Tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of my 21st birthday (don’t do the math). There’s no reason that everyone shouldn’t feel as good tomorrow as I will, so I’m celebrating by performing one random act of kindness for every year I’ve been alive.
I ask everyone reading this to perform a random act of kindness and let me know via comments on my blog tomorrow what you did.
Get ready to get kind (don’t worry, it’s only for a day).
It appears that we’ve been plagued with early morning faulty electronic activity. First there was the alarm-event-heard-around-the-world, and then this morning there was the fire-alarm-heard-around-the-house. The smoke detector (which, when asleep with the bedroom door closed sounds very much like the house alarm) started going off. Naturally, our dog starts shaking and crawling on top of me to hide, while Angel and I curse the alarm for waking us up and debate who the unlucky one is going to be to get up in the cold and go address the situation.
I lost.
Our smoke detectors are all wired together, so when one starts beeping THEY ALL START BEEPING. It’s really wonderful in a really annoying way. I identify the rogue device, remove the battery, put the alarm back on the ceiling, and go back to bed. 30 seconds of silence later, our detector has decide it’s not done talking to us.
Long story short we have COMPLETELY uninstalled and dismantled the smoke detector and it’s STILL GOING OFF. Why do alarms insist on going off in our house in the middle of the night? We are very unfriendly folks when woken up
I have a case of the Mondays. The fact that I’ve been good about cooking, cleaning, and being domestic no longer has any sense of accomplishment when I wake up on Mondays. Ugh!
On a bright side, my new Windows 7 computer apparently changes the background of my computer every 15 minutes and cycles through my photos. It’s a small thing, but I’ll take whatever I can to make Monday’s better. Here’s the photo that I turned my computer on to this morning:
Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Mexico
More later when I get past my Monday morning funk (a.k.a. drink my coffee- to hell with my attempt to cut caffeine).
Here’s what I made for dinner last night (HIGHLY recommended):
Prep: 25 minutes
Marinate: 30 minutes
Cook: 6 minutes
Makes 4 servings
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cooking oil
10 green onions, sliced into 1 inch pieces
1 cup fresh mushrooms
12 garlic cloves, minced
1 can water chestnuts
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup cashews
Rice
1. Cut chicken into 1/2 inch pieces. Marinate chicken in water, soy sauce, and vinegar for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Drain chicken, reserving marinade. Stir cornstarch into marinade, set aside.
2. Pour oil into a wok. Heat over medium-high heat. Add green onion, mushrooms, and garlic to wok. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until tender. Remove vegetables from wok.
3. Add chicken to wok. Cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until no longer pink. Push chicken from center of wok. Stir marinade mixture and pour into center of wok. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Push chicken to center of wok. Return vegetables to wok. Add water chestnuts, crushed red pepper, and cashews. Cok and stir about 1 minute more or until heated through. Serve with rice.
Day 1
Sorry I didn’t actually update my blog regarding my time off to do nothing. I was busy…. doing nothing. I woke up late, read an entire book between naps, cuddled with Molly, and watched a few movies on HBO. I accomplished nothing, I did no house work, I didn’t shower or change out of sweat pants, and it was everything I thought it could be. I tried to make coffee in the morning, but we didn’t have coffee beans and I was too damn lazy to go to the store to get some- so I went back to bed instead.
Day 2
The no alarm thing is really easy to get used to. I woke up at 10 and felt like a teenager sleeping through the day. I sat out in the sun of the backyard with the dog for 30 minutes, caught up on my trashy TV, finally showered so I could take the dog to the groomer and to the mall to get soap from Bath and Body Works, and then came home to finish doing nothing before Angel and I went to go to our Boot Camp workout class. And then we ate the fridge out of leftovers because I’m still on this kick of doing nothing (which has no end in sight).
My ass is starting to form in the shape of the couch. I’m so proud.
Tomorrow Angel’s taking the day off, too. He’s either jealous of my and Molly’s laziness, or….? No, he’s jealous. We were thinking about going skiing, but they haven’t gotten any snow in the last week and we decided that we didn’t want to drive and leave the dog alone since she’s still a little sick. So instead, we’re now thinking we’ll take the dog for a walk down to the shopping center for lunch. Assuming, of course, that I wake up before lunch.
This not working thing is way too early to get used to. I’m worried that I’m not going to want to go back to work on Tuesday- even though it’s just for the day (I have Wednesday off). Quarter life crisis in full run.
Let me start by saying that I have faith in the judicial system.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, allow me to take a moment to openly bitch about the way they treat victims. I got subpoenaed on Saturday to testify against the 2 ass holes who broke into my house. Court date is in 2 weeks, and it states rather largely and very clearly that a warrant will be issued for my arrest if I don’t show. Annoying, but free day off of work. I get it. I’m not going to fight.
So I call the attorney this morning to ask what I’m going to have to do when I’m there and voice my concerns over these documented gang members knowing who I am when I testify against them. You know what I’m told? I’m told that I don’t have a choice and I do have to show up, or I will be arrested but I’m allowed to “voice my concerns.” So then I ask, “what does voicing my concerns get me if I clearly don’t have a choice?” And then I’m given a lecture about cooperating while I slam my head against the wall for 30 minutes.
They gave me many options: I testify and let the documented gang members know who I am and what I look like, or I get arrested for not cooperating. This is what my tax dollars are buying me.
After last weekend’s amazingness, I’ve spent this weekend being productive from the confines of my house. Leaving to pick up pants from the alterations lady and go to the grocery store took some serious thought and a small pep talk.
I cleaned my house. I made homemade guacamole just because I could. I mopped the floors. I don’t know if you all understand how rare that is so I’ll say it again: I mopped the floors. I ran my errands, finished up some work work (because I’m being audited and that’s lovely), and now I’m rounding the bases by sitting on my futon, having never changed out of last night’s pajamas, watching the Kardashian marathon.
Molly greets you all by snoring next to me so loudly that I keep turning up the TV just to hear.
A quiet weekend is clearly what we all needed.
And then Angel slid down the stairs and possibly sprained his ankle.
Okay, so here’s the breakdown of President Obama’s visit to Intel from a republican perspective. In short: I may not agree with the guy, but I can certainly respect the job.
On Monday morning, I got an email that President Obama was going to be visiting my workplace. I reread it a few times because I hadn’t yet consumed this morning’s coffee (side note: giving up caffeine is NOT going well- clearly). There was a raffle for employees to win tickets, but I figured that was going to be a cold shot in hell so I instead signed up to be one of the volunteers that was needed thinking that if I can’t get there I was at least going to get as close as I could.
Well, I was right. And as it turns out, all of the volunteers got tickets to the speech! All volunteering is done for selfish reasons, they just don’t always pay off as well as this one did.
So I show up at 9am in the Intel construction parking lot like I was told. I’m greeted by the head of the White House Events staff and am briefed on how the event is going to go down. I’m part of the team managing crowd control at the metal detectors to get into the event. Sounds cool enough.
We get bussed over to the event from the parking lot as soon as the secret service has completed their security sweep of the area. When I get there, I hop through the metal detectors and take a quick camera shot of the area before the estimated 6,000 people started showing up:
He's here to talk about job creation, thus the construction backdrop
And then I volunteer for 5 hours (there is no way to write about this and it not sound boring, so I’m going to spare you the details).
On the little down time we have, a few of us shoot the shit with the White House Events guy. When he comes to let us know that the final bus has brought the last of the guests, we are “dismissed” to go into the event. We go through security (which seems oddly less violating than airports), and then events guy tells us to follow him. Not entirely sure what else he has us signed up for, I go. What the hell, right? I’m not the BIGGEST supporter of the guy, it’s more of just being there because I could.
He wanted us to follow him because he dropped us in the designated fenced off path for the Secret Service. I can deal with this because 6,000 of my closest friends are currently behind me shoved around like a fat lady in spandex. Turns out there wasn’t any job, he was just helping us out so we got a better view.
So then I meet the CEO as his entourage walks him back and forth between his seat and meeting the president back stage.
The event gets under way. Excuse the quality of the photos, I was standing on a fence and trying not to drop another iPhone into broken oblivion…
Intel's CEO welcoming the crowd. Whatever, we get it, we aren't here to see you.
They just put out the Presidential Seal between speakers
President Obama talking about the heat in Arizona (it's only 70, you baby)
He must have just gotten word via ear piece that my auto registration is expired. Crap.
After standing for 6 hours waiting for this, his talk is only 30 minutes long and is a repeat of his State of the Union speech the night before. Like I said, not his biggest supporter, but I can respect who he is.
…And then I had to walk a mile back to my car and wait in traffic to get home. The experience was still totally worth it.
And there you have it. My dog is saving my life.
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/now/some-doctors-prescribing-dogs-over-medication
Or perhaps the more appropriate title to this post is “Most Expensive Weekend On Record.”
No joke.
On Friday night my beloved dog, molly (of who I am obsessed with) started throwing up and acting really weird. Naturally, this always happens right as this night-owl is going to bed at midnight, so… awesome. She ended up in the animal hospital and the 3am x-ray showed the vet and I that she had a tummy full of rocks. ROCKS. Take a minute to think about this: the dog went out the dog door, took a stroll around the yard, and decided that rocks sounded more appetizing than the food inside. She had to spend the night in the pet hospital, followed by all day Saturday, and then came home Saturday night on puke watch 24/7. She still has a tummy full of rocks so one puke from her and the only option left is surgery. Ugh!
Home. Bandaged leg and all
Meanwhile, I proved that my iPhone is just no match for a tile floor. I completely shattered the screen on it when it flew out of my hand as I was trying to hang it up. So one trip to the Apple store and a new phone later, Angel suggested I get one of these cases for it:
Big and Bulky, and possibly bomb proof
So that’s awesome.
Saturday over. I assume we’ve crossed the annoying, expensive threshold. Incorrect assumption.
On Sunday morning Angel’s headed to the old house to make a few minor repairs before the renters move in on Thursday and I’m sitting up in the loft scrapbooking (duh) with Molly curled up next to me still on suicide watch….. BAM! Angel backed into the garage door. Broken door, broken car, 100% annoying. So I spent Sunday trying to get garage repair men out to the house to fix our house.
Most people enjoy weekends. I was DYING (thankfully not literally) for this one to end! The Rivas household should live in a plastic bubble. That may be safest for everyone.
What Lies Within 