I'm sitting here in the living room watching TV. I keep hearing this noise. Sort of like a "crack". It's not a rhythmic cracking, and it happens so quickly I'm having trouble zoning in on where it's coming from.
Finally I gave up. I called Ron over to listen with me and figure out what is that noise. He said not to worry, it's just the sound of the fish. How can fish make that much noise?
Well, there is a thermometer in the tank. It's stuck to the front of the tank by a suction cup. Because of the suction cup, the actual thermometer sits back from the glass probably 1/8 to 1/4 of a inch.
One of our gold gouramis attacks the thermometer. He swims towards the thermometer then turns quickly and his tail flicks the thermometer which taps it into the glass of the tank. He plays this game for awhile, goes away and them comes back to it to do it again.
So, now I'm worried about my one gourami! Is he hurting himself doing this? Is this how he plays? Is this normal behavior? Does he need therapy for self injuring? Does Dr. Phil make fish calls??!!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Still A Kid
The other day, Ron and I were sitting in the living room. Suddenly, siren after siren went flying by our house. Being my father's daughter, I had to run outside to look!
Fire truck, hook and ladder, EMT, police. They all went buzzing by our house. Ron and I stood in the yard for awhile, to see if they were stopping in sight anywhere. They ended up just passing through, so since there was no excitement to see, Ron and I decided to walk around the yard and check out the spring growth. As we're walking and talking, I heard one of those big diesel engines coming back.
I turn around, and just like a little kid, I starting pointing at the fire truck that was now returning to the firehouse down the street. I'm actually yelling to Ron, "look! look! The firetruck!" Ok, in hindsight, perhaps I am an idiot! But for some reason, it's exciting to watch the firetruck driving down my street when it's not an emergency.
There I was, standing like an idiot, pointing to the firetruck, probably doing a little happy dance. That did not go unnoticed by the staff in the firetruck. As they drove by the house, the guys waved at ME and even tooted the horn! Yeah, baby! Waved at ME!
So, thanks guys from Station 1. Thanks for the beep and wave while going by. You made my day while making me feel like a kid again.
Fire truck, hook and ladder, EMT, police. They all went buzzing by our house. Ron and I stood in the yard for awhile, to see if they were stopping in sight anywhere. They ended up just passing through, so since there was no excitement to see, Ron and I decided to walk around the yard and check out the spring growth. As we're walking and talking, I heard one of those big diesel engines coming back.
I turn around, and just like a little kid, I starting pointing at the fire truck that was now returning to the firehouse down the street. I'm actually yelling to Ron, "look! look! The firetruck!" Ok, in hindsight, perhaps I am an idiot! But for some reason, it's exciting to watch the firetruck driving down my street when it's not an emergency.
There I was, standing like an idiot, pointing to the firetruck, probably doing a little happy dance. That did not go unnoticed by the staff in the firetruck. As they drove by the house, the guys waved at ME and even tooted the horn! Yeah, baby! Waved at ME!
So, thanks guys from Station 1. Thanks for the beep and wave while going by. You made my day while making me feel like a kid again.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Call Me Mrs. Lavenka
For those of you that don't recognize the reference above, here's a little background.
When my siblings and I were growing up, we spent a lot of time at Grandma's house. That's just what people did back then. There were a lot of adults visiting at Grandma's house and even more kids. Back in the days before Wii, before the Internet and even before cable TV, what kids did was played outside. If you were a kid and you played outside on 11th Street in front of Grandma's, chances were good that you got yelled at on a regular basis by Mrs. Lavenka.
Mrs. Lavenka was about 1,000 years old, and we thought she lived just to yell at kids. She would yell if you were on her grass, close to her grass, or even thinking about being anywhere near her grass!
Now I am an adult. I have a house. My house comes with a lot of grass. This property is actually on two lots. The first lot on the corner is all grass, and the second lot is where the house sits. So, there is a lot of grass.
The kids across the street, their family and their friends and for all I know their friends' families all like to play in my yard! In this litigious society, I don't want 20 kids playing football in my yard. That's all I need, to be sued because someone broke their leg on my property.
If my property were the only green space these kids had to play, I might be able to work something out with them. BUT, there are two city parks, each only one block away. One is one block to the south and one is one block to the west of me. If you have enough energy to be out there playing football, you have enough energy to take your butts one block to a park and play football.
Twice now, the last being Sunday, I was outside yelling at the kids! I think I've turned into Mrs. Lavenka! If you listen closely, you can hear her in my voice yelling . . .
HEY YOU KIDS! GET OFF OF MY GRASS!!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Impulse Buys
I think most of us have been suckered into purchasing an impulse item at the check out counter of a store. I know I’m guilty of picking up something extra at the last minute at the check out now and again.
Over the weekend, Ron and I had run some errands. What we saw was amazing. You know what they had in the impulse buy section at the store? Pregnancy tests.
Call me silly, but I can’t imagine that being an impulse buy. I can see condoms at the check out, (hey, who doesn’t want the need for one of those?) or candy bars, or nail clippers, or aspirin, or gossip magazines. But I have never stood there and said to myself “Gee, self, a pregnancy test! Hmm, when was my last period? Oh yeah! Maybe I should pick up one of these and see if anything’s happening that I should worry about!”
I guarantee you, if a pregnancy test was needed, that would definitely be a planned trip to the store to purchase one, and not an impulse buy as I’m picking up milk.
Over the weekend, Ron and I had run some errands. What we saw was amazing. You know what they had in the impulse buy section at the store? Pregnancy tests.
Call me silly, but I can’t imagine that being an impulse buy. I can see condoms at the check out, (hey, who doesn’t want the need for one of those?) or candy bars, or nail clippers, or aspirin, or gossip magazines. But I have never stood there and said to myself “Gee, self, a pregnancy test! Hmm, when was my last period? Oh yeah! Maybe I should pick up one of these and see if anything’s happening that I should worry about!”
I guarantee you, if a pregnancy test was needed, that would definitely be a planned trip to the store to purchase one, and not an impulse buy as I’m picking up milk.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
A Major Award!
This is the cover of the card I got from Susan and Georgia! Is that cool or what?
They met me at work on Friday along with Ron and we went for a celebratory lunch. It ain't every day I win the Region 3 Auditor of the Year Award!
Thanks! I needed that!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Double Takes
They say we all have a twin in this world. I have to say I believe that.
I’ve never bought into the fact that no two snowflakes are alike. The jury in my mind is still out on fingerprints. Everyone has 10 fingers and you mean to tell me that all how many billions of people with 10 fingers each there are no duplications in the ridge pattern? How did we come to buy into this notion? You ever see fingerprints? They have to have 8 to 10 points of similarity to be considered a match. Hello? Only 8 to 10 points out of 100 ridges? How is this scientific? But I digress. I was talking about twins.
As far as my sick mind works, there are a limited number of combinations that a face can be made from. How many eye shapes are there really? Even being generous, fifty maybe? Same with noses. There is still a finite amount of ways they can be put together. When you think of the millions of people in the world, it’s no wonder that there are a bunch of us that look alike.
Traveling from city to city, from business to business, maybe this hits me more than some people. For example, today I was working in a warehouse in Buffalo. At this warehouse, there are three people that make me do a double take every time I see them.
One guy is a spitting image of Joe Namath. Granted, a younger version of Joe, but still, this guy could be Joe when Joe was in his 30s. Another guy here looks exactly like Ozzy Osbourne, complete with the long hair! And yet another is the spitting image of my cousin Nick. He looks so much like him, or at least so much like the last time I saw him, that I had to do a triple take and almost asked him what the heck he was doing in Buffalo pushing a pallet jack.
It gets creepy sometimes. I’ve seen my sister Cathie, my sister Barb, my Mom, various famous people from the tabloid world like Eddie Van Halen, Johnny Carson, Jimmy Stewart, Mark Grace (former 1st baseman for the Cubs) and Eddie Murphy just to name a few. Ok, not the originals, but great duplicates!
For most people, it’s fun to look twice to see is that really Ozzy? Or Joe? Or Eddie? Given the circumstances that I see most of these people in, it’s easy to realize that it’s not the celebrity version.
But when I’m sitting in a restaurant for example, and I see my Mom, that kind of takes my breath away.
I’ll know when the day comes that I go completely off the edge. That will be when I run up to a perfect stranger and start hugging them and talking to them like I’ve known them all of my life. I think that day isn’t too far off.
I’ve never bought into the fact that no two snowflakes are alike. The jury in my mind is still out on fingerprints. Everyone has 10 fingers and you mean to tell me that all how many billions of people with 10 fingers each there are no duplications in the ridge pattern? How did we come to buy into this notion? You ever see fingerprints? They have to have 8 to 10 points of similarity to be considered a match. Hello? Only 8 to 10 points out of 100 ridges? How is this scientific? But I digress. I was talking about twins.
As far as my sick mind works, there are a limited number of combinations that a face can be made from. How many eye shapes are there really? Even being generous, fifty maybe? Same with noses. There is still a finite amount of ways they can be put together. When you think of the millions of people in the world, it’s no wonder that there are a bunch of us that look alike.
Traveling from city to city, from business to business, maybe this hits me more than some people. For example, today I was working in a warehouse in Buffalo. At this warehouse, there are three people that make me do a double take every time I see them.
One guy is a spitting image of Joe Namath. Granted, a younger version of Joe, but still, this guy could be Joe when Joe was in his 30s. Another guy here looks exactly like Ozzy Osbourne, complete with the long hair! And yet another is the spitting image of my cousin Nick. He looks so much like him, or at least so much like the last time I saw him, that I had to do a triple take and almost asked him what the heck he was doing in Buffalo pushing a pallet jack.
It gets creepy sometimes. I’ve seen my sister Cathie, my sister Barb, my Mom, various famous people from the tabloid world like Eddie Van Halen, Johnny Carson, Jimmy Stewart, Mark Grace (former 1st baseman for the Cubs) and Eddie Murphy just to name a few. Ok, not the originals, but great duplicates!
For most people, it’s fun to look twice to see is that really Ozzy? Or Joe? Or Eddie? Given the circumstances that I see most of these people in, it’s easy to realize that it’s not the celebrity version.
But when I’m sitting in a restaurant for example, and I see my Mom, that kind of takes my breath away.
I’ll know when the day comes that I go completely off the edge. That will be when I run up to a perfect stranger and start hugging them and talking to them like I’ve known them all of my life. I think that day isn’t too far off.
Who, Me?
Ron told me I had to post this.
I got a call late this afternoon from one of the Vice-Presidents of the company where I work. He told me he wanted to be the first to congratulate me. Of course, I asked for what.
I was just named the Region 3 Auditor of the Year.
Big whoop.
As Maura said, at least this prooves that I give my all even though I hate my job.
I got a call late this afternoon from one of the Vice-Presidents of the company where I work. He told me he wanted to be the first to congratulate me. Of course, I asked for what.
I was just named the Region 3 Auditor of the Year.
Big whoop.
As Maura said, at least this prooves that I give my all even though I hate my job.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Breaking News . . . .
It just happened again.
I was sitting here in my hotel room, minding my own business, when the alarm sounded all through the hotel along with the voice over stating to evacuate the building, avoiding the elevators.
Me and four other guests staying on this floor formed a posse. Our mission was to find our way out of the building. I know that sounds easy, but it sure wasn't. Thank heavens it must have been a false alarm, because by the time we found our way out it was 20 freakin' minutes later!
You'd think that a stairway marked "fire exit" would lead the way out. You could think that, but you'd be wrong. The five of us headed for the stair way that was closest to us. Keep in mind, we are on the fourth floor. We ended up going down one flight only.
On the third floor, we had to look around for another door. We finally found one that said "Fire Exit Only. Opening this door will sound alarm". Well, an alarm was going off anyway, but I am such an idiot, I actually stopped to think about if it was right for us to go through that door. Luckily, the four people with me were a little smarter. Out that door we went.
Down to the second floor.
Can you believe it? We still can't find out way out of the freakin' building from a fire exit. Finally we found a door that took us out to the parking garage. Know what? there is no walking exit out of the parking garage. There are two narrow ramps, one up and one down that I for one was not willing to walk on to get out. The ramps look wide enough for a car and that's it. Someone coming blindly up that ramp would take me out in a heart beat. The five of us took off in different directions to find a way out, only to meet up back in the middle at the elevators. I know you're not supposed to take the elevator but I figured we are technically in a different building, so I was going for it.
The five of us, one floor down, finally into the main level of the hotel.
By the time we found our way down there, everyone was quite casual just milling about. Obviously the emergency was over, whatever it was. We must have missed it while we were in the parking garage. Now there was a line at the elevators to get back up to our rooms.
I learned two things.
1. I am thankful that I had my four new found friends to help me find my way out of this building. I don't think I would have found it on my own.
2. Had this been an actual emergency, we'd have all been dead. The Adams Mark Hotel in down town Buffalo is one messed up place with a f-ed up emergency evacuation plan.
While we were waiting in line for an elevator back upstairs, we were discussing it amongst ourselves. And, we decided that had it not been for the fact that American Idol was starting, we'd have marched five strong over to the front desk to give them a piece of our minds.
I was sitting here in my hotel room, minding my own business, when the alarm sounded all through the hotel along with the voice over stating to evacuate the building, avoiding the elevators.
Me and four other guests staying on this floor formed a posse. Our mission was to find our way out of the building. I know that sounds easy, but it sure wasn't. Thank heavens it must have been a false alarm, because by the time we found our way out it was 20 freakin' minutes later!
You'd think that a stairway marked "fire exit" would lead the way out. You could think that, but you'd be wrong. The five of us headed for the stair way that was closest to us. Keep in mind, we are on the fourth floor. We ended up going down one flight only.
On the third floor, we had to look around for another door. We finally found one that said "Fire Exit Only. Opening this door will sound alarm". Well, an alarm was going off anyway, but I am such an idiot, I actually stopped to think about if it was right for us to go through that door. Luckily, the four people with me were a little smarter. Out that door we went.
Down to the second floor.
Can you believe it? We still can't find out way out of the freakin' building from a fire exit. Finally we found a door that took us out to the parking garage. Know what? there is no walking exit out of the parking garage. There are two narrow ramps, one up and one down that I for one was not willing to walk on to get out. The ramps look wide enough for a car and that's it. Someone coming blindly up that ramp would take me out in a heart beat. The five of us took off in different directions to find a way out, only to meet up back in the middle at the elevators. I know you're not supposed to take the elevator but I figured we are technically in a different building, so I was going for it.
The five of us, one floor down, finally into the main level of the hotel.
By the time we found our way down there, everyone was quite casual just milling about. Obviously the emergency was over, whatever it was. We must have missed it while we were in the parking garage. Now there was a line at the elevators to get back up to our rooms.
I learned two things.
1. I am thankful that I had my four new found friends to help me find my way out of this building. I don't think I would have found it on my own.
2. Had this been an actual emergency, we'd have all been dead. The Adams Mark Hotel in down town Buffalo is one messed up place with a f-ed up emergency evacuation plan.
While we were waiting in line for an elevator back upstairs, we were discussing it amongst ourselves. And, we decided that had it not been for the fact that American Idol was starting, we'd have marched five strong over to the front desk to give them a piece of our minds.
Things That Go Crunch In the Morning
I had a rough night last night.
I must have fallen asleep watching tv last night, and some time during the night I took my glasses off and put them on the bed next to me. That’s not unusual in a hotel. On the bed next to me are usually my glasses, the remote control and my phone that doubles as my alarm clock. They generally stay right where I left them.
This morning I woke up and I didn’t remember taking my glasses off, so I really wasn’t sure where they were. For those of you that know me, I can’t see a thing without them. I felt all over the night stand and they weren’t there. I tried to feel on the usual spot on the bed that they normally would be and they weren’t there either. The panic is starting to set in.
I got out of bed and gingerly stepped around the bed, feeling around on the floor for my glasses. I came up empty again. I’m really starting to panic. I grabbed the covers from the bed and started to “fluff” them. When I lifted the blanket, I heard something hit the floor that would have had to been my glasses. Now we’re getting somewhere! Unfortunately, I had no idea where they landed. It sounded like they were on the same side of the bed that I was on, so that’s a start. Again, gingerly moving so as not to step on them, I still can’t see a thing. When I realized they were definitely not in front of me, I took a step back. Guess what I found.
Aargh.
Actually, my heel found my glasses. I was safe on tippie toe, but the minute I put the rest of my big foot down, crunch. The right lens popped out and the frame is bent to hell. This was not a good way to start my day.
This is the second glasses emergency from this audit. My first week here, I thought I forgot to pack my glasses. The panic that sets in is indescribable. I am far from home, in a strange place and I can’t see. It really is frightening.
I have never been a proponent of laser eye surgery. Just look at my sister Cathie for case in point. She ended up a poster child of why not to have the surgery. It just never bothered me to wear glasses or contacts. Heck, I’ve been in glasses since I was seven years old. I don’t remember any other way of life. Silly as it sounds, these two instances of glasses emergencies have made me start to think about it. I don’t know that I want someone to do unnecessary surgery on my eyes. Then again . . . I am afraid of this feeling of panic when I can’t see.
So, surgery? Or do the smart thing and just learn to not fall asleep with my glasses on and put them away properly at night.
I must have fallen asleep watching tv last night, and some time during the night I took my glasses off and put them on the bed next to me. That’s not unusual in a hotel. On the bed next to me are usually my glasses, the remote control and my phone that doubles as my alarm clock. They generally stay right where I left them.
This morning I woke up and I didn’t remember taking my glasses off, so I really wasn’t sure where they were. For those of you that know me, I can’t see a thing without them. I felt all over the night stand and they weren’t there. I tried to feel on the usual spot on the bed that they normally would be and they weren’t there either. The panic is starting to set in.
I got out of bed and gingerly stepped around the bed, feeling around on the floor for my glasses. I came up empty again. I’m really starting to panic. I grabbed the covers from the bed and started to “fluff” them. When I lifted the blanket, I heard something hit the floor that would have had to been my glasses. Now we’re getting somewhere! Unfortunately, I had no idea where they landed. It sounded like they were on the same side of the bed that I was on, so that’s a start. Again, gingerly moving so as not to step on them, I still can’t see a thing. When I realized they were definitely not in front of me, I took a step back. Guess what I found.
Aargh.
Actually, my heel found my glasses. I was safe on tippie toe, but the minute I put the rest of my big foot down, crunch. The right lens popped out and the frame is bent to hell. This was not a good way to start my day.
This is the second glasses emergency from this audit. My first week here, I thought I forgot to pack my glasses. The panic that sets in is indescribable. I am far from home, in a strange place and I can’t see. It really is frightening.
I have never been a proponent of laser eye surgery. Just look at my sister Cathie for case in point. She ended up a poster child of why not to have the surgery. It just never bothered me to wear glasses or contacts. Heck, I’ve been in glasses since I was seven years old. I don’t remember any other way of life. Silly as it sounds, these two instances of glasses emergencies have made me start to think about it. I don’t know that I want someone to do unnecessary surgery on my eyes. Then again . . . I am afraid of this feeling of panic when I can’t see.
So, surgery? Or do the smart thing and just learn to not fall asleep with my glasses on and put them away properly at night.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Thanks, Jo!
I am in the middle of an audit in Buffalo. The only bright spot of this audit is the fact that my niece, JoBeth, lives only about an hour away in Rochester. She was nice enough to invite me over for a visit with her and her family. I’m no dummy, you know. A free meal plus family love is definitely a winning combination.
Last Wednesday after work, I programmed her address into my Garmin and away I went. What a great evening! Her husband Brad cooked one of my favorite dinners; bean casserole. Good thing I slept alone that night – the beans were awesome!
Isaiah and Noah were both getting over a case of the creeping cruds, so it took a little while for them to warm up to me. But after a warm up period I think all went great. When is the last time you played with Playdoh??? Whatever amount of time it has been, I’m sure it’s been too long. I haven’t played with Playdoh for probably 35 years. Man, I didn’t remember what I was missing! I was able to confirm that I am not very creative, although I am pretty fantastic in worm making. Yeah baby, I can make worms with the best of them. Brad was the bomb in the mushroom and poop making. Hey, we all gotta have talents. Mine? Worms!
We got to draw too. Isaiah, Noah and even JoBeth herself drew me pictures to put on my refrigerator. No one should have a naked refrigerator. I meant to take pictures of the artwork to post on here, but my weekend went by too quickly. I’ll try to add them later.
So, Jo, a special thank you goes out to you and your family. You guys definitely made my week! Thanks for that!
Last Wednesday after work, I programmed her address into my Garmin and away I went. What a great evening! Her husband Brad cooked one of my favorite dinners; bean casserole. Good thing I slept alone that night – the beans were awesome!
Isaiah and Noah were both getting over a case of the creeping cruds, so it took a little while for them to warm up to me. But after a warm up period I think all went great. When is the last time you played with Playdoh??? Whatever amount of time it has been, I’m sure it’s been too long. I haven’t played with Playdoh for probably 35 years. Man, I didn’t remember what I was missing! I was able to confirm that I am not very creative, although I am pretty fantastic in worm making. Yeah baby, I can make worms with the best of them. Brad was the bomb in the mushroom and poop making. Hey, we all gotta have talents. Mine? Worms!
We got to draw too. Isaiah, Noah and even JoBeth herself drew me pictures to put on my refrigerator. No one should have a naked refrigerator. I meant to take pictures of the artwork to post on here, but my weekend went by too quickly. I’ll try to add them later.
So, Jo, a special thank you goes out to you and your family. You guys definitely made my week! Thanks for that!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Just Missed
Another tragedy. How can 33 people be dead at Virginia Tech? How can these people just be going about their business, going to class, or in their dorms, and be shot down in cold blood?
Like most of us, I went to bed last night, thinking about this tragedy and watching CNN for any news updates.
After a restless night, I’m in the shower around 7:00 this morning when the alarm in the hotel went off. A loud piercing alarm was everywhere, with a voice-over stating to evacuate the building. We were to take the stairs, stay away from the elevators and all head for the lobby or other designated safe area. Where the hell is a designated safe area? What is the emergency? Is there a fire? A bomb? Another nut with a handgun and a brain tumor? I’m naked, hair full of conditioner and soap all over me, and I’m being told to evacuate the building due to an emergency.
With everything I was thinking about last night, I do not take this lightly. I jumped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my head and was in the process of throwing yesterday’s clothes on while thinking about what I need to take besides my wallet, when the alarm suddenly stopped and the voice went quiet.
What does this mean? Are we safe? Should I still finish dressing and evacuate? Is it time to jump out of a window or is it too late for that now? Like an idiot, I just stood there, one leg in my pants and one leg out, stuck like that.
About five minutes later, a bell rang and another voice came on the loudspeaker giving the all clear. No explanations, no nothing. Just all clear.
The clothes came off and went back to the dirty clothes drawer, the towel was dropped on the floor and I got back in my shower to try to finish what I started. I don’t think I did a very good job since all of my body is now itchy from what I’m imagining is soap residue.
What is happening? Why the hell am I here alone? Why am I not home where I at least feel a little safer? This is definitely not a good way to make a living. I want to go home.
Like most of us, I went to bed last night, thinking about this tragedy and watching CNN for any news updates.
After a restless night, I’m in the shower around 7:00 this morning when the alarm in the hotel went off. A loud piercing alarm was everywhere, with a voice-over stating to evacuate the building. We were to take the stairs, stay away from the elevators and all head for the lobby or other designated safe area. Where the hell is a designated safe area? What is the emergency? Is there a fire? A bomb? Another nut with a handgun and a brain tumor? I’m naked, hair full of conditioner and soap all over me, and I’m being told to evacuate the building due to an emergency.
With everything I was thinking about last night, I do not take this lightly. I jumped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my head and was in the process of throwing yesterday’s clothes on while thinking about what I need to take besides my wallet, when the alarm suddenly stopped and the voice went quiet.
What does this mean? Are we safe? Should I still finish dressing and evacuate? Is it time to jump out of a window or is it too late for that now? Like an idiot, I just stood there, one leg in my pants and one leg out, stuck like that.
About five minutes later, a bell rang and another voice came on the loudspeaker giving the all clear. No explanations, no nothing. Just all clear.
The clothes came off and went back to the dirty clothes drawer, the towel was dropped on the floor and I got back in my shower to try to finish what I started. I don’t think I did a very good job since all of my body is now itchy from what I’m imagining is soap residue.
What is happening? Why the hell am I here alone? Why am I not home where I at least feel a little safer? This is definitely not a good way to make a living. I want to go home.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Damn That's Big
Last night I needed some down time.
I begged off from going to dinner with the other auditors and chose to spend the evening alone at the hotel. Delivery can be a wonderful thing some nights.
I had a hankering for pizza. Specifically Donato’s thin crust pepperoni pizza, the BEST meal EVER made by mankind. Dang, I’m drooling just typing about it. Anyway, that’s what I wanted.
Unfortunately, there is no Donato’s pizza around here. So, I checked the book in the room that generally gives you an overview and perhaps a menu of the local restaurants around the hotel. There is usually a list of restaurants that deliver to the hotel as well. Since this hotel has a very expensive steak place downstairs plus another restaurant in the atrium, they weren’t too happy about talking about the competition. So, it was on to plan B to find a pizza with my name on it.
I made the trek downstairs to talk to the bellman. He is usually the go-to-guy for food, so I thought he would know. And, he did not disappoint me. He said if pizza was what I wanted, I should call La Nova Pizzeria. The bellman found a menu for me and I took it upstairs to look it over. They had a lot of specialty pizzas, but call me silly but I still like just a good plain pepperoni pizza. I now wish I’d have looked at the menu a little more closely.
I ordered a large pepperoni pizza, thin crust. I figured I’d have pizza for dinner and the rest left for breakfast today. That was the plan anyway. Who’d have thought I’d get half of Italy delivered?
The front desk called that my pizza had arrived. I went downstairs to meet my pizza guy and I was absolutely shocked to see what he brought me. He had the largest pizza box I have ever seen. Holy crap, this thing was huge! I lugged the box up to my room and couldn’t find anywhere large enough to put it. I had my laptop opened on the desk, so there was not enough room for the pizza box there. I don’t put anything on a hotel bed bedspread, including myself, so I’m definitely not putting food up there. I ended up pulling a night table away from the wall so there was room to put this monster pizza box!
Ok, the pizza was pretty darn good. But I only ate two out of eight pieces, and I struggled to finish the second piece. I feel absolutely terrible that I had to throw out so much pizza, but there was no way I was going to wolf it down. The pizza was huge and each piece in itself was huge! It wasn’t Donato’s pizza but it was still darn good.
The moral of this story is nothing more than read the menu. Find out if a large pizza will feed 1-2 or 10-20! I’ll know better for next time.
I begged off from going to dinner with the other auditors and chose to spend the evening alone at the hotel. Delivery can be a wonderful thing some nights.
I had a hankering for pizza. Specifically Donato’s thin crust pepperoni pizza, the BEST meal EVER made by mankind. Dang, I’m drooling just typing about it. Anyway, that’s what I wanted.
Unfortunately, there is no Donato’s pizza around here. So, I checked the book in the room that generally gives you an overview and perhaps a menu of the local restaurants around the hotel. There is usually a list of restaurants that deliver to the hotel as well. Since this hotel has a very expensive steak place downstairs plus another restaurant in the atrium, they weren’t too happy about talking about the competition. So, it was on to plan B to find a pizza with my name on it.
I made the trek downstairs to talk to the bellman. He is usually the go-to-guy for food, so I thought he would know. And, he did not disappoint me. He said if pizza was what I wanted, I should call La Nova Pizzeria. The bellman found a menu for me and I took it upstairs to look it over. They had a lot of specialty pizzas, but call me silly but I still like just a good plain pepperoni pizza. I now wish I’d have looked at the menu a little more closely.
I ordered a large pepperoni pizza, thin crust. I figured I’d have pizza for dinner and the rest left for breakfast today. That was the plan anyway. Who’d have thought I’d get half of Italy delivered?
The front desk called that my pizza had arrived. I went downstairs to meet my pizza guy and I was absolutely shocked to see what he brought me. He had the largest pizza box I have ever seen. Holy crap, this thing was huge! I lugged the box up to my room and couldn’t find anywhere large enough to put it. I had my laptop opened on the desk, so there was not enough room for the pizza box there. I don’t put anything on a hotel bed bedspread, including myself, so I’m definitely not putting food up there. I ended up pulling a night table away from the wall so there was room to put this monster pizza box!
Ok, the pizza was pretty darn good. But I only ate two out of eight pieces, and I struggled to finish the second piece. I feel absolutely terrible that I had to throw out so much pizza, but there was no way I was going to wolf it down. The pizza was huge and each piece in itself was huge! It wasn’t Donato’s pizza but it was still darn good.
The moral of this story is nothing more than read the menu. Find out if a large pizza will feed 1-2 or 10-20! I’ll know better for next time.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
All Aboard!
It may not be the trolley that takes you to the land of Make Believe on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, but it did take me where I needed to go!
As I mentioned in a recent blog, there is a trolley/electric train here in Buffalo. During our opening meeting with the client on Monday, he gave us the low down on the particulars of this mode of transportation.
The trains run about every seven minutes. They are free to ride, as long as the trolley remains above ground. When the trolley goes underground, there is a fee for that portion of the trip. I don’t have a clue just where the underground portion might be located and I don’t think I’m adventurous enough to find out on my own either.
Since I was the one choosing the hotel for this particular audit, I choose something close by the audit site. Since our audit is downtown, I did not want to be driving into and out of downtown every day. Hence, I chose a hotel right in downtown. Lucky for me, the trolley runs right by the hotel and straight down the same street to our audit site!
I’m trying to make it sound more exciting that it was, but I’m having a hard time with that. We decided that since the audit site was so close to the hotel, it wasn’t necessary to go over as a group since we wouldn’t be driving. Everyone had their choice on walking to work or taking the trolley. Tuesday, we had all separately opted on the trolley! Just as I sat down and got comfy and was ready for an exciting ride, I realized that my stop was only one stop away. Dang, talk about ruining my fun! Tuesday night we all had walked back to the hotel, which in reality is just two long blocks away. But hey! I rode the trolley!
And, I had so much fun riding it; I rode it again this morning! One whole stop away. Now I’m really trying to be a trolley expert. In case any of you are ever in the same situation, there are numerous doors up and down the trolley. You can enter and exit from any of them. I had erroneously assumed that all doors would automatically open. I had to figure out the hard way that there is a button on the side of the door, both inside and outside. First person at the door has to push the button. You know, everyone was watching me this morning, but no one would offer that little bit of advice to me. Go figure. They watched me fight with the door to get on the trolley this morning, just to give up and walk to the next door. These same people watched me try to get out of the trolley at the next stop, again, standing there banging on the door before I saw the button.
Hmm. At least I was good for comic relief for those morning commuters! Wait until tomorrow. I think I have this down pat now. I am a trolley pro over here.
As I mentioned in a recent blog, there is a trolley/electric train here in Buffalo. During our opening meeting with the client on Monday, he gave us the low down on the particulars of this mode of transportation.
The trains run about every seven minutes. They are free to ride, as long as the trolley remains above ground. When the trolley goes underground, there is a fee for that portion of the trip. I don’t have a clue just where the underground portion might be located and I don’t think I’m adventurous enough to find out on my own either.
Since I was the one choosing the hotel for this particular audit, I choose something close by the audit site. Since our audit is downtown, I did not want to be driving into and out of downtown every day. Hence, I chose a hotel right in downtown. Lucky for me, the trolley runs right by the hotel and straight down the same street to our audit site!
I’m trying to make it sound more exciting that it was, but I’m having a hard time with that. We decided that since the audit site was so close to the hotel, it wasn’t necessary to go over as a group since we wouldn’t be driving. Everyone had their choice on walking to work or taking the trolley. Tuesday, we had all separately opted on the trolley! Just as I sat down and got comfy and was ready for an exciting ride, I realized that my stop was only one stop away. Dang, talk about ruining my fun! Tuesday night we all had walked back to the hotel, which in reality is just two long blocks away. But hey! I rode the trolley!
And, I had so much fun riding it; I rode it again this morning! One whole stop away. Now I’m really trying to be a trolley expert. In case any of you are ever in the same situation, there are numerous doors up and down the trolley. You can enter and exit from any of them. I had erroneously assumed that all doors would automatically open. I had to figure out the hard way that there is a button on the side of the door, both inside and outside. First person at the door has to push the button. You know, everyone was watching me this morning, but no one would offer that little bit of advice to me. Go figure. They watched me fight with the door to get on the trolley this morning, just to give up and walk to the next door. These same people watched me try to get out of the trolley at the next stop, again, standing there banging on the door before I saw the button.
Hmm. At least I was good for comic relief for those morning commuters! Wait until tomorrow. I think I have this down pat now. I am a trolley pro over here.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Can I Jump Now?
I had a few issues checking into my hotel last night.
We all left work at the end of the day and went to the hotel. The plan was to get checked in, drop off our bags and then head out to dinner. I originally was assigned to a room on the 11th floor. Cool, I like the view from up high. Unfortunately, when I opened the door to my room, I see the room was never cleaned. The bed was unmade and there were dirty towels on the bathroom floor. I don’t ask too much from my hotel room, but I really must insist on a clean room.
Downstairs I went for a half hearted apology from the front desk and a reassignment to another room. Now I’m down on the 4th floor. As long as it’s clean, I’m good with it. I open the door to my new room to find the bed made, the towels hung up; all should be good with my world. I do notice however that the room is very warm. I don’t like a warm room. Hey, at my age, I’m generating enough heat on my own; I sort of like to be in a cool room to help counteract the internal heat! I thought I turned down the heat in my room to 50 degrees and headed downstairs to meet the rest of the team.
Dinner was an event as my boss was in rare form. Being filled with testosterone as he is, he needed to be the one to drive us all to dinner. That part went ok. The way back to the hotel was another story. I’m not sure which part was worse. Him driving through a red light, almost blowing through a stop sign (until I screamed at him to stop), trying to ram a car that turned in front of him in the parking lot, or the car he tried to hit in the parking ramp for having the audacity to honk his horn at him while he stopped in the middle of everything trying to decide which way he wanted to go to park. Yeah, what a guy; what an exciting ride back to the hotel.
I get back to the relative safety of my hotel room only to discover that it is now hotter than heck in my room! Holy cow, I would have passed out if I had to stay in there long! I tried to open a window but alas, it is screwed shut. I turned off the offending heat and called the front desk. I was told that they would send maintenance right up. Mike the maintenance guy may be my new best buddy now!
He walked into the room and said “holy cow!” And I replied “no kidding!” He checked the setting on the thermostat and announced that at least the heat works! Unfortunately, it’s an old building and the heating system is funky as they (the management) can only turn on the heat or the air conditioning. You can’t have both options. And, since there is snow on the ground, they have the heat going. My room for some reason gets an extra dose of it. He made sure the heat was in the “off” position and he said he’s try to get the window open. Hey, that works for me. Before he’d take out the screws in the window however, I had to promise that I wouldn’t jump out of it! Ok, I had a bad night, but I wasn’t exactly ready to go splat on downtown Buffalo! I said ok, I’d promise not to jump!
As my new buddy Mike was unscrewing the screws on the window, I also had to promise not to throw water balloons out the window. Ok, that thought had not crossed my mind until he put it in there, but now it sounded like a good idea! Mike was on the last screw when he stopped and made me promise on the water balloons. Dang it! That could have been fun! But alas, this man is holding my life in that last window screw. I promised no jumping out and no water balloons. Finally, the window was open and semi-fresh air was flowing in. Wow. What a difference! In maybe five minutes, the room was 100% better. Mike said at least if I got too cold, I could turn the heat back on!
I left the window open about a half hour until I got chilly, then I shut it. The room stayed fine all night long without putting the heat back on. That open window was a lifesaver. And, I didn’t jump!
We all left work at the end of the day and went to the hotel. The plan was to get checked in, drop off our bags and then head out to dinner. I originally was assigned to a room on the 11th floor. Cool, I like the view from up high. Unfortunately, when I opened the door to my room, I see the room was never cleaned. The bed was unmade and there were dirty towels on the bathroom floor. I don’t ask too much from my hotel room, but I really must insist on a clean room.
Downstairs I went for a half hearted apology from the front desk and a reassignment to another room. Now I’m down on the 4th floor. As long as it’s clean, I’m good with it. I open the door to my new room to find the bed made, the towels hung up; all should be good with my world. I do notice however that the room is very warm. I don’t like a warm room. Hey, at my age, I’m generating enough heat on my own; I sort of like to be in a cool room to help counteract the internal heat! I thought I turned down the heat in my room to 50 degrees and headed downstairs to meet the rest of the team.
Dinner was an event as my boss was in rare form. Being filled with testosterone as he is, he needed to be the one to drive us all to dinner. That part went ok. The way back to the hotel was another story. I’m not sure which part was worse. Him driving through a red light, almost blowing through a stop sign (until I screamed at him to stop), trying to ram a car that turned in front of him in the parking lot, or the car he tried to hit in the parking ramp for having the audacity to honk his horn at him while he stopped in the middle of everything trying to decide which way he wanted to go to park. Yeah, what a guy; what an exciting ride back to the hotel.
I get back to the relative safety of my hotel room only to discover that it is now hotter than heck in my room! Holy cow, I would have passed out if I had to stay in there long! I tried to open a window but alas, it is screwed shut. I turned off the offending heat and called the front desk. I was told that they would send maintenance right up. Mike the maintenance guy may be my new best buddy now!
He walked into the room and said “holy cow!” And I replied “no kidding!” He checked the setting on the thermostat and announced that at least the heat works! Unfortunately, it’s an old building and the heating system is funky as they (the management) can only turn on the heat or the air conditioning. You can’t have both options. And, since there is snow on the ground, they have the heat going. My room for some reason gets an extra dose of it. He made sure the heat was in the “off” position and he said he’s try to get the window open. Hey, that works for me. Before he’d take out the screws in the window however, I had to promise that I wouldn’t jump out of it! Ok, I had a bad night, but I wasn’t exactly ready to go splat on downtown Buffalo! I said ok, I’d promise not to jump!
As my new buddy Mike was unscrewing the screws on the window, I also had to promise not to throw water balloons out the window. Ok, that thought had not crossed my mind until he put it in there, but now it sounded like a good idea! Mike was on the last screw when he stopped and made me promise on the water balloons. Dang it! That could have been fun! But alas, this man is holding my life in that last window screw. I promised no jumping out and no water balloons. Finally, the window was open and semi-fresh air was flowing in. Wow. What a difference! In maybe five minutes, the room was 100% better. Mike said at least if I got too cold, I could turn the heat back on!
I left the window open about a half hour until I got chilly, then I shut it. The room stayed fine all night long without putting the heat back on. That open window was a lifesaver. And, I didn’t jump!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Turn Which Way?
When I posted about my new GPS, Jenny was disappointed that there will be no more getting lost stories on here. Well, Jenny, guess what! GPS or no GPS, I can still get lost!
We started a new audit today in downtown Buffalo. The company we are auditing actually has numerous buildings downtown, and all of them reference the main building’s address. That facilitates mail delivery all going to a central mail room and then the mail room passes along the mail to the appropriate buildings.
Sure that works for them, but it makes it hard for me to find the right building! My boss came to the audit in one car and I came in a second car with my trusty new friend, my GPS. Too bad it kept directing me to the wrong building!
I wasn’t sure where I should park so I called my boss to find out where he parked since I knew he was about 10 minutes ahead of me. He proceeded to tell me to park in the lot under the building. Fine. That sounds easy. Unfortunately, we drove around the block five times and couldn’t find the entrance to the underground parking ramp! He did warn me that the ramp was hard to spot, but it was there.
After five times around the block, I pulled over once again and called the boss. Now he said he just walked outside, and to look for him. Hmm. He’s a relatively tall guy, so I didn’t think I’d have trouble spotting him. I don’t see him anywhere. Then he said that the trolley is right in front of him picking up passengers, so look for the trolley! Again, in theory, this should be easy! Unfortunately, I was parked right next to the trolley tracks but hence, there was no trolley in sight. I was starting to think I might be in the wrong place!
We changed tactics and he looked for actual street names. My Garmin GPS is equipped to find intersections as well as actual addresses. Once I typed in the new destination of the intersection on which my boss was standing, I realized I was about five blocks over from where I should be. Sure enough, when I drove to the correct building, I found the parking ramp right away. Go figure!
So it just goes to show you. Even with a GPS I can still get lost!
We started a new audit today in downtown Buffalo. The company we are auditing actually has numerous buildings downtown, and all of them reference the main building’s address. That facilitates mail delivery all going to a central mail room and then the mail room passes along the mail to the appropriate buildings.
Sure that works for them, but it makes it hard for me to find the right building! My boss came to the audit in one car and I came in a second car with my trusty new friend, my GPS. Too bad it kept directing me to the wrong building!
I wasn’t sure where I should park so I called my boss to find out where he parked since I knew he was about 10 minutes ahead of me. He proceeded to tell me to park in the lot under the building. Fine. That sounds easy. Unfortunately, we drove around the block five times and couldn’t find the entrance to the underground parking ramp! He did warn me that the ramp was hard to spot, but it was there.
After five times around the block, I pulled over once again and called the boss. Now he said he just walked outside, and to look for him. Hmm. He’s a relatively tall guy, so I didn’t think I’d have trouble spotting him. I don’t see him anywhere. Then he said that the trolley is right in front of him picking up passengers, so look for the trolley! Again, in theory, this should be easy! Unfortunately, I was parked right next to the trolley tracks but hence, there was no trolley in sight. I was starting to think I might be in the wrong place!
We changed tactics and he looked for actual street names. My Garmin GPS is equipped to find intersections as well as actual addresses. Once I typed in the new destination of the intersection on which my boss was standing, I realized I was about five blocks over from where I should be. Sure enough, when I drove to the correct building, I found the parking ramp right away. Go figure!
So it just goes to show you. Even with a GPS I can still get lost!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
That's All I Need
Oh, great. As if being afraid of dogs isn't enough, I just found out I also have to beware of the dogs' owners!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
No Dogs Allowed
Today was a beautiful day in our neighborhood.
Ron and I were itching to be out enjoying the beautiful weather, but we did not want to be doing something productive like putting mulch down or cutting the grass. We wanted to go out and play!
The entire Cleveland area is full of Metro Parks. The Metro Parks are awesome facilities that are full of walking/biking/rollerblading trails, picnic areas, bathrooms and playgrounds. The county we live in, Lorain County, is full of parks of which there are still many we have not explored. We pulled out our trusty new GPS and found the location of all of the nearby Metro Parks and picked one that has remained unexplored.
We arrived at the French Creek Reservation ready for an adventurous day of hiking and playing. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones that had that idea today.
I think every dog owner had that same idea, to go walking in the park. I take that back. Not just "any" dog owner, but any owner of a LARGE dog. In case there is anyone out there that doesn't know it, I am absolutely terrified of dogs.
The walking trails are maybe five feet wide. People were out in packs today with their dogs. I don't see just one dog walking at me, but there will be three of four in the group. 350 to 400 pounds of dog walking right at me. I definitely got a work out today since most of my day was spent climbing cliffs, or running around a tree, or walking in the mud to get as far away from sure death as I could. Poor Ron spent most of his afternoon running after me, trying to stay between me and all of those teeth, or just letting me try to break his fingers (I know I was holding tightly a couple of times! Sorry, honey!).
There was one instance where two women, each with a VERY large dog, were walking towards us. I climbed a hill and was trying to hide my big butt behind a tree. I thought I was okay until I realized that one of the dogs wasn't even on a leash. I guess I pointed out that fact louder than I meant to because the dog owner looked up and saw me crying hysterically trying to hide behind that tree. She apologized and put a leash on her dog. Too little, too late.
Why am I like this? Why am I so afraid? Not just a little afraid, not uncomfortable, but I am completely immobilized, crying uncontrollably, in absolute terror. No, I know why I'm afraid. What I need to know is how to I overcome this? How do I change? I am so tired of being afraid to go outside. Every morning I walk to my car with my "dog beatin' stick". That's just an axe handle that makes me feel better to walk alone out my door in case the neighbor's dog is once again off his chain.
I need to work through this somehow. I can't live like this. I am emotionally drained just from the terror of all of the dogs. Is this any way to live? Why can't I go out and enjoy the Metro Parks like everyone else? I see other people just walking by all of these dogs with no problems. Me, I'm crying like a baby and trying to climb to higher ground. How can I work through this? How do I get over being so afraid?
Ron and I were itching to be out enjoying the beautiful weather, but we did not want to be doing something productive like putting mulch down or cutting the grass. We wanted to go out and play!
The entire Cleveland area is full of Metro Parks. The Metro Parks are awesome facilities that are full of walking/biking/rollerblading trails, picnic areas, bathrooms and playgrounds. The county we live in, Lorain County, is full of parks of which there are still many we have not explored. We pulled out our trusty new GPS and found the location of all of the nearby Metro Parks and picked one that has remained unexplored.
We arrived at the French Creek Reservation ready for an adventurous day of hiking and playing. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones that had that idea today.
I think every dog owner had that same idea, to go walking in the park. I take that back. Not just "any" dog owner, but any owner of a LARGE dog. In case there is anyone out there that doesn't know it, I am absolutely terrified of dogs.
The walking trails are maybe five feet wide. People were out in packs today with their dogs. I don't see just one dog walking at me, but there will be three of four in the group. 350 to 400 pounds of dog walking right at me. I definitely got a work out today since most of my day was spent climbing cliffs, or running around a tree, or walking in the mud to get as far away from sure death as I could. Poor Ron spent most of his afternoon running after me, trying to stay between me and all of those teeth, or just letting me try to break his fingers (I know I was holding tightly a couple of times! Sorry, honey!).
There was one instance where two women, each with a VERY large dog, were walking towards us. I climbed a hill and was trying to hide my big butt behind a tree. I thought I was okay until I realized that one of the dogs wasn't even on a leash. I guess I pointed out that fact louder than I meant to because the dog owner looked up and saw me crying hysterically trying to hide behind that tree. She apologized and put a leash on her dog. Too little, too late.
Why am I like this? Why am I so afraid? Not just a little afraid, not uncomfortable, but I am completely immobilized, crying uncontrollably, in absolute terror. No, I know why I'm afraid. What I need to know is how to I overcome this? How do I change? I am so tired of being afraid to go outside. Every morning I walk to my car with my "dog beatin' stick". That's just an axe handle that makes me feel better to walk alone out my door in case the neighbor's dog is once again off his chain.
I need to work through this somehow. I can't live like this. I am emotionally drained just from the terror of all of the dogs. Is this any way to live? Why can't I go out and enjoy the Metro Parks like everyone else? I see other people just walking by all of these dogs with no problems. Me, I'm crying like a baby and trying to climb to higher ground. How can I work through this? How do I get over being so afraid?
Thursday, March 29, 2007
I Did It!!
I can't believe I did it! This isn't like me! This blog may never be the same. Heck, life as I know it may never be the same!
I bought a toy! I bought a Garmin GPS 550. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I may have to change my mind on how much technology sucks! This little gadget has already changed my life. Gone are the crying jags because I took a wrong turn and suddenly don't know where I am. Gone are the days of calling Ron in Ohio when I'm in Chicago to help me find my hotel again. Gone are probably a lot of blog entries complaining on how lost I have been.
My job entails travel. The joke around my office when I have to travel is not IF I'll get lost, but how many times and how many phone calls it will take to get me back on the right track.
Not any more. I now have Jack, the voice of my Garmin!!
The link above is the exact one I bought. Mine was a little cheaper, but not much.
Ron and I had gone into Best Buy the other night to price the GPS units. That's all I wanted to do. As we were looking at the display, an older gentleman walks up to us to tell us that he had a Garmin 550 himself and he loves it! This gentleman was just another shopper at the store, he was not a Best Buy employee. That fact was very important to me, as I wouldn't have put nearly as much weight in what he had to say if I knew he was a salesman for the store. He was just a regular joe that obviously loved his purchase and he wanted to let me know that.
We talked for quite awhile. Like me, his job takes him on the road a lot. He also used to be lost often! We even traded getting lost stories. He just couldn't say enough about the unit, and how easy it was to use, how useful it was and how happy he was with his purchase. The dang guy deserves a commission because he talked me right into it.
All during our conversation, we did have two Best Buy employees standing behind us, but they couldn't get a word in edgewise. When the decision was made, I turned and asked one of the guys to open the locked cabinet and hand me my GPS. I thanked my new friend, and Ron and I headed to the cashier.
Once outside, the Garmin was really easy to use. We let it guide us home and it was amazing! Turn by turn directions, and if by chance I take a wrong turn (yes, it's already happened!) the unit doesn't yell at me and call me a dumbass, it tells me it's "recalculating". In seconds, I have a new route to drive since I didn't follow the original route offered to me. So, maybe in GPS-ese, dumbass=recalculating. But, in Jack's voice, it sounds much nicer.
The coolest feature on this gadget is not the turn by turn instructions. It's the little extras in the device. For instance, one of the problems when traveling is finding good restaurants. No more. At the push of a button, I can pull up restaurants. From there I have a choice to search by ethnicity or an exact name. Say for example if I want a Mexican restaurant, it will pull up all Mexican restaurants in town and tell me how far they are from me. From there, I just click on one and it will calculate my directions to that establishment. Or, if perhaps I only want Chipotle's, I can type in their name and the GPS will tell me where all of Chipotle's are, and I can chose the one I want to head to. It's freakin' amazing! I can find post offices, government buildings, shopping centers, local attractions and hospitals, just to name a few.
As far as I can tell, it's also as idiot proof as it can be. Like yesterday for example. I had set a course to go home. In the middle of the trip, brother Michael called. I wanted to show him my new toy, and told him I'd meet him at his work. I have enough trouble finding his shop when I'm coming from home! Now I'm coming from a whole new direction! It was nothing to change destinations on my GPS, but the one requirement was that I had to pull over to do it. You can only push so many buttons while you're driving. In order to change something like that, you actually have to stop. Great safety feature.
Cool gadget. Cool toy. Best money I've spent in a long time. This thing is so cool, Ron had to go out and get one too! So, thank you to our new shopping friend at Best Buy. I can now see why he was so excited about it. This really is going to change a part of my life. For the better!
I bought a toy! I bought a Garmin GPS 550. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I may have to change my mind on how much technology sucks! This little gadget has already changed my life. Gone are the crying jags because I took a wrong turn and suddenly don't know where I am. Gone are the days of calling Ron in Ohio when I'm in Chicago to help me find my hotel again. Gone are probably a lot of blog entries complaining on how lost I have been.
My job entails travel. The joke around my office when I have to travel is not IF I'll get lost, but how many times and how many phone calls it will take to get me back on the right track.
Not any more. I now have Jack, the voice of my Garmin!!
The link above is the exact one I bought. Mine was a little cheaper, but not much.
Ron and I had gone into Best Buy the other night to price the GPS units. That's all I wanted to do. As we were looking at the display, an older gentleman walks up to us to tell us that he had a Garmin 550 himself and he loves it! This gentleman was just another shopper at the store, he was not a Best Buy employee. That fact was very important to me, as I wouldn't have put nearly as much weight in what he had to say if I knew he was a salesman for the store. He was just a regular joe that obviously loved his purchase and he wanted to let me know that.
We talked for quite awhile. Like me, his job takes him on the road a lot. He also used to be lost often! We even traded getting lost stories. He just couldn't say enough about the unit, and how easy it was to use, how useful it was and how happy he was with his purchase. The dang guy deserves a commission because he talked me right into it.
All during our conversation, we did have two Best Buy employees standing behind us, but they couldn't get a word in edgewise. When the decision was made, I turned and asked one of the guys to open the locked cabinet and hand me my GPS. I thanked my new friend, and Ron and I headed to the cashier.
Once outside, the Garmin was really easy to use. We let it guide us home and it was amazing! Turn by turn directions, and if by chance I take a wrong turn (yes, it's already happened!) the unit doesn't yell at me and call me a dumbass, it tells me it's "recalculating". In seconds, I have a new route to drive since I didn't follow the original route offered to me. So, maybe in GPS-ese, dumbass=recalculating. But, in Jack's voice, it sounds much nicer.
The coolest feature on this gadget is not the turn by turn instructions. It's the little extras in the device. For instance, one of the problems when traveling is finding good restaurants. No more. At the push of a button, I can pull up restaurants. From there I have a choice to search by ethnicity or an exact name. Say for example if I want a Mexican restaurant, it will pull up all Mexican restaurants in town and tell me how far they are from me. From there, I just click on one and it will calculate my directions to that establishment. Or, if perhaps I only want Chipotle's, I can type in their name and the GPS will tell me where all of Chipotle's are, and I can chose the one I want to head to. It's freakin' amazing! I can find post offices, government buildings, shopping centers, local attractions and hospitals, just to name a few.
As far as I can tell, it's also as idiot proof as it can be. Like yesterday for example. I had set a course to go home. In the middle of the trip, brother Michael called. I wanted to show him my new toy, and told him I'd meet him at his work. I have enough trouble finding his shop when I'm coming from home! Now I'm coming from a whole new direction! It was nothing to change destinations on my GPS, but the one requirement was that I had to pull over to do it. You can only push so many buttons while you're driving. In order to change something like that, you actually have to stop. Great safety feature.
Cool gadget. Cool toy. Best money I've spent in a long time. This thing is so cool, Ron had to go out and get one too! So, thank you to our new shopping friend at Best Buy. I can now see why he was so excited about it. This really is going to change a part of my life. For the better!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
I Almost Behaved
Ron is away for a few days in Minnesota. While he's gone, I'm holding down the fort here at home.
I took Friday off just to enjoy a nice quiet day. Hey, I can be left alone without burning the place down! I wanted to run some errands that I just don't have time to do during the week, like getting the oil changed in my car.
One of the errands I had to do was to run to the aquarium store to return a hood for my tank that wasn't the right size. That's all I planned on doing at the aquarium store. No more fish, just a return. Ha.
Once I took care of business there, I did saunter over to look at the fish. I had a nice long conversation with one of the guys that works there about tank care, and about some of the species of fish. One of the next fish I wanted to buy, I found out that they would not be compatible with the fish we were planning for our community tank. That was good to know sooner rather than later! So, we walked around and talked about a bunch of other fish that would go with what we plan.
Ok, he sucked me in. I came home with six new gold gouramis! They really are cute little buggers. The best part about it is, I put them in the tank more than 24 hours ago, and they are all still alive!
Yeah, I think I'm getting good at this fish stuff. Sort of. I think I lost points however yesterday afternoon after the new fish went into the tank, I sat there watching them while eating a tuna fish sandwich. Yeah, well, it's a learning process to be a good fish owner. I'll get there.
I took Friday off just to enjoy a nice quiet day. Hey, I can be left alone without burning the place down! I wanted to run some errands that I just don't have time to do during the week, like getting the oil changed in my car.
One of the errands I had to do was to run to the aquarium store to return a hood for my tank that wasn't the right size. That's all I planned on doing at the aquarium store. No more fish, just a return. Ha.
Once I took care of business there, I did saunter over to look at the fish. I had a nice long conversation with one of the guys that works there about tank care, and about some of the species of fish. One of the next fish I wanted to buy, I found out that they would not be compatible with the fish we were planning for our community tank. That was good to know sooner rather than later! So, we walked around and talked about a bunch of other fish that would go with what we plan.
Ok, he sucked me in. I came home with six new gold gouramis! They really are cute little buggers. The best part about it is, I put them in the tank more than 24 hours ago, and they are all still alive!
Yeah, I think I'm getting good at this fish stuff. Sort of. I think I lost points however yesterday afternoon after the new fish went into the tank, I sat there watching them while eating a tuna fish sandwich. Yeah, well, it's a learning process to be a good fish owner. I'll get there.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Technology Sucks
Ok, you have to admit, sometimes it does. Or at least it sucks for the unqualified people in my age bracket. I am an expert in the “ON/OFF” button. Anything more than that and I am easily confused.
With my job, I use my credit card a lot. All of my travel expenses are going on my personal credit card and then I am reimbursed by my company. Right now, I have over $4,000 on my personal credit card, and the bill is due in a few days and they have not sent me all of the expense checks to cover this debt yet. I play this game every month, trying to cover my expenses so that I am not accruing interest charges on my credit card. It’s an ugly game some months.
My company is finally moving to the 21st century, as we are upgrading to company credit cards and on line expense reporting. There is good and bad to everything I do!
This is good, because no more worrying about paying my personal credit card by the 26th of the month when my company takes four to five weeks to reimburse expenses. This is bad because you almost need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the on line system!
I have been through the lengthy tutorial, twice. I just called my contact at corporate for more help. After all that, I still haven’t finished one expense report! And my first week of reporting is only a few postage receipts and some mileage, tolls and parking fees. Holy crap! Can they make it any harder?
After I get this stupid thing to balance out, I still need to scotch tape all of my receipts on an 8-1/2” x 11” piece of paper, put it through the copy machine, and then fax the copy to my corporate office.
Somehow I am supposed to push some magical button (I have not found this button yet!) and the expense report is sent right to my manager for approval. Then, when he is done, he will somehow send it to corporate for processing.
Corporate will then direct deposit any expenses not on my company credit card and they will pay the company credit card directly. I like that I’m not on the hook for all this money anymore on my personal credit card.
But, I have a feeling that my company credit card will max out before I figure out how to work the on line system! I want my nice, simple hand written form back! Technology sucks!
With my job, I use my credit card a lot. All of my travel expenses are going on my personal credit card and then I am reimbursed by my company. Right now, I have over $4,000 on my personal credit card, and the bill is due in a few days and they have not sent me all of the expense checks to cover this debt yet. I play this game every month, trying to cover my expenses so that I am not accruing interest charges on my credit card. It’s an ugly game some months.
My company is finally moving to the 21st century, as we are upgrading to company credit cards and on line expense reporting. There is good and bad to everything I do!
This is good, because no more worrying about paying my personal credit card by the 26th of the month when my company takes four to five weeks to reimburse expenses. This is bad because you almost need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the on line system!
I have been through the lengthy tutorial, twice. I just called my contact at corporate for more help. After all that, I still haven’t finished one expense report! And my first week of reporting is only a few postage receipts and some mileage, tolls and parking fees. Holy crap! Can they make it any harder?
After I get this stupid thing to balance out, I still need to scotch tape all of my receipts on an 8-1/2” x 11” piece of paper, put it through the copy machine, and then fax the copy to my corporate office.
Somehow I am supposed to push some magical button (I have not found this button yet!) and the expense report is sent right to my manager for approval. Then, when he is done, he will somehow send it to corporate for processing.
Corporate will then direct deposit any expenses not on my company credit card and they will pay the company credit card directly. I like that I’m not on the hook for all this money anymore on my personal credit card.
But, I have a feeling that my company credit card will max out before I figure out how to work the on line system! I want my nice, simple hand written form back! Technology sucks!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Our Family Is Growing!
Yes, Ron and I decided it was time - we needed to expand our little family. Thanks to my brother Michael, we now have a 65 gallon fish tank!
The living room floor has been braced for the additional weight, the tank has been filled and the first brave fish were purchased. We started with 10 little fishies, of which nine made it through the first night.
Day two of fish, day four of a full tank, we took our deceased family member and a small sample of our tank water back to the fish store. We found our water still had an ammonia spike, which our poor catfish could not take. So, we are down to nine little fishies.
The living room floor has been braced for the additional weight, the tank has been filled and the first brave fish were purchased. We started with 10 little fishies, of which nine made it through the first night.
Day two of fish, day four of a full tank, we took our deceased family member and a small sample of our tank water back to the fish store. We found our water still had an ammonia spike, which our poor catfish could not take. So, we are down to nine little fishies.
We have four mollys, two black and two silver, and four red wag platys. To round off our first bunch, we have one algae eater, a plecostomus named Fred. Why Fred? Because Ron can say “Fred” a lot easier than he can say “plecostomus”! So, Fred it is.
I know, it's hard to tell, but in the picture above, aside from my reflection in the glass, what you're looking at is two of the red wag platys.
Here is one of the silver mollys and a red wag platy. Fred by the way, was too shy to come out for photographs. I'll have to get my people to make an appointment with his people and see if we can work out a photo session with him.
I can’t tell you how enjoyable our living room has become with our new addition. Oh heck, I would spend an hour in the morning, just staring at a tank full of water with no fish! Now that we have the fish in there, it’s unbelievable how entertaining this thing can be.
For now, we are sticking with our nine starter fish and see how we do. The tank needs to be up and running and get through its cycle before we go adding many more fish. Don’t expect us to get too extravagant! (Insert Michael here who thinks we need to put 100 fish in the tank! I don’t think so!!) But I do expect we will add at least a few more varieties of fish before we’re done.
And let me tell you, deciding on which fish to buy isn’t an easy task. There are so many varieties with so many different price ranges, which even staying on the cheap side there are too many to choose from. One fish store we went to even has the tanks marked as to which fish will work in a community tank, which is the kind of tank we are building. That sounded easy, as that should limit my choices, until you realize that there are still hundreds of tanks with just community fish in them! It’s unbelievable! There is just so much to know, so much to learn.
Ron and I are still fighting over feeding rights. I have a feeling we won’t be fighting so hard when it comes to the cleaning rights! But that’s ok. The cleaning will get done. As for the feeding, so we end up with fat, happy fish. Is that such a bad thing?
I can’t tell you how enjoyable our living room has become with our new addition. Oh heck, I would spend an hour in the morning, just staring at a tank full of water with no fish! Now that we have the fish in there, it’s unbelievable how entertaining this thing can be.
For now, we are sticking with our nine starter fish and see how we do. The tank needs to be up and running and get through its cycle before we go adding many more fish. Don’t expect us to get too extravagant! (Insert Michael here who thinks we need to put 100 fish in the tank! I don’t think so!!) But I do expect we will add at least a few more varieties of fish before we’re done.
And let me tell you, deciding on which fish to buy isn’t an easy task. There are so many varieties with so many different price ranges, which even staying on the cheap side there are too many to choose from. One fish store we went to even has the tanks marked as to which fish will work in a community tank, which is the kind of tank we are building. That sounded easy, as that should limit my choices, until you realize that there are still hundreds of tanks with just community fish in them! It’s unbelievable! There is just so much to know, so much to learn.
Ron and I are still fighting over feeding rights. I have a feeling we won’t be fighting so hard when it comes to the cleaning rights! But that’s ok. The cleaning will get done. As for the feeding, so we end up with fat, happy fish. Is that such a bad thing?
Happy Birthday, Bruce!
Today is Bruce Willis’ 52nd birthday.
It is beyond me why this is not a national holiday; it should be.
Bruce – call me! We'll celebrate!
(FYI - Ron and I each have one "gimme". Mine is Bruce Willis. His is Anya, # 10 from Deal or No Deal. Should one of these people ever knock on our door, the other one has to leave for awhile, no questions asked! C'mon Bruce! Really! Call me!!)
It is beyond me why this is not a national holiday; it should be.
Bruce – call me! We'll celebrate!
(FYI - Ron and I each have one "gimme". Mine is Bruce Willis. His is Anya, # 10 from Deal or No Deal. Should one of these people ever knock on our door, the other one has to leave for awhile, no questions asked! C'mon Bruce! Really! Call me!!)
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Duh
In spite of the snow on the ground, like I said, it is spring. I know it, because I saw that red-breasted robin in the yard yesterday.
Another reason I know that it's spring is because pre-season baseball is on WGN from Chicago. WGN and the Chicago Cubs! Ok, I know I've had a hard time being a fan since Mom passed away, and last year, I totally boycotted the entire sport because of the performance enhancement drug scandal. And, when one of my personal heros, Sammy Sosa, is found to be juiced up, what's the point. What can a girl believe in anymore?
The off season trades and talks have started to make me want to believe again. I may not attach myself to a fallen hero like Sammy again, but from the mutterings I've been hearing, I'm am starting to get excited about baseball again this season, especially for my Cubs.
Ok, Dusty Baker has finally been booted out the door. That's a good thing. Kerry Wood may not be 100% but Mark Prior is showing promise again. I like seeing Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez back in the line up. Yes, it's actually getting my blood moving a little bit this year! I know, 161 games from now, I may be singing a new tune, but for today, I'm excited about the possibilities of baseball this year.
But I digress.
The whole point of this blog was to tell you about sitting down to watch my first baseball game in well over a year, even though it is just pre-season. The Cubs for pre-season are part of the Cactus League playing in Mesa Arizona. It's a hot day today in Mesa, and my boys in blue are playing baseball in the afternoon sunshine, the way the game was meant to be played. I love to see the Cubs' blue on tv again, but wait! What's that? What is that atrocity of the ugly green hats with the Cubs' logo that is paired with their awesome blue uniform? Every few years, they have been known to change their uniforms a little but c'mon. Green hats with blue uniforms?
I am staring at the tv and asking Ron what is wrong with my world here! Then he points out that the opponents, the San Diego Padres, are also in those awful green hats.
Then it hits me.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Now throw them ugly hats out and PLAY BALL!
Another reason I know that it's spring is because pre-season baseball is on WGN from Chicago. WGN and the Chicago Cubs! Ok, I know I've had a hard time being a fan since Mom passed away, and last year, I totally boycotted the entire sport because of the performance enhancement drug scandal. And, when one of my personal heros, Sammy Sosa, is found to be juiced up, what's the point. What can a girl believe in anymore?
The off season trades and talks have started to make me want to believe again. I may not attach myself to a fallen hero like Sammy again, but from the mutterings I've been hearing, I'm am starting to get excited about baseball again this season, especially for my Cubs.
Ok, Dusty Baker has finally been booted out the door. That's a good thing. Kerry Wood may not be 100% but Mark Prior is showing promise again. I like seeing Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez back in the line up. Yes, it's actually getting my blood moving a little bit this year! I know, 161 games from now, I may be singing a new tune, but for today, I'm excited about the possibilities of baseball this year.
But I digress.
The whole point of this blog was to tell you about sitting down to watch my first baseball game in well over a year, even though it is just pre-season. The Cubs for pre-season are part of the Cactus League playing in Mesa Arizona. It's a hot day today in Mesa, and my boys in blue are playing baseball in the afternoon sunshine, the way the game was meant to be played. I love to see the Cubs' blue on tv again, but wait! What's that? What is that atrocity of the ugly green hats with the Cubs' logo that is paired with their awesome blue uniform? Every few years, they have been known to change their uniforms a little but c'mon. Green hats with blue uniforms?
I am staring at the tv and asking Ron what is wrong with my world here! Then he points out that the opponents, the San Diego Padres, are also in those awful green hats.
Then it hits me.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Now throw them ugly hats out and PLAY BALL!
Friday, March 16, 2007
IT'S HERE!
The hell with the snow! Today I saw my first red-breasted robin in the yard!
Spring is HERE!
Spring is HERE!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Not Putting My Best Foot Forward
Perhaps if I had put my best foot forward, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.
Let’s start with the beginning of the day. I was starting a new audit today. This one is over an hour away from me, and that’s in good weather. The storms aside, yesterday was a beautiful day in our neighborhood. I didn’t have a jacket on most of the day, the sun was shining, it was warm, a beautiful day.
This morning when I got up, I was shocked to see the ground covered with snow again. Dummy me; I didn’t look outside in time to leave very much earlier than I had planned since I didn’t count on bad weather. And, to put me farther behind, I forgot that on the first day of this audit, we have to pay to park in the parking ramp. We later got security badges that will let us into a free employee lot, but again, I needed cash for the ramp and I had a dollar to my name.
I did what I always do when I need emergency cash until I get to the bank. I asked Ron if I could borrow money from him! Would you believe this poor guy turned his pockets inside out and only came up with thirty one cents? Hello? The guy only has thirty one cents to his name? Not good. So, I also had to stop at the bank this morning for cash.
Then, the freeway was a nightmare. The further east and south I went, the worse it got. I even had to find an alternate route since the freeway I wanted was blocked with accidents. What a nightmare. I took the long way around, got confused, but eventually found my way. Not a good start to my day.
Then, we’re on site and my team and I are with our contact at the audit. One of the first things we do is get a tour. We need to know the important things like where are the bathrooms, the coffee pots, soda machines and ok, perhaps even the files. We went into the basement to the file room and we were on our way back up the steps to the third floor where we will be working most of the time, and in front of everyone, I fell up the steps.
I know, I should be happy that I didn’t fall DOWN the steps, but at my age, up the steps isn’t much better. I have a knot on my knee which is not a pretty color of purple and my ankle hurts. I’m not sure if my ankle is having sympathy pains for my knee or if I twisted that as well on the way down. All I know is that it has not been a stellar day so far.
To be honest, I’m writing this during my lunch, so I don’t know for sure if I’ll make it home in one piece! Wish me luck!
** Update!! **
I did make it home, but not without difficulty! I took a wrong turn out of the parking lot. The next thing I know is I’m calling Ron for help. He really did a great job trying to calm me down, and asked me the silly question of what road was I on. That was a silly question especially since if I knew what road I was on, I’d probably know how to get where I was going.
Somehow Ron was able to figure out where I was and get me on the right path to where I needed to be.
There you go. My day ended with me getting lost on the way home.
On the bright side, Ron bought me dinner and now I’m watching TV with my leg up. The last obstacle is making it up my own stairs to bed! Perhaps at least I won’t get lost on my way.
Let’s start with the beginning of the day. I was starting a new audit today. This one is over an hour away from me, and that’s in good weather. The storms aside, yesterday was a beautiful day in our neighborhood. I didn’t have a jacket on most of the day, the sun was shining, it was warm, a beautiful day.
This morning when I got up, I was shocked to see the ground covered with snow again. Dummy me; I didn’t look outside in time to leave very much earlier than I had planned since I didn’t count on bad weather. And, to put me farther behind, I forgot that on the first day of this audit, we have to pay to park in the parking ramp. We later got security badges that will let us into a free employee lot, but again, I needed cash for the ramp and I had a dollar to my name.
I did what I always do when I need emergency cash until I get to the bank. I asked Ron if I could borrow money from him! Would you believe this poor guy turned his pockets inside out and only came up with thirty one cents? Hello? The guy only has thirty one cents to his name? Not good. So, I also had to stop at the bank this morning for cash.
Then, the freeway was a nightmare. The further east and south I went, the worse it got. I even had to find an alternate route since the freeway I wanted was blocked with accidents. What a nightmare. I took the long way around, got confused, but eventually found my way. Not a good start to my day.
Then, we’re on site and my team and I are with our contact at the audit. One of the first things we do is get a tour. We need to know the important things like where are the bathrooms, the coffee pots, soda machines and ok, perhaps even the files. We went into the basement to the file room and we were on our way back up the steps to the third floor where we will be working most of the time, and in front of everyone, I fell up the steps.
I know, I should be happy that I didn’t fall DOWN the steps, but at my age, up the steps isn’t much better. I have a knot on my knee which is not a pretty color of purple and my ankle hurts. I’m not sure if my ankle is having sympathy pains for my knee or if I twisted that as well on the way down. All I know is that it has not been a stellar day so far.
To be honest, I’m writing this during my lunch, so I don’t know for sure if I’ll make it home in one piece! Wish me luck!
** Update!! **
I did make it home, but not without difficulty! I took a wrong turn out of the parking lot. The next thing I know is I’m calling Ron for help. He really did a great job trying to calm me down, and asked me the silly question of what road was I on. That was a silly question especially since if I knew what road I was on, I’d probably know how to get where I was going.
Somehow Ron was able to figure out where I was and get me on the right path to where I needed to be.
There you go. My day ended with me getting lost on the way home.
On the bright side, Ron bought me dinner and now I’m watching TV with my leg up. The last obstacle is making it up my own stairs to bed! Perhaps at least I won’t get lost on my way.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Where Are You, Toto?
Wow. That was close.
We were sitting here, having a quiet evening at home. Ron was upstairs in the computer room, and I was downstairs in the livingroom.
His phone rang first. As it was ringing, he didn't even pick up yet, and my phone goes off. What's the chances? Ron's sister Susan was calling him and my brother Michael was on my phone calling me.
Our respective siblings were calling us to let us know to hang on tight. A tornado was spotted on the highway over at I-90 and Route 57. For anyone familiar with this area, that's only a couple of miles away from us.
I knew the weather was awful, as we were sitting here listening to the thunder and watching the lightening. We were both oblivious to the danger of the tornado. Because of the heads up, we went into survival mode.
We packed a laundry basket of necessities and put it in our coal room. That's a room under our mud room that we figured was the safest room in the house. Big, cinder block walls, almost all underground, and no windows. In the basket were what we thought were necessities. A two gallon jug filled with water, a six pack of water, a bottle of wine (hey, you endure your emergency your way, I'll do it my way), a flashlight, crackers and blankets. We had all the doors open between here and there for easy entry in case of emergency and I had my sneakers on ready to run. We were glued to the TV to see where the tornados were headed. I don't think I've ever been that close to personal disaster before, and I hope to never be there again.
Thanks to Susan and Michael for watching out for their baby siblings! All is still standing here on our end of the state, thank goodness. Now I'll sleep with one eye open while listening to the storm that is still blowing out there. Welcome to spring.
We were sitting here, having a quiet evening at home. Ron was upstairs in the computer room, and I was downstairs in the livingroom.
His phone rang first. As it was ringing, he didn't even pick up yet, and my phone goes off. What's the chances? Ron's sister Susan was calling him and my brother Michael was on my phone calling me.
Our respective siblings were calling us to let us know to hang on tight. A tornado was spotted on the highway over at I-90 and Route 57. For anyone familiar with this area, that's only a couple of miles away from us.
I knew the weather was awful, as we were sitting here listening to the thunder and watching the lightening. We were both oblivious to the danger of the tornado. Because of the heads up, we went into survival mode.
We packed a laundry basket of necessities and put it in our coal room. That's a room under our mud room that we figured was the safest room in the house. Big, cinder block walls, almost all underground, and no windows. In the basket were what we thought were necessities. A two gallon jug filled with water, a six pack of water, a bottle of wine (hey, you endure your emergency your way, I'll do it my way), a flashlight, crackers and blankets. We had all the doors open between here and there for easy entry in case of emergency and I had my sneakers on ready to run. We were glued to the TV to see where the tornados were headed. I don't think I've ever been that close to personal disaster before, and I hope to never be there again.
Thanks to Susan and Michael for watching out for their baby siblings! All is still standing here on our end of the state, thank goodness. Now I'll sleep with one eye open while listening to the storm that is still blowing out there. Welcome to spring.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Good Times
Wednesday night we had one heck of a party at our house.
Brother Jim was nice enough to brave the weather to take a road trip with Dad and come and see us here in Ohio. Brother Mike heard there was a party and he came over too, with dessert! C'mon now, how can you turn someone away that has dessert in their hand?
Whenever Jim and Dad come over, I try to make something that they don't get often. This trip, dinner consisted of Mom's soup, complete with a lot of potatoes and carrots for smashing. In case anyone doesn't know this delicacy, you put a lot of carrots in the soup. When the soup is done, you take a smaller pan, take some of the broth from the soup, and boil potatoes in it. When the potatoes are soft, you take about equal parts of potatoes and carrots in your bowl, no broth, a good pat of butter, and smash them together with a fork. Once smashed and mixed, add some of the cooked thin soup noodles and mix together with the smashed mess in the bowl. Add a little salt and I'm telling you, this is a dish we used to fight over when growing up! It seems that Mom never made enough carrots or potatoes to please us all, so even if you got a little bowl of this for dinner, it was truly a treat.
Now, I tried to make enough for everyone, even Ron! I'm turning that man into a Slovak if it kills me! He is definitely a new convert to this dish.
After those taste buds were sated, we moved on to the soup. If I do say so myself, it tasted just like Mom's. I bought extra ketchup for Dad as we all know how he likes ketchup in his soup. Yes, I think it was all a success. We laughed, we talked and Lord knows, we ate.
I just got a new digital camera for Christmas, so I should have pictures of our party to post here. Unfortunately, no one could put a spoon down long enough. Sorry, I'll try to get better at that. You're going to have to trust me, we were all fat and sassy after this meal.
Thanks to everyone for coming. And, thanks to Mike for leaving the rest of the dessert at my house! Not that my hips need more dessert, but my tummy was sure happy it was here.
Brother Jim was nice enough to brave the weather to take a road trip with Dad and come and see us here in Ohio. Brother Mike heard there was a party and he came over too, with dessert! C'mon now, how can you turn someone away that has dessert in their hand?
Whenever Jim and Dad come over, I try to make something that they don't get often. This trip, dinner consisted of Mom's soup, complete with a lot of potatoes and carrots for smashing. In case anyone doesn't know this delicacy, you put a lot of carrots in the soup. When the soup is done, you take a smaller pan, take some of the broth from the soup, and boil potatoes in it. When the potatoes are soft, you take about equal parts of potatoes and carrots in your bowl, no broth, a good pat of butter, and smash them together with a fork. Once smashed and mixed, add some of the cooked thin soup noodles and mix together with the smashed mess in the bowl. Add a little salt and I'm telling you, this is a dish we used to fight over when growing up! It seems that Mom never made enough carrots or potatoes to please us all, so even if you got a little bowl of this for dinner, it was truly a treat.
Now, I tried to make enough for everyone, even Ron! I'm turning that man into a Slovak if it kills me! He is definitely a new convert to this dish.
After those taste buds were sated, we moved on to the soup. If I do say so myself, it tasted just like Mom's. I bought extra ketchup for Dad as we all know how he likes ketchup in his soup. Yes, I think it was all a success. We laughed, we talked and Lord knows, we ate.
I just got a new digital camera for Christmas, so I should have pictures of our party to post here. Unfortunately, no one could put a spoon down long enough. Sorry, I'll try to get better at that. You're going to have to trust me, we were all fat and sassy after this meal.
Thanks to everyone for coming. And, thanks to Mike for leaving the rest of the dessert at my house! Not that my hips need more dessert, but my tummy was sure happy it was here.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Nanny Nanny Boo Boo
I may be my father's daughter, but for once, I have accomplished rebelling.
My taxes are done, signed, stamped and out in the mail. And it's only March 5, 2007.
43 days early.
Go me!
My taxes are done, signed, stamped and out in the mail. And it's only March 5, 2007.
43 days early.
Go me!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
They Did It My Way
One of my favorite local restaurants around here was a chain restaurant called Joe's Crab Shack. I'm not a fan of crabs, but this was the only place around here I could order crawfish. Their crawfish etouffee was the bomb! Who knows what else is on the menu, because that is all I would order there.
Within the last six months, Joe's closed all of its Ohio locations. This was truly a blow to my culinary life.
Just from driving by the old Joe's location, we saw that a new restaurant was taking over the building called Key West. We are all about trying new places, so this was on our list to try once the renovations were completed and the doors were open.
Last night was finally the night that we were going to try it. The menu had a Caribbean flavor, with a lot of seafood, and a lot of jerk seasoning. The first time at a restaurant is hard, as you just don't know where to begin. Ron decided to go with the Jambalaya (good choice I might add!). There was an item on the menu that I wanted to try called The Bubba. C'mon now, with a name like that, how could it be bad? The Bubba was a pork loin dish, but it had a horseradish marmalade on it. That kind of worried me since I really do not like horseradish. (The fact that someone actually makes a marmalade out of horseradish still makes me just scratch my head.)
The waitress was really helpful. I told her I was leaning towards this dish, but was unsure about that one item. She got me a sample of the marmalade so that I could decide if it was something I would eat. I tasted it. Good thing. Ugh, I was right. I didn't like it.
Now I really have a hankering for the pork loin, so the waitress suggested I just order The Bubba but without the horseradish marmalade. Now that sounded like a winner! I told her as long as ordering it like that would not piss off the chef, I was all for it. She assured me it would be ok. Hey, you gotta be careful about these things because who wants spit in their dinner?
We were enjoying looking at all of the new sights of the restaurant and trying to remember the old Joe's layout as we were waiting for our dinner. As our meals were coming out, the manager was walking around. Who knew that anyone was as observant as this guy! I barely got a piece of my pork cut into a bite sized piece when the manager showed up at or table with a side serving of that damned horseradish marmalade! He said it looked like they forgot it when they plated my food so he brought it out to us. How can you beat service like that? I did thank him, but assured him that his staff was on the ball, as I ordered it plain.
I did have to withstand a little ribbing from the manager about leaving off an important ingredient in my dinner, but I ribbed right back that I like things done MY way!
Horseradish or not, this dish was really awesome. The pork was so good, as were the grilled veggies that came with it. I gave it a valiant effort but I couldn't finish it and had to bring some of it home with me. I wonder how pork loin is for breakfast?
Within the last six months, Joe's closed all of its Ohio locations. This was truly a blow to my culinary life.
Just from driving by the old Joe's location, we saw that a new restaurant was taking over the building called Key West. We are all about trying new places, so this was on our list to try once the renovations were completed and the doors were open.
Last night was finally the night that we were going to try it. The menu had a Caribbean flavor, with a lot of seafood, and a lot of jerk seasoning. The first time at a restaurant is hard, as you just don't know where to begin. Ron decided to go with the Jambalaya (good choice I might add!). There was an item on the menu that I wanted to try called The Bubba. C'mon now, with a name like that, how could it be bad? The Bubba was a pork loin dish, but it had a horseradish marmalade on it. That kind of worried me since I really do not like horseradish. (The fact that someone actually makes a marmalade out of horseradish still makes me just scratch my head.)
The waitress was really helpful. I told her I was leaning towards this dish, but was unsure about that one item. She got me a sample of the marmalade so that I could decide if it was something I would eat. I tasted it. Good thing. Ugh, I was right. I didn't like it.
Now I really have a hankering for the pork loin, so the waitress suggested I just order The Bubba but without the horseradish marmalade. Now that sounded like a winner! I told her as long as ordering it like that would not piss off the chef, I was all for it. She assured me it would be ok. Hey, you gotta be careful about these things because who wants spit in their dinner?
We were enjoying looking at all of the new sights of the restaurant and trying to remember the old Joe's layout as we were waiting for our dinner. As our meals were coming out, the manager was walking around. Who knew that anyone was as observant as this guy! I barely got a piece of my pork cut into a bite sized piece when the manager showed up at or table with a side serving of that damned horseradish marmalade! He said it looked like they forgot it when they plated my food so he brought it out to us. How can you beat service like that? I did thank him, but assured him that his staff was on the ball, as I ordered it plain.
I did have to withstand a little ribbing from the manager about leaving off an important ingredient in my dinner, but I ribbed right back that I like things done MY way!
Horseradish or not, this dish was really awesome. The pork was so good, as were the grilled veggies that came with it. I gave it a valiant effort but I couldn't finish it and had to bring some of it home with me. I wonder how pork loin is for breakfast?
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Does Anyone Know The Way Home?
Things just went from bad to worse today.
The last day of an audit, especially a travel audit, is hectic. Everything needs to be closed up and finished up and packed up. It's not exactly convenient to go fly in for a day to do one more thing or to bring back something you forgot. As the audit manager, it all falls on me to have the entire audit packed up and get all of the paperwork back to Cleveland.
I packed some of our files in my huge suitcase. The rest of the files I packed in a box, and I had every intention of checking the box through as checked luggage at the airport. Hey, I'm allowed two bags. Bags, box, what's the difference. That was the plan.
I checked in on line for my flight that was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. You can check in up to 24 hours prior to your flight with Continental. It was probably around 11:00 a.m. that I had a chance to get on line and check in. When I check in, as long as I'm on the website, I like to check the flight details and airport status. They can sometimes tell when you check in if the flight is scheduled to be on time, or if weather will play a factor in delaying the flight.
At first, my flight was scheduled as on time, but the weather status for O'Hare airport listed average delays of 91 minutes. Geez, that didn't sound good. I left the website up in the background and continued to work. About a half hour later, I thought I'll look again and see what was up. I refreshed the page, and now the average delay at O'Hare was up to 124 minutes. That's two hours! I looked at the status of my specific flight, and the dreaded words were right there . . . FLIGHT CANCELLED. In big bold letters like that. Words cannot convey the feeling in the pit of my stomach at seeing those words. I really wanted to be sick.
As a side note, it's a long story, but my branch had hired a new auditor two weeks ago. Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to ship this new guy out to me in Chicago to train. That could be a whole other blog unto itself. I don't do well in stressful situations. Now I not only have to worry about getting me home, I have this new kid to worry about as well. Ok, I needed a plan. I called Continental. I obviously wasn't the only one trying to call them.
I waited on line for what seemed like forever, to be told by an agent that my flight was cancelled. Ok, I knew that. How do I get home? I was told that all flights to Cleveland had been cancelled for the day due to weather. The best they could do was to put us on a flight Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. out of Midway. That was not a good option. I thanked the agent for her time, but thought I would look into a plan B. Now, to come up with a plan B!
Next call was to my boss. I told him about the cancelled flight and I impressed on him just how imperative it was that I get home. It had been a long hard week, and I did not want to spend another day in Chicago. I needed to get home. Lucky for him, he agreed that I should be home, and authorized a one way rental car charge if I chose to drive home. Hey, that worked for me.
I called Enterprise to see if I could keep my rental car and drop it off in Cleveland. In one word, no. They would not play the one way rental reindeer game. They wanted their vehicle back. I called our corporate office, as I know our person there that schedules a lot of travel has an "in" with Avis. I asked for help, and she assured me if there was a car to be had, I would have it. The woman performed a miracle and in ten minutes, I had a confirmation number for a car with my name on it!
We finished packing and headed to Avis to pick up the new car. From there to Enterprise to drop off the old car. Then, on the road.
According to mapquest, we were to drive 337 miles and in 5-1/2 hours I would be home. Mapquest didn't take into account a major car accident on I-90 nor the horrible weather. It took us an hour and a half just to get to downtown Chicago because of the accident, and then we had horrible weather from the east side of Chicago, through Indiana and into the western most part of Ohio. That was the part I drove.
It was snowing like heck, and the white outs were often and intense. All the while, I have this yutz saying "want me to drive?? I can drive! I don't mind driving!" Finally, I relented and actually just before the Ohio border I let him take over. Big mistake.
Here is a young male just out of college. I swear, most men that age should not be allowed to drive. I was actually praying for police. If I was white knuckled while I was driving, I was now practically out of my mind with him driving. In a snow storm, he thought it was perfectly acceptable to drive 80 miles an hour. And if that wasn't enough, he also thought that was a good time to start text messaging his friends. I actually had to tell him to slow down, quit texting and watch the damn road. On the good side, his speeding did help us get home in only 7-1/2 hours.
It's been a long day and I am overdue on my breakdown. A day like this deserves to end with a good long cry. If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to do just that.
The last day of an audit, especially a travel audit, is hectic. Everything needs to be closed up and finished up and packed up. It's not exactly convenient to go fly in for a day to do one more thing or to bring back something you forgot. As the audit manager, it all falls on me to have the entire audit packed up and get all of the paperwork back to Cleveland.
I packed some of our files in my huge suitcase. The rest of the files I packed in a box, and I had every intention of checking the box through as checked luggage at the airport. Hey, I'm allowed two bags. Bags, box, what's the difference. That was the plan.
I checked in on line for my flight that was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. You can check in up to 24 hours prior to your flight with Continental. It was probably around 11:00 a.m. that I had a chance to get on line and check in. When I check in, as long as I'm on the website, I like to check the flight details and airport status. They can sometimes tell when you check in if the flight is scheduled to be on time, or if weather will play a factor in delaying the flight.
At first, my flight was scheduled as on time, but the weather status for O'Hare airport listed average delays of 91 minutes. Geez, that didn't sound good. I left the website up in the background and continued to work. About a half hour later, I thought I'll look again and see what was up. I refreshed the page, and now the average delay at O'Hare was up to 124 minutes. That's two hours! I looked at the status of my specific flight, and the dreaded words were right there . . . FLIGHT CANCELLED. In big bold letters like that. Words cannot convey the feeling in the pit of my stomach at seeing those words. I really wanted to be sick.
As a side note, it's a long story, but my branch had hired a new auditor two weeks ago. Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to ship this new guy out to me in Chicago to train. That could be a whole other blog unto itself. I don't do well in stressful situations. Now I not only have to worry about getting me home, I have this new kid to worry about as well. Ok, I needed a plan. I called Continental. I obviously wasn't the only one trying to call them.
I waited on line for what seemed like forever, to be told by an agent that my flight was cancelled. Ok, I knew that. How do I get home? I was told that all flights to Cleveland had been cancelled for the day due to weather. The best they could do was to put us on a flight Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. out of Midway. That was not a good option. I thanked the agent for her time, but thought I would look into a plan B. Now, to come up with a plan B!
Next call was to my boss. I told him about the cancelled flight and I impressed on him just how imperative it was that I get home. It had been a long hard week, and I did not want to spend another day in Chicago. I needed to get home. Lucky for him, he agreed that I should be home, and authorized a one way rental car charge if I chose to drive home. Hey, that worked for me.
I called Enterprise to see if I could keep my rental car and drop it off in Cleveland. In one word, no. They would not play the one way rental reindeer game. They wanted their vehicle back. I called our corporate office, as I know our person there that schedules a lot of travel has an "in" with Avis. I asked for help, and she assured me if there was a car to be had, I would have it. The woman performed a miracle and in ten minutes, I had a confirmation number for a car with my name on it!
We finished packing and headed to Avis to pick up the new car. From there to Enterprise to drop off the old car. Then, on the road.
According to mapquest, we were to drive 337 miles and in 5-1/2 hours I would be home. Mapquest didn't take into account a major car accident on I-90 nor the horrible weather. It took us an hour and a half just to get to downtown Chicago because of the accident, and then we had horrible weather from the east side of Chicago, through Indiana and into the western most part of Ohio. That was the part I drove.
It was snowing like heck, and the white outs were often and intense. All the while, I have this yutz saying "want me to drive?? I can drive! I don't mind driving!" Finally, I relented and actually just before the Ohio border I let him take over. Big mistake.
Here is a young male just out of college. I swear, most men that age should not be allowed to drive. I was actually praying for police. If I was white knuckled while I was driving, I was now practically out of my mind with him driving. In a snow storm, he thought it was perfectly acceptable to drive 80 miles an hour. And if that wasn't enough, he also thought that was a good time to start text messaging his friends. I actually had to tell him to slow down, quit texting and watch the damn road. On the good side, his speeding did help us get home in only 7-1/2 hours.
It's been a long day and I am overdue on my breakdown. A day like this deserves to end with a good long cry. If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to do just that.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Now That’s Service
I’ve been living out of hotels.
One thing that hotels all have in common is the alarm clock. They are not top of the line, but they generally get the job done.
Some hotels have a different kind of alarm clock in every room. Others, like the one I’m in now, have the same make and model in every room. I like the continuity of the same clock, no matter which room I’m in.
I believe they do try to make the clocks as idiot proof as possible. I mean after all, even people like me have to be able to use them! The ones at this hotel have nice clear directions printed right on the clock. As easy as 1 – 2 – 3.
1 – press this button to start the process of setting the alarm
2 – press this button to set the time of the alarm, it goes forward and backward
3 – press this button to accept the time chosen in step 2 and turn on the alarm
Easy!
There are even five preprogrammed buttons on top of the clock, with picture goodness, for the stations programmed into the clock. If you are one of those that like to listen to the radio at night, this is a no brainer feature. There is talk radio, easy listening, rock, etc. all at the push of a button so you don’t have to run up and down the channels looking for what you want. See? Idiot proof.
Except for this idiot.
I decided I like the alarm clock feature that comes on my phone. But, a back up alarm is always a good thing since I am not a morning person. I set the hotel alarm clock about 10 minutes ahead of my phone alarm, and between the two, it gets me going in the morning.
Monday night, I took my shower and was getting ready to call it a night. It was then that I realized the clock in the room was 12 minutes slow. Now, a fast clock is ok, but there is just something wrong with a slow clock. My mind would never adjust to that one. I thought I’d just update the clock to the right time before I set the alarm. Shouldn’t be that difficult, right? Especially with the 1 – 2 – 3 buttons marked for setting the alarm!
I looked and looked and looked. I had the alarm clock facing forward, facing backwards, even upside down. I could find no button that was marked to set the time. I tried pushing every button on there. I even tried some combinations. Finally after ten minutes with no success, I just decided that I was too tired to figure this out, and perhaps it wasn’t as idiot proof as I thought. So, I did what most women would do, I called the front desk for instructions on how to set the time on the alarm clock.
As unbelievable as this sounds, the front desk actually told me that the only way one could set the time on the alarm clocks was to have the maintenance personnel do it! Excuse me? Is setting the time some sort of State secret now? Why not call Homeland Security! It’s the time viewed in MY room only for crying out loud!
She asked if I’d like maintenance to come up right away to set the time on my alarm clock for me. Based on the level of my undressed condition, I said I’d pass on that option.
What is this world coming to? How spoiled do they really want me to be? Room service can deliver a crappy meal to me any time I want it. Maintenance will come up to set my alarm clock. Now I just need to know the number I can call to get a back rub before bedtime. Now THAT would be service.
One thing that hotels all have in common is the alarm clock. They are not top of the line, but they generally get the job done.
Some hotels have a different kind of alarm clock in every room. Others, like the one I’m in now, have the same make and model in every room. I like the continuity of the same clock, no matter which room I’m in.
I believe they do try to make the clocks as idiot proof as possible. I mean after all, even people like me have to be able to use them! The ones at this hotel have nice clear directions printed right on the clock. As easy as 1 – 2 – 3.
1 – press this button to start the process of setting the alarm
2 – press this button to set the time of the alarm, it goes forward and backward
3 – press this button to accept the time chosen in step 2 and turn on the alarm
Easy!
There are even five preprogrammed buttons on top of the clock, with picture goodness, for the stations programmed into the clock. If you are one of those that like to listen to the radio at night, this is a no brainer feature. There is talk radio, easy listening, rock, etc. all at the push of a button so you don’t have to run up and down the channels looking for what you want. See? Idiot proof.
Except for this idiot.
I decided I like the alarm clock feature that comes on my phone. But, a back up alarm is always a good thing since I am not a morning person. I set the hotel alarm clock about 10 minutes ahead of my phone alarm, and between the two, it gets me going in the morning.
Monday night, I took my shower and was getting ready to call it a night. It was then that I realized the clock in the room was 12 minutes slow. Now, a fast clock is ok, but there is just something wrong with a slow clock. My mind would never adjust to that one. I thought I’d just update the clock to the right time before I set the alarm. Shouldn’t be that difficult, right? Especially with the 1 – 2 – 3 buttons marked for setting the alarm!
I looked and looked and looked. I had the alarm clock facing forward, facing backwards, even upside down. I could find no button that was marked to set the time. I tried pushing every button on there. I even tried some combinations. Finally after ten minutes with no success, I just decided that I was too tired to figure this out, and perhaps it wasn’t as idiot proof as I thought. So, I did what most women would do, I called the front desk for instructions on how to set the time on the alarm clock.
As unbelievable as this sounds, the front desk actually told me that the only way one could set the time on the alarm clocks was to have the maintenance personnel do it! Excuse me? Is setting the time some sort of State secret now? Why not call Homeland Security! It’s the time viewed in MY room only for crying out loud!
She asked if I’d like maintenance to come up right away to set the time on my alarm clock for me. Based on the level of my undressed condition, I said I’d pass on that option.
What is this world coming to? How spoiled do they really want me to be? Room service can deliver a crappy meal to me any time I want it. Maintenance will come up to set my alarm clock. Now I just need to know the number I can call to get a back rub before bedtime. Now THAT would be service.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Unwelcome Guest
Sunday night, Ron and I were in the computer room, playing Pogo. What else, huh?
He went up in the attic for a cigarette. Across the room from the attic door is my desk.
It was cold Sunday night, and usually he shuts the attic door so the cold air doesn’t come to the computer room. But, we were yakking about something, so he left the door open so we could continue our conversation.
Then, a call of nature became a sudden emergency! I yelled up the stairs that I had to pee, I’d be right back! As soon as I got across the hall into the bathroom, I hear Ron coming down the stairs. He gets into the computer room and he said something to the effect of “oh darn” but maybe not that clean.
I am in the middle of something and can’t go running out right away. I do ask him what’s wrong, but he won’t answer me. The best I get is he tells me that I don’t want to know. Nothing good can come out of that statement!
I hurried as fast as I could to finish up, and I make it to the bathroom doorway as Ron is walking out of the computer room and heading down the steps. He is holding his coffee cup upside down with a CD held over the bottom of the cup. Hmm. What comes to mind here?
It can’t be a spider, because Ron kills them for me. A mouse maybe? Crap, I hope not. What is it? I am starting to freak out as I hear Ron walk out the front door with whatever he has in that cup.
A minute later, he is back upstairs after freeing this squatter and I am trying not to panic. WHAT??? Finally he tells me that it was another bat! Oh crap! Ron thought he had all the holes plugged that it could have come in through. Obviously the bat found another hole or made one.
This is a bad enough story if it were to stop here, but no! I asked Ron just where the bat was. All the other bats had been found in the attic. This brave bugger actually went for the warmth! Ron found him on the floor of the computer room, about two feet from my chair!
People, trust me on this one. Had I been sitting there when that damn bat came into the room, or if I’d seen it when I got up to pee, anyone within reading distance of this blog would have heard me scream before I had a heart attack!
My full bladder just may have saved my life!
He went up in the attic for a cigarette. Across the room from the attic door is my desk.
It was cold Sunday night, and usually he shuts the attic door so the cold air doesn’t come to the computer room. But, we were yakking about something, so he left the door open so we could continue our conversation.
Then, a call of nature became a sudden emergency! I yelled up the stairs that I had to pee, I’d be right back! As soon as I got across the hall into the bathroom, I hear Ron coming down the stairs. He gets into the computer room and he said something to the effect of “oh darn” but maybe not that clean.
I am in the middle of something and can’t go running out right away. I do ask him what’s wrong, but he won’t answer me. The best I get is he tells me that I don’t want to know. Nothing good can come out of that statement!
I hurried as fast as I could to finish up, and I make it to the bathroom doorway as Ron is walking out of the computer room and heading down the steps. He is holding his coffee cup upside down with a CD held over the bottom of the cup. Hmm. What comes to mind here?
It can’t be a spider, because Ron kills them for me. A mouse maybe? Crap, I hope not. What is it? I am starting to freak out as I hear Ron walk out the front door with whatever he has in that cup.
A minute later, he is back upstairs after freeing this squatter and I am trying not to panic. WHAT??? Finally he tells me that it was another bat! Oh crap! Ron thought he had all the holes plugged that it could have come in through. Obviously the bat found another hole or made one.
This is a bad enough story if it were to stop here, but no! I asked Ron just where the bat was. All the other bats had been found in the attic. This brave bugger actually went for the warmth! Ron found him on the floor of the computer room, about two feet from my chair!
People, trust me on this one. Had I been sitting there when that damn bat came into the room, or if I’d seen it when I got up to pee, anyone within reading distance of this blog would have heard me scream before I had a heart attack!
My full bladder just may have saved my life!
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Strange Happenings
I've told stories before about some strange things that have happened at our house. Things have been moved, things have gone bump in the night.
Now something has happened that has happened before that falls under that "strange" category.
With me traveling, my car pretty much stays in the garage. Ron may take it out to get the plow out of the garage but that's it. To make sure the car gets driven, Ron will generally drive it to the airport on Fridays to pick me up.
Last weekend, we had all that snow. It was a weekend of bitter cold. My car was in the driveway only long enough for Ron to plow the snow, then it was moved into the garage. It was driven for a total of 30 seconds, from the driveway into the garage.
When Ron got into the car on Friday to drive to the airport to pick me up, all of the windows in my car were open. And, the window lock was turned on, something I didn't even know the car had. Hey, we don't have little ones around, why would I need to know how to lock the windows? It took him a few minutes to figure that out, since it was an unused feature.
My car has electric windows. There would be absolutely no reason for Ron in freezing weather no less - to open all of the windows in the car. Perhaps he hit the button accidently? Well, the driver's window will roll all the way down with one push of the button. However, the other three windows will only roll down for as long as you hold the button down. As for the window lock, I couldn't even tell you where THAT button is.
This did happen once before. I walked into the garage in the morning to go to work, and all of the windows in my car were open. They were all rolled down to different levels, but all were open. We just chalked it up to the fact that one of us opened the windows and just didn't remember doing it.
So, now what happened? Is there an electrical glitch in a three year old car?
The spirits in my house have started to get a little more active lately. And, they have taken over the garage as well. Should I be worried? Should I be scared? I mean after all, I'm afraid of everything else in the world.
For some reason, this doesn't scare me. To me, this means the spirits of my house are leaving me a message. And, their message to me is that they miss me. You know what? I miss them too.
Now something has happened that has happened before that falls under that "strange" category.
With me traveling, my car pretty much stays in the garage. Ron may take it out to get the plow out of the garage but that's it. To make sure the car gets driven, Ron will generally drive it to the airport on Fridays to pick me up.
Last weekend, we had all that snow. It was a weekend of bitter cold. My car was in the driveway only long enough for Ron to plow the snow, then it was moved into the garage. It was driven for a total of 30 seconds, from the driveway into the garage.
When Ron got into the car on Friday to drive to the airport to pick me up, all of the windows in my car were open. And, the window lock was turned on, something I didn't even know the car had. Hey, we don't have little ones around, why would I need to know how to lock the windows? It took him a few minutes to figure that out, since it was an unused feature.
My car has electric windows. There would be absolutely no reason for Ron in freezing weather no less - to open all of the windows in the car. Perhaps he hit the button accidently? Well, the driver's window will roll all the way down with one push of the button. However, the other three windows will only roll down for as long as you hold the button down. As for the window lock, I couldn't even tell you where THAT button is.
This did happen once before. I walked into the garage in the morning to go to work, and all of the windows in my car were open. They were all rolled down to different levels, but all were open. We just chalked it up to the fact that one of us opened the windows and just didn't remember doing it.
So, now what happened? Is there an electrical glitch in a three year old car?
The spirits in my house have started to get a little more active lately. And, they have taken over the garage as well. Should I be worried? Should I be scared? I mean after all, I'm afraid of everything else in the world.
For some reason, this doesn't scare me. To me, this means the spirits of my house are leaving me a message. And, their message to me is that they miss me. You know what? I miss them too.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Upgrading
Upgrades can be a good thing.
One of the good things about this job is that I get to keep any perks I can earn through the airlines and hotels. I haven't used any sky miles yet but I have used some free nights at hotels for my personal use.
For Continental Airlines, I am now what they call an Elite member. This just means I have more than 30,000 miles logged. That's a lot of miles for someone that not all that long ago was afraid to fly. What does Elite mean to me now? It means my bags get special handling, so they are one of the first to come off of the plane. And, I get to get in a shorter security line. That is really a bonus. So far, that's been the extent of my Elite upgrade.
We are staying at a Hilton Garden Inn. I am a Hilton Honors member. I think the most common hotel we stay in are the Hampton Inns. So, my bonus points build up pretty quickly.
Some bonuses to being just a regular Hilton Honors member is that I have two bottles of water and a pack of Oreo cookies in my room waiting for me when I check in. C'mon now! Oreos? How awesome is this? If only one of the bottles of water was a bottle of milk! But, I'm not complaining. The water and cookies are definitely used up by the end of my visit.
This week I checked in and there was a bonus in the envelope that they hand me that holds my room key. The bonus was four coupons for free breakfast at the restaurant here at the hotel! Hey, I will partake in a free continental breakfast, but I refuse to pay $10 for breakfast when all I can eat is some cereal and a banana. The next time I was at the front desk, I asked what I did to deserve this special gift! I thought they just liked me! Well, they do in a way. I found out I spent so much money with the Hilton chain that I have been upgraded to a Gold membership. The Gold membership comes with free breakfast! Sweet deal! Now I don't feel guilty about spending $10 for a bowl of Special K and a banana.
Those are the good upgrades. You know for every yin in my life there is a yan. The downside to my upgrades came when I picked up the rental car for the week.
This week we have three of us on the audit site. Luggage takes up an awful lot of room in a car. Since we rent to often from Enterprise, we can generally upgrade for little to no cost when we need to. They had one vehicle ready for me and I just wasn't sure we were going to get all of our luggage in there let alone three people plus luggage. So, she said she'd give me a bigger vehicle that would definitely fit everything. Next time I hear them words, I need to remember to ask more questions before I sign the papers.
For less that the cost of a compact car, I am driving around in a 2007 Dodge Durango. Does anyone have any freakin' idea just how BIG this vehicle is? We park in a very narrow parking lot at the job site. Almost every car in this parking lot shows signs of people not being able to park. The back corners of bumpers are all dinged up or the back doors are damaged from cutting into spots too soon. Yeah, people have trouble in this lot. And here I come in my 2007 Dodge Durango. It's not even funny!
Parking at the hotel isn't much better, but I do have a little more room to negotiate. The only problem I have in trying to navigate this bus is I have no idea where the front end is believe it or not. I am ok backing up, but when pulling in, I have absolutely no depth perception. I have pulled up to cars or to walls, and I stop where I think I am good.
Then we take bets.
Guess who loses??!! ME!
I stop when I think I am 6" to 8" away from my target. Then one of my associates will rappel out of the vehicle and check my distance and usually direct me the rest of the way into the parking spot. So far, my worst has been 2-1/2 feet. Yeah, I suck at this.
Upgrades. Gotta love them!
One of the good things about this job is that I get to keep any perks I can earn through the airlines and hotels. I haven't used any sky miles yet but I have used some free nights at hotels for my personal use.
For Continental Airlines, I am now what they call an Elite member. This just means I have more than 30,000 miles logged. That's a lot of miles for someone that not all that long ago was afraid to fly. What does Elite mean to me now? It means my bags get special handling, so they are one of the first to come off of the plane. And, I get to get in a shorter security line. That is really a bonus. So far, that's been the extent of my Elite upgrade.
We are staying at a Hilton Garden Inn. I am a Hilton Honors member. I think the most common hotel we stay in are the Hampton Inns. So, my bonus points build up pretty quickly.
Some bonuses to being just a regular Hilton Honors member is that I have two bottles of water and a pack of Oreo cookies in my room waiting for me when I check in. C'mon now! Oreos? How awesome is this? If only one of the bottles of water was a bottle of milk! But, I'm not complaining. The water and cookies are definitely used up by the end of my visit.
This week I checked in and there was a bonus in the envelope that they hand me that holds my room key. The bonus was four coupons for free breakfast at the restaurant here at the hotel! Hey, I will partake in a free continental breakfast, but I refuse to pay $10 for breakfast when all I can eat is some cereal and a banana. The next time I was at the front desk, I asked what I did to deserve this special gift! I thought they just liked me! Well, they do in a way. I found out I spent so much money with the Hilton chain that I have been upgraded to a Gold membership. The Gold membership comes with free breakfast! Sweet deal! Now I don't feel guilty about spending $10 for a bowl of Special K and a banana.
Those are the good upgrades. You know for every yin in my life there is a yan. The downside to my upgrades came when I picked up the rental car for the week.
This week we have three of us on the audit site. Luggage takes up an awful lot of room in a car. Since we rent to often from Enterprise, we can generally upgrade for little to no cost when we need to. They had one vehicle ready for me and I just wasn't sure we were going to get all of our luggage in there let alone three people plus luggage. So, she said she'd give me a bigger vehicle that would definitely fit everything. Next time I hear them words, I need to remember to ask more questions before I sign the papers.
For less that the cost of a compact car, I am driving around in a 2007 Dodge Durango. Does anyone have any freakin' idea just how BIG this vehicle is? We park in a very narrow parking lot at the job site. Almost every car in this parking lot shows signs of people not being able to park. The back corners of bumpers are all dinged up or the back doors are damaged from cutting into spots too soon. Yeah, people have trouble in this lot. And here I come in my 2007 Dodge Durango. It's not even funny!
Parking at the hotel isn't much better, but I do have a little more room to negotiate. The only problem I have in trying to navigate this bus is I have no idea where the front end is believe it or not. I am ok backing up, but when pulling in, I have absolutely no depth perception. I have pulled up to cars or to walls, and I stop where I think I am good.
Then we take bets.
Guess who loses??!! ME!
I stop when I think I am 6" to 8" away from my target. Then one of my associates will rappel out of the vehicle and check my distance and usually direct me the rest of the way into the parking spot. So far, my worst has been 2-1/2 feet. Yeah, I suck at this.
Upgrades. Gotta love them!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
For Sale
While supplies last, we're selling cheap.
Orders will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Who wants one?!!
Friday, February 16, 2007
Nature vs Nurture
There is an old debate. What forms us? Nature or nurture? Are we what we are by happenstance, by what is in our DNA or is it molded by outside sources? Do the people around us make us more nuts than we normally would be? Gosh I hope that's it.
Some people entertain the idea that I'm not all there. Ok, based on some of the blogs I've posted, how can I argue with that? But I have started looking around me and I realize that it might not be all of my fault. Look at all the craziness around me.
First, here is an idiot dancing naked in a snowstorm in downtown Cleveland in freezing temperatures. I couldn't make up anything this funny!! Is it something in the water around here? Maybe lake gasses coming in during the night?
Now, you might say that Cleveland is too far away, being a whole 30 minutes or so down the road. Let's move a little closer to home then.
Some people entertain the idea that I'm not all there. Ok, based on some of the blogs I've posted, how can I argue with that? But I have started looking around me and I realize that it might not be all of my fault. Look at all the craziness around me.
First, here is an idiot dancing naked in a snowstorm in downtown Cleveland in freezing temperatures. I couldn't make up anything this funny!! Is it something in the water around here? Maybe lake gasses coming in during the night?
Now, you might say that Cleveland is too far away, being a whole 30 minutes or so down the road. Let's move a little closer to home then.
Take a good look at this picture. Notice anything funny?
This picture is taken only a few blocks from our house. When we moved in and this intersection was noticed, I couldn't believe what I saw. In case it's not sinking in, (I know it's not the best picture) but this intersection has a stop sign AND a red light.
People trying to justify this redundant situation say things like "well, the light is new, so the city just didn't take the stop sign down yet until people are used to the light". Hmm. We've lived here three years now. There is still a red light at the intersection with a stop sign.
I have a few questions: If the light is green, do I have to stop for the stop sign? If the light is green and I don't stop, can I get a ticket for running a stop sign? Ponderous. I solved the dilemma by not going through this intersection.
People wonder why I am a few fries short of a happy meal. Look around me! Craziness is everywhere!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
That's Just Wrong, Page 10
Some days the “That’s Just Wrong” items come flying at me. Today, I have three of them to talk about.
Let’s start with shoes. I bought new shoes over the weekend. I know, y’all are wondering just how shoes could ever end up in this category. Before this week, I would not have believed it myself.
I do love shoes. Unfortunately, with my big ugly feet, I can’t wear most of them. But I did buy two new pairs, both the same style and model show above just one in brown and one in black. I wore the black ones out of the house and that was the only pair of shoes I brought with me to Chicago. Bad news. I know, I should have thought to bring boots, but I’m not even getting into that discussion.
Let’s talk about my new black shoes. By the time I walked all the way through the Cleveland airport, and half way through the Chicago airport, my ankles were bloody messes. I have never purchased a pair of shoes that did this to me. The backs of the shoes just cut me all to heck. I don’t know if it’s my ankles or the damn shoes, but I have never had this kind of pain from SHOES!
Monday night we stopped at the grocery store to stock up on soda, and I had to hit the band aid aisle. The band aids on the back of my ankles helped, but by the end of the day with limited walking, I was back to a bloody mess. The shoes would just rub through the band aids.
The thought of having to walk through two airports again just about had me in tears. I couldn’t take it any more so my partner and I went out on a mission last night to find a shoe store. That will be another blog in itself! But I found a pair of shoes that has a softer back (I tried for a clog type shoe with no back, but there weren’t any in my size) that are a little easier on the backs of my ankles. I think I’m just so raw back there now that everything will hurt. I need time with no shoes on to let myself heal. For shoes to do this to me, That’s Just Wrong.
Now let’s talk peanut butter. HOW can peanut butter be making people sick? The CDC (Center for Disease Control) believes they have traced more than 100 cases of salmonella in 37 states back to peanut butter! Hello? Peanut butter? This is a comfort food; a staple. What week doesn’t go by that I don’t eat peanut butter? C’mon people! How many of us have lived on peanut butter at one point of our lives or another? This is like telling me there is no Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy! Peanut butter? I gave up smoking before, I will not give up peanut butter. That’s Just Wrong.
To close out this category, haven’t all of us at least one dream where you are in school or work or some public place and realize that you are either naked or in your underwear? If so, you will feel for the morning I had today.
I had a restless night last night and was up way before the alarm. So, I’m up, showered, ankles bandaged, reading the paper, watching the news. I was just taking my time until I met up with my partner at 7:30 in the lobby.
Last thing to do is my hair. It’s bad to have your blouse on when doing your hair because then it gets covered with hair and hairspray. So, here I am, my bottom half is dressed, but my top half is just in a bra. I finished my hair, sat back down to watch the weather on the news, and at 7:25 I got up to go.
I grabbed my jacket, put it on, and was zipping it up when I thought to myself that I couldn’t believe that the inside of my jacket was so cold! I was wondering why that was. Yes, you guessed it. I never did put my blouse on. Do you realize how close I came to going to work in just my bra? Now really – That’s Just Wrong!
Let’s start with shoes. I bought new shoes over the weekend. I know, y’all are wondering just how shoes could ever end up in this category. Before this week, I would not have believed it myself.
I do love shoes. Unfortunately, with my big ugly feet, I can’t wear most of them. But I did buy two new pairs, both the same style and model show above just one in brown and one in black. I wore the black ones out of the house and that was the only pair of shoes I brought with me to Chicago. Bad news. I know, I should have thought to bring boots, but I’m not even getting into that discussion.
Let’s talk about my new black shoes. By the time I walked all the way through the Cleveland airport, and half way through the Chicago airport, my ankles were bloody messes. I have never purchased a pair of shoes that did this to me. The backs of the shoes just cut me all to heck. I don’t know if it’s my ankles or the damn shoes, but I have never had this kind of pain from SHOES!
Monday night we stopped at the grocery store to stock up on soda, and I had to hit the band aid aisle. The band aids on the back of my ankles helped, but by the end of the day with limited walking, I was back to a bloody mess. The shoes would just rub through the band aids.
The thought of having to walk through two airports again just about had me in tears. I couldn’t take it any more so my partner and I went out on a mission last night to find a shoe store. That will be another blog in itself! But I found a pair of shoes that has a softer back (I tried for a clog type shoe with no back, but there weren’t any in my size) that are a little easier on the backs of my ankles. I think I’m just so raw back there now that everything will hurt. I need time with no shoes on to let myself heal. For shoes to do this to me, That’s Just Wrong.
Now let’s talk peanut butter. HOW can peanut butter be making people sick? The CDC (Center for Disease Control) believes they have traced more than 100 cases of salmonella in 37 states back to peanut butter! Hello? Peanut butter? This is a comfort food; a staple. What week doesn’t go by that I don’t eat peanut butter? C’mon people! How many of us have lived on peanut butter at one point of our lives or another? This is like telling me there is no Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy! Peanut butter? I gave up smoking before, I will not give up peanut butter. That’s Just Wrong.
To close out this category, haven’t all of us at least one dream where you are in school or work or some public place and realize that you are either naked or in your underwear? If so, you will feel for the morning I had today.
I had a restless night last night and was up way before the alarm. So, I’m up, showered, ankles bandaged, reading the paper, watching the news. I was just taking my time until I met up with my partner at 7:30 in the lobby.
Last thing to do is my hair. It’s bad to have your blouse on when doing your hair because then it gets covered with hair and hairspray. So, here I am, my bottom half is dressed, but my top half is just in a bra. I finished my hair, sat back down to watch the weather on the news, and at 7:25 I got up to go.
I grabbed my jacket, put it on, and was zipping it up when I thought to myself that I couldn’t believe that the inside of my jacket was so cold! I was wondering why that was. Yes, you guessed it. I never did put my blouse on. Do you realize how close I came to going to work in just my bra? Now really – That’s Just Wrong!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
What Flavor Blizzard Would You Like?
Can you believe the weather? I mean honestly. We were having such a mild winter that Mother Nature sure did decide to make up for it.
We were working away today at the audit site when it was suggested that we vacate the building. They let everyone go early as the roads were just getting worse and worse. I sure didn't want to be the last ones left in the building, so we packed it up for the night.
My colleague that I'm working this audit with is from our Dallas branch. Poor girl doesn't know what to do with herself with this weather. She gladly handed over the keys to the rental car this week as she's never driven in snow. You know the crunch sound the tires on the snow make when it's really cold out? That sound has put her into a panic the first time she heard it. In a way, it's kind of fun to be experiencing this blizzard with her, as all of this is so new to her. Almost makes me wanna go out and have a snowball fight! Then again, I throw like a girl (right, Ron??!!) so I'm not getting in any snowball fights!
We just ate at the restaurant here at the hotel when we got back, so we didn't have to go out in the snow any more than we had to. We are still expecting more snow tonight, so it is up in the air as to whether or not we'll be able to make it in tomorrow. Just in case, we packed up enough work to last us the day if we had to spend the day at the hotel.
Now, that sounded good in theory when we left, but once I got here to the hotel, I got in a good work mode after dinner. Believe it or not, it's midnight Chicago time, and I just quit working about 10 or 15 minutes ago. Sucks to be a salaried employee.
Unfortunately, even if we don't make it in tomorrow, I have more than enough here to keep me busy at least eight hours tomorrow. Yes, it's rare I get bored on this job.
Almost 1,000 flights were cancelled out of Chicago today. That has me kinda worried. Everyone keep good thoughts that I don't spend the night in an airport on Friday night. I wish I was back in Kansas so I could just click my heels three times and wisk myself home.
We were working away today at the audit site when it was suggested that we vacate the building. They let everyone go early as the roads were just getting worse and worse. I sure didn't want to be the last ones left in the building, so we packed it up for the night.
My colleague that I'm working this audit with is from our Dallas branch. Poor girl doesn't know what to do with herself with this weather. She gladly handed over the keys to the rental car this week as she's never driven in snow. You know the crunch sound the tires on the snow make when it's really cold out? That sound has put her into a panic the first time she heard it. In a way, it's kind of fun to be experiencing this blizzard with her, as all of this is so new to her. Almost makes me wanna go out and have a snowball fight! Then again, I throw like a girl (right, Ron??!!) so I'm not getting in any snowball fights!
We just ate at the restaurant here at the hotel when we got back, so we didn't have to go out in the snow any more than we had to. We are still expecting more snow tonight, so it is up in the air as to whether or not we'll be able to make it in tomorrow. Just in case, we packed up enough work to last us the day if we had to spend the day at the hotel.
Now, that sounded good in theory when we left, but once I got here to the hotel, I got in a good work mode after dinner. Believe it or not, it's midnight Chicago time, and I just quit working about 10 or 15 minutes ago. Sucks to be a salaried employee.
Unfortunately, even if we don't make it in tomorrow, I have more than enough here to keep me busy at least eight hours tomorrow. Yes, it's rare I get bored on this job.
Almost 1,000 flights were cancelled out of Chicago today. That has me kinda worried. Everyone keep good thoughts that I don't spend the night in an airport on Friday night. I wish I was back in Kansas so I could just click my heels three times and wisk myself home.
Update
I had to add an update on the last post.
Saturday night, Ron and I really had a great evening. This was the first weekend we were both feeling like human beings after our sickness that started at Christmastime. We had bought a bottle of champagne to enjoy while ringing in the New Year, and as you recall, we rang it in with shots of Theraflu instead.
So, Saturday we finally cracked open the bubbly. We added some orange juice and had a mimosa celebration fit for a king and queen! Unfortunately, since I was a little on edge after the rug incident, I probably had one mimosa too many. For some reason, in the mood I was in, we ended the night watching a horror movie! Can you believe it? I don't like those things when I haven't had a few libations, let alone when I'm a little looped!
We finished our horror movie (I watched mostly through my fingers that were trying to cover my eyes) and then it really was way past bedtime. Only after all that, I had to sleep not only with the lights on, but also with Nick at Nite playing on the TV!! If that doesn't scare the ghosts away, nothing will!
Note to self: No more horror movies!
Saturday night, Ron and I really had a great evening. This was the first weekend we were both feeling like human beings after our sickness that started at Christmastime. We had bought a bottle of champagne to enjoy while ringing in the New Year, and as you recall, we rang it in with shots of Theraflu instead.
So, Saturday we finally cracked open the bubbly. We added some orange juice and had a mimosa celebration fit for a king and queen! Unfortunately, since I was a little on edge after the rug incident, I probably had one mimosa too many. For some reason, in the mood I was in, we ended the night watching a horror movie! Can you believe it? I don't like those things when I haven't had a few libations, let alone when I'm a little looped!
We finished our horror movie (I watched mostly through my fingers that were trying to cover my eyes) and then it really was way past bedtime. Only after all that, I had to sleep not only with the lights on, but also with Nick at Nite playing on the TV!! If that doesn't scare the ghosts away, nothing will!
Note to self: No more horror movies!
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Something To Blog About
Even with all the travel, I've been having a hard time lately thinking of anything blog worthy to share. Other than complaining about the cold, nothing much is fit to print.
Until today.
Ron and I started having a nice, calm Saturday. I like to lay low, not do too much, and just enjoy down time. Then we went out to face the world and run some errands.
I bought a new blouse! And two pairs of shoes!! These facts alone should be blog worthy, but alas, that's not what I'm writing about.
Some of you have heard the stories about our house. We have had, from time to time, strange things happen. Nothing bad, just . . . strange. Like doorbells ring when we don't have a doorbell hooked up. Or, footsteps on the floor above you when no one else is in the house. And, ok, a few things have been moved here and there. See? Nothing big, just strange.
We came home from running errands tonight somewhere around 8:00 p.m. Ron unpacked the few groceries we bought, while I went down to the basement to work with laundry. When we finally got up to the second floor, Ron headed up in the attic for a smoke. I went to go into the bathroom and there it was. The rugs were askew.
I know that doesn't sound like much, but picture this: We have a step up from the floor to ease in getting in and out of the tub. On this step, I have a rubber backed bath mat. On the floor below the step, I have a soft plush rug. Both of these rugs were seriously askew.
I don't believe that they got that way for no reason. I yelled upstairs asking Ron if he had been in the bathroom since he's been upstairs. No, he headed straight for the attic. The rugs, especially the rubber backed one, don't move that easily. I am not always straightening them. Aside from when cleaning, they pretty much stay put. Then I started to think.
They almost looked like someone peeled out on them. Sort of like turning quickly for a hasty exit. Then, my mind started to run all kinds of scenarios, especially with the excitement in the neighborhood a few weeks ago. Now I am starting to panic a little bit.
I as calmly as I could, wait for Ron to come back downstairs. I think told him that I want to check the house, because the rugs look like someone went running out of the bathroom in a hurry.
He started in the attic. Then, we checked the second floor, including in the closets and under beds. The first floor, I looked in big cupboards where someone could fit. The basement, I made Ron check the coal cellar and the dry cellar as well as behind the furnace. All windows and doors were verified shut and locked.
So, with a human intruder eliminated from suspicion . . . what happened to our rugs?
One more on the list of strange things in the house.
Until today.
Ron and I started having a nice, calm Saturday. I like to lay low, not do too much, and just enjoy down time. Then we went out to face the world and run some errands.
I bought a new blouse! And two pairs of shoes!! These facts alone should be blog worthy, but alas, that's not what I'm writing about.
Some of you have heard the stories about our house. We have had, from time to time, strange things happen. Nothing bad, just . . . strange. Like doorbells ring when we don't have a doorbell hooked up. Or, footsteps on the floor above you when no one else is in the house. And, ok, a few things have been moved here and there. See? Nothing big, just strange.
We came home from running errands tonight somewhere around 8:00 p.m. Ron unpacked the few groceries we bought, while I went down to the basement to work with laundry. When we finally got up to the second floor, Ron headed up in the attic for a smoke. I went to go into the bathroom and there it was. The rugs were askew.
I know that doesn't sound like much, but picture this: We have a step up from the floor to ease in getting in and out of the tub. On this step, I have a rubber backed bath mat. On the floor below the step, I have a soft plush rug. Both of these rugs were seriously askew.
I don't believe that they got that way for no reason. I yelled upstairs asking Ron if he had been in the bathroom since he's been upstairs. No, he headed straight for the attic. The rugs, especially the rubber backed one, don't move that easily. I am not always straightening them. Aside from when cleaning, they pretty much stay put. Then I started to think.
They almost looked like someone peeled out on them. Sort of like turning quickly for a hasty exit. Then, my mind started to run all kinds of scenarios, especially with the excitement in the neighborhood a few weeks ago. Now I am starting to panic a little bit.
I as calmly as I could, wait for Ron to come back downstairs. I think told him that I want to check the house, because the rugs look like someone went running out of the bathroom in a hurry.
He started in the attic. Then, we checked the second floor, including in the closets and under beds. The first floor, I looked in big cupboards where someone could fit. The basement, I made Ron check the coal cellar and the dry cellar as well as behind the furnace. All windows and doors were verified shut and locked.
So, with a human intruder eliminated from suspicion . . . what happened to our rugs?
One more on the list of strange things in the house.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Miscellaneous Meanderings
I've got a lot of little stuff to write about. It's been a heck of a weekend!
First to back track a little bit, for my birthday, Ron got me a pizzelle iron! Ok, I've made them before with my sister, Barb. I remember them being a lot of work, but the end result is just so worth it. I was excited to get going with my very own pizzelle iron!
Where to start? I called Mary Jane, who makes the best pizzelles around. I asked for her recipe, and since she loves me, I also got a free lesson in how to make them. Bonus! Mary Jane, Mike, Ron and I met up for dinner Saturday night and then back to our house to start cooking.
One thing I didn't remember is how l o n g it takes to make a batch of pizzelles. Our guests made sure I had a good handle on things, and decided it was time to cut out for home. Me and my iron sat there and had some mindless time together. Put the batter in, light goes from green to red, when it goes back to green again, pizzelles are done, take them out of iron, place on cooling rack. Rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. I gave up I think about 11:00 or so. Ron was a sport and took over until well after midnight. He really did the lion's share. I was able to finish up the batch on Sunday in just over an hour.
Now I have pizzelles. And they are absolutely awesome! My iron isn't exactly like Mary Janes, so my pizzelles come out a little smaller and a little thicker, but they are still good. No, they are still awesome. If anyone wants some, you better get back to my house before I get there on Friday! I'm drooling over here just thinking of them!
Now today is Monday, and that means I flew back to Chicago. From Cleveland to Chicago, I am on a small regional jet. It seats only 50 passengers and all bags larger than a briefcase or a lap top bag must be checked as there is no room in the overhead compartments. So, when I have to come to Chicago in the winter time, I pack my large suitcase, and pack my coat in my bag to save room in the overheads, then check the bag. When I get to baggage claim, I take my coat out and I'm good to go. Usually I'm only coatless for about a minute at curb side check in.
This morning when we left the house, it was -2 degrees. Yes, that's MINUS two degrees. I thought I'd just forego curbside check in and go on inside the airport to check in. At the last minute, I had a brain fart. The guy at curb side might have recognized, me, or else he was just humping another bag. But he grabbed my bag and said "ready?" I wasn't going to argue. I said sure, but I want to put my coat in my bag before you take it. Of course, this was the day he was going to have printer probems and it took awhile to get my baggage check ticket printed out; with me standing there is -2 degree weather with no freakin' coat on. Can you say brrr?
A nice brisk walk through the airport the 50 miles to my gate helped a little bit. By the time I got to the "D" terminal, I could almost feel my toes again. However, it didn't get any better after that. The terminal was absolutely freezing. The jetways are not well insulated, and the cold air was just coming right through the doors. Then when the doors were open to load or unload passengers it was even worse. Man not a good day to pack my coat in my bag.
Wait, it gets worse. It's finally my turn to board the plane. I can't feel my fingers or toes walking down the jetway. This was not a good day to be an elite flyer with Continental. My seat number was 3A. That means I'm really up in the front of the plane. Really really close to the open freakin' door. No wait. Not just one door, the galley service door is open as well! Two doors open and I'm right in front of them. Holy crap, I've never been this cold. The chintzy blanket in the overhead that I grabbed really didn't do much to help either.
I finally get into Chicago, get to baggage claim and pull out my warm cozy coat. I was never so happy to see some blue fabric as I was when I opened my bag!
Now, I've heard two different temperatures on the radio leaving the airport. One said we had a wind chill of -35 and a second opinion said a wind chill of -25. I don't care which one you go with, it's freakin' COLD. And at this point, I don't think that 10 degrees really matters in the scheme of things.
So now I must give Enterprise Rental Cars their moment. I was checking out a car for the week, when they said I get a PT Cruiser. Hey, I'm ok with that. I waited in the semi warm building for the guy to go get my car and bring it to the door for me. (I love this part of this Enterprise!) What do I see when he comes around? They have washed the car! It is now encapsulated in ice!! The entire car!!! Hello? Who in their right mind would wash a car in sub zero weather? This guy actually said to me that they just couldn't give me a dirty car. No, they'd rather give me a frozen shut car. I warned him that he better show up with a blow torch if I end up where I can't get in or out of this car. I had to pound some ice off of the side view mirrors to see out of them before I left!
So, it's been a miserable Monday weather wise. I haven't been warm since I crawled out of bed this morning. Now I'm sitting here in the hotel, the heat is turned up to about 80 and I'm looking at my king sized bed with the ultra plush comforter. So if y'all will excuse me, I think I need to crawl up under them covers and try to defrost my toes.
First to back track a little bit, for my birthday, Ron got me a pizzelle iron! Ok, I've made them before with my sister, Barb. I remember them being a lot of work, but the end result is just so worth it. I was excited to get going with my very own pizzelle iron!
Where to start? I called Mary Jane, who makes the best pizzelles around. I asked for her recipe, and since she loves me, I also got a free lesson in how to make them. Bonus! Mary Jane, Mike, Ron and I met up for dinner Saturday night and then back to our house to start cooking.
One thing I didn't remember is how l o n g it takes to make a batch of pizzelles. Our guests made sure I had a good handle on things, and decided it was time to cut out for home. Me and my iron sat there and had some mindless time together. Put the batter in, light goes from green to red, when it goes back to green again, pizzelles are done, take them out of iron, place on cooling rack. Rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. I gave up I think about 11:00 or so. Ron was a sport and took over until well after midnight. He really did the lion's share. I was able to finish up the batch on Sunday in just over an hour.
Now I have pizzelles. And they are absolutely awesome! My iron isn't exactly like Mary Janes, so my pizzelles come out a little smaller and a little thicker, but they are still good. No, they are still awesome. If anyone wants some, you better get back to my house before I get there on Friday! I'm drooling over here just thinking of them!
Now today is Monday, and that means I flew back to Chicago. From Cleveland to Chicago, I am on a small regional jet. It seats only 50 passengers and all bags larger than a briefcase or a lap top bag must be checked as there is no room in the overhead compartments. So, when I have to come to Chicago in the winter time, I pack my large suitcase, and pack my coat in my bag to save room in the overheads, then check the bag. When I get to baggage claim, I take my coat out and I'm good to go. Usually I'm only coatless for about a minute at curb side check in.
This morning when we left the house, it was -2 degrees. Yes, that's MINUS two degrees. I thought I'd just forego curbside check in and go on inside the airport to check in. At the last minute, I had a brain fart. The guy at curb side might have recognized, me, or else he was just humping another bag. But he grabbed my bag and said "ready?" I wasn't going to argue. I said sure, but I want to put my coat in my bag before you take it. Of course, this was the day he was going to have printer probems and it took awhile to get my baggage check ticket printed out; with me standing there is -2 degree weather with no freakin' coat on. Can you say brrr?
A nice brisk walk through the airport the 50 miles to my gate helped a little bit. By the time I got to the "D" terminal, I could almost feel my toes again. However, it didn't get any better after that. The terminal was absolutely freezing. The jetways are not well insulated, and the cold air was just coming right through the doors. Then when the doors were open to load or unload passengers it was even worse. Man not a good day to pack my coat in my bag.
Wait, it gets worse. It's finally my turn to board the plane. I can't feel my fingers or toes walking down the jetway. This was not a good day to be an elite flyer with Continental. My seat number was 3A. That means I'm really up in the front of the plane. Really really close to the open freakin' door. No wait. Not just one door, the galley service door is open as well! Two doors open and I'm right in front of them. Holy crap, I've never been this cold. The chintzy blanket in the overhead that I grabbed really didn't do much to help either.
I finally get into Chicago, get to baggage claim and pull out my warm cozy coat. I was never so happy to see some blue fabric as I was when I opened my bag!
Now, I've heard two different temperatures on the radio leaving the airport. One said we had a wind chill of -35 and a second opinion said a wind chill of -25. I don't care which one you go with, it's freakin' COLD. And at this point, I don't think that 10 degrees really matters in the scheme of things.
So now I must give Enterprise Rental Cars their moment. I was checking out a car for the week, when they said I get a PT Cruiser. Hey, I'm ok with that. I waited in the semi warm building for the guy to go get my car and bring it to the door for me. (I love this part of this Enterprise!) What do I see when he comes around? They have washed the car! It is now encapsulated in ice!! The entire car!!! Hello? Who in their right mind would wash a car in sub zero weather? This guy actually said to me that they just couldn't give me a dirty car. No, they'd rather give me a frozen shut car. I warned him that he better show up with a blow torch if I end up where I can't get in or out of this car. I had to pound some ice off of the side view mirrors to see out of them before I left!
So, it's been a miserable Monday weather wise. I haven't been warm since I crawled out of bed this morning. Now I'm sitting here in the hotel, the heat is turned up to about 80 and I'm looking at my king sized bed with the ultra plush comforter. So if y'all will excuse me, I think I need to crawl up under them covers and try to defrost my toes.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
News Flash!
It's finally here! I saw announced this morning that the newest (and sadly the last) Harry Potter book is due for release on July 21, 2007. I am so excited about this fact!
Even worse, on that day, the book will be delivered to my house. Here's hoping I'm home that day to get the mail.
Any guesses on who bites the dust? I was thinking Ron and Hermione would be killed off saving Harry while finally killing Voldemort. Then again, maybe Longbottom is meant to go. But who knows? Perhaps it would really be a twist if it's Professor Snape and Malfoy that will be done in!
Oh mercy. It's going to be a long six months until I can find out the last of the secrets.
Even worse, on that day, the book will be delivered to my house. Here's hoping I'm home that day to get the mail.
Any guesses on who bites the dust? I was thinking Ron and Hermione would be killed off saving Harry while finally killing Voldemort. Then again, maybe Longbottom is meant to go. But who knows? Perhaps it would really be a twist if it's Professor Snape and Malfoy that will be done in!
Oh mercy. It's going to be a long six months until I can find out the last of the secrets.
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