I *Heart* Qdoba
Everyone seems to be in love with Chipotle. I'm not sure why. I went there once about five years ago and wasn't all that impressed. I am, however, a card carrying member of the Qdoba fan club. Yesterday, I was hungry and in the area so I stopped at Qdoba for a quesadilla. I even broke out my emergency twenty to pay. Excitingly, because I am awesome and so are they, when I handed over my fan club card, my meal was free. I really, really like them.
Things You Can Do When Working from Home
-Look for other jobs
-Wear pajamas
-Wash clothes
-Take naps
-Watch TV
-View sites that are blocked from the office
-Not work
-Play music through speakers not headphones
-Play games
They've Gone
Do you hear that? It's the sound of nothing. Everyone left my house and I am delighted to be back in my own bed, sleeping on my own schedule and getting Girl #3 as my mother refers to hear out of my house. Sadly, I had to clean up a lot. My kitchen was a disaster.
Hotel E opens up again tomorrow. I have to entertain for another week, go shopping for school supplies and other exciting articles but then I am done. I am dumping everything next weekend.
Yum Food
One of our vendors sent us brownies today. The advertising world is so full of food suck-up gifts that sometimes I don't mind that I've been transferred into my current department.
Because I'm tired and hungry
Yesterday my mother flooded my laundry room. Good job, Mom. I was most pleased to find that the floor drain is fully functioning in there.
Oh also yesterday after everyone at my office was grumbling about the waste of their tax dollars when watching the president drive by (I'll bet you $1,000 that they wouldn't have said a thing if it had been a Democrat), one of my coworkers told me she firmly believes that the Wellstone crash was a Republican conspiracy to get a hold of the Senate seat. Ummm...never mind that making a martyr out of Wellstone basically handed the seat to the Democrats (who then managed to completely blow it by politicizing the memorial ceremony), what the hell? Who are these people? Good God.
I'm so tired right now, I think I might fall asleep at my desk. There is nothing out there to keep me entertained and I don't want to work to hard or I will fall asleep.
Not only that but apparently the Twins sucked last night. I wouldn't know. I didn't get a chance to see it. God I just want to go home, kick everyone out of my house, curl up and go to sleep.
Free to Be You and "E"
I got my credit card bill yesterday. I am happy to report that for the first time in months, my total bill was not over $500. Yay for not spending money on credit. I have to say though, that I babysat quite a bit this month and so had a lot of cash to spend instead of using credit.
In unrelated news, I was inspired by Batgirl's Free to Be Rad and Brad post and immediately checked out Free to Be You and Me from the library. I'm most disappointed that my favorite song from the album is not included on the DVD. I'm not sure what the song is called but it involves Earl and Pearl, ice cream and secret codes. Boo to the exclusive Marlo Thomas production company.
William Wants a Doll was included. The chanting, "A do-oll, a do-oll William wants a do-oll" is fun until it gets in your head. That song must go.
This weekend I cleaned my house. I removed the calcium/rust deposits from the toilet using extremely strong chemicals, dusted, disinfected, swept, mopped and scrubbed. I did not get to the vacuum, but I'll do that tonight. My house is now fairly clean. Perhaps next week, I'll do it again.
Yesterday, I went to see the worst movie I've ever seen. No hyperbole here. The WORST movie ever. Literally one minute into the movie I was ready to get up and leave. And indeed 45 minutes in, I told the girls I was going to the bathroom, walked across the hall, and watched 15 minutes of Snakes on a Plane.
Sadly, I had to return to the other movie. Thankfully the last half hour was watchable. And just to clarify, the girls agreed that the movie was the worst they'd ever seen too.
Sleep
Yesterday, I "watched" the Twins game at work with Gameday. I was upset when I got home and realized the game was being rebroadcast at 7. If I hadn't known what had happened, I would have been happily watching the game last night. As it was, I watched the first few innings to see how Garza looked and then went to bed. Some life I live.
My mom called me last night to tell me she'd done something bad. It seems she allowed herself to be talked into taking yet another student. Let's review the situation.
-My parents are currently the "welcome family" for two students.
-My mother has no leads on families to take these kids.
-My father is really upset about the whole deal.
-My mother has now agreed to take a third student into her home.
After telling me she's taking this third student, she told me I couldn't tell my dad anything. He can't know. Do you think he's not going to notice a Korean girl suddenly showing up at his house?
My mom thinks he'll handle it better if it's a fait accompli. Somehow, I don't think that's going to go over very well.
Friday - Picked up Miss S and Miss A and went to the mall to eat, shop and see the ever so fantastic Zoom. I was ridiculously grateful that I would not have to sit through Step Up, the prospect of which I had been dreading since I heard the movie was coming out. Little girls and cheesy dance movies going hand in hand as they do. While Zoom would not be in my top ten movies, it's a hell of a lot better than Step Up. After dropping off Miss A, we went back to Miss S's place where we watched a What Not To Wear marathon until we fell asleep. Miss S's mother arrived home at 3AM and I finally jumped into my own bed at 3:45.
Saturday - My brother called and wanted to arrange an exchange, Photoshop for his sportcoat. I took him out to lunch (his birthday was on Friday) and then headed to the Dome where the Twins played assball. The only positive aspects of this game were the seats and the fact that I did not ride the train or pay for parking. I was home 45 minutes before I would have been there had I taken the train. All this in spite of the fact that I parked a good 20-25 minute walk from the Dome.
Sunday - I watched the game and went for a run in the rain. So ended my weekend.
If I Can't Get My Alcohol Home, the Terrorists Have Won
So the latest stupid idea to come out of Al-Qaeda is to blow up planes carrying travellers from London to the US using carry-on liquids and iPods (or something to that effect). My first thought on hearing this was that I was right about terrorists not being interested in blowing up my Air Canada flight. It made my trip through Toronto earlier this year sound more reasonable.
In their efforts to thwart would be murderers, the government has seen fit to restrict everyone from bringing fun things like toothpaste, contact solution and lip gloss in their carry on luggage. When I heard this, I was most delighted that I had travelled in May because I was carrying a hell of a lot of the newly banned substances - Most important of which was all of the alcohol I had with me. From Warsaw to London, I had a six pack of beer, three bottles of wine and a bottle of vodka (note: I only had carry-on luggage - it was quite heavy). From London to home, I had the vodka, the wine and three bottles of beer. I left the other bottles in my hotel room as a tip. And also because my bag was ridiculously full, weighed at least 50 pounds and I had to get to Heathrow, walk across that place, walk a freaking mile in Toronto (not exagerating on this - the sign said the gate was 1200 meters away and that was after already walking at least a half mile) and walk across the airport at home.
Now I hear that the terrorists have screwed up the joyful system of trying to get as much liquor into the country as possible. I am deeply saddened by this. We cannot allow them to win and they sure as hell aren't going to keep me from my alcohol. Bastards.
What'd I Miss?
Oh that's right. Justin hit number 30 last night. Did I see it? No. I was babysitting for the most adorable 4 year old ever. There may have been four other kids there, but they were not so adorable. I went fishing, took the kids on a paddleboat, went bike riding, launched kids on the trampoline, played on the swings, and made a leaf carpet. All in all, I'm very sad that I missed the big milestone, but am $40 the richer so I guess it's not that big a deal.
Also, I saw the Bitch Sox get beat, the other Bitch Sox lost and the Twins lead the Wild Card race! This would all be fantastic if I wasn't slowly coming to the realization that I'm going to have to shell out $900 for playoff tickets.
Reality
So I'm a reality tv junkie. I'll admit I watch more than I need to and this summer, I've been watching So You Think You Can Dance. It's sad. Sadder than my addiction to the World Series of Pop Culture on VH1. Last night, you'll all be happy to know that I went for a run during reality show time. Yay for me! Also, good job Twins on not sucking while I went for my run.
Pool Closed for Repairs
The Community Center has closed its pool for the next two months to build a new slide. They have made alternate arrangements for those who swim. Until September 3, one can swim Tues/Thurs 11:30-12:55. Very helpful. Great arrangements. After the 4th, one can swim Tues/Thurs 8:30-9:30PM. I'm tempted to go in and demand a refund for the next two months when I will not be able to swim. Yes, I recognize that I have a Bally's membership. And yes, there is a Bally's across the street from my office. But God knows, I never actually use it. And health clubs are ridiculously busy after work. I'd end up splitting a lane with four people.
In movie news, I saw The Descent this weekend. The movie was your typical horror movie - think Gollum and his extended family turning into vicious flesh eaters living in a cave and terrorizing the idiots who decided to invade Gollum's home. The gore fest was laughable and utterly predictable. However, there were about ten minutes in the movie that made me so uncomfortable that if it had continued I would have left. I am never going spelunking. EVER.
By All Definitions, Raisins Are Food
In fun news today, my mother called me to tell me she has destroyed a girl's dreams. That's right, my mother the Dream Destroyer. I'm calling her that from now on.
You Know All Those Polish Jokes?
They are true. I've been working with a Polish shipping company in Chicago trying to mail a package to Poland. One cannot use the post office because the package will never get where it's going - The Polish Postal Service will "lose" it but blame the USPS. Umm hmm. I'm sure it's the USPS that opens up my birthday and Christmas cards too. Anyway, this company is quite good and trustworthy but when I call them in Chicago do they speak English? No. Obviously, they want to exclude Americans from using their service. A little silly considering there are 300 million Americans living in the US and only 1.5 million Poles. Also, they are based in Chicago and last time I checked that was in the United States where you know, people speak English (or Spanish but I doubt many Mexicans are shipping to Poland so I can understand that).
So eventually I was transferred to the person I wanted to speak with and he promised to fax me the customs forms directly. As an American, I expected that to happen the same day. As someone who has dealt with Poles, I should have known that meant sometime the next week.
Then I took a look at these customs forms. What the hell? There are fields where you have to describe what's in the package. Categories include:
Clothes
Socks
Shirts
Pants
Jackets
Dresses
Men's
Women's
Children's
Cocoa
Food
Chewing Gum
Candy
Chocolate
Raisins
Now can you explain to me why there is a general category for clothes, then specific clothing items, then men's, women's and children's? Or why raisins gets its own category? Are raisins not food? Are many people shipping raisins to Poland?
My favorite category is Vegeta. I'm assuming this is for vegetables, but you can't ship produce so I'm confused. Also, the entire form is in Polish and English and the Polish translation is also Vegeta (Polish word for vegetables: Warzywa). I don't get it. Also, no category for books, toys, things that people generally ship. Whatever, I'm making up my own categories.
Wasting Away Again in Margaritaville
I was going to rank the places I have had margaritas at in the last year, but they were too numerous to remember. Comparatively though, I will say that Don Pablo's has hands down the best margaritas I've had all year - big, tasty, not skimping on the tequila and at $3.25 one of the cheapest deals out there. Plus the chips are free.
Last night, sadly I did not get a Don Pablo's margarita. I did, however, have one at Billabong. It was nice. Also, cheap. Happy hours are good. I would go to these more often if I paid attention to when they were.
Once there, I learned that everyone is going to Kansas City this weekend. I was appalled to find that they are not going to see the Twins - except for Meredith who I would expect to go see them. What else would you do in Kansas City? Visit the Truman Presidential Library? Or the Jesse James house? I'm at a loss here.
I Want Stuffed Mushrooms
In an effort to keep my daily diet from becoming all things I should not eat, I've decided I need a reason to have certain things. I want those mushrooms (and I generally hate mushrooms) so I've decided to have a party. The great thing about this party is that it's really an E only party so all the mushrooms and anything else I crave, along with all the liquor, can be consumed by me. Even better, no messy clean-up, no pre-guest clean-up and my party can be held whenever I want it - subject to change on my whims. The E party will be awesome.
