Six Degrees of Seperation...

betcha40 @ 2006-07-23T09:50:00

2006-07-23T14:06:39Z

Well it would appear that it's time for a quarterly update of sorts.

It looks like I last wrote around Easter, which unfortunately, was the last time that I saw my grandma. She passed away in early June and I had to make a very unpleasant drive back to Iowa - at first trying, like many of my cousins to get there in time to see her before she died. Then once I got the phone call letting me know that she was gone, I continued on, so that I could spend the time with my family. Even though she'd been struggling for awhile, it still took everyone by surprise and I'm not envying my dad and his brothers and sisters for having to divide up the estate.

I'm getting ready to make a much happier trip to Iowa though. Adam and I are heading off on Friday morning for a four-day weekend that will involve Erin Driscoll's wedding and meeting some friends and family. He's defending his thesis for his PhD on Wednesday which I have to miss, but I'm going to attend his reception at his adviser's on Thursday evening and we'll head out Friday morning. I think this trip should be fun, plus he's never been to Iowa. I'm also looking forward to the time off from work - it's been crazy busy lately and I've been a bit stressed. Hopefully once the two new people come in it'll be better, which has yet to be announced.

I'm also almost finally done with my weight loss goal. I've really been slacking on it the past few months. I plateaued for the longest time at 40 pounds. However, now I've only got another 2.75 pounds to go out of the 45.6 pounds, so I'm optimistic that I'll be there soon.

betcha40 @ 2006-04-17T22:02:00

2006-04-18T02:07:58Z

So I went to my parents house for Easter. I spent the better part of the day I had off driving. 7 hours Friday and thanks to the less than wonderful weather yesterday, 10 hours was spent in the car trying to get back to Lansing. YUCK! When it finally stopped raining - about an hour away from Lansing, I hit road construction. When I got home last night I was exhausted. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with my family though. My nephew was so cute.
My car is going to get fixed tomorrow and should be healthy.

betcha40 @ 2006-01-26T20:59:00

2006-01-27T01:59:37Z

Quick update:
-Michigan is cold, it's not very sunny.
-Things are going fine, still working on meeting more people but it's only been a month.
-I have cable again, cable is great.
-It took 22 days to hook up my landline - the landline company sucks.
-I've lost 26.85 pounds (since Labor Day). I'm tracking it with a cute little snowman on my info page.

betcha40 @ 2005-12-14T22:59:00

2005-12-15T05:06:40Z

So everytime I move, I like to play this fun game called, "sort through all my crap and throw stuff I don't use anymore away." I highly recommend it. Somehow when I moved in April, I sucked at this game. I remember going through and throwing out some old shoes and donating some clothes and a few other things. But, I've found some things that I swore I thought I'd thrown away and yet, there they were. And the pansy stickers. Good lord. They multiply and reproduce like real flowers, I swear. I've got a lot of shredding to get done before the packers/movers come on Monday. Then I'm homeless until the 27th when I leave for Michigan. Well actually, my stuff won't arrive until the 28th, weather permitting, so I'm actually homeless until then.

Oh and another fun thing. I keep waking up in the middle of the night. The past three nights I've woken up at 3:15, 3:00 and 2:30 respectively. I have no idea why I'm waking up in the middle of the night but it's getting a bit tired and it's not cool. I'm not enjoying staying awake for an hour trying to fall back asleep. It's not good for my sleep needs and I don't want to be having a seizure since I haven't had one now for just over six years.

betcha40 @ 2005-12-08T23:14:00

2005-12-09T05:12:49Z

The Window Shopper
Random Gentle Love Dreamer (RGLDf)

Loving, hopeful, open. Likely to carry on an romance from afar. You are The Window Shopper.

You take love as opportunities come, which can lead to a high-anxiety, but high-flying romantic life. You're a genuinely sweet person, not saccharine at all, so it's likely that the relationships you have had and will have will be happy ones. You've had a fair amount of love experience for your age, and there'll be much more to come.

Your exact opposite:
The Stiletto

Deliberate Brutal Sex Master

Part of why we know this is that, of all female types, you are the most prone to sudden, ferocious crushes. Your results indicate that you're especially capable of obsessing over a guy you just met. Obviously, passion like this makes for an intense existence. It can also make for soul-destroying letdowns.

Your ideal match is someone who'll love you back with equal fire, and someone you've grown to love slowly. A self-involved or pessimistic man is especially bad. Though you're drawn to them, avoid artists at all costs.

BEWARE: The Hornivore

CONSIDER: The Gentleman, The Loverboy, The Boy Next Door

Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.
My profile name:

betcha40 @ 2005-12-07T23:22:00

2005-12-08T05:27:37Z

I'm almost halfway done with my weight loss goal. My initial goal was to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year/my moving date. However, since I'm only 6/10 of a pound from that goal, I think I'm going to have to up the ante a little bit and perhaps try and shoot for getting to half of the 45 pounds. I hope I can do it, but that basically means in need to lose 3.1 pounds in the next two weeks combined. Not impossible, but not exactly easy at this time of year. Hmm...we'll see. I changed my tracker to mirror the seasonal conditions outside - seemed more appropriate.

In other news, I have so much to do before I move. Seriously, the Christmas shopping has to be tackled, I need to purge some things yet (as I do before every more), and there's lots of random odds and ends. Luckily, I had dinner with my friend Jenny tonight, so the number of people that I "HAVE TO" see at least once more before I go is rapidly dwindling.

betcha40 @ 2005-11-14T22:49:00

2005-11-15T04:52:03Z

So my apartment got broken into, AGAIN. Four months to the day. Seriously folks this is stupid. And what did they take, you ask. My spare change. Oh and this time they took the change jar - which since the cops still had the other one, I was using an old crush party mug from my freshman year. :(

Tomorrow I head to Michigan for apartment hunting. YAY! I'm feeling real secure about leaving my apartment unattended. I've got people checking up on it, but still....

betcha40 @ 2005-11-10T21:56:00

2005-11-11T03:57:10Z

I have entirely too much to do, and not enough time to get it all done.

Redefining movie addict.... 196 movies

2005-09-03T01:39:32Z

That You Watch Way Too Many Movies Meme
1. Take this list and post it into your own LJ, and bold the movies you've seen.

2. Add five more movies to the end of the list.

3. Count how many bolds you have. If you've seen more than 70 movies, you are a ~*~ Movie Whore ~*~. Post the score of how many movies you've seen in the subject line.

4. Use a LJ-cut since you've got at least one LJ-friend who doesn't really want to see an ungodly number of movies snaking its way down the computer monitor.

5. (optional) Question your friend's taste in movies.

1. Napoleon Dynamite</b>
2. Saw
3. White Noise
4. White Oleander
5. Anger Management
6. 50 First Dates
7. Friday The 13th
8. Scream
9. Scream 2
10. Scream 3
11. Scary Movie
12. Scary Movie 2
13. Scary Movie 3
14. American Pie
15. American Pie 2
16. American Wedding
17. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
18. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
20. Resident Evil
21. Resident Evil: Apocalypse
22. The Wedding Singer
23. Little Black Book
24. The Village
25. Donnie Darko
26. Lilo & Stitch
27. Finding Nemo
28. Finding Neverland
29. 13 Ghosts
30. Signs
31. The Grinch
32. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
33. White Chicks
34. The Butterfly Effect
35. 13 going on 30
36. I, Robot
37. Dodgeball
38. Universal Soldier
39. A Series Of Unfortunate Events
40. Along Came A Spider
41. Deep Impact
42. Kingpin
43. Never Been Kissed
44. Meet The Parents
45. Meet The Fockers
46. Eight Crazy Nights
47. A Cinderella Story
48. The Terminal
49. The Lizzie McGuire Movie
50. Passport to Paris
51. Dumb & Dumber
52. Dumb & Dumberer
53. Final Destination
54. Final Destination 2
55. Halloween
56. Halloween 2
57. Halloween 3
58. Halloween 4
59. Halloween 5
60. H20
61. Halloween: the Resurrection
62. The Ring
63. The Ring 2
64. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
65. Practical Magic
66. Chicago
67. Ghost Ship
68. From Hell
69. Team America: World Police
70. Hellboy
71. Secret Window
72. I Am Sam
73. The Whole Nine Yards
74. The Day After Tomorrow
75. Child's Play
76. Bride of Chucky
77. 10 Things I Hate About You
78. Just Married
79. Gothika
80. A Nightmare on Elm Street
81. Sixteen Candles
82. Bad Boys 2
83. Joy Ride
84. Seven
85. Ocean's Eleven
86. Ocean's Twelve
87. Identity
88. Lone Star
89. Bedazzled
90. Predator
91. Predator II
92. Independence Day
93. Cujo
94. A Bronx Tale
95. Darkness Falls
96. Christine
97. ET
98. Children of the Corn
99. My Boss' Daughter
100. Maid in Manhattan
101. Frailty
02. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
103. She's All That
104. Calendar Girls
105.Sideways
106. Mars Attacks!
107. Event Horizon
108. Ever After
109. Forrest Gump
110. Big Trouble in Little China
111.X-Men
112. X-Men 2
113. Jeepers Creepers
114. Jeepers Creepers 2
l15. Catch Me If You Can
116. The Others
117. Freaky Friday (original)
118. Reign of Fire
119. Man on Fire
120. Braveheart
121. Cruel Intentions
122. The Hot Chick
123. Swimfan
124. Miracle
125. Friday Night Lights
126. Old School
127. Ray
128. The Notebook
129. K-Pax
130. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
131. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
132. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
133. A Walk to Remember
134. Sweet Home Alabama
135. Moulin Rouge
136. Boogeyman
137. Hitch
138. The Fifth Element
139. Star Wars episode I: The Phantom Menance
140. Star Wars episode II: Attack Of The Clones
141. Star Wars episode IV: A New Hope
142. Star Wars episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
143. Star Wars episode VI: Return Of The Jedi
144. Troop Beverly Hills
145. Swimming with Sharks
146. Trainspotting
147. People Under the Stairs
148. Blue Velvet
149. The Sound of Music
150. Parent Trap
151. The Burbs
152. SLC Punk
153. Meet Joe Black
154. Wild Things
155. A Clockwork Orange
156. The Order
157. Spiderman
158. Spiderman 2
159. Amelie
160. Mean Girls
161. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
162. Shrek
163. Shrek 2
164. The Incredibles
165. Collateral
166. The Fast & The Furious
167. 2 Fast 2 Furious
168. Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow
169. Closer
170. The Sixth Sense
171. a.i. - Artificial Intelligence
172. Love Actually
173. The Sweetest Thing
174. Shutter
175. Ella Enchanted
176. The Princess Diaries
177. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
178. The Breakfast Club
179. October Sky
180. Remember the Titans
181. Titanic
182. Boondock Saints
183. American History X
184. Fight Club
185. Heavenly Creatures
186. Stealing Beauty
187. Like Water For Chocolate
188. Powwow Highway
189. Secretary
190. But I'm A Cheerleader
191. I <3 Huckabees
192. Ripley's Game
193. Coffee And Cigarettes
194. Taxi Driver
195. Silence Of The Lambs
196. The Exorcist
197. If Lucy Fell
198. Lady Jane
199. When Harry met Sally
200. Me, Myself & Irene
201. Kung Fu Hustle
202. Sin City
203. Labyrinth
204. Much Ado About Nothing
205. The Cowboy Way
206. Paulie
207. Blazing Saddles
208. Galaxy Quest
209. Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are Dead
210. Citizen Kane
211. You Can Count on Me
212. Young Frankenstein
213. Raiders of the Lost Ark
214. Starman
215. St. Elmos Fire
216. Coyote Ugly
217. The Other Sister
218. Rain Man
219. Little Shop of Horrors
220. Chasing Amy
221. House of Sand and Fog
222. Mildred Pierce
223. The Big Lebowski
224. Mallrats
225. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
226. The Goonies
227. Starsky & Hutch
228. Saved!
229. The Upside of Anger
230. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
231. The Cat's Meow
232. The Rutles
233. Waking Ned Devine
234. Pirates of the Caribbean: the Legend of the Black Pearl
235. Little Women
236. Huck Finn
237. National Treasure
238. O Brother Where Art Thou?
239. Dick
240. Howard the Duck
241. Garden State
242. Hero
243. This Is Spinal Tap
244. Almost Famous
245. Before Sunrise
246. Before Sunset
247. Troy
248. Gone With The Wind
249. Chocolat
250. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
251. Now and Then
252. Romeo and Juliet(old)
253. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
254. Grease
255. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
256. Mr. North
257. The African Queen
258. The Wizard of Oz
259. Country Girl
260. The Philadelphia Story
261. Bringing Up Baby
262. The Aviator
263. An Affair To Remember
264. Sabrina
265. Holiday
266. Conspiracy Theory
267. Stage Door
268. Rigoletto
269. White Christmas
270. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
271. The Wedding Planner
272. Arsenic and Old Lace
273. A Day at the Races
274. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
275. Bend it Like Beckham
276. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
277. A Beautiful Mind
278. Urban Legend
279. Dead Poets Society
280. Kill Bill vol. 1
281. Kill Bill vol. 2
282. The Royal Tenenbaums
283. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
284. American Beauty
285. A Chorus Line
286. Iron Jawed Angels
287. Phantom of the Opera(new)
288. A League of Their Own
289. Stuart Little
290. Notting Hill
291. A Lot Like Love
292. Along Came Polly
293. Billy Madison
294. Happy Gilmore
295. Igby Goes Down
296. Sid and Nancy
297. Bruce Almighty
298. The Usual Suspects
299. Chances Are
300. SWAT
301. House of Wax (original with Vincent Price)
302. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
303. Gladiator
304. Gosford Park
305. The Jacket
306. Red Dragon
307. Hannibal
308. Elizabeth
309. Quills
310. Velvet Goldmine
311. Chuck and Buck
312. Titus
313. The Pillow Book
314. Queen Margot
315. Sex, Lies and Videotape
316. His Girl Friday
317. Persuasion
318. Party Girl
319. Top Hat
320. Singing in the Rain
321. Spirited Away
322. House of Flying Daggers
323. Goodbye Lenin
324. Willow
325. Battle Royale
326. Dude, Where's My Car?
327. Drop Dead Gorgeous
328. Josie and the Pussycats
329. Romancing the Stone
330. Mystery Men
331. Bound
332. Crossroads
333. Dawn Of The Dead (original)
334. Shaun Of The Dead
335. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
336. Gattaca
337. Varsity Blues
338. The Manchurian Candidate (original)
339. Out of Sight
340. Three Kings
341. The Shawshank Redemption
342. The Godfather part II
343. Scarface (both 1932 and 1983)
344. Goodfellas
345. Jacob's Ladder
346. Double Indemnity
347. Dogma
348. It Happened One Night
349. The Mighty Ducks
350. Best in Show
351. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
352. History of the World Part I
353. Grosse Pointe Blank
354. High Fidelity
355. Fargo
356. Barry Lyndon
357. One, Two, Three
358. Bob Roberts
359. Zero Effect
360. The Black Hole
361. Matchstick Men
362. Rebel Without A Cause
363. Slipper and the Rose
364. The Saint
365. Super Troopers
366. The Italian Job
367. Down With Love
368. The Island
369. The Bourne Identity
370. The Bourne Supremacy
371. Laws of Attraction
372. Cinderella Man
373. Say Anything
374. Supersize Me
375. Pulp Fiction>

betcha40 @ 2005-08-04T22:46:00

2005-08-05T03:46:20Z

Your IQ Is 120

Your Logical Intelligence is Above Average
Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional
Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius
Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

betcha40 @ 2005-07-19T21:58:00

2005-07-20T03:03:32Z

I'm going to try and keep this short, so I'll just do a list of + and -
+Kati J's bachelorette party/shower in KC was a great time
+Date with guy the other week went really well and he called me the next day
-Since then, I have not heard from him and have given up on him, his loss, not mine.
+My car is finally fixed
-It cost almost $600
+My brother-in-law re-entered rehab four weeks ago and is doing well
-I came home over lunch on Thursday to discover my apartment had been broken into. (They broke into the neighors too.)
+They only stole the change in my change jar ($4-5) and my silver Theta ring :(
-I'm having trouble sleeping at night, due to that 'unsafe' feeling
+I'm finally almost over the cold I've been battling for a week and a half
-My computer has pretty much died and I'm too poor to buy a new one.
+I get to go back to KC in 2.5 weeks for Kati's wedding. Should be good times.

betcha40 @ 2005-06-30T22:04:00

2005-07-01T03:13:59Z

You'll be happy to know that after Nikki told me I needed to just step up to the plate and call the guy up. I did. His exact words to will you go out with me were: "Hell Yeah." We're going out Wednesday. I'm heading home for the weekend on Saturday. I think this one will be fun.

betcha40 @ 2005-06-28T23:34:00

2005-06-29T04:36:35Z

OK, so I went back to see the hottie today. Something is seriously wrong with my car. Amanda confirmed he is gorgeous! :) However, I walk in there and he says, "I remember you." And I say, "Is that a good thing." To which he replies, "Well I'm not sure if this will make you mad at me or not..." "What?" I ask. "You look like one of my ex-girlfriends." WTF?!?! Where am I supposed to go with that? Luckily it was about that time that I had to start telling the service manager what was wrong with my car. Any ideas on where to go with this one?

stole this from Yin

2005-06-27T04:04:47Z

Your dating personality profile:

Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate.
Funny - You laugh often. People never accuse you of lacking a sense of humor. You don't take yourself too seriously.
Adventurous - Just sitting around the house is not something that appeals to you. You love to be out trying new things and really experiencing life.

Your date match profile:

Funny - You consider a good sense of humor a major necessity in a date. If his jokes make you laugh, he has won your heart.
Adventurous - You are looking for someone who is willing to try new things and experience life to its fullest. You need a companion who encourages you to take risks and do exciting things.
Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living.

Your Top Ten Traits

1. Liberal
2. Funny
3. Adventurous
4. Athletic
5. Intellectual
6. Shy
7. Sensual
8. Big-Hearted
9. Practical
10. Romantic

Your Top Ten Match Traits

1. Funny
2. Adventurous
3. Practical
4. Athletic
5. Big-Hearted
6. Intellectual
7. Sensual
8. Outgoing
9. Romantic
10. Wealthy/Ambitious

Take the Online Dating Profile Quiz at Dating Diversions

Relay for Life

2005-06-21T03:11:51Z

Well, I'm starting off on my fundraising journey. I'm hoping to raise at the very least $100.

If you're interested in donating money to the cause, donations need to be in by July 11th. The event is July 15th-16th.

The link is: My Relay for Life Page.

Many, many thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to donate.

Thanks,
-Bekah

My Car...

2005-06-16T02:51:09Z

So I went to pick up my car this afternoon and again the hot guy was there. Yeah, I know, it's his job and all to be there, but he was totally hitting on me. It would have been nice if he would have just come right out and asked me out - it would save me from having to find some lame excuse to go back there soon. He was joking with me and then as I was leaving he told me that I knew where to find him. Hello?!?! You have my phone number, because you've called it once to tell me my car was ready! Is it so hard to call it again? Hell, he even has my address. Probably violates company policy or something dumb like that.
Oh well, I think I might try to create a lame excuse like taking my sister's vehicle in for an oil change and see if I can actually ask the guy out. I know that he's single, because, well he told me he was single. He seems pretty nice and unlike the pathological liar from a few months ago, I know this guy at least has a job.

In other news, I went to Barnes and Noble today and got 50% off a book. I picked up the More than Complete Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (which is all five books in one). I started reading Sawyer's copy seven years ago and never got all the books read. I had a 20% off coupon expiring today, so I used that, and my member discount, plus the book was on sale. So awesome.

And, even though I didn't go to work today, I still found time to go running this evening. I'm feeling pretty accomplished.

Peace and Quiet

2005-06-15T19:11:58Z

I took today off so that I could babysit Ethan. Not really a vacation day, but we're having fun nonetheless. He's taking a nap right now.
I'm managing to be fairly productive today, I dropped my car off so that the transmission fluid could be changed. The hot guy was working he's always fun to talk with.
Yesterday, I realized that it may be time to purchase new running shoes. I've had mine for about two years and while there was some running hiatus time in there, I've logged a lot of miles on them. Now that I'm back to running(and walking) on a more regular basis - i.e. 3-4 times a week I think I need new shoes. I've been getting shin splits, which I never experienced in high school and don't really enjoy now.
In other exciting news, I'm in the process of raising money for Relay for Life, which I will be participating in next month on a very busy weekend. I'm doing that July 15th and then the next day, I'll head to Kansas City for Kati J's bachelorette party. I'm looking forward to that. So if anyone has any brilliant ideas as to how I can raise some funds for Relay for Life, feel free to let me know. I'd like to raise at least $100-$200.

been a week

2005-06-09T03:23:54Z

OK, so it's been almost a week since I last posted. Since then, my sister attempted to have an intervention. There's one big thing that went wrong. The moron was too much of a jerk to show up. Friday night she changed the locks and on Saturday, my parents, my aunt, my sister and I began cleaning up the house. It was a pit. My dad spent the better part of his time doing yardwork.
After we left on Saturday night, they all went back to my aunt's house to clean up and I went home to shower before meeting my parents, sister and nephew for dinner. Afterwards, my sister and nephew came back to my place to stay for the night - lack of sufficient beds makes it hard for everyone to sleep at my aunt's and I can couch crash. She put Ethan to bed and we were watching TV and she just started bawling. God it sucks to watch someone your care so much about get their heart ripped out.
She went to meet with a lawyer to file for divorce and sole custody. Fun stuff.

I went to go see "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants" with Megan, Abby, Nikki, Stacy, Mary and Wookie's Amy tonight. I sure Amy has a last name, but I don't know what it is. We did dinner at Legends first. Megan's husband was able to get us discounted tickets thru his job - so we went to an evening movie for just $4. Plus, apparently Wednesday nights, they have free popcorn. So that was nice. The movie was cute.

I've also started running/walking after work with about six other coworkers. There's a lake behind our building - I imagine Farm Bureau actually put the lake there. One lap around is about 3/4 or 8/10 of a mile - different people say different things. We're currently building up to running an entire lap. Right now we run some, walk some - but at least it's a start. Hey, I'm out a shape, I gotta start somewhere.

Here's a nice funny random story to end this post on. So yesterday, at work, I wasn't feeling well - rundown, crappy in general. So I had this brilliant idea that over lunch I would take a quick power nap. Remember the power nap? It's the wonderful thing that helped me survive college - especially the power naps that I took in the library. I digress. Anyways, I get home at about 11:40, set my alarm for 12:05. Next think I know, I'm waking up, disoriented and it's 1:15. Problem is, my lunch ends at 12:30 so I'm a little late, to say the least. Turns out I set the alarm for 12:05 a.m. I spent some of my lunch today making up time, and I plan on doing some more of that tomorrow. Yay!

Petition about filibustering.... You should go sign it....

2005-05-23T22:54:19Z

I just signed MoveOn PAC's emergency petition to stop the "nuclear option" the far right wing's plan to seize absolute power to stack our courts -– and I hope you will sign too.

Starting Monday, the petition will be delivered straight to Congress every three hours until the final vote, and many of our comments will be read aloud on the Senate floor.

Please sign right now at:

http://www.moveonpac.org/nuclear

Why is this an emergency?

This Tuesday, the Senate will vote on Republican Leader Bill Frist's "nuclear option" to break the rules of the Senate and give the Republican Party absolute control over appointing federal judges.

For 200 years the minority's right to filibuster has kept our courts fair, by making sure that federal judges needed to get at least some support from both sides of the aisle before they were given life time appointments.

If Frist eliminates the filibuster, his next step would be to force far right partisan judges onto the powerful U.S. Courts of Appeals. The real targets, however, are the four seats on the Supreme Court likely to become vacant in the next four years.

With that much power on the Supreme Court, the far right could strike down decades of progress on labor rights, environmental protections, reproductive rights, and privacy.

The "nuclear option" will live or die by a final vote, probably on Tuesday, and the vote is still way too close to call. There are at least 6 moderate Republicans still on the fence and only 3 more votes needed to win. If we can get enough of our voices into congress and into the streets in the next 72 hours, we can still save our courts.

Please take a minute to join me and sign the emergency petition today.

http://www.moveonpac.org/nuclear

Thanks!

Happier thoughts...

2005-05-23T02:38:12Z

All in all this was a pleasant weekend...
Friday night I went and got a haircut after work, which was much needed and looks much better now. After that Jason, Amanda and I met up with Megan, Kevin, Abby, Erin, Wookie, Amy and Sharla at the Mickey's in Waukee. FYI, none of us live in Waukee, not sure why we ended up out there but it was nice to catch up and drink some beers. Later, Jason's friend Hansen showed up and they kicked Amanda and my butt at foosball. I'm a better dart player than any other bar sport.
About that time, everyone else decided to go home, so we opted to move to a bar closer to where we lived. So we went to the Mickey's in Clive. Busy bar, good thing the weather was nice, because we hung out outside and talked about random stuff for a couple of hours. Random comment, both locations have installed hand dryers in their bathroom that could rival the sound of a plane taking off. However, they do an amazing job of getting your hands dry in a hurry. I was impressed. Just as we were about to leave I ran into Couch, who I hadn't seen in ages and is apparently living down here now, so I'm sure I'll run into him once in awhile now.
Saturday, Amanda and I were supposed to go to Farmer's Market. However, when we woke up at 8 at our respective homes, it was raining and we didn't feel like wandering around in the rain. So we decided to go back to sleep and hang out that afternoon. Sleeping in was nice, doesn't happen much anymore. She called me early in the afternoon and we ran to Target and then bought snacks to take back to her (and Jason's) place - some days cheese, crackers and summer sausage just sounds really good. After a bit, we went to the pet store to see what pets they had. They had the cutest puppies and I have now decided that I want a PUGGLE!!!! So when I move in another year, that will be the dog of choice. The one we played with was an eight week old female and she was crawling all over me. (I'm guessing there were cracker remnants on me or something.) She was so cute!
I had made plans to go see a movie that night with my sister, so I decided to take a nap for about an hour and then went over to my aunt's house to hang out with them for a bit. I let my sister pick the movie, since I see a lot more movies in the theatre than she does. We went to see Monster-In-Law. It was pretty cute.
Today was nice and low key. Had a softball game this morning at 11. Came home and showered and then went to Barnes and Noble to wander around a bit. Then I headed over to Erin's to watch the season finale of Desperate Housewives with her and Amanda. It sucks that now there's going to be a few months until the new season starts. I'm so addicted to that show it's insane.

Yeah, didn't think I was going to 'score' highly on this one...

2005-05-01T18:31:45Z

I am:
9%
Republican.

"You're a complete liberal, utterly without a trace of Republicanism. Your strength is as the strength of ten because your heart is pure. (You hope.)"

Are You A Republican?

Only Tuesday

2005-04-13T03:41:58Z

So for most of today I've been thinking it was Wednesday and this feeling carried over even after work.
Work went all right today. Got a raise (a LOT more than what I expected) in addition to the title shift from 'associate underwriter' to 'underwriter'. That's pretty much a given at the one year mark and part of the raise factored in the title switch in addition to that. What's weird is that the person who moved over to our dept a few weeks ahead of me hasn't officially been made an 'underwriter' yet, that I know of. Normally, there's a brief announcement made and I don't remember hearing that. So if that's the case, she's going to be pissed at me tomorrow. Oh well, she gets on my nerves anyway.
At least tomorrow will finally be Wednesday and we're going to Boston's for lunch since Josh's last day is Friday. That should be fun. A bunch of us are also going to AK O'Connors after work on Thursday for the same reason, which will be good times too.

betcha40 @ 2005-04-10T21:14:00

2005-04-11T02:15:40Z

So, remember the time that I got stood up? Because that would be today. Maybe there's a logical answer to it, but I've yet to hear it.

Good News

2005-04-08T02:37:52Z

I'm happy to report that I have officially found a new place to live! I'll be moving down the street (drastic, I know), to a different apartment complex. I think it'll be nice to be living alone. A bit of a change, but a nice change, and my apartment is huge. At least I think it's huge - 715 square feet just for me. Hmmm....hope all my stuff fits.
Also, in other happy news, my source at Meredith, a.k.a. my friend Jenny, says that they haven't even started interviewing for the job yet. Plus, my manager at my current job gave me a book to read on leadership because he thinks I have 'strong potential.' That leaves a lot open to interpretation, but oh well, it's better than him saying, 'I think you should clean out your desk,' right?
And finally, I tentatively have a date on Sunday. I'm not going to go into massive details about it, because things don't seem to go well when I do.

Um, yeah, not good at this updating thing...

2005-04-04T03:44:01Z

So it's been forever and a day since I last updated. At least that's what I'm guessing.
I've been looking for a new apartment to move in to. I'm also sick of people telling me that I should a) buy a house, b) buy a townhouse or c) buy a condo. FYI, unless you are willing to put up some money for one of these options, as I'm not going to make a major life purchase like that without a down payment then I recommend that you please, shut up. I think that I've finally found a new apt and oddly enough, it's just down the street. Hopefully that's the one that I end up getting. I looked at eight different apartments and called lots of others, before picking this one. I was starting to have flashbacks to 8 yrs ago when I went through Sorority Formal Rush and visiting all those houses and trying to remember everything. Such a process.
My dad got a new job, and he starts it in a week. It'll be kind of weird for me to realize that he's no longer working for the same company he's worked at since I was like three and a half years old. Also it will suck to have to always pay full price for cheese and butter. Free was such a better price.
I celebrate(?) my one year anniversary at work on Tuesday. No idea how much of a raise I'll be getting yet as my superviser was about a month late doing my annual review. It can't be a good sign of orginization when you have to ask your boss when she's going to do your annual review, can it? (The review did go very well, lots of positive feedback, blah, blah, blah) On a completely different note, my little nephew turns 2 on Tuesday, he is much more likely to get cake. Getting back to the job thing, I applied for a job at Meredith, oh, how I would LOVE to work at Meredith.
My sister and I are continuing to watch the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time from AFI. We're not exactly moving at breakneck speed, but hey, we're going to be skipping movies that both of us have seen. That eliminates about 15. We started at 100 and are working our way to #1. Last night we watched The Apartment, which was very good. We also took my aunt to see Bride and Prejudice for her birthday a few weeks ago and my aunt and I went to see Be Cool today. I thought it was great!! I was concerned I wouldn't understand it because I haven't seen Get Shorty, however I didn't have a problem catching on. I will be renting Get Shorty in the near future.