I Feel SO Bad...

I have to make this short so that I can get to work, but I am devastated. I ran over and killed someone's cat this morning on the way to work. I've hit wild animals before, but never an animal that had an emotional connection to a human, and visa versa.

If you're already rolling your eyes, you might as well skip this post, cause I'm only going to continue on this same thought pattern.

I think that if this had happened when I "didn't like cats," I would have felt horrible, but it wouldn't have affected me the same way. After I hit her though, I saw that she had a collar and I absolutely lost it. All I could imagine was someone sitting at home getting ready for work thinking that their cat had gone on their daily stalking adventures, who will never see their cat again. I'm tearing up again just thinking about it. Picturing Lucy out there...

I watched the poor thing go through convulsions before taking her last breath and I'm just glad she wasn't totally alone in the middle of the street. I called the city, but after 30 minutes, I had to just move her off the street myself and get to work. It ripped my heart out to just leave her on the side of the road. Her collar was just a flea collar, but I am hoping she was micro-chipped. I left clear instructions to please pass on my apologies, condolences, and even my phone number if the owner was contacted.

It was very interesting to watch people change as they drove by my car, parked half-way in the middle of the road to keep others from running over her. The area that I was in is known for being the home of some not so nice or law-abiding citizens. However, even those that were carreening around the corner, wondering why there was a sobbing woman in a black Jetta in their way, displayed expressions of sympathy, hurt, or empathy as they continued on their way. I even had a lady in a mini van, with literally 10 passengers, stop and console me, telling me it was allright and that "she was already in heaven". Very kind of her, and completely unneccesary, but appreciated.

If you haven't yet experienced this humbling and heartbreaking experience, I hope you never do. If you have, I hope that you had closure, cause that's all I'm hoping for. I just hope that the family is notified and knows that the "culprit" is incredibly sorry for their loss.

It's been too long!

Hola amigos! I was just stopping by and realized that I haven't written in forever. I can't write much right now, but this is a promise of some fun posts to come. The last post I made came right before my insanely busy last week of summer classes, then I had a week of crazy work, and then I left for vacation...writing in my blog has not been in the forefront of my mind! However...here is an idea of what I have to update you on...

1. My crazy finish to school
2. My time at the midnight book release for the 7th Harry Potter book
3. My review of the Harry Potter book (don't worry, I'm pretty careful about spoilers...but read carefully if you haven't yet read the book)
4. My vacation - including the incredibly coincidental sighting of "my twin" by Gina who didn't know I was actually in town.
5. And one other topic of which I am still awaiting news on from my end...so that's as much as you get for now!

Hope your summers are going well...hope you are all staying cool and dry...and hope you enjoy the remainder of yet another summer that has flown by and is soon to be gone.

LAHS Class of '98 Reunion

Well, can't believe I signed up for this, but it should be fun. I have officially volunteered to plan my 10 year reunion. So, I'm asking for the help of any LAHS graduates who have friends from the class of '98. If you have any contact info, can you shoot it my way? Also, I know a couple of you have some experience planning reunions, so if you have any suggestions can you give me those also? Thanks so much guys!

Aside from that, I know I haven't written in a while, but I've been nose in the books for the past week. Classes are over next week, so I'll be back on the ball soon! Off to have a birthday dinner cooked for me by my marvelouse "sisters"! Then to the Harry Potter release party...fun times! See ya!

Harry Potter

Here's my own review on the new Harry Potter movie.

First of all, I think it is important for you to know that for the 3rd movie in a row, I have gone to the first midnight showing. Totally worth it!! I got the closest to dressing up this year by wearing a Dumbledor's Army necklace...I think that's as far as my fanaticism will ever go! I have some sort of respect for those who show up in full costume just because of their willingness to make fools of themselves, but at the same time, they definitely scare me a bit!

Laura and Mindy were the first two in line (they got there at 5:00 PM). We were pretty surprised that the line was as short as it was until as late as it was. The last movies we saw at Century 24, the biggest theater in town. For the last movie we showed up at 3:00 and STILL weren't first in line (ok we were second, but still...). Also, in years past there have been long lines HOURS before the show started. This year, people didn't really start showing up until about 10:00. Weird, but I guess the theater had something to do with it.

So, we sat in line and made friends with the theater staff, ate dinner, played cards, did homework, played more cards and were finally let into the theater at 10:30ish. Laura started polling the fellow fans "Friend or Foe" (if you don't know what I'm talking about read the books) and found that all but 3 people say Friend...me included. If you want my reasoning for this, I'll be happy to offer it at another time! Then we started playing Harry Potter trivia. I am not that good at recall, so I was amazed at the people and what they knew. Can anyone else name the four types of dragons in the Goblet of Fire tournament...without looking it up? Some of the fans there could! And what is Voldemort's mom's name...woah! As answers were shouted out, I remembered them, but the fact that people could recall something that was mentioned in maybe 1 Chapter of a 700 page book just baffled me.

We also received many lectures about the fact that cameras of any kind, including camera phones, would be confiscated if used in the theater. Technically they were supposed to confiscate them if they SAW them, but I guess they were realistic enough to know that that was a silly goal! Apparently, there are already bootleg copies of some movies that just came out last weekend circulating throughout the city. There is a $250,000 fine and 5 years in jail in the future of anyone taking pictures if someone decided to turn them in. And why would someone turn them in...$500 finder's fee. Honestly ridiculous. So, I misunderstood the whole "in the theater" thing. I thought that it meant in the actual seating area of the theater...oh no, ANYWHERE in the theater. The Movie Posters for upcoming movies are copyrighted also, so they are just as guarded as the movie themselves. Well, thank goodness the "officials" weren't around when I took a picture of the long line for the movie right before we were allowed into the theater...sorry, the seating area of the theater. Anyway, once we got in and were seated, there were flashes going off all over the place. The theater staff went crazy for a little while trying to confiscate all of the cameras until they decided that they didn't want to be liable for the cameras! LOL! Needless to say, the cops weren't called in on anyone.

Before the lights went down, a reporter came and talked to Laura and Mindy because they had been the first ones in line. Check it out at http://www.abqtrib.com/ if you are interested. At first I was upset that she hadn't asked me about anything, but when I ended up with some stomach thing the next morning and couldn't go to class or work, I was fairly relieved. Something tells me that my being sick may have been questioned, legitimate as it was, had my instructors or boss seen me quoted about being at the theater until 3:00 in the morning!

Anyway, the movie started and we all groaned through the previews. They can be annoying when you HAVEN'T been waiting for 7 hours to watch the movie...need I say more! So as soon as the Harry Potter music started, applause began and quickly died down as we tuned into the much anticipated film.

Well, either we were so hyped up that nothing was going to please us, or the first 10 minutes of the movie were truly disappointing. The acting, the cinematography, the choppiness...everything just didn't feel right. Thankfully, it soon turned into the white knuckle movie that we expected. The comedic relief of Delores Umbridge, the crony sent to the school by the Ministry of Magic, was great. The fight scenes in the Ministry's Hall of Mysteries were wonderfully done, although the minimalistic coverage of the fate of Sirius was slightly disappointing.

Some say this movie was supposed to be the darkest yet, although I think I would argue that the Goblet of Fire still takes the cake in that aspect.

So, there's my review...can't wait till the 21st when the last book comes out!!! Well, off to class I go.

Wish me luck as I am attempting the bicycle for the first time in years tonight. I know..."it's like riding a bike," and I should have no problem, but I fear that I become less and less comfortable with adrenaline the older I get, so I'm hoping for no adrenaline triggers tonight! (I just read that back and I sound like a 72 year old, paranoid grandma...oh well, notice I didn't erase it!) Have a great night everyone...talk to you soon!

Update on the Fraud Situation

So...Here's the deal. I got a text this morning from Jessica stating that yes indeed, the two Monica Olivas' are the same woman...weird small world we live in huh? So that means nothing monumental except for the fact that I am not jaded against all women named Monica Olivas for the rest of my life! Since this turned out to be only one person and not two, I can just be jaded against her!

As soon as I got to work I covered my own butt by talking to two of my superiors and giving them a heads up about the situation. I just wanted them to know that if it ever came back to the NMAA, I had NEVER given permission for my address to be used. They both laughed incredulously at the situation and told me that I needn't worry.

OK, next I called APS, the school district, and made them aware of the situation. They looked up the kids, and the good news is they have never been listed at my address and they have been going to the school on the military base here in town (their dad is a vet). So, technically I should feel all better about the situation, but I don't!

Even though they never took that final step of registering outside of their zone, they still made legal changes to their address AFTER I had told them that I was unwilling to allow them to use my address. I just feel betrayed. And if they had been unable to get them into the school on base (apparently there were issues with this because of their parent's divorce), would they have still used my address? What astounds me is that as Jessica and I were making these odd connections, she stated that her boss had openly admitted that she had used someone else's address to get her kids into a different school zone (what's absolutely hilarious to me is that she was admitting this to a resident of that address and neither one had ANY idea!!!). Anyway, how dense can you be to advertise to the world that you have done something like this, let alone the fact that you're proud to be successfully fooling ME! ARGHHHH.

So, I think I am going to write a letter to my dear old co-worker letting her know that she didn't totally fool me, and that I am not happy to have had to deal with this. I'm also not happy that I had to figure it out the way that I did. And lastly, I'm REALLY not happy that she broke her word to me saying that she wouldn't use my address.

I called Sprint and they have taken my address off of the account, and put a note on the account as well. I have to run into a local Wells Fargo branch and make sure that everything is taken care of there. After that point, I can let this situation go, but I think we can safely say that I have learned yet another lesson about placing trust in the wrong people...but the question still remains...how do you know?

Thanks Jim...

side note...(this post is specifically directed to a guy who left me a comment who I can't seem to comment back. Fair warning, it's all about the dreaded video game!)

Don't know who you are, but you gave me advice regarding beating Ursula. I was actually talking about the second form of Ursula which is a WHOLE lot harder than her and her cauldron, but thanks for the advice. By the time I read your comment I had beaten her and was back fighting tournaments in Olympus. Thanks again though!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Wow, I had quite a disappointing evening. Let me break this down for you...

For over a year I have been getting mail at my house for a Monica Olivas. I don't know a Monica Olivas. I have been getting her mail from both Wells Fargo and Sprint. Last year when this started, I called Wells Fargo and asked them to check on the account to verify that there hadn't been a mistake. They told me very plainly that there was nothing that they could do and refused to even look up the name and address.

I got more and more frustrated about the mail, but kept referring back to the fact that I was told that, due to customer confidentiality, there was NOTHING that they could do.

So, flash back to about a year and a half ago...an old co-worker of mine asked me if she could use my address so that her grandchildren could get into my school zone which is rated as superior to theirs. I told her very plainly that no, not only was I not comfortable with the dis-honesty of that, but that because of where I work, that could cause serious issues in the future. I trusted her promise that they would not pursue this address fraud.

So I know what you are thinking...duh Kristin, it took you over a year to figure out what was going on?? Well, keep in mind, I trusted my co-worker Louisa and didn't think that she would go against her word. I also did not know her daughter Monica, who had a different last name. I just thought that I was getting some random woman's mail.

Back to today...I get another piece of Wells Fargo mail for Monica Olivas AND one for Martin Olivas...this is new. Knowing that proof of residency is used for many security purposes, I decided I didn't care what I'd been told in the past by Wells Fargo and I called them again. After hearing what I had to say, the employee and his supervisor gave me permission to open the Olivas' Wells Fargo mail. Ironically enough, the items that I received today were confirmations of an address change. The new address seemed strangely familiar...I recognized the street as an old address of my best friend. So I called her and asked what her address had been. When she told me her old house number, it suddenly all came clear...Louisa lived down the street from her old house and the addresses fit perfectly.

Not wanting to believe what I was thinking I understood so clearly, I took a drive and verified that the address on the Wells Fargo letters was indeed that of Louisa's house. WOW!

And even stranger, as this is all falling into place, my roommate realizes that her boss' name just happens to be Monica Olivas. We are not 100% sure, but we're thinking we're not incorrect in naming these two as the same woman. We'll know more about that tomorrow when she does some investigating!

And what am I doing tomorrow? Talking to my boss about the fact that my address has been frauduently used for inequitable educational gain...pretty much the biggest thing our office stands for. After I cover this at work, I will talk to the school district and inform them that I feel that my address has been used without my knowledge to unfairly register students outside of their school zone. Hmmm...

I guess I'll let you know what happens!