Angie World

I work in technical support and I have never considered myself a technical person, to be honest I don’t know how I got here. Well, strike that, I do know how I got here, by being bored. Once I learn how to do a job I become bored with it and have the need to move on to something more challenging. When I started with the major communications corporation I work for I was a clerk. You might be wondering what that entails, well in this world it could be one of many things. But in my case I was what the rest of the world would call a personal assistant for a 2nd level manager. I have to say I loved that job, I loved who I worked for and the people I worked with were for the most part greatness.
The best piece of advice I received from my then boss was to take every opportunity for training that the company offered. He said that there wasn’t a lot for clerks so whatever I could find he would sign off on. I took all three classes for Microsoft Excel, Word and Power Point; there were other classes as well. After becoming bored with that job, (how much filing can one do really?), I went on to become a service rep working in the claims department. Another job I absolutely loved, I had a manager that was a real person and who gave you the tools in which to perform your job well and then left you alone. There was no micromanaging or berating, just simple old fashioned leadership.
Well then the company bought another company and my job went to them, and yes after all of these years I am still bitter about it. My training lay fallow, working in a part of the company that was dying, it was brutal, then I was able to leave that part and work on orders. That job was also interesting and kept me engaged, until I learned it. Then the question became where I go from here, there wasn’t a lot left, I would have loved to go back to clerical work, I found I really loved that, however, it paid less and there were few jobs out there.
The only place to go was technical, without me even really realizing it, I had become technical, I passed the test, which greatly surprised me, and started my life as a technical support agent. Life is interesting in this world, I find I can let my inner geek out more and more and no one blinks an eye. I can also be as girly as I want, wear my fabulous shoes and outfits all the while talking about the latest geektastic movie or new Science Fiction show on television. It is a crazy world in which I find myself.

I have a lot of thoughts in my head; they reverberate and then land in the center of my cortex, never to fall out, never to fade. It is a crowded place in there, I never lose information once I have retained it, I know without a doubt I could go back to being a typographer and pick up right where I left off. I still remember it all. I remember things from when I was two years old; however I have a hard time remembering my name some days. Maybe because I wanted to change it when I was younger, Angie, how boring I used to think. I wanted something sophisticated, daring, foreign, different, so I decided I should become Angelique, not a far stretch I admit. It didn’t last long; my parents looked at me like I was from a different planet. Maybe I am, sometimes I say with great disdain “humans” and I mean it.
Maybe I was born on the wrong planet, maybe I was dropped off here by my real parents, like the original Escape to Witch Mountain, there is not a girl my age that did not want to be Kim Richards. I loved that movie, any movie that had to do with aliens or witchcraft; I think it was my escapism. I grew up living in a fantasy world, in movies, books and comics. Now those are called graphic novels, probably because the ones who read those are still my age and well, that sounds better than we still read comic books.
Do you remember that movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Sometimes I wish that were me, that I could erase thoughts and memories from my mind. I do have a few specific ones in mind, if you could erase some memories what would they be?

So I found one of my teenage idols on twitter, Scott Baio, he along with Leif Garrett and The Bay City Rollers adorned my teenage bedroom walls. What I have found since following him on twitter is that he is really funny. Caustic, sarcastic, wicked sense of humor, and loyal, loyal to his family, he immediately shoots down overly flirty fans. Letting them know in no uncertain terms his wife is his world. I admire him for this.
I had the opportunity to actually meet Scott Baio in the ‘90’s and even thought I made a complete fool of myself he was kind and gracious. Let me tell you a little of what happened, I will never tell the complete story because, well I was a donkey.
It was on the set of Diagnosis Murder, my ex-mother-in-law’s boyfriend was the head of security on the set. When he told me what show he was working on I about fainted. Literally. He was so funny, Chris managed to get me an autographed photo of Scott and then when I came out to visit Chris made arrangements for me to visit the set and meet Scott Baio.
It was a magical day, lunch on the set with the extras, OMG, now let me tell you that was spectacular. You might scoff, but these are people you see in everything, sitting there I was like wow I have seen you and you and you in multiple shows. They asked me how long I had been an extra because they had not seen me before. I explain why I am there; I have to tell you not one of them had one bad thing to say about Scott. All of them said how nice he was and how they always enjoyed working with him. Then they all started telling me what to say, what not to say, and I became extraordinarily nervous.
First I met Dick Van Dyke, wonderful man, very nice, then, then it happened, Scott Baio walked out of his trailer and every word the extras had said to be began bouncing around my brain. Chris called Scott over and introduced me, he was very nice, shook my hand, said I understand you are from Texas, to get the conversation going, as I was just standing there staring at the person who had graced my bedroom walls so many years before.
I managed to find my voice eventually, and that was not a good thing, I did manage to embarrass myself, and Scott Baio still nice, kind and gracious. So when I see people saying unkind things about him or his family I do get a little miffed. I think back to when he could have been so snarky and sarcastic with one fan who at that point could only see him with teenage eyes.
To this day I will watch anything he is in, so happy he has said he will never do reality TV, as in Dancing with the Stars, you all know how I feel about that show. I refuse to watch it, however if Scott Baio were on it I would be forced to. So thank you Scott for not doing that!

Someone across the room is hacking and coughing, I am staying away from them! I do not want to cough again, I am still congested and my ears feel stopped up, I got the name of an ENT from my doctor. I am calling today to make an appointment, I am guessing that they will tell me along with whatever is wrong with me I also have severe hearing loss. I have a hard time hearing a lot of things. I have only myself to blame, a lot of really loud rock and roll when I was young and well not so young. I still like loud music, there is just something about playing Kiss as loud as one can get it and simply rocking out that gets my day started the right way.
I often wonder if there is something wrong with me, I thought at the age that I am my musical tastes would have evolved. I am so across the board in my likes, everything from Disco, boy bands, hard rock, heavy metal, rap (yes rap) classical, orchestra (who does not love John Williams?) I have a deep love of pop music. It is insanity, I should go on Kidd Kraddick’s bit, does that make me crazy. I am not overly fond of country, however, I do have my favorites, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, oh who does not love the great I wanna talk about me song! LOVE IT! I wonder if anyone else has as strange listening habits as I do. Oh and please check out my ultimate favorite these days Christian Kane, he totally rocks.
Well our nations birthday is coming up, I will not write about it now, however want to give you fair warning I will be waxing on in a completely sentimental way.

I hate the heat, I think everyone knows that by now, let me tell you exactly why I hate the heat and I love the cold. When you are hot there are only so many items of clothing you can remove, when you are cold you can always add layers. When you are hot, you sweat and smell, when you are cold there is no sweat therefore no odor factor involved. In the heat you become drained, when you go out into a snow filled wonderland you are invigorated. The heat leaves you feeling wilted and yucky, a cold in the summer is 50 times worse than a cold in the winter. In the summer time there are allergens in the air, in the winter the cold kills them off.
Let’s talk about snow, snow is the great equalizer, you put a blanket of pure white sparkly goodness on top of the world and it is beautiful. You put a layer of scorching heat on the world and you get pure nastiness. I believe in that one sentence I have proven that winter is better than summer, not to mention great sweater dresses and boots, the boots! I am enamored with boots, I love them, ankle boots, knee boots, over the knee boots, you name them and I love them. Black boots, brown boots, purple boots, red boots, they are all amazing.
So there you have it people, you don’t smell in the winter plus fabulous outfits, what more could one want? Seriously.
Although, I have to admit, I miss my summers spent in Owasso, going to the creek and the pond, swimming, fishing with my dad. Laying out, watching soaps with Tammi, I do miss that, immensely. Especially this week, I am feeling incredibly nostalgic, it is probably because it is almost 4th of July. We always had everyone over and shot firecrackers and ate watermelon by the ton. It is probably one of the reasons I crave watermelon so much this time of year. I eat it every day, with salt on it, with that first bite I am transported back to a table covered in newspaper and my dad making the first cut on that first watermelon of the season, pure goodness.
I hope everyone has their moment of pure goodness this watermelon season, I know in this day and age we could all use that moment to get us through difficult times.

I am not able to talk about current events so I am going to go back to the past and talk about this time last year.
Last year on Fourth of July, the weekend was great, fun, food and hanging out with friends. Then the weekend is over, I go to bed at my normal time, now when I normally get up it is always dark, and this time I woke in the light! I look at the clock 8:30! I am panic stricken. What to do! I know what you are thinking, being late is not that big a deal, well maybe not in the real world, however, in the telephone company world it is huge! I have never been late, not like this. In my panic I pick up the phone and call our attendance department. I tell the person who answers, we will call her Azure, because that is her name, and I say Azure, I’m late, I can’t believe I am over 3 hours late, is there anything I can do? Take a vacation day, something. She says, um Angie your not late it’s a holiday, I say no, that was yesterday, she says no it’s today. I said Azure it is 8:30, she says yes it is. In the evening, I continue to argue with her, she begins laughing. At one point laughing so hard she can no longer talk to me. Then it hits me it is 8:30 pm, I slept about an hour, woke up and decided since it was light outside I was late for work.
The most embarrassing part was actually arguing with Azure about what day it was. I was incredibly disoriented. I was able to go right back to sleep and my alarm went off at the right time the next day and I was on time for work.

I know I wax on about Starbucks, but I did have and continue to have a love affair with a different venue, Taco Bueno. Yes this is my tribute entry to Taco Bueno, I know you have all been waiting for it, but I had to gather my thoughts and emotions evoked by this great iconic fast food restaurant. There are so many great offerings on their menu, of course I have my favorites; the Mexi Dips and Chips, the Beef Mucho Nachos come to mind. And yes while I am on Weight Watchers I have had to scale back on my outings to the great Taco Bueno, however, I have figured out the point values of my favorite items and plan accordingly.
I have also raised my children to be Bueno Heads, Jeffrey; my oldest son who will be 27 in August had his first Mexican meal from Taco Bueno. It was from the one in Owasso, Oklahoma, they had just opened it, greatness, I no longer had to drive to Tulsa to get my Bueno fix. And it was right around the corner from the housing addition we lived in at the time.
Alas my time with Bueno came to an end for a while, we moved to Atlanta, Georgia and there were no Taco Bueno’s there, only Taco Bell, yuck. I do not like Taco Bell at all. Then we moved to Plano, TX and at the time we moved here there were two Bueno’s!!! Two! The bounty!
I have raised all of my children loving Taco Bueno, if you have not tried it, I highly suggest you do, get the Beef Mucho Nachos, it is a treat for the taste buds, an enemy of the waist if you do not plan accordingly.

Today is Joss Whedon’s birthday, which of course makes me reflect upon his body of work thus far. Of course there is Buffy and Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse and Serenity, but did you know he was a writer on the Rosanne Barr show? And did you know he is writing and directing the new Avengers movie? To say that I love Joss Whedon is an understatement. I think the man is pure brilliance, his dialogue is snappy and fresh, the characters are not of the norm. This could be why he is not a ratings draw on regular television.
I firmly believe that if Firefly and Dollhouse had been on cable channels instead of Fox they would still be on the air, of course that would mean someone else would be playing Rick Castle. The numbers that these shows were pulling are on par with Dexter on Showtime, in fact they were better than Dexter and that show is considered a huge hit. But on network television those numbers do not mean anything and the shows were never allowed to grow and gain a following.
Buffy was allowed to grow, however it began its growth at the CW which historically allowed their shows to grow and gain a following, then they launched Angel, and allowed it to grow. These were great shows and are greatly missed.
I can hardly wait for the Avengers movie, I am so curious to see what he will do with these characters as they are well established characters and not ones he is creating from scratch.

Well I saw the new episode of the Real Housewives of New Jersey; this episode opens with a shirtless Joey Gorga, all I have to say is they should open every episode this way. This episode was just heartbreaking however, Teresa Guidice and Joey Gorga are brother and sister, for those of you who do not watch, while they were growing up they were each others best friends. Now they just fight and find fault with each other. They are both at fault here, and Joey’s wife Melissa is the instigator, and he cannot see that. Teresa is at fault as well, she just can’t let things go and she is insulting to Melissa, throwing her cookies out, and then telling her that she did it because they were not good enough. Melissa taking pot shots at Teresa, Melissa trying to sing, thank goodness she did not sing on this episode.
It looks as if the brother and sister are a step closer to reconciliation, which is good, however, the big showdown between Melissa and Teresa will be next week, should be explosive! In another part of Jersey Caroline Manzo has gotten her own radio show dispensing advice to everyone. And she is good at it; I wish I could call in for advice from her! She totally rocks; she is smart, quick to the point and doesn’t mince words. My kind of person, I think she and I would be friends in real life.
Yesterday was another good sleep night, I fell asleep about 8, slept hard till about 2:30, that was when the Irishman woke me up to talk about the crash that killed Ryan Dunn. I have nothing to say about that because it did not make me happy. Then I fell back asleep until my alarm went off, then I procrastinated getting up, then I ran out the door. But I am here, I am alive and I am feeling so much better! That steroid shot did the trick, if this happens again I am going to tell the Doctor to start off with that, not end with that 3 weeks later.

So yesterday was back to the doctor for me, he gave me a steroid shot to reduce the swelling in my sinuses and open up my lungs. I have never had a steroid shot before; I don’t mind telling you it knocked me out. In a really strange way, I slept really hard for about an hour, woke up, then went back to sleep off and on all night, but it was a hard sleep every time. Very strange. I hope that shot works; I am so tired of feeling bad and not having coffee and not being able to smell anything. I can’t smell my food. I do feel better this morning, I am not coughing as much, nor am I blowing my nose as much. Keep your fingers crossed.
My doctor asked me if this was the longest I had ever been sick, I go to the doctor maybe once a year, this has been crazy. I said yes, yes it is, and I am sick of it! He laughed at me and then said you are getting a shot. Maybe he is sick of seeing me.
Now for a familiar segment, does that make my dog crazy, of course the dog in question is Chewie. Every weekday morning I get up at 3:300 am, or that is when my alarm goes off. Every weekday morning I have to wake Chewie up to eat and do his business before I leave. Every morning that I have the day off, from 3:00 am to 6:00 am Chewie will not leave me alone. He constantly wakes me up, I feed him, let him out, make sure he has fresh water, he continues to wake me up about every 30 minutes, until at 6:00 I get up and tell him that is it, I am up, what do you want. He then goes in front of the television and lays down. Does that make my dog crazy, or is he making me crazy?