Monthly Archives: March 2009

Determination

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is having the cork sink half down the neck of your only bottle of wine, and finding a way to get it out anyway.  :)

I’m so glad my day is over.

Believe it or not, the worst part of my day involved photocopying paperwork.   Important paperwork.   Paperwork that I didn’t want (but now IS) out of order.

Also, I did not want the photo machine to keep jamming, but it did.

THEN, it would get part way through printing off a job and say, “Oh, wait a minute.  I have freaked out and now you are going to have to start from page 54.  Too bad you have not numbered your pages, eh?”

Several words crossed my mind.

Ian said, “Back away from the machine, take a deep breath..” and several other things to retaliate against the machine.

Photocopying machines typically are the bane of my existence, now that I think about it.   If they’re not jamming, they are beeping.

So much for the government being “paperless”.

Wine and chinese food.    Life is ok again.

Who Needs Engine Oil

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So, my car has been making a ticking sound under the hood since last Friday.   I noticed it on the way to the airport, before I left for England.   When I came home, more ticking.   I popped the hood (bonnet) while the engine was running to see if I could find the problem (because I know anything about cars).   I noticed some oil (or some mucky substance) collecting under the belts.

I took the car into the shop today and had them look it over.    They pulled the oil dipstick out and… NO OIL.  None.   It was completely empty.

I just had my oil changed at a well-known shop about 4 weeks ago.  The new shop said the oil filter on the car was damaged but they weren’t entirely sure if that was the problem.

They said the ticking went away after performing an oil change and putting on a new filter (thank God).

I am not sure why the oil light never came on.

I may be having a word with several people over the next few workdays.

What I like about the shop I went to today was that it was “manned” by “women”.    Being non-auto savvy, I feel just as comfortable walking into an auto shop as most of my end-users feel about talking to IT about computer problems (not).    Somehow, having a woman there to answer my questions, I felt really comfortable and relieved that I found a nice place to fix my car.

Highlights of the March Get-A-Way to England

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I arrived at 6:40 am last Friday in Heathrow Airport.   The flight across the pond wasn’t remarkable, really, except for the usual ”Are we there yet?” voices playing in my head.   3 or 4 hours into the flight, I am silently urging the tail wind on… “Push, dammit, push!”

I envision Ian standing there in the airport.  I know he’ll be there at least an hour early.  Waiting.

The plane landed unexpectedly.   It was because I was zoned out when we got near Heathrow and I didn’t realize we were THAT close to the ground.   This is a little frightening, really.   Big noise; not expecting to be that chose to the ground…

We went home and took shower, took a nap, went out to eat at a lovely Indian/Mexican/Thai restaurant in the Theater District.    We trekked through the MK mall, where the jet lag started to upset my stomach.   We went home to lounge around for awhile and then, much later, ate curry and watched a Greek film.

The next day, after a walk in the market and Ian shoving me out of the market (I was in shopping mode), we headed to St. Ives to visit Jane and Fletch.   Lovely conversation, watching rugby at the pub, eating chinese, drinking Guiness and random drinks along with way, and talking about the future ensued.

In the morning, Ian and I woke up to a full English Breakfast (quite yummy… even the blood pudding) which was ready to eat (this is excellent service, innit?)    Then it was off to see Ian’s mum, sister and nephew for mum’s day.  We bought plants and a stuffed fox and had a really nice lunch.   I love spending time with Ian’s family.

Then, it was off to Warwick to see a castle and listen to poets do their thing.  It was fun to meet the poets finally.  They’re a fun group of people, really and I was so excited to be watching them in person!  There were moments of laughter and uncertainty (Mark wrote a new poem which we thought he might strip completely down for).  lol  We drove Danni home and I listened to poets talk about their art form, which was quite interesting.   Everyone did such a wonderful job presenting their poems.Ian Playing

Monday was spent mostly lounging around, after having driven all over England the day before.

Tuesday, it was out to Cromer after picking up Ian’s dad and girlfriend.   We had a fab time wandering through shops and going down to the sea.    The North Sea is so much COLDER than any sea I’ve been around, and quite rocky.   I loved it!   We had fish and chips, which were wonderful, and a dressed crab which was really fresh and yummy.

Then it was off to a proper English pub to hear Darren’s band play.    It was fun to meet Ian’s close friend and

the band was excellent.   And wine was good.   It had been ages since I’d been in a pub listening to bands.   It was SO much fun!

Wednesday, we took off to Jane’s house for several hours just for a chat, some biscuits and gravy and some hamster annoyance (this is a sport, people).

Thursday, day of photocopying stuff, visiting Willin Lake and playing like kids in the playground and laughing SO hard as we whirled around on the playground equipment.

My favourite parts: Everything.

Say what you need to say

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Take all of your wasted honor
Every little past frustration
Take all of your so-called problems
Better put them in quotations

Say what you need to say (8x)

Walking like a one man army
Fighting with the shadows in your head
Living out the same old moment
Knowing you’d be better off instead
If you could only

Say what you need to say (8x)

Have no fear for giving in
Have no fear for giving over
You better know that in the end
It’s better to say too much
Than never to say what you need to say again

Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open

Say what you need to say (x 32)  :)

A good reminder for those times when you have something to say and you hold back, wondering, for whatever reason, if you should.

Saying what I need to say sets me free.  Always.

Bumper Stickers

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Sometimes, as I’m driving along, bored enough to glance at someone’s random bumper sticker, I wonder what the purpose of these really are.

After all, advertising that you plan to vote with a particular politician or that you love Jesus or “Abortion stops my heart from beating” doesn’t really affect anyone else, does it?    It’s not like I’m driving by thinking about what I think about Jesus, when that sticker widely affects me.   Oh, yeah… I was just wondering about the after-affects of abortion.  Now I know.

I suppose it’s more a matter of self-expression, but sometimes I find the major philosophical statements plastered on people’s cars annoying, at best.

I wonder what it’d be like if people always put just the major things they think on a sticker and stuck it on their car.

What would your bumper sticker say?   :)

Mine would say, “Mean People Suck”.