Sis's three things

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME
1. The Dark
2. Scary Movies
3. Chalk (actually it makes me feel like barfing to think about or touch the stuff..ick.)

THREE THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND
1. My Family
2. Sports
3. Child Abusers

THREE THINGS I'D LIKE TO LEARN
1. How to speak another language flawlessly
2. Good will towards others
3. How to drive a stick shift (I agree with you Sis)

THREE THINGS I'M WEARING RIGHT NOW
1. Monkey PJs
2. White tank top
3. Socks

THREE THINGS ON MY DESK
(I don't have a desk so I'll go with what's on my coffee table)
1. Light-up Coaster
2. A coffee table book about weird places in Ohio
3. My feet

THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE
1. Finish one of my books(and get it published...but I'll settle for it being done)
2. Have kids
3. Be important in some way

THREE GOOD THINGS ABOUT MY PERSONALITY
1. I have a healthy sense of humor
2. I'm loyal
3. I'll go out of my way to please someone I care about

THREE BAD THINGS ABOUT MY PERSONALITY
1. I'm a huge pushover with very little backbone
2. I’m good at talking about myself, but bad about asking others about themselves (It's not that I don't care, it's just that I'm so straight forward about myself I figure if someone wants to talk about something they'll come out and say it with out being asked...like me)
3. I'm hardly ever positive about tough situations

THREE PARTS OF MY HERITAGE
1. German
2. English
3. American Indian (my skin color is a dead give-a-way)

THREE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY BODY
1. My eyes
2. My butt (clothed only)
3. My shoulders

THREE THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT MY BODY
1. My ARMS
2. My belly(not abs..belly)
3. My boobs are less than spectacular

THREE THINGS MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME
1. One of my dimples is really a scar from a childhood accident
2. In fourth grade I had to get tutored for poor reading skills (hard to fathom, I know)
3. I used to go to Star Trek conventions and still have my Starfleet uniform in my closet

THREE THINGS I SAY THE MOST
1. Huh? (It's my automatic response when I didn't catch all of what someone said or I need a second to process what I'm going to say.)
2. What? (same thing)
3. I don't know (although usually I do)

THREE PLACES I WANT TO GO
1. Vegas
2. Hawaii (again)
3. New England in the fall (I'm not a world traveler)

The Joy of the Season.

I'm done. It's over. Merry freakin' Christmas!

In the past three days I accomplished what most people take months to do. Of course I'm talking about X-Mas shopping.

I started on Sunday with the Fam, then yesterday and today were all about JR. If I were to be technical I actually started shopping the day after Thanksgiving. But I only got a few items and none of them were big ticket ones.

Now, don't go thinking I just grabbed stuff and randomly wrapped it for people. Every gift was pre-determined. Maybe that's why it was easy to do everyone in a few days. I went in knowing what I wanted (or with a good idea anyway) and got the hell out.

Oddly it wasn't traffic or parking or even other shoppers that got on my nerves. No it was the clerks. I usually cut store employees a lot of slack. I've done their job many times and nothing can beat the hell I went through working at Walt Disney World's busiest store during Christmas.. TRUST ME.

But I was shocked by the little "Power Trips" all the cashiers seemed to be on this year. I had a woman tisk at me in the self-scan line. She TISKED as if I were a seven year old caught with herhand in a cookie jar.

Thinking back I wish I'd had the balls to say something to her, but she wouldn't have given a damn. The middle aged woman was queen of her little four station world and never mind that I'm the one with the college education.

She wasn't the first or the last sales person I came across with a superior attitude. In several stores I was treated like I was imposing on them for asking a question or writing a check. I got sick of the heavy sighs, and eventually stopped asking if I could write a check and simply handed them one.

What annoyed me even more were the people who made a mistake and turned it around to be my fault. Like the girl who forgot to burn me a photo cd at the Meijer photo counter. First she tells me my pictures aren't ready (although it had been almost two hours since I turned in my ONE-hour digital prints.) Then she ran around the back for a minute before coming back and saying she was waiting on the CD to be finished. It was beyond obvious that she'd forgotten to start the CD based on her reaction when she couldn't find my pictures.

Anyway I told her I'd wait and plopped my butt on a stool. I could tell my hovering annoyed her, but my arms were full of stuff I'd found while waiting for my pictures to be done and I didn't have a basket. So finally she brings them to me and has the gall to say "You know, the photo CDs aren't promised in an hour."

Oh really, and where's the freakin' sign that says that? Urg, she messed up but still turned it around to be my fault for not knowing a policy of their's (which isn't posted anywhere, I looked.)

Like I said I usually cut sales people a break. Retail is the one job I won't go back to. Maybe my frustration is because I was trained by Disney that the customer is always right (no matter how stupidly wrong they are.) Or perhaps it's because I've been in their shoes and can see through the act. In their heads they think they're better then the customers, hell they KNOW how to work the cash register and how to fold shirts for display. Life can't get any better than that can it?

Just think, only 370 shopping days until Christmas 2007 ^_^*

Duck Watch '06

He's back.

I woke up today, heard it raining and looked outside. And much to my shock "our" duck was swimming around in the pond. I was beyond surprised to see him since the pond froze over last week and I haven't seen hide nor feather of him. I'd thought for sure he was eaten, frozen, or wandered off.

But nope, he's back. It's kinda pathetic since only a small part of the pond is again open water (like a five foot square area,) but I'm glad he's there.

I immediately called those rescue people I'd found so they could come out and get him. But after talking to the lady for awhile she said since he'd been injured so long ago they'd most likely be putting him down. And in fact it was federal law to put any animal down that couldn't be repaired to live in the wild. Since his wing is broken and has healed, she knew the bones were to brittle to reset it.

The verdict, so long as he's not suffering, let him be. I'd much rather he be part of the circle of life then simply put to sleep. I guess I had imagined a nice little warm inclosure with a swimming pool for him. In the meantime I threw some bread out there for him, but either someone else is feeding him or he's scared to come over (the pond in front of our balcony is still frozen over.)

It's not supposed to get below freezing for the next couple of days so I hope that helps him. Also I'm not as concerned now that he came back. Obviously he's got a good hiding spot to have survived a week alone in bitter temperatures.

Duck Tales

Woo Hoo!

Good news, I found a place that would take in the duck. Bad news, they want me to try to catch him first.

The lady calmly told me to scoop him up with a large towel, put him in a box with holes and bring him to them.

Yeah, easier said then done. I severely doubt it'll be so simple as walking up to a wild animal and picking it up, especially a wounded one. My biggest fear is that someone will end up in the pond, most likely me.

The woman didn't say what would happen if we failed to capture the duck, but I suspect they won't just leave him out here.

Another challenge is when we'll attempt this feat. The shelter closes at 5pm and JR doesn't get home until 4pm. Plus I'm working late Friday and will be away this weekend. The earliest we could try is Monday and I'm afraid it'll get too cold this weekend for the poor guy.

Wish me luck ^_^*

The duck

A Fowl Story

I feel sick. Not ::cough cough:: sick, but emotionally sick. And it's all over a duck.

One of the selling points for the apartment complex JR and I live it is that every apartment has a view of a pond from their deck or balcony. There are two of these ponds, and while they're not huge, they are fairly deep and pretty to look at.

When JR first moved in last year we noticed a group of ducks that seemed to "live" in the pond. There were six of them, three males and three females. They would disappear for a few days every now and then, but were basically around for the entire winter.

Once the weather warmed up we noticed that our pond attracted several groups of waterfowl including geese and even a pelican or two. But mostly it was ducks. At one point this summer we counted over forty ducks swimming around. People used to feed them but after a memo from the apartment complex they stopped.

But getting back to why I feel so bad. Sometime in late spring we noticed that one duck was different from the others. He had a mangled wing. Meaning he couldn't fly. We have no idea how he go the injury, but my theory is that he was clipped by a car.

I don't know if he was part of the original group or one of their babies. I do know that socially he's an outcast. I also know that animals don't think like humans, but every time I see one of the other males chasing him away I felt bad for him. He seems so incredibly lonely.
More so now that the temperature has dropped and rarely do we see other ducks besides him out there. Last night the pond started to freeze over and I know it won't be long before he wocan't swim in the water at all. As far as food goes that could be a problem too, since the ducks eat whatever plant life grows just under the surface.

The bigger problem is that I suspect before winter is out he will BE the food. Amongst all the water fowl, out apartment complex also seems to have an interesting mix of mammals. We have squirrels (the ducks are always chasing them up trees,) and raccoons (scare the crap out of me every time I take out the trash,) possibly a beaver (two sightings and we can't figure out what animal is swimming around in the water,) and of course the fox.

That's right, a fox (forget about the beaver boys.) We first spotted him this spring hanging around the dumpster. He terrified me for a few moments since he showed no fear of us and actually took a step towards JR. I had thought foxes were tiny, but really they're more like a medium sized dog. After that night I saw him three more times, once I even saw him chasing the ducks into the pond.

But that was months ago and I figured he'd moved on by now. Imagine my shock when I stepped outside yesterday and saw a standoff. Just below my third floor balcony stood the fox. And ten feet away in the water was the deformed duck. Luckily my presence was enough to send the predator packing.

However, the fox sighting racketed up my anxiety level concerning "our" duck. Not only am I worried about him freezing or starving to death, now I've gotta stress about him becoming a midnight snack for a dumpster-diving fox.

My parents think I'm too soft hearted and should just let nature work the way it's intended. And I totally understand that, but I still feel awful. Once I ran over a family of raccoons with my car(it was unavoidable) and I cried for at least twenty miles.

I've watched the antics of this duck for months, and in a strange way I identify with him as the underdog. JR thinks we should adopt him and let him live with us like the guys did on "Friends." I'm vetoing that choice since besides our complex's "no pet" policy, I'm not willing to clean up duck-poop.

The other option is to call animal control or the zoo, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't rescue a duck. I've called about injured animals before (a bloody and limping possum in our station parking lot) and gotten no response. Even if they did come out and catch the bird, they'd probably put it to sleep anyway.

So all I can do is wait. Wait for the day when I don't see "our" duck alive and bobbing in the water. It'll break my heart =(