2nd Star to the Right :: Neverland. I think I want to live there.

I'm getting closer! 738,816.

Ugh.

This has got to stop. Someone pass the popcorn.

7:41 PM | allison | # |

Hello. My name is Allison and I'm a Pop & Drop addict.

Hi, Allison.

313,465
203,655
102,009
707,261
190,405
175,726
116,708
158,440
91,699
170,611
303,965
338,875

I think it's time for an intervention. Please, someone help me.

11:25 AM | allison | # |

707, 261. Must. Stop. Playing. This. Game.

R, you're my witness. 1 million, here I come.

2:15 PM | allison | # |

Yeah, baby.

457,352

Shut up.

I'm going to bed now.

10:44 PM | allison | # |

I’ve got lots going on right now. Not really a good excuse not to write, but it’s the truth. It’s a little bit of everything all at once, you know?

Spent the holiday with my family. Spending time in the house where I grew up, surrounded by the people I love the most in the world is always good for my heart.

I got some new hardware and software for Christmas. I’ve been playing with both. A lot. See?

Work is dead. I spent most of Monday playing solitaire and Pop & Drop. I’m working on breaking my high score of 211,344.

It’s happening again. Susan Santog and that guitarist. I wonder who’s next? Also, this is totally creepy. Update 12/29: Lenny Briscoe, man. What's the world coming to?

I took today off because I got a flat tire on the way home from work yesterday. They extracted a nail longer than my middle finger. I got to keep it.

Shut up. I know I didn’t have to take the day off for that, but I did beat my old high score. I’m now at 314,526. And I ate all the chocolate in the house.

10:02 PM | allison | # |

I'm ready now. Up until yesterday, I wasn't really ready for the holiday, despite all my best efforts. I've finished my shopping, baked more than six dozen cookies and decorated my apartment with lights and other shiny things. It felt a lot like the holidays for me when I was so far away from home and people were hanging twinkle lights in the palm trees in their front yards.

But it didn't feel like the holidays. I don't know if it was because there isn't any snow, or the songs on the radio are starting to annoy me. I've waited for Christmas since Halloween. Isn't that long enough?

And then yesterday, I spent the evening with friends. Some new, some old. We talked and laughed and drank and ate. We enjoyed each other's company. We were merry. Really and truely merry.

At some point, during all the laughter, it happened. I became ready for the holiday. Somehow, the lights became brighter, the decorations shinier and the mood more festive. I'm looking forward to spending time with family and friends, eating and laughing and visiting old friends. I've figured out that this time of year means different things to different people. For me, it means celebrating the past year and looking forward to the new one; it means spending time with the ones I love and sharing gifts and love and each other.

I'm ready for the holidays.

8:31 AM | allison | # |

We got a new maintenance/cleaning/fixer guy in the building where I work. I'm not really sure what happened to the previous guy, but I can't really say I'm sorry to see him go. He was nice. Sometimes too nice, you know? It gave me the heebie jeebies.

I haven't really seen any remarkable changes since the new guy started, except in the bathroom. We've got new toilet paper. And I have to say, I'm liking it. It's softer, thicker and even has a little pattern imprinted on it. It's a huge step up from the rough, gray sandpaper we had to use before.

The other change I've noticed is in the bathroom as well and it also involves the TP. The rolls are wrong. They used to roll over the top, now they unroll from the back. It threw me off the first time I encountered it. It's harder to tear, it unravels way too quickly. The unroll from the back method has all sorts of implications.

I chalked it up to him being new. He didn't know that we're an over the top kind of office. I just changed the roll around myself and went on my way. And I've been doing it ever since. It's my subtle way of saying, "Hey, new maintenance/cleaning/fixer guy, we like the TP to roll over from the top in this office." I figure that's nicer and less obvious than leaving him a note.

But it's been a couple of weeks now. And while we still have the new, softer TP, it's still rolling off from the bottom, no matter how many times I switch the roll around myself.

So I'm stuck. Do I go ahead and leave an anonymous note taped to the stall doors? Lipstick on the mirror? The second might get more attention, but probably not the kind I'm looking for. At least not from the new maintenance/cleaning/fixer guy. Not there's anything wrong with being a maintenance/cleaing/fixer guy. He's a good maintenance/cleaing/fixer guy.

He just rolls the TP from the wrong side. And I've got issues with that.

10:35 AM | allison | # |

An open letter to the folks at US Cellular:

That commercial with Joan Cusack and the dad that makes really fast phone calls on his cell phone in order to save money on his minutes by yelling, "Happy Holidays from the Hendersons!" was funny.

LAST YEAR.

Best wishes,
allison

8:16 PM | allison | # |

I wish I had my camera here today because seriously people, my hair is reaching a coolness level of Rock Star Proportions. And besides my boss, I'm pretty much the only one here today so I don't even have any witnesses!

Of course, it will all be shot to hell as soon as I step out into this:

Also, I almost lost my orange bouncy ball over the top of my cube when I distracted by the phone ringing.

And also, I'm really jonesing for another Diet Coke. Anyone have a nickel? I'm $.05 short.

2:59 PM | allison | # |

What is that flaky, shiny crap that comes off on your hands when you peel an orange? Seriously. That's gross.

Things I've eaten today: Quaker Oats Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal. Diet Coke. One chocolate chocolate chip cookie. Glass of water. Apple. 7 Reduced Fat (but not taste!) Triscuit crackers and 1 oz of Sharp Cheddar Cheese. Banana. Glass of water. Nature Valley Oats'n'Honey Granol Bar. 1/2 cup Applesauce. Orange.

Bananas make me feel like I need to go brush my teeth. This is a really gross link I found for canned cheese when I was looking for a link to my cheese. Did someone move my cheese? Hah.

Tomorrow is another Jeans Day! at work. I'm stoked. Yes. STOKED. And not just for jeans. I have a two hour meeting in the morning and a holiday luncheon/party/gift exchange in the afternoon. It's being catered by Al's Italian Beef. I kind of wish we had a vegetarian in the office.

All the holiday and meetings and Italian Beef mean one thing: I'm not going to get any work done. Woot!

I am wearing a black shirt and brown pants today. The black/brown combo is not something I would have attempted if not for my co-worker, Susan. I have laid this outfit out countless times and then when it comes to getting dressed in the morning, I totally chicken out. But no more. I'm stylin' and profilin' today.

Also, I'm having another good hair day.

I used to love Netflix, but they're seriously pissing me off. I used to get movies within a three-day turnaround time. They got me all buttered up with the swift movie in the mail thing and the emails checking to see if I got my movie before or on the day they said it would arrive. And now, where's the love? WHERE IS THE LOVE, NETFLIX? I need my Andre Braugher/Kyle Secor/Reed Diamond fix.

We saw Mamma Mia! on Saturday. Before that, I liked ABBA. Now, I LOVE them. Thank You for the Music, ABBA. Thank you.

Is your holiday shopping done? Ok. Good. Me either.

15 days until Vegas, baby.

1:35 PM | allison | # |

There are few things sweeter than half day at work in which you get to wear jeans, except maybe a half-day of work in which you get to wear jeans and then looking into the eyes of an executive vice-president and telling him it's a morale thing.

And him agreeing with you.

11:50 AM | allison | # |

Note to Self: despite feeling a little bloated, wearing socks with zero elastizing abilities and the looming self-evaluation that is due on Friday, you're having a great hair day.

1:42 PM | allison | # |

Some days, I wish I could do the whole Groundhog Day thing and go back and start over.

Today is one of those days.

Given the chance, I would turn the alarm off, take a short bio break and go back to bed.

2:46 PM | allison | # |

I consider myself lucky. I don't know anyone personally who has been affected by HIV/AIDS. But I know that its likely I will in my lifetime. And that scares me, despite all the progress that has been made to improve and extend the lives of those living with HIV/AIDS.

Just a few World AIDS Day Links are below. There are a lot more out there, you just have to look. Show them some love and learn something new.

The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A Timeline of Key Milestones, Kaiser Family Foundation.

UNAIDS: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Department of Health and Human Services: World AIDS Day.

8:44 AM | allison | # |