NaBloPoMo

I'll admit I spend a lot of time reading blogs. I read "mommy blogs"(even though I am technically not yet a mommy), technology blogs, education blogs, political blogs (sometimes), the blogs of my friends and family, and so on. Because of this, I feel that I am sort of up on the blogosphere and wanted to officially make mention of an event that starts tomorrow. November is National Blog Writing (or Posting) Month. Though I have not officially signed up on any of the sign-up blogs (too chicken and boring for that) , I have decided to unofficially participate. So, for the month of November, I am going to blog daily. Yes, the content will suffer tremendously (because it is such amazing, intriguing, and insightful content to begin with. Ha!) and there will probablly be a lot of pictures qualifying as blog posts, but come on, that's 30 posts in 30 days. Quite a feat, don't you think?

If you are interested in participaing with me in my unofficial National Blog Posting Month participation contest thing, Good! Great! I'm excited! If not, why must you be such a party pooper?

If you want more information, you can get it HERE or you can get it HERE . They both eventually lead to the same place.

You've got to love David Letterman

I can't say that I stay up to watch Letterman anymore. I'd rather sleep than watch late-night tv, but, Idiot O'Riley was on Friday night and apparently, there was some controversy. Watch the clips and judge for yourself, but it seems pretty apparent that Letterman is a much smarter man than O'Riley. And, better looking, too.

With no real intentions to get political on the blog or ruffling feathers (remember what happened, HERE?), anyone who listens to Bill O'Riley and believes anything he says is a freakin' idiot, and as Letterman said 60% of what comes out of O'Riley's mouth is made up and all he does is put words into others mouths.

If you are going to watch, watch both clips. Or, at least watch the end of the second clip, it's the best.

Clip One

Clip Two

This could also be a test to see if Ross reads the blog. Considering we don't agree with each other politically, he may feel the need to retaliate.

Sunset

E-mail Conversation (from yesterday)

Me: I forgot to tell you, but he is starting to "wake-up" around 3:30 in the morning and guess what, that is when I wake-up, too.

Him: I wonder why he wakes up at 3:30am. That is sort of interesting.

Me: I don't know why he wakes up at 3:30 but I've got a good feeling that he'll do it on the outside to. Something good to remember, right?

Him: He will be an early riser - morning person like his father.

Me: You just called yourself a father. Was that weird?

Him: I was hesitant to type it. Babies having babies.

Why do these situations always happen to me?

Let me preface this entry with the fact that I am not obsessed with bathroom incidents or humor, but it seems like, no matter where I am at, or what country I am in, I encounter strange goings on in public restrooms. Thus, today's story.

There is a woman in my building at work that has nasty public restroom habits. How do I know this? Well, we seem to be on the same time schedule and 6 out of 10 times I go to use the bathroom, she is coming out or heading in. I've become familiar with her patterns and she, to put it nicely, doesn't hold back and does not courtesy flush...ever! (Sorry mom for being gross!)
So, as my class ended today I headed in a desperation sprint to the restroom. As I walked in, I knew that she was there because of three distinct clues: 1) odor, 2) orthopedic shoes, 3) voice. Voice you ask? Yes, she was talking on her cell phone whilst doing her private business. Anywhoo, as I was wrapping up, she continued to talk on her cell phone and apparently ran into a few problems. The conversation I picked up on went something like this..."Did you notice that I cleared out all the [grunting and straining] grrr boxes?" There were a couple further statements of a similar strain (get it?) but I was too overwhelmed to listen. I washed my hands and headed out the door as quickly as possible.

I don't know why these situations happen when I am around but, they do. When will I ever learn?

The yard update, you know you want it

First, thanks to everyone who helped us with the yard this weekend: Ross' Dad, Paul, Preston, Haley, Dad, Mom, Willie, John, Hannah, Eva, Grandma, Grandpa, Chris, Jerry, and Alex. Ross and I are so happy that you all helped and so lucky to have a family that enjoys manual labor.

As our yard deadline fast approaches, we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. The pavers are nearly finshed, more shrubbery has been planted, and all we really have left is a few rows of pavers, drip lines, planting and bark (ruf! ruf!).

Here are a few pics from the weekend of work and helpers. Thanks again!

It's all Gary's fault, part deux

I mentioned a few posts ago that I am fearful of completely loosing my mind. Well, I had another incident today that is starting to turn my worst fears into a reality. I left work early today because I just wasn't feeling well. Friday's are starting to be hard days for me to function. I had to run a couple of errands on my way home, and I was starving, and my blood sugar was pretty low. So, rather than try to make it home to eat, I knew I needed food...STAT!

I decided to avoid the freeway and drive down state street, with the thought that the first place I found for food, on my side of the road, would be lunch. That happened to be an Arby's. I drove into the drive thru lane, checked my blood sugar and shot up in the car so I would be ready to chow down. Here is where I started to run into problems. The drive thru required that I exit west bound on 1700 South. Fine, I thought, I'll just take 17th to 3rd West and hop on the freeway at 21st South. Well, once I got to 3rd west it was too crowded and I didn't want to wait. This caused me to veer out of the left turn lane and keep going down 17th until 9th West, where I knew I could once again get on the freeway. While driving on 9th West I did everything right until I got on the ramp to get me to the freeway.

Now, I knew the exit I needed...I-15 South/Las Vegas. Even though I knew that, I stayed in the far right lane, for Northbound I-15 and 9th South. ARG! ^#(@&*%*&^@# I AM SO STUPID! I got on the wrong ramp and headed back into downtown, where at this time, I had already been trying to escape for nearly 30 minutes. Lucily, it didn't all end badly. I managed to get off on 1300 South, go right under the freeway and loop back on. I did make it home in once piece and was so embarassed and exhausted by my adventure, I slept for 3 hours.

People tell me this will just get worse. I can't wait.

Corporate America is great

I had a Dilbert moment today.

I came into work and had 4 emails from this guy that we call Larry or Woody eventhough his name is Lawrence. He works in NYC and is a nuisance.

He decided to email me, my boss, his VP, and 2 other guys that work in my department asking for some data that I usually provide him (for August and September).

One of my co-workers gave him the data and said, "Lawrence, you should really direct your question to Ross."

I researched his question and discovered that I have already sent him all of the data that he requested.

I was just a hot about having my work ethic impugned by Larry.

Here is my reply. It got me in trouble.

Lawrence -
Quite frankly I am growing tired of the shotgun approach that you have adopted.
Asking the same question to every member of the SLC finance group is a practice that I consider to be less effective, especially in light of the fact that I have already sent you this information.
I sent you the August Cards In Force / Oustandings on 9/13/06 at 9:24 AM.
I sent you the September Cards in Force / Outstandings on 10/06/06 at 9:50 AM.
I think that Mike Bearden would appreciate less emails about issues that do not correspond to him.
Let me know if you have other questions.

My boss apparently got a call from Larry's VP to ask why I was so harsh.

We had to move up our regularly scheduled one-on-one to discuss the issue. I explained that I do not hold grudges or have an issue with Larry, but that I could not stand idly by as he makes me look bad. Jerre (my boss) understood, but recommended the 'write the email and save it for 24 hours' technique for next time.

There probably won't be a next time - I get the impression that I have become the Jules from Pulp Fiction of American Express Travellers Cheques and Prepaid Services. People are afraid of me now....

Cell Phone Pictures

A few random pictures from my cell phone.


Yesterday, this truck thought it was a Hummer


Ross ate this omelete at the pancake house in Torrance, California in September


The sky, from a while ago


My cute brother

A Stuart Smalley moment

Every once in a while, while sitting at my desk, I get a whiff of menthol and wonder where it is coming from. I then realize, it's me, because I have icy-hot slathered all over my back.

The yard, finally starting to look like something

Ross should really be blogging about this because it's his project, but we did make some real progress today. We planted shrubbery! Yeah shrubbery! With very little time left to complete the massive undertaking that is our yard (we only have until November 1 and then the stupid HOA is going to fine us $100 plues $10 a day until it is "finished".) we are getting very close to calling it done....at least done enough to satisfy the people who harass us on a weekly basis.

If you're interested in some pics from today, click on the photo at the bottom.

Landscaping Progress

Another Win for the Wolverines

After last weeks interesting game the Wolverines pulled off a victory against the Hillcrest Huskies. Willie played a great game and is probablly the only kid on the team who wasn't assessed a penalty during the four quarters of play.

Update: The official who threw dad out last week was suspened for the last three games of the season.


Doesn't this kid look huge?


And, handsome, too.


The cheering section was pretty big today


Look! Dad isn't yelling or getting kicked out of the game. Good job dad!

View the whole set from Saturday's Game

Hillcrest Game

"The Office"

Michael(closing scene): "There is all kinds of grief. Sometimes though, there is good grief. Just ask Charlie Brown."

Me(thinking to myself while watching): "Ha, ha. That's funny. Wait, that isn't what Charlie Brown meant."

Photo booth

It's all Gary's fault

My brain no longer works. I forget things mid sentence, mid thought, sometimes even before I get one or two words out. I can't remember the words I want to use, the places I need to go or the things I need to do. You might say that I am a little pre-occupied all the time, or that I have that rare disease called "pregnancy brain" or you might just say that my brain cells are dying at a faster than average rate.

Anywhoo, I thought I had an appointment with my diabetes specialist today at 1:00. To prepare, I hurried to get a couple of projects finished at work, ate my lunch and left the office with enough time to get to my scheduled appointment. When I pulled into the parking lot, I had an overwhelming urge to look at my planner. Good thing I brought it with me because...my appointment is tomorrow at 1:00, not today. Idiot!

The embarassment and stupidity of it all caused me to just drive home.

I'll try it again tomorrow.

Fighting Words

Idiot!

Moron!

Incompetent!

Those three little words and throwing the down marker across the field, was all it took for my dad to get ejected from the little league football game today, after a talking to from the cops.

What a rebel!

Ominous

It's all in the sign

I didn't have time to get out my cell phone on the drive home and take a picture, but I'll let you imagine what this sign looked like.

Pukins for sale
$3.00

Fall Adventure, or What I did on my Conference weekend

The video will get HUGE when you click to play so, you can just refresh the screen when you're finished watching.