Joe gets all kinds of offers for conferences & lectures & workshops. Sometimes he goes, mostly he doesn't. There usually isn't enough value to justify having his work pile up while he's away, and the thrill of travel is long gone. And he's got some boring, useless, required thing next week.
Last week his boss forwarded a conference on something-or-other that pertains to his work. However, none of the presenters work in the defense industry, so he said it wasn't worthwhile. Just one problem. It's in Phoenix, the end of Feb.
Let's say this all together now: "HELLO?!?!?!?" Where does his wife love to visit, and where did she not get to go last year because of major horrible surgery, and where has she already started planning for this year? Everyone knows the answer, right?
Fortunately, while he was telling me about it, he realized his near-fatal error. I thought this would be an easy correction, but evidently he has to justify the trip to someone higher than his boss (who doesn't care). So I must wait to find out if we get a partially free trip. If we do, we'll go on a Fri, go up to Sedona so I can hike in the red rocks for 2 entire days (whilst avoiding vortex-seekers), then come back to Phoenix where I can hike locally with friends while he goes to the useless conference. Then maybe another day in Phoenix. All without missing ASL class.
Stay tuned.
Update - the trip didn't get approved, and he didn't want to go and have to sit in a boring conference while I was out having fun anyway. So we're going for an entire week in April & I am very impatiently waiting....and waiting.....and waiting.........
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
I received an IM today
Not just any IM. It's from my son. And it contained content & wasn't anything bad. Normally, I'd be able to post the conversation here, because he never tells me anything. This time, nope, it breaks my blog rules. And not only that, he also IMed his dad to tell him the same thing.
Even more impressive since we both had rip-roaring screaming matches with him this week. Maybe he misses us, since he's been back at school for 24 hrs. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yet another case of, "Who are you and what have you done with my child?"
Even more impressive since we both had rip-roaring screaming matches with him this week. Maybe he misses us, since he's been back at school for 24 hrs. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yet another case of, "Who are you and what have you done with my child?"
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Winter break is almost over
Today was better than a couple of days ago. We shifted back from ungrateful, nasty, selfish young-adult-who-acts-like-a-5-yr-old to entertainment factory.
I got an urgent phone call at work today from the offspring.
"How come every time I empty the new dishwasher, the silverware explodes all over the place?"
I think I used up most of our monthly minutes laughing. It was slightly less funny than the day he exercised so hard he puked.
The new dishwasher has a silverware tray that hooks onto the outside of the lower rack. On the front, there is a hook, so if you remove the tray & lay it down on the counter, you can open the front panel and remove the contents more easily. Alternatively, you can yank the tray hard enough when you slide the rack out that the silverware erupts volcanically all over the dishwasher and the floor.
Fortunately, he didn't puke on the silverware.
I got an urgent phone call at work today from the offspring.
"How come every time I empty the new dishwasher, the silverware explodes all over the place?"
I think I used up most of our monthly minutes laughing. It was slightly less funny than the day he exercised so hard he puked.
The new dishwasher has a silverware tray that hooks onto the outside of the lower rack. On the front, there is a hook, so if you remove the tray & lay it down on the counter, you can open the front panel and remove the contents more easily. Alternatively, you can yank the tray hard enough when you slide the rack out that the silverware erupts volcanically all over the dishwasher and the floor.
Fortunately, he didn't puke on the silverware.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Conversation with my son
This always qualifies as having no content. Note that all voices were quiet (for us) and rather neutral for the whole conversation, except for my laughing.
J (that's the kid): Mom, can you transfer some money to my school account?
Me: No, you have to use the money you earned this summer.
J: But this is for food! I'm tired of the cafeteria and I want Arby's.
M: Too bad, use your own money.
J: Mom, just calm down now, you're getting hysterical.
M: Didn't Buba just send you a check for $20?
J: Yes, but I didn't have time to cash it yet.
M: So go deposit it now at your ATM.
J: No, that takes too long. It's easier if you transfer money to my school account card, and then I can use the card right at the restaurant.
M: You still need to use your own money for that.
J: Mom, you're really getting hysterical for no reason. If you don't give me money, Sammie will pay for me.
M: That's her fault for being weak-willed. She shouldn't hang out with you anyway because you're a jerk.
J: That's exactly what I would have said! Why do you sound like me?
At this point, Dad joined in on the speaker phone and there was more of the same for another 20 minutes. We didn't give in.
It's good that the kid can entertain us now. This was the longest conversation we've had in 15 yrs. We only get 2 types of phone calls a semester from him:
1) Can I have some money?
2) Pick me up at the bus this Fri.
Then there's IM:
1) My phone is broken.
J (that's the kid): Mom, can you transfer some money to my school account?
Me: No, you have to use the money you earned this summer.
J: But this is for food! I'm tired of the cafeteria and I want Arby's.
M: Too bad, use your own money.
J: Mom, just calm down now, you're getting hysterical.
M: Didn't Buba just send you a check for $20?
J: Yes, but I didn't have time to cash it yet.
M: So go deposit it now at your ATM.
J: No, that takes too long. It's easier if you transfer money to my school account card, and then I can use the card right at the restaurant.
M: You still need to use your own money for that.
J: Mom, you're really getting hysterical for no reason. If you don't give me money, Sammie will pay for me.
M: That's her fault for being weak-willed. She shouldn't hang out with you anyway because you're a jerk.
J: That's exactly what I would have said! Why do you sound like me?
At this point, Dad joined in on the speaker phone and there was more of the same for another 20 minutes. We didn't give in.
It's good that the kid can entertain us now. This was the longest conversation we've had in 15 yrs. We only get 2 types of phone calls a semester from him:
1) Can I have some money?
2) Pick me up at the bus this Fri.
Then there's IM:
1) My phone is broken.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Outdoors
OK, if you know me, you're wondering why the word "outdoors" would ever appear in something I wrote. This is a story I had posted on MySpace 2 yrs ago. Since it has no content, I decided to repost it here. Read on, and you will see that it fits my pattern.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
The house phone stopped working again. That's at least an annual occurrence in this neighborhood, and generally lasts 2-3 days. While Joe waited to speak with a human (Verizon has the most godawful annoying & incompetent voice recognition menu ever - but if you say "fuck you" enough times, it switches you to hold for a human), I dutifully went outside to test the box, so we could prove it was not a problem inside the house (for which they would gladly charge us $90/hr).
Normally, I walk around the side of the house, scoot behind a small bush, and test the phone line. This evening, I was trapped by the Devil's Snare. Or a beanstalk. Or several beanstalks. I was confused. I knew the cute little magnolia tree hadn't suddenly sprouted; it's a slow-grower. I, clever nature-girl that I am, finally deduced it was a weed. An incredibly huge, thick, tentacled monster. From 0 to 6 ft in 3 wks. I grabbed my trusty bow saw and hacked away. At least 6 trunks, 2-3" diameter. Fortunately it was lightweight & easy to cut, so I was done in 10 min, which is my outside limit for gardening. Tomorrow we have to figure out how to yank the roots, and tie up Audrey II for the trash men. Maybe I'll just spray the whole yard with Round-Up.
In the meantime, Joe got us scheduled for a maintenance call & the land line is forwarded to my cell. *sigh*
For some odd reason, DSL is still working. That's more important than the phone anyway.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
The house phone stopped working again. That's at least an annual occurrence in this neighborhood, and generally lasts 2-3 days. While Joe waited to speak with a human (Verizon has the most godawful annoying & incompetent voice recognition menu ever - but if you say "fuck you" enough times, it switches you to hold for a human), I dutifully went outside to test the box, so we could prove it was not a problem inside the house (for which they would gladly charge us $90/hr).
Normally, I walk around the side of the house, scoot behind a small bush, and test the phone line. This evening, I was trapped by the Devil's Snare. Or a beanstalk. Or several beanstalks. I was confused. I knew the cute little magnolia tree hadn't suddenly sprouted; it's a slow-grower. I, clever nature-girl that I am, finally deduced it was a weed. An incredibly huge, thick, tentacled monster. From 0 to 6 ft in 3 wks. I grabbed my trusty bow saw and hacked away. At least 6 trunks, 2-3" diameter. Fortunately it was lightweight & easy to cut, so I was done in 10 min, which is my outside limit for gardening. Tomorrow we have to figure out how to yank the roots, and tie up Audrey II for the trash men. Maybe I'll just spray the whole yard with Round-Up.
In the meantime, Joe got us scheduled for a maintenance call & the land line is forwarded to my cell. *sigh*
For some odd reason, DSL is still working. That's more important than the phone anyway.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Random Thoughts (that's a warning)
I was wondering, you know how sometimes someone will come out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to their shoe? I've actually seen it happen in real life, not just on sitcoms. So the logical progression of that is, if you're at a nudist event, does anyone ever come out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck in their crack?
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