Blogging on the Road... Literally

So I'm typing this blog on my way to Seattle with Andrew to hang out with him while he works. No, I'm not using my phone to type up little notes and then e-mail them to myself because I'm absolutely fed up with doing that. If the notes I am able to send could be as long as the blog, or even half of the blog, I wouldn't mind much, but the one note I can type is 3,000 characters long, which is maybe 600 words. This one note takes five texts to send, which is roughly 120 words per text. If the blog is, say, 2,400 words long [like the second one from my vacation was], that would take 20 times of cutting up the note, sending it to my e-mail, opening the message on the Internet, copying the text, pasting it, and reformatting everything because the HTML tags I attach to certain words doesn't transfer through the text.

Anywho, I'm using my laptop to type this. There may be a time not too long from now where I may be able to successfully type a blog from my phone and not even have to get onto the computer to post it.

That's right, another new phone.

But as I mentioned in a previous blog, I will not be getting the T-Mobile Dash; instead, the T-Mobile G1 will be my phone of choice. It comes out on October 22 of this year and is $399.99. But, if you are an existing T-Mobile customer, you can pre-order the phone online and get an instant discount of $220, resulting in the final price of $179.99.

In case you weren't aware, I got a new phone on May 10th of this year: the Nokia 6263. It's a flip phone equipped with 1.3mp camera, USB capabilities, SD memory card, and a full front-side music player with Play/Pause, Back, and Forward buttons for easy access to your music library. I didn't realize how much I would use the music player on there until I used it at PacSun in the back room when the CD player wouldn't work. It was a life saver.

You really are more productive when you listen to music.

Anyway, it is pretty basic with all of its features, including the basic t9 option when texting. Now, I know I went off about how much I dislike my phone right now in one of my previous blogs, but no worries, the G1 will be a welcomed addition to my hi-tech gadget family.

This phone is absolutely amazing. For one thing, it has a QWERTY keyboard, which is the main thing I'm looking for. It'll make blogging a breeze when unable to use a computer, it'll make texting much faster, and it'll be a real upgrade, instead of my "upgrade" in May, when I only got a new phone because the "6" button on my phone wasn't working as well as it used to. For another thing, it is Internet capable, making blogging that much easier; I'll be able to post my blogs straight from my phone, with no time wasted texting to my e-mail. Also, this phone has a 3.2mp camera. Not super important to me, considering I have my 12.2mp Canon Digital Rebel XSi [no big deal] and my Finepix z5 with 6.3mp. But it would still be a better deal than the camera on my phone now, which takes acceptable pictures when in Night Mode [otherwise there is a green speckle tint to the image], but then you MUST be stable when taking the picture or else it'll be blurry [slower shutter speed]. And, to top it off, it is linked with Google, making answering any question you have super easy, no matter where you are! ...and Google has GoogleMaps, making GPS in my hand possible. Say goodbye to getting lost! Oh, and it's a touch screen device with "desktop icons" and an instant Google search bar. Like my other phone, it too has USB capabilities and an SD memory card.

Considering the fact that I paid $216.79 for my Nokia 6263, I think the $179.99 [+tax] will be well worth it for a phone that can do everything. So, if I pre-order this today [or whenever, I suppose], I will get it either ON October 22 or the next day. Less than a month away.

Until then, I will be listening to music on my Nokia, because for some strange reason, Windows Media Player doesn't want to play anything. And I quote:


When I get home [or find someone's Internet service to tap into], I desperately need to find out how to fix this. The only thing I've done recently is re-install the newest version of BearShare that I deleted from my computer when I re-booted the system due to slow loading. It didn't say anything about sound devices when I installed it and I don't have it automatically associated with any file types.

Balderdash!

We just pulled off the freeway and are driving up and down hills in Northern Seattle. This would not be the place for a new driver of manual transmission cars to be driving at. Andrew is going to teach me [well, re-teach me and let me practice] with his lifted cow-colour camouflaged Karmann Ghia and Kelsey is going to learn in her new Dodge Neon. Look at us ladies, learning how to drive again.

As we're driving, I click on the wireless networks on my computer to see what's around. Of course, it's Seattle, so there are a million different networks available, hardly any that are unsecured [aka available for me to steal from]. Andrew named his network "Andrew's Sweeeeeeet Network!!!" and I thought it was funny. Not as funny as the second from the top:


Haha!

Today at work was the slowest day I've experienced in the month I've been there. I'm glad I have weekend morning shifts because they are extremely busy and there is always something to do. I literally did deep and thorough cleaning on everything today. The blenders got some good loving with a pipe cleaner-esque thing in the corners of the gears that were all gunky and gross. I also went through and scooted all the overhead syrup bottles to the right about a half of an inch so that the far left Almond Roca wasn't hanging over the edge anymore. In doing so, I realized that we only have one bottle of strawberry syrup left after the open one is used up.

Kiara stepped down from her manager position and is now a part-time barista working the weekend morning shifts with me. That's a completely fine and respectable move to make, but now we don't have a manager at the stand, but instead a "district" manager that runs five different stands. It's admirable to be the manager of multiple stands, but only if you can do the job as well for the five stands as you would be able to at only one. It is your responsibility as a manager of five stands to make sure that they are all running efficiently. Right now, we are completely out of powdered chai [a tragedy, in my opinion. It is an absolutely amazing ingredient to have on hand, and we have a couple customers who only come to the stand to get drinks with that in it], in the big fridge [and excluding the couple items in our small fridges] we have about six containers of half-and-half, three bottles of club soda, and maybe, MAYBE ten containers of whipping cream. There are numerous syrup flavours that we are dangerously close to being out of, and pastries have been slowly disappearing and not being reordered and replenished with the help of our friendly Muffin Man.

Instead of having the one manager of the five stands, there was rumor that there would still be the manager, but have two leads [one for the morning shifts and one for the evening shifts] who were in charge of making sure that all shifts are covered, all necessary items are stocked and ordered when necessary, and that everyone is pulling their weight as a team. There was talk that Shelley would become a lead, but that's all it was: talk. We now have no one in charge at our stand, and everything is falling apart. People are slacking with cleaning and stocking duties, and without a manager to cash in our coins for dollar bills through use of the inside of the safe, we have, for example, $36 in quarters alone when we're only allowed to keep $100 in the till. How efficient is it when we constantly run out of dollar bills and are overflowing in coinage? I took home $20 in quarters instead of a $20 bill yesterday to help out, but I shouldn't have to do that, should I?

Whatever I suppose. We'll just see how long we keep our customers and business when we are out of popular items and never get replenished.

I have nothing against this new manager of ours [I haven't even met her yet!], it's just frustrating to not be in control when someone needs to be. When I was at PacSun, I had the power to make decisions and make sure that everything was in order. Granted, I was not 100% in charge, but I was in a position to make changes happen for the better. But getting paid minimum wage, I shouldn't have to do more and not be compensated for it.

Instead, I'll catch bees and get paid for it.

The city of Mount Vernon decided to start up some traffic revisions by adding a turn lane near the corner of Riverside and College Way, where BigFoot Java is located. That's fine; it might even cut down on people who cut the traffic corner, speed through our drive-thru, and turn onto the next street. But, in preparation for this turn lane, the construction team cut down a tree that had a bee nest in it. Now these bees are angry and looking for someone to express this anger to.

And it happens to be us innocent baristas.

Apparently on Friday, Katie [co-worker] caught eight bees on her six hour shift. Saturday, she and I worked together, caught a bee, put him in the freezer, pulled him out when he was frozen, tied a piece of floss around his waist, and waited for him to thaw so we could fly him like a kite. Too bad we left him in the freezer for too long. We got a rush of customers and didn't take him out in time. He never woke up. Yesterday wasn't too much of a problem, but today, Shelley and I caught about 12 bees. We were getting pretty good at it, too. These bees are forcing us to keep the windows closed when we're making drinks for our customers instead of allowing us to converse with the customer.

At least we have burn spray which will possibly help if someone gets stung.

We used hot water to kill the bees today. It was basically the only time that we dealt with hot liquids. Everyone that came through [the whole two customers -- (exaggeration)] ordered either an iced or blended drink. I like making iced drinks best because A.) there's not a messy blender to clean up afterward, and B.) you don't have to steam milk, which takes time and also dirties up a pitcher that needs to be washed. I made a couple iced americanos today which happen to be my favourite drink to make. I don't know why, but it looks so much prettier than other drinks. I also like using either nonfat milk or soy in iced lattes and mochas because it is thinner, lighter, and looks better when it is added. There is a kind of marble-pattern to it when it is added at the end before stirring. I took pictures of a 16oz ["grande" for all you Starbucks customers] iced americano just after I added the cream. Although I think that americanos are bland tasting, they are stunning.




See? I also made a 32oz [no name, Starbucks fans] iced one while being photographed for my Barista of the Month photo. I added whipping cream and pretended to give it to a customer. I chose the one where I was whipping it up and finishing it because I looked happy and silly. What a goof, huh? Anyway, it's up on the first of the month, so come check it out if you're in the area.

Moses and Murphy will also be up for Dogs of the Month. No big deal.

I tried a drink today that Tana is rumored to have invented at BFJ. With Shelley's help, I made a 16oz iced lemonade with Raspberry and Strawberry flavouring [while we still have it!] and a bit of Berry Black Tea. It was delicious and better for me than any kind of coffee drink and I think I might make that from now on when I'm working to get me going! A.) It's cold and I prefer cold drinks to hot ones, B.) it doesn't have much ice so it won't get watered down, and C.) if someone asks what I'm drinking, they might try it too and be hooked!

Andrew just left to clean a local studio real quick. I'm staying in my car with the laptop hooked up to the car charger adapter blogging away with no Internet connection available. His next job is a coffee shop where I will be able to sit inside and possibly get Internet access. If so, I will post this from there. If I can't, I'll post it at home. Regardless, I'm going to lean back, relax, and enjoy the sunny weather that allows you to wear jeans, tennies, and a sweatshirt comfortably.

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[Edit since ending the blog typing:]

I can't stand this advertisement:


A.) "You can't change bone structure" --Sam, B.) You could switch the pictures and get away with saying, "I went from sick and scrawny to curvy and sensual" but anything the other way around is just wrong, and C.) Who would WANT to look like that?!

AND I fixed my Windows Media Player. I just had to re-start my computer. It hadn't been properly shut down in about three days. Poor thing!

Being a Home Body

Today I woke up at 7:30 in the morning to let the dogs out. I had no complaints; these dogs mean everything to me and if they want to go outside, by all means! I put on my slippers and my robe [both brown, my favourite color] and let them out. I went back to bed, woke up slightly when Andrew was leaving for work, and when I woke up again after having a weird dream about being in some school where I was the trouble-maker, I realized it was a quarter after 1:00 in the afternoon.

I think I made up for the lack of good sleep in California. And sleeping in sweet Hanes whitey-tighties doesn't hurt either.

I missed calls from both Andrew and work. I called work back first [seens how they called me first] and told Miss Shelley that I would bring my Barista of the Month survey back before 5:00 so she could make the poster over the weekend.

Here's my survey:

What is your favourite color?: Coffee brown!

What is your favourite animal?: Woolly Bear Caterpillar [the black and orange fuzzy ones]

What is your favourite past-time?: Writing!

What do you do when not working?: Spend time with my boyfriend, Andrew, and my dogs, Murphy and Moses!

Any fun little story about yourself: When I was in third grade, I missed school on the day where we learned the cursive letters "r" and "s." I still can't write them the right way!

Favourite food?: "P" foods: peas, pasta, pizza! Can't choose just one!

Is there anything you really can't stand?: When I'm texting too fast and my phone can't catch up!

So that'll be on the sweet poster on display for the month of October. No big deal.

I called Andrew back and he said he would probably be home around 8:00 at night. So I have the day all to myself. I brought the dogs back inside [what a long time they had outside in the back yard!], drew myself a bath, and relaxed. Murphy stayed in the bathroom with me almost the whole time! I then got dressed [yes I wore my sweet new black and brown scarf with my sweet artsy-fartsy hat that looked amazing with my wavy drying hair], ate a bagel, and watched some Sex and the City.

It was around 4:00 in the afternoon, so I decided to type up, print out, and bring to work my little survey. Murphy, Moses, and I piled into Andrew's mustang [I forgot I let him take my car to work, haha!] and headed on over. His car is wickedly hard to steer and it took some muscle to turn corners. Ah!

I also got myself a blended banana smoothie. It was perfect. Take that, California! Blend it with your little "mocha powder" [probably the same stuff I got from Costco and haven't used in forever!].

I then came home and started blogging. I haven't blogged all that much this month and I need to make up for it. I work at 4:00am tomorrow, so I hope I get enough rest to be awake enough to mind-blog about interesting things at work.

Oh, and I baked some cookies. They're delicious.

Ending the Vay... Kay?

Woke up early again, surprised? I was hoping to take another rinsing shower [no shampooing or anything, just a rinser, because A.) I felt sticky from the day before, and B.) I wanted my hair to do the wavy thing it does when it's drying from a morning shower], but Ashley didn't want to, so I didn't want to be the tag-along friend who uses up all the water [even though it would have been like a minute long]. We got dressed and I got everything all packed up and Ashley's friend's husband brought home doughnuts for us for breakfast. I had half of a glazed doughnut and half of a powdered sugar one.

We were going to go downtown to look at the shops and the waterfront before dropping me off at the airport, so I figured we'd be leaving somewhat early. Once again, I figured wrong. Ashley's friend literally said, "I'm so slow in the morning," while sitting and nibbling on her doughnut. She still had to shower, get dressed, get the kid dressed, get everything she needed to bring the kid out and about, and whatever else she needed to do. So Ashley and I were ready and waiting to go, while everyone else sat around like bums. The husband went for a run and Ashley's friend finally hopped in the shower. When the husband came back, he turned on Christian music and made breakfast while singing to every word.

Referring to one of my previous blogs from this vacation, I never have been very religious. I think it's amazing when someone is religious and has that foundation to make their life optimistic and positive, but I just can't do that. I'm not denying that there is a higher force at work or denying fate, destiny, good vs. evil, or any of that. I just can't comprehend it, and I don't think that humans physically can comprehend it. We humans only use, what, 10% of our brain? Geniuses and prodigies probably use more, but if we could open up that extra 90%, even an extra 2 or 3%, we could probably understand more about everything, and possibly come to an understanding about creation, evolution, the Big Bang, or whatever ended up being the reason for life. Unfortunately [and possibly fortunately], I don't have that extra 2 or 3% opened up right now, so I can't come to any kind of understanding. Therefore, I am not religious.

So, this religious music about praising the cross and all that jazz started getting on my nerves. Especially because the way I decided to pass the time waiting was by reading my boring book. How can you read with distracting music like that? I understand jazz or classical or even easy-listening that wasn't too loud, but it wasn't possible for me to continue. I don't know if I'm alone on this, but if I was hosting guests and I was religious, I wouldn't want the possibility of offending anyone by listening to it at full blast, and if I needed to listen to it, I would bring it to a low volume wherever I decided to be at that moment, instead of blasting it from the living room when I was in the kitchen.

[I'm typing this from memory from my laptop at home, and let me tell you: it is a gift to be able to have a computer with a functioning spacebar. Appreciate it when you have it. Oh, and I need to look at new phones and find out when my upgrade is].

I decided to take myself outside and call Andrew. Although it was around 8:30 in the morning and he was probably asleep, I gave it a chance. I told him it was an "excuse" to get away from the obnoxious praise going on inside. He laughed and we talked for about a half an hour. I figured they were about ready to go so I said good-bye and went back inside. Sure enough, I was wrong.

When am I ever right in California?

When I went inside, Ashley's friend's husband was preaching the word of Christ to Ashley. I'm so glad I missed out on the beginning of the message.

We didn't leave until 9:30 or so, got to SeaPort Village at 10:30, and had two hours of free parking if we bought something. I said I wanted to find something for Andrew [because the shopping that we did at Old Town was more of an "Accessory Alley" kind of deal, and I know Andrew and I wouldn't want to get him something he wouldn't use or anything] so we went looking. Not inside any stores, just looking. Looking at the birds on the little pier, looking at the ducks in the little pond, looking at the amphibious car called "The Seal" with a giant seal painted on it, looking at the carousel... basically giving the kid a good time.

I was surprised we went into the book shop and got drinks. Ashley's friend seemed eager to keep on walking, but we somehow got inside and got drinks. I ordered an "ice blended mocha" which ended up being the powder once again. Whatever, it was still a good, cold drink. Ashley got an ice blended chai [chai is delectable by the way], her friend got an Italian soda, and the kid got chocolate milk with about ten feet of whipping cream. Of course he made an absolute mess everywhere, drinking the chocolate milk with the spoon he was given for the whipping cream. But after throwing a screaming fit for chocolate, he got his way.

I should have thrown a screaming fit to take a shower that morning. Maybe I would have gotten my way.

Anywho, we ended up looking in some shops, one of which had t-shirts that were printed using chocolate or chilis. How weird! Another shop had cowboy stuff including belt buckles, hats, boots, and lots and lots of jewelry! Ashley found some cool turquoise cuffs that were close to $200 each. Poor thing, set on something that is super expensive.

We left right before our two-hour limit and headed into the downtown area. Ashley's friend said, "I don't want to just stroll around, so where do you guys want to go?" ...waiting on me for an answer. What the hell am I suppose to say to that? I'm not sure exactly what I wanted to get Andrew; I'd have to stroll around to find that perfect "something." I said that I didn't mind where we went, so she drove to the mall.

Perfect place not to stroll.

We went straight to Steve and Barry's because A.) I'd never been there, and B.) Ashley was excited because that's where they sold Sarah Jessica Parker's line of clothes. Apparently, nothing in her line is over $25, and nothing in the store seemed to be over $8.98. I ended up getting way too much stuff [two basic tees for Andrew, a button up top for Andrew, a sweatshirt for Andrew, and two sweatshirts for myself]. The total was less than $55, so I think I did okay getting all that stuff. I just needed to worry about getting it all into my one backpack and my one purse, that were full to the brim already.

What was I thinking?!

So, we went back to the car and went to the park so that A.) the kid could play for a while, B.) I could change into my "flight to Seattle" outfit that made more room in my bags, and C.) I could pack all my new stuff away and be ready to go. So, I changed into my flight outfit [jeans, two layered grey tanks, one of my new sweatshirts tied around my waist in the hot weather, my fake Coach sunglasses, and my artsy-fartsy hat, with my scarf in my purse in case it got cold enough. Tell me that's not cliche "Seattle" with my hemp and leather bracelets going up each wrist?], and sat in the shade on a picnic table bench with Ashley, and watched her friend and the kid play for a while.

While he was playing on the toys, this mother was sitting under a tree on her cell phone with her young son [about a year or so old] laying next to her in a cute little orange outfit and her daughter [maybe three and a half?] playing on the playground. She was running all over the place and ended up running off the playground and hiding behind a tree. Did her mother know where she was? No. She wasn't even paying attention. At one point she looked up at the playground and stared at the "big toy"--or whatever people call it these days--and waited for her kid to show up. The kid ended up running back to the little gravely-pit and the mom saw her again, not freaking out because she was out of sight for some time or that she could have A.) gotten kidnapped, B.) ran away down the hill into the woods/creek/whatever was down at the bottom of the hill, or C.) ____________ [you fill in the blank].

After sitting and watching the kid play for about 45 minutes [if I'm not mistaken, the longest time we stayed at one place and did anything while I was in California, minus the time we got away from the kid] until we headed to the airport. I got out of the car, said my "thank you" and "good-bye"s and went through to security. Once again, my manicure scissors got through in my purse. Guess it's safe to say I'm a terrorist.

I then went to Starbucks [ugh], got a blended chai, a water bottle, a sandwich, and a salad [my eyes were WAY bigger than my stomach]. I then went to the little miscellaneous shop, got a book by some guy and Jennifer Crusie [whom I LOVE], a Cosmopolitan magazine, and a pen [to draw all over the models with]. I ate the salad, drank the chai, and read my book until the plane got there. We were supposed to be boarded and taking off at 4:55pm.

The plane didn't arrive until 5:10.

So I was that much later getting home to Seattle, home to the rain, home to the clouds, home to my dogs, and home to the love of my life. We get on the plane and I get a window seat toward the back. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. I watch the ground basically the entire time we take off, fly, and land again in Oakland, California. I figured there wouldn't be many people getting off the plane, but I was one of only six passengers staying on the whole flight. So, when everyone got off and the flight attendants counted us and made sure we were really going to Seattle, I moved up to the front of the plane.

That made me that much closer to getting off the plane and into Andrew's arms.

So the plane boarded and there were grouchy passengers who were upset at the delayed plane. No worries though, the plane had to delay even more because they had to change one of the tires. Instead of being happy that they were being so cautious about something so serious, everyone [including me] was upset at leaving so late. We were supposed to arrive in Seattle at 8:50pm.

...We didn't take off until 7:45.

Lovely, isn't it? Before we take off, the flight attendants made sure that our carry-on items were locked in the overhead bins and that our purses and other belongings were underneath the seat in front of us. So, my purse and bag with the magazine and my book inside were under the seat in front of me when we took off. I'm not sure why, but this angle taking off was much steeper than before, and my phone flew out of my purse, under my seat, and under the seat behind me. After a bit of being in the air, I realized this and asked the people behind me if they could see it. The woman wiggled her feet and said, "No, it's not here." She didn't even look down.

If someone asked me ANYTHING, I would be more than willing to help them out. Come ON people!

So this flight didn't land in Seattle until 9:55, over an HOUR later than expected. I couldn't call Andrew right when we landed to have him head on over because my phone was not in my possession. I had to wait for half of the plane to get off before I had the opportunity to go back a row and grab my phone, clearly under the woman's seat, and turn it on.

Which takes forever because my phone is a piece of crap. It's great for listening to music, playing games [Sudoku is amazing by the way], and basic stuff, but here's my little list as to why my phone [the Nokia 6263] sucks:

A.) It resets all of the tones, wallpaper, and settings on its own at random times;

B.) When I text or write myself little notes [a.k.a. blogs], it can't keep up with my "typing" because t9 sucks and instead of the word "one," it uses the word "Moe" because I stored it in there right when I got it, and the word "he" is ALWAYS the word "if" and "go" is always "in" and "me" is always "of." I've gotten used to typing 43* to get the word "he" because the * makes it go from "if" to "he," but if I type the word "he" enough, it figures that when I type 43, I mean to type "he." So when it figures that out at a random and unpredictable time, I'll still hit 43* and end up with "if" instead of "he";

C.) When I'm using Windows Live Messenger on it and am in the middle of typing a message to someone [for example, I was typing back and forth to Sam the night we were watching Speed], it'll say "Windows Live Messenger is going into background mode. You can access it again by re-opening the program." I then have to re-open up my IM section, click on Windows Messenger Live, find my conversation [with Sam], open it, and RE-TYPE whatever message I was in the middle of typing. I looked through all the settings in my phone and for instant messaging and nothing had a thing about "background mode";

D.) When I'm typing a note [blog] and am going so fast that instead of hitting 3, I hit the "End" button, it doesn't ask me if I want to save the note, like it does with texts. So, no matter how long the note is [sometimes it is absolutely huge, 2,000+ characters--average four letters per word, considering that I use "the" and "it" and "he" and "me" and "of" and "if" and "a" and all those shorties that make the longer words average to about four letters is 500 words--it will just delete it with no question. And believe me, that gets super annoying.

E.) If I turn my phone off [which everyone should do every once in a while, like a computer] and turn it back on whenever I decide to, I can't call anyone or text anyone for about five or six minutes, until it is FULLY loaded. My computer doesn't even take one minute to start up. And when it is fully loaded, I STILL can't call people from my speed-dial because "it hasn't loaded yet." AND when it's fully loaded, I can't text anyone for another three or four minutes because apparently, "Message Memory is not ready." You'd think this means that there are too many messages in the inbox, sent box, draft folder, etc. So, if you go to delete anything, it'll fix it, right? Wrong. It says the same dang thing when you go to delete anything. You can't open any messages, create any messages, or delete any messages until it decides it's good and ready.

How is this an upgrade from my Samsung t629, which everyone seems to have right now? I don't think it is. I am desperate for a QWERTY phone and need to find out when my upgrade is. Maybe I'll do that when I'm done here.

So anyway, after I get my phone and call Andrew, I wait for him to get me. When you haven't seen the love of your life for 96 hours [well, 97.5 thanks to the delay], you'd think you'd be all smiles and kisses, right? I guess I didn't get that memo and after CHUCKING my bags into the backseat and getting in the passenger front seat, I gave him an enormous hug and started bawling.

I suppose I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up and expecting a "California vacation with no agenda" to mean anything but a "California vacation with NO agenda." It was a frustrating trip where I felt like a selfish bitch and wasn't expressing my gratitude at all.

Being home again is an amazing feeling. Being with Andrew again is an amazing feeling. Sleeping in a king-size Beautyrest after sleeping on an air mattress and a lopsided couch is an amazing feeling. And being able to blog with a spacebar, like I mentioned earlier, is an amazing feeling.

A Fresh New Day

Although the chiblin woke up about the same time this morning that he did yesterday, it was a welcomed wake-up because Ashley and I were going to spend the morning out and about doing things and then somehow getting back to the tattoo shop by 2. If our calculations were correct, we'd have to leave about noon to get back on time. So leaving early was what we needed to do. We got up and showered. I made it the fastest shower possible, but it was still refreshing.

After this, we left almost immediately for the trolley station. We bought day passes for $5 each, hopped on the next one, and headed to Old Town. We got there about ten minutes before everything opened [10:00] and wandered into one of the only open places, an ice cream shop. Surprisingly, they had coffee drinks and even offered blended mochas. So, that's what I ordered. The girl was nice and made it with the powder instead of real espresso [which I don't mind, I just know I'm going to thoroughly enjoy having true blended mochas when I get home]. Ashley got a fruit smoothie and we wandered until the shops started opening.

The first one we went in had lots of San Diego stuff, including sweatshirts which happened to be on my shopping list. They were $30 each for the basic ones, so we went to the next store, a sunglass and gee-gaw shop. The sunglass section offered knock-off brand name ones, including Chanel, VonZipper, Versache, and others. Ashley didn't bring any from home, so I convinced her to get the 3/$20 deal instead of only the one for $10. I found a cool bracelet, a wallet, and two pairs of sunglasses [knock-off Coach and Gucci]. We then went back to the other shop and I got a hoodie that says "Lifeguard San Diego" which is kind of lame but you know, it'll be okay for almost $10 cheaper. And it's red, which is sweet.

From here we went looking to no avail for a turquoise cuff bracelet for Ashley. They were all REAL so they were REAL expensive. Sad day. We then meandered to some little gee-gaw stands that had some cool stuff. There were tons and tons of jewelry, accessories, trinkets, clothing, blankets, and other stuff. I found another bracelet similar to the first one I bought but different enough to buy. I also bought a beanie with the dangling ear coverings. I forgot what they're called. Oh well. It's out of the same Native American pattern that those blankets are made out of.

We then went looking for a bathroom and ended up in this sweet clothing shop where I found a cool hat and a scarf. I know how crazy it sounds to go to California and buy a hoodie, beanie, hat, and scarf, but I'm coming back to Washington, people, WASHINGTON! ...And Ashley found a dress, skirt, and belt. She brought one pair of shorts with her to California, so I encouraged her to get both the dress and the skirt. They're really cute, too. From here we browsed some more, ate salads, and caught the trolley back to the original station we came from.

On this ride, there was some kind of confrontation between some guy and some other guy's wife that ended up in loud accusations and "small penis" remarks. Honestly? Honestly.

Five minutes off the trolley, Ashley's friend brought us to the tattoo shop where Ashley was to get hers touched up. Although it was just a touch up, it apparently hurt a lot worse, since it was scar tissue he was going over. He re-did everything and it took about two hours.

We got picked up around 5:00 and got back "home" around 5:35. I checked in online to my flight and instead of being at the beginning of the last group of the five to board [two As and two Bs, one C], I'm at the end of the second group. I'm crossing my fingers that I get a window seat.

After printing out my boarding pass, I sent myself yesterday's blog and copy and pasted it to my blog. When I was doing this, the kid decided he wanted to watch some movie online [through Netflix] and stood, stared, and repeated over and over, "I WANNA WATCH A MOVIE!" Jesus, kid. Give me a couple minutes. That blog was 2,400 words long, from my piece of shit phone, taking over ten emails to get the blog to the computer, and the breaks and HTML formatting that I made didn't show, so I had to go through and manually fix things with a keyboard that doesn't have a properly functioning spacebar. Throw me a fricken bone here.

After I was done, Ashley got on to look at stuff in Gaslamp for us to do. We were going to take the trolley down there and hang out in the nightlife for a while. We got on the trolley at around 7:00 and got to Gaslamp around 7:40. Before we got off, I asked what time we were going to be back. Ashley told me that her friend wanted up back around 9:00. We looked at the time charts, and we would only have about a half hour to do anything. So, we went walking down 5th avenue looking for somewhere to eat. Everywhere was either packed or a bar, that I couldn't go into. We then realized that we were more thirsty than anything, and raced to the trolley to make it back to the depot where we got dropped off at, that was by the cafe we went the night before. The trolley stopped at the station at 5th avenue at 8:26 and we got there at 8:25. We then talked on the trolley and almost missed our stop. When we got off, I got backwards and like a mirror, I steered us one direction that looked identical to where we were the other night. But we needed to go the other way. Who knew! We walked to the cafe and learned that Tuesday nights the cafe is open until 10:00 and Wednesdays they're only open until 8:00. Go figure. So we went down to the corner store and got bottled drinks. Not even three minutes later, our ride was there. Ha! We then came back and watched Speed. Speed rules!

The Real Miranda on the Beach

I woke up around 7:00 in the morning to a loud child attempting to be quiet in the kitchen. Not successfully, I might add. Of course this wakes me up though, the tiniest thing will. This is probably the main reason that since I've been gone, the dogs haven't gone outside at 5:00am on the dot like they always do; I wake up easily and Andrew doesn't. Not a problem for him or the dogs, but it is for me if A.) they really don't need to go outside, and B.) I'm losing sleep over it. It's not a huge problem since I can fall asleep as easily as I can get woken up, AND since I bought my robe and slippers. I highly recommend everyone go out and buy a nice robe and fuzzy slippers. And some Hane's whitey tighty boy shorts for you ladies. Spend the afternoon in a hot bath and then just wear those three things. I guarantee you won't be sorry.

So I'm up at 7:00am, get dressed and ready, and wait about three hours before everyone else is ready to leave. I'm not a whiner or complainer and it's my vacation time to relax, so although I'm excited to go to the beach, I wait patiently. Ashley's friend checks the forecast, sees that it'll be upper 70s and gets excited because she can wear a sweatshirt.

Let me tell you, I love my sweatshirts, jeans, and sweats, but if it's California and it's in the 70s, we're wearin tanks and shorts, thank you.

We get in the Jeep and head to the beach. Arriving at Pacific Beach, I see a bunch of surf shops with hoodies, and I'm set on finding a hoodie if it's the last thing I do. And I know that sounds crazy and hypocritical after my last paragraph, but at home I can wear then all the time, so I'm future-shopping. Like when you buy appliances and housewares before you move out of your folks' house. Future-shopping. Although these shops are open and beckoning me to enter, we head to the beach first and I have no complaints.

The sand is warm, soft, and deep. It goes all the way to the breaking waves of the shore, not to a 6-foot borderline of seaweed and froth like we have back home in Washington. There aren't many rocks-- just the occasional shell of a clam and the broken remains of a sand dollar. The water isn't freezing, yet still refreshingly cool with the warm sun shining down on you, making the perfect temperature ying-yang at your core.

Don't get jealous yet. We were there for a whole six minutes before we had to leave. For some reason, Ashley's friend didn't want her son at the beach for very long and we left. No stopping in any shops, just left.

No complaining on this vaca, not while Ashley and I crave cafe sandwiches. We drove around looking for somewhere that had them, and then the little boy said he wanted to go to a burger place and his mom whipped into a parking place and we went inside.

No cafe sandwiches today, I guess.

The place was called Hodad's and although it wasn't what Ashley nor I wanted, it was pretty good. The seating and decoration was very homie, with license plates covering the walls, booths and a long picnic bench in the middle, and a chopped VW bus for a two-seater.

The burgers were good, the fries were good, and the soda I used to take some knock-off Excedrin Migraine was good as well. Why am I getting so many headaches? I just went and got adjusted, so that can't be it. It's not my contacts because my prescription was from a fairly recent exam [unlike Ashley's, poor thing. She's been wanting to go to the store and get some new ones because hers are old, cloudy, and scratched, but for some reason things conveniently come up and we end up driving the opposite direction. When we're out and about on our own this evening, we'll be sure to go get some for her. I'd be bugging everyone to take me to get new ones if I was her]. I wonder if the flight and the air compression messed it up or something. It sucked when I was flying. Maybe someone has some kind of Valium-like something to make me more relaxed while on the plane. Nothing illegal or anything. No thanks.

Anyway, after the food we walked to the nearest beach [Ocean Beach. Funny name]. We were there for maybe 15 minutes this time and then we had to rush home to get the kid to bed for his nap. Ah!

He woke up a bit later, re-energized and just as crazy as he was this morning and last night. Although he was shy at first, it was a complete facade. Too bad because he is incredibly loud and my headache is still lingering. We got up and headed to Costco to finally get Ashley her contacts. Although I thought it was going to be an in and out deal and then drop us off in town so Ashley could see her friends at the tattoo shop, I was wrong. They went shopping for dinner meats, meaning we had to come back to put them in the freezer. Honestly, it was feeling like it wasn't a vacation, but a "chance" to tag along with a loud and rambunctious child and his mom. Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate their hospitality and openness to having us as guests in their home, but it was more like having us as ghosts in their home.

To make things even better, the line for the mocha smoothies outside the store was astronomically long and I didn't get the one thing I wanted. Oh well, at least later on we were getting a hotel in town and getting a bit away from the noise.

...or so I thought.

Turns out, I had no clue what was going on at all and we were just going to stay at the noisy family home for another couple nights. I guess it's okay because I'm saving money but I would like to be able to just shower and not worry about making it quick or anything. I guess I'll just have to do this at home on Thursday night. I'll probably fall asleep in the tub because my plane arrives at 8:00 at night and Andrew wants to go out to dinner to celebrate being together again.

I love this man.

So anyway, we looked at hotel pricing online and although it wasn't too bad [$52 average for the four hotels we were looking at], Ashley decided that it'd be better to stay and save the money to go to Sea World. I hope it's worth it because although everyone is asking if we're going there, I've heard that it isn't that great. Don't want to go in with low expectations or high ones, so I'm just going to be unsure about it until I'm there. But tomorrow morning we will buy the tickets online and go in the morning with the kid and his mom and they'll leave shortly after [most likely 11 minutes ... their average time spent at places]. So Ashley and I will stay for as long as we want, take a bus to GasLamp or something for shopping and food, and take the trolley back "home" to La Mesa ["the table." What a lame name]. So at least we won't have the screamer all day.

I'm feeling a little pessimistic. I think I just need some kind of coffee drink. Too bad there's nothing but Starbucks here. Literally like 20 locations in the SeaTac airport and then right off the plane in San Diego there was another one. It's an infestation. And they don't have that great of a selection. Whatever I suppose. I don't work for them and I never will. My drink I got at the SeaTac airport [caramel frappuccino] was basically all whipping cream, heavy cream. Lame.

Enough.

So we left to bring the kid to Awanis or whatever it's called. It brought me back to the time when I was younger and my sisters and I were scammed into going with the neighbor boys. It was me and my two younger sisters and we went to this place and did bowling games and tag games and it wasn't too horrible considering these boys were homeschooled, socially inept, and absolutely eccentric. But then we split up into age groups and I went one way and my sisters went another way. Of course, since they were younger, they got to play more games, but I was older and had to actually do work. We wrote down passages and told stories. When I realized that it was a church thing we were attending and we were being preached to, I immediately wanted to go home. I can't remember if I cried or was just silent the whole time, but when I got home, I vowed never to try something like that again.

I'm not sure what it is or what but I have never been religious or open to a religious lifestyle. When I was even younger, we went to this church that took us girls into some room and "saved our souls" by having us take the Lord's name as our saviour or something. We took turns saying it outloud [I went last] and even then, I knew I didn't mean it but was only saying it to avoid people looking at me like I was a freak and to avoid my parents being disappointed in me.

Two weeks later, we were baptized at the boat launch at Big Lake. The only thing I experienced then was getting wet in my clothes and hating the fact that my pants were stuck to my thighs [back when I wore super huge jeans]. I never understood the whole Jesus and The Bible get-up. It never made sense to me and I didn't have a reason when I was younger. I still don't, but why did I doubt it? Off topic, I know, but I'm trying to blog non-stop so that I at least get something out of this time I've spent sitting around and riding in cars.

After dropping the munchkin off, we drove to Dutch Touch, a tattoo shop where Ashley got her tattoo done a long time ago. She said hello to her tattoo artist and friend and the only time possible for her artist to work on her tattoo is tomorrow at 2:00 in the afternoon, the entire two weeks she is in California. So, instead of going to SeaWorld, we're supposedly going shopping in the morning and then to the shop so she can get work done on her tattoo. I'm not counting on anything and I'm not getting my hopes up for anything. I guess we'll see tomorrow what actually happens.

Right about now, 6:45 at night, is the perfect temperature. It's not too cold, not too warm. Goldilocks would have been ecstatic. Anywho, we were done at the tattoo shop and were all thirsty. There's nowhere like BigFoot anywhere around, so we start driving for somewhere to get something to drink. On the way to this somewhere, Ashley's friend says, "Well, since we're here, I need to go to Trader Joe's." So once again, we're off running errands with her like ghost people.

Then she redeems herself by finding a little coffee shop where they had a talent night going on. I got a blended chai with half the flavour [he said for a 20oz they use 2 scoops, just like BigFoot does] so I customized it to be perfect.

Can you guess what didn't taste great? Honestly. Their scoops must be a quarter of the size that ours are because it was watered down like I've never tasted. Yuk yuk yuk.

So then we drove back "home" where we got about five minutes of relaxation before the kid came back. And here I am, up to date with all activities. He literally just ran in the door and started tripping over things and babbling everywhere. It would be different if it was my kid. I think I'm just in a pessimistic mood over all of this. Less than 48 hours until I'm back in Seattle, back with the clouds and rain, the dogs and the love of my life, back to driving like a granny and getting away with it because only 50% of the drivers there are assholes compared to 100% here, and back to blogging on a computer where the spacebar actually works. I'm blogging on my phone in the Notes section, converting every 500 characters into a text and e-mailing it to myself.

It's that worth it to blog.

---
Progress into the future a little bit. Now, two hours later, I am here playing Sudoku on my phone. It was a $5.99 download, but I figured if I needed something to do besides blog, it'd give me something to do.

And I was right.

Here I am, trying to waste time while Ashley's friend and her friend's boyfriend watch episodes of Heroes from whatever season is on cable right now. I haven't seen any of the first ones and neither has Ashley, and they're trying to explain everything that is going on to her. So, I'm trying not to listen and trying to focus on making these numbers fit.

I wonder if they have Minesweeper on here and if it's easy to maneuver. I played it earlier on the computer when everyone was napping. It's fun to be able to play it efficiently. Same with Sudoku. I feel smart and challenged by it. Something new
every time. And with hundreds of thousands of different puzzles to solve, I think the $5.99 was worth it.

Oh, and I might be blogging as October's Basista of the Month. No big deal. I love love love working and am excited that everyone voted for me [well, the ones that did anyway]. That people think I deserve the recognition. I'm a hard worker and it feels good to know that it shows. I'm still hoping that Murphy and Moses are dogs of the month too. If it's either or, I'd rather have the dogs up. They're amazing.

So I decided would just go to bed because there's nothing else for me to do, and they turned on the lights after having them off for an hour. Ah!

Over the River & Through the Woods

Sunday was excruciating. I went to bed somewhat early the night before but still was tired for my 4:00am shift. My ex-manager now co-worker was supposed to be there at 6:00 and although it was steady but not super busy, she didn't get there until quarter to 7. She was pale as a ghost and said that she wasn't feeling good and that no one would answer her texts/calls so she had to come in.

After about 45 minutes of working, she couldn't do it anymore and slept in her car for about two hours. It was super, super busy while she wasn't able to help and although it was semi-stressful when people got pissed when I double checked orders so I wouldn't mess anything up, I made $21 during that time. After she came back to help, it was about an hour before I cleaned up my counter and machine. Total during the shift I made $64 in tips (put $2 in the radio fund cup we started. My Jewel "Pieces of You" album I had burnt before leaving that morning wouldn't play. I was craving it, and put the two dollars of change into the cup).

I made myself a Miranda on the Beach in celebration of my vacation to California where there would be an actual Miranda on the Beach. I took my drink home, into the bathroom, and got into the tub. There is something absolutely necessary about taking a bath instead of just a shower. I relaxed, did my bathing business, and got dressed. I then packed my backpack and relaxed on the couch with Andrew and Sam where we watched Hot Shots: Part Deux. I fell asleep about the same time I fell asleep during the first one. After this, Sam made delicious Fettuccine Alfredo pasta with garlic bread. We ate it while watching the first Naked Gun movie. I surprisingly didn't fall asleep.

We then all made the journey to Ashley's place where I departed from the love of my life. Although I took a short nap during the movie earlier, I passed out almost immediately after they left. Woke up around 7:00 in the morning on Monday, dressed, ate, brushed teeth, and got everything ready to go, but Ashley's friend didn't show up and wouldn't answer her phone. Her other friend ended up coming to save the day and got us to the airport around 9:15. We checked in, got though security amazingly fast, and got our snacks. We boarded in the 3rd section but it was kind of weird. Because there were three different sections to board, it didn't mean it was front, middle, back. It was first come, first serve. There were literally no two seats next to each other, so Ashley and I had to sit across the aisle from one another.

What if a family of five checked in the same time as us (that's how it works. The check in time is the order when you get seated)? The dad would have had to sit in the front, the mom in the back, and the three unruly kids would have been scattered in the middle. Not okay with me in my book.

Anyway, the plane takes off and my throat is in my anus. It's so weird to fly. Can't really explain in. But I opened my bag of Corn Nuts (Ranch flavoured because they didn't have barbecue) and read some of a new book called "The Goodbye Summer" by Patricia Gaffney. I just picked up for something to read on the flight. It's not anything super special yet but it kept my mind off of the pressurizing feeling in my brain. Not fun.

The stewardess came by to get garbage and said to me, "Oh YOU'RE the one stinking up the plane with Corn Nuts!" and looks to Ashley and says, "You can ALWAYS tell when someone's eating Corn Nuts." I ate a couple more and put them away. Don't want to be an inconvenience to anyone. Goodness.

The stop in between Seattle and San Diego allowed Ashley and I to move forward and up to a window seat. After this was a short flight to our destination. I know it'll be a super fun vacation but I know for a fact that I couldn't live here. Drivers are insane! Ah! It might not be that bad in all actuality, but I'm such a pansy when it comes to driving.

After a bit of relaxing, playing with Ashley's friend's son, and reading some Parents magazine, we had a delicious home cooked meal (pork chops!). Then we relaxed more and watched a couple episodes of The Office. They were from season two, I believe. Ashley and I were super tired and not laughing as much as the other two. Then Ashley's friend's boyfriend said, "You two don't understand how funny this show is."

Hold it right there, mister.

Honestly, I've been watching the show since it PREMIERED and as it progressively gets more popular, the writing gets worse. This new writing that isn't as funny as season one is what people like. Not what it started out like. Makes me kind of pissed when get on the bandwagon for something, making it more popular and, therefore, less cool. Ugh!

I then fell asleep blogging on my phone.

Stupid People

You've just gotten into your car after a full day of work -- music: soothing; heater: blaring; wipers: wiping. Excited to get home and relax for the rest of the entire day, you begin to drive. On your route home, you encounter a three-way stop. One car stops first straight in front of you, you stop, and a third car stops to your left. Everyone is aimed to go in the same direction: your right. Normally, the car in front of you would go first, then you, then the car to your left, due to arrival times. But noooo. The car to your left decides to scoot forward ever so slowly, making the first car hesitate to go. You laugh because this would happen. The car in front of you eventually takes its turn and the car to your left decides that now, it will obey traffic rules, and you take your turn.

After a light you are in the lane to get on the freeway. Your lane yields to other cars from the other direction, but the light just turned green and the lane is not moving. No one is entering the freeway. Why? Because the person at the "front" of the lane decided not to get on the freeway, turned her blinker on [assuming it's a "her" because men are the asshole drivers and women are the dumb ones], and waited until someone let her over into the lane going straight. *Sigh*.

Once on the on-ramp, you think you're on the home stretch and everything is going to be super smooth. Wrong! Everyone apparently thinks that you are supposed to merge into full-speed freeway traffic at 45mph, at least 15mph slower than what everyone else is going. If that's not idiotic enough, knowing that traffic is attempting to merge, a big ol' pick-up truck with dual back tires is in the right-most lane and refuses to change lanes to make room for you and your fellow mergers until the last minute.

I hate merging, personally. Quite possibly in my top five things I hate. Well, I don't "hate," but I highly HIGHLY dislike things. I highly dislike merging.

And it isn't just when you merge, but when other people are trying to get on the freeway and you go to make room but find that there is a dumbass car on your left driving the same speed as you are, making for a row of three cars driving the same speed aimed at a merging into two lanes. It's almost a scene from a horror movie.

...from The Shining, perhaps, which I am hope-hope-hoping to watch tonight. Haven't seen it in forever and I'm in a deep need to see.

I'm fully feeling a relaxing bath with Michael Buble as my soundtrack [one hundred thanks to Katie for introducing us!] so I'll end this with a scene from my day today:

-----
After finishing up an order and having the customer drive away, the next customer in line guns the engine, brakes sharply in front of my window, and shouts his order while on his cell phone. I make his drink [perfect, I might add] and in the midst of preparing it, my manager [last day as manager; tomorrow she'll be my "co-worker"] struck up a little conversation with him and he told her he went clubbing in Seattle the night before. She said, "OOOoooh!" and he asked rudely, "Why'd you say 'Ooooh!'?? I didn't do anything! You HAVE to go to Seattle to go clubbing, unless you want to go up to Bellingham to a FAGGOT BAR."

I am 110% supportive of the homosexual, bisexual, whatever-have-you life choice and life style, but the fact that he used that word made me incredibly irritated, though I didn't show it. While stirring his drink he yelled at me, "That's stirred ENOUGH!!!" I opened my eyes real wide, put the lid on his drink, and handed it to him [already paid for and ready to go]. He then proceeds to whip out his cell phone and show me his wallpaper of a bikini barista in Seattle who posed for a picture for him.

A.) How creepy is it that a rude, nasty older man was showing me--a barista--his wallpaper--of a barista in a bikini??

B.) Being in a bikini for your job is kind of pathetic and demeaning. Why do you have to flaunt your body while making a drink while you can do it [probably with a better quality result] with your clothes ON, covering all body crevices and not offending anyone?

C.) The only customers that go to a bikini barista stand are the creepy ones who go to look. I know I wouldn't want to go and see some skinny little girl tip-toeing around making my fattening coffee drink!! No THANK YOU!

I suppose that's all, but geeze. Oh, OH! And a woman today ordered a drink, I made it perfectly, rang her up, and she told me, "No, that's not right," to which I explained to her incredibly nicely that A.) this is, in fact, how you ring up her drink that she ordered [with the flavor and extra shots having charges added to them] and B.) our prices had recently gone up, which might explain the price difference. To which she replied, "Well that's not what I get charged." To make her happy, I demoted the charge from a mocha to a latte [the only difference being that if it was a latte, it wouldn't have had the chocolate in it] and it was less than what she claimed she "gets charged." She was still pissed and said, "Well, they better give you guys raises because people aren't going to tip as much anymore. I am going to stop drinking coffee because of this." Good for you for being a bitch. Just because you are all in a tiff doesn't mean that it's MY FAULT! If you're reading this, lady, I just want to tell you that it's incredibly rude to go to someone's place of work and tell them how to do their job, unless the person deserves to be told. And with the delicious drink that I made for you, I didn't deserve anything but a nice and polite "thank you!" You DON'T have to tip me; it's not a requirement. It's your right to be stingy when I take the time to make sure that A.) the measurements of the ingredients are perfect to your liking, B.) the temperature is in regulation with Health Code, C.) that I didn't accidentally ruin the espresso shots and cover up the colouring with half-and-half [that an ex-barista told me she did when she got a drink today], and D.) that I didn't SPIT IN IT or wipe my ass with my bare hands and stick my poo-ridden fingers onto the mouth piece of the lid or straw!

It's not a requirement, so either do it or don't and leave it at that.

Oh, and I hope you get rear-ended by someone who speeds off without you having the time to get any kind of license number or make and model description.

Bath time.

No Knead

You know it's coming and you can't do anything to stop it. The feeling starts out small, almost unnoticeable, and then all of a sudden it is instantly overwhelming.

The migraine.

Ever since the boating day [the 8th of this month?] where we swam and pulled the boat back to the launch, my neck and upper back have been killing me. Last night I resorted to my chair massager for about an hour, and I know it can't be good to use it for that long. But I was desperate. The pressure and radiating pain would not go away.

I covered a girl's shift today from 6 in the morning until 11; a short five hour shift that went by incredibly fast due to a few busy rushes but didn't prove fruitful in tips. Anyway, the first half of my shift was bearable with the pressure and pain evidently present but mild. Then, around 9:30, it started.

The migraine.

There are many different types of migraines and I know one when I get one. When it happens, I consider what placement of the "Worst Headaches of my Life" list it would be. If it cracks the top seven or so, then it's a migraine. Mine stemmed from the left side of my neck and worked its way up the back of my head, around to my temple, and into my eye. Sounds like a disgusting horror scene, right? Well, it was.

I finally couldn't take it any longer and after I clocked out, I called and made an appointment to visit the chiropractor, whom I hadn't seen in an extremely long time. The appointment was 45 minutes away, so I made myself a delicious blended vanilla chai [to DIE for!] and headed home to grab my cash tips and head to the bank. I brought in my paycheck and the box of tips and made my way to the teller. He was very nice and although they don't take coin unless it is rolled, he took the cash [a huge stack, mind you] with a friendly smile. He thanked me for having the bills facing the same way [who doesn't do this when given the opportunity?], gave me some paper coin rolls, waived the fee to order checks [about time I got with the program, right?], and told me to have a good day.

I planned on it, after receiving my adjustment, which went extremely well. The moving table that you lay on at the beginning of the session is amazing! The middle section tilts forward and back, working your vertebrae loose. My back cracked just from laying there for a couple minutes with no added pressure. After a couple presses into my upper spine with explosions of relief, he went to my neck and used the little clicker gun to adjust it. He focused more on the left side than anything and I could feel that it was more messed up than the other side. After popping my hip back into place, I was ready to go.

I wish I could afford to go at least once a week.

I swung back by the house, took some knock-off Excedrin, waited a half hour for my headache to lessen a bit, put on sunglasses, a beanie, and slippers, and headed to my sister's grandma's and dad's house where it was her dad's birthday [and her grandma's yesterday]. We visited for a quick bit and then I made my way home, after filling up my tank with the gas card Andrew gave me from his credit card rewards [what a thoughtful thing for him to do!].

The drive home was lulling with Zero 7 as my soundtrack. I think everyone needs to listen to a little Zero 7 from time to time. Not necessarily while driving though; no need to fall asleep at the wheel.

At home I rolled my coins [2 quarters, 2 dimes, 1 nickel, 3 pennies = $33.50!], listened to some more Zero 7, and cleaned up a bit for Andrew's friends' arrival. No need in having a messy house while hosting. No need at all.

And there's no need to ever stop hemping. I made a bunch of bracelets for the girls at work [and a few for myself too!] and it was definitely amazing. No need to stop at all.

It's Been Too Long

I sure haven't blogged in a while! Since my last blog I received my dream camera, had two Mexican boys show up on my doorstep, and had a funeral director ask me to "Drop on by sometime!"

Work has been going amazingly well. Turns out, the girl that we hired to do the weekend shifts with me ended up being a total disaster. Although she is most certainly a nice person, working with her was almost unbearable. That was the day I worked a 12.5 straight shift to cover for someone who was sick. The next day I went in 2.5 hours early and did an 8.5 hour day to make up for the lost time from the same girl who was sick. The next day I covered the same girl's shift in the morning. The sick girl is getting better, thank goodness! I hate being sick, especially if it caused me to lose hours at work and therefore lose money on my paycheck. She's a sweetheart and I would cover for her [and anyone else] anytime!

I put some CDs back onto my computer. Basically it consists of Incubus, Britney Spears, Zero 7, Feist, Fiona Apple, Danger Radio, Matt Costa, and some mixes with dance, hip hop, and country songs. Literally, that's all that's on there right now.

It's weird to see two same words right next to each other in a sentence. "That's all that's on there" was pretty dang close, but for example, "What's going on on her MySpace?" or, "He had had a pretty good time there once." It's kind of awkward to read or write, but to say it or hear it isn't. Interesting.

Andrew and I both had a day off from work and with it being such a nice day out, we took the newly tabbed boat to the lake! Ah!!! It was super super fun! So he, our roomie Sam, and I drove to Big Lake with the dogs and went for a spin around the water. Murphy doesn't do well with loud noises and unfamiliar territory so being in his Fido Float and in a noisy boat he's never been in before, he was a little uncomfortable. After a few minutes he and I scooted closer to the front of the boat where he had a cubby to snuggle up in and feel a little bit safer. He did extremely well overall.


Moses was not a problem; he's a boat nut! He couldn't wait to get in the boat and then get out into the water! I guess he loves tubing and when Sam went on her second run, he wanted to go along with. Although he didn't stay on until we started going, he definitely had fun jumping onto the tube and swimming back to the boat.




Sam did crazy good going fast and over jumps; she got big air and got tossed off a couple times.


We then floated on the lake eating sandwiches, chips, and fruit snacks, and drinking soda.

Our friend [and my ex-employee] Matt, whose pictures I took a couple blogs down] lives by the lake. So we called him and he met us on someone's dock. He went tubing twice and got tossed off the first time. I then went on the tube and made sure that Andrew would be super nice, because I'm not one to go nuts. He did and although the waves splashed me a lot and I bumped around for a bit, it was fun and then I called it quits. Sam got back on the tube and got HUGE air! Matt had to at least tie for runs and got on one last time. After a couple spins around the lake the boat started sputtering.

We ran out of gas in the middle of the lake.

So we all hopped into the lake, grabbed on to the bow rope, and started swimming the boat in. Let me tell you, it was a workout! Some nice fishermen in a small boat helped us the last 200 feet or so. Nice of them, not nice of the ski-doos and other boats that just stared as they went by.


Needless to say, we got our exercise and our sun for the day. On the way to bring Matt home, Andrew's truck blew the same spark plug again. Frustrating!! It's a beautiful truck; too bad it has to be broken in that sense.

So my job is great and I've saved up $540 in tips toward my new camera. It ended up costing $870 after taxes but hey, it's amazing! I'm still trying to figure out all the settings, but that's understandable.

And about two weeks ago, Andrew and I signed up for Netflix and have watched some pretty good movies. It's cool because it's only $17 per month and we can have all the movies we want, immediately on my computer [lower quality] or overnight via mail from a list of THOUSANDS of movies. I've been pretty impressed so far.

Well, I can't seem to find anything else to blog about really. Ah! I never thought those words would come out of my mouth.

Too Good to Be True?

So I typed this blog and although it said it was saving this whole time, apparently it wasn't, and I'm pretty peeved because it was pretty lengthy with details that I might forget now. I'm pissed. Let's see if I can't remember how the rest of it went.

I decided that I couldn't wait any longer to own my dream camera--the Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP SLR with the 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS lens. Yes, it is fairly new [release in January of this year?] but it is priced at $799 basically everywhere. With it being out of stock in the nearby CircuitCitys and WalMarts, local camera stores not carrying the brand, and Kitz Camera in the mall not willing to go lower than $799 [why would they, being a corporately owned store?], I decided to go online.

TopChoiceDigital.com had a pretty good deal: $564.

And if you're reading this and aren't good at math, $799-564=$235 in savings. So I made sure it was the right model and the right lens and I clicked "Place My Order." The next morning I received a phone call from 1-800-000-0004. I didn't answer because A.) I don't answer numbers that aren't programmed into my phone, B.) I was half asleep, and C.) what kind of legitimate number is that?! The voice message they left said that it was TopChoiceDigital calling for telephone confirmation of the order and left a different 1-800 number with extension to call back on. I called back and confirmed my order. The guy asked, "It's a Japanese model. Is that okay?" Confused because it didn't say that on the website, I asked, "What's the difference?" "Well, the writing in the manual and on the camera is in Japanese and it's a one-year Japanese warranty. And it comes with the Japanese battery which only lasts 15-minutes." I said, "Well how much is the U.S. model?" "$640. And it comes with the 4-hour battery." If I were to upgrade the battery, which I would need to do anyway, it would be more than the difference between the two models. I said, "Fine, just upgrade it then. Nothing else." He gave me my total of $695 after taxes [which is still $100+ cheaper than anywhere around here] and I got off the phone.

I was getting my dream camera and that was that.

Two hours later I missed two phone calls. The voice messages were as follows: "Hi this is TopChoiceDigital calling for Miranda. We are having a problem completing the transaction. Please give us a call at 1-800 [whatever] extension [whatever]." Note, this is yet another different 1-800 number. And "[Robot] Hello. This is Chase Credit Card's Fraud Department calling for Miranda. There is a transaction in question and we need verification of said transaction. Please call us back at 1-800 [whatever]." I was getting pretty frustrated over the fact that A.) this transaction wasn't going smoothly, B.) the FRAUD department of my credit card company was calling me for the first time ever, and C.) the e-mails I kept getting in regards to the transaction were from "TopChoice.com" instead of "TopChoiceDigital.com," which doesn't end up being a website when you type it into the URL bar.

So I called the third 1-800 number for this "TopChoiceDigital" place and straight up cancelled the transaction. The cancelling went smoothly and without hesitation [have they had many cancellations before?] and then I called my credit card's number, confirmed that I knew what the transaction was, and they said that if I wanted to continue with said transaction, I'd need to talk to the vendor again, which I wasn't going to do.

I then got a confirmation e-mail for the cancellation signed "Broadway Photo." I've heard nothing but horrible things about this online company and apparently they have a bunch of branch websites that are really "camera switch sites." I don't know what that means and I don't really want to, but here's a list [not hyperlinked] of other websites that Broadway Photo runs:

bwayphoto.com
BuyeRetail.com
amphotoworld.com
cameratopia.com
digitalliquidators.com
kingcameras.com
preferedphoto.com
preferredphoto.com
prestigecamera.com
regalcamera.com
thedigitalexpo.com
tronicity.com
wilddigital.com

Honestly? How rude! So I'm glad that transaction was cancelled and whenever I get my camera [hopefully sooner than later], it'll be face-to-face, legitimate, and immediate with no scammers, no screwy websites, and no bullshit.

Too good to be true.

After this whole fiasco, I grabbed myself a Caesar salad [surprised?] and popped in some Sex and the City. Now, if you're watching the series, stop reading just in case I give something away you haven't seen already.

Anyway, in these episodes, Carrie is dating every girl's "dream guy" named Aiden--nice, kind, gentle, caring, studly, etc. They're doing great, until she decides to have an affair with her married ex-boyfriend, Big, who took her on emotional roller coasters multiple times before. She claims she's "trying to get out" of it, but she then sleeps with him two or three more times.

Which brings me to my question: how is it possible for someone to cheat on someone that they really and truly care about? I don't think it is. But the fact that someone can just totally disregard what would happen to the other person if they found out about the situation... it's just wrong.

And it makes me sick.

What else makes me sick are Murphy's farts. They are so wretched and nasty and I can't understand how something so putrid can come out of such a tiny little thing! It's literally like a brick wall of fumes coming at you like a freight train.

And it makes me sick.

Got Balls?

My heart aches when I see the dogs move in a dazed manner; it's a sad day when you pay someone to cut off your loved ones' balls. Poor things, didn't have any idea why we were getting in the car, but they sure were excited to be going somewhere! We dropped them off yesterday around quarter to 10:00 in the morning and Andrew picked them up around 4:00 in the afternoon. After getting them weighed [Moses weighing in at 73 lbs. and Murphy at a whopping 17.5!], we left the doggies with the professionals. It was eerily quiet with the dogs not at home. I didn't like it.

Tuesday was my first day off after working eight straight days. It didn't feel as if I worked eight days in a row though; I think it's because it was different shifts so it felt like more time in between [going from five 4pm-10pm shifts to two 4am-noon shifts and ending with a 10am-4pm shift]. Instead of being a lazy bum all day while Andrew was at work, I took my old co-worker Matt's senior pictures. They turned out pretty dang good!








These are just a couple of the ones that turned out really good [and are some of the ones I played on PhotoShop a bit with].

On my way home Andrew called to see if I was okay. Of course I was, but he heard something on the radio that got him worried because I didn't answer my phone when I was taking pictures:

"A man known to have mental health problems shot eight people -- killing six, including a sheriff’s deputy -- in a shooting rampage spanning seven crime scenes in Skagit County, state troopers and local police said." [source].

Apparently the police were called in on a domestic disturbance call and when the deputy didn't check back on the status, some other officers went to check up on her, finding her dead, another person dead in the house, two construction workers dead nearby, another neighbor dead in another house, and then the man went on the run shooting and injuring a motorist at a gas station, pulled on the freeway, shot and killed a car passing by, and then after driving a few miles at 90mph, pulled off into the Mount Vernon police station. How scary is that? The criminal was 28 and apparently my dad babysat him when he was younger. Ick!

Anyway, I was okay and went home to resize and reformat the pictures I had just taken. I worked on those for a while and then called it a night.

The next morning I went to work from 11am to 5pm. It was a super super slow day and it went by super slow, but that's okay because those days will happen, and it gave me time to shake my bonbon to some music I hadn't listened to in a while. After this I finished up the picture CDs, brought them to Matt, came home, ate some delicious burgers, and watched part of The Mexican. I, of course, fell asleep, but a loopy Murphy was in my arms on the couch with blankets all around for protection.

It was amazing holding him on the new furniture.

But now, it's Thursday, the beginning of two days off in a row, and I think I have a bit of cleaning to do.