"We're Americans.  We don't do what is easy.  We do what is necessary."

Oh, wait.  Real President Obama said that.

*What would Jack Bauer say?

With a proper shout out to Double S!  Let's go back to the zoo!

And of course, I couldn't use that title without the appropriate props to Mr. Bridges with his fine ass self.

If this weekend had only had one day, Saturday really would have been the one that was enough to fill up the whole weekend for me. :-)

Sit back and enjoy the recap.

• We got up a little on the late side and skipped our usual weekend breakfast of Sergio's because we had some coupons for Burger King.  Yeah, they're on my shit list now too.  First, don't put the lady that doesn't speak English on drive thru, please.  Whatever if you haven't learned English yet.  Good on ya for getting a job, but not one where I need to order food and I prefer to do it in ENGLISH!  Second, please give me the food that I ordered.  If I ask for two orders of cheesey tots, I want two orders.  And three coffees.  Yes, I paid for three, here's my receipt.  Grrrr.  Oh, and if it isn't too much trouble, how about you put the lids on the coffee cups so that a medium coffee doesn't decide to empty itself on the floor of the passenger side of my car.  Thanks!  (Thank goodness for Scotchgard or whatever the heck is on both my mats and carpet because that coffee came out like it never even happened!  Woot!)
• It gets better and not in a sarcastic way. 
• Lovey and I scored some tickets to go see UM (Hurricanes) play BC (Eagles) at the Bank United Center.  It's probably 15 minutes by car but it was super nice out so we decided to ride our bikes over.  It took about 35 minutes to get there but then we didn't have to deal with traffic or pay for parking so double bonus.  Triple bonus was that our seats were right behind the players' "bench" (it was a bunch of folding chairs).  I'm not a huge basketball fan, but it was a great game.  UM won.  And I got a kiss, or that's what I thought it was when his beak engulfed my head, from Sebastian because as everyone was mobbing the poor guy for photos, I saw his Gatorade cup was empty and offered to get him another.  Being a mascot is tough.  Been there, done that.
• We had a leisurely bike ride back to the house.  Now my bum is sore from my bike seat.  The horror!
• This may get confusing in a moment....
• Lovey's BFF, JP, is starting a business with some people that he works with/used to work with.  I don't know both of the guys, but I did meet JM previously as he is also a Steelers fan and is from the Pittsburgh area.  I am going to do a little website stuff for JP's business (Lord grant me the strength!).  In the meantime, JM knows of someone back home that has a website but wants something better.  JM and JP mention that they know someone that might be able to help them out (yours truly) and to give them the link to their site and some others that they like.  No problem. 
• JP stopped by on Saturday to discuss the look and feel for their site and at that time, forwarded me the email with the other place's info.  My jaw fell.  I opened the link to be sure and sure enough, I know the people from back home that need the website.  I've bought car parts from them.  BruddaShyner used to WORK there!  So of course, I have to text BruddaShyner to ask him if he knows JM.  He texts me back saying that he does and JM is in Miami now.  HA!  BruddaShyner not only knows JM, but he also knows JM's dad.  Funny how I have to move a thousand miles away to do a website for people who were five miles away from the house where I grew up.
• The world is soooooo small.

I have just under 5 tons of work to do now.  I'm not overwhelmed but I really do have to get organized.  And motivated.

Feel free to kick me in the ass if you see me dilly-dallying.

You may (or may not) remember my previous griping about the hopsital bill from hell.  I'm too lazy to find a link to the story so let's summarize.  I went to the hospital without insurance and racked up a hella big bill.  I've been paying it off for over two years now.  Well, I've been trying to pay it off but even though they have my banking information, the company that handles the bill needs to be screamed at reminded to draft out their payment.

Today I decided that I would be even more responsible and instead of spending what's left of my income tax money after the other bills on something fun for me, that I would see how much of a discount they would offer in a settlement.  Well, much to my surprise, they were willing to knock 35% off of the balance!  Sweet!  And DEAL!  They can draft that out next week.  Thank you and Good Riddance!

Here's the best part:

I called and asked for the lady that handles my account.  The lady that answered the phone asked for my name which is not unusual.  I'm on hold and then I get transferred to a voicemail of a person whom I do not know.  I hung up without leaving a message and called back.  I let the lady who answered know that I called for my lady but got someone else's voicemail.  She said that she knew and that was what she was told to do.  Grrr.

Since she didn't do anything wrong, I was nice to her.  I asked her to please tell my lady that I wasn't calling to complain (this time) so please take my call.  Three seconds later, I had her on the line.  After we worked out the settlement, she did apologize for not taking my call.  She said that she sent me directly to the head of accounting because she "just didn't know how to apologize again" for their screwups.

Unprofessional?  Uh, yes, I think so, but this whole ordeal has been.  But you know what?  It's over.  As of next week, I never have to deal with these people again.  HOORAY!! 

When having a conversation with two people who both have a halitosis issue but seem to be unaware of it, how does one respond when something like this happens?

Bad Breath 1: There's no nice way to tell people they have bad breath, huh?

Bad Breath 2: Nope, you can just try to give them a mint or gum.

Innocent Bystander: Uh, yeah.  Mint.

This post comes with a disclaimer:

Writer will not be held responsible for any feelings of boredom, jealousy, anxiety or anything else of the reader upon finishing this post.  Oh, and it'll probably be long.

Thursday: I couldn't bring myself to stay at work all day.  Excitement had finally caught up to me and I was ready to get going!  Even leaving work at around 1:30, we still couldn't manage to get over to the hotel before about 5:30.  We had an early dinner at Chili's before leaving and then went to raid the candy section of the Hudson News in the terminal we were in.  Happily watched Smallville and called it a night.

Friday: Ah yes, I hate flying.  So that's why I was chugging a beer at around 6 am.  Flights were quite uneventful which is always a great thing.  We arrived at the house at a little after 2pm. 

There was no unpacking to be done as we wanted to get over to the mountain right away to take advantage of the free lift ticket that you could get in exchange for a copy of your boarding pass and showing your ID.  What a great offer!

We took a few runs and then stopped by both the liquor store (for Devastator) and the grocery store (for the box of cereal that I housed that week).  By this time, everyone had made it to the house; we were a party of 10.  Btw, the house was super sweet.  That photo shows the front and you walk into a mudroom with a master bedroom off to the left and to the right.  A staircase takes you to the second floor which has the kitchen, dining room, living room, doors to that little balcony you can see, laundry room, a bathroom, and the steps to the thrid floor.  Up on three were two more bedrooms and a small loft area with a Ninetendo 64. Oh, out the back door on the second floor there was a jacuzzi and a sauna (neither of which I used..I'm weird like that).  We called it a little early.

Saturday: I woke up to pee thinking it had to be nearly 7:30, but no, it was only about 2:30.  UGH!

Saturday: For real this time, we went to breakfast over at The Clockwork Cafe.  I really love egg sandwiches.  We took the beautiful ride up the Town Lift and spent the morning hitting the slopes.  Odd, I really forget to eat when I'm up there.  I chug water like it's going out of style, but I have to be reminded to eat.  I'm a nut.

Due to some folks within the party taking some spills, we decided that it would be best if we all took a lesson on Monday and we went back to the house after lunch.

I went for the annual best-massage-of-my-life massage.  Let me just tell you that you might think you're in heaven if you spend a little time over at Aura.  I had the Third Eye Package.  Fell asleep once during the wrap and THREE TIMES during the massage.  Seriously, to the point that I was snoring.  Fantastic!

Sunday: THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS ARE THE SUPERBOWL XLIII CHAMPS!!!! 

Monday: Mmmm, more egg sandwiches!  The lesson was great.  I got some pointers and I'm feeling more confident on my board.  Superb pad thai for dinner.  This is the week I eat more food than I really should. :-)

Tuesday: [this day kicked ass] Know why?  Do ya?  Do Ya?  Huh?  Huh?  Huh?!?!?  Okay, because I'm so slow to post about vacation, you may already know. :-P

I had the pleasure to be a part of a Mountain Meetup and the Utah Sisterhood of the Steelers was formed.  Should I make a t-shirt that says "I met Kevin Wolf and all I got was this crappy t-shirt?" Nah, he might like that too much. :-P  Much more imiportant on a chick level is that Jillzey kicks ass!  I triple dog dare you to say anything different!  You guys rock and made my vacation a happy place.  As if you haven't seen their photos, I'll post mine of the group as well.

That was pretty much the face Kiddo had all the time so no offense to the company. 

I think she's trying to be the next generation's surly bastard.

Lovey and I have long been discussing moving out of Miami.  Our first choice was to the Salt Lake City area, then we switched to outside of Boulder, but now I do believe that we are back to the SLC area.  Because that much coolness over there -----------------------------> cannot be limited to once a year.

Wednesday: Another great day on the mountain.  Let me tell you something.  I grew up eating venison and it's damn delicious.  I haven't had it in quite some time, we're talking 10 years easy and I miss it.

Well, that all got taken care of on Wednesday night.  Lovey and I went to dinner at 350 Main.

OMG!  It was friggin delicious!

We shared a bottle of Hess chardonnay (yummy) and had the Four Cheese Ravioli (L) and the Tower of Ahi and Hamachi (me).  Great Googly Moogly best Ahi ever!  Lovey had the Steak Frites and I had the Venison Medallions hold the pepper.  Not even joking, I think I wet my pants a little.  It was THAT good.  Don't let the lack of a listing of desserts fool you.  They had them and they were good too.  Oh, creme brulee, we are good friends.

Thursday: Last day out on the mountain.  It was the first day where we had some overcast yuckiness which means flat spots which means I can't see things until I'm right up on them and then face down in the snow.  Um, no thank you.  I have some shopping to do before we go.

Thought about buying a sweet Roots Park City sweatshirt but couldn't bring myself to do it.  Got some yummy sweets from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

All that was left was dinner and packing.

Friday: All week, the sky was blue and there was hardly a cloud to be seen.  Great for me but not so much for the rest of the group that wanted to see snow.  So as we are up bright and early to head to the airport, what do we wake up to?  Oh, around 3 or 4 inches of fresh powder.  Ha!  Someone's got bad karma.

All in all, a really good time.  And no, I don't know what you're talking about...we aren't already starting to plan for next year!  

Three days ago, on the bus chatting, I said the Steelers would win, but if I were betting, I'd take the Cards.

Double score!!

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