Rebellin

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for: (in no particular order)

• The bun in my sister-in-law’s oven
• Having a happy and healthy family, including my fun-loving parents (Mom and Dad), brothers to keep me in line, sister-in-laws that are more like girlfriends, and an adorable nephew that loves to talk to me on the phone
• My God daughter, Kylie Grace, and her mother (my best friend), Amber
• JB (need I say more?)
• Tucker the pooch and Murray the cat
• Having a job that I love
• Living in a place that I love

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Today’s assignment was to go to Costco to purchase 10-15 poinsettias and three reindeer. I filled an entire pallet cart at Costco with three foot tall poinsettias and the reindeer, and it was like I was Mrs. Claus spreading Christmas cheer.

Everyone in Costco wanted to talk to me — to compliment me on my plants, ask how I was going to keep them alive (my response was I didn’t care…. they’re for a party on Monday), say that I must have a really big house, etc.

On the way to my truck, a panhandler befriended me and wanted to help me load the poinsettias into my truck. Despite the fact that I declined his offer, he helped me pack up the truck to the gills in poinsettias, and even made the comment that the cat food I had bought was ‘really good dog food’.

Of course, he then hit me up for money, and since he had made a good effort, I gave him a five. I figure it’s not too early for me to get in the holiday spirit.

Upon my return to the office, I was told that my next job was to hang snowflakes from the ceiling. Since I’m the tallest person in the department, I was the only person who could reach. So, there I was, standing in my stocking feet on other peoples’ desks, using thumbtacks to affix snowflakes to the ceiling. I tried to affix one by lifting a ceiling tile, and was greeted by a down pouring of dust. At that point, my boss asked what I was doing, and my reply was “Evidently, I’m giving myself dandruff”.

There is a work party I have to go to tonight, so during all of these activities, I’ve been wearing my best wool suit. I have ceiling dust and poinsettia dirt all over it. Lovely.

So that has been my day. Merry Christmas. Oh, wait, maybe I should wish you a happy Thanksgiving first. From my office, it’s really hard to tell which holiday is next.

We’re having an Open House party for our office next Monday so that people in the community can see our new offices. It was decided that each department had to do holiday themed decorations, so I spent the afternoon decking out our office in the theme of ‘An America’s Adventure Place Christmas’. (For those of you that forgot, we brand Reno-Tahoe as America’s Adventure Place.)

So the tree has ornaments of skis, ice skates, sleds, fishermen, etc. Evidently, my ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ personality trait isn’t acceptable to the other women in the office when it comes to my decorating skills. I was harrassed quite a bit about how I hung the lights on the tree and how I spaced ornaments on the tree. It was all in good fun, though.

Each of us had to decorate our own wreath for our office door. I’ve never decorated a wreath before, and the women in our office watched in amazement as I came up with my own methods of decorating a wreath. Being that I have tentative plans to ski in two weeks and that I saw Warren Miller’s Journey on Saturday, I’m really in the mood for skiing. Hence, I decorated my wreath with a skier ornament and bumper stickers from area ski resorts. Not your typical wreath, but perfect to grace my door. We’ll have representatives from the ski areas at the party, so I was thinking about putting a sign on the door saying that they could feel free to add ski tickets to the wreath. Now wouldn’t that be nice?!

So here are the search phrases that brought people to my site in 2003. I must have disappointed a bunch of people, especially the ones looking for brothel information and pictures of women in slutty shoes….

gm dealerworld
dealerworld — these two are understandable — that’s the site I managed at GM
bunny ranch — This came from a posting I did about Vince Neil being charged with assault of a prostitute at the Bunny Ranch brothel.
slutty shoes — I admit I had a fascination with slutty shoes in the late summer… (Slutty shoes in my definition are cute sandals with platform heels.)
camel toes — Ah…. Must have been a post about my college days…
bunny ranch nevada — Yet another person looking for a brothel and only found my comments on Vince Neil.
lynnette cook — People are looking for me! I’m a celebrity!
where’s waldo picture — The poor people looking for Waldo actually found a picture of my high school reunion. Sorry!
so long sweet summer — Yet another great Dashboard Confessional song… I posted the lyrics because I couldn’t get the song out of my head.
celebrity camel toes — Sorry, no celebrity camel toes here. In fact, you won’t find any camel toes here, but I’ve typed that phrase so much in this posting, I’m sure to go up in the search rankings!
Ski Crash Pictures — Masochistic people wanted to see ski crashes ended up seeing pictures of the leap off of a cornice that tweaked my knee…
Where’s Waldo pictures — Crap, I’m sorry, people…. Waldo is not here…
pictures of ellen rimbauer — I think I did a posting like 2 years ago about reading the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, and sorry, I don’t have any pictures of her either!

In other news, JB and I were more shocked than Kelly Joe that she got ousted on The Bachelor last night. Now the chick from Beverly Hills will have to move to Michigan, and I’d be willing to bet she won’t be able to handle those winters (hell, I couldn’t!).

• The Bachelor is on tonight. JB and I are having one final ‘Bob Party’, where we’ll be rooting for Kelly Jo. JB is also pretty excited about the Victoria’s Secret show on right after The Bachelor.
• I am dog sitting my brother’s dog, and how in the hell does he know when it is 30 minutes BEFORE my alarm is supposed to go off?! Two days in a row, I awoke to his whining and crying. I then got up to put he and Tucker outside, and went back to bed. He proceeded to bark and yelp at the top of his lungs because I had left him outside. Oh, brother.
• I’m rather entertained by the ‘twist’ on Average Joe… The idea that this girl was surrounded by average guys and started to narrow down the field just to have three ‘hunks’ added is pretty funny. I be she chooses a hunk. Although only one of the guys they added was a hunk in my opinion and he was really short. You all know that heigth is a huge turn-on for me!
• There is only one week left until I make the trek to meet JB’s parents. I’m excited and nervous. But heck, what’s not to like, right? (I hope…)
• I am back in the workout grind after my sickness. I actually didn’t lose as much strength as I expected. I was able to pick right back up where I left off, except for with a few coughing fits occasionally. The people in the gym just love those. Really.
• My mug from which I drink my herbal tea now leaks, and I have three spots on my pants today from escaped drips. Damnit.
• My life has been pretty boring lately, so I must resort to talking about herbal tea and reality TV on my blog. Pretty pititul, I know.
  

Well, I think I’m finally on the mend again. The cough that has kept me up at night and home during the day is finally subsiding, thankfully not making me cough until I gag anymore.

So as for this weekend, I…

• Went to two Pick ‘N Pull junkyards. JB needed a few parts for his truck, and is bound and determined to find these parts at a junkyard. We hit one last weekend, and two this past Saturday. One of them on Saturday was quite the experience. I think they thought they were like a bar. There was a one dollar cover charge, and after you paid, they stamped your hand with a bright purple stamp that says ‘Pick N Pull’. Now I’ve always wanted to have a Pick N Pull stamp on my hand. After walking through many many rows of cars and trucks, we came back empty handed.
• Was JB’s groupie at the Reno Blues Society Mash Bash. It is a charity event that has a bunch of bands playing. There was even a costume contest to see who had the best Mash themed (think of the TV show MASH) costume. I was most entertained by two women dressed in cheerleader skirts with go go boots and pig tails. Please tell me who in the heck wore that on MASH! JB and I befriended a man dressed like Klinger (he was wearing a dress), who convinced us to stop watching the people dancing and to join them. We had a blast dancing, and I even thanked Klinger for motivating us to leave our seats.
• Entertained four dogs, including Tucker, my brother’s dog Ralph (he’s on vacation for a week), and JB’s two dogs. Four dogs in the back of my Blazer is WAY too much, especially after they’ve been wading in mud.
• Soaked in a hot tub
• Assisted JB in an oil change

So that’s about it. I’m planning to get back to the gym after a two week hiatus…. Damn, I hate being sick.

Well, I had so much fun on the trip last week that I managed to catch a cold. I’ve pretty much lost my voice, and have a lovely hacking cough to accompany it. They sent me home from work today because all the girls were afraid of getting my germs.

So I’ve been working from home today, and one of my favorite things about working from home (besides being in my pjs) is having daytime TV on in the background.

I pretty much left the TV on Lifetime, so throughout the course of the day, I’ve seen A Dating Story, The Perfect Proposal, A Wedding Story, and A Baby Story. Probably not a good idea for a single gal to be watching all of those one right after another. I feel utterly brainwashed right now. Must turn TV off now… Perhaps a little MTV later on can reverse the damage.

After talking to JB last night, I was reminded of some details about our trip that I left out:

Thursday: Despite the fact that I told JB to be at my house at 6:15 pm so that we would have plenty of time to make the plane, he showed up at 7:10. He had brought both of his dogs to hang out with Tucker the pooch, and as he and my brother set up the dogloo in the back yard, they both managed to step in poop (daylight savings time has curtailed my poop scooping a bit). So, instead of immediately rushing to the airport to catch our 7:55 plane, the boys turned on the hose and began cleanining their shoes. We made it to the gate at 7:35 — just as they started boarding. As JB said, ‘We got there in plenty of time.’ Man, my Dad would die of a heart attack if he traveled with JB! Dad is the type of person that likes to arrive at the airport 2 hours in advance.

So we arrived in Seattle around 9:30, picked up the rental car, and then drove to find the Motel 6 we had booked online. It had been the cheapest rate we could find, and we later learned that staying in the cheapest motel really isn’t the way to go. After JB checked us in through the bullet proof glass window, we went in search of a restaurant. We had managed to choose a motel in a sketchy part of town, and the best restaurant we could find that was open at 10:00 at night was Denny’s. After enjoying the ‘cuisine’ at Denny’s, we headed back to Motel 6, where our queen size bed looked mysteriously like a double, there weren’t any pictures hung on the wall (which is now a prerequisite for JB to stay in a hotel), no shampoo, and a limited supply of sandpaper-like towels.

When we woke up on Friday morning, it sounded like they were building a major highway right outside our door. It turned out that they were cutting pavement about 100 feet from our room, and it started pretty darn early in the morning. We both left with the beginnings of a headache. Luckily, as you can read from yesterday’s post, Friday got significantly better once we left the Motel 6 in our past, and vowed to never go that cheap again.

The other observation I forgot to mention was the large number of panhandlers in Vancouver. Right after we arrived in Vancouver, the only map we had fell out of my pocket, so we had to go buy a gargantuan $6 map. As we stood in the street with the gargantuan map, a bum in a green clown wig with suspicious wires peaking out from underneath his coat approached us. He actually had good technique. He offered to help us find what we were looking for, and offered up suggestions for bars and areas we might enjoy. I was a bit hesitant to take the advice of a green wigged panhandler that looked suspiciously like a suicide bomber, except for the fact that he was very cheery. I gave him all of the Canadian change I had in my pocket, and we moved on.

As we got on the main drag, it seemed as if every corner had someone begging us for money. Our favorite was the man that asked for ’35 cents’. It didn’t seem strange at first, but he seemed to be everywhere that we went that night, and was constantly asking for 35 cents. We even overheard a guy in line at one of the bars saying ‘Oh, no… It’s the 35 cents guy.’ I guess they all have their own technique.

JB and I were suprised to see so many panhandlers, especially in such a cold climate, but figured that it must have something to do with Canada’s laws for panhandlers.

So those are my random thoughts for the day. I’m going to go see if I can round up 35 cents.

Well, we made it back safely from vacation, and right now, I think I need a few more vacation days to recover from my vacation. But alas, that is how it is when you have an action packed trip!

Here are the highlights:

Friday: We started our day at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle. It reminded me a bit of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Fran, but with a lot more coffee. The products the vendors were selling had extremely vibrant colors, and because it was Halloween, many of the vendors and customers were dressed in costume. It was really a treat for the eyes! Then, we had breakfast there overlooking Puget Sound. It was extremely good food, and we had our first taste of Seattle coffee there.

JB bought the Dr. Groovy Copper Head Massager from a vendor that was extremely short and dressed like a fairy. It was a funny sight to see him (at 6’6″) bending over so that the fairy could demonstrate the massager. This thing is pretty incredible — instantly giving me the chills when it is used on my scalp!

I digress. So then we headed to the infamous Space Needle, and rode the elevator up to the top. The views were pretty spectacular, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It is really a pretty city, surrounded by mountains, greenery, and water. Too bad their weather sucks most of the year. Luckily, we had great (but cold) weather for our whole trip.

After the Space Needle, where we enjoyed a cafe mocha from Starbucks at the observation deck, we headed next door to the Experience Music Project. This is a music museum with a few interactive displays. We had a blast in the Interactive Music Lab, where you can go into sound proof booths and play instruments. Considering JB and I are both musical, we were able to jam together (me on the piano, him on the guitar/drums). I even tried my hand at the drums and the guitar, but I think I need to stick to the piano.

We had dinner that night at a great seafood restaurant that was so authentic that there were oyster shells piled up outside of the restaurant. We then went back to the hotel to ‘spruce up’ before checking out some bars, and ended up taking a “nap”. We woke up around 11 and decided that we couldn’t quite make it out to a bar. Damn, we’re getting old.

Saturday: We had breakfast at a place called Minnie’s in downtown Seattle. This was truly a local’s joint, as all of the servers really looked like they had just rolled out of bed, and thrift store fashion ran amok in this place. The hostess at the restaurant was a particular gem of Seattle culture, as she greeted us with a look of extreme dislike, walked over to a table, and threw some menus on it. I started to follow her, and JB said ‘I don’t think that’s for us — she didn’t tell us that was our table’. So we stood there…

She came back over and gave us a look that said ‘What the hell is your problem?’, and I said ‘we’d like a table for two, please’. She glared again and said incredulously that our table was the one she had put the menus on. We were then entertained by watching her do this to everyone that walked into the restaurant.

After breakfast, we drove 2 1/2 hours North to Vancouver, Canada. It was a really pretty drive, and after finding our hotel, we took the Sky Train into the city. We checked out GasTown (which from what we could tell was really just a place for shopping) and then found a great Indian food restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we checked out some of the area bars. We were actually denied entry to two bars because JB was wearing running shoes. I’m not sure why, but JB and I were extremely entertained by the Canadian bouncer that looked at him and said ‘No Runners’. For the rest of the night, we couldn’t stop staying ‘No Runners’ to each other. We worked it into every conversation!

We ended up at a bar called Roxy’s that had an awesome Top 40s and 1980s cover tunes band. We danced (and drank) the night away.

Sunday: Our first destination was Stanley Park, where we went for a 45 minute run through the woods. It was absolutely beautiful — huge trees surrounded by ferns and some small lakes. From there, we headed to Victoria, which is a city on Vancouver Island. After a 45 minute drive to the station, and 1 1/2 hours of waiting for the ferry, we then took a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride. These ferries carry 500 cars at a time, and it is really something to see the production of it all. We watched the sunset from the boat, and went out on the deck to enjoy the moonlight’s reflection on the water. Although it was really cold, it was also quite lovely. Besides, I had my portable heater along for the ride (aka JB).

After the ferry docked, there was a 1/2 hour drive into the city of Victoria. We then had dinner at a restaurant on the water with an incredible view of the harbor and we sat close to the fireplace. Quite romantic, I must say. That night, we went to a bar called Lucky, which was another local’s hangout. We were some of the only people in there without dreadlocks or significant body odor. The band was called Wassabi, and had a woman singing and playing the conga drums, two guitar players, and a naked drummer. That’s right, I said naked. JB pointed this out to me, but the drums were blocking our view of his private parts, so we couldn’t be sure he was totally naked. JB told me I should go get a closer look to verify whether or not this guy was truly naked. I made my way through the crowd, which was very challenging to make your way through a bunch of people dancing to reggae, and oh my God, the body odor stench on the dance floor was strong. I got about 3 feet away from the stage, and because of the drums blocking my view, I still couldn’t tell if this guy was wearing skibbies. I even asked a girl standing next to me, and she couldn’t tell. He was even barefoot. But both JB and I were fascinated by this drummer, because he was so intense (no, JB wasn’t facinated by him because the drummer was naked). This drummer had dreadlocks, made really funny faces, and did all kinds of arm movements to go along with his playing.

Monday: We left the hotel room around 8:15, leaving what we thought was plenty of time to drive to the ferry to make the 9:00 departure. Well, despite my incredible navigational skills up until this point on the trip, I suddenly became deficient and got us horribly lost in downtown Victoria. I ended up driving so that JB could navigate (and he seriously thought I was going to kill him with my fast driving)…. Well, we got to the ferry station 5 minutes too late. Just in time to see the ferry pulling away. The bad thing was that the next boat didn’t leave for another two hours, and consequently, we were now going to miss our plane out of Seattle. So, after composing ourselves (and me profusely apologizing and JB being a saint about it all), we ate breakfast at a cute cafe overlooking the water. We then headed back to the ferry plenty of time for the next ferry.

After parking the car on the ship, we went up to the outdoor deck to enjoy the scenery we had missed the night before when our journey was in the dark. We were surrounded by blue waters and sky, seagulls, and little islands covered with evergreen trees. We snuggled close because it was pretty darn cold out there, and had a lot of fun burning up the rest of my roll of film and chatting. Once we hit land, we drove like bats out of hell South to Seattle, in an effort to catch the last flight to Reno that day. Remarkably, we made it, with four minutes to spare (we had to run through the airport, and it was really touch and go when Security discovered JB’s Dr. Groovy Copper Head Massager…). We got back last night around 8…

So all in all, we had a good time. As you can tell, we did a lot of driving, and our Ford Taurus rental car frequently reeked of burning brakes. We were both relieved that the brakes didn’t give out on us on our journeys.

In essence, we did a lot, drove a lot, saw a lot, ate a lot, drank a lot, and really enjoyed each other a lot. I can’t wait for our next vacation together…

(Pictures to come later this week hopefully.)