Rollie Pollie, walls are holey

I don't know why I bother taking vacation days. Not only do I not enjoy them because of the guilt of being away from the office, but I pay for it when I get back. When did I get a job that no one will do while I'm out? Oh, wait... that was ALWAYS. With a couple of exceptions.

When my mom passed away I was working in an office and was out for six weeks on FMLA, and it only took me about six minutes to get caught up when I returned. Now, I know God blessed me by putting me in a job where I was able to be out a month and a half with no guilt, but seriously, how important does that make one feel? Yeah, I was a vital cog in that wheel, let me tell you. When I quit, they didn't replace me. Shocking.

And when I took this job, I wanted a challenge. I wanted to feel needed. I wanted to be busy. Be careful what you wish for.

So I stayed late tonight to put out the big fires and saved the small ones for tomorrow.

And when I got home I christened my newly assembled treadmill with a very slow and painful 3.5 miles. I only burned 600 calories. So I'll have to stop eating or run three times a day.

But I seem to be developing more pronounced fat rolls. My muffin top seemed especially robust today. Granted, it could have been the excessive grease consumption this weekend, but geez.

I did make the decision to put my treadmill in my living room so that I'd actually use it. And yeah, you never see a house with exercise equipment near a sofa in "Architectural Digest," but since I live at the end of the Earth and I can actually count on seven fingers the number of people who've visited me in the past two years, I figure smaller thighs are worth bad decor.

So I lugged the treadmill through the hallway, around the chair, and knocked a hole in the wall. In my entry way. Lovely.

Oh well. It's not like anyone will see it. And I'll run my way through Kate Gosselin's torturous turn on "Dancing with the Stars." As Jen would say, it's like watching Granny dance. Only less amusing.

Overall, it was a productive day. I crossed a lot off the ol' to-do list. We hired a new staff member (hooray). I ran and tanned and did a load of laundry. And I even managed to find the time to buy new shoes and screw with LB. Figuratively, not literally.

And he totally started it.

Ding dong the coach is gone

The Nutt era is officially over. For all of the drama surrounding the Hog football team in the past year, tonight's press conference seemed a bit anticlimactic. Kudos to White et. al. for allowing Houston Dale to exit with dignity. He did some great things for Razorback football (losing to Vandy and going 0-3 to end last season after starting 10-1 notwithstanding), but then again, Nolan did some great things for Razorback basketball... sometimes, it's just time to go. Of course, if someone would pay me in excess of $3 million to leave, I'd pack up my cubicle tomorrow and not shed a tear. Any takers? Anyone?!?

On a much different topic, why is Marie Osmond still on "Dancing?" That doll routine tonight was just a travesty.

And we got to see all the Spice Girls. Posh, of course, wasn't smiling. What's that about? If I had Becks and a Birkin in every color, I'd have a permanent grin on my face.

Dancing with the relatively famous

One of the things that always amazes me about "Dancing with the Stars" is how the really bad dancers with really big fan bases (i.e., Billy Ray Cyrus) often advance in the compeition while the superior albeit lesser knowns often get sent packing. Explain to me how the heck Wayne "my face is stretched more than my limo" Newton is still in the competition while the lovely and talented Albert Reed got sent home. Hmmm?!? Guess all those grannies figured out how to phone in last night and saved Mr. Las Vegas. Ick.

My pal Alisa and I had a super early dinner at 3:30 at Mike's Place (seafood crepes... yum!), then I picked up Maggie's cookies for our information session at work tonight. We have 10 spots open; there were nearly 60 people there. Yikes!

Guess that's all. I'm sleepy and still upset over Albert not getting to wear his shirt unbuttoned to his navel anymore. Sad times.