The Weekend Grab-Bag: The Utah! Shuffle Edition

A couple (or a few) initial thoughts about the title and such: ONE - So I saw this license plate while I was driving around with Heather that was from the formerly-mentioned, mostly Mormon state. As I looked closer, I noticed that at the end of the name (Utah) there was an exclamation point! Much like that one there. So I yelled, excitedly, (as if I was reading it off the license plate) "Utah!" and I scared my wonderful girl, although it did inspire strong laughter. I couldn't not use this in the title. SECOND - I am presently listening to all of my music on a SHUFFLE setting, thus, the title. Blog titles are harder to come up with than you think. . SO, yes, I realize that it's Tuesday, and that this is officially 2 days late. Well, it's as good as I could do. Amidst the busy weekend, where I worked somewhere around 20 hours, (I'll divulge more) hung out with my beautiful girl, and learned the true meaning of President's Day, (ok, so I made that last part up) there was nary a moment to fulfill my internet readers' (that's you!) needs. I just couldn't. Consequently, here is the present edition of THE WEEKEND GRAB-BAG; Enjoy! . .

- Upon further review of my time card printout, I worked 21.5 hours over the 4-day weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were TT days, while both yesterday and today (not factored in the 4-day cumulation) were Host shifts. From those TT shifts (which were tough, busy, and without incident!) I garnered over $200!!! I think I could get used to that extra dough every weekend. I put over half of that in the bank, however, as I am still trying to maintain a responsible status. At this point, I pretty much hate Hosting. It's SO not worth the extra $0.50 an hour that we get on our paycheck. Not only is it mentally-challenging, but the citizens of the Antelope Valley officially suck as a whole (if you look really quickly, that looks bad. . .). I have never met a bigger bunch of needy, whiny, just plain unfortunate-acting people. "Can we have a booth", "This table?", and "An hour!?!" are things that I truly never want to hear again, but just know that I'll be hearing it again on Thursday (my next shift). At least I have a weekend of TT in front of me, waiting for me like a loving grandma wanting to spoil her little grandchild. I now look forward to working long, difficult hours, because I know the spoils that I receive in return. It's just a much better deal.

- Heather came home on Sunday night, and because her house is in shambles (they're recarpeting pretty much the entire house; retiling, actually) she stayed at my house both that night and last night. My couch buddy and I caught up on AMERICAN IDOL and HOUSE (almost) by staying up pretty late both nights. On Monday, we got to spend the entire morning and most of the afternoon (until 1600, when I had to work) together, which was just about the best time spent possible. We went to an early matinee of DATE MOVIE, the recently released spoof movie from "2 of the 6 writers of SCARY MOVIE". I really was let down, as it was not nearly as funny as I had hoped. Only a couple of funny moments ("Be-yotch", Little HITCH, and the too brief NAPOLEON DYNAMITE spoof) made me laugh at any level. A big disappointment through and through; Grade: D+ . . From there, we went to the MALL to get some FAMOUS DAVE'S, as it was opening day. The BBQ place is owned by the same guy that signs my checks, and I wanted to try to eat there to see the inside and such. Well, it was quite busy, because when anything new opens up in the Antelope Valley, everyone has to check it out. We decided on having a GREAT STEAK for lunch instead, and that was a wise decision indeed. We trotted around the MALL, finally ending up at the Clearance rack at ANCHOR BLUE, where I found 2 CY Shirts and 2 sweaters (plain, don't worry - they're not COSBY-type) for the minimal price of $45. It would have been over $100 had they not been on sale. I love CLEARANCE!!! My girl is so good to me - she shops with me so well (although I shop with her too. . .). Time well spent.

- Anybody watching the WINTER OLYMPICS? Yeah, me neither.

- When I got home from work on Saturday, I watched all of the NBA All-Star stuff that I'd TIVO'd. I love All-Star Weekend! The NBA is my one true sports love, and I will follow it as long as I draw breaths. I enjoyed the Dunk Contest, which has lately been quite disappointing. I actually jumped off of the couch after two of the dunks, both of which you can view here ( http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/allstar2006/news/story?id=2335818 - 1: the Iguodala "off the back of the backboard" dunk and 2: the Robinson "over Spud" dunk). Great stuff.

- I did have school today (unfortunately) and it was kind of a lame day all around. HISTORY was the usual note-taking class. No PHILOSOPHY today, as Dr. Zhu cancelled class. So, I went to my car and worked on homework until COMMUNICATIONS which was b-o-r-i-n-g!!!! My ASTRONOMY test was great, up until the multiple choice section. The math in that class is very basic (plug-in and solve, essentially) but the MC just kicks me in the butt. We'll see how the curve helps me on this one. I was outta there by 1500 today and then it was to work at 1700 tonight.

- I have a GINORMOUS secret, but I cannot reveal it until I am given permission. Let's just say that I'm stoked and that I'm more content with my present situation now.

- O I also used my Debit card for the first time today! It was pretty exciting (although it would have been cooler had no money come out of my checking accout) as I pulled into SHELL and didn't have to go in and hand the checker lady my cash. This was exciting! Let me celebrate. .

And that's about all I can go with at this moment in time. I'm tired. I do have a free day tomorrow (my only day off this week, plus no school) so that is nice. I hope everyone has a great Wednesday and if everything goes as planned, I won't blog until Thursday night. You'll be okay, trust me. . .

- - - "You can think I'm wrong, but that's no reason to quit thinking."
- - - Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) on an episode of HOUSE; He's my new hero. . .

Goodnight folkages,

The Rambler