1st Ever Salinas Valley Pride Parade!
I got fried shrimp and fried chicken because I just wasn’t in the mood for Mexican food but it was good. Rob fell in love with the salsa and the nice waitress gave us a small vat of it to go. On the way back from lunch we saw a sign for an estate sale and stopped. It was pretty cool and I got some silver and gold candles for my altar-in-the-making and a candle snuffer for them. We also got some bowls and I got this speech to text thing that pretty much doesn’t work right but it was only a couple of bucks. Heh.
At that estate sale they told us of another one down the street so we stopped there after. It was a HUGE house but everything was overpriced in my opinion. It was the perfect sale for a collector. They had a lot of vintage and fun stuff like an old coin operated scale and a cash register. Just not for us.
We dropped off the parents and did some shopping at Nob Hill before returning home where I tried for hours to get the speech software to work properly and finally gave up. I had an email from the Salinas Valley Pride organizer to call him so I did. He was calling all the volunteers to let them know that there were going to be protesters and just to remind us that at no time are we to let them instigate us. We are just to ignore them.
After talking to him I called my mom because she left a guilt ridden message on our answering machine while we were at the Poison show that she didn’t have Southwests number and she needed me to call her with it. Heh. Nothing like dialing information right? Anyway, we talked for about a half an hour and then I took a bath.
This morning we woke up and headed into Salinas again. This time for the first ever Salinas Valley Pride Parade. When I got there, I signed in as a volunteer and got a T shirt, read the security information and then waited to be told what to do. Rob had headed off to the grocery store to do the rest of the shopping for Vegas.
I volunteered to head off the south end of the parade where it started along with a couple other people to block it off and allow ppl through as necessary. We were armed with wristbands and fliers to hand out. The wristbands were important because the parade was insured. If you were wearing a wristband and god forbid something happened, you were taken care of financially under the parade insurance. I thought that was a good call. I also thought that it was sad that we had to do such a thing, but it was smart.
So we all stood around after blockading the road and eventually started banding people as they came in. Some people wanted nothing to do with us as they were just passing through but the majority were there for the parade and happy to be there. We were supposed to have police there helping direct traffic but they arrived about an hour late. Luckily there wasn’t much of a problem. People saw the barricades and changed direction.
We did experience the protesters. They came in, most refusing wristbands and they were trying to hand out the these small pieces of paper stating some religious stuff. They were very polite and gathered at the end of the parade with signs. It was a peaceful protest as we were told and they had every right to be there as did anyone else so it was cool.
The parade itself was bigger than I thought it was going to be. Not to mention the people that came to see it. It was larger and I’m glad for it. We got thanked a lot as volunteers by the people coming in to watch. They understood how huge this was for Salinas and I was very happy to be a small part of it. It’s a tinystep but I can see this becoming something big in the years to come. The turn out showed us that there was a definite need for it despite the naysayers.
Last Thursday as we were driving to work we heard an advertisement for the car races in Watsonville. Every now and again I had heard Rob mention them and say it’s something we should do some night but I never put much thought into it. After the commercial was over I asked Rob if that was something he was interested in and he said: “Yeah, only for the last two years.” So it was decided we would head out after work on Friday, which we did.
It wasn’t bad. My only prior experience to attending a racing event was a NASCAR race that a friend of Rob’s had gotten us tickets to for a wedding present. Picture it: I’m over 300 pounds, it’s over 100 degrees out and we have to walk about two miles to get to the speedway. Our seats are pretty high up and I’m afraid of heights. And oh yeah, I’m on my period.
Yeah, not the best day of my life. So when I say it wasn’t bad I mean that it was pretty freaking good in comparison.
It’s all done on a very small scale at the Santa Cruz fairgrounds. Very low key, you show up you get your grub and you climb the metal bleachers to a seat where you won’t get mud flung on you(unless of course that is your thing. In that case–have a ball!) and sit. They kept everything moving along quite well with no delays so that was favorable. Rob was truly loving it and I was loving the corn dog and the out of this world French fries.
My only complaint was that is was a bit long and I didn’t bring a sweatshirt along with my jacket because it got quite cold after eight or so. I got really tired and so we left when there were two races left to run. Overall, a fun night out with the husband doing something he actually wanted to do for a change.
Saturday we were up early to go get the Mustang from the shop. Oh yeah, did I mention we finally took the car in after running it for a year on a Mickey moused hose? Yup–to the tune of $2000.00! Yay for stupidity!
Anyway, I dropped Rob off and once he rescued the car I headed out to Petsmart and got some stuff for Pappy’s sore(it’s doing so much better!) along with some dog food.
Don’t you hate when you go into a store knowing pretty much what you want and then get accosted by the store employees? I mean, I’m all for having people available if you have questions but I was standing there in the dog food aisle trying to determine which bag had the small kibble and the big kibble when this lady who was roughly 108 years old comes up in a petsmart apron and asks if I need help. I smile kindly and tell her I’m just looking for dog food for our two dogs. She immediately says: “You know you have to feed them separately right??”
I nod and smile as dismissively as I can before going back to looking at the food. She asks what kinds of dogs so I tell her and she then launches into this five minute monolog on how I have to get two different kinds of dog foods and blah blah blah. Finally to appease her I hefted the 40 lb bag of food for medium sized dogs(the kind I was going to get anyway) into the cart and put a small bag of food for larger dogs on top. Thanked her and walked away.
I made into the flea and tick aisle where I was about to ditch the smaller bag when she comes up behind me and says: “And on to your next endeavor, what are you looking for now?”
‘Tell her you’re just looking!’ my brain pleaded with me but my mouth didn’t listen. “I need some sort of salve to put on a sore area that my dog won’t stop licking.”
Her eyes lit up. “Where is the sore?”
“On his inner leg.” I didn’t want to say right beside his wiener.
“You need to get a collar.” She runs in front of me and actually grabs the front of my cart to make me follow her.
“Actually, I’m just looking for some cream or something…”
“He’ll just lick it off.” She gleefully replies as she guides my cart with amazing strength for a senior citizen to an endcap full of those horrible cone collars.
That is where I had to draw the line. I may joke about how funny it would be to put my dogs in one of those but I am not putting Pappy in one of those just because he likes to lick his wiener!
“I just need some cream.” I stand firm.
She pauses and then frowns before leading me over to the next aisle where she randomly grabs some cream for itching which is not Pappy’s problem and hands it to me.
“You really should consider getting a collar.” She starts wringing her hands worriedly and I begin to think there is some sort of special commission on selling cone collars.
“Thank you so much for your help, I’m just going to keep looking around now.” I raise my eyebrows and stare her down.
Obviously disappointed she nods her head and turns to walk slowly down the aisle and disappears around the corner.
I quickly locate the cream I need for Pappy and put it in the cart as a gentleman steps up next to me and starts perusing the supplements.
Out of nowhere granny-stalker runs up and starts interrogating him as I hightail it out of the aisle and quietly go ditch the other bag of food before practically running to the checkout for fear of being harassed any more.
She was scary!
After that I headed over to Circuit City and picked up a new set of headphones(thanks Pappy!) and my new Sims Life game before hitting Mickie D’s for some chicken nuggets because I was starving. Yeah, diet’s not going so good.
Eaaarrrrthhhquaaaakkkeeee!!!!!!
So, I’ve been in California almost two years now. When I tell people back home that I live in California they automatically picture Los Angeles or some other such big city. They ask isn’t it hard to live there because of the fast pace? The truth is, it’s been paradise. Perfect temps, Maine-like scenery, laid back atmosphere. Very much what the doctor ordered after the high stress life in Phoenix. Where I live in California is nothing like what they perceive it to be. It’s very small town and I like it that way.
Having said that, this afternoon as we were finishing up our lunch break, I stood up to put something in the garbage and felt something very odd. Almost like a rolling sensation underneath my shoes. I turned to Paula and Jenn and they both looked at each other and casually said: “Oh hey, an earthquake.”
I’m pretty sure at that point I resembled a deer in the headlights. I was frozen in mid rise from the table where I was when the the rumbling started. They looked at me and started to look panicked yet reassuring. Like they wanted to talk me down.
“Kel, it’s okay.”
“Yeah it’s just going to last a second.”
“If it gets any worse we’ll go under the table.”
WHAT????
It lasted less than 30 seconds but that was all it took for me to start to panic and freak out. Jenn saw the panic and tears in my eyes right away started to talk to me like her daughter: “It’s okay Kel, it’s going to be over in just a second, it’s not that bad. You’re okay.”
It wasn’t the earthquake that bothered me really. It was the IDEA of the earthquake. The fact that I lived somewhere that had these things so often that my co-workers treated it like it was old hat. The fact that I lived somewhere that had earthquakes PERIOD!
Once it ended we all went outside for some air and then went back to our desks. I composed myself the best I could since I had to cover the front desk and then called Rob. I asked him if he felt it and he said: “felt what?” Damn.
Looking back, it wasn’t a lot it was just a very weird feeling of the ground moving under my feet, especially when I’m not so steady on my feet in the first place due to my anxiety.
I guess it was a 4.8 on the scale. They said it was pretty big to what they have had recently, but not that big.
I guess why I’m really freaked out is that in my sheltered little life, the only time I’ve heard about earthquakes is when there was some huge disaster or a movie that portrays the worst case scenario. So in my head, earthquake = huge deal. I guess that is not always the case.
It won’t stop me from being a paranoid fool though. It’s what I do.
Reno Trip Report
16 Days
It’s not like me to just pick up and go, but in 16 days, I’ll be moving to California.
The reasons behind the move are simple. Rob hates his job. He had already given his notice before we even decided to move to Cali. Last month when we visited Rob’s parents to attend his 20 year high school reunion he voiced this to his parents. They asked if he would think about relocating, he said sure. They said would you want to rent out G’pa’s cabin and that was all she wrote. We are packing up the PT and hitting the road on August 1st.
We listed our house on Friday and on Monday night we accepted a bid that was 10,000 dollars higher than what we listed at. We will close on the 28th. The movers are coming on the 26th to get all our crap and move it. My last day is the 29th so we are going to camp out in a dog friendly hotel for two days before we head out. Works for me since there is a swimming pool.
Rob’s last day is this Friday. The girls that he works with are being total bitches about it too. Really mature stuff like just ignoring him. You would think that after working together for 12 years his boss would be able to rise above it and be happy for him but no. I can’t wait til he’s done with that place!!
We managed to pack up our whole house over the three day weekend. We gave away our couch and most of our furniture. Our living room has one recliner that we will leave behind, my laptop stand and the big screen TV. That’s it.
The hallway and front room are filled with boxes. It’s very weird being at my house right now.
Here we go again…
So into the meeting we go and the head honchos are in there, very grim faced. I told Rose that it reeked of the situation I was in with my old company, right before they laid everyone off.
To make a long story short, they told us that they were “restructuring” our department. In other words they need to cut our group from 79 billers to 30 or so and we will either post out to be an O/C, a meter associate, stay in billing or if all the positions fill up before we can post out, get laid off.
Here we go again. The good news is that our team won’t transition out until next August. The bad news about being the last team to transition is that those of us that want to stay in billing won’t have much of a chance to post out to anything when they make the cut in billing because they will probably already be filled up.
So, it’s Arch all over again.
I told Rob and he said to dust off the old resume and update it tonight. He had already asked me if I wanted him to check with his contact at ASU to see if there are any office jobs available because he knows I am extremely unhappy here due to the stress factor. I told him to go ahead so he did that today but he hasn’t heard back from her yet.
It doesn’t matter. I’ll roll with whatever comes my way, I always do. Just, once again may I state for the record that I reeeeallly need to be indepentantly wealthy? Okay, thanks.
It’s laughable that they expect us to work today after the announcement. What’s even worse is our boss told us that they were going to announce it to us in a meeting right before our team outing next week to Golfland. He said he convinced them not to. Can you imagine? “Hey guys, we’re facing lay offs. Now go play and have fun!!”
Hubs Update
Rob is still in the hospital as I type this. I am hoping by the time I get home tonight to paste this into the actual entry, that he will be home with me but I don’t know. They started him on food on Tuesday. Yesterday was his first full day of solid food that wasn’t pureed.
He is doing better but no one will give him a definite answer on when he can come home. I understand this and I am fine with it. As long as there is the slightest chance something isn’t normal in his levels than I would rather he be at a place that knows how to take care of it. My husband is a very stubborn man and doesn’t like to let on when he is in pain. I don’t trust that if he came home and it started to flair up again that he would tell me until it was really bad again. As long as he is in the hospital they are testing his levels every few hours so they know for sure how it is going. So I’m cool with him being there as long as he needs to be. He however, is not. He is a very frustrated little camper right now because he says he only sees the doctor once a day and it’s only for like five seconds. And of course the doctor is the only one that can release him.
I can’t blame him. Today marks a week since the poor boy has had a shower. He’s been stuck in a bed for five days now and all he wants to do is go home. The day before yesterday he said the pain was still there it was just a whole lot less. Yesterday he said the pain was “pretty much gone”. I’m glad for that. His poor body however is just exhausted. I haven’t been spending a whole lot of time with him at night because all he does is sleep basically.
Last night I got there at feeding time so I got to share his oh so tasty dinner with him. It was nice to see him up and alert for a little bit, but as soon as he was done he was back to sleeping. He hardly ate any of his dinner. He said that he had only eaten lunch four hours previously and he was still full. His tummy must have really shrunk while he was without food. I swear he only had a couple bites of his chicken and mashed potatoes and he was stuffed.
So I’ve obviously been frazzled this week. Monday he was still in pretty bad shape and the last place I wanted to be was at work. I messed up a lot on the training exercises and we were learning something I learned two months ago and already know how to do. This week has been really kind of rough for me. I’m not strong. I used to think I was but I’m not. I’ve never had to go through anything quite like this. The fear that ***
***NEWSFLASH***
I just got off the phone with Rob and he has been told he is getting discharged today!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!! Of course they haven’t told him what time (it’s only 10:46AM as I type this) but I am very happy!
***okay yeah back to me being a weak person. Just the fear that he could have died…I don’t think I could handle that. Seriously. I would completely shut down. I still don’t even want to think of those first days when he was in the hospital. When I do I get freaky emotional.
Ug. He is my whole life. I couldn’t live without him.
6:00 PM
He’s home he’s home he’s home!!!!!! I am so happy!!!!
So he is home. He just got out of the shower and is eating his chef boyarde in bed right now. Oh my god, brushing his hair out was a nightmare!! For those of you that don’t know, Rob has very long very curly hair. It hadn’t been brushed in a week and all he was doing was tossing and turning on his pillow. It was like dreadlocks! I’m sure he feels so much better now that he has showered. A week is a loooonnnggg time.
Not anything else to report really, just wanted to update and let everyone know Rob is finally home and I am very happy and thankful for that.
Husband Health Woes…I’m scared
11:00 AM
Rob and I got a hotel room this weekend just for fun.
Last night he went home with a stomach ailment and told me to stay here.
He will be here in a few minutes to pick me up so we can drive to the hospital. He is in agony with stomach pains and I am scared.
I will update when I know more.
7:00 PM
We still don’t know anything. Rob is in the ER as I type this. I came home to give the dog his pill. We know that he’ll be there at least until nine because they gave him some stuff to drink for his catscan and they told him it takes two hours to get through his system…that is if he can keep it down. He threw up a tiny bit before I left and they gave him something in his IV to “relax” him. When I left he had just finished the drink they gave him and was going to lay down for a nap(the nurse let him shut out the lights in his little curtained-off area). He is still in tons of pain. He said he has never felt pain like this in his life.
It was everything I could do not to fall apart tonight and I’m not saying that I won’t. I am trying to be strong because the last thing Rob needs right now is a weepy wife but it is killing me to watch him go through this. And knowing there is NOTHING I can do.
Right now he is SOOOO frustrated that the ER is taking so long to get to the root of the problem. He keeps complaining about how they really already know what is wrong with him they are just milking it for the insurance money. All he wants to do is come home.
I just hope he keeps that drink down. They told him there was only one other way to get it into his system and it’s not thru an IV!! Yikes!
I feel so bad. I wish there was something I could do to make him feel better. He is in so much pain. I just want him to get better.
11:00 PM
Okay, I’m back at the hotel…
When I left, the status was still up in the air but they are suspecting pancreatitis…however you spell it. Basically, it’s not good.
When I left his CT info wasn’t back yet but he was definitely staying the night. He kind of kicked me out. He said that me staying wasn’t going to do either of us any good. My time would be better spent packing up and sleeping at the hotel and then coming back in the morning. I think I was annoying him asking if there was anything I could do every five minutes.
I’m kind of numb right now.
I don’t really have anything else to say…except my friends are amazing and I love them…and I love my husband more than life itself and I don’t know what I would do without him.
Romie’s ear doesn’t appear to be any better. The infection itself is but that ear filled with blood thing is just as full as ever. Rob took him back to the vet because we can’t stop him from shaking his head. The doc said just keep doing what we are doing. The only other option would be for him to lance it and for it to bleed out over time all over the place, put Romie in a cone and that means that he can’t get in or out of the doggie door. So we wait.
I got a disturbing message from K on my answering machine the weekend before last. It was after I had gone to bed and I didn’t even realize the message was there until Wednesday that week. It starts out with her crying and saying “Please [her son’s name] please!” and you can hear him yelling in the background. His voice gets closer and then he finally takes the phone (I assume) and he yells something that I can’t understand and the phone is banged into something several times (I’m guessing the table) and then the line goes dead.
What. The. Fuck?????
Is that not scary? I have no idea what it means. She called me the other night while I was online and said she would get online so I set up my yahoo messenger and waited for a couple hours but she never came on.
I called her this weekend but didn’t get an answer. I’m not sure what the hell is going on there. I’m afraid to find out.
I thought I would get out of bill close this month being in training and all…yeah, should have known better. We have been released from training today, tomorrow and Wednesday. Everyone else is calling on meters but I am working on billing. Which I don’t mind in the least. I have no problem helping out U and R…there is however one person on my team, we’ll call him D, that I will be very upset if I end up staying late on Tues and Wed to clean up his work. I have checked his reports every day and he has done next to nothing. He’s had all month to clean it up like R does and I did when I had my own type, but he HASN’T! R said he has seen him over at his desk drawing tattoos and reading magazines. As if that isn’t bad enough, he is a smart ass and gets on my case like I don’t know anything. Hello? I’m still very new and I’m finally getting training but at least I know how to have a successful bill close with my reports!!!!! It’s called actually working all month long instead of sitting there with your thumb up your ass.
Right before I went into training I pulled D’s reports and was going to work them because I knew that we’d be stuck at end of month doing his work after hours if I didn’t. R told me not to. He told me that they are keeping a record of every ones daily reports and looking at what goes up and what goes down and supposedly he’s going to shoot himself in the foot by not doing anything. I don’t know about all that but if it doesn’t get recognized I’m gonna have a fit. R said he already talked to our manager about it so she is supposed to be keeping an eye on it.
Who knows? But you can bet you’ll be hearing a rip-roaring rant this week if I have to stay very late to work on his shit!
Whew. Now that that is out of the way…
The traffic after work has gotten so much worse. I can only imagine it is coming from the fact that we have hired so many more people but damn! It takes me about fifteen minutes to get from my building to the end of the street (this would probably equal to be an eighth of a mile). There are days when we are in training that our trainer lets us out five or ten minutes early and it is pure heaven! Zip-zip and I’m on my way! I’m hoping that once school lets out it will make a bit of a difference. I know it will on the way to work but I’m not sure about home.
My Poor Puppy!
My poor baby Romie. For those who don’t know, my dog Romie has been fighting ear infections since we have had him…which is about five or six years (he was here a year before me). We clean his ears often but it doesn’t seem to help. Lately it’s seemed really bad and no matter how often we clean his ears it doesn’t go away. He has been shaking his head like crazy and rubbing his ear into the carpet to try and get the itch to go away. We kept saying that we need to take him to the vet but we haven’t because there never seems to be a good time.
Well on Saturday morning Rob got a good scare when he went to pet our pretty little puppy. He called the vet immediately and they were able to fit him in that day. Rob being a good husband let me sleep in, whispering in my ear that the dogs ear had gotten worse and he was taking him to the vet. I slept late and when I woke I came out into the living room. Rob told me when I got a second I needed to look at the dog’s left ear and “don’t freak out.” He said the vet told him it was normal and he sees it all the time. It doesn’t hurt the dog but it won’t heal for about two months or so.
I called the dog in and Oh My God. The poor baby. You know how the floppy part of a dog’s ear is flat? Well on the left ear of Romie, the flat part is filled up and puffy…with blood.
It is called an oral hematoma and I guess it is common. He basically shook his head so much that a blood vessel burst in his ear and filled the pocket that is that floppy part of the ear. It looks soooo bad and I just want to cry for him. They gave us ear drops for the infection but more importantly they gave us pills that will dull the sensation in his ear so he won’t shake his head anymore. I’ve never seen anything like it. I have been giving him treats all weekend just because I feel so guilty that we didn’t bring him to a vet sooner to avoid this whole mess.
About Me
I am a 50 something married woman living in California.
I enjoy music and traveling, watching crap movies, snuggling with my two adorable dogs and trying to be a good person.
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