Seething

Why would Seether tour with Nickelback?? I love Seether... hate Nickelback, with a passion!!!!

A girl I work with had asked a while ago if I wanted to go, I said only if I can leave after Seether is over. She didn't think it was as funny as I did.

Seether is touring with Staind for some shows in Jan and with 3 Doors Down for a few shows in Feb.... Why, oh why could they not come to Milwaukee with either one of those bands???

Mom Update

I talked to my mom awhile ago. She came home from the hospital. They told her she could go home early this afternoon but by time they got all the paperwork and stuff together it was after 6:00pm.

She is feeling good. They sent her home with like 8 new meds and has to go back for bloodwork every couple of days due to one of the meds.

They did tell her that she needed to stop smoking, get more exercise and eat a low fat diet. She is going to have to go thru some cardiac rehab stuff.

One thing I am learning is that the body is a very delicate machine. If you upset the balance of one thing it can impact other areas. Take hubby... they listed the cause of his death as hypertension. One of the leading causes of hypertension is sleep apnea, which is triggered by him being overweight. If you lose weight, it puts less strain on the heart which in turn helps with the sleep apnea. I have started to be more careful with my eating choices lately. I have lost like 10 lbs in the past month. I need to get my ass in gear and start exercising more.

What Else??

Merry Christmas to all my friends. I wish you peace and love.

It has been an interesting couple of days. Some good, some bad, and lots of it sad.

I continued a Christmas Eve tradition and went to dinner with P&K. Ever since they sold the bar, Hubby and I would go to dinner with them. It was always a nice time. We continued that last evening and went to Outback. Food was good and should have passed on the dessert, even tho' the raspberry cheesecake was yummy.

After dinner, I (and a bottle of Riesling) walked across the street to my neighbor's and some old friends. We played a couple of games. I had a really good time. It felt good to get out and talk and laugh again. Even if for a little while. It was such a nice evening spent with friends. I have not felt that good in a the past month.

Then came the phone call about 5:30 am. It is never good news when the phone rings at that time. My mom was having chest pains. She went into the ER right away. I got up and got the dogs moving and outside. Was at the hospital by about 7:00. She was in alot of discomfort. Her right arm felt funny and her jaw was really sore.

By about 10:30 am she was stable and sleeping so I took my two youngest nieces back to my house. I had to wrap presents yet and the kids were getting antsy. Around noon we went back to the farm. We ate a bit and opened presents. Somehow it just wasn't the same. I was tired and with the smoke in the house and it being so damn hot in there, I took the boys home about 4:30 pm.

Dad and sis went back up to the hospital later. Some of the test results had come back and her cardiac enzymes were all out of whack so they did a cardiac cath on her about 6:30 or so. The doctors put in two stents in where they did the bypass a few years ago. She also has another valve that is leaking. She is resting now and will be out of it most of the night.

Tomorrow she will be having a echo cardiogram done and some other tests that my sister couldn't remember the name of. Depending on the results, she may have more surgery tomorrow again.

My dad is taking this pretty hard. He is still weak from his chemo and radiation and the past few weeks have not been easy on him as well. I worry about him.

I am exhausted both physically and mentally. I have to go into work tomorrow to take care of some insurance stuff. I really just want to crawl into bed under the covers and come out in about 3 months.

Can't Stop the Crappy Christmas Decorations

Even two feet of snow over the past week can't keep that damn blow up musical piece of crap Christmas decoration down. They dug the damn thing out of the snow today. I swear, even tho' it is 4 houses away I can hear the music in the house.

I really have no need to hear freakin' Christmas music at 11:00pm or 5:00am when I take the dogs outside. Have these people never heard of a timer?? I would so be calling the cops if I lived next door to them.

How Not To Get Rid Of All The Snow

Yes, we have had alot of snow in the past few weeks. Here is a story of how NOT to get rid of the snow.

Let this be a lesson to all of you....

Fire officials in New Bedford, Mass., say a man using a blowtorch to melt ice on his back porch ended up setting his house on fire, causing up to $30,000 in damage.

Fire Capt. Scott Kruger tells The Standard-Times of New Bedford that no on was injured during Monday's incident at the three-story home.

Kruger says the man was using a torch hooked up to a 20-pound propane cylinder. He got too close to the building's wood frame and ignited the vinyl siding. The fire quickly spread into the building's second- and third-floor apartments.

It took 25 firefighters to subdue the blaze that damaged bedrooms in the upstairs units, and caused damage to the structure and wiring.

The homeowner will not be charged.

Snorkeling in Wisconsin

In Lake Michigan in January.....

Prison Break

I think this would be something Boomer would do. I am just glad the little guy didn't get hurt when jumping out. I also love the looks on the other dogs faces when they realize he escaped.

How??

Randy, how do I go on? Knowing that you are gone. Things may not have been the best between us lately but I never stopped loving you. I never got to say that one more time. This wasn't supposed to work out this way. My heart is breaking and I don't know if it will ever heal.

You went doing something that you loved. Playing poker. I never did go back online to see how you finished in that game.

I'm only 39. I'm not supposed to be burying my husband. That wasn't in the plan. Not now.

I know that you are now watching over me. With Teddy and Muggy. With your mom and dad. With Big Dave, Pat, Scott, Randy and so many others.

I'll be ok. Our friends and family are helping me get thru this. I willl never forget that. They have no idea what this means to me.

Rufus, Riley and Boomer miss you so much. Where will Boomer get his crumbs to eat? Riley just seems sad. Rufus keeps sitting on the rug by the door. Waiting for you to walk thru that door. Instead, you can be there waiting for him at the rainbow bridge. The boys are also helping keep me from losing it. I hug them and feel better.

I love you. I will miss you.

A Christmas Story for People Having a Bad Day

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor.

In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree . . . .

Mumbai Attacks

To preface the following....

I received the following email from a co-worker who is friends with the author. I have removed some of the identifying pieces of the email to protect his privacy. I think that would have been just terrifying. Thank goodness they were all ok. Here is his story.....


For those of you who don't know, I was on a layover at the Oberoi Trident hotel in Mumbai when the attacks occurred there last Wednesday night. Some of my memory of some of this is sketchy but here's what I remember.

Had a great, uneventful layover...the usual, massage, lunch at Trishna etc. Napped from about six pm to 9 pm. I received my 9:50 pm wakeup call from reception, reminding me of my 10:50 pm pickup time. I left my room for the lobby about 10:35 and saw one of my flight attendants standing at the elevator bank. He said the elevators for some reason weren't working and that his calls from the house phone adjacent to them was going unanswered. My initial reaction was "Oh God, am I going to have to carry all my bags down stairs???".

I was heading back to my room to try calling from my room's phone when we heard a tremendous explosion that shook the building. We were on the 18th floor, and unaware of what was happening in the lobby and outside the hotel. I ran to my room and dialed reception, and again, no answer. I went back out into the hallway to see what we were going to decide to do when we heard another huge explosion followed by very loud screams. At first I thought that an elevator had fallen as the screams seemed to come from the elevator shafts.

Suddenly doors in the hallway were opening and heads were sticking out wondering what was going on. All of a sudden a young woman comes out and starts banging on other doors in the hallway screaming that the hotel was being attacked. Apparently she saw it on TV. My coworker and I ran into my room and turned on the television and on one of the local channels it was being reported that there were "firings" outside of some hotels. It was running across the bottom of the screen but the TV still had regular programming on. I wasn't sure what they meant by firings, but I couldn't help but wonder if that is what the explosions were. Everyone was confused about what to do, but my coworker said he was going to go down the stairway adjacent to the elevators to see if it was safe to get out. He was turned back by hotel staff several flights down.

By this time I had that hall crowd of people in my room watching the news on TV that attacks were being carried out at several locations in the city. All of a sudden one of the women who was a flight attendant got a call on her PDA and screamed that the hotel was on fire and we had to get out. Although we didn't know it at the time, it was actually the Taj Hotel on fire. But we decided to head down the stairs.

Instinctively, I grabbed my passport, crew badge, wallet, and cash, and locked my luggage in my room. Some of the women were crying but it was orderly going down. Strangely nobody from above followed the 16 of us. We made it to the pool level which is on the rooftop of the third floor, but the all the glass doors to the outside areas were locked. That floor also has banquet and meeting rooms and we found all the doors locked.

Inside the ladies room the towels are cloth, so we grabbed a bunch of them and wet them in case we had to breathe through smoke. But we hadn't smelled any if the hotel was indeed on fire. We were trying to figure out where to go at that point when we encountered a hotel security guard.

He WHISPERED (which began to scare me even more) for us to stay there as there was an "incident" in the lobby. We cut through a linen tied to the insides of large bronze handles of the doors to one of the banquet rooms. He told us to be very very quiet, and to stay there until someone came to get us. He also told us to stay on the floor. We were in that room for over an hour, and several of the crewmembers with us had PDA's, and were getting information from outside sources, so we learned the situation was not good.

Eventually hiding in the dark there, we barricaded the door with a large table and waited.....then we heard voices. My heart I swear stopped for a few seconds. We were all on the floor holding hands, praying, some were crying softly etc... . Turned out to be that same security man. He was like he was sent from heaven. He said there were men here to help us evacuate. There were about a half dozen guys in camo with large automatic rifles. We were then led through a long set of offices, storage areas etc, until eventually we came out into a mezzanine level in the lobby through the hotel's business center.

There was a Van Cleef and Arpels store and a Brioni men's clothing store and all the windows were shattered, as were all the windows to the outside. Apparently grenades had been thrown in some lobby areas. There was glass EVERYWHERE! They told us to stay closely together, and QUIETLY but quickly follow them. But every time we encountered a turn in the hallway, or an open area, they halted us and the military guys aimed their rifles in all directions. We had to descend a large staircase into the open main lobby of the hotel, and RUN past the front desk, the concierge, and out the main doors. There was not ONE window intact, there was blood everywhere, and the restaurant called Opium Den next to the elevators had at least a dozen bullet holes in the glass. Apparently several people were killed there.

Everywhere we stepped there was glass.....on the furniture, the carpeting, the marble floors...everywhere. There were also NO people....anywhere. The huge glass doors to the main entrance were reduced to about six inches deep of glass pieces similar to a windshield break. It wasn't like sheet glass. It was weird. So we didn't have to open any doors to get out. We were halted in the entrance area and the rifle men repositioned.

That was perhaps the most terrifying part. Not knowing where the bad guys with guns and grenades were, or if we were going to get shot from someplace or somebody that was hiding. We ran across the street and up about three blocks to a movie theater complex's parking ramp where we were in! the company of several hundred people....guests and hotel staff both. We got there at around 12:30-1:00 am. We found our two first officers, and one of them had an international use cell phone that ended up being our lifeline. We were on the phone with the state department, headquarters in MSP, and several others so our exact location could be known and monitored.

Since the whole area had been cordoned off, there was no traffic movement so we ended up there until dawn, when after a very confusing and chaotic shifting of groups, we finally got a private bus company to shuttle us from outside the locked-down area to a destination which changed three times enroute. It was to a hotel near the airport where we eventually met up with the crew that brought our outbound plane "in". It was pretty much carte blanche with meals, expenses, and phone calls to family, etc.

Exhaustion was setting in, as were emotions, and I didn't sleep that whole day but a shower made all the difference. EVERY sound outside my room sent the adrenaline pumping. At that point we were missing flight attendant, D, and our captain, T.

The state dept. assured us they were in contact with them every half hour even though they were still trapped inside the Oberoi. About 5:30 pm, we got calls saying they were evacuating us out of India, and to be in the lobby at 6:05 pm. We finally took off without T and D at 8 pm, and landed in Amsterdam at around 3:30 am. It is about a nine hour flight, but I slept the whole way.

We supposedly had 15 people in coach and only WE were seated in first class. Thank God those seats lie flat. We were met in Amsterdam by several managers, grief counselors, and clergy of about six different faiths.

That was good, as it turned out, one of our flight attendants was in the lobby when the shootings took place and saw several people killed. Another had actually called an elevator to her floor and found it empty, but with a pool of blood on the floor, so she ran back to her room.

We were all given emergency clothing kits of underwear, socks, and sweatshirt and sweatpants, along with amenity kits of basic sundries, at least to get us home. Since we were given the option of staying in Amsterdam to rest, counsel, have clothing purchased for us, or whatever, and fly home the next day, or to continue on to our home cities.

Out of the nine of MY crewmembers, and the 11 crewmembers who landed in Mumbai about the time this started, only two chose to stay. They also said a large group of reporters was waiting for us to exit, so we were sent off the property a different way, to a hotel nearby for a four hour layover until the first flight to Detroit departed, thank God. I was OUT that entire flight as well. A glass of wine and a xanax works wonders!

We were then met in Detroit by several senior management personnel and Employee Assistance Program psychologists. We were quickly and quietly expedited through customs and immigration and offered the chance to talk to anybody we wished, but my flight was leaving for Milwaukee in 40 minutes so I had to decline. Turns out that crew to Milwaukee had been told of my presence and they went out of their way to make me comfortable, as did the crews of every flight that got me home.

As a matter of fact, I have never seen such kindness and compassion extended to us, like it was by everybody we encountered, from hotel staffs to Airport and airline personnel. It was truly extraordinary. Some processed it differently, and at different times, but I finally broke when I learned that D and T had finally been released unharmed and were preparing to board a flight to Frankfurt before catching the flight to Detroit from there.

We left Mumbai with little more than the clothes on our backs, but Detroit inflight has been in touch, and they said they will replace EVERYTHING we lost, and at full monetary value, no questions asked, or receipts required. They have also dropped most of my December schedule with pay. I lost my TravelPro luggage, garment bag, laptop, cell phone, ipod, Nikon camera, skype phone. clothing, leather coat, uniform pieces etc, but I came out of there unharmed, and with my LIFE, which is what mattered most.

Since I sat in row 1 on my flight to Milwaukee, I was first off the plane. J met me at the end of the jetway and burst into tears, which turned on the water for me too. Then the gate agent started in, and I think everybody in the gate area waiting to depart was wondering what the hell had just happened. lol It was only when J offered up "let me help you with your bags" (I had ONE small plastic bag with a handle), did the laughter emerge through the tears.

Outside of security in Milwaukee we were met by P and L, and V and B. I wanted to get home and up to the farm to be with K, but I agreed, thankfully to stop over at Amelia's by the airport for a bloody mary. MAN, that tasted good! Special thanks go out to you guys......that small gesture did NOT go unappreciated! So tonight I'm able to finally sit here at my desktop PC and finally get back to you. Thanks for understanding.

Too Funny

Not meant to offend anyone..... just funny....

When Black Friday Comes

No, not the Steely Dan song.... Today is a day that I usually try to avoid going to any stores. I am not the type to try and fight crowds to get a deal. To me, my time and sanity is worth more than most of the deals out there.

Thanksgiving was ok. Quiet. I went by my Dad's. He still can't eat so we just watched the football games. I played football with my two youngest nieces which was fun. Basically, I would throw or punt the ball they would try to catch it and run past me to score a touchdown. I also taught them how to spike the football and then make up a touchdown dance. It was funny. They kept trying to get the ball away from each other and one would face plant the other one in the snow. We finally went in when everyone's pants and gloves were wet from the snow. I just wish that my sister would play with them like that. They really get no exercise. They both love to be outside. My sister does not believe in them playing sports saying that it is stupid and dumb. I don't even try to argue with her anymore. Not worth it.

My dad is finally done with his radiation and chemo. The doctor's gave him some "blaster" shots of radiation on his glands. His neck looks really bad. It is basically one big, icky, oozing scab all the way around his neck. It is starting to get better but... yuck. He has to keep the bandages off it during the day so the air can get at it. He is starting to get some feeling back in his tongue. He said it stings and burns. Kinda like when your leg falls asleep. The swelling around his mouth is also getting better. It is just a slow recovery. I had to yell at him yesterday that he still smokes. I told him that the cancer would just come back if he continued to smoke and did he want to go thru this all again. He didn't say much. grrrrr.... I will have to venture out to Target or Kmart later to pick my dad up a few sweatshirts. He can't wear his flannel shirts because the collars irritate his neck. He will be lost without the flannel shirts.

I'm Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner

This year I volunteered to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving.

Here is a turkey recipe that also includes the use of popcorn as a stuffing -- imagine that. When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect for people like me, who just are not sure how to tell when poultry is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out. Give this a try.

8 - 15 lb. turkey
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is good)
1 cup uncooked popcorn (Orville Redenbacher's Low Fat is my choice)
Salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush turkey well with melted butter salt, and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven.
Listen for the popping sounds. When the turkey's ass blows the oven door open and the bird flies across the room, it's done.

And, you thought I didn't cook...

We're Sick And Tired Of Raising Your Young

I took this from the Onion. Another totally hilarious article.

Listen, humans, I am really starting to get tired of this crap. Get your shit together and learn to keep better track of your young, because we wolves are seriously sick of raising them.

I was roaming the forest the other day, just marking my territory, when what do I come across?That's right, a human infant. Boy, was I pissed. I'm sure the poor little waif was orphaned in a plane crash or something, and, of course, I was supposed to take it into my pack and raise it like one of our own. Well, screw that: We've got enough humans to raise already.

We wolves have our own offspring to rear, you know. It's not like we're just sitting around all day, waiting for another one of your little twerps to fall off a cruise ship. Do you think that after a hard day of hunting, I want to come back to the cave and look after some hairless, wormy thing that isn't even going to pass on my genetic information? Do I look like a fucking nanny?

If it were just a plane-crash survivor every now and again, I could deal with it. But when you figure in the whitewater-rafting disasters, the mountain-climbing accidents, and the attacking bears that kill the parents but spare the children, those orphaned infants really start to add up. I'm working my paws to the bone as it is.

And it wouldn't be nearly so bad if your babies weren't so helpless. Our pups are weaned and out of the den within nine weeks. A human child can't even walk until it reaches 15 months. Fifteen months! Talk about pathetic: By that age, our young are having kids of their own.

I'm sorry if I sound bitter, but I have to speak up, or the situation will only get worse. I'm the alpha female of a pretty good-sized pack, and it's hard enough finding, eating and regurgitating food for my own pups, much less a bunch of human children. I do my best to make ends meet, but your young are so picky it's next to impossible. They'll eat the partially digested berries I bring them, but they refuse to swallow the chipmunk meat I vomit into their mouths. If I injure a squirrel and put it in front of one of your young, the baby just lies there and wails at the top of its lungs for hours. Christ!

Then there's the problem of basic hygiene. Haven't you ever heard of licking yourself clean after you shit? How revolting. Our offspring instinctively know to wash themselves from the moment they're born. Then again, there are a lot of things our offspring instinctively know.

I know what you're thinking—we shouldn't drag your infants back to the den in the first place, if all we're going to do is bitch about it, right? After all, we could just send them out to start their own pack when winter approaches. To tell you the truth, we have driven a few of the more annoying ones out, but we always feel so guilty when we find their half-eaten carcasses a few days later. After the fifth or sixth time, it's hard to act like you didn't know it would happen.

Worst of all, in that rare instance when you do come to retrieve your missing kid, we don't get so much as a thank you. No, you just grab him and race back to "civilization" as fast as possible, so he can unlearn everything we taught him about marking his territory and stalking prey. No wonder wolves have been known occasionally to attack humans—you're a bunch of ungrateful bastards.

So the next time you lose one of your damn kids in the woods, you can forget about us raising it, because it ain't happening. Let the fucking elk do it.

Sincerely,
The Wolves

Welfare Check

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job.

I work, they pay me. maybe not as much as I'd like but hey, in this economy even having a job is a good thing. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit (which may or may not be a good thing). In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a urine test with which I have no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their ass, doing drugs, while I work. Got that sis??

Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check? I guess we could title that program, 'Urine or You're Out'.

1919 Poster

If you were around in 1919 and came across this poster.....

























I mean seriously.... would you quit drinking???

Pictures Taken From the Perfect Angle

And my personal favorite......

They Come in Three's or More??

This past week has been sucky.

Let's review.

Monday: Get phone call from sis-in-law at 3:30 am. She has kidney stones and needs someone to take her to the hospital. Hubby does this. I have to go pick up her dog and bring him back to my home as she will be there for a few days.

Get email from cousin at about 7:30 am that another cousin is really sick and not doing well. 6 hours later get follow up email, that he died. He was 51. He has had medical problems his whole life and had been on dialysis for the past 5 years. This is a blessing that he is no longer is pain.

Get call later that day from dad who says that he is not feeling well from his chemo and radiation. He was severely dehydrated. He spent the afternoon in the hospital getting fluids.

New dog guest, Bailey, is very restless. He does not sleep much at night, neither do I as I can hear his nails on the floor and his tags jingling all night as he wanders around the house. he is a good dog but sheds and I am allergic to him. Spend next three days with watery eyes and the sniffles.

Tuesday: Got to work on only a few hours of sleep. Elections. Get home from working that around 2:00 am. In bed by 2:45 am. Bailey still wanders around and I get very little sleep.

Wednesday: Work from home but get page at saying application I support is down at 7:30 am. Get up and start work. Was hoping to get some sleep, Damn.

Get phone call from dad. His sister (my aunt) dead husband's brother died. When we were younger we did alot of stuff with their family.

Skip trivia, in bed by 9:00pm. Get little more sleep as Bailey, decides he will sleep thru the night.


Thursday: Get call from dad. Sister is pissed at hubby and I. We have been sending her probation officer (PO) stuff that we get from Cheyenne's school. Also tell her that sister is stealing dad's cancer drugs. PO calls sis out on this and is livid. I could care less. Seems to me that if kids were in school and she was clean and had a job and moved out of parent's house, this would not be an issue.

Bailey goes home. My dogs are happy. I am happy as I can now breathe.

Friday: Memorial service for cousin. It was a very nice service. Lot of relatives in town. Got back to Aunt's house for a few hours to visit with everyone. It was nice.

Saturday: Burial for cousin. Cold and kinda rainy/snowy. Thank goodness it was only 20 min at the grave site. Note to self: Do not wear pointy heel shoes when having to walk thru a cemetery where the ground is all wet and mushy. Went to luncheon, it was nice to get to visit with more relatives. Don't get to see them much except for reunions, weddings and funerals.

Got to see movie, Max Payne. Kinda sucky.

Sunday: Get phone call from dad. Cousin from North Dakota died. I have not seen him since I was 15 and my grandma (dad's mom) had died. He was only 40. Not sure on the details yet.

Dad does say that he feels really good today. Better than he has in a couple of weeks. Only five more radiation treatments and one more dose of chemo left. Yeah!!

Monday: Get up and take truck to service station to get new tires put on. Get loaner car (no, it wasn't the Focus StB) Get home. Realize that when I left my keys at the service station, my house key was on the ring. No big deal. Have a spare key in the garage. Except that the garage door opener is in the house... the other opener, in my truck. Damn!! Call Dad, he meets me and gives me his copy of my house key. Yeah!!

Get email from friend. Father of another friend died on Sunday. Damn it!! This is getting ridiculous.

They say that deaths come in 3's. I am now up to 4. Does that mean there will be another 2? I hope not.

Let's hope that this week turns out better.

Ca-Ching

Last night was our poker finals. Going into last night I was in a semi solid second place. Josh had already secured first place and there were 5 of us duking it out for 2nd ($250) and 3rd ($200)place.

Because it was the last night we decided to kick in $30 each and 20 would go towards the nightly payout. I knew it was going to be a good night as I pulled the ace when we drew for seat positions and that also mean that I got the 'good' chair. Meaning I did not have to sit on a metal card chair or one of the lawn chairs (Mark is a single guy and his furniture is a bit lacking). Game started out slow as I just wasn't getting cards. I knew that I had to play semi-conservative early on until a few guys were knocked out. Kory went out first and he wasn't even playing. He was going to be late so Dave was sitting in for him until Kory got there. Just as Kory walked in the door Dave went all in (up until this point he was playing ultra conservative as he didn't want to screw up for Kory). Bottom line, Dave had pocket A and lost to the flush. Ouch!!

No one really dropped for the first hour and half. Until the blinds went up. It was then time to shit or get off the pot for folks. I was still playing only the really good hands and not getting too crazy. Final three came down to Pops, Johnny boy and myself. Johnny was short stacked and Pops and I were fairly even. We knocked Johnny out and it was down to Pops and I. By this time we knew that I had finished 2nd and Pops had 3rd locked up for overall. It now came down to who would take home the 140 for winning the nights game. We played for about 20 min and decided to raise up the blinds to 400/800 to get things moving a bit more quickly. it was then that I made my move. I was pushing on any high card and usually stealing at least the blinds. Final hand came down to where I had kings and Pops had jacks.

I win!!! Whoo Hoo.

All in all the evening netted me a cool $390 big ones. Not bad for a fun evening of poker.

We are going to try and get a more regular home game going over winter. The guys I play with are fun and the play for the most part isn't too bad.

Here are the season results . If I could have played in the first game and game 8 I think I could have made a run at Josh. I had a sub that night and they were not the best players.

Halloween Moon

Thanks, J for the pic. Thought it was funny enough to post.

There's Always One in the Crowd

Happy Birthday, Rufus!

Today is Rufus' birthday. He is now 6 years old. It is hard to believe that we have had him that long.

Here he is as a baby.... he still has that white spot on his upper lip, it is just harder to see with all the fur.


Here he is today...



And soaking up the sun in the kitchen on a sunny afternoon....

Friday Funny

I'm pretty sure this is what Ollie does when I'm not around. It has been a long time since this was on tv but it is still funny.

Proposition K

Almost like Special K... NOT!!

San Francisco wants to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K, a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex.

The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution, since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes.

According to supporters of the measure they think that it will save up to 11 million dollars a year and free up police to go after other crimes.

Proposition K has been endorsed by the local Democratic Party. But the mayor, the district attorney, the police department and much of the business community oppose the idea. They contend that it would increase street prostitution, allow pimps the run of neighborhoods and hamper the fight against sex trafficking, which would remain illegal because it involves forcing people into the sex trade.

I don't know about you but I really would not like this. I think that it would make neighborhoods unsafe. On the other hand it could open up a new industry in the suburbs. Soccer mom turns tricks while kids are in school.

Doesn't it seem like California has some very strange things that they put up for voting??

hmmmm.... have to wait and see how this one plays out.

A Moral Victory

My former boss, who is now just a regular team mate of mine, came up with this 'plan' to reduce costs by eliminating pagers for the company. Now, this is fine as there are alot of them that are not being used but it is the way she was going about it that I had issues with.

She started out by picking random pagers (L and I have yet to figure out how she chose these devices) and sent them one page with her phone number in it. When they didn't call back by the end of the day she had their pagers cancelled. This 'plan' failed miserably when about 20 people came forward wanting to know why their pagers were turned off. She did not quite get the fact that most people, me included, will not return a call from a number that I do not recognize.

So for the past few weeks we have been meeting the the procurement department who is responsible for vendor relations and the contract side of the pager relationship.

I kept bringing up the fact that I did not think that it was right that since the IT dept requires that if you are on-call that support is required 24x7 and that they then tell you that you have to use your personal wireless device to be notified when there is an issue. I think that if you want me to be on-call after I leave my building that you had better provide me with a device to be notified with. No one listened to my concerns. Until a higher up mucky mucky was on last weeks call and thought that "hey, maybe we better check this out with HR, just in case".

Turns out that I was right. HA!! We cannot force people to use their personal devices to be contacted by off hours. If they choose to do so and submit the expense for reimbursement that is fine, but we cannot mandate this.

I'm not sure why my former now demoted boss never thinks that what I have to say matters (ok, so maybe it has something with going over her head and turning her in for taking kickbacks (weekend in Vegas) from a vendor), but I am damn good at my job and I know what I'm talking about.

Some day I will post examples of her 'math' skills. It is hilarious. She puts together these proposals with number so out of whack I'm positive that my parrot can put random numbers that make more sense.

Friday Funny

Interesting....

I found this very interesting....

NEW YORK—National Football League officials announced that Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones has committed a uniform weapons violation and will be fined $2,000 for keeping his nine-millimeter Beretta handgun in his game uniform's belt and not tucking the firearm into his uniform pants as rules stipulate during Monday night's game against the Philadelphia Eagles. "This fine sends a clear message that there is no leeway when it comes the NFL's new firearms policy—if players have a sidearm in their pants while on the field of play, said pistol must be tucked into the front, back, or sides of said pants," a statement from the commissioner's office read in part. "Once again, the rule is clear: Players can carry up to five guns onto the field at any one time, but only if they are properly carried in holsters underneath their jerseys, in the aforementioned portions of their pants, or in their sock." Goodell also cautioned Jones to be mindful of rule 14b of the on-field uniform code, which states that one may shoot an opposing quarterback once and only once as long as the throwing arm is not targeted.

Ok, it was funny.... you got to admit that. Hope you didn't really believe this as being true. I took it from the Onion.

Friday Funny

The hardest part about being a seeing eye dog.....

Rooms to Let... for Fifty Cents

I am now looking for a place to sleep.

Ever since hubby has moved back in with me, I am getting no sleep. Literally. He snores. BAD. Ask the guys who went to the Packer game with him a few weeks ago. They will tell you.

It is now to the point that somehow I end up sleeping on the couch. Not sure how that works... this is my house. I sleep on the couch. Not that is not a comfy couch but sleeping with two dogs on the couch is a bit cramped. Rufus still sleeps in the bed with hubby. I told him tonight that he should sleep on the couch or in his chair. He laughed at me and said then he wouldn't get any sleep. I'm to the point where I don't care. I need sleep!!!

I am now sick and am positive that alot of it has to do with only getting a couple hours of sleep a night. If I'm lucky. It was actually nice to come home from work early today and sleep in the bed uninterrupted for 5 hours.

Back to bed now... or should I say couch.

Fun Fart Facts

It seems that whenever we camp the group as a whole is a very gassy bunch. I'm sure that it has nothing to do with all the food we eat and cocktails we consume. Face it, even tho' we are getting older farts are still funny.

I am stealing this from the MSNBC.com website --> under their Body Odd blog. It is always a fun read.

Dr. Billy Goldberg: The past eight weeks of my life have revolved around gas. On Jan. 22, I welcomed my second child into the world, a beautiful baby girl. It didn’t take long to realize that she was gassy like her daddy. In the wee hours of the morning when she was wailing from overwhelming intestinal distress, I had a revelation. I came to realize that we can mark the different stages of our life by how we handle our flatulence.

My poor little newborn desperately needed to let one rip. This is how we begin our life, unable to get them out.

Then comes adolescence – a stage where we are thrilled to let them out. Oh, the hilarious joy of the public fart! But BEWARE if you are in Camden, Maine. The Camden-Rockport Middle School has issued a ban on intentional flatulence – gas-passing students are threatened with detention.

Next comes puberty and we enter the phase of frantically trying to hold them in. I can just imagine my sweet little girl all grown up on a dinner date, squirming to prevent that embarrassing unintentional release.

Life gradually becomes more and more complicated and we find ourselves increasingly awash in uncontrolled flatulence and odor. We begin to reach for the Beano and even find ourselves considering the purchase of Odor Control Nether Garments. One of the many indignities of the aging process is that loss of muscle tone occurs – even around the anal sphincter. Yes, that is why an older person has a harder time holding ‘em in.

Leyner has his own unique theories on everything and I am sure this is no exception.

Mark Leyner: I have never been inordinately intrigued or amused by farting. Of all the bodily effluvia and excretions, I’d probably rank intestinal gas pretty low on my list of favorites. I much prefer tears, spit, pus, ejaculate, rheum, colostrum, etc.

That said, this ban on “intentional flatulence” at the Camden-Rockport Middle School has all sorts of ramifications that do fascinate me. For instance, how does anyone prove “intentionality” when it comes to farting? Will the school district hire forensic gastroenterologists to analyze air samples or study surreptitiously obtained audio recordings of the boys’ flatulence to try and determine whether it was deliberate or accidental? Obviously, there are various illnesses and food allergies that can cause flatulence.

On the other hand, what if a person willfully, premeditatedly, and with malice aforethought, renders himself potently flatulent? What if a middle-school student loads up, before school, on a breakfast of beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and sauerkraut? Can he then claim that the farting was something that couldn't be helped, that it was “an accident.”

But there’s an even more profound philosophical and legal question to ponder. And that is: should farting constitute a mode of constitutionally protected free speech? If not, what necessarily privileges one orifice (the mouth) above another (the anus)?

Is there some overarching moral imperative that justifies society’s anathematization of the fart? By what usurpation of basic liberty can the state proscribe the natural expressiveness of the sphincter and the anus? In other words, can a fart be “art”?

In the end, the Camden-Rockport Middle School Fart Ban may very well be a First Amendment issue. I think that this could result in a landmark Supreme Court case. This could be the Roe v. Wade of flatus. But I urge all Americans to bear one thing in mind: justice may be blind, but it’s not anosmic.

Dr. Billy Goldberg: I don’t know what I can add to that.

Maybe we can just end with this list of fascinating fart facts:

• On average, a fart is composed of about 59 percent nitrogen, 21 percent hydrogen, 9 percent carbon dioxide, 7 percent methane and 4 percent oxygen. Less than 1 percent of their makeup is what makes farts stink.


• The temperature of a fart at time of creation is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.


• Farts have been clocked at a speed of 10 feet per second.


• A person produces about half a liter of farts a day.


• Women fart as much as men.


• The gas that makes your farts stink is hydrogen sulfide. The more sulfur rich your diet, the more your farts will stink. Some foods that cause really smelly farts include: beans, cabbage, cheese, soda and eggs.


• Most people pass gas about 14 times a day.

Baseball Oddities

In keeping with the spirit of the baseball season, here are some baseball contracts that were signed and some of the strange clauses that the player's had.

I took this from Mental Floss's website. Thanks for letting me borrow it. :)

1. Charlie Kerfeld, Houston Astros
   After a spectacular rookie season in 1986, the rotund reliever who always pitched in his lucky Jetsons t-shirt needed a new contract. Kerfeld asked for $110,037.37, matching his number 37 jersey, to pitch in 1987. On top of that, he received 37 boxes of orange Jell-O in the deal. The Astros would soon regret this delicious bonus, though; Kerfeld, who was famously caught eating ribs in the dugout that season, would battle weight and injury problems and get sent down to the minors.
2. Rollie Fingers, Oakland Athletics
   Former A’s owner Charlie Finley never thought of a gimmick he wouldn’t try, including a mechanical rabbit that delivered fresh balls to the umpire and hiring a 13-year-old MC Hammer as his “Executive V.P.” In 1972, Finley offered his players cash for growing a mustache by Father’s Day, thereby giving birth to reliever Fingers’ trademark handlebar ‘stache. The A’s went on to win the World Series that season, and Fingers’ contract for 1973 contained a $300 bonus for growing the mustache as well as $100 for the purchase of mustache wax. Rollie went on to a have a great career with the Brewers.
3. Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros
   Before Oswalt made a start in the 2005 National League Championship Series, Astros owner Drayton McLane promised to make the ace’s dreams come true if he won, specifically his life goal of bulldozer ownership. After Oswalt dominated the Cardinals to send Houston to its first-ever World Series, McLane came through with a Caterpillar D6N XL. Since Major League Baseball requires high-dollar gifts be disclosed, Oswalt signed an addendum to his contract, a “bulldozer clause,” authorizing the club to give him his new toy.
4. Troy Glaus, Arizona Diamondbacks
   Arizona inked the slugging third baseman signed for four years and $45 million in December 2004. As part of the deal, Glaus receives $250,000 annually for “personal business expenses,” namely the cost of his wife Ann’s equestrian training and equipment. Although Glaus bashed 37 homers for the Snakes in 2005, he also tied for the major-league lead in errors by a third baseman with 24, and despite Mrs. Glaus’ surely improving performance in the steeplechase, Glaus had to hoof it to Toronto when he was traded barely a year after signing.
5. Randy Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks
   When the Big Unit signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998, team owner Jerry Colangelo also threw in a pair of partial season tickets for the Phoenix Suns to lure in the lanky lefty. Seems like Johnson could have afforded his own tickets, but to be fair, when you’re making $52 million over four years, it’s hard to get scalpers to fall for “Can you take twenty for the pair? I swear it’s all I’ve got, dude.”
6. Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
   Beltran’s mammoth seven-year, $119 million deal from January 2005 showed that he had all of baseball’s five tools but lacked a conditioned ocular enhancer, a gadget that throws numbered, colored tennis balls over 150 mph to help players pick up the speed of a pitched ball. So he got a contract clause requiring the Mets lease the machine and retain an operator for it. However, Beltran only hit .266 in his first year with the club, so maybe a used copy of Tony Gwynn’s tome The Art of Hitting would have been more cost-effective.
7. Brad Lidge, Houston Astros
   When the Houston Astros (sound familiar?) re-signed Brad Lidge in January 2007, their former closer got an incentive clause promising $25,000 for winning a Silver Slugger, given annually to the top hitter at each position. Lidge probably didn’t consider this easy money; as a relief pitcher, he had only been to the plate seven times in his five-season career and hadn’t seen an at-bat since 2004. Despite an erratic season on the mound, Lidge was the model of consistency at the plate in 2007, mostly because he never had an at-bat. Houston finished 13th in the National League in runs scored, though, so maybe letting Lidge take some hacks would have been worth a try.
8. A.J. Burnett, Toronto Blue Jays
   Lots of players have free-plane-ticket perks written into their contracts, but some feel that air travel really lacks that fun we’re-going-to-the-prom feeling that you can only get from a long limo ride. When flamethrower A.J. Burnett signed with Toronto as a free agent in December 2005, he required that his wife receive eight round-trip limo rides from his home in Maryland to Toronto each season. That’s around nine hours in a limo each way, which is enough time to move the little divider between you and the driver up and down roughly 3,500 times.

Some other interesting perks and bonuses:

1. Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston Red Sox – Dice-K’s deal with the Red Sox includes a plethora of strange or excessive clauses including housing allowances and a personal masseuse, but the oddest is that he’s contractually guaranteed the jersey number 18.
2. Kevin Brown, Los Angeles Dodgers – The seven-year, $105 million deal Brown signed after the 1998 season guaranteed twelve round trip private jet trips from L.A. to his hometown in Macon, Georgia for his family, sparing his children from cruel flight attendants’ taunts about their dad being overpaid.
3. Dave Roberts, San Francisco Giants – The deal Roberts signed last December gives him the right to buy four premium season tickets each year. He’s probably going to keep passing until management puts a decent team on the field, though.12. Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners – Ichiro’s five-year contract extension from July 2007 contains some reasonable perks (interpreter, plane tickets to Japan), but also stipulates the club give him a Jeep or Mercedes SUV, filling the Japanese auto industry with a deep collective sense of shame.
4. Mark Teixeira, Atlanta Braves - Teixeira’s deal for 2006-2007 (originally negotiated when he was with Texas) had a clause paying him $100K for winning the AL MVP, a tough feat since he finished the contract while playing in the National League.
5. Curt Schilling, Boston Red Sox – The three-time World Series champ’s new deal with the Red Sox for the 2008 season not only rewards Schilling for maintaining his weight, but also gives him $1M for appearing on any voter’s three-man Cy Young ballot. Take note, enterprising voters (“Sixty-forty split sound fair, Curt?”)

GO BREWERS!!!!

Parents and Kids

Today's rant is not about people I know but people I don't.

I really don't like kids. I do not have kids. This is by choice. People, your kids or grand kids are not the best thing since sliced bread. Get a life. Not everyone likes or wants kids.

Today at work, someone's wife brought in their kid for 'show and tell'. I have no issue with someone bringing in a kid and staying for 5 minutes or so and then leaving.

My issue is with the parents who think their kids shit don't stink. The guy in the cube behind me had his wife bring the kid in today to show her off. The kid did nothing but cry and fuss for over an hour. Yeah, that's right over an hour.

I really don't like kids. I do not have kids. This is by choice.

If I wanted to hear kids crying I would have had them.

I do not want to hear your kid crying and shit while I am trying to work...... for over an hour.

I finally went to our building AA and asked him to do something about it. He did. Wife and kid were gone within 5 minutes.

My life was then happy.

I am very sure that if I were to bring my dogs in and they were barking that it would take less than an hour for someone to ask me to make them leave the building. Why are kids any different??

The funny thing is is that the dad in this case is on the phone almost every day with either the school or court system because his kids from a previous marriage is a delinquent. The kid is already labeled a habitual truant. School has been in session a month. One freaking month!!!!Maybe you should spend less time with the crying kid and new wife and more with the kid who will end up in jail by year's end.

I also have issue with parent's who are constantly leaving work early to take the kids to an appointment. Make the appointment outside of work hours. I do when I have to schedule vet appointments for the boys. I do not think that it is fair that they don't have to take vacation or sick time to for their kids events when I have to take sick or vacation time to take the dog(s) to the vet.

Once again, I do not have kids. This is by choice. I should not be penalized for this.

It's Been a Long Time Comin'

26 long years....

That is how long Milwaukee has waited to have a team in the MLB playoffs. It was worth the wait. Sometimes you just get the feeling that you are witnessing something special. This past season for the Brewers was it. It felt kinda like it did in '96 when the Packers won the Super Bowl. You just knew it was something.

I am not predicting that they will win the World Series (it would be nice tho'). But I think that they will play hard and give the fans an experience to remember for a long time to come.

I found some pictures on the Brewers website that sum up yesterday.

Braun hitting a two run home run in the 8th inning




Braun pouring champagne over CC Sabathia




The Brewers celebrating in the locker room.



What I did find amusing is that today at work was the number of people who had gone out yesterday and bought the Wild Card shirts. I seen at least a dozen by day's end. It was crazy. I would guess that half of them don't follow baseball in any way except for now that they have jumped on the bandwagon.

Thank you Mark Attanasio for buying the Brewers and spending the money to build a winning team. You have done what some said would never happen in a small market like Milwaukee.

Yeah, Baby!!!

Walk Off Grand Slam!!!


Need I say anything more??

Sleeping Like a Baby

Hubby was gone this past weekend with the guys to the Packer game. I had a blissful time. sigh...... I was able to sleep so well not having to listen to hubby snore like a train. Sorry guys that you had to put up with him for the weekend... NOT!! Since he moved back in with me, I have slept for shit. His snoring keeps me awake and I never get a good night's sleep. I really need to send him away more often.

Saturday I played poker. Did ok. In the first game I ran into a bigger pair to get knocked out early and only get three points. The second game went much better. I ended up taking 2nd place. I had been short stacked most of the game but managed to win when needed. After all was said and done, I can't take first place but am in the money for either 2nd or 3rd overall for the tourney. I have to finish in the top 4 to cash.

Sunday went and did some shopping. Boston Store had it's semi-annual Goodwill sale going on. You donate some old clothes and get coupons for new ones. I love this sale. I was happy to get a couple pairs of Ralph Lauren pants that were on sale. I love, love, love these pants but really don't like spending 200 bucks on them. I wait for the sales. They were on sale for 50% off so that dropped the price to $100. They were also in the yellow dot section which was another 25% off, down to $75. The Goodwill coupon took another 20% off which brought the final price down to 60 bucks. ROCK ON!!!

There has been a stray cat hanging around for the past few days. He is very friendly. He looks like he was a house cat for awhile as he doesn't have the battle scars that outside cats normally do. He is very skinny tho. I don't want to feed him so that he never leaves. I am allergic to cats so we can't keep him. Not that I want or need another animal. I hope he finds his way home soon.

It has been a long time since I posted a ZOBMONDO so here you go....

Would you rather....

have to hang onto the top of a car going 100 mph for ten minutes

----OR----

try to stay on the top of a hot-air balloon in the sky for ten minutes?

I have to go with the car. I don't like heights.

A Bit Disturbing

In the past week I noticed something very odd when driving home.

I go past this very large cemetery on Capitol Dr. They are now advertising that you can use the building for you next event. Got a wedding, family reunion, corporate meeting? Try the cemetery. I also see that they are having a classic car show tomorrow. To me this is just a bit morbid. Granted it has a huge beautiful building but still…..

I will have to try and get a picture of the sign.

When we last left our heroine…

I had to send back my Crocs and get new ones in sizes that fit. I called their Customer Service area and had the most pleasant experience. She was able to send me a return postage label and get the new shoes ordered.

I got the new shoes and low and behold they did not fit. Ok, one pair fits pretty well but the Badger Crocs do not. My feet now hang over the back by ½ inch. Damn!! So back they go. The sizes run small is a 6-7 and the medium is 8-9. I really need a 7-8 sizing. Oh well.

My dad starts with his radiation and chemo treatments next week. He goes this week to the dentist and has to get some filings and a tooth pulled. I guess any teeth that are a bit suspect they need to take care of now before radiation as the jaw bones will be compromised afterwards. He also has to go and have some other testing done before the treatments start.

I’m going up to MN again for work next week. I’m excited about this one. This is the one workshop that I really wanted to be involved with. Just not looking forward to the 5 hour drive. The company is too cheap to pay for me to fly and then rent a car when I’m up there.

I have just finished reading one of the funniest books I have read in a long time. When I was reading it, I was laughing out loud. Hubby told me that if I was going to keep laughing like that I should go read somewhere else. I told him to go watch football somewhere else if it bothered him.

The book is ‘Bright Lights, Big Ass (A Self-Indulgent Surly Ex-Sorority Girl’s Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why do They All Live Next Door to Me?)’ by Jen Lancaster. One of the funniest sections was where she is telling you about how here husband will no longer let her go grocery shopping by herself any longer. It seems that she came back from the store with three, yes 3 birthday cakes for dinner. Her reasoning… hey they had nuts on it so you had protein and she bought ice cream for dairy, isn’t that considered part of the food pyramid?? I was trying to read this section to hubby and I kid you not, I laughed for more than 15 minutes before I could get thru the ten sentences. I had tears just streaming down my face it was so funny. For those of you who know hubby will know why this is so funny for me. He has been known to eat an entire cake in one day. I have her other two books reserved at the library, I can’t wait to read them.

What A Croc

At the last camping trip is was noticed that I needed a new pair of Crocs. I have had this pair for well over three years now and they are wearing a bit thin. OK, very thin as the rocks now hurt my feet when I walked.

So I went to the Crocs website and browsed around. I ordered a pair of Wisconsin Badger Caymans and a pair of Cleo's.

They came in the mail yesterday. I eagerly opened the box and tried them one. They did not fit. The Badger ones were too big and the Cleo's were too small. CRAP!!! I had ordered them the size that I normally wear, 8's. The Badger ones came in a size 8-9. I figured that would be ok. Nope, way too big. It looks like I have clown shoes on. The Cleo's same thing. Size 8. My toes hang over the top.

So, I now have to send them back and get different sizes. I was hoping that I would have them in time for camping next weekend. I may have to head over to the sporting good store and pick up a pair. Oh well.....

Beliot College Mindset List

This is the 11th year that Beloit College has assembled these observations that help to identify the experiences that have shaped the lives–and formed the mindset—of students starting their post-secondary education this fall.

The Mindset List is not a chronological listing of things that happened in 1990, the year they were born. It is instead an effort to identify the worldview of 18 year-olds in the fall of 2008. Of course, our students come from many backgrounds and different traditions and these generalizations may not apply to all. The list identifies the experiences and event horizons of students and is not meant to reflect on their preparatory education.

It is also not deliberately designed to make readers feel really old! (yeah right!!)

Students entering college for the first time this fall were generally born in 1990.

For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.
2. Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.
3. They have always been looking for Carmen San Diego.
4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
5. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.
6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.
7. Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
8. Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”
9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.
11. All have had a relative--or known about a friend's relative--who died comfortably at home with Hospice.
12. As a precursor to “whatever,” they have recognized that some people “just don’t get it.”
13. Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando.
14. Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.
15. Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.
16. Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.
17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.
18. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
19. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
20. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.
21. Students have always been "Rocking the Vote.”
22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
23. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
24. There have always been gay rabbis.
25. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.
26. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
27. IBM has never made typewriters.
28. Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.
29. McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.
30. They have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola.
31. There has always been Pearl Jam.
32. The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.
33. Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
34. They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium.
35. They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with, in the crib.
36. Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border.
37. Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.
38. Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
39. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.
40. Macaulay Culkin has always been Home Alone.
41. Their parents may have watched The American Gladiators on TV the day they were born.
42. Personal privacy has always been threatened.
43. Caller ID has always been available on phones.
44. Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.
45. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.
46. They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”
47. Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
48. Soft drink refills have always been free.
49. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”
50. Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
51. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.
52. The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.
53. The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
54. 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.
55. Michael Millken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.
56. Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.
57. Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.
58. There have always been charter schools.
59. Students always had Goosebumps.

I Smell Bacon

It has been a few weeks since my last post. Lack of motivation and just no time.

I spent most of this week in another workshop. Once again it was interesting and I learned alot. I am hoping that I can go to at least one, if not both of the remaining ones coming up in the next few weeks. The new tool that we are moving to over the next year will be really cool. I can't wait to get into it more. (yeah, that is my inner geek talking)

I just came back in from taking the boys out to whiz. The air smelled wonderful. I live about mile from Patrick Cudahy. They make meat, more specifically, pork products. They must be smoking the meat as it smells like breakfast outside. The warm smell of ham.... mmmmm... too bad I went to a fish fry only a few hours ago and am not hungry.

Went to the dentist to have a crown put on. The dentist got all the prep work done and now I have a temporary one on. It feels weird. My gums are a bit swollen and my jaw still aches a bit. I go back in a couple of weeks to have the permanent one put in.

Found out last week that my dad has cancer. This sucks. It is in his mouth. He had, what he thought were just some canker sores that weren't healing. He went to the doctor and they did a biopsy and found the cancer. He went for some tests earlier this week and we should know more about what is happening and his options sometime next week. My dad is surprisingly taking this well. Now if my sister would get her head out of her ass.....

MN Day 3

Since Blogger is unavailable right now, I have to type this up in Word and then copy it later.

Back at the hotel and having a cocktail (vodka/tonic#1).

Sitting in the atrium along with a variety of people. I find it very interesting the group of priests. There have to be about 15-20 of them soaking up the free cocktails. If you were having a priest convention don’t you think they would get to wear street clothes. Not their collars and smocky things. They are too far away for me to hear what they are talking about but they are quite jovial.

Another large group is also bank people. This hotel is a preferred place for the bank to stay when traveling here. It is about 10 minutes away from our business center and 20 from the operations center. Not sure who they are as most of them have southern accents. My guess is retail or student banking as there are major pods of people in Cincy in those divisions. No clue as to who any of them are.

Lots of business people as well. Since the airport is literally across the street it is easy access for them. Most of them look like me. Sitting alone with a drink and some pretzels with their laptops working away. Me I’m not working as my VPN is not compatible with the wireless service here or something crazy like that. Whatever it is, I don’t care. I’m not doing any kind of work. There are a couple people who are in my workshop who spent all day in that and are going right back to the room to work another 5-6 hours. Not me. I refuse to do that. First of all it will force the rest of my team to live without me for a week. Heaven forbid they have to think on their own for a change. We had some issues later this afternoon that I got on call pages for. Why, not a clue as I wasn't supposed to be on call this week.

(vodka/tonic#2-4)

Went for drink two at the bar and met a guy from my office here. I had seen him earlier in the day at our ops center and said hi. Didn't realize that he was staying here. He taught me the trick that you can get two drinks at a time so I did. Then you don't have to go back so often. We sat and chatted for about an hour. It is nice to get people away from the work setting and talk to them. I learned that he likes to hunt and makes his own venison sausage. I shared with him that my dad make alot of sausage as well. Will have to remember to bring him some to taste.

My battery died on the laptop. I went back up and ordered dinner. Not bad.

I turned on the TV. There was some stupid show with people dancing with their dogs. DUMB!!!!! I love my dogs and will, at times, pick them up and carry them around but never do I dance with them.

I'm now watching Super Nanny. WTF?!?! These parents are crazy. This is the reason we do not have kids. I can't even comment on this any more, it is that bad.

On another TV note. The Olympics are starting on Friday. I love this!! I am totally addicted to watching everything I can. For the winter games I had 2 DVRs going so I could record more stuff. It took me awhile to watch but it is so much fun to watch these people compete.

Well, heading back home tomorrow evening after the workshop wraps up. Not nuts about having to drive back but, I figure I should make it to the Dells before dark if I can get out right away. We are then leaving for camping on Friday morning. Can't wait. The weather looks good and the company is without question, fantastic.

Peace Out!!

MN Day 2

So another day dawns warm and sunny in St. Paul.

Our workshop today was very productive. We are setting the policies and process for how the entire organization will be using a new tool. This will impact about 8000 users. It gives me a good feeling to know that my boss and his boss think enough of me and my work that they feel I should be included in these decisions. There will be 4 more of these week long sessions over the next month or so. I hope to be included in those as well.

Went to dinner at a place call Salut Bar Americain. My boss's boss called it the Applebee's for the rich. It was pricey. Dinners were about 30 bucks a piece. Atmosphere was very fun. We sat outside on the patio. Tonight's group was just fur women. I really only knew one of them prior to being here. It was nice to sit, relax and get to know them better. We don't do that enough.

It looks like the Brett Favre saga may be almost over. I am so tired of it. I was surprised to see what a big deal this is in MN as well. I really almost don't care what happens anymore.

Well, time to head to bed. Another busy day on tap for tomorrow.

Have a good day.

Peace Out!!

Anyone Still There??

It has been a few weeks since I have posted. Lack of time being the biggest reason. There has been alot going on lately.

I figured that since I am sitting in a hotel in St. Paul, now is a good as time as any to post. Being that it is free cocktails, even better. Unfortunately the beer is Bud, but the vodka tonics are going down well.

Work calls me to MN for the week. I drove up this morning. Not a bad drive, just long. It was a little over 5 hours. Traffic was good. Car even better. I went to pick up the rental yesterday at the airport. I got my choice of car. PT Cruiser or Mustang. Sweet!! I took the Mustang. Black, fairly tricked out for a rental. It was weird driving a car. I normally drive an SUV, so sitting low to the ground feels weird. It was very easy to speed in that car, thank goodness for cruise that was set about 80.

Where did I last leave off from here??

Trivia playoffs. Finished 6th out of 28 or 29 teams. The half time question killed us. It was to put the state capitals in alphabetical order. We missed the 2nd one so they were all screwed up. A couple of sports questions and down we went. I was still happy how we did. Our group sure knows a bunch of useless (sorta) shit.

(vodka tonic #2)

Sister is still in jail. Hopefully she will be for awhile. I knew she was desperate when she called me to post her bail. I hung up on the collect call. My parents are working on getting custody of the kids. I try to help when I can. Which I wish was more often. Those kids really need a stable environment.

Camping at Lake Yellowstone. Always a blast. It was good to see that E could come with us and get away and relax. It was also nice cuz there are no mosquitoes. This is due to the 4000+ bats in the park. I was sad that we never made it to the area where they come out in the evenings. Went to the casino on Friday. Played in a poker tourney. It payed out the top 4. I finished 5th. I feel like I played really well. I wish I had the chance to play more often.

(vodka tonic #3)

Hubby and I are doing better. He has moved in with me. Altho', when he snores alot I wish he would go back home. It is taking some getting used to living with someone again. I have been alone for the past 6 months. I know that after almost 17 years, 6 months is nothing but, I like not having to worry about anyone else besides me and the dogs. It will just take some time. I do like him being there tho.

Brewers have been doing fairly well. They win 9 on the road and then lose four to the Cubs at home. I have made a few games this year. It sucks that you can't just decide to go on a Sunday morning, head to the stadium and expect to get good tickets and in some cases any tickets. That is the4 price that you pay when the team is doing well.

Coming up...

More camping. I head home Thursday after work and head out Friday for more camping. I love going to this park. Now that there is electricity, even better. I have to remember to go and get my fishing license on Friday morning. Now if we had a boat.........

Well, time for me to go get another drink (last call for free drinks) and head to the sports bar and grab dinner. Liquid meals are not good when I have to have a clear head for some of the training that I am doing this week.

(vodka tonic #4)

I promise to try and post more often. I do read everyone's blogs, occasionally post a comment or two jut too lazy to publish.

Peace Out!!

Corey Hart, All Star

Well done, Brewer fans!!

It was announced a little bit ago that Corey Hart was NL selection in the 2008 All Star Game Final Vote.

Way to go!

Making Toast

So, I get an email from hubby about 10 am wanting to know if I a.) wanted the old toaster back or b.) a new toaster oven. A, you were close in your comment.

I told him that if he brought me the old toaster back I would make BLTs for dinner tonight, if he wanted to come over.

He was running late and wanted to get home before the Brewers game so he stopped off and bought me a new toaster.

Here it is folks....



By the way, the BLTs were yummy. I still have some bacon so I make them for dinner tomorrow night as well.