Official Notice

This blog will be moving over to LJ. I have found that some of their features are great. So if you are a fan (although I seriously doubt that anyone is) head on over.

Thanks!

http://shadoh78.livejournal.com

Cashman, you are killing me!

God damn you Brian Cashman! Why did you send Matt Smith back to Columbus? It's not like any of your pitchers came off the DL. Did you really need to get rid of Matt to make room for some outfielder from Kansas City? You sacrificed a reliable LH relief pitcher for Aaron Guiel who was designated for assignment by the Royals? Really? WTF!?!?! All I know is that before this season is over, you better realize that Matt Smith is a strong player who deserves to be in the majors. With most of your starters unable to pitch past the 6th inning, it would be nice to know you have some decent choices in the bullpen.

I'm almost ready to start laughing about this...

How sad does my car look with the spare tire on it? The worst part was that the spare was even low. I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of the flat tire as well. But what's done is done.

I'm a girl, I'm allowed to change my mind...

I know I said that it would never happen, but that doesn't mean that I don't want it to. I really, really want it to. The idea of it becoming reality makes me very happy, but at the same time, it makes me sad because logically and realistically I just can't see how. But I'm going to keep looking for a way. I haven't had these particular feelings in quite some time and they are more than welcome.

Grrr...

I hate insurance companies. I am so upset right now I don't know whether to cry or scream. And it kills me to hear that we have the "best" health insurance in the state of Nevada. What-the-fuck-ever. Hopefully HR will actually help me out on this one...

The best of both worlds

I love this shirt! Poncain Abu is gaelic for Go Yankees!

My dream

I had a very weird dream last night - it was almost up there with the George Clooney/Drugs dream, but not quite.

Basically in the dream it is my 30th birthday and my friends all decided to throw a big shindig for me. They had me pack a bag and head to a hotel, which was in Las Vegas. So as we are headed in they direct me in to this really beautiful suite on the top floor. I'm looking around thinking that we are all going to be cramped since it didn't look like there was more than one bedroom. But since it was my birthday, my friends directed me to take the bedroom as they literally pushed me through the bedroom door.

Here's where it gets weird. When I walked in, who should be waiting for me but Derek Jeter! I didn't really talk to him and the next thing I know he is down on the street getting into his car. And I was thinking that I didn't get a picture nor did I get an autograph. But the thought that really disturbed me most was that I knew he needed to be in Cleveland for the last game of a 4 game series. And I was freaking out that the Yankees would lose the game because Derek Jeter came to visit me in my dream. And that's when I woke up.

I love how illogical my dreams can be. Derek Jeter would not have had to be anywhere other than with me, since my birthday is at the end of January, and everyone knows that there is no baseball in January, not even Spring Training.

Funny - history does repeat itself

So I have been emailing my friend Rudy through myspace all day today. I needed to tell him that I found one of our classmates, JJ, from Fordham. I passed on the info of where I found him and also let him know that I haven't attempted to contact JJ at all. Quite honestly, I have no idea what kind of response I would get fom JJ, so I am more than a little reluctant.

We all met freshman year, we were all in the same dorm (or residence hall - whatever). The girl in the room next time mine, Crazy Bitch, met JJ and they started dating. Needless to say a day didn't go by without drama between them. Crazy Bitch and I bonded slightly because we were both from Long Island and we had similar experiences growing up. We weren't all that close at first, but we would hang out every now and then. Over the course of the next two years, we would become closer. I didn't realize at first why we were getting so close, even though the reason was right under my nose.

What I didn't, or wouldn't, see was that no one trusted Crazy Bitch, nor could they be bothered with her (self-inflicted) drama. As a result, other people avoided her, and by default they avoided me as well.

Over the course of our sophmore year, we became very close. Crazy Bitch would hang out and the usual topic of conversation was JJ. It wasn't that big of a deal, the three of us would hang out all the time, unless of course JJ & Crazy Bitch were fighting. Then she would cry to me about everything that was wrong in her life. This continued through the ensuing summer, when their relationship ended when Crazy Bitch had her second pregnancy scare. (Two points: First, when your only source of protection is a tissue accidents are bound to happen. Second, I think she was making it up to get attention from anyone who would give her attention.)

So we start our junior year off with a bang. Crazy Bitch and I were in the same suite together, and we and our 6 other suite-mates decided to throw a party. Foreshadowing alert! We didn't know any of our suite mates since they were a year younger than us and we were last minute addition to the suite. So the invite list is a big mix of people, including JJ and his crowd. Even though Crazy Bitch and JJ were not on speaking terms. When the party started to wind down, everyone decided to head over to the local bar, affectionatley referred to as Slumni. I however stayed home and attempted to clean up. We discovered that one of our suite mates, Red, hooked up with someone that night and didn't come home.

Over the course of the year, JJ and Crazy Bitch got back together and I realized just how psycho Crazy Bitch was. It culminated shortly after it was discovered that Red had slept with JJ after that party we had in the beginning of the year. At that point Crazy Bitch's jealousy and insecurity came roaring the surface. She wouldn't trust JJ at all, even though, technically they weren't dating at the time nor did Red or JJ know the others story. One night after a particularly brutal fight, Crazy Bitch called the bar in Brooklyn that JJ had hung out in when he had gone home. After about 10 minutes or so, she was able to get it out of the bartender that JJ had been there and that he had hung out with a girl. (Gasp!) Of course she needed to confront him immediately. So she called him up and told him that I had done a little investigation and found out that he hooked up with someone. He was livid and immediately demanded to speak to me. So she handed me the phone with no warning of what to expect. As soon as I said hello, JJ let loose calling me every name in the book. I looked at Crazy Bitch, handed her the phone, and walked out of our room. I didn't come back for hours, and I never talked to her again. Which was interesting when you share a 10 x 12 room.

The idea that someone who was supposed to be a friend could sacrifice you to save their own hide is amazing to me. I discovered that she would probably push me in front of a bullet, instead of taking it for me. It's almost surprising that this was the straw that broke the camels back. I didnt really react when she convinced all of our roommates that I was stealing from then - it was her. Or the time she asked if my mother, who happened to work for a doctor, could have a fake death certificate made up for her since she used a dead relative as an excuse to get out of a final. (Although I think it was genius of the professor to ask for a death certificate.)

The down side was that in order to fully extracate myself from Crazy Bitch's world, I had to avoid some of my other friends. Casualties of war unfortunately.

And of course, this wasn't the first time I had a toxic friend. The other one was someone who I befriended in the 3rd grade. It took my until the 8th grade before I extricated myself from that one. (In case any one is wondering, her initials are ME.) And I always thought I was a good judge of character... hopefully I have gotten better.

I love this kind of weather

This is the kind of weather that I like. Its cooled off - which means it's about 90 degrees as opposed to the normal 110 degrees. But the humidity has gone up, nothing like what it is on the East Coast, it's probably about 30% humidity right now. And a storm is brewing!! It rained earlier this afternoon, and now we have some great thunder and lightening. I was able to snap this great picture. It only took about 30 tries before I could actually get a shot of the lightning.

Something I forgot to mention...

I went to a Yankee game with radar omalley in June. My mom was home watching the game, and she SWEARS that she could hear me screaming in the top of the ninth. I think it's hysterical becuase I do have a distinctive yell, and I always thought that I was louder than most. This just confirms it.

Eyuch...

My weekend was not the best I have ever had. Saturday was fairly uneventful, and much like most Saturdays, I decided to have a lazy day. I didn't do much of anything at all which felt really good. Saturday night, I ran out to the store, and I noticed something funky with my car. It just seemed harder to stop and it was pulling more than usual. Being that I live in Las Vegas, and its 100 degrees out by 11 am most days, I just assumed that my tire pressure was a little low, and I put it on my mental list to check on Sunday.

Sunday morning I got up and went to brunch with Loop, her sister, and the baby. We had a good time, laughing like crazy when the baby had a VERY dirty diaper that needed changing. I think I can still smell it...

I got home around 1 pm and started cleaning up a little bit. At about 3:30, I was ready to run some errands. So I gather up my list and the things I need to return and head out to my car. I get out there and put some things in the back seat, and then I looked down. Sure enough my rear drivers side tire was looking very low. I grabbed the pressure guage that I keep in my car and discover that the tire which is supposed to be at 34 PSI is currently at 4.5 PSI. Taking a closer look at the tire I see a screw in it way too close to the sidewall.

Now it's almost 4 pm on a Sunday. I don't have AAA, my dad no longer lives in the same state so he can't help me, what the hell am I going to do? I don't want to drive it anywhere, but how the hell am I going to get to the tire place? So being the resourceful person that I am, I went inside, went on the AAA website, and purchased a membership. Once I got a confirmation, I called AAA Roadside Assistance.

Within 15 minutes of calling, a tow truck arrived at my apartment. They guy gets out and tells me that I have two options. I can either have him put the spare tire on, or he can put my car on his truck and bring it to Big O Tires. I just looked at him and said, "They are closed." He disagrees, telling me that he just dropped someone else off there and that he is sure they are still open. The idea of this dilemma being over with quickly is appealing. So I agree, put my car on the flat bed and lets go. We get to the tire place, and lo and behold it is closed. Mr Tow Truck Driver thinks they just cut out early because of the holiday and he decides to drive up to another store. Suprisingly, or not, they were also closed. So, now he has to pull my car off the tow truck, put on the spare in the middle of the tire store parking lot, and then I have to drive it home. The kicker was that the whole time we are driving to Big O Tires, he keeps talking about how Big O sucks and that I would get a better deal at Discount Tires!

As I am getting ready to leave he tells me that I shouldn't do more than 50 mph, nor should I drive more than 50 miles on the spare, AND that my spare is a little low, so I should probably fill it. Arggghhhh!!! And to top it all off - I barely had enough gas to get home.

So I got up this morning and headed to Discount Tires - not on the tow truck drivers recomendation mind you, Loop has used them before and has had good service. I get there at 9 am, and I don't get to talk to a sales person until about 9:30. When he took a look at my tire, he immediately decided that it couldn't be repaired. AND my front drivers side tire needs to be replaced as well. ANd of course, he can't understand why I have two factory installed tires on the drivers side, and two newer tires on the other side. (I may be a girl, but even I know that you want tires with similar, if not identical, ages and treads on the same axle.) So we head back inside where he lists out my options.

I can either go with two Goodyears (what is currently on the car) for about $315, some brand I gave never heard of for $234, or two Pirelli's for $252. So I go with the Pirelli's since I am familiar with the brand and they are the mid-cost tires. Then I get to sit and wait for two hours while the tires are put on.

You would think that at this point I can go home and chill out, right? Nope. Unlike most everyone else in the world, my agency was open on Monday 7/3. So I had to go to work. Hopped in my car and went in to the office, knowing that it would be ridiculously quiet in the office.

Boy was I right - it was so quiet I thought I was in a funeral home. But I was able to clean up my file servers. A few months ago, the IT department thought it would be a great idea to try to standardize the client servers. This basically meant that they put standardized folders in place for each client, with all the files that had been accumulated for the past 7 years or so into a folder called "AA_Oldfiles", leaving it up to the account people to transfer all the old files to the new folders.

This is a pain in the ass for a few reasons. First of all, prior to me being on these accounts, no one really did a great job of saving things to the servers. And secondly, the IT department was a little shortsighted when they were set up. For instance, there are a few folders, like Budgets, that have subfolders for years, but they only go as far back as 2005. Ummm hello? Most of our clients have been around for like 10 years or longer. And, some clients work on a fiscal year as opposed to a calendar year. Now I have to send in support requests to have the folder names changed and to add the other years that I need. (Did I mention that those of us who will be using the servers do not have permissions to make these changes ourselves? I can't add, delete, or rename anything in the first two layers of folders.)

Now I am home, sitting on the couch writing while watching the Real World/Road Rules Challenge "Fresh Meat". Thank god I don't have to work tomorrow. I need to run the errands I was supposed to take care of on Sunday.

Good night and enjoy your Independence Day!

I can't resist...

Come on four-four! Show 'em what you've got! Lets see the stuff four-four!
Now that is beating the joke into the ground...