Who knew???

....that I could fix a refrigerator all by myself?

I sure as hell didn't know.

But somehow, after spending an hour or two of cleaning up all the water in the floor from the melted ice and running all over my neighborhood storing my frozen food in various neighbor's freezers, I was able to sit down quietly, look over the situation, and figure out that two of the doohickeys with the wires coming out of them that plug into each other had ever so slightly jiggled themselves loose from each other. And, after tightening them just a bit - Presto - freezer starts freezing again.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to toss out everything in the freezer and fridge that were this close to expiring, and that I probably wasn't going to eat anyway.

Too bad the same thing can't happen to my closet, so I could be inspired to toss out those clothes that expired in 1996, or that I have no intention of wearing.

Scan of the Day

I'm trying to limit myself to 10 a day. At least for now.

So here is my favorite Olan Mills shot of myself at age 4. Not sure if I had freckles, or if the photo is just dirty.

Up and Running

Neighbor Kirk came over and set up my scanner for me today. (Love neighbor Kirk)

I'm fighting the urge to sit here for the next 72 hours straight scanning every photo that I ever owned (and seeing how it looks in sepia tone) but I am going to fight the urge and try to do something more productive instead. Like eat dinner, take a shower, take out the trash.

But, before I close up shop for the night, I thought I'd share one of the test scans for your viewing enjoyment.

That's me at the Spouting Horn in Kauai in about 1970. I was young, cute, weighed less than 100 pounds and was on an all expenses paid (by my Dad) vacation in frikin Hawaii. Life was good.

Ouch Xs 2

Excerpts from conversation in Joni's doctor's office this afternoon -

Dr: "Well, if both knees are in such terrible pain since your surgery, we might be able to do some steroid shots to help ease the pain for a few months while we decide what to do."

Me: "If it will give me some relief without being drugged all day and night - OK."

Dr: "Oh, it will help a lot. Most people feel immediate relief."

Cut to moments after first shot goes into left knee...

Me: "Crap! That stings."

Dr: "It should pass in a minute or so."

Shot goes into right knee....

Me: "Oh man, that one is even worse. It feels like it is moving around in both of my knees, like little alien babies are in there and trying to find a way out."

Dr: "Yeah - sometimes you don't get relief right away. Sometimes, it actually makes you feel worse for 2 or 3 days before you start feeling better."

Me (possessed by Chandler Bing): "Gee Doc, do you think that was something you could have mentioned BEFORE you shot cranky alien babies into my knees? Could you BE any more of an ass?"

The End.

12 of 12 - August 2008

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the suckiest 12 of 12 on record. Or at least it feels that way.

I spent a good portion of the last 24 hours at the hospital - first in the sleep lab, then in the morning having some other assorted tests run. Once I got home, I took no fewer than 3 showers trying to get the gunk from all the electrodes out of my hair. So, since I couldn't take photos during the tests (although, I did manage to slip a few in) and I wasn't taking the camera into one of my many showers (although I came close), I had very limited options to choose from today. But heck, it was still probably better than a day at work. So here we go......


This one is technically a cheat. It was just after arriving at the sleep lab on the 11th. But, they hadn't plugged me in or turned on the cameras yet, so I snapped a quick one. I figured, it was the 12th in England or China or somewhere, and some other 12 of 12er was already snapping pictures, so why not me too?

Sometime in the middle of the night - They don't really have any way for you to know what time it is in the sleep lab. No clocks, and the windows are all blacked out. I felt the call of nature, so I had to call the technician in so that she could unattach me from the big machine. Of course, I still had all the little wires attached to me, and I had to schlep to the bathroom with what is basically a big surge protector with 10,000 wires all plugged into it hanging off my neck. Anyway, again with the sneaky photo opp before she came to plug me back in. It is my pillow and blanket (it was damn cold in that place) and it was the only photo that even remotely came out without using the flash.

Again, no idea what time it is here. I'm gonna go with "early" - They woke me up, had me fill out some paperwork, and now I'm waiting to go for my EEG. More electrodes and paste in my hair - weeee!

A few minutes after "early" - Apple juice. It's what's for breakfast.

Post hospital - A self-portrait - if you look close enough. Finally home and am on my second attempt at getting electrode adhesive out of my hair. I feel like I'm in kindergarten again, and that some mean girl has dumped paste in my hair. Except instead of the mean girl, it was some lab tech that I think was the inspiration for "ZaZu" from the SNL Boston teens skit.

Post shower, pre-nap - I went out to get the mail, and noticed that my crepe myrtle finally started blooming. Maybe it will fill out enough to block the view of all of my dried out, dead azaleas.

Post nap - My (early) birthday gift from my mother, and I still haven't set it up yet. I know that the minute that I do, I will do nothing but scan old family photos for hours on end and never get anything else done ever again.

Oh crap! Speaking of birthday presents reminded me that when I was packing my overnight bag for the hospital yesterday, I found the present that I took all the way to LA for my cousin Bonnie (MCB) last month when I surprised her for her birthday, and then in all the excitement, forgot to give her. Must find a mailing box.

But first, wanted to show off my new curtains for the office area and living room. Next door neighbor Katie made them for me, as well as an ottoman cover from the leftover scraps. The girl is industrious. What I love about the curtains is that sometimes, they just look like your average solid cream colored curtains.

But then the sun comes out, and you get a nice little surprise when the flowers show up.

Later in the evening - Looking over some photos that I took over the weekend when I took my nephew to the art museum. I think that I ended up taking more photos of the building and surrounding architecture than I did of what was actually on display in the museum....

although I did manage to get this picture to help MCB out with the "Great Sofa/Couch Debate of 'Ought 8." According to the art community, this is a "Sofa."

And speaking of sofas, I think I'll adjorn to my own now and catch a little bit if the Olympics (swimming and gymnastics is so much more fun to watch at 3x speed), followed by the Rescue Me minisode and a repeat of The Office on TBS. Tonight is one of my faves - a bat gets loose in the office ("If a vampire bat was in the U.S., it would make sense for it to come to a “sylvania.” Like Penn-sylvania.") and the reactions of the supporting characters is hysterical - Angela actually Stops, Drops, and Rolls. Also, Jim pretends that he was bit by the bat and makes Dwight think that he is turning into a vampire (episode directed by Joss Whedon of Buffy fame, so of course, vampire reference is so very appropriate. and yes, I'm a geek for knowing that.)

So, thank you for taking a trip through my day, suck (leaving that typo in) as it was.

Mission Accomplished

I swear, I think that half of my company must have had the item, "Drive Joni crazy" on their To Do List today.

100 years ago today.....

100 years ago on this date, my grandfather Ed was born.

Happy Birthday Popo. Wish that I would have had the chance to have you in my life a little longer than I did.

12 of 12 - July 12

It's the 12th again, so it is time for the 12 of 12 again. See Chad Darnell's blog for all the rules.

Always glad to have a 12 of 12 fall on a weekend, especially one where I have plans to leave the house. The plan is to go down to the 'decorator district' with my next door neighbor Katie and buy the material for my dining room curtains.

10:23 a.m. - The DOT has been working on the interstate every weekend for the last few months, and they close 3 or 4 the lanes to do the work. So, Katie and I decided to take the one of the back ways to avoid the back up on the highway. Along the way, we passed the Georgia Dome.

10:25 a.m. - Katie doing her best "bringing sexy back" dance while at a red light. She is such a nut - I really enjoy hanging out with her.

11:14 a.m. - Here is the material Katie will be making my curtains out of. It is from the Ralph Lauren collection (swank), but it was in the clearance room, so I could sort of afford it. The colors match my room colors perfectly. The darker red is the color of the dining room walls and the khaki is the color of the living room and the connecting hallway. I can't wait to finally have that room completed.

11:58 a.m. - We next head over to Atlantic Station. This area use to be the old Atlantic Steel Company where my grandfather worked back in the 1950s and 60s. Now, it is a huge mixed use development.

12:02 p.m. - which includes an Ikea (yay!). I can smell the cinnamon rolls from here. It's almost as good as that Krispie Kreme smell. (I said almost.)

12:39 p.m. - Some Ikea light fixtures. I'm sure that they have some wonderful, crazy name like Flarb or Ljorg or something.

12:47 p.m. - Aaahh - a Klimt. The college dorm room staple (well, either that or a Monet.)

1:22 p.m. - Leaving the Ikea, we passed the Atlanta Water Works. Katie is learning how to play this 12 of 12 game, so she slowed down at the top of the little hill so that I could get a clear shot without as many cars in the way.

1:39 p.m. - Back in March, a tornado hit the dowtown Atlanta hotel and business district. The three buildings in the center of this shot (the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, the Georgia Pacific Building, and the Equitable Building) all took a pretty bad hit during the storm and a number of windows were blown out. If you look closely at the Peachtree Plaza, you can see a lot of black squares all down the side where windows were destroyed and still haven't been replaced.

1:55 p.m. - As we got back to Hapeville, we passed by the new Butterfly art installation that the city unveiled last month. There are about 20 of them spread out along our main street and they are really cute. I especially like the Chick-fil-a Butterfly.

2:17 p.m. - On the way home, we stopped for lunch at the Academy Grill. Love their baked sweet potatoes, corn bread and mac and cheese.

9:45 p.m. - My brother got me hooked on this Goodreads website. You basically log all of your books - the ones that you've read, that you are currently reading, that you own but haven't read, etc. You can see what you and your friends have read in common, and also rate and/or review the books you've completed. Here I am rating my cousin Bonnie's books. (I'm not biased - they are all completely worthy of 5 stars!) So far I've added 705 books, and my brother is at 1,288. No matter how many I add, or how fast I add them, he continues to stay at least 500 books ahead of me. And knowing Steve, I may never catch up.

Well, that's it for this month. Hope you enjoyed.

The Longest Day

I decided to surprise my cousin Bonnie for her birthday by hoping a flight to Los Angeles and showing up unannounced at the closing night of the showcase that she produces. Sounds easy, right?

Yeah - not so much.

It started out fairly easy - I emailed one of her friends, the fabulous Deb McCarthy, to be my co-conspirator, and she was thrilled with the prospect. She added me as an unnamed guest when she sent in her RSVP, and she advised me of the logistics of where I was going and best, least expensive way to get there. Then, I worked the July 4th holiday and some extra hours at the start of the week, so that I was in a good place to be off for the trip. Things are really busy at work lately, and I also knew that I didn't want my visit to be a disruption to Bonnie as she works her butt off on these showcases and would probably be pretty wiped out by the end. So, the plan was for a very short trip - total time in LA to be about 14 hours.

Things started promisingly enough Thursday morning. I woke up at 5:00 am ET and my neighbor Katie dropped me at the airport on her way to work at 6:30. The flight I was standing by for was scheduled to leave at 8:30 am and it had a lot of open seats. Got through security quickly and was at the gate within minutes. Started to get a bagel at the Wall Street Deli, but they only had cinnamon raisin left, so I figured I'd just wait and eat what they had on the plane. I cleared standby with no problems, and boarded with an aisle seat near the front. And hey! Celebrity siting (rapper from ATL that was spoofed hilariously by Dave Chappell) and I'm not even in LA yet.

As I fastened my seat belt and got out my magazine, the pilot comes over the loud speaker and says that we have a problem with a fuel pump and they need to bring over a new plane. So - everybody off the plane. Oh, and the new plane? It has 30 fewer seats, so all standby passengers? Thank you for playing, please try again.

For the next couple of hours, I (and several others) went from gate to gate, hoping to clear. The airport was incredibly crowded and the weather was getting pretty bad. But I was making the best of it and enjoying my new standby friends, including a retired Delta couple that was returning from a 72 day cruise around the world (their 2nd!), a young LA school teacher returning from a 3 week vacation in Chile, and a dumb chick that thought it would would be a smart idea to save the $100 difference between a discounted confirmed ticket and non-confirmed buddy pass instead when she was flying to LA to be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding.

Finally, after 4 failed attempts, and another mechanical problem, we were down to my last shot - the 4:00 pm flight. It would arrive in LA at 6:00 and I would have 2 hours to make it to the show. My luck returned and I and my new found standby friends all cleared and started to board. Then a storm hit and they had to suspend boarding for a bit. Once we completed boarding, it looked like we would still leave just a few minutes late, but then they decided to hold the flight for some connecting passengers that arrived late due to the storm. After staring out the window at the returning rain and trying to mentally will the pilot to get started, we finally departed at 5:00 pm.
About that time, I realized that I hadn't eaten a thing all day and none of the meal choices were working for me due to allergies. But I had some Biscoff (yum) so that helped. Things also got better as I won the first round of in-flight Trivia. Yay me!

Arrived in LA at 6:45 pm PT and quickly determined that the only way I would make it in time was a cab ride through LA traffic. Following several 'where are you now?" phone calls to Deb, and the most Expensive! Cab! Ride! Ever! I arrived with 10 whole minutes to spare.

And my baby cousin? Well, when the response you receive from your intended surpise vicitm is 1. Mouth drops open, 2. The word "Holy" combined with a curse word is uttered, and 3. Tears, you figure it was a success.

Bonnie looked great, the showcase was wonderful, and her friends, as usual, embraced me and made me feel so completely welcomed (like Eitan below). I'm so incredibly proud of Bonnie and all she has accomplished, and it is so great to see all of her hard work on display first hand. The even more satisfying part though, was at the after party, when I heard person after person talk about how much they love Bonnie and how much she has helped them.

Unfortunately, by 11:00 pm PT, the party was over for me, and I had to get back to the airport for my return flight. Which was delayed (of course) and allowed all the late arrivals to make the flight, thereby robbing me of a seat. By that time, the early morning flight would be departing within 4 hours anyway, so I ended up spending the night in the airport. There were only about 10 of us, and most found quite corners and fell asleep in the floor or on benches, but I can't sleep sitting up, so I was getting a little giddy. I made a friend with a sweetheart of a guy named Dean, who like me couldn't sleep. He was on his way to Mexico to visit his girlfriend who was there helping to build a medical facility. We stayed entertained with his i-phone for a while, and wandered the terminal until dawn broke and the others woke up.

We all made the 6:00 am PT flight, and I after watching 5 episodes of a Project Runway marathon on the in-flight satellite TV, I was home by 3:00 pm ET - 34 sleepless hours after I had begun.

Yeah - totally worth it all. :-)

A Belated Congratulations

Congratulations to my friend Laura and her husband Matt on the birth of Parker.


Isn't he cute? :-)

I'm back

Yes - I'm still alive.

I've been a little out of the loop for the last two weeks. It started out innocently enough - I bought a new surge protector that is supposed to consolidate and hide all the many cords to my computer. So, early last week, I unplugged everything and cleaned my desk from top to bottom. But then I got tired and figured that I'd put the computer back together the following day. Two weeks later, following several busy days at work, multiple power outages caused by thunderstorms, a dead mouse (computer mouse, not the Mickey kind) and then finally, a kidney stone. (Yeah - cause what I really needed in the midst of all of the intermittent numbness, tingling, and nerve pain is a freakin' kidney stone.)

Since we are blocked from using Internet email and MySpace from our work computers, when I finally got plugged back in last night, I had a lot to catch up on. However, instead of doing that, I ended up spending the rest of the evening and way into the wee early morning hours on YouTube looking at 80s music videos and half of the Live Aid concert. This was exceptionally silly of me since I have the whole concert on VHS (from where I taped it live back in 1985) as well as the official DVD version. But, you know how it is with YouTube, you go look up one little Adam and the Ants video and then one related video leads to another and next thing you know, it is 3:45 am and you're bopping through the house to Wake Me Up Before you Go-Go and trying to remember where you stored your Choose Life t-shirt.

The bulk of what I ended up watching were selected individual performances from the 1985 Live Aid Concert. Here are a few things that came to mind as dawn approached...

**Ahhh - 1985. Back when I still thought that George Michael, Freddie Mercury and Elton John were all straight.

**I forgot that Bono use to have a mullet. Yeah - it was a cool Irish rebel mullet, but it was a mullet none the less.

**I had also forgotten how much I was in love with U2's bassist Adam Clayton back in the day. (I had a thing for bass players.) Also forgot how much the drummer looked like my best friend's then boyfriend (now husband) Mark.

**Man, that Bono mullet was really popular in the UK in 85. I've counted at least 7 so far and we haven't even gotten to the US portion of the concert yet.

**Was Elvis Costello ever really young?

**The CSIs have pretty much ruined The Who for me forever.

**I thought that Bananarama performed at this concert. Guess I was wrong.

**No matter how old I get, I can not see Thomas Dolby without shouting "Science!"

**Dang, along with my crushes on Bono and Adam C, we had John Taylor of Duran Duran (see - another bass player) Sting (bass player), David Bowie, Adam Ant, Paul Young, Nik Kershaw, Rick Springfield, Bryan Adams, Adam Ant, and Michael Hutchence. I was in love with them all - no wonder I got up at 6:30 a.m. and camped out in front of the TV for 17 hours that day.

**In 1985, when you talked about the Hooters, you weren't talking about boobs. (Also, more Bono mullets)

**Say what you will about Madonna, but she was able to perform outdoors, in the middle of a hot July day, in a long sleeved brocade jacket and pants (most clothes on Madonna ever!), while dancing her ass off in a choreographed routine where she never misses a step, and she still managed to actually SING! LIVE! IN HER OWN VOICE! and sounded pretty good too. All of today's so called 'artists' who need 'guiding vocals' or have to lip sync a taped, 2 minute, indoor performance - please take note - it can really be done. Well, at least if you have an ounce of singing talent to begin with it can.

**Damnit! No matter how many times I listen to In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins, I screw up air drumming the cool part every frickin time.

**Ooohh - Power Station. A double dose of John Taylor!

**Oh, but forgot that this was the "touring" version of Power Station, featuring Michael Des Barres instead of Robert Palmer. So demerit points for that.

**Hold Me Now by the Thompson Twins remains one of my most favorite songs of all time. Alannah Currie on the xylophone - nuff said!

**Do They Know its Christmas kicks We Are the World in the butt every time.

**I remember being so unbelievably inspired by all that went on that year, and knowing in my heart that I could go out an change the world. I made a good stab at it for several years. And then suddenly, I didn't. I don't know where I went wrong along the way, but maybe this detour into the past didn't happen by accident. Maybe I needed to be reminded of who I was and what my dreams were in order to get back on that road.

**God bless Bob Geldof and Midge Ure's little hearts.

Good News, Vague News

I got call from the neurologist's office today.

The good news - It's not a tumor (she said in her best Arnold Schwarzenegger accent) and there are no visible lesions.

The vague news - everything else. They couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me much else over the phone, other than I have some obvious nerve damage. But the how and why are still a mystery.

I go back week after next for more tests. I was told that it might take months for him to really confirm a diagnosis, so I just need to be patient in the meantime, endure the testing, and hope the symptoms don't get any worse.

So until then, I wait on pins and needles. Or at least, it feels like pins and needles.

Vegas Vacation

I took a few days off for a short vacation to Vegas with my mother. It ended up being a little shorter than expected, as we came home a day early because I wasn't feeling well. But for the first two days, we had a pretty good time and a little dose of good luck.

We got first class on the flight out

Got the side of the aircraft with the good views of the Grand Canyon, Hoover Damn (below) and Lake Mead


Our room had a nice view of the mountains and the gardens

We were upgraded to one of the Flamingo's new fancy rooms with a flat panel TV in the main room
and another TV in the bathroom

(although truthfully, the West Elm decor was a bit too hot pink and loud for our taste)

Mom even won $160.00 on the penny slots within the first ten minutes of our arrival into the casino (following this shot, I spent the next hour explaining to Mom what a blog is, who reads them and why. I walked away from that conversation more confused than she was.)

Of course, by the next day, our luck started to run out a bit. We started working on returning the $160.00, the outside temp went to 106, and my sinuses dried up and exploded. I did manage to walk outside the hotel just once, and that lasted about 30 seconds before I retreated back to the air-conditioned casino. But here is photographic evidence of my journey to the middle of the sun.

Oh, and as many times as I've been to Vegas, I never noticed their Walk of Fame. This was the star just outside the door I chose. I considered it to be a little inside-joke/shout out to one of my best buds.

We had a touch more luck before we headed home - both in the casino and at the airport, where although there were 80+ standbys for the flight home, we cleared with no problem and even got to sit together.

Just hoping that all that luck will carry over into the next few weeks.

12 of 12 - June 2008

Is it the 12th already? Looks like it. And that means that it is time for Chad Darnell's 12 of 12. (That's 12 pictures of your day on the 12th.)

Today we have a little bit of airline history, some Joni family history, the opportunity to revisit some dear friends and former coworkers and wish them farewell as they head off to retirement, and finally, at the end of the day, a chance to say a more final goodbye to a friend we lost too soon.

So - here we go.....

8:07 a.m. - Welcome to the mess on my desk. The sad thing is that it has looked this bad for over a week now. I can't seem to get one task finished before something else comes up that is more pressing. So everything else just gets piled up and pushed further down the desk. I'm really hoping to get everything you see finished, filed and forgotten about by the end of the day. (Spoiler alert - I only got about 75% of it done by the end of the day. Those little blue folders in the upper right hand corner still remain.)

11:40 a.m. - I had to run over to the Delta General Offices (The GO) today for a retirement party. Our corporate headquarters - which includes the GO, the maintenance/technical operations facilities, pilot and flight attendant training centers, operations control, Delta Technology, the employee credit union, and the Atlanta Reservations office - takes up most of the area immediately north and east of the Atlanta Airport. This particular building is called, depending on when you went to work for Delta, the A2 building or the old Res Building. I work in the new Res building, which is about 2 blocks away from the GO campus.

11:41 a.m. - The Varsity brings the truck down for a hot dog sale about once a month. Usually, it is tied in with some sort of charity function where all the profits go to something like one of Delta's Habitat for Humanity builds, the Relay for Life, etc. And wherever there is free or cheap food, there will be Delta people. (See the line down the sidewalk?)

11:45 a.m. - The retirement party was in the building connected to Hangars 1 and 2, which house the Delta Heritage Museum. So, since I was a few minutes early, I cut through the museum and snapped a few photos. This is Ship 41, Delta's first DC-3 passenger aircraft used in the 1940s and 50s. It was located and completely restored by a volunteer team of Delta retirees and mechanics over a period of 6 years back in the 90s.

11:46 a.m. - Just next to Ship 41 is the museum store. It is housed in the front half of the fuselage of an old L-1011. You can tour the cockpit of you like. (And I think that there is too much stuff to keep up with on my desk!)

11:48 a.m. - While this picture didn't come out too clear, I still had to include it, since that's my parents. They were featured on the cover of the Delta employee magazine after they were married in 1954 and this particular issue is on display just as you enter the museum store.

11:54 a.m. - This is Ship 102, also known as The Spirit of Delta. It holds a very special place in the hearts of Delta people, as the aircraft was purchased by the employees for the company back in 1982. Ship 102 was retired back in 2006 and my Dad and I were honored to be selected as 2 of the 23 employees and retirees (1 for each year it was in service) to pull the aircraft into its final home here in the museum. The interior has been reconfigured and is now an exhibit of Delta history. In fact, my good friend Dale was the artist that designed and set up the displays.

11:57 a.m. - I've spent way too much time in the museum, and I need to get going, but one last shot if you don't mind. This is a photo of the old Atlanta airport. You may be able to see "Delta Air Lines" on the building in the top middle part of the photo. That is the same hangar that I've been taking all of the above photos in. And the road running down the left hand side of the picture is the same road with all the people lined up for Varsity hot dogs a few shots above, and is also the same road that I live on. My house is in the neighborhood that you can barely see just above and behind the Delta hangar.

12:02 p.m. - I finally make it to the retirement party. (29 people out of 45 from my old department are taking the early retirement packages that Delta recently offered. It makes for a pretty large retirement party.) That's me and my Dad. He always claims he can smell a retirement cake from the highway anytime he passes Delta. Seriously though, the people in my old department loved my Dad. When I left the department, I actually had people say, "We will miss seeing your Dad when he comes up to take you to lunch." But missing me? Not so much.

12:37 p.m. - This is "The Row." Me, Stan, Glenda and Grady. The four of us, and a couple of others that couldn't make the party, at one time all had offices on the same hallway, and over several years, we became the best of friends. Since the glory days of The Row, Glenda was the last one left in the department and she is now retiring. Grady retired in 2001, Kim (not present) left in 2002 after the birth of her 3rd child, Stan transferred to the airport in 2004, and I moved to my current position in 2006, and Renee (also not present) moved to Texas last year. But in spite of no longer working together, we email each other often, meet up for dinner every few months, and get together whenever we have something to celebrate. When you hear people speak of the Delta Family, this is what they are talking about. These people are my Delta Family.

12:43 p.m. - This is my good friend Tammi. She's also retiring and is moving back home to Texas where she started out. She is part of my "Lost" discussion group, a group of former coworkers that spends the better part of the late evening and early morning after each new episode of "Lost" discussing and analyzing what just happened, what it all means, and exactly how hot Sawyer looked without his shirt. You know, important stuff.

5:34 p.m. - After work, I went to the funeral home with some coworkers for visitation for my friend Mechia. She passed away very suddenly this past Sunday morning from an asthma attack. She and I worked together about 10 years ago, and we stayed in touch. When I started my current job, we were happy to find that we were working just down the hall from each other again. I had just seen her on Friday, and we stopped and talked for a few minutes about her youngest daughter who was about to leave for Paris to study at the Cordon Bleu. She was such a proud mother. I'm glad that she had something to be so happy about in what would be her last days. She was a sweet lady and I'll miss her.