Drone of the Day

Food is one of my favorite things in the world. Sadly, I look forward to my next meal at all times! Besides the fact that it’s probably the underlying reason I have such a tough time losing weight, it’s a bit annoying – even to myself.

It is what it is though. I like food and I like looking forward to, and planning, my next meal. I have a lot of favorite restaurants that we go to. I almost always order the same thing at each of them. The very best restaurant (IMHO) is the one that delivers the same awesome food every single time!

Here are my top 10:

10. Bonfire. They have the best wood-fired pizza. They also have half priced drinks and appetizers after 9 so you can’t go wrong there! It’s also only 3 blocks from our house so my opinion is definitely influenced by that fact. They recently added crab cakes as a special and I hope they keep them on the menu because they were delish!

9. Wildfire in Eden Prairie. You can’t miss here. I pick them the best for lunch but they really do every meal fairly well. I like them better than Redstone as it seems they have more to choose from.

8. P.F. Changs. This is the place to go for good Chinese, drinks, and hanging out with friends. You can’t go wrong as long as you know what Chinese food you like!

7. Lake Elmo Inn. This place is off the metro track, but has unique food and the best desserts anywhere. If you are road-tripping to Stillwater or Bayport, go here for a great meal!

6. Kincaids. In St. Paul though, not so much in Bloomington. St. Paul does something different to their prime rib that makes it incredibly edible. Gotta have dessert here too!

5. Manny’s Steakhouse. Normally, I would say I don’t like Manny’s because it’s all about BIG food. I don’t like big food, just pretty food, so a huge steak or lobster is much less appealing to me in comparison to a small filet with spiraled onions and carrots on top. So, why Manny’s? Breakfast! We discovered breakfast there quite by mistake recently and I had the best breakfast I’ve ever had: Eggs benedict with prime rib as the meat. Heaven! And apparently, I have no aversion to big breakfasts, just big dinners.

4. Olive Garden. I know this isn’t a fancy restaurant, but you just can’t beat their Fettuccini Alfredo, breadsticks, and salad. The ambiance could improve, but if you are in a social mood, it’s all good.

4. Chianti Grill. This used to be Ciatti’s but it is now much fancier and the wait staff is always awesome. The food is pretty dang good here and I enjoy their Chicken Marsala.

3. Porter Creek Hardwood Grill. This is a newer restaurant in Burnsville. It’s owned by the same owners as Doolittle’s but they have awesome food and also great ambiance. I highly recommend their Pappardelle Pasta – Yum City!

2. St. Paul Grill. This is a fabulous place to eat if you’re in St. Paul. Awesome Filet Mignon and desserts – two of my favorite things! Also, try the Cosmo – but don’t have two if you’re driving!

And my favorite of all time?

1. Ruth’s Chris. They make the most perfect and tasty Filet Mignon in the Twin Cities. They can also be counted on at all their other locations. They are always good, and always get it right. I love Ruth’s!

What’s your favorite restaurant?

As I get older, I find myself doing stranger and stranger things in order to avoid germs.

I try to open bathroom doors in public places with my sleeve. If it is a “push” door, I don’t use the metal plate…I push the center of the door because I think less people touch there.

I try to use the same stall in the bathroom at work. We have two and I use the small one (the non-handicap one) because I think less people use it so I figure there are less germs.

I generally use the stall closest to the sinks in public places because I think less people use them because you can see their feet.

When I dry my hands, I love the no-touch fresh towel dispensers the best. If it’s a “crank-down to dispense”, I rip off a piece and then cover the crank part with it so I don’t touch it after the first crank. (Yes, I know, I already touched it once!)

I have been known to turn off faucets with my elbow.

It’s scary to think how much time I waste thinking about these things!

The official term is Mysophobia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysophobia which is a type of OCD.

I checked out what the Urban Dictionary calls a Germaphobe:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Germaphobe

Essentially, if you wash your hands hourly, you are one. They also mention turning on faucets with elbows. Hmm…

If you really want a chuckle, see definition 4 in the Urban Dictionary…

It really doesn’t make much sense when you realize that on weekends and holidays I spend my day cleaning up after dogs. I live with two dogs, three cats, a husband, and a mother-in-law, and I really don’t exhibit these behaviors at home.

For some reason, my brain has decided that people are not clean but animals are. I have certainly witnessed people not washing their hands after going to the bathroom. I have even witnessed people faking washing their hands! I know – WTH?!

People carry germs. They get them from their kids too and I don’t have time for the flu and I don’t want a cold! On the flip side, I’m the one who came down with a parasitic virus that knocked me out for three weeks from cleaning up after sick dogs! Still, my brain has decided.

But I’m not a Germaphobe. I’m just reasonably cautious, right?

Are you a Germaphobe?

I have had about 30 seconds of fame so far. I count fame as pretty much anything that gets your name or face on TV or in the news.

The sad thing is that my first 8 seconds of fame is stored on a video tape! I was sitting in Brit’s Pub when a TV crew came in and started interviewing people about a story coming out of England regarding an 18 year old nanny (au pair) who was charged with murder when a child she was watching drowned in a bathtub. For some reason, I spoke up and defender her because she was just a child herself. Well, that got me a bright light and camera and they asked me to repeat what I said. It’s pretty funny to me because I can see my friend I was sitting next to leaning to stay out of the picture and my cigarette smoking from the ashtray on the other side. I don’t even know if I made any sense. It was quite embarrassing actually!

I can’t even count when I got my name in the paper for my hole-in-one. I guess my name was in print though! Also, when I was a child, I won a “Best in Show” at the dog show in Scott County and got my very bad picture in the paper for that. Again, I’m not really counting that.

The second time was a couple of years ago when I got interviewed by Leah Beno from Fox 9. They were doing a story about the Humane Society wanting to purchase a building by ours and wanted our opinion. It was a tricky one because we wanted to show support for the humane society in case they did move next door, but we didn’t really want them there in case they competed with us. I probably got about 20 seconds out of that one.

This Sunday, hubby gets his first shot in a very long time. He will be on Fox 9 with Ian Leonard interviewing him about our nationwide contest to find “Bad Dogs”. He’s nervous but I saw the interview and he will do fine. We’ll see if he can top my 30 seconds though…(ha!)

If the saying holds true, I have a lot of time left to be famous! These days I sure hope I’m not famous from a scary picture that goes viral but I guess I can just hope for the best and try not to let any of my skeletons loose. We shall see!

I’d love to hear your story. Have you had your 15 minutes?

Personally, I like them both but there is definitely a difference and I do have a preference.

Pepsi usually wins the head-to-head taste test. I saw many of these growing up working summers at the local amusement park. I believe they win because they are the sweeter option. Doesn’t the sweet tooth usually win? Especially at the amusement park!

Coke is more peppery (IMO) so those of you who prefer vegetables to ice cream will probably choose Coke. Hence, the Pepsi advantage.

There is a huge difference if we’re talking out of a can or bottle vs. a fountain too. Since Pepsi is the sweet one, the sweetness is exaggerated when coming out of a fountain because of the syrup mix. This makes Coke sweet too, so I don’t mind it so much as a fountain pop. The fountain also removes carbonation which is to Coke’s advantage.

One thing I don’t like about fountain pop though, is that too often the ratio of carbonation to syrup is off and then it tastes like root beer! I don’t like root beer and it definetly ruins the taste of my Captain. This usually happens at the bar though and at your typical fast-food joint, the pop is mixed to perfection.

I do mind Coke out of a can or bottle. It’s way too carbonated and not sweet enough for this struggling dieter. I will always choose the diet-variety of either before the non-diet. I’m not sure which is worse, fake sugar or real sugar, but the fact is I don’t need any more calories.

Side note – yes, I know I should be drinking water instead but I pick my battles!

So for me, my preference is in the following order:

1. Fountain Diet Pepsi

2. Fountain Diet Coke

3. Diet Pepsi (can or bottle)

4. Diet Coke

5. Pepsi

6. Coke

Should have been an easy answer, but I’m not sure there is such a thing these days. I just know I loves me my diet Pepsi in a cup with a straw! Which do you prefer?

Coke or Pepsi?

I’m not a huge “snow” person. I don’t hate it either though. That’s probably why I like this winter.

One reason I don’t like it because of my stupid-steep driveway. Any driveway that you have to “take a run at” every time it snows can get to be a little annoying. If you live in Minnesota, it can get to be A LOT annoying! Both me and my hubby have to have 4-wheel drive vehicles or we can’t get up the driveway if it snows more than two inches. I’m not a big fan of driving around in the snow but I do anyway. I’ve always been the one who shows up to work no matter how much snow we have. Yes, even the famous Halloween blizzard of ‘91. I showed up. This year has been great for driving so far. Today is the first snow that actually slowed my drive down into work. It took me about two hours to get in. It was nice just sitting and listening to the radio for a while though. And, I don’t care if I was late for my meeting. Everyone knew traffic was bad so I had a built in excuse.

Scraping snow off of my car, however, sucks. I’d much rather burn a half a tank of gas and crank the heat while it all melts off than scrape or brush it off. Fortunately, I married right on that one and only have to scrape and brush when hubby’s not along for the ride.

The last thing I don’t like is that it’s cold. If it snowed at 75 degrees, I’m sure I’d love it. I spent enough time for an entire lifetime outside in the snow as a kid. I’m done. It was fun, but it was cold. Too many times I came in and ran my feet under the cold water faucet to thaw them out. I couldn’t use the warm water because it hurt! I never figured out why that was the case but it was a fact, that’s for sure. I hate the cold.

I do love the prettiness of snow. Turning all the brown to white, looking up into the dark sky when it snows at night, and pine trees covered in snow all give me that happy feeling that Mother Nature is awesome.

I also love a white Christmas. We didn’t get one this year and that was okay, but I wouldn’t be able to stand it if that happened every year. Fortunately, I’m a Minnesotan so there’s nothing to worry about there!

So, all in all, I’m not a huge fan but I can appreciate those who are.

Do you love the snow?

I have a number of small meaningless items that are bugging me right now. None of them are important at all. My theory is if I write them down and get them off my chest, I will feel better for sharing and then be able to move on.

1. From the time I reached my full height, I wore size 6 shoes. I wore them for many years. I did like my shoes tight back then so it was understandable when I moved to a 6 ½. Then, after I started running, I needed to move to a size 7. I told myself that as you get older, your feet flatten out and running just helped that along. Plus, you want bigger shoes when you run to prevent blisters. Now my 7’s are snug! I actually bought some 7 ½ shoes the other day! If this keeps up, I’ll be wearing size 14 shoes by the time I’m 80 and they will bury me in a clown suit. That bugs me.
2. Laundry. Does it ever end? Okay, I know the answer is a sound NO, but sometimes I wish it would just go away. When is science going to create clothing that washes itself while it hangs? Wouldn’t it be great if everyone had a built-in dry cleaning line? You could just hang your clothes on a hook as you take them off and press a button and they come out the other side the next day ready to go! It would be a great invention…but I don’t think the clothes makers of the world will ever let it happen because then we’d only own one pair of jeans. I’m only doing laundry for two people. How can we have three full loads a week? That bugs me. (Hats off to those of you with kids, I can’t even imagine…)
3. Opening doors. I always open the door for the person coming out of the coffee shop with their hands full of coffee. Don’t you? Apparently some people are too lost in their own selves to be nice. Most people are nice and hold it open, but to those of you who aren’t: You bug me.
4. Cube-ville. I’ve discovered that the reason I don’t like working in a cube is that I can’t stand the mindless and wasteful chatter around me. I don’t care about the football game or what you’re doing for lunch. I like to come in and work on my computer and not burn 30 minutes chatting. Okay, I know, I’m an introvert and not the norm here but I just have to say it. It bugs me.
5. Speaking of football, I’m so glad this season is almost over. I actually don’t mind watching a game a week and enjoy rooting for the home team (sad as they may be). What I can’t handle is watching pre-game, post-game, the early game, the late game, the Monday night game, the Thursday night game, and all the talking heads in between. I know this may offend the football fans out there but I can’t believe anyone has time for that! You MUST have something better to do. Maybe I’m jealous that I don’t have the time. Either way, it bugs me.
6. My garage door. Half the time it doesn’t go all the way down and I have to futz with it until it does. Up and down, half way down, oops, back up, stop, down, almost down, nope back up…AAAAAAH! Even though it’s probably my fault for my air-headed moment of closing it as I was backing out instead of waiting until I was out (yeah, I know, I’ll never live that one down), it still bugs me.
7. Hot flashes. Knock on wood, they have subsided for now. I think. I went through quite a bout last year and then they stopped. Then they suddenly returned about two months ago and now they’ve stopped again. I keep feeling warm and thinking “are they back?!” I hope not. I wish I knew. It’s bugging me.

What’s bugging you?

I keep thinking I’m going to “catch up”.

Catch up on my sleep. Catch up on my to-do list. Catch up on my blog. Catch up on work.

 I keep reading (on facebook) and hearing from all my friends that they are having the same issues! Why are we so busy?

 Is it because the world has gotten too demanding and we are all trying to keep up?

Is it because we are all at the stage where we are still trying to do everything for ourselves, stay in control, and not ask for help?

Is it because technology is forcing everyone to respond faster, or maybe just making it harder to prioritize?

Is it because we keep taking on more and more because we want to do more and more and eventually we can’t get anything done?

Oh boy. That last one sure seems to fit. I have so many plans! I want to sleep in and feel refreshed, yet I want to get my laundry done. I want to enjoy my meal, but I have to get to the game on time. I want to get my work done so I can enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Here’s the problem though. In all scenarios above, I can’t really do both. I end up doing a half-ass job of everything and nothing is done to my satisfaction.

Maybe I’m just an optimist and put too much on my plate. I can really see how some people I know ended up checking-out of the rat race because of this phenomenon.

And so, with all these thoughts in mind, I contemplate my 2012 resolutions. I have 5 big resolutions this year. I really want to prioritize them and get them done!

1. Lose the weight. I need to drop 25 pounds. In order to do that, I need to drop 30 pounds total because I know I will “bounce” when I get there. I had an okay start on this but I did slip up last weekend and went the wrong direction, but I’m back on the horse today. I need to do this for my mental health as well as my physical health! I have to thank my Girls for helping me with this one too. Without them, it is much harder to do.
2. Increase revenues of the business by 10%. This is doable. Last year was an 11% increase. The tough part is keeping the costs down at the same time. This is a constant balance of paying bills, scheduling employees, and marketing events. If we can increase our revenues by 10% and keep costs the same, I am so much closer to being able to quit my “day job” and open another camp I can taste it! (really, it might be a couple of years though)
3. Weekly Blogs. I’m already behind on this one but the day job has been horrendous of late and hubby has needed some care so I’m a bit behind. I’ve posted once and it’s the third week of the year! This is my second post and its Monday though, so if I post again by Friday, I’m back on track.
4. Write 100 songs. Yeah, I know! Where the heck did that come from?! I don’t know if it’s stress or my own little middle-age crisis, but I’ve started writing songs. It actually started at the very end of last year but I’m carrying those over to this year. When I was young, I used to write songs but I lost it along the way. Something in me is bringing that alive again. I’ve written the lyrics to 14 songs to date. I think two of them are okay and some are crap but they are all complete. I have the tunes to all of them in my head but I haven’t actually written the music. That might have to wait until next year.
5. Catch up. Yes. I said it. There’s got to be a time when all the hard work pays off, right? I can see the end of the tunnel.
   1. Sell, donate, or throw, all the “stuff” out of the basement so we can start to finish it.
   2. Unload my mom-in-law’s house.
   3. Be able to say, if even just once, that the laundry is done, the house is clean, the bills are paid, and both jobs are caught up.

I think I can achieve these goals – but maybe that’s just the optimist in me! Am I taking on too much in this “can’t get anything done” lifestyle I’m in? Are you having the same problem? What do you think makes us all so busy and crazy?

What’s the deal?

Dearest readers, fans, and contributors (okay, I don’t have any fans or contributors really, and my readers are mostly me, myself, and I, but it sounded like I was someone for a second there),

I am happy to report that a friend of mine just assisted in resuscitating my blog! Thank you Steve for telling me about the Akismet plug-in! I had lost all hope due to over 2000 spam messages coming in – 5 or more every day – so I just quit. I know, that isn’t usually like me, but life is a little too busy sometimes and priorities get in the way so I just let it go.

I missed it though.

I missed having a relatively harmless vehicle for venting, ranting, and raving about anything that was getting me riled up.

I missed the little “wins” when I actually got responses. The fun feeling when I was able to either rile someone else up or get an “amen sista!”

I missed the excuse to not work…I found other excuses of course, but this was a good one.

So I’m back! For a while I hope. I have much to share since I haven’t spilled my guts to the world in almost a year. It is one of my resolutions now for 2012 to post weekly (or so) for a full year and see if I come up with enough rants and raves. I think I have it in me.

Okay, yeah, I know that very few, if any, will read my blog posts but it’s kind of like that tree falling in the forest thing… if no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound? If not, then my blog won’t make any noise either.

I think it makes a sound, do you?

My favorite day is FRIDAY!! Why? Because that’s when the weekend starts. Even Friday morning when still at work, I’m in a good mood. Only a few hours of drudgery until 5:00, right?! Plus, where I work, most people leave at 4:00 so I might as well leave too!

I guess I just love the feeling of upcoming goodness. Even if I have a lot of errands and tasks and ugly todos scheduled for the weekend, I know at least one good thing will happen…I’ll get to sleep in or I’ll get to vege-out at some point. I promise myself that. Worst case is Sunday night at 8:00 I will give up on my “list” of things I have to get done and just STOP. I completely look forward to it and then simply enjoy it.

That’s why today, I’m in a GREAT mood! It’s not Friday but I’m off on my vacation tomorrow so it’s that same great feeling. This time I know I will be able to sleep in, vege-out, and kick back for days on end. Yes, I’m still somewhat plugged in to work but not the whole time (my iPhone doesn’t work under water, haha!) So, I have a lot of work ahead of me today to make sure I get on that plane in the morning, then I’m gone for 12 fabulous days. Aloha!

What’s your favorite day?

Okay, I can take this two directions here.

The original SPAM^® is the “Spreadable Ham” that my lunch-lady put on a hamburger bun and called a “Spamburger”. As a kid, this was definitely an enjoyable lunch because it came with fries and pudding and your choice of 2% or chocolate milk. Yummy! Those were the days! The days before I considered how they actually make the stuff.

Sadly, those were also the days before it became a slang term for useless crap that ends up in my mailbox and on my blog. Interesting side note: the slang term actually came from a Monty Python skit about SPAM^® where they repeated it louder and louder until it drowned out everything else.

Since I manage five (yes 5) e-mails, you can see how spam might be a little frustrating. Fortunately, I have 4 of them under control and the other one I just have to clean up once a week. Why do I have 5? I have one for work, one for personal, one as an owner of my business, one that goes to the business to be (supposedly) managed by the employees, and one that’s my hubby’s for business. I don’t really have to do much with his, but I have to keep an eye on it so we don’t miss any important business communications. E-mail just isn’t one of his strong suits so it is what it is. He has plenty of other strong suits so it’s all good. Of course, I must admit my control-freakiness also probably plays a role. But I’m only trying to run a business, you know? Hey, if he wanted his own e-mail he can go out and create one, I’m not stopping him. I certainly can’t blame him for only wanting one though.

Then there’s the blog-spam. Is anyone else suffering with all these unwanted comments? It’s driving me crazy because I’m not savvy enough to figure out how to stop them. They’re coming in now like five or more times a day. What a pain! If you have any advice or suggestions that a non-blog-savvy person can understand, please bring them on! If you are suffering along with me, please share your pain. If you are an electronic bot spamming me with comments, then eff you!

What do you think of SPAM^®?