The Truck

So then...why does Shawn's truck always seem to insist on breaking down at his work instead of at home? He tells me that it doesn't ALWAYS break down at work, sometimes it breaks down at home. But I don't think so. I think that since he's moved down here the truck has always broken down at work. Sure it will sometimes break on the way home (though never enough to the point where he needs to pull over to the side of the road--for example: The vacuum seal will break and it will start leaking oil) . But seriously. At work. Every time.

Okay, let's see...the last couple of things that happened:

Vacuum seal broke on the way to work. Drove home that night, ordered parts, fixed it a few days later.

Clutch cable breaks. At work. Must leave the truck at work until the weekend. Fix the truck in the parking lot of his office.

Oil Pressure gage is whack. Ongoing problem. Finally fix it, but it requires taking the oil pan off the car. Do this at home. Forget to re-torque the vacuum seal. Vacuum Seal sprays oil all over the engine at work. Drive home, re-torque the seal, add more oil.

Glow plugs go kaput. At work. Must leave it there until we can get glow plugs and then replace them.

See a recurring theme? It's almost like the minor things all happen on the way to or from work, and the major things happen at work. Stupid Stupid.

Airplanes

So...I dont' know if this helps, or hurts...but if you're as scared about flying as I am (and I don't become dibilitatingly scared, but I do need something to distract me the whole flight otherwise I'm constantly like 'Wait, what's that!?'), this website has all air traffic accidents of note: Plane Crash Info.com

For example, we're thinking about going to Yellowstone this summer. And it's too far away to drive to and from in a week...which means we have to fly in somewhere. I'd be fine with flying into Denver, but then there's the whole car rental thing, so it may be better to fly into Bozeman, Billings, Jackson Hole, Casper, well, you get the idea. The only problem with this is that Frontier (the cheapest rate as of right now on Orbitz) flies DHC-8's to all those towns (taking off from Denver).

The problem with the DHC-8? It's a turbo-prop. Turbo-props scare the crap out of me. But! that's where Planecrashinfo.com comes in--Frontier hasn't had a crash since it's inception, and the only DHC-8 crash in the last 8 years was the one that just happened in New York. So I guess I feel better...maybe.

Now then, I can get over the plane and start worrying about the bears, wolves, elk, and bison.

About my Husband

Because I have nothing better to do, besides watch TV of course, and because I tend not to actually mention the husband, I figured I would do the Dooceblurbomat meme.

What are your middle names?
Shawn's middle name is "Robert" and mine is "Marie". His middle name is his dad's first name, my middle name sounds good with Katina.

How long have you been together?
uh, let's see...carry the 1, add the 3...together since 2001, married since 2005.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
We met in geometry class in high school. Which means that we knew each other since 1997.

Who asked whom out?
He asked me out. like 20 times before I said yes.

How old are each of you?
I'm 27, he's OLD 27 + 2 days older than me. He loves to say something like he "feels like [he's] robbing the cradle" on his birthday and the day after. Or something about dating a 'youngun'

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Last time we saw my sister: Thanksgiving of 2007. Last time we saw his sister: January of 2009. Christina wins.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Actual situation? probably being social--Shawn hates it. Some of it is because he's a Relator which means he has to have been around people 2 or 3 times before he wants to actually hang out with them, whereas I'm perfectly content to meet new people as long as there are some familiar faces around. This is why I will routinely go to parties and do things by myself.

Did you go to the same school?
High school AND college.

Are you from the same home town?
Yes. Though we were both born in different states.

Who is smarter?
Smarter is a matter of degree. He reads "Python Scripting" and "The Linux Kernel" for fun. But I've done better with my investments in the stock market. Plus my spelling is much better than his. Sause. I mean really, who spells it that way? And who insists on spelling it that way even after they've been told multiple times that it's wrong? Oh...right...See below.

Who is the most sensitive?
Me. I always say that Shawn fights like a primate (yelling and what have you), and I fight like a dog (all quiet and no yelling). The problem with the yelling though is that it makes me cry. So when we are heatedly discussing things, I have to remind him to whisper.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
uh...The Olive Garden? I don't know.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Austria/Germany

Who has the craziest exes?
Probably me. None of his exes ever told him to not date someone after they had broken up.

Who has the worst temper?
I get frustrated with him way more frequently than he does with me, but he gets more frustrated with random people/things than I do.

Who does the cooking?
Me. Unless it involves Grilling. Then it's Shawn.

Who is the neat-freak?
HAHAHA. You do realize that the only reason the house is EVER cleaned is because someone is coming over right?

Who is more stubborn?
Shawn. Absolutely.

Who hogs the bed?
Hogs the bed? Quazi. But Shawn does steal all the covers. Which is only funny because he's the one that's always complaining about how hot it is.

Who wakes up earlier?
me. I have to drive an hour to get to work. He has to drive 15 minutes. I work at a place where showing up at 9 am is on the back end of the time you should be showing up. He works at a place where if you show up before 10 am, you may just be the first person there.

Where was your first date?
The Cheesecake Factory in Boulder.

Who is more jealous?
I was. But then I got a job. So it's all good.

How long did it take to get serious?
I think we were probably always serious after we started officially dating. I think Shawn has said something stupid like he knew the day he asked me out that we were going to get married.

Who eats more?
You obviously have not seen how much spaghetti I eat, have you?

Who does the laundry?
Whoever runs out of socks or underwear first. This is why I always ask for underwear and socks for Christmas.

Who's better with the computer?
HAHAHA, really? Let's see...there are 6 computers in this house. All of them run Linux. That is not my doing.

Who drives when you are together?
Usually me. This has something to do with us taking "my" car instead of his. I have been trying to get him to drive more because after an hour commute both ways to work versus his 15 minutes each way, the last thing I want to do on the weekend is drive more. But admittedly, I am better at knowing where we're going when we go anywhere south or east of 183 at Mopac. But he hates it when I drive down town because I have this thing about parking...as in there must be a huge amount of space for me to park, otherwise I will find somewhere else to park. This drives him nuts. Usually he'll drive the next time though because my excuse is "well, when you drive, YOU can decide where we will park."

Coraline

Or, as the movie theater has it listed, Caroline. Which is only funny because the heroine makes such a big deal out of everyone calling her Caroline instead of Coraline.

But anyhoo.

Shawn, Ross and Bond and I went to this movie yesterday. Everyone else there had brought a small human being with them.

And let me just state something.

This movie is not a kid movie. My God. I'm 27 and I was still creeped out by it.

Have you ever played Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst? Yeah, it's kinda like that...with the creepy child ghosts and using your brain to beat the evil forces in the strange and creepy house.

Yep. Like Ravenhearst...only without all the searching for missing items like in Highlights.

But! the movie was a good movie, and I did enjoy it. I don't know if I consider it as good as Nightmare before Christmas...but it was kind like if Alice in Wonderland was retold with a Nightmare before Christmas-esque theme.

Also. Bond and Ross are awesome since they drove up to the north west side of town so I could go pick up my brackets.

On Fireproof

Being touted as a Christian movie isn't what makes me not want to see it: It's the fact that it stars Kirk Cameron that makes me not want to see it.

5:45 am

So...what do you do when your cat is scratching at your head wanting pets when he suddenly starts doing the "ack...ack" noise?

Easy.

You sit bolt upright in bed and let the cat puke on your husband.

Not that that actually happened.

Shawn is much more lucid at 545am than I, and pushed the cat off the bed.

He ended up not puking until after we both went to work. The cat. Not the husband.

On Steroids

Who CARES if MLB is totally jacked on the roids? Point is, I don't want congress wasting my tax dollars on finding out whether Tejada, A-Rod, the Rocket or any of the other idjits did roids. If congress is REALLY that concerned about who did roids when, then they need to make the athletes themselves pay to have drug tests done before every game and if they've done roids, then they're out. no second chances, no "but I didn't know!", nothing. Own up to it boys. Actually figure out what you're shooting up into your arm. Because really, in this economy, I want my tax dollars to go to something more worthwhile...even if that is paying for sex eduation for koalas in antarctica.

On the Economy

Okay, so...I have this theory.

The reason why the economy keeps going down instead of stagnating or going back up is because they keep telling us it's bad. And that it's going to get worse. So then, what do most people do if they're told things are going to go from bad to worse? They start stockpiling. This includes things such as money.

The plus: people are finally saving money.
The drawback: it means the economy is going to keep spiraling because people aren't buying shit any more.

Today our assistant city manager was telling us that sales tax revenue went down in the last 13 months. Well, yeah. No shit. You gave us pay raises that didn't even equal inflation so now we're effectively making less, which means we can't spend it on stuff. No wonder the sales revenue went down. But of course this mostly means that there's a good possibility that we won't get pay raises next year. Which makes us buy even less shit now because we're now going to try to save our money. Which will make the sales revenue go down even further.

See what a vicious cycle it is?

What they need to do instead? Tell us that they're optimistic that next year is going to be better and they're trying their darndest to make sure we get pay raises. Yes, it may be a bit Pollyannaish, but that's kinda the point isn't it? Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Which brings me to the next random step of my Financial Independence thing. Step 6: Keep track of every penny that comes in and every penny that goes out. Track what you spend it on to see trends. Not that you'll necessarily cut anything, but usually just knowing that you have a weakness for soda from the vending machine may make you buy that $2.29 twelve pack instead of paying $9 for the same amount.

Happy Hours

I love Happy Hours with my coworkers. It's great when they're snarky. Not so great when they're just being mean. But still...Snarky is good.

On Healthcare

I figured out a solution to the problem of health care. Get rid of it. All of it. Everyone has to pay for everything out of their own pocket. If the government wants to set up some form of FLEXTRA like account in which they put the amount of money you put in for Medicare and the amount you pay for health care in an interest bearing savings account that you can only use for medical stuffs and when you die, whatever is left over goes back to the feds, that's fine. They can do that. This way you get rid of the middle man who takes a cut of the pie and who still refuses to pay for your chemotherapy treatment because it's a "non-standard treatment for cancer".

The problem with the system now is that people with colds are going to the ER because the ER has to treat you, with or without insurance, while a doctor's office can refuse service if you don't have health care.

Which comes to another solution. Let the doctors (or their offices) set an amount that they're willing to take in cold hard cash right now for services rendered (most doctors have to wait months for the health care system to pay them so having the payment NOW is probably a good thing). That way, if you don't have health care you at least know you can go to the doctor's office. Yeah, sure you have to pay $50 for a visit instead of the $20 the health care junkies pay, but you at least don't have to pay the $300 ER visit fee (or whatever the hell it is).

Yet another option: Low cost health clinics set up specifically for people without insurance and they charge on a sliding scale based on how much you make. And hell, the Feds can pour some money into that if they want (let's go for a socialized setting in which each of us that has healthcare pays $1 extra, and that $1 goes to the low cost health clinic to help keep their costs down). That way, those of us who have insurance can still go to the doctor that only accepts insurance and get an appointment that day.

hmm, but this doesn't cover medications. And lord knows how many medications we're all on. Well, okay the FLEXTRA like account would cover medications. But the low cost clinic wouldn't cover it. Well, the first thing that doctors could stop doing would be to stop prescribing medications to fix the side effects of the other medications we're on...

Meh, let's worry about that problem when we get to it.

Oh the Fun...

So, I went to a Pure Romance party tonight. In other words, it is a sex toy party for girls. And no, I did not buy any sex toys (for those of you who were wondering).

But hey, I met one lady who sells sex toys for a living and another who does bikini waxes. Apparently the reason why they can't do parties with any men involved, even if they're gay, is because a lady describing how a sex toy is to be used and then selling him said sex toy is considered solicitation in Texas.

Besides there's nothing like watching a lady walk around with a pink strap on on (albeit over her clothes) for half the night.