Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Home again, home again....Jiggety jig...

Well, actually I got home on Sunday night, but this is the first time I've had a chance to catch my breath since I got home.

I had Monday off too, but spent the whole day doing all the bill paying/check cashing/ runaround that inevitably follows any vacation.

So, first things first:

Kat and Kelly, thank you both soooo much. If you ever need anyone to post for you, or wash your car, or make you some beef jerky, you just let me know.

Second:

Yes. I have a metric fuckton of pictures from the trip. I shot 403. I'm not going to bore you with all of them, but I do have quite a few in mind. I've got to process them down a bit tho, so they'll look nice on the page....

My son shot over 1000. No, I'm not putting all of them on here either, but there will be at least a couple.

So, for now I'll leave you.

Look for pix and a verrrrrryyyy looooooooong post in the near future.

T.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Is that a roll of nickels, or are you just glad to see me?

Hi, it's Kelly again. I've been reading over T's blog to see if there is anything I can riff on that might be of any interest whatsoever to his regular readers.

Let me just interject here real quick before continuing... I just noticed that he mentioned recently that a woman at his job was taking two weeks off for maternity leave. Just WTF she hopes to accomplish in two weeks is beyond me. Silly woman. Either she's got a dozen kids at home and maternity leave is no big whoop to her, or this is her first, and she thinks two weeks is all you need to give birth, heal your hoo-hoo and bond with your baby.

TJ has mentioned that he likes to play the games of chance once in a while over at the PiƱon. I think I've gambled there once or twice. Mainly, though, my gambling is restricted to the 10-20 minutes spent waiting for a table at the cafe inside the Carson Valley Inn, the casino down here in G-ville. The hostess gives you a drink coaster-lookin' thingie that flashes and vibrates when your table is ready, and while ya wait, ya gamble. Duh.

My game of choice is nickel video poker. Yeah, big frickin' spender, me. But don't laugh, I've actually won upwards of $17 or so recently on a lowly nickel machine. When you're playing nickels, you can afford to take the crazy bets. I'm a sucker for drawing to an inside straight. If I was playing a dollar machine, I'd play the straight and narrow, lose small and win small.

I did catch some kind of fever once, at the Horizon Casino in South Lake Tahoe, straight up the mountain from me. I was killing time before a movie, and played some nickel slots. Won a sizable amount, maybe $20 or so. Moved up to quarter slots. When I'm not piddling around with video poker, I like to play the old-school Double Diamond slot machines.



No fuckin' around, no cutesy graphics, no options to slip in 45 coins... you just plug in your two quarters, spin the reels, and you either win or lose. Mostly lose. But this one time, after winning on nickels and stepping up to the quarters... I won. About $75. Time to step it up to dollar machines. Lo and behold... I get up to about $220.

Okay, all casino floors have this quiet little area, away from the hubbub. It's the "high stakes" slots. It's basically where all the $5 and over slots are. The carpets are a bit cleaner, the ashtrays are emptied a little more regularly, and the servers' smiles are a little bigger, if not exactly more genuine.

I was hyped and breathless when I stepped into this sanctuary, believing that the gods were on my side that day, that I could do no wrong. I sat down and started feeding $20 bills into machine after machine. I won NOTHING, not a THING, not even spinning a single cherry for an easy two-fer, before the money was gone. I am ashamed to admit, I was so sure that I had been horribly wronged, that something had gone so awry, that I took out an extra $20 from a nearby ATM to try to set things right. Needless to say, I missed my movie, and felt pretty sick to my stomach.

So I guess for about an hour there, I felt the high and low of a gambling addict, and it scared me. I have an addictive personality in the first place, and I can totally see the attraction. But, from now on, I think I'll reserve my addictions for more affordable pursuits... coffee, cigarettes, Jim Beam. And the occasional rush of drawing to an inside straight... when there's a whopping five nickels at stake.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Greetings from Northern Nevada



Hi, it's Kelly again. Just wanted to post a pic of beautiful Northern Nevada taken today. Hopefully it will make TJ homesick if he's checking this thing remotely.

This is Washoe Lake, off of Hwy 395, between Carson City and Reno. Those are the Sierra mountains in the background. My son and I took a side trip here today to dip our toes in the lake and skip some rocks.

The weather's sublime, T! I don't think we even made it out of the 60s today. A complete 180 from some of the hellacious summer days we had recently.

So... just showin' some blog love. Meanwhile, I've ignored my own blog for days now...

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Hidee Ho Neighbors!!

This is your friendly ...er...friend, Kat!
I did it! I remembered to post!
I don't know that I really have anything interesting to say. Pretty sad, really.
Ah well, C'est la vie, no?

You know, I really love Disneyland. It really is the most Magical Place on earth! I've never been to Disney World, and quite frankly, have no desire to go, either. There's nothing quite like the Original!! I haven't been in YEARS and I really miss it. Soonly, I would like to take the B-man there some day. He's never been. When we still lived in San Diego, he wasn't more than a tater tot, so he wouldn't really have gotten much out of it. I would have, though! Love that D-land.

Anywho... seriously, I think that's about all I have for tonight. Maybe more later!!



I hope he brings me some Tinkerbell shit....
:p

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Grad Night '85: Remembering D-Land

Hi, it's Kelly again. I'm bound and determined to make you all bored with me, and begging for T's return.

Hope he's having a great time at D-Land. I've only been two or three times in my life.

Back in '85, there was Grad Nite. I don't know if they still do that, but back then, it was a yearly event that took place sometime during the last couple of weeks of school. High school seniors pile onto a bus and drive all night (in our case, about 8 hours, from Stockton, Calif.), arrive sometime around midnight, and have run of the park with other seniors from all over the West until the sun comes up.

I remember being drunk and slightly depressed. The girls all had to wear dresses, and the boys all had to wear at least "business casual." I don't even remember who all was in my little clique, but I remember hooking up with some random seniors from another school, and half-heartedly groping with one of them on the Space Mountain ride.

There were actually some pretty cool bands playing all over the park that night, and I think that's how my little group fell apart and went their separate ways until we met up again on the bus ride home. Half of us insisted on seeing the punk band X, but everyone else wanted to see DeBarge playing on the other side of the park. After X, we wandered over and watched Animotion play for a while, then I think we rode the Pirates ride about eight times in a row, same with the Haunted House.

I almost got in a fist-fight with some goober in a white prom-like tux. I don't quite remember how I was sustaining my slightly drunken stupor during this trip, someone must've had booze on them... but it aggravated my slightly depressed state, and at one point I angrily swept a cup cherry soda off of a table where we were sitting, and drenched the innocent bystander's white pant-leg with sugary redness. If I had been him, I would've bitch-slapped me, but cooler heads prevailed, and I got off with a profuse apology.

I also remember not sleeping on the bus ride home, because I have a tendency to snore a bit, and there's nothing more frightening to a high school girl than everyone finding out that you snore.

So that was my most memorable trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. A haze of teen angst and jadedness. I hope to return someday, to experience it "for reals," hopefully with my children in tow, and before they're old enough to cop that "too cool for school" attitude. I hear it's actually a pretty fun place.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Shhhhhh....

Whoot! I feel like I'm rifling around in someone else's house on the sly. And don't worry T, I'm not actually rifling around in your house while you're away.

My name's Kelly, and I live somewhat near our beloved T.J. separated only by about 20 or so miles of high-desert highway and a plethora of box stores and chain restaurants.

That said, I've never met the man in person, although I understand he has a well-conditioned ponytail, so every time I'm in town and spot a ponytail, I think to myself, "Hmmmm, maybe..." I swear I spotted him once at Del Taco, I was in the drive-thru, and he was one of those unfortunate souls who chose a table near the windows facing the drive-thru traffic. But the sun was bright that afternoon, so it may have just been wishful thinking.

I used to be a rather consistent blogger, over at www.letterstojake.blogspot.com, but I've been rather spotty lately, as I am hugely, grossly, indecently pregnant with my second child, and I've been working a lot, and I've developed a love-hate relationship with my computer. Long on hate, short on the loving part. But this is like having a fresh kitty box to scratch around in, and I'm enjoying it!

Thanks for leaving the key under the mat for me, T! I'll make sure to clean up after myself and bring in the newspaper. Later!

Heigh ho, Heigh ho it's off to well....not work we go...

But rather Disneyland.

That's right boys and girls it's finally here. It's 6:40 am local as I write this, and I'm just waiting for Pops to get is ass out of the shower then we're outta here.

This first day sees us driving from Carson City to Grover Beach, where my son lives. We're staying at my ex's house, and then tomorrow morning, we're up at the buttcrack of dawn, and in the park by 11 or so.

Summer and my mom will arrive by plane/shuttle, and then the fun will begin in earnest.

Yeah, and work already tried to call me in yesterday. What the fuck, over? For the first time since I started there, I actually found the strength to say no.

Ok....time to dash.

Guest bloggers, you're up!!!!!

T.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

No, I haven't forgotten how to type....

Smartasses.

I have been very busy tho. There's all that packing to do...(wait i havent packed yet).

Really, I have no excuse, other than my schedule at work has been very wonky lately. You see, I'm not the only person taking time off this month. One of our people left on the 3rd for a month in London (bitch) another is taking 2 weeks off for maternity leave, and right in the middle of all that is MY time off.

Plus, we lost a very senior operator/supervisor. She and hubby moved to OK on the 1st of Sept.




Ok, so here's the plan. Monday morning, I'm outta here. I may have time for a post before we head out, but I may not. I'll try to get at least one more in before I go, but no promises.

Come Monday afternoon, or Tuesday, whichever you're feeling, those of you with posting rights can feel free to drop in and make yourselves known.

Oh, I plan on taking LOTS of photos. This comes not only as a result of being a 'serious amateur' photographer (3 grand in my camera bag) but also because of Best Buy.

You see, they had an SD card on sale, and I figured I'd need one, because the 128 meg card I had would only hold 144 photos. Well, the one on sale was 2.0 gigs, and it was only 44 bucks.

I put the card in expecting a significant jump, but when I saw the number of photos I have available, I nearly soiled myself.

2448.

You read that right...two-thousand-four-hundred-forty-eight. In a package about the size of your average postage stamp.

Geez, ain't technology great?

Toodles,

T.