Derekisms, continued

·           We have an annual tradition of going to the State Fair with a bunch of my girlfriends.  Click here to check out the State Fair page.  This year we invited one of Derek's workers, Wilmer.  He had a great time playing all the games, and climbing the Rock Wall.  They made the pool table game way harder this year, but we still won a few big prizes, and handed them to empty-handed little kids on the way out.  At home that night, Derek and I chatted about the State Fair, and he said "I knew the girls would get a kick out of Wilmer--you know, find him cute.  I'm not gay, but I know the difference between a Truman Capote and a Mel Gibson.  Wilmer is definitely a Mel Gibson.  (pause)  Oh shit, you're going to put that in the newsletter, aren't you?"  Until then I hadn't thought of it!

·           Derek came home after one of many 12-hour days, talking about how exhausted he was.  There was one highlight of the day though: as he drove home, he saw two hookers walking along Michigan Avenue in downtown Ypsilanti .  One was clearly a hooker, the other one "wouldn’t take much convincing."  Where we live in Ypsi is very nice, but you don't have to drive more than a couple miles, and you see some pretty shady stuff.  He even saw one of them get picked up, and he described the exchange in wide-eyed detail.  (Anyone who has seen the obscure but well-written movie "Ghost World," Derek said that the guy who picked up the hooker looked like the sunburned, shirtless, numchucks-toting redneck from the convenience store).  We talked about it for a few minutes and then went on to something else.  That night, after dinner, we drove by the job site in Ypsilanti to pick up his respirator mask, which he'd left on the roof, and there she was--the same hooker he'd seen earlier that day!  We saw her again after pool league on 8/30.  That is one hard-working hooker!  ...and from the looks of it, she may have a corner on the market.  (or, as the case may be, a market on the corner).

·           After pool league one night, a guy came up to us in the parking lot.  The parking lot is kind of dark and could easily be the home of some sketchy characters, so we were on guard right away.  The dude seemed relatively harmless, but I think those situations can turn around very quickly if you handle them badly.  I couldn't wait to get in the car.  He drunkenly slurred, "My name's Derek, but I just got divorced, so now my name's Mr. McGuire."  MY Derek, apparently sweetened up by their shared nomenclature, pulled out his wallet and gave Mr. McGuire a bill.  We wished the guy well and told him to, "go buy yourself some breakfast, buddy" in the tone of "don't buy crack!" and drove off.  Once we got on the road, I asked how much he gave him, thinking a couple ones or a five at the most.  "Ten bucks," and my immediate response was "that's so going in the newsletter!"  What a sucker!  But if it saved us a conflict with the guy, I guess it was worth it.  This happened once in Chicago too, when we ran out of gas in a really, really bad neighborhood on the south side (or at least what I perceived to be a really, really bad neighborhood).  A guy came up to me while Derek was at the pay window, saying he was down on his luck, and asking if he could pump our gas for us.  I was perfectly capable of doing it myself, but he looked like he easily could have been packing a weapon, and I the last thing I wanted to do was piss him off.  It was worth a couple bucks to me to get out of there alive. 

Betzisms of the Quarter

·           I completed my address book project, which has been in progress for about 6 months now.  All of my addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses are stored on our home computer, so when a page gets messy (from writing in new addresses), I only need to update the page on the computer and print a new one.  This is so anal, but those who know me well will simply nod knowingly.

·           As a whole, this summer was quite pleasant (as 'pleasant' is defined by those of us who enjoy temps in the 60s).  But it never fails--it's always sweltering hot during Art Fair.  I hardly ventured outside that week--just absorbed the carnival food smells that wafted up toward my 4th floor window and released some mild expletives when the crowds were especially loud, or when I had to wait to use the bathroom.  That week I got a new computer, my first work computer that wasn't a hand-me-down!  I customized the features for three days straight, taking a break once in a while to hoist my arms in victory and shout 'Woohoo!  It's so FAST!' 

·           Based on the success of www.umich.edu/~sundholm, I posted an ad for my services on marketplace.umich.edu (U of M's version of Ebay) as a personal website designer for U of M staff, faculty, and alumni.  No takers yet, but I think one day it will pay off as a nice little side gig.  So here I am...someone with no formal website education, moonlighting as a personal website designer.  Don't you love America?

·           Ever the queen of multi-tasking (seriously, I can't just watch a movie.  I have to fold clothes or sort pictures or something), I spent two hours assembling a new "tower," which will serve as a pool trophy display - slash - magazine storage for the office, while watching Court TV with Derek.  I had to start over 3 times because the instructions were horrible.  I learned that it is possible to break a sweat while sitting on the floor, just being angry.

·           I started up reunion correspondence again in late August, after a 3-year lapse.  It took a year to get over my disgust with the 15-year reunion debacle.  So now, the search begins again.  At one point, there were only 30 people from a class of 154 on our 'MIA' list.  Now, we have lost contact with about 75.  It's going to be a battle, but I have some good friends helping, and I think we'll get that MIA list back down to a manageable number within a few months.

·           In general, Derek and I have a mutually agreeable arrangement when it comes to housework.  I do the majority of the inside stuff, and Derek helps out when he can.  It usually comes out to about 70%-30%.  But he always mows the lawn, and always takes care of "poop duty" in the litter boxes.  However, after a couple solid weeks of him not helping with any housework whatsoever, Derek and I had a little 'talk.'  It was the "I understand you're busy, dear, but so am I.  Something's got to happen NOW" conversation.  This was on a Wednesday night.  He promised, 'I promise, I will do not just one but two loads of dishes and clean up the kitchen tomorrow.'  I typed up a document on the computer and made him sign and date it. 

Derek’s Work stuff

·           One Saturday I brought Derek lunch on the job site, and I said the only two sentences I know for sure in Spanish (and I'm not even sure how you spell them, since I've learned them verbally), "Hola Salvin, como esta?"  All of the Hondurans giggled, either because my inflection was horrible, or they admired the effort, or both.  Salvin replied, "Bien, et tu?"  "Good!  er...(pause)...Muy bien!"  After inhaling his lunch, Derek said (more for the laborers' benefit than mine), "Thank you, Betsy" really loud and animated.  Again, the Hondurans giggled, because whenever I bring him lunch and he doesn't thank me, I make a (fake) scene.  Did I tell you that for the first year that they knew me, they thought my name was 'Honey' because that's all they ever heard Derek call me?  I replied, as Salvin had taught me last summer, "De nada, carrio."  They're good guys.

·           A customer claimed that Derek did not finish her roof job when he did it many years ago--that he completely forgot a whole section of the roof--and is threatening to badmouth him to her friends.  He spoke with her two months ago, and said he would do the repair as soon as he could work it into his schedule.  She has no leak, no problems, and it is not visible from the ground, so it is not an urgent matter.  Derek offered to do the repair for little more than the cost of materials, even though (1) it's impossible to tell whether it really was his fault, and (2) by her own admission the job was completed 11 years ago (he guarantees his work for 10 years).  Derek was just taking her word for it about the contract, but Betz the Master Organizer went to the basement and dug out her contract.  Sure enough, the little old lady lied.  The job is not 11 but thirteen years old.  Even though I suggested he tell her to go fly a kite, he's going to make good on the at-cost repair anyway.  She must be one charming little old lady.

Betz’s Work stuff

·           I am volunteering on the Fall Conference Planning team for the Association of College Unions International (ACUI), which is at U of M this October.  We met at UM Dearborn in June, and the entire team was invited to Lunch in Uncle Henry's swimming pool.  Seriously, on the Henry Ford Estate, the swimming pool has been converted to a nice restaurant!  The lunch was awesome, and the atmosphere extremely unique.  I only wish the pictures I took had captured more of the room.  It was really quite something!

·           In June, a writer for the University Record (the weekly publication for 15,000+ U of M faculty and staff) contacted me, asking if I'd like to be the subject of the new weekly feature, 'Staff Spotlight.'  Despite a tornado evacuation that nearly caused me to miss the photographer, it all worked out OK and the article appeared in the Record on June 21.  It was pretty cool!  Just two corrections:  they said I'm ranked number 11 in the state in women's pool, but I'm really number 10.  And also, they didn't even mention my job at The SORC, which constitutes 75% of my daily duties!  I guess pool is more fun--a better read.

·           June was the month for publicity.  I also got called to do an interview with Charity Nebbe (Michigan Radio, the NPR station in Ann Arbor ) about the Curtis Becker cup.  The interview hasn't aired yet, at least not to my knowledge, but they're supposed to let me know when it will be on, and I'll tell you when to tune in!

·           In late July I went through the grueling process of interviewing for a position in my department. 

Number of applicants:  58

Number who met the minimum requirements:  49

Number I interviewed by phone:  24

Number who made the live interviews:  6

·           I received a new watch commemorating 10 years of service as a permanent, full-timer at U of M.  I don't get any credit, really, for the 5 years that I was a temp.  The watch is pretty cool, but the brochure was a bit misleading when they described it as a "Ladies Watch."  It's HUMONGOUS!  I wear it, but not with any of my more feminine outfits.  It's definitely better on tennis shoe days.

·         Back in February, the University Unions leadership team (Directors of the 4 Unions at U of M, Maintenance, Food Service, Finance, etc.) asked me to start a staff newsletter.  I've been doing the "Get to The SORC!" newsletter for a whole year, plus of course this personal newsletter, and having seen my work, they thought I was the best person for the job.  I'm hesitant to put any new initiatives on my plate, but newsletter stuff is something I really enjoy, so I took on the task.  The first one didn't actually come out until July, but when it did, I got some major kudos from not only the Directors, but a couple dozen colleagues in University Unions.  It took about 20 hours of my time to put together, but I really enjoyed it, and the thanks I got made it worthwhile!

·           University Unions hosted its first-ever staff picnic on August 22.  Because I'm the new newsletter editor, I was there representing "The Press."  It was a pretty nice time, lots of great food, and games for the kids, but a lower turnout than anyone hoped.  I think there are between 150-200 employees in University Unions, but even with family members (spouses and kids were invited), there were probably only 60 people who attended.  I got a lot of great pictures for the October staff newsletter though, and I think it will be bigger next year.

·           Technically it's not official yet, as the contract has not been signed, but the Michigan Union Billiards Room (that's my place, for those of you who haven't been paying attention) will host the 2005 Collegiate & Junior National Championships.  This will be the first time both events have been held together in the same place at the same time.  If all goes well, we will host over 300 of the best junior and collegiate pool players in the country!  I am very, very excited about the adventure.  I've firmly planted myself in a position to directly affect the future of intercollegiate pool...whether I like it or not! 

Home stuff

·           Derek has had a knockout summer.  He's been working his disproportionately skinny little butt off, and jobs continue to flow in.  We are very grateful that his business is doing well, and that because of his hard work and resulting success, we are able to buy new things and make home improvements.  We just love our homestead!

·           The boy is a little impulsive when it comes to getting stuff for the house.  Sometimes we talk about a project for a year or two without acting, and then BOOM! I come home one day and it's done.  I'm not complaining; I understand that this is the nature of his job.  He doesn't know when he'll have a day off until that day.  Rain is usually what gives him those precious few days off, so it's sort of a "make hay while the sun shines" concept.  So when we went to Lowe's one day for some screws and a couple other small things, it's no surprise that we came home an hour later, having purchased new blinds for the great room and a new refrigerator!  (The kind with the fridge on top!  Why haven't they always made refrigerators like this?)  

·           When we took down the old window treatments, we did some damage to the drywall and would have had to repaint it anyway.  I said, "Honey, why don't we just paint this wall a color that we like?"  He didn't hesitate for a second.  "Go for it!"  Worst-case scenario, we had a 5-gallon bucket of beige paint in the basement (courtesy of the folks who built the house) and could paint over it if we didn't like it.  I shopped around for colors during the next few days (while Mom and David were here and I was on vacation), and finally settled on a bold, mustardy color called "Fancy Suede."  Click below to enlarge the pictures, or click HERE  to go to the Home Improvements page and see more.

·           We also hired our longtime pool friend and electrician, Ted, to do a bunch of electrical work that we’ve been talking about for a long time.  New lights on the deck, new front entryway lights, a light over the kitchen sink, motion sensors on both garage floodlights, recessed can lighting in the ceiling for "Betz’s Kraft Korner" in the basement, and some other, much less exciting work.  We also ordered three new ceiling fans, for the dining nook, office, and great room.  As of September 1, there are just two things left to install:  the ceiling fan in the great room, and one more exterior light fixture.  Next up, I hope:  a new kitchen faucet.

·           There's a restaurant near our house called Harvest Moon.  Derek goes there probably 3 times a week, and I join him on weekends sometimes for breakfast.  We’ve taken a liking to their bread; we usually buy a loaf to go.  We've been doing it for a couple months, but they had to cut us off.  They won't sell us bread anymore because they run out and don't have enough for their customers.  But they said if we call ahead the day before we come, they'd be happy to make an extra loaf for us! 

·            As I said, we love our homestead.  But we don't like all the new houses that have been going up, especially the one that's basically in our back yard.  We're feeling more than a little crowded and claustrophobic.  So every once in a while we daydream about our new house--the one that is a figment of our imagination, at least for now.  We like the layout of our house, so if we build, the new house will probably look very similar to our current one--but with bigger rooms and strategically placed doors and walls.  It's fun to knock down walls and add dimensions when it's only in your imagination and there's no price tag.  And oh yes...the most important feature of our new house:  it will be surrounded by land that we own, so no one can build up around us. 

Here's what we used to see (click): 

Here's what we saw all last year:  

Here's what we see now:     

And the worst part is what we hear.  Screaming children all day long, the obnoxious sound of 4-wheelers buzzing around in the field, splashing & screaming in the swimming pool, roughhousing on the trampoline, and the painful silence of no birds, deer, foxes, or wildlife of any kind. 

Urban sprawl SUCKS!

SECTION 2:  Family

Family dinners

·           When Derek's mom and step-dad returned from Florida this spring, we all vowed to get together at least once every two weeks for family dinner, and with the exception of two 3-week gaps, we have held true to our word.  It has definitely brought us closer together!   Click on the link to check out the new page for Derek's Family, where you can see many pictures from our summer dinner gatherings.  I don't know if this was Carol's idea or Kristin's, but whoever suggested it, I'm glad she did!

Visits from Family & Friends

·           Angela dropped by my office for a surprise during Art Fair.  We had lunch, then she went out to do more shopping.  She bought some really cool stuff for her new home, including a house blessing by a favorite artist, Susan Loy, and a really nice quilt, which she’s going to hang on the wall over her sofa.  Then she met up with us later at home for dinner and a movie. 

·           At the same time as Derek's mom called to tell Derek that his Uncle Bobo had died, I was reading the same information in an e-mail from his aunt Joan, who'd found our email address on my website.  She hasn't seen or spoken to Derek in almost 20 years, and she found him via MY website!  And at the exact moment that I opened that email, his mom called to tell him that his uncle died.  Kind of freaky!  The good news is that Derek has reestablished contact with his Dad's family after two decades.  We've been talking quite regularly to his Aunt Joan, Uncle Stash, Uncle John, and cousins Mickey and Joanie.  They asked for pictures of Derek, Carol, and Kristin, which inspired me to start the new 'Derek's Family' page of the website.  This page will grow and develop a lot as I gather more pictures from Derek's youth.

·           My Mom and her boyfriend, David, visited from 7/25 through 7/28.  They stopped here for a couple days en route from one big race ( Ohio) to another (Illinois).  We didn't go out much, but they enjoyed their stay.  When David unloaded his '79 El Camino to do some work on it, the construction guys on the roof across the street cheered like they were at Michigan Int'l Speedway.  I knew it was a race car, but I had no idea it was so LOUD!  The teenager next door, Matt, said more to David that afternoon than he has said to me or Derek in 5 years. 

·           Derek made awesome steaks for Mom & David on the last night they were here, showing off his new grill J.  He even called off a walking golf lesson with sub-scratch buddy, with whom he'd been trying to schedule a round of golf for many weeks, to stay home and have dinner with us.  Even after dinner, I told him that he could’ve caught Steve on the back nine, but the boy made me proud, and opted to stay and do trick shots for Mom & David instead. 

·           David, a dyed-in-the-wool mechanic and guy's guy, was impressed that Derek had a compressor attachment that would allow him to refill his portable air compressor before they left for the next race, and also some funky kind of pliers for spring loading small utility parts.  Oddly, I felt as if David gained a newfound respect for Derek after those tool-related discoveries!

·           While they were here, we showed Mom and David two movies they hadn't seen:  Bandits, and The Big Lebowski.  They were both big hits!  David especially loved The Big Lebowski.  He's a man of few words, but I don't think I've ever heard him laugh so much in all the years I've known him. 

·           My brother, Sean, was called upon to do Secret Service duty when President Bush visited the U.P.  Sean didn’t actually get to see the Prez; he was stuck out in the parking lot, handling the picketers.  I thought this was perfect, considering his sister's stance on our current president.  (***KERRY***EDWARDS***2004!***  No more BushShit!)

·           And speaking of Sean, I can't believe my baby brother turned 30....THIRTY!!!!!....this year!  While Mom and David were visiting, they showed us a video from the racetrack.  Sean has really gotten into racing too, following in David's footsteps.  Work prevents him from going to as many races as he'd like, but he makes it to 2 or 3 each year.  Since there's so much acreage at most racetracks, a lot of people bring their 4-wheelers for ease of getting around.  Sean, always the creative one, instead created his own version of a Harley Davidson.  He strapped a snow blower motor onto an old bicycle.  Runs like a charm, although it is really, really small.  Sean's a big guy, and it looks like he's riding a kid's tricycle when he sits on that thing.  I wish I had a picture to show you.  Harleys are called hogs, but Sean calls his creative little contraption the piglet.  J

General merriment

·           Click here to go see pictures of Derek's birthday party  One of the most regular attendees of our parties, Chuck, shared a hilarious theory that all men are stooges.  We got on this subject when someone asked where Marty is (our friend who keeps everyone in stitches with his celebrity impressions).  Chuck said, "Ah yes, Marty.  He's your textbook 'Alpha Curly.'  Very rare."  "Huh?" was my response, and that was when Chuck proceeded to explain his theory.  All men fall into one of three categories:  Larry - Moe - Curly.  Within each category, there are three subcategories:  Alpha - Beta - Omega (these are degrees, with Alpha being the strongest).  Hence, there are nine types of men.  His golfing buddies, many of whom were at the party, and of which Derek is one, are already very familiar with the theory, and none disagreed.  Moes are very bossy, pushy, think they know everything.  Larries are the most level-headed, responsible guys, and tend to get stepped on by Moes and Curlies.  Curlies are pranksters, fools, clowns--be they intentional or unintentional.  

Chuck said that the best way to explain the theory is to just give examples.  Robin Williams is another Alpha Curly.  Stephen Spielberg:  Alpha Moe.  My friend Donna, her husband Steve, and I listened with rapt attention as Chuck proceeded to explain his theory, to which he has obviously given years of thought, and categorize everyone we know.  Most of the time, we were doubled over in laughter.  Chuck said he is a Larry at heart, but that having boring, uninteresting people at work gave him an opportunity to explore his "Inner Curly."  He also said that some men exhibit different stoogeristics under different circumstances.  Derek, for example, is a Beta Larry (as middle of the road as you can get) with an Alpha Curly rising.  It was a great party.  We ran out of beer at 1:30, and I made an executive decision not to get any more.  As it was, we were still pushing people out the door at almost 4AM .  I was exhausted, but I couldn't get to sleep until 6AM .

·           We drove to the UP over the 4th of July weekend for my cousin Tara's wedding, and a Family Reunion the next day.  (If you're in the family I encourage you to click on either link to go and look at dozens of photos from the gatherings).  We thought we'd be smart by waiting until 9PM to leave Ann Arbor.  As fate would have it, there was an accident that shut down all three northbound lanes.  We went 11 miles, then sat completely still until the accident was cleared.  If we'd left 10 minutes earlier, we would have missed it and been fine.  Not long after coming to a halt, Elton John came on the radio, singing "...and I think it's gonna be a long, long time…"  He was right: 90 minutes to be exact.  We moved 200 yards in 90 minutes.

·           Sometime in May, when the world seemed an open book and I felt like I had all the time in the world, I thought it would be clever to trace and color an exact replica of a Bicycle playing card onto a banner, and use it to promote our Euchre and Poker tournaments in the Fall.  I thought I'd color a little bit every day at The SORC.  There it sat, two months later, less than 2% complete.  I decided to take it home, and I finally finished over the course of about a week, while watching TV each night.  Hours logged:  about 25.

·           I cheered on Karla and Donna in a softball tournament in early August.  Toward the end, there were a few other spectators besides me.  As it turned out, they all had a sense of humor similar to mine and were about my age (and female).  I teased one of the girls whose t-shirt said "www.stilllookin.com."  It was a dating website, we gathered, and she was embarrassed to still be wearing it.  "I got it free somewhere like 6 years ago.  I have a boyfriend now….I’m not a loser!"  At that precise moment, we all caught a glimpse of a gorgeous, muscle-bound guy on the other team.  He looked like he just walked off the cover of GQ.  All four of us did a double take.  I said, "Shit girls, I’m basically married, but I'm stilllookin.com!"  We were all sort of staring, so I decided to make light of the situation.  "We're like a bunch of construction workers…. "Yo, babyyy!  How’s she hangin'?"  We actually got a little obnoxious with our ogling, and I think he might've heard us.  He shot us a glance in the bleachers after one of our outbursts.  They all giggled under their breath, but I just laughed it off.  I doubt it bothered the guy.  You could tell he liked to be looked at.  Why would he spend all that time at the gym otherwise?  Beefcake! 

·           I met my first hedgehog, Mercutio, when Alexxiss stopped by so I could meet him.  She worked at the Billiards Room all summer, and we'd been talking about him ever since she got him in June.  He was very cute, but not very social.  He hissed at me.

·           One day at work, my friend Gerald came by and raved about a pimped-out '62 Impala he had seen at a gig the night before (he's a music promoter in his spare time).  He showed me pictures of the classic car on his cell phone, and as we scrolled through the pictures, I saw one of him with KID ROCK!  Gerald was so excited about the car that he forgot to mention that it just happened to belong to one of the most famous people in Detroit.  Gerald has been one of my closest friends at the Union , and we lost him in late August to a job in another building.  He’s been at the Union as long as I have, and like the other women on the 4th floor, I was devastated when I heard that he was leaving.  Gerald was our custodian, but no one I know has ever thought of him as "just the custodian."  He is a great guy, and one of the most ambitious people I know.  In addition to his full-time job, he also does maintenance at a car dealership at 4AM every day, and of course the music promotion moonlighting gig I mentioned.  Oh yeah, and he has a wife and three teeny boppers at home!  I can't imagine when the poor man sleeps.  It sure as heck wasn't during work, because he took such good care of us on the 4th floor.  We had a little going-away party for him a few days before he left.  His supervisor was in on it with us.  He radioed, "Gerald, I need you on the 4th floor.  There's a big spill right in the middle of the lobby!"  Gerald hurried up, and there we all were with cake and ice cream.  "You guys got me!"  Boy, did we ever.  Gerald, I don't know if you're reading this, but we sure are going to miss you!

·           While waiting for the bus, I bumped into my Abnormal Psych professor from 1990, and assured him that, thanks to his class, I turned out perfectly abnormal.  He got a kick out of that, and we chatted about nothing in particular for a few minutes until the bus came.  His class was one of my best experiences at U of M, outside of my Scandinavian Studies classes.

Cat Stuff

·           'Grandma' (Derek's mom) and 'Aunt Kristin' brought a gift for the cats when they came for one of our family dinners.  It was a funny-looking little catnip-filled sock puppet sewed by a lady who, according to Kristin and Carol, appeared to be 100 years old.  It's clear that her eyesight is failing, because it was indistinguishable what the little creature was supposed to be.  It was the size of a mouse, but it had long legs like a human.  No arms, no ears, and a round body.  The cats ....well, just look at the pictures and let them tell the story....

I sent these pictures to Carol in the mail a few days after the dinner to make her feel better about whether or not the cats appreciated the gesture!  If cats let you know how much they like something, they would ruin their reputation.

·           (This sentence not for the weak of stomach).  Just a few days after we got the new carpet in the living room, Ratso barfed up something that made me gag.  And let me tell you, almost nothing makes me gag.  Derek and I actually got in a stupid little fight over the preferred cleanup method of regurgitated bird...or mouse...or mongoose for all we know.  I was trying to use the rag-and-soap water method, but he insisted on a bucket of water and a Shop Vac.  I stormed out of the room and he got stuck cleaning it up.  I guess he wins. 

·           It has become evident that in a past life, Simonie was an auto mechanic.  She loved David's car.  She's also been hanging out with the neighbor kid while he and his buddies work on their cars (which, lately, has been all day every day).  I apologized for her pestering them one day, and Matt says he really enjoys her company.  "I've never seen a cat that's as friendly as she is.  She's fun!"  This is more than Matt has said to me in a year.

SECTION 3:  Entertainment

Pool Stuff

·           Derek asked me to play in a pool league again this summer.  We did this a couple years ago with some of the guys from his roofing crew.  After one year, I quit because I was tired of the stupid decisions they were making on the lineup.  One of the guys from the team became our friend though, and he asked Derek to join a different team in May.  Since I had a lot more free time, I agreed to do it too--a fun little Monday date night with my man.    

·           Derek has a rating of "7" in the league, which is the highest rating you can get.  But since we have to have an equal balance of low-rated players, and all of our novices either get better or quit, he doesn't get to play very much.  But he's been going along with me every week.  Actually, when he asked me to play in the league, I stipulated that I would never go to a league night by myself.  Anyway, there's more in this pool section about me than there is about Derek, but make no mistake about it:  He's the real player.  He's just TOO good to get any play time this summer.

6/14   First week back at pool league.  Of course, I got to play against the male chauvinist pig.  I made a nice run out, and the guy said I didn't get a good hit (meaning I didn't make contact with the correct ball).  He obviously didn't want to be playing a girl, and he made no secret about it.  So I buried him, 5-1.

6/21   My best performance all summer.  I lost the first two games, but came back to win the match 5-2 by running two racks from the break and making the eight on the break once.  Total number of innings for 7 games:  14.  That means we each only averaged two shots per game. 

7/12 Hot (and HOT!) at pool league again.  I played a girl this time (Carla).  She played pretty good, or so I thought when I watched her practice.  I don't know how, but I scare people right out of their games.  I thought it was just guys, but now girls too.  The bathrooms in the bar that night were so nasty that I had to wait until we got home to pee.  Ewwww.  Won't be going back to that place anytime soon.

·           That same night, some guy who really thought he could play came in, and Derek asked him to play for $10 a game.  After Derek whooped him soundly for about a half hour, the other patrons said, "Don’t you know who that is?  That's Ann Arbor Derek, man!"  At this point, a person of normal intelligence, and with any regional pool knowledge at all, would admit defeat sort of do an "aw shucks" thing.  I've seen it 100 times.  But no, he wasn't going to back down.  "So f***ing what.  Who the hell is Ann Arbor Derek?  I'm Redford Mike, so what?"  Derek laughed his butt off.

·           Derek bought me flowers one night at pool league, then had to ruin it by saying he was doing it for the guy who was walking through the bar, selling the flowers.  "Poor dude seemed really down on his luck."  I got the best of him though.  As we drove toward the bar just a few minutes earlier, I said I thought we were near 12-Mile Road , since I'd just been there the day before for a scrapbooking meet with Ciara.  Derek's response was, "No way…..I drive up here all the time.  We’re nowhere near12-mile Road."  The timing couldn't have been more perfect.  Not 30 seconds later, we came to a traffic light.  Up on the crossbar, in white letters on the standard green road sign, was "12 Mile Road."  Derek has gotten the best of me on many occasions--the most glaring example of which was the argument we had in the 90s about who was the breadwinner--Bruce Willis or Demi Moore.  He mentions this all the time.  Whenever we disagree on any kind of provable fact, and he is winning the argument, he always says, 'BREADWINNER' to end the conversation.  But now, at last, I have my counter-jab.  "12-Mile!" 

·           The flowers did cheer me up, though.  I was in quite a mood that night, having had a really rough day at work.  I had a boatload of work to do; the last place I wanted to be was in a dingy, smoky bar for 5 hours, waiting around to possibly not play at all.  Our teammate was raving about another league that he plays in, how there’s so much money in it, and the winning team gets $5,000 and a trip to Vegas.  He said to me and Derek, "You guys would LOVE this league!"  Before he could even finish his thought, I burst out, "No we wouldn’t.  The only reason we play in this league is because Billy’s our friend."  I admit, it was a bit harsh, but altogether true.  To so many people, a once-a-week pool league is their life.  And the best player in their league, as far as they're concerned, is the best player in the whole world.  There's a whole 'nother pool world out there--a world of REAL pool players--and they just don't get it.  Another one of our teammates is pregnant, but she continues to smoke.  Someone was saying they shouldn't swear in front of Trish’s unborn child, and I said, "It couldn't possibly do him any more harm than all the second-hand smoke he's getting."  Like I said, quite a mood…. 

·           On 8/30, I faced my toughest opponent yet--a seasoned pool leaguer and bar owner named Bill.  Once again, I outran a player who had every bit as much skill as I do.  It's amazing how good players (mostly men) will buckle under the pressure of a woman who can shoot a little bit.  That was the last pool league meeting of the quarter, and I am happy to say that I am still undefeated since November 2001.  My goal is to make it to November 2004, but I don't know about that.  Playoffs are coming up in a few weeks.  That could be tough.

Cross-cultural experiences

·           I spent 2 hours with Julie and Jerry Pushpanathan, buying a car from them (more about the new car below).  They had to sell the car because they are moving back to India.  They have a 3-year-old son back there, and they just found out that Julie is pregnant again.  As I rode around with them--to their bank, Secretary of State, etc.--I realized that they are devout Catholics.  This is why they have such American-sounding first names.  (Their names are Mary Julie and Paul Gerald).  And coming from India, they are very old-fashioned, especially Jerry.  Every few minutes, he would reach up to the rear-view mirror and kiss the rosary hanging there.  We had a great time chatting about the differences between our cultures, and generally enjoying each other's company.  They asked where they might find a dancing Santa for their son, who saw one on television and laughed for hours.  I referred them to Bronner's in Frankenmuth.  They had only three more days left in Ann Arbor, and were already planning a whole day there with their friends.

·           When talking about marriage and children, I told them that Derek and I live together but are not married, and that I do not want children.  Jerry gasped, clutched at the rosary and said, "And that’s LEGAL?"  Julie, whom I gathered was the more educated of the two (Pediatric Endocrinology at U of M) did not seem quite so conservative.  While standing in line at the SoS, I found out that Julie and I share the same birthday.  Thank goodness we don’t share the same taste in men. I can only imagine what would have happened if I'd told him I don't believe in god.

·           Driving down Hewitt to return some movie rentals, I drove past a mini-van being driven by a Muslim woman in full traditional attire.  Not unusual…until I noticed that the van was totally decked out with Nascar stuff.  Bumper stickers, air freshener, radio antenna knob, #3 flag flying out the window, the works!  Now I've seen everything!  Some things in life just don't add up.  This was one of them.

Movies & such

The only movies we saw at the theater this quarter were:

·           Fahrenheit 9/11

·           Collateral

·           The Bourne Supremacy 

Click here to go to Derek & Betz’s Movie Ratings page.

More on the Bourne Supremacy:  I love, love, love the supreme beefcake, Matt Damon (he pushes his way into my dreams quite often), but I just wasn't in the right mood for that movie that night.  It was one of those shaky-camera movies, which made me a little dizzy.  There were lots of grunt noises, and Angela explained to us what the "Foley" artists are (people who coordinate the sound effects).  It lined itself up nicely for another sequel.  We discussed what we thought the third "Bourne" movie will be called.  We settled on "The Bourne Hypocrisy."  At the end of the Bourne Supremacy, he finds out the name he was born with and that he’s originally from Missouri.  Angela speculated:  Does this mean that all the action in the next movie will take place in Missouri instead of Italy, Germany, and Russia?  Talk about killing a sequel!

Other cultural stuff we took in this quarter:

We strolled Art Fair with Derek’s pool friend, Mike Sardelli, and his wife, sister, and niece.  Not 30 minutes into our walk, there was a tornado warning, and almost all of the artists closed down their booths!  That sucked.  So we made our way toward Palio downtown...always a good choice.  And it was air conditioned!!!

Indigo Girls Concert!  The twelfth, I think, for me since 1989.  Ange, Ciara, Niamh, and I arrived at Jerome Duncan Freedom Hill Theater, and immediately bumped into Kristin and Eric!  We had no idea they'd be there, and they didn't know we were going either.  It was a gorgeous night, and as always at IG concerts, the people-watching was superbly entertaining. 

Ange, Ciara, and I so enjoyed the Freedom Hill Theater experience (they aren't concert Nazis like Pine Knob!) that we bought tickets for another concert later in the summer.  This time it was Wynonna (formerly of Judds fame).  Ange said she was disappointed because Wynonna talked too much, but I really enjoyed the singing.  That woman was BORN to sing.

TV Stuff

·           I started watching a lot of forensics shows on Court TV over the summer, sometimes staying up until the wee hours of the morning, unable to tear myself away.  Derek cut me off from late-nite crime shows after I woke up in the middle of the night and turned on the light, staring at Derek because I dreamed he was murdering me.  I remember none of this.  Another new TV addiction:  BRAVO's "Inside the Actor’s Studio."  They had a marathon one weekend in July, and I watched about a dozen episodes.  Good stuff.

·           We watched more Olympics this year than ever before.  In Hi-def, you'd swear you're standing right next to them.  Michael Phelps is starting school at U of M in January, but the word around campus is that he can't even swim on the U of M team, due to some obscure NCAA rule.  Bummer!

Scrapbooking

·           Met Ciara at the Scrapbook Zone on 8/8 prior to the Wynonna concert.  That day we got in almost 5 hours.

·           Had planned a scrapbooking date with Ciara at Angela's house on 8/28, but Ciara had to call it off, as her master deck builders (dad and brother) were planning to come over.  As it turns out, it rained all day and Derek had the day off anyway, so I’m happy that I was home. 

SECTION 4:  Bad Stuff

General woes

·           I bought some canopy tents for work on the Internet, using my U of M credit card.  When a week went by and I hadn't received the shipment yet, I logged back into the website and e-mailed the company to ask the status of the order.  I got an e-mail back saying, "Hey lady, you just got ripped off.  Back the f*** off, and don't bother trying to call or e-mail us, because we've already taken your money, and there's nothing you can do about it!"  As you might expect, I panicked.  This was on a Saturday, and when I called, the company was closed for the weekend.  But I didn't cancel the credit card right away.  If they really had taken my money, why would they e-mail to tell me that they'd done so?  I suspected someone had hacked into the company's e-mail account and sent the message just to scare me.  I called the credit card company; no erroneous charges.  I decided to take a risk and wait until Monday.  I'd purchased supplies from 10 different companies in the last week, so I didn't want to ruin things with the other companies by canceling the account.  I reached the tent company first thing Monday morning, and they gave me a UPS tracking number.  I didn't mention the e-mail yet; my first priority was to track down the shipment and make sure it was on its way.  After I went to the UPS site and verified that the shipment was en route, I called the lady back and told her about the e-mail that I received.  She was flabbergasted, and asked me to fax it to them right away.  About an hour later, the owner of the company called me and apologized.  He was a little stunned too.  He suspects that a disgruntled former employee, who knew the password for their customer service e-mail address, sent the e-mail maliciously.  He also extended a 10% discount on any future orders, for my whole lifetime. 

·           Our favorite Chinese restaurant, Ming Tree, is no longer serving Chinese food; it's Thai and Laotian.  We are currently holding auditions for a new 'regular' Chinese place.  Much earlier in the year, our other favorite place right across the street, Don Carlos, shut down as well.  What EVER shall we do????

·           No vacation this summer!  I found a great deal on a trip to San Fran (airfare, hotel, and car rental for 5 days for about $450 each), but Derek had so many jobs backed up that he couldn't get 5 days off work.  He's actually been suffering from job burnout because he's been working every doggone day (he's worked as many Sundays as he's been off) and not getting any time for himself.  He's golfed extremely sporadically this summer, and planned a fishing trip for Labor Day weekend.  I hope he's able to relax, enjoy himself and come back a new man.

·           I had some extreme pain after getting a filling in June--the first filling I've needed in almost a decade.  A couple weeks later, the pain had gotten worse rather than better, so I went back in and Dr. Walcott shaved down my teeth with a diamond-tipped contraption so I could chew.  He called me a princess.  Well no, not really.  He said that what was causing my pain was a princess-and-the-pea concept.  Pressure from the top tooth, which didn’t match down well with the bottom tooth (new filling), was causing the pain.  It was ok for a day or so, but I still can't chew on the left side.  I'm waiting until better dental coverage kicks in later this Fall.  Dental work is expensive!

Random stupidity

·           Derek was trying to coach a member of our pool team who was (1) really stupid and (2) really drunk.  He was trying to tell her to contact the ball on the left hand side to make it go to the right.  She kept saying, "But I'm left handed!" as if he was the stupid one.  She is quite possibly one of the stupidest people I've ever met.

The Betzmobile:  R.I.P.

I have only owned two cars in my adult life.  First there was Mathilda the Mazda, and most recently the Saturn, aka the Betzmobile.  A couple years ago, I decided that I was going to keep driving the Betzmobile until she died.  Lately this had become quite costly:  $750 in March for alignment / ball joint issues, and then in late July the brakes started grinding, to the tune of $300 more.  (I asked them to do the exhaust while I was there, but I really appreciate that the guy at Belle Tire recommended taking it somewhere else for exhaust work because it would be 1/3 of the price).  

So I got her back after the brake work, and not 3 days later, she started sputtering en route to a friend's house one Friday night.  It continued the next day.  I called David for advice, and he thought it was something relatively simple like spark plug wires.  But nonetheless, I started shopping around for used cars.

I test drove four.  First, there was a Honda from a guy named Fatih who's moving back to Turkey to be a ship builder.  Nice car, but 85K miles.  As I left the parking lot, I turned the corner and saw another guy working on a Neon for sale, and asked how much he wanted.  It was within my price range, so I asked if I could take it for a drive, and go figure, his name was Fatih too.  Better yet, he was also Turkish, and was also moving back to Turkey to build ships after just finishing his graduate engineering degree at U of M.  I knew this couldn't be a coincidence, and before I could ask, he said, 'The other Fatih is my roommate.'  This car was also decent, but I kept looking.  Then, I drove all the freakin' way to Warren to find a car that had no airbag and a broken seat belt.  What a waste of time!  Derek was SO nice that week, letting me use the Acura for whatever I needed. 

Finally, I saw a flyer at the Union early one Friday morning.  The secretary had seen the guy put up the sign just minutes before I got there.  It was a 2001 Neon, 41,000 miles, and their asking price was just $3700.  I arranged a test drive that afternoon.  Since they would be returning to India in about a week, they needed to sell just so they could pay off their loan.  The dealerships offered them less than what they still owed on the car.  I called them back that night and offered them $3400, thinking they'd haggle me up to $3500.  But no!  They accepted!  I thought I'd offer them a ride to the airport on Monday if they needed it (which I did, but they declined). 

I promptly named the car Leon.  Leon the Neon.  Leon has had an adventuresome life.  He was car-napped as a youngster from the car rental agency that adopted him, and he was missing for a few weeks.  It seems Leon may have been left out in the rain with broken windows (I'm guessing), because he has a little bit of a musty odor.  This didn't emerge until I'd driven Leon for a few days.  I'm going to try some different cleaning products to see if I can get rid of the smell.  Otherwise, I got a fantastic deal.  Leon and I have become fast friends.  And he runs great!  Everyone has a friend who's a little on the smelly side, don't they?  If you can't think of any friends who are a little smelly, then you're probably the smelly one that everyone else talks about. 

That's all for now.  Look for another newsletter before Christmas, with highlights of Derek's fishing trip, the Glass City Open pro pool tournament in Toledo, and hopefully lots of other adventures that are in store for us in the autumn months!

SECTION 5:  new pages on the website

Tara's wedding (updated with photos)

Betz's Recipes

Derek's Family

Funny Stuff (updated)

We'll be talking to you soon!  E-mail us if you have any feedback on the newsletter!

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