36 posts tagged “randomosity”
When I went to the post office last week to mail my packages, I was treated to a long line, only one person working the counter, a chatty older woman behind me, and a fussy newborn baby in front of me. (The baby was with her mom, she wasn't there on her own.)
I'll spare you all the details, except that I had a bit of a smackdown with the old lady when she went off about how awful it was the post office was selling MUSLIM STAMPS! AROUND CHRISTMASTIME!
I said the stamps were for a Muslim holiday and had nothing to do with Christmas, just like the new Simpsons* stamps that just came out. I also told her if she didn't like them, then don't buy them, but there are plenty of Americans who are Muslim and the post office is always trying to get people to buy stamps they connect with.
She then said she was going to have a few choice words with the workers. Seeing as there was only one person working I took pity on the poor soul at the counter. I pointed out that she just works here, she doesn't have anything to do with stamp design and she's already having a hard enough day as it is.
That finally struck a chord with the angry old lady. She softened immediately and then went on about how busy the postal workers must be, blah, blah, blah.
So when I was finally done mailing my package to Germany (tip - keep your packages under 4 pounds for international, it's an expensive pain in the ass to go over), she came up to the counter and asked about Christmas stamps.
The worker described what she had and the woman, to my surprise after all that nonsense about the Muslim stamps, said, "Oh no, no, no. I just want noncommittal snowflakes."
*The Simpsons postage stamps rock. Just be sure to pay attention to what you are using them on. I almost put the Homer Simpson stamp on my donation to the Special Olympics. Ha ha!
Just a week ago we were looking at 100 degrees. Tomorrow it's not supposed to get out of the 60's. Hooray! Sweater time! We have some cloud cover, which I love.
I seem more industrious when it's dark and cold. I'm living proof of that old sociological/anthropological hypothesis that colder regions have more technological advancements through the eons than the warm-paradise-lie-in-the-sun-with-no-clothes-on-all-day regions. If you are stuck inside in the cold then you need to find something to do. If it's a beautiful day and you have some fermented fruit beverage around, why bother with anything else?
I'd apologize for digressing but I didn't have a point anyway.
Tonight I'm helping out a friend at a swanky fundraiser for a political guy I adore. The fundraiser is at Hangar One, a swanky private plane hangar that doubles as a shrine to rich boys and their expensive toys. There are many benefits to going, not the least is free dinner and drinks.
It'll be prime networking opps, both professionally and personally. I'm wearing my favorite sassy yet sophisticated suit. I can only hope my allergies and the wind will calm down by then. Otherwise I'll walk in with a runny nose, bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair. Lovely.
I need to get back to it. For today's Rocktober, I give you Thunderbirds Are Now!, a rocking Detroit band I discovered via NPR. I bought the CD at my neighborhood record shop. I told the owner I heard them on NPR and she said that can sometimes be a challenge.
"I get a lot of customers requesting something they heard on NPR. Sometimes I have it, sometimes it's some random guy in Germany sitting in his apartment and produced one CD. I can't get that stuff!"
I'm not sure why I'm tired, I had plenty of sleep.
I had a great morning meeting at a great coffee shop. What I hate is stinking like a coffee shop for the rest of the day. Now I smell musty. It's driving me crazy. I may go to Macy's at lunch and buy new clothes. I need new clothes anyway. I'm feeling frumpy lately.
I've been asked to serve on a task force for the City of Phoenix Arts & Culture department. I kind of want to be on one for transportation so I can get them to change the timing of stoplights on Camelback Road. Even going the speed limit, you aren't able to get through any light on the green. I'm not sure if anyone ever makes it through more than one green light in a row. Let's get the traffic flow going, people!
I don't have much else to report. I'm tired, I'm busy and my desk is a mess. It's a bit hard to concentrate. I would take my work somewhere out of the office but I stink like old coffee grounds and I'm not going to subject anyone to that.
On to Rocktober. I can't say this is my favorite Tom Petty song, I like so many, but it's the one I'll pick for today.
What the heck - here's another one. I'm feeling generous.
It's been a damn good week out here in AmyLand. Full of friends and making amends. Life is good. The sun is shining and my house is clean.
I met a friend for a 5:30 a.m. workout this morning and it was great. I was back in my house at 6:30 and decided I had time to do the dishes from book club last night. Everyone loved my new chopsticks and the take-out Chinese food from the little place around the corner. I thought I wouldn't get to the dishes until tomorrow morning at the earliest.
I have a charity function tonight so I'm all dolled up - it's too much of a pain to go home first. So I think I'll take myself out to lunch at the nice restaurant across the street where all the suits from those buildings eat. I'll sit at the bar and read the paper and watch guys in ties go by. I love guys in ties. We're so casual out here it's not often you see that, but those buildings are chock full of lawyers and wheelers and dealers.
Headed up to Prescott tomorrow for Oktoberfest with no stress or anxiety on the horizon. Guy #3 gave me some good tips on how to score extra pours with the biermeisters. I'm really glad I sent him a note, even though he's full of shit on 'we both let it die on the vine'. Both? Eh, whatever. At least now I can walk around town without being paranoid about running into him.
I have a ton of work today and no meetings. w00t!
Because I'm feeling so obnoxiously gleeful, here's one of my favorite songs of all time. HAPPY FRIDAY!
I woke up early and ran the Race for the Cure. It's always one big cluster...mess, which is why I only run it once every few years. I raised over $300 so that was cool, but I should have raised the money and then ran 3.2 miles on the track. It would have saved a lot of aggravation with crowds and people who don't pay attention.
What I love about the race:
- I met up with some of my friends, one of whom just had her first chemo treatment this week. She did the walk and while she was exhausted, she did the whole thing.
- I love seeing families out in support of loved ones.
What I don't like about the race:
- We're talking tens of thousands of people.
- Tens of thousands of people who can't pay attention. You always have the people with strollers and dogs lined up for the run, not the walk, when the rules expressly forbid both. Those of us running have to dodge and weave. One guy yelled out "THIS ISN'T A RACE!" to everyone surging past him and his stroller - which probably carried a dog - and I almost stopped and said, "Yes it is - says so right on your shirt. Race for the Cure. Besides, if you want to do the walk, line up for the walk and not for the run, dumbass." But I didn't.
At the race, my friend J asked if I wanted to go to the Cardinals game because he had an extra ticket. I told him to ask his wife but he said she didn't want to go. Joe's wife is a cold hearted shrew who hates nothing more than J's friends, J's job, J's dreams and aspirations, etc. I said there's no way she would let me go with him, he said it wasn't a problem. He called her and yes, it was a problem. Now all of a sudden she wants to go out of spite. He decided he didn't want to go because she was only going to be crabby - so he would give me the tickets.
Miss K and I stopped by to pick them up and he came outside to give them to us. I apologized for any marital strife all of this has caused and he laughed, "Oh, there was plenty of strife here already." They really need to work on a lot of things. I feel bad for them both. I've met her and tried to be nice, but she was nothing but hostile to me and every other one of us from our Leadership Institute class.
Now I'm back home from the game. Had a great time and I'm completely unmotivated to accomplish anything around the house. I may as well post my Rocktober song o' the Sunday.
There. Now I've done something. :-)
I don't know what the hell is going on with my computer, but the first time I tried to post - and I made it all the way to the end, it kept jumping to a different interwebs tab. Then it eated the entire post. Aargh!
Anyway, let's see if I can do this all over again.
Screw it - I'll condense. I spent too much time already and I'm hungry and frustrated.
I'm going to play with Val, Cappy and Hotrod this year for their annual Rocktober Festivities. I may not have a lot of what they might consider RAWK!!11!, but I'll have fun with it. What are they going to do? Kick me out of the club? I'll start my own. So there.
I decided to start off easy (for me) and go through all the tunage on the AmyH Ska Punk Rockin' Funk Collection. Yes, that's what it's called. When I run out of songs, I'll see what I have worthwhile on Amy's Dance Party. Not really dance music, the title just cracked me up.
Without further ado, here's the first song from the AHSPRFC: The Presidents of the United States of America.
Did you I tell you I'm hiking the Grand Canyon in November? That's right, mofos - I'll be hiking in and staying here for two nights before hauling myself back out:
My allergies are so bad my head is all fuzzy. I think I had other things to say but I forgot them already.
ROCK ON! w00t!
I suppose I should finally get around to doing my list, now that I'm a week and a half late. I also suppose I should go back to see what I wanted to accomplish.
Let's say these, because I did do them when I said would, but they never stay done: Vacuum
Iron
Clean Kitchen Table
The last few weeks were nutso busy, even for me. This is a pretty quiet week. I have rehearsal tonight, going to the First Friday Art Walk (it's killer, you should come out for it sometime) and to the bar Saturday morning for the Michigan State v Michigan game.
I just may GO GREEN! all the way and ride the bus, since the bar is walking distance from the bus line that is also walking distance from my abode. That means I'd have to be on the bus by 7:30 to get there by 8:45. Or I could drive and leave my house at 8:15 and get there at the same time. See why we don't ride the bus out here? But it would give me a chance to catch up on all my reading. So that's a plus.
We'll see. If I do the bus, then I can stop on the way back, pick up the local shuttle bus circulator and go to the Tempe Oktoberfest. Then I can drink all afternoon and take the bus back home. That's thinking ahead, I tell you what.
What else? Oh yeah, my list.
1. Clean all the stuff off the piano. It's the kitchen table overflow area.
2. Fix guest bathroom toilet. I came home from Safford to find a pool of water in the guest bathroom. Glad I went in there - every since Elvis left I have no reason to go into his bathroom. I shut off the water and drained the commode. That's as far as I got. I'm not having guests for - wait, I'm hosting book club in two weeks. Good thing I'm putting it on my list! I don't know if it's from where the water lines attach or somewhere else.
3. Dust. We can dust every day out here in the desert. I don't, but could.
4. Work out. I'm doing pretty good this week. Let's hope I can keep it up.
5. Write a letter to Grams. She's doing great in Wisconsin. Yay!
6. Write a letter to soon to-be-departed colleague. A wonderful guy here in town accepted a job as an arts center director in Calgary. You Canadians will love him. We'll miss him terribly.
7. Read two magazines. They are taking over my house. Yikes.
That's enough for me. I think I'm doing other things this weekend but I can't remember.
Including me.
But for the other crazy people who are sending me snarky non sequitor emails, they will have to wait another day before I'll deal with them. Maybe tomorrow, maybe never.
Facebook is driving me crazy. I need to set up a fan page or something like that for work, for the office. Because I'd be the administrator, it wants to link to my personal page. Or it will still be my name, not my organization's name. It's a maddening circle.
In true FB fashion, I posted what I was trying to do and some of my peeps gave me tips and hints - and said they shared my frustration. I guess in order to get 'friends' or 'fans' for the office page, I'd have to friend them as well. Screw that.
See? This is why I wince when I get friended by certain people. I don't have a clear line of separation between work and personal life. That's not a complaint, that's the way it is. Most people understand that, many others don't. If I go any further with this train of thought, I'm going to sound like an elitist snob so I'll stop. But I think you can understand where I'm going.
That's also why my Twitter feed is work related. Well, that and I do have some lines about privacy, especially when what you say is wide open to the world. Or to put it in real life terms: When I have people coming up to me and saying, "Hey, I saw you at the X event, but was too far away to say 'hi'", I thank my stars I wasn't doing something stupid or being a stumbling drunk. I expect to see someone I know everywhere I go, and carry myself accordingly.
That said, I need to figure out how to make a work page without it being merged with my personal page.
Other things making me crazy: The inability of Congress to work together for the good of the public. The hero worship of Sarah Palin (WTF?), Creationists, the Arizona Legislature, people who speed up to pass you then hit the brakes and make a right turn, hypocrisy, I'm watching what I eat and working out still can't lose any weight, people who can't RSVP or pin down a date yet expect me to hold my schedule open.
Time waits for no man, and neither do I.
Whew. Now I feel better just for getting that out and can't think of anything else at the moment.
So far this week, counting last weekend, I've done Bikram yoga once, ran twice, swam really really hard at practice (+1600m!), watched what I ate, cut down the booze and
*drumroll*
I GAINED TWO POUNDS!
Why even bother? Pffft.
But I'm back on the Crazy Relay team for next February, so now I have an incentive to work out harder.
An acquaintance of mine is trying to talk me into going to a crazy expensive gym down the street from where I work. I was telling Fabulous Co-Worker Justin about it, mostly in an eye-rolling kind of way, and he said, "It sounds like the place you should go. You said it's full of professional types with good networks and if nothing else, maybe good dating potentials."
He has a point. I said I'd have to get a new wardrobe, but screw it, if I go I'm going to stick with my standard issue free t-shirt from volunteering somewhere. I do have nice shorts, though. I'm not a total slob. However, no matter how I dressed I'd be uncomfortable if the place was full of pretentious assholes and plastic fantastics. Blargh.
My acquaintance said he'd get me a guest pass so maybe I'll give it a shot. I hear the classes are good and great deal of hobnobbing/business dealings happen around the juice bar. It sounds right up my alley - except I'm cheap and the fees are high. We'll see.
MomH and Uncle Don are driving Grams up to Wisconsin next week to be closer to Uncle Dick's family. It will be the best for Grams - she'll be a few minutes from all of my cousins. She's the only Grandma they've had so she will get a lot of care and attention. I feel really bad for my mom, though. She's spent a lot of time with her mother these past few years and I know that has meant so much to her. This morning on NPR, the StoryCorp piece on taking care of an aging mother brought me to tears. It made me think of my time with MomH and being so far from home.
Speaking of home, a classmate of mine broke his neck during the motorcross event at the county fair. His youngest daughter is best friend of Amber (NieceH #3). Brother Ray, SIL, and Amber went over to spend time with them last night. I think he has three vertebrae in his neck broken and the doctors say he only has a few days left to live. Wow. That's just crazy, considering he's awake and alert. It doesn't make much sense, but Brother Ray and DadH asked the vet about it - the vet gets asked about almost everything - and he said the nerves will most likely be deteriorating quickly to the point he lose most bodily functions.
Jeff was close to my late bachelor great-uncle, the closest thing to a family/grandchild Uncle Clarence ever had. He and I were never more than passing friends, but I was glad for what he meant to other members of FamilyH. If you could keep his family in your thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated.
So that's it for my Friday.
Guess what? *looks around*
I have absolutely no plans on the calendar for tomorrow. OMGFREE TIME!!11! You have no idea how excited I am about playing the day by ear.
*happy sigh*
My dinner plans were cancelled so now I'm home. Oh, to have a free night!
I really should work out, but I'm promising myself that I'll go to bed early and run in the morning. I hope it's not TOO hot. It's been a little humid for us lately. Last week we had a dip in temps in the morning and the big joke was that we were all chilly at 83 degrees. That 30 degree drop makes a difference!
Anyway, I'm picking up all sorts of stuff I've scattered around the place. I discovered the present BrownA and I found for Crankypants when were at the Chicago Squeendy City MeetUp back in June. Don't worry, Cranky, I'll send it and other stuff to re-clutterfy your house soon!
I should probably work on all those bills and whatnot piling up on the kitchen table, along with those multiple stacks of newspapers. But if I watch another episode of the X-Files, I'll be that much closer to sending the DVD back for more of Season 2.
Posting more Costa Rica pics was also on an earlier to do list. So here you go.
Here are pictures from the resort in Arenal, including a gratuitous bikini shot of yours truly enjoying the hot springs. Around noon, the heavens unleashed and we were forced to take cover at the swim-up bar. I drank a few guaro sours and pisco sours to pass the time before my massage. THAT was amazing. I was getting a rubdown in my very own open air cabana in the jungle. At one point I had to wrap myself in a towel and rinse off in my own secluded spring (I had a Volcano Mud Wrap). There I was, in the rain, naked in a river in the middle of the rain forest. Hee hee hee! I thought it was heaven.
The volcano was hidden from view from our room during the day except for the morning of our departure. It also greeted us in the moonlight upon our arrival. We felt really welcome. :-)
Here we are during our day of touring the Arenal region. Hanging Bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall and Arenal. The volcano was active, spitting out hot rocks as big as cars. It was so freaking awesome. We were far enough away to be safe, but could see the rocks break apart, showing their glowing red insides. Super cool.
Hanging Bridges:
La Fortuna & Arenal. The little puffs of white on the right hand side is dirt/dust getting kicked up by the tumbling rocks.
You know, I used to be much better and telling stories and making little photo-blogs about my trips. What a slackass I've become.
Here are some assorted fauna to make up for it.
Looks like I've successfully killed half an hour just posting photos. Maybe that's why I don't do it more often. Ha.
Enjoy!
Next installment: AmyH at the Beach. I promise, no more bikini shots. You're safe from here on out.
