Gena Hrbek's blog

U2, Mofos!

So I have a new friend, his name is Rob, and he happened to have an extra ticket to the U2/Muse show in Tampa a few weeks ago.

He asked me to go.  (!)

So I went.

This is us before U2's set.  We are cute.

Gena, Rob

We were on the floor, between the stage and the catwalk (the so-called 'inner circle') both for Muse and for U2.

Muse 10.9.09

 

  

Muse was awesome!  The few songs I'd heard prior to the show (Supermassive Black Hole, Knights of Cydonia, Time is Running Out) I LOVE, and they sounded amazing live.  Not only that, but I loved all the other ones, too.  Muse was a delishus, fabulous surprise. 

 

Muse 10.9.09

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've never been a huge U2 fan - of course I've heard of them, and can name a multitude of songs by them, but have no albums and had nothing by them on my iPod.  The day of the show, I went on iTunes and bought their 18 Singles album to listen to on the way to Rob's house. 

This probably goes without saying, but they are A! MAZING! live.  I can barely describe how awesome the show was.  This was my first outdoor arena show, and to see U2, with the setup they have, and being as close as we were...well, there are no words.  We were nearer the catwalk than the stage, but there were ramps set up around the stage that would rotate (I assume that there were four so each would rotate 90 degrees around the stage).  They seemed to be at about 8' high.  At a few points the ramp was just a few feet from me, and during the show Bono walked over the ramp,

Here Comes Bono!

stopped at a point parallel from me, and pulled a kid out of the crowd.  The kid ran with him around the catwalk and then, when Bono brought the kid back, he gave the kid his shades!  Here are the few pics I have of that: 

Bono, With Child

Lucky Little Bastard Has Bono's Glasses

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awww, He Gave Them To His Brother!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here are a few other random shots:  

The Edge

Adam Clayton

It's Bono!

Larry Mullen, Jr

**I spent a crapload of time trying to upload two really great videos from the show on here, to no avail.  Until I can figure out how to do that, here's a video from U2's website.  For now, enjoy the pics and the commentary.  :)

Dude, I Got A Dog!

So, the dog.  His name is Torque.  I have been wanting a dog for, well, ages, but always thought it maybe wasn't the best decision, moneywise.  I already have two cats, you know. 

My sister rescued a Welsh Corgi and gave her to my mom about two years ago.  My mom named that dog Gretchen.  Well, mom met someone who had a black Corgi named Elvis, so mom decided to breed Gretchen.  Gretchen had six puppies.  My brother was supposed to get one of them and my mom sold the other 5.  I had really, really wanted one and was frankly a bit angry that my mom was giving the 6th pup to my ungrateful brother, who already has four  (yes, FOUR!) dogs.   

Turns out that Paul (my bro) wouldn't be able to go get the dog, so my mom was like, 'you take him!' when I went to Nebraska for The BLART.

 

Torque Hrbek, a.k.a. Doodlebug, a.k.a. Short Bus.

 

Well, long story short, Torque has turned out to be one cool little doodlebug.  I love him and the weird little things he does - like sleep like this:

Awkward little sleeper!

 

He also does this thing where he picks up sticks that are bigger than he is (not difficult to do) and brings them in the house to chew on.  He's always very, very proud of himself and his big stick(s).  (And, let's face it:  what male ISN'T impressed with himself and his big stick?)  (Sorry, mom.) 

Dog With Stick

 

Nom nom nom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He also likes to work out at the gym.  To wit:

TorqueGym9.5

LOVE.

The Great Sushi/Run Experiment

So, I have this friend named Libby.  Libby's into fitness like I am, and she invited me over for a run and homemade sushi.  Jodee came with me, as did Torque. 

Libby and I ran 4 miles without cease, yay!  I have no pics of that, but I do have pics of the sushi-making:

Happy Gena, Dancing(?) Libby

 

Libby-Unawares

Libby's Salmon/Avocado Delight

A Bee-yooo-tiful Roll!

 

Preppin'DaSushi

 

Mah Crab Roll!

 

Dirty Roll!

Sushi With Acrylics

You So Naughty!

We Couldn't Resist This Shot

Slicin' A Roll

Jodee - Unsure

So Much Effin' Sushi

I think the captions speak for themselves.  :)

Changes

Wow...so...lot's going on here in Hrbekville. 

The biggest thing since the job loss is the fact that my sister moved here to live with me.  Wow.  Is that ever a change.  Secondly (and thi is just as big), I got a dog!  He's a 5 month old Welsh Corgi named Torque.  (My mechanic brother named him...don't ask.) 

To help Jodee (my sis) get here, I had to fly to Nebraska, and then she and I drove her Traiblazer back to Orlando.  I thought that trip was gonna suck and wasn't happy about making it, but it turned out to be really great!  My sis has cousins in Louisville, Kentucky, who also used to be my cousins.  (My sis and I have different dads, and my mom and her father are divorced.  So they are no longer my cousins.)  Well, I never thought I'd see these guys again, and they were so cool!  They still call me 'cuz'!  I thought it was so cute, and it really made me happy. 

Anywhoodle, I dubbed our road trip The BLART (The Big Long-Ass Road Trip) and documented our progress across half the country.  Here are some highlight pics from said BLART:

 

DSC01684

DSC01680

These were taken at Lynn's Paradise Cafe, a very cool and eclectic place in Louisville.  The pic on the left is of my sis(far left) and me wearing wacky sun-glasses; the the one on the right is of my sis (fork) and spoon (me); the one below is of my sis (lime), our cousin Andrea (tomato), and me (orange). 

We were throwing gang signs.

 

DSC01688

 

Aren't we just so ghetto. 

More BLART stuff later.  :)

Socialized Healthcare

As the recession is being replaced with socialized healthcare as the current issue on everyone's mind, I decided it was probably time to become a little more informed about the latter and the debate on same in the US.

Before I could do that, however, a friend of mine posted this as her status on Facebook: "No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day."  I agree with this statement, so I posted it as my FB status. 

It seems many of my conservative friends (how in the hell do I HAVE so many conservatives for friends, btw?) disagree with the whole issue of socialized healthcare, and one even posted something about how people can go to an ER and get treatment for free, blah blah blah. 

I found this article about the subject - written from a conservative's point of view...a conservative who happens to be FOR the concept of socialized healthcare.  And while I admit this article was written in 2007, it seems to me that its points are still valid, although the numbers are vastly different - i.e. instead of 6.6% of the US's GDP being spent on healthcare, it's projected to be 17.6% for 2009( !? Can that be right?).   

This author, Randall Hoven, makes a lot of salient points regarding the healthcare issue in the US.  One in specific was one I raised when I talked about it with my sister and that is that, though you cannot be denied treatment for an emergency, you will still be billed for those procedures and you will still be sent to collections when you can't pay that bill.  I could go on and on, but I won't, because then my 3 people who read this blog will be like, "god, this is so boring!".  Anyway, here's one more reference from Wikipedia: a list of social models with brief descriptions that I just found to be interesting. 

I dunno if the US can reform healthcare, because of the actual size of our country as well as the size of the population, but based on what I know from people who live in Denmark and Norway (who also happen to have lived in the US), I personally think we could benefit immensely from a socialized healthcare implementation. 

 

Good to remember

During a break in editing my resume and looking for jobs, I decided to type "I am so fucked" into my browser to see what happened.  What came up was a nice little surprise.

Check it out.

The cloud

So, since being laid off...okay, fine, fired.  Fired is what it was...though not for any wrongdoing...I was let go because, after 10 months, I wasn't 'a good fit'.  Yeah.

Anyway, since being let go, I have made numerous lists:  things I should be cleaning, projects I should be doing, ways to make money, and things to do since being let go (i.e. filing for unemployment, et al).

Keeping active and busy will keep my mind occupied and keep me from dwelling on the dark cloud that is hovering on my horizon.  I'm fairly certain that this cloud contains an F5 tornado that will funnel down and level my life, and whether or not I survive this levelling is the question.

It took me this long to think of this...

Um.  Supplemental dental insurance, hello!

Stoopid.

To see or not to see

Good ol' Orlando Eye Associates!   They really suck.  Dr. Gaterbaum and his back office people are AWESOME - they're really great.  The bitches up front though...wow...

Last September, when I left Lane Construction, I had gotten a fairly unexpected job offer and I gave two weeks' notice.  Well, I still had about $400 left in my Flexible Spending (hereinafter referred to as "flexy spendy") account, and the only appointments I could get were at an eye doctor.  I was bound and freaking determined not to waste my flexy spendy money (as it would be gone when Oct.1 rolled around, which is when my insurance would be cancelled) so I got two new pairs of glasses.  Well, I paid for one, but the Coach pair had to be specially ordered.  So, they came in about...I dunno...two days before my insurance ran out?  They ran the flexy spendy card but it was declined!  So I called the benefits admin and he said that my card was deactivated because of a mistake on his part and they couldn't reactivate it.  I could pay it myself and then submit for reimbursement but I literally didn't have the $250 I needed.  So.  I tried to pick up the first (read: PURCHASED) pair, and they wouldn't let me!  They wouldn't let me until I had paid for the 2nd pair...even though the first pair were already paid for.

Okay.  So.  Fast-forward to now.  I now have a Health Savings Account (HSA), decided that I would just use HSA money to get the (both still un-needed pairs of) glasses.  I am leaving Orlando Eye Associates but didn't want to just bail. 

So!  Pictures!!  I think both pairs of glasses look better in real life.  I am not photogenic. 

**I deleted these pics because they were fug...I will put some more on, maybe, someday.**

 

 

Cowboy Lotto

I just saw a headline on cnn.com that said "Broke cowboy wins $232 million jackpot" and I thought, "Fuck, I hope that was my brother!"

It wasn't.