beenie

T-minus 20 minutes

Knowing how sentimental I am, my boss and my fellow departing coworker just deliberately tried to make me cry. And it worked. Sure as anything, I welled up and had to walk away. But we all got a good chuckle out of it.

Last days suck

Today is my last day at my current job. I'll have a weekend, then jump right into my new job on Monday.

It's incredibly bittersweet. I cried last night. "They" say you shouldn't make friends at work, but really... how can you avoid that when you see these people more than you see your spouse during the work week? You laugh together, you cry together, you celebrate milestones together, you mourn losses together. Sometimes you just can't control whether you think of these people as friends.

I have never before been so upset about leaving a job, but so excited about starting the new one at the same time.

I'm gonna go cry now.

Hmmm...

I am an Intellectual



Which America Hating Minority Are You?

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She's a blowin'!

We had some pretty nasty storms last night. At one point, Bryan looked outside and saw some clouds start swirling. He said they started going up, and you could see right up through it and it was pitch black. I'm pretty sure that's what turned into the tornado that later touched down just outside town. Scary stuff. We spent about 45 minutes under the stairs with several other people in our building.

Ever since I've moved here, I've said "give me a hurricane any day over this crap," a statement my friend Amy, a south FL-WI transplant, wholeheartedly agrees with. Nobody here seems to understand this. Why would we want a hurricane, when a tornado is over in a few minutes?

Hmmm... lesse...

I spent 45 minutes huddled under a stairwell in my apartment building last night with several of my neighbors, on the off-chance that we might get a tornado. With a hurricane, you know at least a week in advance the likelihood that it will be in your area.

With a tornado, see above, re: stairwell huddling. With a hurricane, you stay indoors, tape up your windows and go about your business. Well, unless you're one of those rich-bitch entitlement-minded dumbasses who builds a $1M house on STILTS on the freakin' beach, has to be evacuated, then expects the government to give you $1M to rebuild when it washes away. "oh, I was too stupid to know not to put my house on stilts on the ocean, so now I need Uncle Sam to rebuild it for me." Wah.

Oh, and while a hurricane might have sustained winds, they're not the same speed the whole time, and they're not as strong as a tornado.

Yep, I'll take a hurricane, thanks.

More birthdays!

Happy birthday to my Daddy and my cousin Mike... neither of whom read my blog (unless they're lurking, but I doubt it), but still...

So, happy birthday!

Happy Birthday!!

You know who you are. :)

Oh my, if THAT ain't the truth...

"How do you make a 'you'?"

Can a chick be a fucker?

Excerpt of a conversation between me and hubby:

Me: "If you think that's funny, I should tell you what my mom's gynecologist's name is."
Hubby: "Oh yeah?"
Me: "Dr. Hurt."
Hubby: "Poor fucker"
Me: "Dude, it's a chick."
Hubby: "So that means she can't be a fucker? What do we call her - fuckette?"

Guess you had to be there.

Butter battle

Hubby and I are retarded sometimes.

We were in the grocery store the other night and needed butter (note: to us, butter means tub spread, and yes we get the ones with no trans fats). We couldn't decide. There's a spread that I prefer, and there's one that he prefers. We both stood there pouting at each other waiting for the other to cave, when I came up with this:

"Why don't we just get one of each?"

Ummm, DUH. Are we that slow?

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." --Thomas Jefferson

Well, that makes me feel better. People reference "separation of church and state" quite a bit when arguing against legislation that seemingly has its roots in religious doctrine. The other side always says "there's nothing in law that says separation of church and state," but here it is. It may not be written that way in the law books, but it was the intention.

I think we all know what it means to ASSume

Coworker: "So, is this wedding in NYC?"
Me: "No, it's on Long Island."
Coworker: "Oh, high-falutin'!"
Me: "Why do you say that?"
Coworker: "Well, you said Long Island."

I canNOT possibly explain how frustrated I am by stereotypes like this. Yes, Long Island is expensive. Yes, there are areas of Long Island that are high-falutin'. Yes, the wedding is actually in a high-falutin' area of the Island.

BUT... NOT ALL OF LONG ISLAND IS HIGH-FALUTIN'!!!!!!

Hmph.

More wedding stuff...

I finally got a chance to talk to Dawn yesterday. I told her that I didn't think I was going to be able to come b/c of the new job. She was really upset and said "I was just gonna ask you to be in the wedding party."

Shit.

Dawn is the big sister I never had. The idea of not being there for her wedding has been very upsetting in itself, but to hear the disappointment in her voice hit me like a ton of bricks. I have to go. I can't not be there.

So, I'll take the next week to figure out how in the heck I tell my new boss that I need a few days off 5 weeks into my new job. Something tells me I may have to give up my dad's graduation in October. :(

And now I have 6 weeks to find a formal gown in my size in a specific color (Apple from the David's Bridal website - Dawn said that everyone's just picking out any gown they want, as long as it's that color). Good thing one of my girlfriends is handy with a sewing machine - she said that if I can't find anything that she and her mom can probably whip something up for me.

Aaargh!!!

I hate dialup.

I'm sitting here at hubby's place of employment, using the computer at his desk to futz around online while he's working. We're going out later, and with where we're going, it was just easier for me to come along than for him to come in, come back home and then go. So here I sit. On dialup. It's not bad dialup, I'm getting 50.6K. It still sucks goat balls.

Never. Again.

Dude, you did it to yourself

If you can't remember the security code that YOU YOURSELF placed on your account, and refuse to have your social security number on file with your federally regulated service provider, do NOT give me an attitude about having to verify some bizarre, obscure aspect of your account before I will make changes to your account, and then complain to me that your life is too friggin' complicated.

Dude, you did it to yourself.

Oh, and BTW... in just 5 short minutes, I was able to find out where you work, where you went to college and what you do for a living, not to mention a marginally flattering photo of you - and I'm not by any means tech-savvy. So don't think you're doing yourself any favors. Because if I can find all that in a few minutes, just think what someone else can find.

Alphabetical musings

The ABCs of me, SP'd from Erica.

Act your age? - Sometimes, sometimes not.
Born on what day of the week? - Saturday.
Chore you hate? - Ummm, just about anything. I hate housework.

Dad’s name? - Tom
Essential makeup item? - Mascara
Favorite actor? - John Cusack
Gold or silver? - Silver
Hometown? - Shirley, NY
Instruments you play? - The voice.
Job title? - Account Service Representative, for the moment.
Kids? - Not right now.
Living arrangements? - With the hubby in a rented apartment. Will be adding kitty within the next few months.
Mom’s name? - Patty.
Need? - I'd say money, but that's getting better. Hmmm, maybe a nice makeout session. Sex doesn't necessarily have to be involved, I just want some prolonged kissing.
Overnight hospital stays? - None.
Phobias? - Nothing paralyzing.
Quote you like? - "it takes a lot of courage to grow up and become who you really are." ~e.e. cummings.
Religious affiliation? - Raised Roman Catholic, currently agnostic.
Siblings? - Theresa, 6 years younger.
Time you wake up? - 5:00 AM, for the moment.
Unique talent? - Ummm, I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue if the stem is long enough.
Vegetable you refuse to eat? - Canned asparagus.
Worst habit? - Procrastination, making my husband pay for the sins of my father.
X-rays you’ve had? - Other than my teeth, I've had a CAT scan on my sinuses - does that count?
Yummy food you make? - Just about everything (no, I'm not modest about my cooking ability), but I'm especially proud of my gravy (for any Italians reading, that's meat gravy, not red sauce, though I make a pretty decent red sauce too). I've definitely inherited my mom's gravy mojo.
Zodiac Sign? - I am a VERY stereotypical Libra.

Leap of faith, or just plain crazy?

A friend asked me today what my new job is.

I don't have the foggiest. I only have a very vague picture of what my responsibilities are, and I don't have a clue what my title will be.

I told her that it's in the industry I was in before telecommunications and that I'll be working in my town.

Beyond that, I actually really don't care. It's in my town!! No more 110-mile round trip!

Hand-in-Hand quotes

"People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost." ~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them." ~ Dave Barry

Are you nuts like me?

Inspired by a thread on one of my message boards, what do you love to do that makes people go "you've GOT to be kidding me, right?"

I love going grocery shopping. LOVE it. I have no idea why. But the message board from which I've stolen this question is a cooking-related board, and several people there have said they love to grocery shop, so there may be an explanation.

I also love to shop for office supplies. I get excited about going to Staples. I don't WANT to order it online, I want to walk around the store.

QuoteOTD

Since I've seen it attributed to two different people, I'm not sure I can properly attribute it. I've seen it attributed to L. Thomas Holdcroft and to Jacob M. Braude.

"Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on the stuff we are made of."

And there you go.

By the light of day...

Ironically, it's beautiful today. A little humid, but I'll generally take sunshine over rain.

Bryan went to the dam to take some pics - you can see them and read the post he made on a message board we both frequent in the extended entry (it's really long).

The dam is still holding, but we're nowhere near out of the woods yet.

***Bryan's Post***

I went down early this afternoon with Beenie's digital camera to record in the daylight what I saw at the dam last night.

The situation hasn't changed any since then.

This is the heart of the problem. The dam in Beaver Dam. The lake is a good five feet above normal. As you can see, it's starting to circumvent the retaining walls. It's only got about another foot and a half before it goes OVER the dam. The biggest problem is the local fire department found a crack in the dams foundation a few days ago. This is an old slab of concrete. It's been unchanged since around 1940. A local concrete company was called in to try to pump cement into the crack, but they were apparently unsuccessful due to pressure and over all wet and muckiness.

Here's the result of the problem. To stop the dam from breaking, they've opened it up around two and a half times normal capacity. As anyone with structural engineering knowledge will tell you, all that whitewater means the flow is probably eating away at the dirt in front of the dam.

This one is hard to appreciate unless I had another picture of how wide the river usually is. Let us just say, if you can imagine a river about as wide as a conversion van running through the middle, you'd get an idea how far out of it's banks our little crick is.

As you can see, it's already up into the backyards of the houses by the river.

Yonder bridge is one of the towns two major roads. Take it in the direction the car is heading and you'd wind up in Madison. That water is usually six feet lower. If the dam goes, so goes the bridge.

Oh look, the good humor man.
Every good natural disaster should have a good humor man.

This is just beyond the bridge. Those buildings front on the downtown. The water is creeping in their back doors.

See. Not kidding. Times like this I start thinking of buying a nice gondola and learning to sing in Italian....

And this is where it makes or breaks. These buildings are standing on four foot concrete pilings which are in turn sitting on big lumps of rough concrete. The water has risen right up to the bottom of the buildings. I had to stand in the water to get this shot. The real problem though is not the height of the water, but the SPEED of the water. I made a short film with the easyshot camera but we couldn't find server space big enough to host it. (anyone wanna host it for a few days? I'd be grateful.) It's going a good fifteen mph by my exceptionally crude measurements. On the film, the roar of the water was so loud I had to shout to be heard above it. These are old, old buildings with turn of the century concrete pilings. There isn't a year that goes by that they don't have to repair one of them under normal circumstances.

This is the building that the water is going under. It houses the towns new coffee shop. While walking around, following the river, I went in. Just this morning I was lamenting the fact that our previous coffee house had gone out of business and there was now no place to get a civilized cuppa. Well, surprise surprise. I went in to buy a cup and the owner and I got to talking about the situation. She informed me that the city engineer had been down to see her. They told her that they wanted to take another board out of the dam (open it up further) to lessen some of the pressure on it. She informed them that she'd like a days notice to clear out her basement. I showed her the pictures I'd taken of the water rushing under her foundation and she grinned. "Want to see something REALLY cool?" Sure, I said. She took me down into the basement of the building. I can't describe how scary that sound was. I knew that fast moving water was only a thin, old layer of concrete beneath my feet and the sound was DEAFENING. It roared through the tight concrete basement with a hollow moan. Still with a devilish grin she pointed at a round iron manhole cover in the floor. I whipped out my camera and she pulled the lid off.

So that's where we currently stand. If you see us on CNN, you can say that you saw all the drama preceding it.

As it stands right now, we really can't handle any more rain. We need at least a week of dry to get the water level down. (even then I still got a feeing that one of those pilings is gonna go). But it doesn't look good. We're forcasted for more rain tonight, and tomorrow. If the dam breaks, most of downtown is going to be flooded. A lot of residential land downstream is going to go with it. Beenie's got some extra pics on her website if your interested.

BTW, don't worry about us. Beenie and I are on the second floor of an apartment complex on top of a hill. I fear no water. But to have my hometown washed away would not be cool in the least.

I guess if the dam goes we'll have to change the town name to Beaver.

***

Ummmmmm... yyyyyeahhhh

This is a 10-minute-old radar image of my area. Those who know the location of my town will see what's going on.

Bryan went down to the dam tonight after a few friends reported that the dam has a crack in it and could potentially go soon. He said you could feel it vibrating. A couple of towns in the general vicinity have been partially evacuated in the last few days due to flooding and dams breaking. Southern WI saw record rainfalls in May, and June isn't shaping up to be much different. Today is Friday, and the town north of us on the main highway in this area has had 8 inches of rain since Wednesday. My town had 10.55" of rain in May, and we've gotten almost half of that already this month.

One look at that radar image, and I'm really worried. If our dam goes, it could effectively paralyze the downtown area for several days and could damage many many local businesses (property-wise, not just the money they'd lose from not being able to open). Our dam going kablooey is a very real concern right now. Shit.

Now I can tell you

I accepted the job on Tuesday. I didn't want to announce it here until after I'd given notice at work, just in case there are coworkers or supervisors who lurk here (come out come out wherever you are), but ahhhhhhhhh, it feels good to do it now.

I gave notice this morning. I've been dying to tell everyone about it since Tuesday, but haven't felt like it would be appropriate until I gave notice at my job. I mean, I've told a lot of my friends and a few choice coworkers who already knew the situation, but not everyone.

Leaving this bunch of coworkers will be the hardest thing I've done in a while and I'm not looking forward to it. But this will be a lot better for my future, my husband's future, and the future of our as yet unborn children my family's future.

{{sigh}} Leaving sucks, but here's to new beginnings!

Ah, l'amour

Mel's post about her future BIL's wedding, and the fact that she and Sean were able to dance to their future wedding song (May 20, 2005, baby!!!) made my wedding song go through my mind.

I love you, Pumpkin!!

Waste
Phish
Billy Breathes

Don't want to be an actor pretending on the stage
Don't want to be a writer with my thoughts out on the page
Don't want to be a painter 'cause everyone comes to look
Don't want to be anything where my life's an open book

A dream it's true
But I'd see it through
If I could be
Wasting my time with you

Don't want to be a farmer working in the sun
Don't want to be an outlaw always on the run
Don't want to be a climber reaching for the top
Don't want to be anything where I don't know when to stop

A dream it's true
But I'd see it through
If I could be
Wasting my time with you

So if I'm inside your head
Don't believe what you might have read
You'll see what I might have said
To hear it

Come waste your time with me
Come waste your time with me

So if I'm inside your head
Don't believe what you might have read
You'll see what I might have said
To hear it

Come waste your time with me
Come waste your time with me
Come waste your time with me
Come waste your time with me

Come waste your time with me

Lazy Day

I love days off work that are pre-scheduled, when I can do what I want without having to feel guilty that I'm not there, or that I called in. I have a tendency to check my work e-mail from home, and they know when people haev logged in from home, so every time I call in sick and check my e-mail, I always feel like they're sitting there going "WTF? How sick can she be?" when I could be coughing a lung or puking my guts up and still feel the need to check e-mail.

At any rate, today is medical day for me. I had an appointment for allergy testing, which was shorter than expected. I let them know I have dermatographism, which basically rendered them unable to go regular allergy testing where they stick needles into your skin. Just one needle will make my skin puff up like a little mosquito bite, so no needle testing for me. A quick trip to the lab was all I needed this morning.

I have another appointment this afternoon, a lovely trip to the girlie doctor. I know you're supposed to go once a year, and it doesn't bother me nearly as much as it bothers a lot of women, but to be quite honest, the only reason I go once a year is because I can't get BCP without it. They'll only prescribe for one year at a time, and they require another annual exam to get more. Fun times.

So there's my lovely medical day.

Afterward, I'll go and pick up a new crock pot from Wal-Mart (and only because they're the only store that sells the one I'm in love with (the fact that it has side-by-side crocks in addition to the big crock, not the country-fied apple print). I hate Wal-Mart, so it probably makes me a hypocrite, but unfortunately when it comes to kitchen appliances, I'm okay with that. If I could get it anywhere else, I would.

Nighty night

The guy who sits next to me at work totally fell asleep at his desk yesterday. Like to the point where someone who sits about 20 feet away e-mailed me to ask if he was sleeping.

I kind of feel bad for him though - we have a friend who has sleep apnea, sleeps with a CPCP machine and everything, and even while he's just sitting at his desk all calm and quiet and awake, my coworker's breathing sounds exactly like our friend's did before he got the machine.

New specs!

I went for my first eye exam in 3 years yesterday. For me, that also means new glasses. Now, I have a copay of $10 for the exam and $25 for glasses, as long as the frames I choose are $130 or under. Yeah, right. The ONLY frame I could picture having on my face long-term that would work with my prescription was over $200. They're also the only pair of frames I've ever put on that I liked instantly, and even Bryan said "wow, those are really nice" when I put them on. That's HUGE. He's even more picky than I am. I figured that if I have to have something on my face for every waking moment (well, if I want to see), I might as well like it. So my out-of-pocket for the exam plus glasses is $111. Ugh. Thank god for flexible spending accounts.

And can someone please explain to me why a piece of titanium that MIGHT weigh an OUNCE costs over $200?

Updates

Since I haven't been around much, I've got some updates:

Back on!

Sorry for the absence - my fabulous hostess was having webhost issues, which now appear to be resolved - yay!