The Adventures of Being Me

I have been reading the news headlines popping up in the corner of my computer screen saying Friday a worm in due to wreck havoc on those old computers lacking the most updated protection against this new destructive worm that will wipe out all your files, as it does around the world once a month. So what else is new? Is this really an advertisement for security software? I do have back up discs for important files on my computer just in case my top security program is breached. Sometimes I wonder if I'm better off without having internet access. Nah, I need my nonprescription medicines I can't find in local stores. And I love to write in my blogs. Post later. Bye!

Just when I think things can't get anymore depressing and look for the silver lining in my tearful cloud, I get hit with more bad news. I have been waiting for a kitten to be born for months now and I get presented with the new pet rules of the new management of my apartment. Old management rules: Cats only, $200 pet deposit of which $100 is refundable upon leaving, and an extra $10 placed on you monthly rent. New management rules: Dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, and small mammals allowed, with exception to ferrets and agressive dog breeds. Plus $200 nonrefundable pet fee and $100 pet deposit for any kind of pet. In addition to $10 extra per pet on your monthly rent. Also, dogs are only allowed to live on the north side (where I am) and cats are only allowed to live on the south side. Better delay taking a kitten into my home until I move to a more pet friendly environment. Though that often does not mean much since management companies change every year. I hate moving, but nece...

I bought the movie Catch Me If You Can with Tom Hanks and Leonardo Dicaprio. I saw it in the movie theater and loved it. We at the car rentals don't deal with checks and check fraud, but we deal with licenses and credit cards. I hate the new Iowa licenses because the addresses is so tiny we need a magnifying glass to read them. But of course the birth date is easy to find in large red numbers. Though I appreaciate that the new Iowa licenses no longer reflect light so badly it blinds us trying to read it. I actually had one girl ask me how we know her real age when I told her a customer must be 21 to rent a car. I answered that it is on her driver's license unless she is telling me it is a fake ID. Only someone under 21 would ask that question. Though credit cards can be deceiving to the customer. Some car rentals only rent by real credit cards only upfront. People often think if it has a Visa or Mastercard logo that it is a real credit card. Um, no. A REAL credit card is attach...

I saw this author on the Oprah show a long time when her book first came out. Now she has a new book out, so I decided to get her first undercover book. She worked at a Wal-mart at the same time I did, but my city was smaller than hers. She had many struggling to get by people working at her store. I had mostly teens, young adults just out of school like me living with their parents, and wives with husbands making twice as much as they did so this was just extra cash. The only workers at my Wal-mart considering it a career were management. Though after reading her maid service cleaning procedures in Maine that I decided to avoid hiring a maid service (if I'm ever rich enough to) because they don't clean anything and just move germs from one place to another while giving the illusion of being clean with air fresher. My Mom would freak reading them using a 1/2 bucket of water to clean a floor on their hands and knees without knee pads. She would be appalled at a moist towel wipin...

I am reading a book where a journalist goes undercover to reveal how poor people survive on low incomes. In jobs she pursues, she often is drug tested before she is hired. My sister once said she would absolutely refuse a job if it required a drug test to be hired (she is a school librarian). She said it was insulting and degrading thing to do to prospective employees. She concluded that if these employers can't tell by her resume and behavior at the interview that she is not on illegal drugs, then they have real bad people skills. I agree with her and have never been through a drug test to get a job. I once was threatened at one interview by their random drug tests once you get the job. I told my prospective boss that I would flat out refuse to be drug tested even if it meant being fired because if they can't tell by my work performance that I'm not on drugs, they have a serious people problem. He laughed. I was actually surprised he hired me after mouthing off like that. ...

I got the pleasure of calling security today because of a shouting match taking place nearby. I don't get to do that every day. A cop promptly showed up and tried to calm the irate customer. They didn't ask any questions of the employee and just took a business card of their manager. The customer was escorted out by the cop. That is all the excitement tonight. Everyone within hearing distance came over to ask what that was all about. The employee refused service after being cursed at and the customer refused to leave. That's all. Post later. Bye!

The computer dating service I am paying to find men for me really does a good job with weird matches. It makes wonder how they match people because they sure are not following what I requested. I requested men within 50 miles and no more than a 5 year age difference. I get matched with a guy living 1000 miles away who is 20 years older than me. Then he owns birds when I am getting a cat soon. He actually emailed me so I am unsure how well he read my profile. I do not see anything happening between us. Oh well, more money down the drain. I tried to continue Dr. Phil's dating program to have him say to think positive, have a positive self-image, and try new things. Do that, have that, and curious cat here: and still guys are not attracted to me. My optimism has finally turned into frustration and I can't take it anymore. I cancelled my match.com subscription. Post later. Bye!

I went over to babysit today. They didn't need me as long today so I actually babysat about a hour when sister came home. The baby squeeled "Mama" when we heard the keys twisting in the door. We played house with her doll house and then moved on to placing blankets over dolls. Then she discovered a ball so I showed her how to kick it. She kept rolliing it all over the house trying to kick it too. I give her so many ideas. Of course we kick nicely to avoid breaking anything. She likes to toss the ball too. Mom gave her box of her old toys to clear out the clutter in her house. I told her she should do this and to say if her kids didn't want their stuff then it it will be trashed. Except my stuff because I don't have a house to store things in, yet. My niece loves my sister's old dolls and has them covered in her old doll blankets. I helped my sister move furniture in the bedroom where they have a mattress for the baby to learn to sleep on outside her crib. My...

I have been watching programs on the possible blird flu pandemic spreading around the globe because the darn bug mutates as it spreads throguhout the bird population in Asia. I am told influenza vaccines are imported to the USA from other conuntries to be given out to the public when flu season hits every year. I would like to know why no one in the USA, with the best technology and virus labatories at our finger tips, is manufacturing any flu vaccines. Perhaps nobody in America has no desire to be rich. Post later.

I bought Valentine's Day supplies while grocery shopping. Cards, kid valentines, suckers, and chocolate and caramel hearts. Now all is left is the stamp and letters to those without email, but that can wait. I am always sure to include a particular aunt in my holiday cards because she constantly complains how people don't write her letters. Sorry, but people besides her have lives outside the house. I never forget a holiday. Between Easter and Halloween she doesn't hear much from me. Post later. Bye!

I read about a book in our Des Moines Register Sunday newspaper called Sundown Towns. The book voices the reason there are so few African-Americans in Midwestern States. After the massacre of Native Americans by white soldiers with itchy trigger fingers at Wounded Knee in 1890, small town residents in Midwestern States enacted Sundown laws (no longer enforced but never repealed) clearly stating that anyone of "color" is forbidden to set foot in their "white-only" towns after sundown. Though I fail to see the connection between whites murdering Native Americans and chasing African-Americans out of town. That would likely be an interesting book to read. I found the book on Amazon.com, it was published last October. Post later. Bye!

I got a free sandwich today. Nearing the last hour before closing at a snack shop I often visit, I grabbed one of their premade sandwiches and told the cashier that I won't make him cook this time. He offered the drink and chips, saying he would give me the chips for free since I didn't make him cook. I said he talked me into it. He said, You do nice for me, I do nice for you. I said, Thank you. Leaving I noticed he charged only for the chips and drink, but not the sandwich. It does pay off to be nice to people. Later, I showed off a scrapbook of vacations a friend claimed to never viewed in a conversation yesterday. He left after looking at my scrapbook and came back to give me amenities from a Japanese hotel on a trip he took a while ago. One package was a toothbrush and toothpaste. The other package was coffee, cream, sugar, and a stirrer. That was so nice him. Post later. Bye!

A new pop up window has arrived on our car rental screens: Email address is required in profiles of customers renting from us. Yeah sure, I can get passed the window by poking 2 keys. I am sure the brainiac who put that in our system will be tiffed we employees (at least at my location) are not asking customers for their email addresses so they can receive receipts and junk email from the company. I have a hard enough time getting a phone number from them. Some people are cautious asking if their number will be used by telemarketers. I assured them no and it is illegal to telemarket to a cell phone number. We tell them we need a phone number to inform them if items are left in the car and ask if they belong to them. My opinion is that an email address is too personal of information to be requiring to rent a car, besides not everyone is rich enough to have email. If club members volunteer their email addresses when they sign up, that is their decision to make. Post later. Bye!

I heard from my manager that Dr. Phil on TV is connecting with match.com to help singles find romance. Well, not exactly. First one must buy a subscription before placing in your profile or looking at any profiles. Next you have to make an additional purchase to obtain Dr. Phil's tips on dating including how to present yourself. I predict a complete waste of my time and wasting more money trying to find love. Though I refused the subscription, I am trying again with the free profile. I was matched with people I have no interest in and going by their profiles they will not be interested in me. Love formulas in these internet dating services really suck no matter what their commercials say (I have spent over $200 already on other sites to get nobody). This time around I have learned not to place in my photo. On the other sites I got rejected much faster with a photo to view than without a photo (even with men rejecting me for not having a photo). I had no idea I was so ugly. Post lat...

The owners of my car rental are off to a family vacation on a Disney cruise. I can tell it is going to be hard getting cars from the car washers since they will be in slug heaven. Oh well, I have no problem asking the people left in charge to kick the car washers (since my boots are not hard enough to get results). Post later. Bye!

My sister called me today while I was watching a movie to ask me to come over to help her move a mattress upstairs so she can start weaning the baby out of her crib. Of course I turned off my movie and went right away. We had hamburgers and fries. The baby does not like her new booster seat for the table, probably because the highchair is more cushy. I told the baby they need to get a cushion for her chair. Next we moved the mattress up a flight of stairs with the baby helping push. Mattresses need handles for better transporting. I also learned I push better than pull so my sister and I switch sides. We got upstairs and my baby niece goes "Shhh." I saw a book nearby and read it to her. One cat, then the other cat, came in and sniffed the bed. They did not join us on the mattress. My niece threw a fit every time I petted a cat. I stopped her from swatting at the cat when it jumped up on my lap. She kept asking me to play and sit with her. I did laundry once my sister's cl...

You know your job is too easy if a kid can figure it out how to do it. Post later. Bye!

Every week for at least the past month, the same person calls up asking the same question and gets angry over the same answer. She gets so fired up I can not explain anything to her and then she throws in my face every time that she will take her complaint about me to my coworker she adores cause I'm confusing her. If this bitch is so attached to my coworker, why don't she call when my coworker is here? Even worse is trying to figure out her question. She asks me to do Plan A, but when I answer the price of Plan A she is furious my answer is not Plan B's price. If she wishes to do Plan B, why did she just ask me to do Plan A. Plan A and Plan B are not the same thing. In her rantings how stupid I am, I hear she has her prices printed out from her computer. If she already knows the prices of Plan A and Plan B, why does she call asking for the price? Does this idiot think they will suddenly change from her computer printout prices? I'm done bitching. Post later. Bye!

I had enough of janitors telling me to smile because I look so glum. I look so glum for reason, my Dad is sick with cancer that spread too far to zap it away. I know guys don't deal with painful issues well, but some of us women rather have compassion than being told everything will be fine. Everything is not fine and wishful thinking ain't going to fix this problem. Please, just let me be sad. I helped my coworker with her homework today. She even said I was not allowed to do crossword puzzles until her homework was done. I thought that was so funny that I had to share her comment with people. Then I had to wait for a delayed flight until 1 AM. Then when I left there was a touch of ice on the car front and rear windows. I noticed my last customer was sitting there running the defogger and using the windshield wipers. After scraping off my windows, I walked over and cleared her windshield. The defogger had melted the rear window. She rolled down her window and said Thank You. T...

A coworker who keeps tabs on a fired employee of another car rental mentioned that her friend was kicked off the library's computer because of an overdue book. He was using the library's internet access to find another job. My coworker thought of asking around for money to pay this book fine so the poor guy can find a job. When I saw I am #1 on the commission sheet, I asked if she got any money from people. She said she was anxious to ask people for money. I wrote a check for the entire amount of the book fine. I handed it to her saying to tell the guy that I am getting a great commission check this month so I can share the wealth a little bit. She was surprised at my kindness. I'm sure the poor guy will be surprised too. He was never one of my favorite people, but I got over his pranks. I'm not one to hold grudges, that all. Post later. Bye!

Tonight I had fun with my baby niece. I pulled dried goo out of her nose when my sister changed her diaper. The surprise was that she hardly fought wiping her nose. Babies normally fight thier noses wiped. Lately she has been jealous when anyone pets the cats and has even hit them on occassion, poor kitties. She has learned colors and more Sesame Street characters. She patted a chair and said "Sit" when she wanted me to color with her. We read new books and danced to music. She imitated my sister's exercises on the floor, but coud not kcik her legs up. She can say Frosty, as in Frosty the Snowman. We grabbed chocolate chip cookies my sister made. She is not quite ready for cookies. Almost ready to leave, I had to use the bathroom. I didn't have the door shut all the way, just enough for nobody to see me. The baby pushed the door open and came up to me to say "Pee". Of course I also demonstrate hand washing to her. She loves bubbles. We hugged good-bye and sh...

My Mom called to inform me of a test Dad took for his prostate growth she talked about last Christmas making him sit less comfortably. The doctor didn't think it was serious to test sooner and they could easily remove the growth this month. It is much worse. My Dad has prostate cancer too bad to do anything about and the growth is too large to remove giving him an estimated 5-10 years to live. My Dad wants a second opinion cause he didn't like what he heard. I told Mom at least they have good insurance. She might not get her kitchen room addition after all if Dad feels too poorly to finish it. Later I thought I better hurry up and find a man so Dad can walk me down the aisle. Post later. Bye!

I had an adventure changing the light bulbs in my ceiling light inside my walk-in closet. First I had to figure out how to unscrew the glass cover with a metal point in the center. Standing on a step stool and 2 phone books to reach it, I unscrewed and unscrewed the glass cover. Nothing came down. I next twisted the metal piece in the center, but that did not move at all. I moved my step stool to another light closer to my head in the hallway. I figured out after several minutes the metal piece unscrews and makes the glass drop down. I grabbed a plastic shelf cover I use to unscrew cranberry juice bottles and unscrewed the metal piece in the closet. Behold, an empty light bulb socket with a 100 watt bulb in the other socket. The socket said 60 watt bulbs are to be used this socket. Excuse me, isn't using the wrong size of light bulb a set up to starting an electrical fire? Maybe not. I placed correct size 60 watt bulbs in the socket and screwed the glass cover and metal piece back ...

Today at work I had an allergic reaction suddenly hitting me hard to the point I could not think straight when my coworker needed my help. Then on top of that we are busy with griping customers so I can't stop to take my medicine. On one rental I made a huge mistake that I should have not let occur. Next a friend came by to chat and he said I looked sick. I told him I was in hell waiting for my allergy medicine to kick in. It usually takes a half hour to get working. I know what set it off. I ordered a hamburger with nothing on it, which means they put the lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles on the side. I am allergic to pickles so that pickle juice draining into my hamburger bun sets off the allergic reaction. That means my tongue swells so I barely can speak, my tongue also itches and burns along with my nose, cheekbones, forehead, and ears. I often call it an itchy frenzy. Next my chest tightens so I have difficulty breathing and need my asthma inhaler. Then comes the sneezing a...

My coworker who lost her mother this weekend was at the airport picking someone up. A car rental gal next door gave her a hug and she burst into tears. I made a sympathy card of my computer and went around having everyone sign it. We are taking a money collection for flowers among the coworkers. I wonder how I will I react to my parents' deaths that will eventually occur someday. I'll probably miss my Dad, but be jumping up and down being free of Mom. I definitely won't be rich since I have 3 siblings to split the pathetic inheritance with. That is a good 20 years into the future anyway. Post later. Bye!

My janitor friend is back to work today and stopped by to chat. He had been home for over a month recovering from a tendon injury. He enjoyed my Christmas letter and we chatted on what he missed out on. I gave him the last 2 Christmas cookies I had in my lunchbox for his gift poinsettia to me. I told him they were a bit dry, but still good from sitting in the freezer. He talked about his son's college graduation party and his gift Japanese sword with a white tiger and his name engraved on it. The son liked the gift. His son might get a job teaching Japanese children English within the next year. He is excited. I was sad to hear nobody took out revenge on the tattle tale worker at the car rentals. Nobody wants to be fired too. He came back from vacation yesterday to find everyone ignoring him. I ain't afraid to tell him off and that I don't want to talk him ever again. If can stand up to a secretary in the First Lady's office, I can stand up to him too. What's he goi...

Tonight I went over to my sister's house for laundry. Baby knows laundry means going into the basement where the carpets have been professionally cleaned, so everything is neat and tidy. The baby doesn't like to go back upstairs so I often have to trick her. I washed my hands and she had to play in the bubbles. I tried to lift her under her arms and my hands slid up instead of holding her. Silly baby. I grabbed her waist and between her legs into a Superman pose and carried her upstairs. I told my sister I made Mom jealous in our last phone call. I told Mom that when I spoke to my sister, she heard a noise. I didn't hear anything so I kept talking, until we heard a sweet "Hi Auntie". My sister told the baby to get off the phone and give it to Daddy. Mom had the same experience with a noise on the phone, but the baby didn't say hi to Mom, so Mom is now jealous the baby spoke to me. I got all my Christmas decorations down and mostly put away. Traditionally, Chri...

After 3 longs days, I finally heard from Mr. Maybe I met for the first time face to face New Year's Eve. He emailed that he was not emotionally interested in me and good luck. I don't need to be told to get lost twice so he was deleted from my email address book. I know there is plenty of fish in the sea, but the other fish are not interested in me either. Post later. Bye!

Mom called as I coooked my dinner asking me to email my siblings that she is fine for her toe surgery correcting a hammer toe, but she has to do dishes sitting on a stool because Dad refuses to wash them. Dad will cook and do the laundry, but will not wash dishes. Whatever. Mom is on strong pain killers since any scraping of bones is painful, but she will survive with her feet up. Post later. Bye!

Well it has been 3 days since I met Mr. Maybe over dinner New Year's Eve and I have yet to receive any emails from him. I sent 4 or 5 to him since then. I'm wondering if I scared him off like every other man I like. I hope he emails me soon, I enjoy talking to him. Post later. Bye!

I woke up this morning not wanting to get out of bed. But I had to get up earlier than usual to attend a Post-Christmas celebration with my family. A friend left a message on my answering machine asking about my big date so I called her back right away so she would know I hadn't been kidnapped. She asked if I was handcuffed to a bed, I said no. I told had to get going to see my family today. I found the way the there alright, but drove passed their house because they had a wreath covering the house number. The last digit was revealed on the edge of the wreath so I braked and swerved into their neighbor's driveway to turn around. My aunt and uncle spent the night there so I was the first to arrive. My Mom's cousin plus her parents joined the group after me, then my parents and siblings came. My sister had her hands full with all 4 of my nieces (only the baby is hers). She announced to us that she is not having 4 children, the grocery bill would kill them. Once everyone arriv...