Canucks game recap

My recap of last night's Canucks game:

Taylor Pyatt scored after a beautiful shot by Brad Isbister hit the post, bounced off of Taylor and went into the net. A Pyatt-Isbister double team - it's like my dream come true!

Then some other stuff happened, but we don't need to talk about that.

In other Canucks news, I want these earrings, which I just saw over on http://www.miss604.com/. The thing is, I don't $73.99-plus-tax-want them.

Seriously, 80 bucks? Seriously?

Sunday night, 11 pm seems to be the time when hot Vancouver boys do their grocery shopping. Safeway was positively crawling with them. It's something I've been wondering about for a while, because I rarely see hot boys in the grocery store, yet I know they must acquire their sustenance at some point - you can't build those muscles without protein!

Unfortunately, Sunday at 11 pm was also the time that I, being on the way home from my hockey game, decided to take advantage of the fact that I had a co-op car by stopping in at Safeway for some groceries.

On the way home from my hockey game. As in my hair is in pigtails, tied back with a bandana, no makeup, sweaty and disgusting.

Sigh. Sometimes you just can't catch a break.

I've Got a New Love...

... or Taylor who?


Went to tonight's Canucks v. Oilers pre-season game. A certain right-winger caught my eye all game. #27. "Who is #27?" I kept asking my friends all game, but they couldn't read his name on the back of his jersey either, from our seats up in the nosebleeds.

But I got my answer when, with the scored tied 4-4 and only 2.5 seconds left in the game, my new beloved got a breakaway and snapped one past the goalie to win the game.

Isbister. Brad Isbister.


On my new hockey team, I'm #27. And I'm a right winger. It's fate, right?

The only minor problem with this whole situation, which I just found out while searching for a pic of my new love, is that he happens to be inconveniently married to someone who is not me.

Thank goodness that 50% of marriages end in divorce! I'll be waiting for you Bradley, I'll be waiting for you.

Brainlessness

The other day I was chatting with my sister and she said "Boys only get their brains after 30."

A few days later at work, I came across this quotation:

"...a second major phase of brain growth that parallels the hormonal changes at puberty and extends into the mid-twenties. This second spurt is especially prominent in the frontal lobes, an area associated with planning, reasoning, and impulse control. Until this occurs, adolescents are not yet capable of exercising these processes consistently. "

So she was literally correct about boys not getting their brains until they are 30. Of course, the same would hold true for girls... I now plan to use this excuse for any stupid decision I have made up until now in my life. If I'd known this, I would have listed "my frontal lobes weren't fully developed and thus my planning, reasoning and impulse control was not operational when I got married" on my divorce papers. I think it would hold up in court.

So, based on this scientific evidence, I'm now supposed to include "anyone under 30" on my list of "qualities which, if you possess them, will preclude my dating you" list. This list, which is growing rapidly, now includes¹:

• anyone named Dave (my ex) or Chris (my sister's ex)
  
• the British
  
• boys who still live with their moms
• Surrey trash
• pretty boys
• anyone under the age of 30
  

I have a rather hard time with those last two though.

So, does anyone know any ugly old guys that I can date?

¹but is not limited to. I swear there were way more things on this list when I was talking to my sister, but I can't remember what they were now.

He's Back!

CANUCKS RE-SIGN FORWARD TREVOR LINDEN

Vancouver, B.C. - Vancouver Canucks Senior Vice-President and General Manager Dave Nonis announced today that the Canucks have re-signed forward Trevor Linden to a new contract.

All I can say is: it's about damn time!

In other Canucks news, I have four tickets to the launch of the new Canucks sweater at GM Place next Wednesday, but no one seems willing and able to skip work¹ to join me. Any one out there in the blogodome interested?


¹For the record, I'm not *actually* skipping work. I only work 4 days a week anyway, so I'll take Wed off instead of my usual Friday.

My First Ever Sangeet!

Last night I attended my first ever Sangeet (or Ladies Party, as it is also called). And I must say that you have not partied until you have danced to a mash up of "My Humps" + Hindi music.

OK, maybe I should back up a little. Since this is my first ever Indian wedding, when Shalu gave me my invitation (which, by the way, is the most gorgeous invitation I've ever seen!), I had to have her walk me through what the heck everything was, since my invitation had FOUR invitations in it!¹ The invitation to the Sangeet indicated that there would be Appetizers, followed by Chunni & Tilak, then dinner & dancing. Appies, dinner & dancing I am familiar with, but chunni & tilak, not so much. Around about the time that we were waiting for our ride to pick us up, Shalu's friend, Mina (who I met at the wedding shower last weekend and arranged to carpool with) and I decided to Wikipedia² those terms to see what we could expect. Chunni, as near as we could tell from Wikipedia, is a piece of red fabric the groom's family puts on the bride's head. Tilak is a mark on the forehead.

Here's a pic of the happy couple after the Chunni & Tilak part of the night. As you can see, Shalu bears both the chunni and the tilak. Wikipedia did not steer us wrong!

Don't they look amazing??

OK, a few highlights of the night:

• the food. omg, so delish! I *love* Indian food. Plus, it was all vegetarian!
  
• everyone's outfits - they were soooo beautiful! Shalu looked radiant in her beautiful green dress and Deepak was dashing in his blue outfit.
  
  
• 



• the music! As I mentioned at the start of the post, it was Hindi music mixed with pop. Billie Jean, plus Hindi. Sexy Back, plus Hindi. It went surprisingly well together and had a great beat, which made for great fun dancing.
• And speaking of dancing, I got a few compliments on my dancing abilities. Now, I've never danced to Indian music before, so I just sort of looked at what other people were doing and tried to imitate it... just feel the beat and go with it! I think people were surprised to see the only white girl there dancing to the Indian
  
• And speaking of dancing, the DJ told us that "this next song will be the last song of the night" about 6 times. At once point, they had turned the lights up for the "last song", but we kept on dancing, so they turned the lights back down and kept playing music! After the actual last song, we decided we still needed to dance some more, so a bunch of us headed to Ginger Sixty-Two. Deepak told us it was Indian Night there, which we didn't believe, as Deepak likes to make things up just to see if you will believe them. But he turned out to be telling the truth, because when we got there, they were, in fact, playing Indian music! Of course, Shalu & her "entourage" (as the DJ there called it) were the only ones wearing Indian outfits, which everyone there thought was very cool.
  
  
  
  
  Here are Shalu & Deepak outside of Ginger Sixty-Two. Party like a rock star.
  

• We stayed 'til Ginger Sixty-Two closed (for those of you who are counting, that's right, we stayed right to the end of *two* parties last night... ya, we are that hardcore!) By then, I was pretty much unable to walk due to my feet deforming shoes. In my defence, the shoes are very pretty. Some peeps headed off for pizza, but me, Andrea & Mina decided that it was time, since it was after 2 am and Andrea had to work in a few hours, to head home.
  

OK, that's enough with the writing. But I'll give you a few more pictures, what with them being worth a thousand words and all.

Me, Radha (sister of the groom) and Mina (friend of Shalu's (and now my friend too!))

Mina, me & Ritu in the back row. Deepak & Shalu in the middle. Meenu up front.

At Ginger Sixty-Two.

Stay tuned for more exciting wedding events next week. Next up, the wedding tradition of Mehndi on Wednesday!

¹See here for a brief description of the different events.

²I also discovered through Wikipedia that Shalu's name is also the name of a "special type of sari."

Another In-depth Canucks Trade Analysis

In this interests of keeping my Vancouverite friends living abroad apprised of the goings on of my beloved Canucks in the off season, I give you the Canucks's newest hotties:

Ryan Shannon

This tasty morsel was picked up from the Anahiem Ducks as in exchange for Jason King and a conditional draft pick. He's a centre, like me. And he's 23, which happens to be my favourite age.

Jimmy Sharrow

This cutie was picked up in exchange for a cutie who was previously mentioned here in my corner of the blogosphere, Jesse Schultz. Jesse didn't, however, appear to play much when he was called up and I assume he got sent back down to the Moose shortly thereafter. Hopefully Jimmy can do a little bit more than that next season.

Draft Picks

Patrick White (picked 25th overall) & Taylor Ellington (picked 33rd overall)

When I first heard that we picked up another Taylor, my first thought was "Taylor sandwich! With a Dr. Beth filling!" But, alas, then I saw the pics. Now, I'm probably going to lose my cougar card for saying this - but Pat & Taylor look a wee bit too young for my liking. Maybe they just need a few years on the Moose to, um, develop. You know, time to fill out and work on their skills.

In the meantime, there is always Ryan and Jimmy....

New 'do

For awhile, I've been talking about getting a new haircut. In fact, way back in November at the dinner after my graduation, I was talking about it. At that time I said I wanted to lightening my hair - sort of around the same colour as Danielle's. Then a friend of mine suggested I get bangs: "you know, the sort of asymmetrical kind." "What, like Danielle's? What am I, Single White Female?"

Well, apparently I am SWF, because I went out yesterday and got a new hair cut, with the asymmetric kind of bangs. But I brought Danielle & Sarah as my advisers, so it's sort of SWF with permission. Sarah also wanted a hair cut, so we figured we'd venture out to find a salon. When I get my hair trimmed, I usually go somewhere cheap, like Great Clips, but I thought I wanted something a little more advanced to actually get my hairstyle changed. Felt like an $8 hair cut place might not be ideal for changing my 'do. So we went to this place instead. Because we are, in fact, hotties. Sadly, that sign has been removed from their window - apparently someone was "deeply offended" by it. Omg, get a grip people!!

Anyhoo, here are the "before" and "after" photos... what do y'all think?

"Before" photo at the Hotties Always Welcome Salon.

OK, another "before" photo, this time with funny hats.

After photos!!

You Can See The Clouds In Front of the Mountains From My Office!

Thoughts on my day:

• because there was a chance that I might have to stay late for a meeting this evening, I decided to get up early* to go for a run before work as I didn't want to run in the dark after getting home late. Apparently someone is unfamiliar with the concept of "spring forward." I got up at 6:30 a.m. and it was pitch fucking black. But, being the resourceful person that I am, I decided to have my breakfast/make my lunch/do the dishes/pack my bag for work before I ran, thus giving it time to get light out. And I got into work by 9:30 am, which is half an hour earlier than I had expected to.
• Apparently there is a reason that "free coffee" isn't a listed benefit. I discovered today that apparently the kitchenette on my floor has a coffee maker that is just for show. My hallmates** informed me, when I inquired about the coffee making situation, that "it's just for desperation" and the coffee maker in the main office, three floors below us, is much better... well, you would have to be quite desperate, not to mention very creative, to make coffee on our floor, as there are coffee filters, but no coffee***. So I went to the main office for my morning coffee, but their coffee maker is quite small and since I'm sure that satisfying my coffee dependency by continually making pots of it is not in any of the support staff's job descriptions, when I required an afternoon caffeine jolt****, I made the trip to Timmy Ho's. It's a long, convoluted, subterranean route to the Timmy's... a series of tubes, if you will, not unlike the internets.
  
• I'm hoping that walking through said series of tubes to Timmy's, as well as taking the stairs up and down to my 6th floor office a few times a day will counteract the nonstop sitting and snacking that comes along with a computer-based office job, so that I won't gain 50 lbs a minute.
• I'm listening to the Canucks game on the radio as I compose this posting and this brings up two things: (a) I saw on their website that the Canucks have called up relative cutie Nathan Smith from the Manitoba Moose, and (b) the Canucks are playing the Wild and I can't hear Shorty or Larscheid say the name "Carney" without giggling. I keep picturing a carnie rather than Carney.
• while waiting for the bus this morning I learned that, apparently, Matt (whoever Matt may be) is ripped and has 3 nipples and someone else "luvs to spooge":
• After two days at work, I'm interesting in learning how the hell anyone gets anything done when they are working 8 hours a day on things unrelated to blogging and emailing? Anyone have any idea?
  

*Yeah, I'm as surprised as you are.
**Is that a word?
***There's instant, but I won't dignify that by calling it coffee. Hey, does anyone remember the brief period when Tetley made instant tea? What was up with that?
****as my early afternoon diet Pepsi just wasn't cutting it.

January Wrap Up

Two things about January:

1. I did, in fact, post something every single day in January. And twice on the 10th.
   
2. The only game in the entire month of January where the Canucks didn't get at least one point was on my birthday.

In other news, my future husband, Marc Chouinard, scored his second goal as a Canuck tonight. Danielle got to go to the game and I am just a wee bit jealous. I listened to the game on the radio and it sounded very, very exciting!

Also, the release date of the last Harry Potter book has been, uh, released. July 21, 2007! w00t!! When book 6 came out, I preordered it from Chapters* so that I would receive it on the day it came out... and I read it from cover to cover, starting from when the letter carrier put it into my hot little hands at about noon until I was done at about 3 am the next day, having only taken two breaks - one to walk to the store to buy diet Pepsi and one to make myself something to eat. I also rode my exercise bike for 6 hours that day... I would ride it for an hour while reading, then sit on the couch for an hour while reading, and then repeat. That made me feel like I wasn't being a total sloth by just sitting still for 15 hours straight. Hmm... I don't have that exercise bike anymore... will need to come up with a new method for July 21!

Yup, first post of Febrary = phoning it in.


*Also, if you pre-order right away, you get it for half price.

At The Grocery Store

As a nutritional scientist, I consider it my duty to assess the contents of other shoppers's purchases when waiting in line at the grocery store checkout. The vast majority of the time, what people are buying is appallingly bad for you and I get to feel all smug and superior in a "what is this world coming to? why isn't anyone buying any whole grain products??" kind of way.

Today, I'm standing in the line up at Safeway and a cute boy walks into the line up behind me and starts emptying his basket onto the conveyor belt thingy. Oh my god, he's buying sprouted grain bread - not Wonder Bread! Look at that, he's getting whole grain crackers! And oatmeal! And the eggs with the omega-3 fatty acids! And then I look at my pathetic order... frozen french fries; pre-manufactured veggie burgers; the cheapest, omega-3-less eggs they sell; a huge vat of salsa. Oh my god, does he see I'm buying the cheap eggs with artery clogging saturated fats in them? Is he judging my frozen french fries? I want to yell, "but I'm on my way to the produce store to buy my fresh fruits and veggies next! I swear! And I'm getting multigrain bread at the bakery on the next block! Honest!" I can't even bring myself to look at him, lest his eyes tell me what he's surely too polite to say aloud: "Your grocery order is pathetic." Or perhaps not everyone is as critical as me about other people's groceries. Or perhaps he wasn't even looking at my order and he really was interested in the headline on that tabloid* he was looking at. Hard to say really.

It seems like there really should be some sort of grand conclusion to the posting, some moral to this story. But there isn't.

*FYI, did you know that Katy Holmes has been turned into a Stepford wife?

That's my boys!

I have been remiss in taking so long^* to personally congratulate Canada's World Junior Team on their gold medal^**, with a victory over the Russian team. Way to go boys!


Special shout outs to defenceman Cody Franson and forward Kenndal McArdle who play for the Vancouver Giants:


And, of course, there is Taylor Pyatt's baby brother Tom


A New York Rangers prospect^*** who currently plays for the Saginaw Spirit, it's hard to tell from this photo, but I think he might just have his brother Taylor's beautiful blue eyes. He's 5'11^**** and shoots left or right, depending on if you believe Hockey Canada or Hockey's Future, the online hockey prospect magazine^*****. And, at the tender age of 19******, I think Tom's young enough that I can mold him to my liking... most notably in the arena of not eating at Swiss Chalet.

^*and by "so long," I mean since they won the game yesterday morning.
^**for the third year running! w00t!
^***but I'm trying not to hold that against him.
^****a good match for a girl who is, say, 5'0", don't you think?
^*****personally, I believe Hockey Canada.
^******turning 20 on Valentine's Day, btw.

How To Drink From A Shot Syringe

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for photos since I said that Kalev won a Turistas shot syringe, so I will keep you in suspense no longer.

Step One: pour your delicious beverage* into a receptacle

Step Two: suck up your delicious beverage into the syringe.

Step Three: smile maniacally for the camera.

Step Four: Enjoy!

Step Five: Repeat as many times as necessary until you acheived the desired results.

Variation: Using a red liquid makes it look even cooler.

Believe it or not, there were actually more people at this party than just Kalev and I. We just happened to be the only ones cool enough** to actually take shots from a syringe. And so we recruited Nathan, who I like to refer to as Mr. I'll-do-another-shot-if-you'll-do-another-shot. And here he is, putting his money where his mouth is.


There was also a very hilarious conversation that ensued from this whole proceeding that I couldn't possible hope to reproduce in its entirety, but from which I now provide a few snippets that I can remember:

• "Beth needs to learn to swallow"
• "Go slower this time"
• "You can't always control it. Sometimes you just have to gulp"
• "It's not my fault you shot it all over my face!"
  

You know you wish you could attend the same parties as me.

*In this case, it was some sort of toffee flavoured liquor.
**This may be explained by the fact that most of the people there were engineers and they were too busy discussing mathematical formulae and, I kid you not, the Fibonacci sequence. Let me repeat that: they were discussing the Fibonacci sequence at a party.

Marky Marc

My one true love, Marc Chouinard, scored his first goal as a Canuck. I'm pretty sure it was because he heard that I had come to my senses and am soooo over Taylor Pyatt, that girlfriend-having, Swiss-Chalet-eating, hat-all-off-kilter-wearing nogoodnik and am now free to be all Marc's. I predict we will be hearing a lot more from Mr. Chouinard, now that he can rest assured that I love him and only him.

Let's all look at pictures of Marc and revel in his beauty:

*Sigh*

I'm DEVASTATED!

*Sob*

Taylor Pyatt is... *sob*.... he's.... *sob*.... he's not single!!

I heard about this over at the Pink Seats. Which I am never reading again, btw.

I'll just have to console myself with the new boy in town, Jesse Schultz. Jesse was called up from the Manitoba Moose to play in the big league. Jesse also happens to be 24, which is, coincidentally, my favourite age.


Isn't he just adorable?

Jesse, if you are reading this, I know you are new in town, so why don't you let me be your Vancouver tour guide? Call me!

And, of course, there is also still Marc Chouinard.

200

This is my 200^th blog posting And in honour of this momentous occasion, I’m writing a 200 word blog entry. And each word is hyperlinked. The kicker is that each word may or may not be linked to something that is even remotely related to the word in question. Yes, I have too much time on my hands. And so do you if you are reading this.

My very first post was on 8 July 2005. Meaning that it took me four hundred and ninty-eight days to get to the 200^th post. I think that my favourite title of any of my blog postings was “Yet Another Reason That the PM is a Dickhead.” Although “Exploding Trousers” and “Intimate Contact with Chickens” are also good. Necromouse remains the coolest photo on the blog (although me riding the mechanical bull seems to get rave reviews for some reason) and I will always have a special place in my heart for the PhDizzle posting. I still can’t decide if I should rename my blog to something cooler than “Thesis Writing Was Hell.” I’m still rather partial to The Total Perspective Vortex, but I’m not sold on it.

Also, Taylor Pyatt.

The End

The Detox is Over. The Retoxification has Begun. Oh ya, and I Got a Free Drink Courtesy of Taylor Pyatt.

When we last left our heroine^*, she was stuck in the world of detox diet, eating apples and rice cakes and totally jonesing for a diet Pepsi. Before I started the detox, I thought that the whole idea was bunk. After having tried it, I'm thinking it's bunk. On the plus side, it kept me off the sauce for 12 whole days. Also on the plus side, we made some wicked delicious foods.

Now, my roommate and I are totally foodies. We once spent an entire evening at her friend Sheila's place talking about nutrition and trading recipes. We once made her little brother walk around a grocery store while we read nutrition labels on all the food packages... for fun^**. So we spent our 12 days of detox coming up with new and exciting dishes. I felt like I spent the better part of the week chopping vegetables, as seen here:















































But check out how good these foods look!































Green beans, carrots and almonds. Seven-layer veggie casserole. You know you are jealous.

And even crepes made with spelt! And roasted apples, pears & berries!


By the end of the 12 days, I was pretty much just sticking to the program out of sheer stubbornness^***. But I did it - 12 days with no black tea, no alcohol, no added sugar or salt, no bread products, no mushrooms, no tropical fruit and no sweet sweet diet Pepsi. At 12:07 am on Saturday, I ate a dark chocolate Turtle^**** to celebrate the end of the detox. Saturday morning meant a trip to Cobs Bread for breakfast. And a Timmy Ho coffee. But the big retoxification began at dinner... as you may recall, the retox plan involved Nevermind, a portobello mushroom burger and a bellini served in a fishbowl. Apparently Nevermind didn't receive the memo. My hopes were dashed when the cute waiter told me, "the bellini isn't frozen." So I had to make due with a Surfer on Acid^*****, a Jail Bait^******, a Strongbow cider and, of course, the precious precious beer, courtesy of Taylor Pyatt. Unfortunately, he didn't actually purchase said beer himself. For you see, he was playing hockey at the time. And I was watching said hockey game on the big ass screens they have a Nevermind. In addition to big ass screens, Nevermind also has a "player of the game." And if said "player of the game" scores a goal, everyone in the bar gets a free beer. And guess who was the "player of the game"? And guess who scored a goal? That's right, Taylor Pyatt contributed to my retoxification, and he hasn't even met me. Yet.

You can see me drinking my Taylor Pyatt beer and gazing intently at Taylor Pyatt here:


^*not our herion.

^**her little brother most definitely disagreed with us on the funness level of this activity.

^***I have been known to be somewhat stubborn. In fact, when my PhD supervisor was considering taking me into her lab, she called my MSc supervisor to ask what I was like. Apparently he told her I was stubborn. Fortunately, she considered this to be a good thing and took me in anyway.

^****We were watching Into the Blue at Kalev's house and he generously donated a Turtle to the cause as I had left the Ferrero Rochers that I bought for just this purpose at my house, thinking the movie would be over and I would be home well before midnight. Thanks Kalev!

^*****While this link to Drinknation.com will tell you that a Surfer on Acid is Jäg, Malibu & pineapple juice, a Surfer on Acid at Nevermind also includes Red Bull. And you know how I feel about Red Bull and Jäg.

^******or two. You know how I love jail bait. I can't seem to find a link to a recipe for Jail Bait anywhere on the internets. I google searched "jail bait drink," but you can imagine how that turned out. A Jail Bait at Nevermind was Stoli Razberi, peach liqueur and 7up. Good times.

Driver Wanted

Who wants to drive me to Abbotsford next Saturday?

Public Player Appearances!

The Vancouver Canucks will be sending five players out to the community on Saturday, November 18th to sign autographs!

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Taylor Pyatt
Save On Foods - Abbotsford (300 - 32700 South Fraser Way, Clearbrook)
2:30pm - 3:30pm

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Alex Burrows
Save On Foods - South Point, Surrey/White Rock (3033 - 152nd St, Surrey)
2:30pm - 3:30pm

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Rory Fitzpatrick
Save On Foods - Metrotown/Station Square (6100 McKay Ave, Burnaby)
2:00pm - 3:00pm

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Ryan Kesler
Save On Foods - Nordel Crossing (12130 Nordel Way, Surrey)
2:30pm - 3:30pm

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Willie Mitchell
Shopper's Drug Mart - Metrotown, Burnaby
2:00pm - 3:00pm

Please note:
All player appearances are open to the first 160 people in attendance. These 160 individuals will each receive a voucher that can be redeemed for one autograph.

Updates and Suchlike

Taylor Pyatt scored the winning goal tonight. Is there anything he can't do? *sigh*

My good luck in the free movie department appears to be contagious - my roommate won tickets to see a movie (Little Children). I heart Videomatica.

It's day 8 of the detox diet. I miss diet Pepsi so much. On the plus side, I've discovered that almond butter is delish on apples. I may or may not have a plan to celebrate the end of the detox that involves Nevermind, a portobello mushroom burger and a bellini served in a fishbowl. Yes, that's 32 oz of bellini. And yes Nevermind, where they give free shots to anyone sitting at the bar whenever the Canucks score*.

Also, Shalu is my BFF. She knows why. I heart Shalu.

My mom and sister are coming to visit me in just over two weeks! Yay mom & sister! It is my mom's 60th birthday in 6 days. I think that means I'm old.

*apparently I'm planning to re-toxify my body, which I spent 12 days detoxing, in the space of about 3 hours.

Canuck Hotness

Thanks to the fine women at The Pink Seats, I have found a new Canuck hottie whose babies I might like to carry. I have been remiss in noticing the hotness of one Marc Chouinard, the 6'5" centre.


See what I mean? Hottie! Plus, he's the only Canuck who has been confirmed as being single (I think Taylor's relationship status is listed as "?" because the word on the street is that he's in love with me).

Taylor and Marc, if you are googling your names and come across my blog, I have one word for you. It starts with a "t" and ends with a "hreesome". Call me.