Lunch lady

This past week we had to move out of our office building to a new location. The company I work for sold the building we were in along with several others. (One would think that being in the top 25 on the Forbs list of companies with trillions of profit they wouldn’t need to be in the business of selling buildings but what do I know?)

The old building was old corporate – cubicle farm everywhere. I had a fairly decent cube there near a window. But, with the new move I was given a choice to move to a construction office down the street from my house or out to an office south of the airport – you know what I chose – the construction office, of course. It is what it is – a construction office with lots of equipment and loud men walking around. Fortunately, it gets quieter once everyone goes out into the field.

We’re all shoved into a room called the “Engineer Room” (I’ve actually gotten called an engineer a couple of times since I’ve been here which is ok with me as long as the technicians don’t hold it against me). In the room is an office at the end with Ned and Nicole who are the newest members of our team. None of us have really worked with them because they got hired on at this location and have stayed here waiting for some of us to transition over. They both seem pretty ok. Others on our team who moved over here is Patricia and maybe Shareece later on. So, Patricia and I are sitting in this room with basically tables and moving boxes. All my computer equipment is on one of these tables. I made sure I arranged my table to face out because I cannot stand to have my back to the door and other people.

So, I’m not used to working in the same room with someone and someone who asks questions. Patricia also has a cubicle set up at the other office by the airport as well and says she will be splitting her time between the two offices. I’m wondering when this will happen as it’s going on Thursday and she’s been here every day so far this week. (Personally, I think she’s just doing this so no one will know where she is at any given time).

Monday, I had to stand outside the gate until someone let me in. I had my uniform on so I was easy to spot as someone who needed in. When I got in the room Patricia was already there with her stuff spread out on two tables. There was a third table that I took and set my boxes on. (She will have to move her shit if Shareece decides to move over here.)

I had a project due that day so I had to set up fast. I was tired from the busy weekend and setting up my computer equipment and diving right in to a project was not seeming attractive. Looking around for an Ethernet outlet to plug into was just as crazy. I finally had to sign onto the wireless and go. I had no time to search for an Ethernet cord or find out with outlet was hot.

While I’m frantically working Patricia who had been on her phone most of the morning talking to her husband (a truck driver), various family members and friends asked, “Are you going to lunch?”

I looked up and said, “I normally eat at my desk”, holding up my lunchbox like yes, I carry this thing every.day so what’s new here?

“Oh, well what’s good around here?”

The one time I went to lunch with her and other members of the team she ordered a lobster tail, grilled chicken, baked potato, and desert and left the whole lobster tail on the plate.

“Just a lot of good Mexican restaurants and, oh, there’s a fish place up the street that’s pretty good.”

She left and went to Kroger and came back with BBQ chicken, mac n cheese, bacon flavored Ritz crackers, apple slices, and chocolate and hazelnut peanut butter. I asked her if there was something she wasn’t telling us.

Later, after finishing my job she asked what time I was leaving. I said, “4ish, like I always do. What time are you leaving?

“Oh, I’m gonna work until 7. Probably be working that late all week. I’m trying to get all four of my centers in shape because I’m giving two away.”

Shareece and I and the two new hires currently haven’t been assigned centers yet. Shareece (who is my work buddy) and I do design work for construction and we’re both very ok with that. The two new hires are used to doing the field verification work and overseeing construction and they are very ok with their roles as well. We have guys out in the northeast office who manage centers as well as design then we have people like Patricia (and three other women a few others) who don’t do know anything about design work and don’t want anything to do with it. It is me and Shareece’s hope that we will remain designers and take over maybe one center (if we are assigned one) and leave the bulk of center management to (Patricia) those other three who won’t design the jobs.

So, Patricia thinks that she’s going to give away two of her centers and still be able to justify all the overtime she’s pulling. Me, I haven’t asked to pull OT because I haven’t needed to yet and I don’t want to abuse the system.

Yesterday, Patricia felt the need to read the entire ‘Folks menu to her cousin over the phone and after hanging up asked me again if I was going to lunch. I said, “No, brought it again.”

I mean, really.

Later, I unzipped my lunchbox to get out some carrots and she turned around and asked me if I was leaving.

“No, it’s just carrots.”

“Oh, I heard zipping and thought you were leaving. What time you leaving?”

I was starting to think our boss put her in here to keep an eye on me.

“Same time as yesterday, tomorrow and the following day – four-ISH. You?”

“Oh, I’m going to work until seven again.”

Now I know why she works late every night its because she spends all day on the phone and does her real work making time and ½. I get it. I wonder if the boss does, too.

I sighed when I came in at 7:30 this morning and she was here again and on the phone. She’d probably been here since 6 talking. I said good morning and sat down to work. Later in the morning she got up and grabbed her keys and said she’d be back. I did not ask where she was going, when she’d be back or if she was going to lunch because –

I DON’T CARE.

I just said, “Ok.”

I had to go run an errand and when I came back she was here and asked, “So you went to lunch?”

“No, I had an errand to run.”

I’m starting to realize that lunch and what time we’re leaving is the extent of our ability to make conversation. I miss talking to my work buddy, Shareece. We instant message each other questions and conversations but it’s not the same.

What I can’t figure out is if she just wants to make conversation to fill the silence (when she’s not on the phone) or she really wants to know when the hell I’m ever going to go out for lunch and when I’m leaving. I know what’s going to drive her really crazy is I’m going to start leaving the room when I take a call. If she asks why, I’m going to say, “I have a thing about people listening to my phone conversations and vice versa.”

I’m going to have to think of some ways to run her off to the other office. Maybe asking the new hires to lunch and going to lunch after she gets back. I’m going to work on bonding with the new hires when they get out of training, too. Part of me thinks she’s a bit intimidated by my being a designer. I don’t know – what do you think?

 

determination

 (Yes, Lanie is only at 45% and is almost dead. Let’s check her pulse)

This is the second week of the new gym with running in between. Yesterday, I went after work and when I walked in I already had my heartbeat strap on and suddenly I appeared on all the monitors all over the gym:

Note to self: Don’t turn on the heart monitor until other people are in the gym as well. There was a woman who brought her husband in and I could tell it was his first time. I thought I was doing good until he passed me on the treads. I thought, GAWD, get with it, Lanie, you’re not going to let this guy pass you. (That’s not exactly what I thought, but you get the gist)

I’m trying to remember how long it was when I started bootcamp that I noticed any weight loss. I think it was a monthly thing – you signed up for a month and they said don’t worry about seeing anything until at least two weeks out and that’s what I’m counting on with this. (Because, I still feel like a fat @ss)

I think the most difficult thing has been not getting drunk drinking every night when I get home from work but I bought a 30 oz Yeti (and put a Green Bay sticker on it) that I keep ice water in all day to drink. I’ve been drinking a ton of water and eating low carb meals so I’m hoping something will happen soon. I’m determined.

Speaking of determined, Charlie has been building a deck onto our little shed in the back this week. I always know if I haven’t heard from her in the afternoon when I know she’s not doing landscape work at a clients or running errands that she’s up to something. So, one afternoon last week I hadn’t noticed because I was trying to get out some jobs at work (we’ve been pretty busy lately) and I came home to this:

Then, the dog had to get involved as site superintendent:

(Typical super laying down on the job – probably working holidays for time and 1/2, too)

 (Just a frame with fabric here nothing to see, NO, IT’S NOT A DOGGIE WIDE WORLD WRESTLING RING, GET OUT!)

Then, a few days later there’s this: (they subbed me out to help with the rock)

(The super is up on her feet not happy about the rock. Trying to rush the job – typical)

(The worker (Charlie) finally taking credit – site super has gone on vacation but left explicit instructions to have the job completed by the time she got back)

 

(Laying down on the job again and taking all the credit)

 

going thru the change

Ha! I bet you thought when you read that I meant menopause. I didn’t (although, that could be any day now) I meant body changes other than hormonal.

The other day I went over to Orangetheory on my lunch hour to check the place out. From my past experiences in bootcamp it’s basically that but indoors. What I really liked about it is that everything you do is monitored by your heart rate that is projected onto a large TV screen in the studio as you work out. You can see the zones you’re in – they start off as gray (almost dead), green (there IS a pulse after all), orange (wow, wake up heart) and red (we’re burning now, baby and try not to drop dead) – at least that’s how I perceive the levels. They also have splat points that add up however many minutes you are in the orange and red levels.

So yesterday I went in for my first workout. I met the trainer, Jay, who would be running the class. He reminded me of an older version of Charlie’s son, Bray. Of course, all muscles, tat sleeve, nicely trimmed beard and I’m sure easy on the eyes of their straight female members. Jay took me through the gym and showed me the treadmills, rowers, free weights and the workout area. The minute we walked in my heart monitor was already showing “LANIE” on the screen in the almost dead gray zone. Jay showed me the breakdown of beats per minute, zones, calories burned and splat points earned on the screen. Fast forward to class – it was around 5 women, all but two seemed like they just started as well. We started off on the treadmill (and they have flex in them to cut down on injuries) doing 30,60,90 second intervals of jogging, running and sprinting. I was looking on the screen doing this and thinking, How dare Lydia get in the orange zone before me ima step it up. (I think they have those monitors up there for that very reason. If you’re loafing then the whole class knows it)

After about 20 minutes of the treadmill we got on the rowers. The rowers are water rowers that they said the Olympians use to practice. They already felt better than the lame fan rowers that you see in a typical gym. We rowed 400 meters then got off and went over to the free weight area.

Side note: What I really like about it is the station numbers. If you get on a treadmill that is a certain number, like 5 then every other exercise station you use the same number so you automatically know where to go when you switch stations. Each station has their own dumbells, benches, mats – whatever workout that you’re going to do that day is set up.

In the free weight area we went to our stations and up on another monitor is the exercises and reps they want you to do. Jay also demonstrated the proper way to do each before we began. Between each set we went back to the rowers and did 200 meters. Next, we did another three sets of different free weights (all had burpees in between) then we finished up 90 second planks and 90 more of various ab exercises.

I was spent afterwards but I felt good. Here’s my results (which, they email to you):

So, I’m going to try it out for awhile. I signed up for 8 workouts and I’m going to see where it goes. I already feel better this week – I have not had one drop of alcohol since Monday. I plan on having a nice drink before dinner with Charlie tonight as a reward but I’m going to try to stay good through the weekend. I think the next workout is Sunday morning so then I can enjoy another drink while watching the Pack beat Jacksonville.

Here’s  video of the place in case you’re interested:

 

friends pants

I’m so sick and tired of being fat. I look at old pictures and think, I wish I still looked like that.

I longingly look at pants, jeans and shirts in my closet that I can’t bear to get rid of because I vow to get back into them some day. I already gave away all these cute cowboy shirts that I loved but I can’t get my shoulders into them anymore and let’s not even talk about photographs. I hate posing for pics these days. We had friends from out of town in this past weekend and they took pics every 5 minutes there were a ton of pics taken and I looked that heavy in all of them.

And, friends – I feel like I’m growing out of some of them, too. Some are really tight around the waist like my jeans or they rub me the wrong way. (Not the ones from out of town although, we’re exhausted from entertaining all weekend.)

Link had a cookout at her house yesterday and while Charlie and I love Link and Stiletto we knew both Mike and Dino were going to be there. It went ok, Mike only pissed me off once but I kept my distance (– especially, since Dino and Celina were puffing up a storm.) I think some social situations I drink because I’m bored. Like, last night the conversation got on to politics and I swear if Trump weren’t such an idiot (or Bernie was still in the running) we wouldn’t have all agreed on Hilary. (Do you ever feel that way – like, you know some of your friends have turned because Trump is an idiot?) But, even so – it was still a boring conversation. I texted Charlie, We didn’t bring enough beer for this. She gave me the keys to the car and I left to run over to the shell station to get more- I wasn’t about to bum any off Mike or Dino. By the time I got back politics had ended and moved on to outdoor concerts. I thought it was kind of ironic that both Martha and Dino didn’t even mention being pissy-heads in bad moods during the Journey concert we were all at, either – not that they would unless Dino was really drunk but it still looked like he had quite a bit to go before a beer buzz even reached his stomach him.

It was kind of an eye opener for me, though. I hadn’t seen most of them for months and some had majorly gained some weight. I thought, That’s going to be me in a few years if I don’t stop drinking beer everyday make some changes.

I went into the house and helped Stiletto get the food ready. She’s easy to talk to and she doesn’t drink at all which makes me wonder why she’s such good friends with them all of us. It’s mystifying, to be honest. I wonder if it’s just because they’re Link’s friends but they all do stuff together all the time.(Charlie and I not included but I’m actually relieved about that because I don’t want to keep finding opportunities to hang with Mike and Dino). I know that both her and Mike are Jewish and from New York so maybe that’s it- who knows. But, I really hope don’t think we’ll see them again until the wedding.

So, until then, I really need to make some changes. I want to lose 30 pounds by the end of October. That’s only two months away and probably a “hefty” goal but I have to start somewhere. I went into Orange Theory at lunch today and I’m going to try it on my lunch hour tomorrow. I just want something that’s flexible with my work schedule and convenient. They have a couple of gyms near where I currently work and when my office moves (like they keep telling us that it is but no one knows when) then there’s one near there so it works. Hey, I started bootcamp years ago and went on for months doing that I can do this.

It would just be good to have some jeans be loose on me again.

 

 

picture of an island

This weekend was exhausting and by Sunday Charlie and I were wore slap out.

Friday night we had Yappy hour with Sadie over at the local Irish pub.

I put out a Facebook invite for joining us and sent it to a few peeps. Surprisingly, we had a great turnout. Link showed up first -who I thought was going to be the only one joining us since we had a ton of maybes and only one I’ll be there from her. But, then Lorelyn showed up with Lenny (two lesbians) the buff plumber. Lorelyn also brought her friend Marilyn and invited Lenny’s sister and brother-in-law. Stiletto showed up later and so did Belinda so it was a party. I hadn’t seen Belinda in ages and I moved over and caught up with her for a while. We didn’t get home until 9 that night (late night for the dogs dinner) and then we sat out on the porch until late having more beers.

Saturday morning came too soon and with a mild headache. We had to go over to a friend of ours – which, I will call her the nickname that was given to her behind her back while we were teaching motorcycle classes together – moonbeam. Moonbeam had been calling for months stressing over her yard but when we gave quotes it was always, No, I will get gf to cut the grass.

Well, I don’t know about y’all but if I were a relatively new gf of someone and moved into their house and they expected ME to cut the grass of their acre lot I don’t think that would go over well. (Fortunately for me, Charlie is all into a motor running that cuts blades of any sort so we’re a match made in heaven as far as I’m concerned). So, this last week both Moonbeam and gf (let’s call her Shawn) lawn mowers pooped out.

[I know I’m rhyming a bit with Lorelyn, Marilyn, Shawn, lawn but bear with me.]

I got a call from an all stressed out Moonbeam that her yard needed cut and can we go ahead and do the pinestraw we’d talked about. Phone calls and emails went back and forth for a bit after that because you can’t just have one conversation with her. Also, she had a family member that wasn’t doing well so I had to hear all about that in addition. So, to make a long story way shorter, Charlie and I went over there, laid the straw, we got most of the property but we had said we’d start with 30 bales and go from there. Shawn came out to talk to us and said it looked good, I emailed some pics to Moon and we left.

Later, Charlie and I were at the phone store getting her a new phone when I noticed a missed call from Moonbeam. I went outside to listen to the message and was surprised to hear a very irate ‘beam on the phone saying, Shawn told me you didn’t get the front of the house and in the front under that tree so please call me back and help me understand this?

[Ok, lesson learned that this will probably be the last time we do work for a friend]

Another long story short – Charlie’s over there now finishing it with 20 more bales and let’s keep our fingers crossed that moonbeam gets off our moon-@sses it all gets covered. We also have another client that’s ready for payment and the last time we sought that she gave us a hard time because we didn’t just show up and cut. I had reminded her that we don’t do anything unless payment is made -especially, with new clients. She had grudgingly left it with her wife who turned out to be really nice, btw, (and I had asked Charlie if we could deal with her instead). Well, I emailed her today that Charlie would be over tomorrow to cut and she was ready for another payment cycle and to leave it somewhere that she could find if her or her wife weren’t home. I still haven’t heard back from her but by-golly if Charlie gets over there tomorrow and no one’s around or she hasn’t left us payment somewhere and TOLD us……

Seriously, I totally get the customer is always right but they don’t get to dish out abuse.

After that frazzling thing and leaving the phone store with a new phone for Charlie we were thrown into another stressful situation of going to pick up her motorcycle from the dealer. It just so happened that they are repaving a major highway here and traffic was a nightmare getting there and back. We pulled up in the carport and I got off the bike and peeled my sweaty jacket off and said, I need a beer because that was a complete nightmare.

And, beers we drank. Several. Then, a friend of ours came over because her and her gf are on the rocks and she needed someone to talk to so we stayed up rather late talking to her. (I feel for her – her gf is being a HUGE d*ck.)

The next day, we ran into Lorelyn. We were around the corner and I was drinking a jack n coke slushy at my favorite sandwich shop and she sat down for a quick bite and whiskey before running back to work (must be nice to drink on your lunch hour). She was shooting a verbal machine gun telling us more than we needed to know about how she met buff plumber, the threesome between her and her husband who is soon to be ex and his old high school sweetheart moving in which sounds like a complete nightmare and that she just loves PEOPLE and not so much so she doesn’t BELIEVE she’s bisexual but she LOVES the gag LWord  and women on women but so, yeah, she finally DID BELIEVE she was gay and came out to her mom.

I was thinking, Really?

The whole discovering-my-sexuality conversation bores the shit out me. So what you love women? Who doesn’t? It’s legal now, it’s all good. You weren’t around to fight the fight. You didn’t have people calling you a queer as you walked across campus or having that written on your dorm room door. You didn’t just miss being blown to bits when they bombed The Otherside in ’97. You didn’t have people shouting that you didn’t deserve to live, have children or burn in hell when you walked down the street waving a rainbow flag.

No, you were painting your toenails and getting ready for your [legal] wedding to your still now husband.

But, that’s all good. I’m happy for you and buff plumber. I am, really. I think buff plumber really nice.

Hey, Charlie and I will walk you back to work.

And, we did and went home and flopped. It had been a long weekend and I’m so ready for vacation this week. I want to breathe a little beach breeze, suck an oyster out of a shell and just feel different air on my skin. I want to hear the ocean, the cap pop off of a bottle of beer, the seagulls call and fight the fight another day.

I can’t wait.

 

 

fall y’all

Itching for fall y’all and even falling back on the clock so we can get an extra hour of sleep. Cooling off, bon fires, football and riding motorcycles without sweating to death.

Things have been busy with landscape stuff and work. Although, it could be busier socialization-wise. I almost feel like its winter because everyone’s been scarce these days. One word replies to texts or crickets in-between no one’s around or responding it’s almost like we’re on an island. That would make good song lyrics, don’t you think? I’d want a little whistling going on like in this song which has the island reference:

We saw this dude at Edie’s last week with our friend, Kitty. At first I thought he was good but I doubt I’d pay to see him again. Then- last night Charlie and I went out for happy hour and were talking and got to playing his music and then, I changed my mind. I downloaded a few of his songs and have been playing them at work while I do design work. (Although, I have to watch singing the lyrics outload to this song):

 So, back to our regularly scheduled program…..

I’m more of a designer now at work than a PM. I’m sure later on as I get trained more and know what the fuck I’m doing they’ll assign me an area and I’ll take on more of a PM role + designer. Right now, I enjoy it although I’d enjoy it more if I could just start a project from beginning to end without having to get help.

This is my last full week until vaca next week. Charlie and I are taking the dogs to Savannah and Jekyll Island for a few days getting out of town. I’m ready for some sand, sound of waves & seafood. We’re jamming taking the dogs in the new car which will be better than trying to labor all the way down there in the poor truck that’s already taken a beating. I ordered a seat protector for the back of the car so hopefully that will work. I know things will speed up some once September gets here. I just feel like we’re in the dog daze of August and I’m ready to drop kick it into next year.

 

 

out and about

Last Saturday Charlie and I did another cleanup job. While the money is good I have to say that I’m done with these things for a while. The next one is going to have to be later when it cools down some. Plus, we have gotten to a point where we have to dispose of the debris at the dump 30 minutes away. It was kind of funny, though. Charlie hadn’t been there before – me, I’d been there years ago when I cleared out a bunch of sod at a client’s house. As we pulled in, Charlie wrinkled her nose at the smell and said, We have to drive all the way out THERE? Meaning, all the way to the back 40 to dump landscape debris the sign indicated. Once we finished that and came home we were both spent.

That night, we went to Kitty’s show which was great. We met this couple there who said we looked familiar and had previously seen another music friend of ours. We exchanged info because Charlie and I are always looking to meet new people to hang out with.

I’m so ready for this hot weather to be over with. Seriously, we’ve had a record number of 90 degree days here in HOTlanta. I’m PRAYING that when we take the dogs to the coast Labor Day weekend that A. it will be somewhat cooler and B. it doesn’t rain the whole time.

Before the show on Saturday Charlie and I had popped in to Victory Sandwich bar for a drink [their icy jack and cokes are to DIE for – very refreshing, too, in this hot weather]. This is the place we have ridden too on Tuesday nights for bike night. As we sat at the bar a young guy came in with a motorcycle helmet and sat down beside us. Of course, we struck of a conversation about what he rode, what we rode, etc. It really gave me a pang of wishing my bike was back together and we were riding despite the hot weather. Which, later got me on the path of looking at new suspension for the bike (which, will probably have to wait until later in the fall for that to happen). Charlie’s friend, Jess just got a new Harley and she’s dying to ride with us, too.

As you know, Charlie and I recently got our passports. Well, I’ve been DYING to go on a trip. Those little blue booklets have been burning in the drawer. I was looking at trips to Ireland since that’s where a portion of Charlie’s family originated. (Of course I have to marry an Irish woman who loves whiskey as much as I). So, I started looking on this travel package website. There are several options of places to travel in Ireland. One package had you flying in to Dublin, renting a car and traveling to Cork, Killarney and Galway staying 2 nights in all except for Cork. Another package was flying in to Dublin then going to Kilkenny (where Charlie’s family is from), Waterford, Cork, Killarney and Limerick. If any of you out there have traveled there or are from there I would LOVE your input! We have plenty of time to plan this thing since we decided it would be for next year. So, I’m excited!Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

game settings

Sometimes you just need to put someone on a setting on Facebook. Some people just live to lurk and make snarky comments the minute you update. This particular person is a friend of a friend and teetering on the edge of un-friendness on Fb. They pretty much already crossed the threshold of un-friending in real life. I’m just amazed that some people just don’t have anything better to do than make negative remarks to everyone. This person could never be a blogger because they wouldn’t be able to wrap their head around the fact of if you don’t like what you’re reading then click off of it. [If you don’t like it, just click the F off, dummy – I want a t-shirt that says that with this picture:

Speaking of clicking off things – has anyone been able to keep up with Mr. Robot? We’re on season 2 and I’m completely lost. I think I need to read a synopsis somewhere to get up to speed. I don’t need one for Wentworth season 4 – wow, what a good show. I think it blows Orange is the new Black a-way! I mean, none of the characters on that show are even likable anymore. I liked in the beginning that it was built off of some truth (very loosely) but now it’s just all hype in my opinion.

Last night I met a former co-worker after work for drinks and dinner to prep him for his interview today with the company I currently work for. This is with a different division but same job title. I’m keeping my fingers crossed he makes it through.

Last Saturday we went to a show at our friend’s house that hosts backyard concerts. The guy we saw was Levi Lowrey. He was great! We somehow got invited to one of these and made it to the private invite list so we try to go every time they have one. This Saturday, our friend Kitty is playing at Edie’s Attic and we’re excited to see her again. It’s been practically a year since she played there.

The landscape company is keeping both Charlie and I really busy. We have another big cleanup job on Saturday that we’re doing together. The one last week really wore us out. I have a swollen lip from [I think] a thorn and Charlie has poison ivy on her face so we’re a real attractive couple these days. I guess we could make up stories about getting into bar brawls – and, probably more believable than poison ivy and being stuck with a silver thorn. Hopefully, this weekend won’t be as bad. Here’s before and after pics of last weekend’s mess:

We only have about another month and football season will be here and hopefully cooler weather. I’m so ready! Let the games begin!

 

 

 

 

birthday aftermath

Ah, ugh! This is how I feel today. I wished so much that I could have taken the day off from work it being the day after my birthday and I’m slightly hung over. But, I had projects due at work and I didn’t want to leave it to my team members to pick up after me so I dragged myself in – new uniform on and everything. (Yes, I have uniforms for work – I look like a fancy janitor but I’m not complaining this way I never have to think about what I’m going to wear.)

My sister flew in on Friday for my birthday weekend. Why I thought this was ever a good idea, I don’t know. We had an OK time but you know – I was happy to put her on the plane on Sunday. She’s has just a huge stick up her @ss in the mud and will only do and eat certain things. It’s just really annoying. Plus, all she wants to talk about is home improvements. On and on and on about what we should do to the house, how we should paint the living room and so forth.

The minute we left the airport Charlie and I went out for a drink. We didn’t drink much during the weekend with her around (because that would be something else to be lectured on). We had plans to go out and see Rooster and Shutter play at the cafe’ (I don’t think I could have taken the last place). Dino and Martha showed up without Celina and Mike so it was a nice change. (Dino isn’t bad without Mike around). Although, he did mention that I needed to call Mike about his bachelor party.

-SIGH-

Here’s the dealio – I already have plans for the night they are going out for his bach party. The plans are somewhat private and I prefer to not have to disclose what they are for the sake of getting out of going to this thing. It’s going to be a typical tacky 20 year old bachelor party hitting strip bars in a limo with Mike and Dino and Dino’s brother. There is no smidge of desire in me to participate even if I didn’t already have a previous engagement. The reason I haven’t contacted Mike on it is because I’m probably going to get blowback from him and I just don’t feel like dealing with it. I will eventually message him that the reason I haven’t contacted him is because I have something going on that night and wasn’t sure if I could make it. (In fact, after writing this I did message him on FB)

I mean, really.

The one bit of advice my sister gave me that I listened to is that when you get to be almost 50 (which, after yesterday it’s looming closer and closer…..) you can actually say no to people and it’s OK. (Although, I don’t think she had herself in mind when she told me that)

I think I’m saying no to this and I’m going to be ok with it even if it means pissing people off. Charlie and I are attending the wedding and they will get a nice wedding gift so I see no reason to feel guilty about not hitting titty bars with Dino and Mike.

Our friend, Drewberry came over to help take my tank and fenders off the Triumph. I’m sending them off to have them custom painted. This is the next part of modifications I’m doing to my 2001 Bonneville. Charlie got me a custom cafe’ seat and it’s going to look really hot once everything is complete and put back together. I was fantasizing about riding down to Victory sandwich shop for bike night once it got cool in the fall. I’m really looking forward to football season fall and cooler weather. The summer had been really hot and dry down here.

Last weekend, Charlie and I took the dogs up to a cabin we rented that was dog-friendly. It was a really nice place. (I hope so after the  $90 pet fee) It was good to get out and breathe different air since we have both been working most weekends lately with the landscape business. The cabin was by a large lake that you could swim in and rent paddleboards and boats. We rented a board for an hour and played around with it. I went on a trail run while I was there. One of my other birthday presents from Charlie was some wireless headphones specifically to work out in. All in all it was a great weekend and I’m glad we got away.

I’ll leave you with some pics of our short vacation:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hell is for outdoor concerts

What is it with outdoor concerts and rain?

We’ve had a drought for two months in Georgia and the MINUTE we have Melissa Etheridge tickets is rains. In fact, the last three times I’ve been to Chastain Amphitheatre to see a show it’s rained.

Last Saturday was the concert. We had planned to get there early and to tailgate with our new friends from Dawsonville. A friend up the street called and asked if her and her gf could carpool so it was a plan. We split the $20 parking so it wasn’t too painful. We were one of five other cars pulling into the lot, parked, got out the chairs and the cooler and started watching people come in. Our friends waved to us across the parking lot and dragged chairs and wine over to visit. We no more got twenty minutes into our tailgating when –

BOOM!

We barely had enough time to fold up the chairs, throw them in the trunk and dive into the car. We thought, Oh, it will stop in 20 minutes. Nope. We sat there for an hour and ½. The gates weren’t even open no one was playing in the deluge with thunder and lightning. Our friend, Emil was trapped in her car up the hill. Dawsonville friends were going through 3 bottles of wine. Charlie and I were drinking beer but all of our bladders were on the verge of exploding. We saw some girl get out of the car behind us and open both front and back doors and go between them. I was tempted believe me but that seemed way too personal with Angela and Sharon in the backseat. (This is really the first time we’ve gone somewhere with them.) I texted the Dawsonville peeps and said we were staying until 8:30 and if no music and it’s still pouring we’re out of there. They said they were leaving at 8:15. As if knowing we were all going to leave they opened the gates. Then, the rain let up. We all got out – like a mass exodus. There were soggy lesbians everywhere. Our Dawsonville friends decided they were too drunk to leave to stay.

Angela and Sharon took off for the gate and I hopped a squat between the car doors and peed all over my shorts and flipflops. We lugged the cooler down the steps to a line that was forming to get in. Charlie and a cop got into it because she wanted to wait on the side until I got up to the front of the line before hopping in – she didn’t want to have to lug the cooler the whole time we were in line which made sense. The cop was pointing over to the side telling her she had to stand right.there. What a b*tch.

We finally got up to the guy checking tickets and when I pulled out my Groupon tickets he barely looked at them and said we had to get behind that woman to have them scanned. He was kind of a b*tch, too. So, we followed the woman and came to an usher who we showed the tickets to. She looked at them and then the previous guy yelled over our shoulders, [Name of usher] I NEED YOU BACK HERE RIGHT NOOOOOW.

Usher, I’M HELPING THESE LADIES FIND THEIR SEAAAAAAAAATS! Even louder. I thought a fight was going to break out.

We went in to find our seats only to find this grandma older couple in our seats with a tray and food set up. They looked at us to move and we stopped them and said we’d sit somewhere else and if someone kicked us out we’d come back. So, we pushed up under the terrace a few rows up and sat down. We tried to eat but every time we put our deli containers with salad and chicken on the cooler they got dumped off on the ground. By this time I was realllllllly over it. I probably could have left right then if Melissa Etheridge hadn’t started playing. I wanted to see her but I was lukewarm about Pat Benatar. We decided to just drink beer at that point and f*ck the food.

After some time, Angela and Sharon found us and said, It’s terrible out there- it’s raining.

I hadn’t noticed being under the terrace. So, we told them to sit with us. The place was half empty anyway and I was glad we’d gotten a Groupon for this show as I would have HATED to have spent the $$ on tickets our friends had.

Melissa finished then Pat came out and the first two songs were great – I think they were “Love is a Battlefield” and “We Belong”. Great. Then, I was ready to go. She was playing with Neil Giraldo (who, I have no idea who he is) and he started to TALK before every song they played. I was like, Shut up and play, old man.

I was getting restless and wanted food. I was starting to ask everyone if they were ready to go. Then, on stage they started talking again and then ripped into, “Hell is for Children”. Sounding like: HELLSIS FOR CHIL-REN!!!!

It kind of blasted us out of our seats and hard to take after several beers and I imagine the rest of the crowd – three bottles of wine and towards the end of the evening. That seemed to do it for everyone they were like, Lets go.

For that, I am happy they played that song then.

The next concert is not until the fall and inside the Tabernacle, which, I’m thankful for that.