Call Me Jolly Rancher.

Oh poopy crackers. I am tired. I got up way too early. Ick.

Guess what I'm doing next weekend? You're on the edge of your seat, I know. Well, Kara and Tama, Melissa and Jackie, and of course, myself are going to Kansas City for a "girls weekend." It should be a crazy, fun time. Woo yeah!

So, yesterday I got my raise at work! I was happy with it. The average was between 2.5% and 2.6%, my raise was 3.88% I can't really complain. I work for a bunch of conservative, stuffy financial people. Shit, we're lucky to get 1%! Anyway, it's always nice to go to work on Monday and find out you'll be making more money!

So now I'm going to lay back and relax and hopefully go to bed early tonight. Making more money is hard work. :)

Last Weekend of March

What does one do when they've (I've) done just about every time wasting activity there is to do in the area? You know how some people reach the "end of the internet?" (I'm one of those people too.) Well, I believe there are some people (like me) who have reached the end of fun. So, what do people like me do when they've reached the end of fun? They resort to doing crazy shit. Like going to see the PBR at the Savvis Center two nights in a row. Yes my friends, I went back to the PBR on Saturday night. And, for the kicker? I HAD FUN. I'm also not ashamed to admit that.

However, this new fun interest I've stumbled on is only going to ignite the fun fire once in a while. Fellow bloggers, and non bloggers, but blog readers, I need a hobby. I will first list the hobbies I am not interested in. Here they are:

1. Scrapbooking (Nothing against it, I think it's neat, it's just not for me.)
2. Sewing, knitting, crocheting, or anything yarn or thread related (Again, nothing against it, it's just not me.)
3. Collecting things
4. Cooking/Baking (I already do these things really, really, really well and honestly, it's just not fun anymore.)
5. Computers (I've already mastered these. And even though I married a geek, I try really hard not to act like one.)
6. Anything that you think would be geek related. (Like model ships or something stupid like that.)

That's all I could think of. Now, I'll list the things I am interested in, but Chris veto'd because he "claims" that they're all too "expensive." *rolls eyes*

1. Buy a really nice sail boat and sail from island to island
2. Travel
3. Buy several bucking bulls and enter them into the PBR
4. Move to St. Maartin and open up a bar or something
5. Go to Vegas and bet on a lot of events

And, that's all I've got. At least I've given you a starting point. FIND ME A FUN HOBBY PEOPLE! Please. I'm begging you!

Okay, now that you have enough direction to help me get started, I'll move on. I have 20 boxes of Black & Mild cigars that I need to unload. I bought them at Sam's to avoid waiting in a line that stretched back to the back of the store. If you smoke them, and would like them at a discount, email me. Seriously.

Well, I guess you could sum up my weekend by saying that it was full of bullshit. Because technically, it was. There were bulls and lots of shit. Who knew that a little bullshit could entertain me so much?

PBR Pics

Just a few...

My Name Is Dana...

and I'm addicted to the PBR. Yeah, I know that sounds incredibly cheesy, but I had to be honest. Tonight, us, along with Jason, Nicole and Dave went to the PBR at Savvis. I had a BLAST. I can't really explain why and I'm fully okay with you laughing at me. However, I seriously had a great time! I want to go again! Mainly, I want to go to Vegas and start betting on the bulls. Oddly enough, the PBR finals are in Vegas at the beginning of November! Coincidence? I think not!

We shot a lot of pictures, however the Gestapo at the Savvis Center made us check one of our lenses because it was "too big." Nothing over 200 they said. All I heard was Blah blah blah blah. So, pictures to come, as soon as Chris pulls the RAW images off the card.

Oh, also. Beer is good, but food from Mike Shannon's new place is not worth $150. If you want to know, ask. I don't feel it's worth posting a review and I was feeling too buzzed to complain!

I am officially done with my Algebra class. Hallelujah! I'm celebrating with a Dreamsicle Martini that Chris had ready for me when I got home. It's delicious! I also celebrated earlier, at lunch, with a Blood Orange Cosmo. My final was okay. I'm pretty sure there are 7 problems I'm definitely got wrong, but oh well. Such is life and all that jazz.

Since I'm on the topic of school, I should inform you that I realized today that school is getting in the way of vacation. I'm going to have to drop one class completely because I'll be gone on vacation during it. Then, I realized that I'll be on vacation again, during the first night of the next class. Damn school.

So, tomorrow is the PBR and I'm sort of in a bind. Since I'm not the typical PBR spectator, I don't really own any "rodeo" clothes. So, what do you wear to a rodeo of sorts, when you don't own any rodeo clothes? Decisions, decisions! If you have any advice, by all means, let me know before tomorrow.

So that's about it. I'm tired and this martini is only making me more tired. So, bed is calling fo'rilla.

In honor of American Idol, Dana. Out.

Finito

Thanks to the help of my fabulous husband, I am finished with Algebra. Tomorrow at 6pm, I will start my final and hopefully an hour and a half later, I'll be done for good. Then, I'll need a cold beverage. Preferably, a martini.

Something Stinks.

So, I opened up the fridge a few hours ago and almost dropped dead. Something in there smelled so bad that it lingered in the house for about an hour. I decided to clean out the fridge with bleach water and a pressure washer. Well, not a pressure washer, but definitely bleach. Let me just say that we haven't eaten much at home the past few weeks, so I had no idea what it could be. Since I've cleaned out the fridge, I've come to the conclusion that it could have been many things. Perhaps the milk that expired February 11th. Or, it could have been the heavy whipping cream, or the english cucumber that was rotten. I guess it could have also been the cheese in the bottom drawer that had mold all over it, as if it had been growing in a field. I'm not really sure what it was, but it's gone now. Now all I can smell is bleach. Much better.

I've been working on my homework for about 4 hours now. ON THE SAME FUCKING PROBLEM. I'm so stupid when it comes to this stuff. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Math sucks, and apparently so do I. The weird part is that on this stuff, I KNOW how to get the answer, but for some reason, I can't get the right answer because my brain isn't allowing me to take the information I have stored and put it on paper. My brain is preventing me from getting my homework done. I'm so glad that my final is tomorrow and then I'll be done with this class. I don't think my sanity could take much more. I just want to throw something. I think I'll drink a soda instead.

Oh, also. If you think cleaning out the fridge was just a ploy to stop working on homework...you'd be right. Don't get me wrong, I would have found the rotten food, but I wouldn't have washed the fridge out like it needed an enema if I hadn't been trying stall tactics.

Scott, You're An Asshole

Okay, I've tried to stay away from politics on my blog lately, but I can't retrain myself any longer. I want to rant about a few things. First of all, the latest hot button issue of "outsourcing" control of our ports to UAE. I think that a lot of things we've done in the past to "safeguard" our nation from terrorist is a lot of crap. Yeah, I said it. It's crap. I think Bush has done some really pansy ass things to protect us. This situation, on the other hand, I see as a valid safeguard to protect our nation. Am I saying that this company from the UAE is full of terrorists? No. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, I think that allowing the sale is sort just opening up the treasure chest to anyone. (Not just "terrorists") I also think that anytime Republicans and Democrats agree on something, then the world must be on the verge of blowing up, so we better listen to what they have to say. I'm really confused as to why Bush is pushing this so hard. Unless, of course, he's getting some sort of kickback....I wonder if Bandar Bush is involved! (Kidding, of course.) Secondly, I'm really confused as to why Bush sends Scott McClellan out to do damage control. Scott is such a horrible speaker and such an asshat. Then again, I guess that goes along with Bush! No wonder he's so stupid! He surrounds himself with asshats. I'm listening to him talking about the port sale, and he's yelling at an old lady reporter! Oh, I might also add, he's not answering her question. It's insane. I could never be part of the White House Press Cor, I would end up screaming and be thrown in the pokey!

Okay, that's it. I'm not going to say anymore. Just know I'm pissed about it.

I'm off work today, and I just can't stop watching CNN. I should though, because I have homework to do. I also need to go to the grocery store, and take some movies back to Blockbuster. It's like I'm working, I'm just not getting paid.

All I Hear Is Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Uh huh Uh huh Uh huh Okay

Thanks to some dead presidents, I was off work today. It was a nice day. I had lunch with Richard today. We talked and talked and talked about stuff. It was nice to just sit and talk. After that, I went over to my dear friend, Kara's place. I haven't been over there since her break up with The Jerk. She let me know that instead of loaning him the $1000 she originally told me about, she really lent him $3000. WOAH WOAH WOAH. Not only that, but he's been calling her, trying to hook it back up again. This time, she thinks that she's going to ask him to move back in with her, so that she can keep him at arms length to get her money back. I'm not really sure what to think about that. I guess the only thing I can say is: 1. I'm glad I'm not single and 2. Don't lend boyfriends or girlfriends money. Enough about that.

I'm watching Mr Smith & Mrs Homewrecker, better known as Mr & Mrs Smith. Actually, I'm only half watching it, because I'm playing around with Flickr.

I've been doing some looking around for cruise attire. So far, all I've come up with is this dress. I still have 2 months though, so I haven't given up hope for finding cute stuff yet.

Dreams

I've been having the weirdest dreams lately. Here are a few examples.

Earlier this week, my dream was about crashing. See, I was driving down the road in a teal SUV. I looked over and saw a gray Taurus with my friend Lori and her husband Dan in it. For some reason I veered over and sideswiped them, then my SUV got turned in front of their car and I remember the SUV was about to tip over. I remember praying that it didn't tip over. Then I woke up.

Last night in my dream, I had a newborn baby. My baby was having breathing problems, so I was trying to get to the hospital. However, my Mom was in the dream somewhere and she was smoking around my baby who couldn't breath in the first place. I told my Mom to put out the cigarette and she refused, so I smashed her cig and took my baby back, and ran into the hospital. I remember walking down this long hallway and turning a corner, then looking through this door/window thing down this other long hallway to some nurses. I remember them asking questions, and I couldn't answer them. Then I woke up.

The other dreams I've had this week are a long the same lines really. Bizarre, and in most of them I'm either trying to save something or trying to get away from something. Freaking weird.

Kitchen K

Last week, the dining club checked out Kitchen K. My first impression upon walking in was that I really liked the open kitchen. The hostess stand is placed in a kind of awkward place, making the bar a little difficult to find. Once we got to the bar, I noticed the music. It was a pounding club beat that I found a tiny bit annoying. The bar staff was very friendly and we happened to be there during happy hour. The best part was the Blood Orange Cosmo. Very good and around $4.00 during happy hour.

We were finally seated when our party arrived. There were 11 of us this time, so we were seated in the loft. It took a while for our waiter to get up and take our drink orders, but we were fine with that since we were talking and we had just gotten settled. About 20 minutes after we got our drinks, our order was finally taken. After that point, our waiter disappeared until our food was ready.

The Habanero Chicken Wings are absolutely delicious! They were glazed, and not heavily sauced like most wings. The dip for these wings is very good! A definite must have. We all had salads and we all found them to be mostly uninspired and tasteless. For a main dish, I had a ribeye with a ragout. My steak was cooked perfectly, however I must admit the ragout was horrible. Not only in presentation, but taste as well. Chris had the mahi-mahi that came with baby potatoes. The potatoes were good, but the mahi-mahi was very bland. Out of our group of 11, only two people enjoyed their dishes. Those two people had the same dish, the filet with mashed potatoes and asparagus. I wouldn't say the food was bad, just the majority of what we had wasn't up to par with restaurants we've visited in the past.

I can't comment on dessert because none of us had any. We were not offered any. This leads me to explain the service we received. As I said above, our waiter was pretty non-existent at our table. Our drinks were not refilled, sans once by the bus boy. We were very surprise at the lack of service our group received, considering we've dined out as a group at many different places around the St. Louis area and have never had a problem with service that was this bad. After dinner, we waited so long for coffee and dessert that we actually witnessed other waiters putting the desserts away in the coolers. (One of the pluses or minues of having an open kitchen.) Finally, after we had been done with dinner for about 30 minutes or so, we went down to speak with the manager regarding our service. Basically, we were given many excuses as to why our waiter wasn't attentive to us, and then the 11 of us were offered (1) gift card of $25 and free dessert. That's about $2.72 per person! What a deal. We just asked for our check. After this point, our waiter actually came up to confront us about our complaint. He began yelling at one of our members. At this point, it was just surreal. We told him that it was extremely unprofessional and again, asked for our check. It took another 20 minutes to get our checks. We ended up cutting the $25 gift card in half when we left. That was extremely insulting.

The following day, I sent an email to the owner, Pablo and another one of our members called him. This is the weird part. He apologized profusely and told both of us that our waiter was going to be fired as a result of this because apparently he had a track record of bad service. Pablo then told me he was going to shoot me back an email and he hoped we would return to Kitchen K to try it out again. As of this morning, I have not received a reply from Pablo. During our call, he asked me not to write a bad review about this restaurant.

There's no doubt in my mind that should I return, perhaps during lunch that I would not receive the same horrible service. However, I'm very hesitant due to the service we received from the dining room manager. We were never apologized too, and that's the major beef we have. In no way am I saying Pablo is responsible for what happened, however I feel that service is top priority when dealing with the public is your main focus. I can deal with bad food, if the service is top notch. Unfortunately at this point, none of us plan on returning to Kitchen K. However, I do encourage you to find out for yourselves. My recommendations are the Blood Orange Cosmo, and the Habanero Wings. My hope would be that you would have a better experience than we did.

Observations and Other Things

This was an interesting week. Of course, there was Valentine's Day. Chris sent me the most beautiful flowers. There were red roses, pink Stargazer lilies, purple iris, and purple Matsumoto aster mix with red carnations. It was so pretty. Then, we went out to dinner at the Melting Pot. It was fabulous as always. Then, I got a $100 gift card to Studio Branca! Yay. It was a very nice day.

The announcement was finally made at work this week. Basically, myself and my boss are moving to a new group. As in, a brand new group that we're developing. So that's exciting. My old group is going under a new VP, who isn't all that popular with most of them. There was mixed reaction to the announcement. Some people have already decided they're going to look for new opportunities, and some people have just decided to have a pissy attitude about the whole situation. I'm excited though, and feel that it will really improve on how we run the business.

Wednesday we had our dining out group. Review coming soon. Enough said.

For about the past 8 days, we haven't been home before like 10pm. All this week I've been exhausted so I decided not to do a damn thing this weekend. Last night we rented 4 movies and vegged at home. We did get into a little argument with the lady at Blockbuster about this deal that they're running. Rent 1 new release and 1 non new release, 2 sodas and a pack of M&M's for $10. So, we rented Corpse Bride, Enron: Smartest Guys In the Room, Mr & Mrs Smith, and The Aristocrats. The lady told us we weren't eligible. Well, we argued that Mr. & Mrs. Smith technically isn't a current release. It was released in Nov. Anyway, she told us that ALL MOVIES ALONG THE WALL are new releases. We then asked her why Silence of the Lambs was considered a new release, as well as several old movies that were Academy Award winners. Anyway, she then said, "well, except those." Anyway the whole situation wasn't that big of a deal, but I'm a firm believer in the fact that if you're going to make an excuse, it better not be a lame excuse that I can find holes in. Period. But, I didn't feel like pushing the issue so we just paid $28 for our 4 movies and left.

That just reminded me of something that happened to me this week. Tuesday I was driving home from work, and I was on 270. It was bumper to bumper typical traffic and the car in front of me apparently didn't understand the concept of traffic. Soooo, she got out of her car and started yelling at me. She was little and old. It was odd. I just stared straight ahead and was a tiny bit freaked out. Then, part of me thought it was funny. Still a little freaked out, but at the same time, mildly entertained.

In other news, I leave for my cruise in 63 days. Yay. My little sister turns 21 next week. That's exciting. Unfortunately I won't see her for her birthday because our weekend is booked for next weekend. Friday we're going to see the PBR, Saturday we're going to Mardi Gras and Chris's work party, and Sunday, I forgot what we're doing.

Today, I'm still in my PJ's and I'm catching up on TiVo. That's all I plan on doing. Well, actually I might go out and get something to eat. That is all.

When Life Give You Acid...

Make cupcakes! That's what I did today. 74 of them to be exact. White and Devil's Food, with Strawberry, Buttercreame, and Chocolate icing. Then I decorated them. They (the first 48) came out a little something like this.

So, I think they came out pretty good. Chris did an official taste test and his comments were, "MmmMM these are good! So moist!" So, my fellow co-workers will get an early Valentine's Day treat tomorrow.

Other than cupcaking, I went to the grocery store today. Oh super exciting day! I know you all eagerly pull up my blog, just to read about my grocery shopping and cupcake making. However, that's all I've got right now. So suck it up and like it.

This week is going to be busy. Tuesday we're going to the Melting Pot for dinner, Wednesday is Dining Liberally at Kitchen K, Thursday I have class, and that puts us at Friday. A 4 day weekend for me, thanks to some dead presidents. Another week down will mean one week closer to my cruise. Sweet vacation!

Oh Sweet Stomach Acid

Last night didn't exactly turn out to be the fun night I had planned. We went to dinner at Barcelona, which was fine. We ate, we drank, we conversed. After dinner, we left to head to The Royale. On the way there, I started to really really bad indigestion. I popped a few Rolaids and we went inside. It didn't get better. I was in some serious pain. So, we ended up leaving. Chris was freaked out and though I was having some sort of heart problem, but his Mom (a nurse) thought I was in the clear. Anyway, I got home and started taking some more Rolaids and some Pepcid. It didn't get better. This went on for hours. Finally, I felt like I had to puke, and puke I did. Every single morsel of food that I had eaten yesterday came up. Okay, so I felt a little better. I went back to bed, took another Pepcid and laid down. About an hour later, I started feeling bad again. At this point, it was about 2:30am. Chris got up and went out to get me some Maalox, thinking that would help. When he got back, I took a swig, and 30 seconds later, managed to puke up all the liquid I had in my stomach. Amazingly, after the second round of puking, I felt 90% better. I finally got to sleep around 4:30am. What a crappy night.

Now, I need to take a shower and go to the grocery store. That's sad though because I'm afraid to eat. So, I'm sure it'll work it's acidy self out.

Jerks.

My friend Kara got dumped this week. Not just outright dumped though. Let me explain. She has been seeing this guy for a year. He's a loser. See, Kara comes from a pretty privileged background. She's got her shit together. This guy comes from a sketchy background. He's lied various times, there are 2 kids he has that he doesn't see, blah blahblah the drama goes on and on. Anyway, awhile back, Kara loaned him $1000. She realizes now that she never should have done that, but love makes us do crazy, crazy things. Anyway, this guy was living with some friends (rent free) and a while back he sorta moved in with Kara. Not moved in, as in all his stuff. More like moved in a rubbermaid tub full of his clothes. (On a side not, I think this is probably all he owns.) Anyway, he didn't pay her back, and he didn't pay her back, and he didn't offer to help out with rent or bills, etc. So, around Christmas he gave her half the money back. Okay, great. Things were looking better. Fast forward to Thursday. She comes home and finds a note and her key. His note said that he needed a 'break' and that he felt he wasn't pulling his weight financially so he was moving out. He also said that he needed to "concentrate on finding a better job" because he hates his current job. Now, obviously this upset Kara because she really cared about this guy. However, I called bullshit. I think that is a weak excuse and really, it doesn't even make sense. Oh, did I forget to mention that in his note that was left on Thursday, that he said he'd drop by the remaining $500 on Friday before he went to work (he works nights)? Needless to say, he didn't drop off the check.

Kara went out with Tama last night and she came to the realization that she was upset the most because nobody has ever broke up with her. I can understand that. So, she has devised this plan to get him back, get her money, then break up with HIM. Clever you think? Me thinks not. I told her she would be playing with fire and that basically she just needed to break his kneecaps and get her money back. Afterall, that's what I would do.

Anyway, the point of this story is that sometimes you guys can be super pricks. I feel bad for Kara because I know she really liked this guy, even though we as her friends did not. However, I respected him and was friendly to him, because my friend liked him. So, anyway, I hope she cheers up soon and gets over this guy. He's not worth even thinking about afterall.

Tonight is the Kat & Steve DJ Experience at the Royale. If you get a chance, you should check it out. Should be a good time! Plus, if you haven't had it yet, you need to have a Subcontinental. Yummy! Actually, most of their drink menu is yummy! So check, check, check, check, check it out.

I guess I'm going to pull my ass out of this warm bed and get dressed. I'm going to go to the mall and look for dresses for my cruise. Woohoo!

My Fix

Mmmmm vacation. Tonight, I booked our trip to Nassau for Melissa's wedding. With all this trip booking, you'd think I was doing lines of coke. I'm so freaking excited it's not funny. My heart is beating really fast from all this excitement.

Tonight I finished up a chapter of homework for Algebra. Since last Saturday, it's taken me 10 hours to get this chapter done. If it wasn't for the vacation stuff, I probably would have lost my mind way before the 10 hours were wasted. The good news is that after class tomorrow, I only have 2 more classes left. This is one class that I won't miss.

This is sort of random, but who in the hell calls Schnucks, "The Rose Experts?" I just saw a commercial where they stated this. When I think of Schnucks, I think of groceries and the little drummer boy. Not roses. Gosh. Idiots.

Did I mention we're going back to Barcelona on Saturday? Mmm Sangria and tapas!

I realize this isn't a very interesting post. All I can say is, suck it. I can't think of anything interesting to say. I can't talk about work because the announcement hasn't been made yet, and I don't really have anybody to talk about, because oddly enough I haven't been that enraged by anyone lately. Sad, but true. I guess I'm having bloggers block. Heh. That kinda sounded retarded. Maybe I'm just retarded.

Vacation Time Baybee!

Cruise has been booked and paid for. April 22nd I will be leaving for 8 days going to Nassau, Half Moon Cay, San Juan, St. Thomas, and the Turks & Caicos. Yippee! This is a girls cruise, so it will surely be a blast! Then, the first weekend of May, Chris and I will be going to Nassau for Melissa and Tony's wedding. Ah, glorious vacation!

This weekend we will be back at the Royale for Kat & Steve's guest dj appearance. I think before we get our drink on, we're going to head to Barcelona (again!). Should be a good weekend.

In other news, I only have 3 more weeks of Algebra! After doing at least 3 hours of homework each night since Saturday, I'm more than ready for this crap to be over. It sucks I tell ya!

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. I've been away doing too much.

So Valentine's Day is coming up boys! Have you ordered your flowers and purchased a good gift for that special lady in your lives? If not, you should do so soon!

Last Night

Barcelona was soooo good. Everything was so savory and the sangria's go down way too easy. After Barcelona, Melissa and I hooked up with Kara and Tama and went to Corwin's, then Syberg's for kareoke, then after Syberg's closed, we headed over to the east side. Yeah, I went to the east side. Believe it. Our intentions were to go to Diamond Caberet. Apparently none of us got the memo that Diamond doesn't exist anymore. Plus, it was $10 to get in, and beers were apparently $6 each. Um, forget it! So, we went to the Oz. I've never been there before and I doubt I'll be going back. It was smoky and gross and there were too many handsy weirdo's there. We ended up crashing at Kara's at around 5am. Mel and I shared the couch. Amazingly, it was comfy. That was my Saturday night. What did YOU do?

I got home this morning, took a shower (I smelled like a giant freaking ashtray), then got some sleep. I'm feeling pretty good now. I need to finish icing my cupcakes to take to the superbowl party tonight. My meatballs are cooking and all I need to do is straighten the rats nest that calls itself my hair.

Change In Cheese Plans

Good news! Yesterday my cheese got moved back. Well, or maybe I got moved with my old cheese. Either way, I'm extremely happy. I promise I'll explain the whole thing, once the announcement comes out.

Last night we went to happy hour at Casa in Westport with some friends, then ended up having dinner there. It was nice and I had a good time. Today, I need to get dressed, because it's 10:46am and I'm still in my jammies. Then, I need to go to the dry cleaners and go to a certain huge warehouse of food and useless junk I'll probably end up buying and get a few things for the Superbowl party we're going to tomorrow. Then, I'm coming home to attempt to do a few chapters worth of homework. Tonight, my bestest friend Melissa is coming up from Springfield and we're going out to dinner. I'm excited about that if you were wondering!

That is that. I need to go get dressed before I lose the urge.