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)