and Strippers

LOL, I found this article on the web- I live near this giant paint can, but I particularly like the part about the protesters versus the strippers.

Giant paint can
Off Interstate 81 , there's a big refinery-style tank painted to look like a can of latex housepaint.

Impossible to get a picture, so be prepared with a telephoto out the car window.

From a hypertour in 1996, we have this interesting note: "At the exit across from the can, there was a hand-painted sign: 'PORNO PROTEST THIS EXIT.' On the east side of I-81 is a new strip joint. While protestors picketed in day-glo orange vests out front, tattooed beauties sunbathed out back, facing the can. There's nowhere to park without being arrested or set upon by the protestors!"

...An interesting dilemma, just to take a picture of a giant paint can.

Christmas Blues

Christmas is in the air. I can feel it.

I tend to think that Christmas is overrated. We break our bank accounts, spend time with those lost relatives that we never really liked in the first place, waste time writing on cards that get thrown away, eat too much till we're sick, pretend that we like crappy presents that people get us, lie to children about the existence of fat man in a red suit, wrap presents that get ripped open, buy Christmas CD's that you can only play one month out of the year, talk for hours to people that only want the gossip on you to share at the next family gathering, baby-sit other people's kids so they can relax while you want to rip your hair out, answer questions about what you want to do with the rest of your life, and ultimately if you are feeling bad; it only doubles during the holidays, and all for what? To celebrate the birth of the Christ child? Who are we trying to kid? That isn't what Christmas is about in America. That is what it should be about, but it's not.

If we really wanted to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I'd sit in my house with my family and do nothing, well... maybe go to church, or volunteer somewhere...but I'm sick of all the Christmas glamour that is really just hollow attempts at being happy. Are people really more happy at Christmastime? or is that just what we tell ourselves to not feel like Scrooge? What has happened to Christmas being about a birthday party for Jesus? I don’t remember singing the happy birthday song at Christmas parties, ever.

Cookies Galore

Today was the annual cookie-baking-marathon at my grandma's house. Ugghh, I never want to see another cookie again. I'll be seeing cookie dough in my dreams tonight.



When I went outside for a break an Amish buggy was coming by so I snapped a picture; only in Pennsylvania.

Done I am

So today was my last final and I am done with my sophomore year now (at least here at Shippensburg University). I'm little ruffled though because I raced through my test so that the professor could catch a train out of here. I really would have liked to have read what I wrote because I was just writing like a madwoman. Guess I won't find out how I did until I see my grade. Man I hope its an A, or even an A- or even a B+, my GPA needs the help.