The News!

We ended up going back to Tim Dhale Nissan, even after the sales manager insulted us. The actual salesman was always nice to us and when we went back Ramin demanded to speak with the general manager and tell the story. They did end up giving us a great deal and they claimed they only made $200 on the deal...which it doesn't matter if that was true or not because we really did get a great deal on this truck! And you might ask, why on Earth would you get a truck right now?!? It's simple really...it's never been better to buy a truck simply because no one else wants one right now! The dealerships are desperate to sell the ones they have because everyone all wants gas-efficient cars.

So here's the plan: We got the truck for hauling things, for Ramin in the winter when he goes up to the mountains snowboarding and for good recreation stuff. It will mainly be used for those purposes...Ramin plans to buy a motorcycle in the coming weeks. He will use that as his daily commuter to work. You see, Ramin doesn't go anywhere...and if he does, it's on the weekend with Chris and I....so we can still use the Audi for those trips. And that brings me to the Audi...I will be driving it now. The Avenger will get parked at Mom's house (thanks Mom and Bob) since they have RV parking on the side of the house sort of hidden away. There is NO WAY I can part with that car. It is what brought Ramin and I together. We hope to keep it around and perhaps one day restore/modify it back it's old glory and sort of bring back Ramin's old Avenger as well. One day I'll post a picture of his old one.

That's the plan of the truck and car. Ramin is SUPERB with math and figured out all monthly payments for car, gas and insurance. I needed a new car soon anyway and for cheaper than anything else Ramin gets to have all 3 modes of transportation he loves and I get to drive a freakin nice luxury car. Since the Audi is still technically his car, it will help save me some grief when it comes to trade it upwards since I get so easily attached to things. If I know in the back of my head that the car is still always his, I won't get that attached feeling as much as if I had leased something of my own.

Anyway, because we NOW have the truck....we were able to do a small weekend project on the front yard! Saturday we pulled out ALL o the weeds in the front yard. Let me tell you, on the side of the house we had 4 foot weeds growing! NO JOKE! Ramin and I worked for about 3 hours straight pulling weeds and wild grass. We sprayed a ton of weed killer. The next day we went and got that landscape fabric and laid it all over the dirt - Ramin did this part. I was studying for final exams. On Monday night Ramin took the truck and bought about 10 huge bags of mulch and spread it over all of the fabric and the result is what you see below! I can't even believe how awesome it looks :) Ramin did a great job!

Ramin's brother and dad arrived in Salt Lake last night and they will have a few days of golf extravaganzas! His dad will be leaving Friday morning, but his brother will be staying here for about 3 weeks, which is his usual summer time visit length. I think this is his 5th or 6th time out visiting us :) They also brought a ton of great gifts from Ramin's mom from Iran. We have a new Persion rug and some great beaded fabric decorations...I just need to find the best places to display them.

I have tonight off of work cause Ramin is taking me to see the Steve Miller Band in concert!! Wooohooo :)

That's all the news for now :)

A note for car salesmen

Here are some helpful hints:

1. If we say we want a payment between $200 and $250 - don't come back to us with an offer between $500 and $600 and expect us to take you seriously.
2. Don't insult us under your breath as you get up to go back to your office to calculate numbers. Guess what? We can still hear you....and we will walk out.
3. Don't call us back after we've walked out and then offer us the deal we wanted in the first place.
   

That's all.

This actually happened to us tonight at Tim Dahle Nissan in the Southtowne Automall - I don't advise going there.

Aura

I love little quiz things like this, especially when they appear to be fairly accurate (I guess that is the lore of such quizzes as they are "always" accurate) Anyway, it's fun!

What Color Is Your Aura? Your Result: Blue You are quiet, cool, and calm. You love your solitude and have no trouble standing alone. Blues are sensitive, truthful, spiritual, and intuitive--they often show signs of clairvoyance and ESP. They are the professors, detectives, and spiritual mediums of the world.
Green
Orange
Yellow
Pink
Brown
Violet
Red
What Color Is Your Aura? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Look what a month can do!

Holy cow!! I knew my plants were growing but I didn't realize the extent! I have my "before" pictures that I took from June 20th and I compared them with the ones from today, July 23rd. And wow! It's only been a month but I cannot even believe how much all of the plants have grown in that short time....below are the before's and after's. BTW, I've over the brunt of my sickness and I will attempt to go to work today even though I'm really not looking forward to it and I really wanted to go buy a new car instead. But Ramin and I decided it's better just to wait - so I'll suffer through no A/C for the rest of the summer...oh well...enjoy the pictures! (I think the tree is the most impressive!

Still Sick

I made it through the movie yesterday, barely. It was CROWDED - it would have to be since it was the biggest opener of all time apparently. Half way through the movie I realized I had to go #1 - BADLY. But I held it since it was so crowded. When the movie let up I was so rude to my family. I had to go #1 and my eyes were watering - I was not happy! I told them to MOVE and NOW...my poor mom spilt her drink on the floor...it was funny but it pissed me off cause it landed all over my foot :P Ramin and I bolted through the crowd trying to find a bathroom - he had to go too. We just left everyone in the dust...I didn't even get to say bye to my mom, Bob and Taylor. I felt sorry about that. We came home and I went straight to bed. I slept till about 7. Woke up, had some dinner and went to bed again around 9:30.

I'm home today...and I'm staying home. I hate being sick but it's my own fault I guess. I pushed myself too hard at work over the past few weeks. I worked too many hours and stressed myself beyond the max. Being sick is my body's reality check for itself. It forces me to stand back and take it easy. Too bad I have to do that with watery eyes and a runny nose. I'm just thankful I don't have any kids yet. One day they will be here but hopefully I won't stress myself so much when they are here :P

Anyways, I'm trying to fit in laundry and dishes and homework during this day off. It's not so bad, I have bouts of energy here and there, followed with an hour or two of naps in betwee. We'll see how tomorrow is before I decide if I can make it in to work.

Sick :(

The stresses of life finally reaped their reward on my body...I'm sick. I felt it coming Friday morning when I woke up with a sore-ish throat. Saturday was ok until after dinner time. I'd been having sneezing fits and a runny nose Friday/Saturday but Saturday night came the watery eyes - something that I ALWAYS get when I get sick, lucky me. I took some medicine to help me sleep and I did sleep for a good 10 hours. This morning its still bad...I took some medicine again but it hasn't helped yet. My right eye is constantly flooding over. We're supposed to go see the new Batman movie in 2 hours ... that should be interesting.

Audi Symphony

So Audi had a big release of the new R8 in Brazil and they decided to create an Audi Symphony where they show car parts moving in time with a symphony....it's so unbelievably awesome that I keep watching it over and over (reminds me of the old orchestra days)...anyway this is my favorite of 3 videos that were released: http://www.vimeo.com/1303587

If anyone can find out if or when a DVD or something will be released let us know! I'm so glad we got into the Audi world...Ramin and I just love the new A4 and we're hoping one day we can get the Q7 SUV from Audi cause it is by far THE best looking SUV out there :) Enjoy the video - remember to have the sound up!


Audi Symphony from Bullet on Vimeo.

Burnt Yet?

I'm busy these days. And I'm getting burned out. I'm trying to stay positive and keep hope that it will pass, but it won't. eBay won our lawsuit against Tiffany & Co....but we still have LVHM that we lost against...I have plenty upon plenty of things to do at work, just in my department alone. Add to that a HUGE project. I'm essentially a project coordinator for a section of one of the largest turnaround projects I've ever experienced at work. Add to this a new supervisor on my team who is great, but still new...so I must take on a lot of other duties on my team in order to meet monthly expectations.

That was work, which is occupying pretty much every day of my life these days. One day I'm working a day shift from 9 am until 6 pm or later...the next day I'm back to swing shift from 2 pm until midnight...it's always changing. Then comes school. I still go Tuesdays and Thursdays. Summer semester is almost over thank goodness...just 2 more weeks! But I've gotta find time to study for 2 final exams and write a 5 page research paper AND prepare for a 20-minute group presentation.

I tried so hard over the past few weeks to tell myself that I can make it through all of this. With so much on my plate it's finally taken a toll on me. We have all of this overtime at work, which I'd LOVE to do, but I cannot honestly bring myself to stay any longer than I have to these days, even though I've always got things I could be working on.

I just want to sleep....for a really long time............and take care of my flowers :)

The Clowns & Anemone

We've had our saltwater tank for just about a year now...we started out with clown fish Ramin bought from another hobbyist. Our clowns were farm raised and have always been together as a pair. Clowns are supposed to get along with anemones and sort of live in them. If you've seen Finding Nemo then you know the process. Where other fish feel little stings on their body when they touch an anemone, the clown fish will feel little tingles that feel good to them. Apparently they have a thicker skin than other fish.

So Ramin bought a small anemone shortly after we started the tank, along with some other fish. We have a Royal Gramma (my fish) and a cleaner shrimp along with the clowns. We've had a few other fish, mostly tangs, but they haven't been able to survive. Anyway, we'd sort of given up on the idea that the clowns would ever figure out what they were supposed to do with the anemone. In the beginning when the anemone was first placed in the tank the clowns seemed like they would go to it, they did their little mating dance twitch things that they do, but that was it.

Just a few days ago we noticed that the anemone moved spots in the tank...it does this now and again to presumably find a spot where it's most comfortable. Apparently this new spot attracted the clowns, finally! This weekend I noticed the clowns scoping out the anemone and I told Ramin that I think they'll finally figure out what to do, he didn't believe it was possible after so long.
This morning I wake up, walk from the bedroom to the office and pass by the tank. Low and behold the smaller of the clowns is floating in the tentacles of the anemone! It was so awesome to see!!! I took some crappy pictures but you get the idea :) We're hoping now that they'll settle into the anemone a bit more and get goin with the baby making...they won't lay the eggs inside the anemone but they'll hide them somewhere in the tank.

BTW when I was taking the pictures, Belle decided she needed attention and started barking at me :P She does that when the camera is out!

Interesting Dream

I had a very vivid dream last night. That's not unusual for me...I usually remember most of my dreams and they are usually vivid as well. The one I had last night was one of those kind that sort of linger with you all day. During moments of boredom, preoccupation, or other regulatory stuff, I found myself thinking about this weird dream. I also found it rather odd that today we discussed sleep and dreams in my Brain & Behavior class - coincidence? (Matrix quote up next "There are no coincidences") Anyway, my dream involved me being shot at by some guy, not sure who...I remember pleading my case to him why he shouldn't shoot me :P Then I remember running down this path in what I like to call "Tree City" - essentially it's like a village up in the trees....I probably dream about Tree City because of Mario Cart - there's a level on there where you drive through the tree tops and it's my favorite level and the only one I'm good at :P. Anyway, I was running through Tree City and out of the blue Bob was there. He was just standing there smoking a cigarette. It seemed to me like he was out shopping in Tree City and taking a smoke break. I remember him being a look out for me while I was trying to hide from whomever was trying to shoot me.

That's the end of the first dream - so much as I can remember. The second dream from this same night was odd as well. I've been trying to remember the scenario, but I can't. All I remember was these weird parachuter guys who had flags attached to their legs as they flew through the air. Only, the flags weren't American flags or English flags, they were Jeff Gordon flags. Orange in the background with blue numbers. Those are Ramin's UF Gator colors...and Jeff Gordon is his driver. It's odd...if I wanted to dream about Nascar flags, why didn't I dream of Jimmie #48 flags? It's all very puzzling.

To finish the story, we talked about dream theories in class today as part of our discussion - how fitting! Some theories, like Freud's and Jung's, say that all dreams are symbolic and have meaning. Other theories, more contemporary theories, say that dreams have no meaning but are essential to the sleep process. They are merely collections of images from our daily lives.

I'm not sure what is true...I'm not sure anyone will know. But it's kind of fun to think that they do have meaning...but finding out what the meaning IS, is the hard part! I'm open to interpretations!

The Seeds

I decided I ought to take some pictures of my container garden plants so that I can
follow their transformation over the summer. All of the containers have been growing really well, minus one. The container with the petunias and the big red thing in the middle was planted after I realized that the seeds in that container didn't want to do anything :P Strangely enough, after I planted the petunias, the seeds started growing...so it will be interesting to see what that pot looks like come September. All the rest of the containers, however, started out empty and I took care of them from seedlings :) I'm rather proud of how I can get things to grow fairly well. I also threw in a picture of our house in the day time...most people probably just know of the house picture during the winter time right before we moved in. Notice my ornamentation above the garage - it was one of the first things I HAD to HAVE when we moved in. This neighborhood is pretty notorious for people putting ornamentation above their garages or on the side of their entrance ways...I like it!

We also have some strange plants growing on the side of the house, ones that we did not plant. There is a peach tropcial looking one, I think it's some kind of lily. The other bush is a carnation bush! I had no idea we could grow those here, but apparently so! They look white in the picture but they're really light pink. I love taking pictures of all the various plants...even though our yard is pretty crappy haha. I threw in a picture of our neighbor's house to the west, they've done a good job with their flowers and yard....so they probably hate that our yard looks ugly :P Oh well....anyway, that's the flowers and front yard as they stand now. Transformation is always fun to watch!!

Yes, I KNOW

So this is somewhat work related...and all I'm going to say is "Yes, I already know!" :P I've probably been sent about 10 different news articles between yesterday and today from co-workers, friends, family and school people regarding this news.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2910194320080701

• Yes Louis Vuitton won it's lawsuit against eBay this week.

• Yes this is the 3rd time LV has won in France.

• Yes I still have a job.

• In fact, it's probably better for my particular job.

• Yes, things are CRAZY at work, in part because of all these freakin lawsuits against eBay in Europe.

• Still waiting on the Tiffany & Co. decision here in the US. Judge has been deliberating since January.
  

• If we lose that then the $hit will really hit the fan.

• Until that happens I'm keepin on keepin on.

• Work is HELLA busy...if I could write about it I would. :)

• Let's just say we are going to have massive OT on the CI Team for quite a while!
  

So yeah...times are exciting at eBay. It's also fun when the power goes out at 3 pm at work due to the over exhaustion of the A/C system (that's what I assume) - I left work around 5 pm to head to class cause I had a test tonight. Thank goodness I was able to leave that sweat box :P I feel bad for my team though.