A Few of My Favorite Things - Day 7

DAY 7: THE "I'M FEELING BETTER" DAY

You know that first day you know you're better after being sick?  Not that first day you start to recover... and not that day when everyone else realizes you're better.  No, that first day that you know that you're better.

That day where you've got the once-in-a-while sniffle and the one-time-every-5-hours cough.  That day where you feel like you could take on a bull elephant with a Q-Tip and some bikini wax.  That day everyone else tells you to "take it easy and get better" and you just want to cram a flaming spear down their gullet because you know you're again ready to take on the world.  Take it on hard.  And fast.  And without any lube.

Yeah... that day.

This photo is in no way relevant... just fun.

I'm having that day today.

And I just realized that day is actually one of my favorite things.

So screw you, world!  That day is today!  And I hope the way I took you on was consensual!

A Few of My Favorite Things: Day 6

DAY 6: CAMPBELL'S CONDENSED CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Chicken Noodle with lots of ingredients is all well and good... but no match for condensed when under the weather.

I am quite ill today.  And when that happens, there's only one thing I want: the unadulterated glory of condensed chicken noodle soup.

Go soup!

A Few of My Favorite Things: Day 5

DAY 5: DRUNK SANTA

You'd think this one speaks for itself...

I can't say a whole lot about Drunk Santa, other than he makes me happy.  Some careless individual at Target, or perhaps some inconsiderate jackass customer, make up this product in such a manner as to brighten up my Christmas spirits.  Given that I'm not a particularly religious person and that I don't celebrate Christmas anymore, but rather Zombie Christmas, it can be tough to light my Christmas fire.

I felt it was my solemn responsibility to preserve the memory of Drunk Santa via photo for 3 reasons:

1) Leaving Drunk Santa on the shelf gave hundreds of lucky children everywhere (who go to that particular store, at least) a chance to see who Santa really is... absolutely, 100%, and without question (probably).

2) Bringing Drunk Santa home and setting him up as Drunk Santa is less a Christmas miracle and more "that guy who makes Santa look drunk in his home."

3) Drunk Santa is actually pretty ugly.  I can think of better, and possibly even more drunk, Santas to spend my money on.

Drunk Santa - I raise my glass to you in the hopes that you'll continue to confuse Christmas trees with urinals and wrapped presents with toilet bowls.

A Few of my Favorite Things: Day 4

DAY 4 - STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE

I love Star Trek.  It's got certain qualities that I haven't seen in other sci-fi television or movie series.

Conversely, I used to like Star Wars.  But that was a long time ago. I grew out of that phase sometime during the Special Edition Trilogy.  I didn't realize it until the nightmare that was the Prequel Trilogy, but I think that's where Lucas lost me and Roddenberry took over.

See, from my point of view, Star Wars is purely about one story: here's what happened to these people during this war (also...bonus incest!)

Trek has always offered more than that.  The characters are deeper.  The stories often have an undertone.  And, of course, TV series format has the added advantage of giving an audience the same characters over an extended period.  It allows for emotional bonds to be built and characters to develop real personalities.

To add some specificity... Deep Space Nine has proven itself to be the deepest of the Trek series.

Now don't get me wrong... deep down, the Enterprise will always have a dear place to me.

That's our favorite lady...

And Jean-Luc Picard is still the best Starfleet captain out there (and Data is still the best science officer).

I think they can see us...

But Deep Space Nine had a stationary vantage point that made the story revolve more around how the characters responded to what proved to be their extra curricular activities.  See... Sisko and company couldn't just up and fly around the galaxy like Picard could.  The direct consequences of each episode could be felt for seasons to come.

Add in some of the more thought provoking show elements, and you've got a hell of an enjoyable and re-watchable series in the works.

Some of my favorites, in no particular order:

1) The Prophets - what if God was really a super powerful alien who actually proved to be confused with how we perceive the universe?  The Prophets understood what Bajor was, and who the Bajorans were... but they couldn't really guide Bajoran lives from point A to B to C... because to them, points A, B, and C are all already done.  No linear time to guide them.

2) The Cardassian/Bajoran relationship - just what happens when an oppressed people is practically forced to change their relationship with their bitter rivals overnight?  We still hear the horror stories of the Holocaust today... and the wounds of American slavery are still recent in the eyes of history... but we're talking 50 or 100 years removed.  How do those people who were directly involved cope only days or weeks or months after the fact?

Also, I can't forget my sweet Deep Spaceball Nine hat.

Best hat I ever got.

So, at any rate, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I salute you.  Welcome to my favorite things.

A toast to the Favorite Things from the Alpha Quadrant's greatest bromance!

A Few of My Favorite Things: Day 3

DAY 3: COFFEE MAKER IN THE BEDROOM

I keep my coffee maker in the bedroom.

Right next to the bed.

In fact, I can reach the coffee maker more easily than I can reach my phone (also my alarm clock) and my laptop.

It actually rocks.  A lot.

Borrowed without permission from ineedcoffee.com - no intrusion meant, guys!  Keep up the good work!

I made this move for a couple of reasons.

1) I love the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.

2) I love a cup of fresh coffee in the morning.

3) I'm terrible about using the kitchen in the morning.

Putting the coffee maker in the bedroom ensures that I wake up smelling coffee, and that I don't forget to actually pour myself a cup in the morning.  Seriously, this was a common problem for me.  I'd go through the trouble of setting a pot to auto brew for the morning, then completely forget to grab a cup until I was halfway to work.

Now I actually wake up in the morning to the sound of percolating coffee.  It is genuinely a peaceful way to wake up, and certainly better than the jarring blare of my phone's alarm.  I then get to relax in bed for a few minutes, absorbing the morning, before I'm up and about and on the way to work.

Thank you coffee maker in the bedroom.  You've made such an impact on my morning routine that you've made my list as item #3 of my favorite things!

A Few of My Favorite Things…DAY 2

DAY 2 : THE DRIVE HOME

I leave for work at 6 AM every morning.  Before the sun comes up.  9 days out of 10, I come home more than 12 hours later, well after the sun has set.  That means I live, quite literally, in the dark.  I occasionally see the sun on my days off (I see it at work, too… but work sun is different from non-work sun apparently).

Incidentally, that sort of scheduling means I don’t have time for normal daytime people things.  Like banking in a real bank (not that I ever really did that when I did work reasonable hours… it would just be nice to know I could if I wanted to).

Add in the fact that I spend most of my days getting yelled at by customer who don’t know what they’re even yelling about, and when they aren’t yelling at me, one of my teammates is doing something so stupid that I have to yell at them.   Cap that off with a healthy dose of my superiors yelling at me (next week, for example, will be a doozy – my personal sales suck this week because I’ve been engrossed in doing yearly performance evaluations and I just know I’m going to hear about that next week), and I often leave work more stressed out and riled up that a T-Rex dosing on meth and Surge.

Which is why the drive home is the second installment on my list of favorite things.

I live in Sarasota.

I work in Apollo Beach.

This looks nothing like either of those places.  Except the road.  I guess those look the same anywhere.

In normal traffic, I can expect that trip to take roughly 45 minutes.  And I enjoy every second of it.  A chance to drive fast, crank up the radio, and wind down.

There’s nothing quite like the piece that comes from a glorious detached limbo.  A separation from work stress and home-based chores.  A good chance to recharge my batteries so by the time I get home, I’m neither angry nor frustrated (or, at least, I can minimize those feelings instead of feeling the need to club a baby seal).

The drive home, thank you for letting me keep my home and work lives separate.  I salute you as one of my 29 favorite things.

I simply remember my favorite things...

...and then I won't rant so much.

I rant a lot.

I rant at home.  I rant at work.  Sometimes I even rant in between home and work.

I don't know why I rant.  I just do.  And I'm beginning to think all that ranting can't possibly be good for me over the long term.  So I've decided that February will be rant-free.  Indeed, February will be a POSITIVE month.

Maybe it's the impending doom that a bunch of dead Mayans foretold.  Maybe it's the novelty of the leap year. Hard to say, really.

So instead of a month's worth of rants, I will be going through 29 of my favorite things (1 a day) for the next month.

So here we go.  My first favorite thing to kick off my Fantasically Favorite February Festival... drum roll please...

1) GIRLS IN SUNDRESSES

I think it's fair to say with full confidence and without exaggeration that girls in sundresses are such a joy that the sheer level of awesomeness surpasses sliced bread, rocket-powered snow shoes, and Mountain Dew put together.  Case in point...

Thank you for being you, T Mobile Girl.  And also for providing me with acceptable cell phone services

Something about a sundress speaks of a simpler time.  A time before tedious reports, office politics, burnt dinners, wars on terrors, poorly managed governments, and obnoxious personal schedules.

Maybe it's the airy nature of the sundress itself.  Or the playfulness.  The vibrancy of color, perhaps.  Could even be the organic and peaceful flow of the design.  The way it all comes together makes the sundress one of my secret weaknesses (the other being Kryptonite).

Girls in sundresses are the only conceivable benefit I can imagine to living in Florida.  I hear all year long that Florida is one of those "paradise" states... much like Eden or Risa.  But I never really see it... until I realize that holy crap...it's January, and there's a girl in a sundress.

So to all the girls out there in sundresses (bonus points for January sundress wearers), I salute you.  Thank you for making my life just a little better, and thank you for helping me kick off 29 of my favorite things.