My Week Recapped in Haiku

Monday:
Gigi is best meal
Voicemail changed forever
Cosmo gone too fast

Tuesday:
Home in my office
Doctor visits are pleasant
Treadmill is busy

Wednesday:
Taste of Chai Tea
Nuclear-like Meltdowns
Packing bags again

Thursday:
Merced drive is long
Good dinner companion
Raining is good

Friday:
Way too much email
Long lines at the airport
Too much bad data

(I challenge the other bloggers: James, Jen from Staples and Queen B to recap their week in Haiku format) Guidlines for Haiku writing can be found here (you know me, I don't really stick to the guidelines): http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Haiku-Poem

Jasmine, Are Next American Idol

I took this picture last night during American Idol. Jasmine's family has decided to announce "Jasmine are next American Idol". Sorry the picture is not so great.

I would probably have missed this entirely had it not been for a faithful blog reader who called to make sure I saw this lovely sign. (Typically during Idol I am reading email and forced to do the rewind because I just missed something)

Please note that while Jasmine did not make it to Hollywood (which means she is not are next American Idol) we are holding out hope that her sister Dedra will be on stage during the next Spelling Bee championship.

Announcer: The word is "Our"
Dedra: Can you please use it in a sentence?
Announcer: Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our ...
Dedra: Our, A-R-E, Our
Announcer: Not so Much

Traveling Light

If you have been reading awhile you will have discovered that I have a technology addiction. In fact, back on January 6th I wrote about "Traveling and Electronics" http://kim1champ.blogspot.com/2007/01/traveling-and-electronics.html

Twice since the "Traveling and Electronics" story I have traveled light. It is a very weird but liberating feeling. I feel so free when I am not lugging my laptop around and my blackberry is so awesome that the need for the laptop on quick day trips is greatly diminished.

Here is a picture of what I took with me on my first traveling light trip:

1 lipstick
Day Quil
IPOD
Blackberry
Work Badge

You Know Who You Are

Don't ruin the fun for everyone by causing unnecessary problems. It's the middle of the day, get back to work.

Where Did I Take This Picture?

Two Questions:
(1) Where did I take this picture? (2) How did it turn out all red?

Thursday Morning, I Needed ID

Thursday morning I had the displeasure of locking myself out of my hotel room. After waking up and deciding I needed ice, I grabbed my phone, room key and ice bucket and headed down to the ice machine. When arriving back at the room, the key would not work. I tried it a couple of times, looked down at what I was wearing (I was wearing red pajama pants and my pink Mercy Gilbert t-shirt, no shoes or socks) and thought I guess I'll have to go down to the front desk.

I headed down to the front desk and told them that my room key would not work. I was in 412. They asked if I had any ID, I said nope and they said they couldn't let me in the room without it. I then thought, hmm, I wonder if I ever took a picture of my drivers license. So I went into my drivers license picture folder (on my phone) and unfortunately I had lots of peoples drivers licenses but not a photo of my own. (I have since remedied that) I asked if I would gain or lose credibility if I could produce a picture of the drivers license of the guest in room 419. The front desk clerk, clearly alarmed just looked back at me like I was from outer space. I guess that answered my question. He decided to call security and have them escort me up to my room and verify my ID. While waiting for security I received a lecture on data security from the hotel front desk clerk. I decided not to ask him if I could take a picture of his license.

In case you are wondering my ID collection now contains the following:

10 Arizona Drivers Licenses
8 California Drivers Licenses
2 Texas Drivers Licenses
2 Nevada Drivers Licenses
1 US Army ID
1 Concealed Weapon Permit

Losing My Car.....Or My Mind?

Let me tell you that I normally have a very good memory but something happens to me when I go into the hospital parking structure at Reno. I tend to lose all sense of direction and it literally wipes out my memory on where I parked the car earlier that day. Two days straight, as I was leaving work, I couldn't find my car.

The first day I had no clue where it was but fortunately I had my guide, Jane with me and she had the brilliant idea of pressing the little clicker continuously until we found it via the beeping.

Fast forward 20 hours and we are getting ready to leave the hospital for the airport. This time I had parked in an end spot and I thought I knew right where the car was. We were parked on level 3 and this was noted when we arrived in the morning when someone remarked: "I have 3 kids and we are on level 3". So after getting off the elevator at level 3 I can't find the car. I almost began to panic that the car wasn't where we left it. To further embarrass myself, I called Larry and asked him where did he move the car? What practical joke were they playing on me? He didn't have a clue what I was talking about. (So then I remember, Kim push the button) I push the clicker, and hear far off beeping. Finally, I find the car. We had walked up to level 3 not down to level 3. STUPID.

Fast forward 3.5 hours I am on the phone with Ray walking aimlessly in the Burbank airport parking structure. While talking to him I managed to walk the 2nd and 3rd floors without finding the car. I finally realize that since I was going to be in Reno for 3 days I had parked in the cheaper lot. Once I recalled this deviation from my normal routine I found the car immediately and proceeded to exit the parking lot. Luckily, Raj had the night off and I was on my way in a matter of seconds.

Yo Dad, Happy Birthday!

Maybe for your birthday James can show you how to view this message.

Happy Birthday To The Hottest Chick in Kansas

Happy Birthday to the Julezatron
Happy Birthday to TheGreatJules
Happy Birthday to the Figgster

Hope you had a fantastic day.........

Hold the Whip Please

There are two reasons why I never get whipped cream on iced drinks:

(1) The calories
(2) I HATE the dome lid

I hate it when they run out of the regular lids and my drink ends up with the dome lid. This happens every once in awhile at Starbucks and it drives me crazy. Today it happened on this blended mocha I ordered at the airport.

A Few Great Photos from Reno

Inappropriate Frowning from Squidward

Keri-Ann this is funny on so many levels

Kokopelli Greetings for John Smith

It's the empty chair where Laura once sat

(For Ruth only)

Mom and Dad-Happy Anniversary

I Finally Made It To Number 1

On Southwest they indicate the number in which you checked in on your boarding pass. (Note the number in the bottom left hand corner) A couple of years ago this was pointed out to me I started making a concerted effort to become number 1. Finally, yesterday when I checked in online I made number one! My previous best check in was number 9. Somebody throw me a party!

Too Much 24 For This Guy

In Vancouver last week a rather impatient father used extreme measures to get his realitves out of the house. When his wife's grandmother was protesting over him swatting his son he decided that she needed to leave. Apparently the grandmother didn't get up to leave right away and he felt the only option was to get out his taser and use it on the old woman.The entire article can be found here: http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0126taser-grandma26-ON.html

I must say that I am glad that my husband does not have a taser. After reading this article he would probably start tasering everybody right out of our house. God help those that stopped by without notice, opened the refrigerator without permission or started a fire in the fireplace.

Tonight, Jack did a little torture on his brother. I personally think he should have killed that little weasel. Tonight's episode was almost boring until the very end. Jack was seen for less than 5 minutes during the first 30 minutes. I have to say though that Jack is looking pretty darn good, he sure recovered quickly.

Short blog tonight because I have to try out the new taser on James.

Blog on Dinner: A'Float Sushi

James and I have been wanting to try A'Float Sushi for quite awhile. Tonight, we finally went and it was an interesting place indeed.

Here is the overview: You sit around this giant sushi bar and as the chefs make the sushi they put it out on these boats that float around the bar. You simply pick up any plates you want as they float on by. The plate color or style indicates the cost of that particular plate of sushi. (It took this genius half way through the meal to figure this out).

So onto the sushi itself, it certainly wasn't the best I have had but it was fresh and decent. Would I go back? Potentially. David liked it, I think primarily because he knew what he was ordering. James liked it because he was able to try things that he might normally not have ordered. I was none to pleased because a spicy tuna roll didn't float by even once!

This is not an upscale Sushi restaurant and because of that overall, I would give A'Float Sushi a grade of "B". It is fine and probably an "A" if you are looking for relatively cheap sushi. David really enjoyed the Dragon rolls here and would give it an "A" except for the fact that the waitresses weren't nearly as good as J-U-L-I-E. (Note: Two weeks ago we had the most annoying waitress at Sushi Roku (named Julie). For the life of me I can't understand it (David finds most everyone irritating) but for some reason, David loved her. Again thats Julie, J-U-L-I-E)

The Missing Wallet Has Been Found!

The Phoenix PD is in possession of my lost wallet! I lost it on December 1st at approximately 7:30PM. I wonder if it was just turned in? Or maybe it just took them until 1/25/07 to catch up with their paperwork and send me a note? Here are a couple of interesting things I found about this:

• Two printed letters arrived: one was in English, the other in Spanish. The Spanish one was on top.
• I must bring my ID to retrieve the wallet. While it makes sense that you would need ID to pick up lost property, in this case they have the ID, so.............
• The wallet release process will likely take longer than 45 minutes. Nice of them to set this expectation up front.
• If I cannot pick it up I can get a notarized letter allowing someone of my choice to pick it up
• Silverio Q. Ontiveros is the Commander of the Property Management Bureau
• I have until 2/24/07 to pick up the wallet.
• After 2/24/07 it will be disposed of in accordance with Phoenix City Code (Article XVIII Section 2-301)

The Situation Room

On Wednesday when I approached the office that part of the Phoenix team works in I had to bust out my Pearl and take a picture of the new entrance to the room:

How cool are they anyway? They totally have the 24 situation room. I can tell you that if any team needs a situation room, they do. These guys are non-stop action (just like Chloe and team) and their leader (Dora) is constantly undercover and managing all kinds of dramatic situations. Extra big points too since the actual situation room was pretty clean :)

What Is Your Current Ringtone?

Historically I have used the Sex and the City ring tone. I think I had that ring tone on my last 5 phones (except the Treo). Ray M. loved that ring tone, every time my phone would ring he would break out his best Sex and the City dance. Seeing Ray dance, LOL.

Since my 24 obsession started (mid September) I have had the CTU ring. Well, last weekend I changed it up again when I downloaded Nickleback's Photograph. "Look at that photograph, it always used to make me laugh". Since then I have downloaded a couple more ringtones. Here they are:

Nickleback-Someday
Natalie Merchant-Jealousy
Sex and the City Theme
Gin Blossoms

At this moment my ringtone is Natalie Merchant's Jealousy

Today's Flight Home (From PHX)

My airport timing today was fantastic. My flight was at 5:20pm and I walked into the airport at 4:58pm. Looked up my gate number, walked to the kiosk, reprinted my boarding pass, walked through security (no wait) and boarded my flight at 5:11pm. (Right ahead of the "C" people)

Got a great window seat at the back of the plane, there was a quiet, keep to himself type of guy in the aisle and the middle seat was open. Listened to Natalie Merchant on my IPOD, caught up on my email. Flight was perfectly smooth.

Two warm and fuzzy moments during the flight:

(1) Seeing the RT Aging report from today! The best numbers we have ever had! You guys rock (I am so proud)!!!
(2) Reading a great Wikipedia article that was printed just for me. I have decided to become a Wikipedia contributor.

Let's Roll Out The Red Carpet for Miranda!

This weekend, Miranda is having the coolest birthday party ever. She is having a red carpet Disney party and I totally wish I was able to go to it. I have never walked on the red carpet but I bet it is pretty awesome.

The only thing that could make the Disney Red Carpet better is if Ashley Tisdale crashed it. Unfortunately, when I called her she already had plans otherwise she would have shown up for sure.

If I was going to Miranda's party (dressed as a Disney character) I would probably have to go as Cruella De Ville (sorry, I love the villians) or as Malafecent. I know a couple of people that are perfectly primed to go as the Old Hag in Snow White, it's like they have been waiting their whole lives for Miranda's party. (Miranda, can I just send them over?) Katie has decided that she would like to go as Nala from the Lion King. Here's my list of the posters on this board and who I think they should go to Miranda's party as:

You know what???? I started the list and realized that it might get people to hate me so I have decided against writing it. (I'll just tell Miranda what I was thinking) So here is my analysis of only the McKay family:

Miranda-Snow White
Rachel-Sleeping Beauty
Camdyn-Ariel
Jane-Belle
John-Goofy

Happy Birthday, Miranda!!!!!!! David and I hope you have a terrific day!

Jane's Birthday Gift....

Happy Birthday to Our One-Legged Friend, Jane

Earlier this month we had the pleasure of having Jane and her family attend the Rose Parade with us. I must tell you that I was a little worried that Jane would have trouble getting into the house (Even with my persistent nagging David was unable to get the ramp installed prior to her visit) but luckily she was able to hop in without any trouble at all. It's amazing just how easy she makes it look. What an inspiration!

While we were watching the parade I learned that Jane used to be on the flag team. What an amazing accomplishment for someone suffering this handicap! (Oh wait, is that okay to say? Maybe I should have said for someone who is a monopede or someone who is left-leg challenged?) I have since seen some shots of her in her flag uniform. She looked so great, it was hard to even tell that she was missing a limb. I think the fact that she carried the flag pole on her left side helped out a bit, it prevented her from appearing off-balance and she could also use it to steady herself if & when she needed to.

For those that think flags is the extent of her athletic abilities you couldn't be farther off. Jane is quite an all around athlete. I recently learned that while she was growing up, in Utah, she was a semi-professional snowboarder. I would love the details behind her success in snowboarding but I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable by asking "How can you be a snowboarder at that level with only one leg", the question is just kind of rude. When the time is right, I'm sure she will tell me. Jane is also is a very good soccer player and in recent years has become a referee for games in the Mesa area. It became obvious to me (after reading the McKay family Christmas card) that she puts alot of pressure on her children to play good soccer. Miranda must score some goals if she is going to be able to go to Disneyland this year. Couldn't you just hear her yelling from the sidelines? "Miranda, if I can score (goals) with one leg you certainly can score them with two" or "Do you really think it is easy for me to score (goals) with one leg? Not, so much"

I hope this inspires more people to let go of whatever ailments or issues they are having and continue to enjoy life. Whether you have lost a limb, suffer from bad or no hair, or are just not very attractive this should not stop you from living a fun and fulfilling life. For her birthday, we are setting up a foundation for Jane to help others, the foundation will focus on improving the self esteem of people in the community. Please note that people are already coming out of the woodwork to donate to Jane's foundation! Just today, I have received calls from the "Mesa Republican Party", "Salvation Army", "Arizona DMV" and the "American Society of Radiologic Technologists". Please be apart of this great opportunity! If you would like to make a donation, I would encourage you to pass by Jane's office and simply empty the change in your pockets directly onto her desk. We will make sure your money gets distributed properly.

Multiple Email Addresses

Yesterday, someone commented on the fact that I have several email addresses and "How many do I really need?" I wonder how many email addresses does the average person have? Let's go through mine for a second:

I have my work email:
Kim-@chw.edu
Kim.Thomas-@chw.edu
Kthomas-@chw.edu

While there are three work addresses they all go to the same place so I am going to count those as one. I also have my other work address: Kimberly.Thomas-@ps.net

Then I have my original email address that I have never wanted to cancel. (Note: If I check this once a year that is alot)
Kim1Champ-@aol.com

Of course I own the domain, Kim1Champ.com. I have two email addresses there but I never use them. Actually, you could send ANYTHING@kim1champ.com and it would drop into my kim1champ mailbox but again, I never read it.

Then I have my old junkmail account:
KimThomas88-@hotmail.com.

Also my old yahoo account,
Kim1Champ-@yahoo.com.

Next I have my two main-non work addresses:
Kim.Thomas-@gmail.com
TheChamp-@gmail.com

Kim.Thomas-@gmail is used whenever I have to sign up for things and/or buy something and of course I use it for blogging. TheChamp-@gmail.com is my main personal email. If you have stupid jokes and feel compelled to send them to me, send them there.

I also have another gmail account but it is a secret ;)

Gmail is far superior to all of the other accounts. It's easy to organize and includes email threading.

So in total I have 11 email addresses consisting of 9 email accounts, 4 of which are active. How many email addresses do you have?

Mom's "Wind" Warning

A couple of weeks ago I was in Sacramento headed to the airport when my mom called. She called to tell me that it was windy in LA and that my flight might be rough. At the time I thought she was just looking for an excuse to call me since we hadn't really talked in a couple of days. (We usually talk frequently, just ask James) After the call I said to my two companions "Mom called to say it's windy in LA and the flights are going to be bumpy, but really she just called to talk to me". Two of us laughed.

About two hours later when I was on the most horrific flight of my life I was thanking my mother for the warning. The flight was all over the place moving 300+ feet in vertical drops as well as jerking from side to side. It seriously felt like I was on a roller coaster. We even took a different route back into Burbank (first time that has every happened on one of my flights). I was completely unnerved but I was under control only because of mom's warning.

The trip back to Phoenix that day was equally rough. After it landed I received a text message that just stated, Thank God for my mom giving us a warning-tell her thank you. That little warning gave us all enough comfort to keep us calm while others were literally screaming on the planes. I called mom and thanked her on our behalf, I will never make fun of her weather warnings again.

Last tid bit-All my subsequent flights into Burbank have been windy and all have followed this new route.

Follow up to Automatic Paper Towel Dispenser

This automatic paper towel dispenser is truly one of a kind! The paper towel shown at the right was obtained with only ONE wave of the hand. Finally someone got it right. This was brought to us by Jenn from Staples. (How happy am I that Jenn took this photo?) Speaking of Staples how did you all feel about The Office episode from last week?

This reminds me: If others have good pictures or story ideas they should email or text them to me. We have very talented and resourceful readers out there. BTW: Misty, I gave Rachel your XM Radio on Friday night. Sorry for the delay. (Squidward, yours is on it's way too)

Happy Birthday Benny!

Happy 30th Birthday, Mr. Edwards!

Happy Birthday Becca and Mich!

Flash Back, 27 years...The famous Snoopy and Incredible Hulk cake.
(Also note those hideous green dining room chairs)

New Blog: Doomsday Clock

Tonight I bring you a blog that I did not write. This work of art was written by our favorite Christmas Tree Decorator and Padme impersonator, Queen B.

The following blog is entitled: "Doomsday Clock moved forward"

LONDON, England (AP) -- The world has nudged closer to a nuclear apocalypse and environmental disaster, a trans-Atlantic group of prominent scientists warned Wednesday, pushing the hand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight.

Queen B's thoughts...

(1) The most obvious first, of course. 2 minutes closer to midnight of WHAT DAY??? Wouldn't it be more important to pinpoint the day rather than the minute? I would much rather freak out for 1,440 minutes on Day X of Month Y of Year Z (assuming we made it all the way until the end of the day... it could be significantly fewer minutes than that if it were to occur at like 8:30am when I was about to start the daily ops call). Instead they would rather that I freak out every night at 11:52 pm wondering if the nuclear apocalypse AND environmental disaster were going to occur in the next minute.

(2) Who the heck let the scientist into the room to push the hand of the clock forward? Shouldn't we keep it more secure? Where is Homeland Security when you need them? Shouldn't the Doomsday Clock, which predicts nuclear apocalypse AND environmental disaster be their #1 priority? It sounds a lot more important to me than whether my 1 ounce liquids are in a Ziploc bag when I'm at the airport, which is their current #1 priority I believe.

(3) How does daylight savings time play into this? Especially with all of the changes to DST this year, I'm really concerned that we haven't thought this all the way through.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please read more of Queen B's words of wisdom at http://smbtamu01.blogspot.com/

Two Highlights from American Idol

(1) Scary looking chick:


(2) When one disaster asked if Simon Cowell would be his voice coach Simon responded: "I couldn't coach you. It would be like coaching a one legged man to win the 100 meter sprint. I may be a good coach but if you haven't got it, you haven't got it. (You all know how I feel about one-legged people so I just had to post this great comment)

Snow in Malibu

Today, it snowed in Malibu. Listening to the people in Malibu tonight on the news was entertaining. My two favorite comments (both from adults):

• The fun only lasted until the snow melted a few minutes later.
• The snow has made this the best day of my life (really, is that really true? If so, how pathetic)

Odds and Ends

*James has scored 3 of the 5 goals on his soccer team this week. He is also one of only two freshmen on varsity, he is sooooooooo awesome.

*Queen B brings us "What I've Learned from Jack Bauer: http://men.msn.com/articlees.aspx?cp-documentid=1628457&GT1=8991

*Rachel McKay reminds us how much it sucks to take down the Christmas Tree. Next year, I'm paying someone to put it up and take it down. If your interested in the job, call me.

*MTC wants to see the face of the mysterious hottie in the previous blog. Don't count on it, honey. He may be married (and not my husband) but he is going with me to New Orleans next month.

*Special Agent Aaron Pierce posted on the blog last night!!!!! (I wonder if it's really him???)

*24 was definitely better on night two. Yes, Rachel and Jenn: Curtis is dead.

*Anonymous-I so know who you are! You gave yourself away "Thank you for your time"

*Coming up on the blog next week "Sell off your bad friends on Craig's List"

Automatic Paper Towel Dispensers in Restrooms

I am a technology lover and I would have never thought that technology could actually hinder personal hygeine but guess what it has. Properly washing and drying ones hands after a trip to the restroom is critical in keeping clean not to mention avoiding sickness. In the old days, there was a manual dispenser that would allow you to take the appropriate number of paper towels to effectively dry your hands. That was nice.

Now, we have the automatic dispenser that requires you to place your hands in front of it. Once you have done that it will dispense one tiny paper towel. The size of the towel is depicted in the photo to the right. (It is really too bad that I couldn't get the hottie holding the paper towel in this photo. Unfortunately, for the women out there, he chose not to be pictured) Back to the small paper towel size: It wouldn't be so bad if you could quickly obtain another towel but it is not that easy. This technological wonder senses that the same hands are craving more paper towels so you have to trick it into thinking that "new hands" have appeared.

Each time I have to trick the dispenser it costs me about 30 seconds of my life. First, I try to see if it will dispense without tricking it and I just keep waving my hand in front of it. (Seconds 1-10) Nothing comes out. Then I get angry because my attempts to get a second towel failed and now I am going to have to trick the device (Seconds 10-15). I walk away from it (Seconds 15-20), then walk back and wave my hands in front of it again (Seconds 20-25). 2nd Towel dispenses (Seconds 25-30). There they are, 30 seconds of my life that I can never get back.

The point of this story: Less is not more when it comes to drying your hands in a public restroom.

24 Premiere (Thoughts on First 2 Hours)

So far......here on my thoughts:

• Not too happy.
• Watching with commercials blows (this is my first time live and I really want to go back to the DVD's)
• It was a slow start, especially compared to Season 5
• The bite was way too gross (Couldn't they have found another way for him to escape-Yuck)
• Too much torture and with lots of sound effects
• Best line of the night "Drop the Coffee" LOL

Jack's Back!

Jack's Back and clean shaven in 12 Hours, 6 Minutes and 22 seconds (He shaves that horrible beard 10 minutes into the season-this information comes from Dora who will not reveal her sources. I'd be interested in knowing how long she would hold out if I sent Burke in with a little Sodium Pentothal) For those that hate 24, you won't have to endure this much longer but I thank you for your patience ;)

P.S. A call out to the Champ: "Is the Keif coming over tonight?" I am still holding out hope, I better go clean the house just in case.

The Identity of Queen B-Revealed!

It's Padme!

Exiting the Burbank Airport Parking Structure

I have so much material tonight but for now we will focus on the adventures of leaving the Burbank Airport parking structure on a busy Friday night.

Kim exists the parking structure and thinks "Hmm, which line will be quicker-uh oh merging from the right so lets go all the way to the left" BIG MISTAKE!

Raj (female) was working in the left lane. After 4 cars were through it was now my turn. I hand Raj my credit card and ticket at 9:38. Raj proceeds to pound with her index finger on the register ...........pounds some more.......pounds some more......I am sitting there, the cars are lining up behind me and for some reason, as the minutes tick by I am not even slightly annoyed, rather I am intrigued by the horrible customer service. I have been sitting here, two feet away from Raj for approximately 10 minutes and she has said nothing. I am simply wondering if she will ever say anything again, it is possible that I could die here and the last sounds I will ever hear are of her pounding on the register. I ponder what I would do if I were Raj. (1) I would stop pounding, surely that is not going to do anyone any good (2) I would apologize profusely to the customer (3) I would make some sort of hand motion (who me? LOL) to tell the cars behind the first car to go to another line. (4) Get help, in the next lane there are two people in the same booth, maybe one of them can assist. More pounding......More Pounding....I am now amused (for some reason) and I decide that if I am sitting here, I might as well take some pictures:

Note my reflection in the window as Raj pounds:


Two workers in the next booth over:

Long Line of Cars Behind Me

More Pounding (look at those arms go at it)

Still Waiting at 9:59PM

At approximately 10:03 Raj hands me the little clipboard, my credit card, and a pen. She indicates that I should sign the receipt. I sign it and hand her back the clipboard. I hold onto the pen just to see if Raj knows how to converse. Finally, Raj speaks: "You still have my pen" I say, "Oh, here you go" and I hand her the pen. I receive no "thank you", no "I apologize for the delay", no, "It's freezing cold, I'm sorry you have had your window open for the last half hour". I leave and still slightly amused and not angry I head directly towards San Gabe (Thats a story for another night).

Friday, January 12th-Talk like Jack Bauer Day

3 Days Left!!!!!! (Everybody better watch the premiere on Sunday) So in honor of the fact that 24, Day 6 is premiering in 3 days, today is going to be talk like Jack Bauer day. Some good 24 lines you can use at work:

If you don’t intervene now, it may be too late. (Mike to Palmer)
Thank you for advising me of the situation. (Jack to Palmer)
I will not let this thing fall apart because of technical incompetence.
We are using every resource at our disposal. (Palmer to Logan)
Demand nothing less than success from your people and you will get it.
Bump up their security level on a provisional basis if you have to.
Get back to me as soon as you have the results (Novick to Audrey)
Based on this information here we can start to develop a contingency plan.
If you need me, get me on my cell. (Jack to Tony)
We’re being beat by our own technology. (Chloe to Michelle)
No one is fully protected in the field. (Michelle to Audrey)
We’re going to stand up and we’re going to try to be part of the solution. (to Jack)
We should consolidate our teams. Meet strength with strength. (Tony to Curtis)
We don't have the option of not responding (Palmer to Lynn)
The problem is resources. We just don’t have enough bodies to cover everything.
His system wasn’t loaded properly and it was your fault. (Michelle to Carrie)
Unfortunately, it’s a lengthy process. (Attorney to Palmer)
We don’t want this thing going south over one small detail. (Jack to the Warden)
Larry told me that he needs an answer from you by the end of the day.
I think we’re going to get it under control. We just got a lot of work to do.
It’s about to hit the fan – I know that and you know that. (Chase to Jack)

I bet you I will say every one of these by the end of the day. Copy That!
(With great lines like these, how could you not watch this show?)

Queen B leaves her Treo in the Office

Last week, when Queen B was on-call (and a major and complex upgrade was being completed) she left her Treo at the office. Unfortunately, she was in such a hurry to leave the office she also left her badge. This resulted in no way for her to get back in to retrieve the Treo. (I would so die) After two hours, she was having cold sweats and clammy hands. After four hours she was imagining her foot was vibrating. After 24 hours she felt completely depressed and unloved from the lack of text messages and emails.

Mr Treo (as Queen B calls it) was sitting way up on top of the book shelf in her cube. It is sitting away from her desk because it causes constant interference with her land land. I found this to be quite interesting because I never had interference from my Treo but I have it constantly with my new Blackberry. hmm.

I have to quote the Queen here because at the end of this she asks a question and now she can rest assured that I was silently asking the very same question as I was reading the following synopsis. (Queen B is so in tune with my thought processes, how crazy)

My normal routine is to check in with Mr Treo when I’m getting ready in the morning, but I had the thought that I would actually have to do the following to access email…. (1) power up laptop (2) login (3) open Internet Explorer (4) open VPN (5) login to VPN (6) open Outlook. That is a lot to do to check email!!! BTW, if you’re wondering about step 3, for some reason VPN won’t let me login without having hit a web site first. Yeah, that’s a feature, I’m sure.

So, as the weekend progressed our good friend's withdrawal symptoms were fewer and fewer. Eventually, she stopped feeling foot vibrations, blood pressure returned to whatever normal is and the feeling of depression and anxiety somewhat subsided.

Now for two big questions:

(1) Does anybody know who Queen B is?
(2) Why did she think her foot was vibrating?

Ben's Bare Office

The only items Ben left in his office:

6 Days until 24

Score: Champ 1, Jane 1

Champ held her head up high after defeating Jane in the Treo 700W Ms Pacman competition that was held last year and ran from late November until Christmas. Unfortunately for Champ, the victory was short lived. Last week at the Sacramento Ms Pacman Invitational Jane McKay took an early lead and Champ could not recover. The devastating loss (over 2,000 points) was appropriately captured by the camera on Jane's new phone. (Picture to be produced later)

Stay tuned for round 3. (When: February. Location: TBD)

The following was captured on Champ's camera:

Jane performs Ms Pacman surgery. (James has since informed me that the only way to get a coin out of an arcade game is to kick the game really hard-we'll try this next time)

Please note: MTC was not on hand to see this Ms Pacman match. MTC is currently, very, very, very busy securing Keifer Sutherland for my 24 party. (What a great friend, she cares about nothing but getting Keifer for me. MTC, I owe you big!)

Countdown to 24!!!!

Whoa...we are almost there! As of this moment there are 7 days, 11 hours, 8 minutes and 13 seconds until Day 6 premieres!

I am so excited, I can't stand it!!!!!! I am also totally freaking because on the 2nd half of the premiere (January 15th) I will be on a plane heading home from Reno! (I will be out of the loop for at least 1.5 hours) http://www.fox.com/24/

How is the champ doing on getting Keifer to come to my 24 party premiere? (I'm still holding out hope)

Joshua Slamming His Puzzle

Had to share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSv5uK-aL5c

Happy 4th Birthday Camdyn!!!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, dear Camdyn
Happy Birthday to you

Katie, David and I wish you the bestest birthday ever! Have fun building a bear (Yours will be most awesome bear in the world)!

For Dill Pickle Lovers!

Window Cleaning at the Thomas House

There is no way I have enough patience to clean the windows in my house. Whenever I try to clean my windows they never turn out quite right so this means it is something I have to hire out. Rather than give money to a total stranger I figured that maybe James would like to earn a little cash. I asked him and he was like "sure" I'll come over tomorrow and do it. (Note at the time I asked him to do this I thought that I was just a bad window cleaner with little patience. Now I realize that window cleaning is a specialized skill set which neither James or I possess)

David bought a little bucket, squeegee, cleaning solution and scrubber and I had it all prepared when James arrived.


This is a photo of James cleaning the windows. After this window he tried one more window on the other side of the house before he ended up calling it quits. Note the most important part here is the bottom and top panes were the ones he had cleaned. The middle two were before James "cleaned" them.

Thanks James for coming over and cleaning the windows. The streaks make for a much more interesting story than plain old dirty windows. I couldn't have come up with this without you and your incredible cleaning talents.

Traveling and Electronics

Tonight as I was packing for my trip to Reno I realized that I need a separate suitcase just for all my electronics. I have the best gadgets!!!! These are the items I just packed:

XM Radio-Inno. This color screen super compact XM satellite radio rocks!

Garmin Nuvi 660-My new GPS! Today I programmed all of the stops for the trip into the Nuvi, it is so cool and I have never felt so prepared. After this trip I will know the product well enough to provide a comprehensive review.

Video IPOD-Complete with thousands of songs and the entire Season 5 of 24!

Powersource Mobile 100-This awesome birthday gift allows me to charge any device directly from the Powersource instead of an electrical outlet. (How cool is that) Here is a picture of me standing in a parking lot charging my phone with it:

Blackberry Pearl-OK, yes, I am getting used to it. It doesn't have Ms. Pacman though soooooo

Treo 700W-(Ms. Pacman)

Plantronics Bluetooth Headset-with portable power charger.

Kodak Easyshare V603-6.1 Megapixel digital camera

Laptop-D600

Verizon Wireless Broadband Card-high speed internet access for my laptop

Well, I better go pack some clothes now. LOL

James and His Quick New Years Comments

James blog is hysterical today: Go Read it: http://snavesemaj5.blogspot.com/

Happy New Year!!!!

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year.

The Rose Parade tradition continued this year and we had several guests in for the actual parade. Unfortunately, this was probably the worst parade I have seen in a long time, if not ever. The floats were just not that spectacular (this is the consensus of most of the usual parade attendees).

I think the "Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade" should have been held in Oklahoma this year. It seemed every other float was some Oklahoma float. Oklahomans are very enthusiastic to celebrate their state Centennial in 2007. Note the overly excited band dude saluting in this picture:

My New Years evening tradition is to re watch the parade on television (just the floats, I tivo it during the day) I watch so that I can see what flowers were on each of the floats and learn any interesting tidbits. This year I was able to watch in HD (Yay, thank you, HD Tivo) but I didn't learn much, perhaps it was because I wasn't that interested (Remember, I wasn't that impressed by any of the floats) or perhaps it was because the coverage just sucked (Boo KTLA for kicking Stephanie to the curb). The only interesting thing I learned was about one of the Oklahoma floats (big surprise). One of the Oklahoma floats had James Garner, Johnny Bench, Shannon Miller and Nadia Comaneci. I didn't recognize any of these people. What an odd group to be on the same float. I mean we KNOW Nadia Comaneci wasn't from Oklahoma (I have no idea on the others) so why was she on this float? It wasn't a sports float or a Rockford Files float. Bizarre, I guess these are the only people Oklahoma could pay off to represent them. Seriously though, Nadia Comaneci is popular enough to have her own float. She is awesome!

To those that came to the parade, I hope you had a great time despite the poor floats. You are welcome to attend again and rest assured that I will not use the same seating pictures for you twice. You all did a very good job at "Maintaining the integrity of the seating chart" and for that, I thank you very much ;) The "Aisle" will also be making a comeback in 2008. I was able to use it several times and that made me oh so happy. (Come on, it's the little things folks)

Well, one more day of vacation and then I'm back to work. Going to enjoy tomorrow by going to the spa with Becca. Ahhh, right about now, the pure relaxation massage is sounding so good!!!!!

P.S. If this won't keep you out of Porterville, nothing will:

Blogging While on Vacation

I find it is hard for me to do. I am not sure why since I always write in the evening. Is it possible my creativity stops working when I am off? I missed several days this last week.

(Hey look at the Blog archive summary: I made 98 posts in 2006. I am so pissed that I missed 100)