Philanthropy.....

....go over to Ali Edwards' blog to donate to her charity, Autism Speaks. This is a contest through Kevin Bacon's charity Six Degrees. If she winds up with the most donations, Kevin Bacon will double her donations. How cool is that?

...anyway, there is so much happening around here lately. Some of it fantastic, like getting my green belt in karate (I'm at the end of the first half of my karate training! Six more belts to black!). But some of it blows chunks...like never getting a moment to spend at home. Or better yet, some of the dishonest people who's actions have come to light in the past few weeks. It's totally heart-breaking to me that there are so many people who make such awful awful choices. In the past few weeks at work, we've found out that someone was stealing from the company. This seems to be an affliction of my industry. I can't go into any further details, but it's enough to break my heart that someone would be so awful. When I think it can't get any worse...it does. I'm not sure whether stealing is a heftier crime or lying about your spouse passing away. We had that, too. Just when I think I'm not really any better than anyone else....I suppose I am better than some people, eh?

....gotta love the shatterin' of my rose-colored glasses..... piss me off.....

Create....

...my newest design team challenge. The cluttered space that is my workspace!

...had a good weekend. Many weirdo things amuck here in Byersland. Most of it crazy stuff here at work, which tends to make me a hermitous bitch, I tell you! Will update more later, but for now, critique my design! :)

Made The Paper....

....go here to see! It was on the front page of the 13th.

....Other news in Byersland....yes, there is more to life than my trees, right?....I am getting things ready yesterday for a lunch meeting today. I think I'm hot stuff and use Pizza Hut's online ordering system. Ordered it, paid for it...good to go. I continue working on other things, and suddenly, the Pizza Hut delivery man is at my desk with the food I ordered. I don't remember seeing a TIME NEEDED on the ordering. I know I used it last time I ordered online, but don't remember seeing it this time. They were very nice about it, and I'm still getting the pizza delivery today, but man-o-man, was I ever embarrassed!

...I dropped the twins off at the babysitters this morning. I hugged Griffin and told him that I had to go. He told me that I shouldn't go. I asked him whether I should stay with him all day. He told me that I just needed to get small and stay and play at the babysitters and have fun. He would get bigger and go to work. Love that little man! *grins*

"If You Build It, They Will Come"

...so they're going to make the road adjacent to my lot a four lane road with a median. Hence, my trees that buffer me from the visual of the road, and make it comfy for me to walk around in my room naked to retrieve clothing after a shower, will likely be torn down. Additionally, the houses at the entrance to my neighborhood will literally be sitting on the road. How unsafe is that? How asthetically pleasing for those houses?

...I have already started getting a name for myself around my community. But, you can bet your ass that my ass is going to be at the next town council meeting, along with my next door neighbor, who will be arguing our case with me.

...What pisses me off to no end is that they're telling us that the road won't be designed to invite more traffic on our road. I would like to see the auditable traffic studies of similar roads in our community with before and after details on when they became four lane roads. You can bet your bippy that I utilize these roads on a daily basis, along with most people who work where I work and live where I live.

...Is anyone seeing a buddy career in politics for me? tee hee

Zoom-Zoom

....a long over-due post. Many fun things are amiss Chez Byers these days.

Firstly, on Monday I won tickets to see the Fray. This concert will likely sell out, and I won them before anyone could buy them. I'll be on the lawn, but I'll be there! *grins*

Secondly, the Purple-Piece-Of-Shit has been retired. They gave me $600 for it, and I was able to drive a brand-new Mazda 3i Touring off the lot last night. Before anyone wonders, since I am worried about money, we recently made our last hefty lease payment for our van and have decided to buy it outright. The combined payments for both cars will be marginally more than our old van payment. The plus side is that I now have reliable transportation! It's bright red, making me feel like I have a flourescent car, but it's way cute. Griffin has gone from calling it "The Big Red Car" to "Lightning McQueen." He's loving it.

Further to Byers news, Griffin and Erin got bikes from Grandma and Grandpa Byers for their birthday. They got the first chance to ride them the other night, and Griffin's taken to it like a duck to water. Erin, on the other hand, has inherited her oldest brother's timid nature and is a little slower to bike. All in all, some good times ahead for the Byers clan, in addition to some scrapes and bruises.