The other day I wrote about a neighbor climbing the fence into our backyard without an invite, which could have turned very ugly had the wrong dog been unleashed. But it isn't the first time a gentleman caller has decided to enter my backyard unannounced.

After living in Tacoma a few months, Bob's Hogs and Weiner Pigs offered me a Pilot Position that included working from home. This was perfect for me, as I was tired of working in a store and ready to take on some new responsibilities. I happily packed up my digs and moved all my stuff into the home office, effectively rendering it useless to Frinklin and requiring him to purchase a laptop (but that's another story).

My office has a large window that looks out to the side of our house. I haven't bothered to put up any blinds or curtains up in this window as it's largely blocked by a huge butterfly bush. The butterfly bush allows enough sun to filter in to keep me warm in the winter, and shades the same hot sun in the summer. Since the bush keeps its leaves year-round, it provides a lot of privacy as well. Which is how I got to observe something completely unexpected one afternoon.

Sitting at my desk working diligently away on a price quote for a customer, I noticed movement outside the window from the corner of my eye. Looking up, I found myself a few feet away from a strange man who was slipping onto my property, working his way behind my house. Thinking he had seen me and would stop any moment, my heart began pounding, but the butterfly bush had kept me completely hidden, working like a one-way-mirror, although it appeared we were eye to eye.

As he passed out of sight behind the house, I leaped into action, calling The Jeffrey and running toward the back door. As I passed the hallway to the master bedroom with it's window facing the rear of the house I saw the man passing by and my heart sped even faster. With The Jeffrey's collar firmly in my grasp I unlocked the back door and stepped onto the rear deck, confident that the tall back fence would keep the intruder out. As an arm crept over the top of the barrier and began feeling around for the latch I spoke.

"What the HELL do you think you're DOING?!" I yelled, hoping I sounded much more authoritarian than I felt, and praying he didn't have a firearm of some sort. The arm whipped back over the fence. Footsteps began retreating. I slammed the back door and ran to the front where I threw open that door, still holding The Jeffrey's collar, him standing beside me, barking like mad. Two men stood in the alley beside my house, one brandishing a large 2x4, both looking pissed off. A glance to my left revealed the now-terrified-would-be prowler.

"Dude," I said to the man, "I don't know what you're thinking, "But I gotta whole lotta German Shepherd Pit Bull just waiting to eat your ass you if you got over that fence, so you're fucking lucky you DIDN'T get in MY BACKYARD!"

"That guy tried to get into my backyard too!" Yelled the man with the 2x4.

At this point, the prowler had turned quite pale and was just wanting to get the hell out of dodge. He had clearly underestimated the power of the Tacoma North Slope Historic District Neighborhood Watch Program. He chose the best course of action available to him when a woman with a raging 75 lb. dog and an angry man with a 2x4 are yelling at you - run like crazy. He took off down the alley with the 2x4 man hot on his heels screaming, "You think it's OK to walk into people's backyards? Huh? I'll show you!" The other neighbor began picking up rocks from the alley and throwing them at the prowler as he ran.

At this point I realized I had my phone in my hand. I must have picked it up automatically. I called 911 to report that a man was in danger of being beaten to death by two others with rocks and a board. I also mentioned the potential break-in. The operator informed me that an officer would come by my house to speak with me. I waited outside for a half hour, but no one came by. I also waited for the men to come back, but they never returned. Eventually a police car drove by, didn't stop, and turned the opposite way that they men had gone. Well done, Tacoma Police, well done.

I felt rattled by the experience for a couple of weeks. But we put locks on the gates to the backyard and make sure we keep the doors locked. And we still have the man-eating dog. And although I've never met those particular neighbors again, I assume they're still out there, keeping our North End backyards safe.

Posted by: Ensie at 12:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 847 words, total size 5 kb.

Did I ever write about the guy who tried to break into our backyard? I was reminded of it today when we let two (thank God it was only two - the friendly two!) of our dogs out in our fenced backyard before leaving for lunch. Surprisingly there was a man standing in one corner who, when Perdita appropriately barked and growled at the stranger on her lawn, swung his long-handled tree trimmer things (apprently they are called "loppers") at her. Thankfully, Frinklin called Perdi off before she was hurt and yelled at the guy to calm down. The guy began scaling the fence and said he was from next door and was preparing to cut back the tree in his backyard that hung over our fence.

"Next time, knock on my Goddamn door and let me know!" was Frinklin's reply, but the guy wasn't paying attention and was slipping over the fence even as I was walking out the door after hearing Frinklin shout.

"What's going on?" I asked as I saw a leg diassapear over the fence.

"Stupid guy in our backyard trimming his tree."

"Oh my God! What if we had let The Jeffrey out?" I stared at Justin. "You're lucky dude! I yelled, "If we had let our other dog out he would have ripped your legs off!"

"I've always been lucky!" came a voice back.

Dumbass.

I'll write about the backyard break-in story tomorrow.

It's been a long time since I've hated on some neighbors. Feels good. Feels real good.

Posted by: Ensie at 05:42 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 263 words, total size 2 kb.

Sometimes right in the middle of living your life, the road will shift and you find yourself falling. It happens to everyone. Often more than once. It happened to me in college. I can remember the exact moment I stepped off the path -whoosh!- to graduation and a degree and instead ended up at a series of junior colleges and never quite found my way back again. My feet are once again on solid ground, but it took a long time to get there. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, although I do wonder how my life might have turned out differently sometimes, but I don't regret the decisions I've made and the life I have now.

Last week the ground swelled and bucked and tossed Frinklin into limbo. The company formally known as The Corporate Behemoth now known as Those Fuckwads Aetna fired Frinklin without warning. Without any warning at all and definitely without a severance package. Official reason, "failure to improve performance statistics." Unofficial reason, "It's just not working out." After three fucking years of stellar performance reviews and busting his ass. My suspicion is that they are getting rid of him because they announced that they will be outsourcing his position within the next year. They offered to have he and other people in his position train folks in the Philippines just a couple of months ago.

On the one hand this isn't the worst news. When my husband came downstairs to tell me I looked him square in the eye and said, "Thank God you never need to go to that crap job again," and gave him a huge hug. Frinklin's been half-heartedly looking for another job for a while. He hated being tied to his desk (granted, at home) in an hourly position, listening to people scream at him for problems that weren't his fault. It left him grouchy at the end of the day and dreading the work week. And they never gave bonuses, but a steady supply of branded alarm clocks, laminated certificates, and once a crappy canvas folding chair that one of our cats peed on. Thanks asshats!

The bad part is the money end of things. It's not good when one half of the household income disappears. There is, thankfully, unemployment which will bring in a portion of what's been lost. And I started making calls to see what we could do. That did not go well.

Our mortgage company always gives you a happy little message that if you anticipate having trouble paying your mortgage you should contact them. I let them know that I don't think we'll have trouble, but wanted to know what their potential solutions would be. Their "solution" is to make a double mortgage payment now, allowing us to skip a payment in the future.

"See how that helps?" the representative chirped to me.

"Not exactly." When I explained that I don't have the funds to make a double payment now, allowing us to skip a payment in the future she told me that she couldn't really help me further. That our payments would need to be made on time as usual, or if made late that our credit would be affected. How exactly is this helpful? I'm not sure. She couldn't tell me either.

My next call was to the folks that manage my 401K. I have a significant amount in my 401K as I've been paying into it for 8 years. I did take out a loan about 3 years ago that I've been paying back steadily. The 401K folks did tell me that I can take out a "Hardship Withdrawal." Fantastic! Send me the forms! The forms arrived and I found that I don't qualify for a Hardship Withdrawal as there are only four reasons one may make said withdrawal:

1. Payment of tuition for post secondary education for me, spouse, dependents.
2. Payment of unreimbursed medical expenses for me, spouse, dependents.
3. Payment to prevent loss of primary residence through eviction or foreclosure.
4. Purchase of primary residence, excluding mortgage payments.

So you see, I must stop making payments immediately on our mortgage, allow our credit to fall to shit, and hope that the bank begins foreclosure proceedings on our home post-haste in order to withdraw the money. It's a perfect plan! What about those of us that want to make our payments on time and keep our credit scores good?! The logic of this whole thing escapes me. Plus it's my Goddamn money!

We do have credit cards that we can live off of. It's just that we already have credit card payments and I don't want to be a slave to debt for the next 20 years. I don't want to have to go to the Bank of Parents to solve this (they have money, but not tons of it to give me).

To top it all off, Frinklin's last paycheck wasn't direct deposited as usual, the Fuckwads are mailing it to us to arrive who-knows-when. They haven't officially reported Frinklin as terminated, so his 401K can't release any funds to him. And his ex-boss won't call him back about anything (four messages and counting).

We're holding their fucking computer hostage until I get some answers.

Posted by: Ensie at 05:15 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 880 words, total size 5 kb.

1 Sucktastic totally sums it up! I don't know if we're much more on top of it, just more on top of finding out how screwed we are. He was in Provider Relations, handing calls and assisting doctors' offices with claims. He knows the insurance and provider side of claims as having experience in training. Here's hoping my job is secure!

Posted by: ensie at February 12, 2008 05:55 PM (yNgp+)

2 oh, man that bites; I know that situation, and I know that feeling and it's just.... Ew. Bad. Here's big virtual hugs your way, since I can't think of any merry platitude to make things right. (((((((ensie)))))))

Posted by: jcbetty at February 12, 2008 07:04 PM (lvOTL)

3 Just wow. Maybe when they notice their computer is missing, they'll straighten up. Maybe he could go into the medical side of stuff? Here's hoping he can find something good soon.

Posted by: Eden at February 12, 2008 07:47 PM (BDCWt)

4 Maybe you should hire this guy to send Aetna a message. Love you both -- let us know how we can help.

Posted by: K to the F at February 12, 2008 09:13 PM (ROdeo)

5 God that sucks...I'm so sorry.

Posted by: erin at February 13, 2008 05:30 AM (+Ng2w)

6 Oh my gawd - that totally and completely blows. But like you say, the upside is buh-bye crapass job. Sending good job-finding vibes your way! I bet hubby'll find something fantastic and then he can send a big old finger to those asscats!

Posted by: Heather at February 13, 2008 07:43 AM (Zx158)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I know I'm late to the caucus blogging party, but I was definitely there on Saturday with what appeared to be my entire neighborhood. I was glad to see them, although things were a little chaotic, Frinklin and myself eventually found our precinct (The Mighty 314!) and were ushered into a separate area of Jason Lee Middle Schoool as we were a good 250 strong, one of the two or three largest precincts in attendence.

After some continued confusion as to who exactly we were (313? 312?) we waited around for our Precinct Captain to show while the Caucus Chair asked us to talk amongs ourselves. No one was entierly clear on how exactly things would go down, considering the number of people present, and the folks running things all seemed to be relatively young first-timers. A festive mood continued to reign as an hour passed and Frinklin and I chatted with an undecided neighbor about why we were for Obama. She remained undecided as we broke into our respective groups a short time later.

The caucus site ran out of sign in sheets and requested that people sign in on the back of sheets if they hadn't already. People who hadn't signed in their choice had their names read aloud and were asked to declare, "Obama!" " Clinton" or "Undecided". The Precinct Captain was the first name read alound and tried to get away with being undecided, but after sheepishly blushing gave it up for Obama. People proudly yelled out their choices and were cheered - undecideds were given just as much applause as those who had a candidate determined.

At that point, the room was divided into our three groups, Clinton on one side, Obama on the other with the Undecideds in the middle. Each group was invited to have a representative speak, which we did. At that point, the Undecideds had questions that they wanted answered. The Caucus Chair asked us to quiet down, but after a couple of hours of being told to keep quiet and chat together, we were ready to make our voices heard and debate. Several of us (myself included) stood up and yelled loudly, stating that we would like the opportunity to debate and sway the Undecideds. The Undecideds shouted that they would like the opportunity to ask questions and make up their minds. The Caucus Chair started to get nervous that he might have a bunch of pissed off Democrats completely rebelling and the debate was on!

While many people spoke from their hearts and didn't always weigh in on specific policy and topics, everyone was passionate about their decisions. We also heard from a number Undecideds who gave varied reasons as to why they hadn't made up their minds; one man couldn't see enough difference between the two (he eventually went with Obama), another woman though Obama supporters were just attracted to the Cult of Personality (although she later also swayed to Obama too), and one woman said she was terrified that Americans are stupid and prejudiced and wouldn't vote for an African-American man (Frinklin stood up and told her, "If YOU are afraid to vote for him, stand with us and show others that people WILL vote for him!).

The final count was 189 for Obama (16 delegates), 58 for Clinton (5 delegates), 16 Undecided (1 delegate). Frinklin is a delegate and I am an alternate for Obama. I find it funny that it appearsthat a bunch of people we know are delegates or alternates (Jen, Kevin, Cassie, Mark -- did I leave anyone out?).

This was my first time caucusing, being from California. I have to say it was confusing and messy and long, and I absolutely loved it. I can see why it's not for everyone, and if I had kids or needed to be somewhere that day why I would hate it. But it was really fun from my perspective this year and I wouldn't mind doing it again at all.

Posted by: Ensie at 06:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 669 words, total size 4 kb.

I waited in one of the enormous lines to get into Key Arena today. Frinklin and I got there about 10:40 and the line was growing in leaps and bounds (we were standing under the Space Needle). After 11 we were practically running as we moved forward to get inside - but there were two lines and we missed getting in by just a couple of hundred people. It was about 11:15 when we were turned away. We were told they had 14,000 people in the stands and another 5,000 on the floor. We booked it out of there (yay for valet parking at the Needle!) and arrived home just in time to see the speech live on Northwest Cable News.

When we left there were hordes of people behind us in line as well as tons of people still arriving by the thousands. We let as many people as we could know that Key Arena was full, but most continued on to see if they could still get in. Most said they would be caucusing for Obama tomorrow and when it continued to be announced that the event was full people's attitude was, "That sucks that we didn't get in, but that's fantastic!"

There's been some discussion as to weather Obama has outdrawn Hillary at their Seattle events. Even with their respective venue choices, I'd say that Obama could have easily had another 7 - 10 thousand people should he have chosen a larger venue. I don't think that Hillary could have drawn that kind of numbers.

In other news - Frinklin met Janet Huckabee at the Starbucks headquarters this morning. But I'll let him tell that story later on his own blog. He's busy at opening night for his new show (How the Other Half Loves - tickets available now!) right now. It's a funny show he tells me. I'll be there a week from Saturday.

If you're a Democrat and you need information on the how to and where to caucus for (Obama) your (Obama) chosen (Obama) candidate (Obama) in Tacoma (did I mention that Obama rocks?) check out http://wa-democrats.org/. Everything goes down tomorrow at 1 PM. Be there or be square.

Also - (FINALLY!) our long backordered Obama yard sign and rally sign arrived. They went up in our yard and window to tell the world that we're in the cool crowd. Hopefully the yard sign won't blow away!

Posted by: Ensie at 06:34 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 411 words, total size 3 kb.

I know! I know!

You're like - JESUS! Two blog posts in two days!? What have we done to deserve this?

But I had to write about the fabulous experience that my toes had last night at SAVI Day Spa.

Cassioposa and I have been on a quest to find a descent manicure shop in Tacoma for some time. We figured we would visit a number of ghetto places around town, eventually stumbling upon someplace unknown yet amazing. You know - the dream that all girls dream - an inexpensive nail shop with a miracle worker inside that can magically transform your shredded nails into strong, healthy, gorgeous nails overnight. All for under $20 a visit.

And we tried. We really did. We hit up several shops. Old ones, new ones. Until a few weeks ago we tried someplace really new and it was as though the place terrified our nails into not growing at all. Both of us have been suffering from short, peeling, split nails ever since. Plus we were seated far away from each other so we had to shout our conversation and then we were up-sold the entire time on eyebrow waxes and massages. Um, no. It was terrible. So we took a break.

And then I decided yesterday that my toes just couldn't take it anymore (email to Cassie, "Toes are claws! Need pedi!") and I needed and pedicure. But not at some ghetto place. I was determined to find something great, and in Tacoma. But try Googling "Tacoma Best Pedicure" online and you'll get a ton of results for Seattle. It's rather depressing. I soldiered on and eventually landed on the SAVI Day Spa at the Hotel Murano downtown. After a quick phone call to make sure they had room for two in the evening, our appointment was booked for 6:30.

We arrived right on time and valet parked (any service over 30 minutes gets free valet parking), admiring the new lobby decor. SAVI is in the corner of the building and we found our way quite easily there. Once in, Kelly welcomed us by name, given some paperwork to fill out for potential future visits, and offered drinks and appetizers. Since we had just come from The Melting Pot's happy hour we declined, sadly. But a glass of wine with your pedicure sounds just about perfect, don't you think?

At that point we each removed our shoes and ascended to the pedicure thrones. I can't imagine being more comfortable as Shelly and M (I'm so sorry I forgot your name!) worked on our feet. It was like heaven! We laughed and talked while our feet were pampered and rubbed, scrubbed and polished. There were no lulls in the conversation as we chatted with each other as well as Shelly and M.

Part way through our pedicure Co-Owner Sharon joined us to start our manicures. She provided us with some excellent advice as to why our nails might be spitting and chipping so badly since the last manicure (formaldehyde in the nail polish?). When she finished working on my nails they looked nothing like the sad things attached to my fingers I had brought in with me. Thanks Sharon!

They nearly had to shove us out the door when we were finished, we had such a lovely time at SAVI. I would have happily stayed forever.

We went with the lowest priced option for mani/pedi. The pedicure was $45 and the manicure was $30. Plus a big tip for the excellent overall experience. Definitely worth it. There are a number of other options that I'm sure I'll be checking out in the near future.

Posted by: Ensie at 11:52 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 624 words, total size 4 kb.

Hello!

Hi there!

Did you miss me?

I'm sorry I've been MIA for the last couple of weeks. But, I've been busy, you see. There's been work, of course, which has been really picking up. And my house got a mini-makeover. And I got a mini-makeover.

I wish I could show you the before and after pictures of all this. But I can't, because I didn't take any before pictures. Because I suck at the whole "makeover" thing. Sorry about that. Suffice to say, it wasn't pretty. However, I DO have AFTER pictures of the gloriousness that is now.

New bookshelves in the dining room:

New Bedding:

Detail:

New Curtains:

Before the mini-makeover, there was a broke-down old shelf with far less space in the dining room that had unfortunately absorbed some of Sadie's pee (we've come to an agreement with Sadie at this time that seems to work for both of us and is saving our furniture). Out with the stanky shelf, in with the new! White, basic curtain panels in the bedroom were replaced with the ones (thanks Ikea!) which have leaves that match our wall colors as well as the new duvet cover.

And then there is my own makeover. Jenyum at Tacomamama was kind enough to notify me of a 50% off haircuts event that Embellish was having a little over a week ago. I'd been chatting with various people about Embellish and "meaning to call them" for about six months now, so I finally wo-manned up and made the appointment for a little over a week ago. It had been over two years before any sort of hair professional had touched my head.

This launched the crazy "hairstyle search of 2008" campaign. I immediately bought every hair magazine on the racks and began frantically looking for some haircut that would look good on my head. I knew I wanted something longer than my shoulders, but not much longer, as my hair dreadlocks itself as the day goes on. It should be able to be worn in curls or straight, and look good with my squarish/roundish face. Commence panic.

Pretty quickly I settled on what I thought was a good look - Kerri Russell has gorgeous brown hair. She also has very curly hair that looks great when straightened. I could rock this 'do, I thought:

And now, I am.

Thanks to Albon at Embellish for spending FIVE HOURS over two days on my hair to make it look gorgeous like Ms. Russell's. I can't recommend him enough. He was a lot of fun to have work on my hair and did a great job.

And I feel fabulous with my new hair. I've got an actual hair STYLE instead of a big mess on top of my head. It's inspired me to wear lipstick for the first time in forever. Who knows where this could lead?

Posted by: Ensie at 11:04 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 497 words, total size 3 kb.

Setting: Ensie-Frinklin Bathroom

Time: 5:42 AM

Ensie is awoken to the sound of much cursing and strange sucking noises. Going to investigate she finds Frinklin standing over an uncooperative toilet.

F: The damn toilet will not unplug.

E: What did you do?

F: Nothing! It was like this when I came in!

At this point our heroine takes the plunger from our hero and vigorously begins to plunge the toilet. After a few moments a successful toilet flush is heard.

Frinklin stares in awe.

E: See? And you thought all that time playing Raving Rabbids was in vain!

Posted by: Ensie at 09:52 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 112 words, total size 1 kb.

Last Saturday was an adventurous day for us, to say the least. Not only did I have to make one trip to the emergency vet, I almost had to make two!

The day started off relatively relaxing, with both Frinklin and I sleeping in. He was planning to do some Christmas shopping and I was getting ready to attack the massive piles of laundry that were taking over our bedroom. We were watching the dogs play with a new toy in the living room when things got a little heated between The Jeffrey and Perdita. Suddenly, Perdy decided the new toy was hers and hers alone and grabbed The Jeffrey's head in her jaws!

Normally little tiffs between dogs are no big deal. They happen from time to time and you assess the damage and move on. However, Perdy happened to catch The Jeffrey's eyelid on her canine tooth from the inside and we couldn't separate them easily. The stupid dogs wouldn't hold still long enough for us to grab them, so I was practically sitting on Perdita when they magically came apart. Somehow, The Jeffrey only had a small puncture wound in the bottom part of his eyelid - no major damage. Whew! Escape Emergency Vet visit!

I should have never said those words aloud.

Not an hour later I hear one of the cats errupt in a loud scream, which is not unusual, considering the difficulty Sadie has had fitting into our family of kitties as of late. My usual course of action is to scoop Sadie up and soothe her, as she usually dissolves into a puddle of purrs and cuddles within seconds.

This time she growled and hissed at me, and when I ran my hand down her tail my fingers came away wet with blood. I discovered a large chunk missing from her tail and when she squirmed away from me red droplets followed her. On closer examination, I found a V-shaped slice in her tail, obviously requiring stitches.

"Now I'm off to the emergency vet!" I called to Frinklin, who was prepping for his foray into the wilds of the mall.

"What now?" He yelled in reply.

"Cat damage!" I exclaimed as I packaged up Sadie into her cat carrier and bundled her out to the car where she pitifully cried the entire drive to the Animal Emergency Clinic. It must not have hurt too badly though, because she was all charm and love when the vet on call examined her once we arrived. Her paperwork states, "Purr to loud to read pulse."

The vet initially recommended $700 in surgery for her tail to keep the blood flow active (don't want to kill off the end of her tail!). But because Sadie is so sweet, we opted for sedation and local in the tail while the stitches were put in (only $275!), which seems to have worked just fine. Everyone at the Emergency Vet's office fell in love with her. I told them that they could keep her, but so far no takers.

Upon her return home she appeared to have a giant dread lock attached to her ass:

Sadie remedied this quickly by ripping the vet wrap off almost immediately and rendering herself even funnier looking:

Our own awesome vet checked Sadie out on Monday and declared her to be healing. Her stitches come out in another week or so. As great as the emergency clinic was, I have no desire to go there again soon.

Posted by: Ensie at 12:14 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 587 words, total size 4 kb.

This past couple of weeks just seems like it has been blargh.

I went out to visit my friend Violet a few weeks ago in Chicago (which I have sadly neglected to write about, but I swear I will!) and I was so happy for her! She and her partner J had just announced that they were expecting a baby! She was keeping it a secret until they traveled to California for Thanksgiving to tell her family. And now... She is dealing with it in a typical Violet way, and I love her so much for her strength and courage, but still.

And my friend Leigh who's Noisy Dog Studio kicks ass. She is one of the most amazing artists I have ever met. Much of her inspiration comes from her Boston Terrier Hugo, who rules their house. Hugo has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. I e-mailed Leigh immediately, who told me that Hugo is taking it day by day on meds.

I'm ready for the happy now.

Posted by: Ensie at 01:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 171 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Aw, thank you. You're such a sweetheart.

Posted by: Violet at December 07, 2007 09:36 AM (f6ihp)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I was really excited to be checking out Crown Bar which recently opened on 6th Avenue. Owned and operated by the same team that handles my favorite Tacoma restaurant, Primo Grill, there was no way this could be a bad experience, right?

Wrong.

Since it was a Friday night (November 2nd), I assumed it would be difficult to get a table, however, at 7:30 during the Dia Day Los Muertos procession down 6th Ave. myself and Cassioposa walked right in and were seated. There were a couple other free tables, but the small bar was full. We ordered a couple of beers; mine a European Apple beer was fantastic, but at $8.50 a bottle I wasn't going to drink more than one.

When we were joined by a third, we ordered up the bratwurst, grilled bread, and curry ketchup appetizer. The grilled bread was delicious, the curry ketchup sweet and a little bit spicy, and the bratwurst was average. There was an agreement at our table that an appetizer of the grilled bread alone would be a great addition to the menu, as we all loved it, and could have taken or left the bratwurst.

When it came to ordering dinner, I chose the much-talked-about Jerry Stokes berry's buttermilk fried chicken, butter braised local greens and substituted the garlic mashed potatoes with the goat cheese olive campfire potatoes. Cassie had the Cougar gold mac and cheese.

Disappointment reigned over dinner. My fried chicken arrived hot from the fryer, but was bland and tasteless. It seemed as through there were no spices in the mix at all. On the contrary, Cassie sampled her mac and cheese, finding surprising peppercorns as she swallowed her few bites. My "greens" were a soggy, greasy mess of chard that was almost inedible.

I did enjoy the potatoes that were yummily mixed with goat cheese and green olives. They made up the majority of my dinner, as I hardly any of the chicken or chard.

The topper was a cocktail for Cassie that tasted like Windex mixed with rubbing alcohol. It claimed to be some sort of martini, but after we all sampled the blue concoction, it was proclaimed to be the worst drink ever mixed. The nearly full glass was left on the table with the majority of our dinners.

After tip our bill was over $100 and I felt ripped off. For "street food" this is enormously expensive. We had two beers, one cocktail, one appetizer, and two meals.

All but one table was empty when we left at 9:30PM. A bad sign.

I really, really wanted wanted to like Crown Bar. But the concept and the execution don't seem to mesh very well. And...well, are you a bar or a restaurant? If you're a bar serving street food, should your bill be a hundred bucks after eating there? And if you're a restaurant, can you get the rowdy people at the bar to stop screaming and yelling, and to quit leaning over my table and listening to my conversations? It's highly distracting and annoying. I'm also not thrilled with the decor (seriously - the silver fireplace rock? It's hideous), but I see what you're going for.

The food is the biggest issue though - if the food is good I'll sit through bad drinks, high prices, weird decor, and drunk guys leaning over my plate. Unfortunately, it's not.

Posted by: Ensie at 02:48 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 571 words, total size 3 kb.

I'm finally finding some time to sit down (albeit when I should be working) and blog about traveling down to San Diego and visiting Ramona since the Witch Creek Fire. It was a whirlwind trip - only four days and I didn't get to volunteer as I would have liked. The Del Mar Fairgrounds (where they still had over 2,000 horses and other large animal evacuees one week after the start of the fire) didn't need me the time I had available, and I was only there for a few short days.

Driving around Ramona was strange. So much seemed normal, and yet not normal at all. Traffic was heavy, I'm not exactly sure why. Possibly it was people traveling up to look at the fire damage? Or Evacuees coming back into town after being gone for almost a week? Porta-poties were everywhere due to lack of water, and then unsafe water, after the Ramona Municipal Water District pumping station went down. Many of the restaurants were shut down for the same reason, so one had to go "down the hill" for food or head over to my parent's church Mountain View Community for a donated meal.

While I'm not in agreement with the church on a lot of issues, they did a lot for Ramona over the week of the fire. There were firemen and women from all over the place fighting various fires that desperately needed food and shelter, which were provided. National guardsmen and women were also offered a place to eat and sleep. They told us they were sleeping in parks and on the ground and had MREs or no food before they were told to go to the church and were given cots and a real meal.

The church also provided people that had lost their homes with immediate assistance - clothing, toiletries, dog and cat food, diapers, and then to directed one to the appropriate relief agency, even give you a ride if you needed one. And if you were a church member and lost anything, my Dad's job was to locate and interview you to see what resources you had available, and what you may need in terms of shelter or monetary funds, both immediate and in the long term. That's awesome.

In driving down Magnolia Avenue, which becomes Black Canyon Road, it was shocking to see houses missing that have been there as long as I can remember. Houses that are so much part of the landscape, that fit in so well with everything around them, you almost don't realize they're missing. Then you see the black scar where they once stood. It's amazing how small the footprint of a house is. Houses seem so large when you're living in them, and so tiny when they're nothing but ashes and soot, sometimes without even walls left to mark where rooms divided a place. Friends lost homes. People I know lost homes. Leonard. Mike and Traci. Dallas and Rich. Dallas' Dad. Rhetta and Ron. Ken and Linda. Amy.

The fire burned right up and all around my parent's house. Embers melted their fence. The hay in the barn caught fire and burned half the barn bad enough that it will have to be completely torn down and rebuilt (oh darn!). The firebreak my Dad mows likely saved the house - that and the crazy neighbor who stayed while the fire raged. He was the one who put out the fire in the barn with dirt when the water lines melted (THANKS MIKE!). I've evacuated before and it was heady and terrifying, but not nearly as bad as being stuck in Washington waiting for news of my family as they evacuated without me.

Pictures are up at Flickr.

A few samples:

Posted by: Ensie at 05:34 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 637 words, total size 5 kb.

Today I was browsing the internets as usual and came across Dooce and her most recent entry about how Apartment Therapy wanted pictures of her workspace. Of course she submitted tasteful and artful pictures of various items arranged on desks and walls. All her shit is artsy and cool.

I wonder if this is how her workspace is every day, or if it gets cluttered and piled up, the way my desk is? It's so the opposite of artsy and cool. If Apartment Therapy ever wants my desk shots, here's what they'd get:

It's crucially important that my cell phone be comfortable.

That green thing is The Jeffrey's Dogzilla Halloween costume.

Looking at these pictures makes me see it through new eyes. Yikes!

OK - so this is pretty messy. But technically it's in piles. Piles of incoming, outgoing, and, uh, important stuff. VERY IMPORTANT STUFF. So don't touch it.

This cracks me up every time I look at it.

Is it wrong that there are more comics than work related items on here?

God it's good I don't meet clients at my office.

Books, books everywhere! Those shoes are also very important for work.

Posted by: Ensie at 02:47 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 199 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Is that a Keith Knight strip on your board? I *heart* him.

Posted by: Erin at November 01, 2007 03:23 PM (nLYxS)

2 Yes it is. I have two pieces of his art up, in fact. I met him at the Seattle Emerald Con a couple of years ago. His stuff is fantastic!

Posted by: ensie at November 01, 2007 04:06 PM (6We+3)

3 I'd just like everyone to know that this is completely her doing. This room was fairly well organized before it became her office!

Posted by: frinklin at November 02, 2007 04:59 PM (6We+3)

4 I'm just glad it's not just me...

Posted by: LD at November 04, 2007 12:47 PM (BsXSX)

5 As I may see – only your cell phone is comfortable there

Posted by: Frank at November 09, 2007 07:23 PM (p0O2M)

6 He rubs me the wrong way. You really did it this time. Watch me. 70-647 Don't try to pull one over me. 000-207 In vain. I did it all in vain. xk0-002 That's not the point. NS0-501 This is destiny. TK0-201 That's an exaggeration.

Posted by: Pass4sure engine at February 02, 2009 07:22 AM (P7E/+)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Frinklin likes to joke that I should have a regular (daily) column on my blog called "things that piss Ensie off" or "things that are annoying me". The list of things that irritate me is huge. I just think I would overwhelm people with my whining and kvetching constantly. Everything seems to bug the shit out of me sometimes, and I tend to hold a grudge against random people that have no idea who I am.

Today I had to go to the Secondary Comic Book Store to look for the second volume of Empowered that was released this week. Unfortunately, like my First Choice Comic Book Store, they were out of it.

Frinklin and I were discussing the merits of various comics and laughing at the artwork on covers, as we usually do, enjoying our time inside the store. At First Chice CBS this will solicit commentary from Alex, the best clerk in the universe, which keeps us in the store for sometimes as long as an hour as we chat about the merits of various storylines, writers, art, artists, etc. In the Second Choice Store things went a little bit differently:

First, before we had even approached the counter, Lame Clerk decided to tell us, "Must have this week are Umbrella Academy, Unmen, and [something else I can't remember because it sucks]!" Um, no. A) Frinklin already has Umbrella Academy, B) I would never read Unmen and Frinklin hates it, and C) Why are you pointing your finger at me and telling me what I should buy before you even know what type of comics I'm interested in? If you wait until I'm up there and see what I'm buying and then make recommendations based on my purchase, that might make the slightest bit of sense.

Then there was this exchange:

Me: Dude, a Howard the Duck Zombie cover? Howard the Duck blows.

Clerk: Howard the Duck is silly!

Me: Howard the Duck is the lamest thing ever. The creator of Howard the Duck has disowned him. Howard is dead to his own creator.

Clerk: But he's funny!

Me: No. He's not. Howard the Duck is the essence of lame. Everyone knows that. It's the ultimate truth about Howard the Duck.

Clerk: He's funny.

Me: (internal: WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!)

Now, to you, this may seem like a simple exchange with a misguided clerk. But to me, this screams that the clerk is correcting me, a paying customer, as well as a simple truth of the universe over and over again like an idiot. And he would NOT let it go and allow me to be right. Because, obviously, I was right.

Witness another conversation:

Me: The Ms. Marvel zombie alternate cover isn't nearly as scary as the puppet-master cover. Puppets trump zombies for creepiness any day.

Clerk: But clowns are creepier than everything.

Me: ?!? (internal dialog: Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.)

I totally realize that I am overreacting in a major way to someone who was just trying to do his job. However, I have high customer service standards after working in customer service and retail for over 10 years. But there are simple rules for customer service, the first of which is DON'T BE FUCKING ANNOYING.

I like the owner of Secondary CBS, but I will never shop there when Annoying Clerk is handling the place again. He is dead to me.

Posted by: Ensie at 10:40 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 574 words, total size 4 kb.

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! Shiver me timbers!

I'm totally exhausted from my trip down to San Diego. My Mom flew back with me last night for a week's vacation in the PNW and our flight was a good hour late last night, finally landing at 11PM.

I wish I had more to add, but it will have to wait until later in the week when I've washed some clothes and caught up on sleep.

So nice to be back where it's not a million degrees outside!

Posted by: Ensie at 07:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 90 words, total size 1 kb.

I'll be traveling back to San Diego on Thursday to visit my family and take a trip up to Los Angeles to see their ongoing production of Wicked. Since I've been traveling quite often for work and pleasure, I figured with this most recent release of upgraded iPods it was time to move up in the world and get something other than my old-school blue 4GB Mini.

Originally I had purchased the Mini for Frinklin several years ago when it was the cutting edge of cool. It was the first iPod in our family and for a couple of years things were just fine. Then Frinklin's parents bought him an 80GB black video iPod just after they were released. And, lo - there was much rejoicing over the color screen and the video capabilities. The mini became my iPod, and although I coveted Frinklin's color screen and everything else my tiny iPod couldn't do, I got along pretty well. I thought about getting a Nano when they first came out, but didn't want to spend the money just for a color screen.

And then - I saw the NEW Nanos! With VIDEO! And COLOR! And EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED! I was ready to buy! buy! buy!

Since this week is jam packed for time I planned a trip after work yesterday to the closest Apple store near my house, the SouthCenter Mall in Tukwila, a good 25 minute drive or so away. I played with the Nanos, which were very cool, but finally decided on a silver 80GB iPod Classic, which holds 100 hours of video compared to only 5 hours of video on the Nano. Big difference for only $100 in price, plus the screen is larger on the Classic.

Of course, the store was sold out.

"Just head up to Bell Square," said the sales clerk, "It's only a 10 minute drive this time of night."

It ended up taking us about an hour once were were all said and done. Up to Bellevue, find parking, find the store, got the Classic, find our way out, back down the freeway (dodge the line of cars on their way to the Daughtry show at the Puyallup Fair). We missed meeting friends for dinner at The Red Hot (Sorry Kevin and Steve - so wanted hot dogs!).

The Classic is very cool. I haven't even had a chance to listen to it. It'll be broken in on the plane ride on Thursday morning. It has been synced up - all the music is loaded and videos will be added tomorrow. Cover Flow is very cool - it's something that I've had in iTunes for some time and having it on the 'Pod is sweet! I'm psyched to use it to start listening to some audio books as well!

Posted by: Ensie at 09:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 470 words, total size 3 kb.

Another blogger outing to a local Tacoma restaurant resulted in full and satisfied stomaches I'm happy to report.

Jen noticed Opa! opened their doors August 24th and organized a blogger meetup last night for dinner. Never one to pass up good Greek food I happily agreed and sat down with Jen, Kevin, Sarah, and Joe for an excellent meal.

Service was extremely quick from our appetizers to our meal. Drinks came immediately (Kevin - a Fanta? Seriously?) and we settled in to eat. We ordered a selection of four dipping sauces and were impressed by most except the hummus, which I noticed sat untouched by most after the initial dip. The Tzatziki was excellent, as was the Skordalia (potato-garlic dip) and we all enjoyed the Tirokafteri (Feta cheese, olive oil, lemon and herbs) as well. The pita was served hot and delicious.

When our meals arrived we dug in with gusto. Sara and I both ordered Myzithra spaghetti which was fantastic. I had never tasted myzithra cheese before and absolutely loved it. I highly recommend it, but plan on taking a box home with you - my stomach was full long before my plate was empty. Jen and Kevin ordered lamb dishes - Jen a stew and Kevin chops - both of which were gorgeously plated and came with rice and potatoes tasting deliciously of lemon.

Joe was the only one to clean his plate, having ordered a chicken dish. You can see Kevin's shots of him digging in here, and the aftermath here. Well done Joe!

I ordered the strawberry cheesecake for dessert and Sarah and Kevin split the white chocolate baklava. The menu states that the desserts are all fresh and homemade, but they taste like they come straight out of a freezer box at a mass produced warehouse. The only disappointment of the night.

The was a bit of a surprise when the check came. I thought the total was a bit high so I looked over the check closely and noticed that there was a gratuity already added. It seemed odd to add a gratuity for serving just 5 people, so that's something they may want to reconsider. Either make your customers aware that this is the practice in your restaurant or do away with it since it's not customary.

For a place that's only been open for 5 days, Opa! was bustling with customers and has a good feeling. The owner came out and bussed our table and said hello, which was nice. The menu has a lot of choose from, if you don't want Greek food you can have lots of other "fusion" options. Our waitress was funny and friendly, the atmosphere was nice, and I will definitely be making a return to Opa! in the future.

Posted by: Ensie at 09:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 475 words, total size 3 kb.

We've officially reached the point where blogs are controlling people's mealtime habits in Tacoma. Kevin will point us in a direction and say, "EAT" and people will show up and eat they will!

Today the designated hot spot was Mary's Burger Bistro on Pacific. They opened their doors bright and early for breakfast, but Frinklin and joined in for the noon rush hour, and holy crap, was it busy!

We met up with so many well known Tacoma bloggers I hardly need to name them. Head over to feed tacoma and pick anyone you want and they were likely there. Reviews are up all over the place. I sat with Frinklin and Jen, Kevin, Sarah, and met Todd for the first time. I also spotted Joe (with a fancy new blog) and Michael of Red Hot Tideflats fame. And I had the luck to meet Tacoma Chickadee in person finally. It appears that even Ed of Ed's Diner made an appearance today.

The atmosphere was festive when we arrived at noon, and the line was out the door. The folks behind the counter were jumpin'. It took about a half hour to order, but we entertained ourselves by meeting new people and munching on the free cookies that were handed out (great cookies, BTW!). Once our food was ordered came the long wait. And long wait it was. Our food took about an hour to come, but we chalked it up to working out the kinks and there was very little grumbling. Free cookies continued to keep the troops happy.

Frinklin proclaimed his BBQ onion burger "great" and happily inhaled it. Unfortunately mine resembled more of a burnt hockey puck. When I pointed out my disappointing burger to Mr. Mary, he immediately swept away the hockey puck and moments later an enormous MIGHTY BURGER was thrust into my mits. Piping hot and deliciously adorned, the MIGHTY BURGER was perfection in burger form. The fries were fantastic and I left mighty satisfied.

The general consensus is that the food is good, operations are still working the kinks out, but overall everyone left feeling full and happy.

Posted by: Ensie at 04:11 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 361 words, total size 3 kb.

Joining up with several other bloggers on Wednesday at the brand new Tacoma eatery The Red Hot turned into an excellent evening of great food and good company. Frinklin was, of course, in attendance. Kevin and Sarah were both there. Mr. In-Tacoma himself. And a representative of This Shirt Is Pants. Frequent commenter (start a blog already!) Erik was there, as was Sparkrobot (buy his house!).

Special message to Angela and Steve - get a website...everyone's doing it.

There was definitely a festive feeling in the air upon our arrival at six, and the place was already busy. The bartender recommended the Woodchuck Pear Cider which went down well on such a warm day (not recommended if you're looking for something strong - it's more like a soft drink). I started a tab and ordered a couple of appetizers for the table.

Consensus on the apps is that they were OK - not recommended for large groups, but we hardly paid anything for them, so no great loss. Everyone ordered something different. Michael ordered the Tideflats which has absolutely everything on it. He wins the award for bravery 'cause I know my stomach would have put up a serious fight over that thing.

I had the Chicago dog minus the onions, peppers, and tomato. I KNOW OK! I KNOW. What kind of Chicago dog is that? But I wanted the poppyseed bun. Essentially I had a dog with mustard and relish and it was delish! Whatever neon green relish is used - it's the best I've ever tasted. Absolutely amazing.

Kevin's dog had cream cheese on it which sounds weird, but tasty. I'm branching out in that direction next time. Frinklin said the sour kraut was great, as was the slaw.

After three dogs, the cider, water, a root bear, and the two appetizers our grand total was $20.25. Practically nothing!

This could become a regular thing. Thanks Chris!

Posted by: Ensie at 02:57 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 331 words, total size 3 kb.

Happy Birthday to Meeee!
Happy Birthday to Meeee!
Happy Birthday to Ensie!
Happy Birthday to Meeeeee!

I'll be celebrating by going out to Joeseppi's (did someone say birthday tiramisu?!) tonight with Frinklin and the In-laws. Thanks so much to Kevin and Sarah for doing drinks and dinner last night. It was tons of fun, even as we discovered they are just better looking, younger versions of Frinklin and myself.

Posted by: Ensie at 09:37 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 75 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Had a great time last night. Another fun fact: My car is dark blue and Sarah is silver. Happy Birthday!!!

Posted by: KevinFreitas at August 10, 2007 09:59 AM (/fI+2)

2 Happy birthday Ensie!

Posted by: erin at August 10, 2007 12:44 PM (wlZTb)

3 Happy Birthday to Youuuuu!! I had a blast hanging out with you both last night! I haven't laughed so much in one evening in quite awhile. We definitely need to get together again soon!!

Posted by: Cassioposa at August 10, 2007 01:04 PM (/fI+2)

4 Thanks guys! Kevin - Stop it. You are freaking me out. Cassi - Looking forward to it!

Posted by: ensie at August 10, 2007 01:56 PM (6We+3)

5 Happy Birthday! We need to get together sometime once I'm thoroughly done with the Martian Death Flu and not contagious anymore.

Posted by: jen at August 10, 2007 05:56 PM (LMqvC)

6 Happy Ensie Day!

Posted by: Eden at August 10, 2007 07:47 PM (BDCWt)

Hide Comments | Add Comment