Cindi is taking a month long vacation in September. Her trip started out as a horseback riding safari in Kenya but has morphed into a travel adventure. At the beginning of the month she flies to Chicago and then on to London. From London, Cindi flies to Nairobi to meet up with her girlfriends for the safari. After the safari she flies back to London and stays a day or two. Then Cindi flies to Munich and catches a train to Austria. Cindi is meeting up with a guy she been seeing who is guiding bicycle tours in Austria. After a few days in Austria she’s taking a train to either Paris or Reims to meet up with K and me. When we fly home Cindi is going back to Austria to meet up with the guy again. Then she’s taking a train back to Munich in order to catch a flight to London. Cindi flies from London to Dallas and then back to Denver. Cindi managed to use miles for all of her flights. That explains the convoluted route.
Archive for July, 2011
What A Trip!
Posted in friends on July 28, 2011| 2 Comments »
Come and Gone
Posted in my life on July 27, 2011| 2 Comments »
K took a red eye home from Hawaii and got home around 9 Monday morning. He worked from home on Monday taking conference calls most of the day. He left for New Mexico at 8 Tuesday morning. He wasn’t home a full twenty four hours and he was gone again. He’ll be back on Friday night. His trip to New Jersey next week has been cancelled. Things change every day so I will not be surprised if he flies off to some other place next week.
Updates 7/22/2011
Posted in my life, work on July 22, 2011| 2 Comments »
K was in Toronto last week. This week he’s in Hawaii. Next week he goes back to Los Alamos, NM and the week after somewhere in New Jersey. This fall he’ll probably start a six month stint in St. Louis. Remind me again why we don’t have kids.
The company laid off nine people in my department this week. Eight were in India and one was here in Denver. This was a surprise given my groups new leader told the team in a staff meeting last week that there were no layoffs on the horizon. Either she’s a liar or she got blindsided. I’m tending to believe she’s a liar. I thinks she’s probably related to Rupert Murdoch.
The monsoons have calmed down. There’s been a rain storm every day but they are not the region wide torrential storms we had earlier in the month. The water company has said usage is down 34%.
My mother is still smoking. My brother suspects that she taking more than just a few puffs a couple of times a day. I find this really upsetting but it’s her life and her choice. I’m not going to nag her for it.
My mother is still too frail to dial the phone. I left her a message last Saturday and she still hasn’t returned my call. She hasn’t called my brother or sil either.
My sister found a new job as a title clerk at automobile dealership. It’s amazing how fast she found a job. It may have something to do with running out of unemployment benefits.
Rain, Rain, Rain
Posted in my life on July 15, 2011| 1 Comment »
Monsoon season is in full swing in Denver. We’ve had rain every day for the last ten days. There’s more rain coming today. Some of the storms have been violent torrential downpours with hail. The other day one storm had over 1,100 lightning strikes. Streets are flooding every afternoon. Planes have been damaged by hail at the airport causing flight delays and cancellations. We’ve had at least five inches of rain in the city this month. The average monthly precipitation for July is 1.56 inches. Monsoon season usually means a daily light rain shower somewhere in the area. Not these huge storms that range from the far south suburbs to Boulder and the far north suburbs. I’m waiting for some right-wing religious nut down in Colorado Springs to blame the storms on gay marriage.
Barbarian
Posted in my life on July 14, 2011| 1 Comment »
Dr. Bachman described gays as barbarians. I found this in an online dictionary.
bar•bar•i•an
–noun
1.
a person in a savage, primitive state; uncivilized person.
2.
a person without culture, refinement, or education; philistine.
3.
(loosely) a foreigner.
4.
(in ancient and medieval periods)
a.
a non-Greek.
b.
a person living outside, especially north of, the Roman Empire.
c.
a person not living in a Christian country or within a Christian civilization.
5.
(among Italians during the Renaissance) a person of non-Italian origin.
Wow! I don’t fit in any of these descriptions. I guess I’m not gay afterall.
Just Another Hate-Filled Ignorant Frigid Bitch
Posted in friends on July 13, 2011| 1 Comment »
Cindi called last night to tell me about her misadventures with a contractor that was installing a shower in one her bathrooms. She fired the contractor for mismanaging the job and unnecessary cost overruns. The morning after she fired the contractor she discovered he sent her a series of harassing emails starting at one in the morning. Cindi read some passages from his emails. We had a good laugh over his poor grammar, misspellings and word choice. For example, “So enjoy your lonly miserable life producing unapreciated shit for the wealthy that you only wish you could be a part of you hate-filled ignorant frigid bitch.” Frigid! Really? How could he possibly know Cindi is frigid? He comes off as a bitter angry man lashing out at a woman because he is insecure and incompetent. Thankfully, Dmitri’s friend, Travis, is going to finish the job.
Weekend Blur
Posted in friends, my life on July 11, 2011| 1 Comment »
The weekend flew by. It seemed like one minute it was Friday night and the next it was Monday morning.
K and I attend a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend Sue. Sue’s sister, Joanne, hosted the party at her house in the far southeast suburbs. Joane and her husband and son live in a huge McMansion in a gated community with a guard house. However, when we arrived the gate was open and there was no guard on duty. The neighborhood sits on rolling terrain so almost every house has a walkout basement with a patio. All of the houses are two-story with three car garages. The landscaping is Iush and manicured. All of the streets are named Starhill something or other so it was confusing as hell to find the house. The party was well attended and everyone had a great time. We left around ten for the schlep home.
On Sunday K flew to Toronto and I ran errands. I didn’t sleep well the night before so I took a nap after breakfast. I felt out of sorts all day. I did manage to go to the nursery, do a little gardening and get in a workout. It was a hot day but we had another torrential downpour around five in the afternoon which cooled things down. I parked myself in front of the TV on Sunday night and watched True Blood and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Then it was off the bed after taking a shower and washing down a sleeping pill with a shot of tequila.
They Need To Be Bitch Slapped
Posted in my life on July 5, 2011| 2 Comments »
What’s up with super aggressive women shopping in the men’s department? K and I encountered several of these women while taking advantage of the holiday sales at stores in the Cherry Creek Mall. The women would push their way in front of us and rummage through sale items like a honey badger looking for food. These women acted as if their life depended upon snagging the ultimate deal in the men’s department. These women were rude and obnoxious. One woman was standing on my left and was trying to reach garments on my right. When I said “excuse me” she acted like she had just come out of a trance and realized I was standing in her way. She managed to say “sorry” and went on rummaging. We were not shopping at low end stores where I would expect to find desperate bargain shoppers. We were in upscale stores that cater to more sophisticated clientele with manners. I guess the holiday sales brought the bargain hunters into stores they normally could not afford.
While we’re on the subject on shopping I’d like to address another issue. Why do people leave clothes on the floor of the dressing room? I was trying on a shirt this weekend. The dressing room’s previous occupant left a pile of women’s clothes on the floor. On the top of the pile was a $500 dress. The dress was thrown on the floor with about eight other garments. WTF. You don’t own the clothes until you buy then. Why throw them on the floor when there is an attendant in the dressing room area who will take the garments from you? Is that how you act at home? The dressing room has to be shared so quit acting like pig and either hang the clothes back up or give them to the attendant.
I feel much better now.
Updates 7/1/11
Posted in friends, my life on July 1, 2011| 1 Comment »
There’s been a lot of unnecessary hysteria caused by the media coverage of the fire near Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). K has been to Los Alamos many times and has a crew working there. LANL is forty square miles. The fire may be a mile away from the property but the radioactive waste is not in danger of burning. The waste is in drums sitting on pavement, gravel or dirt. There is no vegetation any near the drums. There’s also a sprinkler system in the unlikely event of a fire. I wish the media would report facts instead of creating drama.
K and Cindi are going skiing on Monday at A Basin. It’s hard to believe they are still open but they still have a 40 inch snow base.
K invited our neighbors Tom and Sheila along with Cindi over for dinner on Saturday night. After dinner we’re going to watch the Glendale fireworks. It should be a fun evening even though kitchen is not finished.
I talked to my mother last night. It’s been two week since I talked to her. I was waiting to see if she would call me. My mother is feeling a lot better and is getting her strength back. Yet she still seems too weak to dial the phone. She didn’t call my brother on his 50th birthday but sent the usual card and check. My brother’s feelings were hurt. He’s done so much for my mother. She should have called him.
My sister got laid off again about two months ago. Luckily, she’s starting a new job on the 11th as a title clerk at a used car dealership. I’m hoping this job lasts more than six months.
I want to see Bad Teacher. The previews remind me of one of my college professors. He was a drunk who was almost always hung over. It was a morning class starting at 10 and he was always late. The final exam had to be rescheduled because he left the exam in a bar the night before.
K and I went to see the X-Men movie last weekend. The tickets were $10.50 each. K wanted to get popcorn and a soda but it was $12.50. After spending $21 to walk in the door it was hard to pay another $12.50 for snacks so we skipped the snacks. Ironically, the theater chain is owned by a billionaire investor, who lives in a multi-million dollar mansion in gated community with its own security force down the street from our house.
The Corporate Slave 