What a great day!

To be happy about today:

1. The sun is shining which always makes me happy.
2. I got the confirmation for the Brownies overnight at a gymnastics studio. The activities the girls will be doing are so cool! The girls will get to jump on a trampoline, do a giant obstacle course and use other real gymnastics equipment. And then we sleep over and have breakfast in the morning. Of course since quiet time is from midnight to 3 AM with full lights out at 3, the next day is going to be a bit rough, but that's okay.
3. I am making enchiladas for dinner. I LOVE enchiladas for dinner. Plus that means I'll have stock again and I've been out for a few weeks. I'm going to make them a little differently though. I'm going with more like an enchilada lasagne type of thing. Tortillas in the bottom of the pan, sauce and meat and cheese then tortillas and then sauce and cheese.
4. I got my first volunteer response for the encampment. A girl who has experience with Girl Scouts. That's very exciting. (Yes I've gone back to just using it, KTP was right, I'm being overly cautious since there are probably a bazillion links when one googles Girl Scouts)
5. Comcast has a new on screen thingie so that I can now delete from my channel list all the channels I hate. I love that!

Ok the less exciting things:

1. I believe I definitely have Isa's sickness. I opened my mouth twice today to talk and couldn't squeak out a word. My throat is getting worse. :(
2. I can't find a quantity cook to cook the meals for the encampment. That was the biggest pain in the ass 2 years ago and apparently will be the biggest pain this year. Luckily, I have email addresses though so I feel a little better about emailing the people so they can think about it and not be on the spot.

Whispering

Ok I know this is weird, but whispering kind of freaks me out. You can imagine, then, my consternation when I picked up the phone to a guy whispering. He was talking to someone while waiting for me to pick up the phone but it jarred me a tiny bit.

Happy Feet

(Photo by Dan DeLong of the Seattle PI)

On Broadway we have these feet embedded into the ground that portray dance steps. I find them really fun and silly and cool. Apparently they've been there for about 27 years which is also very cool to me. Here's the article all about them. I remember when I first visited here and walked up Broadway with V. I thought they were so fun and got V to try one of the dances with me. I think I got confused by them, but I remember wondering about them and where they came from. Now I know. :) I think I'll know the right guy for me if he's willing to dance the feet with me. (Well besides V who is gay).

Unkind

I was unkind to someone today and that bothers me. However I'm also stubborn so this creates a bit of a problem for me. I don't like to be unkind, if I can avoid it, however I'm really unwilling to make up for this unkindness. Perhaps I can balance it with being kind to someone else that I don't want to be kind to. Oh hell, I already do that. :)

In unrelated news, my throat is starting to hurt. If I'm getting a different sickness now that I'm mostly over the sickness of last week I'm going to be unhappy. Very very unhappy.

April fools

Last year, I had the best April Fool's gag ever. I'll never top it which is why I didn't try this year. (Ok I had an idea but forgot to do it.) (Really I WILL brag about this one forever because I think it is honestly the only time I've been able to fool anyone. I'm terrible at thinking them up and terrible with execution.)

This year I got my leg pulled and it was so funny I have to share. It is from Flexcar. It took me 3 reads to realize it was a joke.


We're diversifying our fleet! We've heard you members: you want far more spacious vehicles and far more of 'em. So we're pleased to announce the conversion of the Flexcar fleet to ripe-banana-colored H3s, effective April 1. Operation Hybrids-to-Hummers (H2H) will take place overnight utilizing next-generation, military-issue Parking Space Expansion Devices (P-SEDs) and an estimated million gallons of Cloak-Curb© paint.
We hope our members will be patient during the transition from the new Smartcards to the still newer GasGuzz cards, which will entitle you to triple the fuel credit limit. And remember to carpool; with so much seating the H3s promise dramatic improvement in the Flexcar fleet's fuel efficiency.
Comments? Send them to aprilfools@flexcar.com.

Oh so sad...

I rented The Brothers Grimm for the weekend. I love me some Heath Ledger so I was looking forward to this. I got about 1/2 way through before I realized I was not paying any attention and that this was not a good movie. It was mostly boring and strangely difficult to follow. I think this is the first Heath Ledger movie I've watched that I really actively disliked and actually didn't watch the whole way through. (I didn't love Brokeback Mountain but I didn't totally hate it either.)

Also, completely unrelated, I made banana nut muffins this afternoon and they turned out FABULOUS! I think I finally have the mystery of how to make them taste good and still be gluten free figured out. Whee!

Busy day busy day

This morning I had to take Tess to the vet. Unfortunately Dr. Dan (who is not the vet I like, I think I like the woman better) confirmed what I already knew. Tess has Adrenal Disease. (Fairly common in ferrets, tumors on the adrenal gland). Now she'll be going once a month for shots like Baxter did. If it isn't one thing, it is another with pets. And I just realized that in June she'll have lived with me for a year. So she really isn't 4 no matter what I think. (She was between 4 & 5 they weren't sure when I adopted her.) So if what happened with Bax is any indication we've got about a year or so of time left. That's a good amount still to hang with the fuzzy bunny. :)

This afternoon I took a nap and then went to a barbecue with my friends Isa, Big R & Isa's former roommates. (She moved out this month). I played ball with her dog for like an hour. That was very fun, I really like playing with the dog. The funny thing is, though, that the dog usually hates me. I can't be around without the dog barking its fool head off at me. But towards the end of the evening after we had played she actually let me pet her so I thought oh look we're doing well. In the car, though, bark bark bark. She's a scrappy little thing, though and it is nice to play with a dog. Especially a dog I don't have to clean up after. :D

Domino - A review

Tonight I watched Domino. Really I had no idea what to expect, but I don't think this was it. Probably the last thing I expected was to see 2 former stars of Beverly Hills 90210, but there they were, the former Steve Sanders and David Silver. Their roles actually cracked me up. There were more twists and turns than I could've imagined and it is really fascinating in an abstract way to see how groups of people with no trust for each other or anyone really interact. (Yeah yeah I know this was a movie.) I really enjoyed it and given the dark mood I've been in it is good for me to watch things get blown up. The opening scenes were a little visceral. All in all I enjoyed it except for 1 little part. The crux of the scam is because of this little girl who is the granddaughter of a character. The daughter is a minor as well. The granddaughter needs a surgery which is not covered by health insurance. The problem is that the dependent child of a person's dependent child is coverable by health insurance. (Yeah, I'm a tiny bit of a geek like that, it is the reason I never watched John Q.)

Angry

I grew up in an angry household. My mother, a total loon, spent quite a bit of time angry, over something, over nothing it didn't matter. In fact part of our meltdown at Christmas was her irrational anger. Hence, I am rarely angry. I avoid it like the plague (I'm well aware of how unhealthy that is). I am angry right now and I hate it. I will stop being angry soon (I hope). But right now my whole person is tense and damn I hate it.

If only...

Given the week I've had so far, if only some of this were true:

Pisces
Quickie: A new person will become a force in your life, even if their role is ambiguous now.

Overview: And the hits just keep on coming! These days, you can do no wrong. Even your mistakes end up looking like strokes of improvised genius. Enjoy this sweet period of success and store up points for the future.

Daily singles love (by Astrology.com) Somebody who's been blending in with the wallpaper could suddenly stand out now. Try looking at those around you from a fresh perspective -- the one you've been seeking could be right there.

Daily extended (by Astrology.com) You've never been famous for saying anything that might deliberately hurt someone -- not if there's a kindler, gentler way to do it. Words can be weapons, and you know that first-hand. Whether there's lint on their lapel, a run in their stocking or they just so happen to be wearing something that does, indeed, look less than flattering for their body's structure -- if they ask, you'll find a gentle way to let them know, and they'll love you for it. If it's business and there's a meeting coming up soon, better be sure you also say it quickly. (There's a certain irony here)

Help! I'm trapped in my industrial undergarment

This morning I decided I wanted to wear my absolute favorite dress. I very rarely wear it because it is one of about 3 articles of clothes I actually follow the washing instructions on and it is dry clean only. (I know I could buy Dryel or one of those but our dryers at the apartment have 1 cycle, hot so I don't know if that would work with that.) I've been complimented on it several times which makes me happy and just wearing it actually makes me happy. :)

So this morning I go to put on my 'foundation garment' (For those of you who are fellow fat chicks, you know what I'm talking about, you force all the fat into something like a sausage casing to make your dress fall prettily.) For some reason I opted for the over the head method and got stuck in it. I'm standing in my bedroom arms flailing above my head because I can't move. I'm sure I looked like one of those inflatable guys you see in front of like car sales places. (I think SNL or Mad TV did a skit where the woman married one of those guys, it was funny). It was quite the drama for 7:00 in the morning. Ultimately I ended up changing out of that and just wearing regular stuff because once I had it on properly it was just a little too clausterphobic for me.

Speed dating redux

So I just got an email saying that there will be another round of Speed Dating on April 22. Well this post just became moot because I just remembered something I'm doing April 22nd but I was going to ask y'all if I should go. I was going to ask public opinion if I should try it again. The good was that speed dating was fun! The bad part a - nothing ever happened with my 1 match, which was also fine because he was weirdly religious and much more so than I could ever handle. The bad part b - many of the guys I chatted with said that they'd done it there before which would get weird if I ended up talking to the same guys. Now I have actually been absolved of any decision making thanks to the girls and our already planned and paid for activity of going to the gymnastics place and sleep over and earn the gymnastics badge.

You ever have that dream...

Where you're slipping and falling and then your body gets weird and you wake up because it feels like you really literally fell? You know what I mean? I do it periodically, usually when I'm just falling asleep and it totally pisses me off because then it wakes me up. I'm always stumbling off a curb when I have these dreams. I just read on MSN what that's about:

Sleep starts
One moment you’re drifting off to la-la land, and the next instant—whoa!—you’re dropping off a cliff. Sleep experts believe the brain sometimes gets the wrong message from the body during the transition into sleep, and associates the lack of muscle tension with being in midair. Arms and legs then jerk suddenly as they would to break a fall. Not yet realizing the body is simply at rest, the brain also instantaneously conjures a story to account for the sudden jump, and that’s why we picture ourselves falling, slipping or missing a stair.

Hops Brewfest

Subtitled yet another post about why Joanne is going to end up single with 40 cats. Part 2 (or 3 or 4) of a series.

So this weekend was the spring equinox brewfest down at the Seattle Center. Since Isa and I were signed up to be volunteers tonight, we went last night to get in for free and get our 6 tastes. We got there around 8:30 and left at about 10:10. We had a few tastes, but she doesn't love beer and I can only have cider. I did get to try Wyder's raspberry cider which I had wanted to try in the past but never had. I like it but I think I like Pear and Apple better. But I digress, there weren't a lot of people there and all the boys were watching a basketball game on TV so we didn't get too much flirt on.

Tonight we headed down to do our shift. We do the little orientation and whatever and Isa and I get sent over to one section to do pouring. The guy at that section doesn't need us so we go back to the volunteer table. The volunteer chick struggles for a few minutes and then determines maybe we could go over and help out at the front door. But we need to wait about 10 minutes, so we wander around for a little while and then she introduces us to Joe, but he isn't ready yet, so we wander around some more. We're standing around, just people watching and whatever. This guy comes over to me and touches my arm and we talk about volunteering. He was just coming off shift and we talked about which shift was better to volunteer for and how I would have to put up with drunks. So rather than doing the smart thing like introducing myself and chatting with him, we just stand there awkwardly for a few minutes and then he leaves. Sigh. And he was my type too, and in a reasonable age bracket. So then we go over to help Joe but he doesn't really need us. We go back to volunteer lady and she has us go and take down signs outside but that takes all of 5 minutes and we're done so now what. She gives us each a beer cup and 6 more tickets and sends us on our merry way. We drink a couple of tastes and then leave because Isa is tired.

Riding the ducks

I want to ride the ducks here in Seattle. I keep thinking having a GS troop is a good excuse, now if I can only conform the tour to fit a badge. :)

Last night we were learning about simple machines (inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever etc.). So we talked about the different types and then went outside and ran around like maniacs but also looked for simple machines in our regular world. It was more fun than I anticipated. We watched the fountain for awhile. I think when the sun is up later, as part of one of our badges I'll take the girls up to the fountain area and have them draw. As we were coming back to the office, we walked past the reflecting pool. There were 2 ducks hanging out in it. We watched them for awhile and talked about ducks. Next week we are going to do Rube Goldberg drawings. That should be fun too. Well it will be fun for kids who actually like to do stuff. For the one who whines that she can't do anything it will not be fun. (Which means it will not be fun for me either but whatev)

On the way home I dropped off another box of cookies to needle exchange volunteers. (Different ones than last time). This time I managed to offer him cookies without sounding like an idiot and the guy was really happy and thought it was cool. :) We chatted for a few minutes. All was nice with the world. :)

Carbon footprint

So I was watching TV and BP ran an ad about what is your carbon footprint. I went to their site and took the test. Apparently mine is only 4 tonnes of co2 per year. The average in the US is 18 tonnes per year. Living in a teeny tiny apartment with water for heat and no car plus mandatory recycling laws significantly affects my footprint.

In other thoughts, what should I do with the Girls tomorrow night? I really should know that by now.

Ferretus interacticus

I have been remiss in buying Tess her very favorite treat ever. She didn't get any last week because I ran out and then was out of town and I keep forgetting to buy her more so finally today I get her a bag of raisins. I go one step better and buy a bag of mixed raisins. So I'm sitting on the sofa and she would get a raisin and hide it then come back for another one. She does this several times and I notice that Rigby is a bit of a sneaky snake. She goes into Tess's hiding space and takes the raisin out and eats it. If I were Tess I would totally bitch-slap her, but Tess is a bit more meek. (Oh who am I kidding, I'm totally Tess. :P)

Everywhere Else

I've lumped all the other places we went to into one post since I didn't have a lot of pics of those places. For one thing, we only went to those places for 1 day and by Friday I was sick and exhausted and taking pictures was the last thing on my mind.

We stalked Snoopy to get this pic. This one made my sister happy. :)
Shamu! Jump shamu jump!
Elephant is getting a penny pressed. My sister loves these a lot. She gets tons of them wherever we go. I like them because they are inexpensive and cute little souveniers.
The penguin encounter! They are so cute!
Favorite niece (who is under 15 which is what I referred to her as) and favorite nephew feeding the bat rays. There were several places to feed animals and we fed squid to the bat rays which was really cool. They would come up to you in the water and slap with their wings splashing us with water. The sea gulls are really aggressive. While my niece was trying to feed the seals, a gull grabbed a fish right out of her hand. It startled her and cracked my nephew and I up. It was hysterical. She also tossed a fish to a seal and a gull swooped down and grabbed it out of the air.
Elephant is a musher!
Elephant was trying to decide where we were going. She studied the map at Sea World.
A rare moment of peace between my niece and nephew. They spent much of the trip picking on each other and then running behind a grown up for protection. It was enough to make me a little bit crazy.
The new baby panda at the San Diego Zoo! So cute. Apparently they are taught early on by their mommas to climb trees so that if threatened they can climb out of the way. They can go up to smaller and higher branches than their predators and be safe. My mom was thrilled to get to see the pandas.

Disneyland (part 2)

Space Mountain at night. I was pleased with the way some of my night shots turned out since I turned off the flash. I balanced the camera on a rail by the monorail where we were waiting to catch a monorail back to Downtown Disney to go to the Simba parking lot. This was one gripey thing my dad complained about, quite a bit actually. He has difficulty with mobility and at their home he uses a scooter. They didn't end up bringing it because of the weight of the van when packed with all their crap (seriously... 3 suitcases between my parents, just my parents! This doesn't even take into consideration the somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 cases of soda, 2 or 3 cases of juice and at least 1 case of snapple and 1 case of water. It isn't like we were going on a trek in the Andes for 6 months although you'd think we were with that much beverage). So the Simba parking lot is where our car got directed and that is on the other side of Downtown Disney which is a long ass walk for someone with mobility issues. As we walked he just bitched more and more about it, so I flagged down a passing security guard and asked if we could get some help. He was really helpful and got us a wheelchair to use until we got to the gate. He told us that we should use the monorail in the evening.

They redid the castle for the 50th. I really liked how it looked.

Pops and mom eating a beignet in New Orleans Square. (Yes my dad really does look like Grizzly Adams, or sometimes Santa depending. Although for this trip he did go and get his pony tail cut off so we should all be thrilled. I'm sure my mom was. He's looked like this at least since I was in college because one of the first things that Michelle said to me when she met him was "You never told me your dad was Gentle Ben.")

Another one of my night shots taken from the monorail. This is of the Matterhorn. I like the spookiness of the mountain.

Me and my idol Mary Poppins. Oh and my niece. I wonder if Mary can straighten my niece out.

My sis, nephew and niece waiting to go on autopia the first time. We rode it twice the first day.

Niece and my favorite Princess Belle. I got a pic with her but I think it is on my sister's camera.

My niece and the wicked queen from Snow White. My older sister loved all the villians.

Another one of my night shots without the flash on. I managed to take many cool pics of the fireworks. They were all taken with me just holding the camera. I was pleased with how well some of them came out since you have to be very still because the camera lens is open longer for the extra light.

Disneyland! (Part 1)

This is my niece driving a car at autopia. I swear I am now suffering from whiplash thanks to her creative driving skills.

My mother, father, niece and nephew heading into the abyss at the Matterhorn.

I have always loved this statue in Disneyland and Disney World. Darn random stoppers in the way. You'd think they wanted to take pictures or something. :)

For my birthday Isa gave me this cute little stuffed elephant. You will see Elephant in a number of pictures as she travelled all around So Cal with me. Here she is waiting to go on the Matterhorn.

Here she is making a wish in the fountain. It is a tradition for me that I make one every time I go.

Me and Eeyore. I always related to him best of the Pooh characters. Eeyore was probably a middle child.

Nephew, my pops and Cinderella at our princess lunch on my birthday. We had many of the princesses show up to wish me a happy birthday. :)

Favorite nephew in front of a statue in Toontown.

Vacay Pics

I'm going to have to break these up into multiple posts because otherwise this will be the giantest post ever. I had a rather good time on vacation. This was startling for many reasons, not the least of which was the Great American White Trash fight of 05. But I think the combination of the happiest place on Earth as well as the fact that we were going non-stop for 5 days straight helped us to not be bad in each others' presence. That and that since I was in control of much of the trip it was much smoother for me. Apparently 5 adults and 1 child are completely incapable of making a decision so frequently the task fell to 1 person, me. For example, when we were in Sea World I pretty much came up with the entire schedule of when we would watch what shows and where we went next. Also, since I'd been to Disneyland before, they just followed me wherever I wanted to go. It's rare that I get to be the boss of anything. :) So on with the pics and little odd descriptors that KTP loves so much.. :)

My sister booked me to fly first class. She failed to mention, however, that when flying first class on buddy passes you have to be dressed fancy. I clearly am not dressed fancy. So no first class for me. Also, I got pulled aside at airport security because of the boot. They took a little cloth looking thing and swabbed the boot, my tennis shoe and my hands to make sure there were no explosives involved with me. I fretted a tiny bit because I had ridden the bus part of the way to get to the airport. God knows what you could pick up on the bus. :) (A whole other side story... I'm on the bus in plenty of time to get to the airport with no problems. As I hit the sodo district (southern, industrial Seattle) I realize that the citypass I need to get into the attractions is on the door of my fridge. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I get off the bus in a construction area. I call for a cab but they won't send a cab to just a street corner without a business address. Fuck fuck fuck. I get on a different bus. Luckily I get off at the library and across the street is a hotel with *drum roll please* a taxi cab waiting outside. I grab it and we go to my apartment then to the airport. I was totally stressed the whole time.)

Elephant & I flying. Even though I couldn't be fancy and fly first class, since nobody was flying Saturday night (tip, Sat nights are great to fly) I had an entire row all to myself. That was nice. Of course my sister doubted the brilliance of Michelle and had me fly into Santa Ana (John Wayne) which bit me in the ass because we were over 45 minutes late to arrive. Sigh. Really, never doubt Michelle is a good lesson to learn.

I'm back!

I survived the vacation. I did not end up an alcoholic. I'm sick as hell thanks to my sister. I have now contaminated everyone on 2 airplanes. I'll post more when I'm not thinking of dying. And I'll post pictures! :)

Edit: I can tell I'm really sick because a stupid Wal-Mart commercial just made me cry.

Another GAFM Update

Per Joanne's latest field report: Still no casualties. The rain wasn't that bad. Very busy with fun activities. No time for melodramatic flare-ups. Minimal getting lost while driving.

Update on the GAFM

For those of you who are worried about how Joanne and her sanity are holding up on the Great American Family Vacation, I just received this message from her:

"So far, so good. I haven't killed anyone yet."

T - 8 hours and counting

Until I head out for the Great American Family Vacation that may kill me. Actually that's a bad attitude to have going in. Until I head out for the Great American Family Vacation. I have to think positive and practice all the breathing and yoga I learned in the last 3 months (oh and pack the rum). Also I may swim in the mornings since the parks themselves do not open up until like 9 or 10. Currently laundry is washing and I am searching for a flexcar for the 3 hours between 9 & 12. That is easier said than done I'm afraid, but I need to get ferret treats for the kits while I'm gone and I think I need a new suitcase. I could easily go down to Ross for one, but the ferret treats are kind of hard to come by in this neighborhood. All the pet stores around me are so speciesist. I may also pick up a book at Target (where I'm going for the suitcase) since the book that I had from the library that I was going to take with me is missing the first 35 pages. I guess I shall have to point that out to the library since no one else has seen fit to do so. Blargh! I think I'm just going down to Ross. Sorry kittens. Aha! Success. One I have never known about but it is 6 blocks up the road. I guess the kit will get mallow treats after all. (Yes I leave the kits by themselves while I'm on vacay. I'm a bad pet owner. Seriously they are rather self sufficient. I just get treats to hide in the apartment for them while I'm gone.)

Word cloud

This is kind of nifty. I found the link on Poppy's site and ran it for this blog. I kind of dig the results.

Obviously I'm easily entertained. :) But clearly I don't swear nearly as much as I think I do.

Food indecision

I'm having the worst time with food decisions lately. I can't make up my mind about what I want to eat. When I finally do put food into my mouth it doesn't taste good and I have the added bonus of it upsetting my stomach. Today's lunch hit an all time low, tater tots & salad. The salad completely threw my stomach out of whack (Green stuff? What is this green stuff you are consuming?!)

So I hit the grocery store tonight figuring something there would inspire me. Not so much. When I'm in this funk, I tend to buy weird shit. Usually I buy a lot of processed stuff because I want food that requires little thought & work. As a concession to the fact that I have to eat lunch this week, I picked up taquitos. While in the frozen foods section, sausage spoke to me. Well sausage and those hashbrown patties, but those can't be microwaved so I only bought sausage. I'm thinking sausage and cheese in a tortilla for breakfast might not be too bad.

So then I figured teriyaki wouldn't be too bad for dinner. I go in and they're out of chicken breasts. They're in the same building as a large grocery store, are you kidding me? (Yes I realize they have a meat supplier who probably charges a lot less than QFC would but still...) I head over to my taco place (which I now know for certain is actually gluten free except the flour tortillas because well obviously). I'm studying the menu vigorously (as though I don't order the same thing every freaking time) and ask the guy about enchiladas because those actually sound good. He tells me they aren't worth the money really (same guy I ALWAYS have) and asks me if I've made up my mind. Here's where I get all embarrassing. I confess that I'm having terrible food indecision and that I have no idea what to eat. He kind of chuckles at me and I confess that I just have to eat the usual because I have food issues today. He laughed. And then I told him that they had to be good to get me out of this food funk. And they actually were. :) I don't know if it'll get me out of my food funk, but they were good tacos.

Weekend of volunteerism

Saturday: It was the first weekend of Girl Scout Cookie sales. Only 2 of my girls showed up. :( But we had a good time selling cookies and I think we did really well cookiewise. I'm not sure what we have left but we are definitely not in the same place we were last year. We are only going to do 2 site sales because I'm on vacation the 3rd week, but that's okay. We're not saving up for anything big. We had so much money last year that we got tto do some other activities with the girls on the troop's dime. There was a funny little incident where a woman asked if we could make change for a 20 and my little one announced rather loudly that we could make change for anything. So this older gentleman comes up and talks about 'thugs ears' and the neighborhood we were in isn't safe blah blah blah. It is true, this Walgreens is in a less nice part of town, but one of my kids knew about 1/2 the people going in so this was not an entirely unknown area to us. So then later my other girl points out that nobody else batted an eyelash when little girl 1 said that out loud so then she says "He must have noticed because he has thug's ears." Totally cracked all of us up. We cleared out 5 cases of cookies so that's good I think.

Sunday: Sunday was the Firefighter Stair Climb at the Bank of America Tower. I have done this the past 3 years. In years past, I did the registration table. Encouraged by Isa and her roommate, I decided to sign up for equipment removal. You get a lot more interaction with the guys and it seemed like a good change of pace. Holy crap it was hard work. Those tanks they carry weigh A LOT! Basically the guys fully uniform up and put on oxygen masks. They then run up all 69 flights of stairs to the top of the Bank of America Tower... Some of them twice. They do this to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. (Which is the reason I first signed up to do this as Leukemia is what my sister had.) Working at the top was so amazing. These guys would come off the stairs, some of them exhausted and barely able to move, and it was my job to strip firefighters. ;) Ok really I pulled their helmet off and gloves and helped with their coats. And then I carried all their gear for them over to the first stop where they sat and caught their breath and waited for buddies all that.

I'm really glad I did it. I really felt like an important part of the process and the way some of them would thank you... It was just a nice feeling. I was called an angel by the guy whose water got spilled and I went and fetched him another one. And I'd get choked up by the guy who had ribbons with people's names on it that he was racing for or the guy who had a picture of a little girl pinned to his sleeve. And then at the very end was a woman with her team who had just walked up the stairs... no full gear. From the turban on her head, you knew why she was climbing. It was very intense. One guy collapsed at the finish line and they had to get medics for him. I got some strange guy's sweat in one of my ears as I was taking his jacket and it spattered. But it was all very good to do.

So after the climb was done, Isa's roommate gave me a ride home and I showered and put on clean clothes and the boot (I had done without it all day yesterday something I'm regretting slightly today). Then we headed down to Fados. It was crowded but we found coworker and coworker's roommate. We sat with them the whole evening and just had a really good time flirting with the firefighters. I smacked more straight guy ass than I have in a long time. :) There were several who were very cute (several who am I kidding, almost all of them were hot). I flirted a lot and got flirted with.* It was very nice. :) I got a whole lot drunker than I thought I would. I think it was mostly because I had only 2 little pieces of chicken and a small bowl of left over Chinese food & rice to eat all day long. I did keep drinking water both during the climb and at the bar so I'm not hung over today. As I was walking out of the bar this guy was out there and he asked me what happened to my foot. I told him I have Achilles tendonitis in my Achilles tendon which made them laugh a lot. I also called one of them cute which also made them laugh. Isa was drunker than I've ever seen her which was kind of funny. This morning she apologized for anything she may have done and keeps asking our coworker if she was too obnoxious. It was an incredibly good time and I'm totally doing it again next year.

*The married guy that was heavily flirting with me had early on identified himself as married (as though the wedding ring wouldn't have tipped me off) but said "If I weren't married... I'm not going to finish that sentence." And I said "If you weren't married... I'm not going to finish the sentence either, but you are and I don't cheat so there you go." He was actually very sweet talking about his wife and how when you know you know and he spent a lot of time having fun and when he met her he realized she was the one he wanted to change with.

incohetent

Holy crap I'm drunk and typing this one handed because the other is currently on ice. I will be able to post more about my weekend of volunteering in the am when I am less drunk, (although I'll be more hung over then). Is it bad that I am drunk at 10:45 on a Sunday?

My fingers are on ice because 3 of them got slammed in a car door. You can tell how drunk you are by your reaction when you have 3 fingers caught in a car door. If you just say open the door while laughing but you have tears running down your face... you are druhuhunk. I'll let you figure out how I reacted. :)

I had a good time at Fado's. I was flirted with by straight men. Unfortunately several of them were married straight men, rendering them almost useless. (Except for the slight ego boost to flirting with attractive firefighters part.) :)

I'll post more in the am because I am tired now.

And the debate rages on.

I went with Big R & Isa last night to a Town Hall debate between Ron Sims and the Reverend Ken Hutcherson over Gay Rights. The Rev. Hutcherson is the pastor at a large church in Redmond and is opposed to the comparison of gay rights to the civil rights movement of the African Americans. The basis for his argument is of course the Bible and the fallacy that gays choose to be gay and that he did not choose to be black. It was somewhat interesting watching them debate, though, because Ron Sims is also an ordained minister so the challenge there is how does Ron Sims reconcile his Baptist beliefs with his political wranglings. The question was asked, and not answered which was one thing that bugged me about Mr. Sims, he didn't answer several of the questions. At least he didn't answer them in the context that the question was being asked.

Rev. Hutcherson also brought up a couple of points that I honestly have a difficult time reconciling in my own mind. One is that if you are a person whose belief happens to go against the current tide, you're a hate monger or an ist or whatever and your beliefs aren't worth someone elses because they're 'wrong'. Those who were opposed to war in the early months after September 11th can certainly understand what that feels like since during that time Patriotism was running high. If you were against war, you were against America. It is funny how quickly we forget this fact. So what I have to believe is that it is his right to believe this way and not necessarily my duty to 'correct' his thoughts, this guy's mind is not changing. It is my duty, though, to fight for what I believe to be right and hope I can convince a few on the fence people along the way.

Another point Rev. Hutcherson brought up was that democracy is I believe something, I get enough people to support my beliefs, I'm going to force my beliefs onto you, whether you believe them or not. The audience booed him for this statement, but I don't know that he is entirely wrong. If you look at the smoking ban in the state. There were a lot of people with a belief (based on medical science, I supported the bill) and we managed to get enough support and we pushed our belief onto another group. Now, are smokers an oppressed minority, not really. They're definitely not a protected class. :) But his argument was that democracy is flawed in this respect. Mr. Sims countered, of course, that's the whole point of civil rights. You can't trust the rights of a minority to the majority. Which I also agree with.

Some other random notes of the evening:

In a debate setting it is counterproductive for the opposing group to shout at the person speaking. It just makes that side look bad. And this guy behind me embodied that so much because he shouted the whole time and was quite rude.

I never like the way the gays hiss when something gets said that they don't like. It just annoys me.

Wednesday evening cheese

I'm watching the Karate Kid 2 on ABC family channel this evening. When I was younger (and still now) it was my favorite of the Karate Kid movies. I don't even think I've ever seen all of Karatie Kid #3. I remember the first time I watched it. It was after I had already been to Okinawa, Japan. As I watched part of the movie with Kadena Air Base and Naha, I thought that's totally not right. As part of my trip, we had been to both Naha and Kadena Air Base. I think that was one of my first times really understanding the difference between movies & real life. You know when you're a kid you know that movies are pretend, but I don't think you really get it. It didn't diminish my love for the movie though. I always loved the Japanese dancing. That's my favorite part.

I also really dug the tea ceremony.

Speaking a different language...

I always find it so funny to listen to people speak in their own language and then hear them drop in a phrase or word that is distinctly English. I had 2 employees from Vietnam in my office doing some paperwork. One got called on the radio and he answered in Vietnamese and then I heard very distinctly "Benefits office" and then the rest. It made me chuckle inside a little.

This is kind of fun in a twisted way...

I've been looking for airline tickets for the vacation from hell. My sister may be getting me flight benefits with her airline, but I'm feeling a bit of anxiety over the fact that I haven't heard from her that yay she did get a ticket so I'm scoping the fares out. I have absolutely no comprehension about how airlines come up with their rates. I also find it funny (or freaky) that the airlines in the worst shape have the most outrageous fares. It is no wonder no one will fly Delta when the best rate I could get with 3 stops was 400 bucks. If I wanted only 2 stops it jacked the price to over 900 bucks. And these seats were all coach. WHAT?! Continental airlines still apparently serves you food (which I typically can't eat because of the whole gluten free thing) but they want almost 700 bucks and 13 hours. Why 13 hours one may wonder. Because apparently in order to fly Continental you have to fly into a hub (which is typical). Their hub options... Houston Texas (which brings the trip down to only 9 hours but jacks the price up to almost 900 bucks) or... Newark. On what planet is it at all logical to send a person on the west coast to the east coast just to bring them back to the west coast. It just gets better as I scroll down their page. For over 2k, I can fly to Hawaii and back to LAX or for over 3k I can fly to Houston to San Diego to LAX. This flight I'm looking for is a 2 hour and 45 minute flight. Maybe these prices exist to remind me that really relatively speaking $360 isn't that bad for a flight to LAX. (Or maybe it is another sign from above I shouldn't go on this trip.) And although priceline seems like it could be a good idea, I just don't know if I can give up the control they want me to to get that 40% discount by naming my own price.

Day to think...

(completely unrelated to Thinking Day but why can't the ferrets be trained to bring me a soda? They're supposed to be smart & shit.)

Today was Thinking Day so the girls & I went to a Thinking Day event. Basically each group picked a country and had to do a little presentation of something either from that country or a dance or a story or information about that country. Then we also put up a little display and gave out fortune cookies. I had originally thought of doing more Chinese food wise, but the more I thought about it, the more expensive it was going to be and I just couldn't cope with that. I frequently go to these things and feel like I'm inadequate as a leader. Mostly because I tend to put off until the last minute. In fact for our display, the colored pictures I put up were not done by the kids, but by the cult of the virgins today at lunch. I typed out the story of Lon Po Po (Chinese Little Red Riding Hood) into parts and the girls got to "perform" it. They had a good time and a lot of people complimented them on it. We were really no better or worse than any of the other groups that went up. My girls are hams, what can I say? :)

To suck me further into the world of the Girl Scouts, I've told 2 of the moms that if they can find enough girls, I'd take on their younger daughters in a Daisy troop. It would have to be separate from my current group because of the age gap between my oldest and these little ones. It is way too wide a spread. It takes a minimum of 5 girls to have a troop.

Finally, a cute little tale to end the evening... When I walk home after work, I walk past Lifelong AIDS Alliance. On the block just past their building in the late evening is a van that does needle exchanges. Every year I think that I should stop and give them (the volunteers) a box of cookies. They're stuck out there in the cold for hours exchanging needles with the local junkies to prevent the spread of AIDS. Every year (ok I say that like it has been a lot, it has been 2 years) I don't do it. Tonight as I was dropping off my big display board (which we will reuse dammit) I grabbed a box of mints from my stash (I ordered 10 boxes some of which to give away like this). When I got to the van spot, I walked up to the 2 kids in it and offered them the cookies. At first I didn't say anything just offered the box like a dork. So I told them they could have it and they were both excited. Apparently they're the girl's favorite kind. It was nice. :)

Finally (I know I said finally a minute ago) i just read in the PI that the smoking initiative that passed in November includes the bus shelters. YAY! There's little as obnoxious as trying to stand under one of the little bus canopies and breathing in a lungful of smoke.

Oh finally finally... The Amazing Race is back on! YAY! Although it is currently on against Supernatural which I also love so I missed the first hour. But Supernatural is moving to Thursdays so YAY! :)

4 years

That's how long legally your employer has to keep your employment records after you are no longer employed there. Now thanks to computers, a hire date and a term date for you can probably be found fairly easily. But, as I tried to explain to a very nice much older woman, it is impossible for me to truly verify that she worked here in 1977 - 1979. She wouldn't have been entered into any computer programs since they weren't around then and once there were finally programs, why bother entering info on a person who had been gone that long. She seemed to find it a tad disturbing that there was no longer any record of her employment here. Which got me to thinking...

It has been 4 (more like 7) years since I worked in Indiana. Since I never rented or bought property there or paid any bills to utility companies. There's no real record of me living there anywhere anymore. It is like my whole 9 month life there is gone. As is the year I worked in Arizona and we're almost to the point where the 3 years I worked in California are expunged. (I know the CA years won't be because I'm in their databases but you know what I mean.)

Another Adventure

I headed over to the Girl Scout office today. That office, to me, is a lot like Target. I can't leave the store without spending 70 bucks at least. At least this time it is girl money and not my money. :)

On my way (2 busses I might add) I stopped at this health food store that advertises Gluten Free food. I've stopped there in the distant past but all it had were like 2 different varieties of Pamela's cookies (which I don't find go0d.). But today I found something so wonderful I was very happy. Amongst shelves and shelves of Ener-G foods (which I also generally don't like), was a couple of bags of Kinnickinnick Foods' fried chicken stuff. I am so excited! I love the fried chicken coating stuff! That's totally what I'm having for dinner tonight. :D

Jodi Picoult

So awhile back I professed my undying love for an author (Jodi Picoult) I had just started to read. (Ok I liked one of her books...). I've started reading more of her books and I'm finding that while I like some of the book, I tend to not like the whole thing.

Perfect Match: I started to read this one and then jumped to the back (I tend to do that.) and didn't like where it ended up. The heroine's son is molested and he claims his priest did it. She, in open court, shoots he priest. She is an ADA, she should know better. So more of the story actually centers around her trial and the justification the heroine feels over shooting the priest. So I didn't finish it. It just pissed me off too much.

Salem Falls: I liked this one actually.

Mercy: I'm currently slogging through this one. Due to Picoult's tendency to write prologues that give away more than you know, I already know the police officer is going to have an affair. I don't know if I'll be able to read this whole thing. I have a pretty strong stance against reading books whose sole story is the affair (hence I won't read Horse Whisperer or that other one, Bridges of Madison County). The story is SUPPOSED to be about this guy (A cousin of the police chief) who has killed his wife who is so riddled with cancer that she is going to die anyway, he just speeds up the process for her because she has asked him to.

I have several others at the apartment to read. We'll see if I actually get to them or not.

A myriad of things

I receive an email of comics each day. In honor of yesterday this one cracked my shit up.

I look cute again today. That makes me happy.

I didn't make it to the gym this morning. I went out to wait for the bus at the appropriate time according to both my cell phone and the time thingie on one of those parking ticket machines. (Instead of parking meters we now have these ticket dispensers that you put the ticket in the window of your car.) I waited and waited and waited. I hadn't seen the bus go by when I was on my way. If it had gone by, I would've seen it. So after I stood outside in the freaking freezing cold shivering for about 15 minutes I gave up and decided this was a sign I was to go back to bed and be warm. If I had waited for the next one, it would've been a 30 minute wait and by then I'd have only enough time at the gym to shower and I may as well do that at home. But this afternoon my cookie mom is coming to pick up the boxes I'm holding so that'll be my exercise for the day.

Yay panties!

I couldn't do it. I couldn't go the whole day without them and just wearing pantyhose so I went home at lunch and put on panties. Clearly I am not a person meant to ever go commando. So then since the weather was so rainy and blustery and cold I couldn't convince myself to put back on my skirt that I love (which is dry clean only and probably one of 2 articles of clothing I actually dry clean) that might get damaged by rain so I put on pants. And that made me even happier. :) I wonder how many people (if any) will notice I went from a dark red skirt with embroidery to khaki colored pants.

It was bound to happen sooner or later

Warning... this post may contain more information on my panties than you need...


This morning I got out of the shower at the gym at about 7:40. I went into the locker room to change. Sweater, check. Skirt, check. Tights, check. Bra, check. Shoes, check. But wait, that's the bottom of the bag. That's right... no panties. Ok, not my favorite thing ever but I can put on the tights with no panties. Life goes on. Except... as I struggle to get into them... these aren't tights. They're black pantyhose. Who in the hell owns black pantyhose? Me apparently. So I struggle into them. And I mean STRUGGLE. Clearly these were from a time when I was a size or 2 smaller than I currently am. And now they're killing me. But I head to work. (I know you are thinking why doesn't she just go home and change? It is an hour for me to do that. If I walked it is 20 min minimum and if I bussed it would be wait for the bus 5 min ride.. home & change... wait for the bus 5 min ride.) Once the bookstore opens I pop in to pick up a pair of tights or at least a pair of pantyhose that isn't black. I'm cornered by my least favorite bookstore employee and now have to have a long convo about crap I don't care about and answer questions my boss has already answered for her once. And of course the bookstore only has pantyhose for girls who are this big... :) I did find a fatchick sized pair which I am now wearing. But at lunch I am soooo going home to put on panties and proper tights.

This day will not end

How can it not be 4:30 already? I've been here for 57 hours by now I'm sure.

McDonalds Brouhaha

(Side note A - I love the word brouhaha. I learned it from my friend Shelley when I was in college. I had never heard it before. She used to try to fight me and call it a brouhaha. Awww... now I miss Shelley. I just heard from my college friend Kate that she had a baby... I miss old Shelley though because after she had to leave college for $$ reasons, she got a little crazy... Also she decided that she would cure me from being tactile defensive by hugging me randomly until I would hug her back. I don't know that ever worked...)

(Side note B - Robin, the fancypants pasta is Bionaturae pasta. I thought it was good, but upon reheating it wasn't great. It got squishy. That could be a pasta thing and I just don't know it but it is a celiac pasta thing.)

So on with the McDonalds brouhaha...

McDonalds Brouhaha:

For many many years McDonalds has claimed their french fries are gluten free and many many celiacs have believed them. Suddenly there is a report that there is a flavoring that has been derived from wheat. The response from the celiac community has been mixed. There have been 3 lawsuits filed. I've spent some time after work today reading a couple of celiac forums and the response is not what I expected. Instead of everyone jumping on the class action lawsuits, most people are deriding the suits, which gives me a tiny bit of hope for the celiac community as a whole.

The wheat in question... it is in the oil that is used to parfry (pre-fry) the french fries before they are shipped to the restaurants for real cooking. Further, the wheat in question has been processed so that the offending protein has been removed. (All the protein has been removed which means the offending protein, gliadin is also gone.) This is scientifically possible. Vinegar is processed from wheat but the protein is pulled out during the distillation process making vinegar safe for celiacs. Now there were some people in the forums that I read (specifically looking for info from the celiac community, I generally don't read the forums because I mostly think the celiac community is a bunch of freaks...) who are wanting to do a class action suit. There are also some who are cracking me up who claim it all makes sense now and this is why they were always sick after eating McDonalds food. But the bulk of people are against a suit and some have said they've never had a problem... others say now they're concerned.

The reasons most say they are against the suit is the same reason I'd be against the suit. This kind of thing does not help our community. It totally is bad for us since when a restaurant makes an honest effort (which they were. They didn't know about the stuff in the oil. It is only since the new labelling laws started that they found out) and they make an error they are going to be sued. If these suits go through, this could set the celiac movement back years, which is a depressing thought. At least now, I can get a list from a few restaurants and know what's safe and what isn't. If restaurants shy away from that, where will we be?

There has been a test done by a fancy pants doctor who is the head of something or other but allergins is in the title at the University of Nebraska. He has tested the fries. (There is a gluten test that can test up to some nano bajillionth ppm of the protein). There is no gluten in the fries. He has come out and said so. Again I go back to the boards to see what those who want to sue are saying and to see what the general reaction is. Again it is interesting. There are still some who claim they will sue (no case but whatever...). There are some who criticize McDonalds for using fancypants doctor, or who claim fancypants doctor is in the pocket of McDonalds. It is just so weird to me. My thought is simple... Fancypants doctor says fries are okay. Tests prove fries are okay. Where's the question.

Peevery

Aww... It isn't as though all of the peevers have suddenly gotten wonderful, special, joyous lives... the peevery is sick. That's why nobody has had a peeve in 3 days. :( We at Joanne's life hope it has a speedy recovery.

(You know, or the webhosting is having issues. Damn webhoster...)

Bark Bark

I have a cough. No sneezing. No aching. No stuffy head. No sore throat. Just a cough. A deep, periodically barking as though I'm coughing up a lung, cough. I wonder what the hell that's about.

Cupcakes

Dammit. Setting the kitchen timer only works if you actually turn it on. I now have slightly cajun cupcakes. I'm sure once I slather on chocolate frosting they'll be fine. :D

I just frosted the cupcakes with the most divine dark chocolate frosting. (The recipe for Stephen who always asks me... 1/2 cup butter, 2/3 cup cocoa (I used dark cocoa), 3 cups powdered sugar, 1/3 cup milk, and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Mix the cocoa & melted butter together first. Then alternating mix in the powdered sugar and milk. At the end put in the vanilla.)

I'm eating pasta for dinner. I bought this fancypants pasta (more expensive by far than my usual quinoa pasta) that is supposed to be 'just like the real thing.' And 'so good your non-celiac friends won't know the difference.' Now Michelle & Matty & Kate will all say that that is rarely ever true. There's always this texture or taste that is just slightly off. (Or in some cases, completely off.) So I'm always tentative about anything that is just like the real thing. I will say this new fancypants pasta rather different than the quinoa that I usually eat. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say it is just like the real thing, but it is good. That's always exciting to me.

Cookies, cookies everywhere and not a box for me.

Yesterday I picked up our Girl Scout Cookie order. I checked out a Honda Element. It is a funnish car to drive. I was so good, I walked over to the car wearing the boot like I'm supposed to. And then realized I forgot a 2nd shoe so I could drive. So I had to just drive barefooted. Not all my parents showed up so I had a lot of cookies left over to store until they pick them up. I was exhausted and had to get the flexcar back so I just loaded all the boxes into the main part of my work and left them until today. I went back this morning and luckily one of my moms who has a lot of cookies picked hers up. I have one more mom coming tomorrow after work time and hopefully my cookie mom will pick the rest up this week. That would be nice.

James Blunt

I really like his song "You're beautiful." That's the only song I've heard of his but so far so good. I have to say, though, I disagree with the VH1 announcer guy. I don't really know that I'd call his slightly gravelly voice "Angellic."

Hmm... Vaguely interesting...

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations.A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you.You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness.You're generally good at balancing work and play.When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness.You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly.Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone.You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism.You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium.You are generally broad minded when it come to new things.But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it.You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

No words on asses!

Matty & I went to the UAF vs my employer basketball game today. Now we went last year and I was appalled at the fact that the women's basketball team had the word "Nanooks" scrawled across the ass. Words on asses are my 2nd biggest pet peeve (right behind random stoppers) and so I emailed the coach and got a response blah blah blah. This year I was thrilled, THRILLED I say, to see no words on asses. The coach was true to her word. Now it doesn't change the fact that she is either a bad coach or they are a bad team or a combination of the two, but still. No words on asses. I consider it a moral victory. :) The Nanooks were not so lucky, they lost. It was a close game, though, and somewhat exciting. If they hadn't made a bunch of bad passes and errors they may not have lost.

On my way home, I witnessed an accident (fender bender type not call an ambulance type). I didn't go over to the people though. I never know what the proper thing to do in the situation is. There were a lot of people around, though since it was at the corner of Pike & Broadway.

Weird...

Three times I have put up a post, and 3 times it has disappeared all of its' own accord. I guess I'll leave it like that because obviously that's a sign.

Disappointed

I think I've mentioned that my favorite restaurant is closing for a short while. Even though I knew they would be out by the 28th of Feb, I hadn't realized how soon that meant they'd close their doors. So today I headed up there for lunch. They're already closed and shut down and they are cleaning the place out. :'( I'm a bit bummed about that. I headed over to Baja Fresh and got tacos instead but I was really looking forward to GF cupcakes. I may have to make some myself this afternoon.

Thunder stolen

So tonight was supposed to be the big smackdown of the girls post 'bathroom incident.' I was all ready. I was planning on what I would say. It was on...

Except it wasn't. Only 2 girls showed up. I was 100% positive these 2 had nothing to do with the whole bathroom thing. So no lecture occurred. I did tell them what happened and they were both suitably grossed out. Although 1 girl thought maybe her little brother did it, but seriously, he didn't go into the girls' bathroom so how could that happen? We have no meeting next week due to the kids' mid-winter break. The following week we have Thinking Day so it will be awhile before I have the chance to lecture.

The boot is proving to be problematic. Not the walking part, but it is too narrow for my fat little duck foot. I am going to have to go back to Rick the cast guy and let him know. I'm blistering on the outside of my foot.

So sleeepy

I could so fall asleep right now but I'm waiting up to watch Veronica Mars. It had better be a new one or I'll be so pissed.

Apparently in a weird balance in my life whenever I do something good I do something bad. I went to yoga today. It was just me there so I had the instructor one on one which was nice. :) She managed to do a lot with just me. So the bad part, I picked up a Cadbury Creme Egg on the way home. Now I only ate 1 so that's good. :) I also picked up juice for the girls for our meeting tomorrow. Is it bad that sometimes I buy the snack juice based on what could be a good mixer with my cherry rum? I at least cut open the juice box and pour it into the glass rather than mix it in the box directly. Isn't that good? :)

Why yes I AM stubborn, why do you ask...

So yesterday picked up the boot and was given some vague instructions about it. I should wear it if I'm going to walk long distances. I have chosen to reinterpret that phrase as a permission to walk long distances provided I wear the boot. So this morning I set out on my way to work. WALKING! I haven't walked to work in months. I prefer to walk because I'm free of the time constraints the bus requires. I have to say, the boot really helped. I can't believe how much a difference it made. Usually when I walk the pain starts up my heel, through my calf and eventually a bunch settles in my lower back. With the exception of the 2 rubbing spots on my foot (which I have purchased moleskin for and apparently will put another layer) I was completely pain free while walking to work this morning. PAIN FREE. This was very exciting and opens a world of possibilities for the return of the Sunday Adventure! (Although not this Sunday as I will be picking up boxes and boxes and boxes of Girl Scout cookies! :)

Scaredy Cat, Scaredy Cat

I have finally discovered that the hospice behind me is closed down. I noticed something was off when I discovered that the parking lot was closed off but I figured that the employees were parking somewhere else. Then one day I noticed the bottom floor windows are boarded over. Now here's the thing I've recently noticed that has me a little scared. There are some lights lit. It may have been like that for awhile and I just wasn't aware because I didn't realize the hospice was closing down, but now I make a habit of checking each night to see if different lights are lit than usual. You know, it was a hospice... Who knows what kinds of ghosts are wandering around in there. (This is a true sign that I watch too much Supernatural on the WB.)

As of today I am now the wearer of a boot. Well only when I'm walking a lot. I don't have to wear it around the office or around my house. I did walk home today and discovered that it is difficult to get on and off the bus, it does make walking in general a bit easier. I think it is the significantly curved bottom. (And yes, Matthew, you told me so. Happy?) I think I might decorate it with some of my fabric paints. A few daisies might brighten it up a little. :) Also, the boot guy was kind of pissy. At first I felt bad about bothering him. And then it dawned on me, this is his motherfucking job! This is what Group Health pays him the big bucks to do. I am not inconveniencing him. Sometimes I'm silly.

This Valentine's day was not great but not bad either, so I guess technically that makes it great. :) Nothing exciting happened but at the same time nothing bad happened so I think that makes it a perfectly balanced day. Ooh I did get a cool Valentine's day present from Michelley and 2 cool Valentines from my coworkers and that's more Valentines than I received last year. Maybe next year I'll get a Valentine from the cute boy in the bed next to me. (A girl can dream can't she?) :)

Today's going to be a great day!

Do you know how I know? It was SNOWING as I left for the gym this morning! Snowing at 5:55! And it was beautiful. I love the snow. I miss the snow. I should move somewhere it snows more. It was so peaceful and quiet and beautiful while waiting for the bus. It made my ride on the methadone bus so much better this morning.

I feel now that I've mentioned the methadone bus I should explain (although it is kind of obvious). The bus I ride goes right past the methadone clinic. There are always between 5 and 10 people riding that bus that are going into the clinic. A couple of mornings ago there was this older woman and she made me sad because she was clearly needing a fix by her behavior. She was jittery and unable to really sit still on the bus. She made me sad because she looked like she should be hanging out with her grandkids on the porch, not riding a bus headed to the heroin addict's next fix.

Finally it is Valentine's Day. I do not have a good track record with the day although there is no dead ferret in my bed so already I'm doing much better than 2 years ago. :) (Seriously for those who have read this a long time, I know the story is getting old but come on, there's very little that can top finding a dead pet in your bed and getting bumped into by a car all in the same day. Plus now that it is 2 years later I can laugh about it.) Isa put up a little envelope and wanted Valentines so I bought some Bratz ones. Somehow these Valentines are not appropriate for a Human Resources office yet are appropriate for 6 year old girls.

Oh also, I have put on a new necklace. It isn't the same as the old one but Isa has a theory that maybe letting go of something that was very precious to me will allow something new that will be precious to me into my life. One can hope. :) Anyway, I strung 2 fish beads on a leather strap and now have a new necklace on. I had to. I really felt weird without anything around my neck.

Have a great day!

Ooh one more thing I almost forgot... Matty thinks that I shouldn't discount potheads because clearly they love me- the 2 that hit on me and Jeffy my gay, pothead, bartending husband. I commented that my non love for the potheads is not really what is keeping me from a relationship since those 2 people had far more to be rejected about them than just pot. That was the tip of the rejection iceberg. So I'll just say that... yeah, I'm still rejecting potheads. :)

I rock!

I packed my pack last night. I checked and rechecked to make sure I had everything I needed. I bought bananas just for the occassion. I was up at 5:30 this morning and on the bus at 6:10. I hit the gym by 6:20. Yay for me! It has been almost a year since I've last been to the gym. They have new elliptical trainers! Yay for new elliptical trainers. (And yes, skinny people everywhere claim the elliptical trainers are like a magnet for fat people. They burn a huge amount of calories and are kind to the knees, what more could I want?) I only went for 20 minutes (and a 5 min cooldown) because I didn't want to die my first day back in the gym, but I'm psyched and ready to go again tomorrow. And for the record, Pearl Jam's Release Me is probably the best cooldown song I've ever found. It is either right at 5 minutes or just under (like 4:30?) and it provides a kind of trudging beat that I find good to slow down to. Plus I just love the song. :)

Edited to add this picture of an elliptical trainer. I love it because it is a gentle gliding kind of thing rather than picking up your feet. I never use the arm option because that's just too much for me to manage. I usually don't hold onto the handles at all. I only will hang on a little bit when I'm doing reverse motion because it helps keep me from falling off the damn thing. It looks kind of intimidating but really when I was going regularly I could burn like 600 calories in just 30 min of working out. How can you not love that? Plus once you get used to it, it actually feels really good to me. Like a treadmill it has various levels (or heights I guess) so that it simulates either running (lowest setting) or stairclimbing (highest). And according to sports medicine guy it is good for my achilles tendonitis so I'm all over it.

Devastation...

For the past 14 years I've worn an aquamarine crystal around my neck. I bought it when I was a freshman in college at the annual holiday fair. I almost didn't buy it but it spoke to me. I had to. I went back 3 times to look at it before commiting to the purchase. I've been wearing it on a leather cord for the past several years because the chain broke and was unrepairable. I've looked for another silver chain, but finding one that was fine enough to fit the necklace and yet still long enough to surround my fat neck was impossible. Today represents the last day I will wear it. It's gone. I pulled off my jacket after going to the library and noticed a black string hanging off my t-shirt. It wasn't a black string, it was my leather cord. The crystal is gone. I walked back to the bus stop head bowed trying to find it, but I didn't. It could be on the bus or at the library and I'll figure out how to submit a lost & found item but in reality, it doesn't look good. I feel weird without it now, like something's missing.

What is it with me & potheads? Do I give off a pheromone only they can smell and thus must come hit on me? Does something on my back scream please rub your potheaded hands on me?

Friday's Pothead Experience - I went out kind of late and joined Big R at a gay bar. We sat down at the bar and Big R went to the bathroom leaving me alone. The guy on my other side introduced himself and asked for my name. He chatted with me telling me I was really pretty and asked if I was waiting on someone. All the while rubbing my back. I told him I was waiting for my boyfriend who just went to the bathroom. He gave me one of those "hey I tried" looks and just chatted some more with me. Big R returned and I turned back to him to chat. When Big R went to get a 2nd (or 3rd I'm not sure) drink, the guy tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to him. I heard him say something about a bull and said "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're asking me?" Apparently what he said was smoke a bowl, pot. I declined and he said there was nothing wrong with smoking pot he's been doing it for 50 years... and that the offer still stands if I wanted it. Luckily Big R returned and I didn't have to chat with old man pothead.

Tonight's Pothead Experience - Isa and I went to listen to some live music. We had a good time. During the last band I felt a tap in the middle of my back. I was hoping it was this one guy, heh, who am I kidding. My life never works that way... It was this shortish guy who REEKED of pot. He told me I was beautiful, multiple times and that he was glad he came over to see me and he gave me his number. The whole while he's rubbing my back. The smell was overwhelming. He gave me his card and asked for my number. I tried to get out of it claiming to have no pen or paper, of course he did. So I fake numbered him. It is such a rite of passage, fake numbering someone. I've never done it before. :) Finally he left and I felt briefly nauseus. We left shortly after that. I did look cute in a purple tank top and black jacket. :)

Night Brace 3 days so far

Every night I dutifully put on my night brace. Every night about 2 hours after I put it on, I take it off. That's it, in the picture. It kills my foot to sleep in it. My toes go numb. It is somewhat heavy and my foot always feels so weird in it. I will keep trying it. Maybe I can keep it in for like 15 minutes longer each night until I'm sleeping a full night in it. Damn tendon.

Also I've inquired about getting a boot for my vacation. Only because we are going to be walking a lot since we're going to Disneyland, Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. So yes, Matthew, I'm getting the boot. You don't gotta be all Mr. Smugpants on me.

They're lucky they're not dead!

I went into the bathroom after the meeting tonight and somebody had locked 4 doors from the inside and crawled out underneath. Now since the building is essentially empty after 6 PM (our meeting time) and really college girls wouldn't crawl around on this disgusting public bathroom floor I can only imagine it was MY girls who did this. Had they all not left already I would've lit into them immediately. Instead I crawled around on the disgusting public bathroom floor and unlocked the 2 locks I could and tried the other 2 but since those 2 stalls have doors that actually extend all the way to the floor I couldn't crawl under the side enough to get them. I had to go get someone from public safety to use their little tool to open the door. (He used a flat tool on a leatherman type thing to scrape along the top of the sliding lock until he had moved it enough to open the door.) Next week there will be a lecture to end all lectures. This is just completely unacceptable.

Hysterical... just hysterical

Ok maybe it is only hysterical to me, but I don't think I've laughed as hard as I did today at lunch in a long time.

I was eating lunch today with the cult of the virgins. There are only boy virgins in the cult these days since Isa's roommate doesn't join us anymore. Anyway Harry Potter has been seeing this girl and the Italian Guy questioned him how things were going which prompted a discussion of how far HP & girl have gone. Which then somehow melded into a convo between HP & I about things like one night stands and sex with out the a regular relationship. Harry P & I talk about his theories a little bit. He doesn't want to be controlled by the more base urges and he thinks he is above all of that. I said I wasn't discounting his beliefs, but once he actually has sex he may feel different but that I can respect that he doesn't want to be led around by Little Harry Potter. He looked at me dead on and said "How did you know that?" And then he got really red and embarrassed and started to laugh at what he just shared with me and so I started to laugh and neither of us could stop it. And neither of us could even look at each other because every time we did we just laughed harder. And neither of us could explain to the other 3 at the table what was going on. We were dying.

I went to see the doctor that I was finally referred to today. He was really nice and I liked him. He asked me a bunch of lifestyle questions. He did a bunch of checking and I really got the sense he knew what he was talking about. He did not boot me (as Matthew seems positive will happen) although he did offer me one if I wanted to do it. He says wear that for 6 weeks it may help. I am going to try 3 other things first. He gave me a night splint to wear (which looks like a boot without the traction on the bottom actually). He suggested accupuncture and suggested I up my Aleve dosage. I'm hesitent about the boot for many reasons. There's no guarantee that 6 weeks will be it. And I really think the size and weight will make my commute to & from work more difficult. I'll give it more time and see. The very exciting, though, about this appointment is that I'm released to hit the elliptical trainer again. I'm heading back to the gym next Monday morning! :) (Of course I'm still not allowed to hill climb so I'm heading back to the gym next Monday morning via bus, but whatever).

Brief political interruption

Y'all know I very rarely speak of anything political. I'm completely liberal on social issues, well and just mostly completely liberal. I read with interest about the president's new budget plan. I find it most interesting that even his fellow Republicans are against this. He's managing to piss off some very powerful lobbying groups, such as AARP. As shocking as this is, I don't know that I 100% disagree with him on his stance about entitlement benefits.

Bush, not on the ballot, took a different view. "Unconstrained spending in the nation's large entitlement programs poses a serious threat to the federal budget and to the health of the economy," the budget said. (Ok that's a direct quote from this article, but interestingly enough I'm pretty sure the budget didn't actually say anything.)

Now I'm not necessarily a fiscal conservative, well maybe I am. I am in the sense that I'd much rather see the money going to support the people it is supposed to support and not just for more layers bureaucracy or to make benefits excessively complicated. (Medicare Part D anyone? I work in benefits, I have to know these things, it is ridiculous.) If we were able to simplify I think the budget cuts would work so much better.

The other thing I read was the justification for eavesdropping power for the president. Now 99% of the time I don't care about what the president is up to with regards to these types of things. If the president wants to listen in on my phone conversations with the Chinese food place that's fine. If he wants someone in the CIA to monitor my IM chats with Michelle, whatever, I have nothing to hide. They can know about my scandalous emails with my coworker about one of several coworkers we find attractive. But now that I've thought about it further, I should care. It isn't just about me and that I have nothing to hide, but anyone who could be unfairly targeted because of their race or religion or their political ideologies. I also found it interesting that there is a special court to decide these things. If the administration isn't doing anything wrong, why hasn't this gone to that court? Why do they balk at it going there now? The whole thing troubles me for many reasons. I don't ever want to be one of those people who believes the government is out to get us or that big business is inherently evil. I know my govenrment does things that I don't approve of and most likely does things that I have no knowledge of. Things that we (as a nation) hate when another country does them. I'm not so foolish to believe everything is rosy and peachy, but I'd like to think that my elected leaders do have the nation's best interest at heart. I suppose it is a matter of whose best interest we're really talking about. And that's where things get dicey. This is an interesting article about the issue (seemingly) free of bias, just outlining the facts.

The return of the Sunday Adventure!

Today when I was sitting on the sofa, I noticed how sunny and glorious it looked outside. I had to get up off the sofa and go and celebrate the return of the sun! After looking at the different park options on the Seattle Parks website, I decided to head to Discovery Park. That was such a good idea for me! It was so rejuvinating. I didn't hike the entire loop trail (which is 2.8 miles) but I walked most of it.

I liked this little teeny path through the tree. Like something a fairy would use. :)

I think when the leaves are all on these trees this is probably a perfect little secluded grotto like I love. The potential is definitely there.

Just a crane in a field, but on the other side of the field was another crane. I don't know anything about cranes, but I wondered if there was a little flirting going on? The other thing (that I didn't take a picture of) was that these 2 guys were standing there looking at the crane. They were rather butch looking, I initially thought they were just standing next to each other, then I noticed the hands. They were holding hands. It was so cute.

This cute little chapel was on the bluff. I don't know if it was still in use, but I liked its colors and how cute it looked.

This sign made me laugh.

This cute little old couple (which you can't see the other person is a guy) was sitting on the log watching the water. I think it would be nice to have someone to sit on a log with on a cold February afternoon.

I liked the shape of this tree overlooking the water. If you look carefully, you can just see some Day of the Dead banners hanging in the tree. I don't know why they are there or how they got there but there they were.

The sky was so clear today that I could see Mt. Rainier from the bluff. It looked so cool like it was floating in the sky. It made me think of Bob Ross' the painter, the mountain just looked like it was painted on the background.

I liked the dark water/sunlight combo.

Shopped 'til I dropped

I went to 2 of my favorite places today. Baja Fresh for lunch and Fred Meyers for shopping! So while it was cold and blustery outside, I was safe and warmly ensconsed on a bus and in the most beautiful Fred Meyer in Seattle. I bought some completely frivolous things. It isn't often I get to do that! I bought a new lavender tank top to wear out (tank top, excessive boobage showing, it will need a different bra than what I own), a white shirt (that may have to go back actually) and a toasty, fuzzy fleece jacket. I'm most excited about the fleece jacket. It is so soft and warm. I can't wait until the rain stops so I can just wear this in the cold. :) I also got some craft stuff to make felt finger puppets. Although, I couldn't find any googly eyes. Do they not make those anymore? :) I'll have to field trip to the sewing store down the block to see if they carry them.

One other thing I want to get, a new video game. But I hate shoot 'em up kill things type. I like either go on a long quest to solve puzzles and find the ultimate answer or key to the treasure. Or I like simulation ones like the Sims or Age of Empires.

I looked at movies to go watch tomorrow instead of the Super Bowl. There is nothing out that I want to see that I haven't already seen. I hate it when that happens.

So cute, yet so evil...

Tess has shared her toys with me! Tess does not usually share these little fuzzy balls that she loves desperately. She carries them all around the apartment with her and hisses if I try to take one away.

(Yes I sleep on bear sheets in the winter. They're flannel)







This is Tess & Rigby sleeping in my sweater in the dirty clothes pile. Rigby is the one whose face we can see. You can just see her little pink tongue poking out of her mouth. What you can't see are her blood dripping fangs. She and I still can't come to an agreement on whether or not it is appropriate to bite my feet in the morning. I'm still against it. She seems to still be for it.

Thank goodness the week is almost done!

Popsicles - I wish I had some popsicles. I have to make due with a fun size Snickers bar that's been in the freezer for months.

Biggest waste of an afternoon - In the continuing saga of the achilles tendon, I made an appointment with a sports medicine doctor. I tried to make an appointment with the one my physical therapist recommended to me. I was told that I couldn't go to him because I had to have a referral from my doctor, which I didn't have and so they set me up with an appointment with a different doctor but who is in the same group. So I go to this other doctor this afternoon. He looks at my heel. He has me stand up and go up on tippy toes and says he can't do anything for me since he is a surgeon but he wants me to go to a different doctor who specializes in non surgical approaches to my tendon problem. The doctor he sends me to... the one I wanted to go to in the first place. I tromped all the way up there in the pouring rain to be seen for 5 minutes and then go back out and stand in the rain for 10 minutes waiting for the bus to take me back to work. Sigh. BUT I do have an appointment with the appropriate doctor next Tuesday so we'll see what happens.

Crochet - I tried to teach the girls to crochet tonight. Please notice the word TRIED. I only know the weird complicated way of doing things so I was not succeeding. Luckily, 2 of my moms had an easy way to do it and they showed the girls the better way. That made us all happy. And the 2 who really got it were so excited. I think this weekend I'm going to get some felt so that we can make felt finger puppets for one of their badges. :)

Best mail ever!

Yay! I got the most fun mail ever today. I'm ever so excited. :) It is about the only thing that is going to make the great American family vacation tolerable.