Toy! Toy! Toy!!!!!

Meet the latest addition to our family:

Jim and I are each a proud owner of a Helio Ocean. hehehe, I think I’ve giggled for most of the day today. We were out pretty much all day today and I’m charging mine up (but not before loading it up with custom background screens!). Tomorrow I’ll tackle making some custom ringtones. :twisted:

YAY geekiness! YAY TOYS!!!!!! :mrgreen:

Some are calling it “iGate”

(x-posted to BYKYC)

The iPhone launch came and went with much fanfare and jubilation, crowds cheered and celebrated as Apple stores opened. eBay sellers prospered, there are reports of iPhones going as high as $1,500. But now you could say the honeymoon’s over. Many who bought the iPhone are finding that they are now the proud owners of an iBrick due to various reasons, from activation problems to DOA units. Even worse, AT&T’s systems were overloaded with activation requests and such huge demands that it may take a day or more for working iPhones to activate. Another proverbial brick wall that many are hitting are where the user’s phone number was once a business number and are getting the tech support run-around getting that sussed out. And the topper, the iPhone user guide seems to be incorrectly telling users that they can still use their new iPhone prior to activation, thus adding to the confusion and chaos.

Me? I’ll wait until it’s all over … Helio still looks better to me.

I’ve always hated this too

Smurfing another one from Cookie … I like the way this old man dealt with invasive questions:

They always ask at the doctor’s office why you are there, and you have to answer in front of others what’s wrong and sometimes it is embarrassing.

There’s nothing worse than a Doctor’s Receptionist who insists you tell her what is wrong with you in a room full of other patients. I know most of us have experienced this, and I love the way this old guy handled it.

An 86 year old man walked into a crowded waiting room and approached the desk….

The Receptionist said, “Yes sir, what are you seeing the Doctor for today?”

“There’s something wrong with my dick”, he replied.

The receptionist became irritated and said, “You shouldn’t come into a crowded waiting room and say things like that.”

“Why not? You asked me what was wrong and I told you,” he said.

The Receptionist replied; “Now you’ve caused some embarrassment in this room full of people. You should have said there is something wrong with your ear or something and discussed the problem further with the Doctor in private.”

The man replied, “You shouldn’t ask people questions in a room full of strangers, if the answer could embarrass anyone.The man walked out, waited several minutes and then re-entered.

The Receptionist smiled smugly and asked, “Yes??”

“There’s something wrong with my ear”, he stated. The Receptionist nodded approvingly and smiled, knowing he had taken her advice.

“And what is wrong with your ear, Sir??”

“I can’t piss out of it,” he replied. The waiting room erupted in laughter. Mess with seniors and you’re gonna lose!

I feel nothing

My fave yoga/pilates class had been canceled a while back (the instructor had a baby), so I was forced to switch to another class. My choices were kickboxing and circuit training — I took kickboxing years ago and loved it, but I was wanting something less stressing on my knee. A lady at the civic center told me that circuit training would be good for me, so I signed up. Last night I dropped by the house a few minutes early to throw the casserole I had prepared the night before in the oven and set Jessie about her chores. Jim came home shortly after and I told him when to take the casserole out and when I would be back. Once at the civic center, I dropped by the info desk to ask where class would be held. The lady snickered when I told her I was there for circuit training, she says “Ah, the ruffians!”

I looked at her funny and she said that a lot of people hate that class, saying it’s “too hard.” I don’t know about all that. The class consisted of alternating bouts of 4 minutes cardio (step aerobics) and 4 minutes weight training. I worked up a good sweat and my neck and abs hurt, but I’m not really sore anywhere else. I was a little stiff when getting in last night, but that’s to be expected considering I hadn’t done any hard training or workouts in a while.

When I got in last night, I went straight for the shower … a nice scrub-down with some dead sea salt that Jim gave me last Christmas (that stuff is a great exfoliator!), and I passed right out on the bed. LOL! I remember waking up a couple times during the night, but overall it was the best sleep I’d had in a while.

I plan on dropping by the civic center on the way home today to see if next month’s schedules are out yet. One lady in last night’s class told me that they will be starting a spinning class on the weekends, and I’d like to start doing that too, alternating with the circuit training.

The middle wife

I love the stories posted to Cookie’s website, and this is no exception. After nearly choking on my sandwich, I just HAD to share it with y’all.

‘Middle Wife’ by An Anonymous 2nd Grade Teacher…!! (If this isn’t the real thing, then someone really has one heck of an imagination!!)

I’ve been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade classroom a few years back. When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame.

Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they’re welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant. ‘This is Luke, my baby brother, and I’m going to tell you about his birthday.’

‘First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom’s stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.’

She’s standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I’m trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

‘Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, ‘Oh,Oh, Oh, Oh!’ Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. ‘She walked around the house for, like an hour, ‘Oh, oh, oh!’

Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning. ‘My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn’t have a sign on the car like the Domino’s man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.’

Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall. ‘And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!’ This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!

‘Then the middle wife starts saying ‘push, push,’ and ‘breathe,breathe. They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom’s play-center, so there must be a lot of toys inside there.’

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I’m sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it’s show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another ‘MiddleWife’ comes along.

I just LOVE kids’ stories. Remind me sometime to share the baby bedding story, LOL! :grin:

Restaurant Meme

Here are the rules:
1. Link to name of person that tagged you.
2. Include state (or region) and country you live in.
3. List top 5 favorite local restaurants.
4. Tag 5 other people and let them know they’ve been tagged.

The very lovely Jules of Everyday Mommy tagged me for this. :smile:

I live in Alabama, USA.

The restaurants

1. Cajun Steamer – Hands down one of my favorite places to be. Their food is IMO the best Cajun and Creole cuisine outside of New Orleans!
2. Bento – One of my newest favorite restaurants. I’m a huge fan of Japanese places, but Bento also has always given us the best service. The owners and wait staff have always been very accommodating and have gone out of their way on several occasions to make sure that we’re happy. They treat their customers very well, and to me that speaks volumes!
3. Stix – Another fave of mine, also Japanese. It’s located just outside the Galleria and is a bit “artsier” than Bento. I’ve gotten great service there in the past, and have always loved their shows!
4. Doodles – Another great Cajun place (anyone noticing a theme? LOL!), has some AWESOME po-boys! The owners are very nice people and are often involved in the community.
5. Baumhower’s Wings – I absolutely LOVE me some good hot wings, and IMO Baumhower’s is the best, hands down! And besides, how can I turn down any place run by a ‘Bama alum and former Miami Dolphins pro?

Honorable Mention: Leo & Susie’s Greentop BBQ – It’s not exactly “local” to me anymore. *pout* I’ve eaten at this place since I was a kid and the only reason I wish I still lived in Corner is so I could be closer to Greentop! :lol:

Tag, you’re it!

Okie dokie, the following five people just received an email from me. *evil grin* Now it’s y’all’s turn. :mrgreen:

• Teresa, my fellow Bama fanatic and cheering squad
• Dotty, Jim’s very wonderful mother and my dear friend
• Mara, my constant source of inspiration and comedic outlet (squiggle biscuit!!! LOL!)
• Carol, whose blog I recommend as a “must read”, you keep me informed!
• Ben, whose antics and friendship helped keep me sane both in PC and afterwards all these years, LOL!

… Come on down! You’re the next victims — er, I mean — contestants on Restaurant Meme!

And anyone else who wants to join in, feel free to play along via comments or trackbacks!

One more to knock off the list.

It’s been an exhausting search for a potential wedding reception site. I’ve gone to visit several over the last few weeks and spoken to dozens via email and phone. Jim decided to lend a hand last week and picked up contacting several on my list. He went by several places Friday and found one that he thought I’d like: The Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites. We by to see them Saturday and the rates are very reasonable, the room is plenty big enough, they’ll allow us to have a DJ and alcohol, they’ll allow us to have outside caterers, and we may be able to setup the night before.

:shock: PERFECT!!! :mrgreen:

What’s more, it’s not too far from The Gardens so the trip from the wedding ceremony to reception won’t be too far away. The only thing that has me worried is that The Gardens has a very small “backup site” in the case of rain — unfortunately it only holds about 20 people. What Jim proposed was that we use the reception site as a backup in case of bad weather.

Between me and y’all, I’m praying it doesn’t rain! :razz:

Jim snapped off a few pics of the reception place:

Is it the military’s (or government’s) responsibility?

A friend of mine sent me this story about a little boy, Sam Feagan, who died in a house fire. It was originally printed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and happened in Snellville, GA. She’s a friend of the family, and Sam was about Jessie’s age — which, I guess, is what strikes so close to home — Military insurance didn’t cover boy because he didn’t live with soldier.

It happened about 3 weeks ago. Sam was visiting his mother, Andrea, and stepfather, Spc. Wayne Smallwood. It’s sad because a child died, and what’s sadder is that because he did not live with Smallwood, the military insurance won’t cover him. What’s worse, his parents did not have life or funeral insurance for Sam. They’ve received assistance from Red Cross, and to help defray funeral costs, the family has established the Sam Feagan Memorial Fund at the local Bank of America branch.

Now, my party (Libertarians) are big on not depending on the government for anything, that you should support yourself if you are capable. But what in instances like these? Yes, the parents should have had insurance, but let’s be honest … how many parents really prepare for that sort of thing?

In my opinion, the military insurance should have still covered him — regardless of whether the boy lived with Spc. Smallwood or not. What do you think?

I love my geeky man

I had noticed this the other night but hadn’t yet had the opportunity to screencap and post … Jim’s recently updated his website to include a counter widget counting down the days until our wedding, along with donation buttons and a photo gallery of the photos I took of the Gardens.

It happened on a Midsummer’s Day

Happy Solstice! Happy Litha! Happy Midsummer! (Or St. John’s Day, or Santos Populares, or whatever else it is you celebrate today and/or this week, LOL!)

Today is the day Jim and I were originally to be married. But considering the events of last year’s summer solstice, we decided that another day may be better. Everyone I spoke with at the ER told me that Jim shouldn’t have made it, but he did. We got lucky, plain and simple … no need to test Fate twice! But today holds special meaning to the two of us if for no other reason than that alone.

Today is also the longest day of the year. When I explained the concept and meaning to Jessie, she said that it made her sad. When I asked why, she explained that it meant summer will be gone soon and Fall is coming. Me, I take that as a good thing. Fall means football! (Of course, to Jessie, Fall means school. LOL!)

So today I am just enjoying the day, reflecting on past events, thanking my lucky stars and counting my blessings. Mental Floss has a nice article about today, and if you’re “jonesing” for more, there’s always the Wiki.

Next Page »