is your mother home?

well, i am now on Day Number 4 of the Great Unemployment Epidemic 2006. the past couple of days i successfully wasted away the entire day doing absolutely nothing besides being on the computer, watching tv, and eating pretty much everything i could get my hands on. it's pretty sad, i have to admit. but monday was productive, at least.

dean took monday off of work and we did yard work ALL. DAY. LONG. i'm not kidding. he was out there by 7:30am and i was out there by 9am (screw that 7:30am thing). we didn't finish until 4:30pm. we came in to eat lunch around noon, but that was pretty much the only break. so what were we doing to the lawn, exactly? well, basically we wanted to redo the entire expanse of grass lawn. the lawn is pretty hideous; it's mostly just weeds, crabgrass, and vast expanses of dirt with nothing growing in it. so first, on sunday, dean mowed the grass. then he mowed it again SUPER short. then we had to rake up all the grass clippings. we didn't finish all the raking on sunday because we had a meeting to go to, so we finished that up monday morning. after the raking was done, i went through the yard and pulled up the worst batches of weeds and crabgrass. i really wanted to be thoroughly anal and pull all of them out, but i would have been out there all freaking day doing just that, so i resisted. when i finished clearing areas of the weeds, dean went through with a thatch rake and loosened up all the dirt. once all the thatching was done, we had to clear off all the loose weeds and grass. finally, once all that was done (and our backs were officially broken), we reseeded the whole yard. we filled in some holes with fresh soil and then watered the whole yard. we haven't gotten any rain this week, so i'm in charge of watering the yard until it does. which reminds me....

Tuesday afternoon i went outside to water the yard. i didn't feel like setting up the sprinkler, so i just took the hose and watered the yard myself. i was out there for just over two hours, but it was nice to get out. anyway... while i was working on the front yard, some white truck drove by and pulled up into the driveway next to where i was working. he rolled down his windows and called out to me.

Him: "Is your mom or dad at home?"
Me: "uh.... no."
Him: *laughing to himself* "I guess you're the mom, huh?"
Me: "uh... no, again. But I do live here if that's what you're looking for."

then he started in on his speech about selling frozen meats and trying to expand his delivery area and would i like to buy some meat. i totally hate these door to door salesmen (we would get them all the time at my last job), but this time i was happy to have an excuse.

Me: "I really don't have the money for that right now. I've just been laid off my job and am unemployed, so I really can't. Thanks. Bye."
Him: "Oh, ok. Well, I just had to ask."

and off he went. man, they bother me so much. your product may be the best thing since sliced bread, but if you come to my home or my place of business and tell me how your product really is the best thing since sliced bread, i am not going to believe you. not one bit. why? because i know your salary is totally based on commissions. so OF COURSE you're going to tell me your product is the best thing since sliced bread. plus, can't you see i'm in the middle of something?? i'd really rather not be bothered. plus plus, AM BROKE. WILL NOT GIVE YOU MONEY. do i need to start wearing a sign?

College Football

yesterday, Dean and I drove down to Charlottesville and I got to attend my very first college football game. yes, I said first. you see, I went to a college that didn't have football. heinous, i know, but the school suited me and i had a fabulous time there. despite that, I really wanted to know what college game day was like. since Dean graduated from UVA, I figured it was the perfect choice.

I have to admit, it was pretty overwhelming at first; nearly 60,000 people, orange everywhere. and the school spirit? cray-zee. school spirit as I've never experienced. as much as I dislike the popularity of football in the genre of school sports and how much preferential treatment it gets, it really is amazing to see how it can bring an entire student body, past and present, together. Even if your team does lose to Western Michigan. lol.

[more photos on flickr]

Banned Books Week 2006

Did you know that September 23rd-30th is Banned Books Week? i didn't either. but thanks to Zoot, now i do. and now, so do you.

i can't believe how many books fabulous books have been challenged throughout the years. seriously! The Adventures of Huck Finn? Of Mice and Men? The Catcher in the Rye? Blubber? To Kill a Mockingbird? James and the Giant Peach? The Color Purple?

it makes me really sad to think that some people want to challenge these books. i was a pretty big book worm when i was a kid and i am very proud of that. i've read many of the books listed on the Challenged lists and i can tell you, straight up, that i leared a lot about the world from these books. and the things i learned were good things. things like honesty and dependability. that people's skin color didn't matter. that what you said didn't mean nearly as much as what you did. that you could find the best of friends even in the worst situations if you just gave them a chance. and that while life wasn't always fair, it wasn't the end of the world, either.

i certainly hope people wise up soon; you can't "shelter" your children forever. they've got to face the world at some point.

and on that note, i think i'm going to read some more Harry Potter (yes, i'm at work, so what?)

the last hurrah

well kids, today is officially my last day of work. surprisingly, i'm in a very great mood this morning. is my subconscious trying to tell me something? heh. anyway, so long nice corner office. it's been nice knowing ya. you've kept me slightly warmer than the rest of the office, which i appreciate. however, the ants? that one day? i wasn't too happy with that. luckily, the crisis was averted with my friend Raid. all in all, we've had a good run, corner office. i'll miss ya. maybe. :)

abandonment much?

sorry internets, but i've had lots of other things on my mind lately. here's a recap (now with bullets!):

i'm losing my job. this has been high on my list of worries as i have no savings and don't know what i'll do if i don't get a job right away. there's always unemployment, which i've done before, but even that wouldn't be enough for me to pay all my bills. but enough with the sob story, right? i'm sure this is one of those 'blessings in disguise' moments. i've gotta try to stay positive.

my back is finally better, thank goodness. i haven't gone to the gym in over 3 weeks and now i don't really want to go back. lol.

WTNs. i place all blame upon a Mr. Rude Cactus who just recently got rid of his White Trash Neighbors. some how those WTNs have infected the water or the air or something because a new WTN family moved in next to me. and i am none to pleased with it; sunday evening confirmed my displeasure. Mr. and Mrs. WTN were arguing all day. ALL. DAMN. DAY. we're talking huge screaming matches. i went over to visit my parents in the evening (so what if i mooched dinner off of them?!) and when i came back they were still going strong. Dean went up to bed some time after 10pm but i wasn't quite sleepy enough. plus, i wanted to watch Mind of Mencia. anyway, little did i know, i was about the witness the worst of the argument. [for visualization, the front door of their little house faces directly in to our living room. they have a screen door on the front, so the WTNs usually leave the front door open with the screen door closed. that was the arrangement of the doors Sunday night. dean and i usually keep our blinds closed on the windows facing their house with the bottom of the blinds not quite all the way down to the bottom of the window because the cat likes to look through the window. ok, enough visualization? good.] at some point, while watching the TV, i heard a rather loud bat of yelling from next door so i peered out the window from under the blinds. and that's where i saw it. i saw Mr. WTN hit Mrs. WTN. yes, i saw him HIT HER. then he pushed her down (she broke the screen door as she fell). i was so scared and furious that i went and woke up dean. i wanted to call the cops so bad because i do NOT tolerate hitting. i don't care how angry and/or drunk you may be. but then i got scared. what if Mr. WTN came after me for calling the cops?? it would be completely obvious who called the cops because we're the only neighbors that could have seen what was going on [plus, the other neighbors don't speak much english]. instead, we continued to watch their fight. Mr. WTN hit Mrs. WTN a lot (at least from what i could tell peering through the window). and the worst part? their little kid [probably 2-3 years old] was AWAKE and just WANDERING THROUGH THE HOUSE while Mr. & Mrs. WTN fought. i was so disgusted, both with Mr. WTN and myself for not calling the cops and trying to help her. then, to make matters worse, two cars pulled up in our joint driveway and Mr. WTN ran out to meet them. he got something from them, went back in the house and slammed the front door shut. my first assumption was drugs. i was sure of it.

yesterday, while i was eating some dinner before a meeting, i saw 2 cars pull up in front of WTNs house again. i was totally spying on them this time, i'll admit it. but, dude, WTNS ARE TOTALLY BUYING DRUGS! i didn't actually see any drugs, but even a monkey would have known what was going on! items were exchanged, money "secretly" paid, paranoid glances all around. seriously. i got one of the cars license plate numbers, plus the make and model of both. the only thing i've got to figure out now is how to get the cops to their house WHILE Mr. WTN is buying the drugs so that they have cause to search them / arrest them / whatever. oy.

well fuck

i found out the other day that i'm getting laid off from my job. Sept. 15th is my last day.

it's not really a big surprise; i've seen it coming for a while now. i work in the Real Estate business and the real estate market in the county i work in has slumped significantly this year; and it keeps on slumpin', too. in July there were 751 homes for sale in the county. and only 53 were sold.

yeah... it's gotten that bad.

so, like i said, i've seen it coming. still sucks though. especially since i have NO MONEY in savings and will only be able to cover my expenses for about a month.

so! here's to hoping a find a new job soon!

*sigh*