rescue ranger!

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a line of turtles sunning themselves beside the pond behind my house. I love the amount of wildlife I get to witness around the pond, but it is mostly birds (mainly ducks, geese (blech), and heron). So to see at least 20 turtles sitting by the pond was a very exciting moment.

This morning on my way to work, there was a turtle in the middle of the busy road leading to my neighborhood! I had to pull over to rescue the poor turtle before he got run over. He was very close to the yellow line in the middle of the road hiding in his shell, as I ran up he was sticking his little head out but stuck it back in as I got closer. I picked him up and moved him to the grass, petted him on the back of his shell, gave him a little talking to about not going in the street, and went on my merry way. I hope that turtle stays out of the street from now on!

This is not the first time I've been on a turtle rescue mission either. When I was much younger, my mom rescued a turtle in a parking lot by putting him in a box and then we drove him over to the river by our house. My brother was totally freaked out by the turtle (I think he was 6 or 7 and I was 9 or 10) and he wouldn't ride in the backseat with the turtle. That turtle was even bigger than the one I rescued today, and the one I rescued today was pretty big!

I did my good deed for the day, can I go home now? No? Get back to work? EH.

random people

Adam always has the strangest interactions with people. I don't know why random people seem to seek Adam out and then be weird around him, but they do. Yesterday, Adam and I were at dinner for a little date night and Adam had on a Yankees hat (boo, I do not like). These random woman poked him in the back and started giving him the business because she wants the Twins to beat the Yankees. I couldn't hear anything she said, and Adam was just trying to get her to go away. Once she finally did go away, Adam tells me, "She scared the crap outta me when she poked me, I almost punched her in the head."

Seriously, random people, leave the big guy alone. He may be a big teddy bear, but he can turn on you in an instant, especially when you poke him!

On another note, we got Adam's wedding band yesterday. We went to dinner from the jewelry store and didn't want to leave the ring in the car, so he wore it to dinner. Seeing his ring on his hand was such a neat feeling for me, one I wasn't really expecting, but it really made me smile. 75 days! (No, I am not really counting down the days, theknot.com is, the last time I looked it was in the 80s and I don't remember what exactly)

escapades at the service center

This morning I did my duty to maintain my car and brought it in to the car dealer for an oil change. This was my first time to bring it in since moving and I am slightly peeved. I was apparently totally spoiled at school, where the dealer service department 1. mailed me coupons every few months to take money off my oil change and 2. stamped a card so that for every 4 oil changes I got one free. And, not only did they mail me coupons, they would provide me with a coupon if I forgot to bring it. Pretty much, I got at least 10% off any service they performed on my car. This morning, I had them change the oil and deal with the squeaky brake problem I've been having for years but has gotten worse in the past couple of months (when I let up on the brake it would squeak, and not all the time, just often enough that it was annoying, and it was not scary because the brakes themselves worked fine). That was over $80. No coupons. WTF. And they do not stamp a card for buy 4 get 1 oil changes. Both places are owned by the same guy! And the card from the dealer at school even says on it that it is accepted at all dealerships. What a lie. Just because it is a big city, apparently they don't believe in coupons, they don't offer deals, and they charge more for each oil change! And they don't offer coupons for the random other services either. If I don't start to get coupons in the mail now that they have my address, I'm going somewhere else. At least for oil changes. I went into a non-dealer to have them fix my air conditioner once (a national chain) and they informed me that the problem was with my computer and it would be over $800 to fix. I walked right out the door and went to the dealer. They fixed my AC for $150 and I have gone nowhere but the dealer ever since. I know they over charge, but they fix the right things. Now that I don't get free oil changes, I might just have to go somewhere else!

Now, I'm not going to rant about the dealer anymore... but I will add one little thing about the guy sitting next to me in the waiting room. 1. Don't call someone and talk as loud as you can so that no one can hear the TV, even if you are speaking in a language no one can understand. It is rude, if you must call people, go to another room, or at least talk quietly. 2. Bringing a book to read is a great way to pass the time while waiting. Humming while reading, not a good way to pass the time.

At least my car is happy now... despite my crazy morning.

Happy Friday!

falling down gracefully

This morning there was a segment on falling on Good Morning America. I tried to really pay attention because I fall A LOT. Apparently, there is a lab at Univ of Ill-Chicago that studies the motion and force when people are falling (whether slipping on grease or tripping over a bar). They strap people up to a harness and guide them across a room that may or may not have a falling obstacle. I though they would tell us on GMA how to fall gracefully, or at least how to limit the number of times we fall or lessen the consequences. Either I missed it, or they ended the story saying if you want find out how to fall gracefully you have to go to UofI-Chicago and have them teach you. I think they need to include a hole in the ground as an instigator of the falling - that's usually what I fall in. A hole in the grass, a hole in the street, I usually seem to find them and fall down. Not to mention my lovely graceful moment of ice skating retardedness, which I am still paying for 1.5 years later and my ankle will probably never be the same. It's still swollen and still hurts at times. AH, do I have skills. My most recent fall? Right off the treadmill I bought at a garage sale for $30. It was moving across the floor and I realized I was getting pretty close to the TV. I turned around to see if I really was moving toward the TV and somehow I fell off. I had a 2lb weight in my hand. I landed on the weight and now I have a weight shaped bruise on the side of my leg. Now that it doesn't hurt so much I am not quite so embarrassed to tell the world about my falling skills. I have decided that my bones must be super strong because with all this falling, I've never broken a bone. I've stretched every possble ligament and tendon in my ankle, but the bones stayed intact. I'm still not sure how that happened. I guess it's a good thing I drank so much milk when I was small - I think that I had at least a glass of milk with every meal.

So I've rambled on, and at the end, I still don't know what the best way to fall is and I don't know how to prevent myself from falling so much.

where I am and where I wish I was

I am at work. Where I wish I was is at The Dead preparty across the street from Rosemont Horizon (that isn't called that anymore, but it will always be that to me) where they have a display of artwork by members of The Dead, including Jerry's. And after looking at all that artwork, I would be getting ready to go into the Dead concert and dance my socks off to some awesome tunes. Alas, I am at work, checking my email constantly hoping to hear back from the headhunter woman about what the company thinks of my resume. Something that probably won't happen today. But I still cannot seem to stop checking my email. AH, do I wish I was going to the Dead show tonight, even though Jerry's not there. I've heard some of the live shows on Sirius, and Warren Haynes is doing a great job as lead guitarist and singing many of Jerry's songs. He's not Jerry, but he's doing really great considering what he has to live up to.

AND, I booked our honeymoon! San Francisco watch out, we're coming for 6 days! Better be prepared to hook me up with some delicious WINE! And, if you really knew how to make me happy, you would have Grateful Dead music playing at some point during the week... whether it be a cover band or a side project by a member of the band, I would greatly appreciate it.

Ramble on Rose

So, this morning on my way to work, they played "Ramble on Rose" on the Grateful Dead channel. This is my FAVORITE GD song (for now, at least) and they don't play it nearly often enough. Not only was it Ramble on Rose though, it was a FANTASTIC version (8.7.82, two days before my 1st birthday). The guitar solo was particularly incredible (and I'll say again, I MISS JERRY). Well, I knew today was going to be a good day because that was just too perfect of a start to my day for it to not be good.

Ramble on Rose in Copenhagen 72 - not the amazing version of this morning, but it is great.

ANYWAY, I was working up data (which took about 5 hours today, totally awesome). The lab phone rang and I answered it. I'm glad I did because it was a job headhunter calling for me. I had to call her back not in the lab since she interviewed me. We talked for about 15 minutes about what I have done in my career (which isn't much) and what the company is looking for in a medical writer. A medical writer is not something I really considered doing, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't consider it, and I do think I'm qualified for it (I certainly am a bit nuts about proofreading, as I've mentioned before). And whether or not they hire me, that was such an awesome ego boost that they called me! I am not sure how they know about me, but I am really pumped that I was appealing enough to call, however they found me. But now I am waiting for this woman to email me her contact info so that I can email her my resume. And I'm starting to worry that she spelled my name wrong in my email address and that I'm not going to hear from her ever. Such an awesome awesome day. Ramble on Rose!