An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

I baked brownies for the department and brought them in yesterday. No, that's not a typo, I did actually bake. Anywhooo, I put them on a filing cabinet outside my office door, sent an email to everyone in the department that they were there then sat back to watch the action. The chow hounds started arriving in less than two minutes. We have one guy that we joke will always have a second helping (at least) at any event. He sits near my office so he had the geographic advantage and was there first. Our other major eater was on vacation so he missed out completely. The second tier of eaters were all there within five minutes. There were also several folks who did some casual circling to hit seconds when no one else was around to see them. The whole 13 X 9 pan of chocolatey goodness was gone by mid-afternoon and I had fun watching the social psychology aspect of it all. BTW, my fellow departmental liberal Democrat was inspired to say, "You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie...

I got my permanent crown installed today. It was way more painful than the crown prep and tooth sawing was. First, she removed the temporary then cleaned up the area. I tried not to flinch too much as she was scraping cotton over newly exposed and tender gums. Then, she put the crown on for sizing which required pushing down on it really, really forcefully. We went through the latter step several times. The crown was too high so they had to keep shaving a little bit off, putting it back in for me to bite test it, removing it, shaving, putting and testing, removing... Each time, I think she pushed it down even harder than the time before. Finally, it fit nicely so they glued it down. The last bit of pain came from scraping the excess glue off. She had to go below the gum line to get it and man, that didn't feel too good. She suggested I rinse with some warm salt water to make it feel better. I'll pass on that suggestion since the warm salt water will just make me vomit....

My drive in today was all stop and go on the 202 and took twice as long as usual. There were no accidents, didn't seem to be an excessive amount of cars...nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. I figured out what the problem was, however. OH MY GOD, IT WAS RAINING! Rain, apparently, is a weather phenomenon with which Phoenicians cannot cope. It wasn't even pouring buckets. My wipers set to intermittent were sufficient to clear my windshield and there were no standing puddles on the road. The gods help us if we get a real storm during the day. All activity will cease throughout the valley.

I really like playing with the boys...poker, that is. I think there were 21 of us and Debbie and I were the only women. I like that ratio. :-) As I arrived, I wondered which nickname would greet me first: Princess or Bully. Bully won out. I can't say that I blame them. I have tended to play aggressively with the boys. I won the first hand at our table and it was a big one. I also won the second but then I slowed down. I told the guys that I can only play with good cards and that was a semi-bluff. I'm getting better at playing position and the players. I won on a 9-3, K-3 and 3-2. Unfortunately, I got a little cocky on a couple of hands that cost me some major dollars. I'm going to have to play tight for the next couple of games. They're pretty much convinced that I'm a bluffer and a bully and that I use the big stack to push them around. The dangerous part of that reputation is that they think I'm a bluffer. That means they're not going to bel...

I wasn't the only one leaving the boys' poker game on Friday night to go directly to a store for the new Harry Potter book. Steve was heading to Fry's, I went to my local Safeway. I got there at 11:55 and there were only two women waiting for the book. It was the way to go...the cashier's terminal turned to midnight and they brought out our books. I was out of the store, book in hand, at 12:05 AM. I read 150 pages (out of 759) before I gave up and went to sleep. I was up at 7 on Saturday and back to reading. I had to stop at 11 to take a shower and go get my hair done. Argh! I only had 150 pages left!!! I made sure to take my book with me so I could read while Cheryl worked on my hair. I was so concerned about forgetting my book that I didn't take my purse with me and didn't realize it until I was at Cheryl's (32nd St and Union Hills so not even close to my house). I don't think I've ever left my purse at home before so that tells you how c...

I was checking my electronic ticket for my flight to Des Moines this week. It said I was going to Salt Lake City and I freaked myself out thinking that I had gotten confused and booked to the wrong location. It wouldn't be the first time I hosed a reservation . Upon further review, I saw that, while I am going to SLC, it's only for 50 minutes then I get on a flight to Des Moines.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been devoured and no spoilers got to me before I finished it. Details later...I'm off to get ready for dinner out with the gang.

Sugar Daddy's been mocking me about wanting to read Harry Potter on Saturday and not be willing to take a break to get my hair done. I tried to explain that I have to read it before I hear or read about a spoiler. He thinks I can somehow avoid all media until I'm done with the book. I told him there's no way. I likened it to the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. I try to avoid finding out who wins but inevitably I stumble upon the name or picture of the champ. Believe me, it made me nauseous watching the obnoxious Jamie Gold last year knowing that he was going to win. So, what happened this morning? I open my paper to see...yep, the winner of this year's World Series of Poker. There's no way I can avoid finding out the ending of Harry Potter without total seclusion and reading it immediately in one sitting.

I saw this article today in the paper about West Nile. Since I'm convinced every year that I'm going to get it, I wasn't happy to read that they expect it to be a bad season for it. Sugar Daddy mocks me for my fears...I quoted him this line from the story: The virus is no joke: It can cause fever, encephalitis, nervous-system diseases and death. That just made him mock me more. But, he'll be sorry when my big pumpkin head swells up even more from encephalitis!

I actually had fun at work today! OK, it was due to one of my extracurricular activities and not my regular job duties but, it was fun, none the less. I'm the Facilitator for our Employee Recognition program. Employees nominate each other, our team evaluates the nominations and picks three winners per quarter. One employee gets to be the big winner of the year and we give him or her $1,000 towards a trip. Pretty nice. Today, I presented the winners from the first half of the year. That meant I got up in front of about 80 people and presented the nominees and announced the winners. Many people would rather submit to Chinese water torture than be the focus of attention of that many people. Not me! I've never met a spotlight I didn't like so I love being center stage. I got to do some stand-up comedy and pick on people so it was quite fun for me. I try to get other people on the team to present but they only do it reluctantly so I end up presenting most of the time. Th...

I played Chick Poker on Saturday and I'm playing with the boys on Friday. There are distinct differences between the two events. I give a huge edge to the chick game for the food. We had crepes with warm berries, cheese souffle, fruit salad, thick bacon and champagne in the chick game. Lots of champagne, too. When I play with the boys, I grab a burger at the Jack In The Box drive thru and eat it while I'm on the 101 on the way to the game. The chick game is much more social. We gossip and give each other crap about love lives (or lack thereof) and talk about books and movies and pretty much no one ever shuts up. The boy game conversation is mostly, "I own your ass!" The game is entirely different, too. I was in a hand with one of the chicks who pulled out a straight on the very last card. I had trip Kings. I said, "I can't believe you got it on the last card." She said, "I had a straight way before the last card." Uh, no, she didn't...

Does this ever happen to you at work? Someone wants you to do something RIGHT THIS MINUTE! So, you try to do it only to find someone else hasn't completed a critical process that you need. Next, you wait two weeks for that critical process to get done. Finally, you get the go ahead to finish it up. Within a few hours of getting the go ahead, someone is on your ass to do something RIGHT THIS MINUTE! Yeah, you didn't have your ducks in a row, you kinda putzed around and now you're on me to hurry up? I don't think so. I will, however, get my part done tomorrow but only because I think it's important to get done. It's not because I'm bowing to the get it done RIGHT THIS MINUTE pressure. This kind of thing drives me insane and I'm already teetering on the edge of sanity as it is. God help the person who asks me tomorrow, "Is it done yet?"

While I did say I hated my job today, it took until 2 PM before I said it. That's actually quite an improvement from 9:30 AM. Tomorrow, however, is another day.

As part of my strategy to change my attitude at work and have/provide more fun, I made the team cupcakes last night. If there's one thing that an IT department likes, it's food. Fourteen people went through 24 cupcakes in no time at all. We have a new employee starting this week. He's a Mac Tech and doesn't report to me (which is probably a good thing for him considering my attitude of late). I thought it would be a prime opportunity to do a group activity to introduce him to the team and vice versa. The instructions for the activity were for each person to take a blank 8 1/2 by 14 piece of paper and, using the materials provided, make a diorama/collage/whatever you want to call it that exemplifies who you are. The supplies included markers (Harry Potter markers, no less!), crayons, construction paper, pipe cleaners, foam letters, numbers and shapes, sticker letters and glitter. Everyone then had to present their work and explain what and why they chose to display. I th...

I've made no secret of the fact that work has been hell lately. Actually, for quite a while. This morning, it took 1/2 hour before I said, "I hate my job." That's actually pretty good; it hasn't been taking that long for the mood shift to negative. I mentioned it to my friend Andrea and she asked, "When was the last time you actually had fun doing something at work?" When, indeed? I thought back over the past few months, looked at my PDA for insight and honestly couldn't think of an occasion. That was pretty depressing. Fun isn't just about joking or playing, either. I have fun when I'm seeing progress on a project, coming up with a solution to a thorny issue and when I have the opportunity to complete a project all on my own. The latter is probably not the best thing to hear from a manager but I really enjoy being able to say I did something good by myself. So, being a Type A, I decided I need to do something. It's just not product...

Sugar Daddy asked me today if I wanted to go get our hair done on Saturday. I just looked at him, stunned with the deer in headlights look. "Saturday is Harry Potter day!" I finally stuttered out. He was all like, "So?" Then he tried to tell me that I could bring my book and read it while we're there. Yeah, right. I know those people. They'll want me to talk to them, they'll give me crap for being a bookworm and my anti-social behavior and they'll mock me when I start crying from the book (which I know I will). We haven't resolved it though I'm pushing for Sunday or Saturday night so I'll be done reading.

I drank way too much wine last night and stayed up way too late! The former is all my fault but the latter, well, I was just being sociable and IMing with a buddy. Although, to be fair, he's the one who called it quits to go to bed so I guess the latter is my fault, too. Dang, I hate it when I have to take responsibility for my actions! Anywhooo , I went to bed well after 1 but I was wide awake at 5:45. I'm totally wired to sunlight so as soon as it gets bright out, I'm up. I couldn't go back to sleep, either. The good news is I got a load of laundry done this morning and got in to work early. The bad news is I got in to work early and I have another evening of socializing tonight (club happy hour) and I'll probably be dead tired. Of course, that won't stop me...might just slow me down a little.

I'm a picture girl. Come to my house and you'll see pictures everywhere. Collage frames, individual pics in various frames all over the place - I got 'em! My latest purchase was a 41 picture frame from JoAnne's that I got on sale. I've spent a couple evenings printing out pics from the the last year for it. Sugar Daddy gave me a kick-ass color printer for Christmas a few years ago so I can print out in high quality. (BTW, I have no plan to upgrade that printer in the near future Mike so don't get excited.) As I was printing out, I noticed that for a guy who doesn't even live in this country, Mark Mulligan shows up in a lot of my pictures. I can only conclude that he's a camera whore. You know how musicians are... Anyway, it made me wonder who would show up the most in the 41 pictures (besides me). It's probably not a surprise considering whom I've been hanging out with lately but it is a Utah person. Want to guess? I'll wait... OK, you proba...

After three hours of sleep last night, I wanted nothing more than to come home tonight and nap on my couch in anticipation of going to bed. Shorty called me just as I was leaving work to tell me that their A/C was out. I immediately flashed back to this night as the vision of napping went right out of my head. He was going to call the A/C guy one more time to see if he could make it out tonight, otherwise it was going to be the morning. Since it was 97 in their house, I figured I'd have guests. And me with no wine in the house. Fortunately, the guy showed up and $450 and a new motor later, their A/C is working again.

I got in to the dentist this morning for the pre -crown prep on my broken tooth. My dentist took one look and one poke at the tooth and said, "Wow, this is really loose! Didn't it drive you crazy?" When I admitted it bugged me, he followed up with "It's just hanging by the gum. It gives me the willies just thinking about it!" OK, I don't know about you but, when my dentist says my tooth gives him the willies, it makes me a little anxious. However, he assured me that if it had broken off I would have been OK since it wasn't attached to the nerve. Glad I stressed about that happening all weekend. They numbed me up (pretty much they got the entire bottom of my face numbed) and I got praise for not flinching from the two Novocaine shots (my guy's big on praise). The next step was making molds for the crown so I had to sit through two sessions of silly putty hardening in my mouth. Because I'm a worrier, I'm always paranoid that they're go...

I got home before 3AM, whoo - hoo ! They did a good job on this movie - got most of the story in (though not all and that bugs me but it would have been four hours long) and the casting was inspired. The actress who played Dolores Umbridge was perfect! The girl playing Luna was also very good. I would have liked more of the climactic fight scene. It seemed rather short and the last bit with Sirius was underwhelming, to be honest. Next stop on the HP Express is the final book. Don't look for me on July 21 because I will be reading!

I'm sure most of you are aware of tomorrow's very important event..... Yes, it's the opening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Sugar Daddy and I always see the HP movies on opening day and were trying to fit this one into our schedule. He's leaving for Prescott tomorrow night and we get frakked every time we try to leave work early so....it's the midnight show tonight for us! Fortunately, it's at the new Cine Capri by my house so I only have a 5 minute drive home at 3AMish. Good thing, too, because I have a crown prep appointment at my dentist's at 7:40AM. It was the only time they could get me in this week and I'm constantly worried that my tooth is going to disintegrate at any moment, leaving my root exposed to the elements and therefore causing excruciating pain. (No, I'm not overly dramatic, why do you ask?) It's straight to work from the dentist's for a morning of meetings that I am facilitating then our department is hav...

I finally had a chance to run through the first four episodes of John From Cincinatti on HBO. I was looking forward to seeing it because it's a David Milch creation - he of the fantastic Deadwood. I'd call John From Cincinnati a cross between Deadwood and Lost . It has the profanity, soliliquys and many actors from the former and the surreal/supernatural events of the latter. It's just plain kooky but interesting, nonetheless. I'm going to keep watching.

Shorty called me today while I was at work. He asked for my address, I gave it to him then he hung up. I didn't even ask him why he wanted it because I figured he'd tell me eventually. He called me tonight to say he needed my address for the funeral home. Turns out, he and Mom prepaid their arrangements today. I don't want to sound morbid nor cavalier about it but it's a great idea. They can feel good knowing they've left me with no worries about it and I, well, I get to not worry when the time comes. I also talked to him about living wills. He said he talked to a bunch of people and that, if that time comes, I'll have no problems pulling the plug on him. We've talked about it before and I've told him I'm doing it without hesitation. I hope it's not needed, believe me. He's good with my decision. When my Grandma (his Mom) had a stroke in the nursing home, her kids couldn't agree what to do. They ended up putting in a feeding tub...

Got this from Bug who got a PG-13.

Doona and I hit The Monastery yesterday. Technically, it's The Monastery III but since there's only one left (and I'm still sad), I'm just going to stick with Monastery. Since it was frakking hot out, and we met during the middle of that day at 3, we started out inside at the bar. There were only a couple of patrons and we kept pretty much to ourselves while catching up on stuff. Doona is one of the few people who can talk more than I so, between the two of us, we can go on for hours. As time went by, the sparse crowd dwindled to just four patrons. One of them looked like Beavis (only cuter) and the other appeared to be a regular whose name was John. Jen, our bartender, told us John wanted to buy us each a drink. Okay by me. I thanked him from across the bar and ordered another Miller Lite. Doona was a little behind me and I don't think she ever got that free drink. Eventually, Doona and I both had to go to the bathroom. The debate was who goes first because o...

I got to spend some time recently with my future boyfriend. He will be mine, oh yes, he will be mine. We're pretty much made for each other. He's smart, funny, very polite, not too tall but I can live with that, into sports, we have a lot of fun when we're together and he thinks I'm cool. Steven's met him and thinks he's a great guy. What more do we need? Well, there is just one obstacle. Jake's only twelve. I've been waiting for him for three years now so I guess another nine won't kill me. I just hope his teenage years don't ruin him.

I just got a call from my good friend Roger. He's in the Bahamas. He said, "Do you know a guy named Matt that works at your company?" Do I ever! He's one of my "boys". We have a very special relationship, too. One day, I answered a call from him with,"How are you, my pet?" and he now Woofs at me in IMs and sometimes in person. It's a funny game that actually is more amusing to us than anyone else but it is "our" thing. Turns out Matt and his wife are with the same University of Phoenix group that Roger is with. They've gone to the Bahamas to celebrate their mutual graduations. Not only is Matt there, but so is the son of another woman we worked with and yet another former co-worker whose been gone for years. They all told Roger they know me and think I'm totally cool (not surprising because I am me , after all). Matt asked Roger if he was a Parrot Head which is an affirmative. Matt also told Roger he works for my budd...

I was cleaning out my old, old desk at work today (we move a lot and I leave a lot of stuff behind) and found a case with over 20 CDs that I'd forgotten about. Sweet! There was Mango Mango (whose location I'd been wondering about), Dwight Yoakam, Foster and Lloyd, Squeeze, George Straight, Eric Clapton, Scorpions, Randy Travis, Elvis Costello, Eurythmics, Kinks...good stuff, Maynard! I'm loading the iPod right now - there's got to be another half day's worth of music in this batch. It's nice to have a music binge that I've already paid for!

I have a cracked molar. It's been that way for a while now. I just try not to bite down on that side and it reminds me when I do with a sharp pain. I've been putting off getting it fixed mostly because of taking the time to do so. I actually thought about it last week and figured I needed to make an appointment with my dentist. I wish I had. I was eating dinner tonight when I felt something weird. Investigating with my tongue just let me know that something was amiss. However, when I looked at it with the help of my flashlight, I found that one of the corners of the tooth is loose. Crap. Hopefully, I can baby it until Monday. Guess I need to go with a liquid diet until then. Good thing I have plenty of beer and wine to get me through.

Sugar Daddy is taking two days off this week. I knew it was going to happen - one of his employees called in. I swear, they show up when he's here but when I'm "in charge", they bail right and left.

Steven and I took in Transformers tonight. Two words: Wicked cool! You had to expect lots of loud explosions and visually intense fighting from a Michael Bay movie and it didn't disappoint in that respect. What was surprising to me was how funny the movie was. Shia LaBeouf is really talented and he made me laugh out loud a few times. His scenes with John Turturro were hilarious. Bernie Mac, Anthony Anderson, Kevin Dunn and Julie White were also a hoot. I'm glad we saw it at the new Cine Capri (biggest screen in Arizona) because it was made for a really big screen. Despite that, we both want to see it again to catch what we missed in all of the action. There was just that much going on. On a side note, I must have been living in a cave. When did movies start costing $10?!?! Steven 'forgot' his wallet so our impulse movie cost me $34.25 between admission, soda and candy. Jiminy Christmas!

I was just slaving away at my desk when I get a text message on my cell. It was from Dawnie and attached to it was a picture of John Frinzi. She's at a gig of his right now and he even sought her out when she got there. Some girls have all the luck!

Lewie has his pics from the Wasatch Mountain BBQ online here . They're cool so check them out!

I voyaged into new territory (for me) this weekend to join the Wasatch Mountain Parrot Head Club at their summer BBQ. My bud, Mark Mulligan was booked to play the event and I was psyched to go see my Utah homies on their own turf. Yes, there are Parrot Heads in Utah. Really fun ones, as a matter of fact. The view from Lewie's backyard. Gary picked me up at the airport on Friday afternoon and we headed up to Lewie and Charlotte's place in Park City. It's about a two hour flight from Phoenix and I had two text messages from work while I was in the air. So, I spent part of the scenic drive talking Sugar Daddy through some stuff. My new response at work when someone asks me about something is, "What would you do if I got hit by a truck?" I just can't continue to be one of the few that "knows everything." It wasn't the last I heard from work. I got another call about 11 PM that night. Sigh. Anywhoo, Rhett was already at Lewie's and Shannon, Troy a...