Five on Friday #213

EINS - Random Shit

Friend on Facebook: My friend has 18 kids.. EIGHTEEN!  What's your super power?
*There is an article linked about how this person is a foster parent/similar relationship (I don't exactly know the specifics because there was no transcript for the video that I refused to do more than skip through), so ya know, wholesome things.

My considered responses:
-NOT having 18 kids.
-Not having ANY kids, despite the way I am, have been since I was teenager, and the bets that I'd be a teenage mom.
-Not killing anyone on any given day.
-Full time work, full time school, full time marriage, full time dog mom, healthy social life?
-Sometimes I run for medals.

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I am an AVID unsubscriber.  Apparently, to the point of punishing myself.

Examples:
-I no longer receive some race emails after unsubscribing myself from their emails after receiving more than one marketing email about the race, another race, or buying gear for the race.  This means I sometimes miss out on important race emails.  But for real, why would your marketing emails be the same distro as your race info emails?  #RUDE.

-I cannot sign into my OB/GYN's patient portal because I unsubscribed myself from their emails after getting an email, text, and robo-call to tell me I had a secure message after some event where they just wanted to make sure the patients fared well during the event.  Then later, I got the another email, text, and robo-call to tell me they hadn't seen me in a while, I assume as a reminder to make an appointment.  Know what won't get me to make an appointment?  HARASSING ME VIA 3 METHODS OF CONTACT.  Send a text OR an email OR robo-call me.  NOT ALL THREE.  Un-fucking-acceptable.

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More on that.. the OB/GYN isn't the only office that uses ALL my contact methods to get in touch with me.  It makes me EXTREMELY angry.  This is why I unsubscribe so quickly when these things start happening.

It's one thing to confirm an appointment, but it's quite another to send me 2 appointment reminders, a confirmation request, and then a call and text to remind me of my appointment the day of.  Look, I never asked for that.  I never will, ever.

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The instructor for my Tues/Thurs class was away this week.  Tuesday, we had a speaker, and I skipped class like the college student I am.  Thursday, the instructor had planned to be in town, but turns out he wasn't.. and we still had the quiz he warned us we'd have, but he had another professor administer it.

Instead of having to go to campus for a 10 minute quiz, I emailed the professor and asked if I could take my quiz online instead of having to travel the 40 minutes there and then 40 minutes back.  To my surprise, he agreed.  I didn't bother to mention that Tues/Thurs are my days in the office, so really I only have to drive 20ish minutes (traffic willing).  #GasSaved!

Fun fact: I've been to 4 of the 6 classes we've met for.  Technically, we should have had 10 lectures by this point, but between the Hurrication and the professor's travels, he's been there for those 4 classes that I've attended.  Of the 2 classes I missed, 1 was a guest speaker and the other was this quiz day.  #NotSorry

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Look, Gentle Readers... I'm HORRIBLE at dealing with death.  Like.. I can't explain it.  I'm BAD at death.  I make jokes and 99% of people do NOT find them amusing.  Although, the people that know me realize that I'm just that way, that I'm not trying to be disrespectful or rude.

That is a preface to the saga that has been going on with the aquarium this week.

So, in the last 2 months, Teh German has been trying to get rid of this brown algae that has taken over the tank.  It's not bad, but Teh German doesn't like it, so it has to go.  He's tried all kinds of things (changing the water flow, new pump, new critters) and nothing has really worked to get rid of it.  In these attempts to get rid of the brown algae while also doing regular maintenance, Teh German has really pissed off the anemone and Thin Stripe had taken to laying on the bottom under the rock formation.  Thin Stripe would come out to eat and sometimes he'd come out and then Fat Stripe would aggressively chase him, and he'd go back into hiding under the rocks (FYI: this is normal clown fish behavior.  Female/dominant clown fish are total twats).

This week, Teh German went by the fish store and came home with a new resident: a crabby crab who would eat the brown algae.  As he lovingly put the crab in the tank while I watched, he said sweet words to it, like, "You might just be my favorite thing if you're not an asshole and you get rid of that brown algae."  Teh German said to me, "The crab will be the easiest thing in the whole tank!"  I snapped our new resident and went back to the office to do my homework.

Within 20 minutes I hear Teh German yelling, "NOOOO! HE'S EATING HIM!"

Side note: We aren't really sure what most of the aquatic creature genders are, so we often interchange the referenced genders, other than Thin Stripe (male) and Fat Stripe (female).

Him could have been the urchin, bottom skimmer, any of the crabs, anemone, or Thin Stripe.  There was no further information being released, so I yelled back, "IS IT EATING MY URCHIN?!"  Teh German responded, with great anguish, "Thin Stripe."  At which point, I hurried to the tank with my phone to snap this crazy evidence of Mother Nature being the bitch she is.

When I went to take a Snap of the situation, Teh German got PISSSSSSSED at me.  I hadn't realized the magnitude of his anguish.  He was SUPER UPSET.  He refused to let me take a photo.  I had to pull him away from the tank so he didn't just kneel there watching the crab eat the fish (crab had skewered Thin Stripe with one of his vicious claws and was pulling off chunks of Thin Stripe with his other claw).  I tried to hug him and make up for my lack of sensitivity, buttttt he was past that.  My bad.

Teh German went upstairs to change (and be upset about the situation) and I snuck back to the tank and took a photo of the crab with his vicious claw stabbed into Thin Stripe.  I had just sat back down at the desk when I heard Teh German coming down the stairs.  It was a close call.  I didn't send the photo to anyone, but I have it.  Will I ever tell Teh German I did this?  Noooooooooooooope.  He was particularly... crabby.. for the rest of the evening.

Before bed, I was perusing FB and someone in the GEGR group posted a photo of their greyhound sniffing at a live crab that they were going to have for dinner and I cackled because the entire evening made this photo uncontrollably hilarious to me.  I had to message Teh Running Bestie and say, "Think it's too soon if I show this to Teh German?"

The next morning, I checked the tank and the crab was standing at the edge just clackin' his claws at me like he was proud of himself and he'd come after me if he wasn't stuck in that tank.  Everything else was still living.  Teh German said that his evening activities included ...fishing... out Thin Stripe.

When I got home, I checked the tank and couldn't find Fat Stripe!  I was super concerned at first because she's a twat, but that crab is obviously a slayer and I'm not sure who would win in a fight... then she came out from behind the rock to defend her anemone and I sighed in relief.  The LAST thing I needed to deal with was Teh German after his $10 crab killed TWO $30 clown fish.

True to his word, Teh German fished Thin Stripe out from under the rock.  I asked if I could take a pic and he said no, so let me describe Thin Stripe to you: a head, bones with minimal meat, and a tail.  Thin Stripe was the crab's buffet and he took advantage of that... Monster.  I was going to offer to play Taps for Thin Stripe, but Teh German wouldn't let me take a pic and he was halfway to the bathroom when I thought of it, sooo the only send off Thin Stripe got was the sound of the toilet flushing as he was transported to the Ether.

After Teh German was done with tank things, he announced that he was going to have a beer in honor of Thin Stripe.  I cackled.  Also, I just thought that it would have been hilarious if Teh German had Red Stripe beer in the fridge.  He doesn't, but it would have been funny to drink a Red Stripe in honor of Thin Stripe.

Let me make a recommendation to you, Gentle Readers...
NEVER, EVERRRRRRR EVVVAAARRRR decide that you want a salt water tank.  Just don't.  It's a money sink and it's wayyyy more stressful than any hobby should be.

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Let me tell you about what I did at work yesterday...
Toasted Graham coffee + Pumpkin Spice creamer.

It was a Fall-gasm in my mouth.
Yes, it was almost 90°F outside, but in my brain, it was fall.

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I am ridiculous about some things, I'm well aware of this fact... butttt when I found Claws (like Crocs but with claws on the toes) for $8 for TWO pairs on Meh a few weeks ago, I was like, fuck it.. looks like I'm paying $5 for shipping so I can get two pairs of these bad boys.

The total was $13 for 2 pairs of shoes, so still cheaper than an average pair of shoes.
But $8 for TWO pairs = $2 per shoe = #NoRagrats

Sooo, a side story...
Remember above when I said that I snuck to the fish tank to take the photo of the crab?  Well, part of the sneaking was taking off my jammin' Clawz so that way there was no shoe squeaking on the floor when moved to the tank and back to the office.  I was super sad about removing my shoes because they are so awesome.

Are they ridiculous? HELL YES.
Are they hilarious? HELL YES.

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I purposely made Teh German put his meatballs in a ceramic bowl on Monday so he wouldn't melt the plastic cheap bowls we normally use for leftovers, as he tends to microwave his food to the temperature of scalding off taste buds/the sun.  When red sauce is involved, it means that he almost always melts the plastic bowls.

2 days later, he brought in currywurst leftovers for lunch... and proceeded to melt a hole in the plastic bowl... Even though, we had LITERALLY just talked about melting the plastic bowls.  Thankfully, they are cheap, but whyyyyyyyyyy?  I was a good enough sport to laugh when he put water in the bowl and we watched it pour of the hole that he had so effortlessly engineered.

Also, I find it amusing that most people have a specific time that they microwave things.
Teh German almost always microwaves things for 1:40 seconds or he uses the +30 seconds/+1 minute button (depending on the microwave).
I almost always do times in sets or runs of 3 (i.e., 1:23 or 1:11), unless I use the +time button.  I also have a fun trick where I double the time and half the power so my food cooks more thoroughly.  Teh German does not practice this trick.

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#TechWriterProblems Story
Well... this story is more like #TechWriterSolutions

A coworker had some issues with one of his Excel graphs not showing the values he wanted and some other shit.  I was able to fix his values, but then the graph changed and contained bars he didn't want.  I couldn't figure out how to make the information show, but not the graphical representation, so we did one better.  We matched the color of the bar to the background of the graph.. and then when that didn't work, we adjusted the bar settings so nothing about the bar showed at all.  The graphs weren't centered over their values, but they were close and we called it a truce.

Maybe it's one of those victories you had to be there for.  It brought both of us great joy.

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Today is a special day, Meri's 6th birthday!

Thursday night, we pregamed with 2-legger steak remnants as a special treat.

Both beasts were graced with special treats.

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Soo I ended up going to Bojangles three times this week... becaause this fucking bullshit that went down this morning when I got in the car.

That'd be my breakfast sammich, on the floor board of my car.....
the EXACT area where I drop my loose hairs...
the EXACT area where people put their feet when they sit in the passenger seat....
Fuuuuccckkking SIGH...

AND THEN... AND FUCKING THEN... I was almost to work when I realized that I had left my lunch in the fridge at school.  I had brought it in with me so it wouldn't have to sit in the car getting warm until I got to work.

Teh German said, "The food is rebelling against you."
He wasn't wrong.

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I purposely made an appointment for the exterminator to come at a specific time because I wanted them to treat the inside of the house and garage.  The tag on the door said he came on his lunch break at 1200.... Uhhh, mother fucker, I did not ask you to come on your lunch break when it was more convenient for you..

And after the massive spider webs that were left the last time they came, which was a task that had a check beside it for completion, I was already pissed off.  Sooo, I called to complain that they came out early, despite the appointment, they offered to send someone out, I said no thanks, then I said I wanted to cancel and she offered to let me speak to the manager and I said no thanks, just cancel the account, thanks, bye.

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Unfortunately for our cleaners, the day that I fired the exterminators was also the same day that I slid the coffee maker over and the counter was completely sticky underneath... and I was already on a rage fill get shit done power mode mood.  When I noticed 2 sodas under the entry bench, because Roomy had died before he could make it to his house, my curiosity was peaked, as Teh German wouldn't have had soda anywhere near the entry bench.  I compared the date on the Dr. Pepper bottle to the ones we had in the fridge.. and they matched...  I was not pleased.

I had also noticed, on my way into the house after I got home, that they had left the pad on the steam mop, which was unusual.  When I placed the pad on the stairs to be brought upstairs, I noticed that the vacuum cleaner was sitting on the landing of the stairs, completely full, which I had already spoken with the Cleaners.

After a phone conversation about all the day's issues, things were more straightened out.. We'll see how things go from here.  I didn't mention anything about the sodas because I don't want to seem vein or greedy that someone took something from our fridge.  To me, it was just 2 sodas, but to an employer of someone who comes in other people's homes, I imagine that theft of goods and the fact that someone had to open the fridge at all, which fridge cleaning is NOT part of the cleaning tasks, is important.  If it happens again, I will definitely be calling again. 

ZWEI - Money Shit

-Motorcycle insurance.  At least it's yearly, so it's not as rapey as regular SC auto insurance.
-Parking for Friday night's activities
-Groceries
-Dog food x2.  Thanks, Amazon.... grrr.
-Bojangles x2.  Whatever...   (update: x3)
-Water bill
-Power bill
-Returned the Brooks shoes to Dicks.  Hello $$ in my pocket.
-Puma finally received the returns I mailed back.  Now if they'd actually post the return to my account, that'd be nice.

DREI - From My Phone Shit

He has a car and two motorcycles.
It's like Duolingo knows my life.

This fucking over-achiever.
I mean, good on you, Go Getter, but how do you do anything besides run?
Also, you better have a sweet medal rack to go with those magnets.

Meatball subs on garlic toasted buns for dinner.
#NotSorry

Currywurst and pommes for dinner!
#GermanNight

Thanks, Lidl, for cheap filet mignon.
With spinach and risotto.

Shoe considerations for Friday morning...
I went with left, but it was a hard life choice.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

It does not make you irresponsible if everything is not planned out in your life.
-MHN

Giving your all doesn't mean you have to do it all,
and you are allowed to pace yourself.
MHN

On broken love:
If you feel a little insensitive to the unraveling of the ties between you:
may you know that light will still find you and remind you you can still be whole.
No matter the love that was lost or the ending that was out of your control.
MHN

This is the part of the journey where she is leaning into this hope:
Through all that is uncertain,
there is still more road to go.
-MHN

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. Finally getting to Meri's birthday.  It's been KILLING me to not give her the toys before her birthday.  KILLING ME.  I'm a celebrator.  I can't help it.  One of my love languages is receiving gifts, so the fact that I struggle to NOT give people I love gifts makes sense.
2. Calling my teacher out on breaking his patterns.. to the detriment of student success.  I didn't say it that fancy, but I called him out on not warning us of a change regarding quizzes and for changing the date to SOONER regarding when something was due.  I didn't pitch a fit about the due date situation like other students had, but I did at least say something, as I'm the only one that really can say something like that.
3. My Clawz shoes.  They are ridiculous.  I don't care.  They make me giggle every.single.time I see my feet.
4. Going to the chiropractor and my C3/4/5 popping.
5. Toasted Graham coffee + pumpkin spice creamer.
6. Skipping the gym Wednesday to let my BJB heal and to meet the exterminator...
7. Delicious dinners this week.  
8. Teh German suggesting we take the dogs to the Parktober Fest on Saturday.  I'm certain it's going to be a disaster because taking a dog to any public place with other dogs and unfamiliar things and food temptations is never a good idea.. butttt family time.
9. The END OF SEPTEMBER, the month that would never, ever, EVER fucking end.. until it was like Sept 17th, then 27th....
10. Finishing this post with 6 minutes until Saturday.  #YOLOBITCHES

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Weekend Review {09/23}

FRIDAY

#Humblebrag: Still feeling awesome about my run on Friday morning with that pace under 10 minutes.  Yes, just barely, but it still counts.  Even if I was sore AF for the entire weekend.  #WorthIt

Friday was school and work.  I left the office at 3 and went home and took a nap.  I had considered going to the gym, but I was le tired so I took a le nap and I was not sad.  When Teh German came home, we agreed to stay in for the evening and invite the Cool Kids over for a backyard fire since it was relatively cool outside.  There were almost regrets when we became a mosquito buffet prior to the neighbors arriving, but the mosquitoes eventually went to bed and the neighbors came over and we socialized and I made smores and toasted marshmallows and good times were had by all (I assume).

Those ears!

Look at these Beggar McGee dogs trying to prey on my marshmallows!

Moose got tired of standing to wait on his treats (I was dispensing stale marshmallows to the beasts), so he finally plopped down and made sure to keep an eye on me in case more marshmallows were forthcoming.

By the power of my nap, I was able to hang until after 11.  I think it was almost midnight when we finally flopped into bed.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning was a lazy morning.  Meri woke me up early, as she does, and I fed the beasts and came back to bed.  Teh German got up around 9 and I was awake, but I stayed in bed until 11 finishing a book.  Meri helped.

Let me set a scene for you, Gentle Readers.  Teh German has this box of crap that he's been telling me he's going to sell.  And well.. I know that I kinda married my dad, so the fact that Teh German hoards a box of crap really doesn't surprise me.  This box has been around for almost the length of our relationship.  It moved in with Teh German and it moved to House with us.. so since 2015, Teh German has been telling me that he's going to sell this crap.. But that's not the worst part.. The worst part is that he's been collecting MORE crap in the passing years.  We've had many discussions about this box of crap and each time I suggest that maybe he photograph the crap and post it on Marketplace or wherever he wants to sell the crap, he gets pissy with me because he doesn't feel like it or whatever excuse he gives that has ultimately made me STOP talking about the box of crap and start pretending like it doesn't exist.

Granted, when we moved into House, the box was stored under Teh German's work bench in the garage, which was fine... except that other stuff that could have been stored under the work bench that was out in the garage that I regularly trip over or have to move around to get to other things.  So he said that it wasn't bothering me and I let him pretend that was true.

So, scene set. 

Imagine my surprise when I finally came downstairs on Saturday and Teh German is rummaging around in the office looking for something to write on/with so he could price the items in the box of crap and get them posted.  I tried not to act surprised, which probably was unsuccessful, but I assisted him in finding the items he needed.  After I ate breakfast/lunch, I went out to the garage to check out the situation.  Honestly, I not only took a picture for blogging purposes, but also to come back later and prove to myself that 5 years later, this really happened.

While Teh German did his garage things, I worked on homework and school things.  We had dinner and a concert planned for the evening.  Since it's restaurant week in Charleston, we went to The Establishment for dinner.  It was good, but not "I'd be a regular here" good, IMO. 

Top, left to right: My food: gnocchi appetizer, swordfish on beans, chocolate cake
Bottom, left to right: Teh German: duck appetizer, rib-eye, flan

Teh German's steak had a LOT of gristle for me, especially considering they added $19 on top of the "special" price.  I didn't love the beans with the swordfish.  I would have preferred a veggie.  I'm not really a fan of chocolate cake, but I didn't want flan, soo I got chocolate cake and then didn't even finish it, which is mostly unheard of considering my reputation with dessert.

We ended up finishing dinner a LOT earlier than expected, but that was fine since it meant we got to Music Farm early enough to get a decent standing space.  It wasn't cool in that, it meant standing for even longer than we'd already planned.  Oh well, #YOLO.

TL: A Beautiful Lie, TR: Hyde, BL: Palisades, BR: Starset

The only band that wasn't really my jam was Hyde.  There were some technical difficulties during the shows, but the show went on.  Overall, the concert was enjoyable.. although I did have some anxiety/stress from having too many tall people surrounding/crowding me at one point.  Teh German considers this a normal part of any concert, but as someone with a crowding issue, I was having some pretty bad anxiety about it and ended up putting on my dude stance with my legs spread far apart in with my bouncer pose to get the dudes that were crowding me to give me some space.

I'll be honest, Music Farm isn't my favorite venue, but it's one of the more popular venues in Charleston, so I just deal with it when we go there.  The crowding is one issue, that I've probably mentioned before in other posts about going to concerts there, but the acoustics aren't that great, IMO.  The music is always too loud and you can barely hear the singer.  Ear plugs really help, but we forgot ours.  /sads.

The concert ended shortly before 11 and we headed home, tended to the beasts and then it was bedtime.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning, Teh German got up with the beasts, thankfully, because I wasn't feeling it.  I was up by 9ish and we walked the dogs first thing.  I like to get that out of the way first on the weekend, so that way the batteries are drained (or at least Pax's batteries are drained) for a short while.  I really should just accept that Meri's batteries don't drain.

When we got back from the walk, Teh German pulled Suzi out of the way so I could retrieve our other 4-legged family member from the storage closet.  We're officially decorated for fall.  You are welcome, Neighbors, I didn't activate the motion sensor thing where the dog barks.  When I set up the dog, Meri and Pax were extremely concerned as they watched me through the storm door, and I made sure to tell them that's what they looked like without fur.  Neither was impressed.

Teh German continued with his box of crap work in the garage and I did school things.  We had another concert to attend Sunday, but these tickets were free AND the concert was only 10 minutes away from home, which was perfect. 

A new hospital is opening up in our county, for the first time in several decades (I'm not exactly how many years it's been) and they put on a "Parking Lot Party" and Lee Brice was the headliner.  The opening acts were 2 Charleston artists and local high school talent (choirs/band).  We showed up for the last 2 acts, Warrick ??? and Lee Brice. 

Saw this cutie on the way to the concert.
I informed Teh German that a Dalmatian was in the options for next dog, after Scottish Deerhound and Irish Wolfhound.

Concert selfie.

Lee Brice

My plan to NOT have to take the shuttle to the concert area was successful and I wasn't sad.  Teh German was pretty disgruntled over how hot it was just sitting in the sun, despite the breeze and that it was only in the mid-80s(°F), which is cool for Charleston.  Once Teh German was in the shade, he perked up some.  I was annoyed at all the people that kept walking in front of us, because I'm me. 

I worked extra time into our arrival, in case my shuttle-avoidance plan didn't work out, so we ended up sitting in the sun for longer than I had planned.  Had I know the plan would be successful, I would have pushed back our arrival time a bit more.  Oh well.  I had to deal with crowding, Teh German had to deal with heat.  #YOLO bitches.

The concert was kinda like the River Concerts in MD that I used to attend.  Bring your own chairs, there were food trucks on site.  The Parking Lot Party had a kids area with activities.  Oh yeah, I should mention that Teh German was quite disappointed when he learned, on the walk from the truck to the concert site, that there wouldn't be beer.  Truthfully, it hadn't even crossed my mind... because I don't drink beer.  Teh German tried to pass it off like it wasn't a big deal, but the heat + no beer = disgruntled.  Fortunately, he just kept quiet and scrolled on his phone for most of the time we were there.  I did finally pull Teh German up from his chair for the last handful of Lee Brice songs and I think that helped for several reasons... 1- he was distracted from his mulling over how hot and sweaty he was, 2- our camping chairs do NOT have a good air flow situation, so being in the chair was actually making him more sweaty, 3- standing up meant the breeze hit his sweaty wet shirt and cooled him off some, 4- he got into the concert rather than just sitting there like a lump.

I really like Lee Brice and always have.  I will admit that I cried when he performed "I Don't Dance" because I love that song.  I also admitted to Teh German before we went to sleep that if he had started dancing with me while that song was being performed, I would have probably sobbed and swooned for him all over again.  He said, "I was holding you."  He did do that... even if I had to pull him up from his chair, mostly against his will.  When he realized I was crying, he put his arm around me.

The only other time I've cried at a concert was when the Goo Goo Dolls performed "Come to Me".  Apparently, I'm a sap in my old age.  You get what you get.

The concert was over by 6:30ish and we walked back to the truck and headed home to tend to the beasts and eat dinner.  After dinner, we watched an episode of The Americans and then it was time for bedtime chores and bedtime.

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I didn't really make much progress on the school front.  Programming assignments (PA) have me blocked right now.  I did manage to finish one PA that was so stupidly simple I was angry that I had wasted so many hours trying to puzzle it out.  ANDDDD even more angry that I had went to speak with my professor about the issues on Friday and I walked out of his office with more confusion than before AND he couldn't be bothered to look at my sudo code on the paper in my hand and tell me that ONE line was ALMOST the answer and I just needed to work on that.  No.. instead he was like, "You're not functionally programming."  Well, fucking duh.  Siiiiiigh, 228 more days.

It was fun and exhausting going to two concerts on the same weekend.  It was fun because they were such extremes.  Starset is electronic-rock and Lee Brice is country.  I won't lie, I enjoyed the Lee Brice concert a lot more because I know more of his songs and you can actually sing to them.. and that's why I go to concerts, to sing along with the artist.  Also, "I Don't Dance" has been on my Starred playlist (which is playing 80% of the time when I listen to Spotify) since it came out.  Teh German was worried he wouldn't know who Lee Brice was, but he quickly recalled most of the songs he heard, even if he didn't know the words.

It was also great having the Cool Kids over to the house for a fire. 

This week includes:
-Teef cleanings
-Having to reschedule my laser hair treatment because of the BJB
-Exterminator on Weds
-Hopefully getting my labs done on Thurs morning.
-Meri's birthday on Friday
-Skyping with Nephew on his 1st birthday!  Teh German forwarded some videos of him this morning and we don't need to have kids because Nephew looks EXACTLY like baby Teh German and well.. 2 of them is enough, lol.

Teh German and I discussed attending an Oktoberfest activity next weekend, but we'll see what pans out.  There are plenty of school things that could keep me busy, but I'm trying very hard not to let school rule my life... and I'm also trying to balance that with not failing.  Anddd based on some of my quiz grades for Anal Professor, maybe I should at least read through the notes before the quizzes...

Also, Fake Fall is over and now it's back to high temps in the 90s again and I hate everything, as always.  I enjoyed Fake Fall while it lasted.  Although, I did not enjoy the mosquitoes.  Happy last full week of September (finally), Gentle Readers!

Five on Friday #212

EINS - Random Shit

After last week being the week that would never end, this week kinda flew by and I'm not sad.  I'm ready for September to be over already.  For no real reason other than, that's a month through school and I'm ready for consistent cool weather.

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Things I did this week:
-Went to my first VA appointment.
-Cancelled my ENT appointment.
-Rescheduled the exterminator visit so someone can be home since I want them to do the inside of the house and I want them to do a better job in general (i.e., remove the spider webs like they are supposed to).
-Scheduled a laser hair removal appointment.  My BJB is back and I have the sads.
-Applied for graduation 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
-Had an ice cream date with Teh PT Wife at Sweet Frog because No Weigh Wednesday is a priority.
-Worked out consistently.
-Enjoyed outside.

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In a freak incident, my steering wheel ate my brand new lint ball on Thursday and it was kinda par for the course of the day.  I'm still not even sure how it happened, but it did and I was super upset about it.  Granted, I ended up finding TWO lint balls later when I was doing laundry, but it doesn't replace a brand new lint ball that I just started.

I know, I know, #MeganProblems.

Also, I have had discussions with others that maybe my lint ball rolling feeds into a sensory issue/disorder.  IDK.  I'm sure if I look it up on WebMD, I'll die in 3-6 months because I've been rolling lint balls since birth.

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I lost my shit on the cadets this morning.  It was accidentally on purpose..
What had happened was....

I've been fielding a LOT of (imo) stupid questions this week (although one professor says, "There are no stupid questions, only stupid people." ...and he might be on to something there), and by Thursday afternoon, it warranted a FB status update with sections of all caps.  By Friday morning... I lost it.

See, I have an issue with people who don't pay attention.  If the instructor said something in class like, "We have a quiz on this material during our next class meeting," or "Here is the code for this entire homework section."  THAT is information that everyone in the class should know.  Yes, I can understand asking another student for information if you were taking notes and missed something, but if you were sleeping and you missed the announcement or you chose not to copy down what was on the board because you had to leave?  GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FACE.

No less than 3 students came in my first class on Friday and asked if we had a quiz (we did) that morning.  We always have a quiz, almost every.single.day in classes taught by that professor.  Then, those same "I can't pay attention in class" morons would follow that up with, "Oh and do we have make up class on Saturday?"  Not only did I lose my shit, but I also wrote it on the board because I was tired of answering the same shit that the instructor had answered multiple times earlier in the week.

Honestly, I think my professor wasn't sad at my outburst about their lack of attention to detail/unpreparedness.  I'm sure he probably feels that way each semester.  As a solution, I wrote that there was no class on Saturday and that there was a quiz that day and what it was on.  I did this for the 2 subsequent classes as well.  Anal professor thanked me for my note during our 2nd class together.  At least I know someone appreciated my efforts.

This was actually the 2nd time I lost my shit at school this week.  The first time was on an individual cadet who never pays attention to anything except his laptop during class and then insists on asking questions after class that were answered during class and obviously that pisses me off.  Anyways, I have a very anal professor for 3 of my 5 classes and he doesn't like/allow when students leave in the middle of his lectures.  Truthfully, it distracts him and he doesn't handle that well.  Then, the rest of us get distracted when professor starts lecturing us about how disrespectful it is to get up and walk out of class while there is a lecture going on and how distracting it is for students because everyone watches that person walk out and THAT FUCKING PERSON never has to hear any of that since they are out of the classroom.

So in a later class, when that SAME FUCKING CADET got up to leave the anal professor's class in the middle of the lecture, AGAIN... I didn't say anything at first because I thought the professor would just continue on... THEN, the professor paused and before he could get any words out, I said loud enough for everyone and the professor (who is hard of hearing) to clearly hear, "If YOU get me lectured AGAIN about leaving during the middle of class, I'll make sure you get the same lecture after class."

Cadet looked at me like, oh shit, then looked at the professor and said, "It's an emergency," and the professor just nodded at him.  Thankfully, there was no repeat "disrespectful/disruptive" side-lecture, but if there had been, I was going to tear that kid up after class.

I'm over these fucktards not being prepared for class and not having a writing utensil or knowing when shit is due.  If I can manage my real life and college at the same time, they can manage college.  It's not that hard if you put in a minimal amount of effort.

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I really liked the VA doc that I saw.  I explained that an expensive, useless ENT visit was what prompted me to finally come to the VA for treatment options since my issues are covered by the VA anyways, so why not take advantage of the resource?

Doc gave me scripts for my GERD, several, in fact, so we can test out what works/doesn't and go from there.  A refill for my anxiety medication, and I'm also supposed to have labs done for general health purposes.

In fact, I went to the clinic during Thursday morning walk-in hours and they were closed.  I was really fucking annoyed and it shadowed the rest of my day.

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Professor creates new Slack channel for Citadel Women in Computer Science.
The/my first post:

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Sometimes, I accidentally stalk my husband.  #SorryNotSorry

Thurs morning, I accidentally took the "go to school" route instead of the "to go work" route and I passed Teh German, even though I left more than 5 minutes after he did.  See also: Why I do not stay in the right most lane on 26...

I had to go to Walmart to pick up a forgotten dinner item and saw Teh German's truck at the gym on my way home.

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2 weeks ago, we went to Merrell so I could try out a pair of rainbow shoes I'd seen online and they didn't have them in store and they were sold out online... Ugh.  So I added myself to the "notify me when these come back in stock" email list and I bought the shoes within 10 minutes of receiving the email.  I wasn't preparing to like them, but I really do.  Thus ends the school shoe shopping saga.

The Brooks with the 90s tongue will be returned to Dick's this weekend.

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The high in Charleston has been less than 85°F for the end of the week.  I know that is still hot for most everyone else, but here in the South, in September, we call this Fake Fall, but it gives us hope for when fall does eventually come in late October.

That said, I couldn't NOT take advantage of this GLORIOUS temps.

The Runkeeper selfie doesn't show the temperature, but it was 60°F during my run!!!!  CRAZY LOW.  I'm actually wearing a long sleeve shirt because I knew I'd get chilly and I wasn't wrong.  Also, DAT PACE!!!  All that elliptical time is paying off!  It's been a LONG time since I've ran a sub-10 minute pace.

I'll attribute some of that to the coolness, but not all of it.  The first mile was actually 9:38, but I also didn't walk at all, so that helped keep it down.

That said, I'm trying to debate if I'm going to the gym after I leave work.  #DecisionsAreHard

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I talked Teh German into doing a Pack Up and Go trip for our anniversary.  Friends told us about this after their awesome experience.  When I first brought it up to Teh German as an idea, we looked up some reviews and he said he wasn't sure because he read some stuff that said you spend a portion of the budget on paying the company to plan your trip, when you could just plan it yourself and save that money.

And, Gentle Readers, I didn't even laugh in his face when he said, "We could just save that money and we could plan the trip ourselves."  Because any WE involved in trip planning ALWAYS means flipping that W upside down and it becoming a ME planning said trip.

There are multiple reasons for this, one of the biggest factors being my control freakness and Teh German's ostrich tendencies.  I did, kindly, say, "We both know that 'WE' would not be planning whatever trip we take, it would be ME, and I have enough going on.  Also, that's part of the appeal, the surprise about where they send you."

I did look at the direct flight options from Charleston and the cities I would be interested are: Boston, Nashville, Philly.  Nashville is the only place that neither of us have been.  I made sure to put that we LOVE the cold to the comments sections, so hopefully they won't send us to Florida or something.  I did forget to mention that we'd already been to Atlanta, so hopefully they don't send us there or if they do, they come up with interesting things.

Our anniversary (11/1) is actually on a Friday this year, so the first day of our trip will be our actual anniversary, so that is exciting.  I will not be going to class.  /shrug.

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Updated list of languages I'm dealing with:
-Java
-Kotlin
-Ruby (on Rails)
-HTML/CSS
-C++
-AsciiDocs
-CLI

When I told this to the nerds at work, even they were like, fuck that sucks.  YES, THANK YOU.
#JesusTakeTheKeyboard

ZWEI - Money Shit

-Popcorn for cub scouts sale.
-Bread for Teh PT Kid's band sale.
-Thanksgiving 5k.
-Groceries
-Gas
-Chickfila for lunch.
-New yard shoes that look like crocks with claws.  I'm actually super excited about these, but in a low-key way, because how uncool am I?  They were only $13 for 2 pairs and now I can get rid of my sun-warped Crocs that I've been using.
-Spotify
-New Merrell shoes, that I will be keeping.
-Pack Up and Go trip.
-Audible x2, which I think is because I switched to an every other month credit plan.  I have 6 credits to use currently and I have no idea what to use them on.  I have more than 3 audiobooks on deck to listen to, but a library hold came in, so now my deck is on pause.  #FirstWorldProblems
-Bojangles for breakfast x2.  Splurge morning and then the morning that I didn't get labs done.  Ugh.
-New coffee pods and creamer to try.
-Sweet Frog date
-New belt for Teh German, since he insists that his work belt is "fine" even though the leather is splitting and the belt looks ghetto AF.

DREI - From My Phone Shit

Meri and her head pillow.
This is some Olive teachin' in action.

Windows down, sunroof open, jamz loud.
Happy Fake Fall!

HOCKEY IS BACK.
It's preseason, but ya'll been talkin about football for the entire fucking year, so please expect me to interject something about hockey anytime sports is the topic of conversation.

What do sea monsters eat?
Fish and ships.

Are you even coding if you don't have a millionty tabs open?
The answer is no.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOL
I admitted to Teh German that I stopped worrying about my quizzes for my anal professor's classes.
This choice has eliminated A LOT of stress in my life...
And this note from my professor gave me the LOLZ.

Sitting outside at work is mandatory when it's only 80°F outside.
Less mandatory: the fucking mosquito bites on my tattoos... Grr.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

You are going to be ok.
Not perfect, but ok.
For even in uncertainty, you can take this day by day.
-MHN

Do your best while also remember your worth is not attached to what you accomplish. - MHN

You are not who you used to be,
and that is a beautiful thing.
-MHN

You do not have to bear the burden of everything today.
You are allowed to slow down and take time to sort things out.
-MHN

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. "COLD"
2. Completing homework assignments the day they are assigned.
3. Lists of tasks.
4. Prescriptions being mailed to me so I don't have to worry about going to the pharmacy.
5. A Boberry biscuit for Friday lunch dessert, after I didn't eat it on Thursday.
6. Walks with the beasts.
7. Short trains... I mean if I'm going to get caught by them incessantly, I can at least be grateful when they are short.
8. Anniversary plans.
9. RUNNING.  I can tell you the number of times I've run since the Bridge Run and it's not an impressive number (today, Hot Pursuit 5k in June, Duisburg City Race in May).  But it was just too hot and it wasn't worth it.  
10. Almost being finished with the Marvel movies.  Next up is The Ranch, Big Mouth, more Americans, and Vikings whenever that comes back.

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Weekend Review {09/16}

FRIDAY

School and work on Friday.  I was doing some computer troubleshooting before I left work and ended up leaving almost an hour later than I had intended.  Ugh.  Because of that, I only did a short session at the gym and headed home. 

My new Brooks arrived anddddd they will be going back.  Yes, they are comfortable, but the tongues on these shoes look like some 1990s kicks and I just cannot with that.  I mean.. WHHYYYY??  I do love those laces though, butttt they would never be effective running shoes laces.  I had planned on using these as walking shoes, but I don't love them, so they are going back.  #NotSorry

I gave Teh German the option of staying home or going out for dinner and we ended up staying home and having frozen pizza for dinner.  I was disappointed at first, because I had kinda planned on us going out (as that's usually what we do), buttt it ended up being fine that we stayed home.  We watched Thor: Ragnarok and were lazy.

After the movie, it was bedtime.

SATURDAY

We didn't have plans Saturday until the evening, but we still got up by 0730 because Meri is an asshole.  Teh PT Wife invited us over for 2nd breakfast since Teh NY Chef needed guinea pigs for a breakfast casserole she had made.  BRT.

After socializing for a little bit, we headed back home, made ourselves publicly presentable, and took care of the grocery shopping at Lidl.  I picked up our one of two Halloween/fall decoration pieces: a pumpkin.  I'm interested to see how long this one lasts, because Roux's Humom loves when I put out pumpkins on the front porch for months and months at a time.  HAH!

I wanted a white one, but I didn't want to dig for it..
Sooo, we came home with green.

After we got home from Lidl, it was time to start getting ready for the wedding we were to attend.  I tried to be fancy-casual, like I do.  It was an outside wedding and I knew that my hair would just be big if it left it down, so I googled "easy updos" for some ideas.  When I saw the bun, I knew I was in business, as I kept my hair donut from my Navy days. 

You see, some people roll up a sock, but socks get SUPER heavy when they get wet (from wet hair) and after hanging from your head for many hours..  so I actually purchased a sock donut which kinda looks like a plastic kitchen/dishes scrubber.  Anyways, it's light and doesn't retain water, so it's kinda perfect and I'm well trained in the sock bun life, so this was the easiest "fancy" hair style I could possibly do.

If you're not taking back-of-the-head selfies to ensure full donut coverage, are you even bunning?

We made it a few minutes later than we wanted to arrive, but still early, so it was fine.  Teh German and I both were running behind by a few minutes, so it wasn't really anyone's fault.  When we sat down for the ceremony, we watched the rain clouds (which we had driven through) roll in and when it started to rain and the ceremony hadn't started yet, the guests headed back to the house for cover.  When the rain stopped, we all headed back to our seats and the wedding started.. and so did the rain, again.  This time everyone just sat through the rain.

After the ceremony, we headed to the reception area and tried to stay dry.  Since the wedding was for a coworker of Teh German, about half of the guests were German, which meant that I got to practice my German!  YAY!  That language course and stress wasn't for naught!  Many people (who were strangers) were able to understand me, even though my broken German isn't what it was in May/June.

Teh German only sees his wet pants.
I only see how adorable we are.

Being silly.

The couple used the same wedding planner we did and I thought it was a little bit awkward, but she didn't seem to remember blowing me off after our wedding or the outstanding bill I never paid, so whatever.  We did get a photo of us, the wedding couple, and Teh SC Teacher/Teh SC German with the wedding planner, per her request, since we all used her services.

After dinner there was cake and dancing and someone gifted the couple a Boot that was filled no less than 6 times from the chug-a-lug wagon (pictured above) before we left around 9:30. 

Groom

Bride

When we got home, we took care of the beasts, took care of pre-bedtime chores, then it was bedtime.

SUNDAY

Sunday funday.. ish.  Since we had taken care of the adulting on Saturday, we decided to ride the bike downtown for brunch on Sunday.  We agreed on Millers All Day since I wanted livermush (hush with your judgement).  Teh German actually went down in a freak accident when we were looking for parking, but he is ok and Suzi is ok, so everything is fine.  But I had a fucking heart attack when I checked my mirrors and he wasn't behind me after I had turned and I switched my headset over to talk to him and he said he was down.  I asked if he was ok and he said no.   At which point, I did a u-turn in the middle of the street, in front of a cop, because HE SAID HE WASN'T OK.. and then I saw him riding towards me and I was VERY confused.

Turns out, the headset was breaking up because of the distance between us and he hadn't heard me (or, more likely, was, understandably, distracted).  He was fine.  When I saw him pass me, I pulled off and told him to turn around and meet me.  I could tell he was shaken up but I needed to make sure he was ok for my own sanity.  When he caught up to me, I asked if he wanted to check the bike then or when we parked and he said we could park.  We circled the block and found parking in front of the restaurant and checked the bike over.  Other than a scuff or two, everything and everyone was fine.  Whew.

We managed to find a seat at the bar, despite a party of 4 coming in and also sitting at the bar before we did.  The man and I had a disagreement over 2 seats (they had 3 seats initially and needed a 4th) and 2 opened up and I went to them and the man was like, maybe you could ask those people to move down 1 seat...  The couple that was sitting there HAD FOOD and I told the man, I would NOT be asking that couple to move WHILE THEY WERE EATING.  WTF?  I let the man take the seat and waited on something else to open.  This guy and his family looked like Charleston money or rich vacationers, so it didn't overly surprise me that he said I should ask the couple to move, but WHAT THE FUCK?  Really?  Also, the seat at the other end of their party was occupied by someone who was finishing their food, so rather than wait for that seat to open, he took the empty seat so Teh German and I had to keep waiting.. and I get that they were there first, but I hate rude ass, inconsiderate people.

Anyways, we finally got seated and had breakfast and Teh German was less shaken up after he was fed.  I was disappointed that Millers no longer serves livermush, which is annoying since that's really the only reason we went there.  I guess that solves the issue of going downtown for brunch in the future... Oh well.

NOOOMMMMMMMSSSS

After brunch, we headed to the bikes to go home and there was a boy and his grandfather (I assume) who crossed the street with us.  The man said that they boy had been admiring our bikes while they had been waiting for their table, but the boy said he liked my bike better because it was black.  Feeling generous, I asked the boy if he wanted to sit on the bike and he said yes.  Then I asked him if he wanted to hear the engine and he said yes.  I had some technical difficulties getting it into neutral to get it started since I wasn't sitting on the bike and I'd left it in 1st gear when I'd got off since I was more worried about checking on Teh German.  Teh German put Bagheera into neutral and the grandfather sat the boy on her again and I started it up and revved the engine for him.  He was super adorable and shy but still excited.  The grandfather thanked us for taking the time to show off the bikes and told us to be safe and we headed out.

Teh German agreed to take the long way home, so we drove up HWY 61 under the oak trees, by Magnolia Gardens.  I love riding under the trees since it's shady and cool.  Yes, it's a straight road, like all the roads in Charleston, but it's cool and trees.  So trade off.

When we got into Summerville, the fucking lovebugs were HORRIBLE.  I ended up with one on my forehead and then when I got home, I noticed this almost disaster:

Do you see how close to my mouth that dead lovebug is?
THAT COULD HAVE WENT IN MY MOUTH.
vom.

When we got home, Teh German did garage things and I showered and started on homework things.

These are my piles.
I do not love piles, but these are mine.

Around 4, we headed over to Teh NY Chef's house for Sunday dinner.  Everything was delicious, as always, and we socialized until my Mom Guilt kicked in and we left around 6:30 to go home and feed the beasts.  After that was taken care of, I walked the dogs, and then we watched Black Panther before bed.  Then the weekend was over.

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This post is late because Monday was a Monday and I had shit to do.  I have shit to do today too, but here we are.

A good weekend full of socializing and activities.  I did accomplish some school things, but mostly I stayed away from my computer, which never makes me sad. 

This week/weekend includes:
-2 different medical appointments
-The exterminator is coming, but I need to reschedule for a time when someone can be there, because they fucking suck and never do a good job (leaving spider webs on things) and I want them to do the inside this time.
-Concerts: Starset on Saturday and maybe Lee Brice on Sunday, if I get that ticket situation figured out.  The tickets were free, but the way you signed up was weird, so I'm not sure what is happening.

My weather app shows a high of 83-80°F Thurs-Sat and I might just wear a long sleeve shirt on principle.  That's like record lows for not-post-hurricane-in-September times.  I.cannot.wait for it to be "cold".  Seriously.  I'm obnoxious about it too.  #NotSorry