and the winner is ....

dr. pepper has a new flavor -- dr. pepper cherry. well, at least it's new to me.

i have always preferred mr. pibb, but most of the time it's disgustingly hard to find. so when i went to haggen's the other day, i looked and looked, but alas. and then i spied dr. pepper cherry. i figured it had to be better than cherry coke and wild cherry pepsi, so i bought some.

hmmm -- dr. pepper is brown, you know. dr. pepper cherry is brown with red highlights, like those strange funky goth red highlights some people have in their hair. at any rate, you can't really taste any cherry.

rats. i wonder why they don't make mr. pibb more available?

it all makes sense at the time....

dreams!! honestly, they are so weird!

so last night i dreamed i was at work merrily going along doing my stuff when all of a sudden i realized i had on blue jeans (horrors!) and no shirt!! the blue jeans were bad enough (we aren't supposed to even THINK about wearing blue jeans to work -- black jean, brown jeans, whatever other color and only on fridays, but not blue jeans no matter how nicely pressed) but no shirt?? how could i have let that happen??? i mean, it wasn't a sexual thing since cancer put an end to my boobies, but still -- highly inappropriate!! i couldn't figure out why no one had said anything -- did they think i had on a flesh-colored shirt?? regardless, when i finally realized what i was (and wasn't) wearing i was just sick about it. i could take a 15-minute break and try to do something, but it wouldn't be enough time for me to go home and grab something else to wear and get back to work since my apartment was twenty minutes away through city traffic.

it just worried me sick so i went to my room at work and went to bed. my room had a nice small bathroom, a nice bed and dresser and closet, and several work stations. mike was on the computer at one work station and had to go to the second floor. i was laying there worriedly trying to figure out my dilemma when the big boss walked in. he was looking for someone and i thought i remembered he had to go out-of-town for several days, so i asked him about it. the covers were pulled up to my chin so i knew he wouldn't be able to see the jeans-and-no-shirt situation. we talked for a little bit and then he left.

i finally got up, realized i had clothes right there i could change into, and went in to take a shower. but there wasn't any soap. so i got back in bed and found the tube of soap on a pillow. so i laid there and lathered up my shoulders and hair, then got back in the shower to rinse off. it really was a nice little shower with a small window and no shower curtain. then i woke up.

WHAT was that????

turn that thing off!

remember when naysayers were yelling that playing nintendo was a horrible thing, that your grades would drop, you'd turn into a social zombie, etc. etc. and that you should stay as far away from video games as you could?

well, read this. hah! take that, naysayers!

astroids and death and destruction

have you seen this? pretty cool excitement! yes, i know it was a movie, but the short is pretty good and the music is fab!!

and this is sobering.

then you watch a few more and you think .... "gees, oh well."

eat your fruits and vegetables!

i've never been one to pop pills, and after the surgeries i've had, i don't really even like to go to the doctor. the more i hear people tell horror stories, the more i think i'm just going to try to stay well and if i get sick, i'm going to tough it out at home.

one of my friends recently told me her husband had a really bad sinus infection last year. the doctor gave him an antibiotic which wiped out the bacteria in his body. all the bacteria. since we are supposed to have helpful bacteria in our tummies, it has caused this guy a huge lot of grief. they are finally going to give him a treatment which is supposed to help things, but he will have to have this treatment on a regular basis the rest of his life. yuck!

another friend (from the midwest) had a reaction to some of her meds which put her in the hospital for 10 days. they put her on another medication which sent her blood pressure through the roof. then she had two slight strokes and they took her off that medication. in the meantime she's recuperating in hawaii!!! hopefully she'll be able to get better without any more medical help!

an older acquaintance of the husband's had a blood test which revealed he had prostate cancer -- his value was off the charts! they tried a medication on him but it made him really sick, so he went off it and prepared to die. they sent him to seattle for some kind of test and he came back completely negative! he didn't have cancer at all!

so i encourage you-all to follow my dad's advice: eat all things in moderation and get plenty of exercise. my advice: if you start feeling bad, tell a friend (so you don't feel alone), take some tylenol, and go to bed. if you still have the problem after three weeks, call a doctor's office and make an appointment. after you hang up, you will probably immediately start getting better.

wash behind your ears....

it's Clinique bonus time again, everyone! if you like clinique, this twice-a-year giveaway is the only time to shop. i need to get busy and figure out what-all i need so i can get my free stuff! well, not technically maybe, but still .... yay!!

lah-dee-dah

i was looking through a catalog the other day. would anyone like to order a Cape Buffalo Buckle Pony Belt? only $850. how about a Horsehair Belt? only $485. or a pair of Airplane Cufflinks? just $498. or the ever-impressive Gold Quail Cufflinks? for only $1,795.

there are soooo many choices from these people. i, personally, like the Coyote Throw for a measly $5,998. after all, what price warmth?! and they had other lovely things -- Black Hills Moccasins for $289, Buffalo Boots for $470, and Burnt Pine Boots for $1,498. and lots of linen shirts and jackets, and some really nice jeans for $250.

if you need to get a special something for a special someone, go to http://www.jlpowellusa.com/ and help save the country by spending a fortune.

off with their heads!

My Younger Son has an excellent blog and put this video out there several weeks ago -- http://www.snotr.com/video/2327 -- it very nicely explains the monetary crisis we're in. the financial world has always been totally foreign to me (can't understand it, can't learn about it, can't figure it out at all) so it's nice to have this visual to gain a tiny grasp of the situation.

forward thinking

i like google. i like the things they've done and the things they do and the things they come up with.

i know there are people out there dissing google and causing them trouble, but generally i think google is a good thing. they've done more than nasa has to bring the future to our laps. it's a curious thing and makes me think there must not be any republicans working for google.

yay: google's variable logo, which yesterday featured schiaparelli and if you clicked on the logo, it took you to a fascinating mars thing. i found it today on google's blog -- http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/celebrating-mars-then-and-now.html -- i suggest you go there and then click on the 'mars in google earth' video. oh yeah -- sooooo very cool! yep, no republicans!

also yay: google earth, google maps (MUCH better than microsoft's), google street view!!!

what now ...

things are a-changin' at work. we're getting a new big boss sometime soon; we recently got a jr. boss; people from the district office are trying to mess with my job.

hmmmm. not good. for the first time i feel uncomfortable with my job. it seems like they want to give me babysitter duties and i am almost violently opposed to that. i mean, get a grip. i am sick of people not being responsible and not wanting to handle their own issues and wanting someone else to take care of things. whine, whine and all that.

so i'm running scared about what's going on at work. i've thought about trying to get into my immediate boss' office, but it's always so hot in there and there are four people in one space and it gets really noisy, etc. and i think i would hate it, but i would hate babysitting even more.

shit. what to do. what to do. i guess i should just chill and go with the flow, but when the flow appears to be heading for a waterfall, i get nervous. damn.

observations about my trip:
bellingham airport is rustic.
seattle airport has nice window walls.
minneapolis airport has no clocks anywhere.
i had the longest walk possible (opposite ends) to get from one plane to the other in minneapolis.
detroit has this cool underground/under runway walkway with neat walls of light.
detroit's tram is a waste of time and money.
indianapolis has really neat lights in the ceiling of their to-the-parking-garage walkway.
leaving the indianapolis airport and trying to go north, unfamiliar, at night, is a bitch.
the marriott near 71st is really nice.
max and erma's is a good place to eat.
tsa operatives conduct business differently at different airports.
after my cancelled flight, horizon postponed one, and cancelled another one.
horizon sucks.
being sick when you travel is not good.

ohmygawd! what a couple of weeks!!

first i flew to indianapolis on a sunday (took from when I left for the airport around 7:15 am until i checked into the hotel around 11:30 pm), then the next day i started getting sick and for the following two days coughed and blew my nose every few minutes. my poor classmates!! i coughed into kleenex and didn't touch anything except my computer, and tried to keep to myself, but gees!

my voice pretty much disappeared and reappeared as a bull-frog lusting after a mate. a bull-frog who was losing his voice.

i drank two bottles of liquid both morning and afternoon to keep things in my system as watered-down as i could. and as soon as i got back to my room i went right to bed but i actually didn't get much rest. not much food got eaten for a couple of days. and i didn't get to see ANY of indianapolis! cripes!

thursday i headed home -- left the hotel around 7:15 and got back to my house at midnight-thirty! it was horrible. horizon cancelled the flight from seattle to up here and i had to sit in that dang airport for seven hours while i waited for another plane. at least i got lucky in being able to get on that flight -- it was the last one and i just simply did not have the energy to handle any other problems.

i called in sick on friday and the following monday and only worked part of the day on tuesday. i fumbled through the rest of the week and have finally, a week later, pretty much gotten over this hellacious cold. i have never in my whole life had a cold this bad. hopefully i never will again!

and i really wanted to check out downtown indy! dangit!!!

Soap and Shampoo

“... and then after we buy your soap and shampoo formulas, you sit back and relax or find a new hobby, as long as it’s not new soap and shampoo.” He chuckled at his cleverness, but she was having second thoughts about her nearly-decided decision to sell out.

Yes, she and her little brother needed the money and if they had extra, she could go to the University, but her Homeland Soaps had really done pretty well online. If their car hadn’t been vandalized and the debts from her parents funeral hadn’t mysteriously gone up so much, in another five months they would have just about paid off their loans and been starting to get ahead. Honestly, trouble seemed to stick to them like a magnet lately.

“So, Charlotte, my boss would like an answer from you this evening. Why don’t we go have dinner at Betsy’s BBQ then you can tell me that you’re ready to sign the contract.”

Sign the contract. Wasn’t she supposed to get a lawyer or something? Greg said she didn’t have to go to that expense because it was a standard contract they used all the time. And besides, they were a big, well-known company who wouldn’t take advantage of someone and sully their own reputation, would they?

“Okay, Greg, if you wouldn’t mind picking me up at 7:30 we can go have dinner and I’ll give you my answer.”

He gave her his PR smile, stood, and small-talked his way out the door. She was glad to see him go since she still couldn’t figure out what to do. As she headed upstairs to her bedroom, she heard him say, “Hey there, what are you doing?”

Jerking her head around and expecting to see him at the bottom of the stairs, he kept on talking. “I can’t wait to get out of this ass-wipe of a town, Ro, and away from this gal with the soap. If I have to bed her to get her to sell, I don’t know if I can do it. What a hick! God get me outta here ... I mean, yeah she’s a little bit cute, but jees, I’d probably have to propose before I could get into her pants.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing until she finally realized the conversation was coming from her brother’s scanning equipment. Greg The Creep On His Cell Phone went on and on until she finally faced up to what she had to do, which was about the same time Jimmie came out of the bathroom with a comic book tucked under his arm and wiping his wet-and-not-dried hands on his pants. “Hey, you’re not supposed to listen in to my calls!”

“They’re not your calls Jimmie and anyway, you’re listening in,” but she headed down the hall to her bedroom, firming up plans as she went. Greg The Creep and his Creepy Company probably knew all about her so she was going to have to get mysterious, go incognito, and disappear into the night. In fact, the more she thought about it the more she figured that at least some of her financial trouble had probably been helped along by them, as a behind-the-scenes inducement to sell. Well. The heck with that. She could go behind-the-scenes, too.

She quickly called Millie at the bank and asked if she’d take $8,000 out of Charlotte’s account and drop it by on her way home -- that way they’d have cash. Then she put as many of her clothes as she could, plus her little dab of make-up, into two suitcases. She got her uncle’s (on her mother’s side) car title out of the file cabinet, along with her brother’s and her birth certificate, her parent’s marriage license, and the paperwork to their house ... their paid-off house.

Then she went back and slyly persuaded Jimmie they were going to take off on an adventure -- a summer of doing the wild and crazy and unpredictable. He got totally caught up in the idea and had his two bags packed in fifteen minutes, although she watched to make sure there were actually some clothes which got squeezed in alongside the music and games.

Then she went down to the kitchen and packed as much food as she could into four shopping bags. At that point there was nothing left to do but lug all their stuff out to the garage. Her uncle’s car had been stored in there for quite awhile, but it had been her job to take it out once a month and blow the cobs out, so she knew it had a full tank of gas and was in good working condition.

After Millie came by with the money, everything was just about ready to go, so she wrote a note and taped it to her front door. Greg would find it and read that something had come up and that she planned to call him tomorrow afternoon. Ha!

Jimmy eagerly climbed in the car and, as it turned out, they were happily on their way by 6:15. They sang songs and ate from their grocery sacks and generally made the most of their freedom. When Greg came by to pick her up and saw her note, he was relieved he wouldn’t have to paste on his smile all night, and happily left to wine and dine by himself, fully confident he’d land a big fish the next day.

Charlotte and Jimmy had no idea, but they truly were starting a wild and crazy adventure, one which would get them lost, have them being threatened by bad guys, forging their identities, working in a mining camp, watching a shoot-out, and stowing away on a float plane.

Just think -- it started so innocently with her soap.

no cameras here though...

well, this is cool. i've been wondering about my trip to indianapolis next week -- what will the weather be like, what should i wear, what about shoes, what does it look like, should i go see anything.

i've always really liked wunderground -- it's a great weather website and also has a feature (wunderphotos) where you can see pictures people have submitted. it's neat for seeing what a place looks like.

i just discovered it also has webcams! i looked around a couple of days ago, trying to find some cams for indianapolis, and didn't come up with much. but now i have several cams i can look at in the daytime. since it's night, right now, i can't see very much, but i plan to check it out saturday.

so anyhow, in addition to finding information about a place from '50 states' (very useful if you're wanting to know the name of a newspaper in a particular area), remember to check out wunderground. especially the webcams!

long weekend

what a beautiful day!! we have sunshine outside and blue skies and the renters next door moved out last night. i have to fly out next sunday to a class in indianapolis and will be flying back on thursday. i'm not worried about the weather but wouldn't it be great if it were sunny and calm the whole time i was there?!

drama at work! apparently once the big boss left (boo, hoo) the regional office decided to make some changes. one of the changes looks like it's going to be the duties in my job. currently i am VERY unhappy about this. i like the things i do and loooooooove having patty-cake for my boss! it would be fine for mr. lynn to be my boss, but having to keep his schedule and make his appointments and arrange for his trips -- sounds secretarial and very not-something-i-want-to-do. we'll have to see what happens, i guess, but at the moment my blood pressure is up. shit.

wasn't yesterday lovely?! the husband composed a poem to me and made me flowers! they're pretty flowers and will last a long long time. see picture below. he's a keeper!!!

i'm gonna wash that stuff right outta my hair ....

the daughter-in-law got me some neat soap for christmas. it smells exactly like chocolate milk. last year she got me this gift thingy which had some lavender vanilla hand lotion in it. i always put that cream on my hands every night because i loved falling asleep while i was smelling it. it was heavenly.

at any rate, i was looking online, trying to find some lavender vanilla products. i came across this web site from iowa called prairieland herbs. they have a shampoo BAR which i just had to try. i chose the peppermint and tea tree and have absolutely loved it!! they suggest to use a vinegar rinse for the first week while your hair is recovering from the commercial stuff you've used on it forever.

i've been using it for about 2 weeks now (the bar lathers up just fabulously) and sometimes i still use the vinegar rinse and sometimes not. but my hair is soft and a prettier color (brown with 'clear' hairs mixed in) than it was before. and i think it holds my style better, too.

i really happy with it and plan on continuing buying it. if you want a kick, try it out!

take a deep breath and blooooooowww ...

it seems like there's just no time anymore to play. work makes me tired. so i am behind in relating all my fun experiences: listening to bagpipes and eating haggis, enjoying the weekend with my older son, dau-in-law, and grandaughter, forgetting things i wanted to relate.

slim jim, from work, and i went up into canada to a fundraiser for several bagpipe bands. there were about 320 people there and we had a really nice dinner plus all kinds of dessert. the meal was a salad, mashed carrots-and-turnips, mashed potatoes, and a huge roll of roast beef. plus, traditional haggis, of course. i've always heard about haggis and this was the real stuff. i knew it had oatmeal in it so i had no qualms about trying it. i just refused to remember what else was in it. it had an interesting taste -- not quite like anything else -- but it wasn't bad and slim jim and i both had seconds. i mean, why not.

there was a silent auction, too, and slim jim and i both came away with stuff -- i mean, it was a fundraiser and we were surprised that people weren't doing more bidding. so it was great for us -- he came away with a bunch of coffee and i got a bunch of kitchen stuff -- teas, dishtowels, candy, utensils, etc.

i totally enjoyed listening to the bagpipes!! there were three different bands, one of them a youth band, and it was just very satisfying to watch and listen to all that energy! yay scotland, forever!!

but the cutest part of the evening was the 4-yr olds doing scottish line dancing. if you ever get to see that, you'll love it. they were even good! all the dancers were good and it was easy to see why none of them were overweight!

all-in-all slim jim and i were glad we went (the husband doesn't like to leave the country) and plan on going again next year. yay, fun! forever!!!

and then ...

but i forgot to tell you about an additional detail at my nexus appointment. along with getting your fingerprints, they take your picture. not a big deal, right? after all, any picture which is taken by a regulatory agency is probably going to be crap, so no worries.

hahaha. this guy said he was going to take my picture, reached over and picked up a small white ball with a long cord on it, and held it up. my automatic reaction, i swear to god, was to move out of the way. which i did. i flinched and moved slightly to the side. then i caught myself and tried to just chill, but found myself starting to turn my back. honestly, what was wrong with me???

but it was sooooooo weird and i couldn't keep from trying to avoid the thing and it was so ridiculous and i started to laugh and he said 'got it'.

thank god.

i tried and tried later to figure out what that was all about and could only figure that, since i am totally not used to little white round cyclops cameras, i must have instinctively thought it was like a squirt gun and i was trying to avoid it.

whatever. it was hilarious in a really stupid-feeling sort of way.

dum, duhdum, dum, daaaaaaaahhhh....

i went in to my Nexus appointment the other day. getting a nexus card is a lot like getting a passport -- you fill out paperwork, they check you out, you talk to them at the appointment and give them your fingerprints, they give you advice, you get your card in the mail.

i like the idea of having a nexus card because there's a special nexus lane at the border which is usually quite a bit faster than the regular lanes.

BUT.

when you have a nexus card, EVERYONE in the car must have the card. i knew that when i went to the appointment. what i didn't know was that you must have nothing in the car which is not yours or your traveling companion's!

now that scared me. if i run up to canada and get something from costco, then come back in the nexus lane and they see the husband's boots in the car which are obviously not mine, they can take away my card. and man, that's a permanent condition. you NEVER get your nexus card back. they are so hard-nosed about that it's not funny.

well. when they explained all that to me i got so nervous. i mean, cripes. am i going to remember to search my car before i run up to canada? shit. i'm going to have to. honestly -- well-intentioned, decent people aren't used to not getting a second chance.

damn those terrorists!

finally!

okay, here it comes. all my life i've thought how cool it would be to have a small helicopter or jet-pack or something tiny which a person could get on, strap on, step into which would be extremely versatile and maneuverable and get them someplace quickly.

it looks like we may actually be starting to focus in on that type of technology. read this and be excited.

the only drawback i can see at this point is that some yo-yo is going to get himself killed in one of these because he was too arrogant to actually study the art and physics of flying, and then there's going to be a law-suit.

tsk, tsk. we're just cleaning up the gene pool.