I've been meaning to blog for days, but throw in a very busy schedule and being sick, and it all leads to this blog not being updated for about a week. So, here's another playing catch-up entry to keep you informed of my weekly happenings.

Wednesday night, I had an appointment for a cut and color with my new stylist, David Michael. Several of my friends use him and I've loved how their hair looks after seeing him, so I made an appointment. The color is gorgeous and it's nice to not have so much hair, though it's still halfway down my back. You can't really tell how it looks from this picture, but it's the only shot I have of it right now.

After that it was off to Katie's to hang out in the Technology Bytes IRC chat as we do every Wednesday. We bailed a bit early, though, so we could catch The Light Rock Express.

LRE consists of three of The El Orbits band members (The Dazzling Pete Grey, Jim Henkel, and Paul "The Kid" Beebe) and a drummer whose name I never caught. They play nothing but 70s light rock tunes ("Escape - The Pina Colada Song," "Afternoon Delight," "Stayin' Alive" and other classics) and it's a blast. It's amazing how The Kid can sound like just about any 70s band.

Anyway, we had a great time. Tricia, our dancing waitress from The Continental Club, was there and she even baked cookies. Jay Lee also showed up, which was nice since we hadn't seen him in a while.

The highlight to the evening (aside from Katie and I singing "How Deep is Your Love?" to each other), was the girl who got (semi) naked. LRE has this tank and panties set they sell for $10 that says "Light rock is for lovers" on it. They're super cute, but I don't think they sell very well. However, this one girl bought a set, went and changed into it, and then came out and danced to a song in it. Jay took pictures of the evening and this one of the dancing girl and Pete is my favorite.

Thursday I started noticing that it hurt to breathe in really deep. Ever since I had that damn pulmonary embolism a little over a year ago, I'm always a little worried that I'm going to get sick again. PEs are about the least fun thing in the world to go through and I never want to have another one again. Since my PE was originally misdiagnosed as pneumonia, the painful breathing made my brain scream, "Pulmonary embolism!" so I called the doctor and scheduled an appointment for Monday afternoon. Of course, since I'm neurotic (as I always say, this site ain't named Neurotic Fishbowl for nothing) I called back and moved the appointment to Friday since I kept thinking, "That's five days away. You could be *dead* by then!"

Friday, I went to the doctor and it turns out that I don't have a pulmonary embolism or any fluid around my lungs. I was running a slight fever, however, so the concensus was that I was probably coming down with something like the flu. Fun.

Around 6:00 that evening I headed back to Katie's since Todd was in town and staying with her for the weekend. His cousin and her fiancee had extra tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show, Varekai and he'd thoughtfully invited me along.

Veraki was good (especially the magician/lounge lizard guy doing "Ne Me Quitte Pas"), but it's not my favorite show of theirs which is, and probably always will be, "O" at The Bellagio in Vegas. Afterwards we went to Casa Manhattan for dinner. It's in between The Copa Room and Red Door and while waiting for our car, I saw Matt Clegg, a guy that was a few years behind me in school. Random, huh?

On the way home, I noticed that a new body piercing/tattoo palor was still open, so I swung in and got a hoop through the top of my left ear. I've always wanted one, but every time I've gone to get it done, I can never find a place open. It looks pretty cool, bringing my total piercings up to three in one ear, four in the other, and a belly button ring. I'm pretty sure I'm done with piercings at this point.

Saturday I was supposed to go to Elaine, but I still wasn't feeling very well and ended up working a few extra hours. It was then back to Katie's so we could go to Kevin and Kimberly's. All the girls went on a martini tour except for me. I stayed there and played low-limit poker with all the guys, drinking Sour Blue Apple Raspberry Martinis most of the evening.

I lost about $10 playing, which is about what I expected since the players were all very new, which is the hardest kind of game for me to play in, mostly because it's so hard for me to put anyone on a hand. In most games I play in, people know that K-5 offsuit isn't a calling hand. Hell, Chris had flushes twices without even knowing what they are. Beginner's luck, indeed! ;-) We left around 2:00 and it was back to Katie's for some sleep.

We woke up around 8:30 to go meet everyone for breakfast at House of Pies. Their minimum table service sign really tickled my fancy and their french toast and bacon really hit the spot.

I then went home after a quick stop at the mall to pick up some face powder. I also found these boots for about $45, so I picked them up since I've been desperately needing a pair.

I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping and just sitting in front of the television. I thought I was just tired from not getting enough sleep this weekend, but I just took my temperature and it read 100.7° (keep in mind too that my body temperature is actually a little cooler than 98.6°; it's usally more like 97.8°) so no wonder I'm so tired and it's really hard to make sense out of questions and the like.

I'm now headed off for bed, so here's to feeling better when I wake up. It's Monday, so that means that The El Orbits are playing. I'm supposed to be meeting some people there, but I guess it's really going to depend how I feel tomorrow if I can make it out or not.

Good night, all! Thanks for reading all of this!

.: 1109 words at 01:40 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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I love this ad (Come on, could you guess what it was really for? I know I couldn't), especially since Christine and I already have a dance routine worked out for the song.

(Link courtesy of Kristin.)

.: 38 words at 04:06 AM in Entertainment Value, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Today is Trinity's birthday. She's a delightful person, a wonderful friend, and I love her to pieces. Go give her some birthday lovin', alright?

Happy birthday, hon! Hope it's the best one yet!

.: 33 words at 05:35 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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I seem to be doing this a lot lately - not blogging for a while and then making a super long post to catch everyone up with what's been going on. I guess I ought to reward you if you make it the whole way through, so I'll put a download up for grabs in the "Read More" section. Don't say I never gave you anything.

So, two Fridays ago, Katie IMs me. We had talked about going to see Molly and The Ringwalds that night at The Continental Club (The El Orbits are playing there again Monday and I've invited quite a few people to join the Monday Core Group, consisting of Katie, Irfan, Gil, and I, so if you want to come out, send me an e-mail and I'll get you the details), but she suggested dinner at Pei Wei and going to see Sideways instead.

I haven't been to the movies since last May (I much prefer movies at home to theaters filled with screaming babes and cell phones), so I readily agreed, especially since I adore eating at Pei Wei's.

I met her and her husband Chris over at their place and we headed out to eat. The food was delicious (Mongolian beef for me with crab wontons and lettuce wraps as appetizers) but after we got done eating, we found ourselves with over an hour to kill before the movie. Since Kimberly and Kevin (friends of Katie and Chris) don't live too far away, we headed over there to kill some time.

After chatting and having some black cherry Effen vodka (it's really called Effen vodka; isn't that great?) with cranberry juice, we left for the theater on River Oaks. It's an older theater without the super huge screens and stadium seating and it reminded me so much of all the times I'd gone to the movies in high school with a group of friends. Funny how things can make you nostalgic out of nowhere, huh?

Back to the movie - Sideways was great. It was funny, witty, interesting, and I just loved it. It started off a little slow, but quickly picked up. It had some absolutely hysterical scenes along with touching, heart-felt moments. It's great and I highly recommend checking it out.

The next day I headed back out to Katie and Chris's. Their friend Fred was having his fortieth birthday at Farrago, a restaurant I'd never been to before. It was a lovely place with food to die for. I had the pepperoni pizza and shared Kevin's old fashion dark chocolate cake with creamy chocolate frosting, raspberry sauce and fresh raspberries. They also make a pink lemonade martini that I have simply got to get the receipe for. The drink menu said it had pink lemonade, vodka, and grenadine, but I have no idea how many parts of each to use. Guess I'll be schmoozing the bartender next time I'm there.

It was then back to Kimberly and Kevin's for lots more alcohol (more Effen vodka and cranberry juice in my case; wine and champagne for everyone else) and lots more conversation. I remember Katie and I towards the end of the evening drunkenly making plans to build our own computer and moding it out so it would be the coolest computer ever. Ah, when geeks drink. ;-) I also remember all of us singing to Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" off of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack in the car on the way home. Good times, I tell you.

The next morning, just slightly hung over, we met everyone at Mission Burritos for breakfast. I'd never been there before either (I swear, after living in Houston all my life, I'm just now going venturing out. Better late than never, I guess!) but the food was delicious. They've got the best fajita beef tacos I've ever had, especially considering two tacos and a coke only cost me about $5. I swear, betwen Pei Wei, Farrago, and Mission Burritos, it was the best food weekend I've ever had.

After breakfast, I left Katie's and went back to my house. I'd been thinking about getting a new desk since I'd been using a incredibly tiny one only really big enough for my monitor and a few books. Now that I'm working from home, it was just not conducive to getting anything done. There was just simply not enough room. My mom had mentioned that Sam's Warehouse had a nice U-shaped workstation so she and I headed over there to check it out.

I feel in love with the desk right away, so after getting some more office supplies (paper clips, a desk calendar, highlighters, etc.) and checking Office Depot in case there was anything I liked better, we went home, got my uncle's huge ass truck, and went back and bought the thing (a steal at $376 in my opinion).

The next two days were spent hauling the desk (The World's Biggest Desk is what I christened it) upstairs and putting it together. I was so stiff this entire week. We got it together pretty quickly considering it was just my mom and I working on it and you can see the pictures here. I also bought a beta fish (and named him Spike since all my betas are named Spike or, if they're red, Flame; I just think they're great fish names).

Wednesday was a H-Town Happy Hour at Onion Creek. I met Kimberly at 7:00 so I could sell her my 20 GB iPod. She's delighted with it which makes me happy. Nice doing business with you, Kimberly! ;-)

While initially, it didn't look like too many people were going to show, we ended up with a pretty big turn out. As far as I can remember, here's all the bloggers that showed: Robert, Elaine, Kathy, Jon, Sketkar, Katie, Laurence, Ted (and his fiance Leslie), Gary, and Jason (but I can't remember their URLs. Next time, I'm brining a sign in sheet!). If I left anyone out, sorry!

We also had a special guest, Dwight Silverman. He's online news editor of the Houston Chronicle, who also writes the computing column that appears every Tuesday.

Dwight was going around asking us what our blogs were about (and I should have brought up BiblioBlog, my book review site in hindsight. Of course I'm currently five books behind over there. Must do those soon!). I started with the "random stuff from my life, whatever I feel like, blah blah blah" spiel when Elaine mentioned all the free stuff that I've gotten (at current count, I've gotten the iPod, the iPod photo, the Sony Wega 27" television and placed my orders for the iPod shuffle and the Coach handbag. I'm also pretty close to getting some cash from the various 4Free.com sites - the DS4Free.com one in particular - so feel free to sign up for any of them). He was really interested in the story and suggested that it would make a great feature to the news guys, so hopefully I'll hear from them. It would be pretty cool if that made it into the paper.

Friday, Kathy invited several of us over for pizza, conversation, and to watch Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (the Unrated Extended Edition). While I totally could have lived without the "Battleshits" scene, I thought the rest of the movie was great and just really funny. The special features, though, sucked. What's up with that?

I didn't get home until after 3:00 in the morning, didn't actually go to bed until almost 6:00 AM, and since I got up around 11:00, I was pretty well exhausted this afternoon (been going to bed way too late during the week and haven't slept more than six hours on any given night). I caught up on some stuff on the TiVo and crashed hard around 6:30. I woke up a little after 10:00 (and panicked because I thought it was a work day and I'd overslept) and I'm going to read for a little bit and then go back to bed.

So, there's everything that's been going on with me for the past week. I've been really busy, work's going pretty well, and I've been having the greatest time hanging out with my friends.

Thanks for reading this far. Don't forget the free music in the extended entry.

.: 1466 words at 03:12 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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Just a reminder, but today is the last day to sign up for Burn It - The Winter 2004 Edition. The theme this season is remixes, so there should be some interesting compilations created.

You know you want to join, so go read the rules and sign up!

.: 50 words at 11:50 AM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Monday night, a couple of my friends and I headed out to The Continental Club for our weekly fix of The El Orbits.

We got there, only to find that a birthday party was going on for the guy that used to own Rockefellers. I was a bit sad to find out that it wasn't going to be an El Orbits night like it generally is and wasn't looking forward to the other bands (though, to be honest, I didn't even know who was playing).

Boy, was I in for a treat. The first band that was up was Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy. They were incredible. Diunna is this awesome, sexy as hell, blues singer. As Katie put it, it was like we got a birthday present, it was so amazing listening to her sing.

It turns out that Diunna & Blue Mercy are having a CD release party in Humble this Saturday, which is pretty close to where I live since I'm stuck out in the suburbs in Spring. Here's the info from the website:

Twin Oak Tavern
211 E. Main St.
Humble, TX 77338
281-359-8687
Release party starts at 9:00

Like I said, she was awesome, so it would be well worth checking her out if you can. According to her site, there isn't another Houston show scheduled for months. Anybody want to join me? It would be a great little mini-blogger get together!

.: 239 words at 08:07 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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I wasn't going to sign up, but Christine begged me to, so I registered for a free iPod Shuffle at FreeiPodShuffle.com.

It's a Gratis Network site and since I've got a free iPod, a free photo iPod, a free designer handbag, and a free flat screen TV, I know it's not a scam. You only have to get three users for the iPod Shuffle, so it should be easy enough to do.

They are so cute. You know you want one, especially for free. So go sign up here.

Just as a reminder, the complete list of free stuff that you can get (includes flat screen televisions, Nintendo DSs, TiVos, photo iPods, and more) can be found here.

As always, don't put your own referral links here. I will delete them!

.: 134 words at 11:19 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Time for the next Burn It CD Swap. Sign-ups begin now and, as always, please be sure to read the rules carefully before signing up! (And, yes, I know it's not 2004 any more, but with the new job and the holidays, this is a little late getting out.)

The Theme:
One of my favorite things, at least musically, is a good remix. Remixes are amongst some of my very favorite songs, so it's high time that I feature them as a theme. So, dazzle me with your favorite remixes by creating the Best Remix CD Ever.

I've had a couple of people ask me exactly what a remix is According to Dictionary.com the definition is: To recombine (audio tracks or channels from a recording) to produce a new or modified audio recording: remixed a popular ballad and turned it into a dance hit. With that in mind, I don't think covers should be considered remixes.

Ultimately, though, Burn Its have always been about making an awesome CD that you love and want to share with other people. So, if not every track that you put on there isn't strictly a remix, the world won't fall apart. Just make a good CD and actually send it out to you group members (lots of people have been bailing on their groups. Don't be That Guy).

Here's how it works:
After the sign up period, people will be put into groups of 4. You will then receive an e-mail from me telling you the names and addresses of the people in your group. You burn 5 identical CDs. Keep one for yourself and send the other three to the other people in your group and one to me. New Rule: Since so many people have been complaining that they haven't gotten CDs from people in their group, I am now requiring that you send one to me so I can keep track of who sent them out and who didn't. I hate to do this, but it seems the best way to keep track. You should then receive three new CDs from the other three people in your group.

The rules:
- You should have a blog. I would like this to be a fun way to connect people in the blogosphere. If you don't, go over to Diaryland or Blogspot and start one for free.
- If you're not going to follow through and make your CDs, please don't bother signing up. It would be a shame if one or two people ruined this for their group. If you signed up last swap and didn't send your CDs out, don't sign up this time.
- You must live in the US or Canada. If there's a intrest in this in other areas, I may do a swap at some point down the road that includes other countries, but I'm going to limit it to the areas where I know most of you guys live.
- If you live in the US, you should be willing to ship to Canada. If you live in Canada, you should be willing to ship to the US. The postage is a teeny bit more, but nothing that's going to break the bank.
- Remember that most people can't play mp3s in their car, so make sure they're something that will play in a standard car stereo. I tend to use .cda or .wav files. I have put together a list of Burn It resources for those not familiar with making CDs.
- Please be sure to put your name, URL, or e-mail on your CD somewhere. I got several last time that I liked, but have no idea who sent them.

Guidlines on creating your CDs:
- Include a track listing. If someone like an artist, they might want to buy more music by them. Let us know who it is.
- Fill up the CD as much as you can. There's 80 minutes on a blank CD. Don't half-ass it and make a 30 minute CD.
- You should definitely use a jewel case when sending your CDs to protect it during mailing. You can get them cheap anywhere.
- I know a lot of people are graphically inclined, so feel free to make your CD a work of art.
- Don't be afraid to put on "cheesy" music. If you like it, others probably will too.
- Don't be afraid to put on music that no one has ever heard before either. Billboard or MTV may never have known this music, but you did, so that's what counts.

If you've gotten this far and you still want to sign up, send an e-mail (change the AT to an @ in my e-mail address) to me and make sure you reference the swap in the subject line. You must include the following information (please send your info even if I already have it):

- Your name
- Mailing address
- Your blog URL
- Your e-mail address
- New requirement: If you want to be in one group or two. (You can send the same CD to each group. You don't actually have to create two different mixes.)

Sign-ups will continue through end of day Thursday, January 20th. By Monday, January 24th, I will send e-mails to everyone letting you know who is in your group. You should have all of your CDs burned and in the mail NO LATER THAN Friday, February 18th. This gives you at least a full three weeks to create and ship CDs to your three group partners and me.

Please spread the word! More people equals more music! Just be sure to link to this URL, because eventually this entry will cycle off the main page. Also, feel free to swipe one of the buttons here and link it to the category page here.

If you have any other questions, you can e-mail me or leave a comment.

Special thanks goes out to Alison for both the inspiration and allowing me to use most of her rules and guidelines.

.: 1031 words at 12:31 AM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (4) :: All the Voices Say... (11) :.

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Today is the day that Matt finally turns twenty-one! It's a shame that he no longer lives in Houston so I could take him out for a drink!

Matt, as soon as your back in town, let me know! I promised you a drink in a jazz bar to celebrate your birthday way back in the day (man, like a year ago maybe?), and if you have any free time, I'd love to uphold that promise!

Happy birthday, Matt! You are a wonderful, talented, sweetheart of a guy and I hope you have a wonderful day!

.: 96 words at 01:55 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I just realized I never posted the answers to the Song Meme-ory that I posted last month. Sixteen songs were guessed correctly, leaving nine of them unguessed with KB getting the most correct with four right answers.

.: 621 words at 08:46 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Netflix has just created a new service that allows you to see what your friends have rated called, appropriately enough, Netflix Friends. If you're a Netflix member, leave me your e-mail address so I can see what movies you liked.

.: 41 words at 03:43 PM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (11) :.

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Apple has a somewhat hidden free thirteen song 'iTunes New Music Sampler' album available to new iPod owners, those who restore their device, or those who simply click here.

(Link courtesy of iPodlounge, an excellent iPod resourse.)

.: 39 words at 04:38 PM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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A few weeks ago, Sheryl approached several bloggers, me included, about have a Delurking Day. Since I had missed the one that was done previously, I jumped right on the bandwagon.

Now, I know that lots of people read this site. However, my comments don't reflect that at all. I know many people don't like to leave comments if they feel they have nothing significant to add to the conversation, but I say if you think it or feel it, it's significant, so speak up!

With this in mind, leave me a comment. I don't care what it's about. It can be about what you got for Christmas, what you hope happens for you (or to you) in this new year, what color your nails are painted, what color your underwear is - whatever. Just leave a comment. Now that I'm working from home and not surrounded by office mates, trust me, I appreciate every contact with human life that I can get. ;-)

If you'd like to jump on the bandwagon too, go here to swipe your own nifty little button and declare it Delurking is Delightful Day on your blog too!

.: 194 words at 01:19 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (2) :: All the Voices Say... (28) :.

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Since I got my new photo iPod, I need to sell my 20 GB 4th Generation iPod.

Edited: I have a buyer for the 20 GB 4th Generation iPod itself, but the Sonic iSkin (selling for $25; regular price is $30, plus $7.50 shipping) may still be available. Contact me if interesting.

Edited again: Sold!

.: 57 words at 06:14 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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