It is Monday

Thanks for joining us.

First, let me start off by saying that I never expected to generate such high volumes expectation around this here blog. This all started out with a random idea I had last week, and I wanted to make sure I 1) didn't forget to write about it and 2) generated at least some interest in reading the post.

So, here goes.

I'm formally declaring that this day be officially known as "De-lurking Day."

Lurking, according to me, is scanning and/or reading blogs without formally participating in the discussion via comments. I lurk on about 80 or so blogs, via the wonderful world of Bloglines. I keep up with tons of people through their blogs. People I don't know, nor have I ever met. They don't even know I exist.

And I'm guessing that many of you do the same.

Now, there may be other folks out there that consider lurking to be different from what I have described above. But for now, let's just agree that if you're reading this blog, or any other blog for that matter, and you're just consuming information without the author knowing that you are out there, you are lurking. It's not a good or bad thing. It's just lurking.

So out of the closet with you! And with me! Make your presence known!

I'm challenging myself to de-lurk on 5-10 blogs today. I'm going to make my presence known to the authors, not for my notoriety, but for their information. You should do the same. Comment on 5-10 blogs you've never commented on before. And suggest that your readers do the same. It's a movement that's sweeping this corner of the internet, so you should be a part of it.

For example, I had no idea that the good doctor read my blog until he commented last week. Voila! A new reader! Yipee! Welcome to the club, doctor!

For those of you who write blogs, don't you want to know who's out there? Encourage your audience to speak up. Threaten them with a nasty note...wait, no. I take that back. Just stick with the encouragement. That'll probably work better :)

Are you in?

Don't hate me because I'm anticlimactic

I've never been so afraid of potentially being hated than I am now.

Please, when Monday comes, promise me, dear sweet Internet, that you will not hate me.

In other news, I'm currently addicted to the following things (in list form, of course):

• Life Savers Wint-o-green mints
• Project Runway
• Checking Evite for RSVPs
• Checking mailbox for other RSVPs
• Snooze button
• Chapstick
• Plucking my eyebrows
• Picking at my fingers (PLEASE STOP ME!!! [<-Shameless cry for help])
• Puppies

Monday is the big day people

Oh yes, you heard me right. Monday will be hoppin'

:)

Big news....coming soon

Big news coming soon, folks. Stay tuned. You won't want to miss this.

Pilates 101

Yesterday, I tried my first Pilates class. Let's just say, it was interesting and I laughed. Then I doubled over in pain. Then I laughed again.

Have you ever taken Pilates? Yeah, good for you. Me? Not so much. I can barely even touch my toes, let alone roll around in a ball and focus on my "core" and "scooping in my tailbone." Needless to say, it was fun.

At one point, we were sitting on the mat, facing the folks on the other side of the room and clapping our feet together like a bunch of seals. I thought to myself, "this has got to be the most bizarre thing I have ever done" but hey, who doesn't like seals?

I strongly recommend going with a buddy. My buddy happened to be my friend/ex-roommate/personal trainer Lindsay. I basically just copied what she did when I had no idea what the instructor was talking about...which was pretty much every instruction she gave.

One thing to note: don't do Pilates right after you do a leg workout. You will hurt. A lot. And then part of your body will die later that day. That part would be the part south of your belly button.

Another thing to note: your feet cramp. Like a mother! With the flexing and the pointing and the lifting. I had to take a break and go uncramp my feet several times. I could flex my feet with no problem. It was the pointing I couldn't do. Bummer. But it happened to someone else in the class too, so I didn't feel alone.

If you're interested in Pilates, or just want to see the various ways in which I tortured myself yesterday, check out learningpilates.com

Here's the exercises that we did yesterday:

• Crisscross
• Modified hundred
• Open leg rocker
• Rolling like a ball
• Single leg kick
• Single leg stretch

And many, many more.

The cure-all

Yesterday I said that I was in a funk. A funk which required me to administer several "comfort foods" to myself during the afternoon. A computer-induced funk.

Well, last night I was in the presence of something great. Something which, without fail, will pull anyone out of any funk, no matter how bad said funk is.

Puppies.

PUPPIES!!

Yay for puppies!

A couple in our Bible study brought their 3 week old puppies to the group last night. They were literally the cutest things I'd seen in awhile. They were tiny, soft, black, and sleepy. They were just learning to walk, but basically, they sat on you for extended periods of time and slept.

Oh happy day!

Who doesn't like puppies? Seriously, they were so fun. Several of the girls shared puppy duty last night, taking turns passing them around and remarking about their cuteness. Distracting? A little, especially when they would make adorable little puppy noises. But other than that, a warm welcome to Bible study.

I ask you, my dear friends, if we can clone a sheep, why can we not come up with something that makes puppies stay like puppies for a long time? That would just be the best thing since sliced bread, in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong here - I'm no fan of small dogs. Can't stand 'em. I love big dogs, and really want one whenever Amar and I have the means with which to take care of one (i.e. house + yard). Medium-sized dogs are ok, depending on the breed. But dogs that fit in your purse? Creepy.

Unless!

Unless they were puppies!

Puppies in your purse would be fantastic!

Well, maybe not fantastic, but more fun than a little rat-dog in your purse.

So I started thinking last night...if we really could prolong the puppy stage, you'd have to have some way to take them around with you. Preferrably, not in your handbag. And then it hit me (like many of my other life-changing ideas that I'll share with you later): cuppies*!!



*This idea is patented, trademarked, and is offically creative property of the author. How sad would it be if someone actually tried to steal the idea of cuppies...

For more cuteness, check out cuteoverload.com

List! List! Get your list!

So apparently there's a "list-off" among several of my friends. I had a recent entry in list form here, and then a few other folks joined the list world as well.

Why not continue the fun?

I was a bit grumpy earlier today, so I decided to opt for some "comfort food" which got me thinking about food in general. I'm not normally a person who eats when stressed. I kind of do the opposite. In fact, during the first year in my "real" job after college, I lost 15 pounds. No bueno.

But there's the occasional craving that I have. Thus, a list of foods which I often crave:

• Ice cream, all sorts
• BLT sandwiches*
• Chocolate milk
• Orange juice
• Diet Dr. Pepper*
• Coffee
• Dark chocolate (see previous entries about Dove)
• Big Wint-o-green Lifesavers**
• Fortune cookies

*These foods happen to be on today's "Get me out of my funk" menu for lunch.
**I can go through a big bag of these in an afternoon. Easy.

I'm noticing that a majority of these are liquids. Interesting.

What's on your list?



Note: Honorable mention to Krista for her list of questions.

Two posts in one day

Call me crazy - call me bored. But yes, two posts in one day. And for this, the second installment, I'll spare you the strikeouts.

Anderson Cooper, famed CNN correspondent, keeps a blog. I subscribe to it, and occasionally, it catches my eye. Especially when he (and/or his co-authors) brings to light the same debate that I had 24 hours previously.

Amar and I were talking yesterday about the situation Middle East. I've virtually been captivated by it since it started intensifying a few days back. I'm not sure why, but if there's a website with an article about it, I'm reading. If there's a news update on tv, I'm watching.

I'm not going to go into the whole Biblical dynamic at work here. A different post for a different time. But I do have thoughts on that which I'm sure will make for a great discussion in the comments :)

What Amar and I were discussing the other day was the idea about evacuating Americans from Lebanon. Who pays for it? The evacuees? The US government? To be honest with you, I'm not sure what side I'm on. It originally struck me as quite odd that the evacuees were required to pay in the end. But Amar pointed out that they chose to go to a risky area. Tourists are very different from government employees. Employees have to be there. Tourists do not.

The blog explores this a bit as well in the article here. I have a few thoughts about the points that the author makes. He states that this debate is similar to, or even the same one, that crops up when hikers are rescued from mountains, or when boats are pulled from rough seas.

I don't know that I'd say it's the same debate. Am I uninformed? Likely. What happens when someone leaves a candle lit at their house, and then needs to be rescued after flames engulf the structure? Does that home owner get a bill from the fire department? Honestly, I have no idea if they do get a bill or not. If you know, please leave a comment.

Or what happens when people are rescued from a hostage situation? Do they have to pay in full for their safe return? Maybe?

All this to say, I really don't know who pays for getting Americans out of harms way. But honestly, why are we bickering about finances when there are far more important things to be done (in my humble opinion)?

And please, don't get me started on this Bush/Blair expletive story. How in the world is that a headline when people are literally tossing rockets at each other for weeks at a time?

P.S. For some reason, my gut feel is that the US should care for its citizens no matter where they are. But I really have no grounds for that stance. Just an opinion.

And now for something completely different

I consider myself to be a rather decent speller. Nonetheless, I still use spell check. I even have people proof read things for me occasionally. But I got to thinking what a blog post would look like if I avoided the "ABC" button that I so frequently use. What would it look like if I just let the typos speak for themselves?

So here goes - for the remainder of this post, I will not use spell check. I will not correct typos. I will try my best to let the post prove to you just how easily my mind gets ahead of my fingers :) and just what a moron I might be.

The rules:
1) I will not use spell check
2) I will not use the backspace or delete button if at all possible
3) I will only correct typos that may hinder site functionality
4) I will type at normal speed
5) I will make liberal use of the "del" tag, most likely
6) Wish me luck!

*******Line of Spelling Demarcation*********

I wanted to write about the Middle East, but I started to do ta= that and realized f that for such an a lighthearted expirement that probably was not the best topoi topic to try this out on.

So I'll talk abotu food. I'll embarass myself infront of the blog-reading world and just let it be oknown that I cannot cook NOR can I type well. I can beake, yeas. (Woah, carried away with the ea's there for a bit). But for the lif of me, I cannot cook. No matter what I try to prepare, I typically wind up with some sort of plain, bakedn chicken, and some side side dish like rice or souscous couscous.

Something magically happens in my kicthen. I could quite literally have a pot fulll of noodles and an oven full of fish, and wind up with chicken and rice. This is much to the dissapointment of my dear fiance, Amar. He is quite a patient mad man, but we wind up eating out a lot!

Lat year, I was in a Bible study going through Titus 2 with a group of girls. We got a to a certain point in the study where it stated started to discuss the "fi "gifts of mai marriage" an dI laughed out loud. I was more than a little critical of the author at this point in the study. He started listing home-making tasks: cooing cooking, cleaning, swe sewing, etc. Based on the author's assessment, I was doomed to be a spinster.

Apparently, I'm provid proving him/her wrong, in that I'm gettting married in 30 days, figted or no.

BUT

We still have a problem, my friends. My future mother-in-law arrives in the ares area Sunday, and she is a fabulous cook. Shell She'll likely take one look at my kitchen and forbit Amar from marryingme. On the other hand, the more optimistic hand, the happier hand, she may just take me under her wing and teach me how to cook some mean Indian food.

Oh yes, my friends, home cooked Indian food. If you're interested, please let em me. Whoops, I dont' eve know how to correct tat sentence. Let's try again, shall we? If you are interested in home cooked Indian food, and you redise reside r nearby, please let m eknow. We'd love to have you over so that you can partake in the feast.

So, in conclusion, not only have I given you evidence of my pook ungiftedness in the cooking department, I have also given you evidence that I am completely incabable of typing coherent thoughts without using the backspace key.

In my defense, I really think that it's not a problemn with my reading comprehension or my general understanding of the English language. The poblem is two-fols:

• I really am trying hard to not make mistakes today and therefore, I"M MAKING A LOT!
• My fingers can't keep up with my mind. Te minute I start typing a thought, I'm thinking another thought, and then I can't keep them straight and the keyboard gets in the way. Please forgive man me and please don't think I'm a total idiot n the next time we speak. That would really mean a lot to me :)

Personal Finance: rant?

So I read a few personal finance blogs here and there. It's always been a topic that has interested me for some reason. Probably because it fits in beautifully with my somewhat scary attachment to all things Excel related.

Anyhow, I was catching up on some blog postings this morning and came across a post titled something like "Cut corners today and retire early and rich" or something like that. The gist of the article was that if you choose to pack your own lunch a few days a week, and take less trips to the local coffee shop, over time, you'll save a billion dollars.

The concept is true enough. But it's the execution of it that really matters. Let's say that you do decide to brown bag it to work a few days a week. And let's say that over a week you have "saved" $20 doing so. And let's say that you cut back on the americanos and lattes for that week, "saving" $10. For the week you have spent about $30 less that you spent the previous week. So you're up $30. In a month you're up $120.

Now if you're anything like the typical consumer, at the end of the month you peek at your bank statement and think, "Wow! Extra money! Let's go see a movie, honey! Or how about a new pair of shoes?"

There a big difference between 1) saving money and 2) not spending money. If you avoid the coffees and the dining out, but you do nothing with the money you didn't spend except for keep it around and spend it later on something else, then you haven't gained much.

The key to the article isn't "cut corners and save money" it's "cut corners, save money, and put your saved money to work." Pick a mutual fund to invest in. Put it in an ING account. Just don't put it in your change jar.

I don't know why this struck me this morning...how are you? Anything you want to rant about?

My list

It's been awhile since I've posted. I think I was 1) waiting for something post-worthy to happen and 2) reeling from all of the post-worthy happenings. So here it is, in random list form. I'll write more about a few of these in more detail, but I hope this will suffice for now.

The count, over the last week:

• Total car breakdowns: 1
• Car loans applied for: 1
• Nifty friends who have helped with car situation: 10+
• Used car searches on the internet: 50+
• Fireworks observed from a moving car: 97
• Days off from work in a row: 4
• Days I slept in: 4
• Days I worked from home due to car situation: 1
• Cup cakes baked: 20
• Cup cakes consumed for breakfast: 5
• Times I hijacked a car without the owner knowing: 1
• Random people staying in our house over the past 10 days: 4
• Days until the wedding: 43
• Days until the future in-laws arrive: 16
• Boy band sing-alongs attended: 1
• Celebrity sightings: 2
• Press-related photo shoots: 1
• Tow trucks hired: 2
• Weddings attended: 1
• Invitations stuffed: 125
• Long lost friends found through MySpace: 1
• Random friends spotted about town: 3
• Random friends assisting with car loan: 1
• Pages read in children's fiction book: 75
• Good friends leaving work permanently: 3
• Burst into tears: 3
• Burst into wild laughter: 13