smile and ride

A few comments today about public transportation:

• To all the Community Transit bus drivers on route 415: Thank you for getting me to and fro, in rain, hail, snow, solid ice, or beautiful sun-shiney weather. I can always count on you. (Do I sound like a UPS commerical?) Sometimes you seem cranky, sometimes you seem happy, but regardless, I am grateful for you. I hope your job gives you some sense of satisfaction, because you make me happy every single day. Even on the worst commute days, it's nice to know we're getting through it together.

• To the guy who I sat by yesterday morning: you’re a freaking weirdo. The scenario: he got on the bus first, sitting on the outside seat and putting his backpack on the inside seat. Ha ha ha little grasshopp-a, don’t you know these buses fill up and fill up fast? I wanted to sit on the inside seat, so I asked him, “Can I sit there?” Of course, courtesy prevailed, and he let me sit there. After letting me in, he sat back down for a few minutes, then moved to another two-seater that was empty. And of course, once we hit the park and ride, people filed on in droves, and someone sat by him. Personally, I suspect I smell better than the other dude who sat by him, but whatever.

• To people in general who think they are entitled to two seats on the bus: I dislike you very much. Did you pay double? I don’t think so. I once witnessed someone ask to sit on the inside seat when the person on the outside seat was all sprawled out reading her newspaper, and Outside Lady was quite rude to Inside Lady throughout the whole bus ride. Can you believe the nerve? I sometimes take the early early 5:30 a.m. bus to go to the gym, and there are a lot of people who get away with their “take up two seats” strategies on the early bus. Oh dang you, you make me so mad. At least let the seat remain available while people are boarding, then if no one sits near you feel free to sprawl. I think that’s just general common courtesy. How can you sleep at night???

• To people who smoke immediately before getting on the bus: please don’t. Oh my heavens, please don’t. If you sit by me, I will get up and move. I cannot breathe. If you are offended, I can’t help that. If you need to feed your addiction, at least give yourself a few minutes to “air out” before loading an enclosed space and subjecting the rest of us to your smell. I don't think this is intolerant... I'm thinking of my baby!

• To people who don’t realize everyone else can hear your music through your headphones: Turn it down, dear, or you will lose your hearing someday (gosh, I sound like my mother). I plea to everyone reading these words that if you can ever hear my music through my headphones, please hit me over the top of the head and say “Woman! Tone it down a notch!” One gal who used to sit by me a lot listened to Latina salsa music first thing in the morning. I just wanted to snooze but was instead wishing I was eating lobster tacos in Puerto Nuevo.

• To people jabbering jabbering jabbering on their cell phones: Too Much Information. Please know when I get home, I will tell my husband all about you and we'll laugh gleefully.

• To the girl who gets off the bus behind me every day, yet Nascar races to get in front of me for the walk home: Where's the fire? You creep me out! One time, I turned around and stopped to look behind me for cars coming, since I wanted to cross the street, and you ran into me! Do you remember that? Hold your horses, your house will still be there if you get there 1 minute later than if I wasn't in your way. Sidenote: now that I'm pregnant I walk even slower. I suppose I could try to speed up, but a nice leisurely walk home from the bus stop never killed anyone. However, darting in front of a car because of an intimidating speed walker lady in the rear may have. So, who will be walking as slow as she wants? Me.

• To the people who handle the customer service emails at communitytransit.org: Thanks for always replying to me when I feel the need to complain. I always get a personal reply. How nice is that? I think I should start writing some happy notes to counteract all my complaints over the years.

I guess that's all for now. Ahh the beauty of public transportation.

curse of the $15 mistakes

The Shanester is indeed good to have around. We have been having problems lately with our fancy digital answering machine (if any of you have tried to leave us a message lately, you can concur), plus there were problems with almost every phone in the house. Indeed, we even threw one phone away because we were convinced it needed to be exorcised, and we couldn't help. [note to readers: important later!]

But despite all the drama, today, Shane solved the problem. The issue had to do with the DSL modem, which goes through the phone lines. You need some kind of filter on your phone line so static from the DSL doesn't interfere with your phone conversations. I've literally cursed, in a G-rated way, at every phone in this house in the last few months -- and now we know why.

Shane suspects that the filter (evidently you only need one, somewhere) was on a phone in our second bedroom, which we've been "remodeling" per se to prepare for the bebe in June. So a couple weeks ago, he unknowingly removed the phone, and filter, and consequently all telecomms heck broke loose.

Today, he figured it out, reinstalled a filter, and the heavens rejoiced. But, with the joy came a sad conclusion: we threw away a perfectly good phone! A perfectly good $15 cordless phone with caller ID and call waiting capabilities is now in a Snohomish County landfill somewhere. Dang it!

I am reminded of other times in my life where "$15 lessons" have haunted me. It seems every couple months I need a $15 lesson to teach me to be more careful or more thoughtful or, perhaps, more hesitant to throw stuff away. (I am usually so hesistant to throw stuff away! Why did I so easily toss that poor phone?)

Some additional illustrations:

July 2007

In July, I went to the doctor because I thought I was coming down with something. My throat was scratchy, and basically I begged for drugs. (I'm sure they're like, "great, another one, begging for drugs.") They drew my blood, said nothing was wrong with me, and informed me that it appeared I was having an allergic reaction and I should take a Benadryl and lay down. I was convinced they were wrong, although -- interestingly! -- the entire time I was in their office, I was having, and hiding (due to embarrassment), some swelling in my lip. I'm allergic to Gabby, and sometimes when she scratches me (dumb cat, stop scratching my face), my lip or face will swell, but it generally works itself out.

Ha. It didn't this time.

Even though I was AT THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE at 10 am this day (having paid my $15 copay), I found myself at the Emergency Room at 1 am when my entire face swelled up and I looked like a Planet of the Apes monkey woman. It was just awful, plus it was a nice $15 lesson (or $450 lesson, if you prefer to go that route).

The lesson here: if anything is going on, TELL THE DOCTOR. Or more generally, be mindful of where you are and act appropriately. When in Rome, do as the Romans do! When at the doctor's office, spill the medical beans! I guess I can smugly say that the E.R. doc finally gave me drugs.

March 2008

Me and Shanester recently invested in a Go-Phone, since our cell phone doesn't roam and our normal $35 bill is in the $100s whenever we go on vacation. When we got home from our vacation, we put $15 (maybe it was $25) on the phone, and it became Shane's "emergency cell phone." It felt great to have him have a phone... but I never ever EVER called it, because I didn't want to "waste the minutes." Well, wouldn't you know, the minutes expired after 90 days. $15 worth of minutes, poof, into thin air.

The lesson here is obviously #1, talk to your spouse and/or loved ones!, and #2, read the stupid contract more closely so you know you only have 90 days to use your minutes.

Odd how two of my three examples are about telephones?

I appears to me that every once in awhile we all need some kind of costly lesson to remind us to be more careful, more observant, more talkative, more detail-oriented, more whatever. It's a good thing the sun goes down each night and we can wake up the next day and do our best to make it a better day than the one before. Thank heaven for tomorrows.

Even though I usually wake up $15 poorer. Oh well.

so i married norman bates

Me and Shane have this game we like to play. No, let me rephrase, Shane has this game he likes to play. It’s called, “Scare the Pants off Angela.” This is how it works:

I’m doing something, or minding my own business, usually brushing my teeth or flossing in the bathroom off our master bedroom, when Shane will rush in, unexpectedly, making the “Reee! Reee! Reee!” noise from Hitchcock’s Psycho, after which I’ll SCREAM bloody murder, and then we have a good laugh and hope the neighbors didn’t call the police because it sounded so awful. Ha ha. Ha.

I still remember the very first time Shane really got me. We were sitting on our borrowed 10-foot yellow couch in our awesome apartment in sunny Simi Valley, California, and we were watching a Discovery Channel special -- on wolf spiders. Why were we watching this? Who knows. I hate spiders. Always have. They give me the heebie jeebies. But of course, we were 100% engrossed in this, and we're at the part about how wolf spiders like to crawl in shoes, or in the curtains, or under people’s covers and…. AAAAAHHHHH Shane LERCHES at me and I SCREAM. I hadn’t screamed like that in years. I was so mad. It’s such a weird feeling being absolutely terrified, hopping mad, and yet understandably entertained by the humor of the situation all at the same time.

I think that’s when the game began.

Fortunately, we, let me rephrase, Shane doesn’t play that often. Every once in awhile he gets me. I have the luxury at the present moment of being large with child (my friend Bryan refers to it as “a growth in my stomach,” as in “Angela, when you get that growth removed, we’ll have to play tennis sometime), so Shane has calmed down with the terrifying tendencies.

So, my big news: I got him this weekend. It wasn’t much. It was the same thing he would have done to me. He was in the bathroom off the master bedroom combing his hair, getting ready for the day, and I pushed the door open and ran in and yelled “AHHH!” And he jumped! It was awesome.

Score: Angela – 1. Shane – 12.

Later that day, I was making dinner and realized, doh!, I was missing a key ingredient. Darn that Cream of Chicken soup. Like a good husband, Shanester was off to Safeway to save the day. Let me say at this point that it snowed this weekend. Again. Snow everywhere.

Shane comes in from his errand and I am happy to see him, but before I can mentally register that he’s home and where’s my soup, he lunges a snowball at me. IN MY KITCHEN. Of course I don’t know what to do, so I catch half of it and the other half crumbles on the floor. Snow!

Score: Angela – 1. Shane – 13.

It’s a fun game.

Unfortunately (but fortunately for you, dear readers), Shane isn’t the ONLY one who has a good time scaring the pants off me. My boss at work, whose office is across from my cubicle, has a Screaming Monkey, which I believe is a trademarked item. She likes to sit at her desk, hurl the Screaming Monkey through her door and over my cubicle wall, right above my head. When I am least expecting it. Every time my heart skips several beats, I gasp aloud, and then everyone gives her a hard time for giving the pregnant lady a hard time. I heard she took it with her on vacation with a bunch of girlfriends, but she was afraid to use it since the girlfriends threatened to launch it off the cliffside of their Mexican villa to the raging oceans below.

Score: Angela – 0. Screaming Monkey – 7.

Seems like I’ve gotta come up with some threats I can make good on, or something. (Perhaps a Screaming Chicken? Watch out JJ!)

beautiful portland, or, usa

I had an AWESOME weekend last weekend and have been dying to tell you about it. My favorite part? I would consider it: “The Ultimate On-A-Budget Vacation.” As part of my reminiscing, I’m happy to share some secrets to my success, so you can replicate in your respective necks-of-the-woods.

Me and the Shanester took a final hurrah vacation to Portland, probably the last time we’ll be able to get away as just the two of us. We’ve, sadly, hardly been anywhere, so Portland was “baby steps” in the direction of venturing out of our normal bubble and relaxing while experiencing something new.

So, to plan, Shane gave me a budget. I chose to spend the VAST MAJORITY of my budget on accommodations at a bed and breakfast. I found said-bed and breakfast by first toying with the idea of doing a Vacation Rental By Owner, but then balking at the minimum night-stay requirements and cleaning fees. I finally lucked out and found a Web site that featured a bunch of Northwest bed and breakfasts and decided to give it a try,

If you’ve never been to a bed and breakfast, then you’re missing out. MAN, it was cool. We stayed at this place called Portland’s White House, which was quite appropriate as you can see:


It had eight rooms; we stayed in the Rose Room. When we walked in, there was soothing music playing in the foyer, the sun was shining, and it even smelled of "perfect old house." Our room was gorgeous. Our bed (a king!) was very feathery and had eight – EIGHT! – pillows (many of which I used as a retaining wall to support my pregnant self during the night). The bathroom had a classic claw-foot tub, and the liquid hand soap was the most amazing liquid hand soap I have ever used or smelled or experienced. (Note to self: Self, look up hand soap brand “Molton Brown” and see if it costs more than Chanel No. 5.) We took a walk around the grounds and there were water features and plants, and the whole place smelled like freesia or lilac or lavender or something else complete divine.

The point being, there was little budget left for entertainment. But it was worth it!

In preparation for the adventure, I checked a bunch of online calendars, including Craigslist, for events (I recommend this) and talked to a bunch of friends who had been there before (I highly recommend this). I made a large Word document with possible entertainment ideas, their dates and times, their costs, associated Web sites, phone numbers, etc. A lot of the online event sites include things like exhibits at local museums that run for several months, as well as date-specific things like sports events or concerts, so we had a wide variety of things to choose from.

NOTE! If you're going to take phone numbers with you (which I recommend, in the event you get lost, which will be discussed later), make sure they are numbers where someone will be there to talk to you on non-working days! I got a lot of recordings on Saturday and was quite bummed.

Back to planning. I initially wanted to do this downtown Portland chocolate-shop walking tour. Doesn’t that sound FABULOUS? You walk 1.5 miles in a couple hours, stop every few minutes at various chocolate shops, gorge yourself on dark chocolate truffles or other even more superb delicacies, and have a memorable experience. But, the price was out of this world. ($42 a PERSON for out-of-towners.) My Portland-savvy friends suggested I google chocolate shops myself and just get a really nice dinner instead.

The main goal was to not stress ourselves out. I didn’t really want to do anything that started at a specific time, since if we were in the moseying mood, I wanted to not feel rushed and continue being in a moseying mood. It’s fun to mosey. Another strike against the chocolate tour. Oh well, I have oodles of chocolate at home anyway.

In the end, this was the awesome agenda, and associated prices:

• Left Seattle around noon. Got to Portland around 3.
• Got lost. Dang you Mapquest, you’ve always been so reliable. But I guess you don’t know a thing about Portland. [free]
• Parked. [$4]
• Went to the Portland Saturday Market. Saw a guy dressed like Jimi Hendrix. Heard a live band or two. Smelled a LOT of B.O. Mistook a Planned Pregnancy clinic (“Women Only” on the door) for a bathroom. Ate some pizza and drank some stellar strawberry lemonade. [Free! Food was ~$10]
• Got lost again. Ended up on the other side of the Columbia River. Heaven bless my sweet Shane who drove the speed limit and didn’t freak out. [free]
• Parked at the Oregon University of Science and Health. [$2]
• Rode the Portland Aerial Tram. This was very cool. It was a clear day and the view was amazing. It kind of swung back and forth like an enclosed, silver ferris wheel pod. I loved it! [Two round-trip tickets, $8]
• Went to a Catholic Sanctuary, aka “The Grotto,” a Forest Preserve and Rose Garden. However, the rose gardens were on the “upper campus” while the greenery and chapel and candles and stuff were on the lower, and the elevator to the upper campus was closed. So that was too bad. It was cool (in the sense of temperature) and serene, and we walked around for a bit. [Free]
• Checked into our hecka cool B&B!

After that, we lounged around and then went out to dinner. We found a FREE parking space in the Pearl District and then walked to the restaurant. Just driving around trying to find a parking space was even fun. There was this really cool spot with like a water fountain and grass and some cool totem-pole kind of statues and I said to Shane “I want to hang out there! Let’s hang out there!” but of course we couldn’t find it when we were done with dinner. Anyone know what that place was? It was so cool!

Dinner was at Oba, a "nuevo Latino" restaurant. The Portland Dining Guide said it was “$$” on a scale of $ to $$$$ but I think that was an understatement. So that was where the vast majority of this month's "eating out food budget" went. But it was great! I really enjoyed the bathrooms; they were very romantic. Our waiter thanks Ms. Whimsy for the recommendation.

Sunday was even better than Saturday. We had a gourmet breakfast in the dining room and met some other people staying at the B&B. Gourmet breakfast just does it for me. I challenged Shane to a game of chess on this very sophisticated historic-looking chess set in the White House’s living room, but he was a chicken and wouldn’t take me on. That's right, fool, someone is scared!

After checking out, we went to Multnomah Falls. Specifically, we traveled the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway and stopped at a few of the scenic views, the Crown Point lookout, Latournelle Falls, and Multnomah Falls. ALL FREE! It was SO COOL. Windy, relaxing roads perfect for a Sunday drive. Amazing, scenic views of the Columbia River. Fun hikes in nature. Waterfalls spraying in my face. I just loved it.


The only cost? The $3 magnet and $4 keychain we got in the souvenir shop. YAY!

So, dear readers, my entertainment cost for one of the funnest weekends of the year (minus food, gas, and lodging): $21!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my mom and dad, for always taking us kids places when we were little. Now that I'm older and realize the extent of our travels, I recognize we are pretty cultured, thanks to them! I've been to DC's Smithsonian, Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, Niagra Falls, Monticello, etc. Not everyone can say that! I hope I can also give my kids the experiences they gave me, and that we can have all kinds of fun, while not spending TOO much money, but enjoying each other as a family. And undoubtedly, that was the best part of the weekend: quality time with my sweetie.

Yay for vacations! Boo for back at work!

super fat

No, that title does not refer to me and my pregnant self. Thanks for thinking of me.

I just wanted to say Hi, and I'm Still Alive, and I'm Working on a Great Blog Entry about our vacation last weekend, but alas when you're super busy (see blog entry below), you never get the chance to finish those things you start sometimes. So the following is a short and sweet snippet of my week.

I am so so so mad at the cat food eating situation in this house. Gabby is a big fat cat who needs to be on a diet. We, let me rephrase, I am trying so hard to get this to work. She gets 1/2 cup of food daily, in three small increments. This is essential! Gabby has to eat as soon as she sees the sun, as soon as we get home from work, and as soon as we are preparing for bed, or else the world does not make sense in her little head.

Well yesterday, while we were at work, she found the unopened ginormous bag of cat food. The closet door, where it was stored, was mistakenly left open. She clawed and clawed and clawed until she hit the jackpot. That gluttonous cat gorged ALL DAY on cat food. When I found out, ooh I was so mad. GABBY! EXERCISE SOME SELF RESTRAINT! I don't even want to pet her I'm just so mad. I wish she knew, all we care about is her health, and I want her to be around for years and years. WHY does she do this to herself?

Then today, I get home from my activities, and learn she was annoying Shane to all ends and so he decided to heap a ginormous heapful of food in her bowl. This food was NOT part of her daily allotment. Again, I am red-faced mad! C'mon! PLEASE! I'd rather quarantine Gabby in the closet and have her claw the door in frustration and finally fall asleep then feed her more food I know she doesn't need.

So, there I am. A cat that won't give up and a husband that gives in. Only a miracle will get that cat down to 15 pounds. And that's just the short-term goal!

That's my week so far. I hope you aren't battling the bulge as well.

quit beatin' yourself up!

The scene: Me. At my desk. Just after lunch.

The phone rings.

I pick up the phone, aiming to place it to my left ear, and somehow it hits me in my face instead. That's right, I hit myself in the face with my Mitel corporate telephone.

This morning there was some kind of bug bite on my right cheek, so I figured I'd bruise up my left cheek, too, to match.

And so, to learn from this, we reflect. How often do we unintentionally beat ourselves up? We think we can take on too many things, or dare I say, answer the phone at lightning speed? We just need to calm down.

I can certainly learn from this. I've outlined my calendar for this month and it is not pretty. Every Monday I have a childbirthing class (complete with the showing of gory films and subsequent relaxation on blue gymnastics pads). For the next two Tuesdays I have Enrichment at Church. On Wednesdays, and some Thursdays, I am working with the Young Women at Church or doing some things related to my learning how to work with the Young Women in a positive way. Add to all this my desire, nay, my NEED, to exercise; my two-hour round-trip daily commute; my inclination to make dinner for myself and my sweetie; and my bulging belly (and midnight heartburn attacks), and I think all can plainly see how I just need to remember not to metaphorically hit myself in the face with the phone.

May we all take time to relax. My husband so wisely encourages me often not to stress myself out, and if it comes that I need to pick and choose, I need to pick and choose. That's that.

Better run, rice is cooking on the stovetop! Happy April!