the dread pirate couch potato

That's me. Not by choice, mind you. I have the sickness. What sickness? Whatever has been going around, and I mean going around. I've talked to people in differenct time zones that either also have the sickness or are just getting over the sickness. This sickness comes in many forms. Jake had it just before me. He started with the tired feeling, and then was an immobile piece of almost human glued to the couch for about 3 days. Coughing, runny nose, fatigue. Those are the hallmarks of the so-called "sickness". My mom had a slightly different form. Mainly she had the tired part, and it kept her away from work for only a day. However, she's tough as nails and able to combat sickness in a way most people can't. MY SICKNESS takes the cake. I came home friday afternoon to make a tuna melt for the recovering Jake, and I couldn't make it back to work...the tired crept in like a tip-toeing thief. In snuck in as I was tuna-melt making and set up camp. By saturday, I was a non-moving sloth. I really couldn't move. Moving resulted in the contents of my stomach making it's way into the toilet bowl. I thought toast was my one allie. Nope. The toast also met the toilet. For three days I may as well have just made myself a plate of toast and dumped it directly into the toilet, it would have cut out the middle-man. The bright-side? I've been vertical for more than 2 hours today! I can type complete sentences without making whiny sounds and having to stop and retreat to the couch. I'm in a state of recovery! And OH, it's a magnificent feeling. I conquered 4 entire slices of toast! WITH BUTTER! AND CINNAMON! Take that stomach! Anyways. Tomorrow it's back to work. It's been an annoying 4 days, but darn-it if I'm not ready to get back to work.
Beware the sickness! Drink your tea! Take your vitamins! Go buy garlic pills (I used to take these, but i stopped...and I think I was actually a wee bit healtier with that extra does of garlic)! Have a fruit smoothie!
-ramblings of a recovering ralph-aholic

Ode to decaffeination, from my friend too much coffee man. tee hee.

ode to bein old skool

So, the Valentine evening began with arrival of sweetest boyfriend in the world bringing tired and mellowest girl in the world a lovely rose and a giant burrito (you might be amazed, but a burrito is a direct route to this girls heart). I requested said burrito, but only after having been offered my very own boyfriend chef for the evening. I opted to let him off easy. Plus, less cooking time means more cuddle time. ah, the joy and simplicity. After laughing at some American Idol Idiocy (amazingly, last night was the first instance in which I watched American Idol for more than 15 minutes, and was even slightly amused), we walked up to Toad's Place for the Umphrey's Mcgee Show. Now, there was a time when I was such a young lass wandering around at these shows. I'd dance and beer drink and wander about in such a daze. I'm not so much different now, as more observant and sentimental and sponge-like. I like to take things in and experience them (the younger days were more focused on being whimsical and happy and not caring about your capacity to remember things after that 6th, 7th, or 8th beer). So there I am, and it struck me. I am freakin' old school! I'm in a room with a mean age of probably 22-25ish. I'm just outside the cusp, but i'm out there. I'm a vintage wine in this crowd. When did this happen?
Every concert is different. The last five or so I've been too had more of an older crowd, or atleast a mixture (Reverend Horton Heat, Les Claypool, MMW). I've definatly been to concerts where I was of the older element, but those were concerts where I knew this ahead of time. This one wasn't really an obscenely young crowd, but I could tell I was old hat. And it was odd because it's one of those bands I have in my arsenol, one that I'd see repeatedly. Never thought I'd see the day that would happen. Regardless, good music and good times. We met a gaggle of fellows there (quite drunk by the time we found them), and had a damn good time. And even saw some seerrrriously old skool cats that probably bested us by 20+ years hangin about. heh. It's kind of fun to be the old-heads. It makes me feel wise 0ld owl-ish. And you're only as old as you feel, right?

Americans know how to get it done in the pipe...

Teter and Bleiler after going 1-2 in the women's halfpipe yesterday. WOOP!

bliizzzard!

We finally had a blizzard. A heck of a Nor'easter swept through and coated the area with about a foot of snow (give or take a few inches) between saturday night and sunday afternoon. I suited up in some long johns and snowboard pants and had a damn good time shoveling up a storm yesterday afternoon. whew. And this morning was absolutely beautiful! The skies are clear and blue, snow still coats the streets, and I'm trudging around in my hiking boots all day long! That's the way I like it. As much as I'd like to blow off work and go snowboarding today, I'm not. I figure I have one month until we'll be spending an entire weekend shreddin' it up at Stratton...so I'll bide my time and just smile at the snow.

I spent a nice chunk of time watching the Olympics last night. Shaun White took the men's halfpipe gold. Didn't see that happening or anything. duh. He won every single qualifying event going into the Olympics, and hasn't lost yet this season! My bets on him to win the US Open Halfpipe this year (he sat out last year due to an injury during practice)...and I'll be there to see it! (the Stratton trip) woo! In other news, Ohno fell in his semi-final lap and didn't medal in the 1500m short track, and Bode Miller came in 4th in the men's downhill. A little disappointment there, but ah well.

Time to dig into Monday's to do list. Work Ahoy!

*sigh*

I feel like the city of Pittsburgh can heave a giant sigh of relief. For 26 years we have been building this massive super bowl win expectation, and it has finally come to pass. Yes, it's exciting. But mainly, it's gratifying in the most relaxing way. Pittsburgh deserves it. Pittsburgh shines so bright when it's victorious. One for the thumb. mmm.
In true Steeler fan fashion, we couldn't sit idly by on the couch and watch the super bowl by ourselves. We drove over to the Poconos (about 2.5 hours away) and settled in for a drunken super bowl party, complete with borrowed Roethlisberger jerseys (mine resembled a dress more than a jersey, and I traipsed around in it like a little kid with a new toy), chicken wings, and pierogies. Mmm, pierogies. So now I'm back to work, and periodically checking KDKA for updates on the parade. My final day of Steelers mania, then it's time to get back to work. It's been such a nice trip.

An Inconvenient Truth

That's the name of Al Gore's documentary about global warming that premiered last week at the Sundance Film Festival. I have more respect for Al Gore every day.

things n'at

word of the day, via merriam-webster:
cathexis • \kuh-THEK-sis : investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea

Back in the day I used to get the word-of-the-day e-mail. It got annoying though, just one more daily e-mail. So now I just look 'em up when I get the hankering to learn a new word. Anywho, I took stock of my bazillion updates and realized I'm nuts. My e-mail updates include but are not limited to:

Nature (science journal)
Nature genetics
grist.org (environmental)
snake river wild salmon
relix
toad's place (concert venue in new haven)
phish update
drug policy update
MoveOn.org
washinton post
netflix
urban outfitters
victoria's secret
back country store
cingular
bank of america
providian
green mountain coffee
birkenstock
J.Crew
overstock.com
borders
skimail (breckenridge, vail, beaver creek snow updates)
stratton mountain update
washington post
friendster (yes, i have a stupid profile on stupid friendster. gah!)

so, these are usually spread out over a months time, but no wonder my Inbox is always so flippin full! I think I'm gonna go cancel all the store ones now. They're a result of ordering things many moons ago and accidentally clicking the box for e-mail updates. And they're completely unnecessary. Too much clutter. The story of my life.

SOTU

Bush is a nimrod. He was a nimrod before he spoke even one word last night, and he will continue to be one until the end of time. I didn't pay much attention after about the first 10 minutes, but I had to peruse the morning assessment of his speech. The man never says anything new. I wonder what he does in his stupid little oval office all day. I imagine he has an X-box hidden in there somewhere. Either that, or he spends his time practicing those ever so eloquent language skills with his collection of Hooked on Phonics. I miss the days I atleast respected the president. If I saw Bush on the street, I'd be searching for the nearest produce stand selling tomotoes. Yup, someday I'll end up in jail for a run-by tomato-ing.