Jury Doody...part 2

Ok, so when I left off, the mule was in FBI custody and had agreed to let the agents search her luggage and to cooperate fully with them. The two agents and the mule boarded another Southwest flight (with fake cocaine), and eventually, made it to Pennsylvania. Once there, the mule called the person we shall refer to as "the driver", to alert him that she had landed and was ready to be picked up. The driver picked the mule up, took her luggage, and put it in the trunk. At this point, the FBI agents were following the driver and the mule; they had to drive back to a town in Ohio, which was going to take about an hour. Any conversation between the driver and the mule were NOT recorded.

After driving back into Ohio, the driver and the mule finally arrive at the dealer's house. The driver takes the mule's luggage into the dealer's house, and about 5 minutes later the DEA busts in a pretty much arrests everyone. The FBI take the mule into the garage; during this time, the defendant is attempting to contact the mule and the dealer, all to no avail, since they are both in custody. At the dealer's house, the DEA seizes nearly $188,000, scales, and other drug paraphernalia.

Once the raid at the dealer's house is done, the FBI escort the mule back to the airport in Pennsylvania, and back onto a plane which eventually lands back in Oakland. At the exact moment she is supposed to land, the defendant calls her, and although she landed 25 minutes early, she doesn't answer because the FBI agents she is with want to attach a recording device to her phone.

Once the recording device is attached, the mule calls (actually chirps on a push-to-talk phone) the defendant back; he answers and is clearly pissed about having no contact with anyone involved for the past 12-14 hours. She explains that the dealer's house was raided and they got all the cocaine and all the money, and let her go only because the driver had been carrying the luggage and she was just a guest, and had distanced herself. He apparently buys this story and when she tells him she just wants to go to Reno to see her kids, he says that she needs to meet him before she does anything.

Once the mule arrives back at her brother's mobile home, she chirps the defendant to let him know she is there, and about 10 minutes later, two FBI agents see the defendant arrive in a silver Mercedes SUV. The conversation that takes place at the mobile home is mostly about how he is annoyed that he lost $177,000, but is glad that he at least didn't send 7 kilos, which was the original plan, and that he has 3 more kilos in play here in California, and can try to make up some of the money that way. He assures the mule that they can't touch her now that she is back in California, and that he wasn't at the scene, so he is immune also.

-----------------------
Cut to October...
The FBI and DEA execute a search warrant on the home owned by the defendant's estranged wife. In the home, underneath the washing machine, they find more than $40,000. Under the wife's bed, they find another $8,000. The wife claims in court that she likes to keep half of her liquid assets in cash in her home because she doesn't trust banks. Keep in mind that, at the time, this same woman was making approximately $50,000 a year, and she had almost that much in her house. I personally, found this whole thing really odd, but whatever.

The FBI finally caught up with the defendant on October 8, and there were seriously SO many cell phones entered into evidence. In my mind, he was guilty, and I am glad the jury felt the same.

Jury Doody...part 1

Ok, so I just got a call from the court clerk that my fellow jurors reached a verdict of guilty on all three counts, so I can dish about the trial.

The defendant was charged with (1) Conspiracy to distribute cocaine; (2) Attempted distribution of cocaine; and (3) Distribution of cocaine. Here is the glossy overview of testimony and evidence:

On 9/16/08, the FBI intercepted the defendant's drug mule carrying 6 kilos of cocaine at Oakland International Airport. They had been monitoring her flight activity, since she was taking frequent trips to and from OAK to Philadelphia and not even staying more than 24 hours at a time. Allow me to back up and provide a timeline of that day, as based on phone calls and witness testimony (both the mule and the FBI agents).

The mule woke up around 3:30am, and from that time until the time she went through TSA security (at 5am), she was in contact with the defendant. On her way to the airport, she stopped by some hotel in Emeryville and dropped off 1 kilo to the defendant. Around 4:45am, she went to the Park and Call lot at the airport, and handed off the remaining 6 kilos of cocaine, in a black duffel, and her green roller bag to another guy who had a standby ticket on a different flight. At around the same time (5:05am), both she (the mule), and the guy she'd handed off her bag to went through 2 different security checkpoints at the airport. By this time, the guy with the mule's luggage has been in contact with a Southwest employee, and presumably, handed the cocaine over to said employee. This employee was on video entering the airport through the employee secure entrance wearing a humongous jacket, despite the testimony that it was a warm day. We see on video the guy with the luggage in the bathroom at the same time as the Southwest employee; we infer that they are transferring the cocaine from the jacket to the duffel bag at this point.

After both men exit the restroom, the man who had met the mule in the Park & Call met her again, in the cafe at the airport, and handed back her luggage to her. She then went to the bathroom and, again, we reasonably presume, transferred the cocaine from the duffel to her roller and her oversize Coach handbag. It was at this point that she went to her gate, and was intercepted by FBI agents.

Keep in mind, that during this entire time period the defendant was in phone contact with the man the mule met at the Park & Call and the mule herself, and the Park & Call guy was also in phone contact with the Southwest employee. The mule had already texted the defendant to say that everything was okay.

While in FBI custody, one agent took the mule's luggage and had it x-rayed and sniffed by a drug-sniffing dog. The x-ray showed 5 unusual square shapes in the roller bag and one in the Coach bag. At this point, when confronted with the mounting evidence, the mule agreed to cooperate and work with the FBI on the case. By this time, the mule had missed her original flight, and so ended up on a flight several hours later with 2 FBI agents.

Part 2 later....

A brutally honest assessment of this year

So, some people write Christmas newsletters; I will attempt to give you a look at what life was really like this year, without glossing it over.

In January, I had an endoscopy to confirm my diagnosis of Celiac disease. The results, as you know, came back positive, so I have been on a gluten free diet ever since. On the 9th, I turned 30, which is fine; age is just a number, and since I still act like a teenager (in some respects), it's all good. Many friends came for my birthday party, which was a gluten free potluck. It was really nice to see everyone; I have the BEST friends!

In March, I celebrated 3 years at Cropper Accountancy, which sorta blows my mind. Yes, sometimes work is completely exasperating, especially since most of us are LDS and are all up in each other's business.

In late spring, I adopted a precious little Chihuahua mix from ARF, and kept her name as Darla. I like to think that she was like me; getting a little older, and sometimes a bit snarky, but if you loved her, she loved you back 10 times more. She got excited whenever I came in, and loved to go on walks and play with me. Unfortunately, the last time I saw her was on September 20, when I dropped her off at Michelle's house. Shortly thereafter, she was sent on to dog heaven; I feel a sense of guilt that I didn't say a proper goodbye to her, and hope that she is there in whatever degree of heaven I go to.

The middle part of the year was mostly boring; I did learn a lot about how to remodel bathrooms and kitchens. I also learned that you have a good chance of getting a free backyard remodel if you hang out at the West Sacramento Ikea.

September brought a big change; on a sunny Sunday, Mike came over and watched X-Files on my TV for several hours, then we went to the Athey's for dinner, and so I could see my dog (and walk her). While we were there, I answered a question that had been posed by Mike's brother, and apparently my response was not appreciated. We got into a little tiff, which ended back at my house with this exchange:
ME, "Are you EVER going to trust me as much as you trust your mom and your brother?"
MIKE (after several seconds of silence), "Probably not. I prayed about it this morning, and I'm not supposed to marry you."
I am the first to admit that he was right; we were not supposed to get married. It took me about 36 hours to figure that out and be okay with it. What I didn't understand, and quite frankly, still don't, is why he needed 8 hours to "mull it over" while watching TV at my house. HUH??? Anyway, I learned a lot from our year together, and am super thankful to the amazing people I still have in my life who happily let me make mistakes. Having the gospel, and knowing how much God loves me (and Mike, for that matter), made a HUMONGOUS difference. Terri told me I should write a book called How to Handle a Breakup. The draft is still forthcoming ;)

In October, I went to Disneyland with Lisa, Hillary, and Rachel. It was amazingly fun; I had forgotten how much I love that place, and traveling in general. The Tower of Terror still makes me giggle like a little girl every time, and the Halloween event was super fun; the Imagineers at Disney do great work. On Saturday night, we met up with Shaine and Kevin for a nice dinner; having that many friends with me at Disneyland was simply amazing.

Nothing super spectacular happened in November, but Lisa and I did do Black Friday shopping. Also, we are going on a cruise to the Caribbean in January - this is something I'd wanted to do for a long time, and no time like the present. The only other thing happening is that I have jury duty this next week. Once the trial is over, I will blog about that as well.

Happy ChristmaHannaWanzaaKah!

Katy

Black Friday

So, all of you know that the Friday after Thanksgiving is referred to as "Black Friday", because this is typically the start of the season when retailers enter the black in terms of revenue. Yes, Christmas shopping will do that for them; and we here in America have managed to elevate Christmas shopping (and bargain hunting) to some sort of crazed ritual. We forget about CHRIST part of Christmas, and turn this day into a consumer orgy.

So, naturally, Lisa and I went out last night to find some stuff. :) We left our condo around 2:15 with a plan, and for the most part we stuck to that plan.

First stop: Walmart, which ended up being an epic fail. Lisa was hoping to get some of these micro-chopping things, and by the time we got there, the store has been decimated and there was none left. I was hoping for a Brother sewing machine, but they didn't have the $50 deal on them until 5am, so we were too late for what Lisa wanted and too early for what I wanted. NEXT!

Second stop: Kohls, where we had much better luck. I ended up with 6 Christmas kitchen towels, 2 bath towels, a shirt for my dad, and 2 pairs of knee high socks. Lisa got some Pyrex for our kitchen, and some festive candle holders. I was happy that she got in line while I shopped and then we traded off so she could go look.

Third stop: Target. We actually ended up bailing out because we got there right at 4 when they opened the doors, and the line was about 200 yards long. Lisa went back after she dropped me off.

Fourth stop: the mall. We started a JC Penney, where they gave us a free mini Mickey snow globe upon entering the store. Both Lisa and I have a sweater addiction, so we looked at sweaters briefly before moving on to the jeans. Then, after trying on several pairs, I split off to go look at the unmentionables *snicker snicker* while Lisa stayed and looked at more sweaters. We met up downstairs in the lingerie checkout. Damage for me here was 2 pairs of jeans, a long-sleeve t-shirt, and 2 bras.

Next, we hit Bath and Body works, where we managed to sniff practically everything in the store before Lisa settled on 4 candles, the VIP bag, and some other stuff for her mom, and I got 2 candles and some vanilla foaming soap for the kitchen.

Final mall stop was Macy's; I got my grandma Joann her toaster oven, but stood, of my own fault, in the slowest line in the store. Lisa ran downstairs for some dad stuff and we finished roughly around the same time.

My final stop was Michael's. I didn't get anything, although we looked at fake trees. Lisa had more success.

Lisa finally dropped me off at 7am, and since neither of us had gone to bed yet, I quickly cleaned up and passed out. It was quite a successful and fun night!

Now is that gratitude?

Thanksgiving is in a couple days, and I just wanted to share a couple of the things I am grateful for this year (in no particular order) :
1. Heavenly Father, who is exceedingly patient with this horribly imperfect woman;
2. My family, who sometimes annoys me, but most of all, loves me. Especially my mom, who has a remarkable ability to verbalize what the little voice in my head is telling me;
3. The Atonement, because WOW, do I need the repentance process;
4. Friends, and other non-toxic relationships;
5. The fact that I am debt-free;
6. Chocolate;
7. Sewing night; thank you to Amy for sharing her machine and knowledge with me;
8. Laughter; being able to laugh at myself is such a blessing
9. A job; even though getting up in the morning is often disappointing, I am glad to be financially independent and employed when so many are looking;
10. The lessons learned in the past year.

I am also grateful for the five of you who regularly read this blog; it provides an outlet for me to express myself. Yes, I censor myself, but only because I don't want to make life any more awkward for you than it already is. *tear fingers*

Emergency fun!

Okay, so this happened almost a week ago, but it's still worth an entry.

I had been experiencing escalating lumbar back pain for a couple weeks. On Saturday night, after returning home from Eddie Papa's and the movies, I got ready for bed, thinking that laying flat on my back would be really helpful. WRONG! No matter which was I laid in bed, the pain had gotten to a point that I was literally fighting NOT to cry. So, I put on my robe, marched myself to Lisa's door and knocked. I explained what was happening to Lisa, and she agreed to take me to ValleyCare's Emergency Department.

At the ED, we met a nice male nurse named Larry, who kept us entertained. So, I put on the fabulously stylish hospital robe, and they took my info. Then, another lady came in (I'm not sure if she was a phlebotomist), and asked me again where the pain was. She then proceeded to inject me in my arm and and either side of my hips with Dilaudid, Toradol, and Zofran. They definitely made the pain subside, but man, did they make me loopy. Luckily, Lisa was also keeping me occupied with Conference talks and pictures from Disneyland.

The doctor came in and told me I was going to have x-rays, just to make sure there were no compression fractures (there weren't), and once he had determined that, Lisa and I were free to go home, with my prescription meds. By this time, I should mention, it was around 3:30am. I got up to go to church on Sunday, but Lisa took one look at me and said, "no." But, because I have an awesome Bishop and amazing friends who hold the priesthood, I was still able to receive the Sacrament at home.

Dear Facebook minions,

I hate you. I have had a Facebook account for several years, and am on there enough (and have posted enough photos of myself that you could figure out I am not trying to impersonate a celebrity, whose REAL name, I might add it Kathryn Hudson Brand. Get a clue, and restore my account post haste.

Oh Shaine, where art thou?

I miss Shaine...I haven't seen her in over a week, which is far too long to go without a dose of her wit and humor. Shaine is a great listener, and knows how to make me laugh at life and myself. I find it particularly fun when she brings her own soup over for dinner, and we delight each other with our mutual love of size 10 shoes.

I know she is a married woman, but still...hand her over Kevin!

Love,

Me
:)

:)

Being a grown-up has good points and bad points. I live in a beautiful condo and have fabulous friends. I make enough money to do fun things, and no curfew. My parents still love and worry about me, but for the most part, they trust me to make me own decisions, and only offer advice out of love, and when prompted.

Being a grownup also means being responsible - it means owning your actions and taking control of your own life. Sometimes, being a grownup is "being grownup;" not word vomiting and taking a few deep breaths and moving on.

Bottom line: being grownup, for the most part, rocks. Remember friends, YOU CREATE YOUR OWN HAPPINESS. No one else can make you happy or unhappy - it lies entirely within your power, and that is something that grownups learn. :)

Treasure Trove

I was driving home from the temple, on the ramp from highway 13 to 580 the other day when traffic came to screeching halt. As luck would have it, it wasn't quite dark yet, and this gave me an excellent opportunity to observe all the "goodies" that had collected in the median and on the shoulder. If you are ever in need of some extra cash, I would highly recommend just putting on an orange vest and getting yourself out there, because in addition to the cans and bottles, there are wheel covers, drink coolers, bumpers, and all sorts of goodies out there. It's a collection Ariel would envy. Maybe we should truck some homeless people with their "will work for food" signs out there to earn some extra dough. I'm just sayin'!

At least I'll be free of static cling

So, most people have the problem where the dryer eats their socks. I, however, have been having the problem of finding used dryer sheets everywhere in my room. I can only assume that these escape when I bring my laundry in to fold it; somehow they fall down and then find their way to various corners of my room. Look; there's one wedged under my dresser, and there's one halfway under my bed. Oh, found another one in the sock drawer, and oh wow...how did one find its way into a shoebox?

My only thinking is that perhaps the gnomes who steal socks are playing some sort of joke on me...

squirt!

What is it with automatic faucets? The ones that don't work either have practically no flow, or you have to almost climb into the sink to get the sensor to register that you're waiting for water to come out. Then, they mount the faucet such that you end up touching everything and wondering why you're even bothering to wash your hands.

If the sink happens to be working correctly, it usually ends up spraying you all over and making you look like you've wet your pants. Then you get to deal with looking like an idiot in front of the automatic paper towel dispenser as you wave your hand in a frantic attempt to get a reasonable amount to dry yourself off.

I think they have secret cameras where they laugh at us. Yep.

I love my friends

But, man! You guys have been keeping me up WAY too late. When you don't go to bed until at least 1:30am on the weekend, it's sorta hard to go to bed at a reasonable hour on Sunday night.

Thanks for the good times this weekend - gluten free dinner, mafia, a fabulous Halloween party, and a wonderfully presented fireside.

The Happiest Place on Earth

On Friday night, Lisa, Hillary, Rachel and I drove down to Anaheim to go to Disneyland. We had a great time. We got there early enough on Friday to attend "Mickey's Halloween Party" which is limited to a certain number of guests, and involves them changing the entire ambience of the park. They have TONS of fog machines and play Halloween themed music, and they even have trick-or-treat stations where we happily filled our bags with LOADS of candy.





On Saturday, we got up early and headed back to the parks. We had so much fun, and met up with Shaine and Kevin for dinner at the Wine Country Trattoria.



Apparently, the excitement was NOT too much for Shaine, but Kevin and I "passed out" on Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy.




I had a great time, and was happy to be at Disneyland with such amazing and fun people. I can't wait to go back in December!

more thoughts..

On my Facebook page, my saying is, "a grudge is the heaviest thing you can carry." I truly believe that to be true. Me remaining angry at Mike and Kathi will do nothing to them, but will destroy my soul if I let it. Yes, my feelings are hurt that my dog, which I'd surrendered to them a month ago, was put to sleep without so much as a courtesy call, but there's nothing I can do about that now, is there? Mike told me he's, "tired of [my] bull...." and he never wants to talk to me again, a request I will comply with.

Throughout the whole ordeal that was our breakup, I remained silent and worked through my conflicting emotions alone. The only communication I had with him was to let him know that I know that this was for the best (via the Holy Ghost) and that I was passing my well-wishes along to Kathi when she got sick a couple weeks ago. I guess that was too much.

I learned some great things from Mike, for which I am grateful; I learned that you can't sweat the small stuff, I learned how to change the oil on my car, and I learned how to adapt to life with a chronic illness. But now, it's time to forgive and forget. I know that if I am to expect God to forgive me, I have to forgive then, even if they don't feel they did anything wrong. I got hurt, and now it's time to put some neosporin and a butterfly bandage back on and march bravely forward; I am definitely ready to have fun, travel, and date again.

TOFD

It is astounding to me how quickly wounds that had almost healed can be ripped open, then have salt rubbed in them. People who I opened myself to and cared about deeply seem to have no trouble acting as though I don't exist, and even if I do, I'm certainly not important. Since they blame me, I can't help but blame myself for being so naïve and making my heart so vulnerable, and for not recognizing that I would be figuratively euthanized the second I walked out the door.

I'm ready to get on with MY life, and have been for awhile. I'm tired...tired of trying to understand when they stopped caring and tired of feeling guilty for doing NOTHING wrong, tired of letting the adversary convince me that I don't deserve to be happy. According to pretty much everyone in my life, I am a good person and am worthy.

I need prayers right now, because the forgiveness and charity I've been working on are fighting against rage and sadness. Thank you to all of you.

...and WAY too many green beans

Monday, October 11th, 2010 was Canadian Thanksgiving. Yes, our friends to the north also celebrate Thanksgiving, since, as Sariah kindly explained, "the pilgrims came to THE AMERICAS."

That being said, Sariah has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Canada and so, at her urging, we hosted a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday the 10th. She and Jon did a fabulous job on the turkey, and several of us also did fabulous things with green beans...there were more green beans than there were mashed potatoes. Sauteed, baked into a casserole, and steamed.

It was lots of fun, and got me excited for Thanksgiving again in a month. Here are some pics from the fun festivities:

Jon does NOT have a drinking problem

Gingerbread cupcakes

Turkey; tryptophan coma to follow.

Lisa's very cute centerpieces

Dear Katie:

We will miss you; the state of Ohio is blessed to get you back, but it's our loss. I am excited for you to finally get school over with; as an eternastudent, I do not recommend staying in college forever - it gets annoying. You have an infectious laugh and such a giving heart, and you better believe that one or more of us will come out there to visit (whether you want us to or not).

Come back soon and often; especially for Disneyland!

Double-edged sword

America is a great country; we have rights and freedoms here that many wish they had, and indeed will go to great lengths to obtain. One of these rights is free speech. Unfortunately, many people use their right of free speech to try to say stupid things. Example A of this is the idiots at the Westboro Baptist Church, who have chosen to exercise their right to free speech to insult the military, gays, America, and basically everyone who has even a slight bit of intelligence. Nope, I definitely do not agree with their "God hates [insert group here]" message, but I have to say that they have a right to say it.

This is the great double-edged sword of free speech: if you agree that we have it, it applies to everyone. If not, then it also applies equally across all groups.

Domestic...bliss?

Amy (aka Mrs. Averett) has graciously volunteered to teach me, Lisa, Shaine, and Lyndy how to sew. The entails full use of a sewing machine, which even though hers is not the fancy model, and still be quite intimidating. There are all these loops and hooks that the thread has to go through, and then, if you press the pedal too hard, the needle really starts flying, and you better watch your fingers! I decided to start simple - a "roll" pillow, made with one piece of fabric and a 14"x6" pillow form. Although my seams were not quite straight, I am pretty pleased with how the pillow came out...



Any suggestions for my next project?

and i have the sunburn to prove it

So, Jeff and Daniel, two of my good friends, had the idea to go to Stinson Beach today. We headed out around 11, and had a great time. It was quite relaxing, despite the large crowd. There is something very soothing about the sound of the ocean. Here are a video and some pictures from our fun day at the beach. I am particularly fond of me with my shirt and sunglasses over my face. :)

The question no one's asking

So, it's fabulous that Sarah Shourd has been released from her 13-month imprisonment in Iran, but what I really want to know is this; with so many prime hiking locations in the U.S., WHY DID SHE AND HER TWO FRIENDS GO HIKING IN IRAQ???

Moving on...

I just want to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support over the past few days. More quickly than I thought (and mostly with the Lord's comforting hand), the sharp pain in my heart is fading to a dull ache. You can't argue or be upset with what Heavenly Father has planned for your life; all you can do is say to Him, "Ok, You know what's best - show me." Being at the temple last night was very comforting and helped me immensely.

I am glad that my dog has been officially adopted by the Athey family, and know she will have a happy and fulfilling life there, and am sincerely hoping that she entirely quits the indoor potty habit she had. I also hope that there are no hard feelings between any members of the family and me. Jen and Michelle, if you read this, I have some cute black & white photos of your boys from the BBQ after Benjamin's blessing that I would be more than happy to send you.

Thank you to friends for making me laugh, especially Sara last night who made me howl with memories of the inclining bed in our apartment in Barcelona, and ridiculous talk of intestinal discomfort and pneumonia.

E-mails

I buy stuff from the internet. You know, tickets, jewelry, etc. Doing this however, has put me on everyone's e-mail list, and despite repeated attempts to remove my name, I keep getting these emails! I get e-mails from Ticketmaster telling me about tickets on sale and specials for the week. They also send me presale offers, which rarely come in handy, since I have no interest in seeing say, Cap'n Joe & the Shrimp Shack Shooters on Sunday, May 15, 2011.

The SF Symphony sends me e-mails to spouting the virtues of their upcoming performances, and, more frequently, asking for a donation. The obnoxiousness of these e-mails is topped only by the weekly phone calls, which for some reason, always occur on Sundays.

Some bulk e-mails are okay: I like to know that Disneyland has a new "Big Thunder Suite" at the Disneyland hotel, even if I could never afford to stay in it. I do not want to know, however, that Disney Movie Rewards "misses me." Uh...how can an inanimate program miss me? What they are really saying is, "Why aren't you buying more Disney movies?"

Bottom line is, while I understand marketing, I feel like I am spending an inordinate amount of time hitting the DELETE button on all these e-mails. Make it stop!

Take me!

So, I was driving to work the other day and there was a boat on the side of 680. This gave me pause: how do these boats end up on the side of the freeway? I mean, is someone in a giant pickup towing his boat run out of gas and then decide to unhitch on the side of the road? What exactly was the thought process that occurred when they decided to leave their $100,000 boat sitting on the freeway? I mean, I could just come up and take it.

Winner Winner NOT chicken dinner.

Hello all! Mike and I have entered a contest that runs from today until August 25th. This is to win an engagement ring and an all-inclusive honeymoon from Diamond Nexus Labs. Vote for us early AND often at LOVE ROCKS! If you vote, you will also be entered to win a $1,000 gift card from them.

Who knew?

On Friday night, Mike accompanied me to San Francisco so I could meet a stranger and sell him the tickets I had to the Idina Menzel show. We got there earlier than the buyer, and parked on Franklin half a block from Grove just next to the Ballet. Little did we know that we would be in for a Jerry Springer-like drama....involving homeless people.

When we first pulled up, there was a homeless woman standing eating an apple next to her shopping cart, which was full of, among other things, bottles and cans. About 15 minutes after we got there, a pickup truck with tall plywood sides pulls up next to the woman. The man who got out of the cab was this big bald guy, and he loads the woman's cans and bottles into the back of his truck, hands her some money, and then she storms off, clearly irritated.

Just as the man gets back in his truck and is about to pull away from the curb, another homeless person, this one an African-American comes limping up the street with his shopping cart yelling at the guy not to leave. As the driver is unloading this shopping cart, yet another African-American street person rolls up with his. To make a long story short, he unloaded both carts and handed them money, and then the homeless guys started yelling at the driver. One of them got up in his face real close and I thought for a minute that we were going to see a fist fight between the homeless and their recycle manager. In the end, the driver was yelling, and he got back in the cab of his truck, slammed the door, and sped off. Who knew the homeless had so much drama?

Shameless plug

Mike is selling is DVDs that he no longer wants...find them here...http://www.amazon.com/gp/shops/storefront/index.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&sellerID=A113RJ8S9XHUOT

Inspected By

So, I look down at my shirt this morning, and lo and behold, there is a little sticker stuck to the front that says "QM 4." I assume this means quality manager 4, and is the person who inspected this shirt, although I did wash it last night, so it could have come off another shirt.

This makes me wonder again about the people who stick those stickers on there. Do they actually inspect my socks? Is there some little man sitting there with a magnifying glass making sure that the Chinese children working for 25 cents an hour are doing a good job? Who are you inspector 4?

Bathroom Etiquette

So, I open the door to the women's room at work yesterday, and there is a lady sitting on the pot in the middle stall....with the door to her stall open. After I got a quick peripheral view of WAY too much of her, she closed her door and made a comment about how claustrophobic it was. Um...okay. At least the doors on the stalls at work open out, which is more than I can say for many other bathrooms. Ladies - you know what I am talking about.

You go to the bathroom (the stalls in the women's room at the Dublin church building are a great example of this), and the door opens in, and swings within an inch of the toilet seat. This forces you to either straddle the seat or press yourself as close as you can to the stall partition just to get the door closed. And of course, the geniuses who designed the stall put the toilet paper dispenser on the same side of the partition as the opening to the door, so you are there with your leg practically in the toilet, your butt crushed by the toilet paper dispenser, and your hip being smashed by the door as you try to close it.

It's no wonder women go to the bathroom in packs - we need sympathy for our bathroom acrobatics.

Doggy, and other nonsense

So, two lovely women pointed out that I have not blogged in awhile. Part of this is because I have been driving 140 miles every day of the work week and trying to balance school and work and my social life. Clearly, I failed. :)

Anyway, as you can see in the picture on the left, there are three dogs. Becky is holding her dog, Bailey; I am holding Mike's dog Jessie, and Mike is holding the dog I adopted: her name is Darla.

Here's the deal: Mike and I looked at Darla mid-March, but her adoption fees were $225, and we were told that she has a heart condition as well as a bum leg from where her previously fractured pelvis had healed. We wanted to adopt her, but I am not allowed to have pets in my condo, so we needed to have Mike's parents meet her to make sure she would get along with them (and Jessie). We opted not to get her at that time.

On May 8, I noticed she had been listed as adopted on the twitter feed, but when I checked for the picture of her adoption on the ARF website the following week, it wasn't there. On Thursday, May 13, I went to the ARF page, and happened to notice that Darla was there on the main page with a note that her adoption fees had been prepaid. Mike immediately jumped out of his seat and called Kathi and Chuck to see if we could go down Friday afternoon and adopt her.

So, we went down there on Friday, and she met Jessie (again), Becky, Chuck, Kathi, and Bailey. Needless to day, everyone got along, and so she came home with us. She has settled in nicely to the Athey home, and the vet said she doesn't need her heart meds. I am grateful to the people who paid her adoption fees and gave us a carrier, a bed, a toy, a leash, and some food. She is super cute and quite feisty for an 11-year-old.

Close up

Mutant birdlings

So, if you are friends with me on Facebook, there is a picture on there of the mourning doves chicks which hatched a week ago. It has been very entertaining to watch them everyday. Some days are more difficult than others, because for the first little while, mama and papa were covering them a little too well for me to see. Yesterday, however, I opened my blinds in the morning to see that they were sitting in the nest alone. And today, it appears that at least one of them has made its first attempt to fly, as it was sitting on the ground this morning when I first awoke, but was back in the nest about half an hour later.

They have grown really fast, and are supposed to fully fledge by next week. I am glad, because when they first hatched, they were slightly scary looking things. Even now their beaks seem a little too big for their bodies. That, and they are pooping EVERYWHERE.

Self-destruct

Well, I am in one of those moods. You know, the mood where you try to think of all the self-destructive things you can do with your time? Most of the time, we manage to convince ourselves not to implode, but I am starting to think that maybe a good implosion is what I need now. Yep.

Silence

So, it occurred to me that I haven't posted in awhile. My apologies...I have been busy at work, with Mike, doing homework, and trying to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

So, just a random thought that popped into my head as I was speeding down 680 at 60mph this morning with a man in an SUV less than one car-length behind me...

Instead of sending tailgaters to traffic school or flipping them off, we should make them attend an 8-hour seminar entitled "The Laws of Physics and How They Apply to Driving" (aka Your car, which is a solid object, cannot pass through my car, which is also a solid object). To top it off, this seminar would be hosted by Ben Stein.

Thoughts?

Heartwarming....but wait

So, I heard this story on the news last night as I was driving home. Now, granted, I know that losing a pet can be hard, and that being homeless is undoubtedly the pits, but here's where I have a problem:

1. This guy has a cell phone. As those of you with cell phones can attest, even the cheapest plans are not cheap, and can run several hundred dollars a year.
2. This guy has a cat to begin with. Animals cost money to take care of. There was an article in the Tri-Valley Herald about a week ago that estimated the annual cost at around $500.

So, this homeless guy, who is collecting social security (your money), and panhandling (again, YOUR money), is spending all his (your) money on his cat and his cell phone...Does anyone else think something is wrong with this picture?

Jason Statham...I sense a theme....

I was standing in the ACTION section of Target's Blu-Rays last night, and noticed that something seemed similar about most of Jason Statham's covers. Let's see if you can spot the theme here...

Lost

Okay, so if you know anyone who watches it, or if you have a Facebook account, you probably know that the season premiere of the final season of Lost was last night. I'll be honest; I didn't watch it. I watched the first three seasons of Lost, and half of season four. I loved the show, but my problem was that every time I watched an episode, I literally felt like I needed to watch every single episode again so that I could make sense of what the heck was going on. I mean, we're flashing forward, we're flashing backward; I almost think it's humanly impossible to recall all the details of this show, and quite frankly, I have better things to do with my time than attempt to remember some tiny thing from Season 1 that is suddenly relevant 5 years later.

Of course, you know at some point I will put all of the seasons on my Netflix instant queue and have a brain-melting marathon. Curiosity...you know?

At the car wash, yeah

I had to go gas up my car yesterday, and the little thing flashed "do you want a car wash yes or no." I carefully weighed this decision on whether or not to wash my car, I mean, I haven't had it soaped up in a couple months. But, after I accounted for the fact that it was, at that moment, pouring water from the sky, and that we haven't really seen the sun (except for a brief respite this afternoon) in 5 days here in the Bay Area, and that the Athey's lawn is becoming a breeding ground for various types of mushrooms (both hallucinogenic and not), I decided to click NO. I think I made the right choice.

Blah blah blah

It's a new year! And guess what? I am starting my year as some sort of freakish medical experiment! Yes, that's right...I am PAYING for doctors to poke and prod me. There is a purpose to all this of course; a definitive diagnosis.

I ended 2009 by stopping my gluten restricting. Oh yes, dear friends, I ate at McDonalds, I had Chinese food, Hostess products, and sourdough bread. It was delicious. Of course, about 2 days into it, I developed a stomachache that wouldn't quit. But this was all in preparation for my Upper GI Endoscopy, which I had on January 4th. I admit, I was quite nervous, as I had never been put under IV anesthesia before. Michael took me over there on Monday morning and waited patiently in the lobby for about 45 minutes while the nurse took me back, got me hooked up the I.V., and then they knocked me out for about 15 minutes to do the procedure. The doctor took biopsies of my esophagus, my stomach, and my small intestine. Then, they woke me up and wheeled me out and gave me a juice box before bringing Mike in to give him my discharge instructions. Then I got wheeled to the car and spent the rest of the day vegging on my couch.

Tomorrow, I get to have an ultrasound (no I am NOT pregnant). In preparation for this procedure, I get to drink 32 oz. of water in half and hour and the hold it for an additional hour and a half (at least). I wonder if they'll give me a juice box when I am done there as well...

:)