Tracy the jetsetter....

....well, I wish. Yesterday, I took my roommate to the airport at o-dark-thirty for a flight to Salt Lake City and ultimately Jackson Hole, Wyoming where she is spending a week with one of her friends that works on a dude ranch. Then, my sister came in last night and I took her to the airport pre-o-dark-thirty for her flight today to, where elese, Salt Lake City, where she will be spending four days doing her favorite thing...scrapbooking. So, needless to say I am tired. Early to bed for me tonight.

Updates on dad.....he is STILL in the hospital and it is driving him NUTSO !! He hates it. Basically, they put the internal defibulator in late Tuesday and they wanted him to stay in bed and rest all day yesterday to get all the dyes, etc thru his system after the catheter and this little procedure. I think he was hoping to go home yesterday....but, no.....now, they want to check out his legs and lungs for possible clotting issues. So, today he has to have a cat-scan and a leg-scan to check that out and then they may put him on some kind of blood thinning drug which word has it takes some bothersome effort to regulate initially. Then with any luck, he will get to go home later today. Not sure how long he will have to be at home recovering until he can go back to work and how much he actually will be able to work when he goes back. But, I know he is antsy so being home will be an improvement.

Later.

P.S. Congrats Joey on 30 days - you're doing awesome !!! I love you very much !!!

A dad update......

......I'm not sure anyone is actually reading this blog anymore. But, for those of you that are.....my dad had his catheter yesterday and basically it went well. The blockage he has from his heart attack over 20 years ago is still pretty much the same, so that is actually good news with the most recent events. Today they will be putting in an 'internal defibulator' which monitors his heart beat and give him a little jolt if anything goes awry - the device is only the size of a micro-cassette and goes in right under his collar bone. Apparently, in this day and age this is a fairly common procedure so no worries. The procedure is at 4:00p EST today so keep him and my family in your thoughts during that time.

If you're reading.....I'll keep you posted.

Get well soon, dad !

The hardest part about living 2000 miles from my parents really comes out on weekends like this.....Saturday morning my dad had a mild heart-attack. He's in the hospital now mainly giving the nurses a hard time and getting irritated at having to stare at a clock all day. He's doing OK and they are going to do a heart catheter on him tomorrow morning to see what's going on in there. I'm hoping it was just a knock on his thick skull reminding him to eat better and get a little exercise.....but the catheter will tell us if it is more than that. It could require more angioplasty or even a bypass procedure but no need thinking about all the possibilities until we know more. So, I'll give another update tomorrow night.

Mom and Joey are doing OK, given all the craziness......I'm glad they have each other during times like this. I just wish I was there to give them both a big HUG !!!

Peace and rest to all three.....and, please, keep them in your thoughts a prayers.

Off to Abilene........ciao !

Whew....this is more challenging than I thought.....

....so today was the first day we really took calls from home on our own with the new job....and I am exhausted. The thing is, I know what I am doing but doing it in their systems with their methods is proving to be quite the trick. It's just a matter of developing a flow and getting into all the systems when you need them. Time will make it all come together but today was flat out exhausting. And, they are so busy reminding us what to do differently, that it is hard to be sure you are doing anything right at all.

Tomorrow is Friday and then we have a weekend which I think all of our brains and nerves will need in order to start fresh on Monday. Keep me in your thoughts.

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen,"

When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

KELLY STRONG
Commander - Unites States Coast Guard

- - - - - - - - - - - -

My thoughts and prayers go out today to all of the military men and
women of today and yesterday as we celebrate the birth of a great nation.

Happy 4th of July !!

Seriously, what is going on in the advertising world....

...lately, it seems I am seeing more and more idiotic commercials than ever.....downright annoying....and not in that way that makes you remember them...but rather makes you vow to NEVER buy the product. Maybe I need to change my course of education, 'cause I think they need some new blood, not to mention, talent, in the industry. Here are just a couple that I am ashamed to even give any more credence to......

Sprite SubLYMONal - click if you want to be annoyed

Here's one of the many annoying Toyota Yaris commercials :



Skittles - here is a web page showing two.....basically, these are just wrong.

As I see them this week ... I'll add more. I know you want to comment and add your own.....come on, give 'em to me.

Training

So, just a REAL quick update to say that training is going well. I am enjoying it....it seems like not only is working at home going to be great.....but the job and company too. Training ends at 6:00p on Saturday and then I am "off" until Wednesday when the IT group will be calling to update my computer. Then a few days of getting my "office" ready and playing around with the software and I start taking calls on Monday, July 10th. I'll post more when training concludes.

My obsession has ended......

......well, my Dirk Nowitzki obsession has officially ended.....I've searched the internet and read and viewed about everything on him and basketball season is over for now; so, I am done. For the ladies, this parting picture which I found while on my quest to know everything about the German..... ::sizzle::

Weekend update.....

So, yesterday I went to Hillsboro for my best friend's dad's birthday. He is the big 7-0. I really love my friends family. They are very close like my own and although this was a big milestone they tend to get together often for family gatherings which I have been fortunate to have participated in many times. I haven't seen many of them for awhile because mine and Charles' lives have been so busy and our free time conflicting but I hope we can remedy that in the coming months. As requested on my invitation, I brought homemade chocolate chip cookies [without nuts] and needless to say everyone was happy to see me when I got there.

Today, Sunday, I am working on re-organizing my bedroom which will soon be my bedroom/office. Once I move, I will move the office out of my room to the dining room or maybe a sunroom but for now it will stay in my bedroom. I need to get some shelves for my personal stuff so my desk area can be business only. But, that will have to wait until next payday....which is fine.

Tomorrow, Monday, I have the day off because our training starts on Tuesday. I am spending most of the day doing school stuff, going to TCC and UTA to make sure all of the Ts are crossed and Is dotted in time for the fall semester. Hopefully, my financial aide is in place otherwise I'll also use this time to see what their payment plans are like for tuition/books. I'm going to try and squeeze in a lunch with Charles tomorrow too if he calls me.

Well, that's it for now. I'll update more tomorrow night before my big training day.

I hate nut grease.

Remember when I said I loved to make my titles something that would make you want to read them…….?? How was this one ?? Ha ha.

So, today is my last day at Encore Payments Systems…..it's a sad and happy day. I am sad to be leaving so many great people that were really there for me when I needed it. But, I am happy about the new job that starts Monday.

Oh yeah….the blog title. I promised to make Curtis some chocolate chip cookies for his last day here at Encore [which is also my last day] and his only request was that I put WALNUTS in the cookies. Now, I am not a fan of nuts in my cookies but I gave in and made them last night. Well, when you add nuts to cookies…..in this case walnuts…..it adds what I call ‘nut grease’ to the batter and that makes the cookies bake flatter….which I hate. As my roommate can tell you, I am VERY particular about how the cookie from the oven LOOKS. It has to be the perfect brown on the outside with a crunch and soft a yummy on the inside and it absolutely CANNOT be flat. So, there you have it….I hate nut grease.

Have a nice day.

I still love ya.....

Well, I had hoped the Dallas Maverick's would come back to their home court and get their act together but I guess it just wasn't meant to be this year. I am still a fan and still proud of them for getting to the finals..........and Dirk, I still love ya ! With all that double-teaming and still 29 points and 15 rebounds last night, I'm still your #1 fan.

Change is good.....

When I started this blog…..my first title was CHANGE IS GOOD … and now that is the title again. Well, change is good and here is another one for me :

Two weeks after I started working for Encore, I was contacted by an industry recruiter about a potential job in the area. Basically, the company he represented was creating what they called ‘a pod’ of home-based employees in the Dallas area. The job would be providing customer service and technical support for credit card terminals and the merchants that use them. My training for the new job, starts Tuesday, June 27th….and will last for 5 days. Then, I am on my own from home. The beauty of the new job is that once my 3-month probation period is up I can get a more flexible schedule which will help me finish my college goals sooner. PLUS, no more commuting, no more toll-tag, no more dress-up clothes, no make-up….etc.

It was a tough decision no matter the benefits…..I am a loyal employee and I am very grateful for the opportunity I had at Encore when my career was on the line. They welcomed me with open arms and I was a nervous wreck the day I gave my notice. But, as expected, Matt was awesome about it and very understanding.

I’m looking forward to the new challenges that lay ahead and I plan to share it all with you here. Please feel free to leave comments or contact me in some other way if you have any questions about the new job. Oh, by the way, it is with a company named Cynergy Data based in Manhattan, NY.

GO MAVS !!!!

Don't even get me started.......

…on the Mavs game last night. Referees determine who wins games, not players, not awesome plays, not even coaches…..referees. And, apparently this season they are all fans of the Miami Heat. I know my Dirk and his team will step it up now that they are back in Dallas so I am not worried….but sheeesh !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIRK !! Today is Dirk's birthday.

This weekend was a busy one…..Friday night was the usual No Frills Grill for food, drink and NTN trivia. Saturday I got up fairly early and Courtney and I went to see The Lake House with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. It was VERY good…..I don’t want to give anything away on it but I can say it does NOT end like City of Angels….so I hope that helps. In the parking lot as we were going in, we saw this bumper sticker in the window of a car. Any ideas on what this might stand for ??? Anyone, anyone ??

Saturday night, I went to my friend Bev’s wedding. We have been friends for - wow - half my life. And she married an awesome guy, James. If I could have described the perfect guy for her, it would have been this guy. Here are a couple of pictures of her in the bride room before the wedding :

Sunday, I drove to Denton and cruised around looking at apartment options. I am thinking about moving there so I can be close to UNT to work on my school stuff. I was disappointed at how run down most of the town was. I haven’t ruled it out yet, but it does require some additional thought. On the way home I stopped at Wal-Mart for a few items and during a bathroom break [I know - more than you wanted to know] I saw this in one of the bathroom stalls :

When I die, please do not memorialize me in a bathroom stall. Please. And, in case you ever hear in the stall next to you “Say, cheese !” it may just be someone’s camera phone taking a picture of bathroom graffiti. I’m just sayin’

Nbr41sGirl

So, many of you that know me, know that my email address is Nbr8sGirl@...... some have asked what this means and some probably could care less. I have had this email address since Troy Aikmen joined the Dallas Cowboys and the expanded version ‘Number 8s Girl’ reflects my dedication to Troy - Dallas Cowboy’s #8. Well, even though I will not be changing my email address…..going forward, I would like to call myself Nbr41sGirl since my new sporting crush is Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks.

Now, you may be saying that my devotion is misplaced since he shot 2 of 14 in last nights game four against the Miami Heat, but I say…..”pleh”…he’ll be back in full form on Sunday….and I still feel that the Mavs will win the series.

So, until then…….GO MAVS !!!

Signed, Nbr41sGirl ::wink::

Are you in the right place.....

If you want to read about serious topical things that may even spur a conversation or debate, then I would recommend you click on DIGITAL FORTRESS over there to the right. However, if you want to read stories about people burping loudly in the movie theatre or bumper stickers that read ‘Silly boys, trucks are for girls…..” then you are in the right place…..

So, I was at the movies the other day….either The Break Up or The DaVinci Code….and there is this man sitting in the row in front of me with his wife and daughter. We are fairly early so the only thing going on in the theatre is the slide show of repetitive movie trivia and not once but TWICE the man in front of me burps and I mean BURPS….loudly. His wife and daughter don’t even turn to look at him and he acts as if nothing happened which makes me infer that this is normal behavior for him and even in public places. Interesting. I mean, at the very least, I think an acknowledgement with a ‘Excuse me” or something to his companions. Now, even if he has a medical condition of some sort, I still think an acknowledgement is needed in a PUBLIC place. If he’s at home, who cares, they are probably used to it.

Anyway, that’s is my totally non-political blog for the day. Stay tuned for an important blog tomorrow … or maybe later tonight.

Hurricane Alberto

Seriously, I can only handle one Alberto in my life at a time…..and I already have one, thank you. So, for those of you watching this storm today, please keep my parents and brother in your thoughts…..they are on the outskirts of the storm and should be OK but with hurricane season in full force now, they can use the extra positive thinking on any of these occasions.

Final Vacation Recap....kinda long and very late.

Sorry for the delay. Life has been CrAzY to say the least. So, where were we.......ah, yes. Disney World. We decided to just go to downtown Disney and not to an actual park...none of us had $60 bucks to spend to get in and Downtown Disney is just as fun, well almost. ::wink::

So, here are a few pics from the trip.

Of course, there was a lot of emphasis in the Disney Store on 'Pirates of the Caribbean' so here is dad with some of the cast......

And, here are Joey and I trying on a couple of hats [taken with the camera phone] .... mine seemed fairly appropriate.....well, maybe they bother are. ::wink::

And, then my favorite store ... the lego store. These first two pics are of a serpent in the lake. This thing is made entirely of legos - awesome :

And this one - WOW !

And then you go inside, and you get this :

It is a life-size full body lego sculpture, I just took a pic of the head. The store itself is amazing. This next picture is just a huge section of walls with legos in every shape and color.

And then this wall.......can you guess what this is??

Then we went to Coronado Springs Resort for lunch.....yummy as usual. And then for a drive over to The Animal Kingdom Lodge. I don't know why I didn't take pictures of the inside because it was AWESOME....but I did take pictures of the animals that surround the backside of the resort. Imagine having a room facing one of these views :

Then it was time to head back to Punta Gorda.....on Monday, we went down to Casey Key where we had lunch at Pop's. Once when we were there we actually saw a Manatee surface in the waterway but today our only visitor was this bird :

Well, the rest of the week was spent going to the dentist, yes, the dentist. When your mom works for a dentist you get in for FREE stuff whenever you are in town. I lost about a pint of blood [the dental assistant said a gallon] on the first day I was there but the second and last day was much better even though it did involve a scalpel and a dissolvable stitch. OUCH !

Oh, and playing cards, and NTN trivia and going to see Mission Impossible III. You have yummy meals cooked by my mom and Joey. You hang out at 'Pinch-A-Penny' a couple of times when dad and Joey are selling pool/spa stuff and doing water tests. You go wash love-bugs off of everyone's car a few times ... here's a poor picture [phone camera] of the front of Joey's car after it had been attacked by the little bastards :

We did quite a few other things while we hung out just being a family.....the best vacation ever !!

Now, that I have finished the vacation recap....I'll get back to regular blogging this week. Until then.....ciao !

We interrupt this vacation recap with the following announcement.....

Jeff got a job !

That is all.

I’m baaaccckkkkk…..

So, I’m back. And, here I am at work….yuk ! I had a great time visiting with Mom, Dad and Joey for 10 WHOLE DAYS. I plan to do a recap of the trip over the next few days including some pictures.

As mentioned over a week ago, I arrived safe and sound on Thursday, May 25th around 10:00p. Mom, Dad and Joey were there to greet me of course. Mom was off work for the next four days and Dad was off work for three of the next four days so we were able to go out and about for the long weekend. You may notice me mention MEALS a lot in my recap posts which is due to the fact that I had made numerous requests of my mom and brother on what homemade meals I wanted to eat while I was there. They are both great cooks and know my favorites.

As mentioned previously, on Friday [the 26th] we went to see OVER THE HEDGE which was great. We were going to go down to Casey Key that day but it was rainy and muggy so we decided on an afternoon movie instead. After the movie we went to the store to pick up dinner fixins and then home for dinner and a little NTN Trivia.

Saturday [the 27th], dad had to work so basically Mom and I ran errands. We met Joey for lunch at TGI Friday’s and then headed home to get dinner ready. This was our first night playing cards…..we play this awesome game called SHANGHAI which is kind of a progressive-rummy type game. I, in some kind of wrinkle in the space-time continuum, won the game.

Sunday [the 28th] was Disney Day…..updates and pictures on that tomorrow.