yes, I'm still alive...

just to quickly summarize the basics of what has gone on in my life since my last post:

1. my boss left the company and ended up screwing me over by not teaching me anything.
2. I celebrated the victory of the Dallas Mavericks waay too much and hopefully never again.
3. my baby, Pepper, turned one year old.
4. we bought an elliptical.
5. my best friend from tucson, Roy, and his pregnant wife moved in with us for the summer.
6. Chris and I started couples counselling again with a different counsellor.
7. I know how to tend a vegetable/fruit garden.
8. I learned how to bake zucchini bread, zucchini brownies, and zucchini muffins.
9. I can put my hair up in a high ponytail (I joined my cousin, aunt, and mom in the challenge of growing our hair out for Locks of Love).
10. I've become convinced that someone stole my camera from my office (or I just really misplaced it).
11. I bought a new camera.
12. saw the new Transformers movie. (AWESOME!)
13. got a new cell phone.
14. Chris and I have been fighting less and getting along more.
15. Chris won a weight-loss challenge we were doing at work and contributed a big chunk of money to my birthday trip (see below).

so basically not a whole lot has changed. and although I probably could scrounge up enough thoughts and opinions to write a post, I just have not had the time to do so. since my boss left and I have assumed his responsibilities, my work days are more stressful and exhausting. and I try to be as productive and efficient as I can during my 4-5 hours of time at home after work by either baking (due to the operpopulation of zucchinis from my parents' garden), working out (I've got to get to my "San Diego body"!), or trying to get some rest.

due to the fact that Chris chose to ignore my birthday last year, he's insisting we take a week-long trip during the week of my birthday. we have plenty of PTO to burn so I'm not gonna say no. initially I wanted to go to Seattle but I'm starting to think about other possibilities. we bought a time share a few years back (before we even graduated college! talk about irresponsibility and impulsive buying!) so we might use that to go somewhere more exotic. who knows. 

I'm going to try to blog more often and not just about random things going on in my life, because I feel like that gets pretty boring. so I have to restructure my thought process to have a more interesting and helpful blog. something that people can relate to. relationship issues. growing up. working full-time. music. family. opinions. something people will want to read. that's my goal.

Learn Something New Tuesday! Vol. Three

I have a lot of half-written posts saved that I need to remember to finish when I get home. but they're there. I swear. and it's more than a questionnaire I stole from someone else. :)

annnnywho. here's this week's list of random questions.

1. Have you ever gone swimming in the moonlight?
a few times when I still lived with my parents. it's nice, but the bugs that are attracted to the light (if we have the pool light on) drive me crazy.

2. In your whole house, what room do you stay in the most?
well considering I get about 6-8 hrs of sleep at night and I am in my house awake only 4-5 hrs of the day, it would definitely be the bedroom. but when I'm awake I spend most of the time in the family room.

3. How much time do you spend on computer a week?
my job requires me to be at my computer most of the day so that's kind of unfair. but at home I would say maybe an 4-6 hrs a week?

4. If a stranger gave you a cookie, would you eat it?
probably. I'm a sucker for cookies. at least if they're bakery people handing out samples or something. I probably (or at least I hope) wouldn't take one from some weird creepy person on the street.

5. What’s one thing you’re looking forward to?
planting the rest of our plants and ordering gravel so we can have a nice backyard I can get furniture for.

6. If I say “psycho”, who is the first person that comes to your mind?
my ex, TJ.

join in the fun!

black holes and revelations

it's quite amazing how much someone can influence your actions. I've always been a "be yourself" and "who cares what others think" kind of girl but I have learned to find it harmless to care what people think (to an extent) and to be influence by the people you spend your time around. and lately it makes me wonder who am I? a lot more. I mean, not just who am I? but who do I want to be? I know who I am - I'm Alicia. I work at a mine. I co-own a house, a car, and two dogs. and I have an awesome family that I'm really close with. But am I good? am I caring? am I spontaneous and fun? these are the things I feel a little more lost on. But that's the process of transisting from childhood/teen-hood to adulthood, right? that's what your 20s are for: finding out who you really are.

I find myself quite influenced by others lately. My brother & sister-in-law just bought their first home and within weeks of living there, it looks like a home. It looks like somewhere you can raise a family and eat spaghetti on the couch while watching movies. and it reflects who they are perfectly. my sister has done such a swell job at decorating their place. it made me slightly jealous. I love their house! I love what they've done with it. and it made me look around my own house (with Chris of course) and realize how it still looks new. sure, we've added a lot of furniture to it, but there's not much decorating. you can't look around and see mine or Chris's personality in it. I want a homey-home and ours doesn't meet the criteria. so my sister encouraged me to be more involved in decorating our house. I've always enjoy decorating and coordinating patterns and colors (I still wonder if I should have majored in interior decorating rather than chemical engineering) and I want to find more time to do it. I need to stop being lazy and embrace the bonding experience it will bring Chris and me (hopefully).

I also visited my dear friend Jenna this weekend who is a wonderful baker/cook. She whipped up some banana nut muffins within half an hour and they were DE-LISH-OUS. she inspired me to try harder to be a better cook and to take a shot at baking. I want to be more of a housewifegirlfriend. I want to be able to bake treats for people and make meals for parties. I want to be a hostess more and have people enjoy my cooking/baking.

overall, I think I want to become a better adult. take care of myself more. start relying on myself rather than others (they never follow through). and stop depending on restaurants to provide meals.

just another manic monday

I hate Mondays (who doesn't) and I usually try to take it easy Mondays at work to allow myself to recover from the weekend (not the hard-partying recovering, but more the try-to-get-as-much-done-as-you-can-on-your-only-two-days-off-and-still-see-family-and-catch-up-on-favorite-tv-shows-and-get-adequate-sleep kind of recovering). however, with my new responsibilities at work comes less time "take it easy" at work - which is probably the reason why I've felt soo exhausted the past couple of weeks that I have NO energy to do anything let alone work out (thank god I still have 5 months until San Diego).

as I was sitting in my morning meeting today, and filling line after line in my planner, I realized I have a shit load to do today. bummers. (guess no close-the-door-nap). but out of the 16 things I needed to do today, I completed 12 of them, and started 2 of them.



yeeeaaaaaah booooooiiiy.
I am THE SHIT.



and now my day is over. amazing. I know.

AMFs, tacos, and the renaissance

I kind of fell off the wagon last week. I stopped working out, ate A LOT, and was just overall lazy. I don't really know what came over me and at the end of the week I just had zero motivation.

then I hung out with friends friday night. taco night saturday (my favorite nights in the world!). and went to the ren fair on sunday. being able to let loose and have some fun has given me my motivation back. I'm really starting to realize the importance of balancing work time, fun time, and productive time. for a while there I was just being productive and even though it felt great, it became overwhelming.

so with my new motivation comes a list! (oh how I love lists.) things I want to accomplish this week.

• workout after work every day
• get doggie bed for outside
• start to adapt pepper to being outside during the day
• put paitings/pictures up
• buy cute decorations for bathroom (target!)
• do something different and out of my comfort zone this weekend

hopefully I can get my butt back into gear. I had enough lazy days. now back to working on my San Diego body!

panicking and a cherry on top

I seem to panic and stress at the silliest things - stuff people normally wouldn't even notice was happening. or stuff that people normally would find so insignificant they would just brush it off their shoulder. nope, not me. I freak over little things yet I'm surprisingly calm when it comes to big actual stressful situations (presentations, interviews, etc...)

for example, I hate, HATE, HATE driving without directions or a clear understanding of where I'm going. I will not go on the road without knowing where I'll end up. and if I do, I'll have my trusy GPS (Luvie) with me.

other things I panic about:

• holding people up in a line (hence why I very seldom go to subway)
• making any kind of phone call (I usually have to write myself a script)
• conference calls (where it's harder to write a script)
• being around or talking to my superintendent and/or manager (not that they're bad guys)
• gas (I've only hit the empty line - not dying empty, but the empty line when the "low fuel" light comes on - twice)
• hospitals

I think know my problem is that I tend to overthink everything. I go over every possible scenario and how I would handle them in my head before I do anything. and if I'm unsure of any possible scenarios, I will have a full fledge panic attack (not very often - maybe once or twice). maybe I have a controlling nature. I have to know what's going on at all times. I need to feel prepared. there's no way I can just "wing it." I practice presentations so many times that I memorize what I will say (which is why I usually don't get stressed over them). if only there was a way to stop my mind from thinking too much

on another note

 my lovely sister(in law) gave me the "cherry on top" award. *gasp*cheers*tear* pretty cool I think. my first ever award.

in order to accept the award you have to:

• list 3 things you love about yourself
• post a picture you love
• pass on to 5 other blogs you just adore!
  

so my 3 things I ♥ about me:

1. my personality. I can laugh about anything and get along with pretty much every one. I think I'm a burst of fresh air who makes things interesting. even if I do panic at times.
2. that I can be a girly girl and still root for sports harder than some guys.
3. that I can appreciate everyone and everything. from my coworkers who kindly answer my stupid questions to the lady who gives me my "free throw" book at the suns game when I head to my seat, I think everyone has good in them.
   

one of my favorite photos:

pepper (when she was still a pup) & ginger

5 blogs I ♥

1. moms are for everyone - emery jo's stories of her relationship with her husband, with God, and her children always leaves you with a smile on your face when you're done reading (go congrat her on her adorable new baby boy!).
2. she breathes deeply - mandy is so sweet and adorable it's hard not to love her blog (also go congrat her on her beautiful baby girl!).
3. lullabies to terrorize - I've known amanda for quite some time from tucson and I enjoy her bluntness and refusal to candy coat anything.
4. playing house- full time - I feel like I can really relate to autumn and her feelings on life and herself. I wish she lived closer so i can visit and chat over tea while watching her adorable girl.
5. three birds - chelsea has an amazing ability to make every situation either drop dead hilarious or extremely heartwarming which always makes for an interesting read. (while you're there congratulate her on her baby on the way)
   

Enjoy!

30 days of questions

I came across this from a blog I just happened to take a look at. I usually am not fond of questionnaires (I find them childish and lacking truth) but I figured, why not? I really need something to distract me from my reality right now. I'm so tired of my life right now that I need something, anything, to remind me that life is good.

so here are the questions/topics. each day I'll answer them - starting tomorrow (due to lack of personal pictures at work and lack of free time when I get home tonight).

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 02- The meaning behind your blog name
Day 03- A recent picture of you and your friends
Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to
Day 06- Favorite super hero and why
Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days
Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad
Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12- How you found out about Tumblr and why you made one
Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16- Another picture of yourself
Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- What you think about your friends
Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30- Who are you?

I know - you're über excited.

birthday cards and broken hearts

what happened to birthday cards that made your day? the cards where it would say something funny or cheesy and then the person would write a sweet or thoughtful message inside. and getting cards from all your family and friends. what happened to those birthdays?

debi (the admin clerk at the SX plant) got me a card and had everyone at work sign it and gave it to me today (even though my birthday was saturday - no biggie). I waited until I got back to my office - and I'm glad I did, because when I read it, I got tears in my eyes. not because anyone wrote something that touched my heart. but because no one really wrote anything. only two people wrote more than three words. here's my card breakdown: 14 out of the 19 people who signed my card just wrote "happy birthday [insert name here]." three people didn't even do that much and just wrote their names (including my boss!). now I know I'm new and I know not very many people know me that well, but I'd figure those who I do talk to on a daily basis would have a little bit more to say than just a "happy birthday." something like "happy birthday, hope you have a great day" or "best wishes on you birthday" or something - I don't care - just something more than two words!

I almost feel hurt and as if I'm not liked around the office. I mean, the people I work with can't take the time out of their day to write a little message for my birthday. especially if they know they had a sub-par birthday. I feel like I don't have a personal relationship with anyone I work with because they can't take the time to write something on my card. my relationships at work are strictly work and that makes me sad. every else that I've worked at (minus sierrita) I've had somewhat of a personal relationship with my coworkers. I would hang out with the other interns outside of work. and I remember for my birthday when I worked at asarco everyone signed my card and had something to say.

then I got to thinking. I got a total of 6 cards this year for my birthday. (not from my so-called "fiance" - but we'll save that for another post.) I remember being a kid and getting so many cards from everyone and getting to open them all and read the pre-written message and then get to read a personal message from the sender. you don't get that anymore. not because I'm older, but because technology's there. any kid today probably doesn't get cards very often. forget cards. they're almost obsolete. instead of getting a bunch of cards, I got a bunch of text messages and facebook posts. and they said the same thing! "happy birthday." (minus the few good friends I have that took the time to say something thoughtful.) I mean am I really that horrible and unlikeable of a person? or are you just lazy? I'd rather you not say "happy birthday" if you don't mean it and I feel that if you're just saying "happy birthday" with nothing else, then you really don't mean it. you're just trying to look like a nice person. a real friend would say something nice. and I feel hurt because after summer fashion week (hosted by emery at moms are for everyone!) I've really realized how much a simple little comment or compliment could really make someone's day. and I feel a quick message in a card can have the same effect. it really shows you care about them.

technology's really taken over our lives. it's really taken the personal-ness out of anything. it makes me sad.

fashion friday v. 3

breaking news! I can now finally fully eat with both sides of my mouth! wooooo! I'm eating lunch (tuna casserole which is sooooo amazingly good that it almost deserves it's own blog post) and finally get to really enjoy it because I'm not concentrating on eating on just the left side of my mouth. oh, some background would probably be helpful for those who don't know. at the end of june, (the 27th) I had the two wisdom teeth on the right side of my mouth pulled. not because they bothered me (I barely noticed they came in or that they were even there) but because they fear the top one would get too many cavities (there was a gap between it and the tooth next to it) and the tooth on the bottom was coming in at an angle and got caught onto a nook of the tooth next to it. so it was more of, what we like to call here at work, preventative maintenance. I was majorally upset though since there weren't any major issues with it, but whatever. I had so much pain in my jaw (all along the jawline to my chin) for pretty much four weeks. like crazy pain. like wake-me-up pain. I was popping ibuprofen like I was drug addict. I'm surprised I didn't overdose personally because sometimes it would hurt so bad that I would pop a bunch without really thinking about much other than getting rid of the pain. pain aside, needless to say I had a hole in my mouth that kept getting food in it. so I avoided eating with that side of my mouth so I didn't have to go through the trouble of getting the food out using this fancy curvy syringe tool thing they gave me to clean it out (which happens to be the exact same tool we use to clean cheyenne's battle wounds - not the exact same one - the vet gave cheyenne her own). well now, my hole's (which I would refer to my "tooth hole" per request of my family since saying "crap I got stuff in my hole" anywhere is borderline inappropriate) pretty closed up that I can somewhat easily use my tongue to clean it out. so I'm not afraid to eat on that side anymore! yay! it's hard to keep food on one side of your mouth.

that's not the reason I'm writing (although I'm not sure if there really is one) and I probably went into too much detail but it's a good thing for me. and I get to leave work a little early for a doctor's appointment where I'll hopefully be able to convince my doctor to switch my birth control and hopefully I won't feel nauseous every morning! (although tracy's advice she gave to me of taking it earlier in the evening did help but instead of being nauseous at 4/5 am, I get nauseous at 2/3 am and if I happen to wake up at that time it sucks.)

so today's going alright so far. thank god. because i really need a good day. I've been really down in the dumps lately and it's really exhausting. things haven't gotten better with chris. just more bullshit that makes me more frustrated and depressed. although yesterday it seemed he finally kinda understands why I haven't set up an appointment with a counselor or something. but I'll get into that another time.

I want to do a fashion friday! (sorry you had to read all of that tooth stuff to get to the good stuff.) I've recently discovered and fell in love with etsy (I know, I'm way slow, not to mention uber lame). it's the easiest way for me to see unique styles that I like. here's a few things that caught my eye:

if I cooked a lot, I'd want an apron like this. I love the vintage-y style - too cute. it's almost like a mini dress. and the green waistband and pocket are awesome.

I love the color of this necklace. it's so simple yet it draws me to it for some reason.

this hair piece it also adorable and simple with a vintage feel. would be great for my short hair.

I love the owl thing too.

this next one I'm actually stealing from amanda. she posted it a while ago, but it's still fresh on my mind and I love it so.

:) that's all. have a good friday.

new week = new attitude

ahhh I hate when I get all depressed and bummed and write mushy lame posts that make no sense to anyone but me pretty much because it's filled with so much rambling - although, which of my posts are not filled with ramblings? anyways, although I still feel pretty crappy and un-optimistic about where my relationship with chris is going, I did manage to get him to talk with me saturday morning. if he stays true to his word (for once) and I can stop being so bitchy all the time, there may still be some hope for us. I still think we need some serious professional help though. just someone we can talk to to help us find a way we can talk to each other. but we'll see.

that's my motivational face - in case you need a little
motivation on this monday morning

it's a new week. and with new weeks comes new days. (that was deep, huh?) I woke up early, probably because I didn't sleep well at all last night (woke up four or five times between 8pm and 4am) and took a shower. I got out, and I felt motivated. (I always seem to do that when I shower monday mornings.) but so far my motivation hasn't faded yet. (sure, it's only 10am.) so I'm hoping it will last until I get home so I can get some shit done around the house. and maybe I can even get a little bit of exercising done. (if you can call wii fit and dancing aerobic videos exercising - hey, gotta start somewhere right?) and maybe this motivation will put me in a good mood for the rest of the week. and I won't be bitchy to chris and he'll be nice and loving to me and we'll live happily ever after!

hope everyone else is having a motivational monday.

is that what I think it is?!

*squeeeaaaaal!* we've finally been blessed with a "monsoon" storm tonight. ok, it really wasn't much of a monsoon where I live, but I'm sure it north of us. I could see it! it did rain for like 30 seconds here. and the lightning and thunder was very exciting and frequent. that's my favorite part anyways. actually I think I love the rain as equally. especially the desert smell after it rains. mmm. I guess I love everything about the monsoons. except the wind. it was a bit windy here, but not too intense. it definitely wasn't an intense monsoon like I remember as a kid, but it was something. more than we've had. and just enough to remind me that it's coming soon.

this probably wasn't blog worthy, but I was dang excited. I woulda taken pictures of the lightning like I used to when I was a kid, but it takes a lot of patience and a lot of room on your memory card in order to maybe get one decent picture of a lightning bolt. and I have to go to bed because I have to work tomorrow. bleh. work.

me waiting for the monsoons is like a drug addict waiting for their next hit. I'm itching for it. I think about it all the time. I dream about it even. it's crazy and silly, I know, but if you lived in arizona and you experienced our monsoons back in the day, you'd understand (assuming you're ok with lightning, rain, thunder, and wind).

positive inspiration

today started out pretty unpleasantly. I couldn't, for the life of me, pull myself out of bed. pepper kept digging her feet into my back last night (I can only sleep one way since my jaw/chin still hurts on the other side from getting my wisdom teeth pulled) so I kept having to wake up and move her over. she's so adorable because every time I try to move her closer to chris, she'd just get up and push herself next to me again. I love puppies.


anyways, woke up late. got cut off while I was trying to pass a semi (it would make more sense why this sucks if you understood my drive to work). later, another car freaked out behind me and started riding my ass and flashing their lights frantically when they realized the passing lane was going to end and we were going to get stuck behind a truck (I on the other hand saw that there were 4 or 5 trucks in front of him and felt it was safer to stay behind until the next passing lane). then chris implied that I drive too aggressive and erratically which, again, if you knew the drive I have to make, you have to be aggressive to pass all the semis. plus my car is fucked up so it's difficult to get speed and it's been pretty shaky.

but instead of being in a bad mood, I decided to continue with my day in a positive mood. sure it's still barely the beginning of the day, but I don't want a bad morning to ruin a whole day. I've been so inspired this week. it's like this great epiphany smashed into my brain this week. I've been participating in emery's summer fashion week and have been having so much fun! I observed when she did her spring fashion week and decided to put in some effort to participate this time around. it's nice because I work in the same thing every day (polo and jeans) and by the time I get home, I just change into pj's and be lazy. but this week I've made myself get dressed up every evening to showcase stuff from my closet. it forces me to be as creative as possible and always cheers me up because I get to feel pretty again. it's hard to feel pretty when you wear the same thing every day with minimal makeup and can't do much with your hair. but this week, my confidence has skyrocketed to the moon. I feel so good about myself.

and I have the people who comment and who have participated as well. all these girls are so beautiful and only have positive things to say. everyone is so sweet! it's given me a chance to see some creative and amazing fashion which encourages me to take risks with my fashion. and it's given me a chance to read some new blogs (even if most of them are mommy blogs). what I love and what I find so inspiring is every one is so positive and excited about what life has to offer them. if there is something bad or negative occurring in their life, they look at the positive side. and it's finally hit me that there's no reason to have bad days over stupid little things. if these gorgeous ladies can find the good out of a shitty situation (shittier than any of mine could ever be) then I should be able to find the good in having to fight crazy traffic. this week really has changed my outlook on life and I have emery to thank for that. 100%. so thank you.

I'm turning over a new leaf. a positive leaf. the old leaf that somehow was taken away with the wind.

where oh where is the rain?

I've been hearing a lot of people talking about how hot the weather is where they live. here, in the lovely and oh-so-exciting state of arizona, the highs are 110+ (this week we're blessed to possibly hit 115 degrees!). and our lows seem to stay in the 90s. there's been nights when it's still over 100 degrees outside. yes, it's a dry heat ("that's like saying, put me in a oven instead of the pot of boiling water") but I don't want it. I'm done with the heat.

all I know is I'm waiting for the monsoons to pay their visit. I've been looking forward to a good monsoon for what seems like forever! when I was a kid, I remember the monsoons being crazy - strong winds, a vast amount of lightning, and pouring rain. I feel like the monsoons just aren't the same anymore. it breaks my heart. it makes me wanna scream whhhyyy?! into the clouds. where is it? it's frustrating. it aches my heart. it makes me want to go crazy. especially when every time I've left work the past two weeks, this is what I'm driving away from:

monsoons getting ready to hit the town of globe/claypool/miami
*actual picture I took on the mine

and this is pretty much what I come home to (minus the greenery):

the superstition mountains, sunny and light cloud-age
*not an actual picture I took

and then I get all excited and wait for the storm near work to hit. (I work about 50 miles southeast of where I live, and usually that's the area the storms come from) but it never does. it's like the monsoon sees the little town of apache junction, and decides to take a detour (and who really blames it?). for two weeks this is how my evenings go. my evenings should be filled with:

I should be hiding from the sounds of the wind. I should be listening to "american pie" while watching the rain through the windows. I shouldn't be able to go swimming because the lightning's too close. and I should be laughing because the dogs are going crazy from the thunder (I don't even know if they would or not!) but no. instead I'm doing errands and swimming at my parents' house.

mr. monsoon, why are you so late this year? some of us are more than excited to see you (the amount of excitement nears that of christmas day). I'm aching for the smell of desert rain. I desire my nights of lightning watching and listening to the relaxing sounds of thunder. I could do without the wind, but if the wind is required in the package deal then I'll take it. just please visit soon. I miss you. sincerely, your biggest fan, alicia.

SFW.1

fyi: SFW = summer fashion week! I'm so excited. not just because I missed spring fashion week and get to participate this time, but also because chris has agreed to be my photographer. woohoo! glad he didn't think I was (am) super lame. my postings will be later in the day since I work all day and my work fashion is lame/boring. maybe I'll show it one of these days. but for now, I get to dress up in the evening for no occasion and for no one's eyes but yours. and for that, I am grateful. I get to feel (and look) like a girl again. the one thing I miss from being in school: getting to dress up every day.

here's my monday evening fashion!

first of all, I just recently cut my hair waaay short. so I hope you like it. and I hope it doesn't make me look like a boy. some alternative views.

top: not completely certain
either papaya or charlotte russe
belt: target
shorts: wet seal
flip flops: charlotte russe

 this is my "cool" look.

kind of a fun little bonding moment with chris and I. gotta make sure he gets better close-ups next time. can't wait to pick out something for tomorrow. thanks for viewing!

wow, that sucks

sometimes I think I'm quite strange. I've always been fascinated with serial killers and homicides and random deaths. I love watching investigation discovery and dr. g on discovery health (the show about autopsies). I'm sure a lot of people do. but I also have wikipedia-d "random deaths" and read fatality reports on the osha and msha websites. I thought I share a couple of those shitty ways to die, in case you're interested:

• in scales mound, IL, a fire department worker searching for a missing person was killed when his all-terrain vehicle (ATV) struck a deer and rolled over - how depressing it would be to be that missing person who is eventually found and knowing that the search for you killed a person.
• in mountain home, AR, a worker was installing new cell phone cables and antennas and fell 240 feet while descending the tower - that's a loooong way.
• in carmel, IN, a maintenance worker died when the lawn mower he was riding exploded - what an unexpected thing to happen.
• in gainsville, TX, a worker was running alongside a forklift to jump on, slipped, fell, and was run over by the forklift - definitely fun and games until someone gets hurt.
• in bethesda, MD, a worker was standing on a ladder with a chain saw to cut a tree trunk and the chain saw apparently struck the victim 's neck - makes me shiver to think about
• in chagrin falls, OH, a worker was trimming a lower branch on a tree when an upper branch worked loose and fell on him, striking his head - probably why they stress consequence thinking here at the mine.
  

reading these reports help me realize the importance of consequence thinking and ensure me that the strict safety policies they have where I work are implemented for a reason. you can find these weekly reports on the osha website. they also help show that people die everyday at every kind of job, disproving the idea that mines are the most dangerous.

mining isn't the most dangerous workplace, but the hazards that exist here are much larger. a couple of weeks ago, there was a fatality at the asarco ray mine, which is where I had my first internship. a mechanic parked his truck in front of a 240 ton haul truck that was also assumed to be parked. however, the haul trucked moved forward running over the half-ton pick-up, killing the mechanic and severely injuring the passenger. it is important to remember, at a mine, that there is a lot of large equipment and you should never assume they see you. you should also never park next to or near a haul truck for any reason. haul truck drivers may not even know they ran you over either. just to get an idea the power of a haul truck, here's the aftermath:

courtesy of msha.gov

scary reminder. but also a good lesson. sad something like this has to happen for policies to be implemented. rip mr. benavidez.

best buy = broke chris & alicia

my time at best buy should definitely be limited and monitored by a competent adult (which does not include chris). I can't seem to go through there without buying something. as a kid, I went to best buy to stock up on cd's - back when they had tons of cd's for $9.99 and $7.99 (including popular and new releases). and now that I'm older, I get to go to spend a lot of money for the big kahuna of electronics.

last night our internet finally started working (it was installed on sunday) so we decided to go to the good ol' double b to get a wireless router. simple enough. chris wanted to be home in 40 minutes.  seemed doable. we went and quickly found a router and unfortunately had to walk past the tvs on the way out. we joked: let's take a quick look at tvs and see if we can make another poor financial decision.

back up now a bit to the history of our bad financial decision making. we're truly every salesperson's dream because we're complete suckers for anything and everything. case in point:

1. took a "free" trip to vegas - only had to listen to some timeshare presentation - left with a marriot timeshare in vegas
2. went to look at a small kia at a used dealership in tucson - left with a more expensive car
3. went out on day one with our realtor - saw maybe 4-5 houses - left with a contract to buy a house
4. when we bought our la-z-boy furniture, they provided a complimentary interior design service - ended up buying everything they suggested (minus one metal artwork piece), 2 rugs, 2 table lamps, 1 floor lamp, decorative pillows, end tables, coffee table, entertainment center

there's probably many more but those are the most recent. we're so bad that chris's dad put a $5,000 cap on us - anything over $5,000 had to go through him.

too bad everything we bought yesterday was under $5,000. we were looking at some pretty awesome LCD HD 60 inch tvs when the very nice salesperson came and asked if we needed anythihng. chris had a quick question about the difference between LED and LCD which turned into which is the best tv here in your opinion which escalated to a $4,500 payment. I'm a major sucker for a good sale and boy were they having one. we ended up getting the following:

• 55" samsung 3D LCD HD tv
• 4 3D glasses
• blu-ray 3D player
• receiver
• 5 surround sound speakers
• direct tv
• wireless router

the 3D tv, 3D glasses, & blu-ray player were the package deal that was less than the regular price of the 3D tv itself. the 3D glasses sell for $150 a piece! and the 3D blu-ray player is about $350. since chris was approved for a good amount best buy credit card, he wanted to get as much as he could then because it was 3 years 0% interest - that's why we got the speakers and receiver. since we bought a tv, we got a rebate for a $350 gift card for direct tv which is why we signed up for that. that and because I get NBATV and ESPN 3D! the picture - both 3D and 2D - are amazing and I liked the fact that I could still watch everything in 2D but had that bonus option of watching a movie or soccer game in 3D. needless to say, we probably won't be spending much else for a while. at least I hope.

so my lesson: don't go to best buy. ever. buy cd's on amazon and other electronics elsewhere. best buy = trouble.

through the looking glass

looking in the mirror today at work, and I notice I look like a boy. crap. I'm wearing jeans, boots, and a medium shirt which is too big on me so I have to tuck it in. my hair is disarray because I've spent most of my morning on an audit outside in 100+ degree weather. so I look like a boy with shoulder-length hair. no curves = not much of a figure. my figure is straight. boyishly straight.

do they do curve enhancements somewhere? and no one say I need to eat more.