We had a death in the family. One of Adam’s 3 Bala Sharks was found fins up today. It seems like kind of a silly thing to be a bit sad about, but the Sharks have been around for a long, long time. I think we have had them in the tank for nearly 8 or 9 years. The one who died was the runt and we did notice recently, even though he/she had been eating normally, that he/she was starting to look a little gaunt. Lucky bastard. I wish I could eat like that and lose some weight, although look how far it got the fish.
I have to comment on a news story today that made both the local news and the (very tragic) Today Show this morning. Apparently there is some movement against advertisers targeting junk food/unhealthy food to kids under 12. O.K. I get that kids shouldn’t eat so much crap. Hell, I shouldn’t eat so much crap……although I really don’t eat too much crap. Yes, I had an ice cream sandwich for dessert after dinner tonight……shut up! Anyway, I also get that advertisers do target certain audiences in order to make a point and a buck. What I DON’T get is where the parents of these fat-assed, unhealthy little punks are while all of this is going on! Once again it is easier to blame everyone but the people who should ultimately be taking responsibility. YOU! All of you who just had to pop out youngin’s and then decide to let TV and video games and everyone else raise them besides YOU! Lame! Take some responsibility for your actions and your kids actions too! Jesus people. I think instead of taking action against the advertisers we should actually cook a dinner or pack a lunch for our kids and include a fucking carrot for God’s sake. Teach your kids some responsibility and take ownership of your lives. PLEASE!
O.K. Enough of the soap box for one evening. Monday cannot come soon enough. I don’t think I have mentioned that this will be the first time I have ever swum in the ocean. I have been to the ocean. I have gotten my feet wet in the ocean. But I have never swum in it, so I am very much looking forward to the salty sea-water experience. And can I just say that “swum” is a ridiculous word?! Actually I am more interested in the relaxation and spending time with the group. I actually took Adam’s lead and ordered a couple of books to take with me to read on the plane and on the beach. You have to understand that I HATE to read…..well with the exception of music and cooking magazines. But that hardly qualifies as reading in my opinion. Anyway, I got a true novel (Catcher In The Rye) which I have never read and probably should have years ago, as well as a trashy memoir (Party Monster – originally published as Disco Blood Bath) – a true crime memoir of the Club Kids in New York in the 90’s. I have seen the movie several times and decided to actually read James St. James’ account of the whole ridiculous time and incident. It looks like a very easy read. I wouldn’t be surprised if I finished it in a day, assuming it keeps my attention long enough. That really is one of the major reasons I don’t read hardly at all……it bores me to death and puts me to sleep. I most certainly don’t want to be bored or asleep in the sun!
A friend of mine in College, Chris Jamison, used to say, “Fish die. Your feet get wet at the beach.” That was her way of saying “shit happens.” And it is true if you think about it. Both things are pretty much inevitable. You can’t stop either from happening. It seemed rather fitting for this blog.
Now go eat your vegetables! Yes, you too Stephanie!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Dog's Barking.......Can't Fly Without Umbrella.
If you haven’t seen Jumping Jack Flash (yes, the movie with Whoopi Goldberg) you won’t understand the title of this blog. I think that movie is hilarious, so many one-liners. Um, actually I should say it’s a gas, gas, gas………..don’t tell me you didn’t see that coming.
Anyway, we seemed to have gotten past the barking issues in the neighborhood. We have a new neighbor, a renter, who is perfectly sweet and actually has cleaned up the yard since she moved in. She has a dog of her own and a “loaner” dog that she is watching for a friend of hers. In the last couple of weeks she has left the house early and come home very late and left both dogs outside the entire time. The “loaner” dog is quite the offending barker. It barks at the cats, and the squirrels, and the trees, and the birds and the air and anything that moves past it. It actually got so bad on several occasions (starting reportedly before 6:00am and not ending until after 11:00pm sometime) that the entire development began buzzing about the barking. I felt kind of bad for the new neighbor because I had a feeling she didn’t even have a clue about it. How could she if she isn’t around to hear it? Whenever she is home, the dogs are inside. I made the attempt to talk with her myself but the couple of times I went to talk to her she had disappeared again. She is a busy gal. But nonetheless someone got to speak with her and fill her in on the situation. It seems as though the barking has come to a close. Thank God! I had to sleep in the back bedroom a couple of times just because it got so frickin’ bad. Now it seems that all is well……..at least for now…..I am sure someone else in the neighborhood will fuck it up for everyone, although apparently Home Depot has changed their evil ways. I ran into a neighbor at the grocery store the other day and he said he spoke with one of the Managers at Home Depot in passing and they seem to have heard our cries to shut the hell up at 3:00am. Not that the City of Seattle has been useful or any proper chain of complaints has done the trick. It has taken a couple of years for them to finally get their shit together. I am not sure what did it, but something got through to them. It is about damned time.
So with peace restored (in the middle of the night at least) to our little group of homes it has been quite enjoyable around here. The sun has been out. We planted a few more flowers out front. We have been able to enjoy our nice back patio and take advantage of all the work done over the last couple of years. Very nice indeed.
Work has been very productive and kind of an adventure each and every day. I ended up not having to schlep an umbrella with me last week on my days out in Downtown. Whew! And it is a good thing, too, because my hands were full as it were. I find that I am toting more around with me everyday. It is good exercise though.
And since we are leaving in a week……7 days from today!.......Adam and I got a little motivated last weekend to get a few things done. We organized our laundry/storage area and got rid of a bunch of stuff we either never use or just shouldn’t have to begin with. We have a nice fat donation pile all ready to go. Additionally, my nephew will be getting a free desk and computer once we get that torn down so we can actually have our dining area back to use as an actual dining area! Unheard of! One of our neighbors is moving in September so she is going to donate her bar stools to us. That will be nice. Getting rid of that big fat table at the bar area is going to free up some space in our living room, too. I can feel how things are starting to come together. It feels pretty good.
This is rather a boring as hell blog, isn’t it? Hmmmmmm. I don’t quite know where it came from, and I can’t say it is really anything prophetic on the page by any means, but it needed to make its way out I guess.
Well, as I don’t have one solid piece of entertaining news to report I will just bring this to a close for now. Have a great day!
Anyway, we seemed to have gotten past the barking issues in the neighborhood. We have a new neighbor, a renter, who is perfectly sweet and actually has cleaned up the yard since she moved in. She has a dog of her own and a “loaner” dog that she is watching for a friend of hers. In the last couple of weeks she has left the house early and come home very late and left both dogs outside the entire time. The “loaner” dog is quite the offending barker. It barks at the cats, and the squirrels, and the trees, and the birds and the air and anything that moves past it. It actually got so bad on several occasions (starting reportedly before 6:00am and not ending until after 11:00pm sometime) that the entire development began buzzing about the barking. I felt kind of bad for the new neighbor because I had a feeling she didn’t even have a clue about it. How could she if she isn’t around to hear it? Whenever she is home, the dogs are inside. I made the attempt to talk with her myself but the couple of times I went to talk to her she had disappeared again. She is a busy gal. But nonetheless someone got to speak with her and fill her in on the situation. It seems as though the barking has come to a close. Thank God! I had to sleep in the back bedroom a couple of times just because it got so frickin’ bad. Now it seems that all is well……..at least for now…..I am sure someone else in the neighborhood will fuck it up for everyone, although apparently Home Depot has changed their evil ways. I ran into a neighbor at the grocery store the other day and he said he spoke with one of the Managers at Home Depot in passing and they seem to have heard our cries to shut the hell up at 3:00am. Not that the City of Seattle has been useful or any proper chain of complaints has done the trick. It has taken a couple of years for them to finally get their shit together. I am not sure what did it, but something got through to them. It is about damned time.
So with peace restored (in the middle of the night at least) to our little group of homes it has been quite enjoyable around here. The sun has been out. We planted a few more flowers out front. We have been able to enjoy our nice back patio and take advantage of all the work done over the last couple of years. Very nice indeed.
Work has been very productive and kind of an adventure each and every day. I ended up not having to schlep an umbrella with me last week on my days out in Downtown. Whew! And it is a good thing, too, because my hands were full as it were. I find that I am toting more around with me everyday. It is good exercise though.
And since we are leaving in a week……7 days from today!.......Adam and I got a little motivated last weekend to get a few things done. We organized our laundry/storage area and got rid of a bunch of stuff we either never use or just shouldn’t have to begin with. We have a nice fat donation pile all ready to go. Additionally, my nephew will be getting a free desk and computer once we get that torn down so we can actually have our dining area back to use as an actual dining area! Unheard of! One of our neighbors is moving in September so she is going to donate her bar stools to us. That will be nice. Getting rid of that big fat table at the bar area is going to free up some space in our living room, too. I can feel how things are starting to come together. It feels pretty good.
This is rather a boring as hell blog, isn’t it? Hmmmmmm. I don’t quite know where it came from, and I can’t say it is really anything prophetic on the page by any means, but it needed to make its way out I guess.
Well, as I don’t have one solid piece of entertaining news to report I will just bring this to a close for now. Have a great day!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Irrigation irritation.....
Adam finished the final details on the irrigation system this last weekend. It works great……well, it will when he adjusts the timer again. It came on at the proper time this morning, but once it finished its cycle it started all over again. So I figured I better shut the damn thing off or it was going to water all day long. Not good. A minor wrinkle easily ironed out. Oh, that reminds me that I need to pick up my dry-cleaning tomorrow. Good to know. Anyway, I am rather proud of him having put the whole thing in by his little self……although I am not proud of the bill. Let’s just say he would make a seriously shitty contractor. I was told one figure…….double + that figure two weeks later we have a system in place. Although I suppose that might actually make him an excellent contractor depending on how you look at it.
I worked my butt off cleaning the house for several hours and then spending 2 more hours on “doggie day of beauty.” Gizmo was filthy! She really needed the bath and the feet trimming. She is usually really very cooperative during the whole process, but not this weekend for some reason. She fought me tooth and nail the entire time. It was beyond frustrating, but it was ultimately worth it for both of us in the end.
It looks as though we are going to get a reprieve from the bright sunny weather tomorrow. That means I will probably have to schlep an umbrella around with me since I will be meandering downtown in a tie. No self-respecting Seattleite should have to carry around an umbrella…...it makes you look like a tourist. Very amateur. And my boss will be with me tomorrow at least for part of the day. She occasionally goes on joint calls with each of the reps which means she has to travel up and down the west coast between Seattle and Northern California. I am a little nervous about it only because I am giving my first full product presentation to one of my customers. I am sure it will not be the most eloquent presentation ever given, but I still have a long way to go. Not to worry……..time and practice will make it all come together.
Off to brush my teeth and get ready for bed.
I worked my butt off cleaning the house for several hours and then spending 2 more hours on “doggie day of beauty.” Gizmo was filthy! She really needed the bath and the feet trimming. She is usually really very cooperative during the whole process, but not this weekend for some reason. She fought me tooth and nail the entire time. It was beyond frustrating, but it was ultimately worth it for both of us in the end.
It looks as though we are going to get a reprieve from the bright sunny weather tomorrow. That means I will probably have to schlep an umbrella around with me since I will be meandering downtown in a tie. No self-respecting Seattleite should have to carry around an umbrella…...it makes you look like a tourist. Very amateur. And my boss will be with me tomorrow at least for part of the day. She occasionally goes on joint calls with each of the reps which means she has to travel up and down the west coast between Seattle and Northern California. I am a little nervous about it only because I am giving my first full product presentation to one of my customers. I am sure it will not be the most eloquent presentation ever given, but I still have a long way to go. Not to worry……..time and practice will make it all come together.
Off to brush my teeth and get ready for bed.
Do you have any coupons???
(This is a repost from my MySpace blog. As I just signed up for this new blog spot I figured I better post something. So please enjoy a post from July 14.....only aged slightly.)
The weekend came and went in a much too hurried fashion once again. But it was a good one I suppose. We went to see Eddie Izzard perform at the Paramount on Saturday. My Brother gave us his tickets……I am still puzzled by that one…..but I turned around and gave him some money for them just because it seemed like the right thing to do. Too bad the show wasn't better. Don't get me wrong. It was entertaining, but it wasn't quite what we had hoped. It was a nice evening out for Adam and me though. We enjoyed ourselves.
Adam earned his evening out on Saturday that is for damned sure. He installed an irrigation system up the side of the house and into the back "yard." It really isn't a "yard" so much as a patio with terraced planters, but that sounds way to gay, so "yard" it is! Anyway, it took him several hours on Saturday and pretty much the entire day on Sunday, not to mention 3 or 4 trips to Home Depot and 2 to McClendon's Hardware for various supplies and replacement supplies. He was pretty much done with the whole thing by the end of Sunday but not before he made a mess out of my freshly vacuumed floors…..dirt and mud everywhere. And then the system only worked o.k. It wasn't perfect, and we can work around a couple of things, but at least we won't have to worry about our plants and green-growing things crapping out while we are in Hawaii. I should probably make some sort of a special nookie coupon for Adam for doing all that work. He can redeem it whenever he wants……….some restrictions apply. I mean I know the boy earned it, but I am NOT doing THAT……ew.
Hawaii is only 21 short days away and I cannot wait!!! I have something special planned for the 10 of us as a surprise. I can't say what it is just in case someone from the group reads this, but it is something small that we will all get a kick out of. It will make for good pictures anyway.
Adam is finished with the dishes, so we are going to watch some more "Drawn Together." It is really sick and twisted, but it is funny as shit. I can't believe some of the shit they get away with. It is hilarious!
Toodles.
The weekend came and went in a much too hurried fashion once again. But it was a good one I suppose. We went to see Eddie Izzard perform at the Paramount on Saturday. My Brother gave us his tickets……I am still puzzled by that one…..but I turned around and gave him some money for them just because it seemed like the right thing to do. Too bad the show wasn't better. Don't get me wrong. It was entertaining, but it wasn't quite what we had hoped. It was a nice evening out for Adam and me though. We enjoyed ourselves.
Adam earned his evening out on Saturday that is for damned sure. He installed an irrigation system up the side of the house and into the back "yard." It really isn't a "yard" so much as a patio with terraced planters, but that sounds way to gay, so "yard" it is! Anyway, it took him several hours on Saturday and pretty much the entire day on Sunday, not to mention 3 or 4 trips to Home Depot and 2 to McClendon's Hardware for various supplies and replacement supplies. He was pretty much done with the whole thing by the end of Sunday but not before he made a mess out of my freshly vacuumed floors…..dirt and mud everywhere. And then the system only worked o.k. It wasn't perfect, and we can work around a couple of things, but at least we won't have to worry about our plants and green-growing things crapping out while we are in Hawaii. I should probably make some sort of a special nookie coupon for Adam for doing all that work. He can redeem it whenever he wants……….some restrictions apply. I mean I know the boy earned it, but I am NOT doing THAT……ew.
Hawaii is only 21 short days away and I cannot wait!!! I have something special planned for the 10 of us as a surprise. I can't say what it is just in case someone from the group reads this, but it is something small that we will all get a kick out of. It will make for good pictures anyway.
Adam is finished with the dishes, so we are going to watch some more "Drawn Together." It is really sick and twisted, but it is funny as shit. I can't believe some of the shit they get away with. It is hilarious!
Toodles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
