After what my toilet did to me tonight (no, I have not ever even heard of an electric toilet plunger…) I really got a kick out of Aaron’s Wild Toilets article. Last fall when considering leaving apartment life behind I decided that as long as I am single an apartment is not a bad thing. I can call maintanence any hour of the night if there is an emergency. I got the toilet to behave pretty fast, so I am set for now, but if it acts up again you can bet I will be calling!
Hey Naomi! Look! An All Your Base Are Belong to Us T-Shirt on the LittleYellowDifferent Guy. (February 27, 2001 post) Too funny. Here I had never heard of it before last week, and now it is popping up where I least expect it.
Kymberlie & I went to the Duran Duran concert tonight at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It was a blast. The funnel cake was fabulous – I can’t wait until I return and have another! The ride to the Dome was nice and smooth. And as Kymberlie put it, you just *can’t* go wrong with ’80s music! There were several songs I had forgotten that they sang. The odd thing was that they didn’t sing “The Reflex” – which was their first Number 1 song ever in the USA? I can’t figure out why. Maybe someone owns the copyright to it and they are not allowed to play it? They did “Rio” and “Save a Prayer” and a bunch of other cool ones though – so it’s all good. I visited this site, and I have to add that they look so funny now as an adult! I remember been a teenager and thinking how hot they were. They look hysterical in that picture with all that make-up! Now for the trivia question of the evening … just how old IS Simon LeBon? I went to CDNow to look at the Bio there on the band. He joined the group in 1980. Hmmm… 21 years ago. No data on how old he was when he joined though… anyone know the answer? I am really curious now. WAIT!!! I found it! According to this page he was born October 27th, 1958 – which would make him 42, going on 43 later this year. Oops, sorry Simon. I guess you are not as old as we thought you were! It must have just been the lighting…
Tomorrow it is the Jo Dee Messina concert with Chelsey. She will be happy when I tell her tomorrow how much smoother the whole bus system was running tonight. We went to the opening show, Clay Walker, and the bus system was not that smooth yet. This year with all of the construction at the Astrodome complex they are making everyone take the bus to the Rodeo. I normally take the bus and don’t mind it at all. I hated having to walk forever to get to my car and then sit in stop and go traffic to even get out of the parking lot. I truly prefer getting on the bus and letting them deal with the drive. All I had to do was walk a short distance from the steps of the bus and I was at the gates! You could never park that close if you drove. But that first night none of the drivers knew where they were going – it was a bit of a mess. She swore she wasn’t going to go again this year. Now she is … just so she can go with me … awwwwwwwwww. By the way Chelsey, I am working on that list for you, just like you asked.
Want to know what really SUCKS? When you go to the bathroom at 2 in the morning and the toilet, for no reason whatsoever, decides it should overflow. ACK!!! It is at moments like these that I really wish I had a husband to help me out. It is a lot of fun standing in half an inch of water trying to get everything from gushing everywhere
Want to know what is really COOL? When complete strangers stand up and give you support. No, not with the toilet crisis of the last hour. I am on a craft list where I posted some helpful information on web design. When questioned, I posted about my experience and some of the clients that I have worked with – the ones with names that people would recognize. I then posted that I was not posting helpful information to get business – the prices at the company that I work for are normally out of their budget by a longshot. One of the women on the list posted back that my comment was arrogant. Man, that made me mad. It was so wonderful to get a lot of e-mail from people that truly cared and thanked me for my posts in the past and asked me not to leave. No worries, I am not going anywhere. I will continue to post information on what I know – because I enjoy doing it. But the more I thought about it, you know what? They are right. I started saying years ago that I am a web snob. I hate poorly designed websites. I hate people that want to sell online but don’t take the effort to design a professional site or even one that showcases their products well. I really hate sites that use the “no right-click script” because it would take me about 45 seconds to still copy the images or the code – so all they are doing is preventing me from doing “right click – open link in new window” which really annoys me. Yep, I am a web snob. I am arrogant. I have worked hard to know what I do, I am primarily self-taught, and I have been pretty successful so far in my Internet career. I am proud of my arrogant title! Web Snobs Unite!
I don’t normally post things like this here or send them along by e-mail. But this one really made me stop and think, so here it is. I am proud to have been an Army wife, and I am proud of my ex-husband who is still serving in the U.S. Army at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. I did not write this. If anyone knows the original author of this – please let me know. For my ex-husband and all the others that serve in the military…
On 18 February 2001, while racing for fame and fortune, Dale Earnhardt died in the last lap of the Daytona 500. It was surely a tragedy for his family, friends and fans. He was 49 years old with grown children, one which was in the race. I am new to the NASCAR culture so much of what I know has come from the newspaper and TV. He was a winner and earned everything he had. This included more than “$41 million in winnings and ten times that from endorsements and souvenir sales”. He had a beautiful home and a private jet. He drove the most sophisticated cars allowed and every part was inspected and replaced as soon as there was any evidence of wear. This is normally fully funded by the car and team sponsors. Today, there is no TV station that does not constantly remind us of his tragic end and the radio already has a song of tribute to this winning driver. Nothing should be taken away from this man, he was a professional and the best in his profession. He was in a very dangerous business but the rewards were great.
Two weeks ago seven U.S. Army soldiers died in a training accident when two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters collided during night maneuvers in Hawaii. The soldiers were all in their twenties, pilots, crewchiefs and infantrymen. Most of them lived in sub-standard housing. If you add their actual duty hours (in the field, deployed) they probably earn something close to minimum wage. The aircraft they were in were between 15 and 20 years old. Many times parts were not available to keep them in good shape due to funding. They were involved in the extremely dangerous business of flying in the Kuhuku mountains at night. It only gets worse when the weather moves in as it did that night. Most times no one is there with a yellow or red flag to slow things down when it gets critical. Their children were mostly toddlers who will lose all memory of who “Daddy” was as they grow up. They died training to defend our freedom.
I take nothing away from Dale Earnhardt but ask you to perform this simple test. Ask any of your friends if they know who was the NASCAR driver killed on 18 February 2001. Then ask them if they can name one of the seven soldiers who died in Hawaii two weeks ago.
18 February 2001, Dale Earnhardt died driving for fame and glory at the Daytona 500. The nation mourns. Seven soldiers died training to protect our freedom. No one can remember their names and most don’t even remember the incident.
Ack! I just realized I am as bad as the person that tossed me into this funk. I told Tom on Friday that I would call him, and never did. Egads. Now I am in a funk and feeling guilty at the same time. I am a terrible friend. Tom, if you are reading this, here is my public apology. I should have called, and there is really no excuse good enough. Please forgive me… Man, I am a bad friend. (Hey Chelsey, no comments from the cheap seats…)
I tried to update over the weekend, but kept getting very strange error messages and the posts never made it. I don’t think I blame it on Blogger though, as my PC was acting flaky. It always acts flaky after I am on Napster. Do you think I would learn finally and reboot it after I finish downloading? Noooooo… (Duh.) It’s probably a good thing I didn’t post – I was in a bad mood for half the weekend. It is allergy season here now, and it gave me a headache. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong until I went outside to get in the car yesterday so we could head off to the annual Blue & Gold Cub Scout dinner and my cute little silver Honda Civic (that is *still* missing the molding) had a lovely yellow hue to it thanks to the oak pollen. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much though – Chelsey & her son Jordan got to come up to visit on Saturday for lunch and so we could catch up on the episodes of Friends and Will & Grace that she missed while she was on the Saltgrass Trail Ride. I had recorded them on to TiVo, but my VCR wouldn’t let me transfer them to tape. I have to turn my TV stand around and see if I have the connections set up right – before I moved to my current apartment I could do it. I must not have something wired right. But “it’s all gooooood…” I was happy to get to see her, and we are going to the Rodeo on Wednesday to see JoDee Messina. I have to drive in to downtown so she doesn’t have to take the shuttle alone, but it is the only way I could get her to go. I don’t mind the drive or the shuttle for that matter. Guess it helps that I took the bus to work in downtown for over five years.
Know what I hate? When people (namely men) tell you that they will call so you can get together… and then don’t call. I hate that. At least just pick up the phone and call and cancel. Tell me you never want to talk to me again. Whatever. That is less painful then the torture of the unknown. Grumble, grumble… I just had to vent about that. I am a very patient and a very understanding person – so it just irritates the heck out of me when people take advantage of it. On that note, I am going to go work on pulling out of this funk that I am in. I wore my new boots to work today – that helped. Funny how some cool, funky shoes can help any woman’s mood.