Rant: Evite Fail

I hate digital invitations.

Mostly because in my ADD, I either forget to add them to my calendar, or I lose the email under a ton of emails that arrive after it. I think digital invites are horrible because I used to look forward to seeing a fun festive invite in the mail that I could post on my bathroom mirror.

Everything seems so digitally integrated now. I know I can't live without my iCal. I'd forget a party if it wasn't written down.... oh wait... I did. FAIL!

Don't get me started on Facebook and Myspace invites. Oy. Facebook invites are 80% band shows (much like Myspace). The rest are jewelry/Mary Kay/I-don't-have-the-money-to-shop-at-your-party kind of stuff. I'm all for hanging out with friends, but send an email for cricket's sake.

Ok... I'm getting off my soapbox.

Recap: I'm more likely to lose a digital invitation than a paper one. Evite/Facebook Invites are impersonal and suck (also more likely to go to the spam email than my current address, btw)

Bellingham, WA trip - Day 1 & 2

It's always a good idea to break ties with your reality and get out to see the world that isn't muddied by the hazy stress of everyday life.

I really anticipated going on vacation since it was planned. My aunt and uncle moved from San Antonio to Bellingham, WA last year. Since it's more difficult to get down to Texas for visits, we decided we should make our way to the Pacific Northwest to see what the fuss was about. The fuss = postcard worthy views of Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands... and mountains everywhere.

The lead up on Friday was a yo-yo ride similar to The Clash tune "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" Mom got a cold midweek, and Friday started running a fever. Our plans hung in the balance as we mulled over changing flights to accommodate Mom's health. Luckily, her fever broke, and we were heading for the airport at 5am.

You'd hope that it would be easy to just get on a plane and get the heck out of Dodge... heh... no. Just as our plane was backing out of the gate, there was some engine trouble. So we got off the plane, sat for an hour, watched the sunrise over Dallas, and waited on a new plane. We finally got our plane, and we were on our way. It was a near empty flight, so we pretty much had the run of the plane. I grabbed a window seat with a power plug, set up a movie on my laptop, and pressed my face to the window to watch the scenery. I must've taken well over 130 pictures just on the plane.

After we landed and got our rental car, I stayed awake for most of the drive through Seattle, but I decided that a nap would be great. I woke up just in time to enjoy the journey through the Coastal Mountains just before Bellingham. Joel and Suzie welcomed us as we drove up the steep driveway. Their house is up on the foothills of Mt Baker, and it overlooks the Fairhaven area of Bellingham... right on down to the bay and across to the islands. As the sun set, we could see all the way to Vancouver Island. It's absolutely gorgeous out here.

Yesterday was our second day in Bellingham. My aunt and uncle have a small garden that they grow some herbs and produce. Suzie made rhubarb bread for breakfast, and we piled into their SUV and heading down scenic Chuckanut Drive. (Not kidding about the name, I still giggle). Our adventure came to a stop when we came upon a small traffic jam due to a fallen limb in the road. There was a powerline in it as well, but about 20 people got out of their cars to move the limb, leaving the powerline. That wouldn't happen in Texas. lol

We stopped at several viewpoints to take pictures and admire the view of the San Juan Islands. Our destination was Deception Pass between Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands. There's a state park there. We took lots of pictures, and decided to hike a trail to the summit of a hill to get a better view. 0.4 miles, mostly uphill, but it was worth it. We came out on a bald spot of exposed rock that was scraped clean by glaciers during the last ice age. It looked like we were on top of the world. It was awesome.

We broke for lunch at a local Applebee's and caught a bit of the Cowboy game. :-P Great lunch, awful game. After lunch, we headed back to the park and down to the rocky beach underneath the bridge. I found some pretty rocks and a bit of driftwood that I intend to make a decorative bowl out of.

When we got back to Bellingham, we stopped at the store for provisions, and then headed home to make dinner. Dinner was homemade pizza, and everyone chipped in. It was awesome. I made my favorite margarita pizza with roma tomatoes and fresh basil from Suzie's garden. I was pretty exhausted after that, so I headed to bed.

More to come later....

The thing about money.

It is said that money is the root of all evil. However, money is necessary to do just about anything [unless you're a skillful hermit with no qualms about crickets for dinner]. Therefore, money is a necessary evil.

Having student loans to pay has made life a little challenging in the financial dept. If I don't get alot of hours at work, I fail to be able to make those huge payments [huge because I haven't consolidated yet]. I almost didn't make it this month, but my ever faithful God came through [because He ALWAYS comes through! Amen!] to scoot me clear by the seat of my pants. Took almost all my savings along with.

I was already walking a fine line last week when I had to get stuff for a bridal shower, fuel up, and grab lunch. I should have checked my balance, but I thought I was good. Yah, no. I got dinged last week for overdrafts. Ok, fine. I accept overdraft fees as a fact of life, much like death and taxes. I was in the red, and I take full responsibility for the baked potato that put me under. I got paid on Friday, I'm in the black again, and I've moved on with life.

My dad has taken it upon himself to over see my finances since El Switch-o Grande [the day Movin' became Mega] at the radio station. I really don't spend money on anything besides fuel and food [or is that two types of fuel?]. He never really says much anymore. However, since I got dinged twice, he considers me in a "bad financial situation." Ok, fine, a $35 overdraft fee is equal to about 5 hrs of work. He wants me to call and make a fuss/give a sob story to the bank to get that fee waived. I'm just one of those people who accepts the consequences, so I really didn't feel comfortable calling the bank and fussing [because the last time didn't work]. Also, calling wasn't my idea, so I'm not filled the the gumption it takes to get over my phone anxiety and rattle some call-center monkey's cage [don't ask about the anxiety, and don't ask me to call in a pizza]. [Also, I'm a horrible bargainer, flea markets are bad news].

*****

I just got called downstairs because Dad went ahead and called the bank. Luckily, a nice lady name Irene helped me out by waiving one of those fees and setting up overdraft protection. He wins this round, although I'm still not happy about the whole making a fuss over this.

What, what!

Well, look at that. I'm back inside of a week of the last post. This is cause for rejoicing.

*And there was great rejoicing in the land*

I'm currently watching Wipeout and waiting for I Survived A Japanese Gameshow. I love these shows. Wipeout has the snarkiest commentary. I love it.

I've been having a fantastic week. I'm a bit sad because one of my friends and co-workers leaves tomorrow for the beautiful scenery of Albuquerque (the spelling doesn't look right on that, but Mac says it's correct... hmph). I'm gonna miss her, she's such a huge blessing. I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of things. "There is no stressing in radio." Ha.

I ran out of money in the bank [whoops!] so I've been taking my lunch. I'm making progress on the book I'm reading [Dead Until Dark]. Finally getting over the monster-sized chapters [seriously, 20+ page chapters!!]. I shouldn't complain since I'd fly through 3 bite sized chapters of Jane Austen. Dead Until Dark is from the Sookie Stackhouse novels... which the show True Blood is based on. What can I say... I like vampires.

I saw the new Harry Potter this weekend with my buddy Joel. It was alright. I liked the explanation and backstory, but it lacked in action. No magic battles? Blah. I'm looking forward to going to see Ponyo in a couple of weeks. Ponyo is the new Miyazaki film. Miyazaki is my favorite anime director; he's responsible for Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke. Class A stuff, so I'm stoked.

If I haven't proved my geekdom already, here's comes my linguistic geek-out... I've been rocking out the past couple of weeks to probably one of the best bands in the world that you've never heard of. I'm talking about Sweden's own Kent. Frakkin' brilliant band, and have been one of my faves for many years. I only know of 2 albums in English, but I've been rocking the Swedish recently. Sorta makes me want to dig in a bit more into the language. I've never really studied a roman alphabet based language (other than Spanish). Russian is a Cyrillic alphabet, and Japanese is well... yah. I heard the English version of Kent's "Kevlar Soul" the other day, and it seemed wordy in comparison to the Swedish. So giggle if you want, but I'm sitting here with the Swedish lyrics trying to suss out the pronunciation [which ain't easy, folks].

I hear the sound system booming downstairs, which means Dad has a movie on. Better go see what he's watching. Hasta!

Once more, with feeling.

Hello loves.

I'm back.

I'm a horrible blogger these days. I think Twitter sucks it out of me. Twitter = blogging for the impatient.

Life had been wonderful of late. I sort of got promoted. I have the awesome privilege of working with some of the best people in my office. Seriously. It's a joy to go to work... even if there's massive heaps of it. I'm getting more and more interested in radio promotions.

I just got back from a fantastic little road trip up to NW Arkansas. Driving is relaxing. I like looking at the scenery. If I hadn't been driving, I probably would have been taking many more pictures. I was a bit surprised to come across mountains in Oklahoma. I knew they were there, but I wasn't expecting to see them along the particular highway I was driving. I wanted to stop a couple of times to look at rocks and formations along the road. [Geology nerd] Especially when I was driving I-540 in Arkansas. Gosh, the Boston Mountains are beautiful! I'd love to drive back up, if only for scenery.

All my plans for this trip fell apart before I even arrived in Fayetteville. A concert I wanted to see was rescheduled for August, and other friends that would be in town at the same time never made it. Even so, I spent quality time with wonderful people. I had sushi with Brandi, the friend I was staying with, and had some great conversation. Afterwards, I met up with Tandee and Travis Phillips for coffee. It was so refreshing to just sit and chat, rather than run around and party. I must be slowing down in my old age [good grief, I'm not even 30 yet! ha!].

I was glad to be back at work today. I really enjoy my job. It's been a crazy fierce day though. Madness getting ready for two huge events, back to back. I have to be at our Christmas in July event tomorrow at 4am. I keep telling myself that I'm living on London time in Texas. Ha! If only.

I know I didn't post it here, but my Pawpaw passed away at the end of June. He didn't want to be sick on his birthday again, and he ended up celebrating his birthday in Heaven. We're all back to normal here, and I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts.

Goodness, it's 10pm. I should be getting to bed soon, but I still have oodles of stuff to do. I'm off!

Summer come quick!

Oh the exciting life I do lead.

Heh. Not really. Nothing really changes.

Even though it's not officially summer, the weather in Dallas is HOT! And when I say HOT!, I mean hotter that the 9th circle of Dante's Inferno. Hotter than Satan's armpits. Hotter than... well you get the idea. It's not just the heat, it's also the humidity which doubles the feeling of the temperature. So it's not just hotter than hell, you feel like you are sitting in Satan's armpit. :-P How's that for a mental picture.

I love my job, but the summer is killer for us poor part timers. Our bright yellow polos are that thick cotton that suffocates you, and our dark blue baseball tees are.... well, dark. I'm pretty sure last summer didn't feel this killer.

Nothing at home has changed really. Pawpaw is out of the hospital, out of hospice, and back living in one of our spare rooms. It's day-to-day mostly one how he's doing. Today wasn't a good day. He had a headache all day, didn't eat anything, and hardly drank any water. My aunt Lizzy brought him a chocolate shake, and he went for that. He ate some at dinner, but Mom remarked that he doesn't eat enough to keep a bird alive. It's really hard to watch a loved one fading away right before your eyes, and right under your roof. I did this with my Nana 9 years ago. That was far tougher on me because I was so close to my Nana. Pawpaw mostly stays in his room watching old westerns on cable.

A bright spot on the horizon is my brother coming home on leave from the Navy. My favorite sailor will be with us for the 4th, and we are so going to the lake! Seriously, I'm not letting anything stop me from heading to East Texas in two weeks. I can't wait to get out on the water and go tubing and swimming.

I'm getting some fun in the sun this weekend as well. A group of friends are going to Hurricane Harbor on Saturday for a birthday party. I can't wait. I love swimming and playing in the water.

Dad's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I put together an awesome slideshow in iMovie and burned it to a dvd. Dad was really impressed, not only by the effort, but by the pictures I had found around our house. There were baby pics that he'd never seen before that came from an envelope that Memaw had give him of childhood stuff. Now my uncle has me working on one for my aunt Carrie. This one has been a bit difficult because pictures being mailed from Kansas.

I had started swimming laps again for exercise. See how long that lasted. The summer is still young though. I just need to make it a priority to get in shape. I don't like feeling rusty before my time. I'm not even 30 yet! Ha!

My last grandparent

Pawpaw is in the hospital again.

Figures. He's so stubborn. He won't listen to what the doctors tell him. He just does what his lazy ass wants to. His kidneys are becoming problematic (due to the mounds of salt he consumes despite doctors' orders).  It's come down to he needs dialysis.

And he's refusing.

Yah.

I pray that I'm not this stubborn when I get old and need tons of medical care.

I can see the toll it's taking on my mom. This is her last living parent. Nana died almost 9 years ago. She's already stressed out, and I'm sure a breaking point is near. Pawpaw drives my mother up one wall and down the other under normal circumstances, so you can imagine how batty my mom is going now. Thinking about it now, this can't be good for her blood pressure.

The thing that's getting at me is that Pawpaw is my last grandparent. Even in all his cantankerousness, he's still my Pawpaw. He's still the phone call at Christmas pretending to be Santa. He's still the guy in the gorilla suit at Uncle Pete's trailer scaring the bejeezus out of us kids coming back from the Halloween hay ride in the Hill Country. He's still wild stories of wild shenanigans  in his youth.

Plans for Memorial Day weekend are very high up in the air right now. We could still go to the lake. My back up plan is going back to Scarborough Faire for one last hoorah. The escapist in me wants to hop in the car and go far, far away from all these problems (I've done that before :-P )

Prayers for my family would be greatly appreciated. The craziness has a trickle down effect in our house.