Japanese Garden

Today I once again visited the Japanese Garden located inside the Botanical Gardens in Ft. Worth, TX. The past couple of days have been perfection personified with regards to weather, and I felt obligated as a member of the human race to take advantage of this fine Spring season on my day off. I took along my trusty Nikon Coolpix 4600 and snapped some pics while there. This garden is one of my favorite places. If you're ever in the DFW area, be sure to visit. And now on to the pictures.

One last note...my favorite picture is of a tiny green lizard (I think it is 3rd from the bottom) as he perches in a green bush. He was sunning himself on a stone ornament of some kind but allowed me to get in quite close after he jumped to the bush.

Updated Cafe Pictures

I took these earlier this week.

Stanley Hotel Pictures

These are for the folks at Mallozzi's blog who have mentioned the Stanley Hotel. I took these pictures about 3 weeks ago while in Colorado.

My Fishies at Work

I took these pictures a couple of days ago. There are 3 fishies, a pleco, and a glass goldfish. The pleco is not visible. Salieri is the orange and white fishie with the semi-plaiin tail. Tchaikovsky is the black moor fish, and Rimsky-Korsakov is the orange and white fancy-tailed fish. So cute.

Did I tell you the lighting guys did not show up Monday at 5am? I was just a tad bit LIVID. However, the semi trailer with all my cafe signage, equipment, counters, cabinets, etc. arrived about 6am, so it's just as well that I was there. I was able to get a lot of merchandising done downstairs in the FOS before opening because of that.

I took more pics of the cafe, and will post those tomorrow. It's really coming along nicely.

I think that's all for now.

My New Cafe

The first couple of pics are how the cafe used to look. Very cute. The next is a series of demolition shots. I forgot to take my camera to work today, so I'll try to post new pics tomorrow.

Spring Erupteth

Today was as beautiful a day as there ever was. The recent rains (floodings) have encouraged the grass and trees to make soft green baby leaves. The bluebonnets and Indian paint brushes are covering the grass along the highways. The temperature is fair and the sun is kind. Even a big city can look pretty in Springtime.

It is a tradition in Texas for families to go on drives in the Spring in search of wildflowers. Big spreads of bluebonnets can be found along numerous highways in Texas, and every Mom and Dad wants a pic of their child, be it human or canine, sitting amongst the vivid blossoms. Brides-to-be and their wedding photographers drive south along I-35, maybe 100 miles, maybe 200, to find the best spot to take a picture of the lady in her wedding dress in a field of blue-ish/purple-ish flowers. The drive need not be so far today, as I saw numerous families in amongst the bluebonnets on my drive to and from Ft. Worth today. The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas, and the maintenance crews who normally mow the grassy medians and side grasses must wait for the flowers to die before mowing the area lest they break the law forbidding the picking or cutting down of the bluebonnet. I didn't have my camera in my car with me, or I would have pulled over and taken a few pics, even with the traffic whizzing past me at 80mph.

I have to be at work at 5am tomorrow. We're having the high ceiling lights' bulbs changed out, and it is a 33 ft. ceiling which requires a very large lift to maneuver up into, made even more complex because the staircase makes a direct up/down lift impossible. I'm already overdue for getting to bed, if I want to get 8 hours sleep. Oh well.

Ok, that's all I'm motivated to write.

Various Colorado Pictures

Estes Park, Colorado -- Day 1

After getting 2 hours of sleep, I left my house shortly after 12am on that Thursday morning to begin my trip. I made my way north to pick up N, and we were on our way to Colorado. There are two major routes between Dallas and Denver. I chose to take us on the route that Mapquest said was about 100 miles longer, but would take an hour less travel time, due to speed limits on the highways. This route took us up through Oklahoma and into Kansas.

Shortly after dawn, we entered super-thick fog on the prairies of Kansas. I could see well enough to continue at the speed limit, but both N and I were on high alert to spot any possible red brakelights in front of us. We passed through icy patches, then clear patches, then icy patches again, and the wind was strong. After a couple of hours, we made it through the fog and turned west toward Colorado.

As we grew ever closer to the Denver airport, the 3 people who were flying in to be picked up by us began to call. J and A had arrived, but C was still on the ground in Dallas. Everyone was supposed to arrive around 11:30am and hang out for a couple hours until N and I arrived. But C's plane had to make an emergency landing 20 minutes after takeoff from DFW because there was a medical emergency on board. C told us he was still on the plane.

After more driving and looking at the snow drifts on the sides of the highways, C called us again to let us know that he had deplaned and learned that the 'medical emergency' was some 24-year old idiot who mixed booze with her migraine medication, passed out, and became unresponsive soon after takeoff.

We called J & A, let them know the situation, and they agreed to hang out at the airport terminal until C's plane arrived. We later learned they were living it up first at the bar, then at a Seattle's Best Cafe. It was mid-afternoon by this time. We'd already reached the Denver Airport, driven through it to see if there were any place to stop and eat a real meal, and found an Applebee's a few miles away. Dead dog tired, we each ordered a hamburger, I took out my contacts, C called to say his flight was finally leaving Dallas, and we decided it would be best to take a power nap. Fortunately, my front seats recline and were wonderfully comfortable. I caught about 20 minutees of true sleep and woke up feeling GREAT! I had no business feeling great, but I did. I was still tired, but I felt great.

C finally called us to say his flight had landed, but we had a heckuva time finding them at the terminal. On our first effort we drove through the Arrivals area; they weren't there. N called them and asked if they were in the right place. They insisted they were. So, I drove to the upper deck and checked the Departures area, just in case. No dice. I had N call them again, and they insisted they were at Arrivals, so I tried once more....nope. At this point N and I figured out they must be in the Commercial Arrival/Departure area, to which we didn't have access, so we told them to go up one level, and we picked up our Arrivals at the Departures area. We were all so tired we were laughing about the whole thing. C had had a hideous travel day, I was exhauted and still needed to drive the group up to Estes Park, and everything just seemed funny.

We made our way up into the mountains to the tiny town of Estes Park, had difficulty finding the Lodge, but finally arrived, threw our luggage in our rooms, and 4 of the 5 of us set off to find something for dinner. It was after 9pm by this time, and the entire town was shut down. There was one car park on the street, and the saloon was open, so we walked in to see this guy with one nasty glassy eye sitting at the bar, drinking a beer and watching some sports game on tv. The bar owner saw our pitiful faces and recommended the only place that would still be open as a possible dinner place.

So, we were on our way to Mary's Lake Lodge. We were the only people in the extremely nice dining room, though we were each of us thorougly disheveled and travel-weary. I ordered a pear and stilton salad which was refreshing and tasty. J had the seafood bisque, which he let me try, and it was delectable. I had some kind of fish for dinner, but the thing that each of us remembers is the table water. It was delicious. Cold, clear, refreshing. It was perfect in the kind of way that only something as simple as water can be. N soon became sorry she didn't attend the dinner, as that table water was constantly referenced over the next 7 days.

And so I'll close the retelling of Day 1 with the mention of that table water and all the mystic properties it held.

Will Post For Money

I apologize to all 3 of you who read this on a regular basis. I've been going non-stop since my return from Colorado and my meeting. I managed to take an hour and create photography books for my 4 friends and I using my smack-tastic mac computer. If you don't have a mac, you're wac. That made no sense. The books should be shipped to my store some time this week.

Demolition began on my cafe this morning--we're rebuilding it as a Seattle's Best Cafe, run by Borders. I spent all of yesterday getting my cafe crew to remove all food, supplies, smallwares, etc from the cafe. I am taking pictures as the process moves along. It was 1am before I was able to get home and get to bed, and I had to be back at the store at 7am to meet the General Contractor and his demo team. They made short order (and a lot of noise) tearing out the counters, shelves, and basically gutting the front of the cafe down to the tile floor. Another company came in and removed all the big equipment. You wouldn't believe me if I told you how much bake cases and espresso machines cost. No, it's more than that...just trust me, you wouldn't believe me.

I am excruciatingly tired, and I have to be back at the store at 6am tomorrow morning. The process is actually going very smoothly, and in 3 weeks, we'll have an even more beautiful cafe to replace the beautiful cafe I already had. I am sleepy.

However!---last Thursday I took home my 40 inch Sony Bravia LCD HD TV that I won in the Sony Reader contest. I need to give a shout out to the 'Sony Guy' that I spoke to at Vendor Expo in Colorado. I told him my store had won 3rd place in the contest, and that we'd all won MP3 players, and I had won a TV as well. He asked me if I had a blog, saying he'd read in someone's blog that they had placed in the contest. So.....BIG HOWDY to the Sony Guy!

The box this thing came in was huge, but I was able to put up one of the rear seats in my glorious car, and it slid in quite nicely. It did take me 10 minutes to drag/lift/pull it up to my 3rd floor apartment, however. I made a conscious choice not to look at the weight written on the box as I did so. It ended up being 33 kg, which is about 70 pounds, not very heavy really, but very awkward in the sense that I couldn't wrap my arms around any part of it to just dead lift it upstairs.

I went online and found an HD DVD player at amazon and bought it. Then I went to Best Buy and bought a nice receiver and set of home theater speakers. I was drunk with sleepiness by this time and had a heckuva time getting all the cords into all the right spots on the receiver. I still was missing one cord for the subwoofer, but I was able to pick that up today. Then I watched The Phantom Menace, in glorious surround sound with oops-my-neighbors-are-gonna-be-mad-at-me bass from the subwoofer.

I should be in bed right now. I'll try to post pictures and funny insights into my Colorado trip within the next couple of days.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Not really. I'm leaving in a Tangerine Honda Element. But I am going to Colorado, which was John Denver's favorite place, hence the blog title.

I leave at midnight tonight, pick up a friend on the way, and head to the Denver Airport where we'll pick up 3 other people who are flying tomorrow morning. Then we'll head to Estes Park.

I haven't started packing yet, which is very unlike me. This was a strategic decision, however--an effort to not forewarn my kitty that she would soon be shoved in the kitty carrier and taken to board at the vet's office. The plan worked well. She was taken completely by surprise; she had no sign of visible suitcase or packing of items to tip her off as in the past. Poor kitty. I do think it saved her some trauma, though...and it definitely saved me from having to lift the mattress and box springs off my bed to get to her.

I'll see you all possibly on March 16.

Until then...

A Windows-based Attempt at Links

I pulled my old Windows-based Sony VAIO off the floor of the 2nd bedroom and hooked it back up on my dining room table so that I might compose an entry with hyperlinks. We'll give it a try, at least.

Today I went to the Carlyn Galerie to find a nice gift for my sister for her birthday. I settled on a graphite pencil in the shape of a small piece of bamboo. The entire pencil is made of graphite, so one can write with the ends, the sides, etc. Of course, it's more for aesthetics than for functionality, but it will make for a nice conversation piece at her desk at work. I also purchased a book she wanted and a CD. Her birthday is March 4th.

While I was at the Carlyn Galerie I found several glass works that I desperately wanted for myself. They were aquatic in theme; several large glass funky fish, some jellyfish glass wind chimes, and other beautiful quirky works of glass art. I have a vacation coming up next week that I need to pay for, so I refrained from purchasing anything for myself.

Also at the shop were hand crafted wooden spoons that were nowhere near the craftmanship of the spoons I saw in East Glacier Park last summer at a little shop called The Spiral Spoon. I would have bought some of those spiral spoons for gifts had I not been a person who refuses to give 'kitchen appliances and stuff' to people as gifts unless said stuff is specifically asked for.

I also went to the pet store to buy 2 plecostamouses for my tank at home. Yesterday I bought 2 blue mystery snails and one pleco for my tank at work. My leadership team is kind enough to feed my goldfish at work when I'm not there, but they always overfeed them, so algae can become a problem if I don't keep it in check.

I've been reading and posting comments on the blog of Stargate Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi here. He's a huge foodie, and he suffers people's repetitive Stargate questions well. I try to be a bit more entertaining, but mostly end up sounding like a lunatic...which is pretty much what I'm going for. He usually answers my crazy questions, though, so he must find my silliness somewhat entertaining.

I challenged him to see who could finish reading Dan Simmons' The Terror first. I think he finished it last night, and I'm not even 1/3 of the way through the 800 page book, so he wins. I'm not sure what he wins, but we'll figure out something. Speaking of reading...I need to get back to it.

Camp Fire Candy & Girl Scout Cookies

I was a Camp Firl girl, myself, but I have to say that the Girl Scout Cookies are far superior to the candy that we had to peddle to our neighbors.

Many years ago, the GS finally got it right...forget the old way of taking pre-orders for the cookies...just distribute a large amount of cookie boxes to the various troops and have the girls sell them around town. I let the GS set up a table outside my store a couple Sundays ago, and I bought cookies outside a Kroger store Friday night and outside a Blockbuster Saturday night.

I remember getting the shiny Camp Fire Candy order sheet each fall, my head dizzy with dreams of how I'd pay for two full weeks of summer camp by selling some obscene number of boxes. My dreams were short lived, as I was a rather unattractive child, tall for her age, and awkward looking in her cute little uniform, with not much success tapping on the doors of the neighborhood. I think I usually reached about 35-50 boxes of candy sold each year...just enough to get a stuffed animal or pen or some such trinket. I knew it was junk even then.

But still every year, I tried. That's back when it was still safe for a young kid to ride her bike around the neighborhood and knock on strangers' doors. Any sane parent wouldn't think of allowing their kid to do that alone in a big city these days.

So I applaud the GS for trying to raise money with a mighty tasty cookie or two or two billion. My favorites are the caramel ones, the peanut butter patty ones, and the thin mints. I encourage you to pay the exhorbitant $3.50/box if you happen to come across these young ladies peddling their brightly colored boxes some time in the near future. Who the hell knows what the money goes toward; the cookies taste good, and sometimes that's just enough.

Bach Is NOT Pronounced B-A-T-C-H

Are there no music classes at all being taught in schools these days? When I was in elementary school, we had music class and art class on alternating days in 4th and 5th grades, then I was in band from 6th grade all the way through college. Even so, even if a person has never experienced the beauty and excitement that is music class, is it not a fair expectation that they know at least some of the most famous classical music composers in the history of the world? Is it also not fair to expect that they know how to pronounch Bach's name? I'm not talking here about the debate between Bach pronouned as 'bock' versus 'bochh' with the clearing-of-the-throat sound at the end. And in context to what happened the other day, I'm not even talking about the composer Bach. I am talking about an author of personal finance books named David Bach, whose name, believe it or not (gasp!), is pronounced just the same as the composer's. Imagine my dismay and extreme inability to withhold hilarious laughter when, 2 days ago at work, one of my peeps radioed upstairs for another person to pull a copy of "Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Batch. Good golly.

Today the topic was 'Cloning' in my daily reading of The Intellectual Devotional. I almost wish the entries were longer in this book, but I guess the point is to be brief in length and consistent in the reading of them.

I leave for Colorado in a little less than 2 weeks. I'm very much looking forward to it.

I'm tired. That is all.

Wait. My post looks very unbalanced. It looks heavy at the top and light at the bottom. My post does not meet visual presentation expectations. I should do something about that....later.

'For Your Consideration'

Christopher Guest's latest foray into the world of sublime parody left me feeling less than emphatic about recommending 'For Your Consideration', which was released on DVD today.

I felt 'A Mighty Wind' was a step down from 'Best in Show', and this film was a small leap down further.

Certainly, there were laugh-out-loud moments, such as when the character of a studio executive, while trying to convince the writers of a film called 'Home for Purim' to 'tone down the Jewishness' of the picture, proclaimed loudly, "I don't run around telling people I'm a Gentile, look at my foreskin! I don't cram it down peoples' throats!" Equally funny was another character's claim that she enjoyed Latinous food. When questioned if she meant Mexican food, she said, "No, Latin food, for people who speak Latin."

I won't bother relating the plot of the film, because the plot really doesn't matter. It is the ad lib character interaction that makes or breaks these films, and this was just missing something. It was still a funny film, I'm just disappointed it wasn't more so.
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The entry from the Intellectual Devotional for today was about James Joyce's Ulysses. Maybe someday I'll browbeat myself into attempting to read this work. Or maybe not.
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Sixteen days until I leave for Colorado. I still need to find something nice to wear to the awards banquet. Maybe I'll have time on Thursday to go looking.

No Title

I was working on a performance evaluation for one of my Managers this afternoon when the lights blinked. I went to quickly save the document, but then the power went completely off for a couple of seconds. Drat! I lost a very well-thought out portion of his review. I was able to reconstruct it, but it didn't have the same poetic beauty as the original version.

No tainted peanut butter for me. I only have Jiffy and the Kroger store brand in my cupboard.

I need advice: Dish Network or Direct TV? Definitely not cable.

Has anyone else's energy (electricity) bill gone insanely high in the past couple of months? I'm all about conserving electricity right now. In fact, I need to go turn off some lights in a minute.

I cooked a lovely peppercorn pork loin tonight with wild grain rice and a garden salad. It sure was tasty, and I have plenty of leftovers to take to work with me.

I purchased 'The Secret' and 'The Intellectual Devotional' today. I read today's passage in the latter, and am about 1/3 of the way through the former. I dig both of them. I'm very much getting into universal law of attraction, the power of intention, etc.

Aggravated with Blogger

This is the 3rd time I've tried to get Blogger to work with me.

You get no great posting as a result. Here are only bullet points, which is all I have the patience for right now.

* Kicked out a vagrant from the store on Friday. This is not unusual, but they have been quite vulgar recently. This one called me a cunt, stupid bitch, sow, and tried to spit on me. Nice.

* Beatiful weather today.

* 'The Secret' by Byrne has been the most popular book since Million Little Pieces. If you liked 'What the Bleep Do We Know?' or the idea of the power of intention, or just metaphysical/spiritual stuff in general, you may want to check out this book and/or DVD.

* I'm gearing up for my trip to Colorado. I think I have all the cold weather stuff I need.

* Received my tax return on Friday.

* All my fish are well. Gracie kitty is well.

* Sometimes my staff members tell me way too much personal stuff.

I'm sure I have more, but losing two well-thought out posts in an effort to get the goddam link to work is not worth it.

Free TV for Me

I still don't know how to post links. The only two things I have in my toolbar above are a spellcheck icon and an 'add image' icon.

Anyway...

I found out today that my store won 3rd place in a sales contest involving the Sony Reader. This means that everyone on my staff, plus my boss and my boss' boss each receive a Sony MP3 player. I also get a big arse Sony Bravia flat panel LCD HDTV. Now I MUST get cable or satellite service so that I can join the rest of America in becoming a TV glutton. I am very pleased.

In other news...there was an article in the paper Saturday about the Corteo performance. It mentioned that the injured performer was not seriously injured. Thank goodness. Some of the cast members were in the grocery store across the street during lunchtime today, and I was going to thank them for such a great performance and inquire after their castmate, but I didn't want to hunt them down across the store. Then when I went back to my store, one of my supervisors told me that a cast member had just been in the store. The weather is coldish today, and these folks were wearing black jackets with "Cirque du Soleil" and a large sun embroidered on the backs, which explains how we knew who they were.

I'm still working crazy hours, trying to get this project at work completed. Tomorrow may be the longest day yet. My poor kitty is wailing at me because she misses me.

One last thing. Avoid GE soft white 100 "Energy Saver" lightbulbs. They are the ones shaped like a spiral that are supposed to last for several years, take less energy than a standard 100 watt lightbulb (because they are in fact only 26 watts), and therefore save around $50 per year in energy. These things definitely do NOT illuminate as brightly as a regular 100 watt incandescent bulb. I'd say they perform about 1/2 to 2/3 as well, despite the information on the package that says they'll illuminate the same. They're expensive, too. I've already thrown out that receipt, or I'd take them back.

It's 10:45 and I'm eating a dinner of sunflower seeds and Welch's grape soda. What does that say about me?

Free TV for Me

I still don't know how to post links. The only two things I have in my toolbar above are a spellcheck icon and an 'add image' icon.

Anyway...

I found out today that my store won 3rd place in a sales contest involving the Sony Reader. This means that everyone on my staff, plus my boss and my boss' boss each receive a Sony MP3 player. I also get a big arse Sony Bravia flat panel LCD HDTV. Now I MUST get cable or satellite service so that I can join the rest of America in becoming a TV glutton. I am very pleased.

In other news...there was an article in the paper Saturday about the Corteo performance. It mentioned that the injured performer was not seriously injured. Thank goodness. Some of the cast members were in the grocery store across the street during lunchtime today, and I was going to thank them for such a great performance and inquire after their castmate, but I didn't want to hunt them down across the store. Then when I went back to my store, one of my supervisors told me that a cast member had just been in the store. The weather is coldish today, and these folks were wearing black jackets with "Cirque du Soleil" and a large sun embroidered on the backs, which explains how we knew who they were.

I'm still working crazy hours, trying to get this project at work completed. Tomorrow may be the longest day yet. My poor kitty is wailing at me because she misses me.

One last thing. Avoid GE soft white 100 "Energy Saver" lightbulbs. They are the ones shaped like a spiral that are supposed to last for several years, take less energy than a standard 100 watt lightbulb (because they are in fact only 26 watts), and therefore save around $50 per year in energy. These things definitely do NOT illuminate as brightly as a regular 100 watt incandescent bulb. I'd say they perform about 1/2 to 2/3 as well, despite the information on the package that says they'll illuminate the same. They're expensive, too. I've already thrown out that receipt, or I'd take them back.

It's 10:45 and I'm eating a dinner of sunflower seeds and Welch's grape soda. What does that say about me?

Corteo

I am winding down from a very long day. Actually, I'm not winding down. I'm still very much wired. I was finally able to get to sleep about 2:30am last night. I woke up at 7am, worked from 8-6, ate dinner with my friends, then drove us to the site at Fair Park where Corteo was being performed. After the show, I came back to my store and worked until midnight. I'm still very untired...perhaps because of that vanilla breve I had at 11.

Corteo was magnificent, as expected. It is not my favorite Cirque show, but it was extremely well executed...until a performer seriously injured himself in the finale.

In the finale there were 6 men's gymnastic-type high bars set up on stage, four of them creating a square, and one each on either side. The men were gymnasticizing all over the place, and then one guy had a solo. He did the usual maneuvers you'd see on tv, but when he was doing his dismount, he did a double back flip and caught the front part of his legs above the ankles and below the mid-shin on the bars, then smacked to the mat. He didn't move, and a few of his fellow performers rushed to his aid. One of the performers made a big "X" sign with his arms a couple of times, and various members of the stage crew rushed on stage. The audience was deathly silent; only the noise of the heating system could be heard. A person brought out a backboard, and the guy still wasn't moving. An announcement was made that one of the performers had been injured, and the performance was stopped momentarily, as though we couldn't see that for ourselves. One of the crew members talked to a couple of performers nearest the wings, and then those performers started a 'telephone chain', communicating some sort of information to the other 30-odd people on stage. It took less than a minute for them to do this.

After the injured guy was strapped into the backboard and taken off stage, we all applauded for him, just like you do when a person gets injured at a sporting event, and then the music started up again. The cast stood near the edges of the stage, and they proceeded to take their bows, signifying the end of the performance. We all gave a standing ovation, because they really needed that support right then.

As I was leaving, my friends and other people around me were saying things like 'I hope he's ok'. He was so obviously NOT ok. I'm sure it hurt like hell to crash his shins against that bar, then drop 10 feet to the ground and land on his face.

As we were heading out to my car, the ambulance was trying to get to the tents. I wish the guy a speedy and full recovery.

DIsregard Previous Blog Posting

Now, either you will have already scrolled down to read said previous blog, thereby disregarding my instruction, or you have followed instruction and be reading this and only this. Either way, I take pity on you, O Child of the Blog World.

My internal clock is off tonight. I should be in bed asleep right now, but I'm just not quite ready. Today was my day off, but I went in at 7am this morning after leaving at midnight last night. I had called in a team of people to work on a project that is due next Friday. We're now about 25% complete; it's a big project, though not a difficult one.

I haven't been getting much sleep in the past week or so, and I was gravely tired when I came home about noonish, so I took a nap...a long one. After 5 hours of sleeping, I got up, fed the fishies and the kitty, and played the ridiculous game I wrote about below. And of course, now I'm not tired enough to get some sleep.

I do have a fun day planned tomorrow, however. Oh, and before I forget, my orange vest arrived from Land's End today. I had it shipped to work, since I'm never home. It's quite cute, and when I fall down the mountain and over a cliff while skiing in Colorado next month, they'll be able to find me in my new garments. But really, we all know the real reason I bought the stuff is because it matches my beautiful vehicle.

On to tomorrow...after a glorious day at work I will be going to see Cirque du Soleil's Corteo at Fair Park. I believe this is the 4th, maybe the 5th, Cirque show that I will have seen. All hail the procurer of free tickets who then gives them to me! I'm going with several work colleagues, and it is opening night, so it will hopefully be a vibrant performance.

Schell, I thought of you on Tuesday. Wentworth Miller was in my store again. I immediately thought of you and your family because of what you posted in your blog about watching his show together. I was going to say something to him, to pass along how much you enjoy the show, but really, how would it have sounded coming out of my mouth? Probably something like this:

"So, hi there. You shop in my store practically every week. You usually buy magazines with your picture on the cover...not that there's anything wrong with that. I need to tell you that this baseball hat you're wearing today is far more flattering than your sea foam green fishing hat that you usually wear; because let's face it, no one should be wearing a sea foam green hat of any kind. Oh, and I never watch your show because I don't have tv. I mean, I have a tv. I have two TVs, I just don't have 'tv'. I know that's confusing. You see, I have televisions, I just don't have cable, and broadcast reception around here is inadequte which makes no sense but is true. So, I watch everything on DVD, which is really not cost-effective, because at the end of the year it would be much less expensive to simply get satellite or cable or both rather than spend what I do on DVDs. But that's not what I wanted to tell you..."

Well, you can see where that is going.

I'm trying to ration my Dublin Dr. Pepper, but it is just so dang tasty that it's difficult to do so. I should have purchased 2 or 3 cases when I was down there.

I can't remember if I've mentioned before that my nephew is playing chess. He seems to be really enjoying it. It's apparently pretty common now that elementary school kids play chess in after school activities and such. He sometimes plays with a 2nd grader in 'after care' at school as well as challenging his Dad and his Kuppaw (grandpa/my dad) on Sundays. I'm sure the 2nd grader wins most of the games, but it's good for Nephew to learn that he can't win all the time.

I found out on Wednesday that I'll be a trainer again this year. The conference is in April this year, so it should be springtime in Michigan by then...much better than than the bald brown winters of past conferences.

I'm still not sleepy, but I think I should try to get some sleep before going to work.

Billionaire at Fish Tycoon

Because of Emma's blog post (to which I posted a comment, but now it's not there!), I decided to revisit a game I played briefly this spring called Fish Tycoon. You can find the web version at Yahoo games.

If you read some of the short reviews, there are many people who say the game is too slow and you can't make any money, and there are many people who say they have infinite money and have bred all the magical fish.

The game is quite simple, and I find it amusing in a strange sort of way. You have two fish tanks; one is 'tank one' and one is the 'sell tank'. You start off with some fish eggs and growth hormone and $300 in an account to buy supplies from the fish store. Over time, the fish grow, and when they are 20 days old, you can drag them into a box on the screen, check their family tree, and set a sale price for them. By cross-breeding them, you can create exotic fish and hopefully/eventually find the 7 magic fish.

If you have a couple hours to spare, it's a fun thing to try. Here are some helpful hints:

-Find a method of keeping track of your hybrids (this is not easy because there are at least 26 base fish; that's a log of cross breeding!)
-Fish will sell in the store for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I started out selling them at $1,000 each
-With a couple thousand dollars you can buy all the decorations that are available on the web version. This wil draw bigger crowds to the fish store
-The bigger crowds will then pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the fish, so money no longer is an issue
-You can use the growth hormones to speed up the pregnancy and of course the growth process of the fish
-With 26 minimum base fish, finding the 7 magic fish may be easier achieved by random pairings than by systematic trial and error
-Not all options are available on the web game, so it is greatly limited...still, it's free entertainment

Yes, Emma, They're Orange

My hat, scarf, and shoes are orange. The vest didn't come in orange, so I got black. I am placing an order tonight, though, for another vest (this one will be regular ol' goose down) which IS orange. I'm such a freak. I used to hate the color orange; now I think it is vibrant, vital, and vivid.

Verbie, what brand of water filter do you have on your fish tank? The one on my 29-gallon tank at home is having some problems, and I want to replace it. It came with the set-up kit, so I think it is PetSmart's brand called Top Fin.

I did my taxes yesterday. I had saved all my receipts for 2006, but even when I added up the sales tax on all 600+ transactions, including my car and computer, it still didn't add up to more than the personal exemption/deduction/whatever, so I saved all the receipts for nothing. I did verify, however, that all my money goes to about 5 or 6 main places. Lucky them. I wonder if that is the case with everyone?

iTunes still hasn't gotten a quality copy of SG-1 season 10 or Atlantis season 3, so I cannot download them. I am most peeved regarding this.

I love spring rolls...tasty. Oh, and Welch's grape soda...mmm.

Gracie kitty was thundering around last night as I was trying to get to sleep. She runs through the vertical blinds in the living room, tears around to the other side of the apartment, runs back, jumps into the tub, and mreows. Silly kitty.

I think that's all I have...nothing very exciting today.

Colorado

I have a meeting in Denver in mid-March. A few of my friends and I are going up early, staying in Estes Park for a few nights, and having a mini-break holiday (as Bridget Jones would say). I'm very excited, as I've never gone snow skiing before. And since I've never gone skiing before, and Texas never gets that much snow, I found myself in need of some cold weather clothes. Awwww, too bad, I know.

So, I ordered the cutest hat and scarf and snow shoes from Land's End. Guess what color they are? I also ordered some long underwear bottoms and sock liners, cold weather water-resistant gloves and a vest that is supposed to keep me warm in 20 degree weather. The vest fits snugly, but I figure once I layer some clothing underneath, it'll be too tight, so I'm going to return that one and get the next size up.

I know a couple of people who might visit this blog live in Colorado. What activities do you recommend that are near/around Estes Park?
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I sold back the DVDs last week and bought Stargate Seasons 2-5. I got a decent amount for each box set I sold back, and I have tons more to sell back.

Tonight I purchased the new Norah Jones CD. I'll listen to it tomorrow on the drive to my parents' house. I'm sure I'll enjoy it greatly.
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Fiscal 2006 ended tonight. I'm looking forward to a great year in 2007.
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My nephew's Kindergarten teacher passed away a few weeks ago. The headmaster at his school called the parents of all the kids in his class (I think he may only have 12-15 kids in his class). At least one parent came to the school to be with their child when the headmaster told the kids. My nephew enjoyed his teacher very much. My sister says my nephew is taking the death pretty well, but when someone is late or doesn't show up at a particular time, he thinks that person is dead.
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Friday, Friday

This morning/early afternoon was productive in a non-traditional sense. I renewed my AAA membership online and reset passwords/enabled logins on multiple financial websites where all my various accounts are. I create wacky passwords that have nothing to do with my life or interests, so of course I can't ever remember them. The upside is that no one will ever be able to guess them.

In a bit I'm going to get gas/wash the car (so exciting, I know), see how much I can get for selling several boxed set DVDs to a place called Movie Trading Company, and later on I need to cancel a store credit card that I used to get 0% interest when buying my computer. These cards are great as long as you pay off your purchase before the 0% financing period ends. That's the only way to do it. There's no reason ever to pay money to use a credit card. Pay off your regular credit cards in full each month, and pay off those special deal credit cards before the free term period is up.

Back to the selling of the DVDs...I am a TV DVD boxed set glutton. In the long run I'm sure I'd save money just getting satellite TV with tivo or a DVR. But anyway...if this place has boxed sets of Stargate, I'll trade them, or I'll just take cash. We'll see how it all turns out. I've never tried to sell back anything before.

I must be off...I have many errands to run before the traffic gets horrid in about an hour.

S M T W R

S
Had Sunday lunch at parents' house. Listened to ridiculous mother state that she thinks Barack Obama is the anti-Christ and also that she thinks the entire Bible should be interpreted literally. Since that means my father will be selling me off into slavery, I'm afraid I won't be able to post for much longer.

M
Helped to pack up a store that has closed. Got a good workout. Bought lunch for 17 people. Hooray for company credit cards.

T
Took final vacation day for PTO year 2006. I went shopping at a mall in the north country with a friend. I was also able to finally find some black work shoes. I blow through shoes every 3 months if they're not super sturdy. I went grocery shopping and spent $117 on food that will last me several weeks. Yummy.

W
Took a personal day. Went shopping with same friend at NorthPark Mall. I didn't buy anything but dinner at P.F. Chang's.

R
Today. Took another personal day. I drove to Dublin, TX to get some Dr. Pepper made with Imperial Pure Cane sugar. I've posted about this stuff before. You can buy it here in town, but it's $2/bottle, and it's $16/case of 24 bottles at the bottling plant. It makes a nice day trip to go down there, look around the supercute store, buy some cases, and drive home.

Tonight I made tostadas for dinner. All you need is a can of good quality refried beans, some tostada shells, cheese, and lettuce. It's easy and cheap.

I've been playing chess against my computer. I have to place the settings at a very low level, or it beats me in about 20 moves. I hope to build up to an acceptable level of play over time. I'm just not very patient about it, though. I make my moves very quickly. If I were to take more time I'm sure I'd fare better. But I just don't want to take the time. Know what I mean?

Karma & Cumin

Someone was verrrrrrry nasty to me on the phone tonight at work. This is payback because I was nasty on the phone last Saturday night with the apartment maintenance voicemail. Lesson learned.

Someone please tell me how to imbed links in my blog. I've mentioned this spice company before, but I'll mention it again. www.Penzeys.com has THE BEST spices ever. They have a store several miles from here, and I can drop serious money each time I go in there, so I've been putting it off. I need the cumin, which I can get in a larger bag there, and I need garlic salt. Their vanilla sugar is to die for, especially when liberally sprinkled on fresh ripe strawberries, though it's quite expensive. The spices in general are priced much less than the crap you'd find in the grocery stores, so check it out some time if you get the chance.

Spices make food worth eating.

It's still raining here. I hope the lakes fill up to the brim so that we won't have water shortages in the summer.

That's about all, I think. I'm going to watch the first half of season 3 of Battlestar Galactica.

The Yearling

Happy Birthday to my car...
Happy Birthday to my car...
Happy Birthday Tangerine Metallic Honda Element EX-P 4WD
Happy Birthday to you.....

Yes, it's true, my car is one year old today. It's hard to believe, really. I have almost 16,000 miles on it, and it is every bit as beautiful and exciting as the day I got it.

In fact, I'll be driving it to Denver in mid-March for a work conference. Some other GMs and I are driving in early to ski and have other assorted fun. I've never snow skiid before. I have no coat and no gloves and no anything suitable for that activity. So I'm afraid I must hop onto LandsEnd.com shortly after everything is completely finalized and do some shoppin'. Any recommendations on what color coat I should buy?

It's rainy here today, and cold. It's winterish, and I like it. My kitty cuddles with me as much as she can now. I like that as well.

I'm currently mad at iTunes. I still cannot download the current Stargate seasons. I'm perfectly able to download other shows and CDs, just not the 2 that I really want. Ironic or craptastic? You choose.

I'm out of cumin. Damn.

My downstairs neighbor introduced himself to me at work on Wednesday. My old downstairs neighbor moved to a different unit. The new guy is named "Doc". I am always curious to know if people named Doc are actually doctors, or if they just have an affinity for Bugs Bunny. It's too bad I can't have a straight downstairs neighbor named Doc who is a doctor. But my luck in such things is not strong. Oh, and I don't really like to know my neighbors, especially if they're going to show up at my place of work as well. That's just creepy. The old downstairs neighbor guy comes in almost every day. We both do a fine job of pretending we don't know each other. There's something about a person knowing when you're flushing the toilet or taking a shower or washing the dishes that is too personal to be reminded of at work. Yeah, I'm a freak. I admit it.

My red clawed crab is super-adorable. He's still afraid of me. I would be too, if I were he.

Maybe I'll make cookies tonight.

I read a book yesterday called "Hattie Big Sky". It was about a young woman who was left a 320 acre claim of land in Montana in 1918 by her Uncle. Hattie moves out west to prove up the land. I normally love reading about homesteading and the westward expansion, but this was set during WWI and includes bits about that. I didn't care for those parts...just get on with the homesteading! It was maybe a 3 out of 5 stars.

I brought home a book called "Winkie" which is about a teddy bear who is accused of some crime. I don't know more than that, but I will very soon.

Someone on my staff today didn't know the book Bridge to Terabithia. Geezum petes.

It Has Snown

It snowed overnight here...not too much, just an inch or so...enough to lay a blanket over the cars and grass. I finally turned my heat on last night. I don't like having to run the heat, as it dries out everything, especially my skin. I think my cat appreciates it, though.

I bought some resistance cords at a sporting goods store and began working my arm muscles in preparation for the arm wrestling rematch in Denver in mid-March. I have almost 2 full months to train, so I am hopeful that I might win!

Not much else is going on...I go to work this afternoon and have some household chores to accomplish before then.

I'm in Love

I just spent over an hour watching Steve Jobs introduce the new iPhone. It is heavenly; it is wonderful; it is $499 plus whatever the Cingular service will be. I totally don't need it, but I totally want it. Yes, the pull of the iPhone is powerful indeed. Please save me from its enchantments. You can check out the entire introduction at mac.com, if you like.

And now, on to other things...

I couldn't get into my apartment Saturday night. It was 12:20am. I had just come from work by way of the grocery store; it was 25 degrees outside and windy; I had no jacket or coat. My key wouldn't turn in the lock. I was pissed. I had called in a repair about 10 days prior, and somebody came to look at it one day while I wasn't there. Apparently they didn't fix it. I left a searing voice mail at my apartment complex's phone number, and someone came out 20 minutes later, shot some carbon-like gunk in the lock, and now the key turns exceptionally well. I have no idea why they didn't just do that in the first place. It would have saved all of us a great amount of aggravation.

We've had sleet, rain, and icy roads here for the past few days. The icy roads part really was just yesterday and today, and even then not too badly.

I have 2 months left to train for the next re-match of Me versus My Boss, arm wrestling! Yes, we're both nuts. My boss has beat me, both arms, twice in a row now, and I cannot let that trend continue. One of my staff, who used to be a competitive swimmer, has written me a nutrition plan, and her partner is going to write me a work-out plan. I'm sooooo gonna kick ass in 2 months.

I'm currently reading The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. It's so-so. It won the Newbery a few years ago, and I thougt it would be more amazing than it is. Oh well.
I stopped reading a book called Deep Ancestry about the Human Genographic Project. The first 1/2 is fascinating; the second half (at least the part of the half that I read) is getting bog-downy, so I stopped. Still, take a look at the first part if you can. It's by Spencer Wells.

My car will be one-year-old on Friday. I'm going to throw a party for it...cake and all. I still haven't named it. What should I name it? What should I put on the cake?

Financially speaking...I started a 529(b) college savings account for my nephew when he was about 1. They're commonly called UFunds. I've been putting $50 a month into that account since then. I have it automatically transferred, so I never even see the money. I'm hoping that in 2018, when he reaches college, it'll have at least $25,000 in there. Maybe that'll buy a book or two, if he's lucky. If you have any youngsters in your family, I encourage you to open one of these accounts. You put the account in your name, with the child as beneficiary, so you get to control/manage it, without any effort on the part of the kid or parents. Fidelity.com and Vanguard.com are two good places to start.

That's all I can think of for now.

Lotsa Stuff, I Think

It's super-nice to have 2 days off in a week again. Ahhhh.

Christmas went well. My younger sister brought her boyfriend to meet the family. She's never done that, so I guess it's serious. I'm happy for her as well as a bit jealous. I have nothing bad to say about him, though I didn't get to interact with or observe him enough to say yet whether or not I like him. Time will tell.

My nephew was adorable on Christmas. It was his 3rd Christmas that day, so he was fairly bouncing off the furniture by the time I saw him.

I received an air mattress to use in my car when I go camping. I also received some iTunes gift cards, some cash, and some kitchen stuff. Everything was great except the kitchen stuff. I keep telling my family not to get me kitchen stuff for Christmas or birthdays, but they won't listen.

I'm very concerned about the health and general well-being of a couple people on my staff. Of course I can't go into the details here, and their issues are personal in nature, but some people feel compelled to tell me some of the serious things that are happening in their lives.

I witnessed an auto accident this past Saturday. There are several verrrrry wonky one-way streets around here, and a lady in a mini-van was driving the wrong way down one of them at exactly the wrong time and was T-boned by a sedan whose light had just turned green. The driver of the sedan was injured, so I had to call 911 and try to keep the lady from moving around too much until the FD, PD, and ambulance came. Had it been a few seconds later, I would have been at that intersection, turning right. I'm not sure if the minivan was on the path to have hit me, but it does make one take pause.

I bought the first Season of Stargate: Atlantis on DVD. I absolutely love it. Currently I have a particular crush on the character named Dr. McKay. He's sort of like the character of House, actually, just without the cane, and he's a scientist instead of an MD. On TV the show is already in its 3rd season, but the DVD set of the 2nd season isn't due out until the very end of February. I wonder why there is such a delay. The music on the show is amazing. Check it out if you can.

My fishies are all doing well, as is Gracie. The crab is getting bigger, the snails are snailing away, and the fish are simply cute. Sometimes I'll put my finger in the water in my tank at home just so the smallest of the balloon bellied mollies will kiss it. Gracie was mad at me during December because I was only ever home to sleep and shower. I've been trying to spend quality time with her in the past week so that she'll quit missing the litter box 'accidentally'. She likes to watch DVDs with me.

Of course, I can't remember 80% of what I wanted to say. Many times each day something will happen and I'll say to myself, "That was blog-worthy. I should write about that tonight.", and then I forget about it by the time I sit here to type.

If you're all very good people and post me lots of comments, I just may post a picture or two of that book I created about my trip to Glacier.

Now, go confidently in the direction of your dreams........sorry, I can't remember who said that.....