09.30.03
Posted in Job at 10:00 pm by Think-Tink
I work in one of the graduate programs at the CHK. I am officially only the supervisor of 2 graduate assistants. I am unofficially the supervisor of the other full-time worker in the office. CHK Mama is a very nice lady, except that she is older and has a 1 year old. I am constantly hearing, I will be late, Leaving early or not in at all from her. The last time this happened, it was “won’t be in at all” and it coincided with a day I had planned off.
I just got a call, yes, I give everyone my home number, that CHK Mama has strep throat. She was out today and will be out again tomorrow. Today wasn’t an issue, but tomorrow is a major issue. If you have been reading this blog, you know that SB and I just got our power back. The insurance adjuster is also finally coming out. So, I asked to take tomorrow off. I feel like a heel for being upset that CHK Mama won’t be in yet again, but honestly I don’t want her around if she has strep throat.
Erggg….
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Posted in There at 9:41 pm by Think-Tink
I bought a new car in May, a 2003 Toyota Echo. I love the car, my gas mileage is wonderful (40mpg), even with 5 mph bumper to bumper traffic for 45 minutes on the way home. The size is perfect for me.
One of the perks I get is free oil changes. I went in for my very first one today. I was fully expecting to have them come back with all of these things that need fixing that somehow aren’t under the bumper to bumper warranty. Well, I went in, paid the $8.98 for the tire rotation, and that was it! No suggested maintenance, no this is starting to wear out, you should think abouts nothing. I was in shock on the way home! It was a very nice thing to have happen.
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Posted in Food at 4:24 pm by Think-Tink
You know how you want what you can’t/don’t have? Well, since our power was out I have wanted 3 things, cheesy popcorn, ice cream and doughnuts.
Orville Redenbacher’s makes a Cheese butter popcorn that has the orange stuff on it as it cooks and also a cheese butter to top it with after it comes out of the microwave. This is why I have been wanting it so badly…MICROWAVE…with no power at the house and no microwave at the condo, I was almost at the point of trying to bribe someone to let me use thier microwave to cook it. This can be dinner for me on some nights.
Ice cream for the obvious reason of no place to store it. I really don’t care what type at this point. PoloRandy and SB took me Dairy Queen for a Pecan Blast Sundae and it helped the craving for a while but there is nothing like going into the freezer and getting out a dish or 2 or 3 or 10 in a night.
Doughnuts are because we have not been near a Krispy Kreme in 2 weeks that has had it’s light on. If you are from the Southern USA you know about Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They are good cold, but if you can get them as they come off the conveyor belt after having gone through a curtain of vanilla smelling glaze, it is heaven! The doughnuts melt in your mouth. You can not get them any fresher. How you know when a Krispy Kreme has hot doughnuts is that they have a neon light as a part of the their store sign that says “HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW”. SB and I start salivating when we see that sign all lit up.
This can also be made into a meal at points in time. SB and I, as we do our Thrift Store circuit on Saturdays, try to time it so that we hit that part of Mercury Blvd. when the light is on.
Ok life getitng back to normal here and even had a semi productive day at work…
UPDATE: Cheesy popcorn was made and devoured at 9:00pm EST. 
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Posted in Here at 10:21 am by Think-Tink
Wow, I can not tell you how nice it is going to be tonight to go home and sleep in my bed! With lights and AC and Hundred and Bear.
Over the past almost 2 weeks, I have found out there are alot of good people in the world. There are still the evil ones, like those who wanted $750 to cut up 4 down trees, but there is alot of good. I have met people on my street that I wouldn’t have normally. I am thankful that there are people in Texas and Quebec and many other places that have come to help us recover.
I feel a kinship with the people in Nova Scotia right now. I understand that Juan has hit their area pretty badly. I haven’t seen any news reports though.
Thank you all for all of your support of me, Punchbuggy , SB , Roxette Bunny and PoloRandy.
Now for the questions of the week…how was the Trading Spaces they Hated it show? What has been happening in the world? What should I do wtih my hair,should I redye it (I enhance my redness)? I feel like I am coming out of hibernation…
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09.29.03
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:07 pm by Think-Tink
Guess What! I am writing this from my home! We have power for the first time in 12 days. We are going to spend one last night in the condo. The air in here is really stale and we need for the pumps to have time to work on the basement. Wednesday we will be staying home to clean the basement as scary as that will be. Some of the stuff down there has been under water for the whole 12 days. There might be little fishies growing down there.
This is such a relief.
Hey SB looks like MOngolian BBQ for dinner tomorrow!
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Posted in There at 3:08 pm by Think-Tink
Sunday was a nice relaxing day compared to Saturday. The condo inhabitants got up and started to slowly function. Diet Coke in hand, Mom and I let PR and SB get moving since they had to be out earlier than we did. Mom and I left the condo about 9:30 and ate a nice healthy McD’s breakfast. We headed down to the Oceanfront for our volunteer duties of the day. We didn’t have to be there until about 1 but wanted to see the art show and the other activities going on for Neptune Festival Weekend. We went down Shore Drive expecting to see devastation due to the storm. We didn’t really see a lot of damage, I guess a lot of it must have been cleaned up. We made it down to the Oceanfront and got our free parking space.
We rode the trolley down to 33rd St and walked back through all the art vendors booths. There is some really nice pieces of art and etc. being made in the world. There were some beautiful amber pieces of jewelry that we saw. Some really weird fishies with huge eyes too. There was a lot of pottery there this year also. Nice stuff, I got some ideas from some of the things we saw. Now to see if those ideas will actually work.
We went and got our food vouchers, $4 isn’t a lot of money when it comes to oceanfront eating. Good thing I brought some cash with me too. We are very lucky in that we volunteer in the volunteer check in booth and have shade and cold drinks around most of the time. We also had a good place to see the parade from. We did notice that even this usually very on top of it team of people had some cracks due to the storm and other things. First off, a lot of the volunteers for this event didn’t show either. From there, some disorganization happened in some vendors, and sand sculptors and other people were not able to make it here. I was really impressed at how cleaned up the oceanfront area was, how storm damage was already being repaired in most places.
I did have one big issue this time. I have been volunteering as a volunteer coordinator for 5 years now. I pretty much know what to do and where to find answers. We had this one Committee Person (CP) who decided she needed to do our work for us. If I stopped to catch my breath she was right there overriding what I said. Mom and I are happy to do our work and help wherever possible but let us do it, don’t make me out to be an idiot. We did have some goofs, because normally there is a book of answers there for us. Not this time. We had the normal ice problems. The CP was doing the parade and then came in with all of her children and basically pushed us out of the area we needed to be in to check in the other incoming volunteers. We started working in the trailer because Mom doesnt stand well for long periods of time. It was very frustrating this time around. I did meet an interesting fellow who works for Clear Channel. He was telling me about the concerts he has produced in this area. Interesting stuff. We were also treated to the Stihl Ironjack show. Lumberjack competitions on stage. It was really interesting.
After our shift, which we were glad to get out of there, we walked down to see the sand castle competition. Va. Beach is one of the few places in the US that has a professional sand castle competition. The designs get pretty intricate and some just make you wonder how they could do that with sand. We found cheap hot dogs to eat along the way.
We walked back to the car, or started to and it began to rain. I left Mom in a place and ran to get the car. We went around via General Booth to take Mom home. There were some major trees down out that way. I got Mom to her house and went along to the condo. After a really nice dinner and dessert, it was back to the condo for bed on a very full tummy.
Now it’s back to the doldrums of work…
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Posted in Here at 2:06 pm by Think-Tink
PoloRandy, SB and I went to the house in Hampton to meet FEMA early Sat. Morning. Once we got back from there, PR and SB went to Elizabeth City to do more cleaning at PR’s parent’s house. I went to pick up Mom and off we went to the Williamsburg Scottish Games. We were doing good with traffic and got to the Williamsburg Winery in good time. We became VERY apprehensive when we started down into the parking field. It was quite rutted and dry but still mushy. I have experienced this field in the rain and both mom and I said we were leaving at the first rain drop even if it was still during our shift. The field turns into a big swamp and the last time we were there in the rain many many vehicles had to be towed out. We had no passes or anything mailed to us and we had to make the people taking the money try to believe we really were there to work. We walked around, got something to eat but had our first bad sign of the day when there was no sauce for a meat pie. Meat pies usually have a type of barbeque sauce that goes with them. From there, this same vendor had NO drinks. We ate our dry meat pies, and went back to where we supposed to be volunteering. There was no water for us or anything there. I don’t expect a lot when I volunteer for someone but on a hot day, water would be nice. As there was nothing to drink at the information tent, I went to one of the other vendors and bought warm water and one cold soda. The vendor was waiting for ice. Mom and I were told some very basics and then were left to try to figure out information on our own. The people running the Games also forgot to bring Ceidhl (KAY-lee) tickets, so we had very little to do. We muddled through our shift and at 3:15 tried to get the attention of someone important to tell we needed to leave, as our shift ended at 3. At 3:30, they just closed up the information tent as there was no replacements for us. I am not surprised people didn’t show up with the storm having only been a week before, and I didn’t receive one personal email or phone call to a) let me know that the Games were still on, b) ask if I could still make it, and c) if I had gotten my passes. There were no vendors there that had anything I HAD to have. For me to say this at any Games is highly unusual. There is usually something I am drooling over.
On the way home, Mom and I were talking and we decided to see if she could spend the night with us in the condo. We were going to see Peter Cetera that night and then volunteer at the Neptune Festival Sunday.
Saturday night, visited PR’s aunt in the hospital. I really don’t like hospitals. I am not comfortable in them and then never feel I have the right words to say to whoever I am visiting. Especially in this case since Anna Mae is in the cancer ward and will probably be made comfortable and sent home to see what happens, and it isn’t a good what happens. I hope the end will be peaceful and painless for her.
We ate at Doumar’s. Wonderful ice cream and shakes. My chocolate shake went really well with my burger. Doumar’s is a Norfolk have to eat at if you are visiting. Depending on who you talk to, the original owner made the first ice cream cone. I will say their cones are wonderful too.
Dinner eclipsed the concert of Peter Cetera and the Va. Symphony Orchestra. The Symphony was great but Peter Cetera is not the singer he once was. He couldn’t hold the notes he used to.
From there, we went to the condo, SB, PR, mom and I. We all settled down and found out that the vents in the condo permit talking to be heard from room to room.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 9:42 am by Think-Tink
I am just getting caught up on everyone so as the day goes on I will add to this…
Punchbuggy is asking for suggestions of scents for the candles he makes.
SB is catching us up on the music he got over the weekend.
Revog was painting. Darn that TRading Spaces for giving her ideas!!
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Posted in There at 9:35 am by Think-Tink
there was power at the condo SB PoloRandy and I were staying at. We at least had hot water, lights and a working TV! It was nice to go there and relax of being busy for most of each day. FEMA evaluated SB’s house and told us the water heater and furnace are probably gone after having water in them for so long. Amazingly enough, after FEMA left, 3 hours later, SB got a call from USAA, who had not contacted SB all week, even though he called and did the online application.
My weekend was busy and as I get the chance today I will tell you all about it.
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Posted in Here at 9:30 am by Think-Tink
I was just reading some of what I wrote last week. I seemed to be getting grumpier and grumpier as the week went on. I am normally not that way. I try to see the postitive in most everything. I guess sometimes making that lemonade is a little hard from those lemons…
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