MADONNA!

For those of you dying to know… Madonna was AWESOME!! Probably the best show I’ve ever seen as far as multimedia is concerned. She had the same kind of LED screens that Bon Jovi had but also had a ton of other awesome stuff too. See the pictures for more specifics. Our seats were phenomenal, first row of the club deck… nice. She played both of my favorite songs: Like a Prayer and Vogue. Her dancers were so good. She even had real lasers! It was total sensory overload. Despite the naysayers, it was amazing and she played a lot of old stuff and new stuff. Now forever I’ll be able to say I saw Madonna live.

This is Madonna on a piano in the middle of an LED curtain. The center of the stage went down and she came up on it with the piano. Sometimes you could see through the curtain, sometimes you couldn't. It was bad ass!

VOUGE!!

LIKE A PRAYER!
I ran out of memory on my card before the end of the song... damn!

The end of the concert was total sensory overload.... observe...

Holy Crap....Madonna!

I’m not even going to start talking about how much I hate my job today… you know why? Because of my job I got free tickets to see Madonna in concert tonight! Ok, so my actual job sucks but the perks are pretty awesome.



Jordan left last night. We all hung out at LIME last night for some tacos and beer. If you like tequila it could be your new favorite place, but me, I can not partake. Just the smell makes me want to vomit. Many of us have that one liquor/beer/wine that you know does not do the body good. Sometimes it used to, but it only takes one huge instance to make that go right out the window! I had a tequila night… shot after shot with other drinks mixed in there… I think it was the only time in my college career that I used the Pennsylvania safe ride system (you can have the bartender call you a cab and they take you home for free, you just tip them…). After that, I just can’t do tequila anymore. For one of my friends it’s Coor’s Light. That used to be our beer! Now it makes her sick. Se la vie, what can ya do?



So yes, I get to see Madonna tonight. I didn’t get tickets because they were pretty expensive, but for free?!? OH YEAH!! I’m trying to rack up as many of these old guys before they stop touring!! You know she’s gotta be on her last leg. I heard that she kept the crowd waiting until 9:30 before she even went on stage (the concert was supposed to start at 8 and I don’t think she has an opener…. Why would she? She’s Madonna!) Don’t worry my fair friends, I will try and take some pictures and post them in the next couple days.



If you read my year in review you’ve seen that I have quite the concert resume building. This will certainly add to that. Now if only I could get ACDC tickets for free too… They are $100 for every seat, how weird is that? You could be in the first row or the last…$100 please! Seriously, I think that’s weird.



So I haven’t done cheers and jeers for a while, so here we go:



WINNERS

Cheers of the week goes to… KIMBERLY! If you don’t know why, you need to read my weekend review post.

Jeers of the week goes to… the COLD! I know I can’t do anything about it, but damn, the fall weather has been so nice!



RUNNERS UP

Cheers to wearing my Uggs again. I know I don’t like the cold, but I do love my ugly Uggs.

Jeers to the guy who pushed Anderson (from the Nuggets) down which gave him a broken rib.. and Anderson didn’t even get the foul!! Get well soon.

Jeers to my roommates using my special Av’s pint glass because they don’t understand the concept of washing dishes. I had it in my pasta cupboard for a reason… so you don’t use it!!

Cheers to Mario Kart. Best. Investment. Ever.

Cheers to knowing I’m going home for the holidays! I can’t wait to see Amy and I’ve already talked to Paul about meeting at “our spot” and I’m pretty excited to see both of them.

Cheers to getting my life back together. It’s a long road… but I gotta do it.



What are your cheers and jeers of the week?

YARRRRRRdhouse....

Work is SO boring today. Blech. On top of being bored, the only thing I can think about is how cold it is in here. I have a space heater under my desk but when I have to get up and move away from my desk it sucks. Plus my back is cold… basically anything that’s not under my desk is still cold. Man oh man. Last night was super fun. We found that there is a Yardhouse just west of Denver so a bunch of us went there last night to say bye to Kimberly as she is leaving today to go back home. Yardhouse, for those who don’t know, has 100 beers on draft! It’s pretty sweet. They also had happy hour specials all night last night for Monday Night Football so we got some AWESOME food for cheap. I will definitely be going back there!! I had these amazing Chinese noodles with garlic and ginger and soy sauce… so NOMS!! I also had the best clam chowder I’ve ever had (outside of New England of course!) It was so bad for me but oh man was it totally worth it!! It was nice, we all sat around and talked and laughed and ate and drank. It was good times. As I said yesterday, I’ve been a little sick so I didn’t drink too much, just 2 beers that I haven’t had on draft before~ Tommyknocker Brewery –Jackwacker Wheat. It’s pretty awesome normally, but on draft… wow. I was impressed they had Kona Brewery on DRAFT there. It’s the only place on the mainland that I’ve seen it not in a bottle. Now if only they could get the Hula Hefenweisen here… that’s my favorite.



Well, my life is boring so that’s about all for now… maybe more to come later!

How you have a 5 day weekend...

Weekend Rewind

Welcome to Monday where the kids go back to school and you go back to hell… er… I mean work.



My weekend started Wednesday night. I was pretty tired after work so I went home, laid down and was relaxing when Ben called and told me to go get Kimberly (who just go into town) and come down to Micha’s bar and hang out with him and Jordan and Travis. Ok… So I called Kimberly and took a shower (not at the same time of course) and started my hour+ drive from home to Arvada to south Denver. When we finally got there we were just in time to take a few shots and then head down town to Earl’s and meet up with some other ship people. At this count we have Me, Kimberly, Ben, Micha, Jordan and Travis from the ship together… you already know this is going to get bad. At Earl’s we meet up with 3 other girls who were on the ship (who I never knew) and Brian. This now adds up to 10 ship people all together drinking… help us all. So far I’ve had 3 shots. After leaving Earls I’ve had an additional cosmo, mixed misc. drink, and a glass of champagne. We head over to The Front Porch which was packed so we went across the street to 5degress where I tacked on a beer, a Captain and coke and a plain rum and coke… oh yeah, and I haven’t eaten since 4 in the afternoon. It’s now about midnight. Yay me. At some point I didn’t know where everyone was so I went outside to see if they were smoking. Nope, they weren’t so I go to head back inside and the bouncers wouldn’t let me back in!! I can only imagine it was because I was VERY visibly intoxicated. Next thing I remember is sitting on the sidewalk against a brick pillar of some sort leaning to the side and puking my guts out. I also remember thinking “if I open my eyes I am going to die”. Somehow we got into a cab and went home… WAIT… My car is still downtown!! SHIT! Well that was taken care of for me, Kimberly turned into the DD and took care of my car and all misc. drunk people for me. Ben remembered not only to set the alarm for me, but that I had to work the opening shift instead of my regular shift. There was no denying I had a wicked hangover from anyone at work. Kimberly brought me my car in the afternoon and I hugged her and told her thank you many many times in the parking lot. What a great friend!!



Whew… so that was Wednesday…

Thursday I went to the Av’s game with Steph and had a great time but did NO drinking!! I had some lemonade and a terrible pretzel and the Av’s lost pretty bad.

Friday was pretty awesome. I left work and went to Ben’s to meet him and Jordan. We hopped on the Light Rail and went to Pat’s for some wings and happy hour drinks (yes, after getting hammered on Thursday I was back at it by Friday). Yum, wings and Tastekakes!! We had tickets to the Nuggets game so around 8 (it was an 8:30) game, we went over to the Pepsi Center for the game. It was Chauncy Billips’ first game back in Denver as a Nugget so the place was alive with excitement for our hometown hero’s return! I went to the Altitude store and bought a big foam Nuggets paw to wave during the game. I sat next to Thomas and Casper, his friend, Ben and Jordan sat behind me. I was, of course, ready the whole time for the picking of the Price Is Right contestant of the game. For those of you unfamiliar with the Price Is Right game at the Pepsi Center quick explanation: during the first half (or first period for hockey) they say “who wants to be on the Price is Right? Show us your King Soopers club card and you could be our next contestant!” Then you have to jump up and down waving your card and if they put you on the jumbotron (spell check doesn’t know the word jumbotron??) and flash “WINNER” under you then you get to play! So then they take you to the top of the section you are in and you get to play high low for a $100 King Sooper’s gift card. Well, when they asked to see the club cards I jumped up and waved my card and my big foam paw like my life depended on it… and you know what… I got picked!! My dream was coming true, but then again, I had to actually play the game while on the jumbotron in order to win the gift card!! I was really nervous for some reason, probably because I didn’t want to be the idiot that can’t win high low. Well, not to worry, I got through and WON!!! I was so excited I hopped up and down all the way to my seat! To add even more excitement, the game was super close but we were nailing the free throws and came out to win in the end! GO NUGGETS!!! After the game we went to the bar and drank until they closed and we had the lights turned up on us.

Saturday morning I had to go to work for our workshop but it was really interesting and I had a good time. After taking a quick nap I went over to Ben’s to watch some college football with him and Jordan. Jordan wanted fried chicken so we went to the only place we would take someone who wants fried chicken, Rocky Mountain Diner. They have the best chicken and gravy and mashed potatoes in the whole world!!! NOMS! Once we got home it was a night of Mario Kart and Lethal Weapon. Bed was much needed that night.

Yesterday we took Jordan to ESPN Zone downtown to watch football all day. We got there at 10am and that’s when the drinking started. I paced myself because 1) It was 10am… hello! 2) If I was going to be drinking all day I needed to keep it slow, and 3) I can’t afford to drink for that long strait!! I got really tired and cranky around 2 ish and decided to go home. I went to bed around 4 and woke up at 730 feeling like shit. There’s a sickness going around work and I got it. I was feverish all night and I think I finally fell back to sleep around 11pm after tossing and turning and putting the covers on, taking them off, pulling them on, throwing them off…. Etc….

Today…well today, back to the grind for me. I’m tired and achy but I’m still going out tonight to see Kimberly before she leaves to go back home. We are just going to grab some sushi and a drink or two and call it a night, I just can’t get wasted on a Monday… not this week anyway!!



So that’s that. I know this was long but it was a pretty interesting last couple of days and thought I would share.



PEACE!

I chose YOU... writing workshop!

Here's to another exciting installment of Mama Kat's Writing Workshop!! This week I choose number 4- My top 10 absolute worst pet peeves.

These may not be in exact top ten order, but they are close....

10- When UPS/FedEx/DHL/USPS breaks or mangles something you sent and then denies it. “How do we know it wasn’t sent that way?” Well because, Mr. Know it all, they wouldn’t have sent it to me in an already smashed box/ripped envelope. Here, you’ll have to fill out these 10 forms in triplicate and we’ll get back to you between now and the end of eternity.

9- People who don’t use their turn signal. This is particularly fun when they are turning and there’s no turning lane so they just slam on the breaks and make the turn. I know eventually this will come around and bite them in the ass end of their car, but for now, all I can do is lay on my horn and yell at them—Oh I see!! Turn signals were optional on that model!

8- People who take or use my stuff at work without asking or letting me know. Do you have any idea how many times I come into work and have to say, who took my post it notes? Who took my pen? Where’d my whatever whatever go?

7- Uninformed decision makers who complain afterward. But I didn’t know it was that loud! I didn’t realize it was that big! Why didn’t someone tell me that it wouldn’t run by itself? People, do your homework and ask some questions. I mean of course we can ASSUME that you are stupid, but what if you aren’t by some stroke of luck? Then we just offended you.

6- Freeloaders. This does not include those of us who love free shit from people who are giving away free shit. This is people living in their parents’ basement with no intention of moving out. This is going to your friend’s house constantly and drinking their beer and never supplying or reciprocating. These are people who never say “thank you” or “I really appreciate your help/food/beer/etc”.

5- Children in inappropriate places. Children in a mall? OK. Children in Victoria’s Secret? NOT OK. Children at the zoo? OK. Children at the opera? NOT OK. Seriously parents, if your kid can’t sit all the way through a 30min episode of sesame street, what makes you think they sit through a 2 ½ hour show in a quite room in uncomfortable seats in an unfamiliar place?? The people sitting around you will thank you if you wait until they are a little older.

4- Bad Customer Service. After working for so many years in customer service you get really attuned to the good the bad and the ugly. If you don’t greet me, if you aren’t nice to me, or if you are chit chatting with your co-workers when you should be helping me… you either get no tip or I’ll take my service elsewhere but either way, you can bet your high school ass that I’m going to talk with your manager before I leave.

3- Being left alone in the front office. Sometimes the quiet is nice, but when all of my co-workers are wisked off to some meeting and I get left to handle all phone calls, walk ins, rental paperwork and any shipping that is coming or going… that’s a bit much. I don’t mind when they aren’t here because they aren’t here. However, when our GM thinks that I don’t need help or have to go to the bathroom for hours on end because she’ holding everyone hostage in meetings… that sucks balls.

2-People who chew with their mouths open either fully or intermittently. If I can hear you eating across the table, across the room, or in a different room, you have serious eating issues. My parents were strict with me about it, but honestly how can you not hear yourself?

1- When they put pickles on my plate! If you happen to be in my inner circle, you know that I ABHORE pickles in every fashion. This is why I am very explicit about ordering sandwiches, burgers and other entrees where sometimes a pickle shows up on the side. Please NO PICKLE ON THE PLATE I say adamantly. Usually this is followed closely with an eye roll from whoever I am with and an chuckle from whoever is taking my order. When a pickle shows up on my plate I have to cut off and excommunicate that food that decided to associate itself with said pickle. I seriously fucking hate that!!!!

Enough of that, I need a nap... sooo tired.....

Rock this Boat!

And by Boat I mean VOTE!! Get out there and vote today. It's our PRIVILEGE to vote for who we want to be in office so DO IT! If you don't, you have absolutely NO room to complain if you don't like the way things are! Take your friends, your family, people you don't know, but get out there and make yourself HEARD!!

I like to smirk while at work

We were actually busy today at work, but somehow I wrote the following... enjoy!

While at work I have plenty of time to think about life and whatnot. I have time to think about all the different types of clients we have here at the OS.

~Panic at the OS~

These are those who we see drive into our parking lot like a bat out of hell. They are in a rush and they need their stuff NOW. Problem is, these customers are those who don’t plan ahead, hence the rushing. They are usually rude which makes us want to take our damn sweet time. Our motto for these people, “Lack of prior planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part.”

~Unnecessary Overplanner~

The exact opposite of Panic at the OS. This is the client that is calling in March to prepare for their Christmas show. They are usually hyperventilating because they are worried the equipment is already booked. They suddenly turn into our best friend the moment we praise them for thinking ahead and reassuring them that yes, everything is available in 9 months. We rarely remember these clients even exist until they show up bouncing and perky to pick up their crap… 9 months later.

~The Talker~

This guy (and it’s usually a guy) comes in for one item and then decides you need to know WHY he’s getting what he’s getting… and the history of it… and his life story… and what his plans are this weekend… and he tells you how he just quit smoking for the third time and when he was younger it was easier, and he quit drinking 2 years ago and that wasn’t nearly as hard…… OMG please---shut---up!! I have important Sudoku puzzles to be doing!

~The Group Outing~

Very similar to locusts. They come to the shop in a swarm and they rarely, if ever, have a ring leader. You know you are about to have 5 different people buzzing in your ears about what they want and how they want it. Sometimes you can pick out who knows more then the rest, but usually group mentality wins out and you have to deal with the stupid until they can come to an agreement amongst themselves and get down to business. The only thing worse then the group outing is the Family outing… see below:

~The Family Outing~

The major difference between the GO and the FO is that the FO usually includes CHILDREN. Children… they run around, get into things, and usually misbehave. You know, it’s not entirely their fault, our office or shop isn’t meant for children to be here and their parents usually fall under another client category which leaves them so wrapped up in their own needs they can’t be bothered to look after their own flesh and blood… if they really ARE the real parents! Coming up next on Montel

~Mr. Smarty Pants~

This person thinks they know what they want or how something works when in reality they don’t know the first thing about it at all. They will never admit that they don’t know or are wrong but continue to insist that “last time that’s not how it worked,” “they did it different last time,” and “they’ve never seen it done that way/heard it called that.” This person is one step away from getting hit in the face with a roll of gaff.

~Naive Nancy~

The opposite of MSP. This client knows nothing and is not afraid to let you know it. His first words when she comes through the door is usually along the lines of “I need your help, I have no idea what I’m looking for.” I don’t mind these people so much because it gives me a chance to teach and generally, they want to learn. I would rather spend 30min with her then 5min with MSP.

Oh yeah... and I fucking hate my roommates... they are as lame as ever. Why does our house smell like garbage???