Insomnimusing: Allons-y!

Hey, here's an 80s classic for you. This week's Flashback Friday is Dexy's Midnight Runners and Come on Eileen.

Manchester United v Manchester City by brezmexri How fantastic is this? I'm still on a high from yesterday's Carling Cup semi-final second leg between my beloved Man United and Man City. I'd probably feel a little silly about that, but fortunately all my fellow Red Devil Tweeps are still buzzing along about it as well.

Ok, I will admit that this might seem a petty pet peeve, but I wonder if anyone else shares it. I was buying groceries today, and when I got to the checkout lane, I placed the divider on the conveyor and began putting my items up as the person in front of me was checking out. The cashier did not have the conveyor set to advance automatically, so she reached up and removed each item, leaving empty space in the front. I continued putting up my items until the back of the conveyor was filled, and I couldn't put anymore up, but she still didn't advance the conveyor. She completely emptied the front two-thirds of the conveyor and left me standing there waiting to put my items on it. Then when she completely finished checking out the person in front of me - after a coupon dispute that left us all standing there - then she finally moved the conveyor forward and began scanning my items. Of course, the first items I had put up were the large ones that were to go under the shopping cart,...

I've just come from a lovely hot shower, and it reminded me of an incident - Once, after taking a long, hot shower, I made the mistake of publically stating what a wonderful and simple pleasure such a thing could be. Imagine my surprise at suddenly being attacked by a self-professed environmentalist, who proceeded to tell me how unbelievably small-minded, selfish, unconscientious and irresponsible I was being - along with any number of other unkind adjectives. Though I was momentarily taken aback by this diatribe, this person went on for so long with the blathering that I was able to gather my thoughts for a coherent response. I said to this person: I assure you that I would much prefer to save electricity by turning off the lights, along with natural gas by lowering the heat, and spend many hours making passionate love with my mate while staying warm within each other's fire, saving the world's food supply by missing meals as we feed on our own desires and conserving water...

I can't think of anything more appropriate this week than The Cure's Pictures of You for Flashback Friday.

After recently getting the answer "no" - an unequivocal, no room for compromise or future changing of the mind, polite but in no uncertain terms "no" - I seem to constantly be getting the advice not to settle for less than what I want. I ask though, what if the options are "settle for less" or "settle for nothing"? The prevailing wisdom - although I won't confirm the depth of that wisdom - seems to be that if I settle for less than what I want, it will ultimately leave me unhappier than settling for nothing, for now. That prevailing wisdom continues to say that if I hold out, I will get what I want and I won't have to settle. But how can I know that? Even failing any certainty, how can I even begin to believe that the odds are in my favor and worth the gamble?

This Flashback Friday I was torn. Do I go with some sappy, cheesy love song? Some equally cheesy girl-empowerment number? Some silly pop? Power ballad? Then I figured out where my head was. So it's Twilight Zone by Golden Earring.......

Spending my Flashback Friday at home alone with some wine and fearless moose and squirrel, Rocky and Bullwinkle!

I finally got the flat tire on my car fixed - after leaving it to sit in the driveway for two or three days. The can of Fix-a-Flat I bought was defective, so I finally just broke down and called AAA. It worked out better because they came and took the tire off, took it back to the shop to repair (they couldn't get the spare off because the cover was frozen onto it) and brought it back to put back on my car. It cost me $15 (not counting the $6 I'd already spent on the Fix-a-Flat), but I'm not complaining. I didn't even have to leave home to get it done. The girls had a snow day today so they went off to spend the night with friends. That left me to an evening alone. I'm spending it with the moose and squirrel.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of LG Chocolate Touch . All opinions are 100% mine. Everybody knows that chocolate is a girl's best friend. I mean, diamonds are good. They're all pretty and sparkly and whatnot, but chocolate is .... well, CHOCOLATE! And chocolate can be pretty and sparkly too, you know. In fact, it can be a lot more than that. It can call your friends, send text messages, let you use the Internet, link you up with all kinds of social media, take pictures and video, and even play your favorite music using Dolby Mobile technology for amazing sound quality. Chocolate can do all that?!?! It can if it's the new LG Chocolate Touch . Imagine the joy of having that kind of chocolate at your fingertips. It's everything you need all in one. You don't need a separate MP3 player anymore - and with Dolby Mobile's crystal-clear sound quality, this will sound better anyway. You can access your social networking sites with a single touch - that...

Here it is not even a week into the new year, and it's already been an eventful ride. I got an e-mail from my editor late Sunday night asking me if I could come in to interview our Congressman, who would be stopping by the office on Tuesday morning. He's got staff reporters and a news editor who could have done it, so I didn't know exactly why he was asking me, but I was glad to do it. It's certainly a show of confidence in me. So I dragged myself out of bed Tuesday morning (I was dreadfully tired for some reason), scraped the layer of ice off my car and ventured in. There was a light mist falling, and the temperature was quite low, so I had to stop three times during my usual 20-minute drive to scrape again. Even with my windshield wipers on and my defroster running at full-till, it couldn't keep ahead of the ice forming. Then when I was about 3/4 of the way there, I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed a police car behind me. He was just driving behind me, bu...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iCoke.ca . All opinions are 100% mine. Vancouver is preparing and celebrating for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and Mac's Stores have teamed up with Coca-Cola to offer their customers a special way to remember the occasion. Exclusively at Mac's customers will be able to receive one of three free collectible Coca-Cola Medallions celebrating the Vancouver 2010 Games by purchasing any two 591mL Coca-Cola products at participating Mac's stores. The offer is available at participating Mac's locations from Jan. 4 through Feb. 28 (Jan. 6 through March 2 in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. That gives you a chance to buy all of your favorite Coke products and collect all three commemorative medallions. That's how simple it is. Just buy your favorite Coke products and get an exclusive commemorative medallion of the Vancouver 2010 Games. Whether your favorite is Coke, Sprite, Diet Coke or Coke Zero, just buy two of the 591mL bo...

I did my usual Saturday thing today, and while I was at my mother's, I mentioned that Book's car battery had finally officially conked out. We'd known for a while he was going to need it replaced, and of course, last week, he tried to start it and it wouldn't go. We charged it up and got it working, but still, it was going to need replacing, especially in an Ohio winter. When I took my car in to have the tires changed (finally) and oil changed and new wipers put on and all that fun winter prep stuff, they tested my battery and told me that it would need to be replaced soon too. Well, mom offered to keep Book, Munch and Gin at her house while Pooh and I went to AutoZone for new batteries, so I took her up on it. It's a cold day, and the tech wasn't too happy about changing the batteries, but we got it all done. Then..... little problem. I started my car - a '99 Honda CRV - and got a message on my radio display saying, "Code." Err, what? So that'...

It's Flashback Friday and it's New Year's Day (U2). You were expecting this, weren't you?