My dogs are super cute - even Widget, who has asthma and how much I hate cable

Before I begin, I have to mention that today is my mom's birthday. Of course, she's away in California with my aunt and Grandma, so we aren't going to do anything special other than call her and wish her a happy birthday, but it's still an occasion to acknowledge. I wish I could have gone with her since I haven't been out to California or Albuquerque since Ronnie and I started dating five years ago. Sometimes I feel like she's being selfish going out by herself and not even inviting us to come see our own family, but then I remember how expensive it is. But still. We weren't even invited to my Grandpa's military funeral in Albuquerque. Not even invited. Elizabeth secretly bought her own plane ticket and fly out and was reprimanded. It just doesn't seem right.

I brushed Widget's mangy fur today and I was pleasantly surprised. He looks as soft as he did when he when we first got him! All it took was a simple brushing. Now's he's cutie again!

I'm still excited about our new TV. It's a Toshiba Regza. Even though we only have regular broadcast channels, we now have a ton more. Four times as many, actually. We went from having eight channels to having 32 or so. We now have a weather channel and some of the MPTV (Milwaukee's PBS) channels are weather and traffic channels. My dad is entertaining because he often watches them like they're regular programs. I'm extremely relieved that we aren't getting cable at my apartment next year. I hated having to pay for it last year (my portion was about $20/mo for about 9 months - or about $180 total). It's just like drinking - I never really got into it, and thus I don't have much interest in it. I wouldn't buy a bottle just because, which is why paying for TV I didn't watch was just as asinine. This wasn't meant to be a rant about paying for cable, but it is now. Here goes: I tried to stick up for myself. I tried to say that we didn't need cable, citing the potential for distraction in addition to the cost as reasons for not getting it. All I was met with were comments suggesting that not having cable would mean the end for some. Realizing that there was no way to get out of having it, I went along. And then I realized that at least half of us living there lack cable at home and could probably have done without it. I would have liked to have known that $180 ago. So it goes. Regardless, next year we have all decided to use our money for better things and also have the option to chose our ISP, meaning we actually have an option this time around.

I was thinking about gossip the other day. It's kind of crazy how much gossip goes on. I also started thinking about specific kinds of gossip, like celebrity gossip. I wonder, does an interest in gossip bigger (for lack of a better word) than one's self cause one to gossip less than normal about one's daily life, or does it lack an effect? Alternatively, it could be observed that an interest in celebrity gossip, for example, is spurred by an interest in personal gossip, or vice-versa. Either way, it would be interesting to research.

I decided to join AnswerBag.com so that I could answer random questions. One that I chose to answer asked me to determine my magical dwarf name. Since I was bored enough, I took the time to figure it out (lol about three seconds). You take the first two letters of your first name, the last two of your last name, and then add the middle letter of your middle name (if you have an even number of letters, you take the one that makes the most sense). Mine, since I know everyone is dying to know, would be Merdy. Ronnie's would be Roeyr. The funny part is that these actually sound like names that might come up in DnD, if one could actually pronounce Ronnie's magical dwarf name. Katie K's would be Kaons. Some don't work out too well, like Steph's: Stsey (I would pronounce it like the tsetse fly) or many of the examples to follow. My mom's would be Shrdy, my dad's Grrdo or Grrdr. Steven's would be Strdv. Sounds kind of Norse. Or maybe Russian. Tom's would be Tokia and Dianah's would be Dikye. Elizabeth's would be Elern or Liern depending on whether or not she went by her full name or nickname. Anyone else remember JTT? Hot stuff back in the 90's. Anyway, his name would be Joasy. If you went by his birth name, however, it would be Jossy. What dumb fun. Anyway, my sn on Answer Bag is 'future archaeologist'. Look me up :)

That's about it for now, I believe. I have to finish cleaning the house tomorrow and I have another 10 miles to bike tomorrow at 8:15 am! Yay for getting in shape! :)