CONGRATULATIONS COUGARS

On Friday, December 10th, the Chattahooche Cougars beat (actually, let's be honest, destroyed) Starrs Mill High School with a stunning shutout of 24-0! Therefore becoming the 2010 Georgia State Champions!

Congratulations to the Chattahoochee Cougars and our favorite player, Kirk!!

In the presence of Excellence! Kenneth, Kirk, & Kristin

GOOD LUCK COUGARS!

Pictured: Kristin Dumont and Kirk Dumont

Just wanted to let all viewers know that tonight, the Chattahoochee Cougar football team is going to the State Championship game at the Georgia Dome! Good luck to all Cougars tonight, especially our favorite Cougar, KIRK DUMONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Things You'll See on a Plane...

...never fail to amaze me.

Besides my luggage loading issue, I encountered some fantastic things in the last two days on my way to-and-from San Diego and I'm looking forward to more this weekend en route to NYC and back.

I had a total of 4 flight segments. Tampa to Atlanta. Atlanta to San Diego. San Diego to Kansas City. Kansas City to Tampa. Normally I don't see many pets on flights but somehow, I ended up with a pet on every leg of this trip. First it was a cat a few rows in front of me which I'm certain did not help the way I was feeling. Next was a fat sweater-wearing Chihuahua across the aisle who is apparently too good for his carrier because he sat/slept on his mother's lap balled up in a dog-inspired homemade fleece knot blanket. Granted, his back end stayed in his little box, if that's any consolation. Today, on both flights, there was a little black what-seemed-to-be-Chihuahua huddled under my seat. I'm pretty sure I kicked her a few times because I forgot she was down there. Her retaliation was horribly stinky dog farts. Either that or she pooped her box.

I think the highlight was on my 7am (10am EST) flight out of San Diego, the two women in the row across the aisle ordered jack and cokes during beverage service. This was at 7:30 PST/10:30 EST...so while it may be 5 o'clock somewhere, it sure ain't 5 o'clock in the US! Then I realized, they weren't actually drinking "jack and coke", they were enjoying jack with a side of coke. One drank the jack straight and the other drank it with water. As if 1 round each wasn't enough on this early morning flight, they ordered round 2. To top it all off, one was flipping through a book titled "Fighting Fat" while sipping on her breakfast jack. Perhaps you should cut back on your early-morning booze consumption in favor of some nice water or tea, you'd be more successful it "fighting the fat"...It's just a thought...

Be Considerate of Others at Work!

I love where I work, it's a fun advertising agency! The office space is very open and we have a full kitchen right in the center, we have three refrigerators always stocked with people's food, mainly their lunches but other snacks as well.


I've recently started to bring my own lunch. It's easier then running out every day, it saves money and I can eat healthy! One of the main reason's I do it, is probably because I'm lazy and I don't like to run out every single day, it's a waste of time.

Out of the 70 people in this office, probably half bring their lunch every day. Good for them. Here is what I have a problem with:

Is it absolutely necessary for you to cook a shrimp Lean Cuisine nearly every day? Here list of daily smells that I have the pleasure of experiencing:

Popcorn - Any time of the day... Although I do LOVE popcorn I do not want to smell it at 10am. I only like to enjoy popcorn at the movie theater.

Some sort of seafood - I kid you not. There is always so sort of fishy smell lurking through the office at lunch time. The only time I want to smell seafood is when I'm in Florida at Joes Crap Shake eating crab legs till I explode.

Catfood - Yes, I know what you're thinking. Not really cat food, I'm assuming tuna. I'll admit, that I'm a tuna fan, but how on earth do you manage to make it smell like cat food?

Peanuts - You wouldn't think this is a problem, but if someone is munching on peanuts right near you... with their mouth open or maybe on a conference call. It becomes a problem.

Hand Sanitizer - I know this isn't a food (for most) but this is one of the most obnoxious smell's I've ever experienced. I personally loathe hand sanitizer. It makes me want to vomit. But I don't mind if people want to use it to kill germs, I just need to know if it's necessary to bathe yourself in it hourly?

Grandma's basement - Another non-food item. How do you shower every morning (I can tell you do) and still show up to work smelling like your grandma's old musty basement? Are you showering if her basement before you come here? Or maybe that's a new cologne/perfume they are selling at Walmart. Either way... you are getting some Dove from Santa in your stocking this year and I would really enjoy if you used it.

I'm sure there are many other scents, that I will think of around noon today, but those are the main ones! Happy Smelling!!!!! :)

Traveling this Holiday Season?

If you plan on traveling this holiday season, please be kind to your fellow travelers. As I am mid-air right now, I feel it's important to reflect and share my thoughts on some of my pet peeves that seems to anger me more and more every time I fly...

PLEASE USE THE OVERHEAD BINS AND UNDER SEAT STORAGE APPROPRIATELY! If your bag fits in wheels/handle first, put it in the damn bin in that direction! And let me tell you folks, most bags fit wheels first! If, and ONLY if, your the bin does not close when you put your bag in wheels first can you then turn it sideways, therefore taking up at least half the bin with your oversized carry-on.

Trust me the space under your seat is larger than you'd expect. If my dog (who, I'll admit isn't all that big) can fit under the seat, your briefcase/purse/backpacks/lunchbox/etc will surely fit under the seat.

I also recommend thinking ahead. Start scouting out overhead bin spaces a few rows early. Count out which row is yours, look above it to see if there appears to be bin space, if not, put your bag into the first bin you see. It's a lot easier to claim your bag when the plane lands if it's in front of you. If it's not in front or you or above/below you when you reach the gate because of limited available space, just sit quietly until there is an opportunity to head towards the back of the plane to claim your stuff. Don't start pushing and shoving your way through the antsy crowd because you're a rude dumbass.

I could go all day but I'll end there. This holiday season, practice considerate traveling. Stop being so selfish and start being kind to others. Otherwise, be prepared to hear from me because I'm not sure how much longer I can watch people pull these stunts.

On a related note: I'd like to thank the Delta flight attendant today who went through the cabin, rearranging the overhead compartments to allow others to safely store their belongings. To the woman who insisted on jamming her suitcase into my bag because she decided to not to in wheels first (despite knowing damn well it fits because the flight attendant later turned it, saving my bag): I hope you have a rotten Christmas.

Happy Holidays from the KAK Team!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/MOETrfPB5B6i6FgK?cmpid=ey_fb_friend

(Thanks to Kirk Dumont for making this!)

We Survived...Barely

Well folks, we made it through Engaged Encounter in one piece. Every second of the weekend was exactly what I expected. The good news is, throughout the entire weekend, we were only forced to participate and share with the whole group once, most of the time the "sharing" was done on our own. Here's the breakdown:

Day 1: We started off strong by getting there a little late, luckily we weren't the only ones. Upon entering our rooms, which were in separate "cottages" we were greeted by a fairly nice but stark bedroom and bathroom. There was a queen bed and a cot in each room...that's an awkward way to make friends. My roommate had already been by to drop her stuff because, of course, she wasn't running a little late. We started promptly at 8:00 and the 2 "presenting couples" (aka couples that have been happily married for a long time) and the priest introduced themselves and we went around the room and did the same (this was the only forced group share). Then we jumped into our first 2 activities. What did we learn? I don't necessarily remember but each activity went the same way. Listen to the presenting couples talk for about 20 minutes about real-life examples of whatever the current topic is and then the priest wraps it up. We then separated (the girls and guys take turns leaving the room) and we had 20 minutes to write in our little journal about the topic at hand, luckily there were some leading questions to help this process. Then, you go find your fiance and spend the next 20 minutes reading each others journal entry and discussing. At 10:40 we were released to our rooms where we crashed. PS my roommate, Grace, a very nice girl from the Philippines, insisted I take the queen bed and how could I argue?

Day 2: Let the torture begin. Breakfast, which began with a prayer of course, was promptly at 8am. I tend to try to avoid 8am on Saturdays but I guess this wasn't an option. Breakfast consisted of fake eggs, french toast, bacon, sausage, fruit, cereal, yogurt, coffee and tea. We then had more "activities" from 9-12. Noon was lunch: sandwiches (turkey, ham or tuna), chips, cookies, chili, cheddar and broccoli soup. Then from 1-2 we had another activity and then the best part of the day. We had a BREAK...FREE TIME from 2-4 where we could do whatever we wanted, on the property. Many people took their comforters onto the lawn and laid in the sun like a weird picnic, we wandered around and rocked in the big comfy rocking chairs. From 4-6 we had more sessions, dinner was at 6 (caesar salad, tortellini, meatballs in marinara, shrimp alfredo, garlic bread, strawberry cheesecake). We had another sessions from 7-8. At 8 we hit the chapel for a teaching-mass where the priest did a normal mass but stopped along the way to explain things to those who aren't catholic (or don't pay attention normally). I actually enjoyed that because I finally knew what the heck was going on. Also interesting: In the cycle of 1 year's time, they entire Bible is read during sunday mass. Which leads me to my next question: If you get through the whole Bible every year, why go to church every sunday for years and years and years? Mike said until I memorize the Bible, that's flawed logic. I disagree. More activities after mass. One of these activities included pulling questions from the box in the front of the room where people could submit questions for the group to answer. These questions included "Is it true that priests hate weddings", "How does the church feel about women who undergo a sex change and marry a man?" and "If I'm not Catholic, can I still take communion at the wedding?". Most of these were nothing but awkward until we got to this communion question where one delightful soul ended up going into a fit of rage that ended with yelling "MAYBE YOU JUST SHOULDN'T GET MARRIED" at the couple who asked the question. I caused a scene in the middle of all of this because 1 person from each couple had to sit on the floor, Mike voted me. Of course while I was on the floor some strange bug-like creature was crawling quickly toward me causing me to jump up in the middle of the circle while Mike and his neighbors tried to find the monster and everyone else stared at me as I hopped around. As soon as I sat down it started crawling around again and the guy next to me had to kill it. Not sure how the church feels about that either but the person who was talking continued through my display of nonsense. Back to our rooms around 10:30. Oh and there are no TV's in the rooms, only in this little lounge that's in each cottage so we went and watched football with another couple.

Day 3: Breakfast at 8am. Our tummy's hurt but it's breakfast time: more fake eggs, biscuits and gravy, some garbage disposal mixture (which seemed to consist of ham, sweet potatoes, onions, green peppers and other unidentifiable objects), fruit, yogurt, cereal. Needless to say I ate very little and by this point, Mike was threatening to go find the completion certificates and make an escape. 9-noon, more activities. Lunch rolled around at noontime, I thought it was a joke. Actually it was a nice gesture but still a little poorly timed: Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberries (which were too tart to even consider eating), rolls, and apple pie. The apple pie stuff was the best part and made up most of my lunch. After lunch we had a little seance or something. I just know there were candles and when asked to hold mine, I was certain I'd drop it and burn the place down. Turns out I just blew it out...hope that's not a sign of our marriage! Because we had mass on day 2 instead of day 3 as planned, we escaped from Alcatraz at 2ish.

Topics Mike and I discussed during our hourly 20 minute sessions to discuss our feelings: 5 minutes of feelings, 15 minutes of whether or not the duck in the pond was real (it wasn't), how sick we feel from the food, what we should get people for Christmas, schedule for Thanksgiving, the houses we've looked at and hated, reflection on how Belle's weekend at the pound was...ok you get the idea.

More details on the girl who exploded: She is weighing in at a very unhealthy weight but that's not as disturbing as her overall demeanor. She is having her reception at the Buccaneers stadium (which doesn't please her) and it's a Buccs themed wedding (which also doesn't please her) and her fiance is doing the planning. The colors are "red and pewter". When the presenting couples were talking about having a fair argument and not to use name-calling, they asked if anyone was guilty of that. While most people wisely kept their mouths shut, this kind lady shouted "YEA! I CALL HIM STUPID"....that happened early on Day 2 and basically set the stage for the rest of their weekend and probably their marriage.

PS...this post got very out of control in the length department!