Crashing Computers

Ok - So, I know I'm not the only one in the world who has had their computer crash on them before. It happens and boy does it suck! A few months ago, my computer at work crashed on me and I literally couldn't do anything at my desk without it. My job is my computer, unfortunately and so I was forced to bother my co-workers until the problem was fixed. I ended up losing everything, but only temporarily - thank god! I now have a habit of saving everything to the "community" folder which can basically be accessed by any employee. I had to choose what I saved, wisely.

Well, it happened again. This time, it happened to my computer at home. This time, I lost everything, permanently. I took my computer to CompUSA and they erased my hard drive.I know the things I lost, which is a horrible feeling, but I'm OK with losing the things I know are gone. It's the rest of everything, like pictures, songs, and other things that I've lost that I know I would have kept, had I known this would happen. Now, there's a slight chance that this happened because my Norton Anitvirus has expired and I didn't re-activate it until about a month ago. I probably got a virus from an e-mail or from known source that I was unaware of. I guess the only good thing about this crash is that my computer works much faster! Although, I would have preferred to have saved everything to a disk to have everything. I'm now tempted to go out and buy a CD burner for my computer. Thank goodness for Snapfish.com - most of my pictures are on there.

The moral of this story? Always have Norton Anti-Virus on your computer!!

You're going the wrong way!

It truly amazes me whenever I see cars driving down the wrong way. I was trying to get out of the spot that I had parked in last night and while I was maneuvering my car out of the tight space I had snuck into when I got home from work last night, I saw a car coming toward me. I'm not 100% sure, but I think he knew what was wrong in that particular picture. He couldn't have not known that he was going the wrong way. It was a very narrow road, like most one-ways are (why else would a road be so narrow if you had to get 2 cars through!?) and all of the cars were parked in the same direction. Since the spot that I had parked in was only 2 spaces up from the beginning of the street, I backed up about 2 cars lengths (like I normally do) and into the street that would take me to Chestnut Hill Ave. I'm pretty sure the guy who was going to the wrong way thought that I was backing up for him, and I didn't stay to long enough to see what he was doing, but I continued to drive down the end of the street. I occasionally see people driving down my street which is also a one-way and have to wonder what they are thinking? Who knows, maybe we have all done it, but I would think you would notice relatively sooner than later that something doesn't seem right when you're driving down a narrow street and all of the cars are parked the opposite direction of the way you are driving.

I was a Jersey Girl...

for about 24 hours anyway... I went to NJ this past weekend to visit a friend from high school. It was a weekend that had been planned months ago. The plan (on my part anyway) was to leave Friday night after work and although there would have been enough trafic to want to plead temporary insanity, I was willing to put up with it for a few hours. The person whom I was going with did not want to leave on Friday, she wanted to leave on Saturday... so I caved in and that was the plan. I had offered to drive, I traded cars with my mom who has a GPS system - much easier having your car tell you how to get there instead of having hand-written directions! I had loaded my friends address into the GPS as well as the address of the friend whom I was driving down with, to pick her up. I was all set to go. My friend who lives in NJ had e-mailed us both during the week trying to put together a few activities to do and I had recommended going to see the Statue of Liberty. I hadn't been there in about 20 years, and although I'm sure things haven't changed much, besides more intense security due to 9/11, I still wanted to go see it. After thinking about that, I checked the weather report just in case and the forecast called for cloudy skies with scattered showers. No big Deal, we'll do something else. So, Friday after work, I went home and hung out on my couch and watched re-runs of t.v shows that aren't even on anymore. I watched What I Like About You with Jennie Garth and Amanda Bynes ( I think they realized I was the only one who watched that show and cancelled it... thanks WB! Twins, with Sarah Gilbert, that show was destined to be a disaster, and Reba with... Reba. I got into bed nice and early since I had to be up at 6am to meet my friend at 7. I got out of the shower at 6:15, and heard my cell phone beep - I had missed a call and had a message. I didn't recognize the number but soon realized that it was my friend who I was meeting in 45 minutes. I listened to the message and not only was she running late, but she was backing out!! I was rip sh*t at first, who can blame me?? Her dog was sick and no one was home and she didn't know what to do. So, being a good person, I told her not to worry about it, take care of the dogs and to have a good weekend. I didn't care about driving down to New Jersey alone, what I cared about was the fact that I had waited until Saturday to leave b/c that's what she wanted!! Oh well, things happen that you can't control... I made the best of the drive by listening to the radio and my iPod on the way down and I was there a lot faster than I thought!
I got there at 11 and we hung out for about an hour or so and then went out for lunch to a place call Black River Barn in Morristown, NJ. It was a lousy day - very cold and raw. Not a good day to spend it outdoors. After lunch, we went shopping, but I didn't buy anything. I guess I just wasn't in the mood - maybe it was the weather? Who knows. When we got back from shopping, or our intentions to shop and possible even buy something, we went back to my friend and her husbands house and watched their wedding video. They just got married in February, in Florida. After watching the video, we went out for drinks and then for dinner, I was in bed by 9:55! I was pooped... waking up at 6 to be on the road by 6:45, driving for 4 hours and all on a dreary day, it can make you tired!! I read my book, Confessions of a Shoppaholic - great trash book if you're into that stuff, and the next thing I knew, it was 6am! I woke up with a splitting headache - drinking wine does that to me... expecially if I don't take anything to prevent it the night before, which I didn't. I took some exederin and went to bed until around 9am. I got up and ready to go and was on the road to head home by 10am. It was a very quick trip, but it was fun and well-worth it to see my friend.

I have to admit, I couldn't wait to get home to see my boyfriend who had been away in Maine all weekend. Absence definitely makes heart grow fonder!

Osama Bin Laden and Whitney Houston

What do they have in common? Absolutely nothing, unless of course Osama thinks that "crack is whack". If Whitney Houston wanted to help the U.S. out a little and maybe try to capture him, it might be easier than we thought! I think our easiest way to get Osama Bin Laden to come out from hiding involves one person. That person if Whiteney Houston. Yes, that's right, According to one of Osama's 'sex slaves', he is obsessed with Whitney Houston. Not sure I believe all of this, but it's out there. Here, read it for yourselves! This is a good one...

Booooo Red Sox

Ok, so I'm probably not the only who thinks that the Red Sox officially stink, right? The last game I went to was last season and we won, which was really good. It was indeed a nail-biter, but it was worth not having any nails in the end. Since then, I have had the best of the every game I've seen... from my couch. It's cheaper and I can see everything I need to see, from my couch. This season, I have wanted to go to a game all season long. Any game at all, until recently when the Sox most hated team, their biggest rivalry, kicked their butts and swept them to the curb. How humiliating! It's the kind of sport that should be sensored these days! They should be giving free beer away at Fenway just to cheer the fans up! Now, if I had tickets, I'd be either selling them or ripping them up. No thank you. I'll wait until next year, if there is a next year! I guess the truth just really hurts, the red sox suck!! (at least right now they do. but hey, I'm a fair-weather fan.)

Movie Correction

I wanted to make a correction. In my Old School Movies blog, I stated that I was about to receive United 93 from Netflix. I was mistaken when I added that movie to my queue as Flight 93 is the made-for-tv movie and not the movie that was in the theaters, which is United 93. We did watch Flight 93, and although I'm not exaclty sure what difference is, maybe it's a bit more graphic? I'm not too sure what the difference is, since it was originally what I thought I was getting in the first place. Flight 93 was very emotional, not quite as emotional as the day it actually happened, but it brought back a lot of memories from that day. I was not personally affected by the 9/11 tragedies, but I know people who were. A good friend of mine from high school, her father was in the 2nd tower that day. He didn't normally work there, but he was there for a business meeting, and while everyone was scurrying around, trying to find a way to get out, he stayed back to help others. He never made it out. His wallet was found about a year later, with all of the contents still inside. My father used to travel for work, and his travel agent was doing a little traveling himself that day of 9/11. He had left my dad a message on his cell phone, while waiting for his flight to board. The message stated that he was waiting for his early morning flight to California to baord and that he would get in touch with him when got back. My dad got the message shortly after he knew his flight was one to crash into the tower. He didn't delete the message for some time.
As I watched the movie, with a box of tissues by my side, I tried to think of how it would have felt, knowing that I was going to die, in the way that I was going to die. What do you tell a loved one during your final conversation with them? You obviously tell them how much you love them. And in the end, you know it's going to be much harder for them than it is for you. The emotions are indescribable. I sat on the couch crying, not believing how the terrorist's could take such innocent people's lives... just like that. For no reason at all. One of the passengers was running late for the flight, justmaking it. Another called her huband, after putting "What to Expect When Your Expecting" down, to tell him she was able to catch an earlier flight and that she'd call him when she got to California. Her husband was sleeping and missed the call. Some people had to leave messages on machines, and others were able to have final conversations. The fact that the passengers were able to come up with a plan to crash the plane into a random field was truly amazing.
Anyway, it's an extremely emotional movie, I think I'll wait for World Trade Center to come out on DVD.

Camp M&M

About 8 years ago, my parents friends started a camp for children both infected with and affected by the HIV and the AIDS virus. The children from age 5 to 12 and they are the sweetest most amazing kids I have ever met. It's a week long camp where the kids can go away and just forget about everything bad in the world. Most of the children at the camp are infected with the virus, and their siblings are there with them for the week, but the siblings may not carry the disease.

At Camp Miracles and Magic, the kids get up in the morning, have breakfast and start their activities. Activities range from arts & crafts, to swimming in a pool, sports, music, nature walks, and many other fun things! At night, there is a different form of entertainment for everyone to enjoy. The week is really amazing and one of the best weeks I've ever experienced. I was a counselor at the camp for 5 years, but after so many years, life sort of just takes over and you can't do it every year. I still visit every year and see all the kids. A few of the campers that I had in my group are now CIT's! Talk about feeling old! We haven't lost a camper yet from the disease, and hopefully we won't ever as long as the camp is there.

When I went up yesterday, they had "Carnival Day". I took my sister in law and her 2 boys; Ryan 3, Benjamin 5. They had an absolute blast! We got painted-on tattoo's, the boys made their own picture mugs, they got animal balloons, old-time pictures taken, and a monkey! They also had about 8 inflatable slides and water rides, a mechanical bull, and many other fun activities for all to enjoy. All in all, it's a great week for everyone who goes.

Old School Movies

A couple of months ago, I joined Netflix. If you've never heard of Netflix, it's basically an on-line movie store. You pay a monthly fee and every week, you get a new movie. In most cases, you get a new movie every week, it depends on how quickly you return the one you just got. They offer subscriptions that allow you to receive up to 8 movies at a time. I am on a one-at-a-time subscription, at least until the fall when I'm not so busy! The last couple of movies my boyfriend and I have seen are Doogie Howser, DMD (gota love Doogie!!) Just Friends, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the one we just saw last night was Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle. next in line United 93 which I am somewhat anxious to see. Not that I want to re-live that day or even get a glimpe of the fear those people faced before dying, but I've hear that it is a must-see. So, therefore, I must see it. There's plenty more on the list, but they are movies that my boyfriend has suggested, which are sort of similar to the one's I've listed above.

National Watermelon Day

Who knew there was such a day?? If anyone is a watermelon fan, you'd probably be glad to know that today is National Watermelon Day. It is always on August 3rd, although, feel free to eat it any day you'd like! Watermelon is 90% water, but is 100% delicious! And I'm not sure how's it's possible, but my brother is allergic to this fruit. He might as well be allergic to water!

It's getting Hot out theeeere...

And it makes you want to take off all your clothes, but since that's not happening right now, I'll just say that's it is really really hot out there! Just how hot is it?? It's so hot that in the 6 years I've had my car, it almost overheated on my way home from work! I immediately pulled into a gas station and it turns out that it might just be that my thermostat is faulty. I need to wait until tomorrow morning when my engine has cooled off to see what happens.

Until then, I'll just wait for the severe thunderstorms that are supposed to pass through... pass through. It seems that Boston did not break it's 1975 record of 102 degrees. The city officially hit only 98 degrees, but according to the weather channel, it feels like 107.