I'm an addict...a TV addict.

So it's only the first week of season premieres and I've realized (thanks to my boyfriends reminders) that I am a TV addict. Our DVR is on over-drive and it's only Wed. There are some nights I can't even tape all of the shows I want to watch because too much is going on. And there is no end in sight. It's just all too good. And let's be honest. With the exception of the last 7 months, for the bulk of the last 5 years I've either been single or in a long distance relationship. That leaves a lot of time sitting at home by myself. And sadly instead of turning to alcohol and bar stools, I turned to TV. I've been enthralled by heroes, enchanted by computer geeks and brought to tears by handymen. I've also laughed with police detectives, drooled over doctors and dreamed of becoming a ballroom dancer. The bottom line is...ok, there is no bottom line. They don't have support groups for TV addicts nor is there a 12-step program. So instead of trying to quit...I'm gonna tell my boyfriend he either has to take ballroom lessons with me or become a couch potato.

Some things require extra thought...

So I was on my way home from work today and saw a licence plate that really made me laugh. By looking at the driver I'm sure it wasn't what she intended for people to do. I love driving down the highway figuring out what people meant for their license plate to say. My sister, for example, got a personalized plate on my old car when I went away to college. Her plate said "MY POSC2" with the entended translation being "My piece of shit car 2" not "My posse". My current license plate is often misread as Fig Lini instead of Fighting Illini...I don't even have an i in the first part. But nothing is better than the one I saw today. It said "JUCY FRT". I'm sure you can see where I was going with that. How did this girl not realize that most people wouldn't see her license plate and think "juicy fruit" but instead read...you guessed it..."juicy fart"? Or maybe it's just me...maybe I'm the one seeing juicy fart when everyone else is seeing juicy fruit.

But this little license plate made me start to think about the bigger picture. How much thought to we really put into things? I'm not just talking about the clothes we put on every morning, the car we drive, the house we live in, the job we have. But what about the people we surround ourselves with, the thoughts in our head, the words that come out of our mouths. I think if people put a little more thought into the things that matter and not as much time on the trivial things, this world would be a much better place.

The History of Me...

So I realized that there's a lot about me that people reading this might not know. So here's a little bio on me. I was born and raised in Peoria, IL. I lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil for 9 1/2 months when I was five. It was awesome. I spoke Portugese fluently when I lived there but sadly remember none of it now. Every year my family went on vacation to Bull Shoals Lake in Missouri. I graduated from St. Thomas grade school in 1993 where I participated in the annual play and played soccer, volleyball and somehow survived half a basketball season as a cheerleader. In January of '93 my grandpa passed away and this left a very dark spot in my life. I still visit his grave every time I go home and miss him dearly. After grade school I attended Peoria Notre Dame high school where I graduated in 1997. While there I was involved in band (not by choice and I quit senior year), City Force 2000, Physical Therapy Explorers, French Club, National Honor Society and TEC (Teens Encounter Christ). I also worked several jobs including being an usher at the Peoria Civic Center, a waitress at Maid Rite, a file clerk at Illinois Eye Center and an assistant for an Insurance Salesman. I never had less than 2 jobs at any given time. After high school I went to the University of Evansville to major in Physical Therapy but changed my major to Athletic Training at the end of my freshman year. I enjoyed college but still wish I had gotten a little more out of it. I was involved with Habitat for Humanity for a little while and did a lot of volunteering freshman year. I was even named Volunteer of the Year. Sophomore year I joined the Phi Mu sorority where I met some amazing women. Sophomore thru Senior year I was a student athletic trainer and I worked at Texas Roadhouse from April of junior year til I graduated. It was definitely one of the best jobs I ever had. I went to our England campus for a 5 week session the summer before I graduated and visited several amazing places including London, Paris, Amsterdam and several other cities in England. After graduating in 2001 I took a year off before grad school where I was a substitute teacher. I then went to grad school at Ohio University and got my master's degree in athletic training. After grad school I moved to Connecticut where I lived for a year and worked in a clinic/high school and then moved to New Hampshire where I did an athletic training fellowship for a year. When that ended in July 2005 I decided I wanted to be closer to home and moved to Cincinnati. I started working for Cincinnati Sportsmedicine about 2 weeks after I moved and have been there since. I worked for my first 3 years as an athletic trainer in the clinic and a high school and then took a supervisor position to have a more set schedule. In March I met Glenn and my life has only gotten better. He bought a house in June and we are living together and working on the house. I'll write more about him in another blog. For now it's time to get ready to go to Oktoberfest Zinzinnati!!!

We're Not in Kansas Anymore...

So the tri-state was hit with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike yesterday. Glenn and I were at the Bengals game watching them suck. There were sustained winds up to 50 mph and gusts reaching 75 mph. I've never seen or felt anything like it. Debris was flying everywhere. It was quite comical to watch people try and make it up the stairs with nachos, popcorn and even beer. No one made it to their seat with their purchase completely in tact. Dumb asses!!! So after watching the pathetic display of football by the Bungles we made our way back to our car. OMG!!! The smallest piece of sand felt like a golf ball. We didn't have any idea how bad it was until we started driving home and saw all of the damage on the way home. There were large trees that were completely uprooted and even on top of people, power lines down every where and over 800,000 people without power. We headed home and feared the worse only to be surprised to find out we had power and had very minimal damage. We were one of the lucky ones. Work was closed today because of power loss so Glenn and I enjoyed relaxing for the morning and then headed to Lowe's to get some flowers. We've been planning to fix up the front of the house for awhile and figured no better time than today. The front yard looks a hundred times better and we've only just begun. To anyone out there reading...I hope you enjoy so far.

Why not?

So...everyone else I know has a blog and since I love to be a follower I decided why not. I feel like there are a lot of things in my daily life that I need to rant and rave about and what better place to do that but here. If nothing else I hope to entertain you and make you think a little. So...here is to the ramblings of my brain and the hope that someone out there can decipher them!!