bumblepug

i am inspector gadget

recently i have been thinking about my wardrobe and realized that the bottoms consist of 2 essentials: black pants and jeans. there are two pairs of brown pants in the mix but one pair is too short and the other is too long. and frankly, i'm too lazy to go to the tailor. and the gray ones...those must've been sucked into the black hole because i haven't seen those since i worked at wilson.

how does this relate to me being inspector gadget? oh, well i think he had a closet full of all the same clothes which is like me. for tops, i love black cardigans and printless long-sleeve scoop necks. ugh, work clothing can be so formulaic (sp?).

i wondered if people at my job think i wear the same pants every day. if they looked and the seems/hems, they would notice the subtleties of my black pants. but who really does this aside from me?!

anyways, in a meeting i went to this morning, i felt relief when the girl next to me said she only has black pants. ah...my cloting soul mate! with warm weather on the way, i'm thinking two things:

1.) get brown pants hemed in time for fall and winter

2.) get various black pants hemmed differently as to make capris and bermuda shorts...hmm, do bermuda shorts work on a person of my height?

busting caps

i think i busted my knee caps in my mad rush to make it upstairs in time for top chef (my new obsession). of course this would happen after an 8-mile bike ride. as if my legs weren't in enough pain. i don't think i've exercised in over 5 months (aside from dog walks) so if i'm able to walk tomorrow it'll be amazing!

one fish, two fish= dead fish

my pet fishes have died. i am world's worst fish mom. i'm not really sure what happened but ralph seems to think i shocked them when i changed their water. i really didn't know that it is crucial to de-chlorinate their water before putting them back in their bowl. :(

no more fish for now. i'll keep it to the dogs.

welcome back to blog land!

why is it that when you stop blogging it suddenlt seems like the rest of the world did, too? ah, where have i been since valentine's day?!

well, here's an annotated update:

valentine's day was great! we went to petroglyphs and sundance. i made a weird bowl for ralph and he made me an awesome salad bowl. i ate lots of steak. it was a good night!

roo is having a girl. in fact, i'll have to make this a separate entry to pronounce its importance.

milo is going through puberty- i think and rather fiesty.

i haven't talked to a lot of people in forever so i want to say hello, etc.!

home renos are going well but it's really hard to juggle two places. i'm still unpacking in both places and sorting through my files. really? can't i just hire somebody to do this?

and...i got a new job and i love it!

moresoon!

ramblings of a psychic

i know i've mentioned several times on my site that i think i'm psychic but some things have been happening lately that further confirm my belief.

i can't go into detail but i just have to write for the record that, i am so psychic.

you may be in my next prediction.

what's a girl to do?

what a day! what a very boring day.

there's nothing like waking upo at 6:47 am on a saturday and not being able to fall back asleep.

my solution? the sex and the city dvd series set. i watched like 6 this morning. and they were great. i finally learned how carrie and aidan met, and that big and aidan actually meet. weird. it's good that i didn't have hbo when the show was origianlly on air- this wouldn't be half as fun! i guess that's the good thing about being broke when you're young- no cable, let alone hbo.

i feel like i have nothing to do and i don't want to do anything. i sat in my car for 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do...get misc. items and mail from condo, go eat a dutch baby pancake at original house of pancakes, shop for home decorating, clean, shower, dust...none are appealing. so after dirving around for five minutes (thinking this would help), i returned back to my parking spot at home.

i was hungry so i pulled out a box of macroni to cook. yuck, yes, i know but i still love macaroni from the box. but what would you know- we're out of milk. so the next best thing was rice-a-roni. who have i become?

while the macaroni was cooking i thought it'd be nice to make oatmeal cookies. and then i find, we're out of eggs and brown sugar. ugh, we never have anything we actually need! though our fridge has quite a selection of beverages and cheeses.

so...time to go shopping- this gives me something to do and it is quite necessary if i want to have homemade oatmeal cookies today.

trader joe's, please be empty and don't give me some weirdo cashier like i usually get who wants to make small talk about one of my foood items. please don't let me get overzealous in the nut and dried fruit aisle because we're not backpackers and we don't need 10 kinds of nuts and 20 kinds of dried fruits. and just keep walking right on by that nitrate-free bacon- because nitrate-free does not = fat free and heart-healthy. damn those labels! please let there be no screaming kids because for the love of god, i'm tired of hearing screaming kids whenever i go out on the weekends. i'm not a total grinch (i used to be a career babysitter to pay the bills), i just hate when parents let their kids scream forever and don't go outside.

hmm...roo's baby is due in july...must continue to work on my patience for crying babies, etc.

off to trader joe's. please move your cart! ciao.

is it shallow...

to try befriending somebody who owns a ferrari just so that one day i might be able to take it for a spin? yeah, i was afraid that was the answer.

wait, do they even make ferraris that have an auto transmission or are they always manaual transmission? i guess a good start before i place my classified ad to scout out somebody with a ferrari,
should be learning how to drive a stick shift vehicle.

yes, baby steps. one thing at a time.

to do in this order:
1. learn to drive stick (any volunteers?)
2. find person who owns ferrari
3. become friends
4. ask to drive insanely expensive car
5. keep driving and don't turn back

he's a keeper

ralph's a good boyfriend for many reasons but perhaps the latest thing that really made me think that was how he went to the drive-through car wash with me and the dogs, and then was totally patient with me stopping at 2 gas station after the car wash to get my windows extra clean- really, i'm not neurotic (not a clean-freak as anybody who knows me can attest) but some asshole thought my puple car (it was a hand-me-down) would look better with a pink milkshake all over it! isn't owning a purple car bad enough? the car wash didn't quite do the trick to getting the smoothie off which makes me wonder, where did this milkshake come from? hell?!

after i could see through my window, we went to krispy kreme for a late night donut craving, just the sort of thng you need to eat after having terrible pizza that was overpriced for dinner.

next...blockbuster to use the free movie rental coupons, and what do you know...they weren't valid- that's the best when that happens at the cash register. so we left, video rental-less.

after our friday night adventures we came home to watch a video we owned and to eat a donut and drink a drink. ralph whipped up a pseudo-cosmo for me from the existing ingredients in our fridge. who knew that sobe lean when mixed with vodka and a packet of splenda could taste so good!?!

what an unusual friday night.

law firm memories

today i went to lunch with frances and lara, my girls from the law firm days. we still work close to one another which is great because it allows us to stay in touch but without me having to work there.

when they ask me if i'm happy at my new job, i can't help but recall some of my favorite quotes from that place...

"if you wore your glasses maybe you wouldn't make so many mistakes."

"why did you use pink paper here? you thought it was pretty or something? it's not, so stick with the blue."

"see this-- this is my pet peeve. we don't care about the environment here, so don't use bits of post-its to convey your message, use the whole damn thing. we're not trying to save paper."

"when i say i want my signature pages, i want them now, not 3 seconds from now!"

am i happy at my new job?! what a funny question.

life in the not so insured lane

last night i went to get a prescription filled that i've been taking for five years.  for the past five years it has never cost more than $10.  so imagine my shock when they charged me $52.99.  really, wht is the .99 cents for?  commission or something?  ugh- this is my punishment for leaving the cush life of a permanent job.  anyways, i handed over the money and need to make all the calls to figure out why rite aid can't bill my new insurance directly.  obviously, the rite aid pharmicist did not get the message from my tax person that i actually owe taxes this year to the state and the feds.  so just a quick note to y'all- if you ever get the wise idea to cash out your retirement becuase you see it as "free money" that was gifted from your employer, don't do it!  i make smart decisions like this often but as i'm getting older i think i'm getting wiser.  ;)

scrubs fan of the year

i so love scrubs though last night's episodes weren't the best.  it was the hillarious when zach braff and mady moore wore wizard hats and then took a photo with a unicorn while wearing the wizard hats.  that's totally something ralph and i would do.  move over harry potter, you've got some competition heading your way!

being braless

becuase our room is suck a huge mess (at least my side) and if i were to pull one thing from the pile of clean clothes it would fall like jenga gone wrong, i decided it was easier to go braless to work than to dig for one in the pile. 

let's add this to my list of bad ideas- which seems to be growing at an incredible pace lately.  a tight tank top is not sufficient coverage for my boobs and today i was really feeling that.  i went braless yesterday and today but when you have men and women looking at your boobs while they talk to you, that's not good.  lesson #598 learned!

must find bras asap.

looking for a trumpet player

i'm looking for a trumpet player to play taps at big boi's (my former pet beta) funeral.  when i woke up to feed him this morning he was belly up.  i don't get it- he survived going down the kitchen sink and being out of water for five minutes like a champ.  and he recovered from that incident quite well.  what could've killed big boi?  this sucks.  rest in peace bigs!

this brings our zoo count down to three.

notary private

i thought i became a notary public to notarize documents.  in the last three months i have notarized exactly 0 documents.  they should call me a notary private, not a notary public.  this sucks.  please, can i notarize something for you?  i guess my notary numbers would be higher if my job at the law firm wasn't so short lived.  oh well, they didn't deserve my services anyways. 

i need to get rolling on setting up cards, website, etc.  the extra dough would really come in handy.

cha cha cha

one of my favorite places to eat and drink is cha cha cha.  ralph, roo, and i went there tonight and i'm happy to report that i could read the menu after sharing a pitcher of sangria with ralph (roo isn't drinking right now- something about being pregnant).  last time we did this, we were totally wasted and then had to hang out at hobson's choice (a bar on haight) to sober up.  nothing like going to a bar to sober up, huh?  those bartenders really love serving water on the house.

anyways, i'm kinda perplexed by this.  this is a good thing but it makes me wonder how did i go from light weight of the year to ms. drinks half a pitcher of cha cha cha sangria and is a-ok, can walk, and can read?  ralph said it might have something to do with the fact that we've both put on some extra pounds.  perhaps this is the answer.  who knows?

after eating and drinking, we went to ghiradelli for a phat sundae.  what a decadent evening. 

the way we heal

so it seems the natural state of the human body is to want to heal and be healthy.  for example, the hole in my back is completely healed and looked like a small scar from a bug bite, you'd never know there were 2" of depth cut out of it.  how did that happen in such a short amount of time?  i told the nurse that really we're the same as lizards- when their tails get chopped off it grows back at an incredible speed and you would never know that days ago they were tail-less.  she said in many ways we are liek lizards because our bodies are smart and they want to heal quickly to keep us functioning at the best level. 

i thought this was interesting because our minds are part of our bodies but those often don't heal as fast.  what controls this part?!  are our minds stronger than our bodies innate power to heal?!  i'm just dumbfounded by this. 

philly cheesesteak

i'm bloging from philly on my newly issued laptop and i have discovered a tip that i must pass along to you...no matter how nice a hotel's website may be, no matter who they claim has stayed at their hotel- it all means squat if when you get there it is a total shitbox!

it may be that i'm particularly high maintenance after a red eye from ca to pa, then i had to report to the offices here at 9 am after landing at 7 am.  i am so sleepy! my room wasn't ready for an early check-in so i had the pleasure of getting ready for work in a public restroom.  boy, did i look homeless?

my day was topped off by leaving the office at 3:30 pm only to get to my hotel at 5 pm when the office is only 15 minutes away!!!  the receptionist told my driver to take me to the airport.  wtf was she thinking?  the airport?!  anyways, needless to say, when i asked the limo driver where we were going since we were near the airport and my hotel was not, he was not happy nor was i.  i think the receptionist misinformed the driver on purpose because i didn't want to stay in a janky corporate cottage that she had reserved for me.  oh well- the car was comfy so i pretty much drooled and talked in my sleep while touring philadelphia accidentally. 

on the bright side, the hotel has a decent restaurant (i think) and their on demand movies are excellent!

i miss ralph.  i miss the dogs.

feeling good

it's been a few months since i last felt great. you know the feeling, like if you died tomorrow, it'd be okay because your last few moments on earth were pretty good!?!

i'm not sure what exactly is contributing to this good feeling but i have a feeling it may be relief from quitting my job. i hated that place.

though i'm heading to another doctor's appointment for a check-up on my back, and i don't have health insurance (perhaps i won't tell them this bit when i check-in) so a quick 5 minute look is probably going to cost me $500, --despite this, i feel good.

maybe it's the 4 pounds i've lost this week by counting points that has contributed to this sense of happiness. perhaps it's just knowing that whatever happens, my future will be good!

the back saga continues

who had the bright idea to cut 2" into my back and not stitch it up? yup, that's right- i have a 2" deep hole in my back and it friggin hurts! this sucks! they reallly should've given me vicadin (sp?) or something more than the suggestion to buy extra strength tylenol. and if i were smarter, perhaps i would've followed through with their suggestion and bought that extra strength tylenol.

anyways, i hope this heals asap! it hurts to sit, it hurts to sleep! my guess is that the only relief in my house would be the big ol' bottle of advil.

back surgery sucks!

no matter how minor a back surgery is, it plain and simple, sucks!!!! i had my "back surgery" (which really should not have contained the word "surgery" because it was so minor) today and i had 8 injections of local aenesthesia (sp?) which was the most painful part (luckily). what sucked most is that i could hear the doctor cutting my back open and i could feel the blood dripping down my legs since i was in a slightly upright position. man, couldn't they have numbed my legs so i wouldn't feel like i was a character in some twisted horror film involving a mad scientist?! anyways, the problem on the exterior of my tailbone was cut out but they had to take out 2" of depth in that area. yuck. this is really going to hurt when the numbing shots wear off. and because i'm such a dedicated employee, i'm heading right back to work!!!

"you need back surgery"

i love going to the doctor for what i think is going to be a quickie appointment to relive the painful bump on my tailbone, only to hear,

from the nurse after taking my blood pressure: "do you know your blood pressure?"

in my head, "no, that why you're here because i don't carry around one of those handy-dandy arm squeezers!"
it turns out she wanted to know if i regularly have incredibly low blood pressure. which was a relief because i thought she was going to tell me it was incredibly high. this is the sort of thing that all 27 year olds should be worried about, right?!!! anyways, yes, my blood pressure is always low and i'm not quite sure why because i'm not the healthiest of eaters nor am i the calmest of people. but sure, if for some crazy reason, i have been blessed with loow blood pressure despite all this, i'll take it! oh, but i was worried that it was so low but the nurse said if it's normally low than it's normal for me.

from the doctor after looking at the bump thng on my tailbone:
"oh yeah, that's a biggie. you need back surgery. i'll have my nurse book something for you tomorrow."

hmmm...wtf?! back surgery?!!!! well, that was random. i though he could poke it with a lancette, relieve the pressure, give me some pills, and send me on my way with a lollipop (yes, i still take the lollipops!). guess i was wrong. apparently, the "pilonidal cyst" requires surgical removal immediately to heal the infection and then it needs a more serious surgery after the one tomorrow so it never happens again. interesting.

see you in the o.r., tomorrow!!!

big dog; little dog

i'm two timing ralph but keep that on the down low! i'm currently in love with a little fuzzy guy named milo. that's right...i bought a pug pup on saturday. he's the cutest-sweetest thing in the world and i want to stay home forever so i can hang out with the big dog and the little dog!

we drove 4 hours each way to look at the pups and we originally wanted a black pug boy but we left with a fawn pug boy. after 2 hours of hanging out at the breeders house, we made a decision we could've made in the first five minutes since he was such a character at trying to win us over from the start.

dog is bummed, as expected. i think it will take a while for her to like him but i have faith that she'll come around. milo adores her and makes every attempt to play and be friendly. he's a libra and she's an aries. does that work?!

he's already learning his "pee" spot and he loves food more than dog. this is a scary thought considering dog didn't know the goodness of food until she was 1 y.o. hmmm...must save money for piles of dog food, upon piles, upon piles...

pics to be posted soon!

for some reason typepad isn't letting me post the pics so click on the links below to view pics of milo:

Download me_milo.jpg

Download milo.jpg

Download sleepy_milo.jpg

call me auntie

so here goes the big news...i'm going to be an aunt! my sister is 2 months pregnant and i couldn't be more excited. i can't wait to see the baby which is due around my bday. the little one better know better than to make his wat into the world on my bday! ;)

i'm going to be in the delivery room with her and i get to "cut the cord." what an honor! i'm really impatient and i want the baby to be delivered by a stork tomorrow (to save her the pain and to fulfill my impatience). i can't imagine having to wait 9 months! what am i going to do when i'm pregnant?!

she's not showing too yet but she's had quite an appetite. i think i'm sympathy eating with her so i need to hit the treadmill or start eating like a person who isn't pregnant. she wants a boy but i will secretly pray for a girl!

good vs. evil

currently encountering an wickedly vile person who would look best wearing a pair of red horns.  will elaborate more later, but why are some people so miserable in life that they feel the need to try to ruin mine?  oh, life and the millionth thing i'll never understand!

black friday

yay, today is black friday which is the biggest shopping day of the year.  desarae answered the question, "why is it called black friday?"  since she's in retail i think her answer is right..."it's the time of year when stores in the red go into the black which is good."  there was something else she mentioned as an additional reason but that was in between the 2nd and 3rd glass of champagne so it's hazy. 

today i am slightly hungover because nothing says thanksgiving more to me than drinking 3 glasses of champagne at top speed!  the food and drink were delish and i got some surprise news that will unfold later- but it's really exciting!  i want to shout it from the mountain tops- and no, i'm not engaged or pregnant!

tonight we're going to union square for the tree lighting and our obligatory slice of blondie's pizza.  i can't wait to be pushed around and fight for parking!

can't wait- love this time of year.  please be nice in the stores and on the roads!

painting never ends

if you ever get the bright idea to paint your 5' by 8' kitchen dark purple, don't!  i can say don't do it with 100% confidence since i just did it and now i want to cry.  all that work!  i think i put it best when i told ralph it looked like barney exploded on our walls.  painting the kitchen has been a nightmare because the floors are a pinkish marble swirl and the countertops are denim blue.  ugh, what was the prvious owner thinking?  perhaps i should locate her current retirement home and ask!  any color ideas that would work with blue and pink and our already painted light beige living room walls?  this is driving me bonkers and i'm afraid the kitchen will not be completed by christmas!  my arms are tired.  i want to do something other than painting and priming walls when i get home from work!  poor me.  :(

test results

yes!  i passed my notary exam with 90%!  i'm so happy i could just scream.  this is a time when it comes in handy to work in the boon docks but since i don't i'm just going to tell everybody in my general vacinity even if they don't know who i am or that i was taking the test. 

lg season finale

the laguna beach season finale sucked harder than the dyson!  what the heck was that?!  saying bye for half an hour when you're seriously moving to the next county!  i simply don't understand this madness.  i guess i was just really excited to move to the other side of the u.s. after h.s. graduation.  as many of you know that excitement didn't last long because i moved back to the west coast shortly after.  anyways, i really wanted to smack jessica and taylor.  maybe i'm just in a really bad mood right now.

the 3rd lb season looks awful and i already don't like one of the characters (the girl who went to sr. prom with jason) already.  something about her just bugs me!  i'll most likely tune in for the premiere but it seems to me that my mtv days are coming to a temporary end- until they come up with another brillant reality show.

p.s. austin real world sucks, too!  perhaps i'm just getting too old to relate to the youth of today's drama! 

dork and a half, part 2

only i would buy tickets to see david allen greer (sp?) for the wrong night!  ug, such a dork and a half.  good thing my irresistible charm convinced the man at the improv to refund the tix so i could buy new ones for friday night, not thursday night.  yay, we're seeing david allen greer- can't wait to laugh my ass off!

in the hood

i love where we live simply because...

(last few weeks)

almost my entire shoe collection has been in the back set of my car, and if you know me you know this is quite valuable since i usually wear the comfort kind that are not so cute but for some reason cost a lot of $.  so i'm really happy that the windows weren't broken for them!

(last week)

i forgot my purse on the passenger seat of my car (overnight) and the window wasn't broken for its contents, which is a really good thing because the only thing in my purse are 5 types of gum and 4 types of lip glosses.  the purse would have seriously yielded more value than anything in it since i'm kind of poor at the moment.

(last night)

i misplaced my cash back from trader joe's and when i went to my car this morning i found it on the driver seat.  yay, nobody broke in to my car for the $10.  how great is that?! 

(at the moment)

i have a small tv covered with hot wheels stickers.  don't ask!  hope my windows don't get broken for this especially since it's not mine!

what a great neighborhood!  what more could a girl ask for?

less fortunate

ralph makes me laugh simply because he says things like:

"yeah, matt*  should get a job at fry's because they hire the less fortunate.  he'd probably have a good chance at getting hired"

wtf?!  for some reason that was the funniest and most random thing i've ever heard in my life.  what made it even better was how he said he read an article where the founder stated that.  ralph thought it was mean of me to laugh but i think it was meaner and funnier for him to say such a thing.  oh guys, you gotta love 'em!

*name changed to protect unnamed person

jessica

the name jessica now makes me cringe thanks to the character on laguna beach named just that.  i really dislike that girl and i'm glad to have read that she's all alone in laguna beach now!

and jason, ugh.  don't get me started.  can i punch him in the face, please?!  kristin, ugh! 

ok, why do i watch this show just to hate on it?!

on hold

i don't like being on hold as i would guess most people don't.

i'm currently on hold for:

notary test results

refinacing news (as if this is a test)

and

my probationary review at work.

i am kind of an impatient person so i can't wait to get news on all fronts!  that will really make my day!

the best thing to do when i feel like this is to drive as fast as possible to fantasis for a lychee milk tea with lots of pears and no sugar.

p.s. i'm actually sore from karate.  guess it's like tae-bo, huh?  oh btw, i met billy blanks in san francisco and was in an audience of his motivational presentation and he is so not motivational outside of his videos.

he's too cute

if you look at ralph it's easy to see that he's cute.  but what makes him extra cute is that he has made setting up the perfect shower mission impossible!  after buying nearly 5 different shower heads, he finally found one to his liking.  now he's not messing around...we have 2 shower heads (one is for rain-like shower and the other is small and tough for a massage-like shower) from one spout and you can turn them on or off or have both.  pretty cool, huh?!  each time he's changed the shower heads he showered to put them to the test so i now think he's the cleanest person i know! 

i think his many attempts to get it just right, long hours spent at home depot, target, and lowe's shopping for just the right thing make him even cuter!

now, i can't wait to test our final set-up!  i'm living in water wonderland!

karate kid

so my mom decided to surpise me with the gift of self defense!  what does this mean?!  as a yesterday, i have one-on-one karate classes every sunday.  it was really cool and i can't believe i worked up a sweat.  i think i'm going to be sore tomorrow and possible hoarse from yelling hi-ya!

the best part is that i broke a block of wood!  i'm so not kidding right now.  it was the best feeling in the world!  not the acutal breaking of the wood, but the accomplishment of being able to do that on my first day was quite exhilirating.  now i want to break wood all the time.  i was so proud of myself that i plan on taking it in to work to proudly diplay on my desk.  i'm sure nobody will know why i have pieces on pine on my desk but i do, and that's all that matters!

i love karate and can't wait until my next lesson!

round 2

we love tlaquepaque so much that we're heading there for the second night in a row for dinner.  i love mexican food!

life in the notary lane

today i woke up at 6 am for notary class.  this was a difficult task considering i went to sleep 4 hours prior to the alarm ringing for half an hour.  let me give you a piece of advice...if you ever get the wise idea to take a notary class, get fingerprinted, and take the exam all in one day, be certain that you have a minimum of 12 hours of sleep the night before 'cause 4 hours just didn't cut it.  already the course material is like ny-quil so really anything you can do to stay awake would be excellent!

the class was super boring to say the least.  and i have to say that they really should've got a jazzier person to teach the class.  now i'm not saying they have to do jazz hands while they teach the class or anything that bizarre but why would you get marty monotone to teach this already dry as ash material?!  and why can't the instructors dress in like bright pink and neon yellow?  i know that sound totally hideous but it would've helped!  and the students?  yikes.  it was a day in the twilight zone to say the least.

i was lucky to make acquaintance with the woman (who looked like she was from this decade unlike the rest of the class) next to me so we swore that we'd wake each other up in case we fell asleep, which we both did about 4 times. 

i was fingerprinted prior to the class which was cool!  things are so modern now that they don't mess around with ink anymore.  they use a scanner and it picks up your prints in no time flat!  the woman in charge of the prints said i had great prints (that compliment truly made my year).  weird, huh?!  apparently, they're extra deep so they leave a very extreme mark.  basically, she said i'd be stupid to commit any crimes because they would find me very easily!  damn, there goes my paln to rob a bank and steal a car!  she really killed my dreams of being a bonnie and clyde pair with ralph.  sadly, i must burst his bubble!

the highlight of the day was the exam.  exams are not usually the best part of a day but afterall, it was my main purpose of taking the course.  the exam was 30 questions long and you have to get 21 right.  needless to say, i'll be really t.o.'d if i don't pass because that's 70% which is like getting a c and i've always thought of myself as better than a c student.  i get my scores in 7-10 business days so i'll let you know as soon as i find out.  if i pass, i need to take an oath and blah blah blah, get commissioned, etc.  and then i need to set-up a company license so i can start doing this fun stuff on the side. 

i can't wait to live life in the notary lane!

rachael ray

rachael ray is coming to town on dec. 2 and i can't wait to see her!  this is like the adult version of santa claus coming to town.  must calculate a way to get time out from work to have a book signed (note to self: buy book by ray that has a couple of edible dishes) and meet rachael ray!  i'm such a 30 minute meals groupie!  what is even funnier is that i totally get disgusted by almost all the meals she makes on the show.  i think what gets me hooked is the fact that she really gets it all squeezed into 30 minutes!  her not so great food, just goes to show you that personality can make or brak you!

dork and a half

i'm such a dork sometimes.

i just learned that the sara lee slogan is "nobody doesn't like sara lee."  how stupid is that?!  i had always thought that it was "nobody does it like sara lee," which is a far superior slogan in my opinion.

then, i was listening to the santana song "ain't got nobody" (i think that's what it's called) in my car on the way home, and i realized that for all these years i had been singing "ain't got no money."  what a dork.  no wonder the lyrics never seemed to mesh right.

oh, the world always has some many new things to offer the slightly deaf.

growing up

maya angelou knew why the caged bird sang and i'm beginning to learn why adults always seem to be within reach of a bottle of tums...and why my mom so often went to sleep without washing her face or brushing her teeth- even though we were scolded if we did not.  the reason is time--and lack thereof.  eating on the run, celebrating on the run, everything is on the run.

last night marked the 6th consecutive night of not washing my face (which used to be a mortal sin since my skin has issues without adding to the fire) or brushing my teeth before passing out on the bed fully clothed.  ug, i so hate falling asleep wearing a bra, and then waking up at 3 am to slip it off through my shirt because its digging into my skin! 

i looked especially great this morning when i woke up at 8:30 am (this is the time i'm supposed to be pulling on to the freeway) with full "american tourist" makeup on.  i dressed as an american tourist to last night's halloween party and ralph was james dean.  we didn't quite have enough time to put together the construction get-up so these were our easily executable (is this a word?) plan bs.  i dressed obnoxious, wore obnoxious makeup, did the ol' camera around the neck, carry a map, and wear tennis shoes trick and it had me wishing i had dressed as a tourist during the work day so i could sit at my desk in shorts.

anyways, halloween was fun and i vow to begin working on 2006's best costume of the year starting tomorrow.

a day in the life

during lunch i swung by andronico's for a sandwich.  since the sun was shining so briliantly, i decided to be leisurely and sit outside in the area of empty tables.  it should've struck me as odd though, since the tables on one side were completely packed and the tables on the side were totally empty with the exception of one guy.  he was a homeless guy but that kind of thing totally doesn't pase me.  i just though "i'm in palo alto (which has no homeless people) so they probably just don't want to sit near this guy."  well, as time went on i realized this guy was not only homeless but he was a nut job.  everytime a shopping cart strolled by he would cover his ears, close his eyes, and scream.  "buddy, if you have a fear of shopping carts sitting in front of a grocery store is seriously one of the worst places for you to get your daily rest."  it just so happened that i had also bought 3 bags of groceries which were chillin' in my cart as i at my sandwich.  after seeing the trauma each cart seemed to induce for this guy, i decided that it would be best foe me to carry my groceries despite their weight to make his day a little easier.  boy, do i know how to choose the seats!

what, me work on a saturday?

like, real work?  on the clock kind of work?  not just sit around at the garage sale and make a few bucks an hour kind of work?

yup, that's right...i have to work today.  a full day.  i need money since i didn't have enough pto to actually be paid while on vacation (another virtue of being new!) so i offered to pitch in.  i also thought it'd be a good way to acquire some skills to add to the ol' toolbelt and maybe i can meet a new person or two since i still haven't established a lunch group as of yet.

date night

i have a date with a hot guy tonight!  we're going to dinner and the movies which is totally cliche but it's what we like! 

- must find something clean to wear

note to self: don't fall asleep on the couch for the 3rd night in a row.  that's so not cute!  it's even more not cute to wake up at 5 am in the "where am i blur" with a severe backache from slipping like a v into the center couch cushion for most of the night.  snap out of it, the couch is not your friend!

as luck would have it!

a new girl is moving in to the cube across from me.  this is good on many levels...i will no longer be the newest person in my wing (unless she's just transfering from another department), and we might get along and become lunch buds.  at the very least, it's just another person that i can bug and talk out loud to since i'm pretty much a mute since there's nobody in my area.  will update as soon as i get more info.  she'll probably start on monday.

holiday outrage

macy's is out of control and this is why i vow not to do any holiday shopping there!  i went there during my lunch break to return a pair of shoes and they are already decorated for christmas.  wtf?!  i felt like i was in the twilight zone!  did somebody forget to inform macy's that we haven't even touched halloween?!  i officially hate macy's.  who cares about their stupid sales that are so good they are practically paying you to take things home.  i refuse to shop there for the holidays.  my millions of dollars are their loss!  ;)

i feel a letter writing urge coming on!

the virtue of being new

being new in a company is a virtue.  forget patience.  as of now, it's no longer a virtue...being new is!

i've been at my current job for almost 2 months and i'm still considered new!  argh.  after taking what seems like 40+ training classes, i still only know 1/100th of my job!  to top it off, they added math to the line up!  those pranksters.  me, math?  this makes afor a disastrous recipe!  putting me in the general vicinity of numbers is a bad idea especially when it has to do with other peoples' finances, their lives.  pray for me.  lots, please!

i can't wait to be a senior employee with a messy desk and lots of tasks.  i want to feel needed and useful.  afterall, isn't that what i'm being paid for...to be useful, to get things done?! 

for now, i'll sit tight in my impecably well-organized cube and enjoy reviewing all trillion of my training manuals and videos.  patience is a virtue.

land lover!

ok, back for real this time.  i needed some time to recover from jet lag and changing time zones 4 times during the past week! 

being home is nice; as dorothy said, “there’s no place like home.”  the best part about being home is dog.  i missed her so much!  so now...my “land” life resumes...back to work, back to unpacking 2 homes, back to picking up dog waste.  what a party.

as for the cruise, it was nice despite hurricane wilma!!!!  we didn’t get to stop in grand caymans (those sting rays are probably still waiting to swim with me!) or costa maya and they substituted those ports with progresso.  “what the heck is progresso?!  i know my geography sucks, but where is progresso?!”  apparently, it’s somewhere along the yucatan peninsula in mexico.  it was probably one of the worst ports a cruise could stop at but i guess it was better to be safe with a shitty port than sorry by trying to go to the nicer ones where the hurricane was hitting.

needless to say, progresso was my least favorite port (and it was our last stop).  we went to the mayan ruins and i swam in a pool that had an underground tunnel to the ocean.  they said it’s where the rain god lived.  it was really pretty and i’ve never been in cleaner water in nature than that!  it was fun to barter for clothes at this stop.  they had a lot of nice cotton dresses with the colorful mexican embroidery.  let me just say one thing, if you can’t speak spanish (even really terrible spanish), don’t think of trying to barter because the shop people don’t seem to like it.

belize city was our first port and it was a nice way to kick things off.  when we got off the boat, we were bombarded by merchants that wanted to braid our hair and be our city guides.  i wasn’t feeling the braids because my friends that have them done regularly say they hurt if they are done too tight.  besides, who wants to waste their time in belize getting their hair braided?!  so, we did the smart thing.  we hired a random local to be our city guide.  real smart, huh?!  we had our choice of over 50 men yelling for our business so we went with our hearts (as napolean suggests) and we chose the guy that seemed safe.  turns out, we have accurate instincts.  our guide, henry, was awesome!  we did some shopping, dining, and made a pit stop to a local music shop.  i bought some cool music to add to my collection that would be difficult to download since i wouldn’t have known about it prior to this trip.  traveling is good for that reason—it opens your eyes to things you would’ve otherwise missed.  belize had some of the nicest people i have ever encountered.  it seems like a very poor country, and i barely saw any women.  to my surprise, most residents of belize do not speak spanish but creole.

cozumel was our second stop and my favorite by far!  not necessarily because of the people or shops but because of the animales!  my mom and i did a shore excursion to a national park where we swam with dolphins and held parrots.  or more like, the parrot held me!  the parrot they put on my arm had a strong grip and he did not want to get off of my arm.  needless to say, “the parrots have large talons!”  swimming with the dolphins was cool.  they feel like wet mushrooms and they are very muscular.  when (we gotta be optimistic here!) i win the lotto, i’m definitely going to buy a beach house and set up a dolphin sanctuary!  outside of the park, we saw iguanas roaming in their natural environment.  and, there were hermit crabs in my mom’s shoes.  it was literally a pet store outside!

during the time that we weren’t at ports, we were on the boat which was interesting for somebody as claustrophobic as me!  there was a lot of food (in fact, it was entirely too much and could’ve probably fed 4 third world countries for at least a month), and lots of people that were in desperate need of some serious dental work.  during my time on the boat, i realized that i have a new found love for land!  being on the cruise was a good experience but from here on out, i’m going to try to keep it to land vacations.

but don’t take my word for it...if you’ve never been on a cruise i recommend trying it at least once. afterall, it is nice being out in the middle of the ocean!

the best parts of the cruise:

art auctions

24-hour pizza station, fancy desserts, melon, and fruit loops

duty-free shopping

the sun deck

towel animals

out of the loop

i'm so out of the tv loop, but more specifically, i'm out of the laguna loop.  what is going on?  somebody fill me in for christ's sake!  i've been on a boat for 8 days and i need my fix!

i totally missed the mini-marathon thye played on monday because dog had an appointment for an anal gland expression (don't ask!).  oh, what ever happend to my priorities in life?!

more later

we're back!  we outran (well, out cruised) the hurricane and made it back safely from the yucatan peninsula.  more later on our adventures and photos will be posted sooner or later.

gone sailing

back on sunday the 24th!

sweet laguna!

as i was listening to the radio i heard that laguna beach is coming back for a third season which has made my week! i truly couldn't imagine my life without their drama. thanks mtv!

progress report

i went to the doctor for the third time this month. so annoying considering i'm having to take time off from a new job. today's progress report was better than the past two...the doctor thinks the infection is out of my lungs but thinks my sinuses are densely packed with mucus so bad that i may need to be on antibiotic treatment for 3 weeks. ugh, i hate antibiotics. they make my stomach hurt. how does one go about examining the fullness of the sinus canal? a ct scan is the answer to that! sounds scarier than i'm sure it is. i have the scan the day before our vacation to the bahamas so i'm not sure it really makes sense since i wouldn't be able to start antibiotic treatment for at least two weeks. guess i'll stick to the mucinex for now even though it makes me feel totally hungover in the morning.

enough about my health, let's move on to ralph's...he's getting sick! no. not before the cruise. everybody has a cold right now. what is going on?!

as for dog she's finally not constipated which is great since my favorite passtime is picking up her shit in front of my new neighbors. her trauma from our fifth move in her life must've really plugged her up.

hope your health is better than ours.

welcome home, sister!

last weekend i went to rei to stock up on my favorite brand of astronaut ice cream. yes, i know, i'm weird, sometimes! when i was in rei i couldn't help but stop by their purse section. i'm sure most people wouldn't think to find a purse (or more like a bag or caryall since i think of purses as fancier than rei's stock) but a true shopper can find a diamon in any rough, and i did. i bought this super cute pale pink north face should bag. it's pretty small but just big enough that i don't have to carry 3 target plastic bags into work with all my belongings, which is the usual case.

then the shopping bug bit my ass and since i was next to petco it made perfect sense to get big boi some more water conditioner so i could change his water and his other bottle of water conditioner is packed away in one of these boxes, poor guy. so, petco...water condtioner, and um, a sister for him! i bought a female betta! she's super cute and really tiny. she has an awesome tiger print with splashes of blue and purple. i named her elle and the plan was to have big boi and her be neighbors since bettas cannot co-habitate without killing one another (that's what the petco fish guy says anyways, so i'll go with his advice since i love my fish).

full of new pet joy, i went home to change big boi's water and get elle (his sister; my new pet betta) into something better than those rinky dink plastic bowls that they keep fish in. sadly, i have a bad process of changing the fish water where i gradually poor the dirty water down the sink until it's just the fish and a little water that i can pour into a temporary bowl while prepping the clean fish home and conditioning the water. so, poor big boi suffered at the hands of my fast hands that poured too quickly and he went down the drain. :(

after the initial shock of my stupidity, there was lots of screaming and then ralph joined in. ralph's hand was too big to fit down the drain and i was scared to put my hand down there to get a dead fish. after 4.3 minutes of my hand squirming around to get boi, i grabbed him!!!! yay, best day of my life! i rushed him into his clean water and he was very crooked and floating at the bottom of his bowl, and to top it off, his beautiful scarlet fins were shredded and bleeding. i felt so bad! even though i've fished, i didn't realize that the little guys bleed, too. while he was in the kitchen sink i think the garbage disposal blades got to him faster than me. i was hopeful, but i really didn't expect him to live through the night. i thought he would be talking shit about what a terrible fish mom i am, with sean paul (my former betta) up in fishy heaven.

in all that freny, elle's transition from crappy plastic bowl to real glass bowl never happened. poor girl. i'm happy to report a week later that big boi is doing spectacular and he's happier than ever. i'm so happy for him and so grateful that he's a survivor. to annoy him and ralph, i sing destiny child's "i'm a survivor" to him. oh, my boys, they love me! ;)

i swer from last saturday forward that i'm going to be the best fish mom, ever! and i've definitely changed my fish water bowl chnaging methods for the better!

calgon, take me away (part two)

i think there's another "calgon, take me away" entry in the archives!

so much has happened lately that i can’t recall the happenings.  the big things that stand out in my mind are that you can now see the floor in condo #2 (that’s what i call ralph’s which is where dog and i now live), all the moves are done (me, ralph, and mom), recovery from pneumonia is smooth sailing (well, until i cough and it feels like my lungs got torched!), and it looks like i only partly live in my car (so no longer the fully homeless look).

things at work are going well.  at first i thought the new job was a poor match because i didn’t know a thing and was totally overwhelmed by the terminology and the idea that i had to bill my time, but now it’s grown on me and i’m starting to fit in a little better.  i don’t get lost in my building anymore (and that’s good because i’ve been here a month now and the receptionists might think i’m retarded and not capable of doing my job since i’m perpetually lost), i’m starting to recognize people (aside from the older gentleman with a squirmy eye who delivers my mail), and i have a radio at my desk.  yay for music!  aside from that, the obvious perks here are there’s a cafeteria in every building, i don’t have kitchen duty like i did at the last place, i have a secretary, and i never have to print labels or file again, well, if i don’t want to, and if i’m a few minutes late i don’t have 3 emails and 5 voicemails about the status of my location.

as for the home life, i miss sleep, i miss dates (with ralph), i miss long walks with dog, seeing my friends, and um, having a life outside of unpacking!  in the past month i’ve been sick so i’m super tired.  i’m trying to sleep a lot and if i’m not sleeping i’m unpacking or cleaning or shopping for home stuff.  ugh, how old am i?  100?!  thank goodness we take off for the bahamas next friday!  i can’t wait.  i’m going to sleep in the sun and go to the gym everyday (so, i think).  calgon, take me away!

p.s. if anybody asks about the red ferrari mug on my desk i’ll say “that’s what you get when you buy a ferrari!”  ;)

i'm back!

yup. that's right...nearly a month later. in the past few weeks a lot has happened...

one of my best good friends moved far away
another best good friend told me she is pregnant and having a baby girl
we went to vegas and saw some nfl players and heard about cameron d. amd justin sightings
i've had my hair cut twice and dyed once, once while under the influence (needless to say it's pretty damn short!)
had my body sloughed with salt and sugar (this is totally overrated!!!!)
turned my brown eyes blue (well, this was a temporary state while painting my living room)
bought some "nice" work clothes on a shoe string budget (damn, i love target)
remodeled my 70's house into something nicer
moved
started a new job (and let me just say the corporate world is a whole new beast!)
slept through my notary class and lost out on $150
got my passport (hate my photo and it's even more yucky since i wore a bright pink sweater with an orange t-shirt peeking through the top at a crooked angle)
ordered a social security card, then found my social security card
natural disasters
and now i'm helping ralph remodel his place and then i'm going to move again (to his condo)

essentially, i've been housed in my car waiting to move into ralph's place and dog and i have been staying at his apartment. i know this sounds really confusing but you'll know the dealio if you know me.

also, i developed pneumonia lungs with all this chaos! am currently on lots of antibiotics and inhalers and cough syrups with codene. not to mention all the otcs. i can't wait until i feel better especially since i am at a new job.

as for the new job, it is quite different than the previous job. there's definitely no time to surf the net or blog. boo hoo. i work on billable hours now and since i'm new i'm really scraping to try to find a client to bill. i have to take close to 30 classes and i used to think i was smart but know i'm feeling a little retarded. i went from knowing everything about mu job to my current status, i know zilch. it makes me want to leave but i'm sure this is a temporary thing that'll pass and is simply there because i'm overwhelmed with everything i need to learn at work and the whole time i'd rather be home doing more rennovations. anyways, what else?

i sometimes get dressed in my car. since my clothes are scattered between my car, ralph's apt. ralph's condo, and my condo...i figure it makes sense to have a majority of my closet in my car so i can be ready in an instant for any situation. and let me tell you what it's like to hide my car in the work parking lot...hahaha. today i changed in the work parking lot which was probablt pretty stupid on my part but what can you do when you get six hours of sleep and your dog takes too long to shit?!

my addiction to bubble tea has transformed into an occasional treat. and to my surprise i think the lack of daily bubble teas has helped me lose some weight, well, the sick soup diet may have helped, too.

i've been at my job for three weeks and i've already called in sick 3 times. ugh. this is not good but i've been super sick, no joke. for a few days i couldn't talk which is hell for somebody like me who is an utter blabbermouth. i guess it's a good thing i haven't really made an friends at work yet. there are many nice people but there's no time to be social since they're all on the clocks. well, i am too but the newbies are a little exempt from that for a while.

my head is currently throbbing. perhaps it was my midnight 7-11 concoction (sp?) of oj, grape juice, grape gatorade, and water. what was i thinking. must find advil so chills on head from the pain can stop.

ralph sleeps. dog sleeps. and i should go to sleep now, too, although i have a crazy urge to wake them up since they look so peaceful (i must be part evil). i hope all is well in blogland and i want to let you know i'm back to being a regular writer. i think i'm on camera at work (they should've never shown us the "security room and cameras" during that orientation) so my entries will probably come later in the day once i'm home.

hmmm, i'm really craving buca di beppo's pizza right now. do they deiver at 12:45 am?!

goodnight.

leaving las vegas

we'll be home today at 5:30!

damn, i love this "publish on" feature!

(amanda, we have to chill tonight. i'll bring the champagne!)

on break

currently in las vegas.

dove 7-day challenge

ok, so you know those stupid dove commercials..."turn your armpits into underarms within 7 days," or something along those lines. well, they weren't lying. i took the dove challenge and my armpits are now underarms! they are much softer and feel less irritated when i shave but my question to dove is, who in this world could possibly care about the smoothness of my armpits?

the anti-climax

the last day at work was rather anti-climactic. couldn't they have held a parade in my honor as i walked through the doors one last time?! all of my belongings fit in a box and people were quite surprised. my question is, what does everybody else keep at work that would require more than one box? i guess i try to keep that part of my life simple since my personal life is rather complicated. i can keep virtually nothing at work because i have my car with me and that has anything you could possibly need...toilet paper, underware, socks, sportswater, you name it, i've got it! and yes, it is embarrassing when i put my groceries away in the trunk when strangers walk by. must add empty trunk to the list of to do's before i start the new job.

i had to be really patient with the new girl today. she was just so damn eager to learn everything about taking over my job but she can't possibly expect 5 years worth of knowledge to spew out of me in 2 days time, especially when i'm grumpy and have home rennovations on my mind. her chipperness will soon wear off and then she'll know why i seemed like such a bitch. i'm so glad i'm not a teacher because i would've totally been fired for being worl'd worst teacher.

is it midnight yet?! i'm waiting to check-in on southwest and i have to wait until 12:01 am!

t.c.b.

taking care of business has been quite a task especially since my hip and back have decided to freak out! it hurts to walk thanks to the old sciatica (damn i sound old!) but i'm hoping my 2-hour walk helps losen the muscle and nerve.

anyways, enough complaints...

my brows looks good but i had to do a little re-shaping of my own. i feel like the plucker must've goten tired at the last minute so she gave up. like trying to wrap up a good movie in the lat 5 minutes. needless to say i had to get some strays. since the outter edges of my brows have some bald spots, i thought it'd be a good idea to fill them in and the easiest thing to find was brown eyeliner. let me just say that i won't be doing that again any time soon, and i wouldn't recommend trying it. believe me, it is not a quick fix for filling in the gaps. it just makes you look really pissed off! so if for some reason you're feeling like a real pushover or too happy, fill-in your brows with dark eyeliner and you'll achieve that count dracula look!

clockwatcher

an utter time-sucking site...

http://www.blogthings.com/howweirdareyouquiz/

how weird are you?  here are my "test" results:

you are 30% weird

not enough to scare other people...
but sometimes you scare yourself.

last day of work

today is my last day of work at my current job and i couldn't be more relieved since the other job is totally different.  i wish i could say it was my last day of work for a lifetime but no such luck with winning the lotto just yet.  i have next week off which should give me enough time to paint the ceiling and some accent walls in the new place and help mom move her stuff, and then move my own.  ugh.  so much work to do outside of paid work. 

ralph's parents are in town tonight (i think) so i need to think of a way to:

spend time with dog and give her a long walk

go to brow appt.

nails

shave legs and nair other parts

pack

find flight itin.

find a midday walker for dog on sunday

...all within hours.  perhaps there is a way i can leave early today?!

calgon, take me away!

at least i had a chance to choose my linoleum last night so that's one thing off my list.  now to find some halfway decent work clothes for next tuesday and i'm all set.  i stopped by loehman's after work yesterday and their stuff sucked.  what's up with all the discount places sucking lately?  i guess i'm going to spend more and go to nordstrom and j. crew to stock up on some basics.  wait a second, i've totally forgotten roo's bloomingdale's discount.  and maybe shannon can give me a sweet hook up at nordy's.

i'm bored now.  what do you do on the last day of work?  i threw all my files away which was totally exhilirating!  now if i could only throw things away at home like that!

where's shannon?  i want to hear all about her reunion with her ex-boyfriend who she plans to marry.  wake up!  where are you?

well, must go paint my nails now.

more later.

tuesday to do's

*remember* haircut @ 5 pm to fix the current mullet hairdo

surprise for work

deliver computer to lauren

passport- remember photos and birth certificate

empty car/trunk

track down overstock.com order

buy primer and paint at kelly-moore- find wholesale number

paint

pack

south beach headed south

south beach day 3.5 is officially over!

dog is depressed

much like me, dog doesn't do well with change.  i think she senses that we're moving and in her little dog brain, she can't comprehend that it's for the better.  poor girl, we've moved like 4 times and she's only 5. 

she's been mopey (sp?) lately and her muzzle makes an exaggerated clown-looking frown.  her bed and blanket are in the middle of the living room that is fairly empty with the exception of piled junk and clothes on the perimeter.  it really looks like crazy people live there and i find it hard to believe that the apartment manager is showing it to perspective tennants in that condition.  as my friend who is also my neighbor put it best, "you can't even see the potential or imagine it empty."  this confirms its utter yuckiness.

back to dog, she needs some tlc so i've been trying to let her hang out with dolce more often (her doggy boyfriend).  we're leaving the complex soon so they won't be able to chill as often or as easily as they do now since we're only doors apart.

my analysis of dog's current situation is that she's bummed about moving, again, and that she's feeling heartbroken about dolce.  poor thing.  i should really consider a career as a dog psychologist!

thursday is the new friday

yay!  "thursday is the new friday!"  that's what i always say to ralph and his usual reponse is..."what's new about it.  thursday has been like a friday since i was in college."  and i laugh since ralph was in college like 40 years ago (well, not really but i like making him feel old).  for those of us that didn't party in college, thursday feels like friday in your young adult life.  i couldn't be happier about approaching friday because it means we're closer to saturday which is when we jet to las vegas.  after last night's very last minute move we could really use a break.

last night i rounded up 3 helpful guys to help me move the big stuff from the small place to the other small place.  we finished around midnight, maybe a few minutes earlier.  i seriously think i got poisoned from the air in the condo because my nose won't stop running and i almost passed out from blowing it with such gusto in hopes that it's endless flow of snot would stop.  no such luck.  where the hell is my nose spray when i need it?!  so, i can't tell if this is a terrible case of allergies since we've been sleeping with the windows open and the pollen has looked like confetti after a new year's party, or, if i truly got some sort of air poisoning from the ceiling dust in the condo from being in there for 20 minutes.  who knows?!

anyways, the ceiling looks awesome but i can't paint it until friday, which is when it's fully dry.  i met with the linoleum man and his quote was higher than i expected.  what if i go through all of this ripping the carpet out and linoleum is underneath?  will the linoleum man still charge?  what a pain!  i'm happy to report that he will start work on labor day and it will be done on labor day.  can you believe that...a contractor willing to work on labor day!  bless that little old man's heart!

yesterday my job had a going away reception for me, amanda, and 2 other girls.  it really sucked because i couldn't eat any of the cookies served thanks to south beach.  in fact, today makes day 4 and i'm really craving some canadian bacon (among other things as you might imagine).

today is my second to last day of work and i've really been procrastinating with my final filing tasks.  i hate filing.  why couldn't piling have taken off?  i love piles of paper.  they make me feel like i can measure (in inches) what's been accomplished.  today is going to suck and i have prescription and over the counter medication shopping to look forward to since i will soon be uninsured.  in fact, if you drive around neo be careful because we can't afford any injuries right now.  the highlight of the day is denise's dinner for amanda but i'm sure i