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he comes to the office fridays, usually while i'm at away lunch, but lately i've just been here every time he has.
he is a TALKER.
i've never met a garbage man like ours, who after emptying the can, pushes it all the way back up to the building, then opens the front door, comes inside, and makes himself comfortable chatting about anything. first, it was always the weather. he's a lot more in it than we ever are here. then he found out i rode. then he found out my coworker rode. now he cant stop talking bikes with us.
first he was really excited about the fact that we were two ladies who rode. but then he started bragging way too much about his bike. like, more than i EVER wanted to hear. he even rode it over after he got off work one day to show us. ok? then he finds ways of letting us know that our bikes are "cool, but not that cool." "that's a cute little bike," he'll say to me. "its a girly bike, not like you're a girl riding some manly bike, but its ok for you. you wont want to keep that forever, though."
i take slight offense.
just because i still have my stupid decals on (of course he's stripped his) and i havent fixed the dent in my tank (he's fixed his) and i havent repainted my bike flat black yet (he has) doesnt mean i'm not as badass as any other rider.
it just means i'm lazy.
and all his "advice" about where i should go to get my tank fixed, how much cooler my bike would look without decals, what kind of bike i should get, and how freaking beautiful his yamaha is doesnt really make me feel awesome. not that he means it to, of course, but i dont exactly enjoy our talks. if we have to have them, i sure wish they were shorter.
he is a really nice guy -- it took me months to catch onto the garbage pickup schedule and he was forever coming in to ask us if we had any garbage to go out that day. he would even wait while we scrambled around for it and was really cool about that, week after week. i havent forgotten to take out the garbage ever since i set an alarm on my phone every friday, but he still comes in. to chat.
he talks to us forever about bikes. sometimes way too long. last week, kim (my coworker who also rides) called my desk as a way of getting me out of the lengthy conversation. but she didnt want to say anything, in case he heard her in the next room, calling my handset. and since i didnt hear anyone on the line, i hung up, and garbage man and kept talking to me.
see? i know every detail about dude's bike but i dont even know his name.
and he's been our garbage guy for years.
today he said "so how many more months until you get married?"
i said: "three weeks."
he said, "are you having like three and three attendants on each side?"
"........yeah."
"i know some girls who wanted to have like eight."
".......well, i would have liked to, but my fiance couldnt come up with that many guys he wanted up there with him."
the whole conversation was ridiculous:: i dont remember ever telling him i got engaged, and i definitely dont remember telling him how many attendants we were going to have.
weiiiiird?
not as weird as our postman though.
we get the awesomest postmen!!
by awesome, i mean not awesome at all.
now this is my fifth year at PAZ and when i started, i had just left starbucks. guess who was our mailman back in those days. one of my LEAST FAVORITE starbucks customers ever. a horrible horrible person, mean-hearted, rude, impossible to please. "venti mocha, extra hot! BUT I DONT WANT IT SCALDING HOT!" maybe if you werent such a dick, we wouldnt scald your milk as punishment. and dude had the worst, knobbiest knees, but always opted for the postman shorts, instead of the postman pants to hide them. and there he was all over again, coming into my office every day. couldnt escape that one.
he wasnt around too long, fortunately, before we got ronald. ralph? ronnie? i cant remember his name. he was creeee-pyyyy. and another degree of separation from starbucks, ironically. he married the mom of this girl i worked with at my old store. he just took a huge liking to me. he thought we had so much in common through his step-daughter. he thought that since we were both christians, we should both love horrible christian music. he would come up to my desk, sweaty and all, and take out his ear bud and offer to hold it up to my ear so i could hear what was on his zune that week. ew?
he bugged the crap out of me. he would never leave without leaning on the door (which meant fingerprints, and its my job to keep that door spotless) and talking and talking and talking, about really awkward things, all the while letting in the wrong temperature -- freezing cold, or muggy hot from the outdoors. i would always squint at my computer screen, or flip through papers impatiently, hoping he would realize that i was very busy. he always kept talking anyway. he also talked really loudly. every christmas he brought me homemade peanut butter cups that scared me slightly. and he wanted to joke about everything as if we were old friends. but it was just embarrassing. worse, he found me on myspace. which is 100% creepy. and if there were ever a piece of mail addressed to me -- it would only be junk -- he would be like, "voila!! mail for SOPHIE!" and put it in front of me, separate from the rest of the mail. as if i wouldnt have seen it otherwise.
i finally started jumping up from my desk and hi-tailing it to the back-most room of the office (the kitchen) whenever i saw him coming. i knew if i didnt, i was in for a long, loud talk about something that would make my coworkers giggle. not my favorite.
"are you hiding from the postman?" my dad would say.
".............no."
anyway, we had r for years. torturous years. then one day, he told me a story he said was breaking his heart. he was getting transferred to another route.
i cheered.
after he left, of course!
we had all sorts of postpeople after him, i think while they were looking for a permanent route-taker for our area. and it was like a revolution. these postmen/women would come up to my desk.... drop the mail off.... pick up our mail... and say, "have a nice day!" ON THEIR WAY OUT THE DOOR! that was IT. it was incredibly incredible. what a concept. you give me the mail, you take my mail, you leave. wowwwww.
so i enjoyed that for a long time.
now we've got this great new postman. at first i thought he had turrets or something. he is forever mumbling, grumling, muttering under his breath as he comes in; he usually trips over something, and he always drops something. and he mumbles more fiercely when that happens. at first i thought he was always angry, or always late or something. but when he gets to my desk, he'll smile and it's sincere. "hi! have a great day!" he'll say. then the muttering turns to humming as he leaves. he's friendly. i like him a lot actually. i dont get him, but i like him. one day when i was coming back from lunch, he was crossing the street, and i think he thought i didnt see him and was going to run him down in my "girly" motorcycle. i felt terrible about that. of course i saw him.
i really dont know how i attract the crazies. does your garbage man come inside your house and chat every week? he doesnt? its not like i ever even tried to be especially nice to these guys to attract so much attention. i know once my dad gave the garbage guy a coke because it was really hot and my dad felt bad for not having the garbage ready to go. but it wasnt me. so i dont get it.
and if i have to do one more google image search on dude's latest motorcycle infatuation while he's standing there, i'm going to start taking the garbage to the dump myself.
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--grand opening of IKEA tonight!!
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aw, man.
between my truck and my motorcycle, my tan lines are going to suck this summer.
there are the awkward glove-to-tshirt-sleeve tan lines,
compounded by my watch on my left wrist,
which is additionally prominent from driving with one arm out the truck window when i'm not riding my bike.
bah! i sound like a freakin redneck, arm out the truck window.
still. i've never been tall enough in a vehicle i've owned to do this, so i'm going to enjoy it.
besides,
i grew up in dallas.
so........
well, nevermind, that doesnt mean i have to be a redneck.
anyways.
when i'm not wearing my watch,
i can still see it. in whiter skin.
its sick.
but --
 ! 
this makes owning a truck without a/c or a cd player much more tolerable :)
it's playing uncle tupelo, in case you can't tell!
(AND no cd player to get stolen out of my truck, and no cds to get stolen out of my truck.)
i got it an fm transmitter!
totally weird when sometimes a semi drives by and i pick up their pirate station for a second!
more pictures to come of the wedding last weekend, and probably other stuff....
i'm off work tomorrow!
you probably are too!
it's gonna be a scorcher.
the 4th is one of my all-time favorite holidays.
and my sister is here!
yay!
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picturrrrrrres!
the beach at yachats
nathan & his uncle johnny at yachats
a seagull that wanted our food at yachats!
a picture nathan took of me at yachats
nathan & the cutestgirlintheentireworld i mean his neice, emma!
tomatohead! :)
nathan & his mom.
and us.
aaaaand here's what's been making me extremely happy lately.
a new record from sober ryan adams!
its fabulous! who knew!
the album is great but the portland and seattle shows sold out before i could even blink. i'm super bummed, but all i can do is try not to think about it too much...
besides, what would a ryan adams show be without the drunken banter, the the dipping of the harmonica in the wine glass, the pausing of songs to throw hissy fits, the stumbling offstage and breaking limbs?
eh.
aaaand what's been making me REALLY happy is driving my new truck!
i got this cute shiny red ford ranger pickup :)
its perfect. just what i always wanted!
its a stick shift and has manual windows! two other things i always wanted!
and a dent, which sucks, because what i told myself i would NOT do is buy another car that looks like a PEICE OF JUNK like the volvo.
but everything else about it was so great, like the low miles, and what my mechanic said about it, so i got a good deal on it!....
and sometime i'll fix that dent.
it looked pretty gross when i bought it cause it had like a whole winter's worth of dirt. but nathan & i took it through a car wash (no leaks!! huraayyyyyyy!) and it looked like a whole new truck!
meanwhile, i bought polish and air fresheners and i'm going to get floor mats and i'm going to make it look awesome.
i also am in love with the fact that i have intermitten windshield wipers!
i'm so spoiled!
a truck and everything actually WORKS!
so spoiled.
now to get rid of that volvo...........................
in other news--
my sister is suddenly coming home from NYC on saturday!
nathan may have a cracked rib (long story, and i'm going to kill the guy that did it)
the cilantro in my garden FINALLY is coming up :)
dutch bros is selling drinks for a buck!
and if you have time today or in the next few days you should give blood! i'm going at 2:00, if you've never done it before you can come with me. its not scary. there's a major shortage according to oregon red cross right now and they expect extra car accidents around the 4th of july and stuff.... you could save someone's life!
the end!
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