For All the Bad Tips in the World....

This one makes up for it. Kienow, a bartender at Applebees got a $10,000 tip! Good for her! For all you cheapos out there that don't tip well (15%-20%), take a look at this article. Hopefully, it will teach you a lesson on genorosity. For those that tip well, read this article anyway. You know you're always appreciated. Thanks to you, we pay our bills.

I Know I Asked for Autumn, but

Man, does it have to keep on raining? I don't mind it when it rains. Crappy weather is always a good reason to stay home and snuggle in bed. The problem is how often do you get to stay home when it doesn't stop raining? Not that often! The gray skies are getting to me. I'm not sure if it's a combination of being tired, working way too many hours, and the rain, but I cannot stop sleeping. Last night, I went to bed at 9:45 and woke up at 9:30. Since I have brown velvet curtains in my bedroom, it's dark in there no matter what. I could sleep in for hours.

The only break in the rain forcasted is tomorrow. I took a peak at the 10-day forcast and it will continue raining all into next week. What a drag! Let it be nice and cool with some sun!!! I'm going to need to start making some sweaters for myself if this keeps up. What truly sucks about this weather is that it's cool outside, but inside my apartment is warm. It's so muggy inside that at night we need to put on the ac or we'll sweat to death. To top it all off, there's no breeze coming in. Yuck!

Take a look at what I've been seeing for the last few days out of my window:



I took this picture yesterday morning. Not much has changed since then. See the gloomy sky? Doesn't it make you want to sleep?

I'm Happy Today!

You wanna know why? Because I have off today!! I did a six day work week, which is not a big deal unless five of those shifts are doubles. By Friday, I didn't know what to do with myself. I was so tired. No matter how much coffee or Emergen-C I drank, I couldn't keep up. Even though I probably didn't make any money yesterday, I was so happy that no one was coming in. I vegetated and drank cappucinos all day long.

To show how happy I am, I have pictures of all of my plants. My plants are very special to me. Let me give you a back story. When I was a little girl, I would always get my mom a plant for Mother's Day. The school use to bring tons of plants in and we would get to choose one or two for our moms. I was always very excited about it. Unfortunately, the plant didn't last long. I tried taking care of it, but my thumbs were brown. Years after, Dan got me a beautiful orchid plant for Valentine's Day. It died. I was so sad.

My thumbs turned green when we moved to Florida. Some of you might say that it is easy to grow plants in Florida because of the climate, but what you don't realize is that it's sometimes extremely hot. That type of hot can easily burn the plants. Through my mother-in-law, I learned when was the appropriate time to water them, how much, where to trim, and etc. I had so much fun taking care of the plants that I've now transferred my knowledge to NY.

I have a few plants that I love very much! I watch over them constantly and I even named them. I'll start off with my lucky bamboo plant. He was given to me by my husband's aunt as a house warming gift. His name is Mr. Bamboo.



The next picture is of Luna. She is a grafted moon cactus. I think her colors are wonderful.



The next plant was given to me by one of my coworkers, Judith. She and I would always end up talking about plants. One day she told me about a spider plant she wanted to give me. She was waiting for it not to be cold outside so that it wouldn't go into shock. Once it was nice out, she brought it over and I named her Spiderella.
She has grown tremendously since I got her.



The next plant is of a desert rose. My mother-in-law had a beautiful one when I lived in Florida. I loved that plant so much. It is just gorgeous. This past Mother's Day, the hubby and I decided to stop by Lowes to buy some plants for his two aunts. To my amazement, they had a few desert roses. One of the workers told me that they had gotten the shipment the day before and they were selling like crazy. I bought three. I named her Desertrae.



The last two plants are very special to me. It's some type of sedum and this plant came with me from Florida. Unfortunately, she lost all of her petals from the car ride back to NY. I kept wondering if she would ever grow, which she did. One day while grabbing the pot, I dropped it. I didn't break the pot, but her huge petals fell off. I started crying. How could I do this? I'm so clumsy at times that it infuriates me.

A light bulb flashed in my head and I decided to plant the petals. I read online that it could be done. I figured there was nothing to loose. Guess what? It worked! Not only is this plant growing, but the original sprouted petals everywhere. Now I have two of them. The original is called Rosalita and the other one is called Petalina.

This is Rosalita:



This is Petalina:



I'm heading out to the mall today, which I was thinking of getting a new plant. I want my apartment to be green!! Besides, it's nice to take care of plants. I find it therapeutic.

PS: Here's a better picture of Petalina that I took:

Bye, Bye Church Lady!

After taking a literal interpretation of the bible, the Rev. Timothy LaBouf let go Mary Lambert from her position as a Sunday school teacher that she's held for fifty-four years. The interpretation is that a woman could perform any job outside of the church. She is not allowed to teach men and must remain silent.

Right! I can't believe ridiculous stuff like this still happens in 2006! The woman taught there for fifty-four years! Give me a break. I really hope something good comes out of this.

Here's the AP article: Church Lady

Castro and Adidas??

Even though I still think he's dead (my own conspiracy theory--everyone has one), there's a pic of him after his surgery. Here's a link to the article that you must click on: Castro

Mr. Castro is sporting an Adidas running suit! I'm glad he thinks capitalism is bad and rejects it at its fullest. Someone who hates capitalism so much and has veered his country away from it for the past 47 years sure doesn't mind sporting a company who thrives on capitalism. What a joke!

One Step Closer

I officially signed up for my Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Not only did I sign up, but the earliest date available was my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. I'm giving myself a four hour exam. I've done worse on my birthday. At least, this one is for my future. I also have the application packet for graduate school on my desktop. Little by little, I'm getting closer to entering grad school! Now, I just have to get accepted....

I'm Glad I don't Drive Anymore

It's been three weeks since I've filled up my gas tank and boy was I glad about it. I have a four cylinder car and spent $45 (I used regular)! That's just insane. Imagine I was still filling up my tank every week plus the tolls? I'm glad I'm working in Manhattan. The good thing is that I won't be filling up the tank for another few weeks. I have nowhere to go for the next month. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to afford having a car. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels this way.

Hot is an Understatement

Wow. That's all I could say about this heat wave. I know I lived in Miami for two years, but damn I can't take it. The thought of having to take the subway today is very daunting. I am trying to do my part in avoiding a blackout. I actually have the windows opened right now (it's already 84 degrees and it's 9:15am!). I'm keeping the ac at 76 degrees. Con Ed wants it at 78, but man, it's too damn hot.

Even poor Louie is feeling the effects of the heat wave. He's been laying on his pillow, which is strategically placed in front of the ac. Yesterday, he did not move from there until Dan and I were having dinner (my little fatso).



Yesterday evening, the water pressure in the building dropped. The super explained to us that normally the water pressure from outside is at 60 (whatever that means). What was coming into our building was only 25. He was pumping it at 75 to compensate. The people that live on the sixth floor didn't have any water. The pressure came back, but the same will probably happen today. Ughhh.

Cuba Libre?

Almost! We can't get excited yet, but that possibility is more attainable than ever. I hadn't heard the news until this morning. My jaw dropped! Personally, I think Fidel Castro has been dead for awhile. It's just another conspiracy theory of mine. We'll see how history unfolds. Right before I jumped into the shower, I thought about renewing my passport and traveling to Cuba in the near future. Going to Cuba has always been a desire of mine, but I never thought of it as a possibility. My father has never returned since he left in 1971. If he hasn't gone and won't go until Castro is gone, then I can't either.

This thought that came to me today was liberating! I'll be able to see my family, where my father grew up, where my grandparents were buried, and everything else I missed out on. I'm sure things will be chaotic once he dies. Raul Castro won't be in control for long. He's not popular with the people that support the revolution. It's only a matter of time.