That's Ambassador Kosior To You

Well, it has taken 6 long years, but I have finally done it: I outrank The General.

I received an email at work that I have been selected to serve as an ambassador of Virginia's public servants at a luncheon with the governor next week.

You may kiss my ring.

I'm excited. Not as much for the fact that I am actually going to meet the governor, which is pretty exciting, but also for the fact that I finally get to wear my new dress!!!

I stumbled upon a website called Igigi, which carries great clothing for plus sized women and they had an awesome wrap dress on sale, so of course, I bought it. And I've been waiting and waiting for an occasion to wear it, and now I have one. This is it: http://www.igigi.com/shop/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.display/currentpage/1/fromcat/107/disptype/3/product_id/443

I told the General, we'd better not Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame this thing. ;-)

Long Day

So yesterday was the first Monday in a long time I've driven from home. For a number of reasons, I decided I should try to figure out some alternatives to leaving from my sister's place, and so last week I stayed at Melissa's, and this week I decided to try it from home. This was due in large part to the fact that last Thursday I had driven to FX from here because I had to take the General to his carpool and I wanted to pick up a few things in my office and it seemed like a good idea. It took less than an hour. So I figured, how bad can it be?

Well, first of all, doesn't it have to rain? At that point, I should have just called in sick, but I had a staff meeting, I had no choice. So I left at 5:15 and I have to say, when I finally arrived in FX at 6:45, I was ready to kill. And the worst thing is, I can't get into my office till 7:00, so I wound up going to get some breakfast anyway.

There was no good reason for it. It was just slow cars in all 3 lanes poking along taking up everyone else's time. By the time I would get around one section of slow cars, I would catch up with the next one. It was crazy.

So to come home, I decided to go "the back way". Drive to Manassas, take the back roads through the woods, and hit 95 down past Quantico. Only when I got out there, 95 was all backed up so I was forced to take Route 1 to Stafford and then hit 95 from there, because I had to go to Falmouth before I could go home.

When all was said and done, I was out of the house 12 hours yesterday, 3 of which were spent sitting in the car.

God I hate living here sometimes. I am hoping and praying the phone rings on Thursday with an interview request from Richmond. It would be an hour commute, yes, but an hour in marginal traffic. And no driving around the rest of the day to see people. Everyone cross your fingers and knock wood for me! :) Thanks.

4.26.08

The date that shall be forever known as the first day I paid $40 to fill my car with gas.

This sucks. At this rate, we will be going nowhere any time soon. I can't see paying a pile of cash to just put gas in the car before I can even get somewhere, let alone then pay money for lodging, meals, entertainment, etc. And flying is no better--they pump up the price just so they can cover their fuel costs.

Good thing I gave my dad his fireworks already. It's going to be a hot, lonely summer if this keeps up.

Catching Up On Books & Movies

Well, it has been AGES since I blogged books or movies. I haven't actually watched much in the way of movies, but tonight the General and I had JesusCamp delivered to our door, courtesy of NetFlix, and I must say, it was un-freakin'-believable. If you want to be scared out of your wits about something that is actually going on today, go rent JesusCamp. And the cinematography was beautiful. Absolutely stunning video.

I haven't been keeping as close an eye on my reading this time around--least ways not in terms of writing up the little book reviews. I started doing it and then I determined it got in the way of my reading time, so I quit. Reading has been a really good escape for me this year in a number of ways, and I would rather just sit and read than to worry about what I'm going to write about the book afterwards.

So, if you noticed over to the right, I have a box that continuously updates as I enter a book as "Read, 2008". It doesn't show every book, as it only has 4 screens of up to 6 books, but it does a good job of showing you the most recent books I've read anyway.

So far this year, I've read 44 books. I'm frankly stunned by that number. I had ZERO intention of reading 100 this year, but it seems like when I'm not reading, I'm at loose ends as to what I can do with myself and my spare time. So, here's what I've read so far, and I'm putting my favorites for the year in BOLD PRINT. :-) And if I have any comments about a particular book, I'll put that in parenthesis after the title.

• How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less by Nicholas Boothman (Fascinating, absolutely fascinating book, I read it only recently, so I'll have to report back on its efficacy after I practice it)
  
• TTYL by Lauren Myracle
  
• Bobbie Faye's Very (Very, Very, Very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey
  
• Bitsy's Bait & BBQ by Pamela Morsi
  
• Footnote Washington by Bryson B. Rash
  
• The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell by Loraine Despres
  
• Don't Kiss Them Goodbye by Alison DuBois
  
• Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie
  
• Uglies by Scott Westerfield
  
• Secrets of My Suburban Life by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
  
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (a new favorite--THANKS, NICOLE!)
  
• Songs Without Words by Ann Packer
  
• The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares
  
• 84 Charing Cross by Helene Hanff (always a favorite--THANKS, LESLEY!)
  
• The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
  
• Oh My Stars by Lorna Landvik
  
• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
  
• Queen of the Oddballs And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan by Hillary Carlip
  
• The Summerhouse by Jude Devereaux
  
• A Very Brady Guide to Life: Groovy Solutions to Life's Most Puzzling Dilemmas by Jennifer Briggs (lame, lame, lame--used from the 90s movies, not the TV show)
  
• Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
  
• I'm Proud of You: My Relationship with Fred Rogers by Tim Madigan (OMG, what a tear jerker!!! You have been warned!)
  
• Flirting With Pete by Barbara Delinsky
  
• Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg
  
• Roses are Red by James Patterson
  
• The Other Woman by Jane Green
  
• Mortified 2: Love is a Battlefield by David Nadelberg
  
• Mortified: Real People. Real Words. Real Pathetic. by David Nadelberg (Laugh out loud hilarity--and God do I wish I could say I couldn't relate at all, but I could relate all too well)
  
• The Mystery of Mr. Nice by Bruce Hale
  
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  
• Ghost Girl by Tori Hayden (forget a grain, read it with a box of salt)
  
• Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnick
  
• Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography by Lemony Snicket
  
• Name All the Animals by Alison Smith
  
• Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich
  
• The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life by Cecile Andrews
  
• Good Grief by Lolly Winston (really starting to love her!)
  
• The Year My Life Went Down the Loo by Katie Maxwell
  
• Daredevil Vol. 3: Wake Up by Brian Michael Bendis
  
• Dishwasher by Pete Jordan
  
• How to Make Your Man Behave in 21 Days or Less Using the Secrets of Professional Dog Trainers by Karen Salmansohn
  
• The Seven Lively Sins: How to Enjoy Your Life, Dammit! by Karen Salmansohn
  
• Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailkis
  
• Quickie Stickies: 100 Pick-Me-Ups for When You're Feeling Unglued by Karen Salmansohn
  

So, that's them. I'm currently in the middle of a bunch of books and am excited to find myself reading a lot of memoirs and nonfiction this year. It's quite a change!

Returning With a Bit of Humor

Ok, so I'm back a bit. I'm probably not going to be blogging as heavily as I was prior to my little 3 week vacation, but things are getting better, or at least my ability to handle them is better, so I felt like blogging something again and here's my chance.

Back in the days of old, one of my favorite websites was www.Crank.net It was a repository of websites of conspiracy theorists, Bigfoot hunters, and other happy wackos, dubbed by the owners of the site as "Cranks, crackpoots, kooks, and loons on the net". The site was HILARIOUS. I used to love visiting the various websites and reading things like, "Note to the FBI: return my vacuum cleaner and we'll call it even, ok?" What the hell the FBI was going to do with a guy's vacuum cleaner, I do not know. Crank.net hasn't been updated in, as near as I can tell, 4 years, so after a while it lost its flair, but if you've never been there, if any of the sites are still up and running, they're worth a read.

But I digress...

It has taken some time, but I think I may have finally found the looniest crackpot on YouTube.

One of my favorite YouTubers was billyjoebob57. He hates the Bush regime with a passion to which I may only aspire. I mean, he literally writes songs about it. However, I realized earlier this week that I hadn't seen him post a video in a while. So I did a search and discovered that his account was suspended by the powers that be over there. Why, I do not know, but he started up a new account and started posting videos. I figured there would be some conspiracy theories out there about the shutdown of his account.

What I didn't expect was to run into a YouTuber called bill122460. I think Bill may take the cake as the crankiest crackpot I have ever seen on the internet. And despite the fact (or maybe because of it) that he seems to hate women, "Messicans", the entire United States government, the Rockefellers, anyone in charge of anything anywhere, and anyone behind the "New World Order", I cannot stop watching this guy.

I watched him this afternoon for an hour and finally I had to stop. I was crying I was laughing so hard, bless his heart. He is dead serious about everything he says. He's convinced that we're facing nuclear holocaust, WWIII, the Messicans will take over our food and shelters and white America will be left to die in the streets of starvation, radiation poisoning, etc. He's convinced that the world of professional wrestling deliberately killed that Chris Benoit dude to brainwash us. You name it, email it to him, and he'll probably work out that there is a huge conspiracy against it. The government was behind Oklahoma City and 9/11. Osama bin Laden is a CIA operative we are paying. The government is using sitcom TV to dumb men down so women can take over the world.

You guys have got to check him out. He is at http://www.youtube.com/user/bill122460 For starters, I'd recommend a little video entitled "So You Want the New World Order To Kill You, Right?" and move on from there.

Sweetly, he ends every video with "Have a Good Day". HILARIOUS.

Enjoy.