Thank you blogger

for not being as complicated and unforgiving as Word Press. 

I like blogging in you and changing fonts and colors and backgrounds as I please... not having to look up html codes to tweak every little post. Oh, AND having my edits actually published. 

I've come to realize that the reason Word Press probably sucks for me is because a- I really don't know what I'm doing and b- the company that owns our newspaper has all these options fixed to where I can't tweak them on Word Press. It's still frustrating nevertheless. 

Thank you.

Erin Miller's Norb's debut

So, Erin Miller was in town this weekend for a wedding. By in town, I really mean Collinsville -- but she and her friend Ryan were nice enough to drive into Alton to see me. I hear the dry wedding was not so much fun...

I was hanging out with David, Justin, Ben, Thomas and John at the Beagle, watching Mizzou (4) defeat the No. 2 ranked (well, not anymore) Kansas, when she showed up. 

We had a few beers there and spent the rest of the night (till just before 1 or so) hanging out at Norb's, playing Gotcha! and shuffleboard and enjoying dollar Keystone night.

It was a little extra skanky at Norb's last night, so I really hope she doesn't get the wrong idea about me and my hometown. 

Because of recent, crappy events -- we were not able to see each other for my birthday so it was a nice surprise. 

Thanks, Erin Miller. 

P.S. If any of you are ever in town and you don't call me I'm fittna be mad at you!!

I want an EIU Tony Romo jersey

Unfortunately, I cannot afford.

Here's the info though, if you can -- you might want to look into one for yourself:

The jerseys are traditional cut -- broad in the shoulders, and slender in the waist. 

This is a one-of-a-kind jersey like the one that Tony wore when he was an EIU Panther.

To get one, you must donate $200 to the EIU Panther Club. If you want more than one, they can be purchased after that for $100. 

If only I had that type of money. 

Available for people who cannot afford, like myself:

We also have Tony Romo T-shirts (all sizes currently available) that we are selling for $20.00. They are EIU blue with "Eastern Illinois" and Tony's #17 on the front and "Romo" and the #17 on the back.

Family of hunters

Hey-- my family made the front page.

"JERSEYVILLE -- A Jersey County boy gave himself an early birthday present when he shot a 20-point buck Friday morning. 

Jaron Wittman described his big moment Tuesday, a day after his 11th birthday.

Jaron (pronounced Jerun) was hunting Friday with his father, Tom Wittman. The youngster, who has been hunting since he was 8 years old, said he and his dad left to hunt about 6 a.m. and saw no deer from their tree stand until about 9:30 a.m...."

Well, you see where this is going. 

It's kind of hard to believe that my mom's entire family likes hunting and that my immediate family is so different. Not only do none of my family members (not even my Dad and brother) like sports -- they don't like hunting either. 

And while I love me a good Cardinals game, I, too, find hunting extraordinarily yucky. I don't see the fun in killing things really, but I guess this is a pretty big accomplishment for a 10-year-old (and my second cousin). Way to go. :)

Tom Brady = Serial Killer?

Quarterback/Freak of Nature

Serial killer/blood spatter analyst for the police who don't know he kills people

Is it just me, or is there a resemblance?

This guy is wonderful

Funnyface!

I love him soooooo much.
I just thought I'd share that with the world.
The world of like two people who read this blog, but still, the world.

I gave in to football

There's no use fighting it anymore. 

Since I got off early yesterday I went to David's, where my wonderful boyfriend was watching football. I cringed. Did I really have to watch this crap?? But I watched instead of complaining, because who am I to take something he likes away from him after he has been so sweet to me? Especially this weekend.

I've watched football before.

I didn't like it. It was cool when the Rams won the Superbowl, but that was then, and this -- HA HA (joke) -- is now. 

I still don't love it, but I could learn to like it because something was different this time. The team I was watching was pummeling the crap out of the other team, and doing so with a certain flaire that appealed to me. If you watch football, you won't be surprised at what team I was watching.

HOT

So now, I suppose, I am a Patriots fan. 

Go on, pummel me with bandwagon comments, blah.. blah.. blah..  I don't care what you have to say. What I care about is this -- if I am going to watch a sport I don't enjoy on it's own, I want to watch players who are freakishly good and who are breaking records as we speak. Blame David if you must, he doesn't care.

I'm sorry, Rams, Bears... you have nothing for me.

Speaking of football though -- I am on a mission. A mission to find a Tony Romo Eastern jersey. I'll make one if I have to:

I like quarterbacks. 

 

Happy Birthday, now let's suture that knee...

Alright, so my Rick Ankiel birthday (24) was a blast. Or a bang, if we're speaking literally -- a bang that landed me, during my first real hours of being 24, in Alton Memorial Hospital awaiting stiches.

Despite the events that occurred near the end of my birthday weekend, turning 24 was much better than turning 23. 

Brian came into town via Amtrak to spend it with me, David asked off on Saturday, and we had a gay ole' time. 

Thursday was the beginning of my weekend, because we get a personal day at work on our birthdays -- and since mine landed on a day I already had off, Saturday, I took Thursday as my birthday. 

David and I woke up Thursday and played the Sims, a new addicition of mine and my favorite birthday present this year (unless you count Guitar Hero, which I bought myself and was reimbursed for by my dad). We spent the rest of the day in St. Louis -- shopping at West County Mall, where I bought two new sweaters and two new pairs of fun gloves; eating cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory in the Galleria and then getting my hair cut in Grafton on the way home. (It's short, by the way... photos to be available once I get ahold of my charging digital camera that needs replaced). 

Friday I woke up and picked Brian up from the train station. We played Guitar Hero III for the rest of the day while we waited for David to get off work, then we took my dad out to the Regal Beagle for dinner. It was a good time; I had been craving the stuff for weeks. After dinner, we went back to Guitar Hero III. David called his younger brothers Dan and Brian to kick our asses at the game via its online option on the Wii. Dan played the Dragonforce song, the hardest song on the game, on expert and got a 70-something percent. Then, Brian beat everyone at medium, so we lost a whole lot. 

Saturday, my violin lesson was canceled. Brian, my parents, David, Justin and Ben went to St. Louis Buffet Bar and Grill in Wood River for lunch -- which I thought would make everyone happy. We ate WAY too much, and then hung out at Davids until the evening. While awaiting eveyone's arrival at my house, we ate my green confetti cake with orange and black icing and played with the Titty Ball I bought from the Asian Lady in Cincinapolis. Then Cory, Clancy, Sarah, David, Brian and I headed to City Museum in St. Louis. 

They had opened up a new cave area, which was really neat, and we had a ton of fun -- half of us having never been there before (David, Clancy, Brian). Then, we decided to jump in the ball pit. The ball pit sucks. 

The balls are way too bouncy and there is no padding underneath, so when the lady told me to jump in, and I did, the balls parted like the red sea and my knee -- after squarely hitting the concrete below -- began gushing something that looked like the red sea. The lady at the first aid station squirted water on it and sent me on my way -- with a free pass to come back, plus three guests (which was funny, since I had five with me at the time). 

After waking my dad up and asking for advice, he, Brian, David and I headed for Alton Memorial. After waiting for hours, the nurse x-rayed the knee (no broken bones) and then SCRUBBED out the wound, which hurt like a mutha. They had determined that there would be no need for stitches -- that is, until they washed away all the clotting blood. Then, they promptly changed their mind. So that I wouldn't have a skin flap hanging off my knee for the rest of forever, Dr. Emergency Room Guy sewed my skin flap up good with four blue stitches, to be removed by Dr. Ricci (my general physician) on Friday morning. 

By the time we left, around 4 a.m., everyone was starving. Because we ate so much at the buffet we had skipped dinner, and we were feeling the effects. So we picked up my antibiotics and Vicoden from Walgreens, and headed to Steak n' Shake. Then, we went to my house and put in A Clockwork Orange for something to do until Brian's train came. It would be less than two hours of sleep -- so anyone that knows Brian will know why we didn't risk going to bed. 

I went to work, but left early when my pages were finished, because I was BEAT. I feel sick tonight and my knee is still mighty sore. I figure I need MORE sleep and less ulcer-agitating pain medication. 

Anyway, that's my long birthday story. Like my broken thumb graduation night, it'll be one for the books. 

I blog for work now.

Go to www.thetelegraph.com and click the link "Here and There" under blogs. I posted about this earlier but for some reason it linked this account (my personal one) with my WordPress account which is for work. 

I don't need the two to mix

All this has come and gone

Halloween

I spent the weekend before Halloween traveling to Lincoln to attend a party with Matt. It was hosted by a couple named the Boltons, who call themselves the "Bloodtons" around Halloween. Their house was covered in decorations (see the photos provided in the link for examples) -- the bathroom was covered in a plastic wall covering to make the walls look like that of a dungeon, the lights were all dimmed and there were severed heads spread throughout the house. Mostly, we just played card games and watched a ton of scary movies all night. I wore my nurses' scrubs covered in fake blood, and carried a bloody knife. Matt and his girlfriend Rachel were a gay couple and Matt's friend Chris was The Dude from "The Big Lebowski."

Other vacation stuff

I watched a lot of scary movies with David. "Halloween," "Rosemary's Baby" and more. 

Austin

I got on an airplane for the first time in my life and flew from St. Louis to Houston to Austin, where I spent Thursday around 11 a.m. through Saturday around 3 p.m. with Diane and Robert. They took me to a lot of random places, and I had a lot of fun. My favorite place was the Alamo Draft House, which is a really cool place where you can go to the show (we saw "Lars and the Real Girl") and have dinner at the exact same time (I had a caesar salad, raspberry Italian soda, chocolate cake/ice cream and a Mimosa, all just because I could). Some other cool places we went include Ten Thousand Villages of Austin, where I bought a ring from Indonesia. When you buy an item there, the money goes to the artisan in whatever third world country he or she is from. They also print out little stories about the item so you know its back story.  They took me to several out of this world toy stores including Monkey See, Monkey Do. We also went in a variety of boutiques and even a Day of the Dead shop called the Turquoise Door (on South Congress. They have no Web site that I can find, but feel free to Google it). 

I'll add more info once I get the chance to think. 

All in all, my vacation was too short, but it was good. I'm going to request my next week's vacation in January as soon as tomorrow. :)