How WowWee makes me sad.

Are they kidding?

For a couple of months WowWee has said the Roboquad would be shipping this month. I was happy the bunnies and I might have something to play with while I was recouping. Especially while all doped up Vicodine.

Now they aren't shipping until the new year? Really? Not even shipping for Christmas? WTF?

I'm so bummed, I'm not even going to plug their website. But you must go see the video here.

Update: Allegedly Hammacher.com says they have some in stock and is shipping me one tomorrow. I don't know why Amazon.com doesn't have any. We've been on the waiting list for about two months.

Since shipping takes about 4 days to arrive - it's just going to have to be a cliff-hanger for you guys. As I doubt it will get here before I go into surgery.

Todays Ruining the earth Story.

Oh people! You must wonder why I'm constantly on tilt with companies. You do wonder that don't you?

This is why.



Some adult-tard actually sent me a vacuum filter in a big giant box. And look at all that fucking packing material! The item in front of the filter is some Revlon color stay lipstick. I put it there for scale.

Vacuum filter - not breakable.

Oh! And get this. The filter, which by the way could have been put in a padded envelope - weighed less than an oz. The packing material weighed 3.7 ounces. Four times what the item weighed.

And! Wait for it. They charged me 8 fucking bucks for shipping.

I know you are saying "hey dumb ass". You knew you were paying 8 bucks for shipping. Yes.. I .....did.

These days, you sort of get used to paying inflated prices for shipping. Usually I grit my teeth and just pay it. But come on! What are these people thinking? Other than "hey sucker - here's your filter".

If they would have stuck the filter in an envelope, it wouldn't have even caught my eye. But, when a big box shows up with a tiny little item inside, you know I'm going to bitch about it.

See my ruining the earth series here.

Fwd: Fw: Fw:

Why is it that old people can't get a single program on their computer working - yet they all can find the forward button?

Half the time they can't even send email. But when they do, you can bet its some letter they got from someone else. Filled with giant bouncing emoticons. And pictures of cherubic angels wistfully looking away in embarrassment for the sender.

I picture them saying " I know.. I cant believe they sent this picture either". They are always looking up at the sky, almost as if to roll their eyes.

You'd think it was a uniquely old woman thing to send these kinds of emails. But no.. old men send them too. Somehow old men turn into old women when it comes to forwarded emails.

This is the thing. Because they are old - you can't say shit to them about it. You have to say something like " oh - they mean well". And it spreads like a cancer. First one old person. Then the next.

I would rather see a trillion pieces of spam in my mailbox than one of these forwarded letters. At least spam isn't trying to steer my moral compass.

Confessions of a control freak.

The whole thing is just uncomfortable. Seeing more doctors than I probably would in a lifetime. Having more tests than I should ever need. Realising I'm having a surgery for something that isn't really broken. That's right folks. I'm in the panic stage.

I'm at the surgeons office today, watching other clients who seem jubilant. And I'm sitting there with my stomach in my throat. I know I'll have to let other people take care of me. That I'll soon have to trust.

I've been trying to convince myself that most of my stress is just about hating doctors. I come by that easily. I went to more funerals before the age of 12 than most people attend in a lifetime. It was like my family was trying to set a record for most dramatic death scene. And they were doing a really good job.

Being po' folk, we couldn't afford babysitters to keep impressionable minds from seeing stuff they really shouldn't. So, I've easily earned my right to dislike anything that comes from medicine. I have an unnatural amount of stress about the whole medical field. I don't trust them. I don't think I ever will.

Today though, I realised that only half of my stress is due to hating the medical field. The other half is just downright loosing control of being able to make decisions. And it just feels really uncomfortable.

I want to have some magic epiphany and say " you know.. I'm going to be less of a control freak". But I think that's just bullshit. Maybe I'll just feel better admitting that wanting to stay in control is why I'm so completely stressed?

The depressing state of trying to buy lights.

I don't know why I'm shopping for lights today. I really need to be wrapping up details of my life so I can check out for a couple weeks if needed.

But there we were. At Lamps Plus. Probably our 20th attempt at finding exterior lights for the house. We started looking right before we got the house painted a couple months ago. Have I mentioned how much I hate shopping?

Okay.. so this is the thing. Why do exterior house lights still fall into two categories.

1. Nautical themed lights. You know.. those that look like they should be on a ship.

2. Or torch lights. Those who look like they should be in a Jack The Ripper movie or somewhere in Colonial America?



This is the year 2007. Right? I mean, on some houses these probably look great. But we just want a simple brushed metal design. Modern looking, with simple lines. Is that too much to ask?

Apparently so, because we've had to expend an enormous amount of effort on it. Plus, I'm sure we are the only homeowners on earth who actually wants such a thing.

We found some fabulous outside lights for the old house. That company doesn't make them anymore. So I'm guessing there must just not be that big enough market for them.

Yet, the stores are filled with these monstrosities made to look like something out of the old ages. People must love that design.

Yep - I'm a babysitter.

I swear, some days I just feel so exhausted from constantly having to hold the hands of companies. It is just unrelenting. Day after day.

Today, I just want a bunch of people to get laid off, so they can know the appreciation even having a job. Yeah... that's right. I said it.

Okay.. what I'm ranting about now? All of a sudden my semi-annual mortgage statement starts showing up addressed incorrectly. Thankfully the post-office re-routes it to my house. Kudos to the post office.

You'd think the loan company would um... keep track of the properties they have mortgages out on. I was in my last house 7 years, and not once did the mortgage statement come incorrectly addressed.

At any rate.. that wasn't the irritating part. That was having to navigate the circular logic of the phone menu's. Where the automated system told me all the information about my loan. Then forced me to verify they were correct by pressing pound.

This was after I'd already asked for an operator. But, I was never getting to one, until I agreed to what the automated system said. When did they start fucking doing that? I've called plenty of places I had loans on, and none of them forced me to verify my loan information while I was in the call tree or otherwise.

They want to verify my identity, but not the loan information.

I finally had to bump out of that call tree and try to get to an operator a different way. Even though I swear I agreed with them, it would send me in the same circle over and over. I'd agree.. they'd stick me back on hold, and then force me to verify the information all over again. Don't these people ever navigate their own menu systems?

Then, I got to sit on hold for 8 minutes and talk to an operator that acted like she was collecting an overdue bill from me. You know the ones..bored and disinterested sounding. I'm sure she was fling her nails. Um hmmm. For a change I didn't even make, remember.

I know I'm a super bitch for wanting my statements to come to my home and all.. but fuck it drives me nuts. I honestly have much better things to do.

Last update on Helio.

So.. the good news is Helio customer service does respond to email quickly. I have to give a point in their favor. However, I really don't understand how a company can stay in business with the reply I got.

This is what they said:

"Hello from Helio, this is Joseph,

Thank you for your inquiry.

I apologize, but if those dealers do not have a working demonstration, then there are no other retailers in your area who have one. I realize that this is a huge inconvenience to you, but you may wish to take advantage of our Thirty Day Happiness Guarantee, where you can order a device and activate an account. If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, you can cancel your service and return your device for a full refund within the first thirty days. Thanks again for your inquiry. I apologize that we cannot locate any more retailers for you to visit. Have a great day!

I hope we answered your question. If we didn't answer your question or if you have additional questions, please send us another e-mail at the address below.

Helio Member Care
Membercare@helio.com "

To say that I am completely shocked by this is an understatement. They're joking. Right?

Within a 25 mile radius of me, Helio has 48 stores.

Within a 50 mile radius there are 143 stores. That covers most of the greater San Fransisco Bay Area. Including pretty much all of Silicon Valley. Which by the way - I think would be at least in the top ten of market importance.

Are they seriously telling me they don't have one working phone in a 143 stores?



Mr S. decided after the last interaction (here) with Helio that we would not be buying from them. But I am fascinated that a company can make a big deal about themselves "being different from the other guys". When they've pretty must demonstrated that they are no different from the "other guys".

Unless that means worse.

Unexpected sarcasm.

You get the idea someone was unhappy people couldn't figure out the initial message. So they added "Do not put wipes in hamper - there is a trash can."

I think they should have followed the second attempt up with a DUH!

If I'd had a pen I would have helped them. I always want to add or remove things on signs. Surely it's is a sign of mental illness.

Three products I still totally love and would buy again.

1. Zeno pimple popper 2000. Okay - so its just called Zeno.

Bought it at Christmas here. Still totally love it.

Aside from just getting rid of acne faster - the sucker keeps a charge forever. I've only charged it twice since Christmas. It also fits nicely in your hand.

2. Solar LED house numbers.

I know its only been two months since I bought them. Here. But I honestly thought they would have crapped out by now. Winter is coming, so I might change my tune, but for now. Still love them.

3. Retrofit Fan Remote Control.

Still hate ceiling fans. Here. Love that if a ceiling fan doesn't come with a remote, and can buy one of these little devices. Makes it so any ceiling fan can have a remote.

Great for when you don't want to get your lazy ass up in the middle of the night to turn off the fan.

More fun with Helio.

Dear Readers, Helio broke Mr S.'s heart. He said he was fine, but then I'd walk in on him looking at a Helio forum. Or reading comments over at Engadget. He's not fine I thought.

Mr S. thinks he'll give Helio one more chance to try and sell him a phone. He is much nicer and more tolerant than I am. I would have given up on them after the last conversation.

But at this point Mr S. is starting to really need a phone. His phone is really screwed.

So he emails customer support at Helio to see if anyone else can provide a location to see a working phone. I'm sure he thinks customer support will give him a dealer in the next city over. Or two cities over... or even maybe 10 cities over. This is fucking Silicon Valley after all. Most people probably commute through 6 cities to get to work.

This is how it went:

Subject: Where can I see a *working* demo of a Helio Ocean?

I'm interested in the Ocean. It sounds nice, but I would have to see a working one in person before purchasing. But none of the Helio dealers in my area (zip XXXXX) have a working one. They all have only hollow shells. I'm not buying a phone w/o seeing it work first. I can go to the local Apple store and see an IPhone. I can go to the local Verizon/Cingular/Whatever cell store and see Blackberries, SmartPhones, Qs, etc. All working demos.

Where can I go to see a working Helio Ocean?"

Helio emails back:

"Hello from Helio, this is Noel,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail Helio. I am sorry to hear you have had such a difficult time finding a retailer with a working demo device. I understand that you wish to see the device working before purchasing it. I really do not blame you. We all like to know what we are purchasing, so I went ahead and looked up all authorized retail stores in your area. (XXXXX)

Hear is a list of all the local retailers:

(Noel provides a list of 6 local retailers. Phone#'s and addresses)

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for contacting Helio and have a nice day.

I hope we answered your question. If we didn't answer your question or if you have additional questions, please send us another e-mail at the address below.

Helio Member Care
Membercare@helio.com "

Mr S.'s reply:

"Hello Noel,

While I appreciate the kind and understanding words, I don't see how you think you answered my question at all.

To recap: I did this:

(1) looked up my local Helio dealers on your website
(2) called those dealers, and determined that none of them have a working demo of a Helio Ocean
(3) emailed you, asking for help locating a dealer who _does_ have a working demo.

In your response, you gave me exactly the same list I started with in step #1. (You obviously didn't try to verify that the dealerships actually had a working model, otherwise you wouldn't have listed those same dealers)

How is that supposed to help me? To repeat: those dealers _do_not_ have a working demo.

You can help me by finding a dealer which _does_ have a working model that I can see demo'ed."

Should it really be this hard to see one of these phones?

The queen of lame.

She says "don't make fun of her"! She can't help it if she's allergic to her own skin.

If any bunny owners ever click on this link who have a rabbit with allergies - please email me at she_said @ comcast.net. Not sneezing allergies. But real life hives. I'm not kidding. It is such a unique problem that I would love to hear from anyone else that may encounter it.

Some readers may remember me talking about her having an allergic reaction way back here. We'd taken everything from her diet and her ear and chin was looking magnificent.

Until we gave her one yogurt drop. She had an immediate allergic reaction. I'm still convinced she can't tolerate petroleum based products. Yeah.. that's right.

I don't even believe rabbits can have allergies. I mean really. If someone told me their rabbit had allergies, I would think they were a kook. But it seems to be true. She came very close to needing surgery because she had such a reaction.

Thankfully benadryl shots got the swelling down. But can you believe that crap? Shots! I told you I have some odd stuff here at the house.

It changes from day to day.

I find my emotions bouncing around quite a bit from day to day. Fear will come later. But going about my daily activities I find so many things to become excited about.

For instance last night, I felt most excited about having better posture. Not that I have a big ol' hump on my back or anything. Just the simple act of pulling my shoulders back, and walking around in public without stares. The thought just made me really happy.

Today however, I'm excited about medically induced sleep. I know it sounds like a really stupid thing to be excited about. After getting about 2-3 hours of sleep last night - I'm really looking forward to medically induced sleep.

I have my normal baseline insomnia. Then there are days of super craptacular insomnia. The kind where you finally get to sleep only to be woken up at 6am by the smoke alarm bitching about the battery being low. That's where I was at today.

The kind of sleep deprivation that you aren't completely sure you should be driving. The whole world seems like a blur around you.

Thankfully the universe took pity on me today and let me get all my stuff done without other people getting in my way.

While I'm all strung out in medically induced sleep-land, Mr S. however, is excited about being able to watch the most unwatchable TV on earth. Yeah, yeah.. he's taking care of me and all. But listen - he also gets to watch hours and hours of crap without hearing the words "what the hell is that"? What's not to be excited about?

Oh my goodness people. Mr S. just told me he is going to watch the new Flash Gordon series on scifi. I might take a few extra pills to make sure I sleep through that.

Another quirky thing you must know about me is I won't watch anything before the year 2000. I know.. super lame. But thankfully Mr S. will watch any ol' crappy thing, so our marriage has worked. I don't know what I would do if he was actually picky.

Bucking the trend Baby - Bucking the trend.

Yeah - I'm going to be talking about my boobs a bunch in the next few weeks. There are all sorts of things that that come up that I would have never expected.

For instance getting bigger boobs is easy. Everyone has a friend who has gone bigger. Women who have gone smaller seem to be more secretive about it. Even harder, trying to figure out what your going to look like. Going bigger you can pad and get an guesstimate. Getting an image of smaller is not so easy.

Now that I am paying for this myself, my ego says I should only let them take 40%. My back however insists on 50%. I know I freaked out about that amount a few months ago, but after I got over the initial shock - I started warming to the idea.

That small difference of 10% doesn't seem like much, but I'm having a struggle nevertheless. It equals a full cup size.

Even crazier - I have always envied women with say a B cup. I always thought I would have loved being that size. I think I was a B when I was 9. But now I'm freaking out over being a C.

Yeah - I can be pretty neurotic about everything. Just wait till it gets closer to my mammogram. My mom had breast cancer - so I have all sorts of neurosis about that.

I hear they're delicious!

Helio - Are they High?

Let me quote directly from the Helio site:

"We're some folks who got fed up with the existing carriers, their one-size fits-all philosophy, generic devices and disappointing service. We wanted more from our wireless experience. Since there wasn't already a mobile company out there for people like us, we created one of our own."

You can not believe how truly crazy this statement is.

Today Mr S. and I wanted to look at one of these phones. His phone is really screwed, and he'd been lusting after a Helio for months.

So we walk into one of their "premier" dealers in Fremont, Ca.

They didn't have one in the store, but we could order one. Why they think I'm going to order something site unseen is beyond me.

So, Mr S. decides he will have to call the stores before we waste our time driving around. We called three of their stores. Again, these are stores they list as premier sales sites.

Store after store said the following:

1. They each had a Helio Ocean shell (i.e. non-functional) they could show us.

2. They didn't display any working models because they were super paranoid about them being left out and stolen.

Lets address problem #2 first. Have they ever fucking heard of lo-jacking the phones? They aren't even that expensive compared to say.... a Blackberry. And the places who do sell expensive phones have them all cabled to the wall. So WTF?

What makes them think their service is better than other carriers when you can't even find a phone to look at. And if you did, all the guts have been removed so you can't even turn the phone on? Who's bright idea was that?

Update:

While I was writing this post Mr S. was on the line to the Helio sales department to ask them where he could see one of the phones in our area. The support rep asked for our zip code. It was at this point that Mr S. told them he had called all the stores in our area and none of them had a working model.

The rep then said the best thing for us to do was to buy one and take advantage of the 30 day "total happiness guarantee".

Mr S. stopped him immediately and told him that wasn't happening. Which made the rep say he didn't know what to tell Mr S. Who then said "Well then I guess you aren't selling a phone."

This is the best part. The rep actually said "fine by me".

It is times like this I wish I recorded the call. But you just don't expect support reps to say crap like that. I mean.. we aren't being unreasonable in wanting to see the phone in person. Are we?

I also don't think I should have to call all over Silicon Valley to find an in store model. Which at this point, I'm not even sure exists.

Thank heavens they are so concerned about disappointing service.

Am I the only one who thinks...

If you are invited into a persons house that you don't know, you should wait to be invited into other part of the house as well? Or do people think that once you are in the house, it's a full invite? Just curious. Really.

Maybe I'm the one with the skewed sensibilities.

Normally I don't invite random neighbors in. But I did today. I have a little entry way, and expected to converse in that area. She was trying to poach our painting contractor. Which isn't that unusual. We do it all the time.

Though, when I went to get to get the color chart we used on the house, I found her roaming around in another part of the house.

Personally.. I wait for specific instructions on where I can go in someones house I've never met. But that is just me.

This is the thing. My house is rather non-traditional. There is a ton of shit in my house I don't want people I'm not familiar with to see. Taken out of context - its looks creepy and bizarre.

For instance - if we are having a bunny emergency, I might have syringes with needles visible. A bunch of them. Sometimes its like a full blown vet hospital in here. Most of the time I have it all put away.. but sometimes not.

People I know, not a big deal. People I don't know, may think we are junkies. At the very least it's cause for a mental notation. For instance Mr S. told me when his mother visited one time she was alarmed we might have some horrible illness. It was just the bunnies.

Given an explanation - all this interesting stuff is really anti-climactic. But I don't expect to have to give random neighbors explanations. Especially when I'm just trying to be nice by inviting them in, instead of having a long conversation at the front door.

I also don't expect people to just go into any room they please. Or I wouldn't have invited them in at all.

Relief - Finally in sight.

Today readers.. I am super happy. My surgery is finally booked.

Of course, most of getting here has been a pain in the ass. I'm not usually one of those "things happen for a reason" sort of people. I don't believe in higher power. But.. maybe things happen for a reason. Without the whole religious intrusion part.

First let me say - I have this whole theory that getting medical care in the rich district is less expensive. It seems counter intuitive. But, I really think there is some element of rich doctors not having to charge as much, because there is a lower patient default rate. The doctors aren't as worried about getting paid, so they don't mark shit up as much.

Secondly - for the amount of money my surgery is costing. Fuck insurance in the ass with the biggest telephone pole on earth. I can't believe I wasted 4 months of my life with a doctor (including waiting to get in) - only to find out I wasn't going to die penniless if I had to pay out of pocket.

My case really is something insurance should cover, I fit all the criteria. I've had extensive treatment. I didn't think I would have so much trouble getting them to pay. I really resent having an expensive insurance company now. I'll be switching at the next open enrollment.

The flip side.. if I hadn't gone through what I did in the last 3 months.. I wouldn't have seen as many warning signs and sought out another surgeon.

As a side note - I now question the sanity of my GP who gave me the referral.

Third - I love the free market. Over time.. it makes things cost less. If some socialist medicine candidates (Hilary) had their way, I would have to suffer for all of eternity. Even though I was rejected by my insurance mostly because the staff at my first surgeons office was incompetent.

Oh by the way. Just last Friday (three weeks after my rejection letter came) the first office called me to come in to take "new" photos. Two and a half months after my first visit. And let me just point out. They took one photo. The surgeon I was at today, by contrast, took about 8.

And lastly - I feel really comfortable with my new female surgeon. She didn't point at me with a pen. She explained everything in great detail. Showed me pictures of her "work". The office seems like they might remember me the next time they talk to me.

While I had to wait almost a month, and it was sort of a pain in the ass. It was totally worth getting a second opinion.

No pictures please.

I'm a little confused at vendors who come to events and refuse to let you take pictures. For instance, I got one shot and this vendor shut me down. It always seems really random.

I always honor their requests... but it still always seems really lame. You can buy these butterfly shadow boxes in a bunch of catalogs.

Plus, they are at an event selling their items in front of a massive amount of people. Why don't they want the extra exposure?

Additionally, if they really don't want anyone taking photos - why not stick up a sign so people know up front?

Continuing with the Weekend.

When I was younger I always thought women were cleaner than men when it came to the bathroom department. As I get older - I realize women can be quite the pigs too. Take my example from the weekend.

Before getting into the Festival gates - I forced Mr S. to hunt down a proper restroom. There's no way on earth I was going to use a port-a-potty. That just wasn't going to happen my friend.

Even if it wasn't 90 degrees, and people were eating massive amount of garlic. I would rather leave an event than use one. So... we stopped at a Hilton Hotel.

I would have preferred a Starbucks so I could get coffee - but our one attempt at finding the one we saw from the freeway was a failure. We didn't want to get back on the freeway because it was gridlocked in traffic. So the hotel was sort of our last chance.

I go in and hunt down the restrooms. Walk straight to the handicap stall. Yeah.. that's right. Most people have a bunch of guilt about using them, but they are usually the cleanest.

So I flip open the door, and the seat looks like a man was just using it. Urine everywhere. Go to the next stall, and flip open the door. That seat was smeared with something "brown". And lets say, it didn't look like a defect of the seat. I go into stall #3 which looks clean.

I wasn't in that stall 5 seconds when I hear someone enter the stall I just rejected. The brown stall. There wasn't even a hesitation, and I hear her rip off a seat liner and start using the restroom.

Now.. maybe I'm making a lot of nothing. But there were 6 stalls, and two people. This person didn't even check any of the other stalls to rate their cleanliness.

If this were an isolated incident, it would be one thing. But I didn't become a bathroom germ-a-phobe on my own. It's because women often leave the restrooms in the most disgusting state. Whats is up with that?

Tell us how you really feel.

This is how Gilroy honors our troops. By sticking the latrines right next to their memorials.

It seemed especially odd since I thought Monterey ( one of the next towns over) has a pretty big military base.

Should say: Dedicated to those who have served. Those who are serving.







Says: Department of the Army. United States of America.



It just seemed like a really odd place to have a memorial. They weren't even taking care of it anyway. The flags were all faded out. I'm not sure anyone realised it was there.

I want to stop hating people. They just won't let me.

I just want to say - I feel enormously self conscience about how much I bitch about people. I often think " hey.. maybe that is something I should work on - that isn't really normal".

So, I start out my day trying to be calmer. More tolerant. But honestly.. by the end of the day I usually just hate people anyway. Take what happened today.

Mr S. and I decided to go down to the Central Valley and visit the Garlic Festival. Worst 24 bucks I've ever spent, but I'll talk about that later.

After our day was done, we decided to see if we could find some corn. There are tons of little fruit and vegetable stands around that area. Most of them only had fruit though. Finally, before we got on the freeway, we spotted a stand that was selling corn. 8 ears for a buck. Even if it sucks, your willing to take the chance. So of course we stopped.

I walk up, and at first I don't see the corn. Mr S. points out some bins. There were three of them, about 3x3 feet in size. There were probably about 10 people at the bins shucking corn as fast as they possibly could. Not in a leisurely fashion at all. You'd have thought it was their job to take all the leaves off, they were shucking so fast.

They were tossing all the debris from the corn husks back into the bins. So much in fact, I thought one bin was just for corn trash. It wasn't. So, I'm wading through the corn debris trying to find some ears of corn.

I'm just pulling the leaves back about an inch, because I know it might be a day or two until it gets cooked, and I want the ear to stay fresh. I'm also not paying much attention to other people - other than thinking what they were doing was kind of odd.

Suddenly, the owner comes out and yells "don't shuck the corn here - it makes it so customers don't want to buy the corn". Which seemed pretty obvious to me. You could barely tell there was any corn for sale, due to all the crap they had thrown back in the bins. You just thought it was trash, unless you dug down.

Anyway, we get in the car to leave. The traffic was pretty bad due to the Garlic Festival, and the Grand Prix. So, if you were lucky, there was maybe a gap of 1 or two cars. Mr S. is sure he's going to have to punch it. The traffic is just really heavy, and there aren't really any gaps to get into without kicking in the hemi.

Since the roadside was gravel, and there were about 6 cars parked at the stand - Mr S. decides to edge up about 15 feet from the other cars who were parked at the roadside stand. So - if he does have to punch it, he has a reasonable enough distance from them and doesn't kick up gravel onto their cars.

So we edge up, and this guy with a fairly new truck pulls about a car length in back of us. Fuck.. now we really can't punch it. We have to wait for a larger hole in the traffic. But, that isn't good enough for the guy in the truck. He drives around us, and forces himself into traffic.

I swear to you readers, like I said - you were lucky if there was a two car gap. Same thing with one of the other cars exiting the roadside stand. Our car could have easily left both of them in the dust. Did I mention it has a HEMI? We were just fucking trying to be courteous.

The thing is, everyone at the Garlic Festival was super courteous. Thousands of people all being really nice. I wasn't hating people at all. Throw in a little roadside stand of tards, and I hate people again.

Hanging out.

I often see this property from the freeway, and it always intrigues me. I can't figure out what the hell this building is for. It doesn't seem to have a particularly good view. But, that must be what it is for.

I've been trying to get shots of it for months. I have two seconds at a stop light to take the shot before traffic forces you to move. Which doesn't do the building justice.

I just love the architectural style.

Sabotage?

No... stabotage. What is that anyway?

Today

I'm sure a lot of my readers think I'm just one giant ball of bitchiness. And maybe that's true. You saw the name of the blog.. right?

I think with my sleep problems - a little bit of people goes a long way. But while I'm often hugely frustrated with people, for some reason they still feel comfortable telling me really intimate details about their lives. Stuff that I would be horribly embarrassed to tell people. I can never figure out why.

Don't they know I'm anti-social and neurotic? I'm trying my hardest to make it obvious.

So - today Mr S. and I pulled an all day thing at the dentist. Did you know teeth bleaching is a form of torture? It is.

Besides having to sit for an hour and a half without moving - if you happen to fidget like I do, you screw up the protective coating on your gums that keep the lasers from burning you. And its kind of painful. I guess gums hate lasers or something. Lame!

At any rate.. I'm at the dentist in panic mode. I have this baby tooth I'm totally neurotic about. Baby teeth don't last forever you know. I'm nervous what they might say about it. Plus, I'm totally afraid my record of only having one cavity might fall. So my brain is not really focusing on much of the conversation the dentist tech is having with me.

Until she proceeds on telling me her whole life story.

I'm a little surprised. I thought we were in the small talk phase. But she goes on to tell me she is caught in a whole variable rate mortgage nightmare and is probably going to loose her house. How her credit cards are totally maxed out.. and some days she can't even afford gas to get to work.

So - all of a sudden I'm trying to give her advise.. as if I'm qualified to do that. I'm so totally not. I'm trying to not get sucked into her situation, and trying to not freak out about the dentist. I have enough of my own neurotic stuff.. I'm fine without anyone else's.

So then.. get this. We are paying the bill to leave. And the dentist hits my husband up for tech support! Mr S. is extremely nice and did what he could to try to help. Which is really sort of awkward. What if you make things worse than before? He didn't.. but it is something you always worry about when giving random tech support. Plus.. we'd never seen this dentist before.

Mr S. and I get to the car and I ask him - "did you tell them you worked in computers, because I didn't".

It just seemed to be a strange thing for Mr S. to bring up. He normally likes to keep it on the down- low. People are always hitting him up to fix stuff. And wouldn't you know it.. he hadn't even mentioned he worked in computers.

Somehow they recognized the company he worked for from the patient paperwork we filled out. Which is kind of funny. Your average person probably couldn't describe what his company does. Little lone identify it was a computer company.

Anyway.. we always have the funniest stuff happen to us. But - I got away with my one cavity record still intact. My baby-tooth too. Now I just have to figure out how to drink coffee without f-ing up my teeth for the next couple of days.

I'm just being picky -right?

Okay, so maybe I'm a little off due to sleep deprivation... but it is still customary to acknowledge a customers presence. Right?

I mean, maybe glance their way and tell them you are busy, but you will get to them in a certain time frame. I mean.. right?

Especially when there are only two customers in a store. And one is standing three feet from you patiently waiting for you to make eye contact.

Not keep typing. Not even glance their way. Or walk out out of the room without at least saying "I'll be right back". Or maybe tell the customer someone will be out to help them? Right?

Oh - come on!

I know that me and 4 other people on the planet care about this....but crap, I fucking hate this trend. It is so much worse than having to peel those tiny stickers from every single tomato. I'm feeling a little like Chef Ramsay at this point.

It's the middle of fucking summer.. and I'm getting tomatoes in plastic containers in California? How is this possible?

A week ago, when I was complaining about the produce isle (here), they still had tomato's in the bin. They were disgusting, and rotting - but now it's a toss up to gauge which ones are worse. Look at these things. They are just rotting in plastic containers.





I just don't even get it. Is anyone even buying anything fresh anymore, because I seem to be the only one I see actually having a fit about it. Never in my life do I remember walking into the produce isle to see almost half of what is being sold bagged up, or in plastic containers.

Am I the only one who waits all winter long to get some produce that isn't shipped in from another country?

Doesn't it have to be costing farmers a fortune to pick this stuff, ship it, plus the labor of sticking them into these plastic containers which trap the air and cause this stuff to spoil twice as fast.

Under the martian sky.

I'm not sure how many pictures of sunsets you post before your readers get bored out of their minds.. but bear with me. We don't get to see this kind of stuff here often. Back in the Midwest, you are probably saying "meh".

When Californians walk out the door to rainbows in July, this is kind of novel for us.

It's hard to see because the sky was just so red last night, but in the middle of the frame is a rainbow.

The smallest things amuse me.

Look what I got in the mail today. A You Are Here doormat.

Diary of a paint Addict.

I've decided the best way to distract myself from "stuff" today is some physical labor. Namely painting.



Mr S. has successfully convinced me the previous owners husband died on the only segment of carpet which wasn't new in this house when we moved in. The carpet always smelled a little funky... but all of a sudden its really bothering me.

I know if I don't paint, when I get the carpet replaced, I'm gonna get a hair up my ass and think the room looks like it needs painting. So - I might as well just get it out of the way.

Plus..I have a giant addiction to paint. Much like factory air.. it just has that new smell.

Should I be admitting to this?

I feel dirty... I feel dirty. And sad.. but mostly dirty right now.

If you somehow missed that I am a reality show whore.. you must know this now. I don't know what that says about me. Most likely nothing good.

Okay... have any of you seen this Rock of Love with Brett Michael's? It is a Flavor of Love Knockoff. Yeah.. I didn't like Poison either. As a matter of a fact I try to block the whole hair band era out of my mind.

I don't know why we plugged it into Tivo.. its the off season. But readers... this show makes girls poo'ing on the floor, downright classy.

Just when I think they can't cast a bigger train wreck.. somehow they manage to find a new league of classless drunken whores. How is that even possible?