Cerveza, Por Favor.

Wow. Being back at work is weird. Maybe that's because I'm wearing black and white stripped tights under my skirt. Good thing it's Halloween!

Cabo was cool. We stayed at the Riu Palace. You can see the resorts slide-show here. It was $300 per night, not bad except after our first night there, they pretty much refused to come refill our complimentary mini-bar anymore. That was unfortunate.

Here is Stacey calling the front desk yet again (after I called) to try to get more beer. I forgot to take a picture of the "alcohol dispenser" in each room. I'll have to see if I can get one. Anyway, due to these dispensers, I couldn't take very many pictures. It was one of those kind of vacations. I did manage to get a picture of Slim's Elbow Room, the smallest bar in the world. It's near Cabo Wabo. This is the nice girl that works there standing inside the front window. That's the back window in the left of the shot. They say it's about the size of a regulation pool table. Yeah, it's small!

I think I made my husband a little mad about never changing my last name to his. Sorry, I've been Amanda Yeager for a really long time, it's weird just to up and change that. Amanda Leonard. I dunno. Anyway, to get out/back into the country, we had to fill out a few forms. Even though we're married, we had to fill out seperate forms because we don't have the same last name. He mentioned this to me quite a few times. Whatever.

I guess I had a fingerprint er something on my camera lens, because most of my pics are splotchy in the middle. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back and take more!

Here's a shot from the resort. Land's End is behind/right of the giant boat. The weather was awesome, thankfully. Quite a few people there were supposed to be in Cancun but got diverted. We had a great time, and met some really cool people (some weirdos, too). Of course we had some phenomenal tacos in town. Plus, a Federali flirted with me! On duty, carrying his rifle, y todo! Yeah, I learnend a little Spanish, too.

Stand Rapt in Awe

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and all science.
He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder
and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

-Albert Einstein-

Another Backyard Mystery

Last night I pulled a cactus-poke off the tip of Kitty XL's tail. He really wasn't into me doing that, so I had to use basic-trickery and seduce him with food. Typical male.
This was the 2nd time I've pulled cactus off him in a month. Last time it was stuck on what would be his hip (if he wasn't shaped like a taco). Wtf is he doing to get impaled by cacti?

It's Raining Light Bulbs

That was some serious rain. Persistent. I think the entire desert is flooded. Hard rain. Roaring thunder. The wind. That lightening. Then two little earthquakes? Come on, one thing at a time, please.

Every time it gets stormy or really windy, I find these little Xmas size light bulbs on my back patio. I have a set of those decorative string garden lights on my patio that uses them, but no bulbs are missing. None of my immediate neighbors have them. Wheeeere are they coming from? I now have a collection of 4 of these little lights. It's things like this that keep me up at night.

Weird but Cool Weekend

On account of our vacation next week, this had to be a "working weekend" around the house. I made a deal with myself the I was only allowed to do "fun-stuff" at night (which I certainly did every night of course), and I had to get chores/projects done during the days. I had originally planned to work on the 3rd-car area of garage to prepare for my Workout/Laundry/Storage/Craft/GetAwayFromMe room, but Mike wanted to re-seed the lawn. I helped him do a bit of yard maintenance, and of course got my hand stabbed by a cactus through my gloves. Must I injure myself EVERY weekend?

I moved the unfinished art pieces from the hallway to the sitting area in my bedroom, and replaced them with some new super-close up prints of agave and philodendron leaves. Kind of Zen - goes well with my natural/modern scheme. The frame and matting really helps pop the green of the leaves against the green of the walls. The husband didn't even notice. I also installed an under-cabinet light in the kitchen that I had sitting around from an unfinished project. I really liked the end result because it brightened up that corner tremendously. So I was about to install the second light under another cabinet, but because it was for a different project the light was too long for that particular cabinet.

After lunch Mike asked if I wanted to go to Lowe's with him. Duh. Not only did I want to get a shorter light for that cabinet, but I can easily spend a few hours browsing Lowe's. So when Mike goes with me, I use that to put all kinds of ideas in his head about various things we could do to the house. Well, I got suckered. All he wanted was a little bag of grass seed he needed to finish the lawn, so in the car (since I'm already trapped) he says "We should just go to Wal*Mart and get cheap/regular grass instead of the golf-course grass I got at Lowe's, that way we can groceries there, too". Hhh. Super Wal*Mart is my own personal Hell.

As I'm writing this it just started raining AGAIN. After being 99° last Thurs & Fri, I've been loving the cool rainy weather so far. Beautiful!

Expletive. Expletive again.

OH. MY. GOD. I just experienced what it was like at the beginning of a heart-attack. I think. Hmm, well maybe getting caught naked in public. I don't know, but as I was getting up from my desk I heard something fall to the floor, like a pin drop. I turned to see what it was - its looking more and more like the back of an earring. That's when it started. My heart stopped, I gasped. I don't think my hands have ever moved as fast as they did as I flung the pen and envelope I was holding to grab my earlobes. MY DIIIAMONDS! I gasped again (reverse-gasp?) when I realized both diamonds were still in my ear, with the backs attached. Expletive. Expletive again. That scared the expletive out of me.

Ice Cream + Pepper = Good

I've had this idea for about a month now. I've been thinking of trying ice cream with pepper on it. I know that's sorta weird, or really weird, but the fact that I considered it at various random times lead me to believe this may be a good thing. So last weekend the husband comes home from the groc with stuff for dinner...and vanilla ice cream. I hadn't even told him about my little plan! So last night I finally got the chance to try it. Ok not big ol' flakey, course, store-bought pepper, but fine, freshly milled pepper, on quality vanilla ice cream. It was good. I know that still sounds weird, but have you ever had a Chai Latte? It's similarish. Tonight I'm trying it with white pepper.

I thought I was Smarter

While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction. Go ahead - try and not!

$60 Can of Spam®

This was Jessie's Halloween costume last year. Yes, she was a can of Spam®. Considering it was $60, I was hoping she would be Spam® again for the next umm 75 years, but of course that can't happen. So you know what she wants to be this year? Batman. Batman with the muscles. Batman with the muscles that her nephew was 2 yrs ago (when he was 4). Batman. She's in 8th grade. Maybe it was because when Nik was Batman, she was kinda forced to be Batman's sidekick, Robin. Not the cool-new Robin, old-school Robin. Now that I think about it, I was Pee Wee Herman in 8th grade (no, it was before the scandal).

Logic. Math. Reality.

In anticipation of the NHL season beginning tomorrow, the following is a posting I made to a hockey newsgroup (remember newsgroups, anyone?) back in 1998 before the start of the playoff season. I found it by Googling myself, LOL! I just think its funny so I'm posting it because I can.

Amanda Yeager March 1, 1998 1:00am

Umm, hello? I'd just like to point out that MATH can help out a little here...

You say "American teams will continue to claim the cup, regardless of what nationality is prevalent on the team."

OK, since there are 6 Canadian teams in the 26 team NHL, that accounts for 23% of the League. I sure as hell hope that with a greater than 3/4 ratio, American teams should be winning the Cups.

I am not going to mention at all that 70% of league players are Canadian. Or American population to player representation ratio. But I will say that looking at the current standings, the Canadian teams are lacking in the W's. But there are ONLY SIX! We Americans keep stealing Can teams & putting them in places that suck.

I wish someday The Can-Am Great Debate will end. It is getting boring. We all know that Canada is the 51st state. We all know that Americans are too pig headed to fully admit Canadians just plain rule in hockey. American pig-headed-ness is the only reason why Americans are so hell bent on proving some sort of "American Hockey Supremacy", when most Americans could care less about the sport. Face it - the NHL is played largely in America because that is who will PAY for it. It has nothing to do with the players.

BTW, this is from my own personal AMERICAN-Native Southern Californian-Lives in Palm Springs-LOYAL LA KINGS FAN-GIRL point of view. But don't hold that against me - most influential in my opinion, was LOGIC. MATH. REALITY.