I am sending this from the phone to finally test posting a blog post with a photo. We got the new mailbox up tonight. I don’t care much for the color or bland style, I wanted something with more pazzaz. However I also needed something pronto as we got a note Saturday basically telling us to fix our old one ASAP. So we did, but we moved it about 10 feet so it is now in front of our house and away from the neighbor’s. I am just wondering if we’ll get a note telling us we can’t move it without official permission.

Okay so if you’ve followed this blog for awhile then you probably know about my “never ending nativity.” If you don’t, a brief explanation. I love Christmas decorations and for some reason have always been fascinated and loved nativity sets. I have probably about 10 of them (including ornamental ones for the tree) that get set up at my mom’s house each year. Nothing fancy mind you. Hallmarky kinda stuff.

Well I finally decided to buy one of my own to have at my place and I wanted a really nice one. I ended up getting sucked into this collectible set where they send you a new piece every month or two. The problem is, it’s been going on for almost 2 years now and they’ve send me the entire village of Bethlehem! It’s so ginormous I set up the main cast of characters and only select pieces last year as I didn’t have enough room. You can do a search on the blog for “nativity” to see most of the photos I’ve taken of it over the years.

So here is part of the main cast from last year. One of the issues I’ve had is with the three kings. See here they are on the left. The problem? Not enough rides . . .

Two of the kings came with camels, which you can see here in this photo. The third didn’t have a ride. I think he came with the drummer boy or an angel. I figured his ride would be along soon enough, but instead the whole village started arriving. I thought this was how they would keep me in the program, they’d make me wait and send his camel as the last piece.

Eventually this bull with a nice fancy rug on its back showed up (he’s in the photo right of the camels). I started thinking this was his ride, but that kinda sucked. I mean the bull was dinky compared to the camels, but I stuck him in there so one of the kings didn’t have to walk. I was still hopeful that one day the king’s ride would arrive, that maybe this was what the little drummer boy rode.

Well the other day a giant styrofoam box arrived and I thought by the size, “Finally, the camel and probably the last of the series!” But then I opened it and found while there was a ride inside, it wasn’t a camel.

Oh yes, they sent an elephant. I thought to myself that it’s so big that clearly it’s the final king’s ride to the party. Then I thought about the three kings and who it was likely meant to be for and said “Oh that’s kinda ignorant if that is the case!”

It’s just been one of those days. Where to even begin? I walked outside this morning with the dogs for their morning walk only to find the mailbox on the ground and the wooden post it once sat on smashed to pieces and scattered about. The neighbors big honkin plastic monstrosity of a mailbox was also pulled out of the ground. It looked like someone ran up on the curb and took them both out . . . but they are right next to a utility pole that looked untouched.

Well I later found out there was a car accident (which I somehow slept through) and that is what happened. The neighbors already have their giant box up and in the ground, but we are SOL until I go buy a new one. However this is an opportunity to fix our mailboxes, which are reversed. I’ve blogged about this before, but basically they bought this gigantic one piece plastic mailbox and the only way it would fit in the space by the road is to switch ours around. Well first the post office didn’t like this and told us so. Hey we didn’t do it, they did it without consulting us! Second, which is the most annoying aspect for me, is that anytime I order food to be delivered or someone has to deliver anything and doesn’t know us; well they go down the wrong driveway and usually end up at a 3rd neighbor’s house, who are unfortunately caught in the middle of the mailbox issue. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the pizza man drive over there and then call me to ask where the hell I live. I think I’m just getting a big ass mailbox just like theirs and putting them in the right positions again. Honestly I really want to put ours in the ground and make theirs mysteriously vanish.

The most frustrating part is because we officially don’t have a proper mailbox, the mail man can choose not to deliver our mail till we fix it. I guess it’s official policy the mail has to go in a mailbox or something. I was going to put the mailbox, the metal part which did survive, up on my porch for the time being. However that apparently won’t fly either. Honestly, I think the mail man just doesn’t want to have to get out of his truck to walk up our steps and leave our mail in our door till the problem gets fixed.

In other unfortunate news, I lost a day of work basically because of PC issues. This morning one of my blogs was messed up, it turned out it was a database issue that I finally got fixed. Then I spent the rest of the day running virus scans, spyware scans and check disks on my laptop. For some reason my laptop all of the sudden decided it didn’t want to connect to any other PC or my videogame systems, which are all set up to share media. I don’t know why this happened, I didn’t change anything that I know of. So it was either a spyware or some other issue like a fricken Microsoft Update (which has already broken other things on the PC earlier this month). I still have not resolved the issue and gave up. I suspect it’s actually the crummy router, which I know I need to replace. I switched it out for another (malfunctioning) router and that effectively killed the desktop from sharing media as well. It was at least working, now it’s not.

So this weekend I am not only getting a new router, but a new mailbox. Hey at least the stores are in the same shopping center! Anyway, I just ended up with one big migraine over everything as I just became frustrated. I’m one of those people if something isn’t working the way it should, especially with my PCs, I have to make it work or it eats at me.

On a more positive and fun note, tomorrow night I’m going to hang out with my friend Jen. I’m taking the PS3 over to her house so we can get our drink on and our “Singstar” on! We’ll also probably watch some movies as well. We’ll have to watch something first while our buzz kicks in, as neither one of us will want to sing in front of the other sober!

I’m also giving serious thought to another tattoo. I’ve wanted one for years, but at the same time would like to have the two I have recolored. Your supposed to have them refreshed every 5 years. I’m usually good about plastering on sunscreen, so they haven’t faded per say. But they have lost a bit of the brightness in their color. Anyway, the tattoo I’ve wanted for years is, of course, Wonder Woman. I would get it on my back shoulder. I even know what I want, I just have to select “which” comic representation of Wonder Woman I’d want it to be of. I’m narrowing it down!

I finally went to get myself a haircut last night. I’ll post a photo later at the bottom of this post once I get a good photo. I’ll probably use my webcam to do it in a bit; but right now I’m catching up on shows and about to record one on the laptop. The webcam makes my laptops sound “tinny” so I’m waiting till everything is done.

I was asked how I got the blond. I said I did it myself. I didn’t get a lecture, just asked if I used bleach or a box, and if it burned my skin. I lied and said it didn’t burn. I didn’t lie persay I just said no, but then remembered it actually did, but only on the places I splattered the dye to. I am terrible, I always get the dye all over my ears and forehead.

Now however I really have some multi-tonal hair going on. The top is blond with my roots showing and the back and sides are my 50/50 brown and grey. Rather than having the highlighted look I hoped for, it’s more like the frosted look of the 80s. The nice woman who cut my hair said she really loved how it looked, she likes the whole growing out look with blond jobs. However she also had hair close to heaven (ie the Jersey look from the 80s). The BF said it looked fine too, but I don’t know. I’m giving it a week to decide what to do with it. You can judge for yourselves later today when the pic goes live.

In some exciting news, I’m inquiring about an adjunct job at a local university. All I have to go on is a posting on my school listserv that they need someone to teach one class that’s taught annually. It’s not a full time position and probably has no hope of one, but it’s a start. I unfortunately don’t know what qualifications they are looking for or when the class is to be taught. But it can’t help to throw my name in, maybe they’ll think of me for something else in the future. The class, by the way, is in the anthropology of religion and magic.

*Photo Update*

Look I tried to smile hehe!

Today I completed, or should have completed, week 4 of the C25K program. The problem is I pooped out on the run. I normally do my runs in the evening when the sun has gone down and when I’ve been up all day and eaten food. Because of plans to see “The Dark Knight” and then have movie night with Emily, I decided to run this morning. Mistake! I’m not a morning person, the sun was shining and all I had was some yogurt. I pooped out at the very end, and feel like I have to get three complete runs in for week 4 to “graduate.” I guess I’ll be doing another!

I’m still avoiding the Wii Fit, mainly cause I keep hitting plateaus. It tells me I am not moving at a fast enough pace to reach my goal in time, blah blah blah. So then when I do finally use it, it tells me I haven’t shown up in umpteen some days, blah blah blah. I keep saying I will show it some love, since I don’t seem to be getting my butt to the gym lately, but I don’t. I just usually don’t want to do anything on the days I don’t run, cause I’m sore.

The abstract for my conference paper is almost complete. I need to fiddle around with wording a bit more, but the meat is there. I probably should have asked how long it should be, as I could probably include a bit more detail. Oh well. It’s going to my advisor and if he thinks I should add more I will. I’ll share it when it’s done for the curious. I also have to remember to register and book a room for myself. I’m somewhat dreading this conference, as in the past I always knew fellow students would be going to hang out with. I don’t think they’ll be there this time around honestly.

I was going to include a bit about the delightful pet surprise I woke up to this morning, but won’t. I’m eating lunch right now and don’t want to think about it more than I have to.

I had bizarre dreams last night that I dyed my hair a brilliant glittery red color. Yes somehow I dyed my hair and it came out glittery. My hair also was longer, down to my chin and styled like that of a woman’s cut. What the hell? Come to think of it, it looked an awful lot like Renny on “Big Brother 10.” I have to stop watching that before I go to bed!

It is time for a haircut. I’m dreading going in as I know I’ll get a lecture on the bleach job and how bad it is to do that and how if I want that done I should come to them so they can charge me 100 dollars to do it. Yeah, I think the 100 dollars is the key, it’s probably just as bad for my hair if they do it! I have contemplated just dying it back to brown first, but I really want to see what it looks like after it’s cut. It should have that cool “highlight” look to it.

Anyway, I’m off to “The Dark Knight.” My thoughts on it in the next post. I’m sure I’ll love it, I am constantly hearing how amazing it is.

In the post after this I mentioned my “Wonder Woman” room. I wanted to get photos of it for a long time now, but the room always seems to be a mess. The minute I clean it up, I end up piling crap back up on the bed. The cats sleep on the bed and that just makes it a collection of car hair. I just said to hell with it and carefully pointed the camera to try and avoid as much of the mess as possible. You’ll notice cracks in the wall plaster, tacky border strips from 10 million years ago and places where the borders have been pulled down. Repainting this room has always been one of those things on my list of “things to get this house clean and into shape.” Yeah so far it hasn’t happened. It will one day, and it will be a brilliant shade of blue.

Top left: Wonder Woman clock and figures
Top right: Wonder Woman/Lynda Carter signed/framed photos and figures
Bottom left: Wonder Woman painting by the BF, more figures
Bottom right: Wonder Woman bookshelf with books, DVDs figures and dolls.

Of course there are probably 10 more figures around the perimeter of the room I didn’t get captured. I also have a couple more out of the box dolls I don’t have on the shelf yet either.

Oh and since I’ll be asked, the one photo with the painting on the wall, yes that is a Breyer’s logo opposite it. Long story short, it came off the side of an old ice cream truck. It’s probably getting moved OUT of the room though . . .

Recently I thought I would bring up my Xena toys (oh and yes a Ouija Board) from my mom’s house to compliment Wonder Woman. I have a few out of the box Xena figures on the shelf right now (along with She-Ra, who is not in any photos). However I didn’t realize how many fricken Xena figures I had! I basically bought the entire collection of toys when they came out years ago, so I have a bunch. I am probably sticking them on the wall where the Breyer’s logo currently is, as I’m running short on room around the top of the ceiling.

This reminds me, I need to venture to the comic book store to see if any new Wonder Woman goodness has been released.

What I really need to do is move a lot of stuff around in this room honestly. If I could get our other guest room downstairs cleaned up and not so much of a storage room, well we could ditch the dinky twin bed in this current room and put guests in that one if need be. That would open up a lot more space in this room for more shelves and stuff, which I could not only put my toys on, but all my DVDs and videogames (notice in the one photo how they are stacked and overflowing on top!).

PS You SO don’t want to see the Star Wars collection! I have all the original figures and playsets PLUS 3 Tupperware tubs full of the newer figures. I eventually gave up on collecting them, as it became too expensive and Kenner completely started marketing at the collectors market. Plus the newer figures are ugly as sin in my opinion. I did however just find in the basement my collectors edition 12 inch Slave Leigh doll. Rawr! She needs to go somewhere in the room.

This morning the wordpress app for the iPhone came out. Now I think I can do everything I wanted to be able to do on this phone. This is my first test using it, I am at the pool as I write this. So far the app seems easy to use. Much easier than setting up the blog to turn emails into posts and much easier than using the browser to log in and post. Next I need to learn how to post photos from the phone. The one thing it is missing is spell check and I am a horrid speller.

Anyway, I think after my last post going nuts over Barbie I should post photos of my toy room. I collect toys, which is one of the reasons I got so hot over that story. Also my current collecting passion happens to be the comic character Wonder Woman.

The other reason I got a little hot is cause I was a little buzzed. For the past month I kept feeling and getting little signs that I might have a kidney stone coming. However nothing ever came. This weekend I got hit. It’s not the worst I’ve had, but it is more than a minor annoyance. I had been drinking water like there was no tomorrow, and well, it was starting to burn when it came back out. Yeah that probably was TMI. Last night I just decided I would partake in something that would make me “go” just as much but I wouldn’t be feeling the pain, if you catch my drift. And yes I know, it was the last thing I should have been drinking.

I finally got through my weight loss hump, well sorta. I kept hovering around various numbers, and my weight loss/exercise program kept telling me I was below my calorie target, which could be causing this. Not much I can do really, I retrained my stomach to eat less, I have been doing a lot more exercise and when it’s hot as hell I don’t usually want to eat that much. Anyway, today I made it to 159. Woohoo! I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be back up to 160. It took me a few days of back and forth with 169 too I remember.

I’m going to need new shorts pretty soon, because the ones I have now (which I just bought in April!) are falling below the equator. I’m not sure about jeans, since I haven’t tried any one recently. Oh and no, I don’t want to show my undies to the world as I don’t think it’s “cool,” especially for someone (well) over the age of 18.

Tomorrow will be my last day on week three of that PodRunner Intervals thing. I should actually move forward to week 4, and I may. However having listened to the running verses walking routine on it, I’m scared! It’s mostly running for long stretches with brief periods of walking in between. I knew it was coming, but just like a doctor’s appointment, I dread doing it.

Tomorrow is “Mamma Mia” and I’m so excited! It looks like I’m going to see “Dark Knight” the week after. I think the last movie I want to see this summer is the new “Mummy” movie.

Oh I finally did get that damn iphone last night, and the case arrived this morning, so I can actually take it out of the house without fear of dropping it and destroying it totally. So far so good. It does take getting used to, and it took me a while to figure out how to get everything I wanted on there and working they way I wanted it to. Now I’m basically just waiting for the Wordpress App to come out (it was supposed to be out 2 or 3 days ago) so I can blog with it if I so choose to.

I wish I had something fun to discuss, but I really don’t. Therefore I will ramble about many things.

I need to find the time to get to work on my video blogs. I not only want to do the one on the farm, but the dogs too. I’m slowly about start caving and doing some meems I keep seeing around the blogosphere!

Lately I’ve been the pool chaperon. On Tuesday’s I take the kids to the pool while they have their lessons. Normally I just read my school work and take notes. Today I took my laptop for the first time and actually got a lot done surprisingly. I however wasn’t pulled into the pool to play. I take them other times when they beg to go, but usually those times I end up in the pool and don’t get work done. One thing I’ve noticed is the cliques at the pool, especially with the women. They all seem to huddle in little groups and only talk to only those in their groups. Apparently these groups are based on where in the community they live, or in one case the teacher moms. These are women mostly older than me (or at least they look older than me), and I can’t help but wonder if we are all still stuck in high school. By we of course I mean THEM. A few people have come up to me to say hi, but that’s about it. I don’t know, I do always have my nose in a book or something, so I guess I give off the “don’t bother me” vibe. I’m also usually the only adult in the pool playing with the kids (many of the mom’s come in their outfits), so maybe they think I’m weird (or a pervert, which I’m sure some do).

I am breaking down and going to talk to my doctor about allergy shots. He shops at the farm, so next time he’s in I will corner him. Specifically I want to know if they give them in the office and the costs. Otherwise I’m forced to deal with sticking a needle in myself at home, which I don’t think I’ll be able to handle. Fortunately an actual nurse works at the farm on weekends so I can probably get her to do it. My allergies are getting worse each summer I’m on this farm, and this week I broke out in a rash on the backs of my legs. That has happens since I was probably 10 or 11!

Currently the E3 is going on in LA, I think. This is the big videogame convention where all the companies reveal their new big games for the coming year in hopes of wooing people to buy their consoles. So far two things have my attention.

The first is “Animal Crossing: City Folk,” which was announced for the Wii. I have both the original GameCube version and the DS version. This game is hard to describe, because technically it’s a game about nothing with no real overall goals, which of course makes it incredibly addicting. You are this humanoid creature that buys a house in a town populated by animals, who move in and out of town as time goes on. Sometimes they’ll tell you they want to move and you can try and convince them to stay. Other times they just sell their house and leave. You do things like plant trees, collect bugs and fish, dig for treasures and fossils and so forth. You make money, enlarge your house, buy clothes and furniture. It’s like a cute and very simplified version of “The Sims.” The DS version introduced online play where you could travel to other people’s towns. In the Wii version there will be a town and a big city to travel to and shop. There will also be an online component where you can meet people, trade and sell stuff and so forth. The exciting part is they’ve added a microphone (which works more like a speakerphone) so you can chat in real time. The biggest improvement is you won’t be limited to mingling with just people on your friend list, you’ll be able to meet people from all over the world. I can’t wait.

The second game so far that’s interested me is “Lips” for the Xbox360. This is basically Microsoft’s answer to my current obsession “Singstar.” They’ve upped the ante. You now have a wireless mic to bust out dance moves with while you sing and can earn extra points for your moves (how it detects and will rate has yet to be determined). Like “Singstar” there is an online shop (Dustin may have to finally upgrade his Xbox360 to that bigger hard drive), but the big innovation is the ability to port your own songs in from CD’s or your iPod. This rocks for the songs you want to play but they don’t offer. However you’ll have to type in the lyrics, and obviously the video will be missing. I also don’t know if it will have the ability to record video of you singing and an online community like “Singstar,” which makes that game (I *heart* Divaliscious’ hair).

Okay Idon’t have anything else to say