Click, Click, Boom... or should I say Snip, Snip, Boom

I am writing this in between doing some work. Wednesday's are data load nites so, as the developer is putting elements in, I can validate them. Easy work tonite as it is a small load.

Well tomorrow is the big day. Boomer gets fixed. He is getting the old 'nads chopped off. While he is under the vet is going to pull a couple of baby teeth that have not fallen out and fix an umbilical hernia. I drop him off tomorrow and pick him up Friday morning. I have to admit it will be kinda nice to sleep without him barking at every little thing that goes bump (or fart) in the nite. But then I wil feel bad cuz after I pick him up I will be dropping him off at my parents with the other boys for a weekend at the grandparents. I just hope that he is a good puppy and doesn't cause to much damage.

I decided not to give blood today. I did not want to take the risk of passing out again.

Hubby and I went shopping to get stuff for camping tonite. $165 bucks later and most of it was booze. I did limit myself to only 2 big bottles of wine. Be warned guys that hubby has another big bottle of Captain's again....

Big Brother was on tonite. This year's theme is the All-Stars. They are bringing back a few of my favorites. Chicken George, Will and Janelle. The public gets to vote on who will come back into the house this year. Should be fun to watch as everything else is a rerun. I also kinda like Treasure Hunters. I would like to know where they find these people. I think that most of the teams were over thinking the clues. Maybe it was because I just happened to be wearing my Mount Rushmore tshirt on Sunday but, I had that part of it figured out right away.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

In your teenagers room, find a vial of cocaine

----OR----

a gun?

I have to go with the coke. Both are not good things but, I think that there is less potential for harm from the drugs.

Giving till it Hurts....Teaching a New Dog Nothing

To give or not to give, that is the question. On Wednesday, my company has a blood drive. Do I give?? The last two times I gave blood, I passed out. Both times I was about 2/3 of the way thru the donation process when I got really warm and light-headed and BAM!! Out like a light. The sucky thing is that after you wake up, they make you drink soda. Regular Coke. I don’t drink soda that has caffeine in it. I get sick to my stomach from the sugar and caffeine. Then you have to explain to them why you feeling like hurling after drinking the soda, which means they want to keep you there longer, which in turn means I can’t get my work done. I think that I will not be donating again anytime soon. Maybe I will make some treats for those who do donate.

Boomer is getting more adjusted each day. He is getting better with the housebreaking. He no longer is whizzing in the house (that we can see/smell) but is having issues with the pooing. He has pooed in his cage the last few times he was in there. It will just take time. Thanks goodness for the carpet cleaning machine!! He has learned two new "tricks". He can now jump up on the kitchen table. He seen me put up one of the squeaky stuffed toys that needed some minor surgery on the table in the kitchen and sometime during the nite proceeded to get it off the table and rip most of the stuffing out of it and leave it all over the house. Then about 2:30 this morning he was trying to get into bed with Randy's plastic glass that was sitting on the end table between the two chairs in the living room. At least it was empty. I think he was looking for water as the water dish was almost empty. I am almost sure that he part cat. He kinda 'barks' like one even. He has learned to jump up on one of the chairs and hop over to the window ledge, which is about 9-10 inched wide. Same thing in our bedroom, he hops up on to the bed, hops over to the nightstand and then hops over to the window ledge.

We are camping this weekend at Lake Kegonsa State park. It is a really nice place. The bad thing is that every time we go there a tornado decides to go there before us. Last year, the tornado did a lot of damage and it was weird to drive around and see neighborhoods where all that was left was the foundations and driveways of houses. There was even a section where the road was ripped right from the ground. It sounds like the tornado that went thru Stoughton yesterday was a small one with minimal damage.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Bite the curb and get kicked in the back of the head

----OR----

get a paper cut on your eyeball?

Hmmmm... neither sound very appealing but am going with getting kicked in the head. I had the laser eye surgery a few years ago and hate to mess my eyes up now.

Have a good week everyone

Camping and a New Addition

I think I have finally recovered from camping. Damn, how can something so relaxing take so long to recover from. A good time was had by all even tho' the weather was a bit on the chilly side and rainy at nite. There is nothing better than sitting around a campfire, passing a bottle of Boones Farm. I wish I had a tape recorder to capture all the funny moments and the great comments made by everyone.

At this time I would like to announce a new member to our family. No, I am not having a kid. But a new puppy. His name is Boomer (that may change, any suggestions??) He is a 9 month old Yorkie. While camping, I ran into 2 girls at the bathroom. I was admiring their puppy and noticed a tick on his nose. As I was picking the tick off of him the girls wanted to know if I wanted him. I was a bit skeptical at first but after speaking to the parents and found that he was an abused puppy and has lived with 3 families in the last couple of months. The last family who had him couldn't keep him because they had to older dogs who just didn't like him. I guess that it was a guy who kicked him around. You can tell this as he is not so fond of men in general and follows me around like a shadow. He is a great little guy so far. Someone took the time to teach him to sit and play fetch. It took Rufus and Riley a while to get used to him but they seem ok now. We are working on the housebreaking and am getting him neutered next week. He also has never been to the groomer so he will be doing that as well next week. Look back for more pictures after he gets all gussied up.







Left to right.... Rufus, Riley and Boomer.






Not much else to talk about today.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Run (no walking) a half marathon in wooden shoes

----OR----

bike two hundred miles with no seat, just the post sticking up?

I have to go with the running. I figure that I ride about 15-16 miles an hour, with breaks. That would mean at least 15 hours that I would be riding. I could probably run 3-4 miles an hour. A half marathon is only 13 miles. 4 hours, tops!

Have a good week everyone!!

Dentyne-ism.... A Correction...and stuff...

More Dentyne-isms.... some funny, some not so funny.

#70 – Whenever someone says “Fire at Will,” does Will get a royalty check??

#96 – Making the bed: Not fun. Messing it up again: Fun

#116 – Replacing someone’s parachute with a bag of canned goods is not funny. Ok, it is.

#131 - Why is it that the more you spend of dinner, the hungrier you are when you leave the restaurant?

I have to post a correction about Monday's post. K did the 65 miles ride and ended up going 72 miles because she got lost. She also wants to make it know that she was only following my hubby on Sat. That'll teach her to follow him again. I should have warned her that he is bad with directions....

I was at the grocery store yesterday and seen a bumper sticker. PETA – People Eating Tasty Animals. I love it. Now most of you know that I am an animal person and am all for the humane treatments of them but some animals are meant to be eaten. We are carnivores. We eat meat. I also like my leather jackets, shoes, belts, etc...

Group camp is this weekend. I am looking forward to getting away and drinking. I have stocked up on wine, beer, and bloody Mary fixin’s. I made a trial run of the Tabouli that I will be making. Not too bad, considering it was the first time I made it. Don't worry folks, I will have my standard guac and salsa available as well, just in case.....Hopefully, this year I can enjoy the whole weekend and not spend half of it hungover and trying not to hurl. At least this year it won’t be smokin’ hot out like the last two years. It should be fun to see what games Connie has devised.

There is a cemetery that I drive past every day on Capitol Drive. It is a big place. Every so often I see the same couple of people, it appears that it is two older women and sometimes a small child who are visiting someone and the have a little table set up and it looks like they are having a picnic. It is really kinda sweet.

Tomorrow is the last day for one of my teammates. She will be missed!! I can't fault her for leaving. We are in a group that has very high visibility in the company and it can be very stressful at times. I am taking over most of her work on software releases and have a feeling that the summer is going to suck as I will be putting in lots of hours.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather...

be on vacation with your 60-year old parents and have your mom insist on wearing a thong bikini

----OR----

have your dad insist on weraing a tiny, Euro-style bikini bathing suit?

WOW!! Neither are all that appealing but will go with my dad as he is a thin guy and could pull it off better than my mom could. No offense, mom!

Trek 100 Recap

On Saturday, hubby and I rode in the Trek 100. Our friend, K, rode with us. So here is a recap of the day in a timeline format.

5:00 am - Wake up and take a shower, let the dogs out and get water bottles, etc ready.

6:15 am - Meet K at the park and ride. She is going to follow us out to WCTC.

7:00 am - arrive at WCTC. Go inside, drop off donations collected and look at stuff to buy. K registers for the 37 mile ride.

7:15 am - get back to truck and unload bikes and get stuff ready to go. Put a map in the back of my jersey. Hubby and K leave there maps behind.

7:40 am - head up to where all the action is. See the racing sausages and listen to a speech by Jon McGlocklin.

7:45 am - first few waves of 100 mile and 100k riders leave the starting gates. We watch and admire the bikes. Try to figure out where the girl who had a pink bike like mine got her pink carbon water cages. I have to get me some of those.

8:15 am - the crowd has thinned out so we decide to leave. It is about 9.5 miles to the first rest stop.

8:25 am - make a turn at one of the streets and notice that all the arrows on the pavement are blue. Our route is supposed to have green arrows. SHIT!! Pull over in a neighborhood and look at the map. I think we are ok. We will just follow the other riders for now and see what happens.

9:00 am - we hit the first rest stop. Go to the bathroom, put on more sunscreen and grab a snack. I find out that those power bars are icky. Check the big map on the wall and find out we are going in the right direction. It starts out that all routes are blue until the split off. WHEW!! Next rest stop is about 6.5 miles.

9:30 am - get to the next rest stop. See an art gallery that has cool prints of the ride for 15 bucks. Make a mental note to stop back and get one. Pee and fill up the water bottles. Realize that my map must have fallen out of my pocket. No big deal. Check the big wall map. Next rest stop is about 9 miles away. Hubby and K are stronger riders so they get ahead of me. I am alone. Thank goodness that I have my iPod to listen to. Gaze at some really nice houses along the way. Think that I need about 3 more jobs to afford these houses.

10:10 am - get to 3rd rest stop. It is at a bar. Pee again and chat with hubby and K. The next rest stop is only 4 miles away and they are going to go ahead of me. I will catch up.

10:35 am - A couple of killer hills. Damn, they were hard. Realize that I have not seen another rider in a long time and damn, this road is really rough. Think to myself, that this is a bit strange. I should have been to the rest stop by now, it was only 4 miles away. Maybe 20 minutes, tops! Round a curve and realize that I am now on Hwy 83 and Hwy 16. Think to myself once again that this is very odd that they put us on such a busy road. FUCK!! now I am sure that I am not going the right way. Ride this down a bit to the Mobil station and call K. Thank goodness I have a cell phone. I am now pissed. I have no map, no clue as to where I am.

10:45 am - Kim calls back. Her and hubby are lost as well. WTF?!?! How did they get lost?? They give me directions to get back to where they were about 1/4 of a mile down the road. Hubby has to portage my bike over this rough terrain and railroad tracks. Somehow we end up on another route. Great - how much futher do we have to go. I am still pissed that I got lost. But think it is funny that hubby and K made the exact same mistake that I did. Since the 37 mile ride did not 'officially' start until 9:30, we think that they just did not have the intersection staffed yet as that was about 1/2 thru the ride. The rest of the route was very well marked and had people staffed at every intersection showing you the right way to go.

11:00 am - Stop at the next rest stop. Figure out that we are now on the 20 mile route and have about 7 miles to go. Thank God we are now on the right track.

11:30 am - get back to WCTC. Pee. Get our socks, eat, get a few (ok, 9 or 10) beers from the Delafield Brewhouse stand. Yummy Blonde honey beer. Buy a shirt, drink more beer. K then discovers that she has been wearing her sports bra inside out all day. Too funny. What a ditz.

1:30 pm - K leaves. She has to go go help her hubby 'cut wood'. Hubby calls P, K's hubby. Tells him that K may be home if she doesn't get lost again. Recap the story for him.

3:00pm - Realize that if we want to go the the Admirals game tonite that we need to leave so that we can get home, nap, shower and get downtown, by 7. We went to the game and seen a losing effort. The best part was after the game was over, one of the Admirals totally clocked a guy from the other team. Why?? Who knows. They got their butt's kicked. Go into the locker room and figure out how to do better next week.

All in all the ride was a great time and will do it again next year. With the company matches I raised over $650. Thanks to everyone who donated money and if you pledged a per mile fee, I need 3 more bucks per mile. Just kidding. It was my fault that I got lost.

Next ride... Janesville Rotary Club's Pie Ride. How cool is that?? You get a long sleeved tshirt and a pie when you finish. We are doing the 30 mile ride for that one. You can bet that we will all have maps and phones on that one.

As a side note - this is at least the 4th or 5th ride (that she will admit to;) that K has gotten lost on. This is why the story is so funny. The very first ride we did with her last summer, we rode 25 miles with her hubby and she did the 45 mile ride or should I say almost 55 miles by time she got lost and back on the right track. A few of you may also remember a few weeks ago when she met us out at Bong for camping and got 'lost'.

No ZOBMONDO today. This post is long enough. Have a good week folks!

Another Day... Another Dollar....

The holiday weekend was once again way too short. Saturday was spent doing lots of yardwork. We have a woodsy, brushy area on the back of our lot that butts up against the electric company easement. It is just a mess of crappy trees (with big old thorns!) and lots of underbrush. There are a couple of nice trees that are trying to grow back there if it weren't for all the other crap. So we have been trying to clear out some of the crap. We made a dent in it on Saturday but still have a long way to go. There are a couple of big dead trees that will need to come down eventually. It will make for some nice firewood. (hint, we need strong guys with big chainsaws). I think we even have a grapevine growing back there....

Hubby and I have been gearing up for our big ride next Saturday. The Trek 100 Ride for Hope in support of the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes for Childhood Cancer). We are riding 37 miles. We are still looking for donations, click here to donate. Thanks to all of you who have already donated! It is much appreciated by us and I know that the MACC fund will also appreciate it as well. So for the last week we have been riding longer rides. I was out yesterday morning and did 28 miles before it got too hot out. I feel pretty comfortable that we will be able to complete the 37 miles without any problems. It is looking like it will be a nice day out, not too hot. I hope that I feel well enough to hit the Admirals game later that nite as they play for the Calder Cup championship. Anyone interested in going??

I read in the paper today that this past weekend saw 28 shootings and 4 deaths in the city of Milwaukee. I just don't get it. Why do people think that killing someone is the way to resolve a dispute. Some idiot shot 5 people in a park yesterday afternoon. Police think it was some sort of a domestic dispute. This is a fairly nice park that we occasionally ride our bikes thru. I think that as it gets warmer outside, tempers will flare and there will be more violence. I just wish that people would understand that there are better ways to do things.....

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Always almost have to sneeze

----OR----

hit your funny bone every 15 minutes?

I am going with the sneezing. Hitting my funny bone creeps me out. I hate that feeling! Have a good week everyone.

Random Stuff

Just a bunch of stuff today....

From cnn.com... This may benefit all of my non-Wisconsin readers (all 7 of you according to today's Stat Counter) . It is a website that tells you how to pronounce many Wisconsin cities and name of people associated to the state. The person who I think could really use it is college football announcer Keith Jackson. It seems like he would always be a commentator for the Rose Bowl and would say Wes-con-sen. No E's in the spelling of our state, Keith. Good thing he is retiring again.

*************************
What does this mean??

…employed by a bank or other organization exempt from registration under Federal and/or state securities laws to perform functions that would require him or her to be so registered or qualified if he or she were to perform such functions for an organization not so exempt…

*******************************
So you think you where drunk last weekend?? How about this guy?? 18 times the legal limit. He said he had a pint to freshen up in the morning. I know I always have a pint to keep me smelling fresh in the morning as well..

********************************
I was driving home from work yesterday and seen a older guy driving a Nissan with Illinois plates that read 'CMLTOE' Wonder what that meant??

***********************************
My co-woker gave her notice today. This sucks. She really knows her stuff and is very good at her job. I will miss her. I will probably end up taking over most of her responsibilities.


ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be seasick for three days straight

----OR----

Be drunk and spinning for four hours straight?

I am going with the drunk spins for four hours. Three days is way too long to feel like shit. I can be drunk, spinning and have recovered from the hangover in three days.

Camping... Fun... Work... Sucks

Ahh.... to be home again. Camping was fun. My butt is dragging. The weekend as always was way too short. Everyone had a great time camping even if it did rain. Richard took over StB's spot and answered trivia questions with the famous answer of "my balls" and E brought the nuts. The tops of my feet got really sunburned. It hurts to wear socks and they are so swollen, my right foot looks like I have a cankle. The boys even had fun.. they were pretty good and are tuckered out tonite. Here are a pictures of them 'recuperating' from the weekend.


















I took about a 2 hour nap yesterday afternoon so I could be well rested to put the software release I have been working on for the last few months into production. It was going fairly well until about 11pm.... then... BAM... our paging vendor had a telco issue so no pages were being sent from the toll free modems. CRAP!!! I was unable to test 3 of the paging related enhancements last nite and had to finish them up first thing this morning. As it was I ended up getting to bed about 2am or so. My alarm went off about 5:15 and it was way to early... The other thing that was a major headache was the process owner who had balked at wanting to test because it was soo late and didn't feel testing was necessary had to be walked through almost all of their testing because they did not know how the tool works.. I told my boss that the next release they had better have testers that knew what they were doing. I don't have time to do my job and theirs.

Hubby and I went to see United 93 a few weeks ago. We don't go to movies very often. I have a habit of falling asleep if it doesn't hold my attention. I slept thru most of Titanic (yes, I hated the movie). The movie was very good. Intense. Even though you knew what the outcome of the movie was going to be, you still had that ray of hope in the back of your mind that maybe, just maybe, it would be different. I really liked how the actors were all unknowns and they never called anyone out by a specific name. If you seen the movie, what did you think??

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Have a little man that lives inside your mouth and incessantly hammers on your teeth with a pick

----OR----

coexist with a small bird that lives on your nose and yanks out your nose hairs at its discretion?

I have to go with the bird. My parents spent way too much money on orthodontia for me to have them ruined by a stupid little man....

Have a good week everyone!

I'm a Winner.... Dentyne-isms...Camping

I figured I had better post before the blog police come and get me. The rain has finally ended and the sun has returned. It is nice to see the sun again. Now I wish that I had time to get out and ride. Yard work takes precedence.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner…..The season finale of Survivor was Sunday evening. Aras was the winner. This is good for me as I had him in the pool. The win netted me about 100 bucks. This the first time I have won any money in a Survivor pool. It is about time. Danielle was screwed no matter who she picked. I really wanted Terry to win as he was an awesome competitor but Aras was always right there and deserved to win.

Dentyne-ism #132 – Making faces in the mirror is one of life’s great secret pleasures. I have to admit it is kinda fun.

We are going camping this weekend. I can’t wait. The weather is supposed to be decent. Nothing better than drinking beer for an entire weekend. I may have to stop and pick up a six pack of the new Leinie’s, Summer Wheat. StB compared it to Blue Moon, which I love. Hmmm… I may have to stop and pick some of that up as well. The boys like to go camping as well. This year I picked up a camp chair just for them. Coleman makes a chair called the Bone Lounger. It is perfect for both of them to sit on. Then they are up off the ground a bit. They just got their summer haircuts and look like drowned rats. Rufus especially. He is so small to begin with, now he looks like a Chihuahua instead of a Shih Tzu.

Over the last few months, I have talked about how I am working on software release for work. Finally after two months of working on it, we will be implementing it on Sunday evening. The latest headache with this is that the process owners who requested the enhancements are now pissing and moaning about how they don't want to do testing after implementation on Sunday nite. It is too late... too freakin' bad... they have from 10-11 pm for testing. It will take me until after 1am to finish up. The good thing for me it that I am set up to work from home. They will have to drive into work to do testing. These people have been nothing but a pain in the ass since day 1. I am so glad that for the release in August I don't have to work with them.

Zobmondo!!

Would you rather....

Have your spouse be disappointed in you

----OR----

have your child be disappointed in you?

Since I don't have any real children, only dogs (who are like my kids) I will go with the child being disappointed in me.

Talk to you all soon!

Trek 100 Ride for Hope

On June 3rd, hubby and I are riding in the Trek 100 Ride for Hope. It benefits the MACC fund. Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer. A very worthy local charity. We are riding the 37 mile route and looking for sponsors.

You can click here to go directly to the online donation page or if you prefer, you can go to the page and print out a form to mail in your donation.

I also encourage you to check with your employer. In many cases, your employer will match your donation. It is a plus for all involved. I get the extra sponsorship dollars, your company gets a good name by donating and most importantly, the MACC fund gets more money. Plus you can get your name on the scrolling list on the side of my page.

My next door neighbors have a now 16 year old son who had a bone marrow transplant 2 summers ago due to a rare form of blood cancer. It has been a long hard struggle for them and he is continuing to fight off various ailments related to the transplant. He is currently not in school due to a potential case of the mumps at his school. His body is still not strong enough to fight off this type of illness.

Thanks for your support!!

Dentyne-ism... Family and More

Dentyne-ism - #163 - If a candy bar says "Now with real chocolate" what were you eating before? I'm not sure I want to know. Arnie, do you know what we were eating before??

My sister has three kids, 11, 5 and 3. The oldest one, C, will be entering 6th grade next fall. My sister has been trying, without success, to get C into another middle school than the one she is slated to be enrolled in. According to my sister the school she is supposed to go to is rough and has shootings at it every week. Funny, but usually school shootings make the news. I have yet to hear that on my local news. So in my sister's infinite wisdom, she has decided to pull C out of school and home school her. WTF?!?!? My first thought was that she is freakin' nuts (which she is). If she pulls C out of an organized school environment C will end up no better off than my sister. My sister is not the most dedicated person and would follow thru with the home schooling for about a week. Then it would get too hard or she would be too tired or something, then here sits my niece, not in school and certainly not learning anything. Then if my sister tried to get her back into a school the next year, C would be a year behind the rest of her age group cuz no one bothered to teach her anything. To me, school is also a place to learn social interactions and skills which my sister is lacking in. I told my mom that she better do whatever it takes to keep C in a real school next year.

For those of you who don't know, my sister is not the sharpest pencil in the box. She dropped out of school during her sophomore year. She never went back to get her GED. She has never really held a decent job, and when she did get a decent job that had benefits and insurance she quit cuz her manager didn't like her. The fact that she called in sick at least once every two weeks and was consistently late was beside the point.

Needless to say, my sister and I do not get along. I have very little to do with her unless it has to do with her kids. I thought for awhile she was on the right track. She had met a guy and they ended up getting married. He is the father of my two youngest neices. He was not the sharpest guy but seemed ok. Most of you know the rest of the story to that one. I can't repeat it here but let's just say... it is not good. He is spending the next 7 years in prison. Another brilliant move by my sister was to get pregnant thinking that there was no way the judge would put him in prison with a new baby on the way. She though wrong. She was 4 months along when he was sentenced. Just what she needed... to bring another kid in the world with no dad. Now she has three kids by two dads, both locked up. It really is amazing the difference between us. One would never guess that we have the same parents. Oh well...on to something less depressing....

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Have a Slurpee headache for 12 hours

----OR----

diarrhea for 12 hours straight?

Once again another tough choice.... I have to go with the Slurpee headache... I don't want to deal with a sore ass for 12 hours.

Another Weekend Flies By

Another weekend has just flown by, and I wish it was longer.

Friday evening, hubby played poker and I had the house to myself. I got some much needed cleaning done and it felt good to tackle some of those jobs that I tend to put off. I hate doing floors (kitchen, bathroom) and despise dusting. .... I really need to see about getting a cleaning person. Steve, ask Carol if she is taking on anyone new.

Saturday was spent doing more yardwork and getting the camper ready for our first trip in two short weeks! I can't wait. I had to go to a laund-o-mat and wash the sleeping bags as they needed it badly. First off, I could not find one close to where I had dropped the truck off for an oil change. Since Kevin was nice enough to give me his car to run some errands, I didn't want to go traisping all over town trying to find a laund-o-mat (at least one that it not on 13th and Mitchell). Once I found one I was shocked to see that it cost $4.50 a load to wash them. WTF!?!? I guess it has been a really long time since I had ever been to one of these places and did not realize the prices. It was a good thing hubby had won lots of quarters on Friday. Oh well... they are now clean and all is well. The only thing we have to do yet is pick up the spare tire from the store and throw it on the back of the camper. Did I mention that it is only two short weeks until we go??

While at my parents doing camper stuff, my dad got out his ATV that he bought last year. He uses it for hunting. He offered to let hubby drive it around the fields a bit. Hubby has never ridden an ATV or a snowmobile before so it was kinda funny to watch hubby ride it. He started out putting around and driving over the alfalfa (which my dad told him not to do). Once he got more confident he was able to open it up a bit and take it out around the plowed fields. Some of my best memories from growing up was when I was about 10-12 and my cousins would come over and we would get to take the snowmobiles out without taking the parents with us. We would go all day long, stop for dinner and go until 7-8 at nite. Then the parents got to take them out and they went bar hopping. It is kind of amusing to think that the trails all went from bar to bar...Have to remember this was 25 years ago so, things were a bit different back then with the drinking and driving.

Today was really nice out so hubby and I went for a ride today. We took the bike path from Grant Park to the Coast Guard station. Round trip is about 18 miles. I would have liked to go longer but it was getting late and was getting hungry. Only had one minor issue. Hubby sometimes goes places without realizing were it will take him. He takes the path that goes right along the lake. I am following him, looking at the lake, it was really pretty. All of a sudden he stops right in front of me. I was only about 3 feet behind him and BAM.. I ran into him. Luckily no one fell over but I got my leg banged up pretty good. I have a nice scratch from my frame pack and a bruise from hitting hubby's pedal/chain/leg on the one leg. He had stopped cuz the pavement stopped and we can't take our bikes on the gravel. It would chew up the tires. On a good note, we did find a way to get to the park from our house without riding on a the busy or rough streets . It would add like another 7-8 miles to the trip which would make it a decent ride. We are gearing up to ride in the Trek 100 in June and want to do the 37 mile route.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

If attacked in your home by a burglar, defend yourself with a baseball bat

----OR----

an unloaded gun?

No question, I am going for the bat. What good is the gun, if I can't shoot it??

Have a good week everyone!

Cube Etiquette

The following was posted in our building newsletter, I though it was funny so, I am plagerizing it and posting it here with my comments.

Cube etiquette.

• Speak softly so you do not disturb your co-workers. Translation: Shut the fuck up!
• Conference rooms are for meetings, cubicles are not. For confidential discussions reserve a private spot where the conversation will not be overheard. Translation: Wait, how I am ever supposed to know what the hell is going on around here if you can't shut up??
• If you overhear a private conversation, don’t repeat it. Better yet, pretend you never heard it. Translation: or put it on your blog
• Keep your private life private. Limit personal phone calls to your lunch hour and breaks. Translation: That means you 'mister-I-am-building-a-house so I have to spend 3 hours a day on the phone with contractors'
• Turn your cell phone off or take it with you when you leave your cube. Translation: Your co-workers don’t want to listen to it ring Christmas music in April.
• Respect other people’s space: Wait until your neighbor is off the telephone before approaching the cubicle. Translation: Go back to your cube and send them a million IMs wondering when they will be free... much less annoying.
• When your neighbor looks busy, don’t interrupt. Translation: Someone has to work around this place.
• If you talk ‘over the wall’ without checking your neighbor’s availability. Translation: yeah, you might be talking to yourself and pissing everyone around you off.
• Respect your space: Find a place for your things and put them where they belong. Take some time to clean up after yourself so your cube is presentable. Don’t disturb your neighbors with renovations: reorganize your cubicle after hours or on a weekend. Translation: Or just wait 6 months until they re-org the cubes again. Then you can pack up all your shit and move it somewhere else, if the movers don't toss it out for you.
• Working parents please plan for childcare. Your coworkers might enjoy children, but a nursery in the cubicle next door makes it hard to be productive. Translation: keep your stinky rugrats away from me! If I wanted kids around me, I would have had them by now.
• Be aware of smells, snacking, and screen savers. You might like the aroma of favorite cologne or food and crunchy snacks, but your neighbor might find it offensive. And if your screen saver makes noises, you might drive your neighbor out of his or her cube! Translation: No one wears Drakkar any more and neither should you, sexc1.
• Finally, if you are sick, please stay home until you are past the contagious period. Translation: I don't have kids to contaminate me, why should you! and if you are still hacking up a lung after three freaking weeks... GO TO A DOCTOR!

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Forget everyone else's name all the time

----OR----

have everyone forget your name all the time?

I think I would have people forget my name. I am pretty good with remembering names....

Gotcha!

Gotcha!

That sums up the weekend in one great word. I know A won't like that I advertise her age, so let's just leave it at a nice round number that is older than me. It started with Friday nite happy hour, which hubby and I missed due to a family commitment. Sounds like there were some nice hooters being shown and lots of booze going down. Kimmie, I will take bribes to not post the picture of you all hung over! Later in the evening, Gambino's Landscaping Service proceeded to "landscape" A's front yard with all sorts of lawn ornaments (some were a bit tacky, gaudy and flashy). How they never got caught still remains a mystery, but A has a yellow lab that sucks as a watch dog.

Fast forward to Saturday evening. Gambino's folks just bought a new house so, being the nice parents they are, they let her daughter have the surprise birthday party there. Now, the gang is all there and sitting in the basement, trying not to make any noise. That lasted about 5 minutes until Richard had to show off the central vac system and it makes this really loud noise in the basement. That started the giggles. We finally managed to keep under control and eventually A makes her way down the stairs commenting on how it smells like pepperoni and popcorn, of which we had neither. About 2 steps from the bottom A realizes that Gambino is sitting there with a camera looking at her. GOTCHA!! Needless to say, she never had a clue! I felt bad cuz I don't keep secrets really well (just add alcohol) and I had tried to do my best to avoid A for the past two weeks. I think she thought I was mad at her.

A good time was had by all. We had some fun with the magic chute and learned that something called 'pumpkin smash' sucks even if it is cold. We even taught Connie how to play poker.

Now I have pictures but knowing how much A hates to have her picture taken and displayed I will not post them. I will just save them for her viewing pleasure (and anyone who wants to pony up some blackmail cash :)

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Have a fly fisher catch you solidly in the eyeball with his or her hook

----OR----

have someone jam an icepick up your nose?

I have to go with the icepick up the nose. I had the laser eye surgery two years ago and want to enjoy my great eyesight as long as possible.

Have a good week everyone!

Worst Song... Personal Responsibility.... and more

I see that Steve has a music theme going today and I will expand on it a bit more.

Cnn.com has an interesting article this week. The article is about the worst song of all time. Here are the top five as voted on by CNN.com readers.

5. Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks – 1974. This song does not bother me so I have no opinion either way
4. I’ve Never Been to Me – Charlene – 1982. We don’t want to go to you either… Not even sure I know this song and will not waste the 99 cents to download it from iTunes
3. You Light Up My Life – Debby Boone – 1977. Pretty bad …. not much else to say about that
2. Muskrat Love – The Captain and Tennille – 1976. It is bad enough that we have to deal with Muskrat hair let alone listening to that get some lovin’. Sorry to all for the bad visual. Hope you weren't eating.
1. You’re Having My Baby – Paul Anka – 1974. Pretty much anything by Paul Anka is bad.

I notice that most of these are from the 70’s. Coincidence… I think
not… What do you think the worst song ever is? Muskrat
Love is up there but I have to go with Macarena by Los Del Rio. The only
time it is fun is when you are really drunk at a wedding and watch all the other drunk people try to dance to it.

Pop Quiz: What song is the following lyrics from? Hint: I remember being about 6 or 7 and being at my cousin's house, swimming. Now whenever I hear it, it reminds me a warm, sunny summer day.

My motto's always been when it's right it's right. Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night. When everything's a little clearer in the light of day. And we know the night is always gonna be here anyway.

I was watching the news tonight and see a clip about a woman who died from carbon monoxide poisoning. She had her electricity shut off on April 17th due to a $9000 bill. $9000 freaking bucks. How long was she not paying for?? Shit... My gas/electric bill is about 110 bucks a month. It would take me almost 81 months or over 6 years to rack up a bill for that much. If you haven't paid your electric is the last 6 years there are other issues. The family was mad that the utility had to turn her electricity off. WHY?? I guess the thought of personal responsibility is is just that a thought. Not something that you should actually live your life by...sighhhhhh... I just don't get it.....

Hubby has been gone on business for a day and a half now. It has been just a really relaxing time. No need to make sure he has something to eat and no picking up after him. I kinda wish he could be gone a bit longer but oh well... back to reality tomorrow when I pick him up at the airport. Have to talk to his boss to see if he can arrange for hubby to travel more often.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

On a first date, wear a t-shirt that says, "I'm With Stupid"

----OR----

a t-shirt that asks, "Who Cut the Cheese"?

Have to go with the cheese shirt. I would wear it in honor of E.

Speedy Weekend... Falling over (not me)... Survivor

Well, here it is another Sunday evening. The weekend flew by. Friday, played cards... not much to talk about there, so will leave it at that. Hubby and I stayed out a bit late tho' and next thing I knew it was 1:30ish and time to go. I was feeling no pain. There was a koala sighting at Big Mamma's and boy the zoo must be feeding their animals well. That was one stuffed shirt.

Saturday dawned a bright and sunny day. We had to be up early so we could wish our favorite bike dude, Jesse, a farewell. He was promoted and is now the store manager at the Fox Point Wheel & Sprocket. Heaven forbid we don't make a stop in at the store to just 'browse' and see what we may need. Got some yard work done and went to my folks to get the camper ready for our first trip in a mere 4 weeks from now! I can't wait to go.

Today we went on a club ride with P&K. We did 30 miles. It was a nice ride except for the wind. It seemed like no matter which direction we went, the wind was in our faces. A bit sore now but it is a good sore. The best (and funniest) part was shortly after we got to the park were we all met. Hubby and I had got the bikes all set up and were going over to where everyone else had gathered. We stop on the outside of the group and BAM!!! over goes hubby. Flat on the ground. K and I could not stop laughing. It was beautiful. The worst part is that he was not even clipped into his pedal with his left foot. He just forgot to put it down! Everyone (25 people) just looked at him and said, 'yeah, it will happen' and just smiled as they knew they have all fallen at one time or another. So, I would like to make sure that anyone who sees or talks to hubby over the next few weeks give him a hard time about falling over. Steve, this is why helmets are needed. Keep us from hurting our brains when we fall over.

Hubby is going to be out of town later this week for a few days for work. yippee!! I am looking forward to him being gone. I can get some stuff done around the house that I hate doing when he is around. Last time he went out of town I painted the family and living room. I tend to be a bit anal when painting and he is not as 'careful' as I am.... so we have learned the hard way that it is better if I do it by myself. Otherwise I just end up re-doing his work anyway.

Finally watched last week's Survivor episode. Bruce was sent to the jury (hopefully) after he needed to be medi-vaced out. That is another week that I don't win any cash but am still in it.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Walk the stairs to the top of the Sears tower while carrying a 40-pound backpack

----OR----

with a large pebble in each shoe?

I have to say the backpack. I think the weight would be easier. To walk that many steps you would need to have feet that aren't sore.

Have a good week all!!

Back in the Saddle Again... Free Fallin' Jam

Well, once again I will try and link to Dave. I swear tho' if he deletes his blog one more time. Never again will I link to him (or he owes me a million dollars, ok, yeah, like that'll stop him.)

Today, it was announced that Pearl Jam and Tom Petty will be playing two nites at Summerfest. I was all excited to go until I heard the ticket prices. The cheapest seats (lawn??) are 203 bucks! WTF?!?! I don't think so. It would end up costing us a mortgage payment to go to a 3 hour (if we are lucky) concert. It should be interesting to see what the good seats go for. I guess I will have to try and win tickets somewhere. oh well....

Not much else to talk about.... Until next time, I leave you with this....

ZOBMONDO!

Would you rather....

Be left completely naked with no possessions in a foreign country

----OR----

in your place of work?

I am going with the foreign country. I will hopefully never see these people again and anything I say/do will can be chalked up to be a dumb American tourist... I hope it is a warm country and not Iceland or someplace cold.

Easter, Idols and Stupid Stuff

Happy belated Easter all! We went by my parents for dinner. It was nice. My sister had to work and had recruited my oldest niece to run some kids games at the restaurant so it was just my folks, hubby and I and my two little nieces(3 and 5). For the most part it was a nice quiet day.

Idol was good tonite. They got to sing the Classics. For the most part everyone was really good. Kellie, Taylor and Ace were the weakest tonight. Ace is nice to look at but doesn't do much for me as a singer. Katherine ROCKED! I love Chris and Paris sang well enough to save her ass from elimination this week. Should be interesting to see who goes tomorrow.

I finally caught up on Survivor and am glad to find out that I am still in the pool. I have Aras and Shane. Both are idiots. Hopefully, they can win some immunity challenges so I can win some cash. I am rooting for Terry.

Last week at work, there were all sorts of articles on our internal website to go out to the public website and see out new commercials that will be soon junking up the airwaves. Well, it wasn't until 3 days later that someone realized that 1. most people in retail locations can't access the internet. It is blocked. and 2. 90% of the people remaining who can access the internet don't have sound cards in their pc's to be able to listen to the cheesy commercials. So.... what do they do. They burn a dvd for every employee in the bank so that they can watch the commercials at home. WTF?!?! If I wanted to see the commercials can't I just watch tv and see them... apparently not.... There are about 53,000 people who work for the bank. Figure it cost them 3 bucks per dvd (this includes production as well as mailing costs). That is a whole lot of money that could have been spent to give people raises and bonuses. That and the fact that today they come out with 1st quarter earnings. They boast record profits but yet don't give people raises and bonuses. Now I can't complain too much. I got both this year, but there were many people who did not get anything. That sucks for them. Look for a guest blog next week by a co-worker. He writes wonderful rants on stupid shit like this. He has been working up to it all week.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Eat a cooked beaver tail

----OR----

A cooked cow udder?

Dave/Steve, no this is not eating beaver but beaver tail. Get you minds outta the gutter. Going with the cow on this one. I know what beef tastes like. No clue on beaver....

A Sad Day for All

It was a sad day here in Milwaukee. They found the two missing boys in a lagoon of a park not far away from their homes. Both boys died an accidental death. Speculation is that one of them may have fallen thru the ice and the other went to rescue him and fell thru as well. I am glad that it was an accident and theat no one killed them and dumped their bodies. My heart goes out to their families.

The second bad thing of the day is the 'not guilty' verdict of the Frank Jude trial. I have not had the chance to read anything from the jurors yet, but it should be interesting to find out why they could not convict anyone. Jude did not beat himself up, someone had to cause those injuries. I just don't get this one at all. Almost like an OJ Simpson thing all over again.

The last bad thing is that our friend, Dave, has decided once again to remove his blog. Not sure what caused this to happen again.... I am removing his link from my side nav bar. Dave, let me know when you decide to post again.

Spent Thursday evening with our friend, Steve, who has once again joined the rest of us in the consuption of alcohol. It was good to see him drinking. Welcome back! I will keep the link up to his old site for a few weeks. Just so you can go back to it and reminisce.

Went for a nice bike ride today with P&K. According to my monitors, I burned 733 calories during our 17.5 mile ride. Then we stopped at Kopp's for lunch (flavor of the day... Macadamia nut) So much for keeping those calories off :( If ever in the Milwaukee area, you have to stop there for lunch. They have some of the best custard.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Accidentally slam you hand down on a telephone message spike

----OR----

get just the tips of your fingers caught in a paper shredder?

I have to go with the telephone spike. One wound to heal. Not every finger. Besides how would I entertain you all with my witty writing if I could no longer type...

Riding and Idols

Got the chance to ride for real tonite. It felt really good to be back outside. And.... for those of you interested.... I did not fall over today. That is always a plus!

I have a nice bruise on the inside of my leg. It is the exact shape and size of my water bottle cage. Kinda horse shoe shaped. It is so much prettier than a normal round shaped bruise.

American Idol today was good. They had the Idols singing Queen songs. They showed little snipets of the band meeting the Idols. It was cool. I can now say that I am 1 degree of separation from the hot guy, Chris on Idol :)

Not much else to say.... so...

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be married to someone who is extremely vain

----OR----

has an extremely poor self-image?

hmmm... this is tough. Being with someone so vain, would drive me crazy as they would probably be obnoxious. Being with some with a low self esteem, would be just as bad. I don't want to have to pump my partner up all the time. I guess that means I am leaning towards the vain side.

Time for a Change... Dentyne-ism.... Falling Down (not Drunk)

I am making a few new changes to my site. Adding a few new links and retiring another for a blogger who has decided to no longer blog. Liv (aka SlamPig) if you ever decide to start blogging again let me know. I will link back up to you. I would like to welcome back DJW again. He has been good for the last few weeks and deserves to be back on my side nav. Also check out Todd. He is from Vegas and has a great outlook on life. Sarcastic at times but funny as hell.

Because it takes so long for the page to load, I am also removing the daily Sudoku. I will still go out there and complete the daily puzzle but didn't feel the need to subject you all to it.

I know that it has been several days since my last post. I just have not had the time or ambition to write anything. Today I figured I had better write something before the blog police come and get me.

Dentyne-ism - #127 – Happiness is a brand new pack of Dentyne Fire. OK, yeah… whatever…

Hubby and I occasionally ride to work together. He drives to his work, drop him off and I continue on my way. This is fine with me as I hate to drive and will do anything not to have to drive. And now with gas at 2.79 a gallon, it saves us about 50 bucks a week. Today, hubby is driving in and I notice that he is getting to be the “old man in the left lane”. He was in the left lane and the traffic was starting to pull away from in front of him. I glance back in the mirror and notice that the cars are starting to line up behind him. He had to move over eventually so, I “gently reminded” him that it was ok to move over now. I hope it was just the Monday morning fog that not quite lifted from his brain yet and not him becoming a bad driver.

After work today, hubby and I have to go to the funeral home to pay our respect for one of our friends' father. He was 90. It seems like we are going to more and more funerals. I hate that. Zeke and Vicki our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Once we get home we take the boys for a walk. It was so nice out. When we get home we decide to take the orange trainer tires off of our new bikes and put the regular street tires back on. This was an adventure. We did hubby's first. It took us about 30 minutes to get that one off and back on. Mine took us about 15 minutes. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to release the brake to get the tire past it.

So we now have the tires back on and decide to take them for a spin around the neighborhood. WOW!! does the bike ever ride nice! So effortless. The next part of the story is a bit embarrassing but it needs to be told. I hope you enjoy the laugh at my expense. Our driveway is on a rather steep hill (just ask Steve, his Mustang rolled down it and into the ditch once). It was the first time riding my bike outside with my new pedals and shoes. Now I have heard stories from people (Kim) about how there would be times when you come to a stop and forget that you can't lift your foot off of the pedals and will fall over. You have to twist your foot outward so that you can unclip from the pedals. After going around the block and having to stop several times, I think to myself, "Hey, I am getting the hang of this!" I have been clipping in and out for about 2 months now on my trainer and felt comfortable with it. I get to the end of the driveway and unclip my left foot. I realize that I do not have enough speed to make it up to the top of the driveway so I keep pedaling. When I got to the top of the driveway and went to lift my foot of the pedal, it was stuck. SHIT!! FUCK!!! DAMN!!! Luckily, I am near the edge of the driveway and over I fall. Into the grass. SHIT!! FUCK!!! DAMN!!! I did not realize that my left foot had clipped back into my pedal. As my luck would have it, the Schwan's guy is now stopping at the end of the driveway and has seen me fall over. He laughs, hubby is laughing and I am swearing. SHIT!! FUCK!!! DAMN!!! Thanks goodness it has rained alot in the past few weeks and the ground was nice and soft. I guess I need to practice stopping a bit more. SHIT!! FUCK!!! DAMN!!! I will try again tomorrow.

Our dear friend, StB will be imbibing once again on Thursday. For those of you who do not know, he gave up drinking alcohol for Lent. Don’t ask why. He just did. So at 7:23 pm CST (yes, he figured out the exact time Lent was over) on Thursday, Steve will once again be able to drink. I think we may just head out for a drink to welcome him back to the real world. So where ever you may be at that time, pour a drink and raise your glass in a toast to him.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be the boy in the plastic bubble

----OR----

the elephant man??

This is hard. I will choose being the elephant man. At least I can come and go as I please.

Have a good week folks!

Mellencamp....Lack of a Skank... Trip to Vic's

For those of you who do not know, I am a huge John Mellencamp fan. It started when my cousin and I were about 14. Since then, we have go on road trips and have been to more than a dozen concerts. Well, on Monday, I get back to my desk after a meeting and find my inbox filled with emails. Here is the recap, names are not being changed to protect no one.

8:44 am - Kim: I couldn't believe when I heard on the news that people left a FREE John Mellencamp concert in Indiana because of the weather. What is this world coming too!!!

8:50 am - Steve: Finally, people are using their heads. Logic is taking over.

8:57 am - Aleta: Big open field, tornado, hail....Still, I can't believe it either.

9:03 am - Steve: What a bunch of wusses! My guess is Mellencamp was leading the way out.

9:03 am - Kim: I have a feeling we may be mentioned in Jodi's blog. I hope she gives us colorful names.

9:14 am - Steve: Then maybe it would be interesting for a change.

Wow, and I wasn't even around to enjoy it.

Last night hubby and I worked the elections. It was the normal crowd including the skank. She was quiet. Said nothing to me, which was good. I wonder if she reads this blog and knows I will talk about her behind (and in front of her back). If the guy who runs this ever decides to get out of it, I am interested in taking it over.

A few weeks ago, I went to Victoria's Secret at my local mall. I had a few gift cards that I wanted to use up and could use a few new bras. The stores have finally started to carry their new IPEX bras in DD's. Previously, you could only get them thru a catalog or online. So I grabbed a couple of them in my size and headed to the dressing room to try them on. I was so disappointed. They were sooo small in the cup size. My nips were practically showing out of the top of the bra. I hailed one of the clerks and asked her opinion. She asked if I had been measured recently. I said no. So she pulls out her tape measure and measures away. She came up with the idea that I was a 38 C. WTF?!? I normally wear a 36 DD. I was thinking that I needed to move down to a 34 soon, since I have lost about 30 lbs in the last few months. the 36's were getting to be way to big around my body. I was on the tightest hooks and it was practically falling off. In the cups I was spilling out over the top. These were not push up or demi bras but regular full coverage bras. There should be no spillage. I was not too impressed with the clerk. So, long story short, I ended up back with the same type of bra I always get from there, just in a pretty minty green. Oh well.....

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Given that you are a 45-minute walk or a 20-minute run from the nearest toilet facility and you have a strong need to take an immediate dump, walk

----OR----

run to the toilet?

I am going with run. There is no worse feeling than having to poo. I would want to have the shortest time, even if it meant a chance of some "leaking".

Super Powers....Coffee, Tea or me.... Dentyne-ism... Sad Sight

Last week, I had a user open a ticket up to my group because she could not set the implementation time for her record to be 2:00am on Sunday morning. I told her that technically the time from 2-3 am does not exist because of Daylight Saving Time. We go from 1:59 to 3am. She then asked if I could change the time that Daylight Saving Time starts to be noon or something. After I stopped laughing, I told her no. That this is pretty much a thing that happens nationwide and I do not have the authority to change when it happens. She was a bit miffed that I couldn’t do it. WTF is she thinking?? She was of Asian descent and spoke with a very thick accent but I thought that most of the world has some version of Daylight Saving Time. I know that most of Europe uses it because it was last week, Sunday (neat calendar factoid). I guess I did not realize that I now have super powers. Damn, just think of what I could have done with those powers.

Hubby and I went to an Inspired Aroma party. Coffee and tea. Of which we drink none. We went there and drank beer. Ain't we fun?? I did order some coffee for my boss who is a big coffee lover and into the gourmet stuff. It was hosted by our neighbors who are fun so it was an entertaining evening.

On Sat, we went to the Bucks game with M & K. After, we stopped at a J & K, so that hubby could give K all his money playing cards. She was luckier than hell. Next time we cut her off at one rainbow margarita (that supposedly has noooo tequila in it). I sat and chatted with A, who has now graduated to using a cane after her hip replacement and is getting along quite well. I think she will be ready for camping in a mere 7 weeks.

On Sunday, hubby and I were driving home from the grocery store when we seen this duck that had been hit by a car on the side of the road. It was dead. The sad thing is that its mate was all upset and running around the dead duck. Ducks mate for life and this one just lost his mate. It was a sad thing to see. poor duck.

Another Dentyne-ism #169: The muumuu has yet to realize its full potential as a fashion trend. Hmm… and where does one find a muumuu?? Not sure I seen one at my local Boston Store.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Wake up to find a roach sucking ton your tear duct for moisture

----OR----

find two rats having sex on your stomach??

I hate bugs so I am going with the rats. As long as I am not needing to wear goggles, I am good.

Have a good week!

A Boring Post

Hi all. Not much new to report so far this week.

I was watching a show about barbeque on the Travel channel tonite and some woman said that barbeque is so good it "makes you want to slap your momma". WTF?!?! I do not think of slapping someone as being a good thing. Now spanking, another story.

The Milwaukee police still have not located those two little boys. The last couple of days they have been searching water areas. River, ponds, etc. Taking two 12 years old boys cannot be an easy feat. Either something happened to one, fell into the river, and the other one tried to save him and they both drowned or someone they both knew did something to them. I hope that is is the first scenario and not the second.

Another interesting story going on it town in the Frank Jude trial. A guy who went to a party and was allegedly beat up by some cops. The thing I find the most interesting is that he was a stripper. If he was stripping at my event, I would ask for my money back. He is not that nice looking, in my opinion. You can see picture for yourself from the link.

Now, the moment evryone has been waiting for....

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Have the brakes go out on your car on a hilltop

----OR----

have to go into a bike bar and yell "you guys are a bunch of pussies"?

Hmmm, this is hard but I will go for the yelling in the bar. I could always use the innocent blonde strategy.

What a Nite

Hubby and I went to the Queen + Paul Rodgers show last nite. It was really fun. Before the concert we got to go backstage and meet the band. That was fun. There were 4 other groups of people wo got to be backstage and they moved the band group group to group. So you got to spend about 5 minutes with each person and then the next person moved in. Kinda like an assembly line. I had them sign a program and our tickets. I will get them framed. For a review of the show click here.

Brian May, guitar, has not quite moved out from the 80's yet. Yes, he had on white parachute pants. There were some white curliques on the bottom of the leg. I was a bit amazed that someone could even find those in a store somewhere. Unless he had kept them for the last 25 years.






Next was Roger Taylor, drums. He was a really nice guy. Very chatty. He was talkng about how sore his hands were. The way he played, I can understand why they would be sore. Kinda looked grandfatherly with the white hair. He was dressed in black to start and changed clothes to an all white outfit later on.




Last to come out was paul Rodgers. I was amazed how short he was. Tiny little guy. And did he ever have the pipes. He was in awesome shape. I am not sure how old he is, has to be close to 55 -60. He released his first album before I was born, so it was a while ago. He went thru about 6-7 changes of clothes.

The higlight of the nite for me was when they played Bohemian Rhapsody. It was basically a video montage of Freddy Mercury singing the song. At the very end of the song Paul Rodgers came out and finished the song. They also payed a few Bad Company/Free tunes. You can really tell that these guys were used to playing to large crowds (stadiums in the 70's-80's) as their stage presence showed grand and somewhat over the top gestures. Paul had some goofy thing going on with the mic stand.

One of the more bizarre moments of the nite, was before the meet-n-greet. We are waiting to go back and the guy who won the "Queen for a Day" contest from a local radio station was a total ASS. He won 2 tickets to a suite to watch the show, autographed guitar, limo to and from the show, dinner and cash, so it was a nice package. First off, he went on the air to pick up some strange woman for a date to the show. She was B-U-T-T U-G-L-Y. Yikes! So the guy is trying to get rid of her. He doesn't like her (she also hates him). He was a drunk, high, (you could see fresh track marks on his arms) foul mouthed idiot. He was swearing up a storm and when someone pointed out that there were some kids in our area, he then became all apologetic. The poor woman from the venue could not wait to get rid of him. I took a picture of the idiot but I don't want to scare any little kids who may read this. As we are meeting with the band, he is trying to score more free stuff off of them. OMG. Hubby and I sat with another couple on the other side of the room as far away as we could get from him. We ran into him after the show and he was so bombed, he barely had any idea where he was.

No Zobmondo today. This post is long enough. Talk you ya'll soon!

Another Busy Weekend

Welcome, all my wonderful blogger friends!

It has been a busy weekend. I have been a lazy blob for most of today.

On Friday, I get a phone call at work from a local radio station. Earlier in the week, I had gone out to their website and signed both hubby and I up to win tickets for the Queen + Paul Rodgers concert. Well, it turns out that it was hubby's lucky day. He (I) won really great seats and backstage passes to meet the band. The day before, a guy that hubby works with was selling some tickets to the concert and we passed cuz they were a bit on the pricey side. Now we get to go. It should be a fun time. Look for pictures later in the week.

On Saturday, hubby and I played in the monthly poker tourney at Big Momma's. Hubby finished 1st and netted a nice 275 bucks. I was out early. Got rivered. Overall I was happy with my play. I had one really great play that I was proud of. I was dealt pocket Js. I raised double the big blind. Another guy called. Flop come JJ8. The guy raises. I reluctantly call. Turn comes rag. Guy raises again. I pretend to think about it and call. River comes another rag. Guy raises. I only have about 250 more chip left so I go all in. He calls to go all in as well.. He flips his cards over (he has 88) and says I hope you don't have a Jack. I say no, I have two of them. I took the guy out. He was totally baffled. He had no idea what I had because I was slow-playing him. I have never had four of a kind before and it was helpful that he was in position to bet first. After I was out, I played a few side games after and I finished 2nd three times. Hubby finished first in another side game. Overall it was a profitable weekend for us.

Earlier this week, while at work, I was in the bathroom. When I finished, I went to the sink to wash may hands. Another girl comes out of her stall and is crumpling up the paper toilet seat protector thingy. WTF!?!? I just watched her crumple it up and toss it into the trash can. I always thought that you were supposed to kinda push it into the toilet and flush it. Am I wrong on that?? It kinda defeats the purpose of having something so you don't touch the seat with your body. Granted she may wash her hands but still.....

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be trapped in an elevator packed with wet dogs

----OR----

three fat men with bad breath?

I am going with the wet dogs. My puppys always smell good even when they are wet.

Have a good week everyone!

JabberJaws, Gettin' Skinny, and Jammin'

The guy that sits on the other side of the cube wall from me must need more work to do. This past summer we had to listen to him make phone calls around the country while he was looking for a Porsche to buy. That lasted about 3 months. Then we had to listen to him search for people to do some work on the car. Now he is building a new house and selling his old house. He literally spends 3-4 hours a day on the phone with contractors, realtors, etc.. I wish I had that much time to screw around at work. Some days I barely have time to pee, let alone make personal phone calls.

I had a good week at Weight Watchers. I am now at my lowest weight. Yeah!! I know that once it gets nice enough outside, the weight will drop a bit more easily. It is hard to get enough exercise indoors and I am too much of a wimp to ride outside in the cold.

A guy I work with gave me a cd of a band that he seen in Jamaica. It is called the Westside Andy/Mel Ford band. They are really good. They are a bluesy, rock band. When I first listened to the cd, my first thought was that it was summer and I was at Summerfest. It is a hot summer night, a few good friends, the beer is going down good and the music is rockin'. Check out their website.

If you are not from the Milwaukee area and like music and beer, you should be here when Summerfest is going on. It is 11 days of music and beer in the sun and on the lakefront. It doesn't matter what kind of music you like, you will find it here. It is also a great place to mullet hunt, Liv!

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Meet you greatest hero and vomit on him/her

----OR----

in trying to meet him/her, be arrested and publicly accused of stalking?

I am going with vomit. I would rather have the person think I was not feeling well instead of some crazy pyscho chick.

Dentyne-isms, Darwin and Stuff

Well, the week is more than half way over. Thank God!!

Another Dentyne-ism #136 - Much worse than tennis elbow is video game butt. This one is funny. They guys I work with got a laugh at this one, since they spend a lot of time playing video games.

Here is a fine example of Darwin's theory at work. What a freakin' idiot. He was only being stopped for a minor offense. I think it was expired plates or something. I was talking to one of our developers who lives in Texas and he said that they got about 7 inches of rain in the last week, so what was a swamp turned into a quagmire.

One of the guys I work with is responsible for our paging system at work. He administers about 6000 pagers. He had some stupid woman call him becausease her pager has not worked for over a week and she was missing some important pages. He worked with the user for about 2 minutes before he asked the most obvious question. Have you checked your battery? Turns out it was dead. She had already called our paging vendor and they had tried resetting her pager and some other troubleshooting. Then she was mad because "where was she supposed to get another battery for her pager?" hmmmmm.... I don't know, how about any store, gas station or hey, how about asking someone in the mailroom. That is where most of the building keep their stash. It was just ones of those days.

Idol was ok tonite. Lisa, Bucky and Kevin were in the bottom three. Kevin went home. He was a cutie. They called him Chicken Little. He really did look the part.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Work for your sibling

----OR----

for your best friend?

Not even a hard choice. I have to go with the friend on this one. I can barely stand to be in the same room with my sister, let alone work for her. One of us would be dead and it wouldn't be me...

Welcome Back and Idols

So Dave has once again started posting again. I will put a link on my side nav to his blog next week, if he has not deleted it again. Keep up the good work Dave. If you write it, we will read it.

Tonite was American Idol. The theme was the 50's. Barry Manilow was the coach for the week. He really gave them some good advice. Mandisa, Chris, Katharine, Kellie, Ace were awesome tonite. I think that it will be Lisa or Paris that goes home tomorrow. I normally will watch the show when riding so I can fast forward thru the 10 million commercials. It takes about an hour 15 minutes to watch a 2 hour show. Nothing like a bit of product placement.

Two boys went missing on Sunday. Today is Tuesday and the media is finally making a big deal of it. I remember hearing a blurb about it on the late news on Sunday. They thought the boys may have run away. No Amber Alert has been issued because there is no evidence of foul play. Should be interesting to see what happens with this. I hope that they are ok.

Not much else to say today.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

have to learn sword swallowing

----OR----

fire eating?

I am going with the fire eating. I have a bad gag reflex.

Another Day, Another Dollar

Well, back to work again today. Monday's just plain suck. I am still waiting for a group of people to sign off on their portion of my software release. It was due to me on 2/6. They are now risking it that we won't be able to have their enhancements coded in time to stay on schedule. They just aren't sure what they want. WHATEVER.. Either sign off or pull the sticking point from this release and put in the in the one for August. Don't hold the rest of my project up! They will then complain that they don't have enough time for testing. Well, you have just wasted two weeks right here. If your boss wasn't such a Bi$&h you wouldn't have this problem. Someday I will go into that saga. Talk about an ego, power trip mess.

Had a good weekend. Played poker on Sat. I sucked. I did not see a hand better than a pair of 5's. That busted me out when I ran into pocket J. At least hubby finished 7th and won a bit of money. Went to Big Momma's for a few afterward and next thing I knew it was 3 am. I think. All I know is that it was almost 11 went we got up on Sunday. Then had to hurry to get to my parents for the birthday dinner. I have to say, I got better gifts this time. A new spare tire for our camper, an inverter also for the camper and gift cards.

After spending a boat load of money at the mall Saturday afternoon, the gift cards will come in handy. If you have Boston Store near you I suggest that you take advantage of their Goodwill sale. For every article of clothing that you donate you get a coupon for 20% off of another item. I use this time to replenish my closet. I think I bought 2 pants, 1 sweater, 2 polos, 5 blouses and a spring jacket. Hubby got a couple of shirts, a jacket, sunglasses (I swear that if he loses them, I will never, ever buy him another good pair again).

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

As a male in grade school be known as a "momma's boy"

----OR----

a "brown-noser"?

I have to go with the momma's boy. They usually grow up to be nice guys. Notice I said usually.

Have a good week folks.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

Last nite, my friend, Natalie and I went to an author reading by Jodi Picoult. It was a great time. We got there about 2 hours before and got front row seats. She was really funny and very animated. What a great storyteller. Some of you may remember my book review of My Sister’s Keeper that she wrote a few years ago. I loved that book and she now has a new book out called The Tenth Circle. Without giving too much away, it is about a father who has to come to grips with his 14year old daughter being raped by a classmate. I have not read it yet and will let you know how it is. I will be at the library in the coming weeks checking out more of her books.

Yesterday, it snowed. On Wednesday nite, the weather guys said that we were going to get 4-7 inches of snow. We ended up with about 2. I am not complaining. I am ready for the warm weather to start any day now.

I am listening to my iPod at work now. I have hit a totally rockin’ stretch of music. Perfect “it’s Friday, get me in a good mood for the weekend” music. Here is a sample:
1. Van Halen – Jump
2. Dokken – It’s not Love
3. Kenny Loggins – Footloose
4. Chef from South Park - Chocolate Salty Balls
5. Prince – Little Red Corvette
6. Tesla – Love Song – the live version


Another reason not to eat at Denny’s. You could be killed. I already will never eat there, and this is another reason as to why not. It seems like every time we go there the service SUCKS. It doesn’t matter where we are or what time of day it is. Even different states don’t make a difference. Hubby loves eating there. I refuse to go.

Strippers in Australia can now rejoice. They now get meal breaks, overtime and yes, even maternity leave.

Another Dentyne-ism. #91 – Beware of anyone who overuses the word “paradigm”

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Eat you entire diet cold

----OR----

eat your entire diet overcooked?

If you ask hubby, he will tell you that everything I cook is overcooked. Not true. I will say cold.

Have a good weekend.

Stuff

I am starting to write my blog throughout the day at work, as I think of something, I can capture it and not have to try and remember it later on. Since my work has half the internet blocked, this is the next best thing.

How ironic is this. Miss Deaf Texas is struck and killed by a train that she didn't hear. Go here for the details.

Last nite, K and I went to a women's nite at the bike store. It was a fun time. They had lots of good advice, new clothes, and other goodies. Had some good sales but nothing was in my size. Hubby would love it if I came home with a new jersey or two. NOT. He can't figure out why I need so many. You need them for specific rides. Like when I did the Zoo fundraiser ride, I wore the jersey that has a toucan on it. The beer ride, what else a beer jersey. Plus they are just cool. Too me anyway. Dave, you asked about the orange tire. It was meant to be ridden indoors on a trainer not on the pavement. You use this type of tire because they are cheaper to replace ($30) vs a regular tire that costs about $75. My bike is pink, so the orange tire is a bit garish looking.

New Dentyne-ism
#101 - Why do all unusual meats taste like chicken? Who cares?? Maybe cuz most meats in the raw form with no gussying up are rather bland. I hope that these start to get better.

We are supposed to get dumped on with snow again. I guess we are getting paid back for the lack of snow all winter. The nice thing is that by early next week, it is supposed to be 40 out again.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....
Bang your funny bone five times in a row until it is not funny anymore

----OR----

listen to somebody scrape nail down a chalkboard for 20 minutes?

I am going with hitting my funny bone. The sound of nails on a chalkboard makes me cringe.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday. Whoo hooo....I won't tell you how old I am but that I am younger than everyone else in our group. I'll let you do the math.

The party on Friday was a blast. I had fun getting everyone together and just gabbing the nite away. StB gave me a really neat cd. The guy’s name is Richard Cheese. Think heavy metal meets Frank Sinatra. If you have ever seen The Osbournes on MTv and have heard the opening song “Crazy Train”, it is very similar. I will try to put a link to a few songs up. I felt pretty good on Saturday morning. I was up about 7:30. It was a beautiful day out on Sat. Sunny and in the mid-50’s. It didn’t take long for that to change tho’. Last nite, we got a lot of rain. I think we got about 2 inches or more. It was kinda strange to see how high the water got in some areas. There were a few roads closed this morning cuz they were under 3 feet of water. There were some bad storms to the south of us. Poor Riley was up most of the nite barking at the thunder.

I even got the chance to ride my new bike outside for a bit. Since I have a bright orange tire on the back, I wasn’t going to ride very far. But I did about a mile around the neighborhood. The bike rides so nice. The funny thing was how sore my legs were on Sunday morning. It had to be from riding that little bit as I didn’t do anything else on Sat that would cause my legs to be so sore.

I want to wish A good luck tomorrow. She is getting a new hip. I know you won't feel like having any visitors in the hospital so we will wait until you get home to stop over. J, let me know how it goes when you find out.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Eat one small hotel bar of soap

----OR----

six sticks of butter??

I have to go with the soap. I hate butter and rarely put butter on anything that I cook.

Ramblings

I started writing this at work today and am posting it now... I tend to ramble..

So, here are two new Dentyne-isms….

#41 – Why don’t fortune cookies give actual fortunes anymore??

#156 – You can’t really call TV characters at phone numbers that begin with “555”

Ok, I do not quite get these. Here is a picture (shit, I forgot to bring the fortune home so I could scan it, you will have to wait until Monday) of a fortune cookie I got several years ago. I love it. I think it was a very good fortune. Don’t you?? The phone number thing… uh.. yeah… everybody knows that one and figured it out when you were about 8 and tried to called Marsha Brady.

So tonite is the big birthday bash for Gambino and me. I am looking forward to it cuz it is so much fun to get the whole gang out and together. We don’t get the chance to see some of these people much anymore. I don’t look forward to the hangover that I will have tomorrow morning tho’. I have to be up early to take the boys to the groomer at 9am.

I am working on a new software release and in the initial requirements gathering phase. The group I have to work with to put together these requirements has been a bit difficult to work with at times. I consider myself to be anal about things but OMG!! There is one person who is VERY nitpicky about this. They were supposed to have the sign off on the functional design doc back to me by end of day on Tuesday. Here it is already Friday, and they are still trying to get clarification on things. They just don’t get that our developers cannot begin design work on this until we get sign off. We are now almost a week behind schedule. This takes time away from development and testing of the release. This is my project and I don’t want it to be late. Grrrrrrrr

I found out today that my great-aunt died. I don’t know how old she was, but had to be in her later 80’s - early 90’s. There are now only two of the six siblings left that we have our reunions based around. Which leads me to the next thing… I take the bull by the horns with the whole hotel thing for the reunion this summer. Now people don’t like the hotel I picked. It is apparently not nice enough for them. They want something nicer and non-smoking. My thought was then go find something better. No one else did anything to find rooms for a group of us. I tried to stick to a mid-priced hotel so that everyone can afford to go. I know that not everyone can afford to spend 150 bucks a nite on a room. Baymont Inns have nice, clean rooms. I am not going to spend a whole lot of time in the room so I don’t care too much if they are so fancy or smell like smoke.

No Zobmondo today as I have a party to get to... Have a good weekend folks!

So Irritated I Could Make A Pearl

Today at work, I passed a guy in the hall. I was so totally grossed out by what I saw. He was a bigger guy. Wearing a white dress shirt that was so cheap and thin that I could see his chest hair. I was DISGUSTED!!! Men, if you are going to wear a white dress shirt to work, wear the tshirt underneath - or buy a better quality of shirt so that it is thicker. The Kmart 3 for 5 bucks shirt just doesn't cut it. There are just somethings that I do not need to see and that is one of them.

A new book is out about Barry Bonds taking steroids. Wow, what a shock that is. Never would have guessed that he got that way but not working hard but by cheating and using steroids. He is such a jerk.

In July, we have our family reunion. It is held every two years with the family that hosting it rotating between my grandma's siblings. The family that is hosting it this year is doing such a crappy job. Normally, we know the date about a year in advance. This helps in planning since people come from all over the country. Usually by Dec/Jan, we know the exact location (what park) and someone has booked blocks of rooms with two type of hotels, a mid-price one and a bit higher priced one. Well, the family this year has yet to block any rooms for us yet. So, I along with a few of my cousins decided we were going to stay at a specific hotel. I called the hotel and blocked some rooms and my other cousin sent the email letting people know the details. Since it is being held in Appleton this year, and the week before the EAA Fly-in, it is kinda important that we get this done soon. I was so pissed that the hosting family has done such a piss poor job of planning. Something tells me that this will not be as much fun as reunions past. That's ok, cuz the people I want to see the most will be there and we always have fun together.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather...

Always show up 20 minutes late for everything

----OR----

always show up 90 minutes early for everything?

I would have to go with being early. I hate being late. Hubby says that I am always late but that is not true. If we are meeting people for a specific event I am on time. If it is a random kinda thing like, we'll be up there around 7ish - no big deal. 5 minutes won't kill anyone.

They Come in Three's

Wow, two well known people died in the last couple of days. Kirby Puckett and Dana Reeves. I was more shocked about Dana Reeves. I did not know that she had been sick. She was so young. I don't know if she and Christopher had any kids (I think they did) but how sad for them. Losing both of your parents in such a short time. It has always been said that deaths come in threes. I wonder who the third one will be. Any guesses??

It is that time of year. I am talking about March madness. I love watching the NCAA tourney. I normally do not follow b-ball much except for the local teams. But is always exciting to watch the tourney and see the winners and losers. That and it is something I can gamble on. I usually end up in several pools. Never win but it is fun.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

As a hitchhiker, see handcuffs and a chainsaw in the backseat

----OR----

see bloody clothing in the backseat?

hmmmm.... I have to go with the chainsaw and handcuffs. Maybe it is some hot lumberjack who is into a little something kinky... That's my reasoning and I'm sticking to it.

Lent, New Sites, Poker and Blog Stats

So I see that our good friend, StB, has decided to give up drinking for Lent. Go over and take a look at his "sober" site. Since I am not Catholic, I don't ever feel the need to give anything up. StB, I wish you much success in your journey. I hope that we still get to see you next Friday for Gambino and my birthday celebration! ps... when do I get a link on your sites??

Speaking of Gambino. She is back from hiatus with a newly revamped website. Looks good J. Stop over and say hi.

Hubby and I played in the softball fundraiser poker tourney at Big Momma's yesterday. We both sucked in the tourney but I won the first Sit 'n Go, hubby finished 3rd and he won the second game. I am starting to feel good about how I have been playing and look forward to playing again soon. I mentioned that to hubby and he made the stupid comment that I was just 'lucky'. He refuses to give me credit that I may actually know what I am doing. I am not saying that I am a great player, but I can hold my own. And I have to admit, I do get lucky sometimes. The rough part was the drinking. I think that hubby and I were both a bit hooched. Poor puppies, we were gone by 11:30 am got home about 9:30pm and I was in bed by 10:30pm. They got some extra play time in the snow to make up for it today.

Do any of you have a site counter on your blog? If not, I recommend getting one. I use StatCounter.com It is very interesting to see where people come from to get your site. I am apparently a bit hit in Germany and Hong Kong. I have three people from Hong Kong stop by every so often. If you are one of those folks, leave a comment and say Hi. You can also see what keywords are used to get to your site. Here are some recent ones. ' dentyne-isms', 'a wish for all the difficult people in your life', 'big old trees wallpapers' and 'old movies shoutingloudly'. A bit strange but hey who I am to say what people use Google for...

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Spend a week at school in your underwear

----OR----

attend two classes completely nude?

I am going with two classes nude. That is about two hours of my time vs a whole week. Others may not care to see me nude but I don't care. They can stare at my boobs for two hours.

Have a good week folks!

New Links, Reality and No Porn

Well, another week has flown by. I knew that if I didn't post something early tonite that I would get caught up in tv and forget about it again.

I had to update my links to other blogs since DJW has once again retired his blog.... If he comes back, I will put the link back up. I am adding a new links to CosmopolGirl and Slampig. Both are great girls with good blogs and interesting tales to tell. Stop by and say hi.

I love that the Amazing Race is back on. That is my all time favorite show. I keep telling StB that we should try out for the show. We could be the drinking buddies.... or maybe not... since it appears that he gave up drinking (at least Maker's) for Lent. There are a couple of really hot guys on the show this year. I hope they do more shots of them with their shirts off :) Idol is getting good. Last nite the guys sang and Chris rocked the house. He did a Fuel song, hemorrhage, and was awesome! The girls are ok this year. No one really stands out as being great yet. Maybe that'll change as time goes by. I am also a Survivor fan. I am in pool and have Shane. I'll be gone soon. Hubby has Aras. He is some nice eye candy as well.

I think I may have to boycott eating Domino's pizza. I am not sure I want my money going towards this....The founder is building a town in Florida that is based on the Catholic beliefs. All fine and dandy except no porn will be sold, birth control, including condoms will not be dispensed in your local pharmacy and your cable will be G-rated. So the population of that town will be about 20 people, all of them over 80.

Milwaukee has a great Art Musuem. Recently, a local radio group held a party there.... we'll call it Martinifest. All you can drink martinis for 30 bucks.. Great deal. They had all sorts of problems. From puking to groping the statues. I don't want to re-write the article, so go and take a look... it was too funny.

Now for everyone's favorite thing....ZOBMONDO

Would you rather....
Have to go to the bathroom in a giant cat-litter box inside your house

----OR----

anywhere you want but only outside?

I am going with the cat box. I hate going outside in a pit toilet when we camp. No one says that I have to be the one to clean it. That can be hubby's job....