annoyance of the day: trucks that people lift so much they look like monster trucks

example of overly-lifted truck

I don't have a problem with people who drive trucks and I accept the fact that some people like lifting their trucks higher (although I think it looks a little ridiculous), but I don't understand people who lift their trucks so much that it looks monster truck-esque. I absolutely cannot wrap my head around any kind of reasoning as to lifting it so high. I don't think it looks "cool" and I find it unbelievable that anyone would. but people do. and most of the time I will look the other way, but here's why I dislike them so much:

1. they're lights are blinding
2. they spew out disgusting black smoke
3. they can't see where they're going and subsequently can't stay on the road
4. I can't see around them to pass
5. they're slow

I mean really. if you have the inability to stay in your lane, then you shouldn't be allowed to drive. and I would think people "soup" up their vehicles to drive faster and look cooler (at least I would) but for some reason every huge-ass truck I get behind is slow - like, below-the-speed-limit slow. what's the point then?

I got stuck behind one of these "monsters" on the way to Chris's office this morning. the speed limit is 25. I was going 15 and still couldn't get far enough behind him to avoid the black cloud while still moving. (it doesn't help that you have to go up this big hill to get to the mine offices.) and then the douche drove down the middle of the road the whole way! it's bad enough the road is already quite narrow. if I were coming the other way (which I would have been if I was 5 minutes earlier), I would be definitely ran off the road, if not crushed.

I want to punch this guy. if you're going to lift your truck so high for wahtever reason, at least respect the other drivers on the road - don't act like you're better than everyone else because you are bigger. you're not a haul truck - you don't scare me.

good news though: this fellow forgot to set his parking brake in the parking lot today and rolled backwards through a fence and into a ditch. and because of our site policy, an incident report had to be filed (which everyone will see tomorrow) and he had to be taken for a drug & alcohol test. I'm sure he got into trouble with his supervisor too. karma tastes so sweet.

annoyance of the day: student loans

I've been outstanding at paying off my student loans. I received notices a couple of months before I had to start making payments and I was prepared. and I've always paid way before the due date and always paid extra to get it paid off sooner - the responsible thing to do. and not only have I paid off my student loans on time and more than the minimum payment, but I've paid all of my bills the same way. I had all my credit cards paid off and was getting a good chunk of our furniture and car payments taken care of. my credit score was looking good.

so eff you sallie mae for fucking that all up. big congrats on your part for not validating my contact information before my payments started coming in. the last actual letter I received from you was years ago, and I received many since saying that my loans were sold to the department of education. how was I to know that I still had one loan through you? you never confirmed that I received any information I supposedly received from you. you never sent me any payment booklets or bills to let me know. I got nothing.

and now you're hitting me with huge late fee charges. and when I talk to your idiot customer service lady, she seems to be having trouble finding my scenario in her pre-fabbed script book. she stumbles out that I should have known since it is stated in the terms & conditions when I registered online that all correspondance would be through email. but I never registered online. "you changed your password in june of 2008." how did I first register for an online account last night when one already existed for the loan? most legitimate sites for loans and shit won't let you register multiple times for the same account. and I haven't used my old email address that was on file for years. I can't even get in it anymore! you couldn't have sent me an actual letter making sure I still use my email account since 07/08 when I first got the loan? how many people keep track of their multiple loans when they're shuffled from one bank to another throughout 4 years? you expect me to automatically remember and know everything?

you suck. and so does your $700 past due payment. thanks for helping to make my student loan and repayment process easy. bastards.

annoyance of the day: "political" moves by musicians

dear musicians who chose to be political by boycotting arizona,

I get it. you don't like the SB1070 law. you think it's unconstitutional. you want to make a stand. yada yada yada. but making a difference doesn't mean make your fans suffer. we - your fans - have supported you. we are the ones who bought your albums. we are the ones who attended your shows at the little venues like the rialto (in tucson - which, as a former frequent rialto attender, I'd hate to see the historic venue close down because of artists like you who refuse to entertain those who support you) and the marquee (in tempe). we are the ones who buy your merchandise. we are the ones who make you famous and money. why would you punish us? why does taking your "stand" mean we don't get to enjoy your live music? why not try actively protesting and taking an active stand. how is refusing to play shows in our state active? brewer doesn't give a shit about you. she could care less if you play here or not. she doesn't give a shit if your measly shows hurt our economy. (she'll just take more money away from our education so more and more people will grow up with the same mindset as hers.) she probably doesn't even know who you are. we are the ones who care.

and maybe you forgot, but we are not the ones who have a say in the law. sb1070 was not a public vote. we did not vote it into law. not all of us agree with it. (regardless of how I feel about the law.) our governor signed the law. she made the decision. punish her. don't punish us because we live in the state of arizona. we're not going to pack our bags and move our whole lives because of a silly law and what it may or may not do. your boycotting is not hurting those who enforce the law, it's only hurting the venue owners and the fans who always go to your shows - the ones who have always supported you.

bottom line: your boycotting is not doing a damn thing. yes, it's just hurting our economy but that mainly hurts the people - the fans - not the government. use your head. stop trying to be all political. stop trying to think you're making a change by boycotting the state. if you don't like the law, go to the people who matter - the ones who can actually do something about it - aka the government. protest. march. go to lobbyists. throw shit at their house. I don't care. but don't make me hate you because you refuse to play in arizona (which is a beautiful state, by the way) when I have nothing to do with the "point" you're trying to make. 

maroon 5, kanye west, cyprus hill,etc. and those who decide to follow, I'm boycotting your music. see if I buy your cd's again bastards.

signed, 

your ex-fan,

alicia.

annoyance of the day: person I work with

uuuggggghhh! not only do you ramble on forever about things no one cares about but you can also be a dick. you complain that there's a lack of communication in this company yet you don't mention to another coworker that someone else gave you the information you asked from him. instead of making a quick call to say, "hey, so-and-so got me those drawings," you wait until you (fortunately for him) pass him crawling on the ground around a tank looking for a label. then instead of apologizing for not telling him, you laugh and try to be funny. how rude. no wonder no one here respects you. (except your master of course.)

how I feel

and when I send you a file that you asked for and you decide to modify it (no surprise there because you don't seem to trust anything I do nor do you ask me to adjust it to include what you want), don't put the new file in my personal folder. why can't you just ask me to update it? I don't want your shit in my folder - especially if you're just going to add one additional calculation. just add it to the spreadsheet I sent you and save over it for god's sake. I don't need two spreadsheets with the same shit on it. and if you're going to change things because what I did wasn't right, why don't you talk to me and let me figure out why? how am I supposed to learn if you aren't giving me any opportunities? why did I waste half my day on something you're just going to do yourself anyways?

this is the second time you've been my "annoyance of the day" and I have a feeling this won't be the last. you suck. I hate how you put me on the spot by asking how I think of you as a boss. what do you expect me to say? I could vent forever but that doesn't exactly make me look good now does it? and I hate that you're only a little bit older than me and I'll have to spend my whole career with you. please move to al abra. or tenke. I don't care. just leave me alone. you're not mentoring me and you're not teaching me anything important or useful about how to do my job.

annoyance of the day: feeling nauseous

more importantly, feeling nauseous early in the morning when I have to drive to work. it's bad enough, body, that I need to get as much sleep as possible to be alert and capable of driving both in the morning and (now) in the afternoon. but do you seriously have to make me nauseous so early in the day? it makes it really difficult to drive when you feel like you're going to vomit. it is also unsafe since there aren't very many pullout spaces for me to throw up. it is also the only time embarrassing and inconvenient to throw up in the morning while I'm out in the field. yesterday was the second time I've thrown up at work. and of course my coworkers aren't the kind to be sympathetic for more than 24 hours and therefore torture ensues for the rest of my life. ("do we need to fill out a spill report? you know, for your throw up.") and again today I feel nauseous. it's hard to get any work done when you feel like you're going to puke. near impossible. I feel even more useless here at work than I did before. (is that even possible?)

and it's not completely your fault, body. a lot of the blame goes to our dear friend, the pill. damn you pill. you're really fucking with my hormones. and body is not a fan of you either, obviously. one would think I was pregnant. I would imagine the feeling is much like morning sickness. and therefore is another reason why I don't want babies. I mean if my body can't handle the hormone changes from the pill, how the hell is it going to handle the hormone changes of having a baby growing inside of me?!

this is my third month on the pill. I figured it'd be like this for a couple of months. but a couple is two. and I'm at three. therefore, my body should be getting used to it, right? maybe it hasn't been enough time. we'll see if I get better by month five.

until then, damn you pill. damn you to hell.

annoyance of the day: the lady down the hall

the lady down the hall from me, on the other side of the building, talks to herself. not a little. not quietly to the point that you're not really sure if you caught her talking to herself or not. but loud. and a lot. I mean all day long she's talking to herself.

I've only discovered this last week. beforehand, I just assumed she was always on the phone. wrong. she's crazy. she'll have conversations with herself. and you constantly hear her cussing and asking questions and making random comments. she'll even walk through the hallway singing to herself. and she'll even talk in the bathroom!

seriously freeport - how did she get through your rigorous hiring process?

annoyance of the day: internet slang

fml. wtf. lol. wut. u. 2day. all these drive me crazy. sometimes, I think they're acceptable - when the phrase you're shortening is worth shortening - such as fyi (for your information = 20 characters!) or wtf when you're in g-rated areas, but most of these are overused. especially fml. I can't go through posts on facebook without seeing fml at least 5 times a day. that's ridiculous. and it's never a good enough reason to be so pissed off about life to say fml fuck my life. never is the acronym used when it really should be. some reasons to say fml (actual things that I've read):

• having a really sick puppy that doesn't seem to be improving
• having a dad who has cancer that's eating his ribs and being told that he has no more than 3 months to live
• having a child who's allergic to everything and feeling overwhelmed by all the caution you have to take from now on
• having your best friend be in critical condition thousand of miles away from a bike accident and not being able to go support them
  
  

some non-fml moments that I've actually read:

• having to drive in construction on your way to vacation
• having to go to work period
• not having cereal when you want it
  
  

so many people use fml for the dumbest of situations. sure, driving through construction sucks ass, but, seriously, worse things could happen. sure you don't have cereal when you want it most isn't fair - but that's "ironic" as ms. morissette would say.

and what's crazy is that those who have legitimate fml situations never say fml. instead they do the best they can do to handle what life's thrown at them - hope, ask for advice, pray, ask for support. they don't sit there, acting pitiful, and say fuck my life. they don't look for pathetic, useless, sympathy from others - they look for support.

some people take life for granted. some people don't realize that there's people out there in a lot of pain, suffering from what life has brought. it's almost a slap in the face to say fuck my life because you're in traffic on your vacation. really? that's the worst that's happening to you? lucky bastard.

instead of saying fml, couldn't you say "oh darn" or just "fuck?" or just say how annoying it is. and as for the other internet slang, can't you just type the dang thing out? it's not that many more letters and it's just the grown up thing to do. we're not in middle school anymore. we're all adults. we learned english and grammar. we can write in complete sentences and phrases. there's no need to shorten phrases on facebook or any other site. unless you're getting close to that 160 character mark and that's a whole different issue.

annoyance of the day: chris-less mornings

chris is out of the town for half of the week at some conference in phoenix. sure phoenix is only a 45-60 minute drive from our house so theoretically he should be able to drive home every night, but I'm not sure if his car would be able to handle the driving back and forth. so I'm stuck at home. with a dog and a new puppy. I feel like a single mother of two. this is what my morning consists of:

• try not to trip over ginger (who has to beat you down the stairs) as I rush to get pepper outside as soon as she wakes up so she can do her "thang"
• pour myself a cup of coffee
• wash face, get dressed, apply makeup
• let pepper back in
• sip some coffee
• "no pepper, don't chew on the table/couch/rug/cord/etc"
• give pepper something to chew on while I try to enjoy my coffee and "breakfast" (which just consists of a couple handfuls of cereal) and read some of my book
• rip the bottom of my pant leg out of pepper's mouth
• pry the throw blanket out of pepper's mouth
• make sure each dog has their own food (adult healthy balance diet for ginger and puppy healthy growth for pepper)
• make my lunch
• make sure ginger has plenty of water
• see why pepper is whining
• make sure towel is clean/dry in pepper's crate (which is upstairs in my room)
• give ginger a bone
• take ginger's bone away for being mean to pepper
• refill pepper's water bowl & food bowl in her crate
• get stuff together for work
• "ginger get out of there"
• try to put shoes on while pepper chews on them
• find and put toys or something for pepper to chew on in her crate
• give ginger attention so she doesn't feel left out
• take pepper outside again
• wait for her to do her business
• find treats to give to pepper for doing her business outside
• give ginger a treat for always doing her business outside
• turn off coffee pot
• go back upstairs to brush coffee teeth
• stop ginger from drinking out of toilet
• make sure all doors are locked (back door, bedroom balcony doors, garage doors)
• put pepper in her crate
• find cd's to take for the drive
• rush back upstairs to stop pepper from whining by remembering to put a sheet over the crate
• leave for work

all this while constantly keeping an eye on pepper to make sure she stays out of trouble and having to rush up and down the stairs is exhausting. it's so much easier when chris is there with me to help out in some way or another. and I always feel so rushed. I wake up an hour before I have to leave for work and I'm convinced that some my minutes go missing. sure I could get up earlier, but it's hard to get yourself out of bed at 3 in the morning. especially when you were just awake at 1 am to let pepper out.

I already feel exhausted this week and it's only tuesday.

annoyance of the day: obvious

today has sucked so far and I couldn't quite decide what was annoying me the most today. and since I already did a post on b-dogs, I've opted for the word "obvious." it's a stupid word and I wanna punch those who chose to use it. it's pointless. if it's so "obvious," then wouldn't I already know? and if I don't, then you're just making me feel stupid for not knowing something so "obvious."

b-dog overuses the word "obvious." I'm not even sure if he even realizes how much he uses the word. "obviously we won't have the pads rinsing this month." duh. "obviously this is as far as we can get without the mine plan." you think? "obviously blah blah blah." yeah I get it since it's obvious. I think it's safe to say about 90% of the "obvious" stuff he told me today was obvious and I already knew. 

stop wasting my time by saying something that is obvious. it's obvious because everyone already knows it. according to the merriam-webster, obvious is something that is "easily discovered, seen, or understood." I'm a fucking engineer. I know sometimes I don't feel like I am, but I did go to college. and therefore I do understand the basics - aka: all the "obviouses" - of forecasting and dump leach and sx flows. I get it. you do not need to spend 10-15 minutes explaining the "obvious" to me. because it's already fucking obvious!

on another note. now that we're all moved into our new house (YAY!!) I'm not giving up on operation: new dog. ginger needs someone to play with while we're at work all day. it's just cruel leaving her there all by herself.

puppy of the day: ain't he a cutie?

probably too young for chrisy-poo.

awesome: coming back to my office after a day with my boss (shoot me now) to find a box of gobstoppers on my desk from a coworker

lame: having to spend a day with your boss following him around while he does his own shit.

annoyance of the day: people who can't move on

I know I've written a couple of entries about a certain individual, but I want to make it clear that I am completely over this certain individual. I've mentioned how sometimes I think about our fun times, and I do, but the horrible times override the "fun times" and therefore I'm quickly reminded how happy and how great my life is now. it's just lame when I go through weeks of not speaking to this person and I'm in a good mood all the time and not being made to feel like crap and then all the sudden, out of the blue, he drops me a message/text. the message I happened to receive last night:


"so your re-engaged huh?"

a mere 21 minutes later:

"hey, sorry, stupid question. Congrats."


I'm glad it only took you 21 minutes to realize your stupidity rather than 21 hours later like before. but seriously - how did you manage to find that out? it's not made public on my myspace page. my facebook is set to private unless you're my friend. only solution is you borderline stalked me to come across this blog to determine this fact. you'd be doing yourself a favor if you just stop doing shit like that. you don't need to see the update of my life. it's none of your business.

and to rid of any thoughts you have - chris is amazing. he cares about me. he has his faults but he doesn't push that onto other people. he takes responsibility and mans up to his actions. he doesn't start drama or purposely try to stir up issues. he doesn't dwell on the past. and he doesn't play the blame game constantly. he makes me laugh and I feel 100% comfortable around him. we have a lot in common and at the same time we are ok with each other doing their own thing every once in a while. we don't have to be attached to the hip. and he understands that my family is the most important thing to me and that they're my best friends. he doesn't get mad if I have a late night with my cousin or if I had a long day at work and need a nap. he's understanding. and he is my fiance. and I wouldn't want it any other way.

so please do yourself a favor and leave me alone. every time we try to talk and be friends you just end up bringing up old shit and making me mad. or you'll act like you know something that you don't (remember saying the suns won't make it to the playoffs? you clearly don't know shit about basketball hun) and that frustrates me even more. I've moved on and things are great. and I know you have to - new job, new place, yada yada. so stop trying to dwell on our past. it's seriously not healthy. and life would be much more enjoyable.

I am sorry shit went down the way it did. but shit happens.



on another note: puppies of the day: 

they're all so adorable I can't pick one.

awesome: edamame. mmm.

lame: la lakers.

annoyance of the day: stress

today sucks. here's why:

1. I have to start presenting the process data during our daily morning meeting. I have to know where all the numbers come from & if there's any variance, why. presenting the numbers doesn't terrify me that much - it's the explaining if something's wrong. I feel like I don't really know the process & all the details that much yet and fear the moment when someone asks me a question I don't know the answer to (although I should) and everyone realizes how dumb I really am. no pressure.
2. WARNING: possible TMI moment - skip to number 3 if you want to avoid TMI. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. not too big of a deal, except it's a pap smear appointment. my first one ever. not looking forward to it too much. although I am thankful I get to finally get one (thank you company paid insurance!) I'm a little terrified of what they'll find. nothing serious, I just know that I have a reoccurring pain-in-the-ass (not literally) aka yeast infections. I mean I have them a lot. I've been taking this stuff called azo which helps treat & prevent and it works really well if I take it every day. I just hope she doesn't look in there and tell me it's a different problem.
3. the suns game is tonight - game 1 against the spurs. ugh. if we lose I know I'll pay for it at work tomorrow. so I'm really hoping we'll win. if we win, not only do we win, but it'll also increase my confidence in winning the whole series. at least the hydromet manager (my boss's boss's boss), troy, is on my side. he bet with mark that if the suns win, mark has to wear a suns hat for a month & if the spurs win then troy will wear a spurs hat. so to clarify - if the suns win, mark has to wear a suns hat and a suns jersey. priceless. I just hope we win this first game, then I'll have more faith.

that's really it, but it sure is bringing a lot of stress to me. I can't wait until today's over.

to make things better: puppy of the day:

2-3 month old shepard/lab mix? how
can you say no to that face?!

16 days until we get to move into our own house!

awesome: the rocket summer's new cd.

lame: being uber tired at work

annoyance of the day: b-dogs

some people are lucky to have awesome b-dogs. the the kind of b-dogs that listens and understands and actually thinks you're a human being. and the ones that help you grow and learn as a professional.

my b-dog is not exactly one of those. he's a good guy and all but he's really pushing my buttons right now. I am full aware that my "90 days" (90 days of being a new employee and therefore people giving me a break and being nice) are up but you don't need to prove a point that you can torture me. I am looking forward to the tasks and assignments people will be giving me. but that also doesn't mean you can sit back and laugh like an arrogant bastard.

and when I ask you a simple question, I just want a simple answer. you don't need to explain to me some useless story for 15-20 minutes. and you definitely don't have to go into deep details about everything I ask. "is monty going over this?" is a yes or no question. that's it.

and when someone does give me something to do - don't come into my office and do it for me. I am fully capable of adding a data series on a chart in excel. I just had a simple question about what needed to be done - I didn't not know how to do it. thanks for doing it for me, but that doesn't help me learn nor does it make me look like I know what I'm doing.
my b-dog is just rude, simply put. he'll interrupt you. he'll make you wait while he chats with someone. he comes into my office today - who knows why - and gets a phone call. so he answers it. fine, no biggie. but he talks so freakin' loud and he stays in my office so I can't even concentrate to do anything else while I'm waiting for him. and of course, it's not a short conversation nor does he apologize for taking the phone call or anything (it's just common courtesy). he corrects people with a condescending attitude. he laughs at people when they make an innocent mistake - and not in a fun everyone's-laughing-I'm-just-laughing-along kinda way. and he acts like he thinks he's such a big shot around here.

I think the thing that annoys me the most, though, is how he thinks he has the right to be such a dick and go around changing everything. if you think something is better and can improve the process, then fine, just talk to the supervisors here about it first. don't go talking to your b-dog (rex) so he'll approve it and throw it at chris & tom (the supervisors here at the tankhouse) without giving them any kind of warning. that's just not right. people can be understanding about changes, if you just talk to them first.

on another note, I'm gonna start doing a little ending thing (kinda pretty much stolen from another blog I came across one day). just for fun.





awesome: beagle puppies. this is another beagle puppy (12 weeks old) that I found on craigslist that I super badly want.

lame: $400 re-homing fees for a beagle puppy that isn't even potty trained house trained.

annoyance of the day: bugs

here's things most people would typically find annoying about the drive I make:

• the fact that it's an hour-long drive.
• the time you have to wake up in order to get to work on time.
• the 50 miles one way.
• the wear and tear on the vehicle.
• not having a convenient alternative route when there's an accident.
• the windy roads.
• the fact that it's mostly one-lane traffic.
• getting stuck behind semis or other vehicles going less than 40 mph.
• the fact that it's an hour-long drive.

and what do I find annoying the most?

• the shitload of bugs that get splattered across my windshield every day.

no lie. it's really the only thing I hate about my drive to work. my windshield drives me crazy. I don't like dirty windshields. not one bit. every time I get gas I have to clean it (and I get gas often, since it's over 100 miles round trip for work). and (this is one of the things I get from my dad - thanks) I don't half-ass clean it. I scrub that shit off. and on the drive home from work, it just gets covered again. completely. it's disgusting. and it drives me crazy. I'm thinking about cleaning it every day when I get home from work rather than just waiting until I get gas.

I hate you warmer weather that makes the bugs come out.