From the Blog of Unnecessary Quotes
All the more funny because all my New Mexico folks know that Clines Corners is definitely NOT worth stopping for.
Unless you have to pee
or
you’ve been driving that vast wasteland up highway 285 from Roswell and you just HAVE to see another human being to assure yourself that other humans still exist in the world.
But other than that…..
A few weeks ago, one of our beloved Betta fish took ill (as Bettas are wont to do).
At wits end wondering how to help our little female fish through the rough spot, The Good Man consulted with a fairly fish knowledgeable employee at the store where we got the Betta.
Most fish owners will just dump an antibiotic like Tetracycline into the tank and hope for the best. Not knowing exactly what is wrong, we didn’t want to go that route.
The pet store guy recommended something called Betta Revive as a first defense.
It covers a broad spectrum of low-level medications to address a whole host of potential fish illnesses.
One of the main ingredients in this remedy is Methylene blue.
For those a little short on their anti-psychotic knowledge, Methylene blue, also known as Thorazine, became a heavily favored drug for psychiatric use in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Apparently, it also has an antifungal effect, so is included in the fish remedy to ward off the dreaded Ich.
We got the Betta Revive and made up a fresh batch of water and added the remedy. Predictably, it turned the water a nice shade of medium blue. Pretty much the color of airplane toilet water.
We floated our sick fish in the blue water, changing it daily, for about a week. She’s mostly recovered and is eating again, which is a good sign.
I’m blathering on about blue water to get to a point. It’s coming, don’t lose me now….
Over this past weekend my body decided to avoid the holiday rush and succumb to a nasty early winter cold.
It the usual stuff, runny nose, sinus pressure, achy joints, low-grade fever and a raging, uncontrollable cough.
I feel like crap and I’m a little depressed. In an effort to cheer myself up, I took a nice hot bath last night.
While soaking, I thought to myself, “Hey, I wish I had some of the blue water to soak in. I don’t know if what I have is viral or bacterial, so a broad spectrum fix might be just the ticket!”
I mean hell, it’ll make my scales lay down nicely and the Thorazine will help me feel aaallll right about the world.
I asked The Good Man if I could soak in some blue water. Gonna have to get a big container of the stuff, but I’m ready!
He gave me that one-eyed squinty look that says, “I’m just going to nod my head and walk away.” And so he did.
I may be sick, but my creative brain is always working out the angles. Even if The Good Man doesn’t buy into all of my (fabulous) ideas.
Yesterday I used this blog as my confessional. I had to get that story off my chest because it had been top of my mind since it all happened Wednesday night.
Once I published that post, I had to remind myself that really, all in, my day on Wednesday was incredible (in a good way). It’s time I make sure that I don’t let the end of the evening cast a pall on rest.
So now that the yucky stuff is off my mind, let’s talk about the good part.
The event I attended on Wednesday night was one of the largest and most overwhelmingly fun corporate events I’ve ever seen.
And let me say this, I once worked for a company that rented out AT&T ballpark for the company Christmas party, ok? So I’ve seen some huge corporate sponsored events!
They got nothing on this.
The event, as mentioned, was a “customer appreciation party” and it was held out on Treasure Island.
For those not familiar with the Bay Area, Treasure Island is a man made island, created for the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939.
Treasure Island sits at about the halfway mark of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. To get to the island you take an exit off the bridge.
I was included as an extra special guest of one of the main sponsors of the event, so I got a hard to obtain ticket that got me to the island an hour before everyone else.
It was, literally, a carnival. But everything was free. Since we were among the first on the island, there were also no lines.
Imagine going to a carnival and NOT waiting for the ferris wheel! Or not standing in line for cotton candy! I walked up said “yes please” and they put a corn dog, French fries and a big bag of cotton candy in my hands.
And it was a GOOD corndog. Have you any idea how long it has been since I had a really good corndog?
Prior to the corndog (thankfully) I was coerced into riding one of those Drop Zone rides. The kind where there is a central tower and you strap in to the seats, then it takes you up to the top and drops your ass back down?
Yeah. I hated it.
I screamed a single curse word in one long note the entire journey downward.
The gentleman working the ride said, as he let me off the ride, “I like you, you say what’s in your heart.”
Vowing no more rides, I switched to playing all of the carnival games. You could play as many times as you wanted over and over.
And STILL I couldn’t manage to win anything. *sigh*
Then, after a while the good food came out. Tables of fancy and delicious treats of all kinds. We ate our fill and partook of the free flowing beverages as well.
Then, around 7:00, the music began, and by music, I mean full on concerts held at two different stages, one indoors, one outside.
We started with English Beat. Ok, I’m a child of the 80’s, I knew some of their stuff and they were pretty good.
Next up was Berlin. I’m a huge fan of Terri Nunn. She is a goddess, so I was pretty happy to see Berlin live, though I’d seen them play before. They put on a great show. Ms. Nunn knows how to work the crowd and had everyone enchanted.
Now that the music was really going, it was time to start making some choices. They had acts going on both stages and you had to pick which show to attend.
The main acts of the night were the Black Eyed Peas on the outside stage and Don Henley inside.
I talked it over with my group including my boss and several coworkers. They all wanted to see Black Eyed Peas. Look, I don’t mind the Peas…but we’re talking Don Henley here.
One other woman in the group said she wanted to see Henley too, so we walked away to choruses of “you guys are so OLD.”
No matter. I’ll cut to the chase. Don Henley put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Like…top ten concerts of my life (<--I should do a blog post on that). Let me tell you right now…Don Henley is 63 years old. I once heard Billy Joel talking about how, as he aged, he couldn’t hit the high notes anymore. Don wasn’t having that problem. Think about the song “I Can’t Tell You Why” and all the high parts. He sang ’em. Every one. Nary a crack in his voice. It wasn’t just that he sang all the songs that I knew, it was that one, his backup band was amazingly tight, and two, he had a certain way of capturing the audience every step of the way. Captivating is a good word to describe. This guy is a genius. I went in saying “yeah, I like Don Henley pretty good” and came out swearing my allegiance and praising him to the ends of the earth. A. Mazing. After that was a choice between Steve Miller Band and Montgomery Gentry. Although I would have liked to have seen Montgomery Gentry, it was midnight by that time and I had an early morning meeting. So I chose home over the last acts of the night. As mentioned, I spent the better part of an hour in line waiting for the shuttle bus, so I may as well have stayed. No matter. When I did finally get home and lay down in my bed, my ears were ringing and the refrains of “Desperado” were still singing in my head. And I gave thanks that I got to live such a good day in my life (shuttle bus incidents not withstanding).
Ms Terri Nunn onstage (on the screen) taken with my iPhone
“Thanks to the combination of mayonnaise-based foods and sunshine, your Labor Day celebration can actually last for several days!”
This thoughtful quote brought to you by Shoebox Blog.
As a manager of employees in the State of California, I am required, by law, to attend and complete some very lengthy and detailed courses designed to keep the workplace “appropriate.”
The courses are always very alarming because they teach to the worst possible examples, things that make you think “do people really do that?”
But it’s good. Having a safe, conflict free work environment is essential. Everyone has a right to feel comfy at the place where they spend the majority of time during their weekdays.
As a new hire, I recently completed the mandatory training for my new company.
It’s made me all very aware, very sensitive to potential “situations.”
That said, I almost walked right through all my training to drop a big hug on a coworker.
That coworker is the nice man working the grill at the company cafeteria.
Today’s special is fish and chips, one of my fave meals.
I figured they’d pull a pre-battered fish plank out of the freezer, dunk it in the fryer, and serve it up.
Fair enough, I’d still eat it.
But no.
After placing my order, the gentleman at the grill pulled two fresh fish filets out of the refrigerator. They were real fish filets, not some amalgam of fish parts.
Then he hand dipped them in batter and laid them gently in the fryer.
He then he served them golden brown over fresh-from-the-fryer, made just for me French fries he’s hand seasoned by tossing them in a big bowl.
When he handed me the plate, he smiled and said, “enjoy.”
Really, I almost wrapped him in a big bear hug.
He deserved it, California laws be damned!
