Anatomy of a cruise

I mentioned previously our room assignment for the cruise... well I have had a moment to go ahead and lay out some of the best things on the boat and the route to them (follow the purple line).



And yes I had a little time on my hands earlier.

Naked and disconnected

The ringer button fell off of my iPhone yesterday and the manfolk is sweet enough to go in and get it swapped out (thank you AppleCare plan) at the store for me today.

Heaven help me I feel naked without my phone.

Weird.

I didn't even get a cell phone until 2004. It astounds me how I got along without it before.

Room assignment

Got the cruise room assignment. Soooooo excited. We got such a good deal on it I had figured that we would be riding as cargo but we are on the pool level for some unknown reason. AWESOME. Level 9. Lido Deck (really you need to cruise Carnival at least once just to hear the lady's voice on the elevator who says that).

Awesome.

Now I am even more excited.

The Manfolk wants to start packing but unfortunately in our less than 800 square feet we really don't have any extra space to lay out our stuff. So we just have to scheme about it.

Derailed

So.. I didn't get to go to Canada because my Team has decided in the last week to strive for a level of drama and incompetence I didn't think they had in them. It is rediculous.

Most of the issue stems from one particular person and I had to resist the urge to key her car this morning in the parking lot as I was walking by the handicapped parking space that she is constantly parked in and doesn't need (this may become Pet Peeve #10 in a later post).

The good thing about not going to the Frozen North is I get to be home with the manfolk. Its weird. I used to love to travel for work just to get away for a couple of days, now I'd rather be home on the patio with him.

Blame Canada

They are sending me to Canada this week for work.

My friend who lives up their said bring a 'light jacket' because it gets down to around 45 degrees at night. LIGHT JACKET??? I'm from Texas, I'll be whippin out my winter's finest.

"But I can't live without you"

"There will never be another"
"I'll love you forever"

Whatever.

Look back at all of the heart breaking bullshit when I am walking out the door and tell you you are wrong. Beg, plead tell me the best things I always wanted to hear and you never said until it was too late.

Then a few months later you will figure out YES I am extremely replaceable. Your life goes on, you 'can't live without' someone else and you were always just full of shit.

Kinda makes you want to scan and email the letters/cards/notes/etc. that he sent to you telling you these things just so he realizes just how full of it he is.

Its the final countdown...

30 DAYS !!!

I can't freakin' wait.

Pet Peeve #9

There is no reason to end every email, facebook statement, etc with lol.

You aren't always lol. If you are you might be mentally ill.

Here are some Facebook examples from one friend from the last few days:

'Guess I will clean house before Katy and her boss get here...Really don't feel like it, lol'

'Balancing my check book... :( Probably going to get a bigger headache! lol'

'I need to go fishing soon! I was around Cross lake today and saw so many people fishing, and I just wanted to go so bad. "NEED MAN WITH BOAT" LOL'


Um... Really?

Top Ten Songs

At the moment in no particular order:

Reba McIntyre -- Consider Me Gone
Cross Canadian Ragweed -- Alabama
Kenny Chesney -- The Life
Zac Brown Band -- Jolene
Jimmy Buffett -- A Pirate Looks at Forty
Eve 6 -- Anytime
Kenny Chesney and Mac MacAnally -- Down the Road
Sara Evans -- Three Chords and the Truth
Charlie Robison -- My Hometown
Sugarland -- Already Gone

Although I am generally torn when it comes to choosing between songs when it comes to Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffett.

Competition Update

Gained 1.

Doh.

I deserve it. We went to a local festival Sunday morning because we had free tickets and passes to have a funnel cake and a corndog for breakfast. The guy three offices down that is pretty much starving himself to death deserves the win for the week much more than I do.

Family Time

Love my family. They have become a bigger part of my life in the last year and a half and I don't know what I would do without them.

But we have really had a lot of my brothers and my dad lately. Moving my dad and stepmonster's stuff, drama from the middlebro, volunteering for one of my dad's charities, etc. The manfolk has been extremely patient. I think I need a break from the boys in my family.

Twinkle toes

Our 50 minute dance class lasted an hour and a half and was a stumbling success. A few crushed toes (mine) and some laughs (both) we have officially learned the foxtrot. Kinda.

The whole reason this came about is that the manfolk and I were watching True Lies (drunk) and he decided that we should be able to tango like them.

And a 1...2...3

Tonight we begin dance lessons. Can't lie - I'm a bit nervous.

Font

Can't help but think that the font you use on your email says something about you.

When a guy sends me an email in a girly font I just can't take him seriously. If you are a dude writing in Comic Sans PLEASE STOP... unless you don't care if your email looks like a 16 year old girl wrote it.

And there should be a sarcasm font. That I agree with. Italics almost do it but not quite, you really need to know someone before you start getting sarcastic in email or it can all go shithouse on you.

ALL CAPS IS RESERVED FOR WHEN YOU NEED TO PUT EMPHASIS ON SOMETHING OR IF YOU FEEL LIKE YELLING. It took me two months of harassment to convince my father otherwise when he first started using email.

Whoever created Wingdings should be shot, and no it isn't funny to translate your stuff into wingdings and send it so the person has to decode it. I don't have time for that crap.

And if anyone finds a use for the Vivaldi script (besides torturing someone trying to read your stuff) please let me know.

Yearly planning

Had to plan out the rest of my vacation time for the year so I have figured out that I just won't work Friday's for the rest of the year (minus two where I am already scheduled for meetings and stuff that I can't miss).

That makes me happy.



Google image search for 'happy' pulls up some weird crap.

Fat sack of awkward

So, my parents have been divorced for 12 years or so and my mom has an incredibly strong (and completely justified) hatred of my dad (more stories for later).

Last night the manfolk and I pick mom up from the airport and she offers to take us to dinner. We head over to the local Outback and are joking with the bartender that the coast was clear because my dad* doesn't ever come in there anymore.

Side note: He used to pretty much live on a barstool there, even had his name on it, until one day he got wasted and made a scene and the proprietor told him not to bother coming in anymore (pretty sure he was selectively paying his bar tabs at that time as well). Since then the proprietor has changed and he shows up occasionally, but has pretty much moved to a new hangount.

Back to last night, half way through our meal guess who wanders by the table - stepmonster. She doesn't see my mom at first and makes pleasantries about stopping back by after running to the restroom. Guess it set in while she was in the ladies room because she didn't pause on her way back. So we sat the rest of the night at our table with dad and his wife at the bar facing directly at us. The bartender even put up some homemade caution tape around our booth to keep 'unwanted persons' out (she really earned her tip from my mom).

It was a big bag of awkward. Everyone stayed apart and we waved to dad on the way out. Didn't stop us from having a good meal and conversation though.

Dad was kind enough to call me this afternoon to remind me how awkward it was. Thanks Old Man.

Ugh. Mom and dad have seen each other maybe six times since they got divorced (my wedding was half of those and the other half have been in the last 8 months - twice at Outback).

*the fact that he is my father remains to be proven. I asked my mom for years for Christmas if she would just tell me who my real father was, because he is such an a-hole so often and does the most off the wall things - I figure there is no way I am related to him. She stands by it, but I dunno.

Weigh In Update

For the competition first official weigh in... down 3.2 lbs.

Not great but not an increase. Started going back to the gym and we've been walking the dogs a lot with the new puppy around - I feel better when I do that.

Haven't made any huge changes in eating habits, just little ones. With the sheer quantity of beer I drank this holiday weekend I should have undone everything so hopefully things will stay in the steady downward trend.

The News

I don't watch the news.

The news is generally depressing. So and so beat their spouse. Someone ran over their kid. Someone went on a shooting spree. A cop got run over trying to help an old lady fix her tire. It just goes on and on. It is like a hour long lesson in how miserable people are.

I just don't watch it. Never have (even when I had TV before and now that I do have TV again). The ex used to watch it every morning (turns out he is fixin' to marry the person who was his favorite local morning news anchor while we were together - but that is a completely different story) and I just never could tolerate it. Who wants to wake up to the misery of it.

Capturing and displaying the misery of humanity destroying humanity. With the occasional 'feel good' piece in there (which usually starts by talking about someone's misery).

I have better things to do with my time.

Countdown continues

50 Days until the cruise. Hurricanes be damned we are going and going to have an awesome time.

Now if I could only lose 50lbs by then?

Top 5 Bars

Our adventure to Florida last weekend has prompted me to make a list of the top 5 bars in my life (subject to change at any time). All for different reasons here they are in no particular order:

1. The Ocean Deck, Daytona Beach, FL - boat drinks, beach access, rustic feel, just all around awesome (see picture below - this is where we spent all of our time last week)


2. Strokers, Dallas, TX - biker bar, cheap drinks, good people, excellent people watching, less than 1/2 mile from work

3. The Green Parrot Key West, FL - "A sunny place for shady people", many good memories of an excellent trip. There was also a Pirate Bar in Fort Lauderdale and a Margaritaville

4. Toadies, Bedford, TX - good local hang out, cheap drinks, good people work there and everyone is welcome there

5. West End Pub, Dallas, TX - excellent prices, excellent bartenders, good service, the manfolk introduced me to this place as a pre-hockey game beverage spot

Dinner Conclusion

Dinner wasn't bad. I have always enjoyed the two of them (duh, or I wouldn't have been so close to them for so many years). Hate to see the guardedness (don't know if it will ever go away or if eventually they will just drift to one of us or the other), and it was only moderately awkward when my ex's wedding invitation was on the fridge and I read it without realizing what it was (doh).

Divided dinner

Having dinner tonight with a couple that is big with the divided loyalty issue. Friend of mine since the 6th grade married a guy who became the ex's best friend. Their way to cope is to not say anything about one of us (me and the ex) to the other and just pretend like that part of their life doesn't exist when the other is around. It has to be rediculously stressful. I have made it clear to every one of my friends that it isn't nessicary to hide stuff and I would rather hear about their life than the guarded version -- but to each their own.

Anyway, having dinner with them tonight and kinda nervous about it because the situation puts me on guard.

Shouldn't be that way with friends. Especially ones you used to do everything with and could be yourself with the most. i just don't have tolerance for it anymore.

Maybe something just has to change. Natural attrition of friends? I dunno.

Holy shit

It is September.

Where has the year gone?