Friday, May 26, 2000

hats off to bob and ellen thompson. this generous owner of an asphalt company sold his company, then he split 128 million dollars among his employees.....essentially he made 77 people millionaires. he even paid the taxes on their bonus.....this story is heart-warming and wonderful....i'm speechless and proud that there are individuals so caring sharing this earth.
posted by April Fraze 5/26/2000 10:01:48 PM| link

ok....now, john, this is for you.....

"brought this one to the stinging lash
every man rise from the ash
each betrayal begins with trust
every man returns to dust

i never ever saw the northern lights
i never ever heard a cluster fly
i never ever saw the stars so bright
in the farmhouse things will be alright"

--farmhouse, phish

the one that may have did it.......

ok, sorry to cut out in the middle of that last post, but things got crazy. you see, yesterday i was contacted by the consumer news reporter for our local abc news station and he said he would like to interview me for a piece on our company. he was to call me today today to set-up a time early next week. he called at 10 til one or so and asked if he could swing over at 2 or 2:30....."uh...sure."

so i ran to my car, drove to the drug store, bought some nylons, and changed in the 4th floor bathroom. luckily i grabbed a dress this morning on the way out the door....just in case. (big sigh of relief)

so, sometime in the next couple of weeks yours truly will be stuttering on tv about this lovely company she works for and why we are a great service.......really, it is a good service...i truly believe that....

and rick, this one's for you....

"rising up, back on the streets
took my time, took my chances....."

--you know who...you know what... ;-)


posted by April Fraze 5/26/2000 04:26:43 PM| link

it may have happened!!!!

i almost hate to admit it even i have been so defiant about it......

i dated a guy about 7 years ago who was hugely into phish.....i could tolerate them, but i thought they sucked.......

then i kind of dug them....i even own lawnboy, but only because bmg sent it to my apartment when i first moved in......maybe it was a housewarming gift....who knows? or perhaps it was part of a karmic web designed to confuse me in its loose ends until i was thoroughly tangled in the center?

for 3 years now i've been bitching at butler....."april, you've got to see phish!!!" initially i was intrigued, but it got old, and it got old fast. typical conversation:

me: "hey butler, what's up?"
butler (one of the following 3 comments): "oh, just ordering phish tickets." or
"oh, just downloading xx-xx-xx phish show." or
"oh, i just found this new phish download site."

blah. blah. blah. blah. blah.

i refuse to be coaxed. it has to be natural and real and i won't be nudged in any direction when it comes to music. it has to be a gut reaction. i take it very seriously. anyway, the revelation that i just might dig phish came a little over a week ago. i was driving home from work listening to the righteous ben harper bootleg skye sent me for my birthday and i let it play into the mystery phish filler at the end. the first song, "roses are free", not bad.....then i heard "farmhouse" and i flipped. it struck a chord and made me groove. i ran in the house when i got home..."hey, brad, you gotta hear this." he dug it, too.
so last night i ran into the music store to look at the phish cds......found the one with "farmhouse" and put it back....i'll stick to live stuff if i plan on getting any phish i suppose.....so, proposition: those of you in the know....send me your suggestions as far as beginning phish shows go.....

oh yeah. i did buy the bnl rock spectacle album last night. i had to ask the girl who sang that song "if i had a million dollars." it's a good album with a good feel and i recommend it if you feel frisky....god, i can't remember when i last bought something so trendy in the music sense.....

john, this one's for you......

oh shit!!!! gotta go!!! brb
posted by April Fraze 5/26/2000 01:20:52 PM| link

Monday, May 22, 2000

this past weekend brad and i got the garden finished. it's a big one: 15' x 30' to be exact. we have peppers: jalepeno, banana, green bell, red bell, and yellow bell.....tomatoes: about 5 kinds......strawberries, musk melon, peas, limas, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, onions: red, yellow, and white, garlic, corn, and potatoes. in deep pots around the garden we planted cucumbers, watermelons, yellow squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash (anyone ever actually tried this?), and birdhouse gourds. in one corner i made an herb garden containig german chamomile, oregano, spearmint, catnip, coriander and 2 types of lavender. also included: sunflowers in 3 corners and on half a row, cornflowers, a white echinacea plant, a black-eyed susan, and a bee balm.

on the west side of my house i planted zinnias, sweet william, sunflowers and evening sun sunflowers, cosmos and some other seeds. on the east side there are morning glory seeds, purple coneflower and zinnia seeds. out front you will find a bunch of houseplants and cacti in pots.

the yard is full of plants. i absolutely love it. many of my neighbors are retired and i always worry that they will judge the little hippy girl down the street. my fears were laid to rest this weekend. as brad and i toiled away on the garden they came out of the woodwork. roger who lives diagonally behind me offered his tilling services to us. we had spent the day ripping up the rest of the sod and turning the soil. he had stopped over to see our work while we were away at lunch. when i stepped inside he appeared and began talking to brad....he offered some pointers and said he would bring the tiller over after dinner. we left to get some plants and when we returned we saw that he had already gone over it once. after we planted on sunday my neighbor to the east stopped his mower long enough to see what we had planted and to offer a tip to save our tomatoes from cutworms. we followed his advice.

today roger stopped over to see what we had planted.

when you are a 20-something member of a counter-culture it's hard to know how you will be received as the young neighbors in the rental. i have found that if you are interested in gardening you have built a bridge that will unite you with your elders. they can share their wisdom with you and they will be intrigued with the success of the new things you try. perhaps next year they will have herbs also.......they teach the proven....you explore new territory.....in the end you learn together....and it's a beautiful community really....
posted by April Fraze 5/22/2000 11:37:56 PM| link

i've been marveling at the little things again.

like how nice it is talking to terri via e-mail even though we've never met. and how i hope sarah is having the time of her life with her new friend, patrick, and how i hope rick and mary had a lovely time in europe and are now catching up on rest, and how i'm so glad that matt's broken heart is on the mend, and i can't wait to hear about this new girl at work, and how leaving cheesy messages on jonathan's voice mail makes me smile, and how this one is for john (cause i hate to let a good thing drop):

"i ain't often right
but I've never been wrong
it seldom turns out the way
it does in the song
once in a while
you get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right"

--grateful dead

and you know what.....i heard survivor's "eye of the tiger" this morning on the way to work....too much of a good thing? since everyone else is doing it, you can call and leave me a message at 1-800-222-6000...wait, then hit 5, it's mailbox #3112000. jonathan....be goofy for me, k?
posted by April Fraze 5/22/2000 11:13:21 PM| link