jianantonic | (no subject)

My most hated love songs post hit the AOL Welcome Screen today, and so far I haven't gotten any hate mail about my selections yet! Considering we get hate mail at AOL no matter what we say, I'm really surprised that no one's pissed off at me yet, considering this is a post where I actually insulted things. I'm sure it's coming, though.

I've been working on editing all morning, which is a facet of my job that I love. Today I was just grateful that I didn't have to write these articles myself. Not having a TV and not having kids makes it easy for trends to completely pass me by, and I'd never heard of Bakugan Battle Brawlers before I was asked to write about them. I passed the topic on to Aaron, since he's got kids, and he wrote two really good (but disturbing) posts about the toys. So apparently there are these toys (from Japan, OF COURSE), and they do battle with each other. They actually sell belt clips for your battle brawlers so you can be prepared for battle at a moment's notice! Just snap 'em out of your belt and start brawling! The concept is laughable, really, until you think about how many millions of these things they actually sell. Oh my.

I'm proud to say that of all the stupid shit I collected as a kid, none of it was war-themed. I just had an assload of Beanie Babies and pogs, just like every other kid in America. I suppose I still have all these things somewhere at my mom's house, because contrary to popular opinion at the time, I was never actually able to sell them off for millions of dollars.

We're having a nice time with my in-laws in town this week, but it seems like a lot of running around for a vacation. I've skipped most of the tourist stuff so far, but in an hour or so we're all going to leave for Jamestown for the day. It's about 2.5 hours away from here, and it takes a long time to really see everything there, so this will be an all day excursion. Maybe if we get back before it's really late, I'll go for a run, but I don't know if I can squeeze it in. I just have these stressors pressing on me from two sides. I want to spend time with the family and not be off doing other things all the time, but so far all we've done together is eat...really big, unhealthy meals. And that makes me feel like I need to work out. It also makes me want to step back and do a couple meals on my own just so I can get back down to a reasonable level of consumption. But then it just looks like I'm trying to get away from them, you know?  And that's not the message I'm trying to send. I <3 my in-laws! Really! I'm just stressed...

I need to find some time this weekend to empty out my car so I can get it sold. The ideal situation is that McKenzie takes it to CarMax (I'll be in Florida) and they offer us more than we expect, and it's a done deal. The Blue Book value is something like $7600, but I'd be surprised if they'd offer me more than $4000. I wouldn't even be that surprised if the offer were as low as $2000. McKenzie doesn't want to accept less than $5000, but realistically, who spends that kind of money on a used car, anyway?  I mean some used cars, sure, but mine is nothing special. It's a 2004 Grand Am in reasonably good shape with reasonably low mileage. But it's not like anyone covets that car. It's the kind of car someone buys to be practical, and people who shop "practically" don't tend to spend $7000 on used cars. So I've really lowered my expectations from the time when I first started thinking about getting rid of it, and now I feel like I'll just be happy to have it off my hands, no matter what I get in exchange. But a big wad of cash would of course be very nice.

We also need to do something about getting our place rented out, but I guess that'll have to wait until we're back in town after Houston in March. I hate having this hanging over my head, though, and would like to just have everything in place already for the move...but no. That's not how I roll. I'm a last minute operator. I'm just a little afraid that might bite me in the ass this time, since I won't be around to deal with any shit that comes up after I move. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Alright, time to see if I can squeeze out another post or two in the hour before we leave for the settlment.

Peace.

(ETA:  New PT today. Would've saved it for later, but it's sorta time-sensitive, on the newly released tapes from US Airways Flight 1549.)