Animals

I have not yet heard back from Wal-Mart customer service.

I just upgraded to HD. My HD TV is beside itself with joy! Finally it is working in its field! Fulfillment is its!

I am learning that while everything looks better in HC. everyone does not. Its a little off-putting. I have dealt with the shock/horror by limiting my viewing to gorgeous nature shows on National Geographic. So far I have toured Africa, Siberia and the oceans of the world.  Animals are shocking beautiful in HD. Whales, Russian bears, mole rats, ravens,  reindeer - Did you know there are indigenous peoples in Siberia that ride reindeer like horses?  Or that they have talked the Masai warriors out of killing lions? By the way, the Masai are unbelievably gorgeous in HD. The people on E!, not so much.

What you learn when you get HD. I remember going to the Texas State Fair years upon years ago and standing in a long  line for the privilege of walking past a HD TV airing footage of  fruit spinning on a plate. When I was with Barney, people were having meetings in our conference room on how to use this new technology. Not for Barney, but for how to get the technology into TVs for home use. Ta da!

I have been coming home for lunch the past few days, I take Rocket out to pee, eat my lunch and go back to work. Rocket is dry when I come home. There has also knock wood been no new destruction during this time. I stopped coming home because it seemed like me coming home and then leaving again was very unsettleing for him and he was acting out by tearing things up and peeing on the floor.

I stopped coming home and while the destruction, apart from a single episode of him tearing down the blinds and cutting his mouth - it was less frequent. He was still either peeing in his box and bedding or peeing on the floor.Actually it went from peeing on the floor to peeing in the box on the bedding to removing the bedding from the box and either 1) peeing on the floor and covering it with the bedding or 2) removing the bedding from the box and peeing on it.  There is still a lot of pee getting on my hardwoods.

Coming home means less peeing in he room which would be a win for me, but it also seems like a step back to me and it also makes it feels like he won somehow and I don't like that.

I still write letters.

Dear Walmart,

On 1.11.14 I shopped Store 5292 at 20:46 :38

 My order was rung up and my goods were put into bags, I took my bags home. I got home and noticed that AGAIN I did not make it home with all my purchases because your clerk didn't give me all my bags. This happens al the time across every Walmart I shop at and I shop at a lot of Walmarts.

I believe it’s a way for the staff to add to their meager pay. I also see it as theft. I bought the products and I want them back. I am tired of Walmart stealing from me.

 I called the office at the time and was told that "Talking to these people is like talking to air" and that "A lot of management is friends with the staff" and that is why complaints go unanswered. It was suggested I speak with corporate.

The next time I come home with less then I should, I'm going to the police, because it is theft: I paid for goods and those goods were not given to me, so, theft. This might get attention to the problem. I will call the police and send them to your store and I will charge the clerk and the the manger who failed to train the clerk as the thieves.  And I’ll call the papers and go on the internet - Fun Fact : a lot of people hate Walmart and will love to hear about my idea. It could become a “thing”, like flashmobs. You can look forward to flash mobs and police calls. How fun for you. There will be a lot of police calls to your stores.

It will work better than calling the store. The police the know how to communicate with “air”.

 Also, I bought 5 items, I took home four bags. I did not need this many bags, you must train your clerks for bagging, I am not asking to train them better I am asking you to train them AT ALL.  Grocery stores manage to train half wits to bag groceries and you can't manage the same with your staff? Walmart constantly disappoints, thank you for lowering the bar yet again.

 Get rid of the bag turn style and teach your clerks to bag properly and you might solve this very real issue for your stores.

Diana 

This was emailed to both Walmart customer service complaints and Walmart Global Ethics complaints.

Global Ethics got back to me. Still waiting for customer service. Will be calling Mr. Market Manager.

Hello Diana,

Thank you for contacting the Global Ethics Office. One of our objectives is to provide guidance for ethical dilemmas and to ensure formal review for behavior that may be inconsistent with the Walmart Statement of Ethics, which can be found at www.walmartethics.com. 

As described, your concerns do not require a review from our office; however, a review of your concern may still be necessary.  Please feel free to contact the Market Manager over this Market, NAME by calling 919-XXX-XXXX

Thank you and feel free to contact us in the future regarding the Statement of Ethics. 

Kindest Regards,

Tim

Global Ethics Office

I wrote back.

Dear Tim,

Thank you so much for getting back with me so quickly. I thought this was an ethical problem that could be address by your office. I am however very grateful for the contact you provided. Thank you for taking the time to address my complaint.

Sincerely,

Diana 

Before and After

I knew going in I was going to take the Christmas decoration boxes upstairs and I was prepared for the unfun of going up and down the stairs eighteen times to get the job done -you know you have made that slog one time too many when even the weim doesn't think you need the supervision this time around.

After our walk and dinners, the dog and I were letting our dinners settle and I had started to plan getting the boxes upstairs - which needed to go up first, where they needed to go and it came to me that why I really needed to do was to make peanut butter cookies! Of Course! What a great idea! I needed to go to the store to get peanut butter and eggs, but I could make the cookies and then while they were cooking, take the boxes up stairs! Super! I made a bazillion trips up and down the stairs, my body neededthem by the time they were ready.I earned those cookies.

Then

Now

Those of you wondering where peanut butter cookies fall in the "Apples and Carrots" school of not eating more crap than I have to : I used fake eggs and low fat peanut butter and half the sugar the recipe called for. These cookies are almost healthy

Golden Globe Results 2014

8:00 - Curtain Up

Chatter, chatter,jokes, roll call. Chatter.

8:10 -Best Supporting Actress in a Movie - Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

8:13 - Best Supporting Actress in a  Mini-Series, TV Movie etc.. - Jacqueline Bisset. Wouldn't get off the stage .

8:22 - Best Mini Series or TV Movie - Behind the Candelabra

8:24 - Best Actress Mini Series or TV Movie - Elizabeth Moss, Above the Lake

8:32- Speech from president of  HFP.

8:36 - Best Actor TV Drama - Brian Cranston, Breaking Bad

8:38 - Best TV Drama - Breaking Bad

8:54 - Best Score Motion Picture - Alex Ebert All is Lost

8:56 Best Original Song Motion Picture - U2, "Ordinary Love", Mandela, The Long Walk Home

9:02 - Best Supporting Actor TV Drama - John Voigt, Ray Donavan

9:05 - Best Actress Movie Comedy - Amy Adams, American Hustle

9:14 -Best Actress TV Drama - Robin Wright, House of Cards

9:20 - Best Supporting Actor Movie - Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

9:23 - Best Screenplay - Spike Jones, Her

9:29 - Best Actor TV Comedy - Andy Sandburg, Brooklyn 99

9:41 - Best Foreign Film - Italy, The Great Beauty

9:44 - Best Actor Mini Series - Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra

9:53 - Best Animated Feature Film - Frozen

9:56 - Best Actress TV Comedy - Amy Pollar, Parks and Recreation

Best Director Movie -Alphonzo Cuaron, Gravity

Best TV Comedy - Brooklyn 99

Best Actor Comedy Film  - Leo DiCaprio , The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Comedy Film - American Hustle

Best Actress  Drama Film - Cate Blanchett. Blue Jasmine

Best Actor Drama Film - Mathew McCaughenay, Dallas Buyers Club

10:56 Best Film Drama - 12 Years A Slave

Friday Cat Blogging

Waiting for the weekend

And I survived  working a full five day work week. I didn't think I was going to be able to hack it but somehow I toughed it out. The weather also got warmer and for the first time this week I was able to wear inside clothes inside and outside clothes outside! Its a big deal when you wore ski pants and a down vest inside and was still cold.If the weather keeps up the good work, it may almost reach room temperature inside over the weekend!  Very exciting stuff.

Another positive? I can almost  feel my hands!

I got a call from Direct TV trying to sell me something I didn't want and so I took the opertunity to scream like banshee at the operator! Because DirecTV is his fault.But this turned out well for me, instead of getting me to sign up for HBO he forwarded (unloaded) me on customer service - whom I also screamed at , all of this on my cell while I was walking the dog. It turned out the CS girl was also not the right person to scream at about DirecTV and my displeasure with it. She sent me on to yet another guy who as it turns out,was the right person for me to scream at about my dysfunctional remotes, ancient hardware, ridiculous monthly bill and pathetic lack of HD.

He droppedmy bill by $20, gave me three new remotes - for free and hooked me up with HD, for an extra $10 a month, and new recievers - for free! I am now getting more service for less than I was paying for broken remotes, bad hardware and no HD. Whee! I actually get to experience HD on my HD TV. Double Wheee!

The remotes are due to three days, the guy is coming to hook up my new toys on Saturday, at the same time the guys are here to bring me my new freezer. Wheee!

I would like to invite global warming to come to my house.

Even though I know that the reason it is so cold is because somewhere it is too warm and something somewhere did not freeze over like it was supposed to and that's why all this cold air was available to come here and make us all sad. Upside? No wasps!

We had two whole days in a row with no peeing on the floor!... Because the dog was in daycare all day. But, still two days in a row!

Honestly, that is all I have. Its been very cold outside and thus inside and I really don't like it and I think the cold is why my hands have been tingling all day because it was so cold last night - I could have worn gloves but I could have worn a hat too and then where do you draw the line? I could have worn ski pants as well. I mean just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I should have sucked it up ( Noo I don't want to wear gloves! What if the kitty wants to be pet? I can't feel him if I am wearing gloves!) and worn the pink and fuzzy gloves, since I did not, my hands were pink and fizzy all day.

Dog with a Big Brain and a very Small Bladder.

I couldn't live in another part of the country. I can't be this cold for a protracted period of time and be happy about it. I'm cold because your average heat pump needs there to be a certain amount of heat in the environment to produce heat. When the outside temperature is this cold, turning on the heat is a waste of energy because the pump can't find enough to warm the house.

The system can artificially heat itself up but this is a costly activity and it is better to add layers until the cold snap exhausts itself. Also if I lived in a colder part of the country I would have a real furnace and I would probably still be wearing many layers.

I would be wearing even more more layers but I saw the wisdom of letting my dog on the ( covered, protected) furniture and so I have my own portable furnace.  I learned something about my little portable  furnace today. I have been coming home after work and finding the bedding removed from his crate, peed on, and in front of the window. I thought he was doing it to cover up the pee - Could he finally understand that peeing on the floor is upsetting to me? Could he actually be learning something? No, he doesn't care about my unhappiness with the floor wetting.

I came home for lunch today and took him out to pee, after work he had not peed. I can't come every day!

What he does care about is that he likes to sleep in the sun under the window, he can get a little of the sun  if he sleeps on the futon but he can capture all  of the  sun if he sleeps front of the window. Under the window there is hard floor. Doggy doesn't like hard floor, it's uncomfortable. He decided  that the crate is an unacceptable place to sleep, but it is comfortable. The math isn't hard from there out. He just removes the bedding from the crate and places it under the window where the sun is. Smart, smart dog.

Court Hockey

I walked Rocket yesterday and on our way back I saw a herd of hipsters camped out at some tennis courts - for a, um, "transitional" neighborhood, we have a lot of tennis courts - and they were doing something. A herd of them.On bikes.

Anyway, they were arranged in a clutch in the court and they had set up some 2x4s in the corners and they were on bikes, very, very expensive bikes, outfitted with wheels that cost more than my mortgage (I know this, I watched a show about the making of grotesquely over priced bike wheels). Someone shouted "MARCO POLO" and they seemed to be moving a puck-thing around the court with hockey sticks. I was like "if you were black kids screwing around on bikes and damaging the surface of the court with hockey sticks, the cops would be here now." But you're way too adorable  for that! Hipster trash.

I don't like hipsters. I find their smugness off putting and  I don't think the beards are clever, they look like fake TV Amish or fallen away Hasidim. The girls look fat in their baby doll dresses, and their ironic tea towels, clever crocheted vibe covers, and tacky tats are equally off putting. Did you know they invented gardens and they are the first generation to knit? I didn't know that either. They have made organic into a curse word and suddenly "local", "sourced" "non-GM" and "artisanal" are very triggering for me.  Also  the over use of "organic" makes me very angry. Not as angry as"Gluten Free", but pretty ticked. I am of the mind that all that babble and arbitrary yard sticks applied to food is just creating eating disorders.

I hate these children but at the same time, I need them to continue to multiply and have even more of them pay obscene amounts for tiny frame houses.  These children will buy anything anywhere no matter how sketchy, as long as its billed as "close to downtown", because that helps my bottom line. Spend, children! Spend!  Maybe someday they will put back our grocery stores and gives us  real restaurants that sell things that aren't fried.

Back to the grind.

I enjoyed my Staycation. I feel rested, ready and in shape for the next year!

Bull shit. I did learn that  I really enjoy going to work for a couple of days, having a couple of days off and then working for a day then following that up with a weekend, and I could work weeks like that indefinitely. Its going to suck to have to work five days in a row.

My niece dog perforated my boy nephew so my niece dog is gone. My nephew is healing well and will be fine, but it was a very scary moment. She may be gone like "gone",  the sheriff took her and she's in solitary at the local SPCA that is known for putting animals down quickly and without warning.I don't want to know more, it makes me angry and very sad.  I'm praying for her.  My nasty judgmental self feels that the family shouldn't have more pets ever, they aren't suited for it. My whole self  hopes whatever her outcome she will finally be truly loved, at peace and be free. I would take her if I possibly could.

I spent my time off cooking. I made a fabulous chicken potpie with home grown peppers, tomatoes and green beans and then this weekend, I made a wonderful smoked turkey noodle soup with the same. I added some onions, green and white, peas, celery and lots of garlic. It didn't wind up making as much as I thought it would, but I think I can make it work. I'm pretty sure that I had a cold before I had my first bowl of this soup, now? I have been cured! This stuff is awesome.

I filled the soup with all the meat it could hold and still had loads left over. I'm going to make a turkey pot pie and maybe mix in some BBQ sauce and make some sandwiches. I also got the outdoor decos down and stowed in the back bedroom until I get the tree down. I like the tree and I'm going to take it down at my leisure.

Rocket starts agility classes at the end of the month and that it going to be exciting for the both of us.

Friday Cat Blogging

New Things

New Year New Plan.

I walk the dog for approximately six hours a week,  an hour more if you count the pre-dawn  ten minute walks. The dog looks like a  super model and I am a before picture.

Like every other person on the planet, I am going to eat better and hopefully, look more like my dog.

Introducing my new lunch!

Out goes the Dr.Pepper, in comes the diet tea, out goes the chips, in comes the baby carrots, out goes the  Little Debbie, in comes the apple slices, the tuna on cardboard bread stays because there is no "down" from there that I am willing tolerate. I used to enjoy tuna on a crescent  every day, and then I went down to a small hamburger bun and then finally to the 100 calorie bread puck..

Wish me luck.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!!!