Fall is here!

A whole lot of nothing seems to be going on lately, hence the lack of blog updates.

Financially, I'm wrecked, but let's be honest, who isn't? I can't wait for my taxpayer dollars to pay off that $700 billion government bail out; I bet my children are super excited about that too. Woohoo. I'm trying to finish paying off the credit card AND save for next year...it's just not happening right now though. And seriously, what is up with gas in Atlanta being impossible to find?! You either have to go at 6 in the morning or midnight for there to be gas - it is insane!

Anything regarding technology in my life is basically on the fritz. My phone has been dead because my Nokia charger that came with the phone started acting a fool...and that was before Drake ate it. I bought one offline a week ago, and it has yet to come. Four to fourteen business days is a large time window to be waiting...hm. My laptop's hard drive is totally fried for whatever reason. I brought it into work and chatted with tech support yesterday trying to figure it out; apparently, it is "corrupt". I wish Dell would just come out and fix the damn thing, but I know I'll have to troubleshoot over the phone before that can happen. What a pain in the ass. At least it is under warranty until 2010. I kind of want to break down and buy a Mac before I go to grad school...but then I would have to go back on everything I've ever said about Mac...even though technically it was really criticism for the iPhone (and the people that have them)...we'll see...

I'm really excited for Asheville this weekend; I need to get out of Atlanta, even if it is just for two days. Plus, the mountains & fall weather are always so comforting and peaceful. Saturday we are visiting Looking Glass Falls, horseback riding at Wolf Laurel Stables, and then exploring downtown Asheville and Grove Park Inn. Sunday we are going to explore Asheville some more then drive up to Grandfather Mountain to hike. Hopefully I'll come back with some decent pictures. I'm bringing the Canon and the Holga, so it should be a productive weekend.

NY Times wrote this article about Ole Miss hosting the first presidential debate this upcoming Friday (tune in - 9:00 ET - CNN). I'll be honest, I'm pretty glad I'm not going to be living there. When I visited back in July, my tour guide told me that the university only designated about 100 tickets to university staff, none for students. Oxford is going to be a media circus, I can imagine. Either way, I'll be at home watching it. The Times article makes me a little stressed out about the race situation at the school. It reminds me of an extreme version of my high school (Harrison), which, needless to say, I hated. My middle school in Raleigh (Ligon GT) was so diverse; moving to Georgia was a huge culture shock. I can imagine moving from Decatur to Oxford is kind of going to be the same way. Georgia State was my Ligon; now Ole Miss will be my Harrison.

I spent this past weekend with my mom, and it was so much fun. Saturday night we ate dinner at Mellow Mushroom in Decatur and then came back to my house to eat ice cream sandwiches. In true mom fashion, she fell asleep at 10 o'clock ha. Sunday we woke up and had a small breakfast, showered & got dressed, and headed to Mary Mac's Tea Room. God, I love that place. I wish I could bottle that sweet tea and keep a steady supply in my fridge at all times. After lunch, we walked up to The Fox & got seated for Les Miserables. Our seats weren't terrible; we were pretty high up in the balcony, but we had a great view of the stage. The production was really good. I had seen it about 10 years ago when we still were in North Carolina and didn't really understand it, but it made so much more sense this time around. After the play, we went to Piedmont Park, and BT took some portraits since we don't have any recent mother-daughter shots. She left for Kennesaw shortly thereafter; it was really good to spend time with her away from my dad and brother.

In closing, I leave you with this picture of me and my mom - probably the best we have ever taken. She loves me, hates the tatts...although she did say she wouldn't care if I was covered in them, as long as I wasn't a drug addict.

A third of the way through September - seriously?

I'm finally feeling back to my old, healthy self. Last Wednesday, I went to the doctor with horrible fatigue and body aches, 103-degree fever, and a 124 heart rate; I had a gross virus that had mutated and spread throughout my body and was pretty dehydrated. I was hooked up to an IV and got a sodium chloride drip then was put on antibiotics for 14 days. I am feeling much better, and according to my blood test results, I don't appear to have the flu or mono. Very happy with that, and very happy to be feeling not like a blob.

BT and I took Drake to Bark in the Park at Turner Field on Sunday. It was the first time I have actually gone to the event, rather than working it. We were on the jumbotron (aka Braves Vision) - a first for us all! As you can see, Drake (and his human counterparts) had a blast.


Other than being sick and going to Bark in the Park, not much has been going on in this kid's life lately. I am settled into my new place, and it feels like home. Work is slowing down, now that kids are back in school, and the holiday season is over. I'm still planning on taking the GRE next month, although I need to get my brain back into shape. I haven't had school in almost four months; I'm pretty sure that is the longest time I have gone without it. I am trying to enjoy my year off before heading to Ole Miss, but I just feel restless; somehow working at a dog daycare still just isn't cutting it. At least Drake benefits from it.

The fact that women are "flocking" to Sarah Palin just because she has a damn uterus makes me sick. And as for people referring to her as a feminist icon, she most certainly is not. Not only as a Democrat, but as a woman, I would never even consider voting for her, or voting for McCain just because he picked a woman as his VP running mate. When asked if her own daughter was impregnated by a rapist, what she would encourage her daughter to do, she replied "I would choose life." First off, it should not be her decision. Second of all, everything about that sentence makes me sick. Not to make this blog a forum on abortion, but it is my strong opinion that nobody should have control over a woman's body except for herself, not even her mother. Aside from that, she fired a librarian because she wouldn't ban or censor books that Palin found offensive or objectionable. Let's see; so far, she doesn't believe women have the right to chose what happens to their bodies and apparently doesn't believe in freedom of speech either. That's who I want in charge of my country should John McCain die. I really hope after the initial media frenzy around her dies down that people, women and men alike, will wake up and see her for what she really is.

While on the subject of womanly issues that disgust me, read this article, and tell me this isn't prostitution. Capitalizing off of your sexuality? Yea, I'm pretty sure that is considered prostitution (strippers aside). And seriously, selling your virginity to pay for college tuition? I want to get my Master's without taking out loans just as much as the next person, but there are things called financial aid and scholarships I intend on looking into. Not auctioning off my body. Oh, people of America, you never let me down.

A few exciting things going on in the next few weeks...Brandy is about to have her baby...going to see Les Miserables with my mom next weekend (probably should warn her of my latest tattoo first)...taking a weekend trip to Asheville with BT at the end of the month...and fall is just around the corner (although I'm sure it will continue to be 80 degrees until mid-October).

Also, Drake and I have a shared love of Yuengling:

Short update.

I could watch this video all day long. John Fogerty, despite his hairdo, was a fox back in the day. Creedence makes me wish I was sitting on the porch of a house in the middle of some godforsaken, middle-of-nowhere, humid as hell Southern town, drinking beer, swatting mosquitoes, and scratching my coonhound between his ears. Love me some CCR.

I'm all moved in to my new place. So far, so good. The move was much quicker and easier than I expected.

However, I have come down with a nasty virus. Not totally sure what I have, possibly the flu, but I have been running a 102 degree fever since Friday, have body aches like no other, my fingers go numb randomly, and sometimes it feels like my brain is throbbing. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow, so I am interested to see what I've managed to catch.

John McCain, you are an idiot.