California just got upstaged by IOWA!
What the hell, CA?
If you’ve been paying attention to my photostream, this won’t be anything new for you.
A couple of weeks ago, my office found out that we had.. erm… some little friends. What started out as a small ant hill type thing that people thought was the cleaning crew not doing their job ended up being a case of termites! Termites who are LOST. Apparently they hit a crack somewhere and took a wrong turn, which landed them in our office, coming through a crack in the concrete under our carpet.
Someone put a paper cup over the mound on the ground so people wouldn’t step on it & so we had something to show the pest control people. A couple of days after we called someone, they finally showed up, and we moved the paper cup to find something like this (only a bit taller):

Ew, right?? Well, the first pest control place we called ended up being a pain in the ass. They sent out a “rep” to take a look at it, who said he’d call the “termite guy”, and then the “termite guy” said he was going to have to call someone else to come out to actually take care of it, and then they never showed up. WTF? After the weekend, we came in to this:

I didn’t take any pictures of it all week. Anytime I’d walk past, I didn’t have my phone or a camera. This morning, though, I remembered to bring the phone with me, and I took some pictures. Good thing, too, because we found out someone is supposed to be coming into the office tomorrow (yes, on the weekend!) to drill some holes and inject the “termicide”. This is what it looked like when I came in this morning:

Here’s a side view, too.

The gross part about this one is that I THINK the white things are the termites. GROSS! According to one of the ladies who works back there, she said it grew quite a bit before the bug guy took it down. I’m sorry I missed it… they ended up doing it while I was at lunch.
This sign was up when I was taking pics this morning. LOL

Memorial services…. ROFL. This afternoon, after I got back from lunch, this is the scene:

That small hole near the center is where they came up from. I am so sad that work is going to be so boring now. While I’m icked out by the whole concept, it was kind of like a trainwreck. I just couldn’t stop staring. LOL It is a good thing I work all the way up in the front, or I would just be camped out there watching it happen. haha.
Anyway, sadly, this has been the highlight of the last couple of weeks at work. Actually, there is happier news not having to do with work, but I am not putting that with the Termite Post, so I’ll wait a day or so before I squee about the other good news. LOL
I am here to let you in on a little secret.
THE HACIENDA EXIT IS NOT YOUR PERSONAL 580 ON RAMP!!
Despite what your mother told you, YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL, and you don’t get to use the EXIT LANE as an ON RAMP! The Hacienda exit is a TWO LANE EXIT because LOTS of people get off there. The left lane – gets this, turns left. The right lane…get THIS.. turns right. The left lane is NOT your personal on ramp to 580 just because you don’t feel like sitting in traffic.
If you don’t want to sit in traffic, MOVE CLOSER TO YOUR JOB, find an alternative route, leave a little earlier or stay a little later. There is no reason that people who are using the exit lane for its INTENDED PURPOSE, should have to swerve and veer and almost get in an accident with OTHER drivers who are using the other exit lane for its intended purpose because you decide to stop on a dime because you might have found a small opening into which to shove the nose of your car.
You all suck.
Love,
Manda
Oh my gosh, how quickly things can change in just an evening… and not I’m a good way. Yesterday was very depressing.
I walked into work yesterday morning, high off Tuesday night’s victory for Obama only to have the wind knocked out of me. My “work BFF” was laid off yesterday, and I’m still reeling from the shock of it. Nobody is safe in these hard times, and yesterday was a reminder of that. S is a great girl, and I am sure she will land on her feet, but the rest of us admins sure do miss her.
On top of that, I am pissed off at my fellow Californians for passing a completely stupid proposition. To my friends who are in a same-sex relationship, I am so sorry you are being treated so unfairly. I hope that one day we will fix this.
(if you couldn’t tell, I have nothing to do right now, so I just typed up this whole post on my iPhone. It looks likes novel on here, but it will probably only be like 2 sentances long once I post this. LOL. I really wish I could read or knit right now, but that’s a little harder to hide if necessary. I am so glad I bought this thing!)
I can’t wait until this weekend. Specifically Saturday.
Do you know why? Because then I can stay up until whenever and I can sleep until whenever, and then I don’t have to get up and do anything crazy like…….. go to work the next day.
I shouldn’t have started the whacked out movie I’m watching right now. It’s almost done, but still … it’s way late.
I don’t know why I’m whining about something I can fully control… just turn everything off and go to bed, but nooo.. that would be way too easy. And I felt like typing.
hrm. remind me not to blogpost when I’m tired. lol
I have nothing to say. I’m restless.
I need a vacation.
… White Camaro convertible w/ the black top up. (Y’know, One of the “newer” ones, circa 1999 or 2000 or whenever they stopped making them.)
… A Not-a-day-under-65 woman in the driver’s seat
… with a License Plate holder over her rear plate that says:
I saw that on Tuesday or Wednesday morning on my way to work, and it has made my whole week. LOL
BTW – I WILL BE THERE TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!
WTF?!?!
LOL. I was watching TV, and a commercial for some pregnancy test came on… and the above title is the tagline.
“The most sophisticated technology you will ever pee on.”
Excuse me while I just go over here.. heh… and attempt to stop laughing.
We catered in Chinese food for the manager meeting this evening at work. I had to eat a fortune cookie, of course, and there were plenty to be had. This was my fortune:
I’m a little bit punchy, so it may be just me, but I get the mental image of my friends all laying down and becoming a “road” for me to drive on. That just doesn’t sound like it would be comfortable for my friends. And it sounds like it might actually be very bumpy.
So, don’t worry, friends. I won’t be running you over with my car anytime soon.
I was just deleting the messages in my spam folder. I normally skim through them just to make sure nothing that was a “real” email was marked spam, but this subject kind of stood out to me:
“CONGRATULATIONS! (YOUR EMAIL WON THE SPANISH EURO MILLION”…
I didn’t click the email, so I don’t know exactly what it was saying, but the “from” was from Spanish Euro Million Lottery or something like that.
Good to know I won the lottery… at least in Spanish Euros.
Now, where do I collect my millions? *lol*
So, long time no blog.. sort of.
Long time, no blog of substance, I should say.
I had an eventful weekend last weekend, and I don’t see much rest in my future. Everyone is trying to get a piece of me (lol.. how dorky do I sound?) while they still can, and I’m just so tired. LOL
Where to start? How about… last Thursday.
Thursday, we had some rain. Of course, it didn’t start raining or storming until I left work. I was going straight to the airport from work because I was flying out to CA to see my sweetie & check out apartments. I always get the flight notifications – either a phone call or a text message – to report as early as they will report, and for the whole time I was getting the notifications, everything was good. We were on time. We were in the same gate. No big deal.
I get to the Remote Parking lot, park my car, get out in the pouring rain to pull my luggage out of my trunk and head on over to the terminal so I could catch a shuttle bus to my airline terminal. I got on the shuttle bus and made it to Terminal D just in time to stand in the security line (after I found it, of course). It didn’t take long, but I had a lot of crap (sweater, backpack w/ things to keep me occupied, my carry-on suitcase.. my shoes.. lol). I put my shoes back on, tie my sweatshirt around my waist, put my backpack on, grab my rolly bag and get the cell phone out so I could tell Joe I made it thru security & call mom to let her know I was at the airport.
I turned my phone on and the first thing that appeared was a flight notification telling me that my flight had been CANCELLED. HOLY CRAP. SO I’m freaking out… I’ve never had a cancelled flight before. I walk up to the counter at the gate I was supposed to leave out of, and waited patiently (while trying not to freak out) to have my turn. I walked up.. told the guy what happened… he put me on a flight to San Francisco that was supposed to leave about the same time the original flight was. I was even bumped up to 1st class! Kick ass! Relief washed over me. I make my way to the new terminal and gate via the SkyLink train thing to catch the San Francisco flight. I grab a sandwich at Subway.. I eat fresh back at the gate. I call Joe and my mom to tell them what happened. I’m hanging out. I’m listening to podcasts. I just want to get on a damn plane and get out of there. They announce that the flight to SF was cancelled due to the flight being diverted to Austin because of the weather. WTF?!
I go up to the counter, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, wait in line… I get put on a flight to Oakland. The boarding pass says they were supposed to have started boarding like, 20-30 minutes ago. I FREAK OUT. I walk very quickly (no running w/ a backpack and a suitcase..just not happening) to the new gate (at the other end of the terminal, of course) to find that the flight was delayed by like, 2 hrs. I’m sad it’s delayed, but happy I made it. I’m bored but too stressed out to knit. I called mom and Joe and told ‘em what happened. I walk because I’m too freaked out to sit. I find an internet kiosk and sit down for a few minutes to check my email. It was 0.25/minute, but I didn’t have cash, so I had to go w/ the $3 limit and sit there for 12 minutes, but websites loaded so slowly that it wasn’t a big deal. I checked my email real quick (or as quick as I could. LOL), wasted the 12 minutes, and went back to the terminal.. sufficiently calmed down.
I find a seat near the window, watch the rain (no storms. just rain), and finish a pair of socks. Just as I’m calmed down and resigning myself to the fact that this flight is going to be packed, and I think I’m in the middle of a row, they announce that the flight had been diverted, but it was leaving the ground it’s way to come get us. Hallelujah!! The flight was delayed another 30 minutes, but no big deal… IT WAS ON ITS WAY!!
Well… about the time the plane was supposed to land, they announce that the plane had been in a holding pattern right above us, but that they ran out of fuel so it had to go back to Austin to refuel (WTF?), but it would come back… it’d be longer, but we’d be on the plane as soon as it got here.
Two. Minutes. Later. A guy gets on the intercom and says the flight as been cancelled. I’ve never seen 150 people scatter so quickly. I’m ready to cry.. I’m about to give in..go home..and say “Fuck It” to this trip. I wander around, trying to find an open counter that didn’t have 150 people at it, and I find one w/ only 2 other people there. The guy basically surrenders my AA ticket to United, and says I’m confirmed on the flight to San Francisco at 7:30am, but I have to make it there at 7:30 am. I’m so upset that I have to wait until the next morning, but I’m confirmed on the flight and that’s okay with me.
At Joe’s suggestion, I make my way to the United gate and attempt to check in. No dice, and if I leave, I can’t come back until the morning because the security checkpoints are now closed. Knowing I don’t even wake up at 7:30 to go to work, I planted myself in an alcove where other people are lying down and sleeping or resting and wish to God I’d brought my laptop so I could at least play on the internet w/o spending $0.25/min. I pull out some knitting… I pull out a book.. I watch half of a basketball game. I talk to Joe for a little bit. I finally give in and crash about 2am and sleep until 3. I went back to sleep for another half an hour, but then I was awake. Waiting. Waiting for the gate to open up so i could check in and BE ON THE PLANE.
Well, there was a flight to Chicago before ours, so they weren’t doing any of the San Francisco stuff until Chicago left. FINALLY they open it up for SF stuff, I get checked in, and I’m so happy I could cry and hug/kiss/make out with the lady behind the counter. OMG. I MADE IT. We boarded the plane and I was in the VERY LAST ROW in the MIDDLE SEAT stuck between one nice guy who was also dealing w/ the AA cancellations (the guy at the ticket counter called us American Refugees. lol), and one guy who really looked like he didn’t want to sit next to anyone. I napped the first hour of the flight, and I really hope I didn’t snore. I read the rest of the way to SF and listened to my iPod, but for the most part, I just wanted OFF the damn plane.
I made it to SF about 15 minutes earlier than we were supposed to get there, but Joe hadn’t made it yet, so I waited around. Talked to my mom… called TC.. saw Joe walking around. I gave him a huge hug and we left the airport so we could go to the hotel. We got to the hotel, I crashed for a couple of hours, and then we drove around to look at areas we might wanna live. We had dinner or lunch or, well, breakfast in my case, and finally went back to the hotel so I could get some sleep.
Saturday, we slept in.. had breakfast… clocked the traffic on 580… looked at some places… had lunch… looked at some more places… agreed one one… went to dinner…saw a movie.. went back to the hotel to crash.
Sunday, we slept in again.. had lunch.. tried to go to the apt to do deposit stuff but they’d closed… so we went to his family’s house and had dinner with everyone. Then we went to see another movie and went to the hotel to crash.
Monday, we woke up early and headed out to the airport. Made it… went to the terminal to get food… and went to get in line for security. OH MY GOD the line went ALL THE WAY into the GARAGE and I was CERTAIN I was going to miss my flight, so I’m crying in line and freaking out and holy crap, I need to get out of here. The line moved more quickly than I expected it to… it was moving fast anyway and then they opened another line… so I made it. I got stopped and had to have a bag-check because I forgot about a bottle of water in my bag. The guy goes “If you have time, you can go out there and drink it…” And i’m like.. no, really, that’s okay. just throw it away. LOL I got on the flight (AA’s seats are bigger and comfier than United. FYI), and we made it home all in one piece.
I went home, dropped my stuff off.. ran to the yarn store to get some stuff for the things I’m making for the girls, and went to pick my sister up so we could see Blades of Glory. We bought tickets before hand and walked 100 yards away to go to Friday’s and had the SLOWEST SERVICE EVER. Megan didn’t get a refill until we were LEAVING and we had to leave half of our food there because he never once brought us a to-go box or a doggy bag or anything. WTF! Megan at least got to eat the main sandwich part of hers, but I left half my salmon and about 2/3 of the pasta. We managed to make it in time to catch the movie and it was HILARIOUS. So worth it.
Tuesday, I went knitting w/ some pals.
Wednesday, I met up w/ a couple people and knitted.
Yesterday, I did nothing. lol.
Today, I’m going to pick Megan up so we can go see our friend Damian play at the R Bar. I’m excited about seeing him play again, but I am SO TIRED and all I really want to do is just go home and not be around people and not go anywhere and not do anything except sit at home and watch Netflix.
How was your week??