In Other News,
-SUCKS HORDE HOOVES We seem to be having issues again with Time Warner Cable, this is who we use for our Internet and cable. Seems that our bill has has gone up by $30 each month! We've been told over and over that our services should be bundled, (which we requested from Day 1) and that is what the problem is..."I will make the changes to your account so this won't happen again". That's what they say to apparently pacify us and get us the EFF off the phone. Every month we have to call in to complain about our bill and each month we are told that our services aren't bundled and they'll take care of it. We've paid the disputed amount each month thinking that the problem has been resolved and next month will be better....NOT! So Clay has to call in and rip the innocent customer service rep (Rashid) a new arse-hole...I hear him in there doing that right now. He's moved on to the supervisor (Rhonda), now. Clay is requesting for a refund for the $30 amount that was added to our bill because of their inability to push the correct keys to make the changes and then hit "enter". We even make auto-payments and it's hit and miss whether or not they initiate for their payments because when they call to collect their money, we point out that we don't get paper bills and that we have our account set up to auto pay. They review our account and see that to be true and we get a "Never-mind". Get this, we STILL have to pay the late fees for THEIR mistake. Well, apparently Clay was able to walk "Rhonda" through "How to review customer contact notes 101" and she was able to magically see the once invisible individual letters that formed words, when put into order formed sentences that turned out to be 10+ calls that Clay previously made. Wow! It's a miracle! "Rhonda" just said that they would make the necessary changes to our account to bundle our services and issue us a credit!! (wait...this is so weird! It's like Deja Vu....it's like we've heard all that before or something.)




In Literary News:

Christopher Paolini announces release of Brisingr the third installment of the Eragon / Inheritance Cycle.

I cannot put into words the excitement I feel about this. I have read both Eragon and Eldest twice each. I love all the characters, different lands and of course the Dragons! Christoper Paolini has totally captivated me with the first two books. Please don't judge the books off of that horrible movie adaptation of the books...Eragon! I can't believe what an awful movie that was! Read the books. Christopher Paolini takes the time to let you intimately get to know each and every character...you know them, you love them or you hate them because through his writing, Christopher Palolini shares those emotions with you.
On September 20, 2008....Brisingr will be mine!!! I have re-entered the land of Alagaesia and am currently reading both Eragon and Eldest again so that all details and characters are fresh on my mind so that I can continue the story flow with Brisingr! I'm thinking I will go to Amazon.com and PreOrder Brisingr right now! Of course, Mother's Day is this weekend and my Birthday is right around the corner, maybe I should hold off...ahem....just in case someone might possibly preorder Brisingr for their sweet, loving Mommy / Wife... (Hint-Hint)

So, Ironman opened this past Friday and it was.....AWESOME!!! Now, I love me some Robert Downey, Jr like, always, but he was phenomenal as Tony Stark! I thoroughly enjoyed the entire movie. I don't typically like Gwenyth Paltrow at all, in any instance...but eh...she was okay...at least she didn't take away from the movie-or maybe RD,Jr and everything else about the movie was so kick-arse, it didn't matter that there was a lame-0 like her taking up screen time. Definitely sit through all of the credits for a bit of total "Nerdvana"!
On the subject of "Nerdvana", I went to Lonestar Comics with Clay yesterday. He had spent the day at CAPE
celebrating his favorite day of the year...Free Comicbook Day! Anyhoo, there was a hardback book he didn't find at CAPE, (X-Factor Life and Death Matters Vol. II) so to Lonestar we headed. Typically, I walk around behind Clay as he "OOOO's and AHHHH's over the various toys and titles, enjoying his wonderful "boyish charm". Well, yesterday, as he perused the shelves looking for the elusive title, one of the staff of Lonestar gave me a double take and turned to face me and said..."Horde Rules". Then pointed to my shirt. I was wearing my World of Warcraft "Alliance" t-shirt. I laughed and was like, "Whatever, buddy....Alliance Forever"! Well, before I knew it, I was surrounded by 4 other staff members and the WoW-Nerdfest was ON! It was AWESOME! We were discussing/debating the intricacies of Arena play, 3v3 or 5v5, which is better...surviving in the Battlegrounds...Druids and Hunters being "Over-Powered"...Shared recommendations on useful class specific trinkets and gear...Again, I say, AWESOME! You must excuse me for a minute or two...I need a cold shower.

Been down with strep throat the last coupla days...missed two days of work while I waited for my fever to break...For those of you who don't know, I'm office manager for a dental office. I got back to my office on Wednesday to find post-its and other random notes strewn all over my desk all filled with "Loli-Do's". When I was an assistant and was out...my work wasn't waiting for me when I got back (Hello, patients!)...not so true now! It took me a day just to go through all of my Loli-Do's, all that between checking patients out, answering the phone and being the sweetest, nicest person on the damn planet! The doctor that I work with is nice and laid back (thankfully) This Loli has worked with some pretty bizarre doctors in my time. Most are very, very needy, all were anal-retentive in some aspect...ahhhh the stories I could tell....Ahem! But I digress. My current doctor is really nice with a great sense of humor. He prides himself on being laid-back. I almost, at times, think that he is too laid-back, to the point that I believe it borders if not oversteps the borders of professionalism.
Example 1: He came in late one morning and we had two patients in the chairs already, one hygiene, one operative. He walks in with a bag of donuts (just enough for him) proceeds to go into each of the rooms to greet the patients and explain his tardiness while chomping on the afore mentioned donuts. The explanation in my opinion was totally unnecessary due to the fact that we all knew that the stop he made to the donut shop for the donuts he was currently devouring, was the reason he was late.
He finds that acceptable...But what do I know? I've only made dentistry my career for a mere 25 years!
All that talk of doughnuts...I would kill for an apple fritter right now!

Toodles!

Sad news to report...we lost a member of our family this week,
our Yellow Lab, Luke passed away. Sweetest dog EVER. He was diagnosed with cancer this past week and we had to put him down this week. So very, very sad. He was about 9 years old and had brought so much joy and happiness to our family these past 5 years since we rescued him from the Rowlett pound.
There is so much that I will miss about him that I never thought that I would:
I'll miss is Bionic Tail, pounding dents into furniture and walls.
I'll miss him grunting and groaning like the old man he was.
I'll miss the way he would pout with his back to you when he felt "mis-treated" or "ignored".
I'll miss the way he would walk around puddles to keep from getting his feet wet.
I'll miss the way he would whine at the back door to be let in 'cause he didn't like to be too hot or too cold or just...outside.
Mostly, I'll miss that his favorite place to be was right next to you.
Thank you, Luke for all of your unconditional love and devotion. You will always have a place in our memories and of course in our hearts.
We miss you.

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted anything! Halloween...that's just shameful. Not much has been going on. Wills Point Football is over...so sad! They did pretty well, got to the playoffs and were knocked out second round. I am so proud of all the guys! I wanna thank everyone that came out to support The Tigers and especially my Spenner.

Okay, on to current issues. This past Tuesday, I was in a wreck. You have prolly already read Clay's Blog
and read his "silver-lining" take on things. So, it's Tuesday, I'm on may way home from work, looking forward to having time off from work starting the next day until Monday. I'm in Rowlett on Rowlett Road...those that know the area, know it's all messed up. I was just coming out of the residential area from the George Bush, right at Big A and Rowlett Rd. The light was green so I sped up a bit to make sure I got through the light... A big truck in the next lane blocked my view of this kid trying to make a left turn into the Chicken Expess before oncoming traffic...Me. Well, I slammed on my breaks thinking maybe, just maybe I would miss hitting him...if the kid had been a more seasoned driver, he would have gunned it and we prolly could have avoided contact and gotten away with just changing our undies...well, I hit him prolly going about 25-30 mph. We pulled into the Chicken Express. We both got out of our cars (he was driving a truck) He ran up to me apologizing, so concerned that I was okay. I told him that I was fine...with him apologizing over and over again and asking was I sure I was okay...He told me it was his first accident and didn't know what to do. I asked for his driver's license (told him he took a good picture) and insurance and wrote it all down and I wrote all of my info on another piece of paper for him. He told me he was trying to get to the bank before it closed...he was putting a bid on a house...getting married in a couple months with a baby on the way in October...he was all of maybe 21. Well, the mommy in me kicked in and I congratulated him and told him it would all be okay, that I was so sorry that all this happened and I hoped his dad wouldn't be too hard on him (he was still on his dad's insurance). Well we parted ways, with me thinking I could drive my car away, which I did, until I got just past the court / police station...my hood flew up and banged against my windshield. Luckily I was like 1 minute away from Marylin's house (my mother-in-law), so I put my hood down and just drove to her house and parked my car there. Clay called all frantic...apparently he didn't take the time to listen to the 2 voicemails I left him detailing what happened and that I was alright and where he could find me. Anyhoo, went to the doctor the next day and I have a case of whiplash. My insurance indicated that the accident might be deemed "dual liability" because the kid was more than halfway finished with his turn when I hit him...I hate insurance companies! Here's the good part...when we got home, I had a call from the kid's (Aaron) dad...thanking me for being so kind to his son. that Aaron was pretty shook up and that so many times people go berserk and that Aaron told him how supportive and kind I was. His father assured me that he would make sure that me and my car would me taken care of. that it was 100% Aaron's fault and ended thanking me again for my kindness. Isn't that awesome? It really made me feel good. I needed that. Well, I didn't need the wreck, but I did need some little shred of evidence that nice things can happen to nice people.

Halloween is just around the corner! Clay and I were invited to a costume party by Jimmy and Julie. We love that stuff...."Dressing-Up" for us doesn't mean puttin' on our Sunday best. Dressing-Up for us is like changing identities. One year, clay and I dressed up from Kill Bill...I was Elle Driver and he was Buck...who liked to F***. We won first place that year. Of course the world would stop spinning on it's axis if we didn't dress up as anything Star Wars. Jedi's...of course. This year, our theme is:
This is like our favorite show, so it is only fitting that we should use it as the theme for our Halloween costumes this year. The characters that we have chosen are, I think, the most beloved characters (our faves at least) and the costumes won't be that hard to duplicate. (Thank Goodness) Okay, so obviously, I'm going to be the Cheerleader and Clay will be Hiro...Future Hiro. Mine will be the easiest. I bought two long sleeve v-neck shirts, one red and one white, and I'm going to take the red sleeves and put them on the white shirt. Clay found the mascot and I will make an iron-on transfer for the shirt. Loli-Note: did you know that they used two different mascots? The first one was the Trojans, and the one they use now are the Wildcats. So anyway, I bought a cheerleading skirt pattern that matches Claire's and I already have white tennie-boppers...voila! Now Clay's will be a little trickier. He's letting his hair grow out so maybe we can make it look slicked back. I'll need to find a little "clip-on" ponytail. Clay is going to borrow Spen's "Blade" Samari sword (replica of course). The whole jacket thing...that will be hardest. I can't seem to find a full body shot of Future Hiro on the internet (imagine that) and I'll have to fashion a scabbard of some kind for the sword. I also need to make a little sticker or something of the symbol that is on the blade of Hiro's sword. That shouldn't be too hard. As far as the "Asian" look that Hiro naturally pulls down, I guess some scotch tape, one piece on the outside corners of his eyes to pull them back and give them that sexy almond shape....Only kidding! HEY, HEY, HEY...Remember, I'm a Jap, so it's okay for me to make my little comments! Now, of course if Jimmy cancels the party...well, Clay and I will just have to go and spend the evening at their house anyway. Actually, we have a group of friends that always have a costume party every year...it wouldn't be a loss.

Okay, so I have fallen into the pit that is "Myspace". I find that I am posting there more than here, that being because I have more family that is on Myspace. Here is my Myspace link, if you want to check it out. Lolivision

Well, let's start out with a Wills Point Football update from last Friday night:
Wills Point Tigers: 7 / Kaufman Lions: 10.
That's right, we lost our first game, which really sucks, especially since the Lions lost their
first two games and their first win was over the Tigers. It was a good game...Our offensive line
did awesome. I think that maybe there were team members that came into the game a little
over-confident, knowing that we had won our first two games and that Kaufman lost their first two games. Bottom line is that the Lion's were hungrier for a win. We increased our passing game, which totally keeps me on the edge of my seat...every time I see us throw a pass, I almost can't look...so afraid it will be intercepted. Intercepted it was at this particular game...a couple of times, which I think drastically affected the outcome of the game.
Clay's friend from college, Terry came to the game with us. Terry's dad is a football coach for Rowlett High School...it's a 5A school. They're 'big-time". Wills Point is only a 3A school. Well, Terry really enjoyed himself. We got there a little late, so it was slim-pickin's on a seat. We ended up sitting in an area with the "Uber-Fan-Mom"...Jane Anne. Terry had never experienced the small town football experience. Rowlett shares a stadium with several other Garland ISD schools. He was really impressed with the fact the game was being played at the actual school and that a big part of the town turned out for the game. I think that Terry was afraid I was going to make a scene with my Helmet-Shaker...Absolutely not possible with "Jane Anne" right next to us...she was all over Terry, leaning on him, there was a lot of Terry-touching going on. She screamed, yelled, cheered and jumped up and down the whole game. I'm surprised that her voice didn't go out. (note to self, don't sit by Jane Anne again) For the first time, parents around us actually acknowledged our presence. We are at every football, soccer, band and school function and have always been, since the boys have been in Wills Point, and only now are people noticing us. One mom asked if we were "Spencer's people". When I said "yes", she pointedly told several people around us, "This is Spencer's mom"...they were acting all happy to "finally" meet us...don't see the big deal. But I guess the acknowledgement is nice, since all these years, people just look right past or through Clay and I...so I know they don't have to say anything...cause they usually don't.

Wills Point Homecoming is this Friday. We are playing Gladewater. So, in San Diego, where I grew up, Homecoming didn't involve "Mums". I've seen homecoming mums about and truly just thought they were gaudy and unnecessary. For the first time, Spencer asked me to help him with a mum for his girlfriend. I have offered in previous years, but he always insisted on buying one from the local flower shop. This year, he decided to put a little faith in the never-failing "Lolivision". There's a place that I go to get my cake supplies and they also have tons of wedding stuff as well as tons of cheer and spirit stuff. Last week I went there to get everything we would need to make Emily's mum. Boy was I ever overwhelmed!!!! Things that I knew: Emily is a cheerleader, on the tennis team and the school colors are royal blue and white. They had mums ready-made with teddy bears, bells, whistles, and tons and tons of trinkets. I had no idea about tradition or protocol with homecoming mums. So I asked a nearby patron for some help. I was bombarded with questions and rules about mum-construction. I found out that on the mum was to go both Spencer and Emily's names, their extracurricular activities were to be included through trinkets (football, cheer, tennis, band). I found out the ribbon streamers needed to be a certain length, graduated by different widths of ribbon...did I want one main mum, or two or three....how was I going to depict the school mascot....I must have looked like I was going to cry because the "Mum-Lady" grabbed me and my cart and took me all over the store, helping me get the right ribbon, mums, gave me tons of suggestions for decorating with trinkets. She was awesome! I brought it all home and on Saturday, Spencer helped me assemble it. We went back on Sunday to pick up a few more trinkets...then put the finishing touches on it. Spencer was really, really happy with it. He said it was much nicer than anything he could have purchased in Wills Point. Gave me the warm fuzzies....I think it turned out okay...even still, I think it's a ridiculous tradition. Get this....even though this mum looks huge, it's not. This is teenie-weenie compared to some pre-made ones I saw...how does one wear one of these and stand erect? Better question: How does a guy look at his "girl" wearing one of these absurd homecoming accessories and utter the words "Baby, you look great" and keep a straight face? Knowing that in the back of his mind he is thinking about how he could have better spent that $50.
It's only the beginning guys, only the beginning.