I think it’s safe to say that I am now over snow. Sadly, we’ll be getting more snow starting tomorrow. I mean, really? Mother Nature doesn’t think that 24+” is enough? Not to mention the ice that is now forming due to the “melt down” that’s going on! In case you’ve been living under a rock, Maryland & other parts of the East Cost got nailed by a giant ass blizzard that had the weather people watching inches like someone watching a football player getting ready to break a single season record for yards.

I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

You can see the rest of Snowmageddon 2010 here.

If you remember I wrote post about the Kathy Reichs books that I received for Christmas. Now that I’ve pretty much finished all the books it’s time to revisit.

I enjoyed most of the books except for “Cross Bones” and “Deadly Decisions.” I actually haven’t finished “Deadly Decisions” yet and I’m not sure I will. The story just hasn’t grabbed me yet and I’m not one to force myself to finish a book. I’m sure part of the story line is interesting but I haven’t made it there yet. “Cross Bones” I did finish but wasn’t feeling it. It was about religion and played off “The Da Vinci Code.” which I haven’t read or seen and have no desire to. Plus the book was actually missing 30 pages. I have no idea why but it went from like 207 to 232 or something like that.

One thing that does bother me about the series is it always seems that Brennan is getting herself into some stupid ass situation. Does she really need to have a near death experience in every book? Does there always have to be some “bad guy” after her and sending her threats? In some sense I can understand why it happens since the books for the most part are self contained. You can skip one book or read a little out of order and not be too lost. It’s not like “Harry Potter” where if you miss a book you’re completely lost and everything flows together to form one big story. It’s still annoying though. Another thing that’s “hard to believe” is the fact that no matter where her case takes her (Middle East, Mexico, South Carolina) Det. Andrew Ryan manages to get involved. I mean, really? I understand he’s a major character in the books but I find it hard to believe that Canada would be sending him all over the place because Brennan has a theory/idea/whatever.

I know it sounds like I didn’t enjoy the books but I really did! In most cases I could finish a book in a day and had a hard time putting them down if it was a story I enjoyed which happened with most of the books. They’re easy to read and people who complain about the writing style need to look at the book and take it for what it is. It’s not Mark Twain or Hemmingway! Kathy Reichs has another book in the series that just came out and once it’s out in paperback I do plan on picking it up. I think she just finished up another book in the series too called “Spider Bones” which hasn’t been published yet.

In the end, for someone who normally reads about true crime and actual grisly and horrible murders these books were a nice break.

I’ve already raised $155 for the Maryland SPCA! I only signed up about a month ago. My personal goal is $1,000 and the team goal is $3,000. If you’d like to make a donation just go here. The March for the Animals is on April 18th which means you have plenty of time to make a donation. If you’re not able to donate please help spread the word! The MD SPCA depends on donations from the community to keep things going.

If you’ve already donated I thank you! It means a lot and every little bit does help!

Today I headed out to support the Orioles by attending Fanfest. It’s a chance to meet a player or two and just have a nice time.

The day started out a little rocky and I was pretty sure I would be walking out without any autographs. They had four different autograph areas and only 250 were allowed in each line and the players rotated throughout the day. It was nice that they had a limit but sucked that they didn’t announce who was where until an hour before hand which was a little too late. You almost had to pick a line and hope that someone decent would be there. Along with autographs they had a little area where you could have your picture taken with a player for $5. The money was being donated towards the Haiti efforts. I noticed a tall and hot player and thought, why not.

I said he was tall! My friend thinks this is the funniest picture ever because of the height difference. The player is Chris Tillman who’s a young pitcher with the O’s. When I say young, I mean 21. I can manage that. He doesn’t know it yet but he’s my new baseball boyfriend. He was one of the players signing but we weren’t able to make it to his table and I didn’t think about asking for one after the picture thing was done. I tend to freeze at times. I mean, all I said to him was “You’re tall!” As if he didn’t already know that.

Moving on. My favorite player is Brian Roberts. I love him. He plays 2nd base and I tend to have a thing for players who play that position. We noticed that he was going to be at signing area four which was upstairs. My friend has a bum ankle and told me just run for it, so I did. Needless to say I got there and the 250 limit had been reached. Insert sad face here. I managed to lose my friend and then she called. With the best news ever. She had found a friend who was inline for Roberts and to meet me there. I made my way over and we just acted like we belonged in line and before we knew it, we were meeting Brian Roberts. I can now die happy and I didn’t make an ass out of myself which is a miracle. I happened to be wearing a Roberts shirt and asked him to please sign it for me which he did:

Le sigh. Here is the man I would marry if he didn’t already have a hot model wife:

Being the complete nerd that I am, I forgot to ask to take a picture of him when I got to him. That’s what happens when you’re a nerd. You tend to forget stuff like that. After that we moved back downstairs to see if anyone new was at the photo area. No one was there yet and the staff didn’t know who would be next, the players just kind of showed up inbetween things. I was joking around with my friend saying that perhaps Jim Palmer would be next. That’s right ladies and gents, I’m psychic:

He’s very shiney in person and his hands felt a little weird, like maybe he tans too much or something. This time though, I managed to ask for autograph as well and asked him to sign my jersey real quick. He said “Real quick, huh?” and my response was yes, I’m timing you. See, WTF is wrong with me? At least I didn’t ask if his face was real.

In the end a day that started out a little rocky ended up being pretty awesome. Along with the Jim Palmer & Brian Roberts autographs I snagged Adam Jones as well. I actually follow him on Twitter and mentioned it to him. He asked what my Twitter name was and that he’d look out for me and he kept his word. I told him via Twitter when I got home that it was nice to meet him and he said it was his pleasure. Does he remember me? Probably not but now I can pretend that we’re BFFs and what not.

Yup. It’s that time of the year again. It’s time for me to start bugging people about donating/supporting me during this years Maryland SPCA March for the Animals.

The event will be on April 19th. Once again I started a team and our goal is $3,000. That’s about half of what the winning team raised last year. My personal goal is only $300. I’m trying to focus more on ways that the team can raise money instead of just myself. Remember, there is no “I” in team!

If you’d like to donate you can visit this link. Remember that every little bit helps and if you can’t donate please feel free to spread the word. The more people that know the more money that can be raised to help the animals at the Maryland SPCA.

I knew this would finally be the year for Michael C. Hall for his work on Dexter. This past season was amazing but it couldn’t have been done without another amazing actor, John Lithgow. He walked away with a Golden Globe as well for his work as The Trinity Killer. I’m a little disappointed that the show didn’t win but maybe next year.

I can’t wait for the next season of Dexter and here’s wishing Michael C. Hall a speedy recovery from his battle with cancer.

This post was going to be about how I met a Baltimore Raven Friday night but instead it’s about how my dad suffered a heart attack over the weekend.

I actually started this post on Wednesday and wasn’t able to finish it. Right after typing that first sentence I had a breakdown here at work. Luckily I work with my aunt (his sister) and was able to hide in her office. It was the first time I actually broke down and said out loud all my fears.

I won’t go into great detail but he was on a hunting trip in WV when it happened. He wasn’t alone and he never passed out or anything like that. He came home Sunday and we took him right to the ER. He was admitted after bloodwork showed he had indeed suffered a heart attack. He was moved up to CICU where his EKG spiked and he was rushed in to have a splint put in place. He had a blockage removed (100% blocked) and the splint put into place. Don’t ask me where exactly the blockage was. I’ve heard so many different names and what not over the past week I’m pretty sure I’d get them confused trying to explain them.

The good news he’s now home. He was released on Wednesday and all the tests show that very little damage was done to his heart. When we went back to see him after his surgery the doctor told us he was very lucky and that he should’ve died but for whatever reason, he didn’t. You have no idea how scary it is to hear something like that.

So, don’t take your family for granted. You never know how long you or they have.

As I mentioned in the Christmas post I received almost all of the books by author Kathy Reichs. If you watch the show “Bones” her name should sound familiar. The show and the books are based on her life as a Forensic Anthropologist. Don’t get confused though, the books & the show are two different things and aren’t based on each other. The only thing the two have in common is the name Temperance Brennan.

Anyway, since I was missing the first few books I went ahead and ordered them from Amazon and I haven’t been able to put them down since they arrived. I’ve already finished the first three books and I’m working on a fourth at the moment. I did end up reading one of the books out of order though but I didn’t find myself confused. I did question a few things that were mentioned but once I realized what I did, it was cleared up. I guess that means I finished the first two books and the fourth and I’m now working on the third in the series. That’s not confusing right? I actually finished the three books in about two days. I kept telling myself I’d take a break but it never happened. I think I might be a compulsive reader. Once I start a book I need to finish it. It’s very hard for me to stop and step away from what I’m reading.

As many of you know, I mostly read True Crime. That’s just how I roll and what I enjoy. Since these books are about crime, murder & mayhem I figured it would be pretty easy for me to read them and to enjoy them and I was 100% right. I think it helps knowing that some of the cases while not real cases, were loosely based on various crimes that Reichs did work on. As far as the writing goes, the books are very easy to read and in my opinion well written. Her first book actually won the 1997 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel and after reading it I can see why.

Here’s a list of her works:

•Déjà Dead (1997)
•Death du Jour (1999)
•Deadly Decisions (2000)
•Fatal Voyage (2001)
•Grave Secrets (2002)
•Bare Bones (2003)
•Monday Mourning (2004)
•Cross Bones (2005)
•Break No Bones (2006)
•Bones to Ashes (2007)
•Devil Bones (2008)
•206 Bones (2009)

If you enjoy crime related fiction then I highly suggest these books. They’ve been compared to the books by Patricia Cornwell that features Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. I’ve actually tired to read some of those books though and just couldn’t get into them. Besides, there are only about 77 Forensic Anthropologists and how many medical examiners? Exactly. Dr. Brennan receives extra points just for that alone.

If you’re interested in checking out her books here is the link to her Amazon author page. Most of her books are either $7.99 or $9.99 expect for a few like the 10th Anniversary edition of “Deja Dead” and her newest “206 Bones” which I think is only out in hardback at the moment.

If you’re looking for something new to read I highly suggest these books but I also suggest that you do read them in order.

I hope everyone had a great & safe New Years Eve. I went to a party that a family friend had and played some Wii and tried to stay awake until Midnight. Honestly, I would’ve rather stayed home and been asleep by then. I was beyond tired for some reason Thursday. I’m thinking it might have been because work was slow. I had nothing to do all day and of course that made time drag on.

Friday I went on a search for jeans which just ended up pissing me off. I’m one size in this brand, another in that. I mean, really? What the hell? Then I have no idea WTF “Short” means anymore. There was still 3 feet of exta material plus if the jeans had any fading or whatever, it wasn’t in the right place. I gave up and just ordered some online.

Saturday was the first fitting for my sister’s wedding. Now, I’ve had the dress for a few months but never tried it on. I probably should have but whatever. I put the thing on and imagine that, it didn’t fit. I was pissed. Again. My mom asked if I want to get a larger size and I said yes but I didn’t want to shell out another $135 for a dress. She said she’d go talk to someone at the front desk and see what they could do. The manager agreed to let me just exchange the dress for a larger size. It was very nice of them and made me happy. I probably could’ve sucked it up and dealt with the smaller size but having the Maid Of Honor pass out because she can’t breathe probably wouldn’t be good.

The same day I had an appointment to take care of the ‘brows and while out I stopped at JC Penny. They were having a huge sale and while I stayed away from jeans, I did check out some tops. I was able to get three tops for $13! One was $30 but marked down to $5.99! Another top was only $2.99! How awesome is that? I love a good deal and now I have something to wear to the bullroast I’m going to this Friday!

Sunday I relaxed and watched the Ravens make it into the playoffs. Over the weekend I read three books as well but that’s for another post!

I can’t believe 2009 is almost over. What a weird feeling. Has anyone else been calling 2010 O-10? I have and have no idea why. I told a delivery guy I’d see him in O-10, like O-9 (Yes, I say O and not 0). It should just be 10 right? That just sounds weird. I would say it’s going to be weird writing 2010 but I really don’t write dates that much anymore. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a check and had to write down the year.

2009 was a decent year. It could’ve been better but it could’ve been worse. I was able to see my BFF twice this year including her first visit to Baltimore. I received a decent raise at work. I finally sucked it up and had laser tattoo removal treatments done. That’s something I’ve talked about for awhile. All in all, decent.

I’m looking foward to 2010 though. My sister gets married in May. I’ll be flying out to San Diego in July for Comic Con and meeting another online buddy that I’ve been wanting to meet. Hopefully in 2010 I’ll complete my goal of paying off the Jeep or atleast making a pretty good dent in it. Hopefully I’ll have more things to write about over at my travel blog. Don’t forget to visit and comment!

What are you guys looking forward to in 2010? Any big plans?