One more Friday nite

The show I saw on Friday July 14th was as near my 20 year Grateful Dead Show anniversary as could possibly be. I didn't realize it until I was there. Actually, none of our group of attendees knew it was my 20th year Dead Reunion. I made it a point to dance with all my friends near the end of the 2nd set to truly celebrate my Grateful Dead soul mates. I thought I met my soul mate at my first show, but I was actually with my Dead mates at my 20th.

Great line up. Some of my absolute favorite songs. Great musicians. Great venue. Great friends.
Read about the details here. Uncle Crappy describes the what, when, how and who so much better than I. My Dead Bliss reached its peak in the second set when they started into "the Wheel". Really, I needed the duct tape, my head almost exploded.

(Joan Osborn was fabulous. I love her. I want to be her. As a matter of fact, I'd even hit it. That's how much I like her.)

Seeing a show like that makes me want to take 2 or 3 months off and follow Phil. He and whatever line up is available is the best!

Part Deux, the first show

I remember running into Uncle Crappy and giving him my shoes. They were not good dancing wear. I then disappeared into the crowd. I danced the entire show. I ran into a couple of other friends from my high school. We danced a little bit and hung out. I remember Danno walking up to the top of the rubber bowl to use the bathroom.

I remember meeting Petey's friends who were going to continue following the Dead that summer. Petey's friend, B-man and I danced for about two songs and decided we were Dead Head Soul Mates. Wow, were we messed up. We were such great soul mates that I never even saw him again. He wanted me to go to the Rainbow Fest with him for the weekend. That didn't happen. In hindsite, thank God.

I was a little too polluted at the show to be able to give you too many details. But here's what I remember. It was mystical. I saw the whole world before me. I was happy. Then, therefore, the whole world was happy. Little ghost like creatures kept coming out from the stage to say hi to me. Jerry was alive on stage but he was also a spirit flying around the stadium. All in all, a great show.

Well, the show fianlly wrapped up. We walked back to the car. I walked without my shoes because Uncle Crappy had them (I think he had them for like 5 months) I sat in the back seat and continued to hallucinate. I thought I was still at the show and the Dead were still singing "Sunshine Daydream" I couldn't sleep at all because my mind was still racing. I know that I wanted to follow the Dead that summer. I've wanted to follow them ever since.

My first show

T"he summer between freshman and sophomore year in college I saw my first Dead show. I was 18 going on 16. I had to lie so that I could go.

I lived at home with my Grandma that summer. She was a little strict. I told her I was going to see the show with my friends Danno and Petey and Danno's girlfriend. The only way I could go with two older "boys" was if it was a double date. So I lied. And then I went to the show just with Danno and Petey.

We rode to Akron in a cute little honda. We listened to the dead the whole way there. We pulled into the Rubber Bowl parking lot. There seemed to be no real sense of lines or lanes for the parking. We got there just in time. We walked a good 15 minutes to get into the show. It took so long because we were surrounded by hippies. Real hippies. Real hippies in all their unwashed, rattily attired glory. There seemed to be people selling things, overtly and covertly. Food, tshirts, trinkets, stickers, toys and of course, covertly, intoxicants. Yeah, I know, hard to believe. What an eye opener for an 18 year old white girl from the suburbs. Well, luckily we didn't have to buy anything, we had our tickets and everything else we needed.

It gets a little bit sketchy beyond this point but I will try to give you the highlights.

The bill was incredible. Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and the Goddamn Grateful Dead. Mind blowing, even now. As we walked in, I slunk over in front of the stage to see Tom Petty singing Straight into Darkness. My head nearly exploded.

My friends, Phil and his friends

Baseball weekend in May with Uncle Crappy and The Wife was great. During the weekend, I was informed that my attendance was mandatory the weekend of July 14th. What? Where? Why? Mandatory? Holy crap, that sounds like college or something.

Technically, it is. Well, maybe more like a "refresher" course. We are all meeting in Columbus for an evening with Phil Lesh and Friends. I am totally stoked. I love to hang with my buddies. I love to get a little polluted, from time to time. And, I'm needin' me some hippie music. I need to cut loose and dead dance a little bit.

It's all Juan's fault. He gave me a cassette tape with American Beauty on the A side and Shakedown Street on B. I was 15. I'd been listening to AC/DC and the like. Given the general weirdness of some of the Dead's music, this was a really good choice. FRIEND OF THE DEVIL, BOX OF RAIN and CASEY JONES were the "hits". And I use that term loosely. I don't think "hippie music" and popular have ever been used in a sentence together. (Eventually, they broke the Top 10 with TOUCH OF GRAY)

Well, that was pretty much it for me. I loved the stuff. Blue grass, blues, honky tonk, funky, freaky, whatever. And I'd yet to go to a show. That really blew the doors off. That was in 1986 at the Akron Rubber Bowl.

But, that is a whole 'nother story. I'll save that for the next installment.

Grand Prix of Cleveland

I guess I'd never really watched the masses at the Grand Prix before. Maybe I'd never been in a healthy mind set at the race before. I guess I will never really know for sure.
(the race is just like a huge outdoor bar...people walking around with cold tall boys of beer and cigarettes or cigars)

4 or 5 of us put our bicycles on stationary trainers and "rode" to raise money. Yep, we rode in the 90 plus degree heat and blazing sun, heckling the crowd, asking for money for charity. Over the 3 day race, we raised $800. Not too bad for technically "selling" air. Thanks to all those fine people who each donated a buck or two to the cause.

We were also able to provide a lot of information. People were interested in raising money, learning more about blood cancers and learning more about what the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is all about. There were a number of people with questions and comments about their own friends and family members who are battling blood cancer. We helped them out, too. I went down there thinking I'd spin a bit and provide some moral support for my Team in Training team members. Well, it was that and a whole lot more.

If anyone wants to donate to DD and I as we ride for a cure in November, visit our fundraising homepage to donate securely online.

vroom vroom

OK, we're somewhat officially on our way. Northern Ohio Team in Training will have a large tent set up at this year's Cleveland Grand Prix. I think there is going to be some sort of "race track action" suppporting Team in Training, plus we will be cycling on trainers in the tent. I'd prefer the trainers be set up in a pace line. I'm pretty used to training and looking at a butt or two in front of me.

Our coach is so excited about this weekend. He loves cars, he loves car racing and he loves Team in Training. I'm pretty sure this is the ultimate event for him....a combination of his two favorite things.

I'm pretty stoked too. I like things that go fast. I like to go fast. Too bad I can't drive a race car this weekend. I'll have to settle for my bike going 10 mph while hooked to a trainer. What the heck, maybe I can hit 55 mph in my SUV on the way to the race. Hhhhmmmm, maybe even 60 mph.

My husband, DD, well, he's probably not so stoked. I "volunteered" him to ride this weekend too! He didn't know about it until I told him. He can't be too thrilled. Wives are allowed to do that, though, right? "Volunteer" their men for the greater good.

Guilty Pleasure

OK, I have to admit it. I am addicted to celebrity gossip, stories and photos. I really don't like most celebrities, but still I am fascinated. People like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Brit-Brit make me laugh. Michael Jackson absolutely scares me. Oh, yeah, Tom Cruise now scares me too. The latest on Brangelina and Vaughniston, however, is riveting.

What is wrong with me?

I love to read snarky comments about celebrities even more. Check out this blogger rag to get the latest details on people you may have heard of, and some people, well....
If Kathy Griffin is "D list" then these people must be E and F. At least.

I check out blog-0-sphere almost every week day. I check my work email and voice mails quickly so I can get to the good stuff. Then on to my favorite: the celebrity gossip. When I've had my fill I go to my favorite writers, then I check my yahoo mail.

I am totally addicted, that's all I have to say. Is admitting you have a problem the first step to recovery?

ooof

My neighbor has a 2.5 week old infant. She wanted to go out drinking tonite. I think I am getting too old for this. (she is on a real rip, not having been drunk for 10 months)

Too much Miller Lite makes me want to swim in Lake Erie and cleanse this filth from my pores. Can anyone help me? Does anyone have any Great Lakes or New Holland?

Even a cosmo with tequila instead of vodka. Helllllllppppppppp, please.

Shameless Plug

Here's some good stuff. I found Mrs. Kennedy through our gal, Penny Pressed. They both rock.

She has some really cool merch, too. Remember, it's all about the merch.

I have ordered some of fussy.org merch for certain reporter type friends of mine. So don't jump the gun and get some yo'self. (Doorprizes will be awarded at next official or semi-official FOG outing. Prize quantity and quality may vary, no prizes or goodies are inferred or implied. Legal details can be found on the reverse side of this label.)

long time gone

It's been a while. Sorry for the delay.

It's been a combination of lots of work, projects in the yard, selling advertising and doing mountains of laundry. (ok, just kidding on that last one)

No really, I did work in the yard as mentioned in the last post. Next weekend, I planted 75% of my flowers. Why only 75 percent?? My husband, DD, always wonders too. The leftovers are always sitting by the side door. After 4th of July, I usually throw them away. Another testament to my inability to finish everything I start.

Work is totally cool. Believe it or not, I've reached some sort of a threshold on the internet. It seems I can only be online about 8 - 10 hours per day. Most of this time is currently spent working for the Man. This threshold means that I've not been getting lost in someone's blog or writing my own blog. Apologies to the two or three people who currently read my blog.

Go Tribe!

Yikes. It's summer all of a sudden. Only last friday, May 19th, it was 50 degrees and rainy. Today it was blazing hot, sunny and lovely!

With all this loveliness, you have to work in the yard. Yesterday I went to visit grandma, we planted flowers at the cemetary and then the craziness began. We dug up two shrub type plants from her yard. Remind me never to dig up hydrangea bushes again.

So, today I had to dig holes for the bushes.... so, I dug holes for the bushes. Oh, I also cut the grass, edged, weeded, trimmed hedges and a few other things. The other things I did were: put in new flower bed, remove sod from top of new flower bed, scrape up scummy sod by side door and transfer the pretty sod to the new hole by side door. Then I put all my toys away and went inside.

Wow, that was a lot of stuff. Oh, did I mention it was hot, too? OK, it's still hot. We are going to turn on the AC now!

See me after class

As I said early on in this blog, I've never been good at writing a journal. I think the only other time I did anything near this was for my English 101 class, exactly 1000 years ago. The only reason I did that was because my cranky prof required it. Actually, it was pretty cool. He wanted us to write at least once a day for 5 - 10 minutes. He preferred stream of concious stuff over anything polished or thought out.

Hell, I could do that. It seemed the more insane it was, the more he liked it. That says something about him, I guess. He never told us the purpose of the exercise, he just wanted us to do it.

Here are some snippets, as I remember them:
"My roomate is insane, everything she's brought with her to school is monogrammed. Like anyone would want to take any of that preppy shit. But boy does she love to borrow my slouchy Girbaud ankle pants. She's so freakin' rich, why doesn't she buy her own pair?"

"stacy down the hall is really cool and funny. She has a teddy bear named "wittle bear" how cool. I have my own stuffed animal. His name is Peeg. no, not pig. Peeg. he's French. He wears short pants, a waist coat and a pink velvet jacket. His previous life was spent as a Beatrix Potter character"

Back to the cranky prof.

I like to think of myself as a funny person. Our next assignment was to write a short, humorous essay. Something that we thought could appear in a newspaper column. I was totally stoked for this. Wow, I was funny, I like to write. I could do this. I wrote a short ironic story about the food in the dining hall, I think. Much like the theme Ralphie wrote in "A Christmas Story", my essay was a masterpiece.

Here's a synopsis of the prof's comments: Not remotely funny or even cute. D+
See me after class.

That's all I remember, the rest of the week is a fog. Freshman writing dreams ripped at the seams.

Thanks for tolerating my "not even remotely funny or cute blog". Ya'll are the best.

Ohmigod, this is great

Perfect for any NASCAR race, OSU tailgaiting or fun around the neighborhood

TNT 2006

OK

All serious and stuff. This post is not about drinking, the Weather Channel or my husband's band. Nor is it about my drinking problem or lack thereof.

We rode a Century Ride last year and raised over $7000 for TnT, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Yep, we rode 100 miles. And that was in ONE day. What? Yah, I know, we're insane. We plan on doing another Century Ride this November. Yes, we plan to raise over $8000 for this endeavor.

OK, I'm down with the ride. I did it before, on a mountain bike with slick tires, and I can do it again. (buying into the bravado? I am at 80%) The 4000 simolians apiece?? Help a brother out. That's a lot of cash-eesh. Anyway...

We were also selected as "mentors" for the team:

• One, we were willing.
• Two, we rode last year.
• Three, we will ride and raise funds this year.
• Four, we are social and willing to commiserate.

OK, no foolin' around. We're on board this year. Holy crap, we need to raise money, train and complete the ride. You know what? I love this cause, it's near and dear to my heart. I'm confident I can train....can I fundraise again??

Can I fundraise again?? Yeah, I think so. As we progress, more training details, less drinking details. OK? I hope you have the program. I hope I have the progam. Comments and smart ass remarks, that's up to you.

Engineering Glasses

Over the weekend, DD and I attended a wedding of one of his college buddies. Let me give you a little background....my husband, DD, is a degreed engineer. He went to a fancy schmansy engineering type school. A lot of his college buddies, including the one who got married, are also engineers. Don't let me confuse you, I love engineers. The Engineering Way of thinking is a good one, however much it contrasts my way of thinking. (I'm a woman, that should be your first clue)

The whole weekend was fun. I love my husband's friends. I love their wives, too. Its a good situation all around. Imagine the fun we, the 5 wives, can poke at our 5 husbands. Imagine the fun we can poke at 4 engineers and 1 token educator. I think at times we, the ladies, were kind of mean. But very funny at the same time.

We all had independent conversations about our husband's 80's style "engineering" eyewear. No, not safety goggles for a chemistry lab, "engineering" eyewear. You know, "engineering" eyeglasses. The kind Bill Gates wore in the early years. Yeah, those. I guess almost all of our men wore them. Probably wore them for too long, too. You know, into the new millenium.

God love our engineers. God bless every one.

Working for the Man, again

Apparently, many people in the Greater Cleveland area started new jobs this past monday. Me too! Even though I now have a home office, and my boss resides two states and one time zone away and I can plan my own day, I still apparently have to work. At least a little bit. Oh yeah, even though I am excited about my new job and learning new things, it's still a brand new job. That means its all new, new politics, new people, new lingo and yikes, new responsibilities. I tend to work pretty hard at a job, new or not. I take pride in "a job well done" mostly for the sake of doing a good job. I also find that I need to be a "good girl" I want to be the "go to" girl. I want my boss to like me, I want my coworkers to like me, confide in me and ask advice of me.

You know, "I'm a good person and godammit, people like me"

There's one for you, nineteen for me

Wow! What a week. While perusing some of my fave blogs, I realize other people have had very similar experiences and similar reactions, too.

Yes, it's tax time. I agree with John, Uncle Sam takes away on a bi-weekly basis. At tax time, we tell him what a.) we made and b.) he took. If we're lucky, he gives some of it back. If I had to pay him once a year, I would be far less happy with the amount he takes. I'm not, by the way, happy with what he takes now. When he takes a little at a time, in comparison, we are less likely to notice how much he's in our pockets.

A few years ago, I found myself "underemployed". That is to say I had a job, but my responsibilities and therefore, my pay, was substandard. I cut way back on all of my paycheck deductions so I had ready cash. I needed every cent I earned to run my household and feed myself and family. I risked an "accounting roll of the dice". How much would U. Sam take, how much of my pittance would I owe? I guestimated pretty well. I owed the Great State of Ohio 24 bucks and Uncle Sammy owed me 32 bucks. I happily paid Ohio and paid HR Block online my fee. (My fee could be deducted in the following year!)

So, the game continues. Roll the dice, fiddle with deductions and hope you don't have to pay a lot and all at once on April 15th. Roll the dice and figure what it takes to not get a huge tax return. What, no return? Why give Uncle Sam the money? He's not giving you interest on the loan.

- Today's rant sponsored by concerned citizens

I'm right, just ask weather.com

UUUUUhhhhhhhhh

Such a weather idiot, I am. Well, my dearest wish, barring "Multi-Millionardom", I'd be on the Weather Channel. Yeah, you me and Homer Sease. Yeah, really, that's his name. At least, in the morning.

Really, I'd love to be Jim Cantore. All Italian and bald headed. Really, I'm assuming "The Italian Part". He's hot. And bald. And covering the hot, on the spot, national weather "things." Love that man!

Anyway, I guess I missed out on the "I'm going to college/meteorological/weather thing". I guess, I didn't know that it was so exciting. I wish I didn't miss on the whole thing. Or did I?
Let me know.

Can I still go to the "Ball"?

Is there a "Ball"? or was it Katrina?

Oh, BTW, best wishes to all you "Weather Watchers".
You make the world spin!

Was Punxy right?

I know Mother Nature is kidding right now. It's been sunny or partly sunny and a little rainy for the last several days. Oh, did I mention it was in the 60's on Thursday and the low 70's on Friday?

To the uninitiated, it would seem spring is finally here. It is spring in nice, more southern places like Cincinnati or Dayton. But if you live on the North Coast of the U.S. don't be fooled. It's not here just yet. Old man winter is still cranking in Canada and we're not far from there. Oh, did I mention that the average water temperature today on Lake Erie is 34 degrees. That's not helping "spring" at all.

So, I'm enjoying it while I can. Yard work, outdoor projects...I'm all about it. I'll even take out the garbage...as long as it's not snowing or sleeting.

Indescribable Cabbages

Bless his little pea pickin' heart...My husband, DD, is a computer programmer. More specifically, he writes web applications. You know what that is right? Well, if you don't you can skip this entire entry. If you do, bless your pea pickin' heart, too.

So, I have been bugging him about "writing code" for some time. Like as in, "If I could write code, I could make the big bucks, too!" He's always told me, "Sure, I can show you. But, I'm not sure you'll really like it."

I was hanging out around the house the other day, as usual. I was having my afternoon snack. Which that afternoon was a huge slice of fresh red cabbage. Sans garnish or condiment, of course. I was cruching away and dear DD corralled me into "helping" him. I went to his office, pulled up a chair and asked how I could help. DD needed to figure out the a way of setting up the logistics for a menu system for a new website. Could I help him? Sure, I guessed I could.

So far, so good. Except I kept Crunching on my cabbage. As he described his "programming pickle" he glanced over at me and said, "That is Indescribably Irritating" I said, "What? My bad cabbage breath, now way."

'Nope, it's your irritating crunching.'
Then I breathed on him and said, "What? This isn't irritating?"
"No, that's just totally rank."

On to more programming, more crunching, but no more strategically directed exhales. We worked on the problem of the sequencing of the menu. DD actually began to write the code, test it, then revise, rewrite and revamp the code. I said that I likened it to doing a Rubik's Cube. (Which, by the way, I could never complete) It's a giant puzzle where one move inevitably influenced the next move and so on, and so on, and so on. (and they told two friends, and they told two friends) Well, he said he had to agree with my theory.

I watched him code, test, revise and revamp for another 10 or 15 minutes...then I asked if my presence had somehow helped him. He said it certainly did. And then I bailed. It was all I could handle. Yikes.

I never want to learn to write code beyond very, very basic html. My hat's off to him and all the other web app developers. You do what you do, I'll do what I do and it will be a fine world. Oh, when I'm ordering more crap from Amazon.com, make sure that freakin' website and database keeps on working.

Website results:
DD and HP "working" on coding = 25 minutes Problems solved by coding = 0
DD really working on coding = 5 hours Problems solved by coding = all of them

He's a genius.