tired of fighting

I am just exhausted with this "Down with Bell Honda" crap. It's worse knowing that they are the big corporate entity and that nothing will probably ever come of it.

I spent yesterday morning at Kinko's making copies of all my receipts and whatnot for the State Attorney General's Office (at their request--so at least it seems like they are looking into it), and got an email yesterday afternoon from the Better Business Bureau with a response from Bell Honda. So now I have to shoot off an email in response to that and make *additional* copies of all those papers and send them to the BBB--probably will send a copy to Eric Zimmerman, General Manager of Bell Honda himself as he apparently has NO idea what's going on (in his response to the BBB he says that my complaint falls far outside the 15 day period allowed. Au Contraire!! We started this nonsense on day 14, and I have the receipts to prove it!).

Anyway. I find myself sleeping (or trying to) a lot, simply because my dreams are a whole lot more easy to take than reality at this point. I want to just drop the whole thing and get start enjoying my "new" car and get on with life, but I'm stubborn and I hate to lose. So now I'm going to go finish my response to the BBB/Bell Honda and head to Kinko's--again--before I go to work.

*sigh*

not yet summer

but the temperature for the past three days has been over 110. Today it's only supposed to get up to about 105, dropping into the low 90s by next Monday.

Arizona. I want to go north for the summer! :(

So I was really sleepy when I entered that last post, and thankyou Joann for the kind words. I literally scribbled most of it down as I was driving home from my overnight shift--on the back of a work schedule. Silly me, I'd left my voice recorder home on the kitchen table. Note to self: put it in the car, where you do most of yer thinkin...

Anyway. I'm off to finish my draft email to 3 On Your Side--the local news consumer protection folks. Wheeehah!

Luna

I saw the moon tonight
nearly full
golden and beckoning
just before it slipped over the Western Horizon

it took my breath away
like a long-forgotten lover
tempting me to follow
as it slipped over the Western Horizon

tomorrow it will rise
again
and I will dream
of its cool journey through the heavens
the sun a distant memory
when it slips over the Western Horizon

Continuing Attempts

...at regaining a certain level of fitness and accomplishment. I went riding yesterday morning with a girl from work and her fiance. We road about 8 miles of a "flat", fast, sandy trail that lead eventually up to the base of a mountain and some cool indian ruins. I liked this trail the most of the whopping three I've been on so far in Arizona because it's fast and did not brutally beat my rigid-bike riding body. I'll be going back to that trail.
The view from the ruins was beautiful--and even the ride up was pretty. We went early in the morning, so there were cactus flowers in bloom and everything was still lush and green. I had every intention of taking the digicam, but the battery is dead and we're not sure where the charger is. :(
I'm working a super-whacked schedule this week--8pm-2am M-W, so I won't be doing any riding this week unless it cools wayyyy down. It's 11:15am and 91 degrees already. Yes, today I will be staying in and doing around-the-house stuff!

Guilt Complex

I have this *thing* about not wasting my days off. I wish I could just kickit and relax like other folks, but on those days that I have spent sitting around in my pajamas eating bonbons, I end up feeling like complete and utter shit. Like somehow that one day's respite from responsibility and mom-dom and all that is going to send me on a non-stop bullet train to slacker hell.

So. Today being a day off, I did stuff. I ironed clothes, while watching Hackers (Angelina Jolie...mmmmm) and avoiding the Chocolate Chip Cookies. I went for a bike ride--albeit brief--around our local "mountain" (see recent photos of green desert). My butt was aching pretty badly from Tuesday's ride and I really didn't think I'd make it three blocks, but after a mile or so a certain numbness sets in and it's all good. I found a nice mellow trail that circles the base of said mountain, so I'm going to make an effort to ride it somewhat regularly in an attempt to get back to a shape that says "I will not keel over or crash horribly if you invite me to go riding with you."

I came home and chopped a few errant bits from the shrubbery in the front yard, lest we incur the wrath of the HOA--again. I ironed a few more shirts and started the shower with the intention of bathing myself, but Bucket butted in. I invited him to jump in the bathtub (this is BEFORE I got in myself, mind you), and he did! So he had an impromptu bath, which he is now ruining by racing around the house wrestling with the still-filthy Delilah.

I had my shower and now, at 2:21 in the afternoon, I am going to slack a bit.

Insight

I survived and even enjoyed the bike ride yesterday, but there were moments when I thought the End was Nigh. I am not in as good of shape as I like to fool myself into thinking. Could be this pizza I'm currently noshing? Or the box of cookies from the mound of same at work? Or the fact that the ride yesterday was the first one in something like 2 months?

Possibly.

I should have taken the camera, because I'm pretty sure I'll never to that ascent again--it was an amazing view, and I was quite proud of having made it to the top. However, now knowing what's ahead, I don't know that I would ever take that particular trail again. OH! how I miss the single track dirt and leaves of Oklahoma!

Back to the Whack

The luxury days of having a regular M-F schedule at work have flown the coop. They hired a full time POS person, despite my fervent hand raising and look-at-me attempts to get demoted to the position. So I have today and Thursday off this week.

I have plans to go for a mt. bike ride with a guy from work who seems overly concerned that I'm going to have a spectacular wreck or just keel over from exhaustion. Am I that out-of-shape looking?

So that's in about two hours and with the new Mike Doughty CD blarin on the stereo, I'm going to chill out a bit before I go to my apparent Doom.

Last one for today. My attempt at artsy-fartsy. Probably could be cropped a bit, but as raw material, I quite like it. 

Another photo proof of all the rain we got here this "winter". I need to take some comparative photos now so you can see what it normally looks like! 

Alas, we have not any mt. trails very near our house, but we do have flat desert trails in spades. Here's a photo from a few weeks ago when it was lush and green and I actually liked it here! 

Delilah looking regal on her rock..she's a climber! We are looking forward to taking both pups with us on the local mt. trails. 

A few pics of the hounds I took some weeks ago. We've only just found the usb cord for the camera! More to come, but here's Smilin' Bucket. 

Chores

Waking up today was the first chore. The pups have become used to me waking up no later than 5am in recent weeks, and are very insistant about eating at that time, despite the fact that they didn't eat until about 1130 last night. For the last two days, however, I've closed the store, and not gotten home until about 1030 or so. This means that I am up until the wee hours, playing and winding down. So when 3am rolled around last night and I finally got to bed, I should have known that it would be merely a nap. The hounds awoke at 7am, 8am, 9am and I finally gave in and got up around 930. It's not their fault, I know, They are so starved for food, treats, and attention! :P

Next chore involved wrangling down the air filter here in the house. Our rental contract actually states that we must change it once a month. When I first read that I thought it was ludicrous and overzealous, but Arizona is the dustiest place on the planet and a monthly change is probably too infrequent. Sadly, I haven't changed it in about 2-3 months, so it was a horrific mess of grime, and was making a sickly whistling sound. Bucket was standing at the base of the stepstool (which, out of necessity, was placed just at the edge of top of the stairs) and I held my breath in anticipation of him bolting after some unseen offender and sending me to my doom. He didn't, I lived, and the filter has been changed.

I of course had to drag out the vacuum to suck the nastiness off of the grill that holds the filter in place and that evolved into a quick zip around the loft. I had NO intention of doing any vacuuming today, but those things just sort of evolve for me. It's some bizarre form of ADD.

I now have to empty the vacuum cleaner of its sludge, which will digress into yardwork. Here is the progression: I have to take the vacuum "bucket" out to the trash bin to empty it. The bin is currently on the front walk because it's pickup day. They should have come by now, so I will drag the bin to the back yard, where there are bags of pulled weeds and bits of trees that the dogs have chewed off. These will, of course, have to be tidied up. Then, while I'm doing that, I will note the abundance of poo and commence poo patrol. The vacuum cleaner will be emptied, but vacuuming the remainder of the house will go to the bottom of the list. This is why there are so many half projects in my life. I Poing.

I hear the dogs doing something naughty. I must be off...

On a Lighter Note

Who has ever eaten *half* a package of Ramen noodles? Seriously.

I took both dogs on a walk tonight after work. At the same time. It went pretty well, really. Shockingly well. Efficiency, how do I love thee?

I wrote letters to the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General's office this morning. Tomorrow I'll hit the tv stations. In the meantime I'm going to eat my ENTIRE PACKAGE of ramen and munch on Wasabi Peas while I play a bit of WoW.

Campaign Bell Honda Sucks Begins!

I have my Xterra back. It's still in a sickly way, although after I left a rather scathing message with the General Manager Monday evening, they did call me back and say they would take care of the O2 sensor (about a $300 repair). Still no relief on the a/c being bad (the PRIMARY reason I even wanted a new car in the first place!), the leaking shocks, or the other minor things like the air/fuel filters. And the second shop claims that there was no code on the diagnostic stating that the Knock Sensor was bad--only that a code came up indicating a possible problem and that it could have been caused by the O2 sensor going out.

The long and short of it is, I'm still screwed on a vehicle that I bought 3 weeks weeks ago. I'm filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the state Attorney General's office, and a couple of local television news channels that do "Consumer Protection" type stories. I'm taking the fraud angle on things, because I feel that most--if not all of these problems existed before the vehicle left their lot and that I should have been informed or made aware of them. The general maintenance stuff should have been taken care of when they did this so-called 128point inspection that I was told the vehicle went through. The crack in the Exhaust manifold? Techs should have caught that if they were doing any sort of real inspection.

When I picked it up at the second dealership yesterday evening, the service manager there even asked about it: "How long have you had the car?" "The problems started less than two weeks after I brought it home." "And all they are taking care of is the O2 sensor? I would definately pursue this..." And he gave me his card. I may just give him a buzz as well and ask him what he might suggest.

And if any of you have any suggestions, I'm open. Russell is considering doing a little webpage about the whole fiasco, and I'm considering hanging out at the dealership (in cognito, of course) and chit-chatting with some of the customers about my experiences.

Anyway. I'm taking a little break from the bitch fest now. Thanks for listening

Drama

So, I mentioned my "new" car, right? Well it's been in the shop since Monday afternoon.

The a/c had been doing funny things--like not working all of the time--and then Sunday afternoon the Service Engine Light came on. I called Bell Honda, where I got it, and was basically told that I was SOL and that I would have to take care of all of it--and that it probably wasn't a big deal anyway (I'm not kidding). I took the truck to a Nissan dealership, since they know the vehicles and I didn't want anything to do with Bell Honda any more than I had to.

Very VERY long story short, the A/C had been overcharged with freon, which was causing it to cut out from time to time. The Knock Sensor and O2 Sensors had gone bad, the latter as a result of a crack in the exhaust manifold. Total estimated charges: about $1500.

At the recommendation of both the service manager at Pinnacle Nissan (the good guys), and a salesman at Scottsdale Volkswagon (Russell also bought a new car on Monday!), I called Bell Honda again and spoke to the Used Car Sales Manager. Supposedly he is working with his Service Manager to see what they can do to take care of the Sensors (the Exhaust Manifold is covered under the warranty I bought--but of course that part costs less than 1/3 of the total estimate, AND has a $100 deductible).

Still waiting to hear back from the folks at Bell Honda. I leave for work in an hour and then won't get to do much--if anything--about it until tomorrow when I get off work at about 1pm. Needless to say I'm rather frustrated and more than slightly bummed to be shelling out big bucks for my 2 week old (to me, anyway) car--ON MY BIRTHDAY.

*sigh*

Looming

My 35th birthday. It's just around the corner. Less than a week away. It was hip and fashionable to be 31 and 32. 33 and 34 were a little depressing, and 35 is just going to beat me upside the head and leave me bleeding in a ditch on the outskirts of madness.

I don't *feel* old, and I certainly like to think I don't *look* old. Generally speaking I don't *act* old (except that I have to go to bed around 8-9pm on account of having to be at work at 6am lately). So how come a number can assign that attribute to me?

I started taking a Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplement a couple of weeks ago, at the suggestion of a co-worker who had listened to me complain about the soreness in my hands and knees. It has helped wonders, but everytime I take it I think "old....old..." I was also pleased to see the reduction of fine lines in my face when I used some sampling of anti-wrinkle cream that mom had recieved from Lancome. I have wrinkles! I have wrinkle cream! What's the world coming to???

At least I have a sporty yellow Xterra and the ablility to wear my hair in pigtails. I listen to relatively cool music and my best friend at work is 23 years old. That's gotta count for something!

Kerfluffle

it's just a word I've had on my brain for about 5 days now. not sure why.

So the deal with the last post--in abridged form--was that there was a woman at the shoe store talking, VERY CALMLY, to her signifigant other about some sort of major "no I don't want a divorce, but..." issue. The entire time I was there, she strolled around on the phone, casually trying on shoes and telling this person that she couldn't believe he'd lie about this and blahblahblah. I couldn't decide if she was my hero for being so calm and together about it, or if she was a total nutcase for the very same reason.

But the computer choked, and here we are.

Here's what I know:

1) I am SERIOUSLY missing my best friend Kimbra, who will be having a baby in a couple of months. I feel horrible that I am not there for her right now, and for the first time in my life I am fascinated with babies. (No mom, I don't want one of my own...I'm just paying more attention to them now.)

2) I bought a new car last week! I went out "just to look" and ended up getting suckered into driving and listening to the spiel on a 2000 Nissan Xterra. If you know me at all, you know that I've *always* wanted an Xterra. If you know Russell the least little bit, you know that his jousting colours are Black and Gold. So there sat a Yellow and Black Xterra, and they gave me a smokin' deal, in addition to $2000 for my faithful but sad little truck. I now have AC, a CD/cassette stereo, a moonroof, a backseat that I can haul relatives around in, should they grace us with their presence again, and automatic doorlocks--a luxury I cannot get used to.

3) My feet hurt today.

4) Bucket has the weakest stomach of any creature on the planet, evidenced by his throwing up not once but three times before Russell left for work the other day-- and once (or twice) more in the crate waiting for me when I got home.

5) There is always more to say than I can recall sitting here at the keyboard.

Heroin or Heroine? You be the judge...

**a multitude of expletives escape me at this point**

I just spent a good portion of time writing about a funny thing that happened to me today, and when I tried to post Blogger told me, in no uncertain terms, to push off.

I'm pissed, cos it was a good story and now I don't have time to re-write it. Maybe I'll come back to it sometime when I'm not worried about my makeup and hair.

(date night tonight)

poing!

I have said it before and I will say it again: If nothing in the world about blogging appeals to you, you have never read Dooce. Please please please check it out.

That said, I would like you to know about my afternoon of Poo Patrol here at Casa Hoefs-Benson. It has become an exercise in danger and futility. The back yard has become a field (albeit tiny) of pampas grass or, as I now like to call it, pompous grass--due to the way it just sort of sneeringly waves at me as I walk around scouting for poo. "Ha Ha! We grow stonger and longer and there is nothing you can do.ah.ah.ah."
Our lawnmower has ceased to function, likely a result of being left outside during the multitude of winter rainshowers. I've cleaned the filters, checked the fuel and oil, and changed the sparkplug to no avail. My dad recommended checking to see if there is indeed even a spark to plug, but my arms aren't long enough to pull the rope *and* hold the sparkplug up to the metal surface of the mower. Long story short, I haven't mowed since about 3 weeks after we moved in. It's amazing how long the grass has gotten really. The dogs don't like to poop in certain areas because the grass is so long. It tickles their butts, and no one wants that. When they do poo in the long grass it is impossible to see, so that when I do finally get the mower working (or we break down and buy or borrow another one), I will be treading on a veritable graveyard of crunchy-white dog doo.

Anyway. That's my dog doo tale. How was your day?

The Circus Has Left Town

Cavalia has finally packed up and moved on. It was a Cirque du Soleil production involving typical Cirque pagentry and acrobatics and...horses. They have been here since roughly the beginning of the year, and their tents on the grounds of the Princess Resort had become something of a fixture for me as I drove by them every day on my way to work. They were visible for miles, much to my delight, although this does make me something of a hypocrite, I suppose.

We finally went to see the show last week when my parents were in town. I wasn't sure what the show entailed, as the website is VERY vague, but knowing it was associated with Cirque and that my favourite scratch and sniff critters were involved was enough for me. It's a young show--only 18 months on the ground--and there were moments that dragged on forever, but on the whole, it was a great experience. Gorgeous animals, beautiful music, amazing feats of agility, balance, and daring--fantastic (in the truest sense of the word) atmosphere... The fact that my folks sincerely enjoyed it made it that much better. They don't go out much (save for boat races!), and see shows...well, never that I know of, so I was really hoping this would be a nice treat. My dad tried chatting up the sound/light technician who was in a "box" near our seats. We caught him playing solitaire before the show, and dad thought to give him a few pointers. He was, of course, French-Canadian however, and I think only nodded and grinned out of politeness.

At any rate, as I was driving to work last night, the huge white tents were down and all that remained were the scaffolds upon which they had been anchored. By 6am, everthing was gone save the workers' tents.

Now what will I dream of on my way to work?

dark ages

Blogger is having some issues today and I'm uncertain whether this post will ever see the masses. I've been trying to log in for about 15 minutes now, and what I've finally gotten into looks, at best, like a poor Beta version of a blogging engine. This does not happen infrequently--I usually just give up before now. I may look into other blogoptions.

So. It's 12:18pm on Monday afternoon and I need to stay awake until about 7am tomorrow morning. Perhaps a nap is in order for later this evening, think? Here's the nutshell:

Four weeks ago I was told that I had been volunteered two work three weeks of overnights. Wahoo.
On the last day of the second week of overnights we were told that we would go back to days for one week and then back to nights. Damn.
On the second DAY back to days, I was told that I would NOT be going back to overnights the following week.
Two days later, I was told that I would be going BACK TO OVERNIGHTS this week.
The week after I come back from working 10pm-6am (a week in which I will sleep from roughly 7am-3pm), I will be working M-F 7AM to 3PM!!!!

Can you see my frustration at the scheduling going on? I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

However, the happy bottom line of it all is that for the next two weeks I'll get to be home in the evenings and on the weekends with my honey! That is the most best news in a long time!

Overall, the past few weeks have allowed me more time to spend with him on the weekends and evenings, and has made me all the more aware of the fact that, although I *do* enjoy my job (most of the time), it's far more important to me and to our relationship that I get to spend more time with Russell. So I'm looking, I'm looking.

Good Friday

I don't know exactly what that means--"Good Friday". Shouldn't it be "Bad Friday" in the views of Christians? Perhaps I have my facts skewed, but to call it Good Friday seems a bit contradictory. Anyway.

It is Friday, isn't it? My schedule--as always--has got me all befuddled in regards to what day of the week it is. I'm back on days at least, and I'm still adjusting to that. Can't say I'm overjoyed to be back in the mayhem of the store and dealing with all of that customer stuff. At one point yesterday I was dealing with one couple in the store about furniture, another irate "lady" at the counter complaining about the fact that she was an idiot and couldn't interpret one of our signs (i.e. she wanted the discount on something that was CLEARLY not part of the sale), had two calls on hold and an employee who wanted to go on lunch. All this while I was ringing up customers at the register. I'm not kidding. Nor am I exaggerating. I wish like hell I was.

Anyway. That's why, instead of blogging, I should be working on my resume. I've started looking in earnest for a nice, boring, M-F 8-5 kinda job. So I'll have to deal with some traffic. So I'll have to dress up a bit. At this point I SO don't mind any of those things. I want a regular schedule every week. I want to be able to make appointments and not have to change them at the last minute because when I go into work the next day my schedule has changed. I want to be able to plan to go places with Russell on the weekends, and have time to spend with him in the evenings. It would be nice to have dinner with him from time to time!

Oh hell. It's 10:15 and I have to leave in 15 minutes to go to work. Bleh. Later.

OMG OMG OMG

I SOOOOOO don't want to go back to work today. They have switched us around so that we are working days again this week and going back to overnights next week. It's been nice in that I've had some nice time to spend with my folks, but they are leaving this evening, and I have to work all day today.

Plus I just dread being in that madhouse of a store again and dealing with all the crazy customers and I haven't been there in two weeks and won't know what the hell is going on anymore and there are at least 4 new employees that I've never even met.

phew.

So yeah. I don't want my folks to leave (they've been in town for a week but I feel as though I've hardly seen them) and I don't want to go back to work. Waaah waaah waaaah.... I know, I know.

Funk

I'm in it. A funk. Not sure what the deal is, but I'm just not feeling cheery and vivacious. I'm pissed of that I work my ass off and go above and beyond, and I ask for ONE DAY off and not only did I not get the day off, but I'm working overnights this week so that while my folks (and other family members) are here, I will see them even LESS because I'll be sleeping during the day.

All the same, I dread going back to days because I'll be working that frenetic store with no chance to start and finish a project and the ever changing schedule that my Tauren heart so loathes. I keep thinking about trying to find a new job and then I get depressed thinking about the fact that I'm going to be 35 this year and I still don't have a "career". 5 more years to 40 and I still haven't grown up yet. What the hell is wrong with me?

So yeah, I'm PMSing and all this stuff will be out of my head in about a week, but until then I'm going to wallow in my funk and probably eat a lot of chocolate. I need a vacation. And some good news!

Arrived

It's Friday, and although I don't know what the date is, the fact that it's finally Friday in so ingrained in my subconscious that nothing else really matters. It's so nice to be faced with a weekend during which I don't have to subject myself to snooty old Scottsdale people who haggle over a 10% off sign for an $8 item and then hand me a $100 bill to pay.

I was awakened by Bucket's whining at about 11:30 this morning, and I *tried* to stay awake since it was obvious that both dogs intended to report me to animal cruelty if I forced them to sleep any longer, but it just wasn't happening. They are so mistreated! I brought them up to the dark coolness of the bedroom and we all snoozed for another 2.5 hours. Whee.

Since awakening, I've been at work cleaning the kitchen. Eventually the rest of the house will fall in line, as my parents are coming to town on Tuesday and, although they are fully aware of what a slob I am, I don't intend to subject them to it.

It's 4:30 now and I haven't even finished the kitchen. I did stop to watch "Driven: Jennifer Garner" because she is so damn cute and I was eating lunch (breakfast?) anyway, but still you'd think I'd have gotten more done in 2 hours. I'm telling you, we are filthy slobs. Doesn't help that we live in the dustiest place on the face of the planet. If I don't dust every single day there is a 1/4 inch layer of desert on everything. *sigh*

On an up note, Russell will be home from work relatively soon, and I'll get to hang out with him ALL WEEKEND! What a treat! I've got to get a new job so I can do this "weekend" thing more often. :)

Still Standing

So I was admonished-by Russell!-yesterday for not updating my blog. Maybe some folks thought I fell over the side of a mountain on my ride last Friday. Not so. I'm still upright and breathing, no bumps or bruises to show for the outing. Only, in fact, a mild soreness in my neck and shoulders from absorbing all of the shock *not* absorbed by my rigid framed bike.

So yeah, it was a nice ride. South Mountain was a bit daunting on the approach in my truck. I really thought I might die that day. Thankfully my guides knew of some flat and easy bits, with blessedly few drops and climbs. There were, however, rocks and boulders galore and my desire--nay, NEED--for a suspension bike was jolted into my scrambled brain at every turn. I rode sandwiched between the two ladies, who used to ride cross country (my preferred ride), but now race downhill. I actually got a compliment from one of them, who said I have really good bike skills "...you just need a better bike..." No kidding. Ya think? My Giant Cadex has served me over-well, but it *is* 13 years old. So the search for a new two-wheeled ride has been added to my agenda as well.

Anyway.

I started working overnights this week, as I was volunteered for a Store Reset Project. So far it hasn't really been that bad; I stayed up late Saturday night so I would sleep Sunday, and the rest has been cake. Today, however, I forced myself to roll out of bed at what I thought was 2pm. I had to pee so bad I thought I'd rupture something if I didn't answer the call. I figured that 2pm had given me 7 hours of sleep, and that's not bad, so what the hell, right? (I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to bed on account of the dogs jumping at the chance to NOT be asleep anymore) So I got up and did my business, let the dogs out and chilled with them for a bit. Went into the kitchen to do something and looked at the clock on the microwave. 1:15. WTF?? Yeah. Apparently the bedroom clock has been shifted a bit, which is easy enough to do if you hit the wrong button while fumbling for the snooze--I've done it countless times myself. So now that I know I only got six hours of sleep I'm suddenly exhausted again. Prolly need to nap a bit this evening. Prolly won't.

It's all good though, because I'm *really* enjoying being able to be in the store and get stuff DONE without all those interruptions from pesky customers. :P

So now you know what's what and I'm going to go get some grub and see what mischief the dogs are in. It's blazing hot right now, so I think walkies will wait til later this evening (okay, hon?).

Whereupon I Gush About My Playdate...

So I was putzing around on the computer the other day, and finally stumbled across the MBAA (Mt. Biking Association of Arizona--or something) website. And from there I found a link to a women's riding group. And from there I found a link to some forums where these ladies post rides and such. And now I have a ride date scheduled with complete strangers at South Mountain, which is about 45 minutes from here.

Now, before everyone goes and gets all worked up about what a potential danger this is let me just say this: "Pipe down and let me enjoy this!"

I'm so excited about riding again I can hardly wait. I'm even MORE excited about meeting some new people and possibly making some new friends. There are two ladies meeting me--and they both race downhill so I fully expect to feel like a big dork smushing my out-of-shape pudge into bike shorts and a jersey and cruising up on my now 13 year old rigid bike... But they seem pretty nice and hopefully they can point me to a nice shop around where I can finally realise my age-old dream of upgrading (the bike--the body is mine to figure out!).

Anyway. I need to go clean up and lube the bike--it's been sitting dormant in the dusty garage for 6 months down. Would suck to have a chain die on the trail tomorrow! After that, a dog walk or two and I'm off to work where I have been warned I will get an earful from a pompous and pissy customer. Whoohoo.

Derailed

I was going to spend some time quoting some of my favourite bits of Pratchett--my current favourite brilliant author--but I'm a bit distracted and disconcerted by the very real nearly full-on brawl just enacted by the furkids. Their roughhousing just escalated to a very scary and potentially dangerous point. I actually had to pull them apart and "roll" Delilah because she wouldn't chill out. I think that a) their collars got stuck together or b) one's mouth got stuck in the other's collar because they seemed to be physically stuck together for a few seconds. That and the fact that normally when we scream "That's ENOUGH" they stop rumbling and give us the "What? Who? It wasn't me!" look and this time they didn't even hear me.

They are fine now, playing like normal and being pretty mellow, so I think it was just a fear thing--I know it scared the hell out of me.

Anyway. No Pratchett for you right now. I need to do walkies with the pups and then I'm going to REI to buy myself some new trail/running shoes. Now that the dogs are showing promise as climbing/running/trail buddies, I need to invest. My old running shoes are almost 2 years old, and that's SO wrong.

And it's my day off! Woohoo. Who knows what else the day holds? Hopefully a lot of slackin!

Guess!

You'll never believe what happened yesterday! It rained. Again. Twice. On my way to work and on my way home (maybe it's a sign?). The back yard is now so wet and muddy that Bucket actually stepped in mud this morning and sunk up to his ankle. It was pretty freaking funny too, as he glared at the ground as though it had just done the most offensive act ever. Just as another testament to the wetness here--after he sunk in the mud, his paw was merely wet--not really muddy. The ground is THAT sodden.

*sigh*

okay, well, I am a bit behind in my schedule today--I was having freakish dreams and feeling soooo exhausted that I hit snooze about 5 too many times this morning (Russell will find that amusing, I'm sure, after our little "discussion" about the alarm clock yesterday). So. I'd better get going; the natives are restless!

Wettest Desert EVER

In addition to the nearly complete week of rain we got last week, we had an out-and-out cloudburst yesterday evening. I was at work and was fairly certain that a freight train was rumbling over the roof of the store. Our back yard is a mud pit and there is a tiny pond where the pups had dug a little hole.

When Russell and I were driving to the trainer's on Monday we talked about the need for us to get some photos of the very green desert, because no one will believe it. I'll work on that for you. It's a bit freakish, really.

And despite my years of training in removing rocks from every yard of every house I've ever lived in, I now find myself removing clumps of grass and errant weeds from the rocks that make up our front yard.

Desert, my ass!

Apparently it was hailing in this area yesterday afternoon! If you have some time, go to this site and click on "Weather". From there you can view a slideshow (link in the center of the page) and see some proof. :)

Anyway. Time to walk the dogs.

Actual Letter

I just sent this email to our newly acquired Dog Trainer. We met with him last week for our introduction/evaluation, and went yesterday to our first lesson. He is amazing. I have hope!

Holy Moly, J.R.!

I can't believe learning how to use those prong collars has made all the difference in the world. Russell took Bucket out last night for a short walk and was amazed at the change, but we chalked it up to the lesson being fresh in his head.

I just came in from working with both dogs (seperately) and I have to say how completely shocked I am at the progress. We worked in the street and sidewalk in front of our house, and there were a few people walking and a number of cars drove by--nothing major, but some nice "easy" distractions.

Bucket was a champ--I hardly had the chance to make any corrections whatsoever after the intial check when we left the house. He still needs to be reminded to sit when we stop, but that's a minor detail.

Delilah scared the hell out of me by her freakish resistance to the "check". She leaped up into the air, flinging saliva everywhere. She pawed at the leash, pulled away as hard as she could, and flipped around like a dog possessed. If we hadn't seen you work with Bucket yesterday, I'd have probably given up on her, but I made her come to me--resistance and all. After about three or four scenes like this, she is a completely different dog. She's better than Bucket! She is relentlessly at my side--again, hardly giving me the chance to make any corrections. I can stop on a dime and she is on her butt at my side.

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I know we have a lot of work to do with getting them settled down and to be calm around new people and other dogs, but this is an amazing start to the process.

Thanks so much for spending the time with us that you have so far. We are really looking forward to learning more from you!

Sincerely,
Kerri, Russell, Bucket and Delilah




Smile! The world is around you. . .

Things I love about My Love

His gorgeous blue eyes.
He will do things like try Falafel, because I like it.
He always asks if I need anything when he goes downstairs for a drink or a snack.
He trusts me to drive his truck (sometimes with him in it!). :)
He looks like an angel when he sleeps.
I can burp or fart in his presence (and often get a hi-five!).
His hobbit toes.
He indulges me constantly with things that make him crazy.
When we fight, we still somehow laugh.
His amazing design talent.
His laugh.
Curling up on the couch in his arms.
His sexy tatoos.
He not only loves me despite my random bouts with melancholy and hysteria, but counsels me through them.
The way he looks at me when he says "I love you".
He is my best friend.

I'm sure there are others who think they could challenge me for the title, but I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest girl in the world. Russell is just amazing...and...
HE's ALL MINE!!!

I love you, baby!

Pouring

Again. The rain KEEPS coming down. Here. In the DESERT. The back and side yards are flooded. There is a veritable river on our street. Cacti are drowning.

On an up note, we are going to the Arizona Renaissance Festival on Sunday (it's only supposed to rain through tomorrow, so while we will be traipsing through layers and layers of desert sand and mud, we won't actually get wet from the shins up)! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm not sure why, really. It's been such a long time since we've been to a faire, and they *do* hold a special place for us you know. Besides, it's just going to be really nice to get out of the house and do something! We are going with Russell's boss and his wife (VERY cool people) and hopefully a couple of his co-workers. The dogs, alas, will have to stay home. No dogs allowed. (I almost spelled it "aloud", which is kinda funny when you think about it.)

Speaking of the dogs, next week is a big money week for them. I've made them appointments at the Vet's next Wednesday-something which was long overdue--and the dog trainer guy is coming over Thursday evening to meet them and us and to see if we all like each other and whatnot. If that goes well and all his references check out, we will likely hire him on to train us to train our dogs so we can all live together in harmony. I'm not sure if he can train me to get off my fat butt and spend quality time leash training the beasts, but perhaps the pain of writing the check will help in that process.

Anyway. It's my day off and I've worked most of it, cleaning the hell out of this house. So I'm going to go play!

cya!

Bitter Apple?

So Shanny says....but Shanny doesn't know that Delilah LIKES Bitter Apple. I bought a bottle to spray on the wood chips at our old how so the pups wouldn't chew them. I sprayed some on my hand to see what the reaction would be... Bucket fled to the other side of the room with his nose in a knot--if a dog could spit, he'd have done so. Delilah on the other hand wagged her tail and licked and licked and licked my hand as though it was spread with the most delightful tastiness EVER.

Good try, tho :)

More Exhaustion

It's 5:06am. I was planning on waking up around 5:30 today anyway because I have to be at work at 7... But I've essentially been awake since around 3am. Why? Because we have dogs.

For some reason, Delilah found it appropriate to begin barking about *something* around said ungodly hour. The blinds to the back yard were open and she was probably pissed about the lawnmower sitting in the yard (I tried to mow yesterday but couldn't get it to start). Then again, maybe she just likes to hear the sound of her own voice. Some of us do.

I tried to get back to sleep after she shut up, but worried thoughts of what they might shred next now that they have no beds kept me awake. Then Bucket started in on the whining at around 4:30.

Why, oh why, have I been blessed with the ability to wake up at the settling of dust when I am partnered with a man who, if he had an American Indian name, would be called "Sleeps Through Hurricanes"?

Does Kevlar Make Dog Beds?

Because they've chewed through another one. Yes, honey, the little green one was in the basket and they pulled it out again and it was an explosion of batting on the loft floor. I'm fairly certain that Delilah is the instigator in all of this. She has this bizarre habit of sucking on fabric. That of course evolves to tearing little bits off which evolves into "Hey, let's go for broke and tear it to shreds!"

Anyway. Dogs don't really need beds anyway, do they? I mean, hell, they're not even really supposed to live indoors. Let 'em sleep on the floor! As long as she doesn't start shredding the carpet we'll be okay, right?

I've gotten a couple emails out to some dog trainers/behaviourists here in Phoenix, so we might be putting one to employ. The first task for him/her will be to convince us to spend more time with the dogs, I'm sure. That will be the hardest step, as we are willing addicts of a game that sucks the hours from the day at lightning speed.

On another note, I've started doing the Pilates workout dvd that Russell picked up--oh, about a year ago. :) I did it on Tuesday for the first time and it kicked my ass. I'm so sore--but it's a deep down soreness in my bones, not just the superficial soreness of the muscles that you get from lifting weights. I just ache. I consider this a good thing. I gave myself yesterday off and did it again today. I won't be able to walk by the weekend.

That's all really.

Mini-Vac

A world of translations there, really. Especially considering that on this, the first day of my four-day-weekend, I intend to do a lot of cleaning. I actually vacuumed the other day (when the dogs shredded the bed), so I can probably skip that step. However, since Arizona is the dirtiest place I've ever lived--enough dust here to choke a small country--I may just have to whip it out again. The vacuum cleaner that is.

So, yeah, I am the first recipient of the newly initiated Four Day Weekend. Supposedly this is a new, regular thing to be rotated amongst the supervisors for the rest of eternity. What a cool thing. I hope it does happen again and that I have some forewarning so we can actually plan to do something cool, like pawn the dogs off on someone and skip town. As it is, I plan on the aforementioned cleaning and some gaming. I'm going to try to convice Russell to go on a little hike with me at some point over the weekend, and I would LOVE to go look at some new wheels. The weather is going to turn hot sooner or later and I am going to roast in my truck. Oh, and I think tonight we're going to go see a co-worker of his play some music. Heaven!

I did put together (finally) the CD rack that Bucket tried to eat, and despite missing a few important bits (the kickboard and the top) it's not really too bad. Now I just need to wade through the storage unit to rescue the remainder of the CDs and it will all be good. Actually we just need to empty out the storage unit entirely and save ourselves the $80/month or whatever it is. Perhaps this weekend will be a "clean-out-the-second-bedroom-slash-junk-room" adventure.

I'll keep you posted.

There are days

The dogs ate one of their beds this morning. Well, it doesn't really look like much was ingested, so I suppose it's more truthful to say that they shredded one of their beds. It's been a long time coming--bits and bits and bits have been pulled and we shout "NO" and they stop until they think we've forgotten about it. This morning they went for broke and I awoke to find a loft full of fiberfil and cedar chips. Fun stuff.

Now they are laying on the naked carpet looking sad and I'm so cold all I can think is "HA! You did this to yourselves!"

It's the 26th of January and I don't really think that I have committed to living in Phoenix yet. I haven't changed my driver's license or my truck's license plate. I haven't taken the dogs in to get new Arizona tags. I don't do anything but play video games and work. I need to make some friends or somehow get involved in something here so I can start to make it home. I feel like I'm still in that limbo I was in before the house sold in OKC--like I don't really belong anywhere. I have a four day weekend coming up and no plans. I really should do something about that.

Okay. Well, that said, I'm off. To play. I was going to go for a walk, but who am I kidding? It's 10 past 8pm, it's dark, and it's probably raining again. Yes. More rain. All it ever does here in ARIZONA is rain. I'm not lying. Exaggerating, yes. Lying, no. There have been floods recently. Yesterday something like 6 of 8 water treatment plants were not functioning because of flood related problems.

Anyway.

untitled

why do I have to title my posts anyway? so much pressure! and then I feel obligated to stick to some sort of imposed theme or subject. "colour *inside* the lines!" bah.

So today has been Sunday. I was off work--at least the paying sort--so when Russell and I got up I went straight to housework, doing some dishes, laundry, and general cleaning stuff while Russell continued some work on a way cool website he's doing. I took Bucket to the dog park (again! twice in two days!?? amazing!), where he charmed most everyone with his big goofy grin. I say *most* everyone, because I don't think the woman whose folding chair cover he peed on was very impressed. ;)

We splurged and ordered out from Claimjumpers (it's a free day for us diet-wise--which is not to say that we are "dieting" as much as just trying to eat more healthfully and, well, less), and now we are waiting somewhat impatiently for our game's log-in servers to come up so we can play!

that's all really. just killin time.

Whack (out of)

It feels like Monday to me, which is oh-so-confusing because it is, indeed, Friday. I'm glad to be working primarily early and mid-day shifts lately, but the days off in the middle of the week thing still throws me for a loop every time.

So it's 20 til 9 and I have to leave in about one hour for work. The dogs are wrestling at my feet, eager to get out all their energies before they get to rest up again in their crates for the day. Tonight they'll do it all again. Will they *ever* slow down?

Don't know if Shanny ever got to see the link, so I'll mention that the cool gift I got was an iPod Shuffle--a teensy little gadget that weighs about, oh, NOTHING, and holds 512k worth of songs. That's about 5-7 hours of music if I'm not mistaken. Woohoo! Plenty for me, and it shuffles everything automatically, so you never get the same mix of stuff. Very nifty. I downloaded and subsequently uploaded a bunch of stuff last night, and I'm going to do the crazy thing and listen to it on my way to work today. A test drive as it were.

Now, the aforementioned bump to the head is doing much better. The swelling has gone down and the scratch is crusting up sooooo nicely. :/ I was watching my feet instead of my head the other day at work, and in order to clear some clutter on the floor I had to sort of hop it. When I did this, I leaped unknowingly into the "Big Joe" (pallet jack) that was at half-mast *with* a pallet on it. My right temple met up with a corner of said pallet in a very dramatic fashion. I dropped to the floor and cried a bit before being ushered into a dark office with a bag of frozen vegetables. Fun times.

Breakfast time for me--ciao!

Lookeee!

My honey surprised me with a new toy when I got home last night, which was a welcome distraction from the aching head I had after leaping oh-so-ungracefully into the corner of a half-mast pallet lift at work. More about that later...

Check this out!

Combine this new gem with the news that I've finally gotten my cds out of storage (well, most of them) after over a year--I never really unpacked them/had access to them at The House in OK--and you have one VERY happy girl. And I have tomorrow off from work and perhaps this will be my new WoW!

Of course this is incentive to work out, so I need to get back down to the gym and shell out the bucks for that... ;)

And to shell out bucks, I need to work, and to work I need to be dressed and ready to leave in 20 minutes. Ack!

World of Difference

again, not writing for some time has garnered more responses than my actual posts.

hmm

Lots has been going on, primary being that I have a new job.

Not really. But it feels that way. My old boss was "suspended pending investigation" on New Year's Eve. Didn't see that coming, but as it turns out, it was painfully overdue. I'm finding out new horrors daily, such as: Small wonder we all felt strung out and frustrated and sick throughout the holiday season--we were apparently about 25-30 bodies short on staff. We had over 230 hours of overtime for the month of December; our new manager, who transferred from another store, was concerned that his previous location had around 30 hours. I have learned more and taken on more responsibility in the past two weeks than I had the previous two months.

We have a new General Manager and an additional Assistant GM, and they have been wonderful to work with. Communication is happening. Praise is being given. Organisation is happening. I like going to work now.

A great deal of that may have to do with the fact that we aren't as busy now that the holidays have passed. A bigger part may be that I have been working primarily day shifts for about a week and a half. All that really matters is that it is a much better place to be now, and I'm not nauseated before leaving for work anymore.

There's more, like how we went to Ikea to buy some CD cabinets and Bucket ate one of them before we even got it out of the box. And how horribly awful a movie Napoleon Dynamite is while, at the same time, being completely endearing. And that we are Arrested Development junkies (got the DVD collection for Christmas, if I didn't mention that previously). And how my best friend in the whole world even England is going to have a BABY!

But I won't go into all that right now. I'm stinky and need to bathe.

listen

I just had a beautiful two days--in a row--off with my honey. He has this week off from work (we won't discuss the enviousness I feel about this), and I somehow got Monday and Tuesday off, so after months of living the "two ships that pass in the night" life, we actually got to hang out. It was GREAT. We played WoW (of course), went shopping for a new office chair for me (one of my Christmas presents--woohoo!), took Bucket to the dog park that we accidentally discovered and which happens to be pretty damn close to the house, went grocery shopping--all the stuff that we used to do. We watched a couple episodes of "Arrested Development" (the first season DVD was another of my gifts), ate a bunch of junk food (New Years is just around the corner and we're bingeing before the Resolutions begin!), and just enjoyed our time together.

And now it's Wednesday and I have to be at work in just over an hour. And I feel sick. Not really physically sick, you know? It's all psychological. I DON'T want to go to work. I dread it. It's a long story, but there is a lot of bad feeling going around right now about certain people being played favourites to. There is also the non-suportive/non-communicative GM made *more* frustrating by the fact that the AGM is out of town this week. She is amazing and supportive and communicative and fun...and she's been gone since last Thursday. It's been very tough without her.

Anyway. It's time to start thinking very seriously about how to approach yet another job hunt. I would love to quit cold turkey, but the responsible side of me says "Wait until you've found something else!". So that's probably what I'll do. Sort of depends on how things work out for this Saturday. That's another long story (and ties in with the favouritism mentioned above)...I'll let you know how it turns out, at least.

later.

A Long Time Ago

Churches were the center of any town or community. The buildings were not merely used for religious practice; they were meeting halls and schools and, sometimes, centers of defense in times of need. They had very tall spires or towers so that people could locate them easily from miles around.

Yesterday morning I drove East on the 101 at 6:30 in the morning. In the distance I saw, to my horror, the giant blue spire that sits at the corner of the shopping district where I work. I had never realised that at night it is lit up and visible for miles and miles. So are shopping centers the new churches? Do they now give our cities their sense of self? "Here is Our Shopping Center! Behold its Majesty! Revel in its Importance to our Community!"

It kinda seems that way as the holiday approaches and there are so many thousands of people out fighting traffic and lines in order to gift family and friends with lots of "things". More than once as I have rung up a harried shopper's purchase at the store I have wondered when, if ever, these folks think about why Christmas even exists as a holiday. Pagan and Christian, there are pretty deep roots to all this "celebration", and I think all or most of it has been lost to the monsters of marketing.

So. Here's my challenge to you: if you are celebrating some sort of winter festival this year, be it Hannuka, Christmas, Solstice, Kwanzaa, or whatever...take a moment or two to stop and think about it. Give the season a little bit of reverence amidst the shopping and spending and wrapping and baking and eating. I'm not saying that all that stuff is wrong; I'd be a hypocrite to do so (I'm going out to finish my holiday shopping as soon as I'm done here)--I'm just saying that regrounding ourselves from time to time and remembering to be thankful and reverent (to Mother Nature or Jesus or, heck, yourself and your family--whomever floats yer boat) is a needed activity.

That said, I'm off to see the wizard... ;)

A Few Things. . .

If the hot cocoa cannister says "mix with 8oz warm milk..." don't imagine that substituting water will be a nice alternative. The cocoa folks know what they are talking about.

If you are holding a tube of pre-mixed pesto sauce and need to cut the top off for serving purposes, HOLD THE BOTTOM OF THE TUBE...not the top bit you are cutting off.

Guys: Soaking your dishes will win you points EVERY TIME. Leaving pizza sauce and cheese crusty plates in the sink to be washed will not.

Countdown

The desert is not a good place to have a holiday like Christmas. I'm having a hard enough time adjusting to the no-cold-no-green aspect; the lack of snow or even frost on my windshield just throws me completely off kilter. It doesn't seem possible that Christmas is 11 days away. I started shopping *yesterday* after a chat with my mom on the phone gave me the appropriate "D'OH" response.

On the up side, real trees are much less expensive here. Proximity to the mountains and all, I guess.

Another odd thing about this place is that there are trucks that hose down the desert. That's right. Any desert that encroaches on civilization (read that again and THINK about it...) is given a good water bath on a regular basis to keep the dust down. There is actually a sign in our neighbourhood that lists a toll-free number that residents can call if they feel the dust is not being appropriately nullified. Last night on my way home I found myself behind a big water truck that was spewing out thousands of gallons of water onto the side of the road.

*sigh*

ze's page

Oh! And explore ze's page!

It's fantastic stuff.

Okaaaaaaaay!

I've gotten more comments from *not* writing than when I was making a concerted effort. So while I wait for my mud mask to dry, I guess I can jot a few words (do we "jot" any more? sometimes pens feel so foreign in my hand) to my bereft readers.

You may have noticed that my last entry was November 21st. World of Warcraft came out on the 23rd. Hence my absence from most things resembling real life. WoW is the reason there is a layer of dogfur 1/4 inch thick covering every surface of the house. WoW is the reason frozen dinners are the meal of choice (well, that and the fact that I've been getting home from work at 12am and who wants to fire up the stove at that time of night?). The game consumes us as we try to attain levels and gear and OMG we are such geeks!

There are worse habits, you know. We are not drug addicts or gamblers. Neither of us smokes, robs liquor stores, or engages in kiddie porn. We pay roughly $30 a month to play a video game during most of our waking moments. There *ARE* worse habits.

So now that that has been loosed upon you, I'll return to matters more mundane, such as the fact that I have the next day and 1/2 off. What a welcome respite from the Wild World of Retail. I have promised myself for the past few days that I would spend my weekend looking for another job. I should hold myself to that. I've decided that a boring M-F 8-5 job might not be so bad after all. It's a trade off really... Do a job I enjoy during the worst possible hours, or do a job I can tolerate and have evenings and weekends to see my honey and have a life? I'd like to make my life and my job two separate entities, and right now that's just not happening. Who wants to socialise or shop or go for mt. bike rides at 2am? So maybe there are a few people, but I suspect they are a select group and not at all easy to hook up with. Thank you, but I'll take the travelled road on this one.

And then there is this. Totally unrelated, but something that has stuck with me for over a week now. I was driving to Mesa to deliver our rent check and I drove past what appeared to be a cotton field. Not sure that's what it was, as it seems unlikely that such a crop would grow in Arizona, but that's what it looked like. Big billowy tufts of white all dotting this huge field. And suddenly there I was, getting all verklempt thinking that it looked like snow and missing Oklahoma of all things! It's been raining here for days but we will not see snow unless we travel to the mountains. I miss winter.

Anyway. There you go.

Desert Curmudgeon?

It's just a phase, I'm sure! Apparently I was more hilarious prior to The Move. I think I'm still working through the Tauren abhorrence of upheaval and the loss of my ruts. Once I settle in here and find my place I'll return to my formerly jovial and amusing self!

I think I still am feeling that limbo sort of thing where I don't really belong here. Having a job helps; I'm talking to real live human beings again and a kid who listed "mt. biking and hiking" among his interests applied the other day. Maybe he'll get hired and I can bug him to show me some trails. Then I'll meet other bikers and get back that part of my life and feel even MORE settled.

At any rate, thanks to Shannon and David for their wonderful comments. To David, I must say that the "sad and sorry" comment applied to the quantity, NOT the quality of my posters. :) I know that my folks and my best friend read the Blog, but they never comment. Russell reads and comments from time to time, but NOT ENOUGH! My fellow Larp-er Chris in Dallas reads--or used to--but hasn't commented in some time. I think fellow WoW-er Brian might take a peek now that he knows I'm here, but so far has not said hello. So here's a message to all you lurkers: I KNOW YOU ARE OUT THERE! For the love of pete, just say "Hi" once in a while. It's not that difficult and it will do wonders for my ego--cos you all know how fragile and insecure I am! LOL!

In other news:
I have been given the task of making devliled eggs and perhaps a "jello salad" for Thanksgiving Dinner at my sister's. I had previously informed her that I love to bake and do some really good deserts--that I'd even do a veggie or fruit tray if needed. And the email I get today informs me that I've been given deviled eggs and/or jello salad. WTF? I think I can manage the eggs. Jello salad? Not only does it sound gross; I have no idea what it involves. I'm pretty sure it's the POLAR OPPOSITE of baking.

Roto-Blog

My fellow internet denizen, David, has a blog here, and while I've always thought it a clever title and apropo to the vehicle, this morning it really dawned on me.

Journals and Blogs should clean things out a bit more perhaps than I've allowed. I do censor myself here because I know it's being read. Read by a sad sorry few, to judge by the comments or, rather, lack thereof, but read nonetheless. I wonder how healthy that is? It's enough that we go through our everydays censoring our thoughts and actions for fear what someone else might think, but to do it here, in a place that should serve as some sort of catharsis is just wrong.

That said, I'm not going to suddenly launch into a cursing rant about my deepest darkest fears and desires, but I will promise to (try) to be a little more forthcoming about stuff and not just tell you about cleaning the kitchen or getting my bank stuff sorted out. I'm still going to talk about the dogs and Russell, and I may even mention work from time to time. But I think I'm going to unleash a bit more. I owe it to myself. And you're all adults. I don't have to protect you from anything.

But we'll start on that for the next session. For now I have to go to work. :)

Observations

1) Living in Phoenix is kind of like being on vacation everyday, at least from the scenery standpoint. There are mountains and palm trees and it feels a little like any movie about Hollywood I've ever scene. Or Miami Vice. Either way, neither places are ones I'd ever hoped to inhabit.

2) The weather has been nice, I gotta say. Cool and sunny during the day and downright chilly at night. It's a shame I spend every waking moment indoors. Gotta do something about that.

3) The birds at the Arizona Bread Company 'round the bend from where I work are downright shameless beggars, but they gave me a hearty laugh today as they swooped en masse to pick up my tossed calzone bits.

4) I need one of those voice-recorder things so I can remember little bits of wisdom I think during the day, cos I sure as hell can't remember them on my own. HINT HINT

5) The job has been tolerable this week, owing mostly to the fact that I've not been there on my own as much. And I'm getting to know the store a little better. And I've started to just pretend like I know a lot more than I do.

6) The more I look at the computer the more my eyes hurt and, did you hear? They are finding that prolonged computer usage seems to result in an increase in glaucoma cases--particularly in nearsighted folks. *sigh*

7) Yeah. So. Tomorrow is my day off. I'll let you know how my jaunt to the Bank goes--they made a deposit to my savings that should have been to my checking, and now I'm overdrawn. They've admitted it was their mistake, for the most part. Now I just gotta make them own up and fix it. War, I say, WAR!

and, goodnight.

Fog

I'm never sure what day it is anymore, since I have such a whacked out work schedule. Today is Monday, because the dog calendar on the tv says so, but it feels like a Thursday or something. I guess it's my Wednesday, because my ONLY day off this week is Thursday...three days from now. "Overtime. Overtime. Overtime." That is my mantra and it shall keep me plugging along. The bills aren't giving up; how can I?

It's raining again. This is the wettest desert I've ever been in. Sure, sure, it's the only desert, but it's still the wettest. People keep saying we need it, but for what? Are the rocks around here some sort of life form that has been conspiratorialy(!!??!) kept from the rest of the world?

Anyway. I went to let the dogs out, and there was the rain. Damn.

And I have to leave for work in about an hour, so I'm going to go bathe and eat and other mundane things.

Poo Patrol

It's a brighter day! Spicy ginger and garlic chicken in the oven, flip flops on my feet. Headed into the backyard to de-poopify it. Delilah is a poo-prude, we've decided. She has issues with poopin while on walks; she always saves it for the yard. Bucket, in typical man-style, will poop anywhere, anytime--including the yard in prolific quantities.

In other news:
I have to work every day except Thursday next week. But OH! the overtime! Right? Right. And I'm only "alone" (aka, the sole supervisor) in the store for two hours on Tuesday night. That makes a huge difference in my "I hate this f*$&ing job" mantra. This week it will simply be "I hate these f**#ing hours".

Poo awaits.

Some Stuff

Um. I just wrote a lot of words about my psycho freak out yesterday, but it's probably not something you want to hear about and mostly I just needed to put some things into words to try to work it out.

Suffice it to say:
1) I'm going through a phase where it seems like everything I do is messed up. In the past month I've been rear-ended, backed into someone, cut and bruised myself in amazingly imaginative ways, dropped and broken things, burnt things, lost things, etc, etc, etc.... The planets are mis-aligned, surely.
2) The dogs are frustrating me beyond reason and after talking to Russell about it we are going to make a concerted effort to spend more active time with them in hopes of alleviating that frustration. If that doesn't work, we may look into rehoming them. We got up at the ass-crack of dawn this morning to take them for a walk, and that actually was really nice. It was great for us to be able to spend more time together and talk, too. I miss that.
3) My dream job is turning into a nightmare (I'm actually a little sick to my stomach right now thinking of going back in, and yesterday I very nearly threw up thinking of it...long story), but I've decided to stick it out for a bit longer to see if things get better. I think I can last through the Holiday Rush at least, and not let them down and keep some $$ rolling in so we can take care of some bills and have Holidays ourselves.
4) Russell is the most amazing person ever in the whole world to just listen to my ranting and raving and not flee screaming from the house in a fit of terror. I was appallingly weepy, needy, bitchy, and hurtful last night, and he stuck by me through it all, just listening and letting me know that he wants to help in any way he can. I'm not sure I would have done the same in his position (I was that horrible). I'm so lucky to have a friend/partner like him.
5) I'm feeling much better right now, but still dreading work. I have to leave here in about an hour. Middle shift, and I'm going to do my damndest to get out of there ON TIME tonight. I still don't know my schedule for tomorrow or next week, which puts the Tauren in me right up against the precipice of insanity, but I'll find out today AND get paid, so perhaps it will all turn out okay.

So there you go. A more concise rant than the original one. Fewer sordid details. Trust me when I tell you, you don't want to know.

Oh yeah...

By the way, a college friend of mine sent me an article and this link. We went to school with Laura. She's now going to be on Trading Spaces.
I'm so freaking proud to be working a shitty retail job at this moment.

*sigh*

Exhaustion

I am tired. Yesterday was the worst day ever (so far) at the store. I had to take my lunch before I'd even been there for two hours and didn't get another break the entire evening (and I was there until nearly midnight). I was the only person with a set of keys or a badge, and there were 2 or three major furniture load-outs which necessitated someone going to the trailers--with keys. I could go on. And on. I left quite a lengthy little "journal" for the opener this morning. In retrospect it may have been a little more whining than constructive information, but I really needed to vent.
Thank goodness I work 10-7 today (nearly guaranteed to be a regular-length shift instead of having to worry about customers coming in late for huge furniture sales and then jamming up the computers with icko credit cards and tieing up the front two registers until nearly a quarter to 10.) and I'm off tomorrow. Not sure when my next day off will be, but I haven't yet had two days off in a row. Wouldn't be so bad, but after yesterday, I need a full-length vacation. And then Russell needed to wake up at 4am to work a bit from home (guess whose side of the bed the alarm is on...), and then of course he popped in to say goodbye before he left a little before 7. I'm NOT complaining; I love that he does that. I'm just a little more tired than usual for being jolted from sleep several times over the course of my already stunted naptime.
So I'm exhausted. Mentally, physically, and in every other way exhausted. I really hate sleeping through my day off, particularly since Ikea opens today and I'd hoped to go down tomorrow, but I'll wager I spend a goodly portion of Thursday sleeping or at least lounging as lazily as possible.
Anyway.

I want to know....

What kind of job (or sick mind) a person has to have to enable them to spend >$550.00 on Christmas ornaments!

Lady came into the store last night and did just that. Three baskets of glitter-encrusted glass ornaments. She didn't even bat an eye when I gave her the total. I might not have thought much of it except that she admitted to having one 10 foot tree that was already filled to capacity and a garagefull of yet more decorations. To the point where she's embarrassed to open her garage door while townhouse neighbours are nearby (you learn a lot about a person while you're taking 20 minutes to personally handle and ring up their $500 worth of glass and glitter.).

Anyway.

We went to see The Incredibles today, and it was a great flick. That should come as no surprise, as Pixar has never disappointed. We were going to go for a hike, but it rained today (not sure if anyone else besides me understands the irony of all the damn rain here in the desert!!!), so post Cine-Capri we went for food and grocery and then came home to watch Calendar Girls, throughout which my eyes leaked profusely. Major chick flick, and props to my honey for suffering through it with me and not making nasty comments about old nekkid boobies.

Dooce!

Kimbra

She's my best best best friend, and she called me last night to say hello and get the skinny--cos I don't update my blog enough (or, probably more to the point, with enough juicy life details). Hm. So.

It's 10:30 on Friday morning, and I can hear the trash truck roaming around the neighbourhood and I'm cringing with the realisation that there is quite a lot of nastiness in the fridge that needed to be thrown out and taken to the curb last night. Things are starting to get stinky. I didn't do it yesterday morning, and didn't get home until nearly midnight last night (this new job is fun and all, but my GOD the hours suck ass!) and well, it just didn't get done.

I have to work 1-10 tonight and tomorrow night, but I'm off on Sunday. We have no plans that I know of, but I suspect we may try to go see a movie. Or maybe we'll just sit around all day and play WoW. I'm trying to convince myself to quit cold turkey so I can have my life back, but Russell's very excited about the prospect of us getting to play together at release. That would actually be a cool thing, except for the fact that I now work the shittiest hours on the planet and am never home at the same time as him. Anyway.

Maybe we can go for a hike on Sunday, like we briefly did last weekend after working on his new office space. There is a trail just on the way to the new (temporary) location of BlueSquare Studios, so we stopped off and walked a bit. It was really cool, and a nice workout. Yeah, maybe I'll lobby for that.

This split weekend/weekdays off thing is for the birds. I'm not giving up on the job yet, because I *do* enjoy it, but the hours are not going to get any better--and in fact are guaranteed to get worse over the holidays. I'm going to stick it out a bit more and see if I can hack it. At least until the 13th when I get my first paycheck which will have substantial overtime. Perhaps that will cushion the absentee-honey blows a bit.

Anyway. Other than working and gaming and reorganising the garage and playing with the new washing machine, there really isn't that much to report. I don't have a life here yet outside of all that. I miss my biking buddies in OKC. I miss having an indoor soccer team. I miss being bored at work and having big conversations about *stuff* with co-workers. I miss Russell!!

I think, on that note, that I will go play with the pups a bit and take a shower a bit later go to work a bit later still. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get home closer to 10pm tonight like I'm supposed to.

Hypocrite!

Yeah, that's me. Because I am going to bitch about the ignorance of the American public and their choice of President. I say "their" and "hypocrite" because, you guessed it, I didn't vote. I am registered in Oklahoma (no time to get registered here before the election) and completely forgot I could get an absentee ballot for OK right up until sometime last week. I totally dropped the ball, but somehow I'm fairly confident with the fact that my one lousy vote would not have tipped the scales in Bible-thumping-let's-kill-everyone-different-from-us-and-if-we-can't-kill-them-we-can-at-least-take-over-their-lives-militia-style Oklahoma.

*sigh*

So we will continue to live the lie of the Iraqi war--no, wait, the war is officially over (although more servicemen have died since the end of the war than during the whole of the actual war)...so we'll just continue to pay billions of dollars into an effort to rebuild a country that was mostly just fine until we stuck our noses into it. Yeah, Saddam was an asshole. So is Bush, by my standards. Good thing the USA is the only country with enough arrogance to insist that everyone does things our way, or we might be faced with Canada or France barging in to oust him!! But I digress.

We will continue to live in a so-called "Advanced" society where discrimination over folks who love differently than a select few in power is not only okay, but promoted. We will most likely see the appointment of one, possibly two or more Supreme Court Justices that subscribe to the same belief system as Dubya. Scary times, scary times.

I need to do some more research, I suppose, but all in all, I'm pretty disappointed. But hey, we got a new washing machine (after a month and a half without), so I shouldn't complain. I should shut up and go launder.

technoburp

sometimes the computer just has the hiccups. blogger gets them more than I'd prefer. I just typed out a lovely little diatribe on my new job and the tasks at hand for this, my day off, and I got a "NOPE" message. So maybe this nonsese will post.

hmph.

It's Hard

To remember all the good things about our life when we are awakened by a car alarm indicating that Russell's truck has been broken into and the DVD/TV is missing (along with sundry other items).

The cops aren't even going to try to find out who did it. They merely took a report for insurance purposes. We'll be parking in the garage from now on. And here I thought it was because people wanted their cars to stay cool.

The dogs? Not a peep until I leaped up and ran to the door. Nice.

Slack-be-gone

I start my new job on Monday. Here. I'm pretty stinkin' excited and more than a little nervous. I'm starting out as a supervisor, and I don't know the people or the stores! I'm very happy about being back around people again, and not sitting behind a computer all day. And just look at the place. One of my favourite shops. They don't sell music, but I'll get to listen to canned jazz and world music all day long. How happy am I? Of course even with a slight raise over my salary in OKC, I'll be bringing home less money, as I will get 25% off store goods (excepting food/wine)! Oh, and there is a Pier One on one side of us, and a Nordstrom Rack on the other! We'll never be able to afford a Mini. *sigh*

And the odd and surprising fact that now that I will have less free time, I'll get a lot more done. It's a strange fact of life for me that my productivity is in direct dis-proportion to the amount of free time I have. i.e: The more I have to do, the more I get done. I will bitch about not having free time anymore, and I'll mourn the lost days of slackdom, but deep inside I'll be thriving on the constant running and exhaustion of being a honey, a momma, a breadwinner, a housekeeper, a cook, and a chick (and whatever other roles are presented!).

So. This is my last weekend of real freedom before retail holiday hell ensues. I want to play some WoW and then we're going to rent Van Helsing. It's quite nice out; perhaps I'll get motivated and take Bucket for a bike ride!

Nostalgia

It's windy today and slightly cool, and I was waxing nostalgic for Oklahoma. Yes, that's right. Wind in the desert, however, is slightly different. It has the consistency of sandpaper. So while it is tousling your hair and wreaking havoc with the lawn ornaments, it is also abrading the very skin from your bones.

It hasn't rained yet, although it's supposed to. I should tarp the rocking lawn bench we looted from the neighbour's trash. I'm sanding it down with high hopes. Probably oughtn't let it get wet.

Levity

Try this recipe. Sounds atrocious. Isn't. Sounds super easy. Is. These cookies are so good!

I've made them twice. They never come out as pretty as the picture, but they sure are tasty. I use vanilla extract instead of almond. You can use whatever tickles your fancy.

Oh, and Bucket is learning to run alongside my bicycle. He's only nearly killed me twice. Good boy.

I like Dan Brown

Here are some things I really dug from Angels & Demons:

"Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. in the end we are all just searching for the truth, that which is greater than ourselves."

Regarding the ongoing battle between Science and Religion (the camerlengo speaking to scientists):

"You have won. But you have not won fairly. You have not won by providing answers. You have won by so radically reorienting our society that the truths we once saw as signposts now seem inapplicable. Religion cannot keep up. Scientific growth is exponential. It feeds on itself like a virus. Every new breakthrough opesn doors for new breakthroughs. Mankind took thousands of years to progress from the wheel to the car. Yet only decades from the car into space. Now we measure scientific progress in weeks. We are spinning out of control. The rift between us grows deeper and deeper, and as religion is left behind, people find themselves in a spiritual void. We cry out for meaning...we see UFOs, engage in channelling, spirit contact, out-of-body experiences, mindquests--all these eccentric ideas have a scientific veneer, but they are unashamedly irrational. The are the desperate cry of the modern soul, lonely and tormented, crippled by it's own enlightenment and its inability to accept meaning in anything removed from technology.
...
"Science, you say, will sve us. Science, I say, has destroyed us. Since the days of Galileo, the church has tried to slow the relentless march of science, sometimes with misguided means, but always with benevolent intention. Even so, the temptations are too great for man to resist. I warn you, look around yourselves. The promises of science have not been kept. Promises of efficiency and simplicity have bred nothing but pollution and chaos. We are a fractured and frantic species moving down the path of destruction.
...
"Who is this God science? Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers? The language of science comes with no signposts about good and bad. Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction, and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or a bad idea.
"To science, I say this. The church is tired. We are exhausted from trying to be your signposts. Our resources are drying up from our campaign to be the voice of balance as you plow blindly on in your quest for smaller chips and larger profits. We ask not why you will not govern yourselves, but how can you? Your world moves so fast that if you stop even for an instant to consider the implications of your actions, someone more efficient will whip past you in a blur. So you move on. You proliferate weapons of mass destruction, but it is the Pope who travels the world beseeching leaders to use restraint. You clong living creatures, but it is the church reminding us to consider the moral implications of our actions. You encourage people to interact on phones, video screens, and computers, but it is the church who opens its doors and reminds us to commune in person as we were meant to do.
...
"Show me proof there is a God, you say. I say use your telescopes and look to the heavens, and tell me now there could not be a God!...You ask what does God look like. I say, where did that question come from? The answers are one and the same. Do you not see God in your science? How can you miss Him! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather than our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God's hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have we become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us?
"Whether or not you believe in God, you must believe this. When we as a species abandon our trust in the power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faith...all faiths...are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable...With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth."

If you know me, you know that I am NOT a church goer. I have serious issues with organised religion...primarily Christianity and its need to force everyone to believe that there is only one God and every other religion is crap. However, I do have to believe that there is something greater than me out there. Dunno what it is. Not sure if I want to know. It's enough for me to have someone to talk to.

At any rate, I really like what is being said about science here. They are thoughts I've often had, but have difficulty expressing. There is another book by Daniel Quinn called Ishmael that puts forward the same notions...that science, despite all of the wonderful things that come of it, is progressing too quickly and errantly. He likens our path to that of a bicycle being peddaled off a cliff. At first we feel like we are flying, because in those few seconds before gravity really catches hold, we certainly are...but then the inevitable downfall commences, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop or even slow it. Our civilisation, Quinn says, has just left the cliff's edge on our little bicycle. We are thrilled with the gifts technology has given us and feel as though we can do anything and go anywhere. The universe is our oyster! Science proceeds with little thought to the implications. The whole X Prize thing scares the hell out of me. Just what we need--a bunch of rich tourists zooming around in space. Who knows what kind of pollution that will generate. What will it do to our atmosphere?
Gravity.

Anyway. Just thought I'd give you something to chew on since I'm usually spouting drivel. (And yes, I'm well aware of the irony of me writing this treatise against technology on a shiny new laptop while sitting in my airconditioned hom and broadcasting my thoughts to a world of strangers over the World Wide Web!)

Still

Love this blog.

Though not as much as I love my honey Russell who is nothing but a bright shining bit of my life right now. I've been so depressed and glum and he just keeps cheering me on and telling me how everything will be fine. I honestly don't know how he does it.

We took a Mini Cooper S Convertible on a test drive yesterday and I'm more in love with them than ever (although still not as much as I love Russell). The S has quite a bit of pep, and handles very well--I got to test out the great response when we were nearly broadsided by a guy turning through his light. Apparently they are hard to come by--there is a "call list" (NOT a "waiting list", and don't you forget it) for when they come in. We want specifics, though so we're toying with ordering one. Hell, by they time it comes in I might actually have a job, hey?

Really, though, Russell's boss hooked us up with a friend of theirs who runs a Nissan dealership, so we might check that out for some inexpensive wheels.

Arizona ate my truck battery! We bought a new one yesterday and it seems to be working fine now. Sigh of relief that it wasn't the alternator, which was the big fear. But still. It's time to turn in the Sonoma. He's served me well and I'm sure we'll find a nice pasture for him.

Next on the dog and pony show: Excepts from the great book I just finished.

Toys

Todd McFarlane is opening up a shop in Tempe. It's more of a showroom, so he says, but it is open to the public, and purchases are allowed and probably encouraged. The grand opening is tomorrow, so put that on the To Do list alongside of 1) Test driving the Mini 2) Getting the alternator of my truck checked and replaced OR buying a new battery 3) Going to the Laundromat even though we are SUPPOSED to have a functioning washer here at the house (long story) 4) Accompanying Russell to work for a bit 5) Seeing "Team America".

I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

I'm in trouble

Some days are better than others, and this is definitely one of the more down-trodden. I need to check my charts, because I'm pretty sure there is some sort of Mercurial mis-alignment going on. It started a couple days ago with me dropping everything I touched. The big thing was dumping nearly an entire pot of pasta in the sink as I tried to drain it. I've spilled two cups of tea in the last two days, tossed a few bags of groceries around, and fumbled more than my usual share of random household items.

Today it all came to a head as I got in my truck to begin the final leg of of my trip home. I've been working a temp job for the past couple of days, and I had stopped on my way home tonight for some grocery shopping. I managed to get all three of my bags (laden with frozen and refrigerated goods, of course) into the cab without any spillage, and put the key in the ignition. Instant death. Nothing going on in this engine. No spark. No rumbling. Nothing. Russell is in a business meeting and really can't get away. I call sister Kristy who, unbeknownst to me, is in Washington DC for a week. bzzt. Sister Cindy is home but volunteers the services of her honey Roger, who is on his way home. He'll need to stop for some cables, but he'll be by to save the day. He did. At least temporarily. The truck started with a jump, but when I turned the lights on, instant death again. Another jump, this time including the lights, and I'm back in business. I actually made it all the way home at least, but as soon as I turned the key off I knew I was doomed. We are told that Arizona eats car batteries, and we're hoping that's all it is. In the mean time, we are going to have to carpool in the morning, and don't ask me how excited I am about trying to wake Russell up in time for that! :P

Anyway. I got home all KINDS of pissed off and frustrated and after rescuing the muttleys from the horror of 11+ hours in their crates all I wanted to do was play WoW for a bit and have a little escapism. Wasn't it just the icing on the cake to find out that the servers are down until tomorrow evening?? Jeesus.

I have a good book to read (Dan Brown's Angels & Demons), and Russell surprised me with Chubby Hubby ice cream and an appointment to test drive a Mini on Saturday, so all is not lost.

Funkytown

I am sinking in the mire.

I think I'm going into a post-move depression. Or maybe it's just girl stuff. Yeah, that's probably it, honestly. But the fact of the matter is that I am simply unmotivated to do anything, I want to sleep all the time, and I'm feeling rather down about the job prospects here. I find it difficult to believe that someone with my maturity and job experience doesn't have folks beating down her door.

I always do this--start out feeling very confident and excited about finding a new job. The world is my oyster and I can do anything! Then after about the 10th resume/application I start to question my self-worth. Most places don't even bother to call me back. Every now and then I'll get a postcard or email saying "Thanks, but no thanks." This week it was the American Heart Association (hiring a Project/Event coordinator) and a place called CapPlus Technologies (hiring a front office/admin...but hey, they're *really* close by). The bottom line is that I want and need a job, and although I am fantastic, I can't find a job. This upsets me.

Give me about a week or so, and I'll probably still be unemployed, but my mood will be much better. :P

In other news, our little man Bucket has had The Operation. He is now officially an "It". I will never again refer to him as such, but it is true that he has been neutered. I was running errands Tuesday and came across a clinic for low-cost spay/neuters...we'd been meaning to have him done for a while now so we jumped at the chance. He's handling it surprisingly well. The hardest part is keeping him from playing and acting crazy; he feels well enough to roughhouse, but that's a strict no-no. I've been trying to occupy him by teaching him how to hold a treat on his nose. It's not a tug-of-war, but it seems to wear him out just the same.

and with that, I'm off.

Addendum

David--can I call you David?--I always love reading your comments, because you challenge me. I don't always feel up to the task, whatever it may be, but I'm feeling punchy tonight, so before I slip off to dreamland I thought I'd respond to request or two.

Dooce? And my aspirations? She is clever, amusing, and concise. I enjoy reading her blog, like yours, although I have no connection to her in real life whatsoever. Something in her words connects with me. I want to have that effect on other people.

Spongy bike? Yes. I've ridden a rigid for ages, and my body takes a beating for it. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the type of riding about which I write! I'm not liesurely peddling through the neighbourhoods. I'm battling streams and drops and 12% climbs. I'm hopping logs (well, boulders now that I live in a place bereft of trees). I have padded bike shorts, and I have ridden with a gel seat, but when you are being jiggled to bits by the likes of some golf-to-softball sized rocks beneath your tires, it becomes more sensible to go for shocks. I have been a purist for 14 years now. I'm old. I want suspension!

The rocks here are interesting. Perhaps not in the same way as the business cards you photographed. And it's probably illegal to pick up rocks from the desert here. At any rate if I did decide on some sort of interactive art project with them, I'd be hard pressed to engage passerby...because there are no passerby in the desert! I am going in a moment to rescue the digicam from Russell's truck. At some point expect to see photos of these most interesting rocks. Little shiny ones, large smooth round river rocks. Lava-looking rocks. There really is an astonishing array of stone around here. I used to marvel that folks back home used two or three different types of grass in their yards for effect. Now I catch myself noticing the same tendency in rock usage here. Strange world.

And with that, goodnight.

dooce!

Again I have to thank Novidavid for a new, brilliant read. I believe my new goal will be to write things up to par with dooce. I went to see how things are with Novidavid and noted a link to her site. I think the "Now with more cowbell" line is what really caught my eye. Then I just read. And read. And read. It's good stuff. You should too.

So, yeah.

It's a vengeful Monday morning, complete with a call from the washing machine repair place informing me that the tech that was scheduled to come out suddenly has the flu and they will have to reschedule for tomorrow. After heaving a sigh of relief that I did most of the laundry at the 'Mat last night, I forced him to agree to send his guy out to our house first thing on the morrow. After all, I stayed home for this!

My butt is sore today because after months of sloth, I finally took my bike out yesterday morning. Imagine my thrill when I discovered not only a wealth of utility access roads in the desert behind the house, but an actual TRAIL! I even passed two other cyclists. Fantastic! I was only out for 30 minutes, which was plenty--for 8:30am it was grotesquely hot. Plus the aforementioned sore butt thing. It will take some time to de-sensitize the area. And a full-suspension bike is definitely on my wish list now. Here it is not a luxury, but a necessity. Gone are the smooth single track trails of hard pack and the occasional rock. Arizona is brutally rocky, sandy, and gravelly. Arizona is HARD. Woe is me the first time I take a fall. I'll miss falling on a pine cone or oak branch. When my butt is full of cactus spines I'll be crying for the rose rocks of Oklahoma. Definitely taking it slow out here.

Another interesting phenom of the Arizona desert: I was fooled into thinking that every inch of my initial path was strewn with bits of glass. Knowing that I need new tires at any rate I tried not to stress over it; it was more that I was astounded at the sheer volume of shattered glass in the middle of nowhere. And then it hit me. The rocks have quartz in them. Or something. The rocks were reflecting the morning sun! How relieved was I!

And my tip of the day for you? Go see Shaun of the Dead. Easily one of the funniest movies I've seen in ages. Clever clever. Those crazy brits, you know. And if you are a fan of The Office, you'll see some familiar faces. ;)

Since I don't have to sit around all day waiting for the washer fixer guy, I think I'll get busy looking for a job and playing happy homemaker.

Bye now