Too Much Crap

The dreaded date looms closer than ever.  On December 1st I'm moving back home to Long Island.  That's a week from tomorrow.  I'm really trying not to stress about it too much, but that usually just results in procrastination.

Today I started throwing crap out and organizing my desk stuff.  I can't believe I have so much CRAP!!!  AHHHH!!!  Every room I go in, it's like, "Oh shit I forgot I have all this crap in here."

I need to get as much stuff packed as possible tonight, because Dan is driving me back home tomorrow night so I can get a head start on unpacking and help w/Thanksgiving on Thursday.  I still wish Dan was eating Thanksgiving dinner with us... but he's gotta do what he's gotta do, I guess.  He says he'll join us for 'dessert' when he comes to pick me up, but I think he's delusional about how bad the traffic is going to be.  Ahh well.  He wants to sit in traffic all day, that's his thing.

OK time to write out some stuff so it's all sorted out in my head:

Living Room Furniture:

• coffee table
• TV stand
• orange armchair
• cat tree

Living Room Stuff:

• lamps
• ceramic scream head
• DS and games
• Islanders poster and DP pics
• WIFI router
• phone
• Powerbook
• acoustic guitar
• kitty toys

Kitchen Furniture:

• breakfast bar

Kitchen Stuff:

• pancake puff pan
• perfect brownie thing
• kitty string toys on top of fridge

Computer Room Furniture:

• computer desk
• computer chair

Computer Room Stuff:

• iMac
• mini printer
• big scanner printer
• old iPod & dock
• computer parts
• miniDV cam
• work papers in a case, BP samples
• CD case
• travel guitar
• hockey jerseys
• couple posters
• Avon stuff

Bedroom Furniture:

• bed
• dresser
• TV
• little set of drawers

Bedroom Stuff:

• Wii
• VHS tapes
• clothes
• shoes
• posters

Bathroom Furniture:

• little set of drawers
• cat litter box

Bathroom Stuff:

• linens
• toiletries

I may have to add more shit to this list when I think of stuff that I've forgotten.  But OMG this list is already super long....  I have too much crap!!

Easy Homemade Ranch Dressing

Keyword Ad Tag:  recipes Ingredients 1 envelope ranch dressing mix 1 cup non-fat milk  1 cup non-fat plain...

That's Enough, Chris Botta

In more Islanders related news, there was once a blogger named Chris Botta.  He had a sort of an indie-style blog, but he was covering the Islanders team and often went to morning skates and posted 'insider info' that you wouldn't find on the Islanders team website or other news sites.

Recently, however, the Islanders decided that Chris Botta was getting a little out of control.  He was posting overly negative opinions about the movements the team had made, and apparently he had done some player interviews outside of the designated areas for press.  Garth Snow (the GM of the Islanders) made the decision to close down Botta's Blog and remove his press credentials for covering the team.

Chris Botta is not handling this situation like a grown up.  He's been practically begging to speak with Garth Snow and ask for his credentials back, but Snow is standing firm.  (From Twitter: ChrisBottaNHL  I'm told Garth Snow standing firm on his ban. Looks like I'll be barred from a second game. Ok, back to Springsteen box set.)  Botta has been posting similar whining posts across the web.  The fans are starting to get sick of it.  Personally, I was never a fan of his and I'm glad to see him removed from the Islanders.

My friend Gina came up with this hilarious idea, and requested that I make a little photoshop ditty to send Chris Botta a message.  (I take no credit for the Family Guy reference or the idea to sub in Botta's name for John Mayer's.)  I sent this to Botta via TwitPic but I figured I'll post it here as well for your viewing pleasure:

I don't know if it will get him to stop being a baby, man up, and accept his fate... but I always enjoy sending this dude a piece of my mind.  :)

Islanders Lose 11 Straight

My favorite hockey team is the NY Islanders.  Too bad they SUCK right now.  As of last night, we've now lost 11 straight games.  We got one OT loss point in this downward spiral, but the rest were all regulation losses.  It's totally bullshit.

On Tuesday, the team fired the head coach, Scott Gordon.  (That was after we'd dropped 10 straight games.)  I was not only shocked by this drastic move, but even more so by who the team named as the interim coach.  They called up Jack Capuano, who was the head coach of the Islander's minor league affiliate team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Now, if you didn't know, Scott Gordon had also been a minor league coach before he was named head coach of the Isles a couple years ago.  Obviously things weren't working out with him, so I can understand that they reassigned Gordon to a desk job.  But how is it any better to name yet ANOTHER minor league coach as the replacement?  Even on a temporary basis, it makes no sense to me.

I felt this was evidenced last night.  We still lost.  My team ALWAYS plays with heart and effort, and last night was no different.  But that's not any different from when Gordon was coach - they put in the same effort for him, too.  I didn't really see any real differences between how the team played for Gordon and how they played for Capuano.  Obviously, they are still playing the same 'system'...  but the reason they got rid of Gordon was to get a "new voice" in the locker room.

Call me impatient, but after one game, I didn't see any impact that this new voice might have made.

I also didn't really understand why Capuano didn't put Rick DiPietro in goal.  Sure, Roloson has been playing all right the past few games, but he hasn't been stellar.  Maybe if he'd only given up 1 or 2 goals for the past 4 games, I'd be more understanding.  But he gave up 4 goals in the game before this most recent one.  I thought Rick deserved a chance in net, even if he hasn't been playing that amazingly so far this season.

I think they should have at least considered trying the goalie change before deciding to make a coaching change.

I'm Intrigued...

Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

How have I not heard of this before?  LOL!  I searched until I could find some kind of lower fat recipe, cuz some of the full fat recipes contain over 70% calories from fat!  Fuck that.  :P

You Learn Something New Every Day...

Anyone who has been around me lately knows that I've really been trying to eat healthy and get into better shape.  It's a shame that I waited until I had digestive and spinal problems to do so, because if I'd started this a few years ago I might not have all the health problems I face today.  Ahh well.  Since I can't turn back time, I have to just do my best to take care of my body now.  (At least by moving home I'll be less likely to smoke cigarettes, since I'll have to smoke outside in the cold.)

My healthy living regimen right now consists of a specific routine:

1. Wake up around 10 AM.  Feed the cats.
2. Do my lower back stretches and modified ab crunches.
3. Weigh in with WiiFit.  (I met my first weight-loss goal yesterday!  Wahoo!)
4. Do 20 minutes of low impact Step Aerobics.
5. Do 10 minutes of "expert" level Rhythm Boxing.
6. Cool down with 5-8 minutes of Rhythm Marching and some basic Yoga moves.
7. (On weekdays) Turn on Dr. Oz and make my iron supplement drink.
8. Eat lunch and watch the show!

On weekends or days when I'm feeling extra strong (i.e. back isn't killing me as soon as I wake up) I will also include 10+ minutes of medium-high impact cardio by playing other WiiFit games, and add some strength training (usually push-ups, plank and lunges) too.

OK now that I've written that all out, I will be even MORE likely to stick to my routine!  :P

Anyway, today I really liked the Dr. Oz episode.  He was talking about different alternative remedies from around the globe.  I'm really into alternative therapies, because it seems to me that a lot of modern medicine treats the SYMPTOM of a problem, and not the cause.  I don't see much point in that.  Why cover up the effects when you could try and fix the actual underlying problem??

Two items I will look for the next time I'm in a health food store:  Arctic Root and Devil's Claw.  Arctic Root is a plant that grows in Alaska, and has shown to help de-stress and relax the body.  (I'd much rather try this natural solution than just start popping anti-depressants!)  Devil's Claw grows near Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and is a natural anti-inflammatory.

Something else that I learned on the show today was REALLY interesting to me.  It was about common beauty mistakes that make you look older.  The first one that I was shocked by was when to wash your face.  I always wash my face first when I get in the shower.  Apparently that's a big mistake, since when you're shampooing, oils from your hair flow down onto the skin on your face.  Today when I showered, I washed my face with my acne wash LAST, to ensure that my face was going to stay as clean as possible.

The final thing I learned was the importance of moisturizing your neck.  I admit I almost never moisturize my neck.  But I learned that the skin on your neck is even thinner and more fragile than the skin on your face - making it quite deserving of moisturizer and retinol!

So yeah I learned things today!  Hooray!  :D

Perfect Brownie Search

Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm going to my parents' house for the holiday.  It will be a chance for me and my little sister to organize our crap before I move all my stuff into her old bedroom.  (She's in college and her large room is going unused, while my 'room' at my parents' house is about the size of a walk-in closet.  So yeah I'm taking over her bedroom instead.)

My mom has Type 2 Diabetes so I'm currently searching for a PERFECT brownie recipe.  My criteria:  low fat, low sugar, easy to make, doesn't require a lot of 'weird health food' ingredients.  Ideally it would also be super yummy, fudgy and chewy.  Cuz that's how I like em lol!  :P

I'm making a list (mostly for my own purposes) of recipes I've found online and will be considering baking for Thanksgiving.

• Chocolate Pudding Brownies
• Blonde Brownies
• Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes
• Chocolate Ganache Sandwich Cookies

OK so some of those aren't brownie recipes.  But they look pretty darn good and might be a decent compromise.  I will continue to search though!

My Personal Stylist

Things I Won't Miss About Staten Island

• The People:  Orange skinned and self absorbed.  With the exception of Dan and his friends and family of course.  :P
• My Landlords:  Blasting loud music to make the floor vibrate, screaming children during the morning, insufferable pitbulls in the yard...  need I go on?
• Buses EVERYWHERE.
• Being so close to the water that every rainstorm feels like a hurricane.
• Airplanes and helicopters seem louder here than anywhere else I've lived.
• STINK BUGS AND CENTIPEDES.
• Hard water.  My skin has been soooo dried out.  (Though I don't really know if that's just my skin aging or what.)
• City cigarette prices.
• Nothing is really in walking distance except the park and the bus stop.
• Being far away from my family and friends.
• The "lovely" view of New Jersey power plants across the river.
• Staten Island Yankees.

Starting Over

I have too many blogs. One for health, one for gaming, one for art, apparently I had started one for sports too... it's just gotten a little ridiculous. I've decided to ditch those other blogs and start over. It's fitting because in my life I'm about to start over too, in a way.

It's kind of like I had to press the RESET button on my life. I've been living with my boyfriend in Staten Island for the past 2-3 years. For the past 4 years or so, I've been suffering with health problems that make working full time very difficult for me. So I've been doing a work from home job, but I make shit money at it and it doesn't pay the bills. Unfortunately that means that Dan and I have to give up our apartment and move in with our parents. Separately. He'll be staying on Staten Island and I'm moving back to Long Island. Sigh... It'll suck but hopefully we will get through it.

What makes everything even worse is that last month I found out that I have a spinal injury. I have two bulging discs around my L1 and L2 vertebrae. This makes finding a better job even harder, because now I know why I feel so much chronic pain, and I know it's never going to fully go away. I can't sit or stand for an extended period of time. I don't know what full time job would allow you to get up from your desk every 30 minutes and take a break. And retail seems out of the question because I'd have to be standing during the entire shift. So I kind of feel like I've hit a brick wall in my life.

I need to focus on more positive things. I've been working hard at trying to eat right and lose weight. I had some success a couple weeks ago but I've kind of hit a plateau in my weight loss, and I haven't even come close to my goal weight. That probably means I need to do more exercise and eat even less. It's just tough cuz with my spinal injury, I'm afraid to push my body too hard.

Anyway I don't want to harp on all the bad things in my life. I promise that not all my blog entries will be about that. I plan on importing some recipes from my health blog, maybe upload some photos and game related stuff (yes, I admit I play Pokemon games and I'm a total dork) for funness. I don't want to be a Debbie Downer! I resent that moniker so I will do my best to not become that. :P