Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

The glorious rain came today but why did it have to come the very minute I had an appointment across town and I had no umbrella. Somehow I didn't mind the drenching I got running to my car. I even didn't mind the ominous sky from my floor to ceiling windows in my office.  Spooky skies are kind of neat when you roll your chair right up to the edge.

I am also thrilled that it rained for longer than 15 minutes. I want to have a green yard again!

My appointment this morning was with my bank. I decided that I need to tend to my finances. I have two IRAs from my old job that I need to roll over into one or my current job's IRA. Then I need to try to refinance my house from 6% interest to 3.8% interest.

The appraisal is going to run me about $450 but if I can refinance then it will be money well spent. The whole deal will depend on whether or not my house will appraise for a certain price.

I feel so grown up!

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Enough for now...

************ My next password will be "1diotsmkmehaveastupidpswrd"

 Today, I had to enter my employee account services where my payroll stubs go and my leave accrual reports go, the important things that you need but only occasionally. So I go to log in with this arbitrary ID number that I can never remember. Then I have to enter a password that changes every 90 days so I have to write it down, mainly because I rarely go to the account services.

When I entered the password it immediately took me to the password expired page. How secure is a site that requires you to change your password so frequently that you can't remember it? I have a dedicated file on my laptop of all my passwords.

I find it odd that in trying to make everything super secure they create a compromising scenario where us users must store their passwords in something quite insecure.

Why is it that my ATM pin has not changed in since it was issued to me and I have it in my head securely. I truly think it is more about creating a false sense of job security than it is about computer security. Why is it that major corporations like Visa, Master Card and Discover allow you to create a password for your credit cards and let it be for how long ?.... EVER, for-freaking-ever! But at work I have to key in a new password every 90 days, because you know someone may hack into my computer and download a couple of press releases!

The future of the computer police.

Now, I just add the next numeral and keep the same password. Since I began my job almost five years ago, I have had to change my password 28 or 29 times. That is just plain stupidity and not secure at all. 

Pretty soon information technicians will be roaming the halls with AK47s and segways gunning for anyone with a password shorter that 48 characters including at least one upper case letter and three special characters. 

Enough for now...

It's what's on the inside that counts

New outlet mall opened this weekend and from the looks of driving by the crowds were completely insane. Just what I need a name brand outlet mall for my sister to trek down from Dumas, TX and empty my wallet.

Every October, Kim comes for the Affair of the Hearts, Hobby Lobby, Garden Ridge, Kohl's and anything else we can go to without our feet giving out. Each year, I spend about a grand without even realizing it. Now there's an outlet mall...I am so screwed.

On a side note, did they try their hardest to make the exterior look as ridiculous as possible? It has to bee the ugliest mall I have ever seen.

There are 87 stores in this mall some sound promising others not so much. Kimber, you might want to add another day to the fall shopping fest and bring Rick's wallet to boot.

See the full list:

Aeropostale, Auntie Anne’s, Banana Republic, Bass, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Bella Pizza, Bon Worth, Bose, Brooks Brothers, Carter’s Childrenswear, Chico’s, Children’s Place, Christopher & Banks,                   City Bites, Clarks/Bostonian, Claire’s, Coach, Converse, Corningware, Dazzle Nails and Spa, Disney Store Outlet, DKNY, Dress Barn, Easy Spirit, Famous Footwear/     Factory Brand Shoes,

Fragrance Outlet, Gap Outlet, Gold Toe, Guess?, Gymboree, Haggar, Hanes Brands, Izod, J. Crew Factory, Johnston & Murphy,                  Jones New York, Jos. A. Bank, Journeys, Justice, Kasper, Kay Jewelers, Kitchen Collection, Lane Bryant, Le Creuset, Le Gourmet Chef, Levi’s, Lids, Maurices, Michael Kors, Naturalizer, Nike, Nine West,

Oakley Vault, Orange Leaf Yogurt, OshKosh B’Gosh, Perry Ellis, Polo Ralph Lauren, Primo’s, RackRoom Shoes, Reebok/Rockport, Rice Garden, Rue 21, Saks Avenue Off Fifth, Skechers, Smashburger, Soma, Sunglass Hut, Talbots, Tommy Hilfiger, Ultra Diamonds, Under Armour, Uniform Outlet, US Polo Assn., Van Heusen, Vans Outlet, Wilsons Leather, Yankee Candle, and Zumiez.

Enough for now...

The bliss of the mundane

I am quite proud of myself today. I got up and picked up the entire house by 9 a.m. Then I went to breakfast with the fokes and worked on the family's photo project. Now, I sitting back watching a movie.

I haven't had one of these weekends where I feel like my house is in order and I have time to rest. It feels good. Isn't it weird that just cleaning your house, weeding your planter and working on a project actually makes you feel good.

It's the kind of weird I will take any day over the bad weird. As my reward, God has sent a little rain this way. I am so thankful. I have two mature Maple trees that have more brown leaves then green. I am praying that they will come out of it when the rains come back.

Oddly, my baby Red buds are doing rather well. I really thought I had lost them last fall but then they came out of the winter with happy green leaves.

I feel calm... I like it.

Enough for now...

Sleepy, but happy

The video below is how I wish I felt. Instead I am just plum tired. The minute I hit the bed I plan to be out cold. Half way through the video I start thinking, hey camera man please leave the room and let her sleep.



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The boondoogle I would want to see

If this clip does not scare you there is something wrong with you. First that crazy Russian Putin has no desire to be a friend of the United States and I do think he is crazy enough to wage war against us.

Second Biden is our Vice President and should be ever thankful the Secret Service keeps him alive. He's incredibly stupid and if he needed to save his own life - Bahner would move up the chain of command. Now we learn not only is he the dumbest VP in history, he's greedy! To have the government rent his propery so they can protect him is wrong on so many levels? [ Must not say dirty words, must not say dirty words. ]

Nudist taking over a Marine owned beach? Are they mental? Let the idiots go to their beach and let the Marines hone their amphibious assaults skills anyone stupid enough to be on their beach.  Have you noticed that nudist are always fat and ugly - come on people! That's just not right. A new slogan "Support our troops, keep you pants on!" Camp Pendleton Marines should receive hazard pay for having to endure the mind numbing site of ugly naked people. [ Mental picture ulgy nake people running like sissy girls when the Marines land. ]



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Friends Don't Let Friends Dance Old

My brain hurts today. It was a weird day spent with reading, reading and more reading. If I wasn't trying to learn the new HTML5, I was proofing one of the longest newsletters we had in a long while.

I think I looked at my computer maybe 45 minutes out of the entire day. It felt like I was back in college. That flashback I did not need.

It's odd, I don't like the fact that my life is flying by but I don't think I would want to repeat my 20s. I like the fact that I know my future now. I like the fact that I am independent and taking care of myself. My brain works better now, why is that 20 year figure wasted on a 20 year brain?

I do miss dancing. I wish 40s didn't mean you look funny dancing now. They need to open some 40s plus clubs where we could go get our grove on without being comedy relief for the 20s crowd.

The video below is living proof middle aged people need to think long and hard about dancing publicly. Do you really think these women would have ever convinced that dude to go out to the dance asphalt if he remotely thought he was being videoed? Dance all you want in the privacy of your own home!



Enough for now...

Ring, Ring

My cell phone is approximately three or four years old, you know the Razor that was so popular a while back. It's beginning to act up and I am thinking it's time for a new phone.

The problem I am seeing is that all the new cell phones are smart phones. I don't want a smart phone. I do not want the ability to blog or Facebook on the run. I need some distance from all those 1s and 0s to actually live my life.

So which cell phone do you buy now, if you want to use it only for - get this - a phone. I don't text, why text when I am holding the phone and I can call and speak actual words and get actual words spoken back to me. I think I will keep my phone for now.

If I have the ability to Facebook or snap a photo and blog about right then, I know I will. As a person who designs webs and writes for a living, yes, I must do that eight hours a day Monday through Friday - I don't want to do that in my off hours as well.  I don't think it's too healthy to be too linked to the web.

That's why I find the following commercial so apropos to what I am trying to do. I would rather have 19 friends and be active (probably not trail biking but maybe gambling, movies, reading). The key for me is to find a good balance to enjoy both worlds.


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My Easy button doesn't work

Friend Linda went on a retreat this week for work and came back energized and with an Easy button to boot.

My week was anything but easy, it was one of the hardest weeks I've had in a long time. Everything was a fight or a struggle. Everything I have coming up looks to be the same fight or struggle.

I am tired of the drama and I want boring. I want easy but that stupid Easy button didn't make it easier. It just made Linda laugh. She enjoyed pushing the button even though I was not amused. I honestly think she was laughing at me. Even after I broke a form everyone uses. Yet, she still pushed the stupid button and laughed.

Do yo think she drank the kool-aid at the retreat?  She told me I could waller today in all the crap happening but the crap had to be left at work and I am supposed to enjoy my weekend. I doubt that will happen, the crap is still there... waiting ...waiting, patiently for me to return and wreck my world.

If I had a button it would definitely be a "Make It Suck" button and it would be stuck on! As that the theme of my week. I took a long soak hoping to wash away all this ickyness, but it only succeeded in scaring Winston, afraid he was going to have to take a bath. I am still bummed.

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Practice Makes Perfect

Well its takes mom about five months for mom to earn me enough clicks to get my Google AdSense email.

I am trying get to my ad revenue up to at least five clicks a day, so I can get an email from Google every month about a payment being issued.

I have yet to recruit enough ad clickers, but I shall continue to try. One of the things that adding the ads to the site it has encouraged me to write more constantly. When you write for a living, you tend to write about the same things and the subject matter gets old. This blog allows me the freedom to write anything I want  and in turn helps me keep my creative skills up.

Here I am limited only by my imagination, which means some days I will bore my three readers profusely. While on other occasions I will be quite imaginative. The sheer nature of a blog is to put down you own thoughts from the day or a particular subject. When I first began it was all about this new techie thing that I could actually publish.

Now, I enjoy the rants, the spastic Tuesdays, the stretching of my imagination. As I get stuck in the routine of work, this outlet helps to keep my desire to write strong and hopefully entertain my three readers.

To mom, I say thank you for diligently clicking on my ads earning me anywhere from 15 cents to S1.95 a day. If this revenue boosting doesn't work, beware I will just have to become an Arbonne dealer and I will pester you to buy all your make up from me (even though I think their hand creme stinks).

Here's to hoping for five clicks a day but realizing the daily exercise is worth much more than that. One of these days, Friend Shana and I will figure out how to write that novel together (she's an awesome writer with a killer imagination) and I won't need this blog anymore but until then I will keep practicing.

Enough for now...

When do I get recess?

I have been doing a little freelancing here and there and in doing so, I am actually increasing my skill set. I would love to do some changes to my "real" job's web but I seem to be too busy to get around to it. So my side jobs get some of my best work. In a way that's kind of good and yet, it is not.

My work site will get the benefit of HTML5 first, I think, mainly because I know that site inside and out. I am a little excited about this HTML5shiv that makes everything backwards compatible making even IE6 less of a booger.

Then I plan to learn asp.net for web forms and stuff and may stick my toes into mySQL. I don't know about that, SQL kind of scares me. So I think I have much learning to do in the near future.

What really scares me, is that I created a database driven resource guide with more than 3,000 entries and need to move it from the antiquated Front Page Database Interface that require Front Page Extensions and I am not sure how or what program to convert that database to. I want to maintain the ease of accessing the database via the web and yet I am just clueless as to where to start on that. So I will procrastinate on that.

The problem I always have when I work from home is that I get too deep into my work and tonight's entry is prime example of me still thinking about code when I should be relaxing. If you have any ideas of which way to start, I would love some input.

Enough for now...

Sign of the times

This photo, provided by Jodi Burr, shows the sign supporting their

sign's military service. The Burr family says their homeowner's

association is suing them for their refusal to take down the

banner from their front yard.  Read more: Fox News Story

 For all you who live in housing editions with homeowners association that won't allow American Flags or patriotic signs for our sons and daughter deployed to war zones - revolt now. I challenge everyone who pays dues to hang out the biggest flag you can get your hands on  or post signs and yellow ribbons for the safe return of our military and say "bite me, HA".

I am absolutely floored by the lengths that some of these associations will go to. Suing people to remove the flags and signs are beyond the pale.

When did we become so hung up on showing our patriotism? When did supporting our Country become passe?

Shame on you, homeowners association, that frown on such signs of patriotism.

Enough for now...

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my Dad's birthday. This photo is who my Dad is. His is quite and not easily excitable. He is also goofy on occasion and you never know when it is going to come out.

If you know Tommie then you know he has to have something on that head of his. Even if it's a McDonald's hat.

(P.S. dig the TV. The remote control was sitting on the rolling ottoman.)

Enough for now...

Wasted Future

It is such a shame that with success and fame that a healthy dose of sanity doesn't accompany it. No matter how many tried to help Amy Winehouse, the drug's grip was stronger. I do feel sorry for her, drugs are evil and when they get a hold, it takes a great deal of will power to get healthy again. But the thing to remember is that before she ever took that first hit, she was sober. She chose to do drugs.

When you see these two photos of her, you wonder why anyone would do drugs. They make you ugly real fast. It's hard to believe that the photo on the right was take the night before her 25th birthday. She looks closer to 50 there. Now at the age of 27, Amy Winehouse ceased to age any more. She's dead.

The big question is,  who's the next celebrity to die a stupid death?

Enough for now...

You are diving me nuts!

This last month I have been working on a horrible project where I have been trying to get approximately 80 remote offices to provide me with information. At the beginning the majority of the people were super and sent their information in but the last 20 or so have been absolutely obstinate. I sent emails asking for information, they replied only giving half the information, I replied asking for clarification or all the information, they would reply again with partial. I was so frustrated with the mean people that my assistant  had to take over talking to a few.

It got to a point that I was almost ready to get in my car and drive two hours to a couple of offices and give them my can can of whoop a$$. But that would not have been profession of me now would it? The frustration though did manifest itself as laughing hysterically.

I told my friend, Linda, that the next time a project of this nature comes along, I am going to say "Don't ever do that to me again!" Like that freaky young girl on Toddlers and Tiaras. That show just freaks me out. If you haven't heard her before here is a snippet.



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I am so busy I feel popular

Yesterday, I went to a professional organization reception where I laughed and got to know co-workers and others outside of work. It was fun.

Then today, we got a call from my nephew's wife, Stacey, and she asked if we wanted to go to dinner and meet Liam. Of course we said yes and the following are just a few of the highlights.

Enough for now...

Caution contents may be flammable

This would not have happened if the gas tank was on the same side.

Hey car manufacturers,

Would you do me a favor? All of you get on board and pick a side, I don't care which but please decide on either the right or left side for the gas tank. Why you ask, because every time I drive a state vehicle I have to pull into a parking space and get out and look for the gas cap before I can pull in to fill up.

Also it would be nice when you go into a busy gas station if all the cars could line up the same way. I have seen cars pull up to another car's nose because they each had gas tanks on different sides. Wait, am I being too logical? Would it be too much to know that when you got in a car, any car, that the gas tank was on the driver's side? HUH? I don't think that would be too much!

I don't like government regulations but since the government already owns Chevrolet why not demand that all cars from now on put the gas tank on the same side. I say its time for us to stand up for our rights to demand a universal side for gas tanks.

Okay, so now you've just heard one of my biggest pet peeves!

Enough for now...

Such a Disappointment

TGI Fridays used to be a regular haunt for me and my lunch buddies. Now that they have changed the menu and raised their prices it's just not worth it anymore. We would go for their super great salads. Now there are way less ingredients on the salad and cost two dollars more. I am sorry but there are few salads worth $10.89 or so. One that price is outrageous and two, is it unacceptable that there's so much less on it.


Before the TGI Friday's menu change

After the TGI Friday's menu change

To the right was the old Cobb Salad that was worth $8 bucks. It had diced cold chicken, crumbled bacon, diced tomatoes, boiled egg, diced avocado, black olives, cheese, and blue cheese crumbles

The new Cobb Salad has chicken breast drizzled with an ugly black vinaigrette, bacon strips, blue cheese crumbles, boiled egg, avocado and cherry tomatoes all for a meager $10.


This is rather insulting and really disappoints me. For $10 I don't think I should have to cut up my own bacon, I hate avocado so that goes to Theresa, and I am allergic to tomatoes. So what I get to eat now, is lettuce, bacon, blue cheese and chicken.



It's a shame too because my co-worker loves the fried green beans so we would go just for that but when the salad were good that was a bonus - now we won't go just for the appetizer.

I believe TGI Friday's needs to rethink their new menu, it wasn't an improvement and has lost me for a long time, if not forever. I don't see the need to be gouged at lunch.

No fried green beans for us anymore because TGI Fridays is no longer on our menu.

Enough for now...

An expensive way to start the day

A couple of days ago, Theresa asked me what was wrong with my tire. I look at the part of the tire on the ground and it didn't look flat. So I said "Nothing." Then she pointed out the tread and said you've got nothing here. It's bald. "Really?" I said not really worried about it.

Well, that conversation nagged at me, so I went to Hibdon first thing this morning. The guy behind the counter went out to inspect my tire and came back in with a frown on his face. He comes over and said "that right front tire is separating and the back left is wha wha wha." Somehow I tuned him out on that back tire when I heard that the one was separating.

I have been driving in massive construction on I40 and a blow out there would have been disasterous. So my crappy little car with only three hubcaps has two new shoes and an alignment. Now, the loss of more than $250 bucks stings, especially when I thought I'd was just going in to get a rotation and maybe, maybe not, a new tire.

Sometimes it sucks to be a grown up. This is the second month in a row with an unexpectant $250 bill.

Enough for now...

Take it the Limit - THEN STOP!

You know, I am so sick and tired of the theatrics that goes on in Washington. This debt ceiling crap is so stupid. If you are running out of money, you have to stop spending. It's that simple. If you need the Republicans to give you money, stop spending Democrats! Who wants to approve raising the debt ceiling with a President who is mad with spending. I cannot blame the Republicans for digging in.

In reality it is insane, what they do with our tax dollars. And then they appear shocked when the public rises up and screams stop. You know, I don't believe anything that comes out the administration so I say, don't raise it. Let see what happens. Lets live within the outrageous budget you already have (note: I did say within).

Down with tax hikes on anyone. I feel every citizen of this country regardless of how many kids or home mortgage should pay the same percentage on their earnings. I think punishing people for being successful is a step closer to communism.

The one thing, I agree with on this video is that they are all acting like children. It's sad. We are supposed to one of the most brilliant countries when it comes to democracy and they are acting like fools. Who's going to be the first one to take off his or her shoe and pound it on the table.



Enough for now...