Rode the short bus did I?

Ever have one of those conversations where you walk away because you are at the point where you will bean the person over the head if you don’t? I was a techno-geek, but not so much anymore. I haven’t been around other geeks for so long that my skills are truly lacking.

Attempting to assist another person on my team with an error message they have while updating a record, I had to go and talk to the IT staff down the hall. Most of the terminology I use is accurate at least when it comes to server lingo, but me and the guy geek got into a debate of semantics over the word “permissions.” Some of the things we do are based on our permissions, some are just things added to people’s accounts separately and somethings are apparently given to us by blowing them from frickin’ computer fairy’s arse.

All I wanted was my question answered, “Has something changed in the last three days that won’t allow us to do this anymore?” Please don’t lecture me on how I am confused and not using the right words, blah, blah, blah. All this extra space wasted with him being an ass and irritating me. I leave rolling the eyes into the back of my head, him getting smart and me responding “well it’s because you are being rude!” I don’t even know what he said after that as I just kept on going. My question was answered, but with this big additional lecture on how I am an idiot halfwit who knows nothing about computers and shouldn’t be allowed to touch one ever again.

BITE ME!

King Fahd funeral

King Fahd was buried yesterday. Click on the title for the article link. Although his son has been the defacto ruler since King Fahd's stroke I am curious to see what political changes may occur with the official transfer of power.

Kitties gone amok

I am pretty disappointed in people today. Last night a neighbor holding a 7 month old kitten (or so) came round the corner asking me if it was mine. My friend and I were on the front step talking and stated it wasn’t. He explained auf Deutsch that the kitty was fighting with his and he was going to place it elsewhere if no one knew who it belonged to.

A few minutes later Mr. Kitty decided to wander up near us. His collar was on too tight and I was concerned about it choking him. After shutting the door so Miss Bella doggie didn’t attempt to play with Mr. Kitty, I was able to pick the cat up. Mr. Kitty was just a’ purring away completely happy to sit in my arms. I loosened his collar as far as it could go without taking it off. This cat was clean and well kept. He was loving, affectionate and didn’t mind being scratched behind the ears. A minute or so later his littermate comes running in our direction. The collar is to tight as well but I couldn’t get that cat to stop and let me fix it. Finally Mr. Kitty clued in on the dog attempting to open the door with the suction of her nose and ran off.

From what I can see, two well kept cats, with collars too small, just now running around the neighborhood appears like someone dumped them. That thought really pisses me off. There are so many places that you could take them. In fact German pounds are against killing healthy animals so they would have been adopted I am sure. It just makes me mad that this problem seems to run mostly in American circles. Sometimes my own nation makes me mad with their “get rid of it when its no longer convenient” attitude. They are really cute and if I can figure out how to get them to think Bella was “cool” I may adopt them. Man, will the hubby be annoyed with me for adopting cats. Okay well he will survive, neither one of us can handle the thought of animals in distress so if he comes home to find two cats and a dog sleeping on his side of the bed he will just have to hear about Mr. Kitty’s adventures.

I am such a sucker for cute animals, how do you think I got the dog? She stood in the pound dirty, matted and skinny looking up at us with those BIG brown eyes, squeaking a squeak toy!

Rugs a plenty

My spouse finally got the chance to send me the photos of the rugs at the bazaar. We are going to have to save up to get one or two, but I think I can send him back with the money after R&R.

Below I had to point out that Mr. Man here is missing his wedding ring. I shot him a "neener-neener" note teasing him about it. At least you see he is the discrminating shopper by checking out the back of the rugs!

ETA - This was a new process for me, I haven't uploaded photos before.

Jane step UNDER the bus why don't you...

Once again Jane Fonda has decided to make her opinions known about war. I think she should step smack dab in front of the bus, not sit on it. I am sorry but my father-in-law served in Vietnam and just that thought of this woman and the stupid things she did makes my blood boil. So will she go hang with Saddam and pass notes to him from his Iraqi tourture victims too? Oh boy lets all join Jane, blech!

Give me a break lady, oh and hey don't forget her new book! You know the one she will be promoting while taking this little protest ride....anything for money, heh?

Vandals burn flags of a fallen service member

I was heartbroken when I read this story. That and it really pissed me off. How can people be so cruel? This poor family just laid to rest and wake up to find their car on fire thanks to the flags from their yard.

I hope they find the people who did this and tar and feather them. Jerks!

Good news for the anal retentive impared

Well the good news is that I am feeling a little better about our prospects should the hubby not get into “finishing” school next June. We talked this weekend about options that we thought of on our own and found about 3 that we would be willing to take together.

My neighbor was kind enough to offer to be a translator should I have to go into genetic testing while over here. She’s not a “certified medical” translator but she is certified for normal correspondence. She also understands where I am coming from due to similar circumstances of her own.

There are a few alternatives he talked about as well that would include him going to the post of his finishing school and doing silly jobs until its time for school a year later. The other one is to volunteer to be some kind of instructor for training that’s at the same post. This requires a ton of TDY but my really good friend in Germany would only be an hour away so it wouldn’t be bad in the event of an emergency.

I hate being so anal retentive but I am so happy that we have found and decided upon plans A through D. At least this way we can meet his career goals and needs for him and our family while still meeting our own family goals of

a) having children
b) not being 60 when they graduate from high school

Cleaning Update

Well I talked to the landlord at the end of last week. This was one of things Miss C and I talked about after the booze went missing from my house. We were working together to figure out what happened on the day Miss C and her assistant came to clean my home. Unfortunately, there were no other people in my house that day, workman or otherwise.

I decided that I would still like Miss C to clean my home. She is a nice lady and my kitchen has never looked better. This was only one mistake and I am pretty sure that it won't happen again. I know they work hard and with the dog hair it's not an easy task. I hope that in the future if something looks interesting that I am asked first, more in likely I will share it.

What the heck is THAT?

Michael Yon receently reported about a large find of munitions in Mosul, Iraq. Some of the IED's are quite creative and I don't have a clue what the green sphere is other than I don't want to touch it for the life of me! That sphere makes me think of the evil sphere in Heavy Metal. Either one is pretty scary/nasty though.

Finding, removing and destroying such a large munitions pile is a great accomplishment. It’s a small victory in creating a stable Iraq. It helps to cut down on what can be fired at the allied forces as well as giving them the idea of what the insurgents are making so they can keep an eye out.

Michael Yon is a great free lance reporter & is well thought of among the service members he travels with. Unfortunately Michael funds his reporting himself. If you’d like to continue to see real, honest reporting visit his site and make a donation.

Hi my name is Bella...and I am a boozehound

Today was a strange day. I came home from work and noticed a few things out of place in my home. The cleaning lady came today but my bedroom wasn’t vacuumed very well. I figured no big deal I will just vacuum where they missed.

After heading downstairs I notice that this little tea set it jutting out from the cubbyhole it’s sitting in. I used my toes and attempted to push it back but it wouldn’t move. So squatting down I take a look and small bottle of plumwine is shoved in there and it’s empty. I go to where the bottle was placed on Sunday/Monday and a bottle of Soju is missing too. I thought the empty bottle was weird but the missing not so much as the cleaning lady likes to rearrange things to make the room appear more tidy.

I called the lady who recommended her and asked if she let them drink or take liquor home. I explained why and she said she thought some things were odd at her home but wanted to physically look and make sure she wasn’t wrong. I called Miss C. and she was stunned. She wanted to come over so she could look around. We talked for a bit, I showed her around, the stuff and we both just sat there and thought. We worked through possibilities aloud and tossing aside those that didn’t apply.

I know from gut instinct that she did not do it herself. She was too visibly upset and extremely concerned at resolving the issue. So as part of our solutions I am going call the landlord and make sure no workmen came over today and she is going to talk to the other woman that helps her. If that doesn’t come to anything then I will have the landlord change the locks and Miss C will have to pick up the key each time.

I feel crushed having to even ask Miss C what might have happened. She looked so upset and was so very concerned. It hurts just thinking about this woman’s angst. She stated quite clearly that she knows that any mistake could cost her all of her clients. She even tests her assistants to make sure they are truly honest. Since her references are all word of mouth she as a great reputation. That’s why I chose her. She is so highly recommended & there was nothing in her mannerisms that lead me to believe that she would have taken the liquor.

What I am hoping is that the other lady dropped it and it cracked or tried it and didn’t like it but since she didn’t ask permission tried to hide it and get it next week. I mean everything and I mean EVERYTHING else in the house that has a much greater value is still here, it doesn’t make sense to take two small bottles of liquor and not the more expensive items. If you were planning on stealing and losing your job would you really take something so small in value and cost? Why risk getting fired over a bottle of liquor? I think I’d rather take all the expensive stuff if I was going to risk being fired.

There has to be a simple solution to this and hopefully between the two of us we will find it. Hopefully Bella isn't secretly drinking on the job while guarding the house - LOL.

Bless Miss C., she is kindhearted person and I am sure we will figure this all out.