This story isn’t for the faint of heart. If you are easily grossed out, you should stop reading now. Don’t blame me if you throw up after reading this post.

Anyway, last year I was in Georgia, right near the Florida border. As I was leaving my client’s site, I had noticed some bugs flying about. It was something I hadn’t noticed the days before that. I just waved them aside, got into my car, and started heading toward the airport. That’s when the attack happened. It seemed like there were millions on the bugs flying about. In just a span of five or ten minutes driving, my windshield was covered with bug carcasses. I kept on driving, but it was getting a little hard to see. Then, to make it worse, it started raining. Not a downpour, which i think would have helped me, but an on/off drizzle, one that required me to use my windshield wipers but didn’t give me enough rain to actually clean the windshield. So after a bit, my windshield was this gross mess of smeared bug guts.

Of course, I had to take a picture:

That ain’t it, folks…

Since I had to re-fuel my car anyway, I stopped by a gas station to clean off my windshield. As I was filling up my rental car tank, I got the gas station squeegee that you can usually find in the island where the gas pump is. I don’t know if you’ve ever used one, but they’re usually kept in an area right under the garbage in a well of water or cleaning stuff or whatever so you can soak your windshield first, then squeegee the water and dirt off your windows.

So I grab the squeegee, avoid the trail of water that follows it and start washing off my windshield, scrubbing with the wet sponge part of the hard to remove carcasses on my window. After I finished one side, and started the other, my brain started digesting something that had been bothering me when I first started cleaning my windows. There was a weird smell. What was it? Something was NOT right.

Then I realized it.

…and I was horrified.

…and I wanted to throw up, right then and there.

But before throwing up (which I never did, but let me tell you, I had the feeling for the rest of the day) I ran to the island and put the squeegee back in…carefully. Why? What was the weird smell to make me freak out?

URINE.

Someone had peed into the well where the squeegee was stored. That pee was now on my car windshield.

I put the gas pump back in, ran back to my car, got inside and started driving away, while making sure to turn on my windshield wipers and pumping a LOT of fluid out there to flush out the icky stuff on the window. But no amount of windshield wiper fluid could stop me from smelling it. It could be that the smell was no longer there, but my mind just couldn’t get rid of it. Did I step in it? Did it get inside the car? Was it on my hands? My clothes? I was going crazy.

I returned the pee-covered car to the rental place, and my first stop at the airport was the bathroom, to scrub my hands and arms, yet it still didn’t get rid of my dirty memories or that smell inside my head.

So let this be a lesson to you, dear readers, take a whiff of that squeegee BEFORE using it!

Tags: Travel, Stories by Yano
6 Comments »

Since I’ve gotten my graphic tablet for Christmas, I haven’t really done anything with it…

But now that I’m trying to get myself off of my work addiction, I’ve been trying to other things with my free time. I saw on one of my comic book message boards a whole bunch of people doing quick (and not so quick) drawings of the topic of the week, this week being a ninja turtle from the neck up. So I decided to do something really quick, just to get used to the tablet…just wanted to share (and to upload my picture so I could post it on that site).

Don’t ask about all the different colors, it’s my lame attempt to do some sort of shading!

Tags: Photoshop by Yano
1 Comment »

As some of you may know, Ben’s 2nd birthday is coming up. Another thing you might know - I hate planning things. I’m horrible at it. I love having people over to hang out at the house, but I am awful when it comes to actually planning get togethers. However, with Ben’s impending birthday looming over the horizon, and the fact that pretty much every relative I run into is aware of it and has asked me what we’ve got going on with the party, I have to plan something.

So, after weeks of searching the internet, making phone calls, doing on-site visits and reading contracts, we’ve finally found a place to hold his birthday party. We’re not having it at the house this year because a) too many people for one little house and b) we’re putting our house up for sale within the next month (which I’ll discuss in another post). Now comes the little details that I hate trying to think of and figure out, so this is where you, my wonderful, intelligent, good looking, kind hearted readers can help out. So, here are some of the aspects of his party that I’m debating over, I’d be happy to hear any comments, criticisms or advice that you might have…

• Invitations: Haven’t started them yet. I have a ton to send out. If I had time, I would have done something remotely creative but these things were supposed to be sent out weeks ago. Might just cut up some old printer paper and scrawl the date and location on it, shove it in an envelope, throw a stamp on it and send it out. If I feel a little creative I just might put “Ben’s Birthday Party” at the top so people will know what they’re going to.
• Entertainment: Not sure what to provide as entertainment for his birthday. I want to have something at the party so it’s not just people in a room eating, cutting cake and going home. Most of the kids that will be at the party are under the age of four. I don’t want to get a clown because it’s a proven fact that they scare kids. I don’t have the room for a bouncy thing for kids to play on. Most of the kids are too young to understand the concept of magic (because really, isn’t everything magical to a 2 year old?). I’m thinking of a balloon animal artist…but they’ve got to be REALLY good. Like making bicycles good.
• Party Favors: Most party favors out there aren’t for kids under 3. Sure, I can through candy in their goody bags, but I’d also like the kids to have a cool little favor from his birthday. Last year I bought some cheap sand buckets and put some candy, clappers and Sesame Street tattoos in there (which I tried on Ben a couple months ago and the tattoo lasted for 2 weeks on the kid!). I’ll stop by the party store later this week to see if there’s anything I can find.
• Food: This is something that’s going to affect everyone, and it’s gotta be good! Not sure if I should go with a catering company, or order trays of food from Portillo’s, or get some orange chicken from Panda Express, or get a bunch of pizzas from Little Caesar’s, or get some Filipino food or get a combination of all of the above. We’re expecting about 80 people (yeah, I know, having a huge family is cool most of the time, until you’re trying to feed them all!) which doesn’t count the mini-people under the age of 3. They don’t get to eat, they can just grab scraps off their parents plates or eat what falls on the floor.
• Cake: This is the item I will do a lot of research on, because the cake is everything to me! I love cake! Ben had an awesome birthday cake last year that was delicious, but it was just too far away to order again. I’m going to check out the local places to see what they’ve got.

Hmm…I think that’s where I’m at right now. Whaddya think?

Tags: Ben, Party On! by Yano
10 Comments »

Today’s theme for American Idol is “Songs from the year you were born”, which makes me feel really…really…old. They’re singing songs that I actually remember listening to on the radio! Thank God for Michael Johns, who was born in 1978. I missed the first half hour, but I’ve got it recorded so I’ll check it out later…

Tags: Reviews by Yano
1 Comment »

We had a pretty low key Easter. It didn’t seem like there was any family shindig going on, and we’ve been too busy cleaning up the house to really plan anything. I had called some really good buffet places, but they were all booked up months before Easter. Finally, I just made some reservations at my favorite restaurant, Cafe Iberico. Dave’s parents hadn’t been there yet, and it’s been a LONG time since I had me some croquetas de pollo.

Lunch was good, it was my dad, sisters, brother Redpac, Dave’s parents, Dave and Benjamin. Dave’s brother was supposed to go, but he had to take his little guy to puppy kindergarten, so we headed out to his place afterwards for an afterset. Watched a couple NCAA upsets and almost-upsets, had an easter egg hunt with Ben, and just chilled out. For dinner, we went to Aloha Eats for some much missed Hawaiian food - it was pretty, even though the menu is a little limited (where’s my moco loco!?!?) but I’ll definitely go there again since there aren’t too many Hawaiian restaurants in Chicago.

Hope you all had a good Easter holiday!

Tags: Ben, Party On!, Pictures by Yano
2 Comments »

Found a pretty fun website that is also for a good cause. You see a word, guess what the word means, and if you’re right, 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Program. So I can boost my ego by showing off how verbose I am AND feed the poor. Call me the next Mother Theresa!

Click on the link to play….for something so simple, it’s pretty addicting!

Tags: Cool Link by Yano
2 Comments »

Dear God,

Hey there, big Guy, long time no talk. Oh wait, we talked last week at church. Sorry I was so distracted, you know how Ben gets when he sees a whole bunch of prayer songbooks in one place. And really, I was paying attention, even though it seemed like I was talking to Fatima the whole time.

Anyway, I just wanted to talk to you about something going on in my life. It’s something that has been bothering me for the last several months. At first, I thought it wouldn’t bother me, since it’s been something I’ve gone through many times before. I consider myself a pretty patient person, things don’t affect me too easily. But this time, it’s been really hard, I think I am really close to that breaking point. I can’t take it anymore.

Truthfully, you’re the only One who can do anything about it.

Please…

Please stop the snow!!!

Seriously, Dude, it’s been snowing for 4 months straight this winter. The snow hasn’t had time to melt from the last storm before the next one begins. Last week, after some really nice temperatures, the snow melted away and for sure I thought Spring was here, but no-ooooooooooooo, yesterday You dumped another 4-7 inches on us.

At first, I thought it was pretty cool. “Oh, we’re getting so much snow so early in the season!” I made sure to go out and take pictures after the second or third snow just in case I wouldn’t get a chance to later on in the winter, since in the last decade or so, we’ve only had four or five major snows a year. This winter? I would say about 15 major snows. That doesn’t even count the ones that are less than an inch - those were, like, every day. It’s so much that all of the anti-global warming people are like, “Global Warming Schmobal Warming! See, there’s no such thing! We’re getting so much snow that the polar ice caps are coming back! We don’t need to save the environment!”

Now I don’t want You to think that I hate snow. I love snow, Man! If I didn’t love it, we would have stayed out in Long Beach. I have all these wonderful childhood memories of building snow forts and making snow angels that I want Ben to have, too. He loves going out in his sled and getting pulled around (though the deeper the snow, the more of a workout it is for us!).

But yeah…I think it’s about time that You brought on Spring.

Thanks.

Love,
Your pal,
Christine

Tags: Whine and Cheese by Yano
6 Comments »

I was looking for an old post and lost myself reading through my old blog archives. Man, back in the day I was pretty good at this blogging thing! I’d put up clever titles, make funny posts on just about anything and everything, and most importantly, I was interesting! Lately (that being the last year or so) I’m not sure if it’s because work had taken over my life or because my non-work time was devoted to Ben or a mixture of both or *gasp* maybe I just have a really boring life now.

I doubt it’s the last one, but even though I’ve said this before, I really want to make more of an effort to get back into the swing of things. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say - several times a day I think to myself, “Hey, that would make an fun blog post” but by the time I’m at my computer I’m too tired or distracted to log into my blog to make a post.

But life should be getting a little less hectic and less stressful soon, yet in a couple months it will be getting all crazy and hectic again. Hopefully in that lull I’ll be able to revamp this site and make it my secret haven again. Well, not so much a secret, but the place I go to so I can blow off steam and de-stress. You may notice little things here and there as I test out some new functions and themes, ignore my dust and I apologize in advance if my tinkering should break the site.

Alas, it’s 12:30am now and I have to wake up in 4 hours to drive to Milwaukee. Dave and Ben come home tomorrow and I’ve missed them both terribly. It’s ironic - I have slept in hundreds of hotels around the country with no problems (well, except for that one time when I fell asleep with the TV on only to wake up in the middle of the night with “Event Horizon”, a movie that terrifies me, on and without the remote control in sight) but when it comes to sleeping in my own house by myself, I’m a big chicken and get paranoid at every noise.

So good night…

Tags: Daily by Yano
5 Comments »

I am friggin’ HAWT!

Tags: Memories, Pictures by Yano
11 Comments »

A little late, buy Happy St. Patty’s Day, everyone!

As I said before, I’ll be out for the next couple days for work. Because he’s been planning it for a while now, Dave took Ben on vacation without me. I’d have gone with them, but this project I’m on is pretty high profile, and this is one of the very few times that I’ll be traveling this year. It just sucks that it happens to land on one of weeks that Dave has vacation - the last one he’ll have for a while since he has some exams later this year.

So as Dave is conquering the powder in Lake Tahoe and Ben is running around the casinos with his grandparents, I’ll be in Milwaukee working. At least I won’t be rushing to go home since Ben isn’t there, but I’ll still miss my little boogerman. *cries*

Tags: Travel, Pictures by Yano
3 Comments »