Health Alert: Dangerous New Virus

There is a dangerous virus being passed around electronically, orally,
and by hand.

This virus is called Weary-Overload-Recreational-Killer (WORK). If you
receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss, or anyone else via
any means DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life
completely.

If you should come into contact with WORK, put your jacket on and take
two good friends to the nearest grocery store. Purchase the antidote
known as Work-Isolating-Neutralizer-Extract (WINE) or
Bothersome-Employer-Elimination-Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote
repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should forward this warning to 5 friends. If you do not have 5
friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your
life.

This is what Love is all about

Got this from Julie, thought it was nice and would pass it on...

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman
in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb.
He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.

I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be
over an hour before someone would to able to see him.

I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with
another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well
healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to
remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another
doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.
The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home
to eat breakfast with h is wife. I inquired as to her health.
He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was
a victim of Alzheimer's Disease.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he were a bit late.
He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not
recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him,
"And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you
are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said, "She doesn't know me,
but I still know who she is."

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm,
and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life."

True love is neither physical, nor romantic.
True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be,
and will not be.

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
they just make the best of everything they have.

...to have succeeded

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

Here, kitty kitty....

This is absolutely hilarious ... and could only be done by a South African...

Not too long ago, I saw something at the gun shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 10th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized tazer.

The effects of the tazer were supposed to be short lived, with no long term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety. Needless to say, this was way too cool. Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the thing and pushed the button. Fokall!!

I was so disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I'd get a blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. Awesome!!

Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to my wife what that burn spot is on the face of her LG convection oven.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two AAA batteries, right? Yah.

There I sat in my recliner, my cat looking on intently, the trusting little soul, while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target.

I must admit I thought about zapping Kitty for a fraction of a second, but thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat and, as most of you already know, hell hath no fury like a cat p.issed off. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I
wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and my Blue Bulls supporter jersey, with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, tazer in another.

The directions said that one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant;

A two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control;

A three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water.

Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries. All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and loaded with two itsy, bitsy
AAA batteries thinking to myself "no flippin' way?"

What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best.

I'm sitting there alone, the cat looking on with her head tilted to one side as if to say, "don't do it, you stupid man," reasoning that a one-second burst from such a tiny little ole thingy couldn't hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one-second burst just for the heck of it.

I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and………

HOLY MOTHER OF FUDGE!!!, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, CRAP ON A STICK, FOOOK ME GEORGE!!!

I'm pretty sure THE BLUE BULLS TEAM ran in through the side door, picked me up, body slammed me on the carpet over and over and over again and then slammed the recliner over my head just for fun.

I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet smelling like piss, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and pins and needles in my legs.

The cat was standing over me making meowing sounds I had never heard before, licking my face, undoubtedly thinking to herself, "Do it again, do it again you stupid doos!!"

Please take this from the voice of experience - there is no such thing as a one-second burst when you zap yourself!!! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor! Three second burst would be considered conservative.

A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent and forlorn reading glasses were hanging miserably on the mantel of the fireplace. How did they up get there?

My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and judging by how my jaw hung listlessly, my bottom lip must have weighed 88 lbs.

By the way, at this point my testicles, feeling like they withdrew into my body somewhere around my ribcage, are still waiting for the all clear signal to emerge from the bomb shelter. Now I know how Tom Hanks' character felt when he had to go search for Private Ryan. I felt like I should offer a significant reward for their safe return.

Even now, I experience shrinkage when I plug anything into the socket.

So if you ever feel compelled to "mug" yourself with a tazer to test it, take my advice... Repeat after me...

Here, kitty kitty....

THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME OVER 50 YEARS TO LEARN: by Dave Barry

16 THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME OVER 50 YEARS TO LEARN: by Dave Barry ,
Nationally Syndicated Columnist

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well Just get up and dance.

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.

13. A person who is nice to you but rude to a waiter is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

16. Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it's ip to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into some thingAcceptable to have dinner with.

The ever delicious Ashley spoke to me today and advises that the following note has been left on our door -

After recently reviewing you account, it appears as if you have a credit on your account. We appreciate and want to thank you for paying and pre paying your rent on time. However we do ask that you pay your rent every month off of the statement that you receive in the mail. If you loose your statement or if you do not receive one please let us know, and we will be happy to give you your current balance! your current credit is ____$1.45___! Again please pay only the amount that is due, and if you are unsure of your total please give us a call. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

I replied with the following. It makes me so mad that a company would send such a dumb note. Frankly, I don't need to be told that my account is in credit, just take it off next month! But not only that, but they whine about over paying??? OMG!

Hello ,

I just wanted to drop you a quick note regarding the information your office left at my apartment regarding the $1.45 credit I have.

I would like to explain how the credit came to be on the account, and would love to hear your suggestions for how to avoid future occurrences of this issue.

As I have explained to all your staff, several times, I travel; a lot. Anything from 50% to 100% of my time can be spent away from home, so the statement you mail me is of little use to me, and I invariably don’t receive it in time.

If I’m out of the country, I often will not have the ability to call the office to request the amount, and when I do try (as indeed I did this time), I get an ‘answering service’ who are unable to provide me any assistance.

For the penultimate billing period, I tried emailing one of your team to request the total amount owed, followed up with another mail requesting the information, and did not receive a reply.

I pay my rent, most often via your website. A website, incidentally, which cannot tell me the total amount owed. I even considered paying by recurring payment thus avoiding this repeated issue each month, but alas, the recurring amount is static, and my account is not (that one baffles me even today).

So, the only option I could think of, was to pay an amount knowingly above that owed, thus ensuring that the amount was covered.

You duly have advised me that this is not conducive with your account system and advise me to ensure I pay only the correct in future; a somewhat strange note to leave a resident, but I’m sure much nicer than the one you would have left me should me account have been short by $1.45, or not paid at all.

So, what I was wondering is, what are your proposed actions to help remedy this situation, and what steps are you taking to make this process ‘friendlier’ for your valued residents?

If you cannot see anything you can do, and have no plans to make changes to your systems to facilitate this issue, then I would kindly request that you do not leave me such a note at my home again.

Thank you for your time.

James Lane
Unit 2131

A few words to you, a life long memory to me

I just got a phone call from my match consultant at Big Brothers, Big Sisters of North Texas; she had been speaking to my little brother, and had asked him to describe me in a few words...

..."1, awesome and 2, the best thing that's happened to me in a long time..."

Wow! Larissa (match consultant) said she just had to call me and tell me there and then.

I'll be honest with you, I have a big cheesy grin on my face. It's nice to get the feedback, and to be honest, my little brother spends most of his time calling me a dork :D

Good stuff readers, good stuff

Forgotten Film: Parte Uno

I was taking some photos the other day, and when I went to have them developed, I thought to myself...

"You know, I should find out what's on these rolls that have sat in my living room for the last 6 months"

So, I take them to my friends at Super Target, and have all 4 rolls put onto a CD (it's much cheaper than prints). Well, I found shoots that I had long since forgotten about. Pictures that I can't remember taking, I even found pictures of Niagara Falls, and I don't remember even taking my camera!

Anyway, so this is one of my favorites. It was taken in B&W, but has the streaming sun coming down through the trees, and dances around on the water. The temptation to take stills like this in color is often great, but I feel B&W captures the dramatic so much more effectively.

This was taken on a shoot commissioned by the Proctor family, Georgia. They invite me over periodically to photograph their estate or special occasions. I cut them a break on the cost as they're mostly good people. Freddie makes the best corn bread in the South (yes, I know that's quite a claim), so that helps.

I'm going over in a few weeks, so we'll see how that goes.

I made contact with my new mentee today. I called the home number provided to me by the organization. Unfortunately, the neglected to mention that the mother does not speak English. My Spanish, is...well...it's not good. So I race around to Martha's desk, thrusting a headset onto her head and saying "This is my mentee's family, they don't speak English...talk to them!".

After a conversation that seemed to go on for hours, the date was arranged, and I'll go see them tomorrow at 4pm. Wish me luck, I'm praying that the little guy speaks English, otherwise this is going to be very difficult!

Ashley

Welcome one and all to the potential new resting place for the now infamous, blog. Without further delay, I'd like to introduce you to the girl who made much of this possible; Ashley.

Ashley, against all her better judgment, considers herself lucky to be my girlfriend. There is clearly no accounting for taste, but, as I consider myself blessed beyond belief to be the boyfriend in this relationship; I shall not push the issue, lest she agree with me, and leave.

I have decided to cast off the shackles of Yahoo!, turn my back on the perversion of My Space, and embrace my favorite service provider; the ever lovable, Google.

This will be my usual ramblings, thoughts and dumping ground for the mental defecation sometimes confused for musings. I will attempt to keep it light hearted, relevant and fun. In the absent of any of these things, it will be about me, which is, in essence, the same thing.

So welcome once again. Hope you enjoy the show, and don't forget to tip your waitress.

A few things to ponder upon

I was listening to a radio broadcast on the flight over here, and they mentioned a few things that I thought were worth bringing to your attention.....

A recent study in the United Kingdom of Great Britain stated that we need to start doing something, right now, about the global warming problem.

Firstly, I feel to address this, we need to address the concern that not everybody agrees that there is even a global warming problem.

A leading member of the scientific community, when interviewed at his London vineyard, was quoted as saying "there's really nothing changing, things are the same now, as when I was a child. We really should avoid blowing this out of proportion. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go prune my coconut tree"

Ok, let's boils this down to brass tacs.

80% of the scientific community support the theory that global warming is happening, and if that statistic is good enough for cats to choose which food to choose, it's good enough for me.

So the study goes into quite some detail about what we can do to lower drains on energy demands, and thus fossil fuel combustion. One area targeted by the great scientific minds of parliament, is TVs. The number of people who leave their TV on standby, is growing, and this is a continuous drain on the countries energy supplies.

Now it's not like turning your TV off will solve the problem, but let's be honest. Who needs their TV to be at that level of readiness? Our countries defenses are stated at being ready within roughly 14 minutes, with a full fleet mobilized within 60 minutes.
But our TV's, we must have them ready to go at moments notice?

Germany jumped on the bandwagon reporting a decision to consider imposing a speed limit on the Autobahn. German's are needless to say, upset. But let's be honest, speed limits are in reality designed to tease people in the UK.

Anyone who's seen someone driving a Fiat Punto, Metro or Vauxhall Corsa; will know that speeding is rarely an option. 70 mph.....go on, try it! HaHaHa...never take that to Germany, you'll get chewed up.

And finally, a contact center recently acquired by a popular publisher based in the US, was rumored to have been forced to make changes to their automated payment line. It can now be heard -

Thank you for settling your account

Next time, for your convenience, why not pay by direct debit
or online at our website
or by phone, or through your interactive TV
or SMS text message
Why not pay it in your car?
Why not pay in from a bar?
You can pay it from a train
You can pay in in the rain
You can pay it in the park
You can pay it in the dark
I do not like green eggs and ham
I do not like them Sam I am
Thank you for calling

♫ I smell pretty, oh so pretty ♫

I travelled to Toronto on Sunday, when progressing through security, I hear those words that no one ever wants to hear...

..."BAG CHECK!"

For those of you who aren't regular travelers, this basically means that the guy who 'mans' the x-ray machine, has seen something unusual in a bag, and needs it checking. This is likely reserved for the likes of firearms, explosives, small animals, weapons of mass-destruction; that kind of thing.

Oh, yeah, a toothpaste and deodorant

So, now labeled as a potential terrorist as I attempted to smuggle the dangerous substances through the elite security of DFW's finest TSA agents, I progress to my gate a little lighter, but thankful I can still walk (if you know what I mean )

So, I figure I need to get some replacement items right, and the hotel is able to provide delightful alternatives. But, not wanting to smell like a rats arse, I think to myself "you know, I should probably go shopping".

So after work, I pop along to The Bay (Debenhams/Macys etc.). I'm on my way to the 'smellies' and I see some lovely Levi's. "Oooh" I say to myself. "You can never have too many pairs of jeans, right?".

So I grab a pair, and try them on. It is then that I realize that I'm wearing jeans some 2 inches smaller than the last pair I bought about 2 months ago. Yay me! So I'm really in a good mood (as you'd expect when you unexpectantly drop 2"). So I figure I'll treat myself in The Body Shop.

Those who know me well, will know that I have a 'thing' for stuff that smells nice. I don't particularly care what it is, if I like it, I like it.

So I take a look around, and they have some bath stuff. Now, some of you will know that I fudged my back up a couple of weeks ago, leaving me with a lot of pain in my arm, and not a lot of feeling in my hand. So I'm thinking that a bath might be freakin' awesome right about now.

In addition, they have this Almond shower gel. Well.......wow, it smells yummy. I mean, I may just eat the stuff.

Anyway, so I get both. Having now spent an obscene amount of money on new jeans and 'smellies', I return to my hotel, where I have a chat with young Anth, offering congratulations on his new job (visit him if you haven't already). I take a shower and head out for dinner.

As I'm sitting there for dinner (Ruth's Chris Steakhouse), the waiter comes over, and is having a chat with me. I'm being all relaxed, 'cos frankly, I'm wearing my new jeans, and I'm pretty happy with myself. So the guy's like "You smell.....pretty".

Oh my.....what can you say? I thank him, give him a little cheeky wink, and order my dinner.

I showered with the same stuff this morning. I smell like almond, I DO smell pretty; and you know what? I'm ok with that

I hope you feel pretty readers.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

...asks the officer, and he crouches by the passenger side window of my car, recently stopped on the side of highway 380.

"No where, just trying to get home"

I reply sheepishly, as my brain calculates the likelyhood of any of the possible excuses I could think of, actually working.

"Well, I was actually going to pull over the car in front of you back there, but by the time I caught up, he must have turned off already, so I figured I'd get you"

he explains

"Thanks, I feel special"

I reply with a sarcasm so dry, water runs in fear.

"Excuse me?"

questions the officer.

"Me? I didn't say anything"

I speedily spurt out in my verbal retreat.

He disappears for a while, with my license, ala normal. Returns with a delightfully dirty yellow slip advising me that I'm scheduled to appear in front of Judge someone, for speeding at 85mph in a 60mph zone.

"Thank you officer, have a nice night"

I offer, as I get into my car and begin to curse him out good a proper.

Now, of course, I do have the option to contest the citation. Will I? Will I blueberries! I was doing 85, it was a 60 zone, I knew it, he knew it; we all know it.

Unsure as to what fate awaits me, I sit here in the laundry room of my apartment complex thinking mean things about the police officer, and even meaner things about myself. As a rule, I really don't speed, and if I do, I'm pushing 70 in a 65 zone etc. But this is the second time I'm been stopped, and really, the second time I've actually speeded.

It's not a case of they catch everyone, so I must just unlucky. The solution? Don't speed, right? Well, hindsight is always 20-20

I shall pay my fine (and hope that I don't have to take that dumb class); or worse!

Saturday night is always a quiet night here in 360 land. It seems that everybody but me, has a life. But if anyone's around, feel free to say hello. My ID is almost always jamesdotlane is every system.

I'm bored! Someone please help me!

Section 8: Respect for the Flag

The United States Flag:
Federal Law Relating to Display
and Associated Questions

Title 4 United States Code:

Section 8: Respect for the Flag

"The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the
floor, water, or merchandise."

It's Christmas 2005, and the US flag flies in the Georgian winds of North Atlanta. A room full of U.S. citizens mingle inside, while their symbol of freedom flaps in the strong mountain breeze.

"Hey, the wind's picking up" someone notes. The wind, now gusting through the Appalachian mountain ranges, is picking up speed. Loose items are being blown away, and house sidings are taking quite the beating.

A small collection of mountain men collect by the patio doors, where the flag flies proudly above. "Woh, it's being pulled right off" explains one of the men. For a few brief seconds, everyone's attention is now drawn to the flag, now connected to the house by only one of the 3 brackets designed to hold it secure, and only one of the loops designed to hold the flag tight to its pole.

Making an assessment, the entire room returns to its conversations hustle, entirely ignoring the imminent fall of the nations pride.

The next thing to happen, was, some people say, representative of a long, and rich history. The British guy gets up, run outside, and manages to grab the flag as it's pulled from its holding place, and falls toward the floor.

In a image that may really only be funny to a Brit, here you can see it capture for all time.

Yet again, the Brits come in and do the work the US need doing Oooh! controversial!

The Testament

George Lucas did it, Sheldon Turner did it; and now, I'm (considering) doing it.

"What's this craziest to which you are talking Mr James" I hear you ask

Well, firstly, don't call me Mr James. Secondly, the craziest to which I am talking, is prequels. We needed to find out how Darth Vader came to be the emotionally inept arse that he is; Lucas provided that answer for us.

We needed to find out, exactly which hardware store was the main retailer of chainsaws for the massacre in Texas; Turner helped us out by shedding light on such a mystery (it was Lowes - I know! My money was on Home Depot! Sorry if I ruined it for anyone).

So, I was thinking the other day, the Bible starts at Genesis, right? God created the world, life and everything as we know it today (well, it was better when He did it; we've screwed it up since then).

But, what happened before then

God's been around forever, right Well, someone should really write about that. What happened before that

Do you think if we knew all about why God created us, we'd be better, or worse off

So, I've quit my job, and I've decided to set about writing "The Testament". This prequel to the well known "The Old Testament" will set the scene for all the prophecy we have come to know and love.

In turn, it will cast a much more explanatory light onto the best seller "The New Testament", explaining some key issues surrounding some of the characters, happenings and events.

The New York Times said "Brilliant, do not read the other two without first reading The Testament, it's a must read for 2007".

This is, in least of all, impressive as I haven't even written it yet.

Now, I can't take any credit for the literary work of "The Old Testament", nor "The New Testament"; but I can assure that this will almost certainly, not fail to move you, help you and make you really think about the validity of spending $29.99 on the book.

Early copies can be reserved for a $0.20c discount, let me know if you're interested.

P.S. Although this blog is entirely tongue in cheek, it is not designed to offend anyone. Please accept my apologies if it has. Note: I will remove any and all comments if I deem them to be offensive, derogatory or unnecessarily rude; at my discretion. It's my blog, and while you're reading under my roof, you're read by my rules.

Editorial: While searching for a suitable picture, I noticed that Mr John Girsham actually stole my book title! I don't know how he did it, but he must have a time machine he fashioned from old cream cheese. I have used the picture regardless, and hereby agree that if Mr Grisham asks, I shall pay him $100 for every $1million I make on this book. I can't say fairer than that.

Shop till you drop

I went a little (more than usual) crazy today

I had no real intention of doing anything specific, but I thought I'd pop to REI to see if they had a jacket suitable for my upcoming Canadia visit.

I kind of went a little crazy in there buying a whole new outfit, and the old Master card took a bit of a hammering. But, I was invited to join some club thing, which gives you some crazy discount off stuff that no one else wants

So, inspired by my recent retail success, I saw a Ross. I love Ross, it has really cheap stuff; and often has like proper brand stuff, but it might be 'last season' kind of stuff. So it's a great place to pick up some awesome bargains.

I got a nice new griddle, and splatter guard...ooh, and some nice containers (stainless steel things). A couple of nice bowls (wooden....ya know, for fruit and stuff).

So I was just heading home, and I thought I'd just take a quick spin through the retail park to see if anything jumped out at me as inspiration for lunch, and what do I see.....OMG.....William Sonoma!

It's one of my favorite stores! A definite must for the kitchen/cooking enthusiast.

So after all that, I finally make it home, laden with bags full of lovely goodies, and a Credit Card feeling a little heavier

On the up side.....think of all the air miles I just earned!

Ah well, that's pretty much the entire January budget gone.....but you know what.....you can't take it with you, right?

Planes, trains & automobiles

After the somewhat abysmal handling of 'The Luggage' situation by British Airways, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely pleased to be home.

While away, I was able to sample the somewhat delectable delights of the Apple Mac. So impressed, I decided that my new mission in life, was to acquire one. So I figured I'd take a look at the website.....cor blimey chief.....how much?

For those that know me well, will know that when I decide that I would like something, I take my time, plan things carefully . There are some rumors flying around that I have slight impulse buying problem.....totally untrue

Anyway, so quite the conundrum, eh? Not so!

Being the super genius that I am, I come up with the all time classic solution. For quite sometime, I've been less than thrilled with the economy of my vehicle (SUVs are for the rich or daft). So, I pop down to my local Carmax, and get them to value my car.

I then locate a suitable replacement vehicle, and make the arrangements. So in a few days, I should not only have a new car, but with the equity in my current vehicle (which I have no finance on), I can buy the new car outright, and then have enough left over to buy me an Apple Mac!

Oh wow, I am sooooo excited. The stuff I'd been buying on eBay and Chefs over Christmas arrived today, so I've been playing with my new MP3 player, and trying to figure out where and how to put up my new magnetic knife holder thingy; and now, now I get to play with a new car, and a new laptop.

Wow.....2007 is off to a freakin' awesome start. I'm home for the new couple of weeks, and then I'm in Toronto for about a month. In the middle of that Canadian stint, I have a vacation in my favoritestestest place in the whole world, with my best friend.

It's kind of ironic; 2006 ended in a bad way; and 2007 starts in a great way

I'm really looking forward to seeing how much better this year can get.

Wishing you everything you want, readers.