a cake, a kid, a mustache

I've just emerged from our crawl space, empty handed. It's dark in there, I went looking for the guest book from our wedding, of all things. It's in there somewhere.

Peggy over at https://straightupnochaser.blogspot.com/ posted about celebrity sightings, of which I've experienced little. When I worked at a hotel in downtown Denver in the mid 80s, we often had professional wrestlers stay for WrestleMania type events, but I've never followed professional wrestling. So, despite the throngs of fans in the lobby, the wrestlers weren't anything more than typical hotel guests to me.

However... How Ever... we did have a couple of well-known movie stars at our wedding:

Mr. Sam Elliott, along with his illustrious mustache, and wife, Katherine Ross.

No, it's not like they are long-time family friends who made our wedding guest list and RSVPd "Yes!". They actually, more or less, crashed the reception with the help of their young daughter, who is now 41 years old. I got this photo after googling from around the time of the wedding crashing.

SOURCE

So, the story of how our worlds collided

• I grew up in a small town in Colorado.
• We got married in my hometown.
• My hometown is surrounded by boonies. Lots of boonies.
• A movie adaptation of a Louis L'Amour novel was being filmed
• Louis L'Amour wrote westerns. Lots of westerns.
  
• Sam Elliott (and sometimes Katherine Ross) starred in lots of westerns
• Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross starred in this particular western
• The movie was filmed in the boonies surrounding my hometown
• The movie cast and crew stayed at the hotel of my wedding reception

BOOM, celebrities at our reception.

Our wedding cake was set upon a table, and this little blonde girl walked in and asked me, "Can I show my dad your cake?"

"Okay", I replied, nonchalantly.

She returned with freakin' Sam Elliott in tow.

And honestly, my mom was already practically best girlfriends with Katherine Ross by that time. My mom worked at the hotel in the restaurant. Mom was very easy to be friends with, and never went all stalker on Katherine Ross. 

She told me she treated them like any other restaurant guests, and one day slipped Katherine a note saying, "I loved you in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' and 'Stepford Wives'", to which I can attest is true - those were probably Mom's two favorite movies. And the friendship grew from there, at least during their time in my boonie hometown.

Magnum and I got a picture with Katherine Ross and their daughter, a.k.a. chief wedding crasher, and I'm sad to say WE LOST IT - THE PHOTO.

There are lots of other photos of the wedding weekend, but that ONE is conspicuously MIA, lost during one of our earlier moves. I lost that photo along with my diploma for my bachelors degree. Of those two things, I am way more disappointed about losing the photo.

But we've got a signed wedding napkin, and the couple did sign our guest book - which is somewhere in the crawl space... maybe.

lead a snot into temptation

Did a bit more decluttering this weekend - I swear it never ends. Who knew I was such a packrat?!

This time I went through my art toys a second time and got rid of things I haven't used in *forever*. My art hobby is quite inexpensive. Pencils, pens, sketchbooks, etc. are so darn cheap.  It's easy to bring stuff home and let it sit. I swear they all get together at night and multiply.

Last weekend, Magnum and I were out for a walk and I wanted to walk passed a cute little art supply store I'd heard of but had never been to. So we walked on by and I caught a glimpse. Magnum noted that the store was open, did I want to go in?

NOPE! I'd end up bringing home something I don't need - like going to the animal shelter!

I drew this anime character on Friday during Snowday 2. I've never really drawn anime before, but I'd read that the creator of Dragonball books, show, and whatever else, died last week. 

I don't know the plot or characters of Dragonball, but I've seen them in the periphery - the weird hair, the baggy pants...

Anyways, good snowday fun.

We got a decent amount of heavy, wet snow, but not nearly as much as areas south of us. Ours was just a "normal" spring snow - about 7 inches - while I see friends to the south buried under 2+ feet. No thanks.

That bit of anime fun got me to declutter the stuff packed into my little art supply case after I discovered the cute graphic pencil I used to draw the weird-haired dude.

Now I'm just down to my faves, including the pencil. In celebration, I drew another anime weird-haired character

In the meantime, Magnum completed our 2023 tax return. I swear he has all the fun.

hype, plumpies, doodles

A little weekend reflection...

Random happenings:

• In this week's excitement, we got a new fridge. His name is Coolio.
  
  
• The general area seems to be on a collective hangover following last night's college football match-up between Colorado and Colorado State. The two state rivals meet annually for the "Rocky Mountain Showdown", and both teams have been pretty bad the last few years.

This year, there's the whole hype train surrounding CU football, and the showdown was expected to be a blowout.  CSU apparently got tired of hearing about it, and they actually showed up for the show down, eventually taking a loss, but making CU play double overtime to get the win. I didn't watch any of it, but it's difficult to escape the hype around here. I'm exhausted just thinking about playing 2 football overtimes.

• A childhood friend of mine invited me to friend his running-for-mayor-of-hometown facebook page. He's changed both his first and last names, and he's always been a bit goofy. At first, I wondered if it was a joke page, but it seems he's legit running. 

Honestly, I've often wondered if he's undiagnosed bipolar. Not that running for mayor of a small town is too far out there, but I think it's a bit out of his league. But hey, who knows?

 A news story that caught my attention:

Fernando Botero, the Columbian artist, died last week at the age of 91. He was known for "plump, inflated forms" like this...

He was a prolific painter, apparently painting every day, all day.

I have no idea why he focused on the plump, but it made him lots of moulah.

A Triumph of the week:

• I joined that gym I did a trial at last week. I typically go to the gym and try to get strong a couple of times a week - or at least go through the motions. This new gym is a step up from where I'd been going.

A Challenge of the week:

• My Father-in-law and his wife were planning a visit in a couple of weeks, but FIL sprained/ strained a hip, so he's resting and had to cancel the trip. FIL has always been quite fit for his age, and he's now 89.

Looking ahead:

Speaking of art and challenges, the prompt list for Inktober '23 has been released. I plan to participate once again. Highly doubtful to get all 31 prompts, but we'll see where I end up. Seems all I do is doodle during downtime, so we'll see what happens this Inktober

animalia

Weekend brain dump...

• Monday and Tuesday of this week, our A/C was out at work. Not the whole building, but right where we happened to be... of course.  We had a storm blast through on Sunday afternoon, and the consensus was that some lightning put the A/C on the fritz.

Bottom line, it was hot in there but not excruciatingly so. Hottest it got before the air kicked back on was 79.7 F. We gave testers the option to reschedule, but not surprisingly, everyone just wanted to (literally) sweat it out. All managed to keep their clothes on.

• In the meantime, interviews for the new boss have been completed. No word yet on a selection. If Assistant Boss becomes boss, that would make for the easiest transition, but then there'd be an opening for an assistant boss, and the cycle continues.

It seems that none of us current underlings care to be the assistant boss. The job is nice as a part-time gig, but I wouldn't want to do it full time, and that's pretty much the consensus among my coworkers. 

• College football, which I don't follow, starts locally this weekend. I mention it because my alma matre CU Boulder, a little ways down the road, has received much hype around the hiring of Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders as the new head coach who's going to turn things around after several lackluster seasons. 

Will the season live up to the hype? Welp, season tickets are sold out anyway. I can get a "Prime Time" hoodie for $75, but I'll pass.  Personally, for the few games I attended while in college, I mainly enjoyed watching mascot Ralphie lead the team onto the field and found the games themselves less exciting.

   

I remember reading how people from other countries are surprised at the amount of attention that high school and college sports get in the U.S., and their surprise makes sense to me. 

Our local university kicks off their season today as well, amid much non-hype compared to the CU Buffaloes. 

And I'm sure my recent morning run buddy, Cam, will have his game face on. 

party-downtown day and a ram

Bike-to-Work Day 2023 is done. It happened yesterday, and we had a beautiful morning for it. Magnum and I headed out to be among the masses and got our fill of freebies and food. 

Here's a small display of things I decided to pick up, Chick fil-a chicken biscuit sammich for scale:

The haul included some bike lights, couple of first aid kits, bike map, coupons... The ziploc bag looking thing is, I think, for carrying water? The theme of the booth was water conservation, so I'm going with it.

Ironically, it seems that bike-to-work day has become more of a skip-work-and-come-party downtown as most of the booths are concentrated at the university and downtown, two locations close to one another. Businesses with outlier booths are less likely to get visitors. If I would have actually ridden my route to work at the college (I was off yesterday), I don't think I would've seen any stops. In fact, the college used to have a booth on site, but stopped doing it since covid and hasn't resumed.

I'm not complaining, though, just observing. It's a fun time, with lots of cute kids, who I'm sure were not going to work.

I did have my bike cam rolling, but the footage is pretty similar to last year's, so no fresh video.

And speaking of Cams, I was out for a jaunt this morning and came across this local celebrity

Cam, the Ram, the university's mascot, was out "taking his walk", according to his handlers.

I asked for a photo, and he struck this ramly pose.

I found it amusing that he was out there just going for a stroll while  in full "uniform". 

According to his profile page, Cam...

"is under 24-hour surveillance at a top-secret location with constant access to on-call veterinarians..."

Welp, I guess good on me for being out there early this morning. I think I now know where Cam's top-secret location is. 

If I'm not heard from after this, it's likely because powerful people decided I know too much.

pretty and babies

She and I are the same age. I remember idolizing her when we were teenagers.  I had my subscription to Seventeen magazine, and Brooke Shields was wearing Calvin Klein jeans, so every girl wanted some CK jeans.

She was just too pretty. And I could relate somewhat and aspire because, in addition to being the same age as me, she was brunette, unlike Farrah Fawcett - the iconic blonde babe of that time. 

But I was no fool and knew I didn't hold a candle to Brooke Shields and that she lived in a whole different world from mine.  A world I would NOT trade for! Yeesh.

There's a Brooke Shields documentary streaming on Hulu now. I doubt I will watch it, but have read some of the highlights, that are sadly not surprising. Sexual exploitation starting before she'd even reached puberty.

Speaking of pretty things, we had another spring snowstorm this week, not quite as messy as last week's that had me stranded on a transit bus. I was out walking an errand in it and came upon a couple of geese honey badgers not giving a *hoot*

The two of them hanging out on the side of the path paying no mind to walkers, joggers, bicyclists, plows... "go around, losers".

It occurs to me that it's about that time for the annual goose nesting, when the geese become downright nasty if anyone dares come close to their nesting babies.  I wonder if these two were scoping out a site.

That's my excitement so far this week. That and learning that dry erase markers are the BOMB for erasing "permanent" marker. Just write over the permanent marker with a dry erase, and wipe. 

I'm as old as Brooke Shields and never learned this 'til now?!

let's go for a ride 'til heaven comes

I don't really watch sports.  I've had a passing interest in some, but most sporting events just takes so dang long.  More time than I care enough to commit.

And then there's horse racing. I love to watch horse racing. I know some think it's inhumane.  I tend to think/ hope the horses are treated like the elite athletes that they are, bred to run fast and... enjoy it?  I confess that I just love to watch them run full out.

The triple crown races begin the first Saturday in May with the Kentucky Derby, and I've watched it every year for as long as I can remember.  I recall last year, I was working at the nursing home. The old ladies gathered 'round in their wheelchairs for refreshments, all wearing massively ridiculous hats they'd decorated the day before.  Such a hoot!

This year, I was in the comfort of my own home.  I had no idea, going in, who the favorites were or the odds. No money riding on it, I just want to watch them run.  

And omigosh, whatta race!  It wasn't until right at the wire that I learned the winner was the longest shot in the field - basically just filling in for a horse that had scratched at the last minute.  

80 to 1 odds! The jockey had never ridden in the Derby before. I can't imagine the feeling!

Anyway, I get a kick out of watching the aerial replay.  That longshot horse, so far in the back, picking them off one by one and ending up winning the whole thing.

What can I say, I get a rush from it.  If I were an old lady in a nursing home, ridiculous hat or no, that finish might have been my ticket to heaven.  

we are of star stuff

SOURCE

Happy Easter to my Christian friends.  And, not to be controversial, but... a  joke:

I vaguely remember getting all dressed up for Easter as a little kid.  Mine was not a regular church-going family.  Did we go to Easter services?  Which church?  Obviously, that part was not memorable.  

I assume I was sloughed off to some Sunday School/ Nursery type place during Easter service.

My grandmother was a common presence while I was growing up and quite religious. But she didn't proselytize a whole lot with us grandkids.  She was a typical lovingly gushing Grandma. I learned more about her faith after she died, and put a few dots together.

Anyway, she was a Christian Scientist, and their big holiday is Thanksgiving. But she came to our house every Sunday, and Easter was a special Sunday.  So I guess that accounted for the dressing up and (possibly?) going to church.

Following Linda Sue's lead, I managed to dig up old photo evidence of the Easter Dress Up.  As expected, why yes, my brother Guano DID look like a used car salesman.

Older brother Hagrid had, happily for him I'm sure, grown out of the dress up shenanigans by that point.  It's likely that he was the one behind the camera if he was home from college.

Either way, someone felt it necessary to get a shot which included the swingset horse.

Again, my memory is not too clear, but I would not be surprised if the me-and-a-horse shot was my idea. 

I do remember thinking that my Easter hat was the  absolute bomb.  In my mind, the hat helped to transform me into Annie Oakley.

I mean... the uncanny resemblance...

Is that the Easter bunny??

wild things

 Wolfgang moved from his apartment to a duplex last weekend.  We helped out a little, and I'll share this public service announcement:  

The first weekend in August is probably the MOST busy time for moving - definitely feel it in a college town!  Get that U-Haul reservation WELL in advance.  Yeah, Wolfgang didn't have one of those.

Lucky for him, he has some friends who have a big a** van they're converting to a camper, so that van toted most of Wolfgang's stuff .  He had to be out of his apartment by midnight Saturday, but couldn't move into the new place until noon Sunday, leaving him homeless for 12 hours.

He stayed the night with his van friends while we housed some of his stuff along with his rescue cat, Maisey.  In general, cats don't like change, and Maisey easily falls into that category.  

Maisey in calmer times

She was a grumpy kitty after having all of "her" things packed up and removed, then being stuffed into a carrier only to arrive at an unfamiliar place housing two dogs and a fight club cat.  Nope, not amused at all.

She spent the night and most of the next day camping in Magnum's office.  Social time allowed some petting but was accompanied by intimidating hissing.  It was quite an ordeal to get her packed up once again to move to her new digs, but Wolfgang reports that she seems happy now and has figured out that she's "home".  

But she put up such a fight on Sunday, that we had to call upon the expertise of Jim Fowler.  Remember him?

More seasoned *ahem* readers here might remember Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom TV show.  I remember watching it on the weekends and seeing Jim wrangle various deadly creatures, all while being narrated by Marlin Perkins ala "watch Jim almost die from the anaconda/ rhino/ panther/ etc."

So Magnum played the part of Jim and managed to scoop the wary Maisey with a towel and chuck her into a basket with Wolfgang at the ready with a good lid.  Success, whew!

Marlin and Jim would be proud.

the dogs ate my shoe, and the cat stole my ring

The title pretty much sums up the last couple of days.  

Our dogs don't typically eat shoes, but never say never.  I came home from work and kicked off my shoes a couple of days ago.  No doubt, the shoes had some enticing-to-dogs smells on them from the kitchen.  A while later, I discovered what looked like the remnants of a shoelace.  Alas, one of the shoes had been violated, but not too seriously.  

Luckily for the dogs, those shoes were about to be thrown out anyways, having served a good life.  Rather than try to revive them, I chucked them.  My wedding band, however...

I'd taken my wedding band off and stuck it in the pocket of my jeans on Tuesday night before bed to slather on some nourishing hand lotion.  The next morning, I couldn't find the band, so went about my day like an unwed woman.  That evening, we looked all around where it HAD to be- near where I'd hung up my jeans - but came up empty.  The cat stole it, it's the only logical explanation. 

Another day went by with no trace of it, but this morning, I slipped on my house shoes, and there it was: inside one of them.  I've put those shoes on the past two days, but only this morning noticed the band inside.  Aha, clearly, the cat felt guilty and put it there.  Or rather, he got bored with the game.

It's been a good week, though.  While at the dentist, the dental assistant and I talked of how we enjoyed "going to" work as opposed to working from home.  Of course there are several factors that weigh in including job description, coworkers, work environment, commute, etc.  

I feel I have the best of both worlds, having a part-time away-from-home gig (with a super short commute) and a part-time from-home gig.  I enjoy them both and don't get burned out on either. 

This week, I was asked to help train a new-hire at the rehab facility.  I take that as a cue that I have moved out of "noob" status myself.  

And finally, the world said good-bye to Eddie Van Halen this week.  I know I wasn't alone in crushing on him (BIGtime) back in the 80s.  He was just so dang talented!

Back then, people often told me I resembled Valerie Bertinelli, so when the two of them got hitched, I found solace in thinking that EVH would favorably spot me in a crowd.  Maybe?

Today should be a full day off for me.  I'll do some housewifery, maybe listen to some fave Van Halen tunes, maybe get some shoes...

what's cookin'?

"Will this be where I get canned?", I wondered as our staff meeting began.

We have monthly staff meetings for my little part-time hospital cafe job, but yesterday was the first one since mid-March.  We've been on reduced staffing because of COVID restrictions to our biz, and in fact, the job I was initially hired for has pretty much been eliminated.

One of my responsibilities, for instance, was preparing the salad bars for our cafe and for the doctor's lounge.  Yeah, salad bars.  Remember those?  No longer a thing.  I'm thinking salad bars won't be back anytime soon.

Instead of letting me go, however, the managers included me in the rotation of other essential workers where we do a little of everything as needed.  It's productive, I enjoy the variety, and it's nicely added to my value.  But management would certainly be justified in letting me go.

Instead, it was just a "normal" staff meeting.  In fact, I received high praise for my flexibility.  On the outside, I was a bit, "Aw, shucks", while keeping my real thoughts - "c'mon guys, this isn't rocket science" - to myself.  I do enjoy the place and like the people I work with, though, so I'm grateful they've kept me around.  That said, I'll soon be taking my voluntary 2-week furlough, another thing we've been rotating through.  

I'm glad I have my tutoring, which hasn't really slowed because of COVID.  If anything, there are more opportunities.  I asked one of my  high schoolers what her district's plan is for the upcoming school year.

"Two classes per day.  Three hours each.  Everyone wears a mask.  Temperatures will be taken every day upon arrival".

She attends a pretty large school.  Taking everyone's temperature every day? That will be time consuming.  

Three-hour classes?  I'm trying to imagine studying one subject for three hours straight.  That sounds like a real challenge for the teachers - planning 3-hour lessons and keeping the class engaged.  More power to 'em.

In the meantime, this virus has taught me a few things.  I now know a little about how viruses work and herd immunity in addition to expanding my culinary skills.

And speaking of culinary skills, did y'all see Martha Stewart and her "thirst trap"?  Along with Martha, it was the first time I'd heard of that term.

The headline I clicked said something about Martha Stewart's stunning photo at her pool.  She does look good, particularly for a 78-year-old.

But I wanted to see Martha's pool.   Darn clickbait.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. We’re still dealing with Covid…how are you, has anything changed since you last covered this topic?

VPs and mysteries

Several years ago, the Vice President of the United States came to visit my place of business.  I never actually saw him since, surprisingly, he hadn't come to visit ME specifically.  I just remember that all the roads feeding in and out of our little compound were closed for quite some time, and there were sexy secret service men walking around.

Some of us peons were able to press our faces against windows and watch the motorcade as it left the premises.  That was the extent of our veep visit experience.  Oh, and as a testament to my age, it was Dan Quayle.

Today, Meego is sleeping in.  His place of business is being visited by the Vice President of the United States, and Meego's managers decided to just not bother having workers come in today with all the security hoops in place.  VP Pence is coming to Focus on the Family.  No, Meego does not work FOR Focus on the Family, he works at a warehouse that is rented FROM Focus on the Family and is located on the Focus on the Family property.

So yeah, we live a bit among the holy rollers, but after living in Utah for about four years as a "gentile", I find the Evangelical Christians pretty tame.  And I'm pondering how I went from growing up in the "Sex Change Capitol of the World" to living at the home of Focus on the Family?

It's also Comic Con season here in Colorado.   We attended about three Denver comic cons before it got too crowded and we determined we'd seen it all before.  I always enjoyed the people watching at Comic Con.  Some of those cosplayers really get into it, and I sensed that some maybe didn't always fit in in the "real world", but loved it when Comic Con was in town.

And I remember this... thing

We had no idea what it was.  Some suggested it was a furry thing from Star Trek (the name of which I can't remember, not ever being much of a Trekkie myself).

Now I still wonder.  Anyone?

And if wanting to know what it looked like from the front, know that it looked pretty much the same as from the back.  Just a fat furry white thing. With dark hairy legs and flip flops.  Should someone have called security?

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Linking up with Mama Kat for the prompt:
1. Throwback Thursday: Choose a photo from a previous June and write a poem or a blog post

he wore khakis and a blue button-down

The student center was strangely quiet.  Usually, the place was bustling with activity as it was the central gathering spot on campus.  It housed the bookstore, clubs met there and/or had booths set up for their various causes, there was a large snack bar and deli, and several tables took up a large space.  It was like a big college campus food court.

SOURCE

The fall semester was coming to a close and a lot of students had already left for winter break.  But there were a few people mingling around including myself.  I guess I was studying or taking a break from studying.  I know I was NOT checking my email or browsing the internet because neither of those things existed at the time.

It was December of 1989.  I was enjoying having another semester completed.  And then...

HE walked in.

I noticed him right away.  Since it was not crowded, anyone walking around was easily noticed.  I just sat there.  I sat there and I watched him.  What would HE do?  What would I do?  What would the others in the place do?  Should I do something??

Since I didn't know what, if anything, I should do, I did nothing.  Just continued to watch him and the others and see if anything happened.  He looked so normal, yet I knew he wasn't.  Still, no one else seemed to notice him at all.

I watched.  This is what took place:

• He walked down the walkway toward the snack place
• He walked into the snack place
• He selected a piece of their heavenly banana nut bread (that I typically could not afford)
• He took his banana nut bread to the cashier
• The cashier rang up his purchase
• He paid 
• The cashier took the money and made change
• He left, heading out the way he'd come in, carrying his banana nut bread with him

It was riveting.

Yet none of the others present said or did anything to acknowledge it.  Not even that cashier.

SOURCE

And I was left all, "Hey, that was...", "He was...", "That's the guy that...", "It was him..."
because, it was him

It was Thomas Cech.  He's a professor at CU Boulder where I was attending college (Go BUFFS!).  He's a professor of Chemistry, but more importantly, he had just been awarded the freaking Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

It was in all the papers (back when people read papers), and certainly, it was published all over campus.

But he walked in and out of that student center like he was anyone else.  No one batted an eye.





So I sat there thinking, "Well, at least I know who he is" and that maybe I should've said something in acknowledgement.  As I sat there pondering, another distinguished member of campus walked in.

HE was surrounded by a sort of entourage.  And as he walked through the place, others in there shouted acknowledgements to HIM.  Everyone, it seemed, wanted to be HIS friend.

It was Eric Bieniemy, star running back of the football team.

I found it interesting.  Everyone knew the football star.  No one seemed to know the chemistry star.

Maybe Dr. Cech should've had Ralphie lead his entrances.  Then maybe people would cheer!

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt

1. Share a college memory.

Mother Nature and Trump broke my phone

"The Donald" Trump is visiting our fair city.   In fact, I think he may still be talking as I type.  He's speaking at the university campus, which in itself, has stirred controversy.  Some students and faculty don't like that the university is hosting him.  The university says it is not backing any particular candidate and respects everyone's first amendment rights and regularly offers up venues for events (in exchange for cash money), particularly during the summer months.

I agree with the university's response to the hubbub, although the timing isn't so hot.  Lots of testing and final projects and stuff going on right now for summer students.  The campus is pretty inaccessible today, what with all the protesters for both sides and all the security.

A news team was on campus yesterday reporting on the upcoming Trump visit, and got some comments from a few students, one of whom was our Wolfgang,

which was really my main reason for mentioning Trump's visit.  I'm not political here, remember?  And no, Wolfgang doesn't have a weird soul patch.  I just made a screenshot from the news video, so that dark blob on his chin is the play button.

Wolfgang didn't say anything controversial, just said something like, "I was gonna come to campus to study on Friday, but everything's gonna be closed and there'll be security everywhere, so ... guess not"

I told him his hair looked good and that he must have a talented barber.

Not my hands, not my hail

In other news, last night we got a bludgeoning from Mother Nature.  Not "We" as in this particular household and property, but south and east of us took a walloping.  Look at the size of these hails.  And I know that's not proper grammar in referring to hail, but they're just so enormous, it seemed appropriate.

I understand hail is mainly in certain parts of the country.  We get lots of it.  If you live somewhere that doesn't get hail, know that it can really hurt and really damage property.  Kiss your flower garden good-bye.

This morning, I got a text from Chaco:
"Might have to open an insurance claim on the Civic... quite a few dents from hail"

Yeah, he lives south and east of us.




In other other news, something's up with my phone.  Here's a tidbit about me:  I don't like talking on the phone - possibly a subject for a later blog post - but just know that I don't like to. Sometimes it's necessary and useful, and in those situations, I appreciate phone talking, but  I don't seem to currently be able to.

My phone rings.  I answer.  The following conversation, or something similar, ensues.

Me:  hello?
Phone person:  hello?
Me:  hello?
Phone person:  hello?

Well, you get the gist.  It seems I am not being heard.  I'm tempted to go to the phone store right now and see what's what, but this just started  happening in the last 24 hours, so I don't want to go there and find out my phone works fine.

That's what's going on around here.  Don't call.

.

Silver Liningness Sunday

Well, first of all...






Happy Birthday to Wolfgang!  Big 19 today. 
He's a bit camera shy, this is about the best I can do.








We spent the day in Denver today, mainly to go to the big bargain computer stuff store.  He asked Magnum and me for cash towards building a new computer, then set about spending all of it.

It was a nice day.  While Wolfgang and Chaco hunted the technology, Magnum, Meego, and I hung out at a nice park across the street to commune with nature.

Speaking of new computers, I'm enjoying my new speedster.  And remember Old Bessie, my ex-computer?  Behold, she's been resurrected!

 

Her monitor's pretty diminutive next to her superiors, but she's up and feels good.  Chaco says she works fine now.  Even the USB ports that hated me are happy now.  Clearly, it was time for a fresh start.  I wish her jolly times with Chaco.

 Anyway, in local news, Kevin Bacon has been hanging around, filming a movie or something.  There had been a few KB sightings around, and eventually, he posted this on his fbook.

Was he really going to do the Incline?  Well, it IS the thing to do when in town in summertime, and shortly after, he posted this:

So, he did do it. 


Or did he? 

I mean, if you're going to do a selfie at the Incline, you do a selfie from the TOP, right??  Notice how Kevin Bacon's FACE takes up his post-Incline selfie, and it's pretty clear that he's not at the top.

Naturally, many of us are wondering...

 

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Chaco and Wolfgang saw the controversial post.

Chaco:  Yah, either way, I beat his time! *flex*

Wolfgang:  Pfft, beat the time of, like a 50-something year-old-guy!

Me:  HEY!  I don't care, he's Mr. Footloose!

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I wore a hideous bonnet

We were cast as lovers in the school's production.  Young lovers.  Planning a future together.

He looked so dashing.  His clean hair just so beneath the bowler hat.  His mustache neatly groomed.  He wore a garter on one of his ample biceps, over his crisp button-down shirt.

Frank.

As the also-rans sang "A Bicycle Built for Two", Frank pedaled onto the stage, me situated behind him.  Our number was a roaring success, the audience completely ate it up.  We were just so believable.

Of course we were.  We were so believable because, off-stage, we were actual lovers.  Well, as much as a couple of first graders could be anyways.

Frank was my first crush.  We even got married later that year during a lovely afternoon recess affair.  Another friend served as Chaplain and also provided the punch - saved from lunchtime for the occasion.   Alas, it turned out our friend wasn't an actual ordained minister, so my marriage to Frank was never official.  It was annulled by the afternoon bell.

But we'll always have that magical bicycle ride - which was actually on a tricycle that I had to stand on the back of - around the stage.

The story of Frank and me isn't very unique.  Many of our first budding "romances" happened shortly after we went out into the big world of elementary school.  Several crushes later, I made it to the halls of higher education where I met Magnum.  The rest is history, and our 23rd anniversary is this week.

I have not, however, remained immune to the assorted celebrity crush.  As someone has said - who was it that said it? - we can't choose whom we fall in love with.

I mention this now for another of Mama Kat's prompts:  5.) First crush.     And since I felt my own first crush was pretty run-of-the-mill, I'm taking the next step.

Magnum is aware of each of my post-marital crushes.  I confess to them on the blog now, knowing that readers will refrain from going all tabloid on me.


In the early '90s, I fell for Marky Mark.  The rapper with the rap sheet to go along, and those baggy jeans.  Of course, it wouldn't work out between us.  I was married to a good responsible man who left his shirt on when outside the house.

When it ended, Marky Mark transformed to the responsible, clothing wearing, no more Boston accent, Mark Wahlberg.

Oh well, we'll always have our underwear pictures.

This may come as a surprise to many, but I later developed a crush on Johnny Depp.  Yeah, I know.  Strange.

We managed to keep things platonic, however.  I do occasionally accompany him to awards shows because he has a hard time finding any other women that want to go with him.







I may have mentioned here before, my cougar crush on Shia Labeouf.  He's obviously too young for me.  Is he even out of his 20's yet??

That's okay.  I still let him buy me coffee sometimes.  Very grownup.






So there they are, my crush confessions.

For those who may be wondering, Frank and I are still friends, in touch through the magic of facebook, where we might wish each other happy birthday or something.

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Avogadro day is coming!

There's a smidgen of a light scar on my left forearm.  It's the site where a mole once lived.  Several years ago, about the time Wolfgang was born, the mole had noticeably grown and changed in color.  I asked my obstetrician about it, and she in turn sent me to a dermatologist, who in turn removed the mole.

It was a quick and tidy process, much like uncorking a wine bottle, except I'd say that uncorking a wine bottle takes longer.

I'd also asked about another mole that had grown and changed in color.  That one was on my nose.  My obstetrician told me that moles on the face are removed by plastic surgeons rather than dermatologists.  I never followed up on that, but was reminded of it when I read Anita's latest blog post.



My nose mole is still there.  I don't think about it much, but it has evolved over time.  Some of that, I suspect, is because my nose has "evolved".  The mole used to be smaller and darker.  Now, it's larger, but very light in color.

And I'm not really concerned about it anymore.  If it was going to kill me, I'm thinking it would've done so by now.



Anita's post reminded me of the nose mole and cosmetic surgery in general.   I would go under the knife if I felt the mole was a threat.  Genetically, I'm at low risk for skin cancer, but geographically, I'm at high risk.  But I'm much better at protecting my skin these days than I was when I was younger.  Like I said, the mole hasn't killed me yet, it's probably not going to.

I think cosmetic surgery is a good thing in the cases of reconstruction after mastectomies or severe burns, etc.  In general, however, it's not for me, but I don't have a problem with others who feel they "need" it.  I, for one, like a bit of "imperfection" in a person's appearance.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.

And besides, aren't facial moles referred to as "beauty marks"?

Source

Even those on the nose?









Screw it, I think I'm still keeping it.  I don't feel like having my nose uncorked.
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what's your name?

I remember seeing Fabio on a talk show once.  Might have been Ellen, and Ellen asked, "Just what is your job title?"

"Fabio", he answered.

"No really", Ellen continued, "when you do your taxes, what do you write in the box for 'occupation'?"

"Fabio".








Do you like your job title?  Do you think it adequately describes what you do?

I belong to a few tutoring discussion groups, and this came up recently in one of them.  Someone thought that "tutor" had a stigma attached to it.  He felt something more like "Personalized Learning Consultant" or "In Person Instructor (IPI)"  would be more appropriate.

At first, I thought surely he was joking.

But then, no.  I think he was actually serious.  I was glad to see most of the replies indicate that they were fine with the title of "tutor".  Some starting out with phrasing like, "I don't know what it's like where you live, but..." or "What's in a name?"  One guy, who is a bit of a group clown, replied, "Wizard".

To me, having some high-falutin' adjective-adjective-noun job title gives the impression that the title holder is trying to overcompensate for something.

I used to be an "Instructional Paraprofessional", but I sure felt more like a "teacher's aid".  Either way, it was the worst and most boring job I ever had.  Sounded good, though, no?

And for the record, I'm quite satisfied with "Crossing Guard", although if I were in the UK, I would get to be a "Lollypop Lady", and that would be awesome!

Looking for a fresh title?  Go [here].    

Then there's [this article] that makes me wonder, "really??"

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lock up your sons!*

Rock Chef Wilder Hirsch recently blogged about his celebrity look-alikes and asked others to also give it a go, so I thought I'd give it a go.

People used to say that I looked like Valerie Bertinelli.  I certainly won't complain about that comparison.

I especially enjoyed it back in my late teens and early twenties since, at that time, I had a silly schoolgirl crush on Eddie VanHalen.  Yes,he's a chain smoking rock star, but dang could he play guitar!  My bad boy complex rearing its head.

I'm sure he really wanted to marry me, but had to settle for Valerie instead...  I was destined for the not-musically-inclined Aspergerian fellow engineer.

Nia Peeples is another celebrity some have compared me with.  I don't know much about her these days.  I mainly remember her as Nicole from Fame fame.  I understand she's gone through 4 or 5 husbands...

A few years ago, a fellow blogger became my instant best friend when she said I looked like Angelina Jolie.  I always wanted to be Laura Croft.  Still do.

Magnum commented, "Yeah, you look like Angelina, except she has bigger....    lips".









That's about all I can remember for my celebrity comparisons.  As far as who I want to BE like?

*Tank Girl, of course.

She's the reason I became a crossing guard.

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