Can I smack someone??????

The idiots are coming out of the woodwork now....and are they being full blown assholes (pardon my language)

Yesterday while driving home, I was listening to the radio...a gentleman called in wanting to know the number to file a complaint with FPL (Florida Power and Light). It seems that when the FPL trucks came to restore power to his house...they had to park on the swale in front of his house and OMG.... they tore up the grass and left tire marks....

WHAT????....Did I hear this jerk correctly????? Oh you poor man...I am so sorry that there are tire marks on the swale (which in most places is PUBLIC property) while they restored power to your house..*note the sarcasm*..I personally think that yes....FPL should go out and re-sod his swale........and shut his electric off until after the Holidays.......

My heart goes out to these poor FPL guys (and to all the guys from the neighboring states and countries that are here helping) that are out there working 14,16 sometimes 20 hours a day to restore power to the some 300,000 that still do not have power...they are exhausted and I am sure they want to go home to their families as well... but yet they have to put up with idiots such as these cause the power wasn't back on immediately following the storm...And that is just from this storm....we have had 4 hurricanes over the span of 6 weeks...They want this season over as much as we do....I mean think about it...First you had Charley....they came from all over to help with that...they then came down here for Frances...while still finishing up from Frances...Ivan struck....and while finishing up with Ivan....Jeanne hit us again....GEEESH.....They should be honored for all the extra hard work they are doing.....

I heard someone here at work saying "well...That's their Job-they knew that going in"

Yeah that might be true but there is no need for them to put up with the kind of crap that I have been hearing....


Orlando should give them a special weekend when all is said and done....you know...let the workers have a special pass that lets them in to either Disney, Universal, etc...for free...I think that would be a really nice thing to do....


Okay I am done ranting.........

For those that want to take a look....

This is our local newpaper...they have a photo gallery of the hurricane damage...


www.palmbeachpost.com


Pretty interesting I would say!

We're thanking the power Gods!!!!

I think we are up and running again...Have power and everything.....

Jeanne proved to be an interesting storm indeed...The winds were a heck of a lot stronger than Frances...but the strange thing was...all the debris that was piled up from Frances did not get knocked around like everyone thought it would...Our power flickered on and off all night Saturday until finally going kaput around 11:30pm...That was hell...Back to hot and muggy...We ended up having a line down right down the road where we lived...yeah...Power came back on Monday morning at 7am and stayed until 11am...they shut it back of until they could properly fix the line...it ended up being a line feed problem and they had to check all the connecting lines and fix the problem...I was so glad it wasn't a transformer that blew as according to Florida Power and Light...these are on back order as they are desperatly trying to get them from other states...I actually saw a power truck out from Michigan working to help fix lines...That was really cool...

But all in all we made it out okay...and a heck of a lot luckier than some of the other people out there...When the kids complained about it being to hot and whine about not having power...I just reminded them that a lot of people lost not only their homes...but lost their jobs as well when everything was destroyed in Jeanne's Path...some of the pictures I have seen literally brought tears to my eyes when you hear that they lost everything!!!! I really cannot fathom that...I just can't...homeless and jobless...Needless to say the kids stopped complaining after that....you could see the wheels spinning in their heads as they tried to comprehend what I had just said...

At any rate....life is normal for the most part...kids are still out of school as the schools still do not have power and traffic lights are not working in most areas...Poor guys...10 days they have to make up so far....

A gal at work has assured us that she read on the weather information websites that all these hurricanes have come off the coast of Africa since the waters have been warmed...Well they have now cooled sufficiently to not allow any more from forming...Other wise she was prepared to go and try to get a glacier to the coast of Africa and see if that helped!!!! It's amazing how all of us became little meteorologists about these things....hahaha...Oh well I really do hope that it's over for this year....4 hurricanes in just a over a month...Everyone is exhausted I think and ready for things to just be normal again.....

Well gotta run.....Take care all!

There's no reasoning with Hurricane Season

Okay here Folks....Just listened to the news....Jeanne's still coming towards us...It's well organized and they say (And I really REALLY hope they are wrong) that it quite possibly will be a Category 3 by the time it makes land..What I really love is the expect it to make a turn northwards as soon as it strikes land...It's still heading towards the Palm Beach and Martin County Borders....Yeah....

The problem is that we are still cleaning up from Frances....there are no less than 15 piles of debris, each higher than me and made up of branches, logs and leaves, that line my street...there still are branches right outside my condo...this is the scene thru out Palm Beach County...John Prince Park has been designated a debris field and let me tell you....the piles are higher than the hospital that I work for that is aproximatly 7 stories high....and there are about 20 such piles...This creates a problem as if this does become stronger....the debris becomes projectiles...There just hasn't been enough workers, chippers, to grind up the massive amounts...Plus the city in it's infinite wisdom (and in other cities in Palm Beach County) have decided that if you live in a homeowner's association...you are responsible for getting it done your self....


HELLO PEOPLE!!!! I can well understand that if it was normal clippings and tree trimmings....BUT THIS WAS A FREAKING HURRICANE!!!!! Come on you idiots.....where the frig is your sense of helping your community!!!!! UGH!!!! I am sorry...it's just burns my butt about this....At least they held off on when we have to have the trees replanted..how very nice of them....That decision came about the time they found out that the nurseries got hit hard too and they had a kazillion irate voting people that really want to boot them out of office right now...Can you tell that I just love our city officials....

DOUG LET ME MOVE TO TENNESEE!!!!!! Sorry guys...I'm ranting...but I have already asked Doug to let me move and I'm just waiting for Christmas to get his answer.....No more hurricanes!!!

But at any rate....Fun is expected this weekend (note the sarcasm) but we are actually better prepared for it...Have inverters to run fans...microwaves...TV....should we loose power....hopefully we won't loose the phone....I am sure that Lisa and Steph on thier various blogs as to what's happened....Stacy.....I know you'll also keep me grinning and sane!!!!!


Well Pray for the best.....but know we are prepared for the worst......................

Looks like we get to do this again folks.........oh yippee yay...

As of the 11am update from the National Hurricane Center....Jeanne is heading straight for us....it's current path puts it making landfall at the Martin County/Palm Beach county Border at 8am on Sunday...I am sooooo not looking forward to this for many reasons....We still haven't finished the cleanup from Frances...I don't want to be without power or Phones...YUCK! There still is debris all over the place!!!! Can't someone else have all the fun???? (I whine really good don't I?) Let's pray for a turn shall we???

I will try to post again before it hits...probably tomorrow after all the appointments I have...I really hope this turns....hoping hoping....

But at any rate...If it does hit us...I will try to get word to either Steph or Lisa...I am sure they will post on their sites about what's happened....

Later Folks


Oh.....Sorry...I forgot this....I did realize that I screwed up some of the links...when you click on them...you really don't go anywhere...I will try to get those fixed as soon as possible...Sorry guys!!!

I'm dancing here!!!!!

I did it.....I mean I really did it!!!! It's there.....And my computer is alive and well!!!! OMG!!! Who knew that I could do this.......Now...to just figure out the other things about this template...like adding links....adding unique sayings for the comments section....I'll tinker with it some more and eventually I'll get it...will be old and gray by then....but I'll get it.....If I didn't put your link up...don't worry...I'll get it there!!!!! I'm sure I missed a few!


Life IS good.....

Tomorrow is going to be a very hectic day for me...as well as Friday.....With all the snafu's with dealing with the military insurance..(I could do an entire rant on that!!! Let me tell you!)..Manisa finally has her first OB/GYN appointment at 2pm on Friday...I have referral in hand and all should be well...She's about 3 1/2 months so I have no clue if they will do an ultrasound or not...I can say that she's been taking excellent care of herself...eating lots of fruits...taking prenatals..all that jazz....I'm excited...I'll be taking her to all her OB appointments...I cannot wait to hear the hearbeat and I plan on taping it for Patrick and will send up to him...He needs to hear his baby's heartbeat too...Manisa is really starting to "poof" out.....she's sooo tiny....going to look like and toothpick with an olive in the middle...Manisa's been running names by me...Madison is the current running for a girl...A boy's name has already been chosen....Adrian Patrick (For those of you that remember my "Crush" on Adrian Paul....that's NOT what this is about..hahaha...Patrick's Grandpa's name is Adrian) It's the girl's name we need...Madison is the current favorite...feel free to list any and all names....

Yeah Life is really really good.........

Had better get going....."Hubby" is home and I really want to spend some quality time with him......

Take care all of you!

This is interesting......

Hi all....

I actually just found this out...for some odd reason...I cannot respond to my own blog while at work....I get this message when I try:

Access to this website has been blocked because content on the site may be in conflict with what the Company considers “acceptable Internet use.”
Please verify that you have entered the correct address to the site and try again.

But ....I can respond to other blogs....AND I can write posts (Like this one) while at work???? Wonder what the difference is...I guess writing a blog is acceptable...(LOL!) "Shrugs" I'm just rambling out loud...What started it was I was reponding to my post below to both Jules and Tracey and that's the message I got...weird...Oh well...Jules....NOOOOOOOOOOO Not a touch of Sav.....That just will not do!!!! And to Tracey....Yeah you most certainly may link me up....As you read that's what I am going to try to do tonight...I'm not to bright when it comes to understanding things like this..but Steph's instructions were pretty clear so I'll give it a whirl....Can't tinker with it at work as we are starting to get ready for Month end next week plus Sales Tax Auditors are here now.....so right now you cannot see my desk....I need to find it before I can tinker....that....well....that may take awhile....

See ya all later!!!!!!

Stand Back People...............

Okay Steph......Tomorrow is the night.....I emailed myself that information you sent me on how to add other blogs to mine....I'm going to give it a shot....

If you look towards Florida...and see a blue green glow with a loud BOOM...that would be the sight and sound of my computer blowing up...see...I'm not all that computer literate...and with Patrick gone in the Marines...my Fix-it man is gone..."Sniff...Sniff" miss that kid I do...So I am going to try this by myself and see what happens...."GULP" (Praying would not hurt....it might even help!)

That would actually be a laugh if I am the one that kills my computer...see over the weekend...Michael and I had this little tiff about computers...actually the one the kids had...had as in they killed that one...(It was a very old model) despite what Michael and I yelled at the kids about how to take care of the computer...we saw them banging on it...generally beating it up...til one day it just wouldn't turn on anymore...Michael seemed to think that while he was pissed at the kids for breaking thiers....there was my computer that the kids could play thier games on as he preceded to let the youngest go on up to play on mine...

You really could have heard the screeching of brakes as I quickly put a stop to THAT plan...that's what started the tiff....Michael uses my computer and I basically told him that the computer was his as well...it was NOT however the kid's backup computer and I was not about to let them have free reign to do the same thing to my computer that they did to thiers....if anyone is going to screw it up...it will be me and me alone...(And I at least know you don't bang on it.....threaten to drop it out the window maybe...but I don't bang on it!) I paid good money for this one....He got upset saying that he felt bad cause the kids didn't have one anymore (That guilt thing for him setting in there) I responded by saying that if they had taken care of thiers like we told them....they would still have thiers now wouldn't they?????......Well he really couldn't argue with that and finally let the matter drop...


Oh well...at least making up is all the fun right?? hahahaha.....


So tomorrow night is play with the computer and see if it lives.....that should be interesting.....then I can add all these wonderful other blogs that I have been reading!!!!!!

It's definitely Monday Here............

I have no clue why.....but Lonestar's "Monday Mr Mom" won't stop running thru my head...that plus the image of Michael Keaton from the movie "Mr. Mom"......AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!! Need to bring my radio back in so I can take care of that problem!!!!

OH well....at any rate...It was a pretty non interesting weekend althought Michael and I went out Saturday night for a much needed break from the same old same old....Went to the Roadhouse Grill for dinner...I had the Fillet Mignon and he had the Baby Back Ribs....absolutly wonderful!!!!!! We then preceded to Muvico to see "Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow" That was a cool movie if you like the old 50's style space alien movie...Ray guns and all that stuff...Definitly not the Star Wars type special effects....All in all it was a good movie....The one I really want to see is "The Forgotten"..which will be out this weekend...I really want to try to sneak out to see that one....Looks like it will be a very cool movie...After the movie we went to my other favorite place in the world....Ghiradelli's Ice Cream Shoppe....Oh My is that good Ice Cream! We ate the Ice Cream while listening to a really good Swing Band they had playing at City Place...tried to get Michael to dance to it but well.......slow dancing is about all he's going to ever do....hahaha...We capped off the evening after finishing up the ice cream by walking to Barnes and Nobles book stores...I bought a book and then I bought a workout video entitled "Pilates for Dummies" (yup you heard that).......

I have been thinking about this for a while now...I blew my knees all to hell so I cannot to walking anymore...but I need to do SOMETHING to get some sort of excersise and to take off this weight that I've put on since I cannot do the power walks(okay an a love of good food had something to do with it as well) that I was used to doing...I talked to Rehab Department and several of them came back with Pilates....so I found the dummy one and now I have to gear up to doing it....I've set a goal of next week to get up earlier to do the workout....and then do it everyday after that....I guess I will have to get some sort of mantra to say as well:

I will not eat Ice Cream....
I will not eat Chips and dips....
I will not eat Mashed potatoes and LOTS of Gravy....
I will not eat chocolate....
I will not indulge in fudge....
No more butterfingers for me....
No more loaded omelets plus thick sliced bacon......"Sniff...sniff"

And the list goes on and one and gets pretty damn impressive....hahaha....I will try my best to eat healthier....lest I have to do 50 sit up for each indiscretion....LOL!!!!


Oh well.......Life goes on in the big city.....and on that note:

Pampers melt in a Maytag dryer
Crayons go up one drawer higher
Rewind Barney for the 15th time
Breakfast six, naps at nine
There's bubblegum in the baby's hair
Sweet potatoes in my lazy chair
Been crazy all day long
and it's only monday Mr Mom.......

Okay....I have GOT to get another song into my head!!!!!


See ya everyone!!!

NEW BOSSES.............

Getting off the subject of Hurricanes here to talk about new bosses........

We have a new controller at the hospital I work for and I have to say I am having the time of my life watching everyone trip over themselves to get on her good side.....it's amazing to watch really.......

Our last controller was promoted and is now a Divisional Controller in Las Vegas....The new one is from the same company just a different hospital...I happen to be totally impressed with her as she appears to be a no nonsense...won't put up with excuses or crap from anyone...She already has said that she doesn't want to hear"it's not my job"...you know...she's the real "gotta get it done type and this is what working for a hospital is" I've already seen her shoot down the resident whiner of my group....that was totally cool...but you know how it is...new boss in town and no one knows how she's going to be...so everyone wants to be on her good side...grinning..smiling and being totally fake around her...it's funny to watch...

Our last controller was very easy going...maybe a little too relaxed...this one doesn't appear to be that way...she definitly knows her stuff... and she's making my department very nervous...the ones that think they can come in late...leave when they want too...take forever at lunch...yeah....this should be fun to watch.....

Who said you can't find joy in your job?????

Returning to normal........

Well Gang......Things are finally returning to normal as today the kids finally went back to school...YIPEEEEE!!!! Okay maybe the kids weren't so happy but parents everywhere were! The Grocery stores seem to also be returning to normal as they are now getting regular deliveries....That was the hardest thing in the aftermath...Items still flew off the shelves as soon as they stocked up....Well except for Lima beans and beets....for some odd reason there was a full shelf! :) Go Figure! I was happy to be able to buy Pork Chops and Hamburger!!!....

All in all life is slowly returning to normal around here...There still are several people without power...one is my co-worker....I hope she gets it back soon...I have to say that I am very happy to see all the Electrical workers that have come down to help people restore power...I have seen trucks from Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina...All came to help...Hats off to those guys!!! I don't envy their jobs...The B/S they must be getting from hot cranky people...Yeah people are complaining about how long it is taking...It's not easy when you have to first fix the transformer that blew or replace a line, or fix a Power Pole....It take time to get it all done....and done right....Anyhoo....To the states helping...A big round of applause!!!

We all breathed a HUGE sigh of relief to find out that Ivan was not coming near us at all...She is however going to a freind of mine who lives in Bonifay Florida right up in the panhandle in a trailer home no less! UGH! ..spoke with her last night and she's heading my way...invited her over for dinner when she gets here...

Well I guess that's all for now....Back to leading the boring life that I lead!!!!


(I like it that way ;) )

We made it thru!

I will never again in my life take electricity and all it brings for granted again!

We made it thru but not without the stress that going thru a hurricane brings...But first and formost I need to get a special thanks out to Lisa, Stacy and Steph...your calls kept me going even when I had totally and completly had it with all this...I am forever in your debt!

To recap the events...Frances hadn't even roared thru here when we lost power at 10am on Saturday...the storm wasn't due to hit until about 12 or 1am...Okay that was fine...we had all the supplies and everything...the winds started really going about late afternoon...Michael and I were both nervous as we have a huge tree right smack next to the condo...It came down all right...in peices...luckily not hitting any cars or condos as it did so...After one squall had gone thru late afternoon...we headed out around our block in search of a Mama duck and her babies...they had just been born a few days ago and if Mike and I could find them we were prepared to scoop them up, Mama and all, and take them back with us...Neither one of us could handle the thought of these cute little babies out in this hurricane...We were heartbroken we couldn't find them and hoped they would weather it well...We weathered the night okay...although hot and muggy, but Man oh Man could we hear the winds hitting our hurricane shutters!

The power of these winds was totally awe inspiring...I don't think I slept much that night...kept going and checking on the kids who for the most part seemed oblivious of the howling outside...that was good!

The next morning when the winds died down...we went out to survey the damage...Debis everywhere...trees on cars...light poles knocked down...the sight was incredible...I also had awoken to a migraine that steadily worsened until I finally broke down and took some of my migraine pills...Mike had to go into work as he works in Engineering at the hospital that we both work for...Needless to say he wasn't going to be home Sunday night and worked straight thru until monday at 4pm...

The kids for the most part weathered it well up until Monday...I can understand, they were hot, tired, muggy, cranky...I think I broke up more fights between the three of them than I cared too...They had pretty much had it and I think I did too...I even was asked why didn't Florida Power and Light care about us? Didn't they want to get the power going? It was hard to explain to the kids that a half a million people also didn't have power...They also were tired of watching news all day on the black an white TV we had...We managed to make trips out at times as stores slowly opened...Most on limited supplies until more came in...

My dog Asha was another one that was pretty much a mess and a source of aggravation to me...she's a shih tzu and normally I keep her hair shaved down and she was scheduled to go to the groomers that saturday...Well with the storm approching that wasn't possible...so she too was hot and muggy and cranky...Manisa (my Daughter in Law who stayed with us throughout) kept giving her cold baths to help her and it did....but the thing that really aggravated me is as Steph in her Blog so wonderfully put it...She is a prissy Dog...She hates going outside to do her business if the ground is wet...I kept putting her in the grass and she kept trying to come back out...refusing to go! AAARRRGHHHH! This was not the time for her to be picky about getting her paws wet! (Oh the HORROR!) Needless to say that I have rescheduled her groomers appointment for this weekend...That's a tenative appointment...I will get to that momentarily...

All in all people down here have been interesting....most have been wonderful...helping others and what not...others....well the best I can say is they need a good swift kick in the you know what's....The kids are off of schools until next week...and we finally got power back 7pm on Tuesday...So the kids are enjoying airconditioning and cable TV...Now it's time to clean up while we can......

What I mean is.....The latest report on Ivan puts it coming right up the middle of Florida Monday night....It's a horrendous Category 5 with winds going above 160...That is why Asha's appointment is tenative as I am sure that if this comes again to us...they will be closed...

For those that want to check this out....go to these websites.....

http://www.thewpbfchannel.com/index.html

Or http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_astorm9+shtml/090853.shtml?

The last is the site for the National Hurricane Center...

Wish us luck that we don't have to go thru this again!!!!

But I am again stocking up with stuff!

Take care!

Hunkering down

Well Guys.......Hunkering down for the Hurricane.....Still looks like it's going to come our way..ever so slightly north of us (about an hour) that still puts us in Hurricane force winds none the less...Was going to leave but then decided to just roll with it here.....Right now there's a lot of reports going on....News is pretty much on now 24/7 unless the power goes....

Will probably get Tropical storm winds tomorrow am, gradually strengthening during the day...Hurricane Frances is expected to make landfal sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning.....

I have all supplies, water, food, dog food and all that stuff.....Wish me luck!!!!