Life with the Three Crazy Dogs

- Blogging on my life events & whatever that comes to my mind!

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Monthly Archives: August 2007

Rain and more rain

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I cannot believe I am saying this, I love the rain.  The free watering is greening up the yard.  It started to rain this morning shortly after 8 a.m.  The weather forecast on all local TV channels have been saying the Twin Cities would get about 3 – 4 inches when the weekend is over.  As of now, it’s still raining.  It has not lighten up at all.  At least the rain is light and not those torrential downpour, or gully washer, as DB puts it.  Hopefully by dawn arrives, the rain would stop and I can go for my walk. 

It feels like fall right now.  Long sleeves and sweats afer I came back from my early morning walk and the whole day.  The boyz are really enjoying this cool weather but they are still grumping for missing their evening walks. 

Filed under MN Weather, The Boyz
Aug 18, 2007

Drug Rehabilitation at Narconon Vista Bay

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I could remember my childhood days when my mom would take us to Menglembu, a town in the outskirts of Ipoh.  It is where her grandmother’s house is situated.  My mom’s oldest uncle has son who was a drug addict.  He looks really skinny, never talks to us, and I think partly was my grandmother and mother told me and my siblings to refrain from speaking or come in close contact with him.  I always thought that once someone is hooked on drugs, the druggie will be a dead person in no time.  I thought of that because the commercials on TV in Malaysia showed how a person would die if one is addicted to drugs.  I have never heard of a facility for drug rehab til I came to the United States.

A good drug rehab center should cater for individual needs with a wide range of treatments available for them.  The success of each individual is based on how good the treatment programs are at the rehabilitation center.  A one center that has 76% success in their recovery and continued to be drug-free is DrugRehab.net – A Narconon Vista Bay Company.  

Narconon Vista Bay is a drug and alcohol treatment center is widely known for its sequence of regulated steps program.  They are specially created to assist the person with their withdrawals, eliminate the remnants of drugs or alcohol in his/her body, learn how to converse with the others, achieve control of oneself so that he can be a responsible person to him/herself and to other people he is in contact with.   The last step of the Narconon program deals with the motives why he/she began manipulating drugs, and at the end of the session, they will be enriched with the knowledge and assurance that he/she will be in control of their life drug-free and how they will enjoy life again.

The Norconon program was founded by William Benitez, in a prison-cell in Arizona.  However, L. Ron Hubbard made significant researched and developed ways to assist addicts to go through their withdrawals without the intervention of other drugs.  Instead, it puts them through a program where they do not have to go through the painful withdrawal symptoms.

This facility for changing ones life, Narconon Northern California, is located on a beautiful 30-acre campus.  Their program allows individual to stay as long as they need, usually 3 – 6 months. 

Check out Narconon Vista Bay is you would like to help someone who needs to be helped.

*This is a sponsored review*

Filed under business, Writing
Aug 18, 2007

Traffic violation – bite me!

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Got to me desk yesterday morning, pulled up Outlook and the first thing I saw was this: Traffic Violation.  What the hell now??  Opened it and starting reading it, and I laughed.

Hello Dawn;

Recently, there has been an increase in complaints from ABC employees concerning the traffic violations which occur in the parking lots of the Eagan campus. These traffic violations pertain to parking, speeding, and stop sign violations.

Violators will be notified that they were observed in the act of a violation and asked to be more vigilant of the posted traffic signs in the future. Continued violations from the same individuals will result in the notification of that employees superior.

On 8/10//2007, at approximately 6:00 a.m., your vehicle described as a Chevy Monte Carlo, bearing Minnesota license KISSME, was observed by Security not stopping at the stop sign located between the CD Rom and Reporter lots intersection. (near “B” building).

In the future please obey all traffic signs on campus. The safety of our employees is a concern for us all.

Regards,

XXXXXXXX

Somebody, Corporate Security

I told my boss when she got in and we both laughed.  Why??  Because she had a ticket from Security before for parking in a Reserve stall, not once, but twice.  After the second offence, you get a ticket.  Once you get the ticket, our supervisor needs to sign it.  Her boss rolled his eyeballs and said this is just stupid, which I totally agree.

Now I wonder if Security noticed there are a lot of vehicles that do not stop at STOP signs and speed through the campus, and did they get a ticket or a warning, too?

I won’t even bothered with it coz this moring I did the same thing.  In a frigging private property and no human and auto traffic at all at 5:50 a.m., I’m going for it.

Filed under Ramblings, Work rambles
Aug 17, 2007

Financial consolidation

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Our project is coming along but it is slow.  The process of learning something for our project in order for us to succeed is important.  DB is doing most of the work and I just give my input.  Simple enough for me. 

Once our project gets going, we will be starting our own business.  Starting one’s own business from scratch takes a lot of perseverance.  A company call Prophix has financial consolidation software to assist with the consolidation of financial reports and be compliant with the law.  It also provides a groundwork on business strategies, budgeting, forecasting and process management. 

Filed under Personal, Writing
Aug 16, 2007

Dare to be wild!

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I asked DB if he like animal print bedding for our master bedroom.  He gave me the look like “Are you okay?”  Some days I can be nuts.  I mean it will not be that bad if I get those leopard prints as they are much kinda to the eyes.  I do not mean to get those zebra or giraffe prints as they are a little too much for me.  I told him these animal print beddings will be a nice change to our usual navy blue, taupe, green, and some kind of reddish sheets we have.  His response was, “Let me think about it.”  So much for being a wild animal! :)

Filed under Shopping, Writing
Aug 15, 2007

Upcoming Trip to Ipoh

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My sister and her family took a mini vacation to Ipoh during the Singapore National holiday week.  She took some pictures of the house we grew up in.  I sent the link to DB and ask him if he can stay there for a week or 2.  I told him the beds we will be sleeping on is not like our sleep number bed – adjust to your desired firmness.  Thosse mattresses are hard and so are the pillows.  Also, I reminded him that the bathroom at my parents’ is unlike the bathrooms in our house where the toilet and shower stall/tub are in one room.  At my parents’ the toilet is separated from the bathroom and he gotta get use to it. 

He said he can handle it.  Fabulous!!  He said he wants to spend some time with my parents since the last he saw them was, I think, in 2000.  It’s been 7 years and so much has changed.  I think he will be okay at my parents, plus he will be visiting his friends in Ipoh, and I will be visiting my schoolmates whom I have not seen since 2002.  Oh yes, it’s time to pay a visit to my hometown, and my alma mater, Main Convent.

Tentatively, we are still thinking of November 17 departing Minneapolis.  The reason we have not bought our tickets is because we have to wait til the refi is done with and then what DB is gonna do for work; quit and work as a contractor, or look for a permanent job.  I really hope he decides soon coz ticket prices are going up.

Filed under Family, Vacation
Aug 15, 2007

Our kitchen

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Ever since we moved in to our present home, DB and I have been thinking about remodelling the kitchen.  Our kitchen is rather small, if you ask me.  We spend a lot of our time in the kitchen – writing out bills, watch some boob tube, morning coffee, snacking, or when there are visitors, they will hang out in the kitchen.  Actually what we need to do is to extend the kitchen out to where the patio is.

We looked around for estimates and the result was to wait out til we hit the Powerball jackpot!  What we did to make the kitchen look more enticing was replaced the cabinet hardware.  We replaced the old ones to silver knobs to sort of match the color of the cabinets since the color of the cabinets are white.  Initially I detest the white colored cabinets, but now, I like them very much especially with these new cabinet hardware. 

Filed under Product, Writing
Aug 15, 2007

House back to normal

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Our guest, Justin, left Sunday afternoon to SD’s place.   He went to his other uncle’s on Wednesday and spent some uncle/aunt/nephew/cousins time.  He had a blast out there coz he had the chance to see the cheerleaders who they had an interest on him 2 years ago.  He also said he thoroughly enjoyed the ride with his cousin going 125 mph after a crook.  His uncle works part-time at the town’s police department.  And the cousin is a paramedic and works part-time at the sherrif’s office, too. 

The whole gang came to the cities on Saturday to the Mall of America and ride the NASCAR simulation and shopping.  They went for a show at the Acme Comedy Club where Emo Phillipswas performing.  They invited DB and I but I turned it down coz I for the life of me refuse to sit with my nosy SIL, her clone (daughter) and son in-law.  I don’t care what others gonna say or think of me, if I can avoid them, I will, and especially when I know the entire jing-band will be here on Sunday to drop Justin off at our house.

They showed up on Sunday while I was vacumming the house since Sunday is my cleaning day.  Stopped and BS with them and had to answer both SIL and her clone’s questions.  Wonder when they are gonna ask me if DB and I had sex.  That is how annoying they are.  Questions from who painted the walls, who chose the colors, who decorated the house, did we do any renovations to the house, what are we doing with the basement, why is the basement so empty, why we use the former nursery as an office, why we didn’t repaint the room, and so many more, I walked away and let DB handled them.  Can they mind their own freaking business??  Nosy bastards!!! I wanted to tell her if she can give me the money, I can buy more furniture for the basement, blow up the kitchen wall so we have a bigger kitchen, and hire a housekeeper to clean the house for me. 

Anyways, Justin packed up his luggage with his back to school clothes and waited for SD’s BF to show up.  Those two are inseparable since they met a week ago.  He offered to bring Justin to the airport on Monday afternoon since DB and I had to work.  The four of us had dinner and BF and Justin around 7:30ish.  It was great to see them have so much fun together. 

I bought the three of them (Justin, SD, and BF) tickets and gave them some money to Valley Fair for last Tuesday.   Justin said SD had so much she was grinning the whole day.  At least them kids are enjoying themselves.  I knew they would like that.

MIL called and chatted with DB and complained about Justin’s mother, what she did to her son’s paycheck and truck.  Something we don’t really want to listen to but we had to.  His mom took his paycheck, cashed it out, and spent $200 on booze, etc, took his truck for a joyride and came back with a almost empty gas tank.  Very nice.  Poor kid.  Now I know why he wants to move to Minnesota for good.  Before he left, he told DB he don’t want to go back to Texas.  He said if he can convince his mom to allow him to move to Minnesota, DB is all for it. 

Time will tell if we will have a new resident in the near future.

Filed under Family
Aug 15, 2007

Must be a man thing!

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DB’s nephew bought his first truck last year with his hard earned money.  He is such a good boy.  He told me he bought a Chevy truck, which model, I could not recall.  It is quite similar to a Silverado but smaller.  No clue, but I know he has been scouting for truck accessories and once he see something he like to add on to his truck, he gets them either online or from the store.  He told us he bought a cover for the bed of the truck, special rims, and splash guards to do up his truck.  I am glad he is spending his money wisely instead of spending it on booze.

Filed under Family, Writing
Aug 14, 2007

Insurance for the family

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Working in Human Resources I hear a lot of problems from employees.  Some of them are extremely pitiful and some are just plain sorrowful.  I recalled back when I moved up to the 3rd floor, there are employees who will look for the benefits administrator and pour their hearts out.  I worked for this benefits admin lady so I get to hear those stories, too.

There is an employee who works for the manufacturing division of the company told us she is in hot soup because her husband passed away and did not purchase family insurance during his lifetime.  It is so important to have financial security for your family when one dies.   If you do not have insurance, your dependents will have to rely on your social security and whatever savings, hopefully there is some kind of IRA he or she have, and sometimes those are not enough to cover the funeral and others expenses.

Filed under Family, Writing
Aug 14, 2007

Lead Foot

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I have to admit I have a lead foot when it comes to driving my Monte.  That baby drives smooth even though she is 12 years old.  Once she gets going, she sails fast.  I was stopped by a cop for speeding once on my way to work.  I was going 55 mph on a 45 mph street.  I  know I was at fault, the cop did not give me a ticket, but instead, gave me a warning.

After that incident, I talked to DB about radar detectors and his opinion was they are his life saviour.  They are legal to be used in the state of Minnesota.  He has one installed in his Blazer and without it, he would have paid dozens of speeding tickets.  Since I am a person who likes to speed, he said he should consider getting one to be on the safe side.   That Christmas I got myself a conventional windshield mount radar detector and it has worked wonders.  Each time any cops are nearby, it beeps and warns me that cops are lurking somewhere, and driving on 35E and 35W is now faster.

Filed under Product, Writing
Aug 14, 2007

Pictures from the weekend

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img_0217.JPGOK, as promised, here are the pictures from the parade.  I took these pictures when we got back to our neighborhood to avoid the crowd.  The pictures I took at the event by the City Hall turned out blurry, bummer :(

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The below pictures were taken at the Mall of America.

Theme Park:  will never catch me on them.

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My favorite stores:

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Love from MN is usually where I get the MN stuff for the family; VS – a place where I can shop for lingerie til I drop.

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View from the 3rd floor; Godiva chocolates- gotta remember to bring some home this trip.  Forgot about it last trip.

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My fav store, Aeropostale, it has the most comfortable pants ever and they carry my new size.

The food at California Cafe is awesome.  Been there only once during a company function.  This restaurant is too damn expensive to have to pay on my own.

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Tucci Benucch, Italian restaurant.  I preference over Olive Garden.

The mall has 4 Crocs’ stalls.  I was looking at them, thinking if I should or not.  Thought of getting them for my nephews, but crossed that thought out.  I have no idea how big their feet are.  I know the older one has Shaq’s shoe size :)  

So, that was my weekend rendevous.  Didn’t want to go to the mall, but I had to to get some new pants since I split them open.   All the stores have back to school sales which made my shopping trip worthwhile.   I can’t believe my eyes when I saw Christmas stuff at the Love From MN store, way too early for that.

Started to buy stuff for the family for my coming trip.  Gotta start little at a time and want to catch the summer clothing, too.  Hopefully come November, I will be done shopping. 

Filed under Family, Shopping
Aug 13, 2007

Shades for the Executive Office

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The executive office, which belongs to DB, needs new windows badly, and so is the executive bathroom.  The windows in both rooms are as old as the house.  DB has some estimates from the window guy two weeks ago.  He still needs to get a few more estimates before he makes up his mind. 

At the mean time, he is looking for new shades to block the sun baking into his office.  I told him I do not mind wood blinds as they match the room interior.  Plus, if we get them now, it will save on our electricity bill as that office is always hot.   Whether he wants wood or Roman shades, that’s what we have for our living room, he better get on to it because I am tired of seeing our electric bill sky rocketing to cool that room!

Filed under Family, Writing
Aug 13, 2007

Florida, my dream vacation

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One of my dream vacation spots is Florida.  I would love to visit Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, Islands of Adventure, and if possible the Kennedy Space Center and be a spectator at a shuttle launch.  That would be so cool.   And I almost forgot, attend a NASCAR race at the Daytona beach.  I sure can dream!

Orlando vacation home rental has all types of vacation home rentals from pool homes, condos and townhomes.  My preference is a pool home – a 2-bedroom pool home with the amenities included such as the usual appliances, TV, DVD players, stereos, playstations and most importantly internet.  So, since DB mentioned he never like this sunshine state, I guess I will have to choose my own guests when my dream comes true.   

Filed under Vacation, Writing
Aug 13, 2007

Weekend at the Burnsville Firemunster

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We went for the annual Burnsville Firemuster on Saturday.   This event usually held during fall.  Last year we didn’t go for the parade because DB said it was too cold for him to stand out there and see a bunch of new and antique fire trucks, ambulances, etc. and eat corn dogs, brats and funnel cakes while freezing his butt off.  What a sport he is, huh?

Burnsville Fire Muster
August 7-12
Held at Civic Center Park and Nicollet Commons Park

Annual event held at Civic Center Park. Highlights include the World’s Longest Fire Truck Parade, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2004, block parties, bands, fireworks, community parade, rides, games and food as well as traditional fire fighter games and competitions. After 5pm a Fire Muster Button is required for admittance. Buttons are 3 for $10.00 in advance or $5.00 at the gate. Children 5 and under are free. Full schedule of events at: www.burnsvillefiremuster.com

So this year’s event was held in August where the temperature was not too bad starting out. It was in the upper 60s but very humid with dewpoints in the 70s (tropical) and we were rained on a little. After the clouds moved out, it turned out to be a very hot sunny day and remained super duper humid. The temps shot up to the 90s. Man, it was hot.  We didn’t stay too long.  I took some pictures and walked around for a bit and left coz I wanted to get to Mall of America to do some shopping.  Pictures of the parade will be up later….

Aug 13, 2007

 

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