Unbelievable.  One of the featured weblogs is about someone who is very pretty complaining because they are too pretty.  They say men ogle them and leer at them and all the other negative things you could think of that very pretty women have to go through. 

They do have a point.

I am a plain jane.  I like it.  When men have been attracted to me, I know it’s because they actually LIKE me, and not because I’d make great eye candy.  The only thing I might want to change is to be thinner.

I work for a pretty liberal organization.  I learned a long time ago, especially at work, to keep my political views to myself.  We got a 2-hour break from work today to watch the inauguration ceremony.

I have high hopes for President Obama.  I hope his inexperience works in our favor, in that he’s not tainted by “this is how we’ve always done it” and that the world looks on him as a worthy leader of a new generation.

But geez – $170 million for festivities?  I realize this is historic.  It took too long to happen (MLK hoped for it to happen in less than 40 years or in less than 25 – it took 44 from the time he said that.)  And maybe it was worthy of all the pomp and circumstance.

I still want to know who is paying for it.

I have today off.  This is the first job I’ve ever had that got MLK day off.  I’ll take it

I wonder how he would feel knowing a true African-American (1/2 African, 1/2 white- Eurpoean/American) was elected president.

I hope this will be the beginning of the end of racism and bigotry.

Has there ever been this much celebration before an inauguration?  Maybe I’ve just never paid attention, but this seems pretty extravagant.  I wonder who’s paying for it.

MIL is here this weekend.  Mac bought two tickets for Wicked and took her today.  (I went a couple weeks ago with my sister.)

I really get along well with my MIL. I wish everyone could have the same type of relationship with their in-laws

We have a long weekend coming up.  I get off work in a few minutes (2 hours early) and have Monday off.  My MIL is coming for the weekend because Mac bought her tickets to Wicked for Christmas.  The two of them are going tomorrow.  I’m not going because when my sister came to visit, I took her.  They are leaving Chicago after Jan 25 and though it was easy enough to get two tickets, getting three together is nearly impossible.

I will probably spend the time playing World of Warcraft.  There’s a change.  LOL

My desktop tells me it’s 9 degrees below zero in Chicago.  My sisters, who live in eastern Michigan, are complaining about the cold.  They’re having a freaking heat wave compared to us!  It’s 1 above 0 there.

I heard it was 40 degrees warmer in Anchorage, Alaska this morning that it is here in Chicago.

I made it into work today.  My train was 20 minutes late because of frozen switches.

Aren’t midwestern winters fun?

I got to the train station this morning just as the train was taking off.  That was the last express train, so I called to tell the CEO that I would be taking the local train because I just missed my regular train.  We had a snowstorm last night and the roads were nasty.  It took me about 40 minutes to drive 6 miles.

Turns out the local train (and all other trains going either direction) was held up because some guy asked the ticket agent about security on the train, and whether or not they had metal detectors on the train.  The agent got suspicious but didn’t see where the guy went.  He called the cops, and because he couldn’t tell them whether he was heading to Chicago or to Aurora, they stopped all trains, evacuated them, and searched everyone.

Turns out it was a Secret Service agent.  Dork.

Anyway, I called the CEO again and told her I would just work from home.

Good thing, because I would have been 3 hours late, and getting home would have been a nightmare.  An Amtrak train derailed at Union Station and all trains were stopped for two hours (I think) stranding 30,000 commuters.

I feel pretty lucky.  The economy has taken a big hit, but my lifestyle hasn’t changed a bit.  I think the reason is that I avoid debt like the plague. 

• I own my car (I financed it new for 36 months and paid it off 4 years ago – and the car is still like new)

• I have paid down my mortgage by sending an extra $250 every month, so that my equity is double what I owe (which will give us a nice down payment on our next house).  We didn’t buy the biggest house we could afford.  In fact, we bought a house that was worth about 1/4 the amount we were approved for. 
• I use one credit card and pay it off every month.

I live within my means.

That.  I think.  Is the key.

Not my most profound statement ever LOL  However, for the past several years, I never took actual “vacations” of the 1-2 week variety.  This year I’ve taken 2 of them.  One for a week and one for two weeks.  That really cuts into the PTO.  I have always just used them here and there.  Take a Thursday and Friday off to go visit my sisters for a long weekend, or something like that.

I have only 2 days of PTO left.  But I have 12 sick days (the max we’re allowed to carry).  Maybe it’s time for a mental health day.