Do You Ever Feel OCD? Do You? Do You?

In random conversation at work today, I mentioned that one of my fears is losing my hair. I don't know why, it's just one of those things I fear (not quite as bad as drowning of course, and people with masks and painted faces). Crystal mentioned that she had read somewhere about symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder (ocd) and in these symptoms was a small list of common fears of which hair loss was one. I certainly won't disagree that I can tend to be obsessive compulsive though I wouldn't say it's extreme. In fact, I think we all fall into the OCD category at times as a way to control the things that happen to us for which I find cognitive therapy helpful. Regardless, it got me wanting to look up symptoms and odd facts...so I thought I'd share! Here you are...

Preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or schedules to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost. ..

Excessively devoted to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships...

Unable to discard worn-out or worthless objects even when they have no sentimental value...

Shows significant rigidity and stubbornness...

Themed self obsessions such as fear of contamination or dirt; aggressive or horrific impulses; doubts that you've locked the door or turned off the stove; dermatitis because of frequent hand washing; hair loss or bald spots because of hair pulling..

Okay, making that list was fun, now off to bed so I can list things in alphabetical order until I fall asleep. :)



Side note...posted over at BabyBlog

What Is She Doing?

Being an idiot in St. Louis' first Idiotarod!




What it is? It's a 4 mile race through downtown St. Louis with checkpoints where challenges will be performed.

What's with the cart? The race is executed with a cart and 5 team members. Each team has a theme for which the members dress up and decorate the cart. We are the Sorta Sheep.

Why are people doing this? It's a fund raiser for Operation Food Search. Please go to the Virtual Shopping Cart, and when you are at the check out, be sure to list "The Sorta Sheep" as the company. [Remember those grade school fundraisers everyone hated...yea, well, they're back!]

I still don't get it... I don't know how else to explain this to you, but here's a shot with help from the organizers: "Downtown St. Louis Idiotarod, which pays homage to the Alaskan tradition of the Iditarod in which dogs pull a sled and musher across the Iditarod Trail. Our event is similar, except replace the dogs with people and the sled with a shopping cart, put it in downtown St. Louis, and add a heavy dose of weirdness"

Wow, this really sounds like something you'd do! You are right!! I've been envious since I heard about in New York where a friend participated. I was beyond happy to see it finally arrive here in St. Louis! My team mates are Amanda Sutter, Amy Henke, Dave Ulrey, and Chris Trowbridge! Wish us luck!

Alphabetical Order

When I can't sleep, I have a few techniques that I dazzle myself with in order to doze off. The first trick consists of a healthy dose of diphenhydramine. If that fails me, or if I manage to resist the urge to consume medication, I do the alphabet thing. It's simple, much like counting sheep.

The problem with counting sheep is that it requires too little thought and therefore my brain begins to wander again as the sheep roam about doing their own thing. So I have to do something more complex. [Once I wrote equations in my head, but I found I got so consumed with trying to remember complex ideas that I wanted to get up and write things down rather than sleep. So, I go to my good old alphabet thing.]

For ages (or since junior high school), I said the 50 States in alphabetical order. Then, when I got too used to that, I'd count how many states had A's, or double letters, or ending in vowels, etc. I rarely bore of this; however, on occasion, I like to mix things up for my brain. In these cases I list items in alphabetical order, based on theme, and repeat them until I eventually fall asleep. It never fails that eventually I just doze off with little recollection of where I even left off. For example, last night was animals...

armadillo
armadillo bear
armadillo bear crocodile
armadillo bear crocodile donkey
...you get the idea...this is my list...or as far as I got...
armadillo bear crocodile donkey elephant ferret giraffe horse impala jaguar kangaroo llama moose n..n...n...

Quotes, Stories, and Other Things

Some quotes and stories, perhaps for your amusement!

• "Well, if you take that away, it's gone"-nameless engineer
  [Really?]

• Person 1: "...decontam?"
  Person 2: "Deacon Dam? What's this?"
  Person 1: "No no, DEE-CON-TAM..."
  Person 1: "Hmm, Deacon Dam, I don't know where this is."

• One fine summer day, Eva and I ate lunch at a place called Johnny Rocket's [or something of the sort], where they have really cool jukeboxes sitting on every table. Place a nickel in and choose a lovely 50's-60's genre tune with lunch!
  
  As it always goes with the two of us together, a small child was drawn to our power. [It happens often that children are drawn to staring at us, creeping over seats or under tables to look closer, have a chat, or even steal some food. We've grown accustomed to this behavior, so this incident here was no big deal]. A small boy, maybe 3-4 years old decided he wanted to play music. Of all the tables in the diner, empty or not, the boy chose to venture towards us with his nickel. He braced himself against our table doing a slight heaving motion to reach the box. He was literally hovering over our food and drinks struggling with all his might to get to play a song. His mother finally notices and gathers him up with much effort. He was determined to play a song, and not on any jukebox, our jukebox! I do not recall if he ever got to play a tune!

• Eva and I were eating dinner at a lovely place called Noodles & Co. one fine afternoon before catching the English Beat show. As we are minding our own business having a conversation Eva notices a small child creeping ever closer to us. We both began doing the side glances by the time he was sitting next to us staring. I turned to say hello to find the boy, Damien, very chatty. It didn't take any time to jump onto the "oddity" boat by asking me, "why is your head so small?", to which I could only laugh and cry a little!

• "..For the rest of us who generally live vicariously through the interactions of our 72 dpi avatars..." -@FrankieP

• "Gramma was hot....but that baby...uh, well not so much" -Amanda

• ...the past few years I had to tone down because of sexual harassment issues, but I used to be the kind of guy that would flirt with every female I worked with except for one. One day she called me on it and said that she'd use the excuse 'not my type' except usually 'not my type' means I think the husband looks like the kind of guy that would shoot a naked guy in the back if he saw him running away..." -anon

• "Yesterday we were talking about MPR calculations for a person taking a drug therapy. Basically its to measure a person’s adherence to their medication. Well the calculation is a rolling calc and is constantly moving.
  
  So we were talking about the Depression Medication Adherence and how the calculation is always moving. So Bobby is trying to explain how “the window for it is always moving”; Pete looks at me and says “that’s so they can’t jump out of it!”...-anon
  

• In reference to my loading diagram plans..."your work is pretty, but it tells me absolutely nothing" -Jim [thanks buddy, gave me a good laugh]

• A doodle...

--------
word...
Dirty Third: A synonym for the Dirty South; derived from the terms "Dirty South" and "Third Coast".

SheepDay

Today is going to be about sheep! It's going to be about sheep because I like sheep! It's also going to be about sheep in an effort to keep my mouth shut about other things! Grrr kind of things! I do however have a quick question before I move on...is there a word to define eavesdropping with the eyes? And by this I do not mean "to spy"...so, what is the word? If there isn't one, I'll be making one up!

Sheep video by people I do not know, except two of them are twitter cohorts @ibificus and @frankiep


A picture from the lovely Kelly Schmickle


This is a sheep at my desk!


A party sheep from Skweak


A picture of a picture of Irish Sheepeses


[Added later in day]
My dream job listed on sheet of paper I was doodling on while my boss was at my desk!



Words...
paper stack: Money
go Huxtable: To settle down, find a good job, and start a family.

Amazing Carpentry, Where Do I Get One Of Those?

A couple of videos that reached me by e-mail. Amazing stuff! I want to know where I get the walking table!




Please pass along, if anyone knows who I can credit, please share!

Fallen in Shanghai

If you saw this building, that had "fallen over"...perhaps you've wondered why. Most of you are clever enough to know it had to do with the foundation, but for a more precise answer, here you are...





[For those of you that speak English...
(1) An underground garage was being dug on the south side, to a depth of 4.6 meters
(2) The excavated dirt was being piled up on the north side, to a height of 10 meters
(3) The building experienced uneven lateral pressure from south and north
(4) This resulted in a lateral pressure of 3,000 tonnes, which was greater than what the pilings could tolerate. Thus the building toppled over in the southerly direction.]

WORK BLOGGING, again!

I blogged for work, please go take a look!

It's about square dancing!

Amusing stuff, if you ask me!

Cute Wedding

This made me smile on a day when I need everything I can get to smile . . .

Shameless Scoundrel and Other Things

Shameless Scoundrel

IS this really worth ANYONE's time??

Other things...

Huh, well I forgot....maybe later?

My Dictionary

I've been told by a few random (and some more specific) people that I tend to use words that appear to be "made up". Now I admit that I do have a whole vocabulary of words that I use that are probably not in any dictionary. One for instance is "hippie-fied". Or another for example is "bloggy". There are however words that I love to use that happen to be real words (believe it or not)! I thought that you, my loyal readers (thanks to all three of you), should have the benefit of seeing a small list of my favorite words, real and fake! [I have placed a link with each word that may or may not have anything to do with the word, it's just fun this way]

facetious: One my all time favorite words first noted in my brain by They Might Be Giants (stop squirming Mike). It means to be funny as opposed to being serious, as in, to joke with another. I tend to use it when asking someone if they are making fun of me rather than making a compliment!

idiosyncrasies (alt: idiosyncratic): I first heard this word on the History Channel when in high school and made a mental vow to use it at every opportunity I could. I have a feeling that instead of that mental note, the one that actually got interpreted by my brain was "become as idiosyncratic as often as possible". Oh well, you can't win them all. This word is meant to define an peculiar characteristic. As in, "Stephanie's usage of user-created words is very idiosyncratic making her a one of a kind writer'! [On a side note, I tend to leak sarcasm far too often]

onomatopoeia: a previously blogged term, I like to say this word. It may have nothing to do with a conversation at hand or a song I am listening to; it's just fun to say. It is defined as the word used to define/describe/verbalize a sound. For example, the word oink is defined as the sound a pig makes "oink".

bloggy: a word to define my mood. I do not say that I feel like writing or that I am inspired; I choose to say "I feel bloggy".

percolator: A toaster for water.

obsequious: Another TMBG word (I mean it Mike, STOP squirming). Say it, OB-SEE-KWEE-US, see that was fun! It means to be subservient or submissive.

REVITized: To describe the transition from a two dimensional drawing into a 3 dimensional object.

eff: a shortened version of Fuck. Why shorten by only one letter? F looks unfinished.

sheepeses: Multiple sheep. Duh!

Jeepers Criminey: Okay, so this is more of a phrase, but I like it indeed. It's beats the heck out of shouting "mother effer", "Jesus Christ", or "Fookin' Fiddle Sticks".

Drew, I Think You'll Dig Today's Word

Ah, what a beautiful morning it is! It's freezing and there was a significant earthquake in Italy, wonderful! (Give me a second to clean up the sarcasm spewing from every pore)!

So my friend Clint (or at least I'm claiming him as my friend) is in Italy for work. I Facebook'd him this morning as soon as I found out about the It'y earthquake to make sure he was okay, and he is! He was about 400 miles from the epicenter (for states people, that would be from about St. Louis, MO to Columbus, OH). Likely enough to have felt it, but considering that I do not know what the soil and ground conditions are, it is hard to say for certain. I feel I have some authority in this disposition as I did after all write my Master's thesis on seismic retrofit of existing structures. This did require some research into the effects of earthquakes of any magnitude and distance.

Anyway, enough bragging about the my splendid intelligence (damn it, more spewing sarcasm, what a gooey mess)!

As you might have noticed, I like to encourage people to look at sites or images, whatever it may be, that I find interesting. Sometimes I like those things because they were creative, or odd, or right up my alley. In any case, I hope you take the chance to at least click on the links. It's very exciting for people to see how many hits they get on a website, to see who refers them, and to get noticed. People like to be noticed, as I'm sure you do too!

On that note, here is a list of sites (from previous blogs):
O'Connell's, my favorite place to have a few (has the best bartenders)
Art work by Jason Potter, graphic arts guru!
Dan Z., yet another amazing artist.
My blog crush Justin, awesome sense of humor!
HOK Life-what's going on where I work (my cult in other words)
A book I want to read!
I LOVE, and I mean LOVE books, especially pop-up books, so these two books are on my "Buy this for me" list! Nightmares, and phobias!
Something else on my "buy me this" list!
For foodies!
For bookies! (ha, not that kind)


If you have some cool sites, send them my way, and if I like them as well, I'll stick them in a blog and encourage people to read!


Words of today and the weekend (Drew, I think you'll dig today's word):
(weekend's word)
sauce: Very good. Amazing.
In Use: The TV show CSI is sauce.

(today's word)
porkchop: Police helicopter.
In Use: The porkchop is hunting for perps tonight.

Happy Birthday Fella

How could I forget!? Today is:

Stubby's birthday!

Happy Birthday fella, sorry to make you!

........
Now onto the other things I wanted to talk about but got interrupted by work!

Dream

I can barely recall what my dream was about last night, except for one clip. My dogs had red irritated skin with bites all over them; I had decided we had bed begs.

........
My Sleeping Arrangements

Last night I tried to lay down in bed. I had Riley's butt resting on me, and Bella literally sitting on my shoulder. I told them to move, they would fidget and come right back. I wanted to have room, I wanted to sleep alone! I took my two pillows (one for sleeping and the other for snuggling) and went to the couch. Bella seemed to think that I was leaving her so she followed and climbed up on the couch. She couldn't curl up at my feet, she instead had to trudge her way along between me and the back of the couch where she proceeded to snore for the rest of the night! Therefore I did not sleep well. Riley was at my feet not allowing me to pull the afghan up over my shoulders. So there I was freezing, awake, and not alone on the couch. I think I'm supposed to be appreciative of this!

........
25 Things

I was inspired today to write 25 things after reading Kelly's blog. Kelly wrote about 25 food things; I happen to think food is gross so I will write 25 of my favorite non-sappy lyrics to occupy my time, as this will take all day. I'm sticking to only songs on my Zune, so covers will be listed by the person on my Zune. (Give me some credit, I'm at work with headphones on, it's just what popped into my head)


1. "I don't believe in cool, I went to summer school" Creeper Lagoon, Chance of a Lifetime

2. "I'm wearing fur pajamas" Talking Heads, Wild Wild Life

3. "You're gonna make me spill my beer if you don't learn how to steer" Wilco, Passenger Side

4. "I won't tell a soul except the people in the night club where I sing" Old 97's, Designs On You

5. "You're so cool you could have put out Vietnam" Shane Macgowan, Haunted

6. "They were guzzling marshmallows and then jumping off the Empire State" Robyn Hitchcock, Balloon man

7. "The KKK took my baby away" Ramones, The KKK Took My Baby Away

8. "Everybody can do the ska, it's a new dance you can't resist" I have no idea

9. "Blame it on being a girl" Old 97's, No Baby I

10. "From the embryonic whale to the monkey with no tail" They Might Be Giants, Mammal

11. "All the times when we were close, I'll remember these things the most" The Clash, Train in Vain

12. "Just because you're better than me doesn't mean I'm lazy" Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards, To Have And To Have Not

13. "I said I like your 2tone clothes, she said I like your broken nose" Bad Manners, Skinhead Love Affiar

14. "I got embarrased and I decked the sale's clerk, stole the wig and ran like hell" Kevin Devine, Haircut

15. " I promise these last years of loving you will be the best years of them all" Mike Ness, If You Leave Before Me (okay a sappy one got in!)

16. "If you were a TV show baby you would've been cancelled" Screeching Weasel, Crying in My Beer

17. "Looks like somebody forgot about us, standing on the corner, waiting for the bus" Violent Femmes, Waiting for the Bus

18. "Mrs. Ewe and Mr. Ram, where did you get that lovely lamb?" The Specials, Stupid Marriage (I like sheep)

19. "Got a light? smoke it up, Zig Zag, Roll it up" Tim Armstrong, Take This City

20. "If I fall back down, you're gonna be my friend" Rancid, Fall Back Down

21. "The way that you sleep is the image I'll keep, always on the edge of my mind" Old 97's, Bird in a Cage

22. "Casino Queen, my lord you're mean" Wilco, Casino Queen

23. "I gotta check for nothing, all made out to someone" Old 97's, The One

24. "It is time for to realize, and try and be your little size" Madness, Taller Than You Are

25. "I walk into the bar and I put in twenty buck because I know people's taste in music sucks" Bouncing Souls, Bullying the Jukebox

I Might Punch You In the Head

I needed, or at least wanted to blog again. These days I have been living lately have been so weird. A lot of people are getting bad news, a lot of people are getting good news, and it's all very bizarre stuff! I have opinions on most of these things; but I won't share them because they will likely NOT have any positive impact, and I don't think people will want to hear my opinions. Besides, it's all too much to share right now in a blog. For those of you that are uncomfortable with the word "blog", replace that word with "journal" or "story"!

So for starters, my day is going okay, you know run of the mill sort of stuff. Amanda and I agree to go to lunch across the street from my building. She gets there and shows me a note the cops left on her door last night. Very odd note. Anyway, it has to do with a friend, that for privacy reasons I will call Jeanette. So Jeanette is having some problems, we'll leave it at that; and no one can find her. The cops finally got her to answer her phone. She is at least as far as we know, okay. She's not in any trouble, but she left a note with a dentist that alarmed everyone.

I walk Amanda part of the way back to her building to ask if there is anything I can do to help; en route, the conversation unfolds like this:

Amanda referring to my beloved mobile phone says "You know you're addicted?" I respond, "To what, my phone?" Then...CONK...right in my head with her fist as she shouts "Juneau!"

I mean seriously, who punches people in the head while shouting "Juneau!"? The answer to that is Amanda! You see, she has these made up games in her head that she doesn't tell anyone that she's playing; so out of nowhere you might get smacked or punched in the head while she shouts words out! She gave me the rules, here they are:

CAPITOLS GAME If you see a license plate for a state to which you know the capitol, you can shout it out and punch the other person in the arm; however, if the state is Alaska, you get to punch the other person in the head; if the state is Hawaii, you get to punch them in the face! The exceptions are the state you are in, or any state that touches the state you are in; for instance, if you are in Missouri, you can't shout out Springfield when you see an Illinois license plate!

Yea, so I'm not going to dwell there, if you don't get it, just be forewarned that I might punch you in the head one day for what appears to be no reason at all. If I would have known this game back in the day, while in Ireland of all places, I would have punched Eva in the face while shouting "Honolulu"!

Anyway, it gets more bizarre, we get to a corner where I go back my way and she continues on her way. Right in the middle of conversation she points behind me and says, "It's a giant rabbit". I look, there is nothing there. She says, "No it's there and giant". I still don't see it! "The plastic thing across the next street!" Oh, wait I see it! What the hell man!?! I'm far too confused to get more confused! She made me laugh anyway, so not all bad I suppose.

Could Maybe Have Something to Do With . . .

Well, I finally made it to Friday. This week feels like it has been forever; long, stressful, and sad! The really bright side right now is that I am working in a spreadsheet. It's like wrapping yourself in a warm comfy good smelling blanket!

So, yesterday was a really weird day for me, weird things happened, I've begun wondering if I am insane or not. It's like God, that I do not believe exists, was talking to me (no, there were not voices)! I don't discuss religion, so I won't dwell on it in this blog. I also don't want to dwell on it for fear that someone will point out that I am actually very insane. I'm also just not a theologian, so, no point in this discussion; however for the sake of commentary on my life, I, for the first time in years, (in fact so long ago, I can't even recall) I actually prayed. I don't know who I prayed/talked to, I don't know why I did it, I don't even want to wonder why I did it. I just did. I prayed for a lot, for instance, I prayed that Badger would not think I'm insane for praying and just really in need of some sort of understanding as well as for him to figure out his work situation. I prayed the same for Amanda as well (whose opinion I think highly of), and that for her to have some amazing strength (which she already has) to get through everything that is going on with her life. I prayed for my mom to be healthy. I prayed for Eva to be healthy. I prayed for Shane to get some sleep. I prayed for Holly to get a break for once. I don't know how this prayer thing works, I did after all give up on it years ago. Maybe I asked for too much. All I know is that it didn't kill me. I'm not ready to be converted and I don't even want to see a single comment from anyone on this subject. It's literally just a commentary on my life right now!

So part of my prayer was for my mom, who is okay at the moment. Yesterday she was in urgent care with some leg pains that they thought were blood clots. She was scanned and told that was not the problem. I really hope they are right and didn't miss something with the scan. I need my mommy!

Badger picked out some plants for the house/backyard. They are lovely, I don't want to maintain them, but they will look great if properly cared for. I like to garden, I'm just not in the mood to do it!

Rachel K. is still in the hospital, no baby yet, but doing well. Hopefully she can hold out longer for the baby's health and well being.

Rachel M. is coming to town in about 3 weeks. She will be staying at my house in a spare room for part of her trip. I love when my friends come and visit and stay with me.

I am taking Emily to the airport on Saturday morning so she can head back to New York. Emily is who Amanda and I went to visit in New York. She was in town for her dad's funeral (Em is Mandy's sis). I met Em's friends Tim and April yesterday. I think they were decent people, but I really didn't chat with them or anything. Tim was very nice.

I rented a WeCar yesterday to get around to Nowhere, Illinois and back to the city.

I'm supposed to go to a jewelry party tonight, but will play it by ear to see how much work I'll have. I also think I'm getting sick. Could maybe have something to do with licking the Empire State Building. Oh well!

Anyway, I need to be finish this up and getting on with work.
So I will leave you with the word of the day!

hip replacement: The process of introducing a formerly cool person to a product or idea that attempts to make them cool again. Reinventing an individual's public persona through association or action.

In use: Quentin Tarantino gave John Travolta a hip replacement with Pulp Fiction.