The Quest

Anyone who has ever lived in the Northeast U.S. knows that you just can't find good Chinese food, bagels, soft pretzels, cheesesteaks, or pizza south of New Jersey.

It just can't be done.

So when Scott and I decided to try the little Italian restaurant next to the crappy transmission place, we expected to pay too much and be disappointed.

WRONG!

We each had a bowl of soup (wedding soup for me, pasta fagiole for him), I had a cheese calzone, and Scott had a stromboli. The food was made fresh -- like I watched the guy in the kitchen scoop out ricotta and dump it into my calzone. The soups were delish (and did I mention $3 each?). And, although I didn't really like the marinara to dip (not chunky enough), it was by far the best pizzeria-style food I've eaten in the past 6 years at least. Our bill came to $23, which sounds like a lot for lunch, but we ate a LOT. Seriously, my calzone was $5, and I saved half of it for dinner tonight.

Their pizzas seem to be on the pricey side ($10 for a 14" cheese -- $16 for a 14" white), but you can bet your buns we'll be trying one at some point down the road. C'mon - a real white pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, and provolone? **drool**

I hope this place does a good business and sticks around for a while. I'm giving the New York Pizza Club JJJJj out of JJJJJ for the best el-cheapo italian I've had in Florida.

Not Quite Alone

My manager decided this week that we work in an OFFICE, and that people walking by on their way to the cafeteria hootin' and hollerin' (my words, not his) were a distraction. So we are now keeping the door closed. He even took the doorstop and hid it after two people in a row opened the door and immediately propped it open.

I'm buying a little desktop fan this weekend so that I don't suffocate in there, but that's not my point.

Now that the door is closed, I've noticed something strange about the people who walk by: They don't know we're in there, and they act like they are alone. Yesterday, my two managers and I were sitting in the office (which rarely happens), and we were all doing quiet work (which never happens), and all of a sudden, the sounds of Gregorian chanting were coming through the wall we share with the cash room. Seriously. Actual chanting. This guy was going to town!

Have I mentioned that my office is part office, part storage? Ask Scott - he was shocked when he saw how ghetto it is. Well, we got a new shipment of coffee yesterday (yep - we have our own custom blend), and guess where it is? That's right - in my office. And now I think I'm getting caffeinated on the fumes alone!

Anyway, work is going pretty well. And today is my friday. But I still have to wake up tomorrow, because we're taking Scott's car to the dealership for his turn at "let's spend lots of money on our cars." Hopefully this will be our last big expenditure for a while.

Shopping Spree

I've been having some foot problems recently, most likely brought on by the hours of standing I do each night at work in my Wal Mart dress shoes. And so I set out yesterday to find a simple pair of black flats with lots of sole, preferably ones that didn't click when I walk on the tile. (I prefer to be stealthy)

I'll admit it - I don't really think that either pair is 100% sensible. What you can't tell from the picture is that both pairs are slides. Yes, they're 'legal' within the dress code, but I'm still not sure how much walking I can do in them. I do, however, think that they are both fabulous!

The pair on the left are like mary janes, with a strap across the top. They also have a funky rubber sole that looks a little like a golf shoe (only not...). And they were on clearance for $25. The pair on the right look like they'd hurt, but the tops are stretchy. This is the closest you'll ever see to a pointy toe shoe in my wardrobe. And they look awfully cute with jeans! They do have a bit of a lift to them, which will probably limit the amount of time I can spend in them over the course of a day.

Scott also indulged me with a trip to the Old Navy outlet in the same shopping center. I came out with two plain t-shirts (kelly green and white) and two spaghetti strap tanks (for layering/sleeping) for less than $20.

And then we went grocery shopping.

And then we came home.

And tonight we're going to Hoop Dee Doo. All is right with the world.

F

This morning at 8am, sign-ups opened for Candlelight. They take the first 300 people to sign up for each vocal part. Last year, soprano filled up in 16 minutes.

...what are the chances that this year it won't have filled up in the first 4 hours?

Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm, and didn't wake up until noon.

F F F

Roadkill Gourmet

Yesterday on my way to work, I got the impression that I'd just missed the Running of the Armadillo. I must have swerved out my lane at least a half-dozen times (which is never good on a narrow winding road) trying to avoid the previously squished. And then I rounded a corner and came really close to hitting a damn vulture that was feasting on an animal that HAD made it to the side of the road. Dumb birds!

And yet I still believe that taking the back road to work is more fun. Sure, you occasionally get stuck behind a rock truck or a cement mixer going 20 where the speed limit is 45, but it's still faster than sitting in that late morning 192 traffic.

So was anyone out there wondering what I had for dinner last night? Well, I had a chicken sandwich (leftover baked chicken) with provolone and dijon-horseradish mustard on a whole wheat bun. And then our sous chef came in and said that we were doing a great job, and that the kitchen appreciates our hard work... and she brought us each a serving of Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin on a Corn Cake and a Cherry Cider Reduction. Kurobuta pork comes from pure-bred Berkshire hogs, and is considered the "Kobe of pork." I didn't realize that... until I tasted it.

Wow!

In the words of Little Orphan Annie, "I think I'm gonna like it here!"

Breakfast of Champions?

What could be better than pineapple upside down cake for breakfast? After all, it has more fruit than a packet of apple cinnamon oatmeal. AND it has more types of fruit. But are maraschino cherries really fruit? Were they ever actual cherries, growing plump and juicy under the sun? Or were they fabricated in a lab to look like cherries?

Anyway, I finished the last of the cake for breakfast this morning. Tomorrow, who knows? I might have oatmeal or cereal.

Stay tuned!

and before anyone asks, I have no idea who this person in the picture is. I blatantly ripped it off from photobucket.

Thinking of You...

I saw the story of the bacon martini, and instantly thought of Scott. I bet if it were made with Limoncello, he'd be all over that!

And in non-bacon news, it's likely that Karen over at The Naked Ovary will see her daughter's face for the first time tomorrow. I've been following her rollercoaster ride of adopting from China for about a year now, and feel like it's my own best friend getting the news. Apparently I'm not the only one who feels this way -- as of right now there are 494 comments on her "Stork Alert" entry. Hopefully she'll get her referral before I have to leave for work tomorrow... otherwise I'll be going crazy at work all day.

And in my own life... well, I scooped the cat box today. How's that for excitement?

Blog-Jam

I've got a whole bunch of post ideas swimming around, and yet none of them wants to come out. I've decided to call this version of writer's block 'blog jam.' And that's about the most witty and creative thing I can think of to say.

I did absolutely nothing this past weekend. It felt like a good idea at the time, and yet now I feel like a worthless slug. I watched two new movies - Ice Age, which was better than I thought it would be (and yet I'll still give it JJj out of JJJJJ) and Crash. Crash surprised me, and I tried to get Scott to watch it with me (yeah, I wanted to watch it again right away) but he wouldn't bite. I guess that's fair. I'm steadfast in my refusal to watch any of the Mission: Impossible movies because:
a) I'm taking a stand against Tom Cruise, and
b) I just didn't get the first one.

Anyway, back to Crash. It had maybe a dozen different story lines that intersected at strange moments, and yet somehow didn't feel at all disjointed. It had a message, butwasn't preachy. And I loved the cast. I'll have to put it on my "buy me" list. And I'll give it JJJJ out of JJJJJ.

I also caught Phone Booth on FX. I'm going to rent it so that I can see how much was edited out. I also missed the beginning, and apparently that was important. I thought it was pretty decent, despite the violence.

So I'm now off to another 4 marathon days at work. Hopefully I can make some sort of plans for next weekend so that a week from right now I'm not sitting around feeling like a lump. Actually, I think I have plans a week from right now to go to Hoop with a bunch of people I don't know. Woo...I'm feeling better already!

I'm a Big Kid Now!

There's been a lot of learning in the past two weeks. I guess that really goes without saying. But with this new job, my job classification is not covered by a union. This has resulted in two interesting changes.

I no longer clock in and out. I am still hourly, but pay myself online. Of course, this means I had to learn to pay myself online.

401(k) -- I'm eligible. And I got a big packet of information in the mail telling me allll about it. Why is it that the thought of letting them take even more money out of my paycheck is somehow appealing to me? Oh yeah - because it means that maybe one year I'll be able to retire and I won't have to work until I'm dead.

I guess maybe I have some reading to do.

I'm Here

I'm working 10-hour days this month, which doesn't leave me much blog time (or any other time) during my work week. I'm also sick a a dog with a random July Flu that's got me sleeping with the tissues within arm's reach. So I'll see you on Monday. I promise.

two more days... two more days...

Remember When...?

A while back, I told Scott that if he died first, I was going to have "weird but cute" put on his tombstone. He didn't really like that sentiment... and then he really didn't like it when I said I was going to put "weirder but cuter" on my own. So I had some prototypes made:


I think they are just perfect! You can make your own tombstone here.

It's an Epidemic!

Does anyone else think that FIVE reality competition shows on 5/7 of broadcast channels at the same time is... umm... excessive??? Am I the only one who would rather be watching a re-run of Grey's Anatomy or -- hold your hats -- original non-reality programming? Shame on you, network executives!

Oh who am I to talk? I'm just wasting time until 10:00 when Project Runway comes on!

A Great Burger

This is a recipe for a great burger:

Bacon
Melted Provolone
Avocado
Pickles
Lettuce
Mayo
Honey Mustard
and a turkey patty
on a toasted whole grain bun

Scott and I took Frances to the dealership today for $1000+ worth of routine maintenance -- timing belt, 60,000 mile service (6,000 miles late, but let's not go there), and tons of brake work. My old buddy James in the service department said he was going to call around and check for parts to see if he could beat the $600 quote he gave me before for whatever is wrong with my rear brake drum (or something like that...). Plus I printed off a 10% off parts coupon from their website. Let's hope there's no catastrophe and I'll get her back tomorrow like he promised, or Wednesday before it's a major inconvenience, or Thursday morning before it's a crisis! And I'm PRAYING that this maintenance doesn't clean out our savings. Scott's car is coming up on a service milestone too.

After dropping off the car, we went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. I was leaning toward mini burgers (what? I like mini burgers!) when Scott pointed out the bacon-avocado turkey burger. It was superb -- best burger I've had in ages! And since the skies had opened up and we had a little bit of time, we split a blondie for dessert. Sadly, we finished our dessert, paid the bill, and it was STILL pouring. And since Scott had to get to work, we had to go out into the elements. The bottom few inches of my jeans are still wet!

Scott made it to work on time, and I came home to find a giant envelope from Disney Cruise Line in the mailbox. Two months from now we can reserve our anniversary dinner at Palo and book our shore excursions (not that we're booking any shore excursions...). And our cruise is less than 5 months from now. Woo!

Overall, I'd call it a good day. Well, at least it was a productive day.

Two in a Row

Yesterday, I totally vegged in front of the TV and watched two movies in a row. Here are excerpts from their NetFlix descriptions:

"...dramedy that speaks eloquent volumes about the fragility -- and resilience -- of the human condition."

and a

"...girl-powered buddy flick."

Yeah, it was an eccentric sort of day. The first movie I watched (the second quoted above) was Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. I actually liked the first Miss Congeniality. It was stupid, but original and fun. This one was pretty much just stupid. And William Shatner was in it.

The second movie was Life as a House. Here's the rest of the description. I think it's worth repeating for anyone who isn't familiar with the story line:

Faced with a diagnosis of terminal cancer, George (Kevin Kline) decides to construct a beautiful new house on his land overlooking the Pacific ocean, while at the same time trying to connect with his estranged son (Hayden Christensen).

This movie was really really good. And it was hard to watch. I think that's because most of the characters seemed real. On the down side, I cried so hard watching it that I was nauseous for hours afterward. It's one of those movies like Life is Beautiful and Shakespeare in Love - the ones I own because sometimes I need a good cry and it's easier to cry over a beautiful, sad movie than to cry over other things. I think I'll buy it some day. JJJJj out of JJJJJ

Who Doesn't Love Cats?

I'm off tomorrow, and plan to spend the day watching crappy movies (Miss Congeniality 2, anyone?). Maybe I'll take the time to post something with more words. In the meantime, I leave you funny cat videos. Gotta love AFHV and the internet!

Searching for my Babies

Scalzi's Weekend Assignment: Do a Web search on a pet's name and let us know some of the interesting things that pop up.

Let's start with my favorite cat (yes, the one currently clawing my mini ottoman), Milo:
* Milo is the Australian version of Quik.
* The Milo Foundation is a domestic animal shelter. Anyone want a kitten?
* Milo Ventimiglia is an actor from Anaheim, CA.

And the other one, Kilo:
* There's KILO 94.3, "Colorado's Pure Rock"
* Kilo is a backdoor Trojan that uses an IRC channel to contact a hacker. (according to the Symantec website)
* And The Russian Kilo Class submarine first entered service in the early 1980's.

Of course, we can't forget about ZoePig:
* Well, it looks like she has a MySpace page, but I guess we already knew that.
* And here's a picture of a little girl. The caption reads "Zoe's Pig Hat."

A Pledge

I feel like I'm going to have some fences to mend and bridges to build with other areas when I finally take ownership of my job. My office, it seems, has this attitude that EVERYONE, no matter the location or job title, should be an expert on my location. I've seen some seriously harsh words delivered to hotel concierge people, IT support people, and some other assorted poor unfortunate souls who have to call us.

I don't want anyone anywhere to ever dread having to call me or work with me. So I am pledging the following for the duration of my career in this office:

* I will never tell someone that they should already know my confirmation procedure (all 6 steps), and that because they missed a piece of information they are not doing their job properly.

* I will never reiterate to a person, after they have apologized and done what they could to make the situation right, that they need to do their job better in the future.

* When frustrated with slow (read: brand-spanking new) co-workers, I will never use the phrase "get the lead out." I will instead take a deep breath and offer to help.

* I will l i s t e n when people are talking.

* I will not blame my computer or co-workers for my mistakes

I am so excited to learn all of the facets of our business so that I can take over and make it better. For now, I'll sit back and learn my job. I'll be flexible and patient and helpful when possible (there's still an awful lot I don't know).

Golden Ticket

OK, it's not a golden ticket, but in my world it's close. I got a hang tag for my car! What's this mean? It means I don't have to park across the street and two parking lots away from my work location. I get to park at the back end of the convention center. It's still a trek, but less than half the distance. I feel like I have arrived!

I also have almost my own desk (someone else uses it on my days off) with a brand new PC with flat panel monitor. It turns out that in my little reservation world, there will be four of us, and I'm the only full-time person. I'll be pretty much running the show. And it looks like when all of the dust settles I'll have Monday & Tuesday off. And I'll be working a mid-morning (10am-ish) shift. Sweet!

Today it's back to the trenches. I have a 5 hour class that I'm really not looking forward to. On the bright side, I'll be going over to my office after the class to make up the rest of my shift. Woo!

Things

It's been a while. I know. Here's what you've missed:

* The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -- it was ok. I over-anticipated it though, and no movie could live up to the hype I created in my own mind. Plus, we were sitting on the side of the theater (apparently 30 minutes early just wasn't early enough for this one) and I was having trouble making out some of the dialogue. My only real complaint was that for the length of the movie (2 1/2 hours), there were absolutely no plot resolutions. It really is the first half of a five-hour movie. And did I mention that the second half of the five-hour movie doesn't come out until next May? grr... I'm going to hold off on rating this movie until I see the next half.

* Last days of work -- I had a startling revelation over the past week. It's not the people I hated, it was the job. And I didn't realize how much I hated the job until I had a new job to look forward to. Of course, of the 100+ people I worked with, I will truly miss about 10. For my going away, Melissa baked one of her famous coffee cakes. Sandy and Marilyn both bought me Captain Jack action figures that they had seen. (now that I have three, it's officially a collection, n'est pas?) Karen gave me an angel keychain. And I got a card signed by the gang. The end was absolutely bittersweet, which I guess is how it should be. And of course I cried.

* Orientation Day -- I loathe new location orientation. I have been through them for 3 parks, security, the call center, and now a resort. YES, I know the 7 service guidelines. YES, I know what L.A.S.T. is all about. I don't really need a 2-hour property tour. Can't I take a pre-test and get out of it? Anyway, it was a short and boring day. On the bright side, our lunch was provided, and we got out around 2pm, though we were paid until 4.

I'm off today, and then tomorrow I actually get to start training in my actual job. Won't that be fun? Of course, I only have one day like that, and then the next day I have a class with the word 'basics' in the title. **gag** THEN I get to really get into the meat of the job.

Oh Captain (Jack), My Captain (Jack)

This is a big week for me. Not only did I get to ride the newly renovated Pirates of the Caribbean attraction today (more on that in a moment), but Scott and I are planning to catch an early showing of Dead Man's Chest on Friday morning before work. Actually, I have all sorts of random Pirates blurbs to share, so fasten your seatbelts and try to follow along.

The Video
Scott sent me a video clip of the POTC ride in California, complete with Captain Jack animatronics. And did I mention that Johnny Depp was riding the ride?? They actually let him go up and get face-to-face with one of the Captain Jacks. It's surreal. And he's so dreamy!

The Ride
Scott and I got up early to go sign Janette & John into the park today, and we went over to Pirates after lunch at Tony's (mmm... sundried tomato pesto...). The wait was only 15 minutes and it was worth every second. They really did a great job updating a Disney Classic and integrating parts of the movie. I understand the Disney purists being wary after the way they butchered the Tiki Room, but it was great. Two thumbs up from me.

The Tonight Show (yes, The Tonight Show, stay with me here)
Last night after Scott got home from work, he was flipping channels and all of a sudden got a big earful of "hey go back! I know that guy!" from me. Brian Herzlinger, star of My Date with Drew and fellow alum of Cherokee High School, was on with Leno. It turns out he's a sometimes correspondent.

Yes, but we were on a Pirates kick. What does one have to do with the other?

I told you to stay with me!

Leno sent Brian to the red carpet of the Pirates premiere. And while he didn't get to interview Johnny, he did talk to Orlando and Keira, plus the Governator, Linda Carter, Marilyn Manson, and others. Here's the segment if you'd like to check it out. I particularly enjoy the people booing Arnold from the audience. Ouch!

This means I can totally track my own six degrees of separation from Johnny. Me - Stacey (Brian's sister, who was in a bunch of my classes) - Brian - Orlando Bloom - Johnny Depp! With ties that close, I just may be on his Christmas card list.

The Movie
As I said, our current plan is to go see the movie Friday before work. Of course, we work at 3:00 and the movie is over 2 1/2 hours long. This means that we'll have to see an 11:00 or 11:30 showing. But Scott's got a co-worker who is doing the midnight show, so we'll have to see it before he goes to work or Mr. BigMouth will spoil everything for him. How's that for justifying a ridiculously long day? I'm so excited!!!

Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!

Penciled In

I finally got my schedule for the next two weeks. It's a bit of a mess, I must say. Next week I've got split days off (nope... not Tuesday or Wednesday!). Sunday I have orientation day starting at 8:30am. Wednesday I have a class from 10:30 to 3:30 (yeah... 5 hours... like THAT'S going to pay the bills!). And the rest of the days I work 10 to 6:30. Then the next week I'm off Sunday and Monday, and working 10-6:30 the rest of the week. Really, I'd love it if those were my real hours. That's late enough that I'd be waking up once the sun is up. I definitely prefer that to stumbling around in the dark... which is probably what I'll end up doing.

I also have one night shift shadowing the servers and the maitre d' (yep... I said maitre d'... ain't I hoity toity??). If I'm shadowing, that probably means I'll be in costume. Man oh man... I hope I'm wrong about that! While the picture would make good blog fodder, I'm just not sure I want that hanging over my head! I guess we'll just have to see how it all works out.

Three more days!!!

Waxing

Now that I've only got three shifts left at the call center, I've started waxing reminiscent about my long and random job history. And my random hairstyles. And my glasses. I dug out some old pictures and decided to post them all together, for the sake of history. The only costumes missing from here are my Park Fare costume (pictures from that summer are nonexistent... I must be missing an album), the pink and blue American Adventure dress, and the Comm center (woo... light blue shirt and khaki pants!).

Tree of Life, summer '98. Watching people watch a 3-D movie is a job everyone should have for a day. I was lucky enough to do it for a whole summer. It's ok people -- the bees won't really sting you. ;-)


American Adventure, 2000-2001. This picture was scanned from my scrapbook, thus the black background. I'm not really sure how 'colonial' pigtails are, but somehow they worked for me!

One Man's Dream, 2001. I loved this location. I loved the costume (reversible vest... how cool is that??). I loved working in the same room as Mary Poppins' dress and all the other Disney history. Sadly, after 9/11 I was cut to 30 hours/week and had a new apartment and new car. I had to move on.

...to Security. Of course, if I hadn't made that move, I probably would have never met Scott. Or had to wear that awful hat! Oh who am I kidding? I should always wear hats! I LOVE hats! And I love Scott. But that goes without saying.

Picture Time

Apparently I haven't pulled pictures off of my camera in a while. Pardon the randomness...

Damage from the brush fire earlier this month.


Tom and I at the Magic Kingdom today after lunch. In addition to great company and great food, we had a touch of "Disney Magic" today that was unmatched.

This was Tom's year to buy lunch. Did I mention that before? I think I did. Anyway, after we ordered, another waitress (our waiter was an ex-coworker's husband. if he recognized me, I probably ingested spit) came over to our table to say that another family was on the Dining Plan (pre-paid meals), were leaving today, they had three coupons left, and would like to pay for our lunch.

Umm...ok?

So I went over to thank them and gave them Scott's business card with my e-mail address on the back and asked them to get in touch next time they come to town. If they do, I'll try to hook them up with something cool and unusual. Seems like the least I could do!

...and then we added appetizers and desserts to our meal, since they were included. And all Tom ended up paying was an extra $10 tip. Gee Tom... thanks for lunch!

...and after we parted ways (see you next April!), Scott and I had time to ride the TTA before I had to leave for work. What a great little visit. :o)

Rocky Horror for Kids

I got an e-mail from an old work friend of mine advertising, "Sing-A-Long Mary Poppins -- the Disney classic that’s now an interactive movie experience!

SING-A-LONG – with on-screen lyrics!
PLAY-A-LONG – with your supercalifragilistic bag of props.
MARCH-A-LONG – in the onstage costume parade in your Mary Poppins inspired costume."

Honestly, tickets are only $10. If it weren't down in Tampa, and if I had a solid schedule right now, I'd be tempted to go. It really does sound like the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the family audience. I can't imagine what props they have, or what kinds of costumes people would be wearing...

...but it sounds like a lot of fun!

Let's Lunch

Today's schedule included waking up early (ok, 10am) so that I could get dressed and go over to the Magic Kingdom for lunch with Professor Tom. Tom and I have been friends since freshman year of high school when I swooped in and starting "dating" his best friend. (is it still called "dating" if you never really went anywhere??) He still lives up in Marlton, on the street where I used to live! Anyway, I went over to his hotel to drop off some tickets yesterday, because that's the kind of friend I am, and it was so good to see him. It was unexplainably good. I guess it's because I'm so far from where I grew up and he's a link to all that's good and simple and wholesome about my past.

He hasn't changed a bit... although he's shaved off the goofy beard he was sporting last time he was in town. The one that made him look a little like Bob Denver back in the Dobie Gillis days. I guess we'll have to take a new picture today.

Allergic?

I need to have this checked out at a doctor - I think I'm allergic to stupid people. Really. How else would you explain the 15 minute call with frustrated lost people followed by the hives that broke out on my neck??

OK, maybe they weren't hives. And it's much more likely that the blotchy redness was caused by the Coke I had with dinner. Every time I have a coke at work it makes my cheeks all red. My frustration with the stupid lady probably raised my blood pressure, which in turn blotched my neck.

At any rate, my co-workers were amused by my new allergy. Good thing I'm getting the heck out, huh?

On a completely new topic, my friend Tom T from high school is in town. I'm going to hook up with him this afternoon before work to drop off some park tickets for him and two friends. Then tomorrow we're going to have lunch. His treat. :o) Last time he was in town, I paid. We have a floating lunch. It works out.

And let's change directions one more time. Check out this picture from the Pirates premiere at Disneyland. No, it's not Johnny Depp. Oh... you wanted to him? OK. But seriously, that first picture... woah... it just makes me want to sing that Sesame Street song, "one of these things is not like the other..."

There's Something You Don't See Every Day!

Picture it: you're driving down the road in the most intense lightning storm you've seen in years. All of a sudden, a bolt comes down out of the greenish-yellow sky and makes contact somewhere in the distance. Immediately after that, two fireworks go off from the same area. After another minute, another bolt touches down somewhere close to the first. And another single firework goes off.

I was very close to my destination when I saw all of this, and since there was lightning striking everything around me, I figured when I got to Scott (I was bringing dinner and fresh-baked banana bread) I'd call him and tell him I was there but not leaving the car until the lightning let up. But when I pulled into the parking lot he was standing out there with an umbrella. Yep, that's two storms in a row where I went out into the elements because of peer pressure.

Thanks, honey! I'm not really as ungrateful as that paragraph makes me sound!

Anyway, we made it into the building without being hit by lightning. No one else was hurt either. But I bet that some of the fireworks people had to change pants after all that excitement!

I'm hoping that today's excitement won't be quite as exciting! At least I'll be indoors for 8 hours!

Relax...

Today is my one day off this week. Since Scott is working straight through, I figured I'd pick up a shift too. Although one of the managers cancelled last night's OT shift, so far no one has told me not to come in tomorrow.

So I'm the only one with a day off. Today's secret word is laundry. I'm also going to watch one of my NetFlix rentals and bring Scott something fabulous for dinner (sadly, he scoffed when I suggested Taco Bell).

Is this really a day off?
(no, I'm not complaining)

It's a *good* thing!

So I re-read my last two posts and I think perhaps I have made my current situation sound negative. And I just want to remember this as a fun, happy time where my friends make my life hell in a good way. That's exactly what it is. Today from an operational standpoint was crap. Our service level was down as low as 51% (which means that almost half of the people who called hung up before we answered... we strive for 90%). It made for an interesting few hours. Everyone was on the phones, including our managers.

Managers should not take calls... especially when they don't remember how to use the switchboard software!

And afterward, when things calmed down a bit, we had LOTS of paperwork to catch up on. And you know what? It was fun. I love my team. And knowing that I'm leaving makes me love them more. And hey - I'm still on their hurricane ride-out crew. If there's a "big one," I'll be back.

And one more shortie from the world of work:

I pulled into our parking lot today about 5 minutes after the skies had opened up. (of course, 'tis the season for the 3:00 thunderstorm!) My plan was to sit in the car, call Scott, and see if the weather cleared a little before I had to bother with my big umbrella. That plan changed when Jim (who has lately become like "the big brother I never wanted") got out of his car and walked back two rows to where I was parked to make sure I got in the building ok. So I pointed to my umbrella and he waved and took off. I figured maybe I should go ahead in the building, and when I did I told everyone what he did. *I* really don't think I would have done that for anyone... although I guess now I owe Jim one!

10 Work Day Countdown

As of today, I have 10 work days left. Why the sudden countdown? After the night from HELL last night, I can't wait to get out! I was on the desk answering calls, which is my least favorite job. I had two people ask for my manager (which is just about my monthly quota... usually I pretend I am the manager). I was yelled at. I was stressed. It was almost non-stop my entire shift. And THEN I stayed an hour of O.T.

My favorite co-workers told me that they were going to make my life a living hell for the next two weeks. It's fine. I know that after I go, they're going to be short at night, and even if John is able to hire two people (to fill the existing hole and the one I'm causing), it'll be a month or more before they are both trained and competant. Whatever they dish out, I can take it. And I welcome it. I deserve it.

...as long as they don't put me back on the damn desk!

Ch-Ch-Changes

So... my last day at the call center is July 8. Imaging my surprise when I got a call from Administrative Recruiting today, a full week before I thought I'd hear anything, offering me the position. What about the "4 or 5 others" they had to interview in the next week??

So here's some of what I know (and can share) about my new job: I'll be confirming and booking reservations for one restaurant, I'll be located at the restaurant, reporting to both the front of house managers and the chef (dietary restrictions, special requests, etc.). I'll also be doing some billing and some other odds and ends.

Why the change? Well, this is about as different from my current job as I could find without going out and shoveling popcorn for $7/hour. The pay is about the same, but the atmosphere is completely different. Instead of babysitting other people, I'll be by myself probably half of my shift or more. Instead of fixing problems for angry guests, I'll be (hopefully) keeping them happy. Instead of knowing a little bit about 10 dozen different topics, I'll be an expert on one area. And instead of being one small cog in a large machine, I'll be a bigger cog in a smaller machine. Besides, as long as I'm in the hospitality industry, working in a 5-star restaurant looks pretty good on a resume.

Work was fun today. I accepted the position around 3:30, and by 4 it felt like the entire world knew. It was fun getting people's reactions...

* "Lost another one to Ditech!" (Marilyn)
* "You can't go - you're the blonde. Why are all the blondes leaving?" from Lydia, to which I replied, "we feel oppressed here."
* "Will you be able to hook me up with some steak?" (Jim)
* "Is it a small call center?" (Kay) Answer: "Well, yes, if by 'small' you mean just me."
* "They're going to yell at you over there." (Beth) "They yell at me here. I'll probably get yelled at much less."

It's a little scary completely switching gears like this, but I'm really looking forward to stretching another part of my brain. And I'm happy to be leaving the Call Center while I still like the job and most of the people who work there. It's always best to leave on good terms.

I'm here...

...I just don't have much to say.

I hear there's a big fluffernutter controversy in Massachusetts. I guess that's what happens to a state (ok, commonwealth) when they don't have Teri Schiavo to fight over and they've already made up their minds on gay marriage. Frankly, if MA is the home of fluff, then I think the fluffernutter should be the state sandwich... but maybe it still doesn't deserve a place in school cafeterias.

Closer to home, I interviewed for a new position yesterday. I don't really like interviews where they ask you three questions based on your resume and that's mostly it. It's hard to say how it's gone when they don't ask you any of those awful "what are your strengths and weaknesses?" interview questions. Anyway, if they were to offer me the position, I'd take it. Even though it's an 8am job. And if they don't offer me the position... I guess I'll still be where I am currently. Either way life will go on.

Rainbows of Fun

I was a little bored during my lunch break today. Bored with two variables to keep me occupied:
1) I just put new batteries in my camera, and
2) one of my co-workers gave me a 3" cheapie plastic kaleidoscope a few days ago.

So I took pictures through the kaleidoscope. I think they came out rather well.




Other than that, the only other excitement of the day was coming back from lunch only to find that my practical joke nemesis had replaced my beautiful desktop image of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow with an awful image of some schmuck dressed as Captain Jack (I can't find the original... you'll just have to believe me that it's worse than this one!). I laughed so hard I needed two tissues to mop up my tears.

Has anyone seen my husband recently? He was gone when I woke up this morning, and still isn't home. I hear I should see him for a little while tomorrow. That'll be nice.

Pillow Talk

Following is an actual after-the-lights-went-out conversation between myself and my darling Mr. ParkHopper:

MPH: You already took your glasses off?
ME: I've had my contacts in all day.
MPH: Oh.

I tormented him for a while after that. I think he deserved it. After all, it's not every day that I'm not the "flaky, unobservant one."

A Long and Winding Entry

I have multiple topics to cover, and am just too scatter-brained to take the time to make multiple entries. So you're just going to have to bear with me while I canoe down my stream of consciousness.

Parkhopper's Charity of the Month

I found the Dewey Donation System through a link on one of my daily reads, By The Way...(the entry includes an interview with the founder of the DDS, author Pamela Ribon). Says Pamie of her annual book drives:

The Dewey Donation System came to be because I'm an accidental activist. My high school years were spent sending money to several charity organizations, but being stuck outside Houston without a car (and pre-Internet -- you kids have it so lucky!) made it so that I was limited to expressing myself through underground newspapers. Once my website caught on (pre-blogs, back when we were called "Internet diaries" or "online journals"), I was able to start making a living off of my writing. One day, while waiting for my first novel to come out, I read an article on the Oakland Public Library, and how they'd lost their acquisition funds, and had resorted to Amazon wish lists to ask complete strangers to send new books to their shelves. I wrote an entry about the importance of libraries -- how everybody from tweens to crackheads need a book -- and asked everybody to send a book Oakland's way. Within a few weeks, hundreds of books arrived at their doorsteps, and the librarians (being good Bay Area activists) were able to get the nation looking their way.

That kind of response was overwhelmingly rewarding, and so I did it again the next year with San Diego after their libraries were hit by wildfires, and the year after that we sponsored a village in India post-Tsunami. This year, when Katrina hit, I was horrified with the devastation, and it hit even closer to home, as I'd spent a number of years in Mississippi. I love New Orleans as much as the next semi-Southern gal, but I knew Mississippi was getting lost in the media
attention. I hoped I'd be able to send some help their way.

The drive is actually supporting eight Mississippi libraries - some have been decimated, some have lost their entire Childrens' section, and some have lost funding (and with it the ability to buy new materials). And it couldn't be easier to help out. Each library has a wish list on amazon.com. You log in, pick some books (any order over $25 gets free shipping...), and buy them. Amazon sends them to the library, and the library puts the book on the shelf.

I sent three books to the Biloxi Public Library: Frankenstein, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, and Time and Again (for you, mom). If you can't make a donation, please pimp the cause to anyone you know.

Cars

Sometimes, going into a movie with absolutely no expectations is the best way to go. I'll admit it - the only reason I wanted to see Cars is because it's a Pixar movie. And I love Pixar movies. I even loves A Bug's Life. I don't dig the NASCAR scene, I don't really enjoy Larry the Cable Guy, and I wasn't sure how cars were going to come off as emotional characters.

Forgive me, Mr. Lasseter, for ever doubting you.

Cars was everything I wasn't expecting it to be. It was a great story. I loved all the characters (even Mater, the redneck tow truck). And I really loved the backdrops. I totally want to drive down Route 66, see mountains, and go places tourists don't usually go.

I'll give cars JJJJ out of JJJJJ, and highly recommend that when you go, you stay through the credits... although the movie peaks at the drive-in.

Fire Damage

Now that 192 is open again, we've gotten to take a look at the fire damage. No wonder they had to close the road -- the fire was almost right up against it, and the trees for a good 1/4 mile have either been burned up to black sticks or sucked up so much smoke their leaves have turned brown. It's sad, but I'm glad it wasn't much worse. Oh yeah - it's still smoking. I guess we didn't get quite as much rain as they were hoping. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't start up again.

Veggies for Dinner

Corn on the cob, bakes sweet potato fries, and curried cous cous. Two days in a row. Life is sweet. (of course, there's also grilled beer-soaked brats... but if you just eat one, it's considered a side dish, right?)

Bad Pictures

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Find a picture in your files that is technically bad, but is still interesting to look at. By "technically bad," I mean things like people are partly out of frame, your subject is out of focus, everyone has red eye, people's heads are cut off, there are in appropriate blurs, so on an so forth. But even so, it's still an interesting picture to look at.

I truly wish that I had my family's "European Vacation" album, because I took a picture of the Loch Ness Monster in 1988. Truth be told, it's an orange sunbeam reflected on the water, but it really looks like there's something large right under the surface. But since I don't have that photo to share, I present this one instead.

It's from our cruise in March, and you can tell it was a lame attempt to take a picture of us in the mirror of our stateroom. (I sometimes forget that my camera has a timer). Because of the glare, it wasn't even worth posting or printing out for the album. But I rather enjoy the heavenly glare coming from my armpit. Or maybe I should just say "no, I didn't take the picture in the mirror... that's the glare from my wedding set."

On a completely unrelated programming note, the plan for the next 24 hours is do absolutely nothing. We plan to watch Ocean's 11 and Ocean's 12 and some other random movies. That's it. Don't call... don't write... we're cut off. See you Wednesday!

Where's the Locusts?

So... the past few days in Jamie World have seen my primary route to work (192) still closed due to a smoky brush fire, a car-fire-turned-brush-fire that closed down my favorite route home for a night (not that I would've gone that way anyway... it leads to 192), a downpour that hit right before I got to work yesterday and caused me to have soggy ankles for a few hours, and now...


...get ready for it...



...it's big and ugly...

...do you know where I'm going with this???

It's Tropical Storm Alberto!!!!

All but one of the projected paths show the worst of the storm hitting far north of here in the armpit of the state, but it's raining today and they say it'll be raining tomorrow too. On the bright side, maybe two days of soaking rain will end brush fire season, raise the lake levels (send them there gators back away from us civilized folk), green up the lawns, and leave us to fret about flooding.

It's the circle of life,
And it moves us all,
Through the smoke and fog,
The rain will fall.

From the "Too Much Free Time" Files

Sometimes at work we have a lot of free time. It makes up for the days when we don't even have time to look up from the computer for 8 hours. We relish our free time and we spend it wisely.

OK, by "spend it wisely," I don't mean that we read books or balance our bank accounts or anything practical. We spend our time bonding as a group, torturing anyone foolish enough to walk away and leave their computer unlocked (Mary's desktop is an image that says "Jim is Great"), and finding other ways of amusing ourselves.

Today, we were insanely busy... for about 6 hours of our shift. In the other two hours, we discovered that if you call the call box attached to the entrance to our building, it answers automatically. And you can yell things at people as they are going home. It confused some, startled some, and amused the heck out of us. I even sang "So Long, Farewell" to the gals who left at 11:00.

I also got inspired to start an art project for John - create an image for him that combines his two favorite actors: Bette Davis and Pepe the King Prawn (he's a muppet... okay?). Of course, I couldn't start such a project at work, but he and I got to talking, and we decided it would be fun to do a whole line of images with an old-time movie star and a muppet. Such non-sequitor is bound to amuse. Well what could be better as a first project than a movie poster combining the Rat Pack with Rizzo the Rat?

Florida Burning

Brush fires have been popping up around our area for the past two months. It's an annual occurrence - right before the rainy season, everything catches on fire. This year, it's been a little worse. They've had to close various stretches of I-95 and some toll roads down on the coast. But this time it's personal:

Due to smoke, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office have closed a stretch of U.S. 192 between West Orange Lake and East Black Lake Roads.

Actually, after the Sentinel put out that article, the road closures went all the way from 429 to 27, and they closed a whole stretch of 429 as well. This, of course, is my way home from work. So I had to take I-4 all the way to Haines City and double back. And, wouldn't you know it, when I got to the 192/27 area, the FHP guys were gone. They reopened the road some time between 11:30 when I last looked at the website and midnight when I drove by. Grrr!

Right now the road is open. Hopefully it will stay that way and I'll be able to get to work today without going 15 miles out of my way.

Traffic Woes

Weekend Assignment #115: You'll find an online highway sign generator here. Go there, write your own highway sign, and post it in your Journal or Blog.

Extra Credit: What was the worst traffic jam you've ever been in?

I'm not sure if this was the worst traffic jam I've ever been in, but it's got to be the most memorable. The year: 2000. My dad had driven up from Florida in his 1988 Buick to pick me up from college in Pennsylvania. We made it as far as Virginia (I'm not sure if it was I-95 or the turnpike. Does VA even have a turnpike?) and traffic just stopped. Well, after a half hour or so of barely moving, the car started to overheat. So Dad turned on the heater. In May. In Virginia. After another couple of minutes, officially angry at the world and HOT under the collar, my father turned to his newest gadget: the cell phone.

Did my dad call the highway patrol to find out what the traffic problem was? no.

To my horror, he called the Office of the Governor and screamed at some poor secretary/switchboard person about what poor planning it was to know that they were doing road construction and to still allow people to travel on that road.

Eventually we made it through Virginia, and I think my dad may have vowed to never go back.

mmm...that's a good picture!

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Take a picture of something that starts with an "M". From marshmallows to muscilage, it's all good.

I was tempted to take a picture of the jar of marshmallow fluff that came home with Scott the other night (did I mention I rarely let him go shopping alone?), or of the mess on our computer desk, but then inspiration struck: how many M's could I get into one picture? I got three - Milo and his Monkey on the Man-Chair.



Milo has had his monkey almost his entire life. My then-roommate Helen (it was her idea to get Milo and another kitten) was obsessed with monkeys and had 2 dozen or more all over our apartment, and when tiny kitten Milo found this one, it was love at first sight. He was barely bigger than the monkey, and he'd grab it by the head and drag it between his legs wherever he went. And everywhere that Milo has lived, the monkey has been there to keep him company.

Of course, now the monkey is losing its facial features. I've been tempted in recent days to cut out the dangling nose and eye and sew up the hole, so that Milo doesn't end up with monkey plastic embedded in his large intestine. But the stuffing in the body of the monkey is all plastic pellets anyway. Eventually, the monkey is going to spring a leak. I've also tried to tempt Milo with other tiny monkeys, a little cat that has his coloring, and a bean-bag frog, but he won't touch them. The monkey, however, tends to sleep with him at night. Aren't they just the cutest pair?

I'm a "Winner"

I think I need to put a parental control on ebay so that I'll stop buying things! I won my aqua scarf last week, and last night I won my other two outstanding auctions - a white dress (could the search be over? I'll let you know once I get it) and a white pashmina.

My email in box is full of receipts, confirmations, shipping notifications... In short, it's a mess! And thus ends this chapter of Jamie's ebay obsession!

Speaking of e-mail (we were? yes! see paragraph 2 sentence 1), I'm seriously about ready to kick AOL out of my life. I opened up my e-mail this morning, and every time I open a message, there's a different banner ad across the bottom of the window. I pay WAY too much money every month for them to claim they need to bombard their own members this way. What's next? Ads at the bottom of all of my outgoing messages?

And thus ends today's anti-AOhelL rant.

Gravity Gone Bad

Scott and I had a "bad gravity" day the other day.

First, he let the cats out on the balcony (no... they didn't jump off... although that too would've been bad) and one of them knocked off a bud vase he had outside getting some sun. Sadly, it pretty much shattered and made a big fat mess.

Later, as I was trying to get out the door for work, my travel mug leapt off of the counter straight onto the tile floor in our entryway. Did I mention the mug was full of kool-aid? Did I mention that the kool aid was red? Well the top of the mug popped off upon impact (so much for spill-proof!) and there was red everywhere! I did what I could to clean it up, but I was late for work and I left the floor a sticky mess.

Come to think about it, bad gravity day was the day I had the 8-hour headache. It was one of those days when I should've just stayed in bed!

EBAY Update: My blue scarf is on its way from Memphis, and I'm now bidding on a white dress.

Ebay

I've been a fool for Ebay recently. I've been clothes shopping, accessory shopping, jewelery shopping... No, I haven't been buying everything in sight. But I did win a scarf/shawl last night that I'm SO excited about. It's "light turquoise," which in my world means it's aqua, and it's got sequins for about 4" on both ends. It'll look gorgeous with my brown halter dress. I also have a bid in for a white pashmina to go with the same dress.

I haven't bought anything on Ebay since right after I got married when I found a copy of 20,000 Leagues on DVD for Scott. And I miss it. After all, I got my special fortune cookies from Ebay, my wedding dress, petticoat, veil, and lots of other stupid crap.

If they sold groceries, I might never leave the house...

Shopping Spree!

Poor Scott endured a Day-o-Jamie today. Lots and lots of shopping. We set out with two things in mind: white dresses and work clothes. We started at Penney's, and there were quite a nice selection of white dresses... in sizes much smaller than mine. Of course, I expected that. I really figured I'd get some work clothes there. Not so much. I'm trying to limit the amount of synthetic materials in my shirt selection, and almost everything was polyester. I did, however, get a long chocolate brown halter dress and a pair of brown short pants. Both were on the clearance racks. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the dress, but it was half-off and it's so great. I'm thinking dinner on the cruise, or any other semi-dressy occasion. I just need to buy a shrug or a shawl to go with it, because no one needs to see that much of my back!

I also found a pale blue sweater at Old Navy. It's one of those that's low-cut enough that you have to wear something under it. And it has a hood. It's so cute! And did I mention it was on clearance for half-off?

After the mall, we hit the outlets, and I got a pair of black dress pants, a pair of brown dress pants, a short-sleeve purple sweater, a tan camisole with eyelet trim (to go with the Old Navy sweater), and two pairs of shoes. What kind of shoes? I'm so glad you asked! I got a pair of very sensible pumps for work (black, with a 3/4" heel) and a pair of very un-sensible pink fake Converse hi-tops that look SO cute with the jeans I was wearing today. Every girl needs a pair of pink sneakers, right??

All told, I stayed within my budget for the day and got 3 bottoms, 2 tops, a dress, and 2 pairs of shoes for less that "Fabulous John" would pay for one pair of jeans. If only all of my shopping trips were this successful!

Jump!

Yesterday Scott and I got up early to go over to Epcot to watch the US Army Golden Knights parachute team jump into the park. It was pretty neat... but not at all what I was expecting. I really thought that it would be like those skydivers you see on TV who hold hands and make a circle, or dive through hula hoops. These guys just jumped. They did have colored smoke though... that was neat.

After the jump, we headed over to the UK pavilion to get some fish & chips for lunch. Then we meandered through the World Showcase, stopping to check out the wares in Japan, watching a set from the Voices of Liberty, and checking out the special guest band at the big stage, the US Army Volunteers.

When you hear the words "army" and "band" in the same sentence, are you expecting some sort of drum & bugle corps or marching band? I was. Instead, we were treated to the musical stylings of Major Dad's garage band. There were five middle-aged men in ARMY t-shirts, camouflage pants, and combat boots performing a little motown, a little R&B, and we walked out when they started to kill a Dave Matthews Band song. I won't say that they were awful. I won't even say they were the worst act to ever grace that stage (after all, they brought back Cookin' - a group of Chinese guys whose "performance art" was cutting vegetables - two years in a row during the Food & Wine Festival). But they weren't good. And if you're going to have a band playing contemporary music, seemingly to make it look like Joe Average Twenty Year Old has the chance of joining the Army and not going to Iraq, why not have five twenty-somethings in said band?

Anyway, here's some pictures I took yesterday. As you can tell, it's hard to get a good shot of people jumping out of a plane a 1/2 mile up and 1/4 mile away.

Instant Headache... Just Add Melon

I genuinely enjoy the aroma of a Yankee Candle Car Jar air freshener, especially the honeydew melon. I've gone through two or three of them, and when you follow the instructions on the package (open just a little of the plastic at a time) they add a delightful subtle fruity smell that combats the petrified french fry and stinky feet smell of my car. Here's some other tidbits you should know before I continue my story:

The last time I replaced my Car Jar, they didn't have the melon. Instead I got a "mandarin cranberry" one. I opened it a little bit and it never really had much of a smell.

Rather than hang a tacky air freshener on my mirror, I keep them under my seat.

It has been at least six months since my last "honeydew melon" purchase.

Tonight after work, I noticed that my car was smelling a little foot-ish, so I reached under my seat to open up the air freshener a little more. I pulled out an ancient melon-scented one, and kept feeling around for the newer cranberry one. I couldn't find it, so I just pulled the wrapper off the old melon one and stuck it back under my seat.

I don't think I'd even driven a mile before I was completely overcome by the nightmarish, headache-inducing smell of 10,000 melons filling my car. I opened the window to get some fresh air, but I wore my hair down today and kept choking on clumps of it blowing in my mouth. There was nothing I could do but put the AC blowers on full-blast and keep fresh air coming into the car that way.

I got home without asphyxiating, but I did end up driving most of the way home with a headache (which went away almost as soon as I opened the car door). Of course, I'm almost afraid to head out to work tomorrow and smell what's going to go on with that thing once my car goes over 100 degrees!

Wish me luck with that.

Hair

So... have I mentioned lately how much my hair is driving me crazy? Based on comparisons between what I see in the mirror and a picture taken on the last day of the cruise, my hair has grown maybe an inch in the past two months. At this rate, it'll be October before I have 10" to cut off. I just don't think I have it in me to wait that long. I could hold perfectly still and it would tangle. I can actually feel the weight on the back of my head when I have it up in a ponytail. And need I mention the fact that I live in Florida and we're already hovering around 90 degrees most days?

Besides, I've found the cutest cut! Sadly, it's on Kellie Pickler. But I really like it. She was in the Idol audience last week and I noticed that she had gotten it cut, and then last night during the finale I got a good look at her. It's such a nice 'do. There's some more pics of it here (where I borrowed this picture), here, and here. And here's some from last night's Idol finale.

Any opinions? Any miracle hair growth formula out there I should know about?

The Best One Yet

You know what was great about the Idol finale last night -- besides the random performances -- the fact that I didn't have to worry whether or not my pick would win. Though I had a glimmer of hope that Taylor and Katharine would be standing there and Seacrest would announce that Chris had won, I knew Taylor far outshined Kat in the final competition and that he'd win... but if he didn't, it wouldn't have been a big deal.

Besides, Chris had more face time than almost any of them last night. I should've taped it so I could watch him again and again. Of course, my favorite two moments of the night involved some audition losers -- the singing cowboy and his two comrades in 10-gallon hats came back to sing Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys, and the Clay Aiken wannabe started to sing and almost shat himself when the real Clay walked out on stage. They actually had to get the kid a stool. And it's a good thing they cut his microphone off, because he kept going "oh my GOD!!" over and over again.

Anyway, I've got three Chris songs on a CD I burned for myself, and that should tide me over for a while (although I need to download his "Dead or Alive" from the Idols CD that just came out). And we should all be free of Idol-mania until January.

See you then!

PAID

Yesterday we got the greatest letter in the mail: a confirmation from the cruise line for our latest payment. BALANCE DUE: $ .00

Woo HOO! Less than seven months from now we'll be sailing the high seas on an all-too-short 4 day getaway for our anniversary. And now we can focus on saving up for rum-based drinks and tacky "Bahamas" souveniers. And shore excursions... can't forget the shore excursions... December may not be the best time to snorkel, but that's not going to stop us from trying.

Of course, without Mike & Reyna along, there probably won't be many pictures of us together... but with my hair, that might not be a bad thing!!

mmm...red meat...

Scott won a drawing at work. His prize was "dinner and a movie" -- 2 AMC movie vouchers and $50 in dining gift certificates. We've decided to take the $50 and put it towards a more expensive meal. We're going to Yachtsman Steakhouse for - you guessed it - steak. Mmm... steak.

My own department, at which I am currently experiencing unrelated bitterness, gives out a $25 prize in our version of the same drawing. I need to relocate!!

Anyway, I'm going to go to work today like a good girl. And I'm going to daydream about fork-tender filet all day long. Maybe I'll even do my job.

A Euphemism for the 21st Century

We all know the age-old euphemisms used in laundry commercials. "Ring around the collar" is code for crunchy yellow armpits. "Protein stains" translates to blood stains.

Imagine my surprise last night when I saw a ridiculous portrayal of a new product: Summer's Eve Deodorant Spray. The commercial showed a woman spraying the product on her wrist! You may be thinking to yourself, "wow... that's impressive... Summer's Eve has found a way to stop feminine wrist funk." But you'd be wrong. The instructions clearly tell you where to spray the product... and it's not the wrist. And no, you're not expected to spray it on your wrist and then rub your wrist on the affected area.

I miss the days when feminine care products were advertised by women frolicking in fields and having mother-daughter bonding sessions over some instant coffee. So help me, the day I see a pantiliner advertised stuck to someone's wrist, I may have to give up on man kind completely!

Ohhh...my feet...

Last night, I thought I was going to be the computer guy all night -- the one who sits in the tiny office and doesn't ever really leave there -- so I wore my kick-@$$ high-heel loafers. I should've called and double-checked the schedule. I was actually the floor-walking trouble shooter. And there was a lot of trouble to shoot!

Actually, given the amount of walking I did, I'd say my feet fared well. Of course, as soon as I clocked out, I took my shoes off and walked out to my car in bare feet. No sense wearing those torture devices any longer than absolutely necessary, right?

I learned my lesson though. I'll be wearing comfy shoes for the conceivable future.

Downloading Daughtry

Great news for all you Idol fans out there! (ok, great news for me!) For a limited time only ('til May 24), each of the Idol finalists has downloads available. That's right, for $.99 each (same as most songs on Napster), you can own your favorite performances forever! (ok, you can own some of the performances) I'm making my list now!

Even without buying the music, this is a great way for those of you who said you were going to watch, but never quite got around to it, to know who the players are. You can preview the songs and really get a feel for whose music you'd want to hear on the radio and whose you wouldn't. I'm definitely buying two of Chris's songs - Hemmorhage and Walk the Line, and Katharine's Someone to Watch Over Me (more for the song than the artist).

As promised, I didn't post at all about this week's shows. I won't say that I was right about Elliott going home. And I won't mention that though I thought he should've left a long time ago, I was sorry to see him go.

Three Truths

Here are the answers to my Two Truths and a Lie entry from a few days ago:

1. There are three lava lamps in my apartment, but only one works.
True! One is a nightlight that never worked properly, and one lost its cap during a move and is on display on top of the desk, but not plugged in. And the one that works is the lava lamp/real lamp that I got Scott for Christmas two years ago.

2. We have three PCs, but only two monitors. And only one is currently plugged in.
True! There's files on each of the other two PCs that need to be backed up and deleted before I can dispose of them. Besides, I'm hoping to set up the other one and network both computers together some day.

3. Our apartment has been home to insects, arachnids, amphibians, canines, felines, reptiles, rodents, and us. Currently, it's just us, the cats, the guinea pig, and a spider (I think).
False! We've never had a dog, and never had one in the apartment.

Confounded Confetti!

There's a commercial on TV these days. I can't remember what it's for. An employee is handed a cupcake with an unlit candle on the top and told 'happy anniversary.' And his boss calls him by the wrong name. It's funny. And yet so unlike my own anniversary experience.

Yesterday was my 6th company anniversary. I had forgotten until four of our managers surrounded my desk and showered me with confetti. And when I say "showered me with confetti," I mean it. I got up from my desk and shook out my shirt and about 30 little confettis came out the bottom. There were another 20 or so on my chair. They were in my hair. And they were allll over the floor. (oh the poor cleaning guy!)

A few hours later, after my lunch, I stopped in the bathroom and when I turned around to flush, there was a little red confetti floating in the toilet. It's not a good thing to laugh out loud in the bathroom stall... someone is bound to ask what you're laughing at. I had to share. And that was the big laugh to the others at the help desk last night.

I came home, got changed, played on the computer, watched my two hours of Sunday taped TV (OMG...the Grey's Anatomy finale tonight is going to kick @$$), and went to the bathroom before bed. Yep -- not only were there three more in the toilet, I pulled off another three that were stuck to my butt cheek! And this morning another one fell off of me. I don't know where they're coming from!!

I sincerely hope that that was the last one... because it's really starting to creep me out. It's just not natural! Anyway, happy anniversary to me!!

Would YOU?

Have you heard the news? They're building a footbridge that sticks out 65 feet over the edge of the Grand Canyon... and it has GLASS FLOORS! You can look out between your feet and see the ground 3,800 feet below.

If you're a bridge, the Grand Canyon is probably the last place you'd want to be: 90 miles per hour vertical winds whip upward with tornado-like force, a condition endured by no other bridge in the world.

To secure the Skywalk, Lochsa Engineering in Las Vegas has cantilevered it atop the cliff with 94 steel rods that bore 46 feet into the limestone rock. As a result, it can support 70 tons of weight, equivalent to roughly 700 hefty men, although the maximum occupancy is set at 120 people.

OK, I acknowledge that it's safe. But I'm terrified of heights. I genuinely think that I couldn't force myself to walk that plank. (you know that scene in Shrek where Donkey is going across the rickety bridge across the lava lake and he freaks out? I picture myself on this thing that way) But if I could, I'm sure the pictures would be great. Scott says he wouldn't walk it either. Anyone among us who WOULD?

(I got the story and the image from cnn.com, who got it from Popular Science)

Mother's Day

Happy mother's day to anyone out there to whom the sentiment applies.

Happy Sunday to everyone else.
Nothing says "I love you, mommy" better than a permanent body marking, right?

Otter and Odder

Let's add another creature to the list of random animals spotted on Disney property!

Of course, there are deer, armadillo, possum, wild turkeys, vultures, peacocks (did you know the call of a peacock is similar to a woman being attacked?), alligators, and panthers. But today I spotted an OTTER with my own two eyes. And I have three witnesses to back me up! We were driving down a back road on our way to breakfast this morning, and this thing decided to cross the street right in front of the car in front of us.

Seriously!

I did a little research to see if I could find out what type of otter is native to this area, and the short answer is NONE! Both the sea otter and the North American river otter are found across the country, but most are on the Pacific coast. I'm guessing it was the latter.

Anyway, it was really cute and I hope to see it again some time... preferably not in the middle of the road!

A Cousin?

I think I found a distant relation of ZoePig today -- Zoey Hamster! Not only does this Zoey (we'll have to forgive the spelling) have her own MySpace page, she has video clips!

Needless to say, I found myself green with rodent web envy and jumped on the bandwagon. Now ZoePig has her own home on the web. Please forgive the lameness - it's late and I'm sooo tired.

And ironically enough, just as I was typing this, I got an e-mail from Janette saying that she had found a man for Zoe! Check him out! She must have known that I was in a rodent frame of mind.

Two Truths and a Lie

Scalzi's Weekend Assignment: Present three "facts" about yourself: Two of the facts true, and one of the facts false. Let people guess which "fact" is the fake one. Reveal the fake fact on Monday.

This is one of those "getting to know you" games we played in various student organizations in my colorful past. Given my expertise, I thought I'd have no trouble coming up with some ideas. My trouble is that I wanted to make them hard enough that my regular readers might not even know the answers. Anyway, here goes nothing...

Two Truths and a Lie - Apartment Edition

1. There are three lava lamps in my apartment, but only one works.

2. We have three PCs, but only two monitors. And only one is currently plugged in.

3. Our apartment has been home to insects, arachnids, amphibians, canines, felines, reptiles, rodents, and us. Currently, it's just us, the cats, the guinea pig, and a spider (I think).

Extra Credit: Can you lie with a straight face? Really?

Yes. Although I was much better at it when I was a kid. But I lie to at least one person a day. It's the nature of my job.

UPDATE! (5/14) The answer to the assignment can be found here.

Cuddles

There are two cats in this picture. Can you spot them both? OK... I guess it's not really that difficult. This seems to be where my kitties are if I'm at the computer - laying on the floor next to me. I don't understand it, but it makes me happy.

...and they seem to have finally learned to not lay under the desk where they, more likely than not, will get kicked!

Heartbreak Hotel

I looked at Scott at the end of American Idol tonight and told him I don't want to even watch anymore. Why would I? Chris is gone.

Elvis week was cruel to the Idols, somehow putting Kat and Chris in the bottom two, leaving Elliott and Taylor sailing into the semi-finals.

This isn't just "my pick to win is gone" sour grapes either. I feel heartbroken, disappointed, and completely SHOCKED by the loss of my favorite Idol.

This is worse than two seasons ago when LaToya was voted off and Jasmine stayed. This is worse than last season when Anwar left.

I don't even care who wins. Sure, I'll watch, but I won't vote. And I'll keep my fingers crossed that Chris somehow gets picked up by a label and makes a great album that I can buy.

Anyway, here's my prediction for the rest of the season: Elliott gets voted off next week when America realizes that they were stoned while dialing his digits this week, and Kat sails through the finals when Taylor can't pull off the sappy American Idol ballad (like Bo and Carrie last year). And then they'll go on tour for the summer and then disappear forever.

And in other disheartening Idol news, it seems Lifetime is producing the Fantasia Barrino biography, "Life is not a Fairy Tale." Why won't SHE just go away?

Well, that's it for my posts on AI Season 5. I'm sure when I wake up tomorrow I won't be bitter. After all, I already know I'm bitter about a stupid reality TV show. So please, be gentle in your comments. It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to.

A Dark Day

Sad news today from the L.A. Times regarding Disney toys in McDonald's Happy Meals:

Disney is not renewing its cross-promotional pact with the fast-food giant, ending the arrangement with this summer's release of "Cars" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." One reason, say multiple high-ranking sources within Disney, is that the company -- which prides itself on being family friendly -- wants to distance itself from fast food and its links to the epidemic of childhood obesity.

I'll be honest. I rarely eat at McDonald's if there isn't a cool toy to be had or a Monopoly game to be played. I love Happy Meals, but without Disney toys, I really can't see consuming them, especially when I can get a Jr Bacon Cheeseburger and a baked potato from Wendy's for $2.

The article goes on to speculate whether movie studios distancing themselves from Mickey-D's will change what they sell to kids. I also learned that a Happy Meal with a cheeseburger, small fries and Sprite totals 670 calories, with 26 grams of fat and 4.5 grams of trans fat. No one should feed that to their children, regardless of the cool toy that comes in the box.

I'm impressed with Disney for taking this step... now if we could only get those damn mini McDonald's out of the theme parks!

Virtual Gifts

I'll admit it - sometimes I like to go into card stores with someone (we'll use Scott as an example) and pick out cards to "give" them. It's free, and a fun and sometimes sweet way to blow 20 minutes at the mall. Today, Scott sent me an e-mail at work with a virtual gift. He was just bringing it to my attention, not actually saying, "here dear... have a pretend present." It was more of a "I saw this and thought of you." So I sent him back a virtual gift of his very own.

Actually, Archie McPhee has an entire line of "designer bandages" and I want one of each, especially the sushi, bacon & eggs, and pirate!

And my Mom wants the "world's largest underpants." Funny, I thought she'd be all over the "after the Last Supper mints."

What's on your McPhee wish list?

poop

I got pooped on at work yesterday. That's figurative poop, of course. And I can't talk about it in such a public forum. But apparently there's a trouble maker trying to influence someone else to complain about EVERYTHING, and I got pooped on in the process.

One of my old roommates had a saying that went something along the lines of "When you look around and the entire world is wrong, you might actually be the one who's wrong." Anyway, when you go to management and complain about multiple people doing their jobs in a way other than the way you want them to, perhaps it's you who has unreasonable expectations of others. Or maybe you're just not doing your job correctly.

I promised myself I would stay in this position for at least a year. At this rate, I'm wondering if I'm going to make it to October. The entire balance of the office is shifting. We've had two managers leave in the past month (of the 11 managers over our department, only 5 were there when I started). We're losing one Help Desk person this month, and another is actively looking for another job. And down on the floor, we're losing more operators than I can keep up with. Some are going elsewhere in the company, and some are just leaving.

A few of us were discussing exit interviews yesterday, and wondering why our office doesn't do them. Perhaps then the managers could figure out why we're hemmorhaging people like rats off a sinking ship (oh I LOVE mixed metaphors!!). Maybe they'd rather not know. But we have a department of 120ish people. And with 1 or 2 new-hire classes of 8 people every month, we're still under-staffed. I just don't understand why they don't care that everyone is leaving.

Well, I've really only got my eye on one job. And when it opens up, I may apply regardless of whether or not it's October. Or maybe I'll just go part-time as a waitress somewhere. I'd probably be making more money... (just kidding Scott...don't have a heart attack!)

Working Late

I had a lousy night at work last night. I got attitude from a secretary on a power trip who thought she was too good to take a call that I had properly screened (my title is not "phone police"). I got attitude from my co-workers. I got attitude on the phone from complete strangers.

And I know that you get what you give. So I guess I must've had a little bit of attitude myself yesterday. Hopefully that's all behind me, because I've already agreed to work 2 hours of OT tonight. Of course, that's nothing compared to the 6 hours extra that Scott is working. Really though, he's getting paid to yell at teenagers, something he'd gladly volunteer for.

Here's what's keeping my head in the game: a possible weekend outing for me and Scott some time in the future -- swimming with manatees! Honestly, there's so much to do in Florida that doesn't revolve around giant mice and rollercoasters. If I'm stuck in the middle of Tourist Haven, I might as well take advantage of what else the state has to offer.

Typhoon Lagoon

I don't think I could have planned a more relaxing escape from the ordinary than our trip to Typhoon Lagoon yesterday. We invited Beth and Brian along, and had a great time. Of course, we only did a handful of attractions:

Castaway Creek (the lazy river), where we spent hours going in circles and trying to avoid the ice-cold waterfalls and water sprays. I also scraped the heck out of my knee towards the end of our day. Darn walls!

the wave pool - I really thought security was going to have to remove Scott from the pool at closing time. every 90 seconds yet another giant wave is unleashed from the front tanks and a collective scream comes from almost every person in the pool. even ducking under the wave, we were getting dragged at least 10-15 feet every time.

the shark reef - snorkeling across the shark reef only takes a couple minutes - it's only 60 feet long - but on some levels it was even cooler than snorkeling at Castaway Cay. There were sharks and giant rays on the bottom of the tank, and some HUGE fish that would swim right in front of your face. of course, the water was unheated (somewhere around 70 degrees), and I still have trouble with the whole breathe-through-a-tube thing. but I made it through, and LOVED it!

Crush 'n Gusher - it's the first "water coaster" built outside of the Schlitterbahn in Texas (I think). Scott sat this one out, which worked out well for me and Beth and Brian, since the line for three-person tubes was so much shorter. There are actually jets that shoot you UP as you go along. I tried out two of the three runs, and had fun, but was disappointed at how short they were. Luckily, as I said, the lines weren't so bad.

And, as always, some of the most fun to be had at any water park is the people watching. Oh the humanity! Banana hammocks are bad... especially ones with flowers in different neon colors! And on the opposite extreme, there was a woman in the lazy river wearing pants and a long-sleeve shirt.

This concludes my report on Typhoon Lagoon. Coming some time in the next month: Blizzard Beach. Gotta love free passes!

Trailer Trash(?)

My Baby's Got a Double-Wide!

Zoe Pig has upgraded to a deluxe double-wide cage. Rather than upgrading to a slightly larger cage and throwing the original away, I bought a second cage, popped a wall off of each, and tethered the two together. And I bought her a nifty rainbow log bridge to connect the two.

The cage in the foreground has her food and water, and the one in the back has her chube and her igloo. I haven't seen her do it, but I know she can get back and forth between the two. I left her in the part of the cage with the food, and came back a while later to find her back in the safety of her chube.

In addition to our "new home" purchase, we also stopped at Target and bought a bunch of stupid crap, including a $1 steamer basket and some chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Yes, today was the day of randomness. And tomorrow is the day of the lazy river. Ahh...it's almost worth shaving my legs for!

Rockin' Robins

Scalzi's weekend assignment this week focuses on birds. Why? Because a robin built a nest in some fake flowers on his porch and they have hatched! I must say, fake flowers make a lovely frame for the face-only-a-mother-could-love of a newly-hatched baby bird!

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Snap some shots of the birds around you. Whether they're out your window or in your house as pets, let's see some pictures of your fine feathered friends. You can take new shots or use old ones -- but try not to use shots you've already used before.

I decided to use older pictures. Mostly because the newest ones, of our neighborhood cranes, have already been shown off. These first two were taken *gulp* over 20 years ago, when I was just a wee lass. This is our orphan robin Scrappy (Dad called him "crappy"), with me and with Mr. French:

And here is a picture of our orphaned starlings circa 1990. These two actually lived long enough to be released back into the wild. In case you were wondering, the "nest" here is a heavy ashtray lined with paper towels. Isn't it amazing how, when they are bald, all birds look a little like Thanksgiving dinner (the body...not the giant yellow beak)?

I'm glad I got to be a part of raising baby birds. They start out so tiny that you have to force-feed them. Then they get feathers and learn to fly. And every time you see that type of bird for the next year or two, you wonder if it's one of "yours."