I am so pooped. Today is a full day. Gotta get going! NOW! Wake up! WAKE UP! MOVE!

Go!

I’ve been watching the YouTube CNN Debates. Not in it’s entirely. I watched about a half hour and then I went to a bar and had a beer and some french fries. I’m back and watching again. Can I just say that Mitt Romney is really handsome? He reminds me of Lyle Waggoner.

Regardless, he’s not getting my vote.

On Thursday Robert is playing a gig at a nearby tavern. He and his friends get together every couple weeks to play. Their music isn’t my music but because Robert’s on stage playing, I pretend it is. His song choice this time? Alice Cooper’s School’s Out for the Summer. At least I think that’s the title, maybe it’s just a line from the chorus. At any rate, I am looking forward to it. And then on Saturday, we drive to Hoboken, or at least very close to Hoboken, for my company’s Holiday Party. On the invitation it said, Year End Party. I am guessing Holiday Party wasn’t secular enough. I am going to wear my black velvet cocktail dress that I bought last year for the charity dinner I attended back last Feb. Although, I also have that evening dress Lisa convinced me to buy the other week and from what I understand, there are two girls wearing full length dresses. Hmmmmmmmmm. Nah, the black velvet is the better choice. I think.

My company is paying for our room which is just wonderful! That means I can drink enough to feel good but not enough to compromise the image of successful businesswoman that I have worked so very hard to cultivate. The next day is Robert’s birthday and we will walk around NYC and do touristy things. I am really looking forward to it.

Now I just need to get through the next couple days.

My copy of Philadelphia magazine arrived over the weekend. The first and last article I read was called Social Diary: Wreck the Halls by Amy Donohue Korman about holiday celebrations that end in disaster. Sounds cute, huh? Well, let me just say that the last paragraph really shocked me. I mean really disgusted and shocked me and I can’t figure out how it ever made it into the magazine. I am too embarrassed to even quote it here– you will have to read the article on their Web site and then tell me if I am overreacting.

About 3 years ago, I stopped getting my photos printed. It coincided with me truly switching to a digital camera and ditching my film camera. The last few months I’ve been considering how I might be able to print them out. I miss flipping through photo albums! The Picassa blog just alerted me to this Web site and it looks like a winner. The pricing seems better than Photoworks and Shutterfly, although I may be wrong. They also offer a service where you can actually PRINT out your blog as a book! What a crazy idea! Maybe I will print out Donnaville? Perhaps in a hundred years my ancestors will find my blog book and wonder why on so many pages it says, Click Here?

A few months ago, my mom told me she could no longer open up Outlook Express. Turns out the email files were corrupted but after fiddling around and reading some support forums dedicated to the subject, I was able to re-import most of her mail and get the program back working. She continued to have weird issues with Outlook Express. I don’t know why it decided to act weird, nor could I get it back to working correctly so I told her that it was time to adopt an online email program. I opened up aGmail account for her and got her going. She called me not more than a day later telling me she hated Gmail because it doesn’t have an address book. RIDICULOUS! I drove home to show her how to access the address book only to find out my mom was right. Gmail doesn’t have an address book that you can access from the To: field. You must type the person’s name and then choose it. You can’t get a list of names. Okay, let’s try another email program. I registered her for a Yahoo account. Yahoo had an address book but there were so many ads and blinking icons– the interface was too busy. We deleted the account. How about AOL? Everyone and their mother uses AOL, it’s got to work. At first it seemed to be perfect. The interface wasn’t too overcrowded and she had an address book. She called me after 3 days to tell me that the Web site kept logging her out and wouldn’t let her log back in. I installed the AOL Toolbar and that seemed to fix that issue. She called me a couple days later to tell me that she although she’s able to stay logged in, she really hates AOL because she can’t seem to get links from email messages to open PLUS attachments refuse to open AND it’s dreadfully slow. My father told me I need to flush the online email idea down the toilet and get her an email program to install on her computer. Now I am madly trying to find an email application that isn’t Outlook Express that my mom will like.

Anyone have suggestions? Any ideas?

Here’s my Amazon wishlist just in case anyone is curious as to the material items I covet. There is no shipping address attached to it so this is not my way of begging for things. This is mainly for my mom so she can see what I would like for Christmas because I’ve already told her all I want is the first season DVD of Flight of the Conchords but I have a feeling she’s going to forget.

Lisa and I went shopping yesterday. We got some pretty good deals. You know that TomTom GPS unit I bought for 300.00 a couple months ago? I got one for Lisa for 119.00! She saw me get it so it’s not like I blew her Christmas surprise. There were a few other things we got but I can’t detail them here precisely because I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

I’ve been trying to get the loft cleaned up. I have mail spread out on the floor. There’s insurance stuff, credit card stuff, banking stuff, etc… Typically I put it in a file and never look at it again. Why do I file it? Can’t I just throw it away? Nope. I am frightened as soon as it hits the curb and is loaded into the garbage truck, I will suddenly need everything. So I keep filing this stuff away. My neighbor told me he scans everything and electronically files it into a database. I need that setup.

I erected the Christmas tree last night. I keep moving it around because I can’t seem to find the right place for it. Usually I have it in the far right corner of the parlor but that’s where the organ is now sitting and I can’t seem to remember how I had arranged the furniture last year so everything fit. Right now the tree is sitting to the side of the staircase. Maybe that’s where I’ll keep it. I dunno.

from the movie, Magic Christian…

Yes, that’s Roman “child rapist” Polanski. The end contains the punchline so just wait for it. (Updated with the right clip)

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are all with family and friends and enjoying a delicious meal!

Here’s a Thanksgiving song sung by the late great Mr. Johnny Cash when he starred in a very special holiday episode of Bonanza:

(There’s a lot of jibber jabber at the beginning, to quickly get to the good part, forward to -2:50)

Let the Christmas festivities begin, …NOW!