Rachel’s song Joshua is the new beat in Hot 89.9 FM’s Battle of the Beats. I sent an email to people I know (and some I don’t) to vote for Rach’s song on the radio station. I didn’t know you have to vote AS THEY ARE PLAYING THE SONG.

At 6h00 pm tonight, I streamed Hot 89.9 fm. I tried to text my vote to 899899, but I must need an international texting code or something. I’m going to send an email to them to ask how to text my vote tomorrow.

I’ll let you know!

At the beginning of January, I wrote about my very talented teenage friend Rachel Ferguson. Today, her Dad sent me this email:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Jen,

Due to popular demand JOSHUA will be taking on Nelly Furtado’s new single, tonight at 9pm on the Battle of the Beats with Cash Conner, HOT 89.9

We printed up 5000 3″x5″ cards to encourage fans to call HOT 89.9 and request JOSHUA. Rachel handed out about 200 at her old high school yesterday. Apparently, the station was flooded with calls. Some of Rachel’s friends told her that the DJ Cash Conner was telling callers that he didn’t have the track. So Rachel called him and he said he plays what he wants. However, the calls apparently kept coming until the station stopped answering the phones.

This morning we received the following email.

Glenn,

I hope you are doing well on this rainy day. Well tonight is the night. Rachel is set to play in the Battle of the Beats at 9pm with Cash Conners. She is taking on the new Nelly Furtado. . .which could seem daunting, however, the amount of calls we received last night for Rachel makes her a super contender.

Please pass on the news. . .and good luck!!!

Race

You can hear Rach’s song Joshua from her myspace page: www.myspace.com/rachelfergusonmusic.

If you are reading my blog, you have to vote for Rach. Send an email to heydeejay@hot899.com and request JOSHUA.

You can listen to the broadcast online at http://209.235.158.106/hot899/mediaplayer/mediaplayer.html. It will air 6:00 Pacific time.

Good luck Rach. I know I’ll be listening.

I was talking with a friend the other day. She was horrified when I told her I use shampoo for my body cleanser: “Shampoo is for your hair!” I told her: “It’s all just soap. You’re clean afterwards. The rest is marketing.”

It’s really ridiculous actually.

This soap is for your head hair.
This soap is for your pubic hair.
This soap is for hair on your chest.
This soap is for your hair under your arms.
How come there is no soap for the hair on your back?

Ridiculous. Too much soap. Just use what you got to clean your body. It foams for Christ’s sake. It cleans. It rinses. Anything that does the job.

And your skin? The skin things out there–phew! There is a special cream for the skin around your eyes.

Put this cream around your eyes.
Put this cream on your face.
Put this other cream on the cellulite on your legs.
Put this cream…oh wait a moment, didn’t I just have this rant about soap????

Now you know I don’t use $50 shampoo in my shower. Actually, I use Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap. I use the lavendar scent. It’s not cheap, but it’s not expensive. And, it cleans. I like the smell. What else do you need?

I’ve been depressed lately–ever since the middle of February actually. It started with eating too much chocolate the week of Valentine’s Day. Then, my friend Quebec-Martin bought me a completely decadent, no-flour, triple chocolate birthday cake the following week. So, I worked on that for a bit too. AND–I didn’t stop there. I also went shopping at Costco. What a mistake! I was hungry when I went in and I knew if I didn’t eat something, I was likely to need a half-ton truck to carry home my purchases. I bought muffins.

I put the muffins in my cart. I thought, “If I eat a muffin, it will curb my appetite and I likely won’t buy other stuff I don’t need.” So, while shopping and waiting for new tires to be installed on my Honda, I ate a muffin. And you know how big those huge Costco muffins are. It didn’t help that I’d skipped lunch and we were close to dinner. I was hungry. I ate two Costco muffins (before I even got the checkout!). TWO Costco muffins. That’s like eating an entire loaf of bread in one sitting.

I’ve been on a budget since I’ve been on sabbatical. I’m pretty good with it too I think. I’m on my seventh month and I’m just starting to look for another job. But I’m just starting so I don’t know how it’s going yet. I do know, however, that I don’t have many months of savings left so I’d better find one.

I’m on a budget and that’s why I was shopping at Costco. You know you get good things for your money at Costco and you usually get a lot of it. When you are in Costco, because the place is so huge and the carts are huge, you put something in your cart and it looks normal–like a box of cereal or some muffins. When you get it home though, the cereal box takes up the entire cupboard (if it fits) and your refridgerator itself looks obese with all the food you try to stuff in it. And you realize that everything has a context. You have to be very aware when you are buying at Costco, because when you get it home, it’s out-of-context and it becomes some sort of super-sized monster.

Regardless of the context issue, I also bought bagels. Wholly cow! Each bagel is a half a loaf of bread. When I got home, I cut all the bagels and all the muffins in half and put them in the freezer. My plan was to eat only half of a muffin or half of a bagel in the morning. EXCEPT, they were too good. And when it came down to it, I ate either a whole muffin or a whole bagel. Also, it doesn’t help that you get good cheese for great prices at Costco either. I’ve been eating creamy Harvarti cheese with a crisp fresh tomato on an open-faced bagel once or twice a day. Yum!

And now–only two weeks later–my pants are too tight. Ugh! Definitely the cause of the Costo-size muffins and bagels (and a bit of stress I’ve been experiencing lately). If I don’t do something about it, I’ll become Costco-sized Jen! With a Costco-sized butt to boot! More ugh!

Today, I went shopping at Safeway–a somewhat easier store to judge quantities in: normal-sized portions for normal-sized people. I bought only protein and fiber (fruits, vegetables, yoghurt, chicken, and cereal). I also bought a case of beer, but I do need to get carbs somehow. My new rule of thumb is: Don’t Buy It, Don’t Diet. Or–as this blog entry is so aptly named: The Don’t Buy It Diet.

Now I know where my weaknesses are, I can just plan around them. We’ll see how I feel after two weeks of protein and fiber.