Not So Funny Now, Is It?

Yesterday I stopped by the local Walmart for some groceries and a bag of Timothy Hay (for my pet bunny of course) and I overheard part of a conversation that made me laugh. I was up near the front of the store and passed by a small group of employees all huddled together talking. There were a couple of women who were probably in their 40's, one who seemed to be a bit younger at around 30, and a gentleman who was roughly late 30's. As I walked by, I overheard the sentence "I've heard from several people that Farm Town is better than Farmville." I actually snickered out loud. OMFG, these "middle-aged" people at Walmart are standing around having a discussion about Facebook games. It made me laugh for two reasons. One being, my friends and I have had this same silly discussion and we prefer Farmville... these Walmart idiots are wrong. The second reason I laughed is because working in the IT industry you can't help but realize that the older someone is, the less likely they are to stay on top of the newest trends in technology. Add that to the fact we live in a rural type area and you can sort of understand why it caught me by surprise to realize what these people were talking about.

It cracked me up so much that I immediately texted my brother, who also works in the IT industry, something along the lines of "ha ha, just passed a group of middle-aged people standing around in Walmart discussing which is better - Farm Town or Farmville." He texted back "lol" and I carried on with my shopping trip. But suddenly a few minutes later, it hit me... wait a minute, I'm middle-aged. I will be 39 in less than 2 months. OMG, I'm getting old and my mind refuses to realize it. Now I suddenly feel bad for laughing at these guys. They are probably around the same age as me. And I'm a Facebook addict who plays the same silly games they were talking about. (I play Mafia Wars too, but I digress). I have even nerdier discussions than this one with my friends. It makes me wonder what the younger people I work with think of me.

And the whole thing has taught me a lesson: The next time I tell a story about anyone who is over 35, I will no longer use the word "middle-aged" to describe them. Instead I will say "older" so it won't appear as though I'm making fun of people who are basically my age.

The Infamous JK Wedding Entrance Dance

Okay, two things. I know no one reads this blog AND I know that everyone has already seen this video. But I am posting it here because I love it and I want a place to store it so I can always track it down in case I wanna see it 4 years from now and I forget what it was called.

This is so much fun. I actually cry watching it (because I'm a nerd and I cry more for pride and happiness than I do for sadness). I would love to meet all of these people, they look like a fun bunch.

Just tried to upgrade my Alltel account to a new Verizon phone & learned im not eligible until January. How very disappointing.

Sitting at Patton Alley Pub with my friends & coworkers to celebrate my bosses bday. Good friends, good food, good times.

Just watched the space station go over my house in Republic, Mo. Pretty cool.

Roadtripping thru Arkansas, drinking a new Sonic strawberry limeade chiller. This drink is amazing.

Tonight we grilled some brats, played some Rock Band & sat outside chillaxin. Its been a good night.

Whatever it is, I hate it

I am in a bad mood. Or maybe it's a sad mood. Possibly even a minor depression. Hopefully just a funk. Honestly, I have no idea what kind of mood I'm in. I have cried two or three times today. I have gotten angry way more times than I should have. I have laughed less than half as much as usual.

I want to sit here and do nothing but finish the book I am reading. I want to watch a funny movie and laugh myself to tears. I want to login to WoW and complete some daily quests and farm some more herbs. I want to go to bed right now and let sleep end my day. I want to stay up all night and distract myself on the internet.

I am not normally like this. I don't know what's causing it. I don't even know what it is. But whatever it is, I hate it.

Yuck, it's Monday

Back in the day, when I worked in a factory doing manual labor on a production line, I knew that Mondays sucked because it meant a return to the grind. The weekend was over, no more relaxing on the couch. My time belonged to "the man" once again and since my time had just been my own for two days in a row, Monday was always the adjustment period. The day I was grumpy about being stuck indoors making widgets instead of sitting on the front porch at home and sipping some iced tea. But I was never one who hated Monday's and threw a big fit about them. They sucked worse than the rest of the week, for sure, but it wasn't a huge deal.

However, I am now officially declaring that Mondays suck and I hate them. Let me explain - I now work in a customer support environment on a computer helpdesk. In case that statement alone doesn't make you guys realize how bad my head hurts on Mondays, then let me give you a couple of examples of how every Monday around here works:

1. Did you know that every Monday at least 73% (not an actual statistic, but it's gotta be close to accurate) of all employees in my company forget the password they have used every day for the past 2 years? And when they call in, they make sure to let us know how stupid we are for doing whatever update we did over the weekend which would cause this login issue. Every Monday. Seriously.

2. Did you know that even though our pc tech's only work a normal 40 hour / 5 day work week, people are angry to discover that the broken monitor they called in at 6:00 pm Friday evening was not replaced before 7:00 am Monday morning? Seems as though our hardware department needs to hire additional magic fairies to secretly do the work over the weekends when no one is here. Because the magic fairies everyone believes we already have are just not pulling their weight anymore.

But I think the worst part about working in any type of customer service environment on a Monday is the fact that the majority of your customers are suffering from their own Monday crankiness and taking it out on you. Not only do I dread Mondays on this job, I almost always get a tension headache on those days. It sucks having to apologize to people who are pissed off that "you guys did something to my computer over the weekend" when "we" didn't do anything. But I do apologize. Over and over again. And it gets to me. It really does.

Me having a bad Monday no longer has anything to do with me... it's all about taking abuse from everyone else who is having a bad Monday. I know I'm not the only person who has this problem. I feel sorry for all of us who deal directly with customers. Luckily, Monday only comes once a week.

Having a bit of insomnia tonight. Watching shows about babies. I want one. But not as bad as i want sleep.

I Has A Bunny

Earlier this year my beloved hedgehog, Bella, passed away. Not having her to hold in my lap and talk to has been bothering me more and more lately, so I decided it was time to get another pet. After doing some research I found that a Holland Lop bunny may be just what I needed. Cute and cuddly and content to sit in laps, yet not as temperature sensitive or easily startled as a hedgehog. So I found a breeder nearby and last night I went and picked out my new little friend.


Here's a picture of him sniffing around his new environment and checking out his toys. He's 8 weeks old and is actually going to be bigger than I first imagined. I'm still working on naming him... haven't completely settled on one yet. In the meantime, I'm just calling him Bunny.



I've got to work with him to get him used to his new environment and get him comfortable around me. Apparently they can even be easily trained to use a litter box and can then be allowed to roam freely around the house (as long as it has been bunny-proofed, of course). I don't think we'll get to that point, simply because bunnies love to chew and I would hate to risk him chewing on a door frame or an entertainment center. But it's pretty cool to know that I can let him down and he won't mess on the carpet.

Sitting at a bar, listening to a live band. Gotta be at work in the morning. I should do this more often.

I am getting ready to wipe my laptop & start a fresh install. Im scared.

Testing mobile blogging capabilities. If this works okay then I may start building my blog up again. Woot.

Ten Of My Favorite Songs Of All Time

These are listed in no particular order, because I love them all equally. Click on each song to see the You Tube video.

Foo Fighters - Let It Die

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House

Alice In Chains - Man In A Box

Tears For Fears - Mad World

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta

Staind - Outside (live)

Toadies - Possum Kingdom

*THIS SPACE HAS BEEN EATEN BY WEBSENSE*

I had a really good post here a mere hour ago. A post that was a good 5 paragraphs long. And funny, man was it funny. There was even dialogue. Real, honest-to-goodness dialogue. And when it was finished and I realized it was one of the most glorious posts I had ever written, I clicked "Publish Post". And WebSense ate my words.

What's WebSense you ask? That's the internet filtering software that monitors the company network at my place of employment. This is not a post against monitoring company internet usage. I understand why they do it and even though sometimes it seems a bit extreme, it is very necessary. What I can't understand is why, if you are going to block me from posting to blogger, why would you even allow me to log in to blogger, click on the "create new post" button and spend 30 minutes typing it in. Why not just block blogger as a whole?

WHY DO YOU TORTURE ME WITH YOUR RANDOM BLOCKING? YOU ATE MY WORDS AND NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY I CANNOT GET THEM BACK.

p.s. this post brought to you from my unfiltered home network

A Thank You For An Old Friend

On August 23, 1988 I met Lisa for the first time. I was 17 years old and had just moved into my new dorm room at college. It was the first time I had ever really been away from home. I was an overweight teen with low self-esteem, had lived a fairly sheltered life with few social engagements outside of school hours, was naive & extremely timid. Lisa, on the other hand, was 5 years older than me and already had plenty of life experiences. She was outgoing, confident & vibrant with the greatest sense of humor. And she was determined to force me to talk to her that day. Her family had just dropped her off at the dorms and left....and it was her birthday. Suffice it to say, we became fast friends. I absolutely idolized her because she was everything I always wanted to be.

After the first few weeks, I began going home with her to her parent's house about 4 out of every 5 weekends instead of going to see my parents. I became very comfortable at their house and was quickly treated as part of the family. Being exposed to the dynamics of a family that was so different than mine was amazing. I knew that my parents loved me, but the atmosphere around my family home was basically formal. Kids were to be seen and not heard, etc. Between my new exposure to a family that loved to talk and have fun together and everything I experienced while hanging with Lisa, Brandon and our other friends from college, my basically blank personality got a chance to develop itself. At the time I didn't realize how much of an impact Lisa was having on my life. We were in college together for 2 years and then kept in touch with visits afterwards for years. I started getting less of a chance to visit as the years went by because I was living and working hours away. Lisa eventually married and had 2 kids and I was able to see them a few times while they were both little, but eventually we fell completely out of touch due to some major crap going on in my life. The last time I remember seeing her or any of her family was the winter of 96. But 2 years ago I accepted a job about 20 minutes away from the town where Lisa and her family still live. I thought about her often, but hadn't tracked her down yet.

Then a couple of weeks ago, while at my company picnic, I recognized Lisa's mom standing across a crowded room. I almost talked myself into passing by and pretending not to see her, but luckily I chose to step in front of her and get her attention. We talked for a few and she seemed very excited to see me. In fact, she pulled out her cell phone and called Lisa so I could talk to her immediately. Hearing her voice after 12 years was crazy. She sounded exactly the same and was able to recognize my voice without me telling her who I was. We exchanged cell phone numbers but were both busy at the moment of our chance encounter, so Lisa said she would call me over the weekend. A few days later we talked for a bit and she invited me to meet her and her sister and their husbands at the bowling alley. I had wondered all week how different they may be. What would they look like? Now that we're all old, would they act old & stuffy? Would they be all prim and proper instead of the wise-cracking, foul-mouthed people I loved? But all my worrying was for nothing. Age hadn't changed anything. It was amazing seeing them and I immediately discovered that I still felt completely comfortable around them. But the best surprise was yet to come.

A week later I was invited out to see her house and do some more catching up. Lisa & Larry showed me around the house and land and Larry bbq'd some kabobs while we visited. They are still an extremely close family, so by the end of the night her kids had gotten home, her sister and one of her nieces came over and her mom was there. Everyone was in the kitchen and they all fell into the old routine I had seen so often 20 years ago. Teasing each other, laughing, high-fiving, everyone talking at once, complete chaos. I had to take a step back because I suddenly become overwhelmed with emotions. I looked around and watched all the different interactions. Lisa's kids act exactly the way I expected them to and Lisa is exactly the type of parent I expected her to be. I know it probably sounds weird, but for the first time in a long time I felt at home. And that's the moment I first realized how much influence Lisa and her family had on the person I am today. The humor and affection they so freely shared with me all those years ago helped transform me from a timid, naive 17 year old into someone who loves to be surrounded by fun and strives to show her friends and family how much she cares about them. I should have thanked her years ago, I just never realized. But better late than never - Lisa, I want to thank you & Shelly and your parents for everything you guys have ever done for me, even when you didn't realize you were doing anything. I love you all and I hope we don't have a 12 year gap ever again.

Creepy....Yet Cool

Click on the picture to read the article associated with it.

My Favorite Time of Year

Yay! It's finally October, my favorite month of the year. The weather is awesome. There's a crispness in the air that makes me just happy to be alive. The trees are turning colors and looking beautiful. Arts & Crafts Fairs and festivals abound. And most importantly - Halloween is on the way. It's my favorite of all the holidays. I love horror movies, costumes, jack-o-lanterns, witches, and everything else associated with it. This year I have plans to spend Halloween night watching scary movies with a good friend of mine. We're going to eat Halloween themed junk food and sit on the couch all night in our costumes. That way, when little kids ring her doorbell for trick-or-treating we can freak them out.

This weekend is Mt. Vernon's Apple Butter Making Days. I will be there bright and early Saturday morning. Hope to see you there.

Tribute to Miyuki

Our kitty Miyuki is being euthanized tonight. She has always been a sickly kitty and about a week ago she had a very minor seizure. Then again last night she had another seizure. This one was very violent and she did not recover from it very well at all so Scott stayed home with her to take her to the vet (it's technically his kitty, but I loved her as my own). Before they got to the vet I guess she had another seizure. Vet kept her and said he would call later. He just called. Miyuki has luekemia. She won't be coming home. I'm just glad I made sure I loved on her before I went to work this morning. I had no idea she wouldn't return. She was 4 months old this week.

Here's some pictures of our precious little girl.