Merry Birthday!!!

Well Christmas 2008 is over as is my 25th birthday. I will say it was a pretty good day. Aiden got all kinds of fun stuff from his grandmas. Tools to cars, he made out. He was able to rip paper off gifts himself this year. It was a slow going event with him. Every time we got a new one open we had to stop and take it out of the packaging to be tested. But it was still fun and I am happy to see twist ties are going away. They now have these little plug/screw things that go 10 times faster. A great bonus when you own an impatient toddler. I think Aiden's favorite part of the day was birthday cupcakes. It was almost as messy as his first birthday party.

My brother and I made out like bandits, again. My mom really puts all her heart into Christmas for us. Lots of gift cards. I am most excited about the gift card to REI my mom got for Skip and I. Cant wait until spring when we can go spend it on MORE hiking gear. Yes. Uber excited. I have a ton of candles to burn. Cant go wrong there. My brother was awesome and got me some photo frames for all the pics I have stored on this computer. I can wait to start looking thru and printing out the great ones. 2 new blankets. Those of you who have been to my place and know me, well you know I cant have enough blankets. Its very hard for me to turn them down!! I love them! But the things I have too many of are for another blog. Couple new winter hats. Yet another item I cant say no to. And of coarse we added another WWII book to the collection for Skip. Next year I'm asking for a new bookshelf!!

ANd then there was the FABULOUS gift for my mom and brother. Scissors. I ended up getting them each 4 pairs. In all sizes. I can tell you that gift went over GREAT. My brother was laughing so hard when he got the box open and my mom was a bit behind and didn't realize what he was laughing at. Then she saw and she also had a grin. They were both quite pleased. Best gift Ive ever given. LOL

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Running with scissors

For as long as I can remember a battle has raged between my mom and my brother. From the day Chris learned how to use a pair of scissors, things have never been the same. He likes to cut up everything. He will sit there and cut a perfectly good piece of paper into a billion pieces. My mom always needs scissors for something and neither one of them can ever find them in the house. I can tell you we have probably been through at least 20 pairs in the past 12-13 years since we came to Colorado. There are times when Chris has been known to have 3-4 pairs in his possesion alone! You should see what happens in the house when this is discovered by Mom.

Well it has come to my attention that there is only ONE pair of scissors left in the house. That's right ONE. Every time I am there it's a battle over who currently has them. No one ever goes out and buys more. This year I have a plan.

I have been searching for the right Christmas gift for these two members of my family when it hit me!! They need some cutting power!! No more will I see my brother running to hide the only pair available. No longer will my point the tips at me and tell me it's not funny. I have solved it.

This Christmas I will go and purchase each their OWN pair! Not only will it help to end this civil war between them, but it will make them responsible. How you may ask? I am getting them engraved with their names! Oh yes. I can see it now. I will make them open the boxes at the same time. I intend to wrap these gifts like the ones you see on TV. Beautiful paper, ribbon and exquisite packing material. It will be fabulous!! I will also have the camera ready for this one. I promise to blog the outcome the nite of Christmas. I just can't wait!!!

Making tough decisions

I think every one of us is often faced with difficult decisions. We have to make them all time. Some are easier than others and some of us have to make them more often than not. They come in all forms and all degrees of difficulty. I suppose its all different for each of us. I was faced with a tough situation today. One I have not had to deal with in a very long time. Allow me to explain.

It's Thursday. I pick Aiden up every Thursday morning and I usually get outta bed and just kinda go. About 10 o'clock rolls around I am still in bed, I decide it's time to call Christa to make sure she is home and let her know I am on my way. This is where I get the news that it is snowing out. Remember I am still in bed and I haven't even looked out the window yet. I hate the snow. So I tell Christa I will call if its too nasty to drive all the way down there. No, this was not the difficult decision.

The thermometer says 22 degrees. Damn. I get out the ninjas to wear under my jeans and shirt. Nice green pair of army socks to wear over the ninjas and then pull the boots on over that. Already feeling warmer. What comes next is the hard part. I know I am going to have to sweep the car off, if not scrape as well. I look at my winter gloves. They are the big, thick type you use to build snowmen or go skiing in. You know, the kind that make you handicapped the minute you put them on.

Gloves are the evil of cold weather. You know you need them, but you don't want to need them because of all the issues they cause. I put them on. I put them on BEFORE I put my coat on because we know what happens if you don't. You have to try to cram the tops of the gloves into your coat and that leaves the possibility of a gap that will allow cold air in and at that point the damn things are useless!! Now I pull on my coat all while dreading the next step. The zipper. Now I know you are sitting on the edge of your seat because you too know the hardship!!!

I struggle. I get a firm grasp of the left side of the zipper, using both hands to find and get a hold of it. Now for the right side, but my left hand is already holding something and cant help grasp the pull up piece. SHIT. No, don't take the gloves off, you know what will happen. SO there I stand slowing spinning a circle in a right handed direction thinking somehow that's going to help me get a hold of the zipper with my current handicap. I finally after some time I get it. But it continues to get harder.

Now both ends of the zipper in hand I have to match the pieces up. I don't wanna talk about how hard it is to see a black zipper on a black coat with black gloves. And since I cant feel anything I have to try to see it. So over to the lamp I walk bending kinda backwards to bring it into the light. Sheesh. I few tries and I get it up. Now I'm freaking hot, remember everything I said I was wearing!!

You would think that's the end of the ordeal. But if you wear gloves often you know very well it is not. I am very satisfied at this point because I have dressed myself in a manner that no cold air is gonna get in anywhere and I will stay nice and cozy in the 22 degrees of warmth we have outside. YAY. Well I have one word to just tear down any happiness I was currently experiencing with myself. Keys.

I dropped them 3 times trying to lock my door. Its amazing how much smaller that little piece of metal gets in the winter. Hadn't realized it shrunk. Damn gloves. By the time I get the car swept off and I am in the road I'm so mad at the damn gloves that I whip them off and throw them into the seat next to me. Thinking maybe I have hurt their feelings. HA! Take that gloves, I don't need you.

So you see, gloves make decision making VERY difficult when it come to dressing for winter. I will have to make the same decision again tonite after work. Maybe I can find someone to zip me up this time.............

I don't know really

I don't really know what to write about. All I know is I am extremely bored. I have watched every chick flick I own...ALONE. I hate that. Im working on a 750 piece puzzle and 2 baby blankets and it doesnt seem to be enough. What gives! Im so bored that I almost had a lapse in good judgment and went back to myspace!! Don't wanna do that again.

I got the Christmas tree up tonite. I even have more than the 5 M&M ornaments from last year. Had to do some slight rearranging to make some room for the little 3 foot tree, but hey it looks cute!

I'm happy that I can finally say I wont be so alone next month. I am eagerly anticipating Skips return. It will be a great relief to get things back on track and at the same time will help to clear the lost feelings and unsure decisions about things out of the back of my mind. Pretty much burnt out having them there all the time. I'm happy to have someone again. Its been a very long time since I had any free time taken up with shared feelings. I miss it horribly.

Aiden continues to get cuter everyday. I don't know how that is possible, but he does. We are starting to get 3 word sentences out of him. Recently he has begun to understand the power of "mine" Everything is now, my book, my car, my toy, my fish.......anything that is yours is really his. He likes to fake gag. Sometimes you really think he is choking and he busts into fits of laughter instead. We watched Tarzan today and he said elephant. Big word for a 2 year old . Way cute. He continues to shoot the cat, rats and me with his water gun any Chance he gets. One handed he points it and says. " BECK BECK". He will then squint his eyes, throw his head back and go. " HAAAAAA'. He's become a fantastic head banger and has even begun to sing words from songs. His dancing abilities are well worth the wet pants you will have from laughing.

I am hoping he doesn't have a 9lb weight gain this winter. I still want one more summer to haul him around in the pack. I am going to get him a drum for Christmas. He very much enjoys beating things and making noise. I figures I would nurture that little instinct. Maybe someday it will pay off in the form of millions! I can only hope.

Thanksgiving 2008

I am almost too tired and full to type this, but here it goes anyways.

I had a very early start to my day. The original plan was to get up at noon to pick up Aiden from Fountain. Gotta share the kid. So I of course did not go to bed until 6am. I stayed up to play Warcraft and talk to Skip. Well I no sooner get my eyes closed and the phone starts ringing. I ignore it thinking its a dream. Then the voicemail tone goes. Grabbed the phone from the floor, notice Christa has called and I press 1 for voicemail. She's informing me that the whole house has the flu and I need to come get Aiden. DAMN. I grab a shower and head to Fountain. I've had 2 hours of sleep...maybe.

So I go to Mom's house earlier than planned. Which is OK. I had to fry turkeys. That was a fun thing. It took more than an hour to get the oil heated up and her friend, Lisa, had brought her turkey for me to fry. We certainly were way of schedule due to the whole oil mess. But we got her done. Mom got 2 small turkeys. I dunno why, but I have almost a WHOLE bird in the fridge and another quarter in my belly.

Well first turkey done and its dinner time, at 5. Sheesh. That's late. No time to snack all day. It was a traditional "Craig" Thanksgiving. I say "Craig" because this, like all others, are always the same as the holidays I remember as a child. Mom getting mad cause she cant cut the bone of the bird and nothing working the way she wants it. My brother sitting there looking like he's totally miserable and me telling Mom to just calm down, nothing is going wrong. Its always a good time. It is truly more like a big dinner, not really a holiday. The TV was on. Some stuff about polar bears and seals. We all ate in silence for a while before Mom and Patrick talked about their jobs. Super.

Its now 6pm. I have to fry the other turkey. I went back to the garage to turn the flame back on and got the thing ready. Now keep in mind the fryer should be supervised at all times. With 2 hours of sleep and full tummy I sit down in a camping chair in my mom's garage with the space heater pointed right at me and I took a nap. No worries nothing bad happened. I had already done two. I know how it was gonna react. I am glad someone came out to check on me or I may have missed the damn timer!!

The best part of the day was the saying good bye. Not because we wanted to go, but because of my wonderful boy. I told Aiden to say by to his Uncle Chris and he says,"Bye Jack Ass" . Yes, my boy is wonderful.

Some updating

Well I realize that I haven't been a very good blogger as of late. But I have to say not a whole lot is really going on and no news is good news, right?

My job has sucked the social life outta me. I don't know when the last time was I saw a friend. I still get to talk on-line, but thank goodness for Blackberry or I would really be left out in the dark. I suppose I am slowly closing the social gap with people from work, but its not the same as enjoying a movie on the futon with buddies.

I have added a new member to the family, well she really added herself. I had no real say. Mya showed up on my kitchen one nite when I was airing the apartment out after work. Long haired, yellow eyed black cat. Ive decided I just have SUCKER written all over me. I felt bad, fed her once and now shes wearing a collar and has a name. Opps......I'm expecting the possibility of kittens come about January. Shes showing a few signs(eats, eats, eats). Still a little too early to be sure. But I guess I wont be surprised if that happens. So start bidding now for your new companion. (that means you Karen) LOL

I went and got girly today. Had my nails done. They now make colored acrylic. It rocks. No more nail polish. So I am now learning how to type all over again. At least on my phone anyways.

And lastly, its the holidays. I got cheesecakes in the oven tonite. Yay. I don't know when the last time I baked was, I am certainly feeling very excited. Also I am actually going to do some holiday shopping this year, I figured I'm not spending all that money on gas, so I can afford it.

And I lied about the last info being the last of this blog. Skip should be home by January 20th.

she fits right in.LOL

Three Signs

The following 3 events are a true sign that we are living in the ends times.

1. We nominated a black president for the first time in history.

2. Gas is now under $2 a gallon

3. My ex got a job and its not even Christmas.


Im scared for my life

I have no idea what to say or think at this point

Well. My morning has been more than frustrating and I can only wish the mess Im in on my worst enemy. Period. I got off at 130am. The normal. It is now 7am. For the past 6 hours I have been trying to get an update done on my phone and it has failed me. The results, a $400 BlackBerry with no software. Yes, I am without a phone. I have called Tmobile 8 times, once resulting in a phone exchange that I have found out I(hopefully) wont need and finally on this last call I have been assigned a case number and I am currently waiting for a tech care rep from RIM( the company that makes these damn stress devils) to help me get my life back.

I never thought a darn phone could have so many issues. It was supposed to be simple. WEll Im am sure I have gray hair now and I am VERY VERY tired. But I wont be able to sleep until I get my phone fixed. So I will update you when this mess gets figured out!!

I am trying very hard to not be excited

I have learned the 101st Airborn Division is coming home 2 months early from Baghdad. That's this month. Skips company was assigned to this group when they got there. This month is 13 months of his 15. I asked him about it and he said he had no news on the information and his commander was trying to get them to stay until Febuary.

All of their things were packed and sent back last month. I guess all I can do is hope.

Fun at the aquarium

We took some time yesterday to go up to the Denver Aquarium with my mom. Decided it was a good time for Aiden to see a bigger version of Mommy's. I'm not really sure how long it took us to get thru there, but it took long enough for Aiden to get grumpy at the end.

The Aquarium is part of a national tiger breeding program and they currently house 3 male tigers that are waiting to mature so they may ship them off to other zoos to find mates. Closest I have ever been to tigers and I got some pretty good photos.

I would still have to say my tank as well as the tanks of everyone in the reef club are much prettier. And nothing will ever compare to my first aquarium experience in Hawaii, but for being in Colorado, it was pretty good.

I have no idea

Im in the mood to write something here. I just dont know what. My week has been good(still no dragons). Aiden turned 2. Still dont know how that happend. But hey thats all good.

Skip told me this week that his replacements are in training in Kuwait and he would be having a change of company/address as of November 1st. That's exciting because there is a very real possibility that he could be home before January 1st. So HOORAY!! Starting to get restless with all of it.

Oh and I wanted to take a little time to welcome fall/winter as it is finally here. Hopefully the hot weather is done for the year. Im ready for a change(oops...sorry didnt mean to sound like Obama). Anyways I will no doubt be bitching about the cold weather in the weeks to come, but I swear I really do want the change(Damn..there I go again).

Love ya guys!

SO funny story

It's Tuesday again. I had to take Aiden down to Fountain so he could spend the next 3 days with Thomass. Bleck. I hate doing that every week. I got to stay a bit longer today because I had to groom Christa's dogs for her. And that was fun. I havent groomed a dog since July! Thomass was being his usual self. A total ass. Not really spending time with Aiden the way he should be. Throwing snotty looks at his parents and what not. Still has no job. I made a suggestion to go to the unemployment office. He said those are only temp jobs and I informed him that I had forgotten he was in a position to not have to take a temp job. Opps...he has lots of other options. Dunno how that slipped my mind. People are beating down his door trying to give him a job!!! So anyways Im grooming and texting and he's just pissing me off as usual.

I get the dogs done, go back into the house and start to bid my good-bye to everyone. Christa walks out with me and Thomass follows. He's afraid he is going to miss something. He throws another snotty look my way and now I have to say something. "Thomas, your attitude issue needs to stop. Your parents are taking care of you for FREE and its the least you can do. I dont want my son learning your habits"

AS I continue on and on words that I cant even remember now are just spewing out. Hes getting uglier and uglier. I can see his whole posture change. It suddenly becomes quite clear he is getting ready to protect himself, as if I was gonna lunge at him or something. Within about 5 seconds I see a shadow of what I thought was a cloud about me and BAM!!! Big, red, fire breathing dragon just swoops down and takes him whole. There was a crunch and he was gone. Christa and I just stood there looking at each other.


LOL!! No that didnt happen, but damn how kick ass would that be!!!

Your Sperm, My egg, the outcome

This doesn't apply to you unless you fall into the "boy/girl" category, but I'm in a mood to rant because I see great men everyday who have stepped up to their duties without griping and bitching and I so envy that. I know boys that haven't stepped up and more than likely never will. I know women who are just as great as the men and girls who are just as bad as the boys. And the only ones that truly end up winning or losing is the product of their adventures.

I don't care if it was "planned" or an "accident" there is a responsibility to be had and you better step up to it. You made the choice to go about it unprotected and there is not an excuse big enough to not follow through with the care of your offspring. Ultimately it is the the actual completion to your love making, quickie, fuck, one niter, romp in the hay, or whatever you wanna call it. One time in bed is enough to make that single experience last for the rest of your life and you need to be prepared for that and be sure you are willing to take that risk every time. If you aren't sure, than keep your parts to yourselves ladies and gentlemen or boys and girls...whatever spectrum you fall in.


Boys and girls there are options for you after your product has arrived. I refer to it as a "product" because that's how you treat it. For the men and women you may replace "product" with a word of your choice, "baby", "child" "infant"....what ever works for you. But this is written for the boys and girls.


If the both of you are unhappy with it and don't really want to take responsibility I can promise you there is a man and women happy to take it in so that you can live your life free and what not, if you choose option please go and get sterilized as to insure you don't have to suffer this again...I hope that's not too much to ask of you.

If only one of you is a man/women with a baby, the other genetic contributor is not happy with the product well you have one of two options. Force the other party to take responsibility through financial harassment or politely tell them to fuck off or life is gonna be nasty of they insist on a half ass effort.

For the boy/girl giving half ass effort you too have a few options. Option 1- Step up and pay for your genetic contribution. That way at least you wont be a TOTAL loser and the world will leave you alone and you will soon be on the fast track of being a grown up. Option 2- When you are asked to "fuck off" by the responsible man/women then go ahead and do as they ask, Fuck off. This makes life easier for us all. Your third option(wow you have more than the poor sap above!) is to grow up and actually take full credit for what you made and do your best to work together to make sure your product eventually becomes a child in your eyes. Oh and also, if you choose to take the "fuck off" option.....please rememeber to get fixed. We dont need more of you running around.

Now I have given some pretty straight forward solutions here, but by far the hardest is becoming a grown up. So I am happy to explain that just in case you may need a shove on the right direction. so a few things that should help you be successful.


- Get and maintain a job. Periods of unemployment are NOT acceptable. Even if you have to work 2 jobs. You need to do this. Period. It is not negotiable.



- Pay your child support on time. EVERY TIME. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. This will ensure you remain in the adult category as well as keep the nagging levels at almost ZERO.

-Work with the parent that is the sole provider and I can promise he/she will work with you and everybody wins.

Please remember that depending upon how long you have been screwing up for this make take some time to sink into to the other parent's head because its not something that was expected,.but don't quit!! If you are that serious eventually it will be VERY easy and you will truly be welcomed.


One last word for the Men/Women...should the boy/girl start to become more grown up don't forget you are still the adult and it is up to you to continue to encourage that behavior by positive re-enforcement. Soon you too will feel the benefits and you will be helping to bring another adult into the world and we all know we could use a few more of those!

Have some responsibility

I would like to start this by saying I respect the opinions of people. Its what makes us so diverse. I respect that we may print what we want and we may protest the things we don't believe in. I think those things are important. HOWEVER I do believe it is just as important to send your message in a responsible matter. I believe if you are protesting, don't hurt anyone and if you are making a statement VIA billboard, make sure its appropriate.

I would like to say that myself, my child or any other adult and their children SHOULD NOT have to see what I had to see this morning at the intersection of Academy and Constitution. I understand that every single grown adult has an opinion about abortion in our country. I don't mind that people try to push alternative options thru education and some scare tactics. We are all entitled to do so. But when you have a HUGE billboard propped up in the bed of your pick up truck with a mutilated baby that says," My mommy and daddy paid to have me killed" Well I draw the line and that mother fucker is God damned lucky my son was in the car or I would have pulled over and sucker punched his stupid ass. Under NO circumstances is that responsible. I am sorry, but there are people with children old enough to read that yet not old enough to understand the meaning. That could be potentially traumatic for any child in grade school. And I am sorry, even for those who firmly believe in every babies' life could be offended by that.

So really, what the hell is the point? If anything that man has just lessened my opinion of pro-lifers and what they stand for. AS far as I am concerned that is a message of hate and the life of a child, whether dead or alive should never have that kind of ammo behind it. I am disgusted this morning.

The archive is done

Well I finished getting all the myspace blogs over. All of the blogs I transferred today were more recent. I of course read each of them as I posted and realized this year has been something else so far. I saw a lot of issues that I seem to have resolved, as well as a couple that haven't quite found a resolution and more than likely never will because of their nature. Brought back some old feelings and made me have some new ones as well. This was an interesting project for me because I started blogging when I left Thomas and I was nothing but a ball of hurt and anger. As I read and re-posted I watched them change from that anger, to happiness to a little bit of confusion and then back to happy again. I just sat here and took the time to feel it all and be happy with what I found. This has been a busy week full of resolution and new open doors that will keep me wondering about things that I took action on and things I didn't act on and what may have happened.

So in any case, if you get bored..and I mean bored you can go over there and read those and see that change as well.

Finally Some time outside

I haven't been hiking in forever! SO I jumped at the chance to go on a hike with a friend. Erik and I went to Muller State Park for a 4 hour hike. The entire point was to see the aspen change and we were not disappointed. I came home with more than 100 photos(which I will load into the album when I am done). Our boys had a great time, and overall I have to say I feel pretty refreshed.

No more "and then".....AND THEEENNNNNN.......

Well, I had a call tonite that lasted 55 minutes. I wanted to hang myself. It started out at a MAYBE 7ish minute call. At about midnite I hear, "beeeeeeep, Suncom tech support" that means someone from the Carolina's is calling, they used to be Suncom customers, but we recently took them over. The Carolina's are 2 hours ahead, so this means its about 2am there. Just remember that. We always make fun of the people calling from out there. I mean do these people sleep,or do they have nothing better to do than call us? Well tonite, it truly was outta boredom. Valerie had called because she was getting phone calls in the middle of the nite from some women insisting she had the right number. Well lucky for Valerie she owns a phone that has a block list. This list keeps people from being able to call her. Well she wanted to know how to get this number on this list because this is a new phone. No problem, quick fix. NOT. I got that problem taken care of, here's what I hear next,"oh sweetie AND THEN I have a question about........" So I helped her. "AND THEN......." I helped her....."AND THEN........." I helped her. Every time she said "AND THEN" I pressed the mute key and said," NO MORE AND THEN!!!" But it continued. I went thru every option in her damn phone with her. It was unbelievable. I could not get rid of this women. She had nothing better to do than to talk to me because she got woken up. Nice women don't get me wrong,but holy cow I cant believe how long it took me to close that call, "AND THEN........." sorry if you don't get the whole "and then"thing. Im not gonna explain it. If you understand, you totally laughed. goodnite........no more and then I swear.

It's been months

Literally, months. I think the last time I did it was like April/May. I have no idea how I have gone so long without having a terrible outcome!! Ok ya maybe I am over reacting, but I really need to do it more often. Lucky for me the water in the tank tested out just fine.......Wait...what were you thinking about? LOL.

Anyways, I finally took sometime out today to do some cleaning and maintenance on the tank. It was a mess and I am still not done. Since the skimmer started being moody and all I finally broke down and got some filter media and started a new system to keep the water clean. Hopefully it works until I can fork over 200 bucks to get a decent skimmer.

Damn thing needs another new bulb and some new snails to help combat the algae problem I am having. The new filter will help that too. Remove all the excess crud in the water that feeds the nasty algae. But in any case, Ill get some new photos over on the site soon.

Dreams

So dreaming is a sign if getting good sleep. We dream during REM sleep. Every now and then I have a dream I can remember and usually they are silly or make no sense. Its been a VERY long time since I had one that was disturbing. And I mean I wake up thinking "What the fuck was that about"

Hello nap time on Tuesday afternoon. I woke up. I have never been so shocked at a dream. This is an adult orientated dream and I really do need therapy now. No Joke.

Ok, so I was dreaming that I was back in training class for Tmobile, but class was more like a boot camp that we had to stay at. We all had bunks and what not. Well we were done for the day and we had all gone back to these rooms that we all shared. For what ever reason me and one of the guys from this class apparently had a thing going on. (don't ask as I do not have a thing for this guy) SOOOOOOOOO.........we were laying on the bed messing around and I went under the covers to do whatever when I realized that this guy was man/women. Serious. Had both parts. Somehow it went from that moment to some basement where it was then explained the he had started as a she and was going thru the change and it was just weird.

So for real I am disturbed. The guy in the dream stopped by my desk to say hey today and I couldn't even look at him. I'm very very disturbed. I'm scarred for life. I don't ever want to see that image in my head again.
See I told you it was weird.

Soda

I just ate a bunch of goldfish crackers. Now I really want a soda. Problem is, I don't buy soda and that means I don't have any to drink. I would have to go out to my car and get the half bottle of coke from yesterday that is all warm and gross. I dont really want to do that. Aiden is already in bed so I cant really run out to get one. All I have is grape juice, water and beer. Ive already tried the beer. Not working for me tonite. I hate grape juice and water isn't soda. So what the heck am I supposed to do!?

Take a shower and play WoW. Maybe that will make the crazy idea of soda go away. Wish me luck.

Week One

Its the end of week one on my new team and shift at work. It went very well and I love the shift. I was worried about it there for a while, but it's turning out to be OK. I have Aiden so much more and yet I am still maintaining a good amount of time for myself. The callers are different at nite too. I like that.

The other fun thing that happened this week, my purple pseudo chromis committed suicide. She jumped out of the tank and I found here dead on the floor early Friday morning.

Sorry this isn't more exciting, but I'm working up to it. SMILE

This was a VERY well written

I just wanted to share this article I read today. It was very well written and I throughly enjoyed it.

http://www.esquire.com/features/army-recall-0908

Graduation Day

Well I have finished 8 weeks of training. I am still functioning and I cannot believe it has really been 8 weeks. I wish I could sit here and write some kind of inspirational blog, but I guess I am still in shock that its already September and that its actually cold out there tonite. Its kinda weird to me right now.

I feel really proud of myself for making it and not hating it. I was worried that I would. But you guys know I like to talk on the phone. So it is truly a good fit for me. I got a couple awards today. One for perfect attendance and one for the lowest hold time. That was cool.

I guess right now its almost a bittersweet moment.

When you find something good.......

.........it leaves.

Allie and I are talking about men. We decided when you find a good one, he gets up and leaves.

Not as in break up, but actually leaves. What gives.

I got into the range for free

Not that the free part is the high lite of the day, but it was pretty awesome.

I went over to Dragon Man's today to shoot my gun. First time I have ever shot a gun and I was at least thrilled that is was my own. I get down there, the "No Fire" flag was up and everyone was putting up their targets. I'm looking at mine that is set about 25-30 feet away thinking this is gonna be totally easy, it's so close. It just don't work that way. I get three shots in, not a single one hits the target and my gun stops shooting. I open it up and look inside to see a bullet in the chamber, one piggy backed on that and then the one in the clip. Well shit. So I lock the slide open and wonder on down to a group of guys to my left and tell them this was my first time I have ever shot a gun and I ht think something is wrong with mine cause there appears to be a jumbled mess. SO one of the guys offered to come take a look. Confirmed that I did indeed have a mess and then showed me how easy it was to fix. For about the next 45ish minutes he stood there with me and taught me how to shoot my gun, how to use the sights, how to hold it, gun safety and while that was going on was also teaching me about how mine worked. Somewhere half way through this little lesson I had thanked him for taking time out to show me and he says, "oh I have no problem coming over here and helping a pretty women."

I was there for 2 hours and after that initial lesson he came back to check on me and make sure I was doing well. I guess people him who randomly take time to help others is why I haven't lost all faith in humanity just yet...and also maybe because he was very easy on the eyes.

Technology VS Age

I had a very fun phone call today. I had a man who had called in because he had to exchange his phone earlier this week and when he put his his SIM card in the new phone the pictures on the old phone were not there. Well of course not. He was very panicked because the old phone has some of the first pictures of his first grandson. I could understand his fears of losing these photos and I reassured him that I was going to get those photos to a safe place.

That was the beginning a an hour long phone call in which I had to assist a 70 year old man who had never sent a text message let a alone a send a picture to an email address from a phone. I had to borrow a co-workers phone of the same model to walk him thru each menu step by step to get these photos sent to his email address. I'm surprised he had one and knew what it was. He was happy about the option though.

It took 6 tries on the first picture to get it sent. I had to walk him through changing the text entry so that only one letter at a time would show up and then I had to tell him how many times to press each number to spell out his email. Wow. Like holding a child's hand. Every time he messed up he would cancel the the message and I would have to start all over again until I finally got to understand that he could just delete one letter at a time. I was thankful that after the first one went the email addy saved its self in the phone. That was another mess trying to have him select the addy that was already saved there for him.

I was a half hour past my scheduled lunch break by the time I finally got off the phone with, but he was so happy that I was able to get those pictures saved for him.

The Birds and the Bees

I got to have "The Talk" tonite. Yes I know Aiden is much too young to be learning such things and I know this. So he wasn't the one I talked to. And I only wish I could say it was a friend's kid that I talked to because they couldn't. Oh no. Worse. I got to have "The Talk" with my mother. Yes I know it was her job to have this discussion with me as a pre-teen, but I relied heavily on books and the Internet to fill in the giant gaps in education that she failed to educate me on. I know you are dying to know what happened, so here it is.

It stared with, "Can I get your honest opinion on something?"

"Well sure, but it is going to be my honest opinion and you might not like it."

My mother goes on to tell me she has found male enhancement drugs in your husbands dresser. Ok stop, small history lesson so that you can understand why she is asking me about this. They haven't done anything in almost 4 years. Seriously, nothing more than a good-bye peck. Not even an actual kiss, a peck.

I told her she really wasn't going to like what I had to say,but she wanted to know anyways. i told her that he had the right to seek something physical elsewhere since she wasn't willing to give it up. We are all human and we have those needs and they need to be met. Physical needs don't count as cheating as far as I am concerned. Yeah...she didn't know what to say.

So the conversation went in the way of explaining sex and how it actually works. I actually had to explain that men make 100,000+ sperm a day and that they actually NEEDED to let that out. Um...she didn't know that. She thought it just got re-absorbed. My mother was amazed at my wealth of knowledge on sex and how it works. I mean I went as far as to explain to her what happens in our brains when we climax. My poor mother. No wonder she told me," sex gets you pregnant and it gets you STD's." That's literally all she new.

Darn Fish

I have 6 fish in my tank. 2 clowns, 1 jawfish,1 pseudo chromis, 1 fairy wrasse and 1 watchman goby. With the exception of one they all don't give me any problems. I have had to rescue the fairy wrass from the overflow box 3 times now. Had that fisf for like 5 months MAYBE. Well every day this week I have left before the lights come on and I have gotten home after the lights are out on the tank. So this morning I am sitting here when the lights come on and I am looking at everybody and making sure all is well when I notice the wrasse is once again missing. Damn fish. So I look in the overflow and sure enough its in there. So I bust out the fish net and scoop it out. Now I have no idea how long that fish has been in there, but now its freaking disabled. Has a crick in its tail and has torn up fins. It if survives its stupidity it will be a miracle.

I know why Tmobile employees get phones for $10 a month

I love to talk on the phone. I mean I really love talking on the phone. My job is so very perfect for my phone talking habit. I also get to send text messages all day. Its a real good time.

I have been on the phone at work for one week now. As every day passed I found myself wanting less and less to do with my own cell phone. I would guess that eventually I wont even want to answer my phone right after work. So I think Tmobile knows that its employees will talk on the phone less and that's why we get such good deals. darn phones. Someday I might think they are bad for you, but for now I still love them.

Please make up my mind

I cannot seem to just keep on track about one thing. And that's to screw over or not to screw over.

Thomas called me tonite being very nice and really wanting to work out a parenting plan for Aiden. And how long has this taken to acomplish..almost 2 freaking years. Damn. So wish me lots of luck getting thru his thick ass head.

Im back to being nice again. I give people too many chances I guess.

Thank-you for calling T-mobile

First day on the phones. It was AWESOME! I really enjoyed myself. I think every call I had I managed to solve the problem. I think the the class as a whole did really well for our first time out there. I like the angry customers. They are the best. I'm really good at handling being abused. Go figure. So tomorrow will be better than today. And by Friday I will be an expert!!! YAY. I only wish I could type at work as well as I do at home. It's like I forget where my fingers are. I can still feel them at least!!

SO woo hoo for me!!

New Toy

Finally. I got my gun today. I've been wanting one for months and after the stabbing at the complex next door to me last week I made up my mind that I was getting one no matter what. So now I have a 9mm Ruger sitting next to my bed and it will come with me any time I know I am going to be home after dark. Or maybe just every time I leave the house. Colorado is an open carry state. So I'm excited. My brother and I are going to go shoot here soon. Just trying to work out what Saturdays we have off together until my new shift starts.

Even better, it holds 15 rounds per clip.

I am #1

That's all I have been able to think about for the last 24 hours. I know I am all full of myself, but when you are told you are #1 in the class, well you feel really good. I am tied for that spot, but Andy and I have both totally busted butt to get that title. And then to top that all off I got a 100% on my last test today. Whew. It's been an uplifting 2 days and the shift bid doesn't even really matter anymore. So yay for me. I am #1!!! LOL

The shift "bid"

I say "bid" because a "bid" is something you do when you have multiple options. We were given the 36 shifts available to us this morning. All 36 shifts were from 1730-130. Wow. I feel like I have so many options. We have been working our asses off to ensure a good schedule because we were told our test scores and attendance would get us first choice. But first choice of what exactly?
Needless to say we are all disappointed and frustrated. The good part of all this is we all sat together and just decided to take it for what it is and we know that in 90 days we will be able to do a new bid that actually will be based on our scores.

It's a bit of a set back for me because I was intending on bringing Aiden home full time and now that's not really an option for a while. It's only a few more months and I have already been doing it part time this long, what's a little longer right? It's doable.

The very lacking social life I already have is going to take a huge blow and I think that's going to be the worst of all this. I don't know when I will have the time to keep up with anyone. Everyone I talk to I do so between the hours I will be working. Yay. That sucks.

So hey, don't forget about me.

Hey all!!

Ok!

You guys rock for coming all the way over here from myspace. So don't forget I am now! Hear from you soon.