Amsterdam Day 1: Visiting my long lost home

Ahhh Amsterdam. I've dreamed about you for years. The image in my mind has been a sweet affair. Canals, bridges, ringing bike bells and coffee shops. It has been like that perfect crush where the imagined relationship is perfect, there are no flaws no warts. No promising you will call and then never do....umm...ok, that was another crush.

Well, so far you are meeting my expectations, plus giving just enough discomfort to want more. Call it a slap and tickle from a country. It's been a long time getting here, like years, so when we finally landed this morning, it almost seemed surreal.

Well, we had a wee bit of trouble with the train ticket machines not accepting our cards so after not having a smoke for over 13 hours, we decided to step outside, have a smoke and re-group. So sweet Jebus it was flippin' cold and windy. I mean, made my face feel like it was going to fall off cold. As luck would have it, we were able to hook up with a cab and let me tell you it was worth it. I had read a lot about the cab drivers being dishonest and stuff but that was not our experience. We caught a cab/van to our hotel, Eden Rembrandt for 35 euro, not a bad deal as it was split b/w 4 people. We actually overtipped, but hey, it's better to be generous than not. Plus I'll call it my good karma tip. Let's pass that shit around.

The hotel is nice, small, but nice and very modern, plus we were able to check in early which is nice after sitting in an itty bitty plane seat with coughing people around you. If you know me, you know what I wanted to do....visit the coffeeshops. Luckily there are a bunch around our hotel and ended up checking out a small place by our hotel called Sevilla. Now I'm sure there are better places with more selection and we even had pre-rolled, but it was perfect to get us settled.

The budkeep was a very cool chick and she made a great cappacinno. There is a super smokey back room where you can smoke both week and tobacco with a nice foosball table. Since there are different tolerance levels in the group, we went for a no mix pre-rolled Jamacain, nice. It was mellow enough, but I was still able to leave after and walk around. I really liked the vibe there, the other customers were cool and laid back and of all ages.

After dragging ourselves out of there we decided to cruise somewhere else, how is that for vague? I still don't have my bearings. Well we walked around for awhile, saw some stores where I can do some serious damage and then decided a little beer and food would be just what the Dr ordered. So we popped into a nice bar/restaurant called Cafe Kale. The bartenders were nice, the place was cozy, and the food was great basic fare. We shared some lovely tomato soup and a plate of ham, eggs, and cheese. Yummy!! The best part of the visit was that it started some crazy ass hailing outside and this Dutch fella came in with his dog. Guess the dog's name, come on, guess....ok, it was OTIS!!! Well Otis was a hit with all and we had a nice chat with his owner as well. The coolest thing is that Otis does the same sit up on his but trick as our Otis. Dutch Otis and SD Otis are kindred souls across the ocean. Who knows, maybe they will meet some day.

I could really love this city, weather aside, that kinda blows, but the atmosphere is wonderfully full of dark and light. Leaning black painted homes with white trim over canals, friendly locals willing to stop and chat, quick smiles, smoking out in public while having a coffee and everyone recognizing that it's no big thing and just makes life a little nicer. We walked by a hair salon and I glanced up and in off the street. Oh those lovely hairdressers, two men with cafe au lait skin and long spiraling curls. Turning those beautiful women in their chairs, all of it looking like it could be part of a Vogue editorial.

Let's see if my crush turns into real love......

We were on a break

It's been a lot of time since I updated on here. I mean, I know that vast audience of zero will understand, but so much has happened you know. I mean we got our newest addition Poppy, who is aka Big Poppa, my sweet little wonderdog.

We have an awesome new president. Someone who makes me proud to say I'm from the US. So big things have happened.

Well, I'm going to be updating my posts with hopefully, daily reports on my trip to Amsterdam.

Now listen, I am in Amsterdam and there are ahhhh....other activities going on here that make it a little less than conducive to be productive and write, but try I will.

So get ready for Amsterdam Day One coming soon...

You Want Us to Do What??

It's been a long time in posting my non-existent readers, but I feel compelled to spread my gospel or opinion, either or depending on your inclination. I've been listening and watching and reading alot about this huge bailout that is being suggested for these large financial institutions. Now I'm not an economist nor a financial whiz, but I have an opinion and I thinks it's pretty legit.

So our current administration of dumdums are suggesting that we, the blessed citizens of this country reach deep into our pockets to "bail" out this institutions that dug themselves into a pile of deep doodie. Let me think about this for a second....ok, thought done and the answer if FUCK NO! This is not the way to go. I will admit that there is some responsibility that should be held by all of us, but I'll get into that in a bit.

First let me ask you this, for the past two terms of our numbnuts of an administration the Republicans have wanted to privatize everything. Forget about social security, lets privatize it. Socialized healthcare??? No way, that sounds a bit to lefty. They wanted less government interference these bloodless money grubbing corporations and that's what happened as the politicians pockets were lined with the dollars of corporate lobbyists. The government was sucking at the teat of corporations taking it straight up the ass b/c their asses were lubed with money. So these corporations were left loose like a 7 yr old driving his grammies SUV. The invested and encourage sub prime loans, I mean, puhlease, why would they even consider checking anyone's salary, that's just moronic. The told people, go ahead and buy that over inflated million dollar McMansion, you don't have to put any money down, no worries, we trust you. Investments sprouted based on debt. I'm sure there were lots of people with MBA's after their names thinking they were the fucking Einstein's of the financial world and they sat around a circle jerk with each other.

Well the shit has hit the fan. Let me ask another question? The people running these companies, what kind of bonuses did they get, what were their salaries? They made out like bandits laughing all the way to the bank, laughing at us. Now the all bets are due and guess what, they need help. Well cry me a fucking river. So sorry that you fucked up, but why should suck it up and give you a handout? The bums always lose and it's time for the people that were running the show to be accountable. So maybe they can't bail it out all the way, but come on, those fucks at the top show no remorse and of course they are now tighter with their money than a virgins pussy. So what happened to all this the government should not be involved bullshit I've been hearing for years? These idgits that our administration "left alone" really fucked it up. They can't even wipe their ass without their admins to count out the sheets of toilet paper for them. So now we should all accept their bad decisions led be greed? I mean please, the government is asking me to take it up the ass without lube and not even inching it in. It's a straight up slam in my ass. Well, you can't have my money.

What do I get? I've paid my bills on time, I've paid my mortgage and I've managed my money. What do I get for being a fucking financial genius and not having to declare bankruptcy? Do I get the government to help me? Hells to the NO! Let me tell you what would have happened to me. Lets say I bought a house I couldnt' afford. Racked up debt to my eyeballs on plasma TV's and Range Rovers. All of a sudden I realize, Shite, I can't even pay the minimum on my credit card, I can't pay my mortgage. I'll tell you what I would get. A repo an on my Range Rover, a foreclosure notice on my home and a credit record that wouldn't even allow me to get a cell phone contract. I get no bailouts. The citizen's of this country are not the rich mommy and daddy for these corporate fuckups and all you politicians, stop convincing me I have to do it.

There have been bad times in the past, but this current cluster fuck has all been created by greed and a complete disregard of common sense. I don't need a fucking MBA to know that what was done by Wall Street is about as smart as sticking your dick over a flame. SO STOP ASKING FOR MY HELP. FUCK YOU.

Now I said earlier that we the citizen's do need to be partially responsible. We all wanted to get rich fast and as shareholders asked these corporations for more. For Jebus sake, stop being money grubbing assholes. We basically asked to get rich off of nothing. We said give us more money as shareholders, I don't give a shit if you ship my job to China...I want five more cents on the dollar. I don't care if my products are safe, puhlease, people need to stop being pussies. I'll just go to Wal-Mart and save a buck and disregard that all those products are made by poor Chinamen. Stop being greedy. If you really thought you could live in a million dollar home on a combined income of 60K you should be kicked in the balls and should maybe live in a shitty apartment for awhile. In the meantime, I get to see all that money I put in a 401K take a shit dive. Thanks, glad I saved.

People need to be realistic. Money doesn't grow on trees, we all can't get rich fast. We need regulations to make sure these corporations don't overstep their boundaries. I watch my own company ship more jobs to Mexico b/c as I was told, why pay 2 k for a salary when we can pay 600. Um, ok. I saw my bonus shrink and my raise be put on hold but I noticed no decrease in salaries of the executive. Well Fuck You! We need to all accept that we shouldn't get the cheapest prices for the sake of no jobs for our own people. Fair prices and fair wages. Pay a little more and keep the jobs here. These corporations should not get tax breaks if they ship jobs outside the country. They shouldn't get shit for setting up tax shelters and routing their businesses through companies that have less restrictive tax laws.

Now I know something has to be done...oh we could save some money if we ended the war....I mean we are trillions of dollars in debt for that. People need to educate themselves. Read and watch more instead of basing all your decisions on Fox news. People just don't give a shit about it, but it's gonna catch up to all of us sooner or later. As you are LOLing with your friends via text, maybe you won't feel that 12 inch dick they are trying to shove up our asses.

A breath is precious

I have been coughing for over 2.5 weeks now. Not just a little cough cough here or a little cough cough there. Oh no. More like , a constant hacking every 3-5 minutes. The thing that sucks is that 50% of it is me forcing myself to cough b/c it feels like I have a piece of silly putty stuck in my throat...or maybe like a hairball. The result of this constant hacking is, headaches, a sore back that felt like my kidneys are going to fall out, maybe in some cases, but of course not mine, slight incontinence...yeah, you heard me, and a negative effect on my marriage. Besides me acting like a complete and total rag, I think I'm about a hairs width from getting suffocated one night by my husband, and I suppose rightly so. I wouldn't want to listen to that shit anymore. But really, I think he's avoiding me. I know he loves me, but I think any sane person would want to stay a good distance from a constant sharp barking sound and if that wasn't enough, a completely unpleasant personality at this point.

Well, I decided that most likely I should get to a Dr, but I had a good feeling they would tell me allergies. The thing that is so weird is that I don't have congestion, no sinus pain, no runny nose, or itchy watery eyes, just a cough. I went to the Dr today and he checked me out, I asked if he thought I had TB or cancer, he looked at me like I'm an idiot and shoved me out the door with some pills and nasal spray. Huh, what? What the hell. I mean, of all those commercials out there, can't there be one for post nasal drip cough??? Just one? I mean I've tried Claritin, Zyrtec, Benadryl, Sudafed, Mucinex, Cough Suppressant, more cough medicines. Nothing is working!!!! So dear reader, hope that the samples of Allegra will help, b/c if it doesn't, I can't be in control of the insanity that will soon be arriving via special delivery on the crazy train.

Oh how we take the oh mighty breath for granted. I can't even walk my dog without wheezing, plus the poor thing is getting the bitchy end of the stick during the whole walk.

Just remember sometime, that to breathe is to live, and to breathe without coughing, is the best way to keep this already bitchy chick from finally snapping. Keep your fingers crossed that the coughing will stop soon.

Consumption Junction

Oh consumption junction, what's your function, coughin' up mucus and keepin' me awake.

So....I haven't been blessed to catch one of those nasty viruses going around *knocking on big wood*, but I thought I was getting sick a couple of weeks ago. I started to feel that tell tale heaviness in my chest, but I took the vitamins, airborne, and slept for an entire day. Luck would have it that I didn't get sick. But alas, I was not to get off totally scott free on this one, nope. Instead, I seem to have partnered up with this lovely, mucous riddled rattley ass cough. I'm sure you know the kind. It's starts with a little tickle in your throat and then that tickle keeps going, kinda, like the real deal, when someone really tickles you until you pee in your pants a little bit. Well, this is the same thing, tickle, tickle, I swallow, tickle some more, I try to refrain from coughing, dammit, tickle, tickle, SMACK. Now I have to cough and it's the long drawn out kind that keeps going and going and going. You can feel your internal temp increasing exponentially, your face gets all red and hot and then you have to leave the room.

Well this has been going on for over two weeks now. Other than that, I feel fine, but what a hassle. It happens in the morning, at work, in the evening, and worst of all, when I'm trying to fall asleep. I went to the pharmacist, and she thinks I have seasonal allergies. The problem is, not one medication for allergies is for a cough.

I'm convinced that I have TB, OG consumption. Like Val Kilmer in Tombstone. Just call me lunger.
Notice the pale sweaty skin. That's what I look like after the coughing attacks...ok, maybe I'm a little red at first, but then the pale sweatiness comes into play.

Yield Shmield

Just a quick post tonight. I just wanted to say how much I hate yield signs. I mean seriously, if I see a yield I stop, b/c if I don't and someone is coming, I'm going to get t-boned. So why not just put up a stop sign? Why? I mean it's like putting up a sign that says "well, maybe you should kind of be careful, but you don't have to if you don't want, but if something bad happens, we'll say I told you so".

Running into brick walls

I've had certain moments in the past year, where all joking aside, I'm starting to feel.....OLDER. I mean, I'm going to be honest, overall, I think I look pretty good for my age. The age odometer recently hit 35...can you even believe it. Regardless of your age, I don't even know where the time goes. But I digress.

So here are a couple of examples. I was sitting outside with my husband the other day and the wind blew my hair into my face. I noticed a little glimmer or glint of color..but upon closer inspection of my hair strands, what did I find? Three full length silver hairs (I say silver instead of gray, b/c that sounds cooler). THREE!!! So many people would just tell me whatever and to get over it b/c they've had grays since they were 18, fine, but we all measure things a certain way. My mother didn't start graying until she was in her 50's. Now on to example two, I felt a tickle in my nose and upon inspection, it was nose hair that crept out of it's allotted nasal area into the light. A nose hair? Geesh, isn't that what old men get?

Well, b/c of these revelations, I've been going through my hair, only to find more and more grays..oy vay, no No NO. I mean come on, I have dark brown hair, plus I'm way to lazy to color it. Oh, and I just noticed that my hands are looking a bit veiny and sad and old.

But I tell myself it's all about how you feel right? So as I asked my husband to hand me my glasses to type this (that's a new development too), I asked him, what is going on with the grays and such, and his response, "because you're old, like 35 you know". This coming from a man who is 41 and a half. He quickly restated "but you look 25". Thanks babe.

I guess I'm running into a brick wall, but for now, I think I might just build me a tunnel in that wall.

Something that makes me smile

It only takes very little to make me happy now, I mean considering my complete and absolute soul sucking job. That constant squeaking is like an ice pick in my ear, but the dogs are so damn cute.

Does everyone shop at Costco?

As I was going through my Flickr groups tonight, I noticed a recurring theme on the pet postings. Everyone buys their dog beds from Costco. You can always tell because they are always the same size and always have that nubby fleece on one side. Oh, and face it, no one wants to pay fifty bucks when they can buy the same thing for a twenty spot at the big "C".

So I've been going back and forth about getting Otis a new bed and then I realized two things:
1. He slips during the day on two destroyed dog beds that are nothing but husks of what they originally started out as.
and
2. He destroyed my favorite pillow in the ENTIRE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. It really did bring that living room together.

So probably no new bed yet for Mr. Stinkyfeet.

I mean if I really think about it, at least one of the two dogs would be just as happy laying on a turd. I mean the happiness quotient would be so high as if it were a Swedish memory foam temperpedic turd.

Now I'm just straying off topic. So to answer my original post title, yes, everyone in the entire US plus it's principalities does shop at Costco. Why? Because it rocks some serious shizzle.

Oh, and stand by for an upcoming post where the question everyone is wondering....what does a dogs foot smell like.

Picking a winner

Every once and awhile we get confirmation that we made the right decision. When it comes to being with my husband, I really don't need it because I get that confirmation everyday, but sometimes, I get a wow punch in the head, that I picked a real winner. Often times it's when I see his sensitivity and kindness come through, whether talking about family, or love of animals, or just the little things he does.

Tonight like a bunch of old farts, we were watching 60 Minutes during dinner. A segment came on about Americans with no healthcare or enough healthcare. There is a great organization called Remote Area Medical. This organization, on a shoe string budget (last year only 250k), offers healthcare fairs offering free medical, dental, and vision care. The organization originally started offering healthcare to third world countries, but now due to the incompetence of our government and private healthcare company greed, the services are needed in the US. So the story went on about individuals in our country are uninsured or under insured. As we watched everyday normal people, basically working poor, show up to wait twelve hours for healthcare, I could see Mike getting more and more upset, as was I. It was frustrating to see so many good people put their lives at risk because they had no insurance or couldn't afford deductibles or follow up treatments.

At the end of the segment, we were both upset, because even in our cynicism we both care. Mike got up from the table and as he walked away, I could see tears on his face. My heart swelled and my love for the 100th time in a day was confirmed. I got lucky when he decided he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Loving someone because of the wonderful things the do is something, but loving someone because of the man they are, well that is priceless.

I highly encourage all that can spare anything, a buck, five bucks or more, to generously give to Remote Area Medical.

Living a good life

As much as I like to complain about almost anything, I have to post at least once and awhile as a reminder that we live a pretty good life. Better than most. We have a home, good jobs (as frustrating and dull as they may be), wonderful dogs, and great friends and family. My biggest complaint as of late is the lack of time. Time to do all the great wonderful things I want to do. I want to take pictures, play with my dogs, hang with my husband, hang with my friends and even just with myself. I want time to read some good books and learn about stuff that I want to learn, not want my job wants me to learn. Sometimes, time is not on my side. Every year that I get older, time becomes more and more limited and precious. That I have to spend at least one third of my week at the office, and that the work gets me down, because I think it is hampering my creativity. I'm stuck in that common conundrum in which my work allows me the funds to be able to do those fun things that I want to do, but it is a trade off because it limits my time.

As I struggle right now about what I want to do and what I need to sacrifice, I have to remind myself, that overall, I'm better off than most.

I mean, look at the love and affection I get:














The sweetness:



























Look at the great relationship that I have:
















And all the beauty around me.














Life is pretty good.
Now I just need to find the time....maybe it's hanging out in my closet.

I don't work for free!

So tomorrow is February 29th. Does everyone know what this is???? It's a leap year, meaning that every four years we get an extra day. So I started thinking about it at work, because lets face it, I would rather think about stuff like that than do some powerpoint presentation. So back to the point. As I was thinking, I realized that at work, my pay schedule is based on a 365 day year. Well....this year has 366 days. So do you know what that means???? My company and all companies out there that base their pay periods on a 365 day year are getting a free day of work our of their slaves. Well I'm not gonna have that, so I'm staying home tomorrow. I don't work for free, not me, no way, forget it. So maybe I told my boss I was going to take a PTO day, but also maybe, I forgot to put it into that kickass PTO database we are suppose to use, that just so happens to break and totally eff up all the time. Thus, I don't work for free and I'm not using my valuable, sanity inducing vacation time. Unless of course they ask, well then, I'll just say I forgot and will add it. This chick does not work for free. So take Friday off people, call in sick, do something, but no more will that corporate machine steal a day from me every 4 years. As I like to say, they can suck it.

Milk out your nose

I was giving my dogs some biscuits, when I heard a glurg, glurg, glurg sound. I looked up only to see a gallon of milk tipped ass up straight into my lovely husbands mouth. Now I know this goes on and maybe a time or two I've daintily done something almost similar. At that moment, we both made eye contact and the look of disgust on my face caused the gallon of milk to spontaneously combust over his face and hopefully up his nose and then all over the floor. Some things, you just don't want to see.

On the fulcrum of sickness

Maybe I'm a hypochondriac germaphobe. Could be. But let me tell you, I think I'm getting sick again. I admit that I probably do about 25 pumps of my hand sanitizer daily. I can't stop myself. And yes, I use a paper towel before touching a door handle. I see and I know those people who don't wash their hands in the bathroom and I don't want their poo germs on me, because you know what happens; poo germs on hands and then your eye itches, so you scratch your eye. Now guess what is in your eye? So after all that, I've been doing pretty good in the avoiding virus department. So I'm shocked that I have a sore throat and have the feeling of a small dwarf sitting on my chest. Where did I get these germs??? Urgh! Blast! Damn! So I've been sitting here double fisting Airborne and echinacea. So now I set here on the fulcrum of sickness. It's like a teeter totter, sick, not sick. As you can guess, I'm really pulling for the not sick. I think I'm going to start wearing a surgical mask so the virus that floats around the office from the hackers can't penetrate the fabric and infiltrate my fragile immune system.

I have to say though, it would be quite a conversation starter if I had a dwarf permanently sitting on my chest.

All things start with....a beginning

How do you start a new blog. Do you start with something profound? Like, I'm blogging to make a difference, to the save world, something important. Well, that's not how this is starting. I'm starting this blog because I sit in a cubicle, large and nice so I'm told, but a cubicle all the same. Day in and day out I sit in 3.5 walls of beige cubicle space just tall enough so that everyone can walk by and gawk at me (gawking is another post by the way). So I sit there 5 days a week and every second, every minute, every hour, I feel my creativity and essence seeping away. Corporate America is the sponge that is sucking up all that is me.

This a a blog is a place to renew my self and help get out all the things that well up inside of me during the day. I'm sure it will also help me man as well, as he's hoping my incessant bitching about so and so director, or stupid idiot manager, or anyone who happens to give me the stink eye even remotely, will cease and desist. Dream on baby. This girl was made for bitching. It's in my genes you know.