If they can’t spell it...

Driving down the street today I passed a McDonalds as I do every day.
I read the marquee like I usually do, I like to see them notify the American's in our town that they are conducting interviews - in Espanol.
Today it was different, and I read it as my mind said it "McRib is back" but I noticed something - it was spelled M-I-C-R-I-B. MicRib.
Now seriously, they sell the item on their menu and they can't even spell it?!
I can't say I'm overly shocked, just amused

And what is that on the door knob?!?!?

Lets take a few minutes to recap the fun weekend I just had...not only was it fun it was....bizarre, disgusting, entertaining, painful, and long!

We headed out on Friday right after work (We being me, the g/f, J, & B). We went straight up to G's, Rae, Brianna, & Heidi's house. We hung for a while, caught up, had pizza, labeled some CD's and had some liquid of the refreshment nature. Brianna took the corner and she sang her new CD "Let You In" from Track 1 to Track 11 (missing St Jude because of musical instrument difficulty). It was perfect from beginning to end. She even managed to put the word KUDZU in one of the songs. Rock on! Afterwards there was more hanging out, more music played, more liquid drank and pizza snacked on. It was a great night!
Woke the next morning and headed out to the Renaissance Festival. We get maybe half way there and I thought I was going to die. Had to find a bathroom quick smart. Of course, traffic was backed up and people were laughing at me and it wasn't nice. We get back onto 169 and head down towards the festival leaving the check in of the hotel to later on that night. More backed up traffic. We get to Ren Fest and park in the year 2000 (literally) and walk down towards the show - year 1570 or something. It was a hike. We toured around, poking our heads in shops, saw people in costume (complete with a drag-wench) and sampled some food and took a trip to the Privies. We saw a jousting competition and then caught the Puke & Snot show. Spent way too much money on food so we decided to head out and catch a Perkins. We ate dinner (at one of the last establishments in Minnesota that allowed you to smoke while you eat at the table). After that we headed out to the hotel.
There are seriously not enough words to describe this place. It was seedy first of all, smelled of cat urine and that was just the lobby. We get into our rooms and first notice the bathroom - it was one BIG room with no specified tub, just a curtain and shower head, toilet and sink. The sink had RADISSON soap on it which was quite hilarious. The rest of our room was ok. I mean it was smelly and unkept but it was "ok". We go next door to J & B's room and almost vomit immediately. There was blood splatter (faded) on the ceiling, blood on the pillow (again faded but still) and on the lamp shade. Vomit on the wall and fecal matter in several different places. So we go to turn the door knob to get out of the room and there is man juice all over it. Yea, we got our money back and went to another hotel!!
After spending the entire previous day walking my poor feet were ready for a day in hot water. That wasn't going to happen. We ended up at IKEA (YAY IKEA!!!!) and then across the street to the Mall of America. So much fun!!!
Murphy had a puppy sitter this weekend and was glad to see us show up at home when we finally got there. It was a very interesting weekend. Brianna rocked, Ren Fest was...interesting, hotels were disgusting and my poor feet still haven't gotten back to fine. lol.
Hope yours was good too!

9/11 Remembered

Each generation has a tragedy to "call their own". Just like the Kennedy Assassination and the Challenger Explosion, our generation will have "Where were you on 9/11". Not what were you doing when you found out, or where were you when the planes hit, that part is just assumed. The question still posed as "Where were you on 9/11".
I am ashamed to say that I was sleeping, but I was. The windows were open and the curtains flapped like birds against the wall. The sunlight had been pouring in for hours and by all practical purposes it was a beautiful early fall day in the Berkshires. That day on 9/11. The phone rang, Amy reached for it. I heard her with a groggy hello greet the caller. Suddenly I was jabbed in the ribs and was demanded to release the remote. I gave it to her, still unaware of the tragedy the rest of the nation was coming to realize. Quickly slumber bliss turned into dark horror. I rolled over and joined Amy sitting up in bed, mouths agape.
Sadly at this time we still did not know of the anguish that would befall the nation. All that had happened was a plane flew into one of the twin towers. It could have been an accident. It had to be, Who would fly a plane into the twin towers on purpose? Then as we watched, Amy already having hung up, a second plane hit the other tower. The heartbreak could be heard in the news caster voices as they tried to maintain a certain level of professionalism. The plane flew in and all that came out the other side was putrid black smoke and blazing orange flames. When I look back I can still envision the sight in my minds eye. Quickly we switched from the local stations, away from Ed Dauge and Lydia Kulbida, to CNN. Maybe they could tell us what others couldn't. Claims of terror, hopes for accidents, reports from the officials...say where is the president? Sitting in a classroom reading books to children later to be condemned for that choice, I still agree with. No need to alarm young children just yet.
More reports trickled in after knowing that the twin towers were hit. A third plane flew into the pentagon and yet ANOTHER plane was somewhere over Pennsylvania making a bee-line towards the capital. Anxiously we all awaited what would happen. Then nothing. Several brave people knowing what had transpired earlier took some of the sting out of the gushing wound. Flight 93 crashed in an empty field. Later we were to find out that another plane that was scheduled for LA was grounded contained bags filled with manuals for this.
I called into work that day, so did Amy. There wasn't going to be any way to concentrate. We sat glued to our television set, moving between the bedroom and living room and occasionally surfing the web to find out all the details we could. As we learned more about this al queda and some guy named Osama Bin Ladin who has a different spelling of his name depending on what news station you are on. We heard of gas price increases, nuclear reactors are in danger, poisons in our subways, watch our mail. Panic has grasped our country and we have no one to turn to but each other. Just when we thought the tragedy was enough and nothing more could possibly happen, it did. Reports were coming in that the structural damage to the towers was so great that they could fall over. As we watched the news for more details breaking news came from New York City. As people came pouring out of the towers they collapsed upon themselves. Down went one and then the other. A hole in the New York City sky line slightly smaller than the hole growing in our hearts for the people still inside the towers and for the family members watching this unfold.
Feats of heroism, pleas for help, frantic searches for loved ones, friends, and co workers started. All the rest of the nation could do was sit and watch, helpless, scared, and sad. Desperate to reach other family members or anyone they just might have known living in NYC or Washington DC.
Personal stories started to be heard as cluttered phone lines began to free up. So-and-So's co-worker's daughter works at the Pentagon and if she wasn't out picking up her dry cleaning that morning she would have perished in the attack. A friend of a friend lives in NYC and could see the planes fly into the towers. Personal stories that made us sure that we weren't dreaming, this was real, and we did have to deal with it.
I had been to those towers just once before in my life. I was about twelve and on a Girl Scout field trip, my mom the leader. I vaguely remember going up into the towers. I remember seeing lots of flags and getting into elevators and off of elevators just to keep going up - the elevators were staggered so that they could reach the top. We got off on the observation deck and got to put our feet on the railings and foreheads on the glass, peer down at all the little cars, busses, people below. I had been in one of those towers, though I don't remember which one or any other significant fact about it. I had been there. I somehow felt attached to it at this point.
As the days wore on and gas prices did not increase, no more survivors found, reports complied, families coming to the realization that their mother, father, brother, sister, husband, child would not be coming home, the nation mourned. We all felt the impact of 9/11. Television networks cancelled their shows so that their families could be with their loved ones and we would do something OTHER than watch some dumb cooking show when everyone else is doing family things. We all went to our local grocery stores and big box stores to gather supplies and send them to New York. We donated our money. We went to church, we prayed, we bought little trinkets that reminded us of that day. We put up our American flags, we wrote and sang songs about the tragedy, about the nation. We were putting on our reds, our whites, and our blues and showing the world that we would not be destroyed. We would not let the lives of over 3,000 innocent Americans and foreign countrymen be forgotten. We pledged our faith and hearts to finding who did this and making sure it never happened again. We cried REBUILD! Rebuild.
Just six months after 9/11 I went back to the towers. This time there would be no country flags, no rides in the elevator, no foreheads on the glass in a gift shop. We first went to ground zero and were told to come back - you can't get any closer without a ticket (mind you , I still have the ticket). So we got our tickets and our viewing wasn't for quite some time so we did other things around the city. We walked towards the harbor on Wall Street and passed a small fire house. We stopped to look at their display case that listed the names of their fallen brethren. We realized that if we could walk from Ground Zero to there then they must have been one of the first on the scene. Our heroes that day. We were on the Staten Island Ferry (quite by accident...you certainly can't get to the Statue of Liberty on it.) and on the way back into the city you could just see the hole, the vast empty space that once was two of the tallest buildings in the world, a symbol of economic prosperity, and quite phallic. We departed the ferry and made our way back to the site. We recognized the streets from the news. The same streets that thousands of people ran down, screaming and crying we were walking the other direction. We paused briefly at a small church adjacent the site, not one scratch to it, not one window blown out. We craned our neck to look at a hole in the ground. Not just any hole - THE HOLE. All the debris had been removed, safety nets still hung on touching buildings that were in danger losing windows still fragile from the blasts and falling of the towers. We stood for what seemed an eternity with other people there making their own personal pilgrimage. Each one of us there for different reasons and for all the same reasons. We had to see for ourselves the cowardice, the sadness, to be close to a national symbol that was no more. We left the site and passed the famous wall of pictures - pictures of people still missing or of people that perished in the attack. Our hearts heavy, we left the site and went to Time Square. We had to move on.
Six years later there is still a hole there - people debating what to do. Rebuild, make a park, leave a hole, we still have nothing but a hole. We have gotten no closer to finding Osama or made any significant advancements in defusing al queda. But one thing rings true. We haven't forgotten. We can't ever forget.

Murphy Update at 2 Months!

We just entered the second month of having Murphy!
We had our 4 month check up yesterday (she will be 4 months on the 19th) and she weighs an entire 8.6 lbs. (She was 6.2 last month) which means she isn't quite 10 lbs yet so she can't get her rabies and distemper shot at the same time. Have to go back on Wednesday for the rabies shot.
She has been enrolled in Puppy Kindergarten and starts on Sept 10th. Since last month we have not only mastered the sit & lay, we have mastered roll over AND shake. The other night the g/f and Murph were working on fetch with a tennis ball. She does alright with it! We are working on fetch, stay, sit pretty, loose leash walk, and play dead. She loves her Charlee Bears and will do whatever we ask for 'em. I'm sure you've all seen my default picture - she gets very excited when she sees us and wiggles! That was a picture of just that. She is growing like a weed and you may see a bit of apricot on her, her spine, top of her head, front of legs and parts of her ears are changing. Her white fluffy puppy fur is making way for her adult hair.
The vet said that she has excellent muscle tone. I can't imagine why (sarcasm) she chases other dogs like a champion! We went camping in Wisconsin with a few other big dogs and Murphy chased the big dogs into submission. She keeps right up at the dog park and even jumps in the creek with them! When she isn't at the dog park she can be found in my front yard running full throttle in circles.
We have been camping a couple more times since last update and Miss Houdini has figured out how to get out of the tent so we had to ziptie one end of the tent while creating a loud barrier for the other side incase she gets up in the middle of the night.
She is able to go through out the night without having to potty. When I get up at night I leave the gate open and let her follow me if she has to potty but a lot of the times she will look up and then go back to sleep. We are doing "ok" with the potty training. She does most of her business outside but we still have accidents. She doesn't bark at the door to let us know she is sitting at the door waiting. The bell system didn't work when we first tried it - she was scared of the bell. We are going to try again, she thinks the bells are toys now. So again, we try the training.
Last night was a sad marker for us - she slept on the floor and on her doggie bed for the first time, which is good for her, but it means she wasn't sleeping in the bed with us :( She needs her space and I understand but I miss her. I love when she wakes me up in the middle of the night by chewing my hair so we can play and cuddle for a few minutes. (and it means it's time to potty)
She has gotten out of the biting phase with the kids up the street and new people she meets. She only bites us when we are rough playing and we still discourage it. She will be losing her pointy teeth in the next few months!!! yay! Her 6 upper and lower adult teeth will be coming in anytime now - they start around 4 months.
She has been enjoying her rawhides more and more, and we got her a bigger kennel for during the day. She still squeals when we put her in and shrieks like a banshee. But at least it is open to the room and she can look around and enjoy the fan and tv.
She loves to watch the Animal Planet and barks at the dogs that "bark at her". We have also discovered that we hate & bark at the following: lawn mower, microwave when it dings, vacuum cleaner, swifer vacuum, dehumidifier when it starts up, the washing machine, and - the printer! Anything really that starts suddenly with some loud or obnoxious noise.
She is still bringing rocks and sticks into the house and we are still throwing them back into the yard.
She is still as adorable as can be, cuddly as can be, and smart as can be. We will keep her heheheh

Murphy Update at 1 Month!

It's been close to a month now, a few days shy and Murphy has gotten bigger as in longer AND heavier. Of course she was only 3.9 lbs to start off with when we brought her home. The g/f has been working hard with her to learn new things - so far we have seemed to master Sit, Lay Down, and is learning Roll Over right now. Murphy doesn't pay attention well when other people are around though.

The neighborhood kids have taken a keen interest in Murphy and take her for mini-walks up and down the cul-de-sac. Murphy prances around like a bunny knowing she isn't on an official walk, but is out for a good time. (Official walks mean business - exercise and potty time).
We have mastered walking down stairs now. She will run down the stairs into the family room full throttle and try to stop but will slide a good 4 to 5 feet on the wood before she hits the sofa.
She is kenneled during the day while we are work, only 2 - 3 days per week. It makes it hard to get her into her kennel at night time and she usually ends up at the bottom of our bed because we are too tired to listen to her whine all night. Yeah yeah, starting bad sleeping habits but it's not like she's a Great Dane - she's a mini-dog. This morning I woke and looked at the end of the bed and she wasn't there, during the night she had crawled up and was sleeping right between our heads on a special pillow. Spoiled baby is what she is!
We have taken a camping trip and she enjoyed it a lot! She loved taking the long walk to the potty's and loves to run around with sticks in her mouth.
While she is a very good dog, she can also be the red-headed step-child. She is still biting, but more puppy biting and is starting to break that! She grabs ahold of pant legs and growls at it, shaking her head, body, and the pant leg all together. She will also do this when you wear shorts, she doesn't discriminate, she leaps up, grabs, and shakes, hanging every so cutely off your short leg. She has gotten into the toilet paper and dragged it around the house and just yesterday she was left outside on her leash and was being awfully quiet so when I checked on her I was greeted with a black muzzle Murphy - she had dug through our flower box by our front stoop.
We have been to the dog park a couple of times and both times she's been very submissive to the other dogs. The first trip she got her butt kicked, the second she just laid under the picnic table watching everything and was learning the ropes. Of course, she has such long hair (which isn't really *that* long) she had to have a bath the instant she got home!
Murphy is also an attention whore. She whines and whines when no one is paying attention to her - and it's not to just us, strangers. If they don't stop to pet her or admire her in some way she whines and sometimes barks. That is going to be annoying some day!
Yesterday she pee'd on our neighbor. While she got a "Murphy! No!" right away - when we got inside, she got a high five and a special treat. I'm pretty sure Murphy was already going potty when the neighbor picked her up.
We (me) call her everyname in the book though - Murph, Smurfy, Murphinator, Smufette, Smuphinator, Murphy Smurfy. I've decided that she is going to be smurfette for halloween. It'll be the only day I will probably ever dress her up!
The g/f attempted the first nail cutting and it went ok! She slept through the entire thing, even that one time we got to close to the quick and she bled just a little :(
Anyway - we have met a lot of new friends, humans as well as animals, and are meeting new people every day! We are going camping again next weekend and the weekend after so she is going to turn into the camping pro pretty soon! We have a vet trip coming up soon, so a weight and health update should be coming shortly. She will be getting her rabies shot and licensed!

My Family Came to Minnesota

Everyone arrived safely with no delays on Saturday at 3pm. The g/f and I had just gotten to short term parking when mom called to say they were on the ground and what carousel to meet them at. Logan and Hailey ran up to meet us and it was fantastic to see everyone again.
We got to the Hotel and checked in - got the luggage upstairs and then Logan, the g/f, David, and


I took off to the Metrodome to see the Red Sox lose (sorry) to the Minnesota Twins. David was on the big screen at one point behind some chick adjusting her hair. That was great! I gave Logan my old digital camera for the game.Yes, so unfortunately, the Sox lost 2 - 1. I know Susie watched the game, we texted during the game! How fun!






While we were at the game Laurie and Hailey swam in the pool and had pizza for dinner and got to relax a bit!
The next day we went to the Children's Museum and the kids had a great time exploring and playing. Logan loved to explore the "Earth World" and be an ant, climb trees, and play in the water while Hailey loved playing in the sandbox outside and then she discovered the hand dryers so we spent a good half hour watching her wet her hands very briefly and then run to the air-dryer to dry them off, shriek, and then do it again.
The next day, Monday, we did some shopping and hung out at home, a nice relaxing day!
Tuesday we went swimming at the YMCA! Logan was very apprehensive to get in but managed it well with two noodles and a fish that squirted everyone (and when I say everyone, I am including the old lady that was doing her swim-aerobics). Hailey jumped right in and liked to go in circles. J&B came over for a fire and smores and dinner
Wednesday we went to Silver Lake to feed the geese. Sadly most of the geese have gone back home but there were some there, including a family of geese! We ventured on to Silver Creek playground where the kids played for a little bit until we realized the kids were getting over heated and I forgot the sunblock. The g/f took her final and then we went out to eat at Fazoli's and then off to Dairy Queen!
Thursday we stayed home and made cupcakes for the birthday party later on. We gave the kids their birthday presents - Logan got a SPIDERMAN Digital Camera and Hailey got a DORA sprinkler. We played in the sprinkler for a while until Logan got pissed at the g/f and then the fun was over - or was it? They made up and kept playing. We then went out to Buffalo Wild Wings where The TFM (and a couple non-TFM'ers) showed up to celebrate my birthday the week before. Then it was bed time...
Friday we went back to the YMCA, went to the Silver Creek Park, AND Dairy Queen. Then it was time to pack everything back up for the trip back up to the cities to drop the family off the next morning :(
We had a great time playing with the kids and I *might* have a short slide show up of it soon. :)

Carbon Monoxide Detectors! Get your happy ass one.

This is from my friend Jenn - please make sure you have yourself a good CO Detector!
****************************************************************************

Ok, so whether you rent or have your own home, GET CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS!!! Our maintenance guy told us to get one when we moved here and I did thinking, ok what the hell.

Well last night Luke and I were laying in bed and ours went off registering 117. We didn't know if we should call or not so we had the fire department come out and they called the gas company to get here. Each time our furnace kicked in the number would climb higher and we had to go sit outside in the fire guy's truck. It was a little scary! When the gas guy got there he said if we had just gone to bed and the furnace kept running, we wouldn't have woken up this morning had we not have that alarm. So..........I'm putting it out there now, spend the money on these detectors! They work and they saved our lives last night!!!

Jennifer

Magic Garden

This is basically for my friends in the Capital District

Anyone rememeber the show "Magic Garden"? There is a a clip of the story box on my page, go watch. I got a happy tear watching it. caroleandpaula.com has some more

~There are no locks on storybox!~

Plumbing Woes, Shovels & Icy Roads, Overnight Lows, and another Computer Goes (pssshhh-lunk)

Last year the g/f and I ripped out a lot of carpeting in our family room. Lots of carpet. We replaced it with flooring...pretty nice flooring. Her dad and she laid it themselves and it looks marvelous! Later that same year we spent a lot of time refacing our bar and varnishing and staining and measuring and cutting and had a marvelous incident with having to go to the bathroom while having oil based paint on your hands (oh lord now that was fun).
Early this year maybe or late last year we had the humidifier running and it over flowed because someone (me) didn't put the pan back in properly so it didn't read "full" when it was full. We had water everywhere. On the new floor and all and it was seeping under the bar and it was a mess. I got that cleaned up and PHEW that was great and I got it cleaned up all by myself because the g/f was working 12 hour overnights.
This past weekend while the g/f was working 12 hour overnights (hence the Overnight Lows) I went downstairs to watch TV on Friday night. Monk was on ya know and I was excited to watch the season finale. I turned into the back part of the room from the doorway to get my popsicle from the freezer and my socked foot immediately was thrust into cold water. I whipped on the light and saw, to my utter disdain, water everywhere. Not only water but it looked like there was a backup so there was food pieces intermixed. I was so out of my element that I could have thrown up a little in my mouth if I ever threw up at all. I got it all up, the water that was. I grabbed all 10 towels in my house and ran back downstairs (after having broken a beautiful picture frame because I didn't balance it properly) and soaked up all the water, put out a fan and the dehumidifier, moved the bar and sopped up the water underneath it and kept some towels down so I could keep stepping on the floor and it would come up on the sides. I figured I had done what I could do and would keep checking on it during the night. I was done for now, the rest of the bits stuck to the counter would have to wait to the morning as I was thoroughly disgusted as it was.
Saturday was uneventful, finished up getting the ice off of the driveway - had about 2.5 feet of snow this past week, week and a half period. I have had enough snow this year already.
The g/f - still on overnights - slept Saturday and was up at 5 to go back to work, leaving at 6:00.
Sunday comes and with the g/f sleeping, I clean up the rest of the downstairs, washed and dried all the towels and got things looking normal again and prepared for a plumber to come out and look at this crap. I finished up all the laundry and what not and went up to do the dishes and then wash out the oven. After about half hour of dishes washing (I should mention that when the sink went shitty it got all our bar glasses and plates all yucky, hence the half hour of washing, I normally only have a few plates in the sink). I shut off the water and heard a tinkling noise - thinking it was the washing machine went down to check on it since it should have stopped long before and walked into round 2 of a sopping wet floor that was three times worse than Friday night. I ran to the laundry room and grabbed all the towels I had just washed and dried and that wasn't nearly enough. I got blankets and sheets and ran upstairs to tell the g/f. It was about 4pm so it was close to when she was going to get up anyway and she came down and she found the shop vac that I forgot about! (I forgot to empty it out the last time I had used it and that bit of information will come into play later) Gallons and gallons of sucked up water later, four fans on the floor with a dehumidifier I went into the laundry room to start ANOTHER load of towels while the g/f sucked up the last bits of water that we could get at the time I see that the slop sink is backed up from dumping in all the gallons of water from the other room...when it so clearly comes to me that I never emptied it from when we ripped the ceiling down MONTHS and MONTHS ago. Again, would have thrown up a bit in my mouth if I ever cared to throw up. I have no gloves and wasn't about to stick my hands in that, no way no how. I decided to let it stand for a bit and pick up some gloves after I brought the g/f to work again (poor girl) Oh, and I didn't get to finish cleaning out the oven because I couldn't run the water in the sink so I wiped it down with paper towels to at least get the cleaner out of the oven, so that left us with no way to eat dinner. Fine, screw it, let's go out. We stop at Kwik Trip on the way to her work for her coffee's and soda's and mini-whoppers. I looked for rubber gloves. They didn't have any. I picked up some paper towels because I'm, at this point, out and desperate since I'm out of towels and paper towels. Genius struck me and I went over to the food station and found the employees gloves for food handling and took about thirty of them. Put them in my pocket and walked out (after paying for the rest of my stuff).
I get home and put my hand down the slop sink, all food-handling-plastic-gloved up and there is nothing blocking the drain. What the hell? This is the most disgusting thing I have ever done and since these aren't RUBBER GLOVES they are prone to leaking. This results in some dry-heaving at this point. I was so frustrated. I did another pass with the vacuum around the floor edges and get some more water up and sit down to watch some TV. Amazing Race, Family Guy, Brothers & Sisters, The L Word. In between I did some vacuum's, and the flooding sink has gone down to 2/3rd's what it was before, and the blocked sink is still as it was.
I went upstairs at 11:30 deciding I was done. I can't handle any more anything. I just want to go to bed.
Then the phone rang. The g/f called and asked about the status and I filled her in. Since I didn't know what to use on the sink (the clogged one) I told her I was leaving it as is because Mommie Dearest here (me) got rid of all the wire hangers! She said to unscrew some stuff and have the buckets ready to capture the crap coming out and I was like - ugh, it's 11:45 and I wanna sleep. So I went down stairs again and got down on the floor and decided that 1 - there was no unscrewing anything and 2 - the bucket wouldn't fit under the big pipe. I then remembered I had an old closet in the other room that might - just might- have a wire hanger. It did, so I got some of the water going down it but didn't want more gunk going down the drain so, with my food-handler plastic gloves on, started scooping up the grosses gross of all gross stuff ever and dry heaving and heavy gagging again, ensued. It wasn't going down nearly enough, the angle of the pipe going down didn't allow for a wire hanger and since I already ruled out unscrewing....I was dying. and tired. and WAY out of my element. I don't do crap like this lol.
Finally all the gunk is out of the sink, the water is down the drain and I rinsed out the sink. I check on the floor again, give it another vacuum up and head back upstairs. I looked at myself in the mirror. I had dirty fingernails, smudges on me from trying to wipe out an oven with paper towels, hair all yucky, feet are more than likely the grossest thing ever and decided that I just could NOT get into bed in this condition. I had to shower. So I climbed in and showered and halfway through looked at the empty towel rack and just shook my head. Now the fuck what. No towels in the house were clean at this point, it's 12:45 in the morning and I'm in no mood to air dry. Jumped out of the shower and ran to the bedroom and thankfully found my bathrobe that doubled as a terry cloth towel for me last night. Now, at 1am I can go to sleep. I'm so damn tired.
I get up early this morning so I can pick up the g/f, bring her home, and then get myself to work. I went up to the computer room to refresh all my podcasts I listen too and plugged in the iPod and went down stairs to finish prepping for work. I go back upstairs and the refresh had stopped and the iPod wasn't showing up as a device. wtf now. I shut down iTunes but it wouldn't open back up. I restarted the computer and got through the booting up and then it was plain black screen. Then I got the HP screen then I got the black screen again upon third boot. I mean seriously. Now what?!?!
The g/f has been working overnights the past three nights, right now she is exhausted and the plumber just arrived at 9:00 this morning and all she wants to do is go to bed. - Oh and she just called to say that the plumber can't get through the clog. I guess I'm glad taxes just came in.

Give me a Cello anyday bozo.

Not that this is the biggest news ever - because it's not but I now have a firm grasp on *THE* underlying trend I find in my favorite songs.

They are all heavy strings - cello and/or violin.

I have always know I liked the strings but good lord - I didn't realize how MANY of my favorites have such influences.

I can trace this trend back years to Beatles songs (Eleanor Rigby) and my most recent loves (some Chris Pureka and Jane Siberry)

This might also be why I have always wanted a string quartet at my wedding ceremony and reception. I don't care if you can't dance to it, it's what I want and it's my wedding. Besides, who dances during dinner??

The End.

New England Patriots v. Minnesota Vikings

Ok peeps - been getting some flack that it's a shame on me for not having the Pats as my #1 team. While I am a Pats fan by birth, I am a Vikings fan by choice...I hated football until Amy came around. I learned about football with the Vikings and they wedged a spot in my life, I "grew" into them. Besides, I must watch them every week and I LIVE in Minnesota (and otherwise would be killed if I was a Packers fan). I will always cheer for the Pats, don't you worry. I'm proud as punch for them when they win the Super Bowl but those damn Vikings - just have to love 'em! (I'm still not the biggest football fan, but now that I understand the game, I can appreciate a good game)

Bon Anniversarie

Happy anniversary to me - 2 years today I quit smoking.
That is approximately 14,607 cigarettes not smoked and $2,191.05 saved.
My pockets don't feel any heavier but then again, neither do my lungs.
I'm pleased with myself but it's still a constant battle, I still want one sometimes and sometimes I even find myself getting ready to get up and go have one...then I realize "oh dumbass, you don't smoke anymore". Ah well.
2 years down, many more to go. YAY me!

Phone Booth: A Memory...

Picture it: Elms College - December 1994. (If you have no idea what an "Elms College" is, join the rest of the population of the USA) I was in the dormitory - 2nd floor in some direction, north, west...upside down? I had no long distance on my telephone because - well, I wasn't responsible enough at 19 to have that.... I went into the "phone booth" (which was really a closet with very hot pipes & a pay phone inside it) and went inside, closed the door for some privacy and made my telephone call. I have absolutely no idea who I was calling at the time, maybe Tanya - who knows. A short while later I went to exit this "phone closet" and found that the door wouldn't open. I got a little nervous. I had no money to call anyone and once I called them, what on earth would I say? The only people's who's phone numbers I knew were people from home (2 hours away). Luckily I remembered that my mom had Jessica's phone number (the gal across the hall) so I called my mom collect and then proceeded to call Jessica collect. The first time she didn't accept the charges. The second time she didn't answer, the third time she finally did. "Uh Jess, Could you come out in the hall, get Tina and get me the hell out of this phone booth?" Then it started getting hot. I should mention here that Jessica was less than 30 feet from the phone booth. I didn't want to "Scream out" because it was 24 hour quiet hours and thought I would get in trouble again. The night before I had gotten into trouble because Jess and I were watching Jurassic park and some damn dinosaur popped up into the jeep and scared the shit out of me...I screamed. The night before THAT Jessica and I were watching Striking Distance and someone jumped out of a closet and I screamed at that. I thought if I had screamed again that Sange would kick me off the floor so...I just ended up calling Jess.

I don't really remember much after that. I must have sweat it out or something but I vaguely remember fire trucks and Tina thinking I was physically "stuck" in the phone booth, not stuck as in they couldn't open the door. I think it was a credit card or something slid up under the door jamb mechanism that got the door open. I have to say that that memory has stayed with me for about eons now. My bathroom door wouldn't open the other day and panic ensued. I looked and saw the hinges were on my side of the door so I was ok.

But...it's so murky!

This blog is all about a special place for me as a child...

You may not know the exact lake that I speak of, but you know the lake. It doesn't even have to be a lake, it could be a pool, a park, a tree house. It doesn't even have to be a place at all, it is just a favorite memory.
Set in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts lies a lake. Not just any lake - because there are quite a few, but a particular lake, a SPECIAL lake. The lake is nestled in the trees and is an astounding sight in the autumn. It has lake houses on one side, a public beach on another, a campground and a YMCA camp on the other. An overwhelming majority of the locals call it "Fish Pond" but I do not. I was taught as a very young child to call it by it's proper given name. "Windsor Lake". Now, any of you that DO know of this special little man-made lake is likely to say "Robin, seriously...Windsor Lake Fish Pond is just a hole in the ground - and the water isn't even that great, there is no beach, they took our docks away and there aren't life guards much anymore, plus the "lake police" are nazi's!" But this lake is much more than that to me. It is that one place I can go - either in person or in spirit - look around and get tears in my eyes.
I remember as a child, my gram, two cousins and I would get into our swim suits and head out on our daily adventure. We would pack our lunches in the lunch basket, get the blankets, towels, beach toys, chairs and hats and gather into my gram's grey oldsmobile - the one with dark green velvet seats that were worn from wet - lake soaked bathing suit bottoms. Of course one of us would forget something so we only made it as far as East School (yes it was still called EAST back then) before we turned around. We would be off again, driving up Kemp Ave and crest the plateau to head back down Kemp Ave and there it was. A break in the trees would reveal to us our salvation - our summer joy...the lake. We would drive down the road - each inch agonizing in the summer blaze. My gram, the always careful driver, put on her directional well before the turn - always leaving the people behind us irritated that we didn't turn left when they thought we were going to turn left. Finally we turned into the entrance of the lake - later to be named "George Fairs Way" in honor of my grandfather - and pull up towards the check in hut. There sat this old man, I can still see him today, his family used to run the Mohawk Theater on Main Street which is now in disarray with a local valiant effort to have it restored (ask me about my trip to the Mohawk when I was in 5th grade to see the Goonies and won a game of Monopoly - ok that was about the entire story). My gram would always pull up to the booth and wave with one finger to let him know we were coming through. We had a season pass on the back passenger window - gram always made me roll up my window so that the gentleman in the booth could see we were paid up. I always complained. It was hot! The man knew who we were - not only did we go to the lake every day - as I had said, the road was named after my grandfather, everyone there knew who George was, who his wife was, his kids and grand kids (us). We would always remind them who WE were too. Self inflated sense of pride. If it was a particularly hot day we would have to wait in line and I always remember looking off to my right to a clearing in the trees and there was a path that led to the Sunshine Camp area - it was were the mentally handicap kids had camp.
We would pull around to the parking lot, never up the hill, always around the loop and NEVER down towards the campground. I don't know how my gram used to corral us long enough to unload the car before we jetted off across the lawn, past the playground, past the wood shed, down the hill, jumping over hundreds of people to find the best spot. We dropped all of our stuff on the ground, our over clothes half off before we heard "Kids, wait for me". What words could a hot, excited child like to hear less? Probably "it's time to go", but waiting for my gram to approve our spot was wrenching. I think she just wanted to view where we were so she could keep an eye on us. I don't think she ever fully trusted the life guards.
At first we were only allowed to swim in the kiddie section, this little roped off designated area that really was no bigger than 8 ft by 10 ft, if we were lucky. My cousins Kerry, Jimmy, and I were all one year apart so our abilities to leave the confines of the kiddie area were spaced out just that far. The days that we longed to play Marco Polo with the rest of the group, do hand stands under water, and play "Find the rock" were agonizing. My grandfather had to give us his OWN swimming test to see if we were able to leave the kiddie puddle. Kerry got to leave it first. Then Jim, and then me. Always last. Since I had swimming lessons at such a young age I got to move out of the kiddie section just 3 weeks after Jim and he left it one YEAR after Kerry. (That is the middle grandchild coming out in me....the constant need for validation and kudos! I'm over that now.) Of course, now that we were out of the hell pool we were still bound by strict guidelines - now we could only go out as far as our shoulders. Oh the horror - the diving board was even further out! Sometimes we would try to cheat and go a little further out but we would hear "JIM! I see you!" or "KERRY, Back in now" All I got was "ROBIN" and that was enough. We had to wait for another "George-approved" test before we could make our way to the docks. And once THERE - then we weren't allowed to swim underneath the dock or behind it like all the cool kids, there were rumors of snapping turtles under there. Rules. Not Lake rules - Helen & George rules. But no matter, it was the lake, it was summer, it was the days of being able to run out of a lake, stand over your grandmother while she is reading her book while you are dripping wet and probably ruining her book to beg her for your allowance to run to the concession for some fried dough or those large pixie styx, sometimes an ice cream treat if you budget wisely. She would always say no, of course, and that we had to wait for our lunches. I think we ate at 10:30 every day so we could make the afternoon come quicker - quicker we could have our ice cream treats. Gram prepared our plates of sandwiches and chips, carrots and whatever else she packed away...usually a pickle I would always refuse. I remember we would have bologna (wunderbar bologna) & cheese, or ham and cheese or a fluffernutter. We gobbled it up and then were obligated to wait that - what seemed to be an eternity - half hour wait. Of course that is an old wives tale giving parents enough time to clear up after the kids eat. We would run up to the play ground - the same one we ignored on the way in and if we were lucky - find a swing. If no swing then we would hop on the thing that went around (sometimes we were even luckier - someone's older brother or sister or dad was there to make it go around really fast!) or down the slide. No one liked the slide because it was metal and it was hot (who thought it would be a good idea to have a slide at a lake - metal, sun, wet bare asses...good combo!). We'd watch people on the teeter tatter going up and down. I was always scared of it so I sat out. If Kerry and I felt like talking we would sit on the special rock - this really large rock that had a half moon chunked out so it looked and felt like a chair.
Finally the half hour was over. We knew this because we had our eyes glued to the arch of the hill where we could see our gram stand up and wave to us. Again, we dashed madly across the green grass and ran right back into the water without even a hello to my gram. Once a week the drama major's from the local college treated us to a kiddie show - Something Different. There was a LARGE blue board with two box openings at the top. They all had on different colored shirts with the "something different" logo on it with their names on the back. They would come out singing "Hello we're something different, hello we're something new, we're here to entertain you and have some fun with you" - they would go on and sing their names and something else and holy hell - it has been over 20 years and I still remember the words as if it were yesterday. There was one woman I remembered fondly - her name was Susan and occasionally I will see her around North Adams and I have to fight the overwhelming urge to run up to her and hug her like she is a long lost relative. Anyway, these something different actors would have costumes and put on skits, sometimes with puppets and ALWAYS with whipped cream pies to the face! Nothing was funnier than the pies to the face. They had different sized colored boxes - red, green, yellow, and blue boxes that they would use to create scenes with - scenes that only our imaginations could see. We would sing along and laugh and have the best time. At the end they sang a slowed down version of the same song ending with "we'll be back this time next week to have more fun with you...".
Even now as I recall these memories I am filled with a sense of youthful enthusiasm, a feeling of joy, warmth, happy tears, sadness for days gone by. As we started to grow up the trips to the lake took a back seat to bike riding, baseball, having friends over for the day. I did spend time at the campground as a young teen, I gained many memories of friends I still have - of New Kids on the Block birthday parties (NOT my own) and baby-sitting for a young girl that has since died in a tragic car accident. I remember taking a canoe ride with Jim and our friend Shane and the dang thing flipped over all on it's own - at least that is what Jim and Shane expected me to believe! Our 8th grade class trip was a cook out at the lake and as a teen my best friend and I would go daily to socialize and swim a little - but it just wasn't the same without Helen, our lunches, allowances, and rules.
On the day before I moved away from Massachusetts I went up to the lake. I followed the same familiar path I had taken many times in my youth. I crested Kemp Ave, descended towards the lake peeking through the trees. I pulled up George Fairs Way, taking a photo as I drove past. It was a warm but windy July day and there were surprisingly few cars in the parking lot. I got out of the car, walked passed the play ground - the round wooden thing gone, so were the teeter tatters. They were said to be dangerous. The slide was still there. I walked past the wood shed that was now locked up so people could pay for their wood. I glanced to my right where the Something Different crew would set up - "Hello we're something different..." - I topped the hill and stood under the tree where my gram would always sit. They added a nice bench, got rid of the docks in the middle of the lake. I watched as my nephew - just 9 months old - go into the lake for the first time. I hoped for him the same summer fun I had as a kid, no, I prayed for it. They were carefree times, energy filled, and life lasting memories. No, even though I am a local I will never call this place "Fish Pond" it deserves it's proper name. I will always come back to Windsor Lake to reminisce about life, my grandparents (who are still very much alive), or childhood - whether it's in person or in my heart. I don't have a childhood house to go home to - we moved around a lot as a kid, but I have something better - I have a lake. I turned around and made my way back to the car glanced back to my left and smiled - "we'll be back this time next week to have more fun with you...".

13 Things that yank my chain.

Haven't been in the office for the past two friday's so...here ya go another one.

13 Things that yank my chain.



1 - Bad Drivers. This encompasses an entire portion of drivers though - those that don't use their directionals, those that don't know how to merge, those that pull into my lane and go slower than they should be (like yesterday when I had to follow someone doing 45 on 52 which is 60 mph...my exit was coming up and couldn't pass), anyone that doesn't MOVE at a green light, people that tailgate, drivers that go slow in the snow. Obviously people that cut me off. People that slam on their breaks (for no reason). Yes I don't like drivers in general but bad drivers are the worst.

2 - Along the lines of bad drivers are bad walkers. It bugs me to NO end when pedestrians do not use crosswalks, and when they do use crosswalks they walk against the walk/do not walk sign. Drivers like myself rely on those "WALK" and "DO NOT WALK" flashing lights to know if there might be pedestrians in the walkway. I honk at walkers that walk during the "DO NOT WALK" sign. I do.

3 - I've been made fun of for this one... I have absolutely no patience with fast food chains that mess my order up. Especially when I'm in the drive-thru. (usually it's only when I'm in the drive-thru). I take the drive thru for a reason - either I'm in a rush and can't go in or I'm lazy and don't want to go in, either way it's a safe bet that I do NOT want to go into the facility. My orders are simple. Cheeseburger plain. I have asked for cheeseburgers plain for YEARS. (and for years they have been messed up) so I tried to reword my sentence. "Cheeseburger with nothing on it" which usually results in me getting a hamburger. Cheeseburger minus everything - they have no idea what I'm talking about so I get it all. "Plain cheeseburger" also doesn't register. "Cheeseburger plain" I can guarantee I'll have ketchup on it. Nayway - I have taken to sitting in the drive thru and checking my order before I leave. Screw the rest of the people behind me. I have also gotten to ordering something they can't mess up. i.e. nuggets or something of the like. The other day I was in the drive thru and ordered a mcdonalds ..2 for breakfast (Bacon, cheese, egg biscuit - not even an option for sausage) and I got sausage. I was sick of getting all the way home or to work and finding out my order was wrong. Sticker on the food says "double checked for accuracy" Double checked my ass.

4 - lAm3rZ Sp33k and undue abbreviations - Ok I've been online wayyy to long. I hate when people type with numbers. It drives me insane. I hate when they replace the entire sentence full of letters for numbers (i.e. lam3rz sp33k) or just once (i.e. any1) I dislike when people type "u" for "you" "1" for "one" "r" for "are" "y" for "why". My favorite is "ctc" or "hru" (care to chat and how are you) Seriously. It doesn't take that much time to type out all the letters involved in constructing the sentence and it makes the person look just a bit smarter. (I must make a statement here that there are some abbreviations that I do use i.e. LOL and BRB but those stuck from when I was much much younger...I've grown out of all the other abbreviations)

5 - Telephone - I really just don't like the telephone. I only like it to call people I don't see often. Otherwise, send me a text (NOT txt, put in the extra "E"!!! hah). That was a simple one.

6 - Up until a couple weeks ago I would have said my Moxi. Seriously it would go out at the most inopportune moments and screw up my recording. Dink.

7 - Sometimes I think people in general - I have a very low tolerance for stupidity. People that lack of common sense drives me insane. 99% of the people on those Jerry Springer shows and the judge judy shows...yea gotta go. And they spawn. It's insane.

8 - Pop Music today. What the hell is wrong with music today? Do you know what it's going to be like when our generation hits the nursing homes? We'll be callin people pimps and bitches, slappin people's badonkadonks, showin off the grills, trollin for booty, feelin our lovely lady lumps and we won't know how to speak proper english while we are there. I can't stand it when people don't speak proper (leave out verbs or change verbs to "we be..." no you don't be..you "ARE"). Yes. I just can't listen to something at 6AM that sounds like soft porn.

9 - Other peoples bathrooms. I am not saying anyone has a dirty bathroom, that's not it, I just have a hard time taking a SHOWER in someone else's bathroom. It's the whole foot fungus thing. GOD FORBID I have to take a bath at someone else's house, I would probably do it fully dressed. Thinking about it makes me squirm.

10 - Show boaters / one uppers - not everything is a contest, you don't have to one up me, you don't have to show off what you have. a wee bit of modesty goes a LONNNNNG way.

11 - I don't think I have anymore...I don't like the standard terrorists, animal abusers, child abusers etc etc but I can't imagine anyone would so I don't feel like typing about it.

SO I say here - I am eating 12 & 13. They aren't missing. hah

13 Things I Dig...

Thirteen things I'm into right now

1 - Totally into Moxi. I have just about everything scheduled to record, I can record two shows at the same time AND watch something I've previously taped while the other two are recording. I have already gone through the fall line up and prepared what I will be watching. I am NO LONGER a slave to my TV. I watch what I want when I want and I do it in less time (since I can fast-forward commercials) so. If I am on vacation I can say - be on vacation and not worry that Ghost Whisperer is on and it looked really good this week. No more do I have to choose between The L Word and Grey's Anatomy (like there is any question which one I would watch - plus Grey's is moving to Thursday) I can schedule my Numbers and Monk at the same time and it's ok! Amy gets irritated that I play with it while something is on TV, and that's understandable, but it is never anything important. hah

2 - Wickedly love my Pandora - www.pandora.com and create your own radio station. You say what artists/songs you like and it will spit back at you songs/artist it thinks you will like in return. You, from there, have the option to veto songs (watch it, you can only veto just so many per hour) and you have the ability to buy it right there from iTunes, approve the song, add it to your favorites for call back later on, see some background about the performer AND put any song on the shelf. Say you like Cecelia by Simon and Garfunkel but you have just had enough hearing it - it's played at least once a day - you can put it on the shelf for a month and not worry about it, AND you don't waste a skip (I don't think)

3 - Chris Pureka (haah I typed Christ) - SO anyway Chris Pureka. If you are reading my blog you are likely to know who Chris is anyway but for those of you that do not - take this time right here and go educate yourself www.myspace.com/chrispureka she is super talented and super cute. (Plus if you look in my pictures you will see a picture of she, me, and amy) Her new album is in the works and I'm just thrilled that she will be coming back to Minnesota in October and can hardly wait to go to another show, a show of HER this time, not her opening for someone else. All Chris Pureka - all the time is how it should be. She is just phenom! Which leads me to ..4 and the next phenom -

4 - Brianna Lane - First I have to thank G for getting me super addicted to Brianna and for Chris (even though I heard of Chris before G but not to the magnitude I did until after..) First I have to say that I have seen Brianna 4 times and going to see her again tomorrow night. I am not stalking her, no but I am absolutely impressed and amazed by her talent. Amy and I were chatting about Brianna after her show and the g/f had the brilliant insight to say that the thing about Brianna is that she keeps your attention. And she is right - While others are writing about feelings and blah blah Brianna brings it to life with visuals, with Brianna I can see the porch light being out and someone forgetting and trying to flip it on, I can see the zipper pulls in the jars, and I can see the man in the raincoat. PLUS she is a fantastic performer and very very down to earth...go check her out too! www.myspace.com/briannalane (she looks like the g/f's sister in law P)

5 - Bill Bryson - Right now I'm reading "A Short History of Nearly Everything" and I'm just about to the part that Einstein is born (It's on the same page that I am currently reading just haven't quite gotten there yet) and the book is captivating. Bryson has this way of taking something mundane and turning it into comedic genius. While this book is still a bit dry because it's so factual, he throws in sentences for the common person and facts about scientist that keep me captivated. I have been hooked on Bill since Erika's friend Colin from Ireland mentioned him years ago - the book Made in the USA (a.k.a. Made in America) was great - talking about the origins of words we use, how we butchered the words from other countries and made them our own etc. He even mentions a professor that I had in college while discussing cussing (and mentions the college I attended and the book that Jay wrote that I read. Even though he exaggerated in the book - my professor not Bryson). I think, by far, my favorite Bryson book so far is A Walk in the Woods. Seriously I was reading it on the bus from IBM to Mayo and I read one part about why Bryson wanted to walk the Appalachian trail (so he could tell others he $hit in the woods) and the way he phrases things made me laugh out loud...people on the bus thought I was crazy....mind you the rest of the people on the bus WERE crazy... If you have the time to read, check out one of Bill's books. He does a lot of travel books and nostalgia books so, you will probably find him in the TRAVEL section of your library or Barnes & Noble/Bookstore.

6 - I'm into my camera man, not my "Camera Man", My CAMERA, man. It is so sweet. It is so sweet that I'm not sure why I even had to think about it. I am loving that Amy and I saved $125 on it by seeing it online cheaper (BestBuy honored the online price) AND we had a "Save 12 percent" coupon which took off another $58 bucks. (and we had a gift card from when we bought the computer as a reward) so we saved a chunk of change on it. We planed to buy it w/o the $125 savings but it made it all the more enticing when we realized how much we could save, and still get the 1Gb chip and get some LCD covers. Now onto the camera - Night photos. It takes fantastic night photos. 12x Optical zoom. Not only am I going to Mt Rushmore in 3 weeks, I will be able to see the boogers up Jeffersons nose while I'm there. The zoom is insane. I was sitting on my bed and about 15 feet away is the bathroom so I zoomed in just to see what I could see (and it wasn't the other side of the mountain) but I could see a single hair on the bathroom floor. It was brown. I'm going to have good times with that puppy.

7 - Reality TV - SOOO hooked on reality TV right now... Project Runway is back on, Big Brother 7: All-Stars, Hell's Kitchen, Treasure Hunters...seriously, it's insane fun! I was bummed that Malan got booted on PR Wednesday Night - he touched my heart when he said his mom threw his book down and said he'd amount to nothing...and I love his laugh hahah - Angela sooo should have gone home. She looks like she should have been on square pegs. BB7 - so sick of the BB6 alliance, I had enough of BB6 during BB6. Pullin for Jase to take it and run! I just like him this season so much better than BB5. Hell's Kitchen! Sarah just needs to go. She should have gone last week. Rootin for Heather man, rootin for Heather! (And K-grease). TH= Wild Hanlon's...I kinda miss them. haha. Pullin for the southie boys or ex-cia. Kayte is making me sick. SOON comes on - Americas Next Top Model, Survivor, Amazing Race, and American Idol. And while it's not your typical Reality TV - I am loving America's Funniest Home Videos. I watch it every night and I laugh like a crazy person. I am sick of the pinata's and I'm sick of guys getting hit in the junk, but otherwise I love it. I love when people get scared, but I have a hard time watching because I'm laughing so hard that I can't keep my eyes open to watch the succession of clips!

8 - Camping. Never thought I'd see that one. Camping has been so much fun now that I am doing it as an adult. A few years ago the g/f and I went to Duluth for Labor Day and it was the best camping time every, the next year we didn't camp because we had just moved into our house and were occupied with that on the weekends. This year though - for my birthday we went camping, a group (TFM) came with as a group event and it was GREAT! There was fire, frothy beer, food, friends, fun games, frisbee, and G played us the guitar - other sites clapped too! We are planning another camping trip for the first weekend in August (for half the TFM) and ANOTHER in South Dakota for 4 days in later August (for another sect of the TFM). I don't drink much but I like to relax and have drinks and enjoy the stars and fire and chatting and music. (and the one is SD will be filled with prime opportunities to use my new camera!!!)

9 - I'm really digging my new floor in the family room (finished basement). I will have to post pictures of what we moved into, what we changed it to, and what we changed it to - ripping up carpet, ripping out entertainment centers, recovering the bar, laying new floor, putting up a new ceiling, updating light fixtures. It's a whole new room! So the flooring - We go to Menards see (Save big money at menards yo) and there was some flooring on sale but decided that we liked the next step up (it was still on sale, but not as good a price) we initially decided or thought about this color that is light oak - you find it in any of the cookie cutter houses that are out there now. I decided that I liked the Walnut (I think it's Maple really) better. It was a warmer wood with a busier design AND it wasn't something you'd find in every pre-fab home. So the g/f and her dad laid the smack down on it last weekend. It's sweet.

10 - The word "Word". Such a kickback...and here I thought I was the only one using it and getting others to say it when I start to watch tv and OTHERS are using it, I was so excited. Word yo! Word, right Dana?

11 - The g/f, My sisters (and family) - so yea now that I'm older I do appreciate my sisters more. Erika is 6 years (almost 7) younger than I am, and Meg is 12 years younger. Now that we are all out of high school, Erika with kids & a home, and Meg away from home too, we actually have things to talk about. I worry sometimes that when my mom dies in the future that we are going to lose the glue that kept us together but now I don't think we will. We have such a generation gap sometimes that I worry but I think we will be ok, I love my sisters they rock. :) And of course my family. and my g/f. My gram is. Honestly, there is no word for her, she just is. She makes me laugh like i've never laughed, she makes me happy, and sad, and she keeps me informed (and then some) she helped me be who I am today and at 87 years old, she still watches my niece and nephew. My gramp is just like my gram only a guy hahah, he is hilarious and the two of them together is enough to make anyone get dizzy haha. My mom - my step dad (fill in mushy stuff here) I could go on for hours about Logan and Hailey so I won't. but without my family I'd be lost. Which brings me to the g/f - ya know when you are in the store looking for those sappy valentines day cards and blah blah they are sticky sweet and all that? she's all that PLUS those stupid campy cards that make you groan and laugh :) I am so thrilled that her class is done for summer and I get to see her again! She figured out in this past year (not including weekends) that she and I have seen each other for 45 hours. And folks, those aren't 45 hours in a row. They are 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, and a whoping 25 minutes when I decide to stay up late to catch a TV show with her. It's horrible, but we shall overcome.

12 - TFM. I say TFM a lot on here and I'm not sure anyone knows what it's all about. It's basically a group of women that are friends. There is this national thing about the gay m@fia/lesbian m@fia (that would be the "M" in TFM) and we would joke that we have our own sect of it. There are about 13 or 14 of us with a few other honorary members here and there that we don't hang out with as much but do on occasion. Now the "TF" is the funny part. G, the g/f, and I went to the Catie Curtis show in March and the opening act was the 3 alto's or tenors or something (I can't remember at all) so the 3 singers and while being presented onstage they were introduced as "The Folk singer, the Rabbi, and the Sexologist" (ya know like the beginning of the joke) and it was OUR job to figure out which is which. Well a guitar fell down and one of the chicks went to fix it and she said "well, I'm the folk singer" and we all giggled and while she was re-tuning her guitar to fill the time they told us who was who and the rabbi chatted for a minute then the sexologist said - well I can give you a demonstration on where to find the g-spot. and we all roared - it had to do with taking two finger (TF) and position them in such a way to reach it, and she used the roof of her mouth as an example. So there you go - TFM. SO ANYWAY - These girls are so much fun that I'm going to be sad in a few years when we pack up and move. Now that we are all adults with homes and jobs and lives our friendships have matured as well, there is no more campiness, not cattiness, (well not totally) and we generally have a group that gets along. It's almost impossible to have a group of friends that large that all get along and some of us don't but we are all big enough to at least "deal" with who we can't. My top 16 has 6 of us, and a few others are floating around in my friends list. I don't know when we are going to move (3 or 4 years maybe) so I don't think about it now, but one of us is leaving at the end of August. Luckily for the g/f and I she is going to Massachusetts so we will see her on our trips back home. (Like this new years eve we might get to spend with her then drive home the next day - depends on everything else going on at that time and it's still like 6 months away). We have a lot of fun together - camping, game nights, fire pits, bar nights, dinners, bbq's, pride, etc. I am not looking forward to moving and trying to find friends like these again...it just simply can't be done.

oh and

13 - (I almost stopped at 12!!) hmmm how about COFFEE ICECREAM!!! While this isn't new to me, it's a favorite of mine. I hate Coffee, that is - I hate drinking it. I love everything else about it, the smell, the flavor, the color, just everything but I can't stand brewed coffee. I love coffee ice cream so much it is insane. It was hard to find it when I first moved to Minnesota...the local companies didn't make it, then I started to see Edie's in the store and THEY sometimes carried coffee, then I saw STARBUCKS came out with ice cream - and of course it was coffee! Then Breyers made it's way in and then, then, then the bestest thing to Coffee Ice Cream happened. I discovered Coldstone Creamery. They have this coffee lovers thing that I just adore - it's coffee ice cream, caramel sauce, almonds, and toffee chips. OH MY GOD. To die for. My obsession with coffee ice cream started with Friendly's...and anyone that's had Friendly's ice cream and then someone else's - the other ice cream tastes weak and isn't NEARLY as creamy. Friendly's has delicious coffee ice cream and they have this peanut butter sauce they put on their peanut butter cup ice cream sundae (and other sundaes) and one day I decided that I liked the coffee ice cream, and I like the peanut butter sauce so I should put them together. oh snap. wow. So now that I'm out here in MN and there aren't any Friendly's out here I have my mom go buy some sauce from Friendly's and mail it out to me. I am dying for some, I haven't had it since Christmas.

Erika - go buy me some and ship it out, mom isn't feeling good. I need it. Oh and the g/f wants some Dunkin Donuts coffee please. I could also use a tub of Fluff please, and some Molly's smilie face cookies AND some of the maple walnut cupcakes from Molly's and I need a couple Everything bagels from Dunkin Donuts....I think that's it, go buy it and send it :) Everything else I'll get when I'm home next *hugs*

Ok done...so Thanks Moxi, Pandora, Chris Pureka, Brianna Lane, Bill Bryson, Sony, Reality TV, Minnesota State Parks (and South Dakota too), laminate flooring, the letters w-o-r-, and d, My family/sisters and my gal, my friends in the TFM, AND coffee Ice cream...I love you all so much :)

WORD!

Friday Thirteen

I stole this from someone that posts a regular meme on every Thursday. I'm going to do it on Friday and go with the number 13 (as in Friday the 13th)

SO here is the theme this week:

13 Jobs I've had.

1. Paper Girl. Ya know, it doesn't really sound like much but it is/was. My paper route took me from just above city hall, through city hall, up main street, down holden st, into and up the concourse, up the dowlin block, up eagle street, around the library, and finishing off across from the post office. I was 11ish. I had 115 papers in total to deliver. I hated Fridays and Saturdays! On Fridays when we got paid I would stop off at Dream Machine and play there for a little bit - I was a regular at Centipede and Skee-Ball. I rocked. I finally gave up that route to Kim Santelli (I didn't know her at the time but she ended up being a really good friend of mine later in life). I used to skip people on purpose because I was lazy and didn't want to walk three flights. Later on I ended up with another paper route but that is another number later on!

2. Burger King Bi-atch. It was the only place that hired when you turned 15. I took it. I was taught chicken/fish/fryer first, then burger board, then whopper. I moved up to cashier really quickly and then took the drive through spot. Everyone wanted those jobs because you got to see and talk to people...but I got them because I was good with a register - always have been, always will be. I don't remember much about BK but one time they needed help in BK down south county and I ended up being the first person they asked to go down there. That was the first place someone asked me for a vegetarian burger...blew my mind and I think I asked them "do you mean cheese on bread? like a cheese sandwich? why even say burger then?". That was about it for that job, that was 16 years ago, I don't remember too much about it. I know I hated sterilizing.

3. Paper Girl. (Again) This time I had a route closer to home. Not that anyone is going to know this route, I do. I would pick up in front of my house and run up the street with three papers - (on East Main Street) then I would get settled with my papers - go down towards Berkshire Landing, up back towards east main, down towards main st, down gallup st, up park ave, over kemp ave, up towards windsor lake, down bradley street and then back home. It was QUITE a long route for me. Eventually I found out that my best friend's dad & brother had a route similar to mine (on the opposite side of the street of all weird things) so we got together and traded customers so I could stay closer to home. This was the route that had me deliver papers to my grams house - I stopped in one day to get a sprite and when I was done I thought I'd be badass and twist the can in half, as I did so I sliced open my left thumb. My gramp told me I needed stiches but I flat out refused.

4. Baby-sitting. This really was my job in my junior year. I would go over after school and stay with Dan (8 or 9) and Angela (baby). I earned my money damnit. The kid (dan) used to spit on me, he was super mean and very uncontrollable. I remember I found a tape in their house of Kansas and made a copy of it, because I am such a pirate. The parents were super nice and I still see them every once in a while when I'm home. Nice folks.

5. Stop n Shop. I had to bust my ass to get that job. I went in for my initial interview with tons of other people (it was a store that was just opening) and the girl in back of me got the job of cashier and they had told me there none left. My step dad called and ripped them a new ass and I got another shot at the job. We trained for quite some time and travelled to different stores to train. They used to have competitions for the cashiers to see who was the fastest with the best accuracy for onspot cash and price and I was always top 2. (see, still good with that register). I used to dream of the beeps - my alarm clock would often work it's way into a dream about work. hah. I remember working with Michelle Dorman and Jill Campedelli - one day on break Jill had a soda and was going to throw it away but she was going to throw it in the mail box on accident -she's a riot. I remember this is where I learned what "flavor savor" was (moustache). Yea, totally inappropriate from my boss talking about that huh? Also this was the place where I got to "check out" Judge Reinhold. and saw Christopher Reeves be a jack ass to a young fan and wouldn't give his autograph. Anyway - I quit that job. About a month or two before prom/graduation/college visiting days I put in for the days off...a few days before I put in a follow up note to ensure I got the days off and Bill (the boss) told me that he can't guarantee me those days off. I told him to go ahead and schedule me and I'll call in sick. So I went to my dads house and got job 6 and told Stop n Shop to go be badass elsewhere.

6. Mobil/Convenience Plus. So after I told Stop n Shop to go stick it I started to work at the Mobil station on Curran Highway and the one in Williamstown (before it was made over into a DnD/Mobil/Shell). The store in Williamstown was seriously a hole in the wall and it was right by a mental institution and we'd get all the whacko's in. It was torture. You never knew who was coming in and/or why - like the guy that bought 10 packs of cigarettes per day. The guy that owned a restaurant in North Adams that would come in and buy $400-$500 worth of scratch tickets per day. It was insane. I met Sinbad there. I quit working at Mobil when I went off to college, where I had a couple work-study jobs that I won't get into.

7. Cumberland Farms. This was the next job I had - it was the same as Mobil station only this was on Rt 2. People from NY going to Boston would drive it and vice versa. I'd often get tourists in and ask directions - I'd hand them a map. I'd get people come in and ask me where Rt. 2 was. Seriously buddy. I think I even saw a Ryder truck full of hippies (travelling in the back of the Ryder - so Illegal!

8. Walmart. I ran register for a while - Like I said - I rock the register. Then one day they said "we need help in the Radio Grill" and put me in there. GOD I should have protested. Once I was in I couldn't get out. Everyone that was there quit leaving me and one other chick to work the entire schedule. Management wouldn't help. I'm not so good with food industry. Then I got to run the damn place - I begged management to get someone in there so I could leave. No go. I did like doing the ordering though, that was fun. I hated closing up - people were asses. Specially the workers - they all went on lunch at the same time and wanted their food at the same time. Like that was going to happen. I finally got out of that job when one day I got a call from my mom "get your resume together and get down to city hall" word! Oh and the only reason I stayed on at Walmart so long is cos it paid the sorority dues and housing fees to live there.

9. NAMEFCU - That would be a credit union. It was me and Gail. Oh Gail, how I miss her...she made me laugh and laugh. My mom worked down the hall in the Mayor's office and could hear us giggling like school girls. She told the best stories, and they were animated stories. She is the one that got me hooked on the Harry Potter series. I just love her. Anyway - the job was super neat but it was only part time. I got to do credit reports, write checks, fill out loans, process loans for approval, balance the statements, deposits, payroll...just about everything. I loved it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Then...I moved :/

10. CVS - Had this job while I worked at NAMEFCU - needed to make rent, right? It was stupid, lots of people buying cold medicines, buying pictures, and stealing condoms.

11. Subway - So like I said - I moved. Not only did I move, I moved to Alabama. To a town that has a population of 1,053. I could go to Phil Campbell and work at the Piggly Wiggly or drive into Haleyville (birthplace of 911) and work for Michelle's friend Shari (who has since died) working at Subway. I chose subway. Only because the piggly wiggly reminded me of price chopper and i hate price chopper. The subway was ok to work at, itself, I learned all i needed and I sliced veggies and onions, and prepped the bins and the meats, made the bread and stocked whatever...ya know the usual. The job itself was a job, it got me back home eventually but here was the kicker - it was in the deep south. On any given week I would encounter 4 types of people - The Religious, The Southern Woman, The Civil War Fighter, and The Footballer/Cheerleader. All typical of the south. Religious folks would all ask "have you been saved?" each and every time they came in. (I just started saying yes to get them to leave me alone), The Southern Woman with her big hair and drawl would say stuff like "Is it true ya'll yankees shoot each other dead up there?" - yea lady, that's why I'm still alive. The Civil War Fighter would come in with his t-shirt on that said "and the south shall rise again" and I'd think - only to have the yankees put you down again. and of course the footballer/cheerleader coming in being all teen-ager like and creating headaches. I learned that any stereotype I knew of the south did exist (like when three old guys were waiting in line and they were talking about the 2000 election that was currently being recounted for the umpteenth time one guy said "well if anything happens to Gore we'd have a damn Jew in the whitehouse" !!! he said that, no lie) but I also learned that not everyone down there can be stereotyped...I ate at tons of mexican restaurants (the ones up north suck, by the way) and a few road kill cafes (they will cook your kill if you want them to). Oi BUT nothing is better than driving down the road flipping through one MILLION stations of christian music than coming upon a peanut stand and getting nice hot peanuts in a shell and eat them all the way home!

12. Capital Motorsports. So I got home from Alabama to Massachusetts and got lucky. I applied to an ad in the paper for a invoicing clerk and I got the job, BUT it was part time. My bosses were impressed by my computer knowledge/abilities that they hired me full time - half to do invoicing and half to do their computer work. I did so much there I don't know where to start - I stated off running credit cards and labeling boxes for delivery then I started to occasionally take catalog orders to taking little orders to taking FULL time orders. (Mark down SALES on my resume) Then I also managed the photograph library with all the parts we sold (race car parts btw) and took pictures of items we didn't have in the library. THEN I was the co-ordinator for the catalog and was in charge of keeping prices up to date as well as the layouts. I also managed the magazine publications (ON TOP of my sales job) and then we started up the website (which is just like the catalog) complete with shopping cart and online ordering. The website I created in 2001 is still in use with very very very minor updates (mostly just new items and pricing updates). I created the beast and it still lives - It was an enormous undertaking. I taught myself how to use Front Page to do the job and used Photoshop ad nauseam. GO ME! My co-workers were funny but my bosses... They were a husband/wife team, really small company (10 or 11 people). She doted on her dogs and was a work-a-holic and perfectionist. Drove me insane most of the time. He was a big ol bear, and if you listened really close (or just happened to be in the next room like I was) you could hear their fights. Nice. Knock 'em down, drag 'em out. She was a bear. But...now that I don't work there I miss it. I dream about the place often and always think about the wife asking me to take my job back. hah. I could tell you stories and stories about the people we talked to on the phone. Lets just say that amateur race car drivers are a few nuts short of a tight tire.

13. IBM. Current job that I have here in Minnesota. I do a lot of everything from creating projects in a database to creating resource records in it. I manage the data going in and coming out and oversee the world wide team to make sure they are also doing the same (I have counter parts in Japan, India, Israel, China, Egypt, Korea, and Germany). I don't do just that, but I really prefer not to talk too much about my current job.
I can say that a lot of people come to me for technical support and I am QUITE OFTEN simply amazed that these people work at IBM too. - "How do I close the program" (use the big red "X" at the top of the screen). I love the people I work with and my team mates out in Vermont

SO there it is folks - my 13 jobs. (I had more but cut a few out because they were stupid like the time I worked at Cascade and slit open my finger - that's all I remember, or when I worked for the Sierra club and worked for like 2 weeks and quit because I can't sell cookies to a fat girl with PMS...soo...not my complete history but some of it)

Remember that time we went to Pride and...

Inspired by Regina Spektor via Gillian

Remember that time we went to Pride 06

Remember that time we went to pride and went to Independent to eat and Gillian dropped her beautiful drink on the floor?
Remember that time we went to pride and went to see Brianna and Katie play and left Katie 4 Quarters and a pen?
Remember that time we went to pride and went to the Townhouse and ran into Gretchen there by some weird twist of fate?
Remember that time we went to pride and Rae told Devin to just go talk to some chick and she DID! HERO! Chick was married though hah
Remember that time we went to pride and walked around and saw lots of rainbow things hah
Remember that time we went to pride and Gillian got videotaped for channel 5 news? So got the pictures
Remember that time we went to pride and everyone kept asking Amy where she got her "Yes I am in the right bathroom" t-shirt?
Remember that time we went to pride and the little Rainbow Family kids were singing Rent songs? So cute!
Remember that time we went to pride and saw Ellis and Brianna and Pamela Means all in the RAIN?
Remember that time we went to pride and had funnel cake?
Remember that time we went to pride and it rained and rained so we sought shelter in the crowded beer garden?
Remember that time we went to pride and ate at Joe's? ("Eat at Joe's" hehe)
Remember that time we went to pride and Gus smiled for the camera while it was raining while Brianna was singing?
Remember that time we went to pride and went to Bryant Lake Bowl and saw Ellis, Brianna, and Pamela (again!!!)?
Remember that time we went to pride and Pamela signed all our CD's as "thanks for watching with the squirrels" hehe
Remember that time we went to pride and went to Twilight! Gay times!
Remember that time we went to pride and we all got crazy cab drivers?
Remember that time we went to pride and went to the parade and saw Rochester peeps - Dave walked in cowboy boots the whole way!!!
Remember that time we went to pride and Amy truck got hit and the mirror glass fell out?? That sucked.
Remember that time we went to pride and had the best gay times ever?!?!?