Thursday, September 29, 2005

near death day

I thought I was joking when I told my supervisor that I would call in dead on Friday.

Then some crazy person tried to run me over this morning. Not once, but twice. The same guy. The first time, he tries to plow into my side coming into my lane. I was at least even with him and he should have seen me, but he didn't. I'm next to the median on my left so I have no place to go. I slam on my horn and when he finally sees me, he just keeps coming. He gives me this look that says "what's your problem?". My problem, sir, is that I'm driving in this lane that you are trying to enter. I'm here first, you are not. You didn't bother to check, you are now less than five inches away from my vehicle and you are about to crash into me.

He finally backs away but then pulls in right behind me (because of course the driver behind me was just as frightened and pulled back as far as he or she could). But we are driving on a new stretch of road (Powers) and it's pretty foggy out. I know a stoplight is coming up but can't see it in the fog, so I start to slow down a bit. Sure enough, when the light pops into view it is red. I come to a nice, peaceful stop. But the guy who already tried to ram me off the road is once again not paying attention. He came within inches of slamming into my rear.

But that's not all.

He gave me ANOTHER look!

Sir, I'm stopped because the light is red. I'm following the law.

At that point I prayed that God would teach him a lesson and please not to involve me and my car in said lesson.

All that plus the bizarre slow traffic flow meant that my leaving five minutes early didn't make a lick of difference. I flew into our parking lot and ran to my desk. But it's moving day for the majority of our department, so there are boxes and people standing around everywhere.

One of my nice co-workers (ie, one I like), says "you've got three minutes" as I rush to my desk and start kicking boxes. I replied with "but my computer takes five minutes to boot up". I made it just barely.

Is there anyway I can arrange a hospital stay for tomorrow? I could use the rest and protection from the crazy people.

Monday, September 26, 2005

golden




Yesterday I went to the hills and I found gold. It's an amazing year to see the aspens.
So while the rest of the town is home watching football, I'll be out appreciating nature.




Just in case you can't get here to see them yourself, here's a sampling. If you are truly homesick and want more, let me know. I took a bunch!

Thursday, September 22, 2005

candy store



Miss Pottenger recently provided us with eye candy.

Now it's my turn.

Meet Richard Hammond.


He's lovely, he's British and he has great taste in cars.

I know this because I watch him on the show Top Gear on Discovery Channel.

He reminds me a bit of Hugh Jackman and for some reason, the spiky hair doesn't bother me.

Go ahead, drool a bit.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

slacking

Tonight, I'm being a slacker.

I should have worked until 7, gone to the Y and then come home to a healthy dinner.

I did none of that.

Instead, I left work at 5:30, came straight home and ate cheese dip and chips for dinner.

Yes, the life of a slacker.

If I can muster up the energy, I'll go work on my book. My dear friend from Peru, Soledad, just sent me some great feedback. Great feedback helps revive my interest in my work. And we have another two hour meeting in a few weeks (at work) so I should be able to polish up the novel and put a good ending on it.

Remind me in a week or two to talk about my feelings on the current trend in literature and endings of books. It's a frightening thing.

Okay, I'm going back to slacking. Feet up, cup of tea, I'm set.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

not enough

Put a hold on the sympathy cards. I'm not dying.

Apparently, they didn't get enough cells to test so I have to go back to the drs and go through that horrid appointment again.

All I can say is I am SO not paying another office visit fee for this!

And yes, someday, I'll write a story about it.

Monday, September 12, 2005

blindsided

I know, two posts in one day.

It doesn't happen often, and it's only happening because there is something on my mind and there is no other way to get it out.

You see, a week and a half ago I went to the drs for my annual exam. The one I hate but must endure because otherwise, they don't give me my pills. And since my pills make me a much for balanced person (and take away the horrible pain), I go.

The drill is always the same. They take their sample, send it away, and in a week or so you get a card in the mail if the results are normal.

Otherwise, you get a phone call.

So Nathan tells me tonight, after I get home from church, that my drs office called and I need to call them back.

And my mind takes off.

Of course, it's too late to call them tonight, so I have at least twelve hours or so to panic, think of worst case scenarios, write my will and so on.

The worst thing is, half of me is totally calm. Part of me is sure that they simply lost the sample, they erased their address database and can't send me the results, etc.

But the other half, the creative, imaginative, insane half is already halfway to Rome with ideas and doomsday proclamations.

I'm sure it's nothing. Even if it is, I'm sure it's something that can be handled. I just need to get this out so my mind will let it go and I can get some sleep tonight.

So, bye bye to the bad thoughts, so long to the worst case scenarios, adios to panic.

Let's hope it works.

just plain icky

I had some wonderful plans to post this weekend, including putting up photos of my room (now painted, but needing a bit of cleaning before photos can be taken). But all those plans fell to the wayside because I got hit with a Mack truck.

Okay, so I didn't really get hit with a truck, but I sure felt like I did. A weird, 24-hour sinus bug hit me sometime while I was sitting in church Saturday evening. By the time I got home, it was all I could do to keep upright. I lost my voice by 9 pm. Woke up every hour, on the hour (I'm weird that way, my internal clock is obnoxious) trying to empty my head and stomach of all the ickyness. Sunday was spent sleeping and watching Stargate since I couldn't do much else.

Amazing, I woke up today with a clear head and the only lingering effect is being tired and having a sore throat. And I'm really thirsty.

So, the photos will have to wait, as will any witty essays on the state of the world. I'm just going to spend the rest of the day (after I get home from work) recovering from my weekend.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

nowhere to hide

After years of cold dinners, rude awakenings on weekend mornings and people that didn't understand the word "NO", we finally put an end to telemarketers. I was so very happy when I added my name to the Colorado Do Not Call list, even more elated when a national list went into effect.

Finally we had quiet evenings and the phone didn't rule our days.

Then the spam started in earnest. Emails for everything that we never knew we needed.

Talk of a do not spam list make my head swim with glee.

I was starting to think we have put a stop to rude interruptions from total strangers.

Then I read the comment on my last post (which has been removed) that was left with no name and an ad for a home loan.

I thought maybe it was a fluke, until I saw a similar comment on Miss Pottenger's blog.

Now, I don't mind anyone reading my blog, and you all know that I love comments, but I am not interested in using my blog as free advertising space for those who refuse to leave their names (or for that matter, for anyone who just thinks free ad space is there for the taking.

So the offending comment has been removed. Whoever left it is welcome to visit here, read, and leave valid comments. But know that this is my space and if any product championing is going to take place it will be done by me.

I need my hiding space from the evil world of marketing, and this is it. Let's not lose this precious place.

Now, go leave some legitimate comments about what you dislike about telemarketers, spammers and other rude and invasive marketing personnel?

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

the density of

I didn't mean to leave you all hanging like that. The busy weekend got the better of me and I didn't come to post. Sorry.

And a special sorry to Emily for any nasty smells she had to endure on my behalf :)

And on to today's post.

I'm shocked (though you would think I would be used to it by now) by how dense some people can be. And I have just the example to share.

Just now I was in the kitchen, fixing my Easy Mac for lunch. A co-worker that I know, made a comment about my lunch and I responded. No harm there.

But a second co-worker, one neither of us is acquainted with, piped in a comment about Easy Mac. Again, no harm done.

First co-worker leaves and second co-workers launches into a long comment about her daughter's friend in college. I'm trying to listen but I'm not really interested because, as I said, I don't know this person, nor her daughter nor her daughter's friend.

A third co-worker comes in, one I do know and one I have a question for. Since the second woman has now stopped talking, and she is not between me and the third person, I say hello and prepare to ask him a question.

I don't get more than hello out before second co-worker starts talking again. Third co-worker exits without me getting to ask him the question and this woman is still talking. I had tried to avoid her, not respond to her and even engage in another conversation in an attempt to let her know that I wasn't interested, but she didn't get the drift. She just wasn't getting that a) I didn't care and b) that I didn't care.

Honestly, I wish being honest didn't get me in so much trouble. If I could get away with it, I would have smiled, said good-by and walked away from this person. But that gets me in trouble so I didn't. But I'll be sure to avoid this person in the hall, the bathroom and the kitchen from here on out. Yes, this means I need to hide under my desk from now till all eternity, but if I can escape such people it may just be worth it.