What can I do with this blog?...
Sometimes I feel like deleting my blog because it's so boring and I never update it. I need to post more often or just give up already. Tonight while I was cooking dinner, I thought that maybe if I cooked a new recipe once a week, that would give me some motivation to blog about something. I have like 50 cookbooks. Don't those de-clutter guru's say if you haven't used it in a year, get rid of it? I can't bring myself to get rid of my cookbooks either so maybe this will serve a dual purpose.

I'm actually baking something I've never baked before right now. It's a Beer Bread from Tastefully Simple. It's basically a mix that you just add 12 oz of beer or soda to the mix and that's it. I had a sample earlier in the month when I attended a fundraiser for Ovarian Cancer. I chose to use Guinness for my beer to add. The batter smelled really good. I just have to wait until it cools to see how it tastes. Technically it can't count as a recipe but at least it's something I've never done before.



...Later...I was a little worried that the Guinness wouldn't be carbonated enough but the bread is really delicious and you can definitely taste the distinct hint of stout in the bread. Now I have to bring this to work tomorrow because I can't be eating all these carbs.

Okay, let's see if I post next week.

I'm ready for baseball

http://tocej.webng.com/yankees.html

Getting a little Christmas Busy here:

I went to CVS yesterday and I got a lecture from the cashier about how much I was paying for Christmas gift bags ($1.99!) She kind of chastised me for not saving my Christmas bags from last year. I was so annoyed, I said "I didn't get any Christmas bags last year". Why are the cashiers in this town all up in my business???

I just posted this picture on facebook so I thought I'd post it here, too. I made these cookies for a party the library is having for our student workers tomorrow. I've been trying to get over a cold for a few weeks and I was headed to Stop and Shop to buy some store-bakery cookies and I just couldn't do it. Most of the time they just are so gross and stale or they don't taste home-made. So, you might as well buy chips-ahoy. Anyway, I made sure I didn't breathe on anything so hopefully they will like these cookies. One christmas party down.....

Why I Love Self-Checkout

Tonight at Walmart:

Clerk: Oh I love Tabasco Sauce. This weekend I had pizza and beer and I put Tabasco Sauce on every slice. I really love it.

Me: Sounds good.

....

Me: Credit

Me: Credit

Clerk: I need to see the card and your ID. (Stares at ID for very long time gives back ID, stares at credit card)

Clerk: Why does this say Marriott on your card? Do you get points with that?

Me: Yes

Clerk: Well that's a nice hotel but don't you think it's too expensive?

Me: I guess mutter mutter mutter.

Fun Thing I read at work today:

Law about cross dressing and adultry from the Connecticut Statues in 1796. It's clearer if you click on it, I think.

You Know You Need a New Camera When.......

My friend May and I went to the World Premier of the 2009 World Series DVD at the Ziegfeld last night. It was sooo cool and almost made up for not getting World Series tickets. John Sterling, Michael Kay, Susan Waldman, Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman were there with the World Series Trophy. I realized that my camera sucks really really bad. Everyone else had cameras that could take pictures in the dark and up close way more than mine. I'm getting a new one soon.

It took 12 days for this response:

Hey Jackie,

We have about 14,000 partial plan holders and we only put on sale about 2,000 tickets per game in the pre sale for the world series. These events that take place at Yankee Stadium during the playoffs are considered Major League Baseball events and not Yankee events. Major League baseball is entitled to a certain amount of tickets which we have no control over. In prior years when there might have been more tickets available was not the case this year due to the fact that we have less seats in our new stadium and take into account the amount of premium seats we now have compared to none in the old stadium. Unfortunately the only advice I can give you is to periodically keep checking Ticketmaster for releases but there is no guarantee in that. If you have any questions please let me know.

S.A.
Ticket Representative
New York Yankees Yankee
Stadium Ticket Office

Boo MLB, Go Yankees.

Last Saturday I went to the Bronx Zoo with my friend, Diane. I took this picture of the lions. The male lion had been walking around before I took the picture. Oh well.

This is so Awesome!

Tonight I was trying to kill time before going home because I knew there were going to be roofers on top of my building and I didn't want to sit through the noise. So, I went to Barnes and Noble and I was just going to pick up a cross stitch magazine and then I remembered that The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney was released today. I went and "read" it. The graphics are so beautiful, I bought it. I don't have very many picture books. This one is so great. I put "read" in quotations because it's a wordless picture book and of course you can still tell the story by the pictures.

Adios Geocities....

Okay..I spent the last hour or so deleting my files on Geocities. I had my account since 1997, I think. I can remember it like it was only yesterday, everyone was all excited about getting to make a web site and they had to learn html! You used to find a "neighborhood" and your web site had a sort of street address. I found some really old pics of myself in my files I had saved there like this spiffy Glamour Shots pic of myself. Remember back in the late 80's how everyone just had to go to the mall and get their Glamour Shots? My mom went with me and she wore a western outfit in hers. I remember that because she has it hanging on the wall still at home.

After my post last night, I did some more thinking and I thought I would like to still have a web page so I can post things like my Yankee tickets and it can be a starting page to all the other junk I have out there. Oh sorry, this week we are calling it "cloud computing". I looked at some free web servers. First I tried Weebly. I didn't like it at all. I couldn't figure out how to just type in html. I know things are getting easier for people who don't know how to develop their own sites. But jeez. I gave up. Then I found Webng and it seemed to be retro enough for me. It's got a banner ad on top which is slightly less annoying than the side ad's that were on Geocities. Anyway, I went with that. So this is my new url: http://tocej.webng.com/. Nice!

Goodbye Summer

Well, I turned 40 a few weeks ago and I forgot to write it in my blog. I think I am much better at writing meaningless comments on Twitter. This has been a great summer. I have had so much fun going to the Yankee games. So far my record for Yankee games that I've attended is 10 and 2. So, that's really good. Now we just wait and see what kind of access us "partial plan" folks get to the playoffs.

I went to Chicago with my mom for ALA this year. That was really fun. See pictures on my flickr account.

Geocities is closing in October. I think I won't have a web page after that because I don't feel like paying for it. Maybe I will make my blog "my web page" and more people will read it.

About last night...

My record for the Yankees games I've attended is now 5 and 1. I had a good time last night. Even though my seats are up high, I sit in a good section with other people on the Friday night plan. So, the same people are there every week and they are nice and friendly and witty. There's one guy that sits behind me who yells too much. Sometimes when he yells stuff he is wrong. That is funny too.

Before the game, I got a bleacher's creatures t-shirt and I went over to talk to Bald Vinny and I told him that I was his "fan" on facebook. He asked me what my name is and when I told him my last name, he asked me if I like to eat toast. No one has said that since like the 6th grade. Then when I told him my friends don't want to get seats in the bleachers, because there are no seatbacks, he said I should get better friends. Maybe so....

Anyway, I feel bad for Luis Castillo. I think A-Rod still can't come through in the clutch. However, I still will defend him against rude Red Sox fans. Who applauds and cheers when a player gets hit by a pitch? Thursday night in Boston they all cheered when A-Rod got hit. That was so ignorant and classless.

After the game, I took the new Metro North train that leaves right from Yankee Stadium. It was a little weird not taking the number 4 subway to 125th Street. When you took the train from 125th, there would never be enough empty seats for all of the fans and sometimes I would have to stand until the train got to Stamford which is like 40 minutes. Now the train is only people coming from the game and there are actually too many empty seats. Nice..

Haven't Blogged in a Month ... again

I thought I would blog about how disappointing it is to have one of your favorite stores close. I just noticed yesterday that the shoe store near my house is closed. It was one of those closeout stores that had good brand name shoes, cheap. I guess I didn't go there enough. It was one of those places that was real hit or miss so you had to be in the mood to look around. Sometimes you could find some real gems there. Oh well. Also, I went to the mall tonight and the Dairy Queen in the mall is closed. That really made me mad because I like Dairy Queen and it is way cheaper than stupid Marble Slab which is like 6 dollars for a tiny cup of ice cream...oh well again.

My record for my Yankee games is 4 and 0. I have been having a good time even though the seats are too high up.

It's Baseball Season Again...Thank Goodness

Well, this is going to be my second season as a Yankee Licensee. I'm looking forward to it but I'm not sure how great my seat reassignment is going to be. I'm in left field in the third level, 6th row.

I'm just watching the Rays game now and the Rays are winning 12-2. I am starting to get really mad because I'm tired of listening to stupid fans of other teams. I guess people are just stupid and drunk at the game. But why do they have to chant "Yankees Suck", when the Rays won the pennant last year? Can't they just be happy? They must have really low self-esteem because they have to yell that. And by the way, who was watching all those games when Tampa was winning last year? Their stands were practically empty all season until the playoffs. I guess they don't really know anything about baseball and they jumped on the winning bandwagon. Oh well...

Update

I don't think I'll ever be a good blogger. Maybe I should try to blog once a week to see if I could get into a habit of doing it. I am better at Twitter and I check my facebook a lot now because I know so many people on there.

Anyway, I had a car accident on Christmas Eve and that pretty much ruined my Christmas vacation. I was not hurt but my car, "Spanky" was totalled. I got a new Honda Civic. So, hello car payments. Luckily I did get some money back from the old car to make a down payment. I got my new car last week. I posted a picture of it on my Flickr. I think I am going to name my new car "Poindexter" because it is too smart.

Anyway, Happy New Year.

Oh Wow! I haven't posted since August. No one reads this anyway. Here are my Halloween cupcakes for tomorrow. I think they were cuter last time I made them like 5 years ago or so.

39

I turned 39 last Monday. I had a lot of gifts from friends and family. It was great.

Thursday I'm going to the Yankee game with my mom and dad.

Delicious

The last few days I've been playing with delicious or del.icio.us..however you are supposed to type it. You can look at my tag cloud if you want. It's pretty neat. I've also been more active on Facebook because a lot of friends are on there and I didn't realize I was missing their pictures and fun stuff. Other than that, I have been trying to spend less time online. I bought a cross stitch pattern that is really huge. So, I'm gridding out the cloth now. It is probably going to take me a while because I hate gridding cloth. I wish I could make someone to do it for me.

All Star Week is Over...

...Well except there is not baseball until Friday...maybe I'll go to a movie..

This has been the most enjoyable All Star week that I can remember. I got to go to the Home Run Derby with my brother and I actually enjoyed watching the game last night even though I fell asleep on some of it.

I put a few pics on my flickr. They aren't that great. I definitely need a better camera at some point.

The Conference is Over

Well, tomorrow I go home after being in Anaheim since last Thursday. I had a good time. It was my first time in California. It was okay. I had a rental car and I got to venture out just a little in my free time. The traffic is really bad here. So, even if you do have a car, you have to sit in gridlock for way too long to have a good time.

I had a lot of good meetings and was able to attend some educational sessions at the conference. Last night was the International Reception. I am on that committee and I think it went off very well and the food and the venue were nice.

Today I drove out to Newport Beach and I stuck my toe in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It was just like the Atlantic Ocean to me except I was facing West instead of East. I will be happy to get home tomorrow and back to normal. One of the things that was a bit disappointing about having the conference here is that I didn't once get to eat in a restaurant that wasn't a chain. I also prefer not to have to rent a car.