Cena's blog

Gotta use it... Its a Historic Moment

2008-11-04T21:17:00.003-09:00

I have been planted on my fathers couch in Taos, New Mexico for the last 5 hours, watching the television, talking to family on the phone, and checking numerous blogs and news sites. I voted absentee almost 2 weeks ago, and have felt pretty confident since that America would make the right choice this time. It was so exciting to be somewhere else in the USA to experience election fever - for me it was the people standing on street corners holding "VOTE NOW" and "Honk for Obama" signs. The streets were filled with the usually annoying sound of honking cars, but today it was music to my ears. The road to recovery for our country is not going to be easy, but it is going to be smoother and more enjoyable with Obama behind the wheel.

Tomorrow we are going to see a white buffalo, and then maybe go see a movie in the evening. This is the third and final stop on our trip, and in each place it has started raining in our final days there. Taos has not let us down, as the warm raindrops started to fall this afternoon. We seriously cannot get away from the fricking stuff. Oh and Tiffany! I am happy to say that my dad has been converting VHS tapes from my childhood to DVD, and my pageant footage was included in it! I was no Sarah Palin, thats fo sho... But you can expect a post in the near future, hopefully including some embedded clips that will forever embarrass and haunt me, but your enjoyment is totally worth it!

7 years ago

2008-09-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

Sam has taken a job driving cab from 6am-6pm. It doesnt pay well. He has already gotten up and gone to get the cab. I am fast asleep in the moldy apartment. I have started taking benadryl every night, just so i dont sniffle and cough while trying to get to sleep. The benadryl causes deep, restful sleep, but it also makes it twice as hard to get up when the alarm goes off. I am awoken by him, shaking me softly saying "get up, you have to see this." I groggily rub my eyes as i stumble into the spore-filled living room and plop down on the couch - the couch that conceals the mold crawling up the walls. On the too-bright television, there is a panicked voice, and words blurrily stream across the bottom of the screen. On the television, there is also a picture of two buildings, with big, jagged gunshot wounds. Thick black blood seems to be floating away from the wounds. As i sit and try to listen to Sam update me on what has happened, i find i cannot concentrate on his words. I manage to hear bits and pieces, but my tired eyes are glued to the television. I start crying, even though i really havent comprehended what exactly has happened, i just know its bad. It is then that i watch as one of the buildings crumples. Becomes a big cloud of dark gray and brown dust, just like that. The big red box in the corner screams at me "LIVE!" I watch horrified, eyes as big as saucers. In that moment, i am the awake-est i have ever been. I have just witnessed hundreds of people killed on live television.

The rest of the day is just... numb. People are not smiling. They are stopped in grocery store aisles, on sidewalks outside tv stores (just like in the movies,) in their cars with the radio on... listening to the horror.

That day could not end fast enough.

Just like the last two weeks. I am emotionally exhausted.

Attending not one but two friends funerals. Trying to be strong and not let the tears stream down my face. Knowing that crying is not going to change what happened or how anyone else feels. Saying the wrong thing (but who knows really) to someone who is grieving a lot harder than me. Meeting the brothers of the man who plowed our driveway for free all winter, only to do a horrible thing in the last 2 minutes of his life. Wishing that i had talked, asked, delved more into his life than i did. Thinking maybe its a good thing i didnt. Wanting next friday to be here tomorrow so i can fly and see my family and hug and kiss and hold and love and be loved.

Creepy day

2008-08-19T13:13:00.003-08:00

I've always been a little jealous of the conspiracy theorist who frequents the bike shop. Mike constantly has stories about a certain fellow who will stand around for hours and expound on numerous random subjects. Mike could fill a blog with all of them (hint hint.) Well, today i had the pleasure of enjoying his company at Lux - he must have seen the "adult section" sign in the window because thats what he was most interested in. He kept repeating how great it was that there was one in this town. I thought the conversation was going to stay disappointingly tame, until he went to leave. He turned to me and said "You know, this town is full of prudes, who, behind closed doors, are just as evil evil evil... I could name quite a few, and you dont have to start any further than our own police station." I guess i need some pointers from Mike on how to react, because all i could do was raise my eyebrows and give an incredulous look. Then i nervously said "have a good day" as he wandered off.

The other creepy episode can be found over on Karna's blog... it didnt affect me but is still creepy nonetheless.

In other news, my best friend from high school just told me she made out with a pretty famous celebrity... I would post his name but my sister just informed me he is married. I guess if you marry a high-status celeb you have to be somewhat aware that stuff like that is going to happen. But my friend is innocent, she didnt know who he was when they met. Lets hope there's not a look-alike roaming around Seattle!

Solemnly sworn

2008-07-23T21:16:00.003-08:00

Today i was in a court room for the third time in my life. If its the last i will be just fine with that. The first time was a result of stepping into a crosswalk as a car drove past - i was in high school and Jaclyn and i were going downtown for lunch. As we stepped off the curb an older, fellow classmate happened to drive through the intersection. In no way were we in any danger but an over-zealous, pothead police officer happened to see it happen, and pressed charges against him. I had to go testify where exactly i was in relation to the car that day. I dont even remember the outcome of the case, but that certainly wasnt the kids last run-in with the law... He is currently on the Alaska sex offenders list.

The second time, I got picked to (possibly) serve on a grand jury case in Ketchikan. I flew down, got a hotel room, showed up at the courthouse, sat for about an hour, and then was told that our services would not be needed as the defendant pled out. I was all set to head back home the next day, when i turned on the news in my hotel room. That day we had gone to war with Iraq. I freaked out, thinking that all planes were going down the next day (totally ridiculous, i know) and so i canceled my airline ticket. I bought a ferry ticket, and proceeded to board the boat. The ferry broke down while i was in my state room, and was not fixed for 3 days. I finished at least 3 crossword puzzle books in that little room. I know never to overreact like that again.

Today i volunteered to testify in the case of a friend who is being sued for a dog. She found an un-collared beagle at the end of the road, took every step possible to locate the owner, was not successful, fell in love with the dog, and now the owners are suing her to get it back. I am pretty optimistic that the judge will rule in her favor, but a decision wont be reached until after next week.

I would make the shittiest lawyer - i always end up scoffing out loud at idiot behavior.

Crazy Cat

2008-07-01T18:37:00.001-08:00

Crazy Cat, originally uploaded by cena76.

This is how our cat Ash chooses to lay down. It elicits a giggle from me every time I see him. Recently he has been very talkative too, when I don't think we heard a peep from him his entire first year. I love how each of our cats have different, unique traits about them. I am going to try and post about each one separately.

Wasty McWasterson

2008-05-29T10:44:00.005-08:00

Because of my ever-growing desire to be more environmentally friendly, i have been switching all of my personal debt accounts from paper statements to online statements. In my 13 years of being in debt (yay me!) i have only ever had to reference back to a year-old statement once. I was contesting some kind of charge and it ended up being my fault anyway. I figure that if i have to again in the future, it had better be as easy as the click(s) of a button. Well, my AT&T Universal Card just has to be different... This is the one card i have had since i was 18. I would really like to remain loyal and continue our relationship, but they keep sending me these: (boldness added by me for effect)

Dear CENA M MARTIN:

Your AT&T Universal Card statement is now available at www.universalcard.com. This notification is part of the All-Electronic Program you enrolled in to receive your statements online only instead of the mail.

Blah, blah, blah...

We hope you continue to enjoy the many benefits of the All-Electronic Program.

I know i could try calling them to request that they STOP SENDING ME PAPER, but i would just end up being passed around between departments, wasting my time and theirs. So instead i will let them continue to spend their time sending paper to customers who have requested them not to, and bitch about it online. Hasnt that become the American Way?

Chop chop!

2008-05-06T22:41:00.002-08:00

The other night zieak made himself a meal consisting of egg noodles and kielbasa sausage. It is actually very good for how cheap and bland it is. Well, he didnt use the entire package of sausage, so zip locked it and threw it in the fridge. When i went to use it the next night, i started laughing so hard tears poured down my cheeks. You got me sweetie.

I F#$&ING HATE DELL

2008-05-06T13:38:00.003-08:00

Feel free to skip this post as i am only typing out my frustration at one of the worst companies in the world. They have wasted almost 3 hours of my life with no resolution. Its not a problem that stops me from doing anything, it is just a slight hassle that their goddamn technical support technicians should be able to fix for me.

I bought this brand new computer just 2 months ago. Last thursday i downloaded an update for my anti-virus software, AVG. When the system tried rebooting after the update, it stalled on the DELL logo screen. I tried troubleshooting myself first, but did not get anywhere. I called their 800 number for technical support and got "Andre." He proceeded to troubleshoot with me for over 2 HOURS, determining that it would not boot up if the Dell printer was plugged into the usb port. We uninstalled and reinstalled the printer, changed all kinds of settings, nothing. Then he put me on hold for the trillionth time, and i was disconnected. Dial tone. Yay. I called back from my cell phone just in case he tried calling me back on the land line. Of course he didnt. The lady i got this time said he would call me back, that i just needed to wait.

So, i waited until today. 5 goddamn days. I dreaded calling back because i knew it would be a hassle. And they did not let me down. Of course i wasnt allowed to talk to "Andre" i had to reiterate my entire problem to "Mark." Even though he said he checked the documentation about the last call he proceeded to walk me through the exact same things as Andre. I stopped him and said i refused to uninstall and reinstall again, that this is all a big waste of my time. He asked to put me on hold "for 2 to 3 minutes" which stretched over 5... I hung up completely furious. Now i just have to unplug the printer every time i start up the computer. Oh well. I also want to discourage my friends and family from ever buying a Dell product in the future. Not only do they waste HUGE amounts of paper sending out catalogs to people who have requested that they stop, their customer service and technical support SUCKS.

Whew. Rant over.

AWESOME UPDATE: I tried fixing it myself and now my computer is all levels of f#$&ed up. Yipee!

Question: Why does Florida exist?

2008-04-24T11:11:00.003-08:00

Answer: To give us news stories like this....

I have been following the story about the group of teens who beat up another girl in Florida since the beginning. I know that violence happens everywhere, but for some reason the headlines that really grab my attention lately have been occurring in the Sunshine State. There's the guy who videotaped his grandma holding a gun saying she was going to shoot "all the pigs." Then there is the father who started beating on his daughter because she wouldnt pray.

The argument of who is to blame with all the violence will last an eternity - video games, movies, television... I really dont know which i would debate against, because none of them are ever going away.

P.S... As a follow up to my previous blog - Because she will not admit that her controversial abortion project is fake, Yale has decided not to allow the project to be displayed.

- - -

2008-04-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

I just got done reading about the Yale student who is preparing an art exhibit about her self-induced miscarriages... I am completely and utterly disgusted. Now, i am like 98% pro-choice (with the 2% exclusion just because of women who abuse abortion as birth control) but this is just ridiculous. There are some who claim that it is a hoax. Whether or not it is - and i doubt that it will ever be proven - doesnt matter to me right now. I am just appalled that an obviously bright, well-educated student would consider and actually complete a project like this. You'll have to read the article to get her reasons for doing it. I am upset over so many things. She is practically laughing in the face of every woman who cannot naturally conceive on her own. Not to mention women who want an abortion but cant afford it or the expenses occurred when getting one. And her lack of concern over the potential long-term harm she has done to her own body... I might feel less heated towards it if she had openly admitted she was doing it for shock-factor. But she doesnt. She claims she is trying to "spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body." Ok crazy, launch your naked body covered in menstrual fluid you've collected for nine months onto a canvas made out of woven human hair. There, you've accomplished your goal without proving that you are a masturbatory attention-seeker.

Hmmmmm, maybe not.....

April Fools

2008-04-17T15:28:00.003-08:00

In the past Zieak and i have come up with some pretty extravagant ideas for April Fools jokes. This year though, we went with one that i had heard about years and years ago, when the mural downtown first went up. A guy i knew said he would love to stick up South Park characters all over the thing, since it looked so cartoonish. So i printed out a bunch of high-res images of Stan, Cartman, Kyle etc and we brought some duct tape downtown that morning. The original plan was to do it at 4am when we would surely not be seen, but then we realized that there arent a lot of people around at 7:30am either. Here is the finished product, i think they stayed up for a couple of days before someone removed them. Yeah, you can BARELY see them in the center bottom. I envisioned much larger images covering more area of the mural, but that would have been too much work (and ink, which is NOT cheap.) If you click on the picture you get a better view.

OMG! NKOTB!

2008-04-03T10:42:00.003-08:00

Friday could be the biggest day of my life. NKOTB is appearing on the "today" show to announce their reunion album and tour! Of course with no tv I won't be able to watch the phenomenal event, but that's what youtube is for. Now, in case you don't understand the level of obsession I exhibited for these guys in my pre-teens, here is what my bedroom looked like: one entire wall covered in magazine clippings of the most awesomest boy band ever. I even went so far as to find a small black & white picture of myself, crop some lucky fans face out of a promotional picture of the band and swap it for mine. I lied to my closest friends about its authenticity. My friends and I (you know who you are) would take pictures of the tv screen when one of their music videos was on - only to be thoroughly disappointed when we got the 110 film developed and all the prints were just a washed out flash bouncing off the screen. Some privileged actors (river phoenix, christian slater, jonathan brandis) got their space on adjacent walls, but no one got the honor of a whole wall except for my new kids.

I am really hoping that one of their tour dates coincides with the road trip we are planning this fall - that way i wont have to shell out for a plane ticket!

We all had our favorite one, and i am sure some scale exists somewhere that tells you what type of girl you are depending on which new kid was your favorite. Mine was Jonathan (aaaaaaah Jonathan) the shy, quiet one. In my mind, we were going to be married one day. According to the wiki, he now works as a real estate developer quietly living in Massachusetts. No mention of marriage. Hmmmmm.....

What do Sumatra and Gondor have in common?

2008-03-24T14:33:00.002-08:00

Saturday night we watched the gore-fest flick Dead Alive which is supposedly peter jacksons second directorial project. So yesterday zieak wanted to keep with the theme and picked out The Two Towers for us to watch. We split a bottle of white wine, and so by the time the battle at helms deep happened, i was a little emotional. I was reminded of the war happening right now, and the fact that 4000 american soldiers have been killed. 4000 SOLDIERS. One of them a cousin of mine. A cousin i have never met, but still, a relative. A cousin who should not have died at the age of 21. When will it end? My hope is that this november will bring BIG change.

grumpy

2008-03-13T07:23:00.002-08:00

I will write this post without including all of the cursing going on in my head right now.

Every single morning at 6:30 our cats decide it is playtime. Whether it is running up and down the stairs at full throttle (which makes quite a racket since their claws catch on the carpet every step), scratching at the bottom of the closed closet door, or Ash taunting Ollie by venturing too close and Ollie letting out a loud hiss or growl. If we were to shut them out of the bedroom, they would just scratch at the door. We havent been going to bed until 11 or 12 lately, so this hinders our 8 hours of sleep we like to get. Honestly, i just like to sleep until the alarm goes off - even better if its more than 8 hours!

What i want to know is, how the hell these cats know about daylight savings time. Shouldnt their annoying rituals have been beginning at 5:30 all week? But it has not failed - 6:27 this morning i am awoken by Ash digging in the sleeping bag by the side of the bed. Needless to say, i am grumpy and not really loving our lovable, furry, cuddling friends right now. I'll get over it.

da bull

2008-03-04T22:43:00.002-09:00

Kitos has started bringing a mechanical bull to town every couple of months. Last time i was not brave enough to give it a go, but zieak was. This time however, my friend angie was able to coax me into going if she did... it helped that she also paid my $5 charge to ride. I had heard about the soreness that follows a bull ride, but boy i did not expect how awfully painful the days after really are. I did it on friday night, and today was the first day i was able to walk semi-normal. I still cant cross my legs. Heres a little clip zieak was able to catch with his camera phone... (mom, heres a hint: press play and then press pause to let the video load for a minute or so. then it shouldnt play choppy.)

Really? There are still decent human beings in the world?

2008-03-03T13:56:00.004-09:00

This weekend we decided to paint our kitchen a deep red. "Crush" to be exact - in my opinion named so because the color resembles crushed tomatoes. Well, the third coat went on last night around 11:30, and we still werent happy with the result. So this morning I started a fourth coat at around 8:35, knowing i was back on regular store hours so i needed to be downtown by 9:30 to open the store. With Sirius pumping out some of my favorite 80's hits and constantly shooing cats away from the fresh paint, i lost track of time. I hadnt yet finished the entire fourth coat, but i left the house at 9:28, forgoing my usual morning ritual of making sandwiches for lunch.

Noon rolled around, and i had to admit to zieak that there was no lunch prepared for him. We locked up the store and put up the "back in five minutes" sign, (which i forgot to remove after we got back, who knows how many potential customers i lost) and quickly walked down to the convenience store to pick up something to eat. I noticed a woman with one of those huge shin-length gray casts on, trying to balance her packaged salad, yogurt, crouton packet and bottled juice while fumbling with a pair of crutches. I politely asked if i could help her, took the food tower out of her hands and walked it up to place it on the counter. She thanked me then, and once again before leaving the store. It was nothing really, just something i would hope happened to me if i were struggling in the same position. As the cashier rang up our lunch items, she said "15.90 please" even though "20.90" clearly showed on the register screen. Zieak asked, "how did that happen?" and the cashier said, "that lady left five dollars to put towards your lunch."

Here's to you crutch-lady who i have never seen before - you give me hope that people still care, and that the Golden Rule has not been forgotten in this busy, hectic selfish world.

113 days

2008-02-27T13:36:00.004-09:00

Yes, it has been almost 4 months since my last blog post. In that time, i have traveled to Asia, celebrated a birthday and numerous holidays, launched an online store for Lux Boutique, developed a mild case of TMJ, and cleaned up a helluva lot of cat puke.

The main reason i do not update much anymore, is that zieak does a darn good job at describing our lives on his blog. I cant really use the "no time" excuse lately, as sales at the store have been so excruciatingly slow i have just about seen the entire internet. But i do manage thoughts of my own every now and then, so i am going to try and share them more often here.

Last night we watched Walk the Line for the first time. I was in awe of Joaquins performance, but then was entirely blown away when i got on IMDB and found out he and Reese sang every song in the film. I wanted to watch it again just so i could concentrate on enjoying their performances instead of debating whether or not it was really their voices. So, so amazing. Now, i've never been interested in seeing Capote, but it now sits quietly in my netflix queue, waiting anxiously to prove to me that philip seymour hoffman acted his part more convincingly than joaquin.

Here is a shot of how our family has enjoyed movies lately...

Hell of a ween...

2007-11-06T18:35:00.000-09:00

After much debate, we decided to throw another halloween pre-funk party at our house this year. Because petersburg decided to have the bar parties on Nov 3rd, we didnt know if people would still be down for dressing up. We even skipped over to wrangell the weekend before and partied the night away in our costumes at their parties just in case. Mitch dressed as lenny kravitz won "most scariest" at the *elks* lodge - we all got a kick out of that. Josh won "most original" and i came in second behind him. As prizes we received useless dinner certificates.

So when saturday came upon us, it was time for some more creative party ideas. The internet is amazing for things like that, and pretty soon we had a kitchen full of ghoulish treats.

Here is a skull covered with cream cheese and then a layer of smoked salmon:

Here we have a carrot hand emerging from a bowl of dill dip:

If i had bought just one more tub of hummus i could have made this look much more brain-like:

People were scared to even try these - lychees stuffed with grapes, resembling eyeballs!

We recycled the baby limb punch idea, but this time I went for a bloodier look:

And finally the jack-o-lantern that zieak spent close to 2 hours on:

The turnout was pretty spectacular, although many people who said they would attend did not. I tried not to let that bring me down, and instead concentrated on the fabulous attendees that did make a showing... Our first arrivals included a vampiress, Party Boy and Lenny Kravitz:

Here i think you can spot a couple of the 7 hos from one of disneys greatest tales, the "dick in the box" singers, little red riding hood in the forefront, and hermoine from harry potter in the far back:

Another of the 7 hos, "Cock":

Next we have Little Bo Peep, Gretel and Goldilocks, altogether now - aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!:

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Little Red Riding Hood, Olive from Little Miss Sunshine, and Ms. Elvis!:

Mr and Ms Elvis...

Lenny again:

Joe Bob Bubba and El Osso Bolador:

Dick in a box:

The tourists, ummmm i dont know, and jesus:

And i leave you with one last awesome shot of party boy:

I actually won money again this year and didnt lose it, thanks to Ailis! I dont think it was fair that i took first at the moose (there were much more deserving costumes than mine) but remembering the tumble i took off of the curb getting there, i am thinking maybe i deserve every penny of it.

Wtf?

2007-07-30T18:30:00.001-08:00

Zieak and i have known for awhile that we wanted to take a foreign trip this fall or winter. When the news broke that our friend seth would be getting married in Vietnam, we both agreed that would be an excellent opportunity. But then it bounced back and forth, mexico was mentioned, and south america, costa rica... All i knew was that my passport was going to expire in october of this year. So back in may i mailed in my old one with a renewal application. While browsing the internet, i discovered some forums that were saying with the new requirements in effect, passports were taking up to 6 months to be processed. I was scared mine wouldnt be done in time. Especially when we bit the bullet and booked our tickets to asia. But turns out, renewals take much less longer, and i just received mine back today.

Now, i am completely perplexed by what accompanied my two passports in the priority mail envelope. The standard pamphlet with travel tips and information was there, but here's where it gets weird... A staples-brand sheet cover that was holding two pieces of jewelry - a small brooch with an opal of some kind, and a broken anklet with little hearts on it. Ummmm, i have never owned any jewelry even similar to it, and i have no clue how to even go about finding out where the hell it came from. Any suggestions?

Wtf?, originally uploaded by cena76.

Errrmmm...

2007-06-20T21:08:00.000-08:00

Movie companies should be legally required to display in bold letters on dvd cases "MADE FOR TELEVISION" if the movie was indeed, made for television. We rented The Black Hole the other night, expecting a fantastic sci-fi adventure. Our disappointment was unfathomable as we watched a horrific movie starring Judd Nelson (with scary, crazy scientist hair) and Kristy Swanson (post-Buffy but pre-battery charges) with super cheesy special effects and a lame plot. Now, we enjoy bad movies, but they have to be entertainingly bad, not bad bad. Save your money on this one - oh wait, you probably already did because IT WAS ON TV FIRST.

Toot toot!

2007-06-12T10:30:00.001-08:00

If i had to choose one food on this planet to eat for the rest of my life, this would be it...

Here ya go mom...

2007-06-05T11:34:00.001-08:00

Here ya go mom..., originally uploaded by cena76.

Mouths of babes

2007-05-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

Quite possibly the cutest thing my ears have ever heard...

Father and son are out shopping for a gift for mothers day. The son is probably 7 or 8, and he is obsessed with the skirts and dresses.
Father: "How 'bout we just get her a smelly candle? Mom likes smelly candles."
Son: [a very firm] "NO. I want to get something for her to look pretty. Even though she still looks pretty in a sweatshirt."

Awwwww! Way to go dad!

D-Lux

2007-04-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well, in my many moments of spare time nowadays, i managed to squeeze in a blog post showing the transformation that took place on Main Street of Petersburg two weeks ago. My first week in business was fabulous, i could really get used to this i think... Here are some before and after shots:

The wonderful people (Seth) at Tonka Seafoods prepared this lovely spread for me, and Melinda Hofstad made cookies for the event too...

Lamb korma, yummm.....

2007-04-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

I really had no idea it was easter weekend until i got a text from Holli inviting me to come over and dye eggs yesterday. I was definitely the oldest there (i dont think anyone else was over 24) but it was nice to revert back and just giggle and have fun. I accidentally assumed both zieak and i were invited, but when we showed up there were a few eyebrows raised and some nervous snickering among the entire female group, so he promptly turned around and left. Oops. Later on boys were allowed, and he ended up decorating some of the most popular eggs of the evening. My spread includes humpty-dumpty sitting on a wall, batman, jack-o-lantern, and the stand-by easter designs. Zieak busted out the creativity and designed some very nice pieces also. Its a shame we will be crushing these awesome works of art...