I tried

Another quickie post. Been busy at work. And I want to get out of here at a decent time tonight since I start my first guitar class! Woo-hoo.
Anyway, yesterday on my flight from Jacksonville to Vegas there were two military guys on the same flight. During preboard Southwest called any military in uniform to also board. I thought that was nice. Once on the plane I told the flight attendant that if the two military guys ordered drinks I wanted to pay for them. She said that was really nice but she would take care of it. I think it is those little things that can make a difference. And I am happy to know Southwest cares about people. Even though SW wouldn't let me buy the drinks I feel good that I at least tried.
During my layover in Vegas I chatted it up with a guy at the bar. We talked about traveling, work and Southwest (it was his first time on Southwest). When I left we wished each other a safe trip and he told me I was the nicest person he talked to all week. Wow, I thought that was really nice.
A report of my weekend and pics coming soon.

Home again

I am tired. So this will be a short post.
But I am home and showered and tuckered out.
Had a great visit with Dash, Kate and Jason. That Dash is a super cutie. Pics to come soon. But I will show you one for now ...


Those eyes! And his cheekies. And when he smiles ...
Badass beanie handknit by Aunt Ann. Bib also from Aunt Ann.

I'm in St. Augustine

After a long day of travel and some bumpy rides I arrived last night in Jacksonville. Kate picked me up at the airport.
We headed back to St. Augustine and had dinner at a nice Tapas place. Yummy food and wine.
When we got back to her place the boys were asleep. I took a peek at sweet Dash. Awww. (I didn't take a peek at Jason.)
This morning when I got up (I slept on the comfiest air mattress ever last night) Dash was awake and lively. So I got to spend a little time with him before he went down for a nap.
He is still napping. But shortly we are planning on heading to the beach for a little bit. It was cloudy and windy this morning. But the sun seems to want to come out.

Why I Enjoy My Barren, Childless Existence

Jen (thanks Jen!) sent me this link. She thought I would enjoy it and I did, thoroughly.
I am childfree by choice and at some point I plan to write (actually I already have it in draft) on why I am.
Anyway, please this is no judgment on those who have kids, want to have kids, are having kids right now, etc. I respect you and your choice.
You all know I love being an aunt. In fact, I am flying all the way out to Florida this weekend (even taking a 6:45 a.m. flight--man, I am dedicated) to meet my newest "nephew." I can't wait to visit with his mama, Kate, too.
Oh, and by the way, my title above is the author's title for the blog post she wrote. I prefer to refer to myself as childfree by choice.

Guess what I got again???

Another jury summons. I have lost count, but this is probably eight since I have lived in California. (I have lived here for four years.) I "served" on October 29. So I am not due again until the end of October.
My license and voter registration are not exactly the same. (That is why I get hit twice a year. So stupid!) My middle name is on my license but not voter registration. So I went online today and printed out a new registration form with my "new" name.
I gotta dig through all of my mail and stuff and find the October summons so it makes it easier for them to find it in the computer and they can take out my April summons and reset me for October--because I am sure I will get one in October again ... like clockwork.
There are people who have lived in California for their whole life and have never gotten one. What's the deal? And my summons are never in Oakland. They are usually in Hayward or Pleasanton--not near me and not exactly easy to get to.

Stop yer whining!

You know at Onyx we are very spoiled. Free fancy coffee machines--Starbucks on two floors and a Peet's coffee machine on my floor, which can make espressos, cappuccinos and more. We have free food, you can make breakfast or lunch or just grab a quick snack. We have celebrations with champagne and cake. We have a fridge full of free soda, bottled water, Snapple, etc. There are many lunch meetings here where food is brought in.
The Peet's coffee machine is down ... again. It has to be overuse. It just wasn't made for the kind of stress the employees put on it.
Since it has been down since sometime yesterday I have heard people bitching and complaining about it. (I sit pretty close to the coffee room.) It isn't like there is NO coffee. We have the two Starbucks machines and every breakroom has pots of coffee. There is also a Starbucks within walking distance.
I am so sick of hearing people complain about something that is a luxury. I know a lot of people getting laid off, getting pay cuts, getting forced furlough, etc.
So if you have to go without a free cup of cappuccino for a day or two get over yourself already!

Happy Birthday Curt + 2 days!

I have been super busy at work plus some technical difficulties have gotten in the way of my blogging.
Curt and I headed to Reno on Friday morning to celebrate the big 4-0! We wanted to make sure we were there on time to watch Mizzou play some basketball. Sitting in a bar at Circus Circus drinking beer and watching basketball was quite entertaining.
Besides watching Mizzou win we actually witnessed Arizona win. I didn't think they even deserved to be in the tourney--yes, I am talking about MY OWN TEAM like that. But, hell, now they are in the Sweet 16.
Anyway, we watched some basketball, checked into our 80 buck a night mini suite and had a great time. I took a nap and then went back about 4:30 to watch some more basketball with Curt, who had made some friends with some guys from Portland. So there was a huge cheering section for Portland State, Curt's alma mater.
After basketball and a little gambling (at one point I was up 15 bucks on the EBAY penny slots--shoulda stopped then) we headed out to dinner.
Curt and I were entertained by the guys walking around trying to look bad ass in Reno with their trophy girls.
Saturday morning we cruised a few pawn shops. I found a guitar along with a case for 150 bucks. I am going to take a beginner guitar class soon. The pawn shops were a little sad. I mean, there were a ton of engagement rings (at great prices).
We headed out of Reno about 11:30 and hit Cabela's--our whole reason for our redneck weekend trip. Curt describes Cabela's as a redneck Walmart. If you are a hunter or fisherman/woman--this is where you go for all of your needs.
Curt got his ammo, rifle sling and a few other things. We also had lunch at their little restaurant.
Pics from our trip here.
After that we headed home. At one point we hit SNOW! You all know how much I love winter. Luckily the snow was wet, but for some time it was blowing pretty hard.
We got home and had a little time to relax before heading to Jacob and Aileen's for dinner with some of their other friends. It was a good time.
I slept in this morning and then caught up on some shows, then cleaned the house and got ready. Headed to Mia's, had lunch with Mia and Lexie. Then Mia and I headed to a movie, Sunshine Cleaning. It was really good: funny and sad. But a great movie.
Curt and I watched Burn Before Reading--which was pretty funny. After some time it kinda dies and it isn't so funny.
Time for another workweek, which is only four days for me as I head to Florida on Friday to visit Kate and meet baby Dash!!!!! Can't wait.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I am a whole 1/8 Irish! And to show how proud I am of my heritage I am wearing a green scoa I knitted a couple of years ago for this such date, my St. Patty's Day socks and green undies. :)
I will be working late today--so no drinking out on the town. Plus the crowds kinda freak me out anyway.

My Great-Grandma Chihak was 100% Irish and today was her birthday. Her maiden name was Brady. She was quite a lady.

Have a fun and safe day.

Ugh, it's Monday already

The weekend just flies by way too fast--especially when you work part of it.
This weekend was pretty low-key.
I started a new knitting project: slipper socks. They kinda look like ballet shoes. I am almost done with one. I dropped a stitch and had to rip it out and start over. But I think they are gonna be really cute.
Saturday morning I hit the gym, then came home and lounged and napped and watched movies (Rails & Ties and The Asylum) and knitted.

Sunday morning Curt and I had an appointment with a Realtor. Yup, a Realtor. We are looking to buy a house. The biggest thing we have ever purchased is a car, so this is a little scary. But Eric is not a pushy guy and wants to make sure we find something we are all happy and comfortable with.
I think the hardest change we have to make is really looking at our spending. There will be no extra trips this year, except for the ones already planned. (Unless, of course, someone else wants to foot the bill.)
After our meeting with Eric we headed home. I had a quick lunch and then headed to work for a couple of hours, then the grocery (which is one of my most dreaded chores).
The rest of the day was loungy with a nap and some knitting thrown in.

'The guy has significant financial issues.'

Well, Travis Henry should have thought of that before he had unprotected sex with nine women. I learned about this guy on Sassy Sports this morning.
You would think this guy woulda stopped procreating after, I don't know, three or four kids. But nine!!!!!
I do truly believe in reproductive rights. But this guy needs to get fixed NOW!

Happy birthday Grandma Phyllis

Just want to wish Grandma Phyllis a happy birthday today. We feel so lucky to have her getting healthier every day.

Pictured above is Jackson, 6, reading to Grandma Phyllis in November.

Recession hits Sesame Street

This story was on SFgate about Sesame Street. Not that layoffs are surprising, but some of the comments are down right hilarious:

Oscar the Grouch never lived outside his means. He could have been irresponsible and bought a Dumpster, but he couldn't afford the payments and settled for a trashcan. American homeowners & banks could take a lesson from him. :-)

Will Bert & Ernie now move to Castro Street? (In my personal opinion Bert and Ernie are just good friends who live together.)

Still whacked out

My alarm went off at 7 this morning--which is normally like sleeping in for me. I could barely move to hit the snooze bar. Then 7 minutes later that damn thing went off again. Even though I was exhausted I knew I had to get up.
I went to bed about 11:30 last night, which is late for me. But I actually got to watch The Daily Show--usually I am long out before the show even starts.
And I am just dragging today. I think it is because of the time change, but also that I was at work until 8:30 last night.
Anyway, hope you are having less of a bleh day than me.

Yup, spring forward is dumb

I am so messed up today. Usually my body is screwed up on the Sunday we spring forward (or fall back). But I seemed OK yesterday.
I tried to go to bed at my regularish time last night. I was awake for a while in bed. And after I did fall asleep I woke up a lot. And had some really weird dreams.
I was supposed to get up at 6:10 this morning and hit yoga, then Target and then get to work a little late. I am working with our patent consultant today and he and I tend to work late (since he doesn't usually get here until about 11 a.m.). I didn't do a thing, but sleep in and then get to work late. :)
I feel so unaccomplished today.

Maui pics going up

So I finally started putting pics up. They are on Facebook, and there is a cool feature which allows you to share pics with people who aren't on FB.
Facebook only allows 60 pictures in an album. So I just selected the best of them. When I am less lazy I will go into Shutterfly and write captions for all of our photos and link that up. But that isn't happening today.

It's been a relaxing weekend.
We had dinner with Dad and Hilda last night. Took them to Sushiya. They said they haven't had sushi since they have lived here--that's like eight months! It was a great dinner and a nice time.
Today I slept in and I really slept in because of that whole dumb spring forward crap!

1800Flowers saga continued ...

So the first bouquet of flowers Grandma Phyllis received from us was a mixed spring bouquet from a florist not too far from Albany. And that went directly to the hospital. The second bouquet was what I ordered: daises with a get well balloon, which also went to the hospital.

Then Ed comes home yesterday and there is a third bouquet of flowers: daises with a get well balloon. (All three bouquets had the same note attached from Ann and Curt.)
Ed says, they have "flowers running out of our ears."

I still have only been charged once for the three bouquets. (And if they try to charge me more I will throw a fit.) The two sets of daisies don't quite baffle me as much as the first bouquet of spring flowers from a local florist.

Anyway, I guess you can't have too many fresh flowers, right? And now Marilyn has some flowers to enjoy at home.

2 arrangements for Grandma Phyllis

So earlier I wrote about the whole 1800Flowers mess.
Well, today Grandma Phyllis received a second daisy arrangement from Ann and Curt. Hope she likes daisies. :) I know I do.
Fresh flowers are so nice to have. And I am happy for her to have a ton of flowers in her room to cheer her up.
As long as I don't get charged twice ...

Hmmm

So, I use 1800Flowers for most of my flower deliveries. It is easy to use and they get it done right away. (Also recently I started using Edible Arrangements for deliveries after a loved one has a baby. They are a great idea--they kinda look like flowers, but you can eat them.)
Anyway, I ordered flowers for Grandma Phyllis on Tuesday. When I ordered them I had the option to have the flowers delivered that very same day. Great!!! I put the order in for same-day delivery. I get a call later that day saying they can't deliver until Wednesday. Fine, no hurry. Then Wednesday I get a call that they can't deliver until today and they will have to UPS or FedEx. I guess they were having a hard time finding a florist near the small town to deliver. Oh, and when they find out they have to deliver to a hospital they tell me it has to be to a residence. So I was going to have it sent to Curt's parents' house. After I get off the phone frustrated I mention it to Curt and he asks if I can cancel. I figured I couldn't. But I decide to try anyway. (Because I find out Albany has a florist. And they would deliver same day and I am sure be a lot cheaper!)
Customer Service tells me I can't cancel because the order is at a stage that can't be canceled. She tells me it will be delivered tomorrow (today).
Then later yesterday I get an e-mail from Marilyn (Curt's mom) that the flowers arrived to her at the hospital (she works at the hospital).
I am confused how they got the flowers already and at the hospital. But I am glad they were delivered.
Last night I received an e-mail from 1800Flowers confirming my order to be delivered today. So maybe Grandma Phyllis will luck out and receive a second set of flowers today.
So the moral of this story is ... if you are delivering flowers to a small town, find their local florist. If you are delivering to a city 1800Flowers is just fine.

And happy to report that Grandma Phyllis is feeling even better today. She should soon be transferred to a regular hospital room and be there for a week to 10 days and then back to her nursing home.

Grandma Phyllis, you gave us a scare

Curt's grandma, Grandma Phyllis, has had a tough few days.
She had a pulmonary embolism on Monday. We were close to losing her. But God decided it just wasn't her time.
She slept really well Monday night and woke up the next morning feeling so much better and asking for orange juice. Curt even got to chat with her on the phone.
She is getting a little better but isn't out of the woods yet.
So please keep her in your thoughts and/or prayers.
Thanks.

It's raining, it's pouring

Man, we have had a ton of rain lately, which is good, of course. But when your back parking slab is a baby pool and you have to get to your car in long pants and heels while holding your big ol' purse, gym bag and lunch bag it can be quite a task.
It was pounding last night and the night before.

So, when at work I am on IM. I use a Web site called meebo to IM on more than four IMs at once. I noticed yesterday that there is now some trivia.
Such as:

Sneezes travel out of your mouth at over 100 mph.
No words rhyme with orange, purple or silver.
Men are struck by lightning four times more often than women.