Am I making up for lost time, or what?

I know, feast or famine. Rather than make one long post of my missing week, I broke them up. Here's a couple of other blogs that you may find entertaining.

www.goaskali.blogspot.com
Ali's belongs to the daughter my co-worker friend. She is a great girl that has been in NYC for a number of years. She's much smarter and more talented than the acting world deserves.

www.alefko.blogspot.com
Andy is a good writer and a dear friend. He's moving to Washington, DC soon for a job. Pretty soon he'll have the entire USA map of "states I've worked in" refrigerator magnets. :P

Seriously, Tom... what are you thinking?!?!

Tom Cruise is boinking Katie Holmes?!?! Does he have no morals? He's 42, and she's 26. A *young-looking* 26. You'd think for him being a Scientologist (sic), mind over matter and all, that he'd stop and think "does this make me look stupid?" The answer is YES.

As to Katie Holmes.... well, I don't know if she's dumb, or really, really smart. The girl has moved into A-list circles. That's smart. But she's made herself a punchline. "Kids, I'll have to call another babysitter. I want to take Katie out on a date." Not so smart. Could you imagine Katie having to trade snide remarks with Nicole Kidman in the ladies room of the Oscars? Katie Kabob, is what she would be. Nicole Kidman has got to be laughing her non-existent butt off at this turn of events.

Did you miss me?

Sorry it's taken so long for me to get back here. Everything is fine, just too much of too much. I pulled some long days to get back on track. Now there only half a dozen fires burning, instead of a baker's dozen.

Work has settled down (again) to an uneasy truce of egos. Just yesterday, I had to shake my head (again) in disbelief about work ethic ineptitude. We encountered a speedbump, or possibly a detour on an appeal in process. CW told my state supervisor that I could just call over to the appeal office and request more time for investigation. Well, I could have, but officially, I needed to send a formal continuance request. So I did. When I showed that to the state supervisor, she asked "did you ask (CW) if you could do that?" I told her "no, but I can tell I did. I sent the paperwork, since we have to have an official paper trail to protect ourselves." Then the light went on, duh! But had I not explained WHY we have to do it the RIGHT way, I would have had my butt chewed for not doing exactly what I was told. The wrong way. Oi!

This above and beyond the fight I've been having with system designers for *five weeks* about an edit they inactivated in error. They activated the edit BEFORE they gave another department the data necessary to edit against. wtf??? Who in their right mind could NOT have asked themselves "have we made available the data that this will be editing against"? If no -- stop until that process is done. Duh! But oh no, they go ahead and turn the edit on, and then act frustrated when I storm in and tell them it needs to be turned off. Which I wouldn't be half as frustrated with them if they hadn't.stopped.all.of.the.work.we.can.do. (in this one area. It's just patient access, yanno. Nothing too important -- NOT). Good Lord, people!

The weekend holds E's last soccer game today, 2:00 p.m. Hopefully we'll be able pay a visit to the in-laws soon. We really are NOT ignoring you!

Today is my poppi's birthday. Happy Birthday, AW!! Your favorite grandson has made a card for you.

And..... Star Wars III tickets go on pre-sale soon! Yaaahhhoooooo! I heard there will be a 9:00 a.m. show. That totally rocks! So now I can drop Monster Boy off at school, and go straight to the theatre. Dontcha wish you took the day off, like me? :P

I can't wait! Ooh, but I think I might have a date this weekend! During a commercial for "Kingdom of Heaven", I pointed out to D that it was a movie I "wanted to see as well". So there are shots of people running towards the camera with explosions behind them.... it has Orlando Bloom in tights, woot!

Stop the insanity!

**********Disclaimer: Grumpy mood ahead. The girl is usually pretty light-hearted. But now she's just tired.**********

Good Lord, save me from idiocy. It astounds and amazes me, how some people can not only gain employment, but manage to not get fired. For. years. Too. many. years.

I thought, that when I took a job protecting public health integrity, that everyone else would be on a similiar goal. Yeah, yeah, call me naive. It's not my own company that I worry about. We are business people that are all about meeting a deadline in the smartest manner possible.

It's the fools that hire us to carry out "their" mission that scare me. Somewhere along the line, they have forgotten "their" mission is to protect those that cannot fend for themselves. Yeah, yeah, I know that most of those folks can fend for themselves fine. But I digress.

So when you are told (by a higher goverment agency than yourself) that you must hire an impartial and separate entity to administer your public health contract, would you NOT want to allow that entity to, oh, I don't know..... administer?!?!? *Especially* when you're administering money that doesn't even belong to you! It's not like we can do anything with the public funds. We're just here to ensure program integrity, and make sure everyone stays within their own fence. The rules we follow aren't even OUR rules. They're the feds... who by the way carry most of the tab for running the public health program. Twerk the feds off, and you'll see bad press like the state has never seen before. The state can't find 250K to bus kids to school. Where do they think they're going to find over 1B? Criminy.

I understand fine that you must oversee your entity to make sure they are doing competent work. But that isn't the issue of my rant. I have a crazy woman (CW) basically just trying to pick a fight with me on personality, since she can't fault my work. She can't fault my work since I'm doing MY job, and not spoon-feeding her by doing HERS. And she doesn't like my personality as much as the last person doing my job, since I talk back to her. All I do is what is necessary for the job to get done well, and look professional. Extra fluff and hand-holding are not part of that process. I didn't get to be the Goddess' pit bull because of my easy-going disposition, yanno. Oi.

Not that I really know what CW does anyway, other than complain. It has been my experience that the more a person complains, the less of a work ethic they have. I don't know about you, but I'm too dang busy to complain, especially when it will waste time I don't have. I'd rather get my work done in a day, go home with a clean conscience, and come back to save the world tomorrow. No, I have not read too many comic books! :P
PS: I can't wait to see "Sin City". Michelle said Trav gave it the purist's approval, so I have to go see it (hint to the boyfriend)!

So I will go practice my mantra, or tao, or whatever will make me forget CW (Jose Cuervo, he is a friend of mine. But he never calls me the next morning!). Given the fact that CW cannot retain very much of what she tells you, odds are she'll forget completely what she was gunning to get me for today. Too bad my son is past his preschool days. I could open up a daycare with all the babysitting experience I've gained.

This should be fun for a diversion. I Google'd "stress relief", and found a couple of play websites:

www.addictinggames.com
www.123games.dk

It seems like I got an email one time about a game where you click on frogs and they jump and spaz about. If you have it, send it on. Or the hip-hop easter bunny greeting. That was funny, I don't care who ya are.

Hopefully I'll be less grumpy tomorrow. It's one day closer to payday, so it's got to be better!

We've got a friend

I forgot this as one of the St. Louis highlights --

So my boss and I went out of town for work, right? Well, the boss of our token male associate (TMA) was supposed to as well. Part(y) of the reason my boss and I tried so hard to get approved to go. Anyway, at the last minute, TMA's boss had to cancel. It's a drag when you work in the office of the state's integrity. You always have to look like you're doing what's right. Even if you really don't want to.

So my boss and I decided to take home souvenirs for the fella. A deck of Hooters girls playing cards and a bib that says "Hooters makes you happy". We figured he'd need them in conjunction, yanno. At least that was our "reasoning"......after a few drinks and encouraged by our social colleagues. He was even a good sport when we called (later than socially acceptable) to request an emergency funds requistion. He knew it was necessary for either beer, or bail. ---Just for the record, all of us girls behaved ourselves!

Back to the story -- TMA's boss was very appreciative of his gifts, and very sweet to thank us. Later on during the day, we get another update -- "You've converted me from playing solitaire on the computer. From now on, it's only the old-fashioned way for me." Guess the gift was a success, eh?

Downside

There is a downside to getting away from work for a few days. The backlog when you come BACK to work! Ugh. So I'm being a good girl and going in to work today. I have my little "to-do" list. Let's hope that I'll be exceptionally inspired once I get there!

PS: Camille, the 'dotte is getting all the more popular. One of the not-really-relation Holt boys I saw in St. Louis said he relocated his family there. Apparently on the border between Bonner and Edwardsville. He's a pretty "white" white boy. Might be a bit lacking in street skills. But he works for the feds, so he might be issued a gun!

PPS: Twenty-six days to Star Wars! For fun, you can go to the M&M website and watch their cute commercials: www.m-ms.com

Soccer changes

E's soccer game for April 23 has been moved to 2:45 p.m. His game for April 30 (AW's birthday) is at 2:00 p.m.

I'm baaaack!

Hello fans, your favorite dork has returned. Thanks to the Rock On store at St. Louis' Union Station, now I even have the sticker to prove it. "I am a dork". I got one for D that says "I (heart) dorks". Truth in advertising. Both of my boys got spoiled. It was an awful lot of fun to shop for them.

St. Louis' Union Station is AWESOME! They have tons of stores, from the generic teeny-bopper salons and obligatory sports stores, to some high line art and creature comfort stores. Even though they didn't deserve it, I gave the Bud Shop $5.00 for a golf ball. The attendant was rude, too. Jerk. The ladies running Hats Galore, though, were really nice. I wish I could have bought all the hats I wanted. They were really nice.

Oh yeah, I was actually there for a fraud conference. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency within the train station. That was AWESOME x3!!! Can you tell I like old railroad stations? The business was mainly held in the newer banquet facilities. But one of the presentations I went to was in the older wing. The conference rooms were named after the rail lines! There were even little pictures of the rail lines on a marquee above the door. They were the cutest things! The Station Grille restaurant and Grand Hall were just amazing. The Grand Hall, omg, SO beautiful. My associates said there was an informational show about the station renovation on the room TV. I missed it, since we were out shopping or in the bars after being trapped in presentations all day.

Neal/Neil/Kneel at Key West wins Best Bartender or Waiter award. We went there the first night, since we arrived to the hotel late (8:00 p.m.) By the time we traprised (sic, you know what I mean) all over creation trying to get to our room, it was 9:00 p.m. The very confused front desk attendants first told us they were upgrading us to a suite, as our reserved room was not available. Ok, bonus. But when we get to the "suite", it looks like a standard room on the older wing of the hotel. And there's only one king bed. There are two adult women, me and my boss. I like the girl fine, but I'm not that desperate for a raise. Besides, I'd just scare her. Anyway, we get situated, and find out the front desk has struck again. Our SRS counterpart has been moved to another room, but hasn't been told. Nor has she been given any different room keys. When the bellman arrives to help her into the room she has the keys for, it's occupied. Lord, we needed a drink.

So Neal baby was our hero. He hooked us up with fine food and drink. Let me highly recommend the Caribbean Martinis. Yummity yum yum. They (read: multiple) went down mighty easy. Bit of a headache the next morning. Thankfully, the conference provided free meals and drink all day long. For a free conference, it totally rocked! Which helped us out a whole lot, so we could spend more of our daily expense budget on drinks!

Our token male associate (TMA) friend arrived for the conference the next morning. I love ya, man. You took a lot of abuse from us. (He's had lots of training, so we didn't feel too bad). We ate at Hard Rock Cafe the next night. Pretty good food, you should order a Riders in the Storm cocktail. Peachy, fruity, yet you could tell there was alcohol in it. The staff was gregarious, though a bit too much. We had "The One" as our waiter. He was maybe not "the one" we will want next time. All in all though, it was cool.

We walked from the station down to the Arch and river after dinner. Our justification was that we could walk back and go to Hooters for a drink. Upon returning, and me finding out they only serve beer, I don't know if it was worth it. The service was slow, and *slow*. Our token male was not too impressed. After being ignored for another round, we called it a night.

Second day, much of the same. We got to eat lunch in the station's Grand Hall. Freaking spectacular!!! Tuxedoed wait staff, all the table settings, first class. A girl can get used to this. We were let loose early on the second day, so we shopped in the station. My colleagues were a bit bored after waiting for me in the Rock On store. But, but, there were decisions to be made!

After a change for dinner, we went to the hotel lobby for cocktails. The least the front desk could do for all the hassle at check-in. Oh yeah, apparently the Chicago Cubs ball team checked in during the day. There were signs all over the property "please do not solicit autographs or photo opportunities on the premises." I know, it's not fair to disappoint my fans like such. But a girl only has so many hours in the day! It also started to rain around dinner time. Darn, means we have to drink another round! PS: White Russians from a hotel lobby bar cost $7.00.....each!

After the rain delay, we walked across the street to Maggie O'Brien's pub. Highly recommended by the super nice clock man. Really good food! The waitress was cute, but in a grumpy mood. Or maybe she's just a bitch all the time. Disappointing if so, she was pretty cute. Do these people NEVER think to ask if diners want separate checks? Especially if they don't look like they are "together"? She thought it was our responsibility to tell her that ahead of time. The pub is across from a convention hall. Want to wager on their ratio of local to tourist clientele? For crying out loud! She didn't deserve the respectable tips left for her.

TMA was saving himself for Hooters hot wings. So we made a return trip. My brother from another mother (another Holt boy, but from KCMO) was already there. And we had just talked to him at the Irish pub?!?!? The boy moves fast, apparently. He has to be one of us. After joining their group, TMA was rewarded with outstanding staff scenery. It was all he could do to string a sentence together. And this boy is an attorney! All the more for us to tease him about.

He did come in handy to have around, though. We got him to take a magazine I brought home for D to all the girls to sign. They were not the brightest bulbs in the pack, since they couldn't spell D's name right. But they were game enough to sign a couple things, so I'm not complaining. We could barely keep TMA on his bar stool once the girls started wrestling. I heard the official reason was ice down the shirt. Let's let the boys believe that.

That was as much excitement as we could take. We were itching to get out of there after the third morning. Six hours on the road, and we're back home. Everyone is happy with their gifts, and momma is happy to be home. I've been a good girl and given an update. So now I'm off to find out how much D loves dorks. cya!

Woot!

Possibly the best news I've heard all week....... Season 3 of La Femme Nikita is to be released June 28, 2005. Thank you, Warner Bros.!

Definitely some good news... Monster had his stitches removed last night. So we're off to the soccer game!

Meet me in St. Louie

My boss and I are going to a CMS (Medicare) fraud conference in St. Louis next week. We'll be gone most of the week. So I don't know if I'll get to post. Maybe D will have something to impart. So if you don't see much going on, just wait. I'm sure there will be fun details from the conference (snore).

At least the accomodations will be nice! We're staying at the Hyatt connected to St. Louis' Union Station. I'm hoping the "Rock On!" store is still there. I need to stock up on punk rock stickers......(no comments from the peanut gallery).

My boss is from the St. Louis area. So we're hoping to get some sight-seeing in along with work. NO, I will not be giving any reviews of the ride up the arch. D probably still has bruising from me gripping his leg from the last time he got me to get in there. It is probably some twisted joke that those little clickity cars are called "fun"icular cars. Things are just fine, until you stop seeing the maintenance stairs outside the fingerprint-smeared, petri dish window of the car.

Bleah! No thanks. I'll be content to take a stroll down to the river, maybe ride the riverboat, or otherwise hang out in hotel or station bar. Hey, those things can be one stop stopping. They'll feed you, give you a drink, you can watch news on the TV, and use the facilities when needed. I suppose falling asleep in there is frowned upon. Oh well, that's what the fraud conference sessions are for!

Doctor Don, we hardly knew ye...

My good friend Don is leaving Topeka for greener pastures this weekend. He is starting a new job at Johnson Co. MHC, and moving to Olathe to be closer to his fine greek lady. He definitely deserves it! She is good to him... especially for putting up with his moody butt. Just joking, Don!

We wish him well, and hope the 9-ball team will be able to find a worthy replacement. Good luck to you! We'll be waiting for the wedding invitation in the mail. ;-)

"That boy is our last hope"

I know, I know, there is another. But my son made me very proud and hopeful for his future. Even if he doesn't get excited about Star Wars in the same way I do. Some days I feel he's only excited about it because he sees his mom geek out about it. The generational difference between the movies will probably lead to heated debates at family dinners in the next decade.

But back to the story at hand. While moving, D found a Calvin and Hobbes storybook. E loves it. As well he should! It also makes me happy that he's actually reading, ha! Anyway, E's latest school book order has a Calvin and Hobbes collection of several books. Seven for $35.00, ouch! But what price do we put on our child's happiness? Yes, I'm a pushover. I rationalize that the purchase price will be deferred to all three happy members in the house, thereby making the books very reasonable! ;-) Momma said never to pass by a bargain. It also goes (almost) without saying that I'm very good at rationalizing most anything to get what I want. :-P

Blame my sister

So my sister sends me the following joke:

A cop stops a car for traveling faster than the posted speed limit. So he asks the man his name.
"Fred," he replies. "Fred what?" the officer asks.
"Just Fred," the man responds.
The officer is in a good mood and thinks he might just give the fellow a break and write him out a warning instead of a ticket. The officer then presses him for the last name. The man tells him that he used to have a last name but lost it. The officer thinks that he has a nutcase on his hands but plays along with it.
"Tell me, Fred, how did you lose your last name?"
The man replies, "It's a long story, so stay with me."
"I was born Fred Dingaling. I know -- a funny last name. The kids used to tease me all the time. So I stayed to myself, studied hard, and got good grades. When I got older I realized that I wanted to be a doctor. I went through college, medical school, internship, residency, and finally got my degree, so I was Fred Dingaling, MD."
"After a while I got bored being a doctor, so I decided to go back to school. Dentistry was my dream! Got all the way through school, got my degree, so then I was Fred Dingaling, MD, DDS."
"Got bored doing dentistry, so I started fooling around with my assistant and she gave me VD. So now I was Fred Dingaling, MD, DDS,with VD. Well, the ADA found out about the VD, so they took away my DDS. Then I was Fred Dingaling, MD with VD. Then the AMA found out about the ADA taking away my DDS because of the VD, so they took away my MD leaving me as Fred Dingaling with VD. Then the VD took away my Dingaling, so now I am Just Fred."
The officer walked away in tears, laughing

After having to work today, when I really didn't feel like it, that seemed pretty dang funny. Told ya I was a geek!

Oh yeah..... Revenge of the Sith is released on May 19! Wahhoo!! I'm not so excited about the "new" generation of Star Wars movies, but that is a rant for another day. I'll have plenty o' time in the 30 days of Star Wars countdown once April 19 passes.

We're supposed to watch "Tommy" on DVD tonight. We're on a The Who kick since watching the Monterry (sic) Pop Festival this weekend. Beyond the fact that you hear "Who Are You" with every CSI-LV episode. And I heard Fred Durst (hack) cover "Behind Blue Eyes" the other day on the radio. L-I-M-P-T, indeed! Kind of creepy about that whole trifecta thing, though, eh?

Soccer for April 16

Monster Boy's next soccer game is at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, April 16.

We're expecting to have his stitches removed the night before. So we're hoping that he'll be able to play, but don't know for sure. If he's not able to play, we should definitely be going to the game. Last week we were swamped with all the family in town, so didn't go.

Our shirt colors are slate blue. Let me know if you can make it!

duh!

I figured out the posting thing!

When you want to post, first click on the "comments" link by the post. Then click the "other" circle. It will let you post a comment, and then you can add your name if you want to. I guess if you click "anonymous", you don't even have to enter a name! But then we won't know who to come looking for.

Now you wonder why I put the disclaimer in the header "you may wonder why there are laws to keep cousins from marrying"? Hey Michelle, come back!

It's no secret

I have no html skillz. Michelle told me I needed to change my comments settings. I thought I did, so that anyone could post comments. Apparently Blogger.com still wants to register as a user to comment. I don't know if there is a fee involved or not.

So if anyone has some mad web skillz (Chris Davis, I'm talking to you), let me know. Maybe I need to do something different. But I dunno. If not, sorry! It's not that I don't like ya, or anything.

The party patrol was out in full force this weekend

My daddy and stepmom, the Illustrious Sir Lynn Holt and Lady Andrea, were coronated the king and queen of Arab Shrine Temple this last weekend. In hindsight, I suppose it was a good thing I was sick all weekend. That way I was not tempted to drink too much, and proceed to embarrass anyone I should not. It's a bit restrictive to have your dad, boyfriend, and son all attend the same event. I don't think I've ever behaved so well before.

The Holt clan converged upon Topeka for the whole weekend. I don't know if the Holidome will ever be the same. But I could say with pride (for the first time in my life).... if there were any complaints about the noise level... it was my parents' fault!

Dad had a good point.... it was nice to have everyone in town, not because someone had died. We did have a fun time! Even if Uncle Jerry was evil for "sharing" his homemade pear brandy (?) and unknown recipe/moonshine/white lightning/turpentine with us. Cousin Tim, you're the man. My head throbs at the thought of how ya must have felt the next morning. ha!

Both my boys dressed up so nice! I can't wait for the pictures to come back. E was very proud of his Jayhawker tie, even if Uncle Justin made fun of him. You can't have purple (KSU) without red and blue (KaaaaaaaayyyyyUuuuu!)

I didn't forget, I promise!

Happy Anniversary, Dad and Andrea!

I've joined the 21st Century, yay!

I actually am ill and took off the day from work. But I'm also too lazy to call everyone I need to catch up with.

We have been really, really, busy the few months. So I'm sorry to anyone that I've ignored. And if I was supposed to do something, and haven't, sorry! I've forgotten what it was by now, so please remind me!

We moved at the end of March. Yes, the cabin was charming. It was secluded, and romantic. And we couldn't have asked for a more leinent landlord in Dave. But the cabin was going ghetto at a rapid rate. Some of our woodland neighbors took up residence under the house during the winter. So we had *way* too much activity going on at the wrong hours of the night. We also needed M O R E R O O M ! ! !

So we're now living off 27th and Burlingame, in a nice ranch with a finished basement. After watching too many home improvement shows, I'm itching to paint and change the window treatments. But we need to decide how long we'll be here, before buying our own place. One of these days I'm going to have to be a real adult and sign a mortage.

E has had his first major war wound. He took a tumble last week, and needed 7 stitches in his left shin. It was a hard time for his mom, too. My tough little baby was a trooper, though. Hopefully after the stitches are removed, he can get back to playing soccer and groovin' on Dance Dance Revolution.

I have Brad Pitt for a boyfriend now. D decided to take a break from his long hair, and had me buzz it all off. Rowr! The cancer society is going to make some woman very happy with all that good hair! It has to be one of life's little ironies that men can do absolutely nothing to their hair to keep it in good condition. Woman like me, on the other hand, pay ridiculous money to keep it from looking like twine.

I'll keep the intro post short, since I'm supposed to be adding to it each day. I promise to try and keep ya'll in the loop. Not that it might be all that exciting. But at least you'll know when we're home!

Love ya, see ya, bye!