Thursday, June 26, 2008



I was listening to this song this morning and the lyrics just starting cracking me up...

Brick House - The Commodores

(various grunting sounds)
She's a brick----house
She's mighty mighty just lettin' it all hang out
She's a brick----house
I like ladies stacked, that's a fact,
ain't holding nothing back.

She's a brick----house
well put together everybody knows,
this is how the story goes.

She knows she's got everything
that a woman needs to get a man, yeah.
How can she lose with what she use
36-24-36, what a winning hand!

She's a brick----house
She's mighty mighty just lettin' it all hang out
She's a brick----house
I like ladies stacked, that's a fact,
ain't holding nothing back.

She's a brick----house
She's the one, the only one
Built like an amazon

The clothes she wears, her sexy ways,
make an old man wish for younger days, yeah
She knows she's built and knows how to please
Sure enough to knock a strong man to his knees

She's a brick----house
She's mighty mighty just lettin' it all hang out
Brick----house
I like ladies stacked, that's a fact,
ain't holding nothing back.

Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now

BRICK----house
She's mighty mighty just lettin' it all hang out
BRICK----house
She's the one, the only one
Built like an amazon, yeah

Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now

Shake it!
BRICK----house!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Sardinia


Del Riso
Originally uploaded by LucaPicciau.

Yes....must go there....and play in that crystal clear water.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

This is kinda funny.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The-Stalled-Server-Room.aspx

Thursday, June 19, 2008

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song - Maya Angelou

I forgot about the bird story.

The other day I was leaving work and I was walking thru the parking garage and I could hear a bird chirping. It seemed really close to me so I looked up but didn't see where it was perched. I continued to my car and suddenly the small bird flew past me at about hip level and landed on the floor just an inch or so under the passenger side door of my car. Tiny little thing. So I was like...."Uh, you gotta move" and started to walk up to it thinking it would fly away. Well it didn't. Just sat there looking at me. So there we were...just looking at each other for about 5 minutes. I thought it would take off at some point, but it seemed planted there. I looked around for something to toss in it's direction to get it to fly away - a straw. I tossed it and the straw landed about a half inch from the bird. The result was the bird took a few little hops....didn't fly away. Now I knew it could fly since I had seen it zoom past me....so that wasn't the problem. Maybe it was sick? So then I started to feel really bad for the little thing.

Meanwhile, people are leaving work and they are looking at me.....seemingly staring at the ground. I don't think people could see the bird since it was a gray brown color and was almost a perfect color match to the cement floor.

So I paced for a minute and then got the idea to go outside and get a eucalyptus branch to use to nudge it to fly away. My choices were tiny sticks or one 5ft long branch....I picked the branch and back in I went. I had hoped that while I was stick hunting birdie had moved on. No luck, he was still sitting there. I nudged him and he'd hop....nudge...hop, nudge...hop, nudge...hop.....making his way further under my car. So I went to the drivers side and got on the floor to look under the car. He was lookin' at me like "Now what the heck you going to do to me?". So I nudge from under the car....he hops, nudge...hop, nudge...hop. Ok fine....this isn't working. He was now just under my front end licence plate. I get up and and look at him...we're going to have to come to some kind of agreement on things.

Keep in mind....people are still looking at on the way to their cars....seemingly poking at my car with a 5ft eucalyptus branch.

The garage door wasn't far away at all....maybe 50ft. I wondered if I could get him on the end of the branch and just take him outside since he was so mild mannered. Now....I kid you not....I put the branch down in front of him and he hopped right on. I was elated! Now could I just get him outside? YES! I walked quickly with him on the end of the branch and took him to the first eucalyptus tree. I raised the branch up high and deposited him safely in the tree.

Adding bird rescuer to my resume.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

bright tulips crown the boulevards

The title means nothing. I just like the sound of it.

So....lots going on.

Our cat Suzie is sick again. She has an infection so we have to give her antibiotics for 30 days. The fist few days things seemed to be going fine until we randomly found her pills on the floor in various places. It seemed that little miss smarty pants would take the pill and act like she had swallowed it and then as soon as we let her go, she'd spit it out when she was out of our sight. We found 4 pills. So the first 4 days she'd done this.

*shakes head*

Of course now we have to darn near torture her to death to get her to swallow the pills. It can get pretty bad. One night she was foaming at the mouth....these pills must be horrible. She just kept spitting it out and it got wet and mushy so then the foaming started....it's terrible. She feels bad and then we have to do this. Needless to say, she isn't speaking to us right now.

Greg's truck broke down and he needed a new master cylinder. Oh joy.

Remember that reclass I talked about in Feb? I was supposed to hear back about it in March. I never heard and kept waiting and waiting to hear something but there was no update. So I finally asked a few weeks ago. Well.....she never submitted it!!!!! Oh man.....I just about lost it when I heard this. Never sent it in?? What the heck!? She said she got busy with other projects and it just didn't get done....

I'm trying hard not to use bad words right now.

Taps foot....*sighs*

You know....I work hard and do a really good job. I show up when I am supposed to, I'm not a slacker, I meet my deadlines. And then this shit happens. But I still work. I still show up. And I have not called anyone a bad name....well....not to their face. It's no wonder I have high blood pressure! I just know there has to be a silver lining....it just has yet to show itself. There has to be one....right? There will be a silver lining....won't there? Is waiting for it....

On a happier note...a photo of mine has been selected to be on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

San Diego River

So that's cool. I am semi tempted to cross off the item on my 101 list that says something about having a photo in a magazine or calendar and call this close enough, but....I'd still like to be in a magazine or calendar.

Okay, that's all I can think of for now.

Friday, June 13, 2008

I've been working from home all week because our office building is closed due to the US Open. Sometimes you can see the building in the background when they are near the 11th hole....it's about 60 yards from that hole. So for security and because traffic and parking will be horrible, they closed the building and people either had to work from home or take vacation. We are up the street from campus, so traffic in general for campus was going to be bad. They are expecting 50 thousand people to attend daily.

In the prior weeks, everyone was saying it would be a pretty kick back week because it was thought that a large percentage of people were expected to take vacation. No one thought that people would want to deal with getting their computer working from home or would want to drive in and deal with the traffic.

Well.....let me tell you....it has not been a kick week!

It's actually been one of the worst weeks I've have in a long time. Nothing is easy this week. Stuff is breaking, people are cranky, co-workers are hard to get a hold of who are supposed to be working....just everything has been bad.

If ever there were a Friday to say TGIF, today is it.

To end on a happy note, I'll leave you with a recipe. It sounds mighty good!


Strawberry Whipped Sensation

4 cups fresh strawberries, divided
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip
8 Oreo cookies, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. butter, melted

Line 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan.

Mash 2 cups of the strawberries in large bowl. Add condensed milk, juice and 2 cups of the Cool Whip; mix well.

Pour into prepared loaf pan.

Mix chopped cookies and butter. Spoon over Cool Whip mixture. Cover with ends of foil and gently press cookie mixture into Cool Whip mixture. Freeze 6 hours or until firm.

Invert dessert onto serving plate when ready to serve; remove pan and foil. Spread remaining Cool Whip onto top and sides of dessert. Slice remaining 2 cups strawberries; arrange over dessert. Store leftovers in freezer.

Enjoy!

Thursday, June 05, 2008

101 Things to Accomplish Before I Die

1. See The Boss in concert
2. Go to the Oprah show
3. Go back to Denmark
4. Live by the sea
5. Go to New York at Christmastime
6. Sell something on Etsy
7. Retire early (please, please, please)
8. Or at least work less than 40 hours a week...
9. Plus, work more than one day a week from home...
10. Then, when I retire, volunteer at an animal shelter
11. Take a money shot (a photo worth some money)
12. Publish something
13. Go see Maya Angelou speak (I better get on this one)
14. Take the Coast Starlight from LA to Seattle
15. Wear a bikini....in public....and feel ok about it
16. Take Greg to a Bobby Flay restaurant
17. Go to Prince Edward Island
18. Have a fancy Christmas party at my house
19. Go on a shopping spree with someone else's money
20. Have a realllllly beautiful craft room/office
21. Snorkel and see lots of pretty (small) fish
22. Go to Ireland
23. Age well
24. Wear a ball style gown to a fancy event
25. Enjoy reading again
26. Eat a croissant in France
27. Understand what all the buttons on my camera do
28. Renew our vows
29. Take the White House tour
30. See the Vietnam War Memorial
31. Have my backyard be spectacularly beautiful
32. Take a road trip across America
33. Stay at a nice ski lodge while it snows outside
34. Cook like Ina Garten
35. Have a chef quality kitchen
36. Feel peace
37. Love my hair!
38. Go to some kind of craft convention
39. Sell my baked goods
40. Be healthy
41. Live green(er)
42. Take an Alaskan cruise
43. Eat 70% organic
44. Have a photo of mine in a magazine or calendar
45. Camp at the Wild Animal Park
46. Win a costume contest
47. Decorate my *entire* house
48. Sponsor a needy child
49. Clean out my craft room closet (ugh)
50. Well....keep my craft room clean in general
51. Be on the Martha Stewart show (dream big, right?)
52. Have less regret
53. Make outstanding coleslaw
54. Go on a spa retreat
55. Stop passing up opportunity
56. Speak German well (ha!)
57. Learn to line dance well (ha!)
58. Discover California culinarily
59. Vacation in the Hamptons
60. Worry less about what others think
61. Love hard...forgive harder
62. See the cherry blossoms in DC in spring
63. Watch all my Buffy DVD's again
64. Take another photography class
65. Be an extra
66. Write an autobiography...could be interesting
67. Grow a vegetable garden
68. Learn to sew
69. Meet my neighbors...hopefully new ones
70. Run thru the sprinklers every summer
71. Feel financially secure
72. Give 100 Barbie dolls away at Christmas!
73. See the 17 mile drive in a convertible
74. Bake more. A lot more.
75. Send Oprah a birthday card
76. Have a lemon tree in the back yard
77. Make homemade lemonade more than once a year
78. Wear jewelry again
79. See more movies
80. See more sunsets
81. See more sunrises
82. Live my life the way I want to
83. Get a more professional massages
84. Buy a custom pair of jeans
85. Eat at Spago's in Beverly Hills for my birthday one year
86. Leave work at lunch more...I usually sit at my desk
87. Use those darn exercise videos I bought!
88. Take an art class of some kind
89. Go to Atlantis
90. Start scrapbooking my photos
91. Turn my bedroom into an relaxing resort style retreat
92. Learn more history
93. Ride a horse on the beach
94. Make persimmon cookies or bread
95. Go to one of my high school reunions (yes, Laura...you, too)
96. Get a Sleep Number or TempurPedic bed
97. Take more pictures of Henry...our oldest girl
98. Have picnic style dinners at the beach with Greg a few times a year
99. Make sculpey ornaments for the Christmas tree (example)
100. Leave work....at work
101. Make a difference

I challenge you all to make a list like this and put it someplace where you will see it until each thing is checked off. So far I only have one thing checked off, but that's better than none!

 Hello, I'm still here!