Overheard at Hardee's

Husband and I went to Hardee's for lunch yesterday. I really like Hardee's for their burgers, but they are no Carl's Jr. replacement for the east coast. They don't even have chicken nuggets! Carl's Jr. had those stars nuggets, remember? A little more expensive than say, Burger King or McDonald's, but totally worth it - but I digress.

As we were enjoying our lunch - watching trash lady from trash family panhandle in the parking lot - a dad and a group of four girls sat down near us. I'm a self-admitted eaves dropper, so I got a good earful of stories. One girl was going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital for their birthday to give sick children presents and whatnot. Which was really nice - but she turned it into a bragging contest of how saintly she was, and anyone that wanted presents on their birthday was simply selfish (color me guilty.)

But here's the kicker. After not paying attention for a while, voices are being raised, and I hear one girl say this to one of the other girls:

If you weren't adopted you'd be living on the streets of Guatemala getting diseases and stuff.

What?! I look at husband, and he totally missed it. I'm laughing. And the chaperon dad is saying, "Alright. That's enough. Let's chill out." And they leave.

I mean, who knows if she's right. Who knows if that girl is even from Guatemala. But the way she said it so matter-of-factly was classic. She wasn't trying to insult this girl - she was simply trying to be frank with her and tell her the alternative to where she is now.

They definitely kept the lunch entertaining.

And at this point, trash lady had left.

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WOOHOO! $19 Million!

Hello,

I am Kun Chun, a legal practitioner. A deceased client of mine, that shares the same last name as yours, died as a result of a heart-related condition on January 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December2004 in Sumatra Indonesia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake

I am contacting you to seek your consent to present you as the beneficiary to my late client. He has a deposit of (US$19,000,000).

This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you against any legal ramification. If this business proposition offends your moral values, do accept my apology.

I can be reached on: kunchu22@gmail.com


Best Regards
Barrister Kun Chun.

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Volunteer Update

I'm still volunteering at the shelter. Today was a rather fun day. We have a number of tiny kittens and puppies there right now. Without further ado, I show you the animals. Remember, if you're in the DC, MD, VA area and would like to adopt an animal, please check out www.arfusa.org. All the animals are after the jump (thanks Cotter).



Meet Stewie. Stewie is new. He's probably about three weeks old. Some girl found him near her house. His mom abandoned him. He's super tiny and ridiculously cute. He loves to hold on closely to you and doesn't like to be alone in his cage. He's currently alone in his cage until he goes to the doctor for his tests and vaccines. I have a feeling Stewie will be adoped quickly.


The twitter favorite: Sully. Sully is still here - and I don't believe there are any pending adoptions. We spent some good quality time together. He loves to be held - and purrs the instant you pick him up. This guy's face is ridiculous. And by ridiculous, I mean, cute!



Autumn is still here, with her relative (mom?), Fall. She's a nice, calm cat who loves to be pet. Her meow is like a creaky door - I like that:

This is Bubba. Bubba is my husband's favorite teenage cat. He's a little shy at first, but loves to play with the other kittens in his room. His brother, Dickens was adopted a couple of weeks ago. (FYI: I'm the person cleaning those litter boxes in the morning - and you know what they like to do? They like to pee in the cleanest box, right after I'm done... while they're doing it, they stare at me - and laugh. I know they're laughing at me.)

Please, someone adopt Dexter! I shouldn't play favorites, but he is my favorite teenage kitten to play with in the morning. He loves to get into mischief with me, leaves on a plant, or even a roll of paper towels. He's a bundle of energy and loves attention.

The chocolate lab mix puppies are growing! I went into their pen today to pet them a little bit. They're up and walking around, giving a couple of whimpers. These guys are going to be adorable.


I apologize for the following blurry picture. Puppies are not the easiest thing to take pictures of. These guys here are the Lil' Rascals. Not really sure which one is which, but they are all named after characters from the movie. They like to eat my fingers, and love attention.

I met Millie today. She was getting picked on by Riley and Hailey (I didn't get a picture of her, sorry!)

This is Dani (I think). I like him. As soon as you walk into the kitten room, he begins to purr. Clearly, he likes attention and loves to be held. The purring just melts me every time.

Sadie is Sully's and Ladybug's cagemate. Ladybug has a home visit coming up as soon as she's spayed. She found a forever home. Sadie causes quite a bit of mischief around the place. She likes to run places. She also liked holding onto my iPhone while I was trying to take pictures of her. The best I could do was get a half shot of her.

This is Squeaker. He's in the kitten room. He is related to Dani - his other brother was adopted. I had to take this picture because he was giving me such a nice pose. They get sleepy after I feed them.

If you've made it this far, I thank you. All of these animals are great, and they deserve to be in a forever home. If we were homeowners, I believe that we'd be in trouble - because I'd be taking a different animal home each week. There are many other animals (especially more dogs) that you can check out at ARF's website. I don't really write these posts for them - it's more out of my own interest in seeing these animals adopted. Maybe it's something I can bring up to them to do. Maybe ARF needs a twitter page... My wheels are turning.

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Pizza Assessment

Well well. A big welcome back to those of you who have stuck with me. Work has kept me rather busy and blah blah more excuses. But thanks for coming back, regardless.

Today I am going to continue the praise for my move. The husband and I have officially become Eastern Shore snobs. It is our goal on the weekends to never cross the Bay Bridge going west. And we succeed. But today we're going to be specific in praise. Today it is about my favorite food group: Pizza.

Growing up in North Jersey I was privy to some of the greatest pizza on earth (see: Benny Tudino's, anything in Brooklyn).

After leaving Jersey when I was 16, there was a constant struggle to find even a decent slice of Pizza. We managed in Las Vegas: Verazzano's on Rainbow. We managed in Pittsburgh: Milano's in Oakland. Both had really good pizza.

But Alexandria? Fail. We ate *gasp* Domino's. Throughout the 2 years in Alexandria we could not find decent pizza. My boss claimed it was because we were technically in the south and they didn't know what good pizza is (he's from Brooklyn). I only slightly believed that. We were near a large city like DC, where are the pizza shops run by Joey Jr. and his dad Joe Sr.? Needless to say, it didn't help to improve our thoughts on the area. We finally settled on a place with fair pizza: Primos. In the Belle View shopping center off of Fort Hunt. Very good for the area, but only fair compared to the other places we lived.

Then we moved to the Eastern Shore. Mike, the owner of Wye Knot Framing alerted me to a place called Carini's in Stevensville. The guy running it was from Sicily and had excellent pizza. Husband and I added it onto our places to try list.

Lo and behold, Mike was beyond right. Since first trying it two weeks ago, we have eaten Carini's four or five times. Including the past two nights in a row. Here, you can order a "pie" without them looking at you like you're insane. You can order pizza by the slice. You can get cannoli's for dessert. Sal will even keep them in the freezer while you eat your slices.

And the pizza? Thin crust that's just crispy enough. Grease that drips onto the plate as you eat it "Brooklyn style" (according to Domino's). Cheese and sauce together for a perfect mix - and no, I put nothing on my pizza. I enjoy the pure cheese, tomato sauce, and doughy goodness. The crust: a perfect mixture of crispy on the outside and soft inside. This is NY/NJ pizza material.

The best thing?

It's a pizza place I would take my mother to. (she's from Brooklyn).

Add great pizza to the many reasons we are glad to have moved out here. Read more...

Shelters, Volunteerism, & Really Cute Animals

I've moved. And I felt it necessary to involve myself in the community - basically because I like it here, and feel that it is worthwhile to invest my time here. So since I can't adopt anymore animals (husband said hell no), I thought it would be nice to volunteer at an animal shelter. The shelter I found is a non-profit organization that shelters cats and dogs. They are the Animal Resource Foundation. What I wanted to do today was introduce you to some of my friends that I've met while volunteering there. I volunteer each Friday, and throughout the week I can't wait to go back. Sure, I have to clean out litter boxes, sweep and mop floors - but it's worth it to play with animals that don't have a forever home and a family life that I provide to my own cats. Also, while I'm only there to volunteer to clean the cat rooms, I take the time to spend with some of the dogs (mainly puppies, but I say hi to the older ones too) because well, I always wish I could take a dog home with me as well. Let me tell you, if husband and I owned a house, we'd be in trouble. That place would be a farm of animals.

ARF has a website (see the link above) where you can see the animals that are still up for adoption. Sometimes the pictures do them justice, sometimes you are missing the cuteness that they exude. If you live in the DC/Baltimore area (it's actually closer to B-More, but worth the hour drive up here from the DC area anyway - shit, I do it every week to get to work) I would consider checking these guys out if you want to adopt an animal.

So without further ado, I introduce you to my new friends!

This is Autumn. She is a calico (almost) adult cat - she is one of a mother/daughter combo (I'm not sure if she's the mother or daughter). She is very sweet, and follows me around so that I can pet her. Her meow sounds like a creaky door. I think she'd fit in perfectly in our home, but husband says no.

This is Dexter. Dexter is a kitten who became friends with me this past Sunday. A feisty little guy who wants to play all the time. He resides in the kitten room with 13 other little guys who are ridiculously adorable. I wanted to take Dexter home as a playmate for Mr. Ratman, but husband said no. As much as I hope Dexter gets adopted, I wouldn't mind playing with him again when I go volunteer. He's fun.

This is Mason (left) and (i think) Mooch (right). I don't know too much about the puppies since I don't spend too much time with them - but, if you are looking for puppies there are a bunch of them! These guys are lab mixes and love to play. They would nibble on my hand and just fight for my attention. And, look at those faces! When Mason was loose at the shelter, he liked to chase the cats around. He would often get swatted at - but he kept going.

Sydney is a beautiful and intelligent shepherd mix. On my third day coming into the shelter she began to get used to my presence. I think they said she's a little older than 1 - if you check the website you can get better information. She has a load of energy and loves to play with this block that you put a treat in the middle of. She's pretty smart and can get the treat out fairly quick. You can't see them, but she has beautiful brown eyes. I would like a dog like Sydney.

This is a close up of a mom. I call her mom, because she wasn't named yet. She just came in last Saturday with a litter of 10 puppies. Mom is a chocolate lab and the friendliest thing on earth! She would jump up on the fence to say hello to me with her tail wagging. Just a precious and happy mom. I like her.

These are mom's puppies. They are believed to be Chesapeake Retriever/Chocolate Lab mixes. In this picture they are about a week old. ARF was in the process of building a new room to house mom and the puppies on Sunday. I can't wait to see it!

I think this is Doody. He comes from a crazy litter of puppies - some with terrier hair, another with curly hair, some black, and then Doody. I'm not sure what kind of dog he is, but all I know is that he is adorable. He loves attention, and will whine when you're petting one of his siblings. I think he was being fostered last time I was there - or he found a forever home. But I just wanted to put this up so you could see what a cute guy he was.

And finally, Shortie. Shortie is a kitten that lives in the kitten room with Dexter and 12 other little furballs. If you look at Shortie's tail, you can see that she has a nub tail! Apparently, she was born with a little nub tail. I love it. Like all kittens, Shortie is very curious and also follows you around while you're cleaning their room. This is a shot of her napping after running around and eating. Damn, I love kittens.

There you have it. Those are some photos I've taken of the friends I've made so far at the shelter. There is a huge overpopulation of cats around the area. Husband and I are taking care of a family of ferile kittens that are in the woods across the street from our place. My goal is to catch them and fix them before the cold weather comes. I have a feeling Mr. Ratman was hanging out with them last night. They came pretty close to me when I brought them fresh water.

If you'd like more information on the place I volunteer at, please go to www.arfusa.org. There, you can see the full family of animals looking for a forever home. Read more...

Nigerian Princes Now Work for Monster

I wasn't going to put anything up today - frankly because I'm a lazy ass. But this warrants 1) A warning and 2) A chuckle.

As I was checking my email account - not the spam email that I sign up for retarded shit with - I got this Gem in my inbox:

I absolutely suck at posting screengrabs, so if you can't read that it's from Jaret Wyetzner, and the subject is "Vacancy available". Looking at his full email address - you see "jaretwyetzner60@live.com".

Ok. This seems valid, right? Probably not. But when you open it, this is the first image that you see:


Actually, it's just the "monster" part of the logo - and not trademarked. So, there's a good tipoff as well.

The ad is for a money manager assistant - sounds important! You can work from home - score! And make $2,000/month.

Now - this job does not sound good for me... only because I like my job, and it doesn't force me to move to say, England, Canada, or Pittsburgh... And also, I have some decent job security. But you'd have to believe for the 9.5+% of Americans that do not have a job - this sounds spectacular! Work from home, make some money! Awesome.

But wait.

There's more:

The actual position is a Money Transfer Assistant.

Wtf is that?

This remote position itself covers a broad range of directions an individual would have to perform. It's a part time position, which let's you perform your duties directly from your home location. In the nearest future, we're planning to achieve the expansion of our company throughout the United States of America and United Kingdom, providing local offices and departments in the vast areas, where logistic and insurance services are definitely in demand. Until then, we're trying to fill in our personnel with new individuals, which will increase the efficiency of the services we're catering. If you wish to apply or have any questions regarding the position, feel free to contact me back either via e-mail. Hope to hear from you soon.

Uhhh... what? There's no mention of the name of said company. But let's read more...

1) This is part time work at home position and can easily combine this vacancy with any other work.

2) The fixed salary is 2000 USD a month + 5% instantly from each payment processed by you.

3) You will receive payments (Direct Bank Deposits and wire transfers) from client within United States and send it by instant payment sistem such as Western Union. You will receive 5% of processed amount.

4) You do not spend your own money and there are no startup fees. All charges for withdrawal or transferring the money will be deducted from the payment.

5) To start work with us you must only have basic checking account at any bank. Your financial information will never be disclosed to third parties.

6) You can work 2-3 hours per day.

7) This is not insurance sales position and you don't need to sell insurance, this is Money Transfer Assistant vacancy.

8) Your education and status don't matter.

9) We do not ask any personal information and we run business according to laws of the United States of America.

Cool, I don't spend my own money - I only have to work a couple hours a day? Not bad. Education and status don't matter?? You never hear that in DC! Oh, and plus? I don't have to SELL the insurance! Awesome. Let's read the details of the job:

1) An ACH or Wire transfer will be made to your bank account from our client. I'll let you know it's exact transfer amount and date.

2) You should receive the transfer and send me the confirmation that you've received it. Then you'll have to cash out this transfer at your bank.

3) Then you'll have to sent the money you took from you bank account via Western Union. I'll let you know all the necessary information on this transfer(the name of person who will receive the money and destination city/country).

4) Then you should send an email to me to confirm the Western Union transfer is sent. This email should include sender's name, name of the city the transfer has been sent from, exact Western Union transfer amount, and Western Union MTCN (it's essential for receiving the money).

5) We communicate with our agents mainly by e-mail, but we will also communicate by phone (if your e-mail is not available). It is your responsibility to check your e-mail daily and inform us about any change in your contact information. Supporting communication is your top-priority obligation.

6) The fixed monthly salary which is 2000 usd will be sent to you by direct deposit after 30 day period from first transfer.

Wait a minute... this sounds eerily similar to the process that Nigerian prince wanted me to use to get his inheritance to the United States. Hang on! It also sounds like the way that I won that lottery in England! I lost thousands because of that!

Long story short and an FYI -

I know it seems obvious now - but this isn't a real job. Don't apply. And don't do this:

If you want to apply please send all your questions and contact information at kotshonn@gmail.com .
We're looking forward to our further communication.

Just a warning for my readers out there.

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The Snorer and My Steelers Sweatshirt

We all know that I've moved. Now that I'm out in the boonies - so to speak - I take a commuter bus into the city, and then hop on the metro. It's a nice long ride, where I can listen to music close my eyes and relax. On the way home, I can do the same.

The Wednesday ride home was a little different:

I get onto the bus, and find an empty row of seats (2) that I can plop down and extend my legs. Sweet! Then I hear it.

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZ
Side note: I really have no clue how to phonetically spell snoring - so this will have to do.

Holy shit. This guy is snoring. Loud. Like that sleep apnea snoring that they warn you about if you get too fat. Yeah, that kind of snoring. It's LOUD. That's alright, I'll turn my music up. I wasn't tired to the extent that I needed to sleep on the bus. I was just going to get some extra work done, check twitter on my phone, and just read things. It's no big deal if I have to turn my music up a little louder. So I do.

I still hear the snoring. So yeah, at this point - 10 minutes into the hour-long ride - it's getting annoying. I deal. Because I've already spread my shit out, I'm not trying to go somewhere else. Music goes louder.

About 30 minutes into the ride, my legs are stretched, I'm leaning against the window dealing with his z's. All of a sudden, a hand latches onto my shoulder through the seats! It's HIM! Some how, in his slumber, he's grabbed my shoulder. I look back and dude is leaned against the window passed the fuck out and still:

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzz

Guy is passed out, snoring loudly, and now grabbing at things. I slowly moved away and he loosened his grip. When this happened, I looked around to see if anyone else is seeing this... No. Everyone else is sleeping on the bus too. I'm actually surprised you can't hear anyone else snoring.

Fifteen minutes later, guy is still snoring, everyone still sleeping, I am still doing some work. And then?

Dude rips one.

He ripped one. And LOUD! And everyone is asleep to miss the hilarity. Thankfully, it didn't smell. I covered my face into my sweatshirt just to make sure.

Needless to say, yesterday as I was getting on the bus, I picked out the snorer and did not sit in front of him again. However, I was close enough to hear his snoring without my earphones in. Dude's got sleeping issues. Granted, I wish I could sleep like that on a bus - minus the snoring... sleeping that hard/soundly, that is.

I'm kind of pleased by this experience. I thought that taking the commuter bus wouldn't be as exciting. But if I can experience things like this every now and then, I can still keep this blog!

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Side note: It's cold on the bus, so I wear my favorite sweatshirt - a Steelers sweatshirt - of course. The security guards at work do not like this sweatshirt. Convo yesterday:

Guard: Well hello Steeler girl.
Me: Hi!
Guard: You don't mean those Steelers do you?
Me: What do you mean?
Guard: Those Steelers.
Me: What, you mean the Six Time Superbowl Champion Steelers? Yes, yes I do! Have a good one!
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