ticketmaster is evil

i don't know how they get away with this.

2 tickets for iron & wine = $40.00
convenience charge = $14.80
order processing charge = $4.35

seriously. just build the charges into the price of the ticket so i don't feel so ripped off.

home again

i just got back from another sampling trip where i got to see my old college roommate and her adorable baby. this kid is something else - she is gigantic for her age! she was nearly 11 pounds when she was born. now she's 7 months old and is already wearing 12-18 mo clothes and has 4 teeth. she's always happy and sleeps a lot. her mom is one of my best friends and one of the most laid back, happy-go-lucky people i know, so i've decided that her luck of having such a great baby is just reimbursement of all the good karma she's spread over the years.

anyhow, my friend works in the lab at a winery, which sounds like a great job to me! she took me on a private tour of the wine process and lab, and bought me several reserve bottles. niiiiice.

carrying them back home on the plane was fun...especially when the handle on the box broke and i had to wrestle the box, my laptop bag, and my freaking huge suitcase out to the car.

anyhow, it was a good work trip. my coworker ended up being cool, which makes things so much easier. he's the bassist in a seattle band called dope smoothie. check them out if you like ween or the pixies.

i'm excited for the weekend - we're going to party it up at the great american beer festival. just hoping i don't drop my glass!

the fray

went to a cd release party for the fray this weekend. they're a local band from denver on the verge of making it big. i highly suggest you check them out - their cd is absolutely AMAZING!

the fray

so THAT'S why i couldn't find it..

so i am doing field work right now, in the lovely metropolis of casper, wy.

i was here a few months ago and commented earlier that at least i have good restaurants and a free wifi connection. although having good restaurants didn't stop me from getting a martha's vineyard salad from arby's for dinner yesterday (it's so good though - and arby's is as blue as it's gets!) and room service from the crappy restaurant in my not-so-crappy hotel. room service is just not very glamorous when your salad looks like something you get at a denny's in arkansas and the shrimp in your shrimp cocktail have a weird slimy texture. but i digress.

so good things and bad things about being in casper.
bad things:
-it downpoured on me yesterday while i was measuring water levels in monitoring wells. which resulted in me having to don my sorority windbreaker and curse under my breath.
-i spent three hours looking for a well that i needed to sample. and after talking with an adjacent property owner, discovered that they PAVED over it. no amount of diggin' on my part will ever uncover that bad boy.
-i ate slimy shrimp
-hard hats and orange vests really don't do much for me
-spiders lurking in well vaults
-smelling like diesel at the end of the day
-when i realized that i accidently used the zeroing vaccum tube while field testing for iron; and of course i had no spares (i won't try to explain..i'd be surprised if you know what i'm talking about and aren't in the industry)
-driving by the dick cheney federal building on the way to the job site

good things:
-i have a high speed wifi connection so i can do my homework (wait.. is that good or bad?)
- i actually did said homework and won't have it lingering over my head all week.
-i discovered a "GAP CLEARANCE" store at the mall here.. and it rocks! for $100 i got: 4 work skirts, pair of workout pants, sleep shorts, 1 cami, 2 baby gifts, and 4 maternity dresses (to sell on ebay - not for me!). there are only 3 of these stores in the whole country! they do banana republic, gap, and old navy items. and the place is freakin' huge with racks and racks and racks of clothes!
- i don't have to go to the gym because i get a better workout lifting 5 gallon pails of water and various other equipment in and out of the truck and i'm on my feet all day.
- i have a 2 minute commute to the job site
- i get to charge travel time
- i am reimbursed for the few thousand i'll put on my credit card, AND i get to keep the miles! (and earn hotel points)
-giving the dick cheney federal building the finger as i drive past

Maple syruping/sugar bushing (including carrying buckets, carrying wood)?

so i use this program called fitday. it's great for logging food and activities and seeing various reports such as if you've met your vitamin daily requirements, what percentage of fat is in your diet, etc.

some things about this program make me wonder who on earth created it. on several occasions, i have searched for a seemingly normal food or activity and haven't been able to find it. however, it's not an issue of the database being too small - it's actually very extensive, because it is populated with food that i've never heard of and activities that a normal person will probably never do in their lifetime.

for example. snowboarding or the elliptical trainer are not listed activities, but the following are:

Maple syruping/sugar bushing (including carrying buckets, carrying wood) - what did you do this weekend kt? oh, si and i went maple syruping - it was a blast! nothing like making your own syrup over a campfire. mmm mmm!
Unicycling - for all the clowns that are trying to lose a few pounds
Slimnastics - must be a fad exercise from before my time.
Digging worms, with shovel - and this is different from plain digging?
Caulking, chinking log cabin - sorry, i can't make it to the party this weekend, i'll be chinking my log cabin!
Digging sandbox - again, different from regular digging, how?
Furriery - i don't even know what the hell this is.
Sitting on toilet - because i'm sure the extra 2 minutes of "exertion" burns WAY more calories than "sitting, general"
Basketball, wheelchair - i'm all about equal rights for disabled people.. but it's not like there's an entry for basic wheelchair driving. do people in wheelchairs only play basketball?
Wallyball, general - a new sport played by the minimum wage earners, involving a smiley face ball and $1.57 stick?

the food is just as bad. whoever created this must be from latin america because there are a ton of dishes puerto rican and mexican style, mostly with ingredients i've never heard of and don't really want to try.

and it's not consistent. you can't find plain ranch dressing, only kraft brand. no regular vanilla ice cream, instead you get "ice cream, flavors other than chocolate". i'd say there was a difference between plain vanilla and say, chocolate chip cookie dough.. but on fitday all ice cream is created equal, unless it's chocolate!
search for "coffee" and get 7 pages of results, ranging from irish coffee to cuban coffee to coffeecake to coffee, regular, with cereal.

it is just not organized in a way that makes sense to me. the potential for it to be an amazing resource, with a database of all restaurant and branded food is incredible! but i guess you get what you pay for..

are we finally getting what we deserve?

so, like all americans right now, my heart goes out to the hurricane victims. i donated to red cross today (since apparently my tax money was better spent on a useless war and a bridge to nowhere).

here's the link if you want to donate- they take as little as $5.

let me preface this entry by saying that i love america very very much. so it tears me apart to watch it go down the toilet by a handful of irresponsible bureaucrats.

it's sad that our country is so preoccupied with foreign oil that our own security is ignored. being an environmentalist, i can't help but think that maybe if our government paid a little more attention to the environment, we could start combating the effects of global warming. science has been showing for awhile now that global warming is causing the temperature of the oceans to rise, which in turn creates the monstrous hurricanes we've seen lately.

why does our government constantly ignore science? it's not like the environment is just going to fix itself. methinks that if our country knew how devastating these hurricanes would be, people might have sacrificed a little and cut down our dependence on fossil fuels.

what does it take for people to carpool? or walk a quarter mile to the video store? or realize that a hybrid car costs about the same as a monster SUV, which you do NOT need unless you frequently offroad, have more than 3 kids, or have to haul animals and/or other things on a regular basis. If I can drive in a snowstorm and fit a home depot trip or snowboard equipment or a kitchen table in my civic, you can too.

we've gotten cheap energy for way too long - it's about time we pay for it. hopefully $3+/gallon gas will eventually encourage people to drive less. i'm not thrilled about the effect it will have on the cost of our consumer goods, but you know what? if it means that my children have a fighting chance at breathing clean air, i can adapt.

out in the west, we have the disadvantage of not having very good public transportation systems - mostly because our cities are so spread out. denver is finally putting in some new lightrail, which is a great step - but it's taken a long time and a lot to convince tax payers to pony up an extra percentage of a percent sales tax.

so while i'm still on my soapbox, let's talk taxes. no one i know LIKES paying taxes. the intelligent citizens realize that without taxes, our country would fail. there would be no public schools, policeman, fireman, roads, dams, culture, etc. the scary thing is that i think a lot of people in this country don't even realize all the things that taxes pay for. and they don't realize that the average american is carrying most of the tax burden, while the filthy rich corporations and people pay virtually NOTHING in comparison into the system. and what i REALLY don't understand is why more people aren't OUTRAGED? it's like the bumper sticker i've seen- if you're not completely appalled, you haven't been paying attention.

so what gives? why can't we plan for the future? give our kids a decent chance with this planet? improve the quality of our life?

america is like an unruly teenager. it thinks it's invincible and always right. it defies older countries, and doesn't respect different viewpoints. it sulks. it doesn't want to put money in savings when it could be buying the latest video game. it's obsessed with more exciting issues that aren't important in the long run, and ignores boring issues that could wreak havoc. when something bad happens, it expects to be bailed out, without owning up to it's actions or lack thereof.

i have tough love for america because i want it to grow into a responsible, conscientious adult, with integrity and compassion.

so wake up america, and stop being so fucking self indulgent!

believe me, you'll be thankful when you're older.