'spearmenting

er...so blogger has added photo-adding capabilities, but I'm pretending I'm a boy and not reading the directions. It will be exciting to see how--or if--this works. This photo is of my dad in his Big Orange speedboat. I believe it was taken in April of this year. He turned 77 in February. :D

I have to laugh...

...for otherwise I'd cry, as the saying goes.

I was listening to the radio this morning as I cleaned up our fantastically filthy kitchen, and the weather report said that (this is at around 9:30am, mind you) it was 95 degrees and 8% humidity. EIGHT PERCENT! No wonder all the old folks around here look like shriveled prunes. It made me want to go bathe in lotion.

That's all, really.

Mother's Day!

My very very very very Best Friend in the Entire World (Even England*) is a momma!

After about 24 hours of labour, the little one was born at O'God Thirty this morning, weighing in at a healthy 6.5lbs(ish), complete with all 20 girl-appropriate appendages, and reportedly with a head full of hair. I can't wait to see photos!

I'm getting ready for work, so I gotta blaze. Just needed to shout that out to the world!

*it's a long story--try nearly 20 years--grounded in the fact that we are both avid Anglophiles and at one point dreamed of moving to England and hooking up with members of Duran Duran. Not even *they* could be dearer to us than one another. :D

Grumpy Day!

I'm pissed off today, but it's all my fault.

A girl I work with can't close certain nights because her husband works double shifts and they have no one to take care of the kids, so could I close for her next Thursday??? Of course she asks me this as I have my hands full of baskets for a customer who is keeping me at work an HOUR longer than I should be there. I curse my parents for raising me to be too nice. I have no idea how to say "no". As in "No, I can't work for you next Thursday night because I have been closing nearly every night for the past two months and I want to spend time with my honey and mutts." As in "I'm sorry I can't help you with your GINORMOUS request for baskets as it's time for me to leave and I have plans, but let me just call someone who can work with you..."

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME???

At least the lady spent $1600, and my co-worker owes me a favour. And I'll get to leave an hour early tomorrow. Well, I should say that I've been *approved* to leave an hour early tomorrow. We'll see if it actually happens.

*sigh.* just too damn nice.

11:11

The current time. Something magical about that time, although what it is I couldn't say.

So it's Sunday morning, and I'm currently in flight to Gadgetzan. Don't scratch yer heads too hard--it's a place in WoW. It's a long flight, so I'm taking the time to drop a quick note here. I already walked the dogs and cleaned up the yard as well as myself, so don't even *think* I'm pissing away my day with the game. We're actually just going to play for a bit before we run out to do some shoppin. Whee.

We watched The Village last night, and I have to say it was quite good. Twisty-turny as ever, but with some very philosophical bits that left me wishing I was still in college; we'd have had a field day with it in some of my classes. Anyway, I recommend it to you. Russell also picked up Sideways, so that's on the agenda for later today or this evening.

So, yeah....I'd better go make sure I survived the flight. ciao!

What day is it?

Oh, it's "Write ANOTHER letter to the Better Business Bureau" day! Wheeee.

I've failed to update on the Xterra Saga, as I had hoped that it was nearing completion and I could give you a happy-crappy song and dance of resolution. Alas.

Their Customer Service Manager phoned me about a week and a half ago, purportedly calling to see what they could do to make things right. As it turned out, they didn't really want to hear what I had to say--they just wanted to make an offer. I finally agreed to that offer, and threw in a bone of my own: reimburse me for the AC repairs, fix the rear leaky shocks, and reimburse me for the $100 deductible I paid to have the Exhaust Manifold fixed.

THEN she had the gall to ask me to split the charges with them, referring back to an offer I made TWO MONTHS ago when the car was originally in the shop. Ummm...lemme just think about that....HELL NO!

So she says she'll have to run it by her Service Manager and the GM of the place and will get back to me the following day. So the following day comes and goes and I hear nothing. Then Monday evening I get another email from my angel at the BBB with Bell Honda's most current update. Of course all it says is that they called me and tried to work out a deal and I declined. I have 7 days to respond or they will consider the case closed. Sheesh.

I responded, and how. I told Ms. BBB the entire story--not just the BS one that Mr. Bell Honda spouted. I'm beginning to think this will never be resolved. I wish I had money and resources to hire a lawyer, but hopefully this route will be as effective, if more drawn out. Anyway. That's what I did this morning.

Um, Shanny?

Walking out of the house right now is a little like opening the oven when you've had something baking for an hour or so--there is that gust of extraordinary heat that just envelopes you. Except with an oven you can shut the door or turn it off. This is pretty much an on-going thing. It's 10am and about 105 degrees already. Think I'm making it up?

Intellicast

AZCentra

Weather Central

The Weather Channel

I only point all this out because my dear friend Shannon, who lives in Portland and posts gorgeous photos of green wet stuff on a regular basis, recently bemoaned the coming summer heat in Oregon. What's it get up to? 85? Just kidding, Shanny--I know it gets up there, but try to remember that it could be much worse! :P

I was going to go out and run some errands today, but I think I'm going to sit around in my PJs and enjoy the a/c. I've got plenty to do around the house and I don't really need to spend the money anyway.

So.

. . .

Blogger has a drop-down box in the title field. Every time I start to type in a title for a blog, it shows me other titles I've entered that start with the same letter. It's cool in that it reminds me of some of my past posts, but annoying in that I find out how unoriginal I am. I've even used ellipses before!

So it's Monday, but I awoke this morning feeling discombobulated and wondering what day it was and when I needed to be up for work. More and more recently I've thought how nice it would be to have a regular schedule with regular hours and no more of this disjointedness. Thing is, I will likely have to settle for some mundane desk-jockey job that will eventually rot my brain and enable my already zaftig fat cells to completely take over my body. *sigh* It's a conundrum, really.

So I've been looking--somewhat halfheartedly, because I *do* like my job--at other options. Then I get into a funk again because it shouldn't be that difficult for a rather bright, educated person with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility to find gainful employ...but it is. I don't want to have to go through the temp agency again to prove myself, but that's a real possibility.

I shouldn't be allowed to post when I'm in these funks. Sorry--especially to my mother, who reads these things and assumes the worst! It's all good mom, I swear!!!

I'm going to go fix a salad and get ready for work. chow! :D

Better!

I got up (moderately) early this morning--after much cajoling from Russell (thanks hon--sincerely!!)--and got my butt down to the DMV. After so much bitching and moaning and being apprehensive about the whole thing, it went without a hitch. I was in and out inside of 45 minutes, and now I'm officially an Arizonan. The guy that ran the paperwork for me was less than professional, cussing up a storm when a supervisor brought his break schedule by (I'm serious--the word "shit" left his mouth no fewer than 3 times!), and the fella that took the photos made me feel like livestock being prodded down The Chute, but it's done. No more worries about having to get my actual birth certifical or having to pay $60 to get a Passport. No more stress about getting pulled over and trying to convince the officer that I've lived here less than a month. whew.

I even managed to get to the grocery afterwards, so all in all I'm feeling much better about things.

Now I have an hour to blow before work, so forgive me while I go blow off some steam!

items of note

Possibly "items" is the wrong word. Let us say: Thoughts.

According to weather.com, it's 101 degrees here, but feels like a mere 96. All I'm sayin' is that when the dogs refuse to hang out in the yard for more than 15 minutes (even Delilah, our sun-junkie) IT'S TOO DAMN HOT.

Perhaps I'm feeling it a bit more sharply, as I just spent 45 minutes in The Jungle, trimming hedges, chopping errant tree limbs out of my way, and picking up calcified dog doo. One thing about the Hot Dry weather here: there is hardly such a thing as fresh dog poop.

Some other stuff in my head is that there is just too much in my head. I have so much to do and to take care of that I, more often than not, simply do nothing. I feel so overwhelmed with the thought of not being able to get anything done that I do just that. I hadn't planned on doing yardwork today. I wanted to go get my AZ driver's license (a whole 'nother world of WTF?**) and go to the grocery store. And go to the bike shop for a patch kit for my tire. And go to Home Depot for some yard supplies. And unload the boxes that have been in my Xterra since Sunday. And some other things.

What I *did* do:
1) Played WoW for a short while.
2) Oscillated between watching TLC (who needs bonbons when you've got crack piped in via HDTV?) and organizing the CD Towers. Between Russell and I, there are far too many discs to fit on four towers purported to hold 180 cds each--that's 720 cds! I haven't even found them all yet. It's just as well; there is no room. My OC side took the lead in this little skit, so they are all in alphabetical order, with the exception of the compilations. Soundtracks, however...yeah.
3) Talked to my mom on the phone for a while. I don't call her enough, and for that I'm very sorry. They got a new digital camera recently, and she has learned how to use it--even learning to email photos from it! I'm so proud!
4) Cooked some chicken.
5) Did the aforementioned yard chores. Less pressing than getting my Driver's License, but the latter would have involved a lot more preparation and down time. I liked the idea of tossing on a swimsuit and chopping organic stuff up mere feet from the comfort of my A/C. The dogs stayed inside for most of it, by the way. Wimps.

That's it. I'm about to bathe. Woohoo. I don't have another day off until next Wednesday, so I have a suspicion that I will really regret not getting off my ass and getting some stuff done today, but I've got the uber blahs.

**The Arizona DMV will not accept an Oklahoma Driver's license as proof of identity. Something about the fact that OK doesn't require proof of citizenship to get a driver's license. I have to provide a Birth Certificate or Passport in order to get it switched. How messed up is that. I've got a certified copy of my "Birth Record", but I don't know if that passes. The Customer Service girl I talked to this morning said it would be "Up to the discretion of the supervisor at the DMV". Christ. By the time I'd talked to her, and then called my mom to see if my *actual* Birth Certificate existed in our possession (it does), I just didn't want to deal with it. I'm going to try to get up early tomorrow morning and do it--don't have to be at work until 2pm...surely....

So there is this Mexican restaurant we like. They make AMAZING margaritas. If you buy this fella (or his girly counterpart) for a mere $10, you can bring him back anytime for two free refills. What a deal! Of course, now I have to find a home for him. Somewhere on a high shelf. Behind some stuff. 

she's not the most graceful of beasts, but she sure is cute! 

they are just obsessed with this thing... 

Yesterday we found a Mysterious Green Bouncy Ball in the yard. The dogs, of course, thought that it was the best thing that had ever happened. The shots aren't all that great, but you get the idea of just how much these dorks love to play ball. 

Alannis Morrisette Should Write a song...

Oh, wait.

So yeah. My 13 year old mountain bike has been through a lot. I've ridden it over many surfaces, from pavement to gravel, dirt, sand and a sea of rocks. It's crunched over roserock, knobby logs, thorns, bits of glass, a couple of bits of metal rubble, and any manner of non-biodegradeable trail junk. I have never changed the tires. This is true. I have replaced one tube, but never the actual tires. Never needed to.

Until Monday. I went for a ride on the paths behind the house. Rode around on aforementioned sand, gravel and glass debris. Hit some rocks that looked suspiciously like lava rock. And then I hit the street for the ride home. There has been some construction in the neighbourhood and damn those messy contractors--I now have a 2-inch nail in my back tire!

I think I'll be able to patch it without actually buying new tires (because if I change one, I should really change the other one at this point); we'll have to see. I just find it a bit funny that after all this time it's a nail that finally did for the poor old thing.

Anyway.

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.