Worked like a mad person. I have to start eating lunch as feeling a little under the weather, however the heat and humidity preclude wanting to eat. Conundrum.

Finally got my machine back to some kind of crippled, scaled-down "I can deal with it until Thursday when I have time to reformat" order after spending SIX FREAKEN HOURS working on it.

Ran to the store and bought a pie and some cookies in case the family wanted to come back to our house after dinner (was NOT about to cook after all that).

Went to dinner with the horde: Mom, me, my oldest sister (with her husband, her two daughters, and her oldest daughter's roommate John), my 2nd oldest sister (with her daughter and son, her husband works nights), and my 3rd sister (with her daughter and son, her husband also works nights), my great-aunt, my mom's cousin from Baltimore, his wife, and his brother.

No one wanted to come back to the house. I now have a pie and some cookies.

And, I finally got to post news for the first time since last night, although I'm afraid any news email that might have come in from about 5am until around 4:30pm was lost to the ether. $^@^$#!% thing hijacked all my mail accounts and changed the incoming and outgoing to an unknown IP address that I in my stupidity didn't write down before deleting it.

I started a John Le Carre' book and couldn't be bothered, it was just going nowhere and I found it depressive. Hmmpf. I hope Frederick Forsyth does a little better.

Woken up and gone to work and wish hadn't!

And start typing in the brainstorming I am having.......

Hmm, got up, eventually, got to work, drank a fair amount of coffee, makes no difference any more....



writing a DR proposal......

Have to start early today toi avoid the potential rain this afternoon. Bollocks.

Refrain myself from chopping a work mate's head off for interfering into my job.....

Good call.

Decided once and for all to find a job with way better pay, that is a challenge for me and utilitzes more of my skills. I am so torqued wih the way the company is run it is now interfering with my health and positive attitude. I must leave, period.

Found out that my parents' house might be getting an offer soon. The house has been on the market about a week.

I don't want them to sell!!! I need some free storage space!!

Drove to work. BSed around the computer a bunch. Now I'm fighting off falling asleep in my cubicle... Just want to go home and hang out with my Sam...

Did you notice how the pro's whack the ball into the crowd and then get a free drop back onto the light rough? No wonder they card low scores.

Had to unf00k the 'upgrade' that Verizon imposed on me. Now I'm back up finally. Hopefully this'll mean less sporadic outages in the future.

Lost a piece of turkey in my keyboard.

Ugh.

we don't have a crowd though, unless you count the green keeper crying into his flat cap....

Loadin, monsoon, home. Still raining.

I'm about to get dinner in a bit, then a nap, then back to work (where hopefully it'll stop raining long enough for us to load out the show. It was ugly coming out of the truck when it was sunny and 89F with 86% humidity...I cannot even imagine loading it back in during a severe thunderstorm.

People that don't go when the light turns green. What, you waiting for a different colour of green, maybe? Jerks.

LOL! Looking for the "something to vent" thread, were you?

That's what I did. Got mad. LOL. Thanks Felix.

I picked my son and 2 friends, in my truck of course, from a school they were skating at, and noticed a cop pull into the parking lot as I was leaving. Well, he followed me out and pulled me over. All the boys were in the back of the truck (only 3/4 mile to go to home). It seems that no one under 19 can ride in the back of a truck in Texas. One of the kids was 19 so told him to get in the back, and the other 2 to get inside. The cop was nice and let me off, saying "I bet you don't have far to go". I thanked him, and went on my merry way.

flew back from 29 Palms, CA....


.. and boy are my arms tired!

Actually, on the way out there and back I was in 1st class. I think I'm gonna like the new travel agent.

Dinner, no nap. Went back to work, which didn't turn out nearly as bad as it could've (was a LOT concerned when I got of the freeway and drove back into the monsoon, which had stopped at my house). Got done at 2:05am, which is 5 minutes too late to buy beer...but since we were working at the club I got a couple anyway.

Now home, about to crash for good, since it's 3:45am.

Went to work as usual with additional brainstorming....then about to attend a Deaf IT Forum this afternoon.....ah bliss to be away from work for few hours!

I might not have to work today as it is currently raining. (praying hands.)

Got a VPN connection sorted out into one of our subsidaries' system. Currently I'm killing their terminal server with a series of huge data queries.

Wanted to keep sleeping. Got ready for work. Decided to forego the very tight pants and changed into a skirt.

Woke myself up several times throughout the night coughing my lungs out...which continues throughout this morning.

Found myself wondering how the bloody hell I EVER smoked, because that's what's causing it... Worked yesterday in the club, which allows smoking, which in turn means during the entire loadin most people were chainsmoking while we worked (which I've always hated anyway...you can't do your share of the work with a cigarette in one hand), the entire building was full of smoke when I got there, and then they were all chainsmoking again during the loadout.

That was the only good part of the rain...no one could smoke for about 20 minutes.

Edit:
Can't spell today.

I have been slowly working through my to-do list...

1. Called my real estate agent and left a message.
2. Call the notary with some information.
3. Printed out maps for Saturday night's bridal shower.
4. Called to RSVP for a barbecue.
5. Made a pedicure appointment.
6. Looking for bridal shower games.

Went to the local Deaf IT Forums to discuss few ideas, and then went home in thunderstorm! Huh!

Logged on.....

Hit the alarm way too many times after only getting 3.5 hours of sleep. Cuddled with Samantha, got up and ready for work. Got here about 9:20am. BSed around, doing minimal work. Went to lunch with my cube-mate, BSed around and took our time coming back to work. Now I'm in the process of BSing some more because the work I'm supposed to do was supposed to be done a month and a half ago by someone else who is a first class space cadet, so I'm not about to bust my ass trying to fix her problems...

Is it Friday yet? Better yet, Friday at 5pm yet? (Tomorrow's gonna suck as two VPs are down in our satellite office for a staff meeting tomorrow, so we all have to pretend to be extra professional.)

Dealt with Verizon AGAIN on the fact that my phone doesn't work. They're opening a trouble ticket for me, and if I don't hear back by Tuesday I should call them again. This is trouble ticket #17 for the exact same problem over a three-year period.

Called the electric company after I found out there's a tree limb hanging from my lines. They'll be out "some time soon" to take care of that for us.

Made a most excellent dinner, complete with pie for dessert.

<begin week-and-a-half catchup mode>

Monday 12 July: flew out to Twentynine Palms, CA by way of Atlanta, LAX, Palm Springs, and a 45-minute drive into the heart of the Mojave. Flew First Class from Atlanta to LA and in true Buffett fashion, was "on his third drink before the wheels of the plane left the ground". Arrived Palm Springs about 10pm and stepped out into the night air and _literally_ felt like I was standing in front of an oven.

On flight into Palm Springs <turboprop job> notice _very_ sultry, statuesque brunette attendant after she started damn near purring the inflight brief into the intercom. Rowr!! . Become very amused as she darn near heckled the idiot 13-year-olds in the emergency exit row:

"if you're under 15, you may not occupy an emergency exit row..... hello..... everyone, please look for the emergency exit sign. Now, if you're not 15 or older, you must move......... .......... everyone who can not drive a car, please raise your hand...... ....... ...... ....... now I am afraid." <a vague paraphrasing, but you get the idea>.

After a particularly skittish final approach and HARD, bouncing landing, she got on the intercom and thanked us:

"we at Delta Connection would like to thank you for flying with us this evening, and for participating in our bi-annual shock-testing of the landing gear.... ..... ..... the captain would like to remind you that any landing you can walk away from, is a good one"

Looks, a sultry voice, and a great sense of humor. The wife would just have to understand.

13-14 July: stand around with our collective thumbs up our nether-regions waiting for the headshed to make a decision they should have made in the last 6 months about whether or not the project could proceed. Ah, contracting.....

15-18 July: work a ridiculous schedule, approximately 60 hours in 4 days on top of the time we'd already spent. This included a 8 hour drive to and from another facility to do some work there. Luckily, I didn't have to drive. Found a used book store on the way back, and added greatly to my Asimov and Clancy collections for the price of 4 paperbacks.

19 July: half day of busywork, followed by about 6 hours of trekking around the Joshua Tree National Monument. HIGHLY recommend Keys Point if you should ever go.

20 July: outbriefing day. Ordered to stay out of sight. Aye, sir.

21 July: back home, by way of Palm Springs, SLC, and Atlanta. First Class again! :: hic! :: ::

today: not much of didley. Comped out the longish days I spent in the air <due to contractual agreements with our sponsor>, took the kid to get his haircut <lest the wife scalp him with the clipper again>..... and just heard the little rogue sneak past my office and take my side of the bed. Doh!

Went to Walmart this evening and stocked up on Castrol, bought a set of cheap Sony Xplod 6.5" speakers to replace the fried rear speakers in my XJ, and bought 3 Buffett CDs <"Living and Dying in 3/4 Time","FruitCakes" <FINALLY!!>, and "Jimmy Buffett". A good day, for that alone...

Looks at top of page. Did we rename this the life story thread???
Of course being the good buddy you are, you gave that fetching bint my phone number. What do you mean no??
Miserable so and so. Hmmpf. LOL.

Got to work and forgot to bring the monies so would have to go back home at lunch time.....bah!

Reformatted. Caught up on updates. Installed some but not all of my software.

Discovered that my Yahoo, ICQ, and MSN contacts are GONE somehow.

It's a good way to prune your lists The people you talk to most will message you!!

I am zipping through the rest of my to-do list today!! The only pressing things left are to buy party decorations, maybe some beverages, and a birthday suitcase!! Oh, and I need to write a piece of advice to the bride-to-be!

True...except I had a couple of contacts I don't talk to often, but really need to keep in touch with. Damn it.

Darn!!

I picked up a coconut bra for $3 today. Woo!

Shower stuff is pretty much set Just need to get some last minute stuff on Sunday morning (like decorations and the cake) and maybe pick up some bevvies and ice.

Mowed with my new riding lawnmower for the first time.

Nice lawnmower, now to make it faster

Great purchase

Worked, sweated, came home, showered, contemplated my navel lint but that tired me out and was too confusing. Maybe I'll just watch the ceiling fan whirl around.

Cared about someone, enough to maybe make that person angry with me.

I did my 2nd bungee jump earlier, it was being held in the castle grounds where the annoying music festival was being held, I saw it and thought why not....

Slowly descended into madness...

Woke up, had breakfast, showered, returned phone calls, would like to go back to bed.

Just heard screamin outside. Found a fox outside with my cat. I am not sure if they were checking each other out or the fox was looking for dinner. They sure made a lot of noise and scared teh hell out of me. My cat is declawed and fat. She didnt seem scared so I dont know what was going on.

Sounds like you broke up a tryst, if she wasn't scared.....

Went to work on 1 hour 45 minutes sleep. Did a loadin, two rehearsals, a show, and a loadout, 8am to 11pm, with one 15-minute coffee break and two one-hour meal breaks. Did get in a few catnaps during the rehearsals, but not nearly enough sleep.

Am now dead.

Will be sleeping soon, so I can get up early to go to work again tomorrow.

over the last 3 days:

looked at no less than a dozen different retail stores for a simple freakin' pair of black jeans. Noone has any. WTF?

It's not the '90s anymore. Sorry.

I didn't do crap today. Talked to some friends on the phone, chatted via MSN, and watched a little TV. Should've cleaned my garage - but nope.

Oh well.