Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year

I'm sick. I'll give this year another hour or so and then I'm going to bed. Thank God I don't have to go to work in the morning.

posted by E @6:18 PM 

Friday, December 28, 2007

Merry Christmas

My trip home was pretty uneventful. Friday morning I left at 8:00 to catch my 2:00 flight. The Sisters were a mess and Parley's had chain laws up but I made it to the airport in a speedy two and a half hours. Sunny and bright in Salt Lake apparently means a two hour airport delay.

I finally got to Minneapolis, stopped in to visit Dawn to say hi and to demonstrate that even living 1200 miles away, I know where you are, then I went to see a depressing and very frustrating French film. Not a movie I recommend when you are tired. Also, the whole movie depended on spelling and it bothered me to have them say "M" but the subtitle say "D" and so on.

Saturday, we went out for brunch, visited the library, then saw Sweeney Todd. Yet another movie I did not particularly need to see. Afterwards, we stopped in at the liquor store so my brother could get some beer. We walked out with over $60 in alcohol.

Sunday, we did nothing, then drove in major snow to Eden Prairie to visit library #2, get my mom's Christmas gift and see Charlie Wilson's War. I can't stand Julia Roberts. Thankfully, she and her horrible fake Texas accent were only in the movie briefly. It was a better movie than the other two.

Monday, we celebrated at my Aunt and Uncle's house. I got lots of presents from George including wool socks, emergency candles and Snickers. Gracie was much more excited about her present from George. I also got a cordless drill from my brother. All the better to put up new blinds with when Gracie tears them down - which incidentally she did on Thursday.

Tuesday, we ate Christmas dinner at my grandma's nursing home. It was everything you would expect Christmas dinner in a nursing home to be - although the food was much better than expected and the wine wasn't terrible. My grandmother also managed to feed herself a couple times which was much, much better than the night before. Oh, and she could actually talk and look at her presents. After leaving her, we went to see National Treasure 2. Did you know that Sylvan Lake is on top of Mount Rushmore? Really? After the movie we stopped in at Bennigan's and I had a margarita. We went home and watched yet another incredibly depressing movie called Away from Her.

Wednesday, I had a 7:00 flight so we left the apartment at 5:30. I spent a delightful hour and a half sitting on the runway in Minneapolis, followed by another half hour on the runway in Salt Lake. Then I spent another fun two and half hours at the Dodge dealer in Park City where some Mexican guy kept trying to get my phone number. I will give the dealership credit for having Dish Network. As the only one waiting, I had control over the television. In the ongoing saga of my truck repair, it is still not fixed. Although apparently the airbag is in fact functioning - just not completely. I did not have to pay yet though so bonus there.

posted by E @10:24 PM 

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Letters

Dear Weather,

Please stop.

Yours,

E

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Neighbors,

Enough with the gifts already. I'm from the city; we're mean to our neighbors. I promise I'll try to get you all New Year's gifts.

Regards,

Person Who's Never Met You
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Carolers,

We wish you Merry Christmas too. You scared my dog.

Bah Humbug,

E

posted by E @9:28 PM 

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

My boss died on Friday evening. After a long recovery from bladder surgery to remove cancer, last week they discovered the cancer had spread through his body and gave him 3 days to live. Needless to say, it's been a bad week in the office.

posted by E @9:38 PM 

Monday, December 17, 2007

A Parade of Moisture

Once again I have to travel to Salt Lake City and once again they are calling for massive snowfall. The last one caused the freeway to close and even when it was open, it wasn't because truck drivers suck and park all over the Sisters blocking traffic. It doesn't snow a damn bit all winter except when I need to get somewhere. The fun starts tomorrow evening and continues until Friday afternoon. All total they're expecting 2-3 feet of snow. I'm never going to get home. Damn mountains.

If necessary, I've planned an alternate route that takes me 150 miles out of the way around the freeway across the middle of absolute nowhere, up into Idaho and down through Utah. If everything works out, I'll be in Minnesota Friday afternoon. If not, I'll be dead or stuck in a snow bank. Merry Christmas to me.

posted by E @9:31 PM 

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Sunny and Warm

One thing I love about living here is that if it's not raining or snowing (which it rarely does), it's sunny and bright with nary a cloud in the sky. Today the sun was so warm, my heat did not come on all day. I love the sun.

In other news, I cleaned up more of Gracie's messes this weekend including spending 45 minutes replacing and restringing the blinds she destroyed while I was gone yesterday. Clearly my fault for not opening them. I also discovered that I am a plumbing god.

posted by E @8:18 PM 

Friday, December 14, 2007

Presents II

Today we received the present catalog from our office. Basically, this is a catalog of things we can choose from, each with a value up to $250. Obviously that's a nice present. That said, the stuff in the catalog isn't all that inspiring and the stuff that is decent I already have or don't really need like an iPod or the Nintendo DS.

I spent the day looking into the gift cards available (they hide these in online catalog). While wondering what the hell one would do with with a $250 gift certificate to Mrs. Fields - the mind boggles - I have to decide between Cabela's or Barnes and Noble. I searched through the Cabela's Christmas catalog and managed to find stuff that I could buy but would feel like I'm just trying to spend money - like the wood stove vacuum. The little shovel thing and a bag work just fine for cleaning it out. Do I need to spend $200 on a special vacuum?

Barnes and Noble is nice but that's a lot of money and I always feel like I'm overpaying when most of what I want is at Wal*Mart for 25% less. This is especially true now that Booksfree provides me with access to much older titles not available in stores or libraries. Also, BN is very far away.

Then I got an idea - Foot Locker should have sports apparel right? I could get a Twins jersey which I think are overpriced and would never buy with my own money. Do you know what jersey is available at Foot Locker? Derek Freaking Jeter. Foot Locker is dead to me.

Maybe I'll just get the thermo-electric wine cellar.

posted by E @9:48 PM 

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Presents

I had the greatest present picked out for my coworker and was all set to purchase it when I discovered it was out of stock everywhere. Now I'm totally screwed. I can't get anything shipped here in a week (even overnight shipping = 2 or 3 days). So now I'm stuck. I'm going to have to drive to Layton or something and pray I can find something appropriate. Clearly Christmas shopping sucks.

posted by E @7:15 PM 

Friday, December 07, 2007

Weather People Always Lie

Weather forecasters are never correct unless whatever they are forecasting is totally going to screw your plans. Watching the giant green blob in California yesterday, I knew I'd better haul ass to Salt Lake before the three feet of snow they were predicting hit. Amazingly, I made a good choice on the travel because as of now part of that route is at 18 inches and counting. We're at a meager eight inches, but hey, we still have two days of snow to go. Oh and the freeway is closed.

For those who are wondering about the cookies they are for my company's Christmas party tomorrow - a party which very few people will attend given the state of the roads. Given the price of the cookies, my department decided that we are in the wrong business.

posted by E @10:12 PM 

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Boo Snow Part II

I hate driving at night. You know what's worse than driving at night? Driving at night in the rain/ice/snow up a 9% grade in rush hour in a car that's not yours so you have no idea where the wipers, defroster, etc are. Happily I made it back to Park City and switched it for my own vehicle (with working 4 wheel drive!) for the remainder of my hellish journey.

My truck is not fixed but it is currently residing in my garage with $3500 worth of Christmas cookies. Cookie-filled trucks smell nice.

posted by E @9:33 PM 

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

They Must Be Stopped

My neighbors have gotten out of hand. Yesterday they brought me a Christmas gift. I like presents but not when I now have to go out and find something to reciprocate. This present is going to be harder than finding a present for D, the coworker whose name I drew for Christmas.

posted by E @6:38 PM 

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

So...

My truck will remain in Park City until Thursday. On the plus side, they gave me a loaner so I'm not stuck renting for three days. On the bad side, the airbag problem is apparently not covered by my warranty so $400 later, my airbag damn well better be working. 4 wheel drive and starter replacement are completely covered though so at least it's not going to cost me $1500 to fix the car.

posted by E @5:52 PM 

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Boo Snow

My neighbors shoveled my driveway for me today. I like my neighbors. I think they were trying to be sneaky about it but it's kind of hard to disguise the sound of shoveling. They've promised to continue with the shoveling and/or plowing through the winter. I do feel incredibly lazy though because I totally could have done it myself. I was just hoping it would melt so I wouldn't have to do anything.

I really hope the snow goes away from the roads because my 4 wheel drive is out and rear wheel drive on a truck with no weight in the back is a very bad thing. I managed to get an appointment for the repair on Tuesday in Park City. Here's hoping that the roads are clear and that the repair doesn't require more than one day of a rental car.

posted by E @12:12 AM