Friday, November 30, 2007

i posted this on my myspace profile and figured i would share it with the rest of the world.

my life's soundtrack

here's how it works:
1. open your library (itunes, ipod, etc...)
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that plays
5. when you go to a new question, press the next button
6. don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...(or skip songs either!!!)

[OPENING CREDITS]: "solitare" by strung out
[WAKING UP]: "bring the pain" remixed by the chemical brothers
[FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL]: "pride war" by further seems forever
[FALLING IN LOVE]: "so beautiful" by dashboard confessional
[FIGHT SONG]: "cherry twist" by the crystal method
[BREAKING UP]: "policy of truth" by depeche mode
[PROM]: "which to bury, us or the hatchet" by relient k
[LIFE]: "fade away" by the o.c. supertones
[MENTAL BREAKDOWN]: "join the club" by reel big fish
[DRIVING]: "5o,ooo watts (chris and erson remix)" by carl cox
[FLASHBACK]: "old friend" by the o.c. supertones
[WEDDING]: "closer" by sanctus real
[BIRTH OF CHILD #1]: "grounded" by the o.c. supertones
[BIRTH OF CHILD #2]: "pure" by the lightning seeds
[BIRTH OF CHILD #3]: "crashing down" by paul wright
[FINAL BATTLE]: "stayin' alive (wicked mix)" by the bee gees
[DEATH SCENE]: "hey man, nice shot" by filter
[FUNERAL SONG]: "dreams never end" by newOrder
[END CREDITS]: "super rad!" by the aquabats

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

what exactly constitutes "fun size" when it comes to halloween candy packages? who's having the fun? every time i rip open a bag, am i supposed to be yelling and throwing my hands in the air like i'm riding colossus and having the time of my life? "wooohoooo!!!!" and what about quality control? 5 random bags of peanut m&m's got this:

1 bag(s): 4 pieces
1 bag(s): 6 pieces
1 bag(s): 8 pieces
2 bag(s): 7 pieces

*trivia fact: the bag that had 6 pieces had 3 greens and 3 blues.*

i did have fun shoving them in my mouth and chewing that chocolaty goodness with a hint of nutty flavor. mmmmm. . .
kroq is streaming live...woot!!!
as i left for work this morning, the outside gauge quoted me a temperature. 13°f. it's cold. not as cold as when i went snowboarding and it was -25°f with wind chill. that was cold. frigid cold. but good times.

my dad's birthday is today. so happy birthday dad. my aunt's birthday was last week as well. here's a shout out to you as well. so many birthday's...

Monday, November 26, 2007

on the way to bible study tonight, i saw something that i haven't seen for 7 months. in the headlights there were some white flaky things that seemed to be just floating, but soon, more and more appeared. i parked, walked into the coffeeshop, made my drink, walked back outside and more white thingys were floating down, but not much.

after study was over, i left the building and my car was covered in it. open the door, place the key in the ignition, turn the engine over and push the rear defroster to the on position. wiper blades come to life as i back up and pull out of the parking lot. the drive home was pleasant, seeing how i only passed two cars. no one has 'forgotten' how to drive, yet.

a winter storm warning is in effect until tomorrow afternoon with the possibility of 4 - 6" of the white stuff. apparently there have been quite a few accidents already. maybe people have 'forgotten' how to drive...

•••
update (11:02 pm):
just went out and measured. 1" and still falling.

update (9:16 am):
over the night, we had a snow storm come through that dropped about 2" and we have two more systems lined up one right after the other.

update (11:56 am):
went home for lunch. 30°f with the sun shining. gorgeous. sure am glad i have on my studded tires for grippage.

update (7:11 pm):
finished up at work, came home and bbq'd some chicken. went out and finished snowblowing the driveway and sidewalks. now, setting up new playlists and adding new songs to my ipod.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

the conveniences of modern technology. cell phones and internet are a great thing, but adding phonecalls over the internet is something completely different. as some of you know, rin's parents live in india, the land of darjeeling tea and the hong kong market (amongst other things of course).

anyway, the first time i went to india, back in spring of '04, making a phone call from the country code +011 to america takes a little work. we'd have to walk from the hotel to the alley behind, through the throngs of people and cram ourselves into the public phone booth. making sure someone was there to dial the phone and having the power stay on were the two things we hoped for. but surprisingly it cost less to make a call from india than from the little communist country that is 90 miles off the coast of florida. an eight minute call from that small island paradise cost me $20 but to have a 20 minute call from siliguri, half way around the world only cost around $5.

but now, with her parent's living on the eastern hemisphere, we can call via the internet with video and audio. nice. free. ahhh. . .

Saturday, November 24, 2007

ah, the convenience of a laptop. true, they aren't upgradeable, but i do love the fact that i can lay down on the couch, look out at the christmas lights and have this machine laying on my lap, warming me as the weather has turned frigid.

*peter patrick pitter-patters on the window*

oh, sorry...just listening to some jack johnson whilst i type. he has a new album coming out in feb '08. he's probably one of my favorite artists. that reminds me; i should go check out his myspace and see if he's demo-ing any of his new stuff. nope, just in between dreams.

Friday, November 23, 2007

happy black friday to all you. to those that went out and braved the cold and crowds, what were you thinking?!?!? i stayed home in my warm bed, waking up to no alarm. but i suppose if that is your thing, i hope you enjoyed it.

as i type this, i'm watching as our neighbors have their christmas tree and jack-o-lantern on the front porch. ok, i can see not throwing away the moldy icon of halloween, but mixing that together with the christmas tree? maybe they are nightmare fans too. awesome if so, but i think it is time to rid themselves of that ever grinning gourd...

...oh, and by the way, 32 shopping days left.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

happy thanksgiving! eat all the potatoes, turkey, rolls, pie, blah blah blah...

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

34 more shopping days 'til christmas. i'm just happy we got our "nightmare before christmas" ornament back in october. it's sitting on the key / letter / misc holder by the back door, anxious to be pulled out and hung on the tree.

over the weekend, i had a maternity shoot for a girl that i've known since high school. she's due in about 5 weeks (?) and i was so thankful that i was able to do her shoot and edit all the shots in one day. finished fine tuning them yesterday.

attended my niece's birthday party on saturday night. food, food, food. got stuffed and went home to curl up on the couch and cry....heh.

we had our annual thanksgiving dinner for the church family on sunday. fun was had by all (i think). the sprite went with me and had some food whilst i took shots. then we got on our gloves and took her and my nephew to go gather trash from tables.

yesterday i hung more christmas lights. got done with one light project and went inside to warm up. the girls are eager for us to turn on the lights, but not until after thanksgiving.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

it's getting cold. the weather has turned and the mercury has headed south. no more warm days until april. it's been in the 40's and snow is promised in the forecast.

all that to say this:

over the weekend, i put up our christmas lights. i know that it isn't even thanksgiving, but i really didn't want to put up the lights in the snow with ice on the roof. i pulled out the strands and plugged them in to see if they were "working". some bulbs were burned out, and other strands weren't working, so i figured i would go to the store (which shall remain name*less (hint-hint) ). i really wanted to get those new led lights but they were expensive, so i picked up some of the same ones we already had. got home with the newly purchased items and opened the garage door to find rin working on the old strands. she was able to get them working. we worked on getting them up quickly and afterwards i took back the new lights. i walked in to the store, up to customer service, waited in line and finally got called up.

me: "i need to return these."
customer *ahem* service: "do you have a tag?"
me: "a what...?"
cs: "you need to get a tag to return them."
me: "i have a receipt."
cs: "you need a tag."
me: "where do i get a 'tag'?"
cs: "at the front doors."

so i go back to the front doors.

me: "hi. i was told i had to get a tag to return these."
front door workers: "do you not want them?"
me *thinking*: "nope, i want to keep them, i'm just returning them for the exercise." "uh, no."
fdw: "do you have a note?"
me: "a what?"
fdw: "a note so you can return them."
me: "a note to return the lights?"
fdw: "you need a note from customer service to get a tag from us."
me: "what?!?!"
fdw: "let me try this without a note." gets on walkie talkie. inaudible talking. scanner in hand. codes scanned and tags magically come out.

head back over to customer service desk and wait in line (again).

cs: "can i help you."
me: "i need to return these." hand over receipt, bag of lights and tags.
cs: "anything wrong with them?"
me: "nope, just don't need them."

the girl puts the tags to the side (this is the only time she touches them) and scans in the barcodes, prints out a return receipt and hands it over for me to sign. sign away and the money is back into my account. all that to return $10 worth of lights. . .

Thursday, November 08, 2007

it's been a fun few days this week. it actually began last wednesday when rin was driving to the fairgrounds for our harvest party. whilest driving across the intersection of 95 and kathleen, she was rear-ended by another woman. so the typical "pleasantries" were given along with info (ie: names, insurance, license, yadda yadda yadda).

i got a phone call when rin was in the parking lot and after finding out that everyone was alright, we went inside and had fun with the kids. afterwards, our insurance was called and the lady's insurance called us.

fast forward a few days:

i met with an insurance rep on monday so that damage could be estimated and so on and so forth. the rear bumper looks like it is the only thing that needs replacing. he printed out two copies of the same estimate, one for us and the other for the body shop. i headed on over to the body shop so that they could check out the car and order the part(s) needed.

now that brings us to now, today, this very moment. the vehicle is waiting to be worked on. who knows, maybe it's already been in and the bumper is replaced. but they needed it overnight. i don't know why. ah, well. . .

Thursday, November 01, 2007

wow! today is november first. just think...two more months and we will be in 2008. christmas is 56 days away, so in essence, we have 55 shopping days left. ouch! maybe i'll just wait until the 12 days of christmas to begin (and finish) ours.

anywho, last night was our annual harvest festival which was held at the kootenai fairgrounds. the doors were opened at around 3:30 in the afternoon and the community was welcome to come and have a good time with free candy and fun. there was a small charge on food which consisted of corndogs, hot dogs, gut busters, cotton candy, popcorn and caramel apple wedges. that's where our 500 apples that we got from greenbluff came in.

now that november is here, we get an extra hour of sleep on saturday night. don't forget to set your clocks an hour back. we also have 21 days until thanksgiving. mmmm, turkey, potatoes, etc. does this mean that the holiday season is upon us?


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