RULE: Once you've been tagged you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

To do this, go to "Notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

1. I really should be working on my paper right now......
2. I am really good a procrastination
3. My feet are always cold, but I hate wearing socks
4. I have to compulsion to yell the people at the gym who tan. You live in
Minnesota in the middle of winter, who are you trying to fool!
5. I still do not understand how Matt can play hours of video games without
getting bored, but can't sit through a single movie with me on most nights
6. I wish I had the same show size as Karen so I could borrow some of her shoes
7. Same for clothes....she has more clothes than I do and they are cute!
8. My first job was delivering drugs.....(legal drugs for the pharmacy...but still)
9. I hate it when people ask me if I am done with school
10. I miss my father daily and feel like I should have known that something was
wrong with him
11. I hate petty workplace politics
12. My dream would be to have all the condo projects magically done (and paid for)
13. I don't like horror movies, why do they release them around Valentine's day?
14. I am a sucker for old Doris Day movies
15. I sometimes wish people dressed more modestly. I don't need to know what kind
of underwear you are wearing
16. I think cell phones should be banned from the bus
17. I was rejected for everything I applied for in the Spring of 2002, it sucked
but I learned a lot
18. Chai tea is like crack for me....I can't just have one cup
19. I admire people who run marathons, I am too lazy to put in that much effort for
that much pain
20. I worry that my career will keep me from helping my mom out more when she needs
it
21. I am not worried about starting my own family, and get annoyed when people ask
me. It is our decision (and my uterus), we will get around to it when the time
is right!
22. I have to have a clean kitchen when I go to bed, I have no idea why
23. I can always find room for dessert
24. I get a gag reflex when I try to open a can of tuna, but can handle any bloody, pus-filled lesion at work
25. I really want to know if OJ knows what "Pink Taco" is slang for

Brrrr....

I am at home right now working on paper revisions. I am happy about this, as it is really cold outside. In fact, I am not happy about the sun, as that allows it to get even colder. Bring on the clouds and warm up already!

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe today.

Working from Home

I have a nasty case of writer's block and/or procrastination. I have working my my CO project for almost two years (first treatments were done Jan. 13, 2007!), but I just can't seem to get this paper done. Maybe I have attention deficit disorder....
Since the lab is not the best place to write (or form any type of cohesive thought), I am working from my cozy condo today. Mr. O'Malley has been fed well, so he is leaving me alone. Matt is at school until at least 4. That give me 5-6 hours of piece and quite to get writing. Hopefully I can get it done. It truly is getting ridiculous....

Christmas and New Years were fine. I had a great time on Christmas Eve with my Aunt Sherry and Uncle Tom. All I can say it that it is NOT a good idea to drink and then try to do yoga on the Wii Fit.....even if you are a yoga instructor!
Christmas in Fargo was as good as can be expected. Matt's grandparents are starting to decline in health, so we had a scare with Grandma. She is doing as well as can be expected and is back in the nursing home. I went through all of this with my grandma's when I was in middle school, so I know that this is going to be a long and painful process for everyone in Matt's family. In many ways I am grateful that my Dad passed away peacefully in relatively good health (he died...so that is arguable). Watching him (or my mom) slowly decay would not have been pleasant. Speaking of my mother's health, I am happy to say she does not have breast cancer. We had a scare right before Christmas. She had two abnormal mammograms. I spoke with my boss, and he got her into the Breast Center at the U. In less than two hours she had a new ultrasound and a biopsy confirming that it was just a cyst! Needless to say we all partied hard on New Years. I am so thankful she was ok, as I can't face losing another parent so soon.
Well, I better get back to work on the paper.

Amen Jim Caple and ESPN Page 2

Below is the article by Jim Caple that was on ESPN's Page 2 website today. In Minnesota the owner of the Vikings is trying to get a new tax-payer funded stadium by calling it an "economic stimulus". Open your wallet mister (for a new quarterback AND a stadium). Don't expect your ride to riches to be paid for the little people!

DON'T BASH THE FANS
Arizona Cardinals Fans It took some last-minute reprieves, but as expected, both the Vikings and the Cardinals sold out their NFL playoff games to avoid blackouts this weekend.

Rather than criticize these fans for their "tardiness" in purchasing expensive playoff tickets after Christmas during a severe recession, let's instead praise fans everywhere for their astounding support. After all, what is surprising is not that a couple teams needed extra time to sell out their games but that this happens seldom enough to be considered newsworthy.

Purchasing playoff tickets is not cheap. Not only are they expensive on an individual basis but many teams require fans to purchase tickets for every potential home game of the entire postseason -- up to 16 games in the NBA and NHL and 10 in baseball. Many game times are undecided at the time of purchase. Yet fans still buy them, not knowing whether they will need to take multiple days off work or arrange sitters for the kids or whether they can attend.

The NFL is worse during the regular season, requiring fans to purchase tickets to meaningless exhibition games at full price in order to buy season tickets.

Yet the league has the audacity to impose its insulting blackout policy? It's one thing to do so if it was playing in privately built stadiums -- but to threaten the very people who paid for the stadiums' construction that they won't be able to watch the game on TV is unconscionable.

Hey, we know your 401K lost half its value this year, you're worried about your job, your kids' tuition is due, the roof needs replacing, your spouse has been begging for a kitchen remodel since Kurt Warner was stocking grocery shelves, the banks that taxpayers bailed out are charging 18 percent interest for your credit card purchases, the public spent $400 million on our stadium and we still gouge you $8 for a cup of beer … but if you don't buy a pair of $150 seats, we're blacking out the game and you can just watch Rachel Ray on your 72-inch plasma screen that you still owe six payments on instead.

I don't want to hear any criticism of the fans in Minnesota or Arizona for not shelling out hundred-dollar bills fast enough to a league that reaps billions of dollars in revenue each year -- especially since those critics almost never are the ones who have to open their wallets.
-- Jim Caple