Sad Times... Sad Times...

Today is a day of mourning... my dear, sweet Ghettofabulous companion died early this a.m. when I was on my way to meet a co-worker to set out on a job. The plan was simple: get up at 4:45a, get ready to leave house by 5:30a, drive to Gowen Field Alby's to meet co-worker, leave Ghetto, drive to Burley and then Twin Falls to complete hardware installations. Ghetto's oil light came on yesterday, but I felt I could just get oil at Alby's and fill her up this evening after getting back from Burley/Twin Falls. She was ready to die but neglected to inform me of her decision until we were curving on the connector as it switched from westbound to eastbound. She chugged at me and began to slow down. I encouraged her that she could make it and she recovered... temporarily. I kept repeating words of encouragement... coaxing her to accept the fact that she could make it to our destination... but she did not listen. We took an early exit (5 exits shy of our the "meet point") and I veered her towards the closest gas station so I could go inside and get some oil to buy some time. She gulped the oil greedily, but protested loudly as I started her up. I called my comrade to let her know she would need to backtrack to pick me up. As I was passing the details on, Ghetto was screaming in pain and agony as my foot pressed down on the gas peddle. She decided that she had had enough and stopped. Just STOPPED! Good thing her wheels were still moving because I was able to pull her into a parking lot... to her grave. It was her last time parking and it was straight, in-between the lines. Sniff, Sniff. She and I had a lot of good times together. I'll call the tow dude tomorrow and hopefully the dealership is open to accept her and let me know the damages. I'm debating whether she should be resurrected or taken out of her misery completely. I'm sure she enjoyed me has her owner/companion, but I should have taken better care of her when it came to those damn things called "oil changes." I accept full responsibility for her death... I have no idea what car I would like to get, but it needs to be done so I can have a car that I can drive on trips and depend on. No car will ever fill GhettoFabulous' shoes... she was definitely one of a kind... Farewell my Sweet!

On the plus side... I had a good time installing hardware! I love touching all the cool machines and plugging stuff in :-) However, I am so exhausted (got home @ 7:15p) that I am unable to shed tears for my loss.

Le Grande Exit

This post is a belated Congratulations to a Mr. Clay, Sierra Nevada boy. He graduated and turned 30 within one week's time! I hope that didn't put too much of a strain on the ol' ticker ;-) To celebrate his oldness/wiseness, a bash was thrown in his honor this past Saturday night. The food was abundant, the beer was flowing (Sierra Nevada... it sure was flowing until the keg got tapped out) and there was plenty of liquor to be enjoyed by all. The hot buttered rums were especially delicious... especially considering I had to finish Elle's drink for her for the SECOND TIME! What a lightweight ;-) Ah well, I gotta use my alcoholic talents for good rather than evil... hehehehe Anywho, during the night I ended up chattin' it up with 2 fellas who were on opposite ends of the male spectrum. One was a polite gentleman who brought me a beer even though I declined the initial offer - he was a good chatter. And the second one was an admitted COPS lover who I was able to toss shit at and he was able to volley right back. Well... after the party was winding down (the guest of honor had to be put to bed... great story there) Miss Elle and I made our lovely exit to dear GhettoFabulous. It seems that both our entry and exit held very interesting stories...

Entry
We had arrived to the party's supposed address, but there was no apparent number on the house. After going up the stairs (and upon close inspection) we saw a number on the house and entered. However, upon entry... I did not recognize one single damn person there! Elle and I panicked... she said, "Hurry, look at the pictures (there were picts in the living room) do you recognize anybody?" We both breathed sighs of relief when I did recognize some people in the pictures. Seeing Muscles' wife confirmed we were at the right location.

Exit
Elle speaks her mind and that's what I TOTALLY love about her. However, sometimes the speaking can occur at the wrong time. So... as we're leaving the party and traveling down the house's sidewalk. She brings up the 2 boys who I was chatting with. In reference to the "boy", she said that he and I were acting like 7th graders because of our constant bantering back and forth. In reference to the "nice guy", she said that he should have asked for my number. Well... it just so happened that when we arrived at my car, we looked up the street and saw a group of boys walking toward their truck... aaahhhhhh! They had been walking stealth mode behind us the whole time!! I actually thought the whole thing was pretty damn hilarious :-)

Bookworm

Lately, I’ve returned to my first and ultimate passion: reading. Every once in a while, I will get a hold of a book that will drive me absolutely mad with addiction! I want to read it all the time, I think about what is going to happen next, I wonder about the characters, etc. The current love is “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand. I am enthralled and enraptured, held captive by the story as it unwinds. It has me staying up late… reading along even though my eyes are heavy and I’m telling myself, “Just one more section and I’ll turn off the light and go to sleep…” But then something cur-razy happens and I’m held hostage. When I get caught up in a book like this, I breeze through so I can get to the end and then I get pissed off at myself for finishing so soon… I should have read slower so I could treasure each and every word, situation, character… but then that wouldn’t be me :-) Let’s see… dog (modern woman’s cat), books, time alone… I must say that I am totally enjoying spinsta life!

Motion
Onto the motion picture side of things… I saw Sideways this past Sunday and LOVED IT! It had humor, beautiful scenery and an excellent storyline. Then I saw Closer this past Monday with Miss Elle. This movie had me floored. I can honestly say I have not seen a flick where I felt I was seeing my past relationship scenes playing before me. Natalie Portman’s character was crying as she was asking Jude Law’s character questions I had asked before. Julia Roberts’ character was making statements I myself had said to my ex during heated arguments. This movie painted the brute force of what relationships can be and how they can play out. The fact that it truly hit the nail on the head goes to show that there are definitely universal patterns in relationships.

DUUDDDEEE… can’t believe Christmas is NEXT WEEK!!! I better get a Christmas list made so I can do some shopping – last minute shopping can be such a rush :-)

Premature Pissed-Off Mode

Returned to my desk from a meeting to find I had an unread thread in my Gmail. The subject read, "Imibe TONIGHT !!! DAB" and it was from a David Andrews. Who was this David and why was he telling me to drink and calling me a dumb ass bitch!?! I was starting to get pissed of until I read through the email and remembered signing up for email announcements from the David Andrews Band (DAB). They really need to re-think their acronym... That's all I gotta say about that!

Turd Bird
I received the most wonderful email yesterday from a kind person who I had forgotten about. His greeting got me to thinking... I had been so caught up with what I don't have and dealing with people who weren't worth time/effort - that I didn't stop to think about what I DO have. Wonderful friends, nurturing family, doting dog, cozy house, fabulous co-workers, etc. etc.
Lesson: revisit/appreciate what you have instead of focusing on what you don't have.

An appropriate business analogy would be: it's easier to maintain current customer relationships (i.e. adding new services to existing ones, providing excellent/consistent customer service) than to spend time/money/effort to gain new customers.

Very Interesting Find Watson...

Hot Online Item - Buy 'em while they're hot and you're cold!
I was on Costco.com the other day and I saw something quite peculiar... Costco sells CASKETS online!! I knew my Costco card would serve me; even in death...

Fave New Word - maladroit
Main Entry: mal·adroit
Pronunciation: "ma-l&-'droit
Function: adjective
Etymology: French, from Middle French, from mal- + adroit
: lacking adroitness : INEPT
synonym see AWKWARD
- mal·adroit·ly adverb
- mal·adroit·ness noun

Main Entry: adroit
Pronunciation: &-'droit
Function: adjective
Etymology: French, from Old French, from a- (from Latin ad-) + droit right, droit
: having or showing skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness in handling situations
synonym see CLEVER, DEXTEROUS
- adroit·ly adverb
- adroit·ness noun

~Hmmmm, let's see... am I having a maladroit day or an adroit day? Let's shake the ol' magic 8 ball...

01010 Tidbits & Bits & Bytes 10101

I've been staying true to my latest mantra of "Lay Low".

Thursday
Mid-morning, went to see my former PM's new bundle of male joy. This was the first time I had ventured into a maternity ward. It was overwhelming to see all the new little bundles of joy with open futures, to be shaped/molded by their parents. Did have a 12-year-old boy moment when I saw there was a door labeled, "Lactating Room". Silent Beavis/Butthead giggles. The baby was very precious and I did another first - held a newborn baby. They are pretty amazing little creatures... so dependent. I predict much success for that little man :-) Great start because he has such a kickass name...

Thursday evening was a delightful time spent with Katy Kat, enjoying 1st Thursday festivities. That included: traipsing from gallery to small stores, to galleries, to Louie's, yadda yadda. At each stop, we would drink whatever wine was offered and check out the goods. One of my favorite galleries was the Lisk. On display were awesome trees on metal (that's the best description I can come up with). For some reason, I always enjoy trees in art. Then I saw a great painting which I was very tempted to purchase. It was titled, "Color of Kissing." It was a small painting of two mouths; the man's was on the left and appeared more closed; the woman's was on the right and appeared open and giving. I felt she was more open to him and he just wanted to take from her. The painting would have been more sweet if the man was equally open or perhaps going for a bottom-lip nibble :-) Home before 10p. Called to ensure Katy Kat got a ride home and ended up waking dear Elle - damn phone! I'm still getting used to my kickass new phone.

Friday
Work was crazy. A project I've been managing always seems to have issues arise because we are dealing with a 3rd party vendor who we need to coordinate with on a number of items. Interesting... great learning experience :-) Hit sushi with Elle and then a nightcap drinky at Bittercreek. I was soooooo happy... they FINALLY have hot buttered rum... one of my fave winter drinks! Home by 10:30p.

Saturday
Ran errands with the boy. Got The Fountainhead from the Library! and plan to get goin' on it. Visited with Grandma and then went home to work on the ol' yard. It doesn't look so bad now; just need to do some more detail work and rake up the dead animals - there is a dead bird in the front lawn and a dead squirrel on the side lawn. I ended up getting a pity discount from the sprinkler blow-out dude because my yard is so fucked up. The previous owner created his own semi-automatic sprinkler schema and I need to scrap it and redo everything next year. That should be a nice project. After clean-up, got the Christmas stuff out and proceeded to decorate the digs. I think Christmas lights really help get into the spirit. Got the countdown calendar, piano is decorated, stockings for Blue and I are hanging on the fireplace, and the mini tree and reindeer are out. Blue didn't seem to like it when I left the Christmas lights on for the night, ah well.

Sunday
Today started out pretty cool. Went to Costco w/Grandma to get my Christmas present: a digital camera. The one I had in mind was online only, so I found one there which was not only cheaper, but the specs far out-ranked my previous choice. Here are brief stats of my new toy: 6.3 MP, 4x Optical Zoom, 6.3x Digital Zoom, 2 different battery chargers, movie mode with sound, 2.0" LCD, and it's very sleek/beautiful.

Returned to Grandma's to see not 1, but 2 trucks in her driveway: my bro's and my ex's. My bro's friend was in town and the 3 had gone out the previous night. They were over to hang lights for my grandma. Interesting... see my ex, see bro's friend who's liked me for years, and then be cool the whole time. I was surprised, but handled everything fine... like a damn pro :-)

I'm enjoying the whole lay-low life. Less complicated, more peaceful, more inner happiness, and Blue enjoys my company :-)

"What´s so great about the truth? Try lying for a change -- it´s the currency of the world." Closer