Random Mundane And Pointless Stuff -- Take Five!

http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000505.html

Above is the link to Part Four -- Have fun with Take Five!

-Melin
Board Goddess in Training

well we set a date. It looks like Aug. 20 of the year 2000 I shall be wed. :)
I had no idea that a wedding would cost so much!!! I was guessing about $3000 but we're just on the dinner part and we're already at $5500. I'm going to have to take out a loan just to pay for dinner! I don't know what a large wedding, is but I'm told we're having one. I have about 200 people on my side and she has about 150 on hers, and that doesn't even count our friends!!!oh well


More mindless stuff...The new guy at work is taking other people's sales. Were on comission, and he's telling people that the sales person they we're working with is no longer with the company! Then he takes their sales for himself! This man is on a set salery for the next three months and he's taking my money. I went to the boss and he said he would have a talk with him. Later that day my boss called me in to his office and said that the new guy said I was giving him a hard time. Then my boss asked if I knew what a team player is. When I responded that it wasn't some one who took other peoples sales he asked me if I knew what herasmment is! I was told that I should personaly help the new guy to make sure that there are no more misunderstandings. When I went to work with the new guy he just grinned at me and told me that if I need anything I could come to him and that he dosn't like it when people go over his head. He's driving me nuts. If I have to work with him one more time...

But on the lighter side of life. I saw the Blair witch project. Maybe next time I could save the $7.50 and just get some one to hit me in the head for about an hour and a half! That was the worst movie that I've seen in a long time. As a matter of fact I would rather sit through "Mannos the Hands of Fate" twice, before I would watch that movie again.

------------------
Bad spellers of the world... UNTIE

Where ever there are four SDMBers, there's a fifth. ;)

Okay,here's my rant for today:

Why can I not find a job that will keep me busy???? My new job (been here 2 months) is leaving me just as bored as the one at the bank was. I keep hearing the same thing:"Oh, we'll have plenty for you to do when X happens" Well, X is still 2-3 months off and I'm here twiddling my thumbs!
I'm organized, have a great attitude (usually!), extremely computer literate, detail-oriented, hardworking, motivated, independant. I CAN RUN YOUR LIFE FOR YOU! Why is it so hard to find a company that can actually keep me busy and challenge me?! Great secretaries are NOT a dime a dozen-why am I finding it so hard to find a good position? I'm so frustrated! Any of you Michigan SD'ers that have any contacts in Lansing, e-mail me! I'm desperate!!
::rant over::
On a lighter side, I'm going to get my hair trimmed tonight-always look forward to hair appointments as little treats. Cooked up and froze about 10-12 quarts of beets at Dad's last night. My seedless watermelons are coming on strong!

------------------
And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss
of one weak creature makes a void in any heart, so
wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth
of vast eternity can fill it up!
-Charles Dickens "Dombey and Son"

Gr8Kat, I think you were the one with the burst washing machine hose? (I can't remember from the other thread). You probably know this by now, but they do make anti-burst hoses. They are a little more expensive but not too bad and I've heard they actually work really well. Keeps you from having to do the ol' on-off thing with the valves all the time.

This is part five of random pointless thoughts of people from all over the place. This gets me thinking:
Whos paying for all this memory and machines required to keep all this stuff online?

My daughter is at it again! Every job she gets, she ends up walking out on.
This time she's quit two jobs in less than a week, and the first one was because of a little fisticuffs with one of the other waitpersons(male) that she didn't like.
The up side of this......now she wants to go to Wisconsin to move in with a guy she met a couple of weeks ago. Sure hope all her stuff is going with her, open burning is illegal in my town, and I'd hate to get thrown in jail.

FixedBack


------------------
FixedBack

"Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity."~~G.K.Chesterton 1908

I got myself down to the barber over the weekend to get my receeding hairline trimmed some, and dang if the man didn't do a good job. It feels like there is less to work with every time I go, but he did me proud.

Hey Greg, maybe the 6-pack rings aren't such a problem cause your bro is such a diligent guy ;)

Okay, I called the employment agency again. The gal I work with is actually a good friend of my sister's so I know she isn't feeding me any crap. Turns out she has a small law firm who has a partner who needs an executive assistant and because he doesn't do a lot of litigation, I don't need all the legal secretary stuff. I guess the other attorney I'd work for would teach me the stuff about litigation (paperwork etc) plus my sis' the World's Greatest Legal Secretary, so she could help. Salary would be there. Faxed her my updated resume. We'll see if they want to meet me.
::sign:: lawyers...see how far I've sunk! ;) (sorry Melin! :))

------------------
And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss
of one weak creature makes a void in any heart, so
wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth
of vast eternity can fill it up!
-Charles Dickens "Dombey and Son"

Well, there. I think I've finally finished updating my web page. I still haven't learned how to do the different windows, but I did get a Straight Dope banner up at my page! :D

Meanwhile, here's a weird thing--the background doesn't come up on this computer (and some, but not all, of my friends). I've had 3 techs fiddle with it to no avail. I think it's something screwy in this version of MSIE...everything was fine until I upgraded last fall. (Meanwhile, my laptop--which has THE most recent version--has the background). Trippy, huh?

Anyway, if you're curious, here's (http://members.aol.com/lrconaway) the link.

------------------
"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

"English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England."

As you all can see since I've posted three!!!!! times today, I'm a little bored.

Laura, loved the home page. Very nicely done. Can't listen to any of your .wav files cause I don't have a sound card :( But the fact that you are obviously a Princess Bride fan endears you to me. Scratch Inigo's fuzzy little head for me and "have fun storming the castle".

Cap'n P, congrats on the wedding date. Forgot to say that earlier. We did our wedding on a shoestring (feed people, are you kidding? Let 'em eat cake) and it was wonderful. Don't let the details ruin the excitment.

------------------
And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss
of one weak creature makes a void in any heart, so
wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth
of vast eternity can fill it up!
-Charles Dickens "Dombey and Son"

Got a great compliment today. We got our 2nd papers back in my English 398 class (Critical Writing, core course for the major, the prof becomes your advisor for the rest of the time you're in college). She only had good things to say about it, which isn't spectacular. In fact, I think she's a pretty easy grader. At the end, though, she put a note telling me that I should be an Honors student, and that if I wanted to get in, to talk to her after class. So I'm considering it. My GPA at OSU isn't the greatest, but it's on its way up, and if she sponsors me, I'm a shoo-in.

So the last time I posted here I was supposed to be moving. U-Haul called us Wednesday to tell us that the 14 footer we reserved for Friday might be available early on Thursday and that they would call us as soon as it was ready. So we packed the remainders lickity split, missed a couple classes, some research, generally put our lives on hold early. Thursday comes and goes, no phone call. It's getting later and later on Friday and we had reserved the truck for 6pm. At 5:30 we call and they have NOTHING and there are five people ahead of us waiting for a truck and they will call us when ours is ready. Friday comes and goes and we are up at 7 am on Saturday to await a phone call from U-Haul for our truck. Nothing. We call every hour on the hour and they start telling us that because it's a big moving weekend that everyone took trucks OUT of Champaign, but that no one was bringing trucks IN to Champaign. Lease was scheduled to end at noon, so at 11 we asked them to give us whatever they had, which amounted to a 5x8 trailer - which we received at no charge. Except now we had to load as much stuff as we could in to it and take it to storage, unload it, and bring it back to the apartment to refill it, our cars, and a friends pick up truck and haul ass to Chicago where we had 8 lovely friends patiently waiting to help move us in to our new place. We didn't get there until 11 pm, half of our stuff is still in storage in Champaign and now that we got a free trailer out of U-Haul for their stupidity, we are officially out of their hair and they don't have to do jack shit to accomodate us for a vehicle this weekend or ever.
Is this normal to have a reservation contingent upon someone/anyone returning a truck there? I thought that if I made a reservation, that means that YOU GET A FUCKING TRUCK FOR ME AND HAVE IT WAITING THERE FOR ME - RESERVED!!!!!! Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode. Such bullshit.

One of my cats just crawled into a bag of cat litter and peed in it.

I'm so tired tonight, I'm pretty much falling asleep in front of the computer. But every time I try to lay down, I end up tossing and turning for hours. I hate insomnia.

Shadowfox

Bunnygirl:

WRT your employment situation:

I have had the EXACT same problems. I really feel for you. I just started my 5th job in 12 months, and its no better/worse than the others. I do all of the work assigned to me, and I can't imagine that the other people who have done the same job in the past were SO bad that it took them all day to do what it took me an hour to complete. Still, I just started this new job, and there's still a chance that it will get better.

Plus, this stuff isn't a career. I'm studing to be a teacher, and once I have my certificate, I'll finally get settled into something good (I hope).



------------------
Jason R Remy

"Open mindedness is not the same thing as empty mindedness."
-- John Dewey Democracy and Education (1916)

I was visiting my brother up in San Francisco this weekend and saw him cutting up a six-pack rings he found on the beach. Superciliously, I told him that Cecil said that six-pack rings aren't as big a problem as people think. It turns out he not only knew this already, he was consulted by Cecil's assistant Jane for the article. Boy was I impressed! I put more details under "About Cecil's Columns".

Got held up by an accident on the freeway this morning. A vintage car, maybe a convertible with the top up, was upside down. No other car appeared to be involved, and the driver was being taken away in an ambulance. I can guess what happened: he was hotrodding it, thinking that having a sweet car made him an exemplary driver. The most dangerous part of a car is the nut behind the wheel.

------------------
Remember, I'm pulling for you; we're all in this together.
---Red Green

It's just before 8:00, and I am hungry and thirsty. My surgery is today at 4:30, so food and water are verboten because I'll be under general anesthesia. I am so hungry it hurts. I just want to get it over with so I can eat again!!

Jay, yah, it amazes me. Plus the company I work for is a big cluster. External customers are happy but the administration inside is a big mess. People coming and going all the time.

pl, how'd the surgery go? Hope all is well. Take those drugs, man!!

Heath, I had a similar (though not as bad) experience when we moved back from Tennessee. We have always used Ryder (seem to be cheaper and have nicer vehicles than U-Haul) and went to pick up the truck (day before we move-all our friends coming to help us stash the trash). Oh, gee, they haven't brought it back to us yet. I made them call another rental place in Nashville to get a truck but just then the morons who were supposed to have it back THE NIGHT BEFORE pulled in. I guess some people don't care about extra charges. Wish I could spend money like that. Idiots! But, the companies are dependant on people bringing them in on time. Unfortunately, it's not like a hotel room where you can just kick their butts out. But you knew that. Sorry the move was such a pain!

------------------
And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss
of one weak creature makes a void in any heart, so
wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth
of vast eternity can fill it up!
-Charles Dickens "Dombey and Son"

My mom just accepted a job in Cleveland. She'll be there by October 1st. It'll be very cool to have her and my stepfather back in the state, because most of my friends are leaving in the next six months.

I am sitting here numbly in front of the computer watching my little Jack Russell terrier and my 2-yr old settling the question of who's number 3 or 4 in the food chain of this household. My kid's got a great WWF headlock on the dog, but the dog has experience and patience on his side, plus the horrible toungue of death that usually is the great equalizer. They have already gone into the dog dish and there's kibble and water all over the kitchen floor. Some part of me, the father or adult part, thinks that I should put a stop to this soon. The auto racing fan part of me, for some reason wants to watch a little more.

------------------
"...send lawyers, guns, and money..."

Warren Zevon

Oh wow. The board is all different!

My kitten, Happy is watching Jury Duty on TV. I think I ought to turn it off. I don't want his little kitten mind to be warped by Pauly Shore.

[Drain Bead]

My roommate asked for a raise up to $11 an hour at her job (she's a legal intern, has been since October, and does the work of a paralegal at $8.75 an hour). She got a raise to $11.50. So last night she and I went out to celebrate. Man, was that a mistake. It's not so much how much I had to drink, because that was fine. I was able to go to class and be a normal functioning human being today. However, while drinking, I must have smoked 10 clove cigarettes. And I don't even smoke, but these things tasted good at the time. They don't anymore. And I can't get rid of it. I've eaten twice, brushed my teeth three times, and taken two showers, and I can still smell stale clove cigarette smoke. I don't think I'll be doing this again anytime soon.

[BoBettie]

Today I watched Baseketball with Matt Stone and Trey Parker. And I really liked it. Does this make me insane?? I laughed myself practically sick, in fact. There is a tequilla drinking/puking scene that was so real I almost had to run for the bathroom (had a bad tequilla night once....once!)
Thank God I have some classes to teach next week so I can do something better with my brain!
PS- Keep your fingers crossed..Once again I am waiting to see if I am "late"...today is my "start day" and so far, so good... :) :) :)

------------------
If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.

[voguevixen]

Here's an update on my ballplayer stalking, for anyone who was wondering. I went with having flowers delivered to the locker room with a note saying who I was, I'd be at batting practice that day, and my e-mail address. No response so either he doesn't remember or isn't interested and I'm feeling really bummed because the flowers were REALLY EXPENSIVE! Oh, and the rejection sucks too, but I'm more than used to that. I can't decide whether to cling to the hope that something went awry (didn't get flowers, note was lost, e-mail misspelled, etc.) and keep showing up at BP looking cute but non-threatening or just forget the whole thing.

[BunnyGirl]

VV, hang in there. Maybe he's super shy. Never hurts to try (hey, a rhyme!)

Did my long run the other day, 4.5 miles, and finished it w/o walking! Hurray for me. I'm proud of myself.

SOMEONE told my boss that I'm considering leaving!! I'm SO not happy about that. He, of course, was very polite about it but I'm going to have a talk with him today and just let him know that I'm not making him any promises on staying if one of the resumes I sent out was to get a good hit. He keeps saying that things are going to get better cause we're getting more people in at our home office and they'll be splitting the work up differently, but the thing he doesn't understand is that I spent 3 months sitting at the bank and 2 months sitting at this job and I can't stand to sit anymore, regardless of where I'm at!!

Breakfast and art fair with female family members tomorrow! Hooray! Go away, Rain!

------------------
And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss
of one weak creature makes a void in any heart, so
wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth
of vast eternity can fill it up!
-Charles Dickens "Dombey and Son"

[Gazelle]

I had to confront a sexual harrasser this week. It went very well. Big ol' load off my back. He's almost 50 years old but he pouted like a two-year-old for a few days after the confrontation.

What a jerk.

------------------
Most common question I ask: "What?"
Most common question I get: "Are you really hearing impaired?"

[BoBettie]

I worked in retail, and for a while this jerk (20 years older then me) used to routinely refer to me as "the girl with the nicest ass in the store", as in "Hi! How's the girl.....". He used to come up behind me and rub my shoulders (I pushed him away and told him to knock it off). This kept up until he caught me alone in a walk in cooler (this was in a grocery store) and asked if I wanted to come over that weekend to keep him company, as his wife was going to be out of town visiting her mother. I reported it, he got a two week unpaid suspension, he was told never, ever to speak to me again- even for work. He acted like an asshole for a few weeks, then was told that even a dirty look to me would be his job. This was about 8 years ago...I ran into him last week in the store- he still works there...he tried to avoid me, but i walked right up and asked if he still thought I had the nicest ass in the store. He got mad (imagine that!) and suggested I go and fornicate myself. It still made me laugh. He got exactly what he deserved- he was a creepy pervert.
Girls! Report harrassment!!

------------------
If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.

[Greg Charles]

VV, hey even stupid suggestions sound good given the lack of anything better, huh? I'm feeling somewhat vindicated about my flower idea, but I'd be happier if it had worked out better. Didn't you say his teammates would beat the snot out of him if he got flowers? I hope that didn't happen. I say keep trying. For some strange reason, I'm pulling for you on this. Force him to at least acknowledge you even if he's not interested. Otherwise, you'll be in limbo forever.

[Gr8Kat]

We had a thunderstorm last night and it really, really scared me. I hate thunder and lightening. Thank goodness these storms are rare and brief here, I probably would have died of fright ages ago if I lived in the southeast. At least, that's according to my co-workers who've lived in or visited the southeast.

But I'm glad for the rain and clouds because we just had our yard hydroseeded yesterday. The landscaper expressed doubt that we'd be able to grow a lawn without an underground sprinkler system, but if this weather holds until the grass sprouts, I'll feel better. In the meantime, with the help of the landscaper, we've set up an elaborate system of above ground sprinklers and hoses that hopefully cover the entire area of the yard. We just need to rotate them every couple hours for equal coverage.

As a native Oregonian, I usually look forward to the warmth and dryness of the summer and I'm disappointed when it's just as overcast and wet as the rest of the year; but this week I'm not complaining :)

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[Gr8Kat]

I had my first strawberry marguerita a couple nights ago. It was so wonderful! I'm usually a strawberry daquiri person, but I was in a Mexican restaurant and decided to experiment (which I'm usually nervous about doing--I can probably count the varieties of mixed drinks I've had on one hand). Better than a daquiri! So good in fact that I wonder if the waiter doubted my age and gave me a virgin marguerita. (I don't know what tequila is supposed to taste like, but not being much of a drinker I've never thought much alcohol really tastes that good.) Guess I'll have to try another one again real soon to make sure :)

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[gene]

I'm thinking of taking up a new hobby, something that won't cost much to do, and yet will absorb me.
I finally settled on collecting string-you know, winding it into a ball. Seems like fun-anyone know who has the biggest string ball?

[voguevixen]

Greg, I'm sorry if I made you feel like I didn't like your idea, I just wasn't comfortable with something that forward. I still feel a bit silly over it. Here's an interesting twist. My husband has been trying to convince me to go to Toronto for this business trip he has to take. I finally gave in on the condition we could take in a couple Blue Jay games when we're up there. He said OK and I couldn't believe it when I found out who they're playing while we'll be there. You'll never guess -- the A's! Isn't that wild? Now I need to cook up a plan for Toronto, hahaha.

[BoBettie]

Gr8Kat- I know exactly what tequila tastes like (yuk!) and I cannot taste it in a flavored marguerita at all. If you want to know if you're being slipped a "virgin" one, have two or three..if you are still sober (being a light drinker), you're getting gyped! At least make sure they're charging you less!

PS- cross your fingers (again) everyone...My hubby and I are trying to get pregnant,and I'm two days late (negative urine test, though).

------------------
If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.

[Shirley Ujest]

I'm back on line after a week living like an Amish woman. Had to have the mother board and someother tech stuff replaced, but the good news is is that the damage was not caused by lightening and power surges, it was just worn out and covered by the warranty. Bad new is that I didn't back up my Favorite places list or email addresses, so I have to re-do all that. But I had way too much on my Favorite Places anyway and couldn't bear to throw any out even though I never use them anyway. Just call me a cyber packrat.



------------------
People change not because they see the light but because they feel the heat.

[Shirley Ujest]

It's been a busy week medical wise in my families.

Brother #4 (just days after getting fired) is hospitalized for chest and back pains. Because MD has weakened his heart and body so much, he cannot do a stress test and the docs do a heart catherization on him to see if he has any blockage in his heart. ( Until a few months ago his colesteral count was around 450) No blockage and he still has pains. They don't know why and he is home again now.

My husbands grandmother is here on her annual visit from Germany. In humid weather she has a hard time breathing ( 40 years of smoking will do that to you, but she hasn't smoked in years) she has regular medicine for her lungs to help her breath and after feeling really poorly, my inlaws took her to emergency. They gave her some medicine and that helped her BUT they decided to admit her ( most noticably when they noticed she had special trip insurance that probably blows BCBS out of the water) and she actually got worse for a day or two in the hospital. They did a heart catherization on her to check her heart and it was perfect. Turns out she had a lung infection and is due back home tomorrow. The problem with the hospital is that Grandma is she doesn't speak English ( she understands alot) so the staff at the hospital put a big sign above her bed stating, DOES NOT SPEAK ENGLISH. Ok, Einsteins, as one of our family friends said who saw the sign, what language does she speak? My mother in law speak every day at the hospital from AM until late PM talking and translating for her.

In other mundane news, I decided to live life on the edge and go to a school of cosmetology to get my hair cut. Bungee jumping is for sissies, a bad hair cut lasts long than a cordless bungee free fall. I have to tell you this Ladies and Gentlemen, I received the best pixie hair cut of my life for the grand total of $5.25. ( the cut took about 45 minutes, with my son in his stroller tossing all his toys hither and yon) but it was worth it. I gave a three dollar tip. Just call me Diamond Shirley.

Since the birth of my son, I get barometric headaches. It's a true joy on overcast days, like today.

------------------
People change not because they see the light but because they feel the heat.

[OpalCat]

How can you hate thunderstorms??? Oh my god... I LIVE for them!

------------------
>^,,^<
"Cluemobile? You've got a pickup..."
OpalCat's site: http://fathom.org/opalcat
The Teeming Millions Homepage: fathom.org/teemingmillions (http://fathom.org/teemingmillions)

[Zyada]

I'm with you, OpalCat.

One of my fantasies is to make love in a thunderstorm.

[Babar714]

Look! A flounder---------> ..o)

[Gr8Kat]

Guess I'm just the nervous type :) Thunder is ok, but lightening--that stuff is dangerous! Maybe because I grew up in a trailer (y'know, a metal house)?

Plus I watched a show on the History Channel last night about tornadoes *shudder*

I'm glad I live in Oregon
I'm glad I live in Oregon
I'm glad I live in Oregon...

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[sunbear]

At last a few familiar names. I don't know who half the folks here are.
Nothing to report.Recovering well from jet lag.Work tomorrow. Hmm, will I remember my ID card code?

[Greg Charles]

Hey Gr8Kat!

But to him who's scientific
There's nothing that's terrific
In the falling of a flight of thunderbolts!

-- W.S. Gilbert (from The Mikado)

(I think terrific is supposed to mean terrifying, but then it wouldn't rhyme, would it?)

[jayron 32]

OK, my weekly random rant...

Beer is not, on average, my favorite alcoholic beverage. There are, however, some beers that I really like. Harp for my average dinner beer. Guinness is great by itself or in a Black and Tan. Corona is a good easy beer. I have had probably dozens of beers, and I have to say that, across the board, any of the "Big Three" American brewers (A-B, Miller, Coors) all taste awful, in all varieties. Budweiser, Michelob, G-D, Original Coors, they all taste watery and leave an awful aftertaste. Full-strength, lite, doesn't matter. What is the attraction in drinking these flavorless beers. They are the kraft-singles, wonderbread, Hi-C of beers. Have we in America gotten so influenced by advertising that they sacrifice taste just to by an over-advertised, bland beer?

It was finally cool this week in Chicago, but next week is going to be back in the 90s. I am not looking forward to it.

I always have stuff I am supposed to do, but I never remember to do it when I have the opportunity to do it. I always remember when I am busy; when I have free time I waste it all. I hate that.

There is so much that I want to fix in the world, but I feel so insignificant. I have big plans, but small means.

I am bewildered by a lot of people. Irrationality in particular bothers me. I am not saying that I want others to think like me, but I do want others to think. Is that too much to ask?

------------------
Jason R Remy

"Open mindedness is not the same thing as empty mindedness."
-- John Dewey Democracy and Education (1916)

[Gr8Kat]

Someone called the cops on us last night because our dog was barking while we were at the movies. There was a note from the police on our door when we got home.

That makes me mad for so many reasons. 1.) We weren't home to stop him from barking. 2.) The dog was in the house in his crate, not running around. 3.) The windows were open because it got hot yesterday afternoon, but that means he could hear neighbor dogs and kids outside, and neighbors could hear him. 4.) Speaking of neighbor dogs and kids, the kids in the house next to ours are up literally all night laughing, screaming, fighting, playing their radio and tv, and our bedroom is all of about 10 feet from theirs. We hear every "Stop touching me!" "I hate you!" and "Get out of my room!" But have we complain? No, because we didn't want our neighbors to hate us. Too late for that, I guess. It's the same thing with the dogs; there are two other dogs in our neighborhood and our dogs usually barks in response to their barking, which goes on from sunrise to sunset. Again, have we complained? No, because for the Grace of God went us. Guess our Grace ran out. 5.) Our neighbors do pick on us alot, I've decided. They turned us in to the landlady for not landscaping our yard promptly, so we spent $2500 last week working on it, and now they're after us about our dog. 6.) My husband and I are young, we've only been married 1 1/2 years, and this is our first home. Cut us some slack, people, we're beginners! That's the way I see it, anyway.

I just hope they don't gripe about us to the landlady, too, because we don't have a fence in yet which is required by the lease since we have a dog, though our excuse now is we can't dig up a freshly hydroseeded lawn to install a fence.

This is what I miss most about living in the country: no neighbors within earshot.

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[Shirley Ujest]

I spent the day (8 hours) moving and shifting rocks to create a rock garden. The area looks worse than before I started.

My dog is laying under the desk farting.

[jayron 32]

Gr8Kat -- I'm with you on this one... It's what I call the "Suburban Mindset" and why I will dread living in suburbia (its inevitable)

Your neighbors sound like the perfect case study of the Suburban mindset: a bizzare combination of inconsiderate and inability to mind ones own business. They expect the REST OF THE WORLD to bend to their every whim and jump at their every complaint, but they themselves can do no wrong. They say your dog is a nuisance, but you have no right to tell them to keep their kids quiet. That, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with America... well, one item on the list anyways.

------------------
Jason R Remy

"Open mindedness is not the same thing as empty mindedness."
-- John Dewey Democracy and Education (1916)

[Drain Bead]

Is anyone here really good at dream analysis? I had the weirdest dream the other night. I was on a raised platform with a railing (similar to a bar dance floor) and a tarp over the ground, and there were lambs tied to the ceiling. Everyone was pulling the ropes and letting the lambs drop and run under the tarp, and the lambs were petrified...they were shaking, and running blindly, and really hurting themselves. All the people wanted me to let mine go too, but I just kept looking up to the ceiling and watching it shake and stare at me. Finally, I just let it down gently and held it, and wouldn't let anyone get to it, and it started to calm down. Then I woke up.

[Greg Charles]

It means lay off the clove cigarettes Drain Bead.

I seem to be doomed to only fall for men who have absolutely no interest in me. ::sigh::

[Falcon]

Join the club, Michelle. Next time you're in DC, I'll buy you a beer and we can commiserate together.

[nene227]

Bunnygirl, you're job sounds like the one I've been in for 11 years. Some days are more busy than others. I love my job, but challenging it is not. Maybe through the years I've just "settled", or gotten more lazy, but although I am good at what I do, I think it all boils down to the fact that some people can crank out work quicker than others. I've gone from full time (8 hours) to part time (5-6 hours) by my own chosing, and I can't tell you the 8 hour days that I've started my day at 9:00am, and been completely caught up, nothing in the world to do, by 10:30am! But I justify this by tellng myself that part of my duties is to man a switchboard, and they are actually paying me to answer phones for 8 hours, whether I'm doing other secretarial duties or not. Some days it drives me crazy, other days it enables me to get some of my personal work done.

[nene227]

Bunnygirl, you're job sounds like the one I've been in for 11 years. Some days are more busy than others. I love my job, but challenging it is not. Maybe through the years I've just "settled", or gotten more lazy, but although I am good at what I do, I think it all boils down to the fact that some people can crank out work quicker than others. I've gone from full time (8 hours) to part time (5-6 hours) by my own chosing, and I can't tell you the 8 hour days that I've started my day at 9:00am, and been completely caught up, nothing in the world to do, by 10:30am! But I justify this by tellng myself that part of my duties is to man a switchboard, and they are actually paying me to answer phones for 8 hours, whether I'm doing other secretarial duties or not. Some days it drives me crazy, other days it enables me to get some of my personal work done.

[Gr8Kat]

WE HAVE GRASS! We have grass grass grass :)

And the green grass grows all around and around and the green grass grows all around :)

The landscaper said it couldn't be done, we were wasting our money and his time and ruining his reputation by insisting he hydroseed a yard that doesn't have an underground sprinkler system, but we have grass! We're well on our way to lawndom. Yay!

I'm happy :)

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[Greg Charles]

Congratulations Gr8Kat! I don't think I've ever seen anyone so happy about grass without meaning something signifcantly different. It's always nice to prove the naysayers wrong.

[sunbear]

We had grass too. Then we went out of town. There's still some grass.

[jayron 32]

There once was a bird, a little bitty bird, cutest little bird, that you ever did see... Well the birds in the nest, the nests on the branch, the branch is on the tree and the trees on the roots and the roots are in the hole and the hole's in the ground and the....

Oh, sorry Gr8Kat, got carried away. Congrats on the grass. Back home in New Hampshire (when I HAD a yard) our "lawn" had at least 20 different species of plant growing. As my dad always said "If its green, its good enough for me..."

------------------
Jason R Remy

"One pill makes you taller, and one pill makes you small, but the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all"
-- Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit (Slick, G. 1966)

[Kat]

I got The Incredible Journey today from the book swap table at work. It's in remarkably good condition for a paperback from 1965. I should bring in something tomorrow to appease the Book Swap Gods.

[Gr8Kat]

Thanks, everyone :) I just get such a thrill from looking at our lawn now, it's so pretty :)

Back home in New Hampshire (when I HAD a yard) our "lawn" had at least 20 different species of plant growing. As my dad always said "If its green, its good enough for me..."

Your father and I are kindred spirits. However, the landlady disagreed.

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[Greg Charles]

Is anyone here really good at dream analysis?

I'm starting to regret my snide comment from before, so let me take an honest crack at this.

I would say that you are stressing over your various responsibilities. You are tempted to let some of them drop. Perhaps you perceive that other people cheerfully blow off their responsibilities and just sweep the resulting mess under the rug. However, putting in the extra effort to handle your tasks, instead letting them drop, has its own rewards. Here those rewards are symbolized by a grateful sheep.

On the other hand, maybe you just like farm animals.

[Gail]

Today I got my grade from the last class in my master's (an A of course : ) ) I now have a master's in technology in education.
Soon I'll get a pay raise. Yay!

------------------
Gail
"Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you, my friend--
Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again...."
-Steely Dan

Hey, check it out! I went to Magic Mountain yesterday and wore a scopolomine patch for the first time EVER.

With its help, I rode everything I ever wanted to ride, but made me sick in the past. It was so fun to be on Viper and only get mildly dizzy, rather than nauseous! I rode Batman, Riddler, Superman (twice), a spinning sort of ride, Viper, Revolution, and Ninja. It was the best time I have ever had at an amusement park!

Hooray for drugs!

------------------
"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

"English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England."

My car has a dented back door from where my daughter thought she knew better than my screaming husband as she praticed parallel parking for her DL test.

Both she & my car are now humbler.

She passed her diver's license test, on the basis of "extra credit". HUH??? Means the commercial driving school didn't want to have to give her another free lesson, I guess.

If you're in El Paso, be afraid. Be very afraid.



------------------
Sue from El Paso
members.aol.com/majormd/index.html (http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html)

[Shirley Ujest]

On Thursday, being efficent woman, I decided to drive (12m) north to do my grocery shopping and our good car decided to overheat. I haven't had a car leave me stranded since 1990. And I had my son with me. Fortunately, I was able to pull into a gas station/snack food emporium and figure out that it was out of anti freeze. So I filled it up and it rushed right out. Nothing like pouring $6 down the toilet. Called hubby stating that it looked like a radiator line blew, but I couldn't tell for sure because I cannot stand the smell of antifreeze or the like and would not get down on the ground to check things out from that angle.

I had to wait over an hour for hubby to make his way north and I had a dozen guys ask if they could help me. All gave me armchair quarterback prognosis and all were very nice. Everyone of these guys was wrong too. The thermastat died and caused the a line to something to blow out from the heat and the antifreeze overflowed. Hubby told me to take his car to do the shopping with the baby and he'd get it running again. I dunno about alot of you, but this guy is a saint. I question his sanity every day for him marrying me.

In other mundania, my sister in law and her pack of inlaws are back from their 3 week jaunt overseas with her 2 month old. I know I will never ever hear it, but a fantasy moment that I crave is hearing her say,
" You were right, taking a 2 month old on such a busy busy busy trip was such a dumb ass thing to do." I can guarantee you that she will never utter "You were right" to me in her life. I suppose my mantra, which is my sig line, will never sink in with her.

------------------
People change not because they see the light but because they feel the heat.

[BunnyGirl]

Junior cat is still beating the other two, so badly so that we've taken to keeping him locked on the porch (screen with his box and food and toys) when we're gone or can't otherwise supervise him. I feel bad, like I'm raising a little veal calf or something, but I just can't stand to have him stalk and beat the other two cats. And he is vicious too!

STILL looking for a job. Went to lunch with my boss as he, looking through his rose colored glasses, proceeded to tell me how much things are going to improve and etc etc. I didn't make any promises and after visiting the home office on Thursday for a meeting, I'm even more sure I want to GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!!!! Had sent in a resume to the STate for exec assistant to Exec. Director of Enforcement and got a "thanks but no thanks" letter. ::sigh:: Give me a chance here, people! I'm the best assistant you could get; you just don't know it. Pretty frustrated right now. Want to hear SOMETHING!!

On the other hand, got the bedroom painted this weekend and the entire weekend was absolutely gorgeous!!!

------------------
And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss
of one weak creature makes a void in any heart, so
wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth
of vast eternity can fill it up!
-Charles Dickens "Dombey and Son"

Just got back from having lunch with a guy I like quite a bit. He, on the other hand, only considers me a friend. ::sigh::

:( Our computer system at the hospital was down all day. Half my patients from today will have to try to come back tomorrow to get labs done, pick up prescriptions, etc.

Turns out the "upgrade" this weekend caused a whole lot of orders to be entered under the wrong patient & as soon as they figured that out out, boom, they crashed the system. Everything entered sice midnight Saturday will have to be re-entered. But, not to worry - there's a green smiley face on the PC in my office ASSURING me that my PC is Y2K compliant.

------------------
Sue from El Paso
members.aol.com/majormd/index.html (http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html)

[sunbear]

This may be a joke, but it fits: Denmark is so liberal they give the Hells Angels(yes they have them)state cultural funding.

[Byzantine]

Gr8Kat at first I was so excited, I thought you had a bumper crop but alas, you are talking about a lawn...

------------------
The moon looks on many flowers, the flowers on but one moon.

[Gr8Kat]

Sorry, Byz, I meant the legal kind. It's right pretty, though :)

I got a new chair at work today. It's purple and very cushy. My old chair wasn't ergonomically correct enough.

I've started taking Creatine so hopefully soon I'll be the next Mark Maguire. Actually, it's been shown to help people with neuromuscular disorders regain muscle mass and strength with few to no side-effects (so far as they know). Right now I'm in the "loading" phase which means I'm choking down 28 honking horse-pills a day, but soon I'll be in the "maintenance" phase and will only have to choke down 14 honking horse-pills a day. But some of the articles I've read said that participants in studies experienced increased strength within 10 days of starting the program. I'm on day number 3 and I don't feel any different yet. I'll let you know how it's going in a week :)

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

My son went off to college this weekend. Definitely a boy. More boxes for "stuff" (CDs, etc.) than for clothes. And the house seems strangely quiet. My daughter's reading just doesn't create the same number of decibels as her brother's screaming over the stereo. She takes off next year.


I can't wait.

I think...



------------------
Sue from El Paso
members.aol.com/majormd/index.html (http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html)

[Shirley Ujest]

About two years ago I loaned my "Godfather" book to a friend. Since I paid ten cents for this at a garage sale, I wasn't too worried if I would ever get it back. I've been hankering to read it again and did not want to pay full price at the store. I waiting patiently and knew it would turn up at a garage sale and just the other day, I found a really good copy of it for twenty five cents.

My garden harvest is slowly coming in. I have tomatoes up the wazoo here and lots of corn too.

We are driving to Gettysburg area and Washington DC over Labor Day to see the Smitsonian and go to IKEA. I've only driven thru DC before about 12 or 13 years ago, so this will be pretty cool for me. Hubby's best friend lives near Gettysburg, but we've already did the battlefield scene so we don't have to reinact it again (thankfully).

[Rilchiam]

*=name changed for the hell of it

I've been jobhunting for the last few weeks, and I have several different employment agencies submitting my resume, because I knew no one agency was going to take a personal interest in my welfare. How right I was. This morning I called XYZ Agency* to find out if CandyLand Insurance* had reached a decision about me. I was told that the agent I had been dealing with was on vacation (news to me), but I could talk to someone else. The someone else said, "CandyLand couldn't hire you because of your scheduling problem."
"I have no scheduling problem."
"You didn't tell them that you had to go to school at night?"
"No, I don't go to school at night."
"You didn't say anything to indicate that you had a scheduling problem?"
"I told them my schedule was completely open."
"Who did you interview with?"
"Betty Rubble*."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh! I thought you were the one who interviewed with Wilma Flintstone*! Ohhhhhhhhhhh! That makes things entirely different! I'll call them back and let you know by the end of the day."
Well, of course, by 6pm my time, I still had not heard anything. As I said, I never expected to be nursemaided, but I at least thought that if I called up and said, "This is Rilchiam", that they would know which interviews Rilchiam went on and how I was evaluated, and not confuse me with Borogove* or Gryphon*.


------------------
Remember, I'm pulling for you; we're all in this together.
---Red Green

Today is my second anniversary with Brian. :) Two years ago today, we were lounging on the beach as friends...then, well, we figured it out. It was absolutely the most romantic night of my life (and we didn't even kiss--in fact, we hardly spoke--we simply figured it out).

Two years...neat!

------------------
"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

"English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England."

[Strainger]

We (the Choral Union) had our first rehearsal of the season last night. We're doing three performances of Eugene Orff's Carmina Burana (my favorite!! Wafna!) with the Phoenix Symphony at the beginning of November. We also rehearsed some music for the Christmas concert that we'll also be doing with the PSO. Hokey stuff. (I'm kind of hum-buggy when it comes to our Christmas selections sometimes.) One of the Xmas pieces is "Let There be Peace on Earth," which is usually performed by middle school students. In fact, when I opened the music, one staff had "Girls" written above it; the lower staff was designated "Boys." The age range for the group is 18-80 by my estimate. Also, there was this stuff written below the staff that made me think "Hebrew translation?" at first glance. Closer inspection revealed that it was a pronunciation/phrasing guide. ::Sigh:: Can you tell that I prefer the heavy, more advanced stuff? One redeeming item about the Xmas concert – it looks like we'll be performing "O Holy Night" with Shirley Jones. Yep, Ms. Partridge!

Y'all are probably familiar with the "O Fortuna" from Carmina. It’s used in manny places. Download the "Southpark: The Movie" trailer (if it's still available) and listen to the background music - that's it.

Swampers don't work well on "humid" days (humid in El Paso = ~ 50%). But since we're transients here, and supposedly the locals here in El Paso won't even consider buying a house with "refrigerated air", we're stuck with swampers if we ever want to sell our house...

El Paso seasons:
Mar-May = the windy season. Dirt everywhere. Can't see the sun (no clouds).
June = the hot season - highs in the 100-110 range every day.
Jul-Sep = the monsoon season - might rain every day; will be hot & "humid".
Oct-Feb = the nice season, highs in the 80s, little rain.



------------------
Sue from El Paso
members.aol.com/majormd/index.html (http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html)

[PillowPhat]

Strainger, how fabulous it would be to do Carmina Burana. I did it once when I was only a freshman in high school, but have been away from singing for the last several years. I love the gritty feel of the language on my tongue and breathtaking range of styles in the piece. Best wishes!

Pillow
www.pillowphat.com (http://www.pillowphat.com)

[Shirley Ujest]

It's been a busy week at the Ujest household. Monday, I'm sure I did something, but I can't seem to recall. Tuesday, Hung out for two hours with my braindead neighbor and her whiney daughter.

WEDNESDAY I went to the Michigan State Fair for the first time with my son. I've never gone and it was very nice except for the nearly ear shattering rap music done by local talent. Since I don't do carnival rides ( the workers all look like they would fail a drug test)and I am too old to be bantered into try-your-hand-at-some-kind-of-toy-store-reject-game, we looked at all the animals and the art exhibits, which my mom was one of them. I voted for her painting only because I want to be in the will. (Actually it was one of the better ones.) Great fun.

Thursday we went to a petting zoo/berry farm up by us. Saw more cows, chickens, goats, rabbits and turkeys. Total two day expense?
$7.50 ($5 to park at the fair. I had a free pass to get in courtesy of my mom. and $2.50 for me to chase the goats around at the petting zoo.)

Friday: Ran a thousand errands, bought some clothes and dropped my son off at Camp Oma for the night. We went as a group to the Beef Carver and it was the first time in god knows how long that I wasn't trapped between my inlaws (both brilliant non-conversationalists) and husbands Grandmother( who doesn't speak english) and my son( who speaks no language know to mankind.) and didn't suffer for two hours. I sat with some of their friends and we chatted away for two hours.

I'm trying to get the house and car ready for our driving trip. We leave Wednesday.

Oh, I know what I did monday, I went to see Mickey Blue Eyes. Cute little harmless brainless film that you could watch with your grandma and not have to cover her ears.

[voguevixen]

Went to an arts-n-crafts fair with mum-in-law last wknd. Amid the usual crap (slapdash door signs made by people trying to recoup the cost of their jigsaws) was a woman selling cut coin jewelry. I'd never seen it before and was really fascinated. She had beautiful coins from all over the world in which the words and backgrounds had been cut out to highlight the main artwork and they were stunning. I asked what sort of machine was used to make them and she replied they were done by hand with a saw, and then showed me the actual saw that looked like a cheese slicer! Well I took about a half hour to decide and finally settled on a Pegasus coin from Greece. If you want to take a peek I found one online here: http://www.usastores.com/coinarts/foreign4.htm (for some reason it's listed as a Canadian beaver coin -- wrong pic, I suppose, but you get the idea!) I never wear jewelry but I just love it. I've been wearing it all day and fiddling with it, haha.

Oh yes, and my brother's wife just had their second baby today. Ava Grace. (I know, weird, huh? The other one is named Carter Grant!)

[Rilchiam]

A dove built a nest outside the office window. Coo,coo!

------------------
Remember, I'm pulling for you; we're all in this together.
---Red Green

[Gaudere]

While I was on vacation last week, my work computer decided to up and die on me. They won't get the motherboard replaced until wednesday. So I am trying to do web design on a 100mhz 64mg ram piece of crud that can't run at any higher res than 800X600. And it took all morning to get win95 installed on it. There's not enough room on the *1* gig hard drive for the graphics programs I use, so I can only do straight coding in Homesite. It's going to take time to map to all the servers and get my permissions set up too.

Also, the screen flickers and makes my eyes hurt. Grr. :-(

------------------
"Eppur, si muove!" - Galileo Galilei

[Strainger]

Pillow, it's going to be quite a production. The chorus will be dressed in monks' robes. We'll also have choreography (by professional dancers, not us :)). I'm really looking forward to it!

[Greg Charles]

I had two job interviews last week, and I got both offers on Friday. The one that pays more also has more interesting work. The two people I used as references offered to get me work at their companies, and when I gave notice today, my supervisor asked if I would change my mind if he could get my salary doubled. (I said no, but I don't think he could really do it anyway.) Right now my ego has swelled to critical proportions! If I'm not careful, it's going to blow! ;)

Why is it that when you want grass as your front yard, you get rocks, but when you want rocks (aka xenoscaping/ desert landscaping), you get grass growing up through the rocks?

------------------
Sue from El Paso
members.aol.com/majormd/index.html (http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html)

Woo Hoo!

I am once again getting a daily dose of (recycled) "Calvin & Hobbes"!

It's available through a site:
www.crayon.net (http://www.crayon.net)

that allows to pick the content you want in your own personal newspaper.



------------------
Sue from El Paso
members.aol.com/majormd/index.html (http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html)

[voguevixen]

I quit working for the theater chain I was previously working for because I was disgusted with how they were handling their money. (Ferinstance, building a brand new theater when my theater needed a new roof, sound system, heating system, etc. Then telling us to write our congressmen to oppose raising the minimum wage because it would cost them too much money.) I saw on the news last night that they have to shut down this brand new theater and 68 others because of cash flow problems. BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Excuse my diabolical laughter, but it couldn't happen to a more deserving company. I can only hope the right people in the corporate office get fired over this.

On a lighter note, I'm getting to take a much deserved vacation to Vegas this week, and my trashy books for reading poolside are all packed!

[Gr8Kat]

My best friend came up from Grants Pass (about 200 miles south) and we spent a couple days together. It was the first time I'd seen her since my wedding (about 1 1/2 years ago) and she hadn't seen our house yet. She arrived Thursday night after work and I took Friday off so we could spend the day together. She's really into Japanese culture and anime, so we drove around Portland looking for import shops. I had vague directions to 2, and amazed myself by finding them both :) We bought lots of Japanese candy (not our original goal, but a tasty surprise) and she bought lots of raw (untranslated) manga. I found some manga for one of my favorite series, but didn't want any raw stuff--it's hard enough to follow in English sometimes, I wouldn't know what to do with Japanese :) We tried to go to the Japanese Gardens and the Rose Test Gardens at Washington Square Park, but it wasn't very handicapped accessible, and I was getting pretty pooped. So we went home and picked up my husband, took in Tarzan, and topped the day off with a trip to the New York Style China Buffet. Too bad we were all full of popcorn and candy by then, I'm not sure any of us ate $8.00 worth of food (which is doubly a shame, because I think the dinner rate is that high because there's more seafood, and none of us like seafood to begin with, so we paid too much for food we didn't like and were too full to eat). Oh well, it was still a great day, and a great beginning to a long weekend :)

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

I love my job, but I hate going back to work after a long weekend...

1. My default sleep cycle of 2-10 AM has just gotten established. It doesn't work well for the work week :(

2. I don't have the built-in catch-up time normally allotted for a Monday.

3. I'll stay confused about day of the week until Friday.

OTOH - Friday comes sooner :)



------------------
Sue from El Paso
members.aol.com/majormd/index.html (http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html)

[BunnyGirl]

Got a call back the same day from the company I interviewed with to come back for a second interview tomorrow! YES!! I'll interview tomorrow and they'll make a decision by Friday. It's for a software firm....oh geez, I'll be working with....with....geeks! AAAHHHH!!! Actually, I guess I have to wait to get the job first, don't I? Seemed like a good place. REally more of a lateral move to get away from this brain draining place I now work at. Oh the ennui!
Greg Charles...excellent about the job, man!!! Congrats!
Strainger, the only thing I know about Carmina Burana (did I even spell this right?) is the O Fortuna part. Very big, very loud, very cool. Need to invest in the whole piece. Good luck!

[Greg Charles]

Thanks BunnyGirl, and good luck on your second interview! I was feeling bummed that no one had congratulated me. Maybe I was being a bit arrogant bragging like that, but I had just got two job offers on the same day for God's sake! I think a little crowing was not unreasonable. This is the first time I've ever been able to choose a company rather than them choosing me. I guess that's the upside to being a software "geek". :)

[BunnyGirl]

I was thinking of Melin today. Anyone seen/heard from her. Come back Melin!
I sent her an e-mail - maybe she'll come back and say hi!

I IM with her every now & then. She and her family recently took a barge trip in "the delta" somewhere in California & had a great relaxing vaction with that. The kids & Randy are all getting back into the school routine.

------------------
Sue from El Paso
members.aol.com/majormd/index.html (http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html)