Chatty Cathy

It's good to catch up with old friends! I talked FOREVER to my old buddy Slice while she was driving home for the holidays. Nothin' like having a captive audience while they're in the car!! :) Slice is a rowing coach and we were trading stories. Good times. Good times.

Can I get a "yummy" for Honeybaked Ham??!!!! I just picked up a little ham and turkey for dad, me and the hubby to snack on over the holidays. I sneaked a piece when I dropped it home before heading back to work. It was definitely yummy goodness. I have a feeling they aren't going to last all week...

I've been slackin'!

Sorry about all the slackin'! I whooped it up in Vegas and then needed time to recover! (not really) Remember, I was there for work... with a bunch of Respirtory Therapists and Pulmonologists. Yeah, what a hoot...

However, Vegas wouldn't be Vegas without the obligatory Elivis impersonator. I don't know the two ladies in the picture but I know they're in the respiratory field... This is the impersonator the conference hired just for us. Aren't we special...

I also, mistakenly, thought that Vegas would be all done up for christmas. I was wrong. Well, I guess it might have been but since they have so much neon and lights already you couldn't distinguish what was holiday decoration from the "usual" gaudy stuff.

Vegas, baby!!

I'm back in vegas again. Although this trip is shaping up to be much better than the last one. Dinner at the Venetian one night, dinner at a great little tapas bar last night, topped off with a drink at Mandalay Bay. The one thing I can't stand about vegas? the smoke!! I woke up this morning sounding like a 65 year-old life long smoker. I have been hacking all morning and my head feels like ti's going to explode.

Not all the time has been fun and games. I have been standing on my feet for two days straight and still have today to go. But the time has been going faster than usual. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go over to the Forum shops tonight and see what all that hoopla is about. Brooke (kickboxing girl) and I did find a Sephora the other night. I roamed around like a kid in a candy store. (but I was good and didn't buy anything. but I think I scaread Brooke with my unexpected make-up fetish.)

The conference I'm attending actaully hired an Elvis impersonator and I have a picture to post when I get back. Vegas isn't vegas without an Elvis impersonator!!

Ok - that's it

After all that I just called my dad on my cell with the headset. HE COULDN'T HEAR ME!!! Ok, time to get a different model phone.

F-ing phone

Can you tell how I feel about my cell phone at the moment?? yeah, not a happy camper. Ok, so finally determined the issue with people not hearing me on my headset is, in fact, NOT a headset issue, but a phone issue. I headed over to Verizon at lunch to take it up with the manager. Of course, I was ready to start throwing punches if it came to that - but I always start out nice and understanding. If, then they dont' want to cooperate and provide good customer service - that's when I start hardballing.

But first, let me recap recent phone issues:
- went to store Oct 22 to upgrade to new phone (new every 2) so I could get a phone with bluetooth. got the razr and a motorola bluetooth
- 3 hours later I was back at store wanting to exchange phones. In previous 3 hours, while playing around with razr I determined I hated it. (dont' ask) Got the LG 8300
- next day, while on a business trip I determine I really hate the motorola headset (due to my "freakishly small" ears) and buy a new plantronics set at airport wireless in Philly airport. LOVE IT!!
- return home a few days later and return motorola headset to verizon
- start noticing issues with new headset. every so often I hear you but you can't hear me. very frustrating!
- think it's the headset, call plantronics and they send me a new one.
- I try it. supposed to send them old one back. but notice I'm having same issues with new one. In the meantime take phone to Verizon and have tech make sure it's not the phone. He says it's not. Ok, dumb me- I believe him.
- after many phone calls to many people, determine I should return newest set to Plantronics and send original plantronics back to store in philly. Go buy Samsung headset
- excited because I think it's working - then start having same f-ing problems.

OK - I get it. It's the phone.

Dan (manager at Verizon) was very nice and understanding. I think the worst I came across was frustrated, not pissed. (even though I was very pissed. but at the phone - not Dan's fault.) So I ran him through the whole "I've been through 4 headsets from 3 different brands, your techs looked at it and said it wasn't the phone but I finally has come to the conclusion I disagree with them. Can you help me?" routine. Sure, Dan says. Switches out my phone for a new one of the same model. He insists that if the issue continues to persist with this model then he'll work with me to get a different model phone. Fine. I'm ok with that.

So, now I'm bacak in the office. New phone synched with headset. If, in fact, it turned out to be a phone problem I'm taking this Samsung headset back and getting the Plantronics one I had (which will be the THIRD one of the same freakin' model) because I really liked it most.

I have a belt clip. I don't like those wrap around your phone faux-leather cases. Problem is - with a new phone it's damn near impossible to get the phone out. Well, I have the same belt clip with new phone. I'm sitting here trying to get the phone out of the belt clip. Next thing I know, I've tried TOO hard and I have now broken off that little, most important piece of plastic clip that keeps the phone in the case. FUCK!!!!

That's it. I'm sick of cell phones. I truely give up.

ok, well, not really, since it's the ony phone I have. (as ya'll know, I don't have a phone at home - only the cell) I mean, this is really ridiculous!

If you call and I don't answer it's because:
1) my headset isn't working (again)
2) I'm too pissed at the phone to answer it
3) I've lost the phone because it's no longer in my belt clip

Everyone, into the holiday spirit!!

Well, I guess blogger decided not to be pissed at me anymore. Apparently, for no reason, I am now able to post pictures.

Perfect timing - as I found the cutest x-mas hat! I had to get bloodwork done today and one of the techs was very festive in this adorable hat!! What you may not be able to tell from the picture is that the lights actually light up!!!! (battery packs that are snaking into her shirt.)

Now, getting blood drawn is not my favorite thing - but I definitely had a smile on my face!!!! Thanks for the laughs Frances!!!!

Fourth time's a charm

I bought my fourth bluetooth headset Friday evening. So far so good, which means squat because I had no problems with my Plantronics until I had had it for a few weeks... time will tell if this one works.

I've been trying to x-mas shop. "Trying" being the key word. I hate going to the mall but I realy don't have good ideas to just get on line adn start ordering things. This year is different because in the past I've had an idea of what to get people. So I jump on line and start ordering. This year - no ideas. I need to browse to get ideas, but I HATE browsing. rock, meet hard place. See my issue?

Ok, I need to stop before I get myself all worked up and even more frustrated....

Stupid bluetooth

I could start to rant and rave about how technology was supposed to make our life easier but all it did was make it more complicated and fast paced - but I won't. I do enjoy a few perks of technology, computer, cell phone, text messaging, IM-ing, blogging... but I am definitely not a "first adopter" by any means. I'm too cheap for that. Let everyone else pay big bucks, figure out all the kinks and then I'll join in.

Case in point - bluetooth headsets. Back in October I got a new cell phone and I made sure it was bluetooth enabled so I could get one of those fancy cordless headsets. Although they've been out a while there are still some kinks. The hubby went through 3 different ones until he found one that he liked. You know, worked well with his phone, he could hear you and you could hear him, fit his ear/head well...

So when I first got the phone I was on my way to a biz trip out of town. I got the one they sold with the phone and brought it back the next day. It didn't stay on my ear well. Here would be a good place to note one of my biggest issues - my "freakishly small ears" (as the hubby calls them. there's a longer story behind that but I'll save that for a later post...) The ones that wrap around your ear never seem to fit me well - they fall off.

While I was on said biz trip I bought a new headset at the Philly airport. I LOVED it. It was a littel earbud piece that fit IN my ear. It was great. But I had this problem. Every 4-5 call I'd dial I could here you but you coudln't hear me. I'd have to hang up and call you back and then all would be fine. That's great and all but I also use this phone for business. Having to hang up and call back isn't a good thing. Plus it's annoying as hell.

Call the manufacturer and they sent me a new one just in case there was something wrong with the first. Nope - apparently there is some compaibility issue or something with this headset and my phone. Figures.

So I go to Best Buy today and get a different brand. It had a seemingly different way to wrap around your ear so I thought I'd give it a shot. Nope - my ear is so small that the headset can't even grip my ear. So after work I'm back to Best Buy to try again.

It's not that I wnat to be cool and walk around iwth a wireless headset. But I have to admit how much easier it is to use for work - when I'm off and on planes, not having to worry about cords getting tangled.

Finger update

I woke up in the middle of the night with my finger POUNDING! I think I fell asleep on my arm, which in turn pulsed all the blood thru to my very injured ring finger. When I woke up I was worried I was getting a massive infection due to previously mentioned damned wood splinters. Thinking I was dying I was not able to fall back alseep and kept tossing and turning to make sure the hubby knew I was not sleeping well. (If I can't sleep why should he?)

When I got to work I shared my horrid story with Cathy and Sara (they had not heard it yesterday). I told Cathy I was worried it was getting infected and how in the hell am I supposed to get an anitbacterial down into the bed of my fingernail? Cathy's a mom - of only a 9 year-old - but that's enough experience for me. She immediately advised I soak it in hot water to "draw out" any infection that might be in there. She's a mom so I did what she said - plus I didn't have any better ideas. So help me god if it gets worse and my finger falls off or something...

Son of a ...

Ok, I've seen a few of those spy movies where the bad guys use torture methods to get information out of the good guys. You know, like jam something up under thier fingernails - or worse - pull them out altogether. Now, inherently I know that would hurt but I didn't know exactly how much it would hurt until just now.

I went to get our in-coming mail out of the wooden cubbies downstairs. As I slide my hand under the mail I felt several slivers of wood go up under my middle and ring fingernails. I pulled my fingers out of there so fast you would have thought there was a snake hiding in there! I squeezed my fingers until they were blue - both to ward off bleeding and excrutiating pain. I kinda worked... You know when something hurts so bad that your stomach does a little flip? Yeah, that happened to me. I had to stand there a minute and compose myself before I even dared to climb the stairs back to our office.

When I got upstairs and told Connie what happened you could see a red line in the bed of my ring finger - it went HALF WAY down the pink part. That's how far that freakin' piece of wood went. Thank god nothing got stuck in there. What's worse - Connie informed me I'm not the first that's happened to here in our office. Dom did it a while back too - except he did get a lovely little splinter. Connie called the building oweners to tell them they needed to fix it when it happened to Dom. Apparently they hadn't fixed it yet. She was very eager (too eager, if you ask me :) to call them up and tell them that someone else did it again - please fix it now.

Yes, please - FIX IT NOW!

My first Thanksgiving

I made it through cooking my first Thanksgiving. I burnt the bottom of the stuffing a little bit and totally forgot about the rolls. I put dad in charge of gravy duty and he kinda screwed it up - but it worked out ok. (apparently he didn't understand the difference between simmering and boiling... what was supposed to be about a cup of liquid ended up being about two tablespoons of severely concentrated "stuff" - don't know what else to call it...)

But next year - don't ask me to make a pie.

I had decided to make two pies. One was a caramel apple pie (and yes, I used pre-made pie dough) and the other was a pumpkin chiffon pie - now affectionately called the "third time's a charm pie".

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie:
First you make a crust out of gingersnaps and butter, bake. Check

Then you mix milk, gelatin and pumpkin and a million spices on the stove.
* First attempt - accidentally misread recipe and added whole can of pumpkin - not just the one cup required. Threw it out, started over.
* Second attempt - check.

Next step is to put pumpkin mixture in fridge to start to set while you whip whipping cream to fold in.
* First attempt - whipping cream not whipping. I'm cursing at the $350 kitchen aid stand mixer as though it's all its fault. (because it's not me!!!)
* Second attempt - not really an attempt - more like a change in action plan. I sent David to the store to get cool whip. I'm not above cheating. Not until David got back did I remember that cool whip comes frozen and my pumpkin mixture was ready to fold in whipped cream now. Since there's no good way to defrost cool whip I decided I would set it in the fridge and fold the two together first thing in the morning. (thank god I started the day before....)

Next morning - pull out pumpkin mixture and try to give it a stir before adding cool whip. It's like I coated the inside of my glass bowl with vulcanized rubber. I swear I could have made a tire out of it. I TOTALLY forgot that there is gelatin in it and since I had left it all night the gelatin in the pumpkin totally set.

Ok - last try. I had to go to the store to replenish all my supplies. I had used all my gelatin and I decided to get extra pumpkin in case this became a "fourth time's a charm" pie.

FINALLY -
gingersnap crust - check
pumpkin mixture on stove top, done correctly - check, check
cool whip folded into pumpkin mixture - check, check, check
mixture into pie and in the fridge to complete setting up - check, check, check, check.

If it hadn't worked that last time we just weren't going to have a pumkin pie.

Pre-Thanksgiving Scramble

If I was able to post pictures I'd have a great one for you. Imagine this - our family room bare of furniture except sofa and TV (all other coffee tables, lamps, everything - out of the room.) My dad sitting on the sofa, watching TV - with plastic bags tied to cover his feet.

Yeah - strange, isn't it?? Well, here's the story behind that scene:

Since we're having T-day at our house this yer we decided to get the carpets cleaned prior to everyone showing up. (they needed it BAD!) So, Monday dad and David move all the furniture on carpets to places off carpets. Essentially everything was stuffed in the kitchen and the hallway. The poor dogs were gated into the hallway too. I called David at about noon and asked how it went.
D: they're done
J: great! how does it look?
D: great as usual and just reinforces how disgusting our carpets are
J: so, whatcha' doin'?
D: I'm sitting in the entryway with my laptop and the dogs
J: WHY?
D: They cleaned my office carpet and it's wet so I brought my laptop doqwn here and I can't fit in the kitchen

The poor guy had to finish working the rest of the day in the hallway. He's a good sport.

So - back to dad and his bagged feet. Since the carpet was wet the cleaning guy said to only walk on it with sneakers - nothing with a porous sole - until it was dry (which wasn't until this morning.) So dad decided it would just be easier to walk around in his sock feet with grocery bags tied over them. This is what I call the "West Virginia Way" which includes the more popularly known "Wal-Mart Bag as West Virginia Luggage". We're classy.

Lesson - don't further stress yourself out during the holidays by having Stanley Steamer clean your carpets so close to the actual holiday!

daydreaming of home improvement projects

I love the internet. (tune in at a later date for the "I hate the internet" post...) But for right now I love it. Due to a million reasons I've steered clear of chat rooms and message boards. Too much info in a sea of weirdos. (and yet, I have this blog...)

but today I found my newest love - the message board on DIY.com First of all it's nice to scroll through and see people having home improvement issues too. (see - it's just not me!!) Also I found some great tips for future home projects.

Specifically I was looking for feedback on floors. Not to bore you with too much detail but I want to tear out carpet in the highly non-functional living/dining room area and put in hardwood floors and built-in cabinets/ bookshelves. I've already suckered dad into helping this summer... the question is how much $$ do we need? I was investigating hardwood vs laminate floors. Love hardwood, but 100+lbs dogs probably will force me to go laminate... But on DIY I can get professional feedback and regular-people-I've-already-been-there-done-that feedback too!! So far there's one vote for laminate or hardwood with LOTS of throw rugs. We'll see if anyone else chimes in.

I've been having issues coming to grips with the fact that I'll probably be living in my current house for quite some time. My arguement to home improvement has been "I don't want to invest that kind of money into this house." I keep thinking that, give me a few more years, (like 2) and we'll move out of this house and into one that I really want. Not saying we're moving out of town - just into a better house.

Dont' get me wrong. Our house isn't bad. I just don't love it. Some of you may remember the insane issues I had when trying to buy a flippin' house here in the first place. We have this house because a) it was one of a very few (like 5) that was for sale in our price range and b) it, unlike the other 4 before it, passed inspection. (I'm not kidding) So it wasn't like I had a lot of choices. That combined with the fact that I was off to get married and had already sold my other house forced me to buy it. Renting, you ask? PAH-LEASE. I'm suburban zoo, remember? Try renting a place with 4 cats and 2 big dogs - I couldn't even get away with lying. I rest my case.

So, I finally resigned myself to the fact that I will be here for a while - might as well make the best of it. Tune in later this summer to see if this project actually makes it to fruition. For some reason I'm drawn to the big, expensive projects yet I have no pictures actually hanging on any walls. Apparently that kind of task is too far beneath me. If, however, this project makes it I'll be sure to take "before" and "after" pictures. I forgot to take the "before" pictures when I renovated the bathroom this past summer. Stupid move... It's not nearly as dramatic of a change if you didn't see it before - with the light blue paint, hideous flower border, pink curtains and brown fake tile vinyl flooring from the 80's. (again, not kidding....)

Another boring day

Sorry - I got nutin'. I can't get pictures to upload and I have nothing interesting to tell. Well, unless you consider the fact that I can barely raise my arms above parallel with my nose interesting. I started lifting again this morning. Decided to start with upper body. My arms were SO tired when I got home I just dried the hair (had to flip hair over and dry upside-down. Arms could not hold dryer above head..) and threw it in a ponytail. How does this make it any differnt than any other day? Any other day I'm just lazy so I flip the hair over to dry and then put it in a ponytail. Today arms would not have participated had I decided to actually "do" the hair. That's the difference....

Cats unite for common cause

Well, I'm back at work today feeling MUCH better, thank you. Sitting around in your own funk for two days is not pleasant - as I'm sure you all have had to endure at some point.

This week David and I broke down and hired a house cleaner. Before you're tempted - don't. Don't judge. I've already gotten a "judgement" from one person already. I don't need you too.

We're busy. very busy. Although last week and the upcoming 2 months are relatively slow, the rest of our life is run at about 90+ mph. I'm pretty sure that you need to slow down to at least 60 mph to manage to clean your own home. We can most of the time (although not always) manage to "straighten". The time consumed to straighten (which must preceed cleaning) takes all the time we have. We have not had time to "clean". Obviously "clean" is very important. So we sourced it the "cleaning" bit.

I was worried about how this would work out. In the past when we've had someone come in to clean it was one person... and it took her a few hours to make it through the house. Before David didn't work from home. I didn't want it to interfere with his work. However, David told me that Martha and SIX other ladies came in and cleaned the whole damn house in about 45 minutes! WOW!

The cats, however, were not thinking "wow". According to David they were thinking something more along the lines of "what the f--k!" All four cats- yes, all four - cowared together in the same spot in the basement during the mass cleaning. David had gone down the basement for something and found them all huddled together, looking up at him with their "what the f--k?" faces on. Never have all four cats joined together for a common cause. At best three of them get together and gang up on Cabby.

The cats are just going to have to be traumatized. I don't care. I have a clean house. Not a straightened house, but a CLEAN house! YEAH Martha and her ladies!!!

yuck...

I'm home sick today. No, I'm not faking.... I think I have the flu - or something like it. You know what I hate the most about being sick? That point in time when your fever breaks and you're swamped in sweat. YUCK! especially when it happens in the middle of the night. Needless to say we're washing lots of sheets right now...

If this is what menopause night sweats feel like then count me out!! (hormones here I come!! ...eventually...)

Work

I dont' usually write about work. As you know, these blogs are public, and I want to keep my job... you get the point. However, there is a funny little incident that happened this morning - but bare with me as you need a bit of background...

In my office (Syracuse) there are a total of 6 people however one of the guys lives about 2 hours away and travels A LOT so he's rarely ever here. So that leaves 5 of us. Our "home" office is in Plattsburgh, NY. Don't know where that is? Think Lake Champlain - NY side, not quite as north as Burlington, VT. OK? with me so far?

It's in Plattsburgh that we have our warehouse, customer service,... well, everything except marketing. Don't ask me why. It was like this when I got here and apparently it's been that way for eons and eons.

As it happens our IT dept (consisting of Mike and Monique) is in Plattsburgh. I had the pleasure today of speaking with Monique. I don't usually talk with her as most of my issues deal with Mike. Regardless of who you're talking to - it's generally never a pleasant experience. I'm getting off on a tangent here...

Monique - how do I describe her? hum.... She has a nasal accent (although I have no idea where she's from. Must be really upstate NY.) that is very whiny. But along with the accent she has this personality that I can't quite describe. She seems to always be moving at a snails pace - or at least she talks very slow. The building could be on fire and I envision everyone rushing out and Monique would be shuffling along - everyone shoving past her to get out.

Have you ever spoken to someone and pictured them as an animal or some inantimate object? Well, today, while talking with Monique I pictured an old, tattered ally cat. One that talks really slow and whiny. Can you picture it?? She's not a bad person - that's just the image I get when I talk to her on the phone... don't ask me why. I have no idea. That said, plese do not tell me what you picutre me as when we talk on the phone. I'm afraid to ask... it's probably not pleasant.

Those of you that know me will immediately understand why I was so annoyed with having to work with her. I am just the opposite of slow. I work fast. I mean, super-duper-lightening speed fast. I don't "do" slow. If forced to "do" slow I get VERY irritated. I try not to - but I just do. So you can imagine my consternation of trying to pull information out of her over the phone. I think I may have only 2 strands of hair left...

damn ally cat!

YEAH SNOW!!!!

We got our first real snowfall last night! Yippee! Well, I say "we" but the actual city of Syracuse didn't - just my burb and a few other burbs out by me. I took some pictures on my way to work this morning but stupid blogger won't post them properly... So sorry. You don't get any snowy pictures. (Although I'm pretty sure I don't have any friends that haven't seen snow before... )

I have GOT to find out what is going on with my pics...

Well let me bask in the fun of the first snow. It's quite novel for the first month or so. It snows a few inches at a time, so light and fluffy that you still decide to use the shovel to clear the driveway. You make a game out of shoveling. You actually enjoy the tingling in your fingers, ears and nose.

Then later, say December - January, it starts really snowing. Snowing to where you thank god you bought that snow blower a few years ago. Clearing the driveway becomes a chore. It usually snows in the middle of the night so you're out there clearing the driveway really early in the morning or in the middle of the (or so it seems). The trip into work (or anywhere for that matter) has become quite tricky. You try and plan your outings into as few trips as possible. You can't wait until spring comes. You'll be glad when you don't have snow-blow anymore.

Then comes February - March.... You are now offically sick and tired of snow. You curse everytime is snows. The thought of having to wrap up in a million layers just to clear the driveway is just too much to handle. There's a thick layer of ice under the snow that you cannot snow-blow or shovel away - no matter how hard you try (and you stopped trying a long time ago). Everytime you go out you slip around on it - knowing one day you're surely going to fall and bust your ass. Probably right in front the neighborhood kids (who just laugh behind your back) You say "screw it" and decide to just drive over the snow. It's not worth the effort anymore.

Whenever you go out you definitely take a huge risk with your life. I'm surprised there are any insurance companies in central/ upstate NY that even agree to insure people in the winter. All the yahoos are on the raod driving like it's 70 degrees outside (with their rear-wheel drive, no less) - even though it's snowing so hard you can't see 10 feet in front of your car. If you go out to run an errand you better make sure your will is up-to-date! It's at this point you'll read my blog entry titled "Fucking Snow".

But right now I'm enjoying the snow. So don't ruin it for me.

Halloween

Yet another Halloween... I'm going to start setting rules for the trick or treaters if they want good candy from me. I go all out - I only buy the "good" stuff - all name brand, mostly chocolate.. We had snickers, hershey mini's, york peppermint patties, reeces cups, chewy sweet tarts, starburst, airheads and smarties. If you ask me that's a good spread. I also give out, on average, 4-5 things per kids and at least 1 (usually 2) of those are chocolate. But next year I'm not so sure I'm going all out again.

The first girl that came to the door with her littel sister was about 10 or 11. I opened the door and she said the obligatory "treat or treat". But how she said it was a different matter... god, she was about as thrilled as if she were getting a tooth filling! I said "geez - you sound enthusiastic". Her reply (remember, from a 10 year old) "oh. It's dark, you know, and I'm tired." IT WAS 6:30PM!!!! I shoudln't have given her anything. but I did anyway....

Later we had a brother and sister show up. The brother was about 8 or so and he apparently was a pit crew memeber for Dale Jr. Jokingly I said "If you'r a junior fan I can't give you candy!" He just looked at me - completely uncomprehending. So I tried again. "You're a number 8 fan??" He looked at me and said "I don't know what that means." I almost died laughing! His sister (probably about 10) pointed to his hat and said "Dale Jr. is number 8" All I got from the little boy was an "oh" (unenthusiastically). I gave him candy anyway. He seemed to have plenty of other problems. (*like a lack of personality...)

But the cutest was the little 1.5 year old dog.

Seasame Street Personality Quiz

Which Seasame Street Character are you??






I'm Cookie Monster!!!



Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth.

You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around.
You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking

How you live your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"

Head of the Fish

If you're not familiar, fall regattas are usually refered to as "head" races. I know, all rowers at some point think this is funny.. especially back during the Monica Lewinsky scandal... (and just think - there's a stroke and a cox too! The cox also uses a device called a "cox box". Trust me - these are all legit terms - but it only goes downhill from here...)

So this past weekend David and I decided to make a weekend out of it. It was the Head of the Fish in Saratogo Springs. We planned a nice weekend so we could spend some time together between the kids races and the masters races. We stayed in Residence Inn both nights (thank god for Marriott points!) The schedule went like this - we drive the trailer (60 foot trailer, mind you...) up Friday afternoon. The high school (David's kids) and college races were on Saturday and the Masters (for me and David) races were on Sunday. It didn't turn out as well as we had hoped.

Saturday was disugting! It rained all day. Look at what the rowers had to tromp through all day!! I was ok until about 11AM when I was officially soaked to the bone. Water had penetrated thru my jeans and my super- duty spandex. (actually they're more like thin neoprene...) My Gortex jacket couldn't take the onslaught by then either. However I had enough layers on my top half to keep me relatively dry. It was still miserable any way you looked at it...


This is Mickey - one of David's rowers. I swear - this kid is so laid back I don't think getting hit by a train would shake him. I mean, really - I swear he was the only person I could find that was actually SMILING during all this rain... It's probably becuase the lumberjack beard was keeping him warm...

One more Temple fountain...

Sorry - I forgot to post the better of my fountain pics from the temple at SLC.

SLC temple

So, when in SLC you must see the temple (or else you're going to hell...) One day I had a few extra hours and was able to walk over and see whtat the fuss was all about. Actually it is quite beautiful. Of course, since I'm not a card carrying Mormon, I wasn't allowed in the temple. Apparently they don't do public tours inside. But the gardens and fountains outside were great to llok at too. Here are a few pics - none do any of it justice...

Don't tell the FAA...

As we were taking off over Salt Lake City I happened to look out the window at this BEAUTIFUL vista. So beautiful, in fact, I absolutely had to take pictures... Now, I'm not exactly sure what my pictures are - and they aren't exactly what I thought I was taking but I was trying to be sneaky and take the pics without the flight attendants knowing.... but here they are - right out the airplane window - seat 3A (Yes - that is first class. I'mfinally starting to get upgraded here and there. About time!!)

back in the west

Well, I'm in Salt Lake City rihgt now. Never been here before. At first glance it looks similar to Denver. Ah - I miss Colorado.... (sigh)

Yesterday I spent ALL day on a plane. It started when I thought my alarm clock going off VERY early. I had downloaded the Clemson fight song to my cell phone and I all of a sudden hear a marching band playing! I was so alseepo I thought I had set my alarm to the radio and a football game was being broadcast or something. I was totally alseep... I looked at the clock and it was only 4:30 AM!!!! David had the mind to tell me it was the phone, not the alarm, and to answer it. It was the Orbitz travel system calling to tell me my flight was on time. Gee, thanks. Come on!! My flight wasn't until 7:30AM! Why were they calling me so early??!!!

I flew from Syracuse to Philly to Phoenix to Salt Lake. ugh! But I;m here in one piece!! YEAH! Apparently my boss flew through Chicago and got stuck due to bad weather. He's now not getting here until tomorrow. That'll make for a long trip!

Once I get used to my new phone I'll start with the pictures again. I just haven't had time to play with it and figure it all out yet. I'm very excited because it's a much better camera and should give me much better pictures!

Cell phone drama

So I have that "new every 2" thing from Verizon. Every 2 years you get $100 to use towards a new phone. Well my upgrade due date was yesterday. I was very excited because I wanted to get a new phone that took better pics than the current one. (I take all my pics for the blog with my cell) I dutifully did my research to see which phone best fit my needs. I narrowed it down two 2 and fianlly decided on the razr. The hubby has one and likes it. I'm thinking - millions of people have it and love it. It seems to fit my needs...

I go to Verizon and walk in and ask them to set me up with the razr. It took about 45 minutes to get all paperwork done... but finally I walked out the new owner of a new phone.

I played with it for about 30 mintues and finally realized I HATED IT!! Really. That much. What did I hate about? EVERYTHING. What did I do? I went back and exchanged it for a new brand of phone. (same brand I already had - LG) NOW I'm in business. Although I did get one of those bluetoothy things... that I have to still figure out...

As I'm walking out of the mall with the second phone of the day it starts ringing. Great! first call with the new phone!! yeah!! I look and see that it's dad. I answer it.
me: hello?
dad: silence
me: Dad? hello??!! (volume of voice raising)
dad: silence
me: DAD!! HELLO!!!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME?? (I'm getting looks from shoppers. apparently I'm now talking very loud)

I get frustrated and hand up.

Phone immediately rings again.

me: dad? what's going on?
dad: silence
me: DAD?
all of a sudden I had an epiphany. Oh shit! the lady paired my bluetooth with my phone and apparently I have to use the bluetooth to talk. Big problem. I don't know yet how to use the bluetooth thingy. I don't even know how to tell if the stupid thing is even on. I have no idea how to figure out how to even turn the bluetooth thing off on the phone. I'm getting really frustrated because I HAVE to get home to finish cleaning before mom and Carol show up.

Since the bluetooth issue was not know to dad he apparently seems to think something is wrong with my phone. He then proceeds to call me back. As soon as igt starts ringing I send it to vm. He calls again. I send him to vm again. Man I'm pissed!! I can't figure out how to answer my new phone!! What good is a phone if you can't talk on it??!!!!

Ok - I need to read up on the phone/ bluetooth thing. Oh, and call dad back...

Jax in a box, no it's Ries!

One of the on-going jokes in our house concerns one of the cats - Jax (black and white one...) We have a little basket from pier 1 that I put a blanket in the bottom for the cats to sleep in. Jax is usually in it - and we call it... drum roll please.... Jax in the box. Original, eh?

Of course Jax isn't the only one that will get in the box. But I always figured the cats liked it because it was cozy with a blanket. Nope - apparently it's just because it's a basket. That's it. This theory was proven true again last night. Over the weekend I decided to rearrange some lamps in the family room. It's left me with a space that needed, well... something. So I took and extra basket and threw some mags in it. As I was going to bed last night I reached over to turn off the lamp to find this:
Ries has somehow managed to squeeze his little butt in that little space left by the mags. It amazes me what cats can get in and out of easily. As you can clearly see he was very comfy in his new bed - obviously made just for him...

Gotta luv the "kids"

My husband is a big fan of tuna salad sandwiches. So much so that the cats come running every time a can of anything is opened. If you have a cat you probably know what I mean. And remember, we have 4 cats. Usually a few show up for a treat. David drains the tuna juice into a bowl and lets them have at it. Jax loves it the most. He does his imitation of a mir cat in order to get the yummy stuff.




And you gotta love the 1980's brown and cream flooring in the kitchen.... I really need to replace that... I swear it's the same flooring we had in my house in Ohio when I was growing up...

Liam, ah, Liam. What a hoot! Give him one pat on the head or a scratch behind the ear and you've got a friend for life. He doesn't get the concept of "enough". He'd have you pet him forever if you would... Sometimes, actually all the time, he will not take "no" for an answer. Case in point - David wanted him to go lay down but Liam had other plans. He will NOT be ignored. So he put his paws up on David's lap to demand that David give him attention. Remember, this is the 105 lb. dog! He could easily knock over grandma or a small child. Hell, he knocks me over if I'm not paying attention!! But he's sooo cute you have to pet him...

Headline: "Hubby Cooks Dinner"

Some of you may know that David is not a foodie like I am. Due to that, and a few other factors, he cooks just enough to get by. I think when I'm on the road he feeds himself by 1) boiling pasta 2) eating out - although usually a healthy Subway sub 3) snacking on anything he can scrounge in the house and 4) eating at his folks house.

I admit - I do all of these things to - especially when David's on the road. It's nearly impossible to cook for one. Yeah, you can do it - David and I each did for years before we met - but most of the time it's like "why bother?"

Over the past several years I've tried to get him to actually cook for me. This does NOT include boiling pasta, making something out of a box, ordering in or taking me to a restuarant. I mean really cooking. I know he's not a terribly experienced chef so I'm easy - I'll take a salad and a prepared piece of meat. I don't need an appetizer, 4 side items, meat with a fancy sauce and dessert. I know that coordinating all that takes a bit of experience and patience. So far I think he's cooked maybe 2 or 3 times for me. (I'm sure he'll have something to say about that once he reads this.. ; )

We have had words more than once as to why it's my responsibility for every meal. The conversation goes something like this, say on a Tuesday nite:
David: what's for dinner?
me: why am I expected to know what's for dinner??
David: I don't know
me: well why don't you, for once, tell ME what's for dinner.

The intonation and emotion between the two of us depends on how long ago we had this same conversation. A few weeks ago he knew I was really getting frustrated with the whole cooking bit. He suggested that he start cooking a meal once a week or so. I'm not going to argue!

So last night I had him make dinner. I made sure I was out of the house so as to not tempt him to con me into making the dinner. I had a recipe for shrimp and feta over pasta. A relatively easy, yet very yummy, meal. He stopped at the grocery and picked up the 3 ingredients that were missing - I had made the list for him. After that he was on his own. I told him to call me if he had any trouble or questions.

I should note here that when I cook - especially if I'm trying something new, even with guests, the house rule is - I'm going to try something new so if it turns out poorly or you don't like it then we'll order take out. There is no double standard in our house - if his meal doesn't turn out we'll order in. It's just the fact that he tries.

And tried he did! I only got 2 phone calls. The first call - "what does it mean when it sayts I'm supposed to reduce this to 2 cups?" and "how am I supposed to turn this clove of garlic ino something to add to the receipe?" Then the comment "I really wish you'd have given me an easier recipe to start with. I don't like experimenting in the kitchen when you're not here." I took that as a compliement. I don't know why, but I did. I got one other call from him saying he still couldn't find the garlic press and to describe it to him again. He finally found it...

I was anxious on my way home. I knew he was frustrated but you gotta learn sometime! As I reminded him - he was not home when the sump pump flooded the basement and I didn't like having to figure that out on my own either - but I did. He's mechanical and figuring out how to fix a sump pump is right up his ally. The sump pump is NOT up my ally and I had to make the best with what I had. Cooking is up my ally - not his. He needs to learn to make the best of it with what he has. get my point???

I walked into the kitchen not having any idea of what I would find. Honestly - I was prepared to walk in to find a pizza. Last I talked to him he sounded pretty frustrated and I wouldn't have been surprised to see that he gave up on the whole thing. But much to his credit I walked in and smelled something WONDERFUL coming from the kitchen. I took a look and it looked just as it was supposed to!! And more importantly - it tasted like it was supposed to too! Ok, it was a soupy - but honestly that's a mistake in the recipe itself, not the person making it. When my friend made it and when I made it it was soupy too...

Note to self - need to modify recipe for the next time it's made to get rid of the soupy-ness...

In the end David did alright. I just hope he's forgiven me for leaving him to figure it out on his own. But sometimes that's the way it's got to be!

My Exlporer

As most people know - I love my car. Even though it costs a bazillion dollars to fill her up and is probably the sole reason for any oil controversy in the world.... I'm torn - on one hand I'd love to get a new SUV - 1) because it would be new and 2) to get something more environmentally friendly (as far as SUV's are concerned...) and 3) to save $$ on gas. But I just can't bring myself to do it.

I think my husband would like me to get a new car just so it might actually stay clean. (you all know the psychology behind that one - you buy the car and it's clean and new and you try to keep it clean and new for as long as possible.) Maybe that would work for me for about 2 weeks. Bottom line - My truck is a pit. Always.

It's covered in hair and it always smells like dog - imagine that... Sometimes it has a wet-dog smell going on too. But what do you expect?? I put wet dogs in it on a semi-regular basis. The dash is always dirty with fur and dust. There are stains on the upholstery. Unlike my husband, I DO eat in my car. Otherwise I'd starve. I'm not changing my habits. period.

Something happened the other day that might actually force me to clean my truck on my own accord.

Nikki puked in my truck.

I'm standing at practice talking to the women I coach and my husband is standing at the back of my truck with the back window up, talking to the dogs. All of a sudden I see him scrounging. For what?? towels.

He cleaned up the worst and I thought I was good to go. That night I went out and did the "wet towel second cleaning" to get anything else. I thought I was all good. I came to work yesterday, no problem.

But then this morning things changed. I got in the car and I was hit with this disgusting, putrid smell. Apparently when I thought I had cleaned up, I hadn't really cleaned up. It was sort of dark when I tried to clean it 2 days ago and I apparently didn't do a good job.

This is bad. My dream car smells like doggie throw up. It's almost, if not as bad as, human throw up. Gross.... Not only am I going to have to really clean it, I'm going to have to do it SOON. and it's so bad I'll probably spend to have it professionally done. Otherwise - I'm just going to have to buy a new car. That new business suit I was going to buy is just going to have to wait....

Cutie Aggie

Aggie is my friend Brooke's dog. She's a Vizula - a Hungarian-tye Weimereiner. Isn't she cute??!!! Sitting there, looking all calm and regal... She's a great little dog. Brooke says she's about 40 - 45lbs. She's in great shape too - no flab on this dog!!

The thing with Aggie, any dog actually, is she goes all crazy when she gets excited. My dogs have a tendancy to cirle around you like a pack (or is it a school?) of sharks. Liam will also hop around a bit and Nikki, when she's in a misbehaving mood, will even try to jump on you. Not Aggie.

Aggie has what I would call a "special dance". She wiggles from side to side, giving you the biggest grin you have EVER seen. The problem is with the grin - it can easily be misinterpreted as something else. I was lucky enough to actually capture (although not very well) this behavior with my camera phone...














I'm telling ya - this dog is CUTE! I would have taken her home with me if I could. Plus - she
s much easier to manage than my tubby -doggies....

Ok - I'm back

Phew! Man that last trip seemed to take FOREVER! Had a blast with Brooke (see blog on kickboxing...) and a good time with Denise and Janet - except that those 2 are older than me and decided this trip to continually point it out at every opportunity. However, I did go shopping with Janet one night (AND I survived!!) She is on a leopard print kick lately. She had it in her head that she was going to buy a pair of leopard print shoes. Ok - I know what you're thinking and it's not the shoes you're probably envisioning... She's looking for a pair of flat loafers, probably black with a splash of print on the top part. We found everything BUT that.

SIDE NOTE - I don't hate shopping for other people - I only hate shopping for me... Leopard print scavenger hunt - very fun!

For kicks we took this pic and told Denise that Janet actually bought them. However the joke bombed because it's hard to see what it is you're looking at on the small screen of a cell phone....
In case you're having a hard time too those are skanky high heels in leopard print. Can't tell how trashy they are until you saw their profile. Trust me - very very hoochie-momma. Very funny. As you can see from the picture - Janet, NOT the hoochie-mooma type...

Have you ever been to a tradeshow for your industry?? Well mine are interesting because we are in the medical sector so we get all the pharma comapnies - they have $$$$ Every booth usually has some type of give-away. We're small so we just keep a basket of chocolates. People do seem to really love this because they always light up when they see it. And instead of taking a piece or two I have seen many a respiraoty therapist and DOCTORS (as if they couldn't afford to buy their own) take HANDFULS of the stuff. But Pharma companies usually give away GOOD stuff. We have some ladies here in the office that do all the work to get everything we need for the tradeshows but rarely, if ever, get to actually go. So - I tracked a trunk full of crap back for them. Take a look at the loot!!

There are bags, mint tins, golf balls, the round blue thing is a travel frisbee. There's a CD case (from the Dairy Counsel), a box of Splenda, hand sanitizers and yes, ladies and gentlemen - that is an umbrella on the far right side. I carried that thing home on the plane with me. One of the ladies BETTER take it since I went to such an effort!!

And of course Connie already picked out her loot - she got a great bag (I already have the same one from a previous show), a water bottle and a coffee mug. All three of these things are from pharma groups. Cool stuff.

In the past I have hoarded the loot for myself. Let's see - what do I alrady have a home??? I have a nasal saline rinse kit - complete with reusable plastic bottle with lovely shaped head to fit nicely inside the nose - complete with 100 packets of saline mix (just add water). I have a million travel kleenexes and hand sanitizer out the wazoo. I have pens and post-it notes and highlighters too. The list of things I have is too long and embarassing to continue. I swear - I'm surprised I never tried to shoplift as a kid. If it's there for the taking I can't resist. I have that bizarre problem of taking all the travel size things from the bathrooms of hotels. I was so proud - I tought I had finally kicked that habit. Truth is I just replcaed with with taking thigns from the tradeshows instead. Don't be surprised if you see my mug on a :Wanted" flier one day because I grabbed one too many things....

grumpy

I'm grumpy. All the traveling is taking it's toll. Actually, it's not the traveling itself per se, but if you know me even just 50% then you know I don't sleep worth a damn. All this traveling is seeming to make it worse. Like right now - it's past 11:30pm and I'm up messing around on the computer. Again, if you know me I go to bed between 9 and 10. Something is definitely wrong here. Especially since I didn't go to bed until way past midnight last night. This is NOT normal for me.

so - you'll have to excuse me if I don't blog until I get back home. Right now I'm fighting the very strong urge to vent to bitch and complain about everything.... not so much fun for the reader, I'd imagine. But I don't want to not write in the blog for days on end.

give me a few days and hopefully I can shrug off this crappy bitchiness that has settled in.....

Kickboxing in Kansas City

I'm not the kickboxing queen. One day maybe... But I did make it through without A) tripping and falling on my ass (which was a real possibility here with me, the clutz queen) and B) tossing up the guacamole from lunch. I did not pass out and I did everything (albeit, slower than some in the class) except for the tricep dips (bum shoulder no longer allows for torquing backwards as required with dips) Here is a lovely picture of Brooke SEE! she's all smiles after a grueling workout!!! What a sport! I didn't even bother to take my picture. I sweaty girl with her tongue hanging out of her mouth like a pooped pup is not attractive!



Who is the kickboxing queen, you ask?? Well, I've determined the queen is Rita - the instructor. (in the middle) And the two princesses are Brooke and her friend/ neighbor, Diane (on the right) I like how they're all smiles and giggles. They made that workout look like like a quick little jog around the track. (Rita taught class with that long-sleeved shirt on!) Meanwhile, I'm sweating and burping up chicken burrito the whole time thinking "DAMN my hip is so going to cramp up if I keep this up!!" and other thoughts like "Oh my god - my arm is going to detach itself right from my body!!!" But I have to say that Rita ROCKS! Her music was my FAV!! We had some Heavy D in there as well as a bazillion others of my favorites from many moons ago. I almost felt like I was back cheerleading and dancing again. You know, back when I was in kickass shape and probably could whoop some real arse! Uh - but not so much anymore...

And as I'm sitting here writing this entry I keep having to dab off the ooze that is forming on my knuckles where the gloves kept slipping and I would hit the bag with my fingers and not the nice padded part of the gloves I had on. Wha, wha - I know - I'm whining. But all in all I did have a great time and an even better workout!

Everybody give Rita a big Mary Catherine "supa star" for her great Kansas City kickboxing class!!!

Yeah Girls!!

Sorry for the delay in the posting but I am on the road AGAIN!!! Although I'm still traveling for work I was REALLY looking forward to this trip! I am currently in Kansas City with our rep Brooke. Brooke ROCKS! She's my age, single and a bunch of fun. (She even puts up with me rattling on and on...) Then tomorrow I fly to Atlanta to work another tradeshow with another rep and a regional manager - both fun, hip gals. This week is going to be a blast!

I felt so special - Brooke invited me to go with her to her supper club. So last night I tag along to the all-girl supper club. It was tappas (NOT topless) and we had a great time - ok I had a great time, can't speak for every one else, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was great - we had REAL girl talk. Man, I miss girl talk. It was quite a cross-section of thirty-somethings. All were career girls. One was pregnant, two were married, one was engaged, one was single. Some wanted/ had kids. Some didn't have/ want kids... Some get along with the in-laws, some dont'... I had a blast. It's always nice to know that you're not the only one that has in-law issues, or concerns about having kids, etc... I haven't been able to find a group of gals like that in Syracuse. It made me realize how much I miss conversing with a close group of girl friends! I'm so jealous that Brooke's got a group to hang with!

Well, I apparently didn't embarass Brooke too much at supper club because she asked if I would be interested in going with her tonight to her kick-boxing class. I said SURE!! Then I included the caveat that I haven't been working out and I may not be able to keep up and/ or might be clutzy (like usual) and slip and fall and end up with my ass on the ground or something. She's a sport - didn't seem to mind. Of course, if any of that bears out I'll make an ass of myself, not her. I'll have to blog after the class and let you know how it went. If I don't blog then you know I died trying!

I'm sitting on my hotel room taking a breather until I meet Brooke for the class. We had great Mexican/ Southwest food for lunch - one of those places where they make you guacomole at your table (did I spell that right???) I ate most of it. I hope it doesn't decide to make a second appearance at about 7PM at the kick boxing class. That would REALLY be embarassing!

As I'm writing this I realize that I have the TV turned on to Jeopardy - little kid version. I didn't notice at first because I have the volume turned way down. I need to change the channel - watching little kids jeopardy only makes me feel stupid and that I haven't accomplished anything in life....

quick - change the channel before I get depressed!! I can't go to kick boxing depressed - it would defeat the purpose!!

YEAH!!

Tiffany deserves a Mary Catherine "supa star" for her help on getting my blog template fixed!!! YEAH TIFFANY!!

I'm still waiting on getting the camera phone fixed to upload pics. stay tuned.

Chatty Cathy

I'm just a chatty Cathy today! Several entries in one day! WOW!

This particular entry is to warn you of possible upcoming VERY boring (not just the regular boring) entries. The cell phone picture feature is acting weird! As you may know, I only post pictures to my blog that I take with my cell phone, regardless of the fat that I have a pretty nice digital camera at home. (Ok, it would be considered crappy by King family standards - but it was a great little camera when I first bought it!! .... 4 years ago....)

Why do you only use the cell phone pics, you ask? It's complicated but I'll break it down for you. Said digital phone is only able to upload to home desktop. Hubby has a million anti-virus/firewall/protection thing-ys on home desktop that makes it nearly impossible to upload pictures from the desktop to the blog when I'm home. It can be done (after seemingly hours of troubleshooting and tinkering to figure it out) but you have turn off a million pop-up blockers- and not the one that you just have to click on the icon. Oh no - too simple. You have to turn off the simple ones first THEN you have to go into all these different programs, sort through their menus and pick out the teeny, ittsy, bittsy line that corresponds to their particular pop-up blocker and turn those off too.

Man - you'd think we were the Pentagon!

This process is way too complicated. Plus, since I'm on the road a lot blogging only from the home computer doesn't make much sense. Enter in the work laptop, cell phone and email address. I take a picture on the cell phone, email it to my hotmail account and download it onto my work computer. From here I blog on the laptop and download the pictures from the hard drive. INGENIOUS!! Work is cool with it - obvisously so long as I don't do anything too terribly immoral or, god forbid, illegal with it all. And since my nickname is grandma I'm thinking I probably have nothing to worry about...

Although my boss did warn me once not to have kiddy porn on the laptop (jokingly, of course) - not that he had to warn me because he found some or anything!! But I did let him know that there might be "kitty porn" like a snapshot of my cat licking his butt or something. He laughed. I don't think I'm getting fired over that one.

Funny Friends

It's ok - I'm boring and I'm ok with that. But I have funny friends. Most of the stories I tell either involve other people or are entirely about other people. They're funny - or at least I think they're funny.

I have a friend Sara. She pulls pretty funny stuff off the top of her head. My friend Tif is the same way. I'm jealous of them both. I'm not witty. (just a smartass - read previous blog entry) I just read an entry in Sara's blog that had me rolling. I'd point you there but it's on my space and she smart and keeps her profile private...

anyway - she made a joke about her boobs are now interferring with her knees (not true at all - but funny nonetheless.) I asked her about her gravity-defying undergarment and she replied - not missing a beat at all - "its amazing what a roll of duct-tape, two forks and some cheeze-cloth will do" where does she come up with this stuff???!!! I was rolling. Or maybe I'm just easy to entertain.

What the???

Ok - I admit I am not a pro at all with this blog-thing. You may have noticed previously that I haven't even changed some of the standard links to anything meaningful. But somehow I managed to change the template of my blog.

Mind you - I didn't mean too. I actually just went in and tried to change it back. No luck. What am I doing wrong???!!!!

TIFFANY!!! I NEED HELP!!!!!

Please stand by while I try and fix the technical difficulties I'm having....

Seat racing

Do you know what seat racing is in rowing?? no? well then, I'll tell ya. It's when the coach (that would be me) decides to race 2 people against each other to see who moves the boat the fastest. Now, there's a lot more detail to actually pull it off but I'll spare you the details. However, let's just say that the mere mention of "race" gets many of my ladies' panties in a twist.

Theoretically I really shouldn't even tell the ladies that they're being seat raced. I only did due to the "issue" that arose a few weeks back. However I definitely will NOT tell them who is actually being raced. Let them all sweat. It's been joked around that many people (not my ladeis in particular) develop all kinds of problems when faced with seat racing - upset stomach, pulled muscles, cramps, whatever... I know these tricks.

I say TOUGH! Buck up and show me what you've got!

Do I sound evil when talking about seat racing?? I don't mean to. It's just that I used to be one of "them". One of those that was afraid to see how they'd really fare when the competition really got heated. I was afraid to do my best. Doesn't make sense, does it?? I've found that most of my friends do not share this negative trait with me - they don't understand it. Let me explain it to you:
Girl excels in many things without much effort
Girl gets overly praised for good job done
Girl starts to participate in something new - doesn't know how it's going to turn out
Girl afraid she'll not meet expectations and disappoint someone(s)
Girl therefore does all sort of bizarre things - makes excuses, refuses to participate, etc...

Now don't go Dr. Phil on me here. I'm not trying to blame the parents or the teachers or anything. This issue is ALL ME - no one else's. It's just at some point, very early might I add, I realized that I might not always be the best. Instead of being ok with that I fought it.

Some people never have this problem. They always give 100% even if they're dead last. Some people have this problem and they never let it go and it haunts them forever.

However, some people start out with these issues, realize what a crock it all is and finally set themselves straight. I'm one of these people. And it's tough.

For example - I have not been regularly working out. I weigh 25 - 30 pounds heavier than I did in college and probably at least 10 - 15 pounds more than I should at my age. However, since I'm only 30 (very young by masters standards) and I went to Clemson there are many people that assume I'm some rocket on the water. Oh no - unfortunately I'm not. I say this and some people think I'm being modest. Nope - just honest and terribly out of shape.

If I sat down at an erg (indoor rowing machine) right this minute I would score in the middle or back-middle of the ladies that I coach.

If I worked out really hard for the next 6 months and then pulled the same piece I'd probably bump myself up into the top 25% of the team, but not the top 5% or 10%. And that's ok.

If I had a coach start seat racing me right this minute I'd be nervous as hell. I'm the COACH and I'm nervous for them. But it's their time to shine - show me what they've got. Many women have expressed "concern" to me on their status in the boats. This is it ladies. Show me.

Put up or shut up.

I'm not in Kansas anymore.

Yesterday we all had a regatta (of the rowing sort) in Fairport, NY. Cute, ritzy little place - a bit like Hudson, OH for any of you that would know. Cute little winding river on the canal. Very quaint. Beautiful houses on the lake, sidewalk/ bike path... etc... It was great for just about anything BUT rowing.

If you don't know much about rowing let me fill you in. When racing, it is nice to have a wide enough river/lake/pond/anything that would allow boats to pass while races as well as having boats able to row up the outside on their way to the starting line. It is NOT recommened that the river be so narrow that it's nearly impossible to pass another boat going in any direction. NOT GOOD!

Also, it's nice to have the least amount of curves. Although the curves would make for a scenic, peaceful ride in a "regular" boat, it is HELL trying to manuever a fifty eight FOOT long, skinny boat that has limited steering ability through a bunch of curves. Yes, 58 feet is correct - not a typo.

Add to that enough wind to blow us all to Kansas. I have NEVER been to a race that had wind that bad and was not cancelled. Granted, the wind was not nearly as bad once you were on the water - the trees did a grand job of blocking most of the wind. BUT - while we were on shore my ladies were able to witness a boat (not one of ours, thank god) getting BLOWN off a rack. Imagine a 50-something foot boat, made of fiberglass, go flying off a rack. Not funny - well, it was a bit funny once you identify that it was not one of your own boats. Suckers. That's what you get for not tying down your boat better in 400 mph wind gusts.

Finally - the afternoon of the race ran very late. My boats were the last event of the day. We should have been off the water and loading boats on the trailer by 3:45 - 4pm. At 5pm we were still waiting on the water to dock. We didn't actually leave the regatta until about 6 or so. Not home until 9:30. I felt the worst for David - he had to get up at 5:00am this morning to catch an early flight....

I would have taken pictures but it's quite hard to take pictures while having to do all the things you have to do at a regatta. If you're not familiar with a rowing regatta try visiting one sometime. It's a cluster - to say the least. I'll have to remember to take pics at the next race so I can share some of the insanity with the rest of you. For now just relax and enjoy your blissful ignorance.

STOP THE INSANITY!!!

Oh my god! I'm addicted to Munchkins. No, I'm not addicted to some new street drug that you've never heard of and I don't have some weird, deviant sexual fetish.

I'm talking about Dunkin' Donut Munchkins. Donut holes, if you will. (said in a Jon Stewart-sort of way...) Those ittsy-bittsy pieces of heavenly goodness. Available in just one, quick bite. Ok, you can savor it and prolong the yumminess into a few bites. By why bother?? Pop one in your mouth and get another! Hell, you buy them in packs of 25 or 50!! I'm sure there's enough to have seconds, and thirds, and fourths, and fifths.... you get the idea. You can see by the picture I'm not the only one in the office partaking of the Munchkins... (no, I didn't eat that many by myself!!)

Morning person

I have always been a morning person - much to the chagrin of my friends growing up and now my husband. I remember spending the nite at a friend's house and falling asleep in front of the tv at 9. I also remember waking up at 6am and being the only person awake in the house. I could name many a friend that this situation applied to: Aarthi, Sara, Bryn, Kelly, Erin, Jessica, Chandra, Pam and Stephanie... I could go on and on. Aarthi lived across the street and Pam and Stephanie lived next door - if I was there the worst case - I'd get up and go home.

Once I had a sleep over with Bryn, Kelly and Jennifer - I'm thinking we were in 5th grade.... We were all on the outs with Pam and Steph (reminder - next door neighbors) and decided we were going to TP their house. We had it all planned out. TP - check Flashlights - check dark clothes - check The only thing left to do - wait. Wait until everyone was sound asleep. Then we'd tip-toe across into their backyard and let the festivities begin. Man, their back yard was FULL of trees. Pine trees too! It was going to be great.

But I was getting tired. I was afraid I couldn't stay up late. I lobbied everyone to go now. It was 9:30. Not exactly the hour we were waiting for. But it was my house and I got to set the rules. So out we went. We made a mess of the backyard. No one saw us. We were golden!! Then, someone dared me to go and TP the tiny, lonely little dogwood in the front yard. That was it. Mr and Mrs. Pawluch were still awake and I got caught. We all got caught. Not in-trouble caught - just geez-clean-up-your-mess-girls caught. It was still embarassing.

We wouldn't have gotten caught if I coulod stay awake longer...

Another instance: (that happened onmore than one occasion...)
College, 10:30pm, Tuesday. Call from Tiff.
Tiff: We're heading out to go downtown. Come with us.
Me: Please, I'm already in bed and you just woke me up. Forget it.
Tiff: Looser.

some things never change....

need sleep...

how in the hell does standing all day make one so tired??? I'm exhausted! Since having to attend so many more tradeshows with my new job I have a new found repect for nurses, therapists and food servers. How do they stay on their feet all day??!!!!

Luckily no customers to entertain tonight. It's jeans, t-shirt and beer (still with the boss and other work-people) but hey - I'm all over those jeans.

I'd write about the tradeshow but I don't want to be accused of making you fall asleep whilst reading my blog....

It's the little things

I'm on the road again - this time in Atlanta. I'm staying at a Marriott. You know my one complaint? They have internet service in the rooms but you must have a cable! So prehistoric!! I want wireless! I want to be able to sit in bed, in my jammies and surf the web, check email, write in my blog... David and I have wireless at home. I often sit on the sofa and diddle around on my laptop. It's when you don't have something is when you really miss it!
AAHHH!

Serious Contemplation on Human Nature

You know, call me niave, but I like to think the best of people until they prove me wrong. If you think the worst then you're cynical and who wants to be cynical? or around someone who is cynical?

Now, I understand there are inherent risks invovled when you assume the best in people first. For example, at some point you're going to be disapointed. It's not a matter of "if but "when" -since no one is perfect. However, maybe a person's shortcomings only surface in instances when you're you're not around. And - depending on how much time you spend around a person, I guess there is a possibility that you may never see their flaws. But I doubt it. At some point it's going to come out.

Growing up I have been accused of being defensive. (although I'm not sure about this anymore. My mother is the only one that really called me defensive on a regular basis. If you know my mother, or my relationship with her then you're probably not surprised by this.) However, I have made an effort to try and correct this. Now don't get me wrong - if you attack me I will revert to my defensive behavior in a heartbeat. But who wouldn't do that if getting attacked??

I also have the habit of being a smartass. This has gotten me in trouble in the past. I have also worked on this too. I'm learning to keep my mouth shut lest I spout out a smartass remark. This is a two-edged sword, though. In my psych test I had to take for my current job (ok, no funny jokes here. EVERY new hire has to take the psych tests...), keeping my mouth shut was labeled as a negative. I was told that I have good things to say and I need to learn to say them, regardless of how other people take it. I hold too much back because I'm scared I'm going to say it wrong or people will take it wrong. It appears I need to find a comfortable median.

I think finding the true personality of a person is best done when they are under pressure or stressed. This is the true test - this shows you the real person. Not the fakey-fakey. Anybody can be fakey-fakey. When I'm stressed I think I really clam up - see previous comments on being a smartass. When I'm stressed is definitely the most likely time I'll say something that will really offend someone so this is why I've learned to shut up. Although continue to push my buttons and I will explode. I promise. No matter how hard I try, I will.

I have been very surprised at what I have learned from people over the years. I have met people that seem very high-strung and flighty - but when faced with extreme stress they calm down and become Zen-like. I have also seen people that seem composed and together that completely fall apart when the going gets tough. I guess you just never know what you're going to get. "Life is like a box of chocolates...."

And that's the hardest part for me. Since I'm always expecting the best in people I have to admit that I'm easily thrown when I get a negative reaction that I wasn't expecting. Although I'd much rather know the true person, even if it involves blow-ups, rather than the fakey-fakey person. The real person is more, ... well, real.

Choose your airline carefully

I fly a lot. But so does the hubby. Difference is, I travel around to different places. David travels to the same airport 99% of the time. That airport would be Detroit. If you're a frequent traveler then you'll not be surprised to know that he flies Northwest. (Detroit - BIG hub). He has this routine down so pat that he usually flies there and back on the same flights. When we hear a plane over our house he's been known to take a look at it and shout out what NW flight it probably is - assuming it's a NW plane. You can't tell what airline it is but I play along anyway :)

Yesterday he was due to get on the 7:15pm flight (I'm sure it's probably 7:18 or something, but as the wife of the flier, I don't care about specifics - I round.) It's supposed to land in Syracuse around 8:30pm. There have been several times over the past few years that he does not get home anywhere close to 8:30 - but last night takes the cake.

message on my cell left at 6:20pm, listened to at 8:15pm: "Hi hon, it's me. I know you're at practice but wanted to leave a message that our flight is delayed because the crew isn't here yet. I'll leave you another message when we board."

I only had one message after practice. I call him to leave a message back to jokingly chastise him for not calling me when he boarded. To my surprise he answered. He did not sound like a happy camper. They had not yet left - still no crew. Rumblings about "all these freakin' planes here and no crew to fly our plane. I'll call you when I hear something."

9:30pm: "ok, we're boarding. I'll call you when we land." Ok, sounds good. He should be in around 10:30 or 11. I decide I'm going to be a good wife and wait up for him since we haven't seen each other except in bits and pieces over the past few weeks.

11pm: "We just landed... in Rochester." WHAT??? Um, wrong airport. It appears during the first attempt at landing at Syracuse there might have been deer on the runway. Went back for second pass. Too foggy, couldn't see, redirected to Rochester. For those of you who don't know, it's about 1 hour from Syracuse (our house), driving.... really fast.

Ok, I'm falling asleep on the couch. Love ya hon but you're on your own. I can't stay awake any longer - still sleep deprived from waking up every two hours previous night. must get sleep - see you tomorrow.

1:30am Friday morning: Sure enough the dogs went CRAZY when they heard the very quiet garage door opening, scared the shit out of me (I was sleeping peacefully, knowing the basement was not flooding). David's home. He rented a car and drove home. It's one-thirty in the morning on Friday. it's not like we can sleep in, we have to work today.

I've determined Northwest sucks. That's why I fly USAir...

SUCCESS!!

AHA! I procured a new sump pump, PVC pipe and necessary connectors and adhesive. I proceeded to install the new sump pump all by myself!!! No man needed!!!!

Now, I understand that men, whether they'll admit it or not, like to be useful and be able to complete tasks in order to keep their "man card". However, it's also nice to know that, when in a pinch, I can do it myself. Since my husband was able to unclog the kitchen sink last week (even though it did include lots of words I don't necessarily feel comfortable repeating here), for yet another mark on the "man card" I do not feel bad taking this opportunity away from him or his dad. (I'm sure Dave has had plenty of opportunities to obtain marks on his "man card" at his own house...)

YEAH GIRLS!!!!

Flooding Disaster

Murphy's law... I came home last night, feeling better, and decided I would properly unpack from my last trip and do some laundry. I go down into the basement and to make a long story a little shorter, there is water EVERYWHERE! AAAHHHHH!!!!! In case you don't know, my basement is finished - half with carpet (luckily with that really tight, low carpet) and half with painted concrete floor. (by the way - if any of you decide to paint your concrete floor, DO NOT use latex paint, like the previous owners of our house did. I'll explain later...)

I run into the small part that isn't finished to take a look at the sump pump. Ours is the model with the motor on top and water is overflowing from the hole and the pump is spinning, THROWING WATER EVERYWHERE! I panic. Oh god, oh god!! In a moment of undescribable clarity I grab the float and push it down and it stops the water. Ok, I have everything a slight bit more under control than when I started.

Picture this, I had just gotten home from work - I'm in khaki pants and shirt. I had taken my socks off and rolled up my pants - sort of a Huck Finn meets biz casual girl. cute look, you should try it some time.

Ok, what would any girl do next?? (did I mention the hubby is out of town?) I call my dad, never mind he's 1000 miles away and really can't do a whole lot unless I have video conferencing right there by the sump (which I don't). I'm standing, barefoot, squating (not comfortable), holding the float down with cell earpiece in ear trying to explain what the hell is going on to my father in SC.
dad: "can you pull the plug out of the wall?"
me: "sure, I guess, but I have to hold my foot on the float and stretch over there to get it."
dad: "WAIT. you're standing in water, right?"
me: "uh, yeah. that's the gist of the whole problem"
dad: "Can you pull it out with the cord, not touching the plug - don't want you to electrocute yourself."
me: "it's a flat plug - not sure I can but I can try. you stay on the line in case I do electrocute myself you can call someone." (I thought this was a much better idea than me hanging up and then electrocuting myself and no one to call for help.)
dad: "no - don't do that."
me: "David's ringing in - let me call you back"
I fill David in as I start to try and unplug the sump. SUCCESS! and I didn't electrocute myself! YEAH!

Smart, engineer hubby has me get the pool pump (that we use if the pool outside gets to high) and rig it to start pumping water out and into the utility sink. Ok, we're getting somewhere. However, because we're not sure what caused the pump to malfunction in the first place, David doesn't want me sitting the pool pump on the bottom of the hole. Fair enough - so I sit on a step ladder and hold it.

Meantime, hubby calls his dad, who lives 15-20 minutes away to see if he can come over. David let's me know that Dave (father-in-law) is on his way. So, here's me holding the pump, waiting for help to arrive. I had to remind Dave (remember, not hubby, but father-in-law. I know, confusing, isn't it?) he'd have to let himself in because I couldn't leave my post.

So now that I'm waiting I start thinking. Oh god - I hope curiosity didn't get one of cats and that's what's clogging this. Oh god - what if, as the water starts pumping out, there's a dead cat down there. Oh god! It would probably be Cabby because she's the one with the wierd water fetish. (and she's the fluffiest, being most likely to cause the most clogging...)
As I'm thinking these horrible thoughts Cabby comes around to investigate the water sounds going on. (I'll have to write about her water fetish some other time, sorry) WHEW! Ok, one cat accounted for, only THREE more to find. Luckily the remaining three all make appearances to see what the hell is going on. They are not happy about having to slosh through water to get to their litter and food.

Which brings me to the next real issue I'm dealing with. In the next room (actually you can see the doorway behind Cabby's rear in that pic) is the workshop (as named by previous owners.) To us it's the "cat room". Yeah, it's furnished like a workshop with cabinets and great shelving and other storage, but that's not it's main purpose in our house. We do keep all the tools, manual and power, there but more importantly we keep the cat food and THREE XL litter boxes there too. The litter boxes are sitting on top of industrial rubber-backed mats. This tries to catch the litter off the paws and keep it to a minimum in the rest of the house. Right in front of the boxes the litter really starts to pile up. We vacuum the mats off at least once a month - last time we cleaned was about a month ago... We use clumping litter. I won't go into detail but just imagine a bunch of wet litter. I won't say any more but to say it looked like sludge. Use your imagination to fill in the rest.

The painted concrete is white. Why? I have NO IDEA! That's the dumbest color for any part of a house EVER!! So now, there are little dark gray spots (individual pieces of litter) that are now full of water all over all the concrete floors. Have you ever seen bacteria grow in a petri dish? Yeah, it looked like we had little cultures growing ALL OVER the floor. GROSS! Add to that, the previous idiot owners painted it with latex so now we have paint bubbles popping up all over the floor. The floor looks like a mix of bacteria cultures and boils. EWW!!!

I know it sounds as though we never clean - but I swear we do. However 4 little cats can track a hell of a lot of litter around in a short period of time.

Ok, back to the story (it's gets going faster here...) Dave shows up and brings his 16 gallon wet/ dry vac. He rigs the pool pump so I don't have to hold it and he proceeds to HELP ME clean up this disgusting, gross place we call our basement. He's bent over sucking up water while I'm moving things off the floor. He helps me roll up the nasty rugs and carry them outside. I move into the carpet rooms and start sucking the water up there. He's still moving things off the floor onto high ground.

Now, I wasn't very optimistic about the carpet. I immediately start seeing $$ as I think of how we going to have to replace it. Have you ever used a huge wet/dry vac on wet carpet? Check this action out! See the lighter part where I sucked the water right up?? I was in business!

At this point all I really have to do is continue to suck water out of the carpet. I tell Dave I really apreaciate his help but I have it from here. No need for him to continue to subject himself to this misery. But no - he stays. He's in it for the long haul. Good thing too - I sucked up so much water in such a short time that I definitely needed his help to carry it up to dump outside. Dave ROCKS! I think he was here for about THREE HOURS!

Well, at this point it is clear the sump pump needs replaced. (did I mention how lucky we are we have a super duty de-humidifier? it's been going on hi ever since the beginning of this fiasco.) The hole keeps filling up and will need to be pumped every so often. I set the watch - every hour I'm going to be down there pumping until I can get the sump replaced. - tomorrow. I call a friend at work and explain that I'm not going to be in the office in the morning due to this pumping predicament. Later in the evening I realize I can go 2 hours between pumps. YEAH! I slept on the couch - closer to the basement. I was up every two hours pumping out water. If this is what it's like to have an infant, forget it!

So, now I'm at home, mopping the floor with a bleach solution and pumping every 2 hours. In a few minutes I'm heading out to purchase a new sump pump and Dave is coming over tonight to help me install it. I have some rugs in the garage that need wet/ dry vac-ing. I'll do that too this afternoon. In the end I decided to take a vacation day. I'm not really getting much work done when I'm trying to bleach-mop the floor, etc... This weekend (or next, once everything is REALLY dry) I'll be steam-cleaning the carpet downstairs too.

Morals of the story:
1) keep your basement clean. You think it's "just the basement" but someone is bound to see it at it's worst.
2) make sure you have someone, and a back-up someone, to help you when you really need it, even if the job is WAY disgusting. Sometimes you may not know who that person is until disaster strikes.
3) don't store things on the floor of the basement - even if it is finished and you think it's safe
4) keep a close eye on the sump pump for failures.

If you want to stay my friend...

Had a reason to call a friend yesterday that I hadn't talked to in a while. Turns out I'm a reference and I just wanted to let him know I had been contacted. No big deal. I leave him a message, sort of cyptic since it was at work, to call me at work or on the cell. He calls me back this morning and I tell him why I called. His response? "oh, gee, I thought you were going to tell me that you and David were pregnant!". Um, no.

Now I should mention, this is not a one-time occurance. My best friend, on about every third call, will ask me if I'm pregnant too. Family members (not just the in-laws) make comments or hints about it - although they don't come right out and ask. Here's a hint: STOP ASKING IF I'M PREGNANT!

First of all, I get all self-concious thinking I'm getting too fat - but then again, everyone who usually asks me this doesn't even see me - we're talking on the phone. Secondly I already get enough "hints" from the family - I don't need you too. Finally, in case you missed the memo, there is no law mandating that people who are just now married for two years MUST start procreating immediately. If that law actually does exist then I missed it - and don't point it out to me because I'm happy in my ignornance.

If I sound a bit harsh, I'll explain further as to why. See, last night I had the dogs with me at practice (I take them with me when David's out of town, such is the case now). I like to think I can handle several things at once. I'm a woman, right? I'm born to multi-task. However, trying to get myself ready for practice AND keep track of 2 dogs AND clean up doggie poo AND trying to coax dogs in and out of a coaching launch, well.... that well surpassed my limit. I got to thinking later - sheesh! I definitely can't handle kids yet, hell I can't even handle 2 dogs!!! And to top it off I got the call from the friend this morning thinking I was pregnant.

I like to think I can handle a good bit of stress - but this puts me over the top. So, if you want to stay my friend, DON'T ASK ME IF I'M PREGNANT!!

as promised!

as promised... I have pics of the "kids" in their doggles. Aren't they cute!!! Nikki is still getting used to wearing hers. I have to wrestle with her to keep them on. Liam is slowly coming around and getting used to his.

These pics were taken last night on our way to practice. I love driving to practice, or anywhere for that matter, with the dogs in their doggles. People look and point and laugh and giggle. Kids and grown-ups both get such a kick out of them. I love it that we can bring a smile to someone's face!

Almost back to normal

I'm back at work today. Not 100% but I'd say at least 75% - enough to get some work done.

Speaking of work... it's interesting to see the cross-section of friends I have that read my blog. (Yes, I'm NOT ADD - I've been tested. You just have to keep up with the shifts in my brain. Ask Dee, she'll explain it to ya.) Some from high school, some from college, some I just met at work during the past several years. Each person, depending on when they met me has an idea of how I work and function(or not functino, as the case may be). Some people might see me as organzied - others, just the opposite. When I worked at Oneida my office looked liked a bomb exploded. In retrospect - that's fitting seeing as how that's also how I felt while I was working there. Too bad I don't have a picture of it for comparison purposes. At my job now I'm much more at peace. Take a look at my desk. You can actually tell that it's made of wood!!! I even have a plant! (well, actually it came with the office, I didn't bring it in....)

I've also come to the conclusion that I don't hate traveling for work (like I'm prone to tell people) it's just that if there is some virus or bacteria to catch on a plane I end up with it. And if not... well then I get a sinus infection instead. THAT is the part that I do not like about traveling. Although this past trip was, um, adventurous, to say the least.



Quick recap:
-ruined presentation... check
-ruined clothes and tioletries due to exploding mousse... check
-running out to grocery to get replacement mousse at 5am (it's ok, I had jetlag)... check
- getting back to hotel room only to then find that toothpaste was runined too... check
-paying $5 for the "travel" kit in the room in order to have toothpaste that didn't taste like orchids and green tea... check
-hotel forgetting to launder ruined clothes in time for me to wear ...check
-tripping on the sidewalk in front of LA county hospital (NOT where you want to trip) in front of the one sales rep that will NEVER let you forget it... check
-runny nose, sneezing, everyone asking if you have allergies... check
-meeting interesting Dir of Respiratory in CA, find out he's from Toledo, a big racing fan and offers to send your hubby collectibles and get him into the Indy races because he's on their rescue team... check (I'm SO winning wife of the year this year!!)
-staying at friends house and thinking the little Ewok dog peed on your comforter... check
-loving to stay at friends house because you get room with A/C (and it blowing directly on your face, I LOVE THAT and I'm not being sarcastic etiher...)... check
-showing friend other friend's blog and having her laugh so hard she almost pees on the couch... check
-eating great Thai food and drinking fabulous wine (unfortunately not at the same time) .... double check
-waking up with head feeling like in vice grip... check
- flying home with head feeling like it's in vice grip doubled by a wicked hand over... double check
- suitacse not showing up at airport... check
- call in sick from work(due to sinus infection - hang over is long gone)... check
-suitcase showing up more than 24 hours after it was supposed to... check
- warn chirporator that if he even comes close to touching sinus areas on face will hit him... check (I really did that today... not hit him, but threaten to.)

Well, I usually fly without a hitch, except for this last time. So hopefully I'm set for some smooth traveling over the next few months now.

Tonight have practice - I coach masters women's rowing. I'm sure pretty soon I'll have some goodies to tell about that too. You just wait!