It's a rambling, stream-of-consciousness kind of day here. Watch as I indulge in random topic jumping.

I give up. My internet connection is down at home again, it's driving me crazy. Something is conflicting with something else somewhere, but I'll be damned if I can figure it out. I've uninstalled and reinstalled my ISP and modem software, but that doesn't seem to be doing the job. Since I'm just an end-user kind of gal, who only knows where to plug in the cables, how to install software (damn, where is that any key?) and how to change the default display settings, it'll be back to the folks with the whole kit and caboodle. Dad will take a look at it, but I suspect we'll just have to reinstall all of the software. What a pain in the ass. Maybe I should just chuck the whole thing out the MS Window and get an iMac.

At work, the dominoes are falling.

Several VP's in my division are jumping ship, leaving either the division or the company altogether for greener pastures. These are people who have been with the division for many, many years, people who seemed like permanent fixtures, even though they're all fairly young (late 30's, early 40's). This is in addition to many lower level employees leaving over the past six months. Tells ya something about my lovely division, doesn't it?

Velvet is going to be my downfall, I just know it.

I'd been patting myself on the back for not spending all of my money this week, for actually having some in the bank (never been much of saver, and I know that's going to hurt me in the future - gotta buckle down and be good, dammit!).

Then I went to the Burbank Media Center after work Tuesday night, just to see if their bath shop had a little soap sock. I don't know what they're really called, but it's one of things that you put all of your tiny left-over soap slivers in and then lather up, so you don't feel like you're wasting soap by throwing out the perfectly good soap slivers. I've got a pile of slivers just waiting to be used, though at this point I could probably melt them down and have one huge-ass bar o' soap.

Do I buy one? No, because the bath shop didn't have one. But I made the mistake of walking into Lane Bryant and looking at their clearance rack. Lo and behold, I found a pair of burgandy (or wine or maroon or whatever the fashionable name for that color is these days) crushed velvet pants that are just like the black pair I was wearing at the time. (Yes, I wear velvet to work.) And for only $12.99, same price I had paid for the black pair months before. Ring me up, baby!

Across the way from Lane Bryant is a new plus-size clothing shop. I've gotten a few things from there before. Mainly tops, because most of their clothes run small, and I like my tops on the tight side. Well, I found a beautiful burgandy velvet vest with a lace-up front that looked smashing on me for only $18.99 and a deep blue velvet tank top with boning in the front, only $12.99, as well as a couple of other tops. Take my Visa CheckCard, please!

This is in addition to the rugs and drapery stuff I bought at Mervyn's (all on clearance, but still...). Needless to say, I managed to spend all the money I had left in the bank. I'm absolutely hopeless!

Is TV Guide purposefully trying to alienate its readers? A couple of weeks ago the cover featured Pokemon (evil), last week was Regis Philbin (also evil), and next week has Celine Dion (super evil). Why don't they just put Martha Stewart, Keanu Reeves and Kathie Lee Gifford on the next few covers and finish me off for good?

Thank heaven for Pierce Brosnan on this week's cover. Now there's a lovely piece of eye candy. And I like his acting, too!

Which brings me to my next thought: Richard Gere is People Magazine's Sexiest Man of 1999? Sorry, I just don't see it. Then again, there's only been one selection I've ever agreed with that I can remember: Harrison Ford. (Personally, I think a woman's either got to be dead or a lesbian to not find him attractive, and I'm not too sure about those, either.)

I know my taste in men tends to run a little differently from that of many women. But there are a few men whom I find attractive that could easily fall into People's definition of "sexy". Pierce is, of course, one of them. There's also Denzel Washington, Kevin Kline, and a few others whose names escape me at the moment because I'm at work and my brain is fuzzy and I hear co-workers' voices while they talk on the phone and I can't drown them out to save my life. But I just know I'll wake up in the middle of the night shouting a name, no doubt causing my neighbor to wonder what the hell is going on at my place.

Speaking of neighbors, I have two new ones. I don't know if I mentioned Jaime, who's my new next-door neighbor. I've seen little of him, but he seems to be a nice enough fellow. In Billy's old apartment a woman named Nancy (I think) just moved in. I've seen her a bit more and I've decided my initial impression of her is wrong and that she's probably a nice person.

See, before she moved in Mr. Landlord introduced us, then asked me if I could start parking in my garage instead of the driveway in the back. Since I have a buttload of stuff in my garage, with no room for my car, I said that I didn't think that would be possible. He kept at me, and I did admit that I wanted to sell some of the stuff, and that I would see what I could do. Then he mumbled something about "it's the law" or some such BS. I didn't say anything, I just brushed him off vaguely, then continued parking where I had been before, since Nancy hadn't moved in yet and wasn't going to for a couple of weeks.

The weekend before Nancy moved in I ran into her and she brought up the parking situation again. I told her that I just had too much stuff in my garage. She started talking about putting up tables and stuff and how she wanted to make the back area look nice, none of which really makes any sense if you know the layout of the apartment and driveway. Then she suggested that, when she's had too much stuff in her garage, she would park on the street.

Um, no. I don't park on the street anymore, not when other parking is available. I may have a piece-pf-crap car, but it's been broken into a couple of times while parked on the street, and I really don't want that to happen again.

Again, I mumbled something about "seeng what I could do", which seemed to satisfy her. But I did start to park right in front of my garage, so that my car would be out of the way. The only thing I'm blocking is my own garage and I can always move the car a little if I need to get in there. And I do want to sell some of my stuff that's filling up the garage and rearrange the boxes so that everything's neater. Who knows, maybe I'll actually have room to park my car in there!

(Did I over-use the word "stuff" in my previous anecdote? Damn, I really have got to save these entries for when my brain is actually working.)

On that note, I better end today's entry. It's probably best for everyone involved.