How Racing Changed My Life

As you probably noticed in my last post, damn near everything reminds me of racing and what I lost this year. Even if it's just that there is no racing on certain weekends when there had been for the past 12 years.

I had a rough time this weekend, because I should have been in Cleveland with a whole bunch of my racing friends. We would have gone out to eat on Thursday as a group, catching up on everything since we last got together and discussing the racing and how the season was going. Friday, Saturday and Sunday would be been spent at Burke Lakefront Airport from gates opening until after 6:00. My sunscreen always got a workout at Cleveland, which is why I ignore those reports that say SPF 30 is as high as you need. I get burned when I use SPF 30, but not when I use SPF 55. That's all the proof I need.

Friday would have been excellent because it's less crowded and that was the day we'd head into the paddock and the pits, after first visiting our friend Rick in the merchandise trailer and trading hugs and hellos and howareyous. I would have stalked Oriol until I got his autograph on some new item, as well as my Catalan flag. If it were last year and Katherine were still around (she's in DTM this year – go Katherine), we would have found her and her cute little dog and petted the dog and chatted with her about how things were going. We'd run into various people we run into at every race, hug, exchange pleasantries and then chat about this, that and the other – all technical racing terms.

Then we'd take our annual trip through the pits and watch qualifying from the pits, even though you couldn't see shit in them and would spend half the session in front of a team's big screen TV which showed drivers' times and speeds.

Saturday would have been a bit busier and while we would have gone to visit Rick (and spend more money on Champ Car gear), we wouldn't have gone into the pits. Depending on everybody's moods and the temperature, we might go into the paddock.

Sundays, however, were never paddock days (except for Mom, Roadrunner and me, as we'd run through the paddock after morning warm-up to get to Mass). Sundays were usually too stupid busy in the paddock and the pits, so we'd stay in our grandstand and hang with our friends for one last day until the next race, whichever and wherever that may have been.

2001 at Cleveland was slightly different for me, though. Friday at the fan forum I answered the question "Who won last year's race and for which team did he race?" correctly. My hand wasn't the first in the air, but the person's who was didn't know the answer, he just figured it was probably Juan Pablo Montoya as it seemed he had won every race that year. As soon as I heard his answer, my hand shot into the air and Scott Pruett picked me. I answered correctly, "Roberto Moreno driving for Pat Patrick." I wanted to say "My Pupo!" but decided not to do that. ;-) Anyway, I won the chance to be a "CART Fanatic" which I already was, really, but this meant that I got to be teamed with a driver (in Detroit that year, the Fanatics actually got to ride in the parade car with their driver, but they cheated the Cleveland Fanatics). The people running the forum handed me a bag and a kid who answered the other question another bag. My bag contained stuff for Paul Tracy, his had Alex (Sandro) Zanardi. (Do yourself a favor and watch those two clips of Alex on the Letterman show, it shows what an absolutely great guy he is, and just one reason why I loved CART/Champ Car, because most of the drivers were that unbelievable.) Now, if you know me in my racing form you know that I hate Paul Tracy and that I've called him PFT since the 1992 season. The other kid, on the other hand, was a huge PFT fan, so we traded bags.

As a CART Fanatic I got a t-shirt that declared me as such (I still wear it to this day), a lanyard of some sort, and I don't remember what else, but the big thing was that before the race, during the drivers announcements that I got to do what I called the "geek walk," which was walk across the podium stage with my driver. I was disappointed there was no driver parade which would have kicked butt, but Sandro was lovely. As they announced his name, I waited for him to mount the steps to the podium, but he was too much a gentleman, and insisted I go first. I was thinking, there's no way those people want to see me, they want to see Sandro!!! So, when I got to the top of the steps, I waited for him and let him walk across first. My mom has pictures and I'm pretty sure I look extremely embarrassed. As we walked off the stage, he said to me, "Well, that's it, short and sweet." He was talking about the driver introduction portion. After that, I got to go out on to the grid and stand by his car while he got into it and the usual pre-race stuff was done. When the PA guy announced that all unauthorized personnel had to leave the grid that did NOT mean me! Woohoo! I got to stand next to the car while the call was made "Gentlemen, start your engines." I think I was a little too worried about getting off the grid in time to appreciate being there and feeling the rumbling of the engines go through my body as 20 turbo-charged engines started at the same time. I'm pretty sure there were tears. I was able to get Sandro's autograph on my friend Patty's hat. She's a HUGE fan of his and while I loved him, he was HER driver and I was more than happy to get it for her.

Three short months later we almost lost Alex Zanardi in a horrific accident where he lost his legs. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend clicking on that link. I don't use "horrific" lightly. I would recommend clicking on this one however, where he finishes the 13 laps from the year when he lost his legs. I cry every time I see that video. The first two minutes are a little cheesy, musically, but it's worth watching because there is just something special about watching everybody in pit lane run to the pit wall when he drove past the first time...and then the picture of the crowd cheering for him. The cheesy music pops up again at 4:20 or so, but again the video is worth it - just hit the mute, unlike you enjoy Sheena Easton.

As summer continues and weekends that would normally see me leaving the state come around I'll probably be thinking more about this...and telling you what I'm missing. So be prepared. ;-)

Thanks for listening this time.

Red Wings Parade & Niece's Graduation

Greetings and salutations, all! I have had so much going on and so much to write about, but no time to write and now I have no clue what to tell you. If I include everything done over the past two weeks, this entry would be a novel. And a not very interesting one.

I think in my last post the Red Wings were on the brink of winning their fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years. LL was rooting for the Pens (bastard), while I was obviously rooting for the Wings. The Wings came through in Game 6 (whew!) and I took that Friday off from work to attend the parade in downtown Detroit. I had missed the Cup parades in '97 and '98 because I was living in SF. I remember calling my friend Debbie in '97 who had my old job at the U and asking her if she was planning on attending the parade. She wasn't sure. I told her she should go, because if I were still living there, I would be going to the parade and she wouldn't be able to – as we worked in the same office and one of us would have had to be there and since I was the boss, I would have pulled rank.

I wanted to go in 2002 but couldn't find anybody with whom to go. This year, however, it worked out perfectly. The Game 5 triple overtime loss was actually advantageous for the YS and LB, as the YS doesn't work Fridays and the LB was flying in from SJ late Thursday night (early Friday morning). I went into work on Thursday, June 5 and told my boss I was taking the next day off. "Going to the parade?" "Yup."

Friday morning, the YS and LB show up at my place and we transfer their crap into my car (it was hard getting ready for the parade because I was doing all the things I normally do to prepare for a hot day at the race track). Parade day was forecasted to be HOT and HUMID – 90F with an insane stupid humidity of 70% or something ridiculous like that. It was bloody hot. Actually, the YS and LB showed up with an extra person which meant I had to move my crap out of the back seat of my cute little Focus and into the trunk – coolers, spray bottle with battery run fan filled with ice and water, knitting bag (hey, we were heading down early and I had a tank top to finish for the niece's graduation present – no need to waste precious time), sunscreen. YS had the water, I had the soft-sided portable coolers.

I always have to drive downtown because the YS got her truck broken into once (parked on the street – I always pay to park in downtown Detroit). I told her that I'm going to get a new car just so I don't have to drive all the time. She just laughed.

We decided to go to Hart Plaza and stake out a spot for the rally which would take place there after the parade. It turned out that that was probably not the best decision, but only because the rally was not as long as the one in 2002. I swear EVERYBODY on the team got a chance to speak to the crowd in 2002 (I taped it), but this year only a few players spoke (Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios & Brian Rafalski, Kris Draper & Chris Osgood, Darren McCarty, Tomas Holmstrom and Jiri Hudler). It was a little disappointing. In hindsight, I think I would have snagged a good place on the curb along Woodward and had a chance to see everybody as they want by. We were far enough back (yeah, there are pictures, but you know how good I am at downloading them) from the rally stage, that there was no way anybody would have heard me if I had yelled.

I developed a habit at the races that during the driver parade I would yell for every single driver as he (or she – love and miss you, Katherine) would go by. I hated that drivers like Paul Tracy and Michael Andretti (back in the day when he wasn't a complete loser-traitor) would get massive cheers and hollering, while other drivers were barely acknowledged. I always hollered for the drivers, but when it became de rigueur was after Toronto 1996. I'm not normally very loud, but that's the first race where I remember the drivers actually hearing me, because after I would yell their name, they would look up into the stands, and I always sit as high up as possible (well, except Toronto, because the top 3 rows in my grandstand were blocked by one of the Exhibition Place buildings, so as high as I would go there was Row 4 – road courses are counted from the top down).

Two weeks earlier I had met Jeff Krosnoff in the paddock at the Cleveland race. I was nervous and didn't know what to say after asking for his autograph on my racing shirt, but he asked me how I was doing and if I were having fun, etc. He was so nice that I rooted for him that race (even though in the POS Toyota he didn't have a chance in hell of doing anything but finishing) and so as he went by my Toronto grandstand I yelled extra loudly for him and he turned and looked up and waved. Two hours later Jeff was dead in an absolutely hideous accident I will never ever forget. That night at dinner my friend Ottawa tried to comfort me by saying how I had probably made Jeff's day knowing he had a fan in the stands (he was new to the series as he had come up the ranks in Japan, and had therefore only run 11 races (including Toronto). Back then we had a fair number of drivers, which meant it could take some longer to make their way into our hearts (unlike the past few years), so Jeff didn't have a lot of people cheering for him in Toronto. Ever since then I made it my duty to cheer for and welcome every single driver in my own loud and annoying (to the people sitting in front of me) way. And I didn't give a damn if the people in front of me didn't like it, because I simply thought of Jeff and realised it was more important to show my support for every driver, even the 'king Hiro - who, for all his faults, was exceptional at getting out of the way – for the most part. While Hiro might not have been a great driver, he was rarely a "moving chicane" (Hi Dennis Vitolo).

Anyway, all that was to tell you that the next time the Wings win the Stanley Cup I'm going to watch the parade and yell for every single player and then force my way into Hart Plaza like all the parade-watchers did that Friday.

That Friday was exhausting and very busy. After the rally, we went and got food at Cheli's Chili Bar and then we all raced home because we had to be at the Niece's graduation commencement exercise at 6:00. And we all had to shower away the nastiness of 90F, humidity, and sunscreen. And you'dt hink that after a high school graduation of nearly 500 kids, the day would have been over, but you'd be wrong. Since the LB was in town, HRH drove down from Toronto and the plan was to meet her over in Windsor that night. It was probably close to 11:00 p.m. when we (Mom, YS, LB and I) got across the border and found our way to the Windsor Casino, which means it was around 2:30/3:00 a.m. when I got home and to bed.

I would have slept in except that HRH was coming across the river that day for the party the LB's friends were having for him, and was going to crash at my place. This means I had to clean (hide yarn in the closet, vacuum, etc.). I was also getting my hair cut (Whew, it was LONG) at 12:30, so that took time out of the day which could have been used on the apt., but in the end, it was all good.

HRH showed up, we watched F1 qualifying from Montreal, the Euro Cup game between Portugal and Turkey and then headed to the far western suburbs to meet Mom and YS for sushi. YUM! I ate WAY too much. The original plan was for HRH to spend the night and then attend the Niece's graduation party on Sunday, so that she could meet Grandma. We've been friends for 13 years and while she's met a few members of my family, she hadn't met Grandma. As has been the case for the past few trips we've taken, however, someone died (her high school best friend's father) and she hadn't to fly back (not actually, but the way she drives…) to TO then next day to get to the funeral home. This means that instead of heading straight to the party, we had to make a side trip to my Uncle's house, as that's where Grandma was (she rarely turns down dinner invitations, especially when my Uncle's cooking).

So, while HRH got to meet Grandma, various cousins, and an extra aunt, we almost missed my older brother, SIL and the Terror Children who were leaving the party as we arrived.

We take a break from the regularly scheduled program with the following public service announcement.

WOOHOO!!!! My Igor will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

Okay, I'm bored telling you about stuff that happened two weekends ago. I can't imagine how bored you are reading about it, so I'm not going to tell you all about the graduation party and how bloody hot and humid it was and how I needed a shower after helping my sister set up in my party dress. It was pretty, oh so, pretty. Nothing quite like sweat dripping off your nose.

Why can I think all of sorts of stuff to blog about until I sit at the computer and then it all disappears? I need to learn to write stuff down. I always think I'm going to remember it, but never ever do.

I want this car.

I'm *this* close to having my niece's tank top finished, but now I'm thinking that I need to rip it back to where the shaping for armholes start and make it longer. I don't know this for a fact or anything, because I haven't measured it, but that's what I think. You would, of course, think that I would have gotten it out of its bag and measured it last night, but I just didn't feel like "frogging" it last night, so I ignored its existence. (I have absolutely no idea why ripping out your knitting is called "frogging," but it is…normally, I refuse to use that term as I think it's stupid, but as I already had used "rip" I was trying not to use it again. Oh wait, I think it's called "frogging" because when you say "rip it," it supposedly sounds like "ribit." I knew there was a reason I refused to use it.)

Work is quite stressful these days as for the fourth year in a row (and sometimes multiple times in a year), we're having workforce cuts/layoffs. At some point, you have to figure your luck is running out and this time it might just be you that's cut. I'm ready to throw up thinking about it. Oy vey. Please keep your fingers crossed, pray, light candles, etc. that I make it through once again. Moving home with my mother is so not an option if I want to remain sane, and not kill her.

My Igor and the HHoF

WOOHOO!!!! My Igor will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

May's Books & Movies

First things, first: Let's go, Red Wings! Let's go, Red Wings! Let's go, Red Wings! Let's go, Red Wings!!

I will not even comment on how much Sid the Kid is disgusting me with his whiny-ass attitude and poor loserness to say nothing of his incredibly lame-ass play-off beard. If you can't grow one, SHAVE!!! You look stupid.

Now, on to our previously scheduled programming:

It's the beginning of a new month and we all know what that means. I bore you with my reading and movie watching lists for the previous month.

I did a LOT better in May than I had in April (which was beyond pathetic).

Books

Paper Lion by George Plimpton – 374 pages – this was the 40th anniversary edition with photographs never before seen. I couldn't care less or know less about football, but this book was quite enjoyable. When he would describe plays that he had to learn, my eyes would glaze over, but thankfully, they were rare, indeed. I'm sure I appreciate this book more because it was about the Detroit Lions, as opposed to any other team, but I think it's a book worthy of being read. I wanted to watch the movie, but it's not out on DVD yet. DAMMIT!!!

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs – 368 pages – I was absolutely loving this book and already predicting its nomination as Book of the Month, but then (HUGE SPOILER ALERT) the main character died and it pissed me off so badly, it wasn't even funny. A woman in my own knitting club also read it and at our monthly get together two weeks ago she mentioned it and how much she hated it (it was particularly bad for her because her mother had just died). Honestly, it could have been writing by Danielle Steele, the ending sucked so much.

You're Wearing That? Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation by Deborah Tannen – 248 pages – Darn near every woman who stopped by my desk while I was reading this book picked it up and read the jacket and expressed interest in reading it. Obviously, it struck a chord with them. I don't know how helpful it was for me, because darn near all the examples in the book didn't apply to me or my mother. Figures that I have to be different even in that regard. My mother never says "You're wearing that?" Although she hates my haircut, she's learned not to say anything. And she's never ever ever ever said anything like "When are you going to get married?" So, while my mother might drive me crazy in some respects, she knows where NOT to go.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman – 336 pages – I had read this before, but with the movie out on DVD and a copy from Netflix being in my house, I wanted to read it again, so I can be appropriately ticked off when they change the story to suit some BS reason. I still liked it even after a second read. You'll notice that the movie didn't get watched, but it wasn't from lack of trying. The DVD that I got from Netflix was unplayable, but I have to say I saw enough to know that I'm going to be highly annoyed when I do finally watched it.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer – 203 pages – That link takes you to the original Outside magazine article on which Krakauer based the book. Even though I have read other books by Jon Krakauer, I had never read his first. I picked it up sometime last year and finally got around to it. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I think I might be adding it to my queue soon. I felt sorry for Chris/Alex, the young man about whom the article and book are written. At the same time, I was very much impressed at all he did in the short time he tramped around the continent. I know that do not have the wherewithal to survive in the circumstances he created for himself. And I don't just mean his final trip to Alaska, but all of it. I feel very sorry for his family who had to suffer with not knowing where he was for those 2-3 years of his tramping, but also not knowing why he was so angry with them that he would take off and not tell them where he was. A very sad book.

No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks by Ed Viesturs and David Roberts with new postscript from the author – 356 pages – A good dozen years ago I got into reading mountain climbing books, including Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. In that book, Krakauer talked a bit about Ed Viesturs and all he had done (along with his team) to help the survivors of the '96 Everest tragedy. In all the other books I've read, nobody has ever had anything bad to say about Ed Viesturs, so when I saw he had finally written his own book about being the first American to climb all fourteen 8000 meter mountains without supplemental oxygen (and only the sixth person in the world to do it), I had to get it. Ed Viesturs is a man whose hand I would like to shake. He seems like one of the truly good people in this world. His mantra is "Getting to the top is optional (or great or something like that), getting down is mandatory." He talks about the friends he has lost in the mountains over the years, including the two guides on Everest in '96, which made me tear up all over again. So sad. (if you're going to say something negative about how they do it to themselves and how it's not necessary to climb mountains, or some such BS, I don't want to hear it – just for the record – do it at your own blog.)


Movies

5/5 – Ocean's Thirteen (K) – What can I say? I like the Ocean's movies – all three of them. I think they're fun and smart.

5/11 - The Sandlot - 1993 – We watched this at my sister's house on Mother's Day (in an effort to get my brother-in-law's nephew to shut up about his video game – if I could remember the name of the game, I could tell you all about to beat it, because this kid talked for HOURS about it). The YS and I were the only ones in the house (except for Mom and Grandma, who don't really count because they never see movies) who had never seen this movie. Everybody would walk into the room and say, "Oh you're watching The Sandlot." It was pretty darn funny. I have to say that I quite enjoyed it. I could see at one point where the plot was going to go and I dreaded it, but in the end I quite enjoyed the movie.

5/18 - Waitress (N) – 2007 – I rented this because of my Nathan Fillion obsession. The YS watched it a month or so before me and didn't know who Nathan Fillion was (sad, so sad) and asked me "Is the bad husband?" so I was all worried that he played someone icky and that would have made me sad. Thankfully, he didn't play the icky husband. Whew! I have to say that I loved this movie. I even watched it a second time right away with the commentary. It's a sad movie, not in plot, but in knowing that the director who also wrote it and acted in it was murdered shortly after it was finished and before it appeared at Sundance, and that the little girl at the end with Keri Russell was the director's actual daughter. It makes me sad thinking about it.

5/26 - Because of Winn-Dixie - 2005 – My boss lent me this book a good 3 years or so ago, and I quite enjoyed it, so when I saw the movie was showing on TV, I DVRd it. I should learn from this, because I didn't re-read the book and I quite liked the movie, even though I'm pretty sure there were things in the movie that weren't in the book. I thought Jeff Daniels was perfect as the preacher father and the little girl who played Opal was amazing. I would definitely recommend this movie, especially to people who have children.

5/26 & 27 - Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman (Sundance) – 2007 – My DVR only captured Chapters 1-3 & 6 of this mini-series and it bummed me out a little bit. I'm not quite sure what I think of this show. It's not really a movie, per se, but a female director basically films herself talking to her girlfriends, about her relationships, etc. I found it quite interesting, as the director is a single woman about my own age, but, perhaps, it's the difference of living in Detroit vs. New York, or maybe it's just the differences between the two of us, but her life is vastly different from mine, and I don't mean in general terms, but more in how we view relationships with the opposite sex, etc. I had a little trouble relating to her, but that could be my Catholic upbringing… ;-)

5/28 - Garbage Warrior (Sundance) – 2007 – The Garbage Warrior is an architect who has used garbage to build houses in the deserts of Santa Fe, NM. The houses are self-sustaining – no electrical or water hook-up – and made from bottles (plastic and glass) or tires, etc. It was utterly fascinating, especially watching him fight the New Mexico legislature trying to get laws passed that encourages people to be creative and try new things (after losing his architect's license). The film showed him in the Andaman islands after the 2004 tsunami where he was asked to build houses that can withstand another earthquake/tsunami. The whole villages turns out to help and are thrilled with what he shows them (the children of the village collected plastic bottles to be used as construction material and were paid a few rupees per bottle). After the Andaman islands, he's next shown in Mexico after Hurrican Rita where he discusses how countries ravaged by natural disasters are more willing to learn new ways to do things. After these events, the NM legislature finally sees the benefits of his bill and gives the green light for his experimental area. I would definitely recommend this movie, especially for those people who like the whole idea of living "off the grid" or new ways to put garbage to a good use.

Book of the Month has to be No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks by Ed Viesturs and David Roberts. It was a toss-up between this book and Paper Lion, but while Paper Lion didn't make me want to read more books about football, No Shortcuts has me going through my bookshelves picking out the mountain climbing/adventure books I haven't read yet.

Movie of the Month is Waitress - and not just because it had Nathan Fillion in it. ;-)

Even less worthy of an entry

I'm taking a bunch of heat for my last entry, and since so few of you read more than one entry at a time, I'm going to post something just to stop the madness. ;-)

One of the guys at work does woodworking, not carving, per se, but he makes beautifully shaped bowls out of wood. He gave me one last year and it's quite lovely. I keep it on my desk and at some point I actually started putting candy in it. I've never been the person with candy at her desk, but all of a sudden, my desk is the place for food. Lots of people bring stuff in, they just put it at my desk. I've decided that I need to start buying stuff I don't like, because I'm eating too much crap. I went to Target the other day (I was completely out of laundry detergent, but not out of dirty clothes) and while buying everything on my list (except Zud, which they didn't have) somehow a bag of Tootsie Rolls ended up in my cart. Yeah, you know it's bad when I indicate I used a "cart" for shopping. I *never* use a cart. I hate carts. But I knew I was going to buy the biggest jug of laundry detergent they had (I had heard a report that morning that sizes of detergent were going to be smaller, due to the price increase in EVERYTHING, and they were right, the jug I bought was definitely smaller than one I've bought in the past), along with fabric softener, spray 'n wash, etc., that the hand basket was not going to work.

The problem with the Tootsie Rolls is that I really like tootsie rolls…and I haven't been able to stop eating them, even when they make me nauseous. Sometimes I'm as bad as a kid at Halloween.

After I dropped a bundle at Target, I had to go to my local hardware store for the Zud. I'm pretty sure it's not environmentally friendly, but this stuff is the BEST! As some of you know, my apartment is quite old (built prior to 1925) and although the pipes in the building have supposedly been replaced, the water has a tendency to come out orange, if you haven't run the faucet in a while (let's say, because you went on vacation for a week or so). But it's more than that, too, because the bottom part of my shower liner (which is fabric for ease of washing and because it's long-lasting) is orange, just the bottom foot or so. And my sinks are original which means they're enamel over iron (?) and where the enamel has worn off, there's chance for rust ending up on my plates. A fingertip of Zud and a little pressure has removed many a rust stain from my dishes.

I do have some environmentally friendly cleansing powder, but it didn't do the trick the last time I cleaned my tub, so I had to break out the Zud and it did the trick, but I used up the last bit I had. A clean tub is a happy tub.

I have been pretty depressed all week, and I don't really know why. I'm just despondent and don't feel like doing anything, which is bad because I have two sweaters needing my attention. I actually did work on my niece's graduation present (a tank top) yesterday for a while, but then got sidetracked with absolutely nothing. Grandma's bed jacket/sweater has reached the point where I don't feel like dealing with the messed up instructions, so it sits there. The niece graduates next Friday night and her party is Sunday so I really need to get moving on it. I'm not even finished with the back yet and still have the front to do. *sigh*

I'm a little scared that I’m going to get them done and then they won't be the right size. I measured my niece, but it looks a tad big right now. I didn't measure Grandma, but when I finished the back I did hold it up to her back and it was fine, but the two front pieces look awfully narrow. I will not be happy if I do all that knitting and then they're all wrong. There will be a bit of head meeting wall.

I'm so bad that I just wanted to start a scarf last night. I need a little instant knitting gratification.

I'm wondering if my melancholia is related to the weather, somehow. The weather is nice (if still getting pretty darn cold at night – it was 37F when I walked to work yesterday morning), but I'm thinking sinuses/barometric pressure or something. My head just feels funky. Last night I would have bet good money that I had a fever, but the thermometer read 98.3…not exactly feverish. I haven't exercised at all this week, which seems to be taking its toll on my sleeping, so this afternoon I'm going home and getting right on the treadmill. I hate being tired, but lying in bed completely unable to fall asleep.

I'm really looking forward to next week. The LB shows up late Thursday night/early Friday morning and there are parties and such all weekend. HRH is supposed to come down, although I have a feeling she's going to bail. I hope she doesn't because I think my brother would be hurt. This weekend I have zero plans although I'm contemplating scheduling a massage for Saturday morning. We shall see.

Well, I think that's about it…

My Take on the Weekend, More San Jose, Twister

The good doctor has asked my opinion of what happened this past weekend. Now I wasn't actually going to say anything since I didn't watch any of that particular event. I sat outside and finished reading Into the Wild (a little preview of what's to come in a week or so) and got some vitamin D. However, I've heard enough about it that I can declare Ryan Briscoe my new hero.

I'm a little giddy with the excitement of it all, as from everything I've heard has described *her* as "stomping down pitlane," "mean face," "whining." I'M LOVING THIS! I'm hoping that people are finally figuring out she isn't all sweetness and light. I've had a couple of the guys at work tell me that they're noticing her true personality coming out.

And really, what race car driver complains to their pits over the radio "this car sucks?" Most real race car drivers say things like "it's understeering as I go into turn 4" or for those less technically articulate "it's loose in turn 3." Saying the car sucks doesn't really tell the crew anything helpful, you know, in case they like their driver and might want the car to suck less. They need to know if they need to add wing to the car or take it out or adjust the tire pressure, etc. Dumbass b*tch.

One good thing about this past Sunday's event is that it's the ONE and ONLY event on their schedule which attracts media outside the usual people and they might have more journalistic integrity than those usual people who are worried about losing their hard cards, and therefore, willing to tow the party line and not report what a complete wench she is. That's my hope at any rate.

I really hope that there are more articles like this one, as well, showing how things at that series are all geared to help her win and do well, regardless of talent level and ability. Honestly, even NASCAR left the dark ages a good 5-10 years ago and weigh the entire car and driver together. It's the only truly fair way to run things. Rules should be transparent to everybody interested, not vaguely and unclearly explained, so that nobody, even those heavily involved in the series, understands how things are determined. Of course, I say that they get what they deserve considering, except for the Champ Car teams, they all went willingly into the quagmire of TFG's "vision."

On a happier note (because the whole mess still depresses me if I think too much about it), the Wings are up 2 games to none against the Penguins (Sorry, LL). Whew! I hope my boys continue to play brilliantly and bring the Stanley Cup back to Detroit. No offense, Pittsburgh, but I prefer red and white to gold and black.

Hmm, I was going to tell you something about my trip to San Jose. Let me think. Oh yeah!!! I played Twister. And kicked some serious butt, which just goes to show that old age and determination can take on youthful exuberance and still win. The first day I got there was the LB's actual birthday and his girlfriend's whole family was there, along with all members of our family in Northern California. The kids from the girlfriend's family broke out the Twister game and after watching the kids for a couple of games (and being the official spinner), I got into the game. There were either 2 or 3 kids to start, but pretty soon it was down to the LB's GF's 13 (or 14) year old niece and me. It was a tightly fought game, but I prevailed in the end. Woohoo! On Saturday at the big party, I played again (and after a couple of beers), this time against the GF's 9 (or 10) year old son. He had declared himself unbeatable or some such crap, but once again the out-of-shape, half-drunken old lady took no prisoners and kicked butt. There might be some pics on-line of the first game… ;-)

Not Really Entry Worthy

I almost started an entry on Monday and then got side-tracked – with God knows what. I finally got my pictures from the two trips to CA uploaded to my computer, but sadly, not to flickr. Soon…or not.

I really need to update more often, because I don't remember where I left off. Did I tell you that my friends and I were in the May 5, 2008 issue of AutoWeek? Sadly, you can't buy AutoWeek at a magazine stand, but I do have a pdf of the page (which I can't find right now). If I remember, I'll include it with this post.



I'm a little annoyed with AutoWeek right now. TWO WEEKS ago, I ordered ten more copies of that issue (various people who don't subscribe need their own copies, you know) and I was told that I would receive them within 7-10 days. Yeah, still nothing. I called on Monday and the woman wouldn't do anything about it because she said Tuesday was the official date I ordered them. Whatever, it was still two weeks! They charged my debit card that day, so they're at least efficient there. The problem with that particular issue is that it was the same week The Bitch "won" her race, so I've had to glue a number of pages together in order not to see her every time I open my magazine. They arrived Wednesday, finally.

So, I called. I decided that instead of just bitching about it, I would call again. The woman I talked to today was a tad more helpful. She sounded aghast that I didn't have them yet and that I definitely should have. She's putting them in the mail today, so I hope to have them VERY SOON. I have packages to mail around the country and have been waiting for the magazines, so I don't have to make two trips to the post office. I hate going to the post office. The old people in my town (and there are lots) like to go, not during the day when other people are at work, but when we get out of work. The number of people who don't know how to mail a package is mind-boggling! I think the USPS gets an unfair rap. I mail a lot of stuff, not as much as some eBayers, but I go there fairly often and they're cheaper and faster than UPS. I can put a Netflix DVD in the mail on Monday and they'll have it in Lansing on Tuesday. Only once have I had a problem with them and that was when I mailed a book to my friend Rick in CT and used the book rate. It never got there, so NEVER EVER use book rate, it's worth the extra few dollars to mail it Priority. Just a little tip there for ya.

Grandma comes home today. I just talked to her and she told my aunt to come and get here at 11:00. My Aunt arrived from CA yesterday and will be here for a week or so. Then another aunt shows up, then the currently in Michigan aunt comes back in early June – in time for my niece's (her grand-niece's) high school graduation party. I'm pretty sure that by July Grandma will be more than ready for the aunts to go home and leave her the hell alone! I know I would be, as you get used to living alone and doing your own thing. Having people around can be darn annoying. Especially when they're your grown-up daughters who like to tell you what to do. I told Grandma that I had her back if she needed it against who try to tell her what to do. They had a real estate agent come through the condo last year and tell Grandma what needed to be done to make the condo saleable. I told Grandma she didn't have to do anything the woman said (take down the wallpaper and paint white, change this to that, etc.), and apparently, my uncle told Grandma the same thing. For heaven's sake, it's her house, let her have it the way she wants. Grandma told my uncle and me that she appreciates our support as "the girls" can be quite persuasive, i.e., willing to run rough shod over Grandma's wishes.

This past Saturday I had a bridal shower to attend – it was during the Wings' playoff game. I was pleased. I, of course, had been planning on them winning the bloody thing, but as we know they didn't. So, I didn't get to see the hockey game and I had to suffer through a bridal shower. Honestly, they are horrific. You know what? You're getting married? Just ask for the damn gift, don't make me waste 3-4 hours of a precious weekend standing or sitting around with a bunch of women eating chicken salad just for the privilege of giving somebody a present. I'd much rather send the gift and enjoy my day in peace. I feel the same way about baby showers, just for the record. The saving grace for this past Saturday's shower was that there were NO GAMES! Dear God, who invented bridal/baby shower games? Can they be shot? Strung up by their toenails? Waterboarded? Honestly.

I've managed to catch myself a sore throat. Not sure how this has happened, but I really don't feel all that fabulously. I took a two hour nap yesterday after work since I had a ticket to see Eddie Izzard last night and there was no way I was missing that. I contemplated taking the day off today and sleeping, but knew that would just mean I wouldn't sleep tonight, so I went to work and felt icky all day. I'm contemplating taking tomorrow off or Friday and resting. I have tickets to the Tigers game on Friday night, so I want to be well enough to attend that. I'm going with a friend from the Univ and she's a riot, and someone I don't get to see that often. Somebody at work offered me to tix to the Wings game on Saturday, but they weren't his to offer and the supplier who mentioned them to him is a creepy, in a "I'm so sexy women want me kind of way," but the sad truth is that he's not and women don't, so I said no. I don't want to be beholden to this guy for anything, not even Stanley Cup Finals tickets.

I think I need to gargle with salt water…and I think it's naptime.

Grandma Update, Book, Movie, Music

I was going to go and visit Grandma last Wednesday (it's a really a pain when I write an entry but don't post it for a week, because then I have to go through and fix all the "todays" and "yesterdays") but didn't get there because stupid UPS insists on trying to deliver packages to apartments between the hours of 10:00 and 2:00. I do NOT understand why they are used so much. I used them to mail a pair of Chucks back to Converse and it was almost $11 vs the $5 it would have cost me at the post office. I was already there with a different pair of Chucks to mail back to zappos.com (they're the best, they actually sent me a packing slip so I could mail it for free – which is why I was at the UPS store), otherwise I would have been at the post office to begin with.

Anyway, Wednesday was the third attempt and the little yellow slip stated they were going to deliver between 2:00 and 5:00, so I had to be at home. I talked to her in the morning and she told me not to worry, she'd be fine. I had tried to call her for a few hours on Tuesday and the phone just rang and rang and rang. She was out gallivanting around the rehab place, i.e., she was in the dining room listening to some guy playing the guitar and singing songs. Then it was time for dinner, and she doesn't leave the dining room after dinner, she hangs out with the other women and chat until God knows what time.

When I called her on Wednesday (since I hadn't been able to get a hold of her on Tuesday) she had been up and cleaning out one of the drawers in her dresser, getting stuff together for my Mom to take home and getting a list of other stuff she wants from home. She told me that I don't have to call her every day, etc. Yeah, yeah, whatever, Shortstuff. I'm not sure I've told you all how darn cute she is, lately, have I?

Oh yeah, there was a meeting last week in which people from the rehab place all got together, I'm assuming with doctors, and discussed who needs to stay and who is doing well enough to go home. Another "oh yeah," Grandma's doctor wrote out a prescription two or so weeks ago stating she needed to stay, so she ended up only paying for about 5 days (or so she says, I think it was longer, actually).

Mom and the YS (there's a story there) took Grandma home on the previous Saturday for a visit. I guess they do that when it's getting close to time to go home to see how the person feels and how they get around their own house. Grandma said she had no trouble getting into the house (it's a decent sized step from the garage into the house), nor up the stairs to her bedroom, etc. And this is all good, because according to the outcome of the meeting, it sounds like Grandma is going home in a couple of weeks (next Wednesday, to be specific). The aunts from California are going to take two weeks each (I think), consecutively, using their family leave time in order to make sure Grandma's not alone. I'm not sure if the Oregon aunt is coming, too, because I don't know if they have the family leave time policy, as well.

Grandma also said that she's learning and doing lots in therapy although she wasn't sure about last Friday's & Saturday's therapy. It was OT, not PT, and on Friday they painted flowers on a little flower pot and then on Saturday they planted a flower in said flower pot. Grandma was kind of annoyed because she wasn't sure how that's going to help her get around. Grandma's not really into crafts, although she mentions semi-regularly, that she thinks it would be nice to take up knitting again. Maybe I'll see if she's serious and go over there one day and refresh her memory.

FWIG posted this a while back and I thought it contained interesting questions (it's amazing how far out of my way I'll go not to use a certain word that starts with "me" and ends with "me").

1. Who are your much loved Bands? Favorite songs by them?

Okay, who here can't name my favorite band? You either haven't been paying attention or are new, because I think I mention it every few months, just in case… ;-)

Joy Division – Atmosphere, Atrocity Exhibition, Heart and Soul, They Walked in Line, New Dawn Fades, etc.
The Crüxshadows – Kisses 3, Winter Born, Spectator, Go Away, Orphean Wing


2. Do you like your job? Could you do your boss' job?

Yes, I like my job. I like the people, I like being able to help them manage their workload. I could NOT do my boss' job and nor would I want to.


3. What is the first thing you would do if you won the jackpot? (I mean after you collect your winnings.)

Pay off my debt (which isn't massive, I don't think), buy my mother a better condo, put money aside for the nieces and nephews college, get new carpet for my apt.

Yeah, I know, I should buy a house, right? The problem is that I have never ever wanted a house. I hate mowing the lawn and gardening. I hate shoveling snow. I like knowing there are people nearby who might miss me if they didn't see me for a few days. Yes, I know I could hire people to do the gardening, shoveling, etc., but that's not the point, really.

I guess I'd invest the rest smartly. My former lottery winning dream was to travel the Champ Car circuit and attend every single race. We all know that's not even possible anymore.


4. Most annoying thing in the newspaper?

The incredibly bad grammar, the incredibly hideous, nasty, evil people who feel the need to comment and think they can say hateful things because they're anonymous.


5. Best line from a movie?

"I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me." Humphrey Bogart from In A Lonely Place.

April's Book and Movie List don't even require their own post...I read one book and watched one movie.

Nineteen-Eighty-Four by George Orwell - The Centennial Edition with a Foreword by Thomas Pynchon and an Afterword by Erich Fromm for a total of 357 pages - It's classic, everybody knows, generally, what it's about, but I had never read it. When people would look aghast at me that I hadn't read it, I would say, "My class read Animal Farm."

I also read 300 pages of another book, but I don't count a book until it's finished. I'll tell you all about it next month.

My one movie was Gosford Park (2002) - I DVRd this off IFC and I have to say that I quite enjoyed it. I read a review that said Upstairs, Downstairs meets Agatha Christie and while, yes, that definitely describes it, I kept thinking Upstairs, Downstairs meets Murder By Death, which if you haven't seen it, it's bloody hilarious! I must go and see if it's available at Netflix. It has been much too long since I've seen it.

I would definitely recommend both the book and the movie. Sad...so sad. I've already done better this month - two books read and two movies watched.

Sorry, it's taken me so long...

Happy May, everybody. I'm finally back to the daily grind of earning my paycheck which is fun and exciting. The cats are happy as clams at high tide to see me. They will not leave me alone. I sat down on the couch Tuesday and thought I might write out a pattern for Beth only to have Boris in my lap in a millisecond. Now, I have to confess that if it had been Igor, I probably would have moved him to one side since he is ALWAYS in my lap. Boris, however, doesn't even attempt to sit on my lap that often, so I let him be. Of course, once Igor, who up to that moment was perfectly content sitting on the couch back behind my head, sees Boris on my lap, he decides he needs to be on my lap as well. Oy vey. I have to protect Boris then because Igor will push Boris completely off and just take over. I tell them all the time to share, but they are little brats when it comes to that. ;-) And Boris is usually the pushover, which is why I protect him.

I wrote out the pattern for Beth last night and sent it to her, so that's done! ;-)

As requested: A GRANDMA UPDATE

Grandma is doing really well. I can't remember what I last told you, but she decided to pay the $300 a day to stay at the rehab place, but then she wasn't having physical or occupational therapy, which I'm pretty sure was the reason she decided to stay there (as opposed to paying $170 for assisted living), but when I talked to her Tuesday she said that the doctor had given her another prescription for the therapy so she should have been back at it yesterday. The good news is that Tuesday she went all the way to the dining room (she's in the last room in the hallway, so it's a heckuva an accomplishment) using the walker. And I think she said she can get out of bed and use the walker all by herself, too! She has been sounding absolutely great for the last week or so. And she thinks she's going to be out of rehab in a couple of weeks. I'm assuming they're going to teach her in therapy how to negotiate stairs since her condo doesn't have a bedroom or full bathroom on the ground floor. I do know that my California/West Coast aunts (there are four of them) are planning on coming out in shifts to stay with her as they all have Family Leave once she gets out of rehab and is back home.

She's been making friends all over the place and is rarely in her room anymore as she's always off gallivanting somewhere (okay, usually the dining room, although last Monday the rehab place loaded up 10 wheelchair-bound oldsters and took them to the race track for some horse racing). From all accounts, everybody had fun. Grandma's a little bummed because her buddies Norma and Pat have gone home, and Norma was just a fun person. I quite liked her myself. She's the one who told us about Grandma refusing to bake in OT because she had seven kids and did her baking back in the day.

The vacations were mostly good. The first weekend away was hard. Even though I knew in my heart that it was my last race, it was harder saying good-bye to people than I had thought. All of us (C&C, Roadrunner, HRH and me) arrived Wednesday (C&C in the morning, the rest of around 8:30 p.m.). Thursday we headed up to LA to go to the Petersen Automotive Museum. I had been wanting to go there since it opened, but have only been to LA once since then and my brother wanted to go to Disneyland that time. Turns out that the Petersen is not nearly as extensive or fascinating as the National Automobile Museum in Reno, so we went through the whole thing in a matter of a couple of hours. I spent an entire at the car museum in Reno.

I did see some very cool cars, and if I would have downloaded my pics by now, you could see them, too. They have a Steve McQueen Jaguar in BRG – nice. They also have two Ford GTs – one of the original ones (technically a GT40) which had been owned by the classical conductor Herbert von Karajan and never driven in the rain – GORGEOUS. And one of the new ones, which is beautiful, but I'm a purist. The old one is just too sweet for words. And they also have a Bugatti Veyron. Holy cow! As HRH pointed out, it's really not a beautiful car, but hell, if you're a Top Gear fan, you know how cool and fast that sucker is. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, go to youtube and type in Top Gear and Bugatti. Bloody amazing!

C of C&C really wanted to get to the Hollywood sign so that was next on the agenda. I have been to LA a fair number of times and have never made the foray to the sign – although I did go to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, so I did see it from there. This time, though, the goal was to get as close to the sign as we could. We got some cool pictures and then bailed, in an extremely unsuccessful effort to avoid LA rush hour traffic. I think it took us close to a year to get to the freaking freeway. And I have to say that the middle position of the back seat of a Magnum station wagon is not comfortable for HOURS at a time. My back was killing me!

We had to stop in Long Beach on our way back to Huntington Beach (as close as we could get to Long Beach, which wasn't bad considering we didn't even plan the trip until late February/early March) to pick copies of the Long Beach Press Telegram as they had coupons for free admission to the track on Friday. The ALMS guys were on track when we got there, so I got to flip the bird to the Penske Porsches, and the Andretti & Fernandez Acuras whenever they'd go past. It was mature and satisfying.

We ate at this restaurant called Island Burgers which was supposed to be fabulous. The burgers made from beef might have been, but their version of a veggie burger sucked. Why can't restaurants just have Boca burgers in the freezer and not waste their time (and my taste buds) creating their own veggie pattie? They almost always are horrible. HRH wanted a bite and I told her no, I didn't want that nastiness coloring her opinion of veggie burgers. Even sautéed mushrooms and swiss cheese couldn't hide how awful it was.

We wandered a bit around the race track, figuring out where we were and where our seats were. After that we just headed back to HB as we knew we had an early morning scheduled and a long day at the race track. When we got back to our hotel, though, C&C brought out a present for all of us. They had had t-shirts made expressing our feelings toward the "merger" and gave one to each of us and had a few left for some other racing friends we would see at the track. Pictures will be downloaded soon.

And I'll finish telling you all about my two trips to CA soon...I promise!!

Medicare Sucks, I suck at knitting, Sushi doesn't suck, although the waitress did

Forget that good news about Grandma. It turns out that Grandma is getting kicked out of the rehab facility next Monday, because Medicare rules state that you can't stay if you're not making progress. And Blue Cross is mindless and just goes along with whatever Medicare decides. Mind you, it's hard to make progress when you're medically not allowed to put any weight on your leg. Our only hope, apparently, right now, is that she has pneumonia (she's back on oxygen and just not feeling very well at all – when I talked to her on Friday she wasn't eating at all as she just wasn't hungry or able to eat) to the point where she has to go back to the hospital. Once at the hospital, she needs to stay a minimum of three days (or so I've been told) and then she can return to rehab for another 20 days. How bloody stupid is that???

She thinks it's all taken care of and she's allowed to stay until she can take care of herself. The pathetic thing is that is the way it should be. I realise there are people who might need a little incentive to motivate them to do their exercises, but Grandma isn't one of them. She even did her PT last Friday when she wasn't feeling well and had no energy. She needs to build up her upper body strength in order to use the walker properly (i.e., not put any weight on her right leg), and that takes longer than 3 weeks when you're 89 years old!

I'm very displeased.

Friday night at the Token Lounge was very good. I enjoyed listening to all three bands, although I couldn't watch the first band as the lead singer was annoying and pretentious. He seriously needed to be slapped. And holy shit, were they LOUD!!! I could feel my clothes moving from the percussion of the music. Thankfully Urs was prepared and brought a bunch of earplugs. I was saving mine for the YS who was coming down, but a few minutes into the first band, I broke down and shoved them into my ears. Dear God, I think that was the loudest show ever. I text the YS a few minutes before she got there and told her that if she had earplugs in the truck, she might want them. Thank God, she had some. Urs' OOMA's band played last and they were quite good and enjoyable.

The second band invited people onto the dance floor to mosh. As it was so hideously loud, the YS and I were communicating with each other using the text messaging feature of our cell phones. We weren't sending messages, per se, just typing them up and showing the other person and awaiting acknowledgement with a nod. Anyway, I told her that I would never slam dance (I'm old, that's what we called it) with kids these days since none of them knows the proper way to do it, or as I put it, they don't know how to pull their punches. They just slam wholeheartedly into each other thinking that's the proper way to do it.

As soon as OOMA's band finished playing, the YS and I were out of there as the cigarette smoke was killing us! I took a shower as soon as I got home to get rid of all that secondhand smoke, took an alka-seltzer nighttime cold & cough and a Bronkaid to counteract the effects of the smoke, and then slept until noon. I don't need to get sick as I'm leaving Wednesday after work for Southern California.

I couldn't sleep at all last week, for some reason, so I needed to sleep until noon. Once I got up on Saturday I went to visit Grandma and took her bed jacket project with me. After harassing Grandma for a few hours, Mom, the YS and I took off for sushi. We got a new waitress who was horrific. An hour after we got there, we had no food, while every table around us who came in after us had their food. She also missed my tempura asparagus order on the back of the sushi order sheet. At no point did she apologise, she just blamed the kitchen. Sadly for her, she didn't know that we know the owner and once he showed up, the YS gave him an earful. Amazingly enough, my tempura asparagus showed up very quickly – I wouldn't have bet money she submitted it even after we pointed it out to her. We're so nice, though, she still got a 15% tip.

Yesterday, I pinned out the back of Grandma's bed jacket on my cardboard thingie and then pinned the left front next to it. Ooops, too long. Then I re-read the instructions and realised that everything was all kerfluffled and I ended up taking the whole thing out and starting again. *sigh* The right hand side is still sitting on my circular needles, but I'll end up taking that out and re-doing it as well. I don't want to think about the fact that the armhole shaping for the left and right sides on the back doesn't look symmetrical. I'll be calling Soyon later today and asking her about that. I also need to ask her to translate the instructions where I got hung up yesterday on the armhole shaping. It made NO sense to me, whatsoever. *double sigh*

How was everybody's weekend? Do anything fun? Eat anything yummy? Not mess up a knitting project?

Do not call telemarketers back! Plus Good News on the Grandma Front

I'm really slacking of late – posting entries, reading blogs, etc., and I apologise.

Latest Grandma news is good news!!! Woohoo!!! At physical therapy this week, starting on Wednesday, they began bending her knee! She was a little scared at first, expecting it to hurt, but she said it didn't. Also, one of my CA aunts was in town for a few days and she got the Medicare/Blue Cross issue straightened out. From the sounds of things, both will pay for 20 days in rehab, but they both wanted to pay for the first 20 days, so Grandma was going to get kicked out after 20 days, even though she wasn't allowed to put any weight on her leg for 6 weeks. The social worker has told Grandma that she will not be kicked out until the end of April, although Grandma thinks there's a possibility she'll be able to stay longer than that, if need be. We shall see. I don’t have a lot of faith in the "healthcare system" in this country.

I still don't know what's up with her dermatologist appt. and the atypical cells, but I'm sure I'll see Mom tomorrow and she'll tell me what's up. The YS is home from Texas, and due to Grandma's fall decided to do her next rotation here in Michigan, so we're going to harass Grandma tomorrow and then go for sushi! Yay! It's been much too long since I had sushi.

I mentioned a while back that my work phone is one number off from a telemarketers, if you remember. Well, I finally got tired of being sworn at for something I didn't do, so I asked my boss if I could be a bit more blunt in my voicemail message. He said, Yes, so a few weeks ago, I changed my VM from the standard BS to "Hello. I AM NOT A TELEMARKETER and DID NOT CALL YOU. You have reached My Name at Big Faceless Corporation and can't answer your call right now. If you know me, please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible." Or something very similar to that. One of my co-workers called me last week and was just laughing throughout his entire message to me. He asked if I had permission to do that. Yup.

It worked up until last night when I got someone saying "You lie, you did too call me." ARGH!!! Actually, I had THREE messages from people yelling at me once again about calling them. Today's message is even more blunt.

"Hello, you've reached My Name at Specific Department at Big Faceless Corporation. I am not a telemarketer and I did not call you. The last number is a zero, not an eight. If you are a supplier or a co-worker, please leave a message."

If you know me and my work #, give it a call and a listen…let me know what you think. I think my irritation shows through. I had said the next VM message was going to include information on how to get their phone # on the Do Not Call Registry, but I was too pissed this morning to do it. Maybe next time I need to get even more explicit. Yes, I could get a new phone #, but I've had this number since I started here almost 8 years ago. It's on every order I submit, it's the # everybody knows, etc. I don't want a new phone #!!! I want people to stop being stupid and not only calling telemarketers back, but too stupid to discern a zero from an eight!!!!

I'll keep you posted on well this works. Just hope the new big boss doesn't feel the need to call me when I'm not here. ;-)

One week from today I'll be at the street circuit in Long Beach for the last ever Champ Car race (even though technically it's an IRL [f*ckers] sanctioned race, it's my cars and engines and drivers, so we're considering it a Champ Car race). The LB is coming down from NorCal Friday night and hanging with us for two days. Figures we get him into Champ Car just in time for it go away. Last year in Vegas he came down to see us (he and HRH get along great because they're both so politically conservative). On Friday, he took the rental car to the Grand Canyon where they had just opened the tourist rip-off Lucite platform (you can't take a camera on it), and he was supposed to leave late afternoon on Saturday, but he joined us in the cool grandstand over the track and watched the cars coming at us and getting only a little airborne (since they fixed the massive bump overnight) and he looked at me and said, "Do you think I could get my ticket changed to tomorrow? Do you think Uncle Kevin will mind if I miss Easter Vigil?" "It can't hurt to try. Are you kidding? Uncle Kevin doesn't give a shit about stuff like that." (Note: Uncle Kevin married our aunt 20+ years ago – we're Catholic. He's been attending a Catholic church all these years, their kids all went to Catholic school, he just finally got around to converting officially last year – adult conversions are formally acknowledged/done during the Easter vigil which is a complete nightmare and can last up to three hours.) The LB was able to change his ticket leaving Sunday (as it was Easter) and he sat there watching cars and asked "Why is NASCAR more popular than this? This is so much more interesting." Ah, LB, you have asked the eternal question, which is even more pertinent now that my series is no more.

I need to post pics of the progress of Grandma's bed jacket, but first I need to download the images from my camera. Let's hope it doesn't take as long as my October trip. ;-)

Have a good weekend. I'm going to the Token Lounge tonight to see Ursa's hubby play with his old band. I'm pretty sure there will be some absolutely fabulous people-watching happening this evening, as it is a rock/metal concert. The funny thing is that I grew up not all that far from the Token and have never ever been in it. I've driven past it numerous times, but never stepped one foot inside. I shall now find out what I've been missing all these years!

Another Grandma Update & March Lists of Books & Movies

I know, I know…I haven't listed my books and movies from March, but first, a Grandma Update. She somehow managed to get bronchitis last week, so she wasn't feeling all that fabulously and she was obviously having trouble breathing. She was on the Z-Pack, getting breathing treatments three times a day and then finally, oxygen (either Friday or Saturday – she couldn't remember). She sounded better last night and they took her off the oxygen, so that was good news.

Mom told me more bad news last week, however. Grandma went to a dermatologist and got a biopsy done sometime before she fell. Mom finally remembered and called the dermatologist and was told that the biopsy had come back and the results were that the cells were atypical and squamous. Mom didn't know what squamous meant, but made an appointment for Grandma for some time in May. Then Mom went to work (she works at a pediatrician's office) and was told that squamous means fast-growing, malignant cancer. Mom moved the appointment up to this week, but only told Grandma the cells were atypical. She didn't think Grandma needed further bad news. I'm hoping that as it's only skin cancer (I think), that it will be easy to cut out and eliminate completely. Please continue praying for the cute little lady. Thank you.

Here is my lame book list and not quite as lame movie list.

Books

The Ringmaster's Secret by Carolyn Keene – 178 pages - #31 – What can I say, I was looking for an easy read. Classic Nancy Drew.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu – This was "An Illustrated Journey" translated by Stephen Mitchell – It was very interesting, I even marked passages I really liked, for some reason or other. It's very short, but takes a little time to digest. I have three more copies to read. Yeah, not quite sure why I own four copies of it, but I do.

High Rhulain by Brian Jacques – 320 pages – From the Redwall Abby series by Brian Jacques for Young Adults. My nephew got me into them a number of years ago and this was one he didn't have. I bought it a good 1.5-2 years ago with the intention of giving it to the nephew (as he owns most of them, and I generally just borrow them from him) as soon as I finished reading it. I finally got around to it and enjoyed it quite a bit. I really enjoy the books which including the fighting hares of Salamandastron, they make me laugh. When I gave it to the nephew I said, "Want to know the ending?" "No!" he said in a panic. "The good guys win." "Duh." I would recommend all of the Redwall books to anybody and everybody who enjoys a good story. Although the first book is technically "Redwall" my nephew started me out with Martin the Warrior and I would say it was not a bad move.

I started Nineteen-Eighty-Four by George Orwell last month as well, but didn't finish it. So, while I'm a slacker, I'm not a complete slacker. ;-)

Book of the Month has to be High Rhulain.


Movies

I started out the month pretty well and ended it well…the middle – there was a definite lack of movie watching happening, except for the Saturday I spent with Grandma after she fell.

3/1 - Babette's Feast - 1987 (N) – Sadly this movie has been on my list to see since it came out. Only took me 20 years to get around to it. Pathetic. I started watching a version I DVRd back in February, but it was dubbed and I hate dubbed foreign films, so I hit the delete button and moved the title to the top of my Netflix queue. If you like action, you won't like this movie. It's more about people and how they relate to each other. I liked it.

3/1 - Woyzeck - 1979 (N) – A Werner Herzog/Klaus Kinski collaboration. Do I really need to say more? It was dark, depressing and I would say you could see Klaus Kinski's insanity most readily. The man personified batshit crazy.

3/1 - Ocean's 13 - 2007 (K) – What can I say? I love the Ocean's series (yes, including 12, which apparently I'm not supposed to like because it didn't follow the "heist movie formula" – whatever). The link above takes you to the Rolling Stone review which does a much better job than I could describing the movie. Unless you have serious George Clooney issues (which I won't even begin to pretend to understand), check it out. It's fun, and it's always a good time to see the really icky bad guys lose.

3/2 - Tsotsi - 2005 (Enc) – Tsotsi was nominated for best foreign film back in 2005 and won. It's about a teenaged boy in South Africa who carjacks a woman, seriously injuring her and without realising her baby was in the backseat. For some reason, he keeps the baby and in a roundabout, messed up way, it humanizes him to a certain degree. A sad movie, but not nearly depressing as Woyzeck.

3/2 - Best Little Whorehouse in Texas - 1982 (Retro) – I had never had any desire to see this movie, but an acquaintance (and fellow punk/goth) told me it was her absolutely favorite movie and that I should watch it. It was playing on Retroplex shortly thereafter, so I DVRd it. I have to confess that I liked it. I love Dolly Parton. Dom Deluise was hilarious as Melvin P. Thorpe and Burt Reynolds did a fine job as the sheriff. I actually like musicals, but I could have lived w/o some of the songs in the movie. All in all, I'm glad I took the advice.

3/2 - O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 2000 (Enc) – Alleluia! I finally found a Coen Brothers' film that I liked. I think I would even watch it a second time. And before anybody asks, in disbelief, Yes, I *HATED* Fargo. It.Wasn't.Funny. The other Coen Brothers' film I saw and hated was Barton Fink. No, I haven't seen Raising Arizona, and if you think I should because it's funny, just think for a second "Did I find Fargo funny?" If you answered yes to that question, I won't take your advice on Raising AZ. Sorry…I can not even begin to find the words to express how not funny Fargo was and how disgusted I was at the film….and my friends who laughed hysterically throughout it.

3/2 - The Flight of the Navigator - 1986 (Hallmark) – Yeah, it's a cheesy, 80s Disney movie, but I love it. I saw it was on Hallmark, DVRd it and then watched it when I had a spare 90 minutes. Sadly, it was cut all to hell, so I bit the bullet and found a copy on line which I bought. It arrived the other day. Not sure if I'll watch it anytime soon, since I did just watch it, but don't be surprised when it pops up again on my movie list.

3/16 - The Philadelphia Story - 1940 (K) – I took a bunch of movies with me to Grandma's the Saturday I was to stay with her after she fell. This was one of the movies we watched (I left halfway through An Affair to Remember). Once again, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. It's brilliant and if you still haven't seen it, do yourself a favor!!! Rent it! Netflix it! Do what you need to do to watch it.

3/29 - The Importance of Being Earnest - 1952 (N) – Between Cyrano de Bergerac and Importance, I don't know which is my favorite play. I've seen both played live (Importance, twice at Stratford, ONT & Cyrano, once in Stratford and once down at Wayne State during my senior year of high school), to say nothing of how many times I've seen the movies. I believe this version (with Michael Redgrave – I think you all remember how much I love him) was my uncle's favorite movie version, as well. I haven't given the 2002 version with Rupert Everett a chance yet and I'm just not sure I'm going to. I'm scared they'll have modernised it or something worse. Okay, I might have to see it…Dame Judi Dench plays Lady Bracknell, but then again, it has a whole lot more characters listed than there are in the play. I'll have to think about that. Anyway, just for the record, I prefer Jose Ferrer's Cyrano to Gerard Depardieu's. Did I mention that Oscar Wilde wrote Importance? I don't think I did, and that should be enough reason to see it. It's bloody hilarious!!!

3/29 - Fitzcarraldo - 1981 (N) – Another Werner Herzog/Klaus Kinski film. While in the middle of watching it, a friend called and asked if I were sleeping. I said, "No, watching my last Werner Herzog film." She laughed as she's seen a few, and asked which one. I told her and she asked where the boat was. "45-degree angle on a mountainside." KK played a crazy man (a stretch for him – ha ha) who is obsessed with opera and wants to bring Caruso to Peru to perform. He needed to make a lot of money with rubber production and somehow moving the steamboat over a mountain was going to help him. Anyway, after it was over, I can say that it is The.Most.Uplifting of all of Werner Herzog's films (of the too many I have seen). So, if you want to see ONE Werner Herzog film, go with this one. Honestly.

3/30 - Sicko - 2007 (N) – I know Michael Moore is a hot button topic for a lot of people and that they will discount anything he says just because he is the one saying it. However, he seems to be the only one saying what needs to be said about the American health care system in easy to understand ideas, if you're willing to listen. I found the movie fascinating, but I will confess to thinking the health care system in this country sucks canal water, so he was preaching to the choir. I laughed out loud when he went to Cuba, as that is so Michael Moore and who the hell else would have had the balls to do it. I don't think that I would actually like Michael Moore if I met him, but I like that he doesn't care if people hate him and does what he thinks is right.

And there you go, my March movies. Movie of the Month has to be Sicko.

Life is Good?

The good Doctor posted this recently and I decided to take the test. I'm not that thrilled with the results - actually, it was the comments associated with the results which didn't thrill me.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.7
Mind:	6.5
Body:	8
Spirit:	7.5
Friends/Family:	5.8
Love:	1.5
Finance:	7.2
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Latest Grandma Update, Knitting, Long Beach

Sorry for my absence, but for the first time I can remember I think I'm suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I need warmth and sun…the warmth from the sun. I've never discounted SAD's existence before, but I never thought I suffered from it. This winter, though, has put me over the edge. I'm always tired, I don't feel like doing anything. I don't want to leave my apt. once I'm home. I don't feel like working when I'm at work. I don't feel like blogging or reading blogs. It's really pathetic. I need SUMMER!!!

I had Good Friday and Easter Monday off work which was nice. Grandma is doing quite well. She had surgery on the Tuesday before Easter, as you know, and the hospital released her on Good Friday. I slept in Friday but made it to church by a little after twelve noon (had to stop by the University to pick up hockey tickets from a friend) – they were on the second station of the cross when I got there. After the service was over (only day of the year when there is no Mass in a Catholic church – little trivia there for you – I won a bet on that once), I went to Target (not my usual one and it was stupid busy) and then Mom called to say Grandma was being moved right then, so I headed up to the rehab place. I beat her there as her ambulance driver didn't have a clue how to get to the place, so he decided to go up Greenfield from the hospital to 13 Mile Road and then west to Meadowbrook Road. Yes, theoretically it's direct, but it's not the fastest way to get there. When they finally arrived, Grandma said, "I think we came by way of Toledo." I was amused but I'm not sure the ambulance guys were.

We got Grandma settled in and stood and chatted for a while, until I decided the snow was coming down a little too hard for my peace of mind and I said my good-byes. It wasn't as white-knuckle driving as when I had to take the YS to the airport back in December, but it wasn't the best time ever, either. Thankfully, Saturday was warm-ish (low 40s?), so driving to Knitting Club that night wasn't a problem. The city where EGC lives has a snow rule, so one whole side of EGC's street is forbidden. I proved my parallel parking skills by getting into the tightest damn spot. I might have had a couple of inches on both ends of the car. I rock.

I started knitting a sweater/bed jacket for Grandma that night. Soyon brought me some patterns and I picked one that looked easy. You can see it here (third picture down in blue). It's not going to be that long, obviously, since it is a bed jacket and Grandma's only 4'7". I've already ripped the damn thing completely out as it was going to be way too long. I've started shaping the armholes for the back piece, and figured out it's still going to be too long, but hopefully only by an inch or so. I'm not ripping it out again.

I took a break from the bed jacket this weekend to knit a scarf as a housewarming gift. I had a housewarming party to attend on Saturday and wanted to knit something for the "lady of the house." I didn't finish it in time, and was hoping to finish it by today so I could give it to Katie this afternoon, but it didn't happen. I went to the Red Wings game on Sunday (they won in OT – woohoo) and that took up quite a few hours, and then yesterday I was visiting Grandma and this particular pattern needs my attention. I kept messing up and having to take rows out one stitch at time so that I wouldn't have to rip the entire thing out. I ended up working on the bed jacket so that I wasn't wasting time while visiting with Grandma. ARGH! I didn't get home until 9:30 which is bedtime, so it's not done. Darn it!!!

Grandma has only been in physical therapy for a week, but she's making great progress. They're teaching her how to use the walker to support herself as she hops to get from point A to point B. I met a lady with whom Grandma has PT and she told the OS and me that Grandma has progressed very quickly and that she was very impressed with Grandma's accomplishments. She gets out of bed with a minimum of help and is just doing really, really well. Even though she's making friends at the facility, she can't wait to get home and be on her own again. It's good to have a goal.

Grandma's not allowed to put any weight on her right leg for six weeks (I guess we're down to 4 weeks, now). She figured out yesterday that she's more than likely not going on our trip to CA in 3 weeks. She's bummed because she really wanted to surprise the LB for his b-day. I was really looking forward to it, too. I now need to call the airline or Travelocity and see if we can get a voucher for the ticket, so Grandma isn't out the money and can get to CA eventually.

I leave two weeks from tomorrow for Long Beach. While I'm looking forward to the trip, I'm also dreading it as that's when IT will really be over. Supposedly, the first Icky Racing League race of the season was this past weekend. I had a party to attend that night, not that I would have watched anyway, but HRH tried to watch it and she said it just brought it all home to her that our series is really over. It upset her so much she couldn't even sleep that night. A bigwig at work (who back when the takeover was announced argued with me that there would still be a race in Cleveland and all this other stuff, he simply refused to believe that someone who didn't wear a suit to work might actually know more about something) yesterday asked me "Did you watch the race?" I replied, "There wasn't a race." He just laughed. I didn't.

I know that at some point I will need to "get over it," but I'm not ready yet. HRH's trying to get me to go to Charlotte for the 600…I wouldn't bet money on it happening, but never say never, right?

I hope all is well with everybody. It'll probably take me a little while to catch up as I've been lax for the past couple of weeks, but I trust comments will be popping up around the blogging world.

Waiting for summer….

Grandma thinks it is Sunday

I talked to Grandma yesterday and today. She didn't sound very good yesterday, but she did sound much better today. She was telling me how if you're in pain and want painkillers, they ask you your name and birthdate to make sure you're you and then they give it to you. I'm thinking she's pretty looped today as she wasn't sure what tehy were giving her and she thought it was Sunday. Normally when I call her from work, she's anxious to get me off the phone so I don't get fired, but today I had to say, "I have to go, Grandma, the bossman called me and I need to see what he needs." three times, before she let me go.

I told her that she needs to make our trip to CA in April her recovery goal and she said, "Believe me, Kathleen, it is." She also told me that I don't need to come visit her, calling on the phone is enough. *eyes rolling* Then she told me how my Mom is coming too much and too often and is just exhausted. I simply said that my mom is too Catholic sometimes. Grandma told her she didn't have to come today, but Mom said, "You used to tell me what to do. Now I'm telling you." That mother of mine is BOSSY!!!

Of course, this whole hospital/rehab facility/Grandma falling business has me wondering what the heck we're all doing for Easter. The original plan was that we were going to her house after church for brunch. I was to go over on Saturday and set up the dining room table and whatever else needed doing, but I have a feeling that won't need to be done. I didn't ask her because I didn't want her to get upset with herself for falling and inconveniencing others (her viewpoint, not mine).

All in all, I thought she sounded pretty good today, so let's keep our fingers crossed that she stays that way! As always, thanks for all thoughts and prayers!

Grandma's out of surgery

Update #5 (I think or is it #4?):

Grandma's surgery apparently went well. They had trouble finding enough bone to work with as they put in a plate and a bunch of screws. Mom called at 6:00 to say that Grandma had been out of surgery for two hours, but she was still in recovery.

Grandma didn't get out of recovery until after 10:00 because the hospital didn't have a bed for her. She was in major pain - had two doses of morphine in Recovery and another two overnight. Her blood pressure was 190 over something. She finally settled down after the fourth dose of morphine. Nurse said the blood pressure came down today, but not by how much.

That's all I know for now, except that the hospital is supposedly releasing her tomorrow (we need to find a rehab facility that will take her), but I'm hoping the doctor keeps her a bit longer. She is 89 years old, for heaven's sake. I can see discharging a relatively healthy 35-year-old, but I think it would be nice if decisions were made on individual bases and not a template.

Thanks again to all who are praying for my cute little Grandma. She appreciates it. I told her on Saturday that my friends were praying for her.