that rosebud girl

a tivo addition.

i recently added grey’s anatomy to my tivo list. now, if you know me, this is quite monumental, since i don’t really do tv, and i especially don’t do network tv.

why don’t i watch regular tv? well, i work at night, for one thing. secondly, i find most tv dumb and pointless (especially reality shows).

usually, i’m watching a game on tv. wall-to-wall football on fall saturdays and sundays is more like it. or i watch things like good eats, mythbusters, seconds from disaster and?Ǭ†modern marvels: engineering disasters. (yes, i?Ǭ†like shows about?Ǭ†disaster and impending doom.)?Ǭ†stuff that’s mildly educational yet entertaining.?Ǭ†alton brown is my?Ǭ†also idol.

so, i don’t really get into series and usually don’t jump into the conversation around me that revolves around?Ǭ†24. (one of my work buddies is a 24 devotee.)?Ǭ†

but i hooked on to grey’s anatomy. ed told me about an episode that aired after the super bowl (the season premiere was a two-parter). he didn’t plan on watching it, but left the tv on abc after the game and was mildly intrigued. i watched the second part of the premiere the following week and dug it.

i hadn’t thought of the show until a couple of weeks ago, when pete was flipping channels on the hotel tv and ran into it. and he loves the show. and we watched. and i deemed it tivo-worthy.

i especially like george o’malley on the show, the really scruffy-looking dude who sometimes says the wrong thing and is a little goofy in general. ’cause that’s me on a daily basis — showing up schleppy at work and stumbling over english and saying things that would rival yogi berra’s malapropisms.

good stuff. check out the show if you haven’t. not excessively sappy. and doctors are cool.

i did it.

i couldn’t resist.

i bought usc-nebraska tickets.

the price scares the living bejeezus out of me. but i took the plunge.

what pissed me off, though, was that i waited too long to pull the trigger. i had been targeting this set of tickets on stubhub for a while … they were $150 each. but i waffled and waffled and waffled … and then they were gone today. jerks. so i settled for $163 each (and that’s not counting other fees).

if i wind up with an extra … i might be able to make my money back. so i’m set.

i’m effing stoked!

besides that, things have been uneventful. i’ve actually managed to get real, meaningful work done. i made a bunch of greeting cards for next month’s sampler. i tinkered with some stuff on rosebud designs. i put up a crapload of photos in my gallery on my own website. this is probably the most productive i’ve been in ages.

and i also have usc tickets.

man, i’m really going somewhere. not.

good news, a screwjob, and a dilemma.

the good news:

ed has a job! woohoo!

he has been offered a position as the associate editor of a paper in woodland. basically, he’s the no. 2 guy. he gets to design some news pages and stuff. small paper, yes, but it is steady employment, and that’s always a good thing when you haven’t had that in a while.

maureen also got a new job (she wasn’t unemployed that long, though). she will work with CASA (court appointed special advocates) of Los Angeles, mainly helping them with fundraising. very worthwhile work for what sounds like a pretty worthwhile organization. they help kids who have been abused, or been taken away from their parents because those parents are unfit. mostly, they guide children through the legal system. again, worthwhile stuff. i’d love to volunteer for them, but alas, i suffer from lack of free time.

congrats to both of them.

the screwjob:

poor pete’s saga never ends. boy has the worst luck in world history.

so i get a message on my cellphone yesterday from him. i decipher that he’s had some issues with us airways and his flight back to boston and so on and so forth. he’s talking about nearly being detained (detained?!) and it sounds awfully juicy.?Ǭ†

today i get the full story.

ed and i had dropped him off at the sacto airport on sunday around 11 a.m. … he had a 12:30 flight. well, boy gets to the counter and is told:

“we’re going to book you on another flight. you’ll get there earlier. it leaves at 11:40.”

mind you, he didn’t ask to be rebooked on an earlier flight. and knowing how most airports are jammed on a sunday, pete says the next logical thing:

“are you kidding me? i won’t make it.?Ǭ†you tell them to hold the plane and make sure i get on it because i didn’t ask for this.”

says us airways lady:

“i’m sorry sir, i can’t do anything to help you. the plane leaves in 15 minutes. you better hurry.”

you better hurry? what a douchebag!

so, dumbfounded, pete goes to security, and of course the line is 15 miles long. he pleads his case with security, who tells him they can’t let him cut in line unless he is escorted by a us airways employee. by this time, pete has also found a fellow passenger in the same predicament, so he tells this other person to hold their place in line while he yells at the same us air lady downstairs.

lady still won’t help him, so pete says, “you better hope i don’t come back here.”

he returns upstairs, goes through security. however, he sets the sensors off and has to be searched.

his fellow passenger barely makes the flight.

pete, because he got stopped by security, misses the flight by two minutes.

so he goes to the counter and goes absolutely ballistic. can’t blame the kid. as i said, it was someone else’s bright idea to put him on a flight that left in 15 minutes. the counter folks tell him to calm down. he can’t. he’s in full swing. they threaten to call security. he eventually calms down and isn’t hauled off by security.

they then tell him that they’ll put him on the 12:30 flight. and he says, “that’s the flight i was on in the first place!”

he has gone on the warpath and spoken to the us airways people. i hope he sues. or gets like 20 vouchers from them. us airways already screwed him two weeks ago too. he deserves all sorts of ass-kissing.

poor pete.

the dilemma:

i really want to go to the usc-nebraska game. it looks like i’ll have to go by myself (ed will work weekends at his new job).

my weekend rotation means i have all weekends in sept. and oct. off, but because i got shut out of the season ticket deal, the first game i can attend at the coliseum isn’t until october 7. total bummer. so that’s one reason i want to go to the nebraska game.

dilemma, though, is two-fold.

1. do i foot the cash for a ticket? i probably won’t get one for less than 150 bucks. i might be able to snag two in the neighborhood of $250 and sell the other, but still, this is a lot of cash.

2. do i drive or fly if i go? game’s at 5. that means the tailgate will probably start at noon. now, i can do my best speed racer imitation, but if i’m getting tanked, i really don’t want to get up at 5 a.m. and be all tired for the tailgate. so that leaves flying. and another $160 or so for a ticket.

*sigh*

i need to either rob a bank or win the lottery.

holy crap, this was an epic post.

lady in red …

and yes, i am talking about that chris deberg song!

you know, this vacation has been fun and all, and the L.A. sojourn was topped by probably the strangest sight of all on a friday night:

pete, ed and i had gone to norm’s after the dodgers game (which, by the way, was probably the longest 2-0 game in the history of mankind). we were at the north torrance norm’s. had a meal, chitchat, whatever.

we walk out of the joint, and by then, it’s probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 12:45 in the morning. as soon as we walk out, we hear “lady in red” blaring from someone’s car. and we see these two dudes, just leaning on their cars and chilling out.

pete says, “i’m waiting for them to pull out the disco ball and dance or something.”

i mean, “lady in red?” not exactly the song i’d think to blare from my car speakers in a parking lot at 1 a.m. on a friday night.

bizarre.

pete leaves in about half an hour. and i return to work monday. what a bummer.

i have this incredible backlog of pictures i have to take care of (and by incredible, i mean incredible) … and knowing me, it’ll probably stay that way.

here is my favorite that i took of him:

yes, that really is mary-kate and ashley olsen’s star. we couldn’t resist.

i am also crushed i missed melody’s wicked birthday party on saturday. i’m sure that shit was hoppin’ and very drunken. (and i’m sure it lasted until about 4 a.m. or so.) damn.

still oh so tired.

i love L.A. … (we love it!)

(going to a dodgers game later, so i thought i’d think of that song.)

still in L.A. … still on vacation. i will be very sad when vacation is over.

it’s been a rockin’ good time so far. hit up the angels on tuesday, then drove down to san diego that night. marcus and todd were still in town (the phils were out there), so we wound up driving to del taco at 1 a.m. … i don’t think i’ve ever had such an entertaining trip to a del taco.

wednesday, we went to a day padres game (the phils win! again!) and then headed to pasadena to stay at maureen’s. it’s always good to see her.

thursday was the free day, and we spent most of it hanging out, riding the Metro (who knew L.A. subway would be decent). took it to hollywood (where i got some great photos of pete on the walk of fame), stopped by downtown and staples. nighttime brought dinner with edgar at roscoe’s and then pool down at yankee doodles. jabari came down; so did rizza and mike later. but there was plenty of pool to be played, and lots of highlights:

• pete cemented his legend with this sweet trick shot in which he jumped the cue ball over another ball, kept it in a straight line and sank a ball. friggin’ sweet. he won a lot.
• ed went up 3-0 in his seven-game series with edgar, who kept scratching.
• i put up some sweet black widow moves on the table, but alas, i was done in by scratches and some solid play by pete.

today, we took pete to usc, where i ran into paul goldberg at heritage hall. i hadn’t seen him since i was in school working at the daily trojan. so it was nice to catch up with him.

we also ate lunch at café 84.

ahhhh, those were the days.

the ballpark adventure begins …

went to a giants game today. my first time. the phone booth kicks very serious ass.

(pictures later. the park is beautiful.)

pete and i had a real good time, though a bunch of people kept giving him guff ’cause he was wearing a mets shirt. the best part was when we were walking to the ballpark, this homeless dude – homeless!!! — sleeping on the street actually pulls his blanket down and lifts his head just to say to pete, “you’re wearing a mets shirt to a giants game?”

hysterical.

anyway, the game was cool. mainly ’cause the phillies won.

but i saw barry bonds hit home run no. 721. it went into the very front of our section in left field (we were in the back). i hate barry and i’m tired of him and the whole scandal, but it’s still barry. so seeing him homer was cool. he dumped another ball into the cove in the 9th inning, but it was foul.

i need to go to more giants games. maybe a night game or something. i really give thumbs up to at&t.

um, pictures …

overdue, i know, but hey, i’m a busy gal.

these are from our wicked cool 4th in san marino … and the moral of the story is: you shouldn’t hand people like us super soakers. some cantankerous old ass farts who sat next to us got all pissed about our super soakers … and that was before we started squirting other people’s kids.

stupid ass old rich crusty people. the one dude who got pissed didn’t have to curse us out. fucking ask nicely first. (especially since we didn’t squirt you directly.) be a courteous old man, douchebag. all those old fuckers could shrivel up and die. and they all had fucla chairs. i really wanted to pelt them with water balloons afterward … or an entire cooler full of ice.

but i digress.

five of the original magnificent seven from our usc days: billy, maureen, joe, me and jara in front. ah, we were a fun crew.

rob, defending poor chris from those crazy kids with his trusty super soaker.

hasta la vista, baby?

paula gets nailed by some of our pint-sized intruders.

billy enjoys his ice cream. a lot.

yay, fireworks!

more pyro … whee. i was protecting my eyes from falling ash by hiding behind the camera lens.

vacation begins in two days. woohoo! and that means the mini ballpark tour of california will begin!

?Ǭ†

people are douchebags.

so on friday, i get this semi-frantic call around 11 p.m., and it’s my boy pete. pete (who lives in lovely lowell, mass.) proceeds to tell me that he got into a car accident.

luckily, the boy isn’t hurt, but the accident (not his fault, by the way), has reduced his altima to this:

(and to think, i’ve ridden in that car before!)

of course, it’s?Ǭ†a total loss, and he’s shaken up and the whole situation just sucks.

but here’s the kicker:

today, pete tells me that the douchebags over at the towing place stole stuff out of his battered car!!!!

i kid you not.

apparently, they stole a case of yuengling out of the trunk (pete had two cases in there, but the other case broke in the crash) and cleaned all the change out of his car.

what a bunch of douchebags.

he says he wants to egg the joint, which by the way is called gulbicki’s incorporated, in lovely lowell, mass. if i lived anywhere near lowell, i would join in this vigilante justice.

if you wanted to help pete’s cause and do a little vigilante justice of your own, gulbicki’s can be found on this lovely map.

or perhaps a call to the regional better business bureau is in order.

now, i’m not trying to encourage some ghetto-hood justice, but i’m just sayin’ ….

there’s no headbutting in soccer!

unless you’re zinedine zidane, that is.

even a day later, it is still the buzz of the sporting world.

there is video from youtube right here. (for some reason, i couldn’t embed the damn thing into my blog.)

now, i don’t condone such behavior, but i can appreciate the thuggery of it all. things happen in the heat of competition. people get pissed. something materazzi said probably pissed him off and he decided to go all ghetto on the dude’s ass. i can understand that.

(for the record, i did some dirty stuff in my day as a soccer player, but i never headbutted anyone. just elbows to the small of someone’s back. now that hurts.)

i did watch the game yesterday and did see this and thought, “holy shit!” it was pretty insane. and while it was pretty disgraceful, it’s not unusual.

tony skinner went and punched some hofstra dude in the family jewels, sat out a one-game suspension and still played in a final four for george mason.

some delaware state dude got punched in the jewels during a MEAC game and that got shown over and over again on tv.

michael barrett went all hood on a.j. pierzynski’s ass in a baseball game earlier this year and punched him in the head. (still one of the best baseball brawls i have seen on tv to date.)

and of course, this whole headbutting business recalls my idol, my favorite basketball player of all time, john starks. john starks got all medieval on reggie miller — during a playoff game, no less — in 1993, in what is known simply as “the head-butt.” and he butted him in the head. at least the z-man went for the dude’s chest. john starks went for reggie miller’s head (serves reggie right ’cause i hate that guy) and was going for maximum injury.

i gotta give props to john starks for that thuggery.

(i am trying to find either a photo or video of said incident, but seeing as it’s pretty old, it’s awful difficult … )

antz!

(and not the disney/pixar movie which by the way, i did see in the theater many years ago and enjoyed.)

with summer in full blast, it appears that we are having a small insect problem at our house. i figured we’d have one, considering this is a fairly new housing development, there isn’t any grass in our backyard, and insects just like it when it’s hot.

we opened up the pantry a couple of days ago and saw lots of ants. and i mean a colony of ants. we got rid of a couple of things and thought the problem was solved yesterday … until we opened up the pantry again this morning and saw 20 billion more ants than there were yesterday. they seem to have an affinity for the costco-sized box of ramen in the pantry … though i imagine all those packets are sealed.

for the most part, most of the food is safe. it’s all sealed up and whatnot. the only casualties so far were a brand new bag of bagels, a box of honey nut cheerios and a box of banana nut crunch.

the cat food has ants, but i’m still feeding the cats anyway. they could use the extra protein the ants will provide.

i need to get rid of these damn ants. i don’t want to spray raid everywhere because a) raid is bad and smells horrible; and b) i own cats and i don’t want them to die. this is a dilemma.

stupid ass ants.