Weather

We are staying in Phoenix for a couple of days, while Steve's getting a helicopter looked at by some helicopter dudes. This top picture is Steve landing outside the Heliponents building, with the diagnostic guys.
I'm inside working on the computer; toasty warm!



I got up this morning and walked around a little at the resort where we're staying.
This is a picture of the golf course at about 8 am, it was foggy and cool out. Something we NEVER see.










This is the view we normally have out our front door (at home)
No, not the trash cans, the MOUNTAINS!





Yesterday morning, as we were getting ready to leave for Phoenix, this was the view out our front door.

Spooky. Couldn't see any of the mountains, and the clouds were moving really fast like they were alive or something.

Forum Foray

I've joined two online forums in the past week, one is from SCIFI.com, and the other is for work, performanceboats.com.
It's funny how dangerous it is to post something, because sooner or later someone will rip you to pieces, no matter what you wrote. I try to stay positive (and careful) but there's assholes everywhere I'm learning....

On another note, if you have a kidless night definitely rent "Heartbreak Kid" with Ben Stiller. It is definitely one of the more crass comedies you'll find.

We went to see two movies over the holidays; I Am Legend and No Country For Old Men.
Didn't like either of them. Too depressing, no redeeming ending to make you feel good. They were both sooooooo sad and unfulfilling.

And the Race Begins

Now that we're in January, I'm in a foot race like no other. The next few months will be a hectic dash to get everything put together and executed successfully, so my year won't be a total waste of time.
First, there's the American Cancer Society fundraiser. We kick off activities in two weeks and I'm sooooo not ready for that.
Then, there's the model boat clubs races and the Vettes and Vipers car show in February. That's after we head out to the Glamis dunes in California for the Jagged X off road event.
We have the Lincoln Day Dinner in Feb as well, with Sherriff Joe Arpaio speaking to the crowd. This will be a huge event because it's an election year and people flock to Sherriff Joe like he's a rock star.
In March we are dedicating our time to preparation for the big truck show, which is scheduled for the first weekend in April. Then, two weeks later we have the Havasu Havoc Truck Show, sponsored by Truckin' Magazine. That one's a nightmare because it's all twenty-something year olds with very expensive vehicles.
The week after that is the Desert Storm Poker Run, with huge expensive offshore boats who come to our lake just to show off and be on t.v. We only run a small portion of that event, which is fortunate.

The week after that we begin our Regatta season, which means there's an event on the water every weekend for two months--then two months off--then two more months of solid events. YIKES.

In the next month I have so much preparation and planning, I might lose my mind.

Oh well, it's better than working a real job.

OH. MY. GAWD.

I say "Oh my GAWD" because I finally met someone who literally sang the soundtrack to my 21st year. Brian Holland is the lead singer for a rock group called "Offspring." He and his band are still together, though not as popular as they were back in the 90's. They sang "Pretty Fly for a White Guy," and several other tunes that we all would blast on the stereo.
He's a pilot, and has a bitchin hangar next door to my boyfriend's out at the airport. Steve told me about him several years ago, but I've never been lucky enough to meet Brian because he's either taking his private jet out to the taxi-way, or he's driving his truck out of there.
His hangar is bitchin because it's big enough to hold his jet that has an anarchy symbol on the tail fin, his Russian L-39 jet that he flies for fun, and also the two story condo that he had built in there. Steve showed me the condo one day, when Brian was out of town. It has a "patio" out front (although inside the hangar) with a green astroturf lawn and a custom pool table. Then inside, the downstairs has a full bar and big screen t.v. with all kinds of comfy furniture. The upstairs has a master suite, a second bedroom, and two bathrooms. The master suite has a big screen t.v. as well. I guess Brian had all this built in there before he had a house in Havasu. Or maybe it's a guest house or something...
So I finally had the chance to meet him on Saturday. Steve had invited me to tag along on the flight to Calif, to take his boss back home to Santa Ana. As we were getting the lear jet ready, Brian and his co-pilot Mark happened along. I got to meet them both, and they seemed kinda confused about who I was. Mark finally just came right out and asked what I was doing there. When I said I was Steve's girlfriend they kinda got speechless, like, "Dang Steve's a cradle robber!" Too funny.

Post-Post Christmas

My son will never have the Christmas memories that I have. I'm not complaining, because there are some memories I'd rather forget! Sure, there were some good ones, like hiding in Grandma's basement on Christmas Eve while we waited for Santa's arrival. We knew if we sat around upstairs in the living room he'd never come.

But then there's the memories of our parents screaming at each other, right before leaving to go to Grandma's on Christmas Eve. EVERY year, they screamed, threw things at each other, and most times they began the divorce process after these holiday fights. We'd usually go to Grandma's house without our dad. He'd stay home and pack.

I can't complain about our presents, because we always got something. My mom's very materialistic and she would buy all kinds of meaningless, useless crap that would end up in the garbage eventually. (old habits die hard--you should see the junk she bought this year...)
It was the atmosphere. We always had to sit quietly in our bedrooms while my parents either continued their Christmas Eve fight into Christmas day, or they did their own thing in complete silence.

My son's Christmas is a completely different affair. Since we have ex spouses and family of ex spouses, we had a lot of coordinating to do. All three of our kids had at least four destinations on Christmas day, having breakfast here or there, lunch here or there, and dinner in two different places. Opening presents was an all day thing because they had to go from one place to another to do that. Why couldn't it all be at one place, like at our house? That would be too easy.
And to muddy up the water, Steve's ex (Sgt Iron Pants) had to make Christmas all about her by having a "Congratulations Dinner" instead of Christmas dinner--because I guess she either got engaged or married. We're not sure. Her dad wasn't invited to her house, so we invited him to ours. Talk about weird. I made Christmas dinner for Sgt Iron Pant's dad. Some friends of mine came over for dessert, and I just introduced him as George.
What a family we have.

Christmas?

I wish this were my Christmas present...it's not available in the U.S. just yet.
Mark my words, I WILL HAVE MY SMART CAR!!!


Doesn't seem like Christmas is just a few days away.
I finally put the tree up last night, with the fishing lure ornaments and it is GORGEOUS! The redneck tree actually looks really nice. Gotta watch out for the hooks, though. Ow.
It's been really fair weather lately, a little over 60 degrees each day--but that is changing because we have wind today. Not just a breeze, a frikkin 20 mph WIND.
I thought my allergies were gonna get better!!

My brother, Grandpa Johnny

My brother is four years older than me, making him 38. We just found out he is going to be a grandpa in April.

Now, John has never had much good luck, all his life. He had awful acne as a teenager and turned to tattoos to take people's attention away from the scars and sores on his face. He hated authority and especially school so of course he was a dropout as soon as our dad died. Covered in tattoos, no diploma, and the very awful attitude pretty much determined the fate of his young adult life.

When he finally got his first real girlfriend, he'd just turned 18. He was still a virgin (and she was not) so of course they had sex as soon as possible. And she got pregnant. She decided she wanted to keep the baby. They soon broke up, and John shortly after that moved to Arizona. Right after that he was in a motorcycle accident and had to undergo brain surgery and subsequent physical therapy. He was pretty screwed up for a while.
The baby was born and John was court ordered to make child support payments. I think he managed to visit once or twice while the little girl was growing up--but she probably was better off without him in her life so much. Her mother married a guy and John's daughter was brought up in a strict, normal home.
She made contact with me right before her high school graduation this past year, and I was excited to hear about her college plans. I sent money as soon as possible, to help her get started on college. I periodically talked with her or her mom to keep up with things. As I got busy this past summer the communication kinda dropped off. That's when she got pregnant.

It's disappointing to see this girl live out the stupid life that her mother and grandmother lived before her; being a teenage mom in Omaha, Nebraska. It's especially disappointing because some of the conversations I had with her sounded as if she was interested in moving out of there once she finished a couple of years at the community college, so she could possibly go to a University here in Arizona.
We know people who could've really hooked her up with scholarships and grants, and we certainly would've helped her cover the costs.

God, I hate Omaha.