Monday, February 28, 2005

Now Dad Has It

Now my dad has this shit....I had a feeling he was coming down with it by the way he was coughing during dinner yesterday. This morning he sounds like I did a week ago, hardly any voice. I could strangle that asshole at work.

I'm doing better today, except for this damned sinus headache, and for some reason I'm having a bout of....well, liquid chocolate. As if the other wasn't enough! But, I'm here at work because I'm so far behind, and it's the end of the month, although my month-end work won't be due until Wednesday.

Other than that, it was a wet, sloppy drive to work....we must have gotten alot of rain overnight, because there were huge puddles on the roads. Plus a downpour during my drive. Lovely.

Better get my ass to work.......someone has to do it.........

Said by Kim at 7:47 AM

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Saturday, February 26, 2005

Food? Uh, No Thanks

Boy, one semi-good thing about this sickness is that you certainly don't want to eat. I take a few bites, and push whatever it is away. Yesterday during my lunch hour, I went to Sonic, and I just about puked looking at the food on the board. Normally, I love Sonic. But just the thought of a burger, or a chicken strip wrap made my stomach turn. So I got a snack sized order of Popcorn Chicken, my Diet Vanilla Coke with ALOT of ice, another cup of ice (I *LOVE* their ice, so bite me), and I had a coupon in my purse for a 99-cent sundae. I got a hot fudge sundae, and that was probably the best thing I've had to eat all week.

This morning, Dad fixed his usual Saturday morning breakfast of bacon, waffles, hash browns and eggs for mom and I, and I wanted to hurl just looking at the food. I ate maybe three bites. My lunch today? A handful of Cheetos and a Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper.

But, I *AM* starting to feel a little better, except for the 2AM coughing fit that I had. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy....except for the person who just HAD to come to work when he was sick. Yes, I'd gladly give it back to him ten-fold.

Said by Kim at 12:37 PM

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Friday, February 25, 2005

Better Today

I'm feeling a little better today...I even came in to work, and just as I thought, I have a hurricane on my desk. *sigh* But I'm just going to relax, and tackle things as they come.

Whatever this shit is, I wish it would make an exit SOON. This is some nasty, nasty stuff.

Just a short note this morning to thank everyone for their well wishes this week. They have all been appreciated so much!

Now....off to wade through this crap on my desk.............

Said by Kim at 7:19 AM

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Thursday, February 24, 2005

Home Yet Again...GRRRRR

I decided to stay home again....my head is pounding from this damned sinus headache! But, the crap in my chest is FINALLY starting to break up! Hopefully tomorrow I can get into the office. I shudder to think what my desk looks like.

Kathy, I'm still hoping to go skating Saturday. I should be well enough by then.

I'll leave you with a couple of sunset pictures from last night:



Said by Kim at 6:07 AM

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Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Home Again

Yes, I'm home again today....I called in this morning, because I am still coughing, and still rather tired. Plus, I have over 1200 sick hours, so why not use them for once? Quite frankly, the "Perfect Attendance" quarterly reward just isn't worth it... we get 4 'blue tokens' that have a value of a whole $20.00 to redeem for gift certificates. Big friggin' deal. BUT, I will now miss out on the annual Perfect Attendance reward of an extra $100.00 on the paycheck in January, 2006. I won't get that this year, either because I used some sick time for my dental appointments in October/November. Oh well.......

I hopefully will get back to work on Thursday....I'm BORED!

It looks like we're going to dry out for a few days....thank God! Those poor people in Southern California are having it rough. But my question is....why build your house on a hillside????? Sure the view was probably great, but how's that view now?

There was a semi-nice sunset last night....nothing really spectacular, but here's what it was....have a good one!!





Said by Kim at 8:14 AM

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005

A Little Better

Another day off for me today....vacation day, and I certainly need it after this damned sickness! I still have virtually no voice, but I'm feeling better than I did on Sat/Sun. It just gets frustrating having to repeat myself 3-4 times! But I should be well enough to go back to work tomorrow. Hell, I get more rest at work than I do at home!

We were under a severe thunderstorm warning yesterday afternoon, and it provided some dark skies! I tried to take some pictures of the towering thunderclouds as they approached, but the sunshine washed the pictures out, damn it! Let me tell you....the clouds were BLACK, and they were towering high in the sky. It was awesome to watch it approach. We did get a few claps of thunder, and a little rain, but nothing too severe. I did manage to get a couple of pictures once the clouds blocked out the sun, but they don't do the clouds justice. In the first one, the clouds had just blocked out the sun...they don't look very ominous here, but trust me....these clouds were nasty:





A funnel cloud was also reported in Sacramento, about 3 hours north of here. Some very bizarre weather out here in the West!

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Said by Kim at 5:11 AM

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Sunday, February 20, 2005

Feeling A Smidgen Better

I'm feeling just a smidgen better this morning, except for the fact that I've been sweating all night. My fever must have broke. I'll be glad when this shit leaves my body. And it's going to take everything in my power to not say to Mr. Snothead, "Thank you for f*&king up my weekend, asswipe" when I go back to work on Wednesday.

Here's a few pictures from yesterday....one of the new skates, a couple of BLOSSOMS, and a couple of the storm that passed through in the early evening:

The new skates:



On the way back from the rink, I passed by this group of blossoming trees - the wind was whipping pretty good in the morning, giving the appearance of snow on the ground from the blossom petals falling to the ground:



Pink blossoms on a tree the next street over from our house:



Blossoming tree against the stormy background:



Storm clouds:

Said by Kim at 5:55 AM

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Saturday, February 19, 2005

Damn I Feel Like Shit!

I really do....my head is pounding (I just drank an AlkaSeltzer), my lower back is hurting, my cough tastes crap, and my mom actually had the nerve to ask me today: "Why are you squeeking?" Well DUH....probably because I'VE LOST MY FRIGGIN' VOICE??!! I have to yell just to get any sound out....now you figure out why I'm squeeking! But of course, I didn't say that. But what a silly question to ask someone who has lost their voice!

I went over to get my skates this morning, and tried them out for a few minutes....and almost fell on my keister trying to do a forward edge figure! The trucks are WAY too tight....so I need to work on those to get them loosened up. I'll post a picture of them tomorrow. They look just like the other ones, actually. But quite frankly, I don't feel like unloading the picture tonight.

After I came home, I crawled into my bed....supposedly for a few minutes, which turned into almost 2 hours! I *NEVER* get back in the bed during the day, even when I'm sick, but my back was aching, and it felt good just to take little naps. The bed will find me back in it very early tonight!

Said by Kim at 5:52 PM

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this is an audio post - click to play

Said by Kim at 8:08 AM

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Friday, February 18, 2005

this is an audio post - click to play

Said by Kim at 4:05 PM

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I Could Kill Someone

I swear....if I end up getting sick, I'm going to ream Mr. Snothead a new asshole. I feel a cough coming on....thanks to him coming to work all this week, sneezing and coughing. YOU HAVE SICK DAYS, ASSHAT....USE THEM!!! I took 2 1000mg Vitamin C tabs this morning, and one last night. The good thing is, that I have 4 days off for Presidents Day weekend, so hopefully I can ward this crap off.

And one of our other co-workers just HAD to show him how to get RealPlayer on his computer.... now, we're having 'volume wars'. And he's playing country music....just what I want to hear...NOT! Yesterday, I came close to going postal on him by the time I left work, because I had to turn my Launch player up even more just to hear it. If he does it again today, I'm going to tell him (nicely, as much as it will kill me) to TURN IT DOWN! Asswipe.

It's raining....AGAIN (be quiet, Karrie - you E*V*I*L Seattle thang...LOL!), but yesterday the sunrise was SPECTACULAR. I shot this with my cell camera...it doesn't do it justice, though.



HAPPY FRIDAY, ALL!! And to all here in the US celebrating an extended weekend, have a great one!

Said by Kim at 5:33 AM

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Thursday, February 17, 2005

THIS Is What I Did In Competition

Alot of my readers are still probably wondering what exactly it was that I did in competition during my competitive roller skating days. Everyone knows the circles that are painted on the floor of any roller rink, in groups of three. So what are those circles for?? THIS is what they're for. They are known as 'compulsory figures' or 'school figures.' The video in the link is film that I recorded while at the World Championships when they were held here back in November. The girl in the video is one of the US skaters.

The figure she is doing is called a "PARAGRAPH" figure, meaning that she skates around two circles on one foot, instead of switching to the other foot at the intersection after doing one circle. Let me tell you, paragraph figures are not that easy! You have to get enough of a starting push for enough speed to make it around both circles, and do your turns also.

So......this is what I did....it may not be as fancy or glamourous as singles, or dance...but I loved every minute of it!

Said by Kim at 5:09 AM

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Tuesday, February 15, 2005

The Belching Dog/Shoes

Ok...here it is...the "Belching Dog." This is a relatively mild belch, compared to what she can normally do!

*EDIT* Let's see if THIS works!

Chu

And I think it's safe to say that I'm probably due to buy a new pair of shoes, wouldn't you say?



If you only knew how much I detest buying shoes....I guess the above picture describes my detest quite well....I wear the sonofaguns until they are ready to fall apart! LOL!!!

Said by Kim at 7:13 PM

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Watch For "Belching Dog" Soon!

I went over to Circuit City yesterday during my lunch hour to see if I could get a cable, or something to hook up to my Camcorder to transfer select pieces of film to my computer, and they had just what I was looking for....at a price, but it was the cheapest out of all they had, so I took it.

I finally got it to work this morning, but I didn't have time to upload the files to a server to share, so keep an eye out for our "Belching dog", and also a clip of skating from the World Championships, so you all can get the idea of what I used to do in competition.

Speaking of skates....they should arrive hopefully by the end of the week, or early next week. I'll have them the next time we go skating at the end of the month, and I can't wait!

And big congrats to this beautiful dog, CH. YAKEE IF ONLY, who won the Toy group at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York City last night:


Keeping our fingers crossed that he can win Best In Show tonight!

More rain for us today....but on the way in to work, I saw some pretty purple blossoms on a couple of trees that I need to get some shots of. Don't hate me because we have blossoms! LOL!!

Later.............

Said by Kim at 7:43 AM

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Monday, February 14, 2005

It Wasn't A Secret!

It always cracks me up how people are always scrambling for roses, Sees Candy, etc. ON Valentines Day. It's not like it was some huge secret...it falls on the same date every year...yet it never fails - on Valentines Day, there are huge lines at flower shops, the Sees Candies store, the perfume counters at department stores...and it's usually men who are the occupants of said lines, with exasperated looks on their collective faces.

Hilarious!

Said by Kim at 1:00 PM

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Happy Valentines Day!

To each and every one of my online friends, and blog visitors - HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!:



Said by Kim at 5:28 AM

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Sunday, February 13, 2005

Stuck On Stupid

I feel so stupid where my camcorder is concerned. I can't for the life of me figure out how to play back my videos on the TV! I can tear down a computer, and plug up another one up with external hard drives, zip drives, etc. with no problem. But I can't figure out something as simple as plugging up my camcorder to the VCR to playback my tapes!

I got my camcorder out yesterday while we were eating breakfast, because one of our dogs, Chu, has inherited her grandmother's ability to belch, quite loudly, after she's eaten. I wanted to catch it on tape, so I knew that Chu had eaten about enough to bring it on. I had only filmed about 2 minutes when she let'er rip. It was funny as hell! I know some of you aren't amused by anything 'belch and fart,' but I am...so sue me.

Plus, I have the videos I recorded at the World Roller Skating Championships that I want to transfer to VHS. I also need to find a cable to hook my camera up to the computer to save the videos on CD.

I feel like such a putz....I can tweak blog templates with relative ease, but I can't figure this out! GAHHHH!!!!

Said by Kim at 5:07 AM

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Friday, February 11, 2005

WTF??

Those offended by foul language, please leave now, because I am DISGUSTED with the human race after reading THIS.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH PEOPLE??? If you don't want the consequences of what happens when you have unprotected sex, HAVE YOUR FUCKING TUBES TIED! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if you have unprotected sex during a certain time frame of the month, you stand a pretty damned good chance of getting pregnant! STUPID BITCH!!

And not far from where I live, a family discovered a newborn wrapped in a sheet with the umbilical cord still attached at 6:30 in the morning on Thursday....and it was COLD during the night!

Further proof that stupid people should not be allowed to procreate!

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There is an update on this story....the woman who claimed to have been the one to find the baby, is actually the birth mother! She found out a couple of months ago that she was pregnant (how could you NOT KNOW that you were pregnant?), and she gave birth to the baby in her mother's bathroom, then decided to drive to a fire station to leave the baby, saw 2 people in a car arguing on her way there, and then decided to build a story around that.

What a whack job.

Said by Kim at 11:29 AM

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DAMN I'm Tired!

Holy crap I'm tired....I woke up at 1:30 in the morning to use the restroom, and I ended up tossing and turning for the rest of the night. My nose was kind of stopped up on the right side, and that drives me nuts when that happens during the night! And of course, once I finally said "SCREW IT" and got up at 3:45, my nose unplugs.

So today is going to be a butt-dragging day.....and I will have extra work to do, since I didn't get my work from the hospital yesterday.........grrrrrrr!!!

Said by Kim at 4:43 AM

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Thursday, February 10, 2005

What Is It About Black Denim

I went to Macys at lunch to try to get another pair of stretch jeans (I hate 100% cotton jeans...TOO BINDING!), and I tried on a pair of black, and a pair of blue jeans...both the same size, same brand. Every time I try on black jeans, regardless of who makes them....they always seem to be just a bit tighter than the blue denim. WHY IS THAT??? Is there something about the black dye that seems to say: "Black makes you look slimmer, so we're going to be tighter?" The blue pair was a little too big! So, I walked out empty-handed.

And Mr. "Head Full Of Snot" is back...he came back yesterday.... sneezing his friggin' head off, coughing, and of course, sucking crap down his throat. As a result, I've had to listen to him smack cough drops more....GUH!!!!

Said by Kim at 1:13 PM

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Wednesday, February 09, 2005

How DID You Qualify For Your Job, Anyway??

I'd sure like to know how some people around this office qualified for their respective jobs, because they sure as hell don't qualify as the brightest crayons in the box.

Case in point: Our Intake Window cashier was out of the office last week (vacation I'm assuming...we're not allowed to know if people are actually out on vacation anymore...only that they are 'out of the office', as though it's some big secret), and our Senior Clerk was working in her place at the Intake Window at the hospital. First of all, our "Senior Clerk" is (or was) supposedly our trainer on our billing/payment intake program. When I started learning how to post payments after the program was rolled out, I asked "Senior" a question about closing the shift, and SHE DIDN'T KNOW THE ANSWER! Yeah, that's a real good trainer. Now we have another person who does all training on this particular program.

But I digress back to the case at hand..."Senior" posted some payments from patients who stopped by the Business Office to pay their various bills...this was last FRIDAY, the 4th. Her payments that she declared as her closing deposit looked all screwy on her printout, and her totals didn't match what my report showed....but her receipts balanced to my report. She just called me TODAY, the 9th to see if I could figure out her mistake. Ummmm, HELLLLLOOO! You're calling me 5 days after the fact??? I'm doing the batch for that particular day today! One with common sense would think the logical thing to do would be calling me on Monday to figure out where she went wrong! She tells me that one of the other gals she was working with entered the amounts FOR HER. Now, why in the hell is someone else entering her closing totals for her, unless she's just too dense to know how to close her shift...yep, that's some trainer we have.

Said by Kim at 9:25 AM

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Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Check Your Quarters!

For anyone who happens to be collecting the State quarters (for those outside of the US, the US Mint has been producing quarters representing each state in the United States for the past few years), check your WISCONSIN quarters. Evidently, there is a flaw in some of the quarters where there are two variations in the design of the corn stalk on the back of the quarter. One looks to have an extra leaf on the corn stalk that points downward, and another variation in which there appears to be an extra leaf pointing up.

These 'error' quarters are fetching up to $500 each! I checked the only Wisconsin quarter I have so far, and of course it's NORMAL. Damn it!

I used to get all of the quarters when I did the deposit at work. Everyone in the office gave me their 'order' for which quarters they needed. I was considered the "Quarter Pimp" of our office. LOL! Now that we don't have a deposit clerk anymore....we don't have the luxury of just getting whichever quarters we need. I need to check to see which quarters I don't have yet.

So check your quarters! Some of you might have a small windfall in your hands! (I'll accept donations of any windfalls! *G*)

Said by Kim at 7:38 PM

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That Just Wasn't "Me"

Yep, I've changed to another skin....this one in honor of spring, which is rapidly approaching in this part of the US. Blossoms are starting to come out, and buds are starting to pop out on the trees (Yes, Julie....I truly suck. LOL!!). The 'dog' skin just wasn't really 'me.' I like the darker skins, so this one fits me better.

I had a rare peaceful day at the office yesterday....Mr. "Snort" wasn't here, so I thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet. Don't know where he was....the man hardly ever takes a day off, and hardly ever calls in sick.

My skates should be on their way to wherever now....the gal at the rink said she would ship them Monday (yesterday), and it would be about 2 weeks from shipment date before they come back. Which is fine, because we won't be skating again until the last weekend of this month. But I may try them out earlier if they come back before that weekend.

And with that, it's time to get to work.....have a good one!

Said by Kim at 7:29 AM

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Monday, February 07, 2005

Football Is Over....

The New England Patriots are once again the World Champions of the NFL. It seems kind of silly to call Super Bowl Champions "World Champions", since they aren't competing against teams from other countries. But regardless, I caught bits and pieces of the game, and saw the last few minutes, and I was SO glad that the Eagles lost, simply because of T.O. Otherwise, I normally would have rooted for the NFC team, since I'm an NFC gal. But I CAN'T STAND T.O.! So props to the Patriots.

And how about the commercials? For those outside of the US, the commercial ads are the next best thing to the actual game. Advertisers pay BIG bucks to air a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl. For those who didn't see the commericals, you can see them here....then come back and tell me which were your favorites!

My favorites were all of the Career Builder.com ads...the monkeys were just too friggin' funny! Also, the Bud Zoo ad, the Ameriquest ad, the Lays potato chip ad with MC Hammer, and the Bud Light parachute ad were hilarious! And call me crazy, but at the very beginning of the ad for the movie "Sahara", I could swear that they are using the opening guitars from "White Lightning".

So what were your favorite ads?

Said by Kim at 5:41 AM

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Saturday, February 05, 2005

WOOHOO; Blossoms and SPLAT!!

First off....WOOHOO to Steve Young! He was nominated to the Pro Football Hall of Fame today, his first time on the ballot! I'm so happy for Steve, and I'll certainly be watching the ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 7 with 49er pride!



As I headed for my car in the driveway to leave to meet Kathy, Heather, Shawnie and Tara for lunch and skating, I noticed BLOSSOMS starting to make their presence known on one of our trees:



Spring is just around the corner!

Skating went fine....I stayed upright this time! But I can't WAIT to get my skates in a couple of weeks! The rentals I had on today absolutely killed my feet....they are still aching! But we had fun! Kathy and I saw something that made us bust out laughing, and crying from laughing so hard.....we were taking a little break, sitting on one of the carpeted benches toward the back of the rink next to the wall. We were talking, when all of a sudden this little kid - a boy who was maybe 8 years old at the most - came skating by us at a rather high rate of speed and went SPLAT, right into the wall face-first, stood there against the wall for a nanosecond, then just skated off! Kathy and I looked at each other like "WTF?", then we started laughing....turning into laughing so hard we were crying! Shawnie, Kathy's sister-in-law came over, and was looking at us like we were insane...we tried to explain why we were laughing but our words were mixed with laughing, and just about all we could get out was SPLAT. It was one of those "you had to be there" moments, and it was FUNNY AS HELL! I started thinking about it again while taking a hot bath, and I just about lost some drops from laughing all over again....the vision of that kid going right into the wall and just skating off!

So goes my day....a good day all in all!


Said by Kim at 7:03 PM

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Thursday, February 03, 2005

Don't Hate Me Because It's Warm

Now, all of you living in the cold weather areas - don't be hatin'....but this was what my car thermometer was registering for "Outside Temperature" when I started home from work. It was actually at 72 when I started up my car, and clicked over to this 'naughty' number right when I snapped this....and get your minds out of the gutter!



Said by Kim at 7:36 PM

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Emmitt Smith Retires

As much as I hate the Dallas Cowboys, today is a sad day as the NFL says goodbye to one of the greatest running backs ever, Emmitt Smith. Smith has decided to hang up the cleats and shoulder pads, and move on to the next part of his life.

I remember cussing Smith every time he scored against my beloved Niners in those great NFC Championship games, but I acknowledge Smith's accomplishments on the field. Best wishes on the next chapter in your life, Emmitt!

Said by Kim at 3:30 PM

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I Need A Turkey Baster....

......to suck the shit out of the head of the moron who shares my office space. All morning...all day, I have to listen to him root for truffles in his head with that disgusting sound. And he's been coughing all week on top of that. Then, he takes a piece of hard candy, or something....and pops it into his mouth....now I have to listen to him smack his lips as the candy dissolves. Once that's done, I have to listen to him make that sound when people 'clean' their teeth with their tongue? GOD HELP ME!!!

Said by Kim at 1:21 PM

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Friday Is "Wear Red" Day

Friday, Feb. 4th is "National Wear Red Day" to show support for women's heart disease awareness. So please be sure to wear something red this Friday!

Heart disease runs in my family on both sides, so I know that I'll be wearing my red on Friday.

Said by Kim at 8:53 AM

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Wednesday, February 02, 2005

"I Got A Brand New Pair Of Roller Skates...."

Yep, I heard back from the gal at the rink, and I will have to upgrade my plate, but the good thing is that I browsed through the Snyder Skate website, and noticed that they had a "plate exchange program" for those who need to upgrade to a larger plate, or need a different type of plate. I mentioned that to her yesterday, and she said that since I need to upgrade to a size 8 plate, that my old plate can be exchanged for a portion of the price. So altogether, the boot (a Riedell 297 Professional), the plates and mounting costs will come to around $350.00!

So I'm taking my old skates over tomorrow during lunch, because they need to ship them off, and in about 2 weeks, I'll be back in business! NOW I'm excited!

Said by Kim at 3:22 PM

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Quote Of The Day - And Stupid People

"What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core."

Hannah Arendt

Now, onto the "Stupid People" portion of this post. Yesterday, when returning from lunch, there were cop cars blocking a portion of the street that our office is located on. The lanes going south were completely blocked. And this is the reason why....some jackass lost his life over a stupid paintball gun:


Police kill store robbery suspect


Gunman tied up a clerk, stole his truck, Fresno police say.

By Tim Eberly and Louis Galvan / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Wednesday, February 2, 2005, 9:03 AM)

Fresno police shot and killed a 28-year-old Fresno man Tuesday morning moments after he robbed a local paintball supply store, tied up a store clerk with duct tape and stole the employee's pickup, witnesses and police said.

The robber, whose name was not made public Tuesday, was shot shortly after 10:15 a.m. in the parking lot of Blackstone Village, a busy central Fresno strip mall in the 4700 block of North Blackstone Avenue. Wearing a black ski mask and a hooded sweat shirt, the man had just fled Maximum Paintball Supply Inc.

Tipped off by one of the store's owners, who was in a rear office when the business was robbed, two police officers confronted the man in the parking lot and opened fire.
Fatally wounded, the man stole the clerk's pickup and drove it across all six lanes of Blackstone Avenue, as well as the grassy median, before slamming into a small landscaping boulder outside the Waffle Shop about 50 yards away.

After a handful of police officers pulled him from the truck, the man was taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 11 a.m. Kevin Roggenkamp, 20, the paintball store clerk, said he was behind the counter when the robber walked in and pointed a large handgun at his face.

The robber, who was short and spoke in a commanding voice, demanded that Roggenkamp open the cash register.

As Roggenkamp complied, 39-year-old Thom Sharp, who owns the store with his wife, Debbie, saw the gunman on a computer monitor, which is hooked up to 12 cameras inside the store and two in the parking lot.

"The gun was already up and pointed at Kevin," Sharp said. "I don't think he was halfway across the room when I had 911 on the phone."

For the next five minutes, Sharp kept police dispatchers abreast of everything happening as the robber plundered the store.

"Just explaining how it happened as I was witnessing it," he said.
Sharp said the robber did not appear rushed.
"He never saw me make the phone call, so he probably thought he had all the time in the world," he said.

The robber ordered Roggenkamp onto the floor and duct-taped his hands behind his back but did not tie his feet. He took everything out of the clerk's pockets, including his wallet and keys.

After taking about $150 from the register, the robber asked Roggenkamp where the most expensive paintball guns were. Roggenkamp pointed him toward where the guns valued at about $1,000 each were stocked.

The suspect strung the weapons through their trigger guards along a rope with a knot tied at one end. Roggenkamp estimated the man took between 10 and 15 guns.
At one point, the man was searching through a room next to Sharp's office. Several minutes into the robbery, Sharp locked his door.

Before the robber left, he demanded to know where Roggenkamp's truck was. The clerk told him what it looked like and where it was parked.

Then Roggenkamp felt what might have been the handgun on the back of his head. The robber made a final threat.

"He said, 'If that's not your truck, I'm going to come back and kill you,'" Roggenkamp said.

What happened in the parking lot is unclear. Roggenkamp looked outside briefly to make sure the man was not coming back, but he did not see the fatal confrontation.
Sgt. Gregg Sanders, the Police Department's spokesman, said a traffic officer was the first to arrive, followed moments later by a patrol officer.

The officers confronted the man somewhere in the lot and fired at him. Later in the day, numerous bullet fragments and shell casings still were scattered on the pavement.

Sgt. Len Gleim would not say whether the robber threatened the officers or returned fire.

Daniel Mucino, 33, a manager at the Me-N-Ed's Pizza parlor two doors down from the paintball shop, was in the kitchen making salads when he heard three to four gunshots.

He looked outside the restaurant's front windows and saw the white pickup leaving the lot. He could not see the driver clearly. Two police officers were running after the car. One was carrying a shotgun; the other had a handgun.

The truck went across the southbound lanes of Blackstone, jumped the center divider and appeared to be going the wrong way in the northbound lanes. The robber narrowly missed an approaching black-and-white patrol car before crashing into a rock.
Several other officers arrived about the time the car wrecked. Mucino said four or five officers with their guns drawn surrounded the car.

Soon after, they pulled the suspect from the car. They also found a loaded handgun.
Gleim did not know whether the man was conscious, but officers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him before he was taken to the hospital.

The pickup had what appeared to be gunshot damage, including a large hole through the driver's side window and a smaller hole near the outside rear-view mirror, also on the driver's side.

Police shut down Blackstone Avenue between Shaw and Gettysburg avenues until about 5 p.m. The road closure forced dozens of businesses in the area to close.

Debbie Sharp, co-owner of the paintball shop, said it was not the first time the business has been victimized. Since it opened seven years ago, the paintball shop has been broken into about twice a year.

"But this is our first robbery, though," Sharp said, noting there were no employees inside during the break-ins.

Despite Tuesday's violence, Sharp said they won't close the store.
"It will not affect us at all," she said. "I won't let it. You can't let these people affect you."

The incident was the second fatal officer-involved shooting in Fresno County in three days.

On Saturday, Sanger police shot and killed a 24-year-old Del Rey man when he tried to drive off in a stolen car with the carjacking victim underneath it.


Dumbass....further proving the point that Fresno has some of the dumbest people... no wonder we get such a bad rap!

Said by Kim at 7:30 AM

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Tuesday, February 01, 2005

You "Think" I Can???

What happened to the days of KNOWLEDGABLE customer service??? I called the skating rink, to see if the girl I spoke to on Saturday (who had the title of "Rink Manager" on her name tag) had heard back from whoever she was going to call about mounting my plates onto my new boots. She said she was still waiting to hear back from the sales rep. Ok...fine. I asked her if they wouldn't fit, that I would just go ahead and get new plates, and could I order them through her....her response? "I 'think' you can." You THINK I can??? WTF kind of answer is that? If she's the 'rink manager', she should know what she can, and can't order, right? You've never sold a pair of skates before???

People....if you're going to take a job with the title of MANAGER, do us all a favor and LEARN your job. Don't give us this half-assed answer, "I think". I remember a time when this rink had someone on-site to do repairs, sales, adjustments, etc. I had a feeling I should have dealt with the other rink in town...the one where they do have a club for competitive skaters. Hell, I've been out of skating for over 22 years, and I could do a better job than this girl!

Said by Kim at 11:21 AM

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Taxes Are Filed

I filed my tax return last night by way of Tele-File, and I'm getting a small refund. $350.00. Which is good, because it will pay for my skate plates if need be. But I don't understand how some single people get these HUGE refunds. And how people try to cheat the system...it amazes me. I know of one person who changes her dependents more than she changes her underwear. She'll claim 10 dependents for awhile, then change down to zero, then back up to 5. And as far as I know, SHE'S NEVER BEEN CAUGHT. Am I just stupid, or is this some sort of common practice that people do to get a larger refund at the end of the year?

I'm just thankful for my paltry refund, and not having to pay! So HELLO NEW SKATE PLATES!

Speaking of which....I'd better hear back from the gal at the rink today. She's supposed to call the boot manufacturer to see if I can use my old plates. If not, I'll get a larger sized plate. I'm so excited! I know you all will be SO SICK of hearing me talk about skating before long. But this was such a huge, important part of my life for so many years. I still love the sport, and who knows...one day I may start practicing again, and enter some competitions? We'll see. Right now, I just need to get my skating muscles back!

And I guess I keep this template for the time being....but I'm keeping an eye out for something more 'me' in the meantime. Sure, dogs touch my heart...Lord knows they should with as many as we have! But I want a template that just says 'me'. This isn't quite it. But it's feasible for now. But I swear....can we say ENOUGH with the animime templates?? JEEZ LOUISE! I detest animime!

Talk at ya later..............

Said by Kim at 7:38 AM

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