Journal 2.0

So, the week is finally over... I still have a ton of work waiting for me, but I'm not going to worry about it until Tuesday.  Screw 'em!

The end of the week wasn't too bad. It was really busy. I was so swamped on Thursday that I barely had time to pop out of the office to get lunch. I went over to our "fabulous" eating establishment, and Lisa Tucker (one of the contestants for a previous season of American Idol... she was the 9th runner up... heh) was  there, signing autographs.  Are you suitably impressed? I was.  ("That's great, where's the friggin' spaghetti special?)   One of the upsides to her being there was that the food line (as opposed to the autograph line) was alot shorter. Sweet... in and out in under 10 minutes.

All the military people were off today because they got a 4-day weekend as opposed to our 3-day... which is fine with me. Been there, done that, and I know how they get hosed with all this extra non-work crap. So the office was quieter, and I was able to get more work done. I was so in the zone (aka listening to my iPod and ignoring everyone else) that I completely forgot about the weekly Friday 1 pm video teleconference. Ooops! Though from what my coworkers were saying, I didn't miss much... which is usually the case... heh.

So, the weekend is finally here. Megan and her mum are coming over to our house on Saturday.  We've been in England for a year-and-a-half and they're the first people we've invited over to the house (well, except my parents, but that doesn't count).

And last but certainly not least (that distinction goes to the Lisa Tucker visit... ha!), Maria Sharapova finished up her first week back on top of the world rankings, and has been spending the week training for the French Open, which starts on Monday. woot!


Okaybye.

I can't believe I'm still exhausted today. My security badge finally cracked enough on Friday to stop working, so I had to get a new one made, and in typical Monday fashion, I forgot the damn thing at the house. I stopped by the security office to get a temporary one, which is a lovely shade of pink (it actually went quite well with the blue shirt I was wearing). I was completely slammed at work all day, which ended up turning out okay, because by the time I got around to actually look at the clock to see what time it was, it was already time to go home. Woot! And as an added bonus, most of the people in my office went out to lunch today, so I was only mildly irradiated by the office microwave sitting on my desk a mere 2-3 feet from my head.

This weekend was absolutely fantastic. The weather was very nice, and the ball on Saturday was simply wonderful.  It was my first ball, and I'm so happy that I didn't make a complete ass out of myself out on the dance floor.  I danced quite a bit with Teena, but still managed to get a few in with some of the other ladies (like Megan the birthday princess).  The food was pretty good, and I couldn't have asked for better company.  I won three prizes in the raffle!  A padded tablecloth (gifted to Megan, who is reportedly making a dog bed out of it), two little lancer figurines (they've found a home on my desk at work), and last, but certainly not least, the "World's Most Awesome Jigsaw Puzzle" (aka the Akron/Summitville, Ohio Chamber of Commerce Building puzzle... doesn't get any better than that, folks!)   I, of course, promptly gave it to Gary, the drunkest person at the ball. ;)  I even got to be Queen Victoria for a few minutes at the end of the night.  Clare took a great picture of that.  Definitely needs to be a livejournal icon... hahaha!

I finished reading Darcy's Story. What a great book. It was a really easy read, especially since I just couldn't seem to put it down. Now I'm reading the Medici Secret, by Michael White. It's pretty good so far. I like the two interlocking plots (present day and 1410). It's been kinda slow going, not because of the book, I've just been really tired the past few days, so I've only read the first 12 chapters or so.

It never ceases to amaze me that as much as I know about history, there is so much more that I don't know. Even when it comes to American history. I was doing some genealogical research the other day, and I had come across a relative, a brother of one of my ancestors on my father's side of the family who died in Illinois in 1864. I thought that was very odd, that one of my South Carolina relatives (a few times removed) had died in Illinois during the height of the Civil War. So I did a bit more digging and found that he had died at Camp Douglas. I'd never heard of the place, so I did a search on google (whatever did we do in the days before the internet?). Turns out it was originally a Union training camp and later became a Confederate POW camp best known for its inhumane conditions. I had no idea.

I stayed up last night so I could read the first nine chapters of my book and keep Teena company up in the sewing room while she works on her ballgown, and I went to bed around 1:00 am. I woke up again at 10 minutes to 6... and the sun was up, screaming "Time to get up!" I, of course, went back to sleep. And approximately 10 minutes later, the same thing occurs. This went on for about an hour-and-a-half before I couldn't take it anymore, so I got up.

I've slept through a fire alarm. I've slept through an explosion. I probably would've slept through the earthquake we had a few months ago, if I hadn't been working that night. I've even slept through Teena's snoring! Okay, so it was Allie (and me, if you believe my wife) that was snoring. I can sleep in just about any position on any surface... I can even sleep standing up (thanks, Army!). But the sun is the bane of my sleepy blissfulness. I have real trouble sleeping when it's up.

The really irritating part is, the sun isn't even out! It's sitting up there mocking me from behind its impenetrable fortress of clouds. Le sigh... I need coffee, and soon (now's good!)

So, I've decided to read more books, and spend less time on my computer playing mindless video games. To help me along in my quest, I've joined 50bookchallenge and 15000pages. Whether I accomplish either goal or not remains to be seen, but wish me luck.

My first book is going to be Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer. I started reading this book awhile back and never finished it, and then I started over a month or so ago, but only read the first 4 chapters... third time's a charm, right?