Ten Randoms

This is not Baby Brady. This is my friend Renee and her little boy Santino. I needed a photo for this post and this one i took yesterday makes me smile every time i look at it so here it is.

1. I joined the YMCA again. My foot is better, but has that kind of ache that doesn't keep you from working out, but is hard to completely ignore. I hope this doesn't mean my running game is over, i really wanted to reach my goal of running until i was 60 years old.

2. The worst thing about joining the Y is that i have to shave my legs more often now.

3. I love having Mondays off. Today the most ambitious thing i've done all day was reduce the percentage of my DVR from 65% full to 40% full by watching those last episodes of the final season of The Office.

4. They made me cry.

5. Is there no more perfect man than Jim on The Office? Or perfect woman than Pam? And how about the perfect prototype of marriage and family?  (You know what? I think i hate them.)

6. The grocery clerks in our county, and surrounding counties, are possibly going on strike today. I hope for their sake it doesn't last 81 days like the last time (in 1989) if they do. I will not be crossing picket lines. At the same time i have no plans to do big grocery shopping today either. But H&L Produce is close by. And the wine shop is next door to H&L. AND there is always going out to dinner!

7. My nephew Brian (who has always been special to me) and his wife Adrienne just had a baby boy named Brady. After a week of being in the hospital they think they come home today if Adrienne's BP comes down. They are exhausted but doing well. It's funny to see him become so smitten. Brian's a big reader and he told me he wants his kid to be one too and that he already bought books for the baby, including the one his Dad read him: Where the Red Fern Grows.

8. One thing you should never do a week before Halloween: open up that big bag of candy that you bought at Costco.

9. My vegan mac N "cheese" turned out surprisingly really good on Friday for my company. One friend is on Weight Watchers and the other a vegan. It was probably one of the cheapest meals i have ever prepared for company, because they didn't want dessert either.

10. Who here watches Orange is the New Black ? I haven't yet but i just found that i can stream it on Netflix on my computer. Also when everyone here watching Project Runway is done with their DVR viewings i would like to talk about the finale.  (No spoilers until we know that louie is done, because i'm pretty sure she isn't.)



Notes to Myself: 
Book: Prep 
Sunrise: 7:36 am
Sunset: 6:13 pm
Temp: 51/45
Shout Out: susieatl
Word Count: 458 (Not counting the captions and these notes) From now on i'm going to try and keep these blog posts under 500 words.

Middlefinger

Disclaimer: I realize that if this is all i have to rant about lately then i'm in a pretty good space. I had written on a post it note  'Middlefinger' as an idea for a blog post awhile back. I recently found it in being used as a bookmark and decided it sounded like a good idea since I had no other.               

1. The Tea Party and Republicans and this whole government shitdown. What is this? The 12th day?

2. And all the pundits talking about it too.

3. We quit getting the newspaper because The Tribune for some stupid reason can't keep our subscription ongoing without interruption or renewal in Brian's checking account.

4. The upside of that is our newpaper carrier didn't know we had not been paying since last May (and neither did Brian because unlike me, he doesn't look at his statement). Now that i think about it, maybe he DID know but gave it to us anyway since we always left him a $6 tip at the beginning of the month. (He used to leave me these great hand written thank-yous for those tips, he was a somewhat mentally challenged adult, but no dummy!)

5. I'm a sucker for thank-yous. You've heard my rant before. Lately my nieces and nephews have been great though. They have heard my non-thank you rants from the past. If i am going to take my time and venture out shopping at the mall for a wedding present or baby present, when i HATE to shop, the least the recipient can do is send a Facebook thank you.

6. I am back on blood pressure medication. I went off in July (same month that i quit getting allergy shots after 34 years!) while on vacation and kept checking it and it was normal. But now, even with working only an 18 hour week, i need them again. 154/103 was the highest reading this evening. (Though i should not complain after hearing about a friend of a friend getting a heart transplant this week.)

7. I can't run so it might have something to do with that. It's been two weeks. But i'm thinking it's work. I hurt my foot while laying beauty bark two weeks ago. I think i pulled something in it by pushing hard on the shovel for those 6 hours. I went out last night and did it anyway but it really felt bad. I'm afraid i'm getting near the end of my running days. I know i love to say i hate running. But in truth i would totally miss it if i couldn't. It has been making me cranky.

8. Miley Cyrus. She used to be a rather nice role model for awhile there. Now look at her. She's the worst. Miley makes Madonna....well..... almost look like the real Madonna. It's sickening when musical artists have to hype up their image to that degree which degrades the music, not matter what style. Lady Gaga comes to mind too.

9. Who else does that shit? Elton John comes to mind from back in the day, but that's when i stopped liking him so much too. You wont see Petty, Neil Young and Springsteen doing that crap. Can y'all think of anyone?

10. Yeah, i'm going to keep writing here like a bunch of you are still reading. So from time to time i'll still put those requests for feedback here.

11. Back to #4 for a moment: I kind of miss the newspaper and think i'll have Brian restart it. Hell, i have no idea what is going on anymore because i refuse to watch CNN or MSNBC and my favorite King 5 never has a story anymore that isn't some big shooting, it's enough to make this little homebody turn agoraphobic. And I don't need any more reasons to not leave the house. Next thing you know i'll be getting cats.

12. Of course that is a lie. Cats definitely get the middlefinger - especially those posted on Facebook.

13.  I have to cook for a vegan friend next Friday! HELP! I stupidly thought i had the best idea: gnocchi and i even was going to make it with ricotta instead of potato (because it's much better with the cheese) forgetting, of course, that vegan is far more militant than just being vegetarian. My friend Debbie is going to help me so she will share in the blame for cooking a meal that tastes like air.

OK so if you are reading i have two requests:

#1 Do you have any good vegan recipes that are fit for serving for a nice dinner? (Thug Kitchen isn't what i want for this.)

#2 What other musicians are in the Miley Cyrus/Lady Gaga genre of clowns who sing?


Notes to myself:
Sunset: 6:35 pm
Sunrise: 7:19 am
Book: Cuckoo's Calling (The Harry Potter author writing under a pseudonym)
Blood pressure meds: Day 1... again.

I should have known.....

You're really NOT here. I started checking around to figure out why this blog gets so many views but no responses. Here's the thing: it's NOT really getting so many views.

http://spamspoiler.blogspot.com/2012/12/adsense-watchdog-zombiestat-vampirestat.html

I got suspicious when i put up the previous blog post right and right away it got a hit. That seemed weird to me because i don't have any alerts like that. So I clicked through my blog audience and noticed something called 'vampirestat', also 'adwatch' and something with 'secret' in the title. These links showed having the most views. Thankfully I didn't click on their URL but when i Googled these I found that many bloggers were asking the same question. I found this site above which explains that they are not legitimate views at all. Makes so much sense to me now.

I'm putting this link here so if you are indeed reading and have a blog you need to be careful. I am not doing it so that you too can find that you are not as popular as you thought you were on your blog, (which is a blow to the ego, i have to admit)  I'm doing it to warn you NOT to click on those sites in your audience if you see them.

Well i guess there goes THAT post-retirement career! :)

Plus... i feel kind of stupid.

Notes to Self:            
Sunrise: 7:10 am
Sunset: 6:49 pm
Temp: 58 hi/46 low
All time page views for real: certainly nowhere close to what i thought!
Page views yesterday: 0
Last Book: two of them: Sisterland and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Book i'm wanting to read: Why I Jump by that 13 year old autistic boy. (Jon Stewart really talked this book up earlier this week on his show in a big way and made me curious.)
No run: Day 5 because of foot.

Closed temporarily....due to Government Shutdown.

Jon Stewart compared the Republicans to a losing football team.

"Did you see the Giants game on Sunday?" he asked. "They lost 31-7. Do you know what the Giants didn't say after that game? 'If you don't give us 25 more points by midnight on Monday, we will shut down the fucking NFL.'"

Hardly anyone is here, so i'm just going to talk about myself.

My first week of retirement was spent  in Manzanita, (Oregon beach) Sept. 2013

1. I like that photo above, not only because we both look so relaxed and happy, but also because i'm wearing a hat. I love wearing hats and i look pretty good in them, if i say so myself. But it's difficult to pull off hat-wearing as regular fashion in normal public outings...know what i mean? It's nearly impossible to not notice a hat (unless it's a baseball cap) and it often feels like the person is seeking attention.

When people seem to be trying too hard to get my attention is exactly when i don't want to give it.      

HOWEVER a hat is not only allowed, but recommended, if you are at the beach. You can do what the shit you want at the beach, that's why i love going there.

2. Plus the hat helps camouflages those lines between my eyes.

3. I actually had to look up the word camouflage. (I was putting the 'u' in the wrong spot. I put it is flauge.) Damn that pisses me off when i have to look up what i think is an ordinary word like that because while i know i don't have the best vocabulary, i think i'm a pretty good speller.

4. So far my retirement has not been leisurely. Tomorrow i am spreading beauty bark.

5. The wine dude has not called me back for the wine bar job even as HE was the one who came to ME! The following week after he mentioned it I dropped off a resume with references so he would know i was serious because i didn't always sound serious when i went in there. Tomorrow it will be a week and he still hasn't called.

6. I feel a little bit like i did when i was a single gal waiting by the phone.

7. louielouie... did you give me a BAD reference? Maybe that's why he's not calling!

8. No hurry for me though really for that job.  I'm still working three days a week for a while, maybe until June and i'm not really looking to work 5 days a week at all.

9. I read about 10 books this summer but can't really recommend any as something you MUST read, like i've done in the past summers. I wrote up a list and then lost it.

10. Do you do this too? I write up a grocery list and then almost always leave it at home or on my desk at work. Sometimes just writing it out helps me remember what i needed. But today i left off toilet paper.

11. Which means i should make a Costco run now, which i was trying to avoid. Toilet paper at Costco costs $7.99 at Albertson's and about $150 at Costco. You know why.

12. Our grocery clerks may be going on strike. It sucks what they are doing to this union. The one that speaks to me is cutting out any benefits, even pro-rated, for employees working under 30 hours. Every grocery chain in this union will cut fulltime employees hours from 40 to 29 so they no longer have to pay any health benefits.

This is fucked.  Because like the guy who checked me today he said they will make it so no one will be paid any health care if this is ratified. He did say they had three chances to vote and he voted that morning and it was super busy.

I told him i would come and walk a picket line if it comes to a strike. I'm going to get some friends too.

I guess in some ways i haven't lost my mojo for this stuff. Funny how something adversarial can be a good thing to get your juices running.

Notes to Self:                                  
Sunset: 7:03 pm
Sunrise: 7:00 am
High/Low temp: 60/43
All time page views: 48,600
Last book read: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Shout Out: EoDe and amulbunny

Let's Talk About Our High School Life !

This idea came from me surfing Ryan Adams on YouTube and he was singing one of his more youthful angsty songs Come Pick Me Up (which i love and i believe was in Cameron Crowe's movie Elizabethtown).

Accompanying him was Neil Finn and Janis Ian. Remember her? Anyway that song of hers which i have linked above At Seventeen came out when i was seventeen years old. I related to that song SO much and made it my teenage anthem. (Especially the "clear skinned smiles" lyric because i had terrible acne and was so self conscious about it.) .

So it got me to thinking that we should all share stuff from our high school years. But first be sure to tell us what year you graduated so we get a feeling for the times.

1. I graduated in 1975 as a new senior student in Tacoma, having just moved here from Colorado Springs. I never ate lunch once in the cafeteria that whole senior year. It was awful being a new senior so i talked to a school counselor, and shortly after with her help, enrolled in Vocational School so i didn't have to stay on the high school campus except for two periods a day. (I took a library assistant voc tech class that was nearly a whole year course.)

2. I attended three high schools - (Get out the violins! Poor me, right?) I was a  junior in Colorado Springs (we lived there only one year) and a sophomore and freshman in Zama, Japan.

3. We were military and my dad was a low ranking E-5, non-comissioned Air Force sargeant - so with four kids and a non-working mother, we were poor, (like free and reduced lunch kid poor), only too proud to apply.

4. With my babysitting money i bought vinyl records at the PX on base. I wore out Cat Stevens Tea for The Tillerman and Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, (which incidentally is still some of my favorite music today).

5. I dated an African American football player for nearly my whole sophomore year. He was my first real boyfriend. This was when we lived in Japan.

His name? ....Michael Jordan. He was a senior. His dad was a West Pointer army officer. The year was 1973, which was a pretty turbulent time for blacks and whites to be dating, but on base in Japan it was different. My parents tried to stop it at first, but then my dad relented and Mike spent a lot of time with my family, even visiting me in Colorado when we moved away. Mike was super polite, raised with class, a very cute and sweet man. All the teachers loved him and he was popular for the right reasons.

6. I used to dye my hair blonde myself with Clairol's Midnight Sun and it was just terrible (and why i don't mind spending lots of money today to pay a professional.) When i was a junior i tried to dye it back to it's normal brown shade and it turned khaki green. And it was like that for awhile before i could fix it again by dying it more red.  I also used to iron it with a real iron.

7. I never got below a "B" grade in all of high school (but i have to admit to taking the easier classes: Spanish instead of French; no harder math class than algebra, etc.) and i never missed turning in my homework. Not even once.

8. My favorite movie was (I hate to admit this because it's so cheesy).....was.....Love Story. And as I have mentioned here before, I had a girl crush on Ali MacGraw.

9. My favorite book was Catcher in the Rye and Gone with the Wind. (I read them both twice.)

10. My favorite class was Creative Writing. I still remember my junior year teacher Miss Tarver and how pretty she was with her super long straight hair. The reason i remember her is because one time when she handed back one of my stories she told me that I was too young to write so well and that she had liked my story so much she had given it to a friend of hers to read. (I remember being most fascinated by her sharing it with a friend!)  She encouraged me to send it to a magazine for publication. (I did, of course, and saved all the rejection letters.)

I also liked math and had some excellent math teachers, but i don't remember their names.

11. I never went to the prom my senior year. I did go to one junior dance in Colorado that was not prom. I sewed my own dress and went with a guy I knew from Japan who had moved to Colorado before us. He wasn't cute, but he was in college so i thought that was cool.

12. I had a babysitting job for four kids from 3-6 pm nearly my whole junior year in Colorado.  I made 50 cents an hour. The year was 1973. I think that job is the reason i never had kids. I used that money to buy records and Clearasil.

13. I never drank in high school, but my parents once let me have some pink champagne when i was a junior and i was so sick the next day. I never smoked pot either. I was a goody-goody and spent a lot of time in libraries, probably had something to do with not having that many friends since we moved a lot. I was a senior before a lifeguard asked me out to a kegger. I didn't know what a kegger was, i thought beer only came in cans! (I went to that kegger, but didn't drink anything.)

OK, so what were your high school years like? My school years weren't really all THAT terrible, at least i was never bullied or beat up, but my clothes and hair were always wrong and i always felt out of place, especially my last two years. And like most people i know, there is not enough money in the world to make me want to relive them, even knowing what i know now.


Notes to Self:                                                              
Sunrise: 6:48 am
Sunset: 7:22 pm
High temp: 65 degrees
All time blog posts: 48,261
Last iTunes purchase: Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits
Last Book read: Brewster
Longest run this week: 45 minutes

Why I don't own a cell phone....& stuff.

And NO....this is not the reason, though i have to admit,being around folks who do this when I am with them make me crazy!

So many people are incredulous that i don't own a cell phone. And I don't miss it. I can't remember a time when i thought to myself, damn if only i had a cell phone.

I am not making this up.

And i realized just very recently how much the phone has affected me because of my job in the union office. I've worked in this job for 25 years (not to mention the previous 10 years in the school district where i was a secretary).

I am now retired but temporarily working part-time in the union office and one thing i no longer have to do is answer the phone.

It's only been two days post retirement, but i realized how much more i like going to work just knowing the phone is no longer my duty.... I feel lighter... I feel happier! Just knowing when that phone rings i don't have to have some conversation with the person on the other line has freed me up to be more positive and ready to get to work.

Here's the deal: nobody calling the union office ever does so with positive news. They call crying, venting, whining, griping, yelling, and i am not kidding, even suicidal (That has actually happened to me four times. One time...  months later i read the member's obituary and that's where i found out she was really serious....And on that call i actually had access to the mental health place next door who I had a colleague summon to come over and take the call.)

They have even called drunk.

It was SO rare to receive a good phone call that i actually started to save any voice mails i received that were nice messages. I had calls from a few members or colleagues who liked what i wrote in a newsletter, or what i said in a meeting,  three of those calls were from my friend Julie (jj here) who had her little kindergarten or first grader kids in her music class sing happy birthday to me.

Because of retirement and cleaning up my office,  I also recently cleared them off my voice mail. There were 9 messages in all.

And sometimes when i had a particularly negative experience at work i would play all 9 messages and listen to them again. (Julie's kids singing were the best.)

So now i'm thinking maybe after i de-program myself from this union job there are a few things that I think will change me. 

#1. I will be a more positive person.

#2. My house is going to be in much better order because i actually like doing things like putting things where they belong - for example my next project now that the refrigerator is done is to put up new shelf paper and reorganize my kitchen cabinets.

(I don't have THAT many kitchen cabinets so this is not that arduous a chore really.)

#3.  I will like being around people more.

#4. My health will be improved. Already i have been able to quit the blood pressure meds. Going on two months now and my blood pressure has been just great.

#5.  Hell, I might end up getting a cell phone. (Not saying i will really use it, but i might get one.)

How do you think YOU would change if you weren't working at your current job? What do YOU think you would be doing differently? How might you feel differently?


Notes to Self:                                           
High temp today: WOW! it hit 90 degrees at 4:05 pm. That might be the record high all summer. We have had the most fabulous summer ever in the history of Washington State summers. (However, next week it changes and goes back to 62 degrees for the high.)
Sunrise: 6:42 am (right now as i type at 7:46 pm it is 83 degrees outside! That's amazing!
Sunset: 7:32 pm ...
it's going SO fast now! :(
Longest run this week: 51 minutes
All time blog posts: 48,081
Blog posts last month: 1084