Thursday, April 26, 2007
Someone Revoke That Guy's License PLEASE!!!
Exercise: None - I was tied up running errands last night and didn't have enough time to do my usual sets when I got home so I'm really looking forward to skating tonight.
As any of you who have read my past posts know, I tend to mention peoples' driving skills (maybe I should say lack of them) here fairly frequently but the guy who had a near collision with me this morning really took the cake. I can't stress enough that when you are changing lanes you need to actually turn your head and look not just rely on your mirrors.
As I was getting on the interstate this morning, I nearly had some dood sideswipe me. At the place where I turn to get on the ramp, there are four lanes. Two are right turn only lanes which are for the ramp and two go straight on. I was in the left most lane that turns with a SUV to the right of me and a Taurus or Sable (not exactly sure which) to the left of me. As the SUV and I go to make the turn, the asshole to the left of me decides he's going to turn too. The fucker almost turned straight into my car! Had I not moved over to the right what little I could, I'm sure he would have actually hit me. I mean he came within six inches or less of doing damage and based on the way it all happened, I think he either didn't look behind him, did look but thought he could outrun me, or a combination of the two.
After I got done shitting my pants from the near miss (something I'm sure the person to my right was doing when I started to move closer to him to avoid getting hit), I was absolutely livid. Not only did I lay on the horn, I rode his ass all the way down the ramp. Wouldn't you know the fucker was in such a hurry to get by me and then he couldn't even seem to do the speed limit. When we finally got on the interstate where I could pass him, I looked over and he didn't appear to be very old which does a lot to explain his wreckless driving. I was disappointed though because he didn't look over at me. Of course had he done that, I would have made sure to let him know he's "number 1" in my book. FUCKER! I only wish I would have gotten his license plate. I was too shaken up by the near miss that the idea didn't pop into my head until it was too late. It seems, however, that I've seen this car so maybe just maybe I might get another opportunity to get the license number some other time and you know if and when I do, I'm posting the fucker here for everyone to see. That's right asshole - you're going on the wall of shame.
Yep, I think I may just have to buy a lottery ticket today because if you ask me, you don't get any more lucky than I was this morning avoiding an almost certain accident.
Well kiddies, normally I would have a blurb or two for the "something different" files but today I just haven't found anything exciting enough to qualify. Not that really matters. Lunchtime is about over and I need to get back to work.
Til next time....
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Friday, April 20, 2007
Look Ma - No Cavities! Part Deux
Exercise: 2 hours of skating and what do you know - even Mr. PIB showed up. Of course he lived up to my nickname for him since he was whining about being tired after 20 minutes. LOL What's even funnier is that he said his legs were wobbly this morning. He only actually skated for an hour (if that) and about a quarter - half the speed I usually go. Hehe
So I left work early yesterday to go to a dentist appointment. I had been kind of stressing about it since it had been a year and a half since I last went (check my 10.12.04 post) because my employer changed to an insurance my dentist doesn't accept. Anyway, I figured I would end up having at least one cavity and have to spend quite a bit of time in the chair for the cleaning by an overly aggressive hygenist. As it turned out, the hygenist I met with this time was so gentle I hardly knew she was doing anything and I think she actually did a better job of getting my teeth clean than the last one I saw in Oct. '04. Oh, I also came out cavity free amazingly enough. In fact, when my dentist sat down to have a look, he told me I had some very nice looking teeth and gums. lol Guess all that milk drinking I'm continually razzed about has paid off. :)
And now for something completely different...
This is for all you techo industrial fans -
Quite some time ago, I had come across a band by the name of Sister Machine Gun and really liked what I heard. The other day as one of their songs was playing on my car CD player, I had the thought to check out whether or not there was a MySpace page for the band. Sure enough there was and they had a couple of songs on there I hadn't yet heard. When the first one called To Hell With You started playing, I knew I HAD to have it because it was just THAT good. That's when I took a trip over to Amazon.com. I did a search on SMG, found the album that I was looking for (Influence) and listened to the samples of all the songs on it. Not bad....not bad at all. Needless to say, that item went into my shopping cart. I then also listened to the samples from their 6.0 album and liked what I heard there too so that one also made it into my cart. On Friday of last week, they both arrived in my mailbox and I've been playing the shit out of them ever since. Anyway, for all of you who like kick ass techno industrial music and don't already have these two albums, I highly suggest you check them out!
Well, lunchtime is over kiddies so I must be on my way.
Til next time...
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Friday, April 06, 2007
Has vote for the worst finally taken off?
Exercise: 2 hours of kick ass skating of course. :)
You know, I used to kind of enjoy watching American Idol. Because Mediacom was having their little battle with Sinclair Broadcasting, I didn't start watching this season from the git-go and even after Fox was restored to my channel line up, I didn't really make a point of tuning in. Obviously I didn't miss much. There are maybe four people on there who have some actual talent and the rest - BLECH! What's worse is that Sanjaya kid keeps making it through. Good lord he makes William Hung sound good.
I've come up with three possibilities as to why old "Sanny" is still in there. Either one, all the little teenaged girls are voting because they think he's cute (which, I can see how they think that but for some reason the kid just kind of comes off with a Michael Jackson weirdness vibe for me). Two, Vote For The Worst has finally come into its own and is actually making a difference - "You go VFTW!" If this is true, maybe they will bring down this show singlehandedly and put it out of the misery of dying the slow death it has over the last couple of years. Or three...there's a combination of the two previous factors at work here. Regardless, with this kind of "talent" making it into the top 8, I think it's a clear sign that it's time for this show to leave the air. Lord knows I wouldn't miss it.
Today's a slow day in Blogger news so I don't have anything for my "something completely different files" (sorry) so I'm just going to leave it here for today and head on over to Amazon.com to check the price on a couple of SMG albums I'm thinking of picking up. Hmm...maybe I should check out Best Buy too. Chances are if they have what I want, it might be a little more expensive but I don't want to wait to have the shit shipped to me if I don't have to.
Til next time...
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Had Enough! Tuesday Tirade & Some Goofy Shit
Exercise: 50 pushups, 50 squats, 70 leglifts, and 300 crunches :)
You know I think I've heard more than I care to about Iowa's new cigarette tax. I wasn't even going to bother mentioning it here, but with all the bitching about it that doesn't seem to cease, I'm going to throw in my $.02.
On a personal level (meaning affects only Chi and me), I don't really give a shit if the state raises the tax on cigs or not. Neither of us smoke and since our health insurance costs are about 1/30th what the average couple pays, the tax really doesn't make much difference to us.
I think what amazes me most about the frenzy over this topic is how irrational people's behavior becomes. I mean I actually had someone go off on me for somehow being personally responsible for the raise just because I voted for Culver and I don't smoke. The most insane part about this is:
1.) I didn't vote for Culver because of this issue. In fact, it played NO part in my decision.
2.) This person had no idea where I even stood on the issue to begin with and just chose to start attacking me without provocation.
3.) My district representative who actually got to vote on the bill voted AGAINST it.
Like I said, I really don't care either way about it, however, I can't help but laugh at some of the illogical ranting and behavior all this has caused. For example:
1.) People driving to Missouri to "save" money.
This one totally cracks me up! I mean let's think about this for a minute. Right now gas is $2.54/gal here. Most cars people are driving average somewhere in the 20 - 35mpg range. To drive from where I live to the state line and back is about 200 miles roundtrip. Now let's say your car gets about 30mpg. At that rate, it would take about 7 gallons of gas for the trip. Multiply that by $2.54 and you get about $17. Ok, so that's the gas down. Now to figure wear and tear on the vehicle. I believe the current IRS figure is something like $.39/mile if you subtract out the fuel costs that are included in the IRS number. If you do the calculation for that, you come up with about $77. Add that to your fuel expense, that trip to save a buck or two ends up really costing about $94 just for the drive.
Now let's see, even for a pack a day smoker, $94 would pay the tax increase for three months. What this means is in order for the trip to be profitable, you would have to purchase enough cigarettes for the savings to be more than $100. Not only is this illegal (and yes, I know the chances of getting caught are slim), it means that (based on a rough calculation) you would have to buy at least 5 cartons but probably more like 8 or 9. The thing is, it seems to be the people in the low income brackets that this is effecting most. Now what I want to know is, if they can't afford to pay $1/pack extra here in Iowa, how in the hell are they going to come up with over $200 for the extra gas money and the cigs in order to actually save money buying across the state line? My God with thinking like this, it's no wonder so many people in this country are living paycheck to paycheck and have an average credit card balance of $8000.
2.) Why don't they up the tax on alcohol too?
Obviously this question was raised without doing a little research first. I believe the current tax on a bottle of wine in this state is $.75/bottle. Each bottle yields 8 glasses of drink which means per serving, you pay about $.09 tax. The tax on cigs in Iowa is now $1.36 and you get 20/pack. If you calculate that out, each cig carries not quite $.07 tax. In reality, bitching about the drinkers not paying enough is worthless because those consumers are already paying more. Not to mention, wine has been shown to actually have some health benefit - something absolutely NO doctor would ever say about a cig.
3.) Culver is just doing this to balance the budget and use the extra funds for purposes they weren't intended for.
Well, if those of you saying this had actually read the bill which was signed into law, you would see it clearly states that those funds can only be used for purpose spelled out in the law so Culver can't use them for anything else.
4.) Culver's a failure. The new law is generating revenue for Missouri, not Iowa.
Even if people are going out of state to buy, Iowa is still gaining because of the increased gas consumption. Then we also have the people from Minnesota. The tax is higher up there so you can bet that those who live close to the boarder more than likely come here to buy cigs instead. Of course my guess is that people are going to tire of the drive to Missouri and will just start buying here if they continue to smoke and because of that, the money will be generated. I mean Christ, it's only been a month. Once the "novelty" wears off, it will be back to the same old same old.
5.) The tax isn't fair because it puts the burden on a minority of people, many of whom don't have much money.
While I agree it's not fair to single one group out and lay a heavy tax on them, I see the difference in this case being that anyone falling in this group can choose to quit smoking and not pay the extra tax. I mean this gripe is equivalent to me moving into a house in a prominent area and then bitching that the taxes are too high. RIDICULOUS! I knew what I was getting in to when I bought the damn thing and I could have chosen to pay less by going to a different area.
Speaking of things I've had enough of - COLD WEATHER!
It had been so nice the last week or so but today it was like we backed up and returned to late February/early March. Yesterday when I came out of work, it was 60 degrees. Today, a whopping 38. BRRRRRR!!!
Oh and what's the deal with the hellacious storm last night that woke me up at 2:30 in the morn? According to what was being said on the 10pm weather reports, it sounded like we weren't going to get much of anything here. Yah NOT! I woke up to lightning so damn bright it lit up our room like the sun and thunder so fucking loud it sounded like the widows were going to bust. I love storms but in the wee hours of the morning during the work week? Not so much.
Next up - something weird....
Saturday as I was getting ready to go to my parents' house, I took my rings off and noticed that not only my wedding band but also my engagement band had somehow managed to get bent. What's so odd is that I don't remember them being like that the day before nor do I remember anything that would smash them. I mean the wedding band is almost a perfect oval it's so squashed. Hopefully, they'll be easily fixed as they obviously hold a lot of sentimental value not to mention, I use them to hold my diamond ring on since it's a little big.
And now for something completely different.....
A long time ago there used to be this show which was aired in the wee hours of Sunday morning called Night Flight. I only got to watch it a handful of times but I remember seeing a clip on there that just made me laugh hysterically. For years I tried to find it on the web so I could see it again but with no luck. Well, last night I had read a post on a forum which reminded me of this show so I went looking for the clip again. Amazingly, I found it this time - thank God for You Tube! lol So I watched the short film again and it was funny yet didn't make me laugh as hard as the first time I saw it. Obviously, being a teen and severely needing sleep makes one find things funnier than they really are. hehe Anyway, I'm posting the link here so you, the reader, can have a look for yourself and determine the funny factor. :)
Juke-Bar
Otay - that be it from me for today.
Til next time.....
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Monday, April 02, 2007
What NOT to wear when you go skating
Exercise: 2 hours of hard core skating of course and various activities over the weekend. ;)
So last Thursday was skating night once again and let me just start by saying that there are certain things that one should never be worn to skate in. There was this chic there who used to be a regular a few years ago and I hadn't seen again until last week. She always used to piss me off because she would skate around putting her leg straight out behind her and not pay any attention to what she was doing. I mean I can't tell you how many times this chic has nearly kicked someone including me because of this little "trick" she does. Anyway, it would seem that she still hasn't learned anything about appropriate dress not only for the rink but just in general. First off, she had on these capri jeans which were so tight, you could see crevasses that no one should ever see from a pair of jeans. Second, she had on this low cut cami so basically everytime she bent over to do her "trick", you could see right down her shirt - EW EW EW!!! Now the outfit itself may not have been so bad for an outing to a club or mall, however, she wasn't the thinnest of people and I swear everything she had on appeared to be at least two sizes too small. It would seem she's one of those people who would rather brag that she can get her fat ass into a size 8 rather than wearing a 10 or 12 so the garment looks nice. I swear I will never understand that mentality. I'd much rather have something that looks and feels good to wear than something that looks and feels awful that I can barely squeeze into just because I want to be able to tell someone I can wear a 4. I mean shit, if size is that important, buy a garment that fits, rip the fuckin manufacturer tag out and put a custom one in with the size you want it to be but please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD don't come to the rink dressed in shit that makes you look like you've been walking the streets looking for "business" before you came.
In other skating news...
I think I've found another way the squats I have been doing during my usual exercise routine are helping me other than just toning my legs. It would seem that they are also making me a stronger skater in two different ways.
I was skating backwards and went to turn around. Rather than just doing a usual turn, I did it with a jump like I do when I'm jam skating. Well, it seems there was a piece of something on the floor that I didn't see (never did find it but felt it a couple of other times when I went around the rink) and wouldn't you know, my skate hit it just as I landed. Whatever it was was enough to make my skate stop dead - not a good thing when you have a decent amount of momentum backing you. Now before I had started doing squats, I'd be more than willing to bet I would have fallen flat on my ass had I been in that situation. Last night, however, I made an awesome save if I do say so myself. Sure I stumbled a little but I didn't even have to put a hand down. It rocked! lol I'm convinced those squats have given me even better control than I had before which is good since I've decided falling just isn't an option because I'm that good. lol
The second positive effect....I do believe they have helped me become a more powerful skater. They had a speed skate last night and I swear I was actually skating faster than I did ten years ago. Hell, I was passing the younger people. Not bad for someone who's pushing 34. ;)
And now for something completely different.
This weekend we had a party for my dad's birthday. It was pretty low key as most of those kind of family gigs are but fun as always. I got the usual $30 worth of assorted lotto tickets for him but I was a little miffed to find out the total winnings only came up to $4. Not that he cared because it's just a fun thing that we share but it would have been nice for the winnings to be closer to what they have been in previous years.
I also watched two movies that I really enjoyed. The first one was Stranger Than Fiction. I've never been that much of a Will Ferrell fan but after seeing Elf awhile back and then this one, I'm really starting to like him a lot and have to say he's a pretty damn good actor. Anyway, this particular movie is about a guy who starts hearing this voice in his head of someone who is narrating what is going on in his life. He ends up finding out that it's the voice of an author who is writing a book which is enssentially about him although the author (played by Emma Thompson) doesn't know this guy actually exists. It's definitely different than your average plot line and I think that's why I enjoyed it so much.
The second movie I saw was The Holiday. I absolutely loved this one. I've never been a huge Jude Law fan either but I gotta say that man is definitely drool material. Actually in a way he reminds me a bit of Gavin Rossdale back when Bush was really starting to get big in the early 90s. In this film, two women do a transatlantic house swap in order to get away from the men they have been involved with. Personally, I don't know how any woman couldn't fall in love with Jude's character.
Well, that's all I'm going to write about those so I don't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't yet seen them and wants to.
Actually, I guess that's all I'm going to be writing for today since lunchtime is now over.
Til next time...
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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