Strange Sea Lion Encounter

Yep, that's a SEA LION on the back of that truck! I encountered this on my drive home from work today. I noticed a big ol' truck pull out of the airport. Then a white pickup truck darted out behind it (right in front of traffic, I might add). I was curious who would be so bold (jerky), so I drove up to read the logo that was on the side of the white truck. It said Sea World. So then, of course, I wondered what was on the big 18-wheeler. I pulled up and saw ice flying out of several cages with sea lions in them!!

I must say, it was a very strange site. I pulled out my digital camera and my cellphone camera to document it. I was trying to stay beside the truck to watch the sea lions and take pictures but apparently, the drivers behind me weren't as enthralled with seeing sea animals riding down the road because I had to speed up to let some of them pass. But - I got another quick view as I pulled into the turn lane to turn on my street. Cool, eh?

UPDATE: Being the news hound that I am -- I emailed the pictures to my station and they called Sea World to ask what was up. Turns out the sea lions came from upstate Washington. They were removed from their natural habitat because they were harming the salmon run -- and salmon are apparently endangered in Washington. So, as punishment for the crime of gluttony, they have been sentenced to a life of confinement. Just kidding -- but we were told that they were transferred from the National Marine Fish Zoo and that Sea World will now be a "haven" for them. I think we're going to do a story on them tomorrow. So locals -- tune in.

Stop the Incessant Beeping!!

Around 11:00pm last night, my alarm panel starting beeping. None of the lights indicated there was a problem, so I pushed the pound button and it stopped. About 30 minutes later, it started beeping again. I pushed the pound key and it stopped. This happened several times. I had no idea what the problem was, or how to solve it so I just hoped for the best and finally went to bed.
Unfortunately, the beeping continued this way throughout the night. Sometimes it would stop for 30 minutes, sometimes an hour and a half, but it always continued to beep again. I don't think I ever entered REM sleep last night because I was constantly getting out of bed to push the pound key.

Finally, this morning I'd had enough. I called the ADT alarm people and explained the problem.
Here is the actual phone conversation:

Me: My alarm is beeping and I can't get it to stop.
ADT Lady: Is there a light indicating a problem?
Me: No.
ADT Lady: Are you sure the beeping is coming from your alarm panel.
Me: Yes, I'm sure.
ADT Lady: Well, if your panel doesn't show there is a problem then the beeping is probably coming from somewhere else. Do you have other items like smoke detectors that could be beeping.
Me (getting somewhat annoyed): I have smoke detectors but I'm positive the beeping is coming from the alarm panel.
ADT Lady: Well, since your alarm panel isn't indicating a problem, I'm thinking it may be coming from something other than your alarm.
Me (very annoyed): It's definitely coming from the alarm panel. I haven't slept all night because I keep having to push the pound key to get it to stop. I'm POSITIVE it's my alarm.
ADT Lady: Oh. Okay. Well let's do a test then.
(I push the buttons she tells me to push)
ADT Lady: Oh, I'm showing you have a low battery.
Me: Where would this battery be located?
ADT Lady: In your master closet.

(Aha! I locate the box, find the battery and remove it)

Me: Where can I buy a replacement battery?
ADT Lady: Unfortunately I'm not allowed to recommend any business by name, but think of an electronics store.
Me: An electronics store? Like Radio Shack.
ADT Lady: Yes, that would be one place.
Me: Dang. That place is expensive. Do other stores sell them?
ADT Lady: Yes, but again I'm not allowed to give names.
Me: Home Depot?
ADT Lady: No.
Me: Walmart?
ADT Lady: I wouldn't go there to look. Maybe you could do an Internet search to find a place.
Me: Okay, I'll do that.
ADT Lady: You know, next time don't push the pound key. That doesn't really do anything. The star key would have silenced it for a lot longer.
Me: Well thanks for the tip.

I did an internet search and couldn't find any other stores besides Radio Shack so that's where I went. I don't know if this is true or not, but one of the clerks there said to me that the engineers design these systems to beep in the middle of the night on purpose because that's when people are home. And all these years I thought it was just my bad luck that my smoke alarm batteries ALWAY start beeping in the middle of the night!!!!

Anyway, thirty-eight dollars later, I had a new battery. These are big 'ol lead-acid batteries that would be very bad for the environment if they were simply tossed in the trash. I read online that you're supposed to take it to the store so they can recycle it properly. So that's what I did, and I was shocked by what happened at the store. Here is my actual conversation with the Emo kid who helped me at Radio Shack.

Emo Kid: Would you like me to dispose of your old battery or would you like to take it with you?
Me: Oh I definitely want you to take care of it.
Emo Kid: Sure.
(Emo kid takes the battery and tosses it in the trash can behind the register.)
Me: Uh, did you just throw that away?
Emo Kid: Yeah.
Me: You don't recycle them?
Emo Kid: We used to, but it got too expensive.
Me: But don't they have cancer-causing stuff in them that's bad for the environment? I think that's why they are supposed to be recycled.
Emo Kid (Sarcastically): Would you like to take it with you?
Me (embarrassed and defeated): No.

$20 Library Fine

Check me out -- I gotta library card!

What's the big deal you say? I've actually had this library card for 10 years. It's been in my wallet for that long. (Actually, it has been transferred to various wallets over the years.) I remember getting the card and I remember not renewing for some reason. Well, now I know the reason. More on that in a second, but first some background info ...

I have friends who frequent the public library. I used to LOVE going to the library but somehow in the past few years I've developed a phobia of used books. I have an active imagination and when I see a library book (or any used book for that matter) I picture the foulest person taking that book into the bathroom while they do their business and pick their nose at the same time. I'm sorry -- it's just how I picture it and therefore library books gross me out.

So in an effort to get over my phobia (NEW books are EXPENSIVE AND you can check out CDs!!) I went to renew my library card on Saturday. It was then that I learned that I had a 20 dollar fine for a video called "The Art of Communication -- or Persuasion or Conversation" or something like that. It was a video about making telephone sales. Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I hate selling stuff, I'm not a big telephone talker, and I can't stand telephone solicitations. Why in the world would I have checked out that video? I try to explain this logic to the librarian. I would pay a fine (begrudgingly) if I knew it was my fault but how can I fight a fine that is 10 years old when neither of us has any proof that I checked out this video? I told the librarian that I have a communications degree, 10 years ago when I apparently accrued this fine I had a paying job in the field of communications ... I would never have checked out a video about making sales calls. Finally, she agreed to reduce it to 5 dollars. I thought that was fair enough -- so I paid it. I'm now an official library card carrier. whoo hoo!!

When it was all said and done, my friend Jodie said, "Do you think your sister could have checked that video out with your card and lost it?" Hmmm ... I hadn't even thought of that. And then it all started to come back to me. One of my sales-loving siblings very possibly could have checked that video out and lost it. My first guess would be Nicole, but I'm having a faint recollection that it may have been Lance. Whoever it was, your library sin has been absolved. You're welcome.

My Mom at the Talent Show

Tonight our ward had a talent show for the primary (children's sunday school). The kids signed up to share their unique talents. Some of them played the piano, there were a few dancers, a karate demonstrator, even a whistler. The primary teachers were also invited to participate and since my mom teaches the 8-year-old class -- she offered to showcase her talent.

She practiced four times before the big show -- and considering it has been about 40 years since her last public performance, I think it's impressive. I also think it is hilarious and needs to be shared with the world. She's not going to be very happy that the video made the blog, but at least I didn't put her on YouTube. ENJOY!

(Unfortunately, my memory card filled up halfway through so you missed some of the fancy turns and tosses. Oh ... and you also missed the leaps and back flips she did -- those were awesome.)

TGIFF!

It's Fiesta Friday!

Fiesta is a 10-day party in San Antonio. It means food, parades, and for most people -- lots of drinking.

Sad-but-true Fiesta Fact: We've had 6 DWI fatalities in the last week.

Today was our Battle of Flowers parade. Kids get the day off school and city workers get a holiday. Of course, we never take a holiday in news but we look forward to Fiesta Friday every year because the station is just a couple blocks away from the parade route and we always walk over and watch a few floats go by and then pay way too much for some delicious fiesta food.

Another Fiesta Fact: The first Battle of Flowers® Parade took place in 1891 to honor the heroes of the Alamo and to commemorate the Battle at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, where Texas won its independence from Mexico. (fiesta-sa.org)

My Fiesta Friday started with a lapse in judgement. The street I exit to get to work is always closed on the parade day because it's where they stage the floats. I know this. I've experienced it for nearly a decade. But what did I do today? I took that exit anyway. Here is a picture of me stuck at an intersection while I waited for the floats to cross. (Yeah, I was 20 minutes late to work.)

As I mentioned, at lunchtime my coworkers and I walk over to the parade route to enjoy the festivities.
We didn't get to see much of the parade -- but here's a glimpse at some of it:

There were horses ... and floats with Fiesta royalty:

It's tradition that the Fiesta beauty queens wear tennis shoes or other crazy footwear under their ball gowns. People yell, "Show us your shoes" and the girls lift their dresses to reveal what's on their feet. This girl had on cowboy boots, but some of them wear slippers, flip-flops, or tennis shoes.

You can find entertainment all around you. Many of the parade-goers are just as interesting as the people on the floats.

There are cute kids in cute Fiesta clothes like this:

And then there's the frightening Fiesta Fashion like this:

Everyone highly enjoys the very-fattening, way overpriced Fiesta food:

There is so much to eat!
Tacos! Gorditas! Fajitas! Nachos! Roasted Corn! Turkey legs! Funnel Cakes!
And then some people (like Mario) eat the nasty Fiesta food like tripas:

(mmmm .. yummy. The small intestines of farm animals. Delicious!)

Funny Fiesta story. So I'm talking to some people running one of the food booths and they tell me to say hello to one of the reporters at my station.
"No problem," I say. "What's your name?" I ask.
"We are the Saldivar family," they answer, clearly emphasizing Saldivar -- so I'm thinking this must be someone I'm supposed to know. I think for a quick second and a lightbulb goes off -- Selena!
(OK, for those of you who have never lived in Texas -- Selena was a MAJOR star here and she was murdered by the president of her fan club. There was a movie starring Jennifer Lopez. google it.)
So I quickly blurt out "Saldivar???... as in Selena??"
They look a little taken back but nod, "yes."
Well -- here's the kicker ...
I had a brief moment of confusion and was thinking that Selena's family was Saldivar -- NOOOO .. the name of the woman who killed her was Yolanda Saldivar. That didn't hit me until about 10 minutes later and then I laughed and laughed and felt like an idiot. These were the siblings of the woman who murdered Selena.
I'm a dork and I can't believe I said "As in Selena??" to them. DUH!
I took a picture of them because they were nice and really because Yolanda's brother has a fabulous mullet that sadly you can't see from the picture.
(But imagine a long ponytail behind the feathered front on the guy on the left.)


Okay -- back to Fiesta Friday. Cascarones are a major tradition during Fiesta.

(That would be confetti eggs for you white folk.)
Here's a picture of me cracking one on the head of our unsuspecting intern:


Once you get someone with a cascarone, you can pretty much expect they will get you back.
It was actually my coworker, Sean who egged me. I'm a good target because my mass of curly hair makes it impossible to get all the confetti out.

After the hot and humid parade outing and then the shaking the confetti out, I had CRAZY hair.

Viva Fiesta!

Happy Earth Day! ( I Killed a Tree)

OK -- maybe I didn't kill it, but it's definitely dead. I've been in denial for a couple weeks. It had the start of little buds and I was hoping it was just a late bloomer. I watered and fertilized and talked to it - but I finally confirmed what I think I knew all along. It's dead. I'm really sad about it. I almost cried.

I planted four Bradford Pear trees four years ago. They were finally getting big and looking like real trees. (The first one in this picture is a Monterey Oak that I planted 2 years ago -- the Pear trees are the ones after that). I had the trees carefully spaced and staggered and now this ruins the whole effect. I am going to plant a new one but it will be a silly little runt compared to the others.

And now I want to know what killed it so it doesn't happen again. Maybe it's on a rock, or had somehow become root-bound, but until recently it was growing just fine. I did some CSIing and noticed several small holes. Maybe some insect killed it??? RUDE.

Tree Hugger

Just about anyone who knows me well, knows about my lawn issues. My house was newly built when I bought it 4 and 1/2 years ago, so there was no landscaping and the yard is RIDICULOUSLY huge for the size of my house. (The width of my backyard equals four or five of the houses behind me.) It's just lunacy. I mowed it myself for the first 3 years -- with a lawn mower that is not self-propelled -- and then finally decided to hire someone last summer because lawn work basically took up all of my Saturdays and I'd had enough!

(I could write a whole separate blog about my yard work envy. There are some tough things about being single -- but I don't think anything gets under my skin as much as having to do all the housework/yardwork by myself. It's the one thing that I get bitter about. If I see a family out working together in their yard, I boil with irrational jealousy. It's odd, I know. But it's the trigger to my crazy. I've never confessed this before so don't bring it up outside the blog world. I'll deny it.)

Anyway - I've drawn up DOZENS of landscaping plans over the years. I've planted a garden (lasted one year, now I'm growing weeds in there), planted five trees in the front yard and four small ones in the back, raked up my front yard after chinch bugs killed it all and then re-sodded it, made some big beds in the front yard (one which has been empty for 2 years) ... blah blah blah ... basically, it's just a non-ending struggle.

Every Spring I get anxious about planting. If there is good weather on a Saturday, I feel guilty if I'm not doing something about my landscaping issues. This Saturday, the weather was PERFECT and I really had a bug to plant some trees in the backyard. The first issue was finding a truck because my cute VW Bug is completely useless for carrying more than about 2 grocery sacks. Finally, my aunt agreed to meet me at the nursery in my Papa's pickup. I bought 5 trees, 8 bags of mulch, and 3 bags of compost. After loading it all in the truck, I hopped in and we headed for my house. It wasn't until I got home that I realized my car was still parked at the Nursery. Durrrhh. "Oh well, " I thought. "I'll worry about that later." I was anxious to get planting, besides I was sure someone could take me to pick up the car later. (foreshadowing)

So here's another "BEFORE" picture. You can see, there is lots of wide-open space for planting. And you'll notice that Bella (AKA Devil Dog) tries to help with the yard work. She is working on a trail system so people can hike around the yard. The trail goes around the side of the house, up one fence and down the other.

Nicole and Jon (my sister and my brother-in-law) came over for a couple hours to help me dig holes. After debating the placement for the trees for way too long -- we finally got to work.

They were awesome and helped me dig 3 of the 5 holes!!!

I think I'm going to like having a brother-in-law.

Here's a pic of the happy couple.

(Note: this photo wasn't taken on the actual hole-digging day.)

Unfortunately, they had a party to go to and were not able to see the project through to completion. But no worries, I was on the homestretch.

I realized there was a problem after a dug my last two holes and got all the trees in the ground. I was seriously lacking on dirt to fill the holes back up AND I was without a car and burning daylight. That's when my fantastic friends, Andy and Chade came to the rescue. I gave them a call and serendipitously, they just happened to be walking into home depot!

Andy & Chade

(AKA Chandy)

(It's because of times like these that they usually screen my calls. But unfortunately for them and fortunately for me -- Andy answered his cellphone!) They were my landscaping lifesavers. They delivered the dirt and helped me mulch the trees and clean up just as it was getting dark. They even took me to get my car at the nursery.

Here's where that foreshadowing part comes in. The nursery apparently locks its gates at closing time. My VW Bug looked so sad and lonely in the parking lot and I had to leave it there overnight.

The other bad thing is that despite the fact that I have a bin full of gardening gloves, I neglected to wear them.

I paid the price for that with an excruciatingly painful blister. I am accepting "Get Well" cards, but please act sympathetic and don't add insult to injury with comments like this one from my mother, "Now that is just irresponsible." That is just not helpful at this point.
This blog is now ridiculously long. I apologize. I am even bored by it. So here are the final pictures. My Cedar Elm, Chinese Pistache, and 3 Crepe Myrtles all in the ground!

(I will take you to the pound, dog, if you even THINK about digging up those trees.)

The Devil's Food

The Devil came to my work on Friday and delivered a machine filled with the most delicious temptations. These are exactly the kinds of frozen concoctions that I get random cravings for in the middle of the workday. Thankfully, I'm chained to my desk and don't have time (and let's face it, I'm just too lazy) to drive to the convenience store to satiate my desires. BUT NOW ... the forbidden fruit will be readily available EVERY DAY in the break room.

How in the heck am I supposed to resist? The machine was delivered Friday morning and I considered having a fudge bar for breakfast but decided to show some self-control and wait to have one for an afternoon snack instead. The hours crept by. I made sure I had cash. I ate my lunch. Finally ... it was time for my first ice-cream machine purchase. And guess what greeted me in the break room:

THE HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was denied.

And as my luck would have it -- I am starting my diet Monday so I must resist for at least the next 6 weeks.

Remember me in your prayers.

Thanks For the Carwash!

The youth group at church had an "Amazing Race" activity this week. One of their "detours" was to wash the cars of all the Seminary teachers. They had a great time and it was fun to watch. But the next day I noticed they may have missed a few spots. (And no, I still haven't washed the soap smears off the car doors.)

Late-Night Lurking

Okay - in one week, blogspot has taken over my life. Thank goodness it's Friday because I am quite sleep-deprived. I have stayed up until midnight or 1:00am just about every night and for mostly blog-related reasons. It all started Monday night with my silly work-related Bachelor Blog. Then, as I was considering starting my personal blog, I had to catch up on my friends' blogs. And now ... I've become a lurker. I'm one of those people who follows the links on my friends' blogs to read my friends' friends' blogs and friends' friends' friends' blogs ... etc. I'm reading about people I don't even know and I am getting totally sucked into their lives. It's madness, I say. Last night I could barely see straight because I was so tired and I couldn't stop myself. I even neglected some of my TV watching. (gasp!) Don't worry, I watched Survivor and The Office.

Then, I had one of my crazy dreams again. My coworkers often wonder what kind of crack I smoke before going to bed because I have the most bizarre dreams. Anyway -- I had another one last night. I dreamt I was driving along with a baby in my lap (a la Britney Spears). The baby belonged to someone I knew in college and I was driving the baby to her home. But when I realized I was driving with an infant in my lap, I decided I better pull over and get a carseat. Well, I pulled into some strange arena-type show where a man was about to jump over a lake with a crocodile in it. I was ruining his show and the crowd was booing.

Somehow I had become trapped on an island in the middle of these crocodile-infested lakes and my only option was to drive my VW Bug into the lake and hope to save myself and the baby before we drowned or got eaten. So that's what I did -- and the last thing I remember is feeling nervous about having to call this baby's mom to say "Please come pick us up ... oh and I did some reckless things with your child tonight but the good news is .. we survived!"

Analyze that!

Meet The Devil Dog

A.K.A. Bella:

I've had Bella since she was 6 weeks old. She turned 3-years-old last month.
Doesn't she look like the cutest, sweetest pup ever?

So why is her nickname "Devil Dog"? ...

It's a DARN good thing she's so cute!