So while trolling on Twitter, one of the bloggers I follow informed me about The Ultimate Blog Challange and asked if anyone wanted to extend it to February.

Basically what it is, as long as I'm understanding correctly, is a challenge for bloggers to come up with one blog post, per day, for 30 days.  This challenge goes on during January, April, July and October, but I only just learned about it.  You know, when January is ending. 

I found it funny that this subject came up because I was just sitting around the other day, thinking, "I really need to blog more often."  I even spurred DJ (my DJ) into pulling out the spare pc monitor so that I can actually get to setting up my computer/writing desk.  Which is still not set up.  So, I'm lazy.  Sue me.

But wouldn't this just be a good reason to poke my lazy ass into motion?  Don't answer, it was rhetorical.  No ass poking, please!!!

So, after thinking I needed to post more, and realizing I don't post as often as I should because my set-up is crap AND having someone mention something about a way to post more, I have decided there are just too many things pointing to this outcome.  Therefore, I have decided that for the month of February I am going to do this challenge.  I will post for 30 days. 

I cannot guarantee that all my posts will be good.  I can't even promise I will actually be able to post every day.  I mean, c'mon, shit happens some times.  But I think it would be a good exercise for someone, like me, who has recently started a blog, to get in there and get creative.  And since I have a number of different sections on this site, I figure, I can find something to post every day.  (Sorry in advance if I get boring by mid-month or so.)

So to anyone who is reading this feel free to check back over the next month for regular posts.  If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter I will post a link to each blog post.  Hopefully I will come out of this a better blogger (*cross your fingers minions*) and hopefully dust off those writing skills.

Now the only obstical that remains is...how do I find 30 days in a month that only has 29?  I'm gonna have to make up a day somewhere.  Seeing how I'm constantly losing and adding days as it is, it shouldn't be a problem.

Ok, let's clear something up.  Pluto?  It's a planet.  Choke back your arguments.  They will be falling on deaf ears.  You will not convince me. 

I understand that it is a dwarf planet.  All that means is that it's small.  Like a dwarf.  But it's been part of the solar system forever.  The second word of dwarf planet is...well...PLANET!!!  You can't just kick it out of the solar system, after all this time, because it's smaller than the other planets, you bullies.  If that's the case, you should kick Jupiter out because it's too big!

I mean, really.  Dwarf humans are just "little people."  They are no better or worse than other ppl.  You don't kick them out of the human race.  Instead you put them in movies and T.V. and wrestling matches.  Wait, that's midgets.  Whatever serves my argument because most ppl don't know the difference between a dwarf and midget.  You all watched Snow White and LOVED those dwarves.  Why not this one?

So why do it with a dwarf planet? 

I hope all of you "Pluto's not a planet' dwarf planet haters are happy.  You made Pluto cry.  All he wanted to do is be a part of something, and for a while, he was.  Then you went and took it away from him.  You know he ran home and told his mom.  Where do you think that asteroid that almost hit a few weeks ago came from?  Pluto's mom threw it at Earth for being the biggest bullies.  Don't we all know by now that bullying is wrong?

So I say, forget this planet vs. dwarf planet hatred, put your differences aside, adopt a more tolerant life-style and except the fact that Pluto is (and always will be) a planet.  It's bad enough he's at the back of the line, don't make him fight for that last spot too!

Besides, I said Pluto is a planet.  So, it must be true!  Right?!?!

(Holy crap!!!  This is the first thing I've written in years that Word says all my spelling and grammar is correct!  Yay, Me!!!)

What the hell is up with hamsters in commercials?  This week I have seen 3 different commercials that included hamsters in them.  And that's not the odd part.  The hamsters are doing things that are normally done by humans and that hamsters would not normally do.

I mean, first you have the car commercial where the hamsters are sitting around watching Netflix in their cage on little flat screen T.V.'s on little hamster couches.  Really?  Ever had a hamster?  I have.  There is no way a hamster would sit on a little couch without trying to gnaw the thing apart to turn it into hamster bedding.  And what owner would go out of their way to buy a little flat screen T.V. (that probably would cost $100 minimum) for a hamster (that probably cost $5)?  And one of them even has a laptop?  His little paws wouldn't even be able to use the keyboard.  C'mon ppl!

And driving and dancing?!?  Most humans can't do these things, so how could a hamster?  Don't believe me?  Try driving any freeway at about 5pm.  Most ppl can't drive.  Why would you trust a hamster to do it?  I won't even get onto ppl and dancing.  I've seen horrors.  I will give this commercial credit though, not only do the hamsters know how to bust it out, but it has robots too.  Who doesn't love dancing robots?  Ok, maybe Kia's got this one right.

So after looking up the videos to go with these, I discovered the third commercial was of guinea pigs and not hamsters.  But let's be honest, aren't guines pigs just ginormous hamsters?

Besides, guinea pigs, hamsters...neither one of them would row a boat.  Last hamster I had wouldn't even get on the stupid wheel.  They sure as heck wouldn't generate enough power to fuel this guy's house.  Well, maybe with the wheel.  Why didn't he just do that?  No 6 months of training needed.  Guinea pigs will run on wheels.  They even sell big ones FOR guinea pigs at the pet store.  Way to waste 6 months Geico spokesperson guy!

The Hamster of Doom is displeased with the way his species is being portrayed in the media.  I feel an apocalypse of coconuts coming on!

See his scowl?  That's aimed at you hamster-commercial people!  Beware!

I missed posting this weeks saturday post.  Sorry about that.  I was busy having a nervous breakdown combined wth a massive case of panic attack.  Had to worry about getting myself better before I could worry about posting on my blog.

Friday just started out bad.  I didn't quite know it when I woke up, but I had said (during lunch) that my anxiety level was rather high.  I mistakenly thought it was from driving in a city where you MUST do at least 20 over the posted speed limit or get a car up your ass-end.  I was wrong.

By friday night I was a mass of blubbering blather.  By early-early saturday morning I was snapping at DJ in-between hysterical crying jags.  By saturday morning...I was broken.

What started it?  I'm guessing the fact that I woke up and figured out the day ended in y.  That's really the best reason I can come up with.  As I said, I thought it was my paranoia of driving rearing it's ugly head.  I didn't realize until it was too late that it had been going on all day.  I didn't ever remember commenting on my anxiety until tonight (monday).  Sometimes that's just how it happens though.  Nothing more than waking up in the morning.  I'm still not over the funk, but at least the panic attack part is over and I'm functioning again.  That doesn't mean that I'm out of the woods as far as the panick attack part is concerned, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I do have to say something here though.  I give DJ (the boyfriend for those of you who don't know who he is) a LOT of credit.  He is definately a trooper for putting up with/dealing with my crazy ass.  Especially since I tend to blame him for a lot of crap when I get like that/this.  Some of it really is his fault and some of it really isn't.  Eaither way, he trys his ass off to make me feel better.  Even when I COMPLETELY confuse him and tell him 2 or 5 different things.

Anyway, there is a positive note!  Apparently all that assassin training from when I was younger paid off because I am stelthy like ninja when depressed and having a panic attack.  Several times between friday and today I have snuck in and out of rooms (and the house) without anyone knowing.  I appeared and disappeared and 3/4 of the time no one even knew where I was.  A few times I showed up behind one of the ppl here and scared the tar out of em.  Now that I think of it, ppl not knowing where I am while depressed could be bad.  Very bad.  Aww man, I see a teather in my future. 

Next ninja lesson to learn: how to escape a teather.

Thank you for understanding about the late post.  I promise this weeks post will be on time, reguardless of my state of mind!  (That's what extra admins are for!  :D)

So due to certain circumstances (which I won't get into here), I recently had to change phone services.  Usually when this happens, it involves requiring you to buy a new phone that supports that service.  This time was no exception.

If you're anything like me, you constantly drop, fling or bang your phone.  Or, in my case, it ends up in the toilet with alarming frequency.  No kidding.  Lil Miss threw it in the potty one time, on purpose, because she was mad at me.  (I have no idea what she was trying to accomplish, but she was 3.  Not a lot of 3 year olds make sense.)  That was only the first of 4 phone I would lose to the porcelain prince.

Because of this, I am extremely leery of getting one of those touch screen phones.  (That and the fact that I am often to cold for my touch to register.  I have enough problems with the touch screen pc that I did NOT choose.)  I mean, if I drop my fancy $300 phone and the screen shatters (seriously, it's me.  It could happen) how would I make calls?  This is why I try to stick with flip-phones.  It closes to protect the screen from the bumbling fool that is me, but it also has a number pad made of buttons also!!!

So, in explaining my constant ability to kill a phone in under a month of getting it, the saleswoman directs me to the Sanyo Taho by Kyocera. 

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you read that last sentence?  It's a Chevy SUV, isn't it?

That's pretty much what this phone is.  It's big, wide, heavy and clunky by cell phone standards.  It kinda looks like it ate my last phone.  Its made from this shock absorbent stuff that resembles the stuff they make pick-up truck bed liners out of.  (It kinda remindes me of one of those high-end walkie-talkies)  And...this is the best part...remember how I said I've lost a number of phones to the toilet?!?  This phone is water-proof (up to 30 meters) for 30 minutes.  Now I'm not about to test that theory out, but hopefully if it falls into the crap collector (*crosses fingers and hopes it doesn't*) I will find out. 

I know thet're not the best pics, but you get the idea

Oh, yeah, and my phone talks to me.  No, kidding!  It actually talks to me to let me know who is calling, who is texting and what I am clicking on.  Seriously?!?

My actual point of this post is not to tell you about my new phone (that I'm LOVING).  Since I really only require a "call" and "end" button in addition to my number pad, all this other stuff is extra.  What my point is actually about is computer(ish) technology.  And how much it hates me.  (It could be operator error, but I refuse to believe it.)

My new phone also utilizes the internet.  For most of you, this is nothing new.  For me...never had a phone with internet. (Pick your jaws up off the floor!)  To be honest, I didn't even have internet in my home until last year.  I know!  Don't worry, I haven't totally lived under a rock.  I have used the internet before and did have it for a while somewhere around 2002, but as a single (unemployed) woman, the internet was something that was low on the priority list.  However, when it comes to computers and stuff I have always been out of my element.  Electronics?  Sure.  I know about T.V.s and DVD players and stereos and stuff.  Pc's?  Duh..huh..what?!?

Now I don't have a phobia, per say, I just don't need most of the things computers offer.  The pc I owned
before buying my laptop (which is what I'm using now-a-days) was 16 years old before I threw it away.  (Ok, you guys really need to re-hinge your jaws.)  If DJ wouldn't have pulled it apart, and left it that way, I would still be using that thing today.  It's probably better that he did that because it forced me to get my current laptop.  The reason I threw it out?!?  There was none.  It worked fine.  It was just old.  But it did what I needed it to do.  Word booted up just fine on my Windows 98.  I didn't need anything more.  Until I had to look for a job.

When I lost my job I found out real fast that most places direct you to the internet to fill out applications.  Not
having the internet posed a problem.  (At one time I tried to install dial-up on my 16 y.o. pc and it froze just after laughing at me.)  So. I needed to get a pc so I could get the internet.  I went online (from someone else's pc...duh) and looked up laptops.  I figured a laptop would be best because, as a writer, my arthritis was getting worse and I figured it would eliminate carrying around the notebook and pen I could no longer hold.  I was right.  Even though I still carry around a notebook and pen.  Ok, so really, it just changed the size of the
notebook.  Kinda.  I'll never tell. 

I would like to note that just before buying my laptop my girlfriend Amberosia gave me a desk-top that I still use as my desk-top today.  When I mentioned this to her she was surprised that I still had it and that it was still running.  She gave it to me about 3 years old.  After owning a pc that was 16 years old, a 3 year old pc was
not odd to me.  She was slightly less than floored.

From the moment I got on my laptop for the first time, I knew I was in over my head.  It had all these...things...programs???..and stuff that opened when I turned it on for the first time.  All asked for my name and passwords and date of birth and first born and a batch of pumpkin seeds.  Ok, so some of them didn't ask my birthday.  I guess this was all to set up my pc and register, like, a thousand different things on it.  But I got through it and now I am here, sharing with all you good(ish) minions.

The internet though is a monster of itself.  Trying to build a website?  I think I would rather go get all my teeth pulled again.  At least I was able to take meds to deal with that.  I don't think meds will help me here.  It might actually make it worse.  (Note: experiment with meds and see if it helps me understand pc's better.  Hey! It
works with potheads and the universe.  This is the same thing.  Right?!?!)

So, now, I not only have to figure out the internet on my pc, buuuuutttttttt I have it on my phone now too.  I wonder if the phone has some internal safety feature for when the internet fries my phone?  If I have trouble with each of them on their own, just imagine what the two of them together will do!

But I have to say, that in discovering the internet there are some good things too.  I S-U-C-K at doing
internet searches.  DJ and I can both do the same search.  We can both enter into Google, "What does behind mean?"  DJ's results will pull up a definition on how "behind" is in the back of something else.  Me?!?  I end up with a list of ppl's asses because they are "behind"s and at the top it will ask "Did you mean ass?"  I'm telling you, it's a conspiracy against me.

Because of a number of my search results, the Urban Dictionary is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites.  I am a better person now that I know what "dogs in a tub" and "duck butter" are.  No really.  These were things that have come up, and drove me nuts until I searched them out.  (And now those of you who don't know what they are are opening another window to go to the Urban Dictionary to look them up.  Deny it all you want, I know you are.  You're welcome for those little gems, by the way.)

Anyway, I think I'll leave things here with a final though.  If you ever find me dead with a probe somewhere it doesn't belong...it was the aliens.  If you find me dead from a brain explosion...it was me, trying to navigate the internet/pc again.  Now I'm off to work on the site some more.  I will miss you all.  No I won't, I'll be dead.  Feel free to read my online obituary.

(Note: I think this is the longest post I've written.  Sorry.  Thank you for continuing to the end, for those of you who made it this far.)

So on Jan 1st I had to make a run to the hospital.  Happy New Year to me!  Starting it off right, by getting doped up off my gourd.  (I suffer from chronic migraines due to a closed-head injury.  I have regular meds that I take for it, but sometimes they just don't work and every 3-4 years or so I have to go get shot up with Morphine, Tordal and something for the nausea.  This time it was Zofran, in case you were wondering.)

Anyway, as anyone who has gone to the hospital knows, the triage nurse takes you in and asks you a bunch of questions.  Then they put you in a curtained off partition where are regular nurse re-asks you the same questions.  Then you sit around in a flimsy gown, shivering from the cold draft going up your back from the part in the gown, before the doc FINALLY comes in and asks the SAME questions the previous 2 nurses have asked.  I always have to wonder...why don't they just look at the chart that the first nurse made?

If you've ever had a migraine, and I know many of you have, you understand that thinking is not a strong point.  I'm actually not sure you actually do think.  Pain has a way of chasing away all your thoughts.  So for just this reason I have a card in my wallet that has a national registry access code on it so the hospital can look up ALL my information and medical history.

I handed this to the first nurse, but apparently I live to far in Bum-fuck cause he didn't really know what to do with it other than look at the little bit of info on it that I had given the 1st nurse a few moments earlier.  I even explained to him what to do with it, but...nothing.  WOW!  Sure glad I have that card.  Now I'm scared of what will happen if I'm ever unresponsive.

So the doc comes in and starts asking all kinds of questions.  He's asking about how much I smoke, drink, exercise, etc.  Then he asks these questions (no joke):

Doc:  Are you working?
Me:  No, not yet
Doc:  Do you have any special skills?
Me:  Excuse me?
Doc:  What kind of special skills do you have that will help you get a job?
Me:  How is that relevant to my current pain?
Doc:  I'm trying to get a social background.  So what sort of work are you looking for?

So I'm asking this...what does something I might do in the future have anything to do with the pain I am currently going through?  And how is any future employment considered part of my BACKground?

I could understand asking about a current or past work history.  Maybe I've been exposed to something, but future work?  Huh?  For a minute there, I thought maybe the doc was gonna give me a job.  (After talking to DJ, who took me, he confirmed that he was thinking the same things.)

So on our way TO the hospital a bumble-bee (which I'm allergic to), that was roughly the size of a small pony, flew in the window.  Since we were on our way to the hospital, I decided to just "GET THERE" and if I got stung, well, we were going to the right place.  Anyway, this bee now lives in my car and I have named it Sally.  (This really has nothing to do with the rest of this post, but it just popped into my head and I thought I would share and end this on a happy note.  Oh, and I didn't get stung.  See there is a happy ending!)