Random Update!

Hello All!

Anyway...I still owe photos from American Idol and My cousin's kids birthday party (some REALLY cute pics from that!) but since September has been pretty much non-stop since it started, I haven't even had the time to really go through and organize the photos they way I want to.

Last weekend I was planning to do some updating and organizing but I ended up deciding last minute to go to my grandfathers house for the day to help him since he thought he had done something to the computer and so we wanted to get it sorted out. Had a good time (as always) and was able to do my laundry too. We had panzarotti's for lunch (my fave!) and then went to the diner for dinner. It was a fun but long day.

This weekend it seems Sunday we will be going to MIL's house at the shore to visit.Hopefully we will be back by 8:15 for the Eagles game. Maybe I will get some good photos out of the day or something.Maybe Ben will let me bring the laptop to show her the new software and all that jazz.

Speaking of the new software that I am 100% in LOVE with....Seriously, this is not a sales pitch but I LOVE this new software (Storybook Creator Plus). One of the coolest things I have been able to do with this software is not only make the storybooks (obviously!) but now I can save pages from the book (or all the pages!) or make individual pages on anything and save them as JPGs. It is so awesome. It gives me one more way to backup my pages and now they let you share the books through the photo center but when I just make a page and want to share it I can use the photo center OR I can just email it to someone!! Or....post it here!!!
(see below images to demonstrate what I am talking about!)
These are jpgs I saved from the book I created LAST October after our trip to Buffalo so it may all look familiar but I love how I can create my book, then save the pages and post the pages to share!!

The Cover!!!(I can even save the cover!!!)


I know you won't really be able to read the text on some of these pages b/c when I made them originally I was trying to squeeze info in but you can still get the idea. I am not going to paste all 20 pages but a few of my faves!






A text only page:













I know those photos and stuff are old but I will try to get a more recent one up asap. I LOVE this software-my new addiction!!

In other news....

Work is work. Same stuff different day. Lately we have been feeling more drained daily and a lot of other area staff that now that we have 21 students instead of 10 and are constantly "dropping" them from their areas which just puts them in my area more and makes more work for me. Thankfully I have the day off tomorrow so that is nice and since I had a bunch of vacation days to use before Christmas I am only working one Monday in October! Next week I work full week, then we have off Oct 8 for Columbus day then I took off the 15th, 22nd and the whole last week of October. I am hoping to go to DC for the day on Oct 30 and then on Halloween I will have all day to set up for trick or treaters instead of just rushing when I get home. I even took a few days off in Nov and one in Dec I think. I think between now and the end of the year there are only a handful of weeks where I will work a full week-I LOVE it. And I need it. I had saved my days in case I was going to go out to CA to see my brother before he went to Japan and so now I had to use them. They will be used well!!!

Speaking of my brother. He seems to be doing well and enjoying life in Japan. He went to the Tokyo Game Expo 2007 last weekend and my grandfather and I talked to him for a few on the web cam last weekend too. We just got lucky and caught him as he was waking up on Sunday and it was Saturday night for us (they are 13 hours ahead!) So that was a nice treat.

Oh-and last night I went to NYC to McFadden's Bar for a Canisius Alumni Fall Happy Hour Kick off. It was cool and I am glad I went. I talked to two women who were a few years ahead of me but I recognized the one and she recognized me and it was b/c we had mutual friends and so it was fun to reminisce about some of the things at Canisius. It was only 2 hours which was fine for me. My co-worker went into the city with me b/c I wasn't keen on going in by myself at night and so he went with me. We both had a good time, tasty food and I even won a Canisius Shirt in this business card raffle they did. I talked to the head guy too and a few others about trying to have some things in NJ too b/c those of us in this area are considered "NYC chapter" but its not easy for most of us to get into NYC during the week so some Jersey things would be good too. I am hoping to try and keep in touch with the women I talked too, especially since one lives less than 30min from me!

Tonight is big TV night for me: Survivor, Grey's/CSI and ER! And I have my last night TV (Private Practice, Top Chef, Kid Nation) and Tuesday night (House) to watch too! I see myself in front of a TV all day Saturday!

Tomorrow I am off from work but I am going to http://www.digitallife.com/ Digital Life Expo in NYC. It should be fun-get to look at all the new toys and gadgets and games that are being released-I am looking forward to it. Ben's cousin was supposed to come with me but it didn't work out.I hope it doesn't rain but thankfully I think they are having shuttles from the train station so even if it does I can take a shuttle instead of walking to the Javitt Center like I will if it isn't raining!

I guess that is all for now! Talk to you later. Hope everyone is well!!

ta ta for now!

Its about Blog time!

Hello all!
I am about to try and start my official 1st Blog! I was inspired by a good friend and I just hope I can find the time to keep up on it!

To start off my Blog in true Fall Premiere style....Let's start with a little TV Talk!

How many of you watch Survivor? I LOVE it. When it first came on TV years ago, I stayed away from it. I was busy with grad school and it seemed a bit silly to me so I didn't bother even trying to watch it. And honestly, at the time I really only watched shows that were on NBC so I didn't hear much about the other network shows.

So, the way I got into it happened while I was visiting my grandparents. Yes, you heard me correct. It was my grandparents who turned me on to the pop-culuture phenomeon that is Survivor (or in some people's opinion...WAS!) I had gone to their house for a visit and shortly before 8pm that evening my grandmother said to me, "Tonight is the Survivor finale and it starts soon. You can stay and watch with us or you can go!" I couldn't believe it! Since I hadn't been there very long I took the time to hang out a bit longer and watch the Season 1 Survivor Finale with them. It was all very confusing at first but my grandfather did a great job at explaining it as the show progressed and by the end I was hooked and looking forward to the next season!

Now that you know how I got sucked into it, you can hear my thoughts on this season.

Survivor China: Episode 1
I loved the season opener. I think it showed a lot of great characters that have potential to make this season as entertaining as ever. For me, part of the attraction to Survivor is that it is not a "reality show" in the typical sense of the word. It is "unscripted drama" and what is even more interesting to me about it, it is a GAME! There is a defintive purpose and outcome of the show, no matter what kind of characters it has each season.

Anyway, back to the premiere episode this season...I truly enjoyed it. A few of my thoughs:
-I got a kick out of the monk who kept correcting the completely disrespectful blonde from NY (Courtney). I was also wondering what show she thought she was going on where she would be able to just "sit back and have a lemonade" like she described wanting to do instead of the Temple cemermony.

-Now I am not interested in a religious beliefs discussion here, I am just stating MY opinion but in my opinion, the "christian radio host" (Leslie) was the rudest and most disrespectful contest I had seen in a while. The temple ceremony was a ceremony for respect to the people who's country they were visiting, just like many other tribal cermeonies contestants have participated in in the past. The host clearly stated it was not religious in nature and the way she got up and walked out was just really rude in my opinion. My husband said it best when he said Jesus would have participated in the ceremony without question. Only time will tell how she fairs in this game but I can already say I look forward to the day she is voted off!

-Peih-Gee, she just annoys me at this point. We will see how that goes but I don't have high hopes for her!

-Chicken, was disappointed he got the boot so early but I can't say we didn't see it coming when they lost the challenge. The team was foolish in my opinion b/c he was the only one who really knew how to get things done on that tribe and could have been an asset.

-James,the grave digger, I am interested in seeing where he goes with things. He looks like he could really be an interesting character. And he isn't bad to look at either so I hope he is around for a bit!

-Ashley, the wrestler, yeah as far as I am concerned, she can go. She didn't add anything to the team and already seems weaker than she tries to say she is.

No one else really stood out for me so I am looking forward to this week's episode and where it all goes!!!

In other TV thoughts....

Heroes: Loved it. The season premiere did not disappoint. I really hope this show continues the way it has and doesn't go by the wayside as Lost did in its sophomore season. There is really nothing else to say about it other than if you haven't seen it, you should!

Chuck: I think its got potential. Its cute and quirky and humorous and I think it could be fun to watch. So far so good!

Journeyman: No complaints yet. It looks enticing and again it has potential so it will be interesting to see where it goes.

I still have a few other shows in my Tivo waiting patiently for me to view them. Tonight House starts up again and I am looking forward to that!

I also signed up to play in a private league on www.fantasyteevee.com I love it so far although our 1st week lineup doesn't officially start until Sunday but I can say the online draft was a blast! Just one more way to feed my TV addiction. TV is my crack:)

I guess that is good for tonight. Hope all is well and everyone is watching TV!