The F**kin' Grumpy Dude

It's been a while since I've posted, but I did observe this unusual quick little tidbit today. I've lived in this neighborhood for 8 1/2 years. There's been this guy that gets on the bus less than a mile from here. Over the years I've seen the guy lose weight and eventually walk without his cane & stuff like that. He always seemed very quiet and NEVER caused problems or said a word on bus rides.

Lots of things annoy me during bus rides but I just say things IN MY HEAD like "Oh yay, here comes the town drunk," or whatever. I have even occasionally rolled my eyes a little or sighed out loud, but kept my thoughts & feelings to myself (as you should when you're in public). So today this guy gets on, he goes to sit down, and I clearly hear him grumble "OH F**K." I thought to myself "Was that HIM?! Quiet dude?! Wow. What a grump!" A few minutes later, we were headed out of Morgan Park, and my friend's sister was waiting for the bus with her husband and their little boys, and they had their stroller. This guy suddenly grumbles "OH F**KIN STROLLER!" and gets up so they can sit there. Again I was just thinking "WHAT THE HECK DUDE?! I don't like strollers either but WHOA! Profane language is not allowed on the bus, and I thought you were a calm quiet guy but DAAAANG..."

Probably the WORST thing I've EVER said out loud on the bus is like "Oh for God's sake..." or something. That guy has developed himself a whole new reputation in my mind now as "The F**kin Grumpy Dude." Good job, guy. Way to make yourself look good :-P

*Enjoy your day*

My DecalGirl Story

So you remember the little "ugly pink" iPod I found a couple weeks ago at a rummage sale?

I originally bought it as a "TeachPod" to put my students' book's accompaniment audio tracks onto so I could play them during their lessons. Pink is really not one of my favorite colors at all, but it was $5 and I figured I could buy a case for it or something. In the past I had browsed the DecalGirl web site quite a bit but never really purchased anything. I thought I might as well give it a whirl to get rid of the "ugly pink." I worked quite a bit with Amie over email because I was having trouble uploading my own photo to turn into an iPod skin (for the ever so ancient iPod Mini). She was very helpful, and this is the end result:

Looks great! No more "ugly pink," and it's pretty durable too! With recent glitches happening with my otherwise very reliable BlackBerry PlayBook in the media player, I have recently switched to using the iPod for my everyday bus ride music, and I switched to using the PlayBook media player for the student accompaniments. Now I look pretty stylish with my super old iPod with the cool custom skin. I have been looking into one for my PlayBook now too...

*Enjoy your day*

Brian Stack Ruiner

So this guy got on my bus today, and initially I was like "Whoa, that guy looks like Brian Stack!" (This dude: )

I originally saw Brian Stack as an actor on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and he played some pretty funny characters. One of my favorites was Artie Kendall, the radio show singing ghost. Good times, good laughs.

So anyway, I spotted this guy when he got on the bus and thought he looked like Brian Stack. He ended up sitting with me because the bus was fairly crowded. I don't mind people sitting with me as long as they're not wiggly, chatty or smelly. This guy started out normal enough, but he kept crossing his arms and TOUCHING me every time he did it! Usually it was my leg he touched, and I KNOW it was on purpose! Creepy!! I put my hand on the seat in front of me several times to show off my WEDDING RING hoping he would spot it and knock it off. Finally we got to a point where there were more than one totally empty seats. I asked him to find his own seat. I've only had to ask a few people to find their own seat, and they always do. He said back to me "No I'm fine here, why don't YOU find your own seat? I'm comfortable here." WTF?!?! I WAS THERE FIRST, and he was the touchy feely creep, not me!! We got to the mall, and as he got up he said "There, now you can have YOUR own seat." I wanted to smack him, but he probably would've LIKED it...

Here's a sneaky picture I took of him

*Enjoy your day*

Iowa Trippin'

So it's been a while since I posted. Friday though Sunday we were out of town. We went to Mason City, Iowa to see Nathan's grandma and just hang around town and shop and stuff. Today is her 90th birthday and of course her birthday party is THIS Saturday, not when we were visiting. Oh well, whatever. We took her out to dinner as an early birthday gift. We also had plans to spend July 4th mostly in Clear Lake at their carnival. Here's some pictures of our Iowa Trip!

And we're off!

We stopped in Hinckley and had breakfast at Tobies, and it was yummy! I ended up buying a loaf of that bread they made my toast on

I had brought along (and wore) patriotic clothes & accessories for this trip so I could look festive for the holiday weekend. I painted my nails too!

We had stopped at Kwik Trip for some "road fuel." We "each got 24oz of stay awake"

My favorite part of the journey is passing through Minneapolis on the way down. Very pretty! This picture does not even hardly show it because it was a quick from the back seat type deal

We arrived in Mason City and stopped at Pro's Sandwich Shop, where Nathan's mom ordered their classic "Made Right" loose meat sandwich. Their root beer is also made on site and is FANTASTIC! Very good chicken strip meal with VERY tasty fries!

We then headed over to Kinney Pioneer Museum, where Nathan's grandpa had a handmade ship on display, and I saw some cool marionettes

Nathan had always joked about wanting a switchblade comb, and they had them in the gift shop! He gonna COMB you, fool!

We checked into our hotel, which had a king size bed, a jacuzzi type tub, and a weird sliding WINDOW with blinds between the tub & the main room. It ended up coming in handy though when we sat in the jacuzzi and watched Saturday Night Live through the open window while the TV was in the other room

We visited Nathan's grandma and took her out to Ruby Tuesday for an early 90th birthday dinna

Nathan had been wanting to go back to Birdsall's Ice Cream and share a banana split with me, so that's what we did!

The next day was July 4th, and we were up early for a tasty hotel breakfast to start our day

They had a whiteboard in the breakfast room that was different every day. I captured the one that was up on Sunday

We headed out to walk on the Willow Creek Footbridge, which became famous in the movie The Music Man, so famous in the Iowa area due to Meredith Willson being originally from there and all. We've been to his museum a few times. There was also a cool sculpture called "Kinetic Weather Disturbance Ensemble" made out of trumpets and stuff

We had lunch at Rib Crib, which was really tasty

After that, we went on to Clear Lake for the Evans United Shows carnival. We went on the Sizzler, the Tilt-A-Whirl, the carousel, and the Ferris wheel

We also of course had to enjoy some fresh carnival funnel cake. Mmm!

We had planned to stay at the carnival into the night so we could see the fireworks. Our ideal plan was to watch part of them from the Ferris wheel, which we were able to do!

We also wanted to take another run on the carousel

It was another fun trip to the charming Mason City & Clear Lake areas of Iowa!

This is the hotel we stayed at, and it was fantastic!
*Enjoy your day*