Well, I survived! I've been taking it easy waiting to see how the injection is going to work. Ice every hour for 20 minutes and pain meds. It was a different experience, that's for sure. First the nurse couldn't find a vain so she kept poking my left arm, it's turning a lovely shade of purple and yellow now. Finally a Doctor came over and stuck the IV in my right wrist, fun. Then they left me waiting for 2 hours! They kept running in and out of the operating room, apparently they were having problems with a long procedure. Great. Then finally the Doctor comes up to me in goggles, covered in that stuff they wear when they do x-rays to protect your body parts, I didn't recognize him. Then they tell me to walk into the operating room and climb up on the table, lay on my stomach, then they bring this giant X-ray machine over. At this point I looked at the anesthesiologist and told him that this better be the point at which they knock me out. Next thing I know they woke me up gave me juice and got me dressed. This was like 10 minutes later, weird. Anyway, my left leg was completely numb so I had to stay there another 45 minutes until I convinced them my boyfriend could carry me if he had to. Anything to get out of there! So now I have to just wait and see.

I'm listening to the news right now and KFI just reported that Michael Jackson has his personal magician with him now, sitting with the family. That's Majestik the Magnificent that I was talking about sometime ago. I used to assist him on stage up in Hollywood back when I first moved to California. I have some pictures of him around here somewhere, I'll have to dig those up. That's how I got to meet Michael a long time ago at Universal Sheraton during some R&B party. I was there with Majestik and Cory Feldman. Cory used to do Michael impressions on stage at the Hollywood parties, he was obsessed with Michael. I also saw him on TV a few weeks ago saying how Michael never laid a hand on him, I think he had to testify. I haven't seen Cory since we ran into each other on a flight back from London, years ago! Funny, it's such a small World. Majestik always tried to keep a low profile, he move out of CA a long time ago because he's deathly afraid of earthquakes. Last time I ran into him it was in a club in Las Vegas. He used to live at the Jackson's house there in Vegas. Well, that's my news update.

Back to the ice for now.............

I know it's been awhile. Still trying to deal with this....whatever it is! I go in tomorrow for an epidural finally. I had to start calling the doctor everyday to try to get in. Apparently this guy is good, my Chiropractor said he's the Doctor that detoxed Rush Limbaugh. That's all I needed to hear. If Rush trusts this guy I guess he's good enough for me. Anything to not be in chronic pain any longer! I've been laying in bed all weekend. The terrific idea my Chiro had to use Lanacaid and ultrasound sent me overboard on the pain factor.
I also had to get tax stuff ready, Corporations are due March 15th. That gave me a month less to procrastinate.
Well, wish me luck tomorrow!

I went to see a doctor yesterday about "Pain Management." Apparently that phrase means only one thing.......... an epidural! I'm so not looking forward to getting a shot in my spine. The 2 1/2 hour wait at the doctor's office didn't help me feel any better so I just might go through with this. I also learned that they actually put you to sleep while they do it now.

I haven't been up to much lately. Gordon Dillow was our speaker at the last Tustin Area Republican Women's meeting last Friday. I enjoy listening to him talk about the Marines he went over to Iraq with twice. I guess they just left for their third tour the other day. There's luncheon tomorrow in Irvine where the Chairman of the Republican Party, Duf Sundheim, and Sir Eldon Griffiths, former Chairman of the World Affairs Council of America will be the speakers. Should be interesting!

Well, I'm going to go put an ice pack on my back, I went to the chiropractor today for my weekly torture.

My neighbor took this picture out in the desert on the way to Vegas.  

I halted construction on my ark, at least for now. It's actually not raining today.....yet. So this little shower is quickly turning into what could be a record breaking wet year. Terrific. I feel like I'm in Ohio again, always raining and depressing. At least in Ohio it snows and that's a lot more fun than this. Okay I know it snows in the mountains here but that's one place I don't venture. It's cold there, I hate skiing, it's cold, did I mention it's cold? I'll enjoy the snow by looking at it covering the mountains on the clear days from here ........thankyou. My cat isn't happy about it either. He likes to yell at me as if I could turn off the rain or something. Yeah, I'm conspiring against him so he has to use the indoor litter box that I have to clean. Whoever said cats were so smart? I especially like it when he comes in soaking wet and jumps on me when I'm sleeping to cuddle up.........how cute. The only time that was funny was when he tried drinking water out of the pool and fell in. He then came crying to me and jumped up to give me a big hug in the middle of the night. Now he drinks out of the toliet. Well, he did until I put that blue stuff in there. My other cat only drinks Sparkletts, go figure. Oh, and that one's a girl:)

I'm sad today to learn of the passing of my ex-stepfather, James Herrin. Apparently he died after having surgery on his hip because of a problem with his heart. I was told that he knew about the risks of the operation but went ahead with it anyway because he didn't want to live if he could not get out there and golf. It was a quality of life issue. Jim lived to golf and enjoy life, he did both of those things very well. He didn't retire until into his 70's, and only so he could move from Ohio to Florida so he could golf everyday. After a day out on the course he would sit back at the country club and enjoy a glass of Sky vodka on the rocks. The last time I saw him was in Findlay at a local nightclub when I went back for a reunion. I walked into the bar and we had Stoli's and then he pulled me out on the dance floor, it was so good to see him. He certainly knew how to have fun no matter what his age! Long before my mother ever married him when my father was still alive we used to buy our family cars from Jim at his dealership, Jim Herrin Pontiac. Jim will be missed, I'm so glad he lived it well!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I still have that cold, this thing hangs on for a long time. I've talked to people that have had it anywhere from 3 weeks to a couple of months-yuck! I've already been through a Z-pak so I guess the trick is to rest and get a steady stream of vitamin C into my system. If I drink any more OJ I think I'll turn orange!

I've been trying to resist a bad cold that finally caught up with me on Superbowl Sunday. The bar was packed yesterday and the patrons cooked a ton of good food. We had BBQ'd tri-tip, mushrooms, zuchini, meatballs, goulash, etc................. No one left hungry that's for sure!

I went to the "Lincoln Day" luncheon that's held by OCFRW every year last Thursday. Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby is a good speaker and always makes us stand and read The Gettsburg Address. You can tell that he used to be a history teacher. The keynote speaker was Bruce Herschensohn, Professor at the School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University. Okay, he's done a ton of stuff other than that but he gave us a great breakdown on the President's State of the Union speech. He also talked about the idea of creating a group of Nations for Liberty where only governments truly for liberty could join. Sounds good to me, I'm sure the UN will love that one. But who really cares what that useless group thinks?

I'll just leave you with this.....

...It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

Today I ventured into Chuck E Cheese. There is a reason they sell beer there. I normally don't drink beer but it tasted really good for a change. There's a big mechanical mouse, a trillion kids, and sucky pizza. A rather hefty young fellow got excited when the giant rat started singing and fell under the booth I was sitting in. Carlos then managed to get himself wedged between the table and booth for a short time until Mom came to his rescue (she had to put down her beer, I emphathised.) After that a large group gathered at one of the long tables down in front by the overstuffed mechanical vermin. I was certain that an episode of " Jerry Springer" was about to break out. It was very evident that they were all related, they had tattoos to tell each other apart ( and that was just the Mom's.) Anyway, at least I went with the absolutely cutest kid in there and she just wanted to play some video game where acorns crush the skull of a bear and a token lasts all of 10 seconds. She was happy, that's all that matters. It was just like being at deva's, only the customers were younger, beer was more expensive, and then there's that big goofy mouse-thing that's raking in a fortune.
Always an adventure!

WeSupportU

I haven't written that much lately due to the fact that it just kills my back to sit here at my desk for very long. Actually today it hurts no matter what I do so here I am. Now it feels like a fire is rushing down through the left side of my leg from my back, lovely.

Anyway, I just noticed a documentary on the Recall "How Arnold Won the West" has been released. After reading the reviews let's hope I'm not in that one! I know I signed a few different releases for various documentaries, but I have no idea where that footage ended up.

I just finished my DE 7 and my 940EZ FUTA tax returns. Those were the final 2 I have to do myself for 2004, yeah! I just figured out that you can now submit your DE 6 and DE 34 online. I know that's just thrilling to everyone, but anything that makes paperwork easier when it comes to EDD makes me happy! I'm still doing paperwork regarding an employee that filed for unemployment benefits after working a whopping 10 shifts before quitting in 2001! It made it all the way through the courts before I got a favorable ruling to reverse the charges on my account and it still shows up on my statement that I got charged. Unbelievable! I've protested and called for 4 years now. I guess EDD figures eventually I'll give up. No one can imagine how much paperwork there is for one little bar, it's a full time job. Several of my patrons think I sit at home all week long lounging around in my pool of money. I just try to make sure all the bills are paid so when I get to deva's I know there will still be booze for me to drink! Trust me, by the time I get to work I need one! What they fail to understand is that I can't work all day and then go to their place of employment get drunk, obnoxious, stupid, unreasonable, and bitchy to make myself feel better and then run a tab and not pay for the pleasure of doing so! That's why I need to bartend a couple days a week and be really mean to them, it's a self prescribed sort of venting that makes me feel better. Okay, I'm not really mean, just brutally honest. Maybe a bit of politically incorrect humor, a smart ass comment or ten. Oh, and bossy, yeah. Sort of nagging when it comes to tabs. Okay, Mean. I'm just going to stick with mean, in a funny way:)

Since I'm on a roll.............. my new car died on Saturday afternoon. I picked up the hard top ( yeah, like I'll ever use that) and took it to the bar for storage. After removing the top, the key still being in the "on" position apparently drained the battery in all of maybe 15 minutes. I was happy! After several professional beer drinkers poked around in my car to find a button that would pop the hood, a voice stared giving me options. Nevermind that the battery is in the trunk, the engine onlookers and myself were a bit surprised. After figuring out that there was an operator somewhere to help me I was somewhat relieved. "Little Al,"our in house mechanic that has a tendency to fall asleep under the big rigs that park at the end of the parking lot, was swaying there with jumper cables in hand ( still trying to locate the battery under the hood). The friendly lady came on and told me I was in heavy snow and she wasn't sure they would be able to rescue me. They didn't have their system updated yet and my car came from Pennsylvania. After telling her I was in California she looked me up on the GPS and let me know I was in Tustin. Thankyou. Now why did the people at the dealership try to sell me "Lo Jack?" Anyway, a little while later a nice man pulled up and dropped a new battery in for me. At least I wasn't somewhere in the dark by myself when it happened. But come on, how is my car certified pre-owned and they didn't test the battery? I still don't have the floor mats, a working second key, and a date to fix some minor damage on the front spoiler. Here we go again.

My new baby........... 

I finally received the call..................... they are totaling my BMW. It only took 5 months and 10 days to resolve this problem. I don't think the insurance company will be using M2 Collision services any longer. What a nightmare. It's a little sad in a way, I loved my car. I had it for 8 years and it only had 75k miles on it. After the body work, it looked almost perfect. Just too bad it rains inside the car:( For some reason I'm having trouble posting any pictures to my blog again so I'll try to get one up later of my new car.

My father past away 14 years ago yesterday which explains why I've felt so sad all week. I can't believe it's been that long. I miss him so much. It's good to remember though. I think I'll go pull out the old photo albums. I think I have the picture that The Courier ran from his funeral in the gymnasium at Findlay High School. The school was supposed to rename the gym the Coach Roger Renz Memorial Gymnasium or something to that affect. I never found out why that didn't happen?

It was such a nice day today I actually did nothing but read the Sunday paper outside. Finally things are drying up a bit. There's still the massive pond at the end of my driveway where all the water from my street ends up. The city will never fix it so I guess I'll just have to drive my new car through the mess my neighbors make every Saturday morning when they wash their 16 trucks & SUV's. I'm not sure how many people live there but they pretty much take up any additional parking out front. It's fun to watch them play musical trucks on street sweeping day. They thought I went on vacation the other week and when I came home my driveway was full of their vehicles. That made me happy. I just love all my neighbors. Especially when I get a weekly delivery of rotten lemons thrown into my pool. Sometimes they are even accompanied by half-eaten chrizos, plastics bottles, and big rocks. Lovely. The neighborhood welcome wagon I'm not, but I was nice enough to collect several soccer balls and return them in a garbage bag along with the lemons:)

Enough about my cozy little neck of the woods. I better get paperwork started and the laundry finished.

I finally put up a few New Year's Eve pictures. I would've had more but my camera lost it's charge before I could catch people doing embarrassing New Year's antics.

My car is still in the shop. I went to pick it up last Saturday after they assured me they tested and re-tested the top and there were absolutely no leaks. Then they left my car out in the rain all night. Good call! It was soaking wet inside again. So the manager told me to keep the rental car and she would call my insurance company. Gee.................. It's only been 5 months now. I gave up and went straight to Fletcher Jones to test drive a new car. I figured not too many people would be out in the pouring rain looking for a convertible. I forgot it's Newport Beach. Still, it wasn't that busy. I ended up driving a SLK 55 AMG. Nevermind the fact that this car is a rocket, I felt like I was in some sort of James Bond vehicle. It would take weeks to learn how everything worked inside. I thought I didn't like SLK's, the old style looks like someone kicked it in the ass. However, the automatic sensor on the windshield wiper, the automatic down shifting when you take your foot off the brakes, and the beautiful Diamond Silver colour made it very likeable. I was tempted by hot chocolate to enter into the little cubicle where the salesman utters those scary words, " Do you want to throw some numbers around and see what we come up with?" The next thing I knew I had a great credit score and for the small amount of, let's say.......... a home mortgage, I could drive away in this rare Mercedes. I thought about it.......... for all of 10 seconds before reality kicked in. I politely declined and that's when they sent in the "closer." Apparently the "closer/manager" didn't realize that I wasn't seeking a vehicle inspired by Formula 1 racing cars with bi-xenon headlamps, the 7 G-Tronic seven-speed auto transmission and AIRSCARF( A little fan that blows hot air on your neck when it's cold- how could you survive without that?). Of course it has a 265-kw/360hp output and 510 Newton metres of torque, but I just wanted something that looked "cute."
Next I went to Crevier BMW where I acquired my poor baby that sits in the rain and has a pending terminal prognoses. You have to valet your vehicle there just to walk on the lot, they were that busy! Apparently BMW's are flying off the lot faster than they can remove them from the containers down at the port. I would have to put my name on the particular 330 M3 that I had decided on that may find it's way to Santa Ana sometime next week.
So one last dealership I ventured to for the weekend. There it was in the showroom................ The perfect used SL 500 that wouldn't require a second mortgage, my first born, and several years without a vacation. No instant depreciation while driving it off the lot. A certified pre-owned extended warranty. And finally, a car that's not squishy inside. Now I can rest once again. I'll post a picture of my new baby as soon as it stops raining!

JJ ready for Mardi Gras New Year's Eve 

Jennifer ready to Karaoke! 

Barbie & Todd on New Year's Eve 

Let's see................... I still don't have my car, my back is killing me, still searching for the bottom of my desk, and the Democrats still won't admit they lost the Election. Different year, same story.