Diary

Right from the start, I knew we would have problems in our relationship. We were too much alike, he and I. Type A. Achievers. The kind who love lists and checking things off. The kind who love control. And yet, as the new year rolled in with all its resolutions and promises of change, I made a commitment to him. I downloaded the app to my phone and linked myself for the foreseeable future to MyFitnessPal. He made promises, and I did, too. But could we keep them? After all, we both wanted the same thing: We were determined to get rid of the eight pounds that had crept onto my frame in the last year.

Right from the start, I knew we would have problems in our relationship. We were too much alike, he and I. Type A. Achievers. The kind who love lists and checking things off. The kind who love control. And yet, as the new year rolled in with all its resolutions and promises of change, I made a commitment to him. I downloaded the app to my phone and linked myself for the foreseeable future to MyFitnessPal. He made promises, and I did, too. But could we keep them? After all, we both wanted the same thing: We were determined to get rid of the eight pounds that had crept onto my frame in the last year.

When T. asked me how I would like to spend my last day on earth, I told him by playing Hookie from work making marinara sauce together making love while it was cooking, drinking red wine, eating bread and watching all the movies we have talked about watching together. -- from Anne Marie Fahey's diary, Feb. 22, 1995Anne Marie Fahey's last day turned out much differently from the dreamy scenario she anticipated in her diary.In fact, the only part that came to pass was that she and "T" indeed were together when her last day ended.

Bombs falling on Arab neighborhoods ... Homes demolished ... Civilians killed or wounded ... Soldiers shooting at anything that moves. That may sound like a description of the past week's violence between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza. But in fact, it comes from the letters and diary of a Baltimore teacher who volunteered to spend a year at a Quaker school in British-ruled Palestine in 1938-1939, only to find herself in the middle of a war between Arab terrorists and the British army.

It's been a long time comin', but the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by University of Maryland alum Jeff Kinney are finally being released as ebooks. The first six books in the wildy popular series about meek middle schooler Greg Heffley will be available to download Oct. 30. The latest, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel," will be released as an ebook and hardcover on Nov. 13. All of the ebooks will be branded as Wimp-E-Books. It's suprising that it took so long, because Kinney -- a 1993 grad of UMd's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice -- is no stodgy, digital novice.

SEN. Bob Packwood is not the only one who kept a diary while serving in the Senate. And that's a serious problem. The Senate Ethics Committee may subpoena all the journals that its members produced during their years of government service.Sen. Rabelais is one of those who kept a diary, and in many ways it's hotter than Bob's. I filched a copy from the Senate cloakroom and here are some takeouts."Dear Diary: I was walking down the hall to my office when this girl came up and pushed me. I pushed her back and she pushed me again.

Washington -- LIKE EVERYONE else, I smacked my lips at the revelations in a young U.S. Treasury Department aide's diary of the president being "furious" at a friend's decision to remove himself from the Whitewater line of fire.Like everyone else, I derided the aide's ludicrous attempts to wriggle away from his written record -- as, for example, in his description of a high official's attempt to deceive a Senate committee with half-truths as "gracefully ducking" questions.And like everybody else, I missed the central point of the exercise: What right does Congress -- or the cops, for that matter -- have to pry into anybody's personal diary?

THE DIARY OF my grandmother, Mary Gresham Machen, painstakingly maintained every day from 1890 until her death in 1931, records many perceptive comments about the Baltimore scene over the years. But few are more poignant than her report of the Great Fire of 1904. Her husband, Arthur W. Machen, was the first of three Baltimore lawyers in succession to bear that name. They lived in a spacious house at 217 W. Monument St., now the site of the Maryland Historical Society on the crest of Mount Vernon hill with a commanding view of the city to the south and east.

THE SKINNY: Welcome to the world of "The X-Factor. " From the start of Wednesday night's premiere, the "X" would take the foundations of "American Idol" - high drama, big lights and heartfelt stories - and build for the sky. This was an emotionally draining show, with stories of poor families, down-on-their-luck talents and even a meth-addict fresh out of rehab. If you feet that "Idol" has gotten stale in recent seasons (and it has, with its predictable guy-with-a-guitar winners)

Baltimore's Mittens is officially a celebrity. The abused cat, recently named ASPCA's Cat of the Year , just returned to Baltimore after a whirlwind trip to Manhattan where she not only stayed at a fancy hotel and enjoyed limo service, but was presented with a major award and made an appearance on the Today Show. While we can only imagine how all the hoopla seemed to an unassuming cat, she's filling us in on how it all went down. Here is Mittens' diary from last week's big trip, as told to Unleashed with the help of Cindy Wright, her foster mom who knew a great cat when she saw one and adopted her: Wednesday morning So, I'm headed to New York City to receive the ASPCA's Cat of the Year Award!

It's been a long time comin', but the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by University of Maryland alum Jeff Kinney are finally being released as ebooks. The first six books in the wildy popular series about meek middle schooler Greg Heffley will be available to download Oct. 30. The latest, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel," will be released as an ebook and hardcover on Nov. 13. All of the ebooks will be branded as Wimp-E-Books. It's suprising that it took so long, because Kinney -- a 1993 grad of UMd's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice -- is no stodgy, digital novice.

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar - another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: TRUCKLE There are multiple ways to bend to superior power or influence, and truckle (pronounced TRUK-uhl) encompasses much of the spectrum. It can mean simply to take a subordinate position. It can mean to give way timidly. Worse, it can mean to submit from an unworthy motive.

Klaus is finally out of the picture.   And I'm not mad about it. Not because he was the bad guy, but because his character was so annoying. Klaus really was one of the reasons this show started to bother me. Everything became centered on killing him.   Now, Klaus is essentially dead. Bonnie uses a spell to desecrate Klaus, which is the same thing her mother Abby did to Kalus' father (well not really, so we previously learned, because Klaus' father was a werewolf) Michael.

I almost quit watching this show tonight. And not just this episode but the entire "Vampire Diaries" series.   Why you ask? Because the writers almost killed off Alaric.   So back in her own body, Esther comes up with this plan for how to kill off her children and the entire vampire species. She decides to turn Alaric, while he's really his evil alter ego, into a vampire. She believes his hatred of vampires will only intensify when he's a vampire and he'll become an unstoppable vampire hunter, just like her husband Michael (though he was obviously stopped!

Everyone knows I'm Team Damon, so the Elena kiss was the highlight of the episode for me. Too bad Jeremy broke it up before it got even hotter!   So tonight Elena and Damon go get Jeremy in Colorado, because they know Klaus knows where he is. Also they wanted him to contact Rose, so they could try to trace Damon's and Stefan's vampire bloodline to one of the originals.   Rose points them to Mary, the vampire who turned her, but when Damon and Elena show up at Mary's house, Kol has already killed her.   No solutions on the bloodline front tonight, which is a good thing for Caroline, who was reunited with Tyler this episode.

On Saturday night, I walked down to Camden Yards and bought a $10 Upper Reserved ticket. At some point, it became less $10 ticket and more like a $10 cover charge, the price for admission to a gorgeous urban gathering place and to the new Roof Deck in particular. The choice seats on the new Roof Deck at Camden Yards are first-come, first-served. So far, that seems to be working. On Saturday night, a few fans wearing Minnesota Twins gear had successful commandeered a few of the front-row stools under the overhang, and no one seemed to begrudge them them.

It's not as damn fine as a good cuppa joe or some cherry pie from the Double R diner, but ''The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer,'' by Jennifer Lynch (Pocket Books, $8.95) is still a valuable companion for the true "Twin Peaks" fanatic.Of all the characters in the supersonic prime-time soap opera, we know the least about the murdered Laura Palmer. So Lynch, the daughter of series creator David Lynch, fills in the gaps with a diary that stretches from her 12th birthday until a few days before her death.

"A Christmas Diary," a preservation of memories from diaries of Carroll County residents, will be the theme this year for the Carroll County Farm Museum's holiday tour. Each room of the 1850s-era farmhouse will be festively decorated according to the memories set down by residents in their diaries, poetry and newspaper accounts written before 1900. The tour will include light fare available in the Sleigh Bell Cafe, located in the lower level of the Administration Building. Santa visits, artisan demonstrations and wagon rides on weekends are also featured.

Alaric's gone crazy, but I almost went crazy out of boredom from tonight's "Vampire Diaries" episode.   The only promising moment was when it appeared Damon was going to have a threesome with Sage, a vampire from his past that returns this episode, and Rebekah. But it didn't happen. Damon just hooked up with Rebekah and Sage came in after to read her mind.   Sage was trying to help Damon figure out what Rebekah was up to and they were successful. She learned Rebekah was trying to find out about a white oak tree that once existed in Mystic Falls.