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Whoever invented wireless internet, you are my hero. Wanna know where I am? No, not on the pot, thankyouverymuch. I am in bed, under a very warm cozy down comforter, leaning against four plush pillows, you in my lap. It’s a fairly cool night. The window is open and I can hear the rain falling against leaves. My bedroom smells like rain and ocean, thanks to my Ocean Breeze Yankee candle. Really, the internet and all the perks is such a cool thing. Who knew that one could chat with people all across the world while sitting in bed, at the same time purchasing those Adidas shoes directly from Argentina because you can’t find them anywhere else all the while finding out your forecast for tomorrow? Throw not even being connected to any cords, and you’ve got my brain going “HUH?!” It’s pretty amazing, this newfangled technology.

This evening was my attempt at fixing braised apple chicken, a recipe I found off the Weight Watchers site. It looked good in the picture? That’s about all I can say. The truth is, the recipe was frightfully bland, and I wound up with Subway. While Matt was a sweetie left for a few to get me my sandwich, I decided I’d do a load of dishes in the dishwasher. I kicked ‘er on, turned my back only to hear what sounded like a wall of water hitting my floor. I whipped around only to see a wall of water hitting my floor! So I have a dishwasher full of dirty dishes and all my appliances are moved onto my other counter, since water spewed out of this nozzle near my faucet. I still don’t know what the nozzle’s for, but I found that to be the source of the fountain that flooded my kitchen. Come on over, maitenance men. While you’re here, you can fix my toilet that doesn’t flush and my bedroom light that no longer turns on. Thaaaaanks.

I’m ready for Monday to be over.

All I can say about this recipe is droooooool. So good. Filled with creamy mashed potatoes, carrots, celery, and turkey, this recipe is by far one of the best Weight Watchers recipes I’ve tried. It gives meaning to phrase “comfort food.” It’s a must try. Find it here. The best part? Six servings, and only five points per serving!

I am so taking the leftovers to work tomorrow. It will make a delicious lunch. I still have one more main dish to make, and then I’ll fix a dessert. I’ve yet to try desserts from the WW site, so we’ll find out soon enough if they’re worthy of my tastebuds.

Weight-wise, I’m down another 1.5 lbs, a total of 12.5 lbs since 1/1/05. I’m pretty jazzed! I’m happy because it’s coming off slow and steady, instead of super fast. Don’t want any gall stone problems, or other issues that could arise, should you drop weight too quickly.

Today, I am attending a memorial service for a friend’s grandfather. I’m just going to keep telling myself it’s a celebration of his life, don’t cry! But I’m sure that will last all of 2.2 seconds, so I’m bringing kleenex. I hate crying at funerals. Mel’s in heaven, no longer in pain, and we will get to see him when it’s our turn to go. I truly believe this, without a shadow of a doubt. I cry because everyone else around me is crying. So unless people can refrain from losing it, which won’t happen, I’m going to be right there with them. My friend will be giving the eulogy. I’m sure it will beautifully depict Mel’s life and how much he meant to everyone. Wait. I’m going to correct myself. “…how much he means to everyone.” Past tense is so cruel. It sounds as though we’ll never see him again, as if he’s gone forever, only a memory, and that’s not the case. He’s alive and well in the kingdom of God, and we will see him again. Screw the past tense. Mel had a wonderful life.

After the memorial, there’s a big shindig back at the family’s house. Booze, folk, a big pool table, lots of food, etc. That’s what Mel wanted.

I want to be able to handle death better. I should focus on the fact that the person that has passed isn’t gone forever. We just have to wait a little bit to see him again.

I’m so ready for a trip to the beach. I want to laze about the sand, listen to the ocean, and feel the warm sun on me. I’m so ready for spring. We’ve had wonderful weather here - nothing but sun and 60 degree weather. Can’t beat that for February! Eat your heart out, east coast.

Matt: Dude, you should see this thing I’ve been building.

Me: Can I change my pad first?

I made a lasagna tonight taken from the Weight Watchers website. It was full of eggplanty goodness. Trouble is, I don’t think I care for that much eggplant. Perhaps I could substitute another veggie in its place. I’d be willing to give a go again. I didn’t take a picture of it, unfortunately. It wasn’t a bad recipe; I just think I’d pick another main veggie. I promise to have pictures of tomorrow’s din.

By the way, I’m stoked to learn an entire can of Progresso Beef Vegetable soup (2 servings) is a mere 3 points. I think I’ll splurge and have a soy chai tea latte tomorrow morning.

Yup. You heard right. Here’s how it went down: We all get called into a meeting today to discuss departmental changes. You know, the usual stuff. Newcomers to the company, the sales department goals, our company that is merging with us, etc. The meeting was pretty zZz, until the end, when I heard these words: Stone Phillips is no longer with the company.

You could nearly see the look of joy on most people’s faces. It’s not that Stone was rude. He was actually pretty nice, and most people had the usual question about the guy - after all, he did promise great changes for individual departments and a company overall. Who wouldn’t be a little leary about what those changes brought?

Fast forward to tonight. I’m telling Matt about what went down today at work. After a few minutes, I hear, “Oh man. No way. This isn’t the same Stone Phillips III, is it?” I turn around to see my company’s very own Stone plastered across a Seattle news website. In big letters, I read, “Preying on the Faithful.” I read, and quickly became enraged. This man that sat next to me during our little orientation; this same guy who would walk past me each day in the hall and tell me good morning; this guy that bought us Subway because one of our meetings ran past noon - is a fraud. Con. Bastard, as far as I’m concerned.

So what happened? How did he pass his background check? Regardless, this man is gone from our company, which makes me happy. I do worry, however, because this man will simply walk into another company or another town, and swindle his way into someone else’s wallet. I e-mailed the news station. I hope I hear back from them. More than anger, though, I feel sadness for the people that entrusted this man with their finances. Unfortunately, money means quite a bit in this world, and this man just messed up a lot of people’s lives. I just hope he gets called out on it.

Have you read about Paris Hilton’s T-mobile cell phone being hacked? Man. 510 contacts. I don’t even know 510 people.