This evening was very exciting in the Frinklin-Ensie household. Frinklin sat with me for a couple of hours going over the differences between MT and...um...everything else. I even managed to teach him a thing or two, so you may see some updates his site pretty soon.

I'm most proud of my "Frink-i-link" title. I crack myself up.

Another word created this week was "MuNumentum," which was used in reference to the excitement I felt when my MuNu blog became a reality. Frinklin asked if I would be posting to the new site immediately and I replied that I needed to get my layout up first. His response, "Aren't you concerned you'll lose your MuNumentum?"

Posted by: Ensie at 08:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Every time I think I'm fixed, I find out I'm still broken! I've turned into quite the athelete this weekend. Frinklin and I took the dogs to the beach this morning and walked couple of miles. We came home around one and I went swimming for a half hour, and then I went horseback riding this evening with my sisters.

As the sisters and I ended our ride this evening the LAMEST injury in the world flared up again. I'm big on breathing, and when it began to be painful, I was not pleased.

Excuse me, I need to go ice my chest again.

Posted by: Ensie at 09:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm moving!!!

Even though you see three (count 'em all you grammar Nazis) exclaimation points above, I'm actually sad about leaving Diaryland. It's been a wonderful home and I love the easy format and the friends I've made here.

In just a short while, you'll need to come visit me in Munuvania, just a short distance away at bothhands.mu.nu. Don't judge it yet--I haven't had a chance to put the site together yet, so it's just an empty shell currently. Hopefully this weekend it'll get better.

It was really quite a nice ego-boost, being invited to move, as you must be nominated and voted in by the current members. Pixy Misa hosts the site, and Frinklin as been there for some time. I forbade The Mister from nominating me (no nepotism, thank you), but I was lucky enough to be noticed by Susie. Thanks again Susie!

I'll keep posting here until my Gold Membership is expired (which won't be for a couple of months), but eventually I'll stop communting between the two and permanently settle in Munuvania.

"We finally got a piece of the pie-i-i"

Posted by: Ensie at 08:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm so excited to be moving!

I'll be here soon!

Posted by: Ensie at 04:14 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Yep! That's me!

After the memorial service on Saturday, Leonard took me out to lunch, as we hadn't seen each other in some time. We stopped by my house to see if Frinklin wanted to come with us, but he was all wrapped up playing Knights of the Old Republic on the computer (as opposed to the X-Box, which apparently wasn't good enough, was it, Nerdy-Nerderson?). Being the good wife that I am, I asked Frinklin what he would like me to bring home for him and Leonard and I went off to the best Mexican place in town.

Before I go any further, let me point out that our favorite place is really my family's favorite place We moved to this town 19 years ago and we've eaten dinner at this same restaurant EVERY Friday night for every one of those 19 years. I skipped a few meals when I lived too far away or was busy going clubbing in my early twenties, but I could only escape so long. Now that I actually enjoy spending time with my family I make sure I'm there for each and every free Friday night meal. The waitresses and owners know us, they reserve a table for us without a phone call, and they recognize me with or without blue hair (on a side note - when I had blue hair, a lady at the DMV offered to change my official hair color to blue on my driver's license if I still had it when my old license expired, too bad I didn't take her up on the offer. Woulda been cool, huh?). My father and I are also the only two people in existence allowed to write checks at this restaurant. After 19 years, you get a special priveledge or two.

As soon as we arrived, the waitresses started whispering. Finally, they brought us our menus. Leonard and I ordered our iced teas, all the while observing the staff staring at us. I know I had gotten a weird tan line at the memorial service, but couldn't figure out what exactly the issue was. Finally, our waitress asked me, "Aren't you here on Friday nights�"

"Yeah, my family and I come in. You're new right?"

"Well..." She glances at Leonard and leans in conspiratorially, "That's not your husband...right�

I was so surprised that the waitresses would notice, or even care, that I was there with another man, I didn't know what to say. I realized I was making myself look guilty, so I busted out with, "OH NO! He's just a friend! We actually just left Frinklin and are about to order some food to take home to him!"

She looked at Leonard and then back to me with the "Of course you are" head nod and raised eyebrows. Obviously she had a connection with Frinklin and wasn't going to let this issue go. When I actually did order Frinklin's usual meal, she relaxed a little more. When Leonard and I left a big tip and walked up to pay the bill, we finally seemed to convince them that we weren't having a torrid affair. The owner of the restaurant even told me, "You won't believe what, and who, we see in here. People in every day of the week with a different person!"

All I could think was how stupid do you think I am? Would I really take my new man to the same place I've been to a thousand times with my family and my NEW HUSBAND?

I mean, I would at least go to Sizzler or something?

Posted by: Ensie at 08:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It was a long weekend.

Saturday morning I awoke for my 7:30 am Weight Watcher’s meeting and found a note on the door reading, “Leonard called. Someone you two knew died. Call him back.”

I hadnÂ’t heard from Leonard in months, possibly a year.

How random. And rather frightening.

I had been having a strong feeling that I needed to call Leonard for several daysÂ…since Monday or Tuesday. I rarely get those premonition/sixth sense sorts of feelings, but when I do, I make sure I follow through with them. I was nervous about a friend driving a few months ago. She totaled her car. I called another friend I hadnÂ’t heard from in over a year to find out he had been arrestedÂ…crap like that. Anyway, back to the storyÂ…

I returned Leonard’s call and arranged to go with him to the memorial service of Howard, a guy we had grown up with. I didn’t know Howard well, but remembered riding the school bus with him—a class clown type, always willing to do anything for a laugh. He graduated two or three years ahead of me from high school, and I only saw him once after my own high school graduation.

We lived on the same country road. He on one side of a poorly banked curve in the road, I on the other. They always say that car accidents are more likely to occur within a few miles of your own home. It was 8 years ago, about 9 pm; I was driving the Bronco II my Dad had given to me just a few months earlier. As I rounded the curve, a white cat streaked across the road in front of me. I immediately hit my brake and pulled my wheel to the left. I missed the clutch and the engine died. I lost my power steering, and my power brakes. I couldnÂ’t steer out of the skid. I looped twice around the middle of the street and tipped over onto the passengerÂ’s side of the car.

I still remember so clearly the images though my windshield. Everything was at the wrong angle. So wrong. My ancient seatbelt had held, although it had spent the last several weeks coming unfastened at random moments without my consent. I noticed the telephone poles and trees lining the road. I marveled at my luck at ending up smack in the middle of the road, and not split by any one of the numerous tall targets. My headlights, now creating a vertical line instead of the usual horizontal, beamed down the road, alerting oncoming drivers of my dilemma. I pondered how I would get out of the car. How I would get all four wheels back on the ground.

I became aware of voices a moment later.

“Are you OK?” A head appeared near the windshield. My door was opened by several hands and arms. They continued to hold it open as I literally climbed out my door, now facing upwards. I stood in the middle of a small crowd, made up mostly of slightly older boys and girls, all breathing hard from running down a long dirt driveway to get to me.

Howard asked me again, “Are you OK?”

I was. I told him so. I wasnÂ’t crying. I was overwhelmed and possibly in slight shock. He sat me down on the side of the road and called the other young men to him. Moments later they broke their huddle and surrounded my car, checking for glass and blown tires. Amazingly, the car was in relatively good shape. Nothing serious broken. The tire rack had taken the brunt of the weight. All the tires appeared to be whole.

Following HowardÂ’s lead, they grabbed my car and pushed. Creaking and banging, they lifted my car upright. It bounced on the heavily scraped tires.

“Can you drive?” Howard asked.

“I think so.”

“Good! How about giving us a ride back to my party?”

“OK.”

The crowd opened my doors and grabbed on tight. I restarted the engine and we bounced down the dirt driveway to HowardÂ’s house. I dropped them off (all 15 of them or so) and thanked Howard and his friends for their incredibly timely assistance. I drove home and burst into tears.

I never saw Howard again. He drowned on July 2nd while celebrating the Fourth of July weekend at the Colorado River.

Over 200 people attended his memorial at his house, the favorite gathering place for he and all his friends. At least 50 people spoke of his kindness. Howard was willing to stop whatever he was doing to help whoever needed him. He was a mechanic and a construction foreman. He built houses, repaired cars for free, and appeared to be ever-ready to crack open a beer with his buddies, just to talk.

I wasnÂ’t one of HowardÂ’s friends, but he helped me just the same.

Posted by: Ensie at 08:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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William Butler Yeats

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

Posted by: Ensie at 10:51 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Oh my God! The Bunny Troupe has done it again at Angry Alien. Click here to see the bunnies' 30 second version of Alien (it may take a little longer than usual to load, as they've had a lot of traffic lately).

Enjoy! I did.

PS--make sure you stick around for at least 30 seconds after it ends--foreshadowing!)

Posted by: Ensie at 02:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is really cool. Charity work for the lazy--it only requires the movement of your index finger.

Good news today! I have only eaten 5 of today's Weight Watcher's points and it is 7:21pm. I was in one L-O-N-G meeting today that lasted 4 hours...no lunch breaks.

Bad news today--payday isn't until tomorrow so even if I wanted to eat those points in Wendy's chicken strips, I can't.

Damn.

Posted by: Ensie at 07:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yesterday was one of those days I REALLY wanted to sleep in, forget that I had a HUGE meeting at BobÂ’s Hogs, and mostly forget that I have a job. How can I have a week where two of the most important meetings EVER occur on either side of the day off I have today?

They actually sent someone out from the BobÂ’s Hogs HOME OFFICE, which located in a place that gets ASS COLD (thank you, mzthang12), to investigate some things here in So Cal. God, I hate being so vague, but IÂ’d like to stay employed for a while. IÂ’ve been so crazed about this meeting; I havenÂ’t had much of a bloggable life in the last couple of days. This is all IÂ’ve thought about, so IÂ’d feel a tad dishonest if I donÂ’t write about it a little.

Now, from the perspective of this side of the first meeting, I know IÂ’m damn good at my job. There wasnÂ’t a single problem with anything IÂ’ve done. That makes me feel pretty damn good, as I bust my ass (with the help of many others) to make sure itÂ’s perfect.

Now, I just need to survive tomorrowÂ’s second meeting. The meeting with my biggest customer and the possibility of losing my biggest customer if things donÂ’t go well. Oh God. Wish me luck!

Posted by: Ensie at 08:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The two most popular Google searches that show up in my referrals are ”pee dance” (both hands is # and ”best deodorant” (#6).

Other random Google referrals that resulted in unknowing searchers being directed to both hands include:

”posture orthopedic shoe”

”Dowager’s Hump”

”hands in pants” (?)

”Indigo Girls bootlegs 2004”

”Brad Pitt feminine” (a German Google search)

And, my favorite—”how to put air in tire at gas station”

Not that this is very interesting to anyone but me (and maybe Frinklin a little), but my bloggable experiences have been limited as I am still ”injured”.

Posted by: Ensie at 07:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Today I was standing at the registers ringing up orders. I put a sign at my register that read, “SORRY-THIS REGISTER IS CLOSED, PLEASE PROCEED TO NEXT REGISTER” (or something along those lines). A woman in a red shirt wearing sunglasses (inside! A pet peeve of mine) approached me. Being the customer-service oriented person that I am, I asked if she needed assistance. Our conversation progressed as follows:

Customer: “Yeah, do you have voodoo dolls here?”

Me: “Ah, actually, I don’t know. I know we have carried them in the past, you’ll need to go to the help desk located in the center of the store and they can take you to it if we have any voodoo dolls.” (I point to the help desk)

C: (giving the “are you retarded?” head tilt and facial expression) “Don’t you work here?”

Me: (giving the “my, you are quite a bitch!” smile) “Yes. For seven years. In fact, that’s what I’m doing right now. However, since we are such a large store, I don’t have a running inventory in my head of what we currently carry. As I said, the help desk can assist you further.”

Hm. I canÂ’t imagine why this woman might need a voodoo doll. I kinda thought about looking for one shortly after our conversation ended.

Posted by: Ensie at 09:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Keeping with my promise to blog each day this week, I will continue to type through the pain. The horrible chest pain!

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Just a bit.

I stayed late today to try and get some boxes packed up, and while lifting a particularly heavy box, I strained some muscles. In my chest. I had a moment of fear, thinking, this is a new chest pain I've never had before, I hope it's not serious, before realizing that my heart was beating just fine and I could also breathe. I've heard that having a heart-attack makes you feel as though an elephant is sitting on your chest, and this didn't feel like an elephant. More like a large dog. Or maybe a goat. Possibly something as large as a pygmy hippopotamus (interesting fact on that website under the subtitle Special Adaptations; Skin Secretions: The pygmy hippo does not swear [sic]. I think they mean to say that it does not sweat. But I could be wrong. Maybe it has a heightened sense of morality).

The point is - it fucking hurt. I went to the closest urgent care to make absolutely sure I hadn't seriously injured myself. They were really excited to see me, as they had closed just 5 minutes before I arrived. And I got to fill out some really fun patient information forms as it was my first time there. I got all of 1 minute with the actual doctor, who diagnosed me with a chest muscle strain from five feet away by never touching any part of me. He said the first couple of days will be painful, but I should expect about an 80% reduction in pain after that time. If I'm not feeling better after this weekend, I have to go in for X-rays. Whoopie.

What really sucks is that my job lately can be broken down into two important areas: paperwork and moving heavy boxes. I have a lot of heavy boxes to move, and no chest muscles to do it with. I wish I had an assistant. Then I could delegate my responsibility to him/her. Maybe they can just appoint me a valet, or something. I'm not very good at delegating, but I'm sure with practice I could get much better.

I also saw a new homeless man today on that same corner. Nothing really remarkable about him, but his sign sign now said: WAS LIVING THE GOOD LIFE UNTIL A DRUNK DRIVER HIT ME. NOW, BACK AND LEGS ARE FUCKED UP. ANYTHING WILL HELP. GOD BLESS.

God bless you sir. And your fucked up back and legs.

Posted by: Ensie at 09:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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