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.