Wednesday, April 15, 2009

My underpants are twisted today.



MENU OF THE DAY:


on iTunes: Brett Dennen's
"Ain't No Reason"


Reading: The new book by Elizabeth Flock. She wrote "Emma and Me". This new one is good.


Next Netflix DVD: "Slumdog Millionaire" (We're gonna watch it this weekend.)


One of my favorite opening lines from a book: "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold..."


One of my favorite opening lyrics to a song: "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth a taste."


Last song i bought on iTunes: "Mad World" by Idol's Adam Lambert


In my glass: Metro's Market own label titled simply "White". A really good $8 blend of viognier and chardonnay.


*******************************


I'm going to try to tell you what twists me, but add the good news with it. Let's see if i can do it:


1. My underpants are twisted today because my old beloved 1992 Honda Accord sedan was stolen today. (When i bought my new car Brian gave me $4000 for my old Honda a year ago and now it is his car.) It was stolen today, out of parking lot of his college campus.


2. I bought that car brand new and took such good care of it. I had it waxed EVERY winter. (and just like my profile says, regular oil changes.) I parked far away from beater cars so the body was really straight. And the mileage was so low, only a little over 100,000 miles. That car would have gone another 10 years. It has full insurance on it, but i know we'll likely only get about $1500 for it.


3. Brian said he thought he was going crazy at first worrying about his brain when he couldn't find it where he parked it this evening. When he called in to the police for a case number he was told that the license plate was called for some reason in from Spokane 5 hours away. I don't understand this - why weren't they picked up?


4. The good news in all this is that it was NOT my husband's brain. AND he did NOT have his laptop and his good camera in there as he often does. And just yesterday he took out his iPod. (I told him he had a guardian angel, in spite of the angel letting the car go.)


5. Ok, forget the car....What is REALLY pissing me off right now though is iTunes. I am trying to listen to playlists and it will only play one stupid song on the list and then quit. When i try to close it out, it won't. (I would reboot now, but i'm afraid i'll lose this new blog post. So now i'm writing music-less.)


6. I also hate Microsoft. And why the hell is my hair not being blown back like those Comcast commercials? (I must send 50 ERROR MESSAGES a week. )


7. I hope some hack is really in some airless windowless office working for Microsoft and has to look at each and every one of those.

8. Actually i don't wish that on a Microsoft employee. I wish that BILL GATES, his very own self was the one having to check each of the error messages. The good news is this that Microsoft is located in our state.


9. Today I saw a guy throw his pop can on the ground as i was at the stoplight. I wanted to roll down my window and yell at him to pick it up (I have actually done that in the old days.) but i noticed when he threw it down it appeared to still be partly full and i was worried that he pick it up and throw it at my car. So i didn't. The good news is that my car didn't get trashed.


9. (But i did give him a hairy eyeball as i drove by.)


10. I could almost shoot litterers. And people who ding your car doors too. (AND people who steal your cars.) And anybody who is mean to kids.


11. And hell, anybody who is mean to me too.


12. The good news is that i don't carry a gun.


13. (But sometimes i like the idea of it.)


14. I think i also want to shoot my newspaper. I already sort of quit watching the news on TV (Idol and Lost and The Office keeps me pretty busy anyway.) But i cannot stand reading about one more job loss or one more business going away. G.I. Joes and Gottschalk's are the most recent in our area. I do not know where our city will get it's taxes. The good news is that we still have a local newspaper.


15. I drafted a letter to my union to send later this week about postponing next year's raise. (We are a union who works for school employee's unions.) My good friend and union director, Toni loved the letter is joining me in this endeavor even as it means a loss of money for her because she is retiring after next year. People are going to be mad at us and what makes ME mad is that that our union president did not received this well at all and lectured us about union values when we gave her a heads up out of courtesy. I believe SHE should be leading this charge, not us.

16. The good news is that I appreciate so much working with Toni. She has more to lose than i do. Also she has more friends in the organization (which could be good for success) or bad for her in that more people she cares about will be mad at her.

17. I am very worried about my youngest brother. He is going through a tough time with his upcoming divorce (it's long overdue and everyone who cares about him is so happy to know he is finally getting free.) But all his life, since he was 20, he has only worked in construction. And now he is trying to make the mortgage on his own. And he doesn't know where his next job is coming from after the one he has now. I never thought that someone i cared about in my life, a hard worker, someone who always paid his bills on time, an honest man, would now have to weigh paying his mortgage or buying groceries. But that is his true reality today. And it's our country's reality. The good news. He is amazingly positive, because he is now able to connect with his family again and is out of that toxic relationship. And he is humbled by the people who want to help. And there are many.


Oh boy, this is longer than i meant it to be. Let me add one more thing though and end on a high note: I took this photo of my husband last week on one of our "Friday night" dinner at home date nights. I like it. And I love him...a lot. And that's a good thing.
OK, y'all know the drill: add whatever is tweaking you, but this time try and add a good thing behind it.





14 comments:

equeyaya said...

I don't know that anything is particularly twisting my panties at the moment. So I guess that's the good thing.

I haven't been doing much with itunes lately. I still have the same songs sitting in my shopping cart, unbought, that were there a few months ago. When I'm on the computer, I usually load itunes and put it on "party shuffle" which is a fairly random play of what's in my library. I don't get genius at all. It never changes the playlist.

Anyway, right now instead of listening to my ipod in my car, I have Japanese language CDs. That sucks about Brian's car! I always worry about that when I leave my ipod in my car. I guess I'm more worried about that than about someone actually stealing my car, lol! Anyway, I hope they find the bastards that took it and string them up!

sam said...

I was dropped by a what-I-thought-was-a-very-good-friend. No notice except the "dear john" letter and she's refusing to contact me at all. I'm sure it's her mental illness talking but the fact is - and this is good news - I'm probably the best friend anyone could ever have. Even in my bad times I'm a good friend. At least I know that much about myself.

It's going to snow tonight and all day tomorrow. Except when it's raining. The expected snow accumulation - not counting the rain - is 14-22 inches. The only good thing about it all is that I don't have to go anywhere for the next two days and we really need the moisture. Of course, snow would have been more welcome when the ski slopes were open. Not that I ski....

I need a decongestant that will let me sleep. Only there aren't any. I don't know if I need sleep more than I need air or if the air is the most important thing. The good thing is that I can stay home because of the weather.

And, finally, I have to replace my refrigerator. I don't have enough in my emergency fund to do that so I have to rearrange the finances to cover the fridge, the rent, the car payment... The good thing is that I can.

KatKit13 said...

Listening to my new Jason Mraz CD (not bad!)

Twisting my grannies at the moment:

Kid #1. Mad at us because we wouldn't "loan" her $1200 for a bank "deal". All to garner $200. I would have given her the damn $200. And now she hasn't paid her cell bill for 2 months again - which is attached to our employee (corporate) account. This is a damn PRIVILEDGE because she gets it ungodly cheap - all she has to do is say "hey, I need help with my phone bill". Nope, we get these f-in' time bombs and now it's affecting the Huey's performance review. Dammit.

Kid #2. Asperger's sucks. SUCKS. But he's so damn clueless I want to smack him upside the head so hard his melon sloshes in his skull. Idiot boy thinks he knows it all, money is unending, and that he just can sit here and do nothing, no real job, no direction and sponge. Guess what boy? The gravy Train is OVAH.

The Huey - the boy never shuts up and he must rebutt everything the boy says. And the TV must be on volume level 32. 19 is comfortable. I've got such a headache.

I'm sad for your brother Jo, that he has to struggle to keep his roof over his head. But I am glad he's finding the blessings of wonderful people in his life. Maybe that's the true wealth, eh?

I'm also twisted for Sam's dear Sam letter - because I happen to have it on good authority that she's an awesome friend (even if she's "disguised as a responsible adult! LOL)

The grannies are seriously twisting for my bra snapping tonight. Not only did it hurt, dammit - bras are farkin' EXPENSIVE!

I'm twisted about this inability to lose weight - no matter what I do, and that I have docs that will not listen, who pat me on the head and who say "but your numbers are perfect". Wonderful. But I still feel like crap! How can you HELP that?

The good news? I have a job I like, excellent coworkers, a good boss, I got 2 boxes from Amazon today (YAY, new books and new CDs) I have a nice home, a funny-as-hell furry shih tzu (and a new puppy coming July 1).

So there's lots of good - I'm just tired of the temporary shit storm.

Modern Hippie said...

i cant believe the honda is gone!!!!! what the hell!!! i mean it is a nice car for you guys, you took good care of it but you kind of want to also think "who would want to steal it" they didnt know that it was in such good condition, you know? it really peeves me when people steal from others, like when my friend was stealing money from me, its like WHY THE HELL DO YOU DESERVE TO STEAL MY CAR? MY MONEY? what right do you have? why do you get that advantage? i mean shit if you have to be a theif be a theft from some big chain store, where it doesnt affect a specific person, dont do it from small business, but seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?!

i know exactly how you feel about troy!! its so unfair, this is where being a democrat is a good thing. thats where i always got pissed off at aynsley cause this same situation happened to her mom when her mom first got divorced years ago and her mom apparently raised herself out of it as a single mom at the time and everything so her mom feels, she did it alone, others can too, which i get but at the same time, her mom had luck somewhere along the way AND wasnt in the current economy, troy might be doing fine if the economy was great and construction was booming :-/ i hope he doesnt have to loose the house or anything, its a great house.

karma will come back to her though. the dreaded evil woman. haha

Modern Hippie said...

oh i forgot to ask! did brian have anything in the car??? shouldnt pierce do something since he is faculty and its the work parking lot, thats just not right!

Modern Hippie said...

oh i should mention, nothing is really twisitng my panties at all at the moment, other than just generally worrying about money all the time, i hate having to ask dad for money but yano i havent paid my bills yet (not late i still have time, i just usually always pay my bills right away and i dont like it sitting on me i feel stressed) but i had to get new work pants and i like to presentable so i got nice slacks from gap i got them on sale for $30ish but that would have paid my bills.

my bills are CHEAP but still i have to juggle what to pay first and what-not i get $100 every monday to finance everything (it may sound like alot, but thats only $100 or so extra spending money, as in going out to eat, dinner, anything, grabbing something to eat at work or school, it goes fast and if i need to buy clothes...well im screwed!

so i know how your friend feels about bras!! they ARE so exspensive and you can get cheap ones from target but those are never comfortable and ALWAYS break!

you ever think why are boys broke? they dont have nakeup, they dont have to wash their hair (if its short) they just have boxers which really are cheap!! its just unfair

but then maybe thats why the boys are supposed to pay for everything on dates, in the end it balances out we pay all the money to look good and they just pay for us, hahaha!!

IslandPearl said...

I spent almost a 1/2 hour last night trying to get this to post and it just wouldn't let me. So here it is:

I don't feel like complaining. Could, but I'm choosing to be happy.

Just got in from seeing Spamalot again, which helps. Can't frown for hours after singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"!

Sorry to hear about B's car though. I can imagine how tough that would be. I leave mine unlocked most of the time because I don't leave anything inside it -- temptation for someone to slice my ragtop.

But at least I brought y'all a wee bit o'sunshine Tuesday. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Stayed downtown and wandered about a bit between and after my appointments. My clients are all within easy walking distance of the Sheraton.

Just sorry we couldn't get together this trip. I'll be back again later in the year.

With more sunshine and a big (metallic) grin!

Maybe one of these trips you could come into town and we could hook up for dinner with your niece.

jojo cucina cucina said...

hey y'all. I am posting from the mountains. I LOVE this cabin. OMG. they have one of those memory foam king beds and i never expected to love a bed on vacation more than i love my good one at home. But i do. Also they have the kitchen has le crueset cookware and a cuisinart coffee maker.

the view of the snaggletooth mountains is so beautiful with the river beneath us. I'll maybe post a photo later. I'm coming back to flyfish here when the river is open for it.

We did get some good news, at least i hope it's good. The police called us here and they found Brian's car. It's at the two place now. Not sure of the condition of it and i suppose it might be bad and the insurance company might consider it totaled and not repair any dents or whatever. the windows may be broken out cause they mentioned windows and that a tarp is over it. Not sure why there are not more details. Brian was right about not being upset over it cause he thought if he was calm about it all good karma would set in. Maybe it did. We won't know until we get home.

I have been reading a book that has me riveted. It's called Columbine by Dave Cullen. He was a New York Times journalist who covered the story for day one and debunked a lot of the media sensationalism from the start. If you think you know the story about Columbine you probably don't unless you read this book. I just started it but i'll probably have it done within 24 hours. In between hot tubbing and movies and cooking and drinking wine.

pearl, you did indeed bring good weather. I'm sorry we weren't able to hook up but i loved being able to bowl a 168 my VERY LAST game of the season. (I have to add here that i also bowled an anemic 88 my second game. )

But good to see you Kylee, eque, kat and sam. Sam you still got snow?

Kylee, Brian was very lucky about not having stuff in his car. The car was stolen on Wed. and on Tuesday the night before he even had taken out his bowling bag so they didn't even get that. We each have our bags in our cars for months during the league season. And had he left his camera in the car, well that camera is worth more than the car. I don't know how we got so lucky. But i say thanks for it.

sam said...

jojo, we got about 18 inches of snow over the past two days. It'll be 65 tomorrow and 80 by Thursday....

Lynnie said...

We are still getting one day a week that is sunny and decent, and then 5 or 6 that are cold and/or rainy.

On Friday I went to a book club luncheon and heard a local mystery writer speak about how he got into writing after a career in business, and about the process of writing and how to get published. He was wonderfully entertaining and spoke without notes. I got an autographed copy of his first book "A Safe Place to Die" by Jack Fredrickson. I'm looking forward to having a few free hours to pick it up and read it. I spoke with him for awhile after the luncheon because my second teaching job was in Hinsdale (1967-1070) ~~~ and that's where he lives now. I asked him if he 'blogs' ~~~ he doesn't. But he wants me to email him after I read his book and tell him what I think! LOL

Then yesterday Steve and I went to watch one of our friends be inducted into the Park Forest Hall of Fame. He was the art teacher at the junior high in the same district (Homewood) where I taught elementary art. He is now retired and very active in the arts in the community where we both live (unlike me, who is content to stay home and live my life on the computer.)

And today, I am going to get my teeth whitened by the laser "Zoom" method. I'm a little nervous, fearing that the process might make them overly sensitive. I'll let you know . . .

That's about it for now (other than I have been spending money like a drunken sailor on Ebay stuff . . . I must stop the insanity!!)

Lynnie said...

LOL ~~~ No, I didn't teach in 1070. Pardon the typo . . .

Unknown said...

Bwahahaha, Lynnie...if you do I'd be sure excited.

Hey did you hear that the father of the little girl in Slumdog Millionaire was just arrested for trying to sell her to some Arab sheik? He is denying it of course but I've heard some disturbing things about the parents of these kids.

I'm not mad right and in fact I'm pretty happy...I think I'll go to the store and buy a lottery ticket.

Lynnie said...

Back to report on Zoom! It is fantastic. Not painful and very effective on my age-and-tea-yellowed teeth. Now I have very white toofers, and the only drawback is that for 24 hours I have to eat stuff that isn't colorful!

So, I had a late lunch of fish and pasta alfredo (and a vodka and tonic, which is allowed) and tonight I'm having a chicken breast and a twice-baked potato! Tomorrow I'll have the green beans with tomatoes!

Lynnie said...

Just tonight I wrote my big long newsy post on Eque's Blog. So I won't repeat everything here.

I'll just say Hi and Howdy and How's it goin'?