Birfday + Valentine's Day

For my birthday James surprised me with dinner at Pearl Street Brewery & Grill (with our friends Rick and Kristin) and tickets to the Sabres game. He said he had planned it about 2 months earlier and I was really proud of him for not spilling the beans. Even though he kept saying "I hope you're not disappointed". That doesn't paint a pretty picture but when we got to Pearl Street I was excited. And the Sabres played an awesome game which they one in a shoot out. After the game we went to a place called Benchwarmers and had a few cocktails with more friends we met out after the game. For those who don't know, my birthday is the day before Valentine's Day so it makes for a difficult couple of days for James. To ease the pain, and this was before I new about the Sabres game, I suggested we go to the Buffalo Bandits game (lacrosse) for Valentine's Day. The theme of the weekend was "sporting events", which was ok with me. For my V-Day present James gave me a card with pug's on the front. At first I was pissed when I saw the card cause I've been saying I want a pug for about 2 years now, but when I opened the card there was an ad from the paper for a pug puppies for sale and a note that said I can pick one out. So it was a good thing I didn't explode before reading the rest of the card! I've been looking everyday for pugs for sale. I already decided I want a black male and we are going to name him Tank. I can't wait!

On our way to Pearl Street

At Benchwarmers with Kristin What little Tank is going to look like!

My new oven

For Christmas I was lucky enough to get a couple gift cards to Home Depot to help me purchase a new oven. The old one, which was original to the house from 1982, was a piece of shit. The oven burned everything on the bottom and didn't cook it on the top. Then the stove was uneven so I had to balance the pans on other pans so the food would cook evenly. All in all I think we only had to pay about $150 for a new oven! I was really excited to use it but the delivery man said the first time the oven is on it will "smoke like a banshee" (in his own words). That freaked me out cause I hate smoke and fires so I told James he had to smoke out the oven when I wasn't home. A week later he finally did it and then said it hardly smoked! That night I made a delicious, evenly cooked, cheesy chicken and noodle casserole.

Old POS oven

The new wonderful, amazing oven that now matches the rest of my appliances

Hooray for new ovens!

Cheesy Chicken and Noodle Casserole

Danielle's Birfday

As I was downloading pictures from the Dominican on to my computer I found a couple pictures that I forgot about. These are from my BFF Danielle's birthday at Frank's Sunny Italy. The food at Frank's is amazing and the plates are so big that the normal person cannot finish their meal. But if you do finish all the food on your plate you get a free cannoli. Obviously James took that as a challenge to himself. He ended up finishing the entire plate and half of the cannoli, which the rest of us ate. We went out after dinner but had to leave early because James had some stomach problems. I would guess you would after eating some meat and sauce covered in a brick of cheese. He needed some Pepto when we got home.

Birthday Girl Danielle

James and his empty plate

So proud of himself

Kristin writing a note to Jimmy C to not eat her food cause it's not his. It also says that if he does eat the food he has to go get her chicken fingers on the day that she chooses and has to pay for them. He's eaten all of our food before so the rules have to be set before it happens.

Ahhhhh, vacation....

So this past week I went on a lovely vacation with my BFF Kristin to the Dominican Republic. It was my first time traveling internationally, with the exception of stupid Canadia. Boy was it a different experience. We got there and right away I could tell that it was going to be an interesting trip. We had a private transfer to our hotel and before they even took our bags they were asking for a tip, and that was the theme for the week, tips. We got to the hotel which was the Barcelo Talenquera in Juan Dolio. It was a good hotel for the price, definitely not 5 star, way too expensive for me. But it was a good 3 star. The hotel was divided by a small side street and we were on the side of the beach which was cool. We were right next to the nightly "disco" but I mostly slept through that and one night I used earplugs. Our first day on the beach we were hustled by a few of the beach vendors and were "forced" to buy some necklaces, earings, bracelets, and anklets. I was also told I have a "grande sustantivo" which in english means huge wrist. Yes, I have man hands and wrists. By the second day we learned how to say no to the vendors and to not let them put the merchandise on you. We did meet our new BFF Freddie on the first day who was a vendor. He had invited us to go see his family in the next town over but we declined. The next couple days when we saw him he would call us "America" and would help us drag our chairs down to the sand. We are now e-mail pen pals. We ate at the buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner with the exception of one night when we ate at the Italian restaurant. I find it interesting that I ate no Dominican food while I was there. It must not be that good. They did serve alot of hot dogs... Nothing too exciting happened except for I developed a rash that is just now starting to go away. We sat on the beach in the morning and went to the pool in the afternoon and had massages. We ate dinner then went to the nightly show and passed out before 10:30 most nights. Before which we would watch Two and A Half Men, in english. Kristin is a bit of an anxious flier to say the least so the flights were interesting. I had to hold her hand on take off, landing and turbulence. When we were landing in Buffalo it was snowing and windy and I thought she was going to pass out and break the arm rest because she was gripping it so hard. I didn't even want to ask her to move her hand so I could change the station cause I thought she would kill me. In JFK there was a bit of a fiasco because the airport was so busy we had to circle around and were late landing. I might have pounded my fist on the counter at some employees talking on their cell phones and then proceeded to yell at them. Woops! But don't make me miss my connection because you need to talk on the phone. I want to give a shout out to my Aunt Suzy who works for Jet Blue and booked the Getaway for us! It was amazing and you will be seeing a thank you present in the mail soon ;)

Are you as excited as I am?

Probably not. I just saw a preview for a new show starting on NBC in April. Normally I don't get this excited about TV with the exception of Friends, The OC, ER, 90210 or Grey's. This new show is entitled "Southland" and it is staring Benjamin McKenzie, aka the hunk Ryan Atwood from The OC. When I saw the preview I started clapping and yelling so loud that James told me to calm down. I love Ryan Atwood and cannot wait for this show to begin. Unfortunately, Southland is taking over for ER, who's season finally is the first week of April. Booooo. But on the other hand I am soooo excited for Southland to start. I heart Ryan Atwood.

Ryan Atwood from The OC.

The cast of Southland

Benjamin McKenzie as Ben Sherman on Southland

Happy Birthday Sara!

I wanted to give a shout out to my cousin/BFF Sara who turned 26 on Friday. I think we have been BFF's since the womb. I forgot to do this yesterday or Friday so I'm making up for it today. When we were younger I would get upset (not too upset) that she was exactly one week older than me and would have her birthday first. Now that we are getting older (past 25) I like that I'm the younger one. So here is to Sara for turning 26 first! Love ya!

Read this

If you have a minute, you should read this website. I thought it was hilarious but that might be because I'm in the accounting field working at an accounting firm. It will also now be part of my blog list.

7-year old after the dentist

I was listening to this show yesterday that I like to listen to in the afternoon and they played the sound clip to this video. I was laughing so hard at my desk that I had tears. So when I got home I looked up the video on You Tube and it was even better. It's a video of a 7 year old boy who went to the dentist and they gave him the gas. His dad thought it was hilarious so he video taped him when he picked him up.

EJ's Birthday Present

This is what uncle Jimmy and me got EJ for his birthday. I love it! It even has a real horn, sorry Rachel & Eron!

Is it just me?

When I go to school I feel as though I am the smartest person at Buffalo State College. I feel as though I'm getting dumber by the minute by attending classes there, I've had some of my smarter classmates agree. You may think I am being arrogant by saying I am the smartest person at the school but it may very well be a reality. I even feel smarter than many of the professors I've had, not all of them though. There are a few out there that may think they are teaching there as a duty to society, cause someone has to teach the stupid people. I never seemed to have this problem at the other schools I went to. UVSC was not this bad at all. And of course the greatest university ever, the University of Utah, actually has a screening process, called your GPA.

What brought these thoughts to my mind, most recently because I've had them before, was last night's International Management class. This fellow, whom I've been in a class with before so I'm already annoyed, came in late to class, walked in front of the professor while he's speaking and proceeded to tell everyone "I went to the wrong building". It is a Red Flag if you don't know where your class is. There is also another fellow who is older (not that I'm against the older crowd going back to school) and thinks because he is older, every thing he says must be relevant and true. It's not. Most of the things he says are indeed some of the dumbest things to come out of a person's mouth. It is a Red Flag when the professor keeps says "Um, no, it's not really like that". Stop talking! And he doesn't even raise his hand or wait for the professor to stop talking, he'll just yell his comments out. So back to the younger fellow. He decides to tell everyone his economic plan for the country which is "Well if everyone just took a pay cut we would be fine". What?! No, that would not work for many reasons that I will not get into. It's a Red Flag if the professor gives you a blank stare after a comment like that. He also shared his hiring policies with the class which is "Well I think if you have an associates degree and have common sense, you will get hired over the person with the MBA and no common sense". No, dude, you won't even be through the screening process with an associates vs an MBA. It is inappropriate for you to argue with the professor over this comment.

Have you ever, while in class, wanted to yell out so bad that you had to bite your lip "What the f**k does this have to do with (insert class subject here)?!"? Cause I have. It happened last night, right after my eye started twitching because I was so angry. And I'm sure my facial expressions gave me away. If anyone knows me they know that I can't control my facial expressions, you know how I feel by looking at my face.

This was all after an hour and a half class. An hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back. This is only the second week of the semester. I can only hope for these people that I don't have a chance to hit them with my car after class. So I ask is it just me that feels as though when they are going to college they are getting dumber rather than smarter?

My calmness level needs work, big suprise.

My cube-buddy at work sent me this quiz about "What's Your Calmness Level". Well she certainly knows I'm not a calm person. We banter back and forth all day on instant messenger about morons in the office and how sometimes people make me want to either bang my head on the desk until I am unconscious; or stab myself in the ear with a pen until I go deaf and I don't have to listen to their stupidity anymore. Clearly this isn't right. So I took the dang quiz and low and behold I need work. Here's my results:

Thank you for taking our quiz!

Your calmness factor is: 83

What does your calmness factor say about you?

If your factor is between 25-50:While there is probably always room for improvement, you remain admirably calm in the face of potentially vexing situations. You have learned there are other options besides anger as reactions to change and sudden or unpleasant developments.

If your factor is between 51-100:Your ability to contain conflict and anger at generally manageable and nondestructive levels still needs work. You opt for anger more often than you should.

If your factor is between 101-125:You literally are in the process of killing yourself. Volcanic reaction like yours to life's difficult situations do harm to your health. It is probable that you have jeopardized or completely lost some friendships and/or working relationships. Improving your skills is essential to survival.

But at least I'm not in the process of killing myself. But I'm sure on my way.