Rant of the Day: People who cut in line.

Today you get two for the price of one:

Rant of the Day: People who insist on standing RIGHT behind you when you're at the ATM. Give me some freaking space for cripes sake! SHEESH!

just what is a cripe anyway?

My father got married on July 13th (over two weeks ago) and I haven't heard from him since then. At all. So weird. I sent him an email the other day, but nothing.

Got a pedicure on my lunch hour for my vacation and now I can't stop admiring the color. Helps to distract me from the stress.

So. Stressed. Out. Leaving for vacation on Thursday night and have just been slammed with two big, priority projects. In addition the other "priority" project I'm already working on. Not to mention all the non-work stuff I have to get done by Thursday night. ARRRGHHH! Why does this always happen to be me right before a vacation???

There was a line out the door at my salad place today -- GUH! Couldn't fathom waiting on it, so I reluctantly queued up at another salad place. I didn't have very high hopes as my regular place is usually The Best (thus, the line out the door), but the salad I came away with ended up being pretty good after all. They also chopped it up, which I thought was a nice touch. I should have gone with the field greens though, the default was romaine and I didn't bother to correct her.

I have one thing to say: Lance Armstrong !!!! He's totally amazing!

It's a very unsettling feeling knowing that someone doesn't like you, and for no good reason. There is this woman at work who hates me, I am not too thrilled with her either (bad vibes, probably because I can sense how she feels about me) but I make a point of saying hello to her, or engaging in casual chit-chat, complimenting what she's wearing, etc. because I just can't stand to be uncomfortable in my work environment. But she actively looks the other way when I talk to her her! I mean, what kind of shit is that? And I wouldn't mind so much (well, I would be hurt, but maybe not as freaked out) except that she is the type to whisper behind my back. It's so high school. You don't have to like me, but be F*cking civil. Ahhhh, politics. Anyone know of a good job where I can work from home? Between this crap and the LIRR, I will be ready for the looney bin soon.

Friday Night: Party at P&L's..Way too many beers and fruity margarita-type concoctions. Someone brought this girl along whom I've met before, "Bee" is almost a cartoon caricature of a person, like she could be pretty if the right make-over came her way. Kind of a "She's All That" Girl before the "All that". Funny thing about teenage movies and transformations of this kind. They never make over the "fat" girl, or any girl who is truly, hopelessly ugly, only the girl who would completely blow all the prom-skanks away, if she only lost the glasses, had the right dress, used some cosmetics, had the right boy interested in her, and the right music as background (which you can always totally see through anyway). You never really see this happen in real life, but the weird thing is, you can almost see that possibility in "Bee". Usually all you can see is this impossible person who will never overcome her awkwardness and ugliness, but she is just a high-light job and contact-lens project away from gorgeous. I don't know why I wanted to write about this, but every time I've met her, I think that.

Anyhoo... Stayed at the party until 3:2something when Julian was leaving. He had checked the train schedule to see what time his train back to Manhattan was, he said 3:42, so we had plenty of time. So we're walking and about half-way there he starts to freak, thinking he's going to miss his train. I look at my watch and see that we have oodles of time to make a 3:42 (AM) train, but he's freaking and wants to run. Okay so we run. I'm in my Tevas, but okay. So there we are, running in the middle of the street and after a few blocks he decides he doesn't want to run anymore, which really bummed me out because I was actually enjoying the run. First run I've enjoyed in weeks. Which is strange, considering it was about 95* and I was running in sandals. Not to mention the quantities of beer and margaritas I had consumed at the party (hmmmm, maybe we have something here). So anyway, I ran a little farther along and then stopped and waited for Julian to catch up. We got to the train station, plenty early for the train, and so stood there talking for a good while. When I happened to glance at my watch again, I noticed that we were edging up on 4:00 AM and there was no sign of a train! Julian said not to worry and that I should just go on home. I left (reluctantly), but got to my apartment (up the block), got Lola the Pug, who needed to go out anyway, and walked back to the station with her. When we got there, we found Julian, lying on the platform like he is bunkered in for a long wait. I said, Julian! what are you doing? you can't just lie here! So I went and looked at the train schedule on the side of the station and saw that the train he had missed had been scheduled for 3:30 AM, I have no idea where he got 3:42, but he screwed it up somehow. The next train wasn't until 6:30 -- GAH! I finally convinced him that he wasn't going to lie there on the platform and wait for 3 hours, and said that Lola and I would walk him to the subway, a few blocks away (I mean, it's not like we were in Montauk or something -- sheesh!) As we started to walk, we saw a yellow cab dropping someone off and J managed to grab it. Turns out the cab was headed back to Manhattan. Phew! My friends are crazy.

Oh. Holy. Crap. Am I having the shittiest day ever.

SET SARCASM = ON

Sometimes it's wonderful to be a woman.

While running on the treadmill and working out on the elliptical machine in the basement this evening, it occured to me that this is so hard tonight (as was my Spinning Class last night) because I am having a significant bout of PMS. That could also explain the Haagen Dazs chocolate ice cream I had earlier (relax, it was a 4 oz portion). Perhaps this is all too much information.

Of course the soul-sucking humidity is not helping things either.

Last night my Spinning instructor (Katie) announced that her partner had had a baby the week before (a boy). When questioned what they named him, she said, "Gaylon". You just can't make this stuff up.

Julia is obsessed with Krispy Kreme Donuts. I don't get it.

Managed to Spin tonight even though I knew E & K weren't going to be making it. Was it ever hard, and Tuesday is supposed to be my easier night. I left the gym to torrential rain, so for once I wasn't the only soaking wet person on the train (nobody needs to know that my wetness was due to sweat -- although, I imagine they could probably tell as I was still in my workout clothes).

I also managed a truncated upper-body weights workout (truncated because of the afore mentioned unfortunate morning commute that got me to work a half an hour or so late). Which leads me to the...

Rant of the Day: People who hang out on the weights machine when they're not working out. This makes me crazy. I have a short window in which to try and fit everything in, some guy (and, let's face it, it's usually a guy) sitting there staring off in to space or, worse, bullshitting with his buddy (or, at my gym, cruising for guys) really interferes with my workout. I once saw a guy reading a book (and not a weight-lifting-how-to variety of book either) while sitting on various weights machines in between his sets. Really.

Have you ever put on chapstick only to realize that you're already wearing lipstick? It's not a pretty sight.

The LIRR strikes again. I arrived to the train station at my usual time this morning, only to wait and wait and finally (after about 20 minutes) realize that something was wrong. A number of trains blew through the station, dramatically blowing horns, but none came close to even slowing down. In the meantime, the platform became more crowded with restless commuters. I could feel my irritation and stress levels rising to a point where I couldn't just stand there anymore and so I went in search of my friend Paul, who was happily reading a book and seemingly not minding the delay. After I ranted to him about it for a few minutes, he just looked at me, shrugged and told me to get over it, there is nothing I can do about it anyway. Am I the only person who is driven insane by this lack of service? We finally got on the next scheduled train, half an hour after the one we were waiting for was supposed to arrive. No seats of course (but there WAS air-conditioning). No explanations or apologies about the train that didn't show. Bastards.

I think Paul was happy to be rid of me once we reached Penn Station.

After a crappy and restless night sleep I awoke to find myself diagonally draped across the bed with my legs hanging off the side. Lola the Pug was curled into a little bundle in the exact center of the bed, sleeping soundly. Just who is the dog in this scenario anyway?

I am so depressed today. Woke up to high humidity and storms, it is supposed to storm until Friday. Such a beautiful weekend and I did nothing and I have no one to blame but myself. Sometimes my laziness just wins out. I almost wanted to cry coming in on the train this morning, so dreading the return to work. I need to find a good balance of activity and down-time on the weekends so that I can come back to work refreshed and ready jump back in. Too busy and I start the week exhausted. Not busy enough and I show up on Monday completely depressed (like today).

The later part of my day turned out a lot better than the start. I'm still annoyed at myself for doing nothing with my weekend, but I managed to put it enough behind me to make considerable progress on this project that had me stalled at the end of last week.

I am so BORED this weekend! A shame, since the weather is gorgeous for a change (don't even really need the air-conditioner). I need to go for a run. At the very least I should take Lola for a walk. Right now she is lying on the kitchen floor and staring at me (probably in disbelief over my incredible laziness).

I ran into a guy I used to date today. Boy, did he look horrible. slightly hunched over, balding, hair (what's left of it) gone all grey. He looked like an old man, I was rather startled. And actually, I think I saw him not too long ago too, and don't remember feeling so shocked. It's certainly been this year (he works for my company), which leads me to believe that much of it is a recent development. He's married now and his wife just had a baby (their first). Maybe married life doesn't agree with him. Anyway, it sure did make me feel old. I remember drinking beer with him at a bar in Manasquan on the Jersey Shore. Now he looks older than my father. Do I look that old??? I know that I've noticed a couple of grey hairs suddenly over the last year, but I still was carded at the grocery store the other day.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I now have the hiccups! ARGH!

Well, I managed to get to the gym and Spinning class.Thursday night is a harder class than Tuesday. There is always a point in this class where I don't know if I'm going to make it, but I always do. My weights workout was also hard as my muscles were still sore from Tuesday. After the gym K suggested we all go out for a beer, so we did (who am I to turn down a beer?) Took me forever to get home however. Have I mentioned that the LIRR sucks???

Suppose to spin tonight, but I'm so dog-tired I just don't know how I'm going to pull it off. I think I had a crappy night's sleep last night because I can barely keep my eyes open now. This day has gone so slowly too. A wonderfully brilliant day out there too and here I sit, stuck in this cube!

In an amazing development, I am not wearing any black today. Not one stitch, not even my shoes.

The LIRR SUCKS! Got on yet another unair-conditioned car this morning. That's the fourth one in a week. This is just unacceptable. Bastards.

I've had the opportunity to discover a T.V. show this Summer that I had previously not paid a lot of attention to. Thanks to repeats and all the reality crap hogging the airways these days, I find myself really searching for stuff to watch. The one staple has been, "That 70s Show" (Fox) I had seen it before, but having now managed to consistently catch a good number of episodes, I've really grown to appreciate the humor of this show. Check it out some time. Wednesdays at 8 PM (Fox) . Cracks me up.

I was just at the grocery store. Almost caved on the yogurt. Almost. Luckily, my principles won out. I did cave on the beer though. Yes, I know it's only Wednesday.

So there was an official-looking NYC truck and a crew marking up a piece of asphalt outside of my apartment about an hour ago. Now there are significant-looking red marks on the street. What do you want to bet they're going to start drilling? My guess is it starts tomorrow morning. Oh joy, the pleasures of city living.

Train Angst: I hate it when the person who sits next to you on the train right away starts to nod off. You spend the whole trip worrying that that head is going to end up on your shoulder.

Walking in NYC is a lot like driving is in other places. You become really irritated when the people in front of you are moving too slow. You try to pass people and duck in, while keeping an eye on oncoming traffic (people). Being cut-off by someone is the most annoying thing in the World. People who try to cut across the stream of traffic (crowds) take their lives in their hands. People in front of you who seem to not know where they are going is enough to drive you insane. In some ways walking in NYC is more stressful than driving because you can't rely on other walkers to follow basic rules of the road (or sidewalk).

Workout Note: Spinning tonight at the New York Sports Club. E joined me. I did an upper-body weights workout first. The instructor was a sub, so like in Junior High School, you never can be sure what you're going to get, but she was pretty good. So I spun. And sweated. I feel pleasantly fatigued now and happy I did it. Right now I'm satisfied to have two Spinning Classes per week on my schedule (Tuesdays & Thursdays), but I would eventually like to bump it up to three a week. Means I'll most likely have to start taking one on the weekend.

So my father got married on Sunday. In theory I'm very happy for him. My mother was sick for a number of years and he basically lived to take care of her during that time. I'm happy that he found happiness and is leading a fulfilling life. But I would be lying if I didn't admit that I was feeling pretty freaked out by all of this.

My mother passed away in January, 2002 and by March he was very actively dating. Dating multiple women at once. At the time, this was a little amusing when considering the complications of dating one woman in his condo complex, yet bringing other women home at other times. Also, asking from time to time one woman to watch his dog while he went out with another. That all changed, however, by the end of September. He met this woman and quickly became very serious. By January (I'm sure, not so coincidentually around the anniversary of my mother's death) they announced their engagement. We did this big family thing in New Mexico in May so that many of the various family members could meet and get to know each other. I came to the unsettling conclusion at that time that I really don't like her very much. Worse than that, I don't like HIM when he's with her. He turns into a different person. Oh I guess she's nice enough, too nice actually. But this overly-emotional, gushing affect really makes me uncomfortable. Making a big show, like she hasn't seen you in 10 years, when you just saw her the night before. My father is "darling this", "darling that". Every restuarant is THE BEST restaurant, THE BEST food, THE BEST hotel. She couldn't even wait until the food was served, it was THE BEST menu! I suppose if I end up spending any amount of time with her from here on in, I'll warm up to her. I just don't respond very well when people are forced on me, especially women. Anyway, so they married on Martha's Vineyard on Sunday. The odd thing is that no family were invited. They had some friends in attendance and that's it. I can't help but feel slighted.

Dog Walking Service:Someone has posted signs all over my neighborhood advertising an "Expert" dog walking service. I wonder what kind of certification/education/training is involved to become an "Expert" dog walker. Maybe I should consider a career change. I'm pretty good at walking dogs.

What is it with mullets anyway? I saw this middle-aged guy today with one. He had greying, brownish hair, very long in the back (like past his sholders), yet short and layery (complete with bangs) in the front. I don't get it.

I had this insane craving for chocolate milk this morning. It was truly bizarre. Had to stop at the corner store on my way to the train, my hands were practically shaking as I opened the bottle (like a junky, I was). And sucked it down right there on the street.

After a crappy night's sleep, I woke this morning to a loud and incessant bird outside my window. Like at 4 AM! Bird wouldn't shut up. It was noisier than all the garbarge trucks and street noise I endured when I lived on West 78th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, and that's saying A LOT. I mean, I'm all for nature, but geez.

Rant of the Day: People who do not look forward in an elevator. What are you looking at??? ARGH!

Rant of the Day: The LIRR (Long Island Railroad for you out-of-towners). They jacked up the fares over 25% recently because the MTA was crying poverty. Turns out they were cooking the books and had presented one set of books for public view, yet retained a whole other set of internal books. Once this was discovered, they were ordered to roll back the fare increase until the matter could be investigated further. They cried and screamed that a roll-back would cost them MILLIONS because they would need to retro-fit their equipment. Huh? Last time I looked, this was 2003, doesn't the MTA have their system computerized? What needs to be retro-fitted? All you have to do is change a program. Subway rides are now sold on metro cards, which is a paper ticket. I would think the computer program only needs to be adjusted to take out less (or more) of the value of the card per ride. Same thing with LIRR and MetroNorth train tickets. Additionally, did it cost them MILLIONS to adjust the "system" when the fares were rolled forward? If so, we never heard about that. So anyway, they were given a certain amount of time to roll back the prices and New Yorkers are still waiting.

In light of all this, I am paying about $130 a month to go eight miles. That would be bad enough, but going home at night, I have to be on my train 15 minutes early to ensure that I actually get a seat. And the seat I do end up in, invariably is duct-taped in some spot, basically assuring that I will end up with some gummy, sticky duct-tape glue on my butt. Add to all of this the fact that already this Summer I have been on trains with no air-conditioning no less than five times. Luckily, two of those days weren't particularly hot days, but the other three were. This morning was one of those unbearably hot mornings. The air was so oppressive you could almost cut it with a knife (this was pre-storm, that showed in the afternoon). No A/C. The train was also so crowded that I felt like I was riding the subway again. (I, of course, did not have a seat. At least I didn't end up with duct-tape glue on my butt.) For this our fares have gone up over 25%. It just makes me so mad because we have no recourse and no alternatives. Damn the MTA.

I'm sure I will rant about this subject again.

Sometime during the day, while I was slaving away in my little, putty-colored cubicle, a storm swept through, breaking the weather and cooling things down dramatically. This inspired me enough to run home after work and throw on my new running shoes for a jaunt in my local park. After a short debate with myself, I decided to bring Lola since the air had cooled so much and since she hasn't had much exercise lately. Well, the air was deceptively cool, but there was still enough humidity in the vicinity to contribute to an impressive sweat-fest. This was reason enough for me to take it easy (doesn't take much convincing with me). I ran about 2.5 to 3 miles. While running on the bridle paths, I came to resent the usual presence of a certain quality of (usually young) men, most idling around, or strolling slowly with seemingly no destination. Most possessing a certain blank or listless stare that tells you they are not interested in women, or anyone else who might be in the park for a traditional athletic pursuit. And while I don't feel particularly threatened by these men, I can't help but resent their creepy presence somewhat. Not so bad when they are walking on the foot paths, but somewhat annoying when they are sitting along the side of the path watching you go by. Regardless of this annoyance, I had a pleasant run, although, I found my new shoes a little disappointing. Seems the design of the shoe has changed a bit so that the fit is now a touch snug (my older shoes in this model, same size, actually fit somewhat big). I could have gone up a half-size. I think wearing thinner socks will do the trick, but still.

I love it when the weather forecasters on the News tell you how hot it's going to be and that your best bet would be to spend the day at the beach, in the water or in the pool. Gee, thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

I was on line at DD again this morning. Okay, so the heat index today in NYC is supposed to hit 100*, I mean, it's HOT out there! So I'm on line and, again, there is NO AIR-CONDITIONING!!!! What is this??? Already unbelievably hot, and they're running toasters and other grilling machines to make whatever breakfast/fat concoctions they sell to the masses. At least I was only in there for a few minutes, but what about the poor people who have to work there? Standing behind the counter in their polyester uniforms. Plus, how appealing is it to have this person sweating profusely stacking your donuts in a box for you? No thanks. I passed on the donut, one coffee is fine, thanks.

3:33 pm: Screwed up a development database at work. Damn.

4:42 pm: Oh good, the d/b is okay. It was just something screwy I was doing in my code. phew.

8:36 pm:Well, I sucked it up and managed a Spinning class tonight. I've been a slacker for a few days, so it had to be done. Luckily, I think the instructor took pity on us because of the heat since I didn't feel so beaten up at the end. Still sweated like a jungle hog though. I feel so much better now. Aren't you glad I shared?

I took today off of work due to a stomach ailment you really don't want to hear the details of. I'm trying to do some work from home, but that never seems to really work out very well, so I decide I might as well get a couple of errands done. Lola and I are on line at the Post Office (subject for a rant someday) and my friend Carolina steps into line behind us. Carolina just had a baby and she's already back to her size 6 figure. I hate Carolina. (not really, but you know what I mean) and there I am in these baggy, two-sizes-too-big, running shorts, unflattering t-shirt and dirty, oily hair (yes, that's right, I haven't even taken a shower today). I feel like such a slug. Carolina is all clean and chipper and size-6. How nice for her. I'm going to crawl back under my rock now.

Weird weekend. I was innocently walking Lola the Pug on Friday, came back to the building through the back gate. Kathy and Claudine were hanging out in the back yard drinking sangria. They invited me to have a glass and one thing led to another (and one glass led to another) and I ended up sitting in the backyard for six hours or so drinking sangria and gossiping. Could have been a worse day.

Yesterday I went to Paul & Luminita's, they were having people over. It was so hot that the sky had turned white. The heat seemed to wash all the blue out. Spent the evening drinking beers and reminiscing with friends about our bar days in the City.

I'm in a bad mood today. As I sit here thinking about it, national holidays almost always put me in a bad mood. I guess it's the whole, significant other - family thing. It just seems that the world revolves so much around being part of a family or a couple that it just becomes very glaringly obvious that I don't have any of these things going on when a holiday crops up. And I'm not trying to say, 'you're not complete without a man, significant, whatever' either, but it just seems that as much as you read (and feel) that it's okay to be alone, the World (fueled by the media) is happy to convince you otherwise. It just seems that holidays do a pretty good job of making sure I realize that I'm single. Well, TG for Lola the Pug anyway.

Rant of the Day: Stoneyfield Farms Yogurt. SF is the only kind of yogurt I can eat because they don't add sacchrine or nutrasweet or a ton of sugar, etc. Well recently, without any warning, their standard yogurt portion went from 8 oz. to 6oz.! This would be annoying enough all on it's own, but they didn't drop the price! Did they think we weren't going to notice? So now I'm boycotting Stoneyfield Farms. I wonder how long it'll last, I already miss my yogurt.

I caved this morning and bought a coffee at DD. I've been boycotting them all year because their prices went up. Again. So I hadn't been there in a while and I'm waiting on this humungous line and there is no air-conditioning in the store. I finally order my coffee, give the girl two dollars and I get a quarter and a handful of pennies back. What the F* is that???? Most places won't even take pennies anymore. Sheesh!

Rant of the Day: Willard Scott. Okay, so not him personally, but he does this nice thing where he announces on the Today Show who is 100 years old today. It used to be this really sweet gesture that he (or whatever producer at NBC) started. Well, then they had to add a product endorsement to make a few bucks and that just leaves a really sour taste in my mouth. First it was Hallmark and now it is Smuckers. Does everything have to be a plug??? Drives me crazy.

I bought a magazine to read on the train the other day. It was one of those women's fashion-type things that I normally try to avoid. But I bought it and read an article on the best jeans to wear if you have short legs, or a big butt, or wide hips, etc. My question is, what do you do if you have short legs AND a big butt AND wide hips? Just close yourself in your apartment because you shouldn't be seen in public?

I took a Spinning, er "Cycling", class tonight. It was as hard as usual, although, oddly, all the aches & pains and soreness from running yesterday were gone after the class. The instructor said that the month of July is going to be a tribute to the Tour de France, apparently mimicing the various trials of the race. Greeeeat. Something to look forward to.