Bluejackets Game

St. Patty's Day!

Hottie Shopper @ Banana

Test Post - Living room

I can upload pics from my camera phone to Blogger while on the Go. This could be fun.

Oh No She Dit'nt

So today I was at Barnes & Noble Cafe on Polaris Parkway...I had ordered a chicken panini and sat down at a table to wait. I wait for a few minutes and then walk back to the counter, and see someone walk away with a sandwich that I believe to be mine, but I'm not sure so I don't say anything. I ask the girl if my sandwich was still on the grill, and she said no. She had put it on the counter, but someone must have taken it. "No worries," she said. "I'll put another one on the grill for you."

So I go back to my table and watch the couple paw all over the sandwich before determining it wasn't theirs. They return it to the counter and I round the corner just in time to see the cafe girl with the sandwich...which she tries to hand to me while saying, "Here you go! They picked up the wrong sandwich."

I was incredulous. Are you fucking kidding me? She is going to give me a sandwich that they've just pawed all over?

I politely asked for a fresh sandwich, since the smarmy couple had it at their table for a solid five minutes, breathing on it and touching it.

The fat bitch copped an ATTITUDE! She rolled her eyes and walked away without a word. I watched her make me a new sandwich, and drop it on the counter quite angrily...again without saying a word.

So I had to talk to her manager...and the health department.

Weekend Update

Sunday night at 9 o'clock. The week turned out to be pretty good. Of course the highlight of my week was getting my NIC Advanced interpreter certification. Even though I was already certified, I still feel a sense of accomplishment.

Saturday Dale and i went to the Pet Expo & RV Show. Both were mildly disappointing. We did get a good deal on a new retractable leash for Brody. And we got him some ridiculously expensive treats that resemble human food.

Saturday night we met Leslie, Liz and Maryam at Bonefish. I had two six martinis and a really good dinner. Today we went to Target, Pet's Mart, and Bed Bath and Beyond. I got a new comforter set. Looking forward to putting that on the bed tonight. And that was about it

Tomorrow it's back to the grind...which is even more of a drag. They upped the censorware program so that we can't really get to any of the good stuff on the internet. Apparently every site I enjoy is porn.

NIC Results...FINALLY!

Well...I finally got my National Interpreter Certification results. RID faxed them to me today.

:::drum roll please:::

I passed at the NIC Advanced level, which means I scored well on the interview and excellent on the performance portion.

I'm satisfied.

Toronto & Anniversary

Well Toronto was fun...great city. The more time I spent in Canada, the less I wanted to come home. I even asked Dale if we could move there--he said no.

Here are a few pics:


This was NOT indicative of the purpose of my trip.


A business district from the view of the CN Tower.


The CN Tower...I went all the way up to the top!


We ate at Gretzky's Restaurant (of Wayne Gretzky fame).


Gretzky's Restaurant

Today is also my one-year anniversary with Dale. This is a record for me, and I can't imagine being any happier than I am with him. We had a nice dinner last night at Barcelona and spent today with friends at Gameworks having a couple beers and playing games. It was a fantastic weekend.

Toronto

Hey ya'll!

I'm blogging from Toronto, ON. The trip wasn't bad. Only missed one connecting flight, and US Airways didn't lose my luggage for once. Toronto is a BEAUTIFUL city. I've never been to NYC, but the area of downtown I visited last night reminded me of it. There were gigantic electric billboard with brilliant screens, an ecclectic array of shops, restaurants and boutiques.

If you don't have a GPS Navigation unit, I strongly suggest one. In the last year, I've traveled to Portland, Maine, and now Toronto for work. While in Portland, I used the VZ Navigator on my Verizon phone. It was so NICE to not worry about getting lost. I had the navigation with me the whole time and found restaurants, stores and my hotel all very easily. Now in Toronto, I brought my TomTom One with me from home. It came preloaded with maps of the US & Canada, and has done very well getting me around up here. Without navigation, I'd be sitting alone in my hotel room watching TV and eating bed mints. With a navigation system, I'm able to get out and see the sites and enjoy the city without fear of getting lost.

I'll post pics next weekend when I get home.

Not Happy

Sigh. So I've been waiting for my National Interpreter Certification (NIC) Interview & Performance test results. Candidates are supposed to receive their results withing 90 days of their test date. It's all over RID's website, as well as testing materials sent to the candidate when they register for the test. Today is day 87, and RID had said they would fax my results to my work. So I called today to get an update because at day 87, if I'm to receive my results by mail within 90 days, my results SHOULD be at the national office.

Well they're not. And I was told by a staff member that my results weren't due to be in until the second week of March. Excuse me? How is this possible? I received an email from them a couple weeks ago stating that I should receive my results within 90 days. Now I'm at mid-March? That makes no sense.

So I'm not happy...there are supposed to be more raters for this test than any other in the history of RID. What gives?

Update:

After emailing the executive director, I received a response stating that my results were, in fact, due to be available the second week of March. The email stated that there were a number of things that could lead to late results such as UPS being late, raters not returning a candidate's score within the allowed time frame, etc. And I also was not-so-subtly chided about how members calling the national office interrupts the process of rating tapes in ALL stages of the process (so my results being late are my fault?). Well I took my test over 12 weeks ago. My Local Test Administrator (LTA) sent my tapes back to RID immediately after my test. So one of or a combination of two things happened: RID was late in sending out my tape (a possibility because it happened to another interpreter) and/or a rater has kept my test tape for MONTHS.

Either way it doesn't add up. And I don't have anything to do but wait.

RIP Anna

The Mustard Party

Last night Dale and I hosted a Mustard Party. We had an assorted variety of mustard sauces for dipping mini corn dogs and gourmet pretzels. We also had salad with a champagne-mustard vinaigrette, and the main course was pork loin medallions with a mustard glaze accompanied by mashed potatoes infused with whole mustard seeds. It was all very tasty. This party was kind of the result of a joke, but we pulled it off and I think everyone had a lot of fun.

Weekend Update

This weekend was pretty busy. Friday night Dale and I met Leslie at Carrabbas for dinner. Saturday was an interpreting workshop that Local Chapter 4 of the Ohio Chapter of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (OCRID) hosted. It was the first workshop we've hosted since I became the Director of LC4. It was a huge success! Anthony Nelson presented on Interpreting Music and did a FANTASTIC job!

Today I worked my full-time job, and finished up training for some new interpreters. I also got to open my birthday presents (my birthday is tomorrow). Dale got me two dozen roses, a birthday cake, and an iHome clock-radio alarm clock that my iPod will plug into. It's pretty cool.





The rest of my day could be summed up with one pic...

New Post...Finally!

Well...since I'm expecting my NIC results any day, I was going to wait and just post my results. But the wait time is longer than I expected, so I'll take the easy way out and do a photo post.

It finally snowed here in Columbus, and it was Brody's first snow. He LOVES it.


Brody on my Bed


At Christmas, Dale got a card from Brody.


Dale and I went to the Detroit Auto Show. Here are a couple pics of some concept cars.

The For Airstream


The Ford Interceptor

Update

Well...not much has been happening in my neck of the woods. The holidays are over. Dale and I are getting up at 5 AM and hitting the gym in the morning, as well as eating better. Apple released the iPhone yesterday, ending years of speculation about if, when and how Apple would enter the mobile phone market. It looks brilliant, but it's expensive and I'm on Verizon so I'll probably keep my BlackBerry and iPod.

This is the 8th week since I took the NIC test, so I'm running to the mailbox daily eagerly anticipating my results. Keep your fingers crossed.

Other than that, life is kind of the same.

iPorn

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas. I'm at work. Sounds like a drag, but it's not. Call volume should be light. I'm only working until 3. Dale is at his parents' house. He and I drove home to my mom's on Thursday, had Christmas with my family on Friday, and drove home Saturday. We didn't get to spend much time with anyone, but we're planning a longer visit in the spring.

Dale and I exchanged presents yesterday morning. I got him a tripod for his camera, fancy new cookware that he wanted (I don't know much about cooking), and a new photo printer that prints amazing photos. He just got his digital camera a month ago, and loves to carry around pictures of our dog Brody. It'll also be good to print out pictures for his brother and send them to him in Iraq. I also got us (though really it was for him) a Sony PSP. He's thoroughly addicted to The Sims 2.

I got some really cool gifts. My sister gave me a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble, a vulgar little book that poses such questions as "Would you rather have sex with the top half of Pamela Anderson or the bottom half of Justin Timberlake?", and the DVD edition of "The Price is Right" with little post-it notes (Thank you, Romy and Michele) that say "'Pin da Wheel." Apparently, as a toddler, whenever I would hear the announcer say, "Come on down!" I would wobble into the living room as quickly as I could in my diaper and glue my eyes to the TV yelling, "'Pin da wheel!"

Dale is a really good gift buyer. I got Family Guy on DVD seasons 1-4 witha T-shirt and action figures, cookies, candy, T-shirts, The Devil Wears Prada on DVD, and a Slingbox A/V. I think there was more.

Well I guess that'll do it for now...I'm off for a week beginning tomorrow. Looking forward to a little R&R. :-)

BOO to Janice Crouse

Mary Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, and her partner are expecting a baby. Congratulations to Mary and her partner Heather Poe.

But someone needs to bitch slap Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America, who described the pregnancy as "unconscionable."

"It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father," said Crouse, a senior fellow at the group's think tank. "They are encouraging people who don't have the advantages they have."

What I think is unconscionable is that Janice Crouse thinks that it's any of her business what gay people do or don't do. Who fucking asked you, Janice? I am so fucking tired of religion being legislated in a country that likes to call itself free. We are NOT free. We have so many restrictions imposed on us that are based on Christian values. News Flash: Not everyone is Christian. If being gay is a sin for Christians, then I think they should be straight. Every damned one of them. They can meet in their churches and congratulate each other on their noisy, ill-behaved children and heterosexuality. But for those of us who don't subscribe to their value system, we should be free to be who we are.

I'm tired of this. It's never ending.

Christmas Tree

Our Christmas Tree.

Oops

Sometimes I forget I HAVE a blog. :-( Sorry.

I went home to Potosi, MO for the holidays. I left Thursday, stopped by my dad's Thursday night, spent the night with my sister Karen, brother-in-law Dave, and nephews (Brock and Chase) at my sister's dad's house (which ironically enough is just down the hill from MY dad's house). Friday Karen and I went to mom's early to help with our dinner (really lunch). My brother Roger and his wife Melissa and kids (Amanda and Ryan), Dave and the boys came out a little later. After a very fine dinner, I drove my mom over to visit my Uncle Thomas in the hospital. He probably doesn't have a lot of time left, but he was in good spirits and has his sense of humor about him.

Saturday I drove home, and today spent the day relaxing with Dale and Brody. Tomorrow is back to work (yuck).

That's it...nothing very exciting to post.