Too many sweets

Have been eating too much...a snack every hour. Big lunch with an exercise group. Now another dinner meeting tonight. Yesterday I broke my Diet Coke fast because I had a free beverage coupon at our local movie theater that was about to expire. So I had one GINORMOUS Diet Coke cause that is how they serve it there. Plan to get back on the wagon today. Had movie buttered popcorn for dinner and then we went to the dollar store and bought pints of Hagan-Daz to eat for our snack.

The drop (movie) - A bit more violent than I can cope with but it was a slow moving, suspenseful, seemingly-low-budget story of two small time hustlers in Brooklyn. Wanted to see it as was James Gandolfini's last film. Woman looked kind of familiar, but don't think I have seen her in anything. She was in the Swedish crime series films (American edition).

Chains (book), by Laurie Halse Anderson. A young adult book. One more book about slavery. Interesting twist as during the Revolutionary war and in New York City. Read it for a book club. Got better as it went along. Family who owns the two girls are Tory sympathizers and not very nice. Mother of the husband is nicer and slave girl and grandmother develop somewhat of a relationship. There is a story of a slave boy who follows the rebels and gets incarcerated. Isabel helps him and moves messages around town. There are some charming little turns of phrase....like her "remembery". "My head was broke and my sister was stole and I was lost" was the most poignant line.

Reading a book about a song

There is a new book about a BOOK (The Koran of Thomas Jefferson). I thought THAT was amazing, but then I found myself reading a book about a SONG...The holy or the broken : Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley and the unlikely ascent of "Hallelujah", by Alan Light, traces the history and phenomenal explosion of this song. After being around already for decades, the song ended up TWICE on a top ten list by two different artists. This song has been interpreted by over 100 artists. I already have the Rufus Wainwright version and the Leonard Cohen version in my Youtube playlist. Must make sure I listen to the Jeff Buckley and Cale versions.

Listening to Mr. Brightside by The Killers.

My regular deli must cringe when they see me coming. I actually LOOK at date on the Diet Coke and demand one that has not expired. They are not removing the old ones, hoping someone will buy them who does not look at the date. I would go elsewhere but they have the cheapest ones. Also the idea of Diet Coke having some ingredients that expire is rather hilarious!

Benefits of using the library computers

They are more old-fashioned and the new features of Yahoo and Google don't work right. I am so much more happy with the old familiar features! Now My Coke rewards is in a new BETA version and they are sure I am going to be very excited about it. All I can think of is, "OH NO!"

Read a great children's book today. I became aware of it due to a lovely bookmark. It is called Leaf man, by Lois Ehlert. The story is told with glorious leaves made into shapes of things. I am going to take it home and show it to my sister for her grandchildren.

Oh dear, computer time is just about up. Must pay attention to my email so I can delete my daily quota.

Diet Coke has an expiration date??!

That is a scary thought. You mean to tell me there are FRESH ingredients in Diet Coke? Yesterday I was drinking one that had an expiration date of the previous day. Not too worried about it. Anyway, recent thinking is that the expiration dates are just a suggestion.

I can't believe they are cancelling the show called Hoarders. Although I guess once you have seen one hoarders you have seen them all....chubby, low-class, unsmiling people with lots of crap. I enjoy watching it from time to time for a few minutes and hope that they are worse than me. I don't think I have animal excrement in my home. But I DO need to keep a trash bag in each room.

Having an ongoing struggle with Yahoo mail. Who are all of their customers? I don't know many people who still have Yahoo. I was fine with it until they started "upgrading" and trying to be like Google. Their customer service SUCKS. They have all kinds of online forms and aids but you can't get to a real person unless you have an account access issue.
That is what is the most frustrating thing. I have sent off at least 8 pissed off complaints just today. It is bad when the help instructions are just plain WRONG. I am losing emails (especially ones I have forwarded) and cannot change my signature, which I like to do once a week.

My worst nightmare...

...is that a barking dog will move in RIGHT NEXT DOOR.  I wish this dog would run away.  I really HATE having my peace disturbed by a barking dog.  Not to mention the issues of trash, noise, ambulances, and police with drawn guns.  Other than that, they are just your average Mexican family with North Carolina license plates, a pit bull, and relatives who are going to move in with them.  My general philosophy on neighbors is..."I'll WAIT them out".

Restaurant review: Mi familia pizzeria and ice cream on Burlington Road in Bridgeton, NJ.  Around here you can blink and restaurants are closed or have an entirely new name.  Usual door was locked, but we got in the front door.    Four policeman were out front talking to a lady (some sort of disagreement about a Diet Coke).  I kind of liked it although my friend was not happy with her meatball sandwich.  What I liked:
- waitresses trying really hard to please
- you can get a WHOLE WHEAT pizza crust
- on a salad you get a choice of romaine, spring mix or spinach
- I ordered a small salad and waitress pointed out that by ordering the SPECIAL I could get a large salad for less money

I am starving right now, but I am trying to get more used to it.    Usually, I bring a snack to the historical libary, but I didn't today.  Another guy usually goes to the store to get lunch but he isn't going today.  Someone else usually bakes bread but he didn't today.  Luckily someone produced a bag of almonds and a container of raisins, so this will tide me over.  We are in a small town with NO stores....just a country store with a sign posted that says, "We are doing our best to open as soon as possible".  I am waiting anxiously.  The last people who ran it did not have Diet Coke as they said that no one drinks it in Greenwich.

The best things about Paris

Here is what I love about it...the architecture, the iron work, the scupltures, the chestnut yoghurt made by La Fermiere, the buses, the flower shops!  Today I visited a more obscure museum, the Jacquemart-Andre, thinking I could avoid the crowds.  I was wrong.  Mrs. Jacquemart and her husband, Mr. Andre, collected art and made a gorgeous home with outrageously high ceilings, just filled with art and fabulous furnishings.  It was to create an oasis away from the "foule" (the crowds).  Unfortunately now the crowds are IN the house.
Exhibition of Eugene Boudin, who influenced Monet and who was influenced by Jongkind.  A big rainstorm came so I went into the cafe there and had a $7 Diet Coke (Coca Cola light).

Then I traversed Paris by foot and metro to go visit a previous love of mine.  We spoke rapid-fire French for an hour and it was very pleasant.

Then it got really cold, but SUNNY at last.  Walking, walking, walking...had a croque monsieur at a cafe overlooking the bronze flame sculpture over the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed.  Walking around the traffic circle, I managed to find the bus to get home.  I adore the buses in Paris.  At the bus stop they say how long you will have to wait for the bus.  Then you get on and put your ticket "dans le trou" (in the hole).  Then there is a digital sign telling you what is the next stop and how many minutes it will be until the end of the line.  All this and scenery too!

We're gonna die young

Listening to this song, it occurred to me that people rarely sing a song on their own these days.  Each song seems to feature about 5 famous people to max out the listeners, I guess.  "Die young" is by Kesha, or Ke$ha, as she likes to bill herself. The electropop song was written by Kesha, Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, Cirkut, and fun. singer Nate Ruess.  The official remix features rappers Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa, and Becky G.  See, what did I tell you?  Some  people are refusing to play this song, because there are entirely too many people dying young.

I reported a light out to the electric company.  They can't find it.  I went to all the trouble of reporting the number on the pole and the type of light.  I guess it didn't help.  Now, they want me to provide an ADDRESS near there.  It is really out in the boondocks.  I wonder how they are making out at work with the soda machine.  I was always the one who would harass the Coca Cola company whenever the machine ran out of Diet Coke.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore : a novel, by Robin Sloan.  It started out delighting me as it was about books and bookstores and libraries.  Eventually, it lost me, though.  Got a bit too much into codes and games and science fiction.  A guy is working in a bookstore which has very few customers.  The books are shelved UP instead of OUT.  He asks himself, "Is this a book club?  How do they join?  Do they ever pay?"
Also includes the history of printing and type faces and secret societies, like the order of the Unbroken Spine.  There is also Google and spying...."I sit up straight and do the first thing a person is supposed to do in an emergency, which is send a text message."  His girlfriend works at Google..."everybody at Google likes codes....Books: boring.  Codes: awesome  These are the people who are running the Internet".

The key is not to let go

Highly enjoyed this audiobook by Anderson Cooper. Dispatches from the edge : a memoir of war, disasters, and survival talks about how he got his start in television reporting, chasing difficult situations around the world. I guess he doesn't do that anymore and has settled down with his own TV show. The book was published in 2006. Anderson Cooper narrates the book. His mother is Gloria Vanderbilt. His father died when he was 10, "that slap of silence that reset the clock". His brother was two years older and committed suicide when Anderson was away at college by jumping from the ledge of Anderson's bedroom while his mother pleaded with him to not let go. The author goes to many war-torn countries...Somalia, Niger, and New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. He has trouble relaxing and vacationing, always wanting to be on the go and on the way to the next bad thing. Many good quotes... This one is from the epilogue..."The world has many edges and all of us dangle from them by only a thread. The key is not to let go." I really admire him and his charming good looks. A friend spends a lot of time on Fire Island in the summertime and says he sees him walking on the beach. Another good quote is..."I never understand people who are obsessed about the weather. One of the great joys of living in New York is that I can forget about the small piece of sky that I can actually see".

Drinking my daily Diet Coke. I limit myself to only one. And one cup of coffee. However, I was reading something which detailed at least three benefits of drinking coffee. Don't think I have seen any benefits of drinking Diet Coke.

Feeling very stiff around the shoulders. Even my weekly massage does not seem to have any lasting benefit in this area. Trying to get back to exercise but it is a struggle. Also trying to figure out how to add WHEELS to my lugging stuff around experience.

A man is admiring my ability to type. He asked me if I would type his resume.
I guess that is one thing I got better at working all those years.

Feeling irritable

Don't know why I am feeling so irritable this afternoon. Had a nice morning at our annual Christmas fund raising event; helping, buying and admiring cute children. But now I feel rushed and unhealthy. "NEED" to exercise but feel incapable of doing it. Always struggling to fit in computer and exercise and appreciation of the limited daylight hours. Drove by McDonald's but there was no handy parking and people were sitting at my favorite laptop table. So, I rushed over to the library and was confronted by NOISY, obnoxious child. With "caretakers" who seem oblivious to the commotion. Stopped at a deli on the way and THEY HAD NO DIET COKE. Had to go to Shoprite to purchase something for dinner but I didn't really WANT to be there, nor did I have the time for it.

Recently had a haircut and color. Not sure where I want to go with my hair. Somewhat disappointed that I lost my highlights to which I was quite attached. Have been jumping around from hairdresser to hairdresser since mine up and moved to Arizona (the bum!) It WAS, however, a really enjoyable day (Friday) as I had a lot of attention from hairdresser and then got a manicure and a pedicure. Boy, am I SPOILED!

Saw a good show on TV the other night. It was just a serendipitous discovery going around the dial as this is how I watch TV. It was called Park Avenue : money, power and the American dream. As the New York Post described it, "Channel 13's rich bash".
I believe it was based on the book 740 Park Avenue about some of the residents of this building who are not particularly nice, in addition to being billionaires. It talked about how the Koch brothers are behind the "grass roots" movement known as the Tea party.

Desk-in-a-box

Came to work today. I have a job which is only one day a month. And not every month.
I have no desk, no office, no mailbox. But I DO have a business card and a name badge and a pay check. All of my belongings are now in a box which is kept in the supply closet. Bingo! Instant desk! After I borrow a key, get a cart and traipse up to the second floor on the elevator, go through several doors, unlock the door to the supply closet and viola there is my stuff. At the end of the day, I pack it up and put it back.

Fruit makes me hungry. And Diet Coke, too. I eat it or drink it and suddenly, I am ravenous.

I bought three Amish pretzels the other day. I bought them because THEY WERE ON SALE.
I don't really even LIKE pretzels....clammy white flour and salt, yeuch. I can't believe there are whole businesses which only serve/sell pretzels.

The market's gonna do what it's gonna do in spite of the victor on November 6th

Someone (?) said this this morning on CNBC (?) I am very worried about the election. I am not a safety investor and thought one should be very concerned if the president changes. I am not buying any more stocks. I have my own little mutual fund but the losers always equal the winners and I never get anywhere.

I love rice pudding. When we were at Indian Chaat and sweets in Berkeley, California, I got all excited cause it seemed they were serving rice pudding WITH RAISINS. Raisins in your rice pudding are very hard to come by. Now, this rice pudding WAS really delicious, but when I bit down on the raisin, it turned out to be a cardoman pod. According to the Internet, they are edible, but you should have seen the look on my face.

Got in a panic this morning cause I thought I lost my water bottle. Who cares, you may ask? Well, I haven't had a new water bottle since the dangerous stuff was discovered. And my sister had bought it for me, I think for last Christmas. I just got it when I was at her wedding. But I had to go all the way to the top of the Berkeley Hills to get it. So, I even called the airport cause I thought it had rolled out of my bag on the plane. I know, I know, it was a long shot, but hope springs eternal. After called the 800 number for Virgin Air, I was referred to Philadelphia airport lost and found and thence to the "local" Virgin America number where I had to leave a message. Then I found the gosh darn water bottle. I was very heppy. I also brought home another water bottle cause it had touristic information on it about the San Francisco Bay. And a really cool Diet Coke container that we don't have in New Jersey. This is why I have a problem with STUFF.

"What kind of a Democrat are YOU!?" yelled my friend when she heard that I didn't watch the convention last night. I know I should change my TV watching policy which is, if I'm home and it is on, I will watch it (for five minutes). I know everyone else in the world is DVRing it, but....

One good thing about Facebook: you can see which of your ex-coworkers and ex-boyfriends are Republicans. How COULD they!

School bus nightmare today. It took me twice as long as normal to get around. One bus sat there so long delivering the school children that I turned off my car. Then I backed up and turned around to go another way. Then I ran into a car blocking the road who had tried a similar maneuver but had a fender-bender with another car. So I turned around AGAIN. I swear that bus was holding up traffic for at least 15 minutes.
I was driving along a street which was recently cited as the most poverty-stricken street in New Jersey. The kids were pretty solidly Mexican with a few African-Americans thrown in for good measure. How things change. I tried to just feel good about the fact that they were all getting a fresh start and making progress with their free education.

Strange but true: the song Strange fruit was written by a white Jewish guy from the Bronx.

Addictions:
- one cup (no more) of coffee each day
- one bottle of Diet Coke (no more, but definitely no less)

I have to get the bottle so I can get the code for mycokerewards.com. I have gotten a couple of magazine subscriptions through that. I asked someone downtown if she stocked Diet Coke and she responded, "No, we do not stock ANY of that imperial rat juice". That would be Coke OR Pepsi.