Jennie and Chad's wedding was today and everything was so beautiful-I'm sorry Dave and Rachel didn't make it up for it. We threw pink rose petals instead of rice or blowing bubbles. It was cool, and everything was pink-the flowers were fantastic. I'm pretty sure they're not going to stop smiling for a few weeks(not because the wedding was great, but because they are adorably in love). Also, their house is awesome and I covet it. So that was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I am absolutely not going anywhere this weekend though. It's been months since I've actually had a weekend where I didn't have to work and/or leave town.

When I was down in Alabama recently, Zoe and Addie wanted to know why I have a roommate and what that means (Zoe thought they slept in your room with you). I was like, well, it's kind of like having a sister-they borrow your stuff, sometimes they break it, sometimes you do the same to theirs, sometimes you argue, but in the end, you are still friends. And I don't really know if that's what having a sister is like, since I only had brothers. And Rachel's been in my life since just before I turned 14, but we've never lived together (and also, when she and Dave started dating, I was still afraid of like, all people I didn't know, so we weren't close at first just because I was uber shy). But that's my guess...

Mint is the official herb of adventure!

This is just bizarre. I'm really not clear on the corrolation between religious beliefs and car sales. Also, that picture is hilarious. I have found the car I want to replace Ye Olde Sentra with! Who would seriously drive around in that? It has to be distracting to other drivers... Oh, and here's a follow-up to that article, along with another picture of that awesome car-check out the license plate! I find it hard to believe that a commercial like that could just slip under their radar. Also, the owner doesn't even go to church, yet he was trying to pander to the Christian sect?!

Katherine Heigl, what is the deal? Why would you do this? I can only pray that there will be commercials that involve the phrase, "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." That picture of her on the opening page is weird. Although I do love the pretentious line names, like Nantucket and Monterey. Somehow, the brown Nantucket top looks like the top of a women's pantsuit.

Super Pii Pii Brothers?

I am hovering between amused and horrified on this. Read down to the bottom where they list some of the features of this particular Wii game. Just, wow...

Team Benz, for the win

I had a lot of fun this weekend with Dave and the girls, even though the girls took turns begin crazy. We made it and all four of us took turns playing MarioKart. Zoe was getting pretty good by Sunday, but she never watned to be opposing anyone-you always had to be on the same team. Some of the courses on that game are really difficult, although exploring the course was why Battle Mode was my favorite on the old school MarioKart, and since these courses are so incredibly long, it seems more like that to me. I didn't like that the Battle Mode on this is only three minutes and you can't change the length. Battle Mode on the Funky Stadium was Addie's favorite part if someone would hold down the A button for her, she would just play around on the ramps because it was ok if you ran into a wall, because the walls were more ramps. Also, kids are funny-
Addie: "Why you're gotta go home tomorrow?"
Me: "Because I have to go to work on Monday."
Addie: "No, you can stay here and go to my mommy's work Monday."
Sadly, it doesn't quite work like that. All works are not interchangeable.

While watching The Phantom of the Opera, which I had somehow managed to not see until this weekend (while Addie watched it four times this weekend alone), Zoe had the following query: "Why does the phantom have so many mirrors if he doesn't like to look at his face?" Excellent question. My theory is that because there rarely exists a "tortured artist" without a little bit of self-flagellation. That's if you buy the whole conceit of the tortured artist in the first place, which I don't particularly. Anyway, I liked the movie and I don't really know why I didn't see it before. We watched Enchanted on Sunday, which I had also not seen. It was cute, if very dependent on Amy Adams' charisma.

In the name of science

This is based around a colloquialism I've never heard before. But it's still entertaining to see pictures of jello being nailed to a wall.

Where's my kosher meth?

Hah! How would this even happen?

Sophisticated tastes...

I'm kind of ridiculous and I usually just click the link on my blog from Rachel's to then go to mine and click on the link to Christina's blog. I'm not sure what that's about. I don't know why I don't just type it in once, cause then it will be there. But no. Anyway, I just did the above mentioned maneuver and noticed that my books list is silly. Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, and depressing tome about capital punishment. I am so mature.

Blurgh! (TM Liz Lemon) And nerfshmir!

I think my car hates me. Truth be told, I do insult him a lot. Especially lately. I guess he doesn't like that. In case you didn't know, I have a tendency to anthropomorphize things. Many objects get names. But this car has never had a name. What does that mean? It means that I assign him emotions (and a gender) out of habit, but that I have never liked this car enough to give him a name. He doesn't have enough personality to deserve one. And I have had this car for six years now. I only had old Snake Eyes for about two before he died. But he was awesome.
Anyway, I think nameless vehicle hates me because I had to get a new starter on Tuesday. Fine. It wasn't too expensive and I was hoping it would get me through the summer. But my brake and battery lights kept coming on when I accelerated after that happened. So, today I have to get a new alternator. Terrific. If I had known I was going to end up spending $500 on this car before the week was out, I would have seriously thought about not getting it fixed the first time. I'm trying to be realistic and I know this car is not going to last forever and it is 11 years old, so I haven't wanted to put too much money into it. I've been trying to save all my money for a better car that I will love instead. But no, not this week. Suck it, nameless Sentra! It's also not even five hundred dollars. The new starter was $217 and the guy told me today that the alternator would be $220, where most other alternators are $300. I told my dad that's because it's for a toy car. It's like a midget car. It's like how Kazoo is almost a real dog, my car is almost a real car. See, insults. He does not like it. I just think it's ridiculous that I am 26 years old and my car is not reliable enough for me to drive down to Birmingham anymore. So much so that my dad was like, your mom and I figured you could take her car. Great, that's really nice, but I am 26 years old and I have to borrow my mom's car to go away. Geez. I hate having to ask for help. I'm not good at it. And I feel bad about it, like that I shouldn't need help in the first place. And it's not like I can't pay to get my car fixed, because I can, so at least I don't have to asak for money too. But I feel like I shouldn't need to borrow my mom's car in order to ensure that I will get to my destination and back. Urgh. But this weekend is going to be fun and Rachel is going to make a valiant effort to stay up until I get there tonight. See you guys soon!

regular randomness

So my poor car wouldn't start the other day when I was trying to leave the gym. It needed a new starter. And since I'm not quite ready to buy a new car, I got a new starter instead. Fun.

On a completely different note, I don't usually watch commercials because I dvr everything I watch, so I can start watching a one hour program fifteen minutes in and it comes out perfectly. But right now I'm watching The Real World live because there is nothing good currently on TV on Wednesdays. And I just saw a really disturbing commercial for Schick razors that involved a cactus morphing into flowers and then a leg. So weird. As was the first part of the House season finale. I kept thinking he was going to wake up and have been actually just laying in the bus imagining it all. Except I knew they wouldn't steal from themselves like that because there was already a season finale of House that involved him imagining everything and then waking up with the answer.

I got really excited at work the other day because I managed to do my end of month reconciling by myself. Usually it takes at least two other people to figure out, but I did it. And it only took me an entire day. But really, I was very happy. I was like, it's actually zero! And my supervisor just laughed at me. But if you know me, and the way I feel about math and how it turns me off so much that I don't even generally try, then you know that's big. The other week Christina posted on her blog about Colossians 3:23 ("Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"). And we all know the Benzes have a tendency to be underachievers... So I've been trying harder at work lately and taking initiative on some things. And I pretty much never take initiative on anything, because I'm so afraid of doing something wrong. And I don't mean just at work, I mean all areas of my life. So, thanks for that push Christina.

I've been pretty busy lately. I saw Baby Mama, which was much better than I expected. I thought it was going to be crap, but went anyway because Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are awesome. Tina Fey got to wear actual cute clothes in this movie, and it was pretty funny, if predictable. I actually did finally get a Saturday where I didn't have to do anything, but only because my stomach was really upset all Friday night, so I didn't go with my parents to L'ville to see the grandparents. But fortunately I didn't have whatever nasty stomach bug my mom had last week, so I felt much better later on Saturday. We went to see my Grandma in O'boro on Sunday after church. It was barbeque fest weekend, so we had barbeque. My grandma is awesome and really funny. She lent me a book I'm excited about reading, but Shannon already started it, so I guess I'll read the book a guy at work lent to me. Which I started earlier and there was a phrase I really liked, "illusory juvenescence." It probably seems nonsensical, but I think it sounds pretty. Sometimes I like words or phrases just because of how they look or sound. When I was a kid, my favorite word was algae because I liked how it looked and sounded. But I certainly did not like algae itself. And now I really need to go to bed because I'm old and I have to get up early tomorrow so I can vaccuum because my small group is meeting here in the evening. Although last time we met here, we sat outside because the weather was nice, so maybe tthat'll happen again...

What are Life magazine and Mary Tyler Moore?

I'll try to post for real later, since I know it's been a while. Although everyone who really cares has since talked to me on the phone or the gchat. But whatever. For now, here is something that amused me today. Things Younger Than John McCain. I am particularly fond of Alaska, McDonald's, and that weird poster about the polio vaccine tasting good. Bear in mind, I don't particularly dislike McCain, I just think it's funny.

An actual good thing to balance the bad from earlier...

Something more awesome than my injury...my pants are falling off! Shannon threatened to pants me when I saw her earlier (and I think it would be a possibility, were I not wearing a belt). It's true, all my pants (and some of my shirts) are way too loose now! Yay. I guess I need to dig around and find some of my smaller pants and shirts. While I hate searching through my crap, this is a good reason, so it's cool.

I have been having blepharospasm issues with my right eye all week. I was trying to figure out what that was about, when I remembered that when I hit my nose last week, I also hit my right eye and brow bone. It was terrific (my contact even fell out). But the nose thing hurt more than my eye, so I forgot. I guess that could explain this issue. I hope it stops soon.

When the weather is nice like this(and it is beautiful today!), I like to drive around with my windows down, but I keep forgetting that means people can hear me and my music. I have been listening to a cd Rachel made for me a long time ago and today I got totally embarrassed by it. It's an awesome cd, it's just not something strangers should see/hear me listening to. Thanks, Racho!

Good moves I made recently. Not.

This is mildly gross, so unless you're like Rachel and enjoy poking at gross stuff, you may not want to read it. I don't know if you've ever hit your nose very hard, but I have. I mean, I broke my nose once, but that was about 11 years ago. Dave and Rachel were there. Anyway, that's not the point now. The point is that last week I hit my nose on something (we will not discuss how I managed to do this, because we all know what a picture of gracefulness I am...not) and it hurt a lot. I was waiting for it to turn into a bruise, but it didn't really. I have what appear to be blackheads where I hit it, but they are not blackheads. They are filled with...blood! Dun dun DUN! Or, just eww. Also, Shannon is all sickly this week and now my throat hurts and my nose is stopped up. Of course, I'm a genious and I took her to UrgentCare the other night and sat in the Sick waiting room with her. Good job, self. Oh well, I'll manage.

I feel so old...

Last night I was watching part of Ugly Betty and one character kept talking about Gabrielle Union's character and Stoneybrook. As soon as they said Stoneybrook, I was like, ohhh, is her secret that she's actually from Connecticut and was a member of the Baby-sitters Club? Cause that would be awesome. Turn sout they were spelling Stoneybrook as Stony Brook. So that's not as fun. But now I can't stop thinking about the Baby-sitters Club books.

Some things that entertained me today, and a random thought

I have been trying to drink more water, cause it's good for you or something. In doing so, I now realize just how little I was actually drinking on a daily basis before. No wonder my skin was ridiculously dry and my cuticles were always pulled back and I sometimes even got my symptom that happens when I get really dehydrated (it's not anything gross, or females only, it would just take too long to explain). I was drinking about 30 oz. a day. Oops. Now, even if I've had more than 30 oz. by say, lunchtime, I will get very very thirsty within about an hour of lunch. Crazyness. So, drinking more is good, but also a pain in the butt. And now for more entertaining topics.



This LA Times article about Oxygen network and it's new makeover is absurd. The "pink pastel ghetto?" Telling us what the GM had for breakfast? Read down until you get to Zalaznick's first quote (reading other funny tidbits along the way). Here's what I have to say about her and her thoughts. H2 O no you di'int! (I swear to you, Tyra Banks actually said that on an episode of Top Model this cycle. That show may be the guiltiest of my guilty pleasure shows.) Zalaznick and co. are the ones who took a website I loved (TWoP) and turned it into something almost completely unrecognisable literally days after its founders left. At least I still have Glarkware. Anyway, my ranting is over, I think. I seriously doubt that I would ever say the words, "That's so Oxygen." Unless maybe I were mocking the network or one of it's crappy shows. Or I used it to describe something crappy. And I totally have taken to saying H2 O no you di'int. Shannon can't get the whole phrase out with a straight face, but I can. You know you're jealous.



Something that really entertained me is this cat box. It is extremely expensive and I don't know that I would want to sit on a cat box anyway, but it's an interesting thought. These are just fun to look at and much cheaper than the bench one. But I'm not in the market for an expensive cat box. And I don't need to hide mine, because it's already hidden away in the laundry room. If I were going to spend $65 on a cat box, I would probably go with the pink house one. ;)



This seems like a conversation my brother might have. If they cared about PacMan or ever noticed when their conversations were completely ridiculous. But still.

This was too long to leave as a comment on Rachel's blog.

I know Rachel was talking a little about American Idol on her blog and I wanted to share this with you. I'm not watching Idol this season because it's on like 15 days each week and I just didn't feel like making that kind of a time commitment this year. I am still reading some of the recaps because they're funny and you don't have to actually watch it to get it. But seriously this recap cracked me up. Just read like the first couple pages and if you hate it, then fine, it's just not your type of humor. I won't press the issue anymore. Kind of like how The Office isn't for everyone because some people really don't care for the awkward, uncomfortable humor. Although I don't necessarily agree with the recapper's opinions(in the unlikely event that Mark actually reads the link, I don't want him to get all umbraged with me about it), I think the recaps are funny.

Also, I wanted to mention that there is a Walgreen's seriously on every other corner in Chicago. I only saw one CVS, but approximately 500 Walgreen's. It just seemed strange to me.

And apparently I can't stop pressing the issue right now. This part of the above recap that I bet you did not click on and read any of was really funny to me. He is talking about David Cook's performance. "Will: "This blows. He could have rocked this out and at least made it interesting. By keeping it the same as you would see in the show he pales in comparison to the real voices that can sing it. Two last notes does not a song make. Drop the Chandelier on him. ALW will now write Idol: The Musical. The most expensive set piece will be Ryan's hair." [If I'd ever heard the song before I have no doubt I would agree more forcefully. As it is, meh. I am not ALW and I did not ask to make out with you, and yet you made that choice for me.]"

So each step she's taking is a step of faith towards who she'll be

I really enjoyed Chicago. When I think about taking a trip, I really want to go to D.C. again and maybe New York and several other places, but I never would have thought about going to Chicago. And I'm not sure why, because there's nothing wrong with it. My hotel was downtown near a lot of stuff because I got a hotel as close as possible to the federal building I had to deliver the proposal to. So I walked about for about 5 hours straight yesterday. I did some shopping (bought some skirts) and went to the Chicago Cultural Center and a museum (can't remember what it was called). I went to the Sears Tower, which was within walking distance of my hotel.
When I got there Monday night, after I checked in to the hotel I went to the Hancock Building and the security/doormen told me to go to the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor instead of paying $12 to go to the observation deck on the 94th floor. They also said, more than once, that the ladies restroom at the Signature Lounge was the place to be. So I went to there, because I take direction well. And they were right. All the walls in the restaurant (and one wall in the bathroom) were windows. It was really pretty. The nighttime view from the Hancock Building was cooler than the daytime view from the Sears Tower. Of course, after I got up there and looked down, I remembered that I have a mild fear of heights. Smooth, Andrea. I walked so much yesterday that when I finally sat down for a few minutes to eat a late lunch, my legs were shaking. It was kind of disturbing because they were shaking violently and I couldn't make them stop. And my feet are still sore today. But it was fun and I didn't even get lost or do anything stupid in the airport. It would have been more fun if I could have found someone to go with me, but it was really short notice. And I managed on my own!

It was a pretty fun weekend with our AL Benzes. We laughed a lot, as is usually the case with Dave and Rachel around. And Rachel helped me figure out something to make my hair better
(products are fun). I started showering at night a couple weeks ago and just leaving my hair alone. Apparently most people didn't realize my hair is wavy because I always pulled it straight while I dried it. Then yesterday was a pretty productive day. I got a lot done and Shannon borrowed someone's real mower and mowed the yard. It got way too tall and thick for the little one to handle. Actually, it got so thick that the real mower kept getting jammed and turning itself off. So now we know, don't wait so long ever again. It looks so much better.

I'm flying to Chicago today and I'm kind of nervous. I've never gone on a trip by myself. I think this will be good for me though. I keep thinking I've forgotten something. Also, I haven't flown in a long time. I know it's a much bigger hassle now. But I think this will be the shortest flight I've ever been on. But the flying part itself isn't what makes me nervous. Anyway, gotta go get some work done before I have to leave.

Young Adult Readings

I noticed earlier that The Face on the Milk Carton was on SoapNet and I couldn't resist watching some of it. I loved that book when I was a kid. I read the first three, and just found out there is a fourth. But I remember liking the first two a lot and thinking the third was so-so. I also distinctly recall being mad about the TV movie because they changed things (other than the fact that the movie combines the first two novels). Like they changed the Springs to the Sands and the Johnsons to the Jessmons for no real reason. How is that a big deal in the movie world? It does make some sense that they took out the twins who were her real little brothers, but I didn't see that when I was a child. And I was mad because her boyfriend Reeve was so much cuter in my head than the dude they cast (he was also Kyle on My So-Called Life). I also recall thinking it was weird that the only people with Southern accents were Sharon Stone and her new sister and even cringing some at the sister's bad acting
(cringing hold up on rewatching). Oops.

My very favorite books when I was a kid were the Anne of Green Gables series. I loved those books so much. I remember that my grandparents gave the set to my cousin for her birthday and I read the back of all of them and really wanted to read them. So when my ninth birthday came a few months later, I also got a set of the books! I was so thrilled. And I read all eight books at least eight times. I learned new words. I was such a nerd. I never looked them up in the dictionary or anything, it was all context clues, so sometimes when I would use these new words I would be a little off. Which, whatever, I was a kid. I do remember that I went through a phase in fourth grade where I said things were queer (I learned it from a book) and I couldn't figure out why my mom would yell at me for saying it. Anyway, I also remember being irritated by the movies based on the first couple of those books. They just didn't fit my mental images.

I still kind of get that way about movies based on books that I've read. Recently I saw Into the Wild and thought, while it did have beautiful scenery, it just wasn't the same as the book. It dragged more than the book, and you can tell that Sean Penn was a little too in love with his subject, where Krakauer obviously saw the folly in McCandless' actions, as well as his reasoning behind them. Penn also saw fit to add an abuse plot for his parents. Which, no, dude. He was a middle-class white kid whose parents made some mistakes(but whose parents didn't?), but there was no abuse. But apparently the real story wasn't exciting enough for Penn. In case you couldn't tell, I don't really care for Sean Penn, as a director or an actor. But that's neither here nor there. On the plus side, Alaska is very pretty.

Migraines ad infinitum

Have you ever run for an hour with a migraine? I now have. And let me tell you, I do not recommend it. By the time I was finished I really wished I would just throw up so I could feel better, but I never did. I'm glad I went even though I felt crappy. And I was nauseated all day Sunday, but I think that was just because I went to my grandma's house on Saturday and so ate like crap because my aunt was there, cooking. But it was good. It's so boring to complain about the same thing all the time, so I've been trying not to whine when my head is pounding. And apparently I am an excellent actress because my parents didn't even know I'd been having chronic migraines again until I told them I'd been back to the neurologist. So, yay for me not being super whiny.
I was making good progress on the book I've been reading, but on Saturday when I went to the gym I decided to take Harry Potter instead because it had been a long week (during which I only missed one day of running) and I deserved some frivolous reading. And then I wound up taking book 2 yesterday. Oops. Shannon's sister lent the books to her, so I'm rereading them since I read them a long time ago. And I'm a giant nerd. Yeah, despite what I said about not reading real books at the gym, I have been taking The Executioner's Song with me. It's a little slower than, say, Harry Potter, but having an hour each day when about all I can do is read is good. Well, I guess I could bring headphones and watch tv, but that would be a hassle.
Also, I have mostly been using bits of lyrics to whatever song is in my head that day as my post titles and the other day after I posted I noticed that my title said "what I am's not good..." and then I started my post by saying I was still better than Dave. I meant better at posting regularly than Dave, but I didn't realize it made a sentence when put together with the post title. It struck me as funny, especially since Dave is one of the best people I know. So I altered it a little so it wasn't as insulting. I love you, Dave-you're awesome and definitely the best big brother ever.

Wish I had an umlaut...

Did all those ads for Google's new custom time mail freak anyone else out? I find it disturbing that they are offering to help people lie to friends, family or employers, even going to so far as to not just predate e-mails, but make it appear that the receiver already read it and forgot. It seems very wrong. Almost related story: there's something wonky about our timestamping here at work and last week my supervisor was out and she e-mailed us a couple times and it kept showing our replies as being received before her e-mails. It was mildly entertaining.

I'm groggy today. I got sleepy about 15 minutes after I took my medicine last night. The bad part is, it was only half a pill and I'm going to be working my way up to two pills. I feel like I have a Benadryl or Flexeril hangover. So I had some coffee earlier. Also, I used to be a super light sleeper, but having two cats has helped break me of waking up with every little noise. They go to bed when I do so we can cuddle for a while, but then they get up and wander around after I go to sleep. Last night, I woke up at 4:27 because I heard this jingling noise. It took me a minute to figure it out because of the grogginess from the medicine, but Kazoo had walked through my room into the laundry room and started eating the cat food. Little turd! We keep the cat food in the laundry room and don't allow him in my room so that won't happen. He's uber allergic to everything and turns bright pink on his stomach when he's been eating stuff he shouldn't like cat food, garbage or people food. Anyway, I sat up just as he was coming back into my room from the laundry room and Kazoo just froze. Like, if I don't move, she won't be able to see me. Not quite, dude. He's such a ridiculous, adorable dog. I adore him, but sometimes I'm just like, really Kazoo? You needed to eat Nerds and then strew them about Shannon's bedroom? I recently discovered he likes baby carrots, apples (but no skin! see? ridiculous), bananas, and oranges. I don't generally feed him because I like to discourage the begging(and his crazy allergies), but he sits and stares at you while you eat. So I threw bits of all of those things at him (on separate days)because I wanted him to leave me alone and I didn't think he would really eat them. But he did. So now when I eat any of those things I give him little bits because he likes them and will twirl around all crazy like for them. I should know better by now...