The road not taken

I was goofing off online, looking up people I knew on Facebook and followed a link to MySpace to check up on a gal I knew back in high school.

Oh. My. Holy. Crap.

I guess it shouldn't surprise me, considering what type of girl she was in the way back when but still.....tattoos across her cleavage.....close-ups of her rack before and after the reduction....other tats*, lip rings, etc all over the place. Foul comments back and forth between her and her "friends" about the look of her body parts and other such conversational show-stoppers. She jokes about how she looks younger than she really is but, in truth, she looks like she has been chewed up and then spit back out. The biggest shock came when I realized one of the commenters on her "new rack" was her own son!

It made me feel sick.

The sad thing is I really was impressed with this girl in high school. Probably because I was so sheltered but I thought she was tough and cool and (I hate to admit it) but she had the most colorful language I'd know up until then....I wanted to be tough and cool too. I wasn't always comfortable being with her, but I still looked up to her.

Thank goodness for naivety and the fact that I didn't really know what I was playing with....and even more thanks for not following that path myself.

It makes me grateful for who and what I am. I am far from perfect....but I like who I have grown to be over the years. ...shortcomings and all.

*disclaimer: I am not saying tattoos and lip rings make you a bad person... but who really wants to see an aging woman with multiple lip and eyebrow rings flashing her "naughty" tattoos all over the internet?

Cold Turkey: Day One

Oh soda...how you bubble and tease my taste buds with your carbonated sweetness. My morning wouldn't really start until I was swigging on a bottle of you...You were the refreshment in my life....my constant companion.So why is it that I set you aside I suddenly cannot concentrate....I daydream of your fruity flavors and pouring that frothy goodness down my gullet. I want to keep reaching for a bottle that is no longer there.

I find myself sluggish, tired when I got a fairly good night's sleep last night. My eyes feel weighted and I feel wrung out....even though my day has just begun...

We had a wonderful relationship once....but that time is past. All that is left now is the inevitable ugliness that follows caffeine withdrawl. I'm thinking it should hit by tomorrow morning. Thank you for the ugliness....it serves as a reminder of just why we can't be together.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.....

Woke up this morning to a deliciously gray morning with a hint of rain in the air....in fact we had a bit of a drizzle and I stood out by my car for a few minutes enjoying the weather change before heading in to work. I figured why not....I am not made of sugar, I won't melt and if my hair dries a little funny who cares? It was totally worth it just drinking that fresh rain-drenched earthy smell that filled the air.

Driving down to the office this morning I started thinking of all of the wonderful things the world has to offer that makes me smile and love this precious little planet all the more. I thought I'd share a few of them with you today. Yes, I am sure that I have done posts like this one before (I am much too lazy to actually check) and it probably happened the last time we got a good rain (so it makes me a bit contemplative....deal with it!)

Oh, and not to go all Julie Andrews/Rogers and Hammerstein on you but I really DO love raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Not that this is such a surprise....I think the whole family knows of my love for wool, rain, cats and how I dislike gold and rather love copper and silver instead. You'll probably also know most of the other things on this list.....but then again, maybe you will learn something new.

I still love dragonflies (man do we have a ton of them down here in Utah....except for winter you can't go a day down here without seeing at least a few of them zipping around....and we are talking BIG ones....not the cutesy tiny ones I usually saw up in Washington).

I also still love to watch crows and spend nights stargazing (though the stars are limited here in town.....I love going to my friend Cynthia's house because the light polution is much less and you can see so much more. I still can't see the Milky Way from her house though so I am looking forward to heading up to Dad's in October (if he still wants me!) and enjoying those dark skies!)

Here are a few other things:

I love quotes and poetry....and enjoy finding new ones. I stumbled upon a line of Robert Frost this morning that I don't remember reading before (funny since I have his complete works!) but found delightful: "My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane". Funny how all of my favorite poetry pieces have to do with a love for Autumn....I really need to find time to start writing poetry again.

I love squids (not as sushi) but I find the science behind them fascinating. It ties into my love of oceanography and all things underwater but everytime I find a book on the giant squid it somehow finds its way into my shopping cart or gets hauled home from the library. I've also begun collecting some "squidy stuff" from Etsy.......bad, bad Etsy! Which reminds me I need to find someone with a boat who would be willing to take me out....I haven't been out on the water in ages and miss it. Driving out to the lake and sitting around just isn't the same thing as being out ON it...bummer its too polluted to swim in.

I love the maple tree outside my work window and the pines across the street that I can look at during the day. I miss having trees around me.... my little Norfolk pine and ficus trees are growing nicely though...for now they'll have to do. I look forward to maybe moving to Oregon someday where I can be within driving distance of the ocean and be surrounded by my beloved pines. I'm thinking about taking a "mini vacation" of just a few days in the spring and driving over to the Redwoods....if Dan and Bill can let me go for a few days that is, as our busy season starts April/May.

I love gloriously blue skies in the winter when the world is covered in a blanket of white. Typically those are your colder days but I love the contrast in colors....and its funny but the sky always seems to be the most vivid shades of blue in the winter.

Wood smoke....

The bright orange of a field full of ripening pumpkins....

The promise that Halloween (undoubtedly my favorite holiday) is just around the corner....

And with that the joy of knowing fall is nearly here!....

The taste of homemade pumpkin butter spread on my toast in the morning....

"Girls Night In" at Cynthia's house....

Finding inspiration for all new crafty designs....(finding the time to make them is another thing!)

Oh to be a skinny girl.....

Then I could wear this:


Not that I was a Buffy fan....I love the movie, even now, eons after its release but I couldn't get into the series (sorry Joss). And its not that I am against Twilight (seeing as I own the first 3 books, have the movie and am anxiously awaiting New Moon later this year). But you have GOT to love what the shirt's creator has to say about it:

"Don't you think the vampires-are-people-too thing has gone a little too far? I mean, the whole point of a vampire is that they survive by sucking your blood. I don't care if his skin glows and twinkles and he smells like kittens and fabric softener, he's still just a glorified syringe. Remember the last time you had blood drawn? Yeah, me too, and it sucked! It's time we put an end to this nonsense: Edward, may I treat you to a stake dinner?"

Gee girl, don't hold back! It kind of smacks of a gal who offered up a free blood buffet and was rejected, doesn't it? Maybe O negative wasn't his favorite flavor or something....

Regardless....it has certainly kept me snickering this morning.

Standing in the Rainbow....

My roomie and I went out after work yesterday to grab some food (mmmm....Nathan's hot dog sliders at Marleys) and to pick up some paint for the bathroom and a project I am doing with a wall of my bedroom (which will post next weekend once it is done).


I debated about bringing my camera and decided against it....silly me.....I should remember that's when the best shots show up.


First: Marley's is inside the local Harley Davidson dealership/repair shop/retail store/I'm-a-yuppie-but-want-to-be-a-bad-boy hangout. The building is all steel girders, rust and old mill wood. Fantabulous. I HAVE to go back and get some shots.


Second: We get to Lowe's under somewhat cloudy/sunny skies and waited FOREVER for our paint to be mixed up (that's what we get for being girls and wanting 3 different colors for the bathroom walls and me doing the same for just ONE wall of my bedroom (again...I'll post it when its done....it should be kewl!) Anyhew, we left Lowe's, paint containers in hand, and walked out into a deluge; I half expected Noah to go sailing past as we walked out to the car! In the time it took to walk 50 feet to the car we had water streaming off of us....


Now why is this second item "photo worthy"? Because the rain was rushing down and the sun was still out in enough places that there were literally rainbows everywhere you looked. On the drive home the rain eased up enough that a glorious double bow stretched across the front of the Wastach Mountains...it probably would not have made for a good shot, considering all of the buildings that would have worked their way into the shot, however it DID remind me of something.


Have you ever had a dream from your childhood that lingers into your adult life? Actually I've had a couple...some have happened (if in unusual ways but I can consider a few of those dreams as realities now) and some have yet to come true.


Take the rainbow. Ever since I was little I have wanted to find the end of the rainbow....not because of some mythical pot of gold (though the money wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily). No, I always wanted to stand at the end of the rainbow and cradle the colored beams in my cupped hands...watching as it danced across my skin and bathed me in its light. And before you mention it....no, rainbows from crystals are NOT the same thing....I've tried and it just isn't the thrill that I imagined as a child.

Lately rainbows look closer than ever....I was in my car a few weeks ago and started chasing one. It kept dancing a few streets over from where I drove and then finally ended somewhere in bracken and back lots that I couldn't access.


Stupid rainbow.

While I didn't realize my dream that day, I was filled with the satisfaction one has in chasing down their dreams. That same feeling came over me yesterday as I watched that glorious double bow on my way home....

Maybe some day.......

Just when we thought poor ol' Spokane was a safe place to live

Sept 24, 2010 will find Spokane, WA running amok with Chinese guerillas who (for some unknown reason) feel that Spokane is a tactical attack point in an invasion of America.


Maybe their flight was diverted from Sea-Tac?

For those of us who remember 1984's over-the-top "Red Dawn" next year will bring a new groaner to the big screen in the remake to be set in (wait for it!) Spokane.

Hmmm.....I guess having Colorado invaded again was too big of a coincidence?

Frankly, I know a lot of people consider this to be a cult classic but I don't happen to be one of them. Sure, I loved the movie when it originally came out, but then I was 15 and completely in the thrall of teenage hormones. What can I say, they picked a fairly hot cast for the film so what teen girl wasn't crying her eyes out when C Thomas Howell bites it in the end?

Considering the original was the first PG-13 movie released (and for quite some time held the record for most violent movie ever) I can only imagine the remake will be equally gore-filled as bits and pieces of the "Wolverines" splat across the camera in their campaign to save their little piece of America.

Not sure if I am quite ready to see the falls at Riverfront park running red with blood just yet.

Murphy's Law Strikes Again

For those not in the loop, my "main boss" is currently in Mexico on a week-long vacation with his family.

Thankfully he heads back tomorrow and will be back in the office Monday morning.

Why, you ask?

Dan actually owns 2 businesses....the one I work for (selling and drop shipping switches and parts for security system installations) and another one where he used to do installations and now just takes maintenance calls on his installed systems. All the calls from this other business was forwarded to my cell phone and was told to just start taking messages and to call the accountant over more serious issues as she would know what to do.

Yeah right.

2 system issues require an on-site visit and we have no contact person for the guy that Dan sometimes uses when he is busy. I can't tell if Dan is simply out of a calling service area or if he has turned his phone off but I can't reach him THAT way and there has been no response to the emails I've sent.

Ugh. I hate feeling like an idiot when someone calls and opens the conversation with "I just have a quick question about my system" because I have to take their info, tell them I will call them back, call the accountant and hope she can find the info I need (I have no access to the other companies' files since its not based in this office). At that point I call back the client and either give them the info they requested (praying like mad they don't ask any other questions) or inform them that the owner is currently out of the country and we will have an answer for them when he is back in the office on Monday.

So NOT professional.

But I digress. Murphy's Law is still in full force in the company that I actually DO work for.

I got a call from a very upset client the other day who didn't realize that the equipment he ordered didn't come with a specific tool for the job. Yelling, threats, etc....this guy has never been a nice guy to either one of us here. I explained that I would check into bringing the part in the store and that I would have to call him back in a few minutes rather than keep him on hold (more shouts). This from the guy that yelled and screamed earlier this week that I personally deliver ONE SWITCH all the way to a facility of his in West Valley City because he was too stupid to plan ahead of time and order it in a timely manner (more yelling and screaming when he found out Dan was out of town and not a single thank you when I volunteered to deliver it myself....in fact he called me the next day and sneered how he wasn't going to use that one switch and instead make his own changes to the original part he'd ordered.....freaking heck).

Anyway, back to the story. I find out pricing and have half a dozen of these plastic punch tools shipped over to our office here in Orem only to find that they were accidently shipped to Dan's home in SLC. Take #2 the company reships the package UPS overnight to the correct address.....however it is routed to California for no reason that UPS can explain and delayed there. More screaming from the customer as he wants the tool now and he doesn't care how I get it (did I mention he screamed and yelled and threatened until I finally told him I would give him the stupid part for free because he insisted he wasn't going to pay for a tool that we should have given him anyway for buying this particular piece of equipment).

As I said....he's a jerk.

Well now the package is delayed for who knows how long and I am tired of being screamed at. UPS.com shows the originally mis-shipped package was left on Dan's doorstep so I drove up there and back in a nasty windstorm, fetched the package, brought it back to Orem, repackaged his precious tools and then personally delivered them to his head electrician who lives down here.

12 and a half hour workday yesterday.....nearly 70 miles racked on my car....and not a freaking thank you from the customer.

Guess its just all in a day's work but still...what a jerk.

Funniest thing about it though? I'm actually in a really good mood today....maybe its because this guy has no real reason to call me today to scream some more. Any day you are NOT screamed at has GOT to be a good day.

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket

Actually, you probably wouldn't want to catch one of these babies since its bound to not only be unbelievably hot, but it would have to be travelling at a pretty high velocity by the time it reached your hand....leaving you without a hand to pick that star up with, pocket or not.

Ther Perseid meteor shower is set to peak on the 12th with the best part of the show hitting around 2-3 in the morning (Utah time). Apparently we are going to cross through a particularly thick plume of comet dust so this year should be pretty darn spectacular.....that is if you like looking up and seeing fireballs plunging through the atmosphere! Predictions are that we'll have a higher than usual bollide (fireball rather than just a brief streak) display than usual so keep an eye out for those.

I can't wait!