An interesting statistic - since 4/23/05, I have walked a total of 15.46 miles on the treadmill, seven out of the last eight days. To put it into different terms, this means I could have walked two trips to town and back.

They want to buy a show cow with their lottery winnings. I applaud them! Let's hope the money doesn't destroy them like lottery money seems to do everyone else.

46 minutes, 06 seconds and 2.31 miles on the treadmill today. I dug some new shoes (new in this case means nearly brand new shoes handed down to me from my Aunt Beulah May, courtesy of my cousin Teresa) out of the closet and they seemed to do a really good job with my feet today. I think I will keep them for a while and hopefully find time to buy new shoes at walmart in the next few weeks. The cd player I use while I'm on the treadmill quit working today. I'll have to try to clean it later and see if that helps. 46 minutes on the treadmill is really long and boring without music.

According to a woman's magazine I'm currently reading, my fat trouble can be blamed on a lack of Phytoestrogens. I can get more of these if I eat soy products, legumes, flaxseeds or cruciferous veggies (cabbage and mustard greens). So, I will be on the internet trying to find recipes for dishes that call for these things but taste like pizza. LOL! Sometimes it's a pain being a picky eater. I have heard that tofu can be made to taste like anything. I may have to investigate that claim.

Mom gets to retire! This is good because her current place of employment is really sucky. It's also bad because she will be here at home every single day now. Once the question of who gets downsized gets settled in a few months, I will have to start looking seriously for a house (provided I'm n ot one of the ones getting downsized). I don't think I can handle both parents being home every day I am.

51 minutes, 11 seconds and 2.47 miles today on the treadmill.

Alias was pretty good last night. A lot of good Jack moments. I sure hope they find a cure soon, I hate the thought of Jack dying. One question though, why, after all that's happened in these characters' lives, do they not automatically take DNA samples of everyone around them?

Erika Jo is the Nashville Star

I just watched the season finale of Nashville Star and Erika Jo won. She's pretty good and her debut single "I Break Things" sounds really good as well. Call your local radio station and request it. I hope Jason Meadows and Jody Evans get record deals as well. All three top finalists deserve great success.

Erika Jo is going to be on the Today show tomorrow and I plan to tape it since I have to be at work.

Remember, call your local radio station and request Erika Jo's new song, "I Break Things".

Tonight I walked 47 minutes and 47 seconds (an ironic tribute to Alias and the magical number 47) and walked 2.37 miles. I've discovered that since I've been walking, I've increased my energy by about 200%. Today at work, I was bouncing off the walls. Needless to say, some of my co-workers were a bit shell-shocked. LOL!

Curse the people who put out the new Buddy Jewell cd. In order to play the cd on a pc, I have to download software that is on the cd. I am not allowed to download anything onto the pc at work, therefore, I can't listen to the new Buddy Jewell cd at work. I will be contacting whatever record company this is and complaining. If anybody out there has encountered this, do you know if there's a way around it? If I burn a copy of the cd, can I play that copy on a pc without downloading that software?

41 minutes. 2.10 miles. Even better than yesterday. Today, Julia at work asked me if I was losing weight. Bless her heart!

I got the new Buddy Jewell cd today. I listened to it while I was on the treadmill. What I could hear of it was pretty good. I had the volume turned down a bit. Dad blasts it when he's on there because he's deaf, but I prefer to preserve some of my hearing.

Tonight is the final episode of this season's Nashville Star. I will have to tape it since it's on while I'm asleep.

Organic material found on Titan

40 minutes, 47 seconds and 2.00 miles today on the treadmill. I sure hope I'm getting some kind of weight loss benefit from this. I remember once when I was doing 2 miles a day on the treadmill, I didn't lose anything. What a waste of time that was.

I added a new blog to the Blogs of Note section. It's called "The Smartest Professional Wrestling Fan in the World." Check it out!

45 minutes and 42 seconds: 2.21 miles today. I bested yesterday by about one minute and nearly a quarter of a mile. Yay for me. Guess I owe this accomplishment to Keith Urban - I had his cd playing during the workout.

Buddy Jewell's new cd, Times Like These, comes out Tuesday the 26th. I can't wait for that.

We did get some snow today, but it stuck to the trees and the grassy surfaces - the way snow should be. I don't think it's stopped all day, it's been drizzling and sprinkling.

I did about 46 minutes on the treadmill today. The incline was the steepest my treadmill would go and the pace was fairly quick. It was about 2 miles. Not bad for the first bout of exercise I've done in a week. Unfortunately, mom brought fast food home today for lunch so I had to eat some of that. But only about half of what I normally eat.

I watched the Nashville Star marathon on the USA channel today. And I found out that there's going to be an interesting golf show on Fridays at 7pm. I hope they re-run it because it's on the same time as Andromeda and I'm not missing Andromeda.

We've had a lot of rain lately. Today it's been raining most of the day, but it's been kind of a drizzle. Last night we had hail. It was less than pea sized so it didn't cause any damage. Tonight we are supposed to get snow. Dad picked last night in the rain to go up on the roof to clean out the gutters. On his way down, he fell off the ladder. He's been holding his arm all day and the elbow is a bit swollen. I guess if he feels bad enough, he will go to the doctor.

Just thought I'd jot down a quick little note - the stuff I bought for my niece was mailed out Wednesday. So, hopefully she will get it soon. I'm never sending my mom to run my errands again though. I told her to buy the small blue box of dog worm medicine at walmart and she got the big white box instead. First she told me they didn't have the small blue box, then she said they did but didn't think that was what I wanted. It's that Gemini thing. And I think she kept like $10.00 of my money or something.

I'm glad this week of work is over. Hopefully, next week I can get back on track and actually get some work done.

Tonight is Andromeda night, so I'll be watching that. I am finishing up a romance novel tonight as well.

Alias Spoilers

I just read some spoilers for the end of the season of Alias!!! They are so fantastic! I can't wait. And, since Jack is in them, I'm hoping he isn't as terminally ill as previous spoilers have suggested. I hear Irina comes back, so maybe she brings that Rambaldi stuff they gave to Allison Dorren to bring her back to life and gives it to Jack.

I just finished reading a new Alias book. It's called 2 of a Kind. It is the first of the APO series, which means that they have mysteriously jumped from the prequel books into the most recent storyline - a span of maybe 10 years. I liked the prequel books, and I wonder why they stopped writing those. Hopefully they will come back. Anyway, 2 of a Kind was a good book, some nice Jack and Vaughn moments. Alias is on tonight and hopefully we will learn more about how sick Jack is after exposing himself to dangerously high radiation levels a couple of weeks ago to save Sydney.

Nashville Star was on last night. I didn't get to vote because it comes on while I'm in bed asleep and voting is only open for 3 hours after the show airs. Next week is the final episode and the three contestants left are Jason Meadows, Erika Jo, and Jody Evans. I like all three of them, but none of them really reach out and grab me like Buddy Jewell and Miranda Lambert did in season 1. If I was ranking the final three in order of winner to second runner up it would be Jason, Erika Jo and Jody. Jason is a solid performer who can't go wrong with a George Strait song. Erika Jo is a young (18ish) lady who has a powerful voice. Jody is a police officer who has mastered rockabilly. The reason I pick Jason to win is because he is more marketable than the other two. His only drawback is that if you close your eyes and just listen to his voice, it's hard to distinguish him from Strait, or Tracy Byrd. Erika Jo is exceptionally good, but when I see her I think of Rebecca Lynn Howard, who has just as strong a voice, but really hasn't made much noise since her song, Forgive, was released. I'm afraid Erika Jo will be big for a year or two and then we won't hear from her much after that. I placed Jody third because of his rockabilly style. I don't know how marketable that is. But then Jason is a cowboy and that's what he does most of the time, so both are defined by one predominant style. I'm sure the voting has resulted in a very close margin between all three contestants. I will probably buy the cd of the winner, no matter which one that is. I don't think I would be disappointed by any of the three. It's probably a good thing I didn't vote. I doubt I could have really decided on just one to vote for.

You ever have one of those months where it feels like you've accomplished nothing? I feel that way about work. It seems like I've done nothing the whole month. I had two days off. I spent about a day training people on a new screen in our computer system and writing up the handouts. I just spent a big part of today in a meeting that my boss volunteered me for. A meeting which accomplished very little. I spent a couple of weeks fighting with the stupid people trying to explain to them that they were wrong. Three times they were wrong on one case. And they still have the nerve to suggest they are better than me. They certainly aren't smarter about the job if I have to correct them on their three mistakes in a row. Friday I think I have to train a new case worker on how to refer cases for audit. Another day that I won't accomplish anything (statistic-wise). Oh well, two more days and I can get this week over with.

Today I walked outside for a total of about an hour and a half, broken up into three different sessions. I bathed the dogs. Stuck to the diet pretty well. Watched Jon Stewart on the Oprah show. Did my laundry. Have yet to do: Pay my cell phone bill, balance my checkbook, feed the dogs their supper.

The A-Team: Alias Style

Something I thought of while watching my A-Team dvds - Who would the Alias characters (not the actors, but the characters) play if they were cast in the A-Team movie?

Sydney Bristow = Amy Allen (no brainer there and she'd make a heck of a reporter)
Jack Bristow = Hannibal Smith (Once Jack gets some Prozac to make him mellow, that is)
Marcus Dixon = BA (Dixon is the strong, consistent one. The go-to guy. Mr. Dependable)
Arvin Sloane = Col. Decker (Sloane has had 30 years experience at chasing Rambaldi's ghost. Chasing the A-Team should be no different)
Marshall = Murdock (The way Marshall rambles, he'd be very convincing as a crazy person)
Weiss = Face Man (He's more fun loving and personable than Vaughn. He'd do a better job at connecting with the marks)
Nadia = the daughter of the client
Vaughn = Right hand evil henchman of the villain of the episode or the MP that drives Decker's car.

Has anyone ever noticed that pretty much every evil villain of an A-Team episode was a man? Sign of the times if you ask me - 1980's couldn't have evil women in charge unless you were watching Dynasty.

I've added a few thoughts to the Earth Hath Skin and Maltese Cow blogs. Check them out :) Someday, I'll update the Manuscript Destiny blog. I have written more of the story, just haven't typed it in the pc or posted it yet.

Well, I was wrong

Dead animals everywhere in this Nova episode. One poor bird was covered with something it couldn't get off, so it couldn't fly and just crawled down the beach until some crabs ate it. Yuck! Good thing I heard that this was going to happen and stopped watching it.

This sounds like a good episode.

Hopefully, there won't be any animal deaths or bloody snacking in it. I hate those kind of shows.

Nova
Garden of Eden
Sunday, April 17, 7:00pm

(WV PBS)

This journey to the Seychelles, a collection of pristine granite and coral islands about 1,000 miles east of Kenya, reveals a dramatic landscape of natural wealth and scientific value. The islands, among the oldest islands in the world, are home to a dazzling array of exotic plants and animals. One island, Praslin, boasts rare or unique species of geckos, snails, snakes, parrots and bats. Aldabra, the largest atoll in the world, harbors in its lagoon a profusion of wildlife: sharks, frigate birds with seven-foot wingspans, rare robber crabs, spectacularly colored parrot fish, mangrove forests and the world's largest colony of giant tortoises, numbering some 150,000.

CC, Stereo, Letterboxed TVG Educational Taping Rights: 1 year

A Real Cutie

I watched BBC World News tonight on the BBC America channel and they had a story on this cute little animal newly born at the Bristol Zoo. Check out Kintana and here's something more on the aye-aye.

Shopping

Today I went shopping. Yay for me. I had to wait until the mail had come before heading out. By then it was about noon. So, I went to Dollar General and bought a towel to place in the back dash of my car - I do this to keep the sun from fading my interior. I also bought a couple of mirrors. We have this crazy bird at our house who loves to fight every mirror it sees because it believes the bird in the mirror is a rival. So, I got a mirror to hang up near my car because the bird's favorite mirrors are the side view mirrors of our vehicles. We really don't like the mess the bird leaves behind on our vehicles after the fights. I stopped by Rite-Aid and bought a couple of things and shopped around a little. Rite Aid has really pretty garden decoration - sun catcher things. But they are a bit expensive. I bet Polly could make them and sell them though.

After Rite Aid, it was about 1pm and I had to think about lunch since I left the house without it. So, I first had to decide if I could do Walmart and Krogers and get home without getting too hungry or getting a headache from not eating. I decided no, I couldn't. So, then I just had to choose the place to eat. I considered Pizza Hut and the Mexican Restaurant. Since I had already had pizza once this week, I chose Mexican. I was disappointed to find out that the mexican place no longer has a buffet, but I ate there anyway. As with most Mexican restaurants, this one provided complimentary chips and salsa while waiting on my order. The salsa was some of the hottest I've ever had. It would have been nice if someone could have warned me first.

After leaving a generous 28% tip, I paid for the meal and left for Walmart. At Walmart I bought various things, such as a new flower pot for my African Violet I have at work. It's grown too big for the container it has. I also found a Dora the Explorer beach towel that I bought for my niece. They have all moved to Florida, so naturally she would need a beach towel. A couple was trying to sell puppies outside the Walmart. They were half boxer half shepherd puppies. The mother was big and the puppies big and cute, but I don't want a big dog so I wasn't too tempted. Someone else had a little weiner dog in the back of their car in the Walmart parking lot. The window was down some so the little dog could breathe. It was a cute little thing.

I got home and unpacked all the stuff I bought. Then watched a little of Dr. Phil. Saw some woman who thought everyone in the whole world was jealous of her. I figured the people acted the way they did not because they were jealous of her, but because they didn't like her attitude - the one that believes that there's something to be jealous of. Took Fritz outside for a bit and now I'm waiting around for Andromeda to come on at 7pm.

It was a really beautiful day here, nice, breezy, warm and sunny but not hot. The whole summer should feel just like this with about a day a week of rain. We still need rain, just not tons of it for days at a time.

I got the season 2 A-Team dvds today! I haven't had time to watch them yet, but since I have another 4 day weekend coming up, I'm hoping to watch a few episodes. Interestingly, they included an episode of Knight Rider on the dvds - trying to get people to buy the Knight Rider dvds no doubt.

I saw the first flea of the season a little while ago roaming around on Steffi. I tried to squash it but I don't think I did. Now you know that winter is over.

FYI - The new Miranda Lambert CD, Kerosene, is great for driving. I had to go to P-Burg today for work and played the cd on the 91 mile round trip. It works well.

Lovely Shade of Lobster Red

Well, as you might guess, I got some sun today! I hope the red fades into a nice tan that sticks around a while. I never get good tans. I also got in two bouts of exercise - about an hour's worth of walking. I watched some of the Prince Charles and Camilla wedding festivities. Some very interesting hats were worn by guests at the blessing. And one woman wore a very short frilly dress that should not be worn on a windy day. Once the blessing coverage started I switched the tv over to CMT. They said there would be a part where the two of them would confess sins and stuff and I just wasn't interested in that. I have to say though, it was nice to see a happy occasion on tv as opposed to the constant vigil over the dead body of the Pope.

Finally!!!

It's about time I get to post on my own blog. Yesterday I tried and tried to post an entry and I kept getting a message about something having no data or content or something like that. So, I thought, well, maybe it's my web browser, so I switched from Firefox to IE and still nothing. Finally, I got to the create a post screen and had composed an entry, only to have it disappear and not post at all! I don't know what's going on with Blogger, but they need to fix it. I may have to start composing all my entries on wp software and then copying and pasting them into this create a post screen when I get a chance so I don't lose my entry. Let me see if I can recall what I said yesterday that didn't get posted:

1) The romance book I told you about earlier was pretty good. The female lead character got on my nerves a bit but not as much as some do. The book was well plotted and the characters were pretty good. The author brought them to life in a way that I rarely see these days. I especially liked the flashback scenes of the two main characters.

2) Alias on Wednesday was excellent. Not the whole Sydney and Vaughn thing, but Jack and his actions to save his daughter just rocked. He is awesome. I don't really want to see him sick and/or dying and I have hope that he will pull through and recover fully. I don't think the writers would kill him off. I do want to know what's going on between him and Sloane. I get the impression that whatever deal Jack agreed to, it's because he's protecting Sydney from whatever the final Rambaldi hunt will bring. That whole prophesy about the Chosen One (Sydney) and the Passenger (Nadia) fighting each other and one dying - I think Jack made his deal with Sloane to try to affect that somehow.

3) I was watching part of the first round of the Masters golf tournament and I actually ended up defending Tiger Woods to the announce team. This is unusual because I am no fan of Tiger Woods. But, I don't think the announce team should have characterized things the way they did after Tiger's putt rolled into Ray's Creek on the 13th hole. The announce team said that this had to be highly embarrassing for Tiger because it's the worst shot they had ever seen in golf. Well, it wouldn't be so embarrassing for Tiger if the media hadn't built up his reputation as high as they did. The media made Tiger into some golfing god-like being and now chooses to highlight his bad shot and build that up into something as well. Shame on the media.

I started reading this book I picked up at Walmart today. It's called Calculated Risk. It's about a female genius who is affiliated with the CIA and her older male trainer. At first glance, you might think this bears some resemblance to my Manuscript Destiny story, but the more I get into the book, it becomes clear that the stories are really nothing alike. Thank goodness. I would hate to think that I had the same idea someone else had years before. But it's an interesting book thus far. The only thing that annoys me about it is that this writer has obviously taken the 'show, don't tell' rule to heart. Every little detail she can throw in there to make you believe these guys are spies is described. For a reader who pretty much only reads dialogue, this makes for a difficult read. Oh well. It's still a pretty good book.

We have had some really good weather the last few days. I have actually gotten some exercise after work thanks to the sunshine and warm temperatures. Since I fell off the diet wagon a few weeks ago and ate anything I wanted to for about three weeks, I figured I'd better get back on track.

My sister, brother-in-law, and niece and nephew have moved to Florida from Cincinatti. From what I hear, it was a big hassle and a lot of things didn't go as planned, but I think things are settling down a little now.

A funny story from the Weekly World News.