I just bought myself an mp3 player! It's not an iPod, but that was by choice - I think there are plenty of comparable alternatives at a better price. I got a 5GB player w/FM tuner, USB 2.0 cord, ear buds, and carrying case for $180. It doesn't have a color display or video capability but I don't see me using those bells & whistles, anyway. I figure I'll play with this one for a while and if I outgrow it, then fine - I'll invest in something bigger next time. But that seems unlikely....

Visiting, drinking, exploring Manhattan, and staring at this little beauty that I picked up Monday evening outside the Garden...


That's right.... it took me 23 years, but I finally got close enough to The Man Himself to get an autograph!!! I couldn't believe it, either. We came up out of Penn Station, took a right & came up on the backside...

Clothes packed? Check! Tickets in hand? Check! Cameras w/film ready? Carry-on luggage has ID, change of clothes & Dec. 2004 issue of Spin magazine, suitable for Bono's signature? Check, check and triple check!!! Excitment contained, enthusiasm under control? Ummm, not so much.

Must get through tomorrow & Friday... that's all. Just 2 days - I can do it, but it's going to be sooooo hard to concentrate on anything except New York City...

It's finally within reach & I'm finally getting excited about next week's vacation & the Madison Square Garden show. I've had my outfit picked out for about 3 months now and packed it in the suitcase last night so I'm sure not to forget it. I am soooooo ready for this! And I'm not just excited about the show, I'm really looking forward to meeting some Interferencers.

Who besides Headache (whom I've promised...

It's 5 mintues to 5pm and ... ... dare I say it??? Today was nearly, almost, just about n-o-r-m-a-l.

Not to say that it was a walk in the park. The phones just weren't as heavy and I didn't feel all day as though I was about to get pounded by a tidal wave of work. I still plan on coming in Sunday to help out and I've got things that will have to be carried over to Monday morning, but it's beginning to look like we've beaten back the Beast. (That's...

That's all..... Bring on the fruity alcoholic drinks!!!!

(Sung to the tune of "Where, o where has my little dog gone?&quot )

I used to have one...really! It had rhythm and structure and nice, good, comfortable predictability. I always knew where I was going to be sleeping on any given night of the week and I knew where all my clothes and shoes were. At work, I knew who all the people in my office were and I could tell you right where the desks of all my coworkers were. Now??? I can't tell you any of those things. ...

...under stacks & stacks of paper. That's been me for the last week. Too busy during the day to even THINK about trying to drop by the Crack House, too exhausted at night to even bother.
Construction's still going on around us, claims from Hurricane Wilma are coming in strong, we're still getting losses from Hurricane Ophelia & Tropical Storm Tammy here in NC, and our regular "daily" losses are picking up, as well. Which creates more...

You can? Good - now scream it in unison with me at the top of your lungs! CLUSTERFUCK!!!!!!!!!

There, now - we've just described the move to our new offices... which were not/are not anywhere NEAR ready as we were told they would be. Here we are just into lunch on our 1st day in the new place & we still don't have phones; my new Dispatch office with built-in desk area hasn't even begun to go up. The AC unit keeps leaking from the ceiling, there are still guys...

That's me. My office is moving today...the movers are literally breaking down desks & cubicles around me! I'm going to be the last one left here at the old office - answering phones, etc.

It is such confusion, though... my boss just told me to stay here until all the furniture's out. Now the movers are saying they can't move my desk with the computer still plugged in. So I guess I'll shut everything down, try to move it to the folding table left here for me...

I'll be in Ronkonkoma, NY (Long Island) w/Mr. Blu & our buddies, possibly drunk out of my mind! The hard part for me now is to not start obsessing about it - there's still waaay too much time before the middle of November to start counting each passing minute, hour, day, etc. I'll have to focus instead on the day to day stuff going on around me; that way, instead of worrying about the "__ days, __ hours and __ number of minutes left before we land at Islip",...

Since I actually have a few seconds at work today, I've been looking back over my JE's and have decided two things: 1) I've certainly used my Journal more this year than I did last year; and 2) I think I'm more in "confessional/therapy" mode here than "journal/diary" mode - most of these entries are pretty friggin' long! I guess that's the drawback to having a large vocabulary; I feel like I have use all my words at once.
...

That's me... go, go, go, go, GO! I mean, it's great occasionally to have so much going on that you can hardly keep up with it, but I don't care to live like that for any suspended period of time.

But that's what I'm doing. Full time job 5 days a week; part time job 4 nights a week; staying with my mom 2-3 days/nights a week; laundry, housekeeping, errands, some kind of social interraction with friends, plus church all packed into Saturday & Sunday. Trying...

Like fans all across the States yesterday, I was terribly excited (to say the least) about Conan O'Brien devoting his whole show to U2 last night. The show would keep me up until 1:30am, but I'd compensate by getting a short nap in the evening, so I'd be able to stay up late & still function at work today.

So 12:35 comes & I'm glued to the TV. My brother's giving me lots of shit - that's his job, to pick on me about my little obsession - but I'm ignoring him...

OK - 2 funerals in 6 weeks. I'm done with them - I've had enough, don't need anymore, don't want anymore! From this point forward: happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts!

I'm going to start working myself into a frenzy over our New York trip in November. Matter of fact, as of this coming Monday, there's only six weeks before U2 @ MSG & only 9 weeks before U2 @ Charlotte. That alone is enough to start making me giddy. So - no more bad news, no more health issues,...