Friday, July 31, 2009

Too cool!

When I was a teenager I loved Converse All-Star high top tennis shoes. "Chucks" came in so many different colors that you could always find a pair that appealed. My two best friends and I had them. Karleen had green, Janet had red and mine were bright yellow. I truly loved those shoes, lol.

I see Chucks all over the place now. Some are fun, but I missed being able to get them in every color of the rainbow (and then some!). And they certainly aren't the cheap shoes they once were. (Though they are still incredibly cheap compared to regular name-brand shoes now). A basic pair will cost you about $50.

But why go basic when you can now CUSTOMIZE your own pair of Chucks?? In just two to four weeks you could have a pair of Chuck's in whatever color you want, patterned, solid, multi color.... So the purple shoes I've wanted for years are now within my reach. And not only are they purple, they are now mostly white and black animal print, with a purple tongue and heel stripe, with lighter purple laces. The inside of the shoes is Sweet Lavendar. Woot!

My daughter created a pair of multi-pink ones, with blue heel stripe and laces, lol. And did I mention you can can your name on them?? She loves them so much she's actually willing to pay for them herself. I told her we need to go try some on in store so we know what size first and so she can find out for herself that the main drawback to Chucks is that they aren't really comfy.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Laugh out loud

Now I grew up in the 70s, with an older sister who danced professionally (get yer mind outta the gutter, lol), she taught jazz and tap for a local studio and being a dancer, she totally loved disco. The very first 8 Track I ever owned was Abba. I still love Abba, (the rest of disco on the other hand can go away forever, lol) even though I came of age in the 80s and love that music as well.

So when I saw the adverts for Mamma Mia I really wanted to see it. So when I found it at the library the other day I snatched it quickly. I didn't expect to giggle my butt off, lol. All three men were thick as a whale omelet! Hahaha. Pierce Brosnan can not sing, but it was funny as heck. Part of it was the music, but it all was too cute. About halfway through the kiddo decided to sit and watch as well. Now she wants to watch the whole movie too.

Even the hubby was in the other room singing along, utterly horrified to realize just how many words he knew to the songs ;)

I've dug out my Abba Gold CD and we're having a sing-a-long, lol. ;)

Over-rated?

A recent survey by a travel site found Paris to be the most over-rated city in Europe. And tourism has fallen drastically this year due to the economy. So now Paris is trying to win back tourists with a smile.

It's been years since we went to Paris. My overall impression of Paris then was that it was a beautiful but dirty city. People take their dogs every where but don't clean up after them. (And so far everything I've seen about the city leads me to believe that it's still this way in 2009). I found that absolutely disgusting. It's quite hard to enjoy the view when you have to constantly watch where you step! London was that way the first few times I visited, but since then people have learned to pick up after their pets and it's much nicer.

But it is truly a beautiful city. The Louvre is absolutely a splendid building from the exterior (well, except for the garish glass pyramid out by the entrance, lol) and spectacular on the inside. It's been many things through the years, once a fortress protecting the city and most notably the palace of Louis XIV. After the French Revolution the Louvre was dedicated to becoming a monument to the arts and science and the museum was born. I could have wandered there all day, between looking at the art on display and the architectural details of the building itself (Unfortunately we were with my in-laws and my f-i-l had a bad hip at the time so our trip was much shorter than I'd have preferred).

As to the French themselves, I honestly didn't get the rude vibe that so many people associate with the French. Well, except maybe at the chemists when I stopped in for cold tablets. But the restaurants and the hotel we stayed at had friendly people. One little restaurant all but dragged us in off the street they were so happy to see us, lol. We didn't do a lot of shopping, so I can't speak for most of the shops ;)

And oh my, but the bakeries are to die for! Everywhere we went there was a bakery on the corner with mouth-watering treats in the windows. The pastries we were offered for breakfast were absolutely lovely and the bread! Yum! Strangely though, I think other than the bread and cheese, none of us ate a "typical" French meal. Picky eaters all us of, so no snails for us, lol.

Would I go again? Yes, someday I would love to go with my daughter. I'll be the one on the ground holding my breath as she gets too close to the railing on the Eiffel Tower, and waves at me lol.

Monday, July 13, 2009

So much drama

Once again I am fed up with WoW. This time it's got nothing to do with the game and everything to do with the people who play. I'm in a large guild. Most of the time, that's a good thing, but there are a few members who are inconsiderate and only interested in themselves. Such was the case last week when we were scheduled to raid. It's always a pain in the ass getting 25 people together and takes forever, but most of the time the fun out-weighs the hassle.

Not so that night. There were other issues and we were late getting started. Then a few people who were signed up to go showed up 20 minutes late and still expected to go. After arguing about that and deciding who could go and who couldn't I lost all patience, burst into tears and begged my hubby to sub me out.

He had been arguing with one of the late people because he thought it was rude of them to be late and expect everyone to wait. So I left, obviously upset, and he then left to calm me down. So a bitchy post ended up on the message board about people "logging out when shit doesn't go their way." Obviously directed at hubby, since he was the one openly opposed to letting the late person go. Good-fucking-grief! I started to write a bitchy mail to the poster, someone I used to like. But what's the freakin' point?

The whole experience has soured me on raiding now. Hell, honestly it's soured me on the guild in general. There are a few people in there I like and if it wasn't for them I'd have left that night. So from now on I shall chat with the people I like and ignore everyone else. Who needs a freakin' game that stresses you out enough to bawl your head off?

Anyhoo. I am having a massive bout of insomnia tonight, so I'm going to go surf the web for a bit.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Crappy news

Just got the crappiest news. My friend, A from the previous post, got notice today that he's being let go. I think he has two months and then a month of severance. If in the next two months our other assistant manager leaves, he gets to stay. I'm holding on to a bit of hope that that happens. See, the other assistant has been in a different store running it while the manager's been sick. And from the sounds of things, he may not be ready to come back right now (which is probably why A gets to stay for 2 months instead of being let go now).

Dammit. Yesterday we were all happy about the fact that the other assistant would be coming back soon so everything would go back to normal and everyone could relax a bit. Instead we are losing two people that I genuinely like, A. and another guy who always has a smile on his face and is truly a nice person.

And of course, corporate timing sucks, since just 4 days ago A. and his wife were all excited and happy because they've just bought a house and are moving in soon. They rented all this time because they weren't sure where they would stay until A. got transferred to our location :( I hurt for them, I really do, because I remember the kick to the head it was when I was told that my previous employer was closing.

And you know what the worst thing was? They told him and then expected him to be fine with working the rest of the day. Arseholes.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Oh rats!

Remember this post? (Read more to get actual link, lol). It was a bit over a month ago when I posted about my dead phone. Well, last night the display on my new phone (a month exactly to the day I got it!) just died. I tried to answer it and I had a blank white screen and I couldn't answer it when I pushed the talk button. I can send and receive calls with it now, but no texting again.

So I called customer service, in non-English speaking country of course, and after 20 minutes of, "Can you at this time turn your phone off then back on, please?" and "At this time I am entering more information into my system." I was promised a new phone and more minutes. I can continue to use (lol) my phone until the new one comes and I don't have to return it. I can expect to receive my new phone in 5 - 10 days (!!). At that time I must call the customer service center to activate my new phone and transfer my minutes. I also plan on asking for a credit for the ringtone I purchased a month ago and will now lose :(

And a good time was had by all

For a bit there it seemed the 4th of July was going to be washed out. It rained like crazy for ages and all I could think was" Ewwww, I don't want go sit out in the rain." Of course, the kiddo hated the idea of missing the fireworks and around 8 PM the rain finally stopped. But it was still wet, lol. Then a friend from work invited us over to his house to watch the fireworks. So off we trooped, and we had a great time. We walked a bit up to the lake and watched the fireworks, then went back to his family's house and the kids all played with sparklers and Pop-its, while the neighbors shot off more fireworks.

It was a lot of fun, and the hubby got to meet A and his wife, so that was cool. Now he really knows who I am talking about when I mention A, or when we are playing WoW and A does something silly ('cause he is a silly man, lol) that makes me grumble and call him a doof ;)

For me.

It's been a long winter. Mentally, I feel even worse off than I was before, though things are finally looking up. I abandoned the gym. I...