An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

Yeah, so this unpacking thing sucks. I'm not excited about it at all. So, I've decided to put myself on a schedule. I have to unpack 5 boxes a day. That should get me done over the weekend. Of course, I've only done 4 tonight and it's not looking to good for the 5th to get done. Maybe, I'll be finished next weekend...

I had heard the rumor that Rick Springfield was going to be reprising his role of Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital and it was confirmed in the paper today.  I might have to record it...he was so dreamy on that show.  I was bummed when he left.  Then, the show got really stupid with the Luke and Laura saving the world stuff that I stopped watching it.   I don't watch any daytime soaps today, but back in the day, I watched several.  General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, Guiding Light and One Life to Live were all on my must-see list.  And, when I say back in the day, I mean it.  The article said Springfield left the show in 1983 and I'd been watching it for a while before that.   That's 22 freaking years ago!  That makes me feel really old which everyone knows I don't like.  Maybe, I'll mentally translate that to 11 years in my head to make myself feel better.    

Grandpa came over tonight to assemble my furniture. I was bummed that IKEA is still out of stock of the two shelves that go with my entertainment unit but I shouldn't have fretted as we didn't even get to that stuff. We started on the dining room hutch/shelving unit and that pretty much took all night. There was only one misassemble that required a complete do-over on one of the drawers but otherwise, he did a great job. He also hung the new curtain rod over the big window I have by my front door. Seems the boys took the existing hardware down when they painted then Steven and Garrison had a sword fight with the rod pieces. Ergo, no way to hang my curtain. It's been freaking me out, too, as any old axe murderer could peek in on my living room (albeit by going out of their way). We're going to schedule another assembly session soon to finish up the entertainment unit pieces. I originally bribed Grandpa with Bud Light to do the job. Sugar Daddy thought I'd have to swe...

Sugar Daddy's been enjoying the peace and quiet since I moved.  However, he's in denial that I'm actually gone.  At least, that's how I'm interpreting it.    He was sitting around Sunday night thinking he had to find someone to go to lunch to on Monday.  Apparently, my absence in the house has been construed by his subconscious that I'm just on vacation and not really gone for good.

I'm finding that I dislike unpacking almost as much as packing. I've been using the internal excuse that I don't have any of my shelves up yet so I have no place to put my books and 437 knick knacks so what's the point in opening all of those boxes? I do have the bathroom and kitchen pretty much in order, though. Grandpa's coming over tonight to assemble my shelves. The only bummer is that IKEA is still out of the two side shelves for my entertainment unit so he's only going to have the base to do on that. Once he's done, I will have space to unpack to so there goes my last excuse. In the meantime, I've found stuff to distract me. First, it was a book (I know, that's not so surprising). We're reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West for book club so that took up parts of Thursday and Friday. Once the DVR was hooked up, I recorded a bunch of movies so that took care of Sunday afternoon. I watched Scooby Doo 2: Monsters U...

First day's commute at 7 AM:  20 minutes!   Life is good.

I saw Harry Potter with Sugar Daddy, his friend Mike and Mike's wife Theresa. SD said this was his favorite of the four movies. Mike and I didn't agree. Mike's read each book about 10 times (he's my idol - I wish I could find the time to at least read them twice) and he felt they left a lot out of this flick and it felt rushed in some parts. I agreed. It was a dark film, but not as dark as the book was. It was still pretty darn good, though. The special effects were awesome, especially in the dragon fight scene. The kids are turning into really good actors, too. Emma Watson was superb and Daniel Radcliffe showed a great range of emotion. Thumbs up on this one (like you expected me to give it anything else?).

I'm writing this post from my new living room. My cable, DVR and internet are all set up. Finally. I know some people think I'm kidding but I hate technology. Especially when it doesn't work right. The Cox people were supposed to turn on my cable/internet on Wednesday. They said they wouldn't need access to my place. Yeah, right. When I got here with the movers on Wednesday morning there was a note on my door to call and reschedule as I needed to be here. The installer came back on Friday. Three hours later, he had completely replaced the cable wiring and I was supposed to be good to go. Not so, however. When I called in to set up my DVR (I already miss TiVo), it was a half hour spent with tech support before they could get it up and running. Sort of running - I have a series of faint, dashed lines running through the screen. They said to check the connections...I fear they will have to come out again. I worked on the internet today. Another long tech support call but i...

I'm picking up my laptop and a few miscellaneous things that got left behind in the move. I left the laptop until last since I don't have my internet set up at the new place yet. Hopefully, tomorrow. I feel a little sad leaving...but it could be that I'm just tired. I slept at the new place last night, all by my lonesome, and I woke up every hour or so to see if an axe murderer was skulking about. I plan on getting liquored up tonight so I'll sleep like a baby. Plus, we moved George in today. I'm sure an attack Beta will scare the bad guy away. Happy Thanksgiving!

It's 7:30 AM and the movers are due at 8. I'm ready. Sure, there are a couple of minor things like my coolers and tool belt but everything else is packed and ready to go. I'm going to get moved, stop at the Cox store for my modem and DVR stuff then head into work. I'll probably get there just in time for a department lunch. Not going to get a lot of work done today. Most people would head home after work to unpack, but not I. We're having a going away Happy Hour for one of my co-workers (I am very sad to see him leave) then Sugar Daddy and I are going to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He already saw it on Sunday but I was painting and watching Jimmie crash instead. I can always unpack later this weekend...

The movers are coming at 8 AM tomorrow morning.   I am not done packing.    I hate packing.  I do a few boxes but then allow myself to get distracted by anything shiny.  Last night, the shiny stuff was two reruns of Friends and a new episode of King of Queens .   I justified it by saying I would get up early this morning and pack.  I usually wake up at 5 so I told myself whenever I woke up, I'd start packing.  So, I woke up and it was still dark out.  I figured it was close to 5 and looked at my clock to verify that.  It was 2:50.  No way in hell was I getting up then...especially to pack.  I got up at 5:30 or so and did manage to pack my bathroom and the rest of the kitchen stuff.   Am I worried?  No, though I probably should be.  I just figure whatever isn't done can be finished up on Thursday.  I have to move George then anyway as I need someone to hold him while I drive so I'm going to ...

Grandpa! I gave a great hint in my post on IKEA as to whom my intended target for assembly work was. Grandpa's about the only one who still drinks Bud Light. Most of the rest of my friends have seen the light (light/lite, I'm being punny, get it?) and switched to Miller. I practiced trying to sound sincere when I asked him but it still came out like I was just sucking up. I was sincere, though, in saying that he will do it perfectly. I waited last night until he had about 7 beers in him then hit him up. He agreed to come over next week and assemble. I think he has no idea how much I have for him to do.

Grandpa suggested getting together to watch the final NASCAR race of the season. Since I usually watch them all alone in my office (NASCAR is banned from the big screen TV), I thought it was a grand idea. It’s definitely more fun to watch the races with someone. I suggested a Famous Sam’s that’s between our houses and we agreed to meet at 2. I got there a few minutes early and, while I was scoping out a big screen for the race, heard someone yell out my name. Turns out, that Famous Sam’s is a hangout for the Crime Dog and he and TFMCD and Ladybug were there finishing up lunch and watching the Cowgirls…I mean Cowboys. That Ladybug is sooooooo darn cute. I sat down with the Dog family, ordered a beer and Grandpa got there a few minutes later. I was lobbying for NASCAR on the big screen in the area we were sitting in but there were a bunch of loud, football guys in there so I lost out. So, we decided to go to Grandpa’s neighbor’s house. Pete lives just down the street and hosts the game ...

After dropping $500 this past week at Lowe's I really wish I got some sort of discount for being a Jimmie Johnson fan. It seems reasonable to me. Lowe's sponsors Jimmie and I promote Jimmie every chance I get. I advertise him on my car, I wear my Team 48 Lowe's cap whenever I can, I mean I'm there for the guy! The least they can do is give me a percentage off.

Well, all those people who thought my paint color choice was going to be too stark, too medicinal, too white will be happy to know that it's not very white at all. The color actually seems to be influenced by the lighting. In bright sunlight, it appears to be yellow-ish ( shudder ), at sunset it appears rosey and at night it's beige. In no light, however, is it the bright white that I wanted. So, at some point down the road I'll probably repaint but for now it's good enough...and it's actually a pleasantly warm color so I'm OK with it.

And by nickel and dime, I mean $50 and $100. This moving is eating away at my savings account. It's actually more like gorging on my account. I've had two visits to Lowe's, one to K-Mart, one to Wal-Mart and one to Albertson's, so far...I think it totaled out to $500 or so. I'm afraid to add it all up. I'm also up for deposits and set up fees for electric, cable and internet and home owners insurance. All this before I even start paying a mortgage! There's still more crap I need to get, too. Oh, and I have to pay the carpet cleaners tomorrow and the movers on Wednesday. Oy, I'll definitely be sticking to a budget the rest of the year. And, I somehow have to fit in paying off the rest of my March cruise assuming I decide to still go. There's also some holiday with presents that I'm refusing to think about at the moment. If anyone needs me, I'll be buying lottery tickets with my last few dollars...

You scored as Officer . Officer, you're the brass. The leader of the bunch. You have leadership qualities, or you have a really big ego. Most likely both. You know how to get things done, and don't care who you have to kill to get them done. You're a man/woman with a mission and to stand in your way means pain. You have gumption and intelligence to back it up. Hold the line!!! AND SOMEONE GET ME COFFEE!!! Officer 94% Medic 75% Special Ops 69% Civilian 63% Combat Infantry 63% Support Gunner 56% Artillery 50% Engineer 44% Which soldier type are you? created with QuizFarm.com I got this from El Capitan . I actually thought I'd be a civilian what with my near phobic feelings about guns. Guess being bossy put me into Officer status. BTW, there were typos in the description that I felt compelled to correct. I supposed that means I'd be a nitpicky Officer.

I drive by IKEA twice a day and it's been on my list of things to check out at some point since it opened. The weekend I left for Florida, they were having an anniversary sale with pretty much everything 15% off so I went on Friday when I left work early. Holy crap, there's a lot of stuff in that place! I wandered around the upstairs which is the furniture floor for about an hour then started going through the downstairs houseware area when my brain just melted. I called Sugar Daddy and told him I was overwhelmed and couldn't make any decisions on what to buy. He told me he'd be there in 1/2 hour so I got a Diet Pepsi and hung out. We ended up spending another 3 hours in the store. I think we sat on every couch and nearly every chair. We also looked at all of the bookshelves, TV stands and coffee tables...more than once. See, I have very little furniture and need to fill my new place up. Here's what I currently have: dining table and four chairs three bookshelves dr...

Hobbit To which race of Middle Earth do you belong? brought to you by Quizilla At least I wasn't a Dwarf. I got this from Ethereal Girl .

So, the one thing the new place needs is a coat of paint. Sugar Daddy and I stopped off to get Glidden samples at Home Depot a few weeks ago and have been disagreeing about my color choice ever since. Actually, a lot of people have been disagreeing with my choice. I want white. Not yellow-white, not grey-white, not beige...but white. I don't want anything that looks dingy and anything with a remotely yellow tint turns me off completely. Think Cape Cod beach house and you have an idea of what I like. Well, apparently I'm very much in the minority on that. SD's place is Swiss Coffee which is the color of choice for every developer in Phoenix for the past few years and he suggested I get it. It's fairly light but it still has a faint touch of yellow (at least to my eye). While it's not at all dingy looking it's just not light enough. To make things easy, I decided to get just one color for the ceiling, walls and trim. After a lot of debate (internally and ...

I think all of the carpooling with Sugar Daddy had desensitized me in regards to how long our commute takes these days. The week before I went to Florida and since I've gotten back, however, I've driven on my own most days. I've discovered that what used to take 70 minutes at its worst is now 70 minutes on average. That really sucks. People need to stop moving out to BFE as it's just going to continue to get worse. What's kept me from going completely insane each day is the knowledge that the end of this daily torture is in sight. My future commute will be much, much shorter. I've done it in off peak hours in 15 minutes. The nice thing is that if the freeway is backed up, I actually have a reasonable option in driving the side streets. I cannot wait! Update: In full rush hour tonight, it took me 30 minutes driving the 202. If that's the worst it gets, SWEET!

This is a long one so you might want to go and grab your favorite beverage and come back. I'll wait. Still waiting, no hurry. OK, you ready? Let's go then. I moved in with Sugar Daddy on Super Bowl Sunday of 2004. At the time, it seemed like a good deal for both of us. He got some help with his mortgage and I got to move out of my rented condo. Which was actually quite nice but in the prior year had managed to suffer major flood damage from a third floor hot water heater leak, been evacuated for a meth lab cleanup and finally flooded by my hot water heater turning into a geyser. Everything went swimmingly at first, for the most part. I did scratch the Corian counter with my first (and only) party but I paid for it to get fixed. And paid a lot since the guy who buffed it out semi-stalked me afterwards. It wasn't too long though before the comments started...'when you have your own place...' Most of the time it was purely joking but there was an undercurrent of 'G...

I was really looking forward to this house concert as the musician, Gerry O'Beirne , is from Ireland and I've got a wee bit of the Irish in my background. Clearly, I got those drinking genes from somewhere. I love Irish music and poetry, too. I must admit, when I was first introduced to Gerry, I thought to myself 'this guy isn't too lively'. He wasn't what I expected from an Irishman at all except for the accent. Once his show started, however, I quickly grew to appreciate his very dry humor. You had to be paying attention as his delivery was very soft spoken but the guy was hilarious. He was also awesome on the strings. He played a 12 string, 6 string and a ukelele and it was amazing. I found out afterwards that he's never had classical training and can't read music but you would never guess that from his playing. Those folks who came to hear traditional drinking songs like Black Velvet Band and The Unicorn may have been disappointed. But those who wa...

I tweaked my back in Key West.  It completely seized up on me to the point where I went home to bed at 9 PM on Friday night.  That is just sick and wrong.   So, I've been babying it a bit and popping Advil like they're Smarties since I got back and some days are good, some are very, very bad.  Saturday night, I had another complete seize up only I couldn't go home because I was working the latest house concert.   Those of you who've had back troubles know where I'm coming from.  For those who haven't, here's an idea of how I feel.   Standing:  dull ache Sitting:  dull ache with a little more pain where the back hits the chair Leaning:  slightly less painful than standing Twisting:  extremely painful Bending:  excruciatingly painful Stepping:  add to excruciating an extremely sharp pain on one side   The patio where the concerts are is multi-level so I tried to limit my movements as much...

Here's some more pics from Key West. They're either Pab's or Crime Dog's as I am a slacker and didn't even take a camera with me. They're in no particular order. Pab and I spent the afternoon in Irish Kevin's listening to this guy . It was Halloween (to explain his costume). I love sing along bars and this was such a fun time. Somehow, we had to do shots of Jager with John...it was the beginning of a downward spiral that day. We did make his photo page though and I must say we look adorable. Most of the Arizona contingent on our final Sunday night in town. We caught football and NASCAR (Go, Jimmie!) at the Conch Republic before some of us headed back to the condos to finish up all of the booze. Hey, it wouldn't be right to let it go to waste! Annette at the Sunny Jim show. You can just tell what she's thinking. "Once I get him home and get his clothes off..." Don't worry about how Eric feels - They're Single! This frackin...

Living in the desert of Arizona, there's not a lot of opportunity to see what happens when Mother Nature throws a big fit. Sure, we have dust storms and the occasional microburst but nothing that compares to earthquakes, mudslides, tornadoes or hurricanes. I didn't know what to expect when we got to Florida after Wilma swept through but, to my naive eyes, it didn't look too good. The first sighting we had of the damage was upon our descent into Fort Lauderdale. There were patches of ground that looked like a giant had stomped down on everything. The trees were blown over and, in some cases, torn out of the ground. After picking up our car, we took a roundabout way to the turnpike that went through some of the city streets. Traffic signals were out, street signs were bent and buildings were damaged. Most of the billboards and outside signage was destroyed. Every intersection became a four way stop so traffic was a bit scary. The turnpike was pretty clear and they weren't...

Every year before we head off to Meetings Of The Minds, someone posts a reminder to tip well since Parrot Heads have a very poor reputation in Key West when it comes to gratuities. This year was no exception and Drifty encouraged us to add even more to the bottom line as a way to help out the folks who'd been hit very, very hard by Wilma (more on that subject later). This year, there was a comment posted in the Key West paper after we left: What's the difference between a Parrot Head and a canoe? A canoe tips." Boy, did that stir people up. A lot of folks were not happy because they felt they tipped really well. Some people said it's still a matter of service level and they're not going to go overboard if the service doesn't warrant it. A few others reported seeing some low tips given out by fellow Parrot Heads while others reported comments from the Key West folks as to how well we were taking care of them. I think that no matter what you do, there will ...

I was hanging in front of the stage before the street fest with my new Des Moines friends and the other condo gang when I started talking to this Really Attractive (but older) Man next to me. We did the usual where are you from, what have you done this week stuff but then the conversation went like this: RA(bo)M: Do you know Kelly McGuire ? Me: Sure, I’m his Phoenix limo service. RA(bo)M: Do you know where he’s playing this week? Me: Hold my beer a second. I handed him my beer then pulled out my cell phone. Me: Hey Kelly, it’s Kathy from Arizona. How are you doing?…Hey, where are you playing today because I’ve got someone here asking…OK, thanks, see you later. (To RA(bo)M) It sounded like he said White House Fort but he said it’s right across from the Hemingway House. (Turned out to actually be Lighthouse Court) RA(bo)M: (looking totally impressed and amazed) I can’t believe you just called Kelly McGuire like that! I was trying to act all nonchalant like I call professional musicians a...

With a lot of hard work and positive attitudes, it is possible to move a 3,500 person convention to a new location in less than a week.   It can take 11 hours to drive 100 miles down the Keys.   You can get somewhere on foot in about the same time as it takes on a scooter.   You don't want to try to catch a flashlight when the power's out and you're standing on stairs by a window.   You don't want to be in a hot tub on the other side of a window on the stairs when the power's out and someone's trying to catch a flashlight.   Nicknames can't be forced but they can stick forever from one incident.  Such may be the case for Drunk Girl.   It takes less than 5 minutes to clear Sloppy Joe's during a bomb threat and more than an hour to sweep the building and reopen it.   Hog's Breath will continue to serve beer even with the power off.   You can tell people over and over that they need a photo ID to register and they'll still ...

I got into the office this morning all set to dive into work.  I've got a BUNCH of projects to cram out in the next few weeks and a boatload of stuff going on in my personal life so I really needed to rock and roll.   First thing I noticed was that the Microsoft logo was frozen on my monitor.  Not usually a problem and can be solved by a reboot.  Except for when the power button on your PC won't turn off.  So, I unplugged/replugged and it started to boot up.  Until it got to the splash panel then froze.  I tried another hard boot and it still froze.   I called across the hallway to the Help Desk person, "My PC no workie."  She started fiddling with it and confirmed that something was amiss.  Like I didn't know that...    We have a standing staff meeting on Tuesday mornings and I had no report to bring since it was on my PC.  After the meeting, there was more fiddling around with my machine, this time by two Help Des...

I just went through about 400 personal emails...and now Sugar Daddy is ready to leave for work.