n e n i e

Nenie:  I love you so much.

Nena: HOW MUCH?!? QUANTIFY IT!!!!

A few months ago Underdog and I made our long awaited pilgrimage to Wrigley Field. 

Well, I'd clearly been before...but never with Underdog, mostly because he'd never been before himself.

We'd been trying to get things organized for a few years and this year we actually got our act together.

May 17, day game v. the Pirates, that ended in a tragic one run loss for the good guys.

It was a nice game.  Mom, Dad, JLo and NotPuffy all made it out and we sat in the bleachers and took in a decent game and some nice weather.  Sadly, we just weren't able to spend quality time taking in Wrigleyville, but these things happen. 

Anyway, pictures here.


Oh and assorted other pics from my May trip home are here and here.

Haven't been especially busy this week...just especially tired.

Kinda exhausted, really.  Watched all of the All-Star Game (save for the bottom of the 12th and all of the 13th due to TiVo delay issues.)  So that set me up for a really rough week. 

I know I'm getting old, because I feel the need for sleep in a much more immediate and visceral way than I ever have before.  It's freakin' nuts.

Yeah.  But this is not the weekly recap.  This is the late Thursday night special.

Saw this last weekend and have kept meaning to post it.

"Subway Stripper Arrested"  In my mom's home town.

Brills

(Was going to embed it in the page...but that wasn't working.)

Nena and I were in The Q twice this weekend. 

Last night we were down to see the iCubs beat up on the Isotopes.  But due to getting a late start out of El Fe we didn't get to go shopping for toilet paper and Cheerios, or gas up at Costco ($3.77/gal)

So we went back today.

Costco, Target, Furniture store...an aborted trip to the movies (only thing starting within an hour was Wanted) and then dinner at the Flying Star.

Mmmm Flying Star.  We grabbed dinner and then on our way out we picked up desert and a Red Stuff for the road.

Oh Red Stuff.  I don't know what's in it...hibiscus tea and fruit punch...or so they say...but I love it.  It reminds me of the red punch they used to serve in my high school cafeteria.  Unnaturally red, unnaturally sweet, but damn you had to have it.  It was so good that Fesser, Mente and I wrote a play about it being an addictive hallucinogen. 

Anyway, this stuff is different. 

I'd never thought of getting some for the long drive up to the town that diners have forgotten OK, there are a few, but not enough that you can get any kind of variety...and good deserts are hard to come by.  The first person who tells me how good Clafouttis is loses and appendage.

So as we're paying for our deserts, I ask if I can get Red Stuff to go.

Yes.  Yes you can.

As I'm driving back up I-25 to El Fe, Nena decides to try my Red Stuff.  She's had it before and decided that she didn't like it.  But as with most things I like that she doesn't she feels the need to try again.  Unfortunately, after trying again and being reminded that she didn't like it, she starts talking smack.

Nena: Wow, that totally tastes like something you would like.

Nenie:  What does that mean?

Nena: That I would never get that, but I see why you would.

Nenie: Why would I?

Nena: I don't know, it just tastes like what you'd like.

Nenie: Is it really sweet?  Really sour?

Nena: I don't know, it just, yknow, tastes like something you'd get.

Nenie: So you don't like it?

Nena: No, I don't.


*Time Passes*


Nena grabs the Red Stuff out of the cup holder and drinks some more.

Nena: This is nasty but addictive.

Nenie: Then quit drinking it.

Nena: I can't stop.  It's so bad it's good.

Nenie:  OK.

Nena: I mean, it tastes like a mistake

Nenie: Huh?

Nena: It's like being so hung over you put beer in your cereal and then you think "wow, this is good."

Nenie: That's disgusting

Nena: That's what this is like


*Time Passes*


Nena reaches for my drink and has yet more of it.

Nena: UGH!  This totally tastes like a train wreck

Nenie: Then why are you drinking it?

Nena: Because it's a trainwreck, I can't look away.  It's ADDICTIVE!  What's in this?

Nenie:  I dunno.  Red stuff, hibiscus...stuff.

Nena: You drink this all the time and you have no idea what's in it?

Nenie: I like it.

Nena:  It probably has crack in it.  That's the active ingredient.  Crack.

Yeah...this is the way it went for an entire hour back home.  And in the end, Nena drank more of the Red Stuff than I did.

That's my wife folks.  

Lazy Saturday afternoon here in El Fe.  We were going to go to the local Obama Field Organizer training, but that started at 10a and Nena was still in bed...which is what needed to happen since we've both been so freakin' tired as of late.

Here's some free marriage advice: Exhaustion is hard on a marriage.

We're going to get ice cream with my in-laws later this afternoon who are returning from a much needed vacation in Siberia...my FiL's traditional summer home.

Right, so ice cream, church, Isotopes game...cuz the iCubs are in town.  Not a bad afternoon, really.

But at the moment Nena is watching Bridget Jones 2 and I was having an all too infrequent conversation with Dakotareese.

DR: Brett Favre a Bear?

N: LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT

DR: Likelihood?

N: Don't see the Pack releasing him.

DR: Man Aaron Rogers and Rex Grossman should start a support group.

N: I feel for Rogers, I really do.  But FUCK REX GROSSMAN.  Seriously, you sneak into a Super Bowl and then you FUCKING LOSE!  Fuck you.  Go fuck yourself man...you play like ass, you let a whole city down...I mean, if Trent Dilfer can win a fucking ring, then what the hell is your problem asshole?

And I stand by that.  As ridiculously unlikely as this all is.  I have no sympathy for Grossman.  And longtime readers will know how hard it is for me to say that, since I've been defending this asswipe for years. 

Shit...as I was writing this...things changed...


Wow.

 

"You know the economy is bad when you can find a parking spot at Whole Foods."

-Nena

WHOO!

Three Cubs in the NL's Starting Lineup for the All-Star Game!

Just freakin' awesome.  Fukudome, Soriano and my homeboy SOTO!

Yeah, NotPuffy's been telling anyone that would listen (and several folks that wouldn't) That Soto's the best catcher in baseball and the fact that he's the first rookie to start at the position for the NL is validation of his (and I'll admit it my) love of this kid's skills.

Granted, the odds of Soriano actually playing are dicey at best, and I'm bummed that Berkman beat out D.Lee at first and I understand Jones over Ramirez at the hot corner...but three voted in is awesome...add Zambrano on the rotation and we're at four.  I know the odds of more guys getting on the squad are not so hot, but the fact that the Cubs are the only team with multiple starters makes it easier to get more Northsiders on the bench.

What?

Don't follow my logic?

Well, with the Cubs being the only team with multiple starters, that means six teams have starters so only ten other teams are fighting for mandatory bench spots...(every team needs to have one guy on the team...)

Brilliant.

I love the All-Star Game.  I really do.  And as a Cubs fan I've spent many a year with no one to really root for.  Shit, I've gone to the bathroom in the fourth inning and missed the token Cubs' appearance in the game.  But this year...It's gonna be awesome, especially with Sweet Lou on the bench.  Yeah, awesome.

I'm Minuteman Store Number 501's Employee of the Month.

Reaction to this has been kinda funny.

Skokie:  Wow Nenie, congratulations.  This must get old for you after a while huh?

Nenie: Huh?

Skokie:  Well, don't you have a stack of those certificates?

OK, we should back up here.

There are two things you need to know:

1) Skokie just started at The Minuteman a few months ago
2) One of my trademark lines at work is "...which are validated by the plethora of employee of the month certificates that adorn my walls."

Cuz, in the nearly two years that I've been there, I've never been EoM.

Skokie: So you've never won?

Nenie: No.

Skokie couldn't believe it.

Skokie: But this place would fall apart without you.

Feeling that I'd just made a friend for life I let Skokie in on the full backstory of my tenure at The Minuteman, complete with how they promoted Yellowstoner to Commander over me.

Skokie: What?  Him over you?  Who thought that was a good idea?  He does less than just about anyone I've ever seen.

OK, so I know this might seem petty, but I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels underappreciated at work.  It wasn't a big deal before the blown promotion last August but since then every time Cmdr. Yellowstoner screws up (which is pretty often) I feel like more of an idiot than I did before the last time he screwed up because I think "wow, I was less qualified than this jackass?"

But knowing that someone, somewhere notices that I'm doing my job well, be it other folks on the floor or the rest of the officers is a help.

That and I keep catching Cmdr. Yellowstoner looking at job postings in the Pacific Northwest.

I wonder if there's anything we can do to get his stoned ass out of here.

Yesterday I was putting in a rare Sunday appearance at The Minuteman...

...last I was writing here I was a manager at The Minuteman, now I'm a highly specialized  buyer so I work with manufacturers and distributors who are only open M-F from 9-5.  So, I work M-F from 9-5.

Anyway, I'm there on a Sunday when we get a call for Cmdr. Yellowstoner.  He's on vacation, you see and this is the airline calling to tell us that his connecting flight from Dallas to The Q has been canceled.  Oh, and the connecting flight that's been canceled is scheduled for 11a on Monday...an hour after he's supposed to be at work.

Yes, the asshole told folks he was going to be back from vacation a day earlier than he was actually going to be back.  Yes, he knew he was going to screw over his coworkers when he came back from vacation.

Only he wasn't smart enough to give the airline a phone number other than his work one...so he got narc'ed on.

You'd think this would cause some sort of penalty, especially since every time he leaves town  he pulls this EXACT SAME STUNT.  But that's where you'd be wrong.  He gets away with this every time.  Shit, they promoted him after the last time he did this.

Yknow, it really makes me question how big a loser I must be if they promoted that asshole over me.  I mean, seriously.

Anyway, I'm a buyer now.  Really, I'm more of a combo personal shopper/buyer.

It's a cool gig and the hours are good, even though the money isn't so great.

The upside is Beto gets nearly 40MPG now and I used my stimulus check to buy Wedge.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Han's replacement, Wedge.  He's a 2.4GhZ MacBook.

Originally we weren't going to spend our stimulus checks.  We were going to spite the powers that be by sticking it in savings...but then Han got worse than normal and Artoo (my 40GB iPod Photo) died.

So we dropped the stimulus check on Wedge and took advantage of the various rebates Apple's running right now to get a 32GB iPod Touch (Leia) and a new combo printer.

So on the tech front we're good for a while now...until I give in and replace the ProLogic tuner I bought in the summer of 1998....

OK, so it's been almost a year since my last post.