Five on Friday #162

EINS - Random Shit

-Sometimes I get to school early and I sit in empty classrooms on my laptop to pass the time.  Often, I am beside a math class (since the CS and Math departments are one in the same) and I just want to bust in and be like, HOW CAN YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THIS?!?!  Soon you'll be finding the equation of an equation by changing it forwards and backwards, in an outlaw land with "rules" that aren't really rules since they don't always apply!   #CalculusSnob

-If you have to pull out of parking space more than 3 time when you're trying to back into it, you need to just NOT back into parking spaces.  I had to deal with this situation more than once this week and it's just like, WTF PEOPLE?!?!  A friend commented that it seems to be directly related to how little consideration people have to anyone other than themselves.  I'd argue that this also extends to the USE OF SIGNAL LIGHTS.  WTF, it's NOT THAT HARD!!!!  But apparently it is for 80% of drivers in my area.  #IHateEveryone

-Since we're going out of town this week, I've been trying to stay ahead of my homework.  It really is awesome not being stressed about it.

-Not having one of my classes meet this week (even if it's just a Tues/Thurs class) was glorious.  I mean, it meant going into work earlier than normal, but there was also a lack of homework that went with that, which I appreciated.  We had some reading to do and an assignment, but it wasn't overly difficult.

-Someone in my Circuits class was playing Solitaire beside me and I couldn't tell him that he had a move before he restarted the game.  I was crushed.  After class I explained that the Microsoft solitaire app on the phone is AWESOME.

-My Circuits class is like Discrete Math PTSD.  My teacher didn't understand it when I made that joke... but all the people that were in that class with me did.  I was feeling pretty hopeless when I took that class, but now I look back on it and I'm like, OHHHH!! I GET ITTTT!!!  Strange how things come full circle.

-I have had Jeff Shaara's books on my TBR for like evvvvaaarrrr.  So, I made the first 2 books of the WW2 series part of my Book Challenge.  Yeah... it's not gonna work out.  I gave the first one the DNF stamp and I'm sad, but I'm glad.  Now I just need a book with something related to water in the title and another book that has been on my shelf for the longest.

-My poli sci digital investigations class has a book with a CD to install a stupid program.  I thought I was in the clear (because who installs that shit?) and then the instructor assigned an assignment through that program.

Problem 1: I don't have a computer with a CD drive.  I emailed the instructor regarding this issue.
Problem 2: The instructor emailed back a shady looking link, that I still clicked because he's the professor and he's trying to help me and the links on the page just kept redirecting to other useless pages, there was some obviously shady links on the site to "download" the program, and eventually my computer locked up and I'm about 88% sure there's a virus on my laptop now.
Solution: I ended up installing the program on my work laptop since it has a CD drive.  Plan B would have been an external CD drive from a coworker.  #2018Problems

-We're on the way to NC this weekend for hang gliding with the beasts in tow.  It's going to be interesting and probably more stress than I'm really looking forward to on a not-long-for-me weekend.  Keep me in your thoughts as I try to maintain my fragile tethers to my apathy for all things.

-A BJB has prohibited me from working out for the last week.  I finally went to the gym on Weds after having the new BJB pew pew lazored on Tuesday and didn't die.  Small victories.  But really.  I should do better about this running shit.  If my body would get better about not punishing me for being me, that would help.

-When people with good idea fairy syndrome just start spouting shit out after you've announced an issue and they have no idea wtf they are talking about... I want to stab them.  OOPS, muscle reflex.

-When your cleaner tells you, "Just let me know if we're not doing something you expect to be done!" and you leave them a note saying, "Please take out trash in all bathrooms, laundry room, and office.  And use Alexa to control the lights by saying, 'Alexa, turn on all lights to white at 100%.'"  And you come home to half your lights turned off and the office trash still full of paper.  Why do I have such high expectations of people?  Like seriously.

ZWEI - Money Shit

-3 Audible credits since they offered me 3 credits for $12 each which is less than the monthly subscription so fine.
-Tickets to see Aziz Ansari downtown.  He'll be testing out new material, so I'm pumped.
-Wendy's for lunch on Weds.  Sweet teas for me AND Baby Momma.
-Groceries (minimal since we're going out of town)
-Metto
-Magnetic bowls for Teh German as a surprise since Teh PT Husband suggested they would be a good idea for his garage activities.
-A gift for Baby Momma

DREI - From My Phone Shit

My Reese's blizzard was quite the temptation for the fuzz bucket.

Weirdos.

This boy has the most aired out paws.

Waiting on Baby RR.

Pew Pew Lazor Selfie!
The lady who does my treatments always laughs at my selfies.

It's like Andy's bedroom wallpaper, but in real life.
AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHO ANDY IS, GTFO.

Dis baby wasn't even 24 hours into this world when I held her.  /swoon

Look at me wif da babyyyyy.

Pre-sleepy time snuggles with my Monkey-Doodle.
Those ears/radars are listening to downstairs activity.

What do you call an everyday potato?
A commontator

VIER - From the Internet Shit

Ever wonder what solid objects look like cut into slices?  Click here to see such items.  This is NOT like the horse being sliced apart in that scary movie with Jennifer Lopez in the early 2000s, that I cannot remember the name of but still haunts me.

I was busy.
So not a lot going on here this week.

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. No/minimal homework stress.
2. Metto
3. Holding cute babies
4. Completing the hard levels on the solitaire daily challenge.
5. DNF-ing a boring ass tome.
6. Being back in the Outlander audiobook world.  Claire is still kind of annoying with her innate knowledge of all things of all people at all times.  Ugh.
7. Starting a puzzle.
8. Flexibility at work.
9. Pops at the Chiro.
10. NOT being a part of my neighborhood's FB drama.  *praise hands emoji*

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Lazy Chicken Pot Pie

Sooooo, it's no secret that I'm lazy AF energy efficient.  But, recently I'd come across a recipe for chicken pot pie that I thought looked delicious, but required waaayyyy too much effort for me.  You can look up chicken pot pie recipes on your own, but I'm going to tell you Lazy Megan's Chicken Biscuit Pie.  Also, let's be honest, biscuits > pie crust any day.

Lazy Megan's Chicken Biscuit Pie (CBP)

Ingredients

Chicken breast(s)
Herbs/seasoning packet
Frozen veggies
1 can cream of (your preference) soup
1ish+ can of water
1 tablespoon corn starch
Canned biscuits (at least a roll of 8)

It tastes a lot better than it looks.

Directions

1.  Cook up some chicken breasts with seasoning of your choice.
-I cooked my chicken titties in the crockpot all the day long with a Crockpot's Savory Herb Chicken seasoning packet, because it's my favorite non-taco/non-bbq seasoning.  I originally cooked the chicken for another dinner so I used 2 very large chicken titties with most of the seasoning packet, and there was prob 1-1.25 boobs remaining for the CBP.

2.  Locate your pie pan and spray with cooking spray. 

3.  Take your can of biscuits and slice all the biscuits in half (like you would if they were cooked and you split the biscuit apart to add butter or jam or whatever).  You are trying to make the biscuits thin so they cook through.
-I used flaky biscuits so that way they would maybe already be kinda separated and easier to split.
-Also, don't EVER think to yourself, "I should just get this tiny can of biscuits since there's only 2 of us, I don't really want biscuit mix leftover."  That's dumb AND what I did and I regretted it because I didn't feel like we had enough biscuits.  Just get the big can (8+) biscuits.  If you don't use all the biscuits, cook them while you're eating and you have breakfast in the morning.  Learn from my mistakes, do as I say, not as I do.

4.  Line the bottom of the pie pan with split biscuits.  Set aside enough biscuits to cover the top.

5.  Cook "pie crust" until biscuits are cooked through. 
-This took some figuring out.  Since they are split, I set the oven to the temperature as directed on the biscuit can, then halved the time and checked on the biscuits about that time to judge how much more time they needed to cook.  I think I ended up cooking my bottom layer for 5-10 minutes.

6.  While your "crust" is cooking, cut up cooked chicken into chunks or shred, then put into a mixing bowl.
- I shredded the chicken with the KitchenAid Mixer (w/ paddle attachment) straight from the crockpot because #energyefficient.  This trick doesn't work well with cold chicken, from my experience, just FYI.

7.  Add 1 can of Cream of ____ Soup to the mixing bowl with the chicken.
-I used Cream of Mushroom and added 1/2 a tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon Chicken to give it some flavor.

8.  Add 1 can of water to the mix.  Mix well, making sure your soup isn't in goopy chunks.

9.  Add 1ish tablespoon of corn starch.  Mix in well.

10.  When the chicken/soup mix is blended well, put it into a pot, add enough frozen veggies to make yourself happy, and heat until the mix starts to bubble/boil. 
-Enough veggies for me was at least 2 cups of veggies, if not more.
-The purpose of this exercise is to thaw the veggies and heat up the mix so you only have to cook the CBP for the length of time it takes to cook the top layer of biscuits.

11.  Assuming that your "crust" is finished cooking by now, add the chicken/veggie mix to the pie pan.

12.  Cover the chicken/veggie mix with the remaining split biscuits.

13.  Cook in the oven as directed by the biscuit can (400° for 10-12 minutes or whatever). 

14.  Remove from oven, decide that the underside of the biscuits aren't cooked enough, flip them over and cook for 5-15 more minutes (until they are definitely done).

15.  Remove from oven, serve, and enjoy!

16.  Think to yourself how easy this was and how delicious it was and how you should blog about it and you will make this again, but you will DEFINITELY buy a non-small size of biscuits.


After note:
I'm actually thinking you could skip the part where you heat the mix on the stove, you'd just need to thaw the veggies before adding them to the mix.  Then you could add the cooked chicken/thawed veggie/soup mix to the cooked crust, cook for ~10-15 mins, add the top layer of biscuits, cook for ~10 mins, flip biscuits, cook another 5-10 minutes and DUNNN.  1 dish saved from the dishwasher.

Weekend Review {8/27}

FRIDAY

Some asshole stole FIVE of my 6 oxen, then, of course, the remaining ox got injured then died, of course.  THEN I spent a MONTH trying to hunt to keep my peeps alive and trying to trade for a stupid ox until I could get to the next town to buy more things.  All my peeps died, Teh Running Bestie held out last, btw... and then FINALLY someone was willing to trade me an ox for 4 sets of clothes, FINE HERE TAKE THEM MY FAMILY IS ALL DEAD!

Then, of course, I contacted cholera and died within days of getting the ox.  Fucking game.
But it should be noted that I DID successfully caulk my wagon and float it across the river.  BOOM.

I left work by 4 since the network was going down and headed home to take a nap and wait on Teh German to come home.  I had already informed Teh German that Friday night was date night.  I knew that we'd ride Bagheera and Suzi somewhere, but had no idea where.  After he got home around 5:45, I took to Yelp for assistance in this matter.  A millionty years later, we agreed on going to Sesame in Mt. Pleasant since we'd never been there.  I also considered The Obstinate Daughter (for dinner, since I want to go back, but we'd just been there, so it was kinda too soon), Locals Sushi (which was delicious, but I can only eat a limited number of items on the menu due to spiciness, and it was kinda my first week of school survival celebration, so I wanted it to be geared more towards me than Teh German), and Early Bird Diner (since we rarely venture through West Ashley anymore since moving away from Shitty House).

For you locals who go to Sesame.  They have these new menus now and I'm not sure if the different locations have the same menus.  I didn't realize that the Cherry BonBon adult milkshake was no longer on the menu, so I had to have the bartender make the banana split milkshake with amaretto instead of banana liquor.  So if you enjoy the cherry bonbon milkshake and can't find it on the menu, just ask for the banana split with amaretto instead of banana liquor.  Problem solved.  Good to know that the money I spent on bartending school in 2007 isn't going to waste.

Our food took FOREVER and no less than 2 minutes after I commented on this, the manager delivered our food and apologized for the wait.  Sadly, he didn't discount anything, but we'd already gotten a free appetizer of buffalo chicken dip (which I was able to tolerate) from my monthly email subscription.  It was fine.  I didn't die.  Barely.

It was a super night evening to ride, with the exception of my headset dying about 5 minutes from the house, thus rendering me with no music or ability to communicate with Teh German unless we were stopped.  After dinner, I took us by Alhambra Hall (where we got married) and we got to see 3 fireworks and gaze at the Holy City skyline and all the lights on the water.

After Alhambra, we rode down to Sullivan's Island, then headed up the highway to Isle of Palms (IOP).  Mostly we just wanted to enjoy the beach smell.  After IOP, we headed back home.  After some social media time, it was bedtime.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning was a slow, snuggly start.  Meri was extra needy all.day.long.  Teh German got up with the beasts to feed them and then came back to bed.  When he called Meri up to lay between us, it was like you could see her body language say, "FINALLY!" and then she kinda melted/relaxed between us. 

She put herself in this position.

We eventually got up and started accomplishing things.  I scooped poop since Teh PT Husband had let me borrow the poop funnel that attaches to the septic tank, except that I couldn't get the cover off our pipe to attach it, so I didn't even get to use it, which means I scooped the yard and didn't get my reward.  BOOO HISSS.

Anyways, this thing is essentially a glorified funnel and you can put septic tank approved items (i.e. dog shit) into it and it sends the stuff directly to the septic tank without going through your pipes.  You do wash it down well with water (via the hose) and voila, poop taken care of.  No need to bag it and put in the garbage can (which technically you're not supposed to put any kind of bodily waste in the garbage anyways).

After scooping poops, I came back inside and started on the homework mission.  I didn't really have a lot of tasks that were due for Monday, but I like being ahead when I can be (i.e. for my online class always).  My Cyber Security professor sent out no less than 6 different documents ranging from 60-400 pages and I'm not really sure what to do with those since they seem to be government instructions related to cybersecurity and I'm not planning on just reading those in my leisure time.  If they were assigned, I'd consider it.  It doesn't really help that this is the class where the professor is out all week this week and we're not even having class.  I just hate feeling like I have something to do, but don't know what it is, and there isn't really any explicit instructions from the professor.

After finishing homework, I went out to the garage where Teh German was, after finishing his yard work, working on Bagheera.  I whined about being bored.  I did assist Teh German by sitting on Bagheera so he could check the oil level and I also took her on a spin about the neighborhood.  When I got back, I sat in Willow and complained about being bored.  Then finally, I gave up and went inside and finished a book with these monsters...

At some point, Teh PT Wife invited everyone over and no one really committed to going over, since we just all assumed there was an unspoken yes.  Oops.  Eventually, I showered and ate dinner and headed over without Teh German since he was still working on the bikes, although he'd moved on to Bob.

Can we take a minute to appreciate Teh German's OCDness?
Please look at the cardboard in this photo.  You will see there are several items sticking out of the box.
Those items are the screws from the metal object laying on the box, in a semi-similar shape of the object.
Those screws were NOT laid on the box, no no.. They were poked through the box so that way nothing would get lost.
I'm always impressed with his ingenuity.

Eventually, Teh German joined us at Teh PT House.  We were just hanging out and chatting and discussing the ongoing never-ending neighborhood FB page drama.  (Update: It's still going on and 2 new pages have been created now and it's just like.. WTTTTFFFF, get a life people!)  Around 11, we finally called it a night and headed home.

SUNDAY

Sunday brunch day!  I had put on the weekly menu that we'd be going to Charleston Deli for brunch and Teh German and I were both super pumped about the life choice.  I always think to myself that I want to try something different, but almost always end up going with the same thing (biscuit and gravy with egg and bacon).  Teh German got the gyro and after our food was delivered there was at least 5 minutes of silence while we consumed deliciousness.  Silence is always a sign that we're reallllyyy enjoying our food.

After brunch, Teh German set upon a mission to find a particular screw for Bob... and I went home.  When I got home, I took a borrowed tool and was able to get the cover off the septic tank to install the poop funnel.  I'm pumped to try it.  Then I headed back into the AC.  After a quick computer session, I was bored and messaged Teh PT Wife and asked if she wanted to go to the pool.  She said she had some stuff to accomplish, but we could go after.  Soooooo, in the meantime, I broke down and started a puzzle and audiobook time. 

When she messaged me, it was pool time.  We sat out and chatted for several hours until it was time for dinner.  When I got home, I pulled a frozen pizza from the freezer and went inside.  Teh German was outside smoking a cigar when I went outside to greet him and tell him that I'd picked up dinner!  He laughed and agreed that frozen pizza was fine.

While the pizza was cooking, I watered the flowers.  What with it not raining every day anymore, my flowers (and I) were sad.  A few minutes after I went back inside, it was pizza time!  We ate dinner outside and chatted for a bit and social media scrolled.  We debated starting something new on Netflix, then I suggested that instead of watching TV, we go inside and accomplish our chores (laundry, dishes) and then go to bed.  I'm sooo full of good ideas.  I even got super motivated and gave BOTH dogs a bath.  It wasn't as terrible as either of them made it out to be, but I'm way too old to be hunched over anything for more than 10 minutes at a time.  Ugh.

We were BOTH in bed at 9:31 and I was pumped.

______________________________________________

Overall, a very productive/relaxing weekend.  I'd do it again.

This week includes:

• school, duh
• work, duh
• more homework
• a new baby
• laser appt
• finally dropping off some donations
• NC

We're headed to NC this weekend for hang gliding with Teh Dad.  We're bringing the dogs.  It will be Willow's first long distance trip and I'm not sure who's more excited, Teh German or myself.  Unknowingly, I bought a car that will drive itself.  This seems very scary, but it's actually REALLY awesome and I've been using it every morning to get to school.  Makes commuting infinitely easier.  Teh German even admitted that after driving Willow while Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom were here, Baloo was a mild disappointment on Monday morning when he went to work. 

Here's the end of August!

Five on Friday #161

EINS - Random Shit

TL;DR: a large chunk of this section is about the neighborhood FB admin stuff that has been going on.  If you're not interested, skip to the line.

I am seriously only staying as an admin on the neighborhood page to piss people off.  That is it.  Otherwise, I'd quit the page and let Teh German just tell me anything relevant.  Also, I really need a better "do not respond to that, Megan" filter.  Like a gaydar, except to FB posts where there is no way to get involved without being attacked for showing up.

#LaterGram
I'm not even sure it's worth pissing people off anymore.  I hate a small group of assholes who refused to be pleased no matter if you give them what you want or if you don't.  They just don't like the admins.  Excellent.

My problem with being an admin at this point is that it's a HUGE distraction for me, because our neighborhood FB page is a constant source of drama and discontent.  I don't think my being an admin hurts the situation nor do I think me NOT being an admin will improve the situation.  That's the hardest part.  There is no solution to any of this.  Although a neighbor's solution to "create an anonymous account to be an admin for the page and deleting the post(s) containing admin disdain" seemed overly ridiculous and I was easily able to say definitely NOT to that Good Idea Fairy.

But really, to be called an "entitled bitchy asshole" by someone that doesn't even know me?  Like, realllllyyy?  You're obviously the reason this page needs admins.  Real life though, the disgruntled individuals went and created their own "uncut" (non-moderated) neighborhood page "because everyone has them" (quick poll, who here has a neighborhood FB page AND an "uncut" neighborhood page? Everyone I've asked has never even heard of this).  Also, if you need a special place to be an asshole, does that make you a snowflake?  Asking for a friend.

I'm just not sure it's worth the stress anymore and that makes me sad because I volunteered to be an admin for the neighborhood page as soon as we moved in.  I waited, impatiently, to finally get to be an admin and yes, I like having the ability to delete asshole posts because that shit shouldn't be on social media, says someone who uses fuck a lot, but sure as shit not on the neighborhood page, where I try to be moderately professional and adulty.  It makes me angry that people are coming out of the woodwork to say that the current admins are garbage and the old admins were never like this.. and that they should have the right to VOTE in an admin for a Facebook page.  Can we just assess that gem of a sentence?  It's probably my least favorite part of 2018.  My favorite part of their desire to vote in admin is that they never had a say to begin with and now it's an issue because the page is actually moderated..  Meaning, if they say asshole things, the comments are turned off on a post or comments are straight up deleted.  But many people were wanting admin who would stop the nastiness when the previous admin were in charge.  There really is no making people happy.  So yeah, the stress is probably not worth it.. But I'm being stubborn..

#LaterLaterGram
I left the group.  I only told the other admins and then popped smoke.  I wanted to leave a resounding FUCCKKKKK YYYOOOUUU post before I left, but I wouldn't give those asshats the satisfaction.  They can claim credit if they want.  But the new BJB I have would say that my stress level was at unacceptable levels.

And here's the real reason why I left.  Being an admin was creating marital strife.  I was constantly frustrated by things going when there was drama and Teh German got tired of hearing about it.  When he looked at me and said, "Are you done?" while I took a breath after spilling everything that had happened on a day and I had to restrain myself from saying or doing anything I'd regret, I knew what the choice was.  I have to prioritize Husband over social media, even if that social media thing was something I really wanted.

There was a little more strife when I finally admitted to Teh German that I'd left the group, thus giving up the admin position.  While I was in the position, I didn't really feel like I had the support of Teh German or my neighborhood friends, no one wanted to get involved, which pretty much left me to fend for myself.  Nonetheless, people wanted to come to me to discuss the issues of the page, but when it came time to support someone who could handle the issues, there was nothing.  That burns a bit, but it is what it is.  It's a silly, tricky situation, a 2018 situation to be certain.  I sure as shit wasn't taught about social media drama mediation in school, although conflict resolution was probably covered, conflict resolution of keyboard warriors is an entirely different battle.

The other part was the last time there was drama and Teh German suggested I just quit being an admin and I explained that it was offensive that he'd just suggest I quit because it was difficult rather than support me through it.  When I admitted to Teh German that I left the group entirely and had never really felt like I'd gotten support from him about my admin position, his immediate response was, "I didn't tell you to do that."  I was quick to clarify that, yes, in fact, he tell me to do that.  Not only had it been multiple times, one of them was earlier that night.  Then it was, "So it's my fault you quit?"  I had to explain that it was NOT his fault, but I chose to leave to align my priorities.  Husband, sometimes very annoyingly so, comes over all the other things.  Despite that, I think he was still pretty pissed off (at himself maybe?) when he went to sleep that night.

Honestly, I'm not bitter about it.  I feel that I can ACTUALLY focus on school/work now and it's NICE.  I no longer worry about a neighbor sending me a message/texting me to tell me that drama is going down and needing to be the asshole who makes the decision to take down a post because it's offensive (which obviously is a very moveable line).  I was disappointed in myself that I had to give up something I wanted so badly for so long and felt that I was actually good at, despite the lack of support.  I had a good cry about it.  After talking to Teh German, I slept like a baby.  I don't think he can say the same. 

The following day, Teh German admitted to feeling very bad about the whole situation and apologized twice, because it was his fault that I gave up something I wanted for him.  I explained that he shouldn't feel bad because I didn't feel bad and it wasn't his fault, really.  I really did appreciate his apology though and his recognizing the various aspects of the situation and how it turned out really impressed me.

Although, I almost humped his leg when he said, "It is very difficult for me to see these people say these things about you that I know are not true and not react or respond to them.  I just wish people would treat each other the way they wanted to be treated."  That 2nd sentence?  That's EXACTLY why I married him.  Because, at our cores, we feel that you should treat people the way YOU want to be treated.  There will, inevitably, be more issues that come up between us/for us/against us/etc, but I know that our mindsets on this statement is what will be a strong force in helping us overcome issues together.

 ----------------(end of FB admin strife)----------------

-I LOVE all my classes.  I think there is one professor there could be strife with, but I doubt it, he's got one foot out the retirement door, so he is mostly in DNGAF mode.  The classes I'm taking this semester are all SUPER interesting to Nerd Megan.

MWF:
Computer Organization and Programs (like how to write assembly language (blech) to make the parts of the computer talk to each other)
German 3 (uhh, I think this is self-explanatory)

T/H:
Digital Logic and Circuits (this is actually an electric engineering type of class where we learn how to make the pieces of a circuit board send electric signals to each other to represent the 1s and 0s that create computer language)
Computer Security/Cybersecurity (this is based on DoD policy, which is completely applicable to my real life since I am a DoD contractor)

Online:
Cyber Investigations (a poli sci class, so it's not really computer science oriented, but it pairs well with Computer Security class since we'll be talking about actual investigations)

-My German instructor tells silly jokes, but usually in German and very quietly, and I sit right up front (big surprise there) and they always make me chuckle.. and then everyone is looking at me like, wtf is weirdo laughing at now.. DNGAF.  :)

-A textbook that I need wasn't available for rental (#MeganFail because I checked before the semester started and I didn't order them because I wanted to wait to see if we actually needed the books before I made any purchases because fuck wasting money on textbooks that don't get cracked open for the entire semester), and the physical book may arrive at some point in September, so I finally bought an eTextbook.  I'm feeling pretty sketchy about it.  Then, it was a conundrum of how to put the stupid Kindle app on my computer.  It was way more difficult than it needed to be.  Also, why is that stupid app not listed in the App store or whatever Microsoft calls it?  I hate everything.

-One of my classes isn't meeting at all next week because the instructor is going on travel.  FUCK YASSSS.  But, really, it just means that I will get to work before 10 instead of after 11.  Real adult things to look forward to.

-I called the HVAC company to schedule the annual maintenance they insisted I had to have with this warranty.  Except no one really knew that with a warranty you had to have annual maitenance, which kinda makes me feel like I'm being scammed.  I'm still going to kill that bad boy around 7 years from now.. so bring it on bitches.

-Waiting on textbooks to arrive is really the worst thing ever.  I like being done with homework, like, yesterday.. so not being able to do it because I don't have the book (for my online class) is moderately annoying.  This weekend though?  IT'S ON BITCHES.

-Ice cream dates with the Neighbor Besties are things my soul needs more of, even if it means not finishing my homework until after 10pm.

-I have a hot button on my external keyboard that opens up Microsoft Groove.  It makes me irrationally angry when I accidentally click it.

ZWEI - Money Shit

-Textbooks, FML
-Textbooks from the bookstore I will be returning because I just needed something to get me through until my rentals arrived.  ($375 for 2 books.. kthxNOPE)
-Groceries at Sam's, Lidl, Publix, and Bi-Lo (really, Megan, why does it take 4 grocery stores?).
-Paddle boarding/kayaking
-Home Team BBQ (nooooommmmm)
-Monday #TreatYoSelf McFlurry (lasted 3 days) and sweet tea (last 2 days)

My first payment for Willow comes out soon and I'm pre-sad about it.  Like, I love her, but I hate billz.

DREI - From My Phone Shit

First day of school photos are totally gonna happen for forever now.

When you just lay in the floor, rolling out the aches (prior to this selfie), talking with your Bestie.

I saw somewhere there was a cold front pushing through from the midwest or whatever you call that area where Arkansas is.
I say: BRING IT.

MIND SPLOSION!!!

Some asshole stole FIVE of my 6 ox and then the remaining ox died and I wasn't even halfway.
Then my family starved and I finally traded for an ox and then I died of cholera a few days down the road...
But I successfully caulked and floated my wagon across the river, bitches.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. Being able to get rental textbooks.  Less money wasted spent.
2. Govvies that make Disney references.  Especially when they have never met me before to know that Disney is my weakness.
3. Free pizza for lunch at work for an all-hands.
4. My boss being like, "Why are you still here?" when he leaves the office.  Oh I heard what you're not saying.  Laaaata, bitches, I'm outtieee!
5. Professors that actually use the online blackboard system (for the Citadel it is called CitLearn) properly and effectively.  Like they post the homework online with due dates and slides and all the things in advance!  Like they've probably taught this class before or something!  It's a magical time in my life.
6. Pop out tabs on my 5 subject notebook.  It's the little things people.
7. REALLY good Fridays and feeling HAPPY.
8. Finally, calling the HVAC company to schedule their stupid maintenance to maintain the HVAC warranty.
9. Cooler temps (even if they are only temporary, and ya'll don't try to be like "fall is coming!"  No, no it isn't.  Fall won't be here until November, if not later.)
10. Good Husbands, particularly mine, singular.

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Honeymoon Part 4 of 5

Friday, June 01... continued

We landed in San Fransisco around 1pm.  It took me longer to get through customs than Teh German.  We headed to the baggage carousel to claim our luggage and waited and waited and waited..... and we realized we were missing a suitcase.  THE suitcase, in fact.  The piece of luggage with all our clothes in it and 3 bottles of wine.  

I was practically slapping myself on the back for the forethought to pack changes of clothes in the carry on.  The biggest problem with lost luggage was that we weren't going to be in one place for a long enough period of time for them to actually deliver the luggage, should it arrive.  We were told that the suitcase would be on the same flight, the following day, so it would arrive around the same time on Saturday.  We got a ticket number and left.   

We had a rental car through Super Cheap Rental Cars and they actually picked us up at the airport.  After signing the paperwork, we headed to Sacramento.  Teh Sister had already booked our hotel room, so we headed there and checked in.  YAY for friends and family discounts! Our sweet suite that was definitely at least $300 a night had been discounted to $100.  Yes, Plskthx.   

 

Teh German and I brought our stuff in and relaxed for a short time (aka we went business because flying is the absolute worst on both of our bodies and we get a little....  inconsistent).  During this time, Teh Dad called me freaking out about his car rental and delayed flights and a dead cell phone battery.   

What had happened was that he and Teh Stepmom, who I felt more sorry for than Teh Dad, missed their flight out of Atlanta by 5 minutes after getting stuck in Charlotte due to weather.  They were able to get a later flight to San Francisco, but the rental car reservation was in San Jose, where they were originally supposed to fly into.  I was tasked with calling Priceline to sort it out.   

I pulled out that maiden name card to get shit done.  While all this was happening, Teh German and I had decided on a dinner place around the block and we headed there.  I was that asshole who sat on my phone for half of our dinner since I was on hold with Priceline for a mabillionty years.  It was actually a 50 minute call, but it was rude and I hated it, but it was a necessity, so I did it.  Priceline eventually got everything sorted out, I made a new car reservation for Teh Dad.  He hadn't told me when he was due to fly in, so I had to guess which flight he was on to make the car reservation.  Good thing I'm smart! After I finally got off the phone, I also got to enjoy dinner.   

We learned that our server was actually about to move to Bali to live the scuba traveler life.  Teh German was excited about all the different divers that we were meeting in random places.  We eventually headed back to the hotel and got ready for bed and crashed.  I made sure to send Teh Dad the text that said, "Do not call me unless it's an emergency because this day has been about 48 hours long and we had less than 4 hours of sleep the entire time." I, thankfully, did not receive a call.

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Saturday, June 02

I woke up at 0630 ready to face the day. #TimeChangeWoes  I texted Teh Dad to see if he had made it and he responded a little bit later.  I also texted Teh Sister to see if she was awake yet.  Teh Dad, Teh Sister, and I ended up going down to breakfast around 7 and eating. 

Teh Sister had arrived around 10:30/11pm, Teh Dad had gotten in around 0400.  But we were all hungry.  Eventually, spouses trickled down except for Teh Stepmom, but we encouraged Teh Dad to deliver her breakfast to the room. 
 
After breakfast, Teh Sister, Sis Friend, and I walked to Starbucks down the street and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the graduation ceremony.  The ceremony was a few blocks away, so it didn't take long to get there.  Teh Mom met us at the conference center.  We finally found a seat in the upper reaches of the seating area.  I was impressed at how quick the ceremony was, considering the number of graduates.  They didn't deter cheering, but made sure that everyone could hear the names being read.  We were out of there by 1235. 

"Resting his eyes"...
since 1986...

SIBLINGS!
Well, one of us is missing.  Dammit, BIL.

We checked out of the hotel, since we had already loaded the car before the ceremony.  After everyone was checked out, we headed to the brunch place.  We had to wait a bit for a table, but it was ok.  We eventually got our table but the place wasn't air conditioned and we were DYING.  Also, flies.  Ugh.  We were all glad when the meal was over and we had paid and left.

Teh German and I headed to San Fransisco, via the Golden Gate Bridge, since we hadn't left the city that way when we arrived.  We made a pitstop at a Walmart to pick up some extra underwear since that was the only thing we were going to run out of before I was able to do laundry again.  I had mailed dress clothes and shoes for the graduation ceremony to Teh Sister before we left, so that covered Saturday.  We'd packed an extra set of clothes for just in case, which covered Sunday.  We were flying out on a red eye Sunday night that would arrive Monday morning, so we might be smelly, but we wouldn't be naked!

Once we got into the city, we stopped at one of the northern view points for the Golden Gate Bridge, parked illegally, and expeditiously hiked up the hill to get some pics and take a look around, and then hiked back to the car with a quickness.  Fortunately, we were able to see the Golden Gate Bridge most of the time that we were in San Fransisco, so it wasn't that big of a deal that we only did a 5 minute "oo that's pretty" peek.  After, we headed into the city to our Air BnB. 

Our Air BnB was equipped with a resident cat, Bee, who decided I was his bestie.  And I was ok with that, until he bit me when he was playing with me.  I have hard limits about biting (animals)...  and licking (humans)... 

We decided to do some touristy things and walk around the piers.  I wanted to show him Pier 39 with the shopping and the sea lions.  We also walked to Ghirardelli Square and walked through the shop, but didn't buy anything.  We wanted to get dinner.  I was originally going for a German place, but then we opted for pizza nearby since the German place was pretty far away.  The pizza was mediocre and the prices were outrageous.  #SFProblems After dinner, we headed back to the Air BnB, met our host, then crashed.

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Sunday, June 03

We had brunch plans with Teh Sister, Sis Friend, Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom in the AM, so we headed there after moving the rental car to the street near the Air BnB since the host tipped us off that street parking was free on Sundays!  We weren't allowed to be seated until everyone was there, ugh, so we waited outside the restaurant for everyone to arrive.   

There was a couple with a puppy at the other table outside and I got to pet the puppy as we chatted with the Puprents.  Eventually Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom arrived, and they had time to change into warmer clothes while we waited on Teh Sister to arrive.  We were seated and had a delicious breakfast.  

I had noticed that a cable car turn around point was down the street from our brunch location, so after brunch we opted to ride the cable car to Market Street and then back to Fisherman's Wharf.  Teh German and I had tickets for Alcatraz at 1230 and in true Megan form...  a disaster was brewing.  

We had to wait an hour to get back on the return cable car (we got to see someone get arrested for harassing the customers and employees of the cable car) and then it stopped further away than I had planned on, so Teh German and I had to speed walk/run to the Alcatraz pier.  I didn't read the part about being 30 minutes early to catch your ferry, so we missed the ferry by 3 minutes.  Since I hadn't printed the tickets (because it was one less thing for me to keep up with since we were making a lot of stops), I had to stop by will call, where they printed out our tickets.  We got in line, and when the tickets were scanned, I learned that I had purchased tickets for April 15th, NOT June 3rd.  This is my life, Gentle Readers.   

Fortunately, the ticket people took pity on me and gave us standby tickets, meaning if there was space they would let us on the ferry to go to the island.  They realized that we hadn't used the tickets on April 15th and it was an operator error, so it wasn't like we were trying to cheat the system.  We were  extra fortunate though, because there was no one else in the standby line.  Bless my soul.  

We eventually made it onto the 1pm ferry.  It was a hike up to the prison and we were both SOOOOO over all the walking.  Both of us had sore legs and calves.  At the prison, you are equipped with an audio tour, which you could actually just read off the printed out signs...  Boo.  I like live tour guides since they are able to tell you interesting tidbits that a recording definitely isn't going to give you.  

After our tour, we walked around the island and I took some flower pics (of course).  As we were meandering back, Teh German noticed the ferry was doing a last call so we ran down to the landing to make the ferry.  We had escaped Alcatraz!  

Teh Sister had stayed in San Fransisco with Sis Friend, Teh Dad, and Teh Stepmom to tour, and when we got back, she headed towards the airport to meet us at cell phone parking.  She had volunteered to drop off our rental car to save us some time.  She headed to the rental car place and Sis Friend dropped us off at international arrivals.   

I had called the Air New Zealand contact who had told me that our luggage still hadn't come in...  because it had went all the way to Chile (our initial Sydney flight had a final destination of Santiago, which makes sense).  Rather than bother trying to receive it while were in MD, I told them to forward it to CHS and deliver it to our house.  After Chile, it had been to Miami, and it was inbound to San Fransisco, but we needed to check into to our flight and couldn't wait on the bag to maybe arrive.  We took the $200 voucher and cashed it and headed to our terminal.   

There was some confusion over where the Jet Blue terminal was and we got to take a confusing train ride where we eventually made it to our terminal.  Once there, I needed to balance the luggage weights again, so we did that and munched on sourdough bread that we had purchased the night prior since I realized we couldn't carry it through security.  

Once we got checked in (luggage weight wasn't an issue what with missing a bag), we headed through security, which took way longer than I felt it needed to.  Once we got through security, we headed to a place where we could find food.  Teh German had a beer, I had wings and a gin and ginger ale, and we mostly just sat in silence and played on social media.   

Once I was done eating and Teh German had confirmed he wasn't getting food, I paid and we headed to our gate.  Once there, they announced that our flight to Boston had no audio for any of the video players so passengers should probably grab a magazine or book from the stores.  Fantastic, as this didn't apply to me, as I planned on sleeping.  While we waited, I did some preflight stretching and eventually it was time to board.   

Unfortunately, the person sharing our row was smelly and there wasn't much sleep to be had with my jacked up sleep schedule.  I mostly just played games on my phone and read and tried to channel some inner zen. 

Honeymoon Adventures

Part 1: SC to MD, MD to Cairns
Part 2: Scuba Diving the Great Barrier Reef
Part 3: Sydney Touristing
Part 4: California (San Francisco and Sacramento)
Part 5: MD to SC