I guess this means I don't have to talk to you anymore

That's what Mr. Computer aka Mr. C said when told him I've started a blog. That plus "don't put our business on the street". I keep wondering what business do we have to put out there. We've got a lot of electronics that I'd like to put out but no other business that really belongs out there.

There are two adults and one rather large dog (who thinks that he's human) that live here (aka "the barracks" according to Mr. C) and I'm ashamed to say we have more than 5 working computers at the barracks at any given point in time.

Although I'm a fabulous multitasker even I can't use two computers at the same time. Mr. C is a one task at a time kinda guy (love ya babe!) and most times he's only on one computer at a time. So if Mr. C is on the #1 and I'm on #2 other - does that mean that TJ's working on #3 through 5?

I've never seen it myself but since he's got four legs, I can only imagine that he's probably using his front paws for #3, his back legs for #4 and for #5 - he's really quite adept at using his tail to move objects around so a keyboard is no big deal.

Earlier this week #4 suddenly and rather unexpectedly passed away. A moment of silence please............ Ok so #4 went back to the big CPU in the sky and after a brief but poignant service, I was dispatched to Geek Squad to see if there was anyway to resuscitate him.

Unfortunately - after extensive probing, the news was not good. With a heavy heart I called Mr. C and had to break the news that #4 was just not worth $$ fixing. My suggestion which was agreed to at that time - Clean the hard drive and donate it someone who can give it a better home.

I gathered my thoughts, prepared my best arguments and counter arguments and proposed to Mr. C that we should also perhaps put #2 #3 and #5 up for adoption and let's replace #4 with a Mac which we both can share. That would then mean that we would be down to 2 machines - #1 and #4b. You'd swear I'd asked Mr. C to go without his BB for a week. (we'll save that for another post)

We discussed my proposal back and forth for hours (probably seemed like hours to him - more like 15 mins for me) and I'm not sure how it happened but it appears that we're going to be trying to fix #4 and we're going to add #6. What the heck happened to my well rounded argument? Where's #6 going to go and who's it for?

As I type Mr. C has announced to all present in the room - Mother, TJ, #3 and #4 and me that -"this is the perfect weekend to buy some electronics"

God help us all!

Dora the Explorer!

Is my name that difficult to pronounce?

Today I had someone call me Maura and I wondered how on earth could you get Maura from Rhonda. hmmm!!! To be honest I think I made them nervous so they just blurted out the first name that came to mind. I just have that effect on people, sometimes.

To be honest it's never really bothered me because when someone's mucked up my name it's either
a) Someone that I really don't give a shit about or,
b) Someone who's calling me to do something I really don't want to do anyway.
But it got me thinking why Rhonda - why not Sally? I did some research on my name and found out that it is of Welsh origin and means - "Good lance" or "noisy" and it was popularized in the US during the 1960's by the Beach boys with their song "Help me Rhonda" (which I personally hate, so please don't sing it to me.)

There are 11 varations on my name which range from LaRhonda to Rondelle (trust me when I say I got the best of the variations). So it got me thinking why Rhonda and why not something exotic Alexandra or Zoie. Mother is in town for a couple of weeks, so I decided to ask why and the convo went something like this:

Me: Why'd you name me Rhonda?
Mother: Well your maternal grandmother wanted to call you Rosemary and your grandfather wanted to call you Sandrine.
Me: Huh? No I asked why'd you and Father pick the name Rhonda?
Mother: Well your grandmother liked the name Roger and if we had a boy that was going to be his name.

At this point in time, I got up to pour myself a glass of wine - because it appears that this was going to be a loooong conversation.

Me: Oh that's a nice boy's name!
Mother: What's the problem don't you like your name - I picked it cause I liked it and after all you were born close to Christmas and we wanted to have a saints name we used a variation of St. Nicholas for your name.
Me: I never said I didn't like my name it's just that I'm curious as to to why that name. I never ...ah knew... that Rhonda was a variation of Nicholas
Mother: You are not listening to me! I said I knew a lady named Rhonda and I liked her name. Quite frankly you should be happy I saved you from a life of ridicule because your father's mother wanted to call you - Dora!
Me: Thank yoooou Mother!
Mother: I thought that you'd see it my way. When are we leaving to go shopping?

While Dora is my niece's favourite tv character I couldn't imagine what it would have been like to have grown up as Dora in the 70's and 80's. So when I sat down to take stock of all of the different ways that my name has been written or mis-pronounced

honda
Randa
Rohonda
Rohondah (how the heck do you pronounce this)
Rounder (I know that I could stand to lose a few pounds but really is it necessary to point it out)
Brenda (usually said by people for whom English is not their first language)
Brenna (same as above)
Rolonda
Rawlanda

It's really not that bad cause it could have been a WHOLE LOT WORSE!

Waiting in the dark

My cousin told me this the other day and it really resonated with me. It reminds me of something someone else told me back in April that continues to stay with me.

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do no see the one which has opened for us.

I don't want to be one of those people who keeps looking at the close door but I constantly find myself constantly having to remind myself to STOP LOOKING AT THE CLOSED DOOR!

I'm a little bit in the dark right now waiting for the pin prick of light to appear so I can move in the right direction. It's so hard because sometimes I feel like the powers that be can't see or hear me waiting impatiently in the dark alone. So I'm sending out this simple prayer to you Dear Lord asking you to protect and watch over me while I wait in the dark

Because he loves me,
I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation

Amen

Ouch I hit my Weenis!

Hey ya'll,

Well I think i've figured out what's wrong with me - I'm going multiball and i'm not even on those meds yet. In addition this morning I hit my weenis - Ouch what a way to start the day!

Last night I had some pretty violent dreams - I was street fighting in the slums of Mississauga and I was getting my ass kicked left and right. No matter how hard I tried some soccer mom in a mini-van get cutting me off, it was horrible - no wonder I woke up in a foul mood.

After the bad dream and the weenis incident I was in an absolutely fabulous mood heading to BFL. Needless to say I was an absolute bear in the office. According to Mags - she thinks I have officitis - I know I was trying to create Kittywompus.

I'm normally a very agreeable and likeable person but I know that they were glad to see the back of me today.

Heck I was glad to see the back of me today!

For the love of television

There are a few good shows on television this summer that I'm following

1. Tuesday night Hell's Kitchen - God I love Gordon Ramsey! He calls it like he sees it and is not afraid to light a fire under the contestants arses! The show started with a bang tonight with one of the contestants losing control.

2. Sunday Night True Blood - Sookie Stackhouse is the bomb! This paranormal drama is loosely modelled after the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse series. Alan Ball has done an amazing job of bringing Bon Temps Louisana to life - the characters leap off the screen and have gone far beyond what Harris pre-ordained for them. This is one series where the TV show outshines the book.

3. Monday Night Nurse Jackie - Edie Falco rocks as the dysnfunctional, drug addicted nurse working in a very busy hospital - it's early days but it looks promising.

4. Sunday Night Hung - It's kinda out there. A high school coach who is a well hung gigolo - ahmm, i don't know

5. The Bachelorette - It's over and she chose the wrong guy. I'm gonna go on record here and say it's not going to last - She shoulda picked Reid!

6. Sunday night Entourage - Ari, Vince and the boys are back and hotter than ever.

Am I going to look at the fat guy finding love! Sure why the hell not - I'm an equal opportunity TV watcher.

Yay for summer TV!