I'm royally pissed these days . . . .

Took LeBug into a local breaks shop on Friday.  It had been making some noise every time I'd step on the breaks, especially after long-ass drives flying on the I; so I figured it was time.  Broke my routine Friday and dropped it off for about  hours.

$400+ later and on the drive back home, it's making new little noises . . . faint noises that it wasn't making before and I don't think it should be making.

I called them and told them how displeased I am w/their work and the dude said to bring it right back.  Well, I couldn't cuz, my priorities being right what they should be, I was heading to Miami in about 30 minutes to see Bryan Adams' Bare Bones show (for the 3rd time this year).

After bitchin' him out, en español, he agreed someone would be there at 9am the following day.  Big fat liar!  No one was there, and today no one is answering my calls.

Enter American Express.

Since I paid w/AmEx, I called them up and asked to question/dispute the charge because of the shoddy service.  We'll see what comes out of it.

Their research department will look into it and contact the breaks place . . . and might continue to contact them to see if I can get this fixed.  Also, when they took apart the rug area to get to the spare tire area where the key lug nut thingie is they never put things back and did not return my key lug nut thingie.

So . . . we'll see how things develop  . . . argghh!!!

What a difference a day makes!

By this time yesterday, I must've received at last 7 support calls and the BSOD on my PC.  Today, I just now got my first call (and one walk-by).  PC is working smoothly, no BSOD.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed things'll stay this way for the day . . . eh, for the week!  Granted, it's another short week for me, my weekend will start tomorrow at 4pm!  WooHoo!

I have a pallet -and-a-half left over of red mulch blocking LeBug's entrance into the garage.  What do do?  What to do?

OOooh, I offered the 1/2 pallet to my bro-in-law for a price; that of manual labor.  He is going to help me get the big pallet into the garage to store it for future use and take the 1/2 pallet to use at his place.  WooHoo!  We both win! 

And speaking of the bro-in-law; we had a wonderful breakfast this morning, made by him.  He, my darling sister and precious niece brought breakfast to mom's house and we had a family breakfast.  Surprisingly, they made it during real breakfast hours; like we ate around 8:30 or 9am.  Impressive, huh? 

After breakfast he fixed the potty in mom's 3rd bathroom while the girls visited. 

It's so good to see my sister be her old self again.   For years she had been suffering excruciating and debilitating back aches.  She had been to several specialists, none of them could find the problem.  She had several (yes, more than one, more than two, more than three; several) epidurals that provided about 36hrs of relief.  One July night, or more so in the middle of the morning, she was awaken by the pain, and there was no consoling her.  Bro-in-law drove her into ER where they ran a series of tests (as usual).  While they wouldn't do much to treat her back ache, because she was already under a physician's care, they found she had several (again, more than one) ovarian cysts.  The weeks that followed were dotted with visits to specialists to get her ready for a partial hysterectomy.  The procedure was done while mom, her kids and I were in Jamaica.

It's taken a few months for her to stop feeling any of the pains or pangs, and each time I see her, I see more and more of the sister I had lost about 4 years ago to the pain.

It turned out that there were about 3 or 4 cysts, one the size of a grapefruit and others . . . . the internal pressure they were causing was pretty much the root of her back aches.

She smiles and jokes around these days . . . and is not heavily drugged up on vancodine, oxy or the like.

So good to have her back.

Before . . . and During

Boss Lady

Weeds are all cleared . . . . shrubbery all trimmed

All done now!

Guava tree . . . . Before and After

Tangerine tree . . . . Before and After

I am tired . . . achy . . . . and sun burnt! 

So glad the yard work went so well and more glad it'll all be done and finished much earlier than expected.

It was hot, humid; albeit, not as nasty humid as usual SoFL weather, and the sun was out in full force.  Walking thru the orange store's garden center was almost painful, feeling the sun frying my skin.  I have great appreciation for folks who make the pretty gardens pretty and am baffled that there are people on this world who do that work.

I am not knocking it, I am acknowledging and appreciating that it is hard work . . . and I am spoiled silly.

Mom has been doing wonderfully.  Life is about 97% back to normal for her; she still feels her left shoulder sore from the incision, and is still mindful of no heavy or streneous movements w/her left arm . . . . some times I wonder if she might be over compensating, but I'm letting her slide thru January/February, allowing 6 months for healing.  She's walking close to a mile in the mornings, and about 1 1/2 in the afternoon, so she's staying active, and not having to stop to catch her breath; whereas, prior to the pace-maker implant, we'd have to stop 2x for her to catch her breath, and this was only walking around the block, less than 1/3 mile.  I am so proud and thankful that she is doing well.

On not so great news, JBen has lost his job.  EA went thru cutbacks and his position was one of the eliminated.  If you know of anyonw hiring a software developer, let know . . . I know a very talented dude who needs hiring.

Ow!  My face is sunburnt, it hurts to yawn.

Temperatures tomorrow are forcasted to be in low 90's.  Crap!  Showers in the afternoon that will bring in a cool front.  WooHoo!  Bring it on, baby!!

Holy Shit!  Have I really been away, neglecting my dear Xanga this long?

I have to come clean . . . I haven't been faithful lately.  Yes, I've been at that other place . . . uhm . . . Facebook.  I gave in to peer pressure.  I was weak.

So it's not really cheating when I don't do it as often as the other kids do, right?  And, it's not really seeing "the other one" when I'm mostly there for the goofy apps (FarmTown and FarmVille). 

I am so hooked on these silly apps, it's like I find myself slapping my veins, craving my next fix.

Promise to self:  try to check in w/Xanga at least 1x weekly.