Phone stalkers

In the last 45 minutes since Charter came back up, my parents called three times. To tell me what they were watching and to inform me that I could go back to work now. I forget what the third call was about. That's how significant it was.

Not kidding, these people need a hobby.

The big guy pulled the plug

Today's a good example of why it's best not to have all your eggs in one basket. Charter had a major outage this morning. Some of you may have been affected. At approx. 8:05a we lost our internet connection at work. We're on the Charter Business plan. There really aren't other options because Charter monopolizes the area and cable feuds are something I'll never understand. Anyway, after a few hours of working on some local tasks I decided to head home because the majority of my day depended on the darn internet connection. It's amazing how lost we are without it.

Lucky for me I do not have Charter. I have a dish and DSL line, which run independently of each other, but bill through the same company. So, I'm always able to work from home when Charter has these issues (which can be often enough).

I swung by my parents' house on the way home and sure enough, there was my dad sitting on the front lawn playing his video poker handheld. It's what he does when bored. I knew they'd be a little uptight because they have Charter for TV, internet and phone. Big bummer. They lost all connection to the outside world. His reaction was exactly as I had expected when I pulled in the drive. He's all crabby because he was missing bowling (seriously). My mom comes running out and decided she was forced to run to Walmart because there was nothing else to do.

I pray that my life doesn't come to this when I reach my 60s. I don't want my daily routine dependant on Jeopardy, Love Connection and local bowling tournaments. Why can't they play cribbage or go for a walk? Just sit and talk? Sort of bums me out. It's their life and I can't interfere with how they choose to live it... although I do sneak in my 2 cents once in a while.

Me... I'm at home now. Working away, having some lunch. Charter did just come back up a little while after I got home, but it doesn't pay to run back to the office now. I have a 2:30 appt. anyway, so I'll work a few more hours here. It's cozy.

We're moving on up

I got the girls all cleaned up and into bed last night. After a couple Mike's Limes with a friend that came over, I was pretty bushed. I got horizontal on the couch and tuned into my fav... House Hunters. Much to my surprise it was in Oconomowoc last night! Normally they film in bigger cities like Denver, Orlando, Detroit, etc. They really do go everywhere, but I've never seen the show done in small WI towns. So, I bunkered down to watch it and bam! - woke up at 10:30. Go figure. Missed the whole thing and was then up until 1:00a, unable to sleep. I'm dragging a bit today, but nothing serious. The clock ticking away at a snail's pace doesn't really help.

This morning our CEO announced that they sold the bldg I currently live in. That completely changes the dynamics and operations of our company. We've been functioning with two locations (2-3 miles apart) since 2001 and it's been difficult. It's costly for equipment and supplies, having double of everything, not to mention maintenance costs. And it also wastes a whole lot of people's time traveling back and forth for meetings. It has contributed to the lack of communication and can occasionally create an Us vs Them environment. We need to be together in one building to operate efficiently, so it's been a long time coming.

They are going to sell the arm pit of an office on North Ave. and relocate everybody over to High Tech Lane. With that being said, they have to expand the HTL facility to house our whole glass division (production), plus quite a few office support staff. We have 12 months to build at HTL and get out of NA, which will be quite the challenge. This will have a great impact on our little IT Dept, some of it good, some creating a lot of work. Since everything does tend to work itself out, I'm sure the process will be completely smooth. Or not.

I haven't decided how this will affect my Two Year Plan yet. My TYP was to get all my ducks in a row by 2010. This includes my schooling, the braces, some additional financial planning for long term and eventually an occupation in a new field. My primary focus is to complete these things in that time frame and maybe throw in a new hairdo at the end. This little shake-up in the company could help or hinder my plan.

Fore!

I had a great time yesterday. Spent the morning doing yard work and it looked pretty darn nice by the time I finished, if I do say so myself. I grabbed a quick shower and headed out to T&C for a round of golf with some friends. We have a group of 8-ish that gather when time permits. All people that I met through work, some have left, some are still hanging in there like me.

The weather was absolutely beautiful and it was just fun. I golfed OK. Some of the holes were pretty long and driving is certainly not my strong point. I don't have the strength for those long drives, so it takes me a couple more shots to get on the green than others. I'm better at the chipping and putting. But, for the most part, we were all in the same league.

We went out for a bite when we finished and ended up talking for a long time. It was nice, catching up on life and having some good laughs at memories of the past. It's a good group of people.

By the time I got home I was bushed. I put on some jams, watched the movie 21 (liked it), and hit the sack. This morn I was up by 6:30 and got the painting gear on (wife-beater and cotton pants that I always wear). I'm probably 2/3 finished right now and decided to sit down for a quick lunch break. I love the new color. Very fresh and bright, unlike the old. I have two coats on and am debating a quick third. It was tough to cover the old paint. Not only is it a dark color (greyish-blue), but also a different paint... maybe a shiny latex. I'm not sure, but it's been the chore. I have NO desire to do the wall where the fridge and oven are right now, so I'm finishing the other walls and calling it a day. I want to clean up and enjoy some of this nice sunshine. Need to be outside.

Trading my own space

Decided to take a day of vacation today. I started the morning with a cup of coffee and took the last test for my online Supervision class. Then I decided to tackle the kitchen. I'm giving it a mini makeover. There were a lot of flaws when the previous owner remodeled the kitchen... things that you don't really notice until you start looking. Well, I noticed these things and figured it was time to clean it up. Some gaps between the wall and trim, bumps and uneven spots in the walls, things like that. I got out the spackle and a tube of caulk and went to town. I got most of it fixed and sanded down by this afternoon, so I'm feeling good about that. I also picked up some paint (color: summer rays) and misc. painting tools.

Once I get the new color on, I plan to switch out all the hardware and the fan/light fixture. It's all that shiny brass and I absolutely hate it. Hate it, hate it. I took the old valances down and will have to fabric hunt for something new and exciting. A few more accessories and a rug or two - voila! A whole new kitchen. I'm looking forward to it. Redoing a room always makes me happy.

Tonight I'm hitting Elkhart with some friends... and that's my day in a nutshell. Oh, and I bought a sub sandwich for lunch. Something I haven't done in months and months. I cut it up with a fork and knife, but it still tasted absolutely delicious. It's the little things that get me going.

Doesn't get much better than that

Today I have decided to share some of my favorite summer things. Feels like as good a time as any.

1. 75 degree days with sun


2. My backyard after I have cut and trimmed


3. Tooling around town on the Vino


4. Brewer games w/tailgating


5. Having all the windows open in the house


6. Watermelon


7. Sheets hanging on the line


8. Neighborhood banter


9. Flipflops


10. Golf outings w/friends


11. Mike's Hard Pomegranate Lemonade


12. Ponytails

Avec plaisir

I feel like I've been training for some all-sport triathlon lately. The girls have been keeping me busy. The last few nights we've been mixing it up with croquet, biking, playing catch, then back to croquet again. The skateboard comes out, then they go swimming. Guess that's what summer is all about.

I want to take advantage of this great weather because sooner than later we'll be back to the nasty humid stuff again and everyone will want to hibernate back into the AC'd house. So if that means spending as much time outside as possible until we reach exhaustion, so be it.

Last night one of my friends commented that she always feels tired. I couldn't have agreed more. Part of it may be aging, but I think a lot of it has to do with being a parent. That job is nonstop. Life in my 20s was simple. Life in my 40s revolves around getting my kids what they need, not to forget my needs that have to fit in there somewhere.

Do we as parents over do it, or is society to blame? They say that Europeans are so much more relaxed and spend more time stopping to smell the roses. Maybe it's time to adopt their mentality and learn another language.

Say it, don't spray it

So, I'm cruising down the trail on the Vino this morn. I don't normally take the trail because it's faster on the road and there are less obstacles to go around (like people, dogs, etc). Today I chose that route because my ortho is right where the trail comes out to the road and it's convenient. I'm cruising down the trail and there's this guy up ahead of me, walking a black lab. His back is to me.

All of a sudden I see him pull one of the nastiest moves ever. He turns his head to the right, plugs one nostril shut with his hand and blows out the other. Ugh! I saw this huge spray come out and I was headed right towards it!

I slowed down on the speed, allowing myself to miss the spray and gave him quite the look as I cruised past. How incredibly disgusting... I mean, what the hell?

Piece of cake

Turns out the recovery wasn't so bad. I'm not exactly loving the way I look (I'm feeling very trailer park right now) but it's temporary. I'm told that the gold chain isn't real noticeable. I can jiggle it with my tongue, though. One end is attached to my braces and the other end just disappears up into my gums. Sort of bizarre, actually. There are a few stitches hanging out and those will disappear in time. The doc said that everything went very well, so there's strong hope that this bad boy will come down eventually. There was a chance that he'd go in and the thing wouldn't budge, which would've meant an implant. I'm all for using my own teeth if possible. Especially if it means another $3000.

The pain pills are good. I found out today that I can drink a beer without getting all wacky. Overall I'd rate this experience as a 4 on a scale of 1-10, with 10 making me completely miserable. I was expecting a 9, so this is good.

If I don't smile you can't see the gaping hole, so my plan is to scowl a lot for the next few months.

Say what you feel

The storms were a little wicked last night. There are a few large trees down on my street, not to mention the many branches and leaves. It looks like a war zone when you drive down the road. I can't even imagine what it must feel like when a tornado takes down neighborhoods.

We decided not to golf tonight because it looked like more rain was coming through. It eventually dissipated and turns out we could have gone after all. I guess none of us really wanted to be standing on the 5th hole when a reenactment of last night came through. Our only source of shelter would be the pit toilet, and I don't even use that when I have to go unless it's a dire emergency. So yeah, it's disappointing that we could have golfed after all. Maybe it's not the end of the world considering that it was 85 degrees. I ended up showering my kids, making a nice spag dinner and kicking up a mean game of Yahtzee. Golf... next week.

Tomorrow morn is when we pull the baby tooth and try to lasso that adult one stuck up in my gums. Cross fingers that I don't look like a complete freak show when it's all over. The plan is for Janie to pick me up when it's done and drop me off at home to sleep. I tend to get real chatty and goofy when put under like that (who'd a thunk??). After I had my miscarriage back in '98 I had to go through the routine procedure to clean things up. I remember my mom and the X coming in when it was all over and I was all drugged up. I started explaining the Dr's orders... how much sex we could (not) have, using condoms for a while, all kinds of stuff. I was very blunt with the details and felt completely embarrassed the next day when I realized who was all in the room at the time. What can I say? I'm a talker.

Cracker anyone?

Holy cannoli, could it be any more stagnant today? Nothing is moving outside but the bugs that pinged off my face as I rode the scooter into work today. Eh.

Janie's favorite line when the weather is hot and humid like this: "It's like a sewer out here". She says it all the time and it drives me nuts. Because she's spent so much time hanging out in the sewer system.

I ran into my buddy Josh downstairs this morn and commented on what an awesome day it was. He responded, "Yeah, if you're a fucking parrot". Made me laugh... still does. It was his delivery.

Say good-bye now

My two cents on the Favre situation.

Enough already. How many times did we have to hear that he was thinking about retiring? Year after year. Then he has a press conference this last spring, where he broke down in tears. It was time he concentrated on his family, blah blah blah. And now all this business about how he wants back in, but The Pack has already moved on, and they won't let him play elsewhere to protect his legacy.

Whatever.

I've always loved Brett, but he needs to stop. Move on, stay down south and ride the tractor. Maybe throw on a nice little sweater and talk sports on TV. Anything. Just stop the back and forth "should I play, should I retire, should I play, should I retire" crap.

It's over. There's nothing worse than an old guy who is good at sports, but is past his prime and just won't take the uniform off. It's like Seinfeld... always best to go out on top.

I wanna be a cowboy

It was quite the long weekend, pretty much consumed by work. I hate server conversion weekends. It only happens every couple years, but I still despise it. We have to move every single piece of data over to new machines and there are always headaches along the way. Besides the fact that there are no tech support guys to call on weekends. The morning after the weekend isn't much fun, either. People pounce on you before you even walk in the door. Some of their concerns are warranted, but some of the issues they could fix themselves if they'd just read the emails sent out. Either way, it all sucks and we're getting closer to putting it behind us. I hope to have the outstanding issues resolved by tomorrow.

And that was my weekend in a nutshell. I did get out for a few hours to hit the Brewer game on Saturday eve. Fun time... fun people sitting around us... love Brewer games.

Don't drop the soap, buddy

That jury that I was supposed to be on - they found the sad excuse for a human being guilty. What a piece of crap this guy is. From Press article:

A 42-year-old illegal immigrant was convicted Wednesday of having sexual contact with an 8-year-old boy after admitting the act while on the witness stand, prosecutors said. Jose Carman Gonzalez-Ricardo, who had been living in the area about six months at the time of the September 2007 assault, will face up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced July 23. A jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Gonzalez-Ricardo guilty of first-degree sexual assault of a child early Wednesday afternoon, concluding a trial that began Tuesday morning, said prosecutor J. Bork, an assistant district attorney. Bork said Gonzalez-Ricardo admitted to police that he touched the boy inappropriately and was aroused by the encounter, and he confirmed those statements on the witness stand despite his not guilty plea. Gonzalez-Ricardo is being held without bond until his sentencing, and had been in jail since his arrest in lieu of a $100,000 cash bond. Gonzalez-Ricardo went into the boy’s bedroom, laid in bed with him and touched him inappropriately, and also forced the boy to touch him, authorities said. Gonzalez-Ricardo told police he did not pursue further contact after the boy told him to stop. The complaint describes Gonzalez-Ricardo as a friend of the victim’s family. The incident was reported to police by the victim’s mother. Bork said there is no evidence of additional sexual assaults by Gonzalez-Ricardo. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed an immigration hold on Gonzalez-Ricardo, meaning he will likely be deported after serving his sentence.

It's sad enough that we have local pervs pulling this stuff on innocent children, but now we have to worry about illegals coming in and doing it, too?

Innocent until I show up

So, I finally got called in for jury duty. How disappointing. I completely forgot to call in and check last night so this morn I was running around trying to get my crap together when I finally remembered. We had to report at 8:30a. After sitting there for quite some time, the lawyers and cops showed up, with Judge Timothy eventually sauntering in. Have you ever sat on those benches?? Not only are they made of rock hard wood, but the seat part is short and curved so you have to sit your ass on it a certain way. The back is straight and overall it's an extremely uncomfortable experience. I had to slouch to find my comfort zone.

They called name after name and believe it or not I was never selected to go up. I was cool with that. I have a million things going on at work right now and it's just not a good time for me to be spending days in court. Once they had 20 people, they went through the standard series of questions for each to answer to. Then the assistant DA and defense attorney asked their own list of questions. Two hours into this I'm wondering why they're making me stay, but I'm trying to be patient. I was having a tough time with the bench yet and it must've been 60 degrees in that courtroom. I was getting a bit cranky. And by the way, I was not impressed by the assistant DA. Jennifer seemed a bit scatter brained. Aside from all the schooling she's gone through and the plaques on the wall, she is a poor speaker and doesn't come off as very professional. She kept throwing the "ums" in her sentences and it drove me nuts. Big peeve, especially in a setting like that.

Anyway, they were finally at the point where they were selecting the jurors based on the questions. The two attorneys took turns picking and out of nowhere Judge Tim says, "Wait! We need two more alternates." Are you kidding me?? They have 20 to pick from and only need 12. They already excused four people for some opinions they had, so we had four left that hadn't been touched yet. I knew I was next... and sure shit. The ugly lady with the short hair calls my name. I was so close to getting out of there.

After I went up to sit by the other jurors they asked me if I had issues with the questions they already asked the group. Well, let's see. Out of the 50 Qs I probably remembered about 15 of them. All I could respond was that I had two young girls (giving ages) and that this would be highly inconvenient for my schedule. The judge said that my having to leave by 4:00p to get the girls would obviously not work out and he excused me. I was thrilled. It was much easier than I thought.

Besides the fact that I don't really have time to sit in court this week, there were a bunch of other cards that I was ready to play if necessary. I can't sit in a chair all day with just a lunch break. I'm a snacker and I need water and snacks every hour or two. It's just how I am. This is what I need to avoid headaches. Also, the accused was a Mexican man that was being tried for sexual assault of a minor. I had started forming opinions as soon as they told us that. I could care less what country he came from or that he didn't speak any english, but as soon as I heard his crime I was thinking guilty. Being a mother of two young girls, it's natural to want any perv that even thinks about touching a child hanging from a tree by his nads. I wouldn't be very objective in this case.

I am curious to see what the verdict will be and plan to watch the paper for Mr. Gonzales. It's best for all that I wasn't part of that jury.

No longer something to hide

One thing I noticed down at the festival yesterday: Pregnant women really dress differently from when I was with child. Wow. And that was only 8-10 yrs ago.

We were hanging out by the dunk tank and I noticed a lady that had a regular wife-beater tank on, although it was completely stretched over her massive belly. She had to be at least 8 mths along. Later on when talking with my friend Kathy, she made a comment about the same thing. She had also seen a woman with very tight clothes on. We always wore the big tents that would drape over to cover loosely. Either that, or I wore some of the X's big Ts, which looked completely ridiculous on me due to the bottom and sleeve length. Now the ladies wear normal tops, and if those don't make the stretch, then they just let their bellies hang out the bottom.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. There's nothing to be ashamed of when pregnant, besides people looking at you and knowing that you were having lots of crazy sex. I was just too self-conscious to let it all hang out. I'm not the walk-around-naked kind of gal.

Here's me at 38 weeks, 3 days... waiting for Julia to come out. Hence the reason why I had to wear tents. Egads! That's not even funny when looking back in hindsight.

That's what I'm talking about

What an incredible weekend. I don't think I could have picked a better couple days if I had tried. We had a great time on the 4th with some neighbors coming over and then visited another neighbor's gathering before hitting the works... where we ran into some more friends. A very busy, complete day overall. I think we all slept like rocks.

Julia head out to go camping with her dad today, so Alison and I spent the day together. I have to say it was pretty cool. We went to hit some golf balls and treated ourselves to GScout thin-mint blizzards at DQ after. Janie told us to stop by at the end of the day, so we hung outside and talked about dogs. My parents are on again with the "on again off again getting a dog" decision. Last week it was a smaller dog and now today it's a Golden Retriever. We had a few Goldens growing up and my dad is hooked on them. He vacuums every day anyway (nothing better to do), so he kyboshed the little dog after he gave it some thought. Now they're at the point where they're actually looking in the papers for one. Grandpa decided on the name "Andy". I think we should see the pup first, but hey, just my 2 cents.

The girls are going to be at their grandparents' house every day if they get a Golden puppy. Seriously, they have to be the cutest pups alive.

Got the ole jams on now and we're looking at the movies for tonight. With fresh sheets on the beds, all I can think about is crawling in and starting my new book. I need some rest before we walk down to the big festival in the park tomorrow afternoon.

One is the quietest number

Little chilly on the ole scooter this morn, but that's the big pond for ya. It was definitely warmer at home.

People are somewhat sparse at work today. The day before holiday is always like that. Everyone takes off to get an extra long weekend in or start the partying early. I expected a slower day so I could start researching some stuff for our server upgrades next week, but it's been busy. Not much breathing time.

I took a couple Tylenol PM last night because my mouth was killing me and WHAM! I was out cold. I woke about 6:00a with sun shining in the window. It felt like I just hit the sheets, couldn't believe how fast the night went, especially without waking up 10 times.

This day can't go fast enough. Tonight I'm golfing with some lady friends and tomorrow we have a few neighbors stopping by for the 4th. Real low key, just hanging out. Jules is going camping with her dad on Saturday and Ali decided to stay home with me. Have to say, I'm really looking forward to some one-on-one time with Al. We never get that and I think it may have something to do with her reasons for not wanting to go. The kid really grooves on hanging solo with me. Being close in age they have similar interests and friends, which equals a whole lot of togetherness. They're getting to the age where they can start making some of their own decisions now on what they want to do. One thing's for sure... whatever we do on Saturday night, it's going to be quiet. Al won't have anyone to fight with.

Life's little lessons

Got the bottom braces put on this morn. This is going to take a whole lot of getting used to. Again with the awkward eating and weird mouth movements that I make, trying to get used to the whole crap. I asked the ortho if I might be able to get all this apparatus taken off by next summer if my pimped out tooth comes in OK. His response was that he didn't understand my question. He said he's sort of like a meteorologist. Translation: There's no telling until the time comes. All I can say when I look in the mirror is "holy metal head". I'm afraid to walk outside when it storms without being grounded by rubber shoes.

On another interesting note: Yesterday I was telling my mom about John and Beckie having their baby in our parking lot. The girls seemed very intrigued by the story without really understanding how the whole process works. When we got home later Alison was still asking questions about the baby.

Al: So how does the baby come out if there aren't any doctors?

(She was referring to the fact that she and her sister both came out of my belly via C.)

KB: Well... (good grief, what do I say?) the baby can still come out.

Al: There's no other place for it to come out. You mean... where you pee???

KB: Yes. (sigh) That's how it works.

Al: How does it fit??

KB: Lord only knows, Ali, but it just does.

And then the conversation thankfully veered into another direction. I'm just glad that Jules wasn't there at the time. She gets all giggly and weird when we talk about private parts. At least they haven't started asking where babies come from. As far as I know they still think that you just decide to have one when you want.