Weekend Woha

What else to say really? I love weekends. Sometimes I wonder if I'm made to work - and then I think about the time I was unemployed and how it drove me nuts. I do need human contact - but the weekends always seem to be too short.

Today was a busy day. I went for a hike with Phil and Ellie in the Jemez. There were showing me all the edible mushrooms near their house.

I came home to assemble Hunter's 6th birthday cake (which is when I noticed the cats have made the transition to the den for winter without me) - and the of course party the afternoon away. Now I need to clean up and have a cup of tea ... awaiting the eminent doom of MONDAY!

Running

I just found an interesting stat on my Nike/IPod page. It keeps track of distance run each month. Here are my totals so far this year:
Jan: 8.81 miles
Feb: 18.71 miles
March: 30.42 miles
April: 21.26 miles
May: 12.33 miles
June: 38.3 miles
July:48.93 miles
Aug: 24.99 miles
Sep: 27.7 miles (but there is still tomorrow).

Rumors

Since the days of Nanos (a director here at the lab) there have been more rumors than employees. Tonight while out to dinner I heard more. I hear them every day. Most days. And with any rumor you know there is a chance this one could be true ... but there is an equal if not greater chance it will not be true at all. But, you keep listening. You keep wondering if this one. This last one you heard is going to be the one. I wish that I could stop listening to them. Stop caring about them. But, they are like a train wreck. I want to hear it so that if/when this one is true - I can think, "Yes. I hear that from Jane Doe 2 weeks ago."

Since these rumors are all about work. Funding. The Lab. That sort of thing ... I don't feel too terrible about listening to them. Normally when they are about people I feel wrong listening or even remotely encouraging that type of behavior.

Rumors from this evening:
1. They will be RIFing people regardelss of budget.
2. DOE/NNSA are talking about shutting down either LLNL or LANL. 10 year, long plan out closure.
3. They will start giving us comp time.

I'm really pulling for #3 to be correct :)

F*!$

People suck. Not all people - please allow me to clarify - but some people. I'm not sure if I posted about this a while back - but in June of 2006 I was in a tiny car accident with an elderly man from California. The cops came and said it was neither of our faults. That neither of us had the right away and it was just a bumper bump ... this type thing just happens every now and again.

I got a call a month or two ago that the old guy is suing for more money. He doesn't believe that what was given to him was nearly enough. Today I got a certified letter from Farmers telling me that he is suing for over $50,000 ... which is what they will cover. They have recommended that we get a lawyer ... because if he is awarded anything over $50,000 ... they wont pay and we are suppose to. This whole thing pisses me off. What in the hell is wrong with people???

To make myself happy I took one of my small gnomes on a backyard adventure. There is nothing like a traveling gnome to make anyone fell better. At least for a little bit!

Bugs

Seems like there are more bugs out this year than ever. I keep running into spider webs and rescuing bugs from inside the house. This praying mantis was in the garage. It appears as if something is wrong with his side. Any ideas?

Leaves Of Change

I was just walking back from the library and I noticed that some of the trees are starting to change color. Fall is an incredible time. My hand are always cold - which means my rings never fit properly. The smell in the air is different from all summer. More of an earthy type air.

Fall is football, squash, curry, costumes, orange, browns and golds. Fall is the death of green and the hibernation of folliage.

While working on cleaning up the side of the house and building a wood shed (I'm freaking tired as all get out from all the work this past weekend) I found these two critters. Anyone know what the brown one is? I think the spider is a very large Orb Weaver.

Reasoning With The Devil

Last night the question of the "purpose" of a blog came up. Is it to bitch? To journal for the world. I've totally asked this question before. Ranting? Day dreaming? I say all of the above. And whom ever finds the will or time to read it - should enjoy.

What is going on here. In this neck of the woods? Well our budget is crap and last Thursday (for those of you NOT in New Mexico) our director came out and said that they are making plans for a RIF (reduction in force). Up to 2500 people. The idea of getting rid of people or laying off doesn't scare me too much. The idea of what my house will be worth when 2500 are let go does. I'll have a house that isn't worth 1/8th what I paid for it. How long will I be forced to live in this town until I can sell it?

Last night we were looking at jobs elsewhere. It makes me very nervous to take a job somewhere else and have a mortgage here. Although there was a job for someone on oil drilling platoforms. Moving around the world, out on those deep-sea-rigs .... sounds dreamy to me!

Lately there has been a large influx of praying mantises at the house. I've taken a bunch of photos - but have yet to upload them.

Also, I've watched a bit of the food network and want to know ... why is it that the British lady has the most amazing vocabulary out of all the other cooks? I like to just listen to her show for her verbal conquest of the English language. Any ideas on how to buff up ones arsenal?

Gardening

I was out getting veggies from the garden and from the fruit trees when I found this. Amazing. I love to see how things will grow one way or another. Nothing can really stop them! The peaches are flawless and smell amazing. I like to rub the soft fuzzy outside skin on my face.

Travels

Mike got home very late last Wednesday night. I was at the airport for ours (which normally doesn't bother me ... except for what the sign said). As you can see there was no real information and I wasn't sure if they were going to be landing at any minute or not. He was on the Atlanta flight. I've never actually seen a message like this. Turns out, this is what ABQ puts on the signs when there is lightning and planes can't land. Really informative!




Friday morning (very early 4AM). We went to San Antonio to hang out with my brother and his family. We saw their new property, went to the river walk, and went to Sea World. It was a fast and fun trip! His wife is incredibly sweet as are his girls. It was also pretty interesting to watch my brother as a dad. Not often I get to see him be the responsible one.

Pearly Whites

I went to the dentist yesterday. Yes ... I do love getting my teeth cleaned. Hmmmm ... clean teeth. Anyway ... I had both the cleaning lady and the dentist tell me I have beautiful perfect teeth. I've never really thought of my teeth as "perfect or beautiful". Do people get them saying this as well? I just want to know if they are blowing smoke up my behind.

So tarter builds up on my teeth very quickly (which is why I go in all the time to get them cleaned). The new cleaning lady told me something very interesting. One of the main ingredients in toothpaste is a type of wax. The wax is great for taste (which is why they add it - and took out soap). Historical Note: [Until after 1945, toothpastes contained soap. After that time, soap was replaced by other ingredients to make the paste into a smooth paste or emulsion - such as sodium lauryl sulphate, a common ingredient in present-day toothpaste.]But, after about a week of wax building up on your teeth ... they become a bit sticky and stuff sticks to them, such as tarter. She recommended going to just regular soap. "Try brushing with mint soap for a couple of weeks and see the amount of tarter build up you have." So ... I'm trying it. The first brushing was terrible. I thought I was going to toss my cookies. But, it has been better since. I'm interested to see if it works. I'll keep all those interested people posted.

UPDATE: I am using Dr. Bronner's Mint Soap . Which is actually what she recommended. She is said the bar soap with just a couple of rubs of your toothbrush ... or a TINY bit of the liquid. Last night I put TOO much liquid on and I thought that my inners were going to come up. This morning ... a tiny bit and I was much better!

Los Alamos Tri

Saturday was the 33rd annual triathlon here in Los Alamos. Erin, Dana, Ellie and I did it. It was quiet an experience. We had not tried doing each of the events one after the other. So, the day of was a bit ... I'd have to say fun. My legs felt like jello and the run was by far the hardest for me.

We did it in ~2 hours. It was something like 50 minutes for the bike (20k), 15 minutes for the swim (400 meters), and 35 minutes for the run (5k). The rest of the time was trying to get clothing on or off or just breathing very heavy. Running in wet clothing is not only uncomfortable ... but unflattering as well(not the picture is AFTER the race ... we totally should have done a pre photo). Next time we are going to need some other clothing.

Thanks for a great time ladies! Shall we do the Vegas 1/2 marathon next?


A few more notes. First a HUGE thanks to Avivah for coming out and supporting us. The Knit and Bitch sign just rocked. And running or biking with people yelling your name ... makes me feel like a super star!

I also read in the paper that for our age groups these were the placements:Dana took 15th, Erin 16th, Me 17th and Ellie 26th. Sucks for Ellie that she was in a different age bracket than us. She would have been like 13th in our age group.

YIKES!

I saw this article the other day. I just can't belive that someone could live with a pencil stuck in their head! I'll say it again. YIKES!

Busy Weekend

This weekend crazy busy. Wednesday I wasn't feeling very well. Thursday I took a sick day to rest up. Of course I had to go to knitting Thursday night (and I was feeling a bit better by then). Friday morning we left to drive to Las Cruces (to spend the night with Mike's family). We left at 5AM to drive out to Tucson to get Mike's cycle (which cost an arm and a leg to fix). We drove back the same day (something like an 8 hour drive). Today was all about getting stuff together and working on the bathroom. We got a load of tiling done and did a bunch of work in the back yard.

Also, saw two good movies; Black Snake Moan & Melinda and Melinda. Both of them were better than I would have ever thought.

The other photo is from the weekend before when Colleen and Dave brought the boys down for a visit. I took them for a speedy ride on the scooter. This is a picture of Ian and me.

Punk

When I was much younger... I'd say I was really into punk. Not until recently have I really started listening to it again. Old school punk is not like what punk is now (or even in the 90's). Old punk was more pop with an edge. You felt bad for just listening to it. It was a pretty good feeling actually. My new found love is Wreakless Eric (Whole Wide World). If you haven't heard it ... Please give it a try.

The song actually makes me want to jump on a plane to anywhere ... And do anything.

Summer Hair

I have had it up to HERE with my hair these days. I want something not the same old same old .... so I went to Dana's hair cutting place. Told the lady what I wanted. Asked for pink highlights ..... and this is what I got. I rather like it. Thanks Dana! I now feel ready for summer. Wait ... is it half over?

You can't see that the back is very short ... I wish i had longer arms!

Weekend Dye Job

I have this lovely top that I made the mistake of wearing while dumping mulch on the garden. It has had these stains that just wont come out. Thinking I just couldn't part with the top I used a box of Rit dye and it is now a gorgious blue top.




Cooking Club was this weekend. It was Mini Food. My the foods you can make mini. I made a loaf of small bread in the shape of hearts, stars and flowers. Then put some meat product (didn't taste and NOT interested) and veggies. The veggie ones were delicious!

11 Things

I just read the 11 things woman should know about men. I'm not sure I agree with any of them.

1. Getting angry at us for not reading your mind is like getting angry at yourself for not being able to fly. It's not just futile, it's physically impossible.
2. Yes, we do think Jessica Alba is hot. Sometimes we're even dumb enough to admit it.
3. Don't ask us to understand your shoe fetish. Asking us to respect it is even sort of pushing it.
4. You do look good without makeup, just not as good as you look with it.
5. Ever notice how we don't fight with our male friends? That's why we get so frustrated when we fight with you.
6. You care what you're wearing infinitely more than we do. In fact, if you're naked when you open the front door, you won't hear an argument from us.
7. You don't like to get hit on in public, you don't want to date online and you don't want to be set up on blind dates. Tell us if sending messenger pigeons is an appropriate way of courting. Because if it is, we're all over it.
8. There should a statute of limitations on stupid things that we said that can come back to haunt us. I propose 24 hours.
9. Cooking dinner for a man is like buying flowers for a woman, except it takes a lot more time, effort and thought for you to do it. Thanks. We appreciate it.
10. We actually like your girly pet-names for us, but please, not in front of the guys!
11. Just because we like looking at the women in Maxim doesn't mean we want to actually converse with the women in Maxim. Not for long, anyway.
12. Your nice guy friends are the most reliable source for telling you if your new boyfriend's a jerk. And he probably is. (By the way, you might want to consider marrying that nice guy who's giving you advice about the jerk.)

Potter & Weekend

In an attempt to finish a book right near the arrival of the new Harry Potter ... I started The Time Machine (which was too tough to get through) and finished Fangs For The Memories. I was hoping to draw the novel out longer. But, it seems that my ability to read Supernatural Romance (which is what this fell under) is pretty fast. I was going to start yet another trashy novel ... but decided to take it up - just a bit. I'm reading a chick-lit novel (which of course if fluff to most people) but at least there wont be any graphic sex scene or neck bitting.

On other news, I saw Harry Potter yesterday. They took a book that was second rate (and by far my least favorite of the series) and made it into a really good movie. I'm totally impressed.

Bowling Et. Al.

Here is a summary from Arizona. The golf course at the resort. AMAZING. The large moth I saw on my last day while getting a coffee. The cowboy/western town where they had "real" cowboys and these cut outs ... which I love. Bowling ... where I scored my lifetime high score (94) and Kate and I worked on our model pose. I think she has it down a bit better than I. Of course there is also the greatest Mouser photo of all time!

I'm happy to be home though. Friday at work was a bit crazy. Seems there were lots of questions/problems that needed dealing with. The cats were also SUPER happy to have us home (after knocking everything off the dresser and desk ... breaking a flower pot).


Now the count down to when I get to see Harry Potter in the theater and the final book.

Arizona Mini Golf

During this trip we went to a great mini golf place - actually called Magic Carpet .... but the sign was a bit broken (as was much of the course). But, talk about fun! Cockroaches the size of silver dollars and adventure around each bend. Not to cause problems -- but I won, even if Phil says it was a tie. The golfers were: Mouser, Mike, Kate, Phil ... and myself.

Photos of bowling coming tomorrow.