Parking with a side of blame

Today I decided to meet a former co-worker for lunch in uptown Charlotte.

As I maneuvered around the one way and some NO way streets of Charlotte, I landed what I thought to be a perfect parking spot in a great garage locale. It was just up the street from where I was going. Seriously about a one-two minute walk!

After lunch, I head back to my (perfect) parking spot and try to exit the garage. I hand the chick my ticket and expect to pay $5 ($3 for the first half hour, then $2 for every half hour after). I handed her my debit card at the same time I handed her my ticket. She runs my ticket, card, and as I look at the sign showing how much I owed, it said $20. I ask her before she hands me the receipt to sign, how much she charged me, she reaffirmed what I saw was true, she charged me $20 (the max amount if you stay the entire day). I asked her why, she said I had been parked for 700 something minutes. I was like "WHAT"!! I have only been here an hour...TOPS! Really only 57 minutes! Anyway, apparently the machine read the ticket wrong. My ticket said I got there at 12:18, and I told her well, it's only 1:16!! No more than an hour.

Inserting side note: lots of cars are lining up to leave at this point.

She has to call someone and ask what to do, as she mentioned to me, she was new! Thanks for the vote of confidence, that you can refund the $15 extra you ran my card for. As she has figured out I only owe $5 and is still speaking with a supervisor on how to handle a refund, I see in my side mirror that a gentleman in the far east Indian nationality, steps out of his car and approach my window offering to pay or something, saying that I was going to cost him his job, and the job of the guy in the car with me. I really don't know what he expected of me because my hands were tied! The chick still had my debit card, I couldn't move my car because the gate was still closed, and I WANTED MY DAMN MONEY BACK!!

Eventually she received clearance to just give me $15 in cash back for my refund. Finally she gives me the receipt to sign, then my card and cash back. Problem solved, but I am sort of pissed at the retard behind me! Here is my message to him:

Excuse me sir, if you and your lunch buddy are going to lose your jobs because of the lady messing my parking up, then I have news for you....It's your fault. If you are in a job where you can get fired for returning to lunch late, then don't go to a place in uptown where you must park in a garage to eat!!!!! Or maybe you should have cut your lunch 5 minutes short to take into consideration for parking (it's lunch, and there MAY be a line) or traffic. So Sir, it's it your fault, and don't go blaming me because you have poor time management skills! Also yell at the lady in the parking booth! NOT ME!!!!!!

I really hate people sometimes! They act like their lives are so much more important than anyone else, and that I wanted to be the one that the lady messed up on! Seriously, I didn't expect or want to be sitting there that long either.

Mr Indian man in your silver car in the preferred parking deck near McCormick and Schmidt's, KISS MY WHITE ASS, and I kind of hope you get in trouble at your job, because you dear sir, ARE AN ASS!!!!!

Be Professional Please

So here is my current issue with people! Professionalism!!

This is an incident that really set me off, and gasp at the same time:

Setting: The Wynn/Las Vegas/NASCAR Awards week

Issue: someone of (not mentioned agency) for (Championship) sponsor, was walking around on the casino floor with a nice dress on, BUT NO SHOES!!!

Here is the conversation I want to have with this not mentioned person: Honey, Honey, Honey, pull your shit together!! I don't give a damn how bad the shoes hurt your feet! Put them back on and suck it up. Fashion is pain! When you are attending a company event, you don't take your shoes off! Slap on some band aids and keep on trucking! There are NO exceptions to wearing shoes! Shoes...NOT OPTIONAL...MANDATORY!

There are a few other tidbits I want to share with others on professionalism in my opinion.

1. Travel attire. If you are traveling on the company dime, please wear something pulled together. I am not telling you to wear a suit, keep it in line with normal office attire. Sweatshirt, jeans and flip flops is not acceptable!! You don't know who you will come across, for God's sake take pride in yourself and the company you represent.

2. Pictures on Facebook of playing at work. Seriously, I can't believe I even have to mention this, but yes, I have come across this. For goodness sake, don't take a picture of you goofing off and playing around at the track. Being at the track is work!! Put on your big girl pants and stop taking posey pose (STUPID) High school pictures of yourself.

These things bother me mainly because I don't have a job and unprofessional people have them. I know how to handle myself at, away, and traveling for work. I don't see why others don't get this!!!

Okay...that was my soap box for today!!

Reasons why today was a good day

1. I took a shower

2. I didn't have to press the shock button to my dogs collar (yet!)

3. The new Southern Living issue arrived in the mail today

4. I got called to come in for an interview tomorrow

5. I got a letter from unemployment saying I got an extra week tacked on the end of my extension (just in case the interview goes to the shitter tomorrow, I will need that)

6. I haven't gone completely comatose from Dayquil and Nyquil

7. I finished the book Such a Pretty Fat, by Jen Lancaster (recommended read)

Birthday to Remember

So I returned from my long red eye back from Vegas at about 8 am. Well due to the snow storm that hit the Carolinas while I was away, Charlotte and surrounding areas were white!

When I got to my car at Long Term 2 Parking, it was covered with ice and snow. I had to scrape, and then scrape some more. After all that, the roads were manageable...Thank you City of Charlotte.

When I finally get home...NOT a thank you to the city of Huntersville, as they did not salt the road and cul de sac of the main road that goes to my house.

Attempt #1. I drive to my house like I normally do. But don't make it up the hill as my car starts sliding backwards

Attempt #2. I back down the hill and get my tires dry, and then gun it and aim up the hill and into my drive way. SUCCESS!!! I made it into my driveway. I park and pull the emergency brake, sit in the car for a bit, and well, all seems well, its not moving.

I go into my house with my bags and unpack, change out of my clothes that I have on since I left Vegas. Let my dog out and feed him. Just normal stuff I do around the house in the mornings. As I walk past my large front window and look out, I DON'T SEE MY CAR!!!! Well I could see it when it WAS PARKED IN MY DRIVEWAY!!!! I grab the first shoes I could find (bedroom shoes) and run out the door with my keys. I see two neighbor girls that were at home because school was closed, they were coming over to tell me that they saw my car rolling down the hill. I looked at the little girl horrified and asked, "Did it hit anything?" She said no that it just stopped in the middle of the road.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU GOD!!!!! It hit nothing!

About 5 hours later when the sun had been out for awhile and melted the snow of the road, I was able to drive it back up the hill, this time to park in on the culdesac behind my boyfriends "extra" car (it's a POS). This time I think it's not going anywhere, at least if it rolls it will hit his car and not go anywhere.

After about 30 minutes I look out the window to see how it's doing, oh What the HECK....it's touching his car! It slid yet again.

What fun? After that I spent the rest of the day de-icing my driveway with a shovel and water, and I was finally able to get the car up the driveway and into the garage.

What a birthday!!

Birthday Trip to Vegas

“Happy Birthday make a mess, Happy Birthday wear a dress, “is the text message I got from my sister the night before we depart for Vegas. If this is any indication, Vegas won’t know what hit it! Why you ask?
Because first, It’s the Annual Girl’s Birthday trip.
Second, my sister turns 30.
Third, my sister, drunk, in Vegas!!! My sister is the type that will grab your drink and finish it if you are taking too long to finish it yourself. You may ask what is too long. Well, to my sister if you are sipping on your cocktail of choice like a sophisticated lady instead of guzzling it like a freshman sorority girl, then you are taking too long. Just think, if you are gambling, the drinks are free, which will equal a very drunk Rachel!!
Fourth, two redheads and one Italian, experiencing Vegas together in adulthood. My sister and I were both in Vegas together once, but we both were still wearing kids clothes. I have been to Vegas twice in adulthood, and Daniela has been to Vegas a few times in adulthood as well. But, we will be going together this time.
We arrive noon Vegas time on Friday and leave at 11 pm Sunday night. I don’t feel like doing the math on how many hours that is, because frankly I woke up at 5:30 AM and am on a plane (posting when I change planes in Houston, cause NO Continental Airlines doesn’t have wifi), and haven’t had enough coffee to make my brain function yet.
Oh yeah, and I strategically picked seat 1A on my flight to Houston so that I could be the first off the plane. I am a person that really hates waiting (trying to work on the patience thing in life, flying patience will be attended to later), so I like to sit as close to the door as possible so that I can get off the plane quickly and not have to wait for all the slow people to get their luggage out of over head bins. Well, due to some weight balance issues they had to move people. Okay, just me! I am not sure if I should be offended that my weight is throwing off an entire airplane. Hmmmm…..

Year One

I made it, I actually survived it. Who would have thought it? I didn’t, and guess what; there wasn’t medication beyond month one.

I lost my Daddy (any man can be a father, but only a special person can be a Daddy) a year ago today. A piece of me died with him. I won’t lie, I really wanted to curl up and go with him. I never thought I would know this world without him. Of course, I didn’t want to know this world without him in it, what little girl wants to experience marriage without her Dad giving her away on her wedding day? What girl wants to bear children without their grandfather to dote on them? I won’t lie, I felt cheated out of life the day he died.

Here is the weird part; the reality of him being gone has never set in. I still wake up every day still in shock…"holy shit, he is really not here anymore”. It’s like the movie “50 first dates.” I am sure that it’s me trying to cope and of course, having a major case of denial. Who wants to start facing reality that one of the most Important people in your life, someone you consider a best friend, a person that is an inspiration in your life, is no longer on this earth. So I think to myself, he's not really dead, he just went on one of his trips to Biloxi, this time for extended gambling!

I wish I could have better memories that run through my mind, but I am conflicted with rerunning his last day over and over. The memories of the hospital, the looks on everyone’s faces when my sister and I arrived to the hospital, the thoughts running through my mind when the doctor talked, me wanting to shake to doctor to speak English and not medical, I remember thinking over and over, “this can’t be happening”, and the I remember just wanting to run out of the building and get as far away as possible. If I am not there then it’s not happening!
Despite all that, I survived “Year One” without my Daddy. His phone number is still saved in my phone, but I survived, didn’t say I was willing to change some things!! Check back and see how “Year Two” goes. Maybe next year I can report that I can go back to wearing regular/non water proof mascara on a daily basis.

“You can shed tears that he is gone, or you can smile because he has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that he'll come back, or you can open your eyes and see all he's left. Your heart can be empty because you can't see him, or you can be full of the love you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. You can remember him only that he is gone, or you can cherish his memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back. Or you can do what he'd want: smile, open your eyes, love, and go on.”

College Game Day...The Big Finale

Today is the big day in college football. The day that all teams start out in August working toward, it's here.

Of course I am always sad when my UGA Bulldawgs aren't it in, but I am always happy when there is a SEC team in the game to represent our conference.

Everyone is getting pumped up for tonight's game, even celebrity spawn...Matthew McConaughey, who is very showy of his Texas Longhorn pride, even decked his son out in gear.

Hats off (A hounds tooth fedora to be exact) to AlaBAMA tonight. Bring it on home and keep in in the SEC!!

All bets on the Longhorns getting Roll(tide)ed over tonight!!