I do believe that tonight is the state of the union address. Ahhh, my favorite time of year. The night that gives me enough anger to last me through the rest of the year.

So, in the spirit of fun, I give you:
http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/01/watch_party_hos.php

State of the Union Bingo! Check out the bingo chips too, and let me know how your game goes. I think I'm going to be aiming for a board blackout. (Although that would require me to listen to about 10 minutes of the State of the Union and I don't know if I can handle that much.)

Last night Todd went to a concert I had no desire to attend. I stayed in, watched TV and knitted. I went to bed fairly early and woke up when he called our phone 4 times at 1:30am. I decided to answer the phone, because I assumed it was an emergency "Hello?" I answered. "There's no parking, will you come down and let me into the gated parking lot?" Sigh, "Okay, I'm in bed so give me a few minutes."

I threw some boots and a jacket on and ran downstairs. I went to the gated parking lot behind my building where Todd's mom pays $50 a month for me to park; Todd was sitting in his car waiting for me so I used the remote control to open the gate. Out of nowhere, a car pulls out in front of Todd's car and looks like they are going to pull into the gated lot. My heart started to beat a little bit faster because I've been jumpy since my car window was smashed. The car didn't pull into the lot, but a woman got out of that car and started to walk into the parking lot towards Todd; I was still standing next to my car.

As the woman walks closer, I see what she looks like: the face of a 15 year old, bleached orangey-blonde hair, oversized gray T-shirt, tight jeans and high tops. She didn't look homeless or drug addicted or mentally ill. Todd didn't even close his door yet when this woman said to him, "Can I have a dollar?" Todd replies, "no." (with a tone that implies, why would you even ask me that?" She waits about 15 seconds, looks at me, looks at Todd, and says "Are you sure?" Todd replies, "yes."

Now, being panhandled is no surprise in our neighborhood. It is unlikely that we leave our apartment and aren't asked for money. In fact, earlier that day Todd gave a guy some money to get him to stop bugging him...he wasn't even sure if that person was asking for money or not. Most people who are asking for money at least have devised a reason, good or bad, as to why they need the money. I'm hungry....or I need to get on a bus. If they don't give a reason, then they are at least polite. I have never seen somebody hop out of a car to demand a dollar from a pedestrian in the same tone of voice that a teenager demands money from their parents.

While this woman was asking for money, the gate on the parking lot had closed. When we rejected her request she walked toward the gate, and realized that there was no way out of the parking lot. She seemed to be saying something to another person who was waiting for her in the car she had jumped out of which was parked on the street. Part of me was tempted to just leave her trapped in the parking lot, but I really didn't want another window smashed in, so I used the remote control to open the gate. Uh oh. The girl was standing just off the the side of the door and when the gate doors spread open, she was trapped between the gate and the door. I heard her yell "Hey!" when the gate stopped moving, she had to slip out from between the gate and the door, then ran out of the gated lot. Todd and I waited for the gate door to close before going back to our apartment.

We just couldn't stop talking about it last night. What a sucky panhandler! Clearly, she needs to improve her craft. How embarrassing to have to get back in the car, after not getting the money. I can imagine the conversation, "did you get a dollar?" "no." "Did you ask if they were sure?" "yes."

Todd thought that maybe she was a prostitute, but why did she still ask when she saw me, and why wouldn't she ask something more provocative? I doubt that "can I have a dollar?" is prostitute lingo.

Today is my very first payday at my new job...HURRAY! To celebrate, I am taking Todd out to the best restaraunt in town. (I'm not sure if it really is the best or not, but I do know that it is expensive.) We have a lot to celebrate tonight. I can't believe how much money I have!

When I went to my closet this morning, I realized that I didn't want to wear any of my clothes today. Todd has some gloriously soft sweaters that I kept eyeing, and wondered...hmmm...it's casual friday....could I wear Todd's sweaters? Well I tried one on, and it looks great, so yes, indeed, I am wearing Todd's sweater to work. It fits perfectly, I guess I know my size now...I'm a men's small. The problem with women's sweaters is that they are always too short...but not Todd's sweater. I just hope I don't stretch out the chest. I hope he isn't too mad. I might have to start buying mens sweaters now...

Anybody know what to do about a car alarm that keeps going and going and going. I woke up at 3:00am because a car alarm was going off right under my apartment. It wasn't the usual car alarm, it sounded like really loud robot noises. Beep.....Beep......Blip......Bloop.....Blip.....Beep......Beep......Beep.

I figured it would go off after a while, but 30 minutes later, it was still going. I looked out the window to see if I could figure out where it was coming from. (I forgot that you can't see sounds when I was so rudely awoken from my deep REM sleep.) It just kept going and going; all I could hear was this weird robot car alarm. Then I realized that if I turn on my sound machine loud enough, I might be able to drown out the car alarm. It worked, not perfectly, but at least I was able to fall back asleep. When Todd woke up at 7:00, he turned off the sound machine. Thanks Todd. The alarm was STILL going! I left my apartment just before 9am and it was STILL going! I found the car, it is an old white Civic with tinted windows and a Kentucky license plate. I have never seen it before on my street, and if the alarm is still going when I get home I am going to smash the window in.

Is there anything I can do? Can I have it towed? I mean, it is disturbing the peace and Cinci HAS to have some kind of noise ordinance. (Or maybe I just lived in East Lansing too long.)

I think I just may have to be one of those people who calls the local news "problem solvers" team. They get things done!

In other news, if I got married on MSU's campus at the Alumni Chapel, who would make fun of me? Laura and Emily...I am looking in your direction...

Todd and I decided to explore a new enclave of the city of Cincinnati tonight. We set our sights on Mt Lookout and drove along the scenic Columbia Parkway to get there. We ate at Zip's cafe whose claim to fame is "the best dive bar in Cincinnati" for 5 years straight! Hurray for Zips! Of course we ordered the Zipburger. Yum! I love dive bars.

After dinner we got coffee/hot chocolate at Lookout Joes Coffee Shop and Todd read a book about the frontier history of Ohio and I knitted. (I think that 40 years from now I could easily describe us doing those same activities on a Friday night.) We are so wild and crazy.

I think I annoyed Todd because I was talking about "Our special Daaayyyy" too much. Sorry.

Tomorrow I have to drive Todd to the doctor to get he cyst on his back removed. I certainly hope this time I don't have to bandage his open wound every morning. That was totally gross.

Work has been great since I have befriended a woman named Christina. Unfortunately she is moving to Columbus in a few months. Drat! She has, however, filled me in on all the office gossip, and believe me, there is office gossip galore! She is one of the youngest people in the office (I think I am the youngest, as usual) and we talked about how difficult that is. It's nice to have an ally at work. Maybe I will ask her to hang out after work or on the weekend or something.

Todd and I frequent a Cinci neighborhood known as "Northside" otherwise known as "the gay part of town." (literally.) We rent videos there, get our hair cut there, buy carryout dinner, buy shoes, visit the record store. I would say that it is our favorite part of town, or maybe a close second the the neighborhood we currently live in. We have been considering buying a home in the next year and with my recent car break-in we are considering making the move to Northside...the cool side. I present you with...my favorite homes in Northside that are for sale: http://www.molinecourt.com/index.html I like the pink one the best. They are super cute and right off the main business street. In fact, we drove past tonight and they are right next to the "Dharma Buddhist center." (And then Todd made a dumb joke about the "Greg center" being across the street.)

There is not much of a yard and the homes are about 4 feet apart from each other, but there is something romantic about having a real house with a yard (even a small one) and a basement. Sigh. I want to buy one.

It wouldn't shorten Todd's commute, it would make it 2 minutes longer according to mapquest. It would also mean that I would gain a commute, and the costs associated with one like parking, parking tickets and gasoline. We haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what is out there, but this 5 flights of stairs isn't getting much easier.

My car was broken into.

ARRRGGGGG! I guess this is why people warned me about living in my neighborhood. And to think I was talking it up last night, telling everybody I felt safe and loved my neighborhood. Within the last 20 hours, my car was broken into. I mean, no biggie, I didn't have anything in it except some CD's which have been stolen. But, hey, if you want my old Ani DiFranco and showtunes, have at 'em. I hope you like my Evita soundtrack....suckas.

I'm just so pissed because it is raining, and cold and now I have to be late to work tomorrow because I have to buy a new window. Fuck you, crack-head dude who broke my window. I hope you can't sell those CD's.

So now what? Insurance? I called the police and I can file a report, but that's it. I altered the crime scene, so they can't do much else.

I had the best night last night. I joined up with the Cincinnati Stitch n Bitch...what fun!

There were six of us there, everybody was working on different things - knitting lace, crocheting a blanket, knitting a sweater (without a pattern, she just saw a picture she liked and started knitting), knitting with plastic garbage bags instead of yarn, getting the hang of knitting in a new method, and I, of course, was working on my socks. Everybody has different preferences and skills, which is a great diversity for a knitting group.

It was great! I feel like I am going to learn so much and become so inspired by them. They meet every monday night, and unfortunately I can only meet every other monday, but I can hardly wait until I get to spend time with them again.

"Cincinnati police officer Kristina Holtmann, 36, narrowly evaded death in the early morning hours Wednesday, when an 18-year-old suspect's bullet pierced the bill of her cap, shattered her eyeglasses and grazed her face, Police Chief Thomas Streicher said.

Despite the wound, Holtmann and her partner, Lauren Smith, 24, returned four shots each at the gunman, whom police identified as Dante "Pretty Boy" Person of Bond Hill.

The shooting marks the third time in six weeks a Cincinnati officer has been shot. In that period, seven officers have been fired at, according to police."

By Tony Cook and Denise Wilson - Cincinnati Post staff reporters

First: "Pretty boy" is his nickname!?! What a totally ridiculous nickname.

Second: I have an unsettling feeling that Cinci is on the brink of another riot. I'll be sure to take some pictures from my roof as the city is burning.

Third: I am quite happy to see that the Cinci police force has partnered two female officers together. That's a step in the right direction for gender equality.

I need to know...do I look like I am over 30? I was told today by somebody who is 34 that she thought I was her age. While I believe that I will likely grow old gracefully and not fight it tooth and nail, that comment makes me want to go out and buy every anti-aging product on the market. I'm 22! I certainly hope people don't think that I don't look or dress like I am 34!

Hello friends,

You may want to contact me via e-mail/phone/IM for some exciting news. No, I'm not preggers.

Thanks.

Like I said, I learned how to knit socks. I went to the fancy yarn store and bought some wool sock yarn to make socks for Todd, Dana and Mo. The yarn is self-striping, and Todd's pair is my test pair. It has only taken me a day to knit that much of Todd's sock, but it is much more time consuming than anything else I've done. This is what it looks like so far and these are the other colors I have bought. I am making the socks on size two needles and the yarn is very fine.




The best thing is that I was knitting at work today and a woman walked in and we started talking about knitting. She asked if I knew about the Cinci Stitch and Bitch, which is interesting since last night I was telling Todd that I really wanted to start one. The current one meets every Wednesday night...I don't have to start one! We exchanged e-mails and she sent me an invite to join the Yahoo group. Hurray! I have a stitch and bitch!

I haven't updated my blog because I have been quite busy. I've started my new job and it is strange to actually have to do things at work. The good thing is that time goes by so quickly when you are keeping busy. I started on Tuesday and was greeted by my very own corner office with a window that gives me a view of Mt. Adams, the county jail and the expressway. Hey, it's better than a brick wall or no window!

The previous occupant of my office was a total slob and left the office in complete disrepair. I've been spending quite a bit of time tidying up, throwing away unneeded papers, filing important stuff and cleaning the layers of dust and grime off of everything. I already have plans to bring a plant or two into my office as well as some pretty tablecloths to cover up the old, chipped non-profit office furniture.

I'm enjoying myself so far, there are about 23 people who work here, and I haven't met them all yet since many people spend most of their time not in the office. I like the people I am going to be working most closely with and I've taken a liking to a lady on the other side of the office named "Consuela" who has waist-length dredlocks and wore argyle tights yesterday. As you can tell, the dress code is quite lenient, but we aren't allowed to show any clevage (at all), so I have been spending a good deal of time fretting over my clothes in the morning trying to make sure that they are modest enough. The woman who works next to me is quite loud and has this totally fakey voice. She spends her time making phone calls and buttering people up so they will donate money. I wish she would close her door. The woman across the hall is very nice and I anticipate we will be good chums.

I'm getting business cards made wth my name and title (Volunteer and Education Coordinator), I am going to feel so grown up when they arrive. I have been reviewing my benefits and I get 16 days of paid vacation plus 10 holidays and 5 sick days this year - each year the number of vacation days goes up. It's really quite amazing to me; I feel kind of guilty for some reason. I mean, they are going to PAY me to NOT work 26 days this year?!?! Amazing!

I have an announcement: I have sucessfully knitted a sock (and it only took one and a half days). I am now taking orders. If you would like me to knit you some woolly socks let me know your shoe size and color preference.