An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

I got the latest Mark Mulligan CD on Sunday and it's been playing nonstop in my car ever since. I gotta tell you, there's not a miss in the bunch. Each time it ends, I have a different song stuck in my head. And not unpleasantly stuck. Sure, you're thinking, "Mark's her bud so what else would she say?" But, remember, I'm the one who told him he sucked so I think that gives me street creds here on the sincerity. The songs are a mixture of happy bar songs and, especially poignant to us with Adela's passing, love songs. One song really brings the emotional level up, especially with what's been going on lately. It's About Time came to Mark when he was out on his kayak thinking about his life. He realized that he was living in a fantastic place with a wonderful family but he kept having to leave to chase a buck in the US. That's when he decided to re-prioritize and spend more time at home. This is the part of the song that sums it up for me: It...

Photo courtesy of Lewie Craig and Dianne in Key West It's been a year of loss for us. Mom O'Malley, Adela Mulligan and now we have to say farewell to another good friend. Craig left us yesterday, suddenly and with no warning. He was about my age, seemed to be in the perfect health and was very, very happily married to Dianne. They had a relationship to be envied and it was too damn short. None of us can wrap our minds around it. I keep going back to Key West and the great times we just had there with Craig and Dianne. One night, we were all squished in at a table and he reached down to rub Dianne's leg. Only it wasn't her leg he got. It was mine. The look on his face when he realized it was priceless - he was so shocked and embarrassed. Dianne and I both just laughed at him: no harm, no foul. I think back to Parrot Grande where Craig made a model seaplane (he was totally a plane guy) and offered it up for a special raffle for our friend, Mark Mulligan. He was so proud o...

You are an Encouraging Inventor. You are an Inventor Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR. You have the confidence to make your visions into reality, and you are willing to consider many alternatives to get that done. The full spectrum of possibilities in the world intrigues you—you're not limited by pre-conceived notions of how things should be. Problem-solving is a specialty of yours, owing to your persistence, curiosity, and understanding of how things work. Your vision allows you to identify what's missing from a given situation, and your creativity allows you to fill in the gaps. Your awareness of how things function gives you the ability to come up with new uses for common objects. It is more interesting for you to pursue excitement than it is to get caught up in a routine. Although understanding details is not difficult for you, you specialize in seeing the bigger picture and don't get c...

I was talking to two work buds this week about Thanksgiving. They're both around my age, married and with kids. I asked them if they've ever hosted Thanksgiving. The answer was once between the two of them. Their parents and in-laws do the hosting duties. I'm sure at some point, we'll all be carrying on the tradition when our folks are too old (or too tired or wise up enough to realize there's a lot less work involved when it's not at your house) but for now it's off to the folks'. I just called Steven to ask his ETA at my parents'. We try to time it so we get there close to each other so we have each other to entertain us. (Could I put the word 'we' any more times in that sentence?) He told me he was on the way to the grocery store for Shorty because he didn't have enough butter. Being Steven, he tried to get out of it when Shorty called him. "Why don't you ask my Mom to do it?" Apparently, Shorty replied, "She's t...

I was hanging out at The Jello-Shot Queen and The Goat's place on Saturday afternoon to watch the Ohio State/Michigan game. Not caring much personally (no Badgers or Sun Devils were involved), I jumped on the Ohio State bandwagon. Mostly because I would have been asked to leave otherwise. Those Ohio State fans are pretty intense. The Queen's nephew was visiting for the weekend. I've met him before, ever so briefly, and to give you a little picture let me just say he's not so bad looking. I might go so far as to say he's hot. Twenty-eight years old and a marathon runner. Very nice. Anywhooo, I got there right after a call was made for roughing the center. The question was asked, how do you actually rough a center? The nephew demonstrated by pretending to be the center. He bent over and showed where the defensive player hit the center while he was down. Are you picturing the bent over part? Because it's critical to the story. He did it pretty much right next to me...

My friend, Maria, teaches grade school near my work. Every year, her grade does a Thanksgiving program where the kids recite poems and sing songs accompanied by some basic choreography. I don't think I've missed one since she started there. She used to teach third grade and those kids were pretty good. For the most part, they knew their lines and performed well. This year, she moved to first grade. Let's just say the littler kids are not as "polished" as the older ones. Apparently, there was a leaf problem. The kids were supposed to sit on the lawn. It being fall, (or as close to fall as 89 degrees in Arizona can be) there are leaves on the ground. Leaves that stick to your clothes. Leaves that get in your hair. Leaves that stick to your friends. Leaves that can be put down your friend's shirt. You can get the picture from there. By the time I got there, however, everyone was pretty well behaved and sitting down. There were some parents and grandparents there ...

I can finally breathe. Those last few restarts were killing me. Jimmie Johnson, Nextel Cup Champion! How great does that sound? Pretty frakking great, if you ask me.

This is what one of my other work buds did today. I think I need to get new friends at work.

Sunday is the last race of the season. Jimmie needs to finish 12th or better to claim the championship. I was talking to Kevin, one of my work buds, on the phone and he said, "Jimmie's going into the wall." I replied, "I'm not talking to you anymore." Then, I hung up on him. That's not even funny. The racing gods hear stuff like that and they'll zing you. They'll also zing you if you're over-confident and declare a victory ahead of time. So, I'm just keeping quiet about the whole thing and hoping I don't throw up during the race from nervousness. There are two people in my life that know, exactly , what buttons to push to send me over the edge. Sugar Daddy and T, another work bud. Sugar Daddy doesn't usually push the buttons but T absolutely delights in doing so. T found out about the wall comment and has run with it. He's snuck little messages into our phone conversations. I'll say, "Talk to you later" and he...

Our IT department has been having bi-weekly meetings for a couple of years now. Everyone is expected to bring a one page status report to pass out to everyone else and we go around the table and talk about the highlights of the past two weeks. The purpose was to get everyone together, keep people informed on projects and give everyone an appreciation for what their teammates were doing. At least, that was the idea. The reality was that people would show up late, not have sheets and, instead of just touching the highlights would read their sheets verbatim. Not everyone, and not consistently the same people but enough that it was getting pretty boring and aggravating. So, Sugar Daddy suggested we change it up and he and I brainstormed on how to make it all more interesting. We came up with the plan that one meeting a month would be about going over the company financials followed by giving everyone up to 2 minutes to talk about their most pressing or interesting issue. The second meeting...

You're Totally Sarcastic You sarcastic? Never! You're as sweet as a baby bunny. Seriously, though, you have a sharp tongue - and you aren't afraid to use it. And if people are too wimpy to deal with your attitutde, then too bad. So sad. How Sarcastic Are You?

You Are Blitzen Always in good spirits, you're the reindeer who loves to party down with Santa. Why You're Naughty: You're always blitzed on Christmas Eve, while flying! Why You're Nice: You mix up a mean eggnog martini. Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

You Are Not Scary Everyone loves you. Isn't that sweet? How Scary Are You?

You Are Most Like John F. Kennedy You live a fairy tale life that most people envy. And while you may have a few dark secrets, few people know them. What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

It's pretty eerie at my house. I have zero shows to watch on my DVR. Yep, somehow through some major couch time, I've completely caught up on my TV viewing. Considering that a few weeks ago, I had the dang thing almost filled that's some accomplishment (sad as that may be). What have I been watching? Returning entries: Poker, poker and more poker Boston Legal Dr. Who Battlestar Galactica Desperate Housewives Bones My Name is Earl Lost And, new to the lineup: Heroes Kidnapped Vanished Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip 30 Rock Friday Night Lights Here's my take on the newbies. Heroes : Best new show on TV! Frakking awesome! Kidnapped : Great actors (Dana Delaney, Jeremy Sisto, Delroy Lindo, Timothy Hutton (still hot)) and the storyline still has me intrigued. Vanished : I'm still watching even though I think it's turning into the DaVinci Code. Sugar Daddy is about ready to give up on it, though. There are too many annoying characters so the storyline needs to keep me ...

Your Vocabulary Score: A+ Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person. How's Your Vocabulary?

You Date Like a Man According to studies on dating, you date like a man. You date casually and frequently, getting serious with select people over time. Physical attraction and chemistry is very important to you. And if there's nothing more than a physical connection, that's okay with you (at least for a while). You are definitely looking for love, but you are in no rush to find it. You figure love will eventually come your way, and you're not going to live like a monk while you're waiting! Do You Date Like a Man or a Woman?

What type of person do you attract? Your Result: You attract artsy people! Those free spirited artists with great imaginations find you interesting. They are usually interesting themselves, so its not a bad thing, but they CAN be a bit wifty and choose odd goals. If you like life to always be a bit 'different' from the norm, but not too extreme in any one direction, these are the people for you. If you seek logical decision making skills and good money management, you may want to change something in the way you appear. Artsy people are fun for adventure and exploring, so, have fun! (smoking weed helps too) You attract Yuppies! You attract models! You attract unstable people! You attract geeks! You attract rednecks! What type of person do you attract? Quizzes for MySpace I'm surprised geeks and rednecks scored so low.

Despite being one of the biggest cities in the US, Phoenix is still a small town. It seems like everyone knows everyone else. As Doona and I were waiting at Will Call for the Stones, I saw one of our club members, Dave. Dave joined the club because of Pab - they used to work together. Pab is Doona's sister. Coincidence? Or, just evidence as to our small towness? (If towness is even a word.) After that, I was pretty much convinced I was going to see someone else I knew so I kept my eyes open. When we got inside, Doona introduced me to a couple of guys from her Event Planners group. I kept looking at one of them and thinking, "I know this guy." After running his name and face through my mental database, I came up with the answer. It was Randy who managed the Hilo Hattie's that used to be in Tempe. He used to do stuff with our club and I haven't seen him in a couple of years. Turns out that Doona's known him even longer but hadn't realized the Parrot Head con...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop." The Midland The Northeast The South Philadelphia North Central The West Boston What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes Got this from Vern .