Thursday my cable internet went out. Right as I was attempting to upload the new house pictures I'd taken on Wednesday. I'd had a lot of temporary outage problems with my current provider (making me thankful that they don't provide service at the new house) so I assumed that was the problem. But since I had the same issue on Friday, and discovered my phone line (also provided by the cable company) was dead, I thought I might give them a call. A fantastically helpful woman did everything she could to troubleshoot the problem, but was unable to come up with a solution. So she scheduled a technician to come pay me a visit on Sunday morning. I didn't even know Sunday mornings were an option, but apparently for this company they are! I made the appointment and hung up.

The more I thought about it, the dumber that decision appeared. The new house cable internet and phone will be connected on Friday. So having a cable guy come fix the internet at my apartment so I could use it for only 5 days seemed stupid. I called Saturday to cancel the Sunday technician and cancel the internet and phone service. (The TV service was still fully functional, so I left that one alone.) A fantastically UNhelpful man did nothing but make me want to go down to the call center and punch him directly in the head. I explained that I'd not had service for 3 days, and that since I was moving shortly anyhow, I wanted to save Tech Guy some time and not have him come out. I also told him that I wanted to cancel the service effective immediately, since it's not working anyhow. Why pay when I can't use it? So Mr. Unhelpful cancels the appointment. Then proceeds to tell me that he can't cancel the service until I bring in my equipment, regardless of the fact that they haven't been providing me service for the last 3 days, but I'll be expected to pay them for it. Ok fine, nevermind the canceling of the Tech Guy, I'll just get it fixed since I have to pay for it anyhow. He proceeds to tell me that i now have to reschedule my appointment (since he canceled that first rather than canceling the service), and the next available tech appointment is THURSDAY (the day before the new house gets it's internet service). Um, what? I just canceled an appointment for 10am tomorrow, but there's nothing else until Thursday? Screw that. I'm not paying for an entire week of internet service that I can't even use. So I had to drive over to the payment center and bring them my cable modem to cancel my service. My apartment is without the internet, as is the new house. My phone has net, as does work, so I'm not completely untethered to the electronic world. But I am unable to upload the pictures of the house that I've taken. Sorry!

I will try to sneak them on to my work computer sometime this week, but work has suddenly become busy, so I'm not sure when that'll be. At the very latest, pics will be posted Friday as a test of the new cable installation at the house!

So my plan was to write a big post yesterday about it being the year anniversary of my kidney donation, and all that fun stuff. But then I realized you guys have heard it all before, and nothing has really changed. So instead, I’m going to tell you how I plan to make a minor but meaningful change to my life.

I am not a creative person. Coming up with an original idea is always very hard for me, but I actually do well at refining or working with other people’s ideas. Because the idea is never my own, I always feel bad about stealing from other people. But this time I don’t feel bad, since it’s such a great idea.

When we were kids (at least when I was a kid) we didn’t have e-mail or Twitter or text messages, or Facebook or any of the other thousand ways people keep in touch now. We had the phone and the USPS. I remember getting excited any time I got something in the mail, which was all of once a year for my birthday. When I got older, friends would send me Christmas and/or Hanukkah cards, and again I was excited. A couple months ago I was in need of a cute baby shower card, and I went to my card expert friend for advice. It was all downhill from there. I have become addicted to cards of all types (and subsequently made a new friend through visiting her shop). But, because of this addiction and a post made recently, I’ve also become inspired.

From now on I’m sending at least 2 snail mail cards or postcards to my friends or family each week. Just a note to say hi or happy birthday, or thanks for being a good friend. (Yes, Jenn, the misplaced Christmas cards are coming). I sent out a couple this week, and I was amazed at how happy it made me. I’m hoping, once the cards are received, that they’ll be just as pleased as I was. I also hope it inspires other people to do the same, because really, what’s better than getting random love from your friends?

• My ankle isn’t quite healed enough for me to feel comfortable starting my Couch to 5K program, so that’s being postponed a week. Especially since…
• Step Out: Walk for Diabetes is this coming Saturday! If you haven’t had the chance to donate, or if you’ve managed to squeeze out a couple dollars since the last time I begged for money, click here to sponsor me. I’m about 50% toward my personal goal, with 6 days left to collect!
• Someone found this blog by Googling “Mia is the cutest dog ever.” I could not possibly agree more, and welcome to the blog!
• I have just about finished culling through my Hawaii pictures and picking out the greatest shots from that glorious vacation. Yes, it’s been a month and a half. I’ve been a lazy busy girl!
• And for your DUH moment of the day, I offer you this slightly blurry, yet amusing picture:

Salt? In a salt packet? NO FRIGGIN WAY!

It's funny how I find myself going through such phases with this blog. When I first started writing, it was all I could think about. I checked the stats a few times an hour and would be ecstatic when I saw that someone hit my blog. (Of course, at the time I was getting 5 hits a day. 4 of them from me) Of course, I wasn't writing all that much, but I still kept looking to see if people were reading! Then I really got into the writing part, and less into caring if people were reading. I joined NaBloPoMo last November, which created a whole new group of readers, and forced me to write every single day for a month. At the time, and for a while after, I was really enjoying blogging and sharing my crazy thoughts with others.

Right after having surgery this year, the blog became a little less important to me. I considered forgetting the whole thing, because I just didn't want to do it anymore. It didn't help that I was feeling lousy while recovering from the donation, my marriage had finally fallen apart after dragging on miserably for a couple years, and life in general was pretty crappy. I think the only reason I didn't close it all down was that I was simply too lazy to do anything about it. I still posted now and again, hoping to find a way to get myself excited about it again, but it just didn't happen.

Recently I've found myself right back where I started. I'm excited about writing again. I find myself writing posts in my head throughout the day, and itching to get them on the screen. I don't know if it's because I'm so much happier now, or because my brain is preparing for next month's NaBloPoMo, or a combination of the two, but I'm really liking it. It's ironic, a little, that I'm so much happier with life now, but the tone of my posts lately don't exemplify it. I think part of me is a little afraid to be all mushy and gushy about how freaking happy I am lately, that I'm overcompensating with negativity. I'm trying hard to create a balance, and I hope you'll see it soon.  

Since my last post was such an ugly post (although it did make me feel better) I decided to write a light and fun post today.

I blatantly stole this from The Daily Meme. I have no shame.

The Countdown Meme!

Ten movies you’d watch over and over: 10 Things I Hate About You, The Lion King, Usual Suspects, Miss Congeniality, Shrek, Rent, P.S. I Love You, Chasing Amy, Catch & Release, Sweet Home Alabama

Nine people you enjoy the company of: Donald, Jen, Jenn, Kerry, Tony, Kelly, Debbie, Heather, Kathy (If I didn’t name you, don’t be upset! I can only choose 9!)

Eight things you’re wearing: T-shirt, Jeans, Socks, Shoes, Earrings (4), Ring, Underwear, Bra

Seven things on your mind: Buying a house, tonight’s Angel game, having kids, having breakfast, getting some work done, cleaning my house, weekend plans

Six objects you touch every day: Mia, my phone, a keyboard, my keys, a fridge door, paper

Five things you do everyday: Wake up, whine about waking up, tell someone I love them, eat, check e-mail

Four bands or musical artists that you couldn’t live without: Metallica, Matt Nathanson, Brad Paisley, Unwritten Law (Do you know hard it was to pick just 4? I tried to pick 4 bands/artists that represent my eclectic tastes, but it was very hard to narrow down!)

Three of your favorite songs of the moment: Defying Gravity (Wicked Soundtrack), Calling All Angels (Train), Lookin’ For a Good Time (Lady Antebellum)

Two people who have influenced your life the most: Dad, Jason

One person who has been nice to you today: Donald

I’m not going to tag anyone to do this, since no one really tagged me. But if you decide to do it, let me know! I’d love to see yours!

By the way, please don’t forget Step Out! Any help you can give is much appreciated! Thanks to everyone who’s already donated!