Nuthin’ but an H thang, Baybay…

I hate this part. Yesterday afternoon, I drove over to their office and went over the changes to the contract. Everyone was in agreement. They didn’t ask for anything else.

SO WHY COULDN’T THEY JUST SIGN IT?!

They said something about “talking about the two options a little more because one guy wants a cost savings and the other wants budget predictability.” We all want something! I want my contract!!

I asked my contact if I could have the contract tomorrow, being that it’s end-of-month and all. He thought it wouldn’t be a problem and taunted, “Oh, I see, Heather - this is all about YOU.” This guy is full of awesome in my book, so he can get away with that.

Of course, now I’m up at 3am wondering/worried about it. I should call The Silver Fox - he’s probably been up since 1am.

The lovely Colorado Spruce near the house was suffering from what the arborist called a “severe needle cast infection.” The smaller ornamental cherry tree closer to the street was apparently stricken with “severe black knot and bark canker infections.” Sounds nasty, right? Since both trees were ill and looking worse each year, we decided to remove them.  In the absence of the trees, the yard has a bit of a wide-open-space feel. The view of our neighbors’ homes/yards is unfortunately, much less obstructed. In the August afternoon sun, my living room seemed to experience the unforgiving brightness of a nuclear assault. Guess we need to ramp our use of those Venetian blinds. Oh sure, we’ll plant new trees…it’ll just take them some time to provide shade again.

On an aside, a funny thing happened just as I arrived home to see what was left of our yard. I was pulling some things out of my trunk in the driveway just as a cop car pulled up behind a white van in front of my house. Two officers got out and began speaking to the tiny woman behind the wheel. Within moments, they had her out of the car, in cuffs and walking toward their vehicle. They began searching her purse as the stump removal guys were grinding up the stumps where the trees formerly stood. Here’s the irony for you: just as I was recently bragging about low crime rates and tranquility in my ‘hood, I’m watching an arrest right in front of my own house amid loud flying tree particles. Sheesh, perhaps I need to keep my trap shut.

Maybe 15-20 minutes after they’d driven away with their perp, those same cops drove by again. They spotted me in the driveway picking up tree debris and pulled up next to where I was standing. They were nice enough to tell me that the woman was picked up for a No Driver’s License charge and that she “wasn’t a rapist or murderer.” Gotta love those crazy police.

Does it look like me?

www.faceyourmanga.com

During this morning’s news, WCCO mentioned that “some hotrods from NHRA” would be on display on Nicollet Mall today. I knew BIR was holding the Nationals this coming weekend, so this was clearly promotion for the event. I don’t know that they’ve ever done that before in Minneapolis. I could be wrong. You can bet I grabbed my camera before I left the house for the office.

My boss, the “Silver Fox,” and I walked down to Nicollet to check out the display. Only Morgan Lucas Racing had dragsters there, but it was still cool. Lucas is the main sponsor for the Nationals at BIR, so it makes sense that they spent the extra time and moolah promoting it. They were very generous with letting people get super close to the dragsters, even letting folks touch them. Racing teams tend to be a bit more protective in the pits during races for safety reasons, or so I remember. It’s been several years now since my last trip to the Nationals (2001, maybe?)…it was great fun to see these mean machines again. I’m planning to convince Adam to go next summer - I really think he’d enjoy it!

Here are a few thoughts and updates for the week:

1. It seems that some women don’t realize that sheer opalescent pantyhose are about the most hideous thing you can wear. Please ladies, you’re killing me here.

2. Corina is leaving me! My trainer is moving to Iowa City, for love, of course. Adam and I are both very sad.

3. My Daddio sent me two AWESOME clips of him singing a few blues tunes. It made my day.

4. I get to drive Adam’s truck this week. His speakers kick the crap out of mine, so I’ve been bumping bass-heavy grooves all over the place. Yesterday, I listened to Swass by Sir Mix-a-Lot with glee.

5. The tree in front of our house may be taken down. The nasty hail storm we had in June pretty much sealed its fate and we spent most of Saturday cleaning up the area around it. My legs have hurt ever since.

More later…swass!

Click on the photos to see the larger images.

Ahh, the saga of the New Teef. It was a journey that took longer than expected. You can read all about that and the saga of the Old Teef here.

On the morning of July 2nd, I drove down to my dentist’s office for a loooong appointment. They settled me in the chair and fitted this apparatus in my mouth to expose my teeth up to the gums. I’d say the entire procedure was painless outside of this thing mercilessly pushing against my lips and gums for three hours. They cleaned my teeth thoroughly, dried them and began applying the first round of bonding material. That stuff STUNK to the high heavens and it tasted as bad as it smelled. After awhile, I thought I might pass out from the fumes…or maybe get high, then pass out, then wake up with a bad headache in a Mexican graveyard.

They fitted the veneers one by one on my Old Teef. Another layer of sealant gel or something was applied - it stunk a little less. Then Dr. Smith began gently shaping the veneers. During the whole process, the dental assistant kept shooting water onto my teeth and sucking it out with a little tube. This was fine, except she got water everywhere! All over my face, in my eyes, and much of it rolled down the sides of my cheeks and collected at the nape of my neck, which felt really gross. I could’ve done without that.

After three hours and 8 new veneers placed, they let me out of the chair and all of the blood rushed from my head. I had to steady myself on my feet to keep from falling over. The water-happy dental assistant led me to the restroom where I could see my New Teef in all their glory. At first glance, I was shocked. These are not my teef! This is not my smile! It doesn’t look like me! In all honesty, I was really weirded out. I asked Dr. Smith to do a little more shaping on the eye teeth to shorten them a bit. Soon after, I left the office in a bit of a daze. Because I’m cheeky, I took a photo of the New Teef when I reached my car. My gums looked really red and beat up, making my teeth look super white. And they were slightly longer and thicker than my Old Teef, so they felt strange under my upper lip.

When I got home, I called Adam. He could tell that I was having a hard time with the New Teef, so he came home early with bunches of flowers and cards for me. What a sweet guy, let me tell you. He agreed that it was a major change, but he assured me that with a little time, I’d get used to the New Teef and probably really like them. And then he did exactly what I needed: he took me to Benihana. I love my husband.

Adam was right. After a week, the sensation of feeling the thicker teeth under my top lip went away. After two weeks, I really began to get used to my smile and like the way they looked. Overall, I’m pretty darned happy with them. Dr. Smith had me come in a week later to make sure everything was okay. He did a bit more shaping and checked my bite. There was a slight gap toward the very bottom of my front teeth, which he said they could fix, but they’d need to get another veneer ordered. Perhaps later…I’m done with the dentist for awhile and I can deal with the tiny gap.

I made a separate lunch date with each of my parents to see if they would notice. Neither one did until I said something. That was pretty funny, but in an odd way, it made me feel good…like the New Teef weren’t obnoxious or appalling or Gary Busey-like. When I look at the photos above, I am amazed at the difference in my smile. The New Teef are dramatically whiter and more symmetrical. But what’s changed between the day I had them done and now is that I can see myself; my smile is mine and it looks natural. If I look happy, it’s because I am.

After cleaning out about 5 gigantic dumpsters full of junk, painting the exterior and interior, refinishing the wood floors, getting a new roof, adding new garage and entry doors, installing new screens, re-landscaping the yard and fixing odds and ends…our neighbor has finally put her father’s house on the market. The house is totally adorable, very reasonably priced and best of all - you’d get to be neighbors with us!

We’ve loved this neighborhood for nearly 4 years. Our neighborhood carries a fraction of the crime you get in Minneapolis, but we’re close enough that we still feel like part of the city. Oh, and this house is right next to a park, so your kid(s) and/or dog(s) would thank you. C’mon! We need nice new neighbors who will hang out with us in the backyard all summer and let us borrow cups of sugar and alla dat.

On my ride into work this morning, KMOJ actually played “No Loot” by Tony! Toni! Toné! God, that was fun to listen to again. I may have even done a little dance in the driver’s seat…you don’t know.

I need me some Back in the Day Buffet today, I think.

More photos here!

As expected, July has been packed with events already. Beginning with July 2nd, I spent 3 long hours in the dentist chair having the New Teef installed. I’ll blog more about that later - with photos.

On July 3rd, I packed up some stuff and headed down to The Day Spa in Edina where I met up with Gwen. We enjoyed heavenly spa pedicures. Gwen stayed for a manicure while I headed out to run a couple more errands. Eventually, I drove to the Sheraton in Bloomington where CONvergence was being held. Adam met me in the hotel bar and helped me get settled into our room.

This year marked my third time attending this event. I wish I could tell you that I have a fabulous time when I go…but the truth is that most of it weirds me out. CONvergence attracts all kinds of people. I’m a little horrified when I see reeeeally young ladies walking around in lingerie or nothing more than a little duct tape hiding their, er, business. Couple that with free-flowing booze and the situation could be bad. This year, I was hit on by a drunk pirate who couldn’t quite take a hint (as I was standing right next to both Adam and Tim). Oh, and I was growled at twice by an 8 foot tall Klingon. I can’t make this stuff up.

I think the creepiest thing I witnessed took place in a party room that had a guy dressed up as Jesus who was dispensing temporary tattoos. A very large woman in a very small patent leather bikini had the Jesus guy applying one of the tatts to her thigh. She turned around with a leather whip in hand, looked right at Gwen and declared in her best dominatrix voice, “I just made God kneel.” Sistah, pleeeze.

Aside from the weirdos, my problem is that I’m not a “fan” in the way that these folks are. Sure, I enjoy Battlestar Galactica but I have no interest in discussing it with the rest of the fan community. I’m also not much of a “gamer,” nor am I into comic books…so why do I go? Alas, I go to this event because Adam enjoys himself and likes meeting some of the people who’ve worked on his favorite TV shows/movies/books. I met Andrew Probert and his wife in an elevator, who were both really sweet. Adam bought a couple of his signed prints.

Now that I’ve griped enough, I’ll offer some positive things about the convention. CONvergence features a “Dealer’s Room” where folks setup booths for selling goods. Since I was not in need of a corset, potion bottle, fur tail, Sci-Fi book or a glass dragon figurine, I paid more attention to the artists selling jewelry (which, outside of shoes and bags, is my weakness). I found this gorgeous gemstone necklace wired with gold in such a way that it had a lace-effect. It’s a stunning, well-crafted piece and I’ll get a ton of wear out of it.

Other highlights: on Friday night, Gwen, Tom, AdamV, Dena, Adam and I had a lovely dinner at La Fougasse next door to our hotel. The service wasn’t the greatest but the food was fah-bulous. And finally on Saturday, we enjoyed homemade ice cream with Adam’s friends Joe, Andrew, Jason, Tim and a few others - a high calorie event but lots of fun. I appreciated talking with Joe and Andrew (a fellow photography buff!) and I hope we can have dinner with them outside of the convention. It was also great hanging out with Adam’s friend Tim and I look forward to dinner with him and his wife soon.

So there you have it. I done did the dang thing. Uhh-gain.

Next up: Cozumel this weekend!