cabin fever

All weekend I have nursing a sore throat, a nasty sinus headache, and a wrenching couch. Today, despite the fact I had a stack of projects in my inbox at work, I called in sick from work. And even though I know I wouldn't have been much use in the office, a part of me wished I went just to get out of the freakin' house! Other than running to to store for meds and walking the dog, I haven't really left the casa since Friday night. Well, it doesn't look like I missed much, as the weather in Chicago has been about 20 degrees below normal all week and they are calling for more snow within the next 48 hours (blah).

Given these circumstances, my mind and my body have been restless. Theres only so much daytime television that I can take! Thus, I starting playing around with the design of the old blog. WAA-LAA! While, I am not happy with the overall design of it, there are new elements which just made my day. Upgrading the template design allowed for some customization which I will be tweaking as my headache subsides. I once again added the tea cup wisdom quote, which I seemed to have lost during my last template upgrade. Also, I added the word cloud on the right, which shows my most used labels in order of use. With just a click of the word, it will take you straight to the appropriate posts. I found the code for the cloud on this site , so if you have blogger and are looking for a cool widget, here it is.

Anyway, peace n love to all.

do ya feel like swimming?

I found this post on the consumerist just simply hilarious. Try mapping out a course from a city in the states to London, UK. Just try it. Try it. I will wait....you done yet? FUNNY HUH??!!

Here's the scoop:
It was found that when you map a route from Chicago to London, Google Maps suggests you SWIM 3,500 miles ACROSS the Atlantic Ocean to get there. The trip will take a whopping 29 days, 22 hours just to arrive in the UK...damn, there goes ALL of your vacation time. I heard of traveling on a budget, but c'mon!

6.6.6 ~ the day my car was possessed ~

Anyone know a good priest which can do an exorcism on a car ? My 96 corolla was possessed this morning, I tell you! Here's the scoop: for a while now, my car has been giving me problems starting; yet no one could figure out why. This morning, I meagerly attempted to start my car, only for it to stick up it's middle finger to me for a good minute and a half. When I do finally start it, it sputters before turning over. So, finally it starts (yay!), but as I drive it a few feet I notice it sounds strange, so I pull over to park it.

Here's where it starts to get strange: the first thing I do is take out the key out of the ignition, right? AND GET THIS: THE CAR WOULDN'T TURN OFF!! The key is sitting in my lap and the engine is still on!!! So I did what any person in their right mind would: I started freaking out, calling to wake up my boyfriend to explain what was going on. Lo and behold, when I go to open the hood, the engine is going and all the little belts and such are flowing...all without a key in the ignition. That's when the smoke started coming out of the engine like it was on fire. It was horrible! Between waiting for a tow truck and taking it to the shop then hitching a ride from the boyfriend, my possessed car made me over 2 and a half hours late for work. Hopefully, my car is still salvageable and I pray that the mechanic doesn't screw me over like so many tend to do.

I did luck out in one aspect, though...a nice man felt sorry for me as he drove past, so he stopped to help me out in the heat of it all. Turns out he owns a towing company in Chicago and he only charged me $50 for a tow across town!!! I guess it pays to be stranded in a pretty skirt, doesn't it ? (smile)

the bookworm in me is applauding

Guess what ? If you own a Chicago Public Library Card, you can now download audio books for free!! I just checked, and they currently have over 1300 books for immediate download, some which can even be burned to cd. For the next few months, don't be surprised to find me avidly "reading" in the car.

discussed: [library], [audio books]

for all those right brainers out there !

I found the coolest Visual Thesaurus today while lazily browsing the internet at work. It displays words and their synonyms in relationship to each other graphically. It even pronounces the words for you over the internet - perfect for those children struggling in English.



I love it! I simply love it!!!