The Soda Stand

Archive for November, 2006

When I was going to grief therapy last year, this was hanging on the wall of my therapist’s office. I asked for a copy of it. Later today, I’ll be posting the other half of what’s on this sheet.

Twelve Steps to Insanity
Author Unknown

1. We admitted we were powerless over nothing ~ that we could manage our lives perfectly and those of anyone who would allow us.

2. Came to believe that there was no power greater than ourselves and the rest of the world was insane

3. Made a decision to have our loved ones turn their wills and their lives over to our care even though they couldn’t understand us at all.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of someone we knew.

5. Admitted to the whole world the exact nature of everyone else’s wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to make others give us the respect we deserved.

7. Demanded others do our will because we were always enlightened.

8. Made a list of all persons who had harmed us and became willing to go to any lengths to get even with them all.

9. Go direct revenge on such people wherever possible except when to do so would cost us our lives or at the very least a jail sentence.

10. Continue to take inventory of others and when they were wrong, promptly and repeatedly told them about it.

11. Sought through complaining and medication to improve our relations with others as we could not understand them at all, asking only that they do things our way.

12. Having had a complete physical, emotional and spiritual breakdown, as a result of these steps, we tried to blame others and to get sympathy and pity in all our affairs.

I have a list of things that annoy me. Some are pet peeves and others are just generalized annoyances. I know I can’t do anything about them, but it sure feels good to bitch about them.

What annoys you? Here’s a small list of things that annoy me.

* Mean people. When people are mean just to be mean, because they can. It makes no sense to me and I can’t wrap my brain around it.

* When there are 15+ BOTB’s going on and it takes forfuckingever for the battle my blog is in to finish. What the fuck people? Just vote. It takes a minimum of 1 minuteless than a minute to complete a vote. 3020 seconds each blog. How fucking hard is that?

* Auto play music on blogs. OK, this annoyance is ONLY allowed on MySpace. It annoys me to no end when I’m going to a blog via Blog Explosion and it has autoplay music. It’s less of an annoyance to me if there is a button I can click on to shut the fucker off. 9 outta 10 times, I hate the music playing.

* Daytime television. As you all know, I’ve been at home for several weeks due to surgery. Daytime television sucks ass and there’s rarely anything on cable to alleviate that ass sucking.

* Not being able to do simple physical activities without either a) hurting myself or b) tiring myself out so much that I just plop down and sleep a few hours away.

* The phone ringing incessantly (like it was the other day ~ hence why my cell phone is still turned off)

* People who hurt my best friend’s feelings. Some drama occured at the dinner yesterday and it annoyed me. Actually it pissed me off and I wanted to throttle a few people. I didn’t though. It was Thanksgiving, ya know?

* Bloglines when it doesn’t update my fave blogs.

There’s a small list of things that annoy me. I’m sure I could come up with a longer list than this, but I thought I’d ask you guys to comment instead and tell me…..what annoys you?

Until next time…

Being the curious chica that I am, I wanted to find the meaning of “Black Friday.” Yes, it is the one of the busiest shopping days in the U.S. But what exactly does it mean? Where did the name Black Friday come from?

I went to Wikipedia.org (did you doubt that’s where I would go? sheeesh) and this is what I found:

In history there have been a number of events that happened on a Friday and are known as Black Friday:

* Black Friday (1869), a financial crisis in the United States
* Black Friday (1881) in which 189 Scottish fishermen lost their lives
* Black Friday (1889), the day of the Johnstown Flood.
* Black Friday (1910), the Women’s Social and Political Union took militant action when the Conciliation Bill failed.
* Black Friday (1919), a riot in Glasgow stemming from industrial unrest
* Black Friday (1921), day on which British dockers’ and railwaymen’s union leaders announced their decision not to call for strike action against wage reductions for miners
* Black Friday (1939), a day of devastating fires in Australia
* Black Friday (1944), disastrous attack by the Canadian Black Watch near Woensdrecht during The Battle of the Scheldt.
* Black Friday (1945), largest air battle over Norway, over Sunnfjord
* Hollywood Black Friday (1945), the day the six-month-old Confederation of Studio Unions (CSU) strike boiled over into a bloody riot at the Warner Bros. studios leading to the eventual breakup of the CSU.
* Black Friday (1959), Occurred Feb. 20, 1958. On this day the Canadian CF-105 Avro Arrow project was cancelled by Prime Minister Diefenbaker. In all a total of 30,000 workers at the Avro plants were laid off.
* Black Friday (1978), a massacre of protesters in Iran
* Black Friday (1982), known in Britain after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, sparking the Falklands War
* Black Friday (1987), the day an hour-long F4 category tornado ran through the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
* Black Friday (2004), a crackdown on a peaceful protest in the capital city of Maldives, Malé.

Other uses of the term include:

* Black Friday, a name used for any Friday which falls on the 13th of a month
* Black Friday, the Friday preceding Easter, also known as Good Friday or God Friday.
* Black Friday (shopping), the day after Thanksgiving Day in the United States, the first shopping day of the Christmas season and one of the busiest shopping days of the year
* “Black Friday” is the name given to the last Friday before Christmas in the United Kingdom. It is a day when widespread anti-social behaviour due to public alcohol consumption is expected to occur, and police are given additional powers to combat it
* Black Friday (1940 film), a science-fiction/horror film starring Boris Karloff, Stanley Ridges and Bela Lugosi
* Black Friday (2005 film), a Hindi film on the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, directed by Anurag Kashyap
* Black Friday, the title of a song by Grinspoon
* Black Friday, the title of a song by Steely Dan
* Black Friday, the title of a song by Megadeth
* Black Friday Rule, a title of a song by Flogging Molly
* “Black Friday”, the nickname for game 3 of the 1977 NLCS baseball championships. Philadelphia Phillies fans gave the nickname because the Phillies blew an early lead against the Los Angeles Dodgers and a controversial call was made during the game
* “Black Friday”, a title of a poem written by Dennis Rader, the BTK killer

Holy shit. That’s a lot of references to the term Black Friday. So I clicked on the one that I bolded, cause that’s the term I’m looking for.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Many consider it the “official” beginning to the Christmas season. Most retailers will open very early and usually provide massive discounts on their products, and offer doorbuster deals to draw people to their stores.

Although Black Friday is typically the busiest shopping day of the year in terms of customer traffic, it is not typically the day with the highest sales volume. That is usually either Christmas Eve, the last Saturday before Christmas, or December 26th (see Boxing Day).[1]

OK, we are getting closer to where I want to be.

One theory is that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss for most of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season. When this would be recorded in the financial records, common accounting practices use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink would show positive amounts. Black Friday is the beginning of the period where they would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year’s profits (the black).

And there you have it folks. One theory on why we call the Friday after Thanksgiving ~ Black Friday.

If I felt better, I’d be out there with the crowds. I’d be shopping for some hot deals and Christmas gifts.

One thing I did accomplish today so far, I purchased and shipped the gift for the person whose name I drew in the Secret Santa thing some friends and I are participating in. WOOT.

Now I just need to finish the fuckton of Christmas cards I have to send.

Until next time….

You’ll notice I removed the sticky post. I had my brother (he rocks, ya know) put the teddy bear in my sidebar with a link. If you haven’t already, click on the teddy bear. Just do it. I know you want too.

What a wonderful day this was. I hung out at home and watched football this morning. We went to my best friend’s house at around 1:20pm. We came home around 5pm. I got comfy on the couch for an hour or so and I have now been watching reruns of CSI again. I think I need to invest in the series on DVD.

I’ve avoided answering my cell phone for two days. It’s been very nice. I turned the ringer off and hid the fucker so no one can bug me. Yesterday from about 9am until 1pm, my cell phone or the home phone rang countless times. So I turned the cell phone off and that took care of half the problem.

Josie is laying on the couch next to me, just sleeping away the evening. I’m tempted to lay down with her and sleep. I’d probably end up missing Grey’s Anatomy, so I’m not going to sleep yet.

The commercial for the Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist drinks drives me nutty. Spike plays it twice in a row. WTF?!?!? It’s stupid. I think I laughed the first time I saw it. And then I just start to cringe everytime thereafter.

I’ve set the DVR to record that Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower later this evening. It’s on right now, but I’d miss Grey’s Anatomy. Have you noticed a theme here? LOL

Until next time….

Today, in America, it’s Thanksgiving. This is the day we give thanks for what we have in our lives.

If you came here for a FOAD post, sorry to disappoint. It’s a holiday and I will be skipping it this week.

This is my first Thanksgiving as a blogging addict someone who blogs. Pretty cool, huh?

Today, I am thankful for my family. That would be Mom, Slobokan, my SIL Gidge and my three nephews.

I am thankful for my friends in Gambler’s Anonymous, who keep me humble and help me realize it’s OK to be who I am.

My friends here in the blogosphere. WOW. I don’t even know what to say. Everyone who has commented, everyone who lurks and everyone I chat with on Did I Say That? I could list some people, like Mr. Fabulous and his wife, NYC Watchdog, Virginia, Frankie, Red Betty, Karen (the awesome lady who sent me flowers when I got home from the hospital), and Kentucky Girl (who has helped me remember the spirit of the season), and Laci over at Long, Slow, Beautiful Dance.

I could go on and list lots more people, I just don’t have the energy right now. So please forgive me if I did not list you. I love you all anyway.

Today I am thankful I have a roof over my head. We have had some serious problems with the mortgage on our house and the situation has gone from bad to worse. But currently, we still have this roof over our heads.

I am thankful for my career, which I love. I can’t imagine doing anything else (actually I could – it would just mean going to college or some crazy shit like that).

I watched this show on the History channel called Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower. It was a phenomenal story of how the people on the Mayflower suffered on the crossing and then also how they treated the first set of Indians (OK Native Americans for you PC folk) they encountered.

It was very interesting to watch it from this point of view. It gave me a new insight into the crossing.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you are not in the United States, have a wonderful day anyway!

Until next time….

I had typed up this huge bitching, whining and complaining post. And my laptop crashed. Lost it’s connection to the internet. I almost lost my mind.

I over did it today. By a lot. I went to Target and then went to my best friends house to deliver the stuffing for tomorrow’s meal.

It’s been 23 days since my surgery and I’m going stir crazy mentally. Mentally I’m ready to get back to things. Physically, I can’t do it. I’m learning to be patient.

In those 23 days since I’ve been off work, I’ve spent almost every waking hour on BE. Taking low amount and high amount battles. In all the boredom and stir craziness, I somehow lost all my credits LOL That makes me laugh. I’ll be doing some surfing tomorrow after dinner and all weekend. Not like I have anything else to do, right? HEHE

After I over did it today, I was laying on the couch with a pillow on my tummy. Josie was sitting on it while I was coaxing her to lay down. Instead of laying down, she launched herself from her hind legs OFF my stomach onto the back of the couch.

I cried. A lot. I’m still in a bit of pain and I’m mad at my laptop for crashing on me. It made me type this post over again. And the post it erased was good. Seriously.

Until next time…

During the course of this day (since midnight my time) 7 out of 40 people found my blog through searching for Miami Ink in various forms. Three of you found me through doing a search for Orlando Bloom (hottie!!!!). Two of you found me through searching for the lyrics to Walking Is Easy When the Road if Flat.

I decided to check my handydandy Sitemeter today to see how people are finding me. For the second time in as many months, someone found my blog by searching for “helmand province afghanistan” which confuses me a bit cause I’ve never talked about that.

I still get lots of searches for the Blue October song Hate Me.

clit piercing ~ OK, excuse me? I’ve never fucking talked about that shit! What the hell? People are sick.

sodapop green eggs outsiders ~ HUH? I don’t get it. Do you?

le code da vinci ~ Hmmm French for the Da Vinci Code maybe?

my ass ~ Uhhh OK. WTF?

novasure pregnancy ~ OK. Having had an endometrial ablation via the Novasure Procedure, pregnancy is BAD BAD BAD after this procedure.

I also had a few searches for Todd Dengler (my best friend who died last year) and Stephen Mulderry (the 9/11 person I did the tribute for).

On a different note entirely, Josie is getting VERY good at using her doggy door. Currently, she does not realize that she can go out there anytime she wants. She still waits for me to walk her to the door and I sometimes have to coax her out the door. However, she’s doing phenomenally well at learning how to use it since she is 6 years old and it’s the first time I’ve tried to get her to use one.

I’m not particularly looking forward to the day she figures out she can go outside whenever she wants. LOL. But I’ll deal with it when it happens.

Until next time….

I am very intrigued by other cultures. I love learning new things about the culture or religion of different countries. It’s interesting to me and I love to read about it, learn about it, etc.

I was on Blogthings tonight and I found this blogthing, What’s Your Dosha? I had NO clue what a “dosha” was, so I, of course, went to Wikipedia.org to learn more about dosha. Click on the word dosha and it takes you to the page. I found it very interesting!

Your Dosha is Pitta

You have a quick mind, a gift for persuasion, and a sharp sense of humor. You have both the drive and people skills to be a very successful leader. Argumentative and a bit stubborn, you have been known to be a little too set in your ways. But while you may be biased toward your own point of view, you are always honest, fair, and ethical. With friends: You are outgoing and open to anyone who might want to talk to you In love: You are picky but passionate To achieve more balance: Be less judgmental of those around you, and take cool walks in the moonlight.

My dosha is Pitta. I had to look that up too and thankfully, it was on the SAME page on Wikipedia, so I didn’t have to go searching again.

Pitta is said to be composed of fire; it governs, “all heat, metabolism and transformation in the mind and body. It controls how we digest food, how we metabolize our sensory perceptions, and how we discriminate between right and wrong.” Pitta must be kept in balance, too. Too much Pitta can lead to anger, criticism, acidity, ulcers, rashes and thinning hair. A balanced Pitta mind makes one a good leader with a warm personality.

Pitta types are generally average physically. Their skin inclines towards redness and sensitivity, sunburns easily. They tend to have fine, soft, red or fair hair (though Pittas have been known to have darker hair, like golden brown.) Eyes tend to be blue, grey, hazel or amber. Their moods change slowly and they are busy people, usually achieving much in their lives. They are more intellectual and speech is clear, sharp, and precise. They are fiery, angry, judgemental, ambitious and chivalrous.

The Pitta doshas’ corresponding color are cool, calming colors such as blue, green, or purple. Pitta doshas’ predominant sense is sight

Now. Excuse me while I go read more about Sanskrit.

Oooh I’ve made it to the big times!!! The Soda Stand has been listed on Vegas215.com in the local blogs section! There are lots of blogs listed and somehow I got on there. Very cool! I think. Is it? LOL

I had so much to say yesterday, I think I’ve exhausted my ideas of what to talk about. How does that happen? Yeeesh. I’m glad I’m not a writer by profession, I’d be screwed. LOL

Since I’m so desperate for blogging material, I’ll just let ya’ll know how I’m feeling. For the most part, I’m feeling TONS better. If I move a certain way or if Josie jumps on my tummy, I end up in quite a bit of pain. I’m still a little crampy and bloated. My energy level sucks ass, all I want to do is lay around and sleep. So I do.

The incisions are healing up pretty nicely and I will have very tiny scars in the four spots where they did them. That’s a good thing!

I’m getting organized with my Christmas card thing. This is my first year in actually mailing out cards. I’m feeling pretty good about it! Waiting on a few emails from people with their addresses.

I got fussed at by a friend for not calling. OK. My mind set? I am the one who is recovering and healing from major surgery. Why is it my job to call people to let them know how I’m doing? If they really want to know, they can call me. Right?

And besides that, when I’m sick or not feeling good, the last thing I want to do is stroke somebody else’s fucking ego. Ya know what I mean? Come to think about it, even when I’m not sick or feeling good, I don’t want to stroke someone’s ego. I’m not good at that.

Until next time….

Am I the only one utterly annoyed at the show Heroes? I waited two fucking weeks for tonight’s episode. They’re all coming together. “Save the cheerleader, save the world” What the fuck?

I watched from beginning to end tonight and I got nothing but pissed off by the end of the show. The only part I really was not annoyed during was the India part where the guy found the little kid and asked him why he came to him in a dream. I found that interesting. I really liked it.

I admit I have not watched the show from the very very beginning, but I’ve caught up via the internet and I’ve watched the last 3 weeks straight.

I was teased, cajoled and led on to watch tonight’s episode. They made me think some super cool thing was going to happen.

OK, first, Claire’s dad confuses me. Along with that dark haired chick who’s helping him. Or is she? What the fuck happened to Hiro? Where’d he go after going back 6 months to save Charlie?

Who didn’t seen the dweeb, with his collar turned up, absorbing the cheerleader’s power to regenerate? GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!

FUCK!!!! that’s all I have to say, this is going in my FOAD on Thursday. And of course, I’ll watch again next week cause the “face” evil will be revealed! OOOOOH!!!!

Until next time…