Let it Snow.. Let it Snow.. Let it Snow

Welcome to winter in Wisconsin. It is snowing/sleeting/raining out. Yuck. It started several hours ago and I have had to shovel a path from the front door to the middle of the yard so the dogs could go to the bathroom. Poor Riley was not happy when he thought he was still walking on the porch and fell off into a snow bank.

I took advantage of the time to go through a bunch of my old Partylite stuff that I no longer use and stuck it out on eBay. If you are interested in any of it, click here to check it out. There is some Christmas stuff and some regular stuff out there. I have a couple more things I want to stick out there but am too lazy for now.

Things are moving along with the divorce. We put the house up for sale. All that is left to do is get the carpets cleaned and we are good to go. I am still undecided on what to do. Do I buy a condo? no outside maintenance but no yard to call my own and nowhere for the dogs to romp. Buy a fixer-upper? Cheaper but will spend money to fix up. Will keep my dad busy tho. Buy a place that is move in ready? more expensive but shouldn't have to do much work to it. I guess I will have to get looking at places and then weigh my options.

Went out for the Packer/Dallas game on Thursday. It was a good time. Packers lost but I expected that. I just had more fun gabbing it up with everyone. It was good to see a few people who I have not seen in a long time. OMW, that means you.

At work this year we have to solicit peer review from three of our co-workers. I thought about it for awhile and picked three people who are from wildly different areas of the bank and that are not in my department. I am hoping that my boss recognizes that the people are very different and that I touch many areas with the stuff that I do. I do think it is odd that we have to solicit this feedback. Normally, it is the manager who does that. My MN co-worker sent to it L and I. Bad mistake on his part. I will be brutally honest and he probably won't like it. He is not up to snuff and should be re-deployed somewhere else. But the boss likes him so he stays. L and I still spend an hour or two each week cleaning up his mistakes. Now we document them in an email to him and copy the boss on it. Eventually, she has to figure out that we are spending alot of time and energy on coaching him. I hope she does anyway.

Speaking of Coach, if anyone feels especially generous this year, I would like this Coach bag. I can use a new one. I still love my plain black one I got several years ago but hey, a girl can use a new purse now and then. This one is also cute. I got a similar one this spring that was the summer pastel patchwork one. I should really hit up the Coach outlet in Kenosha. That could be dangerous tho.

Well, I'm going to go and catch up on my DVR stuff now. I started watching this new documentary on Sundance called Nimrod Nation. It takes place in Watersmeet, MI. It is the upper peninsula of Michigan. Watersmeet is on the border between MI and WI. It is interesting. People all talk like they were in the movie Fargo. Except that had more of a western twang to it. Check it out. Sundance also had a series called Live from Abbey Road. They take three artists and let them perform at the Abbey Road studios made famous by the Beatles. Paul Simon was one of my favorite.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be a woman with a mustache

----OR----

a man with large breasts?

I'll have to go with the mustache. I can cover that up easier. Man boobs are not an attractive site.

See ya'll later.

And You Thought That You Like To Party??

I found this link to a story about some of the best supposedly true drinking stories.

I like the drunk elephant story.

The one where the largest drink was made back in 1694 with 250 gallons of brandy, 125 gallons of Malaga wine, 1,400 pounds of sugar, 2,500 lemons, 20 gallons of lime juice, and 5 pounds of nutmeg. The fact that the bartenders paddled around in a small canoe to get the drinks for people is hilarious. You don't see that around here.

Can you top those??

For the Lazy Beer Drinker in Your Life

Thought this was funny...

Why do I think that A, K and StB would do this?? Of course, E would help it the design and manufacturing part. Could be useful when camping. Just think about it guys. I have the fridge in the basement....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Hope you had an enjoyable day.

My day turned out better than I expected. After telling my mom and sister again yesterday that I was not going to eat any food at my sister's house, my mom relented and had dinner at her house. My dad decided to come home on Wednesday evening from up north so that made the decision a bit easier for my mom. The nice thing was that my sister was still pissed at me and did not talk to me all afternoon. That was a good thing for me.

Dad did not get a deer. Nor did my uncles or cousins. All the deer they were feeding at my uncle's land suddenly disappeared last weekend. I told my dad he should just drive down Puetz or 15th Ave by my house. I see deer almost everyday. Granted you cannot shoot a rifle in Milwaukee county (legally) but he could try to hit it with the truck. He didn't see that as humorous as I did.

Both the Packers and Cowboys won today. It will make next week's game between the two very important for both teams. It could mean home field advantage for the winner throughout the playoffs. I am glad that I did not go out for last week's game as some wagers were made. Should be interesting to see who get the new tat. StB or A... I do plan on being at Big Momma's for the game, so watching the game should be fun.

We have a realtor coming out tomorrow to look at the house and we will be putting it on the market soon. I am hoping that my half of the house will afford me to buy a nice place somewhere else. I started looking in the paper an online a bit. I am torn between a house or a condo. No yard work would be nice especially in the winter but with the dogs a yard would be nice as well. I promised my dad that I would try to find a place that did not need too much work for him to do. He laughed and said that if it did need work he would help me do it.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Wet the bed when you're with your partner for the first time

----OR----

wet your pants in a college class?

I so have to go with in college. I can always pass it off as spilling a drink on myself.

Have a good weekend :)

Dinner Anyone??

So, my sister calls me today at work. My dad is up north hunting and is planning on staying up there over Thanksgiving. So, sis, thinking she is being nice, offers to have Thanksgiving at her house. It will just be my sister, her kids, my mom and me.

I declined.

Am I wrong??

I called my mom and told her I would not be there and she said it wasn't that bad. Ohhh yes it is. I asked if we could go out to eat. No dice. Can't hurt sister's feelings. I can and will. That does not bother me in the least.

If anyone knows or has been in my sister's house, you will know why I declined eating there. Her house is DISGUSTING!! When I picked up me niece for a movie on Sat afternoon, sis told me she has a family of mice living upstairs. She has killed at least 5 of them so far and has seen a few more running around upstairs. But, the good news is that the mice live upstairs and do not come downstairs. Huh?? I am sure they are downstairs. She had to bags of garbage sitting on the kitchen floor on Sat. Can't tell me the mice aren't eating out of there. That is the the Old Country Buffet to them.

I refuse to eat in a place that first of all, is so dirty that just looking at her refrigerator door (can't even bear to look inside the fridge) makes me want to puke and now has mice running all over the place.

Did my sister ever wonder why I don't come over for birthday dinner unless they are at my parents?? That is why. I will not eat off of her plates or use her silverware, unless it is plastic and I just opened it out of the little bag it comes in.

In her living room, in the corner is a toy pile. Literally a pile of toys. It has to be about 6 foot wide, 6 foot long and about 5 foot high. I have told her that the kids will not get any toys from me for Christmas until that mess is gone. They don't play with the crap they have now. Why should I add to it?

My sister says that it is not her fault that the house is a mess. WTF?!?! She is the parent. The kids are 12, 6 and 5. They should not be made responsible to keep the house clean. Half the time my sister does even cook dinner, just opens a can of Spaghettio's for the kids to eat.

So.... I will have to call them both again tomorrow and tell them I will not be there. Will probably have to do the same on Thursday morning. Oh well. Anyone up for dinner somewhere on Thursday?? Preferably after the Packer game.

Wedding of the Year

Introducing the wedding party: First, the handsome groomsmen and the fine looking groom (in red)










Red ties, black ties, no tie. Mass confusion. "Alright, everyone . let's line up for the picture. Let's see .... hmmm, where shall we .... oh, yes! Perfect! Everyone, please move quickly! Right over there, in front of the garage. Yes, that will be just smashing!" I guess a jacket at a wedding would just be too citified, so let's just pin these boutonniere's right on the white shirts. Bubba, put down that cigarette! And no smoking during the ceremony! I told him it's tacky to light up during the sermon. If we could have put the wedding off for two more months, the groom would have saved enough money for a pair of black shoes. I told him his tennis shoes have black trim....that's good enough.

Next, the lovely bridesmaids and the blushing bride.









Not everyone can pull off such a vibrant red, but I think this group does it. Sassy, I tell you, just sassy.


Last, the cute couple.














Those Wal-Mart slides really enhance her cankles. Too bad they didn't come in white. Note how their "outdoor backdrop" is a clearing probably behind the 7-11 where the weeds actually got mowed just for this occasion.














At least his head is somewhat proportionate. To her left boob.













What's she showing us here? A severe case of knee gout?? Apparently, whatever it is has her husband in more of a stupor than usual - How bout those teeth?














"You SO crazy, honey."













"Here baby, let me help you up here ....."














You can almost hear the banjo music.

Paying the Bills

Occasionally, I use my cell phone for work related calls. In the past, you log into the reimbursement system, and fill out a form that takes about 3 minutes. If the cost is under 25.00 you do not need to provide a receipt. A week later the money is deposited in your account.

Until now.

Last week, the bank implemented a new system. You now have to itemize each call that you make, no matter if it is personal or work related. You then have to print out the bill and fax, yes fax, it to them. So, I printed put the page that had the work related calls on it circled the calls that were work related and blocked out the remainder of the numbers. I was asking for $7.20 to be reimbursed. Not a huge amount but why should I pay for work related calls. We only get reimbursed .06 a minute.

Three days later I get an email saying that I now need to provide my entire bill. All 18 pages of it. So, once again, I print out all the pages and proceed to highlight the work related calls and black out everything else that is not work related or contains and personal information. I pay for my parent's cell phone on my plan and the bank does not need to know who they are calling.

Yesterday, I get an email from them stating that they need to see the entire bill with the charges that I am seeking reimbursement for highlighted and nothing else blacked out. WTF?!?! I replied to them, copying my useless boss, stating that I considered this an invasion of my privacy. They do not need to know the numbers for the calls that were made or received that I am not seeking reimbursement for. Am I wrong in thinking this??

If I remember I will bring home the bill I faxed them and put it on here. For your amusement.

I just received my bill for October and need to get reimbursed for about 11 bucks. I already dread completing this request. From now on, I will use my home phone and use a calling card.

What scares me is that one of the things that I do is manage pagers for the bank. We have been moving people off of their pagers and over to their cell phones little by little. If we begin to move large amount of people over to their pagers and this is the pain in the ass that it is to get reimbursed, we are going to hear shit about it. We are a few months away from rolling out corporate owned cell phones. The users are personally liable for them but the bank owns them. I can see this being a cluster fuck if they have to go thru all this shit to get paid back for them.

To top it off, when I submitted my expenses for my trip to MN last week, my bosses boss did not approve my expenses promptly enough in the old system. Now I have to figure out how to submit them in the new system considering that I already sent in my receipts. Since they require the only the original receipts, I cannot send them the photocopies, of which I did not make anyway. My credit card bill is due next week and I know that I will not have the money for it back from the bank.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

While drunk, go rock climbing

----OR----

learn to surf?

I have to go with surfing. I can swim. Not really good at being Spiderman (or girl)

Am I the Only One....

...who is already sick of the Christmas commercials on TV? All I see tonight is ads for Kohl's and Target. At least they are not blasting you with some obnoxious Christmas music.

No wonder people dread the holidays.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather...

Get stood up for your high school prom

----OR----

take the date you dreamt of to the prom and have him or her leave with someone else??

I'm going with taking the date and having him leave with someone else. Better to have gone and had a bad time than to never have gone at all.

Work Still Sucks

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Last week, I was in MN for ITIL training. In geek speak, it was training for learning how to manage your IT infrastructure within a company. Basically, how to run your IT department like a business. Boring to most but it provides me with a nice certification out of it on the bank's dime.

I went there with three other people from my building. 2 girls and a guy. They are all nice enough people but a bit boring. I, like StB, like to try something different when out of town. My travel mates however had different ideas. We ate at a Maggiano's, P.F. Chang's, Cheesecake Factory and Applebees. All great places but I felt like I was at Mayfair Mall. I really wanted to try a interesting brew pub in the Mall of America but since I was not driving, I did not get much of a say. I wish now that I could remember the name of it but.....

I was a bit scared when we got to the hotel and seen that there was a bowel disease convention there. Yeah, you read that right.... bowel disease. Now, that, folks, is some interesting stuff. NOT!!! The only saving grace was that the hotel offered a happy hour from 5-7 each evening. Yeah, free drinks. Bad thing, the only beer they carried was Bud products. YUCK!! I stuck with Bloody Mary's.

Work has been a bitch lately. My boss, who you may remember is in OR. We are in WI. She has no idea what goes on here. One other guy is in MN. All by himself. Well, last week, when I was in training, MN guy was getting on my co-worker, L's last nerve. MN guy has been on our team for the last 8 months. He is still making mistakes that we have "coached" him on for the the last 6 months. These are careless mistakes that have an impact on our company's paging system. It is a pain in the ass when we have to go back and fix his mistakes. There are times that L and I are tag-teaming MN guy. L calls him to coach him on stuff, then I call him and at times L calls him again on yet another mistake. All within an hour. He says he doe not know why he he keep making the mistakes but it is just being sloppy.

A perfect example is a few weeks ago, MN guy and I were in some training for setting up our team's web pages. I know how to code in HTML. Not well but enough to get by. We were tasked with putting some information together. Which is fine but I told him that he would have to do the brunt of the work as I am working on a major server upgrade and will not have the time to devote to it. Three days later, he asks me if I can put everything that needs to go on the website in a Word doc so that he can put it on the website. WTF?!?! If I have to type everything out in Word, I might as well do it myself. I told him that he should ask our boss what needs to go on there and she (being the uninvolved person that she is) asked me if I could get it together for him. I told her no, not until my server project is done in mid December. Add another fucking task to my ever growing pile of stuff to do.

Anyway, I come back to work on Monday to find out that MN guy is moving from one building to another one about 15 miles apart in St. Paul. That is fine but when they told him that they were going to move his PC, he unplugged everything and went home. He was told it would take up to a week to get everything hooked up in his new location. So home he went. When he works from home, he VPN's into his work PC and uses his work PCs resources. Since he unplugged everything before he left on Tuesday, it was very hard for him to connect to it on Wed or the rest of the freakin' week. He did not say anything until Monday when he asked me how to connect to his work PC. WTF?!?! What have you been doing for the last 3 fucking days?? And why is he waiting until now to ask me when he should have said something to our boss on ohhh.. how about 10 minutes after he couldn't get to his work PC on Wed??

I told my boss today that I think it is time to cut our losses with him. It has been 8 months. He is not getting it. He is up there by himself, with no one else from our area to support him or train him. He is too busy with home school to travel down here for a week to train with us. What we are asking him to do is not difficult but there is an order to it that needs to be followed. You need to do A,B, C and then D. If you do it A, C,D and then B things get messed up. I hope that she takes my advice and starts to find him a new home. Otherwise the boss will hate it as every time we have to coach him, she will get a followup email with what was done and why. That should change her mind.

You may ask why I don't get a new job. I like my job. Hate my boss (I like my boss as a person, as a manager she sucks), like my job. I like what I do and am good at it. I am the person that people go to to get stuff done. I get it done and it is right the first time. All I know is that all the extra time and work I have been putting in this past year had better pay off come review/raise and bonus time. Or she will hear about it.

Now on to happier stuff.....


ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Go to junior high wearing only your tight white underwear

----OR----

after being sprayed by a skunk?

I am going with the skunk spraying. No one wants to see me in tight white underwear.

Goodbye, My Friend

Last nite, I get the call from A that a friend from the bar has died. Pat was one of those good ol' guys.

Pat always was the guy who would give you a big, wet, sloppy kiss (sometimes missing your cheek) and a hug. Every time I saw him, which sadly hasn't been much lately, he always asked how the dogs were doing and how were things coming along with the house, had we done anything new. I certainly wasn't very close to him but he always had a kind word.

It seemed like every time I seen him he had a story about how he hit it big on the slot machine or won something at the latest bar giveaway. The guy was luckier than shit. He was thinking about moving to Arizona to be closer to his son.

He had quite a few health problems lately but I think that he went out on his terms. Living life to the fullest till the end.

I'm getting tired of people dying. I guess it is just the whole circle of life thing, but it still sucks.

Pat, I'll miss you. Take care sweetie.

Who Woulda Thunk It?!?!

Breaking News.... Online Poker may be rigged. Or at least Absolute Poker. You can read all the details at the New York Times site. Turns out that someone on the inside may have been feeding hole cards to someone playing in a $1,000 buy-in tourney. There was a person who was an observer at a table where the cheater was playing. It sounds like this observer was at telling the cheater the hole cards of every player at the table. The observer may have been a part owner in Absolute Poker.

You want to throw a company down the drain in a heartbeat, start cheating. I'll bet that lots of people start pulling their money out of that site.

Should be an interesting storyline to follow.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Sweat green liquid from your pores

----OR----

fart blue smoke?

Have to go with fating blue smoke when I go camping, no wait.... maybe we should hope that Connie farts blue smoke when camping.... Otherwise when I'm not camping, I'll go with the green liquid.

No Big Surprise Here

Once again, hubby failed to come home last nite. This time I pretty much figured that he wouldn't since it was Sweetest Day and all. Why would he not spend it with his girlfriend?? I hope she is worth it.

I just don't get why you can't even tell me that you are not coming home. You are not even nice to me any longer. You may not have any respect for me any longer but try respecting yourself. I just can't wait until this is all over.

The Passing of a Legend

As I am watching the news a few minutes ago, I am saddened to hear that Max McGee, former Green Bay Packer legend has died. He was 75. Apparently, he fell off the roof of his home.

Max was never a great player but he was a large contributor in the Green Bay Packers winning the first Super Bowl. He scored two touchdowns.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet him and spend the afternoon with him just about a year ago.

Our next door neighbors won a promotion from their bank. It was the ultimate tailgate party at their home. The highlight of the day was that Max and Jim Irwin spent the afternoon with us watching the game. It was a wonderful time. It was great to hear their stories from their days in the broadcast booth. Sounds like they had quite the time. It was a really fun when they pretended that they were back in the booth calling the game. By this time they both had a few cocktails in them and Max's color commentary was a bit off. Since he was out of the booth for a year, he did not really know who some of the players were. It was a riot.... a memory I will not soon forget. I doubt we made much of an impression on him but he certainly made a good impression on me.

Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

The first one was of him signing a football for us. The second is of hubby and I with Max.

Men in Thongs

Ladies, for Half Naked Thursday..... scroll down at your own risk.

Enjoy!!

It Pays to Complain

Over the last few weeks, I have shopped places or used services that I have been unhappy with. So, I complained to the management or customer service rep.

First was Victoria's Secret. They discontinued my bras. That is bad enough, so when they were clearing the old style out, I bought 10 of them. They were half price. You can't go wrong at that price. About a month later the underwire of one of them pops out while I am camping. I sent it back and followed up with an email to their customer service about how disappointed I was that they discontinued the style and that the wire popped out. They credited my account for the bra. Earlier this week, I got a 25$ gift card from the for my trouble.

Back in late Sept. our land line phone was all messed up. I figured that it had something to do with all the rain we had the previous couple of weeks. When I called to get service out here, the first time they said it would be a few days. I checked online a couple of days later and now it was a week to 10 days later. I called them and talked to someone. They said they would have someone out the next day. They did and it was fixed. When I got my phone bill this month, they credited my account 79.14 for being without service for almost a week. That is over 2 months worth of service.

About 2 weeks ago, I went grocery shopping. I buy bagged salad mix for a salad lunch each day. I bought the salad mix on 10/5. By 10/8, when I went to go make my lunch I open up the crisper drawer and pull out the salad mix and it is gross. It was guaranteed to be fresh until 10/10. All soggy, rusty looking and nasty. I called the maker and they sent me coupons for 2 free salad mixes and a handful of 55 cent off coupons. I then also take it back to the store and they replace it for me. Double winner.

These acts of treating the customer well has earned these companies my loyalty. It nice and refreshing to see people go out of their way to do something nice. None of the places had any obligation to do anything.... well, the phone company may have a service level agreement, but who knows.

In each case I was never rude or obnoxious. I was always polite and stuck to the facts. Kindness pays.

Mark Your Calendar

Slap Your Co-Worker Day is here! ( I really have no idea when the day actually is so, pick a day that suits you best. Work has been really crappy the last few days, so my day is Wednesday, Oct 17th). I know at least a handful of people who deserve to be slapped even if I don't work with them :)


This is the official Slap Your Irritating Co-workers Holiday: Do you have a co-worker who talks nonstop about nothing, working your last nerve with tedious and boring details that you don't give a damn about? Do you have a co-worker who ALWAYS screws up stuff creating MORE work for you? Do you have a co-worker who kisses so much booty, you can look in their mouth and see what your boss had for lunch? Do you have a co-worker who is SOOO obnoxious, when he/she enters a room, everyone else clears it? Well, on behalf of Ike Turner, I am so very, very glad to officially announce tomorrow as SLAP YOUR IRRITATING CO-WORKER DAY! There are rules you must follow:


* You can only slap one person per hour - no more.

* You can slap the same person again if they irritate you again in the same day.

* You are allowed to hold someone down as other co-workers take their turns slapping the irritant.

* No weapons are allowed...other than going upside somebody's head with a stapler or a hole-puncher.

* CURSING IS MANDATORY! After you have slapped the recipient, your "assault" must be followed with something like "cause I'm sick of your stupid-a$$ always messing up stuff!"

* If questioned by a supervisor or police, if the supervisor is the irritant, you are allowed to LIE, LIE, LIE!



Now, study the rules, break out your list of folks that you want to slap the living daylights out of and get to slapping.....and have a great day!

The past few days have been spent doing stuff for and with the girls.

On Thursday, I took the afternoon off and went to Harry W Schwartz bookstore. Deanna Favre, wife of Green Bay Packer, Brett Favre was there promoting her book, Don't Bet Against Me! It details her journey in her battle with breast cancer. She was very sweet and has the cutest southern accent.

Here are a couple of pictures I took while she was signing the book I gave to Ms. Gambino.











After I was done at the bookstore, I headed up to Big Momma's to meet A and Gambino for a cocktail or two. I gave Gambino the book. She was tickled. When she looked inside to see that it was autographed by Deanna and addressed to my survivor sister, J was touched. We almost started bawling right there in the bar. We had a few more cocktails and by 7:30 I headed home

Friday came the call that I was dreading. The TV repair guy said the big screen was no longer fixable. Damn!! So I spent a hour or so looking online for a new tv. Made a stop at Circuit City to do some comparison shopping and headed home. I ended up at my sister's house to set her computer back up and give her some pointers on what to avoid so she stops getting viruses. Good thing from that was she picked up some fish fries and bought me dinner. Note to self Dead End Saloon has good fish fries.

Saturday morning was spent looking for the new tv. Did more research online and found that Samsungs are about the best value for the money and were in my price range. Hubby stepped up and offered to pay for half of whatever I bought so I was able to upgrade a bit. I ended up getting a 50" plasma. It is really nice.

Saturday afternoon, A, J and I did something that none of us had ever done before. No, not that... so get your minds outta the gutter. We went to a rugby game for the Westside Harlequins. It was very interesting. Thanks for Byron telling us some of the rules. Fun watching hot, sweaty guys walking around with no shirt on. The guy that A knew, ended up getting hurt during the game. He took a cleat to the eyebrow. He had a nice lump and will need a few stitches to close the gash. This was the last game of the season so will have to wait until next year to watch them play again.

I have to work tonight so heading off to take a nap. We are upgrading a database. Hopefully it will go as planned and I can be done by 11:30 or so.


ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

If you had to come up with 50,000 in five days to get a sibling out of jail, try to steal it

----OR----

go to Vegas?

First off, I would let my sibling stay in jail. It would be good for her. Second, I'd go to Vegas. Doesn't say I have to win any money while there...

Thoughts I am Pondering

Over the past few days, I have pondered several things.

1. The shooting in Crandon. I find it interesting that one local news station has labeled the tragedy "Deputy Slaughters Six". Sounds like a book title to me. I think that slaughter is a strong word. You slaughter livestock. What he did was not kill them in a cruel manner. Jeffrey Dahmer slaughtered people. This was a shooting. Why is no one asking themselves, what is a 14 year old doing out at 3 am?? When I was 14 I had to be home by 10 at the latest. Since we lived in the country, someone's parents had to drop us off and pick us up from our destination.

2. How good is the hot dog business on 9th and Oklahoma?? I was driving on Monday and seen a street vendor selling hot dogs there. Is business that good on the corner? I did not see any customers.

3. When your Internet provider actually calls you up and tells you to fix your computer, that is a bad thing. My sister's pc was so screwed up. Road Runner actually called her and told her that her PC is the host of a denial of service attack and is sending out lots of spam. When I started working on it, my virus scan uncovered 562 virus', Trojans or worms on her pc. And that is with over year old dat files. I re-formatted it and got it back up and running. I have to go over to her house and hook it back up tomorrow.

4. At work they moved some people into the empty cubes next to me. The guy across from me is HOT!!. Found out he ran in the Lakefront Marathon on Sunday and had a respectable time of about 4 hours. Too bad he is married. The guy who sites two seats down, not hot... sleeps at his desk. We could hear him snoring this morning. Last week, he was sleeping every morning for about an hour or so. I wish I had a job that I could sleep at my desk.

5. Boomer may not be the smartest dog. Cute but not so smart sometimes. Right now is is sitting on the bed, barking at his reflection in the window.

6. I'm not ready for winter. I hate the cold weather. Ok, maybe it's not so bad but I hate driving to work in the snow even more. I want to re-live most of the summer over again. I want to go camping more. I miss it being 80 like it was yesterday. Right now it is 53 out.

7. Why do people insist on tailgating in rush hour traffic. Everyone is doing 30 mph. I cannot go any faster than the guy in front of me. Passing me (in the emergency lane of the freeway) will not get you anywhere any faster. Where is the sheriff's dept when you need them. Back off, dude.

8. OMW - it is what it appears to be. You were not reading too much into it. At this point there is not much anyone can do, except for me. I know what I need to do and must do so soon.

I think that's all the stuff I have for today.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be incapable of love

----OR----

honesty??

This is an interesting one. I have been sitting here for like 5 minutes now debating this in my head. It makes me sad to be incapable of either one. With things the way they are now... I am not going to answer this one for right now.

Have a good one.

Funny Commercials

Gotta love the advertising folks who came up with these. Notice they are not US brands.

More updates on other stuff later.... still trying to process things.

Am I Wrong??

Am I wrong to ask for a little respect? To treat me with at least some resemblance of common courtesy?? You treat a stranger on the street better than you treat me. So you don't bother to come home at nite and then get mad when I ask where you were and could you have at least called or texted me to let me know. So that when I get up at 4:30 am this morning and see that the light is still on in the kitchen, I don't worry. I'm sorry that I still fucking care.

This relationship may be over but the least you could do is don't keep treating me like a pile of shit. I deserve so much better than you.

Did Anyone Catch the Plate Number.....

.... of the truck that ran me over.

Holy crap!! I feel like poop. I am all achy and my body feels like i spent the last month wrestling with a bear. My head and sinuses are blocked up and it feels like I am breathing thru water... barely.

I just got up now to take the dogs out and take more drugs. Thank goodness I stopped on my way home and got stuff. No way, I'm going anywhere now.

I don't need this now. I have the Beer ride on Sat and I even got this very cool new jersey to wear. I am so looking forward to that. Damn. I have to be able to breathe (other than coughing and gasping) to ride.

Back to bed for now.... See ya later.

And You Wonder Why I Don't Have Kids

Since I have now figured out how to post videos on my site, you will get to see some of the funnier ones I have.

Another reason as to why I will never have kids. This is just too funny.

End of the Season

Last weekend was the last camping trip of the year. It was a good time. I was so proud that I was able to get the camper backed into the site. Ok, so maybe it wasn't exactly where it was supposed to be parked but it was there. I ended up in the bushed a bit but did not pull a "Connie" and end up with a tree between the truck and camper. Thank god for the camp host who seen my misfortune and helped me out by parking it back on the gravel for me. I was able to get the camper put up and even closed it up and got it hooked back up to the truck all by myself when it was time to leave.

I am sad that this is the last trip of the year. I really like camping even if I end up conking out by 10:30pm. Too much fresh air I guess. It is just nice to relax around the fire and chat it up with good friends. I wish I could remember the song we made up about K starting himself on fire. It was pretty funny.

We went to the dog track on Saturday afternoon. I did ok. Won like 5 races and ended up about 35 bucks down for the day. There was one race that I quinella boxed and should have trifecta boxed it. That would have netted me about 1100 bucks vs the 49 I ended up winning. Guess I picked the wrong races to quinella... oh well...

The weather held out and only really needed the heat on in the camper a little on Friday nite. More so to take the dampness out of the air than keep it warm.

Now just have to wait for a couple of months when we have a camping planning party for next year. sigh......

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Get everywhere by crawling

----OR----

have to stand on your hands when you are stationary?

I will go with standing on your hands. It would be hard to go camping, pulling a camper down the freeway while crawling.

Have a good week all.

How They Became X-Stinked

Now I know how the Dinosaurs died... or is this a camping trip?? Can you match up the farts with the camper?? hmmmm.....

Do You Remember When...?

(aka... I have nothing else to post about today so this is what you get)

• It took five minutes for the TV warm up? This was my grandparents tv for the longest time
• All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?
• Nearly every one's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?
• Nobody owned a purebred dog?
• When a quarter was a decent allowance?
• You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?
• Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?
• All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels?
• You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?
• Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box? Once again, I remember my grandma have this
• It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?
• They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . . and they did? Not me... I skippde a grade. My 3rd grade was 6 weeks in summer school
• No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked? Have you been up north??... go to any bar and the keys will be in the ignition
• Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a ..." I still like to do this.
• and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game? don't forget about having ghost runners. They could run really fast and score a run from no matter what base they were on.
• Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?
• When being sent to the Principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home? Hell yeah!! Dad and his belt. I was a goody-two shoes tho' so didn't spend much time there... my sister did tho'
• Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.
• Candy cigarettes
• Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside
• Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
• Coffee shops with table side jukeboxes
• Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum - don't forget sen-sen
• Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
• P.F. Fliers
• Telephone numbers with a word prefix...(HEmstead 7-1538).
• Party lines
• Peashooters
• 45 RPM records - I think my first 45 was a Shaun Cassidy record
• Green Stamps
• Hi-Fi's
• Metal ice cubes trays with levers
• Mimeograph paper
• Beanie and Cecil
• Roller-skate keys
• Cork pop guns
• Drive ins - now it is NML
• Washtub wringers - once again , I vaguely remember my grandma washing clothes on a washboard and wringer
• The Fuller Brush Man
• Reel-To-Reel tape recorders
• Tinkertoys
• Erector Sets
• The Fort Apache Play Set
• Lincoln Logs
• 15 cent McDonald hamburgers
• 5 cent packs of baseball cards - with that awful pink slab of bubble gum - why, oh, why did we ever eat that gum???
• Penny candy - I liked it when we were finally old enough to ride our bikes to the penny candy store. My favorite... the communion wafer tasting spaceships with little dot thingys in them.
• 35 cent a gallon gasoline
• Jiffy Pop popcorn - I burned the stuff every time
• Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?
• Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"?
• "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?
• Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?
• It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"?
• The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"?
• Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?
• A foot of snow was a dream come true? - snow days even better. I loved it when the snow would drift really high against the back of the chicken coop and we would climb on the roof and do back flips off the roof into the snow.
• Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures? do they still show Bugs Bunny, Wil E Coyote and such??
• "Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?
• Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
• The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?
• War was a card game?
• Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?
• Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin?
• Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?
  

A Great Day, with Great Friends

Today we walked for Gambino's boobs. If you want to donate, click on her site and go to the Race for the Cure link.

It was a wonderful day. The four of us (A, J, K and I) along with 12,000+ other people walked the lakefront of Milwaukee in the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure in support of breast cancer research. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Not too warm but not too cool. The backdrop of Lake Michigan was gorgeous. The cause a good one that hopefully we don't have to walk for for much longer. Let's try to eradicate this disease in my life time.

A woman had a shirt on that I found so neat. Here is a picture of the shirt and a link to her website that has more details on it. It looks like the store is not yet up and running. I like how she makes the flower look like a boob.

I hope to have walk pictures in the next day or so as soon as K sends them to us.

Next year we are going to be more organized and get a team together. Guys, this mean you as well. Watch for details in the coming year.

After the walk, we went back to P & K's house for a cook out. The beer was cold and food fantastic. Now, I am home tired, full and happy. Trying to stay awake long enough so that I can go to bed and not be up at some ungodly hour.

Have a good week everyone.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather

Stutter badly

----OR----

drool noticeably?

I would have to go with stuttering. I notice that I stutter now sometimes. I know that I did it more when I was a kid. Not sure why...

What a Wasted Day

First off. Thanks for putting up with my disclaimer. It had been brought to my attention that certain things offended others. I use this site as my sounding board. That's all. So back to your semi-regularly scheduled blog.....

I get to work this morning and fire up the ol' PC. I go get my water and oatmeal and head back to my desk. When I open applications up I have an order that I open them.. Email, tool, 3 Internet Explorer windows, another tool, excel. I use these apps all day so it just makes sense.

Well, today, I go to open up Excel and get an error. It is a visual basic error. CRAP!! I had this error about 3 weeks ago and it took the IT folks three days to get it fixed. I tried doing some of the same things I tried last time to fix it. Re-installed Office, delete my profile on my workstation, reboot several time. No luck.

I call the help(less) desk and get a ticket open. I then call my boss (who calls me back 3 hrs later) and tell her I am going home. I have things to get done today and can't sit here waiting for them to fix my pc.

Last update from my co-worker was that the guy was there to look at it and started to re-image it. So, that means most of Monday will be spent installing everything that they missed and configuring what was added back. I can't wait to get to work on Monday :(

On Sunday, the girls are walking for Gambino's boobs. If you want to help save her boobs, click here and donate. If you have ever seen her boobs, you know they are worth saving. I'll post pictures next week.

Have a good weekend all.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Go to your high school reunion a multimillionaire but 200 pounds overweight

----OR----

poor but in perfect shape?

This is a tough one but I will have to go poor but in perfect shape. No one has to know that I am poor. Unless I tell them.

Disclaimer

I would just like to state that the words on this site are my opinions on the world as I see it. If something I write here offends you.... get over it.

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was spent camping. We went to Lake Kegonsa state park. It is one of my favorite. I now like it even more because they put in electricity this year. It really came in handy when the temperature got down to the 30's on Friday night. That goodness for a furnace in the camper.

I went by myself this time and it was fun. I drove the camper out there by myself and when we got to the park, A and K stood behind the camper and directed me into the site. I only had to pull forward a couple of times. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I didn't pull a Connie and end up with a tree between the camper and truck either so that was a good thing.

Like I said before Friday nite was COLD!! We had a nice roaring fire and even tho' StB wasn't there to keep it stoked, J did a good job. It was a long day and I was sacked out by 10:30pm. I must have been tired as I slept until almost 9 am on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, P and K drove up for the day. We spent most of the day down by the lake. Played some bocce ball, cooked hot dogs on the grill and had fun trying to kill the bees by drowning them in wine or beer bottles.

K, A and I sat down on the pier for a couple of hours and just talked. That was nice. It really helped to get some things off my chest and they made great sounding boards. Thanks guys :) and when A asks if the boats are going by, just nod your head and smile.

K, P and I also took a walk along the lake to the doggy beach. We met up with Roxy, the pit bull. She was a beautiful brown and tan brindle. Such a nice dog and owner.

On the way home we stopped to sign up for the Komen Milwaukee Race for the Cure. As many of you may know, our friend, Ms. Gambino is a breast cancer survivor. Please go to her page and donate. We have to save her boobs :) We are walking next Sunday. I will try to take some pictures and post them next week.

It's back to reality next week. I was a bit bummed when a job that I had sent my resume in to was turned down. They hired someone with more experience. Oh well. I knew it was a bit above me but hoped that they would give me a chance. Just have to keep looking.

ZOBMONDO??

Would you rather.....

Never look healthy

----OR----

Never feel healthy?

I have to go with never look healthy. Feeling icky sucks.

Have a good week folks.

R.I.P. Scott

Today, we buried my cousin, Scott. He was 43 years old. He left behind a wife of 14 years and a12 year old daughter. This was way too early for him to die. No wife should have to bury her husband when she is only 45.

You have probably read some of my other posts about his journey. He was diagnosed back in early December with cancer in his esophagus. He was undergoing some pretty heavy duty chemo and radiation treatments. On August 30th he lost that fight. The memorial service was yesterday and the burial was this morning. His daughter and niece made up some really nice picture boards that I wish I would have taken pictures of. It was funny to look at some of the pictures from when he was a teen and see how dorky everyone looked.

It was nice to see some of my relatives that I have not seen in a couple of years but this is not the circumstances that I want to see them. I much more prefer seeing them at weddings and family reunions. It really makes you step back and realize how fragile life is and to not waste the good times. They may not always bee there.

One of the things I found interesting that I did not know was that my cousin had been to Vegas more than 30 times in his short life. I always knew he liked to go but I was surprised at how often he went. They told the story of how a group of them had been at Potawatomi Casino only 4 days before he died. He had been play poker for a couple of hours and wasn't doing so well. He got up from the table and told his friends that he was going to go and play some video poker for awhile. About 30 minutes later he came back with a big smile on his face. He had won a couple hundred dollars on a machine when it hit. He left this life as a winner.

So, next year I am riding the Trek 100 ride in memory of my cousin Scott.

That's all for now folks, have a good weekend.

It Was A Crazy Game of Poker.... Part 2

{Editor's Note - I originally wrote this post about three weeks ago but never published it. I am finishing the story and posting it now. }

A few weeks ago, hubby and I went by a co-worker of his to play poker. There were 9 people and a good time was had by all. It was 3:30am by time we left. By time we got home and went to bed it was after 4:30 am. My ass was dragging on Sunday as my dad called about 9:30 and wanted to stop over. I did get a bit of a nap in but still tired.

I am always interested when we go to people's home and see how they live. Now most of our friends have (and maintain) homes like ours. They keep the place clean and organized and at times it is a bit messy but never what I would call dirty.


I know if we are going to have people over that I will clean the bathroom (among other things). Scrub the toilet, wash the sink, put out fresh towels and make sure there is enough tp and hand soap. I assume that this is how most people are.

Except for the place where we were on Sat. J&M are very nice people... a bit kooky but nice. I was almost afraid to sit on the toilet. The seat had 'splashes' on it (as if someone (male) missed). (They make Lysol bathrooms wipes for this purpose. People show up unexpectedly, you duck into the bathroom, pull one out and wipe down the toilet seat and handle. Another one to wipe the sink and vanity down and drop into the toilet and flush..... ready for guests.) The sink had toothpaste in it and splatters on the mirror. The sink also did not drain very well and there was no hand soap. It was a bit disgusting to me. The rest of the house was kinda the same way. Dirty dishes on the counter, cleaning supplies sitting out on an end table in the living room.


Now I understand that the place is very small and they have alot of stuff that makes it very cluttered but it can still be organized and neat looking. My sister's house is alot like this. Too much stuff and with three kids she doesn't keep it very clean. Although I have to say with the toys recalls of the last couple of weeks she got rid of a TON of stuff. Her garbage people will hate her.


I guess I am wayyyy to anal about things and like to make sure that when I have people over, that the place is clean. If you stopped over at any time the place would be messy, but not to the point that you would be disgusted. I hate having clutter and regularly go thru the house and throw stuff out that we don't use or I no longer like. If it is something decent, I will try to sell on eBay or donate to charity.


What about your house?? What kind of a housekeeper are you??

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Wake up nude and unharmed on a park bench and have no idea how you got there

----OR----

expecting a costume party, dress as a giant banana for a black tie affair and have to stay the whole night?

I would go dressed as the banana. It wouldn't be the first time I am under dressed for a party. It is scary to wake up and not know what happened from the night before. Just ask this guy. At least someone was honest enough to give him his money back.

Have a good weekend folks and I promise that I will catch you up on all that has been going on the last few weeks.

I've Got Friends Who Love Me

Ok, points to who knows what artist and song the title of today's blog is from. Kudos to Kris to who knew the song and artist from my last post.

Today, I had to do one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.... Not hard physically but emotionally.

Right now I am not ready to share the details with my blogger friends but as I work things out I will keep you updated.

All I have to say right now is a big THANK YOU to my friends. A, J and K.... without you, I don't know where I'd be. You have no idea how much your support means to me. I love you guys and knowing I have your support will help get me thru this rough time in my life.

That's all for now gang.... take care..... Jo

It Was A Crazy Game of Poker

Ok first off.... points to the person who can tell me what song and the artist the title of this blog is from.

It has been a crazy busy couple of weeks. It started out last weekend when we had our 3rd annual Hidden Ponds block party. It is basically a group of neighbors who use the money in our homeowners association fund to have a party. It ends up being just a core group of neighbors who show up each year. Our neighborhood has two 'ponds'. One turned out to never hold water and the other gets the rainwater that runs off from everyone's lots and before we got all the rain in the last couple of weeks was nothing more that a slick of dried algae that was beginning to stink. Because of the pond that has water in it, we have a homeowners association to pay the taxes and have insurance on this lot. Our dues are not expensive... only 25 bucks a year. The crazy thing is there is one house that has refused to pay it and now owes almost 1200 bucks, when you add in lawyer fees and interest. That house is on the market so we will get our money when the house is sold. So we take any money that is left over, rent a tent, order a bunch of pizzas and have a party.

It is held across the street where all the backyard feed into the other 'pond'. Which is now nothing more that a nice large grassy area with a couple of big hills. We get to the party about 1:30 or so and set up our chairs. We get caught up on all the local gossip. Why Judy planted trees between her pool and Nate's. what home are for sale and what they are asking, and why have the trailers not moved yet.

We played some horseshoes (my team lost), drank some beer and played in the 2nd annual HP poker tourney. We played two rounds and I finished first in the first game and took second in the second game. One of the highlights was the giant water slide. The one side of pond has a rather large and steep hill on it. So someone has a huge sheet of plastic sheeting (it has to be about 150 feet long) and we stake it down and BAM! instant water slide. Now I am took much of a chicken to go down it as I don't want to get wet and have to change my clothes and it would be my luck that I slide down and break a arm or something crazy. It was about 1:30 am by time I gathered up my stuff and stumbled home. That is the nice thing... it was only a 2 minute walk home.

On Sunday, I was tired and hungover. Didn't do much except lay around in a big pile, surf the Internet and post my resume out on Milwaukeejobs.com. So on Tuesday, I get home from work and get this phone call from a recruiter who seen my resume. I called her on Wednesday and we set up a time to meet and chat on Thursday. Friday I get an email with an offer of a job. Holy crap!! I was so totally not prepared for things to move this quick. I have to provide her with some more details on my current job and what I support and she want to present me to a client on Monday (that's tomorrow, 8/20!!). I need to really think about this. The job she has in mind for me would be downtown and about 30 miles a day closer to home. I really want to make sure that I move into a new job that I would like. The truth is that I really like my current job but dislike my boss and how she runs things (also I hate the commute). I would only get 3 weeks of vacation a year instead of the 4 I get now but it is for a bit more money. I would also loose out on the bonuses that I get now. Which if things keep going as they are could be rather hefty next year.

Damn... I really don't know what to do. The recruiter wanted to see if I could get an interview with the client by mid week. I guess I will have to wait and see how that goes. There is the possibility that if the client is happy with my work that they would hire me on full time. Which could be good. They are a very stable utility company and WE could be happy there... hint, hint.

So, enough for now....

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Do a mini cheer whenever someone compliments you

----OR----

have to jump up and touch the door frame every time you go through a door?

I will say the mini cheer. I was a cheerleader back in my high school days and can still remembers some of them.

Have a good week everyone!!

London Bridge is Falling Down.... OK, so Maybe It Is Just the 35W.

Holy Crap. The bridge collapses. I am not trying to make fun of the tragedy. Just thought of a amusing title...



The company I work for is now headquartered in the Twin Cities. We have probably about 15,000 employees scattered around 7 campus buildings and about 15 smaller locations. When I first heard about this I thought of how many people I know in the area and are they all ok.



My first thought was for my team mate, F. I was a bit worried on Thursday morning when he is normally in about 8:00 am and then when I did not see him logged into our instant messenger by 9:30 am I was more than a bit concerned. It was about 10:15 or so that he pinged me to let me know he was in the office. It turned out that he and his wife, who are expecting a baby at the end of the month, were on their way to the hospital for a tour of the delivery area. They drove over the bridge about 20 minutes before it collapsed. It said the hospital was just crazy and they had to postpone the rest of their tour until next week. They needed all available people ready for the disaster.



So... I asked him why he didn't just work from home. He said that he tried to log into VPN and it was down. He then tried to call our boss (he called her home phone, cell phone and blackberry (and she is also out on the west coast)) and got no answer. He did not know what to do so he spent 3 freakin' hours driving into work. It is normally about a 20-30 min drive tops. I told him that if he can't get a hold of our boss to call either myself or another co-worker here in Milwaukee and let us know. I told him that once he started driving and realized that it was going to be so bad, he should have turned around and went home. That was just crazy. The shitty thing is that my boss told him that he should leave 30 minutes early on Thursday so he can 'beat' the traffic... Boy was she generous. He works until 4:30 pm. It will probably still take him 3 hours to get home.



I am just glad that he and his family are all safe and sound.



I have not heard if anyone else from work was impacted.



I also found it ironic that on Wednesday, on our company Intranet site, there was an article on what to do in a disaster situation. We have a dedicated number to call in and get instructions and to leave a message with your status. It was used extensively a couple of years ago during hurricane season. It was used quite a bit Wednesday/Thursday as well.



My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those injured and killed.



Have a good weekend everyone!

One for the Ladies... Sorta....

Another HNT post.


It is the Chippendales 30th Reunion....



The Chippendales in 1977.















.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


And the Chippendales in 2007.






Sorry ladies... time has not been so good to them.

Have a good Friday.

They Come in Three's

July 30th must be a good day to die. They were dropping like flies.

I first heard that Tom Snyder died of leukemia. He was 71. He got his start here in Milwaukee. I remember watching his interview with Brett Favre after the Packers won the Super Bowl in '96. Tom was always a funny guy and very down to earth. I always found it interesting that they let him smoke on the set as long as they did. So not p.c.


Next came Bill Walsh. He too battled leukemia. I always thought he was a class act. Great football mind. His coaching 'family tree' touches almost every football team in the NFL.

Last but not least was Ingmar Bergman. One of the all time great directors. His style is a classic. Many try to copy him but few ever succeed.


On a lighter note.... On Friday, as I was getting into my truck, I closed the door and heard a pop. Could figure out what it was at first. Then I seen it... a crack in my windshield. DAMN!! As I drove home it got larger and now covers about a third of the windshield. I call the dealer to see if the windshield had any recalls or is under warranty. It was not. It is only a 3 years/36,000 mile warranty. I made the three years with time to spare but have over 47000 mile on the truck already. So I called around today and found a place to come and fix it. 280 bucks later.....

Hubby and I went to a new (to us) Mexican place for dinner on Friday. Hector's. It is on Delaware Ave in Bay View. StB recommended it to us, so we thought we would give it a try. We got there and ordered strawberry Margaritas. They were really good so we decided to get a pitcher. The food was excellent. We got the bill and was shocked to find that the pitcher was 27 bucks!! WTF!?! 27 bucks. For a pitcher of margaritas!?! We were a little shocked. Ok, alot shocked. I figured maybe 15-18 bucks... 20 tops... I will have to remember that for the next time we eat there.



ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather...

As a man, have hair implants that are totally obvious
----OR----
a toupee that is a bad match to your remaining hair??

I have to say the toupee. There is an older gentleman at work that has a bad toupee at work and you kinda have to feel sorry for him. I don't think he knows how goofy it looks.

New Guy at Work

Note: I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and left it as a draft. I'm going to post it untouched. It is still applicable.

Time for some bitchin' about work....

We have a new guy that started back in March or so. He is not from this country but from Algeria. He is French and Algerian. His English is not so good. He is nice enough but...

Once of the things my group does is handle the administration for the paging devices for the company. We have about 8000 devices that we maintain. It is a full time job. When we add people to our intranet paging site, we use the name that is listed for them in the corporate address book. So if, you are Susanne Z Smith in the address book, this is how you are listed on the Intranet site. Pretty easy concept, right?? Except for the new guy... Since his English is so poor and does not quite get how people can have nicknames he is adding them twice. Once as Suzanne and again as Suzy. Well, he had been doing this for over a month without anyone realizing it. We found it last week. We had to go back over almost 200 pager orders and fix them. I know that this is a cultural issue but how can you teach that to someone?? We don't have time to go over each and every name and the potential nicknames associated to that name. We tried making him a cheat sheet for the common one but even that he doesn't follow.

Our boss had hired him without any input from anyone else on our group. He is supposedly very technical. I have yet to see that. He has been making the same mistakes now for the last 2 months. It is getting frustrating for L and I as well as the new guy. Our boss just isn't listening to us when we say that he is not working out. I think we should cut our losses and let him go. I would rather do the work myself and know it is done right than have to do my work and then check over his work and then fix anything that isn't correct.

Our boss is new to the group and has only been around since Nov of last year. She really has no clue as to what it is we do and how we do it. L and I have been doing this job for the last 4 years. We know what we are doing. Trust us.

She gets upset at me when I call her out about errors she has made. I have to bring them up or she will never know that she is doing something wrong. Bottom line...I really have no respect for her. They put her into this position and she just isn't management material. It is hard to complain about her cuz she treats of very well. But her mgmt style, or lack of a style, is very frustrating.

I am just hanging around until the end of summer. I have too much vacation time planned over the next couple of months and if I go to another company, I'll probably not get any time off.

Ok, enough bitchin'...


ZOBMONDO!!


Would you rather....

Walk barefoot over six feet of holly leaves

----OR----

over six feet of live roaches?

I am going with the roaches. They would just be crunchy. Holly would hurt.

Just a Quicky

I'm implementing a software release tonight and waiting for the final stuff to finish up.

Lots going on but not much time to write anything... I'll try to post some this week tho'. Until then, here is a Zobmondo to keep you entertained.

Would you rather....

As a woman, be totally flat chested with saucer sized nipples

----OR----

have huge breasts with no nipples?

Hmmmm.... this is difficult. I have huge breasts with huge nipples... or at least I think I do. So I guess I'll go with huge breasts.

Have a good week all!!

Do You Think These Sunglasses Make Me Look Fat??

In honor of HNT....

What else can I say about this..... My back hurts just looking at this picture.

And I thought I had a hard time finding a bathing suit to fit me on top.....

Just How Drunk Do You Have to Be....

.... to hit two people with your car and drive with one of them lodged in the windshield of your car??

When I first heard the story on the news last nite, I thought it was an urban legend. It wasn't.

You can read the entire story and see a picture of the car here.

Police say a 40-year-old Green Bay driver was drunk when he hit the two pedestrians, then drove about seven blocks home with the man's body lodged in his windshield.

Seven Blocks?!?! WTF?!?! Did you not see the guys head looking at you as you were driving?? I don't think I have ever been drunk enough to miss another person in the car with me while driving... especially if he is half way thru my windshield.

I do have to give the guy some credit. He did call police and tell them that he thinks he hit someone. Granted it was six hours later but still, he made the call.

Boomer's Twin??

There was a link some time ago on Yahoo to the a picture that looked very much like Boomer.

I, of course, did not save the link but instead had to Google it.

Can you tell which is Boomer and which is the South African Bat Ear fox??










Other stuff that has been going on...

Went to Summer fest a couple of times. Got rained out a bit for the fireworks on the 3rd. Had fun tho sitting in Jo Jo's Martini lounge watching it rain out.

On Thursday, I went to Bon Jovi with a couple of girls from work. The show was just ok. Not as good I had hoped. Really not worth the 90 bucks I spent on the ticket. He played too much stuff from his new album. Which is fine but I have not heard any of it before. He played for about 1 hr 45 min.

What I found kinda amusing, was that during the encore and a couple of slower songs, people were flashing their cell phones instead of their lighters. Oh how times have changed. Who doesn't remember burning either their finger nails or their thumb holding the lighter for songs at a time...

Richie Sambora, fresh outta rehab, was good. He was really jamming at times. Jon, as always, was good to look at. Here is a pic from my phone. Not the best quality but....

Since Lisa was driving, she was not drinking. Her friend, Stephanie, was not much of a drinker either. I was drinking the wine coolers (think I had 7-8) and left the concert and Summerfest more sober than should be allowed. How disappointing...

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be freed by the fire department after your hand got caught in the toilet bowl (while dressed)

----OR----

after your finger got caught in the shower head (while naked)?

I am going with the hand in the toilet bowl. I have been known to accidentally drop jewelry down there from time to time. (hey, how do you think I keep getting bigger diamonds??)

Updating my Site

I am making a few changes to my site. Mostly just adding and removing some links on the side.


I removed the link to Whisky Ponders Thoughts. N has not updated her site in over 6 months so, she is being dropped.


Check out the new ones...


PostSecret. This is a site where people send in postcards with their secrets on them. It is updated only once a week and is very interesting.


Dad Gone Mad - Here you can read about life at Evans World Headquarters. Life with Dad, Hot Wife, The Champ and the Artist Formerly Known as Barney's Biggest Fan. I have no words to describe how funny the site is but Danny is a fantastic writer.


King of the Cubicle - Also written by Danny of Dad Gone Mad fame. This site chronicles life in a cube farm. I am pretty sure he has been lurking in the empty cube in my row and writing about us. Way too funny. Anyone who works in an office can relate. Make sure you go back and check the archives out.


Life is Grand, Love is Real and Beauty is Everywhere - Authored by Scott from Toronto. Music lover, dad to cute puppy Gordie, and I can't forget his Freaky Friday Question, always entertaining. Want to know more - go check his site out.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Have to walk to the end of your driveway nude everyday to get your mail

----OR----

Have you spouse walk to the mailbox in the nude?

For those of you who know my hubby, I think that you will want me to say that I'll walk in the nude. Plus, my boobs are fabulous.

The Great Campout

Another absolutely fantastic weekend of camping has passed. It was group camping weekend at Bong.

The weather was perfect.... sunny.... warm during the day... cool in the evening... and no bugs (except for the ones in J's hair).

It was a very relaxing weekend surrounded by wonderful friends. We missed one of the regulars, StB, who thought that it was more important to go to Vegas and play poker than to play with us.... We missed you. No one else could tend to the fire like you can and the cheese just wasn't the same.

On Saturday, K and I teamed up to kick everyone's butt, at least once, in washers. A game that K said she never played before. I don't think that people believed her. At one point we played Ken and I forget who else and beat them by throwing3 times each. If I recall, K's first round was 6, my first round was 3, K had 6 in the 2nd round and I had 6 more to win the game. The guys didn't know what hit them. Blue UV and Mountain dew and wine will make you into awesome washers players.

After the fun and games, A, K, B and I went to the theater area to see a K-9 Search and Rescue demonstration. It was really interesting. The dogs were really great as well. The blue doberman was such a sweety.

When we returned, the guys had started preparing dinner. I have to give hubby credit. He can make diced potatoes rather well. A, on the other hand, made the weekend mascot. Mr Potato Head. He spent the rest of the weekend drinking Hamms and Jack, eating Pringles and Spam and tending to the fire. Kinda like an StB substitute. Except Mr. Potato Head didn't answer every trivia question with "My Balls!"



Mr. Potato Head relaxing

And for those of you who may remember last year's group camp, 'No, I did not come home with a new puppy'. It was 1 year ago since we adopted Boomer from the group camp last year. It has been a fun year with him and I thank God every day that we rescued him from the life he was in and now lives a life of leisure.

One of the best parts was that by time we got home, my dad had finished installing the flooring in our bedroom. We now have new hardwood floors in the living room, hallway and our bedroom. I just have to finish up staining the doors, putting all my clothes back in the closet and getting the bed put back together. Next room will be the family room. That won't be until fall sometime so we can save up some cash. Have to remember to make sure Dad get a really nice Father's Day gift this year. He did a fantastic job.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather...

As a man, accidentally lose control of your bowels during a prostrate examination

----OR----

get an erection during a hernia check?

Going with the erection. I would think that would happen fairly frequently. Also less messy to clean up.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

I want to say a big THANK YOU to all the people who sponsored me in my efforts. With your help, I raised over 650 bucks. The Trek website doesn't reflect the donation I dropped off on Saturday morning but when it does, I'll make sure to link to it again.

Well, we survived the Trek100. We did the 32 mile route and clocked in at about 3 hours. That included stopping at the rest stops and waiting for K to pee. You would think that she and Arnie are related as often as they have to pee....

The ride was not too bad. A couple of tough hills but nothing that I couldn't handle. P had a rough start with having two flat tires within 15 minutes of each other. We got to know Jason, the Trek apparel/sag guy very well.

The weather started out a bit shaky as a few showers went thru the area before the ride started. We left about 8:30 or so to avoid the Lance mess. You know it was never good when you see all the news helicopters flying above. It was cloudy most of the ride until about the last 8-9 miles or so. Then it became really nice out. A quick shower went thru again after we got back to WCTC and were ready to eat lunch but that also passed quickly.

The afternoon was spent with good friends and co-workers enjoying the weather and the company. Oh yeah... can't forget the great Delafield Brewhaus beer. The Dock Light Lager was yummy.

Here is a picture of K and I at one of the rest stops.

Thanks again for your sponsor ship and if you want to still donate, you can do so until early July. Go to my previous post and click on the link.