An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

Driving to Rocky Point takes the same amount of time from Tucson as it does from Phoenix. I knew I was adding at least 90 minutes to my trip by having to drive back from Tucson on Sunday but I figured I'd still be home by 8 or 9 PM at the latest. Boy, was I wrong. We decided to leave our condo at noon, have lunch at Manny's, pick up some shrimp and do some last minute shopping then head to the border. Everything was going well until we got to the border. Or, near to it anyway. Traffic was backed up and it was literally stop and go for 2 1/2 hours until we could get across and back into the U.S. We amused ourselves by listening to tunes and watching the locals. It was quite the treat to see one of the vendors who was walking up and down between the cars whip out his unit and just start peeing between the cars. Let me add to the picture by saying he was old. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything from him and I hope to high heaven he wasn't selling food. Ick. Onc...

What a great trip to Mexico we had. It was so relaxing and I have only two regrets. One, that we didn't stay an extra day because it took until Saturday for me to unwind from work and we had to leave on Sunday. The other was that John and Nancy had to cancel. Norene and I had looked forward to having our own troubadour with us and Nancy is great to be around. Our line for the weekend was, "You know what we're missing? A guy with a guitar." Everyone was actually early (how amazing is that!) so we were on the road in no time. Our first out of town stop was a convenience store in Why, AZ. I happened to glance in the cooler by the cashier and found the delights of Boone's Farm so I had to point it out to Norene. She and Dori bought two bottles, one Mango flavored and the other "Blue" flavored. Our condo wasn't ready until 4 PM, so we had lunch at Senor Amigos then headed over to JJ's Cantina on Cholla Bay. I have no idea what Tkay was sayi...

I've said it before, I can't go anywhere without running into someone I know. It happens quite often around the Phoenix area but I hadn't realized that it would happen in another country. I headed down to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco, Mexico) for those from not around here last weekend. I hadn't been there for 5 years and man, has that place changed! But, that's another story. The folks that planned the trip (Jim and Dori) go down there quite often and it was interesting to find that we shared a lot of favorite stops. One of them being Senor Amigos by the fish market. They have an upstairs patio that overlooks the water and really good and cheap food. It's always been our traditional lunch stop and we headed there once we hit town on Friday afternoon. I was hanging at our table when I noticed a couple at the table next to us. They looked familiar but it took me a minute to place them. It was Marie and Dan from our local sailing club and I had gone out wit...

While I was waiting for Shorty to get my new flat panel TV, I started browsing the CD section of the store. I knew I wanted to get Gretchen Wilson's latest CD but then I just started collecting discs off the shelves. When I checked out (Shorty offered to buy but I told him I would pay for them - nice of me to save him $100 when he was shelling out nearly $700 on me), the clerk said, "This is a pretty mixed selection but I like it." So, I got that going for me. Here's what I got: Gretchen Wilson - One Of The Boys (Not as interesting as I had hoped it would be.) Aaron Neville - Bring It On Home...The Soul Classics Jimmy Buffett - There's Nothing Soft About Hard Times (yes, there are Buffett discs I don't already own. This looks like a new mix of oldies on two discs.) Eagles - Hell Freezes Over (this purchase was inspired by my recent Mexico weekend where we listened to the Eagles) Genesis - Platinum Collection (3 disc set - I've since learned that one dis...

Steven called me today and said "Guess what Shorty bought me?" I didn't play the game so he 'fessed up right away. Shorty bought him a 32 inch HDTV flat panel TV. For no special reason, BTW. My first thought was, "Where's mine?" Me being me, I said that out loud. Steven's response was, "You know he's going to buy you one, too, and it will be better than mine because that's how Shorty rolls." Don't get me wrong. I've been perfectly content with my 27 inch regular TV. But, heck, if I could get an HDTV, I'd be all over it. So, I was. I got off the phone with Steven and immediately called Shorty. "Where's my flat panel?" Shorty said, "Don't worry, you're getting one, too. And, it's better than Steven's." That satisfied me. I called my friend T and told him I was getting a flat panel TV from Shorty. He asked, "Why?" I said, "Because Steven got one from Shorty so ...

A guy at work sent me this link . I was actually naive enough to click on it. God, I hope they can't track that back to me.

I'm off to Rocky Point this weekend for a much needed mini-vacation with 7 of my Parrot Head buds. I'm almost packed; just need to throw a few final items in and I can hit the road. Well, I can hit the road after I go to a 3 PM Integration Meeting that was originally scheduled for Friday. I'd quite happily declined that Meeting Invite but the project gods are conspiring against me by moving it to today so I still have to go. Right after the meeting, I'm jumping into my car and heading south. We're leaving from Tucson tomorrow AM, allegedly at 8. Norene and I are planning on having dinner and beers tonight at our favorite Tucson hangout and I can't wait to taste that first Miller Lite.

Sugar Daddy and I are pretty much worn out from work. I did have a weekend in Laughlin but, since they called me on both Thursday and Friday, it didn't feel like much of a break. SD went to Prescott last weekend and they tried to call him while he was gone, too. Yesterday was 15 hours, 10 today and we're back in tomorrow at 6:30 AM. Thank God I'm going to Mexico this weekend. SD and I have been talking about all the stuff we're not getting done. Laundry, grocery shopping, TV (that's a big one for us) and bill paying were all on the top of the list. SD had been throwing his mail into his backseat. He finally got through it all yesterday and got his bills taken care of. I came home tonight and realized I had several bills that I needed to mail before I leave. I was getting them ready when it hit me: My car registration was due last month. Crikey! I've been driving around with expired tags. How stupid is that? I paid it online tonight so I'm good but I ...

I just sent a text to Steven: When I get back from Mexico I think we should get tats. Im buying. We've talked about it for a while. I already have a Tigger playing football on my lower back. He's been thinking about various things over the past couple years. I've held him off so far with the idea that it is a forever thing. I'm getting a Sparky . He's still contemplating. Heck, forever isn't that long...

We have a travelling trophy at work called the Challenge Cup. One of our guys found it at a trophy place where someone had ordered it then bailed so he picked it up for $35. That was back in March of 2002. It was decided to use it as an interdepartmental trophy for various competitions and as a way to get us to mingle with other departments. The first Challenge was softball and it was Print Manufacturing versus Finance. Being the sports chick that I am, the Print folks bribed me into keeping the official score (they provided a keg - that was an easy sell). Sugar Daddy was a lot less social then but I talked him into going to the game with me. Manufacturing won and Sugar Daddy was so inspired by the event that he immediately challenged them to an event. We ended up bowling and they beat us. We weren't all that upset because the rule is that, if you hold the Cup, you have to accept a challenge no matter what it is. Now, you gotta know that the IT folks in general are not athletic so ...

When I need to get somewhere, I want the most efficient route and to get there quickly. That's easy to do if you're going it alone but when you travel in a pack, you're at the mercy of others. The 'others' being smokers, frequent pee-ers and putzers who lollygag their way to the destination. My low tolerance for trip dawdling is well known. I'm trying to be more patient but, dammit, there's a reason you're going somewhere so you should just frakking get there. Our original plan to drive up to Laughlin last week was for Norene to drive with Dawnie (my pal from Iowa who came out for the weekend) and me in her car and 72 Beer Mary to drive with Blondie and Todd in hers. Norene got called to work a fire in North Carolina so Dawnie and I took my car. I went to the Suns game on Wednesday night then picked Dawnie up at the Babes'. We stayed up chatting until almost 1 and the alarm came way too early. But, I got up and showered then cleaned out my car ...

Our Arizona Sting made it to the National Lacrosse League finals this year. Their opponent, the Rochester Knighthawks, finished the season with a better record and should have hosted the game. However, they had a scheduling conflict at their arena so we got the game here in Glendale. It was so exciting to see a big crowd, over 9,000, at the arena and there were pockets of Rochester fans here and there to make it interesting. The Knighthawks scored first but we caught up at 2-2. It was pretty much all downhill from there, unfortunately. Our guys spent too much time passing and not enough shooting. Both sides played great D but our goalie, Blaisdel, didn't look as crisp as usual. We also made several costly turnovers with sloppy passing. The Sting finally came alive in the fourth quarter and strung together a bunch of goals to get to 13-11 but time ran out before they could catch up. We were good sports and stuck around to see them award the cup to Rochester. They played a bet...

My buddy T gave me the number of an honest A/C guy (not that I generally think they're dishonest, I just wanted a known entity). He got to my house within a couple of hours and had the unit back up and running in about 15 minutes. Turns out, it was a blown fuse and it only cost me $100 to get it fixed. I can't complain, especially since we're under a heat advisory here in Phoenix for the next few days. Also turns out, it's the original unit from when my place was built in 1973. So, the guy's going to give me an estimate for a new unit so I can start putting aside some dinero. I figure I'll run this one into the ground first, though.

I got home from work tonight, at a reasonable hour even, and thought as I walked in the door, "It feels pretty warm in here." I checked the thermostat and it said 86. WTF! I reset the breaker and reset the thermostat. I tried just turning on the fan. I tried turning on the heater. No luck. I'm going to have to call an HVAC person tomorrow and I'm going to have to sleep in a hot house tonight. I can't leave the windows open since the axe murderer could get to me so I think it's going to be a very warm evening. I blame Sugar Daddy, of course, since he's the one who made me move out and buy a place in the first place.

Wednesday - go to a Suns playoff game and hoot and holler for two hours. Thursday - drink a lot of beer and try to talk over live music by the pool. Friday - drink a lot of beer, sing along with several bands and try to be heard over the band. Saturday - repeat Friday's activity. Sunday - go to a house concert and chat with lots of people you haven't seen in ages. Monday - work 11 1/2 hours and spend most of the time yelling at people over cube walls. Tuesday - repeat Wednesday's activity. At this rate, I won't have my voice back for another week...