The Grand Canyon and the Colorado River...

It's raining out...exswimchick forgot her umbrella here at work and was trying to drive around to find a spot outside the building to quick park the car and run in so she could get the umbrella and of course there’ are no spots, and a bus practically creams right into her as she's trying to make a right hand turn (hate those M'’in F'’in busses!) so she gives up and drives off in a huff. So on she drives down the dang street towards the too far away parking garage in the pouring rain...sans stupid umbrella...and speeds up to her parking spot. Then the dummy who drives the teeny-tiny Miada (seriously the car is the size of a thumb) parks over the line and big shot SUV on the other side does the same thing so she now has to squeeze the Cam into this teeny-tiny spot...big thanks to the idiots who park next to her. Ooops...looks like she accidentally on purpose slightly hits the SUV's door with hers. Oops! So then she goes digging around in the back seat and in the trunk for some sort of umbrella (or a miracle) and of course there isn't one. Not this time. She just had to clean out the car last weekend in order to fit those xmas gifts inside. So off she goes, pissed off and still sans umbrella. She walks about a block (only five more to go) and realizes that her right foot is soaked. WTF?! She looks down peeks at the bottom of her shoe and sees this huge crack...the size of the Grand Friggin'’ Canyon. Yup. The Colorado River'’s a-flowin' right through her shoe. Lovely. So not only is she still sans umbrella but she's literally soaked from head to friggin'’ toe! So on she walks, five more blocks in squishy soaked shoes and notices that right outside the building there are now three open spots. To top it all off...someone drank the last of the coffee and didn't have the courtesy to make a fresh pot. Blah!

Smokin' 'n' Swingin'

Here's a funny for the day...

It's Friday and I'm sitting at my desk mindlessly gazing out my window when somthing catches my eye. The window washers who are effortlessly sliding down their ropes along the building across the street from mine. They stop at their last set of windows on the building (which is about 9 or 10 floors up because a parking garage sits below the offices) anyway, once they've both finished their last set of windows, they just sit there swinging in limbo before taking the ride down 9 or 10 more floors. So here they are just chatting away and enjoying a smokey treat. Yup...nine floors up sitting on their little wooden plank and smoking a cigarette! I just thought it was quite amusing! HA!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Or is the PC term this year going to be "Holiday Tree" again?! Regardless, I saw them putting up the Christmas Tree in the park across from my parking garage this morning. Is it me or does Christmastime and the Holiday season keep getting earlier and earlier every year? Oh boy...I can't wait to go Christmas shopping... *yawn*

A New Direction

Hooray for our country and hopes of our government going in a new direction...it's about time for a change!

Now, I really don't care to blog about my political stance on certain political situations, however I do have a few quick things to voice my opinion on:

1. Hooray for the two largest "M" cities in my state...at least I know that the majority of people I live around share my save political viewpoints.

2. Good for the governor and four more years. Bad for who looks like the new Atty. General. I sure hope this state doesn't ever pass the "Conceal and Carry" law or any law that will allow teachers to carry guns in school. If it does, I think I will move elsewhere. Having more guns out on the streets and in our classrooms will not help to fight crime, it will only encourage it. Can you imagine a teacher with a gun? "Oh oops, I can't find my gun...I must have left it in my desk in my last classroom....gee I sure hope one of my students didn't take it."

3. It's wonderful that we live in a country that allows its citizens to vote, we really do have a voice.

4. I support our troops and our armed forces because they fight for our freedom. But I'm with the majority of people here when I say get them the hell out of Iraq.

5. This is probably the most contraversial of the issues and I'm sure that most of my family disagrees with me on this one, but until you work with someone, know someone, or even befriend someone who the marriage ammendment affects, you probably wouldn't take a stance on this issue quite like I do. I believe in equal rights for all and if a man wants to marry another man or a woman wants to marry another woman, that's their business. They aren't bothering me, they're not hurting anyone, they're just as much in love with their partner as I am in love with my husband. I believe that they should be allowed the same benefits as those who are married. These days heterosexual marriage isn't viewed as a sacred thing, if it were, we wouldn't be hearing about all these couples splitting. It amazes me that our state cannot recognize a gay marriage or even a civil union. Again, they're not hurting anyone. There is far more to this "gay marriage" issue than gay marriage itself. We live in a free country...we have the freedom to vote, to voice our opinions freely, to own property, to do all of these things freely...but a man who is in love with another man cannot marry him or have any other rights that a heterosexual married couple has because the government says so? Where's the freedom in that? It's 2006...homosexuality is not new and it has been around for hundreds of years...I hope some day this country will be able to recognize equal rights for all just as we did with the civil rights movement.

Cell Phone Etiquette

People are just RUDE. Period.

Why is it that when a person is trying to have an important conversation with someone and WHAMM-O. Their damn cell phone rings. And, of course while you're in mid sentence with this person they answer their phone! Not even an "excuse me for one minute, I just need to take this call." NOPE. Instead it's obvious to me that the person on the other end of the phone is so much more important than me that they HAVE to answer the phone RIGHT NOW. C'mon whatever happened to common sense etiquette? No one is that important that you can't wait five minutes and call them back.

Don't even get me started on texting...especially when people do it while "trying" to have a face-to-face conversation with someone in the room. Next time when you try to converse with me maybe I'll just start walking in the other direction or close my office door right in front of your face. Maybe then they'll finally get it. Are these people really that oblivious or are they just plain RUDE?

Just A Number...

So this is a good one...

Just when I thought I had everything in order as far as my new name and every last bit of that pain-in-the-ass-procedure goes, I have to call...yet again...that same stupid credit card company affiliated with that same stupid bank I use because they still can't seem to get my address correct.

So Stupid Credit Card Company sent me a new credit card with my new name on it, to the WRONG address. This is AFTER I called them and changed my address AND updated my name. HELLO...Earth to Credit Card Company...I haven't lived at that address for two years now, and you know that because you send my bills to me every month and you somehow manage to get payments from me! So why on Earth would you send me a brand spankin' new card to an OLD address that I haven't lived at for over two years now?!

I often wonder what these slightly above minimum wage Credit Card Company workers actually do with all that information you give them when you call. Are they screened by an extensive background check? Probably not. How do I know they aren't going to take all of my information and use it against me? And what happens to all of that information I just gave them when Credit Card Company upgrades their computers? Does all that information on millions of customers, just automatically delete when they press the "delete" key or log out of the system at the end of the day? I hardly doubt it. Instead I'm pretty sure my information goes to some database housed in India (of all places) because Credit Card Company decides to "outsource" their business in return for some cheap labor.

C'mon people...how many people do I have to talk to at Credit Card Company to make a simple address change?! And then the guy tells me that since the card was never forwarded to them via USPS or was never activated, they can close the account. So, "did I want to do that today?" HELLO?! Stupid question! Because of YOUR stupid mistake I now have to close my account and open a new one, duh! And, unfortunately, this wasn't the first time this has happened with Credit Card Company and its respective Stupid Bank that it is ASSOCIATED with.

This whole situation has shed new light on the whole "identity theft" crisis we have in this country. I'm just perplexed at how simple it really is to pose as someone else and steal an innocent person's identity. Especially since all this information is stored in databases that are easily accessible...(especially if one stupid person at Credit Card Company presses the wrong key and potentially exposes all this information for all to see.)

It's amazing to me how we are such a "number" based society. It's crazy that everything we are told we have to use to identify ourselves with is based around a number. A SOCIAL SECURITY number. I thought a SS number was supposed to only be used for SOCIAL SECURITY PURPOSES when you retire or approach retirement, and NOT as a way to identify oneself? So I ask again: Where DOES all that personal information I type in to the "touchtone telephone computer automated information system" go when I have to call to get information on my accounts? Or when I call to request a copy of my credit report? Or when I'm at the teller at my bank? Or when I have to re-order checks? Or when I'm updating my personal information required to change my name? Even if I call over the phone or conduct business in person, they all have computers and they're all punching in your information...all those numbers...just where does that information go, and how come we don't know its whereabouts? It's my information and the only person who should have access to it is me. Not some dumbass who can't even get an address change corrected.

A Lost Art

I've been meaning to write in my real, pretty, handmade journal for months now. There was a particular day in my life that I would love to document in my paper journal but for whatever reason, I'm dreading writing in it. Probably because it's so much easier to just sit at a computer and type everything rather than sit on the couch and physically write in the damn thing. All that handwriting hurts my hand! I haven't written in it much because before I used the journal to bitch at no one. It was a way for me to write down everything that bothered me about some particular situation and document it. Occasionally I would re-read the entries months or even years after I wrote them...however, I haven't written in the damn thing in I can't tell you how long...months, maybe even a year. I used to love writing in it because it became a sort of outlet–a place I could not only write but draw, doodle, and express myself through words. Maybe it's the lack of time, maybe it's laziness, maybe it's the attraction of an electronic blogworld...but whatever it is I know my pretty handmade journal is feeling neglected. Blog writing is great, but it's also not as personal, not as intimate, and certainly doesn't allow for the creativity I once had with my journal. So for a creative person like myself, I'm finding that a blogworld is rather impersonal and sterile. Is paper journal writing becoming obsolete...a lost art? Maybe I should dust the damn thing off before it really feels neglected...now if only I could figure out where it is...