So, tonight was The Oscars. I love watching The Oscars. This year, however, for the first time I hadn't seen any of the nominated pictures. The only movie I had seen was "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" for which Kate Winslet DID NOT win the award for Best Actress. That was the most incredibly wrong moment of the night. I thought she totally deserved to win.

I'll admit that I haven't seen "Million Dollar Baby" yet and I'm sure Hilary Swank did a good job but she already HAS an Oscar and Kate Winslet is always getting passed over - "Sense & Sensibility", "Titanic"....she did such an awesome job in "Eternal Sunshine" that I thought maybe this was her year. Oh, well.

I am glad to see Morgan Freeman and Jamie Foxx winning, though. I surprised myself by rooting for Foxx over Johnny Depp who I really like. Jamie Foxx's speech at the end made me cry. I loved what he said about his Grandma.

So...I'll be complaining for a while about Kate Winslet not winning. And I guess I'll be going to see "Million Dollar Baby" sooner that I thought I would be.

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I took an expired Mexican drug today to combat an evil infection I appear to be getting. The pill I took is probably at least 4 years old and now Collin is quite upset with me and has convinced himself that I might die.

Now, really, I feel fine but just in case I *do* expire today or tonight:

Please play Badfinger's "Timeless" and "Six Feet Under" by No Doubt at my funeral. I would like to be buried with Pudding & Bunny.

Thank you.

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I was listening to the Alice Cooper show on KKFM the other night and he was talking about this zoo in Germany where they have these gay penguins who will not mate with the females. In order to get them to go straight, the zoo imported Swedish female penguins hoping to "turn them straight and get them to mate." Hey, that rhymes! It could be the zoo's new motto!

Anyway, the story can be found here.

I told a couple ladies at work about the penguins and both of them were skeptical that animals could be gay - they were sure it was a human trait. But I'm convinced that my two boy cats, Chazz & Murphy, were gay. They absolutely adored one another and stuck to each other like glue. I even have a picture of them holding paws. It's really cute! But I believe that animals can be gay, why not? You can't really help who you're attracted to. You just are!

And p.s. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Alice Cooper? I got to meet him about 9 years ago at a haunted house in Denver. He was sitting in a throne made of bones and he signed my "Alice Cooper Goes To Hell" CD for me with a smile. He was awesome! And he puts on a hell of a live show!

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We have these rules about sleeping at work. Not just guidelines but serious, strict, to-be-adhered-to-at-all-times rules. Those rules state that you are not to sleep on the floor or in the break room or in the bathrooms (don't laugh - there used to be a girl on my shift who would go into the back bathroom and sleep while sitting on the toilet.) at any time. If you're caught sleeping, you will be subject to disciplinary action, including being given a verbal warning, written warning or termination. Sleeping, in the company's eyes, doesn't just mean deep, snoring sleep. No, no... it also includes "resting your eyes." It's pretty strict and just 2 weeks ago they sent out a message, reiterating the policies on sleeping.

The reason they felt they had to remind us?

A contractor was in the fab about three weeks ago and happened to be walking through the mezzanine when he heard voices coming from the scaffolding where they had been doing remodeling work during the daytime. Thinking that there shouldn't be anyone there, he immediately informed security who went in to investigate. There they found two maintenance techs up in the scaffolding with blankets, pillows, sleeping bags and even GameBoys! I guess these guys would disappear for hours at a time and play some video games before napping! Of course, they were terminated and they couldn't understand why.

Sp that's been the big story here at work this past week. And believe me, everyone is doing everything they can to stay awake!!

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The greatest thing about being around little kids is that you never know what will come out of their mouths! Case in point:

Sunday evening before I left for work, Collin and his kids came over. We had nachos and watched a couple of episodes of "Dead Like Me." After a while, Jordyn asked if she could color. I have a Lion King coloring book & markers on hand for just such emergencies. She was giving all her energy to coloring in a picture of Zazu, the bird who is kind of Mufasa's right hand man. After she finished coloring him, she showed him to Collin & me.

"Look at the bird! I colored his feathers blue cuz they're supposed to be blue and his pecker is yellow."

"Beak, sweetie. It's called a beak," Collin answered with an incredibly straight face.

"Oh. His beak is yellow." And she walked off. Then, and only then, did we allow ourselves to properly crack up.


SIDE NOTE FOR LAURA F: Hi!! I've been trying all week to comment on your site and Blogger just won't let me in! I've been reading your posts and enjoying them all!! :)

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Yet another quiz I pilfered from Sid! This one was pretty fun!


YOUR SENIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL

What year was it? 1989

What were your favorite bands? Skid Row, Poison, Cinderella, Ratt, Motley Crue, Guns N Roses, L.A. Guns, Bon Jovi.

What was your favorite outfit? Jeans...I don't remember any favorite shirt. Wait! I did have this cute black crop top with brightly colored wild animals on it and around the picture were the words "Wild Thing I Think I Love You."

What was up with your hair? I still can't do anything with my hair. Then it was short and if it ever looked good, my friend Shanon did it. I remember one morning she did it up all cool and stuff - curling iron, mousse, hair spray...and while I was in 1st period choir, this girl named Iris said to her friend Virginia, "you know my hair looks bad if Heather's hair looks good." Pbbt! I hope she's having hellish bad hair days to this day for that!!!

Who were your best friends? Shanon, Rhonda, Alyssa.

What did you do after school? Nothing. Either hung out with Shanon or Rhonda.

Did you take the bus? Pfft. I lived behind the high school.

Who did you have a crush on? Oh, my God! Shawn Susser - he had the greatest butt! And spiked hair. And then there was Chris Turner and his friend Mark Hart. The rockers! I used to sit in English class and stare across the hall to the other English class at Chris! It turned out that Chris married my Mom's ex-boss who's waaaaaay older than him and Mark ended up living 4 houses away from me. I never talked to him.

Did you fight with your parents? Never any big fights. I do recall one that Mom and I had because we were going to go to dinner and I wanted to record some Bon Jovi special and she wanted to record the Dan Reeves Show! Oh, yeah - the fight where she threw away all my posters cuz I put up a poster of Poison who she had banned from my walls! I put it up in the back of my closet and she found it and ripped all my posters off and threw them away. Then I dug them out of the trash and she found out because of the potato peels on the counter!!

Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on? CC DeVille, Snake Sabo, Sebastian Bach, Bret Michaels, Tracii Guns, Richie Sambora, Bret "Hitman" Hart.

Did you smoke cigarettes? Nope. Still don't.

Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker? No. I was too lazy to be that nervous.

Did you have a 'clique'? No, there was no clique.

Did you have "The Max" like Zach, Kelly, and Slater? What the hell is that? I didn't watch "Saved By The Bell" enough to know what that is.

Who did you want to be just like? Billie Jo Baptiste. I actually still wanna be just like her!

What did you want to be when you grew up? A rock star!

Where did you think you'd be at the age you are now? I though I'd be a big rock star married to Snake and although we'd have 5 kids, I'd still be rocking!!! HA!!

I can't promise that this will be the last quiz post but that is all for now!

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I'm sorry but I love these things. I stole this from El Sid!



Accent: I don't think I have one but when we went to California in the mid 80's, a waitress at a restaurant we stopped in at asked if we were from Colorado. She said she could tell from our accents. ??

Bra size: 38D

Chore I hate: Taking out the garbage. I hate gathering it and hauling it to the dumpster.

Dad's name: Jess.

Essential make-up products: purple eyeshadow, eyeliner and black black mascara.

Favorite perfume: X'ia X'iang & Obsession.

Gold or silver?: Silver.

Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado

Interesting fact: Did you know that because King Henry VIII wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, he created the Church of England that's in effect to this day?

Job titles: Senior Operator, Golden Child.

Kids: Not yet.

Living arrangements: I have a cute little apartment that I'm at sometimes.

Mom's birthplace: Grand Junction, CO

Number of apples eaten in the last week: Nada. That's kind of sad.

Overnight hospital stays: Funny, Mom & I were just talking about this when Dad had his surgery; I've (knock on wood and point like Fred) never had to stay overnight in the hospital.

Phobias: Coulrophobia - fear of clowns, Claustrophobia - fear of enclosed spaces, & Apiphobia or Melissophobia - fear of bees. Taking El Sid's direction, click here to find out what your phobia is called.

Question you ask yourself a lot: What am I doing here, what is my purpose?

Religious affiliation: Christian, I suppose.

Siblings: Brother: Derek. Sisters-in-law: Heather & I count her twin Shannon as a sister-in-law as well.

Time I wake up: Depends on the day. If I'm working, 4pm. If I'm not, around 7am.

Unnatural hair color: Atomic pink. Although it's faded for the most part; there's still a little of it on the left side of my head.

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Mushrooms.

Worst habit: Popping my knuckles. Dad hits me in the head when I do it around him.

X-rays?: My teeth of course. My left thumb when I broke it in high school and two years ago my left ankle when I sprained it.

Yummy food I make: That I make?? Ummm....sure as hell ain't grilled cheese! I suppose I make pretty kick-ass scrambled eggs.

Zodiac sign: Aquarius. Although I'm on the cusp, being closer to Capricorn, I'm still a water-bearer through & through!

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This is a story for the little people, the opressed, the downtrodden. It shows that there is justice where you least expect it.

It starts off at work about two weeks ago. It was the last night of my week (Tuesday but we call it Friday) and those nights are reknowned for being bad. Anything that can happen will happen. This was a classic Friday: we were busy busy busy and super short-handed. When I first got there, I was told by my supervisor that I would be getting trained on a new machine that night so Ginny would be watching what were normally my machines. BUT! At 8pm (1 hour after my shift started), Ginny was rushed to the emergency room with a blod clot so I was asked to watch my original machines in addition to being trained. It made for a busy night.

There was an extra machine running on my floor that night, a lot that an engineer had started that afternoon. He told the day shift people to just "let it run." So I let it run. I didn't mess with it much because there were lots running that were higher priority as delegated by my supervisor. After a while, I had pretty much forgotten about that lot.

Until 6:40am. 20 minutes before the end of the day and the beginning of my weekend, here comes the engineer to check on his lot. He asked why it wasn't finished and I answered that it had experienced a few jams throughout the night, which halted the machines operations. He asked if maintenence had been called, I replied "Not to my knowledge." He started yelling at me that it should have taken 8 hours to finish that lot and as I started to explain the circumstances surrounding the night, he WALKED AWAY FROM ME AS I WAS TALKING!! I hate that more than almost anything. I fumed for about 5 minutes then took off to my supervisor's office to tell her about the situation and how the engineer had acted.

Imagine my surprise when I found him in the supervisor's office, telling her that the lot was super-HOT, that it needed to ship by 10am THAT DAY and that I had let the machine sit all night long. I heard myself yell from behind him, "it did NOT SIT all night long!!!" You could tell he was startled when he whipped around. I began to tell my supervisor what had happened and this guy started talking over me. I looked at him and said, "I don't know who you think you are but you have no right to walk away from me while I'm trying to explain what happened." The entire time I was talking he was talking over me still. I was getting so mad that my supervisor had to tell me to leave and calm down.

Come to find out, that lot WAS super-duper hot, indeed it DID need to be shipped by 10am that day to an important customer. Unfortunately, this engineer had failed to tell anyone that would be working on it these details. He needed to tell the day & night shift supervisors and the operators. He didn't. So that lot was deemed to be the lowest of priorities. And then when he realized that he screwed up, he blamed me. And I didn't take his crap just because he was an engineer.

When I came back to work Saturday night, my supervisor showed me the email that the engineer had written the big boss, trying to cover his butt and make me look like I was in the wrong for yelling at him. And guess what? The big boss (who was my supervisor when I first started 7 years ago) stood up for ME!! He told the engineer that he sincerely hoped that I didn't take my "poor treatment by the engineers to HR." I was thrilled - I felt vindicated.

Until my supervisor told me that this engineer was pushing his case and had asked for a Monday meeting with the big boss to discuss the situation. All I could hope for was that the meeting was simply for the production angle and no longer had anything to do with me.

No one is talking about what happened in that meeting except to say that afterwards, the engineer no longer is employed there! I don't know if he quit or was walked out but he's gone; there was an email Tuesday night advertising the opening of his position. I'm sure that this ending has nothing to do with what happened between the engineer and me but it's refreshing to see an end result such as this:

The little person wins while the jerk who thinks he's all that gets his!

Whoo!


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Today is Collin's birthday! Everyone should pop on over
to Fizzle & Pop and wish him a Happy Birthday!!

I hope you have a great day, baby! MWAH!

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and seeing as how I LOOOOVE quizzes, here's me stealing it:

48 questions for you to love...

1. Your name spelled backwards:
Drallab Rehtaeh - Yeah, it looks Indian, huh?

2. Where were your parents born?
Grand Junction, CO

3. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer?
See, I don't download things...but I did install a genealogy program.

4. What's your favorite restaurant?
Outback

5. Last time you swam in a pool?
Ummm....probably two summers ago at my parents place.

6. Have you ever been in a school play?
Yes, I have! I was the lead - THE LEAD!!! - in my 3rd grade play, "What Shall We Do For Christmas?" I was the chairwoman. I remember nothing about it except that my Grandma Knight sent me a pink corsage for good luck which I still have somewhere.

7. How many kids do you want?
I don't care - I just want some!

8. Type of music do you dislike most?
Dislike? Music? Is that possible? No, that's just crazy talk!

9. Are you registered to vote?
no.

10. Do you have cable?
Nope. Used to think I'd wither & die without it but I'm doing okay. I have Sex & The City on DVD. :)

11. Have you ever ridden on a moped?
No.

12. Ever prank call anybody?
Yeah but it wasn't my idea.

13. Ever get a parking ticket?
No. Can you believe it?

14. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?
Ack! No, don't think so.

15. Farthest place you ever traveled?
Florida.

16. Do you have a garden?
Not any more but I do have some really pretty lillies on my dining room table.

17. What's your favorite comic strip?
Calvin & Hobbes. I don't care that Bill Watterson retired. There's nothing out there now that even compares to the fun of Calvin!

18. Do you really know all the words to the national anthem?
As a matter of fact, I do! Choir, 6 years.

19. Bath or Shower, morning or night?
Depends. If I'm in a hurry, shower & whenever it is that I need it. If I'm feelilng lazy, a bath & a book.

20. Best movie you've seen in the past month?
For sheer fun & silliness - Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle.

21. Favorite pizza toppings?
Pepperoni, onions, green peppers.

22. Chips or popcorn?
POPCORN!! Seriously my one food weakness!

23. What color lipstick do you usually wear?
Either purple or light pink.

24. Have you ever smoked peanut shells?
What the...???? Um...no.

25. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?
Pfft. Obviously you've never seen me.

26. Orange Juice or apple?
Apple if I have a choice although I like orange.

27. Favorite type of chocolate bar?
I don't have a favorite. I like them all. Unless it's dark chocolate although I read today in Glamour Magazine that dark chocolate is an aphrodesiac.

28. When was the last time you voted at the polls?
When I was 18.

29. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?
ARGH! Ugh! Never. Tomatoes are the food of the devil! The devil, I tell you!

30. Have you ever won a trophy?
Yep. I was on the 1st place science fair team in elementary school.

31. Are you a good cook?
No. Maybe one day I'll post about my attempt at making a grilled cheese sandwich for the owner of the golf course I worked at!

32. Do you know how to pump your own gas?
Of course I do! I just don't like doing it!

33. Ever order an item from an infomercial?
No. Although I've been tempted.

34. Sprite or 7-up?
Depends. When I'm sick, 7-up.

35. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to work?
Yes....Fargo's: the stupid Victorian lace dress!

36. Last thing you bought at a pharmacy?
Does Walgreens count as a pharmacy? If it does then I bought some of those Magic Wipe Mr. Clean things.

37. Ever throw up in public?
Yes at the state fair after riding The Gravitron. I puked in a trash can and on my white shoes.

38. Would you prefer being a millionaire or to find true love?
Wellllll......if I didn't have either, I would choose true love but I already have that so next is the money! WHoooo!

39. Do you believe in love at first sight?
No. Cuz if it was true, I would have fallen in love with Collin at Derek's wedding rehearsal.

40. Ever call a 1-900 number?
No. But ask Mom about Dr. Love! heheh

41. Can exes be friends?
NO!

42. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital?
My daddy.

43. Did you have a lot of hair when you were a baby?
I had a fair amount of red hair.

44. What message is on your answering machine?
The usual - "Hi, you've reached Heather..." But I used to have a Simpsons sound byte from the episode where Homer was too fat to go work..."I'm sorry. The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now." Mom used to call and say, "My fingers are not fat!"

45. What is in your backpack?
I have two backpacks that are filled with football cards.

46. Favorite thing to do before bedtime?
Depends on what day it is.

47. What is one thing you are grateful for today?
Collin

48. What is the first concert you ever went to?
3 years old, Ferrante & Teicher with my Mom.

So there you go! I wonder if it's possible to OD on quizzes! Ha!

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One of those quizzes that I posted last week had a question about if I had a scar and how I got it and I answered that the story behind it would probably make a good post so here it is!

I was in my early 20's, probably 22 or 23 when this happened, working at Fargo's Pizza Company and going to school at Pikes Peak Community College. I had just recently started dating a guy named Mark whom I met in my psych class. One night we were both invited to a birthday party for Kym, a girl I worked with. The ladies and one of the managers wanted to take Kym to Red Robin and get her snockered for her 21st birthday which she was all for but she had one request: she was housesitting in Black Forest and would one of us please drive her up there while someone else followed in her car?

I offered the services of Mark & I... Kym's car was a standard and at that time I didn't know how to drive a stick but Mark did so I would drive with Kym and Mark would follow in Kym's car. The house she was staying at was way out of the way, off any main streets and we got there through a twisting maze of dirt roads. But both Mark & I were confident that we had remembered which ways to twist to get us back home.

We hung out with Kym for a while before leaving, making it about 1:30 in the morning, maybe later. I was driving Mom's 1979 Grand Prix, talking to Mark about reincarnation... he was telling me about weird dreams he had been having where he was Billy The Kid and we had been discussing how cool that would be if he were Billy The Kid reincarnated. Suddenly, Mark yelled, "Look out!!" and I realized that the road we were on was suddenly ending. I had to turn either left or right because directly in front of me was a big field surrounded by barbed wire!!! I screamed, braked and turned the wheel hard to the right but since we were on a dirt road, the tires didn't catch and we spun out, crashing through the barbed wire and plowing out into the field!

I sat there, breathing hard, heart pounding. I couldn't believe what had just happened! I asked Mark if he was okay, which he was. So was I. We got out of the car to survey the damage; the barbed wire was strung together with those thick green metal poles that look like mile markers but they're heavier. I had hit two of those crashing through the fence. One hit the driver's side fender pretty hard, denting it so that the door couldn't open. The second pole had hit directly in the middle of the grill, came up and scraped across the hood, the passenger side of the window and over the roof. I suddenly realized how lucky we had been - what if that second pole, instead of scraping across the car had slammed through the window and impaled Mark to the seat? I still shudder thinking about it!

The worst part was the barbed wire. It was twisted around the car through the trunk, holding it captive. Mark had a pocket knife on him which he used to cut through the wire. I had to hold onto it so it wouldn't flail about after it was cut and catch one of us in the face. I ended up with cuts on every single one of my fingers from holding onto that barbed wire. The only scar, though, is on the inside of my left middle finger. It's about half an inch long it's the first thing I notice when I turn my hand over.

Somehow, Mark got Mom's car out of that field. No one ever drove by, we never saw a house or a barn or anything. I drove and drove and drove down this dark deserted road, getting low on gas and completely lost! This was before cell phones so if we ran out of gas, we were screwed! Finally, at the last minute, we came to a road - a real, honest-to-God paved road with a road sign that said Highway 24! Hallelujah, I knew where we were!!! I drove to a gas station where Mark pumped the gas while I went inside to clean off my hands. I remember the lady behind the counter looking at me weird... my hands were covered in blood not to mention I was dressed in white jeans and a white sweater, both of which were dirty from the field and bloody from my hands.

We made it home that night and Mom & Dad weren't too mad at me for wrecking the car. They got it fixed and everything was good. Until Derek wrecked it which is his story to tell if he so desires! But I'll always have that scar!

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Like every child growing up, Derek & I had hamsters. We started off with Digger. When Derek was in 3rd grade, he woke Mom up one morning and said, "Hey, can I put my name in the drawing to win the class hamster?" She wasn't fully awake and just mumbled "okay." Well, he won! When he showed up with Digger that afternoon she was flabbergasted. But she grew to love him.

He was a blonde teddy bear hamster and cuter than hell. He lived in a bird cage. Yes, that's right - a bird cage! I don't remember how we ended up making a bird cage his home* but he loved it. He would climb up the sides and jump over to the little swing and hang there while it swung back and forth. He also figured out how to slide the little door open and escape so we bread-tied it shut. For the rest of his life, he worked and worked at that door, rubbing the fur off of his nose in the process. He died after a year, I think, because he ate some peppermints. I was crushed. The whole family was.

So Mom got Derek & I two new hamsters. We named them Short Round (mine) and Digger II. They caught a cold a few months later and didn't last long but we loved them all the same. I think they were the first to be called "hammy-wammys" & "bunny-wunnys" by Dad. That "bunny" thing stuck and now I call any fuzzy rodent a bunny.

For Derek's next birthday, Mom bought us two more. Nikki (short for Nikolai Volkoff) and Madonna. I think you can tell which hamster belonged to which kid! They lasted about 3 years which is pretty good for a hamster. One time when Uncle Ray and Aunt MaryBeth were visiting, we had Nikki out and MB was holding her. Dad had told her about how they stuffed food into their cheek pouches and later on would unstuff and start eating. Well, Nikki went to clean her face but MB thought she was "unstuffing" and panicked, throwing her across the dining room and into the wall. Somehow, she was unhurt but Dad never let MaryBeth live that down.

After Nikki & Madonna passed on, Mom said "no more hamsters." We complied for about a year and then one day we went to Wal-Mart and bought two chinchilla hamsters without telling our parents. We put them on the far corner of the desk in my room and kept them secret for about a week, I think. We named them Joe & Sebastian. They were mean little fuckers - bit us every time we held them...they weren't near as cool as Nikki & Madonna or Digger! A sad story about Joe, though; their water bottle had broken and couldn't hang on the cage like it normally did so we duct taped it to the side of the cage. One night I woke up and heard this horrible squealing. Turning on the light, I saw Joe stuck on the duct tape, hanging from the middle of the cage, squealing his fuzzy little brain out. I couldn't peel the tape off cuz it was tearing off hunks of fur so I just cut off the tape. For the rest of his life he had duct tape on his back.

They were the last hamsters we ever had. But we sure had fun with them!

*= A while back there was a show on TV about funny game show moments. One of the clips was from Family Feud and during the lightning round, one of the questions was "name something you'd find inside a birdcage." The guy answered "Hamster." For a while, I didn't get why everyone thought that was so funny. OUR hamster lived in a birdcage...

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It's time for yet another installment of "I STOLE THIS QUIZ!" This one comes courtesy of Seven. Thanks, man!!

1. What is longest you have ever gone without bathing? Probably 3 days while at a family reunion at a camp where the bathrooms were just flat out NASTY!
2. When you read, do you highlight or mark items? Never! I never deface books! That's sacrilege!
   
3. What brand are your favorite jeans? How long have you had them? In the words of Seven: Levi's baby!!
   
4. Do you still have an article of clothing from high school? If so, what is it? Ummm...don't think so.
   
5. Who makes you laugh the big belly laugh (can be a comedian) ? Derek & Collin.
   
6. Of all your scars which one has the best story, please, do tell! I have a scar on my middle finger from a car accident that I was just thinking of blogging about. So I think I will - you'll just have to wait & see.
7. Do you color your hair? What color? How old were you when you first colored it? Yes, I admit it. I color it. The first time I tried I was in 9th grade but it didn't take. My hair had been blonde, red, atomic pink, copper blonde, dark brown...it's "peace lily" blonde right now. In fact I colored it Monday.
8. Do you take vitamins? Nope
9. Do you like chocolate? Milk or dark? What brand? If not chocolate what candy do you like? I love chocolate. dark chocolate is icky though. mix it with peanut butter, though...hell yeah!!
   
10. What is the fondest memory you have of your grandma or grandpa? Grandpa - taking us inner tubing down the canals in Junction. Grandma - all the times we've stayed up til 2 am talking.
    
11. If you had to share a song that represented who you are, which one would it be? "Extraordinary" by Liz Phair. I think it fits everyone - you never know what a person's like until you get to know them which sadly, most people don't take the time to get to know anyone else!!

Yet again, there's no one to tag so feel free to grab this and run with it!!


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This is from El Sid's site:

Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:
Grocer: "Forty cents a pound."

Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
The wall above the phone.

What is the last thing you watched on TV?
4th episode of Sex & The City

Without looking at the clock, guess what time it is:
4:20 pm.

Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
4:48pm. Pbbt!

With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Cartoon Network.

When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
About 20 minutes ago. I was picking Justin up from school.

Before you came to this website, what did you look at?
A funny email from Collin

What are you wearing?
A grey Widegren Family Reunion t-shirt that Derek made and black calf-length excercise pants.

Did you dream last night?
Not last night - I was at work but this morning I dreamed of something. I just can't remember what.

When did you last laugh?
just a few minutes ago. In fact I just IM'ed Collin that I was "laughing like a loon."

What is on the walls of the room you are in?
A framed picture of Nagel's artwork. I'm at Collin's and there's not much on the walls here.

Seen anything weird lately?
A big dog pulling a guy along on roller skates about an hour ago.

What do you think of this quiz?
All quizzes are fun.

What is the last film you saw?
Envy. enh.

If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
A house.

Tell me something about you that I don?t know:
I've seen Burt Bacharach in concert. On purpose. But there was a really good reason. Trust me.

If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
I would make all food FREE!!!!

Do you like to dance?
Not good at it but I'll groove when the mood strikes me.

George Bush:
He's the president. That is all.

Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Gwendolyn Araminta

Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Joshua Aaron

Would you ever consider living abroad?
If I had to.

Name Four Bad Habits You Have:
1) I write in the air
2) I sing with every song on the radio regardless if I like it or not
3) I crack my knuckles
4) I talk back to people in authority

Name Four Things That You Wish You Had:
1) A giant house with room for all my books
2) All of Jean Plaidy's books
3) Kids
4) A magic wand that I could wave and make my Dad better


Name Four Scents You Love:
1) Citrus
2) Sandalwood
3) Frangiapani
4) Obsession

Name Four Things You'd Never Wear:
1) paisley
2) Pink Floyd t-shirt
3) blazer
3) leather pants

Name Four Things You Are Thinking About Now:
1) Collin
2) This post
3) what movie to rent tonight
4) excercising

Name Four Things That You Have Done Today:
1) Slept
2) Shaved my legs
3) picked up Justin from school
4) kissed my hella hot boyfriend

Name the Last Four Things You Have Bought:
1) Collin's Valentine's Day gift
2) milk
3) blueberry muffin shampoo & conditioner
4) cute little "Dirty Martini" picture

Name Four Bands/Groups Most People Don't Know You Like:
1) Prince
2) Scissor Sisters
3) Nickelback
4) Save Ferris

Name Four Drinks You Regularly Drink:
1) Diet Pepsi
2) Diet Dr. Pepper
3) water
4) lemonade

So there you go! There's no "hit list" on this one but feel free to do it if you want!!!


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About 3 weeks ago, we got a 3rd computer on my floor at work. It was great - we really needed a third one and someone had finally listened to our pleas. What was even better was that it was set up on my side of the floor. That meant, in my mind, that it was MINE!! So imagine my disappointment when I came back from that weekend to find that someone had taken the tower but left the monitor!! I had lost my computer! I was so bummed.

But then the day-shift operators complained to the engineers who had taken it so we got a new one! Or so I thought. It turned out that the tower had belonged to the former maintenence tech supervisor who had been laid off around the beginning of 2004. When he was let go, he wasn't allowed back in the building so he didn't have a chance to delete any files from his computer. That meant that it was all on here... on this computer that was in my area and at my disposal to play with!!

It even had internet access for about 2 weeks. Sadly, someone figured that out last week so when I came in Saturday to start my week, there was no internet. :( I had lost my ability to keep up to date on blogs at work! BUT! Not all was lost! This guy had all of his mail still in the computer. Everything was in there - old reviews of his employees, letters with his wife (which some were pretty intense! They both sounded pretty stubborn and hot headed!), notes back & forth to co-workers bashing other co-workers, and the typical forwards we all get from friends and family.

Going through this guy's mail has been an ongoing thing for me ever since I discovered it. There's emails from back in 2000 up to the time he was let go so it's taking me a while to get through them all. Now, I know that's being snoopy but this guy is gone and I'll never see him again (interesting fact - he lived 7 houses away from me before I moved and I never saw him!) and he'll never know that I've read all of his emails. I hope.

But tonight, I was going through a folder of downloads and found some racy shots of Britney Spears of all people not to mention some online links to nude celebrity shots. "So," I thought. "He was looking at porno stuff while he was at work!" I wonder if that's one of the things that cost him his job. But here's the sad/funny/scary part of this whole story:

I opened a file called "Tiger's Girlfriend." It was a slide show of pictures of a model that Tiger Woods was dating. I'm not sure if it's the same girl that married him or not but I was clicking away, trying to get to the end when suddenly there were NAKED PICTURES of this girl! Every slide was boobs & butt and thighs....and here I am at work, trying desperately to figure out how to get out of this! What if someone saw what was on the screen???? Oh my, God, it's like that short movie that Collin made me watch where the guy gets a joke email from a friend about a girls & farm animals site (that phrase should get me some Google hits, huh?) and can't get out of it and the boss sees him and fires him! I just knew that was going to be me! And to get caught looking at naked women? Bleh! Not cool!

Luckily, I finally found the "END SHOW" button and was able to get out before anyone saw! I did find more naked girly pictures but they were merely attachments that I could simply scroll away from. Didn't stop me from panicking though. Maybe I'll take a break from his mail and start reading a book. With no naked pictures! (I hope - it's about King Henry VIII!)

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Saturday afternoon, Mom called me and during the course of the conversation, mentioned that my due date had been January 29th and that I had been born early (the 25th). She said that whenever she saw the 29th, she thought it was my birthday because "for 9 months that's what I thought your birthday would be." What was funny to me is that for 34 years my birthday's been the 25th! But those first 9 months made a bigger impression upon her, I suppose, being her first pregnancy and all.

So, speaking of birthdays, Saturday night I was supposed to go to Derek & Heather's to pick up an excercise machine. "Anytime after 5" I was told. So Collin & I whiled the day away book shopping and hanging out at his Mom's house, watching "Moulin Rouge" which his Mom did NOT like! How can you not LOVE that movie? Oh, well... anyway... we get to Derek's and I see Dad's Vue parked in their driveway. I was wondering what Mom & Dad were doing there, especially since Dad had been in the hospital THAT AFTERNOON recovering from surgery!! Turns out, it was SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR ME!

I've never had a surprise party so it was really cool! We had karaoke and snackies and I got more presents (which is ALWAYS a plus!): I got a really nice plant from Kathy (a co-worker of Derek & Collin's) & her husband Chad and Derek & Heather got me Heart's new CD, some bath stuff (that smells like honey... I've made a mental note NOT to wear the lotion or use the bubble bath and/or shower gel in the summer lest I be attacked by bees who love the smell of me!) and... a karaoke machine of my very own!! I'm so happy!

The karaoking was cut short, though, by the nasty snow storm that had started that night. Mom & Dad left early and then called us, letting us know that the roads were pretty bad so we left as well. Which was a shame; I was having a blast singing! I even got to sing The Shangri-Las' "Give Him A Great Big Kiss" which features such intelligent, thought-out lyrics like these: "What color are his eyes? I don't know, he's always wearing shades." It's a swell song! Maybe, just maybe, I could borrow the karaoke disc from my favorite brother and practice the song at home. :)

So, a big fat THANK YOU!!! to Derek & Heather for hosting the surprise party!

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Also, this was the post that I was talking about never posting, so if it posts again ignore the second one.


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You are a Hippie. Wow.


What kind of Sixties Person are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


p.s. Mom has a new post!! Check it out!



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I've been looking at the "Search Query" deal on my hit counter and, seriously, some of the ways people get here...weird!

The number one hit is for "Hootie McBoobs." I think that's funny.
There's a couple for restaurants that I've mentioned like Xiang's Kitchen or Fargo's Pizza and some for the lyrics to Gwen Stefani's song. Then there's the totally whacked out things; what the hell are people looking for???

Check these out:

-socks on her hands (I googled this and came up with nothing. What were they looking for & how did it lead them to me?)

-squatting to pee (I know where this came from but was someone looking for instructions?)

-I really had to pee but (but what?)

-Paul McCartney gave Ireland to the Irish (So it's a song...how did they end up here?)

-slumber party erotic tales (Whoa! I don't remember writing anything that would have brought someone here for THAT!)

-lick toes blog ("Lick toes" came from a post about Chazz but...I looked it up; it's not a toe-fettish blog...although this one is a little creepy. Unless you like toes.)

-his little weiner (Ummm...whose little weiner were you looking for? I've heard rumors about certain people but...let's be a little more specific here!)

-I saw mom undress (EEEEP!)

People out there are scaring me! But hey! If it brings me readers, who am I to complain?


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First off, I want to vent a little bit about this mail blogger system. I did a post through it last night and it still hasn't posted! So keep your eyes peeled!

Okay, on with the new postie. I was talking to Mike last night at work about living in apartments and he was telling me about the people who live across from him. They're from Tennessee, the epitome of down home southern boys. He said that when they moved some furniture out, he offered the use of his Ford F350 and when Mike's brother locked his keys in his truck, this guy was right there to help.

That's where the funny story begins: Mike & his brother were outside with a coat hanger, trying unsuccessfully to jummy open the lock when Mike's neighbor came over and said he knew a better way to get in there. He proceeded to pop out the back window of Mike's brother's truck without breaking a sweat. It came out easily and all in one piece. The guy crawled through the back, unlocked the door then went to his truck and got a rope which he tied around the truck window. He then got inside the truck and pulled on the rope while Mike pushed on the outside of the window, causing the window to pop back in seamlessly.

The neighbor then tells Mike & his brother about how he used to do that to break into cars back home in Tennessee and that now he works at an auto glass company, doing the very same thing. Putting his criminal knowledge to work! After the neighbor left, Mike's brother said, "You know, the only reason I ever locked my truck when I was here was because of that guy. And now I know he can get in either way!"

Just goes to show, you never know!


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