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« June 2006 | Main | August 2006 » July 31, 2006An Open Letter to Mel GibsonDear Mel, I'm not asking for a divorce. I just need some time away to reflect on what has happened. One day I hope to be able to pop in my Lethal Weapon video and not think about what you have become. Or what you were all along. Your Jewish fan, Odessa
[keywords: News current-events celebrity Mel-Gibson] July 27, 2006It's Gone!The ivy is gone! W00t! I took the first day off so they could work on our apartment. Jake's day off is today. Antonio arrived at 11:30am and we pointed out what needs to be done. He walked into the rooms, shaking his head. I was so embarrassed. I have been griping about how much I loathe this apartment for quite a while now, yet always found a reason to keep living here. Lately it's been the price. With rent control I'm living in a one bedroom for at least $200 less than most people. The landlord mentioned a two bedroom that had just opened up for $1,400. I almost died. No way could I afford that. After walking through my apartment, showing all the flaws, I am completely miserable about living here. *sigh* I was hoping we'd move after Jake graduated so it would be more permanent... and out of California. The weather (usually) is great, but the people... not so much.Antonio tackled the easy jobs first. Changing the sink knobs and putting up the vertical blinds. They're buuutiful! I put a picture of them in my Flickr account. He then went into the bathroom and started filling the cracks from the earthquake. I kept a steady supply of water going to him. I can't imagine working in those conditions. Afterwards he went to the bedroom for the grand finale. After The vines had grown behind the metal part of the window and made it impossible to pull out the screen. He had to cut the screen and bend it out. Then he pulled off both window panes and started ripping the vines from the wall. Fuck the 20 ft ladder! At least for now. :P I took a picture of the ivy by leaning out the window before he put the glass back on. The vines are so thick! Today I'm going to try and take a picture of the ivy from the outside. 4pm came and Antonio packed up and left. Thank goodness! The place was so hot I couldn't wait to take off my clothes. I walked into the bedroom and leaped back out the door. No blinds. As you can see from the picture the bedroom is in full view of traffic, pedestrians and three apartment buildings off to the right. Lovely. After a few hours of playing 'dodge the public' we managed to hang the lace curtains. As long as the light was off no one could see in. Yay for public sex! I'm just happy that I'm going to come home to a newly painted apartment that has a breeze coming through the window. :D When all else fails: whine!
[keywords: apartment Flickr home ivy] July 26, 2006Ivy Covering WindowThe battle between (wo)man, nature (and the owner) continues. When I moved in the ivy was just starting to grow. At first I didn't mind it. The ivy gave us some privacy from the neighbors. But after a while it started to block out the breeze and our apartment got warmer... and warmer. I spoke with the landlord on several occasions and he forwarded my concerns to the owner. A year ago Antonio, the handyman, finally started ripping down the ivy on our apartment building. I came home one day and three forths of it was gone. Then he stopped. Right... at... my... apartment. The reason? They needed the 20 foot ladder elsewhere. Okay... After a couple of months went by I mentioned the ivy again. Aparently the issue was bringing BACK the 20 foot ladder. No one had a car big enough. I went back to waiting. A year later the ivy is still here and now It's a health hazard It's completely blocking the window... in layers! My landlord comes down and checks it out. Vines coming through the window (which will now have to be replaced) and eating through the screens. He started looking around the apartment and mentioned all the things Antonio could do. After 14 years in the same apartment I was happy to hear they finally wanted to fix something. Fix the tubs? Great! Paint the walls and fix the cracks from the earthquake? Fantastic! Just make sure the ivy goes FIRST! He nodded and off he went. That was a few months ago. Then heatwave hit. After four nights of misery I put my foot down. The ivy needs to go. He agreed and asked me to write out the list of things to fix. Sure. Fine. Whatever. Just get the ivy off! I made my list and even stopped by the hardware store last night. $150 for a ladder. I called up the landlord and asked him if I should get it. He said no, that the ladder would be here. Fine.Jake and I decided to take days off so someone would watch the cats while the handyman was there. The shitty part is that Jake won't get paid for his day off. *sigh* In the end I had better have windows with a breeze or there's going to be some hell to pay.
[keywords: apartment Flickr home ivy] July 25, 2006*Flips Off Summer*I loathe the summer. Seriously... My normal pleasant personality
[keywords: Weather apartment heatwave summer] July 24, 2006What a Miserable WeekendMy G-d... This weekend was so hot. We don't have any A/C so it was beyond horrible in the apartment. I finally realized that it doesn't matter how many fans are blowing when it's hot air. My friend in the Valley said it topped 115ยบ. Of course, she has air conditioning so she can eat hot death. :P Saturday Jake went off to see A Scanner Darkly. I was tempted to go just to get out but decided against it. By 2pm it was too hot to think. I just went into the bedroom and took a nap. By 4:30pm I was practically ready to kill someone I was so irritated. Our windows shut sideways, which makes buying an A/C even harder. Jake would have to build something to block the rest of the window. Sunday rolled around and it was even hotter. At 11:30am I looked at Jake and said, "We're going to the movies." We saw The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest again. I chose that one for two reasons. One: I've been wanting to see it a second time in the theatre. It's one of those movies you need to see on the big screen to fully appreciate the hard work they put into it. Two: It's 2 hours and 30 minutes in an air conditioned theater. It was heaven... It's so hot in the apartment right now I can't wait to get to work. I must have gone 'mad with the heat'. <-- Movie quote. Aren't I clever? :p
[keywords: Movies Weather Pirates-of-the-Caribbean heatwave] July 19, 2006Please Forgive Me....But I'm about to do a 'feminist' type post. I am always leery of doing them because too many people with that mindset bring in the men hating attitude that I loathe. Anyway... I have no background on this picture of Bush attempting to give German Chancellor Angela Merkel an impromtu massage, but the picture speaks for itself. It looks like she politely stretched to get him to stop, a move I have done many times before. It's disrespectful. It's inappropriate. It's just the kind of thing I'd expect him to do. Women are still barely breaking the glass ceiling to get into politics. It's a tough route and you have to be twice the politician your male counterpart is. Bush deciding to be touchy feely in the middle of a political summit is one step away from asking her to get his coffee. When I worked in the Operating Room I had quite a few frisky doctors try giving me a backrub. I consider that a personal space and should know you pretty damn well before your fingers start rubbing my back. I've had a few try sliding their hands down my top, too. Obviously that wasn't Bush's intention... so don't even go there. Think of it this way... someone is touching you without your permission. Guys will way it's 'just a rub'. Women may understand a little more. Men OR women shouldn't think it's okay to just reach out and place their hands on people. Is this a big deal? No. But it got a rant out of me, so be happy...
[keywords: Politics Society bush feminism] July 17, 2006What Day Is This Again?My weekend went by so fast. It's been nice to be busy. I'll get to that in a minute. Why does my boss think it's a good idea to call me at home and tell me about a report she needs ON A SUNDAY? I noticed a message on my cell phone from when we went to the movies. She called to tell me about a report that was needed... then ended by saying she'd forward me the email. *blink* Why not just forward the email? I can't do anything til I get to work anyway. Oy... Anyway, we've been keeping ourselves busy these past couple of weeks, which has been really nice. Last weekend we shopped and spring cleaned, which which was long overdue. This weekend was dusting, and more spring cleaning. We're working on one area at a time, which is perfect. On Sunday we had breakfast with our friend and her husband. Afterwards we raced to Century City Mall to see The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. One word: Awesome. It was funny, full of action and special effects that made it even better than the first. There were a few moments that they I could have done without, like the father reinacting the breaking of the lamp, but the movie moved on to be all that I had hoped for. I think you need to see it again to appreciate all the details. Davy Jones' crew was amazing. You need to look closely to really appreciate them. The sword fighting scene was one of the best parts. I cannot WAIT until part three comes out!
[keywords: Movies Friends boss cleaning] July 14, 2006My New Monitors!!!!When Khiem, our awesome IT guy, started setting up our new monitors at work I was drooling. My boss got the first set and they kicked ass. 20" flatscreen HPs. I've been mulling around the idea of two screens for some time. Really, since Bane stayed with us. He was able to chat and work at the same time. It was kickass. Unfortunately I didn't have the space for two monitors on my desk. I talked to Khiem about these for a while and he mentioned being able to use the company discount. Added to that was an $80 mail in rebate ($40 for each) and I couldn't pass this up.I ordered them on Wednesday and was told to email the next day for a tracking number. The guy who I spoke with was an absolute doll. When I emailed him he responded right away... with tracking number and news that it was going to be delivered that day! Now THAT'S cutsomer service. I called the apartment manager so he could intercept UPS. No answer. Fuck! The UPS drivers are known for leaving boxes, so I left work at 2:30pm in hopes of beating them to the delivery. I walked up the stairs and sure enough, I had three boxes leaning against my front door. Bastards... Two were clearly marked HP. I had to pee really bad and was relieved to be home. That is... until I realized Jake hadn't gotten me a duplicate key for the extra lock yet. Traffic was solid around his work and no one was home. I decided to pop the screen. I reached in, placed my purse down and clicked the lock. Easy as pie. I put the screen back and brushed off. I was pretty damn proud of myself until I tried the door. I had just locked myself out. I yanked off the screen, reached unlocked the one lock and reached for the bottom one. No dice. Fine. I climbed into the window, hooked my foot on the sill and fell on my ass... nearly toppling over the cat furniture with two freaked out cats on top. At least I was in. The guy said the stand was semi easy to put together. That meant it was going to be a bitch for me. It took me fifteen minutes to figure out why they needed the bent metal stick to be poked into the slots. I finally turned it over and saw two screws. That was step two... Needless to say I ended up waiting for Jake to come home. After some minor adjusting I had two brand spanking new monitors to bitch about. I still have to get used to the new look. Oh well, it was worth it. At least I can say that I helped put the stand together. I put the stick into the hole and screwed it. Now THAT I'm good at. ;)
[keywords: Computers shopping Fickr monitors] July 12, 2006Buyers Remorse... KindaAfter an exhausting weekend of cleaning house we decided to go to Best Buy to drool at the big screen TVs. After wandering past the 50" movie screen sized TVs we started looking at the *smaller* ones. By smaller I mean 40 - 42". We walked pasted the a few and noticed one with a pretty decent pricetag. Decent for someone in a higher income bracket, that is... For me it was reachable. The 12 months of no finance charges made it doable. After two more walk throughs we bought it. I paid the guy and he left to get our brand spanking new TV we didn't really need. Five minutes later he came back... empty handed. Apparently the three in stock weren't in stock. Since it was new they didn't have many. I was told to come back on Thursday. So Sunday we put the new stand together and dreampt about it. By Tuesday Jake was going nuts. After pointing out the slip said nothing about picking up we started calling the store. After 30 minutes getting hung up on, transferred to a voicemail that was full and being put on terminal hold I panicked. We threw on some clothes and headed to Best Buy. Luckily the salesguy was there. We waited for him to finish up and then recounted what happened (no way was I letting that much time slide). He did the usual "Really" with the head shaking and lead us to the counter in back. He assured us everything was fine as he looked for my order. No dice. He finally found the shipment... which was coming in Friday. He tried explaining how they were a store within a store, which is why I was bumped back to their phone. He mentioned it was for higher end equipment and better service. I scoffed and pointed at the telephone gal. "She put my boyfriend on terminal hold for 30 minutes while she checked for the television. That's why we came in." Again he did the head shaking. I was not amused. I just placed myself in debt for a TV that wasn't going to be there. He asked me to wait and disappeared into the back. I thought he was hiding until he came out and asked if we wanted to take it home now. Hell yes! With a few clicks we were on our way home. Now we have a huge TV to mess with. Which is good because we wont have the money to do anything else. :P
[keywords: shopping television finances best-buy] July 10, 2006Don't Spam Imeem!!!!Okay, I have to get this off of my chest. I joined Imeem as a welcome relief to social networking when MySpace was crushed under a wave of spam. Listen to our band! Buy these clothes! Buy this hair extension. Let me stalk you. Add me! Add me! Add me! It's more like 'Biteme, biteme, biteme'. I didn't join this site to buy something. I didn't join this site to listen to someone's band. I just joined it to enjoy myself and meet new people. Fun people. Interesting people. People like Dustin, Arwen, Monk, Mark... even Todd. Although he just denied my first comment so he's on my shit list. Do me a favor... Don't click the add button if you're selling something.
[keywords: spam myspace Imeem] Spring Cleaning... A Little LateThis weekend was 'lets bust our asses cleaning' weekend. A lot of it involved me letting go of things I have saved for years. It's amazing what can be kept in the name of nostalgia. The first part was hard. I had to sift through cards and letters from old boyfriends, coworkers and friends I don't remember. Some cards are very dear to me and I'm not ready to let go of. Then there were the halloween costumes that are beyond repair, funky sunglasses I'd never wear, TONS of CDs I haven't listened to in ages and even my prom dress. Years of memories carted off in a box (or two). Jake only had to go through his huge box of books and some clothing. The cool thing was that since he's been losing weight he fit into some of it. We then carted off a huge box filled with VHS tapes that I have replaced with DVDs. You know how much you can get for them? 15 cents each. I made $12 from the box. When all was said and done we had managed to conquer two rooms and start on the cleanup. It's nice to open the closet and not worry about it attacking you. :)
[keywords: spring-cleaning] July 07, 2006The Cake From HellToday we're celebrating my coworker's birthday. The latest tradition is the last person who celebrated a birthday has to buy the cake for the next person. I was reminded about this new policy at the last minute. Last night I met Jake at the store after work to buy the cake. He got there before me and ordered it. As he walked towards the car he gave a warning. "The girl who did it was new". That was the first clue the cake was less than decent. He added, "And she didn't know how to make flowers". Oh great. I looked at the cake and just blinked. The flowers sucked, she used RED icing to write the Happy Birthday which clashed with the other colors, there was ribbon on top and little sprinkles around the cake. Then it came into focus. She put a ballerina on top. WTF!?! It had to be the ugliest cake I have ever seen. I'm just hoping it will fit into the 'it's so ugly it's cute' category. I don't think I'm ever going to live this one down....
[keywords: Work Flickr coworkers] July 06, 2006Hell Week ContinuesMy boss should be in the rodeo. I've never had someone ride my ass for so long without at least getting a leg cramp. If all goes well she'll be with her family today while her mom has surgery. As I was leaving she mentioned coming here. I flipped. I said, "Are you out of your mind?" When she protested, saying that there was nothing for her to do there I semi yelled, "Yes, yes there is. You can be with your family. Supporting each other. You need to be in the waiting area with your family." I didn't want to mention what else was on my mind. If something happened and her mother died on the table, she'd be all the way out here. No WAY would I wish that on anyone. I don't get people. If I dropped dead today they'd have someone in my seat tomorrow. When it comes to the important things in life you need to put work second. I know I do. I cannot wait to have surgery for my back just to get out of there for a while. I am not even going to answer the phone. If they can't figure out how to do something then they can improvise. Then again, it's said that I'd go under the knife just to take some time off. :p
[keywords: Rant Work boss] July 03, 2006No Fair!My boss showed up at work today. Apparently her family matter is put off til Thursday. So how did my day go, you ask? We fought. She snapped, I yelled, people cowered... and the group that sits near us gave me sympathetic looks. I cannot believe she got ONE sentence out of her mouth before chomping down on my ass. I let her know that too. After our initial head butting she backed off and kept to herself. I just can't WAIT until Wednesday. Really. *grabs razor-blades*
[keywords: Work boss fights] |
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