Blasted cars!

My car is not fixed. As I was driving to work yesterday, at the same spot that the steam originally started up, my car started steaming again and it wasn't just alittle bit, my whole window was fogged by the time I got to the office. Looked at the coolant. Yup almost empty again. So filled it up again and called the shop and told them we were going to drop it off on the way home. So on my way to the shop at the end of they day, I thought the ride would go pretty smoothly since we had just filled her up. First off, I hit every red light between the office and the shop..7 lights, that never happens. Then when I'm at the 2nd to last light, my car starts steaming again, but not thru the vents but out of my hood! What looked like billows of steam pouring thru my hood, plus my temperature light started flashing, boy this can't be good. I finally get my car into the shop and parked. I tell the mechanic that has been working on my car what it was doing, he shook his head and said Oh Boy. Oh Boy? That coming from a mechanic cannot be good. Then he just had to mention that VW's are a pain...yeah just rub it in why don't ya.
So Justin came to pick me up and we went out to dinner at Red Robin and I got a fruity cocktail with lots of alcohol.
Thankfully we did find out that Justin's car problem is covered under the extended warranty that they got with the car, so at least we don't have to pay for that.

My Valentines

The blogger server was down when I wanted to talk about this, so thats why it's so late...it had nothing to do with my laziness.

For Valentines, I got a wonderful surprise. On the way to work, steam started coming thru the vents and the temperature light was flashing. Just Great. So I make it into our work parking lot, Justin and some much more mechanically inclined guys from work look it over. Basically, something that holds or carries antifreeze broke and thats what cause the steam. At the end of the day, Justin picked up some coolant and we filled the car up and on the way to our mechanic, of course it emptied out and my car started steaming again. Very, very stressful. I dropped it off right before they closed, so Wednesday morning they called and said they found the problem but it's going to take 3 days to get the part in and the total cost will be $400.
Well hopefully the part will come in tomorrow, then I can maybe get it on Sunday. Wouldn't that be nice. I am unfortunately thinking it won't be finished on Sunday, but I can always hope. So now we're down to Justin's car which is fine because he has a work truck he can use, but Justin's car needs to be fixed too. It's making this certain noise that when we describe it to people they know what it is tell us we need to get that fixed quick because if this part on the axel goes out. The car won't beable to turn. Great. So as soon as mine is fixed, Justin's will be going in. Ugh.

LOST

So I guess the big question is if the guy is lying or not? Sayid would be the one to know, but he does seem jaded from the death of Shannon. Sawyer is still pissing me off, now with trying to bully Hurley. Hurley should have never helped him, but I guess he's too nice.
I was so mad that the count down was stopped. But now we know that there are a few grace seconds built in there. One of the symbols on there looked like a bomb but couldn't tell from the rest.
Is next week a rerun again? Thats the way it looked to me. But we may finally know what happened to Claire when she was gone, and big surprise more Darma Initiative connections.

Update: Just found out this morning that in Sayid's flashback when he is in the US truck about to get dumped off. The girl in the picture is Kate.

LOST

HOLY SHIT!! This was probably the best episode of lost yet. Anyone else agree? I totally thought it was Anna Lucia that ambushed Sun, Argh but it was Charlie! Now anybit of like I had left for him is gone, pairing up with Sawyer, just to make a fool out of Locke. Oh man the way Sawyer played Locke and Jack was brilliant, I didn't like it but brilliant. Geeze, Donna how did you like that beginning shot of Sawyer in just his boxers, pretty nice. And Sayid all sweaty cracking those coconuts...that was very nice. Yum.
I just can't believe all the backstabbing and mistrust that everyone has now. This is going tear the whole group up. Next week, they find an injured Other? and Sayid is back to his Republican guard tricks again...thought he promised he would never do it again. But I guess extreme times call for extreme measures. Awesome episode!

Winters over

Well I think winter is officially over here in Las Vegas, temps might be hitting 70 soon. I think I wore sweaters for maybe a month. As much as I am used to hating winters I think winters in Las Vegas are pretty sweet, they give us a good break from the heat but it doesn't get cold enough to break out the gloves and scarves. From what I have heard, this winter has been extremely warm and very dry which is a scary comment since we are in a desert. Lake Mead is already +100 below it's normal level, and now our "rainy" season had no rain. There are some mountains around us that are high enough to get snow, but even there the ski resort is creating snow. I fear that this summer will be a scorcher.

In other news. Our entire apartment is sick. Ryan brought it in, then Sarah got it, then I started getting it Sunday night and now Justin's got it. Justin and I went to work this morning but we left by 9 because we were feeling so lousy plus our boss practically told us to leave because he didn't want us to spread it. I have some field work to do tomorrow morning, so hopefully I feel good enough to get that done.

LOST

Well first I started disliking Charlie and now I'm starting really not like Locke. Locke had a lot of nerve to confront Charlie about using heroin when all last season he used Boone, and we all know how that ended. Now he has Charlies heroin, and all the guns locked with his own combo. Charlie's dreams were bizarre, I wonder if they are true warnings or just him wanting to save somebody. Looks like there no new episode next week. Figures get a couple new ones in then go for another month of reruns. Sorry I'm tried, so not much to say on this episode except it wasn't the greatest...but did like the laundry scene with Hurley and Libby. For a sec I thought Libby was putting on some of Shannon's clothes...I think Hurley has a shot with Libby.

Taking one for the team

Miss Nevada, who was in the running for Miss USA this weekend in Las Vegas stirred up some controversy with her views of the Yucca Mtn depository of nuclear waste. Here is the Link to the story. The judges asked her what she thought of the Yucca Mtn nuclear waste site and what how she would feel if there were deaths associated with the site, and she said that Nevada would have to "take one for the team."
Wow. This site is well into construction and as you can probably imagine, in very fierce debate. I thought it was great what she said..basically it was suck it up and deal with it. I did a speech about Yucca Mtn for speech class, and from what I got out of it was that even if the toxic waste containers leaked, it would take thousands of years to make it to any water source. I'm not worried, I guess my feelings are along the same line as her's. It's gotta go somewhere...so just live with it.

Pictures!

Just got my disposible camera developed today..thought I would share some of my favorites.

Myself, Alyssa (middle) and Peggy (right) all gussied up for the party on the last night of our dino convention.

Sweet cliff dwellings in Arizona. This place was amazing..to think the native people made those buildings with materials hauled up ladders and very simple technology. Just blew me away.

Justin and I at Vegoose, Halloween weekend.


Justin at Vegoose. I bought the cute cowgirl hat there and I think it looks pretty good on Justin as well.

Lost

Well tonight's episode was exciting. The face-off with the others was intense, but stupid Kate had to go and mess the whole thing up. But even if she didn't follow them, I'm sure they would have ended up going back without Walt or Michael.
So sounds like Jack wants to make an army. I wonder how many others there are. Any idea how many there were in the torch ring? The others would have the home team advantage if our people attacked. It will be interesting to see what happens with that. Next week look suspenseful..looks like Charlie messes up big time, Aaron gets taken and stuff gets caught on fire at their camp. Looks like war might be on.

LOST

Any ideas on the crazy smoke monster thing? That was bizarre, even if thats the islands security system, what in the world could make smoke behave like that.
Echo's story was sad. But they all are. I can't believe that Charlie has that secret stash of herion, I'm glad Claire kicked him out.

The Holiday's

Christmas went well for us. We just sat around the apartment, opened presents in the morning then the rest of the day we ate and watched movies. For New Years, Justin's parents came to town, they stayed with us during the weekend then stayed at the Excalibur Sunday and Monday night. We did a lot of shopping and gambling, both of which can be dangerous. I learned the joys of penny slots. I do not like gambling. I figure that I work hard earning my money so why should I give it to somebody who's already rich? But penny slots, that's less damage to the pocket..$20 can be a couple hours of entertainment. Penny slots are also really fun games with animated bonus rounds and fun themes.
For New Years we were at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino which is thankfully off the Strip a bit because on New Years the Strip is shut down from about 6pm to about 2am. At the Hard Rock we saw Match Box 20 in The Joint theater. This was their first concert back as MB20, now that they are all done with their solo projects. We were in about the 30th row so I could see Rob Thomas and the rest of the band perfectly. Debbi and I rocked out the entire concert singing and dancing to everysong. Justin and Dana just stood there bobbing their heads. It was a great concert.
So now the holiday's are sadly over and I don't think we get a day off for quite sometime. Justin finally got his Xbox 360. We have been both playing it whenever we get some free time. Of course now Justin is hounding me to get a HD TV, since the 360 is compatible with the HD's.
We went to the movie's this weekend and saw The Ringer, which was hilarious. It's about a man and his uncle who decide to rig the Special Olympics so they can pay off their debts.
Can't wait to see the new episode of Lost, does anyone know if both episodes they are showing are new or just the second epi? I can't really tell from the commercials.

Pickle flavored apple and a free Christmas present

Wow, sorry for not writing for a month. Lots have happened and I have been very busy with work so when I get home I eat and go to sleep.
So today I was at work and was about to eat lunch. I bring a sandwich and I don't like soggy sandwiches so I put my sliced pickles into a baggie. Well the juice from the pickles leaked out of the bag and got all over the rest of my lunch which for the most part was not a big deal since almost everything was wrapped, except my apple. I save my apple for 3 o'clock cause that's when I take a few min. Break and relax and have a little snack. It smelled like well an apple but with the hint of pickle and I'd have to say the taste was the same. Very odd to be eating a Granny Smith (Washington grown of course) but to have the slight flavor of a pickle...Very strange.

For Christmas, one of the things I wanted was a messenger bag from the Lost Store on the ABC website. The reason that I wanted it was that it had the Oceanic Airlines logo on the flap of the bag. I thought it would be fun (in a sick kind of way) to use it as my carry-on luggage for whenever I fly next. So for Christmas, I get a huge box and I'm sure that it's the bag so I'm ripping into it and sure enough I pull it out, but wait, somethings missing. The Oceanic Airlines logo is not on the flap. So Justin e-mails the customer service people, we were planning on just sending it in and getting one with a logo. Today Justin gets the email back. Apparently, the whole lot of these messenger bags never got the logo put on and got shipped out. So they said keep the bag and we're going to refund you the full amount. What I want to know, was who was the idiot that forgot to check to see if the bags were done before shipping them out? The bag is still cool, it does have the Lost written in the corner of the flap so not all is lost (hehe get it) but man I wish I had the logo.

Other than that, Christmas was awesome. Justin and I stayed in Vegas and just relaxed all four days. This weekend is going to be crazy. Justin's parents are coming in tomorrow and are staying for almost a week. They are staying at our place till Sat then Sunday thru Wen or Thursday they are staying at the Excalibur. For New Years we're seeing Matchbox 20 at The Joint in the Hard Rock Casino, concert starts at 1opm so we'll be counting down to New Years with the band. Sunday we are seeing Blue Man group at their new home at the Venetian. Monday, we all might go hiking at Red Rock, plus there will be shopping and good eats mixed in. It will be a good time.

Lost

"Am I in a bunkbed?" Ha best line of the show. I'm not a big fan of Kate so this wasn't a favorite of mine. I was expecting more out of the extra film....i was sure Micheal messing around in the back of the comps would somehow make the bunker doors close. But man, that ending....how could Walt be on the computer...do the others somehow control the countdown..or have computers...man that would be messed up.

Things that go Bump in the Night

Well our Thanksgiving trip to San Jose and Lake Tahoe was fabulous. Had a great time meeting Brad and Peggy's family, thankfully I'm used to large family settings in a small house so it was no prob. An interesting thing happened to me Thanksgiving night, you see, their house is haunted. The ghost is a man who hangs out mainly in the hallway that connects the two bedrooms and the bathroom. I never have, but he is seen peering out of the hall and looking into the living room. Anyways, so Justin and I are sleeping in the spare bedroom. Justin gets up to use the bathroom. While he is gone I hear a noise of something being dragged very evenly, no lurching or uneven sounding. I think it was on the floor but could have been a drawer or something to that effect. The noise stop's just before Justin comes into the room. I don't know why, but I'm too freaked out to tell Justin what happened. I was so awake after that..it took some time to finally go back to sleep. So then that morning I tell justin what happened and we looked all around the room and nothing looked out of place. I tell Peggy and Brad and they look around and they don't see anything moved either. Well I suppose a ghost can make whatever noise it wants...Peggy tells me that the land the house is on used to be a ranch and the house wasn't too far away from their place. She thinks the ghost may be a ranch hand that hasn't left..who knows..at least it's a good story and I've had my first ghost experience.

Cat Hotel

So for Thanksgiving all of us are going to be gone from Wednesday thru Sunday...even Simon. While Justin and I are in CA and Sarah and Ryan are in AZ, Simon will be at the Cat Hotel in his own Kitty Condo. In Henderson there is a vet place that caters only to cats so half of the place is the vet and the other half is the hotel. Simon gets a large cage that has two level in it, he gets his own litter box of course, and they provide food and playtime. Hopefully he won't hate us when I pick him up Monday after work.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!

Lost

So tonight I could not watch Lost so can someone give me a quick update on what happened. Tonight was bowling league and we had to pre-bowl our next weeks game because no one could be there. Sorry!

Hiking Pictures

A boulder covered in Petroglyphs, you can't see the too well but it's full of them.

A cool petroglyph. It looks like a lizard of some sort but one back leg is longer than the other so maybe it's a tail? I don't know but petroglyphs fasinate me so much. Looking at these boulders covered in these amazing patterns I was trying to imagine a shamen slowly carving this symbols into the rock. Amazing.


Here is myself on the insane rock scramble to get around a dry waterfall. We had to climb straight up using only natural cracks and ledges in the rock. It was quite a rush. This is my fav pic from the hike (is it conceited to really like a picture of yourself?)

This is at the begining of the hike when we're still fresh. We sitting on the slot canyon wall, which is a really cool volcanic conglomerate of some type.

This is us in the Arizona Hot Spings, the water was so amazingly hot it was hot tub water hot. If only we didn't have to hike 3 miles to get there.

The weekends over already?

Ugh, I'm so far behind on my blogger updates its sad, this job thing is taking up too much of my life. So I am going to do a shortened version of what I have been doing for the last month.

My SVP meeting was awesome. The drive to Mesa with my friend Peggy was great, although we kept passing signs for the Grand Canyon and it was sad to pass them by. The talks were great although there were not as many interesting ones as last year my fav talk was one about a baby sauropod (long neck) skeleton that was found in Montana but had no head. The little thing was so cute, they think it's about 2-3 years old and is about the size of a large dog. It was great being among the elite of Paleontology. People watching is a favorite hobby of ours while we are there, there were lots of the "stereotype" of scientists there...mostly there was just a lot of bad fashion sense. The dance at the end of the meeting is always the best. It's like this desperation that was kept under control during the meetings snap, and everyone just goes crazy with drinking, dancing and the hookups. If only I could describe what it looks like to see a group of scientists dancing to euro-techno... Did I mention that Mesa has great shopping and antique stores. I spent way too much money. On the way home we stopped at Montezuma's Castle, which is Cliff Dwellings. I had never seen them in person, and they were breath taking. There was a natural depression into the limestone cliff and people were able to get themselves up the 30ish feet with ladders and natural walkways then build these living structures. I took pictures, I just have to finish the roll and get them developed.

Two weeks ago it was my birthday, I'm now 25 and can rent a car with out penalty! So that Friday I went to the DMV and got my Nevada Licence and Plates, hurray! I can drive my car again!

So for my birthday Justin took me to eat a Bucco de Beppo's an Italian family style restaurant. There's one in Seattle kinda by the Space Needle..oh I love that place. Justin got us a room at a resort by Lake Las Vegas (man made) so we walked around by the lake and they had a bunch of cool shops. We also went to the casino and gambled a little bit and had some beer. Next day we drove around Lake Mead (created from the Hoover Dam) visited some natural springs and enjoyed the beauty of the area. Sunday we went hiking with co-worker Kimberly to the Arizona Hot Springs. It was about a 5.5 mile loop hike, and it was very difficult. First we were walking in slot canyons, which is very dangerous because if it rains flash floods come roaring down very quickly. But it wasn't raining anywhere in the state so we were ok. The whole hike was in gravel which is very tiring to walk on. The hot springs were amazing. To get to them, we had to climb up a ladder which had hot spring water falling over it as well. The parks people made two pools of water by putting up small walls of sandbags that we had to climb over to get into the pools. I have pictures, so I will try to post them tomorrow. The pools were so warm, I just wanted to hang out in them all day but we were only half way through the hike so we ate lunch with out feet dangling in the water then we carried on. The last half was the hardest. There were a lot of dry waterfalls that we had to scramble up. The hardest part was there was a fall that was impossilbe to climb so we had to backtrack a bit them climb up near vertical rocks to get up and over the falls. I have pics of that as well...it was crazy. We got to see some petroglyphs which was amazing. Petroglyphs are drawings on rocks created by the early native people in the area. the hike took about 6 hours and I was sore for about half a week after that but well worth it.

Ok well that's pretty much what has been going on with me but Extreme House Makeover is going to be on soon so must go!

Lost

Anna Lucia is so dead. I don't care how many episodes it takes, but Sayid will get his revenge. I figured it would be Shannon that got it this episode just because the never showed her all season, but damn..shot by a tailaway. That was crazy that sayid and Shannon saw Walt, he must be powerful with whatever gift he has.
So from the previews for next week and the soon dead Anna Lucia has said in this episode, the others took the kids, that's why blondie from the tailaways asked if there were any children seen. Next week should be good, we finally get to see what the tailaways have gone through.

Fear at work

So our office building is going under major construction right now. They ripped off the front of the building and so now we have plywood covering the gapping hole. My office is at the front so I have a plywood wall to look at, and they are not fitted together so I have holes between the different sheets, so I get dust floating in and I can kinda see out. Anyways, so not only is this a pain because we can hear everything that's going on outside with the normal road noise and then our construction (It's very hard to work when there is a jackhammer right outside your plywood wall) but we have acquired a new problem....mice. I learned of this problem yesterday during out Monday morning meeting when one of our bosses mentioned that he has found mice poo in his office and that we're going to have pest control come out here. Well today this problem got a lot more personal. I was eating lunch at my desk today, munching away at my sandwich when my eyes wandered over to a pile of napkins that I have accumulated on my desk. Ontop of the napkins were two little mouse poo's. Fear just shot through me. Here I was, I had been at my desk all day touching everything that the mice were probably scampering all over during the night, and now I was eating a sandwich. I don't even want to thing about what that means. Ugh. So I talked to Angela our wonderful receptionist and she told me that I wasn't the only one with problems. With the construction we either disturbed where they were living or are just coming in through the plywood...probably both. So Angela found some disinfectant wipes and I cleaned my desk very well. Now I will be doing this every morning. Oh I'm so grossed out.