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Posts Tagged ‘merchant services’

1. You’ve ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE.

2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton.

3. You know that ‘WOAH’ comes from  Joey on Blossom

4. If you ever watched ‘Fraggle Rock’

5. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

6. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.

7. You got super-excited when it was   Oregon Trail  day in computer class at school.

8. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.

9. You played the game ‘MASH’(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)

10. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.

11. You know the profound meaning of ‘ WAX ON , WAX OFF’

12. You wanted to be a Goonie.

13. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (Some of us…head-to-toe)

14. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off, his cheeks shifted and his nationality became questionable.

15. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

16. You took lunch boxes to school…and traded Garbage Pail Kids in the schoolyard.

17. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.

18. You still get the urge to say ‘NOT’ after every sentence.

19. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets. 

20. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes.

21. After you saw Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure you kept saying  ‘I know you are, but what am I?’

22. You remember ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up’

23. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.

25. You have ever played with a Skip-It..

26. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.

27. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.

28. You thought  Doogie  Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot..

29. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.

30. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool… and don’t even flinch when people refer to them as ‘NKOTB’

31. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on ‘Saved By The   Bell ,’ The ORIGINAL class.

32. You know all the words to  Bon  Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.

33. You just sang those words to yourself.

34. You still sing ‘We are the World’

35. You tight rolled or french cuffed your jeans.  And still debate on which is the right term!

36. You owned a bannana clip.

37. You remember ‘Where’s the Beef?’

38. You used to (and probably still do) say ‘What you talkin’ ’bout  Willis ?’

39. You’re still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren’t you!

So I always swore I would never ride on or drive a motorcycle.  The reason being that my mom’s cousin hit a squirrle going like 30mph and flew off his and died.  That always scared me away from that.  Of course he wasn’t wearing a helmet, but still.  Not only did I say I never would get on one, but I forbade my husband and best friend to get on one either because I didn’t want to lose them.

But then last summer came around and my best friend talked my husband into getting into a class and they decided that they were going to move forward.  They took the class and got bikes.  Then I decided one day to be bold and had my other friend take me out on his Harley.  I was super nervous but I trusted him because he had been riding for 2 years.

WOW… wow is all I can say for my first motorcycle ride.  It was exhilarating to say the least!  I felt like i was flying! 

So that convinced me this was going to be fun.  So I studied the guide and took my permit test and passed with flying colors.  Then came time to learn.  My husband and best friend had already bought their bikes so I learned on them.  For some reason I was not nervous!

I got on the first time and took off and it was 100% natural to me.  Since that day, I have spent a lot of time on my husbands motorcycle.  I took it to work, to play to everywhere.  I would take the long way to and from work and sometimes, we would borrow my husbands dad’s bike and just go riding.

I am dying for summer to come so I can go out again.  It’s like an addiction now (and the leather is fun to wear too!)

Goes to show you, what you are afraid of might actually turn out to be your favorite thing!  I feel a sense of release when I am on the bike.  I don’t think about my day or what happend, I just feel the breeze and admire the scenery.  It is my therapy.

Every day on my way to work, I see a man on his bike.  Depending on if I am on schedule or not, I see him crossing the same intersection I am (a busy intersection) which heads up a hill (a big hill) toward the freeway. 

This has captured my attention because it was a stunningly cold week last week.  We were in the negatives all week long, with the lowest hitting -21 on Thursday morning.  Even though we were suffering through that, HE was still there!  He wears this bright florescent green vest (like you would see construction workers in) so that he can be seen.  I am on that part of the road at about 7:40am and its JUST beginning to get light out. 

There I am, dressed in so many layers, freezing and shivering in my truck - OUT of the wind and on a comfortable seat that covers most of the back side of me.  There HE is, dressed in layers (no doubt) but with no big seat to sit in.  Also, I got to imagining how hard it must be to ride on those two tiny wheels that are always covered in snow and road junk.  And how much of that road junk must be caked on his back and legs when he arrives at his final destination.

I admire this person.  He has such commitment.  Now, it crossed my mind this morning that maybe he is NOT doing this because he wants to be healthy/enviornmentally conscious/avoid the traffic, but doing this because he for some reason lost his car or lisence.  But for whatever reason, I have to give him credit.  It can’t be easy to do that every morning.

I do have to say though, for whatever reason he is there…. he is an inspiration.  Oh how I wish I could do that every morning.

Have you ever wondered why we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

Why is abbreviated such a long word?

Why isn’t phonetics spelled phonetically?

Ff a deaf kid swears, does his mom wash his hands out with soap?

Why is what doctors do called “a practice”?

If con is the opposite of pro..isnt congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe…why is the airport called a “terminal”?

Would a fly that loses its wings be called a walk?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavoring but dish soap is made with real lemons?

If a turtle loses its shell is it naked or homeless?

that people in minnesota start to go a little wacko.  its cold and snowy and that means we all drive even more like ding dongs.  cold and snow washes out some peoples memory of which is the gas pedal and which is the break.  it gets interesting on the roads

we also start to get a little …. ready for spring and summer…. especially when our forecast reads as such…

monday - 3-5 inches of snow… blizzard warnings, winter storm warnings, wind chill warnings

tuesday - high around -1, lows around -14

wednesday - high around -5, lows around -15, snow flurries

thursday - high around -10, lows around -17

friday - it finally warms up!!!  high around 0

woo!

So I am a big fan of fiction mystery, thriller, etc books.  I love Stephen King and Dean Koontz among other thriller writers.  They don’t necessairly have to have blood and gore and weird stuff like that, but I do like the books i can’t put down due to me just having to know what happens to the character next. 

Among my favorites are Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King; Angels and Demons by Dan Brown; Excavation by James Rollins and Intensity by Dean Koontz.

The book Intensity is best described in one word, mentioned in its title, Intensity!  I was reading this book and I finished it in 2 days.  I couldn’t put it down.  It’s about a woman who goes to visit some friends in the mountains and she is woken up in the night by a loud bang.  She goes down to discover that the parents of her friend have been murdered and her friend is missing.  The killer does not know she is in the house. 

She hears her friend crying and follows the voice only to see the killer put her friend in this camper.  She decides to sneak into the camper when he isn’t looking to try to save her friend. 

From there the book gets wild.  Her pursuit in keeping herself hidden while trying to save her friend is gut wrentching. 

I remember the night I was finishing the book, my husband and I were on our couch.  He was reading a book, too, so we had the tv off and the room was silent.  There I was on the edge of my seat, nose in the book, worried and pulling on my hair as I do when I’m nervous.  My husband sneezed, breaking the silence, and I jumped and shook the couch.  Both my bottle of water and my book fell to the floor.  I looked at him with shock, I’m sure, on my face.  We both erupted into laughter after that.

If you like a good thriller… I highly recommend Intensity by Dean Koontz

I am a defensive driver… I live by the motto (on the road) “Everyone else on the road thinks they are the only one on the road”.  Although I have never been in an accident (besides when some lady hit me because she didnt check her blind spot then blamed it on the sun in her eyes - the sun was on the opposite side of her vehicle from where she hit me), I have had a few close calls.  I do talk to other drivers knowing they can’t hear me and laugh at people stupidity.  BUT, I do have to remind myself to be thankful for how well people do drive here in the winter.  If you are asking yourself, “what would make you thankful for stupid drivers?”, I have a story for you…

A few years ago, I had the privelage to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia from December 28th through January 9th.  We spent some time there with some friends and travel around a little bit.  It was fun and exciting to be in a completely different atmosphere over the holiday season.  I saw and experienced things I never thought I would.  It was an amazing trip, ending in Amsterdam (wow!).

BUT…….the DRIVING there!!!!  Ugh, ok so the roads are wide in the city and they don’t get plowed really at all, so no one can see the lines dividing the lanes so they just drive where ever!  They dont obey the normal traffic rules… They will just park anywhere (literally) and to get to their parking spot on the street, they will cut across lanes of traffic and just stop! 

It’s chaos and people drive just anywhere… then if someone gets in their way, the will stop and get out of their car, in the middle of the street, and start yelling at eachother!  There were accidents everywhere.

Then we travelled north to the finland border (to Sortavala) and we had to ride in this 15 passenger van for 6+ hours on a winding twisting road that had not been plowed.  It was the worst 6 hours I’d spent in a vehicle ever!  It was so bumpy and slippery, there were accidents and spin-offs everywhere.

The country was so interesting and amazing in its history and culture, but I am glad for minnesota streets when I think back to that week.