ring, ring...

sometimes i feel like i am the only one that has an aversion to answering my cell phone, but my brain tells me there is no way i can be the only one.

here are some of the instances in which i don't answer my phone...
1. if the number is not in my phone book, and i am not expecting an odd number, doesn't get answered.
2. if i am at work, not answered.
3. if i am busy or in the other room, probably not answered.
4. if i can't hear it ringing, understandably not answering.

here are some instances when i will answer my phone...
1. immediate family members usually get answered... as do b-f's when applicable.
2. if i have plans or am making plans with someone i'll answer.
3. if i have called someone and left them a message because i need to know something.. i'm going to answer.
4. if i have a "feeling" that the call is important..
5. if i am in my car on a long car trip (which i find happens frequently), in an airport, am grocery shopping and have time to waste, i'll answer.

likewise, i make my phone calls when i am in my car (i always practice safe driving and use a headset), at the grocery store, mall or am restricted to a certain area while waiting.

just this morning i answered my cell phone on a fluke and my friend mentioned something about a discussion that had happened about me not answering my cell phone. i find that amusing cause as long as i have known these people i have been this way...

i can't remember when my aversion to answering the phone started, but i am guessing that it was sometime shortly after the invention of caller-id, which coincided with my use of the internet and aol. but it has definitely gotten worse stronger with age. i usually do check messages if there is one. if they don't leave a message, i figure it wasn't important in the first place. i know people that like to talk on the phone, they can do it for hours and hours and hours at a time. i physically can't, especially with the shrinking size of cell phones... first of all my battery will surely die within an hour and a half. second.. the phone will get so damned hot my ear will catch on fire. third.. i have way better things to do then sit and talk on the phone.

i find that email is my preferred venue for communication, it's almost easier to contact me that way then by phone.

i do answer my work phone though, cause you know, that's work.. and starting tonight i am "on call" for a week every few weeks, so i guess i'll have to learn that cell phones ring... it might be torturous... i'll let you know.

maybe i am the only one that feels this way, but i have a feeling i'm not..

:)

the dixie chicks were great... they sounded really great, just like their albums. i got the feeling that natalie likes to be the center of attention. when the crowd sang along to their songs, she sang louder. neither of the other two girls said a word. i kind of wonder what the dark haired one's(emily) real purpose in the band is. i bet they could cut her loose and not even notice her missing. the dixie chicks have a strange affect on me.. its been quite a while since i've cried in my car, but there are a handful of dixie chicks songs that make me cry. i haven't been able to figure out why. when i do, i'll write it down.

saturday morning we went up to the greggs camp on sandy pond. the weather was supposed to be nice, but it was pretty rainy. we came back saturday night to play battle of the sexes with the fischers minus b*ll. it was hella fun. especially pete retelling his story about how he 'announced' his arrival to the neighbors, and cath slammed the door in shannons face.

another good thing that came out last night was the mysterious sound problem with my roommates computer was that the speakers weren't all the way plugged in. ah-ha ha ha ha.

last night i did not sleep well. i was awake from about 4-7am coughing and acid refluxing. :(

i worked a good 8 hours though today on FC stuff. wooo who! paychecks are good! while i worked i watched the 5 episodes of entourage that i was missing in the middle of season 2. now i understand how eric hooked up with sloan.

now i am watching the office. its pretty funny. steve carell is good, i also love rainn wilson and the tall shaggy haired guy that likes the secretary.

as much as its nice to see the poms, its nice to see them in the back of the truck in their seatbelts. :) they get barking and don't stop. murphy on the other hand is still pretty adorable. he is growing in leaps and bounds, but he is soooo cute..

an evening with the chicks and the dogs

i came into work early today so i can leave with enough time to make it to albany with the fam for the concert. i do not envy ryan's evening filled with dog sitting and in law relative visiting. i think the in law relative visiting would be fine, but watching three maniacal dogs, no thanks.

tomorrow should be chock full of fun. we are heading up to my moms cousins camp on sandy pond for the day, i am hoping to work on my 'base', we'll see how long i can stand that, but i'd like to avoid an itchy bumpy rash the entire time i'm in NC. i'm hoping a softball game will break out tomorrow. always hella fun.

then tomorrow night will be a game night at chez brown. i can already tell good times will be had. i'm thinking battle of the sexes will be appropriate. :)

i also have a bunch of FC work to attend to. wooot, money money money.

ta da!

i had the surprise of my life when i got out of work today. my roommate had installed my new plates for me unbeknownst to me while i worked. i'll let you see for yourself.



i am so excited about these... they came so damn quick. i love these plates! woooot!

another exciting announcement is this is my 400th post. in under 2 years i have posted 400 entries, damn i am good. that is almost a post a day.

i just got an out of order cd of entourage. its the final 4 episodes of the 2nd season i believe. i just watched my absolute favorite episode. it was called 'exodous'. it was about mandy moore breaking vinces heart, and ari staging a coup and getting himself fired. i think i loved it so much because it seems like everyone is at a crossroad. as scary and unsettling crossroads are, they always mean change, and change is exciting as hell.

trivia night at clark's.

last night was a great time at clark's. we got there so early we saw dozens of people come and go while we waited for heather the trivia lady to show up. in the future i think it would be safe to show up at 745 and still get a good table. i took a bunch of pictures, we played very well the first two rounds, and then UP's theory about the weaker and slower brain cells dying off first when you drink beer must not be proven, cause we went downhill fast!

in between trivia questions my teammates played the "put the cousins in order" game. i didn't even try cause i can't even name my mom's aunts and uncles, let alone their kids, so i will be the score keeper for that little game...

here are some candid shots...







here are the rest of the pics..

tomorrow night is the big dixie chicks concert! woooooot! i am getting out of work early so we can make it to albany on time. then we are going to drive back friday night, i say emily should drive since she wants to come back so bad. :) saturday night we are planning a game night. anyone reading this is invited to come, especially you, smits.

today is lee's birthday, god, he must be 34 or 35 by now. :) happy birthday lee.

new piece of mailart. woooot!

i have completed another piece of mailart. i have to say i am most excited about this one... it's wicked cute! check the art blog in the next couple of days to see what it looks like and wish that you were cool enough to get one.. up next is AL(the new mommy), bykfam, JG, and then JK. i better get making some shiiiit. i have a good thing going on right now with the last one i did, i might go with it for a while. its very pleasurable. :)

tonight is family night at trivia. there should be 7 of us.. me, my roommates, my UP and caguarna, and cousin peg and mike. we better win. :) i believe there is no limit as to how many people per team at this trivia, but i figured we could always ask caguarna to sit out if we had to. :)

mom, dad and UP are flying today. i don't know where they are going, but its in the sky, that is for sure. :) its supposed to be a nice day for that, or so the doppler says.

i am kind of starving right now. i just had some cauliflower, i love cauliflower. i guess today is a rather slow news day, RB-wise.

my moms siblings are visiting...

i just got word that the aunt and uncle arrived safely to hancock airport from NJ. my uncle pilots his own mooney, if they are in fayetteville right now, they must not have fallen off the runway. :) hahaha.

i'm not 100% sure on why they are here, i think they have family members to visit and such, but they are both retired, so they can just float around visiting here and there.

i'm not sure how long they are staying either, but hopefully i'll get a chance to go up in the plane. the first and last time i was in it was out in denver when UP took me for a little evening swoop around denver. the battery stopped recharging itself while we were in the air and i think we had to land with no landing lights, but UP is experienced and cool as a cucumber, so there was never any real need to panic. plus, i love flying, and would kinda really like to say i've survived a plane crash.. :)

i do know that UP and caguarna are staying in the tan and teal suites... aka the pop-up camper. how pheasant is that??? its kind of nice to have though for guests, its private, spacious (within reason) and breezy.

i am looking forward to playing trivia with everyone tomorrow at clark's. we plan to get there at like 7 so we can eat a roast beef sandwich and get a good table. hopefully peg and mike will join us too!

then, this friday em and ryan are coming to town with their menagerie and we are going to see the dixie chicks in albany. i can't wait.... i know their whole new album.

i had to go to the bathroom at 3am last night and held it till 730, waking up every half hour or so.. i should have just gone, maybe i wouldn't be so tired today.

i went on a mini shopping excursion with cath last night. while at kohls i saw the cutest lamp ever. its a giant purple push pin stuck into a cube of cork board. and to turn it on and off you push it down. i'll have to take a picture. its so college and awesome!! i am 30, really, i swear.

this summer is really flying by. its almost august, and then LK and HEK come, and then i go to NC for a week, and then its labor day, and then we're back to winter. shiiiiiiiit.

not good...

a bird just flew into the back window of my office here, and my dad said one flew into it the other day. :( that means someone is going to die. so everyone be safe..

i am busily planning LK and HEKs visit.. i am thinking a saturday morning trip (if the weather is nice) out to lakeview beach. we'll have to take multiple trips in the canoes and kayaks, but it'll be worth it.

pics.

i have some pics from the skychiefs game. the buffet dishes with the wings in them, and our view.





one things we saw on our way into the game was this plate...



friday night i joined the fischers and the beers' for dinner at zebbs.

CB had to send his burger back 2 times.



i had the enchiladas. this place made them with flour tortillas too. grrrr. don't chef's know that enchiladas are made with corn tortillas, not flour. if i wanted a flour enchilada i'd order a burrito...

i saw pirates of the carribean yesterday. it was okay. i think the first one was better, this one was wicked long too. shiiiiiiit. sarah and jr just left, we played trivial pursuit 90's edition last night, sarah and jr won again, bastards!

oh, ps: my email is back, finally...

my email is down. :(

i would imagine that my messages are being stored somewhere, and then when the server is back up they will trickle in over the next couple of days as the server processes all the millions of emails that are backed up….. in the meantime, you can email me at work if you want to... My fullname at clearchannel dot com.

Last night was the baseball game, mike and I went. The box was catered as expected, no hotdogs though, but there was about 4 6 packs of beer, water, soda, wings, pizza, nachos, salad, popcorn, chips, peanuts, brownies and cookies. :) the food and drinks were inside, and then you could sit outside and get hit by foul balls.. it was a pretty sweet way to watch the game . I like the layout of alliance bank stadium, it reminds me a lot of dodger stadium, and we all know that is one of my favorites.. :)

A couple of interesting aspects of the game were the catcher from the red wings and the coach were ejected after a questionable call. Then a few batters later, one of the redwings lost his bat mid swing and it flew into the stands behind the visitors dugout, then they had the gall to ask for the bat back. How rude. A surprising event was beersy showed up with some of his work colleagues. I shouldn’t have been so surprised seeing as he works for time warner, but it was a surprise.

Sarah and jr come into town tonight. Not sure when, nor am I sure of their plans.

a new trivia night...

last night was trivia at clark's. we got there at about 9pm and missed sign up and the 1st and most of the 2nd rounds, next week we will have to get there early.

it was a different format than i am used to. there were 4 rounds and then a final question that garners 10 answers. the first 4 rounds are comprised of 5 questions with point values totalling 40 for each round. each team is given a half a piece of paper with the questions on it, and the you write right on it what you think the answers are. when you are confident with your answers you hand in your sheet, when the woman blows the whistle you turn in your answers. she tallies everyones scores on the big chalk board next to the bar.

some sample questions were...

Within 20 years, when did uncle sam make his first appearance?

Other than tomatoes and onions, which is the main vegetable used in Musaka?

Which 2 US states tout themselves as sunshine states?

then the final question was Name the 10 most commonly used words accordingly to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary of 2006.

next week i plan to get there early, get a table and win... :) i think my uncle paul and aunt carolyn will be in town too, so maybe they will want to help out, i would bet money my uncle would enjoy the multitude of beers on tap at clark's.

tonight i have complimentary tix to watch the sky chiefs (torontos AAA team here in the 'cuse) play the rochester redwings from the comfort of the time warner cable suite. wooo who. i am interested in what its like, my only request is its air conditioned and the hot dogs are free. :)

i think tomorrow i am going to partake in the "weekend celebration" over at the fischers. the only stipulation is that i have to spend the night. :) i think i can handle it. those fischers are such responsible party throwers.

my arms are dead

today i laughed more than i have in a long time. i don't know how much time everyone has in their day, but reading the ongoing dialogues on the blogs and the comments is so pleasurable. i encourage everyone to check out the blogs i have on the left hand side... they are good reading. :)

tonight i saw a high school friend and her family. they live in a really cute place over in liverpool and have two babies. one is 15 months old and one is 15 days old. i tried to say no, but i was made to hold the baby. he was just nine pounds but i feel like i just played a tennis tournament. i think my forearms have died. i will be surprised if tomorrow i will be able to even carry my purse. her kids are really adorable though. i hope to see them more often now that i am back in town. what kinds of activities can you do with a couple and 2 babies. i'm open to suggestions...

tomorrow is trivia night at clarkes, cath is in, who else is with me?

hek's dewlling

long weekend.

even though this was a normal length weekend i felt like it was a long one. :)

i was able to shave 45 minutes off my parents time travelling out to portville. it must be that i didn't stop at all the rest stops along the way. those bathroom breaks add up cath!

i arrived so quickly that even em and ryan weren't home yet so i reheated some of their leftover brown rice and ate myself some dinner. my presence also made patty pee. she gets so excited to see me, or scared. not quite sure which..

we then went to the drive in theater. the drive in has been upgraded so now there are 2 screens. it cost $5 a person and we watched cars and pirates of the carribean. we really only saw cars, we were too drunk and tired to watch pirates. some of the highlights of the night were:

emily and i drinking wine out of the oh-so-covert wine glasses.

the family to our left screaming at, blowing smoke in their faces and beating their kids the entire first movie.

the car next to us draining its battery during the first movie and ryan saving the day by jumping it.



saturday i awoke to some rain, but luckily it didn't last long.. thank god cause sat was the italian festival. em and i lounged around and watched "match point" before we got going . i was kinda disappointed. it must be the director woody allen that made that movie so bad, i've seen scarlet johannson in other movies and i know she is a solid actor. this film had terrible dialogue, and was boring as hell. and jonathon rhys meyers character was supposed to be from ireland, but he didn't sound at all irish, and he is irish, so i don't understand... some scenes if not all were filmed in london, which was nice, but that it the only redeeming quality to the film.

apparently all summer long olean has "festivals". the one this weekend was the italian festival. its held at one of the churches, basically its a bunch of tents set up, little food stations, a beer truck and an area for bands.. it was ridiculously hot saturday afternoon, we were planning to spend the night at sarahs so we had to bring all teh dogs and all their cages. sarah and jr live in building that was converted from a business into an apartment. there is a store front window and a glass door, and its on the small size, so fitting 3 cages in the living room/kitchen was a challenge.

some of the highlights of the day were:

carrie matter of factly commenting that the pomeranians running for their lives out the front door into the street that ryan left open.

sarah walking around in a drunken stupor cause her and Jr had eaten all their food coupons worth (prob $3) :)

emily pinching her nose all night, looking with disgust at all the smokers around and preaching about her rights as a non-smoker, then.... at the end of the night asking someone for a drag.

emily and ryans typical drunken fight "you're a fucking liar, ryan"

ordering ice cream cones thru the walk up window at the front of sarahs house.

listening to an oh-so-appropriate drum solo by jr at 3AM when the kids returned from the bar.

sunday i was so glad not to have gone out after the italian festival so as not to wake up with a hang over. we left olean and headed up to ryans parents house and swam in their pool. it was very relaxing. we also had a cookout, the boys attempted to winch a tree out of the ground, and ryan was able to take my license plates off my car for me.. unfortunately either the lack of sleep or the swimming/sunning tired me out so much that i was pretty much falling asleep at the wheel on my drive home. i hit the rumble strip many times. thank god for the rumble strip, and its cousin the guardrail. thankfully i didn't have to shake hands with her though.



comprehensive pictures of the weekend are here.

while i was at work on friday my dad kindly took my information over to the dmv and registered my car. i am sad to report that i have had to surrender my mass plates. :( i only turned in one though, i hope that is enough to cancel my insurance policy so i can stop paying insurance in two states. i have plain plates now, but in a few weeks i will receive my personalized plates. i'll take a pic when they come in. :) woooo who!

this week i thought i would have an easy schedule, but its Monday and my week is filling up fast. tonight i have WW with cath, tomorrow night i am going to visit my high school friend who just had baby number 2, i haven't even met baby number 1 yet. shiiiiiiit. wednesday i am going to go to clarkes for trivia night. thursday i got an invitation to go see the skychiefs in time warners suite at alliance bank stadium, so magoo and i are going to partake in the luxury. then friday night jr and sarah are coming into town for the weekend. shiiiiiit...

fatty is skinny

wow. i had an idea what fatty was going to look like, but nothing can prepare you for it....

she is pretty frightening.. she looks like she is going to a trip to russia in her furry boots.



i also have some pictures of the lawnmower i spoke about in prior posts, here they are for your reference in case you are a visual person like me.


this is what the lawnmover looks like. the plastic part of the bag needs to be put over the shooter wiggit so that it catches all the grass.


this is how the bag is supposed to fit.


this is how not to do it... :)

beer club.

today is the day that fatty gets a haircut. we took some pictures of her last night so we can have a compare and contrast situation. we looked last night online at photos of lion cuts and i really hope they shave her tail too and just leave a little poof at the end.

last night beer club was really fun. there were about 4-5 women and 30 men. :) but...i would say though that the majority of them were married. since its past the halfway mark of the year i can join for only $10. :) the head of the club is a new brewmaster out at saranac. he was pretty cool, the first batch of an IPA that he had a hand in tweaking the recipe is ready to be sold, so he is have 20-30 cases of it delivered to his house and has invited anyone that wants to help him drink it to come over on friday. this year there is no club sponsored wine tour. its a brewery tour of saranac, and then a trip to cooperstown to Brewery Ommegang's OmmeFest. its a belgian beer and food festival from what i gathered. its $35 for non members which includes a tour of the saranac brewery/lunch and transportation to and from. and its september 16th, anyone want to go?

in other exciting news.... the old leader of the beer club (and organizer of the wine tour) is still planning his own wine tour. same situation as last time i think, just different wineries, bully hill is on this years schedule. he is planning that for sometime in october. i'll keep you abreast of the details as i hear them. :)

tonight i am working.. i probably could have worked all this week, but tonight is the only "free" night i have.

clarks has trivia on wednesday nights at 815. i want to go and check it out next wednesday. anyone local want to join me?

what another great weekend in MA*

this past friday i travelled to MA/NH for my friend LMs wedding. my old coworker JK went with me. we had a great time. the wedding took place at a castle and was very pretty. one of the most memorable things about the wedding was the buffet. there were 2 types of non meat items and 4 types of meat/fish. i ate the red meat and it melted in my mouth. (except for the piece mikey P stole off my plate). as you can imagine, i drank too much and paid for it the next day. :) the hotel we slept in had sleep number beds. very interesting, kind of like water beds.



saturday i struggled through lunch with the pattersons and jim, then i went to LK's and hung out with her and HEK until HEK had to leave for the dave matthews concert at fenway park. saturday night we had a girl dinner.. then we went to the skellig. who knew how much fun can be had with a belt.



too bad it appears the kissing bandit is on strike. :( no tongue punching. :)



tomorrow is the first meeting of beer club that i am able to attend. i'm going with my cousin and her husband, rumor has it that there won't be a wine tour this year, but a brewery tour. i am hoping for the wine tour. i'll report back after tomorrow.

i think i am going to bed. i am damned tired and i'm freezing, i'm going to pull a trick from my time in somerville and take a hot shower before retiring. plus i smell like chlorine. shiiiiiiiit.

*sad sad news to report, i left my black pillowcase in the hotel room this weekend. it wasn't just any pillowcase. i've had that pillowcase since my freshmen year of college. you know when you go out and buy a set of "extra long" twin sheets. my whole bedset was black and white striped, with black pillowcases. my pillow cases have always been a source of comfort, like a security blanket if you will. :( one of the most relaxing things i can do it run the edges of the pillow case in between my fingers and underneath my fingernails. i still do this on a nightly basis. :( i almost feel like it would be worth it to call the hotel and see if they could send it to me.

more wine please.

i got a phone!! now i have a work phone on my actual desk. this is one of the most exciting days! hahhahahaha. wooooo whooo! couple that with the announcement of an ice cream social coming up in a week and today being my "friday" makes this is the best week ever!

i am getting excited to go to MA tomorrow. did i say that already? i hope that lees wedding celebration does indeed spill over into the wee hours of the morning like promised. i realize that things can go a little too crazy at the reception and not make it to the post reception celebrating. :) but i am bringing my suit and my bonfire clothes. :) nothing better then drunk swimming...

then i also can't wait for the girl dinner. i am going to bring some of my wine i think. i was looking in the recycle bin this am and i have drunk 4 bottles in a week and a half. whoa, i like wine.

even though i am not the biggest fan of dogs, em and ryans dog is pretty adorable. i am going to go see it next weekend. i have never seen any of their dogs as teeny tiny puppies before. hopefully charlie murphy will still be small by next weekend. em, don't feed him for a week.....

i got a bill today from the hospital i had my endoscopy at, apparently its considered "outpatient surgery" and there is a $150 copay that my insurance doesn't cover for that. i am never going to get out from under the mounting debts i have. aaaaahhhhhh. need more wine!

so much to write today. :)

i watched the boston pops fireworks celebration last night as i went to bed. holy moly, it looked really exciting.. any of my massachusetts friends go down to the esplanade to watch the show in person? the only thing that kind of threw me was the announcers.. was dr phil one of the hosts? good god!!

i am not sure what this whole korean missile testing things means, and i will have to wait till next week when my politically minded coworker returns and can explain it to me. :) but i get a kick out of seeing Kim Jong Il all over the internet. it reminds me of 'team america: world police' and his doll. they were dead on...

so i didn't have too much wine last night and made it to the gym this morning. there were not that many people there, it was nice. i might try it again tomrrow morning.

i called the vet/groomer this AM to make an appt for 'fatty the rasta cat', but they are on vacation until the 11th. :(

i got my title on monday.. thank god. now i can switch my plates over to NY and stop paying double insurance.

its so nice that this week is more then half over.. i work tomorrow and then that's it for the week on account of the wedding in NH i have to go to on Friday. saturday is the girl dinner waltham style. woooot! then a big old party at the skellig.

on my list i didn't do any painting, but i did pull up all my painting supplies from the basement... and i didn't get myself completely set up with FC cause i can't seem to map a drive. grrrrr. i have all sorts of ftp access, but if i can't get the VSS working, i won't be able to do anything...

oooo, flight 93 is on the history channel

now that 2 weeks notice is over i see that flight 93 is on the history channel... its on my list of movies to see..

they are saying it left from NJ. i thought it left from boston... that must have been the other flights...

my goal is to go to the Y before work tomorrow.. we'll see how i feel after i am done drinking this Hosmer Dry Riesling.

bored to tears.

today i have done nothing of any relevance.. i woke up at 10am, watched as many episodes of entourage as on demand would allow, watched some comedy central on demand, read the internet, took a nap, took a shower, ate some pulled pork, drove to manlius and got a glacier at sno-top. drove home and now i am roped into watching 2 weeks notice. some please put me out of my misery.

superman...

since i had nothing to do and i felt very accomplished, i went and saw superman tonight. i would have preferred to see the breakup, but the timing was not right.. so.. even though i was anti-superman amongst all the hype, after seeing the film i am on board. he was quite attractive..

my favorite parts of the movie were the two "olive" scenes. let me know if you noticed. there was also a "patty" in the movie. so cute, go #2. i didn't like the opening credits though, too much like star wars...

after i watched the movie i started thinking about how kids these days don't have superheros on cartoons like we used to.. what are they going to be watching when they are in their late 20's early 30's? dora the explorer the movie? how sad! when i was a kid we had all kinds of super heros, the whole justice league for example. kids today don't watch/know about that kind of stuff do they? sad...

since my roommates are gone i've been burning candles like its my job and thank god fatty has been avoiding them. that could be very dangerous if she suddenly took an interest in them. i would imagine she could burn the place down in a matter of minutes. i'd have to let her outside if she caught on fire. :)

when i came home from the movies tonight it really it home that i have moved. i almost feel like i am back in mass for the first time and completely on my own again with no friends... on one hand i feel pretty free, and able to set my own destiny. :) on the other hand its terribly lonely. almost always i have "someone" i can call to hang out with. now, there is no one. under normal circumstances my parents would be around so it wouldn't be so obvious, but this weekend i don't even think my neighbors are home. :( this afternoon i was talking to my sister and she asked me what i was doing... i was blogging. :) and she was like, why? its because i have a lot to say, and fatty is not that good a conversationalist. so..point being, i need to find someone that i can call to hang out with and have adventures with, and travel with even. :) if you know anyone that can keep up with me, send me their email address.

i spoke to fauna tonight on the phone.. as much as i hate talking on the phone i love chatting with fauna. i almost feel like i am taking a class when i speak to her. i feel so uncultured when i get off the phone with her, and everytime we talk it makes me think i don't travel enough. fauna sooooo appeals to my experimental/adventurous side. someday i am going to meet her in france. i wish i could go and meet her there this august/september. :( fauna is so inspiring...

does it still count as "drinking alone" if you are talking to someone on the phone as you drink 3/4 a bottle of wine?

the weather here is so gorgeous right now. its 1am and 77 degrees, and breezy as hell. it would be so nice to sleep in the backyard with just a sleeping bag. its nights like this that i wish i didn't have an air conditioner in my only window. maybe i will sleep in mike and cath's bed, they have 3 windows and a cross breeze..

so far so good on my list

while it wasn't officially on my blog list, its been on my "list" of things to do for a while, fix my parents crappy computer.. on thursday when everyone was over we tried to get my laptop to print to my parents printer thru the wireless router. i had tried doing this in the past and had no luck. b*ll and pete tried and told em that the machine was f'd. taking b*ll's advice i ran a check on it to see if the hard drive was damaged. it wasn't. the next thing he advised was to wipe it clean and reinstall everything..

so that is what i spent about 6 hours of my night last night doing, and another 3 hours this morning. i thought i had everything... but come to find out i am missing their favorites.. (but i did grab their cookies) and it looks like i didn't get the songs in their ipod library, but i probably have them on disc somewhere anyway.. i was able to preserve all their emails, their address book and their settings for their email. i also got everything on their desktop. the computer is running soooo much faster now. its still not as fast as mine i don't think, but its an enormous improvement...

while office was installing on their machine, i decided to mow the lawn, the breeze is blowing so perfectly here and the sun is shining. so i go out and try to remember the 37 different steps to mowing the lawn... i get a little tripped up as to how to attach the lawn bag. i figure that the loop goes in the metal arm on the top, and the hard plastic part somehow fits over the part the grass comes out of. so i jam it on there and jump thru all the hoops to get it running.. i am about 10 feet into the lawn and the bag comes off the bottom. shit, i don't know how to stop the mower... finally i realize that if you let the velcro loose, the handle stops being pressed and the mower shuts off. so i reach down and jam the plastic part back on the metal part, start the mower back up. 2 feet, the bag falls off again. i shut off and reattach the damn bag like 4 times before i decide i am doing something really wrong for this bag not to stay on.. so i call mom, dad answers, hes no help. i decide to download and install pdf reader and the google toolbar for the new computer instead.

i finally decided that mowing the lawn is more important then getting that lawn bag attached, so i just mowed and let the grass get all over the yard and the neighbors driveway. :) maybe i should re-think my home owning desires, or audition potential husbands on their lawn-mowing skillz, or hire cath to do it. i want to have a pool though anyway, so that will take a significant chunk of yard out of the back.