I left for work later than I normally do and was rewarded by seeing a deer lying on the sidewalk as I was driving out of the neighborhood. I didn't get out and check, but since the deer was lying on its side like it has toppled over, I'm fairly certain it was dead. Days like these make me wonder why I don't take my camera with me everywhere.
May 2006 Archives
Mike had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, and since it was our first visit to that particular doctor, we got there a little early to make sure we'd have time to fill out paperwork. Well, we certainly had plenty of time for the paperwork, seeing as how it took them over an hour and a half to call us back. Shortly after we started on the paperwork, a man brought his son in, and since the waiting room was extremely small, they sat down next to us. The kid seemed kinda cute at first, but his charm began to wear off rapidly after five minutes or so.
It started with his lack of an "Indoor Voice." Call me old, call me grouchy, whatever, but I think that when inside, especially in a small room where other people are stuck waiting too, people should use quiet-ish voices. I get that he's just a kid, so I certainly don't expect him, or any kid, to whisper the entire time. I do, however, expect his dad to remind him to keep his voice down to at least a couple notches below "shouting." When he wasn't holding conversations almost-at-the-top-of-his-lungs, he was roaming around the waiting room. As I mentioned earlier, it was a very small waiting room so there wasn't much room to roam, and he ended up on the bench next to me, trying to take my book out of my lap. After looking at his dad to see if he was going to step in and say something, I moved his hand off my book and shook my head. He must've really wanted to read my HTML book because he tried to take it again, so I did the same thing, but this time I added a "No" to the mix. He asked why, so I replied with "Because it's my book." That caught his dad's attention and he called the boy away, which lasted for all of a couple minutes, then he was up and prowling around again.
After looking through the woefully inadequate selection of books/magazines for kids, he was back by my side, this time trying to slide through the arms of the chair. I was fine with that until he started pressing his feet against my leg. See, I have a personal bubble - I don't like strangers getting too close to me, and I really don't like them touching me. I also think that people need to teach their kids to respect other people's space. Again, I don't expect kids to be perfect. I'm not perfect, so how can I expect perfection from someone less than half my age? I have four kids and I understand that part of being a kid is learning how to interact and behave, but if parents aren't going to do anything more effective than "Sit down, or you'll get in trouble," "I mean it, you're going to get in big trouble," "If you don't stop, you're really going to be in trouble," how does that show kids what they should be doing instead? I know I'm not a perfect parent, and I'm really glad I have Mike in my life to help refocus me and to help me keep things in perspective, otherwise, I'd probably be one of those ineffective parents too.
What a fantastic weekend. We had the kids through Monday, and it was awesome having an extra day with them although taking them back on a Monday sucks just as much as it does on Sundays. H and I made invitations for her birthday party since that's coming up soon, we had a typical Memorial Day meal on Sunday (barbeque, corn on the cob, watermelon, beans, pickles, chips, and brownies), our regular weekend family breakfast, and just spent a lot of time hanging out and having fun. Next year we might even make it to the pool!
I hatehatehate bug bites, especially on my ankles or feet. Why am I telling you this? Because I have one on the top of my foot, right between my third and fourth toes. It's itching like mad, but if I scratch it any more it'll turn into one of those bug bite wounds, and I'd rather not have one of those, thanks.
XM 22 has redeemed itself for now - I'm willing to forget about the "Purify" faux pas from the other day since they played Uncle Kracker's "In a Little While" this morning.
When I took the puppies out this morning, there was a largeish spider on Max's back and now every time my leg/shoulder/hip/whatever itches, I'm imagining little spider feet on me. Gah.
Egypt Central, Buckcherry, the Exies - digging them all right now. I've heard two songs off the new BuckCherry album that I really like, both a different style
a couple random music thoughts:
Metallica's "Purify" is awful, and I'm still trying to figure out why it was being played on XM 22.
This must be one of my conservative little old lady moments, because the first time I saw "Promiscuous Girl" on my MyFi display, my initial response was one of mild disapproval. I can't put the reason into words right now, but I think it has to do with the negative connotations of "promiscuous" and the "men + lots of sex = studs, women + lots of sex = sluts" double standard. In related news, seeing "I'm in Love With a Stripper" on the screen never fails to get an eye roll as I change the station.
My arms and hands have been tingling off and on all day, and I wish it would stop. It's mostly my right arm/hand, although the left fills in sometimes too, and it's a really weird feeling - kind of like my arm/hand is almost falling asleep, but not quite. I hope it's just one of those random things that's gone the next day, because this is not high on my list of fun experiences.
We watched Barrera/Juarez match Saturday night, and it was much more engaging than the Hatton/Collazo one, although I'm still fond of the phrase "Team Hitman." The title match was very close and was initially declared a draw, but when the judges' scorecards were re-tallied, Barrera got the win. Juarez seems like a good boxer but he came across like a whiny bitch (flashback to Collazo, anyone?) in the post-fight interviews particularly when he blamed his loss on the fact that the match was in Barrera and de la Hoya's "backyard." That's a little too conspiracy theory for my liking.
Before the title match, HBO showed the Barrios vs. Nagy (for fellow boxing newbs, the announcers pronounced it "Nahj") match, which ended in less than a minute when Nagy gave in after Barrios landed a good body shot to his right side. Juarez said that he wouldn't be in the ring right after the first fight's sudden end, and in the interim, HBO ran a brief interview with Tarver and Hopkins each from their training camps prepping for the match on June 10th. After hearing that, I hope Hopkins kicks Tarver's ass. Tarver started off by saying that his picture was on the right of the split screen when it should be on the left, and he was being disrespected by "the establishment," that he had a chip on his shoulder that would remain there until "the establishment" acknowledged him as one of the best fighters ever. (Please note that I'm paraphrasing. I can't find a transcript of the interview, so the only thing that's verbatim is his reference to "the establishment.") From what I understand, the smack talk is part of the game, but to think so highly of yourself as to be offended if your picture isn't on a certain side of the screen is a little much, IMO. Admittedly, I don't know all the ins and outs of boxing, so it may be that's regarded as a major insult, but to a relative newbie to the sport, Tarver's response seems more than a little pretentious. Hopkins didn't sound particularly quick on his feet in the interview, but he had a much less abrasive tone, saying that he didn't care what side his picture was on, his focus was on winning the match. I think that confidence is important, especially in sports like boxing, but in the couple of matches I've seen there's been a couple of boxers who take it beyond confidence, into whining territory when they lose, so it'll be interesting to see the outcome of the Tarver/Hopkins match, especially Tarver's response if Hopkins does win.
We moved boxes and furniture, packed, unpacked, put stuff away, dusted, set up computers (that was mostly Mike), did laundry (that was mostly me), went on a motorcycle ride, made a snack run before the Barrera/Juarez match, watched the match and Batman Begins (I love Christian Bale in that movie, and I think they're doing a good job of starting the Batman franchise from the ground up), napped, went through disks/software, and got haircuts, in no particular order. Exciting? Of course.
We bought our tickets today, so barring some unforeseen change of plans, we're on for Ozzfest this year. I'm pretty jazzed. I haven't been to a major concert since 2001 and that was before I was with Mike. We've been to a bunch of local shows in bars around town, but nothing major, so this'll be our first big concert together. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing BLS, Avenged Sevenfold, and Disturbed.
I actually remembered to make a sandwich this morning, and I even managed to put it in my lunchbox. Too bad it didn't last long enough to be lunch.
The update: FRS + water + orange juice is okay. Still not great, still a bit too sweet, but definitely better than just FRS + water. Tune in next time to see what happens when we add cranberry juice to the mix.
PS: I'm still not feeling any more energetic. I'd hate to think that I was finding ways to make this stuff palatable when it's not even doing anything for me.
When I went outside to walk the puppies after work yesterday, I was welcomed by an(other) ADT flyer and card stuck in the door frame. Come 9am, I'm calling the number on the card to tell them that they are thisclose to losing me as a potential customer if they don't quit soliciting my house immediately. Sweet bleeding Moses. We're up to what, 7 now? In just under a month? Freaking ridiculous.
I AM: so freaking tired I think I'm going to keel over at my desk. If tomorrow weren't Saturday, I'd be in a world of hurt.
I SAID: I can't remember, but I'm sure it involved the word "fuck" in some context or another.
I WANT: a nice, crunchy pickle. And some rocky road ice cream.
I WISH: I were one of those people who can sleep for 5 hours and feel completely rested. Also, I wish I were better at condensing what I'm trying to say so people don't have to sit through paragraphs about what color the sky is today.
I HATE: currently? Inconsiderate people and anyone from ADT. Ooh, and panty lines.
I MISS: being able to read on the way to and from work.
I FEAR: heights, losing my loved ones, and having an IV in my arm, forgetting about it, and bending that arm. Yeah, I know I've said it before, but it's a horrible thought, isn't it? Meep.
I HEAR: extremely loud people at my work
I WONDER: why it takes me so long to fall asleep, even though I am utterly exhausted.
I REGRET: weaseling
I AM NOT: stupid, although I do some dumb ass things sometimes
I DANCE: only if I'm sure no one else could possibly see me
I SING: when I'm by myself or very upset. It helps if the acoustics are good.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: on time. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm almost never on time.
I MADE: cards for Mother's Day!
I WRITE: really bad poetry when I'm drunk and upset, lots of run-on sentences no matter how I'm feeling, and extremely long emails to karinne. Unless I'm ranting about AI and Chris Daughtry and Fuel - that was a short one, surprisingly.
I CONFUSE: Mike when I overload him with details and information.
I NEED: to make the red sauce I've been talking about making since last weekend.
I SHOULD: stop procrastinating so damn much.
I START: many things but only finish them under duress.
I FINISH: books very quickly.
I BELIEVE: using the dishwasher whenever possible because washing dishes by hand is waaaay too tedious.
I KNOW: a lot of big words.
I CAN: make excellent lasagna, or so I've been told.
I CAN'T: stand reading about animals dying or getting hurt. I still tear up over an article I read a couple weeks ago about baby turkeys dying because they don't have enough feathers to keep them warm when it rains, and I don't even particularly like turkeys. Gah.
I SEE: lots of blurs because I really need to start wearing (read: find) my glasses.
I BLOG: because it lets me get stuff out of my system without talking people to death.
I READ: almost everything I can get my hands on.
I AM AROUSED BY: neck bites.
IT PISSES ME OFF: when people are inconsiderate and manipulative.
I FIND: that usually when people tell me I don't want to know, they're right.
I LIKE: being warm (but not hot), taking tons of pictures, sandals, comfortable low-rider jeans, tattoos, nail polish that I use once and then forget about, pumpkin pie, talking, reading, my crafts, playing online/reading blogs, and dreaming up grandiose plans that rarely, if ever, come to fruition.
I LOVE: my husband, being able to say "...my husband," the kids, the puppies, the way the puppies smell when they are warm and sleepy, and family, of course, but especially my brother because he's the lab/golden retriever of the people world. I must have gotten all the antisocial for this generation.
Lately I'm always tired but I'm trying to keep away from caffeine, and that really limits my options for energy drinks, so when hungrygirl mentioned FRS, I decided to give the concentrate a try. UPS delivered it yesterday, and I was exhausted this morning so I figured it'd be a good day to test this stuff out. My initial review is, eh. It smells like orange juice but it tastes overly sweet. Next time I try it instead of mixing it with just water, I'll probably mix it with water and orange juice to see if the juice's acid cuts the sweetness enough to where it's manageable. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to try smoothies or something. As far as the energy goes, I can't tell a difference yet. I felt good for the first half hour after drinking it, but now I'm back to my regular tired self. The FRS site mentioned that for some people it takes a couple of days before they start feeling the energy so I won't give up on it yet, but I'm definitely not as impressed as I thought I'd be.
I have got to remember to pack a lunch tomorrow. I meant to make a pbj this morning before I left the house but forgot about it in my scramble to get ready and out the door on time, and now I'm starving. Of course this is the day that I made my "no more snacks from the work snack cabinet" proclamation, so I don't even have that option, not that I really would want it. The Little Debbie snack cakes always look tempting, but they never taste as good as I remember them tasting. Bitches.
We ordered some flowers from flowers.com for t's mom and I was guaranteed that they would be delivered on Sunday. They weren't, and I'm a bit upset about that, but there was a customer service number in my confirmation email, so my plan was to call and let them know the flowers were not delivered when promised. I got through the calling part of the plan all right, but then I got the automated "All of our customer service representatives are busy..." bit and waited on hold. After being on hold for a couple replays of Nora Jones' "Don't Know Why," it sounded like the call was transferred to a different extension but it rang and rang and rang and rang. I don't mind being told that the office is closed, please call back during the hours of 9-5 or whatever, but I don't want to sit on hold just to get transferred to a phone no one is going to answer.
As I've mentioned before, we have been visited by no less than 6 ADT salespeople in the time we've been here. Hell, one even stopped by the day we moved in. Enough, already. I have nothing against ADT - we'll probably switch to them once our existing alarm contract is up - but their ever-present salespeople are on my last nerve. I'm tired of going to answer my door and seeing some cheerful salesperson holding out an ADT flyer or card. You all have the same office address, so do some coordinating next time, would you?
We get at least 15 fax confirmation sheets a day at work, and since most people don't keep them, I cut them down and bring them home for H to use for cards, pictures, etc. Over the weekend I asked her if she'd let her brothers use some paper, and she said sure, trotted upstairs, and came back with three pages ripped out of a notebook. When I asked her why she'd gotten that instead of the white paper, she just looked at me and said "I didn't want to waste the good paper."
What a great day. This was our regular kid-weekend, so we got to do Mother's Day stuff this morning before we took them back to their mom's for the rest of the day. Mike and the kids got me a case for my iPod, the first season of Deadwood, and a gift card, and H made me a card from all of them. She also made me the sweetest flower-card in school (she gave it to me on Friday because she said she just couldn't wait till Sunday) and last weekend she made me a Mother's Day card. After we took them back to their mom's, we came home and were lazy until 12:30 (the laziness was interrupted by the doorbell around 11ish, so I went downstairs anticipating ANOTHER salesman from ADT only to be pleasantly surprised by the delivery of a gorgeous bouquet of Mother's Day flowers from Mom B), then I went into full "Crap, my family's going to be here in 30 minutes for cake, gotta clean the kitchen" panic mode. I had just finished my 20-minute cleaning frenzy when I learned that I had a little extra time on my hands because my mom and brother were stuck in traffic which was lucky because I'd baked and cooled the lemon cake already, but hadn't iced it. My sister and brother-in-law arrived just a few minutes before my mom and brother did, and once everyone was there we gave them the grand tour, then Mike and my sister's husband talked about fiber and other geek things while my mom, sister and I talked about crafty things and puppies and my brother tried to talk to everyone at once. We had cake and visited for a bit more while Mike demo'd the 360 for my brother and brother-in-law, then everybody headed out, leaving me and Mike to chill on the chaise for a bit while we waited for the guy from the satellite company to get there. After he left we watched a boxing match on HBO (Hatton won the welterweight title, ha! 115-112, 115-112, and 114-113 - take that, Collazo, you whiny bitch), had dinner, enjoyed more lazy time (Mike came up with a couple songs on his acoustic while I read), and went to bed early.
I wasn't happy when I found out that Brett Scallions, the lead singer for Fuel, had left the band, but did they really have to offer his job to Chris Daughtry? That's taking this American Idol thing too far.
I didn't sleep worth shit last night, even though I crashed a little before 10 thanks to Tylenol PM. I vaguely remember Mike getting up (once? twice?) to work on his laptop, but I couldn't tell you what time that was other than between 10pm and 3:30 am. I also vaguely remember waking up at least one other time for no apparent reason. AND I had a crazy dream to top it all off. I can't type it all out because it's very disjointed and choppy and does not translate well to a story at all, but it involved a serial killer, girls in prom dresses on crosses with corsages above their heads, Mike, two grandfather clocks chiming at 2am, the Xbox 360 logo prominently displayed on a door, and my ever-present fear of having an IV in my arm, forgetting it's there, and bending said arm. Gah, just typing that makes me cringe. (I didn't have this worry until my first-ever ER visit as a patient in March. I was petrified that was going to happen then, and that irrational fear has cropped up at odd moments ever since.) The dream ended when I hip-flipped the serial killer over a railing Buffy-style, and her body landed right in the middle of a group of people. Correction, it landed in the middle of a bunch of groups of people. The leader of one of those groups looked at her body, proclaimed "She's a witch" (which gave me a moment of "Holy shit, does that mean she's not dead?!?" panic), then turned to another group's leader, who was sitting on a throne of bones and wearing some kind of headpiece with horns and glowing red eyes, and said "So much for your peace!" The end. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either. At some point during the middle of this I vaguely remember Mike getting up and thinking that I wish he'd come back to bed because I needed to finish the dream and find out if I died or not. Weird.
