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Sickly

Shit. No I'm not so happy it's Tuesday. That is how I feel right now, and whenever I get sick I always go back to my childhood and one of my favorite poems (and poets) of all time.
"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is. . .Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"
Wasn't Shel Silverstein so awesome?!

My Deep (or just regular) Thoughts on the Oscars

I don't think I've ever watched an entire awards show. I mean they usually do the important awards at the beginning and end so there is no need to watch in between...unless it's the Tonys and they are entertaining you the whole time.

I was surprised to find that actually kept the Oscars on most of the time last night, and here is what I thought. There will be no fashion insight here seeing as how that will be covered in magazines and on TV for at least the next couple of weeks.
  • Anne Hathaway constantly whoo-ing during applause. Did anyone else hear her? I think we would be great friends
  • Hugh Jackman as host. I was wondering how he would fare. I mean he has hosted the Tonys before. You could tell too since most things involving him were song and dance.
  • Seth Rogen laughing after James Franco botched the winning short film's name. Awesome.
  • Kate Winslet winning. I'm glad she finally won but was this really the right character. I guess I just need to watch the movie to find out for myself, but most of the reviews I've read on the movie weren't the best. I guess it just depends on who you are up against which still doesn't make sense since Meryl was in the mix.
  • Speaking of Meryl...15 nominations. Wow.
  • Did you notice that they showed Brad and Angelina while Jennifer Anniston was on stage presenting? Always scandalous.
  • Anne Hathaway and her idol Meryl Streep. Hathaway was thrilled to work with Streep in Devil Wears Prada not even dreaming that a year later she would be nominated against her.
  • Jerry Lewis. You see my sister and brother decided to call during his marathon one time and donate. My parents weren’t too happy about this.
  • I liked how they presented the main awards by getting previous winners on stage to say a little something about one of the nominees.
  • I didn’t realize Michael Crichton had died until they were doing the people lost montage. I guess I missed that last year when it happened.
  • Sean Penn. Really? I don’t even think he thanked his wife Jen-nay (for all of you Forrest Gump fans out there). I did agree with him on one thing though...he does make it hard for you to like him.
That's all I got. On a side note, I think I've broken the Guinness World record for number of sneezes in a 24 hour period. LIG (Life is Good). That's what I tell myself when my day isn't going so well. You should try it. It's pretty funny.

Keller Show

Whoa it's been a busy week. Doesn't it always happen that all of your projects have an important deadline on the same day? I will say thanks to Auburn for preparing for this aspect of life though. I think my professors always got together to talk over test dates and project deadlines because they always happened on the same day or at least the same week. So thanks Auburn.

I got to see my dad this week which was nice. I didn't find out until interning a couple of summers ago that my dad is actually based out of Nashville, and his office is literally 1 mile from my office. Weird, huh?

So after such a busy week at work, what better way to relax than roadtripping it for a Keller show. Yea! I missed him when he was in Nash a couple of weeks back because I was working my hiny off on my first big timing customer presentation so I'll be heading down to Huntsvegas to see him tonight. Yea!

It has actually been 5 maybe 6 years since I last saw Keller live, which is just sad if you ask me seeing as how he actually came to Auburn while I was there. He's awesome to listen to but so much better live since he does the whole loop/one man band thing. I've posted some of my faves of his below. I guess I lean towards the funny songs. He does amazing covers too: Jimi, Joni, Queen. That's right...I said Queen. Enjoy!


someecards.com

I added something new to the sidebar --> You see it? That's right. I'm going to randomly select (and by randomly select I mean read through numerous) ecards to put up on holidays or every week or so.

I first caught on to someecards.com a year or so ago when facebook added the bumper sticker app which had many of their ecards. These cards are awesome, and I found the one below the other day. Work has just been ridiculous for me lately so this really hit close to home...and made me laugh out loud (lol).


I'm actually working right now. Blah.

Happy Valentine's Day...Question Mark

One of my new favorite singer/songwriters is Miss Julia Nunes. I actually discovered her when I first started this blog and shared a few videos of hers with you. I can now say that I have about 40 of her songs (originals and covers) on my zune. Oh and I got a new zune and it's red. More on that later. Anyways, I've come to find out that Miss Nunes has had some boy troubles in her life, and she best gets over them through song. This is one of my favorite songs of hers for many reasons. It's short (and sweet) hence the title. You get to clap to it. It's a very upper song with a not so upper message aka sarcastic which we all know that I love. So here it is live at one of her shows.


She did actually cover L-O-V-E for VD too though so I put that below to balance out the not so loving song above.


As for the title of this blog, a former roomie and I went through a phase where we would say all of our punctuation marks. Hey, it kept us entertained. Happy VD!

Compliment or No?

I got a weird compliment this week while in training. I was told (by someone originally from the northern regions o' the US) that I didn't seem like I was from Alabama or the South. I'm not sure what this meant, but I have been told by folks before that they were surprised when I revealed my uber conservative stance. We didn't talk politics though so that was ruled out. I think it was one of three things...

A. I have a brain (aka wow they produce engineers down South)
B. I don't have an accent
C. A mixture of the two

Whether A, B or C, someone (or some state/region) was insulted. If it was A then Alabama and the South were insulted by basically being called dumb. If it was B then I'm a little sad about that, but I have gotten that before. My accent comes and goes. If it was C then, all of us were insulted some, and by us I mean Alabama, the South, and me. Apparently, we're a group of buddies now.

Anyways, just wanted to share this with you. It was something that stuck with me.

Oh and while we're on the topic of my accent. Some guy in Chicago asked me where in Australia I was from once. This was last year when I had just finished my first training class.

That week in a nutshell went like this...got a rental car that measured distance in kilometers instead of miles so all my Google maps were worthless, managed to acquire 2 missed toll fines after missing an exit twice, was called out by a homeless guy for being Mariah Carey (and by called out I mean he screamed it a billion times while on the train), got lost in a pretty scary neighborhood but stopped and got gas there anyways, sat at the airport for 5 hours only to have my flight canceled last minute, and didn't get a flight until the next day at 8 in the morning.

Needless to say, this guy cheered me up quite a bit when he asked me this because it was the dinner I had after leaving the airport due to my wonderful last minute cancelation. On that note, cheers!

Red Hat Society Sighting (You read it right.)

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Lawrenceville, G to the A. Yesterday was a ridiculously long day. Basically my day went from 6:00 to about 12 that wrapped up with a four hour drive from Johnson City to Lawrenceville. I managed to drive through 4 states and saw two other states from the mountain I was on during the day (I actually don't know if this is true but it made for a better story). I did drive through four states though...Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Georgia. I decided during my drive that one day I will live in Asheville. It just felt right. Haha!

I had training all day today and then went to dinner with the bossman and some of my fellow enginerds that work down this way. I know, I know. The exciting life of a traveling B. White. Anyways, we had about a four hour dinner at Carrabba's down the street from the office. AND there was a red hat society group dining there too! They were all decked out in their red hats, and I just ate it up. I would have taken a picture if my cell phone wasn't dead. The red hat society started in Atlanta, and I just love the books. I mean yes it was probably meant for an older crowd, but I love Fannie Flag and all of the Miss Julia books too though so that doesn't bother me.

Since I couldn't get you a picture of the ladies, I thought I'd share a somewhat related one with you below. I actually just bought a sign that got it's idea from the red hat society, but it's the green hat society for... ST PATTY'S DAY! One of my favorite days o' the year! Since it has that lighter apple green color in it I'm hanging it in my living room to match my sofa (I have an apple green IKEA sofa that I'm slightly obsessed with). The sign got a year round spot. Yea!
How stinkin' cute is that?!

Travels

Johnson City, TN. That's where I am right now. Just hanging out in my hotel room. I'm trying to get some last minute prep work done on my customer presentation that I have tomorrow. Yikes. So I'm sitting here running through my presentation and listening to some low key tunes.

I just remembered that the Grammys are on, and I turned the tube to it (after I had to Google what channel it was on). I guess I'll get to see one award, but I just happened to glance at the TV and who else is on but Neil Diamond. Hilarious. I have the TV completely turned down (not on mute...I manually turned it down myself), and I still knew what he was singing. I mean come on guys. He's definitely going to sing "Sweet Caroline." Which made me think of one of my favorite movie sing-a-long moments. So I found the clip on YouTube (naturally).


I remember watching this movie at a young age. I don't know why my mom let us rent it. It's when we still liked Rosie...maybe that's why. Anyways, I don't even think we got half way through the movie before we turned it off. And now...I own it! Good times.

I still haven't seen an award, and it's past 11 here now so I'm out.

I Love Technology

I am not a huge scaredy-cat, but I do have a few major fears. I won't list them all here, but one of them...the unknown. I have a problem with things that my mind can't grasp. The deep end of the ocean. Space. Don't get me started. It's something to do with a dark abyss in a really large quantity(I'm pretty sure that's redundant). There's no way I can fathom it. None. And this, my friends, scares the heck out of me.

On a side note, I'm not afraid of the dark although you might compare it to the unknown. I will admit to being a little scared by the show growing up though. I can't tell you how many times I made my dad sit there and watch them with me. Any Snick watchers out there?

So why am I telling you this? I am sure you could care less about my deepest, darkest fears. Well I came across some fun news yesterday...

According to Fox News, "Google Inc. on Monday launched a new version of Google Earth that allows users to explore the oceans, view 3D images of the planet Mars and watch regions of the Earth change over time."

Mars. Of course.


And I'm underwater. Hello.

I am ridiculously excited and nervous about this at the same time. I actually use Google Earth a decent amount for work. Maybe they'll need to know the most ideal tower location for a communications system on Mars soon. Who knows? I will tell you this. Google might be able to help me out as far as fear goes. The unknown won't be as for lack of better word...unknown anymore. How about that? Thanks, Google.

I Did It. So what?

Fact 26. I'm an idiot at times. I thought I had scheduled this to automatically post around lunch. Apparently, I don't know the difference between AM and PM. SO on that note. Here you go...

I normally don't do this sort of thing. I know. That's what they all say. But seriously. I liked this "challenge", if you will, because you are just suppose to give 25 random facts about yourself. No two-option questions like what's your favorite ice cream - chocolate or vanilla? None of that. This is just 25 things about you that people may not know unless they have known your entire life. Which in my case, they still don't know. Enjoy!


1. I have touched the Liberty Bell. True story. The person working the area yelled big time at me. Come to find out later my grandfather touched the table near it and got yelled at, too. Runs in the family, much?

2. Remember blood brothers? Catherine and I are blood sisters. It was spur of the moment. I think we just both happened to get cuts/scrapes that day. Gross? Kind of, but I've never been a germophobe.

3. Did you know that I love Carole King? I have seen her in concert twice. The first time I cried when she opened up with "Home Again," and the second time I really thought that I was going to see my idol get struck by lightning and die which almost made me cry again.

4. Speaking of lightning. My room I had from 8th through 12th grade was struck by lightning six times. That's more than 1 time a year. It's victims...Nintendo 64 (twice), light/fan (twice), tv, and my phone which continued to repeat my message over and over again. "Hey this is Beth. Hey this is Beth." I think I almost shat my pants.

5. I dressed up as Richard Simmons for Halloween, kissed a guy while dressed up as Richard Simmons, and passed out behind my dorm...that's right as Richard Simmons. Proud moment right there.

6. I leave my phone on silent 75% of the time. I'm trying to change this habit seeing as how my phone is my "work phone" now as well. It's funny when you think about though seeing as how I am a wireless engineer and all.

7. I absolutely love home videos, and if you are lucky enough I'll let you watch mine. Your life will be changed. Just ask Dallis.

8. I have had a green breakfast for St. Patty's day almost every year of my life.

9. I am a homeowner. Four words. Huge statement.

10. My calendar upstairs is still on January, and my calendar downstairs is a 2008 calendar. Whoops.

11. I am obsessed with museums/exhibitions. Especially the Smithsonian. Also, I am 0 for 2 when I go to any musuem/exhibition where you get a passport and then find out at the end if you made it or not. I unfortunately sank with the Titanic and was never to be seen or heard from again during the Holocaust. I think I might have made it though. I'm hopeful.

12. I have a brown Zune. I spent $300 on an mp3 player simply because it was brown. I am glad to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed other aspects of it as well. Especially with all of the solo traveling I've done in the past year.

13. I love all of the documentaries on TLC...especially the ones on primordial dwarves. Maybe I should delete this one. Uber creep, much?

14. I have kicked in a mirror...barefoot...and got not one scratch because of it. Take that Chuck Norris.

15. I am currently searching for my husband near the Vanderbilt campus.

16. I don't care much for running but am currently training for a 5k. When I complete my first 5k, I'm either buying a ukulele or a new guitar.

17. I did not apply to college. My mom did it for me. When I got a full scholarship in the mail from Alabama (No...she did not apply there for me. They just stalked me, I guess), I threw it in the fire, and it might have been my parents' proudest moment.

18. I miss my childhood. You can never get the innocent outlook on life back.

19. I have seen dead people. Asians to be specific. Bodies...The Exhibition, ladies and gents.

20. I have never bought anything made by Apple and don't intend to. Unless Motorola gets a contract with them, but then I still wouldn't have bought it. It's nothing personal (for all of my Apple/Mac friends/sibling).

21. I know that most people are a beach or a mountain person, but I thoroughly enjoy both.

22. I have never fallen in love...unless Ronald Reagan counts. How's that for a Debbie Downer fact?

23. I cried at the last episode of Gilmore Girls. And by cried I mean sobbed while sitting in my mom's lap. That was in 2007. I was just finishing up my senior year of college. That's right. Now reread #22 to again. You don't feel as sorry for me, do you?

24. I always made fun of my dad when I was little for the fact that he watched/listened to the news all the time, and he had to have a diet coke every morning. A typical morning routine for me: wake up, watch Fox & Friends or America's Newsroom (depending on the time), get ready, grab a diet dr. pepper or coke zero (depending on my mood), and head to work. Apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, huh?

25. I lived in the same house for the first 18 years of my life (or until I moved to college). When I was little and would go to bed, the way I slept I could see through my doorway, down the hallway, all the way to the foyer where there was a coat rack. If I ever woke up during the middle of the night, I would wake up and see a dark figure with a coat and hat in the distance. This has traumatized me for life. Even typing this now my heart is racing. I always sleep with my door closed now, and to this day when I'm by myself and I turn the lights off, I run to my room because I think someone is chasing me. Paranoia.

Oh and I'm suppose to send this to 25 people. I think I might just email this blog link. Copy and paste is just such a hassle these days. Feel free to respond via email if you want! bwhite724@gmail.com

Thanks, College Humor

OMG. The super bowl is on like right now, and I've only watched one minute of it. I mean most of America only watches it for the commercials, and these days we can just catch them online on our own time. I'm ready for college football.

Anyways, I'm actually trying to get some work done. I know right? BLAH. But I seemed to have already taken a break to watch some videos, and I came across this on College Humor. I am not in college anymore, but I don't think my humor has changed much, and I am still an amazing procastinator so I'm allowed on this website.

This video just made me cry with laughter because my mom actually got one of these from my brother this Christmas, and she loves it. I tried it on for size as well and loved it, too.

Oh and the flashlight...I totally have it, and it moves on its own to get into position. Therefore, I also love it but not quite as much as this video.

Being a Harry Potter fan, I also love the random subliminal spoiler alert like 20 seconds in.