grammy gaga

manOman loooooooooooong time no see, eh?
i think many of the old gang has lost interest in this blogging thing - or maybe it is just me. i really have nothing much to put out there other than it seems most of my spare time is spent on ecig (vaping) forums these days.
yep, still vaping since february 5, 2011, with a slip of two cigs in august. yeh, the first cigarette tasted so shitty that night, whilst scotch-sated, that i had another.

dumbRme.

on another note, the malemate and i were invited to a couple halloween parties this year. good times at both. unfortunately, very few of my pics turned out, so i was dependent on others, in hopes they would post some to facebook ... which sucks.

the 'geriatrics halloween party' was a private party and entailed doing projects that we can expect to do when we go to 'the home'. it was funny and very entertaining - although my costume was rather dull. the malemate, however, was the bearded lady godiva.

the other one we were invited to was at the local bowling alley (of course). i went as grammy gaga and the malemate went as great grammy gaga.

there was a guy dressed as a dick. he made for a great photo op prop :-)

and that is about all i have for now.

btw, the joplin tornado was 20 miles from us and we had no damage. as sad as it is, it is the price one may have to pay for being in tornado alley.

i hope y'all are well! 

huff and puff and blow your house down

first off ...
what the hell is blogspot doing by asking me to add my phone number to my account right after i log in?
is this so they can pass it on to the president for his "alert" texts? 

yeh, we all know they will get it sooner or later.
i was hoping it would be after i was on 'the other side.'
sometimes technology moves too friggin fast.

moving on ...

i live in/near the line often referred to as tornado alley.
some days i wonder what it would be like to have all this blown to bits by some massive tornado. 
because then i would be forced to find a new place to live.

however, today is not one of those days.

one addiction for another

it's been almost a month since i started the e-cig. during that time i have smoked maybe 4 analogs and am REALLY loving vaping.

i'm kinda torn on this though, because i am a die-hard gadget person, and vaping with all its paraphernalia is a gadget persons dream.

because of this, in less than a month, i have spent close to $500 on the e-cigs, juices, batteries, chargers, drip tips, atomizers, etc.

of course i can justify this!

when one starts smoking, one tries different brands, lengths, lighters, etc. to try to find the one that is just right.

well, that's what i am doing. i'm trying to find the model and flavor that is just right for me.
just today, i ordered one of these:



a phidias pv -- pv acronym for personal vaporizer - made by a craftsman right here in the USA.

it is going to be made of california pepper? wood and i cannot wait to get it.
of course it does not come with the special batteries, or the charger for those batteries, so i had to order them too. and of course it is going to take more e-juice, so that will be on my order for tomorrow.

at first i was feeling kinda guilty - but when the malemate came home last night after bowling and told me how much he spends EACH week on bowling, well, lets just say i could not WAIT til morning to get on this puter to get my orders placed.

let's give this a try

i have been tobacco free since 02/05/11. this is certainly not the first time i have stopped.
it seems i find a way a to use an event/disappointment/riding in the car with the malemate as an excuse to start up again.

however, i think i found something that just may work for me. i discovered the e-cigs. i had heard about them, but never knew anyone in r/l that used them.

i bought a disposable one in the local smoke shop and right away, it felt that i could use this as replacement. they had 3 different kits in the smoke shop, but for some reason, i just did not have a good feeling about them. so i started researching them.

this opened up an entire world that i knew nothing about. i was pleasantly surprised. at all the people that are using these and all the options.

for days, i read many forums, reviews, and watched oodles of opinions/reviews on youtube. the more i researched, the more overwhelmed and undecided i became.

the terminology itself was throwing me off - but i kept at it. it came to the point that i had 10-12 tabs open in firefox, each with a different vendor/product. finally i just pulled the trigger on one - the vapor4life starter kit. the next morning i got up and looked at it again, and researched some more, and realized that i am not going to be happy with that one. but it was too late. oh well, not the first time i have thrown away money -- and i am happy with my selections on the battery and l.e.d. - copper with a purple l.e.d. on the end - so who knows, maybe it will be okay.

so today i am impatiently waiting for it to arrive - and still continuing to read up on these things and watch even more reviews, and looking at other brands when i realize, i really don't want my new e-cig to be the shape of a cigarette - i really like the looks of the larger size ones and i really like the look of the mako midi but after further reading, it looked like it was a bit of a pain in the ass. so, i decided to click off it.

i ended up ordering the joye ego - in white ... naturally.
however, i did order some 'extras' to 'junque-i-fy' it to my taste, and i ordered a bunch of flavors and strengths. it will be interesting if i can actually kick the tobacco habit (or as the vapers call it - the analog habit) once and for all.

probably about the time i get really attached to these, the fucking government will ban them entirely -- and yet they refuse to ban cigarettes ???
i guess they haven't figured out a way to get all that tax money from the e-cigs like they get from the analogs.

by the next time i post, i will have received at least one of the kits and will be vaping away.

and yet another phone

i've had the iphone for a few months now and i'm not as fond of it as i thought i would be. sooooo, the search is still on for the perfect cell phone.

i bought a blackberry off craigslist the other day. right off the bat, i was pleased with the size and weight of it compared to the iphone. it just seems to feel better in my hand. i also kinda like the idea of buttons as opposed complete touchscreen.

however, i must make a mental note to myself to always clear history before selling a phone.

apparently the gal i bought it from is not very techno-savvy as she and someone had real good time with the texting function.
this phone had so much sexting on it, i thought i was going to have dig out bob!

sure glad i did the alcohol rubdown before getting into the nitty-gritty of it.

where is the mute button?

i really do enjoy doing transcription - however, i think the docs and pa's get a bit bored with the dictation from time to time.

the office i was typing for today has all male surgeons and physician assistants in it. the newest pa is dictating away and stumbles on the diagnosis of 'degenerative disk disease" and one of the bored? surgeons is listening in. this is how it went:

pa: d-d-disk ... uh degenerative disk disease

surgeon: degenerative dick disease

pa: ahhhh you fucker [laughter] you bastard [laughter] you bastard [laughter] fucker

/methinks somebody needs to show the new guy where the mute button is on his dictation machine.

usps consumer affairs

well yay for the usps consumer affairs! i had filed a complaint back in june regarding a package that i shipped to my dad. i had not heard anything back and assumed the complaint went into the trash.

this morning i get a call from a charles - usps consumer affairs - one level below the usps investigator. charles asked me about my complaint and i told him the details of it - how i had paid priority and tracking to ensure that the package would be delivered to my dad in the care center in a timely manner. the tracking showed it had been delivered, but every time i asked dad if he got it, for about it for 2-3 weeks, he said he never got it. keeping in mind that i had addressed it with the care center address and not dad's pobox.

finally, i called my brother - and sure enough, the post office took it upon themselves and delivered it to dad's pobox - even though that address was not even on the package. i was livid - to say the least. off to the computer i went to file a complaint.

charles of consumer affairs could not have been nicer, or more polite, or more humane. he listened to my vent and agreed that the post office was wrong. he assured me he would be calling the post master back and 'plant a bug' in his ear regarding his job when it comes to mail delivery.

about an hour later, i got another call back from charles. he stated that he had talked to the postmaster and that he is confident that it will not happen again. i told him that i may send a 'test' package - charles encouraged it and then gave me his personal number should i have any other problems.

we then went on to talk about books of all things! charles likes murder mysteries too and he lives in kansas city, and he served in the army in hawaii. oh yes, we had a very informative chat.

i think charles likes me :-)

they really break?

i was having internet problems the other day - and of course it is never anything on my end. so, i call the provider and bitch&moan. the gal (who sounded USA born & raised btw - {{{shock}}} walked me through a few steps and it was clear she had about as much patience for me as i had for her. in the end, she called it - it was the router.

i didn't think many of these electronic things ever actually broke - one gets bored with them or they lose their purpose as new technology replaces older ones - but to actually break? well, unless it is a cell phone that gets dropped in the toilet or is taken for a dip in the river, or some other irresponsible act - but to break when it seldom ever gets touched? how does that happen?

i'm now on a linksys e3000. the hardest part of setting it up was plugging the power cord in - which is a behind the desk, pinned between the wall and desk, and on the floor - well, that and sitting and waiting for the software to install.

as you can see though, i am back in business! yay me!

joking or zinger?

i'm typing away to one of the ortho surgeons and it is going along - blah blah blah - then the last paragraph the dictator says:

"Thank you again Richard, for allowing me to care for your patient. And, by the way, it is time for you to come back here and teach our residents here. We enjoyed teaching you during your training so well that we would love it if you would teach our brand new orthopedic residents how to be more of a physician and not just a carpenter, like the rest of us orthopods."

sooooooo, is this a valid request to join or a flat-out zinger ??? perhaps it is in response to something the dictator heard. wish i knew for sure - but the dictator did not chuckle when he finished.

at least he used the word carpenter rather than butcher, eh?

hybrid cocks...comb

i've mentioned my cockscombs a few times on facebook - only because i think the blooms are so odd looking.

this is my second year that i have had them and i have two different kinds. one that i call a 'brainy' looking one and the other i refer to as 'frilly.' the frilly ones aren't that unique/strange looking, but they are colorful. the horticulture names are unimportant to me - and i probably could not pronounce them ... nor spell them - so i'm staying with brainy and frilly. i planted both kinds in a small space this spring.

as they started sprouting up, i noticed one had green leaves, but it had red veins running through the leaves - which is strange, as the brainy ones have green leaves and the frilly ones have burgundy red leaves.

i let it continue on with it's life, curious as to what would come of it. finally it started blooming. manOman was i surprised to see that it was producing both types of blossoms in one plant. a natural hybrid indeed.

frilly:



brainy:



hybrid:

in a blink the week was gone

we had the granddaughter (tt) here last week. what a pleasure it was having her around. i hope she enjoyed herself and will come back again. she had not been back here in 6 years.

she is my step-granddaughter as i never had kids.

we took her to the airport on monday. i had leaky eyes half the trip back home from tulsa.

funny text exchange with her mom (whom i do love and appreciate for a job well done on raising tt)

when tt left california i had texted her mom to see if tt's flight departed on time. she came back with:

"yep. she's on the plane. no problem. cc (the blood grandma) called and asked her if she wanted to come out there and visit the last part of her summer. tt said i'm already going to see my grammy and grandpa hahaha!"

i replied: "omg! that is so funny! well catty funny. what did cc say when she said that? that girl sure knows how to make our day! luv it!"

the mom replied: "she (cc) said well you know we miss you out here and tt said ya well, maybe next year. hahaha!"

clearly, i'm the grammy of heart ;-)

tt & me at the silver dollar city in missouri:



tt & me atving in oklahoma:

best event of the summer!

today my 16-year-old granddaughter flies in to tulsa to spend a week with us old folks. to say i'm outta my mind excited would be an understatement. this is the first year since 2004 that she has been out this way. i asked her the previous years, but i could tell her heart was not in it, but this year when i asked, she said, "i really would like to come out." i was elated.

flights were researched. she had flown before, but she had never done a plane change by herself. well of course there are no straight through flights to bumfuque, (xoxo jock) missouri or oklahoma from sacramento - so a plane change would have to happen if she was to come here. she was up to the experience. yaaaaay!

i text'd her mom this morning about the time her flight was to leave - and she text'd back and said she is all boarded and in the air. yaaaaay!

then her mom sends another text and says that the other gramma had called and asked the gdaughter if she would come down to texas. gdaughter says "i'm going to my grammy and grandad's." big YAAAAAAY for us! and a big ZING to the blood gramma.

the other granmma has never had much to do with the gdaughter - and clearly the gdaughter remembers and, apparently does hold a bit of grudge. hmmm, you'd think she really was of my blood wouldn't ya? works for me!

quite the dilemma ...

this was a portion of a report i typed today:

She says she has difficulty driving, because she will get lost. Her husband helps her with the driving, but he cannot see.

soooooooo, beware of the gal with convulsions driving with the blind man in the passenger seat ...

a semi-busy time

ah summer. gotta love it out here in hillbilly country ... the torrential rains, the ever-constant tornado watches and warnings, the invincible grubs that eat anything with a root, and, oh yes, the friggin' moles with the steady plowing of dirt to get to the grubs. such is life in the ozarks.

i was back in arkansas last weekend at the capt'n and shar's. we did a garage sale. i'm thinking it will probably be the last one we will do there. even with great signs, we just did not get the traffic - which was actually kinda nice, cuz i got to spend even more 'un-demanded' time with them.

it seems when shar and i get together we manage to come up with something else to do in the future. i told her that on my last gambling excursion with my friend from high school, i managed to throw enuf in the machines to warrant a free night's stay in the hotel. well, shar just so happened to also have some free nights. so we booked ourselves for the 20th. yes, father's day.
hence, my gift to the malemate is, he will get the bed at the house to himself that night - cuz i'm going for a night at the casino ... happy father's day malemate! kisskiss

once again, i am going through 'glasses fiasco' this year. i ordered new specs a couple months ago. they came in and the lenses were too big for this pinhead of mine. so they ground them down. well, they were still too big. so, we are now about 9 weeks since first ordering and monday they tell me that i have to start all over with the selection process. this may not seem like a big deal, but they have 3,000 frames in there - so yeh, it is a big deal.
an hour and a half later, i had made my decision and of course i want them done by monday so i can pick them up on my way home from the casino, so i will have them in time for the trip to iowa the following weekend.

pushybitchRme ... and just a tad proud of it.

yeh, it's back to the ittybitty hometown in iowa on the 24th. i have not been there since september 2009. it is the all-alumni reunion, which has been done every 5 years since 1985. to say i am dreading spending time with so many from the past, is putting it mildly. i fear what incident may come up. i plan to spend a few hours with the classmates and then most of the time will be spent with family and ... avoiding/hiding/whatever. i knew this event was coming up and thought i was going to get out of it - but then things changed and obligations took over. so, hopefully "the incident" will not come up and all will go well.

another friend got me started on the dirty martinis, once again. seems the scotch and i are having a bit of a migraine problem - well i am having the problem - the scotch could care less.
so, i'm sipping a dirty martini garnished with a blue cheese stuffed olive. sounds tasty, eh?
trust me, it is.

big mouth, but little ears

earbuds are a problem for those of us with small ears. i have probably bought 8 different ones in the past 2 years trying to find something that will stay in my ear and then to stay in my ear without hurting.

i read reviews on the westone 1, the klipsch, along with several other brands and then decided to give the folks at earphonesolutions.com a call. i told the gal that my main issue is that the earbuds always fall out and that i had it narrowed down to the two different brands. she said the westone 1 is much more comfortable and that they come with more ear tips so there is more to work with to find the best fit for the best sound.

i went with the westone1 - and they have free shipping.

oh, about the sony walkman - i think that will be returned. i'm still debating it. it has no way to bookmark an audiobook. so, if i listen to a book for awhile, then switch over to a podcast or music, when i go back to the book, it starts all over from the beginning - unlike my little sansa clip which holds it's place on any category . this is a big disappointment for me, as i listen to alot of audiobooks and podcasts and am bouncing back and forth between the two frequently.

bummer to sony.

more fun than watching a car chase

today when i started watching the balloon chase, it took me back to the days when we lived in california. it was always a hectic start to the day when we woke up and turned on the tv and lo and behold a live car chase.
it was hell trying to get ready for work and yet keep your eyes glued to the tv just in case there was a suicide by cop or car crash/pileup -- wouldn't want to miss that.
needless to say, i sat and watched about 45 minutes of the floating boy-less balloon today, up until it finally landed. the only difference between then and now is that i got to watch it undistracted.

sometimes i have such a drained brain. in the past 3 weeks, i have received at least two emails from the gal i type for that my doctor will be on vacation the week of the oct. 19th. so, this past weekend i managed to get some projects, plans, and work lined up for this week because i'm going to have allllllllllll this time on my hands.
tuesday comes, and she sends me a file to type - 66 patients! huh?
yeh, i have a calendar but clearly, i don't know how to use it.

the weekend starts tomorrow for me and i'm off to the OK! cousins. i generally am very happy about going to stay on the farm for a few days, but this time, i feel apprehension - i can't put my finger on the reason why - just a feeling.
i'll be checking out the pecan (pronounced pEE-caan where i come from) trees while i'm there. i hope they set this year, as last year there was not a one.
i think 20 pounds of unshelled pecans could keep my obsessive pee brain and hands busy next week.

downs and ups

i just learned 2 days ago that a blogging buddy (twila) from several years ago lost her 30-year-old son. he was the father of two. i don't know the cause of death, she didn't say and i didn't ask.
my heart goes out to her.

my dad was scheduled to go to a lock-down facility in another town on the 23th, due the repeated problem of him 'escaping' and the care center in the ittybitty hometown is not fenced and not able to facilitate dementia patients with the wondering and 'get-out-of-here' desires. my brother and his wife were there early that morning to take him to the different facility. dad was adamant that he was not going - that he would kill himself first. he would not let anyone touch him. the cops were called. dad recognized one of them and said to him, 'my chest hurts, i think i need to go to the hospital.' off he went,via ambulance, to the hospital. in the meantime, my brother went to the county seat to plead for the judge to sign the document that would allow dad to be committed.
they found nothing unusual with dad's heart and placed him in the lock-down psyche ward there.
a very unpleasant incompetence hearing was scheduled for thursday, 26th.
the 26th arrived, both my brother and dad were at the courthouse, with their perspective attorneys - all of them dreading going through an incompetence hearing. dad's attorney had drawn up a document (contract-like) that basically said he can go back to the ittybitty hometown nursing home if he agrees to no longer escape, sign himself out, or throw his fits. If he continues with the uncooperative behavior, he agrees to go to the a lock-down facility.
surprisingly, dad signed it! and back to the ittybitty hometown care center he went. it has been 3 whole days since he has been back - so far so good.
no one wants him to leave ittybitty hometown - but everyone, including himself, knows he cannot live on his own any more.

i spent last weekend with Cap'n Max and Shar. i had been promising to get over since april, and each planned trip was replaced with a trip to iowa - so it was a long overdue get-away - and it was grrrrrrrrrreat! (li'l tony-the-tiger lingo)

i hit an estate sale saturday and picked up a 3-piece matching coffee table with 2 end tables. i'm thinking i may actually try to put this house together so that it is presentable. but then, it's just a new coffee table and end tables -- well, new to me anyway. i also picked up a couple of those vintage iron lawn chairs. they were a pile of chipped paint and rust yesterday. today they are shiny black.
i need a local junkin' buddy. i miss living closer to Shar.

gone with the curtain?

once a week i try to make a stop at the local thrift store. the last time i was there they had 4 silk curtain panels, each one about 48" x 84". they were a $1 each. hey! $4 for all that 100% silk fabric - it's definitely going home with me.

i washed them up - even though it says 'dry clean only'. needless to say, they didn't wash up so nice - well not nice enough to hang anymore. what to do with them now?

on a side note, when i get out of the shower/tub, i really hate to dry off - i'm lazy and prefer to just throw a 'thirsty' towel or robe around and wait it out.

well, in this unforgiving heat we've been having, a terry robe or heavy towel is just a bit much. so, i decided to make myself a pareo. I tore out the cotton lining from one of the silk curtain panels and finished up the edges on the sewing machine. it is so much lighter weight than terry cloth and serves me quite well. it's just an oblong piece of fabric tied in knots - not much creativity in that.

scarlett o'hara i ain't.

cable cometh

this photo may not mean anything to anyone except for the folks in my 'hood', who have been anxiously awaiting an option for high speed internet.

the photo is of a trench digger broke down in my backyard -- waiting for repair so that they can CONTINUE dropping cable for cable tv and, more importantly, cable HIGH SPEED internet!
yeh, it's broke down, but i'm sure they will be out there digging with their shovels and hands if they can't get it fixed, because they know how badly i want it.

yes, soon i will be surfing the net and downloading from the comfort of my own home at speeds I have not seen in almost three years and without any caps or FAP bullshit.

I see the hughesnet must be noticing the pull away from their piece of shit offerings as they have now widened their 'unlimited download window' from 3 hours a day to 5 hours a day.
too little too late hughesnet.

on a different note, my little city had their annual 'city-wide garage sale' this past weekend and thanks to the OK! cousin, i had someone to go to them with. it was nice to do that once again with someone. i've gotten so used to doing that stuff by myself that i almost left her at one of the sales -- forgetting i had a junkin buddy for the day.
kidding of course :)

i think my best buy was the Bose ear buds for $5 -- and maybe the 5 foot long 'wall art' metal branch for $15. damn! it was a good time and apparently this once-a-year sale doubles the size of the town for a couple days.

oh, and my fruit pizza was such a big hit with the OK! cousins that it was gone in 2 days and i had to make another one -- which also was gone in two days. good stuff i tell ya.

reclaiming/recycling is kitsch

i've been collecting 100% wool sweaters and felting them in the washing machine.

i now have quite a grouping of these and went surfing on the net to find some inspiration of just what to do with these.

after looking through hundreds of sites and even more photos, there is no question in my mind - this 'going green fad' with reclaimed/recycled fibers has much to be desired in terms of style and taste.

sadly, everything i saw made from these sweaters is simply kitsch.

well, except for maybe the felted coffee cozy or maybe the felted slippers .

i think i'll keep looking