Well, it's the holiday that bears my name. New Year's! What? Happy Year. Feliz año. My last name would be too long if they translated the whole thing to 'Feliz año nuevo'. The Feliciano's will be partying it up tonight! Like we do every year, I'm heading out to my cousin's place, where we eat, eat, and eat.

2002 has been a good year to me. Sure, it's had its ups and downs, but a lot of great things have happened this year. I got engaged. Claudine got into med school. Fatima learned she would graduate (finally). Maui and Jane had a baby, the start of the next generation of cousins. I've met a ton of new and interesting people thanks to this lil' blog here. There were a lot of bright spots in my life this year.

So I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous 2003. Be safe today!

This could very well be the last post before I bring over the new format. Hopefully it will be tomorrow, but chances are, it will be the day after.

Whew! The Bears were shut out yesterday in an embarrassing game. Urlacher did what he could, but without offense doingtheir job (which is to score, in case they forgot), you're not gonna win the game. You'd think that after the first two interceptions that Burris would try passing to someone in a Bears uniform. Well, to his credit, I did see him throw one SWEET pass. But still. I'm so happy that this season is over. Let's use this time to reflect and look to next year. And heal, boys, heal. Hope that next year we don't have as many injuries.

And since I'm complaining about the Bears, let me show you a picture of lovely Soldier Field before it was gutted and torn up:

Ahh, so pretty. So nice. Historical. A place where a lot of magic happened. Sweetness. Gale Sayers. Iron Mike. Dick Butkus. A beautiful stadium. Which will be transformed to this monstrosity:

Ack! Ugly! A spaceship has landed in Soldier Field! Who gave the OK for this design, anyway? I find it really sad. They could have at least stayed with the classic design of the stadium. I can't handle the two architectural styles. BAH!!!!

On other sporting fronts, watch out for the latest Michael Jordan Gatorade commercial. Can't find a link to it, but let me tell ya, it's pretty badass! Michael Jordan of the present faces off against young Michael of the Bulls (complete with hair!). I love the trash talking in the spot. And the end gives me a little giggle, too.

Since the new year is coming up, I decided to give you all a little preview of the new site. Actually, the site looks exactly the same, I'm just changing around some of the formatting and fixing up the content. Just click on the 'pics' link up on top (or just click on the word pics) to check out the newly formatted picture pages. Sorry for you dialup people. Sucks to be you, I've got thumbnails! Someday, when I win the lottery, I'll get you all DSL connections.

I'm feeling really sick right now, and I've taken a couple DayQuils. I've got to cancel my blood donation. And I was kinda looking forward to losing a couple ounces before the new year. And the free cookies. And juice. Oh, and saving a life, too *wink*. Will have to do it in 2003.

So I'm at church this morning, and I look up at the altar servers, and who do I see? None other than our favorite scarred wizard in training, Harry Potter. It was him. I swear. He had the glasses and everything. I always thought that he would be Anglican. But he's Catholic! Who would have thought?

Me and my family went out to eat at the banquet hall where I'm having my reception. They seemed to like the place. The food was OK. The chicken was really good, but the meatballs were so-so. Oh, by the way, there's a big update on my wedding blog. You'll be able to check out my hall and the church where I'm getting married.

Ohh..I'm watching the Bears right now, and URLACHER IS KICKING SOME BOOTAY! Whoo hoo! How awesome is he? Awesome enough to be the number one selling jersey in the NFL! He's just broken Dick Buttkis' record of tackles in a season (is that it?). I love this game. Did anyone see the MudBowl yesterday? It must have been really fun for the Chiefs and Raiders to play on a muddy field, in the pouring rain yesterday. It was cool to watch them schloshing around. Every time they ran, a big *splash* would happen. Good times! Good times!

Since the New Year is coming up, I thought I post up my multiple resolutions...I like to have a lot, because I never stick with 'em anyway...

1) Exercise at least 2 times a week (right now I'm at 0 times)
2) No more snacking after 9pm
3) I will not renew any more of my magazines. I never read them anyway.
4) I will not buy any more magazines at the airport.
5) I will take more pictures with my camera. There's a lot of times that I really wish that I had taken some pictures.
6) I will be better with returning voicemails and replying to emails.
7) I will submit my consultant reports and my expense reports right after I return from a trip.
8) I will try and get at least 4 hours of sleep each night
9) I will get a new membership card to Bally's
10) I will put gas in my car BEFORE the gas light turns on
11) I will watch my posture. I'm a big sloucher.
12) I will try and schedule my time more efficiently at work.

Um, I think that's all for now...

OK....been on and off cleaning my room.

Here's a little thing I found on a message board...Feel free to answer 'em if you want. I think that they're pretty interesting questions...

1. If someone tripped over chairs in a public place staring at you, what would be your first assumption for the reason for their actions?
They tripped because they were staring at me. Do I have a booger?

2. If you got clothes you hated for Christmas, do you ask where they got them so you can exchange or ask for a receipt or throw it in the back of a drawer or wear them cause you don't care what you look like?
No, there's many occasions that I don't really care about where heinous clothes are OK to wear.

3. What do you think of that West Virginia guy that just won 314.9 million?
Man! When's it my turn!? Too bad after taking the lump sum it's only 100 million something...;)

4. If a picture of you wearing nothing but a red sheet was up in a public place and you had to be there one evening and people stared at you: how would you handle the admiration/fame?
I would avoid the location where the poster is, and if anyone mentioned it, I would just smile and say 'Thank You'

5. If you had a mother-in-law and you hated her, but she bought you a ton of great Christmas presents: would you try to like her or is it that you cannot be bought?
I always try to like people, but if I didn't like her already, good presents aren't going to do anything for her. Oh, but I'm not giving back the presents!

6. If you had to take care of someone's house and pets while they were gone and you couldn't get a door open, would you try to kick it in?
I'd look for a window first. Trying to kick in doors hurts.

7. Does it bug you that people stare at you in public while you're eating?
No. It would bother me if they were counting my chews, though.

8. If you had to take care of someone's house, and they left you more than a page of things to do while they are gone for TWO full DAYS, like water their plants that look like they haven't been watered in a month...etc. Would you do it? (Hypothethically, they are really nice people)
Yeah. I'm a sucker for that stuff. That's a good idea, though, I'm thinking of maybe going on a trip and finding some sucker to clean my room while I'm gone.

9. How long could you work at a high paying job that you were totally bored with?
Forever. You can find many things to do when you're bored at work.

10. How many days late did you return your last video rental or library book? What's your personal record for late returns?
4 days. Luckily, Blockbuster doesn't charge per day. It just renews the rental. My personal record is 25 days. I was away on Christmas break and I forgot about the movie.

11. If a belly-dancer was scheduled to be at your work for a birthday surprise, would you react?
I'd make sure I had batteries in my camera. And a notebook to take notes. That could be a good skill to have.

It seems that I have lost the floor of my room. Have you seen it? I think it's come to the point where I really must tidy up around here. It's getting even a little too messy for me! And I like having a clean room for the new year. You know, starting the new year right.

Yesterday, I totally fell asleep. I was supposed to go out and hang out with 'Alki-Man' and his amazing friends, but I put my head down for a little nap at 9 and have a fuzzy recollection of Fatima trying to wake me up at 11, and then next thing I know, its 3 in the morning. Sorry guys, I'll have to come out and play next time.

So today, I'm on a mission. Find the floor of my room. Wish me luck!

BTW - Bought Christina Aguilera's latest CD, Stripped. As much as I don't like her new image, the latest CD is REALLY good. I thought the whole thing might be Christina trying too had to be a ghetto RNB queen, but she touches on a lot of genres of music. I'm liking it. Especially track 12. Very Monkees/James Bond/Sheryl Crow-esque.

Hmm, you would have thought that I would have posted something since I called in sick yesterday. But I was really busy, last minute Christmas shopping and catching up on everyone else's blogs. I was also working a bit on the 'New Improved Yano What I Mean dot com' site. It's looking good. Well, it's actually looking rather plain, but it'll change.

So anyway, I'm back at work today, and since everyone else in the universe is on vacation, it's pretty slow today. So we took liberties with our lunch time. It was an excellent lunch today at Su Casa, with good conversation, good people, and best of all, good margaritas. So right now, my senses are a bit, um, enhanced. I kinda feel like I'm typing super fast, and I'm laughing at everything. Yes, the stupid buzzed smile. Oh, there's nothing better than having a couple drinks during your lunch break. And why not!?!? I've been given a second lease on life. I'm going to enjoy it! Well, I'm going to enjoy drinking. Just kidding.

The Friday Five!

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year? Getting engaged and picking a date and reception hall without killing anyone.

2. What was your biggest disappointment? Realizing that I haven't been saving money like I should have been. SAVE YOUR MONEY PEOPLE! WEDDINGS ARE EXPENSIVE!

3. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions? I always do, and I never stick to them.

4. Where will you be at midnight? Do you wish you could be somewhere else? Probably at my family party. We celebrate New Year's every year together. I'll wish I was in a million other places, but a part of me will be happy where I am - with family

5. Aside from (possibly) staying up late, do you have any other New Year's traditions? We always take a cousin picture before midnight, then at midnight, an aunt or uncle always throws a bunch of change into the air that we scramble to catch to get good luck for the next year. Then again, maybe they just find it funny that we're crawling around on the floor looking for change...

Well, it was a pretty eventful Christmas this year....so much had happened!

To start it off, Christmas Eve, my family headed out to Dave's home to spend dinner with his family. Our families get along really well, which is great. Our parents enjoy each other's company, and Fatima and Justin were already friends from U of I. Dinner was awesome. There were a lot of great meat products to choose from. Then we took a million and one pictures by the Christmas tree. Those pics are in my Dad's camera, but one he gets those developed, I'll post them here.

After taking pictures, we headed out to the evening mass. Normally, we're at our other family party and we go to midnight mass with all the cousins (which I mentioned in my previous post). But this time it was just our familes that went to Dave's church (the church that we're going to get married in) for Christmas mass. It was nice and everything, but a little part of my really missed going to mass with my other cousins. I'm a sucker for sentimentality, and midnight mass is one of my favorite traditions. But it was a nice mass, and it was great to share it with Dave's family. Maybe next year we can con them into coming to our midnight mass.

Anothing thing I'd love to mention was the snow. The weathercasters had been commenting all week about the fact that we weren't going to have a white Christmas. There's something about snow on Christmas that just makes the whole thing complete, so I was a little bummed that was no expectation of snow. However, lo and behold, it snowed on Christmas Eve, leaving us with 3 inches of snow, enough to stick on the ground to have a true White Christmas. YAY! My dream of a white Christmas came true. *wink*

After Dave's, we headed to my aunt's place where the rest of my family was at. We took more family pictures, then the presents were passed out. There weren't as many presents this year for us since we chose to just do a grab bag between the cousins. But I did get a nice amount of presents, so I'm not complaining.

Click here to see us open presents

I got my little flower girl a really cute Stitch doll (you can see it in an earlier post - it's the one that's in the tree) and I knew it was going to be a hit or miss as to if she would actually like it. She's 2, and she's a shy little thing. As you can see from this video, she was a BIT scared of it. Ahh....once she watches the movie, she'll learn to love him. She better!

Watch Nina Run Away from My Present

After opening presents, we spent the rest of the night playing Cranium and Trivial Pursuit. I ended up going to sleep at around 6:30am. There was a lot of laughing, shouting and eating taking place before I went to sleep! I eventually ended up waking at around 12 on Christmas day. We ate some more and just hung out talking.

So we're talking about funny things that happened the night before, and I'm eating Claudine's cookies. Maui brings up this funny story about me sitting on Melanie's head, and we all bust out laughing. But unfortunately for me, I was swallowing a cookie at the time. So I started coughing, thinking it would come out. And this whole time I'm still laughing. But then I realize that the cookie isn't coming out. By now, my cousin Marian's like 'Christine, are you serious?' and I start nodding my head, and the realize that although I'm making a coughing action, there's no noise, and I'm starting to turn beet red. Maui, who's a nurse, comes around and does the Heimlich on me. This dislodges the offending cookie (and I actually end up puking) and in all actuality, saves my life. But then again, he was the one that told the joke that got me gagging in the first place! So after a lot of coughing after that, we had a good laugh over my near death experience. So Maui gave me three things for Christmas - Near-Death, Life, and a cute sweater. The 'Didja hear? Christine almost died!' story must have been told 30 times today. Miracles DO happen on Christmas!

Well, Christmas starts for me today. First, my family is going over to Dave's for the very first Feliciano/Estacio Christmas. Weird! But it should be a good time. Our families get along very well. After that, it's time for our family Christmas. It's the best! There's about 30 of us that get together, and we keep one room open for the tree and all the presents (usually you can't see the tree there's so many presents!). We then chow down on tons of food, take family pictures, then head off to midnight mass. We take up about 3 pews there, and an uncle or two always ends up nodding off and snoring (ok, I've been accused of doing that, myself, too!). Once we get home, an uncle puts on the santa hat and passes around the presents. We all open them up at the same time and stay up all night playing video games or board games. Christmas day we end up waking up at about noon, then eat leftovers and play more games.

Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday, filled with laughter, love, and GOOD FOOD!

How do you like the new holiday colors? OK, off for some last minute Christmas shopping!

Shopping wasn't too bad on Saturday. I went to an obscure mall that no one thinks is cool anymore, but has enough of a selection of shops to meet my shopping needs. No one was killed in the parking lot that day! I'm still not done with all my shopping yet, but I'll do the rest during lunch today.

Saturday night me, Dave, Chetan and Gil went to the Funky Buddha Lounge on Saturday night. I hadn't gone out dancing for a non-birthday event in a while, and it's been a REALLY long time since I've gone to the Funky Buddha. I had almost forgotten why I love going to that place. Although the danceflooer is smaller than my bathroom, the music was great, all night long. The played this AWESOME old house set that got everyone out on the floor. I miss the days of going out dancing all night long. Chetan's friend was friends with the DJs there, so we got the 'We're with the DJ' line at the front door. It was interesting to watch the interactions between people that night. Flirting, avoidance, and rejection. So fun to watch. And I realized that a drunk is more annoying when they're telling everyone repeatedly that they're drunk. I had a good buzz going, so maybe my drunk person tolerance was low, but I don't know. Talking about being drunk is just a cry for attention.

Yesterday I watched the Bears lose, once again. That team is just falling to pieces. We then had family movie night, because Claudine and Fatima are both home from school. We ordered pizza and watched 'The Lord of the Rings'. I don't think I can ever get bored of watching that movie. Tonight me and my sisters are going to go and watch the Two Towers. I'm really excited to see it, because I've only heard good reviews about it.

I think yaccs (my comments provider) is down. Don't worry, though, I'll be putting up the new site soon!

Awwwwwwwwwwwww shit!

'Saturday Night Fever' is on TV. That's gotta be one of the best movies ever! I love disco!

Well, I've been horrible with my Christmas shopping, and I have to go out today. Wish me luck. Going to the mall around this time makes me really apprehensive. The last time I went to the mall around this time of year I almost killed someone for a parking spot. I had it first, dammit! Well, it's my own fault for not starting my shopping early.

Here's the second part of Linda's survey thing...I'll tell ya how my shopping goes later!

10.If you were another person, would you be friends with yourself? Hmm, at first I would think that Christine was a snob. But then we would start talking about comic books and tiramisu and we'd be best friends forever.
11.Are you a daredevil? Sometimes.
12.Do looks matter? Unfortunately for me, yes. I admit it. But after the initial attraction, it becomes a correlation of your looks and your personality. I've met many guys who at first were not attractive to me, but after knowing them, they became a LOT more attractive because of their personality. Luckily for me, Dave is a hot guy with brains and personality. Not to mention a killer jumpshot.
13.Have you ever misused a word and it sounded absolutely stupid? Always. I like throwing words into conversation that I have no idea what they mean, but they sound right. Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong. Damn vocab in highschool English class!
14.Do fish have feelings? Yes. And sometimes, they tell me to do very bad things.
15.Are you trendy? Somewhat. I'll buy one trendy thing a 'season'. Usually I stick to fashions that have some longetivity, though. I admit, however, to giving into the 'Rachel' haircut of the mid-90's. Someone shoot me if I do that again. No, someone shoot me if I go back to my high hair days of the late-80's.
16.How do you release anger? Playing with graphics in photoshop, playing playstation, causing other people pain. Just kidding. Just causing Claudine pain. *evil grin*
17.Peanut butter or Jelly? Neither, though putting peanut butter on Ewok's mose if the funniest thing ever.
18.Do you trust others easily? To a certain point. I've been screwed over too many times to trust people completely without knowing them well first.
19.What was your favorite toy as a child? Uh, I don't remember much of my childhood (it's the drugs!), but I do recall having this little desk, where I kept all my paper, my crayons and other stuff. I would spend hours sitting in this little desk drawing.
20.What class in school do you think is totally useless? Calculus. I haven't used it yet.
21.Skydive or Hang glide? Skydive. Someday I'll get to it. It looks like such a rush!
22.Have you ever been on radio or television? Yeah, I've been on TV. I was the drum major for band and they televised us during the St. Patrick's Day parade. Please, don't ask about bandcamp...that question is SO old!
23.Do you have a journal? That's where you are, silly...
24.Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yes.
25.Have you ever been in a mosh pit? Not intentionally. Just seems like I end up in them.

Today the president of my company handed out our Christmas presents - a charcoal grey company shirt (which is way cooler than the other ones that we have), a pretty snazzy metal lifetime guaranteed pen, and A RAISE! Whoo hoo! It's not a huge raise, but we''ve had a pay freeze for the longest time, so any money is a good thing. It really helps out this year, with the wedding coming and all. I'm not going to complain at all. I'm pretty thankful, and I'd have to say a little surprised. I was expecting a gift certificate for dinner or something like that! Maybe work doesn't suck THAT bad. Well, just some people at work suck!

Here's my goofy Stitch pics. Bryan took the first one, and the second one is a picture of Stitch chewing on a leaf in my new tree.

I'm back in Chicago again, back in the office. It's not too cold outside, but it's really windy. And it was snowing earlier! Well, it looked like a mini blizzard outside a couple minutes ago, but now the sun is out and shining. It snowed for a couple hours, but nothing even accumulated. I hope it snows for Christmas, that would be so nice!

We had our holiday luncheon today (I know what you're thinking - how many holiday parties does her office have?) and I am completely stuffed. My coworker's mom made the AWESOME pecan tarts - I had about 4 of them and my belly, though singing the praises of pecans and powdered sugar, is aching!!! I'm about to pass out from so much food.

I went Christmas shopping at the Disney store. They've got tons of stuff on sale. When I get home, I'll post the pic the Bryan took of me at my desk. Me, him and Loretta had a little photo shoot at my desk. I bought this big 'Stitch' plush and I can't stop hugging him. He's so adorable! I like pretending like he making like growling Stitch sounds. I'm a dork!

Thanks to the perseverance of Rick my Enteract account has been brought back to life! If I could find a picture of him, I'd make a little altar here for him! But he gets a thousand thanks for working so hard to get my old account back!

So all of you lost sheep that were getting the 'Forbidden' error, welcome back! And make sure you change your link to http://www.yanowhatimean.com. I'm still working on the rest of the pages of the new site, like the links and the pictures, but hopefully it'll get done by the end of the year!

So I'm still in New Haven. I was working on getting my work done with my client's web administrator, and we were cracking jokes and whatnot. Then later on, I'm talking with my client and some other people, and my client says 'Good thing they sent a girl this time! Joe was bending over backwards to help her out. And I haven't seen him laugh in years! I think he enjoyed having a pretty girl in his office.' Yes, flattered, but on the other hand, I feel like a piece of meat! I have a brain, too! Really!

And my hair must be in amazing shape lately, because yesterday, I was doing a demo of our program for a couple clients, and one woman asked me to move around my hair, and she was like 'Your hair is so beautiful and thick!' Uh, yeah, just try doing anything creative with it. It's got a mind of its own! And another client today interrupted my demo and said 'I'm sorry to keep on interrupting you, Christine, but can I touch your hair? Just run my fingers through it a little?' Um, how can you say no to that? I felt a little violated. Dude, it's just hair.

Here's a little something that Linda sent to me...I'll do the first half, then the rest later...

1.What is your full name? Christine Feliciano
2.Sweater or Sweatshirt? Sweaters. All my sweatshirts seem to have disappeared
3.Do you wish on the stars? Whenever it's early enough to see the first star of the night...
4.Which finger is your favorite? My thumb. I have this annoying habit of giving people a thumb's up sign...
5.When did you last cry? Sometime this week. I've been a little emotional lately...
6.Do you like your handwriting? For the most part, except I can't write in straight lines.
7.What is your favorite lunch meat? Roast Beef
8.Any bad habits? I'm really forgetful, and I bite my lips a lot
9.What is your most embarrassing CD on the shelf? New Kids on the Block Greatest Hits. Embarrassing, but I love it!

It's 5am, I'm still awake doing CRAP work for the office. Yano is not a happy girl. Not only to I have to work at my client's site, I also have to work on the normal stuff that I do at the office, too. Grrrrrrrr....

So I'm up, working, and watching 'Juice'. What a badass movie!

Well, I was thinking that I'd have to cut sushi out of my diet because of my tight budget, but I forgot that clients pay for my meals when I'm out of town. Thank God for sushi in Connecticut! I'm in heaven!

I also stopped by Best Buy to get some X-Mas presents. It's one of the biggest Best Buys I've ever seen. I had the credit card things there. Why even bother signing them? It never looks like your signature anyway. It was the ultimate test of my willpower not to by anything for myself there.

Funny lunch conversation today. I was talking with my client, who's got 7 dogs, 3 cats, chickens, mules and horses, and we were discussing my dog, Ewok, and my rabbit, Luscious. I asked her if she had any problems getting them to interact together, and she usually no. Then she said that she used to have a rabbit, but one day...'I caught two of the dogs on top of the rabbit. It was a gangbang! They were taking turns holding the ears of the rabbit down down while the other was in the back, going on like there was no tomorrow.' WTF! It was hilarious, like something out of some black market prison animal porn. And I would never have thought this lady would have even KNOWN the word gangbang!

Today's This-or-That
1. Christmas dinner: turkey or ham (or something else)?
Turkey, pancit, egg rolls, pot roast, rice, fried chicken, pie, and much much more!
2. Candy canes or chocolate?
Chocolate!
3. Fruit basket or fruitcake?
Fruit sucks
4. Mulled cider or mulled wine?
Mullet? What?
5. Eggnog or hot chocolate?
Hot Cocoa!
6. Holiday cookies: homemade or store-bought?
I only eat Claudine's cookies. They are the best around.
7. Roasting chestnuts or popping corn?
Chestnuts
8. On the buffet table: veggie platter or cheese tray?
Cheese! Vegetables suck!
9. Apple or pumpkin pie?
Pumpkin. With lots of whip cream!
10. Christmas Day breakfast: before or after gift-opening?
It happens around noon, when we all end up waking from the late night.

Here I am in New Haven, Connecticut. Eck! Lousy work has shipped me off here for the whole week. No fun the week before Christmas. I need to take care of the rest of my Christmas shopping here, I guess. So I'm watching 'Sleepless in Seattle' here, and I've got to say that its one of my favorite movies. *sigh*

Where is Yano Today? New Haven, CT

I also wanted to share something with you that a friend of mine, Derrick wrote in his blog, well, actually, I consider him family. After reading this, I got all teary eyed and emotional...and you'll see why...

Hello all!!! Today marks a new chapter of adversity for Derrick. I hate when people refer to themselves in the third person, but oh well. The reason for my new challenge you ask? Today is the official date where I will begin to quit smoking. I say begin because I know that I will have momentary lapses into nicotine binging, be it when I am out at a bar drinking, after a big meal, or out of pure boredom. The thing is, I am beginning to try to quit today.

One may wonder what makes a lifetime smoker such as myself decide to quit. No, it wasn't the truth ads, although they are somewhat amusing and informative, I feel that smokers, in general, ridicule those ads. It wasn't people around me that were begging me to quit. No, I was always rather good at brushing them off. I am quitting for a family member of one of my closest friends. I should say my family member, but it's not at that point yet. Well, she was not a smoker I don't think. At least for the couple of years that I've known her she wasn't. And she is one of the many unfortunate people that have cancer. I am quitting for her.

It's not that I have told anyone this, or am I pledging this to anyone, but the way I see it, I smoke, and I do not have cancer, she does not smoke, and yet she does have cancer. That shit just ain't right. So yes I am quitting for her. This woman that I hardly know is my one true inspiration for quitting a habit that has controlled 13 years of my 25 years of existence on this planet. So wish me luck people. I know it's gonna be a long journey, I will probably tag another few unwanted pounds on my already overweight body, I will have mood swings and be absolutely irritable, but please deal. I will probably have a few more smokes before I'm completely done. Don't blame me. I read yesterday that it takes the average smoker 18 years to quit. Can you believe that? So again, wish me luck, cuz I'm gonna need it.

Wow. So I'm going to support Derrick 100%. I think he's such an awesome guy to do this. I find it so touching that he was inspired by my mom. She would be so proud if she knew this. But then again, she'd kick Derrick's ass for smoking in the first place. *wink*

Well, yesterday was our company party, and it was held at Bob Chinn's in Wheeling. Before going out there, we stopped by Golf Mill to buy our gift exchange gifts. That place has really changed. Here's me with my friends Sully and Stitch.

The office party itself was tons of fun. I had a couple drinks before we sat down to eat, and when we were led to our table, I was talking with Sam's fiance, and I didn't realize that although I saved a seat for Sam, someone had taken the seat I saved for myself. So I looked around for another seat at the table. None. Not one seat at the table with all my friends. So I looked down, and the only seat open was the one next to the company president. I panicked, and tried to figure out how tipsy I was. Pretty tipsy! But I went down to sit next to him, and he puts his hand over the seat and said 'Anyone can sit here but Christine'. Aww...rejected by even the president! So then I say 'Sorry, there's nowhere else to sit. And anyway, we need to talk about giving me a raise!' After saying that, I realized it was a ballsy thing to say, and he could have fired me on the spot. But fortunately, he laughed. *sigh of relief*

He was in a great mood that night, so I really had nothing to worry about. It was just weird to be eating next to the president and across from the vice president. It was cool, too, though. I was happy that he laughed at my jokes, and that I didn't have any problems with my motor skills. He bought my group these plastic fish jackets, which were at the moment really cool to have, but no way am I ever wearing it in public. But maybe I'll wear it around the office. My VP knows Bob Chinn, so he came by our table to talk with her, and gave her some free scallop sashimi. He offered for me so try it. So I took a piece of ginger and put it in my mouth. And then he said 'No, you must eat the ginger and scallop together!' So I take some of the scallop, and put it in my mouth. And he's like 'No, together!' And I'm nodding, because they ARE together, in my mouth, and I can't talk. But he just shook his head and kept on talking to our VP. Oh well!

Afterwards, a small group of us went out to another bar. I was at my 'I've -drank-enough-alcohol-so-I'm-gonna-rock-at-pool' stage. I rocked the house playing pool! All in all, it was a good night.

Short note (really busy at work).

http://www.enteract.com/~yano has officially died. I don't know why, and I don't feel like investigating. I was fortunate enough to have it as long as I did. It was sheer luck and the kindness of my friend OJ that it's been around this long. So I don't know what happened, but I'm pretty sure it isn't coming back. So I'm having a premature beginning to http://www.yanowhatimean.com. I wanted to have a big opening party for it after I redesigned the whole site, but what can you do. Welcome to my new domain! So please change your links, and I'm sorry about the inconvenience. More good things are to come from my site...it'll be ALL GOOD! Yanowhatimean?

I'm gonna kill that phrase to death.

Head hurts. Tummy grumble. Must...move...slowly. Hangovers suck! Luckily, mine isn't too bad. But I've got TONS of stuff to do today, so I've got to keep on movin'. Happy Friday the 13th!

Yesterday's building party was a lot of fun, though. There was a lot of free pizza, and the desserts were awesome. And of course, my favorite thing, open bar. There's just something about those two words that brings a smile to my face. So of course, I took advantage of it. And the bartenders were VERY generous with their pouring of the spirits. I was quite happy.

After the party, we headed out to Mother Hubbard's for more drinks and some pool. The Christine/Jerry team beat the Abie/Syed team 3 to 1 at pool. We rule! We had more drinks and a car bomb or two, and I got a chance to play with Abie's phone cam. It's pretty neat. I know it was getting bad when the drunken phone messages started happening. Dan, the devil that he is, once again called people on my phone without my permission. Dude, I got a rep to protect! There was also a lot of love advice given, and for some reason, I remember yelling and hitting the table a lot. But it was a lot of fun....good times!!!

Fortunately, I arrived home in one piece. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling too good right now!

I worked pretty late yesterday, and since I was already late going home, I decided to stop by the Christmas market which is by my subway station. It's held at the Daley Center, and it is also the location of the city Christmas tree. This tree is MASSIVE. They also have a bunch of little shops, mostly of European origins, selling homemade crafts and food. There were many things that were begging me to buy them, like these beautful painted ornaments that were lit from the inside, or those russian dolls that have 10 dolls fit into one another, or German bratwurst, or potato cakes, snowman windchimes, cute hats with pompoms on top....so much to buy! Fortunately, I left buying nothing. But I DID take some great pictures.

oops, i just realized that i didn't rotate two of the pictures...heh heh...i'll fix 'em soon!

Today is also our building party. I work in a skyscraper in downtown Chicago, and every year they throw a little party in the lobby for all the tenants. Free food, and free drinks! I love the word FREE! It's always a good time, and it's nice to see the people who work in the same building as you. We always end up a little, uh, happy. I'll recap on what happens when I get home tonight. If I can type. *wink*

Two little boys, taking a bath. How cute! (one is Rusty naked *wink*)

Yesterday I tried finishing up my Christmas cards, but I ran into roadblock after roadblock. First, my zip drive died. Then, I had to type up my mom's Christmas labels. Then, my calligraphy pen wouldn't load up the ink. The I realized that after working at a computer for the last 5 years, my calligraphic penmanship now looks like I'm writing with my toes! Ack! Tonight. It will all get done tonight.

Well, I slacked off a bit yesterday, and it really seems like I'm paying for it today. I was on a pretty long conference call with a pretty tough customer. Actually, there were 5 other people in the call, and one of them was French. His accent was so thick I could hardly understand him. But it was a pretty cool accent. And I've got tons of projects that I've been putting off that I need to do. Hmph! This calls for an long walk to the Sports Authority! I need a break!

[more than an hour passes]

Well, back from the Sports Authority. We didn't know where the elevator was, so we took the steps up to the 6th floor. What a workout. Bryan ended up buying some skis at an AWESOME price. I was tempted to buy some myself. But the little Yano on my shoulder hit me on the head and said 'NO CHRISTINE! NO! YOU SUCK AT SKIING ANYWAY!' True, Yano Conscience, true! We had a great time loading the ski's into the cab!

I came in about 10 minutes late for my 3:30 meeting. My manager hasn't made any comments or anything, maybe he forgot about it. I hope so!

It's kinda warm outside! I came in from a walk with Bryan and I was almost sweating. Ahh, it's nice to have the temps in the lower 40's! During our walk today, we stopped by Crate & Barrel, and I saw the oddest thing - roly shot glasses! These shot glasses have a round bottom, so you totally feel like they're going to tip over, but they don't. It was pretty neat. They also have roly drink glasses and vases, too. We were rolling 'em around, it was kinda fun, but very nerve racking. Wacky!

Yesterday, I got about 80% of my Christmas cards done. Which is pretty great, considering that it's ME doing it. I always end up writing these little sentences and what-not, rather than just saying 'MERRY CHRISTMAS! Love, Christine'. Well, actually, for most of my cards it's going to be 'Christine & Dave'. Now all I have to do is address them and send them out. Tonight it might be a bit more of a challenge for me to do, because I'm really tired at work right now, so I may go home and just nap for a while. Hey, I just thought of something...this is my last Christmas as a single person! Weird!

Did you guys hear? Glenn Quinn, who played Mark on 'Roseanne' died last week. He also played Doyle on 'Angel' for the first season. They suspect a drug overdose, but it isn't official. How sad!

Ohh...I really messed up that last post. I can't even get in to edit it! Anyway, the Flash Flash Revolution game was from Dave K. Have lotsa fun with it. I did!

Half time. Bears are losing 14-0. Grrr...There's still time!

FYI - the link down there is broke, just like the Bears. Use the one up here!

The good thing about losing my ATM card is that for the past week, I had no money, so I bought nothing. If I had the urge for donuts in the morning, nope, no money. If I wanted to buy something stupid, nope, no money.

Today, I felt like I accomplished a lot today. I went to the bank to get a new ATM card, went to the post office for some stamps, went to the mall and bought some belated b-day presents for Mel and Jen, (Mel, hope you didn't get it yet...) and bought my Christmas cards. For some reason, I didn't think Target would be busy during the day. It was almost as busy as it is at night! And their selection of Christmas cards isn't as good as it was in previous years.

Yes, Christmas cards. I'm notorious for giving them. A year late. I dunno. It just takes me so long to write them out, and most of them I mail out, but there are a few friends that I know I'm going to see, so to save postage, I don't mail them, and I just hold on to them until I see them again. Of course, I always forget to bring them with me when I see them. So they end up getting their Christmas cards about 8 months late. Yep. I'm a slacker! But after writing this, I'm going to write them out, address them, and send them out tomorrow. Really. ok, I give myself a 30% chance of actually doing it

Whoo hoo! Mike Brown just picked up a fumble! Beat the Dolphins, I know you can!!! FUCK. Jim Miller just threw out an interception. Hot damn. Grr....

You want to waste some time? Ever played Dance Dance Revolution? Here's an online version, called Flash Flash Revolution. It gets pretty crazy! Thanks to Dave K for that one.

So I called in sick today. I had been wanted to call in sick last week (I picked up a cold in Washington DC) but I had so much stuff to take care of, I couldn't call in sick. But they're sending me out for a week to West Haven, CT for ALL of next week, so I won't have a chance to get any of my Christmas shopping done. And weekends aren't good, either, because I abhor going to the malls on weekends during the Christmas season. So I'm doing all my Christmas related chores today - buying Christmas cards, getting Christmas stamps, getting wrapping paper, ribbon, looking for little Christmas deals, buying the little kids presents (the older cousins are just doing a grab bag this year, and YES Melanie, I'll send you the list. I just don't know what I want!) and writing out my Christmas cards. It's going to be a long day. I was thinking I was going to wake up at noon after calling into the office, but I ended up waking up at 8:30am. That's no fun! But I couldn't go back to sleep, so I just started doing some preliminary work.

Hmph. Off to the mall I go!

I'm rarely serious here. But today, I want to talk about my hero. And no, this hero doesn't make life changing speeches, this hero hasn't won Olympic medals, this hero hasn't gone into burning building to save lives. But this hero has changed my life. This hero has the determination of an Olympic athelete. And this hero has saved a life - her own, as had inspired me to make my own better. I'm talking about my mom. Regular readers may remember that months ago, I had discussed how my mother's cancer had returned. She had it about 4 years ago, but had gone into remission. But this year we had found that it had spread. She's been doing chemotherapy, taking more pills and medication than I can count, and once again, the hair has fallen out. But rather than give up and be beaten, she's been fighting it with every ounce of her self, and has tried to keep herself in good spirits. She has stayed strong, where many other people would have given up. It's inspired me to see her be so strong - growing up, you usually don't see this strength in your parents, you usually wave them away with a toss of your hand. But I see a strength in her that I haven't seen before. Now I'm not close to my mom like other people are, we don't have late night talks, I've never discussed a boyfriend with her, if we go shopping, I meet her at an appointed time, and she has yet to pick out an outfit that I would be caught in public in...but I admire her. And I try to show my love for her with hugs and kisses, that's the only thing I know how to do. But somehow, I know it's enough.

So when you're thinking about how sucky your life is, how pitiful it is, remember that you can always fight the adversity you meet in life. Rather than wallowing in your misery, overcome it. Don't complain about the things in your life that you can change, or that you can change your outlook on.

So I dedicate this poem by Maya Angelou to my mom, my phenomenal woman.

"Phenomenal Woman"

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Well, it has been brought to my attention (on more than several occasions), that I had not posted Dan's birthday on my blog. I didn't think he cared, and it's not like Claudine posted anything on here for him, either. But I send my apologies, and also my thanks for housing all the crap that is on this site. So anyway, Happy belated birthday to Dan. Now leave me alone!

Also, happy birthday to Stephanie!

Good luck to Dave, who has got a med school interview at UIC tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers. I really want to stay at home for his residency.

Good luck to Rusty Smith, Apolo Ohno, Shani Davis, and Derek Gray in Bormio, Italy this weekend, who are competing at the World Cup for Short Track. I'll be watching!

If you're bored today, and looking for something fun to do, and you're a Michael Jackson (well, if you're NOT a fan), check out this site...Catch the Baby! Lots-o-fun.

I haven't been updating this as much as I should because I've been addicted to the Sims online. What an awesome game. Goodbye real life, I'm living the Sim life now!

Well, I'm back from DC. It was a pretty successful trip, except that the database server went down right before I left. But it wasn't my fault! Anyway, we were done early (not much you can do without a database) and so they said I could leave early. So we started chatting about this and that, and I noticed that they kept on changing the subject to different things. After a while, they had said 'Did you notice that we keep on changing subjects? We're trying to trick you into staying. We don't want you to go!" Aww. That was really sweet. What a great client!

Anyway, I took a nice walk during my lunch today, and I followed the signs to the White House, and I actually found it! I'm so proud of myself. I was thinking that I was going to get lost in downtown DC. So I stood outside and took pictures for a while. I looked for George Dubya and Co, but didn't see anyone. I also noticed that DC has some of the FATTEST pigeons and squirrels I've ever seen. They get fed by so many people, they're seriously obese. I have a picture of one squirrel who was so stuffed that he couldn't move off the top of a bench. It was so funny. The first pic is the DC Metro - the subway system. Doesn't it look really alien and futuristic?

Rod's been helping me with ideas on my redesign. To thank him, I've posted his name here, because it always gets him so excited to be in my blog. Visit him and make him feel loved!

This or That Tuesday

1. Go out and buy gifts, or shop online/mail order?
Last year I discovered the joys of shopping online. It's easy, and you don't have to carry it all to the car. I had a really bad experience at a mall parking lot which has caused me to avoid malls during the Christmas season. It's not worth getting an ulcer over. I'll go once or twice to check out the decorations and such, but other than that, target.com and amazon.com are my weapons of choice.
2. Gift cards/certificates or pick out gifts?
I like to pick out gifts, no matter how hard it is.
3. Pay cash or charge holiday gifts?
I've got a Mileage Plus card. By buying gifts for other people, I'm buying myself a trip to Hawaii.
4. Are most of your gifts mailed or given in person?
In person. I'm not keen on mailing big packages.
5. Are you an early-bird or last-minute holiday shopper?
Last minute, though I vow this year to start early.
6. If you shop in stores...big chain stores or smaller specialty stores?
It depends. I travel a lot, so I end up in little stores every once in a while. If I find anything, I buy it. But chances are, I'll find it in a bigger store.
7. Wrap gifts yourself or have them wrapped at the store or mall?
I have two little elves named Claudine and Fatima that get paid by the hour. But I insist on putting on the bows myself!
8. Shopping on *Black Friday* (day after Thanksgiving)...did you or didn't you?
Not this year. I know that if I did, I'd go crazy. I've been REALLY good about saving money for the wedding, and I haven't been shopping at all. If I went out on Friday, it would be over. I would buy everything in site.
9. Is your holiday gift list large or small?
Small. I accept cash and checks can be paid out to 'The Christine Wedding Fund' thank you very much.
10. Is it better to give or to receive?
I'm totally serious when I say that I love to give presents. I love to buy people little knicknacks that remind me of them. Of course, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like getting presents too, but I think my sisters can vouch for me when I say that I give a lot more than I recieve. *cough* *cough*

I'm so proud of myself. I took the Metro (that's what they call the subway system here) and I didn't get lost. I was concerned that I would, but the directions that I got were good. The Metro here is pretty cool. It really reminds me of hige underground alien caves. There's even little UFO-like lights that blink when a train is coming. I took a picture of it, but I don't have my cable to upload it. I tried to be quick and cool when I took the picture, because I didn't want to look like a tourist. I quickly took out my camera, clicked the shutter, and put my camera back in my bag. Unfortunately, this lady saw me take the picture, and said really loud, 'Honey, you want me to take your picture in the Metro tunnel?' Sweet, yes, it's nice that she asked. But I was like 'uh, no, that's ok. Thanks a lot for asking.' as the rest of the rush hour crowd stared at me. Oh well, DC gets points for nice, helpful people.

The reason I'm here is to help out a client that's been having a problem with the installation of our product. I'd been working on the phone with them for a month or so, and they just decided to have me come down and take a look at their whole setup. After a lot of testing and stuff, I determined that it isn't even our product that's causing the problem. Which is a good thing. So we set up a whole new test server, and we got everything working. Once I brought up the system, one of my contacts flicked me on the shoulder. A flick of pure happiness, but a flick nonetheless. (flick = putting your middle finger against your thumb and 'flicking' it on someone or something) I've never been flicked by a client before. It was weird. But kinda funny, too.

I'm watching 'Sweet November'. What a cheesey movie. But I can't stop watching it. I admit it. I'm a sap.

Oh my god. I'm at the part where Keanu is singing. I think I might actually puke. And I thought him saying 'Whoa' in every movie was horrible. (ok, i like that) Oh, but he is the ultimate eye candy!!!

Happy Birthday to Jen! I know she's not looking forward to another birthday, but I hope it's a good one. Not like she reads this anyway.
And a Bon Voyage to Lizzy, Susan, Noelle and the rest of the Bormio traveling circus. I hope you guys have a great time!

I'm in D.C. today. Whoo hoo! I'll be here til Wednesday, and I I'm hurtin'. I only have a dial up connection, and anytime I log in, it's on the company card. Argh! Well, it will give me time to work on my page and get it all nice and pretty. I'm watching 'My Dog Skip' right now, and it's the cutest movie. Anyone with a dog should watch it. It'll make you cry!

Where is Yano Today? Washington, D.C.

Yesterday we partied for Marky's birthday. It was a really good time, and I saw a couple people I haven't seen in a while. Emer was a bit hammered, which is a surprise. Ok, no it isn't. So early on in the night, he comes up to me (and he was already long gone) and asks, 'Christine, do you know what super hero I want to be?' I'm thinking he's going to say something like 'Superman' or 'Batman' or something. So I bite, and say, 'What?' And he says 'I wanna be Alki-Man.' It figures! And later on in the night, where I'm at the point where I'm holding him up, he says to me, 'Christine, you're gonna make a post about this. I want you to make a post about me. And put some pictures in there.' 'What pictures, Emer?' 'I don't give a fuck, put Psylocke or somethin'. Or me. Just don't post any more pictures of those skater guys.' Ha! When's the last time I posted a pic of a skater guy? You just wait til February, buddy, there'll be skater guy pics galore. So I tell him I'll dedicate my post to him, and I'll post up some pics. So here's some pics of my favorite drunk Emer, and Psylocke. (some of the pics are kinda old, you can tell by my hair)

On a side note, the room service guy just knocked, and when I opened the door, he just stood there. Then he said 'May I come in?' I swear, my vampire alert turned on. I mean, isn't he SUPPOSED to come in? Mental note, pack crucifix and garlic for next trip.