Here's a crappy shot of Forrest Gump at Bubba Gump's on Navy Pier. 

Sculpture on Navy Pier against skyline. 

Our Halloween crew. 

Two more birthday revelations

Apparently after 35 people lose control of their bowels when they fart. So I have a few years before I have to carry some spare britches in my purse. Also, I've given up on the idea that the Juniors department anywhere will have anything that I would be caught dead in.

Does all middle-management hang together or what?

Geez. I swear all middle-management hang out and try to figure out how not to do anything. Last Friday I had a "blow and go" customer be a total jackass. He swore the whole time he was there. He didn't come at his appointment time because the retard that worked there before let the drunks come and go whenever was convenient to them instead of making them come during their appointments. This particular drunk was pissed because he had to wait because I had gone to lunch. His appointment time came and went, so I didn't stick around waiting any more. He bitched he had to wait. He bitched he had to take off of work. He bitched there was no way the company could inform him of any pending location changes of his appointments because he shut his phone off and does not have an answering machine. He was the ass who drove drunk and got caught, and now everyone has to kiss his ass because the dumbass that was there did? Oh hell no. After the jackass left, I called the blow and go company to let them know this was an asshole we were dealing with, and he probably should be notified by mail of his next appointment pending our contract canceled. I don't want to cross paths with that dude again. Within minutes the guy that trained me was on the phone. "What do you mean you are canceling our contract?!?". The other woman I work with just gave him our manager's phone number. That's right. Middle-management never called to inform the company they were canceling.

Weekend happenings

Friday I went to a bonfire sans hubby. Had a good time, got to drive a 4-wheeler and met an opera singer. Super nice dude, very down to earth. He played his iPod and we all sang and danced. When I met, I thought, he must perform around here. I asked where is his next show at. "Carnegie Hall". See his website and learn more about him at http://www.paulmow.com.
Saturday night went to a Halloween party that I've been hearing about since summer. Since I had to stay sober and responsible, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. One of husband's co-workers was real drunk and started shoving me around. So when I shoved him to get him away from me, I got yelled at by one of the guy's having the party. So that sucked. Husband can go himself next year. We took another couple with us, and they were ready to go when I was. Husband wasn't so eager to go...he was busy talking to co-workers - about work.
Today I went to the SOFA exhibit at Navy Pier. We cut it short to get out of there at a reasonable time. I bought Husband an Al Capone t-shirt for Christmas. It says "You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun". I thought he would like that. The train ride home was torturous. We got stuck sitting by some Notre Dame students who used the word "like" a minimum of six time every sentence. I am guilty of using that word also, so now I will stick a fork in my eye when I catch myself doing it.

I have a birthday coming up. Oh boy. Another year of bitching about whatever employment situation I'm in and babysitting drunks. I'm going to call the nunnery and see if they have any openings. Any lessons learned? Nothing that I haven't talked about here. Well, yeah, there are a couple. One is that everything we do is by choice. Choices other people make for themselves will not be my problem and I cannot worry about these things. Someone wants to be an asshole, we have a choice how they make us feel. I also don't expect people to carry the burden of my own choices. The second lesson is nothing is permanent. We can change our situations by the choices we make. If the situation is bad now, it don't always have to be bad. Things are looking up this year!

All that teeth grinding for nothing

Late in the day I got an email from the boss/owner of the company that I work for. They cancelled their "blow and go" contract. I can't be happier. None of the other locations deal with that, with the launch of two more phone carriers and all their paperwork and procedures to go with it, we got enough to worry about.

Hopefully we will be warmer this winter

We are getting a new furnace. The one we have is actually too big for our house, but the fan is very weak. So the back bedrooms are freezing. The one we are getting is smaller with a 94% efficiency rating. So regardless, I have to keep a job until I get another one. Ha! Work is okay, and then some days I feel like a bumbling idiot. The dude I replaced didn't believe in paperwork at all, so inventory on parts and replacement phones is all screwed up. Then I walk in and THEN inventory is taken. There is a swap phone of a popular model missing. They are looking at me like I ate the thing. Then there are the Blackberries. We don't even want to go there. Each time we get one in to be sent out to get repaired, we get two replacements back. They are a nightmare for me. Maybe I should hold off on the furnace for a little while?

"AH NEED MAH PHONE"

I swear if I hear that one more time, I'm not going to be responsible for my actions. People, a word of advice. If you can't live without your cell phone, insure it. Take every insurance possible. Otherwise, shut up. And quit spilling pop on them and running them over with your cars. Once the screws are taken out, your dirty little secrets are revealed. The buttons stuck to the keypad with a sticky substance. The battery has battery door imprint in it. The circuit board with a SIM card imprint in it. We see it all. And no, the manufacturer does not put that shit in there when they assemble them. And if you are entitled to having your unit swapped, don't expect and clean and shiney replacement for your scuzzy phone. We swap out the boards and give you your crappy housing back with the new guts. BWAAH HAA HAA HAAAA!

A change of scenery in the future...maybe

The office manager of our store got the okay to look for another location. Our location with the stupid parking arrangement is a joke. Water is flowing under the building somehow, and glue that holds the tile floor down is constantly oozing from the cracks. Hopefully we will go to one of the newer strip malls. But hopefully I'll have a differnet job by then. I'm still looking. When the office manager asked the higher-ups if the new place needs to have a garage bay, they told her no. Meaning: No more blow-and-go stuff anymore. And that's fine by me. After seeing what kind of inconvenience these people go through as ordered by the state to get their license back, I'll be doing all my drinking at home, thank you very much.

A guy from one of our local heating and cooling places is coming tomorrow morning to see what I need to get our furnace replaced. The guy that lived here said he took the guts out of the one that's here and replaced it with new stuff inside. God knows how many decades ago that was. If it's any way like he did stuff with the rest of the house, we're lucky we are not dead by now.

Trying hard not to @#$% people's cars up

Aw geez. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow is training on how to install those "blow and go" units on cars of people who had two drunk driving convictions. Yesterday went, well... okay. After today's, there is no freaking way I'm going to do this. Today's install was done pretty much by myself, and the unit did not power on. No biggie. The worst thing is the previous person who worked there stole all the sockets and extenders, and the flashlight. Without the right equipment, it's a nightmare. Ended up I didn't attach some of the wiring to a good ground. The only way a good ground could be utilized was to have an extenter and attach the wire elsewhere. This guy that's supposed to be training me is real nice and everything, but he's the most high-strung person I've met in my life. So he jumped in and tries getting another good power connection instead of just finding a better ground. The worst thing that could happen, did. He cut the airbag wire. They didn't deploy, but had had to rig a jumper in there too. Oh yeah, without those socket extenders, we can't pull off dashboard panels and plates to give ourselves room to work. So we are working pulling wires through a two inch opening. It sucked. So after watching how easily you can mess someone's stuff up, there's no way I want any part of it. I feel bad because this guy drove 4 hours to train me. But he also came here with the assumption I had three months of wiring instruction. I didn't tell anybody any such thing. When I told the guy I had no experience whatsoever, I think Mr. Type A shit his pants.

Funny how our priorities change!

There's a kid who works at one of the other locations. If he's younger than me, he's a kid. Anyway every time a when new cell phone comes out that's a newer version of what's out there, he buys it. Every time. I figured he isn't a homeowner. Ha. I was right. He lives with his grandmother. Here I'm finally biting the bullet and going to buy a new furnace that we've been needing for the last three years. I'm only doing it now because I realized you can finance these things. So there you have it folks. If you get excited over furnaces instead of cell phones, congrats. You are GROWED UP.

Halloween plans

One of Husbands's co-workers goes all out with his yearly Halloween party. We are going as the Blues Brothers. This year is the 25th anniversary of the movie. Both of us love the movie too. I already got the hats and glasses from an online novelty store. We already have the shirts and pants. The men's store is going to call me when they get two black ties in. We're even going to "tatoo" our names, Jake and Elwood, on our knuckles. It should be fun. Husband wants to be Jake, the wilder of the two. But everyone told him he has to be Elwood, because he's taller. So in my pocket I have to have: One unused condom. One "used". A broken Timex digital watch. And $23.07. It should be fun.

I want to visit the penguins

I've been looking up the places I like to visit in Chicago online to see if they have Sunday hours, being that I work Saturdays. Everything is open! I really want to go visit the penguins at Shedd Aquarium. Five years ago I went to visit my sister. Just as we got there I got news my dad was taken to the emergency room because they thought he was having a heart attack. So a major damper was on trip, it was hard to have fun and be worried at the same time. It ended up they sent him home with one of those tape-recorder halters. They couldn't find nothing wrong with him, yet he was in excruciating pain. He went back to the emergency a few days later when I was home, they took him straight to surgery. His appendix was about to blow. Anyway, back to the penguins. I was pretty bummed when we got to their area, and there was a girl in a wet suit trying to squeegee the windows. The water actually comes to the middle of the window so you can see the penquins in and above the water. They were all curious as to what she was doing, so they were all swimming around her and floating around her. She was surrounded. You can tell she was young and was unnerved by it. She tried making a wave with her fore-arm to push them away, but no can do. The more rattled she got, the more curious they got. It was funny. Then one crapped in the water by her, and I almost peed myself laughing. I can't remember laughing so hard. I need a good laugh now. Nothing is going bad here or anything like that, but it's just been a constant mundane for so long.

Question!: How do you livin' up a conversation?
Answer!: Put a cop in the room!
A couple days ago a group of city workers came in. They wanted to upgrade all of their cell phones. Only problem is that the phone contract was in one of the co-worker's name who was not there. So these guys started plotting and scheming, and then a township cop came in. Then it got funny. The city workers got even more lively, throwing in a lot of "can you cover your ears for a few seconds, officer?", and "you really didn't hear that, officer". A couple came in that had been in before a couple days ago while this was all going on. The guy told me he didn't like my co-worker last time he was in. He said she was too abrasive. Well no duh. I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels like that! I'm getting a pretty thick skin from working there. So she was at work a couple days ago when the cop, the couple, and the city workers were there. She and the guy started to get into it a little bit, and the guy said, "officer, can you just step outside for a minute. Just give me sixty seconds!". I think he was ready to smash my co-worker in the mouth. Then she got all giddy and whispered to me "he got handcuffs!". The cop left after the upgrade to his phone was done, and the city workers went outside and plotted and schemed for another half hour. That's an up-side to this job, all the characters that come to the store.
Little dog is doing a little better today. His pee volume is up when he goes. Unfortunately, it's still in the kitchen.
Count yer blessings, Jen. Count yer blessings.

pee problems

The dog's leg is getting better, and now he's got the start of kidney stones. He can't pee but little dribbles at a time. It sucks. When he does get the urge he pushes and pees wherever he's at. So he's confined to the kitchen now. He tested positive for kidney crystals and blood, but no infection. So I guess that's good news. He has different food to change his pee pH to melt the crystals. I really had to plan around giving him enough time to fully relieve himself before I go anywhere. Kitty is having a good time with the towels for throw rugs in the kitchen. He likes tearing into the kitchen and going for magic carpet rides sliding on them. Or he'll stick one paw under the rug, then the other, then both, then acts like he's washing his paws under there. Then he'll stick his nose under the rug. His entire hide will twitch, then he jumps straight into the air and land on the other side of the carpet and do it all over again. I think that's where they thought of the moves for the Matrix movies.
I haven't heard from my sister in a while. I think she's embarrassed to speak to anybody because she's still with that boyfriend. Maybe she don't like the Jerry Springer references. I just call them as I see them.
One of husband's friends called to hang out today while his girlfriend was at work. He had steaks he wanted to grill, but no grill. We have a grill. See how nice that worked out? I gotta tell ya, husband has one bunch of goofy hillbilly friends, but man! Can they cook!
Hard to believe this time last week we were in Petoskey bumming around. It sure goes by quick. Next on the schedule is the Scuptural Objects and Functional Art (SOFA) at Navy Pier in a couple weeks. I hope the weather holds out. Today is a perfect copy of lasts year's SOFA weather. Cool, sunny, slightly breezy. Perfect. I would like to visit friends in Kentucky and Florida around the beginning of March. That's when I was about to go crazy from the crappy, dreary weather we have here.

My husband, bless his heart, is really blond. This is the sign posted over the themostat. He took one look at it and said "But there isn't an 0 on here!" 

Something new to do this year! 

A snow maker! High pressure water is sprayed out of little tubes and are blasted out by the fan. 

Fireplace to warm up by in the Eagle's Nest. 

View from the Eagle's Nest at the top of the mountain. 

View from the top. 

Brightest, closest tree seen from the ski lift. 

Bike getting placed on the ski lift. There was a bike race on the mountain about to start. 

These little kids didn't need the saftey bar. Either that or they just couldn't reach it to pull it down. 

Flywheeler's club. This is one of those landmarks I look forward to seeing every year. It's outlined in red rope lights and looks like a floating tractor at night. 

Adirondak chair made from skiis. 

Mural on side of a building incorating the actual windows. The tree is painted too! 

Any parody of a classic for advertising purposes is worthy of a picture! 

Petoskey weekend

I just got back from staying at the Perry in Petoskey this weekend. We did our usual eating at our favorite spots and bumming around town. The highlight was there was a sign outside Boyne Mountain ski resort: Free Lift Color Tours or something of that nature. They were running one of the numerous ski lifts so you can view the fall colors. It was so cool. Of course I took pictures and short movies. Colors were not peak yet, but pretty nonetheless. I will post some pics as soon as I get them downloaded. It was a long trip home and I'm tired now.

Fall stuff

Seems like everything I look forward to during fall happens in one Saturday. Yesterday I went to work, drove like mad to the Chapel Hill Craft Show at the fairgrounds, ran home and we went to our anniversary dinner at Horsefeathers, and went to Oktoberfest at the Kicker's with another couple.
Work always sucks on Saturday, busy or not.
The craft show was nice because the crowd was gone and I was able to navigate through everything twice in about half hour. I bought a scarecrow doll and a Santa doll from the same person. I will post pictures later. They are the kind just for show, not for a kid to play with. I swear the bodies feel like they are made out of a block of wood. Then you sit them on the edge of a table or t.v. with the legs hanging over. I also bought a block of honeycomb to eat on crackers. I bought a couple of charm necklaces for Christmas gifts for my cousins that work in office settings.
Horsefeathers was good but I got drunk right away on one of their martinis. I think I had the Blue Cuban, it tasted like coconut. Then I filled up on bread and salad so I wasn't hungry when my perch sandwich was sitting in front of me. Husband had jambalya for dinner and gumbo for an appetizer. No theme there!
Oktoberfest was really fun. My parents were there and I polka'd with my dad. When they left some other friends showed up and polka'd with one of them. He was too drunk. I ended polka-ing with the other Jenny that came with us. The band was really good, they put on a good mix. They also do Achey Breaky Heart, and Jump Jive and Wail. I had my fair share of Warsteiner beer to last me a year. I didn't have any Jaegermeister, I figured with all the dancing it would'ave made me puke.
Good times!