Here I Am

Why is it that when I go to the doctor I have a $20 copay and patients on welfare pay $2. I have a job and pay alot for (really good) health insurance. It really doesn't give much incentive to people to get jobs that offer health insurance, or that pay above the poverty level.

Something is wrong with the American Healthcare System!

Ding-Dong, the witch is dead.

I just got back from lunch and here's a pic I took on my car's thermometer. Of course, my car had been sitting out for a while, but still...

I'm moving on Thursday, so most of my weekend was spent packing. On Friday night I stayed at home and went to sleep early. During the day on Saturday, I got alot of packing done. I managed to put just about everything in boxes. I still have my computer and some miscellaneous items that need organized, but the majority is definitely done.

On Saturday evening Shane and I went out with Patrick and Robert. They wanted to go to the Madeira Beach Bar, which was fine with me, because, frankly, I'm poor, and that place is cheap. Joe and Shaun wanted to go out also, and decided to meet up with us. I ended up drinking too much and getting sick. The next morning I woke up at 9am at Patrick and Robert's house and Shane drove home. I ate, showered, and then went and took a nap for the rest of the day.

OK, so I have been using a program on my Cingular 8125 for chat. I commented about how well it worked in this post. It worked perfectly, quickly, and had all the features I use. Then, one day it asked me to update. I thought, oh, how cool, it updates automatically. So I updated.

After opening the program I notice a string of characters labeled 'customer id' at the bottom. Agile Messenger never worked right after that. It would log me into my different accounts, and though it said I was logged in, no one on google talk could message me, nor did any of my contacts show up.

Agile Messenger updated again, which enabled me to connect to google talk again, but now anytime I want to talk to someone who has IM forwarding on, and is chatting on their phone, I get unrecognizable text instead of their response.

Then, to kick it all off, Agile Messenger now pops up a window when I log in that counts down the hours until they shut off my access. Uh, they want me to pay for this shit???

No thanks.

So, on Thursday, I had a date to go out with Alibi with a guy I had been interested in. We'd been talking online off and on for 2 years, and I'd met him once at Alibi, which didn't go too well, cuz I didn't remember his name... Since then we had talked online several more times, and I convinced him to hang out with me. lol

Jason came over on Thursday and we hung out at the house for a little bit before going to Alibi. I was having a really good time there, and saw a lot of people I knew. While we were there, Jason was talking about going to Wrangler's on Saturday. He asked me if I was gonna go, I said maybe. Then he asked how he could turn my maybe into a yes, I thought that was pretty sweet. So I did say yes... I saw Nick, who gave me a hug and was all friendly to me, even though we hadn't spoken on good terms since June. Jason spent the night, and we slept most of the day, since both of us had off for Veteran's day. We drank coffee and talked. Jason ripped a contact, so he went home.

I was in a really good mood, cuz we had hit it off, and it's been a while since that happened. I cleaned out my car and hung out around the house. We texted back and forth, and decided that we'd both eat, shower, etc. and then meet up later on to do something.

We eventually decided on going to Chambers, and Jason drove over to my house again. We watched a dvd and hung out before going out. Joe texted me and asked what there was to do on a Friday night. I told him we were going to Chambers, and he called and said he wanted to go. I offered him some gas money if he'd pick us up. He showed up, all late, as usual. His boyfriend was with him, so I introduced myself and Jason and we headed out.

I recently ordered a new processor/motherboard combo. For some reason I didn't catch that it didn't come with a CPU fan. When I got my package in the mail yesterday, I realized I needed to go get one. I could've ordered online, and paid shipping, etc, but, well, I really wanted to hook everything up and use my much faster computer...

I had planned on going after work yesterday to shop for Robert's birthday present with Shane. The only place I could get a CPU fan was at CompUSA in Clearwater. So, I picked up Shane and work and we drove together up to Clearwater. I had no problem getting what I needed at CompUSA. I love that store, I wish there was one closer to my house. Best Buy doesn't carry CPU fans (or a lot of things, for that matter), and IMHO is overpriced...

We got Robert's presents at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Walking in the door I had flashbacks from when I worked for one day at the one in Pittsburgh. I hadn't stepped foot in one since then. What a horrible job...

On the way home, I dropped Shane back at his car. Once I got home, I promptly started disassembling my computer in preparation for the new parts. Once everything was put back together, I plugged it in, and started it up... Nothing happened. I realized that I needed to upgrade my power supply. It wasn't providing enough power to the motherboard.

So, I ordered that today and will be, **Gasp**, without a computer for the weekend. I'll live.

So, I'm back in Florida. For the majority of my vacation/trip to Pennsylvania, I didn't have access to the internet. Well, I could get online on my phone, but I wasn't about to blog from that, especially with the painfully slow connection I had up there... It really surprised me how no one I know has internet. Most everyone has computers though, which is a change from last year.

So it was an interesting trip, I drove up with my roommate in my old car, stressed out over finding a new car, visited with my family and friends, and then drove back to Florida in my new car.

I definitely need to write more about it, but that will have to wait. For now I do have photos that you can see here.

I got back to the house on Tuesday evening. I didn't have to work Wednesday, so I slept literally all day. It was great. During my trip I never really got to sleep in or relax. Anyways, I spent the evening unpacking, organizing, etc. And then I took a trip to Wal*Mart with Shane, where I cracked out on car accessories. $90 later, I had all kinds of new crap to jazz up my car. Yay

Yesterday was my first day back at work. I'll have to admit, it was kind of odd. Today is number 2, and it's almost over. Yay. It's my birthday weekend, so I'm formulating lots of entertaining plans.

Next week I'll begin the process of looking for a new car. I've been thinking about what I want in a car, or some models that I think I would like.

	Hyundai Tiburon
	Honda Civic
	Toyota Solara
	Volkswagon Passat
	Nissan Maxima

20 Random Songs from my iPod:

Hooked- Mary J. Blige feat. P. Diddy (Love this song!)

You Raise Me Up- Josh Groban (Can't say I've ever listened to this song, I'm not impressed though... Who the fuck is Josh Groban??)

Soldier- Destiny's Child (There was about a 5 minute period of time when I thought this song was hot.)

Poison- Groove Coverage (Don't think I ever listened to this one either, some random techno.)

Young Boys- Lords of Acid (Lords of Acid need no explanation, I suppose)

Come Back in One Piece- Aaliyah/DMX (From the Romeo Must Die soundtrack. I've never seen the movie, but I did listen to this song recently while driving somewhere.)

At The End- iiO(Louis Devito) (I love this song!)

Shut Up Remix- Black Eyes Peas (Like this song too, this remix sounds like it's just sped up a bit. I think I like the original better. Has anyone heard the remix of Madonna's Hung up and this song? It kind of grows on you...)

My Pony- Ginuwine (This song came out when I was in high school, haha. Think I prefer 'In Those Jeans' though as far as Ginuwine goes.)

Slave 4 Food- Walt Preston (A parody of Britney's Slave 4 You. OK, I have to break this one down a little bit cuz I know none of y'all have heard it

I know I may be fat, but I get hungry too. I need to eat, so just listen:
All you people look at me like I ate a little girl;
did you ever think it'd be ok for me to eat the whole wide world,

Always saying, big old girl, just join a fitness club;
well, I'm just tryin' to find out why, cuz food is what I love.
ooh, eat it eat it, eat it eat it. whoa.

Ok, how many is that... 10. Read the rest here (more).

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Yes, we're all concerned about gas prices reaching $3 a gallon, but today I'd like to write about something we should all be much more concerned about.

We can all live without gas. Those of us who plan on being around for the next 70 or so years might even have to. One thing we as humans can't survive without, is clean, drinkable water.

I, personally, am disturbed and outraged that bottled water prices are now up to $7.50 per gallon. Aquafina, the most populer bottled water, sells for about a dollar a bottle, and it takes 7 and a half of these 500mL bottles to make a gallon.

PepsiCo is making a fortune off of thirsty consumers. Someone must stop these billionaires from further lining their pockets!! Before it's too late. Perhaps our government should impose fines or taxes. Or perhaps subsidize water prices.

And!!!! To make matters worse. I was at Disney world, and their vending machine charged me $2.50 for one bottle of water. That is a whopping $18.75 a gallon. Price Gouging!!!

OK, Enough Silliness, read the rest here.

8:00 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite!
9:40 am - Oh Boy! A walk! My favorite!
10:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite!
11:30 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
12:00 noon - Oh Boy! The kids! My favorite!
1:00 pm - Oh Boy! The yard! My favorite!
4:00 pm - Oh Boy! The kids! My favorite!
5:00 pm - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
5:30 pm - Oh Boy! Mom! My favorite!
6:00 pm - Oh Boy! Playing ball! My favorite!
6:30 pm - Oh Boy! Sleeping in master's bed! My favorite!

EXCERPTS FROM THE CAT'S DAILY DIARY:

Day 283 Of My Captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing
that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.
Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded; must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair; must try this on their bed.
Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts.
They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm,
not working according to plan.

There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More
importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage. I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches.
The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird on the other hand has got to be an informant, and speaks with them regularly.
I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can wait, it is only a matter of time...