All about me!

I wasn’t sure what to blog about today, and then I had an epiphany, why not blog about my most beloved subject in the world…ME! Just kidding, I’m really not that vain or egotistical, or am I? So without further adieu 10 quirky things you may or may not know about me, in no particular order.

1-I hate tuna. I hate tuna in all consumable forms; tuna fish, tuna salad, tuna pâté, any form of tuna makes my skin crawl. Since I can remember, I have always had a hatred of this deplorable ocean-dwelling carnivorous fish. The smell alone can send me over the edge, from pleasant to ‘postal’ in .001 seconds flat.

2-I was almost a twin. Yes, seriously, I was almost a twin. Ask my Mother if you don’t believe me, there were in fact – two amniotic sacs present when I was born.

3-I do not like cold foods. Let me clarify this some. The statement “I do not like cold foods” can be somewhat of a misnomer. While I do like some cold foods, (salads, sorbets, deviled eggs, sushi, etc) I do not like foods that were originally served hot and then consumed cold (pizza, leftovers, etc.).

4-I have held a drivers license for ten years, and have had eight cars in that time. This is a bit excessive; I realize this while reading my post. None the less, it’s true. Truck, 4Runner, Jeep, Accord, Accord, Mercedes, Lexus, Mercedes. Not to worry, I ‘plan’ on keeping my current car for at least two more years. Plan to.

5-I have six nieces and nephews. I have two sisters who each have three children. The oldest, Candlelynn, has triplets, Christian, Kimber, and Camden. The middle, Amber, has three children, Julie, Alan, and Jeremy. And then there's me.

6-I have a dog named Weslee. Weslee was a gift from my parents for my 21st birthday. He is a West Highlands White Terrier, or Westie. He turns four in November.

7-My two favorite genres of music are 80’s and soft rock. I think this number is pretty self explanatory. Also, one little known fact about me...my favorite singer of all time is Ronnie Milsap.

8-At age 13 I drove my sister’s car through the garage…with the garage door closed and my Mother’s car parked in the garage. True story, I was just learning how to drive a standard and I was starting the car and didn’t fully depress the clutch and BAM! I slammed my sister’s car through the garage door tearing it down, busting a head light and causing my parents about 100+ new grey hairs. My mother opened the door and said “wait until your father sees this.” Cut to 15 minutes later when my Dad sees it, his exact words “you’re going to help me fix this,” not so much in a quizzical tone as it was a declarative statement, and I haven’t heard another word about it to this day. Could it be the fact that my Father did the same exact thing to his parents house, except he drove the car through the house, slamming through walls and knocking a refrigerator over. This also, is not a lie.

9-On average I eat about 2.5 jars of pickles a week. I eat pickles with almost every meal; and, before you even say it – yes, I know that’s not a healthy habit. However, I already take a blood pressure pill everyday, so I’m good with the sodium.

10-I once glued everything down on my sister’s bathroom cabinet using nail glue. I’m talking everything, toothbrush, toothbrush holder, curling iron, brush, soap, hairspray. Petty, yes, childish, yes, but also hilarious. I’m sure at the time I was mad about something she did, and exacted my revenge in this juvenile yet mirthful way. To this day, my sister still gets incensed when this subject is dredged up.

Two things:

1)The new Mutant Berry Slurpee w/an edible straw from 7-11 is the bomb.

2)How funny is Chelsea Handler on Chelsea Lately.

Just my opinion...

Happy Memorial Day

I made good use of the extra day today sans work to get a few things done around the house. Exercise, cleaning, laundry, television, and birthday shopping. I opted not to drive out to my parents house this weekend, I saw them at a graduation ceremony Sunday so I just stayed local.

So I’ve been trying to become more active and drop a few extra lbs before my upcoming trip. With that being said, I went for a walk/run when I got up this morning. I prefer to walk through my neighborhood because I like to keep my eye out for newly listed townhomes for sale. I was feeling extra energetic so I thought that I would the workout some extra bravado. I walked/ran all the way from my apartment to Ross Avenue – for which I am so proud of myself. For fear of internet stalkers I’m not going to give the exact location of my apartment, but know that it was a long way, almost two miles roundtrip. I know this because I was wearing a pedometer. Next on my list was cleaning, I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom. Complete with dusting, sweeping, laundry, carpet cleaning and organizing the clothes in my dresser and closet. Then out to do a little shopping for my friend’s upcoming birthday. I still need to pick up a few smaller things, but I am pretty much done. Lastly, I finished off the day catching up on some DVR’d shows, a movie, and then Keeping up with the Kardashians. Tonight is the season premier of Jon & Kate + 8 but I’ll save that for tomorrow. Last but not least, thank you to the many men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our nation.

John & Kate + 8, no mas or media fiction?

Unless you’re living under a rock you’ve seen the tabloids, news programs, and magazines reporting the pandemonium that is known as John & Kate + 8. Did John cheat on Kate with that girl, did Kate cheat on John with the bodyguard, and are they getting a d-i-v-o-r-c-e? If you watch the show you know that Kate is a controlling, megalomaniacal bossy wife from hell. John on the other hand may be a little bit lazy, but cut the man some slack; he has eight kids, and is married to troglodyte. I personally can see why John may/may not have cheated on her. The way that she talks to him sometimes is embarrassing, and I'm only a spectator…imagine having to live it. No thank you. I can’t help but wonder if this spectacle has anything to do with the reality show curse. It seems like signing on for a reality show is the ‘kiss of death’ when it comes to a marriage: Nick & Jessica, Britney & Kevin, Hulk & Linda (so trashy), Carmen & Dave, Travis & Shanna, and this list goes on. Bottom line is I don’t know if he/she did cheat on her/him. I will say this though, in the season opener, they didn’t appear on camera together for their sit-downs. I’m just saying...

While I’m on the subject, let me throw a couple of my favorite shows out there for your musing. This seems like a lot, and it is, but know that most I don’t watch every week, but the ones that I do are marked with an *.

Drama:
Lost*, Desperate Housewives*, Brothers & Sisters*, Family Guy*, American Dad, Big Love, Law & Order, and Gossip Girl (It’s more like a guilty pleasure)

Reality:
The Real World*, Real Housewives of Orange County/New Jersey*, Project Runway, Airline, Miami Ink, Deadliest Catch, Frontier House (I SO miss that show), Kathy Griffin – My Life on the D List, and Operation Repo

Informative:
How It’s Made, Texas Country Reporter*, Histories Mysteries, Myth Busters, Anderson Cooper 360*, and Larry King Live

Following in the steps of my fellow blogger “Telly,” what are some of your favorite shows?

Well, come hell or highwater, I'm going to turn this Douche of a Day/Week around. No more drama/stress. Look to the future, nothing but happiness, fun & sun!

Woke up Monday and thought "this is going to be a great day!" Man...I couldn't have been more wrong. There's always a storm brewing on the horizon. ALWAYS!

Celebrate good times…c’mon

As mentioned in a previous post my sister graduated with her MBA this weekend. Considering that she has a full-time job, and three year old triplets, this was a pretty hefty task. I must admit, my sister is very smart, but having a little brother who had previously completed the Masters program was a big help to her in her efforts. As a way to celebrate her accomplishment and rewarding my help to her we hit up Uptown. Anyway, we all (me, sister, bro-in-law, and bf) went to Trulucks for some delicious seafood, steak, and drinks. There was even free entertainment provided by a fellow diner. (See photo below, yes, I did take a photo) The gentleman sitting across from us miscalculated the table below slamming his wine glass down so hard it broke the stem…leaving him to hold the mutilated glass in his hand until the waiter was able to retrieve it. Needless to say, it was quite comical. Trust me, if you had been sitting at the table with us, you too would have erupted in laughter.

From Trulucks we ran back to the apartment to enjoy the celebratory Sprinkles cupcakes, then off to Capitol Pub for a night cap. I hope that my sister had a good time, I know I did.

My sister & her husband

Me & Krit

Home sweet home...

I just got home from work about an hour ago & I'm whipped! Today seemed like an eternity, I didn't think I was ever going to get to come home. I'm so tired I'm not even going to go out tonight, nothing but a little R&R for me!

Congrats to my sister, she graduates with her Masters tomorrow...following in the steps of her little brother. Ha Ha! So we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Krit's coming over to hang out in the morning, then all of us (me, CJ, GC, and Krit) are all going out to dinner at Trulucks to celebrate. I'm already salivating at the thought of their blue crab appetizer and steak & lobster entree. I'm thinking of going to Sprinkles to get some celebratory cupcakes for my sister...we shall see.

I'm lost when it comes to LOST

Ok…just what in the hell is going on on that island on LOST. I just finished the season finale of LOST leading up to the final season coming in mid 2010. I am left with so many questions! Warning Lost spoilers ahead.

Here are just some of my questions:
1 – Who is the other man with Jacob in the opening scene?
2 – Why was Jacob seen visiting all the survivors?
3 – Is Jacob a good or bad person?
4 – Does Juliette live or die?
5 – What does Richard’s answer to the statute question translate to?
6 – What’s up with this other team lead by Alana?
7 – If Locke is still dead in a casket, who was the person that looked just like Locke?

So many questions are still swirling around in my head. I honestly don’t know if I am going to be able to make it until the series finale debuts in 2010. It does really seem that the show has taken on some spiritual or good v. evil subject matter. The writers really do deserve some type of an award for creativity, or at minimum a stoning for dragging on the answers to so many important questions.

Let me close by sharing one hypothesis I have formulated with you. The other man in the opening scene with Jacob seems to categorically disagree with everything Jacob believes. He tells him “do you know how bad I want to kill you?” and then says “I will find a loop hole one day” to which Jacob replies “When you do, I’ll be here.” So take that in addition to the fact that the real John Locke is actually dead and his body is being toted in the silver container. Once inside the statue Jacob tells Ben and pseudo Locke “I guess you found your loop hole.” So I think that the person posing as Locke is actually the same man that we see with Jacob in the opening scene. Just a theory… One things for sure though, starting with the first episode of the last season, I’m going to need some questions answered toot sweet.

And if you aren’t a devout follower of LOST everything I have just said above is going to seem like Greek to you. If so, you’re totally missing out – get onboard.

Connie Culp

So I’ve been thinking about what to say in this blog since I first saw Connie Culp’s interview with Dianne Sawyer. The only thing that I could think about for the duration of the interview was “wow, what a truly inspirational person.” If you are not familiar with Connie Culp, she was the first American to receive a face transplant, after her husband shot her in the face with a shotgun, and then turned the gun on himself. He survived and is now in jail. As you can imagine, after being shot close-range in the face with a shotgun Connie’s face was dramatically damaged. I won’t go into specific details, but know that her face was disfigured very badly. After 25+ surgeries Connie received a new face via transplant from a donor. I will be truthfully honest, she still looks slightly out of the ordinary; but, her doctors told her it would take some time before the full effects of the surgery would be realized. Once all the swelling goes down, and they have the ability to remove the extra skin she will look perfectly normal. Before the surgery she couldn’t smell, taste, or feel her face. After the surgery, she first smelled spearmint gum in the hospital, and then mouthwash at home.

What I couldn’t/can’t comprehend was her unwavering positivity, tenacity, gratitude, and forgiveness in spite of such a horrible tragedy. In the interview when speaking about her husband, she tells Dianne Sawyer “I forgave him the day he did it” then she added “I had to.” What kind of a human is able to forgive the person who just shot them in the face forever disfiguring them? She also decided very shortly after the incident, that “I want to be positive. I want to move on. That's what I said," she said. "Everything's going to be great from here on out. It's going to be good." She even made it a point to publicly thank not only the doctors participating in the two-day - 22 hour surgery, but also the individual/family that made a new face available to her by donation. What a truly amazing individual she is. It really makes me examine my own life, which I rarely do, because upon self-reflection, the things I complain and worry about in my life are so small and petty in the grand scheme of things. I have been blessed with a perfect life - my family and I all have our health, happiness, and prosperity. I feel like there is so much that we can learn from Connie, she is truly an inspirational person.

“Weenie” the dog

This weekend was Mothers Day as well as my mother’s birthday. On Sunday I drove out to my parent’s house to be with my family and give my mother her gifts. Upon arrival, I noticed that there is a new member of the family, one with four paws. To make a long story short, it appears that someone threw the dog out somewhere near my parents house and it sauntered up. The dog, which we will call “Weenie” (I’ll get to the name in a bit), appears to be a white female lab of some sorts, though I am not positively certain of its Mammalia Canis classification. She is so sweet and docile; she really has certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ about her, if dogs can have such an attribute. My parents are hesitant to keep her for fear of digging and tearing up the yard/flowerbeds. Anyway, we were instructed not to feed the dog, but since when do I ever follow directions? So I cooked the dog a package of Oscar-Myer weenies [Ergo the name “Weenie”] and fed them to her. At first, she didn’t want to eat them, but once I cajoled her to taste one, she devoured them all. She must have been very hungry.

I’m not sure how this story is going to play out. We’ll just have to wait and see…

Oh, and we had a good Mother's Day/Birthday Celebration.
I love my Mother very much.

Don't mind me... I'm testing out my newly installed mobile blogging interface.

A pretty good day!

Golfing

So, me and the cuz decide to go hit a few balls this morning. Nothing crazy, I mean we’re unquestionably not the next Tiger Woods, more like the next Phil Michelson’s I would say. (Sorry, I couldn’t even help but cackle when I typed that) It was such an enjoyable time. My friend Johnny even met us there for a little while; and, I must say, he and his golfing abilities really astounded me. All and all we did really well – for beginners. There were a few times it rained golf balls though, or a wayward ball actually went further in the patron pavilion than on the green, but hey, like I said, we’re beginners. As the morning progressed, and the empty pitchers piled up, our game actually improved. But funny thing, our improvement very closely followed the Gaussian Distribution, also known as the ‘Bell Curve.’ After about the second pitcher was empty, we both had a hard time making contact with the ball, but little difficulty making contact with the ground?!?! Must be the wind…

*No comments on the stance or posture, please...

Taste of Addison

So I worked the City of Dallas, Trinity River Corridor Project booth at the Taste of Addison today from 2:00 pm – 7:30 pm. To be truthfully honest, I really wasn’t looking forward to going, but once there I actually had a good time! The weather (until it got dark) was perfect. There were a few idiots, who were obviously uneducated and uninformed, who either wanted to argue with me, or just flat out tell me that “they were geology majors and just couldn’t support this project.” Who the flip cares! If you didn’t support the project, or want a free pencil, bag, or brochure, then why did you walk your happy ass over to the booth and talk to me? Why not just pass on by. I didn’t see the point of coming over and making an ass of yourself in front of the people who were actually interested and support the project. Anyway, it was a good time, if you haven’t been to Taste of Addison, you should go.

Gnome update

Just got word from my sister, she found a garden gnome for me! I’m so excited, I can’t believe that she found one – and just in the nick of time. Where did she find it you ask? The Home Depot in Greenville, TX of all places. One more excellent thing, it was on sale for $10.00. Chalk that up to one positive thing going on in my life, and roughly 587,642 negative things.

The biggest let down...

Everyone, at some point in your life will let you down. It doesn’t matter who (family, friend, or foe) each and every one of these people will, in fact, at some point in your life, let you down. It’s just the way things are.

I always have to learn things the hard way, and this friends, is no exception.

KFC Grilled Chicken – totally a “no-go.”

Okay so the queen of everything [Oprah] has once again put her money-grubbing stamp of approval on yet another tangible item. Enter KFC’s new Grilled Chicken… My take from the numerous commercials that I’ve seen plastered all across my TV screen indicate that this new fare offered by KFC for all intents and purposes should be GREAT! Right?!?! Wrong!!!

So yesterday, the work posse and I load up and head to the nearest KFC. After an eternity of trying to find a parking space in what I am now convinced is an extension of Satan’s lair a.k.a. KFC’s parking lot, we opt to try the drive-thru. Sidebar - there are about 65 people in line inside the restaurant, so many in fact the door won’t close.

So we head to the drive thru, after waiting in line for about 20 minutes we get to the window and order. Then I hear, “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t have anymore grilled chicken, would you like Original instead?” “No the hell, I would not,” okay, okay, so I didn’t say that, I wanted to, but didn't. I did opt to wait the additional 11 minutes it would take to finish cooking the new grilled chicken. We have to park and wait except there is no parking available, so we just move up and wait. The movement of vehicles, or lack there of, in the parking lot reminded me a lot of the movements of a Rubik’s cube, but I’m getting off topic. We FINALLY get our food and head back to City Hall. Upon I arrival I learn that they didn’t include one of my sides. By this point, I’m so hungry I don’t care and just want to eat my food. I take a bite and then immediately want to puke. The best way to describe the new grilled chicken from KFC is as follows: it was the vilest, most repulsive, and beastly tasting thing I have ever put into my mouth. Don’t waste your time or money on it.

It’s not like I’m looking for Jimmy Hoffa’s body

So for the past few weeks I’ve been searching for part of my Mother’s Day / Mother’s Birthday gift – A GARDEN GNOME. You have to really understand the family to fully grasp the enormity and comical impact of this gift.

You would think that finding such an integral piece of gardening supplies would be an easy task. Not so. I spent over four hours today driving around Dallas searching for the perfect gnome. One by one, I hit up each location in Dallas suspected of having said gnome, and one by one, I was disappointed. I tried Lowes, Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart, Big Lots, and Calloway’s Nursery. No one had a garden gnome.

Seriously, it wasn’t like I was looking for the rarest, most expensive and exotic substance on earth, I was looking for a freaking garden gnome. Finally, on the suggestion of a friend (thanks Les) I tried Jackson’s Home and Garden on Lemmon across from Love Field Airport. Might I just add that place is amazing! They had the most unique and cool things for sale, and get this, they even serve fresh baked cookies and punch to everyone in the store. Though, since we are in the height of the Swine Flu epidemic I declined the cookie and punch for fear of contracting the pig flu.

Anyway…I asked the concierge (yes, they really do have a concierge) if they carried gnomes. Eureka! They do! I was so excited and ready to pack that bitch up and leave. So I cruise on over to isle 3, and there they are, 50+ different styles of garden gnomes, each with a distinctive facial expression. One problem, the smallest gnome they had was $ 369.99! No lie. Needless to say, I had to pass. I love my Mother, but $369.99 is ridiculous.

The search continues…