It's apparently Drive Like a Moron Day.

I didn't get the memo.

~chirp~chirp~

It's so quiet here at work today.

I have things to do, but I'm going to take a chunk of my time to redo my google reader. I have all of the blogs you girls gave me, so I'm going to simply delete my 200+ list I had before and replace it with yours. Then I'm going to actually READ them! Yay! I'm so excited to hear what's new with your girls. I won't be able to really read any backstories, so please excuse any random comments I may leave on your blogs today.

"see" you soon!

Worst snowboarding collision I have ever sustained.

I took the girls skiing and after some runs with them, left them w/ grandpa and dad to go run some on my own. Balls out on double black diamonds. I rocked it. Switched with the boys and took the girls while they ran some run. We all reunite and take a few more runs down on the easiest of greens. I'm circling allie as she makes it down and I'm a little ...ahead of her when a little kid, out of nowhere, turns right in front of me and ~sits down~ maybe 2 feet ahead. There was NO avoiding him. I just had my board freshly edged and didn't want to decapitate the poor kid nor hit him at all with my board, so in the half a second I had before we hit, I jumped and turned a 180 and flung myself upwards, in a quasi backflip. I almost miss the kid completely, my back skidding across his shoulders and head, as I land full force on my head, my board still flying across, landing me back up in a sitting position. My first reaction was to yell "Watch where the fu@k you're going!" until I see he is a paniced little kid, all of maybe nine. I change my tune, asking him if he's okay and he says yes and starts to apologize. He's fine. I get up and take off to survey my own injuries. I got rocked and over the next 12 hours I figure I got a slight concussion and my neck is showing signs of a bit of whiplash. 21 years of snowboarding and I'm taken out on a run called "snowflake". Awesome

Surgery #23

(first off, thanks for giving me the links to your blogs. I'm going to get them in my reader and start reading!)

It may not be #23 if some other wacky thing happens to me before then, but I know this surgery is in the future for me.

Long story much shorter in easy to read bullets ...

~ A few months ago, I suddenly got this feeling in my right ear. It felt like it was a bug. Horrible. Doc checked, no bug, ear infection, antibiotics.

~ 2 weeks later, still feels like a bug. Having a few dizzy spells. Hearing almost underwater type sounds. Back to doc. Nothing. Referred to ENT.

~ 2 weeks later, see ENT. Nothing. Even under microscope. Hearing tests show an uncommon type of hearing loss, low-frequency conductive hearing loss. Both audiologist and ENT were a bit suprised. If condition continues, refer to the next level of doctors, the neuro-otolaryngologist.

~ The feeling in ear is happening 25+ times a day.

~ See Neuro-otolaryngologist. First thing he wants hearing test redone, not believing the one ENT sent him. Tested. Same. He then performs all sorts of tests. Seems when a vibration is put on my head behind my ear, my eyes do the wrong movement. Same thing when my ear is pressurized. Sent to get a CT scan.

~ Back to Neuro-otolaryngologist after CT performed. CT confirms I have a "very rare" condition called "superior canal dehiscence syndrome". (bone at top of ear is partially missing, literally wron down by the brain.) Awesome.

~ Fixing would take surgery following these steps:
1. cut a piece out of my skull behind ear
2. break an ear bone. (The pinna? I forget)
3. lift up MY BRAIN.
4. replace missing piece of bone.
5. situate my brain once again.
6. fix the bone they had to break.
7. plug up the whole in my skull.

~ I know it's not technically "brain surgery", but the fact they have to touch it at all freaks me out. Since my symptoms aren't too bad right now, we are giong to skip the surgery. But he said my symptoms will most likely just get worse and when dizziness and/or hearing problems start affecting my quality of life, we'll do the surgery then. Next appt to check symptoms is in Feb.

heh. brain surgery. not too surprising, is it?

The Favor ... (Sticky Post - new ones below!)

(there is a new blog entry under this sticky note!)

I'm going to "sticky" this note here for a little while, hoping to get more comments over a bit of time ...

If you don't want to read me explain ad nauseam about the whys of my favor, just skip to the bottom.

Here it goes. After many empty declarations on my part to start reading blogs again, I have failed to do it. WHY? It's because of the one thing that would seem like THE most helpful aspect of picking up where I left off ... My Reader.

My reader has, let's see, 325 blogs waiting for me. Everytime I try, I not only get overwhelmed, but I don't feel "at home" with the blogs. It takes forever minutes of back reading to determine what the blogger is blogging about. And that's if I even remember the blogger. I was adding so many blogs at the end, I just don't recollect who everyone even is anymore.

And that sucks.

I ~loved~ when I was able to share in the joys and be there for the not-so-joys. And I want to do that again. The best place I can see to start is deleting ~all~ of the blogs within my reader. Start reading blogs based upon your input, and THEN start adding new blogs as I can.

What I obviously need YOU to do is if you would allow ME to read YOUR blog, I would love if you would comment. If your profile (from comments) lists your blog (a single one), you don't need anything to do besides just leaving a comment about anything at all. Tell me your favorite flavor of soup or something. But please, comment. If you have a profile that lists multiple blogs OR it's not available in your profile, list it for me in the comments section? (If you want your comment deleted after I get the blog url, just let me know).

I really want to start reading the blogs of those who I am lucky enough to have swing by my blog to start with. Then, I'll get more blogs like I used to - just by reading reading comments on my friend's blogs and liking their word style. This is so I can add a title comment in my reader as to who I "met" this person from.


if you skipped this post because you didn't want to read my ramblings, start reading again! ~wink~

PLEASE! Leave me a comment with your blog URL so I can add you to my reader!

Thank you.


note ... if your blog is private and I used to be one of your readers, I would love to read you again (like little miss emily!). Can you pretty-please send me an invite or the password to nleisher@yahoo.com?

Bloggemies and Faking It:

How to seem like a better person without actually improving yourself.

The above is the book I picked up yesterday when I was out xmas shopping. It cracked me up so hard that it only took a matter of a second before i determined it to be mine.

A lame thing about slowing down to sloth speed in blogging efforts? You no longer have haters. I always knew I was blogging often enough when I had bloggemies. A few years ago, I'd of posted this book title and instead of eliciting laughs (hopefully), I'd get a bunch of comment "How ironic because you are MOST in need of improving yourself!" But, alas, all my bloggemies have found newer, better bloggers to hate.

"Bloggemies". That's a pretty cool word. I hereby declare bloggemies to be my newest, and most favorite at the moment, made up words.

whoa dude. not cool coincidences.

Last week here in town, a woman's body was found burning at a local trail head. It was found out to be an 87 year old local woman. She wasn't your typical 87 yr old granny. She was still very active and enjoyed things like facebook, which she was on a lot.

Anywho, it seems it was a burglary gone awry. (well, i guess her death may have been planned, i have no idea yet.) It looks like a random burglary because houses next to hers were found to have been tried to get broken into. There were screens removed and windows tried with no luck. For 87 yr old Kit Grazioli, her window was found accessible. Using fingerprints the police found on scene, they went and picked up 21 year old suspect, Marcus Allen Smith.

Here's where the coincidences get a little weird ...
---> The victim's house was reported as in the "1100 block of Samuel Point Drive".
~ Our great grandmother lived just down the street, but had moved right before her passing.
~ We know the owner of one of the tried-to-but-couldn't-get-in houses.
~ We have friends who know the victim quite well. One of our closer friends just attended a meeting and the victim sat right next to her and they chatted throughout the meeting.

---> The suspect was reported to have been picked up on the "1300 block of Suncrest Way"
~ Our great grandmother, mentioned above, moved out of her home on Samuel Point and moved in with her daughter (our Aunt) into a house at 1345 Suncrest Way (they recently moved, which is why I'm not worried about giving out such details).
~ Our Aunt's next door neighbor, at 1353 Suncrest Way, had a son of the same age as the suspect.
~ The police were called multiple times by concerned neighbors when the father of the boy living at 1353 would presumably "beat on" the son and the mother.
~ The suspect's name is Marcus Allen Smith. Using the public property search for the homes neighboring our Aunt's house. The house immediately next door is said to be owned by "Allen Smith".

It all really sucks.

(In)Fertility statistics.

I was watching GWLBWLB tonight and I heard one girl say "25% of couples will get pregnant on their first try".

And after rolling my eyes, I tried to access my infertility stats section of my memory vault and realized that someone had broken in and stole everything of value.

There are a TON of general and very detailed statistics out there regarding fertility and infertility. Help me out and comment with any you happen to remember.

Please?

i like big butts and i cannot lie

and I know you other brothers can't deny.

quick blog post here. I'm on a vinyl kick and running through my collections. It's not a ~huge~ selection, but let's say is isn't a tiny bit either. I have a couple of hundred records - lp and 7".

My comment today is - there isn't really any great vinyl selection here in my town. It used to be stinkweeks and eastside records, but not anymore. (heh - I still have my Tower Records badge with my name filled out as "bubbles". All I now have to chose from is the locally owned record store which only carries one aisle of new records and only 2 tiny bins for their 7"s.

I know i can buy anything off the internet, but half the fun was going on my weekly mission to the record store and slowly flip through each record. On more than a few outtings I would buy a record that just looked good. Or maybe came from a label I was familiar with the types of bands they signed.

It makes me sad. Does anyone else out there shop for vinyl? Any recomendations on searching in the absence of a good record store? Or am I denstined to make trips to the big cities for a ~real~ record store?

11 years old. Whoa. And have you seen francis bean?

I've been playing some really old music lately, delving into a lot of things I grew up listening to. The violent femmes, as you can tell from my last post, is one of those bands. I was at a stop light, looking at the cd itself. And then I saw it. 1983. Holy shit. I was ELEVEN. That's a long time ago for me, I'm not a spring chicken. Although I didn't listen to them until I was 14. I distinctly remember sharing the headphones of Cindy's walkman (so cool!) in typing class. (yes, typing. i sucked at it at the time. I used to wait until someone was done with their assignment and then I'd take their paper to the library on a "bathroom break" and photocopy it, slap my name on top and turn it in.) Anywho - I was enthralled by "add it up". It was the very first time I heard the f bomb in music. It changed my life. I scraped together some money and went and bought the tape myself.

What I think is crazy is it is almost 28 years old and I don't think it sounds that old. Like it could still be played, as is, on any 'alternative' radio station. Or am I just getting old too? Does it sound like classic (punk)rock to a 20 year old today?

Nirvana too. Nevermind is fucking 20 years old. And it IS played on regular rotation by many of the rock radio stations. Are they just that immortal? (ouch.)

I'm a huge nirvana fan. Always was. I got bleach in 1989, not long after it was released. I saw them in a handful of shows - starting with a tiny bar in 91 when i had my fake id (the real reason i had one was to get into shows when my favorite bands were playing in bars) for $5. Saw them play at another very small bar when word leaked out they were showing up for a non advertised show when one of the bands they were friends with from the northwest was playing (the melvins? or mudhoney? I think the latter) the same night they were playing the arizona state fair. And then he killed himself. It broke my heart so much that I stopped listening to nirvana all together for years and years. It broke my heart to play anything. It still does.

Tangent here ... I finally got over my questions about why he killed himself. This is just my own conclusion, but it's one I can accept. Kurt Cobain was a tortured soul all of his life. And then he got ~everything~ the average artist could ever want handed to him on a platinum platter in the space of just a few years. Fame. Money. Adoration. A wife. A daughter. I think he tried to appreciated it and tried to be happy but his own mentality wouldn't join in. He was ~still~ tortured. Could you imagine how horrific it would be to you if you came to the conclusion that even after getting ~everything~ you could ever imagine to hope to get, your brain STILL kept you tortured? That realization would drive me to suicide. To find out no matter what you did, no matter what the world gave you in return, you would NEVER gain happiness? And then to fear your unhappiness would touch upon his beautiful daughter, frances bean? I understand how he must felt. And I understand his decision to go. Am I glad he did it? No. Have I made peace with the "why"? yes. yes i have.

Tangent 2 here ... Have you seen that recent photo session with francis bean cobain? Holy shit. She. is. gorgeous. She looks so much like her mom and so much like her dad at the same time. It's got to be hard to live your life under the shadow of her father's career and her mother's nuttiness. Which, by the way, I love courtney love. She'd fucking bat shit crazy - yes. But that's what I love about her.

Circling back to my music choices, just a few more things to say. I bought some old albums I was nosalgic over listening to in my formative years. One album was Public Image Limited. You know, Johnny Rotten's post sex pistols band? I used to LOVE this one album. So I listened to it. And I'll never listen to it ever again. It's just plain terrible. The next one was Pop Will Eat Itself. How do i even describe it? A electronic/techno/alternative/'rap' style? It's like nine inch nails and the beastie boys has a bastard son.

Vanity Plates

First off, I hate that customized plates are called vanity plates. I'm not wanting a plate that says "I'm awesome".

But I did just send in for a set. First request "punkroc", second is "overfed".

I love the first one, but the second one? oh man, it makes me laugh everytime I see it. Everytime there is a car behind me at a fast food drive thru line, they'll be all "great. this is giong to take forever".

i'm so easily amused.

You can just kiss off

I take one, one, one cause you left me and
Two, two, two for my family and
3, 3, 3 for my heartache and
4, 4, 4 for my headaches and
5, 5, 5 for my lonely and
6, 6, 6 for my sorrow and
7, 7, for no tomorrow and
8, 8, I forget what 8 was for and
9, 9, 9 for a lost god and
10, 10, 10, 10 for everything!

Oh yeah well don't get so distressed
Did I happen to mention that I'm impressed?

Yes, In fact I ~did~ order fries with my shake.

And give me a hot apple pie with my value meal ...



I downloaded fat booth and I can't stop laughing. These pictures are fucking awesome.

(I'm sorry if this is offensive to anyone. I know it's wrong, I willfully admit I have a character flaw.)


Just for proof, this is a pre-booth pic ...

No Purchase Necessary

Why do companies have to have a "no purchase necessary" clause in their contracts?

I'm sure there is some legal precedence here and I could simply look it up, but I'm like most americans and I'm lazy.

I'm sure someone sued because they declared not getting a "1 in 4 WINS!" game token from some fast food chain without buying something was unconsitutional or something. The place running the contest is trying to generate business by enticing customers to win! win! win!. Yet under some most like idiotic rule, they have to allow non customers to play.

This isn't true for the lotto/powerball. I can't just walking into a 7-11 and say "I'm not going to buy anything, but give me a lottery ticket." I guess that is different though since with the lottery, we are ~buying~ a chance to win with no other deliverable promise of any type of good or service. It's definitivly a gamble.

Hrm. So I get that reasoning for a lottery, if I'm correct of course. But why do we have to give non customers a chance to win a prize we are giving out in hopes of creating more customers.

Ugh. Now I'm curious but I don't want to google it in spite. (in spite of what? no idea.)


Another question. Why do coupons retain a value? (worth 1/27th of a cent). Does that actually mean I can collect coupons and turn them in somewhere for money? Where does the worth come from? Who would reimburse me?

If you can identify with any of the below ...

... you most likely have the ability to irritate the hell out of me. (welcome back miss schnarky.)


1. ~ I've mentioned it before, magicians. I loathe magicians. Not because I can't figure out how they did something. It's because their whole persona is acting like they really are, in fact, magical. If they would just say "hey, i got this fucking cool slight of hand thing to show you but I won't tell you how I did it", that would be fine. Instead they act all spooky about it. Case in point - that criss angel guy. (nevermind his annoying way he spells his name) Stop acting so "oooo - i'm MAGIC - look how serious I am. I can't smile because it would throw off my shtick". I actually think a lot of their tricks are cool as hell and I'd love to see them do it, but drop the attitude. We all know you are not a sorcerer. We know it's a trick, hence calling it a magic TRICK.

2. ~ Auctioneers. Really? Do you actually think talking like that is going to rile the crowd into a frenzy of bidding? Look. I'm going to pay up to x dollars on item y. How quickly the bidding goes up doesn't change the fact I'll spend how much I want to spend. Everytime I hear on of them calling out an auction, I actually get a little pissed off.

3. ~ The whole "I can't be bothered to put on pants or shoes when I need to venture out in public" thing. Is it really that difficult to slip on a pair of flip flops and some pants? Or are you trying to be a social deviant by not accepting society's rule about how you should dress in public and you show your uniqueness by doing the SAME THING that tens of thousands of other girl do? I'm generalizing this phenomena to woman, mostly teenage and the immature early twenties set. I can't recall ever seeing a boy take part in this fad. Or too many older women for that matter.

4. ~ Some types of hats worn by boys. Hats are hats and you either like them or you don't. I'm just going to mention my hated top three hat styles. One - The whole flat brimmed baseball hat. I wear my baseball hat with the brim rounded. There are different versions of this, as I have seen them rounded so much that the brim becomes a tube. But the opposite of that, the flat brimmed hat, um, I guess I just don't get it. The whole point of wearing a baseball hat is to protect your eyes from the sun. Keeping the brim completely flat, so much so it doesn't even fit to your head - there are big holes on either side in between your forehead and the hat - defeats the purpose of the hat almost entirely. The only time this style will shade your eyes is when the sun is directly above you. Even ~if~ you are just wearing it to be fashionable, it just looks like, to me, your hat is too big for your head. Two - knit hats in any season other than winter. I get it. It's part of the whole anorexic, skinny jeans, emo/punk boy, 80s neon plastic sunglasses look. I'm don't even going to go to the specifics of that look i find overwhelmingly ridiculous. But the winter knit cap? When it's 115 degrees outside? WHY? Can't they think of another hat option for summer? Maybe that's why the flat brimmed hat came from. Who knows. Oh - the other half of this bizarre trend is to wear the cap on the back of the head, leaving the top and sides of hair to frame the face (or completely cover it). Three - berets. Unless you are Jamie Hyneman, this look is ~not~ good. Hell, even the ARMY pulled the beret from their official uniform. I don't think I have to elaborate.

5. ~ The whole starbucks vibe. Hey, I ~puffy heart~ my daily quad venti skinny vanilla with 2 splendas. Besides it being more expensive than heroin, I'm totally down with their coffee. It's a sad state of affairs when I walk in and they greet me by name and ask "your usual?". There are still two things about the chain I do not get. One - The snooty attitude of the staff. This has gotten HUGELY better over the years, but I still run into the occasional cower-before-me-for-I-am-your-god type person. Back in the day before I knew exactly what my drink was or ~gasp~ I needed help with the menu, 99% of the employees would act exasperated and roll their eyes over the fact that they had to waste their time while taking an order. Like I said, this attitude as changed quite a bit, but there are still enough of them out there. Two - I honestly don't understand why so many people hang out there. Sure, meet some friends, drink coffee and talk. I get that. What I don't get is why there are so many people who hang out there alone to read, do homework or work on their computers. Sure, the "they have free wifi" is somewhat understandable, but really, who doesn't have internet service these days? The reasoning that they need a place to study/read without distraction doesn't really fly - I would think sitting in the middle of a busy as hell coffee shop would be pretty damned distracting. Maybe I'm just missing something.

6. ~ People who take their job way too seriously, ie - one of the security guards at my work. It's good to like your job. It's also good to feel important. Unfortunately, with the latter, some people go a little overboard when they put on their security uniform. At my work, you have to display your badge at all times. Okay, fine. A problem occurred when my badge was expired. A new one was issued and it would be sent to me. In the meantime, I had to sign in everyday with security to get a daily temporary badge. Pain in the ass, but okay. Well, one day I came in during the weekend to complete some work. I signed in and went off to do the work I had. When I was leaving, I passed the security station. When I went through the turnstile, my expired badge bleeped. The security guard was suddenly on high alert. "Ma'am, I need to see your badge immediately" he practically shoats at me. I pull my badge's zipline to let the guy see it. "Ma'am, I need for you to remove your badge from its holder" he demands. Okay, um, here it is. "THIS BADGE IS EXPIRED AND I MUST CONFISCATE IT. YOU ARE UNAUTHORIZED TO BE HERE." Whoa. This guy is really serious. Trying to hide my urge to laugh, I try to explain how I already went through security that morning and was granted access. He doesn't care. The only words I hear next through the laughter in my head was "SECURITY BREECH!" and I lost it. My laughter did ~not~ lighten his mood. He was furious. The only thing I could do was backup and head for the door. I'm surprised he didn't run after and tackle me before I made it out the door. I half expected it. I think he has watched a few too many episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter.

7. ~ People who view my tattoos as a universal signal for complete strangers to talk to me. The occasional "nice ink" or "who does your work?" comments are fine. You do not need to know what it means to me. How much it cost. The location of my other tattoos. I don't really care what the tattoo you would get looks like. The description of your brother/sister/grandma's tattoo. The reason you would never get a tattoo. I don't need you to pull up your shirt to show me the tattoo your clothing is hiding for good reason. And for once and for all, Yes, some of them hurt while some of them did not. Yes - they ARE real. I quite literally get asked if my tattoos are real all the damned time. Who the fuck would color both of their arms with a sharpie everyday? Most tattoos are meant to be displayed and will spark conversation. But for goodness sake, think before you speak. Just because I see someone ahead of me in line is wearing jeans doesn't give me cart blanche to ask them what size they are.

8. ~ Drivers who are so scared of cops, they refuse to drive fast enough to pass one, even when the cop is driving WAY UNDER the speed limit. I actually think this would be fun if I was a cop. I can guarantee I would play this game with the general public.

This list goes to eight.

i just got back from skateboarding.

guess what? I'm no longer 18 years old. damn it.

You. Have. To. Be. Joking.

I haven't blogged in awhile because work, kids, leprosy, alien abduction . But I have something to be schnarky about. I doubt anyone will really care about this either, but oh well, I gotta start somehow right?

I work for a company that has about 45,000 union employees. This weekend, that union decided to strike until the company bends to their demands. Hrm. Isn't this really just a 'legal' extortion technique? I mean really, I don't get it.

Let me explain a little background.

Our Union employees 1) make a shit ton of money 2) they get an incredible benefits package. ie: they don't pay a dime for medical. 3) They get much more paid sick time that we do. 4) A great pension plan. 5) they are almost un-fire able.

The union's contract was up and my company decided to use the collective bargaining time to renegotiate the contract. My company offered a benefits package to these 45,000 workers that MATCHES what the other 135,000 employees receive. Seems fair, right?

Apparently it's not okay. These union employees think they deserve much much much more than their COWORKERS get. I haven't heard the union workers try to get the company to agree to offer US a better benefits package. No. No I haven't.

So

My company is fighting back. It started a couple months ago when a strike was on the horizon. A huge group of IT employees were tagged to get trained so we could do their job. The training was 2 weeks. (FIOS installation, climbing poles, etc etc.) Am I wrong to assume then that their positions are completely replaceable with ~only~ two weeks of training? My company already has the next two groups ready to be deployed so we can work in rotations. It's hilarious. Software engineers are being taught how to do their jobs in a measly two week training session.

Today was the first day the temporary workers had to cross the picket lines. And it's not been peachy from what my friends are reporting.I want to make a t-shirt for all of us that says on the front "Guess what? You're replaceable" and on the back, which picketers will see after the lines were crossed, "See?". Beautiful.

I say "fuck em". You don't want to have the exact same benefits package the company gives to the other 75% of the company? Leave. We don't need you. Last time I looked, we have an employment shortage here in the Unites States. I'm ~sure~ we can find another 45,000 workers. And hell, after only 2 weeks of training, they'll be ready to take over your job.

You're replaceable. Period.

(btw, i get why unions were first developed. Working conditions needed to be regulated. But in today's day and age? Not so much. You don't like the hours? Quit. You don't like the benefits package, leave. This is all about pure and simple greed. Stop thinking you are entitled. You're not.)

dealth of kurt. flash. the 27 club.

kurt cobain died 17 years ago. FUCKING 17 years ago. That's ridiculous. My brain can't even get around the 17 years. I remember when I heard. I was in my office (job i had during college) and I just the door and just sat in silence. i was pissed. very very angry. how could he leave us? and then it hit me that he was in the fucking 27 club which he used to say he wanted in on. 27 was just too young. (look it up if you don't know what the 27 club is) .I was only 5 years younger than him. 22. my age when i considerer someone smart enough to be called an adult is 25. he was 2 past that and i was 3 years too young. it broke my heart. and it still breaks my heart. let's see... later on, i guess i wanted to live like him and did the hip H addiction too. I could understand the wanting to die. the apathy of dealth. but he meant someone to me. to many of us. and i can still cry today over that overbearing loss. my heart breaks for courtney fuck you if you don't like her. she loved him. he loved her. she gave him a gorgeous baby that is francis bean. my heart breaks for her too. to not be able to ~have~ her dad when he was so, so. what. amazing. the right words won't come. i hope your energy has reevolved kurt. you were one of this world's greatest losses. god damn it. i'm glad i met him the stupid ass times i did at early shows. but i kick myself in the ass for an invite i couldn't take when i would be with francis bean's nanny at a show. a show very close to the end.

anyway - the death of ryan dunn has opened my wound for kurt.

and i just found out my first tattoo artist died recently. fuck. death sucks.

i'm bringing back the grunge flannel wearing. i'm wearing one over a wife beater right now. go 90s.


i love you kurt. i miss you.

Rest in Peace Ryan.

You were my favorite jackass. Of course the world would take you first although all of you tempted fate. (not that i wanted someone else to go first).

i will mis you ryan.

The "I'm a jackass" hand wave.

We have all had moments of being a jackass driver. We may accidentally cut someone off. Sometimes we try to change lanes without looking first and almost side swipe someone. Maybe we brake too hard when a turn comes sooner than we first expected, making the car behind us have to slam on their brakes. Of course, if you aren't a ridiculously stupid driver, these moments are far and few between of one another. All I'm trying to get at is it happens to all of us.

When I make a jackass move while driving, I immediately throw my arm up in the air or out the window, waving the "I'm a moron" international sign to the car I accidentally screwed over. When another driver makes a dumbass decision which affects me, all they have to do is show me their own "I'm a jackass" hand wave. If they do this, all is immediately forgiven. They did something stupid, they realized it and most importantly, they admitted it.

There is another hand gesture that should be given when you want to say "thank you" to another driver. If you slow down to let someone into traffic or in your lane. It should be given when you appreciate that a driver did something for you. It looks exactly like the "I'm a jackass" hand wave. Very simple and meaningful.

Do you use these gestures? It really bugs the hell out of me when others don't use them. Especially when it should be done because I went out of my way for another driver. It's common courtesy I say.

Germs.

Let me preface this that I'm not a howard hughes type of non functioning germ aphobics. But I do have my fair share of things that flip me out.

In no particular order...

1. using a public telephone. Who knows what kind of spittle came out on the receiver?

2. Elevator buttons. I mean, how often to you see someone clean them? And the tens of thoughsands of people who touch them each day.

3. Using smoeone elses head set to talk on the phone. How much wax do you think is saturated in the earpiece?

4. A keyboard on computer in a public place. This goes with and other office suplies you may be forced to use.

5. sink handles. I wash my hands with soap and water, but I dodn't want tp touch the faceut handle. I mean, hell - the reason people turn these on is because their hands are dirty after going to the bathroom.

6. Speaking of, watching someone walk out of the backroom without washing. I tend to say "missing something" as they walk out. That person will for always gross me out.

7. How could I forget?? The worst one for me is using the pen (or stylus) at the counter of the pharmacy. This people are actually sick and then we use the exact same pen they use in to pickup their perscriptions.

8. Toilet splashing. You are going #2 in a puclic place and whatever you drop out, makes a splash. NOW all of the toilet water sprays onto your butt. This may be one of the worst.

9. Don't touch ~my~ bathtowel. Please.

10. Nope, in my head, this triumphs over #7. Using earphones after anybody else. It's obviously worse if you didn't know this person, but uuuhhhgggg. It makes me shudder. Ear Wax is nasty.

And the survey says ...

It was a trick question, they all happened to me in the last month. I can't believe so many of you quessed it right!! Heh. And I thought I was being all sneaky too! You guys know me too well.

suck my jolly rancher.

Mmmmmm. Jolly ranchers. The guy who site next to me at work has a huge fishbowl full of them. And it made me realize I have no will power when it comes to free candy.

I want to conduct a little poll. Please give your answer in the comments...

What craptastic event in the following list has ~not~ happened to me in the past month or so?

A. I developed a case of infantigo, most common in children, or folliculitis (on my chin, cheek and upper lip) which then blossomed into a huge Staph A infection. I had to take 5 different antibiotics (including IV antis) until it finally started to respond after having to hide out from the public for two weeks, just so I wouldn't be mistaken for a leper. The blisters formed in each and every hair follicle in clusters of sores that were not only bright red, they were painful. The blisters were very unstable, just brushing up against them would make them seep with fluid, which didn't allow me to even try to cover them up with a little concealer. I was mortified and stayed in the house for almost two weeks, in which it finally began to heal.

B. I crashed my car because I swerved to avoid hitting a dog in the road. My tires caught the curb and launched my car up diagonally into a telephone pole. I went for a ride in an ambulance to the ER to take xrays of my neck, which was injured in the accident. I lost about 16 hours of my life due to a concussion. I don't remember leaving work that day, the scene of the aftermath of the accident, the police, the paramedics, the ambulance ride, the hospital, or coming home from hospital. To make matters worse, I got a ticket for careless driving.

C. While petting a stray cat who has been in my neighborhood for years, suddenly decided he had enough petting and bit me on the wrist. I thought nothing of it until a golf ball lump appeared. The penicillin I self prescribed didn't seem to be working. It progressed even further, the infection now taking over from below my wrist bone to the bottom of my thumb. It was hot to the touch and I lost all elasticity in my skin - if pushed down on it with my finger (and endure the massive pain that came with touching it), it reacted like playdough, leaving an actual indentation in the skin. I went to urgent care where I received 2 shots of antibiotics in the hip, a Rx for an oral med and an antibiotic topical cream. The infection calmed down and went away, but left me with nerve damage from tip of thumb to wrist.

D. I got kicked out of girl scouts (I was a leader) because I stuck up for my ~entire~ troop, instead of rewarding just a few girls. The bank account was in my name and I refused to spend most of the money on summer camp for only 4-5 girls. The moms wanted to use the money for ~their~ girls because on average, they sold the most girl scout cookies for the troop. The thing is, the money we get from that should benefit everyone, not just the top sellers. Well, the mothers of those girls flipped out and called the girl scout council to try to get me kicked out as a leader, which would give them access to the bank account to do what they wanted. Everything I did was to make it fair for ALL girls, and to not be bullied my a group of jr high acting mothers. They made up huge stories about me and the girl scout council forced me to resign.

Okay, take a guess as to which one did NOT happen to me. Good luck!

Try to guess! Good luck!

It has all been washed.

In thinking about my last post, I skeeved myself out and washed every piece of my lingerie that was hand washable. Even though I only wore some of those two minute pieces for literally under a dozen or so minutes in their lifetime, it all went in for a good handwashing cycle. (I ~did~ always wash the panties by the way, I made it sound as if those didn't get washed!). The only items I have left to be cleaned are the real lacy bustiers (spelling?) that need to be dry cleaned, but they are in the pile to go in the next trip.

There. I feel all clean.

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Three types of lingerie.

The way I figure it, there are three types of lingerie.

1. Your everyday bras and panties. The ones you wear to work or under your casual clothes. I don't have "period panties" per se, I simply wear my everyday panties, so I guess those would fit into this category.

2. Special underwear. The type you'd wear under an outfit when you are going on a date. Or under something sexy. These usually are matching bra & panty sets. This also includes the little outfits you'd wear to bed when you are feeling feminine.

3. "Two Minute" pieces. These are the ultra sexy little numbers you put on for your partner. You wear these when you 'want some' and it would be a rarity if you didn't get it. These are named so because when you out them on and you reveal yourself in it, you only wear it for another two minutes, at the most, before it's torn off your body.

I just changed into one of my two minute pieces and walked out into the living room, where my hubby was sitting on the couch watching Top Gear on TV. As I was picking up the pieces off the floor awhile later, I realized I had never had that particular outfit dry cleaned in the many years I have owned it.

Do you think it's necessary to clean underwear you have worn for no longer than two minutes? Also, did I miss any lingerie categories?
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Twenty three inches

The mountain got 23" in the last 24 hours. I'm heading up to the mountain now. Yahoo!

I ~love~ snowboarding!

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My life.

Jeez Loise. My life has been hectic.

I still have three packages sitting here of clothes I need to send out. I still have four boxes of shirts I have to go through for a 4th person who wants clothes sent out to them. I still have a package of two cans of similac sitting here to send out. (I still have 1 can of enfamil unclaimed. If you want it, let me know!)

All I have done is take care of little sickos (read my other blog for those details), which is a job in itself. I disinfected my entire house, using an entire large can of lysol, spraying every surface imaginable that the kids have and would touch. I did seven loads of laundry, washing every bit of clothing, every bed sheet, every comforter, every stuffed animal they may have touched. I cleaned all the toothbrushes in boiling water, with a replacement purchased, waiting the 36-48 hours after starting antibiotics. I washed every single toy in a bleach bath, then thoroughly rinsed everything to make sure there isn't any bleach residue. As for me? I haven't even showered since Sunday.

A little good news... I was contacted today via cell phone (couldn't answer because I was with the pediatrician) and then via email from a job recruiter who had seen my resume. A job not only I can do, but a job I am great at. She wanted to interview me, so I replied back I am available all day tomorrow for said interview. I am crossing my fingers in that she calls tomorrow ~and~ that she likes me enough to get a second interview with the employers themselves.

Things ~may~ be looking up!


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Formula giveaway.

I posted about a few cans of formula I have to give away on my other blog (listed in my profile) and no one has responded. If you are interested, take a look.

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Is it too much to ask?

Is it too much to ask clothes companies to come up with a standard of sizing? I just went through my 50+ pairs of jeans, cords, chinos and dress pants. I'm a solid size 6 and you'd think it would be as easy as sorting out the sizes. But noooo. Some size 6's were falling off me and some were so tight it gave me a muffin top.

So now my closet has a few size 2's (ok, that number just makes me giddy so I don't mind those!), a bunch of size 4's and 6's, and a couple size 8's. Really? Please explain how I can be a size 2 and a size 8 at the same time. It's not the fit either, because I like and wear the basic same fit/style with all my pants.

I just packed away two boxes. A very small box labeled "too small" and a huge box labeled "too big". The big box has lots of pants I needed during my transition phases before and after maternity, so I doubt I will have to delve into those again. If any of you would like to get some new pants, sizes 10-14, let me know and I will ship them out to you free of charge. They are all in great condition. I have mostly jeans and different colored chinos, gap, old navy and jcrew. If you are interested, leave a comment here or drop me an email, my addy is in my profile.

Oh, I also have a ton of "work" tops - buttoned down 3/4 sleeved. All sizes. I can't use them anymore due to me being full sleeved now. So they all are now up for grab.

It is so nice being all organized. I have all my summer things stored away in my wardrobe hanger in my garage, all put away nicely in plastic. My closet now consists of only my winter wardrobe and the best thing? Everything FITS. No more sifting through tons of clothes that don't fit right or I simply didn't wear. My god. I bought a lot of clothes when I used to have the money. Funny how things change when you lose a well paying job. Oh the money I wasted! That's over now. I only buy things I ~need~ AND things I not only like, but things I know I will actually get some use out of.

Did you know jcrew is not made for women with breasts? I'm only a 32/34 C and lots of shirts that fit great everywhere else, the buttons are strained to fit over my chest. That's ridiculous. I feel for you ladies out there who are larger than a C cup. The problems you must go through to find proper fitting shirts.

Remember, drop me a line of you are interested in any of my clothes. Tell me what size you are looking for and I will get back to you with exactly what I have available. I would much rather give them away to a good home in our IF community than send them off to goodwill or sell them for a few bucks at my upcoming Spring garage sale.

Speaking of garage sales ... Have you ever given away something to someone, only to find out they sold it in their own garage sale or on eBay? I have had that happen to me before and it is irritating as all hell. Look, if what I gave you didn't work out, give it back so I can recoup some of my money. It's simple éttiquate. I think some people are born without that gene. That or they are just assholes. ~wink~

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Is that all you have to talk about? The weather?

Nah. But it has been interesting. Like the fact it is going to be 82 degrees ~warmer~ here tomorrow than it was three days prior.

Okay, that's a little bit of a lie. I'm using the windchill temps instead of the real temp. It only got down to -17 degrees, not the -36 degree windchill. But I looked up what the windchill really means so I'm understanding it more. I guess 53 degrees is more accurate. Whatever temp you use is still a big jump though.

Right before Xmas, I injured by shoulder incredibly bad. Sparing you all the details, I was bedridden for four days. I was going to go to the hospital when on the 4th day of the worst of it, I was suddenly relieved of what we think was a severely pinched nerve. It took my pain level of a 9+ down to a 7. It was still horrible, but I could manage a 7 after that such a pain level. Over five or six weeks, it is finally getting better. Whoa. That was hardcore. It was the worst pain I have ever dealt with, only second to a natural childbirth. But with childbirth, there was an ending to it sooner or later. Damn. It almost got the better of me.

Anywho, I think everything is finally better and I end up with a toothache. I went to the dentist today only to find out I need a complete root canal. Awesome, huh? Would you expect any less from me?

So, I think I am going to have to declare reader bankruptcy and start trying to get caught up with the blogs that I read. Until I can get that done, can you give me a little update if you got one? I hate to think that I really missed out on some important news out there.

I have missed you!!!
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Holy moly.

I just went to get gas. I knew it was cold, but the sky was clear and it was nice and sunny, so it didn't look that bad.

I wore cords, shirt, sweater, winter coat, gloves, hat and a scarf. I let my car run for 20 minutes before I left to get it warmed up. But when we got in the car, it was still cold. By the time it took me to run my bard through the pump, select grade, get the pump into my car, to start it running on automatic and then to hustle back into my car until the tank was full, my pants had frozen and my fingers were numb through my gloves.

I brought up weather.com on my phone and the temp was -12 with the windchill sitting at -36.

NEGATIVE 36.

Dude. I have never dealt with this type of cold. Holy shit.

As I was driving back home after a quick errand, the car's temp needle finally rose a fraction of an inch above cold to start running the heat a tad bit. The time it took my car to warm up with constant running? 39 minutes. That's insane.


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It's getting hot in here ...

Over the weekend, we were in the 60's here in colorado. What temps for January! But tomorrow? The ~high~ will be -3 with an expected windchill of -17. I know many parts of the nation knows this kind of cold, but not me! Apparently not the schools either. I spoke to the principal today and he is expecting to close the school tomorrow.

Where is my hot chocolate?

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The job search dull drums.

Dude.

Can I say that again? Dude.

Looking for a job right now sucks the big one. I went to a job fair for IBM last week and thousands of people showed up. I got there around 1:30 for the open house running from 10a - 4p. There were about 150 people ahead of me in line, and that was just to get into the event. Once inside, there were hundreds more packed into a banquet room, waiting for a chance at a five minute interview.

But I never even made it inside. When I made it to the front of the line, my resume was looked over and they found I had no public sector experience, only private. So I was sent packing.

I went to another job fair this week for multiple companies, the main one being Lockheed Martin. Again, once at the front of the line, 1 1/2 hours later, I was told they are only hiring people with secret clearances. Awesome. Thanks for advertising that.

I can't just go and get any job either. After school care for the girls will cost $250 each month. Full time daycare for Karl will cost about $1,200 per month. Plus, to cover bills, I will need to be making about $600 every two weeks on top of that. So unless I make at least $1450 every two weeks. And that's take home. Ugh.

Universe? I need some help here. Please?
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A favor I humbly ask of you.

I'm going to "sticky" this note here for a little while, hoping to get more comments over a bit of time ...

(If you don't want to read me explain ad nauseam about the whys of my favor, just skip to the bottom.)

Here it goes. After many empty declarations on my part to start reading blogs again, I have failed to do it. WHY? It's because of the one thing that would seem like THE most helpful aspect of picking up where I left off ... My Reader.

My reader has, let's see, 325 blogs waiting for me. Everytime I try, I not only get overwhelmed, but I don't feel "at home" with the blogs. It takes forever minutes of back reading to determine what the blogger is blogging about. And that's if I even remember the blogger. I was adding so many blogs at the end, I just don't recollect who everyone even is anymore.

And that sucks.

I ~loved~ when I was able to share in the joys and be there for the not-so-joys. And I want to do that again. The best place I can see to start is deleting ~all~ of the blogs within my reader. Start reading blogs based upon your input, and THEN start adding new blogs as I can.

What I obviously need YOU to do is if you would allow ME to read YOUR blog, I would love if you would comment. If your profile (from comments) lists your blog (a single one), you don't need anything to do besides just leaving a comment about anything at all. Tell me your favorite flavor of soup or something. But please, comment. If you have a profile that lists multiple blogs OR it's not available in your profile, list it for me in the comments section? (If you want your comment deleted after I get the blog url, just let me know).

I really want to start reading the blogs of those who I am lucky enough to have swing by my blog to start with. Then, I'll get more blogs like I used to - just by reading reading comments on my friend's blogs and liking their word style. This is so I can add a title comment in my reader as to who I "met" this person from.


if you skipped this post because you didn't want to read my ramblings, start reading again! ~wink~

PLEASE! Leave me a comment with your blog URL so I can add you to my reader!
Thank you.