Commentary Whore

Yes, I proudly admit I am a commentary whore. I've even rented DVDs from Netflix of movies I didn't particularly love, just to hear the commentary (such as Day After Tomorrow -which did have a good commentary). In that vein, I put Elektra on the queue. I could have sworn that the write-up mentioned commentary. So I put it in on Sunday night, and alas, no commentary. I decided to watch it again (saw it in the theaters) cause it couldn't have been as bad as I remembered. But, yes, it was. Now, I love Jennifer Garner and Goran V. I love Jennifer Garner's arms and obviously muscled I-work-out-a-ton body. I believe that she can beat people up and make them hurt (unlike twig-thin SMG as Buffy). I can understand her wanting to do that role. And looking at the plot of the movie, it's not that bad. The special effects are good, the acting is good. I just don't know where it falls apart. But, wow, it truly exploded into bits somewhere. Though, it's nowhere near my 'oh-my-god-give-me-those-two-hours-back!!!' list. As Adam can tell you - The Way of the Gun, Brazil, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico are the movies on THAT list.

I also saw School of Rock - which was ok. Glad I didn't see it in the theaters. The kid's commentary is cute. (see! I watch the movie then watch it AGAIN with commentary! Somebody stop me!)

And as I was in a 'I want to mail these out tomorrow, dammit' kinda mood, I also watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (yes I was up till 2:30a). Wow. That is one artsy movie. I'm not sure if I 'got it' or not. It was ok. Willem Dafoe kicked all kinds of ass in that - he was really good. I'm usually not a huge Anjelica Houston fan either, but really liked her in this. Even though I didn't really care for the movie, I did listen to some of the commentary. It was ok.


Anyways - what you want to hear about my life?? Hmmm.....roof contractors should be coming out tomorrow to get me quotes on the leak. My mom is going to meet them so I won't have to take off work. Yes, I take advantage of my retired parents. I have no problem with that - I'm sure I'll be taking care of them in 20 years. Work is going ok. I had my first 'annual' review last week. I kicked all kinds of ass (yes I used it in the last paragraph but I really like that phrase). I brought up my raise again and my boss said she had to speak to the top doc about it. I told her that the work I'm doing now is not the work I was getting paid for. She agreed with that. I know she realizes how much extra work I've taken on since I started. If she hasn't gotten her shit together in two weeks about the raise, I'm going to really confront her about it. It was supposed to be in Jan, and here it is Feb already. I don't want to get in her face too much about it this week cause she just found out her mom has major cancer. They thought she just had pneumonia but instead it looks like breast cancer that metastised through her body. So, that doesn't look good.


I'm probably going to get in trouble for this....but have you heard on the news about the journalists from ABC that were badly injured from a roadside bomb and that woman who was captured and is now doing tearful videos begging the US to release the female prisoners or she'll die? I'm sorry, but I have NO compassion for those people. They knew what they were getting into. If you go into Iraq, make sure you have your will updated. You have to know that getting injured/abducted/killed is a very good possibility. So, if that happens, I don't want to hear any complaining. Suck it up. If you weren't ready for that, stay the fuck home. Ok, I'm going to stop before I sound like a completely heartless bitch (too late, I know).

Maybe this whole 'home ownership' isn't for me

I had a good day and a bad day today. Slept in late, went to the shelter for a few hours, had some really good adoptions, came home, worked on cutting some backer board for the kitchen backsplash....and found out my roof has a leak. Yup. That's when the day turned bad. We had a huge rain storm overnight which is good cause we haven't had rain in months. I was moving some boxes around in the garage and one of them had water on the lid. I got out my ladder and touched the ceiling and it was soft. Great. There isn't more rain in the forecast so I guess I'll call someone out on Monday. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to put this through my house insurance or not. I've heard crazy stories about people putting in a claim for something small and then the insurance company drops them. I'll just have to wait and see what the damage is. I walked around the rooms inside and there doesn't seem to be any leaks in here. Of course, the way water travels, I have no idea where the real leak is. I just hope it isn't anything major.

Random - today at the shelter I ran into two old coworkers from a company I worked for a couple years ago. They were in to adopt a cat. One of them, Michele, has an online bead/jewelry company now. I checked it out and it's pretty cool. Mostly jewelry for being barefoot. She said she gets a lot of orders from California and Florida. So, check it out if you're interested.

http://www.jewelsbymichele.com/index.html

Damn laminate!

I previously mentioned that I wanted to do a mosaic backsplash in the kitchen. I've been taking pictures of the process, so when I'm all done you can see it. The crappy part is that after I took off the wallpaper that was there from the previous owner, instead of finding drywall or plaster, I found 70s vinyl laminate. That's right - the whole freakin backsplash is cream colored laminate. So, the goop to stick the tiles to won't stay on the laminate - it's too slippery. Now I have to go buy 1/4 inch backboard, cut it all out to fit over the laminate and nail it to the studs. I so did not want to do that, but oh well, too late now.

The cool thing is I learned how to put in new plugs! After taking off the wallpaper and ugly brass faceplates, I noticed how old and ucky my plugs and switches were. My friend Gil from the shelter had redone all the plugs and switches at his house and had all the cool electrical equipment. He came over on Sunday and we did 4 plugs and 5 switches. They all turned out great. I think I'd actually be comfortable doing plugs by myself, but switches were a little weird. I also found awesome faceplates made from tile that practically match one of the colors in the mosaic. I think it's going to look really good.

btw - LeMorse - I know you 'tagged' me on your blog....but I don't like doing that kind of stuff. It makes me think too much. Sorry!!!!!

Less than two months till CA! Woo Hoo! I really need to get the car rental reservation. I keep forgetting. Ok! I'm going to go do that right now.....

The Outsiders (meaning - go outside if you need to puke)

One of the reasons I love Netflix is that I can catch a lot of 80s movies that for some reason I never saw. I got Fast Times at Ridgemont High a few months ago - and liked it. I thought it was still entertaining. So, following that vein, I watched The Outsiders tonight. It's interesting how many famous actors were in it -Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayzee, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez - and even Diane Lane! Though I must say I think Diane Lane is much more beautiful now than she was 22 years ago. Anyways, wow that movie sucked big time. Slow and stupid storyline, weird characterizations, weird music. I was really disappointed. Yes, it was cute to see all those actors so young, but damn that was a boring movie.


At Melanie's request: no update to the 'drama' at work. We have still not been notified of what her 'ongoing condition' is - but she has turned in more time off requests for doc visits. I'm tempted to call and ask her if her 'ongoing condition' is going to be a girl or boy. Crazy.

movie update

Ok, here's my latest Netflix review:

Million Dollar Baby. Uh, I thought this was supposed to be an uplifting, underdog sports movie. I did not have an inkling about the ending. My roommate and I were both shocked (that's all I'll say - don't want to ruin it). Yes, good writing, good acting, and it did deserve all the awards it got.

Dark City. Don't know why I never saw this before. Very good sci-fi visionary movie. Roger Ebert even does his own commentary for it, which was insightful and intersesting. Made me feel like I was in a college film class. Good movie.

Murderball. Holy crap, those guys are hot! Okay, yes, they're in wheelchairs, but that really doesn't matter. It's a documentary on quadraplegic rugby. Really well done. Deserves all the hype it got. Go rent it. The special features were cool too.

Hello all you newcomers

Ok, my number of views just jumped up by like 20. What the hell? I'm not sure who's checking this out, but please leave comments! They make me feel special. :-)

I will say that 'myspace' is pretty cool for finding people. Looks like Janette Williams from Bear Creek and NY Sherry from Wash U found me. Cool. I checked out some people from my HS graduating class. Wow, a lot of them really look the same and a lot of them look completely different. It's so odd that I know we're all the same age but some look a little more worn than others. I think I look the same....but probably everyone thinks that.

The money pit

Ok, the title is a little harsh. My house is NOT a money pit. But, I will be spending a lot in the next couple months on some repair projects. I took the day off of work Friday to have the Sears repairmen come out for my yearly maintenance on the washer/dryer, frig, and dish washer. I bought the 5yr warranty when I got the appliances and that includes free maintentance. So, hell yeah I'm going to use it! I figured that since I'd be home anyways, it was a good day to have people come out to give me quotes on new siding. I got four different quotes. One for vinyl (which I really don't like the look of), two for 'hardi-plank' which is some expensive shit, and one for just a patch job - taking off the sections that are warped and replacing it with new siding that matches. The patch job guy just painted my parent's house and did a really good job. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the patch job because most of the siding is still in really good shape. It's just a couple of sections that need to be repaired. Maybe in 10 years I'll have it all redone, but I don't think I need that just yet. They are also going to paint the whole house, so I'm trying to decide what colors I want. Right now it's cream with dark brick red trim. I kinda like it - it looks good with the rock face. But, it would be kinda boring just to go with exactly the same thing.
**PICTURE REMOVED**

The backyard needs a new fence too, but I was going to wait a couple months for that. Well, this morning my neighbor on the right comes over and says she's redoing her fence and already got a quote. She wanted to know if I could pay for half of the side we share. Well, of course! And since she's already going to get hers done, I'm gonna call the guy on Monday and see how much more it'll be for the rest of my fence. I know the people on the left will chip in, but she and I both don't know the neighbors behind us, so that's going to be awkward. 'Hey, I'm putting in a new fence....which we share part of....can you pay for half of your part? Please?' Hopefully they are nice people and will chip in. But, really I can't make them. It's just all part of being a good neighbor.

so lonely at the top

ok, Nathan is feeling sad and lonely.

Go check out his blog! Do it! Do it! You must obey me! Sometimes peer pressure is a good thing

http://blog.myspace.com/utilitymax

The drama at work

So, this girl that works for us at one of the clinics is pregnant. But she hasn't told my boss yet (who is the top boss of everyone). The girl told the doctors and coworkers, but has not 'officially' told the boss. I don't know why not, we've had people take maternity leave before and come back with no problem. We've also had people leave for good to take care of the baby, and they usually tell us upfront so we have time to find a replacement. It's not like the company is against it or anything. Now, here's the rub - a couple of months ago, the girl turned in her resignation, saying she wanted to go back to school. Then, a few days before her supposed last day, she tells my boss that they don't have enough money for school, and she'd like to keep her job. Against her better judgement, my boss said ok. Then, a month later we hear through the rumor mill that the girl is pregnant. Ah, so that's why she wanted to keep her job - to keep the benefits. And really, there's nothing wrong with that. But, she comes in late, she leaves early, things aren't getting done right, and that whole clinic is just a mess. Now me, little miss optomistic, thought that maybe the girl FORGOT that she hadn't told my boss yet, since she told everyone else. Well, today the shit hit the fan. The girl sends my boss an email saying she has a doctor's appointment next week for an 'ONGOING CONDITION.' Can you believe that? I fucking 'ongoing condition'???? Are you kidding me?????? I cannot believe the utter gall that took to write that email. When my boss showed me that email I heard Nathan's voice going 'Oh no you didn't!' Does she think my boss is an idiot? How can you tell your coworkers AND the frickin' DOCTORS that you are pregnant but tell your boss you have an 'ongoing condition'??? I have no idea what's going to happen. I think it would be different if she was a rockstar employee, but she has so slacked off the last few months. There's absolutely no loyalty there to the company. Ugh. This is why I don't want to make friends at work. You meet someone, think they're cool, think maybe you'd like to hang out after work, and they just go and fuck up so badly at work, you think THANK GOD we are not friends because I would have had to bitch slap her for this.

Woo Hoo! Go UT!

Uh, yeah, like I care. So, yes, the whole town was in an uproar today over the win. People out here are VERY serious about their UT football. My boss even lost her voice from yelling so much. Everyone wears that burnt orange and trucks have the 'hook 'em horns' hand gesture as a decal. My neighbors had a party for the game so I saw about half of it. That's really all I can take of football.

I've been pondering this, and this is what I came up with.....

Things I've learned since moving to Texas:

1. "Fixin'" doesn't just mean 'repairing'. They really do say this quite a bit.

2. When you tell people "we're having barbeque" you damn well better have brisket on that table and NOT just barbequed hamburgers and hot dogs.

3. "That dog wont' hunt" is a perfectly good way of saying "That won't work" or "That's not going to happen". I LOVE this saying. They don't say it a lot, but I've heard it every once in a while.

4. Texas used to be its own country sometime in the 1800s, and some people out here think of themselves as Texan before American. Texas was also treatied into the USA so the Texas flag can hang at the same height as the USA flag. The Texas capital building in Austin is actually taller than the one in the DC. I was not surprised when I heard that trivia.

5. NEVER say "So what's the big deal between UT and Texas A&M?"

6. Texans really love their Dr. Pepper.

7. Size does matter - we have 40 COUNTIES that are each bigger than the whole STATE of Rhode Island.

8. I am distressingly extremely allergic to poison ivy.

9. People out here LOVE the Texas state flag. It hangs outside of businesses, it's on plates and cups, people wear it on hats, on shirts, on shorts, etc. I certainly don't remember the CA flag used so much - and that one has a cute bear on it!

ok, that's all I can come up with for now. I really tried to come up with a #10, but just couldn't do it.