KirstenL4W

I’ve been really tired lately.  Stress does that to you.  I emailed my mom and told her how it’s going to be when she’s here for my wedding.  She responded saying that she understands, but then came back with a blog post that tells me she really doesn’t get it.  I mean, with a tiny wedding that is cutting out a lot of the traditional details, there really isn’t much to do.  I know she’s eager to help, but honestly, if you were visiting a strange city, would you want to be given a list of errands and a map?  Me either.  FH and I are planning it so that there will be very little to do, and if there is anything that needs being done, those jobs will go to local friends.  It just makes more sense that way, don’t you think?

Sis also tells me that mom has been complaining that I won’t be spending more time with out of town guests (aka her and my uncles).  This wedding is not a week-long affair with fun events planned every night.  The wedding will take place on one day.  In the days before, I need to work, since I have one of those jobs that likes me to be there - at 7am.  Doesn’t leave me much time for going out on the town.  And FH and I would really like to take time for us, so we can chillax a bit before the wedding, just the two of us.  If I spend the days before the wedding playing tour guide and planning a million pre-wedding events, then I will not be a blushing, beaming, glowing bride walking down the aisle.  I will be a frazzled madwoman.  I think FH prefers the first one.

Mom brought up this issue of a tie.  She thinks I’m focused on her buying Dad a tie.  It will be 105°F or so outside that day.  I don’t think Dad will want to wear one, and that’s fine.  But it’s not my mom’s job to buy him a tie.  They’ve been divorced for over 30 years now.  Let his wife pick out his clothes, or *gasp* let Dad do that himself.  What a concept.  And don’t even get me started on my mom calling me to update me on Gram’s health yesterday.  My paternal grandmother - not her mother.

So I haven’t been around here much lately.  I’ve been over at LJ so I can vent out loud a lot more, since LJ lets you control exactly who gets to see each post.  Nifty feature.  Here it’s only public, registered users (I don’t do that registering thing here), or no one can see it.  On LJ I can pick and choose.  So there.

Excuse me while I eat a little piece of sugar coma in a foil wrapper - aka the Cadbury Creme Egg.

I am discovering that the mother of the bride has one single job: to drive the bride absolutely fucking batty.  I just got off the phone with my mother, who has announced that she wants to stay at a non-casino hotel (no biggie, there are plenty here) that my stepdad can use his points at (narrows it down to 2) that has the shuttle from the airport and to the strip.  Ok.  Here’s the problem with that: the hotel she decided on, while convenient to the strip, airport, and of course me, is not really near anything convenient.  It’s next to a business park.  There will be nothing for her to do after the last strip shuttle, which is really early for this town.  Oh, and she’s thinking she’s gonna hitch a ride with my dad after they take the same flight out here and my dad rents a car.  They’ve only been divorced for 30 years now, but she thinks she knows what I want for my color scheme, so she’s gonna pick out a new tie for my dad.  She says she’s really good at picking out ties.  If she makes my dad look like a schmuck then he’s going without the noose, which I’m sure he’ll appreciate when it’s a hundred and fucking degrees out.

As much as I would love to have more of my family out here for my actual wedding, I did have to tell my mom to stop telling people they can come.  I will be happy to see them, but I am so NOT happy with my mom taking over my wedding plans.  The shindig here is going to be small - as in, we’re having the reception at a small Eye-talian restaurant and only making reservations for about 30.  The rest of the place is open, and we won’t get a private room.  There isn’t really one available, and even if the bar area that’s being built is open by the time of the wedding, we don’t want to ask them to close the place down on a Saturday night just for us.  We’re already having the reception after the dinner rush as it is.

The whole point of the wedding tour was so that my mom could get all Momzilla and plan something back there, so that I don’t have to and I can still celebrate with my entire family.  She is NOT to get Momzilla for the Vegas edition.  When I got off the phone with her this evening, FH asked me if I wanted to start drinking now.  I might need to.  And take muscle relaxers so that I can chill the fuck out over all this.  He said that he’s never heard me talk to my mom like that, but if I don’t put my foot down, I’m not going to get my wedding the way I want it.  *sigh*  I guess all brides go through this with their mothers, right?

On the plus side, I did order a really nice skirt to go with my corset, so that’s out of the way.  I also stopped at Ulta and let the saleslady put some of that Bare Minerals makeup on me.  I usually hate wearing makeup, but I can’t go totally barefaced on my wedding day.  I’d heard good stuff about Bare Minerals, so I was willing to let the clerk graffiti my face.  I’ll be getting the starter kit on my next payday.  Shoes will be easy - even with my super skinny foot.  I’m wearing black patent pumps, so I pretty much know where I can find them in my size.  And at that same mall, I know of a kiosk where I should be able to find some options for my hair.  I tried on the veil and while I like it, I don’t love it - especially enough to spend more than I spent on the skirt for something that will only be on my head bugging me for maybe 30 minutes of my life.

Tomorrow we pick up our little trial cake, which will be cool.  We also need to do the guest list and order invitations, which will be done online.  I found some really nice ones, and they’re a bit contemporary and really nice - different but not “out there” if you know what I mean.  We still need to get the marriage license, but considering that the county clerk’s office is open till midnight during the week and 24 hours on the weekend, we don’t doubt that we’ll have time.  And Sunday, even though it’s Easter, we’re dragging the realtor out to look at more houses.  Happy times.

In the interest of just getting a post out there yesterday while in the midst of computer hell, I didn’t quite explain what the problem was.  So here’s an explanation:

I usually use the laptop in the living room, connecting to our home network via a wireless connection.  The laptop has Vista, btw, which is of an important note because it is the only one of our 4 computers running Vista.  The others are XP.  Anyhoo, all indications were that I had a very strong internet connection, and I was even able to get the weather widget to work, but trying to actually access the internet using Firefox or IE was an effort in futility.  If I was lucky enough to get a website, it was after a long wait and there was no guarantee that graphics would be included.  Again, just as a reminder, the laptop was the only computer afflicted with this strange illness.

The computer had been sitting idle since Sunday evening, so it had been close to 48 hours that it was powered down.  There was plenty of battery life left, and everything else appeared to be working normally.  Vista even thought my connection was fine; the diagnostic check recommended that I contact my ISP.  Since Boyfriend was online playing his Silly Little Game, I knew that the problem was not with my ISP, it was in the laptop, somehow.

At Boyfriend’s suggestion, I installed some new anti-virus software. (Side note: I have run a computer for many years without any such software; when I finally did install some it only found some tracking cookies.  In all my years of computing I have never had a virus.)  After the hour or so of updating Vista, uninstalling the Norton that came with the laptop, installing TrendMicro, and doing a scan, only a few tracking cookies were found.  Performance was not improved.  Some more diagnostics ended up resetting the internal wireless adapter, which solved the problem … for about 5 minutes.

Boyfriend did a hard restart, which helped a little, but it was still very slow (not super slow, as it had been), and I was still getting some sites without graphics.  I had already given up by this point and was all by my lonesome in the bedroom on my desktop.  I did start the disk defrag, but as of 5:30am it was still running, so with the screen saver and power saver settings, I don’t know if it stops running when it goes into power save mode.  There’s no way to visually check the progress of the defrag on Vista, either.  However, the internet issues were pretty much gone this morning, since I was able to check my email just fine.  This is so perplexing.

Boyfriend mentioned yesterday that his satellite radio was not able to access a signal.  Since it’s in the truck and there aren’t that many natural barriers to the signal here in Las Vegas, I’m wondering if these events are related.  The Pentagon seems intent on shooting down a wayward satellite, and with a 10 second window to push the button to send a heat-seeking missile to an object that is not outputting any heat, along with the coincidental news coming out of Cuba this week, I’m wondering if the electronic issues of late are a signal that the end of the world is coming.  But don’t listen to me.  I’m not a conspiracy theorist or anything.

At least my iPod still works normally.  I don’t know where I’d be without that.

I’m having computer issues tonight.  Just with this damn laptop.  I’ve spent enough time trying to fix it, and I just want the damn thing to work already.   This is very frustrating because it only seems to be affecting the new Vista laptop.

I’m giving up before I end up hurling this thing across the room.

Dear AARP:

Earlier this week my boyfriend, insert Boyfriend’s name here, received an invitation to membership in your organization.  Mr. Boyfriend will not reach the minimum age for eligibility until 2016, so we respectfully request that you stop sending literature until that time.  For your reference, the authorization code on the literature you sent is 1234567890.  I will also be returning the form in the postage paid envelope you so conveniently provided, so that there is no mistake that he does not want to receive any communications from you until which time he is eligible.

Sincerely,

KirstenL4W
on behalf of Boyfriend

Can you believe this stuff?  Boyfriend is only 41 years young.  He is not old.  I can see sending out literature a few months in advance of membership eligibility, but honestly, who is sitting there saying, “Gosh, in 8½ years I’ll be able to join AARP.  I can’t wait!”  Come on now, AARP.  Lighten up a bit.  Boyfriend has already hit his 40’s and thinks he’s old, which he is NOT.  Thanks for the blow to his self esteem.  Now I have to spend at least the next week trying to convince him that he is not old and does not need the blue pills.

The other day I stopped by the apartment office to remind them that I still have a puddle of water under my sink. I know they are having major issues with other things like leaky roofs and heaters, but some acknowledgment would be nice. They’re so very nice when I go in there, but then they never call. I did manage to figure out where the leak was - sort of. Seems that the lines to and from the dishwasher have water dripping down them. Oh, and there’s a clamp missing on one of the lines, which may not necessarily be the spot where it’s leaking, but is definitely a disaster in the making. I can’t exactly put a bucket under it, because the water seems to be not only leaking out of the various places the hoses connect at the top, and where that connection connects to the faucet, but water also runs down these hoses and dribbles all over the place. Perhaps instead of a bucket I can try to fit a kiddie pool under the sink. As it is, the floor of the cabinet is so rotted out that there’s a huge dip in the floor. I think the only thing holding it together is the peel and stick vinyl tile that maintenance put down to fix cover up the rotted cabinet. If they ever decide to come and fix it, it will be interesting to see what their solution is.

In other news, time is careening towards Christmas at a breakneck speed, and I still have so many things that I need to get done. Here’s a close to complete sampling:

• Make craft for my Mom
• Make craft for a friend of Boyfriend
• Make a stocking for Boyfriend with no sewing machine and remedial sewing skills
• Find blank address labels amongst my stuff in the garage so I don’t have to buy more when all I need is 2 sheets
• Sign, address, and mail Christmas cards
• Burn and send latest CD for mix exchange
• Find time to finish Christmas shopping, as soon as I figure out what to get
• Mail Christmas presents to family back home!
• Which means I need to buy the right size boxes, so I guess I should finish shopping first, eh?
• Make banana bread out of bananas I didn’t eat before they turn to total mush and rot through the counter
• Regularly scheduled Thursday night oil change with our friends at the Greasy Spoon. The food is great, if you like it greasy!
• Attend Sweet 16 for our friend’s daughter Friday night, which will likely be followed by an after-party for the adults
• Keep from getting myself committed to the loony bin or having my insanity making the national news.

I’m sure there’s more that I just can’t think of right now. And, of course, as if the weekends need to be any busier, there is a possibility that we need to go to Colorado the weekend of December 15. Please, let’s do it after the holidays, and if we have to go, please, Santa, bring me some winter boots size 8 1/2 narrow for Christmas. Living in Vegas means that I don’t need to have winter boots unless we actually go somewhere that has winter, and everyone who has seen South Park knows that Colorado has snow year round.

I’m gonna try to cook some banana bread now, if I don’t blow up the kitchen or something. We ended up with pizza for supper tonite because I went shopping to get stuff to make Shepherd’s Pie and forgot potatoes. There are 3, count ‘em, THREE, ingredients in Sheperd’s Pie and I forgot one. I don’t know where my brain is today. Hopefully I have enough of it to get the banana bread right. So, I’m gonna go insane make banana bread and try to get to work on a craft or two, and try to keep reminding myself that plenty of sleep and my full-time job are good things and not getting in the way of everything I have to do this month.

But this really takes the cake.

First off, on the FAA website, the whole country is yellow, which is 16-45 minute delays. Not too bad, assuming I get on the flight I want to be on - you know, the one I booked that will leave me a long enough connection to actually make my flight to Ft Meyers. We shall see where, if anywhere at all, Delta plans on sending me this evening.

My sister didn’t pay her phone bill in time, so I couldn’t get in touch with her all morning. Figures. Nothing like that to make me even more stressed out. Under normal circumstances, I don’t mind not being able to get in touch with her, but at this critical time? Yeah, sure.

The copiers at work were working against me today. I was going to finish up the last of what was on my desk, but the machines were not having any of it. Whatever. I’ll stuff them full of Thanksgiving turkey and see how they like that. Maybe then they’ll learn to like the papers I’m feeding them.

And speaking of work, I just knew I’d get bombarded today. I knew it. I tried to prevent it, but that wasn’t happening. At least I got the majority of it done today, so I won’t have too much catching up to do.

That’s all for now. I’m going to go out to a nice relaxing dinner before I head to the airport for my flight to the looney bin Atlanta then Ft Myers. I’ll let you all know how it goes as soon as I can get to a computer.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Beeb

Boyfriend has been spending a lot of time with his new girlfriend, Beeb. How strange it is to find a native Californian, with no concept of a holiday like we have in New England, eating weird foods like sushi and avocado, and yet he has such a fine appreciation for Jolly Olde England. His only caveat about watching it so much is that he is tempted more and more to just sell everything and move there. Now, I’ve been to the UK - 3 times, in fact. I love it there - LOVE it. And I don’t think I would hesitate too much if that ever became a reality. I’d just end up overthinking it - the logistics of moving overseas, the logistics of being American in a foreign country, etc. And that sort of overthinking would stress me out to no end. But it would be a good kind of stress. So, (insert British accent here) dear Boyfriend, keep spending time with Beeb, sweetie darling.

The Post Office

The post office, like all government offices, was closed today for Veteran’s Day. When I have to work, as does everyone I know, on these so-called “floater” holidays (aka bank holidays, aka if you’re lucky you get one or two of these off per year in addition to the big holidays), we tend to forget that things like the post office are closed. I had my latest mix CD to mail out for the exchange, and considering what a procrastinator I can be, I wanted to mail these out the minute I was done with them rather than let them languish in my car for a month. So after work I stopped in at the post office, and for a second I was relieved that it wasn’t crowded. Until I realized that the main post office in all of Las Vegas would never be that deserted unless it was closed. Have no fear, they have an automated postage machine that’s available 24 hours. It’s like an actual clerk without the human. I had 11 packages and no complicated questions, and I was paying with a debit or credit card, so I figured that this would be easy. Until it decides that each individual package is a separate transaction. After swiping my card, entering my pin, and taking a receipt 4 times, I decided to just buy the stamps, since I knew exactly how much they were. This nifty machine lets you buy stamps in any denomination you want. I needed 7 more stamps for $1.14 each. BUT this silly little machine only has the ability to do 5 at a time. Two more transactions later and I was done. I took my 6 receipts, stuck my postage on the packages, and dumped them in the parcel drop. Phew! Next time the post office decides to take one of their bi-weekly holidays, I’ll plan ahead and NOT TRY TO MAIL SOMETHING.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Boyfriend decided after dinner that he wanted dessert. Since we haven’t been shopping yet, we didn’t have anything dessert-like in the house. Boyfriend was asking for cookies, so I went to the store to get the rest of the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, since as far as cookies go, they are the easiest as far as I’m concerned. Now, I do realize that we’ve been trying to eat healthier by shopping at non-crap stores like Trader Joe’s, there’s only one recipe I was considering for chocolate chip cookies: the recipe found on the back of a Butter Flavor Crisco can. Oh yeah, not just lard - butter flavored lard! I just hope the darn things last until I get home from work tomorrow.

Delta Airlines & Orbitz

Waaaay back in February, I booked a ticked to Southwest Florida International Airport so that I can spend time with my sister and my newest niece, Mia, for Thanksgiving. I did my homework and instead of choosing the absolute cheapest flight I found, I took my sister’s schedule into consideration and picked a flight that would arrive and leave at times that were convenient for her, so no late night arrivals or early morning departures. In fact, I’m not even coming or going during Mia’s nap time. I was also watching the connection times. There is no such thing as a non-stop flight from Las Vegas to Ft Myers, so I knew I’d have a connection. On such a busy traveling weekend, I did not want a tight connection, so I picked an itinerary with a 3 hour connection in Atlanta. Not my first choice of airports, but whatever. 3 hours should allow for a delay and still get my on my connection.

Back in June, I got an email from Orbitz telling me that the airline has made a change to my itinerary. I looked over the email, and the new itinerary and old one were exactly the same, so I did nothing, as advised by Orbitz if all was acceptable. Well, today I decided to log into Orbitz to check things over, and there was a change - a big one. They changed not just the time of my flight, but my entire flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta, leaving me with - get this - a 34 minute connection. Totally unacceptable, even if I was connecting in a teeny tiny 1-room airport during the slowest of travel times. So I called Delta India, spent 20 minutes explaining to the guy why a 34 minute connection was unacceptable and I wanted to be back on the original flight I booked, put up with him as he tried to fly me out of Vegas on Wednesday night (to make my connection Wednesday morning in Atlanta), put up with him as he changed my Atlanta to Fort Myers flight, then finally got it right by putting me back on my original flight. Grrr. He emailed me a new copy of the itinerary, and I have a printout of the original flight change email, “new” itinerary, and the email from Delta India with my old new itinerary. I’m not checking any luggage, and I don’t plan on getting all pissed off, I just want to get to Ft Myers. I’ll get there early and with plenty of smiles to make sure I get on the flights I booked. Something tells me I’ll be ok getting to Florida, since most people don’t all fly on the same day going to their Thanksgiving destination. However, they all absolutely must fly home on that Sunday, so something tells me I’ll have issues while connecting in Cincinnati on my way home. I’ll let you know.

So that’s all for now. Time to start composing my post for Tuesday, in which I reveal my latest mix exchange CD.

Yes, please.

Boyfriend and I have been trying to save some money by not eating out as much. However, when the weekend rolls around we are usually out of the proper foods to make a meal and in no mood to go grocery shopping, so we end up eating out. Saturday night we opted for LoneStar Steakhouse. We’ve been there before, and I used to eat there a lot when I worked for Mad Scientist, and have never had a bad experience. Until now.

We ordered our drinks, the usual diet sodas. After more than a few minutes went by, we still had no sodas and I was starting to get the feeling that this was the wrong choice in food joints. A few seconds after I mentioned this to Boyfriend, the manager on duty came by and said they were having trouble with the CO₂ line on the diet soda and offered us something else to drink. We made our selections, and were also offered a free appetizer for our wait and inconvenience. Since we already ordered one, it was taken off our bill.

The server came around to take our dinner orders. Boyfriend placed his order, and I placed mine. I was ordering the Sweet Bourbon Salmon - a dish I had ordered many times before and have had good luck with. When I told the server what I wanted, she informed me that they cook it medium, and asked if that was ok. Excuse me? I told her that I wanted it cooked the way salmon is supposed to be cooked - all the way through. There are no degrees of done-ness with salmon - just raw, done, and leather. It should be cooked until it is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. After a few minutes of me making it perfectly clear that I wanted my fish COOKED and Boyfriend telling me to calm down, the server went to put our orders in. When our dinner arrived at the table, they asked me to cut into it to make sure it was the way I wanted it. It was not. My salmon was still translucent and a very different color on the inside. It finally came back a few minutes later, cooked properly and the manager on duty apologizing profusely and offering to take it off the bill. In the end, we only ended up paying for Boyfriend’s dinner and drink (I drank water). We also agreed that we would not be visiting LoneStar again for a long, long time if ever.

Now, I know that there are some fish varieties that do have degrees of done-ness. Sushi is one thing I refuse to eat. I don’t eat raw fish, and I don’t eat cold fish. Ahi tuna is another one that I’ve seen served rare - seared on the outside and raw in the middle. Again, not something I’ll eat. Until Saturday evening, I’ve never heard of salmon being cooked any other way than all the way. I have salmon quiet frequently at home and when eating out, and have never had it offered to me any other way than DONE. I did end up going to LoneStar’s website and letting them know how appalled I was at the restaurant offering undercooked seafood. I’ll probably get some coupons in the mail.

After the dinner debacle, Boyfriend and I went home to watch a movie. We ended up watching Dogma - one that I’ve never seen before but Boyfriend has. It was quite funny, but there was a lot to it. I’ll probably have to watch it a bunch more times to get a lot more of the jokes. Boyfriend says that being subjected to Catholic school as a kid helped him understand it more, and thinks that Catholics (current and former) will have a better understanding of the movie than Protestants and non-Christians. I myself am Lutheran but didn’t have a formal religious education growing up, but that’s a story for another time. In any case, a funny movie, some ice cream, and the company of Boyfriend at home were all that was needed to turn a bad outing into a good evening.

There’s a few things on my mind today that I’d like to rant about. So, here goes:

Public Bathrooms

I can only speak about these from a one-sided point of view, as I have never been desperate enough to use a men’s restroom, and I most certainly have not spent enough time in one to notice the peculiar habits that men have when using the restroom. So, this rant will apply to the ladies restroom only.

Why is it that women are soooo concerned with putting the little paper on the seat before they sit down? Even then, I still hear the grunts from women trying to balance as they hover over the seat, trying their darndest not to touch it with their ass. I know what they’re thinking. They’re afraid of germs. In some public bathrooms this is a valid concern - gas stations and a certain bus station in upstate New York that I once used out of sheer desperation and bad timing. But in most public restrooms, this isn’t a big deal. If there are droplets, just wipe them with some TP before sitting down. But a toilet seat is by far NOT the germiest thing you’ll come across in your day to day life. Ever wonder what’s hiding in your kitchen sponge - the one you clean baby’s highchair with?

Now, these same women who are so concerned with germs that they cannot let their bare asses touch a tissue paper covered toilet seat lest they be stricken ill with a mysterious, deadly disease are also the same women who faux-wash their hands when they are done. I can tell. I sit inside the stall and listen to you run the water for 3 seconds. Wetting your hands under cold water is not the same as washing them. I know you want out of this dirty, dirty place, but come on now. Use some fucking soap, and wash like your Momma taught you how. No wonder you all use a paper towel to open the door. Since none of you actually used soap to wash, the germs are all on your hands. At least you got that idea right - but you wouldn’t need to use the paper towel at all if everyone washed their hands properly.

Pet Causes

I’m not talking about causes for your pet. I’m not even talking about causes that people believe in for legitimate reasons. I’m talking about being obligated to support a cause. Why does something have to become my cause just because someone close to me was affected?

My Mom recently was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy. She’s doing fine now, and as far as I know she will not need any further treatment besides more frequent screenings of her remaining bewb (she had her left one replaced with a faux bewb). I know my mom has been a bit upset at what appears to her to be a lack of concern, but Mom, nothing could be further from the truth. It scared the shit out of me. I dealt with it in my own way, but that way was not and is not plastering pink ribbons all over the place and trying to convince anyone who will listen that this is THE cause to be involved in. First of all, I hate pink. And I hate proselytizing. People aren’t going to become more aware of an issue just because someone else says so. They become more aware because they or someone close to them has been affected. So I make sure I get regular checkups and do my monthly self-test, which Boyfriend is more than happy to help out with.

Also in the same vein, having a cousin and a foster brother who are autistic does not make me want to put a multi-colored puzzle patterned ribbon on my car. WTF is that? Were all the other colors taken, so Autism Awareness just used them all? I’m aware of autism, and I’m aware of how both my cousin and my brother have very different needs. No one knows with any certainty what causes it, so all we can do is be aware. But again, people aren’t going to be aware unless it’s something that affects them personally in one way or another. As for other people who come across my cousin and brother, we just explain to them on an as needed basis (as in, not to every freaking person they come across) why they aren’t the same as you and me.

September 11

Today is the anniversary of the attacks. I suspect in a few more years it will be known as “World Trade Center Day” (totally forgetting that other locales were also affected), much in the way that December 7 is Pearl Harbor Day. But why oh why do I need to have television programs about that day on tv for a week before and after? Why is there nothing else to watch? They tell us not to forget. Believe me, I never will. The events of that day were seared into my brain with a branding iron. By why do I have to get all nostalgic and sad every September 11 for the rest of my days? Why the hell can’t I just live my life and have a decent day? If I want to go to a movie and laugh, what’s stopping me? Memorials are one thing, but every tv station showing documentaries about it and being looked at like I’m a terrorist because I don’t stop for the requsite moment of silence isn’t doing anyone any favors. It’s been impossible to forget on the other 364 days of the year. Going about my business as usual on this day doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten. It just means that I’m not letting it get the best of me.

The Hours in the Day

There just aren’t enough of them to go around. Seriously, 24? Is that all? Whose crummy idea was that? And who the heck came up with the 5 day workweek? Because it seriously cuts into my personal time.

Now that I’ve wasted your time, you can now return to your regularly scheduled programming, which has been pre-empted for the latest 9/11 documentary.

I got my car back today. Boyfriend and I went on a test drive, then Boyfriend went out on the same test drive with Shop Foreman. Now, it shifts fine in the lower gears, but on the freeway it didn’t shift until over 70mph. And going uphill at 90? Well, back in November my car was quite happy and not stressed at all to do 100 in Texas hill country. Now it barely makes it out of the Las Vegas valley without sounding like it wants to blow into a million bits. So, after the test drives, this is what was determined:

1. Ford says the car is fine. We’ll believe them.
2. We’ll buy the extended warranty from Dad, who can get it at cost.
3. We’ll let the transmission blow to bits. Then it won’t be my problem anymore.

Boyfriend used to work at a dealership, and knows how this warranty stuff works. Basically, the dealership gets paid crap on warranties, so they keep fixing it so that it’s just barely good enough to last until the warranty period expires, then they charge you through the nose to fix it properly. Well, that ain’t gonna happen here. Those bitches down at Ford Country can go to you-know-where and do you-know-what. Grrr.

In other news, Boyfriend and I went out with some friends last night. We went bowling, which was quite a bit different from the bowling I know. I grew up in New England, which means Candlepin Bowling. Outside of New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces, you won’t find candlepin. Out here, you have Big Ball Bowling. I’m not going to debate the benefits of Candlepin vs. Big Ball, except that Candlepin never made my back and shoulder hurt like Big Ball Bowling does. It’s just really hard to play a game you’ve been playing your whole life by different rules, like if I knock down all the pins on the first ball, why can’t I throw the second ball? In candlepin you get three balls no matter what, unless you’re on your last box and you have a mark. I had a hard time with the rules and my shoulder towards the end, but I did pretty darn good compared to our friends. Boyfriend will have to go back east with me to do some real bowling.

I am really pissed off right now. Actually, not pissed so much as I am sweaty. See, Boyfriend and I went out to dinner tonite, just down the street to Panera. We drove my car, which turned over after a few clicks of the engine, just as it had been doing ever since I picked it up Friday evening. Yeah, with a brand new starter it will click a few times before it catches - on a car that has only 29,500 miles on it!!! Well, tonite, after being at Panera for about 30-40 minutes, we went outside to the car so we could get in it and drive home. We got in the car, turned the key, it clicked a few times, then nothing. Boyfriend looked under the hood, and I tried the key a few more times, and nothing. So we walked home, which was only about 1/2 mile, but I was wearing shoes with a 2″ heel and he’s really starting to feel crappy.

Tomorrow I’m going to take his 1993 Ford pickup truck with 161,000 miles on it that runs pretty darn good to work, and when Ford Country opens I’ll call up my BFF Bill and his Sidekick Steve and have a little chat with them. In the past 3 weeks my car has had a complete transmission rebuild (which, btw, is so not shifting properly now), a new starter, a new radio that I don’t even know if it works properly yet because I haven’t had a chance to try it out, and a simple a/c problem that they are claiming isn’t covered under warranty because of an aftermarket part and previous work. Those bitches are going down!

Remember when I mentioned about the leaky sink and the moldy results? Well, here’s the rest of the story.

So as not to gross anyone out by sticking them in your face, you can go here to see the photos.

Almost a week after the original fix, we got someone out to fix under the cabinets. It took that long because I called the office and wouldn’t let them in without anyone being home, so I had to make an appointment so I could let boyfriend know. So, they came out, slapped down some peel and stick vinyl floor tile, caulked it and called it good. Well, all was not good. They totally ignored the little cabinet to the left of the sink, which was also damaged. The huge gap under the dividing wall between the cabinets should have been a clue, since the floor was severely warped and the two cabinets share a floor. But, no, it was not fixed. So on Monday I called the office again, and told them that I was not happy with the fix and that part of the damage was completely ignored. I was told that the maintenance supervisor was just back from vacation and he would head over to look at the damage. He did, and Boyfriend told him to come back the next day since Boyfriend works from home most of the time.

The next day, they come back to try and fix this and immediately start in with the peel and stick vinyl floor tiles. Boyfriend stops him and tells him that there’s mold. Boyfriend was told that the white stuff was hard water stains and that mold is black, but maintenance humored Boyfriend and poured some bleach on it before covering it up with the vinyl tiles.

Now, I’m not an expert or anything, but if you look at the photos you will see that there are plenty of black bits on that cabinet floor. And I know enough about hard water to know that the buildup of limescale is not furry!!!!! Anyone who has seen a rotten piece of fruit, however, knows that mold can be furry.

Since the apartment has considered this problem to be fixed, I have taken pictures and documented our experience in the event that I ever need to prove that we did everything that, as tenants, we are legally obligated to do. But seriously, this just sucks that such a “nice” apartment complex would be that lackadaisical about mold.

I’m willing to bet that some unnamed neighbors will soon be having similar maintenance issues. Our water was off for a good part of the day, so I encouraged Boyfriend (who works from home most of the time) to call. Technically, they’re supposed to notify us in the event of an outage of essential services, and since the water was off for a short time yesterday also, we figured they knew it would be off again today. Anyway, it turns out that a neighbor in our building had a leak - a major leak - that required maintenance to shut the water off to fix. They couldn’t fix it yesterday, so they tried again today. It comes as no surprise to us that maintenance had a hard time with the leak. If this leak is a major as the office made it out to be in their attempt to elicit sympathy for the need to shut the water off, and it had been occurring for more than a few hours when it was discovered, and if maintenance fixes up the damage resulting from the leak with the same expertise they did our cabinet, then it looks like we’re not the only ones with problems. We should find out who the neighbor is and get friendly with them, because should this spread, we could very well have a case for at the very least getting out of our lease without penalty.

I received a comment to my previous post that was obviously nothing but spam. I have comment moderation enabled so that I do not subject all my faithful readers to the spam that I receive (it’s not much, really). Once in awhile I have been known to post spam because at that moment in time I have a witty comment available.

For those who are wondering, here’s the entire text of the email I received notifying me of the comment:

knicksgrl0917 has left a new comment on your post “Focus on Repairs”:

Posted by knicksgrl0917 to All About Me - And Then Some at 7/28/2007 5:06 PM

The part that says the website is here had a link to the website, which was a “Get Paid to Take Surveys” site. Now, here’s how to be a spammer, for those who are interested.

1. Comment people you don’t know referencing conversations you’ve never had.
2. Leave links to websites that supposedly allow people to make money. Doing this without full disclosure is even better.
3. Leave your profile private. That was the case here. Now I can’t visit your blog to see exactly how legitimate you are, nor can I flag you blog to the authorities. Smart move on your part.
4. Tell me up front that you want a link to your own spam blog. Entice me even further by telling me you’ve linked to me.
5. Write your comment in a foreign language and include lots of links. I don’t know whether you’re legit or not, but I’ll click your links for the fun of it.

This list is in no way complete, but it does outline some of the tactics I’ve seen that I can remember at this moment in time. What other suggestions do you have to become a blog spammer?

Remember back last fall when I got a new car? A lovely 2005 Ford Focus that looks like this:
Well, it’s still under warranty, since it’s only 2 years old and 29,500 miles. It still looks great. But go? Does it? Not so much.

About 2 weeks ago I brought it in for some warranty service. The air conditioner wasn’t cooling properly (which, when its 115°F outside, air conditioning is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity), and the radio was doing weird things when it played CDs. I also found out after Boyfriend brought it in that it had a transmission issue, which Boyfriend noticed but didn’t tell me. So, a week later I get the car back. The radio has been replaced, the transmission was completely rebuilt because it was so on its last legs, and the air conditioner was not fixed because of “previous work and aftermarket parts.” Well, a conversation with my dad told me that the fan was not cooling the condenser, and Boyfriend should be able to fix it easily.

So now, the transmission is still really not right, in fact it acts quite a bit worse than before I brought it in. And, when I was driving to work the other day, the battery light came on for a few seconds. I drove it just fine all week, got home from work Friday afternoon, parked the car and hung out with Boyfriend for a bit before heading out. Get in the car to go out, turn the key, and nothing. No response except the dash lights.

A quick side note about batteries and desert climates: Because living in the extreme heat of the desert and doing mostly city driving, all cars here are considered to be in an extremely harsh driving environment. It is well known here that even with a 5-year battery, the average life expectancy is only about 2 years. I was lucky to get 3 years out of the battery on my Kia.

If it is in fact the battery, it should be a quick fix and had better be covered under warranty. I don’t leave shit on in the car, but the fact that the dash lights came on tells me that the battery still has a bit of a charge. Research on the battery light indicator tells me that it could possibly be the alternator. I don’t know, but I do have a feeling I’ll be getting to know Bill down at Ford Country quite well.

Because of all this, Boyfriend and I have started discussing other transportation options for me. He has a vehicle that he drives for work, which they’re pretty strict on. He also has his own, older but in tip-top shape huge beast of a truck that I hate driving because I like little cars. (No big car is better commentary please). His truck also sucks on gas, as most trucks do. So, the options are:

1. Get to know Bill at Ford Country very well and invite the wife and kids out for dinner in hopes that I’ll get top priority service.
2. Purchase the extended warranty. Dad can get it for me at cost, which will save several hundred dollars over buying it here from Bill at Ford Country.
3. Trade the damn thing in for something with a very well know reputation for reliability, like a Toyota.

Personally, I’m sick of this car thing. If it had a 100,000 miles more on it, then I could understand having so many issues with it. But this is still under factory warranty. It’s still just a baby. And because it’s so new, I have a hard time with #3. I do have a car payment on this car, but because Dad worked his magic I have a very low car payment, and I’m nowhere near upside down, so money-wise, it doesn’t make sense to get a new car. Which leads to #2. This is what we will most likely end up doing. The $700 for the warranty will probably pay for itself in the first month (if I had to pay for that transmission repair, it would have been roughly $2,100 according to the paperwork I got back). I still have a year or 6,000 more miles to purchase that, but it’s looking like the best choice.

The job thing is looking up. It seems that one of the agencies I signed up with may come through with something, which would be great. I’ve been bored silly this week, and I’m tired of not having any money.

I also got my birthday present from my mom today, and it just brought about a whole flood of feelings that really bothered me. Mom, I know you read my blog for “clues” but you really don’t have a clue about me. You don’t ask, either, but I’ll tell you this, the clues you are looking for won’t be found here. I’m tired of you projecting on to me what you want me to be. I’m not a little girl anymore. I do still go to church, but very infrequently lately because I have questions about whether or not it’s meeting my spiritual needs. Just leave me be in that regard to figure it out on my own, because if I feel any pressure I’ll just want to reject it as being not MY choice.

Ask me about ME and get to know ME, Mom. I know you aren’t pleased with the choices I’ve made lately, but honestly, it’s a relief to know that I have finally found a group of people that I am free to be myself around. Yeah, that scares you, it’s not something you understand at all but sticking your fingers in your ears and pretending it doesn’t exist is not the way to handle it either. Pretty much all my friends here are “good” friends, and they’re GOOD friends. People I can talk to when I need someone to talk to, people who I can have fun with when I want to have fun, and people I enjoy spending time with. I’m happy here, but I’m feeling that you’re ignoring a major part of who I am, and it’s not working for me.

Last night Boyfriend and I went out to eat. The restaurant wasn’t very crowded, but there was a couple seated in the booth next to us. The woman was very loud, almost as if she was talking to someone who was hard of hearing. The man barely spoke. The conversation was unremarkable until the woman started talking about medicine. She talked in great detail of a colonoscopy she recently had, and talked about all sorts of other tests she had. Gallbladder, kidneys, MRI, more mention of the colon, etc. And yet the doctors don’t know what’s wrong with her.

A bit later in the evening the waiter came by and asked if they would like their food wrapped to go home. This is the first we heard the man speak. He said, "I’m feeling sick." Ya think?

And this damn laptop is really driving me nuts. The damn apostrophe/quote mark key is fucked up. Apostrophes don’t show on my screen until I type the next character, and when I try to type "I, for example, I end up with Ï. WTF? It only happens with vowels. Strange, very strange.

It is windy today. I knew it would be, because the company I work for gets wind advisories and I have to let everyone know. But man, over the course of about 5 minutes the wind whipped up something fierce, the temp dropped about 15 degrees, and I can barely see Mandalay Bay from here, which I should be able to see because I work very close to it. At least I wore a long sleeve shirt today, but I should have brought my parka.

My shoulders and neck on my left side are a bit painful right now. I slept very well, too well in fact, because I didn’t move and it all got knotted up while I slept. I have a heat patch on it right now but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference except that I’m not freezing my butt off. I wish my new gentleman friend were here right now. He did an excellent job of taking care of the foot cramp I got the other day, so I can only imagine the magic he can work on my neck and shoulders. Sigh. Soon enough, and as much as I’d love to feel his big strong hands on my shoulders I do hope this pain is gone before I see him again. Anyhoo.

Photo of current weather map from The Weather Channel 

My damned air conditioner doesn’t work right. I had it recharged a few weeks ago, and now it’s not working again. It’s currently 91ºF out, and will probably get close to 95, and my damned air conditioner isn’t working. The coils are all frozen. The maintenance man said it’s because I have the exhaust open, but let me tell ya something - I had it open all year last year, and I could get this place resembling a meat locker. Now it’s an oven. I think they’re gonna have to replace the unit, which would be nice. It would also be more energy efficient if I got a newer one. The unit I currently have has got to be nearly as old as I am.

Why is it when I tried to google images of “hot” I got nekkid ladies? I know my mind is in the gutter, but the rest of the world?