Spring Time!

I love this time of year! I love watching things start to grow and bloom! I've been examining every plant that was put in the ground last year, and here is the report:

Only 3 of the 4 hydrangias are showing life. I don't think the prettiest one made it, but we'll keep looking for green!

The peonies are all coming up, but I'm still not sure which ones will bloom.

Of the hostas that I split and re-located, I think that only half are going to grow this year, but it may be too early to tell.

All the daylillies look healthy... this may be the year to split up the ones in the back.

It looks like we'll have a full bed of poppies in the back.

Here's what the front is supposed to look like:

Snow Day!

I felt like a wienie this morning because I didn't brave the elements and go into work because there was a foot (yes a whole 12 inches) on our road and in the alley. While slacking at home, Andrew and I went out and took some pictures of the white fluffy stuff. As we were walking down the street, a bunny hops up out of no where and starts hopping and bounding over as much snow as possible. He is coming straight at us and then realizes that he can't continue on his current path without coming dangerously close to humans. I'm sure he thought to himself, "Left turn Clyde!" but fear set in and he dove straight into a snow drift. Andrew and I weren't sure what to do, so we did what we thought was logical and dug the bunny out of the snow drift. I started with his body, and then moved the snow away from his head. Once cleared away, he peeked up, said "Thanks" and hopped off into less deep messiness.

She's got Rolls!

Now, I'm not one to judge when someone is a little pudgy, but we have a kitty on her way to being obese. She's a pretty good size normally, being a tall and long cat, but she has put on a pound or two recently. We didn't really notice it until someone else said something, but now it is pretty obvious. But how do you put a cat on a diet when there are 2 other cats of healthy weights in the house? We've tried to encourage more playtime, but she is uninterested. Maybe she's just putting on some weight for the winter hibernation and will slim down by next spring.

While I was sleeping

While I was taking a nap, Andrew took this picture. Just call me the next cat lady!

Filling the House part deuce!

Some may remember a previous post about me buying a desk at a yard sale last year. I finally finished re-finishing it! :)

Here it is!!!

Rested and ready for trouble!

Andrew and I just spent the past 10 days living the northwest life! After a 3-day stop in Seattle,


we joined the rest of my extended paternal family in Big Sky Country! Good times.


A BIG thank-you goes out to Nick from saving me from being eaten by an angry mama black bear!! We got out to hike a lot, and I even got Andrew on a horse!



I'm so proud! Lots of pictures of wildlife, mountains and family. You can see them in the link to the right titled "Das Fotos"

Backyard Success

Early this spring, we decided that we needed some more grass in the back yard. First I pulled up the big pieces of concrete




Then we purchased the appropriate tools, or at least ones that looked painful






While it's not perfect, it is looking much better!

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

After living in our new house for a little over a year, Andrew and I finally made a commitment. THE IVY HAS TO GO! At the beginning of April, we had a front yard full of English Ivy. It was everywhere!



So after 3 applications of every increasing concentration of Round-Up, the ivy is dead and gone.





More pictures to come once we get grass growing!

Strollin' in the 'Hood

This evening, Andrew and I went out for a run. Ok, a jog... with a lot of walking. When we were running by 19th and Alabama, a large black man hung out of his car to tell me that I had a nice booty after calling me "Lollipop". I will admit that I am a silly white girl, and I have no idea what he meant by "Lollipop", nor do I want to know.

I hate gravity!

Why is it, that even though I feel like I've gotten poison ivy over a sever sunburn over most of my body, that I feel guilty for calling in sick to work? Never mind the fact that I'm still working, and I'm probably getting more done at home than I would in the office. It's a good thing I decided not to try out for the 2008 Olympics... since I'm on 'roids now! Everyone should stay way from fabric softener that only has directions in Spanish.

Damsel in Distress

It was very important to Andrew and I to buy a house with a garage. This means not needing to scrape ice and snow off my car in the mornings. But this does not help when the freezing rain, sleet and snow fly while I'm at work. With the new car, I haven't gotten a scraper. Luckily for me, someone at work lent me one after scraping half of my car with a credit card.

Something to Think About

While driving 38 mph in a 35 mph speed zone on my way home from work late one night, a jay-walking pedestrian yelled at me to slow down. Now, who was more wrong?

Telemarketers

For a couple of months now, I've noticed that I've been missing a call from a California number that I didn't recognized. Like any other number I don't recognize, I would let it go to voice mail, but they never left one. The other night, (during my night time minutes of course!), they called and I answered. It was a telemarketer that was trying to sell me 6 months of "free" magazine, a "free" watch and enter me into a "free" vacation giveaway. I guess I should fill in a little bit. When I answered the phone, what I heard was, "Please hold for the next available operator." from a recording. So I let her go through her spiel, and at the most available moment, I told her that I wasn't interested, and that she was calling my cell phone, and by law, they couldn't call me with an automated calling system. She yelled at me for wasting her time, and that the number is not on the "do not call list". I then told her again that it is a cell phone, so even if I'm not on the list, it's still illegal to use the automated calling system on the number. She starting yelling at me again for wasting her time, but I hung up on her half way through. She did spend about a minute and half on the phone with me, but monopolized the conversation. If she was so concerned about me wasting her time, maybe she should have started the conversation with, "Hi, I'm going to try to con you into magazine that you don't want and a vacation you'll end up paying for. Are you interested?" That would have saved a lot of time.

General Observation

I work at a chemical plant, not a farm, so the hours are set, and not by the sun, but by the clock. I've noticed this week that when I get to work (between 7:45am and 8:00am), there have been significantly more people in the parking lot than there was last week, before we rolled our clocks back. I've also noticed that there are less cars when I leave than there were last week. I guess my plant would never survive in Iceland.

Sore

As some of you out there in the internet world may know, I have been taking horseback riding lessons (again) for about a year. I rode for awhile when I was much younger, and I have now re-discovered it. I recently (at the beginning of the summer) changed barns and love it. In the past, I had only ridden at Hunter/Jumper barns, but this one is an Eventing Barn. Yesterday at my lesson, we did some fun exercises. They included riding doing some jumping while not holding on to the reins. The last exercise was to jump six stadium style jumps that were pretty spread out so that we could do some cantering between the jumps. I was asked to go first, and the first jump was perfect, the horse refused the second jump twice before I got him over it, and on the third jump, he jumped a little too big which resulted in me seating myself on his back before he had landed. That turned into some bucking, and me eventually on the ground. This horse has bucked on me before, us but I had always been able to stay on. This time, I lost my balance, and while I ended up on the ground, I was still standing. Like any good instructor would do, my trainer came over, asked if I was ok, had me get back one, and take the jumps again. The purpose of this is that I don't have time to think about what just happened, and to get me over the jumps before I get scared of them. I now know that when you fall off, it's kinda like a car accident. You feel fine the day it happens, but when you wake up the next day, you are so sore, you can barely move. Surprisingly, I'm looking forward to my lesson next week!

Like I don't know already

I love going to weddings. I love seeing people I haven't seen in a while, watching the ceremony (usually crying), and dancing the night away. One thing I do not like about weddings is that I can't make it through one without at least 3 people commenting that I'm not married or engaged. There are always comments about my left hand being empty. I don't understand the point of these comments. It's not like I don't know. I'm pretty sure that if I got engaged, I would realize it. And if I ever get engaged, I'm positive I'm not going to keep it a secret. Maybe people think that I am keeping it under wraps, I don't know. If you see me around, and I am not wearing a ring, chances are, I'm not engaged. No need to talk about it; it will really ruin it if I do get engaged.

And the story goes on...

The morning after my last post, I woke up to this in the office:




He's just a little guy. I decided to let him sleep in there all day and keep Chica company. When he still wasn't up by 7 pm, my roommate decided to squirt him with water. He didn't move, it just made him wet. So I took care of things.

A bit creepy

Yesterday, my roommate left to go shoot clay thingies and to spend a night out camping and drinking. I spent the day patching cracked plaster and taping of the trim in preparation for painting. When I decided it was time for some sleep, I went into my bedroom, lowered and closed to blinds but when I went to turn off the light, something caught my eye. In the office, Lilly was watching something in the air. At first I thought she was chasing a fly, because she goes crazy when there are flies in the house, but then I saw a shadow of something much larger than a fly. I walk into the room and turn on the light. Flying around in circles was the only mammal with wings. That's right my friends, a bat.

Now the room he was flying around in was the same room that has the door to the attic. I had gone up to the attic much earlier in the day, but I had shut the door behind me on the way up and on my way down. Actually, there are two doors to the attic, and I just closed the bottom one on my way down. At any rate, I don't recall a bat flying out either time.

But now I had three cats watching a bat, all waiting for it to come down low enough for them to take a swipe at it. How do you catch a bat? Thoughts went through my mind of getting a blanket and netting him, but with my ungracefulness, I knew I'd probably break something. So I shooed the cats out of the room, and opened the attic door. If I could just get this little guy to fly into the attic, I'm sure he could figure out how to get out from there. He flew around and around and kept trying to hang on the walls, but would just slide off. I knew he must have been getting pretty tired. Finally, he flew through the open door and I went to go close it up, but then he flew back out and straight at me! I waited a bit longer as he continued to fly around the room in circles. He was starting to make me dizzy. He flew back into the attic and I shut the door.

I have to admit that thought of sleeping with the covers over my head ran through my mind all night, but as far as I know, he never came back. Now, sometime today, I have to go up and close the second door... I hope he's not planning an escape. I think I will name him Jake.

City Wildlife

I know what you are saying... "City Wildlife, you have GOT to be kidding." But no, I'm not. Living "downtown," Andrew and I have enjoyed the company of some of our favorite wildlife. They inclued:
the squirrel couple, Francis and Penelope,
the mourning doves, Edwardo and Phylis,
the sharp-shinned hawk, Chester,
the Siamese alley cat, Sampson (the name on his tag),
the stray dog that used to live under our porch, Shenandoah
and many more that have gone unnamed. We have a cardinal family, a purple finch couple, a flock of wrens, a momma rabbit and her 3 little ones who have recently left the nest. There is one member of the wildlife that we have not seen yet, but we know he exists. He likes to dig through my potted plants, tip over my water-starters, and eat our welcome mat. Andrew said that he would put up a webcam so we could catch him in action. I will keep you posted!

Such a Bad Afternoon on Such a Pretty Day

So, after a drive up to the doctor that wasn't worth the gas I burned getting there, I went to Keystone at the Crossing to check out the final days of the Parisian store closing event. After spending about an hour and a half in the mall, I came out to find my car had been broken into. The thief broke a small window in the back, but instead of smashing straight through it, he swung at it, and as a result, gashed the door in addition to breaking the window. He took out my back speakers, which I think cost me $70 about 6 years ago. He then rifled around in my glove compartment and in my work bag. He took my CD holder full of burned CDs, most of which were scratched so badly that they wouldn't play in the CD player, or they have epoxy on them and stick together (don't ask). He also took the brand new set of stirrup leathers that I bought last week. That probably pisses me off the most. But he did leave the stereo (which practically falls out on it's own) and the faceplate (which was laying on the floor). The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police came out, and was very prompt and polite. All-in-all, I guess I got off light. At least I didn't go to the gym this morning. If I had, my gym bag would have been in the car with my iPod. One good thing about being lazy.

Filling the House, Part II

While the Meyers family is filling their house with little human creatures, such as Jacob,


Congratulations Liz and Scott!!!

Jacob was born at 7:19pm Friday, July 6th, 2007. Weighing in at 8 lbs, 8 ozs, and 20.5 inches long. More pictures are on the web album


Andrew and are are filling our house with little kitty creatures. Meet Zoe.

Filling the House

I am experiencing something I haven't lived through in a while. A "bare" looking house. After graduation, of course I had the near-empty apartment, but it didn't stay like that long. Then when Andrew and I combined two 2-bedroom apartments, in to one 2-bedroom apartment, things were pretty out of control. Now, in a 3 bedroom house, things feel a bit empty. So, I bought a piece of furniture yesterday.

I think that it was a fabulous find! I went to a yard sale Friday afternoon thinking that I might find a couple of doors that may work as replacements to the 2 we are missing (one to a bedroom, and one to a closet). When I walked into the yard, I didn't see any doors. Even though I was tempted to just leave, I decided to look around a little bit. Then I saw a desk that looked promising. Andrew said that he wanted something to go in the foyer for the mail. Sitting in front of me was a slant top desk that I thought would be perfect. I took some pictures on my cell phone to show to Andrew. After getting approval, we went up yesterday to purchase. We lucked out, and it was still there, and they were able to find the key for it. I talked them down to $125, and now it's sitting in the foyer waiting to be re-finished. I'm really excited about it!!

Obesity in Children

There have been many reports on how childhood obesity is on the rise in America, and I have discovered why. You may be saying that there have already been explanations given, such as children eating more fast food and playing video games. But I think it goes back much further than that. As many people I know either have small children, are pregnant, or want to get pregnant, I tend to notice children a lot more, and how they behave in public and what their parents are doing. So here are my observations.

Kids are lazy and their parents make them that way. And I'm not talking about the 12 year old that wants to stay in and play Mario Kart all day. I'm talking about the 3 year old that is sitting in the stroller when they could easily be walking. Or the 4 year old I saw being carried from the car into Toys R Us. I have a few general rules now. If the child is old enough to pull down the sun visor on the stroller by him/herself, they are too old for a stroller. If you have to get a stroller that seats more than one child, and you're not the mother or father of multiples, the oldest one gets to hoof it. If the child no longer needs a booster seat at restaurants, he/she no longer gets to boost a ride from mom or pop. If you have to spend $50 on a pair of children's shoes, they should be worn out before the kid grows out of them.

Just think about these things. If the child gets more exercise, then they are more likely to take a nap. And wonderfully magic things happen in our sleep. Our body's recharge, they grow, there's a significant amount of brain activity that's processing the day's events. And, the caregiver gets to take a nap too. Hell, they've been toting the kid around all day, why shouldn't they get a little break?

I think there should be a long-term medical study done that looks at the number of incidents of ADD in elementary school children that did not get regular naps as toddlers.

And, I know what all the parents out there are saying. "How would you know what it's like, you don't have kids. It's easier to push, pull, or carry the kid around because it takes less time/less whining/less catching them when they get away from me." What can I say? I'm mean. Mean Aunt Sara. The kid will have to keep up, not whine and if they get away from me? Well, when they are lost and scared, they will learn not to run off. That, and they can't get too far when I get a tracking device embedded in their shoulder blade. Beep..... Beep... Beep..Beep.BeepBeepBeep. Gotcha!

Break time!

Take a break and watch this... Something to make you smile...

Shoes!

Andrew and I had a discussion over dinner this evening and the topic was shoes. Andrew claims that I have "a lot" of shoes. I was able to count approximately 15-17 pairs of shoes, which, I don't think is "a lot". So, in order to put some parameters on the relative term, I'm calling all females to leave a comment stating how many pairs of shoes you own. Of course this count includes flip-flops, athletic shoes, dress shoes, sandals, etc. Help me out girls!

For your viewing pleasure...

No, no one is getting naked... not in my little piece of the internet. You'll have to go else where for that nonsense. I wanted to let everyone know that I have updated my online album. It's the first link to the left, that's in German and you've never clicked on because either a) You didn't know where it would go and you didn't want to see nakedness or b) You are afraid of Wiener schnitzel. At any rate, there are new pictures including the not so recent trip down south and house pictures.

Enjoy!

The Big Move!

Andrew and I are moving into the new house on Saturday. It should be a day filled with fun and excitement! We've already taken down most of the wall paper. A boarder in one room still remains. The new paint colors are picked out, and we're ready to do some priming!

The move starts at 9am on Saturday for anyone who would like to help out. There will be something provided for both breakfast and lunch.

Crazy Weather!

So the weather recently has been crazy! It's in the 80's one day, and we have freeze warnings the next. And snow on Easter? It shouldn't be like that in Indiana. Canada maybe, but not Indiana. Those Canadians are the ones sending us this coldness. It's probably because we send them our pollution. Man, they fight dirty.

And, on the home front, we bought a house. We're moving on April 28th, and would appreciate any help we can get! We'll think of something to repay you with. Probably along the lines of food and beverages. :)

Adventures in Driving

If you are not aware, there is a blizzard warning for the northern suburbs of Indianapolis today. And did I go to work this morning? Yes. And just guess what I had to do at 5 o'clock. That's right, drive home in a blizzard. Here are the events that occurred on that lovely drive...

On the ramp from 70 east to 465 north, there were 4 disabled tractor trailers and several stuck cars in the span of about a quarter mile. Some people were waiting patiently for the road to clear and other where trying to maneuver around them. Me? I took the ramp to southbound 465, got off at the next exit and hopped back on north bound. Smart me.

About a mile from home, the roads looked pretty clear, so I sped up to go the speed limit. I'm tooling along, and then there is this truck/SUV thing behind me, following me pretty closely. Knowing that I would have to turn soon, and that my back turn signal lights are flaky, I sped up some more (about 5 mph over the limit) to give him adequate stopping distance. Yeah, I shouldn't have to do that for a tailgater, but in the end, I was looking out for my best interest. I start preparing to make my turn, and when I looking in my rear view mirror, I see cherries and berries. That's right, the tailgater was a cop. He pulled me over, and he just told me to slow down. I didn't tell him that he was the reason I sped up, but he didn't give me a ticket.

When I pull into the apartment complex, I find out pretty quickly that while they have plowed the road areas, there are not clear parking spaces. And it's not for a lack of free spaces, it's laziness from whom ever was in charge of plowing today. So I tried to pull into the short drive way behind our garage, and almost got stuck, so I backed out and pulled into a parking spot. I didn't get very far because my car got stuck in 8 inches of snow. Crap. I go inside and grab Andrew and we start shoveling the short driveway. About half way through, I notice that one of our neighbors are stuck, so Andrew and I go to help out. When we walked up, we soon found out why the 4-wheel drive vehicles wasn't able to move. They tried to drive through a 3 foot snow drift. I'm not even exaggerating. Who does that? So we help shovel them out. We went back to shoveling our drive way. As we finish, another neighbor comes home. The dude driving let his wife out so that she could clear him a spot to pull into. She was clearing it with a kitchen broom. What kind of man would make his wife clear a spot for him with a broom? I'll tell you what kind of man. A man that kept driving back and forth over the same spot in his Nissan Sentra, and when we asked him what he was doing, he said that he was "blazing a trail." There was maybe a half inch of snow on the ground. He was just packing it down so it could get icy over night.

Drivers amaze me.

Technologically advanced? Not so much...

This past weekend, Andrew and I attended a photography workshop weekend. It was 2 days of classes about taking pictures, from the basic building blocks, to cool techniques to try. One question that opened every class was, "How many are using digital?" and almost everyone raised their hand. Well, everyone but Andrew and I. We are still shooting in film. In fact, we are using completely manual cameras. Manual focus, manual f-stop, manual shutter speeds. I could use my camera without a battery, which is just used for the internal light meter. After one of the classes, I said to Andrew, "We have a robot to vacuum, and another to mop, but we don't shoot with digital cameras. Does that seem a little backwards?"

In related news, Andrew bought a Scooba from woot.com. It mops hard surface floors. Pretty cool.

Greenhouse Gas Emmisions

I read on cnn.com today that Prince Charles has canceled his annual skiing trip to the Swiss Alps in an effort to reduce his carbon footprint. I don't have exact numbers, but from my estimate, the trip would produce approximately 1,200 lbs of CO2. Also, CEOs are calling for action to create mandatory control of CO2 which has lead to the strange weather we've been having. Here's something to think about. First, just about everything that produces heat or energy emits CO2. It is a by-product of combustion and is exhaled from all aerobic beings. Think of that for a second. Any sort of combustion, think hot water, electricity, the backyard grill, all produce CO2. Your loved ones also produce CO2, sons, daughters, mom, dad, Fido too. So instead of Prince Charles canceling his trip to save 1,200 lbs one time, he could just die and save 74,840 lbs/yr. Yet another reason why stupid people shouldn't re-produce; they're using my allotment of CO2.

Looking...

I am looking for more links for my blog! If you would like to see something linked, let me know and I'll add it on!

Unrelated news... no house yet.

New Experience

Andrew and I have been trying to go out and see more of Indianapolis' night life recently. Because we live on the far northeast side, getting downtown can be a chore, and we've been home-bodies recently. Last night, Andrew found a cover band that he wanted to hear, so we headed down to the Tip Top Tavern on the corner of Capitol and 14th. As I always do when I walk into a bar, I focused on getting to an area that we would be comfortable. So with my eyes forward, we headed to the bar for some drinks. While Andrew ordered the drinks, I started looking around. My first thought was, "There are a lot of women with short haircuts." Then as I looked around some more, I realized that Andrew was one of maybe 6 or 7 males in the bar. Then it dawned on me. I was surrounded by lesbians. Andrew and I found seats, listened to the band, and discussed why there were so many lesbians at the bar. We decided that it wasn't actually a gay bar, but rather the band had a large lesbian following. That said, I'm not sure if Andrew would recommend going there again. He felt a touch out of place.

Up in the gym just working on her fitness

When I first moved to Indy, one of the first things I did was buy a bigger cage for Miss Chica. (For anyone who doesn't know, Miss Chica is my pet chinchilla). Her previous cage was ~36"x18"x24" which isn't bad for a smaller pet, but I could tell she just needed much more room. Her new cage is now ~36"x24"x48". Just to give you an idea of how big that really is, when I was putting the shelves in it, I had to get inside of it. Anyway, when I bought the new cage, I also bought her a wheel to run on since she doesn't get much exercise. But I was disappointed because she never ran in it. I could tell from the dust build-up on top. In fact I never saw her even get in it. That is, until last night. When Andrew and I came home from seeing "Happy Feet" at the IMAX, (good times!), I went in to give her a treat and there she was sitting in the wheel. When I reached in to give her the treat, she started running! I was the cutest thing! Maybe her New Year's resolution was to lose some ounces.

269999.9.....

My car turned over 270,000 miles yesterday. When I pulled into work, I was 1.63 miles away, and knowing that I would forget about it, I thought about driving around the parking lot until it turned. I didn't. But I am accepting gifts, preferably cash donations which will go toward my new car fund.

A Story

While this may not be as entertaining as Leyer's spider story, it is one that I experienced, and am now telling you...

One morning, a couple of months ago, I was getting ready for work when I heard a strange noise coming from the hall. I walked out of the bedroom and saw a cord plugged into an outlet, going down the hall, and then down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, I see Andrew with the vacuum cleaner. I yell down to him, "What are you doing?" Turning off the vacuum he says, "I saw a spider! It was as big as my hand! I had to suck him up!" I reply, "What? A spider as big as your hand? Was it a tarantula? Did you just suck up someone's pet tarantula? Are you trying to clog the vacuum?" Then he carries the vacuum upstairs, and I ask him what he's going to do with it. He replies, "Flush him down the toilet," very matter-of-fact-ly. Peering through the clear plastic of the waste canister, I see a lot of cat hair and other dirt. "You can't flush all of that, it will clog the toilet," I reply. Then we stood there for a minute just looking at one another.
"Can we just dump it outside?" I ask.
"No, I saw this spider outside a few days ago, and it got in, so it will just get in again."

Curious as to what this spider looked like that would make it so memorable, I took the bagless canister out of the vacuum. Just then the spider made a dash for the rim! Startled, I dropped the canister. Thankfully, instead of making a run for it when it hit the ground, the spider stayed inside, and I quickly returned the canister to the vacuum. Then Andrew and I devised a plan. First, Andrew armed himself with a plastic bowl. Then, I removed the canister and dumped it on the floor. As the spider ran from the pile of cat hair, Andrew trapped him under the plastic bowl.


I then returned the plastic canister to the vacuum, and used the vacuum to suck up the spider again.
It was then disposed of via the sewage system.

Lack of Comments

So, I must have offended someone with my last post. Or something. There has been a significant lack of comments on the blog recently. No love being given. What's with that yo?

In unrelated news, I think I'm going to hold public viewings of me on the balance ball. We all know I'm probably going to fall off, and since I'm getting old, I'll probably break a hip or something. Tickets will be very cost-effective.

Oh hated thing!

One thing I will never understand are those hideous e-mails that say you have to pass them on or something terrible will happen to you. I just got one that said that one person deleted it and her boyfriend was killed in an accident and one person didn't send it out to enough people and was hit by a car. Why would you send that on to someone? Why wouldn't you just keep that to yourself? Why would you spread bad karma? It's kinda like telling the world about Jesus. Somewhere in the Bible, it says that those who have never heard the word of God will not be punished because they are ignorant. So why would you go to a small village in Africa, tell everyone, and then get upset when they don't latch on to your religion? You've just sentenced them to eternity in hell when previously they may have spent their afterlife elsewhere. I know people like to "spread the good word" and that they are "sent by God" but at the same time, they are sentencing people to hell, or in the e-mail case, bad luck. If they want good fortune, they can seek it out themselves. Don't spam me with that crap!

Christmas Oddities

Sitting at home wrapping presents with my mom, she asked me if I wanted to take my Christmas ornaments home with me. I replied, "Not this year, but as we take them off the tree, we can put them into a separate box for next year." That began a conversation on the ornaments. We usually get one every year from one of my crafty aunts. We open them on Christmas Eve, and put them on the tree. Sounds pretty normal, right? Well, when it is time to take the tree down, we remove the ornaments, and put them back into the box they came in. Sometimes we even re-wrap them with the wrapping paper that they came in. That's odd. Also, a few years ago, a friend of my dad gave my brother a lizard for Christmas because he thought my brother needed a friend. Also odd.

Big Weekend!

It's going to be a very eventful weekend! Today I'm going shopping with friends, and tonight may lead to lots of crafts. Then tomorrow, I have a full day of baking to be done with lots of fudge, cookies, breads and whatever else my heart desires, and probably some more crafting in there somewhere! Good times! I know you're jealous! :)

Perfect Placement

Today I realized that the vents on my car are in the perfect place. While driving straight, the vents blow out at the same spot that I hold my hands. YAY! It helps a lot when you forget your gloves, and it's like 5 degrees.

Season's Greetings!

Like every year before this one, I have started putting off my Christmas shopping. Determined not to wait until Christmas Eve, I am calling for gift ideas! Specifically for one boyfriend who has everything I would ever want him to have, a brother who has just moved out on his own, a mother who really doesn't need anything, and a sister with a baby boy on the way. Any ideas?

Dentist

Yesterday I went to the dentist for a cleaning and check-up. While I was sitting there, with torture tools in my mouth, I had a vision. It was one of the hygentist getting one of those silly picks stuck between my teeth. I would then have to walk around all day with the metal handle hanging out of my mouth. I was a scary thought. But, she was good, and I am not a metal mouth.

In related news, when the dentist was finished with the exam, I asked him, "Are you from Richmond?" and he said yes. Then I asked, "Is your mother's name Janet?" and with a really confused look, he said yes. I then spilled the beans to let him know that one of his cousins is my dad. It was a good time.

O-H-I-O

Blog Update

I think I have the calendar fixed. I'm not sure why it was showing that I was busy all the time, but it doesn't now. Also, I have started a web album and it's in the side bar, so go look at the pretty pictures!

More "Horner" Tots

Congrats to Liz and Scott!

Public Notice

Announcement:

I realize that I lost contact with a lot of people while I was living in Evansville, and working crazy hours. I am happy to announce that I no longer work crazy hours. More than likely, when you are home from work, so am I. My weekends are no longer devoted to traveling long distances to see my boyfriend. In fact, some weekends I would like to get away without him. So if you're thinking to yourself, "I haven't talked to Sara in a while." Maybe you should just call. You can stop avoiding me and blowing me off. Frankly, it's hurting my feelings.

Girl's Weekend

I want to have a destination Girl's Weekend. To just go some where warm and sunny for a weekend minus the boys. Any takers?

Minor Setback

Andrew and I fired our real estate agent this week. It was messy. He didn't take it gracefully, and while I admit it was kinda abrupt, I still think that there is no need to badger us about it.

So it has put us at a minor set back on the buying process. We still haven't found a house yet but it's not for a lack of trying.

I was talking to a guy at work, and he said that when he bought his first house, he really wished there was truely someone out there for the buyer. And I think he has a vaild point. When you think about it, why would a buyer's agent help to talk down the price of the house, that's just money coming out of his/her pocket. But a true "buyer's agent" would be doing just that. We'll see how our next agent is.

Probably the best advice I've gotten about the house buying experience is that you have to be willing to walk away. If you're in negotiations and you're not getting what you want, just leave. I think that will be hard for me.

Emotional Roller Coaster

On Sunday, Andrew was listening to the game as I did random cooking and cleaning around the apartment. Very stereotypical rolls for a Sunday afternoon. One of us was calm and centered during this time, and the other one was yelling and screaming, crying and laughing, excited, happy and depressed within about a 2 hour time period. Ok, so maybe not actually crying. That's an exaggeration. But the boy had more mood swings than a sophomore in high school. While I admire his passion for the game we know as Football, I will never understand it!

Easy to use!

Recently, Andrew and I bought a Roomba vacuum because we couldn't keep up with the amount of hair that the cats (Lilly and Stanley) leaving on our carpet. We have the "scheduler" which typically runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we can set it to go at any time, or even manually start it. Even though I had just vacuumed on Monday, yesterday morning, Lilly thought that the carpet was a bit too dirty for her, so she took it upon herself to start the Roomba. I just wish I had caught it on video

Hot Moves!

The newest question here in Fishers, is "Was that a hot move?" Andrew has a hard time believing that I can have hot moves in Lestat. (Note: Lestat is my '90 Chevy Lumina, or if you're a Hammie, it's a Buick). I'm out to prove him wrong. Or to scare him. Take your pick.

Also, Andrew and I went to Kona Grill at the Clay Terrace Shopping Center. A mistake we will not make again. I had heard the place advertised a lot, and what can I say, I'm a consumer whore. We looked at their website for any specials they may be having, to find that they have a reverse happy hour from 10pm until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. So we go, we get seated inside, and are asked for our drink orders. Andrew got a beer, and I, a water. The waitress did not know the 4 beers that were on tap. I've been to places with like 30 beers on tap and this chick couldn't remember 4?? After getting our drinks, she came back to get our food order. I asked her about the happy hour specials, and she said, "The happy hour is for outdoor dining only." That's it. It wasn't followed by a, "I can move you if you'd like." or "You weren't given your choice of seating?" At that point, we almost left. We decided to stay. Andrew had sushi for the first time, and liked some of it. But my water went dry halfway through the meal, which is bad with wasabi, and no matter how many times I slurped at it, she refused to refill my water. She checked on us once during the meal. Also, while she gave us chopsticks, we didn't get any napkins. She had just set the tables around us, so we just took 2 napkin-wrapped silverware bundles from the closest table. There was no one else in the restaurant. Then she came by the table, noticed the missing napkins, and made this face, this "Where did they go?" face. Then she looked at us with the napkins folded neatly in our laps, and the shiny utensils on the table in front of her. Her face then said, "I can't believe they unset my table!!" Get over it.

Now what really gets me about this whole experience, is that as soon as I ordered a water, and asked about the happy hour, she pegged me as a cheap customer. So I got crappy service, so I gave her a crappy tip. I have a rule about happy hours. Even though the food may be half price, I believe in giving a full price tip. Hell, one time I was at a fast food restaurant, and the guy ahead of me was being crappy to the girl working. She couldn't help it that the line was so long, or that no one was helping her. She hadn't done anything wrong, in fact, she was holding her own up there. So when I ordered, I gave her a $10 bill, for a $5 tab and told her to keep the change.

As a side note... When will it be my turn?

Sleepy Girl

To Merkle and the Mean Honkies:

I apologize for falling asleep on your couches. It's nothing against you, it's just that your seating is just so darn comfy. Next time, put me in a high-backed wooden chair.

In related news, Sunday afternoon house hunting season closed yesterday due to the opening of football season. Silly padded men running around after a dead pig...

Why the strange look?

Twice this week I've told someone that I had never met before that I was a chemical engineer. Both times I received an "Oh, really?" look. Like a female could not be an engineer. Maybe it's because I'm such a hottie... oh wait, no. Eh... maybe the blonde hair throws them off or something. Maybe I need to wear my glasses more. Or not.

What's bigger? $2.83 Gas or Shots Fired?

Last night, the boy and I joined the Mean Honkies for some martinis and desserts, followed by a couple bottles of wine, and some trivia games. Good times good times. (Even if we couldn't convince the boys to take us to the Talbot Street Drag Show). Boys are funny when it comes to games. We tried to play Trivial Pursuit (guys vs gals), but with my BAC rising, it was difficult to read the questions, and answering them was nearly impossible. But when we broke out the Tri Bond, we kicked ass!!

On the way home, while driving down 86th street, on our way to get some White Castle goodness, we passed a gas station. I was impressed by the sign advertising $2.83/gal, and while pointing this out, Andrew and I are quite certain we heard some gun fire. No harm was done, or rather nothing made the front page. We were able to get our White Castle and eat in peace.

Fair Season!

Well, it's that time of the year again, Fair season! I love going to county and state fairs. I like to go and see and pet the animals, especially the cows. Don't ask me why, but I love petting cows. In fact, I want a cow. A Jersey cow.

I was able to pet one at the Hamilton County fair last week. It was just a baby.

I also love fair food. No where else in the world can you get a Milky Way candy bar that has been put on a stick, dipped in donut-like batter, deep fried and then smothered in powdered sugar. In fact, when I went to the Minnesota State Fair 2 years ago, everything was on a stick. Hot dogs, pork chops, chicken... no need for a plate. Andrew's favorite was the deep fried cheese curds... I don't blame him.

Disappointment...

Today after test driving cars (I'm getting closer to retiring Lestat), Andrew and I went to UDF for some malts.
A little background info...
UDF (United Dairy Farmers for all of you out of UDF territory) is a gas station that has an ice cream counter in it. They brag that their peach ice cream has real peaches in it, and that their strawberry ice cream has real strawberries in it, and they have some interesting seasonal ice creams too... like pumpkin pie and egg nog. Until I was a sophomore in college, they offered a "Mocha" flavored milkshake and malt, which naturally was my favorite. One summer while I was home from college, I went into one and ordered my usual mocha malt, and the gal behind the counter said that they no longer had that flavor. I was crushed.
Well, today I saw listed on their flavor board was "Mocha Cappuccino" (which in and of itself is like saying PIN number, because Mocha is simply chocolate flavored cappuccino). I was so excited! However, when I ordered, the gal said that they only had the vanilla flavored cappuccino. I didn't understand. So I she pulls out the gallon of syrup for flavoring. I asked if she could just make the malt with chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. She said yes, but it would cost an extra $0.50 for the flavoring. Again, I didn't understand why she would be charging me more for using chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla to make the malt. I mean, there aren't different prices on the individual flavors when I order a scoop, why should there be when I order a different flavored malt. Then she let the cat out of the bag when she said, "We use unflavored ice cream to make the malts and shakes." I tried to argue, but they said that they had been making them with unflavored ice cream for 20 years. For years I watched them make my malt with the same ice cream labeled "vanilla" in the front case and they just added a squirt of chocolate syrup and a squirt of coffee flavoring. And from this I had always assumed that when you ordered a strawberry shake, they would use the strawberry ice cream with the real strawberries. No, it's all fake. It all comes out of those damn flavoring syrups. A company who "prides" themselves with putting "real" strawberries or peaches in their "fresh" summer favorites are substituting nature's finest flavors with impurities like high fructose corn syrup and red dye #40. I'm not sure if I can ever go there again.

Damn Indiana drivers

Seriously!!! Can you please learn how to drive? Let's see... a couple of weeks ago, I was on my way to work. There was a accident blocking the right 3 lanes. There was a guy in an SUV sitting next to me as I was approaching the accident. Then, he was half-way into my lane. Of course I lay on the horn, and start yelling. They guy looks at me while he's on his cell phone. C'mon! Can't you tell the other person that you're in a traffic jam and you actually have to pay attention???? I mean damn... you're about to cause an accident you moron!

Attire

This past weekend, Andrew and I attended a wedding, and, as they always do, it sparked wedding conversation. When asked how formal he would like his wedding, Andrew responded with, "I don't know, how formal can you make a Wookie costume?"

Something tells me that I may want to stock up on Stormtrooper outfits this Halloween.

Greatest Spectacle in.... Racing?

The race is Sunday, and everyone in Indy has race fever. Today at work, half of the engineers left at lunch to attend Carb day. From what I understand, tonight and tomorrow night are like "Girls Gone Wild" out in Speedway. Who would name a city Speedway? And who would want to live that close to the track. Honestly. A bunch of drunks making noise and peeing in your yard for practically the entire month of May. More power to them. I wonder how much cash they reel in roping off public roads in order to sell you a spot for a few hours. But I will be there come Sunday afternoon. Sitting in section H. I do have to say that I had fun on Bump day peeking in the garages and spying on the pits. It should be entertaining.

In related news, go to Audra's blog and look at the video clip. It's good for a laugh.

Mac 'n' cheese box collector

A segment on the food network showcased a man who collects mac 'n' cheese boxes. They must have run out of ramen footage. After collecting 365 boxes, he concluded with, "I guess if they keep making different boxes, I'll never stop collecting." BRILLIANT!

Daily Grind

As June approaches, so is my anniversary. This June, I will have been a "productive member of society" for 10 year. No, I wasn't released from the Joliet Penitentiary a decade ago... I entered the workforce silly! You know, to pay for all of the Baby Boomers' retirements. (Enjoy it Dad!) Since taking my first job at 14, I have had 10 different jobs. Interesting huh? At any rate, only 30+ more years to go!!!

New Kitty

Just after Easter, Andrew and I aquired another cat. She is white with dark ears and a dark tail. She's sweet, and stays in the bed with us almost all night. She's getting along well with Stanley, but Stanley hates it when the new kitty whines at dinner time. The new kitty, Lilly, likes Chica too. She likes the little gray thing so much that she climbs into the cage with her sniffs at the rodent's dense fur. Maybe I'll have pictures of their new found friendship soon.

Downy Ball

I've become a nerdy Suzy Homemaker. Click on the title to learn about what I just looked up on HowStuffWorks.com. Don't worry though, dumb Dora still comes to visit!

The Merger

As many people know, the one thing about moving in with Andrew that I was dreading was the "merging of things." Both of us have very pack-rat like tendencies, and both of us have been living on our own for almost 2 years. This means that we now have 2 of everything. Two sofas, two chairs, two irons, two vacuum cleaners, two sets of silverware (one service for 8 and one service for 16), two sets of dishes, and the list continues.

In all of these duplicates, there are a few that I would like to point out as being exceptional:
4 containers of coarse ground black pepper
5 jars of creamy peanut butter
4 big bottles of vegetable oil, and one small one

I don't ask anymore.

Strangely enough, with all of these duplicates, we are still without a (real) dining room table.

Who knew?

Slowly but surely the unpacking is getting done, but I've lost a lot of steam. One thing that I can't get over is how much kitchen crap I have. I unpacked about 5 boxes; filling every cabinet. Nothing else was labeled "Kitchen" so I thought I was in the clear. As I have been sorting through the boxes, I have found 3 more! Where the hell did all of this come from? And where the hell is it all going to go? Definitely going to need a trip to Lowes to get some more shelves or magic cabinets!

Unpacking

Wow! Unpacking sucks! Especially while trying to fit all of my stuff in and around all of Andrew' stuff. He already has everything where he wants it, so I don't want to come in and just turn his whole apartment upside down! Yesterday was a good unpacking day. I thought I got a lot done, and emptied about 12 or so boxes. Today is another story. It's already noon, and I have to go to a physical thingie for the new job, and I've only unpacked 2 boxes and done 2 loads of laundry. I wanted to surprise Andrew with a half-way normal apartment for his birthday (that's right, send him some joy!), but the only thing he's going to get is a broken network. Yeah, I broke it. Not sure how, but "He's died." HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!

What? I don't have to work weekends anymore?

Last full day in Evansville, and I know the question on everyone's mind is, "Are you packed yet?"
Don't you people know me better than that?? Of course I'm not packed, sillies!

But just because I'm a procrastinator, doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to moving. I'm looking forward to being re-connected with the world. For the past 6 months, my work schedule has not allowed for any type of social life. When I was awake and at home, everyone else was either at work or asleep. Talk about being cut off! And I'm also looking forward to not having to plan weekends to see the boy, and actually plan weekends to see friends!!! For everyone who hasn't heard from me since I moved to E-ville, I am alive, and I apologize for not keeping in touch!

Men in Hardware Stores

Yesterday, I went in search of a new tool. First I went to Lowes. I am actually quite fond of hardware stores. Since I practically grew up in one, they feel like home. I especially like the bathroom accessories. And I would say that I am somewhat handy. At least I know the difference between a table saw and a circular saw, and if you needed a box of finishing nails, I wouldn't have to ask for help. But I digress.
I go straight to the tool section, and on my way there, an employee stops me and asks if I need any help. I ask where XYZ tools are and he directs me to they small display where they are located. I spend some time there looking at the different brands and models, but I have some very specific features that I want in this tool. The guy comes back and asks me if I need any help. I told him that I was doing fine, and then he says, "We just put one of those tools on the clearance table in the back; it was $19.95, and now it's $9.95. Let's go take a look at it." So I go all the way back, and he shows me the one on clearance, and it has neither one of the features I have dubbed as "must haves". Yes, I am female, but that doesn't mean I'm going to buy something inferior just because it is on the clearance table. If he truly wanted to help me, he would have asked me what I was looking for and be able to compare products from hands on knowledge. The customer service sucked, so I walked out.

Puppies!

It is official; I am unemployed and will continue to be until March 13th. As I left my former place of employment for the last time yesterday, I was reminded of a fond memory that I thought I should share.

One Sunday night, I was leaving work at about 11:30 pm, eager to get home and catch a few hours of sleep before I had to be back in at 6:30 the next morning. As I was driving down the road, I noticed something ahead walking in the street. At first, I thought it was a small deer, but as I got closer, I realized that it was a dog. A good sized dog in fact. For those who don't know, I'm not terribly fond of larger dogs. If I can kick it, it's fine in my book. So there I was trying to decide whether or not I should pick up this dog and take it back to his or her home. This type of rescue could take all night between catching the dog, figuring out where it's supposed to go, and then actually finding it. But then again, it was late, and there was a lot of semi trucks driving on this particular road, and the chance of the dog getting injured was high.

I stopped my car in the middle of the road, and got out; leaving my door open for a quick refuge if needed. I called out to the dog, and to my surprise, it was a young (maybe 8-10 months) boxer puppy. Usually loving dogs, my fears subsided and the dog came towards me. Picking up speed, it soon hit me that this dog wasn't coming to me, it was aiming at the open car door. Before I knew it, I had a hyper boxer puppy jumping all around my car! From the front seat to the back; sniffing and licking everything! Against my better judgment, I sat down in the driver's seat, to try to get a peek at the collar. The only thing I could read was "Daisy". Reading the address was nearly impossible with the lack of light, so I put the car in to drive to in search of light. Daisy enjoyed the car ride, sitting on my lap and licking my face as I was trying my hardest to see around her big head and reach the steering wheel. I don't like dogs in my face because when I was five, a St. Bernard tried to use my head for a chew toy so I spent the entire time driving trying to coax Daisy into the passenger seat without her turning on me. Finally, I came to a well lit parking lot, and was able to read the address and return Daisy to her owner without incident.

Help Wanted

WANTED:
A couple of burly men (who like free food and beer) to help me unload a moving truck. Must reside or be willing to travel (for free food and beer) to Indianapolis Feb 18 or 19. Serious inquiries only.

Movin' on

Well, I did it. I turned in my resignation today. In less than 3 weeks I will be living in Indy. It hasn't sunk in yet... will someone please pinch me?!?

Moving Hassles Part III

Today, I received my "overflow shipment" (i.e. we couldn't get it right the first time and lost your stuff, so now we're going to take 3 times as long to re-unite you with your remaining items), and it was interesting. They brought my desk top which is awesome so now I can actually put my desk together, but they also brought in a weird basket. I told the guy that it wasn't mine. They didn't believe me. Now, I would know if I had a style lapse and bought that ugly thing, but no... it was in my lot, so it had to be mine. I had to explain that it may have been the right lot number, but the item number was too high. They also tried to give me a table. It was a nice looking table, and some may say that I should have taken it, but that would be stealing. I just feel sorry for it's rightful owner. It was in MN, now it's in IN, and I bet they live in AZ or something.

Moving Hassles Part II

When I received notice that I was to be transferred to the big E-ville, I arranged for a moving truck to come pick me up. The closest date they could do this was July 6th, even though my last day in Minneapolis wasn't until July 11th or something, but whatever, it was the busy season. So my items were put into storage, and then brought to me. Even though I moved into my apartment here on July 20th, they couldn't bring me my items until Aug 2nd. Not terribly bad. When they brought my items, the movers had several damaged items, such as my couch, my amoire, and my dresser mentioned in "Moving Hassles" (Part I), along with some missing items such as the top to my desk. I immediately called in the missing items, and submitted my claim for the damaged goods on Aug 19. Slowly but surely, I've gotten the damaged items fixed as much as they could, and the desktop was found in Minnesota. I think they found it in the beginning of September, but they didn't call me to tell me, I had to call them. I've called several times to get it delivered, but it hasn't made it out of Minnesota. The operations planner told me that it has been scheduled for several trucks but never made it on.... Who's ass got fired for that???
Anyway, it will be 5 months this week that I have been without a desktop and it's really getting on my nerves to sit on the floor with a keyboard in my lap. I think I'm calling BBB.

Tornado

I have survived the big wind. The tornado was about 2 miles from me and I heard it go by, but I slept through most of the storm. From what I understand, that's why there were so many fatalities. No one was awake to hear the alarms. All in all I feel pretty lucky for not being harmed, but my heart goes out to everyone who has lost a love one.

Thank you everyone for your calls and concerns.

It's odd to see Evansville IN on national news.

Who in Arkansas doesn't own a gun?

An excerpt from a recent conversation with my Andrew....

"I just love the Bengal's pregame animation... You know, after the coin toss, where they show the bengal tiger prowling through the ancient ruins with the Bengal's greats of the past... and then they show the tiger tearing apart the flag of the other team. Then they play 'Welcome to the Jungle' and it just gets me so pumped! If I knew I was going to wrestle a 5-point buck, then I would watch that, and that deer wouldn't have a chance!"

I don't think I will ever make soup with dinner anymore... the conversation between it and the main course is very strange.

I don't know anyone at Duke

A random article that in no way relates to my life or anyone I know...

..."In relating the history of the troublesome house at 203 Watts St. On the Trinity Park listserv, Durham police officer Mark Gottlieb related an incident in which a resident of the home, Jason Matthews, met with three police officers on Oct. 5.

"[Matthews] stated he has been arrested four times now and cannot afford to keep going to jail," Gottlieb wrote. "He asked what could be done to decrease complaints from the neighbors and allow the residents to continue to enjoy a social life. We explained to him that people need to be respectful, clean up after themselves, keep the noise down, and not drink or urinate in public.

"It's a little surprising that someone smart enough to be a Duke student couldn't figure that out for himself. But we're sure it was a sincere request, and it sounds like the police officers gave some pretty direct and valuable advice. Did Matthews follow it?Nah.

Three days later, the police were called back to 203 Watts St. A party was taking place at which students were drinking, screaming, blasting music and urinating on neighbors' houses. When a neighbor objected to trash being thrown on her lawn, someone threw a beer bottle at her. It missed.

And what of Jason Matthews? Chalk up arrest number five. Maybe the next time he should write down those helpful hints and keep them handy. "...

Week's end
The Herald-Sun
Oct 15, 2005

I wonder if those 5 arrests also includes the arrest in Spain? Wait, this story is in no way related to my life or anyone I know...

Germans

I am amazed at the number of exceptional people who have come out of Germany. Not that I have anything against Germans, they are lovely people, but the culture has put a great burden on those wanting to excel. My pet freshman called me earlier this week from this great country, and he informed me that instead of the American culture of addressing someone with their highest title, such as Dr. Morin, instead of Mr. Morin, they use all saluations. Say I were to go on to get my PhD in Chemical Engineering, obtain my PE, and go to teach at University of Berlin. I would then be addressed as Doctor Professor Engineer Sara. Actually, it would be more like Abstreichmesserin Professorin Chemikerin Sara... or something. Why would you want to put that type of burden on people. No one would ever want to talk to you for fear they would forget one of the titles!

Calling all Victoria's Secret professionals!

I was graciously given a 4-day weekend from my employer, so today, I spent in Chicago doing housewife-y things while Andrew was at work. I started my day with some laundry. I had brought some with me, and Andrew also had a lot to be done. I’ve informed the dear boy that I will not be doing his laundry again until he invests in a laundry basket. I lugged a HUGE canvas bag stuffed full of dirty clothes down to the laundry room, and nearly took out my shoulder. And then after washing, drying and folding all the nice clean clothes, I had to shove it all back into the bag to transport it back up to the ninth floor. While I was folding, I remembered an article I had read recently about organizing underwear drawers. The article basically said that once you organize your underroos, you can take over the world. I'm not sure how true this is, but it did bring up a question in my mind.

How many people actually fold their underwear?

Personally, I'm big fan of the splashes of color co-mingling with out barriers or chaperones, but the idea of a neatly organized drawer of undergarments intrigues me. While this may be TMI, I like my panties like I like my bras; cute, but full coverage. So this brings up an even more intriguing question.... How do you fold a thong?

Cracker Barrel

This past weekend, Dianna was visiting in Evansville, so after a hard 3rd shift, we went out to breakfast. My, was it an experience.

First, we were seated at a small table near the main walkway, and on this small table was the tip left by the previous occupants. When the hostess sat us, she took the tip (only $1), and put it under a salt shaker at the edge of the table. Now, as hostess, she knows which waiter/waitress is assigned to each area, so when she made the effort to move the tip, why didn't she just give it to who it belonged to?

So then our waiter (a young man about 20-22) comes by and says, "...mumble... I'll be right back to take our drink orders..mumble." Why? We are 2 people, and it's only the drink order! Anyway.

The drinks came, and our meals were ordered. It took a bit longer than it should have to get the food, but when it came, Dianna had asked for sausage, but bacon was brought instead. So, the waiter said, "Sorry, mumble mumble mumble, I'll get you your sausage... mumble."

The sausage comes out with a friendly, "mumble mumble mumble niner mumble" from the waiter. Dianna and I just look at one another.

As we ate, our liquid refreshments begane to dwindle, and like a good waiter, he noticed, and told us, "I'm going to go eat my protein bar, then I'll be back to fill your lemonade and coffee."

HUH??? Do we need to know when he needs to eat his protein bar?

It gave us both a good laugh.

Oh, and that tip on the table, it was left during our whole meal.

Yes, I am still alive. I finally got internet in my apartment, and Andrew hooked me up with WIRELESS! I like it a lot! Anyway.

My prayers go out to all the Katrina victims. I can't even watch the news anymore because it just breaks my heart. I hope that all of your loved ones are safe.

Off again...

So for those of you who don't know, I moved to Evansville IN this past weekend. Good times, and extremely hot! New addy... if you need it, let me know, but the cell phone number is still the same. I did see the cutest thing the other day. A mama duck and her 6 ducklings were crossing Evansville's largest road. I'm happy to report that they made it across safely! If you want to come down to visit, you're more than welcome to, but be advised, I don't actually get my belongings from the moving company until Aug 1. Also, I won't have any cable or internet until then I think, but the library has been a great resource for me thus far.

Airport Drama

As I was sitting in Terminal 3 of CVG today, I felt a little hungry so I decided to go over to the BBC (Bluegrass Brewing Company), which I do not recommend. First, I stand outside the door next to the sign I thought said "Please wait to be seated." Several times one of the waitresses just kinda stared at me. I was thinking to myself, "Aren't you at least going to greet me and tell me that someone will be with me shortly?" But no. Finally, after standing there for about 10 minutes without anyone talking to me, I look at the sign again and it actually read, "Please seat yourself." So, I can't read, but that doesn't mean that as one of the waitresses passed me, they couldn't politely say, "You can seat yourself, ma'm." So I asked said waitress if I could just sit anywhere, thinking to myself, please show me where your section is so I know where not to sit. So I pick a table and sit down. My waitress wasn't much better. She let my water run out 3 times, waited 20 minutes after I was finished (and reading a book) to bring me my check, I watched her eat waffle fries that had fallen off of someone's plate and on to the counter, and she kept calling me "hun". So, if you ever find yourself in Terminal 3 at CVG, just go to McDonalds.

Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms. Either you love 'em or you hate 'em. I'm in the first category. I love to sit and watch the rain coming down, hear the thunder and catch the occasional lightning bolt flash across the sky. I think they are great. I heart thunderstorms!

The main reason why I did not become an ME

People often ask me why I became a chemical engineer. I give them the generic, "I was good at math and science and I liked chemistry in high school." But no one has ever asked me why I chose chemical over mechanical, and electrical. I think the following story sums it up nicely.

A few months ago my shredder stopped working. I started to pry the plastic cover off of it. I'm not sure what I was going to do once it was off though. I thought I would see a bad connection or something and fix it with my invisible sodering iron. At any rate, I couldn't get the cover off, so I gave up and just went out and bought a new one. I told Andy that he could have the broken one because he's way better at the whole mechanical thing. He's not that great at remembering to take things that are hidden in my closet, so needless to say, it's still here.

This morning I went to use my new shredder, and it wouldn't work. I tried a different outlet, and it still wouldn't work. So I took it off of it's little waste bin to see if there was anything stuck in the little shredder teeth. It was then that I noticed something. There is a little switch along the side which fit into a slide on the side of the waste bin. Kinda like the switch on a washing machine. I made sure the shredder was squarely on the waste bin, crossed my fingers, and turned it on. And wouldn't ya know.. it worked.

So I got the old on out of the closet, and did the same thing, and now it works. A little "cosmetic" damage, but still running well.

I should learn how to trouble shoot better. :)

Backbrace

As I was flipping through channels, I paused on Maury to see something I could not believe. There was a woman on with 65MM breasts. Now, it's no secret (even though I've tried to keep it one) that I am not a flat-chested girl, but 65MM!!! Each one of her breasts were the size of a basket ball! And she wasn't a big lady... she looked like she actually had a pretty small frame over all, but it's hard to see past all that boob! I just kept thinking to myself, How is she standing up straight???

I hate people

There's this guy at work who doesn't do anything. Literally, doesn't do anything. He's a union hourly worker who comes in at 4:30am even though he's not supposed to be there until 6:00am. Now, he gets paid for these extra 2 hours even though none of the other employees are paid before their shift starts. Why do you ask... because he imputs the electronic time cards. If that strikes you as wrong, it's because it is. And you may be saying to yourself, "What does he do for that extra hour and a half?" Simple. He sleeps. He sleeps from 4:30am until 6:00am and then again from about 9:00am until 11:00am, and then again from 3:00am to 4:00am. During the rest of the time, he's sitting outside smoking or playing slots on the computer and bitching about something. So why do they keep him around? I'm not sure. There are a few tasks that only he does, but that doesn't mean he should. He does the shift paper work which the supervisor should be doing, he does another report which the accountant should be doing, and he does the electronic time cards, again, something the supervisors should be doing. Why is he still around? That's because he's been there for 44 years and he's supposed to know everything. Truth is, he doesn't know jack shit. And I'm not saying that I know everything, but I do know that the only things he says is stuff that other people have said to him. Basically he's an overpaid parrot. How overpaid? $100,000/yr overpaid. I really wonder about this company sometimes

Hotels

So recently I've been staying in a lot of hotels. And I have to wonder... does anyone actually depend on the shampoo (and sometimes conditioner) that the hotel provides? I know that I usually just stick them in my bag, as a bonus, but I never actually use them. When I go on a trip, I make sure I bring my own. Maybe it's a girl thing. The idea that you are dedicated to one particular type of hair care products and you (and your hair) would feel extremely bad if you were to have a one-night stand with the sample-sized hotel version. Would hotels be better off leaving these items at the front desk and supplied on an "as-needed" biases? Or would then the customers feel cheated if they didn't have the 0.0005 oz of clean waiting in a small basket with the facial bar and a wash cloth?

Traveling

So I haven't blogged in forever. I think it's due to the fact that I haven't slept in my own bed more than 5 times in the past 31 days. But I have to admit, traveling is interesting. Like yesterday, I had a flight attendant that spoke about 3 words per minute. Talk about annoying. Or like my flights to and from Philly that were delayed 4 hours... each. Damn weather. I do have one recommendation for everyone out there. When they ask for volunteers to take a later flight, do it, but not right way. I signed up to take a later flight and ended up on my original flight... but in first class. Hot Damn. Everyone should send me some love!

Luggage

I will be going on a very long trip soon (2 weeks!) and I thought it necessary to buy a piece of luggage that would be able to hold everything I'll need while I'm on my little adventure. I hit my local TJMaxx for the largest piece they had. It's a 30" Samsonite with a built-in suiter, and a hangie thing for my toiletries. Today I was looking at it, just the size and features and whatnot, and then I thought to myself. "Hey, I bet I could fit in that." So what did I do... you guessed it, I laid down in the fetal position inside my new suitcase and pulled the top over it. I'm not sure how well I fit because no one was around to zip it up. My conclusion is that if it's big enough to hold me, then it's big enough to hold my stuff for 2 weeks.

Moving Hassles

So way back when... July of 2004, I moved to Minneapolis... no news here. When they moved me, the damaged 2 items very dear to my heart... a jewerly box Andrew gave me, and the dresser my dad made me. After a run-around with the moving company, especially with the dresser that they wanted to just fill-in, I was finally able to get them to agree to just send me a check and I would take care of the damages. The estimator said that I was due $140. When the check came, it was just over $74, with the damaged goods each costing about $37. So I called them and they told me that even though my statement didn't say it, it was actually $140 minus my outstanding balance. Outstanding balance?!? I explained to them that I didn't pay for my move, which was also in their records. The lady admitted that they were wrong and had me send the check back. So I got a new check today. Amount = $74
Pissed, I called them back, and got a new customer service rep. She gave me the same run-around story.
Finally, I asked her, "In front of you, do you have the name of the persons who paid for the move?"
"Yes... Something materials corperation"
"Exactly. Not me. Any outstanding balance needs to be addressed to the company that moved me. I was moved by GAF Materials Corperation through Lytle's Transfer. The only part I played in the move was to show the movers what to pack when they came to pick-up and where to put it when they delivered."
So now from what I understand, I have 2 checks coming, one that's already in the mail from one mistake that they made, and another, from this. We'll see what happens.

Geese

Our friends from the north have come to visit once again. Canadian geese have started to infiltrate all of Minnesota. I think we need those MinuteMen from the Mexican border. Anway, I thought I would share a couple of geese stories.

One evening, I was coming home from work, and as I was pulling into my apartment complex, I noticed something very strange. There were about 6 geese on the roof of the building across from mine. I have never in my life seen a goose on a roof. I found it funny.

After a day of shopping, I was returning home. As I was trying to merge on to the freeway, there were 3 geese on the on-ramp. So I slow down and start honking my horn at them. Eventually they waddle to the side and I start to speed-up and go around them. Then one goose, must have been the male, decided to start hissing and charging at my car. Chasing after a person is one thing, but chasing a car? Guys just don't know when they are out muscled.

so sleepie

Tomorrow, I move to night shift at the company. That means I'll be working 6pm to 6am, 5 days a week... good times? In trying to get used to the nocturnal lifestyle, I feel as if I've been hit with a bout of self-inflicted insomnia. I stay awake, staring at the tv, or computer... wanting to go to sleep but knowing that I can't. Wish me luck!

In Memory

May his good works on Earth be rewarded in Heaven.....

Requests filled here!

Loyal fans may want to know, "What happened to the office painting situation?" We painted this week, and it looks good. The color ("Blue Haze") almost looks lavendar in the flouresent lighting. It makes me giggle. Our next step is to do some major purging and organizing as well as putting up things on the walls.... shelves, dry-erase boards, pink canvases with white glitter... all on the agenda. One thought about painting I did want to share:

Sara's way of painting: Wash all the walls, fill in holes, prime over filler, move furniture to the center of the room, "cut in", paint 2 coats

Bossman's way of painting: Prime all of the dirty walls, holes and all, rearrange furniture, paint, fill-in, done

Bossman won.

Island Life

My pet freshman came to visit me this weekend (good times!) and we went out to dinner at the MOA (Mall of America) for dinner. We went to this island themed restaurant. They have good food, and the interior decorating is fun. During dinner, I told him that I wanted to run away to an island, raise island babies, and make grass skirts and coconut bras.... his reply:

"Those would have to be some pretty big coconuts."

NICE! Leave it to him to point out the obvious. :)

And the survey says....

I didn't get all the prep work done in time, so Bossman and I decided on "Blue Haze" Very professional looking. We'll get around to actually painting it one of these days. Probably stay late after work one night and get it done. I still have some spackling and a whole lot of priming to do. He wants to rearrange the room, which is fine, but that's something that he'll have to do... I'm not good with spaces... just ask Audra :)

Survey

So, the bossman has been out of town, but before he left, I brought in pink paint swatches to make him think that I was going to paint the office. He said that he would like the office painted, but not pink, so I took everything off the walls, patched holes and I'll be priming tomorrow... but now for the real question... Do I really paint it pink?

Some traveling stories

Apologies for not posting in a while, but I do have 2 good stories to post. I debated on if I should make 2 posts out of them, but I've decided to let you double dip into my most exciting life.

Let me set the stage for both stories....

Last week I was in New Jersey for supervisor training (yes, one day they may let me supervise... scary, I know) and both of these stories revolve around this trip.

Story #1
On the first night of the training, a small crew of us trainees decided to venture out into the Big Apple (you know, the "First City"). There was much debating on whether or not we should drive into the city, or take some sort of public transportation. Following in the spirit of urbanists, we opted for the bus... Actually, I think it was the fact that it picked us up right outside the hotel and the fact that we weren't actually planning on coming back sober that made the decision for us.
At any rate, we had a fabulous time but had to catch the last bus out of the Port Authority at 1 am. So we leave the last bar at 12:30, walk to the Port Authority, find our gate and sit and wait. Buses come and go, and at 1:02 am, I decide to go read the message board below our gate number. In tiny letters at the very bottom it read,"Buses leaving after 10pm will depart from gate B401 and B402" Good thing we were waiting at B405! So we go down to B401 and B402 with no dice. Then an employee yells to us that we have to leave because they are closing. We tell him our story and he says he can help us out. He then took us on an unofficial behind the scenes tour of the Port Authority. Back staircases, freight elevators, the works, and finally deposited us at the Greyhound station. After much debating, confusion, and sign reading, we left the Port Authority, and hailed a cab.

Story #2
After my return flight, as I was passing the ticketing counter, I went to reach for my car keys only to realize that I had left my purse on the plane. My hands were full, so I guess I had just assumed that my purse was with me. So I leave my bag with someone I was driving home, and I went up to the NWA ticketing counter and talked to Pete. I told him, "I left my purse on the plane." He told me to go to the other side of the security check-point and ask someone over there. So I go to the other counter and tell the lady at the first class check-in my story. She told me to talk to the first lady "over there". Well, there were two women working... was the first one the one closest to her or furthest away. I went to the closest one, explained my situation and she calls to a guy behind me for assistance, which, wouldn't you know, is Pete! He replies with, "I told her to come over to you." Lazy bastard. So this lady sends me to the next lady where I tell her, "I left my purse on the plane." The lady says to me, "Well, you can't get through the security check without ID." She said it in an "end of story, you're shit out of luck" sort of way. And I know I can't be the first person to have left my purse on a plane. But, as everyone knows, I don't keep anything where it's supposed to go, and my ID was actually in my pocket. I whipped it out and she didn't know what to say, but then she came back with "You can't go through the security check without a boarding pass." Well DUH! That's the whole reason why I was there in the first place. If I could just walk back through security, I wouldn't be messing with her. She then asked me where I left it on the plane, and I explained to her that I left it under the seat in front of me. "On the floor?" she replied, and when I said "yes" she rolled her eyes at me! And I thought I was supposed to "Store smaller articles under the seat in front of you to leave room for larger items in the overhead compartments" So I finally get a temporary boarding pass, go through security (including stripping down to a hospital robe they gave me), run to the gate, claim my purse and get back to my fellow passenger. What I don't understand is why, when I explained my situation to Pete, that he just didn't call down to the gate, ask one of the gate assistants to get the purse, hop on a golf cart and bring it out. That would have been a lot more customer service friendly

Strange Happenings

So Andrew and I were walking around downtown... on Wabash Ave to be exact and we stopped at The Coffee Grounds for a mocha and some warmth. Just then, out the window, I see Jen Ho and her significant other walking down the street. She comes in and we chit-chat and came to discover that they were on their way to the Sears Tower. That's right... We were not in downtown Terre Haute, but rather Chicago.

For all of those who don't know, Jen is currently residing in Indy.

If you don't find the irony, this story was pointless. But alas, I have something for you too.

Quotes from this weekend:

"You went duck hunting with a potato gun?!?" --Erik to Mike (because I don't think they'd let Mike hunt, especially after he sunk the kayak)

"Yeah, I'm just one of those guys from the 'burbs who's a pussy." --Mike (after a couple of beers and admitting that after the kayak sunk, he was too afraid to swim to shore for fear of the tadpoles in the shallow water)

"There's a lot of good DNA here tonight." --Mike (looking for someone to carry on his superior genes)