Man Leaves Wife after winning Lottery.

This is actually NOT news. In fact he left her in July after cleaning out the house. The reason this is in the news now is because she is being evicted from the house because he wasn't paying the mortgage.
The reason I posted this link is because the comments in the threads before were a fun read. Thought I'd share.


Tooth ache sucks when you're talking on the phone. Each suck of cold air is pain. I'm at 45 calls with 3 more hours to go.

Cute guy at Sbux is waiting on someone named Paul. He asked if I was Paul. Why must I be so damn honest?

SEASON'S BEATINGS FROM COPENHAGEN!
The Weather is here - wish you were nice.

And again.... it's not crashing anymore, it's just incompetence.
Uninvited tourists attend White House breakfast, meet Obama.

How the couple was able to get into the White House event without being on the guest list was called "dumb luck" by the Dardens. The White House is calling it a "nice gesture" and has been explaining how this incident is nothing like the breach of security that took place when Tareq and Michaele Salahi infamously crashed the Obamas' state dinner.

Actually chances are it really was a nice gesture because he was 1) there on the wrong day for a tour scheduled by his congressman and 2) was a Navy veteran.


Kicking myself hard this morning. Originally we were going to leave Oscar inside. However it would be unfair to crate him again after having him crated all night. Typically we leave him outside until a roommate wakes up and lets him in - meaning he'll be out 2-3 hours. Fine for a dog. Then he's let in for an hour or 2 before Tom has to leave - which then he's crated until someone comes home.
Trouble is this morning, just before we left, I re-asked Kevin if we should leave him inside. So we let him out. As I was pumping gas, the radio said it was 29 degrees.
Oh CRAP. Thanks, Fat Body, for not letting me realize it was BELOW FREEZING.
Been trying to call the house since 7:30, but there's no answer. Just tried now at 7:54 and though it seems like someone answered - I thought I even heard a cough in the background - nothing.
Poor dog. Need to get him a dog house to hide in when Texas randomly drops the temps. But sadly, dumbass will more than likely destroy it out of boredom. 5 toys in the yard, he turns his attention to:
the solar panel for the lights in the garden
a cat box wedged in the shed (to keep him from getting in there)
the potted plants
He's eaten more plastic than the average ATM.
When is he going to turn his attention to the car in the driveway? I already had the trashcan moved from the backyard to outside the fence to keep him from getting in.
Keeping up with pup is difficult with my allergy. Apparently I'm allergic to him. His fur will cause my skin to break out in a raised rash of bumps that burn and itch.

I should post a pic of each toy he has and every day update which one has been destroyed. If anything it'll help other dog owners. The Kong Ball seems to have suffered no damage but it's also damn hard to keep treats in. I am not spraying the "Cheeze-Whiz like" treats into it. Ever.
I have now bought as many toys for Oscar in the past 2 months as I've bought for Kevin and myself this whole year.
Cats still have more so they can just hush.

A true "WTF?" moment, ostensibly describing a PlayStation 3:

"The heparin comes in place with the charters and the games environment."

"There's virtually nothing in the current sky interactions that suggests failure, limitation and blockage."

"The key is to be in the right place at the right time and in the right state of consciousness. Only a faithful combination of intellect and intuition can put you in the catbird seat on the way to making a fortune based on your ingenious ideas."

"The Sun-Neptune alliance manifests as a potential cornucopia of riches when it comes to working with camera equipment, video-making software and musical instruments."

DAMN IT STOP TEASING ME LIKE THAT :(

Chris Brown kills Twitter account after claim of album 'blackballing'

Ok, you know I don't care about this one damn bit. So what caught my eye on this?

Over the weekend, Brown went on a tirade after he visited a Wal-Mart store in Connecticut and didn't see his album on shelves.

"The didnt even have my album in the back ... not on shelves, saw for myself," he tweeted.

Brown said he spoke to the manager, who had no answers.
"the manager told me that when there are new releases its mandatory to put em on the shelves. BUT NO SIGN OF #GRAFFITI. BS," he tweeted.
He continued to say that Alicia Keys' new album was stocked and ready for release, though it wasn't due out until Tuesday.
Fans began instantly replying with unverified stories about their attempts to buy Brown's CD. The singer began retweeting, or forwarding the tweets out, some of which claimed when fans asked when the shelves would be restocked they were told "never," and allegations that managers said they didn't support "woman-beaters."


Wal-Mart .... doesn't support Woman Beaters. Let's let that sink in for a bit.

Discuss!

That wasn't so much as venting as keeping track of what all needs to be budgeted. I don't feel beaten yet. Now if I suddenly get very ill; then I will throw in the towel, break down and cry.

My weekends are starting to put more stress on me than the weeks. I really don't want to go to work tomorrow simply so I can sleep.

Hmmm.. Time to Change The Rules.

Well. Recap:
Dec 3 - Helped Deb move out. Oscar had bloody diarrhea and I had to pay a large chunk of money down (was assured only $180 remained).
Dec 4th - bills. Get advance on check.
Dec 5th - get Oscar out - pay exact same amount again and assured no really this time only $190 remains. Get another advance on check.
Dec 7th - Car won't start. Car gets towed.
Dec 8th - Insurance hits. Told new car needs transmission rebuild
Dec 9th - Get rental car. Told only $100 deposit needed. Charged full fucking amount.
Dec 10th - sign up to work Dec 25th and Jan 1st
Dec 12th - vacuum cleaner puts out loud sound with burning rubber smell.
Dec 13th - rental car is effing gas guzzler. Opened last pack of Advair.

Payday is coming the 18th. I already have pieces of it missing and 2 bills are due before then. The rental is suppose to be covered partially by Carmax and they will cover part of the towing. So I owe $90 on the towing. Possibly $45 more on the rental. And I have little faith the entire transmission thing will be covered by CarMax because frankly there were more than enough hiccups from Dec 7 to Dec 11th to give me cause for concern.
Then I still have to pay the rest of Oscar's vet bill and buy him new food.
And of course, the last pack of Advair indicates that Aetna will no doubt take money out of Kevin's account to send me another 3 month supply of meds. No, can't go to the counter when I can afford it. Their excuse is to "make sure we are getting our medications in a timely manner".

I've cancelled one Xmas party. I may have to cancel the other based on asthma problems generated by hosting 5 extra cats in the house. Sure we got them out yesterday - but it takes a while to get all the litter up, wipe up the dust and - look! The vacuum cleaner is dead.

Yeah - everyone's getting their Xmas gifts next year. If you get one from me beforehand: it's because I bought it before Black Friday.


Sheesh. I have uplifting things to post about - but at this point I don't want to jinx them.
Man I want a drink. Nikki brought alcohol into the house, but with my asthma acting up, I dare not give my body that one more thing to fight against.

I had a flight scheduled for today, so of course the forecast took a quick turn from "mostly sunny" to "freezing fog". Le sigh. In the afternoon it started to clear up but then we had winds right on the edge of my limit, and after last week's unfortunate attempt at a flight in borderline weather where I had to turn back after one pattern, I was not about to go up unless I was sure it was a nice day.

And speaking of that flight my school is holding a special session this week to show everyone how to use the defroster sprayer thing. I feel a little hurt. I think every student should have to learn to use the thing in actual 20 degree weather at 7 am like I did.

But I digress... instead of flying I watched a flying movie. At this year's SWE conference I met this brilliant girl Erin who told me about the movie and promised to e-mail me a link. She did. I wanted to e-mail her back after I watched the movie, but procrastinated long enough that my work inbox ate her e-mail. So she never heard back from me and this makes me a horrible person who seems to only be nice to people on conference highs.

Digressed again, crap. Anyway One Six Right is a documentary about Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles, California. This area of California used to have 60-some general aviation airports and now there are nine. The documentary tells the story of the airport, interviews people about the wonderful things that happened there, and makes a case for why general aviation airports need to exist. Wikipedia says this little airport moves over 1000 airplanes a day. LAX moves 1700. So hell, just imagine what LAX would be like with over 50% more traffic. But there are other reasons to keep the little airport too... it's REALLY good for the economy, it has amazing history, once you plow it under you can never get it back.

The interviews were great. I liked how many women pilots they found, from fresh young helicopter pilots to WASPs who ferried planes in WWII. I also realized I am NOT the most cursed student pilot ever, I know I complain about weather a lot but one pilot interviewed told the sad story about how he was literally lined up on the ramp for his first solo flight when the airport was shut down for an emergency. Pearl Harbor had been bombed. He had to wait an entire YEAR for his first solo, and it was of course part of an armed services training program.

Anyway if you're not into airplanes you'll think One Six Right is cheesy. They have too many scenes of single engines soaring freely through the clouds with sweeping music in the background. But if you kinda like airplanes, or LOVE airplanes, I'd recommend this film. I got it on Netflix.

This is the most meaningful aviation movie I've ever seen. I love any movie with an airplane in it... but trust me I've seen some horrible ones. Like Soul Plane. This year my husband put me through Iron Eagle, which was so bad I couldn't look away but in the end I wished I'd had that time in my life back. And isn't Top Gun more about guys playing sand volleyball than pilots? Except that reminds me, I gotta ask my instructor when I learn to buzz the tower.

Where I work, we love Fletch. It's an all-around good movie and there is one scene involving an airplane, where Chevy Chase explains to the A&P mechanics that "it's all ball bearings these days". That line works EVERYWHERE, even in avionics, you'd be surprised. We also love AIRPLANE, especially because we install autopilot systems and wish ours was inflatable.

Anyway if I'm missing any other movies with airplanes, let me know, they're all terribly important.

I did not see "Amelia" this year. I read too many horrible reviews of it, I was afraid it'd break my heart to see it done badly. Let me know if I'm wrong.

I recently started working for The Planet at their headquarters in downtown Houston. As a result of being downtown parking is limited. Most of us have to pay for car parking (motorcycle parking is freely available under the building and there's a bike rack available). However, the company will pay for a bus pass for employees. So I can either pay to park my car, pay for gas, pay for more frequent maintenance, pay for more tires/brakes/etc, or I can take the bus for free.

Yes, believe it or not, even car-enthusiast me has gone for the bus.

I'm not entirely happy with this. I dislike the lack of autonomy. I don't particularly need autonomy. My work is flexible enough to generally allow me to leave when I need to for the bus. We pass off tasks between each other regularly, so, "I need to catch the bus, here's what's going on with this..." is fine. I have a lot of options for busses to take home, so if my schedule does need to vary somewhat, I can adjust for it. The only "valid" (not selfish?) reasons I have for not liking the bus are the time I spend sitting outside, waiting on busses, in the cold, and the added time the bus takes over driving (both because the bus moves slower than a car and because the bus runs on their schedule, not mine).

What other alternatives do I have? Well, I have a bicycle. Work is less than 5 miles, on the street, from home. I could absolutely bike that. There are a few problems, though. First, there aren't showers at work. While that's not much of a problem this time of year, it will be one. Second, my schedule currently has me going home in the dark. My current bicycle is not equipped for riding in the dark. I've had bikes equipped for riding in the dark in the past, though, and I'm just not comfortable with that. Drivers do not see me, even with lights, and I'm not comfortable riding in the dark through some of the neighborhoods I'd go through.

So... Remember that free motorcycle parking I mentioned? I've wanted a motorcycle for some time, and that would give me the autonomy I want. It'd probably cost me more than just paying for car parking, if you ascribe all the motorcycle costs to the commute. But since I want a motorcycle anyway, just for fun, I don't think that's fair (in the same way I wouldn't assign all the costs for my fun MX-5 to a commute). Yes, I know, commuting on a motorcycle is dangerous. I have a route selected that I think is relatively low risk. I'll still have to watch for those idiots in cars who don't look at anything outside their vehicle (see my crash in the car earlier this year), but the route offers good escape routes, roads in good condition (for Houston), and relatively low congestion. Commuting on a motorcycle in the rain also sucks for a lot of reasons. I'll keep the bus pass and be using that in the rain, at least at first. I'll see how things go on the motorcycle and decide if I want to get some rain gear or not later.

Does this long, rambling post have a point? I suppose it does. I have to admit, I'm a selfish American. I've tried riding the bus, and I find it acceptable. Functional, tolerable, only occasionally frustrating. Even so, I find myself wanting autonomous transportation, and being American, yet again, I'm turning to the internal combustion engine. And I'm not even looking at a small little scooter that'd meet my needs well. Noooo, I want a big 500cc sportbike!

At least 500cc is a lot less than the 6.2L of a Corvette engine? *hides*

This week I officially got sick of my work pants not fitting right. Over the past few weeks I've had days where if I ate a big lunch I'd have to undo a top button or something... I just figured it's because I'm a freaking pig, or bloated. Everybody's got those days right? This week it was practically every day regardless of what I ate. I already have "pants that don't work" in a section of my closet, and I'm down to "pants that were big on me" having to be unbuttoned, really? Wednesday I ate a damn salad for lunch and felt constricted, Thursday I didn't even make it until lunchtime, just existing did it to me. Finally this little voice in my head whispered "maybe it's because you're 14 WEEKS PREGNANT."

So I posted in june2010babies about it and half those gals have bought freaking maternity clothes. I figured that'd be a spring wardrobe thing for me. What's more, I've always been afraid that buying anything pregnancy related would show a degree of confidence I just don't deserve quite yet, because I'm still so afraid that something will go wrong.

That's when somehow, I came to the exciting conclusion that I have worried enough. Don't ask me how long this attitude will last. Probably a week.

But ever since I took that pregnancy test I've felt like I was on eggshells, always preparing myself for a miscarriage or no heartbeat or for some doctor to say "your labs last week show that your fetus has half a brain and no working spleen" or something. And you know what? I feel I've reached my worry quota for all that. I'm prepared. If it happens, nobody will call me naive, I will not feel caught totally offgaurd.

In the meantime it's getting almost stupid of me not to prepare for a statistically more likely scenario: my fetus has a WHOLE brain, it's becoming a freaking baby, it's causing parts of me to grow, I will not be able to wear my normal clothes. I still weigh about what I always did... I gained back the 10lbs or so I lost in the first couple months, so I'm at my weight, if my clothes aren't fitting it's because my shape is changing and I should not be ashamed of this.

So on my lunch break I went to Target and got this Be Band thing that the other ladies recommended. It's just a spandex circle of fabric that you put on around your middle, and you can wear your normal pants underneath it all unbuttoned and undone and noooobody knooows. Your pants stay up, your midsection feels liberated. And it was the best thing ever. I spent Thursday afternoon just smiling because I'd finally figured out a way to look Business Casual but feel like I'm wearing my sweats. I actually think everybody in the world should own one of these things, it's $15 but just so darn handy. And eventually, maybe in January when the sales are good, I WILL go shopping for maternity clothes and will not feel ashamed about it.

Stop worrying, learn to love the bomb.

Okay, okay, fine, I give. I admit I have an ebil, ebil cold of DOOM. My raw throat kept me awake most of the night and I even willingly got out of bed at 5 am. I'm now drinking the free sample of Starbucks VIA I was given a bit ago (it's aiight, but feels like HEAVEN on my throat), waiting for my Dayquil to kick in as I eat cereal before heading to work. Caution: head stuffiness and illnesses may cause run on sentences.

All the way up until the time I went to bed, the weather people kept waving their fists in the air, declaring an awful storm was to hit us overnight, burying us in frozen rain and snow and gross and ick. This morning, I wake up to them all saying "Tee hee. Just Kidding." Being a pedestrian, I totally don't mind. I was assuming that my walk to work would be beyond quite miserable.

Although I'm ill, Friend Lori wants to have a girls night tonight, so Lori, Coworker Jen (who is made of 100% awesome, btw.), and myself will be eating pizza and watching movies and whatnot. Imma see if we can swing by Target or somesuch en route so that I can stock up on Kleenex and not use all of hers.

Ha, the news anchor said that they're not going to send their people out into the cold to report that nothing's going on. "We're not going to insult your intelligence like that." Makes me wonder which channel I had it on in the storm of Jan 04 when they said "More reports on weather conditions coming up, but FIRST! We take you to live footage of a frozen tree."

Ok I'm nearly to the point of taking a Benedryl a day. There have been more days this past week I took it than not.

I threw Visine in my eyes 2 days ago and nothing came out. Usually a drop will dribble out but no - apparently my eyes really were that fucking dry.

I honestly can't tell if I'm about to come down with something. The worse reactions are exactly like an illness and I had one Tuesday. The body suddenly gets extremely tire and when I crawl under the covers to sleep I get very cold. Not just chills but slowed circulation because my arm became ice. Not even time for Benedryl.

Which I'm about to take to insure no sneezing fits when I get in bed. Tomorrow the sheets and blankets get washed. Maybe I'll put on Tom's mask and vacuum. The Feral Cat Condo is nearly complete thanks to corzican who's not afraid of the cold and it'll be 60 this weekend.

Fucking 10:30pm when Kev has to be up at 5 and Amber suddenly wants to play BallBall. She hasn't done this in months so I can't really deny her. I just hope it didn't wake Kevin.
Oscar licking Kevin's face woke Kevin.

Ooops chills. Damn, knew I should have taken that damn pill.