Phone Call

Posted on September 21, 2005 by Frog

My sister just called to tell me two things. I’ll be a repeat aunt again by mid-June (actually she told me a pretty specific time period but, pahlese, we must be vague on this here site). And, she mentioned she needs to go out for sister night and could it be soon. So, we’re going out on Monday night. And, they are adopting so there’s a possibility of adult beverages. We’ll see how it goes.

As it turns out I’m having a mammogram on Monday so I’ll be good and ready to go out as well. I’m also taking all of Monday off because, frankly, after sticking the girls into the vise they call an x-ray machine, I need some recovery time. This will be the second mammogram I’ve had and I’m not looking forward to it one bit. This one is supposed to be my baseline. The other one was to identify a cyst years ago.

Which has a funny story naturally. I had a cyst. I went to the surgeon to have it suctioned out. As the needle was in I asked the doctor if he ever had to fill up two of the collection tubes and he said sometimes. Then he promptly started filling up the second collection tube out of my cyst. I laughed and so did he and the nurse. Leave it to me to ask the dumbest question at just the right time.

Posted in Listening | 2 Comments

Never Change

Posted on September 20, 2005 by Frog

SalonDOTcom has a section called Audiofile and man alive there’s some excellent music there including what I found there today. You have to have a premium membership but that’s a good $35 to spend. I think you can get monthly memberships for $6. Anyway, plugging Salon wasn’t why I started this entry. Although, really, they have great articles.

I do highly recommend finding a copy of a Bettye LaVette record. Cue that thing up and pour yourself a glass of wine. She has an outstanding and soulful delivery. And, I can’t believe I’ve never heard of her. She’s been recording music longer than I’ve been alive. Let me tell you, I dig some old school soul.

If you have a premium membership, check out the Audiofile for today and yesterday on Salon.

Posted in Listening | Comments Off

Quicker than the human eye

Posted on September 19, 2005 by Frog

Hong Kong Phooey I was not. This morning I dragged myself into work and when I got to the parking lot, I wondered how on earth did I just drive in. I think the sleepers in my eyes were as big as my eyes. I didn’t even notice that no one else from my office had parked in the lot. It didn’t dawn on me that I was the first person in the building until the alarm started beeping. I couldn’t get the key out of the door because I was carrying a bunch of stuff. So, you know what happened…I got the call of shame from the alarm company. I gave up the secret word and had to tell them my name. They can just put another tick mark next to my name. I’m a frapping idiot.

I spent the remainder of the day trying to design a form using software I’ve never used before. And, to top it off the upstairs toilet is STILL broken and then right after lunch the admin told us to try not to use the plumbing since they were cleaning out our pipes. Whatever. Someone needs to start paying overtime and get this plumbing stuff taken care of once and for all. This is the second time in six months we’ve been without basic freaking plumbing.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | Comments Off

Mystery Solved

Posted on September 18, 2005 by Frog

I didn’t figure out the “why” of the garage door opening by itself until I got in the car the next day. Of course, the better-half joked that maybe the snake slithered into my car, hit the button and was waiting for me in the back seat. I checked the car out when I got into it. If there had been a snake in there every single person in a 5 mile radius would have known about it. Good thing for the local community there wasn’t a snake in my car.

Anyway, back to the mystery of the garage door. I have one of those middle consoles and it is a two-parter. Hit one switch and the top opens a small shallow storage area and hit the other switch and the bottom deeper storage area opens. Earlier that day I had to go out to the car to get my emergency dollar out of the shallow storage area so I could go to the local Mexican place for lunch. We have calculated that it costs about $8 to eat there and I could only come up with $6 in dollars and $1 in quarters. That’ll teach me not to go by the ATM. When I opened the shallow storage area, a pen I keep in there flew into the back seat. I retrieved it and hastily shoved it back into place. Then I smacked the lid down and went to lunch.

When I opened the compartment the next day to replace the emergency dollar, I noticed the garage door opener was shoved way in the back and directly under the hinge. I think the hinge relaxed and pressed the garage door opener and opened and closed the door.

The garage door hasn’t “magically” opened and closed itself since then so I’m pretty confident the mystery has been solved.

Posted in Thinking | 2 Comments

The Heebee Geebees

Posted on September 15, 2005 by Frog

Early this evening, I went outside to water some of our potted plants. After watering the grapefruit tree (in a pot and grown from a seed), I turned and saw the biggest snake skin still attached to the under-the-house access door. It creeped me out. I went into the house, called the better-half and told him he needed to come home (it was after 6:30 anyway). There are some boy jobs around our house that this girl just doesn’t do. Opening the access door to see if the snake is sitting just inside the doorway is a BOY job.

After I hung up with him, I headed up our back staircase. I thought the dehumidifier in the garage was making a racket but when I got to our bedroom I realized it was the garage door opening. That makes a girl home alone a tad freaked. I looked out the window and didn’t see anyone and it looked like my car was untouched (the garage door opener is in the car). I tiptoed around to the front stairwell and crept out the door with my keys in hand. I figured I had a pretty good chance of speeding away in the car if some freak had just broken into the house.

I got to the car and looked in the garage and it didn’t look like anyone was in there so I grew a sack and marched right in. No one was in there but I did consider sitting on the front steps until the better-half got home. As I stood on the steps, I realized he didn’t say he was out the door when I talked to him, so I just went back in the house and curled up on the couch with keys still in hand.

Check out the snake skin:

That’s almost 5 feet of snake:

Posted in Generic Thoughts | 4 Comments

Tuesday Afternoon

Posted on September 15, 2005 by Frog

I forgot to mention that I took off two hours early on Tuesday and the better-half re-arranged his schedule so we could work on getting the roof rafters up. We were worried Ophelia was going to drop a ton of rain and we hoped we could get the roof on before she hit. Ophelia is kicking NC’s butt but all we have is lots of humidity and some wind. I don’t think it has rained significantly in the last month. I’m hoping our well doesn’t go tits up before we get another one dug. I don’t know how in good conscience anyone could sanction a shallow well in this area. Our last house had a well that was 150 feet deep. This one is 35 feet deep. What’s up with that? We’re pretty good about conservation anyway. The better-half and I grew up in houses with shallow wells and we don’t want to deal with that headache.

Whew, where was I? Oh yeah, the roof rafters:

Posted in House Proud | 1 Comment

Egads

Posted on September 14, 2005 by Frog

I watched House Hunters tonight and I was so very annoyed by the couple who were house hunting. They called each other Honey or Darling at least 4000 times. And, every single room in every house brought a conversation about the grandkids. Enough already. Live your own lives and just pick a house.

Is it just me or does the female host on Surprise by Design look like one of the Dixie Chicks? The show isn’t my favorite, but I’m too lazy to even pick up the remote to change the channel.

On a completely different subject, I’m considering buying some dye and sprucing up the black of some pants. Anyone have an opinion on whether or not this is worth the trouble? I’ve never done it before but I have a couple of pants that aren’t ready for the trash bin.

Posted in Watching | 2 Comments

Because I Just Can’t Take It Anymore

Posted on September 13, 2005 by Frog

Every morning I have to go through the intersection of Westwood and McClellan road in Mechanicsville. It is an intersection where people are thick as posts.

Here’s a little bit about the RIGHT OF WAY law in Virginia (from our DMV page):
Right-of-Way

When two vehicles approach an intersection not controlled by traffic lights or signs, neither vehicle has the right-of-way. Generally, Virginia law states that when two or more vehicles approach an uncontrolled intersection from different directions at the same time, the driver on the LEFT must yield to the driver on the right.

If the traffic lights at an intersection are not functioning, all vehicles approaching the intersection must stop. The driver on the left must yield to the driver on the right.

The law does not give the right-of-way to anyone. It only states which driver must yield to another.

Yield also means to stop if you cannot merge safely into the flow of traffic.

So, while there are two stop signs, the rule clearly states that the driver on the LEFT yields to the driver on the RIGHT. So, you pack of idiots I see in the morning here’s some news: I WILL SIT ON YOUR LEFT UNTIL MY CAR IDLES ALL OF THE GAS OUT OF MY TANK BEFORE I WILL CROSS IN FRONT OF YOU TO PROCEED DOWN THE ROAD.

Also, when you are driving on a major city road, do not stop to talk to some guy standing on the side of the road. The people behind you don’t give a rat’s ass that you know that guy. Pull over out of the flow of traffic if you really need to talk to him. And, dumb guy on the side of the road keep your dirty looks to yourself when you and your stupid truck driving friend get honked at. You are impeding the flow of traffic, nitwits.

Posted in General Spleen Venting | 2 Comments

Baby, We Were Born To Run

Posted on September 10, 2005 by Frog

We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen. We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen. We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen. We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen. We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen. We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen. We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen. We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen.

End Transmission.

Posted in Listening | 1 Comment

Not A Good Way To Start

Posted on September 8, 2005 by Frog

This morning I dropped a soda as I was unlocking the office door. That can spewed forth like no tomorrow. By the time I got my key out of the door and opened the top of the can there was hardly anything in it. All morning my feet felt sticky. Remarkably my shoes and pants weren’t stained.

As I walked into our kitchen to recycle the blasted can, I thought this was a bad way to start the day. Instead of having a really crappy day, it turned out OK. How am I supposed to maintain my pessimism when things work out?

Tonight I watched Taking Lives and according to the comments on IMDB, I’m an idiot because I was creeped out and entertained. Yes, there were plot holes wide enough to drive through, but entertaining enough.

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