Saturday, February 26, 2011

A new addition to the AHfWWG

Hold onto your hats folks. His name is Henry. He is sweet as pie and no one is more surprised than me that he is our new roommate. We'll take a picture soon and post it so you can see him. We think you'd all like him.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Association update: When it rains, it pours.

And in the words of The Weather Girls, "It's raining men. Hallelujah!"

This week was what I'm calling my Tommy Trifecta. Because there's my Tommy (Smitty), old Fairbanks dude Tom, and then last night I had a nice date with Tom who is a retired air force guy who works as a forest ranger in Girdwood. He was pretty chatty but it turns out that's because he was a bit nervous. We played three games of pool, had a soda and a nice visit. He's quite a lovely fellow. I think we may get together next Sunday to take in some of the Fur Rendezvous activities.

Now in a real Trifecta, the bettor predicts which will come in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I am not at liberty to say the outcome as that would not be ladylike. I mean, because that is crass. I mean, because there is nothing to report. Actually, the real winner is me. Because I have decided to date freely and frequently and know that I am free to design and determine the nature of any of my associations and that I don't need to require so dang much of myself. How liberating is that?

Today is an awesome day already. Jeff, Mel and Brock came over for family breakfast (bacon, eggs, and banana pancakes). Now they, and Amy, are cross country skiing while Jilli is taking a nap, and I will be following her lead here shortly. Mel is cooking dinner tonight for all of us at Mark & Renee's with a handful of the young cousins joining us. It should be great fun.

Yesterday was beautiful but cold--in the single digits. Today is cloudy but still only 15 degrees (usually the cloud cover brings a bit higher temperatures). The extended forecast calls for several very sunny days. Cousin Mark says we're going to get a ton more snow this week. I actually believe Mark more than the forecasters as they are wrong way more frequently than back home. Plus, I always vote for snow.

My knee is still improving though it's not yet 100%. I'll need to decide tomorrow whether or not I think it is ready for an 8 hour wait shift on Tuesday. Income would be good.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

WHAT I DID ON MY WINTER VACATION by Teresa Heffner, with asides by Mary McKenzie

I have never written for an audience before.  Well...at least not on purpose.  There was that one time that I responded to an e-mail from a friend and went on a two page rant only to find out that there are two buttons to push when you want to respond.  One of the buttons reads "to all".  Needless to say, I am very careful with my response button pushing now.

About my trip to Alaska.  It was oodles of fun!  Jill and Mary picked me up.  I was coming down an escalator, taking in all the sites of this new and wondrous airport (picture Jed Clampett coming to California) and Mary was standing at the bottom waiting for me to notice her.  I believe I may have bumped into her.   We stayed up late, (yes funny people that know me it was waaaay past 7:00) and then I panicked when Mary said we would be waking at 4:00 (yes a.m.) to go for a walk.  If I had known that I was helping her win a bet with her cousin/uncle/brother-in-law, (I really have to learn to pay attention to people when I am introduced) I would have said No.  But she didn't tell me that part and I was excited to meet Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. (Smitty) .

The next morning I was up and outside, smoking of course, and he pulled up and I ran (you don't really run anywhere outside in Alaska, you walk really slowly with little itty bitty baby steps and hope to God you don't fall on your ass/face (ha ha, ha ha. Assface.) and if you do fall on your ass/face you hope you don't pee yourself or poo yourself because you will most likely be unconscious and someone will have to help you and that could be really embarrassing.  I live alone and have no rubber mat in my tub, I have a lot of time to think about these things) and I met Tommy, Tommy, Tommy!  I call him Tommy too, I just don't say it three times like Mary. (I don't always say Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. That's just what Teresa hears because she's busy thinking, "Why is she talking? and why is she not saying Daryl, Daryl, Daryl?")  She asked me what he told me to call him and of course I don't remember him telling me to call him anything, I believe I just said something like, "you must be Tommy!"  Can you imagine who else might be pulling up in Mary's driveway at 4 a.m.?  So, if he wanted/wants me to call him something other than Tommy, he had his opportunity and now it's stuck in my head and really, if he knew me he would take it as a compliment that I remember his name at all as I have M.O.R.  or Midlife Onset Retardation, and rarely remember anyone's name.  P.S.  That's why I can't go anywhere now that Mary is in Alaska, because as my wingman, she whispered people's names to me when they approached so I would not offend and she wouldn't have to explain that she was taking me out on a day trip.

OMG!  I digress.

We went for a walk with Tommy, he is as lovely as she has described him.  The dome that they walk in is very cool.  Couldn't imagine walking in a rubber hut for fun, but it was.  Then we went home and had breakfast and did a crossword puzzle and then took a giant nap because Mary had lots of fun things in store for me. She's the best friend, ever! (Oops. She's the best friend, ever!)

We drove to some big mountain place (Alyeska at Girdwood, about an hour south of town) stopping along the way to see some sights, the other mountains and stuff  (Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm and the Alaska Range)  We saw two billy goats or mountain goats. Really, they could have been deer--Mary has a bit of a lead foot. (Yep, mountain goats. And they were actually off the mountain and on the side of the road. Very unusual.) We ate lunch at a little bakery at the bottom of the hill and then we went to this cool lodge place that had a tram that took us up the mountain.  HOLY GOD ALMIGHTY, I just remembered that that was the scariest part of the whole trip.  We got on when there were about 8 people on there and then all of a sudden this herd of people got on and smooshed us in and they just kept coming with their heavy skis and heavy clothes and heavy boots and I thought, THERE IS NO WAY THIS THING IS GOING TO MAKE IT, WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE PLUMMETING THROUGH THE SKY ALL THE WHILE BEING BLINDED MY THE POINTY END OF THEIR DAMN SKI'S!  We did make it, and it was really beautiful up there.   Took some pictures. We were the only people on the thing on the way down.

We went to goodwill or some kind of will (Value Village) and Mary got a couple of shirts or sweaters or something and a really cool coat for Melanie. Oh man. She had been eyeing it but it was 40 bucks! At the thrift store! But it was 1/2 off Orange Tags that day. Jackpot! It is a classic 70's full length, fur lined, suede coat complete with warm, furry collar of some sort. It fits Mel like a glove and she looks absolutely killer in it. Plus it is really warm and cozy. Bonus points for this mother-in-law.

We went out to eat after that ( we went to where Mel works and gave her the coat and she was super excited) and Mary almost died onaccounta she was really hungry and thought she was gonna die of it (too much coffee. Bad idea).  Being her good friend, I scraped some gum off the underside of the table but she wanted no part of it...hungry, ha!  I gave her a lifesaver, and saved her life.  It was butter rum. (It's true. But not only did she save my life, she saved the lives of countless others around her, most certainly her own. If any blood was to be spilled, I'm pretty sure Teresa may have had it coming.  It was a valuable reminder of why I limit my caffeine intake.) 

I'm tired of this now.  Maybe I will tell you about the rest of this on the next episode of WHAT I DID ON MY WINTER VACATION(Good job first time blogger. Blogging is way harder than it looks, huh Teresa? Or should I say Chatty McRamblerpants?)

Friday, February 18, 2011

In the absence of Teresa's input, I'm going to have to give you an association update. Blame Teresa. I do.

Advisory: If you recall,  I have decided to memorialize (no, I don't mean immortalize) lamo Gary by referring to my dates as associates and our relationships as associations. I was right, I am having more fun already.


Also, if you recall, I met a potential associate at Middle Way Cafe a couple of Saturday's ago and had a real nice conversation with him. It seemed there may have been some potential there but alas, it was a bust. Boo. It turns out that when he said he would really enjoy a massage he meant he would really enjoy a massage. All this time, I thought massage was a euphemism for well, you know, a massage, wink wink, nudge nudge. But no. So I dropped him like a hot potato.

So tonight I had a meeting with an associate from Fairbanks. Tom is quite a nice old feller. I rather enjoyed him. While this association has no long term potential (old + Fairbanks = nonviable, for reals), it'll be fun to have a play date when he comes to town from time to time. He loves golf and was quite impressed with my rather extensive knowledge of the game and its lingo. I know. I'm pretty amazing. Oh. And from the small world files, he totally knows Renee's husband Mark. Weird.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day

Jilli had to work that night. Boo. So she couldn't join us. But for funsies, Smitty invited me, Amy, and his daughter Chelsea to Orso's for their wonderful after 9:00 happy hour. It wasn't a "I Hate Valentine's Day Party" so much as a let's get together with people we love and celebrate. It was among the very best VD parties for all of us. Ever.

I stopped by to see Chung on Monday to see if he would let me come back this week just 1/2 days. My knee is improving but still not great and an 8 hour wait shift seems like a bad idea. Nope. He doesn't want me back til I'm all better. So now I'm dabbling with a little semi-retirement interlude. I'm waaayyyyy better at it than I ought to be : )

Monday, February 14, 2011

My adventure was super more funner last week because Teresa was here!

And now we need a vacation from our vacation. I am spent. I would speak at length to what we did and saw on our bonus adventure but there is too much to tell and none of it will be as exciting to you as it was to us. Plus, I think Teresa and I should tag team the telling. So I'm going to have her e-mail her comments to me and I will post them (complete with my interjections and occasional debunking).

Short version: (think Barney Stinson): Awesome! Maybe even legen, wait for it . . .dary!

It was so great to have Teresa here. Four days was just not long enough. There is so much more to do and see here. And the Fur Rendezvous starts next weekend, beginning with the Carhartt/Duct Tape Ball and ending with the Miners and Trappers Ball on March 5th. (Smitty and I are going but not in costume, except kind of. We're going to color our hair and get tatted up and possibly adopt alter egos. Our vision, as you might guess, is still a work in progress. Jill and Amy are going also.) We will endeavor to attend the Outhouse Races and go Ice Bowling plus any number of the other 90 or so scheduled events.

So if you're wanting fresh info from the last several days and are bummed you're not getting it here, blame Teresa. I will. Because that's what friends are for.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The Brush Off

Mary,
I don't feel that I am reaching my potential in our association. I have other friends that make me feel more comfortable with being who I am. Thanks for trying me out.
Gary


Dang. And I thought things were going so well ; )





So Thursday at work, I fell. Again. This time I injured my knees, the left one much more dramatically than the right one. I would say I looked much like a hockey goalie in form when they drop to their knees to protect the goal. Except I wasn't on ice skates, I was wearing no padding, and I don't have the training or conditioning for that particular movement. Also, they probably don't roll over onto their back in slow motion and then just lay there like I did. It probably wouldn't look that cool if they did.

I did get ice on it right away and kept it iced much of the first 8 hours or so. I think that made a world of difference. It is still fairly painful but much improved generally. I'm hoping that it is just bruised, contused, and strained versus actually torn. I'm gonna see what it looks and feels like on Monday.

Jeff subbed for me at bowling on Friday night. He typically carries an average somewhere in the 130-140's. His first game was a painful 104. His second game was a 209! Then he finished with a 140somethin. His first 200 game, ever. So that was super cool. Then we met up with all the kids down at the corner pool hall and came home later and played Apples to Apples. Jeff, Mel, and Brock spent the night so we could have family b-fast. It was awesome having them.

Then, what with not meeting Gary's potential in our association, I followed up on another internet contact and met a new feller at the Middle Way Cafe this afternoon. We had a nice visit and I think there is some potential for a mutually agreeable association. I think that's my new word. I shall heretofore refer to potential dates and such as associates and will update you from time to time on how our association is progressing.

I think I'm having more fun already.