At least I'm well balanced

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 55% Conservative, 45% Liberal

Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Par for the course with Blogger, the code did not work for this post. But if you would like to take this quiz yourself...go here....

http://www.blogthings.com/howliberalorconservativeareyouquiz/

Beauty in the eye of the beholder

I remember back in the early 90s, I thought Chris Isaak was just absolutely beautiful. Years went by and I although I loved his music, I didn't really "see" much of him until "The Chris Isaak Show" came out in 2001. At that time I thought "Huh? WTF?" Is my memory that bad? But god love him...people get old. He's a good 10 years older than me. It happens. But then I came across this video on youtube and it all came back. Now I remember!

If anyone else needs a reminder....check out the "Sexiest Video of all time".

BTW...is it me or was there another version of this video? I know I'm not crazy. Well...not about this anyway. But it seems like there was another version with a bunch of people sitting around a beach house and she was being a bitch to him. Sound familiar? Anyway.... Enjoy.

Too cool to fool

So I have been working on transferring all these old home movies onto DVD. Which will be nice and orderly when it's all done, but really - when do you watch these? They can be quite boring. Especially ones of just scenery. I do enjoy watching the ones that actually have people in them. (my friend Heather would be quite distressed by this)

There is one BIG thing that is bothering me about all this. From 1999 (probably before that, but we got the camera in 1999) until 2005 - I was FAT. Good GOD ..... I was FAT. Why didn't anybody tell me??? Matthew said I should not be upset by this, but rather pleased that I have managed to lose so much weight. But I still don't like seeing it. 45 pounds lighter - I can promise you I will NEVER ... EVER...go back. Never. I just wish I could go back and take all those vacations over again and refilm them as the new slimmer version of me. Especially Hawaii on our 10th anniversary. Maybe we will have another renewal of vows on our 20th anniversary and I will look better in those videos.

I need a vacation. Again. We are leaving for California in 3 weeks. I have no idea what we are going to do out there. We have 2 days with no plans. We have been there so many times already, we have already done the tourist things. I love going to Santa Cruz, so I'm sure we will head down there one day.

A girl I work with left for vacation yesterday. She is going to be in Gatlinburg for 10 days! What in the HELL do you do in Gatlinburg for 10 days? What do you do there for 2 days? At all? I don't get it. I have been to Gatlinburg all of 2 times in my life. The first time I was 10 years old and didn't know any better. At the time, it was the farthest I had ever been from home (I was not fortunate enough to take summer vacations to Florida when I was little....our vacation each year was to Lexington) so I thought I was going on this exotic journey. The 2nd time I was in Gatlinburg was for our 1st anniversary in October 1990. We wanted to do something to celebrate the occaision, but we didn't have any money. So Gatlinburg it was. Looking back now though, it was a really nice trip for us. We were young and didn't have many worries at the time. I actually wish I could go back to Gatlinburg October 1990.

Today is going to be a loooooong day. I am on phones until 1pm then I have to go to work until 9pm. Yuck. Aside from answering phones from 1-3 tomorrow, I am off for the next 2 days.

I guess I will work on more videos of the fat girl.

Here comes the rain again

It's been beastly hot all day - and now it's about to storm. Figures. I am out of here (real estate office) at 7 and it will probably be pouring by then.

This morning when I was taking Bijoux out, we ran into the grey and white cat that roams our neighbourhood. When he saw me, he stopped and looked at me and I noticed he had a bird in his mouth. Nice. Even better was that the bird was still moving. I didn't know what to do. I thought I should try to save the bird - there was a good chance it would be ok. But it more than likely had a broken wing and it would have caused me more grief to try to save it and not be able to.

I told Matthew about this and he told me that the other day he killed a bird on the golf course. That is the 2nd time on the same course that he has hit a bird.

For the past few days I have been transferring all of our home videos onto DVD. It's not a difficult task, but it is tedious. And it's even worse when our old camcorder decides not to work. I sent an e-mail to a repair guy to see what it would cost to fix this problem and he said about $185! Damn. I could buy a new one for that. I don't really care about the camera. As long as it survives long enough to let me transfer the videos.

It's pouring rain right now. Hopefully it will stop in the next hour. I am supposed to take my mother out to eat, but if it's raining she won't go. Then I will have to go eat by myself like a loser.

Listen like thieves

Ok… so I just said I was not going to pursue the job at the Security Company. I had made my mind up and I was happy about that. But then yesterday….

Yesterday.

Yesterday was a trip down Loss Prevention Memory Lane. I was working on something on the computer, so my back was to the desk when this lady walks up and says she has an appointment. She was asked her name and she said “Anna Smith”. (names have been changed to protect the stupid). I immediately turned around and looked at her. (smooth I am) She looked back at me and stared for a minute. Now most people we busted never saw me, I was safely locked away in the camera room. But I would always get the feeling that somehow they knew. Anyway – we had been after this woman for months. She has written 1000s of dollars in bad checks and also has been caught shoplifting at one of our Ohio stores. Right before I left Security, I was told by the local PD that if we ever see this woman in the store to call them and get her on video.

When she walked in the back, I called down to security and talked to Greg. I told him Anna Smith was in the salon. He sent Recon up to…well….recon. They called the PD, but were told that since there aren’t any warrants out for her, there is nothing we can do unless we catch her stealing. Do what? What about all the bad checks? Isn’t that a crime? You would think they could do something about that.

About an hour later I spotted another thief sitting outside the salon in the children’s shoe department. Back in January we had a lady come in, select an armful of Ecko sweatshirts and some jeans, throw her coat over top of them and walk out the store. Greg chased her to her car, but she got away. (we recovered the merchandise) It’s funny – watching these people on camera, they seem so much bigger than in real life. She is actually pretty short. Anyway – she is unmistakable. She is real trashy looking with long dark hair with a grey streak down the middle. When she stood up, she had a big flannel coat over her arm. HELLO! It’s the middle of June, 80+ degrees outside, she’s wearing shorts and a tank top and carrying a big ass coat.

I called Greg and told him to get her on camera. He sent Recon up again. Recon walked right up to her and she started fanning herself like she was hot. She said “Boy it’s hot outside”. (thieves always make small talk with security people) He said “So why are you carrying around that big coat?” She said “Cuz sometimes it’s cold in stores.” Yeah whatever.

I left for the day before I found out if anything happened with her. Since she had the coat with her, I assume she was planning to steal, but she probably knew they were on to her when Recon approached her.

One thing Recon said to me was “See. We need you back down there. The store needs you back down there. You are good at this and you remember and recognize these people.”

So now I am torn again. I really do love that job! And I really am good at it. I guess it wouldn’t hurt me to call the Security Company and see what the deal is. Like I said before, if they can’t meet my demands, I won’t work for them. It’s as simple as that really.

Time to go out to the country. Yee haw!

Steal my sunshine

It has been an absolutely beautiful day today. I should have been sitting at the pool all day. But no - I stayed inside. Glued to this computer.

But at least I accomplished something and that makes me very proud.

As you know, we bought this computer just a couple weeks ago and it is loaded with several different DVD and movie editing programs. But I had no idea how any of them worked or how to make DVDs. Well I think I have figured it out. (I have been messing with it all damn day, so I better have it figured out)

I love making movies and music videos. I think I missed my creative calling in life. Hmmmm...is it too late? Anyway, I made a pretty good video of Matthew and my nephews skiing and wakeboarding when they all went to Lake Norris in April. There should now be a link to my youtube page on the right ----------------------------------------->
so you can go watch if you want. I'm sure there will be many more videos to come, now that I've got the hang of all these programs.

I always feel like I have wasted a beautiful day when I stay inside on a day like today. Bijoux and I did go for several walks. But I just feel like I should have done something. Like lay by the pool. Is that doing something?

Give it to me now

Boy this thing is BIG. Dang!

Now I finally feel like I have a new computer. Because it looks different.

I now have a GINORMOUS 19 inch flat panel LCD monitor. Sweet. I remember when I had a 19 inch TV.

Prices of these babies have come down quite a bit. But this is about as big as you can get and still stay in the $200-250 price range. And this one only cost me about $100. I had $100 in free Circuit City gift cards (from some rewards program that I didn't even know I belonged to until they told me I needed to redeem some points) and I get a $50 rebate. All good, all good.

I did have some minor difficulty hooking it up. Both Matthew and the ever-enthusiastic EMO dude at Circuit City said "Dude...all ya gotta do is plug it in. It's easy." Emo dude even told me the cords should be the same on my old monitor, so I won't even have to unplug it from my computer. Not true...but nice try.

Old monitors are hella heavy. So after I drug the behemoth off the desk and plugged in the new one, this peppy little box was bouncing all over the screen that said "no valid input" or some such happy horseshit. GREAT. Thank goddess I have a laptop. I googled that particular phrase and found that alot of people have that problem when hooking up their new LCD monitor on systems previously supporting a CRT monitor. Nobody told me I had to change the resolution settings BEFORE I hooked up the new monitor. (thanks CC Emo dude and Matthew)

So the behemoth has to be drug back up on to the desk and all the cords (which are now endlessly knotted together) rehooked.

But I did it. And that is all the technical and manual labour I will be able to do today. I am done. But I do have a new bright pretty screen.

I will eventually want bigger. And better.

Did you watch that new show "Windfall"? Ahhhh...Dylan, you still look the same. But that is my favourite daydream - winning the lottery. I guess that is everyone's favourite daydream. But in all honesty, I like to think about the things I would buy for other people. And you thought I was selfish.

Maybe I will go buy a ticket soon. I already know my numbers........

Soy un perdedor

Everything happens for a reason. I used to hate it when people said that. But now I think there might be something to it.

A couple days ago I made the (final) decision that I wasn’t going to apply to work at the Security Company. I have no idea what made that bell ring. It just did. But there must be a reason.

There must be a reason that I did so poorly on that stupid test. I knew I was doing it wrong! But I did it anyway.

My 90 day waiting period was up on May 13. There must be a reason that I have been putting off calling them for a month.

The reason is – I don’t want to work for them. That’s it. It’s done. My mind is made up.

Everyone I have told has said the same thing “That’s good. You wouldn’t have been happy.”

It’s just not the same as it used to be. If things could go back to the way they were, before the take-over, I would go back in a heartbeat. No doubt. But I don’t want to work for that company and all of their hand-tying rules. Why bother to have security, if you can’t stop the bad guys?

Nope. Not for me. I thought about applying to another store, but I don’t know. I am still thinking about it.

I guess I need to change my profile. I am no longer a “Loss Prevention Officer for a major department store.” It was such a fun job! I loved it so. I don’t want to change my profile yet. Because I really have nothing to put in its place. “I am a Salon Coordinator at the Aveda Salon in a major department store.” Eh. Doesn’t have the same zing.

“I’m a loser.”

Yeah. I like that one better.

I feel kind of worthless without a job. Even though I hate working. Is that irony? No? Not even Alanis irony? Maybe.

I have a lot of things to do this summer, so I really don’t have time to look for a new job right now. We are going to California the first week of July, then my friend the divewitch is coming to visit, then we are going camping the last week of July. Maybe in August I can look for a new job.

Or maybe not.

I can be happy with my little part-time job for awhile longer. Build up my travel fund again.

Speaking of travel: a milestone birthday is coming next year. We will call it “30.” I would love to take a BIG trip to commemorate the occasion. I have 4 destinations on the short list. (all dive destinations)

They are:

Australia – I have wanted to go there since I was a teenager. But to do it right I would need a minimum of 3 weeks and a lotta cheese.

Thailand – I feel I can truly call myself a traveler once I have Thailand under my belt. It has been high on my list since 1999ish.

Truk Lagoon – this a new one for me. Total dive paradise. Lots of wrecks. It is in the absolute middle of nowhere. I have no idea how I would get there or how much it would cost. But that is part of the fun.

Egypt/Red Sea – this is more for Matthew, although I have wanted to see Egypt for a long time. When I was a little girl, my great-grandmother (on a camel) (who I inherited the travel bug from) used to show me a picture of her riding a camel in Egypt and say “Look at your great grandmother on a camel.” Back in 1974 or so, saying you went to Egypt was quite a big deal. Almost unheard of. Every time I saw her she would whip out that picture and tell me stories about Egypt. That is why my cousin and I called her Great-Grandmother on a camel. And still do to this day. (except that I no longer talk to my cousin)

So that’s it. I need to start figuring this out soon because a trip of this magnitude will take some planning.

Matthew is still in OKC and I am still bored. I hate this. I am so bored I made a myspace page. I am too old for myspace. I know that. But I was curious. If you want to see it, go there and search for Zinnia. I don’t feel like posting a link on here yet.

Now you're out there swimming

No paid work today. I did go to the weekly sales meeting at the real estate office. Fortunately there was no home tour, so we were out of there by 10:30. Oh shit. I was going to call the Security Company today and tell them I am ready to work for them part-time if they have an opening. And IF they can meet my demands. I am not going to work at any Cincinnati stores and I am not going to work every weekend and I already have several days I need off. In fact, the whole month of July would be nice to have off. I have a lot of things going on in July. Well anyway, I may call him tomorrow on my lunch break. If I remember.

Have you heard that song “In the Deep”? A beautiful song. It makes me think of scuba diving because I heard it on the flight down (in flight music or something) and it was going through my head on just about every dive. Wouldn’t it be cool to dive with a waterproof iPod?

I took my mother out today. That’s always fun. We started at Bed Bath and Beyond. I have been waiting for a 20% off coupon so I could buy Bijoux some Doggy Steps. They aren’t quite high enough for my bed, but they will help her as soon as she learns how to use them. She’s a bit afraid of them right now. We practiced some this afternoon with cheese and Pupperoni. It’s a process. If she gets used to them, I will order the 4th step add-on to make them higher. But when she gets off the bed at night (which she shouldn’t be doing at all. And I know when she does it’s cuz she is going to go do something bad….like pee) she wakes me up to pick her up and put her back on the bed. That is getting really old. I don’t know what her deal is with jumping. She is certainly capable. Poodles are jumpers. But she does have knee problems, so I give her the benefit of the doubt and baby her. Of course.

After a couple more shops it was lunch time. Eating with my mother is such a pain in the ass. I know I am a picky eater – but my god. She is BEYOND a picky eater. Seriously puts me to shame. I was sort of craving a French Dip from First Watch. She looked at the menu and said there was nothing she could eat there. Whatever. So we walked across the street to Hoggy’s. It’s a brand new BBQ place and Matthew was raving about the gumbo. I saw they had Mac N Cheese, baked potatoes and corn bread on the menu, so I figured that would satisfy her. I decided to wait on the gumbo until Matthew was home, in case I didn’t like it. So I got a BBQ chicken sandwich. It was good, but I must confess something. There are very few things I miss about GA, but they do have some damn good ‘cue. Especially O.B.’s. Dat shit is da bomb-diggity.

Hoggy’s needs to get their act together a bit. The service wasn’t all that great. Her Mac N Cheese was cold the first time. They did bring out a replacement, which was hot. But the highlight of the meal was the big ass bone in my chicken. It was well over an inch long with a nice long pointed end. Fortunately I bit the end of it and didn’t get the whole thing in my mouth. That could have been nasty. I showed our server and he said “Wow…that’s not good.” Gee…ya think? He then proceeded to bring us our bill. I should have complained then and there, but we had already complained about the Mac N Cheese. I hate complaining in restaurants – even though I know I should do it. But I always feel guilty when they give me a free meal. Like I go around doing that at every restaurant in town. Which I don’t. So I let it go. Until I got home and told Matthew. He said I should have asked for the manager again. I know I know. So I called them and told them. Of course they are sending me a gift certificate for a free meal. I would make such a good Catholic. I carry around so much guilt.

Alone....again

Matthew left this morning around 11am. He is stopping in St. Louis tonight to catch a Reds game. He will finish his drive to Oklahoma City tomorrow. And thus begins 3 weeks and 5 days of me being alone.

Oh I hate this. Especially in the summer. That damn boat. In a way, I wish we didn’t even have it. We rarely get to use it and with gas so high, it hurts too bad to use it. Let’s not forget about the jetski which has been sitting in storage, unused for 2 years. We should probably fix it up and use it. I do like it. But we really can’t pull both of them down to the lake. We need to just live on the lake so we can use all our toys. But living on the lake means living millions of miles from civilization. They keep saying they are going to expand Williamstown Lake. Maybe if they actually do, that will be an option. But for now, it’s not helping us.

Cincinnati is finally getting hip. Cirque du Soleil is coming later this summer. I love Cirque! We used to go each time it came through Atlanta. Alas, Quidam is coming to Cincinnati, and we have seen that one. If it was Alegria, I would go again. Alegria is awesome. Quidam was good, but not spectacular.

Matthew just called to tell me that he heard on the radio that Texas is going to set up Webcams on the borders. You can sit at home on your computer and watch the borders 24 hours a day. If you see someone sneaking over, you call an 800 number to alert the authorities. Now I don’t know if this is real or if it was just something those Talk Radio guys babble about being a good idea. But I think it is an excellent idea because you know there are freaks out there that will do this. It will consume their entire life. But that’s ok, if it protects our borders.

Is it July 1 yet?

I have been thinking lately of getting a real job. I have no idea what, and I hate working. But I just feel like I should be doing something. Since Matthew has mostly weekends off, it would have to be a job with weekends off. I don’t really like having just weekends off, because things are so crowded on weekends. I like being able to do things during the week. Even worse than working is looking for a job. And interviewing. Ugh. I hate that. Can’t someone just give me a job without all the bullshit?

I’ve got about an hour before I have to take a shower to go to work. Yes, it’s 1:45pm and I have not had a shower yet. This will be my life for the next 3 weeks. Hopefully it will warm up out of the 80s soon so I can go to the pool in the mornings. I may hit the tanning bed this week.

That’s enough for now.