Wednesday I started on site at a new audit.
Most of the work for this audit can be done in our local office, but for a few days, we will need to be on site at the client’s location pulling information.
Every company I’ve been to has its own quirks. I’ve been on the 10th floor with a window overlooking the lake and I’ve been locked in a room with three other women that don’t talk to each other and I’ve been relegated to a basement with the rats and spiders. You can see why I love this job, right?
Anyway, I was talking about quirks. This company has its own share of them. I went to the supervisor to ask a question Wednesday afternoon and I walked into her cubicle while she was “at lunch”. What was she doing at lunch? Playing Pogo! You just have to love anyone that plays Pogo. Heaven knows I spend my share of time playing on Pogo myself.
That wasn’t the quirk though, just an observation.
The quirk is their bathrooms.
You need your key card to get into the bathroom here! Since we are not going to be on site long, they have not issued us any security passes. We check in with the receptionist when we get here and she lets us in. Pretty easy except for the bathroom situation. Since we do not have key cards, we were issued old fashioned metal keys.
What possible reason could there be to have security locks on the bathrooms? The only scenario I can come up with is that they actually track who goes into the bathroom and when. There is no security pass to get out of the bathroom, but they sure do know when and how often you are in there! That is just wrong in my mind on so many levels!
Today my money making idea is this: I stand outside of the bathrooms with my assigned key and charge a fee to unlock the bathroom door. C’mon now - $5 just so Big Brother doesn’t know you have the runs or that you were retaining water or just need to walk away into a quieter environment! How much could my key possibly be worth in a day?
Friday, May 23, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Weekend Update
In my humble opinion, I think we had a really great weekend.
Brother Jim drove in from Erie and we had a wonderful visit! This time he didn’t pop in and pop out a few hours later. We actually got to enjoy his company for most of the weekend.
In honor of this occasion, I made a big batch of orange spaghetti (anyone in our family knows that dinner!). We were having a little get together on Saturday, so we went out for a bit after dinner just to pick up some supplies. Other than that, I guess it was a quiet night.
Saturday, we took Jim to one of our local restaurants for breakfast. Chello’s isn’t going to be a five star restaurant in anyone’s books, but the owner, Jorge, is really nice and friendly and always comes out of the kitchen when he has time to say hello to everyone. Nice guy, good cook. And, one of the waitresses is really funny. We always ask for her section when we go in to eat and she is never disappointing. We get our food, a few laughs and even some local gossip. Can’t beat that.
We did get a little sightseeing in as we took Jim to the Black River Landing after breakfast. It’s just above where the Black River empties into Lake Erie. More times than not when we’ve been there, we get to see the road that spans the Black River go up to let any tall ships in. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it thrills the heck out of me! It could be a big freighter coming in or going out or it could be a tall sail boat. I just love watching the traffic up and down the river. Unfortunately, when we stopped by Saturday, all was quiet. No bells and whistles going off that something was coming up the river.
I was making a batch of Hungarian Goulash for our get together that evening. I had everything I needed but the meat. We have a local grocery store in our neighborhood called Fligners Market. While I think some of their prices on items are high, you absolutely can’t find better than their meat counter in any grocery store chain around. They move so much meat, that there is no fancy packaging behind the counter. There are bins and bins of meat that they sell in such quantity, everything is always fresh. You will wait in line to buy anything, so be prepared. No matter how long you will wait, it will be worth every minute.
Since I am not a great cook, and have a limited focus when it comes to cooking, I’m not afraid to ask for help. The woman that waited on us told me she had worked there for over 25 years. If she doesn’t know about meat, no one does! I explained to her what I was cooking and asked for her suggestion on what meat to buy. I thought I was looking for a nice piece of chuck or round, whatever I could get cheaper. After all, this dish simmers for three hours, so that’s a lot of time to make even a bad piece of meat taste good.
She suggested this big roast that was really close in weight to how much I wanted. I told her that might be ok, but that was going to be hard to cut up into cubes. She offered to cube it for me. What? Where do you get this kind of service? She added that at no extra charge, she would cut it up into cubes for me, bag it up and I’d be ready to go. She verified that I was making something similar to a beef stew and that stew chunks should work. I was thrilled! Less cutting for me! And, the roast she picked out was $.20 cheaper a pound than what I would have ordered on my own. Bonus!
As another added bonus about Fligners, it’s one of the last places that the bagboys will take your groceries out to your car for you. Some days, that does come in handy. Nice piece of personal service.
After the store, Jim and Ron worked on Jim’s computer (sometimes I think Jim comes to see Ron more than he comes to see me!) while I worked on getting dinner going. We had the Hungarian Goulash over Slovak halushki (similar to spaetzel) and I made a nice big mixed salad on a bed of baby spinach. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer dinner. To top this off, I even made raspberry margaritas! I’m telling you, I was the hostess with the mostest, as someone called me!
Everyone left about 10:00. Made me realize we are not the crazy party people anymore. If your party breaks up before midnight on a Saturday night, that can’t be good. Hmm. I think everyone had a good time!
I threw one load into the dishwasher and headed up to bed. Sunday, Ron had to go to fix someone’s computer, so I had some quiet time to recover from the past two days. I lounged around, played Pogo, did some laundry, put the second load into the dishwasher, and just had quiet time.
For dinner, Ron and I were scooping up some leftovers from over the weekend, so no problems in cooking dinner. It really was a great weekend. It may have been busy, but it was great to spend the weekend at home. As the saying goes, there’s no place like it.
Brother Jim drove in from Erie and we had a wonderful visit! This time he didn’t pop in and pop out a few hours later. We actually got to enjoy his company for most of the weekend.
In honor of this occasion, I made a big batch of orange spaghetti (anyone in our family knows that dinner!). We were having a little get together on Saturday, so we went out for a bit after dinner just to pick up some supplies. Other than that, I guess it was a quiet night.
Saturday, we took Jim to one of our local restaurants for breakfast. Chello’s isn’t going to be a five star restaurant in anyone’s books, but the owner, Jorge, is really nice and friendly and always comes out of the kitchen when he has time to say hello to everyone. Nice guy, good cook. And, one of the waitresses is really funny. We always ask for her section when we go in to eat and she is never disappointing. We get our food, a few laughs and even some local gossip. Can’t beat that.
We did get a little sightseeing in as we took Jim to the Black River Landing after breakfast. It’s just above where the Black River empties into Lake Erie. More times than not when we’ve been there, we get to see the road that spans the Black River go up to let any tall ships in. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it thrills the heck out of me! It could be a big freighter coming in or going out or it could be a tall sail boat. I just love watching the traffic up and down the river. Unfortunately, when we stopped by Saturday, all was quiet. No bells and whistles going off that something was coming up the river.
I was making a batch of Hungarian Goulash for our get together that evening. I had everything I needed but the meat. We have a local grocery store in our neighborhood called Fligners Market. While I think some of their prices on items are high, you absolutely can’t find better than their meat counter in any grocery store chain around. They move so much meat, that there is no fancy packaging behind the counter. There are bins and bins of meat that they sell in such quantity, everything is always fresh. You will wait in line to buy anything, so be prepared. No matter how long you will wait, it will be worth every minute.
Since I am not a great cook, and have a limited focus when it comes to cooking, I’m not afraid to ask for help. The woman that waited on us told me she had worked there for over 25 years. If she doesn’t know about meat, no one does! I explained to her what I was cooking and asked for her suggestion on what meat to buy. I thought I was looking for a nice piece of chuck or round, whatever I could get cheaper. After all, this dish simmers for three hours, so that’s a lot of time to make even a bad piece of meat taste good.
She suggested this big roast that was really close in weight to how much I wanted. I told her that might be ok, but that was going to be hard to cut up into cubes. She offered to cube it for me. What? Where do you get this kind of service? She added that at no extra charge, she would cut it up into cubes for me, bag it up and I’d be ready to go. She verified that I was making something similar to a beef stew and that stew chunks should work. I was thrilled! Less cutting for me! And, the roast she picked out was $.20 cheaper a pound than what I would have ordered on my own. Bonus!
As another added bonus about Fligners, it’s one of the last places that the bagboys will take your groceries out to your car for you. Some days, that does come in handy. Nice piece of personal service.
After the store, Jim and Ron worked on Jim’s computer (sometimes I think Jim comes to see Ron more than he comes to see me!) while I worked on getting dinner going. We had the Hungarian Goulash over Slovak halushki (similar to spaetzel) and I made a nice big mixed salad on a bed of baby spinach. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer dinner. To top this off, I even made raspberry margaritas! I’m telling you, I was the hostess with the mostest, as someone called me!
Everyone left about 10:00. Made me realize we are not the crazy party people anymore. If your party breaks up before midnight on a Saturday night, that can’t be good. Hmm. I think everyone had a good time!
I threw one load into the dishwasher and headed up to bed. Sunday, Ron had to go to fix someone’s computer, so I had some quiet time to recover from the past two days. I lounged around, played Pogo, did some laundry, put the second load into the dishwasher, and just had quiet time.
For dinner, Ron and I were scooping up some leftovers from over the weekend, so no problems in cooking dinner. It really was a great weekend. It may have been busy, but it was great to spend the weekend at home. As the saying goes, there’s no place like it.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Vacation Photos!
Sunday our day was filled with being tourists and family fun.
We started by going to the parents of the bride from the wedding the day before for a housewarming party. We had a nice visit with everyone without everyone rushing around like at the wedding. Aside from two dogs in the house which had me cowering in a corner, the visit was wonderful!
After the housewarming, Ron and I headed to Coon Rapids Dam. We got to walk over the dam, right across the Mississippi River! Here is a serene picture looking upstream at the Mississippi River:
I really can't tell you how beautiful this spot was. It has quickly become one of my favorite spots to see. Here is the actual dam:
And, then of course, the picture downstream after all that:
I truly couldn't capture the magnificence of this site in these pictures. It was just awe inspiring to see the power of the water rushing through the dam. Here's a picture of Ron! Hey, I was the photographer which means I'm allowed to take pictures of anything I want to! Hi, honey:
After a great walk all over the dam, we headed to pick up Ron's youngest son Vince, for some family time. We started with a late lunch then on to Taylors Falls which is half in Minnesota and half in Wisconsin. I wish I would have taken a picture of the sign at Taylors Falls explaining the lava flows and the potholes because this place is really hard to describe. To start with, the gorgeous St. Croix River runs through this park. The park is formed from lava flows from years and years ago. Somehow, the water sitting on the lava has through the years, formed "potholes". These are almost perfectly circular holes in the lava rocks that really are hard to believe are not man made. The largest one there that has been explored is 63' deep and about 20' across. It's absolutely massive. Here are pictures of some of the smaller ones.
We hit the site late in the afternoon so sometimes the light was against me in taking pictures of some of the potholes. These two came out the best.
The fun though was climbing all over the rocks. What the hell do I think I am? A kid? Well, I found out really fast just how much of a grown up I was when Vince was standing on the edge of some rocks and instead of just freaking out on him, I quickly snapped a picture and then climbed down so I wouldn't have to see him perched so precariously on the edge! (I know, I am a wuss.)
This area was again, some of the most gorgeous land around. Here are some pictures of the St. Croix River going up and down stream:
Some of the rock formations here at Taylors Falls also are popular with real rock climbers. In this first one, you can see the girl climbing and at this point she is maybe 20 feet up. You can see her towards the top right of the picture:
We walked away for what I thought was a few minutes, 15 at the most, and when we came back down the trail, the girl was off of the rocks and this guy was taking his turn. Again, he is in the top right corner:
Keep in mind, he is close to the top which I'm guessing is about 80 feet up. It was scaring the crap out of me watching them too! There were a few groups of rock climbers out on that path, practicing their hobby. It takes all kinds, I guess.
We left Taylors Falls and hooked up with Ron's middle son, Derick and his wife Amanda. Here is a nice partial family photo:
Yeah, I'm not the greatest photographer and I was even using a flash.
Ron's oldest son, Alex, had to work. Since he is a server at one of the nicer chain restaurants, Mother's Day was a day he definitely could not take off from work. He was stuck there until closing, so the group of us headed to that restaurant to see him! Since it was late by the time we showed up, we were his last table for the night. The good thing about that is, Alex then had a chance to sit and relax with us a bit after taking care of the last of his customers. It was nice that all of us could be together around the table. Here is a picture of Ron and Alex:
After the late dinner, and after an extremely busy day, Alex begged off of more festivities that night as he did have other plans. So, Ron, Vince, Derick, Amanda and I headed out for fun. What fun you ask? Why midnight bowling of course!
Now, I haven't been bowling since I lived in Texas and even back then I was never that good! Since then I've had back surgery so I was a little apprehensive about this undertaking. But, since none of us were out for blood, heck, none of us were particularly good at bowling, I gave it the ol' heave ho down the lane. I ended up with a 108 and a 95 for my efforts! I don't think that's too bad for someone that doesn't know what they are doing! So as not to be embarrassed alone, Ron's scores were 105 and 95! Yeah, we both sucked! But we had a ball. While we are obviously a lot older than his kids, we were both showing our age when all was said and done. I don't know who was hobbling more out of there.
We almost need a vacation to get over a vacation trying to keep up with the kids!
It was all worth it though. We really did have a great time.
Monday was going home day; always a sad day. All of us met up one more time for lunch at Rose Garden. What a blast! I know I'm definitely going to miss the food there. We finished lunch and still had time before we had to head to the airport for the ride home. We decided just to be able to spend more time together, we all headed back to the Mall of America which is basically right next door to the airport.
We walked, we shopped, we gabbed, we laughed. Then it was time to head out. We all walked out to the parking lot and hugs were passed around.
It was a strange event at the airport. There were two scheduled flights from Minneapolis to Cleveland. Our flight which was scheduled to depart at 4:55 pm and the next flight was scheduled to depart at 6:30 pm.
When we checked in at the airport, they told us our flight was going to be delayed but not to worry, they'd get us home. That did not make me feel the warm fuzzies! When we made our way back to the gate, all it said was our flight was delayed.
Finally, a gate agent came and filled us in on the scoop. Our plane due to depart at 4:55 pm was coming from somewhere on the east coast and had gotten stuck in bad weather. The weather delayed it so much that now it wasn't due in until after the 6:30 flight departed! Since our flight and the 6:30 flight were both light on passengers, they ended up cancelling our original flight and put all of us on the 6:30 flight, which did leave on time. The sad thing is, with two flights now combined, we had only about 20 passengers on a 50 passenger plane. We had a lot of stretching out room! It was definitely a quiet flight back, especially since I slept most of the way home.
It's a good thing Ron and I took yesterday off as a recuperation day since we sure did need it. Like I said, the kids had us running and gunning the whole time and I wouldn't have had it any other way!
Today was back to work. Ugh. Vacation is definitely over.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
It WAS As Good As He Said
We had a nice quiet morning on Saturday.
The wedding started at 2:00 and our hotel was less than a mile from the Church. So, we did a little shopping then decided to have an early lunch.
For as long as I've known Ron, one of his famous sayings is "well, it's good, but it's not as good as Rose Garden". If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times. Really, how good can one restaurant be? I love Chinese food as much as the next person but can this place really be all that?
I was about to be indoctrinated into the nirvana that is Rose Garden. Just to antagonize Ron, I really didn't want to like it. I planned on ending with "it was ok. Not all that, but ok". You have no idea how I hate it when he's right. Which by the way, is all too often!
Rose Garden is small. There might have been 10 tables, maybe 12 tables. After a little reunion with the owners (who are good friends of Ron) we took one of the last empty tables. Keep in mind, this place just opened for the day and it was already almost full. By the time we were done there was a line of people waiting on a table.
Ron told me it was a buffet but I didn't see any buffet tables. They do what they called "buffet" but it's not like a buffet I've been to before. You sit at the table, they bring you your beverage and then one at a time they come out with the bowls of food and they go table to table offering portions. Remember, I didn't want to like it. In the end, I can't tell you which dish I enjoyed more. I can tell you I didn't care for the egg rolls but aside from that, holy crap. Right then and there I told Ron he was right, and trust me, saying those words hurt!
From the steak and onions to the chicken and broccoli to the best sweet and sour pork I ever had. On the side was absolutely the best fried rice and lo mien in the world. This truly was one of the top three restaurants I've ever been to.
After all that, we ended up back at the hotel to get ready for the wedding. It was now raining like heck, but I've heard that's good luck on a wedding day. The wedding went very well with a gorgeous bride and a handsome groom and crying parents and grandparents and lots of smiles and hugs around.
The reception was at a golf course country club. I guess in Minnesota the golf playing days are a lot fewer than in other places. I guess that accounts for the fact that there was a ton of guys playing golf in the rain! Maybe they were just happy it wasn't snow.
The reception was very nice with champagne for everyone. Gotta love that! We met a lot of new people and had a very nice time. By the time that was over, we had definitely had our fill of food for the day. The rest of the evening was spent resting at the hotel.
The adventures for today are still in the works. Here's to day two of our vacation!
The wedding started at 2:00 and our hotel was less than a mile from the Church. So, we did a little shopping then decided to have an early lunch.
For as long as I've known Ron, one of his famous sayings is "well, it's good, but it's not as good as Rose Garden". If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times. Really, how good can one restaurant be? I love Chinese food as much as the next person but can this place really be all that?
I was about to be indoctrinated into the nirvana that is Rose Garden. Just to antagonize Ron, I really didn't want to like it. I planned on ending with "it was ok. Not all that, but ok". You have no idea how I hate it when he's right. Which by the way, is all too often!
Rose Garden is small. There might have been 10 tables, maybe 12 tables. After a little reunion with the owners (who are good friends of Ron) we took one of the last empty tables. Keep in mind, this place just opened for the day and it was already almost full. By the time we were done there was a line of people waiting on a table.
Ron told me it was a buffet but I didn't see any buffet tables. They do what they called "buffet" but it's not like a buffet I've been to before. You sit at the table, they bring you your beverage and then one at a time they come out with the bowls of food and they go table to table offering portions. Remember, I didn't want to like it. In the end, I can't tell you which dish I enjoyed more. I can tell you I didn't care for the egg rolls but aside from that, holy crap. Right then and there I told Ron he was right, and trust me, saying those words hurt!
From the steak and onions to the chicken and broccoli to the best sweet and sour pork I ever had. On the side was absolutely the best fried rice and lo mien in the world. This truly was one of the top three restaurants I've ever been to.
After all that, we ended up back at the hotel to get ready for the wedding. It was now raining like heck, but I've heard that's good luck on a wedding day. The wedding went very well with a gorgeous bride and a handsome groom and crying parents and grandparents and lots of smiles and hugs around.
The reception was at a golf course country club. I guess in Minnesota the golf playing days are a lot fewer than in other places. I guess that accounts for the fact that there was a ton of guys playing golf in the rain! Maybe they were just happy it wasn't snow.
The reception was very nice with champagne for everyone. Gotta love that! We met a lot of new people and had a very nice time. By the time that was over, we had definitely had our fill of food for the day. The rest of the evening was spent resting at the hotel.
The adventures for today are still in the works. Here's to day two of our vacation!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
From Pathetic To VIP
Ron and I are on vacation!
We are now in the cool and breezy vacation wonderland of Minneapolis MN. Yes, Minneapolis MN. You vacation your way, we'll vacation ours! Actually, the daughter of a very good friend of Ron's got married today. We came to town for the wedding and for Ron to get some family time here. Let me tell you, so far it's been a whirlwind!
Friday we flew out of Cleveland on a regional jet that is the kind of plane I always seem to fly. Since I am the one that made the reservations, I got to pick out our seats on the plane. I happen to love the last seat on the plane so that's where we sat. This is however, the very first time I've been in a plane that was this empty.
The plane seats about 50 people and I don't think we had 20 on this flight. While I may love the last seat in the plane, it seemed that no one else liked to sit back that far. We had the entire back of the plane to ourselves. To the flight attendant, we were affectionately called "the trouble makers in zone five"! I love it when I am recognized and accounted for! Well, she was joking, sort of. Yes, we were in zone 5 but aside from her having to walk all the way to the back of the plane to check on us, we were pretty quiet. Then again, I tried to make an agreement with her that if she just stayed in the front of the plane, we'd try to be REAL quiet in the back of the plane! ;-) Yes, she caught my drift and wondered to the back of the plane as often as she could. Oh well, I went to plan B in which I napped all the way over here.
We left the airport in our rental car and headed over to the Mall of America. The biggest damn mall I've ever seen! Aside from the usual mall type stores and kiosks and stuff, this mall has a huge amusement park right smack dab in the middle. This is complete with at least two different roller coasters, plus a Ferris Wheel and a ton of other rides. We did sit for awhile to watch the faces of the riders of one ride. This coaster type ride started by going straight up to the glass ceiling. The ride then went over the crest and came screaming straight down almost to the floor before it went upside down through the loop da loop. All that inside of a mall. Crazy!
We also went to a few stores in the mall. One of the most amazing was Lego Land. This ain't your mama's legos. They sold all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors of legos. They had dinosaurs built from legos, they had people built from legos. The lego pirate ship and bi plane were indescribable! They also had a kit for you to build a scale model of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars! For a mere $499.99 the pieces needed and the instructions were yours with a wish good luck! Regardless, to see what they've built with legos and to see all of the possibilities and the kits, it was an amazing store.
Ron then called his son, Derick to let him know we made it to town. Derick asked if we had plans for the evening. As we were pretty much playing everything by ear Friday, we said we were free should he have something in mind. Boy, did he have something in mind! For the first time in my life, I can say I actually had connections! I finally knew people! Big time score for us!
Derick happens to be the manager of Acme Comedy Club! This club has been featured on last year's season of Last Comic Standing and will also be featured on this season of the show as well. Since Ron and I are both big fans of comedy, we definitely took Derick up on his offer. Not only did Derick give us free tickets to the show, but we got VIP seats (that means right next to the stage!) and free drinks for the night. Can you believe it? VIP treatment! Too bad our timing wasn't a day sooner since the Comedy Club hosted Robin Williams the night before. While we didn't get to see Robin Williams, we did get to see Greg Warren who still had us rolling in the aisles. It was a great night.
Today was another stellar day. We had a great time at the wedding, but that will be the next blog.
For now, rest and relaxation time. After all, I AM on vacation!
We are now in the cool and breezy vacation wonderland of Minneapolis MN. Yes, Minneapolis MN. You vacation your way, we'll vacation ours! Actually, the daughter of a very good friend of Ron's got married today. We came to town for the wedding and for Ron to get some family time here. Let me tell you, so far it's been a whirlwind!
Friday we flew out of Cleveland on a regional jet that is the kind of plane I always seem to fly. Since I am the one that made the reservations, I got to pick out our seats on the plane. I happen to love the last seat on the plane so that's where we sat. This is however, the very first time I've been in a plane that was this empty.
The plane seats about 50 people and I don't think we had 20 on this flight. While I may love the last seat in the plane, it seemed that no one else liked to sit back that far. We had the entire back of the plane to ourselves. To the flight attendant, we were affectionately called "the trouble makers in zone five"! I love it when I am recognized and accounted for! Well, she was joking, sort of. Yes, we were in zone 5 but aside from her having to walk all the way to the back of the plane to check on us, we were pretty quiet. Then again, I tried to make an agreement with her that if she just stayed in the front of the plane, we'd try to be REAL quiet in the back of the plane! ;-) Yes, she caught my drift and wondered to the back of the plane as often as she could. Oh well, I went to plan B in which I napped all the way over here.
We left the airport in our rental car and headed over to the Mall of America. The biggest damn mall I've ever seen! Aside from the usual mall type stores and kiosks and stuff, this mall has a huge amusement park right smack dab in the middle. This is complete with at least two different roller coasters, plus a Ferris Wheel and a ton of other rides. We did sit for awhile to watch the faces of the riders of one ride. This coaster type ride started by going straight up to the glass ceiling. The ride then went over the crest and came screaming straight down almost to the floor before it went upside down through the loop da loop. All that inside of a mall. Crazy!
We also went to a few stores in the mall. One of the most amazing was Lego Land. This ain't your mama's legos. They sold all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors of legos. They had dinosaurs built from legos, they had people built from legos. The lego pirate ship and bi plane were indescribable! They also had a kit for you to build a scale model of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars! For a mere $499.99 the pieces needed and the instructions were yours with a wish good luck! Regardless, to see what they've built with legos and to see all of the possibilities and the kits, it was an amazing store.
Ron then called his son, Derick to let him know we made it to town. Derick asked if we had plans for the evening. As we were pretty much playing everything by ear Friday, we said we were free should he have something in mind. Boy, did he have something in mind! For the first time in my life, I can say I actually had connections! I finally knew people! Big time score for us!
Derick happens to be the manager of Acme Comedy Club! This club has been featured on last year's season of Last Comic Standing and will also be featured on this season of the show as well. Since Ron and I are both big fans of comedy, we definitely took Derick up on his offer. Not only did Derick give us free tickets to the show, but we got VIP seats (that means right next to the stage!) and free drinks for the night. Can you believe it? VIP treatment! Too bad our timing wasn't a day sooner since the Comedy Club hosted Robin Williams the night before. While we didn't get to see Robin Williams, we did get to see Greg Warren who still had us rolling in the aisles. It was a great night.
Today was another stellar day. We had a great time at the wedding, but that will be the next blog.
For now, rest and relaxation time. After all, I AM on vacation!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
I'm Not Fighting It Any Longer - I AM Pathetic!
I was driving home from work yesterday when I realized that somehow I had picked up a hitchhiker.
Right there on my windshield was a huge BUG! I don't mean that he went splat on my windshield, but rather he was actually sitting there hitching a ride. Or else he was eyeing me through the windshield wondering how much fun I'd be to terrorize or to bite. I started driving like I was in a Ford or something when I saw him! Not that I'm an expert on bugs, but I don't think I've ever seen something like this before. His body was about 1-1/2" long. At first I thought it was just a bee because I saw the striped body. But his hind legs looked like grasshopper legs. And his antenna were at least as long as his body! Weird looking thing. Scary too.
Of course I called Ron. (I did use my hands free blue tooth via my Garmin to do it though!) I must have been in a slight panic since he did have to ask me to repeat myself. I told him there is a huge freakin' bug on my windshield and it's lookin' at me! When he stopped laughing, he suggested perhaps my windshield wipers would do the trick. Ok, yeah, I never thought of that. But then again, the more I did think about it all I could see was smearing it all across my windshield. Besides, it is in the outdoors where in belongs. If he was in my house, all bets are off. But outdoors, I can't just kill him for being on the outside of my car.
I told Ron that I had planned on stopping at the store on my way home, but now I'm not sure if I can get out of my car with that thing looking at me. The good man that he is, he suggested I pull into the driveway at home, he'll get the bug off of my windshield and then I could pull right back out again and go to the store! Now THAT sounded like a plan!
Then I thought that sounded kinda pathetic. Yeah, Ron did have to save me from a spider last night, but hey! That was in the kitchen and he was right over my sink. How's a girl supposed to do dishes with a monster right in front of her? But I digress. I'm talking about the bug on the windshield.
I didn't want to be so pathetic that I had to go home for bug control on my windshield. I told Ron that hopefully in the three miles or so I had to go, maybe the bug would leave of his own volition. Then I could get out of the car safe and sound at the store. Yes, I was going to be an adult and be brave and head right to the store.
Big mistake.
If you hear of any news reports of a woman having a seizure at Walgreens or just acting crazy, that was me.
The bug was still on my windshield when I pulled into the parking lot. I sat there and stared at him while he stared right back. Then I got the bright idea that he was content on my windshield, he's been there at least for the last five miles, so perhaps he'll just remain content on there while I go to the store. Not.
As soon as I got out of my car and shut the door, he comes after me. He's flying/jumping around my head while I'm doing my best to duck, cover and slap the crap out of him. My arms were flaying overhead, my legs were kicking and I'm not sure, but I think there might have been a scream as well. The store manager happened to be outside having a smoke and was nice enough to watch the whole thing. From a distance. Go figure.
The bug left me no worse for the wear I guess. I lost some dignity, and burned off quite a few calories I'm sure with that bug fighting exhibition. I then straightened my blouse, and headed into the store like a pseudo-professional woman and did my shopping. I paid no attention to the fact that the store manager continued to follow me through the store, again from a distance.
But, from now on, I'm going to accept that I am pathetic and go home and make Ron take care of my bugs! Otherwise I may no longer be welcome at Walgreens!
Right there on my windshield was a huge BUG! I don't mean that he went splat on my windshield, but rather he was actually sitting there hitching a ride. Or else he was eyeing me through the windshield wondering how much fun I'd be to terrorize or to bite. I started driving like I was in a Ford or something when I saw him! Not that I'm an expert on bugs, but I don't think I've ever seen something like this before. His body was about 1-1/2" long. At first I thought it was just a bee because I saw the striped body. But his hind legs looked like grasshopper legs. And his antenna were at least as long as his body! Weird looking thing. Scary too.
Of course I called Ron. (I did use my hands free blue tooth via my Garmin to do it though!) I must have been in a slight panic since he did have to ask me to repeat myself. I told him there is a huge freakin' bug on my windshield and it's lookin' at me! When he stopped laughing, he suggested perhaps my windshield wipers would do the trick. Ok, yeah, I never thought of that. But then again, the more I did think about it all I could see was smearing it all across my windshield. Besides, it is in the outdoors where in belongs. If he was in my house, all bets are off. But outdoors, I can't just kill him for being on the outside of my car.
I told Ron that I had planned on stopping at the store on my way home, but now I'm not sure if I can get out of my car with that thing looking at me. The good man that he is, he suggested I pull into the driveway at home, he'll get the bug off of my windshield and then I could pull right back out again and go to the store! Now THAT sounded like a plan!
Then I thought that sounded kinda pathetic. Yeah, Ron did have to save me from a spider last night, but hey! That was in the kitchen and he was right over my sink. How's a girl supposed to do dishes with a monster right in front of her? But I digress. I'm talking about the bug on the windshield.
I didn't want to be so pathetic that I had to go home for bug control on my windshield. I told Ron that hopefully in the three miles or so I had to go, maybe the bug would leave of his own volition. Then I could get out of the car safe and sound at the store. Yes, I was going to be an adult and be brave and head right to the store.
Big mistake.
If you hear of any news reports of a woman having a seizure at Walgreens or just acting crazy, that was me.
The bug was still on my windshield when I pulled into the parking lot. I sat there and stared at him while he stared right back. Then I got the bright idea that he was content on my windshield, he's been there at least for the last five miles, so perhaps he'll just remain content on there while I go to the store. Not.
As soon as I got out of my car and shut the door, he comes after me. He's flying/jumping around my head while I'm doing my best to duck, cover and slap the crap out of him. My arms were flaying overhead, my legs were kicking and I'm not sure, but I think there might have been a scream as well. The store manager happened to be outside having a smoke and was nice enough to watch the whole thing. From a distance. Go figure.
The bug left me no worse for the wear I guess. I lost some dignity, and burned off quite a few calories I'm sure with that bug fighting exhibition. I then straightened my blouse, and headed into the store like a pseudo-professional woman and did my shopping. I paid no attention to the fact that the store manager continued to follow me through the store, again from a distance.
But, from now on, I'm going to accept that I am pathetic and go home and make Ron take care of my bugs! Otherwise I may no longer be welcome at Walgreens!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Toilet Humor
Ok, maybe this post isn't humorous, but it is about toilets.
There has been a media campaign going on in the Cleveland area that has to do with flushing old and outdated medication down your toilets.
As far back as I can remember, whenever you wanted to get rid of any meds, you were to flush them down the toilet. Any antibiotics that you didn't finish like you should have, or aspirin that was out of date, or anti inflammatories that made you sick to your stomach. Flush them. That way, no one gets their hands on things they shouldn't have their hands on. Every year or so when I go through my medicine cabinet, I flush all outdated cough syrup, allergy tabs, aspirin, whatever.
This media campaign is now warning people not to flush these meds down the toilet. Instead, we are to throw them in the garbage. The radio commercials suggest putting any pills in with your worst garbage, and then mixing them with coffee grounds or something before putting them out. But, don't flush them as they are going through the waste treatment plants and not getting filtered out and they are contaminating our water.
Yeah, go back and read that last paragraph again. The first time I heard this on the radio, it didn't really sink in. But this morning, it hit me like a brick right between the eyes.
In my years on this earth I can honestly say that I've never thought much about what happens to our bodily wastes once the toilet is flushed. As long as it's not in my bowl any longer, I guess it's not my problem. Or so I thought. I just took for granted that when I turned on the kitchen faucet to get a drink of water, that's what I was drinking. Nice, fresh, cold, clean water. How wrong I was. Our water is being contaminated with everyone's flushed drugs among whatever else they are not filtering out.
Now that I start to think about this subject, it's kind of hard to stop. I mean, what happens to the family goldfish or parakeet that is flushed? What about just plain old human waste? If the water treatment plants can't filter out some Sudafed or Percodan, or birth control are they really filtering out fecal matter or Tweety? O M G. One thing I haven't previously been afraid of is my drinking water.
So now they are saying that they can't filter out all these meds. Is this scaring the crap out of anybody besides me?
Well, I did do a little research. According to some of the websites I've looked at like this one and this one, the danger is to the waterways that inevitably are the recipients of the flushed water after it has gone through the waste treatment plants. Recent studies in Michigan and elsewhere have found levels of antidepressants, birth control and heart medications to name a few, in the Grand River near Grand Rapids and the Huron River near Ann Arbor.
Scientists have found Prozac harming mussels in the Ohio Rivers and drugs feminizing male fish in the Potomac River in Washington DC.
I'm telling you, this has been so eye opening. I have really put forth a concerted effort to diminish my carbon footprint on this earth. I am attempting to learn what I can and going "green". Recycling is huge in our house as is stopping vampire electricity to name just a few measures we've undertaken. Now I feel no matter what we do, it's not enough and we're still killing ourselves.
As frightening as it is that our fish and wildlife are being affected by what has been flushed down our toilets, it is even more terrifying that scientists also found "extremely tiny" concentrations of Ibuprofen in treated drinking water in Ann Arbor. WHAT? I'd like to know what these scientists consider "extremely tiny". I can't imagine that any level is acceptable. And, that's just one drug they are mentioning. How many more are there?
It's really true: the very air we breathe is killing us. If the air doesn't get us, the water will.
There has been a media campaign going on in the Cleveland area that has to do with flushing old and outdated medication down your toilets.
As far back as I can remember, whenever you wanted to get rid of any meds, you were to flush them down the toilet. Any antibiotics that you didn't finish like you should have, or aspirin that was out of date, or anti inflammatories that made you sick to your stomach. Flush them. That way, no one gets their hands on things they shouldn't have their hands on. Every year or so when I go through my medicine cabinet, I flush all outdated cough syrup, allergy tabs, aspirin, whatever.
This media campaign is now warning people not to flush these meds down the toilet. Instead, we are to throw them in the garbage. The radio commercials suggest putting any pills in with your worst garbage, and then mixing them with coffee grounds or something before putting them out. But, don't flush them as they are going through the waste treatment plants and not getting filtered out and they are contaminating our water.
Yeah, go back and read that last paragraph again. The first time I heard this on the radio, it didn't really sink in. But this morning, it hit me like a brick right between the eyes.
In my years on this earth I can honestly say that I've never thought much about what happens to our bodily wastes once the toilet is flushed. As long as it's not in my bowl any longer, I guess it's not my problem. Or so I thought. I just took for granted that when I turned on the kitchen faucet to get a drink of water, that's what I was drinking. Nice, fresh, cold, clean water. How wrong I was. Our water is being contaminated with everyone's flushed drugs among whatever else they are not filtering out.
Now that I start to think about this subject, it's kind of hard to stop. I mean, what happens to the family goldfish or parakeet that is flushed? What about just plain old human waste? If the water treatment plants can't filter out some Sudafed or Percodan, or birth control are they really filtering out fecal matter or Tweety? O M G. One thing I haven't previously been afraid of is my drinking water.
So now they are saying that they can't filter out all these meds. Is this scaring the crap out of anybody besides me?
Well, I did do a little research. According to some of the websites I've looked at like this one and this one, the danger is to the waterways that inevitably are the recipients of the flushed water after it has gone through the waste treatment plants. Recent studies in Michigan and elsewhere have found levels of antidepressants, birth control and heart medications to name a few, in the Grand River near Grand Rapids and the Huron River near Ann Arbor.
Scientists have found Prozac harming mussels in the Ohio Rivers and drugs feminizing male fish in the Potomac River in Washington DC.
I'm telling you, this has been so eye opening. I have really put forth a concerted effort to diminish my carbon footprint on this earth. I am attempting to learn what I can and going "green". Recycling is huge in our house as is stopping vampire electricity to name just a few measures we've undertaken. Now I feel no matter what we do, it's not enough and we're still killing ourselves.
As frightening as it is that our fish and wildlife are being affected by what has been flushed down our toilets, it is even more terrifying that scientists also found "extremely tiny" concentrations of Ibuprofen in treated drinking water in Ann Arbor. WHAT? I'd like to know what these scientists consider "extremely tiny". I can't imagine that any level is acceptable. And, that's just one drug they are mentioning. How many more are there?
It's really true: the very air we breathe is killing us. If the air doesn't get us, the water will.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Dance With Me
There is a youngster in the neighborhood that has been a sight for as long as we’ve lived in the neighborhood. He has been standing on a particular street corner with his boom box playing loudly with him doing some serious head banging in time to the music. And, he holds up a sign that proudly proclaims “Eminem is my Daddy!”
Um, I have a feeling the rapper is the same age if not younger than our neighborhood dancer. But that’s ok. If it makes him happy to hold up that sign and dance on the street corner then so be it.
Ok, perhaps the kid isn’t in charge of all of his faculties. But you know what? Whenever you go by him, he’ll wave and he’s always smiling. It doesn’t matter why he’s so happy as long as he is so happy.
The pizza chain Little Caesar’s Pizza has a store in our neighborhood as well. They have now hired our neighborhood dancer to stand in front of their store wearing a Little Caesar’s Pizza t-shirt and do the same thing he does every other day of the week. He dances to his boom box holding up a sign and smiling and waving at the cars going by. Now the sign extols the $5.00 pizza from Little Caesar’s Pizza instead of the charms of Eminem, but the result is the same, just now on a new corner.
You can’t help but smile to watch him so filled with joy at just being alive. It makes you stop, roll down your window so you can hear the beat, and bop your head in time to the music as you beep and wave.
Um, I have a feeling the rapper is the same age if not younger than our neighborhood dancer. But that’s ok. If it makes him happy to hold up that sign and dance on the street corner then so be it.
Ok, perhaps the kid isn’t in charge of all of his faculties. But you know what? Whenever you go by him, he’ll wave and he’s always smiling. It doesn’t matter why he’s so happy as long as he is so happy.
The pizza chain Little Caesar’s Pizza has a store in our neighborhood as well. They have now hired our neighborhood dancer to stand in front of their store wearing a Little Caesar’s Pizza t-shirt and do the same thing he does every other day of the week. He dances to his boom box holding up a sign and smiling and waving at the cars going by. Now the sign extols the $5.00 pizza from Little Caesar’s Pizza instead of the charms of Eminem, but the result is the same, just now on a new corner.
You can’t help but smile to watch him so filled with joy at just being alive. It makes you stop, roll down your window so you can hear the beat, and bop your head in time to the music as you beep and wave.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Chores 'n Stuff
Ron made it home safe and sound on Friday afternoon. I guess I should have posted this sooner as there have been a lot of people asking about him! Yes, he is home, and he is doing surprisingly well with the jet lag. Aside from being very tired Friday night, to me he seemed back to normal by Saturday. Well...as normal as he gets anyway!
I learned one thing on Friday night. I knew Ron was existing mostly on sandwiches while in Amsterdam. You pick your bread, you pick your meat and cheese and you slap it all together and call it a meal. While I have no problem with this lifestyle, I know this is not his cup of tea. I imagined that the poor guy would want a substantial meal when he got in, and I don't think he would want to wait for me to cook something after getting home. Friday nights are always challenging when it comes to finding someplace to eat where you don't have to wait an hour for a table. So, I tried something I never have before - call ahead seating.
I called Texas Roadhouse as we were pulling out of the airport and said I'd like a table for two. She gave me a confirmation number, and we just drove leisurely out of the airport and over to the restaurant, maybe a half hour away. We went in, checked in, and had to wait maybe two minutes before we were taken back to our seats. Considering the lobby was packed with people waiting to be seated, this was such a bonus! Hardly any waiting and we were soon sitting with a bucket of fresh peanuts and a basket of warm rolls. Hard to beat that.
Saturday, Ron did have to take a service call in the early evening. Luckily, he was only gone a few hours, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Other than that, the weekend was a good one.
With the time of year, everything at home is growing like crazy. Our grass had to be a good six inches high in spots! Well, I'm afraid of the riding lawn mower and there is no way I'm doing all of that with just a push mower, so the grass was one thing that had to wait for the honey do list for when he got back. (Luckily, I did take care of that spider all by myself that was previously residing in our bathroom, may he rest in peace.)
Sunday it was an absolutely gorgeous day so we headed out for some yard work. In our neighborhood, before you do anything, you have to go out and pick up the crap. With a park a block up the street and a convenience store a block over, plus just idiots driving up and down the street, you never know what you'll find in our yard. You can guarantee though that most of it won't be good for a lawnmower.
I picked up a broken whiskey bottle (and I wasn't able to find all of the pieces of that - what's that about?), an intact beer bottle, a condom wrapper (magnums, thank you very much) candy wrappers, paper cups, juice boxes, homework papers, mysterious plastic pieces, plastic grocery bags, potato chip bags etc. It took me two trips to the garbage with all of this crap. And, it's not like this stuff just piles up out there. We police our yard almost daily, so this is not an uncommon load. As a matter of fact, once Ron even found a dead dog in a garbage bag on our front lawn. I can't even imagine someone's thought process on that one. Thank heavens so far, the only thing I haven't found in our yard have been new or used needles.
Anyway, after the garbage pick up, we start the mowing. Ron does give me the choice of riding the riding mower or pushing the hand mower. The hand mower has to just go around the edges of the grass, by the flower beds, and around all of the trees and sign posts. Trust me, you can get pretty dizzy going around everything twice to give him room with the riding mower to not smack his head on branches in the yard, or not worry about getting in close to a sign post on the tree lawn.
Ron thinks he gets the sweeter deal because he can sit on the mower while I'm out there pushing and getting dizzy. He can't understand why I choose the "harder" job. HA! Because I can be done with my part lickety split and be back to doing other things while he's still riding around! I'm no dummy!! He was only 1/2 done when I was back in the house, kool aid in hand, with the Cubs game on the TV! I still think I got the better end of the work detail.
Ok, the Cubs lost, but they are still in first place (knock wood) in the NL Central Division. Yeah, it's starting out to be a great summer. Welcome home, Ron and GO CUBS!
I learned one thing on Friday night. I knew Ron was existing mostly on sandwiches while in Amsterdam. You pick your bread, you pick your meat and cheese and you slap it all together and call it a meal. While I have no problem with this lifestyle, I know this is not his cup of tea. I imagined that the poor guy would want a substantial meal when he got in, and I don't think he would want to wait for me to cook something after getting home. Friday nights are always challenging when it comes to finding someplace to eat where you don't have to wait an hour for a table. So, I tried something I never have before - call ahead seating.
I called Texas Roadhouse as we were pulling out of the airport and said I'd like a table for two. She gave me a confirmation number, and we just drove leisurely out of the airport and over to the restaurant, maybe a half hour away. We went in, checked in, and had to wait maybe two minutes before we were taken back to our seats. Considering the lobby was packed with people waiting to be seated, this was such a bonus! Hardly any waiting and we were soon sitting with a bucket of fresh peanuts and a basket of warm rolls. Hard to beat that.
Saturday, Ron did have to take a service call in the early evening. Luckily, he was only gone a few hours, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Other than that, the weekend was a good one.
With the time of year, everything at home is growing like crazy. Our grass had to be a good six inches high in spots! Well, I'm afraid of the riding lawn mower and there is no way I'm doing all of that with just a push mower, so the grass was one thing that had to wait for the honey do list for when he got back. (Luckily, I did take care of that spider all by myself that was previously residing in our bathroom, may he rest in peace.)
Sunday it was an absolutely gorgeous day so we headed out for some yard work. In our neighborhood, before you do anything, you have to go out and pick up the crap. With a park a block up the street and a convenience store a block over, plus just idiots driving up and down the street, you never know what you'll find in our yard. You can guarantee though that most of it won't be good for a lawnmower.
I picked up a broken whiskey bottle (and I wasn't able to find all of the pieces of that - what's that about?), an intact beer bottle, a condom wrapper (magnums, thank you very much) candy wrappers, paper cups, juice boxes, homework papers, mysterious plastic pieces, plastic grocery bags, potato chip bags etc. It took me two trips to the garbage with all of this crap. And, it's not like this stuff just piles up out there. We police our yard almost daily, so this is not an uncommon load. As a matter of fact, once Ron even found a dead dog in a garbage bag on our front lawn. I can't even imagine someone's thought process on that one. Thank heavens so far, the only thing I haven't found in our yard have been new or used needles.
Anyway, after the garbage pick up, we start the mowing. Ron does give me the choice of riding the riding mower or pushing the hand mower. The hand mower has to just go around the edges of the grass, by the flower beds, and around all of the trees and sign posts. Trust me, you can get pretty dizzy going around everything twice to give him room with the riding mower to not smack his head on branches in the yard, or not worry about getting in close to a sign post on the tree lawn.
Ron thinks he gets the sweeter deal because he can sit on the mower while I'm out there pushing and getting dizzy. He can't understand why I choose the "harder" job. HA! Because I can be done with my part lickety split and be back to doing other things while he's still riding around! I'm no dummy!! He was only 1/2 done when I was back in the house, kool aid in hand, with the Cubs game on the TV! I still think I got the better end of the work detail.
Ok, the Cubs lost, but they are still in first place (knock wood) in the NL Central Division. Yeah, it's starting out to be a great summer. Welcome home, Ron and GO CUBS!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
He's Got My Back
I've lived alone for a long time. So, Ron being gone this week didn't worry me much. There were a few things that I went over with him before he left, just to make sure - like how to shut the water off to the house. But other than emergency procedures like that, I'm jiggy on my own. I'm not afraid to be in the house alone.
That is - except for the basement.
This has nothing to do with the ghosts in our house. I'm even ok with them. But basements have BUGS! Can you say eww? You know I hate bugs. Any bugs. No matter what, there is always something down there be it spiders, roly polys, crickets and remember when we had the bat? It may not be a bug but it's just as bad. For this reason, I try to limit my alone time in the basement. Ron is almost always willing to go to the basement with me if I need to go after dark. I seem to do better if it's light outside but if it's dark, forget about it. I know that more creepy things come out after dark, like that damn bat. At least if I have back up I feel safer.
This blog is a shout out to my brother Jim! Once again, he saved me. He has my back.
Monday night I had gone out to dinner and came home as it was getting dark. A lot of our extra supplies are kept in the basement and I really needed to go grab some of them. Ok, if you must know, I was almost out of toilet paper in the upstairs bathroom so this is now a necessity that I suck it up and go to the basement alone at night.
Just as I get to the bottom of the stairs, my phone rings and it's brother Jim! He was calling to check on me to see how I was handling my alone time. I told him he had perfect timing as I had just walked down to the basement! He knows how I hate bugs having lived with me for how many years. He's killed his share of spiders in my vicinity at the family homestead. Being the good brother that he is, he offered to stay on the line with me, sort of like holding my hand through it via long distance. I was definitely jiggy with that!
With Jim on the phone, I was able to do more than I thought. I grabbed the toilet paper for the upstairs bathroom, I needed more storage bags for the kitchen, I emptied the full dehumidifier in the basement and even went pee all the while on the phone with Jim. I only dropped the phone once!
I told Jim he was my hero for getting me through that stressful situation (yeah, hard to believe I'm over 40, isn't it) and he said anytime I needed to get to the basement for the rest of the week to do laundry or whatever, he'd be on call for babysitting me. Now that's a good brother!
I have another Jim story, less his head now gets too big to fit through a door.
Tuesday evening, I'm up in the computer room, of course playing Pogo. I don't remember what time it was, but it was late. I was already dressed for bed and just playing games and watching tv. I decided to head down to the kitchen for another glass of kool aid (yes, I really am over 40!) and I looked at my phone sitting there on my desk and I was wondering if I should carry it downstairs with me to get my kool aid. Then again, I didn't have pockets so I didn't want to lug it with me. Besides, I'm only going to be two minutes to run downstairs and back up again.
So there I was, in the kitchen in mid pour and I heard a "thud" coming from upstairs. Now what the heck was I supposed to do? Those ghosts that I just got done telling you didn't bother me were suddenly in the front of my mind. I had four cell phones at the house - my two and Ron's two, and all four are upstairs. I got nothing downstairs. Well, I have my axe handle I use to make it to the car when there are dogs around. I don't know how effective it is going to be against a ghost but I thought maybe if it was an intruder I'd have a chance. I grabbed my axe handle and my glass of kool aid and up I went.
I started up the stairs, turning on every light I could. Upstairs, I give a quick look around and nothing seemed grossly out of place. What the heck did I hear? There I was, standing in the hallway when I hear BZZZZZ. Brother Jim had called in that minute it took me to run downstairs. The phone was still on vibrate and while it was ringing, it vibrated itself right off of my desk. With the hard wood floors, the thud was easily heard downstairs in the kitchen! The buzzing I heard from the hallway was my signal that I had a voicemail! Sweet, mystery solved.
Again, my big brother was making sure I was ok. If only he'd have called 30 seconds sooner or waited another 30 seconds until I was back upstairs, I wouldn't have had to name my newest gray hair after him!
Thanks, Jim. For being my big brother with ALL that it entails. And, I know with me as a baby sister, it entails a lot! I'm glad you're always there from me, even from the next state over.
That is - except for the basement.
This has nothing to do with the ghosts in our house. I'm even ok with them. But basements have BUGS! Can you say eww? You know I hate bugs. Any bugs. No matter what, there is always something down there be it spiders, roly polys, crickets and remember when we had the bat? It may not be a bug but it's just as bad. For this reason, I try to limit my alone time in the basement. Ron is almost always willing to go to the basement with me if I need to go after dark. I seem to do better if it's light outside but if it's dark, forget about it. I know that more creepy things come out after dark, like that damn bat. At least if I have back up I feel safer.
This blog is a shout out to my brother Jim! Once again, he saved me. He has my back.
Monday night I had gone out to dinner and came home as it was getting dark. A lot of our extra supplies are kept in the basement and I really needed to go grab some of them. Ok, if you must know, I was almost out of toilet paper in the upstairs bathroom so this is now a necessity that I suck it up and go to the basement alone at night.
Just as I get to the bottom of the stairs, my phone rings and it's brother Jim! He was calling to check on me to see how I was handling my alone time. I told him he had perfect timing as I had just walked down to the basement! He knows how I hate bugs having lived with me for how many years. He's killed his share of spiders in my vicinity at the family homestead. Being the good brother that he is, he offered to stay on the line with me, sort of like holding my hand through it via long distance. I was definitely jiggy with that!
With Jim on the phone, I was able to do more than I thought. I grabbed the toilet paper for the upstairs bathroom, I needed more storage bags for the kitchen, I emptied the full dehumidifier in the basement and even went pee all the while on the phone with Jim. I only dropped the phone once!
I told Jim he was my hero for getting me through that stressful situation (yeah, hard to believe I'm over 40, isn't it) and he said anytime I needed to get to the basement for the rest of the week to do laundry or whatever, he'd be on call for babysitting me. Now that's a good brother!
I have another Jim story, less his head now gets too big to fit through a door.
Tuesday evening, I'm up in the computer room, of course playing Pogo. I don't remember what time it was, but it was late. I was already dressed for bed and just playing games and watching tv. I decided to head down to the kitchen for another glass of kool aid (yes, I really am over 40!) and I looked at my phone sitting there on my desk and I was wondering if I should carry it downstairs with me to get my kool aid. Then again, I didn't have pockets so I didn't want to lug it with me. Besides, I'm only going to be two minutes to run downstairs and back up again.
So there I was, in the kitchen in mid pour and I heard a "thud" coming from upstairs. Now what the heck was I supposed to do? Those ghosts that I just got done telling you didn't bother me were suddenly in the front of my mind. I had four cell phones at the house - my two and Ron's two, and all four are upstairs. I got nothing downstairs. Well, I have my axe handle I use to make it to the car when there are dogs around. I don't know how effective it is going to be against a ghost but I thought maybe if it was an intruder I'd have a chance. I grabbed my axe handle and my glass of kool aid and up I went.
I started up the stairs, turning on every light I could. Upstairs, I give a quick look around and nothing seemed grossly out of place. What the heck did I hear? There I was, standing in the hallway when I hear BZZZZZ. Brother Jim had called in that minute it took me to run downstairs. The phone was still on vibrate and while it was ringing, it vibrated itself right off of my desk. With the hard wood floors, the thud was easily heard downstairs in the kitchen! The buzzing I heard from the hallway was my signal that I had a voicemail! Sweet, mystery solved.
Again, my big brother was making sure I was ok. If only he'd have called 30 seconds sooner or waited another 30 seconds until I was back upstairs, I wouldn't have had to name my newest gray hair after him!
Thanks, Jim. For being my big brother with ALL that it entails. And, I know with me as a baby sister, it entails a lot! I'm glad you're always there from me, even from the next state over.
That's Just Wrong, Page 14
I had to stop for gas on my way home last night. It cost me over $50 to fill my tank.
C'mon, people. That's Just Wrong.
C'mon, people. That's Just Wrong.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
That's Just Wrong, Page 13
Another page for my book titled "That's Just Wrong".
Last night I went to dinner with Michael and Mary Jane. Since I was at their house already, we opted for a restaurant just down the street from them, Ruby Tuesday's. Their food has never done that much for me, but I do think they have one of the best salad bars around, especially their honey mustard dressing. Yummy! They also have some of the freshest cottage cheese and while they no longer have raisins on the salad bar, they have substituted craisins (dried cranberries) which are almost as good.
But, I digress. I'm not here talking about the food.
Another bright spot of Ruby Tuesday's is the lamps that were all over the restaurants. Over each table was a beautiful stained glass lamp, each one was different and a more beautiful than the one before it. I've hit my head on many of them getting in or out of a booth, but that's not what I'm complaining about today either. I am complaining because we went to the restaurant expecting to get to enjoy the beauty of all of these lamps while we had dinner.
But that didn't happen. This Ruby Tuesday's has been remodeled. No more stained glass lamps. They have been replaced with, I'm trying to quote Michael here, "replaced with something that my own mother threw out over 20 years ago". Yeah, that's bad. But, it gets worse.
Michael, a connoisseur of stained glass, asked our server Katie, what had happened to all of the lamps and if they were for sale. Here is the "That's Just Wrong" part.
According to Katie, the employees were offered a lamp at a low, low, LOW cost of $100 each. I imagine that's a lot of money for a server at Ruby Tuesday's, but it would be a great investment for anyone that could have scraped up that money. When the employees returned to work the following day, they found out that ALL of the lamps had been taken to the dumpster and thrown out! What?
First, if you're going just going to throw out the lamps, why tell the employees that they can have them for $100 a pop? Just freakin' give them the lamps! Or, auction or ebay or garage sale them off. If the company doesn't want the profits from the sales of the lamps, donate the proceeds to the nearest food bank or other charity of your choice. But to throw them out??
According to our source inside (that would be Katie!) she said that two older ladies were seen back at the dumpster hauling out the booty and loading up their cars. At least they know a great value when they see them.
So, to Ruby Tuesday's on Abbe Road in Elyria - shame on you. To throw out these beautiful pieces of art, That's Just Wrong.
Last night I went to dinner with Michael and Mary Jane. Since I was at their house already, we opted for a restaurant just down the street from them, Ruby Tuesday's. Their food has never done that much for me, but I do think they have one of the best salad bars around, especially their honey mustard dressing. Yummy! They also have some of the freshest cottage cheese and while they no longer have raisins on the salad bar, they have substituted craisins (dried cranberries) which are almost as good.
But, I digress. I'm not here talking about the food.
Another bright spot of Ruby Tuesday's is the lamps that were all over the restaurants. Over each table was a beautiful stained glass lamp, each one was different and a more beautiful than the one before it. I've hit my head on many of them getting in or out of a booth, but that's not what I'm complaining about today either. I am complaining because we went to the restaurant expecting to get to enjoy the beauty of all of these lamps while we had dinner.
But that didn't happen. This Ruby Tuesday's has been remodeled. No more stained glass lamps. They have been replaced with, I'm trying to quote Michael here, "replaced with something that my own mother threw out over 20 years ago". Yeah, that's bad. But, it gets worse.
Michael, a connoisseur of stained glass, asked our server Katie, what had happened to all of the lamps and if they were for sale. Here is the "That's Just Wrong" part.
According to Katie, the employees were offered a lamp at a low, low, LOW cost of $100 each. I imagine that's a lot of money for a server at Ruby Tuesday's, but it would be a great investment for anyone that could have scraped up that money. When the employees returned to work the following day, they found out that ALL of the lamps had been taken to the dumpster and thrown out! What?
First, if you're going just going to throw out the lamps, why tell the employees that they can have them for $100 a pop? Just freakin' give them the lamps! Or, auction or ebay or garage sale them off. If the company doesn't want the profits from the sales of the lamps, donate the proceeds to the nearest food bank or other charity of your choice. But to throw them out??
According to our source inside (that would be Katie!) she said that two older ladies were seen back at the dumpster hauling out the booty and loading up their cars. At least they know a great value when they see them.
So, to Ruby Tuesday's on Abbe Road in Elyria - shame on you. To throw out these beautiful pieces of art, That's Just Wrong.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Quiet Weekend
Ron left for Amsterdam Saturday afternoon. The good news is that he did get in safe and sound and according to Ron, the Nicorette Gum worked great on this trip! It definitely helped him get through the long plane ride rather than suffer with no smoking like he did on our trip to California.
So, I get to be a bachelorette for awhile. It's good to have some alone time now and again.
The weekend was quiet, and I didn't get into any trouble. However, while Ron and I were messaging on the computer yesterday afternoon, I told him that the "honey do" list is starting already for when he gets back. The first and only item on that list so far?
Do something about that spider in the bathroom!
So, I get to be a bachelorette for awhile. It's good to have some alone time now and again.
The weekend was quiet, and I didn't get into any trouble. However, while Ron and I were messaging on the computer yesterday afternoon, I told him that the "honey do" list is starting already for when he gets back. The first and only item on that list so far?
Do something about that spider in the bathroom!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Who Are You? Who? Who? Who? Who?
Don't we all just love Who Are You by The Who? Ok, maybe not everyone loves it, but I sure do. I love it so much in fact, that every Thursday after we watch Survivor, I have to turn the TV up really loud to hear that song as it plays as the theme song to CSI! (CSI comes on right after Survivor in case not everyone knew that!) And what do I do while the song is playing?
While I sing of course!
Loudly AND badly! The joke is always after the song I turn to Ron and ask him if any of the notes I just sang were on key! Sometimes I think I'm having a good night and I think I might have hit one or two of them! However, Ron at least is honest with me and will usually tell me the truth that while none of them were actually on the key they should have been, maybe I did get close on a couple! Hey, good enough for me.
That's fine while we're in the house, just the two of us. Poor guy has to put up with a lot of things from me, my terrible singing voice just being one of them things.
Let's fast forward to today. I'm just having a bad work day. I don't want to be here and I definitely don't want to be here stuck in a room with the two dufuses. There is not one healthy cell between them at the moment. I get to spend my day listening to the both of them hacking, coughing, snorting, noses blowing, hacking, choking. Yeah, have you ever heard of a sick day? Geez.
To top that off, listening to the two of them talk to each other can some days be exasperating. Today just happens to be a day that I just don't want to deal with the two of them. So what do I do?
I put my headphones on and tune into an internet radio station just to tune them out. Before you start thinking that I am more technologically advanced than I am, this is a trick I've just recently figured out. In case anyone is slower with technology than I am, it's part of the Windows Media Player. Somewhere on there is an option for internet radio. Once you're there, you can choose different stations listed under different genres. The cool thing is no talking (on the music stations at least!) and as far as commercials go, you just get the station promos after every five songs or so to identify the station you are listening to. I don't know one from another, so I just picked a classic rock station that stated they played everything from Aerosmith to ZZ Top! Most excellent! I am old! This is MY kind of music!
So, headphones are in and I am trying not to jam while working. They have really been playing one great song after another! And then it happened. Suddenly I heard "WHO ARE YOU? WHO? WHO? WHO? WHO?" Do you have any idea how much intestinal fortitude it took for me to not join in and sing loudly and badly? C'mon now! I can just imagine the reaction I'd get if I started to sing like I do at home!
I put both hands over my mouth for a few minutes and enjoyed the rest of the song. Who knew I could play music that loudly on my earphones!
By the way, it is pretty difficult to analyze tax codes while jamming to The Who. That's why I had to take a break to blog before going back to it. Uh oh. Golden Earring is playing Radar Love! Yeah, my break just got extended by 3 minutes.
God, I hope all my singing that I hear is all in my head!
While I sing of course!
Loudly AND badly! The joke is always after the song I turn to Ron and ask him if any of the notes I just sang were on key! Sometimes I think I'm having a good night and I think I might have hit one or two of them! However, Ron at least is honest with me and will usually tell me the truth that while none of them were actually on the key they should have been, maybe I did get close on a couple! Hey, good enough for me.
That's fine while we're in the house, just the two of us. Poor guy has to put up with a lot of things from me, my terrible singing voice just being one of them things.
Let's fast forward to today. I'm just having a bad work day. I don't want to be here and I definitely don't want to be here stuck in a room with the two dufuses. There is not one healthy cell between them at the moment. I get to spend my day listening to the both of them hacking, coughing, snorting, noses blowing, hacking, choking. Yeah, have you ever heard of a sick day? Geez.
To top that off, listening to the two of them talk to each other can some days be exasperating. Today just happens to be a day that I just don't want to deal with the two of them. So what do I do?
I put my headphones on and tune into an internet radio station just to tune them out. Before you start thinking that I am more technologically advanced than I am, this is a trick I've just recently figured out. In case anyone is slower with technology than I am, it's part of the Windows Media Player. Somewhere on there is an option for internet radio. Once you're there, you can choose different stations listed under different genres. The cool thing is no talking (on the music stations at least!) and as far as commercials go, you just get the station promos after every five songs or so to identify the station you are listening to. I don't know one from another, so I just picked a classic rock station that stated they played everything from Aerosmith to ZZ Top! Most excellent! I am old! This is MY kind of music!
So, headphones are in and I am trying not to jam while working. They have really been playing one great song after another! And then it happened. Suddenly I heard "WHO ARE YOU? WHO? WHO? WHO? WHO?" Do you have any idea how much intestinal fortitude it took for me to not join in and sing loudly and badly? C'mon now! I can just imagine the reaction I'd get if I started to sing like I do at home!
I put both hands over my mouth for a few minutes and enjoyed the rest of the song. Who knew I could play music that loudly on my earphones!
By the way, it is pretty difficult to analyze tax codes while jamming to The Who. That's why I had to take a break to blog before going back to it. Uh oh. Golden Earring is playing Radar Love! Yeah, my break just got extended by 3 minutes.
I've been drivin' all night, my hand's wet on the wheel
There's a voice in my head that drives my heel
It's my baby callin', says I need you here
And it's a half past four and I'm shiftin' gear
God, I hope all my singing that I hear is all in my head!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
I Screamed!
It was about 10:30 last night and Ron and I were in bed for the night with me already half asleep.
Then his work phone started ringing.
As much as I sometimes envy him with his job, last night was not one of those nights. At least I don't get woken up at all hours of the night and have to immediately throw on some clothes and be out the door.
Not being a good girlfriend last night, I said yeah, whatever, be careful, lock the door, see you in the morning. Then I rolled over and was probably asleep before he made it down the stairs. Hey, why should both of us miss sleep??
Then, before I knew it, something woke me up. I opened my eyes, noticed it was dark and quiet in the house and then I saw something. A MAN standing there, in the dark, next to the bed! Holy crap, what do I do? I'll tell you what I did! I SCREAMED!
Once Ron peeled himself off of the ceiling, I heard his voice saying "it's ok honey, it's just ME!" at which time he turned the light on so I could see it was only him. Whew!
I know, I'm usually the one complaining that he's waking me up when he comes to bed with turning all the lights on and all that. So, for once, the guy tries sneaking back in so as not to wake me and what do I do? I about give him a heart attack with a blood curdling scream!
So, it was a heck of a night at our house last week. Both of our blood pressures were through the roof after that fiasco! But, I did get a back rub out of it, so in the light of day, it's hard to be too upset about it.
And, from now on, maybe we come to a new agreement. If he's coming home in the middle of the night, maybe bells on his boots would be a good start. Then turning on all of the lights in the house on his way up while he sings a jingle! Like that song for freecreditreport.com. I love that song! Then I'd know it was him and no screaming would be necessary.
Then his work phone started ringing.
As much as I sometimes envy him with his job, last night was not one of those nights. At least I don't get woken up at all hours of the night and have to immediately throw on some clothes and be out the door.
Not being a good girlfriend last night, I said yeah, whatever, be careful, lock the door, see you in the morning. Then I rolled over and was probably asleep before he made it down the stairs. Hey, why should both of us miss sleep??
Then, before I knew it, something woke me up. I opened my eyes, noticed it was dark and quiet in the house and then I saw something. A MAN standing there, in the dark, next to the bed! Holy crap, what do I do? I'll tell you what I did! I SCREAMED!
Once Ron peeled himself off of the ceiling, I heard his voice saying "it's ok honey, it's just ME!" at which time he turned the light on so I could see it was only him. Whew!
I know, I'm usually the one complaining that he's waking me up when he comes to bed with turning all the lights on and all that. So, for once, the guy tries sneaking back in so as not to wake me and what do I do? I about give him a heart attack with a blood curdling scream!
So, it was a heck of a night at our house last week. Both of our blood pressures were through the roof after that fiasco! But, I did get a back rub out of it, so in the light of day, it's hard to be too upset about it.
And, from now on, maybe we come to a new agreement. If he's coming home in the middle of the night, maybe bells on his boots would be a good start. Then turning on all of the lights in the house on his way up while he sings a jingle! Like that song for freecreditreport.com. I love that song! Then I'd know it was him and no screaming would be necessary.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Have You Driven A Ford, Lately?
This might piss off a Ford owner or two but oh well.
For whatever it's worth, I don't drive a Ford, I've never owned a Ford and as a matter of fact, my Dad always used to say "I'd rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford". In my younger days I was sort of afraid to go against him on the Ford issue and then by the time I bought my Honda I think Alzheimer's already had taken him to the point of no longer caring about Ford.
To be honest, I've had no feelings about Ford one way or the other aside from laughing at the jokes told at their expense like "Found On Road Dead" or "Fix Or Repair Daily". That is until recently when something has been brought to my attention about Ford.
A friend of mine said to check out the cars driving like idiots around you. I don't mean just anyone who is driving faster or slower than you are. I mean the people that anyone can classify as an idiot driving that car. Chances are, they are driving a Ford.
I have absolutely no scientific proof to back this up, just my own observations. Just in the last few weeks alone, here are some of my observations about Fords.
I posted a bit ago about that idiot flying down the road, weaving in and out of traffic in a 35 mph zone and actually getting pulled over by the police? I said I beeped and waved while going by him! Yep, he was driving a Ford.
One day last week, I was heading to work on the Turnpike. Three lanes wide, I'm in the center lane with my cruise control set at 70 mph in a 65 mph zone and there are no other cars anywhere near me. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this black truck comes zooming up on me and has to get so close to me that I no longer see headlights; all I see is his grill. Doing seventy down the freeway, and he has to ride my ass to the point of me starting to have heart failure. There is an empty lane on either side of me but he decides he wants to see if he can kiss my Honda's bumper. Finally he screeches over to the left lane and zooms on by. What was he driving? Yeah, a Ford.
Today at lunch, I ran over to my bank down the street. I have a check to deposit and I am ready to go. Deposit slip is already filled out and the check is signed. For an easy transaction like that during business hours I figure what the heck, I'll go to the drive thru teller. I'm pulling into the bank from a side street. There is a white car just inside of the driveway, just sitting there. A good forty feet in front of this white car are two open drive thru lanes and an ATM lane. Drive thru lane # 1 has a car in it so instead of leaving my car blocking traffic any longer on the side street, I pull around the white car and into drive thru lane # 2. My slips are ready, I grab the plastic thingie, put my check and deposit slip in, put it back on the launch pad and hit send. Whoosh and away it goes. Now I look behind me and the white car is just pulling up behind me and as she gets closer, she flips me the bird! WTF was that about? If you're not ready, park your freakin' car. Don't just stop in a traffic lane and expect everyone to stop traffic in the bank lot and on the street for you to decide what you're going to do. I ignored her and then the car in drive thru lane # 1 pulled out and it was only me. She stayed behind me for a minute then backed up and pulled over to the empty lane to my left. Just as she's doing that, whoosh, I have my receipt. As I'm pulling out, I have to turn left to get out, so now she is outside of my driver's window. I check what kind of car she is driving and you guessed it! It was a Ford! I smiled, waved goodbye to her and drove back to work.
I could go on and on, but try it yourself. Not every idiot driver is a Ford driver. But most of them are! Let me know the results of your own observations!
For whatever it's worth, I don't drive a Ford, I've never owned a Ford and as a matter of fact, my Dad always used to say "I'd rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford". In my younger days I was sort of afraid to go against him on the Ford issue and then by the time I bought my Honda I think Alzheimer's already had taken him to the point of no longer caring about Ford.
To be honest, I've had no feelings about Ford one way or the other aside from laughing at the jokes told at their expense like "Found On Road Dead" or "Fix Or Repair Daily". That is until recently when something has been brought to my attention about Ford.
A friend of mine said to check out the cars driving like idiots around you. I don't mean just anyone who is driving faster or slower than you are. I mean the people that anyone can classify as an idiot driving that car. Chances are, they are driving a Ford.
I have absolutely no scientific proof to back this up, just my own observations. Just in the last few weeks alone, here are some of my observations about Fords.
I posted a bit ago about that idiot flying down the road, weaving in and out of traffic in a 35 mph zone and actually getting pulled over by the police? I said I beeped and waved while going by him! Yep, he was driving a Ford.
One day last week, I was heading to work on the Turnpike. Three lanes wide, I'm in the center lane with my cruise control set at 70 mph in a 65 mph zone and there are no other cars anywhere near me. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this black truck comes zooming up on me and has to get so close to me that I no longer see headlights; all I see is his grill. Doing seventy down the freeway, and he has to ride my ass to the point of me starting to have heart failure. There is an empty lane on either side of me but he decides he wants to see if he can kiss my Honda's bumper. Finally he screeches over to the left lane and zooms on by. What was he driving? Yeah, a Ford.
Today at lunch, I ran over to my bank down the street. I have a check to deposit and I am ready to go. Deposit slip is already filled out and the check is signed. For an easy transaction like that during business hours I figure what the heck, I'll go to the drive thru teller. I'm pulling into the bank from a side street. There is a white car just inside of the driveway, just sitting there. A good forty feet in front of this white car are two open drive thru lanes and an ATM lane. Drive thru lane # 1 has a car in it so instead of leaving my car blocking traffic any longer on the side street, I pull around the white car and into drive thru lane # 2. My slips are ready, I grab the plastic thingie, put my check and deposit slip in, put it back on the launch pad and hit send. Whoosh and away it goes. Now I look behind me and the white car is just pulling up behind me and as she gets closer, she flips me the bird! WTF was that about? If you're not ready, park your freakin' car. Don't just stop in a traffic lane and expect everyone to stop traffic in the bank lot and on the street for you to decide what you're going to do. I ignored her and then the car in drive thru lane # 1 pulled out and it was only me. She stayed behind me for a minute then backed up and pulled over to the empty lane to my left. Just as she's doing that, whoosh, I have my receipt. As I'm pulling out, I have to turn left to get out, so now she is outside of my driver's window. I check what kind of car she is driving and you guessed it! It was a Ford! I smiled, waved goodbye to her and drove back to work.
I could go on and on, but try it yourself. Not every idiot driver is a Ford driver. But most of them are! Let me know the results of your own observations!
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Freecycle? HA! Ain't Nothing Ever Free
It started out as a good idea.
I heard about Freecycle through someone's blog (I'm not mentioning your name!!) and I thought it was a great idea. It's a free service where people give and get stuff for free. You have something you want to get rid of? Post it on freecycle and someone will take it. You need something for free? Chances are, someone on freecycle has it for you to take.
See? A good idea. In theory. I have stuff at the house I want to get rid of. It's too good to just put in the garbage. In just being too lazy to take it to Salvation Army or Knights of Columbus or some other benevolent organization, I thought I'd post stuff and let them come pick it up at the house. HA! Has anyone sensed any sarcasm in the title of this blog? Nothing is that easy.
I signed up for freecycle and I have regretted it ever since. See, instead of what I think it the prudent way to do things, such as post all of this crap on your website and let people come to your website to look and see what they want or to post their unwanted items, yahoo thinks the way to go is to take each of those posts that happen in a day and email them to every single member who has signed up for this service.
I am getting 30 to 40 e-mails a day now. If you were to open one of these infuriating emails, you would see a link at the bottom that states "unsubscribe". Gee, that sounds easy. Do you think it would work? NO. I've already "unsubscribed" over 30 times already. In that same email is a link that goes to where you need to change your settings. However, in order to change your settings, you need a yahoo login! Hello? You let me sign up for this piece of crap service without a yahoo login but in order to change my setting I need a yahoo login? Fine. I get yet another email address I will never check. I go to my settings. I see an option to make my account a "web only" account which means no more e-mails. If I want to find something, I need to go to the web to do it. Excellent! That's what I'm talking about. However, I've changed my settings to "web only" three times already. The daily emails are a reminder that no one is paying attention to that setting.
When you first join this exasperating website, you get five or six emails with terms and conditions and dos and don'ts. Each local version of freecycle has a moderator who is supposed to monitor the website and who you could go to with questions. Herein lies another joke of freecycle.
I have repeatedly gone to my moderator. First I get that it's an easy fix (as if I'm that much of a dumbass) and all I need to do is to hit the unsubscribe link on any of the incoming emails. Of course, I countered with the fact that I have followed the link to unsubscribe. Over 30 times! And, I've also copied and pasted the address into an e-mail numerous time in case the link just doesn't work. Yeah, been there, done that.
I got no reply to this message. So, I tried again stating that I am continuing to hit unsubscribe as well as going into my account via yahoo and choosing the setting of web only. If he/she can't help me, please send along another contact name and number that I can reach to resolve this issue.
Now I've pissed he/she off. First I'm told to quit yelling at him/her. Honey, it's email for crying out loud! I'm not typing in all caps, so I'm not yelling! I'm frustrated! I want you to go away but you won't go! He/she is trying to "investigate" and so far has verified that my account is set to web only and it must be a glitch in yahoo as to why I continue to receive these emails. He/she has requested that my account has been deleted. Great. Will this happen in my lifetime by chance?
So far, I'm not deleted. I continue to receive these emails (so far we're up to 10 today since 7:00 a.m.) and I continue to feel as if I'm just banging my head on the keyboard.
So, now what do I do? How do I make it stop? The only answer I can come up with is to violate their terms and conditions. Per the T&C, live pets are prohibited from their website as is any pornography. So, should I post unwanted pets and pornography? Maybe that will get Chris from freecycle to do something about this!
Any other suggestions? My head is getting misshapen from all the banging on the keyboard!
I heard about Freecycle through someone's blog (I'm not mentioning your name!!) and I thought it was a great idea. It's a free service where people give and get stuff for free. You have something you want to get rid of? Post it on freecycle and someone will take it. You need something for free? Chances are, someone on freecycle has it for you to take.
See? A good idea. In theory. I have stuff at the house I want to get rid of. It's too good to just put in the garbage. In just being too lazy to take it to Salvation Army or Knights of Columbus or some other benevolent organization, I thought I'd post stuff and let them come pick it up at the house. HA! Has anyone sensed any sarcasm in the title of this blog? Nothing is that easy.
I signed up for freecycle and I have regretted it ever since. See, instead of what I think it the prudent way to do things, such as post all of this crap on your website and let people come to your website to look and see what they want or to post their unwanted items, yahoo thinks the way to go is to take each of those posts that happen in a day and email them to every single member who has signed up for this service.
I am getting 30 to 40 e-mails a day now. If you were to open one of these infuriating emails, you would see a link at the bottom that states "unsubscribe". Gee, that sounds easy. Do you think it would work? NO. I've already "unsubscribed" over 30 times already. In that same email is a link that goes to where you need to change your settings. However, in order to change your settings, you need a yahoo login! Hello? You let me sign up for this piece of crap service without a yahoo login but in order to change my setting I need a yahoo login? Fine. I get yet another email address I will never check. I go to my settings. I see an option to make my account a "web only" account which means no more e-mails. If I want to find something, I need to go to the web to do it. Excellent! That's what I'm talking about. However, I've changed my settings to "web only" three times already. The daily emails are a reminder that no one is paying attention to that setting.
When you first join this exasperating website, you get five or six emails with terms and conditions and dos and don'ts. Each local version of freecycle has a moderator who is supposed to monitor the website and who you could go to with questions. Herein lies another joke of freecycle.
I have repeatedly gone to my moderator. First I get that it's an easy fix (as if I'm that much of a dumbass) and all I need to do is to hit the unsubscribe link on any of the incoming emails. Of course, I countered with the fact that I have followed the link to unsubscribe. Over 30 times! And, I've also copied and pasted the address into an e-mail numerous time in case the link just doesn't work. Yeah, been there, done that.
I got no reply to this message. So, I tried again stating that I am continuing to hit unsubscribe as well as going into my account via yahoo and choosing the setting of web only. If he/she can't help me, please send along another contact name and number that I can reach to resolve this issue.
Now I've pissed he/she off. First I'm told to quit yelling at him/her. Honey, it's email for crying out loud! I'm not typing in all caps, so I'm not yelling! I'm frustrated! I want you to go away but you won't go! He/she is trying to "investigate" and so far has verified that my account is set to web only and it must be a glitch in yahoo as to why I continue to receive these emails. He/she has requested that my account has been deleted. Great. Will this happen in my lifetime by chance?
So far, I'm not deleted. I continue to receive these emails (so far we're up to 10 today since 7:00 a.m.) and I continue to feel as if I'm just banging my head on the keyboard.
So, now what do I do? How do I make it stop? The only answer I can come up with is to violate their terms and conditions. Per the T&C, live pets are prohibited from their website as is any pornography. So, should I post unwanted pets and pornography? Maybe that will get Chris from freecycle to do something about this!
Any other suggestions? My head is getting misshapen from all the banging on the keyboard!
Monday, March 31, 2008
It's Finally Here!
Do you realize that today is? This is the day I have been waiting for 180 days to finally happen! Today is the opening day!! Yes, baseball season is upon us once again.
My beloved Cubs were the winners of the National League Central Division last year. Can they do it again this year? Can this be our fabled "wait until next year" year? Could we go all the way this year? Holy crap, it's all possible - at least for today!
Today will be a day thinking of Mom for sure. I used to take opening day as a sick day and Mom and I would watch opening day together. I'm not taking today off, but I will be watching the major league baseball's website and will be keeping up with what's going on in the game.
Today is the day. It's a day full of hopes and dreams for all baseball fans. Today the slate is clean and we're all tied for first place. This could be our year, people! Zambrano is looking good taking the mound today for the boys in blue. Yeah, it's finally here! Now let's PLAY BALL!!
My beloved Cubs were the winners of the National League Central Division last year. Can they do it again this year? Can this be our fabled "wait until next year" year? Could we go all the way this year? Holy crap, it's all possible - at least for today!
Today will be a day thinking of Mom for sure. I used to take opening day as a sick day and Mom and I would watch opening day together. I'm not taking today off, but I will be watching the major league baseball's website and will be keeping up with what's going on in the game.
Today is the day. It's a day full of hopes and dreams for all baseball fans. Today the slate is clean and we're all tied for first place. This could be our year, people! Zambrano is looking good taking the mound today for the boys in blue. Yeah, it's finally here! Now let's PLAY BALL!!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Sightings From The Road
Not much has been happening lately. However, my drives to work have given me points to ponder.
Point # 1 - The other day, I was driving to work and I am stopped at a red light. I noticed the silver mini van behind me was inching closer and closer and closer and I was afraid it was going to hit me. I looked in my rear view mirror to see if this soccer mom had her hands full with a van packed with kids or what when I noticed there was no soccer mom driving the van. No, instead was a 40 year old man (obviously I'm guessing his age) who was too busy using his rear view mirror to make sure he was trimming his beard correctly to bother watching traffic or keeping his foot on that pesky brake. There is a lot of work involved in holding out one errant hair on the side of his face to trim it close and tight to the rest of the beard. Or, moving your nose to the side to make sure the top of your moustache lines up with . . . what? Ok, as much as I am complaining about this, car # 3 in line had to honk that the light had turned green because I was too busy watching the guy behind me trimming his beard at the red light. Thank goodness the next light was red so we could all go back to what we were doing. Me watching the guy in the van, him trimming, third car watching the light. That was fun!
Point # 2 - Another day this week, driving to work, I'm again stopped at a red light. This time, I'm behind a limo town car and I'm over a little bit more to the left and have a good view of the driver in his side mirror. The only reason I mention this one is because looking at him in his mirror I couldn't help but see that he had a knit cap on his head and all around the knit cap was skull and cross bones. Um, I'm not a limo expert, but if I'm paying for some guy to drive me somewhere in a fancy car, I'm not sure I want him wearing skulls and cross bones. Call me silly, but I don't wanna see it. Maybe that's why I just drive myself in my Honda.
Point # 3 - This one happened this morning on the way to work. I'm on the turnpike, minding my own business, cruise control set at 70 (in a 65 zone) when I see a police car in the turn around spot between the concrete barriers separating the east and west bound traffic. I am east bound, the police car is sitting north/south and facing the west bound traffic. I would say generally, when the officer is pointing at the west bound traffic, his radar gun would be aimed out his passenger side window to see all the cars heading westbound. Then, if someone was speeding, all he had to do was put the car in drive and go after him. That also means that the cars passing behind him in the east bound lane usually don't slow down too much. The good thing about setting that cruise control at 70, I don't worry about seeing the police. I don't feel I'm going to get pulled over for five miles per hour over the limit. However, as I was passing this officer, I see he does not have his radar gun pointed to the westbound traffic! He actually has his radar gun pointed out the driver's side watching our east bound traffic! That's like cheating! I'm surprised he'd want to back up onto the shoulder to go forward to chase someone in our direction, but that's what he was doing. Tricky, huh? I bet he filled his quota today with this fake out.
At least my drives home have been uneventful.
Point # 1 - The other day, I was driving to work and I am stopped at a red light. I noticed the silver mini van behind me was inching closer and closer and closer and I was afraid it was going to hit me. I looked in my rear view mirror to see if this soccer mom had her hands full with a van packed with kids or what when I noticed there was no soccer mom driving the van. No, instead was a 40 year old man (obviously I'm guessing his age) who was too busy using his rear view mirror to make sure he was trimming his beard correctly to bother watching traffic or keeping his foot on that pesky brake. There is a lot of work involved in holding out one errant hair on the side of his face to trim it close and tight to the rest of the beard. Or, moving your nose to the side to make sure the top of your moustache lines up with . . . what? Ok, as much as I am complaining about this, car # 3 in line had to honk that the light had turned green because I was too busy watching the guy behind me trimming his beard at the red light. Thank goodness the next light was red so we could all go back to what we were doing. Me watching the guy in the van, him trimming, third car watching the light. That was fun!
Point # 2 - Another day this week, driving to work, I'm again stopped at a red light. This time, I'm behind a limo town car and I'm over a little bit more to the left and have a good view of the driver in his side mirror. The only reason I mention this one is because looking at him in his mirror I couldn't help but see that he had a knit cap on his head and all around the knit cap was skull and cross bones. Um, I'm not a limo expert, but if I'm paying for some guy to drive me somewhere in a fancy car, I'm not sure I want him wearing skulls and cross bones. Call me silly, but I don't wanna see it. Maybe that's why I just drive myself in my Honda.
Point # 3 - This one happened this morning on the way to work. I'm on the turnpike, minding my own business, cruise control set at 70 (in a 65 zone) when I see a police car in the turn around spot between the concrete barriers separating the east and west bound traffic. I am east bound, the police car is sitting north/south and facing the west bound traffic. I would say generally, when the officer is pointing at the west bound traffic, his radar gun would be aimed out his passenger side window to see all the cars heading westbound. Then, if someone was speeding, all he had to do was put the car in drive and go after him. That also means that the cars passing behind him in the east bound lane usually don't slow down too much. The good thing about setting that cruise control at 70, I don't worry about seeing the police. I don't feel I'm going to get pulled over for five miles per hour over the limit. However, as I was passing this officer, I see he does not have his radar gun pointed to the westbound traffic! He actually has his radar gun pointed out the driver's side watching our east bound traffic! That's like cheating! I'm surprised he'd want to back up onto the shoulder to go forward to chase someone in our direction, but that's what he was doing. Tricky, huh? I bet he filled his quota today with this fake out.
At least my drives home have been uneventful.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Oops! My Fault
My car has been emitting a smell - sort of like spoiled milk, when the temperatures are getting to about forty degrees. I know I spilled a couple of cups of coffee in my car, and even though I drink my coffee black, I couldn't think of what else could cause the smell. So, I made an appointment for my local detailer to detail the inside of the car.
As I had posted before, everything inside of the car has been damp and difficult to get to dry up with all of the snow and rain we've been having. One thing I found that helped is when I garage the car at night, I have kept all of the windows open and after a few nights, that did the job and the inside carpets and seats finally dried.
Friday, I finally got around to taking the floor mats out of the trunk and putting them where they belong inside of the car. Unfortunately, when I lifted the floor mats out of the trunk, I realized that the carpet in the trunk was still damp. If open windows worked once, an open trunk should also work. So, Friday afternoon when we got home I garaged the car, opened the trunk and shut the garage door thinking the trunk will be dry next time I go into the car. Unfortunately, the car was never moved all weekend.
Um, does anyone realize that your trunk when open has a little light inside? However small that light might be, it will continuously drain the battery for the entire time the light is on? Yeah, I just found that out too.
I went to go to work this morning and I tried to unlock my car door. The light on the clicker on my key ring was flashing so I know I had battery power there. However, nothing was happening with my locks. I unlocked the door the old fashioned way, with the key, and reached to the inside button that will unlock all of the doors at the same time. Nothing happened. I again manually opened the back door of my car, put my lap top bag on the floor in the back seat, and went back in the house to tell Ron that I think my locks were frozen or broken. He offered to come out and look at them, but figuring I'm already late for work, I'll just hope for the best for the busted locks today and we can worry about it tonight when I get home.
I go back out to my car, sit down, buckle up, and put my key in the ignition. As soon as you start to turn the key, all of the dashboard lights light up. Uh, that didn't quite happen. There was a faint glow perhaps, but definitely no lit up dashboard. A turn of the key brought no familiar vroom sound. Uh oh. Manually locking the car back up, I ran back to Ron. Even I could figure out that I think it's the battery in the car that is on the fritz.
I am nose first into the garage and the floor of the garage is a good three inches lower than the driveway. This means we can't jump start the car nor can we push it out of the garage with the two of us to jump start it in the driveway. Luckily Ron has a battery charger and he hooked that up to my car and said we just have to wait. I called work to let them know of my dilemma and went back inside to watch the Today show!
Just as Monk was coming on and I was getting ready to sit and enjoy and have breakfast, Ron went to check the car. He came right back in to tell me the car was running and good to go. What? I thought I could get a half a day out of this! Bummer! Since you should never leave a running car unattended in my neighborhood, I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. I'm worrying about having to buy a new battery today and worrying if I will make it home from work when Ron says "by the way, did you ever shut your trunk or was that light on all weekend?" Um, oops! It suddenly all made sense.
Yeah, my fault. I can't blame this on anyone. Who'd have thought? At least there is good news out of this. My trunk is dry.
As I had posted before, everything inside of the car has been damp and difficult to get to dry up with all of the snow and rain we've been having. One thing I found that helped is when I garage the car at night, I have kept all of the windows open and after a few nights, that did the job and the inside carpets and seats finally dried.
Friday, I finally got around to taking the floor mats out of the trunk and putting them where they belong inside of the car. Unfortunately, when I lifted the floor mats out of the trunk, I realized that the carpet in the trunk was still damp. If open windows worked once, an open trunk should also work. So, Friday afternoon when we got home I garaged the car, opened the trunk and shut the garage door thinking the trunk will be dry next time I go into the car. Unfortunately, the car was never moved all weekend.
Um, does anyone realize that your trunk when open has a little light inside? However small that light might be, it will continuously drain the battery for the entire time the light is on? Yeah, I just found that out too.
I went to go to work this morning and I tried to unlock my car door. The light on the clicker on my key ring was flashing so I know I had battery power there. However, nothing was happening with my locks. I unlocked the door the old fashioned way, with the key, and reached to the inside button that will unlock all of the doors at the same time. Nothing happened. I again manually opened the back door of my car, put my lap top bag on the floor in the back seat, and went back in the house to tell Ron that I think my locks were frozen or broken. He offered to come out and look at them, but figuring I'm already late for work, I'll just hope for the best for the busted locks today and we can worry about it tonight when I get home.
I go back out to my car, sit down, buckle up, and put my key in the ignition. As soon as you start to turn the key, all of the dashboard lights light up. Uh, that didn't quite happen. There was a faint glow perhaps, but definitely no lit up dashboard. A turn of the key brought no familiar vroom sound. Uh oh. Manually locking the car back up, I ran back to Ron. Even I could figure out that I think it's the battery in the car that is on the fritz.
I am nose first into the garage and the floor of the garage is a good three inches lower than the driveway. This means we can't jump start the car nor can we push it out of the garage with the two of us to jump start it in the driveway. Luckily Ron has a battery charger and he hooked that up to my car and said we just have to wait. I called work to let them know of my dilemma and went back inside to watch the Today show!
Just as Monk was coming on and I was getting ready to sit and enjoy and have breakfast, Ron went to check the car. He came right back in to tell me the car was running and good to go. What? I thought I could get a half a day out of this! Bummer! Since you should never leave a running car unattended in my neighborhood, I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. I'm worrying about having to buy a new battery today and worrying if I will make it home from work when Ron says "by the way, did you ever shut your trunk or was that light on all weekend?" Um, oops! It suddenly all made sense.
Yeah, my fault. I can't blame this on anyone. Who'd have thought? At least there is good news out of this. My trunk is dry.
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