Tuesday, November 24, 2009

"POW!", "BAM!", "ZONK!"

What's happening to me right now made me think of the TV series Batman (the one with Adam West). "POW!", "BAM!", "ZONK!" As in it's punches, but whatever, it won't kill me.

- My furnace inspector found a crack in the furnace (and I felt it). I will need a new furnace. As my air conditioning is also old and crap, I'll need to replace both at one time. Supposedly if I buy certain types, I'll get $1,500 tax credit and up to $2,000 from the state. That's off of approximately $10,000. Luckily they have payment plans, and I have some money saved.
- I am having two crowns put in without the benefit of the pre-tax thingie. I should have waited until January. I didn't wait because I thought I would get a job and have to move out quickly. Duh. High hopes.
- One side of my mouth I cannot chew on. Which means something is going wrong. So I have to go get a consult from someone who would have to do a root canal. More money.

Oh, BTW, I still hate my hair, and I spent a lot of money on it.

One final note, in searching for an image of the Batman fights, I found a very disturbing term that's in the urban dictionary. Batman bang. I refuse to put a link here because I don't want psychos coming to my block. Beware if you look it up. OMG.

I'm off to California tomorrow early early, so I might not post until December! Likely will meet Laura B in person - don't you dare take photos of me... :-) All the best to you all.

Monday, November 23, 2009

I should be doing so many things

So, I'm going to share some photos of flowers I took when I was in CA.



Monday Monday

Here's the update.
- I heard nothing from the place re: the job. I am assuming that means that they offered it to someone else and that person is deciding. I am perfectly fine with that.
- Exhibit A will NOT be in J-tree with us. So it's me and M - all by our lonesome, kind of (we'll meet up with some people on various occasions). At first it was a kick in the gut, but then there was a clear sense of relief. If anything happens with the job, I will be making the decision based solely on what I want to do or not do, versus some odd weird hope that something would happen with him. In fact, already the scenario in my head is that I wouldn't get in touch. That's kinda silly...but who knows.
- There was a walk for the homeless this weekend. I wonder how many homeless walked. They should make the walkers move the homeless in wheelbarrows or something like that. I dropped off some clothes from the clothes swap at one place I know hands them out to homeless people rather than some place like Goodwill, and a bunch of homeless people were wearing t-shirts from the walk.
- So, on Thursday went out to dinner with colleagues. I should not have. By the time we were done with dinner and the half hour conversation about children was done, I was done, done, done. One friendly person tried to pull me into the conversation and I said, I'm sorry, I need to leave. I'm sick. I couldn't even make it back walking with them because I just wanted to cry, and did once I left them in the dust. Not very executive director-like.
- There's a psycho person I work with, once removed. The woman who works with her directly is a saint, and I tell her that all the time. The last several days in Atlanta I felt I was acting like the psycho. Especially when I went off crying. (I need to mark this feeling down and not obsess about it, and learn.) The saint noted when I said I felt like I was acting like psycho and said that to her, she didn't agree or disagree, which meant she agreed. "That's what friends are for." And it is. Though it sucks.
- Last interesting thing is that I saw my fireex (Fire-ex) on Saturday for the first time in about 8 years. He wanted to borrow a rug cleaner I had, and I knew something was wrong. We went to lunch, and turns out his girlfriend/partner is moving out after 6 years or some such time. Poor guy. But, it's for the best as he knows. I can only do so much to help him, but/and he'll be fine. The thought did cross my mind that I'd maybe in the future have an option for sex...and no, we will not get together for anything else. We already made that decision a long time ago, and it sticks. We just care about each other a lot. It was funny when he first got out of the car we had the harassment banter - me asking where his confederate flag was, and him asking me where my hippie stickers are. And so on... until we hugged. It was good to see him.
- I didn't get much done around the house, but such is life...

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Saturday Hunt - Cars

Some tire rims of the cars around my house. Can you tell which is mine?


Thursday, November 19, 2009

healing

I'm surprised I can write this many updates, but it will soon end until this weekend. Next 48 hours will be BUSY.
- I"m feeling better thank you. Finally remembered that I like to take Zicam, and that has helped. In addition, I had the chance to rest a couple times in a day - even 10-15 minutes helps a lot. Especially after an evening where I was waking up every hour to blow my nose or something. I remember looking at the clock and seeing that it was only 12:45 am and thinking holy crap, this night sucks. I also got rid of the feather pillows and that helped a lot. Didn't know I was a little allergic.
- Go an email and I"m considered a finalist. Not sure what it says that it just makes me think and have a bunch of questions vs. be excited. But, it's helpful one of our sessions was on leadership and it's good to hear people who are at really high levels say how they got there. This might be one of those times for me. But I also have in my head the words of my friend, who said that men are more likely to push for something and then when get it, say WTF - how am I going to do it, but then get on to doing it. And it would be good for women/me to do that too.
- Got to go by Torrance's shop (Raw Dawg). It was a much longer walk than I expected and just bought something and said hello. His daughter was there and she's a PISTOL. Very cute though.
- I really don't like what I've experienced in Atlanta. It's an odd place. Of course, judging it by being a conference is not fair... The streets are empty around here. I did, as I mentioned, go for a lonnnng walk yesterday. Didn't see many white people, which isn't an issue for me, but went through a few sketchy areas and it's hard to not stand out. I only had to pay off one person to leave me alone (smart man - asked for 3.80 bus fare - so how could I just give him a dollar?). He was walking alongside and determined to continue - even picked up his belongings in his cardboard box to carry along.
- I'm very happy they have a decent gym here. I'm very happy that when soemone asked me in the elevator where the gym was but they meant sports bar, that I knew where the gym was and not the sports bar. I'm excited that I've been practicing kneeling on one of those big exercise balls and I'm starting to be able to (my trainer had had me try and it and I kept falling off... so of course it was a challenge for me). I guess it looks interesting because my boss was in the gym this am and watched me do it and commented 'awesome'. I still have to do it by a wall because I'm not stable enough yet. But man it's a workout.
- Please give me strength to not kill the people I'm meeting with for 7 hours over the next few days.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Greetings from the 12th Floor

I'm only on the 12th floor. I think this place goes up to 49 or something. That's quite fine with me to only be on #12. I get motion sickness just coming up here - they have these glass elevators and they go pretty damn fast...

I bet you are all wondering:
- why I just sneezed. Well apparently I was not vigilant long enough. Yesterday as the reception was winding down, I started to feel my throat closing up. Yep, sick. Snotted all night, didn't sleep well, and had to lay down three times during the day today. I'm feeling better now, but it's going to be a very very very early bedtime for me.
- how my interview went. Well, kinda hard to say. I did not feel like it was great, in part because I rambled a bit. I think it was difficult to feel professional when 1) I'm sitting at home in my very cramped sewing room with a suit top on and jeans on the bottom 2) occasionally I could hear my voice on the other end which just throws me for a loop 3) they had a written list of questions, only half of which were really very good, and it was very stilted 4) they were all dressed down - OH, did I mention there were about 8 people around the table plus people on speaker from their end? Amazing. They said at the end that I had a very impressive resume or was very impressive - not sure which. I was focused on the fact that I had called a cab to arrive at my house at the time I needed to be at the airport, so I had to go call another.
- if I like my hair any better after 3 weeks. nope.
- if I"m still getting spam. yep. I had 7 emails that comment moderation stopped. So far that's working well for me. I want to avoid passwords...

I'm not sure what else you'd want to know. I'm tired and signing off. I'll try to check in right now on people's blogs, but we'll see...

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Saturday Hunt - Quest


Elmo is so proud that he has succeeded in his quest to find the perfect tie. (someone needs to teach him how to tie it though...)

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Spam

I'm so sorry. I've actually gotten a lot of spam recently, so I'm putting on comment password crap for a little while. It's funny - it all seems to come to the Pillsbury Doughboy post I had up over a year ago. I was going to do comment moderation for comments over 30 days, but thought that would be a pain. Actually...I think I will do that. I'd rather have the pain than force you to write passwords. OK, off I go to do that.

I should have done so many things tonight. Instead I went climbing for a little bit, came home, ate dinner and watched the end of Bones and all of Supernatural. How dare I have a normal do nothing evening when I have a clothes swap coming up on Saturday and my place is a mess and I have to pack for Atlanta, where I will be all next week starting Sunday, and I have an interview on Sunday right before I leave for Atlanta! Actually, the fact that the house was 53 degrees had something to do with that, so I actually turned on the heat. Too late though!

Oh well. Guess I should go to bed now and prepare for my crazy life coming up.

Save the planet

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

so wrong

I'm sorry, but I find it incredibly wrong to hear a child say - I'm so excited. I've only ever had a fat daddy. I can't wait until it's my turn [to shine? - I forget the exact words]. Not the words about having a fat daddy - though that's a little rude. It's more seeing her, and she's 7 or 8, and really overweight, and if I'm interpreting her correctly, wanting to be on the Biggest Loser? I have to have taken that wrong. It can't be correct. It is not something to look forward to.

The title is also appropriate for my behavior. I'm a hothead. If I'm doing something wrong biking, I fully accept any consequences that may ensue. Like riding the wrong way down a road. Or riding without a helmet - even a short distance. But if I'm doing the right things and you honk at me, watch out, if I can catch you. Tonight I was biking in the roadway, on the side, with headlight and tail light and reflective vest and reflective bike bags, and I have the right of way, and the cars coming along the off ramp have a yield sign, and the car honks at me because I don't stop for it. Her.

How do I know it's a her? Because she got caught at the left turn light, and so I rode up and slapped her window. No matter what she said, all I said was YOU HAD THE YIELD SIGN. I eventually left - I would have parked myself in front of or on top of her car, had there not been other cars behind her and I didn't want them to have to pay for her sin. Yeah yeah, I'm over the top and not proud of it. This is my confession area. At least some of my sins.

Monday, November 9, 2009

a pain in the

face! Went this morning to the dentist and had not one but two teeth prepared for crowns. I felt like I was run over by a truck. I felt like I had given a guy a bj for five hours (not that I really know what that's like, so don't get all excited). I felt the pain when I forked over my credit card - we'll see if I can do the bathroom remodel I was planning.

And feeling like shit, all I could think of was how could I be an executive director? I can't lead people when I feel like crap. Well, no duh.

I just did a search on 'how to be an executive director' and even I didn't see a listing in eHow, I found some other things. And amazingly enough, I believe I could be a good executive director. Especially for something I'm passionate about.

But am I passionate enough about this that I'm applying for? I'm not sure. I'm skeptical, and trying to research so that I CAN be passionate for the interview. Else, I have no chance for the job.

In the meantime I have to learn how to use a web cam from my home computer, clean up the room that the computer is in or at least find something to hang behind me, etc. etc.

Not that I'm feeling overwhelmed at all. Oh, no. Not me.

But riding my bike to my car tonight, I thought that it's nice to be in a position where I even feel comfortable applying for this job. To be somewhat healed. It's nice. And if this job doesn't work out, as my mom says, it's for a reason. Speaking of my mom, I talked to her on Friday and she asked if I'm getting a new job because she had a dream I did. I have not told her anything... She just knows. But we'll see.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Saturday Hunt - Concoction

My concoction is a motley assemblage of things, persons or ideas.

Here's the shoes I bought after returning the really pointy ones. I've never gone completely round, and they're comfortable (Hush Puppies), and a good color, so I'm trying them. I even almost threw away the box, and then just couldn't. But I'll keep them.


Here's the filter that needs replacing in my vacuum cleaner that currently does not suck.


Here's my first ever tile job, without the grout yet. I am very proud. It took me 2.5-3 hours for not a very big space.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Late, Pie eating

I ate beef bourginon or however you spell it, and I brought the pie and ate that too. I honestly didn't like the pie that much, but everyone else loved it. My friends B and L, and my ex. (yeah, him again)

Funny story: my ex was talking about the woman he used to climb with (who used to be my friend and dropped me suddenly, even before the divorce - and apparently tends to drop people). He had gone on a trip with her in August and after that she dropped him. Apparently during that trip, or after? not sure (because he tried to find out what happened) she said he reminded her of her ex.

So as we're leaving, he says: maybe I should go up to her walking sullenly and sadly, and say to her that Pamela said I reminded her of her ex too.

I was a little shocked that he can joke about it now, but it was damn funny.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Late, Pie

Well, I had to make an apple pie for tomorrow night, and tried a new recipe and it took way too long. I wanted to go to be way earlier, but alas. This one has a crumble topping, which I've never made. It doesn't look crumbly to me. Just looks like sugar piled on top. Oh well.

Didn't talk much about my weekend except for the movie. I basically spent the whole day Saturday with my ex. Went climbing - even though in the am it was misty nasty, it was gorgeous by the time we got where we were going. Even though he could have kept going, even though it was raining, I was DONE by 3:00. We drove back and stopped at the apple orchard - I owed him some money for gas and he likes apple cider, so we got some. He also got a caramel apple, rolled in peanuts. I was like those puppy dogs that sit and stare at you when you're eating, hoping hoping hoping for something. I got multiple bites, and I even liked it with peanuts!

My 'date' for that night was sick, so I asked him if he wanted to see the movie, and we went out to dinner ahead of time. Since it was Halloween, the wait staff were all dressed up. Most of the women had on slutty outfits. I kept offering to my ex to drop a fork or something so he could see someone bend over, but he didn't take me up on it. Our waiter was male, but dressed like a woman. I wanted to laugh hysterically, not because of that, but because his voice sounded like a vampire's and he wasn't even trying!

It was a nice day, but on the drive home I cried. Just because thinking about not seeing him much at all if I move to CA. But that wouldn't be so bad. Just a little sad.

PS, forgot BOTH bra and underwear today. Counter updated.

Had to balance out the sweetness

Monday, November 2, 2009

If only all kids were like this

I'm Facebook friends with my friend's teenage daughter. She has a 7 year old brother. Her recent update:

this morning my mom told my brother that her school was sending candy to the troops, and to pick out the candies he didn't want. he took out a piece of chocolate and a lollipop and put the rest in a box and wrote on the box "der arme i hav a pezet for you. loev to arme" :D i love that kid!!!

Awww...

My friend had sent out an email Saturday asking about climbing on Sunday, in part to get rid of the candy hangover. I checked in with him Sunday night, and he said he had no candy hangover because the damn kid gave it all away... :-)

Where the Wild Things Are

I saw this Saturday night. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I can see how it would be really scary for anyone under 7 or so, unless their parents regularly take them to R rated movies (Oh how I hate those people.) I wasn't all that excited when watching it, but was fascinated. But afterwards it's stuck with me. I keep thinking how well done it was, and the subtle lessons in there. Definitely worth seeing.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Saturday Hunt - Weenie

Well, I must admit, I had several ideas in mind already when I chose the word, instead of picking the word out of the blue. I haven't looked yet to see how others interpreted it, but here's mine.

Teenie weenie drops of water on grass.


Yesterday was a Hallo - weenie sort of day. Here's my pumpkin that the squirrels have helped carve.


Finally, one of the DJ's on WFMU plays a song called Corn Weenie. Mmmm delicious, right?


I have to see the list of who's playing anymore... But I will choose Tara for next week.