Kingfisher Cove

Doin' the Snow Dance

We're trying to feel optimistic around here that this very warm (and moist drenching) weather system is just a fluke that will be going b'bye any day now.  Then the snow can return to the currently bare-bones mountains so that 1) the ski resorts can reopen and 2) we won't have a dire water shortage come summer.  Oh!  And of course 3) So we can go snowmobiling!

In preparation for our optimism, we're planning our annual snowmobiling get-away for President's Day week in February.  That's a month away, so things should improve by then, dontcha think?  To be on the safe side, we've opted to go to Montana this year.  It just seems that we shouldn't go wrong there, although the snow's been melting in them thar mountains, too.  Jeesh. 

Lolo Pass Hotsprings is where we're heading, which is about 40 miles south of Missoula.  JDub and I have been there before, and we've experienced so-so conditions as well as pretty darned decent conditions.  It's a beautiful and fun place, and when conditions are good, you can sled right from the lodge onto the 350-mile trail system.  And when you return, you can soak in the hotsprings!  Mmm.  Our sleddin' buddy N and his son NK, plus a couple we've met through our buddy N will all be going.  Plus, we have friends who live quite close to Lolo (they were the people who originally introduced JDub to snowmobiling), and we're hoping to hook up with them, too.  OK, so now we're all doing the "snow dance".  C'mon c'mon c'mon!

JDub worked at Da Airplane Company all day today and has to again tomorrow.  Ugh, to work two weeks without a day off?  Plus, he has to be at work by 5:30 a.m.  Double-ugh.  He's going to be a draggin' puppy dog -- actually he already is.  I relaxed all day long today (well, except I did go to Curves this morning).  It was like the past few weeks really caught up to me.  I napped some with weenie dogs, and it was nice because it was dreary and wet and miserable outside and it just seemed like the perfect thing to do.  Tomorrow I'll need to accomplish some things around here.

Oh!  Good news!  JDub was finally able to fix that nasty hijacker on my computer.  Beware of the "About:blank" bug that piggy-backs on free downloads and (likely) music downloads.  Stay away from Webshots, or those freebee smiley icons!  Bad Bad!

This 'n That

I'm going to try really hard today to not bitch, moan, whine, rant, or otherwise carry on NEGATIVELY.  Oh, there's plenty of fodder out there, but I'm going to make a point to be POSITIVE.  It's now Friday evening, and I'm tellin' myself:  Life is Good.  Here's a positive thought:  We are now into the official count-down of the end of the Bush Administration!!  Can I hear a resounding hallelujah?

And we won't discuss the fact that my computer is back to being hijacked, no we won't.  I'll just calmly click off those hundred million thousand gazillion pop-up ads and agreeably ignore the penis enlargement home page take-over and halt the vulgarity spewing from my lips (making the dogs bark like rabid beasts), yessireee.  (So, why does the word "vulgarity", or its root word "vulgar" look/sound a bit like "vulva"?  Who named the female body parts anyway?  Seems rather suspicious to me.  They aren't necessarily...comfortably spoken.  And I don't mean because of Victorian or current fundamentalist prudishness about female body parts, but it's kind of like the word "yogurt".  The word is unappealing.  Know what I mean?) 

Somewhat relating to this subject, I recommend reading today's hilarious Dooce post: http://www.dooce.com/archives/daily/01_21_2005.html  I laughed my LIPS off.  Hee.

And speaking Dooce, I've been thinking a bit lately about the possibility out there of being "Dooced".  If you've followed her blog, you know that she was fired from her job because she "negatively blogged" about work stuff.  I'd heard about this a while ago, and I thought, "Well, blogging was a pretty new thing at that time, and obviously she mentioned the name of company and somebody Googled and discovered her blog."  Well, that wasn't the case.  The name of her company was never mentioned.  (Do you notice that these days companies are run a lot like Saddam Hussein used to run Iraq?)  I've made a point NOT to let anyone know at work that I have a blog.  Only one person knows, and she has a blog, too.  And we've both agreed to keep this a secret from co-workers). 

What's a bummer, though, is that this is the perfect venue to vent about work.  Work is so much of what our lives are and what we do, and what we deal with.  What about the right to freedom of expression?  Do employers really have that kind of power, to thwart that? I think that never mentioning company or co-workers' names is common sense, but even if we follow these rules and somebody encounters our blog and recognizes the company or personalities of certain employees, they can legally do this?  What's next, if we smoke or drink in our own homes and a company is opposed to such vices and we're found out -- can they fire us then?

Well!  I've been rambling!  And I ended up not being as "positive" as I intended to be. 

$40 Million to Toot His Own Horn, But...

(I purloined this from a Seattle TV station's website's commentator)

January 20, 2005

By Ken Shram

$40 million.

That's the bill for the big inaugural party.

I don't know what that $40 million pays for, but I know what's not on the tab.

Sumner High School. [This is a high school in a small town in Washington state]

Back in December, the Sumner High School marching band was invited to be part of the inaugural festivities.

Needless to say, the kids were thrilled, excited and honored.

The invitation was last minute though, so school officials had to decline.

Seems they didn't have an extra $125,000 laying around.

$125,000 is what Sumner would have had to pay for airfare, hotel rooms, meals and transportation around the nation's capitol.

Now, I'm thinking: With $40 million dollars to spend, why would the President stick Sumner - along with every other high school band in the country - with the bill for being part of his inaugural gala?

Is it because $40 million just doesn't go as far as it used to?

Maybe it's because the President knows - hell, we all know - that schools are rolling in money.

Maybe it's because Mr. Bush figures that spending $125,000 so that he can tap his toes to high school band music is waaaaayyyy better than spending $125,000 to hire new teachers, or subsidize Sumner's full-time kindergarten program for almost a year.

Yep.

No Child Left Behind.

As long as they're damn well ready and able to pay their own way.

Hijacked!

Well, my evening, which I always look very forward to, has been just as sucky as my work-day!  I've been fighting with my computer for hours because it was hijacked with some venomous version of spyware/adware that just would NOT go away!  I ran Spybot, AdAware, and even downloaded the new Beta Microsoft spyware killer, and my opening page would still continuously go to this spammy penis enlargement page (even though my home page is MSNBC, which I kept resetting it to, which was totally ignored).  And on top of that, pop-ups EVERYWHERE.  And I have two relatively kick-ass pop-up killers, and they were being over-ridden.  What a helpless (and infuriating) feeling!  It does seem to be working now, although I'm holding my breath.  JDub got on there and one of the pop-ups crashed and an error message appeared that neither of us have ever seen before asking if we wanted to disable this add-on?  Hell yes!  I think we just got lucky.  What a friggin' ordeal!

Bottom line?  This kind of SHIT is evil.  What possesses PEOPLE to create such malicious havoc?  Like being annoyed out of my f*&$%@! mind is going to encourage me to click on a pop-up or peruse penis enlargement ads?  Spammers are bad enough, but at least you can delete them or block them and not have them ruin your entire evening (or computer).  Why do humans create such misery for each other when nature creates enough of it on its own?  Humans have the power to prevent a lot of life's miseries!  Why does it have to be so damned bad?  Is it all about greed?  Not being raised with being taught what's right and what's wrong?  Inter-breeding?  Jeeze! 

YES I'm in full-on whine mode.  I'm about to have a brain explosion from work being so very busy and stressful.  (I have two nasty projects going simultaneously now, and it's everything I can do to keep from getting all the details confused).

Deep breath. 

And just like that, it's bed time.

Nine Layers

This was kind of fun -- I purloined it from Ellen's Nest.

LAYER ONE:

Name: Tonny

Birthplace: Tacoma, Washington

Birthdate: June 1, 1956

Current Location: South Seattle, Washington

Eye Color: Blue-gray

Hair Color: Blonde

Height: 5' 3”

Righty or Lefty: Righty

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

LAYER TWO:

Your heritage: German mostly (Otherwise Heinz 57)

The shoes you wore today: My brown stylin’ leather boots

Your weakness: chocolate chip ice cream

Your fears: Logging/semi trucks on the freeway

Your perfect pizza: Chicken, broccoli, and artichoke

Goal you'd like to achieve: Write a novel

LAYER THREE:

Your most overused phrase on AIM: Don’t use AIM

Your first waking thoughts: Oh shit, it’s time to get up

Your best physical feature: Legs from the knees down

Your most missed memory: Nate’s littleness and his dimpled elbows

LAYER FOUR:

Pepsi or Coke: Diet Pepsi

McDonald's or Burger King: Don't go there

Single or group dates: Either

Adidas or Nike: I wear Filas to Curves :o)

Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Prefer green tea

Chocolate or vanilla: Both

Cappuccino or coffee: Latte

LAYER FIVE:

Smoke: Ahem, yeah...

Cuss: When it’s fitting

Sing: I wish

Take a shower everyday: Yup (not a bath person)

Do you think you've been in love: Most definitely

Want to go to college: If I won the lottery today, I would

Liked high school: I had great friends, and I loved band and writing

Want to get married: I did!

Believe in yourself: Sometimes (not often enough?)

Get motion sickness: Can’t read in a moving vehicle

Think you're attractive: Sometimes

Think you're a health freak: No, not a freak about it

Get along with your parent(s): Yes

Like thunderstorms: Yes, they’re exciting (and rare)

Play an instrument: Clarinet and baritone sax

LAYER SIX: In the past month...

Drank alcohol: yes

Smoked: uh, yuh

Done a drug: Prescription only

Made Out: Mmmm

Gone on a date: yeah

Gone to the mall: No! (Not since before Christmas – for OTHERS!)

Eaten an entire box of Oreos: No way!!  Eeewww!

Eaten sushi: No, but I’d like to

Been on stage: Life's a stage (I like this one, Ellen, so I’m keeping it)

Been dumped: Thank God, no (not yet)

Gone skating: Uh, no

Made homemade cookies: Nope, I’ve been GOOD about not eating bad!

Dyed your hair: Of course

Stolen Anything: Mmm, a cheapy mechanical pencil from work

LAYER SEVEN: Ever...

Played a game that required removal of clothing: Yup, years ago

If so, was it mixed company: Yup, years ago

Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: Hasn't everyone?

Been caught "doing something": Kinda

Been called a tease: Actually, nn…yes

Shoplifted: A couple of Tootsie Rolls when I was about 7

Changed who you were to fit in: Not at all

LAYER EIGHT:

Age you hope to be married: The best – married at 43

Numbers and Names of Children: Nate – 18-1/2

Describe your Dream Wedding: Very nice justice of the peace in the town where I grew up (this isn’t a dream, but reality)

How do you want to die: In my sleep when I’m ancient

Where do you want to go to college: University of Washington if I win the lottery

What do you want to be when you grow up: A successful writer (har!)

What country would you most like to visit: Gosh, everywhere except Antarctica. Actually, even Antarctica would be interesting for a very short time.

LAYER NINE:

Number of drugs taken illegally: One

Number of people I could trust with my life: 5? 8? I dunno!

Number of CDs that I own: Over 200

Number of piercings: One in each ear

Number of tattoos: None

Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper? 8?

Number of scars on my body: Two – from surgeries

Number of things in my past that I regret: One

Dripping

I just got back from working out at Curves and I snapped a picture of myself. 

(I mean it, it's a workout! Even grows hair on your face and makes you look a bit like Nick Nolte's mug shot.)

Speaking of dripping, we had more driving rain today. Flood warnings everywhere -- we're in the midst of a "Pineapple Express", which is a system that comes all the way from (yup) Hawaii, and so the temperatures are really warm, too.  (Well, at least for winter, and especially compared to all those places hovering around 0 or below!)  It was in the mid 50s here today, a bit different from 13 degrees in the mountains on Saturday when we were snowmobiling!  It's now really warm up there, too, so all the snow is melting, which is compounding the rivers and causing havoc. I'm all set to take President's Day week off for a snowmobiling trip to somewhere, but we don't know where that will be because there isn't enough snow anywhere!  Even our favorite Montana haunts are lacking snow.  Things had best change (drastically) within this next month (or I'll be causing havoc!)

So, let's see, what's new besides pouring rain, the proposal from hell, Curves making me sweat but not shedding the pounds in any damned hurry, and the kid continuing to bounce his truck payment checks?  Hmm. (Can you hear the Jeopardy theme song?)

You know, because most of what life's about these days is rather on the negative side of things, what I'd really like to do is to go BUY SOMETHING FUN.  I spent these last couple of months buying stuff for other people for Christmas and I was really pretty careful not to buy anything for myself during that time.  But now, I'd like to let loose a little.  I did buy a lottery ticket today.  (Woohoo).  If I were to go a little whole-hog (hog-wild?), I'd like to get a wireless system and a laptop so I could be anywhere in the house and play (or work) on the computer. I'd like that.  I'm tired of being shut away in this unsavory computer room.  At the very least, I'd like a nice flat screen monitor.  But of course, what I should be doing is socking more money away into my 401k so I can retire sooner.  (Which is kind of like going to Curves: When will I start to reap the benefits from this hardship?)

THIS Is What We're Known For

Now that I've posted this picture, which really DOES show how hard it rained today (see it bounce on the road?  It did that All. Day. Long. Without. Pause.), I realize that this photo is showing a hard SPRING rain.  Yes, we are the Evergreen State, but I believe the foliage in the background is deciduous foliage, which is all currently in the twig stage.  Plus, it was also much, much darker than this throughout the day.  It was downright dreary dead depressing dastardly dark.  (Dastardly?  Where did that come from?)  I actually didn't mind it, if you want the truth, and I'm saying that even though I was caught out in it several times.  Could I EVEN find a parking spot close to the office?  Or close to the little bar & grill where I read during lunch?  Of course not!  Talk about a bad hair day.  But if the weather is going to DO something, I prefer it to do it in a relatively Big Way.  For me, there's nothing I hate worse than drizzle.  Or a blah cloudy day that just sits there.  I mean, DO SOMETHING.  I actually like wind storms!  I don't love them, and they do scare me a little, but they get my heart pumping, unlike those simply cloudy or drizzly days that just sit there, which we experience a lot.  (I'm not talking hurricanes or tornadoes -- that's why I said "relatively" before the Big Way).  And I think freezing rain is a disgusting cop out.  We (and I mean mostly kids, but even us grown-ups to a degree) ACHE for snow around here, which is very hard to come by, and then we get freezing rain instead.  It's like "neener-neener-neener!  Make a snowman outa this!"  How cruel is that?  Poor kids.

I'm actually pretty much fried after yet another full and ultra-focused day of working on this proposal-from-hades.  Will it ever end?  Will it ever be ready to actually PRINT and BIND and kick it out the door?  I am astounded at the gazillion details that go into this.  And if somebody were to come up to me and ask, "What exactly have you done on the proposal?", I'd probably be speechless, or else I'd be making weird, unintelligible noises, because there is no way to sum up all those gazillion details.  They are a glutton glob in my mind, not individual "things" to count off on my fingers on a whim. All I know for certain is that there are a gazillion of them.  So I'd probably say something dorky like, "Well, I've been doing a gazillion things!"  Like that paints a picture.

So... I'm tired, and I'm head-achy, but at least I stopped and got my (fake) nails done tonight on my way home.  It was a toss up:  Curves or nails done?  Since I've been having difficulty keyboarding with the length of my nails (yo7 kn9w wha6 I m4an), I figured I was due.  (I actually "enjoy" having my nails done almost as much as I "enjoy" Curves....)  Huh.  At least my nails immediately LOOK nice.  I wish the results from Curves were as quickly rewarding.

Sunday Night? Already?

I honestly did work some today, but not a whole lot.  (In between doing blog quizzes).  Turns out I was a dork and placed all my electronic files on the wrong end of the FTP site from work, so it wouldn't allow me to download them onto my home computer to work on.  So I did a bunch of editing by hand (yup, the old fashioned way with a red pen!)  It means having to make the actual edits tomorrow, but at least I've done the brain work for that icky task.  Lots more icky tasks to deal with, but just one thing at a time.  I have to keep reminding myself of that.  I also did about oh, a ton of laundry today.  Yay!  JDub and I have clean undies for the week!

Normally I'm a knotted up painful mess the day after snowmobiling, but I felt fine today!  Maybe it's partly due to my Curves workouts, who knows?  It also wasn't a "difficult" riding day, so my body didn't take a lot of abuse (except from freezing half to death).  JDub is sore, though.  During the ride the boys took while I unthawed in the Durango, they got themselves on a trail that was majorly "whoop-de-dooed", which means extremely bumpy and ungroomed.  Trails like that totally suck.  Instead of gliding along?  You BANG.  Over and over and over again.  Often for miles.  Very hard on the body because the snowmobile is more difficult to steer/control, and you bounce violently either on your butt or else on your legs.  This happens when there are a lot of snowmobilers on the trails and they haven't been groomed in a while.  We encounter whoop-de-doos just about everywhere we've been, some worse than others, but yesterday the trails were newly groomed and it wasn't an issue until the boys ventured back out.  So, JDub's been doing a bit of moaning and groaning today.  BUT NOT ME!!

Weather sure warmed up.  B'bye freezing rain!  (Good riddence!)  Looks like we're in for a wet week, though.

And where in hell's name did this weekend go?  (Nope, don't have MLK Day off where I work.  I don't think I ever have).   

Pregnant Again???

You Are 29 Years Old

29 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

This was the age I was when I was pregnant with Nate! 

Thanks to Margaret who is a baby at 28

(Yeah, I'm supposed to be working on my proposal.  Can you say:  "Stall"?)

I'm a Foker, I Mean Folkie

You are a Folkie. Good for you.

What kind of Sixties Person are you?
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