I'll have another one tarbender..

I just came across this story on Yahoo. Its an unfortunate story about an airline being in trouble because some people can't take personal responsibility and contol themselves. The airline served alcohol to a person who in turn killed some people due to drunk driving. Then I noticed the name of the person who was drunk.... Story hoax or unfortunate coincidence? The spelling isn't exact, but close enough to make me wonder..

N.M. closes bar on US Airways flights

The bar is closed on US Airways' New Mexico flights. The state ordered the airline to stop serving alcohol on flights to or from New Mexico after learning that it didn't have a state liquor license. The discovery came during an investigation of a fatal drunken driving crash involving a man who was accused of being intoxicated on a US Airways flight to Albuquerque, said Ed Lopez, superintendent of the state Regulation and Licensing Department. "We're interpreting it to apply to all US Airways flights scheduled to arrive in or depart from New Mexico," Lopez said of the order. "They should not be selling alcohol while in New Mexico airspace." The lack of a license means the airline is "effectively bootlegging," he said. The state delivered a cease-and-desist order to US Airways officials Monday at the Albuquerque airport, Lopez said.
"We're aware of the order and we're going to comply," Valerie Wunder, a spokeswoman for the airline, said Tuesday from Tempe, Ariz. The airline has about two weeks to notify state regulators that it has stopped serving alcohol, and then it may apply for a liquor license, Lopez said.
All other major airlines operating in New Mexico are licensed, Lopez said. The Nov. 11 traffic wreck that led to the order killed five members of one family and the man who hit their van head-on. Dana Papst, 44, was driving the wrong way on Interstate 25 near Santa Fe when his truck hit the family's van. Blood tests showed Papst's blood-alcohol content was four times the state's legal limit for driving. Authorities also accused a convenience store in Bernalillo of selling beer to Papst between the time he got off a US Airways flight and the crash even though he was already drunk.

Welcome to the Big Top

Saturday we took William to the circus for the first time. I wanted to wait until he would be able to appreciate the circus before taking him. I thought about going last year, but missed the dates they were in town. We left Andrew with the grandparents for the night. The one thing I wanted to go to was the circus fair before the actual circus. William loves animals but never has really seen lions, elephants and mini-horses in person. We went into the fair and I showed him the lions just lounging in their cages and taking naps. I don't think that he got the concept that they were actually alive and not just stuffed animals in the cage. Finally we walked toward the elephant area and you could see his eyes get wide as he saw an elephant in person for the first time. Then we run into Keith and Lori and their crew (small world). Jen was visiting with them, but William wanted to see more so him and I went to the other areas of the fair. I saw that one of the mini-horses was close enough to the fence to pet so I took him over there to pet the horse and get a picture. Another thing that William was thrilled by were the Peg Perego/power wheel vehicles at one display. I was going to see if he could drive one of those things, but unfortunately the line was a little long and we were running out of time. We might have to look into getting one of those for him this year. My mom doesn't like those things and thinks all of those kinds of toys should be pedal powered. We will see. William also got to stand close to where they give the elephant rides so he got to see the elephant about 3 feet away. He really enjoyed that. They gave the 10 minute warning to the circus so we were going to head up to the circus with Keith and Lori, but just about everyone in their group needed a potty break before, so we decided to head up since that could take a while.

The circus was delayed for 10 minutes since the weather outside was crappy so they wanted to allow people to get inside. Our seats weren't too bad, I was told that they were on the isle, but that wasn't the case, they were 4 seats from the isle. They started the show with all the lights and things going on. William was so intent on trying to see everything he wasn't paying attention to the acts in the rings. Man the music was soooo freaking loud to the point of being annoying, but either they turned it down or my ears adjusted since it didn't seem that bad toward the middle of the show. Of course by then a black family had taken seats behind us and of course had to talk and comment about the show, yeah, I know you don't really need to listen to a circus but it got real annoying. That and I got hit with popcorn a couple times during the show. At one point Jen took William to get changed so I had to stand up to let them out and they started commenting how I should sit down and they couldn't see, just loud enough that I could hear them, I almost said something. Anywhooooo.. overall I think William had a pretty good time. He started getting tired toward the end of the show either cause by the time (9:30pm) or the beginnings of his current cold. We stopped by steak-n-shake to grab some malts for us and the grandparents and waited 15 minutes since they were slammed due to a woodland basketball game with all of the teeny boppers taking over the place. Jenny asked me if we acted like that when we were their age, and I just said, "yeah".

I am a book widow

I am a book widow... When Jen gets a book that she really wants to read, I can usually count on her being in her own little world for the next couple of days. It's like she is in a little soundproof room where no one can see her. She gets so involved in whatever she is reading that it would take a small explosion to get her attention. One of the kids could be on fire next to her and she would just appreciate the extra light. I could be standing in front of her naked and she would never notice. Wait, she doesn't need a book to do that. (just kidding dear).

I dread the release dates of Harry Potter books since I know I won't talk to her for days . Thank God this is the last Harry Potter book. Of course she will find something else just as interesting I am sure.

Anyone else a book widow??

Cars

Saturday I had to get the oil changed in the Saturn. I noticed the last time that the dealership was a wi-fi hotspot so I decided to take the laptop with me. Of course after getting past the service guy trying to talk me into $500 worth of maintenance on the car that "must be done" I was able to get to the showroom. I grabbed a pop and sat down at a table. I connected pretty easily and was surfing in seconds. There was only one other kid on the computer at the dealership so it kinda surprized me that it was so slow, but then I figured that the other computers in the dealership (probably the whole automall) were sharing this connection. I couldn't blog or do some other stuff so I wasn't sure if there was a setting on my computer or on there server that didn't allow access to some websites and things. Just as my laptop ran out of juice they told me that my car was done. Cool, that worked out. Overall it's good to know that I can take the laptop with me if I ever have any extended service done to the car. You know, the stuff that "must be done".

Speaking of car stuff. I have heard commercials and have seen signs for car dealers who will do you taxes if you buy a car from them. HUH? Let a car dealer do my taxes??? I would never allow a car dealer to do my taxes, especially a used car dealer. What a way of saying that they want to make sure they get all of your return rather than just some of it for that used pinto. I would rather my taxes were prepared by myself or H&R Block rather than Bob's used wrecks. But I am sure there are plenty of people who do this every year, but I just don't understand.....

What?

I have seen this story for the past couple of days about this little 77 sqare foot apartment in London for sale for $330,000 +.

In the story it says:

Tiny London apartment on sale for $335K
LONDON - Location, location, location. Almost anywhere else, the tiny dilapidated studio wouldn't attract much more than mice. But this is London and the 77-square-foot former storage room — slightly bigger than a prison cell and without electricity — is going for $335,000.

No Electricity? then What do you call this thing in the ceiling?




















Later on it says:

A coffin-sized shower is en suite, and storage is provided by a shallow closet and 10-inch-deep shelves cut into the wall. Two hot plates and a small sink make up the kitchen. Two dirty windows allow light to filter into the basement room, and the fire escape could conceivably double as a shared patio.
With no electricity or heating, Scott said it would cost an additional $59,000 to make the room habitable.

Again no electricity according to the story but two hot plates in the kitchen. How exactly are they powered?

I know it's the novelty of the story of how big it is and how much it's going for, but someone should get their facts straight. Either that or there is a language barrier between our countries. Or maybe it's just that the electricity isn't on, but I can't imagine they need $59,000 to flip a switch, but again it is England.

i'm melting... i'm melting

I got hit with a very nasty stomach virus over the weekend, and man it was no fun at all. Lucky for me it hit Thursday night so I had the weekend to rest and try and get over it, but I did end up taking Monday off and going to the doctors. Of course during the day on Monday I started to feel better, but I did end up going to the doctors anyway. Sunday night my stomach was rolling and gurgling so much that I wouldn't have been surprized to see an alien come out of my stomach. I swore I was going to wake the kids up. I know for a fact that it scared the cat. Or maybe that was just the byproduct of it sounding like the campfire scene in "Blazing Saddles" around my chair. Don't you hate when you are dealing with an issue like that and you get ready to "let loose" a big one and you just pray it's all gas? (ewww grossss.. yeah I know). We have all been there/done that, I am just saying it....

Why am I writing about this? I don't know.

Low Battery.

So, Sunday night I tried to head to bed early since I was so tired. But I threw in a movie and watched the whole thing, then had to make my lunch, and other assorted crap that I do before bed. By the time I actually hit the sheets its 12:30 or so. Andrew is having an issue so he is waking up and crying. Lucky for me he goes back to sleep very fast, but unlucky for me the baby monitor is still in the room so I wake up every time he does this, which is frequently. Among the other stuff to keep me awake is the pouring rain that is keeping my sump pump activating every 2 or 3 minutes which ends with a "THUMP THUMP THUMP" after every cycle. For some reason I don't trust my sump pump and I am always afraid it's going to stop working and I will be totally hosed, especially since it runs so much. Also, Jenny is still at work so I usually try and keep an ear out to see if I can hear her come home. I think I finally get to sleep and hear "THUMP" at 2:30am. It's not the sump pump "thump" but the "thump" sound of either Jenny coming home from work or William falling out of bed. I don't hear William crying, but I decide to investigate. I find William on the floor of his bedroom asleap. Man, that's pretty tired if you can fall out of bed and not wake up. After all of that I get back to sleep to have the alarm go off in what seems like an hour later and I get up. Work was real fun Monday.

Monday night I decide to try and get to bed early, but again with my farting around and TV watching it's well after 11:30 before I finally hit the sheets. Now I go to sleep hard. Around 2:00am again I hear a noise in a subconscious state of mind. I am trying to wake myself up enough to see if I can comprehend what is going on (you know, that kind of sleep). I wake up enough to hear a "beep" and then an electronic voice like Star Trek saying something. I figure that it is one of the kid's toys with the battery going dead and it's freaking out. At this point I am seriously going to find this toy and chuck it out the back door. Usually I kid around that I am going to do that, but this time I meant it. I asked Jenny if she knew what was making the noise so I can get my pitching arm ready. She informs me that the smoke detector downstairs is beeping and saying "battery low". Damn. Both of our smoke detectors are hardwired into the electrical of the house and they are in conjunction with each other so if one goes off they both go off. Unfortunately this beep and voice is something that I can't sleep through, and we are afraid it will wake the boys up. I am still trying to wake up to make my brain work on how to solve the problem. It would be just easy to replace the battery, but I know that if I disconnect the detector downstairs, both of the detectors will go off since they have a backup system in place. Adding to the fun is that we aren't sure if we have a 9 volt battery in the house so we are trying to think of which of the kid's toys to canaballize. Luckily Jen finds a battery and I do the old tongue test on the connectors to make sure that the battery is still good, and it is. I go down and look at the detector and tell Jen to get ready for screaming kids since disconnecting this thing will surely make them go off. Sure as shit as soon as I unplug the detector they both go off. I am trying to change the battery as fast as possible, but it takes a minute to get everything unplugged and plugged. William wakes up screaming so Jen goes to comfort him (maybe we should have woke him up before). Andrew stirs, but never actually wakes up. That's a heavy sleep. Finally after the battery is changed and everything is plugged back in, the detectors have to do a start up procedure which involves more alarms going off and voices. Finally the house falls silent. I do the tounge test on the supposed bad battery and it has a full charge!! WTF? I need to get the instructions out on these detectors and see if they require a monthly test or if they know when it has been a year since their last battery. We have to calm William down and he finally goes to sleep. I have to calm down so I finally go to sleep around 3:30 or so. Of course I sleep through my alarm so I wake up late and get ready at warp speed. I don't know how, but I actually made it to work on time. Needless to say work was fun yesterday. I am not as tired as I should be, maybe I am getting used to interrupted sleep (noooooooooooo).

And Now the news...

Well the year has started out relatively calm so far. The weekends are coming back into things of calm and relaxation rather than pandelerium. I got my Reuben sandwiches which were yummy. The good part is that with the stuff we bought to make our own we actually had quite a few meals from them. If anyone is interested in the recipe it's just basically corn beef, Swiss cheese, thousand island salad dressing and saur kraut on rye bread, toasted like a cheese toasty (Med heat until cheese melts).

I am getting a little antsy for a party so Jen and I are thinking about a superbowl/card party in a few weeks. We haven't seen our friends in quite a while and it would be nice for a visit. Not sure if we are going to do it or not, so stay tuned.

Speaking of Superbowl... it is the dumbest thing that no one on radio or TV can call the game "Superbowl" because the name is trademarked. They have to use other names like the "Big Game" or something else like that, so stupid. How great of a marketing idea is that? You spend millions of dollars on an event, and you don't allow anyone to call it what it is? (Like everyone doesn't know). I can't think of any other event that is nationally recognized that you can't say what it is. And Prince at halftime? uh.. yeah....right.

Football in General - before watching the Colts game Saturday I was watching the pregame show with JB, Shannon,Dan Marino, and some other yahoo. All of these guys gave the game to Baltimore before the game began. If it were up to them they wouldn't have even bothered playing the game. Even the commentators doing the game were extremely pro-Baltimore. At halftime the yahoo's were still trying to will Baltimore to a win. The commentators late into the 4th quarter they were saying what Baltimore had to do to win and beat the Colts. I am sorry, the Colts played very well and deserve some freaking respect. To everyone at CBS sports I would like to say:

Next time we turn on WOWO to listen to the call of the game.

Unfortunate burn out - I was driving home the other day and noticed that the neon sign on the Golden Corral restaurant. Unfortunately the "C" was burnt out on the sign. I don't know about you, but the "Golden Orral" just sounds dirty. And what makes it "Golden"? I AM NOT GOOGLEING THAT.

Carrie e-mailed us trying to nail down some dates for a possible "Geekfest 2007" (maybe I should trademark that so no one can say what it is). Being low woman on the totem pole at her work, the available dates for vacations in summer are slim pickings since everyone else has first pick. Her first choice is June 21-24 (which is looking more and more like the date). But again like last year she will have to pull Mary out of school or show up late at the destination. The next available date for her is sometime in August. All of this puts the planning committee into full gear trying to figure out where to go, what to do, and try and find out who wants to go. Any ideas would be appreciated. I think it was fun at the Kalahari, but it wouldn't be bad to do something else. If the same number of people want to go again this year I like the Village room that the Kalahari has to offer. I couldn't find anywhere else that offered a room like that, but again, depends on how many want to go. First things first WHO WANTS TO GO???????

That's enough rambling for now..

Tiggergate

I heard about this video a couple of days ago, but didn't have a chance to see it until today. The story that I heard is that a guy in a tigger costume hit a 14 year old kid at Disney. My first thought was "wow, the guy freaked out". I was a bit appauled to think that could happen, but then I saw the video. The guy in the costume is clearly trying to grab this kids hand and just happens to brush his face with his paw. This 14 year old brat claims that he didn't do anything, but I am willing to bet he was trying to unzip his costume or something like that. Tigger reaction was the same that anyone would have. I am sure this will end up with a lawsuit, but I wish someone in the media would get a clue and stop reporting that tigger "hit" this little bastard.

Now I know for a fact that there are some un-Disney things that happen at the parks behind the scenes but this definatly is not one of them.

New Year's Resolution

I have finally decided on my New Year's Resolution

I have resolved to give up self-denial

I hope I make it

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to everyone!! This year we had another laid back kinda weekend, which is becoming what we old people with kids tend to do anymore. I was never really into going out on new years eve that much, but I would look for a party or create one, but now hanging out at home and not having to worry about the other yahoos on the road is getting to become what we do. I still love a good party though.

Saturday I had the time (and decent weather) to get all of the outside lights and decorations taken down. Now usually I will wait until after new years weekend to do this, but I just knew that if I waited until next weekend it would be 10 degrees with a foot of snow. Saturday night we took the whole crew to Meijer to get some snacks and stuff for Sunday night and Monday (and of course beer). I don't know why but a good Reuben sandwich just sounded good for new year's day. I figured we could just do a snack night thing Sunday since we were going to the in-laws for lunch that day and I knew I wouldn't be hungry for a whole meal Sunday night, just snacks.

Just like predicted we got home from the in-laws Sunday night around 8:00 or so and put the kids to bed. I thought about seeing if William wanted to stay up a bit longer, but I could tell he was already tired. By the time the kids were in bed, Jen was downstairs baking up some brownies. These are the best brownies that she found a recipe for. They are kind of a double layered brownie with mini M&M's in it. DE-LIC-IOUS (made from scratch, not a mix). I put together some cream cheese and relish dip and put together some roll-ups that Jen had a taste for. By the time we stopped cooking and putting together the snacks it was almost 9:45 already, so we put the snacks on the table and sat down to watch TV. I had my Corona (with lime) and she had her pop. We both made it past midnight until 1:00 or so then both fell asleep on the couch. I got up around 3:00am and headed to bed where Jen followed sometime later. 7:30am William comes walking into the bedroom. nnnnooooooo. that is way to freaking early. So I got up with him and we went downstairs. The rest of the morning was spent in the lazy boy with an occasional cat nap here and there while the kids played with their stuff. Later in the day we went to my mom's house for a visit and to drop the kids off for a couple of hours while we got some stuff done around the house. One of the tasks was to get rid of the real Christmas tree that we had. It's always so sad to see it come down, but the needles were becoming a real problem. This year Jen did go out looking for a new artificial tree after Christmas but couldn't find anything she liked. By the time we were done with our projects we ended up just grabbing some pizza at mom's house with the kids. The reubens will have to wait until tonight. YEAH!!!!