Fireworks and Other Scary Noises

For whatever reason, our dog doesn't flip at fireworks.  She normally ignores thunder (which is more than I can do; thunder is scary, yo!) and doesn't mind the dishwasher.  As previously discussed, the vacuum is clearly enemy #1, but other loud noises that most dogs fear usually warrant an ear-raise at best.

Last night, however, our puppers decided to start barking at fireworks.  Never before has she cared about them, and these were a good 7 or 8 miles away.  But the *boom, boom, boom* that went on for 10-15 minutes was apparently more than she cared to deal with.  We don't think she was scared so much as curious, but it was strange nonetheless.

Last year was the first fireworks experience we had with Miss Maxine (having adopted her in November of '09), and it was actually pretty wonderful.  Since she doesn't shy away at thunder, we figured, what the hell!  We'll give it a go.  Not only was she not scared, she actually sat and WATCHED the fireworks for the first 5 minutes or so.  After that, she just curled up on the blanket next to us and waited for it to be over so we could give her our full attention once again.    

We're hoping this year goes as smoothly, but with last night's little performance, it seems only time will tell...

Who Needs Sleep?

This gal.  :-(

The problem with having a clock you can read at night is that you can better count the number of times you wake up.  For example, I recall reading the following times between turning my light off around 11:45 last night and waking up to my first alarm at 7:10:

12:44

1:45

3:40

4:08

4:50

5:22

6:18

There may have even been other times where I just didn't bother to check the clock, as well.  Aye yi yi!

Part of it is my own fault.  Hubby and I took a 3.8 mile walk yesterday (which wore the puppers out and we actually had to carry her for part of it) and then ended up napping on the couches when we got home.  For a few hours.  Whoops.

Also, I apparently had my phone's volume on super high, because I can remember hearing the ding telling me I have a new email.  That's never woken me up before!  Ugh.

And then... Then there was the nightmare.  Nothing too graphic about this one, but it was terrifying.  I think I was a kid again and I was hiding from some hired killers who were at the house to kill my family.  I won't/can't go into much more detail, but suffice it to say that it woke me up and kept me up for a bit last night.

Here's hoping I don't fall asleep on my keyboard while working this AM.   

This Just In...

Cleaning still sucks.

That is all.

Las Vegas to Milwaukee: Points of Interest

Hello, dear readers!  Hope you're all doing just peachy.  I don't have time for an extensive retelling of my recent road trip, but here are some points of interest in a brief recap!

Thursday night, 6/16: Though non-stop flights are less hassle, I was reminded that four hours on a plane next to people I don't know in a seat I can't possibly get comfortable in is not one of my favorite activities.  

Friday morning, 6/17: Spent my birthday morning in my pjs watching TV (huzzah for Degrassi reruns on The N and Family Guy on DVR!).  It may sound boring, but it was pretty glorious.

Friday afternoon/evening: Celebrated 'Chranksgiving' with K, S and some of their friends.  It's essentially a combo of the best foods of Christmas and Thanksgiving, but in the summer.  Who says turkey should be a winter food only?  My contribution was cutting up bread for the stuffing and picking my own birthday cake.

Friday night: Spent about $30 at Red Rock Casino.  God, I love penny slots.

Saturday, 6/18: Waited for K to get packed and headed out.  K drove the whole day, since I'm not as familiar with mountains.  We drove from Vegas to Denver.  Dinner that evening was a bag of M&Ms.

Sunday morning, 6/19: Headed to Rocky Mountain National Park!  My first trip there (and only my second nat'l park).  Seeing so much snow in June is a bit of a mindf*ck.  Loved it.  It even snowed on us in the park!

Sunday night: I drove from lunch in Loveland, CO to our hotel in North Platte, NE.  I drove in some epic rain.  I was just taking it slow, doing what I needed to do, and cars kept pulling over and throwing their flashers on.  It was crazy!  K decided we should stop for gas at the next exit and wait some of it out.  About 30 seconds after that suggestion, we started getting pelted with hailstones.  Ended up parked along the side of the interstate for 20 minutes, and spent another hour at a gas station in Brule.  I got us safely to North Platte after that, earning some major respect from K.

Monday, 6/20: Got to see the Kool-Aid exhibit at the Hastings Museum!  Drove part of the afternoon, and we got into West Des Moines around 6, the earliest we'd reached any of our destinations.  It was nice to have an evening to relax.

Tuesday, 6/21: West Des Moines, IA to Milwaukee, WI.  Stopped along the way to see a giant wooden nickel, the future birthplace of James Kirk, and the world's largest truck stop.  Sleeping in my own bed was like Heaven.  

Summary:  Had a freakin' great time!  But there really is no place like home. :-D

Next Stop: Vegas, Please!

Tomorrow night I hop on my flight to Las Vegas!  While I will miss my hubby and the puppers, I'm really excited to spend another birthday out west.  :-)

The first birthday I spent in Vegas was my 22nd birthday.  Now that I'll be turning 27, things are a little different.  For example, I'm married.  Last time I was "kind of dating" someone (my hubby's best friend, in fact).  Kind of a big difference.  Also, I (probably) won't be getting anything pierced this time (whereas at 22 I got my bellybutton pierced at a placed called Precious Slut).  And the biggest difference is that I get to bring my sister home with me!

Again, as previously mentioned, I'm technically an only child.  But, I grew up next door to my best friend and her siblings, who I have adopted as my own.  K and S, my closest sisters age-wise, both live in Vegas these days.  K is a teacher and S is a student.  While S will stay in lovely Nevada, K spends her summers back home in Wisconsin.  How does she get there?  ROAD TRIP!

Yes, while part of my trip is to celebrate my birthday (and my 5th anniversary of my first Vegas trip), the main reason is that I'll be driving back to WI with K.  Last year, for those who don't know, I did the opposite trip - I drove from WI out to NV with her and then flew back (it was sort of a bachelorette celebration).  I'm looking forward to another great road trip (as, strangely, all of my major road trips in the past few years have been with K), and seriously happy to have my best friend back in the state for a few months.  :-)

So here's hoping everyone has a great weekend!  I know I will! 

Tragic Tales of U-Verse

Well, readers, there are 2 primary reasons that I haven't been posting lately:

1) I am sick.  I've had a nasty cold for about two weeks now.  It's slowly (and I mean slow like molasses in January) getting better, but I still have a few coughing fits a day and am keeping the Kleenex handy.

2) Our internet was on the fritz for the better part of the past 2 weeks as well.  We never knew if/when we'd be connected or for how long.  It was terrible.  Even more terrible if you'll recall that I work from home.  99.9% of my job is done online, so no internet = no worky worky.  

The cold was so bad at one point that I couldn't taste anything for 2 days.  Of course, this had to coincide with my brother-in-law's wedding, so I couldn't taste a damn thing while we were there.  Actually, let me take that back.  For some reason, I could taste Mountain Dew.  Or maybe I just know the taste so well that I imagined it.  Either way, that was a pleasant surprise.

The internet was so bad that I have had to take 1 hour unpaid time off, 2.5 hours paid time off, had to work from 9:30 until 11 one night, and we decided to ditch AT&T all together.  Seriously, it was a clusterfuck.

I think it all started on May 24th.  While working, my internet was suddenly going goofy on me.  One second I'd be connected, the next -POOF!-  No internet.  Since we had U-Verse, that meant our cable was out, too.  Beautiful. 

On Wednesday evening (the 25th), it seemed our internet was done for.  We called AT&T and they sent someone out on Thursday afternoon (the 26th).  The first guy got to the house and, of course, the internet was working.  He determined that this was an outside problem and he was an "inside guy," so he went to take a quick look around outside and then pawned things off on an "outside guy."  He evidently determined this magically, as he never once went downstairs to check the modem/router, didn't even look at my computer or TV, and was here for a total of 15 minutes.  I should've called bullshit when he told me it was, "probably the wind" that was interfering.  I mean, we live in a freakin' wind tunnel.  It's ALWAYS windy on our street, and for 6 months we haven't had any issues...  Ok, mister.  It's the wind.

Heard next to nothing about the outside guy from that afternoon, but since the internet seemed to be mostly working, we let it go.  AT&T called on Friday to ask if things were working and, again, things were - at the moment.  We left that Friday evening for the wedding and weren't back until Sunday afternoon, at which point we realized that our internet and cable weren't working.  Period.  We called AT&T, and they actually sent a guy over that Monday morning (even with it being Memorial Day).

Once again, when the new inside guy got there, everything was up and running.  However, this guy actually took the time to look around and see what was what.  He didn't like the wiring we had, and re-did some of it for us.  He ran a ton of tests, went downstairs to check things out, and was really nice about everything.  He, like the first guy, said it was likely an outside issue, but actually gave a better reason than "the wind" for the culprit.  He said it was likely water getting into the line somewhere between the house and the end of the street.  He put in a ticket for the outside guy while he was standing in our kitchen still, and away he went.  

Hubby left to hang with some friends, and I found myself suddenly without internet again.  Joy.  Hubs called to tell me that the outside guy was on his way to check things out, so I just played with my puzzle and other non-internet things for the rest of the day.  

On 5/31, that Tuesday, I couldn't get online until almost 10 AM.  So much for internet getting fixed, eh?  Hubby called Time Warner to get an appointment to get their internet services, but couldn't get an appointment until Friday.  Oh well.  I got booted off AT&T around 2:45 and couldn't get on again until 9:30 that night.  I worked until 11 and called it a night.  Thankfully, my boss was super understanding about the whole thing.  Phew.  We called AT&T again that night (prior to getting back online, so maybe around 8:30 or so).  We went through the normal stuff (re-setting the modem, etc) and eventually, somehow, got things back up and running, but the lady said they'd send someone over the next day.

No one from AT&T ever showed up on Wednesday.  I managed to get working right away in the morning, but got booted around 10:30.  Back online at 1:30 and worked until 7.  Ugh.  Thursday I somehow got to work through the day without issue.  We thought maybe it had been fixed, but agreed it was too little too late.

We were wrong anyway.  Connection crapped out on me again on Friday.  I told my boss I'd make up the lost time on Saturday, after TW had come and connected us.  That would've been great, except no one from TW ever showed up on Friday...  What.  The.  Fuck.  Hubby called to inquire, and it turns out they had us down for an appointment for Wednesday, 6/8.  UGH.  We got it changed to Monday the 6th, but still.  I wasn't able to make up the time for work, and we had virtually no internet or TV for the whole weekend.  

Now that we're all set up with TW, I am a happy little clam, kids.  Having internet that doesn't crap out every few hours is a beautiful thing!  I do miss the DVR set-up with u-verse, but the fact is that they had almost 2 weeks of notice that we were having issues and never actually fixed anything.  It was clearly a localized problem, but had they been competent enough to do something about it the FIRST time they sent someone out, maybe they would've kept us as customers.  Oh well.  Their loss.  A-holes.

Annnnnnnd that's enough ranting for now.  Riki out.