Still No Dog

I just finished making a LOST poster for my parents with Maggie's picture. You see those posters around all the time, but for some reason I never thought about those animals were lost.

My brother had been calling me like crazy since Sunday, but I was avoiding his call like the plague. The last thing I wanted to hear was his take on the whole situation! Finally last night on my way back from my Anatomy & Physiology quiz I gave in. He said,

"You're not being a dumbass and busting mom's chops about this mutt problem are you?"

I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. Was he thinking I was pressing her to take off work and find the dog? That I would make her feel bad for being so upset? That I would tell her it's her fault the dog slipped out of her collar and ran off?

Apparently it was the latter. Why would I ever say that to her? That's the kind of thing he would say, perhaps. Something must have pissed him off because he tried several different ways to bait me into an argument. Lucky for him I was in a very good mood at the time (I got an 85 on my quiz and the class average was a 69!).

He also wanted to debate about how I was "an emotional child," my marital status, and the last episode of The Sopranos. That about covers it all, right?

I don't think I linked to this article yet, but if you were at all into The Sopranos then you should definitely read it. It makes some amazing points about the last episode, and now I really enjoy the way it ended. I love finding a good article.

Off to another day of sitting in meetings and having no time to finish any of the "top priorities" on my desk! Hoorah!

Gifts

So I found a great new reality tv show while I was on vacation. Of course, great means that it's pretty ridiculous... but for some reason I found it completely addicting. I guess they had a marathon going on very late one night, and I just kept watching episode after episode. If you haven't yet seen The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search, then I suggest you do! I'm not even sure that I get the country music television here... probably not, but I can dream.

With all the overtime money I made the other week I decided that I should use at least a little bit of it to buy something nice for myself. I thought about getting a cute little iPod nano, but since I really don't listen to music that much and I rarely buy new music, I thought my money would be spent better with something else. I finally decided on a new computer monitor - 20.1" widescreen!

I love it. And dang, it's even cheaper now than when I bought it last week! Having an enormous widescreen monitor is excellent, everyone's blog looks amazing and games, which I was never that into before, are suddenly much more appealing.

I really like looking at people's photos with the new monitor. Last night I was looking on Facebook, and I found out that someone I knew in college (we took a class together) is engaged. He had just posted some pictures of his fiance, but something looked a little odd. She was clearly in another country, her eyes were always down, and she was always in very traditional dress with her parents standing close by. I realized that this is an arranged marriage!

I've never known anyone who has had an arranged marriage before. He seems completely thrilled about it, referring to her as "my" so-and-so. She didn't look that happy, but who knows, maybe she's excited about it too. The idea of an arranged marriage just baffles me. After all the work we put in to find that person who really understands us and makes us feel good, his marriage will be more about getting to know one another. Maybe that bonds a couple in a way I just can't understand. I don't really know enough (or anything) about arranged marriage to start going off about it, it was just something interesting that struck me when I saw that photo.

T.G.I.T.

How About the 'Angel' Gag Reels to Brighten Up a Monday?

I'm Thankful, Sure

So... everyone have a good holiday?

Mine started off pretty well. I made sweet potato casserole and a pumpkin cake (recipe courtesy of the back of the pumpkin pans I bought from Williams-Sonoma) to take home. This was my first time making anything to bring home, and I was excited about it.

Because I had made this casserole once before for a Thanksgiving potluck and peeling the potatoes had totally exhausted me, I wanted to peel them a night early this time. This is also when I learned that when I made them for the potluck, I was using the peeler upside down and with a protective strip of plastic over the blades... tell me again I should go to culinary school!

So after that fine example of high intelligence, all I had to do was mash 'em, mix 'em with some tasty stuff like brown sugar and put the pecans on top. I think it turned out well (after all the shenanigans early on...).

The little pumpkin cakes turned out well also. I don't know if I'd ever made a cake completely from scratch, including the icing. It was a lot of fun and smelled great.

Of course, making the icing was a little scary... one whole package of cream cheese, one whole stick of butter...

I usually try not to invite heart attacks into my life...

In the Williams-Sonoma cake example pictures they have the icing drizzled over the cake. I don't know how they did it, because this icing wasn't exactly the drizzly kind.
All things considered, Thanksgiving day itself was good. All the food was great. Of course, it's a little disappointing not having a big family or lots of friends to share it with. Thanksgiving, at least to me, seems like it should involve more than just the immediate family. But what can you do when the rest of your family is pretty far away, your brother refuses to cross the Mason-Dixon line, and your friends have family to share it with who aren't quite as crazy. My dinner highlight was my dad thanking the pilgrims during grace...

After dinner at my house, boyfriend and I went to his grandmother's house for Dinner Part II. It's amazing how different our families are. One of his cousins kept showing me dirty jokes and pictures on his cell phone, that was... festive?

I also spent a lot of time at a friend's house. He recently built himself an amazing home theater system. He has a massive project which he hooks up to the tv, dvd player, xbox, and wii. He installed shakers in the couch that vibrate you when there's a lot of bass (watching a loud action movie or blowing up stuff on one of the gaming systems). When he decided he wanted more shake, he purchased another set of shakers; this is the kind used in rides at amusement parks. When it's on, the entire house is shaking and the lights flicker. Probably, his house will crack and implode, but it's probably one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We endured a very rough Virginia vs. Virginia Tech game on it, then switched to xbox.

The subwoofers were knocking things off shelves. These pictures just don't do it justice.We left early on Sunday to beat the traffic. When we got home I completely vegged on the couch and finished the Angel series. The end left me feeling awful; one because it's somewhat of a cliffhanger, two because I always get that hollow feeling once I finish a series (book or tv). It's like losing a friend! Even when it pisses you off, you're still invested in the characters and the outcome. The end is always too soon, and there's no good way to wrap it all up. I surfed around looking for character or director interviews, trying to give me some finality, but I didn't find anything that satisfying.

It was also a little scary finishing because I'd been watching it for so long. It was my hobby, my thing to do when I wanted to relax. Now do I actually have to face the world? Make decisions? Do grown-up stuff? Take responsibility? I'll have to find something else to hide out with soon!