Thursday, March 31, 2011

#172 H-O-R-S-E Play

So when a grown man sends you, a grown woman, a message that he’s ready to play you in H-O-R-S-E, does it really mean he wants to play H-O-R-S-E? And when he tells you he’s ready to play you anytime, and you respond asking him when he’s available and you don’t hear a peep from him after that, did it really happen? Just wondering.

#171 Date Update

So a few posts ago (#156) I mentioned that I had a date. As of today, no second date. That makes it almost two months later. Here’s the scoop. Basically after the first phone call, he has not called me. Only texts. I’m fine with texting, but it has its place. I’m a little disappointed that has been the main communication from him. What’s a girl to do? Also, when he does text me, it’s usually the day before he wants to get together (once it was the same day). I learned a long time ago to not wait around for a guy to call, or you may end up hanging out by yourself. I have things to do and people to see. So each time he’s texted me to hang out I’ve been busy. Last weekend I offered up the next night since I was free. He agreed. Then the next morning I got a text that he was going to go see his brother. Totally fine; I do understand, but I think I’m done with this one. Very nice guy but since it’s been so long since Date No. 1 I’m taking that as a sign that we are destined to either never see each other again or be friends. I’m cool with that.

#170 Dust Bunnies

Today I wore my 3” platform t-straps. It’s kinda funny when I wear these because I can totally see over the lockers at the gym and can see all the dust and dirt up there. Aaaaachooo!

#169 Hit and Run Again

Last Saturday night I went out to watch the Butler Bulldogs beat Florida to go to the Final Four for the second year in-a-row. Go Dawgs!! We then decided to meet at Michelle and Phil’s house to watch the next game. I got there first and parked on the street outside their house, where I usually do, Krista and Kenny pulled up behind me and we waited for Michelle and Phil to get home.

There was another car parked across the street from me and I thought about pulling up more to give passing cars more space. It is a pretty narrow street. But I decided to stay put. A few cars did drive past and made it cleanly. Then I saw a large, white van come from behind me and noticed it was getting kind of close. Hey, it’s getting really close…BANG!!! It took off my side mirror and scraped the front side of my car a bit. It sounded worse that it looked. My mirror was in pieces on both sides of my car. And, like the other car that hit me last year, the van kept going. Seriously?! You can’t tell me they didn’t feel or hear anything when they hit me?

Long story short, I wrote down the last four license plate numbers, called 911 and waited for the police to come. Krista and Kenny took off after the van but lost it. The officer that came over was the same guy from last year. He couldn’t run the plate with partial numbers since Indiana has about 300 different license plates.

Half an hour later he called me and asked me to come to an address about a block away to identify the van. It was sitting in the driveway. They were arresting the guy and he was going to jail. Holy cow!

Until my insurance settles this I’m driving around with a glued on side mirror (thanks to the guy at the body shop). Miraculously the mirror part was in one piece. I added the back part of the mirror plastic and some duct tape for added stability. Rollin’ in style on the East Siiiide!

#168 Jeanne Robertson

Last Friday night I took my parents (to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary) to see Jeanne Robertson at the Murat Egyptian Room. Jeanne is a professional speaker/humorist who is an Auburn University alumnus. I first heard her speak at a women’s Final Four in Tacoma, Washington over 20 years ago. She describes herself as “six feet two inches tall with my hair mashed down on my head”. She is hilarious! She’s in her late 60s now but still as funny. She’s also a former Miss North Carolina and was in the Miss America pageant in 1963. She basically tells stories about herself (topping out at 6’2” at the age of 12), her husband (left brain) and her son (Beaver). If you ever get the chance to see her, DO IT!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

#167 Tall Day

Within a time span of about 45 minutes, I had two people comment on my height this morning. A woman at the gym said she'd love to have my height and then asked if I played sports, how tall my family was, etc.

Once I got to work, I got on the elevator with a man who asked me how tall I was, if I played basketball, how tall my family was, etc.

Get it out of the way early...

Monday, March 21, 2011

#166 Division III Basketball Championship

I just returned from the Division III Men’s Basketball championship, held for the 16th consecutive year in Salem, Virginia. The final four teams were The College of Wooster, Middlebury College, the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and Williams College. You can read all about the games on www.ncaa.com, DIII men’s basketball. The first two semis were close, with St. Thomas coming back from 17 down with eight minutes left in the game to beat Wooster. Williams beat Middlebury by two in the second game. In the championship game, St. Thomas (Minnesota) beat Williams by 24.

Aside from the games, the town of Roanoke (about 10 miles from Salem) was lovely. We stayed at the Hotel Roanoke, a short walk from downtown. The weather was wonderful (70s) and I was able to take some time to wander the streets of Roanoke and check out some shops. No, I didn’t buy anything. Well, except lunch at Awful Arthur’s.

The Hotel Roanoke is a Doubletree hotel and they give you complimentary warm chocolate chip cookies upon arrival, and then upon request. The record set by a former committee member is around 30 cookies in a five-day period. A current member topped off at around 20 last year. I think I had five. There were times I wanted one, but the check-in line was too long to wait.

I flew through Charlotte and on the way back the flight from Charlotte to Indy was packed. Salem is great at giving gift baskets at the hotel and I crammed as much as I could into my carry on. Unfortunately, my backpack was too big to fit in the overhead compartment and I had to smash it under the seat in front of me. Which left no legroom. AND the guy next to me was very large and took up part of my seat. I was miserable for an hour and kept praying I could make it through the flight without a blood clot in my legs. Remember for next time:

• Do a better job of requesting an exit row.
• Ask Salem to ship you the goodies.
• Even if you have to pay extra to check a bag, it’s worth it to have leg room.
• Look at the nutritional content of a sandwich BEFORE buying it. I was halfway through a Wolfgang Puck turkey remoulade sandwich when I saw there was 1450 mg of sodium in that sucker.

Overall, a great basketball weekend!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

#165 Saturday Night Live

Today I experienced a stupendous high and then a crushing low. A friend e-mailed me a link where I could enter a contest to be in an Oprah audience for a Saturday Night Live reunion. OMG! I have watched SNL every week (during the regular season) since college. That's around 25 years. I. LOVE. THIS. SHOW. Anyone who knows me well knows I love this show. I have dressed up for Halloween as various SNL characters. I can do several characters on demand. This was perfect for me!

So when I clicked on the link I found that they had closed the contest. I am crushed. I ended up submitting something for "Do you look younger than you are?" People tell me I look younger than my age, so I wrote one sentence on that and then told them how crushed I was to miss the SNL deadline. I gave it a shot.

I am still crushed though.

Monday, March 14, 2011

#164 Margie at the Derby

Julie brought her mom, Marge, to the roller derby bout last weekend. Actually, it was bouts, plural, as it was a doubleheader. The main bout vs. the Brew City All Stars was really exciting and the Tornado Sirens were able to pull out a victory. Rock on Margie!

Friday, March 11, 2011

#163 Basketball Heaven

Since I’m not allowed to use another term, I will instead say that we have now entered the month of basketball heaven. I am lucky enough to have TVs at work and was able to take a longer-than-usual lunch to watch some exciting conference games. Awesome! As the clocks ran down on two games, more people gathered in the lunch room and I was feverishly flipping between two buzzer beaters (Northwestern/Ohio State and Miami/North Carolina). At one point, a female co-worker told me I was doing a great job of handling the remote. A male co-worker then said, “You use the remote like a guy! And I mean that as a compliment!” I hate it when people change channels and then “forget” to change it back. Foul? Switch. Timeout? Switch. It’s a delicate balance. Hmmmm…I actually DID work hard today.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

#162 Sweet Baby James

Seeing James in concert always brings up memories of my very first JT concert in 1997. I was playing basketball in Seattle at the time and was home for the summer. I usually went to the gym at noon to play pick-up ball, but this day I went later in the afternoon, around 2. I decided to run on the track. I usually notice tall people (i.e., men) and as I ran around in circles on the track I noticed a tall gentleman in sweats and a ball cap lifting on the machines. I remember thinking he looked like a professor. Thin, scholarly. I don't know how many laps I'd run until it finally registered who he was - James Taylor!! I stopped on a dime, walked up to him, and told him I loved his music. He asked if I was going to the show the next night and I said no, that my friend Kathy was going and taking her mom. He asked if I would go if he left me a ticket at Will Call. YES!! Then he asked if I could find someone to go with me, and he'd leave two tickets. YES!!! I told him my name (he didn't write it down or anything) and then we talked a little about the Nike boys basketball camp that was going on. He asked a few questions and then I was on my way. Well, before I left, I said something like, "I'm going to go home and fall on the floor."

At the time I'd been talking to a guy and had gone on one or two dates with him. I thought I'd impress him by inviting him to the concert. When we got there we picked up our tickets (name spelled correctly!) and saw these little stickers in the envelope. I asked a security guy what they were and he said they were back stage passes. What!!??? We went back stage and there was food and drinks. After hanging out a short time I asked someone if James was coming out. I had brought him a t-shirt from my team and wanted to give it to him as a thank you. James did come out and was so gracious. He thanked US for coming. He also said to come back at intermission.

Our seats were in the eighth row center. My date said at one point, "You know, I can never take you to a concert now." At intermission I took Kathy's mom (a lifelong fan of his) back stage to meet him. She got a great picture with him and put it on her desk at work. People used to ask her if that was her husband and she would just say, "Yes."

The show was great! I must admit, even though I love his music, at that time I may have had one dubbed cassette of his greatest hits. I'm not one to buy a lot of music. So after that concert, I went out and bought several CDs. I now have almost his entire collection.

What is it about James? To alter the lyrics to one of his songs, there's something in the way HE moves. Or sings. He's just so talented. And on top of that, so humble and gracious. He is my all-time favorite musical artist. How sweet it is to listen to his music.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

#161 Ben & James

No, I'm not talking about a new kind of ice cream (although I am a fan of Ben & Jerry's). I'm talking about Ben and James Taylor. James was in town last Saturday with "very special guest, Ben Taylor", his son. And what a show it was. Kathy signed up for some fan page and scored us pre-sale tickets in Orchestra Row B at The Murat. Best seats I've ever had for a show. Thank you Kathy, and thank you Jesus!





James came out and sang a couple songs by himself. Then Ben and the band joined in. They rotated songs after that and would sing one James song and one Ben song. Lots of witty dialog in between. It was so cool to see them singing and interacting together.





Ben has been to Indy with his band in the past (Ben Taylor Band) but for whatever reason I didn't go. He is definitely on my list of must see in the future. And he's my new crush. I've had a little crush on James for a while, but he's happily married. Ben is single, 6'5" and more in my age range. :-) As one reporter described him, he "looks rather like a sexy Amish man with his goatee beard and air of whimsical intensity." That hits the nail on the head.



It was also good to catch up with Kathy. She's so busy with her boys I don't get to see her much. I know she'll always get out to see James!

This is my fifth time to see James. Until next time...

Thursday, March 3, 2011

#160 Weighty Issue

I have been thin all my life. I am probably more sensitive about my weight than I am about my height. I hate hearing someone say, "You are so skinny!" I realize that lots of women would love for someone to call them skinny. To me, when I hear "skinny" it means "ugly". Therefore, I refer to myself as thin or slender.

While playing basketball for almost 20 years I was always asked to gain weight to be stronger out on the court. My college playing weight was around 165. In the off season I would drop to 160. The most I ever weighed was whilte playing after college, when I maxed out at 172 after lifting heavy at the gym and taking Creatine. I tried so hard to hold that weight after I quit playing but slowly dropped down to my regular 160.

Overall I like the way I look. I do get the occasional remark that makes me feel bad, like once when someone said, "If you gained 10 pounds you'd look really good." Can you imagine someone saying that to someone trying to lose weight? Even with my issues, I've never worried too much about my weight. I figure it will catch up with me sometime. I'm also thankful I don't have to watch what I eat like most people. I try to eat healthy, but if I want to eat cake, I eat cake!

This morning at the gym I walked by a scale in the hall and decided to step on it. When I weigh myself at home on a really old scale (30 years old?) I come in at around 162. The reading on the gym scale - 169.2. What??? In the morning? I NEVER weigh myself in the morning because that's when I'm the lightest. (I am so backwards from the rest of society!) I asked one of the trainers if their scale was accurate. (Duh, why would the gym have inaccurate scales?) She confirmed it was very accurate. Wow! That made my day!

#159 Brad Garrett

In August of 2008 I went on a “date” with Brad Garrett in Los Angeles (see Post No. 29). Brad is in town this weekend for a charity event, “Laughing Matters” to raise money for the Cancer Support Community of central Indiana. I admit that I tried to get in touch with him to invite him to breakfast or lunch during his stay but I haven’t heard anything. No motive other than I thought it would be fun. This morning I heard he was going to be on The Bob & Tom Show at around 7:30. Unfortunately I was headed to the gym and I missed his interview. I will not be attending the event due to it being pretty expensive (yes, I realize it’s for charity but just can't do it). Break a leg, Brad!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

#158 Tax Time

Last Saturday I was at Paul's doing my taxes on Turbo Tax. After entering figures from my W2 I was asked to review what I had entered. Something looked a bit off. That was confirmed when I looked at the top, where it lists how much you owe, or how much you are owed, and I owed the government $1.4 million. AGHHHH! I laughed out loud and Paul yelled from down the hall, "What's going on?" Oh nothing...