Wednesday, September 27, 2006

A Halloween/school memory

First off let me say that W's Sept 6th post made me remember the following. So thanks W.

I so wish I had a picture to go along with this but I don't.

My grade school every year would have a Halloween costume competition. From 1st grade all the way through 5th I was either a clown or witch; I'd flip flop every year. There were 1st - 3rd place winners for each grade and every year I came in either 1st or 2nd.

But when 6th grade came along I told my mom I didn't want to be either of those anymore, I wanted to be something a little more grown up. She came up with THE BEST COSTUME EVER!

I was Dolly Parton.

Let me repeat that, at the young age of 11 I was DOLLY PARTON.

Mom had a blond wig that we teased to make it as big as we could but still look good. For about 3 nights straight she taught me how to apply the makeup since I'd have to do it by myself on the day of the competition. I got pretty damn good with that eye liner.

She bought me some funky boots and slim fitting pants from Sallys (Salvation Army). I believe I already had a sweater that was a little small for me so it fit nice and snug. Then the piece de la resistance (bad I know) was an oval pillow we had. We wrapped a rubberband around the middle and I put on one of my mom's bras (she's a big breasted woman) and fit the pillow inside. It was a little snug but under the sweater you couldn't tell it was a pillow at all.

At lunch time I ran home (I lived only a block from school and was able to go home for lunch every day) and changed into Dolly Parton.

I had every teacher laughing and a lot of the boys drooling! I didn't win a best costume prize but they created a unique costume prize just for me.

The rest of the day was spent partying in our classrooms. Those of us who walked home were not supposed to trick or treat yet. It didn't officially start until 3pm. But every year we all always did. At one lady's home when she opened the door she almost fell over laughing so hard. It took her awhile to get it out but she said I looked just like her mother. When she calmed down she asked who I was supposed to be so I told her and she said that made perfect sense since her mother loved Dolly Parton and wanted to be just like her.

Media quotes of the day: I was the first woman to burn my bra - it took the fire department four days to put it out.

I look just like the girl next door...if you happen to live next to an amusement park.

I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know that I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde.

The one and only Dolly Parton

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Yay!!

Saints won! 3 - 0 Baby!

That was a great game. We are very happy, only regret was not being there ourselves. Oh well. We had a couple friends over. They're both in H Ditty's fantasy football league (FFL) and throughout the game they were ragging on each other. BF wanted the Saints to keep kicking field goals since he has their defense and special teams. JW had a Falcons guy (can't remember which position) so he of course wanted them to do well or at least just that guy. And both were making comments on and off about Saints players getting hurt. We've been jinxed twice by people saying someone was going to get hurt and then it happened. BF was one of those people. He said Ricky Williams was going to break a leg and then later in the game he did something to his ankle I think it was and was out for awhile. But it's all good, BF is a Dolphins fan and a couple years later he got Ricky and all his ups and downs to deal with.

Last week when Bush made a great move, he was running one way and then stopped bent backwards, stood up and went the other way, H Ditty mentioned how he had done a "Matrix" move, because basically it looked like Neo when he bent backwards to avoid the bullets in the first movie. Last night Horn did the introductions of the line up and when he got to Bush he says, "Baby Matrix sliding in." H Ditty and I just looked at each other and laughed. So of course we now call Bush Baby Matrix.

The Dome looked great, H Ditty was exited to see all the new screens all around the stadium. We both liked the lights on the outside of it. And we both can't wait to get back down there. We just might have to do whatever we can to start saving to make it to the the last home game.

Media quote of the day: Who dat, who dat, who dat say they gonna beat dem Saints? - anyone and everyone who's a Saints fan. I know, I know, it's not technically media. So what, it's my blog - bite me if you don't like it.

Friday, September 22, 2006

On my mind today

So, I've done nothing all day except make my rounds, numerous times, to the blogs I read. Oh wait, I take that back, I made two phone calls that needed to be made before the end of the day. So once again, I'm not earning my paycheck. I am such a damn procrastinator I can't even make myself look for another job. I have reasons, well, excuses really, on why I'm not doing so. Which I won't bore you with.

In the vein of TMI: For the last two days I've been peeing like crazy. I can't seem to stop and it's driving me nuts! Yesterday during work I pissed almost every hour. And today is only slightly better. I'm sitting here now shaking my foot trying to hold out as long as I can before I head back to the head (HA!) because I just went less than 45 minutes ago. And I can't even blame it on drinking water. I haven't had any for the last couple days, just diet mtn dew. Usually I only do this for a day or two after my period which I haven't had for a couple weeks now so I can't even blame it on that.

Dirk (who I'm not linking here because he's over on my blogroll) is driving all of his readers nuts. He went on a date last night and hasn't posted about it yet. You'll have to read his last 5 posts or so to get the whole story as to why we're all anxious. Go on, go read, I'll wait...now you see why we're anxious.

I didn't go fishing last night like I was hoping too. H Ditty and his friend had gone out around 3ish and called me on my way home to say they were coming back in because the lake was too choppy and the fish weren't biting. So we ended up staying home and watching a couple more Soprano's until enough shows had been recorded to Tivo.

Spoiler alert, if you watch The Office and haven't seen the premier yet don't read!

How about The Office! Pam dumped the fiancee. Wow, I really didn't think she'd do that, figured she'd get married still. But this just makes it all the more interesting now. And Michael, what a total asshat, it physically hurts to watch him sometimes.

Ok Spoiler done.

My right arm is itching like crazy. It's the one that was burned during the Green Bay game. It's dry as all get out. I've been putting lotion (it puts the lotion in the basket. What you mean you don't get this reference, I told you to go read Dirk's posts, go on now, go read) on it but apparently not enough.

Alright enough, I gotta go pee, be right back.....Ah, that's a relief.

So our 1 year wedding anniversary and 11 year together anniversary is coming up. October 6th to be exact. We haven't talked about presents yet, hmmm, I guess we should. Although we don't have much disposable income anymore. I do need a new monitor though. Mine blew in a power outage a few weeks back and we can't really share his computer, just not the best scenerio for us. We have talked about what we'd like to do. That is, if he can get off of work. I mentioned going to the restaurant he proposed in, which we haven't been back to since, and then to go see the new Matt, Leo, Mark, etc. movie, which I can't remember the name of right now. I said, "That way I can get to see all those hot guys." He asked what he gets out of it, I told him sex. I think that's a fair trade off. He just laughed.


Media quote of the day: 3) Call in dead for work tomorrow. - Dirk (ok if you haven't read yet, I've now provided no excuses, he's linked and how can you not read a post by this guy after this quote?)

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Photos

Here are a few snapshots of our trip to Lambeau field. They have been trimmed down to 640x480 JPG files...I can upload higher-res versions if desired.

The first shot is of our Saint's flag on display before the game in the parking lot of the K-Mart near to Lambeau field, a common tailgaiting spot for home games.



The second shot is of the two fighter jets that flew over after the national anthem...they were monstrously loud...I loved it.

The third is the final score, 34-27, what a game...what a game!

The fourth is Katrina and me w/the winning scoreboard framed behind us.


Enjoy!

H Ditty

Media quote of the day: "As you wish!" - Westley, The Princess Bride.

No photos yet

As of right now H Ditty hasn't downloaded the photos. He swears he's going to do it soon. Cross your fingers it'll be today. We're supposed to go fishing right after I get off of work so I don't know if I'll get them up tonight even if he does get them loaded.

Unless, honey, you reading this? If so, you can post them ya know. Mainly the fly over and a pic or two of the parking lot if any are good. Maybe the one of us or me and your dad, only if it's ok that is. Heh And any others you think might be good. Love ya!


No media quote, there's nothing to go with this little bitty post.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

At work, sucks to be me

So I'm sitting here hoping H Ditty has downloaded the photos from the Green Bay game. If he has then at some point tonight I'll put some up. He said he was going to, so we'll see.

Boss man has left to go to FL again to see his cousin. He'll be gone for the rest of the week and once again I have nothing to do. It's going to be a long ass two days. Oh, but I did earn my paycheck again yesterday and this morning. Woo Hoo!

On my way home yesterday I saw a good 7 or 8 flocks of geese flying South and the temperature was only 62. I'm giddy with anticipation of autumn. I love autumn, everything about it. The crisp air, the wind flying, the smell and the colors changing everywhere. The light too, it's just a different look, almost has a texture to it, don't know how to explain it any better than that. I love wearing sweaters and drinking hot chocolate. I love that it gets dark early. I love that dusty/musty smell the first time I turn on the heater. Of course, that means I should have it cleaned but who cares, it's a fall smell.

As H Ditty left for work yesterday I walked him out to his truck to grab something from mine for him and did a booty shaking dance singing how it's fall, it's fall, it's fall! Only a few more days and it's officially fall! Honestly, can you tell I like fall?

Media quote of the day: Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods, And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt, And night by night the monitory blast Wails in the key-hole, telling how it pass'd O'er empty fields, or upland solitudes, Or grim wide wave; and now the power is felt Of melancholy, tenderer in its moods Than any joy indulgent Summer dealt.
Author: William Allingham
Source: Day and Night Songs--Autumnal Sonnet

Monday, September 18, 2006

Saints are 2 and 0!!

Now that was a great game! Pretty scary there in the beginning when the score was 13-0. My FIL's best friends (a couple who are Packer fans) called his cell phone and left a message all giddy about that score, which we didn't get until after the game. It went something like: What's the score? Oh yeah 13 and 0. And then a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. So of course H Ditty called them back about it and said, "You asked what the score was so I thought I'd tell you, it's 34 to 27. Final" Ah hahahaha!

So on Saturday we got on the road sometime after 5. We went up in my FIL's RV. Stopped for some food a little over an hour out of Green Bay then missed our turn off. But then, we didn't have directions either. Silly us. H Ditty didn't print out directions because his father was driving. His father didn't print anything out because he was going to bring an atlas, which he forgot along with his IPod. At least H Ditty remembered his. Luckily it's pretty much a straight shot up there, just two turns to make in Green Bay.

There's a K Mart right across the street on the North side of the stadium that allows people to park overnight. It's $20 if you only take up one spot, we took up two. There were probably around 20 RV's already when we got there at 10:45. Maybe even more. Most had Packer flags flying. We thought about putting up our Saints flags, etc. but then decided not too. Figured it would just invite hassling throughout the night and we'd rather sleep.

I woke up to a lot of talking and music as early as 8am going on around the RV. Over night we were surrounded by other RV's, cars and trucks. There were some guys playing a ring toss game right next to us. H Ditty and his dad, who was wearing his Saints jersey already, went out and talked with them. They were friendly despite being Packer fans. Around 10 H Ditty (who had now put on his Saints shirt) and his dad finally put up our Saints flag. Others who hadn't seen them yet noticed the flag so they got more ribbing. But still all good natured. But we were definitely in hostile territory though.

I have to say, between the few stadiums we've been too, Lambeau Field is the nicest. Not the seating though, those are benches, as in high school benches, that sucks, I'd rather have actual seats. The "hallways" where the food, etc are is pretty standard. But at the main entrance there's an actual food court type area and it just looks fancy in general compared to other stadiums. Their gift shop is huge compared to the Saints shop. We didn't go in, just looked through the windows of it as we went past. It looked like you could fit maybe 3 of the Saints shops in there with a little bit of room left over.

There weren't many, nowhere near as many as at Cleveland, Saints fans walking around. But everytime we walked past them there were shouts of "Go Saints!" and "Who Dat!" There was only one fan that sat near us, only a couple rows ahead and just to the right. He had marked up a white t-shirt. I didn't see the front of it but the back he had written Geaux Saints!

This time we only had 2 guys that were a pain in the ass. Everyone else was nice. One guy was sitting two rows in front of us to the left a little. He kept telling us to go home as we were cheering. But not in a fun/ribbing way, it was in an angry way. The bad thing was that his son, maybe even grandson (he was around 7 or 8 at the most) was sitting next to him hearing and seeing this asshat.

The other guy was two rows back and to the right a little. His taunts were on the same intelligent level as guy #1 from Cleveland. Which is to say unintelligent. The first was right before half time. Saints were up 14 to 13 and we were standing and cheering because we had just got a 1st down or maybe stopped the Packers, I'm not sure. Anyway, this guy yells at us to shut up and sit down. But not just "sit down" he says, "Sit down you...fat guy." It took him a little bit to get the "fat guy" out, he made some noise like he was trying to say something but all that could/would come out was "fat guy." Then after half time when the Saints were stopping the Packers from scoring he starts yelling how "New Orleans has water in the basement." Said this more than once, this is just as intelligent as the guy from Cleveland yelling "Katrina" over and over. I don't remember how the exchange went exactly but he yelled something, H Ditty said something back and the guy responds that this is "Green Bay, get used to it, we'll say anything we want. Get used to insults." So I responded, "Fine, just make them intelligent. Otherwise they don't mean anything." I don't recall him saying much of anything to us anymore after that. But he did holler about water in the basement a couple more times.

H Ditty and I, we're good sports. If the opposing team does well we say it. We've clapped for the other team and high fived our seatmates when their team does well. We've never, at these away games or when we've been to New Orleans, ever heckled the opposing teams fans. It's just not in us to do so. So it's just all the more tiresome when it's done to us. Oh well, it's something that we'll always have to put up with.

I don't remember the guy who sang the anthem but he was good. Right after two jets flew over. They seemed to be bigger than the 4 at the Cleveland game. But then they were a lot closer than those too. They seemed to be just over the stadium and extremely loud. It looked as if there should've been one or two more though because they were pretty far apart. H Ditty got some good pictures that I'll post as soon as he downloads them to the computer. He's got a fancy camera that I'm not allowed to mess with, he's afraid I'll screw something up. Anyway, the pilots eventually made it into the stadium and there were 4 guys so who knows what was up. Although it did look like there was a guy in their suits standing on top of the stadium at the North end by the score board, which is the side they came from. The guy was there during the fly over and about a minute afterward, then he was gone.

Brees scared us a few times, not being able to hold onto the ball. Bush ran lateral too much. Although as H Ditty says, that's what he's better at, getting to the outside, finding a hole and running through. But the holes weren't there, I wanted to see him make one for himself and fly. But that's Duece's thing, making holes. He's the tank and Bush is the wind.

All in all, we got lucky in a few plays, played well in most. Imagine what it would've been if Brees hadn't gotten the ball stripped from him those couple times. More than likely the Packers wouldn't have had those 1st 13 points and the Saints might've been up by at least another 7. We were in the Southwest corner. Every score before the 4th quarter was done in the North end zone. H Ditty mentioned this more than once, which I said he needed to quit since the last quarter had the Saints going South. But they broke that fluke and made a touchdown and after that it was all over. The Pack just couldn't keep up. They tried, Favre looked good, but his receivers looked like shit.

After the game we headed back to the RV and put the flag back out and played "When the Saints go Marching in" while we waited for the roads to clear. Once again we were surrounded by just Packer fans but they were all cool. No one said or did anything. Finally we headed out and got home just before 10. We were all sunburned, it was supposed to be cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms but no clouds came until the 4th quarter and by then it was too late. We were already burnt. My right arm is as red as a lobster and it's quite painful right now. I think I'll go put on some more aloe vera.

Media quote of the day: "We're not going to win a game and start hoopin' and hollerin'. That's nothing. We have to keep on rolling." - Joe Horn of New Orleans Saints. Or as we like to call him Jiggedy Joe, although he doesn't jiggedy anymore like he used to.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

I WON!!

It's about damn time! I finally won at Texas Hold 'em. It's been over a year since I won last. I did suck out though. I had 910 off suit and my opponent had QK off. 9K7 flopped, then a Q came on the turn, she had me big time but I sucked out and got the J for a straight. I'll take it though, I've been getting pissed coming in 2nd over and over again.

Well, it's late and I gotta get to bed. We'll be leaving in the afternoon to head up to Green Bay for the game on Sunday. But first we have to go to some GED graduation party for H Ditty's step cousin so we'll be getting up early.

Have a great weekend all. This is what we have to watch out for:

Media quote of the day: "I'm sure the Packers will want to respond after (last Sunday's) game against Chicago," - Coach Sean Payton

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Saints weekend Part 2

Now that is a beautiful score, just saying.


So, we got up, got ready, packed, took everything out to the car and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. We each guessed what the score would be, I said 20 to 17 he said, oh shoot now I can't remember what he said. I think he first guessed 20 to 7 and changed it to 27 to 10, but I'm not sure and he's sleeping right now. I'll find out and fix it later. Anyway, mine was closest, too bad we didn't bet on it.

We got there almost two hours early. Bought a Browns mini helmut. We started this thing last year. Our goal is to eventually get to every stadium. It'll take years of course because it'll only be Saints games we'll be going to but that's ok. Anyway, at every new stadium we're buying a mini helmut of the opposing team. Last year was the Green Bay Packers. We had also bought a mini helmut from the Hall of Fame that'll go with the rest.

Me in our seats

After buying the helmut we took our seats. 10th row in the corner of the field. But that was good, we were at the tunnel the Saints went in and out of. I sat and watched our things while H Ditty went down around the 50 yard line to take some pictures. While he was there the 1st person that would cause us grief reared his ugly head. He didn't say anything to me but every time a Saints player would leave or go onto the field this guy yelled, "Katrina! Katrina!" That was it. The first time he did I turned because, well, that's my name. But I noticed he was yelling at the players, yelling this as an insult. I couldn't believe it, what an ass, plus it doesn't make sense. He did it about 3 times before H Ditty got back, when he did I told him about it and said that I was ready to turn around and say, "I'm right here, you don't need to keep shouting, what do you want." Or something to that effect but I didn't.

2nd guy
The 2nd guy seemed to be drunk before the game even began. I can't remember much of anything he said except that the Browns were basically going to wipe the field with the Saints. Yeah, that didn't happen. This guy was more amusing than anything though. He was rude as all get out and pretty angry with his talking but I was amused by it. That 1st guy was just a complete moron.

Then there was a 3rd guy. I don't remember anything he said but I do know he was an ass.

The 2nd guy H Ditty talked back and forth with throughout the game. Most of the time having a good time sharing the barbs.

The people that were sitting immediately around us were very nice though. Most of them were season ticket holders, as the 3 assholes were. The guy sitting next to me was telling us how 2nd guy actually was threatened a few years back that he would lose his tickets if he didn't watch himself. I guess he could and would get very belligerent towards the visitors. He said for the next two years this guy would just sit in his seat all hunkered down not saying anything, figured he must have been on meds and watching himself. In fact, that's what he said first to me, that the guy must be off his meds again, I thought he was joking until he continued to talk.

I've never stood up and sat down so much during a game in my life. I don't know if Browns fans normally do this or if it's just because it was the home opener so they were more excited or if it's because it was such an intense game but my God it never ended. I'd want to sit back down and the family in front of us would stay standing. Then they'd finally sit to just turn right around and stand back up two minutes later.

But it was a great game. H Ditty had his camera ready everytime they were in the red zone by us just hoping for a Reggie Bush touchdown. Never came though. At the last two minutes of the 1st quarter it would've been great, we were all ready for it they were on our end. But they ended up running so much time off that the next thing we know they're walking down to the other end. That sucked. But they ended up not getting a touchdown anyway, field goal though. So it's all good.

OH MY GOD! I'm home now and just typed a bunch of stuff and Pretty Boy came up wanting love and hit a button or two and wiped it all out. A good 15, 20 minutes worth of remembering and typing. Now I'll have to try to remember what I wrote. Although, in some ways it may be good. Maybe I can figure out how to consolidate what I wrote.

I don't remember a lot about the game. I guess that's what I get for waiting so long to write it down. Although if you're a fan you more than likely saw the game and if you're not you don't give a shit and probably aren't reading this anyway.

But I do know there were many intense moments. There were quite a few times the Browns were ready to get another 1st down or score but the Saints shut 'em down. There were many times that the Saints were ready to get another 1st down or score and it didn't happen. Too many times they should've gotten a touchdown and had to settle for a field goal. Although, they still won the game so better a field goal than nothing. Reggie looked ok, Breeze looked ok so I guess it's all good.

Throughout the game the 3 guys were basically being assholes. 1st guy would still yell out "Katrina!" every now and then. At one point the Saints challenged a ruling. The guy shouts out something like, "Oh you want a challenge? Do you want to challenge Katrina, do you want a replay on that?" Just absolutely stupid! H Ditty says, "I don't know, let's ask her, Katrina do you want a challenge, do you want a replay?" I said that yes, I actually agreed with the challenge that was going on on the field. The guy sitting next to me asked if that really was my name and when I said that yes it was a few other people around us turned to look at me.

At one point near the end of the game the Browns pulled off a 1st down or something big anyway and the 3rd guy and H Ditty said a few things, smiling all the while. H Ditty goes over to high five the guy and he completely snubs him, crosses his arms even. Total baby about it.


At the end, when it was clear they wouldn't win, H Ditty goes over to 2nd guy, who out of all 3 said and did worse things, and talked to him, said good game and went to shake his hand. This guy actually did it, I was amazed and ended up with a little respect for him. On H Ditty's way back to our seats, 1st guy starts yelling at him all angrily, "Fuck you, go home, get the fuck outta here." etc. One of the two cops that had walked down to the end of the stairs about 10 minutes before goes up to him and has some words. The guy shut up after that, didn't say another word to us. In fact, I don't think he said much of anything.

But as I said, the people around us were much nicer and friendlier. At the end as people were leaving the stadium there were some who as they walked past us said good game. There was even one lady who actually stopped to say it and that she hoped we had a good time and enjoyed ourselves. We thought that was very nice.

They start

Almost directly overhead

They leave

The fighter pilots

Over all it was a good time. Lee Greenwood sang Proud to be an American while the military held up a huge flag that covered most of the field. After that he sang the anthem. And after that 4 fighter jets flew over, which H Ditty got quite a few pictures of. The half time show was the Ohio State Marching Band. They were pretty good but it was also kind of funny to see. It just doesn't look right a bunch of white people in band uniforms trying to be all funky in their playing and dancing. Now don't get me wrong, they were in synch and had rhythm, for the most part, but it just doesn't look right.

JOE HORN!

We stayed behind after. Went down to the wall with the other Saints fans hoping to get an autograph or two. Joe Horn was about 5 feet from us throwing gloves and stuff up into the stands, but I don't think he signed anything and after he was done just walked right past the rest of us and into the tunnel. Deuce was the last one off the field because he was giving an interview but he didn't do anything either after he was done. But that was ok, H Ditty got pictures.

After, we got in our car and headed home. We had been on the road a couple hours already when we saw the Goodyear blimp heading East. He got some pictures of that too. About an hour outside of Chicago we switched places and he took over driving. The sun had set by the time we were driving through Chicago and the skyline was looking good. At one point I noticed a building in the middle of them all. On the South facing facade specific lights were lit up to have 9 11 going down it. On the West side was the flag. I took a bunch of pictures but this was the only one that you can see it and then not very good.

I wish this had been better

We got our key back from his partner, got home and I pretty much went straight to bed and slept until 10:30ish.

So that was that, good time, glad we went, worth the trip. Now we have this weekend. We'll be driving up Saturday evening with his dad in his RV to Green Bay. Here's to hoping they do to them what the Bears did.

Media quote of the day: Are you ready for some football?! - Hank Williams Jr.

Saints weekend Part 1

My hat and our tickets
Cleveland Bound!



I was hoping to get out of work early Friday so we could get an early start on the trip to Cleveland but alas, no such luck. I made it home around 5:35 and ate a quick bite of spaghetti that H Ditty made the night before. Spaghetti is the one food that's 100 times better as a leftover. Then I headed out to get my oil changed. There's a place a 1/2 mile from our house and as I'm pulling in they're shutting their doors. They closed at 6, it's 6:15, sucks big time.

The closest place now is a couple more miles away. So I head on down giving them a call to make sure they're still open, yep, until 7. I pull in and all three bays are taken up with the 3rd bay having a car waiting. I pull up to the 2nd bay and proceed to wait. About 15 minutes later someone else pulls in and parks at the 1st bay. Another 10 minutes later the two cars in bays 1 and 2 are pulled out and I'm expecting to see my car pull in. Nope, the van in the 1st bay is pulled in and the car that was waiting at the 3rd bay pulls into where my car should've been. Now that one I understand, they were there before me but if they were going to take the time to move my car out of the way then they should've done the same with that van. Instead it's another 20 minutes at least before my car finally gets pulled into the 3rd bay. When it's all said and done I've been there over an hour.

To top it off H Ditty calls to say that The Brat Prince has taken another shit behind the tv, with H Ditty right there! We're not happy campers about it.

I rush home and immediately go down to clean the shit up (he's got a bad gag reflex so I get shit duty) and then go into packing mode. We're bad, we or I should say I, usually pack the day we're leaving. Every now and then I'll begin to get the clothes organized the night before but never actually packed.

We pack up the car, say goodbye to the cats and head to the gas station to fill up on gas, ice and cokes. After that we head to the station to drop off the key to H Ditty's partner that'll be feeding the cats. And by 10 we're on the highway.

There's construction through Chicago and we miss a turn off. Not a good part of town either and I'm all pissy that he wasn't helping me. Well, he was but not how I wanted him too of course. So I'm getting upset and we're raising our voices at each other but we get back on the highway in a couple minutes and it's all good. The rest of the ride went pretty well. He tried to rest while I tried to stay awake and keep us alive. Finally around 2ish and half way there I had to switch with him. We got in a little after 4 and within minutes I'm trying to fall asleep. Actually, they're an hour ahead so it's really after 5.

I had set the alarm for 9:15 or so but keep hitting the snooze. I finally make myself get out of bed around 10 to get in the shower, after that I get him up to get ready and we're on our way to Canton (an hour away) to go to the Football Hall of Fame. That was a good time. I could've spent longer in there but H Ditty is only able to do museums for so long and then he's done. I love to read so I could read everything there but he can only read so much. We were there about an hour and a half and saw most of what we really wanted to see anyway. Mostly Saints and Bears stuff. The busts of all the inductees were fun to see. Walter Payton didn't look like what we remember him as, but then, it was of him the year he was inducted so of course he wouldn't look like his football days. I observed that the first 7 years or so all the busts were of clearly white men. Finally the 1st black man showed up and after that it was pretty well mixed.

On the way back we stopped off at a couple stores for a few items and then finally made it back to the hotel room around 5:30. We decided to order pizza from a certain red roofed place. There's one phone number to call for the whole county for deliveries. H Ditty calls, places the order which includes an extra sauce for the breadsticks and crushed red peppers. He's told it'll be about 30-35 minutes. 30 minutes later we get a call asking if we had ordered a pizza, I said yes, the girl says ok thanks and we hung up. We're waiting and waiting and no one comes to the door. I can't see anywhere on the phone on how to get to the front desk so I head down there thinking maybe their policy is that they don't send food deliverers up to the rooms. I get to the lobby and no one is there with a pizza. I ask the girls behind the counter and they say they haven't seen anyone and when guests order pizzas they always send the deliverers up. So I head back up to our room and we wait some more. An hour later H Ditty calls the number back and they give him to "customer service." They say the orders been taken and the person should have been here by now. They say if the pizza is cold they'll make us another one. About 5 minutes later the doorman calls up to our room asking if we ordered a pizza. I ask him to send them up and she gets to our room within minutes. She keeps saying she's sorry, I check the breadsticks, they're warm enough. I ask if there's an extra sauce, nope, what about the crushed peppers, nope. She's sorry again, they didn't put them in there, sorry, sorry. She was going to get over 5 dollars in a tip for having to come to a hotel room and we're nice like that. It went down to just over 2 bucks and that's only because I didn't feel like being a complete bitch and gave her a 20. But she's really sorry, no excuse or reason given though. It would've been nice to get some kind of reason.

We've been playing cribbage and he's been kicking my ass. We continue to play while eating and watching Serenity. Great movie based on a great tv show, Firefly, that should never have been canceled.

After the movie's over I take a bath to relax and then we watch Dane Cook. Never seen the guy, his name is familiar to me but not to H Ditty. We decide to give him a look see. The first 15 minutes we can't figure out how he's managed to fill this huge stadium, people are laughing but we're not. Finally, he starts to make us smile/giggle and then eventually we've laughed out loud a few times. But I'd say more then not we're not even smiling. In fact, H Ditty's head is bobbing up down as he's falling asleep so I decide to turn this guy off and go to bed so we'll be rested for the big game.

Tomorrow's post will be of the game.

Media quote of the day: Let's play football bitch. - Nigel 'The Leg' Gruff from The Replacements

Thursday, September 7, 2006

This is called: Nothing going on in my life at the moment so I'll do this

Meme stolen from Robyn

1. Do you say "Hi" to people you don't know? Yeah, I'll do it every now and then. I usually just smile at people though when going past them in the parking lot or sidewalk.

2. What is the name of the first person you kissed? Dan, don't remember his last name.

3. Do you still talk to this person? Nope, summer fling (no sex though) when I was 15 and working in Wisconsin Dells. He was 18 and going off to college.

4. Recite a line from a movie? I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.

5. What movie was that from? Say Anything

6. Do you play by the rules? Usually

7. Name another word for penis. Willy

8. Do you complain a lot? To H Ditty, yes, and no it's not always about him

9. Have you ever been to Canada? Yep, the first time was the summer of 2001 for the 1st annual gathering of the computer friends. Have become very good friends of one of the couples up there and have been back several more times.

10. Do you have an addictive personality? No, not really

11. What size would you say your nose is? Average

12. What someone's name that begins with the letter, A? Amy and Ambrosia

13. Name someone whose plastic surgery turned out poorly? That crazy cat lady

14. Have you ever performed CPR on anyone? Nope, and I hope to never have to.

15. Name something that falls from the sky? snow

16. Are you polite? Yeah, to a fault sometimes.

17. Name a TV show or movie, that impacted society? The first Harry Potter movie. Stupid religious nuts saying it was all satanic and shit.

18. Name a song that has the word "baby" in it? Baby got back

19. Name your favorite Disney movie? Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas

20. Have you ever been scuba diving? Nope, but I want to.

21. Name a profession you would NOT like to have? Sewer worker

22. Name someone you know who has red hair. Bri did, can't think of anyone right now but him.

23. Name a popular DJ. Martha Quinn, oh wait she was a VJ, hmmm let's see...Oh yeah, Howard Stern

24. Name something white. snow

25. Are you better at explaining things, or at performing them? Depends really

26. Have you ever been to a boxing match? Nope, and don't plan on it. But I would love to go to a UFC match, mainly between Stephan Bonner and Forest Griffin or Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. That one's coming up for free on Spike next month, can't wait.

27. Did you ever stutter, or have a hard time pronouncing words? Not really, every now and then if there's an "r" and "w" to close together I might fuck up the "r" but otherwise I'm good.

28. Do you eat out, or buy groceries, more often? I'd have to say buy groceries but eating out isn't far behind.

29. What month are many of your friends born in? My friends are pretty well spread out throughout the year but there's four family members in November and Six in March including me.

30. If you could have been born a different ethnicity, which one? Hmm, tough one, I'd have to say any American Indian i.e. Cherokee, Chippewa, Sioux, etc.

31. Name something you think is disgusting? The smell of B.O. and Ass and also the taste and smell of cabbage and brussel sprouts, just to name a few.

32. What is your favorite type of soup? Cream of Chicken with saltine crackers dipped in.

33. Name a fattening food. Chocolate cake.

34. Name something that you are just NOT good at. Anything artistic, can't draw, don't have a good eye for coordinating things and anything musical.

35. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average? Not enough, maybe a 16.9oz. bottle if I make myself. So what's that, a little over 2 glasses if we say they're 8oz.

36. Does your license plate say anything? Nope, just numbers and letters.

37. Name a type of dance. The Fox Trot.

38. Name a type of Martini. Chocolate Martini.

39. Would you rather do the dishes or fold laundry? I despise the dishes so laundry it is.

40. Did you have braces? Nope, luckily I didn't need them.

41. Name someone you were really good friends with, who you no longer speak to. Chantelle, we were the best of friends until she blamed me for failing college.

42. Name something blue. Eeyore. Such a cutey.

43. What is something good, about getting older? Wisdom.

44. And something negative? Responsibilities and the physical ailments.

45. Name a song you really enjoy. Strict 9 and Fritz's Corner by Local H

46. Name someone with the same middle name as you. My momma, love her.

47. Name a bar or a restaurant that really impressed you. Coyote Ugly in New Orleans, we had an absolute awesome time there a few years back, didn't hurt that our bartender looked like a prettier version of Reese Witherspoon and that's hard to do, she's gorgeous. Plus she made an awesome Long Island Iced Tea and kept 'em coming, didn't even have to ask, before SIL and I were even done with the one we had she was putting another down.

So that's it.

Media quote of the day: You can say ANYTHING to me - Say Anything

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Our friend Bri

Today marks the one year anniversary of one of my friends committing suicide. I miss him. I still have some left over anger at him for doing it though. But I'm mostly sad for his girlfriend who is also a friend. Another friend, H Ditty and I have let her know we're available for her tonight if she wants to do anything, even if it's just to hang out and commiserate.

It was very surreal, that night. H Ditty had been at work and called me up to go online and see when our friend had last logged onto the fantasy football site. While doing that he got a call back from our other friend, JW saying that the girlfriend, CW, had found him out in the garage.

The cops went onto his computer to see what they could find and found that he had been researching on how to do it for some time. He finally decided on using the gas grill in the car, car in the closed garage trick. He had found that doing that was actually faster than just sitting in your car in the closed garage with it running trick.

What I still have some anger over is the gas grill. CW, who already takes things very personally and accepts guilt when she shouldn't had asked for a gas grill for her birthday which was the very next week. So of course she was blaming herself that night. I kept telling her to stop doing that, I know she felt she had to but it was his choice and he was going to do it one way or the other. It was just bad luck that during his research he found the gas grill would be better for his plans. I don't know if she's let that go or not, I haven't asked and I won't unless she brings it up herself.

I don't know what all was in his letter, at least he left one, but I do know that he said he was tired of being angry all the time and that she shouldn't blame herself. So that's the other reason I'm still a little angry with him, if he was tired of it, go get help there's all kinds of help out there. But of course there was more to it and I have never been in that situation so I don't know what it's like.

I can't even begin to imagine it, I'm one of the few lucky ones I guess. Even as a teenager I never wanted to kill myself. I only know a few people who are like me, most everyone I know has thought about it one time or another. I mean, I've said I wish I were dead before, but that's exaggeration talking when I've been embarrassed. But I've never meant it and I've never fantasized about it. I'm also lucky in that I don't suffer from any form of depression.

Obviously my friend had. Anger is a symptom of depression and more than likely that's what he was and not actually angry.

They had just been at our house two days before for the football draft and cookout. He had been laughing and having a good time, he had done a real job of drafting his team. That was one of the first questions I asked, did he draft like he should have or did he do it willy nilly. H Ditty said his team was one of the better ones, he did a really good job of it. He had been loving towards CW and even joking around with another friend that he had had a falling out with a little over a year earlier.

When I asked her if there had been any signs that we might have missed she said there were only a couple that in hindsight seemed odd. He had been more loving, more touchy feely than he had ever been before. They had been getting along a lot more than they had been lately. And the day of he was wearing jeans instead of shorts, normally he wore shorts to work. But it was Sept. so she thought maybe he was just changing to cooler weather clothes. Other than that there was nothing. She chalked them getting along better to him accepting things more, maturing. We're all in our young to mid 30's he was in his mid 20's.

During the wake and the few weeks after, different people were saying what they remembered about him. Many said all they could picture was him in the coffin. I'm lucky, the first image that comes to mind is of a happy time. We're all playing asshole (drinking game for those of you who don't know) and he's the asshole. The friend that he had the falling out with (but at this time hadn't happened yet) is sitting next to him. He's dealing the cards and every time he deals to the fall out friend he tosses his cards to the floor. Of course, fall out friend didn't like it but I found it highly amusing. The second image is him sitting at a table leaning in on one elbow with his hand near his mouth and his other moving around a lot as he's talking, laughing his goofy laugh. That's what I kept hearing for weeks afterward, his laugh and his favorite way to begin a sentence.

A year later and I still hear them. I hope I always will.

We miss you Bri, always will.

No media quote, just a regular one today: "The thing is, is..." - our friend, rest in peace

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Life and Death

So boss man is gone for the rest of the week. He left a little after 2:00 and supposedly won't be back until next Monday. We'll see though, he's the kind of boss that says he'll be gone and then shows up a day or more early. But he's flying down to FL to see a cousin who's pretty sick so he may actually stay gone this time. The bad thing though is this means I'll have nothing to do for the rest of the week. Pray for me.

I went over to my mom and stepdad's house last night. My stepbrother and his wife were there. We sat around the fire and chatted for a few hours. It was a good night for it, it was just a little nippy so the fire felt good. No stars though, too many clouds. I'm a bad daughter, I don't see and/or talk to my mom enough. I can't stand talking on the phone so I never pick it up just to call and talk to her and they're so busy that they're hardly ever home so I can't just drop in unexpectedly. But when we do talk it's for quite a while. I told her that one of these days I'm getting my oldest brother on one of those online dating websites. She was all for it.

So I just went and checked statcounter. I'm obsessed with that by the way. I find it funny that on Saturday and today two different people did a google search for the fishy quote from Nemo and got me from my media quote of the day a few posts back. I'm not the first link but I'm only a few down. Makes me wonder if they're using that quote too on their site or what.

Well, I gotta get out of here for right now. Gotta go make some copies for work at the big time copy place.

So I'm home now, H Ditty's at work. I've got the tv on but the sound on mute. 21 grams is on, haven't seen it before, only know a little bit what it's about. Kind of interesting watching without sound and still being able to tell somewhat of what's going on by just how good the acting is.

There's a scene on right now that made me think of Return to Me. Both movies someone had to die for another to live, they show both sides. Now Return to Me was a romantic comedy but it still had its very sad moments. Being that I can't hear what's on 21 grams I don't know if it addresses it but I know Return to Me does - the guilt of the person who lives because of the other dying. Its got to be awful. I'm a donor and I think everyone should be. Why wouldn't you, you're dead you don't need your parts anymore and you're potentially keeping someone else alive. At the very least just making their lives better by giving them sight, or skin or whatever. At least, that's what you hope for. I hope that when I go and whoever gets whatever from me does have a better life. I really hope they don't ever feel the guilt, that they only feel the joy of living. And on that note, I'm outta here.

Media quote of the day: I know that what's happened has been overwhelming. And I know it's going to take a while to sort it all out. But while you're sorting, I want you to remember that all the times I prayed that Gracie would have a second chance at life, I always knew that if God blessed us, the heart she got would have to be from a very special person, if it were going to be at home in Grace. When she met you, her heart beat truly for the first time. Perhaps it was meant to be with you always. - Marty O'Reilly - Return to Me

Monday, September 4, 2006

Happy Labor Day

Well, the weekend went pretty well, nothing to actually report on but thought I'd write it down for posterity. Friday and Saturday was spent getting the house in order and shopping done for the 13 people that were coming over for Fantasy Football picks. The cookout and the draft went well. My MIL came over for some food and then ended up sticking around for awhile after, which was nice. I didn't know what I was going to do while the draft was going on.

Today we recovered. Slept in until 10ish then got up and watched Soprano's season 2 until he had to go to work. I came on line and checked out a few of the sites I normally read. My mom called a little while ago and invited me over to sit around a fire and bullshit some so I think I'll be doing that.

I'm not going to do a Media quote today, can't think of anything off the top of my head that fits with this nothingness post and I don't have time to look up anything since I gotta get to moms.

Hope your holiday was good for everyone who celebrates Labor Day and for those who don't I hope your regular Monday was great.