Some people born on my birthday

Mischa Barton (22)
Nicole Lenz (28)
Tatyana Ali (29)
Matthew Lillard (38)
Mary Lou Retton (40)
Natassja Kinski (49)
Yakov Smirnoff (57)
Gennifer Flowers (58)
Aaron Neville (67)
Neil Diamond (67)
Ernest Borgnine (91)
Oral Roberts

This will probably come out wrong

If you want great table scraps for your dog(s) you should give Lebanese Taverna a try.

No really. They are one of my favorite restaurants and I'm so happy they finally opened up a location in Baltimore. I always get the same thing and last night was determined to try something new and it happened to be a raw meat dish. Well I just wasn't into it so it made up the basis for Sarah's treat to her dogs.

My favorite dishes there are the Kibbeh appetizer and Shish Taouk. Only the peppers from the Shish Taouk escaped my greedy lips.

Fun Facts for my Birthday

129,650 People

Approximately 129,650 people died worldwide on January 24, 1969.

129,650 People

Natural disasters in 1969
Hurricane Camille
Minnesota Tornado Outbreak of 1969
Ohio Fireworks Derecho
People who died on January 24 (various years)

2007 - Guadalupe Larriva, Ecuadorian politician
2007 - Krystyna Feldman, Polish actress
2006 - Chris Penn, American actor
2006 - Schafik Handal, Salvadorean politician
2006 - Fayard Nicholas, American tap dancer, one-half of The Nicholas Brothers
2005 - Chalkie White, English rugby union coach
2005 - Vladimir Savchenko, Ukrainian writer
2005 - June Bronhill, Australian singer
2004 - Leônidas da Silva, Brazilian footballer
2003 - Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive
2002 - Elie Hobeika, Lebanese Forces militia commander
2002 - Peter Gzowski, Canadian broadcaster, writer and reporter
2001 - Les Brown, American band leader
2000 - Bobby Duncum, Jr., American professional wrestler
1998 - Walter D. Edmonds, American author
1993 - Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
1992 - Ricky Ray Rector, American murderer
1991 - John M. Kelly, Irish politician and academic
1990 - Madge Bellamy, American actress
1989 - George Knudson, Canadian golfer
1989 - Ted Bundy, American serial killer
1988 - Werner Fenchel, German mathematician
1986 - Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer
1986 - Flo Hyman, American volleyball player
1986 - L. Ron Hubbard, American writer and founder of Scientology
1983 - George Cukor, American film director
1982 - Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian president and dictator
1978 - Herta Oberheuser, German doctor
1975 - Larry Fine, American actor and comedian
1973 - J. Carrol Naish, American actor
1971 - Bill W., American co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
1970 - Caresse Crosby, American poet
1966 - Homi J. Bhabha, Indian physicist
1965 - Winston Churchill, soldier, politician, historian, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Nobel laureate
1962 - André Lhote, french painter.
1962 - Stanley Lord, captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster
1961 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American swimmer and inventor
1960 - Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor
1955 - Ira Hayes, American World War II hero
1948 - Arthur Liebehenschel, Commandant at Auschwitz concentration camp
1948 - Maria Mandel, Camp Leader at Auschwitz
1943 - John Burns, English politician
1939 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist
1932 - Alfred Yarrow, English shipbuilder
1924 - Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
1920 - Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor
1911 - David Graham Phillips, American journalist and novelist
1895 - Lord Randolph Churchill, British politician
1883 - Friedrich von Flotow, German composer
1882 - Levi Boone, Mayor of Chicago
1877 - Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist
1856 - Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir, Polish Hasidic leader
1769 - François de Chevert, French general
1709 - George Rooke, English admiral
1666 - Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer
1639 - Georg Jenatsch, Swiss politician
1626 - Samuel Argall, English adventurer and naval officer
1595 - Ferdinand II of Austria
1473 - Conrad Paumann, German composer
1376 - Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, English military leader
1366 - Alfonso IV of Aragon
1125 - David IV of Georgia
1002 - Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
772 - Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
41 - Caligula, Emperor of Rome (b. 12)

I am a wimp

I love almost everything Nicole Kidman does with Moulin Rouge and The Others being some of her best work. I perused Netflix to find some of her other movies and got Dead Calm today. I got about 1/2 way through the movie and I can't go any further. She's alone on that boat with that crazy sexy psycho and Sam O'Neill is no where to be seen or help her. I just know that crazy sexy psycho is going to hurt her and her little dog. I just can't watch it anymore.

I'm a College Student (again)!

I wish I could do online training classes. I read the text and it just makes no sense to me. Being a kinesthetic learner, I need to see something and hear it explained. To that end, I have always wanted to learn how to take pictures on something other than the Auto mode so I enrolled in a Digital Photography class for the Spring at the Community College of Baltimore County. Like the airport, it's only about eight minutes from the house. I have been known to take a good picture here and there but it will be nice to actually know what I'm doing.

Blueberries!

I've taken to making tuna fish to eat after my workouts and tried adding some blueberries to the mix this morning. Yum!

RIP

It's hard to believe that Heath Ledger is gone at such an early age. I always appreciated that he had been more interesting in great roles than commercial success.

Play the "Candidate Match Game"

Have you done this? It's a quiz on usatoday.com that shows you which Presidential candidates are most closely aligned with your beliefs. I'm definitely a Hillary guy but I was very interested in my results. At least they are all Democratic! Sad to say I haven't even heard of Mike Gravel.

The Coat

Here is Blossom's winter coat.  She doesn't like being cold.

Valentine's Day Candy and Cake Orders

Skip is taking Valentine's Day orders again this year.  You can check his order form out on his web site.

I know, I know, shameless cross-promotion!  Luckily I will not be partaking of his candy this year but I will have a special piece or two set aside for smelling!

Weight: 205

My weight

The good news is that I'm now down 20 pounds from when I got my hypnotherapy session on November 29th.  26 pounds to go!

I've been working remotely for more than a month now.  I'll have to try on clothes before I pack for my travels since what I wore the last time definitely doesn't fit me now.

Weight:  206.8

Sleep? What sleep?

I realize that this post will be laughable to those with children, you may use the time you would have used to read this post by getting a moment of zen...

Skip drove to the hypnotherapist in Pittsburgh yesterday to get a session geared towards weight loss.  My mom and I had both been previously and have found that is has been very worthwhile.  After the session Skip met my Mom at a local mall to drop off her Christmas goodies and then it was off to West Virginia to see his family.  This means of course that I was alone in the house last night.  No so big a deal for Skip as I'm away a lot, but I don't think I've been alone in our house in over three years, so it was very weird.  Skip lets the dogs out in the middle of the night and all that jazz but now it was my turn.  

/whine

The problem is that if it is past 3 or so and I wake up I don't get back to sleep.  Blossom wanted to go out about 1 am so they both went out and we went back to sleep.  At 4 am Blossom woke me up again and she was UP.  Now this is very weird because anything earlier than 9:30 am is early for her.  She stayed up and wired for a good hour before she decided it was nap time.  By this time, of course there was no way I was going back to sleep.  Unlike the people in the world with kids, I seem to need at least 6 hours of sleep a night.

/endwhine

She's back!

I used to love, love, love Susan Powter.  I loved her books, how she talked, how she could motivate you, oh she was just the best.  Well she's back and now she's a big ol' dyke!  Well not big, she's still a tiny thing but...

I even Tivo'd an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air recently just because she was on it.

Yet another reason to love her...

Sorry, Keith.

I love Celine Dion. I've loved her since her very first English album. When I used to sign language interpret I used to work at some Drag Shows/Contests where they would sing her songs. Heaven. I've seen her in Vegas. If she asked me to marry her I would say yes.

As if there was ever a question, she said in a recent interview that she'd love her son if he were gay.

And her latest song, Eyes On Me (my favorite from her new album) comes out tomorrow. Huzzah!

If you want the best...

Chicken with Cashew Nuts I have EVER tasted, it's available at Peking Duck in Alexandria, VA. I first ate it almost 20 years ago and amazingly not only is the restaurant still there but it still tastes exactly the same.




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Looking Back, Looking Forward

2007 was full of fairly major changes in my life, which most years seem to be... Some are of course only important to me.

Skip and I moved back to the DC/Baltimore area to be closer to Skip's family. As several of them are in ill health this was a wise choice but it hasn't done any favors for Skip's asthma, Gaston's well-being or my love of snow!
I transitioned from full-time contracting to full-time employment contracting on the same exact assignment for a great company.
I got Premier Executive on United again and missed 100K by just 10,000 miles. If we had only waited another 3 weeks to move...
I saw a hypnotherapist about my weight issue and ended the year 17 pounds lighter than I had been on November 29th. I'm in the stage of having to try every piece of clothing on because it's all either too big or too small but that's a good thing.
I had some knee issues in the fall that I'm hoping were weight related. I stopped lifting for a while and have gone back in the last few weeks (but only doing calf raises for my legs, no squats, etc. Yesterday I did 60 minutes on the elliptical cross-trainer without any knee pain so that is great. A visit to a specialist later this month will give me more details...
I spent more time in NYC this year than I have in my whole life combined and that is of course a great thing! I saw several amazing shows such as The Color Purple (with Fantasia, the original cast was so bad I walked out) and Xanadu.
I wished for snow on my last night in Colorado (August 30th) and got it! We got enough to cover the driveway. It made me estatic but did not sit well with the neighbors.
I got several more Domino certifications this year (all in New York City). For 2008 I have 5 tests to take to be all caught up.
I rode the Amtrak train for the first time in over 15 years (all but one ride on the Acela Express) and love it! Much less hassle than a plane.
I rode the subway in NYC for the first time in almost 20 years and am happy that I know how to figure out the system.
After 4 years of wishing I got to see Celine Dion in Vegas while in town for my company's Holiday party. Getting the DVD of the show for Christmas made it even better.

For 2008 I don't have too many goals, but they include:

Weigh 180 by April 22nd. Hey I didn't pick the date, my hypnotherapist did, so what choice do I have? :-)
Pass my 5 outstanding exams by June 1st.
Spend more time in Arlington/DC.

I'm sure there's a lot I forgot, but it's probably back in this blog somewhere. A great big thanks to my Skippy and all my wonderful friends and family that make this life a lot easier.

I leave you with yet another picture of Blossom taken on December 31st. I hope you all have a wonderful new year.