Thursday, September 30, 2004  

If i lived in a hole in the ground,
knowing nothing of outside politicing,
and was avg. joe american,
based solely on tonight's pres. debate,
hands-down i would say JOHN KERRY

WON.

It was frustrating to me at times, but Bush had nothing in rebuttle, and JK actually presented some very specific plans that make a lot of sense. Here are some random thoughts.

1. First of all, it's a sham and rip off to the american public that the committee on pres. debates did not allow the 3rd party candidates a voice. That just goes to further prove my point that both parties are ESSENTIALLY THE SAME, and are run by corporations. If you didn't know, the 3rd party candidates (Nader, etc.) were not even allowed in the debate hall. What a joke. Makes me sick.

2. More than anything else, these two men say the exact same thing. If you were to give some type of explanation of what is their differences, there are none. They are using the same words to say the same things. I don't support either one. Either one will advance the same issues in the next 4 years.

3. The debate forum was stupid, impractical, and boring. That there were all these rules and the men could not address each other was so sterile.

4. Bush's stammering over his words and his pauses and fumbling and repeating the same phrases "hard work" etc. shows me he has NOTHING to stand on - and i think to the uneducated public will make him look like a doof. He said the same answers OVER AND OVER.

5. I am writing this before the pundits have their say. I think you will hear resoundingly that Kerry won hands down.

6. Bush's idea on China scares the hell out of me. We don't need their help in anything. That he wants to align with the murderous communists to get policy built in N.Korea truly troubles me. Plus it shows his weakness again.

7. Kerry clearly came out (again, to the uneducated public) to defend his flip-flops. Not that i support Kerry, but he stood up for himself. All Bush could seem to do was smirk and write little circles on his paper.

8. Lastly, i can't tell you how strongly i feel that the two parties are basically ONE idea - and it is a shame that the 3rd parties are at least not given one public forum. As I heard Ralph Nader say before the debates when he was being interviewed, it was always the 3rd parties in the past who pushed the major issues thru. Someday, this two party system is either going to crack and crumble, or you will most surely see us destroyed by foreign rebels or merge silently into a one world system (as we basically already are).

   [ posted  @ 7:28 PM | ]

It was worth it not to post for a few days, so i could come back with this awesome JOHN KERRY ad. It's completely 100% accurate and truthful. A man who takes all positions on all sides and has the courage to stand up for EVERYTHING! ahahahaaaa

Click to listen.

Today the apt. smells like heaven... or at least roast heaven. I'm making a recipe my mom sent a few years ago - which i don't remember her making when i was growing up, but it is delicious, simple and for someone like me who (boo hoo) lives alone and lonely, lasts for days and weeks in the refrigerator. Actually, that's not true. I'll have this entire thing consumed by the weekend's beginning, rest assured.

Forgotten Roast (she named it "Forgotten Roast," but i have no idea why. Maybe it should be "The UNFORGOTTEN Roast" because if you forget it, you could start a fire in your oven.)

1 of them boneless chuck roasts from the meat market (not to be confused with some spineless guy like JohnKerry guy named Chuck from a local bar)

1 package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 can of cr. mushroom soup
1 medium (or if you're me, LARGE) yella onion (like a yella-no-good-for-nothin-liver-bellied-loser)
Them little baby carrot guys
Red patatas with the SKINS ON 'EM yummm

Then ya get one of them oven roast bag things or if you're me, you're too cheap to buy those so you do your best to wrap up tin foil all around the roast in a glass baking dish like a cake thing or if you're rich you probably own your own roaster, lucky you (think Christmas list, kt), and you put the roast in the foil part, and mush over the roast the soup mix and soup and smother it in that. Then ya cut up the taters and the yella onion - i like BIG VEGGIES so i only cut the onion in 4 pieces and have great big chunky veggies and ya put those all around the meat. I don't cut up the baby carrots obviously, they're cute enuf as they are. Then ya (or i) try yer best to seal up that foil (or again, if you're RICH you can buy oven roast bags or have your own roaster, i already mentioned this if you were paying attention) and bake 'er in the 325 oven for a good 4 hours.

I recommend NOT doing this in the heat of summer if you live where i live because yer little apartment will get very warm. Today it's toasty in here but i do have the winders open and you can smell this roast coming up the elevater and all out the windows and i betcha it's ticklin the noses of every senior citizen that lives in this here land. All the little old ladys and widower men are in their apt.'s finishing up watching DAYS or YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS & are gettin mighty hungry by now i'm sure of it.

Yesterday was my golden birthday. I celebrated it by selling office supplies to an unthankful greedy and selfish public who were too stupid and bought ink jet printers instead of laser printers and now they have to come in the store every 3rd day buying their little 14 ml ink jet cartridges so they can print off reams and reams of paper black text draft mode. Then i went to Cub (blasted store - hated store) and got me the roast fixin's for today and a german choc. cake which i am eating inbetween Sharon Mann and Gilad body workouts on Discovery's FitTV.

There ya have it.

   [ posted  @ 11:49 AM | ]

It's our first Monday night practice tonight for the band. I hope it goes well. I think i've successfully weeded some ppl out who were previously interested.

I found out today my boss is transferring to another store and they've hired some guy from the outside world (Best Buy, i think) to be his replacement. My 4th store manager since i've worked there. Gee. Makes no sense to me why they don't promote from within, with assistant managers who have been in the ranks for 10 years plus. Must be frustrating for them to be waiting around, only to have the company hire some punk from completely outside the walls who doesn't know how we do things. I guess that's the way they like it, to keep fresh perspective.

OK boring post; bye.

   [ posted  @ 2:07 PM | ]

The stars must be
aligned.

Check out my horror-scope for today!

Libra
Are you interested in video or computer games? If not, dear Libra, someone close to you may be, because all signs are that you might just spend a lot of time right now in the company of friends entertaining yourself via modern technology. This could be more enjoyable than you would normally expect, because you really like being with these people and like to bask in their energy. The conversation could be interesting as well. Have fun!

lol.

   [ posted  @ 2:46 PM | ]

"Dreams Do Come True"
by KT Rocks

Every Saturday I close the store, and the same story is recounted by Sarah, one of my associates, a senior in high school. She had a dream once that i locked her in the building, armed the alarm, and left with out her. In her dream, i am walking out into the parking lot, notice her car, and even tho i should put 2+2 together, i leave with out letting her out, thus trapping her in the store all night long. Now, in reality if she moved after i set the alarm, it would trip off the motion sensors, the alarms start to blare louder than you can hardly stand it, and the cops come, thinking there is a burgler in there. But every week i close the store and she always tells the story of her dream to the crew as we walk out, because WE DON'T WANT TO LEAVE ANYONE BEHIND. Plus, i am usually paranoid that everyone leaves without me and i can't be locking the gates outside by myself bc what if "The Robber" (as i call him/her) comes? I make everyone wait by the door till i have it locked.

OK, so tonight,
The dream actually became reality. Not to Sarah though.

I made a big ruckus when they were done with their ad signs that we could go. I yell at the top of my lungs "Come on Brittany, Come on Dan, come on Justin, come on Sarah we're leaving let's go let's go let's gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!" and the lot of us go punch out, get our crap from our lockers and head out in a pack. I make them wait for me by the door as i arm the alarm system in the office, and it counts down from *87* to zero. You have 87 seconds to get the heck out of the building and lock the doors or the sensors will go off, and you will cause the alarms to trip and the loud loud loud noises and flashing lights.

Well, stupid me... And stupid rest of the crew... i made my big ruckus that we were leaving but FORGOT ABOUT DAN IN COPY MAX! For some stupid reason he never heard me yelling my head off (this is a testimony to how much i yell and make stupid noises at the top of my lungs after the store is closed: people TUNE ME OUT COMPLETELY!) So all of us (not Dan tho) punch out, leave, and i am walking to my car in the parking lot with Sarah and we're chatting and all of the sudden

her eyes get so dang big

she can hardly speak

she points to Dan's empty blue car (he parks way at the end of the parking lot)
and she screams, "WHERE IS DAN?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I freeze. I laugh. I don't put 2+2 together, and then she realizes i'm not getting it. She starts screaming in my face DAN IS INSIDE OHMYGOD DAN IS INSIDE YOU LOCKED HIM IN! IT IS JUST LIKE MY DREAM! KATIE KATIE KATIE GET HIM OUT!!!!!"

At this point, the other Dan who works there drives past us in his car as he is leaving, rolls down his window trying to tell us something stupid about where he was going or making small talk and we scream in his face to shut up because we have to get inside and GET DAN OUT!

Now, the clock is ticking down. It's probably around 23 or something down down down and i freak out and i run a sprint to the door, whip the keys off my belt loop, fuss with the lock till the key goes in the first hole. First door cleared. Now unlock the gate. My hands are shaking. We are both screaming at the top of our lungs DAN GET OUT
DAN GET OUT
DAN DAN DAN
GET OUT GET OUT DAN!!!

He can't hear us. She looks in the window. The stupid guy is sitting at the CopyMax computer entering things into the database, totally oblivious to the fact that THE ALARM HAS BEEN SET AND WE ALL LEFT THE BUILDING
OMYLANTAOHMYLANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't get the key to unlatch the gate lock and i am still screaming. I can only imagine what the customers next door at Target and Khols were thinking of us screaming trying to BREAK INTO the building! Finally the lock gets undone and i throw up the gates with all my might and start screaming more louder and he looks up, but does NOTHING!!!

lol!!!

I get to the 2nd door, which usually we don't lock (oops you weren't supposed to know that) but someone tonight locked it, and Dan still has no idea about the alarm. Right when i get inside, I am screaming DAN GET OUT GET OUT! WE ALREADY SET THE ALARM!!! He starts walking towards the door, still unsure of what is going on and then

the loudest noises imaginable start to go off
lights are flashing
alarm is blaring all the sirens for the whole shopping center can hear us....

And i run to the office as fast as i can, hit in my code to shut the thing off. I am shaking so bad and me and Sarah are just totally freaking out...

She kept saying "It's just like my dream! You locked him in here! You don't care about us!" lol! Then i had him go punch out, and i armed the alarm and the 3 of us left together. Apparently he never heard anything and thought i sent people home early and that is why everyone was leaving. LOL

I will probably have dreams about that all night, and i know i will never live it down. It was like leaving a wounded soldier on the battlefield!!! lol!

   [ posted  @ 6:42 PM | ]

AWWWWWWWWW! I just finished my 1st Mitford book. Though, it is probably a book written later in a series... wow. I did a lot of reading in a fast pace today. I highly recommend this book (mentioned in the last post) -- so heartwarming! I love the old couple who suprise each other with their belief in "Santy" (how they say Santa), and the old woman who waits up till sunrise disappointed no Santy came - only to find he did come. :)

Somewhere in there i managed to go get my licence renewed. Hard to believe i've been here 5 years now and am needing to renew already. Customer service at the DMV was sadly lacking, but when you're just another number, i guess that is how it is. I'm sure my picture will turn out that i look like an excaped felon or overblown chick in need of a diet. LOL Typical.

   [ posted  @ 1:29 PM | ]

As I write this, I hear "Silver Bells" in my ears sung by Elvis.

That's correct: i'm catching the Christmas spirit already :)

Today is my day off, and i have a lot to do, but i have programmed myself to be up no later than 8:30 every morning, and as I got up i made my bagel and coffee and then sat down with a book i never finished last Christmas season: SHEPHERDS ABIDING by Jan Karon. I love the way she writes. It's not spellbinding or suspenseful, but still I find myself engaged and turning pages!

I need to renew my driver's licence today. zzzzzzz

   [ posted  @ 7:46 AM | ]

Found this on Ross&Kel's blog today and had to share it, incase you are one of the few who don't read their stuff. This is a link to senior portraits. Love the captions on every page. You have to sometimes wonder what photographers are thinking!

   [ posted  @ 8:36 AM | ]

Ack. Worked a 12 hour day today back in the Receiving Dept., trying to clean up a mess everyone wants to close their eyes and pretend not to see. No one wants to listen to me when i tell them that we can either keep putting out big fires, or get a plan in place so the fires don't start again. But this may result in some much needed Overtime, so i'll take that. I fear we are losing our store manager so the change process will start up all over again.

So it was like the good old days again for me (except that it was very hot back there for some reason) and now that i am home i'm very happy.

   [ posted  @ 5:26 PM | ]

My friend Mark ["Marks"] came over last night after i got off work & kicked my butt playing Madden 2002 -- Vikings v. Packers. The Pack lost on their own field even in the snow, 37-14 i think it was. Ouch. Just wait till i get better at that game... The Vikings shall never win another game. He bought me an extra controller (points earned, duly noted) and the football game to boot, plus brought Subway over and Pumpkin Pie with extra creamy coolwhip. Tho i do have to say my skills at Wave Race far exceed his, so that made me feel better. I was up far too late and now i'm really tired bc i had to be up for church this morning. One comment on this pic we took, i think i look like i just got let out of a mental retard home, don't i? but whatever. I have found a great friend ! :) He's going to be in Pittsburg till Thursday. And then: rematch!!!
 

   [ posted  @ 5:54 PM | ]

Look! I have one green eye and one blue eye!!!!!! LOL ! I had a little too much fun w/ the "red eye reduction" feature of my photo program. You can make your eyes whatever color you want. Anyways these are one of my 2 new paris (pear; pair) of glasses. And that, is me, in the shirt. Amy, notice your plates hanging... and my messy couch. And my new western style shirt from Old Navy. And yes i really cut off all my hair. OK the last part is a lie. Went out with my friend Marks (he calls me Kates; i call him Marks) again tonight and came home and took some pix. Next time we gotta remember to take some together! HA! (And if you want me to e-mail you the one where i have one purple eye and one blue eye, let me know...!)

   [ posted  @ 8:34 PM | ]

HAHAHAAAAA!

Let's talk "user names" shall we?

I have passwords and user names on many sites, such as banking, credit cards, amazon, you name it everything requires one. I usually use some old standbys: katie1225 (email), gisgtm (stands for "God is so good to me" - an old AOL name i made up because every other user name i wanted was taken, and this was ummmm 10 years ago??) and other stuff. Well tonight i needed one to pay a bill online and no matter what i tried (even my first and last name, seperated by an underscore) said IT WAS ALREADY TAKEN!!!!!!!! GRRR! I thought, "Who the heck else besides my warped brain would come up with

gisgtm?"

or

my first and last name with an underscore seperating them???

So,

I came up with the ultimate one

I figured NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD

would ever choose for a user name...

And guess what? It actually worked! [Quickly while i'm thinking of this, the phrase "Guess what" is not a question. It is a request. Therefore, people should not put a question mark after it to punctuate it, ok??? But there, i just did it.]

I chose the user name..........

ILOVEOFFICEMAX

and guess what!!!!

NO ONE ELSE HAD USED IT YET!!!
hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

As i've grown accustomed to telling customers (especially the little kids) "I'll be working here till i die, so just look for me the next time you come and let me know how that printer is working for you and i'll help you pick out your ink. Bed's in the back..."

Sheesh. Well, at least you know now. Next time you pick out a user name, that one

is taken.

   [ posted  @ 7:54 PM | ]

This may end up being one of the strangest posts i've written.

What do you get when you add the following ingredients?

1. Reading in it's "entirety" C.S. Lewis' unfinished fragment "The Dark Tower" in one night

2. Watching Guiding Light and Ellen right before sleep

3. A real storm going on outside your bedroom window

I'll tell you what it equals. It equals a few really dumb dreams. I had one of my classic (phoning psychologist as we speak) "end of the world" dreams where there are comets, nuclear bombs, fires, lightening and tornados approaching, and i'm the only town crier trying to rally people to shelter. You can know i have usually about one of these a week, or at least one every other week. No one ever seems to heed my very stern warnings of impending doom. I am usually trying to rescue my family members, who seem otherwise engaged and very nonchalant about the whole thing, even tho comets blazing to earth are very evident. The reasons why i dream this are for another post, tho i have developed a large opinion box regarding it [the main reason is watching too many poorly produced biblical apocolypic movies as a small kid].

Second, my other dream that is very often re-occuring. I'm back in high school, though in my mind i KNOW that i've already graduated from COLLEGE and i have to be there on time, take tests etc. This type of dream, i've heard from other people, is more common. Last night, it seemed that they ran out of text books and i didn't get one. It was for social studies i think, and there was a paper due the following morning that i could not write bc i didn't have a text book to refer to. Man was nervous about that one. I started doing the homework in the mere seconds that people were passing their papers forward. I didn't finish it.

My saving grace = super small bladder: wakes me up many times during the night, even out of the craziest of dreams!!! Woo-hoo!!!

   [ posted  @ 6:07 AM | ]

So I now have 22 students interested in our band. Oooey Gooey that's just strange. I don't know what to make of it. The more limits i put on things, the more people become interested. I actually had a mother come to the meeting in leiu of her son to get the info. I was honest with her (since she asked) that i have about 7 people interested in playing electric guitar and we really did not need him. But if he really wanted to come on Monday nights, that would be o.k.

It's becoming somewhat of a circus. I talked to a guy today about it (he's interviewing with our church for a position of youth choir director) and he encouraged me to just kick off the people i don't gel with and say "no." I may end up forming two or three combos out of this. It still kills me how parents just let their kids sign up for everything and be busy for every night of the week. I don't know how some of these families do it with 6 kids all running in different directions ALL THE TIME.

Today was the 2nd of 2 orientation meetings regarding it. Just don't know what i'll do yet. So far, only 2 of the 22 have handed me commitment sheets. I pray more bow out!!!

I'm in the middle of a 3-day weekend. Went out with a friend to dinner last night. Outback Steakhouse is YUMMMMMY! I'm kicking butt on WAVE RACE and the Parachute Band played at our church this morning. Man, they ROCK!

That's all the news around here.

   [ posted  @ 1:14 PM | ]

Yesterday was one huge shopping extravaganza for me. And i am sure i am spelling that word incorrectly. I finally am giving up on 4 years with out an eye exam. My increasing blindness prompted me to get my eyeballs in for a check up.

No brain tumors, and no diseases. All clear. I went to this place. It's called AMERICA'S BEST. I knew they offered the cheapest of anything but i had no idea they'd have such a huge selection and such a great deal. You get two pairs of eye glasses for 69.95 which INCLUDES a free eye exam. This is an awesome value for us poor folk who don't have health insurance. I got a $50.00 upgrade on the lenses which includes a one year replacement plan if something happens to them. I also finally got cool plastic frames like i've wanted for awhile, and some darker wire frames that are more of a square/rectangle shape. I'll have to post some pix when I get them in. It takes 5-7 days. They also have really great deals on contact lenses too, tho i won't wear those bc i'm sure i'll poke my eye out. The doctor seemed younger than i was - which was interesting. And he kind of laughed when he saw how much my eyes have changed over 4 years and how much i really need new lenses!

I was just suprised to find out that there are no hidden fees. Their advertising is actually REAL. You CAN join a club that gets you 3 or 5 years of free yearly exams and 10% off all glasses and 20% off all contacts etc. but i didn't join.

Plus the associate who worked with me (i always need help picking out frames bc i never know if i look dorky or what) was really patient and gave me great advice.

Also bought my 2nd game for GAMECUBE. Driven. The first one i bought didn't work so i had to take it back (i buy used.) and they swapped me out. Really cool. Fun so far! See how much happiness 9.99 can buy??

   [ posted  @ 9:34 PM | ]

Sheer pain watching this match tonight... I always root for Jennifer over Serena when they square off, tho i do like both players. They have battled it out strangely in the quarterfinals of the last 6 grandslams - always very dramatic and finally Jennifer won one. There were so many tight calls and balls falling sqare on/off the lines it was so painful. But she must have heard me rooting for her here all the way in MN and she won!!!

   [ posted  @ 8:10 PM | ]

You know you're awake when...............

So I had just got out of the shower today and dried off when there is a knocking at my door. Why is it if there is a knock at my door, it can't happen when my apt. is really clean and i'm actually dressed????????????????????

I figured it was my apt. manager. Sometimes they deliver packages for me right to my door instead of leaving it in the mail room or whatever. But they will knock and then ENTER if there is no answer. So i shout out, "HOLD ON ! I JUST GOT OUT OF THE SHOWER!!!" and i start grabbing my p.j.'s and throwing clothes on and scanning my apt. for anything i would not want left out. All clear. Then i go to the door, worried that they didn't hear me say that i was not ready, and waiting to hear their key turn in my door.

I open the door. No one is there. I hear a man's voice say, "Hello?"

It is some clueless lost man! HA! He starts to apologize and says that he got turned around in our hallways and since every door looks the same, he can not find the apt. of his son and daughter in law, who just moved in. HAHAHAHAHA. OMG. So i was laughing with him and said i saw a couple move in next door to me but i never met them. He asked if she was blonde, i said no, i think she's Asian. And he asked which way my windows faced out - and since mine overlook the parking lot in the front, he figured he was on the wrong side of the building, but had no idea which apt. they were. He THOUGHT they were in the # apt. i live in, but obviously he was wrong. I said i had no idea, but wished him good luck!!! HAHAHA.

So after a half hour, my heart has calmed down a little and is not beating at the same pace. I feel so bad for him. I remember when i first moved in here and even *I* got lost trying to find my way out bc the hallways are all very similar looking!!!!OMG.

   [ posted  @ 9:06 AM | ]

OK, so who is going with me to see this movie????? It looks "soooo good!" (TGS.)

   [ posted  @ 6:44 AM | ]

I know horroscopes are from the kingdom of satan, but i get a kick of reading the one on my homepage by Earthlink... It's odd how they usually right-on. Today's was funny to me.

Libra
Overall, this should be a pleasant day for you, dear Libra, and you will find that you are properly recognized for the incredible person that you are. You may feel like royalty walking around your kingdom, so feel free to dress in your most regal attire. Take an independent viewpoint when you are asked about how you plan on running your castle. Be creative, honorable, and permissive with your rule.

Okay, let's break it down.

It was a pleasant day, and i am a dear.

I *WAS* properly recognized for the incredible person i am. I was told that i "rock" several times at work (this happens all day, bc i truly do rock and i have people trained and conditioned like pavlov's dogs to repeat it to me all the time).

I *DID* feel like royalty walking around in my kingdom (the store) as i always do. And I DID dress in my most regal attire (blue shirt, white t-shirt; khaki pants with the holes in the pockets that have been sewed up so many times i can't count and the pockets are getting smaller and smaller bc i don't really know how to sew, so i keep folding the fabric over, and sewing terrible stitches in it... bc i need new pants but am too poor to even afford Old Navy; send aid).

I *DID* have to take an independant viewpoint as to how i run my castle, because my methods are often questioned by my superiors, and i always justify everything i do. Today's mantra was "you can't always get what you want." I said that all day long and drove everyone nuts.

And when am i NOT creative, permissive and whatever that other word was???? COME ON PEOPLE!

And, finally,
notice the last word of the horror-scope. "rule." I rule.

   [ posted  @ 8:34 PM | ]

OK. So i finally killed the parasite queen in metroid. I thought once you kill the bad guy, the level is OVER. It's not. Just when i wanted to rejoice, the clock starts ticking and buzzing and you're on very low energy as it is, and you have exactly 6 minutes (and falling) to find your way out of this slime infested tunnel system with a few more stupid bad guys, slime creatures blurring your visor, and too many doors to choose from. I can now pretty much successfully kill the queen parasite, but i can't find my way out of the tunnel. I am not saying i'm giving up. I'm saying it's very hard. I need something easy to build my confidence back up, like Mario something, or car racing. Yeah. But i see that Mario Tennis is coming out Nov. '04 so that is what i want for Christmas (along with Zelda.) End.

   [ posted  @ 7:33 PM | ]

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