Rag Files Of A Fashion Diva

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Stupid & Rude People

Exercise: None yet. I was too busy this weekend to get any in but I'm hoping I can maybe get out and run tonight. All this week we're supposed to be having temps in the 70s - low 80s so it should be just about perfect running weather.

Now on to the meat behind the title of this post. What is it with people being so damned bitchy and stoopid lately? Last week was my week to accept deliveries at work. I had gone down to open the door one time and it was the woman from FedEx. She had pulled her truck back to the second door where she usually drops stuff off and had the four packages she had for us unloaded and waiting by the door. Unfortunately, the day before a pallet had been dropped off and the only place to put it was right in front of that door so nothing else could be received there. I poked my head out the other door and explained the situation and said that she would need to bring the packages in where I was. Since there wasn't enough room to walk between the wall and the truck with the boxes she had, that meant she had to move the truck up about ten feet. Once I had told her this, she just gets in this huff ranting about not having time for this blah blah blah and throwing the packages back on the truck. Ok lady, not my fault so don't be a bitch to me. Once she gets moved up and I let her in, I apologized for the inconvenience once again but does she acknowledge it? NOOOO! Whatever! You wanna be a bitch to me? Well, two can play at that game my deare. Hurry up and get the hell out of here if you're going to act like that because I really don't want to deal with you anymore. Oh and it seems that I'm not the only one who has this impression of this woman. I talked to some of my co-workers and they too have come across her bitchy side.

On Saturday I went to Ames to get my hair highlighted and cut. It was another $200 day but hey, it was worth it. Actually, if you take the whole weekend into account it was more like $1000 because Chi finally made a decision on a monitor for his new computer - LG 24" flat screen. He said it's one of the better ones out there and I have to admit, it's pretty damn nice.

Anyway, back to my trip to Ames. I swear to God the nuts were out on the road in full force that day. People were cutting others (including me) off right and left. I was almost hit by a couple of those idiots just on my way there alone. What was even more bizzare is that half of them were driving much slower than usual. Of course what really pissed me off were the people who couldn't decide which speed to drive. Normally on trips like this, I will turn on the cruise control especially since my car does very well with keeping a constant speed even when climbing a large hill and I end up sitting by myself between the wolf packs. Well some of these jokers were driving slow enough that I could pass them doing the limit, however, it was like once they saw me about to get past them, they'd speed up and then I would have to drop back in behind them. It would seem that people in non performance type vehicles don't care much for getting passed by a sports car. Stupid fuckers don't seem to realize I could out run them anyday if I wanted to.

I think the highlight of stupid drivers came on Sunday though. I went to my parents' house so my mom and I could go see a play that my oldest nephew was doing lighting for. When I was just about out to their house, the last light you hit on the way out of town turned red. About a tenth of a mile down the road from there, the right lane ends and because of that, I had already got over in the left lane. Well this dumbass kid in a rather beat up Lumina comes racing up my right side thinking he's going to overtake me. Stupid kid - beaters are called such for a reason. I only had to go as far as third gear to smoke him. LOL

Speaking of my nephew, I got a call from him last night. Earlier this year he had gone to St. Louis to audition for Summer Stock. He got three call backs which, considering he was competing with 300 other people for one part, that's good. Well, as it turns out, this year he actually landed a part! He was so excited. At first the plan was to work at the college building sets and stuff because it would give him experience and some money but as you can bet, that all got chucked when he found out he was offered a part. Not only does he get to perform, he will also learn about and build sets there too plus make some money. It won't be as much as he would at the college, but at least it's something and it's his first actual paying acting gig plus it's great for a resume.

And now for something completely different....

I'm impressed. I did our taxes just over a week ago and the state has already deposited our refund. Haven't seen anything from the Fed yet, however, when I submitted them via Turbo Tax, I think it said we should have it by 03.31. Not bad. Hell, I remember years ago when you could only file by paper and it often times took six weeks to get your check. True, there is a $30 fee to do everything electronically but hey, it's worth it.

What makes this even better is that I also received a client bonus at work this month. When you combine it with our refund, it comes up to 3/4 of a month's income for Chi and I. Granted, it would be better if we could work our taxes so we don't pay in more or less than we need to in order to maximize our money and get the interest instead of the government, but it seems like no matter what we do, we always get something back. Ah well, I would rather get a refund I guess than have to pay.

Now that we got this extra cash, I've been giving some really serious thought to buying a new pair of skates. I could have got them regardless but I just didn't know if I wanted to spend the money. I'm still not sure even though we received enough extra to more than compensate for the $500 - $1000 they would cost me. Yah, I know - they're expensive but I don't do the cheap piles of shit you can buy at the sports stores around town. Those are fine for people who aren't so serious about skating but I prefer the custom made types which form to your feet and are just all around more comfortable.

I don't know, I'm still up in the air about this one. Like I said, I'm still not sure I want to spend the money but on the other hand, my old skates are 15 years old (I love them dearly) and starting to wear out. I'll keep you posted on this one.

Well, lunchtime is over so I'm outta here.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Monday, March 12, 2007

Music & Lyrics

Exercise: YAY! I finally got to go out running. The last couple of days have been up in the 60s so it's been perfect running weather. I took a new route that I haven't checked mileage on yet so I don't know exactly how far I went but I'm guessing by the amount of time I was gone it had to be at least two miles if not more. The great thing about it is I thought I might be pushing it just to make a mile since it's been so long but I wasn't. I felt great the whole time and probably could have put in another mile or so if it hadn't been for the fact that I needed to get back to the house for dinner. Oh I guess I should also mention that I did 40 push ups, 240 crunches, 60 leg lifts and 40 squats too. :)

This past Saturday my mom and I went to lunch and to see a movie. At first we were just going to eat something at the mall but the place was absolutely crowded. Think maggots on a shit pile and you will have something close to the image of all the people swarming the food court. Not that I was really expecting anything less. I mean not only was it just past noon, it's tournament time so a lot of the kids in town for that were stalking the mall. Since we didn't know how long it might take to get a seat, I suggested that we go over to PF Changs and eat there thinking it might be a little less busy. As we were walking over there, this SUV passed us. Some teenaged boy was hanging out the passenger side being a total dipshit. As him and his buddy who was driving go by, the one hanging out the window says to me, "Hey baby what's happenin? Want some candy?" Um yah sure whatever dumbass. I muttered something under my breath and my mom said, "What?" She had totally missed what had just taken place so I told her about it. I guess she didn't realize the guy was talking to us. I probably wouldn't have either had it not be for the fact that he was right next to me when he said what he did and there was no one else around. What I got a kick out of was my mom making some comment about picking a fight with them because that's so unlike her. I said, "I'm not looking to pick a fight, I would just like to be able to go back and find them so I can tell them politely to shove it up their butt!" My mom just started laughing away after I said that.

Sortly after this incident, we got to the restaurant. Sure enough, it wasn't nearly as busy as the food court in the mall and we were seated in about five minutes. The great thing about eating there is the food is tasty and it's served family style so two people can potentially eat there for about the same price as it would cost for fast food. My mom and I shared an order of their garlic noodles (which I just love by the way) and the rice that comes with them. We still had some left over after we got done eating and the entire bill came up to $14 after a $3 tip. I know, that's kind of a big tip for an $11 bill but the kid that waited on us was pretty nice and he did a good job of taking care of us.

Once we were finished eating, we had just enough time to make it back over to the theater. Actually, I think they may have started the movie a couple minutes early because the previews were already playing when we walked in. Not that it mattered since they tend to kind of get annoying after oh say the first fifteen. I swear, what is the deal with having a mimimum of 20 minutes of previews before a movie. One or two is sufficient. After that, I'm ready to call it a day and just go the hell home. Oh and if that wasn't enough, the film got all screwed up right before the movie was about to start so we ended up having to wait another 5 minutes for a tech to fix that.

In the end though it was worth it. I thought the movie was actually one of the best romantic comedies to be released in the last couple of years. It seemed to be a hit with the other people in the theater too. It had a well written script which got lots of laughs and even though it's got a similar plot line to many of the other movies in the same genre, it's just fun and the actors have good chemistry so it doesn't come off as a chore to watch. The only thing I think that could have been done better is the selection made for the part of Cora. The chic can sing, I'll give her that but I found her acting skills a little lacking. Even so, I will definitely be buying this one when it comes out on DVD if for no other reason than to stare at Hugh Grant. *DROOL* LOL I know, he's getting a bit "long in the tooth" these days but there's just something about his character that makes him appear more hawt than he would on an average day to me. :)

And now for something completely different....

I would like to address the person driving the truck with the following license plate: 351 CIT

Ok dipshit let's get something straight, you're brake lights - they're supposed to be red not orange. Orange is the colored reserved for turning signals. What did you do, have a mishap when changing the lamps out yourself or did you just think it would look cool? Why I am thinking the reason is probably the latter of the two? Well, I for one can tell you as a driver sitting behind you when you tromp on that brake peddle, it's not cool. In fact, it sucks and nearly made me blind. Dayum...Do us all a favor and change those fuckers!

That about does it for today.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Thursday, March 08, 2007

The Concert That Almost Wasn't

Exercise: 180 crunches, 60 leg lifts, 30 push ups, 30 squats, and various stretching manuvers. I'm still waiting for the weather and walks to straighten themselves out so I can start running again.

This past Saturday was the My Chemical Romance concert in Lincoln, NE. They really aren't my "cuppa" tea but TBB wanted to go and didn't have anyone else to go with her. The tickets were fairly cheap as far as tickets go so I figured what the hell. Besides, MCR does have a few songs that I like so it's not like I didn't have any interest at all. Of course with the untimely snow storm that decided to blow through, we almost didn't get to go.

From Wednesday evening through Thursday evening, there was a blizzard warning and the interstate running between here and Lincoln was closed. I guess cars and trucks were just flying off the road right and left. Thursday my office closed about 15 minutes early (yah like big woo!) and it wasn't a very good drive home. A trip that usually takes me about 20 minutes ended up taking 45 because of drifting snow and white out conditions. Chi was let out of work at noon which shocked the shit out of me. It's a very rare deal when his employer actually shuts its doors for weather problems.

Friday didn't seem to be shaping up much better either. Chi's office didn't even open that day. Of course you can bet your ass that mine was. We did have a late start (10am) and at the time I had to leave the house, the snow wasn't blowing to the point where I couldn't see out the window, however, the roads really weren't in any shape to be driven on and they had only become worse by the time the day was over. I can understand the whole bottom line issue that a company faces when having to close for a day but in this case, I think it was really stupid that the decision was made to stay open. You think closing for a day is going to hurt the profit, try having a couple of people from your staff out long term because they were in a car wreck. No day of business is worth risking people's lives in my opinion.

Friday night after I got home, I was talking with TBB and we were trying to decide what we were going to do about the concert the next day. She had pointed out that we could take an alternate highway which I wasn't too keen on just because those tend to be in worse condition than the interstates and they're notorious for being drifted shut when there's blowing snow about. Originally the plan was for TBB to leave her house about 8 and get to mine about 10 so we would have plenty of travel time for the 3 1/2 hour trip to Lincoln. Instead, TBB decided to hold off leaving her place until 10:30 in the hopes that maybe the reports of the interstate opening at noon would be true.

I-80 did reopen just after noon time but something else came up which gave us a major delay. When TBB was about 35 minutes from my house, she ended up getting in a wreck. Luckily her car suffered minor damage and she was ok other than being rather shook up which would be expected. I guess some dumbass tried to toe his son's car out of the ditch with his pick up (something that, at the time was not allowed) and rather than getting the car out, his pick up got stuck too and was still sticking out in the road a bit. According to what TBB said, everyone was getting over in the other lane to avoid it - everyone that is except for this dumb bitch who wasn't watching where she was going. The dumb dumb ended up smacking head on into the truck and spinning around - that's when she grazed TBB's car. What really took the cake, however, was later when her mommy was there, this chic tried to say that TBB cut her off. Oh yah because that's so easy to do when you're BEHIND someone. It would seem what she was getting at was that TBB didn't yield to her and let her in the other lane. How typical especially of a 19 year old driver. Obviously she had never heard of a gas peddle nor had she learned how to use it. *RE* Ok kiddies, here's a short little driving lesson for you. When you're driving down the road and there is something blocking your lane, you are the one who is required to yield not only to the road block but also to the traffic in the other lane. The same goes for when you're entering any roadway especially interstates from on ramps. I can't even tell you how many times I've had people come down those things and expect me to get over in the left lane to make way for them. Stupid bastards.

So anyway....back to the concert roadtrip. We finally ended up getting on the road just before 4. With Lincoln being 3 1/2 hours away and the concert starting at 8, we knew it was going to be tight timewise but decided to go for it. Thankfully, the interstate over wasn't too bad. There were a few spots here and there which were icy and some blowing snow but for the most part, traffic was moving along at about the speed limit. We ended up hitting Lincoln about 7:15 but we didn't get to the hotel until at least 7:30. Turns out TBB was reading the wrong map and detoured us on the scenic route. LOL I've been there before once or twice and didn't think where she was going was right, however, that was over five years ago. Things can change quite a bit in that amount of time and I didn't want to get us lost even more than we were especially since we were running so late. It turned out not to be that big of a deal though. Getting back to the main road was easy enough and the hotel wasn't very far from there.

After we got checked in and settled in our room, we rushed to get ready and walked the two blocks over to the venue. Definitely much colder than I would have liked but the hell if I was going to drive the car. When we got there, the opening band had already started. Not that it really mattered though, neither of us were overly interested in them although I think they had one song (hell if I know what it was) that I kind of liked. TBB wanted to stand on the floor in the mob so during their set, we snuck up the side towards the stage. I think when we finally stopped, we were probably about 6 - 10 rows back from the railing which was a good 4 feet from the stage.

When intermission came and the lights were turned on, I took a look around and boy did I feel really old. The majority of the crowd that was there was probably between the ages of 15 & 25 (if that old) and anyone attending who was my age more than likely was there with their kid. While we waited for MCR to take the stage, the kiddies in the crowd on the floor started getting impatient and pushing (UGH!). That coupled with the security guards who kept dousing us with water and getting in my eyes (not a good thing for a contact lens wearer) just outright pissed me off. It was then that I decided I was going to go sit in the stands because I really just didn't need that kind of shit especially at a concert for a band that I'm really not into that much. The good thing was that Mr. PIB's wife and daughter were also attending the concert and there just happened to be a seat free close to them so I was able to sit by people I know.

The show for the most part was entertaining although I think it could have been better. I mean when MCR first came out, you had this dramatical entrance that looked like something straight out of an Alice Cooper show but after that it just kind of fizzled. The whole rest of the show consisted of very little other than pyros (which scared the shit out of me every time they went off because I was sitting right next to where they go boom. So close in fact I could feel the breeze) and a bunch of guys jumping up and down because they more than likely can't dance to save themselves. I swear there were times when it was almost more interesting to watch the crowd where there was plenty of body surfing and moshing/body slamming going on. I had seen and heard about these things on tv but never actually witnessed them. I gotta say, today's kids are certainly a different breed.

Towards the end, TBB ended up getting pulled out of the crowd because she was getting crushed. Because of where I was sitting, I was able to see her come out. I sent her a text to let her know where I was so she could come and sit by us. Now this is one instance where the wireless age is truely a blessing. 15 - 20 years ago, it could have been a total nightmare trying to find someone at a concert if you got separated.

After the show was over, we headed back to the hotel to get some warmer clothes and then returned to the venue to see if the band would come out. As cold as it was, we were doubtful but stayed for awhile anyway. As it turned out, they never showed but we did end up getting some food out of the deal which was good since TBB and I had hardly eaten all day. Some guy came off one of the busses with a pizza box complete with a whole pipping hot cheese pizza and told us we could share it. Not the best meal especially at midnight but given the hour, that was pretty much our only choice.

I think the most humorous moment, however, came when we were on our way home. We had stopped at a gas station just outside of Council Bluffs so we could get something to drink. I pulled into a parking space that was next to this older Cutlass (not a total POS but not overly well kept either). As I was getting ready to get out of the car, the two guys who owned the car next to us had come out and rather than driving away after getting in, they just sat there kind of looking over at my car. Stuff like this always makes me a little suspicious but I figured it wasn't like they could really do anything without getting caught since it was broad daylight and there were quite a few people at this station. Anyway, when I get out of my car, I notice they have the passenger side window open. As I'm walking by, the kid in the driver's seat yells at me, "Hey! I like your car!" LOL That just totally cracked me up. I, of course, was polite and said, "Thanks!" but it just makes me laugh everytime I think about it.

And now for something completely different...

Today is a very sad day. As I was reading the BBC News earlier, I found out John Inman of Are You Being Served fame died at age 71. It was his character on that show (Mr. Humphries) who always made me laugh the most.

Well that's it for today.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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