Emerald

Continuing with my post from last week about Detroit not getting a fair shake, I had to share this with you.

And here is a St. Louis sportswriter's take. I read the St. Louis paper regularly and know that they are very similar to Detroit, except in terms of national reputation, so I would expect them not to be too harsh.

Okay, I'm over that for now…I'll keep you posted of any particular article that pisses me off.

I have some new assignments for work and I have to tell you that one of them sucks so badly that I can't even contemplate starting it. At first, I didn't think it was any big deal as I had done something similar for the previous Big Boss. Then the New Big Boss sent me a spreadsheet saying: "I want it to look like this." I almost cried when I opened it up. It's going to be a NIGHTMARE to do. My way? Doable and easy to read. His way? Hell on Earth and a bitch to find the data amidst all the colors and shapes he wants me to include. So, instead of doing it, I figured I'd write a post!

I need a massage so badly, it's not even funny. I held off, obviously, while I didn't know if I'd have a job and then last week one of my co-workers gave me TWO $50 gift certificates to SpaFinder.com. Very sweet of him, but my massage therapist doesn't work at any of the locations. No, I'm really not bitching about this. I looked up all the day spas in the Detroit area and printed up the first ten within 15 miles of home. Now, I prefer not to drive long distances to a massage because driving home in Detroit traffic would eliminate the relaxation effect of the massage. Time to call and see what's out there. I'm just worried that I’m going to get one of those wimp-ass massages where the person is scared of hurting you, so they don't put any real pressure into it and then I'll be all annoyed at the waste of it.

And now that the axe is no longer hanging over my head I have no excuses and my butt will be back at the gym this afternoon. I was here by 5:15 this morning, so I'm gone by 1:45 and at the gym by 2:15, so I hope I won't have to fight for an elliptical machine. And then joy of joys, going for Indian food tonight with Ursamajor. It's been SSSSOOOO long since we've been! And my friend Pamela told me yesterday that she heard our Indian restaurant is closing! I will be so so so so bummed if that's true.

My weekend was nothing to write home about. I ran a bunch of errands on Friday and was just dead exhausted by the time I got home. I went to bed at 10:00 p.m. Damn, I am a partier! Saturday was laundry, a little knitting, watched The Aviator (Leonardo DiCaprio does NOTHING for me) and then decided to read a book. I started and finished S is for Silence, the latest Sue Grafton book. Sunday was Mass, then the post office where I got a thank you gift off to Smed for the really cool CDs he sent me, from there it was on to the Farm Market for some fresh fruits and vegetables. Then I watched Lost in Translation which I, quite surprisingly for me, liked, followed by the reading of another book, Bloodsport by Dick Francis. I picked it up Friday night and it was amazingly a Dick Francis book I didn't have and even more amazingly, hadn't read before! He hasn't written a book in years and I'm very sad, because I desperately love his books, and it makes me wonder how much longer he's going to be around as he's pretty darn old (actually, only born in 1920, so he's not that old). He is one of less than five authors (also Jack Higgins, John Sandford, Sue Grafton) whose books I'll pick up the second I see them, hardcover cost be damned! Shoot, I just read this which says that although it was Dick's name on the books that it was a collaboration with his wife and she died in 2000 and afterwards he said he'd never write anything longer than a persona letter again. I guess I don’t need to look anymore.

Back to Lost in Translation. I watched this movie fully expecting to hate every second of it, but a number of friends loved it and so I gave it a chance. I'm really glad I did. I even liked Bill Murray in it! *gasp* I'm sorry, I know he's pretty popular and all that, but I have had Bill Murray issues since living in SF where Julius made me watch Kingpin (okay, he didn't make me, but I had no clue it was going to be as bad as it was) with Bill Murray and I realise that it's probably a testament to his acting ability that I couldn't stand him in it, but that character coupled with the fact that a co-worker had him on her List of Five was really more than I could handle. Viewing Bill Murray as a sex symbol just didn't work for me. Maybe I'm ready to give Bill's movies another chance – although nothing will ever induce me to see Kingpin ever again! God, that movie was bloody awful!!!

And I guess I better get back to contemplating the Nightmare Project. Have a good one!