The Adventures of Being Me

My coworker had his baby and wife visit. He looked like the proud papa he is. Everybody met the baby. The baby is still tiny and such a cutie. I never met wife before (men don't share wedding pictures) and she look good. They sat on the benches and the wife took pictures. After a while, baby and mommy left. Nothing else to report. Post later.

We were quite busy at work today. We blame it on the disaster relief, though not necessarily the case. People still think Des Moines is underwater. I explain the water is in Missouri breaking their levees now. One guy said he pulled his boss of the golf course to help him get 17 cars before the car washers leave. All their available cars are dirty and their two guys couldn't clean cars fast enough. Their problem is the company plan changed from a set of workers washing cars and another set shuttles them back and forth to every outdoor person grabs a returned car, washes it, and brings it back to be rented. Looks good on paper until one experiences a mad rush, like 20 people renting or returning cars at once. Returned cars must be removed before customers start double parking cause they just can't park in another company's stall (customers fuss when we tell them to do this). And customers throw a fit if they have to wait 2 minutes for their car cause they made a reservation ...

Had the car rental guy next door come by and tell me he heard from a customer not on the reservation list that they made their reservation an hour ago. They have been sold out all day so he wasn't expecting that one. He has 20 new reservations made the past 2 hours and only 5 cars. This is 9:30 at night and we all close at midnight so he has nobody to bring him more cars from the wash bay, and can't call anyone for help him this late at night. A lot of people are going to be mad when they have to wait for a car to be delivered to them the next day. I closed us (sold out) on reservations when several people asked for one way cars so I feared a cancelled or delayed flight and my car washers were leaving so wouldn't be able to handle a bunch of added reservations. Then people kept calling for reservations to pick up tonight so closed us on local rentals too. Had fun explaining to a couple they can not rent a guy returning his van because that car needs to be cleaned and servi...

Since my cc went through ont he make-up school and assume I'm enrolled, I booked my plane and hotel reservations. Hopefully no natural disasters wipe out the studio cause I really want this. Now all I have to do is put in vacation request and find a petsitter. I'm so excited. Post later.

I got the final big mat out when Precious laid beside me on the couch and I grabbed the scissors to snip it off. It was huge. I have been pulling on littler ones more tolerable to Precious. Though after the third pull he runs away. I am working on removing the mats off his tummy. Went to sister's house for laundry and it was hot and humid. I tied my hair in a bun and turned on the AC for the cats napping all afternoon. They looked up as I walked by them, but that was it for movement. After I arrived, thunder and lightening came and the rain poured down. I waited til it lightened up to go outside. Half way home it pours again and I hug the center line to keep from the puddles on the edge slowing my driving down. I barely can see or drive up hills with water rushing down. Then I hear clunking like rocks are being thrown at my car. Hail. Then wait in the car for the rain to lightened up again and rush in to wade through the parking lot, I'm wearing sandals. Opened the door for Pr...

Took Precious to the vet and Precious is still mad at me. Got up early and dragged the carrier out. Precious stuck his head inside but ran off when I tried to push him the rest of the way in. Chased him down and pushed on his shoulders to keep him down as I closed the door. He meowed on the way there. Two gigantic collies and their owner were chatting with the nurses getting his bill ready. That freaked out Precious. Then a tiny puppy came in with her family, it fit sugly in the lady's hand. The little girl was eager to tell everyone they got a new puppy and it is a poodle. Man walked out to the car for the paper stating where they got the puppy. All I heard was "they were selling puppies" so I assume a pet store or person with lacking experience when I heard that puppy was too young to be taken from her mother. And too young for any shots or inspection for defects. The nurse guessed 4-5 weeks old and said this occurs a lot. She gave directions for bottle feeding puppy m...

Cats had a good walk w/out their harnesses. They came back half way through the walk and ran off again. I painted my nails electric blue. Nails dry and it is time to go. Precious obeidently replies and scampers over. Keep calling for Frodo for almost an hour before giving up and going to my parents' house and grocery shopping. Precious follows inside and I lock him in. Last chance for Frodo. Five minutes later no reply. Damn him. Return with groceries and Frodo is not there waiting for me. It's the harness for him tomorrow. Let out Precious and he is useless laying in the shade, but he does meow for Frodo. I get Frodo squeaks and finally after 20 minutes, he yowls from the roof of the garage. I call him to come home. He jumps down and dashes towards me. Then a car from behind me comes around the corner and stops. Frodo swerves to a pause and continues on with the driver trying not to run over him. I holler out "Sorry". Car continues. Why can't they just come back ...

Car racers came back in droves so we had our hands full. The plane hangar had 3 buckets for the keys, one for us and 2 for 2 other companies. Plus two car wrecks this weekend is two less cars we can rent out. American Red Cross booked 15 cars and FEMA 5 more cars for Monday. I joked with Mom the other day that the owner is going to have to buy more cars just to supply the disaster relief people. People still think the whole state is under water. Nope, it's in Missouri now breaking leveees down there. Amazing as it seems, we have yet to reach the river crest measurements from Floods of 1993. My coworker from Florida never heard of Floods of 93 and we are eager to educate him. He is among locals who lived our whole lives in the area. My manager complained the counter was sticky and the carpet was unswept, we have a vacuum attachment so use it and no more excuses, according to my coworker and the cash drawer was left unlocked, again. Ok, I'm going to start taking photos of the loc...

From the time I showed up to work until 4 hours later the car rental next door had a long line. One of their customers parked in front of our stalls and we planned to tell them to move it when the line died down. It never did. Even better, their customers hung around in front of my counter complaining on the half hour to 2 hour wait for their name to be called to receive their car. Guy told me they delivered 35 cars to FEMA's hotels so they didn't have to wait on the sidelines for their name to be called. This is ridiculous, he said. They also have been delivering cars to the private plane hangars where Indy car racers are flying into. We have too and my manager is a big car racing fan so she gets her picture taken with them. Guess hot shot drivers and their groupies don't take public transportation. I told one of their customers calling her hotel on her cell phone declaring she will be late because the car rental has a two hour wait for cars to be available that she needs ...

I thought I was in Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds during our cat walk today. The cats chill out on the grass and a bird, then another, then another, start their bird warning calls. Next a bird swoops down within a few feet of the cats. This excites and frightens the cats, their tails twitch, whiskers erect, and make that weird chattering sound. More swoops come and the cats run behind me, then want inside the stairwell. They come out again to be swooped again and want inside again. Precious comes back again while Frodo stay inside. Within a minute, bird swoops down almost hitting me this time and Precious wants back inside. Time is up and we go upstairs. Now the birds are on the gutter and balcony railing tormenting my cats again. Bad birds. Post later.

My make-up school keeps calling to say my credit card won't go through. I check the card and activate it so it will work. Still doesn't work. Check the online manage account to find my limit shrunk from $5700 to $1000. I'm confused, the paper attached to my card states the limit is $5700, what happened? Email customer service. Receive email confirming my limit is currently $1000. Um, that doesn't explain what happened. Call the 800 number and get a lady checking into it. Something on my credit report appeared to cause this dive in credit limit and because of privacy laws she can't tell me what showed up on my report for them to take such a strong reaction on a card I have not used in a year. She tells me that I was suppose to have received a letter about this. Sorry, if I received one I would not be asking this question. She will get me a copy of this letter to me immediately and transfers me to someone else. Typical. Next lady informs me again that my limit is beca...

I keep getting calls telling me that the whole city of Des Moines is underwater. Obviously not since I'm answering the phone at the airport. Airport is fine, just part of DM is underwater. A levee broke this morning north of downtown called Birdland, which was evacuated a few days ago out of fear of flood. Downtown, north and east have flooded parts, but coming from south or west one is fine. I'm fine. Cats are fine. No walk today cause they didn't like the harness. Precious meowed at the door and ran away when I picked up the torture device. So since I had time inside I printed an updated map of the flooded and closed streets. I like accurate infor to give customers. They actually had red for closed streets and green for streets over water that are open. My coworker got confused what the yellow meant. That would be the main streets and the little unnamed streets are white. He said he still couldn't read and understand it. But then he is from Florida and still learning ...

Today I come in and the manager is concerned about people getting home. One coworker is guessing he won't be in tomorrow from all the flooding. Wimp. I have no excuse because I cross no bridges and it's all hilly and curvy. Darn me for being so reliable. There is a notice on the front door that as of now, there is no forced evacuation, but we are next to the flood line so that could change. Here's hoping. A coworker asked if a certain guy next door was fired cause he hasn't been here all week. I explained he is on vacation this week. He wanted to take the family to Illinois, but the gas prices cancelled that trip so they are staying at home to take in the nearby sites, like the levees. A coworker driving home went to see a levee issue that knocked out a railroad bridge. It was so cool looking at the water covering the tracks. I'm glad someone found that exciting. He called again later to announce he made it home, in the long way around way. I had two car keys with t...

I turn on my computer earlier today and there is a story on the Des Moines flood. You can relax, it was downtown. The storm sewers spewed out water all over Court Ave via the manholes. The prisoners in the holding cells came out to sandbag the courthouse cause the basement got flooded. The city crews pumped out the water. But that didn't relieve the Racoon River flooding every bridge in the area. Bars, hotels, and bridges were sandbagged and closed until further notice. Science Center, YMCA, and schools were closed today and tomorrow. Baseball stadium is sandbagged and so far dry. Apartment dwellers were stuck in their homes. The American Red Cross opened a few shelters. Also a nearby lake flooded and reservoir to the north released a controlled flood. Good thing I did laundry yesterday cause today going across town is a little difficult. Cats didn't like the wind from this morning's shower so we spent it mostly in the stairwell. They have been napping ever since. Frodo too...

Yesterday, I got up and took off for my sister's house. I slept in since I was later coming home the night before. Had to go grocery shopping. Pushed niece in those car shopping carts and man was that hard to turn corners. I felt I was guiding a ship from the back. When we got back, the cats came out as I unloaded the car. Frodo came downstairs and freaked a little at my niece's eager presence. Precious keen on following his master explored outside and came upstairs when I did. Frodo rushed up to escape my niece. He took his time coming down from the fridge. Niece played with her toys as I got supper ready. I put in 101 Dalmatians (Puppy Movie in niece terms) and called my mother. She always wants to speak to niece. Niece told her we were going to the zoo tomorrow. I asked how long does one cook corn on the cob. 15 minutes. I didn't have the holders for the corn, forcing my niece to adjust by using her fingers to hold it. Then watched Peter Pan. She loves Tinkerbell but nev...

We have a World Pork Expo this weekend, NCAA track meet this week, Hy-Vee Triatholon this week, and a Indy race at the local race track next weekend, plus all the disaster relief people here from all the tornadoes and flooding: And people have to argue about us being sold out and who in this airport has cars available. Pretty much nobody. If you want a genie go steal Aladdin's lamp. Let's see, I get a lady who cuts in line of four people (I am helping the first two at the same time) tells me I look busy but she is in a hurry so she needs her receipt now. I explain very politley as possible she has to wait her turn. She claims she will just stand to the side waiting for her receipt and will leave when she can't wait anymore. OK, when I get through the line she will get her receipt. She left before I finished with the customer I was helping first. Had a guy scream at me because we didn't have his chosen car available. He continues that this happens every time he comes her...

You know your coworkers are bored when they make paper airplanes with maps and scratch paper. I threw them away after they clocked out. Too bad, the excitement came after they left. A car washer got stuck in flood water down the street and then the engine wouldn't start. Counter guy who can't believe his ears and calls for a tow truck to pull him out. Car washer gets out of the car to wait for tow truck, instead of sitting in the car to keep dry. It is a hurricane outside so this guy must be really stupid. Even better he was stuck on the corner I turn to go home (north side of the airport), and it is a roadway he wasn't suppose to be driving on. He is suppose to drive on the airport service road that I took home cause I didn't want to get stuck in water reaching the middle of the doors, according to the tow truck receipt. When I drove by the corner, no water was standing around. It was a light rain when I left. Another thing that got flooded was the airport's baseme...

No news tonight, we have a severe thunderstorm going on and a tornado on the ground to the south of us. We are just at the tip of the storm system with wind and lightening, but another storm over Omaha will be here in a couple hours. Right now the tornado is just hitting south of my hometown, Yes my dinky hometown rarely on a map was on the map of the tornado path. The hook (a tornado on radar) has been moving east the past hour and is reported to slow down just west of my hometown. Guess more federal disaster people will be renting cars this week, several towns were in the path though mostly rural areas were hit. Jay Leno just came on we shall see what happens tonight. I usually turn off the TV at night because of the noise, but I will keep it on a little while longer. Events this week include stepping on Precious laying in the bathroom doorway in the middle of the night, later he jumped up and meowed when I came his direction. Then I had to get up at 6 AM to close the window cause it...

Took out a bunch of garbage and cats follow out w/out harness, so put them on in the hallway. Precious came outside, but Frodo never did. He came downstairs and I petted him, but made it all way to the door. Precious was exploratory where he knows dogs reside on the ground floor and meowed real loud. Such a bad boy I don't where he gets it from. I might get Frodo a larger harness, it is a little tight on him. Nobody yelled at me today. I did have upset customers, but nothing I couldn't remedy. One guy returning his car was yelling at my coworker for the upgrade he was charged, He's a special club member so he is suppose to drive a SUV no matter what he is booked in. Only the manager can take that off. He left then came back yelling some more and my coworker explained the manager is here at 6 AM. He scoffed declaring he isn't calling any manager, he's going to corporate to complain. That don't mean much to us. Not yet anyway. January or February it will. Had a ga...