FlipSide:Starting April 29, 2002

The Flip Side

The Other Side Of Life With A PC Geek
Geek

Link

A journal of the trials, tribulations, and
triumphs in the life of a woman in the 21st century.

Last Updated : Sunday, May 05, 2002 10:08 PM -0500

Home Current Week Archives NetWidows

Books Links Movies Music Recipes

Monday, April 29, 2002

« Monday »-·-« Tuesday »-·-« Wednesday »-·-« Thursday »-·-« Friday »-·-« Saturday »-·-« Sunday »
« Archive »-·-« E-Mail Me »-·-« Most Recent »-·-« TOP »

Tuesday, April 30, 2002

Wednesday, May 1, 2002

"I'm sure she'll be back. She's just enjoying a bit of a vacation from responsibility right now, and likely as not it will end shortly."

The above are the famous last words of my spouse, who was replying to one of our mutual readers regarding my prolonged absence from posting. VACATION FROM RESPONSIBILITY?!!! He calls unpacking countless boxes, hosting an open house, buying presents for 2 first communicants, and generally cleaning a house that 4 people are dirtying and only one is cleaning a VACATION FROM RESPONSIBILITY??!! And his idea of work would be? Let's see, tonight is free, other than the groceries being delivered, but tomorrow night is girl scouts, Friday is more grocery shopping, Saturday is girl scouts and tee ball and Sunday is girl scout Sunday. I think the male idea of "vacation" is far different from the female. Or, then again, he is taking a vacation since I'm not.

All this from a man who doesn't even pick up his own underwear. His mother swears she trained him better than that.

Jumping the Gun

From MSNBC

"On Monday, lottery officials dashed the hopes of a group of Newark nursing home workers who played the Big Game as a pool. The workers from Newark Extended Care Facility Inc. believed the winner was a co-worker who wouldn't share the ticket with them.

Despite Angelito Marquez's insistence the group had lost, co-workers became suspicious of his absence from work in the days after the drawing and hired a lawyer.

Lottery officials settled the matter by inviting four members of the pool to view store videotape of the person validating the ticket at the Hillside convenience store where it was purchased. The nursing home pool's tickets were bought at a liquor store in Union.

"Lopes thanked the workers and said they acted graciously when they were told they weren't the winners."

I don't think "gracious" sums this group up. They publicly accuse a coworker of lying and attempting to cheat them out of "their fair share" of lottery winnings, hire a lawyer to go after the guy, then come to find out, "Gee folks, he was telling the truth, he doesn't have a winning ticket." Gracious is NOT the word I would use. Greedy, paranoid, grasping . . . all of these are words I think fit. I can remember my parents using the phrase "don't cry before you're hurt" when my brother or I started whining about things that hadn't yet come to pass. Apparently these people had never heard this advice. The nursing home workers say that there are "no hard feelings". Gee, why should they have hard feelings, they weren't the ones who were publicly vilified. Somehow I think Mr. Marquez may have a little different take on the matter.

Onward and Upward

Slowly but surely, the house is coming along The piles of boxes are getting smaller and smaller. (And they have not all been shoved into the crawl space!!!) I even know where just about everything is in my kitchen. There is still, however, the case of the missing 18 inch tall green container of flour and my bag of sugar that seem to have been bodily assumed into heaven, oh, and Rhiannon's girl scout "try-it" badges that hadn't managed to get sewn on her vest before we moved. I distinctly remember looking at them and saying to myself "I'll put them here because I'll be sure to find them." Yeah, well, apparently not. I've found all my other girl scout stuff, but not elusive patches. You know what's going to happen, don't you? I am going to go buy them again and they will show up.

Why Do Bad Days Always Get Worse

As if the debacle with John's paycheck yesterday weren't bad enough, my day was even better today. The first thing I discover when, paranoid individual that I am, I check my bank account balance before I pay my bills, John's paycheck, which was supposed to hit our bank YESTERDAY was, as yet, still uncredited to my account. Fear, loathing, anger, all these emotions go through me at once. After all the email and phone calls (and ulcers) the check is credited to our account by mid day. The day has no where to go but up, right?

Nope. My lower back, which has had an irritating ache for days chose today to turn into a full blown backache. Every time I would get up out of my chair to walk somewhere in my office, I would get spasms down my lower back and into my legs. Yippee. Well, at least we didn't have to go anywhere after work today.

Again, my day takes a turn (and somehow, those turns are never in the right direction, now are they?) As I am limping onto the bus, John calls me with a confession. (You know it's never good when you answer the phone and the love of your life says "you're going to be pissed at me". With a preamble like that, I just hate to disappoint him.) Seems when he sent the Simon Delivers grocery order in last night he neglected to wait for the "Order Confirmed" message. Seems we got a time out error instead, so our grocery order didn't go in, so we won't be getting a delivery this week. Which means I need to tromp around the grocery store with my sore back.

Then, he is running late getting Jack from daycare, so I get to ride the bus to the next stop. (Granted this is a very small irritation, but on top of what had already happened, I just wasn't in the mood.)

FINALLY we get home. (Oh, and did I mention the damn store was out of just about EVERYTHING we wanted.) And my beloved husband, the love of my life, the father of my children so sweetly says to me "I just want to do whatever I can to get you off your feet." At which point he drops the groceries on the kitchen table and goes to hide in the garage. The house ain't that big. I track him down and open the door, "aren't you going to help put groceries away?"

"Uh, yeah. I was just trying to duck."

Coward. Then, he slinks down to the basement to post his little plea for help and understanding. While I, with my sore back, put away the rest of the groceries, cook dinner, and whatever else needs to be done with my sore back. So, yes, dear, you are correct about one thing. No num-nums tonight.

Coward. Men. Did I mention his mother claims she taught him better?

To be fair, he did do a good deed today, though. Jodi got a call at work that her daughter was tossing cookies at school. Although she could get a bus part of the way to her car, she was just going to miss her connecting bus. John gallantly leapt into the breach and gave Jodi a ride from Bloomington to her car in Eagan.

If my aching back wasn't telling me loudly enough that I am getting old, my son, my baby, my youngest, is in the process of losing his first tooth. Sigh.

Obviously I Should Just Go To Bed

My phone rang during the last 10 minutes of West Wing. I really need to learn how to ignore the phone. Seems I have a certain estranged relative who has gotten himself in a jam with the authorities (they kinda frown on that drinking & driving thing). So, he is languishing in jail and my mom is taking care of his dog and disposing of his personal property. Apparently he believes he will be a guest of the State for some time to come. Which really makes me believe that there is much more to the story than a DUI, even if it isn't exactly his first offense. At least she gets to keep the money.

Tomorrow can only be better, right?

Thursday, May 2, 2002

(ed - Geek moment - due to numerous complaints and technical difficulties by many of her reading public, I've eliminated those pretty design elements that made this page impossible to read. Should, however, you be using a browser that doesn't use CSS, well, not much I can do for ya... Sorry -- Anyway, hope this is better. Complaints to the usual address... -- jd.)

I am completely losing my faith in corporate America. First there was Enron cooking the books. Then there was the lawsuit that forced McDonalds to admit their use beef extract in french fries. Now, word comes that Pizza Hut's Veggie Lover's Pizza may contain more than just veggies!!!! The shock. The horror. Pizza Hut is being sued by an attorney on behalf of vegetarians and Hindus (who consider the cow sacred and will not knowingly eat beef) who may have been taken in by these practices. Pizza Hut, however denies the charges. Is it just me who is almost offended by such a law suit? Shouldn't the publicity alone generated by this be enough to make the offending companies mend their ways and market their product honestly? Do they really need to pay $10 million dollars to Hindu causes? If the charges against Pizza Hut are true, then I have unknowingly violated my Friday abstinence from meat during Lent on occasion. If it was unknowing on my part, I hardly think God is going to send me to Hell for it. Heck, if I'm going to Hell for eating meat on Friday, either knowingly or unknowingly, just hook up that electric fan right now, baby, 'cause I'm on my way!

(ed - I consider the cow sacred, too, but I eat it whenever I can. -- jd).

And speaking of greedy and stupid (like I was yesterday) they got some seriously dumb ones in Seattle. A man and a woman decide to rob a Starbucks, figuring, hey, these folks sell coffee for $3 a cup, they gotta have lots of cash, right? Anyway, they go in just before the store opens at 5 am. Apparently unsatisfied with the take from the safe, they force the employees to help them serve coffee through the drive-thru for 1/2 hour to raise more money. Let's see, isn't the cardinal rule of crime to avoid being seen? So, figure the 2 employees, who got a real good look at them over 30 minutes or so, then the 50 or so cars that they served coffee to. I'm sure you are all shocked to know that they were got caught. With lots of witnesses. Idiots.

(ed - Coffee bandits. In Seattle. Gee, couldn't get hired by Microsoft? Or maybe they did, and they took a look at their stock options... -- jd).

Friday, May 3, 2002

Saturday, May 4, 2002

Sunday, May 5, 2002

(ed - she's had another busy weekend. For example...

The Brownie troop got their religious awards today, and ... well, Jack apparently felt left out... It's been that kinda weekend. -- jd.)

Disclaimer
Copyright © 2001 Ann Dominik. All rights reserved. Complaints about the technical details of this page can be directed to the abused geek who takes care of it for me, and is grossly underpaid for what he does, he thinks. No reproduction without written permission. The opinions and content of this site are my own, and not the responsibility of this site's host, my employer, my pets, my parents or anyone else you may care to blame. Please respect my opinions and I will do the same for you. I may on occasion publish e-mail to me; if you do not wish your mail to be published, please write CONFIDENTIAL or DO NOT PUBLISH at the top of the e-mail. If you would prefer to remain anonymous, please note that as well. If you're incapable of reasoned civilized discourse but feel compelled to correspond with me, I'll be happy to filter your mail out after a few choice comments regarding your ancestors, upbringing, and the likelihood of your family tree not