Five Things About Me

No one tags me for things since I almost never blog anymore, but I will do this thing that has been going around on all the other blogs I read.

5 things I was doing ten years ago:

1. Going to church all the time
2. Going to school five days a week
3. Probably fighting with my brother
4. Being glad summer vacation was starting soon
5. Wishing I had different parents

5 things on my to-do list today

1. Go through the ginormous stack of mail that has not been dealt with in many weeks
2. Go to Baskin Robins for 31 cent scoop night
3. Have dinner with Matt
4. Go to Wal*Mart for new GameCube controller (dogs destroyed one of them)
5. Drink some water as to not get more dehydrated

5 snacks I enjoy

1. Cheese (the real kind, not the processed slices)
2. Brownies
3. Fancy desserts like Pepperidge Farm cookies
4. mixed nuts
5. Rice Crispy Treats

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Buy a new house somewhere that is not Reno.
2. Hire a maid, cook, dog walker, and other service people so I could be lazy and not feel bad ;)
3. Not go back to work at my boring call center job
4. Travel wherever whenever
5. Buy stuff for people I love

5 bad habits

1. Being bossy
2. Being lazy
3. Assuming I am smarter than everyone else
4. Letting the mail pile up
5. Forgetting the answer to a question I just asked someone

5 Paces I've lived

1. Las Vegas, NV
2. Reno, NV
3. Sun Valley, NV
4. temporarily: Yuma, AZ
5. various hotel rooms ;)

5 jobs I've had

1. Hallmark sales associate
2. College Book Store cashier
3. Secretary
4. Odd Job Specialist (I heard this on TV the other day and thought it was hilarious)
5. Call Center Associate

I tag anyone who wants to do this ;o)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

For those of you who miss reading about my life, here is a post for you

Tuesday was a full day for me.

Went in and worked at my appraisal place from 1 - 5:30 PM. There was quite a bit to do, and I didn't get everything finished (I am a lot slower than I used to be since I am out of practice). I am already scheduled to go again next Tuesday. This is not a bad part-time job.

After work Matt and I went to Ben & Jerry's to get a free cone (was Free Cone Day). I got cheesecake brownie and Matt got something that was really, really chocolaty. Matt pretty much always makes the better ice cream decision.

Then we stopped at the store and I bought milk, cream cheese, and tomato sauce.

Then we went home for a short while. I mixed up part of a lamb meat loaf and stuck it in the fridge.

Then we went to our accounting class. The last two weeks we were supposed to have a substitute while the teacher was out of the country, but neither of them showed up. She started out her lecture on chapter 10, though I am not really sure why since we already had to do the homework and quiz on chapter 10 last week. Then she started on chapter 11, but did not get all the way through it since the teacher started coughing too much. We were there a lot longer than usual.

Then we came back home. I finished making the lamb meatloaf, put it in the oven, then we left to go get my truck that I left at the appraisal office since I rode with Matt to ice cream/home the first time.

The lamb meatloaf was OK. I liked the loaf itself, but the sauce that the recipe directed me to make tasted just like sweet and sour sauce, which it turns out I do not like on meat loaf. Matt said he liked it, so I hope he enjoys eating the leftovers.

I have "The Best of Price is Right" on DVD from Netflix, so we watched some of that. The original Price is Right with Bill Cullen is really boring to me. I think the revised version with Bob Barker is a lot better.

Went to sleep at 1:30 AM, which was much earlier than I intended to, but I was having trouble staying awake.

A bad year for restaurant dining (Feb 14, 2008)

So apparently 2008 is the year of bad restaurant service for Matt and I.

In January it was Cheesecake Factory where we waited for long we got our whole meal for free.

Then for February it was our Valentine's Day dinner.

We made reservations for 7:00. When we got there we were told they were running a bit behind. We did not get seated until 7:40. The restaurant manager said he would comp us some cocktails, but since we don't really drink we asked for dessert instead. We sat down and got our soda and bread pretty quickly. It took forever and ever before we finally got our steak. The steak was very very good, but it dampened our moods having to wait for forever. After we were done eating I asked for a box and that took like ten minutes to get to us. Then we ordered dessert to go because we did not want to sit there anymore. Dessert to go took a while too. They did comp us our soda and dessert and the steaks were $21 each. We ended up being at the restaurant for a total of two hours and ten minutes.

I asked Matt what fancy place we should go to next month where they will forget about us and then give us free stuff.

Anniversary Trip, Day 2 (1/1/08)

Monday the 1st ~

I set Matt's phone alarm to wake us up at 9 AM, but it did not go off. The front desk called at 10:55 AM and asked us if we were going to check out or if we would  like to stay another day. Check out was at 11:00 AM, so I put in my contacts, pulled on some clothes, and quickly dashed to the front desk.

The hotel has a free continental breakfast, but it was too late for that. Matt looked up "bagels" with his GPS and we were going to go to try a new bagel place. We started driving there and then discovered that was going to take us to SF, so we quickly got off to turn around. We were too late though because we had to pay a $4 toll to go back the other way. Argh.
We ended up going to Panera Bread for breakfast. Getting breakfast there is a much better deal than lunch.

We got to Monterrey about 2 PM. Wow, it was so nice there! We found the aquarium and went there for two hours. I found a few interesting things there. One was this giant massive fish I had never seen or heard of before. I also really liked watching the otters. Matt really liked the jelly fish exhibit, but I find those a bit disturbing being all clear and such.

After we left the aquarium we walked around for a short bit. I found a teeshirt shop with a cool shirt that had an otter and said Monterey, so I bought it. We discovered the Gharidella store was nearby, so we went over there. We could not decide on anything to get, so we just bought a small sampler pack and a hot chocolate sample. I also got a free Monterey map in there, and I discovered that there were roads to drive along the coast, so we went and did that.

After we finished the Monterey coast, we drove over to Carmel-by-the-Sea. That place was so super hilly. We could not find anywhere to park near the water to see the sunset, so I snapped a picture from the car and then we left.

We were going to go to The Cheesecake Factory in Sacramento, but the GPS told me there was one close and mostly where we were already driving in San Jose. We got there and had to wait about 40 minutes for a seat. Then we sat down and ordered dinner. After an hour after we sat down we realized we still had no food. Shortly after that the people around us who came in at the same time got some food. We had a manager come out and say something went wrong with our order, and he would give us some free dessert. After that, we had someone else come out with our ticket and say that was the longest ticket time he had seen in the 3.5 years they had been open, and we would be getting our whole meal for free. Perhaps I should have got the fillet Mignon ;)
When we finally did get our food it was not even that warm. It was quite disappointing. We ate our food and then ordered a piece of cheesecake to go. We were at the table for nearly two hours.

We got back to Reno at 2 AM - much later than planned. I had to go to sleep during the last part of the trip because driving the curvy freeway in the dark was scaring me too much.

Anniversary Trip, Day 1 (12/31/07)

So we have been back for a week now and I never did write about our trip. So here goes...

Monday the 31st ~
Due to lack of sleep for me we left later than planned. I never got around to do any packing before sleeping, so I was scrambling to get all that done.
We took the dogs over to the daycare place; it was not very impressive. I am not sure they even looked over the dogs' shot records, because they said nothing about it and seemed surprised when I handed them more papers other than what I had the vet fax.

We stopped in Roseville for lunch at Panera Bread. Lunch there seemed like the biggest rip-off ever. I am almost certain the last time I ate there the sandwiches were so much bigger. We paid $20+ for not so much food.

We got to our hotel a bit before 4:00 PM. Everything was fine with check-in. I discovered I missed a call from my work asking me to come in and work on the 1st. Considering I put in a request for time off for the day, why would I want to come in?

Getting in to Six Flags was weird because there was only access to the parking lot from one direction. Then there was a parking fee and neither of us had cash - oops.

Six Flags was a bummer. Their season was a few days from ending, and they already had 70% of the rides shut down. They have a butterfly garden there that we both were really looking forward to seeing again, and that was closed too. :(
It was also soooooo cold there. My face got so cold I was literally having a hard time moving it. We went in the gift shot and bought me a hat and a scarf so I could try and keep my head covered.
I rode a few rides, and Matt rode the roller coasters he could fit on. I almost went on one roller coaster, but when I got up there they announced the ride was having difficulties and they weren't sure when it would be back up. Owell, I wasn't too heart-broken.
They did have a dolphin show which was cool. There is also a small shark exhibit there, but I am not gaga over marine life.
We only stayed in the park for about three hours, and then we were cold and bored.

After Six Flags we decided we would go and eat at a restaurant in San Francisco. That was a horrible experience. The GPA did not give out directions fast enough and we got lost. Then when we finally found the place we could not find anywhere to park. After we decided that eating there was not worth it, then we could not get to a freeway access point to leave. Then when we finally did get to the freeway the GPA told us to go the wrong way and we drove twenty miles out of our way. Ack. I so do not like the San Francisco area. Christine, I have no idea how you can live there. And how much do you pay in toll fees a month? We contributed $16 in two days.

We ended up having dinner at In-N-Out Burger because nothing else was still open by that time. After dinner while driving back to the hotel we saw some of the fireworks from Six Flags. When we got to the hotel we discovered that on the same street was Applebees, Red Lobster, and some other restaurant that we could have ate at and not gone to awful San Fran.

We got a hotel room with a big jetted bathtub. The stopper in it though did not work well, and it took Matt a long time to figure out how to jam it in there just right. The bath was nice when he finally figured out how to get it to work.