College football and death by elevator

Notre Dame lost to Pittsburgh today in...get this...FOUR overtimes. Ken and I were trying to remember if we've ever actually watched a game that went into four overtimes, and we don't think we have. I'm not upset about it, because Notre Dame had every chance to put the game away and win the thing, but they were unable to do so. Pitt won fair and square. Next week's game is at Boston College, and anyone who knows anything about Notre Dame football knows that Boston College ROBBED US of a championship several years ago, and of course, we've never forgotten it! And there is no way in hell I'm tagging this entry with Boston College, because I just don't want to hear it! Ha ha!

On the upside, Illinois beat Iowa, so one of our teams (Illinois is Ken's alma mater) won! And my Ball State Cardinals are still 8-0, and currently ranked #18 in the country (although they didn't play today)! I am sitting here proudly wearing my new Ball State sweatshirt that I picked up this week when we bought the exercise equipment. They had a table with kid-sized sweatshirts, and I found a Ball State one. While there are certain disadvantages to being of small stature, I've learned to embrace my small size and enjoy being able to buy a few things in the kids' department! We're talking a $10 difference in price when it comes to sweatshirts, so viva lá miniscule! (I know that's not a French word. I just liked phrasing it that way.)

Last night we watched "Thirteen Ghosts," and I have to say that I was a little disappointed. It had its creepy moments (and the Cagehead ghost running down the hallway sort of gave me the willies...okay, that definitely gave me the willies!), the house itself was very cool, eerie, and masterfully engineered (I loved the mosaic mechanism in the floor--great visual), but I just didn't find it all that scary. Maybe I'm inured to mildly scary and need really scary in order to feel that I've gotten my full fright's worth.

But I have to give "Thirteen Ghosts" a big thumbs-up (if not for the entire movie) for the guy who gets...well, how shall I put this? Imagine stepping part way out of an elevator, and before you can get all the way out, the doors slam shut. There is no sensor, no bounce-back...they just slam shut. Forcefully. While you are halfway through the door. Are you getting me? It took me a moment to realize what had happened, and I looked at Ken and said, "WHOA!" Yep, that was a good one. Nicely done! It rivaled the split dog scene in "Return of the Living Dead." (If any of you know what I'm talking about, you get double bonus points!) My friend Marty had a recent brush with a killer elevator. It could have been much, much worse, Marty! If you've seen this scene, you'll know that you escaped with nothing less than your back half!

So tonight's movie--which was already next on our scary movie queue--is "Hostel II." I suspect that might be a little more...intense, shall we say? The first "Hostel" creeped the hell out of me. Let the fright begin! HahahaHAAA!

Saturday Roundup

I think I'm caught up! Six o'freakin' thirty, and I'm finally caught up!

First I got caught up on AOL alerts. Those seem to be way down, which shows that we're all moving along and trying to get comfy in our new digs.

Next was getting caught up on everyone's Blogger entries, and it was great to see that people are starting to write more here and enjoy our new format. I think it's a lot of fun to play with the settings, and although I'm sure I'll be tweaking things for a while, I'm happy with things at the moment.

THEN it was catching up on emails. I had several from friends and I apologized for neglecting them while I dealt with this big mess with moving our blogs. It was great to hear from everyone, and it sounds like all is well. One is working on buying a house, one is planning on an election night party, and all are well!

And a big congratulations to my pal Jim, who successfully passed his Medical Technology registry! I'm an MT, too, and you can read about our profession if you follow the link provided. Did you know that 80% of diagnoses come from laboratory results? Although we're trained in all departments of the lab, many of us focus on one area, and for the last 20 years of my career, I worked in Microbiology, because it was always the most interesting to me. Be sure to hug an MT today if you get a chance, and Jimi, I'm sending you a virtual hug! Jim got his MLT degree (a 2-year degree) several years ago, and he's been working full time and taking online courses to get his Bachelor's degree for the past couple of years. Why does it matter? Well, it gives you a broader depth of knowledge, for one thing. And with a four-year degree, you get more money. Right now, I'd guess that the latter trumps the former!

I've already received one big benefit from this switch to Blogger from AOL. I sent out a mass email telling almost everyone on my email list that my blog was moving. I was thrilled to hear from my friend Bruce in Indianapolis. He wrote back, "Hi Doll!" How can you not love that?! It was wonderful to hear from him. He lost his long-time partner a while back, but has just started to move on, get back into the dating scene, and is trying to rejoin the world in general. Bruce is also a wonderful writer, and I asked him if he's considered writing a blog...? I still remember his column about the infamous Dumpster Dive, and believe me, if he starts posting anything anywhere anytime, you'll find the link here. He's a peach.

Hope you're all having a wonderful Saturday! Notre Dame beat Stanford (and looked good doing it) and Illinois beat Michigan very decisively. Good day for our teams!