This is Sammy.

Ain't shee darling? My other name for her is Psycho Kitty, but that doesn't fit her that well. She's a pretty good cat. If I could ever get Taffy out from her hiding place, I'll put her picture up too.

It's 6:40pm - I am still at work! What the @#$%?

Thoughts from Mrs. Han Solo:

1. I came in at 8am ,so why the @#$% am I still here?
2. I ate lunch at my desk, so why the @#$% am I still here?
3. Though I talked on the phone to a client and inventory dude for about 45 mins and didn't need to (it was informative and I am glad I did) I already made up for that time, so why the @#$% am I still here?
4. Client B is irritating the hell out of me. (What does that mean "irritating the hell out of me" anyway? Is that like having a excorcism? I guess so, because I am swearing like a sailor. Maybe the demons ARE coming out of me. Then again, maybe I am just PMSing. Now if any of you remind me I am PMSing, that will REALLY irritate me. Why the @#$% am I still here?
5. I swore to myself that I wouldn't work past my 8-9 hours. So why am I nearing the 11th hour? (okay, I have taken 10 minutes to blog, but that is no different than a smoking break.)

I can't believe it is almost 7pm. I still have a daily report and two conversations to document. I spend a good 25% if not more, on documentation. It's good if it ever comes back to bite me in the ass. That's right. I said ASS.

Fininished Nanny Diaries and at work early

Last night I read the Nanny Diaries until I was finished. Yes, for me it was that exciting. One of those fictional stories with a large degree of truth in it. I really enjoyed it. The authors have written another book that I just might have to get. Anyhow, I was up until 1AM! Sheesh! Yet the Screwtape Letters are a much slower read for me. I am enjoying it, but it is a deeper read.

I couldn't sleep this morning past 7, so I decided to come into work early. It's 8:25 and I have been here for almost a half hour. Back to work I go. I doubt I will actually get out of here at 5.

Not much blogging to be had...

If you thought with the end of Client D on my project list I would be as free as a bird to flit around and sing Disney tunes, you are very much mistaken. I can still sing Disney tunes (much to the chagrin of my co-workers) but I still have traces of Client D around. I also have plenty of other things on my plate.

The week went by pretty quickly. Earlier in the week, I gave one of my co-workers a ride home to his neighborhood which is about 30 miles from Burlington. I had never been in that part of the state, so I thought it would be a good op. He showed me the fancy houses by the lake, some lovely marshlands, fields and trees. There was a house for sale that we got a flyer from. It is a 5 bedroom, one bath, TLC (which spells MONEY PIT) on about 2 acres of land. Guess much? $825k!!!! Can you believe it? Granted, if it was LA, it would go for at least $1Million. What a bargain! Not! My co-worker and his wife live about a block from the lake in a cute little white house. They have some apple trees in their backyard. It's really beautiful there. I understand why people WANT to live outside of the hustle and bustle of the big city. Oh, I also bought some liquid iron and vitamin B supplements. I had gone to donate blood and was rejected because my iron levels were low. I need to pump it up. I will try again after it-who-cannot-be-named passes. I was really bummed, but I know I can try again.

I rented movies from the library and watched a couple of corset dramas and watched in horror as Ty was bumped to the bottom 3 on Rock Star: INXS. He had done such a great job the day before! I think Dave Navarro was actually suprised at that as well. Thankfully, the band kept him in. I really am thinking that JD will win because he struts around half naked, is white and has an attitude. He is talented, but tries to sound like Mick Jagger. It's pathetic.

Thursday Treat
Our department reached and exceeded our monthly goal, so Enchilada A paid for our lunch on Thursday. I am going to take a moment to look a gift horse in the mouth. I appreciate the recognition by Enchilada A as well as the kudos from my boss, but being told we didn't have a choice of where to dine was a sad moment for me. I am not that fond of the food from where we ate, but Enchilada A had promised the place we would get our food from there. No, we didn't pre-order mass quantities which caused them much work. It was lunch for 5. I did have a nice chat with a couple of my team members actually eating OUTSIDE (it was a lovely day!) There was also a picnic Thursday, but I declined for a couple of reasons. I am having a bad attitude and don't want to pretend to be enjoying myself with people I don't want to be with, and I had to get on top of a couple of my projects. It was a good use of my time. I did a bunch of work during the time that would have been picnic time.

Saturday
I met up with Elissa at 8:30am (blowing off WW, because I am bloated, bitter and would rather stuff my face) for breakfast at Penny Cluse (click here for reviews). They had great breakfast fare. Then Elissa and I walked to the farmer's market (open only during the summer, of course). I got some corn, chard and saw red and yellow carrots! Crazy! We strolled around Church Street and then parted ways. I wandered around and found my way to the library (the theater wasn't open yet.) I checked out "Nanny Diaries", which has been a great read. I hope to finish it by the end of the weekend. It's about a woman who nannies for a New York family and the chaos, antics, and behaviors of "ordinary" people. For those of you who have ever babysat, or known nannies, this is a great book. After reading for about an hour, I went to the movies to see "Ladies in Lavender" , Starring Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. They are both great actresses with long theater and film resumés. I wasn't too keen on the movie by seeing the previews, but I ejoyed seeing it. It was much better than I expected. Judy Dench's character was sad to watch. She was an odd little bird. The violin music was played by Joshua Bell, who is an extrememly talented musician. After the movie, I went home and watched "Good Bye, Mr. Chips". It's a delightful story about a teacher. I really think it is such a good story about a man who learns to love and is loved by so many people. I also watched "Love Object", which is a horror movie suggested by a co-worker. I think he is cracked. He insisted I watch it. I hated it. It was a little like Boxing Helena. Ick. I read some more and then joined Stephanie and Carrie at the movies to see "The Brothers Grimm", directed by Terry Gilliam. I really didn't like it. I thought with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger it would be pretty good. Nope. It really lacked some pinache. The special effects were good, and the story concept was good. But it just didn't pan out to be a good film. Sad. I like Terry Gilliam - "12 Monkeys," "The Fisher King," "Brazil" - all pretty good movies. There was a character in this who was not quirkly funny, but quirky obnoxious. The bad French accents were so damn annoying. I give it a thumb's down. What do you think about it? I did have a nice time before the movie with Stephanie and Carrie at the Asian Bistro. We each ordered crab cakes and Stephanie and I had green tea ice cream.

Sunday
Today has been a pretty good day. At church this morning, there was a guy talking about working with people in Jordan and Iraq teaching them English. Though I don't think I would go anywhere near that area, I wouldn't mind going to a foreign country to learn about people and teach English. I have always wanted to go back to Easter Island. Wouldn't that be an amazing place to live? Even if it is just for a litte bit? I really should take Spanish before thinking about traveling anywhere below Texas. :-) After that, I went home and read a little more of the Nanny book before meeting up with Elissa at work. I worked for about 5 hours. Got a bunch of stuff done, but nothing on Client P, which is why I went in. I guess that means all day Monday will be devoted to Client P. I am going to plug myself into the book again and watch some tv.

How the week flies by...

This was a really uneventful week, which is fine. Busy at work. I am still dealing with Client D, but should be done with him by the end of this coming week. Then Elissa gets to have him. I worked on launching a few clients, and even had the opportunity to talk with Client P. If you recall, she's the new crazy one I have, who thinks we need to cater to her every whim. I spoke with her on Thursday and we had a really great conversation. I was shocked. I think I was reeling for about an hour after I spoke with her because the call had gone so well. Go figure. Tom says it was because I was straightforward, and to the point. I didn't let her push me around. Yippee for me!

I watched a few Netflix movies - Avanti and The Machinist. Avanti stars Jack Lemon as a unhappily married man who goes to Italy to claim his deceased father's remains. He meets the daughter of a woman who had a long time affair with his father. They fall in love, have sex and the ending clearly leaves them open to return to their passion every summer like their parents. Blech. It was directed by Billy Wilder, who wrote such greats as The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, Stalag 17 and Sunset Boulevard, to name a few. The story was not to my liking, but I have issues with infidelity, even if it is a comedy. Acting was fine, and I thought it had some good dialogue. The Machinist was a far cry from comedy. Christian Bale pulled a DeNiro, and lost a HUGE amount of weight for the role. He admitted later, he went too far. The Director, Brad Anderson, had suggested they thin him out with special effects, but he chose to lose weight. Christian Bale has had some winner films (Empire of the Sun, American Psycho) and some not so good (Reign of Fire, Equilibrium), but I still like him. It was really hard to watch him in this film because he was so deathly thin. But it made it work. I thought it was a pretty good movie. Though, I kept wanting him or somebody to get him some help (he's an insomniac who hasn't slept in over a year.) Wow. It ain't no Avanti! that's for sure.

It is now the weekend. There are a few things to blog about, but I want to be sure to add a picture or two to the story, so it will have to wait.

Saturday = fun day!

On Saturday, I met up with Stephanie (from Company X) to join her and some friends (Stephanie, Julie, Kelly, Amanda, Scott) to celebrate Amanda's 25th birthday. We took a cruise out on Lake Champlain around a few islands and surveyed the land. It was a lovely time.


We saw no wildlife to speak of except for some gulls, but that was okay. The weather was overcast, but warm. Nice breeze was blowing as we sallied forth. The rock layers are a rare thing in Vermont. Most of the rock around here is from the granite family. (Now, I am sure somebody reading this would be able to identify this rock.) There was some formation that was suppose to look like an Indian Chief head. Now isn't that politically incorrect? Who is to say exactly what an Indian Chief's head looks like? What tribe? Are you assuming it's NORTH AMERICAN Indians?

After the lovely boat cruise, we met up at the Olive Garden where I stuffed myself with breadsticks, salad and shrimp pasta primavera. There were a few more people at dinner. We then lost a few as we headed for the Church Street bar scene. We sat around talking, drinking and laughing. It was a really fun time. I am so glad I went. Stephanie's friends Dan, Scott and Jamieson joined Carrie, Stephanie, Amanda and myself. I had two ciders AND a kamakazi shot. I think that was more alcohol than I have had since I moved here. What a lush!

Four states, two friends and a partridge in a pear tree…

Friday
Friday after work, I was able to shut my work life down. I went to the movies with Meg and Wick to see “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Though it wasn’t top on my list of films, I have un piquito crush on Johnny Knoxville, who played Luke Duke. Sean William Scott played Bo. He looks like almost a dead ringer for a college friend, Steve. (One of the Four Steves, for those of you who know what I am talking about.) But he ain't no John Schneider. And, it starred the brilliant, Oscar-caliber actress and singer, Jessica Simpson. I am sure the close pans up and down Daisy Duke had nothing to do with her body and everything to do with her mind. What acting! It had lots of car chases with the General Lee. I remember a couple of years ago seeing about 4 General Lees on a flatbed truck in Hollywood. I couldn’t believe that some studio actually thought making “The Dukes of Hazzard” into a movie. What ever happened to creativity? In any event, we had a good time. Rick and his wife were sitting behind us.

Saturday
After a better controlled and balanced week, I had success at WW. 3lbs! Yippee! I came home and packed up a few things before heading to New Hampshire to hang out with Sherri. It took me about 3.5-4 hours to get there. I met her at her office in Portsmouth. We decided to do some errands (she is evil that way and compels me through ESP mind control to spend money whenever I am with her…) and then went to Maine. That’s right. I said MAINE. Actually, Portsmouth is pretty close to the border. We ended up in a town called York, where we ate at The Lobster Barn. It was a goal of mine (no matter how silly it may sound) to eat Maine lobster in Maine. I also had some delicious chowdah. It was a very yummy meal. We went back to Sherri’s house in North Hampton, which is south of Portsmouth. I think we were up until about 1am chatting.

Sunday
I got up early to let out Sis (the cat) and couldn’t really go back to sleep because we had a big day ahead of us. We ate breakfast (cheap, thanks to the Entertainment book) at a restaurant/hotel buffet. OMIGAWD. Again, with the tasty food. So much for the 3lbs. I think I must have eaten that much at the buffet. Buffets and WW are not friendly things that easily go hand in hand. But it was very filling. We came back to the house and changed for the beach. She lives about half a mile from the beach. It was a nice stroll, overcast and hazy sun. We planted ourselves and attempted to get into the ocean. It was damn cold. Sherri said that it gets warmer in September and October. I might have to try it again. Still, it was so incredibly rejuvenating to be at a beach. Peaceful. Very comforting. We hung out there for a few hours.

On the way back, I thought about ditching my earlier idea about going to Trader Joes. But after more thought, I knew I had to go. Sherri opted to go to her boyfriend’s house, so I ventured into yet another state – Massechucetts. It took about 30 minutes and rained heavily most of the time. I made it successfully to the store and shopped to my heart’s content. I bought some things I had never tried before, like one of their instant packaged no-refrigeration Indian dishes. Of course I also bought my favorite grapefruit soda. I love that stuff. The drive home to Burlington was very rainy. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t driving. It was very distracting. I love watching the big, huge raindrops smash like suicide troops against the windshield. Plop, plop, plop everywhere. The visibility at times was very low with the rain and mist swarming all over. It also made the drive longer. I think I got home around 10:15. I talked with Gail and my family for a bit and went to bed. I was pooped.

Monday-Tuesday
Back to work on Monday I was very tired. I had such a lovely weekend that the thought of working was a real downer. Both yesterday and today were really busy. I still had Client D to deal with here and there. I worked late both nights. I really need to stop that. If I walk to work tomorrow, I will leave earlier. That’s the plan anyway. I watched Rock Star tonight. I thought Ty did a good job. I like Mig’s and Jordis’ performances. I think JD is an ass.

Work dinner - Yippee!!

Tonight was work dinner for Client D. His site is live and thank heaven! Though there will be about a week or so of transition, it is pretty much done. I asked the big cheeses at Company X if we could have a dinner since a) the client is bringing in a bunch of $$, b) my team worked really hard and c) you never know unless you ask. Much to my suprise, they agreed. So, there were about a dozen of us who went out to dinner, including managers. It was a really nice time. We went to Auggie's Island Food, where they serve tropical flavor.... and killer Hurricane drinks. I think there were a few people who had about 4-5. I had one, and though I am paying for it with a rum-provoked headache, it was soooo tasty!

After dinner, Scott, Wick and I putzed around Church street until it was time for Wick and I to movieate. We ended up seeing "Wedding Crashers". Vince Vaughn was hilarious. I thought the movie was entertaing in a crasss, sex joke filled way. Friday night we have movie night where Meg will be able to join us. She was at a party for a co-worker. (Melissa, my wonderful hair stylist who is graduating...) This weekend it will be Vermont on the road as I go to New Hampshire to hang out with Sherri.

Ty did well, and another neighborhood altercation...

Ty did so much better this week! I still think Dave Navarro doesn't really like him and thinks JD is da bomb, but I thought Ty really did a great job. I even got chills! Ooohhhhh!!

There was another altercation involving my neighbors across the way. This time it was the drug dealer bald man and some punk kid (late teens, early 20s). They were yelling in front of the damn, old, chipped white van that is parked in front of my house. I can't tell you exactly how many times they yelled,"Fuck You" at each other, but I was getting ready to call the cops when they stopped. One was yelling something about taking the other one down. I couldn't really tell what the hell was going on. I did see one of their people who lives in their building sitting on her porch watching the action and not seeming alarmed. Baldy goes into his apartment (which aparaently he broke up with his girlfriend who lives there too) and back outside. He opened the van doors and clunked around for some tools. Went back inside just now. No, wait. He is back outside fixing a motorcycle. It is 11:18pm. What the hell are you thinking working on a motorcycle this time of night? Thank heaven I am a late night person and you and the kids won't be waking me up like you did the other night. (Sheesh. I am such a crab apple.) Now he is gunning the motor to see if it works. Thankfully, it is. I hope he keeps it up for at least an hour. Better yet, if he stops working on it and comes back in two hours, that'd be even better.

Nice neighborhood. Makes me think about how sweet the rent deal is and if it is worth the aggravation of the neighbors and their antics. Things to think about. Hmmmm.

Oh, and I can't tell you how excited I am to go back to work tomorrow and work on Client P's project. Thrilled. At least I have a possible movie night with Meg and Wick to look forward to. And there is always the neighborhood entertainment.

Oh, I spoke with the guy who I got the cats from. Seems his partner wants one of them back. That would be Tabby, who is harassed by Psycho Kitty (aka Sammy). I think it might be a wise thing. They don't seem to get along well. Now if I can get Psycho Kitty to stop shedding so much... I'd be set.

Walking to work tomorrow. It would be good for me plus they are repaving the parking lot, so parking might be a slight challenge. Ahhhh. The aforementioned motorcycle just zoomed by. What a delightful sound.

Two good things to note in my griping ways - I got my Netflix movies today AND tonorrow is payday. Good thing too.

Clients and where is my margarita?

Sometimes in one's life when one deals with clients, one gets a client that is a real charmer (okay, that was sarcasm.) I got a new client today. Let's call her Client P. She is a real pain in the gazoink. She has been a great challenge to her sales rep, account person, current project manager as well as having a reputation in the support department as being a... how shall we say it? Challenge. I LOVE IT! I called her introduce myself because I am working on a new project for her (standard operations).

My call -
Me: Hi, Client P. My name is Mrs. Han Solo. I'm with Company X and I am working on your new project.
She: Look, I'm really busy. I just want to know when it is going to be done. (She has been told by several people that I will supply her this information.)
Me: September 20 is our target date. Of course, if we can get it done sooner, we will.
She: That is unacceptable. It HAS to be done in 4 weeks.
Me: Well, you do have lots of custom work -
She (cutting me off): I was told it would be done in 3 to 7 weeks. Why is it taking so long? (After weeks of negotiation, which is NORMAL, it just got into our queue this week....)
Me: Today is the official production start day...
She: I need it in writing. You need to email it to me
(I get a document with this information from my boss, which he prints out and puts in the project folder. Again, our normal process.)
Me: I can fax it to you.
She: What? You don't have email? (Like I am an idiot or something. It's all in the tone, as my mother would say.)
Me: Of course I have email. I will send it to you electronically.
She: It needs to be done in 4 weeks. Your sales person said that it would be done. I don't understand what is taking so long.
Me: Let me talk to your sales rep and we will call you back.

So, she has issues with patience. I can tell. She is nagging the account person, sales and the guy working on her other project about this. She seems (from what they have indicated) to make changes all of the time. She has no patience. Did I say that already? I freakin' love it! I really want to tell her where she can stick it, but that'd be rude. After all, she IS a client. So I emailed her a very polite response after the sales guy left her a message assuring her we will do our best to accommodate her scheduling needs. At the time, her only reason for 4 weeks was because we were taking too long. Hello! Custom work takes TIME. Shut up!!

Time for a margarita. Where is my cabana boy? I am so firing him for being inattentive.

On the lighter side, I have Client El, who tells me he can't remember much of our conversation yesterday because the day before he was in the jacuzzi too long. That was the beginning of a hilarious conversation with him where I had to repeat almost everything I had reviewed with him yesterday. He seems like a SoCal skater dude who got stuck in a job he doesn't have much love for. (I think he likes talking with me too.) He cracks me up. He said his controller was out taking a smoke and he didn't know when she'd be back. I asked him if she was smokin' weed. Uh, I am sure it is inappropriate for the workplace, but he loved it. ha ha ha

Peter Jennings has passed away...

Peter Jennings was the long time anchor of World News Tonight and one of the cornerstones of the ABC news bureau. http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=126542

I remember years ago, I was working as a page at ABC and met Mr. Jennings. He was handsome, articulate and made even the little people (pages) feel special. It was a pleasure to have met him. When I was working on "Into the Night Starring Rick Dees" (defunct show, lame) the host, Rick Dees, was interviewing Sheena Easton. I don't remember how or why they were talking about Peter Jennings, but I remember very clearly Sheena's take on him. She said, that if he announced that the world was coming to an end, she would believe him and believe that everything would be alright.

He had a way, as few anchors today have, of calming people. He talked to us as if we were good friends sharing knowledge. With the overproduction of news, especially junky news, Peter Jennings was one of the few news voices I listened to. He will be missed.

Good weekend, bad movies

Okay, I am sure you read the last post and thought that I was really full of myself. Well, sometimes that happens. I appologize to you who might have been bothered, but I was having a moment. If you can't blog moments like that on a blog, what's the point in having a blog? I am feeling less full of myself today. :-)

I had a pretty mild weekend. I watched a "Vera Cruz", starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster. Sure, some of it was very 1954, with the dialogue, action and women wearing pointy over the shoulder boulder holders (to quote Bette Midler). But some of the dialogue and story were pretty good. I think I liked the scarcasm from sassy Burt. I think I was going through a Gary Cooper thing in my Netflix.


I also saw "The Stranger" which starred the great Orson Welles, fab Edward G. Robinson and the over acting Loretta Young. I am just not a big fan of Loretta. Never have been. Now Orson plays a mysterious small town professor who kills off (right near the beginning) a man from his past. There is a little anti-Nazi thing going on in this 1946 flick. For some reason (probably Orson or the price of about $.99 I bought that at Target on one of my Sherri trips. Well, we knew from the beginning he was a bad man. And we just wanted Loretta to figure it out. Boy, was she willing to risk her whole life on that killer. Sheesh! She hadn't even known him all that long, from what I could gather. I think the store owner, who also seemed to be the town crier, should have figured something was wrong with the Orson Welles character, Professor Charles Rankin. The dude kills his old friend just HOURS before his wedding to Mary! AND he kills the dog (poison) because the dog knew where the body was. I think I will mail this one to my parents. Maybe they will like it.

Saturday was also filled with sunshine. I didn't spend the entire weekend watching movies or tv. When I went to WW, I met up with Terri, who is a woman I have seen at WW knitting. I had asked her last week if she could teach me to knit and so we met up a little early for instruction. I had learned ages ago, but it never went anywhere. With the winter weather not so far off, I figure learning how to knit would be a good supplement to crocheting. Look out world, here come more scarves! After WW, I thought about going home and sulking (yes, another weight gain) but I didn't. One of the other gals and I made a committment to each other to stick with the program. Between that promise and my Five in August from Gail, I knew I needed to get off my butt and do SOMETHING. So, I walked myself down to the waterfront and found a nice swing and read. I am still working on "The Screwtape Letters" but picked up two other books to read in-between - "The Snows of Kilamanjaro", by Ernest Hemingway (a classic short story!) and "A Child Called It" by a man who lived the story of his abuse as a youn child. The Hemingway short story was made into a movie starring Gregory Peck. I borrowed both the book and the movie from my brother because it is considered a classic on both ends. It was a very painful experience. Not because the subject matter was upsetting to read, but because it was BORING. VERY BORING. It was hard to get through. I think I sped read it just to get through it. I still had the movie to watch, which I had hoped would be a better thing.

As for "A Child Called It", that was a quick and compelling read. It is amazing to me that the author's mother did the things she did to a child, HER child. Horrible. It was the 3rd worst case of child abuse in California history. The author, David, has come out of it amazingly well. He wrote two sequels which I am interested in reading.



I sat and watched the boats and read. Then I hiked up the small hill towards downtown, where I went to see a romantic comedy starring John Cusack - "Must Love Dogs" . At the theater, they gave away passes for a future screeing (just not on the same day.) I couldn't be more thrilled. Though I like John Cusack, this film wasn't all that great. Of course Diane Lane meets a great guy online, even though it isn't the first guy she meets on the Internet. It encourages people to lie to get more dates, even if the lies might catch up with you. And it also emphasises that the beautiful people always get the beautiful people. Nice and honest look at online dating, eh? I had a delightful stroll home through downtown (Church Street) and to my casa. Saturday night was tackling the Hemingway-into-film. Again, I found I was speeding through it. There were times when it had the same dialogue as the book, which I was impressed by. It followed the basic story, but changed the ending. So Hollywood, to change a perfectly sad ending to a happy one. I have to say that I did prefer the ending of the book to the one in the movie. I don't feel it was one of Gregory Peck's shining moments. Plus, the print was in really poor shape, probably due to natural deterioration. I can't even say I am glad I saw it. I guess I am, as it is suppose to be a classic.

SUNDAY
After church, I went to see a movie with the free pass I got when I was there Saturday. This time, I wasn't sure what to see - penguins or more human relationships? I went for the humans. Another mistake. I saw "You, Me and Everybody We Know," starring no names. I am all about supporting the independent films. I like movies where I don't know the stars. But I thought this one sucked. I thought the main woman in the story (who also wrote and directed) was so kooky it was creepy and not interesting. I was tempted to walk out several times, yet I was also enjoying the air conditioning and popcorn, which kept me firmly in my seat. I am glad it was free. It was a good waste of my time otherwise. I went home and ended up watching "Strictly Ballroom" to purify my mind. Bleechh. That other film was awful. I am curious to hear what you who might have seen it think about it. As for Strictly Ballroom, I love that movie. I am really glad it was one of the movies I brought with me.

All in all, it was a good weekend. Not smashingly crazy and busy. Nice and calm. Lovely weather. Some good books and good movie watching. I give it a "thumb's up." to quote Roger Ebert.

Sometimes I am one of the smartest people I know...

Let's face it. I am good at brainstorming and coming up with ideas. That's not conceited. That's a fact. So when I come across people who don't know how to use their out-of-the-box thinking skills (I am not talking about being analytical - I don't have much of that in my head) it bugs the crap out of me. I understand if you are unfamiliar with a particular process, way of doing something, and might have lived a very sheltered life. But when you are my age and you have no idea how to even ASK the questions to find out what you need to know, it drives me crazy. Back to being sheltered.... I get it if you have never had the experience - how to boil water, how to renew your license, what to do if you have a flat tire, but THINK, DAMNIT. You have a brain, which obviously you don't use much of.

Of course, you may wonder why I am on such a seemingly hostile tangent. I can't give you specific examples. I just know several people who just don't have the know-how to trouble shoot (I guess it IS analytical!) their problems and issues. It's sad. If you are 20, that's fine. You are young and haven't honed in on that part of your brain. I am not talking to your age group.

Whew! I could go on, but it wouldn't really be productive. I have to get back to work anyhow. I just needed to let off some steam.

I am not saying these people are stupid, but I just don't get how you can NOT KNOW or NOT KNOW HOW TO ASK QUESTIONS!

(Boy, after Client D, I REALLY need a vacation...)

Rock Star, Client D and where is my boyfriend?

So, Ty managed to stay afloat another week on Rock Star. This time, he was up on the chopping block with two others. The song he sang Tuesday, wasn't a good song for him, but he didn't have much of a choice. I felt bad for him. He's a very talented guy. I hope he at least gets a recording contract out of this when it is all done. I think Jordis was amazing. She was the best female singer on the show. Mig did a good job too.

Client D - FINALLY went live! We had a huge surge in our system with traffic, but that was smoothed out by our tech dudes. The client, seems to be fairly happy with the sites. There are now little things to fix, but overall, it is finished. That is a huge relief. It's been a good time for me. Great learning. I feel more confident about what I am doing now. I have four other clients, so I am hoping the tasks with Client D slow down and I can move him over to the account people and support.

Okay, it's time I put this out there. I would like to know where are all of the single-available guys? Maybe I need to become a barfly. I know, find an activity that you like and you will find people who like that activity too. Fine. Back to trying online dating I guess. I was told by friends ages ago to ask your friends to help you. Nobody ever does. It's depressing. I do take comfort in knowing that several of my single friends around the country are experiencing the same thing. I would name them, but you know who you are. As for you single/attached and married/attached people, help a girl out! No, I am not desperate, though I am sure I sound like it. Just lonely. The cats can't make me dinner, and aren't very good conversationalists. According to the psychic on Leeza's show AND at the Choo Choo festival, something is suppose to be happening this summer. Well, it's August already. I am running out of time, if the psychics are right. But come on now, since when did you believe a psychic? I am all about working on making it happen for myself, but would appreciate any help out there. And don't send me links to dating websites. I practically have those all memorized. Hey, friends usually have friends, who have friends. The possibilities are endless.

Pathetic? Maybe. Desperate? No, just looking. I have my two cats? What more could I want? ha ha ha - don't make me laugh. It hurts. ha ha ha. ROTFL

Ever have one of those days?

Though I can't say I am having one of those kinds of days, I thought this was pretty funny. Came frm one of my co-workers.