Yucky Air!

Yesterday was a gross air day! I went outside after work to coach the High Jump kids and there was dust and dirt and grime everywhere in the air and the fact that there was a really strong wind didn't help any. I felt all that gunk getting into my ears and under my contacts.

When this type of weather starts happening I have a really hard time breathing and I usually get some sort of sort throat and allergy-like symptoms. I really hate it. But apparently there was a fire in the north that when the winds picked up it blew a lot of that dust and gunk around. Plus all the construction stuff that is going around in the city with vacant lots didn't help much. And it did sprinkle just a bit, but that was really dirty rain and now my car looks like I went off-roading with it.

I'm still having hard time breathing and I feel like trash! Yuck! Well, at least it is now snowing a bit so hopefully it will help to bring some of that gunk out of the air.

That happened to me today . . .

Ever have that morning that you wake up before the alarm clock and think you see another time than it really is and start to get up and realize that it is 2 hours earlier than you thought and now you can't get back to sleep?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning when, on your drive to work you are half way there and realize that you left everything you had been preparing for the next day at home and you have to turn around and drive back?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning that you get to work and lock your keys in your car by accidentally bumping the door--which is locked--closed and looking like an idiot with a stretched out coat hanger trying to grab the lock mechanism to unlock the door?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning that you trip on your way up the stairs and then just sit there looking pathetic?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning when you finally get into work and think that everything you set up yesterday for today is ready and then walk into the room and see things are completely thrown around and the movable whiteboard from your room is missing?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning when you are talking with an athlete about what they need to accomplish and how they feel about the new approach you set up for them only to hear from that athlete that another coach has changed it completely and the athlete doesn't like it but thinks he has to go with it?

Yeah, even that happened to me today.

And it is only 8am. I wonder what the rest of the day has in store for me.

Possible Excitement on the way.

So Jakob and I had a meeting the other night with some industry people and I'm excited to say that we may be getting ourselves into a project that is almost right up Jakob's alley. I just need to make sure I'm in the same alleyway so I can get taken along too.




More to come as we get more details.

Goodbye old friend

So my vacuum cleaner has finally bit the dust (so to speak). It has been struggling for a couple of years, but it's always been a really good vacuum. It was one my parents had for many years before they got a new one and I got it before Jakob and I got married. We've had it for the past 3 years and it has been struggling to keep up with everything for the past little while. It finally went kaput the other day and blew a lot of dust and a very bad burning smell into the air and now it is going into the garage for prop parts.

Time to get a new vacuum. Any suggestions?

Good times

So we had another little get together with the Group on Saturday. Good food (pulled pork sandwiches, bottled sodas, pie, cake, veggies), good friends (Court, Mira, Dustin, Jakob, Me, and Andrea!), Jimmy reacting to Andrea's twins, and some funny times. Apparently when we eat at my place there is something that always gets us kind of "high". This time it was the bottled sodas. I got a bunch of Vanilla Creames, Cherry Limeades and Tangerine Orange Creams (I found a really great deal) and we had some fun with them. That plus trying to figure out the storyline/characters of our book apparently made us loopy by the end of the night.

But life is great with a group of people like these!





Next on the agenda . . . . murder mystery game. Now we're just trying to figure out who exactly plays which character and we're bringing in a few other friends to play along.

Not a fan of DST

Okay, whoever decided that it was good to switch over DST to an even earlier date needs to be slapped. I'm not a fan of the switching of times. I really liked the idea of going to school when there was some light out I just wasn't looking forward to the fact I've got to go to school in the dark once again. There are times it gets depressing. I go to school in the dark and I leave when it's dark. It was getting better with the light, now it's back to what it was.
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And I've lost an hour of sleep.

War over signs?

I received this link in my e-mail and I've just read over all the articles regarding the war over signs. Yep, those signs like EXIT, Bathroom, Train, Escalator . . . can you believe the world has an issue with how the the US has it's exit signs? Take a look. I've linked to original article. They have 6 parts, with the 6th one being released tomorrow.

The War Over Signs

"Responsible me?"

A line from one of my favorite John Wayne movies "Rio Bravo". Dean Martin, John Wayne, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickson, Walter Brennan. Plus some fun moments and great lines.

Anyway, I was told the other day that I am one of the most responsible people this person had ever met. When I gave a quizzical look, this person continued to say that he's never met anyone who can get things done as quickly and "effortlessly" as I can. Apparently the quizzical look stayed on my face because he said that I don't stress out, I fight for what is right come hell or high water. I could just say Okay . . . . and nod my head.

Yes, I do fight for what I believe in and for what is right and for change . . . apparently come hell or high water. I'd rather take the high water out of the equation. I don't need a flooded basement. But my opinions and my thoughts and actions have gotten me into trouble before. I'm not too focused on what others are doing, only what will ultimately affect me and my way of doing things. Yes, that sounds selfish and to a point it is. I can only control me and my actions, so I'll do what ultimately is good for me.

Case in point: I have an issue with a few people in this group that I participate in. I know that I cannot change the way that they do things, so I will change the way that I do things. I do not associate with them outside of what I have to. I am diplomatic when speaking to them and if I can avoid seeing and talking to them at all, then I will. I have said my piece to them and if they take what I've said to heart, maybe they'll change, if not and they take it as an attack, then that is their problem and I'm not going to dwell over it.

I don't know if that is responsibility or if that is just the way I was raised and it is part of my character. Either way, that is what resonates when I was talking with that first guy.


But other than that, life is just moving along. I don't know how I got wrangled into doing it but apparently I'm working with the track team, specifically for high jump. Yep. Yesterday was the first practice meet they've had (with a starter and everything) so it was time to dust off the cobwebs. There are a few high jumpers who have potential, but none of the girls are jumping more than 4'6" right now and the guys have a huge gap between the lowest which is 5' and the highest which is 6'2". I think that with time and work ethic they'll do pretty well this year. I don't know how well they'll do at the state meet later this year because they'll be jumping against some of my mom's jumpers and I know her jumpers are in the high 6' range right now and the season just barely started.

Jakob is in The Three Musketeers at the Hale in West Valley this season. He's playing a Guardsman plus a few other small character roles. I'm happy that he got more than just a guardsman. It makes all those trips up there for rehearsal a bit more worth it. I'm going to see if I can go to one of the rehearsals and take some pictures. I don't know if they'll let me, but we'll see. Jakob said he likes the costumes he has, however he has to hold back with what he really wants to say. He's done a lot of research about the musketeers and the time period and he doesn't exactly agree with some of the stylized choices, but it seems that he's enjoying his time with everything. He comes home really late and really tired, so we haven't been doing anything together for a while.

Sadie and Jimmy are being their normal trouble-making selves. They love jumping up on the archway that we have in the room and peering down at us and lately they've taken to scratching the chair seats. I'm really going to have to think about getting them front declawed and soon. Yes, I've got scratching posts set up everything, but they rarely use it. And Sadie gave me a scare the other day. I was sewing and she had jumped up on the table to watch. She's done this before. She just sits up and watches the fabric or the string. But this time she got really close to the machine and stuck her paw on the front of the fabric right near the foot of the machine. Wow, I don't think I've ever had that quick of reflexes before in stopping the machine. She just looked at me and gave a little "preow" then tried to headbutt me like "what? I didn't do anything". I think I may have to start closing the door when I'm sewing.

It's . . . . . .

International Women's Day

Yep.

Snow---------in March

Ugg. So yesterday it started off as a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and it was getting a bit warmer. Usually when I get into work, I don't go back outside until the end of school when I'm either going home or working with the High Jump kids. A few of my students were going out to film something when they came back in 5 minutes later saying it had started to hail. Now, hail in the spring isn't all that uncommon out here, so I didn't think much of it. However, when I went out thinking that I would actually be able to have my students do some jumps today, it was a downpour of slush!

Yep, it had started to snow yesterday, stopped for a few hours in the evening, then picked right back up. It is snowing outside right now and it is the wet, heavy stuff. There was about a foot or so on my car this morning. I thought I was done shoveling snow . . . but apparently not.

And I was beginning to enjoy having some warmer weather.

Really?

Check out this news report.

Chile Earthquake

I don't know how much I believe that considering the amount of Earthquakes we've have before, but I guess we'll see with time.

The "joys" of marriage

Okay, so Jakob and I don't always see eye-to-eye. Thats a good thing. We're two different people who have very different attitudes and approaches to things. Take for example what happened yesterday.

We were both up in the loft watching an episode of Legend of the Seeker (yes, geeky I know but I love the costumes!) when I heard some children's voices outside very close to the house. Normally I don't think twice about stuff like that because there is a park right outside our backyard gate, but these voices were coming from the front of the house. So I went to the window to see what was going on. There were 2 kids standing in my driveway and another 3 running around in my yard yelling. These kids were all 10-12 or over. Now, I have a big issue with people not respecting other people's property. Just because I don't have a fence around the front of my yard does not give you permission to go playing around on it when you feel like it. So I went down to the front door and flung it open just in time to see 4 of the kids run around to the side of my house.

"What are you doing in my yard?" I yelled at the kid that I could see.

"Chasing a dog," he replied, and ran around the side of my house.

Now, the side gate was damaged in a recent windstorm so it doesn't latch anymore. The other 4 kids were IN the backyard. They had pushed open the gate and chased the dog into my backyard. I wasn't happy. Not at all.

"Do you NOT have any sense? WHY are you in my backyard? Get out of my yard" I yelled--again--at the closest kid.

"Trying to get the dog," one of the boys replied, while still running around in my yard. This "dog" that they were talking about was a small little yapper puffball.

"This is trespassing you know! Get out of my yard!" I yelled. "You should know better than to go running into other people's private yards without permission!"

"No one has cared before!" the only girl yelled back at me.

"Stay out of my yard and off my property," I said--a bit calmer, but still had my voiced raised.

Then the kids ran off after the dog down the street. No "I'm sorry" or "It won't happen again". Nothing. Of course I'd be fuming.

What would have happened if one of those kids had gotten hurt in my yard while I didn't know they were there?? I would have had to pay for it.

Now, either I was raised with parents who actually talked with me about stuff like this or I just have more sense than most. I would NEVER think about going into another person's yard just to retrieve something without that person's permission, even at a very young age. I've had balls go into other people's backyards before and I've always gone up to the door, knocked, and said that I think I had knocked something into their yard and if I could go back there and get it. We had Oscar get out once and go into our neighbor's yard. I went to their door and asked permission to go into their yard to get Oscar--all the while my brother watched Oscar from our side of the fence.

Now, in my opinion--which doesn't count much but this is my blog so I can say it--these kids were in the wrong and were old enough to know the difference between trespassing and asking permission. The way one of the boys looked at me while I was telling them off was as if he'd never been yelled/scolded before. He had this perplexed look on his face.

Now here is where Jakob and I differ. I'm sure that if I would have "let" him "handle" the situation, it would have turned out completely different, but I'm not of that mind. If I can do it, then I'm going to do it and I'll do it my way--especially when it concerns something that I'm co-paying for. We actually had a heated discussion afterwards about how he felt I had "handled the situation wrong" and how I felt "I did nothing wrong". I'm totally fine with the way I handled it. If I become known as the mean lady on the block, then so be it. Maybe it will keep kids off my property who don't belong there. IF 1 of them had come up to the door and asked if he could get his dog which had ran into my backyard, I would have accompanied him and been fine with it, but for them to just run in like it was their own backyard, I'm not happy. It goes back to what I have been saying for a very long time: many kids today aren't taught to respect other people's property and it shows in everything they do. Being a teacher, I see the fact that they don't have respect for anything any more. Many think that they are "entitled" to do what they want, when they want, how they want, without any regards to the outcome.

Let's just say that the gate is now bungeed tightly shut until we have time to fix it (which may end up being my spring break project).