Saturday, June 30, 2007

Up Next...

Saw Ratatouille tonight...stay tuned for a review...not now though. Tomorrow is moving day for my sissy--930 will come early(ish).

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Yep, as of yesterday, I'm officially 1/3 of a century...

I had a very nice birthday :). Got taken out to lunch with some of my engineer friends...teased them mercilessly...got to spend some time with my original set of coworkers and give them a hard time too, which was nice.

Passed out party-favor squirt guns and other toys, watched squirt-gun warfare erupt all over the building. I told S.E. to choose a gun over the toy he did pick. As I watched him get waxed by one of his own coworkers, I thought, "He can't say I didn't warn him."

Well, he can.

But it won't do him any good.

Got a bunch of e-cards, 4 out of 5 of which, curiously, starred the same 2 brightly colored cartoon characters. 1 out of those 4 also starred a mountain goat, you know, so that's cool. Got some happy birthdays from HCX, Pennsylvania, and from some of the Canadian contingent.

Meg and BIL Nick closed on their new house, I stopped by my mom and dad's for a b-day squeeze, went to dinner @ the Village Squire, and then got eaten alive by mosquitos at Dave's softball game. The mosquitos were bearable only because S.D. of Johnsburg said I was all cute in my red skirt*.

(And insert Dave rolling eyes....-->here<---)


*Free compliments! Starting at 830 sharp every Tuesday at Knox Park in McHenry!
That's a wrap.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

I don't think I mentioned that I finally gave in to the

wireless internet monster. I had (have?) anxiety about security, but I gave in. Here's my home office-->




I'm converted.



Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

I'm on hold. With the bank. I've been on hold for...wait..let me look...12 minutes and 53 seconds.

They did something crazy to the online banking sign-on and, since I sort of refuse to completely change my name, I'm having a hard time getting the online new password generator to work.

But, since I've been on hold for...13 mins and 13 secs, it doesn't seem like I'm the only with trouble.

So, in the meantime, here's what I've been up to lately:

The Audit: The audit is over here at HCY (at least for now). The FDA will be back at some point this summer/fall, and then the Germans will be here late in the fall (Das Au-dit). And the 3rd party will be back in January. So--it's pretty much audit season thru next year.

Which I am totally fine with. Honestly. I like it when we're really busy, like during the first couple weeks of this audit. I'd rather be busy, right?

Plus, I met a new Canadian to add to my collection of Canadian friends, I got to talk to a guy at work more than I have previously about tractors and cars and beer and such (I'm hoping he and his wife want to hang out, I'll keep you posted), and I learned that my boss' boss' boss takes his shoes off at his desk just like me. Which is almost as good as a permission slip, I think.

So I've got that going for me*.

Then there are days like yesterday and today. The audit's been pretty quiet and I have learned the following things:
--That my itunes being broken wasn't a conspiracy against me after all (thanks C.R.!).
--That C.R., and A.H. of Chicago, also have Chaka Khan on their playlists. Oh, how the embarrassing truth it does come out when you let people fool around in your music collection.
--That, even with several well-aimed shots at your co-worker's mouth, a McDonald's elephant squirt gun is just not a precision instrument. Laughing does not help.
--That "Junk in a Box"? It's hilarious. Especially when your a coworker walks in and asks if anyone has seen D.B.'s box. And you've been trapped in a windowless room with these people for 3 weeks. And you've been eating sugar all day. Mmmm, sugar.
--That if you're sitting across from one male and one female who work at HCY and ask "Printer Girl" to hand you the stuff off the printer, C.H will respond. He almost got away with making it look like he had been stretching. Oh, but not quite.

Yes, it's all over for poor PG, he will never live it down. We even made him a nametag with his new name. I'd post a picture, but I wouldn't want his wife to see what he does at "work" all day.

All in all, it's been a good month.

And it's only 7 days until my birthday.


*Which is nice

Friday, June 08, 2007

The Canoe Trip of Death or How I Got Dunked in the Mighty Nip 3 Times in As Many Hours

Okay, so not really death. Maybe repeated attempted drowning...

We rented our canoes from http://www.tipacanoellc.com/, a place out of Burlington WI. They were so nice, what with their charming Wisconsin accents and all! Garrett was the guy who delivered our canoes. He had that Kenosha County accent--you know where flag and bag sound like flayg and bayg? And, man, he drove that truck/canoe rack combo like an Indy racecar. I guess you get used to parking that thing after a while, but I made sure to keep my toes out of the way!

It's really great--you pick the body of water and how long you (theoretically) want to canoe and they tell you where to show up. They bring the canoe (and canoe stuff) and then do all the shuttling around so that your car is there when you're done canoeing. Then, when you're done canoeing, you get in your car and leave. So fun and convenient.

We put in at the Keystone canoe landing in Glacial Park, for a 2 hour canoe paddle (a 2 hour canoe paddle*). We had 3 canoes, each with 2 grownups and also Baby C in her adorable life vest, which made her look much like the little brother from the Christmas Story ("I can't move my arms!"

We made sure that each non-swimmer was in a canoe with a swimmer, and put the canoes in the water. The Mom/Dad and Sister/BIL/Baby C canoes all got on the water smoothly.

Then I got in our canoe and Dave tossed me into the water.

...okay, so it didn't quite happen that way, but it sure felt like it. Nip Dip #1

Most of the Nip is pretty pastoral. The stretch we were on runs thru Glacial Park, so it was quiet and uninhabited, for the most part. I can't remember how long we had been paddling, but we eventually came upon a little rapids section. S/BIL/Baby C broke left and made it through without incident.

We broke right. Nip Dip 2.

The canoe immediately got wedged between 2 rocks, turned sideways, and filled right up with water. We tipped over and my leg (which had been leisurely trailing in the water over the starboard side) got pinned between the rocks on the bottom, and the side of the canoe (which was now filled with water and sideways in the fairly quick rapids).

After a moment of potential broken ankle panic, I freed myself and we both were able to stand up. Yep, that's the beauty of the Mighty Nip. In most places, if you fall out of your boat, you can just stand up! (As Meg says, "You're okay! Just stand up!")

It was mid-calf deep, so we grabbed our mostly wet (from Nip Dip 1) stuff and the edge of the canoe and made for the shore. One step downstream, however, the water went from calf to hip deep. Another step and I was in up to my shoulder. It was pretty funny.

Aside from the coughing.

And the laughing of our 4 companions, including my parents, who had made it through unscathed, as well.

BIL Nick helped Dave extricate our canoe and we got back in.

I had chosen a 2 hour trip for us, but as it turned out, it was closer to 3.5. We lollygagged and, at times, waited for each other. Plus, Meg and Nick had to shift around to please Baby C.

Speaking of Baby C...she's such a great kid. Would your 11 month old happily wear a giant red life vest on a 3.5 hour canoe trip during which it was very sunny, but also rainy, and on top of that, get tossed in the water when her canoe hit a tree branch and sank? I think not.

Towards the end of the trip, we were all starting to get tired and it had also started to rain. Didn't matter to me, because if I had started to dry out from Dips 1 and 2, well, I had nothing to worry about...

The Nip gets very wind-ey and tree-filled as it goes thru Glacier Park. At one point, as we were negotiating some of the trees, I turned my head briefly to look at my adorable niece when WHACK! A tree branch to the side of the head took me right out of the port side of the canoe (and of course, Dave and everything else too). Nip Dip 3 and also the 3rd time we had to pick up the boat and pour the water out. (7 days later and I still have the lump on my head.)

Now, I can't remember if it happened before or after Nip Dip 3, and I wasn't there to see it in person, but apparently Meg and Nick also hit a tree and tipped the canoe--including Baby C--into the water. They say she cried, but I don't believe it, because when we came around the bend, Meg was standing in the water (You're okay! Just stand up!) holding the babe.

All wet, with her giant vest and her baby chick hair, but not crying! She's a trooper.

Like I told Meg, she would have made such a good pioneer baby. "Six weeks in a Conestoga wagon? Okay, as long as we've got sweet potato puffs.".

So, we eventually got to the end point and, since it was raining and we were tired, we whisked Baby C into the cars and went home.

There is nothing like a hot shower when you're cold and wet. And muddy. And sandy. With sticks in your hair. And rocks in your bathing suit**. And you're at your mom's house where you can use 3 squishy towels, but you don't have to wash them. And then she feeds you and makes you sleep on the couch. Ahhh.

:)


*1 point goes to the winner
**How does that work? I coulda made a sand castle with the grit I took home!

...oh, might've had something to do with the amount of time I spent underwater.

Dave.

Prelude to the Canoe Trip of Death

So last Saturday...no, let me start at the beginning....

Two years ago, my sissy and I (along with the 2 sons-in-law) gave my dad a canoe trip for Father's Day, complete with water shoes and a diorama of a pastoral canoe scene. Then we had no rain.

I only tell you we had no rain, because we had to cancel our trip for that year. The Nippersink Creek, aka The Mighty Nip, which runs thru a good portion of McHenry County isn't very big. I'd say it's 30 feet wide at the widest and the depest part I fell into was about shoulder high (more on that later).

So, no rain = much portage, and since it was going to be the 6 of us, we decided to postpone the trip. Then, one year ago, we also couldn't go because my sister developed preeclampsia on purpose to spite us.

This year, we were determined. My mother-in-law-in-law bought my almost-year-old niecey an infant life vest and we were ready to go...

Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 3

PotC3. First person to tell me what it's rated gets 3 bonus points (email or comment)!


Cute Persons to look at (0-5): 4. Hmmm. It's hard to say. I give it a high score, because ever since seeing Eric I-can't-remember-his-last-name-but-I-weirdly-ran-across-a-picture-of-him-in-Laura-H's-photo-album-which-by-the-way-contains-more-male-shirt-off-pictures-than-the-International-Male-catalog* in my high-school's production of Pirates of Penzance, I've had a pirate thing. So, I like Johnny Depp.

Course, there's also Orlando Bloom. He's not my style, but he *is* the style of many, many girls I know.

For the boys, there's Keira Knightley. If I dug chicks, I'd dig her. So...

A Satisfying Ending (0-5): 5. Pretty good :) Leaves room for a PotC4, although I'm not sure where they'd go with it. "Good" guys win, "bad" guys lose. My favorite :)

Action/ adventureness (0-5): 5. FABULOUS! So good! Lots of swashbuckling and such. It had a good beat, I could dance to it, I give it a 10. (Well, you know, a five).

Love storyness (0-5): 3. The sameo-sameo. Orlando plus Keira with a dash of Johnny. Less good than PotC1 or 2, though...see below.

Good Scaryness (0-5): 0.5. No scaryness, but some ickyness.

Kissing (0-5): 2. Some kissing. None involving Johnny, though, so not as good as PotC2. ;)

Cinematography/Special Effects (1-5): 5. Also FABULOUS! Really, reallly, good and, although you know it's CGI, otherwise believeable. So good. The "finding their way back" scene was awesome!!! And the crabs!


Extra Credit (Max. 10 points): 10. 5 for the celebrity guest appearance and 5 more for the special effects (soo good).

Total: 34.5/35.

*http://www.internationalmale.com/dept.asp?dept%5Fname=Swimwear&dept%5Fid=10390

Movie Review: Spiderman 3

All, right. So, Spiderman 3. It's been a while since we saw S3 (and I've been locked in the windowless room, remember?), so I'll do my best...

Cute Persons to look at (0-5): 3. (I was torn between a 2 and a 4, as you'll see below).
This one is really subjective. I don't think what's-his-name is cute. I just don't. He's got pretty eyes, but his upper lip is oddly long, you know? (At least he occasionally closes his mouth unlike Neve Campbell. See Scream [you know, or any other filmed event she's ever been a part of]).

As for the girl, I wouldn't be interested in her even if I dug chicks. I've always thought she looks like those people who grew up a little malnourished.

The best friend/other semi-evil superhero/Willem Dafoe's son guy is okay. I'd let him buy me a drink.

A dark horse in the Cute Persons category was Topher Grace! I was so surprised! I never thought much of him in That 70s Show, but with his hair tipped blond and being that his character is somewhat evil? I would let him buy me a drink too. Certainly. And I can't believe I'm actually saying that.

A Satisfying Ending (0-5): 3. Decent. Bad guy dies, good guy lives, girl sticks with good guy. It left a little room for an S4, if they wanted to, but I don't think they're planning on it.

Action/ adventureness (0-5): 4. Pretty good--just like the other 2. Lots of webbing around and fighting the bad guy stuff. I mean, it's no pirate movie, but it's still pretty good.

Love storyness (0-5): 0. The usuzh. Peter and Mary Jane. It'd be godd if it weren't what's his and what's her name, so if you think they're both cute, then you're good to go.

Good Scaryness (0-5): 0. A few loud/startling moments, but no scaryness. If there had been some real spiders, I might change my mind, let's see.....nope. Not changing it.

Kissing (0-5): 1. No good kissing. There was some, but Peter and Mary Jane? Ick. Now if it had been newly-hot Topher Grace, well, I might have changed my mind....

Cinematography/Special Effects: 4. The usual good stuff.

Extra Credit (Max. 10 points): 0.

Total: 15/35. Decent. I liked the other 2 better.

Based on my counter, I suspect I have

NEW READERS!

Welcome new readers!

Let's see, what should you know? Um...I use random acronyms a lot (like HCY* and BIL*). I also am having an early to mid 30s love affair with the asterisk. Many of my posts are tagged--just click the tags at the bottom to see related posts. (Well, at least posts I feel are related).

Additionally, things like snarky comments, stories about the free tampons that HCY bizarrely provides as a perk, or posts that contain trivia point giveaways will occasionally require the use of your secret decoder mouse.

What's a secret decoder mouse? Oh just fool around a little, you'll figure it out.

I've also got a myspace, you know, like the rest of the Starbucks (Tim Hortons?)-drinking world.



*Healthcare Company Y, where I currently work. As opposed to Healthcare Company X, where I spent the first 10 years of my working life.
*Brother-in-Law. Of which I onyl have 2. One of which feeds me most of my good Google crap.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

We're in an audit here at HCY...

By a group that's kind of like FDA jr. It's supposed to go until the end of June. I haven't spent more than 20 daytime mins outside my windowless, locked room for 9 days. Boooo.

But I do get to boss people around, you know, so I've got that going for me. Which is nice.



But, I do have to review Spiderman 3 and Pirates 3 for you. As well as post a darling pic of my cat and some pics of the canoeing trip of death (more on that later...).

I'll be back...