December 2005 Archives

It has been a nice Holiday season. We celebrated twice - once on Christmas Eve and the other on Christmas Day. Both nights were essentially the same core - Dad's family plus my aunt and granny. On Sunday night, Sarah and Ray showed up and the big announcement - they're preggers! Nothing makes you feel old like your younger sibling having a baby. All in all we had a lot of fun.

Work has been amazingly busy. We have closed the entrance gates every day since Christmas. Most of the crew at the ride is exhausted, but they keep trucking along. We have been performing amazingly this holiday season, and I am plotting something good to reward them.

Now in the freaky skin item of the week: So this year I have had two bizzaro health issues - the bacterial infection in July and the amazing sty of Thanksgiving (I think that is a good name for a chapter in my autobiography). Both of these were uncomfortable and embarrassing. Finally, I have something that is just personally embarrassing and not publicly embarrassing. It seems I have broken out in Hives. I am not sure why though. I have not changed detergents or worn anything new (except for the shirt from Granny). I have not eaten anything unusual or done anything different (except for my first trip to the dentist in three years - no cavities!). Hmm maybe an allergic reaction to something at his office? I dunno. I had suspected that the downstairs neighbor's dog had fleas and was attacking from below, but Daniel has not had any what we call "Lady Lumps" (See the Black Eye Peas song "My Humps") and he's been over watching movies. Thank got for itch cream! The initial outbreak was Wednesday, and I have changed my sheets and since then there have been no further lady lumps. Whew. At least it’s cold enough to wear long sleeves.

So on the 27th of December I finally accomplished my New Year's Resolutions for 2005 - visiting the Doctor, the Dentist, and the Eye Doctor - Woo Hoo! I have decided to better myself for 2006 I am going to challenge myself and drink a lot less soda. I want to get rid of it completely, but after asking a few people they told me that once or twice a week is ok, just not all the time. I think this will help me lose a few pounds (one cast member lost 20 pounds by eliminating soda and eating healthy on a regular schedule) as well as promote healthy teeth. And the whole benefit of looking and feeling better when I go on vacation in March is just a bonus.

I have now seen more movies than the last time I posted so my first order of business is to write some mini reviews and get them up on the site.

Wow. Four entries in December is way behind the curve. I wish I could say that there have been huge momentous events going on, but really, more of the same old. Fortunately Christmas mixes things up this week. For most people, it means time to kick back and spend time with the holidays. I am no exception, though my time is rather short.

Last weekend, we had the annual Christmas Dinner at Zibibbo in Encinitas, CA. Long gone are the days when we would all traipse to someone's house, have a big meal, and gather 'round the piano and sing carols. I think my generation in the family has all gone their separate ways and no one wants to step up and take over. Plus the fact that the main Dieli line is getting harder and harder to shuttle around.

This weekend, its a nice Christmas Eve Dinner at the Father-Units. Other than that there is a TON of hours at work. Of course, it is no surprise to me since our motto is that we work while others play. My vacation is really in January when everyone goes back to school and a nice gentle breeze blows down Main Street and the guests are happy.

I treated myself to an early Christmas present - two DVD/CD sets from Amazon.fr: Jarre in China and Solidarnose Live (the Gdansk Concert). These are the last two Jarre concerts from 2004 and 2005 and I am awaiting their conversion to a format for my viewing (via my laptop). The audio on the CDs is excellent, but it is funny because most of the tracks are from the Aero album, so I think that the concerts will be the main reason for getting the sets - not the audio.

Oy and I have so many movie reviews to post on the site. At least 6 or so including Harry Potter, Casablanca, and Brokeback Mountain. Tomorrow, I am supposed to finally see Narnia, but it looks like Chicken Little and I have a date for DVD.

My last post was a test from my new LG 8100 camera phone. After two plus years with the old phone, I decided to get something a little more modern. I was going to stay with T-Mobile, but the lady in the store was trying to say that I just got a phone in March. Considering the problems I had with my phone (and its three replacements), I decided to jump ship to the slightly pricier Verizon.

Mom has had them for a while and is happy with the service, and with my Disney Difference Discount, the monthly bill is about the same as the T-Mobile account, but with a much better phone and service. One of the biggest snafus that I came across is that Verizon is very anti-make your own ringtones, and makes it nearly impossible to use your MP3s as ringtones, despite the fact that the phone has a built in MP3 player.

So after getting a USB cable as well as some instructions from a web site, I was able to do a work-around of the lock and viola when my phone rings, I get to hear Vengaboys' immortal classic, La Parada De Tettas.

The only other major issue was that it seems to take forever to get pix messages from Daniel's T-Mobile phone. It also seems that his phone cannot receive pics from my phone. Oh well. I am still satisfied with my purchase as of the 14-day mark and since I only have one more day to take the phone back and cancel it, I think I will be keeping it.

To those of you with the old Mobile number it is still the same. I love number portability!

So a few months ago, I noticed this weird sticky substance on the floor in the kitchen near the side of the refrigerator that faces my desk. This is the same area that I keep my Clorox Mop (the kind with the pad and the bottle of liquid that squirts on the floor to get it clean). So naturally, I assumed that the bottle had some sort of trauma and had caused havoc. The sticky fluid was also on part of the refrigerator and I really never thought about where it came from until Tuesday night.

Normally on top of the fridge, I have some phonebooks (why? I don’t know) and also my stock of paper towels. Over the weekend, I put the last roll on the holder on the counter so the top of the fridge was missing a big piece of what is normally there. As I was staring blankly into space, it suddenly occurred to me that I don't remember opening those cabinets above the fridge since I moved into the place in March 2003.

My curiosity piqued, and I got the stool out and proceeded to open the cupboard which revealed a bottle of Midori, Triple Sec and most puzzling - a 12 pack of 7UP. I was like wow a whole 12 pack undiscovered for 2 and a half years. I asked myself, "Does Soda go bad?" I decided to get it down to put in the fridge for possible experimentation later.

As I reached to pull down the 12pack the world suddenly slowed around me. Join my thought process:

12 pack
Midori bottle sticky
Weird patterns in the bottom of the shelf
(Lift 12 pack which is oddly light)
Box is sticking to shelf
Hand wet

Then it occurs to me. My treasure is responsible for the mess. It appears that one or more of the cans have erupted up in the shelf - perhaps to call out to anyone that they are still there. Calls that went unanswered until now - and way, way too late. I also spotted my Mickey Mouse Ice Cube trays, something I had thought about but obviously never actively searched for in ages.

The 12 pack made it into the sink where it sits to this day. I have some serious cleaning to do on the shelf. (Not sure if that is mildew or just green box residue up there). It is so important that I even put a sticky note on the cabinet door that says "Clean Me" and around here at Club Josh, that is a serious note! I also need to do some CSI work on the 12 pack to determine exactly how many cans erupted. Once I find out, I will be certain to post the details.