Bar Hogs

Here is another pet peeve of mine: the coffee bar hanger-on-er. This is the guy (or gal) who, after placing their drink order, goes to the end of the coffee bar and then hangs all over the counter waiting for their drink. You know, not all drinks come out in the order they were placed...Frapps are almost always out of order. Who do you think you are that you can drape yourself all over this pizza-sized piece of laquered plywood? Of course during this time, my drink came up before this yay-hoo so I had to "Politely" sckooch him over.

Common courtesy would dictate that you stand a small ways back from the bar so that no one has to climb over you to pick up their drink.

**Picture has been altered to protect the clueless.

This may only be funny to computer geeks:

Antique Photos

Check out this website: http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds

Yes, it is in Japanese, but if you look at the top right-hand corner, you will see a link to click for English. Hollie, you shouldn't need this, though.

I changed our house into an old house. Pretty cool.

Genius directions

We get a new file server at work. The instructions on how to take the top plate off are BRILLIANTLY located on the underside of the top. So once you figure out how to take the top off, you can see just how to do it properly :-)

Note: unit is assembled in the U.S.A.

All Electronic...or is it?

I signed up for e-copies of my statments from Citibank. Every month I get this in the mail:



The reason I signed up for the e-statments was so that I would not get any more stuff in the mail. It seems like a waste. I'm going to write a letter - yes on real paper. Other companies just send you an email saying "there is a new bill available on-line. Check it out. "

It's just another one of these politically correct companies trying to appease the greeners. I use this card very little and pay it off every month.

Uh, bye bye Citibank. I'm closing out your account.

It's Love

I am so in love with with song... Have you seen the commercial that Heineken did with this song? I can't get it out of my head.

Just Frost & Toss

I really cannot I'm writing about this. Greg and I saw this bit on POOP FREEZE on The Soup which I believe is one of our favorite shows.

When your dog has loose stools or whatever nasty-ness, you spray this ozone-killing dry-ice looking stuff on the poo (which on the video looks like butterscotch pudding). It freezes and makes for an easier pickup.

Their tag line is "Just Frost and Toss"...um, where I come from, you frost cake and toss water balloons.


It is innovative, but I'm wondering what was this guy smoking when he invented this. Frankly when you see the can of "freeze" being sprayed, it looks quite powerful and I'm afraid that it might just knock a human flat on his butt!

I also think the official Poop Freeze carrying case just puts this idea over the top.

First Aid Anyone?

So there I was...the dog park. It's our usual stomping ground every weekend. I would say 90-95% are dog lovers and know what to do at the park and the rules of behavior. A few of the rules are:

1. Dogs that are NOT fixed are not allowed unless they are under 9 months of age.

2. You must pick up all dog poo.

3. No wheeled vehicles.

4. Don't let your kids run around...dogs will chase you and you will fall down go boom.

Okay, #4 is mine, but you get the gist.

So we are close to leaving the park...just making our way to the gate. This lady comes into the park with a feisty Cairn terrier. Every dog (yes, including mine) is humping this dog. It's a boy...NOT FIXED. He is getting agitated. Very pissed off. Then he just goes mental. Teeth are bared and each owner in the vicinity go to retrieve their dogs until things calm down.

The owner of this dog put her dog on the leash and hold him up by the collar...basically strangling the dog. I run over and "help" her with the dog. I said let me help you so it would be less accusatory. My only concern was for the dog. The lady finally puts him down and I go secure Coby & Tucker. The lady continues to strangle hold her dog. Another lady goes over to "help" and finally said if you'd put down your g*d d*m cigarette and your coke, maybe you wouldn't have such a problem. The Cairn terrier went and made 2 really nice puncture wounds on the good samaratin's arm. I told "Maxine" that she had to leave. She left...cigarette still hanging out of her mouth and never dropped her cozy of coke. Like Greg says, "Dogs don't fail people...People fail dogs." I think it i supposed to be soldiers instead of dogs, but you know.

I ran out to the X-terra to grab the factory installed first aid kid. Got her all cleaned up. I was impressed with the items in my first aid kit. I thought it was cheesy to have an installed first aid kit, but it came in handy.

Rae, Rae...X-Terras RULE!!

Wicked Fast

You can check out your Internet speed @ www.speedtest.net. Our download speed is outrageously fast for not being on fiber. Oh sure, the cable company tells you it's a fiber optic network, which is true...except up to the house. It may be fiber up until the switch box and from the switch it's coax from the box. Don't be fooled. But right now in most places you have 3 choices: cable, DSL, or satellite. Okay, you can use a broadband card for your laptop and that is way slow. So maybe 4 options.

There is another option for the fastest speed yet: Fios. This broadband brings the fiber right up to your house. So your download and upload speed are just outrageously fast. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_FiOS. It's available in a few spots now. So if you are looking for super fast download and uploads, look for Fios coming to your neighborhood.

Does a spoonful of sugar make the medicine go down?

Those of you who know me, know that I can't swallow pills. Anything larger than a birth control pill will get stuck. When I had my stomach surgery, my stoma was made that narrow. So I have to make sure any kind of medication can be crushed or find a chewable or liquid alternative.

I went to the GI doc for some issues I have been having. I need to be scoped, but I need to be on Prilosec for 30 days before they want to do the procedure. That's cool. After much computer crunching, the doc found a liquid. Sweet. I need to get rid of the acid that keeps coming up my throat.

In 2005 I had a bowel obstruction that landed me in the ER in Tennessee. Worst pain of my life. Anyway, I had all sorts of scans, X-rays, etc. What they didn't tell me was that I had a hernia and small staple line disruption. Nice. So now in 2008, I actually read the entire report. OMG. I was kind of irritated. I could have had them repaired before I gained most of my weight back. I guess I should have asked for the report after everything had been compiled. So from now on, I'm asking to read over everything. The docs never said a word about the hernia or staple line disruption and they even said I only needed to follow up with my PCM if I continued to have problems.

So here I am with my liquid Prilosec. I have my syringe and measure out 10ML. I open wide and shoot it in the back of my throat. I spit every last bit out. I've tasted some bad stuff in my life, but nothing prepared me for this taste. It was like a capsule that you have opened up and stuck all the contents on your tongue and let it sit there for 5 minutes while each little molecule melted on your tongue. So I had to try something else.

My latest concoction is measuring out 10ML. I had a splash of milk and a few drops of DaVinci sugar free chocolate syrup. I swirl it around and bring it up to my lips. I again, shoot it in the back of my throat. I swallow. There is still a hint of the bitterness, but nothing like before.

Hollie, I had to wipe my mouth out with a washcloth. Aren't you supposed to do that every day? Sorry to the rest of you. It's an inside joke between my sis and me.

So I'll report in 30 days how the treatment has worked. I hope it does. Heartburn is the worst!

To my Colleagues:

On Monday, my company let 1400 employees go in a massive layoff throughout all the McClatchy newspapers. The Olympian cut 17 people. I wasn't one of them, but I know the paper lost some really great people.

"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." -Robert Southey

Thank you for your friendships. I will dearly miss you all.

$4.05

I never thought I would say that gas was a bargain at $4.05/gallon. When I told Greg he was impressed at my zeal for finding low gas prices. It was at the Lacey Costco. I waited about 20 minutes - give or take.

Here were some observations:

My gas tank is on the right side of the X-terra. This means I get in the line for people who have the tanks on the right. Seems logical, right? Every single car in front of me has their tank on the left. Blimey! So they are tugging and pulling on this hose that they stretch to the absolute length the Dept of Ecology allows. The guy in front of me didn't pull up close enough, so he had to get back in his car and maneuver it closer.

If I wasn't running on fumes, I would have gunned it and just pushed him out of the way. THEN, he finishes filling up his car. Much to my delight (NOT!), he pulled out 4 gas cans and then filled them up. I couldn't get around him to pull up to the now vacant pump, so I just sit.

This is just one angle of the lineup at Costco. It looks like pictures I have seen during the 70's energy crisis. Minus the bad music, bad clothes, and bad politics.

Fake Handbags

I decided to post this on my blog, but you can find the original blurb on rebeccaford.com. We were out today and again, like a slap in the face, people are carrying these faux purses. I don't have a problem with the fake. Just don't try to tell me it is real...

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Post from rebeccaford.com:

I will periodically be making comments about the abundance of fake designer purses. For some reason it is a pet-peeve of mine. Of course I have 5 billion OTHER pet peeves which I will also be sharing. As you will see, it's not about the handbag...it's the behavior behind it.
How to spot a fake handbag:
1. If the person with the handbag is applying makeup from Wet & Wild.
2. If the person with the handbag is carrying a Payless Shoe Source bag. If I'm carrying a Fendi bag, I'm going to take my purchase of fine vinyl pumps and put them in my Salvatore Ferragammo shopping bag I bought on eBay for $4.

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6.15.08 - Today, I've added a few more:

3. If your nova-check handbag says "BURBERRY'S" and not Burberry. Trust me, it said that! I saw some on ebay, too.
4. You talk about your Louis (as in St. Louis) Vitton bag and how much it cost.
5. You talk about how big the trunk was of car that you bought your Isabella Fiore out of. (Sorry that was very poor sentence structure.)

Passengers Poundage

By now you have heard that some airlines are charging $15 for the FIRST checked bag. This airline is charging passengers based on their weight. Check out their website.

http://flyderrie-air.com/

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Dances with Weed Wacker

This totally looks like Mom and Dad's house in Tennessee. Regardless, this is our weedwacker. Although I have a few problems with this picture: This guy is dressed too nice to be doing yard work.

With a yard like that, I hardly believe that he's using a $100 rechargeable weed wacker.

You don't need those huge gloves to protect your dainty hands...you need a strap!!

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Dance med Ulve (don-say med ool-vay) is Norwegian for Dances with Wolves. Though I've never seen the English or Norwegian version, this phrase came to mind as I fire up our new weed wacker.

It's a Black & Decker with a rechargeable battery. It's light, too. I figured I would weed wack our neglected back yard. Sorry, dad I didn't have safety glasses, but I did put on tennis shoes and sunglasses. It was so easy to use and with 2 battery changes got the entire backyard done.

Now for someone who doesn't use any muscles in her body, every muscle in my upper body ached. When I jumped into the shower, I shook so bad trying to squeeze the shampoo. I fix soup for dinner and it was like my arms where made of jell-o. My dear friend Rae Rae would say I had total muscle failure. Who knew I could get a work out from weed wacking.

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In case you were curious as to what muscles are killing me today, check out the pic.