8.31.2002
Whee. Signed sealed and delivered, it's mine! Car checks out, and the flight is booked. Im psyched!
The Polish people next door to us are having a party and they are out in the back yard singing Polish gospel songs of some sort. There's about 20 of them right outside my bedroom window. It reminds me of the kind of song you'd hear a group of people singing as they walk single file down a dusty mountain road, away from their homeland carrying their belongings on a mule. It's really quite quaint.
But then they end the song and laugh their asses off and clink their glasses of "whatever" and toast. I think they're all pretty loaded.
Well, there's some fun going on here. Ready? I finally got a new car. Not new. Old new. It's a fabulous little Elantra Wagon, 1997. No more stalling out in the intersection. No more sounding like a bus. No more expired plates. Here it is: (this is the exact one)
Isn't she lovely?
There's only one tiny problem. I have to go here to get it:
Yes, that's Washington DC.
Believe me, it's worth it. Even with airfare. Sooo...it appears that I (or we) will be flying to our nation's fine capitol on September 14 to pick up my wonderful new car, and drive it back to Colorado.
I'm jazzed.
There's been some moving and shaking over at the old recommended list. Let me tell you about the additions.
Escribitionist is just a great journal. She's fun. Trust me.
Nosuch is an addicting read. He's an American getting ready to marry a German woman that he met through his blog. They're on the societal fringe - especially sexually. (can i hear a resounding me too! me too! ?) There's all kinds of collars and orgasmic deprivation going on over there, in the midst of a normal day to day life. It's fun.
Susan*jayne is an offshoot of another blog, easy bake coven. It's her blog #2..a little more personal.
I hope you people are reading some of these. They are fabulous.
Fun on the way.
We're going to a party at my friend Tom's house on Sunday afternoon. I can't wait - he's got a great house and really fun friends. YeeHaw. I'll take pictures.
More Marlas.
Emma decided she did not want to go to bed nicely tonight. She got upset and put her Marla'sinabasket in front her face and started whining and heading towards the stairs. She tripped and hit her face on the table..and now we think she might have a black eye. We didn't beat her, I promise. She'll tell you all about it. There's no "peeuuww" in the story tho..and yes she still uses that word when you ask her what happened to her head. "Denny was working on the tomato hut and peeuuw".
8.30.2002
Just watched the Chris Rock HBO special for probably the 10th time. I never tire of it..it's so damn funny.
Had coffee and 'scream. Delish.
We're going to the Taste of Colorado tomorrow. Always fun, I think I've gone almost every year. It's expensive as hell, but we eat before we go so we aren't tempted. I just like to walk around and "see stuff". It's not as good as the The People's Fair but we missed that this year cause we were in Atlanta. Should be fun. Traffic will be a bitch, cause the Grand Prix is also going on downtown. Vroom!
Amanda is on the phone and I'm hot and she won't let me get off.
Notice anything? No banner.
Im now a blogger super dooper plus user. I've been searching for a web hoster, and this offered everything I wanted, without the bells and whistles I didn't. I can move my website and finally start using the domain name I bought. I can ftp pics right to my blog and go completely nuts. I have 100mg of space. I better make some coffee.
I can't believe that 80% of Rape Kits are not processed because it costs $500 to do each one, and police departments don't have the money. 20/20 did an exposure piece, processed a few kits that Baltimore police had laying around - some for up to 12 years. 3 rapists were caught. 1 murderer was caught. And one man was let out of prison, having been falsely accused and convicted many years ago.
Countless women are told that no conclusive results came from their kits, yet they sit on shelves unprocessed.
The National Rape Evidence Project (NREP) is a national campaign founded by Howard Safir, former Police Commissioner for the City of New York. This project collects and distributes private funds to local law enforcement agencies to support expedited DNA testing for up to 500,000 rape evidence collection kits currently stored in police departments across the U.S. It also increases public awareness of the number of backlogged kits and the need for systematic change in order to prevent the backlog from recurring.
I just wrote them a check. It wasn't a lot, cause I don't have a lot. I'm wishing some of you would do the same.
National Rape Evidence Project
C/O ChoicePoint Foundation
1000 Alderman Drive
Alpharetta, GA 30005
Blah. What am I doing? Nothing. Babysitting Marlas...that's all Im doing.
Marla's are Emma's little plastic kittens in crates that must go everywhere emma goes. When she tires of them, they get ferreted out to various family members for "looking after". And if you should dare leave one somewhere precarious or god forbid forget about looking after it, you will get railed for it. She just came and told me I left my Marlas all alone and that they are crying. This is my exciting Friday night.
There's cats fighting out back. Im sure mine's in the mix somewhere. Reeear!
Im so bored.
Got up just a few minutes ago, and only because I had to talk to the special ed teacher at Daniel's school. His middle school last year tried to completely mainstream him and his grades plummeted. This year his new school is taking a much more "Daniel oriented" role and I'm loving it! They're moving him into an english class that his teacher feels he'll be more successful in, even tho it may be beneath him. Then he can concentrate on the harder classes that he has to pass inn order to move on to 10th grade, like governement. This is what I've been saying all along to his teachers previously. He took the initiative the first week of school to go to his math teacher and tell him that he was hopelessly lost..and he helped him move into a lower class. I was so proud of Daniel for doing that instead of just floundering and failing. Katie was pretty much in the same position in 9th grade, except her problems wasn't classes per se..it was attending the classes. She ran a way for a few days and when she came back, she was a whole different person. Now she's nearly straight A and joinging Spanish Club. Awesome.
Ok, someone is whining that they need attention. No it isn't Emma.
Daniel brought home a great paper today. 10 pts out of 10 with a note from the teacher that said "Good summary".
Yee haw.
And Katie is joining the Spanish club. Right on.
8.29.2002
Feeling a little better today. Last night was not great. Up a few times..burning up with a fever. Mark was so kind, putting a fan on me, rubbing my back and getting some cold water at 3 in the morning. It helped me cool down and calm down, and finally got some decent sleep. I woke up late tho. I think I'm having vacation syndrome. After today, gone till September 5. yahoo, mtn dew.
We did end up playing scrabble, I lost of course. I give him a lot of leeway tho, just cause I dont want to argue about words like "pax" and "raj". I figure if he's gonna give me a passionate argument about it, hell..let him have it. He always wins anyway.
Lots of loose ends to tie up here at work. later gator.
8.28.2002
Ultra blah. Not bloggin.
Im not feeling good. Just trying to get through the week and stay away from everyone.
Mark wants to play scrabble. I should just concede now and get it over with.
8.27.2002
Dammit.
Session Start (AIM - Danelle:zCO): Tue Aug 27 18:02:03 2002
zCO: gail called me today.
*** Auto-response from Danelle: I'm here, but doing stuff. brb.
*** zCO signed off at Tue Aug 27 20:23:10:48 2002.
I am working! I hate working at home. It's the tour. The list. Oh god.
Someday I will tell you about the ball list. The booklover's Ball. Thisevent is insane. Did I write about it last year? Lemme go see.
10-9-01
"The Ball is Friday. Black Tie. Biggest event of the year for the Library. Isn't that pathetic? We're both volunteering. Man, I hope things are cool. Cause I just don't feel like they are right now. It's a sold out event and tickets were $10,000 per table of ten. Geees, some people have w-a-y too much money. "
then
10/14/01
"The Ball was..blah. Mark ended up leaving. Long story. Just blah."
Now I remember. That was very blah. Big misunderstanding. I thought that was it.
I remember now, my apartment was getting broke into regularly around Ball time..so that was my focus. I hate going back andreading old shit. My life truly was a mess, people.
also found this there:
"Went to sweetcherrie.com and took a test. Turns out my perfect rockstar boyfriend is Kurt Cobain. How fitting. My perfect boyfriend committed suicide."
I really would rather remand all those memories to some dark recess that is unreachable. I seriously cannot go back and read blogs from last year. The V mess, the SFO mess, the compost woman, the 53 mess..and of course the Asian Invasion. Among many others.
Here and now. To go, please.
...I might have missed it all
But for mistakes I made
So many times I've tried to change things out of my control.
The jealousy and all the rage that swallowed me up whole.
The years that I spent loving those who did not feel the same.
The times I didn't trust myself, with only me to blame.
These things have taught me what is real
How to laugh, how to cry, how to love
without regret and when to say hello..or goodbye
I know whatever comes my way.. my dues have all been paid.
For you would not be in my life, but for mistakes I made ...
...
Mistakes I Made
~Fran Lucci
Mmm I love it when dinner smells waft through the house.
Barbqueing chicken on George Foreman, and fried potatoes and onions cooking in a skillet. Hello, I'm white trash.
Work has been surprisingly busy. Tomorrow is the last parks tour and I have to go check people in and make sure they're up on all their shots. lol. Should be back to the office around 9:30...then our first staff meeting sans the conch. I'm just counting the hours till vaca.
It rained all day today..what a nice change from the heat. But now it feels sticky. I don't know what's worse. I know these little old ladies are hoping it doesn't rain through the tour tomorrow. Too bad, so sad.
Funny this..our new Board president is a rancher that lives Quite A Ways Out and so we communicate with him largely by email. He's an earthlink customer, and we just found out today earthlink just recently blacklisted a TON of domains (including the library) and is not accepting email from them any longer. If you're on earthlink and not getting certain email, that's why. So earthlink doesn't like email from the Library. We're such spammers, you know.
Gotta go. Dinner's sizzling.
Whee! Another blade buddy, Danny from the UK signed the guestmap. How damn fun is that?
I got up really late, and didn't have time for a shower this morning. Had to rush out of the house in about 12 minutes. I hate that.
I'm busy as hell. The powers that be on the board have heard I am taking a week off starting Friday, and are loading me down beforehand! ack!
It must be lunchtime.
8.26.2002
Im getting transmission through my pc speakers. It does not get louder if I turn them up, so I keep it down and can almost hear..something. I heard ringing. And talking. Lots of male talking.
Maybe it's the Narrator.
"No one is reading this"
"you just had a snack..put that back"
"stop rubbing your eyes and go to bed".
Whenever I start reading an interesting blog, I always read the same things first.
What they wrote recently
what they wrote in their first entry
and what they wrote on 9/11.
Sometimes I read what they wrote on my birthday. Even tho they didn't know.
This is a gem. A blog, and a life in pictures. Wondering how the Non Beef Eaters feel about what he wrote on 6/25. I found it fascinating and unsettling. It's long but worth it. The writing is amazing.
I've been stuck here reading it while trapped in my room after a misunderstanding. No one is budging yet.
"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything."
~Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt)
Fight Club
Found the mystery blog, thanks to Tracy @ serendipity. yay!
Just had lunch, am too full and now sleepy. Fighting..the..urge..to..sleep...
It's time for the Monday Mission:
1. What do you do to make things better when you feel sad and/or lonely?
I don't handle loneliness very well. I usually try to reach out to who ever is around and weasel into what ever they are doing. It's rare that I need "alone time". When Im sad, I talk to Mark. If I'm sad *about* Mark..I still talk to Mark. That's the biggest beauty of our relationship.
2. Are you a "touchy-feely" person? That is, do you like to touch people you don't know that well? And on the flipside of that, do you like being touched by someone you aren't close with?
I am a touchy feely person. I hug people that need it, and touch people when it's appropriate. Mark and I are both big "touchers" and will sit on the couch or in bed for hours (ceiling time!) talking and just rub each other's bodies.
3. Do you like to have "me" time, time to yourself to be alone and relax? Or do you prefer to just do your own thing with someone else in the room? When was the last "me" time you got and what did you do?
When I do have it, and I'm open to it, I like to just sit around and look slovenly and eat out of the pan and drink out of the carton. Watch Jerry Springer and fall asleep on the sofa. Some people would say "Oh, I like to go to a quiet corner and read." But I work at the library..that's regular life for me.
4. Generally speaking, how do you feel about the concept of marriage? Are you the marrying type? Do you think the act of getting married means something today or is it simply just "a piece of paper?"
I used to think it meant something. Now I think of it as just another form of the same commitment. But not necessary.
5. That said, as many as 25 states have passed legislation regulating who they believe should be the "marrying type." What are your thoughts on the banning of same-sex marriages?
I have never understood why anyone who wants to be married can't be. Gay couples, bi-couples, poly couples, men and their dogs. Whatever. Who cares?
6. If there was one law you had the ability to create or change, what would it be?
I would like to make child abuse punishable by the general public, with no restraints on severity.
7. What would you like someone visiting your Blog for the first time to know about you? Now is your chance!
Hm. Mostly that opinions are my own, and Im not trying to convince you of anything. If you think I'm trying to force my opinions on you, you are insecure, vulnerable and moronic..and have no thoughts of your own.
BONUS: Can you hear them? Yes, and I'm trying to ignore them.
8.25.2002
This is gonna sound weird but..Ihope I can find what I'm looking for.
I found a blog some time ago, maybe a week or so. I found the link on someone else's blog..probably one of you. A girl, I can't remember where she's from. She had just recently come to Denver to visit, namely Steamboat Springs. Her name starts with a C I believe. She dates men and women. I loved her writing, and loved her blog and wrote her an email telling her so, and asked if I could link her. She wrote back and said yes. And now I've lost her link. I erased the email. I've looked and looked, and clicked on many links in other people's blogs that I read regularly. can't find it. Does anyone know who I'm talking about?
A good end to a good day.
A wonderful dinner that garnered rave reviews and a few leftovers so I don't have to buy lunch tomorrow. Emma went to bed sweetly, and instead of crying about it in her bed, got up quietly and said she had to go to the bathroom. She had a great evening with Kt and Cha-lie. She initiated another conversation about marriage, too...
"Who am I going to marry?"
"Who do you want to marry?"
"I dont know. Maybe Cha-lie. Why did my mom marry my dad?"
"Cause they wanted to get married, and live together."
"Well who is my mom gonna marry now?"
"I dont know."
"Maybe she can marry Cha-lie too."
Daniel pipes in:
"Who is Nell gonna marry?" (thank you, Daniel - gr)
"She's already married to my dad!"
Me: "Hey, who wants ice cream!"
So coffee and ice cream, Emma to bed..then nuzzling while watching Sex and the City. Life is good.
Tomorrow might be interesting. Everyone trying to get back on track after the conch has been lost. Friday was shell-shock day, now the regular work sits waiting. Am fighting the urge to slink in late.
The Brit and the midget are in the hoouusse. Emma ran and said "I missed you SO much Nell!" aaww.
Daniel and I made some grand progress in my bedroom. We can actually see floor. All the clothes are hung up, trash is out..and pictures are hung. Getting there.
Now we're headed to the store to get sour cream and milk. Fajitas for dinner..gotta have sour cream. I'm looking forward to a do nothing evening. Bad tv tonight. yummmy.
Mark just left to go get the midget. He told Katie on his way out that he hoped she had a good nights sleep, cause she wasn't going to get a nap today.
Emma loves Katie. Follows her around like a lost puppy. And if Katie should happen to tell Emma that she needs some private time, you'd have think someone just told Emma that the world is now cookie-less. At any time of day you can find Emma wherever Katie is. On the couch, at the kitchen table, laying in bed watching TV. When asked why she doesn't play with Daniel - she says "He bosses me around too much." Ah well, he's 14. Teasing little children is a passion of teenage boys. She actually holds her own quite well with him.
This is the last week we will have her for a whole week at a time..for a while, anyway. She starts preschool in Monte Vista after Labor Day, and the schedule changes so we will have Emma Thursday night thru Sunday. It will be nice to have her every Friday night and every Saturday, there's always fun things popping up in Denver that we want to take her to. Plus we can do stuff at night since she can stay up later. When she's here for the week, the evenings are pretty shot and it doesn't really feel too special. By the time I get home from work and get dinner done, it's nearly bath and bed time. She's in bed by 9..so the majority of our R&R time is when she's in bed anyway. Im looking forward to the change. I think we'll get to do more fun stuff than we have in the past even.
So Daniel owes me some money, and his penance is to help me in my bedroom today. Boxes that go here and there, and clothes that need to be hung up are the order of the day. It's already hot tho..that sucks. I'm so ready for fall. I don't work well when it's warm.
8.24.2002
I wanna know who Tracy had dinner with.
Did you know there's like a blog convention going on is Las Vegas? How did we miss this? They're having an insane time. Check it out. BlogCon.
We are out of the loop, people..and that's no place to be.
Reading Metaphor Analyses of "Lord of the Flies" and came across this timely bit:
The Conch:
The conch shell symbolizes the law and order of the old adult world which Piggy tries so desperately to protect. The conch represents all the authority which the boys are so used to obeying. When Jack destroys the conch, anarchy quickly ensues because any hope of strong, central leadership has been abandoned. The island society collapses into chaos.
"Friends Foundation, this is Danelle..."
Ron signed the guestmap! woo hoo, he is the 25th entry. Don Pardo, tell him what he's won!
"Ron, you and a guest will be treated like Royalty at the annual Dildo Days festivites, In Dildo, Newfoundland.. Ride the Dildo rides, and nosh on fabulous dildo dogs. You'll be provided with plenty of Dildo Dollars to make your Dildo vacation one to remember for years to come! Congratulations!"
Let's ponder:
Why do we buy our children noisy toys? They love them and use them often till we cringe and finally beg them to stop. Recently I bought Daniel a paddle ball, then a few days later a pogo stick. What the hell was I thinking? Both have been forbidden to be used within my hearing distance.
What a drag day. Fighting with everyone this morning, for no reason other than everyone got up on the wrong side of the bed. Tis lovely finding out what your kids really think of you when they're hurling abuse.
Things have calmed a bit, Mark and I had a nice late breakfast out after our traditional Saturday post office run. Our sales are way up this month, it's fabulous. We had 20 packages or so to mail today..we go to the post office twice a week. After we get this next batch of books filed, I think I will take a picture of all the shelves..it's really amazing.
I'm tired, unmotivated, feeling dirty and drained. Tomorrow is Emma day - Daniel said "we better get rested up while we can.." lol I'm taking some extended time over Labor Day..we have vowed to get Mark's condo ready for rent, and get the rest of the house put together. More likely we will lay around and slink through the final days of summer lazily.
oooh, we had fun. 4 bars. 3 that we actually went into. One had such loud C&W music playing we turned around and got back in the car before even entering. We had a good time tho..played a lot of pool, met some fun people. Cuties, too.
We came home and made breakfast burritos and now Im ready for sleep.
Oww...my head.
8.23.2002
Iposted from work today..I don't know what happened to it.
A weird day. Lots of people stopping by my desk to see what happened, what happens next, etc. We had a pot luck with another department in the drum, that was fun. and no it wasn't to celebrate! (That's what everyone kept asking us).
We're going back to the Red Lion tonight, should be fun. I love hearing 5 people masacre "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" dont you?
Gail called a couple of times. She wants me to erase all her email, and give certain people her home number when they call. It was weird talking to her. She's throwing blame around like a nerf football. Thankfully, it does about as much damage.
8.22.2002
Still chatting to Celeste. Funny thing about the Board meeting today. All the board members are pillars in the community in some sense. Pres of the biggest bank, CEO of the largest construction co, attorneys, Surgical Dir of Univ of Colo Health Sciences Center, etc... So anyway, most of them are...older. But there are two gentleman who are about my age and they are *fun*.. (lemme tell you...hmm no I better not..lol).
ANYway, one of em comes in late to the meeting and sneaks in behind me and starts pushing the Z on my laptop (Im taking minutes) so my notes look like:
Motion approved to transfer $119,700.00 to thzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
lol.
So he sits down next to me and leans in close, whispering..
"what did I miss?"
"Gail resigned"
"Fuck me!"
"Can't..taking notes"
lol.
Am having the dishiest conversation with Celeste.... (PR Dir)
Should I post it? Man..this is like a train wreck with bodies hanging out the cars. I don't dare look away.
Funny thing about what my buddy Dryden said over there. Ben said to us today
"the good thing about firing the boss is that the staff knows better than anyone how to keep things running, so no one usually notices for a long time.." lol
btw, hellooo Tom and thanks for signing the guestmap. Are you a BF guy?
Let's all go hang out at Tracy's house, wanna!?
Thanks all, you're so nice! I feel better. (3 bacardi silvers later). I'm thinking about making some coffee. No one is online, and I'm bored shitless.
Going to the Red Lion again tomorrow night. rooaarr.....
Bossless.
Weird, whacked out day. I am emotionally drained to the point of tears.
So we wait at our desks till 3:35. the board meeting starts at 3:30. Finally, Gail comes around the corner and goes into her office and shuts the door. Ben calls. Come to Ricks (City Librarian) office. Official word, "We need to let you know that Gail is terminated as of today. She will not be at the Board meeting."
He said Gail agreed that the position had changed so much with the reorganization of the Friends, that she wasn't qualified any longer. Making it sound like it was part Gail's idea. Uh huh.
Also that Melinda was in charge in the interim while they conduct a search for a new Director. We held a short staff meeting after the Board meeting and will submit a list of whats "up in the air" over the next few days. Leadership will be interesting as the current Board president is being replaced as of next months meeting, and the new Board president ran this meeting like a hoe-down. He wasn't even sure if they were supposed to make a motion to approve a transfer of money from the Friends to the Library. (they are). Also interesting will be Melinda's rold as leader, as she is part time.
Ben said Gail would make a move to meet with us as a group in the next week or so. Can't wait for that.
It was such a release to get home and be away from the stress of today, I broke down and cried for reasons I couldn't explain.
I've never helped get my boss fired before.
New development. I was on my way down, was stopped by Melinda, she said Ben just called (incoming pres as of Sept) said for us to not head down to the meeting, but to stay at our desks for now. They just called Gail to the City Librarians office.
We are FREAKING out.
ok weirdness. Parks Tours. One of them is Saturday, Gail just asked what time she should be there to help.
{shaking my head}
We are all on pins and needles. No one can work, we are just emailing back and forth. Everyone emails ME for info, because I sit right outside her door.
"what's she doing now?"
"has she been calling anyone?"
"any news?"
No. no news. She was gone till about 1, she's in there just a few feet away from me doing more packing up. I can hear her going through her drawers and putting things in a box.
We all went to lunch together, and have deduced that the likely scenario is that she will "resign" at the board meeting. A couple of guests are on the agenda, and they have been told (we just found this out) that they will have to present their monologue, then at some point they will be excused from the meeting. That's totally unlike any other Board meeting protocol. Usually, they insist that all guests stay the entire time to avoid disruption.
1 hr 48 mins to go.
*sigh.
Gail just left to go to "another commitment" that she had today. Said she'd be back around 1 or so. Anne and I went in her office and it is markedly cleaned out. A couple of boxes of desk and wall things, her plants are gone, etc. There is a note on her desk that says "change vmail and email." Two things I know she will have to ask me to help her with, she never can remember how to do either one. Anne thinks they gave her two weeks, I think she's gone today.
We're all stressing big time and worried about our own jobs. If they don't say anything in the Board meeting, and dismiss the staff for an Executive Session, I'm gonna lose it.
Trying to just keep on keeping on..
8.21.2002
I just hope and pray this isn't "Be careful what you wish for.." As bad as things are, I suppose they could always get worse.
Gearing up for tomorrow. I feel like it's going to be a trying day.
Anne called me at home tonight, she wasn't at work today (Ball addressing) and was dying to know the scoop. We talked for a long time, and she is convinced too that Gail is no more. Things are just really really weird. I'm sure the atmosphere tomorrow will be very subdued and quiet. It will be interesting to see what Gail spends her day doing.
I feel bad in some ways. I know a lot of people out of work, and it's a depressing time to be looking for a job right now. High level managers like herself are a dime a dozen in the unemplyment line. And if the Board allows her to take the high road and resign, she won't get any unemployment at all...but in her field, past successes are everything. If you're a fired fund raiser, it means you couldn't bring in the money. Fund raising is all she's ever done. She's just not very good at it, at least not anymore. Maybe back in the day she was something, but now she is hindering the process. She doesn't support us, or our ideas. We are working hard, and getting things done, the events are successful and bringing in lots of money. It's not that "our boss is mean or we just want to not have a boss so we can fuck around all day. We are a young, creative group and we have great ideas that the community loves. My job is actually fun. But she makes it not fun. We all love the library, we want to give the library LOTS of money. We want good relations between the library and the Friends, and that relationship sucks right now, because of Gail. The City Librarian hates us. They think we are wasting money, we think they are wasting money. The library is in dire straights and looking to the Friends for a lot more money than we gave them last year. That's impossible without some serious work..and Gail just wants to sit on her ass all day playing solitaire, sleeping and reading in the lounge and maybe once in a while call her "buddies" (who don't even bother to call her back) at the Colorado Rockies and Denver Broncos and try to schoomze them into donating 25K...so she doesn't have to actually "do" anything. And no one gives her anything. Her ideas are pie in the sky and they never materialize. There's only 7 of us, the Friends. We're all quite close, and we're formidable when we work together. We work really hard to give lots of money to the library, and we are so happy that maybe now we can start over and breathe some life into this dying entity. And I'll tell you what...even though we are all tiptoe-ing around the office and each other..we are rejoicing.
8.20.2002
I have a huge list of bookmarks. I've always kept a huge list of bookmarks. But..alas, things get Microsoftalacious once in a while and you lose them. I was perusing through other people's blogs (as you do) and found one of my all-time favorites that I'd lost and forgotten about. It's the Gallery of Regrettable Food. (Hit "Recipe Books" for the best pics). A collection of the most ridiculous pictures from old recipe books. The most disgusting lard ridden collection of real life Betty Crockerville edible nightmares you can imagine. The author's comments are what make the site so fun, really.
"Food? Wax model? Or some ingenious gear made out of pesto, capable of floating on a cushion of air and moving itself around the table like a hovercraft? Note the salt & pepper shakers, which hail from that brief vogue for "Space: 1999"-inspired tableware."
and this gem...
"To remind them they're men, make sure to embed a batch of wriggling, erect weiners in a sea of beans."
and make sure you have all the necessary equipment for the recipe..
"Note: the most important item in this book is the small house-mold in the upper left-hand corner. You do have one of those, don’t you? No? Well, then it’s a trip to the craft store. You’ll need some sheets of aluminum, shears, soldering iron, crimping tools, and a welder’s mask. All set? good. Now we can begin."
lastly, my favorite..
"Remember: if your guests are as drunk as you are, just shove stuff in a glass and dump sugar on a plate. They're just going to throw it up anyway."
What have you been doing tonight? lol
Hi I'm Elizabeth Schlosser and I'm running for Mayor...
God, this woman. Ok, first of all, I fixed the parks reservations. Now both tours are exactly right, and I'm not overbooked anymore. but it is sold out. So..anyway. I get this call from this woman..
.
"Friends Foundation of the Denver Public Library, this is Danelle"
"Hi, I'm Elizabeth Schlosser, and I'm running for Mayor.."
"Hi Elizabeth"
"I'd like to make a reservation for the parks tour"
"Oh, I'm sorry, we're completely sold out"
"Well, I'm running for Mayor and I'd really like to go"
"We've actually been sold out for some time"
"I thought it'd be a good idea for me to go and learn something new about the Denver parks..since I'm running for Mayor"
"Well, Im sorry it's completely sold out, and I have quite a few people on the waiting list"
"Well is there anything you can do?"
(Like what?! Which geriatric blue hair would you like me to knee in the back to get off the bus?)
"Mmm, no..not really"
"Well do you think anyone will cancel?"
"I doubt it, it's been sold out for some time and no one has cancelled yet"
"Well I think I'll show up and hope that some one got sick"
(Oh, that's a nice thought)
"okie doke".
So about 2 hours later she calls back, but I'm not at my desk. Voice mail:
"Hi this is Elizabeth Schlosser. I don't know if you remember me, but I'm running for Mayor. I was wondering if it would be ok if I passed out campaign materials at the parks tour..could you call me back?"
Puke.
This is pretty cool. Overhead shots and other pictures of things we're probably not supposed to see. At first I thought..oooh yawn. But I've actually been looking at stuff here for about 45 minutes.
Im in a bad mood. Drew knows it and he keeps coming by my desk doing weird shit to make me laugh. It is making me laugh but it's not helping my mood. Im still grouchy? Why? Cause people are rude and inconsiderate. Some people are, anyway.
I'm not getting a lick of work done.
It's Two-fer-Tuesday! It's Two-fer-Tuesday! No, that does not mean two creamy Caffrey's for the price of one. It's kelly's thought provoking confessional.
1. Other than a family member, is there someone (you don't have to name names, of course) that you've never been able to forget? Why him or her?
I think about friends Dan and I had when we were first married sometimes. Steve and Vicky Ryman for one. I have no idea what happened to them. I'd like to see them again.
Sentimentally, I'd have to say Bryon. But I can't go there. Ouch.
2. What incident -- either one that happened to you personally or something that you witnessed but weren't directly a part of -- have you not been able to truly put behind you? Why not?
When I think of "the worst things that have ever happened to me" I remember Daniel almost drowning when he was about 3 or 4..I'll never get the image out of my head of him splashing and bobbing up and down in the water...everything was slow motion while I tried to get to him. Even sound stood still, if you can imagine. Scary. Nightmarish.
And also, when he was "lost" on the first day of school. There were detectives with twirly wires in their ears at my house, the school was organizing a search party, I was freaking out. We found him in the wrong classroom an hour later. He was too shy to speak up when the principal had come in earlier looking for him.
*eew, this shit just gives me the heebie jeebies just writing about it, and remembering it.
I always follow the links.."La". lol. I like that. Let's just call Laura La now. Are you guys not following links? Don't tell me I post this fabulous wonderful stuff and you're not going there. Why i oughta....
From my sister in email (re: Survivor)
I mean - who cares! Survivor-blech. Dog eat Dog..now there's a show!
I think we all know what we're dealing with now.
8.19.2002
Im starting my Christmas List early. (courtesy of Laura...)
Just think, if your man is up for a little adventure, you could screw him with his own dick.
I've read the bios, looked at the pictures and read about their favorite everything. Here's my take on the new Survivors:
Erin: She'll be good, looks like maybe a snot though.
Brian: Brought his guitar, that could be fun
Jan: She'll be one of the first ones to go. And what is with her hair?
Ghandia - gone-dee-ya. She went to City College in Denver? I've lived here all my life. I've worked in higher education. Never heard of the place.
Helen - One thing she won't miss is her toothbrush, cause she ain't been using one.
Penny: not worth a dime. She lists her favorite music as "alternative" and her favorite bands as NSync, Celine Dion and George Strait. Edgy shit, for sure.
Shii Ann: Clueless.
Stephanie: A contender. I'm gonna say she'll be in the final 3.
Tanya: Puhlease. She brought a brush. Plus, she likes Meg Ryan. Puke.
Clay: I love this guy. Unfortunately, he's gonna be the first to go.
Jake: He brought a journal and pen. He's my favorite so far. In the top 3.
Jed: Lists his favorite types of movies as "thought provoking". Lists his favorite movies as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Swingers. Deep, very deep. He's a dental student tho, maybe he can do something about Helen's teeth.
John: A Pastor. Gonzo.
Ken: His luxury item is a NYPD shield. Yawn. Mentions 'beef' in three different "favorites" answers tho. gotta love that.
Robb: Cute as a button, dumb as toast. He brought a skateboard. Slap. Gone early.
Ted: He brought a shaving kit. Now we know he's not really bald. In the top 3.
There ya go.
Dy will love blogs in the newsroom.
Ooh, I almost forgot..take a look at this:
"23airmail established the SkyReach Foundation to provide Web development services to select local non-profit organizations looking to build an online presence. The overall mission is to help non-profit businesses gain a better sense of recognition within the community by building a more innovative and professional-looking Web site.
23airmail will select three pro bono Web design projects per year valued at $50,000 each. Through the SkyReach Foundation, we hope to make a positive impact in our community while providing a unique service to non-profit organizations. Applications for the SkyReach program are available via PDF on the 23airmail Web site."
Well, Laurie (membership mananger) and I applied, and we WON! So now the Friends web site is on the block for $50,000 worth of upgrades. It was big news around the place today. We're so excited!
I've sold too many spots for the Parks Tour for work. The tours are this Saturday and next Wednesday. I was alotted 51 seats per tour, and for some damn-ass reason, there are 54 people signed up for the Wednesday tour. ack. I can only pray that some people don't show up.
I need a nap. Gail is going to a budget meeting in about 10 minutes, I may try to slip away for 30 minutes or so. Why don't you go to your employer's sleeping room and do the same? What's that? You have no sleeping room? Oh, that sucks.
'night.
Trish had a picture on her blog a few days ago, and said there was something weird about it. I can't figure it out. Please go to her blog (I don't think she reads here so we're ok to talk about her, even though we're not saying anything bad, blah blah) and tell me what the hell was in her trees on August 16.
Kinna fun. Found at kellycaldwells place:
PAST
• First grade teacher's name: Miss Andrews. Zoe Andrews. Big poofy hair, and whacked out flowing smock shirts.
• Last word you said: "Oh, sorry” (Daniel was chastising me for almost letting the cat out).
• Last song you sang: "Forget My Name” by New found Glory. At my desk..
• Last thing you laughed at: Talking to Charlie about the Osbournes.
• Last time you cried: today. A misunderstanding.
PRESENT
• What's in your cd player: car: Avril Levigne; pc: program software
• What color socks you're wearing: no socks, barefoot.
• What's under your bed: nothing, we can’t find the screws to the bed so the mattress and box springs are still on the floor.
• What time did you wake up today? Woke up around 9:30, finally got up around 10.
FUTURE
• Where do you want to go: I need to go on a cruise.
• What is your career going to be: I think I’m already what I’m going to be.
• Where are you going to live: hopefully here. Moving sucks.
• How many kids do you want: none. Can I give these three back? Kidding!
• What kind of car will you have: hopefully something very reliable.
CURRENT
• Current hair: long and needing to be dyed again, and I need a new style!
• Current clothes: cute slinky little spaghetti strap nightie.
• Current annoyance: my contacts.
• Current smell: it’s stuffy. It smells stuffy.
• Current longing: security. Always security.
• Current desktop picture: a sunset picture I took.
• Current favorite artist: Avril Levigne
• Current book: “Princess, the true story behind the veil” (about women in Saudi Arabia)
• Current worry: money, as usual. Dentist bills, too. I guess that’s still money.
• Current time-wasting wish:security.
• Current hate: laundry. There’s so much laundry.
• Current favorite article of clothing: I really hate deciding what to wear. Ever. I can’t answer this.
• Current favorite word: gees o pete.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• One person from your past you wish you could go back and talk to: Dave Vine
• One person you wish was here right now: my dad
• A line from the last thing you wrote to someone: "I’m so excited!”
8.18.2002
One more thing before bed. Hey I propped my kids' bottles up occasionally too..but what the hell is this about?
"I know I'm not supposed to prop the bottle up, but when no one is here to help or I'm busy with my other two kids, sometimes I do that," she said. "But not on a regular basis."
On Saturday night, James was left alone in his crib with his bottle.
"I noticed he started to choke or whatever," Vance said. "I took the bottle out of his mouth and tried to pat him or whatever. His color (was) leaving and his tongue started hanging out."
~or whatever.
Fucken idiot.
Then we watched Cheaters.
Ok here's a thought. Life isn't complicated and miserable enough when you think your mate is cheating. Illicit someone to follow them and tape them cheating. Watch them wait till you are at work, and then see them out and about with someone else. Having sex even.
"Here's your boyfriend having sex with someone else...Not you. See him naked there thrusting and sweating all over her? Oh, that sucks. Let's go tell him how much it sucks."
So the camera goes with the victim to where the cheater is. He or she is confronted. The cheater is barraged by television cameras, the Cheaters host..and of course the victim. It ends badly. Always.
Finding out someone is cheating is the most devastating heart-wrenching event you may ever experience. Why would anyone in their right mind want that televised?
Denny, denny, denny...you're one of the few male bloggers that are over there. I could never cut you. I probably would never hear the end of it from my sister anyway, who reads you religiously. There have been modifications, though.
I have just spent an entire evening vegetating in front of bad tv. It started at 6 with Six Feet Under, which I tape for Drew every week. Then Sex and The City. then I finally caught an episode of Anna Nicole. Oh my good Lord God. Are you people watching this? This is insanity. First of all, she's huge. I mean..I'm huge, but she's Anna Nicole. She's supposed to be the epitome of sexiness. With makeup on she looked like a two bit hooker. And with her makeup off. Oh good lord, that is scary. And her assistant! Who is this woman? She's the most trailer trash dumb ass I've ever seenin my life. Do you know what she really is? She's Anna Nicole's only friend and gets paid for it. Anna Nicole has no friends to call up to come and give her moral support while she gets a tattoo, but this ignorant slime ball is there...because she's paid to be. And she is uuugggllyy. This idiot has a tattoo of Anna Nicole on her arm. And her designer. Oh.my.god. Could he be anymore over the top?! Luxurious! It was fascinatingly appaling. I hope they never cancel this show.
Next up was the Osbournes. I watch them regularly, and I love this show. Ozzy is the biggest mess. He is gone, literally. His brain is so fried, he's not sure what day it is. He rambles around fumbling wiht a trash bag and meanwhile there's this gomer-ass music playing that gives the whole scene an air of Captain Kangarooness. Tonight was the best one yet. They were fighting with their next door neighbors, who were playing techno music till all hours of the morning. Sharon finally had enough and went over there to tell them off. But you know those brits..well maybe you don't. But when they get angry, they don't hurl the typical American insults that we're used to. They sound proper and polite, even though they are incensed. She's yelling "You silly arse!" "Let me see your silly arse, you arse. "Come over you silly cow and 'ave a cup of tea!" "Come on, come on big boy."
ouch. lol.
Meanwhile, the neighbors are hurling spiked insults that would make your ears bleed. Finally, things reach fever pitch when the Osbournes start hurling rotten food over the retaining wall. First came a large ham with black spots all over it. This brought the police who chastised Sharon who promised "no more food over the fence". Finally Ozzy wakes up and gets in on the action, Sharon encourages him to toss french bread, apples and oranges over the wall. But he picks up a log and breaks a window. sirens. The End. It is the most fun you can have on TV in 30 minutes, I'm telling you.
"Things were so nice when Pat Boone lived next door.."
~Sharon Osbourne
This was a really really stupid test. I didn't even *get* the responses. Ah, well...
take the death quiz.
I know Kt hates it that I love her music..but you really do get into whatever you are exposed to, don't you think? I love a lot of what she listens to, and 'New Found Glory' is *no* exception. Their old song "Sincerely Me" still rotates on my CD player in the car. I don't only love punk and alternative music, I also love top40 stuff, oldies, dance techno, and spanish music too. But I just downloaded this entire CD (released in June) and I love it. I cannot stop listening to it. If you're looking for something new and fun, go get some.
Tell all my friends Im dead
Im leaving you
This time Its for good
Tell all my friends that Im dead
It wont be long before you forget my name
Can you tell that I dont know myself
I need someone to remind me
To let it go
Please let me know
Dont trace your footsteps back to me
*~Forget My Name~*
~NFG
Why I loathe Oprah. by Danelle O'Shea
You know, I used to love Oprah. When I was married, and not working I watched Oprah religiously. Katie still loves it.
Oprah Winfrey is a modern demagogue. She's like the soccer mom's Mussolini, prescribing what to wear, what to read, who to vote for, and even what to eat.
Winfrey has carefully constructed public identity that has her gushing over celebrity guests ("I'm such a big fan, I can't believe I'm meeting you"- like she couldn't just pick up the phone and dial their number), making smart-ass quips about bureaucracy and little facts of life which she probably no longer faces and generally looking like a middle to low-income housewife.
I find her pious, inattentive and highly interruptive. and that's just her interview skills. She is hypocritical, (sp?) touting Christianity out of one side of her mouth, but her practices and protocol are very new age. I don't care which one you are, just pick one. You can't have a relationship with Jesus and the Goddesses at the same time. Jesus gets jealous. There's no karma in the Bible.
Also bothersome is that fact that whatever a guest's problems happen to be, Oprah has had that problem also, and attempts to relate it to her eating disorder.
Winfrey and her Ego live in a world of their own, her highly successful O magazine illustrates her epic distance from the reality of most Americans. I picked up one in the Library store the other day and thumbed through it..it suggested you dress up a "simple" pair of jeans with a $200 designer blouse. Sure.
Oprah's ego came out even further in an interview on Biography I saw. She was talking about "Beloved" her big-budget flop-o-rama, and she said she was "devastated" and feeling "rejected" by its box office failure. It was all about her. Not once did she take into account that perhaps the film was too long, or too bloated, or too weak to stand under its own high-art pretentiousness. No, Winfrey blamed all of us; Beloved was a perfect movie and we were just too dumb to get it.
And Dr. Phil. Don't get me started. Oops, too late. It looks like she's attempting to tackle substantive issues again..watch out! She has been singing the praises of and granting ample airtime to Cro-Magnon lifestyle-guru Dr. Phil McGraw. For those who don't know, Dr. Phil (as he's always called) is a psychologist, "life strategist" and best-selling self-help author with a kind of "tough love minus the love" approach to people and their problems. Dr. Phil doesn't so much talk as shout and yell, and with his intimidating presence and take-no-prisoners-failure-isn't-an-option style, he comes across like one of the most arrogant, thoroughly unpleasant people on the planet -- the bastard son of Judge Judy and Bobby Knight. The buzz phrase I've heard lately for this is "Insult Media". no thanks. Yet for some reason, viewers tune in to watch Dr. Phil visit Oprah every week, as they insult callers and audience members who are brave enough (desperate enough?) to bring their personal problems to this forum. The put downs from Dr. Phil are, he says, for their own good -- it's all in the name of his favorite catch-phrase: "getting real."
Then again, maybe..Orpah brings back the memories of being a lonely bored housewife sitting on my ass in my underwear eating Twinkies and drinking Diet Cola. {shrug}
I know there's a lot of Oprah lovers. To each his own, seriously. I'm not telling you not to like her, I'm just telling you why I don't. By request.
I also don't like Helen Hunt, Meg Ryan and Jay Leno. lol.
Hey, go read fussy over there. She has a little boy, and she um..er..well, she writes real good. lol. There's two more links I want to add...great blogs I'm reading every day..but I think that might be too many. Should I take someone off? I couldn't possibly. I really do read all these every day. I dunno, I can drop one..maybe two.
Im alone in the house for about another 20 minutes or so. Mark is dropping the midge in Fairplay to mommy. Thank God for mommy day, sometimes. "Why?why?why?why?" That is her one word vocabulary right now. What irritates me is when Emma asks "why" to questions she knows the answers to! aacck!
I want to go to the movies. I want to clean my house. (well i dont want to do it, but i want it to be clean), I want to get all my laundry done. I want to go to the store. I want to sit outside and read. bleh. I don't want to go to work tomorrow. However, this is going to be a very interesting week. We think Gail might be getting the ol' heave ho at the board Meeting on Thursday. Could be an interesting time, to be sure.
Hey - this is fun. In the books we just got from the Civil Rights Activist/Entrepreneur/Financial Freedom guy..there was a auto-bio on Debbie Reynolds. Signed. how cool is that. Now if I could just find someone who gives a rats ass about Debbie Reynolds.
There's some big party going on across the street. It's nearly 3am and they are still going strong. I was out there earlier, and they were quieter than they are now. Jose Quervo, you are a friend of mine..
Im so tired but I was wired after some frisky al fresco so I came down here to read what's going on with melly and her fellow commentors. Seems there was a bit of a rift about CD's and wishlists, and the holocaust, ( I can't begin to explain) but it looks like it's mercifully dying down. Took me a good hour to get through it all, after following links and reading responses on all blogs involved. It's a veritable soap opera.
So I go upstairs just now, thinking I might be able to sleep, and I hear the partiers going at it big time. Always the voyeur, I investigate of course.
The party is across the street and one door down. I can see probably 5 or 6 people, good music playing. Hoping they cant see me, I pull a chair into the driveway and sit to listen and see what they're up to. I hear snippets here and there..mostly laughing tho.
:
"Oh, man..I can't wait to tell Scott"
"I haven't done anything like that in fucking forever"
"Don't break that!"
(singing)
"woooo hoooo!"
"a new car? wow"
silence for a little bit. then:
"hey, someone's over there.."
Shit.
Katie just called from Amanda's. She's soo bummed out that Charlie only called her once this week.
Charlie is:
1. On a cruise
2. On the Mexican Riviera
Hellllooo? People, if I'm on a cruise on the Mexican Riviera, do *not* sit by the phone. I'll talk to you when I get back.
8.17.2002
Yaawwn.
I've been listing books online all night, since around 5:30 or so. I think I've listed about 150 books, most are so-so..some gems. That brings our total books listed up to just around 1200 or so. Listing them involves punching in the ISBN # (some microscopic) and then deciding on the quality and price, comparing it to who else has that book listed, at what quality and what price. Competetiveness is rampant. We have to constantly monitor what price other people are selling the same book for, because if you list it for the lowest price one day, someone else who has it listed for higher will come along and lower their price the next. Keeping track of 1200 books this way is a monumental task. It's truly become Mark's job! When he does start working we're going to have to just list them and let them be. Mark usually does all the listing and price comparison, but since he's been so busy on the shelves, I listed a bunch so we wouldn't get behind. But then there's the sales to deal with (which is a good thing, but still a chore..) - pulling the book, packaging, labeling, shipping, post office, blah blah. Some days it's easy, 1 or 2 sales..but we've had big days too, 13 sales is our top number I think. 5 today, so far.
Funny when you go through boxes of people's books, how you can tell so much about them, without knowing them. A couple of weeks ago Mark picked up a buttload of books from one person, and I remember I called him while he was listing them and asked how it was going. He said "guy was obviously a teacher, a Republican, pro-gun, racist, and jewish." LOL. This last batch of about 7 boxes or so, all came from one guy at a yard sale on Friday. The guy was black, but here's what else you can tell about him just from his books:
Very well educated
Entepreneur - (probably about 65% of the books are topics relating to having your own business.)
Probably had money to invest - lots of financial freedom books
Wife was successful - many books on successful black women in business
Civil Rights Activist
Wanted to, or tried to start his own restaurant
Went to a lot of seminars
Had trouble with computers - he has a lot of low level computer instruction books..lol
I wonder what my books are saying about me?
This is from a couple of weeks ago..emma is constantly insisting she is a little kitten..and laying on the furniture as such. This time she fell asleep on the back of the couch..
I've been surrrrfing again!
This is very very cool. Phillip Beuhler takes pictures of technological modern ruins. Pictures of Ellis Island, The 1964 World's Fair and others. Fascinating. I spent over an hour here.
And this is just plain silly fun. Type in the name of your city, and get a listing for several pay phone telephone numbers in the area. This is comedy waiting to happen.
Found both these fun places courtesy of kurt at analog thought.
We just had the most fabulous meatloaf meal with french fries. Just enough left for a couple of samiches tomorrow. When we all sat down at the table, Emma said
"What is this?"
I said "meatloaf."
"Is it a secret recipe?"
"No, not really"
"Well can we call it that?"
"um suurrre..."
So now it's time to get Emma in the bath and take off her purple nail polish kt put on her earlier this week. It's looking well worn by now. Also need to cut her nails before she goes back to mommy. Hopefully she'll stay clean and will still smell sweet by noon tomorrow.
A big fat gratuitous "right on" to Susan and kurt for signing the guestmap.
And....
We haven't done one of these for a while...
Take the What High School
Stereotype Are You? quiz.
Saturday Saturday ever lovin Saturday--ay--
Having a good day, and had a great time last night. We went to the Red Lion nearby and it was Karaoke night. What a blast. Lots of local weirdos in the house, and we got very happy and rowdy. Can't wait to go again.
Today we've been to Arc and Sally Army and spent about 30 bucks all told. Found some great pants and overalls for the midget, most were 60 cents or so. Got some cute dark green cordouroy mickey mouse overalls for 75 cents! She has soo many really cute clothes now..more than will even fit in her 9 drawer dresser! Also got some more travel coffee cups for me and small water bottles for emma. Love those. (I only buy the ones with the lids attached..experience shows that lids dont make it from the dishwasher back on the bottles somehow.)
Tonight is no teenager night. Danuld is at his dads, and Katie is going to spend the night at Amanda's, who's having a birthday party for Phil-er-up. Mark has been ultra busy building bookshelves in the laundry room, we should have enough space for about 2500 books now. We have about 1200 books, so now we'll have room for more! more! more! We're making about $800-900/mo selling books online. We were so cramped for space, we had books on the floor, on the cupboards downstairs, everywhere. Keeping them alphabetical and in order was chaos. Now it'll be nice and organized. The shelves are fabulous!
On the way home we stopped and got slurpees and we're all sitting around now slurping our heads off. It's a nice cool day, and that is the best part of all.
8.16.2002
Woo hoo...Friday night. Love it.
Gonna have some foodie and go check a club nearby that we haven't been to yet. Hopefully we can find an open pool table and air conditioning. Katie has Vanessa over and Emma is following them around like a puppy. We told her we were going to be going out for a while later and she said "Bye!" We said.."no, later.." again she said "ok, bye!" *sigh. We'll be missed...really we will.
Watching the Weakest Link and wondering why I'm not on there.
Laura, I suppose you are right. Now that you've said it, I'm glad I can't be catagorized. As soon as I obtain I label, I want to wiggle out from under it.
And just for good measure:
This is funny.
Trish says: Why do you make a post that says {link} this is interesting.{/link} And that's your entry. I just don't understand the point, and wish someone would explain it to me. My blog includes my personal thoughts and if I link something, it's to direct someone to where I obtained my information if they want to read further, but I have given my own comments on that topic, story, issue, whatever it may be. It's your blog, you can do whatever the hell you want, of course, I'm just curious why someone uses a blog as a favorites folder.
Wondering if I do that. I don't think so. I know I make a lot of one line posts, and some of them are links, but that's only because I post so many time a day. Sometimes I see something funny or cool and just want to get it down before I lose it. Personally, I would rather read someone's blog that posts several times a day if the mood strikes them. If someone writes only once in a while and it's a long, long post..I usually end up not reading it all. To each his own, right? We all have blog pet peeves, I think. My main one is team blogs. I loathe team blogs.
Emma is at work with me today. Nuff said. lol
8.15.2002
I'm wondering why Trent hasn't erected an online tribute..since his idol Spud Melin has died.
Trent is a frisbee freak. Spud invented it. There ya go.
We just heard the Library had its budget cut yet again..by 3% this time. eek. Emergency all managers meeting this morning. This is not good.
Im at work. Im sleepy, and crabby. My eyes are so dry I can barely keep them open.
Im chatting to katie, she has time to spare before going to school. Love that.
kt: i woke up at 4am, the wind was blowing soooo hard
kt: i was scared to death
kt: the screen door kept slamming, and then i heard the bells on the front door!
Me: wow
kt: that totally freaked me out
(side note - I keep Christmas bells on my front door year round, helps to keep us aware of who's coming and going, especially when Emma's around.)
kt: i think mark is getting up
kt: i hear ruckus
Me: marcus ruckus
kt: i just went up there to see if he was up and i heard emma say "why do you fart so much?" and mark says
"why do YOU fart so much?"
Me: lol
kt: i know, thats funny
Me: im calling him to say good morning
kt: ok i am going
Me: ok
kt: have agood day
Me: you too
kt: does daniel have lunch money?
Me: yea
kt: ko
8.14.2002
Yay.. my serendipitious fellow blogger Tracy signed the guestmap. Donkey shane. I love her site, I hope you're reading it. I wish she lived nearby, we'd probably go play pool or something.
Ive been surfing and dinking, adding things here and there and messing around in general.
Im hot and tired, and wishing it was 50 degrees like it has been at night here lately. But it's still so damn hot.
The kids had pretty good days at school, Daniel had an assignment to do a posterboard coat of arms about himself, and it wasn't due till Friday and he did it all tonight anyway, and it looks fabulous.
Katie doesn't start school until 9:30 everyday and that pisses Daniel off. He starts school at 9:30 one or two days a week..he shouldn't complain. Of course, that's why they are the first ones starting school too..short hours.
I hate going back to work after you've called in sick the day before.
What is there to do? Im so bored.
Think you might have a sick willy? Check this lovely gallery of genital maladies to find out. (Not for the weak stomach)
My sister Cindi signed the guestmap. In Colorado of course, where we are overpopulated! She suggests we sign somewhere we'd like to visit. Sounds good to me. Maybe we should all prod her into getting her own blog..hmm? We need more juicy tidbits around here.
Just did my hair and face, gonna go to the store briefly for some sale stuff. I can't seem to shake this headache, however..and it's annoying.
Congrats to Laura, by the way. We're all pulling for you. I have a feeling about this one. A good one.
I called in sick today.
Woke up crampy and headachy and said ...umm no.
Didn't get out of bed until nearly noon, god was that nice. A rarity around here. The kids got off to their first day of school, and I hope they're finding their way. I can't wait to hear about how "stupid" and "lame" everything was when they get home.
Just had a shower a deux. Tell me that isn't fun.
8.13.2002
So my last born child starts High School tomorrow.
My middle born child dyed her hair half black and half maroon tonight.
My oldest child is on her own and doing ok. She needs a job tho. Anyone?
I'm not feeling old. I'm feeling anxious. I asked kt if she was excited to move out. She said yes. I think she'll do ok out there too, in a couple of years.
Daniel needs some steering. We're working on it.
Everyone cross your fingers, send a wish to the goddess, or mention Daniel in your prayers. He really needs to pull it together..I just hope he knows that.
Tonight is sewer night. This is reprinted from August 2001...another sewer night
Its the night before school starts for the kids. Sewer night.
Wow...sewer night. Sometimes memories are so profound that they are disturbing. Even good ones. For a long time..many years, Tom and I would meet at the sewer on two nights of the year. The night before school started in the fall, and the night before the last day of school. So first day school eve, and last day school eve. We met at the manhole that was in the middle of the street, halfway between our houses, which were 3 houses apart, and across the street from each other. We grew up together, from 2 years old.
On sewer night, we would meet a little after dusk, and sit on top of the manhole cover, just chatting. We'd drop rocks down the little hole on top of the manhole cover and listen to them hit the ground a few seconds later.
On the night before school started in the fall, we'd talk about what we did that summer, what was funny, what we'd remember. We'd talk about what classes we had coming up, and if we had any free periods together. We wondered just how creepy the teachers would be this year. We wondered if Jim Schoepflin was still with Judy Gurley.
On the night before the last day of school, we'd laff about all the funny things that happened that year. Choir and Band, all the fun we had. About Vali's crazy family, and about when Pat Wood got expelled.
About when Julie Mlnarik's dad killed her whole family, right up the street. I walked to school with her every day through elementary school, and into Jr. High.
We talked about plans for the summer, what we wanted to do, and where we wanted to go. We'd laff about what psychos our parents were.
We still meet at the manhole every few years..when we're both at our parents house at the same time. Rare, but it happens. I give Tom a big hug and we laff all over again about all the funny shit we've been through. My parents are divorced, and his mom died a few months ago. So my mom and his dad still live there. 3 doors down and across the street from each other. Rea's still there too.
We've both been through a hell of a lot since then, and sometimes it's too hard to get caught up. I just like to see him, put my arm around him and hear that laugh.
There are certain memories that are so vivd, so important, that you know they will never leave your mind. One of mine is sewer night.
I wrote Tom an email tonight and said Happy Sewer Night. He'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
(edit - I wrote him again tonight and told him how glad I was that we had this memory together, and how glad I was that he's my friend. His reply:
D-
Glad we are still friends too.
Sewer nights were always cool. How traditional of us. Strange place to meet
tho. What the hell was up with that? We couldn't just stand on the sidewalk?
hmph.
T
Happy Sewer Night...
Kimberly's encouraged me now. That's dangerous. One more. (for now)..lol
I got a million of em..seriously.
Again - unretouched. You can't make these colors up.
I have a "thing" for taking cloud and sky pictures. I have a whole load of em on my computer, but nothing to do with them, really...except rotate them for wallpaper. (They do make great wallpaper, I'll send ya a full size one if'n ya want). I took this one about 2 weeks ago..it's unretouched except for size. Purdy, eh?
Oh, Im just reading a lot of old stuff here on the blog. May, June, July 01 was *not* a good time for me. at all.
And some of the code is so deep, I can't figure it out. lol
Also found this....it's from when I was pretty sure I got this job at the Library, but was still at Auraria:
Back to thinking about the interview again. I feel really confident, but am worried about the fallout. I do not necessarily want to leave my job. It will be hard to go. But then the waitress brings the reality check and I know I have to do something. What about insurance and all that shit? changing all that shit is such a hassle. Then trying to make your new desk "your" place. My desk now is so totally "my place". You cant just walk in the first day and tack up all this shit on the wall, and fill the drawers with oreos, popcorn, books, cd's you're trying to sell online, dishes, mayonaisse, knives, a toothbrush, floss and nail polish.
Damn, that's true.
Was reading some old posts..trying to find something that pertains to today (it's sewer day, I'll tell you about it tonight) and found this. I fucking love this movie:
"What the hell are you? You're a fuckin' secretary! Fuck you! That's my message to ya; fuck you and you can kiss my ass and if you don't like it baby I'm going across the street to Jerry Graff...period, fuck you."
Shelly Levene (Jack Lemmon)
~Glengarry Glen Ross
Added easy bake coven to the old blogroll over there. She's good. I've been reading her for a while, but only had her url here at work, and blah blah lazy..blah blah..nothing..blah blah slacker. I think she had me linked once, but doesn't anymore. That's cool. We gotta weed shit out sometimes.
Mark's face is still shaved. lol. He's even talking about (gulp) cutting his hair. I'm gonna turn around one of these days and he's gonna look respectablenacious. But he's so cute otherwise. Any whicha way.
I know you've read every damned thing about September 11 till we're sick. But this is the story about the controllers and FAA administrators that were freaking out that day. It's very interesting.
The decision to clear the skies.
It's Two for Tuesday. Let her rip...
1. Which is your favourite season, and why?
They say we are lucky in Colorado because we have all the seasons. I don't see it. We seem to go from scorching heat to snow in no time at all. I love the activities that summer affords..camping, swimming, bbq'ing at the park, etc. but I truly am a winter person, I think. I love coming home from work early because it's snowing hard...and plopping down on the couch under a blanket with the remote. And I absolutely love snow days..where every channel is a weather report for hours at a time. Love it. Im such an idiot..I have tapes of this. lol
2. Describe your idea of "perfect" weather conditions.
If Im inside and warm with my family and plenty of goodies, I love a massive snowstorm. Perfect weather however..I suppose 75 degrees and sunny..and dry. I love Colorado's humidity. (or lack of).
**********
It's Tuesday, Im at work..and Gails not. Heaven.
8.12.2002
I know people buy and sell domain names on ebay all the time. I think it's a pretty clever idea to have bought up cool domain names and now there is a market for them. Some people are desperate for domain names that other people already own. Movie companies, for instance...are frequently offering some serious cash if a new movie title is already taken as a domain name. Picking a domain name is very very difficult. It was worse than naming my children. (It's 'Danelle's eMonstrosity' , btw..in case you didn't know. As yet underdeveloped.)
But what about your screen name? How you is that... How important is it to have Just The Right Screename? How attached to yours are you? Me? Not so much..and I chat a lot. That's why this baffles me. At least no one's bidding on it.
And this is for Denny and Laura:
Wow! You're one tough cookie and not afraid to show it! But you don't reveal too much about yourself and you're afraid to let people know who you really are... Open your feelings out to people, if they're real friends they won't care about your past or looks...
omg! Mark just came in the bedroom after trimming his goatee and he shaved it ALL! He's got a completely clean shaven face....I've never seen that on him before except in pictures. It looks good, but I must say I prefer the goatee...I havent said as much yet. (edit - just did!) Of course he knows that he could have two horns and blue hair and it wouldnt change how I feel. It looks SO weird! But he's still hella cute.
We might be going to Sing Sing with my sister and some of her friends on Thursday night. I've never been there but I've heard it's a lot of fun. Don't know if it's Mark's cup of tea, but we can always bug out early. He's always really good about that..doing something for a little while that I want to do but he doesn't...
Weird..he's walking around the house and his face looks so different. It's his upper lip that looks the weirdest. I do like it tho..will just take some getting used to. I suppose the same as if I cut my long hair off..? Hmmm....
8.11.2002
Oh, by the way we will Not be talking about Charlie this week, because he is doing this..that son of a bitch!
Bear with me, I'm looking for a better way to get my photos online..but at&t hates me. so for now... here are the pictures from Six Flags!
Another BF Buddy signed the guestmap. Hi Art!
Mark just left for the long drive to go get the midge. We're going to spend the day (a hot one - 92 degrees is forecast) tidying and laundering. I hope we can get a lot done. First we're gonna head to arc and the grocery store for prescriptions for kt's teeth. Whee!
Tonight we're gonna spend in with homemade chinese food and a flick that I will undoubtedly fall asleep watching.
Sounds nice, eh?
8.10.2002
Well, I managed to salvage the day I guess.
We ended up going to some yard sales, and finding a few fun things. Got kt one of these steps for doing her workouts. Five bucks!
Tonight Mark and I worked at my sister's High School reunion (30th). I think I've worked the check-in table for almost every reunion she's had. It's fun to see all the people that used to hang around the house all the time when I was an annoying 8 year old. It was nice, Cindi bought us a couple of drinks and we got to have dinner too. Very yummy.
Tomorrow is Emma day, I wish I'd had more time to tidy the house up a bit first. Not sure if Im going along for the 4 hour ride yet, I might beg off and do laundry.
Im tired...achy..unsociable. Must be bedtime.
Spent the morning pondering how I am really not much worth anything to anybody. Problems here, problems there..it never changes. The arguments have different titles is all. It's not their fault tho. I know it's me.
This is my weekend. The Saturday I look forward to on Monday..and Tuesday. The weekend I can start to taste on Thursday..and start making plans for on Friday. This is my reprieve from the real stress I have at work. And now it sucks.
Danelle: if youre not busy labor day we're having some folks over
Tom: i just might be around labor day. and off work too
Danelle: well there ya go.
Tom: yah baby
Danelle: our friend steve from greely will be there. his wife just left him to be a lesbian
Tom: ouch. shades of ross
Danelle: now thats some fun fodder
Tom: speaking of fodders, i saw yours a couple weeks ago
Danelle: ooh, do tell
Tom: he was at the church bazaar
Danelle: how bizarre
Tom: how bizarre. how bizarre
Danelle: lol. obscure song reference
Tom: not so obscure i must say
8.09.2002
Amanda: i can't believe you guys have sleeping rooms, doesn't anyone work?
Danelle: lol.
Danelle: of course.
Danelle: but sometimes we get tired.
Amanda: poor babies
Danelle: I think it makes us more productive in the long run.
Amanda: right
Allof us struggling with our weight (or even if you don't) should read Diet Chick's obsession with food monologue she wrote today. (August 9 for those of you reading days from now). Gave me the shivers, it was so spot on. You should write and congratulate her, she's lost close to 30 pounds since mid May. I've read her since the beginning, and it's really been interesting. She struggles daily, and we could all learn something. I just wish she'd done it with pics to go along with her weigh in every Friday.
She doesn't talk about anything but her diet...and the food she eats. She never talks about her friends, or her job. Just food and dieting. It used to annoy me...now I really like reading her.
Oooh, Laura signed the guestmap. You have to hover over Colorado very carefully to see her message..we're overpopulated. Use the "list" function to see everyone.
I went massive grocery shopping. Bleh. Very bleh.
Thanks a bunch to Jennifer (Chapter40) who is sitting on mamselle's head on the guestmap. And courtesy of her blog, i'm providing you with entertainment options for when you visit the city of Dildo, Newfoundland:
Special Events
Dildo Days is an annual event offering a wide variety of activities including boat flotilla, local entertainment, children's activities, concessions, dance and games of chance. All participants during this weekend must purchase Dildo dollars to partake.
Dildo dollars! Can I bring buttplug bucks too?
Oh, I just love taking a nap at work.
I slept for just over an hour, and it was sublime. The sleeping rooms (there's 2) are rooms inside another room..so they are completely pitch black and quiet as can be. The only noise you ever hear is once in a while someone will jiggle the doorknob. They want to sleep too, but Im already in there! buwaha.
Love the sleeping rooms.
I wish it were socially acceptable to just snap pictures of people right in their faces.
There was a woman outside with a pig nose. Not a nose that looked like a pig nose. It was so pig-like I had to look for a long time to make sure she didn't have any other pig features. Wouldn't you do something surgical if you had a nose like that?
Well, here it is 2pm and I have done as little as possible. I did have to mail something, and that was a big pain. I had to stamp an envelope and put it in the outgoing mail box. Grueling!
Mark is yard saleing. Bleh!
What I really need is a nap. I think I'll check out the sleeping room.
Now what...imood is screwing up my tables, or what?
Bleh.
I just rolled into work..it's 10 am! I love Fridays. My two volunteers are both here today..so I just ferret all my work over to them and *shazaam*. Free Day.
8.08.2002
Just had a fun conversation in IM with Georgia Virginia from Brazil. I have Trent to thank, as she messaged me because she saw me online with that cool little online indicator jobbie. Take a look at her site. Remind you of anyone a year or so ago?
I'm listening Manu Chao Negra/Mala Vida. Oh my god I love this song. It puts me in such a good mood. Go get it. I mean it. Tell me you dont love it.
Oh, Mark and I are going for a beer later, tho..so that's fun. Going to the Cheshire Cat again. We love love love that place.
I was on the elevator 18 times today. Is that excessive?
No one is blogging.
I am broke.
Amanda has a problem with her unemployment..she's been denied for some reason.
Things are weird at work.
We found another wasps nest.
I need a blogger T-shirt.
I cant get the smell of onions off my hands.
I'm having a lot of trouble with my new web space. I really need advice on web hosting. I wrote mamselle about it, but she never wrote me back. pout. Im so confused.
Not fun. Not fun at all.
I've decided to keep track of how many times I'm on the elevator today. I know everyone will be on the edge of their seats...dangling..waiting breathlessly for the information. Feh.
When I left work yesterday Gail was embroiled in a shouting match with Evelyn, the acting City Librarian. Not a good scene at all. The library already hates us so much as it is, and she is just making it so much worse.
I have a stack of work on my desk that is getting behind behind behind. Today is Board packet day..whee. Luckily, my new volunteer Sherry is here 5 days a week for 4 hours a day..so..she is doing them *for* me. Yippee! Should be an interesting Board meeting this time..lots of hot topics, and hot buttons if ya know what I mean.
The library has discovered my supreme (cough) photographic abilites and are using some of my pictures for it's publications. They are using 2 from the book sale in an upcoming newsletter, and a funny one of Drew (also from the booksale) in an upcoming in-house magazine. Im so psyched. We have an art student that part-times here, but she's so slow in getting contact sheets, getting the pictures developed, scanned, then burned onto a disc that they never use her. I take pictures one day and the next day they're on a disc ready to use.
We're also developing our website into something more interactive and fun, and we'll be using a lot of my pictures there, and I'm also supposed to be figuring out how to add a shopping cart and some of the library store items to the site. Suggestions? Helpful hints? Someone to do it for me?
School is almost ready to start. Cindi took the kids school supply shopping, as she does every year..which is fabulous. At this point they'd be going to school with a steno pad and a pencil if it were left to me. This month has just been brutal! I hope the kids have a good school year, and Daniel manages to stay out of trouble and pull his grades up. I know with Mark there things have already started to improve, he really puts the hammer down on Daniel..which I know he needs. It makes me feel bad for Daniel sometimes to see him in trouble all the time..but I know I've been too soft on him cause I feel sorry for him a lot.
Amanda had an interview yesterday. Cross your fingers!
8.07.2002
8.06.2002
I haven't blogged up till now today cause I was swamped at work, and tonight have been dinking with my template. Added 2 links to my recommended list, installed an online status indicator by my messenger id's (thanks Trent, I love it), and put my recommended links on blogrolling so you can see when they've been updated.
I have a been a grouchy ass all day and night and most people are appropriately steering clear. Gail is on my ass about every little thing..while she sits in her office and reads and plays solitaire. She's embroiled in a bitter flame war with another manager, and it's really getting ugly. I really wonder what is going on. We all get the feeling that she thinks she's on her last legs (we think she is too) and is throwing her weight around where she can to justify her 'brary' existence. It's gonna get interesting soon, I think.
Mark got the kids registered for school today and also took katie to an endodontic specialist for her root canal. Now I am so broke I cant pay attention. $149 fees for school..and $180 at the dentist. (that's only 20%!) But alas...I am working and that's more than I can say for most.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be cheerier.
8.05.2002
Sooo tired. Soo stinky. But man, what a fun day.
It was so nice to be doing something fun with *all* my kids..that doesn't happen very often. Everyone gets busy and life takes over..and we just dont get together much. Spent the whole day with Daniel, Kt, Amanda, Justin (Amanda's b/f) and Mark. Glorious! We got two rainshowers, but they were short lived and we waited them out. Late in the evening there were no lines and we rode whatever we want over and over. The flying coaster was fun..(you lay down to ride it) but the boomerang was better. My favorite, Shake Rattle and Roll was open (a rarity) and we rode it 3 times. It's the most upside downest ride there..and I love it to death. A wonderful day. Pics soon!
Really wishing I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. That's what I wish.
Boomerang:
Flying Coaster:
Shake Rattle and Roll:
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