Puppy Love

We made an incredibly quick trip to the Mitten yesterday. We had planned on going up for the week-end a few weeks back, but it didn't work out. Martin's dad was very disappointed, so he gave Martin a ticket on the Guilty Train and off we went.

They have a new Boxer puppy, nine weeks old. His name is Willem and he is adorable, as you can see. Willem is going to be a big boy. He already weighs twice as much as my pocket Pom and is twice her size.

I'm a dog magnet. Nearly every dog I meet loves me. Every dog Martin and I have ever owned has become my dog. I'm their mommy. Willem was no different. My dogs were pretty pissed when we got home and from my smell of puppy, it was obvious I'd been cheating on them.

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I'm reading Kitty Kelly's latest book, Oprah.
(Note: I got mine at Target for a lot less.) I've never watched a lot of Oprah's show, but of course, I'm familiar with her story and her works. The book is explosive. The best way I can describe the revelations in the book is that Oprah has distorted several facts of her life and is not the transparent person that she presents herself to be. Also, it is not a good idea to make the O mad; she went sixteen years without talking to David Letterman after he pissed her off on his show. That is just one example of her ability to neither forgive, nor forget, and her power. The sheer power of the woman is incredible. Sometimes, she does use that power for good.


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I quite like my new job. No one there is crazy. I've worked in some interesting places. One job, the boss was a complete paranoid loon; he kept a loaded gun in his desk and was just off

At another job at a car dealership, one of the salesmen was arrested in Detroit for soliciting a prostitute. His demo was impounded. When the demo was picked up, there was a very large woman's shoe (bronze leather mid-heel open toe pump, an 11 at least, which makes you wonder which waters the above mentioned salesman was trolling) under the seat, along with an empty bottle of vodka.

I worked for a company that scammed poor people out of their money under the guise of repairing their credit. We ran commercials about our "services" and people called an 800 number that directed them to a 900 number that charged $3.95 a minute to take a "credit app" from them then turned them over to "underwriting", which then directed them to a finance company in their area that might give them a loan. I have a feeling this is operating again, or at least a good imitation, since I've seen commercials that are eerily similar. That boss was fairly paranoid, as well.

Boss The Father at one place I worked was a nasty dry drunk, one of the worst I've ever seen. I'd worked there about a week when a delivery guy was dropping off a rebuilt engine that Boss The Father was overcharged for. He went berserk on the poor driver, who took off in a blaze of dust and called 911, which prompted the cops to come out, where BTF ranted at them as well.

It's nice to have a job, and it's nice that it's normal.

Welcome To The Working Week

So I got a job. It's in an office setting, doing the type of work I've done in the past. I'm excited.

I will lose my daytime tv, though, which means I will miss such shows as Unsolved Mysteries, which I've been watching every morning on Spike. Its no surprise that I love that show; it's exactly the type of show my mom and I would have watched together. The host, Dennis Farina, is perfect; his voice always has that tinge of suspicion, like you know he doesn't really believe what this so-called witness is blathering about. I love it when it veers off into Fate magazine territory, as well. On those segments, he sounds completely convinced that the person relaying these incidences is absolutely credible, while whatever authorities involved are obviously part of a huge cover-up. My mom had a subscription to Fate for years and years, along with the National Enquirer. She called them her scandal sheets and hid them when people were coming over.

Yesterday was Martin's fortieth birthday. We went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill, Martin's choice, where Mia took our picture. (I photograph so badly; I always feel like I should say, "You know, I'm a lot cuter in real life.") Our waiter was a hoot but the food was pricey for what it was, which was ehhh. Nothing great, just okay. I'll take Buca di Beppo anyday.

Tomorrow, Martin has the day off and I had to coerce him into spending the day doing all our week-end running around. He wanted to go hide in the Train Cave and work on his choo-choo but I convinced him that he can do that all day Saturday and Sunday.

Only in the D.

Notes From The Bat Cave

The Easter Bunny is the lesser of the childhood mythical deities. He's above the tooth fairy somewhat (after all, he does bring candy) but much farther down the rung than Santa, who is, you know, the Grand Poobah of all childhood mythical deities.

The Easter Bunny brings Barbies to my house. This year, Barbie almost smothered in her basket, wired tightly into her pink convertible, wrapped in 6000 yards of pink cellophane but thankfully none of that shredded grass. She was buried in various candy products, and it had been a rough hop in that basket. Mia had helpfully drawn a huge Easter Egg on our sidewalk that had an arrow pointing to our door, in case the Easter Bunny had been hitting the Bloody Marys, pregaming for Easter Lunch and might have missed us.

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I wasn't sad to see Michigan State lose to Butler; I was mad. The Spartans did not bring their best game to Indy. However, I was thrilled for Butler; that's what March Madness is all about. Who had ever hear of Gongaza before they suddenly showed up during Sweet Sixteen all those years ago? Lehigh made it to the dance, LEHIGH. There's always lots of nail biters, hearbreakers and big surprises.

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Martin's turning forty this week. He's already an avid model railroader and has asked me to start buying the "special" ice cream; next, he'll have to be careful not to poop his pants when he sneezes, since he's old now.

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I had a job interview last Thursday, my first in over three years. I had a second interview today, and start with an orientation next Monday.