I Think It's Going to Rain Today (Bette Midler)

Last night was supposed to be Girl's Camping, but for one reason or another, most of the girls couldn't make it. Kat & I weren't going to bail on each other so we made plans to go to dinner somewhere. As it turned out Trina & Jeff were available as well & so the 4 of us went to an Italian restaurant in Auburn called Auguri.


The food was decent, but the service, in my opinion, was terrible. The waitress didn't offer any fresh ground pepper for my caesar salad, she put a lime wedge into Jeff's beer & she didn't ask if we wanted extra bread or cheese. I was really unimpressed. Would I go back? Yeah, I'd probably give them a second chance with the expectation that the service would/could be lacking.


After dinner, we went to see Superbad at the Supermall theater. I have NEVER been carded at the theater & the teeny-bopper tried to card me. "Are you kidding me?" I said to her, "I'm 32 years old!" Okay, I lied. I'm only 31, but in less than 4 short months, I'll be 32 & besides, I don't even LOOK like I'm under 18, nor does anyone I'm with look under 18. Not to mention, when we bought the tickets, we weren't carded yet you're going to try & card me as I enter the theater. Please. Don't give me the "this-movie-is-rated-R-and-so-we-are-checking-everyone's-ID" B.S. spiel because I don't buy it.


After watching the movie, I did understand why it was rated R. Definitely not suitable for the youngsters. Funny as all get-out, but not appropriate for the youths.

This morning, while looking for something in or near the built-in bookshelf in the living room, Jeff noticed the floor was wet. My first thought was it was Shiggy peeing on the carpet, but he said, "No, it's REALLY wet." Then I felt it & saw what he meant. It really was wet. After realizing it was the hot water heater, on the other side of the wall, my next thought was, "Oh crap! This is going to be expensive to fix" followed by, "How am I supposed to shower?" Priorities, you know.


I called my dad & he came over about 45 minutes later with his two wrenches & 'fixed' the leak in the pipes. Seriously? Yeah, seriously. Just a loose fitting in the pipe. I was/am SO thrilled it was that easy to repair. He also took out his handy dandy moisture meter & was able to tell how far out in the carpet & up the wall the water had seeped. Fortunately, the water won't cause much in the way of damage; it'll dry up in several days with the help of the vornado & a dehumidifer my dad has graciously let us borrow.


Today, I am thankful for:
1. Dad's owning all kinds of neat tools.
2. Discount movie tickets.
3. Dehumidifiers
4. Dead Ants
5. Division signs


What irks me today:
Today, I am irked by people who try to take advantage of or use others for their own benefit. Well, really, why would you take advantage of someone else, except for your own benefit? Anyways, this irks me because I feel like if someone offers you something, it's not necessarily because they want you to have it all, but rather, perhaps they are just being polite. In return, you should graciously accept what is being offered to you, but don't ask for & expect more.

Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band)

As the song lyrics go, time keeps on slippin' into the future... Seriously. Where has the year gone? I was at Rite Aid the other day (no surprise, I'm at the one across the street from my work all the time for one thing or another) & they ALREADY had Halloween candy in the "seasonal" aisle. This was BEFORE July had even ended. If I need a cheap chocolate fix, I know where to go for some "fun sized" treats.

Just an update on the train/I-5 situation: I've been taking train #2 to Seattle. It departs out of Puyallup so there is a seat on the way to work; don't have to worry about the additional passengers that would be getting on in Tacoma on this one. Coming home, I've been lucky to find a seat everyday I've taken the 1st train home. Getting out of the parking garage has been a different story. It seems there's a mass exodus in the evenings in Auburn & so it takes a few minutes. I've learned to just chill out in my car & wait for the bulk of the cars to leave before I even start my car.

Today, I bought a travel guide (things to do & see, where to stay, eat, shop, etc) for London. I've never been to Europe & I'm excited to get my travel on. I'm hoping once Kim moves over there in 7-ish weeks, that she & Henry will be able to gives us some ideas of fun things to do (not just museums & galleries, because the book says we should go). For sure, on my list of stuff to do is the London Eye.

Today, I am thankful for:

1. Shiggy telling us in his own way we need to change the litterbox
2. Bryan finally selling a house
3. Speedy deliveries
4. Peas in my salad
5. Barnes & Noble discount cards

What irks me today:

Today, I am irked by adults, especially women, who still wear digital watches. I learned how to tell time (by non-digital means) when I was in 2nd grade or so. You must have learned about the same time I did. Why must you insist on wearing that ugly plastic thing on your wrist? Are you trying to make a statement of sorts? It couldn't be a fashion statement. Maybe that's the one part of your childhood that you can hold onto forever.

My Baby Takes the Morning Train (Sheena Easton)

Boy was it CROWDED tonight on the train, coming home. With all the I-5 construction going on, many commuters decided to give up their usual routes (via bus or car) & opted to try out the Sounder Train instead. I think it's great that people want to find a better way to work (& then home again), but when the train is this crowded, it's not fun for me. Yes, this is my blog & therefore, it's ALL ABOUT ME!

With all kidding aside, thankfully, I was able to change my shift from a 8:30 - 5 to a 7:30 to 4 shift. I wasn't worried about the train itself being so crowded (I can stand for the 30 minute ride from Auburn to Seattle); I was moreso worried about not being able to find a parking spot at the Auburn Station Garage.

On a normal day of commuting, I take the 3rd of 4 trains, though in reality, I could easily get by with taking the 4th train to Seattle; it will get me to work by my regular start time. The problem lies in the parking situation in Auburn. The 6 story garage fills up mighty quickly & so I take the earlier train just so I could have a parking spot inside (on top of) the garage.

This morning, I took the 3rd of 5 trains & the garage was filling up FAST by the time I got there. The streets surrounding the parking garage would normally have been my back up had the garage been full. By the time I got to the garage, the street parking was already gone. A co-worker took the 4th (of 5) train this morning & couldn't find parking in the garage or nearby streets & ended up parking in a nearby Safeway parking lot. I hope he wasn't towed or ticketed today.

My predictions for tomorrow? Everyone who got to the garage "late" (after 6:40am), will arrive earlier tomorrow so as to get a parking spot. For me, I'll be doing the same thing: instead of taking the 3rd train, I'll be taking the 2nd train. Starbucks better have my cup of Joe waiting for me.

For my sister's birthday, she wanted to go shopping so my dad gave me some money to take her shopping. The stipulation of this shopping trip was that she couldn't purchase anything that I didn't approve of. I knew how much money there was & what I wanted to do with it (shopping, hair cut, lunch) & so I tried to get the most bang out of my dad's buck by suggesting Walmart. Okay, so I know it's not the best place to go shopping, but it was worth a shot. We went to JCPenney's instead where my sister got some killer deals. She got $231 worth of clothes for only $88 or so. Next stop: haircut. If I had known there was going to be so much money leftover, I would have skipped lunch & made an appt to get her hair hilighted or something. Last stop: lunch at Azteca (I wanted Qdoba, but alas, it was her birthday afterall). It's okay though. My lunch lasted me 3 meals, actually. Sweet!

Today, I am thankful for:
1. working an earlier shift
2. having a seat on the train
3. not falling asleep & missing my stop
4. finding a parking spot at the train station
5. knowing the chaos of everyone else riding the train will soon be over


What irks me today:
Comcast. That should be enough said, but I'll elaborate. I really don't hate Comcast as much as I hate only being able to record 2 shows at a time & that's it. Tonight, there are a couple shows I want to watch & won't be able to watch/record because we can only record the 2 shows & one of those shows is the M's game for Jeff. The other two shows I'll be missing is Hell's Kitchen & Fat March. Tonight is the season finale of HK & I figure I'll read some forum that announces the winner. FM is a new show that I started watching last week, but will miss because I don't want to miss Greek for the 2nd week in a row.

Movies (Alien Ant Farm)

Jeff & I just got back from seeing Live Free or Die Hard. I've been wanting to see this movie & I'm glad we did. It got great reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. I usually don't care much for action flicks, but I like the Die Hard trilogy, so I figured I'd like #4 too. I have to admit, it had it's fair share of cheesy moments where I thought to myself, "yeah, right" but overall, I liked it.

In other not so new news, Trina & David have called it quits & she is now staying with us for awhile. I really enjoy having her here, though, she isn't really here all that much it seems. Right now, she's in CA to see a concert with her bud. Don't fret. She'll be back soon.

Tomorrow, Jeff & I are going to watch the Tacoma Rainiers play some ball. I've been wanting to go to a Rainier's game & here's my chance. Though, really, I know nothing about them as far as how well they're doing. It'll be fun to get out there in the sun & just hang out & have a good time if nothing else.

My company had their summer event last Sunday: a picnic at the Woodland Park Zoo. Jeff & I went, but didn't stay long. We were at the actual picnic for about an hour - enough time to eat the catered Longhorn BBQ lunch that was provided & then leave to go wander the zoo with Aimee & her daughter, Nicole.

On Wednesday, I'm taking the day off to visit my favorite doctor: the FUN doctor. I'm also going to give my toes a nice pedi. It's been a month since my last one, so they're due for another. And, perhaps I'll meander on over to Jaime's house to visit with her & Kaveen. I'm sure she'll love having the company.

Anything else? Ummm... Happy Birthday, Joel. Okay, that's all folks.

Today, I am thankful for:

1. Movie passes
2. Movie popcorn
3. Bathrooms close to the theater
4. McCarthy Mono-Plex REALLY near completion
5. The theater being close to my home

What irks me today:

I hate it when I get an email (or anything in writing) from someone and they use the wrong spelling of a word (i.e. too/two/to, their/they're/there, etc). The other day, our AVP of HR sent an email & asked if our interest was peaked yet. Last I checked, my interest can not come to a point nor can it be sickly. So no, my interest was not peaked. Piqued, perhaps. But, definitely not peaked. I hate this because it shows either stupidity or laziness & that's not cool, especially when it comes from a Sr. Manager.