The big ~{{CRUNCH}}~

This evening, while out for a drive with a friend, I stopped at a mailbox just down the street from where I live. Being that the street where the mailbox is located at is somewhat of a busy thoroughfare, I decided to pull up onto the parking lot where the box sits just off the sidewalk but in front of the parking lot. The parking lot is like a mini-plaza with a grocery store, discount cigarette shop, law office, and a pizza joint.

I got out of my truck and put the piece of mail in the box and then returned to my truck. As I'm talking with my friend, He interupts me with a loud scream of words and frankly, I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was trying to say. He was hysterical!. Finally, I made out the last 4 words and they were: "He's gonna hit you!!!!!!"

Well, by the time I was starting to react and put my truck in gear to pull forward and out of the way of the person backing up, it was too late. I only had time to put my truck in drive and all of a sudden.....**CRUNCH**!!! Accident...... The impact from the other vehicle made both he and I lunge forward. I turned my head looking through the window behind the passenger side and noticed a young man in a Ford Explorer pulling back into the parking space he'd just backed out of. He immediately got out of his vehicle and so did we. We walked around to the back of the truck to see the damage and it wasn't pretty. Of course, I left my cell phone at home...*DUH* but honestly, I didn't really feel like calling the police because then we'd of been there for an hour or two what with all that paperwork and such.

Apparently, the young man worked at the pizza joint and was on his way to deliver some pizzas. You know how those pizza delivery guys drive, right? The poor kid seemed very nervous. It was probably his first time hitting someone. After I looked at my vehicle, I talked it over with the young man and we decided that I'd take down all of his insurance information and his name and information on his vehicle. I told him that come Monday, I'd bring my truck to a body shop to get an estimate of the damage. He gave me his cellphone number as well as his home phone number. Honestly, I really felt sorry for the kid. He seemed genuinely sorry. I told him that he could also choose a place for me to go to for an estimate and then that way, we could come up with the best deal.

I'm such a softy. I started to tell him to just forget it but then I thought to myself, "How will this young kid ever learn responsiblity if I let him off the hook?" I'm sure he isn't making much money at the pizza parlor but at least he's working. Perhaps this accident will make him pay closer attention when he's driving on the road or backing up out of a parking space. ( I hope)

Anyway, on the upside, today was a beautiful day weatherwise here in St. Louis. Sunny skies and 85 degrees. It was extremely windy but it sure was nice to see those blue skies and feel that warm temperature. I guess I'll be draggin' out the ole' lawnmower soon. Or better yet, maybe I should put an ad in the newspaper:' Hot Hunk wearing ripped jeans and NO shirt needed for yard work duties. All applicants must be at least 25 years of age and available anytime....' Everybody's gotta have a fantasy. LOL Happy Spring all!

*Just a Reminder*

Tomorrow is the 1st day of April also known as April Fools Day. (all fools' Day) It's also the day I have to remember to set all of my clocks forward.(and I have man-ee, many, so very many) Otherwise, I'll be the fool who's running an hour late to work. I've got my batteries so I'm ready!

Nothing to do? Try Googling you. It's fun, it's weird, it's something to do when you're bored.....

Recently I came across a post from someone on Yahoo 360, and their blog was being featured. They googled their name and the results were quite funny. So, you know, I've just gotta try it for myself. Oddly enough, I've never done this before. It seems that all you have to do is type your name and the word " is " after it and let her rip. So, here goes........

MaryAnne is....

1. Mary Anne is here for fun,fact and fiction
2. Mary Anne is a voice sounding the warning
3. Maryanne is co-founder and Vice President of Stybel Peabody.
4. Maryanne is also on the Board of Directors of the New England Chapter of the National ...(National what?, I don't know. I didn't read any further)
5. As VP of Operations, Maryanne is in charge of all office procedures.
6. Maryanne is credited with coining the word “bloggersation” as a descriptor to the ...(bloggersation???)
7. Maryanne is the Graduate and Honours Co-ordinator for Women's Studies and currently coordinates: ...(women's studies, of course)
8. Maryanne is a member of the Academic Board of the Diploma in Community ...
9. Maryanne is also researching the concerns of refugee children from a child focus. ...
10. MaryAnne is responsible for a wide varietyof duties, ...
11. MaryAnne is being recognized for her nearly 27 years of unsurpassed ...(perhaps I should read up on this one...)
12. Maryanne is the friendly initial contact for ENZ as both Receptionist and ...
13. As well as Reception and Telephonist duties, Maryanne is webmaster for the ...(yea right, a webmaster. lol)
14. Maryanne is admitted to practice in the state courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, ...
15. Maryanne is a member of the firm's Associates Committee. ...
16. Maryanne is just a peach on her own. ( I like that one although I did change it just a wee bit. hehehe)
17. Mary Anne earned a reputation for superior performance. ( okay, maybe I left a little bit out on this one too. But, it sure does sound good!)
18. Maryanne is to be promoted and hence the man she wishes were dead is removed, is introduced after Jennifer has planned to kill him, ...(calm down, it's some tv show from 1994 folks.)
19. Mary Anne is going to have her revenge! ... It really is Sweet Revenge. Read it and find out. The Real New MaryAnne ...(something from Amazon.com)
20. 
    The Mary Anne is just a blip in the distance now, a bump on the glassy skin of the sea, about to slide over the horizon. She no doubt carries wistful ...(great, I'm a trolling boat now.)
21. Victory is declared if MARYANNE is voted in as Most Popular Student. ... The PCs job is to make sure that MARYANNE wins the election. Supporting Cast ...(YIPPEE!! I'm a shoe in!)
22. Maryanne is currently involved in IIED’s project on Instruments for Sustainable Private Sector Forestry. (whoa!)
23. 
    Maryanne is reading to us to take our minds off Wallace. (that's right, don't even think about Wallace, ever...)
24. MaryAnne is right. (OOOOHHH, nice to hear that for once!)
25. Maryanne is the best. (I think I'll stop here. Can't get any better than being best.) LOL

Gee, with all of this being said,

I'm a pretty busy girl, huh?

By the way, this is only 25 results of about 1,630,000. There's no way I'm gonna do that much searching. Anyway, if you've never done this before, try it out.

Random Think tank:

If you were me

And I were you

And we were we

Then who does who?

DON'T CHA JUST HATE IT??!! ~ RANDOM RANTS....

Have you ever been over a friends' house to visit and watch a little television? Sure you have, nothing wrong with that. A show or movie is agreed upon and being viewed but, don't cha just hate it when your friend decides to either pause it or changes the channel to see what's happening on another show while you're right in the middle of watching it? I mean come on. You're all into the movie by now, sitting all comfy-like enjoying the moment, perhaps in suspense and waiting for the next scene and all of sudden, without warning, it's like....CLICK!!! WHY DO THEY DO THAT??!! DAYUM! I suppose if you're pretty close friends, (like family almost) they don't even give it a second thought that it borderlines being rude to their guest. What do you think? Maybe....probably, right? Or does this action even bother you at all? I guess it is their house, and their television, and their remote control, right? BUT YOU'RE THE GUEST!! (if that matters at all) Then again, this may be one of those "gray areas" among some friends. Who knows......

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How about conducting business over the phone? Everyone has to do this at some point or another, right? When you're speaking to someone on the telephone, possibly a professional of some sort, you try to be as clear, concise, and intelligible as possible. Regardless of whom it may be on the phone you're speaking with, (ie: doctor, lawyer, banker, creditor--made my eyes roll with that one) you want to conduct yourself with the utmost astuteness. It's necessary, I feel, in order to make things happen in a "positive light" or to be well recieved and therefore gain access to whatever it is you're seeking concerning your particular business affair. But, don't cha just hate it when the individual on the line with you isn't all that professional?....or even worse, if they seem to be (what I often refer to as) DRUNK WITH POWER?! --meaning arrogant and sharp tongued and also quick to cut you off, and asking repeated questions over and over as if they're not listening to what you're saying at all...

WELL EXCUUUUSSSSEEE MEEEE!!!!!

When you're discussing an important issue, business venture, bill payment, or discrepency of some sort, or even if you're just calling to find out some pertinent information of some kind, (just a simple question maybe) you want the person you're dealing with on the phone to be attentive and lucid. At least, I know I do......

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I'm always happy to hear of a person's good fortune. Honestly, I really am. People deserve to have a little good luck in their lives. Heck, if I had it my way, there wouldn't be any bad luck at all....ever. Ok, maybe that's a little illogical. I realize that without misfortune, we'd never appreciate the good things we have. silly me....But don't cha just hate it when some people make it their main objective or "life plan" to talk about how great their life is--ALL THE TIME!! It seems there's never a dull moment in their lives and they're always on top of every situation. *BIG YAWN HERE* They never have any bad luck and they have sooooo much money or are getting ready to come into a wealth of "ultimate savings" of some kind. They've traveled the world, TWICE and all of their children are millionaires with chateaus in France or homes worth much more than the going market value in their neighborhood. Typically, these people always have it better than most--so they say.....Well I say, ENOUGH ALREADY!! Stop bragging and living in a dream. Can you hear me way up there on that golden pedestal??? I mean, it's fine to dream and dream big but, what is the satisfaction gained with snubbing others and making those around you feel so small or even worthless? Wrong or right here?? Geez.....

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How many of you have ever dabbled in home repair? I know I've had my fair share and frankly, it can be quite annoying. In the beginning it's not so bad because you have a plan and your mind is focused on the end result of your work. You've assessed the situation, or so you think and you're ready to begin. But.....don't cha just hate it when you get half-way involved in the project only to find that it leads to yet.....another project and there's no way around it because if you don't fix the problem you've just found out about, you'll never be able to fix the original problem. I hate it when this happens because now the repair that you've started on has taken on a "tree-like" form with many branches and it keeps on growing as the hours pass by. Before you know it, days go by and now you're in need of a multitude of repairs. Some that definitely need a professional and some that you can attempt to fix but really haven't the foggiest clue about so you now wish that you'd never even started this so-called project in the first place. GRRRRRRRR..........

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And then of course, if you get to the point above, you may as well start making those calls to shop around for an affordable professional to fix your "Project Tree" that has grown ever so nicely now--know what I mean?.....Of course you do. Now, after you find a reputable business with affordable rates, the work is finally done. Your bill is calculated and it's time for you to make your payment. Only one problem though.....Don't cha just hate it when you're billed for services rendered but the work that's been done is not to your specifications or is unsatisfactory? I mean WTF???? If you pay to have some work done because you can't do it yourself, you should at least be able to get it done right. Sounds fair to me--after all....They're supposed to be professionals, right???

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Do I sound a bit bitchy to you?

I'm sure I do.

Is it that time of the month?

Hell no, thank God!!

Am I a bit stressed out?

Yes, just a tad......

Will I be okay?

Sure, I just need some rest.

Sometimes you've just gotta vent, ya know? I'm starting to feel better already and I'm sure that after I get a full nights sleep, I'll feel less tense by tomorrow morning. I hate being crabby but we all have our days and mine is today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, if not, I PITY THE POOR SOULS IN MY PRESENCE!! AAARGH......just kidding.....

Random Quote:

"Mary Mary quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells & cockel shells

And one F**KING PETUNIA!" ~ *DOH*

Hello, my name is........and i'm addicted to the internet

So I was sitting in front of the pc, relaxing last saturday evening, from a hard days work doing my "usual" thing: surfing the blogesphere, of course. I know what you're thinking...Ewww, Ms. Boring, sitting home alone on a Saturday night. Well, lemme tell ya, the weekend is just the same as the weekday to me. I worked all day and by the time i get home, do my little household chores, fix dinner, get a shower and change clothes, i'm lucky to even stay awake. Besides...at my age, the phrase "It's the weekend Baaaby!" is overrated. I like "Quiet time." Reading, listening to some smooth jazz, chatting with a friend or two, sippin' on a glass of wine or soda...Ahhh, yea easy does it, the slow pace. Coastin'....

So, anyway, as i'm going through the blogesphere, i begin reading a post from

Anonymous Midwest Girl

It was a post she'd done on March 15th concerning downtime meaning time without the internet. Apparently, while she was at work, the system went down leaving her with nothing to do. It was an extremely funny and true to life post especially for me. I didn't realize it at the time i was reading her post, that is until...it happened to me.

On this particular evening, i didn't stay up too late. I finished reading a few blogs and went to bed. When i woke up the next morning, i came over to the pc to start my morning music and get ready for work and the nightmare began. I had no internet. It seems that my 2wire portal monitor wasn't connecting. I'm supposed to have 3 green lights on at all times when connected but instead, it was only showing the top and bottom as green and the middle light was orange.(that's the broadband link) Okay first, i freaked out. Second, i said to myself..."Damn, i knew i shouldn've done something when i noticed that middle light flashing orange occasionally six months ago." But NOOOOOOOOOOOO, that's me....Ms. Procrastination.

I really didn't have time to get into trying to figure out how to fix the problem since i had to get ready for work so i just said the heck with it and went into the livingroom and turned on some music via my home theater system ~aka ~ The Monster Sound Machine. Whatever works, 'cause i gotta have my music in the morning. When i got home from work, i peeked into the computer room hoping that the orange light would miraculously be green and that it was just a temporary power outage problem or something, but no go. It was just wishful thinking on my part. That only left one choice...I had to fix it. UGHHH... Of course, I'm panicking at this point because i have no idea what to do. I try going to the home portal page and it all looks Greek to me so before i do something i'm sure i'll regret, i make that wonderful phone call. Yea, you guessed it, Tech Support. My best friends, my rescuers, my mentors, my neighbors from India. Yep, India...Whew!!

Actually, it wasn't all that bad this time. I called the phone company and went through the automated system...pressing the buttons(you know, but anyway)after a few menus, i was finally connected with a human voice, and her name was Edna. She was very polite and extremely helpful. She had me back online inside of 15 minutes! She even emailed me twice with 2 sets of instructions on how to fix this issue should it ever happen again--which by the way, i need to print out because if i don't and this happens again, i won't be able to retrieve the information to fix it. See, i'm procrastinating once again...No, after this post, it's next on my list.

All i can say is that i now know that i am completely addicted to the internet. I have no idea how i went so long in my life without it. I guess if you don't know how helpful it is or can be, you don't know what you're missing out on. And boy, was i ever crabby without it. It's kinda like coffee. hee hee

An Irish Blessing

These 3 little teddybears sit atop this desk all year round with a wall -hang backdrop that just happens to be in the spirit of the holiday. Also, if you look closely you'll notice 2 masks. (1 black & 1 white)--still not too good at using photoshop as yet....

This is a fuller view. To the right is the bathroom(forgot to close the door) lol

Here's a view for you to see what is on the wall hanging. I feel it an appropriate piece to leave up always. HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Have a great weekend everyone!

On the Eve 'o' St. Pats

Tonight is the eve' before St. Patricks Day, hence the green colored font. Today is also a day i remember in a cheerful yet sad way as well. On this day, my father who is deceased now, was born in 1933. He would have been 73 yrs. old today. The real oddity of this day however; is that not only was it the day of my father's birth but, it was also the day in which we laid him to rest in 1992. I can still vividly remember the entire day as if it were, well....today. Everything from the days prior as family members and many, many endearing friends and associates came to pay respect and say their goodbyes at the wake, to the beautifully arranged funeral service and wonderful people who had so many fond memories to share, to the cemetary where he was saluted with full military honors. My father was quite an amazing human being--such a good man. I still miss him terribly to this day. He passed away on the 10th so he was 58 yrs. old. Just 6 days shy of his 59th birthday. ~RIP DADDY~ *SIGH*



On the fact that St. Patricks day is on a Friday during Lent.....Okay, call me a bad Catholic if you want but i really find this funny. We can eat meat tomorrow! Go ahead, it's been okayed!! Yipee!! Not that i was ever following any kind of strict rule or guideline in the first place. The way i see it is that if you can't follow the religion by going to church, reading an occasional chapter out of the bible once in a while, or keeping up on the activities of the church, (ie. sacred holidays and the like) why even worry about trying to attempt to follow through with the traditional fasting or refraining from eating certain foods on specified days? That reminds me of something a friend told me at the start of the Lenten season. He said that he was going to give up something for Lent so of course, inquisitive as i am, i asked him what he intended on giving up. His answer.......VINEGAR. I had no comment, of course. I didn't know and i didn't want to know..... -Bet that got me some evil stares and mumbling whispers didn't it? But as i was saying, that's what i feel. I do acknowledge the fact that i am of Catholic faith and i really would like to get back into going to church again but i just haven't been able to get it[my schedule & priorities] together. With the way it's been laying so heavily on my mind lately, i have a feeling that things may be changing in the near future. I know i'm in need of prayer-that's for sure.

I'm sure that many of you have started your St. Pats day festivities early. Have a good time and please, be careful. There's alot going on in my neighborhood too. A parade in what is referred to as, "Dogtown" and other happenings will have people mingling about--or stumbling for that matter. LOL Anyway, have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day all!

" Erin Go Bragh! "

Beautiful Quotes

I was passing by a church near my house a few weeks ago and i noticed this quote on a sign posted in front of the church.....

" FRIENDS ARE

GOD'S WAY

OF TAKING

CARE OF US. "

I believe that is a very true statement. When i read it for the first time, i got goosebumps. I liked it so much that i attempted to take a picture of it. Unfortunately my digital camera was at home and when i tried using my camera phone i couldn't get a good focus and being that it was early dawn, the light from the sign was the only thing that would show up. Lucky for me, i memorized it. Here are a few more quotes i like. I hope you enjoy them as well.

" NOTHING IS BETTER

THAN

A LOYAL FRIEND. "

-EURIPIDES

" BLESSED ARE THE MEEK;

FOR THEY SHALL

INHERIT THE EARTH. "

-MATTHEW 5:5

"WHERE WORDS FAIL,

MUSIC SPEAKS. "

-HANS CHRISTIAN

ANDERSEN

" MANY OF LIFE'S FAILURES ARE PEOPLE

WHO DID NOT REALIZE HOW CLOSE

THEY WERE TO SUCCESS WHEN THEY

GAVE UP. "

-THOMAS EDISON

Hell Night ~ or ~ Another lesson learned......

There i was. Sitting in front of the pc lastnight disgusted. For about a month now, my computer has been really lagging. Everything i do on it seems to take forever. Me being Miss Fearful as usual, figured i'd just wait it out and things would maybe get back to normal but NOOOOOOO...... i finally had to get up the nerve to figure out what to do about it. I'd spoken to a few friends in the past about pc slowdowns and of course with them being "Ultimate PC Saavy Geek-a-trons", they seemed to have many, (oh so many) different answers and reasons to ease my troubled pc woes. I was so grateful that i had some friends who were willing to help me. There was only one itty bitty problem..... and it was the same in every case. From the moment they'd open their mouths to utter those wonderfully helpful words of information, it seemed like they were either in a race against time to say as many words as humanly possible inside of ONE MINUTE!! --OR--they were having (as grossly disgusting as it sounds) diarrhea of the mouth! Even the tone in their voices seemed mechanical or without pitch, almost monotone....and of course i just stood in front of them in a daydream state understanding absolutely nothing that was exiting their mouths and traveling into my ear canals. Although, i don't want to sound ungrateful--YEA, ANYWAY.....

So back to lastnight. I'm getting madder by the minute. The first thing i did was go into the kitchen and pour a glass of chilled wine. MMMMMMM-that'll calm my nerves. LOL Next, I took a look at the clock and the time was 9pm. *SIGH* Knowing that i have to get up at the crack of dawn, i proceed to roll up my sleeves and get ready for some elbow-grease cleaning. I'm now determined to get my pc back on track and running like it should be. I was afraid i had a trojan, worm, or some other type of virus so i decided to run a virus scan....AGAIN. I knew what the outcome was going to be since i do this everyweek anyway. While it was running, i keyed in a question like this: " Will a trojan slow down my pc?" After a few long seconds of waiting, i was finally directed to a page of sites and chose the first one 'cause it seemed to be what i was looking for. (TECHCORNER.CA) It showed 5 ways to optimize your pc. As i skimmed the first 2 sections since i'd already done these things, i found the third, fourth and fifth items interesting. I had never removed any programs on my pc because i was afraid i'd screw something up and possibly need them one day. I've realized that if i haven't used these programs in 3 years, i probably don't need them and i can always download them at a later date if need be. So, after completing tip # 3, i moved on to the fourth tip. It was about running scan disk on your hard drive. I'd never done this before. After carefully reading the instructions and following them i had to restart the computer for scan disk to run and check the C: drive for errors. Immediately after doing this, I moved on to the fifth tip which was to run a defrag on your hard drive. I normally do this at least once a month but i realized that i'd never defragged my external hard drive. I'm not sure if running the defrag on my external drive would have any bearing on my pc running faster but i figured i may as well go for the gusto!

......Two and a half hours later, yea the time was now 11:30pm and that darn external hard drive was taking forever! So, i went to bed. This morning when i got up at 4:15am, (running late) i took a look at the pc and the defraggin' was finally done. I decided to give it a whirl just to see if i'd done anything worthwhile for all the time and effort i'd put into trying to do things i really haven't a clue about and VOILA! --It worked!! I'm proud to say that my computer is running extremely well. It's almost as fast as it was when i first got it. I'm a happy camper now. It doesn't take much to make me happy-- Geek that i am....LOL

FTR: I may be moving like a heard of turtles
in this techno-saavy world, but i'm gonna
cross the finishline--if there is one....

Okay, so maybe there isn't an actual finishline,
just different terrains. Oh, nevermind......Toodles all, PEACE!

Remember that Poem?

I decided to put the poem on some stationary. The only problem is, I couldn't figure out how to connect the 2 pages together. LOL Anyway, there it is....

Forgive me, I'm sleepy.....

Just what we need....a monkey geek. Only validates the phrase: "A monkey can do your job."




If i could drive off in this sportscar, i wouldn't need a job.