Perpetual Writer's Block

My little baby bird

2009-08-05T19:45:00.001-07:00

So, what's new?

2009-06-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sort of surprised this blog is still even here. It's been almost 9 months since my last post, which wasn't particularly inspired. Then again, most of my posts in the months leading up to the last one were generally uninspired as well. I think I dropped Blogger for MySpace, which I dropped for Facebook, which I sort of dropped for . . . a baby. My baby. I had a baby! That's what I was referring to in my September post when I said things were about to get busier for me. I had just figured out and confirmed I was pregnant. I had a baby girl in May and am home with her now (in fact, she's asleep in the crook of my arm right now, which is why I am actually able to type with both hands at the moment).

Life has changed a lot in the last year. I'll have to take some time to catch up on my blogroll and see who's still out there.

Is there anybody out there?

God Help Us if We Have to Live With This

2008-10-07T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hmmm

2008-09-25T10:29:00.001-07:00

Wow -- I've been gone so long things have changed. The links for the blogs I used to follow are all gone! Looks like there's another way to track 'em now. I'm so bad. I haven't written a damned thing, here or anywhere, in months! Super busy -- and about to get busier. More later.

Survey

2008-02-28T18:49:00.001-08:00

Here's how it works:

1. Go to www.photobucket.com (don't sign in)

2. Type in your answer to the question in the "search" box

3. Use only the first page

4. Copy the html and paste for the answer

What's your first name?

What is your relationship status?

What is your favorite color?

Who is your celebrity crush?

What are you listening to right now?

What is your favorite movie?

What is your favorite Disney Princess?

Where is your dream vacation?

What is your favorite dessert?

What do you want to do when you grow up?

What do you love most in life?

One word to describe yourself?

I was born in:

My eye color is

Blondes or Brunettes?

Night or Day?

Oranges or Apples?

Neither!

Vega$, baby

2008-02-26T22:37:00.001-08:00

I just got back from Vegas today. I was there for 2 days for a conference, stayed at Treasure Island where the conference was held. It was a lot nicer than I thought it would be! I didn't have much time to get far from the hotel, but I did manage to play my first live poker tournament at TI's Poker Room. I busted out right before the first break -- caught a couple of bad beats and started to get blinded down. I thought it went well for my first time out, though. I'll do it again.

The company putting on the conference also gave us tix to see Beatles Love at The Mirage next door to TI -- it's a Cirque du Soleil show -- and that was something else. You don't know where to look first -- or at all, I guess. I'm not even sure how to describe it -- but suffice it to say the performers are acrobats, contortionists, athletes and actors all rolled into one. It was crazy -- very elaborate sets and dramatic effects. I love The Beatles, so it was cool to see something set to their music.

I did manage to take a walk to the Forum shops at Caesar's -- if you ever want to feel like you need a sugar daddy, take a walk in that place. Harry Winston, Gucci, Prada, Agent Provocateur, Spago, Tiffany, Cartier, Bulgari, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Exotic Cars -- take your pick. There were other more run of the mill places there, but that is a place for some serious shopping! Between the shops and restaurants, you could spend a whole day in there -- and if you don't pay attention to where you are and how you got there, you might because there are a lot of dead ends in that place. I guess they don't want you to be able to exit easily.

Last night before turning in for the night my co-worker and I walked up the strip a bit. Monday night at 10 p.m., and no shortage of people walking up and down the street -- or people pimping out their clubs. I wish we'd had one more day to get further out. Anyway, I'm gonna have to plan a trip for Jason & me.

This morning we left the hotel at 11 for a 1:30 flight out of McCarran. When it was about time to board the plane, we were told that our pilots weren't there yet, but that the previous pilots stayed on the plane so we could board and be ready when they arrived. After sitting on the plane for half an hour and seeing two mechanics go into the cockpit and fuss with some computers, they told us the plane wasn't going anywhere and we had to get off the plane and get on another one. Fun. So we got back off the plane, went to another gate, got on that plane (oddly enough, although it was Southwest and there is no assigned seating, most people went back to the same seats on the new plane) and finally took off around 3:00, when we should have been landing in Sac. So we got into Sac at about quarter after 4, waited another half hour for luggage and were leaving the airport right before 5 -- just in time for rush hour traffic. Luckily, it wasn't bad but I still didn't get home til 6 and had to move a 5:30 appointment to tomorrow. It took us all day to get home from Vegas! Gah!

02.21.04

2008-02-21T21:19:00.001-08:00

Four years ago tonight the husband and I were partying in wedding attire with our family & friends. Our wedding was a blast. Four years married, nearly 8 years together overall. Now all anyone wants to know is "when are you going to have a baby?"

*crickets*

We went to The Melting Pot for dinner tonight to celebrate. Hey, it's Thursday and we're both working tomorrow, whaddya want from us? We had some yummy fondue in a cute little booth all the way in the back of the restaurant that had ceiling tiles with little sparkling white lights in it (meant to look like stars, I think). Jason had never been there so that was fun. Oh, and I surprised him with a Flame Angel for his tank. It's sweet. I think we decided to call it "Diablo." Should fit right in with the Maroon Clown called "Velvet Jones."

Alrighty, then . . . Happy Thursday. Over & out.

Thrombophlebitis

2008-02-19T19:57:00.001-08:00

When I had my wisdom teeth out, I was put under general anesthesia. The doctor put a needle in the top of my hand and injected the drugs through a tube. I remember asking his assistant if my hand and wrist were supposed to hurt like that and they told me somtimes it's a little uncomfortable for a bit. For a few days after that I had a small bruise and my hand was tender. It's been a few weeks now, and the bruise is gone, but the top of my hand and the top of my wrist and lower arm are still tender. For some reason it was uncomfortable to wear a watch. I started feeling my arm and realized I had a swollen vein or something under my skin -- gross!

I called the doctor's office this morning to ask if this was normal and they called me back to tell me the doctor wanted to see me this afternoon. So, I went in and he tells me it's thrombophlebitis. I guess sometimes the drugs irritate the veins and he said he only sees it probably 3 times a year. Lucky me! He told me I need to keep my arm elevated, take anti-inflammatories (aspirin or ibuprofen) and apply heat to it, maybe in the form of a hot wet washcloth. It should subside within a few weeks; if not, I'm supposed to call back and be seen again to be sure it's not getting worse (scarring, clotting, etc.). He didn't seem too concerned, so I'm trying not to be. But really, if I have to be one of 3 people to experience something among of hundreds of people a year who don't, can't it be winning money or something?

Whatever. I gotta stop typing and put my arm back up. Phpthptphphttt.

Oh, how I love a 3-day weekend!

2008-02-18T10:27:00.001-08:00

Is there anything better than sleeping in on a Monday? I think not. :o)

Why I would like to throw my alleged "smart phone" into the toilet

2008-02-17T23:12:00.001-08:00

It's acting like a piece of SHIT! Gah!

For hours I have been trying to download a ringtone, a graphic to use as a background, and to clear off files because it keeps telling me its memory is full. Full of what? Most of the info I run through it lives on servers in my office.

WHY is my 1G micro SD chip not sufficient for the few things I ask of you? Why are you continually freezing on me so I am having to reset you every half hour? Why will you not sync with my PC and allow me to copy the photos that are stored in your useless metal-colored plastic POS body onto my computer? And why does ActiveSync refuse to launch -- on you or on my PC -- when that @$%$@^! application pops up on my computer every time I log on? Suddenly you're unavailable? I see you there -- in my Start menu, on my desktop, in my applications -- and yet, you fail and refuse to launch.

IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY . . . tell me how it is that something that once retailed for as much as $600 before corporate discounts, company reimbursements, and my signature on a 2-year contract, can be useful for little more than beaning someone in the head?

I give up. Keep the pictures, keep your stupid factory settings, keep freezing up -- because you are getting REPLACED in less than a year. I would skip your sorry ass right into the ocean if you were biodegradable!

Here's my little prayer for the advent of something not yet available -- I want something that will put the Tilt, the Treo, the Q, the BlackJack and even the N96 to shame. And I want it to be cute. Is that so much to ask?

Sniffer

2008-02-17T12:20:00.001-08:00

A man had just settled into his seat next to the window on the plane when another man sat down in the aisle seat and put his black Labrador Retriever in the middle seat next to the man. The first man looked very quizzically at the dog and asked why the dog was allowed on the plane.

The second man explained that he was a DEA agent and that the dog was a 'sniffing dog'. "His name is Sniffer and he's the best there is. I'll show you once we get airborne, when I put him to work." The plane took off, and once it has leveled out, the agent said, "Watch this." He told Sniffer to "search". Sniffer jumped down, walked along the aisle, and finally sat very purposefully next to a woman for several seconds.

Sniffer then returned to his seat and put one paw on the agent's arm. The agent said, "Good boy", and he turned to the man and said, "That woman is in possession of marijuana, so I'm making a note of her seat number and the authorities will apprehend her when we land.

"Say, that's pretty neat," replied the first man.

Once again, the agent sent Sniffer to search the aisles. The Lab sniffed about, sat down beside a man for a few seconds, returned to its seat, and this time he placed two paws on the agent's arm.

The agent said, "That man is carrying cocaine, so again, I'm making a note of his seat number for the police."

"I like it!" said his seat mate.

The agent then told Sniffer to "search" again. Sniffer walked up and down the aisles for a little while, sat down for a moment, and then came racing back to the agent, jumped into the middle seat and proceeded to shit all over the place.

The first man was really grossed out by this behavior and couldn't figure out how or why a well-trained dog would behave like that, so he asked the agent "What's going on?"

The agent nervously replied, "He just found a bomb."

Random

2008-02-14T07:35:00.001-08:00

So we buy this dog food (and now cat food) called Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance. It's a lot more like human food than a lot of the dog foods out there (except the kibble -- I can't think of anything we eat that's like that) and the dog likes it, plus it doesn't make him sick like some of the crap out there. And of course when I read Dick Van Patten I thought of the dad on Eight is Enough (if you're not old enough to remember who that is, shut up). It didn't occur to me to look it up and see if it's the same guy, but I read something on, of all places, Perez Hilton the other day saying it is. And on top of that, the same story said Adam Rich (the cute little kid Nicholas on Eight is Enough) owns 4 America's Tire stores in the Sacramento area.

So, I buy my dog food and my tires from some guys from an 80s television show. What are the odds of that?

Who knew?

2008-02-11T21:22:00.001-08:00

I was watching The Today Show this morning and Matt Lauer pointed out that his favorite part of the Grammys last night was when Morris Day and the Time performed. Me too!

Me and Matt -- old skool Time fans. Who knew?

I want Alicia Keys' skin!

2008-02-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Even the color. Is that so much to ask? Her skin and makeup are always flawless -- but not in that cakey, begging-to-be-airbrushed, way overdone, borderline drag-queen way I see on so many women. You know what I mean? Those women whose makeup looks like they remove their heads and give it a full-on MAC assault before screwing it back onto their bodies? I wanna attack those people with wet wipes.

I want Alicia Keys' skin! Actually, I wouldn't mind her bank account, either.

Holy crap!

2008-02-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

I think I might be a Libertarian.

I need to do some research.

hahaha

2008-02-01T09:45:00.001-08:00

A woman goes to her boyfriend’s parents’ house for Sunday dinner.

This is to be her first time meeting the family and she is very nervous.

They all sit down and begin eating a fine meal.

The woman is beginning to feel a little discomfort, thanks to her nervousness and the broccoli casserole. The gas pains are almost making her eyes water. Left with no other choice, she decides to relieve herself a bit and lets out a dainty fart. It wasn’t loud, but everyone at the table heard the poof.

Before she even had a chance to be embarrassed, her boyfriend’s father looked over at the dog that had been snoozing under the woman’s chair, and said in a rather stern voice, “Skippy!”.

The woman thought, “This is great!” and a big smile came across her face. A couple of minutes later, she was beginning to feel the pain again. This time, she didn’t even hesitate. She let a much louder and longer rrrrrip.

The father again looked at the dog and yelled, “Dammit Skippy!”.

Once again the woman smiled and thought “Yes!” A few minutes later the woman had to let another rip. This time she didn’t even think about it. She let a fart rip that rivaled a train whistle blowing.

Once again, the father looked at the dog with disgust and yelled, “Dammit Skippy, get away from her, before she shits all over you!”

Buh-bye, January!

2008-01-31T22:38:00.001-08:00

Okay, so January is done. What a waste it was for me! I got sick on the 3rd and struggled with it for WEEKS -- only within the last week have I started to feel normal. I still have a bit of a cough but thankfully the rest of it seems to have run its course. Still, the damage was done -- it really took a toll on me in terms of getting to work and taking care of the house. I did what I needed to, maybe a little more, but nowhere near the level I usually do.

Today I had my wisdom teeth out, so I'm ending January with a bang. I've never had any kind of surgery -- never been hospitalized, never been put out for anything until today. I really didn't know what to expect but from what my friends and other acquaintances have told me, things have changed a lot and I am SO glad I didn't do it 9 or 10 years ago when it was first suggested to me! They knocked me out and when I woke up it was done. The gauze wasn't fun, and I've been having to ice my swollen face every hour and eat things like Jell-o and applesauce, but other than that I feel completely fine. I can't even put into words how grateful I am for that right now!

I have tomorrow off to keep icing and taking my pain killers, then back to work Monday. I've really got to kick things into gear if I am going to get anywhere. I did manage to finally get to the gym on Monday, and am looking forward to getting back into a routine (long since lost). We already have lots of things planned for this year and a lot to do to get ready for it. Jason and I just applied for passports for the first time; he's planning to join me at a conference I am attending in Toronto (it's something I go to for work every year toward the end of April). We're going to stay an extra day after my conference and go see Niagara Falls. THAT should be something. I hope it stops snowing like crazy back east by then!

Alrighty -- so I am still unpacking the boxes I packed up when we started remodeling, and deciding what stays and what goes. It's not all coming back in. I can't tell you how much stuff we've already given away to friends, family, or goodwill. We do not have the space to be pack rats!

Anyway, aside from the horrible way my year ended and the sickly way it started off, I am now feeling optimistic about the rest of the year. I have so many ideas swirling around in my head, I'm not sure where to start. So I guess I'll do what I always do and start making massive lists and figuring out where to go from there.

I hope everyone else's year started off better and that only good things lie ahead!

12.23.07

2007-12-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

My aunt Angela passed away today. I still can't believe it. Yet another reminder not to take things, or people, for granted. You just never know.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T07:15:00.001-08:00

I still can't believe we're already at Thanksgiving. I'll be sure to spend some time today thinking about all the things I have to be thankful for. I'm reminded of it more than occasionally just by virtue of the fact that I work downtown and see a lot of people who don't have much, if anything. Today I get to spend the day hanging out with family and enjoying all the food & drink we can manage in a nice place without any thought about how the food & drink got there. All I had to do was run to Safeway and BevMo. I know for many people that isn't an option.

I have a lot to do this morning before we hit the road -- laundry, dishes, walk the dog, bathe the dog, bake a coffee cake, and clean up (to the extent I can) around here so we can get back to the remodel tomorrow. I'd better get to it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Small World

2007-10-23T19:20:00.001-07:00

I went to Taco Bell tonight to pick something up for the husband and me, and ran into my best friend from when I was about 14-16 years old and she was about 16-18 (i.e., 20+ years ago). We've seen each other off and on over the years but the last time I think I actually saw her was about 7 years ago. We got in touch again through Classmates.com within the last year and have been talking about getting together for lunch but just hadn't done it. I think we will now. It was nice to see her. She looks great -- and her firstborn is now NINETEEN years old! Gah!

Funny thing . . . she and I used to always go to Taco Bell. We would often get burrito supremes and enchiritos (when they still put the little slice of olive on top for garnish). It just hit me, also, that less than a week ago I was at that very Taco Bell where I ran into her tonight and I actually ordered a burrito supreme (minus lettuce) and an enchirito (yeah, we eat at Taco Bell a lot). I never do that -- and I thought of her when I did it. I must have willed our little run-in. I made a split decision to go inside rather than hit the drive-through and there she was with her family -- the only other people in the place. What are the odds?

GO SOX!

2007-10-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

A little nod to my dad. One more inning between them and the World Series!

This is my cat

2007-10-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

. . . minus the bat.

Try this

2007-10-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

I got this in an e-mail tonight (I claim no responsibility for the problems with punctuation and sentence structure):

This will boggle your mind and you will keep trying over and over
again to see if you can outsmart your right foot, but, you can't.
It's preprogrammed in your brain!

1. WITHOUT anyone watching you (They will think you are GOOFY)
and while sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer,
lift your right foot off the floor and make Clockwise Circles.

2. Now......while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your
Right Hand. Your foot will change direction.

I told you so!!! And there's nothing you can do about it!

You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done,
You are going to try it again, if you've not already done so.

Send it to your friends to frustrate them too.

It worked on me!

Decisions, decisions

2007-10-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

It's 9:07. I haven't really done anything productive since getting home from work. Do I have the third beer?

I believe I will.

Life's too short to clean your own home

2007-10-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

I got a piece of mail the other day that said this on the front. A cleaning service, of course. You know, I'm starting to agree. I never thought I'd feel like I wanted a housekeeper, but the longer I live with other people the more I feel like I need one. Everyone else who lives here has one -- me! How the hell did that happen? Not that they don't help at all, but they don't usually do it without some prodding (from me) and they don't usually do it that well. As the saying goes, "[i]f you want something done right . . ."

I need a housekeeper

And a chef

And a trainer

Is that so much to ask for? I thought so.

The house is still totally torn apart with this remodel and I am trying to get stuff put away but I just don't know where to put everything -- and I really don't feel like it! Why can't a crew show up at my door ready to take over, send me on vacation for a week and let me come back to a completely renovated and redecorated house? Where's my extreme home makeover? Oh, right -- I don't have a terminal disease or comparable sob story. Yeah, yeah, I'm grateful and all, but why can't I be visited with such great fortune? Nope, instead we have to give the credit card a major workout and earn all this so-called "sweat equity." Sweat equity sucks!

Alright, back to work.

Helloooooooooooooooo!

2007-10-09T20:38:00.001-07:00

You know, I kind of forgot about my blog for a while. A long while. Where have I been? Work was super busy all summer -- then straight into the fall madness. Things probably won't really settle down until after the first of the year. Even then, it's really just back to the regularly scheduled chaos. We went to Maui again in August, which was nice, but it took me days to unwind. I'm not sure I ever really relaxed. Then, right back to work -- and the husband decided to start tearing into the house, and starting some remodeling that we've been talking about since we moved in nearly 5 years ago. So, the bedrooms have been gutted, down to bare concrete floors, acoustic ceilings scraped off, ceilings and walls re-textured, painted, new carpet laid down, and now they just need to be trimmed out and put back together. For 2 weeks we slept on a mattress in the middle of the living room while the rooms were torn apart. It was surprisingly un-fun. Did not enjoy camping out surrounded by floor to ceiling piles of crap that normally lives in the bedroom!

So, I'm swamped at work, swamped at home, and some things or people in my life are generally irritating the shit out of me so I'm trying to figure out how to eliminate those people from my life or at least eliminate, to the extent I can, my interactions with them. I know I can do it. Fuck those people -- why should I stress out over anyone else's bullshit? I've got my own problems.

Before I wrote this I clicked through some of the links on my sidebar and it looks like a lot of other people have been too busy to blog, too. I totally understand. Right now, I've got to get back to work on putting the bedrooms back together so we can start ripping apart the dining room! The credit card is getting a major workout right now, and we might as well be signing our paychecks over to Home Depot and Lowe's. Thank God the husband knows how to do so much of the work we are doing -- we could never afford to pay someone to do it! The best thing about the remodeling, aside from the fact that the house looks so much better, is that I get to get rid of stuff. I like to clear out the clutter. I try to do it now and then but now I am really looking at things with a more critical eye. I don't want all this crap in my house! And, I want some new crap! Heh.

I actually came to my blog today thinking I might delete it. I deleted my MySpace page today because I was not really using it and was bored with what I was doing on there. I may create another profile but at this point it was just one more thing I was logging into every day for no apparent reason. This blog was not so easy a decision. I've had it a little longer than the MySpace pages, going on 3 years now, and though there's nothing Pulitzer-worthy in it, I started looking back through a few posts and thought I'm just not ready for that yet. So let's add to it!

Did I say something about getting back to work? It's going on 9 o'clock and I keep telling myself I need to go to bed earlier so I can get up earlier in the morning but that's just not any fun. I like staying up late! Anyway, I'm starting to feel like it's about time to shed my skin or something. I don't like that visual, though. Turn over a new leaf? Bust outta my cocoon? Why is that? Probably because I'm 35 and fixin' to turn 36. All I know is, I'm getting to that point where I don't want to put up with other people's shit. Whatever your problem is, don't make it mine, mmmkay? I don't want to carry my load and yours as well. So get off my back and pull your own damned weight!

Wow, that was a bit of a revelation. I spend too much time worrying about other people, and whether things are handled, or will be handled, and on and on. I realized the other day that I don't really even ever get to do the things I enjoy anymore. Movies, concerts, reading, shopping, spur of the moment day trips . . . all exchanged for work at work and work at home. And that sucks. Fuck that. Some things are about to CHANGE around here!

Ciao for now.

Denied!

2007-06-27T19:02:00.001-07:00

It takes me forever to post anyway . . . and then it won't even publish? WTF.

oooh, dang

2007-05-09T16:44:00.001-07:00

I just realized it's been a month since I last blogged. I suck!

Why is my blog all FUBAR'd?

2007-05-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

All my links and my profile & stuff are at the bottom. When did that happen? Damn you, Google! Everything was fine before you took over!

Your Tax Dollars at Work

2007-04-09T18:31:00.001-07:00

So . . .

According to federal law, it's illegal to sell pot. In this state, of course, there was a Proposition passed legalizing medical marijuana -- but federal law controls and therefore it's still illegal. Please tell me how, then, the feds can rationalize TAXING the sales of POT. Why not just shut the places down? You know where they are -- but hey, since they're generating money, Uncle Sam's gotta get his piece!

Sometimes I wonder about this country. I hate taxes. I'm no fan of pot, but I fucking hate tax. Income tax, property tax, sales tax, tax tax. It's bullshit. Other states have one or the other or maybe more than one but no where near the tax we do in California. Don't get me wrong; I like California, but it's expensive to live here and getting more expensive every day. So this whole taxing pot thing annoys me!

KCRA.com

..>..>

Officials Tell Medical Marijuana Dealers To Pay Up

POSTED: 12:21 pm PDT April 7, 2007

UPDATED: 12:25 pm PDT April 7, 2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The taxman is going after the medical marijuana man.The state Board of Equalization is telling the estimated 150 to 200 medical marijuana retailers in California to pay sales taxes on pot.The 1996 initiative that decriminalized use of marijuana for medical purposes did not address how state tax officials should deal with medical marijuana sales. The sales weren't covered before Proposition 215 because they were illegal.The board ultimately decided that medical marijuana was not exempt from sales taxes because it was not dispensed by a pharmacist or approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a medication.The board's action has divided the medical marijuana community, with some sellers saying it helps legitimize their businesses. But others worry that any tax information they report will be used against them by the federal government, which still bars use of medical marijuana.

Jersey Boys

2007-04-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

We went to S.F. yesterday to see the show Jersey Boys at the Curran Theatre. I saw these guys on Leno not quite 3 weeks ago and immediately felt compelled to get down there and see the whole thing. I can't explain why, though it may be as simple as liking the song "My Eyes Adored You" so much that I wanted to hear it sung in person.

We got into the city around 5:30 and checked into the Hotel Monaco (which, by the way, is frigging adorable though I was not a fan of the yuppie Frenchy-American menu of their restaurant, the Grand Cafe). Still, the hotel itself is way cute, and they had warm cookies on the check-in counter last night and this morning and apparently we arrived in time to take advantage of their wine hour so the clerk at the counter ordered up a glass of red and a glass of wine and we made our way to our room with our glasses in tow. I asked the person who checked us in if she had seen the show and she admitted she had not and seemed to be a bit sheepish about admitting it since she sells tickets to it all the time.

We dumped our stuff off in the room and went down to the bar for a drink. Sadly, there was no Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in the house. After I finished the glass of wine I was given at check-in, I ordered a margarita which their menu billed as 100% natural and 100% delicious. I told the bartender I was ordering it based on those assertions and he chuckled and made my drink. I wasn't sure I agreed it was so great, but after a few sips I had to admit the tequila they used made it quite smooth. Jason had a Guinness and I am ashamed to admit, as an Irish person, I had not yet tried it. I am 35 years old and Guinness, before last night, had never touched my lips. So, I took a sip. I thought it was going to be some silty, oatmeal-y, stinky stout. I was totally wrong! I didn't love the taste of it, but I was impressed at how light it actually was -- and rather, again, smooth. I could probably drink a whole one of those -- but it would probably take me a while.

We also ordered a pizza while we were there, even though the bar was attached to the French-American restaurant, and the guy who made it burned the bejeezus out of it. I took one bite and the roof of my mouth is still sore today! The cheese was like Napalm. We couldn't eat that thing because the sides and bottom were just too black. Funny thing was, we saw him take another pizza out before he made ours and I could see that it was burnt and I watched him cut off some of the burnt parts of the crust before sending it out. I don't know if the people who ordered it actually ate it. When ours came, we tried it and just couldn't choke it down. When the bartender came by to ask if everything was okay I had to admit that we couldn't eat the pizza because it had been burned to within an inch of its life. He took it away and took it off the bill. After we finished our drinks we walked up the street a bit to a little taco place that seemed okay. And it was -- except that they were in the midst of changing the register tape when we walked in and I stood there for no less than 10 minutes while they fumbled with this thing. What a pain in the ass. Anyway, we got our tacos, ate and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the show.

We had already picked up our tickets at will call so we walked in and it was not until I actually saw the inside of the theater that I realized how small it was. 1600 seats -- and we were in Row M in the Orchestra section. All I can say is, wow! What a show. It was funny, and profane, and interesting -- watching them tell and sing the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons was something else. I really thought Christopher Kale Jones, Deven May, Erich Bergen and Michael Ingersoll nailed their parts and were believable as 4 guys from Jersey. Listening to them sing together was a lot like being at a concert. I think they've been playing the Curran since December and it certainly appears that they've gelled as a foursome. It's been a long, long time since I've seen a play or anything live other than a concert and I am so sorry to admit that -- because live theater is so much fun to watch. I was bummed that I couldn't take any pictures, but I understand that's probably a distraction.

There was a lot of humor in the dialogue that you just wouldn't get unless you saw it live. It was so great to watch them do this. There was one character who really took me by surprise, too. I had to look him up in the Playbill: John Altieri. OMG -- that guy was a riot! I also thought Jackie Seiden's Jersey accent was good w/o being over the top. Speaking as someone whose family hails from back east, their accents were pronounced but not cartoonish.

Oh, before the show I took a couple of shots of the Curran Theatre from the outside -- I was in a bit of a hurry so I didn't get a great shot but I did notice when I walked across the street to take a shot that there is a hotel, I think, named Diva and the sidewalk out front has a bunch of signatures carved into the sidewalk -- reminiscent of the walk in front of the Chinese theater in L.A. -- and the names and handprints of the cast of Jersey Boys (the leads) were among them. Interestingly, it appeared that all the names on the sidewalk had been rubbed with blue chalk. Just an interesting tidbit that I discovered by surprise.

If you like theater, and/or Frankie Valli and/or The Four Seasons, I'd say get your ass to S.F. before whenever it is in May that they leave for Los Angeles!

After the show we met up with one of Jason's friends who moved to S.F. last year. We hung out at our hotel lobby for a bit w/our beers but I was toast. Jason and his friend took off in search of more beer as the hotel bar closed at midnight (!). As I started to head out, some of the other people in the lobby who were part of a big wedding group chided me for packing it in so early and I stopped and chatted w/them for a bit. As I took a good look at them, I told one of them he looked like a young lawyer -- and, of course, he was. My work follows me everywhere. He said he had 43 days to go before he was out of his large S.F. firm to go clerk for a while then figure out what he really wanted to do. My nightmare! It's hard to find and keep good associates. Of course, I have no idea if he was actually a good associate but a 2nd year attorney already tired of the rat race is starting to be the rule rather than the exception. I guess that's probably part of what will keep me employed -- but it would be nice to be able to focus on attorney retention rather than recruitment! Ah, well.

I finally headed up to the room around 1:30 and passed out. Jason didn't get back until around 4:00. Walking around 4:00 a.m. in S.F. He said it might as well have been 1:00 w/the number of other people walking around out there. Perhaps, but what kind of people?! As the song goes, the freaks come out at night. Heh.

This morning (closer to afternoon) we had breakfast at a place around the corner called Mason's Diner. I must say I rather enjoyed my blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon. The fresh-squeezed O.J. was so full of pulp I couldn't get beyond a few sips. Why so much pulp, people? Ever heard of a strainer? Who likes pulp? Am I the odd man out?

After breakfast we picked up the car and drover over to Ocean Beach for a bit. We walked along and watched all the dogs on the beach with amusement. They looked like they were having a blast. I actually thought to myself, "those dogs look happy." Of course they're happy. They're dogs . . . on a beach! What's not to be happy about. It was pretty chilly on the shore so we headed back to the car after about a half hour or so. I definitely plan to get back down there soon. For too long I've not bothered to go to S.F. because Jason doesn't really like the city but I've decided that's not a good enough reason. I can go on my own, or with friends. I'll have to see what's going on down there that might bring me back in a few weeks -- maybe early May, since I have trips to Tahoe and Colorado later this month.

JERSEY BOYS -- great show, go see it! Really really fun event.

P.S. Thanks to Skindy for dog-sitting!

WTF

2007-04-04T19:39:00.001-07:00

When did the people running public schools (e.g., teachers, administrators) become such a pathetic representation of this country's school system? Seriously -- I don't ever recall drinking with or around a teacher, or having sex with, or in front of, or in the absence of, a teacher in a classroom -- yet lately every other story is about a teacher or school official engaging in or encouraging these behaviors. And when did all the kids at the early grade school levels become so hypersexual? Too much MTV? I was probably 11 when MTV made its debut. It didn't ruin me. So WTF?

As an aside, I can't recall ever having a teacher I would have wanted to, uh, be with. Eww. As for the story below, well, it takes school fundraisers to a whole new level. Dumbasses.

Prosecutor: Educators Sold Students Beer

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

(03-14) 18:54 PDT Laurens, S.C. (AP) --

An assistant high school principal and his wife, a middle school teacher, are accused of holding a keg party where students paid $5 to drink, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

John and Mary Clark turned themselves in to police and were charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, said prosecutor Jerry Peace.

One of the students who attended the party last year at the couple's lake house told a parent, who went to authorities, Peace said.

Peace said he did not know how many students attended the party or their ages.

"It was just a bunch of kids," he said. "They went to the party and a number of them said they paid the five bucks to get this cup."

John Clark, 54, is an assistant principal at Newberry High School. Mary Clark, 52, teaches at Newberry Middle School.

A personal recognizance bond of $5,000 each was issued for the Clarks, who were still at the jail late Wednesday afternoon awaiting booking. Officials at the Laurens County jail said they did not know whether the couple had arranged to hire an attorney. A phone message left at the Clark home was not immediately returned.

They have been placed on paid administrative leave, said Bennie Bennett, Newberry County schools superintendent.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/14/national/a153015D49.DTL

It's only the 4th and the month is flying!

2007-04-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

We have so much going on right now -- fixin' to replace the windows in the house, maybe have it painted, just did the taxes, trying to get to the gym daily, walking the dog in the mornings before work, trying to get my actual work done . . . gah!

Trying to find decent tix for a show I want to see in S.F., fixin' to go to Tahoe in a few weeks, heading to Colorado for work the following week . . . who has time for all this stuff? It's good to be busy, but the days fly by. I'm trying to be more conscious of everything I'm doing, instead of just doing things on auto-pilot. I think I've been on auto-pilot for a long time and I'm tired of it. I need to do things with a sense of purpose. I feel like I used to have that and that I lost it somewhere along the way. I think I've made progress recently but I have a lot of work ahead of me. Maybe it's just that I'm tired of the same old routine. The rut. I want out of the rut! I need to run with this motivation I'm feeling right now.

What will I do next?

Lazy Saturday

2007-03-24T19:29:00.001-07:00

I managed to take the dog for a walk and do some stuff around the house, but mostly I caught up on some TV, had Ciro's cheeze pizza for dinner and am about to embark on another margarita before putting on some Denis Leary stand-ups.

Yay, Saturday!

I'm goin' back to Maui, Maui, Maui -- I'm goin' back to Maui . . .

2007-03-05T22:19:00.000-08:00

hmmf, yeah I think so.

Oh yeah.

In August.

GAH!

Ironic

2007-02-25T09:17:00.001-08:00

A quote by Anna Nicole Smith's mother while appearing on Nancy Grace after the death of her grandson -- before the death of ANS:

"GRACE: Tonight, in a primetime exclusive, speaking out is the mother of Anna Nicole Smith, famous cover girl, and she`s a 28-year veteran of law enforcement mother. Virgie Arthur is joining us from her home there in Montgomery, Texas. Ms. Arthur, right now, as we speak, the embalmed body of your grandson, that you helped raise for many years, is still sitting in a funeral home, awaiting burial. Why?

ARTHUR: That`s my question, why? That`s the last bit of respect that anybody gets in the world, is to be buried. So why is my baby laying in a cold room somewhere and not being buried?"

Yeah. Ironic.

3rd Anniversary

2007-02-21T22:35:00.001-08:00

3 years ago today the husband and I got married. It was a Saturday. Today is Wednesday. WTF is anyone supposed to do with a Wednesday anniversary?! Right -- we went to dinner. Chinese, at Fat's Asia Bistro & Dim Sum Bar. The beer was cold, the shrimp was fresh, and we are full & happy. Still working on a bottle of champagne right now . . . the husband went to bed 'cuz he has to get up earlier than me. But I have a meeting at 8:30 tomorrow morning, so I won't be able to outlast him by long! Happy Anniversary to us. Nighty night!

Beer runs through my veins

2007-02-18T21:40:00.000-08:00

I have had SO much beer this weekend. Arrogant Bastard Stone IPA is my new best friend! I do love it. Damn my friend Skindy for always being near a BevMo! Yay, Skindy!

Have I mentioned lately that I love 3-day weekends?

3-day weekend

2007-02-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

Is there anything better than waking up late on a Sunday and remembering that you have Monday off, too? I love three day weekends. The only thing I sort of regret is that we didn't plan anything. Well, sort of didn't plan anything. I had a friend over on Friday night and friends over last night -- and that was all planned. So I guess I'm just wishing I'd made some kind of plan to hit the road today, spend the night somewhere and come back tomorrow. That's not really financially feasible right now, though, so I think we'll be staying home. Ah, well, I do have a facial to look forward to next Saturday. Yay!

Slurpee, Aunt Jemima Syrup & 2 Packs of Cigarettes

2007-01-28T22:57:00.000-08:00

I stopped at 7-11 on the way home today to get some milk, and that was what the woman at the head of the line was buying. I don't know why, it just cracked me up. Was that what was on her list when she stopped in? Or was it more like, "I'm gonna stop in and get me some smokes. Ooh! And a Slurpee. Oh, wait . . . we used up all the syrup this morning at breakfast. Aunt Jemima. Sweet!" How random.

Cingular 8525

2007-01-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

To buy, or not to buy? That thing does everything! Thinking . . .

How wa$ your week?

2007-01-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

I had to replace my tires this week. All of 'em. $830 some-odd dollars. Gah! I went in for what I hoped would be a flat repair (caught a nail) and not only did I have a nail, but in another part of my tire I had about a 2-3 inch slice all the way through my tire. They said whatever I ran over must've been big. Well, it was also invisible because I didn't see or feel it! Then they told me all my tires were about ready to go. Not a surprise, exactly, but I had to laugh -- went from a free flat repair to an $830 bill. Oh, well.

Oh, and last week I had a repair to my exhaust tubes to the tune of about $220. Then, of course, there was the muffler replacement last month . . . f'ing car problems! That's about $1,200 in repairs in the last month!

Makes me wanna go shopping.

The only things I want right now are an armoire for the bedroom and a cell phone. Oh, and a new leather tote. Maybe some more work clothes. That's not so much, right?

The husband and I went to the gym today for our first workout of the year. I was kind of surprised he went with me . . . at 8 a.m. even! Might have had something to do with the fact that we watched all but the last 25 minutes of "Supersize Me" last night. Blech. Gotta finish watching that after the big Eagle game.

Well, maybe . . . if the Eagles win. Otherwise, all bets are off.

I'm still working on getting things organized, but I've gotten a few things done I've been meaning to do for a while -- like rolling my IRA into my current employer's 401k plan, taking care of some other financial things, finally getting my butt into the gym . . . and we added a VIP component to our gym membership today so we can take the husband's daughter w/us when she's here -- or anyone -- it's actually good for taking along anyone I want whenever I want and it's only gonna cost us $15.00 a month. Anyone wanna go to the gym w/us?

I bought some different beer today 'cuz I wanted something other than Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I got Sac Brewing Company IPA, and hated it. The husband likes it, though, so he's drinking it. I actually went back out to find something else! I got some Lost Coast Brewing Company Great White beer -- an unfiltered beer. It's just okay. I like it better than the Sac Brewing Company IPA, though. I also got some Smirnoff Twisted V Black Cherry stuff that's alright. Nothing to write home about, but drinkable.

I guess I need to go to BevMo to get what I really wanted, which was Arrogant Bastard IPA. That stuff is great! The regular Arrogant Bastard Ale is rough -- but the IPA I could drink all day. I was too lazy to go to BevMo today -- hence the Great White and the Smirnoff.

Alrighty, the dog is barking to get out and do his business -- sounds like a good place to end!

Adalberto's chicken quesadilla

2007-01-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

yuck!

Time to open beer No. 2

2007-01-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

That is all.

Saturday, 10:32 a.m.

2007-01-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

It's gonna be a lazy day, I can feel it. I should at least take a shower. I think "Supersize Me" is coming in the mail today. THAT oughta be motivational. Other than that, I got no plans. Maybe catch up on some reading . . . unless there's a Law & Order marathon on somewhere. Then, forget it. I always get sucked into those!

MIA

2007-01-05T19:36:00.000-08:00

Hellooooooooooooooooooooo? Anyone out there? This blog has been suffering some severe neglect. I guess on the one hand, I've been really busy -- and with the holidays, perhaps a little on overload. On the other hand, I guess I just didn't have that much to say.

On my last post, my birthday, I took the day off from work, met my dad downtown for a long lunch, stopped by the mall to buy a new outfit, went to my office holiday party for about an hour, went home to pick up the husband and stepdaughter and went to dinner at Bandera. It was a really good day, but I was probably knocked out by about 10:00 p.m. The husband gave me a blue topaz (my birthstone) necklace and a pair of blue topaz earrings.

Following the birthday, work didn't slow down as much as expected once the fall recruiting season was over: interviews kept going strong and the powers that be wanted to make offers on each of the three days in December that I was out of the office. Talk about bad timing. Well, the offers went out and they were all accepted and onward and upward.

We hosted Christmas for my dad, stepmom, sister, her boyfriend, my best friend and her husband. We grilled a whole turkey on a Weber grill over coals. It came out great but earlier than expected so I was scrambling to get the sides done. It all worked out and dinner was good, I thought. I also made a chocolate cake from scratch with cream cheese frosting. I thought it was just okay. We had the big gift-opening frenzy prior to dinner and got all kinds of great stuff. I also finally bought a few things I've wanted for some time (just little odds and ends that weren't necessities) and it was nice to just do it and have it done.

We also did a pre-Christmas dinner thing w/my mom and her boyfriend -- it was a nice quiet evening. I believe I made parmesan baked chicken -- and I didn't make the dessert, but bought a nice triple chocolate mousse cake. We exchanged gifts, but my mom and I have different gift-giving philosophies. My mom likes to give a hundred little things (quantity) and I like to give just a few nice things (quality) that I think someone will like. My mom actually said she has panic attacks or something over Christmas shopping. That was a bit of a revelation for me. How do I get her to understand that I'd rather have 1 thoughtful gift telling me that the person knows me than a zillion little things that have no meaning and I now have to find a place for? I'd rather we stopped exchanging gifts than think that shopping for us causes her to go into a state of panic.

Oh, and we also went to the husband's family's (pre) Christmas gathering that they do every year. I believe the phrase I used to describe it to my father was "surpremely uncomfortable." Imagine being in a place with people you only see once a year (if you're lucky), at that event, and otherwise either barely see or speak to or simply don't see or speak to. Imagine that some of those people are in and out of jail or other trouble over the course of the year. Imagine that you actually don't put your purse down because you can't trust that someone won't rifle through it knowing they've robbed their own grandparents blind. Imagine that some of these people, even at this event, still don't utter a word to one another. Imagine that they all act like it's perfectly normal and no big deal. And imagine that several of them have kids from age 0-5 that they let run amok, completely unsupervised, and often have no idea where they are or what they are doing. THEN imagine suffering through all of this without a drop of alcohol. Yeah, none of these people drink. Well, I take that back -- none of these people will BUY drinks. We did learn the hard way that if you bring alcohol, some of them will drink it out from under you. We made that mistake once.

So yeah, we did that -- showed up 2 hours late, stayed for an hour and got the hell out. Oh, we also decided we are never going again. Because while we were there, each of us was thinking "why am I here?" and "why do I keep coming back for this?" I used to nudge the husband toward spending more time with his family. He's a bit of an exaggerator so I thought he was just being sort of overly dramatic in not wanting to be around them. I'm over it now. We've been together nearly 7 years and I'm fucking over it! Besides, I'm fairly certain those people (headed up by the MIL, no doubt) talk about me, tell each other I think I'm better than them and probably think I'm the reason the husband has what they call "the family flu." Well, to the contrary, I'm the only reason he's continued to go to these things the past several years. And I ain't pushing him to go no mo'. Nope. Done. It was actually quite liberating to hear the husband say, when we got back into the car, "we are NEVER doing this again." BUH-BYE! There was one OMG moment when the husband, itching to leave, said to no one in particular "we gotta get going, we have family (my mom and her boyfriend) coming over." His mother, without missing a beat, said "this IS your family." And the husband, also not missing a beat, said "I mean people we actually LIKE." DOH! I think that was about the end of that. What's funny is some of the husband's siblings will say privately that they don't like this or that about family gatherings but they won't say anything to their mother and they will always go unless they can think up a good excuse (like going to Seattle with a girlfriend or moving to Texas with a boyfriend) so they can remain in the mother's good graces. I'm not even sure why they worry about that -- it's not like they rely on her for anything (well, some of them, anyway). The husband just doesn't have that concern. And now, neither do I. Why the hell should I care?

So other than that, the holidays were great. We spent New Year's Eve at my best friend's and husband's place and she did this fondue appetizer and a big spaghetti feed, which was great, but dinner was served at 10:30 so it was a little weird to be feeling sleepy and eating dinner waiting for midnight (my best friend and her husband eat at weird hours, like 3 a.m. -- whenever the mood strikes)! The husband, who does not do well when he is hungry, was very patient -- I have to hand it to him. We managed to make it to midnight and actually stayed up 'til about 1:30 -- but that was it. We totally crashed when we got home. When did we get so old? Probably has something to do with having to have real jobs and bills and all that. Just takes it out of you.

And now, here we are, in 2007. I took Tuesday off and made it a 4-day weekend, and had a pretty kick-back 3-day week even though I did have three interviews between yesterday and today. I got a lot done Wednesday and today (Thursday, not so much) and I'm feeling that surge of New Year's motivation so I'm going to try and get the ball rolling on a few things before it subsides.

What else? Not much, I guess.

I'm sitting here at my desk looking at this growing pile of household batteries thinking what a pain they are. There are 7 of them now -- 6 AAs and 1 AAA. Since we aren't supposed to throw them in the trash anymore (and therefore my conscience makes me collect them until there are enough to justify a trip to Staples or Office Max or wherever to dump them off), it's just a hassle! But, them's the rules. Maybe I should get a cute little container to collect them in.

Oh, there's something else I did -- the end-of-year/new year clean-up. I went through closets and cabinets and was a little more ruthless this time about getting rid of stuff we don't use. So much perfectly good stuff, but stuff that I don't want and won't bother to try and sell. Stuff that I keep because it was a gift but I don't know what to do with. Christmas dishes I bought forever ago but that are no longer my style (used probably once), a bread machine (base model), crock pot (base model), a chopper, Christmas decorations (got rid of all of those I don't really like this time around) -- 9 bags of stuff I didn't need, dropped off at Goodwill on Tuesday. And boy were they inundated with stuff. Looks like a lot of people had the same idea. The difference, it appeared, was that the stuff I was giving away wasn't crap. It's amazing the stuff some people drop off at Goodwill that should really be going to the city dump. Who do they think wants to buy their nasty old unusuable stuff? Goodwill must make major dump runs.

Oh, we joined Netflix again and have started seeing movies. We saw that Talladega Nights/Ballad of Ricky Bobby . . . TERRIBLE. The only reason I wasn't mad that I had watched it was because I was wrapping Christmas gifts as I did it. We also saw Click with Adam Sandler. We really liked that one! I wasn't sure what it would be like, but that's probably one reason I did like it so much. The way movies get hyped, they never live up to it. I thought Click was really cute. Then, in the theater (where we hardly ever go), we went to see The Pursuit of Happyness. Really really good movie. I thought it was light on the sap factor and though I expected to cry, I only cried a little at the end. I saw Will Smith and Chris Gardner, the person whose life the movie was based on, on Oprah a while back and so I did know a little more about that one going in and thought it would be a total tear-jerker. It turned out not to be but what a story. The other movie we thought about seeing that night was We Are Marshall, but decided to save that one for another night. I just KNOW that one's gonna be a 4-hanky movie.

That's it on the movie front. That's a lot for us. We have Supersize Me coming next and though it's been out a while, we never did see it. Should be interesting.

Alrighty, then. I suppose that's enough for a catch-up blog. I'll have to check on everyone else soon.

I do love the birthday

2006-12-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

My own personal holiday. Why people ever work on their birthdays if they don't have to is beyond me. Sure, I could be sitting at work right now, and it's not even a bad day for it considering the firm's holiday party is today, but -- who wants to get up and fuss with work clothes and risk running into someone whose nasty disposition might ruin your day? Not me!

Time to get ready for my day!

It's almost my birthday . . . bitches

2006-12-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

Of course, that's no excuse as to why I seem to have dropped off the face of the blogosphere. I guess I just got lazy. After my last post I was gonna come back and put up some pics to illustrate things such as the furniture we bought, but . . . please refer back to sentence #2.

Tomorrow I turn 35. 35! That seems so . . . not my age. Sometimes I definitely FEEL 35 (or older) . . . but I think that's due mostly to constantly burning the candle at both ends and trying to do every damned thing. Ah, well, 35. It's a milestone, I think. I feel like I need to set some goals or something. What do I want?

I have some thinking to do.

In the mean time, I am not working tomorrow. I never work on my birthday if I don't really need to! Tomorrow morning I will get out of bed when I'm good and ready, take my time getting ready for the day, then maybe go do some shopping before meeting my dad for lunch. After that, I'm gonna stop by my office for the holiday party and have a few drinks, then head home. I think the husband and stepdaughter and I will probably go out for dinner. Maybe I'll find time to take a spin in the jacuzzi tub. I never take baths . . . and I'm due!

That reminds me. I had a facial last weekend and it was the best ever (THANKS, HEATHER ALYECE ESTHETICS AT FUSION SALON & SPA!). My skin was so dry and hating me from the cold and because I'm not great about doing what I should -- and it feels so much better. The mini hand/foot/shoulder massages that are part of the facial actually relaxed me, which is sort of a new concept for me. Holy crap, it was great. So yeah -- the facials are going to become a more regular part of my routine. I figure at least every other month. At LEAST!

Hey -- I work hard; I deserve it.

So that's about it for now. I'm still wearing work clothes, and I'm not even working again until Monday. Time to rectify that situation.

Ciao for now!

Another 2 Weeks

2006-11-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

It's funny how blogging can start to feel like a chore. I've just been so busy that the thought of making the effort to write anything was just too much!

So, what's been happening? I've been mostly working on things around the house. We bought a couple of pieces of furniture at a consignment store that I was so excited about. One is a cabinet that stands about 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide with glass on the front and sides, as well as glass shelves -- framed in a dark wood. I put all of our glass pieces in it and I think it looks really cool. Another is a TV cabinet for the stepdaughter's room that solved the problem of the satellite box and dvd player sliding off the top of the TV into the wall every so often. Plus there is storage below and I put all her sheets in there. Then there is a file cabinet I bought -- not at the consignment store -- that is made of alder and stained rosewood. I not only fit all my file crap in there, I finally went through all the file crap yesterday and got rid of so much old stuff I didn't need to be holding on to. It's amazing what a relief it can be to unload that kind of stuff. I had the shredder working overtime yesterday and filled up a giant plastic shopping bag with shreddings. The bag was easily as big as a standard kitchen garbage bag. I still need to go back through that stuff and do quite a bit of organizing, but at least I've gotten rid of the junk.

I also went through this expando file I keep with recipes that I collect from newspapers, magazines, friends, etc. There were so many recipes I've never made and others that I though, "what was I thinking?" when I clipped them. Anyway, I weeded out a bunch of stuff from that, too, and still need to organize it but it has to be easier to find the favorite recipes now that all the junk is gone.

I was also sick last week -- again. I just had a major cold in September and I thought that would be it for the year. Then the husband got sick. I didn't stand a chance! Ironically, the day I came down with it I had just had a flu shot at work. I haven't had one in a few years, either, but my firm had someone come in and administer the shots and they were free to employees so I figured why not. By 4 o'clock, I knew I was coming down with something. I'm not suggesting it was because I took the shot, but I was a little disgruntled at getting sick at that point. Plus, Thanksgiving was coming and I had a lot to do. Besides, I just hate getting sick.

So, I was sick for the better part of a week. Thank God for Alka Seltzer Liquid Gels -- that stuff really works for me! It helps with sneezing, runny nose, coughing, sore through, and just makes it possible for me to function. There's a night time one, too, and I used them a couple of times to make it easier to sleep. I'm not big on taking anything for general ailments, but when I need to function, that's the stuff.

I've been working really hard at work recently to get all my ducks in a row, and finish projects that were languishing while our fall recruiting was going on. It's paid off -- I have a lot to do in terms of scheduling interviews over the next couple of months, but it's relatively under control. Of course, that could change at any moment but I'll take the feeling of having control, even if it is fleeting.

On Thanksgiving we drove to my dad's. The day sort of started off on the crappy side -- I was still sick, the dog made me get up early to let him out, and right as I was about to do that, the husband rolled over and I caught his elbow with my eye. I actually teared up thinking "do I really need another challenge right now?" So I sucked it up, got up and got started with my day -- which included making a dessert to bring with us -- and we got on the road around 12:30. Within 15 minutes of leaving the house (in moderate traffic), a large piece of metal debris on the road that I tried to straddle (no room to swerve) popped up and put a softball-sized hole in my muffler. It sounded like the end of the world and we thought there must have been some kind of body damage. When we pulled over, though, we saw there was no damage but that the car didn't sound right. The husband looked under it and saw the gaping hole. So yeah, the drive down to my dad's cost us about $184. I ordered the muffler today and will have it installed when it arrives in a day or two.

We soldiered on and went to my dad's and stayed 2 nights. It was great, except the part where we had to sleep on a crappy slanted futon with linens that leave us freezing. I swear next time I'm gonna bring one of those air beds and our own pillows, sheets & blankets! We had a nice, mellow thanksgiving and didn't really bother with the "black Friday" sales. As far as I am concerned, the deals ain't good enough to get my ass up, even out of a crappy futon -- particularly when I'm sick!

We also watched "Anchorman," which I had yet to see. OMG -- the line where Will Ferrell says "I'm going to punch you in the ovary" to Christina Applegate cracked me up! It was pretty stupid, but it had its moments. The next night we also watched "Trading Places," since we are now officially in the Christmas season. Good times.

We brought the pup with us again and he did really well. He's not as timid with my sister's dog as he was before -- though she can still be pretty rough. They basically wore each other out -- which was great, because the rest of the time they slept! Mushu also discovered a chew toy he'd not yet had -- hooves. Gross, but it kept him busy and that's all I care about! I bought him one today. He loves it.

We came home Saturday afternoon and settled back in at home. I met up with my best friend for a couple of hours and I ran a few errands while I was out. Other than that, I was too tired to do anything. This cold is really hanging on. On Sunday, I don't think I left the house once. Still, it was not enough to make me feel up to going to work today -- so I stayed home. I probably could have gone in, but I soldiered through last Tuesday and Wednesday to get done what I needed to and decided to just take the day to recover a little more. I got some stuff done around the house (laundry, cleaning the shower/tub/toilet, taking out the trashes, cleaning up the kitchen) and ran a few errands (pet store, grocery shopping, gas in the car), but other than that I've just been kicking back. The husband and I made a lasagna tonight with some killer garlic bread, so I won't have to make anything for lunch or dinner for another day or two. I have stuff to make salad and more bread so we're set. That's the best thing about making something like that. I think I'm gonna go buy a lasagna pan so I can make a fatter lasagna w/o worrying about it bubbling over. This one did okay, though -- sometimes it'll drip to the bottom of the oven but this one managed to stay contained w/in the Pyrex dish.

So that's about it. Oh, I did also buy refills for my planner -- the PDA has failed me twice when it's run out of power so I decided I need my paper one for now. Plus, I just like that stuff. So I've been working on updating that, and I had also gotten a good start on my Chrismas cards, so I should be able to finish those this week and get them out on Friday. I've also gotten a good start on my Christmas shopping and have penciled out a Christmas dinner menu, so I'm in pretty good shape there.

Soon we'll get the tree up and other decorations out. If I think about it too hard, I might start thinking of the holiday season as a second job!

One last thing . . . I turn 35 in a couple of weeks. 35! Man. I still think of myself as being in my 20s -- even if I don't actually FEEL that way. 35. I'm having a facial this Saturday to stave off the effects of aging.

Anyway, that's what's been going on with me. I'll have to check up on everyone to see how they're doing!

LMAO

2006-11-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk

Time change

2006-11-01T21:38:00.000-08:00

It's 9:21 and feels like midnight -- outside, it looks like midnight by 7:00! I hate that part about the time change in the fall. By the time I get off work, get home and do anything about dinner, it feels like night-night time. Who can get anything done when it's like that?!

On the bright side, I finally entered the gazillion receipts floating around in my checkbook (almost a week since I'd entered anything!) and, though it reveals there's almost nothing left, at least I know where we stand. The bills are paid, so good enough.

I lucked out w/an interview tomorrow that cancelled on me this afternoon. I had to call this person twice and e-mail once to get that cancellation, but now I'm free. Flake. Still have one other interview, but it's an all day thing and I'm just going to plunk the guy down in a conference room and let all the interviewers go to him all day. Sweet. Maybe I can finally do my OCTOBER (now October/November) newsletter! So busy. Too busy!

The puppy is going to town on his Bully Stick right now. Do you know what those are? Let me break it down for you. It looks like a cross between a stick and a bone, smells terrible and he LOVES it. It keeps him busy endlessly. And that is why we pay $10 for a pack of 3 that might last a few weeks. Anything that can 1) keep him entertained; and 2) keep him from gnawing on things like furniture and feet is A-OK with me! We also got him a big fuzzy pink and purple soccer ball that he can bite and run around with. The best part? Too big to roll under the couch like his mini tennis balls! We're getting quite the education over here, friends. Puppy 101.

He's still the cutest.

Did I mention the husband and I planted some flowers in the front walkway last weekend? I can't remember. For about $50, it actually looks like someone lives here! I'm so not the green thumb. I really can't remember if I mentioned that already -- and I'm too lazy to go back and read.

The sister in law is visiting from Texas next week. She's lived there for about a year or two now. Texas. Over California? I think not. But, that's where her fiance and she decided to move to (I think he's from there) and though it was supposed to be temporary, I guess the housing prices there enticed them to stay. Lemme tell ya something . . . if I move away from California, it sure as hell ain't gonna be to Texas. Nothing against Texas, but I'd be heading for Maui myself! I can sleep on the beach.

I guess that's it for today. Wow, did I just post twice in the same week? Wonders never cease. Next time I'll try to think of something funny.

A light at the end of the tunnel

2006-10-31T07:11:00.000-08:00

Fall recruiting season is winding down, and we have only 3 more interviews to go for our 2007 Summer Associates. THANK GOD! That was a big crush of interviews in a short period of time. Then I can get back to my regularly scheduled chaos.

I am happy to report that the puppy is fully house trained. I love that little punk! He tells us when he needs to go to the bathroom by going to the door and pawing at it -- and if we're not in the room and can't hear him, he gives us a little bark to let us know it's time. No accidents!

We went to my dad's this weekend -- Mushu's first road trip. He didn't have any accidents there, either -- which I thought was great considering he didn't actually know the place. The only slip-up was two little piddles because he got excited when he saw my dad, then my step mom. But he didn't let much out. He also got to meet two other dogs -- an 11-year old Beagle and a nearly 1-year old Silky Terrier. The Terrier pretty much terrorized him at first -- she's like a ball of fire and didn't give him 2 seconds to get acclimated. He cowered in the beginning -- but by the time we left less than 48 hours later, he was chasing her around. Of course, he also tried to hump her constantly. The older dog didn't do as well with him. She kept snapping at him and once actually managed to bite his face. He learned to keep his distance. I was disappointed, because she's usually a pretty good dog -- but she was also used to having the place to herself until less than a year ago, then I brought another dog into her territory. Anyway, it was a good visit with good food and good champagne.

I bought my Christmas cards last weekend, so that was something I could check off my list. And on Sunday while I was watching Desperate Housewives I wrote on some photos I'm putting in our Christmas cards. Oh, and I officially started my Christmas shopping a few weeks ago when I found something for the husband (a stocking stuffer), then found something else for him last week. Let the games begin! I've decided that my shopping will have to occur as I see things that make me think of people rather than having dedicated shopping trips. I usually end up with better gifts for others that way and it's less stressful. I just don't want to do that whole holiday rush thing. We'll probably be doing Christmas at our house again, too, so it'll be nice if we get the Christmas shopping out of the way early. Yeah, I know it's October but let's face it -- Christmas crap shows up in the malls in July! I already have all the Hallmark ornaments I want from this year's batch. Hey, I need to be ahead on SOMETHING!

I also finally went to the gym yesterday for the first time in a few months. I only went for just over a half hour, and though I'm dressed for it I won't be able to go this morning 1) because I'm typing this stupid thing; and 2) I want to get to work a little earlier today. I'm going to try try try to go tonight. I feel like I have a little more energy this week so I'll do my best!

We had the carpets cleaned recently now that the dog is trained -- and it wasn't really even because of the house training that it needed it, it just hasn't been done since we moved in 4 years ago! It looked pretty good, all things considered. Now it looks better. And I feel better because it's done.

We also finally replaced the CD/stereo in the husband's truck because the CD player has been broken for eons and I didn't think it was fair that he had no CD player. With all the time we spend in our cars getting to and from work, it's a pretty inexpensive way to amuse yourself! Another thing checked off the list.

Other than that, just working and trying to keep up with the house work. Two full time jobs!

Did I mention also that we had dinner at Tony Baloney's a few weeks ago, the night before it closed down for good? If you're from my area and have never been, you missed out. We had the best meatball sandwiches ever there. I was bummed I didn't go more often -- I hadn't even taken the husband before that because he's anti-sandwich. He feels like he eats enough of them at work. It's so not the same, but he's stubborn. And I didn't push it. And now it's gone! 46 years that place was around. My mom worked for that place for about 20 of those years, off and on. It was nice to see Tony and his family and have one last meatball sandwich. I have the recipe for the meatballs, so I'm gonna try & make them. I don't have the sauce recipe, but I think if I e-mail him and ask for it, maybe he'll give it to me! Otherwise, I'll have to make do.

Okay, I finally blogged something. Yay, me! Time to get ready for work! Should be interesting today. A lot of people are really into Halloween so seeing the costumes should be fun. I'm not participating because I just don't have time. That's why I'm on to Christmas already!

Give me strength

2006-10-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

Our vacation is now a distant memory, and we are having 3-5 interviews a day at work. This in addition to other normal work. I'm f'ing tired! The days are flying by, which is great, but I can't even get up the strength to get to the gym -- and it shows! @#$%^!

Shout Color Catchers

2006-10-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Those things work!

If you ever have trouble with things in your laundry bleeding onto other things even after prior washings, this is the end of your headaches.

That is all.

Kitty had a bath

2006-10-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that on Friday when I came home from work, the husband was in the kitchen with the pet kennel pulled apart, cleaning it. The day before, he had taken the dog to the vet and that day he took the cat. Well, I guess the cat peed in the kennel and it was pretty foul. Jason noticed this at the vet's office because something smelled and so there he was, with the cat, and she was covered in her own piss while waiting to see the vet.

I was surprised, because she's never done that before. Then Jason mentioned he had closed the door to the spare room in the morning to keep the dog out -- and that's where the cat's box is. I didn't notice the door was closed. So, the cat -- bless her -- had held it all day long and I guess couldn't hold it anymore. She pissed herself.

The vet sprayed her with something to help w/the smell, and did his examination. Fun. So when Jason got home, he gave the cat a bath and cleaned the kennel. That must've been a blast. Smokey hasn't had a bath in 4 years -- and the time we did that was after she jumped in the neighbor's pool to avoid a dog that was chasing her. Yeah, bath time is a little traumatic for the cat. Interestingly, though her breath could probably kill a small dog, the cat always smells fine -- she cleans herself.

It was funny when I got home and the cat was only half dry, so she wasn't quite the big fuzzball she usually is. And, she was not happy! I picked her up for a minute to say hello and let her go so she could air dry in peace.

Coat looks great now, though.

What's it gonna take?

2006-10-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

I just can't seem to get back into the swing of things. We've been back from vacation for 2 weeks now, and I don't wanna be back! So much to do -- at work, at home -- everywhere. I just wanna lounge. Guess I'm gonna have to just suck it up and get back to it.

I did get a lot done at work the last several days of last week -- so much so that I'm starting to feel like I have some control over things. This, of course, is generally a fleeting feeling, but I'll take it while I can get it.

Now that Von's wedding and all the wedding-related events are done, I've moved on to shopping for all the birthdays, anniversaries, etc., of friends and family and then it's straight to CHRISTMAS SHOPPING. That's right, I said it! Christmas shopping. It's just over 2 months away, people! I'm not ready -- but I have been saving a little money to make it a little less taxing when the time comes. I've also started buying the Hallmark Christmas ornaments I wanted. The first time around, I bought 4. In Hawaii I bought 2 (non-Hallmark). Yesterday at Hallmark I bought 3 more, though one was a gift. Mmm hmm, I've officially started my Christmas shopping! It's a small start, but it's a start nonetheless. I think I'm going to make a list and brainstorm some ideas to see if I can make it easier -- but, for me, it's often easier to just go shopping and pick things up as they jump out at me. Seems to work.

Anyway, the only other thing I need to do that I haven't gotten a handle on is getting to the gym. Story of my life!

Did I ever talk about Hawaii? Seems like forever ago now. We went to Maui, and stayed at the Marriott at Kaanapali Beach. Kaanapali Beach is fantastic! Aside from going to the Maui Ocean Center and a couple of trips to Lahaina, we spent all of our time at the resort or on the beach. We also went to a luau. That was pretty cool, and we tried a lot of stuff we probably never would have eaten otherwise. Some of those things we won't be trying again -- but some of it was pretty good!

In Kaanapali, There's a shopping center on the beach called Whaler's Village that has everything from kitschy souvenir shops to a Luis Vuitton store. Something for everyone! We did most of our souvenir shopping there.

At our resort, the bar's first happy hour is at 10 a.m. Can't beat that! The next one is at 6 or 7. The only downside is that everything starts so early in Maui that everything also seems to shut down early. Like 8 p.m.! The pool bar at the resort closes down at 8. I think Lahaina basically shuts down around 10. I guess I can understand . . . after all, by 7 p.m., the island is black as midnight! It gets dark out there in the middle of nowhere!

It was beautiful. We might go back next year, even. Whenever it happens, we will definitely go back. We both loved it, much more than Mexico, even. Mexico is great, but there are some advantages to being 3,000 miles offshore and still being in the U.S.! Love, love, loved it. This was my favorite vacation so far.

So, back to reality. We need to have the carpets cleaned, do some work in the back yard, do some work on the house, and so on.

The puppy looked like he grew in that week we were gone. He probably did. He's now up to 7.4 pounds, which is more than twice what he was when we brought him home in August! He's doing great -- but he's a little booger. He does understand "sit" now, and we actually got him to walk on a leash yesterday. That was quite a feat, as he usually sits there and makes you drag him. He had the last of his shots last week, so now we can take him places and not worry about other people w/dogs touching him w/o washing their hands. Hallelujah! I can't wait to take him to the park. He'll love it.

Anyway, it's almost 10 o'clock and there's lots to do around here. Better get to it.

Sorry

2006-10-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

I've been a total slacker lately w/the blogs. I just haven't had a lot of time! Or motivation. I have tons of pics to post. Let's see if I can come up w/a few. Hold, please . . .

Wow. That took forever! I hope you appreciate all that effort. At some point, I'll actually write something. Aloha, and mahalo!

Uff

2006-09-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

I just ate a whole bag of microwave popcorn. After the husband and I split a bottle of champagne (What? It's our last day of vacation!) I'm gonna die now. To the gym tomorrow . . . I swear!

Statcounter Check

2006-09-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

Wandered over to Statcounter to see what people have been searching for lately that's landed them on my page:

club vex tahoe
tina gillibrand
platinumgirl
rsvp uninvited guests
tongue scratcher rite-aid
crestview estate wauconda
dane cook-snl monologue
snl- $800 dollar sweater
hairball in a dog
f*ck terrorism sticker
how should a host react to uninvited wedding rehearsal gu
rio americano seley
bustier
treadclimber 45 minutes per day
vex brewery tahoe, ca
how hot is fire degrees
nose piercings children minors

Interesting how many others have similar thoughts running through their heads. Though I don't know what the "Tina Gillibrand" one is. Guess I'll look it up!

Back from Maui

2006-09-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

Woke up in Maui . . . will go to sleep in Sac. I'm glad to be home and all, but that's kind of sad! It was much better when I woke up in Sac, and went to sleep in Maui. Pics, etc., to follow. But not now -- even though it's only just after 9:00 in Maui, I'm tired!

I do love him

2006-09-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

Figures

2006-09-12T07:01:00.000-07:00

I'm coming down with a cold. Woke up with a sore throat yesterday. It's worse this morning. 2 days before the rehearsal dinner, 3 days before appetizers & cocktails at Von's, 4 days before her wedding, 5 days before taking off for Hawaii. It never fails! I've been burning the candle at both ends, between work and home and this wedding stuff -- and I'm limping toward the finish line. Oh, man -- just get me to the beach!

In other news, after all the calamities with the vehicles over the past year, we got our auto insurance renewal yesterday. I actually felt a little sick opening the envelope -- only to find out our rate went DOWN! Not by much, but something like $60 or $90 for the year. Down! I don't know what the hell happened, but I'm sure not going to question it. Thank God. That's what I have to say to that.

Our puppy is still the cutest ever, and I took a few snaps last night. I'll download them when I get home from work tonight.

On Friday after work we headed up to Tahoe for the bachelor/bachelorette thing. We had a booth at Club VEX in Harrah's. Dude. Once you've had a booth w/a cocktail waitress, you'll just never wanna go back to ordinary clubbin'. Nope. Well worth the expense, IMO.

The club definitely had its base down to a science. That place was bumpin'. They also had something clubs around here don't -- go-go dancers. Guess it kept things interesting. There was even a token male. Then about every half hour or hour or so another group of girls came out for little 5-minute topless acts. Funny how everyone seemed to stop what they were doing every time the topless chicks came prancing across the catwalks. Oh, also a couple of times throughout the night they dropped these long swaths of fabric from the ceilings and two other chicks came out and climbed up them and did shows of their own consisting only of wrapping this fabric around their ankles, waists, or whatever, and hanging from them artfully. I didn't see anything between them and a big drop to the ground besides the fabric they were hanging from. Pretty impressive.

The music selections were rather eclectic. I haven't been in a club in ages, but with some of the music it might as well have been any year I have ever routinely gone to a club! Lots of blasts from the past. I guess that whole scene never really changes. So we partied on and the husband gave up around 2. I only hung in until 3, and I was done. I'd been up probably 22 hours by that point! I heard Von & Joey packed it in around 6 -- not because they closed the club down, but because when they left they hit the Fatburger outside VEX and got some grub to go and by the time they were done eating, it was officially morning.

I was a little hatin' it when I woke up the final time around 9. I got myself up and showered (and made the mistake of relying on the hotel's shampoo & conditioner -- lovely straw head) and waited for the husband to play in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament that started at 10:30. He didn't make it very far. We were on the road before noon. Got home around 2:30. For the first 25 miles or so of that drive, I was certain we were gonna go careening off a mountain road like Toonces the Cat. And I was driving. I would have given almost anything to pull over to the side of the road and climb into the back of the Pathfinder and take a nap!

Anyway, we got home and our puppy missed us so much! Jason's brother said the dog was moping. Poor puppy! He's really gonna be hating it when we're in Hawaii next week! Jason's brother is gonna house/puppy/cat/fish sit for us while we're gone, and our neighbor is gonna check in on the puppy every now & again too, so hopefully he won't be too sad.

We started using the leash with him this weekend -- just a little around the house. Needless to say, he's not a fan. Luckily, we bought a harness along w/the leash so he's a little easier to control. Just a little. When we get to tiled services, he just plunks down and lets himself get dragged across. Stubborn puppy! We have lots of work to do on the training front.

Speaking of training, we are of course still working on potty training. On Sunday Mushu took a big dump in the living room. I caught him in the act and did not react well. I think it was something like, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" That got his attention and he hit the ground. He nearly crapped on his little pink bunny -- right by his head! It was so upsetting because he was doing so well. Then later in the day he redeemed himself: he was jumping up and down on the sliding glass door and I dropped what I was holding and ran to open it for him. He ran out and did his business -- #1 & #2! Such a good boy. Oh yes, we were all so very excited about that. He's also started holding it all night -- his puppy pads and the tile floor are all clean & dry, and he goes when we take him outside. Good boy!

Anyway, I think that's the best I can do for an update now. It's almost 7 and I need to take a shower and try a little mind over matter w/this sore throat. My boss recommended Airborne to me yesterday -- says he's not a fan of pills & such, like me, but that either it works or his body believes it does. I was desperate, so I got some. Mmmmmm fizzy orange sludge. I guess it's not as bad as I imagined, but it's pretty bad. But I took it. Not sure if it helped at all between last night and this morning, but I'll take some more today.

Lots of work to do at work and only 3 days left to get it done. Wish me luck!

2006-09-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

We have the cutest puppy EVER

2006-09-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

That is all. :0)

Machines

2006-09-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

We got 2 phone calls tonight -- one, an automated message for the husband telling him that a video game he pre-ordered will be available tomorrow, and the other, a pre-recorded message from Dan Lungren about some election crap. It reminded me of that scene from Real Genis where the students left boom boxes in their places in the lecture hall to record the lectures they bailed on, and ultimately the professor left a boom box playing the lecture to the recording boom boxes so he could bail as well. Machines talking to machines.

What the hell good are we?

Three days still isn't enough

2006-09-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it, I'm greedy. I need another day. Another day to sit on my ass! I sure as hell don't want to go to the gym, I don't want to hurry up and get ready for work, I don't want to fight traffic, I don't want to run around doing an interview today, I don't want to have a meeting to talk about attorney departures, and I absolutely do not want to drive 20+ miles to an alterations appointment that I showed up for on Saturday only to find out they screwed up and had not made my alterations!

This is an awful lot like a Monday -- and I don't like it ONE BIT!

Thank God

2006-09-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

for Monday holidays!

OMG

2006-09-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

I was sitting here web surfing and watching TV, and saw on the news that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, just died. They said he was filming a documentary and was stung in the chest by a stingray -- and that the barb pierced his chest.

Given all the dangerous situations he's put himself in, I guess it's not a total shock, but I guess I never expected he'd actually die doing what he does. How sad.

"SYDNEY, Australia - Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian naturalist who won worldwide acclaim, has died in a marine accident off Australia’s northeast coast, local media reported on Monday.

Queensland state government sources quoted by Australian Associated Press (AAP) said Irwin, 44, whose television show “The Crocodile Hunter” won international acclaim and popularized the phrase “Crikey”, was believed to have been killed by a stingray barb that pierced his chest.

He was filming an underwater documentary off Port Douglas when the accident occurred, the report said.

Sky Television also reported that Irwin had been stung by a sting ray.

Australian emergency officials could not immediately confirm the reports.

Irwin won a global following for his daredevil antics but also triggered outrage in 2004 by holding his then one-month-old baby while feeding a snapping crocodile at his Australian zoo."

This & That

2006-09-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, where did I leave things last? I guess I alluded to the Mikuni bus adventure with my "ehhhhhhh" post. So, we went out on the Mikuni sushi bus on Wednesday night . . . we all met up at Mikuni and got on the bus, minus the birthday boy and my best friend. The birthday boy thought he and my best friend were meeting his mother and stepfather for dinner at another Mikuni location later that evening. So, we pulled up on the bus and I went up to their apartment with a bottle of wine and a birthday card for him, acting as though I had just stopped by to drop it off. I asked what their plans were and he told me about dinner. I spent some time chatting w/my best friend while the birthday boy went to take the trash out, and when he came back up the stairs Von and I were at the door as though I was heading out and she said I had one more thing for him. They followed me down the stairs on the other side and he saw the Mikuni bus. Surprise! He walked up to the bus and stepped on to find 9 more people inside. Surprise! He was definitely surprised.

We piled back into the bus and everyone enjoyed beer, sake and sushi as we headed downtown. The sushi was KILLER. I'm not even sure what was in each roll I had, but it was all good. The bbq'd tuna and gyoza were the best! We went to the Sheraton Grand downtown and had a few rounds of drinks. By this point, it was clear some people were feeling their drinks. Thank God we were on a bus! We piled back onto the bus again and headed to Rick's Dessert Diner so the birthday boy could pick out what he wanted. We ended up with what I think was the best N.Y. cheesecake I've ever had, and this monster yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. Of course, by the time we got back to Von & Joey's place, it being a Wednesday night and all, some people headed home. Others were just trashed. But we tried that cheesecake and yellow cake anyway . . . mmmmmmcake.

It was a fun night -- but we didn't get home until after midnight, and after dealing w/the puppy, it was more like 1:00. The husband was supposed to get up at 4:30, and I was hoping to sleep until 6:30. He didn't quite make 4:30, and I just wanted to die at 6:30!

Wednesday was ROUGH.

Nothing remarkable since then, I don't think. Work is insanely busy, and I ran my ass off on Thursday and Friday trying to make things happen. No signs of slowing, either. But I am going on vacation in two weeks, so whatever I get done, I get done -- and whatever I don't, I don't. Next weekend is the bachelor thing in Tahoe, then the following weekend is Von's wedding. The next day, we're going to Hawaii, and I'll probably get sick once I finally slow down! When I get back, there will be no rest -- this is busy season at work, but once I get through October I ought to be able to spend some time regrouping. Sort of. Of course, there are a bunch of birthdays and holidays right on the heels of all this.

One day at a time . . .

Today the husband and I went out and got his outfit for the wedding. He thinks he looks pimp. Well at least he won't look like A pimp. And we'll coordinate since there's some black in his outfit and I'm wearing a black dress. I also got something to wear next weekend that I can use for work, which is my favorite way to shop -- dual purpose, people, dual purpose! Well, the INC shirt w/a studded skull & crossbones design probably won't work for work, but I got an alternate version w/o the skull & crossbones that is just a v-neck to go under the jacket I bought. Cute cute cute.

We made a target run that had us picking up all the big bulky stuff we needed -- cat litter, cat food, laundry detergent, paper towels, toilet paper, bug spray, bread, candy for my dish at work -- man, you really can find everything there!

The husband also picked up the new Madden '07 for his PS2, so he's happy as a clam.

Oh, the new range also works like a charm. Having a completely flat cooking surface is great! The oven also seems to work correctly -- meaning it doesn't run hot like that POS we just got rid of.

I'm so glad it's a 3-day weekend. I didn't get much done yesterday, and though we ran lots of errands today, I still have a lot of stuff to do around the house. And I have one more day to do it! We're not really doing anything exciting this weekend, but last Wednesday was enough excitement for me and with Tahoe next week, and the wedding and Hawaii the following week, I'm good. And broke. Good and broke.

Meanwhile, Mushu seems to have doubled in size. His little Buddha belly is growing every day -- and he seems to be catching on to things. He's still a little fucker when it comes to constantly gnawing on people (mostly me), but he seems to be understanding the word "no" and he holds his poop until we go outside. The pee is gonna take a little more work. He's pretty good about holding it, but if we don't take him out every hour, we end up finding little puddles.

That's it for my update. Time to go eat my little California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizza and have a beer! Jealous?

I didn't think so.

ehhhhhhhh

2006-08-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

Going out and partying on a Wednesday night, getting to bed around 12:30 or 1:00, waking up several times and having an 8:30 a.m. meeting does not make for a happy camper!

I would pay perfectly good money for some sleep right now.

Puncture wounds

2006-08-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

My hands feel like they're full of holes. Holes the size of razor-sharp puppy teeth. Mushu was biting the shit out of my hands and everything else he could get a hold of until I finally got up off the floor. I think he must've been hungry -- 'cuz I fed him and he licked his bowl clean, which he almost never does. And it's not like it's been that long since he ate -- his little Buddha belly can attest to that -- but that little bastard was trying to make a meal out of me!

He seems content now.

Work is insanely busy. I feel like I'm getting a lot done, but so much remains to be done sometimes it's hard to feel like I've even made a dent. Maybe by the end of this week. Tomorrow night Jason and I are going w/my best friend and her fiance and some of their other friends and family on the Mikuni sushi bus for a ride around town while the sushi chef serves up whatever they've ordered. Should be fun. I was going to reserve this bus for my Summer Associates at work, but it's pretty expensive and to reserve it on a Friday you have to have the bus a minimum of 4 hours. Too much for the middle of a workday. But during the week, the minimum is 3 hours, and for a Wednesday night is doable. I'll have to take some pics.

My best friend's wedding is coming up in less than 3 weeks. The bachelor/ette thing in Tahoe is less than 2 weeks away. I know I'll enjoy the events when they're here, but for now they all just represent major financial strain. I know it'll all work out somehow, but it doesn't keep me from fretting about it.

Then there's Hawaii. Going for the first time. Totally can't afford it, and it's the busiest time of year at work! I'd say I'll be glad when October is here, but then it's all birthdays and holidays from there. Is it too early to say I'm looking forward to New Year's?

Yeah, I thought so.

*deep, cleansing breaths*

One day at a time, right?!

That's it for now. If I keep typing, I feel a most incoherent post coming on. Ciao.

Jesus God

2006-08-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

You know that terrible feeling you get when your phone rings in the middle of the night because, unless you are accustomed to receiving such calls, you know it must be terrible news?

Well, we learned last night that it's even worse when someone comes knocking on your door in the middle of the night.

And you know how irritating it is when that middle of the night call turns out to be a wrong number? Similarly irritating when the middle of the night doorbell ringer turns out to have the wrong house.

MF'er!

Jason and I were sound asleep last night and the doorbell rang:

"ding."

We were both pretty out of it so neither of us woke up right away. Then there was another one:

"ding."

And another:

"ding."

Then they got closer together:

"ding" ........... "ding" ..........."ding"

We both wake up and head for the door. Through the little window to the left of the door, we can see there is a car pulled over in front of the house, passenger side door open. Neither of us recognized the car, so my first thought was someone was having some kind of emergency. Jason opens the door and there is a maybe 17 year-old girl standing there looking a little stressed out and asking if James was here. "James?" Jason said. "James lives next door." The girl said, "Oh my God, do I have the wrong house? Dude -- I am SO sorry."

Okay, buh-bye.

Dude. It was fucking 4 o'clock in the morning! I don't know what the hell she wanted, but I kinda felt like she had an obligation to 'splain herself after that -- but I was so goddamned tired all I could do was shuffle back to bed.

Jason tried to take Mushu out to go pee, and he came back to bed about a minute later. He said Mushu just laid down and put his head on Jason's foot. I told him the dog was thinking, "dude -- it's 4 a.m." Besides, he had gone pee on his puppy pad in the bathroom -- big.

We got back into bed, then I heard a brief retching sound and worried it was the dog. Got back up to look at him, and he was fine -- chilling in his bed, though looking like he might be thinking about getting up to play. Please, please, please go back to sleep was what I was thinking.

Thankfully, he did. We all did (even Laurren had gotten up because of the doorbell ringing). He even slept in -- until 8:30! In fact, I got up and got him out of his "crib" (the bathroom w/the puppy gate) to take him outside. He wasn't even whining for someone to get up.

Weird middle of the night/morning adventure.

Someone should've told me . . .

2006-08-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

that today was Dickhead Day on the freeway. Semi trucks with trailers doing a slalom between lanes 1 & 2 at 75-80 mph is NOT A GOOD IDEA!

Cocksucker.

Hairball

2006-08-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

I think the cat hacked up a hairball and the dog found it. I just pulled it from the dog's mouth, and it was partway down his throat.

I'm gonna die now.

For the love of . . .

2006-08-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

Yesterday morning I cleaned up the kitchen because it was still a mess after the oven incident and I wanted it to be ready for the new range when it arrived -- especially if it got here before I did. On my way home last night, I found out from the husband that the oven had already been delivered and was up and running and ready to go. Great, I thought! I love it when things are just taken care of. And, between Saturday night when I was looking up range ratings in the May '05 issue of Consumer Reports, Sunday morning when I went to Sears and bought a new range as soon as they opened, and yesterday, when the thing was delivered free of charge, I felt like it was easy breezy.

The husband was home when the Sears dudes showed up w/our new range. And thank God he was home when they showed up, 'cuz they were 45 minutes early. Which is great. They were scheduled to arrive between 5:45 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. So they brought in the new range, installed it and took away the old one.

Do you think the husband thought to remove all of my cookie sheets, cake pans, broiler pan and whatever else was in there out of the oven drawer?

That would be a no.

Everything, except for 2 heavy pans (w/little holes in them so things get crispy) that just happened to be in the sink, is gone.

Gone.

GONE!

So I now need at least 2 new cookie sheets, a 9x13 cake pan, two 8 " rounds, and apparently anything else I would like because I'm goin' to the store to replace my stuff and who knows what I'll come home with!

We so do not need this right now. The husband was all "oh well" about it until I schooled him on the estimated cost of what was lost.

Oops.

That's my dawg

2006-08-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Jeff

2006-08-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

It was a year ago today that we lost our friend Jeff. We still can't believe he's gone -- and I can't believe a whole year has gone by. I am thinking of Jeff today as I have often over the past year, and missing him. I hope he is in a better place, as it is tough to think of his 29-year old life ending out on a golf course. I hope he's somewhere with an endless supply of CDs, beer, billiards, ping pong (beer pong!) and a great river. Love you, Tank!

Can't we have just one more day?

2006-08-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

Oh, man. I'm tired. I don't feel like I got any rest this weekend! But I did get a lot done -- just not enough. Laundry, dishes, other housecleaning -- still largely undone. We got the dog to go potty outside a few dozen times, though! Progress.

Our new stove gets delivered tonight. That'll be nice. I think I solved the mystery of the oven fire, too. I was looking at the remnants of whatever it was that caught fire in there, and as I studied it I looked up and saw something similar in the kitchen. A foreign object. Not food. And not something I ever would have thought would have made its way into the oven. A fucking magnetic CHIP CLIP! Seriously, a chip clip. I showed the husband and he says "it must have come from a bag of fries or something." Well, yes, perhaps, but how the hell does one drop something like that in the oven and not know it? I think we have a bit of a stalemate about how it got in there. I'm about 99.9% sure it was him because he uses the oven for that stuff often and is always in a hurry. So I guess the wire on the thing arced with the heating element on the bottom and the rest of it just went up in flames. Part of it is melted to the foil I had lining the bottom of the oven, and the rest of it is the twisted, melty mess that's been sitting on the kitchen counter since I put the fire out. Jesus Christ! So I guess from now on in addition to peeking in to make sure there are no baking sheets or runaway fries lingering in there before I turn it on, I have to look for chip clips and other junk, too.

That's a hell of a way to get a new oven. I mean, I've wanted to replace it for sometime but did it have to happen like that? And how stupid! I can just imagine the fire department. "Ma'am, your house burned to the ground because there was a chip clip in your oven." WTF?

The husband thinks I'm being overly dramatic because he says the oven is designed to withstand high heat. Sure, but even so the temp can only be turned up to 500 or broil -- how hot is fire? Can't it get into the thousands? Maybe it would have snuffed itself out, and maybe other things would have shorted out and caught on fire w/it. The oven was ON when it caught on fire, so that had to have added to it. Plus, I'm the one cleaning the shit up and blowing it out my nose, so I dispute that I am being overly dramatic!

Anyway. Speaking of things that freaked me out this weekend, I just remembered something else. I was running around yesterday buying this and that for the house, and for my best friend's wedding, and was at one of my last stops at a store when someone approached me in the parking lot. I had just pulled into a parking space and gotten out of the car, and was headed for the store's entrance when I heard a raspy voice say, "good morning ma'am." Seeing as I was alone and that it was in fact about 5:30 or 6:00 p.m., I kept on walking w/o looking back. Again, I hear "morning, ma'am." "morning, ma'am." I could see in the reflection in the store window that some guy was following me and not giving up. I went into the store and disappeared into the racks and the guy followed me into the store! He never did find me, but that was a little unsettling. I was in a store full of people and still wondering what the hell I was going to do if he found me. In the parking lot, I figured the guy was probably selling something or just wanted money. But when he followed me into the store I thought, "psycho." It sucks that I feel the need to think that way, but then I think about turning around and seeing someone pull a weapon on me. No one ever thinks that will happen to them, and that seems to be when stuff like that happens. So there's some guy out there following people around in a parking lot. Leave me alone!

Wow, it's already almost quarter after 6. And here I thought I was going to spend a half hour cleaning up around here and head to the gym at 6. The best intentions . . .

Guess I'd better get my butt in gear! Happy Monday.

The new range

2006-08-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

will be delivered tomorrow evening. Then they can take that stupid fire hazard away!

Got my shoes for my best friend's wedding. Suh-weet!

Found a bra that'll work w/my dress. Nice!

F'ing broke now! Bummer.

I have soot in my nose

2006-08-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

. . . from the oven fiasco last night. WTF?

The roof is on fire

2006-08-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well, not the roof exactly. The oven. Oh, man, I almost had a disaster on my hands tonight!

I'm still working with the dog on his potty training, and taking him out to make a big deal out of peeing. "Yay, good boy! Good job!" I almost burned the MF'ing house down while I was at it! Jason went over to a friend's house, and was just going to make myself a little frozen pizza for dinner so I turned the oven on to pre-heat while I was taking care of the dog. Never got to putting the pizza inside, though, as the thing blew up and caught on fire! Not blew up like exploded, of course, or I wouldn't be sitting here typing this. But I had been outside with the dog, waiting for him to do his business, for a good ten minutes. When we came back in, I first smelled that something was burning, then looked over to the stove to see thick black smoke billowing out of the right rear burner where the heat exhausts from the oven. My first thought was there was something on the burner, but then I realized (duh) the burner wasn't on and looked in the oven -- or tried to, anyway. The same black smoke that was billowing out through the burner came out tenfold when I opened the door -- and I could see a flame about 5 inches high brewing in the right rear of the oven. It's interesting how you can feel panic sneak up on you in a situation like that.

So, while the house filled up with smoke, I called Jason to ask what I could use to put out a fire in the oven because I didn't want to use water and he told me to use the fire extinguisher from the garage -- so I knew we would be buying a new oven no matter what. I put the fire out w/the fire extinguisher, turned on the hood fan and the whole house fan (man, has that thing ever come in handy already) and waited for him to come home. Black bits of crap all over the kitchen because something obviously blew up inside the oven and came out through the exhaust. When Jason came by with his friend, they pulled the oven away from the wall and pulled out the racks to see what caught fire. I thought maybe there was some food on the bottom of the oven that I didn't see when I peeked in there before turning it on, but I'm pretty good about keeping it cleaned up and there was some big piece of something on fire that I thought couldn't be food. I had just baked a chicken dish and some garlic bread in there on Thursday and none of it had spilled or fallen out. There was some plastic part (although I wonder -- plastic, in the oven? Something similar to plastic, I guess) and a U-shaped piece of wire, and I don't even know what the hell they came out of, that was on fire in there. I dunno. All I know is that our cheap-ass POS oven was apparently a fire hazard and we just got extremely lucky -- because it would not be out of the realm of possibility for me to turn the oven on to pre-heat and then take a shower (which I have not yet done today). Jesus. Guess I'd better not do that ever again, even thought it wasn't the situation today. Most unpleasant. And you know, we've been here almost 4 years and every time something goes to hell we find out someone did a hack job putting it in. The oven was no exception. I don't know who the genius was who had the big cut in the wall back there with some black box on the floor, but it pisses me off to think that someone else's carelessness or attempts to save a few bucks could result in us losing everything we own, if not worse.

Anyway, I put the dog in his crate and we went off to Adalberto's so I could hit the drive-through. Got some "super nachos." I think their billing is too high -- they were just okay, not super. Blah.

Now Mushu is eating and I'll take him out again to have a little pee party. At least this time the house should not be on fire when we walk back in! Sheesh!

Mushu digs Thing 1

2006-08-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

Step 1: buy puppy
Step 2: go on shopping spree at PetSmart
Step 3: watch puppy's favorite toy be one of the cat's toys that was really just thing 1 that came in a box of cereal!

This does not please the cat

2006-08-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

We brought a baby home today . . .

His name is Mushu
He is a baby Shih Tzu
I made a haiku!

Jeopardy, etc.

2006-08-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

The other day the husband and I were watching Jeopardy -- I think it was a college edition. Somehow the college edition seemed to be more vexing than the normal version. Anyway, they got to Final Jeopardy and the answer was three song titles. I can't remember what all of them were, but one was "Ice Ice Baby" and made some reference to them being in the top 20 of some kind of chart a few years ago. No one got the right answer, but the guy who won the game had the best answer and I think they should have given him money for the funniest question ever: "What are the worst songs ever?"

Alex Trebek agreed w/him but the correct question turned out to be "what is a chart for the most popular cell phone ringtones" or something like that. The fact that he even wrote what he wrote would have been enough to convince me to give it to him!

I just spent about three hours wiping down the kitchen cabinets and slapping a new coat of paint on them 'cuz I couldn't stand looking at 'em anymore. What a pain in the ass! I'm tired. We did some running around today and I met my friend at the alterations place to strap her into her bustier and see how the first round of alterations to her wedding dress came out. Looks good. Just a few minor final adjustments and she's done.

Earlier today the husband and I came home from the gym and there was a message on the machine from the stepdaughter's mother. She said she had a question. The husband called her back and the question was, "how do you feel about [your daughter] getting a nose ring?"

Um, what?

I mean seriously, what the fuck?

We are talking about an eleven year old child. So yeah. The husband of course said, no, I don't want her to get one. And the ex gets testy and demands to know why. Well,

1. She's ELEVEN.

2. He told her they look stupid.

3. She's ELEVEN.

So then she was arguing w/him because he said anyone with a nose ring looks like an idiot. Apparently she was planning on getting one, as was her sister, and for some unknown reason she thought it would be okay for her eleven year old child to join them in this dumbass adventure. As she continued to argue w/him about it, he said he didn't even know why she bothered to ask him how he felt about it because she doesn't really care what he thinks and will do whatever she wants anyway. The conversation apparently ended w/her saying she would let their ELEVEN YEAR OLD CHILD know how her father felt about it and let their ELEVEN YEAR OLD CHILD decide what she wanted to do. I mean seriously -- what the FUCK?! I was so irritated when I heard all this I was really beside myself. I have no say in any of this, of course, but it made me nuts. Of course, this is the same person who let the now eleven year old child get acrylic nails glued on at ages 7, 8 and 9 and started dying her hair around the same time. Get 'em started early, I guess is her theory. I hate it.

So we have no idea whether the child has a new hole in her head or what. But I also wondered, if she does, what's gonna happen when she goes to basketball practice next week? We didn't even get second piercings in her ears this summer because she's been playing basketball all along and they are not allowed to wear jewelry to practice or games. And of course you can't take new piercings out, at least w/o them closing up, etc. So if she got one of those dumbass things in her face, I hope they make her take it out. I hope it becomes a giant hassle. I really do. What the fuck us wrong with people letting their kids do whatever they want, giving them whatever they want, and trying to be their best friends? I acknowledge I have a thing about letting kids be kids and setting some real boundaries, but I really don't think this is a case of me being overly protective or strict. CHILDREN SHOULD NOT HAVE NOSE PIERCINGS! Period!

Dollar Tree

2006-08-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

"SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Hundreds of customers at Dollar Tree discount stores have reported money stolen from their bank accounts due to unauthorized ATM withdrawals.

The Secret Service is leading a major investigation into the allegations, which arose from stores in Carmichael, Modesto and elsewhere. The Secret Service offered few details about the case, but one spokesman said "it's big."

A Dollar Tree spokesman also would not comment, but stated, "We are cooperating with local authorities in this situation." A Dollar Tree store on Manzanita Avenue in Carmichael is believed to be one location in the West where a suspected fraud operation has resulted in customer financial data being stolen and used for theft.

One customer claimed that after shopping at Dollar Tree, her ATM account number and PIN number were somehow stolen and then used to take $700 from her account. Her bank, Golden 1 Credit Union, reported that about 30 customers have reported similar thefts. A Dollar Tree store in Modesto is being investigated after 150 customers reported money taken from their accounts after shopping at the store. KCRA 3 has learned similar data thefts occurred at a Dollar Tree store in Ashland, Ore., during May and June.

The Secret Service would not comment on whether other Dollar Tree stores are involved. Authorities are looking at how thieves managed to get the data stored in the magnetic strips on customers' ATM cards.

In Oregon, Medford police report that theft occurred between the point of sale and the bank, with the information intercepted possibly by a theif's use of a wireless laptop computer. Officials said theives take the data and then produce new ATM cards, allowing them to withdraw cash."

To this, I say, "Hellooooooooo, people, you're shopping at the DOLLAR TREE. Where they sell everything for a DOLLAR. How the hell do you think they keep the doors open? They have to empty the rest of your bank account while you're not looking!"

Seriously, just shop at Macy's, where they steal your money up front. And I hand it over gladly . . . I love Macy's!

On an actually more serious note, I think I should start just withdrawing a certain amount of cash every week and living off that -- 'cuz I use my debit card everywhere, every day. I might as well just post that information on my blog!

I need one of these for my office!

2006-08-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hmmm . . . much less than I thought

2006-07-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

You Are 34% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well.
In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

R.S.V.P.: A Public Service

2006-07-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

I think I am going to start a movement: to educate people as to the meaning of R.S.V.P. I am so sick of people who think they can just show up to an event without responding to the invitation. I am even more sick of people who think they can bring uninvited guests -- and YES, that also means your CHILDREN if your invitation does not either include the names of the children individually or the words "and family." Do NOT assume that an invitation to YOU includes your children, cousins, relatives by marriage and out of town guests. And do NOT call the host of the event on the day of the event and give some sob story about how YOUR guest has a friend visiting from out of town and does not want to leave the ADULT out of town guest ALONE for a few hours. If your GUEST does not want to leave HER friend alone, then your GUEST should not attend! Buh-bye. I found a perfect synopsis on line re: R.S.V.P. I think this should be printed on some kind of square pretty card or paper that gets inserted with invites until people get a fucking clue:

" R.S.V.P. stands for the French phrase Répondez s’il vous plaît (“reply, please”), so it doesn’t need an added “please.” However, since few people seem to know its literal meaning, and fewer still take it seriously, it’s best to use plain English: “Please reply.” It is a mistake to think that this phrase invites people to respond only if they are planning to attend; it is at least as important to notify the person doing the inviting if you cannot go. And no, you can’t bring along the kids or other uninvited guests."

BEAUTIFUL! Not that I'm bitter.

Yawn

2006-07-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning. Big sigh! It's been insanely busy . . . at work, at home . . . barely enough time to breathe. Work is so busy that I get there, work through the day w/o a break and then run out to get home and do all the things (house work, paying bills, making phone calls, running errands) that I also have trouble keeping up with right now! But, I got a lot done this past week. A LOT.

Last weekend was the hottest weekend yet. It was so f'ing hot I thought I would pass out at one point. I heard it was *only* 111 degrees last Sunday, but it felt hotter . . . and like it wasn't going to stop! I had to go out on both days last weekend and I was not a happy camper over it.

On the bright side, my best friend had her first fitting in her bridal gown and we got that started. The bustier she bought to wear under the dress didn't work because it was visible and the dress could not be modified enough to make it work. So we knew we were going to have to find something else. We left the dress with the seamstress to let them do the hem and bustle and went back to her place to talk about her wedding shower set for the following Friday.

On Sunday we met up and went shopping for a bustier. We went to a bridal shop that was a madhouse and found nothing. Then we went to the mall across the street and realized after walking around Macy's for 10 minutes that we were sweating. Turns out their A/C was malfunctioning. Bad timing! Anyway, we found nothing but a few towels (I have these Hotel Collection) towels at home and I wanted to add a few to our stock). They were on sale and they are the best towels EVER! If you have a Macy's near you, I highly recommend the Hotel Collection towels. You'll never go back to regular towels.

We made our way down the mall, but it was pretty crowded -- probably all the people who either don't have A/C, or whose A/C was broken, or who just needed to get out of the house and it was too hot to do anything else. I had hoped that it was so damned hot that a lot more people would have stayed home. Oh, well.

I forgot to mention we were also looking for a dress for me to wear in the wedding. On the hottest day of the year so far. So yeah, I was really in the mood to try on dresses. Well, we never saw anything of interest so I got out of that. We made our way to Nordstrom to check out their lingerie and I was starting to lose hope until we found these bustiers by Felina. I think we found the perfect one. It held everything up, but was cut low in front and lower in the back. Totally smooth, and much more comfortable than the one she bought originally -- and it was much easier to get her into! So we found "the one." Unfortunately, it was black (she tried it on for size & style). They didn't have the beige one in stock. We asked them to get one from another location, but of course it turned out they couldn't find one. I say of course because why should this be that easy?! What a pain.

We came home and I found a web site that had the right size, style & color of the Felina bustier and my friend ordered it on Thursday. Hoping it shows up by mid next week, as she has her second fitting (and this is the one where they will determine the alterations for the bust of the dress) next Saturday. We can always move the fitting if we need to, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll show up. We never did find a suitable dress to try on, so I still have that mission ahead of me.

Then it was back to work -- interviews left and right, meetings left and right, e-mails left, right, up and down, phone calls, running around -- busy! I still love the job. But man, I don't remember when I've been so busy.

And I still had to get things ready for the wedding shower. I sent invites out 3 weeks in advance, and asked for RSVP's w/in 2 weeks of having sent out the invites. Out of 28 invites, I received a grand total of THREE RSVPs. I was pissed! Not surprised, but pissed all the same. This group of people irritates me. I had the same issue with them at the engagement party, and though most of the people did not RSVP, most of them (and about thirty people who were not invited) showed up. I was afraid the same thing would happen for the shower -- and since I was footing half the bill for this at a nice restaurant, I was losing my patience.

I got numbers from my friend and called her future MIL and had her call all of her relatives who did not RSVP (who made up most of the guest list). Of course, they all came. So why the hell not make a phone call or send an e-mail, you lazy sons of bitches?! Pissed.

Then I called my friend's other friends (not really mutual friends, but I know them). I left them all messages letting them know I was going to put them down as a "no" for the engagement party if I didn't hear back from them that night or the following morning. Surprise, surprise, surprise -- my phone started ringing off the hook. Oh, yeah, we'll totally be there. Was I supposed to respond by today? Oops! Sons of bitches!

I was still stressed about the thought that some of the invited guests would again invite additional guests. I stressed all the way until last night when the party started, until I decided to order a drink and say "fuck it." Then I felt better. On Wednesday I ordered this chocolate truffle cake from Ettore's a local European bakery/restaurant well-known for its confections. Here is how the cake is described:

"When served at room temperature this chocolate treat absolutely melts in your mouth. Made with three layers of dense sour cream chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with a decadent chocolate truffle."

The bride wanted ganache, so I got her ganache. And this cake was GOOD. We got a 1/4 sheet and about 1/4 of that is left over from last night and is now in my fridge. The husband will be so pleased. If you like chocolate, and there is an Ettore's near you, BUY THIS CAKE! And be sure to eat it at room temp. They ain't kidding. It makes a difference.

So Thursday I did some shopping for some minimal decorations, and found the cutest thick ocean blue glass short squared vases that were 70% off. I'd have paid the normal $12.99 for one of these anyway, but paying $3 something made it that much sweeter. I bought four of 'em and was gonna get fresh flowers to decorate the tables at the restaurant. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to get flowers so I did something else. More on that later. I also had gone out at lunch time to get the shower gift and I had it gift wrapped. What a time saver! Totally worth it.

In the midst of all this, the husband was getting ready to go to the races -- his annual pilgrimage to Sonoma for the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Fram Autolite Nationals. Three days of camping on the side of a mountain and running back and forth to a track. He always wants me to go with him, and I never do. I went once five years ago and it was good enough for me. I just wouldn't get enough out of that to make it worth spending the money for both of us -- plus, I'm totally happy for him to go have his boy's weekend and I get to stay home and sleep in the middle of my bed instead of fighting for the little sliver I usually get between the husband and the cat! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

On Friday morning I got up at 4 with the husband and a friend of his who stayed over and helped them get their stuff together and out the door. Then I couldn't fall back asleep so I knew it was gonna be a loooong day. I went to work and got started on everything I needed to get done. By midday it was hitting me that I got up at 4 a.m. after going to bed sometime between 11 and 12. I put together my stuff and made a flier encouraging guests to write on these cute little note cards I got to offer unsolicited marital advice -- funny, serious, whatever. Then I had them put in their little envelopes and put 'em in a little Tuscan style lidded box for the bride & groom to keep. That worked out well. I also made a flier to keep track of gifts and the bride and groom's reaction to each. I was going to read them off (you know, the whole "things that can be heard on the wedding night" kind of thing) but I didn't want to be the game nazi and never did it. I think they'll still get a kick out of it when I give it to them. So I left work at 4 to pick up the cake at 4:30, then got home to change, freshen up and load up all my stuff. It was almost 6 and the party was starting at 7 so I was in a bit of a panic about what to put in the blue vases. Well, I looked around and I have some dried floral arrangements in the house, so -- I took one apart, cut them down and made them out of what I already had. And you know what? They came out cute! But I made a huge mess on my bed where I cut everything up, plus, I hacked apart one of my own arrangements so now I need to replace that. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures!

I got to the restaurant at 6:25 and, thank God, no one was there early. I brought all my stuff in and the room was fantastic. The table set up, the place itself, just awesome. I put out my blue vases and scattered some cute tropical confetti around the base of each. That was the extent of my decorating. That, the cake, which had its own table, and gift, which had its own table (of course, the start of the gift table), and the buffet set up for the appetizers. Oh, the appetizers! Here's what we had:

Wood Grilled Mushrooms - stuffed with savory-mascarpone & topped with a tomato chutney.

Bite Size Roman Meatballs with egg and parmesan

Bruschetta - Grilled sourdough with green olive, soft italian cheese,
pepperoncinis, parsley, lemon zest

Bruschetta with tomato & basil salsa

Pizza Platter (Margherita)

WOW! The mushrooms . . . heavenly. The meatballs . . . to die for. The bruschetta w/tomato & basil salsa . . . yum! The pizza was good, too. I didn't try the bruschetta w/green olives & pepperoncinis -- I hate pepperoncinis. That was my friend's choice and it turned out that neither she, nor anyone else, liked it. But thas was only one misstep from all our choices. The appetizers were SO good. If you have a Piatti near you, I highly recommend these things. Again, wow! Very, very good. And the service was impeccable. Our waiter, Ignacio, was so attentive and all I had to do was catch his eye to get whatever we needed. He took care of everything. I think I'm gonna have to write the restaurant a letter about him. And their food. So, the event went very well, and the bride and groom and everyone else seemed to have a good time. It was expensive, though, and hurt just a little. But my friend deserves it -- and now it's done. Done! Check it off the list! Yay!

After the party, me and the bride & groom went over to one of her friend's and husband's new house not far from the restaurant. 5400 square feet of opulence . . . I never saw so much travertine and granite. And they have one of those fixtures over their giant stove that allows you to fill pasta pots w/water. Celebrity style. Double ovens, multiple sinks, a granite slab that you could seat 15 people at easily. It was huge. Not all of it was of a style that would appeal to me, but there were a lot of Tuscan elements down to some very interesting plaster walls. And the showers were all so huge that shower doors were not necessary. Imagine a bedroom that makes a king sized bed look like a twin sized bed. Yeah, it was big.

So we hung out there and enjoyed the fact that it was probably 75 degrees at 11-12-1 at night/in the morning. The bride was completely sauced, though. Those $10 glasses of wine had finally hit her and she was in another world. Wonder how she's feeling today?! I'll call her later. I got home around 2:00 a.m. -- oh, and there were two more interesting things about last night. When I got off the freeway at my exit, I saw a shooting star! That was cool. Then, as I was driving down my street I was nearly home when I saw something in the street and came to a stop. There was a POSSUM right there in the street! He waddled the rest of the way across and onto someone's lawn. ON SOMEONE'S LAWN! I stopped the car, and sat there and watched th is POSSUM sitting on someone's LAWN. And I thought, AAHHH! What if this thing makes its way down to MY house?! Oh. My. GOD! A possum. A POSSUM! Scary. So I got home, went into the house, cleaned all the dried floral crap off my bed and passed out. Right in the MIDDLE of the bed, as planned. Slept 'til 10 a.m.

I have no idea if this little synopsis even makes any sense, as this was all stream of consciousness, but this is the gist of what my life has been like lately. Add to that one Wednesday evening meeting with the bride (a week ago Wednesday) where each of us drank 5 Cadillac margaritas (oh, man, they went down so easy . . . too easy) and talked about wedding & shower stuff -- and was approached by a guy who kept looking our way and turned out to be one of my closest childhood friend's older brother! I had noticed previously that he had been looking our way off and on, and then he made his way over and when he got closer I realized I recognized him. He starts to say, you probably don't know who I am, but . . . and then I say his name. Surprised the hell out of him! He was there with his THIRTEEN year old son. We chatted a bit and I learned that his sister, whom I haven't seen since probably junior high school, has four kids, I think he said. Wow! I didn't bother trying to exchange numbers as I thought it might turn out to be one of those "oh yeah, I'll totally call your sister," etc. situations. I just asked him to tell her I said hello and sent my best. That was cool.

Also, this past Wednesday (apparently Wednesday is my social day) my friend Missy was in town and came by the house. I was going to make dinner, but I was so busy I wimped out and we took her out for pizza & beer instead. It was good, as was our visit. So I managed to squeeze that stuff in the midst of all this other stuff we have going on.

No wonder I don't have time to blog! Then when I finally do, I don't feel like typing all about it. But this one is long, I know. I'm sure I will totally cringe when I go back and read it and realize what a mess it is!

Now, it's 12:41 and all I've done besides this blogging is a little bit of picking up around the house. TLC's "What Not to Wear" is on but the people they've featured so far have bored me. I think I'm gonna go grab something to eat, maybe do some stuff around the house and MAYBE go shopping. Get the wedding gift out of the way. But otherwise, I have no big plans. Just enjoying having the whole house to myself!

Happy Saturday!

Too busy to blog!

2006-07-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

Not that I have so much to say anyway -- but I'm really slackin'. Been busy busy busy at work, and busy at home. So much to do! And for some reason if I don't write down every last thing I have to do, it will not get done! I was never this way before. But now, my memory lasts all of 60 seconds. In fact, that might be generous. 30 seconds. What is wrong with me? Maybe I need to start doing crossword puzzles.

It's hot as hell here and it makes me want to hole up in the house. And I pretty much have.

I just made some pasta that had a little kick to it, so I've now got internal and external forces trying to make me sweat. But it was yummy. I love the shells w/a meat sauce. Mmmmmm. Garlic bread to top it off. Yum. Washing it down w/a beer. Perfection.

What else? Not much. We went bowling this weekend. I'm hitting my average pretty regularly, but I have had a few bad games. I think I bowled a 141 in one of my games, though, and a 127 in another. We won't mention what I got in the first game!

We went out to the lake with one of the husband's friends on Saturday -- he has a boat and this was his first outing this year. Unfortunately, even though they spent hours getting it ready for its maiden voyage of the season, the boat started overheating as soon as it was launched. Had to float it for a while and bring it back in. Turned out there was a part that was cracked and so the lake water wasn't making it to the engine to keep it cool. Foiled. Bummer.

Other than that, it's been mostly about work and keeping the house up -- same ol', same ol'.

I'm meeting up with my best friend for drinks tomorrow so we can catch up, and on Saturday I'm going with her for her fitting for her wedding dress. And a week from Friday is her shower. I guess I'd better get my poop in a group if I'm gonna be responsible for that! We've got the place, the date, the invites all taken care of. The games will be minimal (not even games really) and are taken care of. Just need to order a cake and get some decorations and such. Now, if some of the guests would just R.S.V.P. Is it just me, or do people seem to think R.S.V.P. means "go ahead and just show up -- or not?" So annoying. I'm not above calling these people and letting them know I'm putting them down as a "no" since I haven't heard from them. I'll do it!

Anyway, this is probably as boring to read as it is to write so I'll sign off. Ciao.

Tasty

2006-07-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Why is it that when I eat salsa, I wake up with that taste in my mouth like I just had some -- when I know perfectly well that I brushed my teeth before bed?

They should find ways to make fuel from garlic and onions -- 'cuz those things got some mileage in 'em.

13 minutes

2006-07-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Think I can take a shower, get dressed, slap on some makeup, make a lunch, fill my water bottles and get out the door in that amount of time? Probably not. Why am I always pushing the clock like this?!

Probably because I stay up too late! I can't help it. I have a lot to do! And it's never enough.

12 minutes now. Sure.

For some reason lately even if I go to bed at 11 I wake up around 11:35 and midnight. What's up with that? And I mean wake up, sit up, and look around. What the hell am I looking for?

Nothing, apparently, because then I lay down and go back to sleep.

I am learning that 5, 6, 7 hours of sleep isn't quite enough anymore. I really do need 8. How am I gonna do that? I don't have time to sleep 8 hours a day! It's so frustrating!

11 minutes.

I gotta go get in the shower!

I hate people

2006-07-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

The husband and I were out running some errands and our first stop was the post office. I needed to get my friend's shower invites out and we got there 3 minutes before the post office closed. We walked in behind another woman who had a package or two and followed her to the second door where the customer service counter was. There was another woman at the door, holding it open, also holding some packages. We thought she was leaving the post office having picked some stuff up. Well, I guess she was on her way IN, because after we walked in she says, "boy, you try to help one person and you turn into a slave!"

A SLAVE.

Okay -- first of all, bitch, we didn't know if you were coming or going but you're standing there holding the fucking door and I'm in a hurry. So if you needed to go in, you should have just gone in and let us get the door for ourselves. Last time I checked, I was perfectly capable of opening a goddamned door. Secondly, seeing as the first person you let by was black, I think a slave reference was even more offensive than if it had just been me and the husband. Third, it's nice to know that you are limited to one act of common courtesy per day. It made it much easier for my reaction to be, "a slave. NICE. Jesus Christ." Then the husband chimed in -- I thought she was leaving. Duh, because her fat ass was just standing there -- so at this point, I don't care if you're on your way in, or out, or whatever. Just get the fuck out of my way!

Reason No. 9,427 I'm glad I'm not a renter

2006-07-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

Landlords will do all kinds of things to avoid spending money when it comes to turning over a rental property -- but the thought of this makes me sick! Sounds like this guy was thisclose to qualifying for a Darwin Award:

"SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. -- Firefighters were called to a residence in the Foothill Farms area of Sacramento County on Thursday after a refrigerator exploded, fire officials reported.

The blast was strong enough to blow out at least one window of the duplex. Investigators said the owner of the duplex recently evicted the tenants. The landlord was at the residence to clean up when the explosion occurred.

Fire officials said the owner may have sprayed bug killer in the refrigerator, which may have triggered the blast."

Charming

2006-07-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

I was just over at the mall to buy invitations for my friend's wedding shower. On my way up the escalator, I walked to get to the top a little faster and just as I was about to step off the escalator I felt like someone was about to jump on my back. I looked over my left shoulder and there was this guy there, who just about got off the escalator at the same time I did. He saw my startled look and said, "sorry, I was right on your ass." Then he saw the puzzled look on my face and did a double take before he took off. You were on my ass? Well. I mean, he was right, but still. Who says that? Has this taken the place of excuse me in such situations?

Allllllllrighty, then.

Anyway, I got some invites for my best friend's wedding shower that I am going to print up at home once I get some language drafted. Then out they go. Onward and upward.

I picked up something to eat and brought it back to my office. I was sitting here reading the news while I ate my sandwich and saw there was a story on the Columbine shooters. I guess they released a bunch of writings by one or the other of the kids from the year or so before the attack. I was struck by a quote following a statement that they planned to torture and kill the family of a former friend. It said that after they shot up the school (I guess they had originally planned on surviving that), they would leave the country and go somewhere that they could not be extradited from. Then it said this:

"If there isnt such place then we will hijack a hell of a lot of bombs and crash a plane into NYC with us inside (f)iring away as we go down. just something to cause more devistation."

Considering this was written between 2-3 years before 9/11, I thought it was an interesting intention. That other people have had thoughts of hijacking planes and just crashing them into things. Hijacking planes to get something in exchange for the hostages, sure -- but just flying it into something for the sake of causing devastation? That's quite a thought by a 15-year old kid. Chilling, actually.

The article also said that the quote above had been disclosed shortly after the shooting back in 1999. I don't recall that. Can you imagine if one of those al Queda f***s read that and thought, "Genius! We'll do that." Imagine if that was the impetus for 9/11 and that little turd didn't even live to see it happen.

The truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction.

Time for me to get back to work. So much to do -- how am I ever going to get it all done? One thing at a time, I guess. I have a firm event to attend tonight so I have even less time to get things done than usual. And they're serving Indian food. Being rather unadventurous, I don't really know what that consists of. Mexican, Italian, American, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, even Vietnamese . . . sure . . . but Indian? Nope. I'm having visions of curry. We'll see. Trying to keep an open mind. But I told the husband he should have a snack before we go and warned him that it's Indian food so he doesn't feel like I tricked him into going by not telling him!

Oh, there was one more thing I read that stood out to me: Amber Frey got, or is getting, married. To some guy she met in October of last year. So, like, 9 months ago. What is wrong with that woman? I mean, first, she hooks up with Scott Peterson while she has a what -- toddler child? -- and lets that idiot pick her kid up from daycare or wherever on his own within days or weeks of meeting him, then she hooks up with some chiropractor or whatever he did for a living and pops out another kid. So she has two kids by two different men separated by a stint with Peterson and now she's married to or marrying some guy she JUST MET 9 months ago. Seriously, lady, what is wrong with you? You don't expose your kids to that kind of shit. And you don't have to screw/have kids with/get engaged to/marry every guy you meet. Really, you don't.

Gah!

Possession is 9/10 of the law

2006-07-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

I don't know why all my stories & gripes come from the gym lately, but here we are again. The husband and I were just at the gym. He rarely goes with me, but he decided to today and I told him I wanted him to check out the treadclimber. If you don't know what that is, it's basically a treadmill split in half and the individual smaller treads move up and down under your weight as you walk. It requires more balance and gets your lungs pumping in no time. There are four of them at the gym, and they were all occupied when we got there. So we got on a couple of regular treadmills nearby and started with those. Then I noticed that the woman on the treadclimber nearest me was finishing up. I thought about just taking that treadclimber and letting the husband continue with the treadmill workout (he wasn't all that interested in the treadclimber).

The woman on the treadclimber got off, then I noticed that the woman on the one farthest from me was also getting off . . . but the husband kept on with his treadmill. So I walked over to the treadclimber nearest me and got on, and this woman who had also been on a treadmill further down comes up to me and says, "I was going to get on that." I pointed to the other one that had been vacated and, ignoring that I instantly thought she was a dumb bitch, said "that one right there is available." Then she says, "He's getting on that one," referring to a guy that I guess she was there at the gym with. I told her there are no lines for these and she said, "but we were waiting." What, on a treadmill, just like I was? Fuck off! I didn't get a chance to respond to that because I guess the guy she was with told her she could have the one he was going to take.

Sometimes I wish I had a brick in my pocket for people like this. If you are waiting for a machine and want it that badly, then stand behind one of 'em and wait like the rest of the world does. If you are working out on another machine, you are not in LINE or WAITING for another machine as though you have some kind of invisible place holder. Honestly -- does that mean that because I was planning on using the leg press after the woman who was on it first was done that I should have told the guy who got on it next that I was waiting for it while I was on another leg machine? Uh, how 'bout no.

THEN, the woman with her nasty fake tan and stupid trying to look cute at the gym hat goes and gets on the other treadclimber for LESS THAN 5 MINUTES before she and the boyfriend leave the gym. Wow, you waited all that time to do 4 1/2 minutes on the treadclimber? What a dumbass.

When I was done with the treadclimber, I went to get the husband off his treadmill so we could do some resistance training and he asked me what the woman had said to me. I told him and he had the same reaction I did -- then we spent the rest of the time looking at other people in the gym and daring one another to go up to someone in the middle of their workout and say, "um, I was going to use that."

We decided, for reasons of health and safety, not to actually do it. But it amused the hell out of us to imagine it!

Oh, I did finally get the husband on the treadclimber after our resistance training and he got quite the shock when he realized he was out of breath inside of 3 minutes. Like the sign says, it only looks like a walk in the park!

Please tell me

2006-07-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

how it is my fault or the husband's fault if our order is f'd up?

We had lunch today at a local bar & grill. It wasn't particularly busy there today -- in fact, there were only a few other people ordering food. We ordered a pitcher of beer, and the husband ordered a crispy chicken sandwich with fries while I ordered a chicken club sandwich with something they call "frips," basically potato chips they fry up there.

When our order came out, the husband had a grilled chicken sandwich with fries, and I had a chicken club sandwich with fries.

Let's review.

The chicken on the husband's sandwich was supposed to be breaded and CRISPY, not skinless and grilled. I was supposed to have FRIPS, not fries. So I remind the waitress that I ordered frips, which she had repeated to me when I placed the order, and she reacted sort of like she was hearing it for the first time. And like she didn't know what the hell to do about it. I decided it wasn't worth the trouble and told her I'd just eat the fries. Then I told her that the husband's sandwich was wrong, and she took it back to get the right one. She came back with a crispy chicken sandwich and a giant pile of FRIPS on his plate.

Instead of FRIES.

The husband does not like FRIPS.

So then he gets mad and goes and tells the waitress he had ordered fries and now had frips and that wasn't what he wanted. She said she gave him frips because she had given me fries and I guess that was her way of giving me frips.

Except I had already told her the fries would be fine and the husband didn't ask for frips. So I guess she made an executive decision. The wrong one.

So she brought him some fries and by this time she was acting all annoyed with us like we were somehow in the wrong for letting her know the many ways she fucked up our order. She said something about the cook being mad at her today.

What?

I don't give a shit what's going on between you and the cook, lady -- we placed an order, and it was all FUBAR'd. The rest is all your problem.

Oh -- and I almost forgot. The chicken on my chicken club sandwich, which I believe is supposed to be served with melted cheese, was COLD. Cold! I didn't even bother to bring that up. I ate about 3/4 of my sandwich and called it good.

What a disappointment. The husband left her a $3.00 tip. Do you think she finally got our point?

Yeah, probably not. But we laughed about it for a good five minutes after leaving the place.

I finally remembered

2006-07-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

the other thing that was bugging me at the gym the other day. People on treadmills, stair climbers, etc., who have the speed cranked way up and they're hanging on for dear life to the rails or to the console or whatever it's called with the displaly on it. How much of a f*cking workout do you really think you're getting by hanging off of something while your feet tippy toe along the belt or steps? I saw one guy who had the treadmill up to about 6 mph and he was running along for about 10 seconds, then hanging from the rails and sort of grazing the treadmill belt for twice that time. Back and forth, back and forth. Just set the damned thing at 4 miles an hour and jog, why don't ya? And the people on the stair climbers who are getting more of a workout in their arms supporting half their weight on the rails while also cranking up the speed . . . useless. Oh, and my favorite: people on treadmills with the incline at 10 or above and they are hanging from the console so they can keep up with the speed of the treadmill. Uh, not the point, genius. Put it at an incline of 7 and get your f'ing hands off the rails and see how you do. You should be breaking a SWEAT when you do that! Stupid people. Just because the machine is angled higher or running faster doesn't mean you are getting more of a workout. You have to actually DO the WORK, mmmmkay?

Jesus.

Anyway, I managed to get through an hour on the treadclimber. That thing is somehow more of a workout than a regular treadmill with the two separate treads that alternate up and down. Now, if I could just make myself do that every day . . .

Yeah right.

I'm due for a shower, then taking care of some things around here. We gotta get our closet situation figured out so I can get all the junk laying all over our room back in there!

Then again, maybe we'll go bowling. I'd like to go bowling. And to play some air hockey. That sounds like fun. Tomorrow the pro shop in there is supposed to be open so I'm gonna go look at the shoes and maybe get a new pair since the one I have is over 10 years old! Maybe the husband will get a ball.

The sequel to the Pirates of the Caribbean opens next week. I'd like to see that. I am wondering if we should go see Click also. I dunno. I'm not in much of a movie mood at the moment, but I've been kicking the idea around.

Last night I bought 20Q, this little electronic thing with AI (artificial intelligence) that will guess what you are thinking of -- usually quite accurately. It guessed that the husband was thinking of playing cards, and that the stepdaughter was thinking of a bulldog. Pretty good when you consider the questions didn't seem to be leading anywhere near those things! I also picked up the Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture edition that comes with a DVD for the questions that you earn wedges for. We played it and I enjoyed it, but the husband hates trivia games. What am I supposed to do about that! We need to have some friends over to play that and play in teams. Maybe then he could get into it. Anyway, I smoked the husband and stepdaughter. Hey . . . I can't help it if I know a lot of stupid shit. And they knew a lot of things, too . . . they just don't have any confidence when it comes to stuff like that. They need to get some. I'm not babying anyone.

So anyway, this morning the stepdaughter comes out and says her aunt just called her and said she was on her way to pick her up. I was under the impression that she was staying through the weekend and she acted like she was clueless as to why her aunt was picking her up. Yeah, well, her aunt showed up (9 a.m. on a Sunday) and when I mentioned that I thought she was staying through the weekend, she said the stepdaughter called her a zillion times yesterday and sounded so bored so she decided to come get her and take her w/her wherever today. Nice. Um, when a kid is bored, you need to let the kid find a way to amuse herself that doesn't include calling you incessantly and complaining that she is bored. That child has had, for some time, a real problem with this belief that she needs to be entertained every second of the day. The bigger problem, of course, is that the husband and I don't subscribe to that theory but the other side of her family seems to. Always gotta be doing something. Or, I should say, talking about doing something -- I am forever hearing "we're going to do this, we're going to do that, we're going here, we're going there . . . then later, I ask the stepdaughter how the movie/auction/trip to San Francisco was and the answer I get, more often than not, is "oh, we didn't go." So I guess what she really needs is the promise of being entertained, whether it actually happens or not. Well, when we say we're going to do something, we do it. Big difference. But we don't build it up like it's an event. So we will go ahead and do whatever we are going to do this weekend and she's just going to miss out. But it annoys the shit out of me that she acted like she didn't know why her aunt was coming to get her when she apparently called her nonstop yesterday. Um, DUH. And like I'm not going to figure that out.

ANYWAY.

I guess I'd better jump in the shower and get ready so we can go to lunch and maybe hit Lowe's to look at their closet solutions before we go bowling & stuff.

And ask me how happy I am that I don't have to go back to work until Wednesday?! Pretty goddamned happy!

Loooooooooong weekend

2006-07-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

The weekend is finally here. A 4-dayer. I've been busy and am glad for a chance to kick back. The air is working, my car is fixed, the washing machine seems to be working okay, and the house is reasonably clean. Except our bedroom, because half of the contents of our closet are on the floor of the room. We need to go look for some kind of closet organizer since the husband ripped out the shelf that was in there when the A/C got replaced. So if we can get that done, and get this new curtain rod hung that I bought, and also get some drywall repairs taken care of (the husband put a hole in the wall putting in our whole house fan because the wiring was getting hung up on some insulation), we'd probably be set for a while. Unless we wanted to start working on the back yard or something. Anyway, we do have a short list of things we need to get done around here that could be somewhat time-consuming, but totally worth it. I don't want all that other work I did to get things organized around here to go down the drain!

Some friends of ours are having a BBQ potluck get-together today. We might stop by at some point. I don't want to be there for the whole 8+ hours or whatever it is, but I wouldn't mind hanging out for a bit.

The other thing that's been on my mind as this weekend approached is that this was the last weekend we got to see our friend Jeff before he died. It was the Saturday of the 4th of July weekend that he and his girlfriend were over for BBQ. So reall it was July 2nd, but it was Saturday. Who knew that was the last time we were going to see him, have dinner with him, and enjoy his company. Between that night and August 21st, we only talked to him on the phone and traded e-mails. And there were a handful of missed opportunities to get together for lunch, dinner, drinks, where it just didn't work out and we said "next time." Still makes me sad. So, I'll be thinking of Jeff this weekend and toasting him at some point. It's still hard to believe he's gone.

So it's Saturday, the first of four fabulous days off (though I did bring home some work with me to see if I can FINALLY get to some things that have been weighing heavily on me!), and there's nothing I absolutely have to do. I love that. I think I'll have to go to the gym and then get my car washed this morning. Then, who knows?

Ahhhhhhh

2006-06-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

It is 75 degrees in our house right now. And I have the thermostat set at 73. You can't even hear the air turn on, or while it is on! Heaven. I decided to stay home today after all and clean up all the carnage from the installation (dust, chaos) and hopefully get some work done that I brought home with me that I can never seem to get to while I'm in the office. AND I have a 4-day weekend coming up! We don't have any damned money, but we have A/C and some time off. Good enough.

Our cat is in her happy place now. Big fat fuzzy ball of fur made it through 3 weeks of no A/C and a mini heat wave!