tami in transition...

Aloha Bitches!

2008-08-05T19:31:00.005-04:00

So this post is a couple of months late but whatevs. I figure I need to tell everyone about Hawaii because it was just the best trip ever. You should go, seriously.

The botanical gardens and tropical plantation:

My good friend Mary was getting married to Paul. I'm not so sure that I believe in soulmates but if I did, they would qualify. They've been together forever, share a love built on friendship, and are just the most accommodating, caring, and inviting people I have ever met. When I got the pretty blue invitation asking for my presence in Maui, I was in. I needed to get away. I needed this for me but I wanted to be there for them:

I scored an amazing deal on my Kihei condo through vrbo.com. I stayed in a gorgeous 1 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit right across from the ocean. Unfortunately, when I was dumping my camera, the goddamn thing crashed and I lost all of my photos of the interior so here's the link to where I stayed. The unit was listed for sale at $550,000.00USD - that should just about tell you how nice it was. The link does it no justice. It was equipped with everything and the hostess was just amazing. I also scored 1/2 price airfare through Westjet and got an amazing deal on a Mustang convertible. I was set to binge on lavaflows and fresh fish. Mission accomplished.

The beach across from the condo, Iao Valley through the vog (volcanic fog):

The Kamole Sands grounds:On the south side of Maui, Ahihi Bay with the rain coming in, Molokini in the background:
A bunyan tree in Lahaina:
Stuck in traffic, I look to my left and see this on the side of the road:An enclosed rain forest den of serenity on private property:

Me at 10,000 feet - the Haleakala crater:The Wailea Golf Club where the wedding was held. This was where the reception was held and quite possibly one of the most beautiful places on the planet:
I took over 600 photos but since blogger takes 6 hours to post each one, this is all you're going to get. I'd go back in a heartbeat, even with the 12 hours of traveling in a tin can above the ocean packed with screaming children and a 6 hour time difference.

But I digress. *sigh*

do not adjust your computer monitors...

2008-01-15T18:46:00.001-05:00

For the first and probably last time I venture into the kitchen this year (yes I realize it's January) to cook dinner, I made the one and only Kraft Dinner. I was craving it, found a box in the cupboard, took a deep breath, and turned on the burner. I boiled water. I added noodles. And it turned out like this:

WTF?!? I realize I have no business being in a kitchen, have no use for the stove or food preparation in general, but hell - I can read directions! How does one turn KD orange? It tasted like ass too. Booooooo!!!!

Oh, I take no responsibility for the ugly plate. It's my roommate's. All of my nice stuff is being enjoyed by spiders and dust bunnies while it sits in storage waiting for me to do something with my life.

On the other hand, I was promoted at work! Woo hoo! Although unfortunately my raise is not high enough for me to hire a cook. *sigh*

living in a cellular world...

2008-01-02T12:24:00.000-05:00

I hate cell phones. I hate standing next to someone in a grocery store yapping about their Friday night plans and being so rude to not even get off the damn thing to pay the cashier. I hate driving next to people who are too busy "like so, whatever" on the phone when they should be, imagine this, DRIVING at a consistent speed, and preferrably in their own lane. I hate listening to obnoxious ringtones while in the movie theatre, library, or coffee shop. Well, maybe it's ignorant rude people I hate, not the cellphone, but whatevs.

That being said, they are a necessity and I have made the move to abandon my landline. I am officially one of those people although I am a respectful user and will just leave it at that.

My current phone is 3 years old, randomly turns itself off, has about 5.7 minutes of battery life per charge, and occasionally just decides that it doesn't feel like making that call right now. Unfortunately, these occurances are no longer infrequent so I'm looking for a new phone.

Of course, I'm dying for a new iPhone to go with my new iMac but since it hasn't arrived in Canada yet (and I'm sure when it does it will be about 1/2 my annual salary to buy), I've been looking at other phones. While doing so, I got nostaolgic in thinking about my phones over the years. Let me take you on a journey of my cellular world. My very first cell phone:

The Nokia 252 in yes, woodgrain (my mom picked it out). Full analogue baby. It was a decent phone for emergencies only. It did its job. Look at the size of that thing! It's like a brick/2-by-4 crossover.

My next phone was the Motorola 2260, otherwise knowns as the peanut phone. Completely not user friendly, had a stupid blue condom thing on it, and was generally just a huge pain in the ass. Needed a freaking NASA engineer to add a contact. The reception was shit even if I was standing next to a tower. From what I can tell, Motorola phones still aren't user friendly. Boo! I hated that stupid thing.

My current phone, the LG 1150 kicks ass. Until recently, it's never given me a problem, it's totally user friendly, and I like it. The problem is it was so rare that I can't even google a picture of it in my color. In the US, it was released in navy. Here it was sold in silver. To apparently about 5 people. But I liked it then, and I like it now. But compared to the new phones, it's an antique. So I'm looking at new ones.

So for my next poll, which one do you guys like best? Based solely on looks of course. I've lready decided that these phones have the features I need and the reviews have been decent. So, whaddya thing?

Siemens SL75

Sony Ericcson s500

Samsung u600 Samsung u700

The 2 Samsungs come in a dark, slate navy blue too.

So, your comments/thoughts/reviews would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

happy birthday chloe!

2007-04-09T11:13:00.000-04:00

she covers my clothing in puff with pride. she can school a kong with any stuffing in under 30 seconds flat. she sleeps like it's a sport. she's bitchy, stubborn, and selfish but only because she knows she can be. she prefers the -20 degree weather to balmy spring conditions. she smiles. to her, i am second only to food.

chloe is 7 today. seven. when i got her she weighed 2.5lbs. now, she's pushing 16lbs although i swear half of that is puff. she has followed me through 4 different moves without ever complaining. she adapts to any situation including road trips. when i come home she welcomes me like i've been gone for a month. when i'm home, she follows me like a shadow. she wants for nothing and asks only for milkbones. happy birthday princess puff!

the "10 dogs with spots" theory...

2007-03-06T18:10:00.000-05:00

i'm not going to lie to you, i am not good at math. while i quite fondly recall saying, "when the hell am i ever going to use this stuff?" in high school (and now realizing that i got to the ripe old age of 29 without actually using most of it), i did struggle.

today i got this in an email:

which made me laugh so hard because i am quite confident that i actually put this on an assignment in mr. eaton's legendary grade 10 math class. the class where the same kid was sent EVERY DAY to the office accompanied by the entire class singing "na na na nah, na na na nah, hey hey hey, good bye!" the same class where ashley and i were allowed to write our tests together because our combined efforts were still hit-or-miss on a passing grade. the very class where the "10 dogs with spots" theory was born. allow me to explain.

mr. eaton posed the question: 10x - x = ?

now, the correct answer is 9x. mine and ashley's answer was 10. our explanation? if you have 10 dogs with spots, and you take away the spots, you still have 10 dogs. made sense to us. i think mr. eaton thought we'd make great trailer park wives one day.

are you rotting inside?

2007-03-02T14:38:00.000-05:00

tv has no shame. not that it did before but my god. i just flipped past an infomercial discussing how our digestive systems are rotting and that is why our farts and breath smell so bad. no, i'm not kidding. as i type this, they are now discussing the size, consistency, and formation of bowel movements. the visual of a loaf surfing through the g.i. tract was especially pleasing.

yesterday, i attended a session on bill 51 at the oakville convention centre. nice place, good session, lots of important info, go to see some ex-OMB staffers and catch up. it was good. the drive home, not so good. it took 6.75 hours to get home. it took only an hour and twenty minutes to get there, and that was during morning rush hour. people were running out of gas and just abandoning their cars in the middle of lanes. it was horrendous, ridiculous, and road cleaning crews from halton/peel region need to take some lessons from york region. 'nuff said.

omigod...

2007-02-26T09:48:00.000-05:00

they have made special K with chocolate. now THAT is the best diet food i have ever heard of. in canada, we get special K with strawberries. in the USA, they get chocolate. i call foul.

my weekend sucked. all of my plans to go jetsetting, clubbing, and having a life again in ottawa were scuttled. so instead i watched a one-hour special on lindsay lohan (wtf?), lost iq points by endulging in flava of love 2 (totally worth it), and did laundry. meh. waste of a weekend.

my blogging has been lacking lately. probably more or less a state of mind but i'm losing interest in it. probably because my own life is bland and i really have nothing to say right now but meh. i'm going to blame in on february and all the blahs that come with it. but also probably because i can't really say what i want to. my own fault for not making it anonymous. so bear with me while i figure out what to do with it. maybe if/when something worthwhile actually happens, then i'll have some content.

ttfn...

well duh...

2007-01-31T09:52:00.000-05:00

You Are Not a Cook

You know cooking isn't for you, and you wouldn't even consider trying to make a homecooked meal.
And this is a very good thing. You've saved all your friends and family from unintentional food poisoning!

Are You A Good Cook?

tee hee, this website is a GENIUS...

2007-01-20T18:44:00.000-05:00

in high school, i remember having a poster on my bedroom door that said, "51% sweetheart, 49% bitch. don't push it." then i found this:

You Are 54% Angry

Generally, you are not an angry person.
But you're easily frustrated and enraged. You have one heck of a temper.
And because of your anger, you tend to feel resentful and even spiteful.
You already know how to quell your anger. You just need to do it more often.

How Angry Are You?

theme from twilight zone...

2007-01-09T21:01:00.000-05:00

so i did one of those quick and dirty career tests. and yeah, it's exactly who i am (except for the librarian and museum curator parts - hell no). how can they figure that out in 6 freakin questions???

Your Career Personality: Idealistic, Service-Oriented, and Future-Oriented

Your Ideal Careers:

Alternative health practitioner
Architect
Environmental lawyer
Librarian
Magazine editor
Museum curator
Novelist
Nutritionist
Photo journalist
Playwright

The Quick and Dirty Career Test

happy christmas, merry new year, blah blah blah...

2007-01-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

hi everyone! hope you all had a wonderful christmas and new years with your family and friends. i had a terrific, but short break, which included a ridiculous amount of food, not enough time to spend with friends, not enough money to shop with, and ended up accomplishing the square root of nothing.

cheers to a better 2007 because 2006 couldn't possibly be any worse!

it's my birthday and i'll blog if i want to...

2006-12-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

to recognize my 29th birthday, i have launched a new website devoted to the coming of age and entering into the next decade. it's called 30 is the new black.

i have considered that most of my friends are turning 30 in 2007, have already been 30 several times now, or will be turning 30 eventually. we haven't done anything BIG to recognize this achievement so, in true tami fashion, i propose as follows:

a 30th birthday celebration to honour all of us: friends, family, acquaintances, and randoms who want to recognize their 30 birthday in a alcohol fueled, adventure filled event with drunk and debaucherous overtones.

put aside $25-$50 a paycheck starting in january (there's a new years resolution for you). you can get a 4 day, 3 night, 4 star strip hotel and air trip now from toronto for $450CDN a person.

to be held in las vegas, nevada in the second 1/2 of 2007. think about it. we could party in bars along side pantyless celebrities. how cool is THAT?

the website is expected to be a forum to discuss and plan this event so please check and contribute often.

remember, it's not just for my 30th birthday, it's for ALL OF YOUR 30th birthdays too.

so there you have it... my birthday wish. i'm going to go blow out the candles on my cake now, all 29 of them. get the fire extinguisher ready!

i would like to introduce you to...

2006-12-12T15:36:00.000-05:00

my new camera!

purchased new in the states for HALF of what it costs here. seriously. HALF. i know the U.S. has more purchasing power than us but half? that's incredible. i'll be getting it around christmas time and look forward to using it. and no, i don't feel guilty about this purchase at all because:

a) the camera is paid for in its entirety due to me selling useless crap on ebay,
b) my old camera is a piece of shit and should be punted into a lake,
c) HALF the price of what i could get it for here. HALF. it's a BARGAIN, and
c) i deserve it.

a nasty stomach virus is going around my office. i have cloroxed my keyboard, mouse, phone, desk, and santized my hands like 10 times. i hope i can avoid the nastiness.

speaking of nasty, there is a box of brandy filled chocolates in our lunchroom at work. at the best of times, liquor filled chocolates taste like ass. obviously, they were donated by some bitter client who was regifting but c'mon! bring on the turtles and the after 8s!

camera poll results...

2006-12-08T19:19:00.000-05:00

so where should i get my new camera from?

answer 1: ship camera to friends in USA, have said friends re-ship camera to me or bring me camera at xmas time and pray the damn thing doesn't break.

result: 62.5%

answer 2: have camera shipped from the USA to Canada and pay the freakin taxes, duties, brokerage, bend over fees, (still cheaper than buying it here) and pray that the camera doesn't break.

result: 12.5%

answer 3: pay the extra $220, buy the damn thing in canada, and be miffed that the americans get such better deals than us but at least have canadian warranty piece of mind.

result: 25%

summary: the overwhelming response is a big fuck you to canadian customs and the lack of canadian purchasing power to have the same things as the USA at a comparable cost. love it.

biting the bullet, buying snow tires...

2006-12-08T13:53:00.000-05:00

tuesday night was the inaugural meeting of the new council. we have a new mayor, and one who is very progressive. while i expect the new year to be especially busy because of this, it renews my enthusiasm for my job.

after the formalities, i was introduced to the firefighters that were running the (open) bar. let's summarize that:
a) firefighters
b) open bar

i think it's safe to assume that it was a good night.

in more financially draining news, i'm buying snowtires. they go on the car tonight. it's a setback but i think my life is worth it. a co-worker whose spouse works for a dealership scored me tires and rims at his costs so i am saving dough but still, i'm trying not to throw down huge wads of cash on anything right now. especially since whatever i decide to do come spring, will require money and a lot of it. i will be posting a new poll soon, one seeking advice on that front. stay tuned...

catch up...

2006-12-06T13:35:00.000-05:00

on monday, i attended a forum on bill 130 at the toronto board of trade. i thought it would be more of an educational forum to learn what bill 130 meant to municipalities and other economic development practitioners. however, the format was far more political than i anticipated. i was sitting at a table with linda jeffrey, MPP, her parliamentary assistant, and three commissioners from municipal affairs and housing. the session was much more of a "this is what the mcguinty government is doing" rather than "this is what bill 130 means to you" like i was expecting. regardless, i appreciated what sandra pupatello, MPP spoke to and like i always do at these things, was re-invigorated about my job and its possibilities.

the best thing about this event was that dena was there. when i was still in OAC, apprehensive about leaving home, and contemplating what to do with the rest of my life (hmmmmm...sounds familiar), i went to the university of waterloo march break high school open house and dena was my tour guide. when i chose to do my undergrad at waterloo, dena was my frosh leader, and ever since has been a dear friend and mentor. always enthusiastic, always engergetic, and always focused - dena is very much a person i wish i was more like. every time we get together to "catch up", i always leave feeling like i am a smarter and better person for knowing her.

in financial news, my quest to purge my home of all things unneccessary has seen me list an absurd amount of items on ebay. as of today, i have officially made enough money to pay for my new camera in its entirety! yea me! marko has graciously offered to bring the camera with him when he visits his family this christmas so it should be in my grubby little hands by january. i need to keep devoiding my home of all things crap so that when i move into a tiny place, by myself, and with only 1 salary:
a) i can fit,
b) there will be room for chloe, and
c) i can spend my efforts on hobbies and activities that i really enjoy rather than being buried under a mountainous pile of crap that i can not or will not use during the rest of my life.

in the "holy crap it's already december 6" file, i must immediately send out christmas cards, notification that the wedding will not be held in two weeks in the bahamas cards, and start shopping before the malls get so insanely packed with everyone and everything annoying that i go in there throwing punches just to find that sweater or book or random thing that i should have picked up last month when i saw it in the first place.

my birthday is in 9 days. i'll be 29 holy fuck years old. 2007 will be the big 3-0. there will be a seperate announcement (and probably multiple posts) about that one. if you are feeling wealthy and want to get me a gift, i'd love a 50" samsung plasma tv, laser eye surgery, and a vacation to somewhere warm and indulgent. kidding. well 1/2 kidding. when i finally get my ass around to planning a proper birthday celebration, i'd just be impressed if people showed up to drink and dance with me. location to be determined but due to previous exploits, i hope it will be new territory not previously tainted with the likes of my boys.

why i love my boss...

2006-12-05T11:44:00.000-05:00

i got an email from my boss proposing a date for our departmental christmas party. this is the email:

"It’s that time of year again when we must gather to break bread, give thanks, and pretend to enjoy each other’s company. Just kidding about the pretend thing – you ladies are a delight and Mark is growing on me. Please let me know if lunch suits you on this day. I’m thinking beer, bacon wrapped sausages, and a hot tub for five."

responses ranged from "what about a keg, tequila body shots, and a stripper from the VI?" to "i'm always up for a good time" and "let's have it here."

if we're not all written up by HR at the end of the day, it will be a miracle.

shocker...

2006-11-29T21:06:00.000-05:00

tories to close most status of women bureaus.

i guess buying quebecoise votes, reversing the decision on gay marriage, and promoting guns didn't alienate enough canadians. might as well go after everyone else non-male, non-white, and non-heterosexual.

chloe, also known as...

2006-11-24T21:10:00.000-05:00

the chloenator
the puffanator
pookie
the portly pack of puff
the killer puff ball
porkchop
porkie
furball
puffball
princess puff
wookie wookie
sweetie
puff
fatty
chunk chunks
bitchy bitchies

chloe après grooming, all bashful:

chloe, all "enough with the flash, now where's my biscuit biatch?":

at sarah's (the groomer), chloe completely ignores all commands. however, once the biscuits come out, the dog could be on fire and would not care. sarah: "wow, she's really food motivated, eh?" um yeah...

mom cut out my horoscope the other day. it's quite optimistic. wish i could be.

"It is far better to know that you don't know than to think you know when you don't. Give this notion a little thought. The lack of clarity in your life at this time is happening for a good reason. All will be revealed in the natural course of time."

huh.

"lovely"

2006-11-20T22:10:00.000-05:00

on wednesday, november 15 arthur "ben" bennett passed away. suddenly. unexpectedly.

his daughter kody was my roomate in first year of university. we had never met before the day we were thrown into a 10' x 10' cement cell and told to live together for a year. by years end, we were the only roomates on the floor still talking to one another. although we were on opposite co-op streams and rarely in the same town as each other afterwards, we've always kept in touch and always had a bond.

i have always marvelled at her family closeness, their ability to celebrate ANY occasion, and the overall optimism of anything to do with life. the minute you meet any member of her family, you are family. their family home truly felt like a second home.

in recent years, the family has been challenged with gutwrenching adversity. just when you couldn't possibly fathom anything else happening to such a good, strong, and fun loving household, ben was taking from them and us, way too soon.

ben always had the best hugs. the glass was always full. everything was always "lovely." and on saturday, the family had such a beautiful celebration of his life that my heart just hurts talking about it.

we were instructed to "wear our brightest colours for ben". kody's wonderful friends had more food brought to the house than an italian wedding for 400 people. the funnest, happiest pictures of the family were blown up and framed around the house. and we laughed. and danced. and cried.

and the whole time i could just imagine ben thinking how "lovely" it all was.

youtube - quite possibly the best thing since the internet...

2006-11-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

this post is just random youtube clips that made me laugh. i hope they make you laugh too. use volume. and discretion.

post halloween traumatic stress disorder...

2006-11-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

+275 pieces of candy purchased.
-30 pieces of candy consumed by purchasers of said candy.
-245 window banging, sugar crazed children
equals:

no candy left by 7:20 p.m.
smashed pumpkins all over street
me shaking heads at parents who seem to think that it is acceptable to walk their children around the neighbourhood drinking out of bottles of beer and smoking pot.

happy halloween!!!

2006-10-31T08:10:00.000-05:00

and the magic 8 ball says...

2006-10-28T10:49:00.000-04:00

pulled out of a fortune cookie this week:

obviously, we're not going to san fran this weekend. financially, probably the better move. work wise, definitely a better move. but still, i'm stuck in this damp, grey, rainy wasteland with nothing to look forward to and the camera question has yet to be answered...

diversions of course. the real question being what the goddamn hell am i going to do with the rest of my life?

as seen in simcoe county...

2006-10-27T16:44:00.000-04:00

this week, shawn was driving through southern simcoe county behind this pick up truck:

in case you can't read that, it says, "master bait farm, home of the big chub, making money hand over fist."

got milk?

2006-10-26T16:49:00.000-04:00

okay, so i've been making considerable efforts to drink more milk. i've always liked milk, i have it every day with cereal, etc. but as i approach 30, i've been making sure to increase my calcium intake with yogurt, cottage cheese, supplements, and of course, milk.

it's 11am so i head to the fridge to get my carton. quick look at the date - excellent, december 2006. open and gulp.

something nasty slids down my esophagus.

what the hell was that!?! i look into the carton, yellow liquid looks back. i throw the carton into the garbage with such force, that it dumps all over the place. i spit oh-so-lady-like several times into the garbage pail.

again, i pick up the carton and look at it. the offender:

nasty. my stomach does not deal well with egg. for the remainder of the day, i feel like i am constantly trying not to throw. mark, who thinks this is the funniest shit ever, says to me, "can't you just feel the placenta dangling off your tonsils?"

5 years...

2006-10-20T10:39:00.000-04:00

And I'll be happy for you
If you can be happy for me
We have changed but we're still the same
After all that we've been through
I know we're cool...

- gwen stefani "cool"

it has been exactly 5 years since matti and i met. this morning we gave each other a big hug and wished each other a good day. tonight, i will head to burlington to spend the weekend with the guys drinking, dancing, and laughing. it will be good for me.

on my drive to work this morning, i was behind a pick-up with the license plate "DICKSTRCK". huh. (i thought MTO censored these things?) regardless, it reminded me of a co-worker who said she only got married because she was "fuckstruck", made me laugh.

sometimes, laughter really is the best medicine.

must pack: pomtinis, fms, id, $, camera?

yea me!

2006-10-11T11:51:00.000-04:00

when i got to work today, there was a huge cardboard envelope waiting for me in my inbox. my first thought was, "oh god what kind of new found torture is this?" but alas, i opened it to find my certificate in economic development from the university of waterloo. woo hoo!

of course it's wrinkled to shit (thanks canada post) and there are some misplaced ink splotches on it, but hey, my name is spelt correctly so it's all good.

i kid you not...

2006-10-10T21:24:00.000-04:00

this is the weather forecast for the next week:

how freakin' depressing is that?

assvice please!

2006-10-06T20:12:00.000-04:00

i like photography. i know a good pic when i see one but like a good carpenter, if you haven't got the tools, then the job just isn't going to get done right.

the camera i have now is a piece of crap. for the love of god, we won it at a staff christmas party. in its defence, it was great at the time and did give me some good pictures from england and vegas but i am very disappointed in my shots from DC. so, i have decided that it's time for a new one. a decent one.

so here's the deal. after hours of painstaking research and justification budgeting, i have found the camera for me. the bigger problem being that i can save major cash (like $220 - seriously) by getting it from the USA. however, by buying it in the USA, the warranty is void in canada. i have to buy the camera in canada for it to have a canadian warranty.

sidenote: matti and i have been talking about going to san fran for a week in october/november. we can get a sweet deal on a flight out of buffalo and can stay at marko and christine's making it a great budget get-away. besides, i've always wanted to visit san fransisco.

so, people what do i do? assvice sought... please and thank you!

stupidity kills...

2006-10-05T21:40:00.000-04:00

on my usual formula 1 race to work, i pass a dump truck lying at a 45 degree angle in the ditch. it's flanked by two huge tow trucks with cranes. as it has been raining at typhoon levels for weeks now, i thought that maybe the truck was passing someone on the right and given the soft shoulder, slid into the ditch. i later found out that the driver, with a full load of gravel, was not paying attention while reading a map. i am thankful now for the ditch and that she missed the 20 or so kids who wait for their school bus 20 feet away. moron.

the long standing joke in ontario is that there are 4 seasons: almost-winter, winter, still winter, and construction. during construction season, of course a bridge i take every day to work has been undergoing repairs. the sign says "april to september". as i recall, construction started in late march but what evs, if it's not construction, it's school bus traffic so regardless, i'll still be late for work. (side note: for those who know me, this is not a shock. i'm known to run on "tami standard time" which means at least 10 minutes late for everything.)

anyhow, they have this contraption set up so that traffic on the bridge is reduced to one lane while the other lane is used by workers. so every 5 mintues or so, the one working lane works for eastbound traffic, then the next 5 mintues for westbound, etc. so there i am, stuck in the queue, using my 5 mintues to finish dressing (doing up shirt, brushing hair, checking palm pilot for important meetings i may be missing, etc.) when the light turns green and all the other impatient commuters surge ahead. all of a sudden, everyone slams on their brakes.

why you ask? because some moron yapping on the cell phone is driving the wrong way on the one-way bridge. instead of getting off the phone and reversing to the other side of the bridge, she pulls onto the side of the bridge where the workers are and keeps driving/yapping like nothing is wrong! almost plows into 10 construction workers and head-on into a row of cars but does not see the point in getting off the phone! grrrrrrrrrrr...

also, please note how bridge repairs were to be finished in september and they are STILL working on it in october. (fuming mad - how dare they make me late)

going for a walk on an early fall day...

2006-10-01T15:46:00.000-04:00

a brief account of walking the puff at 9:00 a.m. sunday morning:

take in warm sun and cool breeze
appreciate the early start of changing leaves
enjoy the silence as it is too early for screaming children and their obnoxious parents to be outside shattering eardrums and being excessively irritating
think of creative and constructive ways to spend the day
pass fire truck with yummy looking firefighters
witness chloe eat poo (for the love of all things holy, why?!?) for the second time in 2 days
realize that i look like crap with hair in clip, dirty runners, and oversized sweats when passing fire truck with yummy looking firefighters
return home as it starts to rain, again, for the 10th time in 10 days
wonder if the grass will ever be dry enough to mow again (now reaching jungle status in rear yard)
spend the majority of the day e-shopping for new digital camera

relaxation factor: 10

constructiveness factor: 0

(sigh) sometimes being lazy is the best therapy...

katie's revenge...

2006-09-28T14:41:00.000-04:00

An inmate serving a life term for molesting and killing a 10-year-old girl named Katie somehow got "Katie's Revenge" tattooed across his forehead, and prison authorities were trying to determine how it happened.

Anthony Ray Stockelman was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to abducting, molesting, and killing Katlyn "Katie" Collman. Stockelman's tattoo, which covers nearly his entire forehead, has "KATIE'S" in large letters and "REVENGE" below in smaller letters.

article: CNN
photo: NBC

(smile)

it's not you, it's US...

2006-09-22T12:08:00.000-04:00

i have spent the past 5 years with a fabulous guy who deserves nothing but the best the future can bring. while we always knew that we were very different people, we both came to realize that we weren't going to work. it's nothing he did, it's nothing i did, it's just us.

it has been almost 3 months since we decided to go our seperate ways. friends and family are finding out, we're planning for our division of assets, and i am faced with an admittedly excited - where do i go from here? - sense of anticpation (apprehension?).

the last blog was our blog - a means of keeping our friends and family up-to-date on our lives, the upcoming wedding, etc. this time, i am still undecided as to going public or remaining anonymous. if i keep this blog all to myself, i can be as candid as i want about my feelings, thoughts, and goals as my new life unfolds. if i let me family and friends in on it, then i can effectively reduce my email use. hmmmmmm...

how dare you mr. bush, spin 9/11

2006-09-13T09:49:00.000-04:00

definitely worth watching the whole 9 minutes but don't bother commenting unless you do.

new life, new blog...

2006-09-02T10:27:00.000-04:00

i have been meaning to start a new blog since the inspiration for the last one is now over. this one may or may not be a g-rated as the last one though. haven't made up my mind yet. **warning** f-bombs may ensue...