Fog City

When I left home for SeaTac Airport on Friday afternoon, it was about 90 degrees, somewhat humid and very uncomfortable. Because you have to endure an extremely long walk thru the parking garage, then the post 9/11 travel joy of submitting to a retina scan, full body cavity search and then the looooooooooooong walk to the Alaska gate, I was soaked with sweat. OK, so I lied about the full body cavity search, but any one of you who has flown lately knows how sucky it is. And why does it seem that every time I fly, with the exception of Logan Airport, I have to walk a friggin country mile to get to my damn gate? When I looked up at the Departure Screen it said I was at Gate 20. Out loud I even muttered, "of course it's Gate 20...." So I purchased some outrageously expensive food and had a quick lunch, then hung out and watched the planes. Eventually when a gate attendant showed up, I went up and asked if there was any chance of upgrading to first class. For the first time in my life, my inquiry paid off. For $50, I was able to have the luxury trip. The trip was on time and uneventful. I had an aisle seat so I didn't see much in the way of aerial scenery. I can't really remember the flight so I must have fallen asleep for a little while. Got to SF on time and man alive, that airport has REALLY changed. It's been nearly 10 years since I flew out of there, and it was under major construction. Well, it's done now. But despite how much expansion they've done, not to mention the addition of a BART stop and an "air train" that takes you from the terminals out to the BART stop, long term parking and the rental cars, it was surprisingly easy and intuitive.

The weather in SF was exactly as I expected: waaaay cooler, sunny near the airport, and a thick fog bank clinging to the hills to the north and west. The fog always stops at the tops of the hills, and then will pour down the slopes. The City was clearly completely socked in. A common mistake people make is thinking that SF is foggy in the winter, just because that's the rainy season. It's not. Summer is peak fog season.

I was too tired to do anything or go anywhere except to my hotel and grab some dinner. But I did see the beautiful full moon out of the window near the elevators.

By the way, you can click on all of the pictures to see the detail.

This is the view out of my window, on Sat. morning. It's hard to tell, but the fog is standing right on those hills.

Of course I took Lucky with me on my trip. My rental car was a Nissan Sentra.

There are 2 different highways that come into SF from the peninsula, Hwy 101 which enters The City in the downtown area, and cuts right through The City on Van Ness and Lombard Streets, till it crosses the Golden Gate for points north. Our preferred way into SF, however, has always been Hwy. 280, which enters the City on 19th Avenue in the Sunset District. Right smack in the "fog belt".

This one is especially for AXE!!!!! This is a home that is owned by someone named Chris Isaak, who was born in 1956. Awhile back, Axe told me that Chris Isaak lived near the beach because he liked to surf at the beach in San Francisco. She also told me that he was 52. I used a different search tool and looked up his name. I found a Chris Isaak, born in 1956, who lived on 38th x Moraga, which is not at all far from Ocean Beach. So on the way into The City, I went down into the Sunset District to find the house. This is it. I have no idea if it's the musician's home or not, only that someone named Chris Isaak has used that address at some point.

After I left Chris Isaak's House, I bopped on down to the Great Highway, which runs along Ocean Beach and went up to the Cliff House. The restaurant is highly over rated, you are paying for the name and the view. But it's City institution and you have to eat there at least once. The Cliff House has undergone a few changes since it first opened in the late 1800's. It used to be a brothel, and it used to look like a castle. We have a poster of the old one on the wall in our family room. That one survived the '06 quake, but not an ammunitions ship that exploded when it ran into Seal Rocks. It was rebuilt in this less interesting design. I'll do a blog post w/ better pics about that part of The City another time, as it's extremely interesting and rich.

These are the ruins of the old Sutro Baths. It's deteriorated so much since I last saw it 10 years ago. As mentioned above, this section of The City deserves it's own post b/c of the history of what used to be here. I have better pics of it as well. That terrace in the middle was where they shot part of "Harold & Maude", when she's demonstrating against the war and pisses off Harold's military uncle.

Seal Rocks

Seal Rocks below the Cliff House

Camera Obscura is a really cool live camera that rotates in that cone on the top, and reflects what's going on outside onto this huge white dish (looks like a satelite dish) inside, where it's really dark except for what's shown on the dish. You slowly walk around the dish as the camera moves. Except at sunset, they focus on the ocean and the sun. It was there in April, 1992 that I saw the green flash with my own eyes, on the dish. It was an exceptionally clear night and instead of sinking into the fog bank off shore, it was going down into the water.

Ocean Beach. Oh how I missed the fog. I miss it so much. I stood there, in my short sleeved shirt, inhaling the salt air and let the wind blow the wet fog in my face and hair.

After leaving the beach, I drove down to our old neighborhood in the Richmond District, at 20th x Geary. When we moved into this building it was a mustard yellow color. They repainted it after we left. Our apartment was in the back. The top floor is Grace's, the landlord. She still lives there and we still exchange Crissmiss cards with her sister Donna & husband Bruce, who live right below Grace. For $800 a month, we had a 2 bedroom, 1 bath place, with 3 skylights, off street parking, and a washer & dryer in the building. We had a non-working fireplace in the livingroom too. It was such a wonderful place to start our new lives together when we moved in on August 1, 1989, just a few days after arriving in SF.

This is looking down 20th Avenue from our old apartment building. I was glad that there was a MUNI bus pulling through the intersection because that was my old bus, the 38 Geary. It dropped me off right in front of my office building on Market Street, downtown. One straight shot, door to door.

Looking west down Geary Boulevard (towards the Beach), from the corner of 20th Ave. If you click on this picture, you will see the graffiti on the side of the Martell's awning, trash, homeless guy in front of the store...There were a few homeless guys when we lived here, but the neighborhood didn't look run down at all back then. It was so pretty and cute, lots of stores and restaurants. It was a comforting and safe place to be; we loved our neighborhood. It bums me out to see it like this now.

Looking east down Geary Blvd. (towards downtown), from the other corner of 20th. Gaspare's Pizza was another fave place to eat. I was sad to see that they, as well as other businesses, now have locked gates covering them when they are closed. The whole neighborhood is so run down now.

Best produce market EVER. We'd walk out of there w/ bags and bags of fresh veggies for like $5 for all of it. We never bought vegetables at the grocery store w/ Richmond Produce right around the corner. The graffiti on the truck also made me sad.

Brian must've visited this store at least 3x a day. To get the paper, chips, beer, milk, whatever. In California, hard liquor is sold alongside wine, beer, and groceries.

Another fave place, the 24 hour Video Cafe. You can eat and/or rent a video 24/7. The inside has lots of movie posters and cardboard cutout promotional pieces. When we lived here, the sign on the building was painted as pink as the heart. When you get home from a Dead show at 1:30 am, starving to death from dancing all night, this was the place to go. Their mushroom burgers were to DIE for. All their food was great. Because I had actually scored a parking place on 20th Ave, and it was still early, I decided to have breakfast here. It was yummy.

After I left the Richmond District, I drove up to Haight Ashbury, and decided to see if by some chance, the top of Twin Peaks might be above the fog. It wasn't. Visibility couldn't have been more than 1 foot. So I headed back down to see my favorite Victorian homes on Waller Street. When you ask people what they imagine when they think of San Franciscan Victorian homes, and they'll all probably think of the "famous row" of houses in Alamo Square, a picture of which is farther down.

But I prefer this set of Victorians on Waller Street because they are way more colourful and contain more detail than the ones on Steiner Street in Alamo Square. Click on the pictures to see the fantastic detail. Marble steps, gingerbread trim and swirly bits.....I would give anything to own one of these.

Click on this one and check out the gryphons on either side of the top window. The detail is amazing.

This is my favorite store in Haight Ashbury, Positively Haight Street. If they had been open, I would have gone in.

The Masonic Street side of Positively Haight Street.

It never ceases to amaze me, but I always manage to have really good parking karma in Ess Eff. I scored a great spot on Hayes Street, at Alamo Square. After you've lived in San Francisco for awhile, you become really good at parallel parking! I was parked in front of this fantastic house. I would love to own an old Victorian with a turret room.

Ok so here's the obligatory "famous " shot of the Steiner Street Victorians at Alamo Square. These are nice and all, but I still prefer the ones on Waller Street!

Next I drove out to Pacific Heights to one of my other favourite places, the Lyon Street steps. It was here that I caught my first whiff of eucalyptus from the trees on the far left (which are inside the Presidio boundaries). It was also here that I could hear my Bridge singing to me. To the right of the steps are huge mansions. Fans of Vincent's movie "Dying Young" will recognize these steps as being where the guy who had cancer lived and Julie Roberts lost her heel or shoe or something on it. It was standing in for Nob Hill, but I recognized the steps as Lyon Street in Pacific Heights right away.

Saw lots and lots of joggers and walkers going up and down these steps, which go pretty far down to one of the streets way below the hill. Now I remember why I was in such good shape when we lived in SF....we walked A LOT and I took lots of people to see these hidden jewels like the Lyon Street steps, and the Greenwich Street steps on Telegraph Hill.

This artwork was in the garden.

Heart attack city. Yes, going down to see the pretty garden has it's price.....you have to go back UP to get back to the car!! There are lots of streets in SF that turn into steps here and there. I have a book "Stairway Walks in SF" and I went to see a lot of them.

I had to go listen to the fog horns up close, so I went to the Golden Gate Bridge for a little bit. This is the Bridge Cafe. I seemed to be the only person unaffected by the cold, wet wind and damp fog.

Toll Booth. You only pay going into SF.

There's my bridge, buried to the deck in fog. That's Fort Point down below.

Bricks were sold to raise money for the 50th anniversary sprucing-up & hoopla in 1987, and someone donated this brick.

After I left the Bridge, I cut thru the Presidio and Sea Cliff to Lincoln Park. I wanted to see if the Bridge was at all visible from there but it wasn't. As I was passing by The Palace of Legion of Honor, I spotted a Chihuly piece and whipped in to take a picture of it. Fans of "Vertigo" will remember that Jimmy Stewart followed Kim Novak here, where he watched her stare at the portrait of "Carlotta".

"Sun" by Dale Chihuly.
This is one of only 5 (I think) original sculptures of Rodin's "The Thinker".

Off to the side of the parking lot is this Holocaust Memorial. It's very moving.

It was about 11:30 by the time I was ready to leave for the wedding, and all in all, I was happy to get to a few of my favorite places in The City.

Things I forgot about, that were a part of my every day life in the early 90's:

The fog blowing down the streets, and pouring over hills and trees

The sweet, resonant sound of the fog horns that always made me feel safe

The smell of eucalyptus trees

Garage sales in the Richmond District (oh how I wanted to stop!!)

Ice plant, which is considered a noxious weed but I still think it's pretty

Bottle brush trees

DWO

Next up, I will bring you the wedding photos.

I'm back.....I'm exhausted....But it was a blast

Just a quickie to say that I had a wonderful trip to The City. I'm completely and totally exhausted. The wedding was MAGICAL. I am so glad I went. And, apparently, I was the person who came the furthest. In fact, 2 of Donnie's brothers and a sister were unable to go and they all live in NoCal. Oh, except one brother, he lives in Florida. It's not that they aren't supportive, they just didn't take time off.

Anyway, I will write more and upload my pictures in the next few days. I took a lot of them. Got up at 7 on Sat and drove around, hitting all the old haunts and I was crushed to see how run down our wonderful old neighborhood has gotten. It was bittersweet to see the graffiti, so many more homeless, to see big locked iron gates in front of businesses that never needed them before....everything looks so dirty. Lots of fave places are long gone too. That was sad for me to see. Brian and I left for Marin in the summer of 1994 b/c things had started going downhill and add another 14 years onto that and it's just awful. But I really enjoyed driving thru both the Sunset and Richmond Districts. It was all so familiar, I was very homesick for it. Seeing the way the fog blows down the streets, and how chilly and foggy it is. I could hear the fog horn on the Golden Gate Bridge so I went over to the Bridge to listen. I stood there in the wind, just listening. I always described it "My Bridge is singing to me". It is a wonderfully comforting sound - that one long resonant blast, followed by the 2 shorter & closer, higher pitched blasts from the Marin side. I could still remember the timing of it: One long blast from the Bridge, short pause, the 2 Marin horns, longer pause, Bridge blast. In the early 90's, on a foggy summer night, when we'd walk over to one of our many fave restaurants, fog blowing down Geary Boulevard in the street lights, the cold mist on our faces, little droplets of water in our hair, the Bridge singing merrily, and we'd feel like we were on an island, comforted by a foggy embrace. I didn't realize how much I missed it till I was there. I missed it a lot. I had tears in my eyes, listening to the fog horns. Memories of nearly 20 years ago came flooding back. I was truly blessed to have lived in San Francisco.

My flight was uber delayed today and when I picked up the dogs, they totally screwed everything up for their stay and not only was their grooming not done as specifically requested, Pepper's yearly fecal also had not been done, as also specifically requested AND in the vet's computer records b/c I'd received a reminder notice from them. Needless to say, "The Wrath of JoJo" was unleashed on the people at the front desk, and will also be felt when I contact the hospital manager tomorrow.

So I'm just chilling out now...Brian gets home from his trip later tonite.

Axe - I took pics of the house that I believe belongs to Chris Isaak. The number was on the house but there was no name anywhere. Most people just have mail slots in their doors or walls so people's names aren't out front like when you have a rural mailbox. No signs of life inside or out, but then again, it was 7:30 on a Sat. morning!!! I wasn't about to ring the doorbell either! lol He lives in a typical Sunset District house, pastel stucco as are most of the houses in both the Sunset and Richmond (where I lived).

So I'll catch up in a day or so, with pictures!

"We will get by, we will survive...."

...as the Grateful Dead says in their most popular and commercially successful "hit", Touch of Grey. Of course that was the beginning of the end for the Dead. They managed to fly under the radar for 20 years till that song came out. Although my first show was in 1988, after Touch came out, seasoned Deadheads realized I wasn't just on the bandwagon or a 'Touch' head. I just never had the opportunity to see them prior to 1988, due to my geographical location, strict parents, age and college. Speaking of the Dead, besides yesterday being Lady Axe's birthday, it also marked the 13th anniversary of Jerry Garcia's death. Man, if ever I needed a show, it's now. We miss it so much.

Anywho. We've had a few days to let the bad news sink in and assess the situation. Something that made us both feel tons better, unfortunately at the expense of other people, was the next day when all the news stations & papers had a stories about Weyco's deep cuts and 1,500 more layoffs yet to come at the corporate HQ building (Brian worked in a satelite bldg, but he and I had lunch at HQ once). So he's just one of thousands of victims of corporate downsizing. It's much easier to accept a layoff when you know it's not because of something YOU did, but b/c of the company's going downhill on skis. And let me tell you, I've never seen a company go downhill, that fast. 2 years ago when Brian was hired, Weyerhaeuser was banging on all cylinders.

I've decided to carry on with the trip to see Julie in Portland. My boss talked me into it. He just doesn't see why I shouldn't get out of town and have a good time, esp. since I've been looking forward to it since I got back from last year's trip. We had such a great time. So we're back on for the weekend of 9/19. I'll just have to be a good girl and not go hog wild at the Portland Saturday Market!! For me, these days, traveling is less about shopping and more about photography. I can't possibly squeeze another poster onto the walls or another knick-knack on the shelves and furniture tops, so that fact alone highly limits my shopping possibilities.

Brian's going to take a few days to decompress and recharge before he starts networking and reviewing the assistance that Weyco is offering to make the transition to new employment. His severance package isn't too bad....although Brian's been calling it 'the clay parachute'. lol Hey, it's better than nothing. I think I've found a reasonably priced health insurance policy that Steve can get for me. It has a higher deductible, but at this point, insurance is insurance. Brian also has his trip to the Bay Area this coming weekend for the voice over "bootcamp", at a studio in Sausalito.

I'd like to thank everyone for your emails, comments and phone calls. I really, really appreciate your love, support and good wishes. I need to hole up for a few days, though, so if I don't answer the phone or respond to IM messages on Facebook or MSN, or respond to emails, please don't take it personally. I need to step back and take care of myself right now. I'll be lurking on the blogs, however, so I won't totally be out of touch. On Wed. I had what was either a major panic attack or a minor cardiac event. I'm not sure which it was, but it was sufficient enough to scare me, Steve and Brian; the latter of which were asking me if I wanted to go to the ER. I'm in no hurry to experience that kind of chest pain & nausea again. So I have a dr. appt. on Thursday, and I leave for San Francisco on Friday for Donnie & Mike's wedding. So for right now, I am focused on both of our trips and trying to get through the first part of this week, before Steve leaves on his vacation to Michigan. I love my boss dearly, but to say we are looking forward to this brief respite is an understatement.

In the meantime, Brian's spending a great deal of time sleeping, which he desperately needs, and we are doing our best to make lemonade out of the lemons. So many people are far worse off than we are. At least we won't lose the house and we can still pay our bills. I feel bad for the families that relied on one income that now find themselves in a real bind. Shit happens. Overall we are very lucky to have each other, a nice place to live, our sweet & funny dogs who make us laugh every day. I still have a good job and a great boss, who wouldn't lay me off now even if work ground to a complete halt. We have our cozy "pod", which is what we call the family room. There's nothing cozier than a nice cloudy or rainy day, in the pod....doggies snoozing, Brian half asleep in his recliner, me making crafts or colouring. Those are the good things that we are focusing on.

We've weathered worse storms than this, and we'll land on our feet again. We always do.

So I'll catch up w/ everyone when I get back from San Francisco a week from tomorrow.

The Proverbial "Other Shoe" has dropped

Welp. Shoulda known this was coming. Had a feeling it would.....hoped it wouldn't. But it has.

Brian got his official lay off package today from Weyerhaeuser. This past winter, once he told me that they'd sold the Oregon plants to International Paper, I knew this was coming. He'd escaped several downsizing meetings, and morale was in the shitter as it was. Last week was the final push to get all the files and claims boxed and sent off. Since Brian does all the Oregon claims, he was left with maybe 15 of them. The normal claim load is about 100 - 150. I'd remained optimistic and didn't even talk about the "what if you get laid off" thing b/c he was under enough stress as it was. And being a man, he doesn't like to share bad news w/ me till he absolutely has to.

His last day is Friday, although he'll be paid in full thru the end of October, and he said the company is giving him every opportunity for assistance etc. But now, of course, I have to scramble to find health insurance for us. I know he'll get a new job and all that, but he went thru all that training, got certified, made countless trips to Oregon over the past 2 years. It sucks.

While it's too late to cancel the trips to California in less than 2 weeks, this means that going to Portland to see Julie just isn't gonna happen. Lots of things aren't going to happen. I have already called our financial guy and had him immediately stop the automatic w/drawal from our account for a Roth IRA. Will have to let Mr. Vu go, after this month, which is actually OK as we are coming onto winter and if I can get our lawn mower fixed, we'll just do the mowing ourselves. Catalogs with dog-eared pages of things I wanted to order are going into the recycling.

I want to cry, I feel it right there under the surface, but I can't. I'm still too numb. I have a million things running around in my mind. What about the cost of our meds. What about health insurance. Can we afford day care for Sagan anymore. What can we cut back on that are extra's that we don't need. What am I gonna do about Xmas gifts for people.

We've always gotten by before on one salary, and he can get unemployment and all after October. This just SUCKS.

But this is happening all over the country, so I'm really trying to keep that in perspective, and just focusing MORE anger at Bush. He's done a good job of running this country into the ground. Thousands of Weyco employees have been let go over the past 7 months. Mills closed or sold. Whole towns are dying b/c the mills closed.

So I really should try to look at the bright side - he's not the only one getting laid off, he'll have a paycheck for another 2 months, we are relatively healthy, I still have a job and a wonderful boss who will let me sit and weep tomorrow when I tell him, and knowing Steve, he'll probably offer to let me go home. Usually I try to soldier-on whenever I'm at work under personal, emotional stress, but if he offers, I may take him up on it. The vehicles are paid for & have been recently tuned up and we'll save gobs of gas money with him not commuting every day. Since he'll be home to play and walk the dogs, we can cut back on Sagan's weekly day care. We only have a mortgage & a couple of credit cards that have smallish balances. Compared to a lot of people, we're still in good shape, our credit's in fantastic shape. I'm trying SO hard to focus on all the good things in our lives. We've been together 19+ years and still love being together. I have gobs of craft supplies I was stocking up on for the day when I wouldn't be able to buy them at will. We hate our town but we love our home and neighborhood. It's very cozy. We live in a beautiful area. Our doggies are our babies.

But it's still a shock to the system, to put your heart and soul into your job and get the heave-ho.

I know, "things happen for a reason", "when one door closes, another opens", etc etc etc, and I also know it WILL sort itself out. In the meantime, we need to grieve b/c losing a job is a "death" and needs to be dealt with.

So think good thoughts for us and keep your fingers and toes crossed. We've always landed on our feet and I'm hoping this time will be no different.

The Doldrums

God I'm bored. Really bored. This time of the summer is when I always picture myself, hanging on a cliff's edge by my fingertips, waiting for the summer to be over. Even as a kid, by August I was bored. The festivities of the 4th of July were over. The Barnstable County Fair had come and gone, I was suffering from sunburns and had to stay out of the water, or in the case of 1976, had contracted poison ivy so bad I had to completely stay out of the sun & out of the water. By mid-August, my cousins and I had had our sleepovers, done tons of crafts and paint by numbers, been to the movies, played mini golf, had gotten as much out of "the game" as we could and were running out of ideas where to take it next. Then in late August was the special hell known as "shopping for school clothes", Sha & Di went home to Long Island (till they moved to the Cape in '77), and summer was finally over.



"The game" was a western-themed game that we played all the time. If one of us said, "let's get a game going", the others knew what she meant. We had cowboy hats, cap guns & holsters, vests, and in addition to our pocket knives, we made sharp "knives" by rubbing the sides of our popsicle sticks on the driveway till we had a sharp point. We built forts, we played in the woods and at the cranberry bog. We'd play all the roles, both bad guy and good guy....we adopted boys' names b/c girls were "too girly" in the old west. Di & I even went so far as to rub dirt on our faces to make a 5 o'clock shadow. I wore my long hair in braids. My parents' neighbor, Miss Taylor, was horrified the day she saw Di & I galloping across the front lawn as she drove by, shooting at her w/ our cap guns. We were 10. She was an ultra leftie, anti-gun, intellectual and she read my mom the riot act about letting us play with guns. Surprisingly, I didn't get in trouble. My mom told her we were just playing our western game, we were just kids and what's the big deal, they aren't real guns they're just toys. She just advised Di and I not to "pretend shoot" at anyone again. (Val - I know, you're as horrified as Miss Taylor....)



So here I sit, on July 31, dreading the long haul thru August till it's finally Labor Day weekend. At least this year we have our trip to the Bay Area to break up the month. Only 2 more weeks!!



Things Happen For A Reason

Although it's not always evident at the time. I have been lamenting the fact that I was unable to make my annual trip to Canada this year. I had planned on visiting Whistler, in the mountains, about a 2 hour drive north from Vancouver. I hadn't actually chosen dates to go, but it would have been either last week or this.

Yesterday, this happened on the Sea to Sky Highway between Vancouver & Whistler:



The road is going to be closed for at least 5 days. That means anyone who was already in Whistler is stuck there, unless they take an unbelievably long detour east to Lillooet, south to Hope, and then west to Vancouver. We're talking about a 6-7 hour trip, on winding, mountain roads w/ only one lane in each direction, traveling with trucks, RV's and everyone else who is now unable to access Whistler by way of Vancouver in either direction. I'm sure it's a very scenic route, but between the wear and tear on my car, and gas prices (which are over $5 in BC), it would have been a real pain in the ass.



Running on Empty



Steve nearly sent me home today around 12:45 or so. He's leaving in a couple of weeks for his annual trip to visit his family in Michigan. Between now and then, he has 2 trials, 4-5 Motions and at least 6 Show Cause hearings. So besides preparing for all of those Court appearances, we are also having to deal with other issues on other cases. Our copier is going nonstop all day long. Steve's trying to prepare and read case law for all of these upcoming things and won't take any calls, which means Debby and I are lying our asses off to everyone who calls by saying he's on the phone or with a client or at Court, and, as a result, we are taking a great deal of abuse. Most of the people who are the biggest offenders are those who have created HUGE problems on their own over the course of time, and call us 6x a day to bitch about it and demand that we do something NOW.



Last week I was at the end of my rope and I took down an uber snotty King County attorney on the phone. I didn't give a shit if he told Steve, b/c whenever something like that happens, I'm the first person to inform my superior of the situation. It hasn't happened much, but over the course of 18 years in this biz, it happens. For one thing, King County looks down on Pierce County like we are their white-trash, embarrassing, fat, stupid stepsibling. I can be sitting in traffic, looking at a blocking accident in front of the Tacoma Dome and the damn traffic reports only focus on precious "Seattle and the Eastside". Traffic's backed up 10 miles from fucking Fort Lewis north to the T-Dome and the only "south" report they do cuts off at I-5 in Federal Way and Hwy 167 in Auburn, coincedentally, right where the county line divides us.



Anyway, Steve had already had a verbal confrontation w/ King County Dickhead Lawyerman the week before and hung up on the guy, bellowing from his office, "FUCK YOU! FUCK THAT! I AM NOT TALKING TO HIM AGAIN! I AM SERIOUS. I WILL NOT TAKE HIS CALLS AGAIN. HE CAN JUST GO FUCK HIMSELF!" Then we were treated to a loud, but entertaining, re-enactment of the conversation, w/ all of the obscenities he'd wanted to use on the phone, but couldn't.



Well, before he hung up on him that day, Steve had told the guy we'd have our documents to him by a certain date, forgetting that it was when Debby was gone a couple of weeks ago. I just didn't have time to do it before the date that was promised. As soon as Deb got back, I started the copy job from hell. When all was said and done, over the course of 3 days, I probably used, easily, 6-7 reams of paper. At 500 pages to a ream. You do the math. So Snotty Snottington calls and unfortunately, I was the one who answered the call. I told him Steve was at Court. The guy blew, "WELL YOU BETTER TELL HIM THAT IF I DON'T HEAR FROM HIM IN 45 MINUTES I'M FILING A MOTION TO COMPEL!!!!!" I said, calmly, "I'm looking at the documents stacked on my desk right now....it's at least 6 inches high, we were short staffed last week, I was the only one here and Steve had a trial." He goes, still ultra belligerent, "He told me he'd have the documents to me by MONDAY!" I said, "I understand that but with his trial, I just didn't have a chance to copy these documents. There are thousands of pages of them. It takes time!"



Do you know what that fucker says to me? "How much 'time' can it take?! You just stand at the copy machine and make copies!" Excuse Me? What did you just say to me? Oh no he di'int!!! OK Asshole, that's it. I don't get paid enough to take this kind of abuse, you know? So I said with a whole lotta 'tude in my voice, "You know what? Why don't I just send this stack up to you the way it is? That'll save me so much time!.....Then YOU can sort through each one and YOU can figure out what document category they go in!"



Dead silence on the line. I wait. He stutters clearly taken aback, "Well...well... they are supposed to be sorted into the categories." I said, "Yes. I know that. And that is the way this firm does things. Now, if you want it done correctly, you will give me till Monday to complete the copying and organizing. But if you want them now, then you get them the way they are." Needless to say, I got my extension and Steve LOVED the way I handled it. He thought it was a hoot.

Which leads me to today.

This morning, while Steve and Deb were out of the office at a terminally ill client's home to execute her estate planning, I got a call from one of my least favourite clients. She's a pushy, passive-aggressive Russian bitch from hell. She thinks she can just call us up, snap her fingers, and we'll do her bidding. I fucking hate this woman. Her 2nd husband is SO pussy whipped it's not even funny. So she calls and in her sickly sweet yet dripping with poison tone she says, "We are going to Australia in a week and a half and we need our estate planning done." Now, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that she's known about this trip for weeks. Maybe even months. Through gritted teeth, I tell her that Steve's going out of town on 8/8 and has 2 trials, yadda yadda yadda. What I wanted to say was, "too bad, so sad, you should have called us when you made the reservations, not a week before your fucking trip, you stupid bitch." This woman has a way of being a real c**t through a smile. She says that she and her husband can be at our office at 7 am, or any time, any day, to sign. Well you stupid cow, WE STILL HAVE TO DRAFT THE PAPERS AND WE DON'T HAVE TIME! So on the message I took, I wrote in red, "PUSHY BITCH!"



The next call I get is from a long time client, who needs help "today!!!" On that message, also in red, I totaled up how much he and his deadbeat son owe us for PAST legal work ($1200 for him, $500 for his son) which have been on our books for at least 2 years. Where does this fucker get off demanding that we do something for him "today" when he HASN'T PAID HIS BILL?



When Steve got back and saw the messages w/ my editorial comments, he was howling w/ laughter. Then, at 11:30 when I'm supposed to be taking my lunch break, a luxury I have not fully enjoyed in nearly 2 years, he tells me that he's decided he wants to file a child support modification on this same case I'd just did that huge document production for and oh by the way can we to get it out w/ the 1:30 messenger? Now, Brian has always told me that I should never play poker b/c I'm such an easy read. I must've given Steve quite the withering look b/c he starts laughing and says, "Uh oh, you're gonna give me the finger aren't you!" I went back to my office to draft the papers. I start working on the forms and all of a sudden, I am nauseous, sweating, my mouth is completely dry and I'm dizzy. Here we go. I'm going to pass out again. Marvy. I willed myself to stay conscious, turned on my fan and got back to work.



When everything was in final and I was making the copies to send out, Steve, became very serious, & said, "Are you OK? Because you look sick." I said, "Is it that obvious that I'm thisclose to passing out?" and he goes, "yes, it is. if you need to go, you should go. Did you eat?" I shook my head. He goes, "Oh man! C'mon Jo, you can't DO this! You have to take lunch!" I said, "It's fine, I'll eat later. Right now I'm too nauseous to eat anyway." But I knew that if I take off mid day, I've fucked him over royally. Work that could be getting done.....that NEEDS to be done....will have to wait because I had to go home, and quite frankly, it can't wait. I told him I would stick it out till he left for an appt. at 3 and he said that was fine. He knows that if one of his staff becomes wounded, he's screwed. So I left at 3:15. You guys know how much I love my boss, but I'll be really glad when he goes on vacation b/c at least we'll have a small respite from the nonstop shit storm that is my office.



So onward we plod. Only one more month before blessed fall and the best time of the year arrives.

The 2nd annual Julie & JoJo Go to Portland Trip

I'm pleased to report that Julie and I have selected dates for our second annual trip to Portland, Oregon, in September. The two things we know for certain are that we are going to check out Multnomah Falls and we aren't staying in the same hotel we stayed in last year. I can't remember the name of it....we just call it The Hotel Sordid. Further updates as events warrant.

And Finally: Stupid Boys and Their Stupid Boy Penises

Sticker seen on an SUV in Sumner yesterday: "Boobies make me smile." Give me a break. Get a life, boys. They're breasts. Calm down. So as I passed him, I looked over with the biggest most malevolent sneer I could muster, and mouthed "LOSER" at him. Since he flipped me off, I assume he knew exactly what I was referring to. I enthusiastically returned the bird.

I get home and recount my story to Brian. After I tell him about the sticker but before telling him what I did, he eagerly jumps in with, "So when you passed him, did you flash him your tits?" Sigh.

Get Up, Stand Up, Stand Up For Your Rights...

"How many cops does it take to arrest 1 drunk homeless guy who isn't even giving them any trouble?"


That was an email I received from Brian last week, after lunch. I thought it was a new joke or riddle. I'll bite: How many cops does it take to arrest 1 drunk homeless guy? I eagerly awaited the punchline.

Yeah. It wasn't a joke.

Brian went on to explain:

"I was coming back from lunch and I saw this King County deputy pull over to talk to a homeless guy standing on an island thingy, next thing I know I hear sirens and see 3 cop cars screaming back towards them. I figure something's up so I turn around. I get back to where they were and there are 3 cop cars and 5 cops all with lights on etc.

One old homeless guy is already cuffed and sitting on the ground. Here come 2 more cars with 3 cops.

I had a bad feeling since all the cops had those "dick" looks on their faces, so I park nearby and then walk up to within about 30 ft and just stand there on the sidewalk watching (as a citizen observer). Of course the cops don't like that at all. They start asking me what I'm doing, I tell them. They tell me to move on, I say, "No, I'm standing 30 ft away on a public sidewalk, I am in no way impeding you and have told you why I'm here."

Here comes the cop attitude, at which point I advise them they are f**king with the wrong person, I'm not a homeless guy they can abuse or some street punk who runs his mouth, I know what I'm talking about and I'm a member of both the ACLU and Center for Constitutional Rights. At that point the cop turns away and talks to his buddies, I continue to stand there, observing.

Then they tighten his cuffs and the homeless guy swears at them, they then say they are going to arrest him for swearing at them. At that point I get out my cellphone and hold it up like it has a camera in it. Well you can imagine the reaction that got.

They asked if I wanted to go to jail with him. I replied that I'd already been there more than once, before he (the cop) was even born, and it's no big deal (this really pisses cops off as that is their biggest threat, and when you deride it they HATE it!). They ask me what the camera is for, I told them, "So I could document an illegal arrest. "Illegal?" they say. "Yes" say I, "the Supreme Court has ruled time and again that profanity towards law enforcement is covered under Free Speech." Now the homeless guy is starting to take interest. I see him watching me so I yell to him, "IF THEY ARREST YOU CALL THE ACLU!!" He nods.

Cops have a quick conference and then release the homeless guy and tell him to leave and if they see him again he goes to jail.

Then the cop I had the conversation with says: "And you better hope I don't see YOU around either." I then hold the phone up towards him and ask "Is that a threat Deputy? Can you repeat it a little louder?" HAHAHA, he got in his car and they all left.

Punks."

The really amusing thing is that Brian doesn't have a camera in his cell phone; he was totally bluffing, but the cops didn't know that. And while Brian was quite animated when re-telling me the story when we got home, I know that he was quite calm when he was talking to the cops. They really did pick the wrong person to fuck with. But seriously, 5 cruisers and 8 cops for ONE drunk homeless guy? Who wasn't even doing anything except maybe panhandling in the island?

....Get Up, Stand Up, Don't Give Up the Fight!

Memories

One year ago this week, I went on my wonderful 4-day solo odyssey, where I took this....

...to get here.

Had ideal weather....

to spend a lovely morning here.

Then took this....

...to get here.
Ate a delicious meal here.

Saw this.
Shot that.

Bought this.

So I can't get to Canada this year.

BUT, in less than one month, I'll be heading to my other favourite city, San Francisco to attend Donnie & Mike's wedding! Aren't they a cute couple?

I'm not sure how many of my fave haunts I'll be able to see in such a short period of time, but if I drag myself out of bed early enough, I might get to my old neighborhood, the Richmond District.

Men are from Mars and all that rot

"Oooo! Lookey!" I squealed, as I opened up a solicitation for a new craft kit of the month club. "A bead kit of the month! Hm. Cool projects...." as I scanned the flyer and just automatically reached for the acceptance card and envelope.

I'm more talking to myself than anything else. Brian's watching TV and w/o looking away he goes, "Why don't you just make the projects from your own stuff, using the picture?"

"But, it's a bead kit of the month club."

"You have enough beads to sell your own bead kits of the month club!"

It was like I was speaking Swahili and he was speaking, well, German.

Again, I beseech, "But this is a BEAD kit of the month club." What isn't he getting here? Number one, it's a craft kit of the month club. I love those. I already belong to one. I've belonged to some kind of craft kit of the month club for many years now. Number two, and most importantly, this one has beads. How can this point not be crystal clear to him? What part of "bead kit of the month club" isn't he getting?

Finally, exasperated, he looks at me and goes, "That would be like, back when I was brewing beer, if I stock piled all my grains and hops, but kept buying new ones to brew just new beer, and never using the old stuff." Clearly, he expects me to relate to his beer/bead analogy.

I look at him, puzzled, thinking to myself....but hops and grain go stale...beads don't go bad or get stale!

"But....this a bead kit of the month club....with cool projects."

*Sigh* "Whatever makes you happy, Schmaby"

Is it me?

Local Girl Makes Good

While we are not going to watch the Olympics because of the Tibet issue with China, I do want to do a shout out to Bonney Lake's very own Olympian, Melanie Roach. We are both rooting for her and hope she comes home with the gold. Even any medal would be a huge honor.

This is Melanie, her hubby Dan who is a Republican state representative in our district, and their 3 kids, one of whom is autistic. They own Roach Gymnastics in Sumner, so I bet anything that she will be referred to as being from Sumner instead of Bonney Lake. I mean, we just got our own zip code 2 years ago and used to share Sumner's, so although our town is growing like gangbusters, most of the time we're just lumped in w/ Sumner.

So take a good look at her and tell me what sport in which you think she will be competing?

Nope. Not gymnastics. She is an award winning gymnast, but that's not her Olympic sport.........

It's not track and field either. Or any other sport in which you would think to find a 33 year old, 5'1", 117 lb entrepreneur and mother of three...........

She's going for the gold in weightlifting. Yes, that's right, that tiny little lady is a powerhouse of strength and is #1 in her class.

Needless to say, next time we need to move our ginormous and extremely heavy television, I'm going to give Melanie a call. lol

Good luck to Melanie and the Roach team. Go get 'em girl. Knock 'em dead!!!

photos courtesy of Google images

Oh how I loathe summer

Well it's another crappy-ass day here in Washington. It's sunny and hot. My car is hot. My office is hot. I get blinded by the sun when I go into the kitchen in the morning, screaming, "MY RETINAS!!!" as I get a faceful of blinding sun, and now all I can see is friggin spots. I am convinced that I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), in the wrong season. SAD is a real condition and it effects a lot of people in the Pac NW during the winter. You have to be a special kind of person to deal w/ the dark days, and I am one of those people. I am a proud "Mossback" and I'm only happy when it rains.

Each spring, I tell myself, OK, here comes summer. Don't resist it, don't fight it....embrace it. Enjoy those looooooong days, where the sun doesn't even set till well after 9:00 pm, plunging us into a perpetual twilight that doesn't truly go away till close to 11:00 pm. Get that deck furniture cleaned off and put out all of the yard decorations. Get Brian to put up the Skychairs under the deck so that you can read and doze on a warm day, swinging gently in the breeze. Buy some charcoal, grill more and eat outside on the deck. Take Pepper for walks every day after work. Get to the gym after work. Do a little yardwork. Yeah I hate to sweat and be hot, but everyone loves summer so much, so try to get in their skin and walk around in it, as Atticus Finch once told Scout. See what all the "summer love fest" is all about.

Then the first day we have that's over 75 degrees, which happened in May, I find myself hiding in my centrally air cooled home, lurking behind drawn blinds and drapes, putting up "blackout" fabric over our front door windows to keep the sun out. Sitting in the dark family room, lights out, watching TV. Wailing like a vampire at dawn if Brian so much as puts the family room blinds up even a crack, "SHUT THE SHADES!!! IT'S TOO BRIGHT!!! MY EYES!!!" He calls me "Cavey" b/c I like it dark. Even my boss hates coming into my office in the afternoon, after the wretched sun has finally moved off my east-facing windows, because it's really dark and the adjustment going from our bright reception area to my dark office is startling.

A few years ago when Robyn was still here, she was always cold. It could be 95 degrees outside and she's in her office bitching b/c the air con is set to 72 and she's freezing. I finally started coming to work in shorts and tshirts. I told her that I can't possibly do any more to cool myself off, other than come to work buck naked. I have a fan, but all that does is blow the hot air around. Steve finally had to bring in a portable air conditioner for my office to try to reach a compromise. Well, since she's been gone, I've got the air con set at 68.

At home, we don't let our house get above 68, ever. Not even in the winter. The a/c is set at 68 in summer, which we bring down to 63 at night. When we run the heat in winter, we set it for 66. I hate being hot. I take lukewarm showers, then go in my room and stand in front of the fan b/f dressing. Yes I've talked to several doctors, and all I've been told, for the past 15 years, is that I am in "perimenopause" which I find hard to believe that it could last 15+ years. I know it's not normal to be hot like this all the time, but I am. Even when I was a kid, if I got up off the couch to get something, my mom would get up and sit in my space b/c it was so warm.

But alas, this is the second summer in a row that the patio furniture has stood on the deck filthy w/ 2 winters' worth of dirt and debris and unused. This is the second summer of no Skychairs, no yard decorations, no walkies with the doggies, no working out after work, and no yardwork either. This is the second summer of no grilling (we did it once last year. Once).

OK, so in my defense, June is always an iffy month in Washington, weather-wise. This year it was very cold and rainy for weeks. I was a happy camper. Next thing we know, it's the 4th of July, and in my opinion, after that, it's just too late to bother w/ lawn decorations, Skychairs, etc. Now I have to deal with the long, hot slog till Labor Day. I have terrible allergies and find myself with gooped up eyes and sinuses, sneezin' and wheezin' my way through each day.

The bottom line is, I have always dreaded summer, even though I had them off while growing up. I dreaded having to buy a new bathing suit each spring, which meant HOURS of trying them on, one-piece only, no two-piece for this kid, and then being scrutinized by my mom, under very unflattering lights no less, of how bad I looked in the suit, unless of course it was one of the years that I was on a strict 1200 calorie a day diet. I was raised to be ashamed of and hate my body, and the thought of ANYONE seeing me in a swimsuit filled me with major panic. I would only swim in my Aunt's pool w/ my cousins, and occasionally go to a public beach at the ocean or lake. My bedroom was un-insulated and was stinkin' hot in the summer, even w/ fans blasting away. Humidity absolutely kills me. I pass out easily when I get too warm.

The only time I like it nice and sunny is when I am on vacation. I have nothing to fear, weatherwise, when I go to SF in August. Where Donnie lives is away from the "fog belt" and it should be quite pleasant. It never rains in California in the summer. And after nearly 6 summers in hot Marin County, where it stays in the 90's day after day, with a few days in the 100's just for good measure, I could not wait to get up here. And don't give me the "it's a dry heat" argument, b/c it's still HOT. We went to Las Vegas once in late May and it was 110 during the day, and 100 at night. Never again.

However, till then, you can find me hiding in my cave-like quarters, doing crafts and Facebooking, waiting to emerge like a bear coming out of hibernation when the days get cool and short.

Happy July 4th!

Upon moving here 9 years ago, imagine our surprise to find out that fireworks ("boomies", as we call them) are legal in Washington. Some towns, like Federal Way, do have complete bans on them, but here in East Pierce County, anything goes. Technically we are only supposed to buy and use the "safe and sane" boomies sold in town under the many TNT tents that spring up in parking lots all over the place. Fireworks found there consist of sparklers, small cakes, Saturn whistling missiles, smoke bombs, small Roman candles and my personal fave, parachutes.




However, if you really want some serious firepower, go to any Indian reservation and the heavy duty stuff is readily available, like mortars, large and heavy cakes, large Roman candles, firecrackers, and if you know the right way to ask at the right booth, M-80's and half sticks of dynamite. The State Patrol really doesn't do much to enforce the ban on these so-called "illegal" fireworks, because there is no way to enforce it. They cannot possibly stop every car traveling on the Puyallup Reservation on River Road, this being my fave stand b/c the name and illustration crack me up....

.... or on the Auburn-Enumclaw Highway going thru the Muckleshoot reservation. Before the Puyallups built their monstrous Emerald Queen Casino, it used to be a large vacant lot which transformed itself each June into "Firecracker Alley" with hundreds of stands.



Brian, being a boy at heart, got really caught up in having as many boomies as possible. We'd hear the sound of firecrackers and bottle rockets during the day and he'd spring up out of his chair, look out the window and go, "THEY'RE PUNKIN' ME OUT!", then dash outside and light off a string of 100 firecrackers. I would actually start saving money in January, a little out of every paycheck, to cover our boomie expense come July 2nd or 3rd when we'd go shopping.


Our most expensive year, and what was actually one of our final years buying fireworks, was 2002. This is the stuff we got on the Puyallup res:

The "Predator" package contains mortars. There's a launch tube inside that you put on the driveway w/ weights to keep it from tipping over, then you light the mortar ball, drop it in the tube and it shoots high in the air, with multi colored explosions and effects. Just think of a professional firework but just on a smaller scale. We'd usually light those off last, when it was finally pitch dark at 11:00 pm. Our driveway is such a fantastic launch spot, because of the openness, but we always kept garden hoses at the ready both in the front and back yard.



This is the stuff we bought at the TNT stand in town, after we left the res. As you can see, the "safe and sane" items are much smaller than what you get on the res. Still, many of our fave cakes came from the TNT stand, so it made a nice mix of legal and illegal. Or Ill-Eagle.

Here's a pic of the combined items. I should have taken a photo on July 5th of the huge mess in our driveway, especially teeny bits of paper that stayed around through the winter months. And lots of parachutes or bottle rockets on our roof too.

Let's just say that we don't need to leave our home and deal w/ crowds to watch the professional fireworks displays in Tacoma or Seattle, we can just sit in the front or back yard and watch our neighbors. You have no idea how loud it gets around here once night falls, especially now that kids have discovered how to make the "sparkler bomb" which rock the house every time one is detonated nearby. It sounds like a war zone. And living on the hill, the echo factor is unreal.

We tapered off on the fireworks after we got Pepper in 2003. We'd buy a few and use them, and as long as she was in the house, she was fine. Now that we have Sagie, we just don't buy them at all.

So I was on You Tube, trying to find the Schoolhouse Rock video from 1976, about our Independence Day. I found and watched it, but when I went to embed it in Blogger, it wasn't an option! You can post it to all these other things I've never heard of, like "Oorkut", "Fark" and "Digg", but NOT Blogger. I am really bummed. Any kid who grew up in the 70's watching Saturday morning cartoons could sing all of these dities by heart.

But here's the link, it's SO worth a watch and only 3 minutes long. The line "...and the pursuit of happiness" yields an extremely amusing, if somewhat sexist, scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvH7ySQi37E

Happy 4th of July Everyone!! Happy Birthday America!