Haircuts. I’m not particularly vain, and the only real requirement I have for a haircut is that my bangs are out of my eyes. So naturally, I hate paying for haircuts. Especially when all I really want to do is take any pair of scissors and cut the offending bangs myself.

Confession time: I have cut my bangs - several times, and have on occasion snipped away at other parts of my hair.

But hey, no one, not even my really good friends who tell me I’m getting fatter, or that a color doesn’t compliment my skin tone, or that my shoes are ugly, have ever said anything about my hair.

Hmmm, is that a good or bad sign? Is it worse to comment on a friend’s haircut than her weight?

Well, it is haircut time again, and I’ll be heading to the salon because I have some special events coming up in the next couple of weeks that I want to look nice for. One of them, a presentation on electronic publishing for CLE - Literary Lawyers, is being videotaped. Aaack! Adding 10 lbs! I’d better have a good haircut.

Jessie

I’m a total House junkie.  I love that I get to watch a couple of shows a night, even if they are reruns I’ve seen a dozen times.  But tonight, a rare treat.  I’m watching one I haven’t seen before.  House isn’t the kind of man I’d want to be around for any amount of time.  So, the question is would I want him for my doctor.  I’m not sure.  Of course, for television drama, he and his team have to get the diagnosis wrong a number of times before they can pronounce the right one and save the day (at least most of the time).  I’m not so sure I’d want a doctor who makes so many mistakes before getting to the right answer.

I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day.  I got the works, candy, roses, card, dinner out.  It wasn’t extravagant (regular box, silk flower, Chinese buffet, but it made me misty-eyed.  I’m a sucker for silly love.

On another note, I also got some exciting news, but I can’t say anything now.  maybe in a few days.

Jessie

How long do you wash your hands after using the facilities? They (whoever “they” are) recommend 30 seconds. I’ve heard of several different ways to time it. There’s the sing the Alphabet Song, or Happy Birthday to You song twice (in your head of course). Well, I did a little experiment, and both the songs timed out at around 22 - 25 seconds.

But here’s the quirky observation: I’ve noticed that if a restroom is spotless or very clean, people don’t spend as much time washing their hands as when the bathroom is…not so clean. I’ve even seen people just sort of wet their fingertips, no soap, and dry them with a paper towell on their way out. And sadly, I’ve seen people who don’t wash their hands at all. However, maybe they have hand sanitizer in the purse or pocket and will use it once outside the restroom door. That’s my hope, anyway.

While we hope that the fingertip washer had a lot of toilet paper to prevent any seepage, we really don’t know. I have to admit, if the exit door allows it, I’ll push it open with my foot to avoid touching the handle after a fingertip washer, or no washer has exited in front of me. If it isn’t possible, I do have sanitizer in my purse.

Jessie

On her 1000th victory. It is an outstanding accomplishment. However, what I find fascinating is that she also has a 100% graduation rate in her basketball program, and she mentioned it last night during the speech. She’s as proud of that as she is of the win. Even before the days of the WBNA, her “girls” were going to be successful in life as well as basketball.

Coach Summitt was mic’d during the game last night, and the effect of her comments to the players was evident when in the last seconds of the game, with a huge lead, they were still fighting, still shooting, still playing defense, and still scoring.

I think I’ll try to find a picture of Coach Summitt’s famous glare and use it as the wallpaper on my computer screen. Then when the writing feels like it’s too much to handle, I can imagine Coach Summitt has me on the sidelines saying things like , “Get up in their face” and “Don’t back down.”

Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jessie

Well, I blew the Springsteen song picks, but there’s always next year.

We’ve had more crazy weather. Ice, snow, rain, freezing temps with wind chills below zero yesterday, and it’s supposed to be up in the 60’s tomorrow. It’s a wonder we’re not all sick.

But my boss is. He’s got what we call the creeping crud. Kinda starts out like a cold, and in a few days you’re miserable. Not as bad as the flu, but worse than the common cold. I got an e-mail from him this morning saying he’s staying home (where he should be) and is trying to get a doctor’s apt. I e-mailed him back and told him to stay home and get completely well before he came back into the office. Yep, I’m the soul of human kindness.

However, in this case I’m being a little selfish. My birthday is Saturday, and I’m looking forward to some party time. If he comes in tomorrow and shares the crud with me so that I’m sick over the weekend, it won’t be pretty around here.

I haven’t heard back from him yet.

On the writing front, I’m still working on Stygian and something new. Still waiting on tenterhooks for a response on my non-fiction piece. The publisher I sent it to didn’t have a response time listed, so it means I get to obsess about it from the minute I sent it in instead of a couple of months down the road.

That’s why I have chocolate.

Jessie

Sort of.  I’m just not as excited about this year’s game as I have been the past couple of years.  I’ve never really been a Cardinals fan, but it’s more that I don’t really know anything about them than anything else.

Back in the days of Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann, I was a Steelers fan, but that’s waned over the years.

So, who am I rooting for?  The Cardinals.  Although, I don’t have the gut feeling that they’re going to win like I did last year with the Giants.  Either way, I think it’ll be a fun game.

Bruce Springsteen is the half-time performer.  Here’s my annual guess for the songs he’ll sing:

Born in the USA (duh)
Cover Me
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark
and one from the new album, which I haven’t heard yet.

Have a great weekend!
Jessie

The temperature was a balmy 61 degrees when I left for work this morning.  Last week, it was 16 degrees.  It’s a little windy, and engorged, grey clouds are rolling across the sky.  In a few hours, the rain will come.  No surprise there.  However, the rain is supposed to turn to snow later this evening.

Snow! 

From 60 degrees to snow in less than 24 hours.  <sigh>  That’s life in the valley between the Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains.

Jessie

I want to loose a little weight (who doesn’t?) and eat a little healthier.  To that end, I’ve been eating the low calorie frozen foods for lunch, different brands, and cooking dinner more often.  The lunches aren’t too bad, and the dinners are…well, let’s just say quick.

But this morning, I woke up with a craving for a fast-food hamburger, which kinda surprised me, because I usually crave the fries.  I haven’t had one in weeks, and I could practically taste it this morning.  Thank goodness none of the restaurants serve burgers in the morning, because I probably would have stopped.  I almost “forgot” my lunch so I could go out at lunch and get something.

Good sense prevailed in the end, and I pulled a frozen lunch out of the freezer, along with a package of salmon for tonight and a roast for the crock pot tomorrow.  I figured a little planning might help defeat the urge to drive up to the nearest window and order a huge, greasy double (with cheese, of course).

And have I lost any weight?  A little over 2 lbs. last week, with no real changes to my routine.  I’m getting accustomed to the food changes first (not easy), then we’ll talk about adding a little bit of exercise.

Jessie

No, this isn’t another football post.  This is about my sister.  She’s beaten the odds all her life.

She weighed 2 lbs. 12 oz. when she was born (premature) and spent months in an incubator.  Considering it was in the 50’s, it’s a miracle she lived.

For years, she struggled with medical problems, most of them relating to her premature birth.  Then, after a few years of doctors not being able to diagnose her symptoms, they finally found out she had thyroid cancer.  Years of treatment later, she beat the odds again.

She has fibromyalgia and a host of related problems, but she doesn’t give up and continues on.

Last week, she went in for a sleep study.  Most people stop breathing about 5 times during the night.  My sister?  Over 200.  She received her C-Pap machine today.  Most people with undiagnosed sleep apnea that severe don’t beat the odds.  She did.

So, a tribute and toast to my sister - may you always beat the odds.

Jessie

Put me in a jewelry store, and I might browse for a few minutes.  Put me in an office supply store, and I could spend hours going up and down the aisles.  I’m a complete nerd, geek, dweeb, whatever nametag you want to apply.  I love office gadgets.

The other day, my boss told me to add a stapler to our next office supply order.  There’s only three of us in the office, and we have something like six staplers, but there’s not one in every room/office, so he wanted one more.  So, I took the total nerd approach.  I checked with the place we buy from (we get special discounts through the Tn. Bar. Assoc.), and then went to Amazon to check out the reviews.

Yes, of staplers.

Because, I wanted a red one.  (If you’ve seen the cult classic, Office Space, you know why.  If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing a good movie.)  And guess what?  Our office supply place didn’t have the classic red Swingline stapler.  Bummer.  But they did have the translucent red and black PaperPro®.

So far, it’s working great.  And because I now have the only red stapler in the office, I know which attorney “borrowed” it when it goes missing.  Now, if I could just put homing devices on my pens….

Jessie