Basketball Bollocks

Andy did not want to do basketball.  But since we had given him the choice to choose a sport and he didn't make a choice, we did.  And we told him that after this season if he still hated it he wouldn't have to do it again and could choose a different sport.  He reluctantly agreed to continue forth with basketball through the Boys and Girls Club.

The first meeting we attended actually took less time than actually getting there.  And I was okay with that, however the notice for the meeting specifically stated: Your student will not receive their jersey if the meeting is missed.  They didn't hand out any jersey's and the meeting basically was a quick review of the paperwork I already had.  Basically it was a meeting for a man to read the rules off of a piece of paper we already had from when we signed up for basketball.  Then he directed everyone to pick up a copy of the rules which we already had gotten during sign-ups.  They didn't even give us a schedule for when games or practices would start, we were told we would be contacted.

There goes my buzz....

A bottle of wine deep and two-thirds of the bathroom cleaned when Murphy comes a knockin' at my door.  I thought I would spend my Friday night at home packing crap and cleaning house.  I got tired of packing crap so I figured I would make the bathroom nice.  A nice uneventful evening at home cleaning, packing and drinking wine right?

No, not right.

The fucking shower knob thingamajigger broke.  It's not the first time... the first time it was age that made the plastic part inside break.  This time it's cheap plastic (replaced by even cheaper property management) that caused the problem.  You turn the knob but the plastic part inside is not grabbing the inner bits that cause the water to come out.  I can actually see the plastic innards have snapped apart.

Mine is not a Moen, it has no brand.

So here I am at 21:30, in my house garb, sweaty and hands smelling of bathroom cleansers with a broken shower.

I call the maintenance hot-line, which I can tell is located somewhere in The South.  If I know anything, I know that maintenance here works at the speed of a one-legged man who broke his one leg.  I spent the day working and then attending high school graduation out on this unusually warm, sunny day.  THEN I went home to slave some more.  I wanted a damn shower.

Then I call my gym, I never go at night.  They close at 11 on Fridays so I have time to get over there and wash up.  Then the brilliant idea hits me, I should have a little run/brisk walk while I am there.  I have time for a little exercise before my shower.  

So now I am clean with a broken shower.  I have an empty bottle of wine that I feel none of the effects of having imbibed.  It's now approaching midnight, should I pop open the soju?

It's probably best I do not since I am supposed to help a friend move to his new place first thing in the morning.  -_-

I probably shouldn't have gone down to 7-11 for a French Vanilla Cappuccino either.  I hope tonight isn't a sign of how 'smooth' my weekend will go.

Solvang Brewing Company

Well, how was it?

The beer was good.

The food was mediocre.

The service was terrible.

After a nice day hiking with my mom and sister, we decided to drive into Solvang for a bite to eat.  Solvang Brewing Company is a place we had yet to try and decided we would give it a go.  The place was not very busy when we got there and we were urged to sit any place we liked.

Chinatown, San Francisco

After the 10k run it was time to eat.  Not just a nibble, I mean eat!  I had my mind on dim sum the whole time I was in SF and I was ready to get to Chinatown to replace the calories I had worked off.  I deserved it right?  We ate at the Imperial Palace Restaurant, their reviews are not so great but I had eaten there several times before and never had a problem.  Thirty bucks for us to eat until we felt like we were about to pop and I even had beer!  I don't know about you but that's a damn hell of a deal!  I was obviously so hungry I failed at taking pictures of the mighty feast.  My sister was able to snap a few teaser shots.

Eating in Little Italy

When my sister told me we were going to San Francisco, we discussed places to have dinner.  She was very keen on having some Italian food.  She is currently taking Italian at school so she wanted to try some of their food.  I am going to admit, I am not a huge pasta or pizza fan.  But that's nothing a little cheese with an extra side of cheese and wine can't fix right?  I want to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures.  I was starving, and was the only one that did any of the 4 hours of driving.  Did I mention the hike through Lombard Street was before dinner?  I know my sister was constantly killing her iPhone taking pictures but I don't have access to her phone and she hasn't posted pictures for me to steal from her.  She emailed me her iPhone photos, so I will be sure to credit the pictures she took.

Pilfered from their website.

Depth of field

... it's been done a million times.  I know this.  But I have never really tried to take pictures that required me to mess with the focal point.  I will share my favorite shot/s first.  

This was taken at the Vietnam Memorial in Capitol Park.  I thought I did okay with changing my focal point between the flowers and the memorial wall.  My next photo is my fail at depth of field.  It was also the memorial wall but I didn't like how it turned out.

Dear Mc Donalds #2,

Post-production title: Dear Susie, when will you learn?

On my  lunch break I decided to run to the optometrist to get my new glasses.  After I got my glasses I figured I would stop at my closest fast-food, filth-hole and you were the closest one.  I should have known better from previous experience that your sandwiches are terrible.  I should have ordered a soft-serve ice cream cone because you have yet to find a way to fuck that up.  But no, I was stupid again (or just maybe a little insane). I decided to try something I had not tried from your selection of over processed filth.  I wanted to try your Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

Light, flaky white fish.  Tangy tartar sauce and melty cheese.  A delicious favorite at 380 calories.

Happy Birthiversary to us!!!

For those that don't know the mister and I married on our birthday.  June 19th, yes we share a birthday and now an anniversary too!

 One married year down.  

500 hundred more to go!

Birthday number thirty-two and 500 more to go?  

Oh god I hope not, could you imagine?!

Me at 500?  Oh I hope not!

So upset, I am shaking!

I woke up today in a great mood.  On my list of things to do:

• Go to work.
• Go to the courthouse and pay my fine like a responsible person who fucks up is supposed to do.
• Get my dogs some flea medicine and food.
• Go back to work.
• Fix up lasagnas tonight to give to a few people that have been promised some.

The wheels on the bus go round and round.

You all know I went to Germany.  Some of you may even know that to get to the airport, my sister and I decided to take the Greyhound bus.  To make a long story short, my mom said the family was busy that night so not to bother asking anyone.  They would all say no, later we found out that my brother offered to drive us to the airport.  Whatever, we were determined to get to the airport so we took a bus.  The adventure began the moment the bus arrived at the station and would continue on through the night.

The doctors have been telling Porky Pies!

Or if you much prefer: I have health insurance and my doctor wants to take advantage of the ability to bill them (and me) for whatever the fuck they deem 'necessary'.

A little back story: I am unhealthy or as my husband says, "You don't have the superior Scandinavian genes like I do ". I grew up having asthma this kinda puts me at risk for catching pneumonia easily from simple chest colds. I have had anemia and I guess it's kinda common in my family? I don't know, all I know is my sister had it and I am over it now. Diabetes also runs in my family, so keep my weight down in hopes of never getting it.

I am mentally and physically exhausted!

I just realized that it is not Wednesday, it is Thursday. I have one more day to go for my work week to be over and Monday is, thankfully, a holiday! I hate that I am so exhausted that I don't even know what day of the week it is.

Mental Exhaustion:

I have been practicing German in an effort make my back packing trip through Germany a bit easier. (I also hate it when people assume I don't know a language and talk shit. So I WILL know.) I am hoping to get together with my sister to do some flash card and conversation practice. I almost want to put it off because today, I have a fucking head ache. Not that this has anything to do with how my head will feel on Friday night, I think some mental rest is needed. Maybe a nice long drive will help clear my thoughts or maybe a walk on the beach will help.

Now that I have had time to reflect...

I will share my story of utter dunces at a restaurant. First there are a few things you must know:

1. I like booze, so when I go out to eat, I drink it.
2. I am not a fussy or picky eater. If I asked for my salad without tomatoes and it you brought it with.... I am going to save myself the headache of having them remake it (and probably spit in it) and just pick them out of my salad.
3. I don't super customize my order. Generally I order as it appears on the menu and maybe get a side of sauce to compliment what I am eating.
4. I tip well, I am not a chintzy person. I KNOW where I live these servers make their living primarily off of tips.

So with all of that shared I will now tell the tale of the WORST dining experience in my life. (Okay maybe one of the top worse... the other was breakfast and my coffee cup had lipstick on it. The waitress wiped it off with her apron and called it "fixed". But I digress and that's a whole other story for another time.)

Dear Me n Ed’s Pizzeria,

Please consider training your employees on how to use the order manager. A little extra training to your employees would assist in their confidence, expedite orders and ultimately allow your employees to get off the phone and MAKE the orders.

Sincerely,

Starving Susie