An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

I think that's the first time I got a gratuitous Seinfeld reference in a title post.   Sugar Daddy and I just caught the afternoon showing of Serenity .  We have been waiting for what seems like forever for this movie to come out.  Joss Whedon is a genius.  Well, at least a really smart guy.  It's funny, SD really liked Firefly but couldn't appreciate Buffy or Angel at all.   The movie was much like the TV show.  Funny, sad, violent, message filled and altogether action packed.  Jayne was funny as ever and Mal, what can I say about Mal except that I would do him in a heartbeat?   I don't want to give any spoilers but I will say that the movie answered some longstanding questions but left it open enough for a sequel.

I'm getting crank calls...from Rosanne's cell phone. It will just decide to call me straight out of the blue. It's called me from her business meetings a couple of times and once when she and David were out to dinner with some friends. I don't know why it likes to call me and, apparently, I'm the only person it does this to. Guess I should feel special. I just wish I would hear something interesting when it calls. No offense to the heating/air equipment business but it's pretty boring to hear about.

Tamyra told me I should read Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series because Stephanie and I have something in common - things just "seem" to happen to us. Maria and I were talking about books and she said her Dad was reading them and sent her the first four which she loaned me. She also said they made her laugh out loud. Then, I was talking to Norene and she said she and her daughters have read all of the books. OK, so I'm coming late to the party. But, I'm very happy to be there. These books are really entertaining. I've finished the first four books and I just started on them last Friday. A quick summary: Stephanie became a bounty hunter because she got laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer and needed the money. She lives in Trenton, NJ and knows everyone in the hood. Everyone in the hood is a character. She's pretty inept at her trade but somehow manages to catch her prey. Evanovich does a great job of introducing characters you really care about ...

Do not write up a post in Word then cut and paste into an email post to your blog. It changes the apostrophes and quotes to a box. It also takes out your hard returns to create line breaks between paragraphs. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe!

So, I met a guy for a coffee date tonight. For those of you not in the sometimes hellish single world, coffee dates have replaced dinner and a movie dates. You meet up for an hour or so, chat then go your separate ways. No big meal tab to wrangle over, a safe meeting place so people don't find out where you live and no alcohol involved to lead you into rash decisions. Since this was our first meeting, it seemed appropriate. We met up at the Barnes and Noble at Chandler Fashion Mall and, thanks to traffic, I was nearly 10 minutes late. I was not happy about that at all but he seemed cool about it. I don't drink coffee so I had a bottle of water instead. He paid which was nice but not expected. We talked about books (he actually reads more than I do), school, careers, family. You know, the 'let's get to know each other' stuff. I enjoyed chatting with him (I know that's a surprise) and I think he enjoyed talking with me. Will it go anywhere? Not sure, the signs wer...

Somewhere in the midst of Shorty's illness he decided he wanted to get a dog. Apparently, he really misses our family dog, Geraldine Jones...who passed away in 1986. They've had a dog since then but I guess she didn't rate as high as Geraldine. (Yes, she was all black and named after the Flip Wilson character...and if you know who that is, you're old.) So, Friday night they brought home a dog from the shelter. He's a mutt who mostly resembles a Miniature Doberman. They've named him Buddy. Steven and I aren't calling him Buddy, though. My parents have a history of giving lame names to their pets. Geraldine was cool. The next dog, a Dingo, was called Calico. Oy, dumb name. Steven called her Callie and I called her Beast. Then, my Mom got a cat and named it Pumpkin. Pumpkin = another lame name. Steven decided we should call her Spartacus so he and I do. (We love That Thing You Do.) Clearly, we can't just accept Buddy so Steven and Garrison brainstormed and...

Chris and I went to see Diana Gabaldon last night at The Poisoned Pen in downtown Phoenix. The event was scheduled to start at 6:30 and Gabaldon was scheduled to talk at 7 before signing everyone's books. When we got there a little after 6:30, there were two cops directing traffic and lots and lots of cars. When we got inside, we found it was standing room only and Gabaldon was already doing an informal Q&A before her official talk. She gave us a little background on how she got started, a few stories about various interviews she's done and read an excerpt from the new book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes . They cut her off a little early since there were so many people there (they actually had to turn people away). They were going to take people into the signing line by number. We had a small problem, we had no number and couldn't see where to get one. Chris did some recon and found that our pre-ordered books were at will call so we just figured we had to wait until...

The new TV season has started so my couch time has ratcheted up. Thank goodness for TiVo. Or, in my case, two TiVos. We have one in the living room and a second in my office. The latter is dedicated to NASCAR (forbidden in the living room) and poker shows. Sugar Daddy controls the one in the living room. Here's how it works. SD watches a gazillion shows, some of which I watch, too. If I' m home, we try to catch them together. If I'm not home, he watches his shows first (if it's a reality show, it's on his viewing list) but when he runs out of those he goes through our mutual shows. He does save them for me but it means I have to somehow watch them on my own. Not easy to do since he's always home and almost always on the couch with the remote in his hand. I have to resort to late night or early morning viewing to keep up. Last Friday, I was up until 3 AM and actually got a little ahead of him on recorded shows. However, I' m going out tonight, pr...

I got through the 4 th book, Drums of Autumn , in Galbadon's Outlander series on Friday night. Another addictive read. This book finds Claire, Jamie and Young Ian establishing a home in North Carolina and getting to know the natives. Another storyline follows Claire and Jamie's daughter Brianna as she travels back in time and her boyfriend, Roger Wakefield, follows her. There's lots of sex, of course, and lots of Claire complaining she's not getting enough sex. Also some violence, village plundering, a rape and even a bear killing. Good stuff, Maynard. The addiction has been passed on to another of my co-workers who's into book 3 already. It's madness, I tell you! Chris and I are seeing Gabaldon speak tonight and getting the latest book (number 6) as it's coming out today.

So, I got a call Friday night from someone asking if I was going to Tom's party on Sunday. Only it wasn't a "Are you going?" It was more like "I' m sure you're going because you have no life." I let it go but it clearly bugged me because the next day I said to Sugar Daddy, "Grandpa pissed me off because he said I have no life." Oops, I just gave away who it was but anyone who knows us both knows he's a master at pissing me off so they won't be surprised that it was he who riled me. He wanted to carpool but I told him I had to be there early. That put a kibosh on the plan. In the years that I have known him, he has NEVER been early and actually seems to go out of his way to be late to irritate me. A fact he admitted to at the party. The thing is I get this "you have no life" thing from some people a lot. They think that because I do almost every club activity that I have no other things going on. I disagree. I do ...

My buds, Tom and Kari, are moving to North Carolina.  Kari had a "surprise" 40th Birthday party for Tom yesterday at O'Brien's and it was a nice way to say good-bye.  The "surprise" is in quotes because he was not at all surprised by it.   We've been hanging out together for 4 years or so and I'm going to miss them.  They're the kind of people I could call up and say "I need a place to live for a month, can I stay with you?" and they'd say "Of course."  Those are good friends.   Of course, after Tuesday, I'd have to move to NC to stay with them...so, I guess I no longer have that going for me.   Bon voyage, kids!

The girls and I are having an email discussion on sex, violence and violent sex and...well, suffice it to say it was pretty bad.  (Now you know what I do at work all day!)   Stacey came up with this statement that just cracked me up:   Well, you can't have a proper dungeon without a basement, but it is possible to have abasement without a dungeon.   Yep, I have some interesting friends...

I posted about the after-concert activity in Tucson but not about the show itself. Russ and Tamyra hosted a sold out show in their backyard. Norene and I wondered where they were going to fit 80 people but they did it and it worked out well. I was the only Phoenix person there but Mark had a big contingent from San Carlos and Rocky Point and there was a good showing from the Tucson PHC, The Desert Sharks. Before Mark started, we were treated to a wedding. Pat and Don were high school sweethearts who got separated then reunited 40 years later. Awesome. They're planning on honeymooning in San Carlos at Mulligan's Island Fest . Nice folks, despite being U 0f A fans. Mark was awesome as always. His younger brother, Dave, spelled him for a song of his own. Dave's in the studio working on his own CD. How cool is that? John Milner joined Mark to close out the show and they rocked together. I've been watching Mark perform for over 5 years now and this type of event really suit...

I haven't posted much lately for two reasons. The first is that work has been pretty darn busy the past few weeks. I was working on rebuilding our training server and it turned into a complete redo, down to the operating system. Learned a lot, though, so it wasn't all bad. The second reason is I've been working on club stuff. We had a BOD meeting last Sunday and I came away with a to-do list which I have almost finished. I also wrapped up the quarterly newsletter which you can see here if you're interested. I had a lot of fun on this issue reviewing all of the Parrot Grande pics. Good times, good times. Anywhoooo, I'm going to get back on track and post away!

I finally have time to tell the tale of last Friday night. Norene and I were headed to Russ and Tamyra's for the Mark Mulligan house concert then some serious BSing, drinking, cigar smoking, maybe hot tubbing afterwards. The plan was set but the question remained: could Russ stay up past midnight? See, the last party we went to at their place, the four of us were sitting out on the patio when Russ got up to go to the bathroom. A while later, Norene did the same. A long while later, Tamyra and I realized that neither one seemed to be coming back. We found Norene passed out on the couch and Russ passed out in his bed. He was still in his clothes. Looked suspiciously corpse like, to be honest. That was our sign to call it a night so we did. But, Russ boldly stated he was going to stay up this time and at least outlast Tamyra. She told him he was getting bashed on my blog and in some emails about his early retirement so he was really determined this time. The evening went as pl...

I watched the season premier of Bones last night off the TiVo. It was a must watch for me since David Boreanaz is on it. I miss Angel . Afterwards, Sugar Daddy and I discussed it a bit (we think it may not last but we liked it) and I said, "The guy who plays her boss is really hot." SD said, "He's, like, 100 years old." I vehemently denied it, "Nuh-huh, he so is not!" SD countered, "Look it up on IMDB." A digression here. We love imdb.com . It's settled many arguments in our house and is always good for the 'who was the guy in...' questions. I would guess we're on it every week, at least once. So, I looked it up. His name is Jonathan Adams and he was born in...1958! Oy. I had to eat crow on that one. He was also one of the Dads on American Dreams , a show we really dug that didn't make it. Neither of us recognized him from that, though. SD would argue that this is a sign that I'm getting old - being attract...

Shorty met with the Oncologist and found out the cancer had not spread to his lymph nodes.   That means no chemo for him!  We are all pretty excited about that.

How cool would it be to show up at a Buffett show with this...and know it only cost you $25? Yep, I said $25. The Honduras Parrot Head is auctioning off this retired, tropical tricked out ambulance for $25 a chance and only 1,000 tickets are going to be sold. Even if they don't sell out the 1,000, they're still doing the raffle. Them's pretty good odds. I can just picture the look on Sugar Daddy's face if I brought this home! You don't have to be a Parrot Head to win, just go to the Honduras' club website and get your ticket. All of the proceeds are going to the PHIN Fund which has been set up to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Confession An elderly man walks into a confessional. The following conversation ensues: Man: "I am 92 years old, have a wonderful wife of 70 years, many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Yesterday, I picked up two college girls, hitchhiking We went to a motel, where I had sex with each of them three times." Priest: "Are you sorry for your sins?" Man: "What sins?" Priest: "What kind of a Catholic are you?" Man: "I'm Jewish." Priest: "Why are you telling me all this?" Man: "I'm telling everybody."   My friend Maria sent this to me and it made me laugh out loud in my office.

Whether you say "Arrrr" or "Arrrgh", today's your official day. Enjoy, mateys!

I use Sitemeter to count hits on this blog.  I don't pay too much attention to the numbers but yesterday's report showed I hit the 3,000 marker (since the end of January).  That's smallish potatoes in the blog world but I think it's kinda cool.   Thanks to those of you who stop by!

I often say how much I like working for my company. It's a really cool place and they really care. We did a fund raiser for Hurricane Katrina victims and the owners matched employee donations at a 2 to 1 rate. In just four days, we collected a total of $32,640 with the match. Cool.

I said it back here that this was not going to last... Here's the scoop that Carol sent me: NEW YORK -- Bridget Jones is untying the knot. Renee Zellweger, who played the lovelorn Brit in "Bridget Jones's Diary," and country music star Kenny Chesney will have their four-month-old marriage annulled, Chesney's publicist, Holly Gleason, and Zellweger's Los Angeles-based publicist Nanci Ryder, confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday. People magazine first reported the breakup, which brings to an end a whirlwind romance that began shortly before a surprise wedding in May. The 36-year-old actress and Chesney, 37, wed in a small ceremony on the Caribbean island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was the first marriage for both. Photos of the couple barefoot on the beach were widely distributed. They first met at the Concert of Hope tsunami relief benefit Jan. 15, where Chesney was singing and Zellweger was answering telephones, the syndicated televisio...

I went to lunch with a buddy today. He had a pair of sunglasses in a case on the passenger side floor. Apparently, I knocked them out on to the ground when we got back to the office and some good Samaritan put them on the hood of his truck. He was driving down the 143 when they fell off and he ran them over. Scratch an $80 pair of sunglasses. I feel bad - I should have just put them up on the dash so they'd be safe. He's not mad at me, though, which is nice. But, somehow makes me feel even worse. He even picked up lunch so I can't even make myself feel less guilty by saying "At least I picked up the tab."

Voyager is the third book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. It finds Claire and Jamie reunited in Scotland and off on an adventure to the new world when Jamie's nephew, Young Ian, is kidnapped by pirates. They make it to Jamaica and Haiti, encounter a serial killer and some voodoo and there's a surprise appearance by a character from the first book who was presumed dead. This was better than the second book, Dragonfly In Amber . These things are literary crack! I'm 500 pages into the 4th book and I can't take it to work with me because I want to close my office door and read all day. I mean, it's an almost overwhelming urge. Not too productive for the old employer. My addicted friend Chris and I are going to a Gabaldon signing for the latest book in the series at The Poisoned Pen on Sep. 27. (Great, another 1000 pager I'll feel compelled to get through ASAP.) We plan to confess that when we were professional booksellers, we didn't think the...

After freaking us out for several weeks, Shorty is home.    Well, not exactly in his home.    When I called this morning, he'd hopped in the truck to go meet someone for coffee.  This, after he promised me he'd take it easy today since he only got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon.  He's probably going to get his hair cut, too.  I guess that's his idea of taking it easy.  I have to admit that, after being cooped up for almost three weeks, I'd be out roaming around, too.   So, it's back to 'normal' for me.  I've been in such a fog of late that it's a wonder I was getting anything done.  I certainly wasn't paying as much attention to the outside world as I normally do.  I did very little blog reading/writing (actually very little reading at all), caught just the headlines about Katrina for the most part and didn't realize it was the 4th anniversary of 9/11 until Shorty and I caught the early football game on Sunday....

Shorty is soooooo much better than he was a few days ago. Gone are the hallucinations. Now, his whole focus is on how to get the hell out of the hospital. The Shorty we all know and love is back! The surgeon told him this morning he could go on soft food. He said, "Nope, I want real food." He got it. He got told he could probably check out on Tuesday. He said, "Today's Monday, right? So, I get to go home tomorrow." That one didn't fly. He told the CNA his second IV was pinching his arm. She said she would retape it. He countered with "Can't you just take it out?" He won that round. He still has one IV in but that's probably coming out tomorrow. He's been up and walking and on his cell phone. I can tell he's recovering from the latter. He also lobbied for a sit down shower and should have gotten one tonight. Oh, and on his walk he ran into one of his nurses working a different section of the floor and she gave him a hug and a kiss. I...

My bud Dave is a Catastrophic Insurance Adjuster. He was sent to Atlanta right after Katrina and was waiting to deploy. He's been sent to Mississippi and sent me this link of before and after satellite photos. Again, I cannot even fathom...

Tamyra forwarded this link to me. It's an amazing story of someone in NOLA who captured it all in words and pictures. I cannot fathom going through that. Update on 09/12/05. Looks like he's taken the pictures down. I hope you got to see them as they were something.

My Dad's taking a long road to recovery this time.  The day after his last surgery, he was up and walking all on his own.  This time, he didn't get out of bed for two days.  Then, he spent two days in a delirious state.   It was bad.  He was seeing things, fighting us to get out of the bed and thought he was back in his hometown, or his backyard or Tempe...the answer always varied when we asked "Do you know where you are?" but it was never "The hospital."   The pumped a lot of drugs in him to calm him down but it didn't seem to help.  He would sleep for a few minutes then start struggling again.  They have someone sitting in the room 24-7 with him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself.   They're not sure why he freaked out.  Could be meds, could be 'hospital syndrome' (where people just go nuts from staring at the same walls), could have been a stroke.  They did a CAT scan, MRI and EEG so the head damage can be ruled out ...

The main thought going through my mind right now is, "Thank God for my Uncle Bill." He was at the hospital with Shorty until 10 last night and back around 6 this morning. He's probably still there now. I spent about 2 1/2 hours at lunch time at the hospital and 3 hours tonight and am exhausted. I don't know how he's doing it. And, what I really don't know is how some people can hold down a job and be a primary caregiver for an ill person. Those people are extraordinary. The good news is that Shorty's feeling better but is still not himself. Now, we seem to have too many doctors, as well. There are two treating him and they aren't agreeing on what's going on. The staff doctor is convinced he has an infection, the surgeon thinks he doesn't and that he's actually fine. All I know is that he's not himself. He's weak, he's uninterested in what's going on and he's befuddled. All of those symptoms seem to be decreasing though, ...

Sugar Daddy and I went out to dinner last night to Chili's. I ordered a Diet Coke. He ordered a Midori Margarita. This could be a sign of the Apocalypse.

They had to do another surgery on my Dad yesterday. He did have an adhesion and split it open when they put in his stomach tube and he started gagging and coughing. Getting a phone call that you're Dad's going in for emergency surgery is pretty darn scary. They think he has an infection today so they put him on severe antibiotics. Fortunately, my Uncle Bill flew out from Wisconsin again and is planning on spending most, if not all, of his time at the hospital. Shorty's in no condition to manage his own care so it's a Godsend that Uncle Bill can be there.

Our room at Caesar's was really nice. Great view, plenty of closet space and an awesome bathroom. It was a his and hers type with her side having a bidet (grosses me out) and a huge jacuzzi tub. The two sides were separated by a dual head shower with glass doors on either side. Saturday morning, I was happily taking my shower when I noticed I could see myself in the bathroom mirrors on both sides. I thought, 'This would be a totally great place to fool around in." So, I called Maria in. No, not really. That's just the story I'm trying to sell to Penthouse. I did tell her what I'd been thinking and she sorta thought the same thing when she was in there. The difference is she thought about other people doing the nasty in the same shower she was currently in and it totally icked her out. And that is why she's a good girl and I'm not.

Maria and I had a great plan for Saturday morning. We were going to head to the pool and read while Sugar Daddy slept in. He likes to sleep a lot. We did hit the pool around 9 after getting Maria some coffee and both of us a little breakfast snack. There are 4 pools at Caesar's. We decided to skip the topless one and hang by the main pool. It's awesome - it looks like a big fountain and is huge. I don't even think we opened our books. We were chatting and watching boys when SD called. He was up and ready to go. He came out to sit with us but as soon as the shade left, we were done. Before we left, Maria and I were checking out this one guy. Yummy! Probably about 20. He was toweling off and I said out loud, "I wonder if he needs any help with that?" Since my voice carries so well (nice way of saying I'm really loud), I'm pretty sure he heard me because he started laughing and there was no one around him. Didn't get me anywhere though. Darn. We cabbed it...