JACK, TEDDY & US

So Much to Tell.

The end of June is finally here, which has me thinking about all of the things I've wanted to tell you all lately. I have lots of pictures, etc. to share, so I'll just spend today and tomorrow recapping, in no particular order...

posted by sandy @ 11:59 PM 0 comments

I Salute You, Young Tayler Gold.

While recaulking our bathtub, I chuckled out loud thinking about a story Penny Gold tells about her son and our friend, Tayler. I did a great job and was completely proud of myself. I only had to call Jim once, and that was just to ask how to get the tube of caulk out of the gun - and that was just because I don't understand physics. It turns out that, while it looked pretty, I must have used the wrong kind, because now, 2 weeks later, it's really soft and eroding. Perfect, right? Well that's nothing compared to Tayler's first foray into the world of caulk:

Tayler has always been pretty handy. He had a full-on landscaping business up and running at age 15. So if he's not handy, he's definitely entrepreneurial. Anyway, Tayler - a way little kid at the time - somehow got his hands on a tube of caulking goop and decided to redo the bathtub. Needless to say, he did the worst job EVER and got the stuff all over the place in a really terrible catastrophic way. When his mom, the hilarious and quick-on-her-feet Penny Gold, saw the mess, she immediately knew that Tayler was the culprit. She called him into the bathroom and asked "Tayler, do you know who made this mess?" - to which Tayler replied, "It wasn't me!" After a few rounds of this, making no progress, Penny pulled out the big guns: "Well, then someone must have broken into the house and done this! We have to call the FBI!" She ran to the kitchen, grabbed a Ziploc, and began to collect "evidence" from the scene of the crime - with a pair of tweezers, no less. Knowing that he could dupe his mom pretty easily, but that the FBI would certainly bust him, a teary-eyed Tayler caved and confessed to the crime.

I don't know how or if Tayler was punished. I definitely don't know whether or not he learned his lesson. I do know one thing, though - and that is that, like Little Tayler probably believed, I thought I did an excellent - no BEAUTIFUL - job caulking our bathtub, only to find out later that I sucked. BUT! I can say with some degree of certainty that my mom will never prosecute me for it.

posted by sandy @ 2:28 PM 3 comments

The Final Johnny Atomic/Shelley Jackson Collaborative Effort.

Shelly and John had their THiRD daughter almost two weeks ago. As I've said before - good luck with that, John. So, ladies and gentlemen, meet Chance Aria Jackson, weighing in at 6lbs 20oz and 20" long:

















To wish the proud parents - and big sisters Gabriel & Julian - congrats, email Shelley! To wish Suzzanne luck with the 3 rugrats, email her, too - and I DARE you to call her Granny Suzanny.

posted by sandy @ 1:22 PM 1 comments

Redesign.

So - what do you think of our new digs?

posted by sandy @ 8:01 PM 1 comments

She doesn't hate him!

Phyllis, meet Teddy. Teddy, meet Phyllis. Can you believe it?! She liked him and he LOVED her! She actually thought he would be even bigger than he is, so she was relieved - AND she thought he was WAY cuter than all of the "ugly" dogs at the park. The only real criticism was "I don't like all of this hair. He needs a haircut - he needs to have his hair shaped." We'll take it!

Here are the two lovebirds together...

posted by sandy @ 7:31 PM 3 comments

DirecTV Cares About Their Customers.

Everyone I've talked to about the DirecTV HD DVR has had problems with it. Some minor, some major. We've had problems since we got it late last year. Yesterday I was fed up with it and decided to try to do something.

Step 1: spend an hour on the phone with people who refused to admit that the DVR was a bad product. That call ended with me requesting to be connected to the cancellation department and having the call promptly disconnected.

Step 2: track down the email address for the DirecTV CEO/President and email him my concerns.

I knew that step 2 was a huge long shot, but to my shock, I received the following email:

"I apologize for your problems and will have someone follow up ASAP
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld"

A couple of hours later, Sandy called me to say that someone had called her and was very nice and offered to refund the purchase price of the DVR, send a replacement DVR, waive any termination fees if we still weren't happy and he provided his direct office line in case we ever had problems in the future. He also apologized for the continuing problems with the DVR and explained that they were working hard to fix everything.

It sure was nice to get someone to pay attention to our concerns, even if I had to go to the top to get it done.

This all reminded me of the time my mom asked to speak the manager at Straub's (and Pebbles; and the place that opened next to Max's Bakery; and about 12 other restaurants in the central Florida area) and complained about the meal and we left with coupons so that we could return to the restaurant and have another subpar meal, but with a free dessert or appetizer.

posted by Adam @ 7:55 PM 0 comments

Robbers Are Mean.

Guess who's going to start locking the front door? Yep, your friendly neighborhood victims of crime - us. Adam rushed out the door this morning to get to work, only to find that the Honda's passenger side window had been bashed in, and "stuff" had been removed. We assume this happened late last night - but, probably so enthralled with the Sopranos, we didn't hear a thing. Interestingly, neither did Teddy, who is startled by his own farts. The weird thing is, the alarm didn't sound - which is really odd because it has such a quick trigger, we often set it off by accident - much to our neighbors' dismay.

<-- Oh, the irony. A list of stuff stolen:

Adam's iPod (the original huge one I got Adam right when they came out)

The $80 digital FM transmitter for the iPod

An adapter that lets you plug a million things into the lighter

$300 cash from the yard sale I had a few weeks ago. (We brought the cash on vacation with us and didn't wind up spending it. We'd forgotten it was buried in the bottom of the console.)

What wasn't taken or damaged? Our EZ Pass, Adam's FedEx Field credential (thank goodness it said "2006" on it - they probably thought it was expired), and, of course, our bodies. I'm glad this happened while sugarplums danced in our heads, instead of at a red light, you know? Better that it happened to the car and not to us.

The really sucky thing is that, while we lost about $1,000 when you consider the stolen stuff and the window repair, filing a claim doesn't make any sense. The car window is covered by our auto insurance, and the rest falls under home owner's insurance. So it's actually more expensive to pay 2 deductibles than it is to replace everything ourselves. See what I mean? Robbers are mean. They wanted an iPod so badly that WE lose $1,000.

Only upsides: Chuck & Becky's cars are fine, as is the Prius, which had a ton of stuff (like printers, etc.) in it left over from the yard sale - and it turns out Alexandria has an actual CSI unit, which dusted down the car. Awesome.

posted by sandy @ 9:21 AM 0 comments

Sex Pot Goes National

I don't care who you are or how high-brow your taste in TV is - you HAVE to begin watching So You Think You Can Dance IMMEDIATELY! Send your Pi love to Janet-Claire Bombard who is kicking arse on the dance TV show. I've always known that she's the best dancer I'VE ever met, but now that I can see her dancing alongside all of the other contestants, it's clear she's just the BEST DANCER EVER. Below is her audition performance - but you should have seen her tonight! SET YOUR DVRs RIGHT NOW!!! We'll find out if she makes the top 20 tomorrow night.

If you want to find this stuff on YouTube, search for "Janet Bombard."

posted by sandy @ 11:25 PM 0 comments

Desperation.

So Hillary's having a huge block party/street festival at 11th & H on Wednesday from 5pm to 7 or 8 pm. There will be food, booths and games for kids, and live music. Babyface and Katharine McPhee from American Idol are performing! ...and Maya Angelou, Madeleine Albright, Billie Jean King, and a bunch of other awesome women will be there, too.

I'll be volunteering at the event - woo hoo! It's important to me for many reasons, but here are two somewhere at the top of my list:

1. This event is going to be the largest gathering of women in the area. Men are obviously welcomed, but it's a group of women putting it together and reaching out to other women. That's a big deal to me because only somewhere around 25% of political money is donated by women - which is horrifically low. Whether we like it or not, money earns power in the form of a seat at the table. And right now, men hold a lot more of it that we do. Having thousands of women buy tickets to this event means that women are buying themselves political capital - and that's a big deal to me.

2. Kids go for free. Many people - Dems, obviously, but also Republicans - are bringing their kids to this event. Not necessarily because they support Hillary (although many do), but because they want their kids to see first-hand what a strong female candidate for "the highest office ever" looks like. The idea that people can put aside ideology in order to make sure that their children know that girls can do anything really invigorates me. Plus, I think it's really incredible that the children at the event won't grow up in a time where the idea of a woman running for president is out of the ordinary.

The sucky part is that I told the Clinton campaign I'd sell 10 tickets and then I went out of town for a week, got side tracked with family stuff, and let my commitment to the campaign go to hell! I need to sell 10 more tickets to the block party! Any takers?! I'm freaking out. It costs $20 for adults and kids under 18 get in for free! It's metro accessible and there's a parking garage right at the site! You can call or email me for tickets or to make a donation instead of going.

You can try to get tix on the website, but it's screwy. Go to www.hillaryclinton.com/makinghistory. If you've never been to the site before, it might redirect you to a splash page asking you to sign up. If so, click "skip this" - and it will take you to the campaign homepage. Go back up to the address in the nav bar (which will say www.hillaryclinton.com) and add /makinghistory to the end of it. Whether you have to do that or not, be sure to choose my name from the drop down list on the online form!

Call me or email me if you want to go, know someone I can convince to buy a ticket from me, need a ride, are compelled to contribute, or just want to save my behind!

posted by sandy @ 5:30 PM 0 comments