Baby In The Corner

Beached Whale

2009-03-07T11:09:00.002-06:00

My gym has had more drama lately. It is owned by M & T. But M & T are now going through a divorce and T left her no notice as well as left us in the bootcamp no notice. Previously when I have watched shows like the Biggest Loser and they do things like switch trainers on them, I was like, oh get over it. But now I completely understand. I have been filled with anxiety over the "new guy" we were going to get.

New trainer is N. N is very nice. We started with N last week Tuesday and while I know I have been working out for the last 5 weeks, after our first workout with N, you certainly couldn't tell. Thursday nights workout was so hard I honestly thought I was going to throw up in the middle of it.

It was all I could do to struggle through. I felt very depressed about it. I'll continue to perservere, but man...

I got my taxes done yesterday. 3 states and a home sale...sheesh. It took over 2 hours to complete and I "had people". I went to the big block to get them done. But I really don't trust the guy who did them...it just seemed like he didn't understand some stuff. So we'll see. Luckily I don't owe anyone money. I didn't care about getting anything back, just didn't want to owe any money.

My brother and his family are off to Walt Disney World this week. All of them are sick as dogs...so I hope the sunshine and Mickey make them feel better.

I'm super excited because I get to visit them in a couple of weeks! Woot woot!

Just call me Kookie

2009-02-28T21:12:00.003-06:00

How many times in a row do you have to get tonsillitis before they decide it's time for you to get your tonsils out? I've had tonsillitis at least 3x / year since I was about 9. I still have my tonsils. This year, since moving to the great white north, I have now gotten tonsillitis (self diagnosed thanks to WebMd, then verified by visit to Doc first time) twice in very quick succession this new year and it's not even March.

I was so proud of myself that I was fighting this last time so hard, trying not to let the cold reach my chest which then can escalate (for me) into bronchitis really quickly. Wednesday night I went to my spin class and did the best I've done thus far and it was hard. The trainer was awesome and kicked our butts. I came home feeling so proud and felt so good. Then...a night of tossing and turning and coughing my head off followed. I was so wiped out the next day during my training class I thought I was going to die. After lunch my colleagues around me were telling me to go home as I was white as a sheet.

It was snowing like crazy and what should normally be a 20 minute drive took me an hour. Once I got home I took so much cold medication and sleep medication that I slept. I slept all day Friday and all Friday night. I finally feel human today.

I'm so tired of being sick. I had really hoped that working out would build up my immune system, but we'll see. Speaking of building my immune system, I've started taking Kundalini yoga. Kundalini is a type of yoga that focuses not only on the outside but also the inside. According to Wikipedia (for what it's worth) Kundalini yoga is a physical and meditative discipline, comprising a set of techniques that use the mind, senses and body to create a communication between "mind" and "body". Kundalini yoga focuses on psycho-spiritual growth and the body's potential for maturation, giving special consideration to the role of the spine and the endocrine system in the understanding of yogic awakening.

Now, all of this felt a bit "woo woo" to me the first class. We do a lot of chanting and focus on our "auras" and our "chi". I'm not sure I really buy into all of this, but I have to admit it has grown on me and I love it. I like the meditation (as I am awesome at the corpse pose - essentially laying on your back). But mostly I like it because a lot of yoga focuses on breathing techniques and I now have asthma - which really concerns me. So I asked my yoga teacher if she had any additional exercises to help me out. She then asked me if I would be interested in homeopathic medicine...uh...well...I guess so.

I've never been interested in homeopathic medicine. I am the quintessential American girl - if a pill will make me better, bring it on. When I lived in Japan, the doctors there often wanted to use "the foreigner" as a guinea pig and try Chinese medicine on me. As if I was an alien and it would react differently on me than them. I hated it. Why deal with nasty tasting crap for 2 weeks when a pill will cure me in 2 days?

But I thought I really hate dealing with my inhalers and it's really expensive and I would love to figure out a better way to deal with my asthma. Little did I know what that would entail. So I fill out this "intake" form for her. My yoga teacher has some type of homeopathic certification. So last week, after class she pulls out all of these vials. She then sits next to me and takes my pulse while dropping different liquid herbs on the pad of my thumb. Uh yeah...whatever. I'm like la la lah. I feel nothing. She's making typical doc type noises, switching vials around and such. Then, all of the sudden, she looks up at me and asks, "do you smoke"? I'm like, no. Then she says, "but did you smoke". Uh...yeah. She goes, I knew it! I was like, am I suddenly at a Tarot Card reading? WTF? So she recommended 2 herbal remedies for me. I looked them up - they are legit old school remedies.

She sends me to this herbal shop to buy them. I was meeting a friend for lunch, so I made her go with me as my yoga teacher said if you think I'm out there, the people who run this shop are "kooks". Lovely. So I go to the shop, find my stuff and get out of there before it gets busted as it is clearly a head shop. Well, actually I have no idea, but it was bizarre. Incense and books and herbs everywhere. Freaky-deeky people "working" there as well. I think one guy was actually a witch doctor.

So now I'm supposed to drop these two herbal liquids under my tongue twice a day. First off, they are NASTY tasting!! I have a very low tolerance for that. THEN, one of them BURNS!!! Completely unpleasant and it creates canker sores in my mouth.

To top it all off she gave me some dietary recommendations - basically things she wants me to stop eating. First on the list is all cow dairy and eggs. UHHHHHHH!!! NO CHEESE?!!! It's like my go-to snack. I LURVE cheese, just about any and all cheese (except stinky blues). Then, a laundry list of vitamin supplements. We'll see how long it lasts.

So here's to becoming a kook. Om.

Win A Complete Wilton Cupcake Celebration Kit!

2009-02-24T21:44:00.001-06:00

Cupcakes are the perfect food. If you love them too, check out this website to win a free cupcake kit! Win A Complete Wilton Cupcake Celebration Kit!

Creeky and Confused

2009-02-14T20:39:00.003-06:00

Today ended my third week of bootcamp. I am sore in areas I didn't know existed. I can't sit or lay in the same position for long periods of time without risking a serious cramp or twitch. When I get up, my body creeks and cracks like an old lady. Class today is at noon. I woke up at 9:30 thanks to a stupid telemarketer and it was bright sunshine and snowing. What do you call that? When we lived in Hawaii and the sun was out while raining they called it, pineapple juice. Silly, but appropriate. So what would you call sun and snow at the same time? Shave Ice?

Okay - sorry, sidetracked. So I was very tired this morning...could have very easily gone back to sleep. But I show up and as usual I'm the first to arrive. My other 5 cohorts in pain show up and we end up doing spinning sprints and jumps followed by ubiquitous push-ups and lunges because clearly we didn't work out legs enough while spinning.

Then we get back on the bikes after lunging and push-ups because clearly we don't need our legs anymore - legs must be numb. So we did hills. At a certain point doing hills I honestly thought I was going to break down and start crying. I was trying to channel my inner Lance Armstrong saying to myself over and over, "I'm in the Alps, isn't it pretty?". I manage to find some inner motivation to finish the climb up the hill and then we have to finish the day with 60 bicep curls and 60 triceps.

After I finished I felt really good and it seemed the hour went by really fast. It clearly did not seem that way in the moment, but push-ups are getting "easier". My ultimate goal is to do boy push-ups, not girl ones.

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So I have a bit of a strange dilemma. I used to have a MySpace account, but there are too many strange people who post inappropriate spams to your account so I took it down. Other people asked me to join Facebook which is more private than MySpace, so I did. I went to 3 different high schools. I get "friended" by a lot of people that I can't remember. So I have a lot of random "friends". I also find it odd that after 20 some odd years these people want to "friend" me. It's really just wanting to compare lives and see how people have aged. I don't have any photos of myself because I'm not thrilled with the way I look these days (hence the bootcamp) AND because there are certain people over the years that I am not so keen in looking me up again.

So I work with a man that I will call A. I have conversed with A since I started my new job in July. A has been with the company a little bit longer than me and is in a Director role. I was able to go to headquarters in December for some training and met A and those on his team. They were very cool to me and we did lunch and then drinks and dinner. From then, I invited A and his team to my network via LinkedIn. LinkedIn is like Facebook for professionals. Not long after I made my request, I got an email from A asking if I was on Facebook. Now, due to some lessons learned over the years, I try now to keep my work "friends" separate from my social "friends". AND I didn't exactly want someone from my current company in a higher position than myself seeing my status updates and other silly things I chose to post to my Facebook account. I already have felt like I have to censor myself in my blog at times and I didn't want to do so on Facebook. But, how do you say no? So to his question of am I on Facebook, I simply answered "yes". Then, I get an email a few days later saying he didn't believe me because he couldn't find me and asked if I would "friend" him. So...feeling a bit of pressure I did.

While I really like A - he's very intelligent, good-looking, he's probably in his 50s and has a kid in college. I might be interested in him if we didn't work for the same company and the fact that I do work with him regularly. On Facebook, there is an internal IM system. On a few occasions A has IM'd me via Facebook asking what I'm up to and such. Then recently he's started IM'ing me at work. Recently he IM'd me at work and I couldn't tell if he was interested in me as a friend or more than a friend. I've been out of "the game" for such a long time, I can't tell when I'm being flirted with or not. So I always assume the person is not. Until this week. Monday, I get an IM from A who has read one of those stupid quizzes I filled out on Facebook and references it. So we have a bit of banter back and forth and then he says, "I think if you lived here, we could have a lot of fun". Okayyyyyyy. What do I say to this? Especially as he's chosen to say this via our work IM and not Facebook IM. So I just say, thanks. THEN, Friday I get a V-Day IM from him.

Sigh...seriously? I am not sure what to think about this or really what to do. Thoughts?

Happy

2009-02-10T18:32:00.002-06:00

Lately I've been feeling pretty happy. It's unusual for me especially over the last few years filled with being laid off, selling my house and moving. I'm finally over that "new hire" hump where I feel like people finally know me, my hard work to build a network has paid off. I made it through another scary period of lay-offs and I know it could always happen sometime in the future, but I think I'm "safe" for now.

I enrolled in a bootcamp that is kicking my ass, but I can't believe the stuff I'm able to do. My energy level is up and oddly enough I've been in a really good mood lately. It's weird.

Light Sleep

2009-01-22T20:14:00.003-06:00

I never thought I was a light sleeper until I moved to my current apartment. It seems I got used to owning a home and used to not having neighbors right on the other side of the wall or "city" noises.

I know I've complained in the past about the loud banging noise in my bedroom. Yes, it still happens. I've given up trying to record it and frankly, as I've said I doubt seriously the management would do anything about it even if they could "hear it". HA!

Recently, since my world became a frozen tundra, I've heard this awful noise outside a few times a week that I thought was trash men. No idea why I thought it was the trash men other than the vehicle makes that awful back-up beep-beep noise. The other night, it was like 2am and that stupid beep-beep noise was going on and on and on - for flipping ever! I was laying there thinking we don't have that many dumpsters! So I finally got up and looked out the window...no it's not the trash men. It is the 2am snow plow patrol. They clear off the side streets...at 2am. At 2am for like a freaking hour!!!

I can handle the fire trucks and the cop cars and the occasional horn going off, but that stupid beep-beep back-up noise off and on for an hour?!!! I've tried sleeping with ear plugs in the past and frankly they hurt. I think I have small ear holes. I'm one of those weird people who can't wear the ear buds because they won't stay in...and if I try to make them, it hurts.

Somebody call the Wahmulance! Wah wah wah...so long story short, I don't recall the last time I slept through the night. Between the noise and my cats, it's not happening. I'm exhausted and spend my days at work trying not to fall asleep at my desk.

Proud to be an American

2009-01-20T18:51:00.002-06:00

I'll have a nap for lunch

2009-01-19T20:36:00.003-06:00

I'm a big whiny butt and took today off because I'm still not feeling well. Although, not really as I did do 2 conference calls and checked email throughout the day. But I was able to take one nap between them. Why can't we do this when we are in the office? Seriously, isn't it my choice what I want to do over lunch - shouldn't I be able to just put my head down and have a nap for lunch? I suppose I could go outside to my car and take a nap over lunch - if I lived in a normal climate location! Where I live I would freeze to death or die of carbon monoxide poisoning.

I'm also really annoyed about going to work tomorrow - on Inauguration Day. I think we should all have the day off for a national celebration. Not only did we have to work today (yes, I know I called in sick) on MLK Day, but we have to work tomorrow. AND at my work we blocked from streaming video on our computers, so we can't watch the inauguration either!! Seriously - they expect us to do work at work?! Ridiculous!

Wheezy

2009-01-18T13:57:00.002-06:00

I'm dying. I feel like crap. I've been sick off and on since the holidays. I'm tired of it. I thought I was getting better. I went to the doc on Thursday and he said everything looks fine. On Friday I started this bizarre wheezing cough and on Saturday I couldn't get out of bed. I slept most of the day Saturday. Taking a shower was exhausting.

Today I'm not much better. I'm sitting here trying not to pee my pants every time I have a coughing jag. I need to strip the bed and remake it - not looking forward to it. Just the thought of it makes me tired.

Then, to top it all off, I hear my beloved peanut butter is being recalled due to salmonella. Peanut butter is my go to food when I don't feel well, when I do feel well, basically anytime. I love peanut butter. In fact, I'm not sure I ate much of anything else for the first 6 years of my life. I'm actually very sad because my niece has yet to try peanut butter - she's not yet 3 years old and can't have it. We are all taking bets in the family as to whether or not she will like it. I'm obviously on the pro side. My sister-in-law didn't discover the wonders of the magical properties of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich until she was pregnant with my niece, so I'm thinking because of that my niece will love it. At least I hope so.

In my family we actually have a weird tradition of eating peanut butter. We eat chicken noodle soup with peanut butter on saltine crackers together. Not just together, but we float the peanut butter laden crackers in the chicken noodle soup.

Don't knock it til you try it. Does your family have any weird food traditions?

+ZERO!!!

2009-01-16T17:05:00.002-06:00

I'm so excited today! Not only is it a Friday - quite possibly the best day of the week next to Saturday, but today the temperatures were above ZERO!!! I know it sounds stupid, but I can handle temps until it hits the negative territory - especially if there is very little wind. But this past week has been the coldest week on record in January - natch. It always happens to me. We would move somewhere and everyone there would say, the weather hasn't been this bad in decades.

The one thing I'm not looking forward to, in spite of it being the weekend and on the plus side of zero, is more snow. I'm so flipping tired of snow. I always thought it could be too cold to snow...HA, living in the frozen tundra has taught me it doesn't matter the temp it will snow. It snows so much and it never gets above freezing - so it's snow piled up on top of snow ad nauseum. I hate driving on it - frozen snow combined with exhaust from vehicles creates black ice. So many accidents lately.

I didn't have much of a choice moving here, I needed the job. However, I really did like it in nicer weather. But all the natives lie to you. Winter doesn't last just a month longer...winter is flipping 6 months long! It's been so cold that my relatively new car, Martha - a 2007, wouldn't start on the first crank.

I've been trying not to complain about the cold, at least until February...but I never said I wouldn't complain about the snow. I hate snow. It sucks.

Saddle Sore

2009-01-14T20:04:00.003-06:00

Last night I went to my second night of bootcamp. It was so intense. We did spinning and a bunch of other horrible things like lunges and push ups. I have never done spinning before - or should I say I have never spun before? We had to do this stupid "jumps" on the bike - where you stand up and peddle and then sit down and peddle over and over and over and over again. We did a total of 30 min plus the rest of the horrible stuff for 30 min.

And yes, duh, I'm sore. I don't necessarily mind having sore muscles (other than having to use the handicapped stall because it hurts too bad to sit on the toilet without using the handrail). Being sore is sometimes nice because you know you worked really hard. And I did. I was busting my fat ass.

But what sucks more than being sore, and speaking of my ass, I now have a sore hiney from the stupid spin bicycle seat. I need a flipping donut to sit on!

Then! The totally bizarro thing happened after we left the gym - someone stole all the spinning bikes from the gym!! From the location I go to and their other location! Isn't that crazy! I got an email from them this morning. So obviously my bootcamp is on hold until they resolve this...but it's so crazy. I have such a hard time believing this...those bikes aren't light and the gym is on the second floor of this old warehouse on the corner of an intersection.

Anyway, they better sort it out soon otherwise they better be giving me my moolah back.

Lamo Work Peeps

2009-01-12T18:56:00.002-06:00

The last two companies I have worked at have had some seriously lame people who do not care about pop culture (gasp!). I seriously don't get it. All I want to do is watch the Golden Globes and show up to work the next day and talk about the best/worst dressed. I mean seriously, did you see Renee Zellweger last night? AND did Marisa Tomei steal Jerry Seinfeld's puffy shirt?

I NEED to talk about this! I need to share and dish and gossip and pretend like I know these people! Everyone I work with is completely LAME and does not watch much less does not care!!! UHHHHHHHH!!

Bunch of LOSERS!!!

The Pink Sisters

2009-01-09T20:33:00.002-06:00

So after a lot of thought this evening, I have a new plan! Get me to a nunnery!! It involves two things I've been looking for: job security and a man! I'm sure you are thinking there are no men in a nunnery...well, no there aren't, but it's worship of Jesus who was a man. See!

My mother said, but you would have to be celibate - and this is new to me how? Not to mention, I found a convent in Lincoln, Nebraska that wears a PINK habit!!! PINK! My signature color!

Check out the sisters! Love their habit - the pink. Not mention, they have 2 recreation periods - that's more than some kids get in school. AND they have a foozball table. I mean seriously, what else do you need?

Why didn't I think of this sooner?!

Lay Off

2009-01-09T18:04:00.003-06:00

Unemloyment and lay offs. Not exactly news, however today it reached an all-time high 7.2%. Scary. Since September the economy has really sunk into the toilet. I have been laid off 3 times in my life. The first time everyone tells me I can't count as I was only 20 years old and it was my first real job. I beg to differ. I totally count it. Yes, I was young, yes it was my first job, but I was still sans job.

More recently I have been laid off 2 times in the last 2 years. July 2006 and March 2008. Lovely. The first time I was able to rebound incredibly quickly thanks to my brother. This last time, I was sans job for 6 months. 6 months! Trying to sell my house and get a job anywhere at the same time. Serioulsy one of the worst times of my life.

I have now relocated to new city with new job. However, thanks to the state of affairs, new company just went through a lay off right before the holidays - yes, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. We heard we would take it quarter by quarter. Well, I guess the first quarter is turning out worse than the company thought as the next round is supposedly going to take place the first week of February and it will affect even more people than initially thought.

So, here I sit again...with the monkey on my back. Constantly looking over my shoulder worrying as to whether or not I will still be here after the first week in February. And then if I make it through that...will there be yet another round?

I know no job is "safe" any more these days and our states operate under "at will" employment rules so I could be canned just because they don't like the shoes I'm wearing that day (bad example, because my shoes rock). But seriously, I am so tired. I am so tired of constantly looking for a job. I just want a job. I want to do my job and get paid for it.

The signs don't look too good for me and my role to stick around - and thus far I'm batting 1,000. So I've started the process yet again of updating my resume and getting out on the job boards to see if anything is out there. There wasn't much this time of year last year and now it's even worse.

I'm not sure if I can handle it again emotionally. I'm so tempted to sell / get rid of all my belongings and move me and the cats to a deserted island somewhere. Care to join me?

Wovel - not your shovel variety.

2009-01-05T23:00:00.002-06:00

I'm an NPR addict. It's really all I listen to these days. I'm so ridiculously addicted to it that I will debate with my friends my favorite shows and journalists. The fact that I admit I listen to Sci-Fri, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and now I've moved to the home of Prairie Home Companion is insane!!

So today on NPR I heard a story about the newest, ever yet evolving Internet that I found very appealing - I think it will also appeal to my SIL immensely.

We have blogs, and twitters and all kinds of new ways of communicating. Now we have "wovels". That's right wovels - web novels. According to NPR a wovel is: The Wovel: Literary Alternative To Browsing Blogs.

While Victoria Blake was working as an editor at Dark Horse Comics, she used breaks from work to surf the Web. "I noticed that I was using my random 10 minutes in between tasks to go to gawker.com, which is my favorite media gossip site," she says. "I realized that if I provided prose — fiction — that I would want to read, myself ... that I would use those 10 minutes to read prose, not gossip."

In that vein she came up with the idea of Wovels. “A wovel is a web novel. There's an installment every Monday. At the end of every installment, there's a binary plot branch point with a vote button at the end.” Victoria Blake.

I seriously want to know why my SIL or I or either of our mom's did not come up with this idea as voraciously as we all read.

Side note - if you happen to Google "wovel", this is what you come up with:

World's Safest Snow Shovel

Perhaps they need a better name?

~Edited due to author's accidental publishing prior to finish.

Update on Noise

2009-01-04T14:29:00.003-06:00

So last night and this morning I tried to record the noise on my camera with no luck. Sigh...on a brighter note, I was finally able to get some good sleep between the banging noise. I made my homemade chicken and rice soup and I have no idea what makes it so awesome - other than me clearly - but it really makes me feel better. My left tonsil was swollen and huge and sore this morning and now after eating my soup it's much better.

It's a lot of work, but for some reason it works better than just opening a can of Campbell's - which I do like as well. And today was quite possibly the best batch I have ever made.

I have no idea why I tend to get sick on the weekends or during holiday. I feel like all I have done is sleep since I went on vacation for Christmas. And now I'm off to take a nap.

Bring in da noise

2009-01-03T09:49:00.002-06:00

I moved to new city back in August. I was so excited about my new apartment. The first week I was camping out on a blow up mattress until my stuff arrived. I love the location and the views. All was going well for about the first week and then right before my stuff arrived, I was in the master bedroom and was woken up by a loud banging noise. Keep in mind, it was about midnight and I heard this noise over the wall-unit A/C.

At first I thought it was my next door neighbors getting it on...but if that's what is happening no one is having any fun as there is no real rhythm to it. You get a few "bangs" and then a break for like 5 minutes and then a few random "bangs".

The management of the building offers a lot of assistance and support except in my noise case. I have complained at least once a month consistently since I moved in. This last time I was pleading with them as it is seriously ruining the quality of my life. Every flipping morning and evening I hear this noise. I find it very difficult to believe that no one else hears this noise but me.

Management response is due to the face that the noise happens during the hours when they are not here there is nothing they can do about it. Basically they can't do anything if they can't hear the noise to try to identify it. It is not my next door neighbors because the room that is on their side is used as a study only, nothing more. Also, they have heard the noise occasionally but they don't use that room that much.

Needless to say I'm very upset. I pay a considerable amount of money for this place to have it be ruined by this noise and I feel a bit like the Princess and the Pea - I don't think management really believes me about the noise.

I've been trying to figure out a way to record the noise - this morning it was awful. To top it off, I'm sick. I can barely sleep anyway because I'm so congested I can't breathe. Now I get woken up by loud banging.

This is all leading me to make the decision that I will move when my lease is up. *&)*(&)*&)*&^&^%^&%^$%^&^!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am pissed. I HATE moving. This time I will have to move myself - it's not like I will have packers and movers and blah blah blah. I'm so upset. Sigh...and frankly even if I can record the noise and have management listen to it, odds are they will say there is still nothing they can do about it!

All this has lead me to not want to finish decorating - why bother. I'm leaving in 8 months. But the other part of me wants to use my hammer at 2am and hope that the noise of it reverberates down through all the apartments and the entire community complains! ARGH!

Eye of the Tiger

2009-01-01T18:17:00.003-06:00

I made it through my first bootcamp class and I can barely move. It was an hour of interval training. We had 6 stations. At each station you have 2 exercises. You get a total of 8 minutes at each station and 4 minutes to do each exercise.

The first station was a lovely combo of "burpees" and "mountain climbers". I'm not really sure who names these things, but they should have been called "hurl" and "puke". Just a suggestion. I guess I'm lucky we didn't have to do suicides tonight.

However we did have to do walking lunges and squat jumps next. Bicycle crunches, cherry picker crunches and side plank yoga poses. Then, we move on to bicep and tricep crunches. To end on my all time fav...jumping rope and squats.

I have to say I was quite proud of myself. I did all of the stations and I actually jumped rope! I was trying not to pee my pants the entire time I was doing it, but I did it! Obviously not for 4 minutes straight - we all know I'm not that coordinated, but still.

I'm trying to stay motivated and encouraged. A friend told me I should have gone for a walk yesterday to work out the kinks. Instead I went to a New Year's Eve party and danced my ass off for 2+ hours straight. I think that qualifies as a workout.

Now I really can't move. Thank goodness I can hold onto my vanity in the loo to sit on the toilet. Sheesh.

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On a completely random note. Have you seen this stupid advert for DVDs to watch TRAINS? That's right, trains. You can watch all sorts of random trains as they ride on their tracks...I don't get it. I mean, I sort of get the whole train-set fascination and the hobby, but why on earth would you want to watch trains on a DVD? It didn't even look like it was some sort of documentary on how trains work - just watching them. Like it is train porn.

I won't even go into the stupid "slanket/snuggie" thing either. Seriously, is it that difficult to deal with a blanket?

Going to bootcamp is certifiable

2008-12-29T16:02:00.004-06:00

I'm chubby. I've said it before and I can say it now. I HATE working out. I HATE sweating. I LOVE food. I haven't met too many foods that I don't LOVE - or even LURVE. However, it's pretty ridiculous how badly I've let myself go. I used to be quite the knock-out and now...we'll just say I now have some huge knockers.

My SIL's mother, who I adore, has inspired me to lose weight. As she literally worked her ass off over the last 3 - 4 months and I'm insanely jealous. I have no excuses now. I was using the fact that I was getting my MBA as an excuse...yeah right. Basically I can make anything into an excuse.

So here is the main reason: I'm trying to decide if I'm going to attend my 20 year High School reunion. EEEEKKK! 20 years!!! WTF?! Seriously! Where did the time go? We had a 5 year - ridiculous, half of the people were still in university. We had a 10 year - I was conveniently living in Japan at the time. Sorry folks, not paying to fly back. Now...my excuse is I'm fat. And frankly I don't know if I'm up to the questions...why aren't you married? why no kids? why are you fat? gee, you really let yourself go. Sigh...and I'm sure everyone is thinking I'm gay. If I was gay, I would be the first person to say it loud and proud, but I'm not.

So, I'm starting an 8 week bootcamp in January at a fitness center near me. I'm totally bugging out about it. I'm going tomorrow night to try out a class for free. We'll see if I can manage without keeling over. I'm actually more worried about my asthma than I am as to whether or not my fat ass can keep up.

Because an 8 week bootcamp is clearly not enough pressure for me, I have am also going to enroll in a 12 week human resources certification program starting in February. If I can make it to April significantly thinner with a certification in hand, it will be a miracle.

But I figure after all I've been through these last two years, between getting laid off twice, getting my MBA and selling my house and moving...I can do anything. I hope.

Have You Ever?

2008-12-28T22:16:00.002-06:00

A new version:
Bold the things you've done. Stolen from my SIL.

1. Started your own blog - DUH.
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band - high school band geek
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - in the shower every morning.
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning - just this past week.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - wasn't open when I lived there.
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train - well I couldn't sleep, but it was overnight.
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort - nope, does a sofa fort count?
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice - does a water taxi count?
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise - down the Yangtze River
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community - met an Amish lady recently.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - nope
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing - I know, a bit surprising for me.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted/drawn - does a caricature count?
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling - PADI certified
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China - with my Mom!
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class - kendo and judo with my students
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check - sadly
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar - YUM
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades - drove through Aligator Alley
75. Been fired from a job - nope but laid off too many times now
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - snowboarding
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee - on my elbow
100. Read an entire book in one day - as often as possible

FB

2008-12-28T14:03:00.003-06:00

I used to think social networking sites were just for teens and tweens, but recently it seems I am now on one of them, Facebook. Facebook is a bit more discreet than MySpace as you can hide your page until you actually agree to "friend" someone.

Basically it's all curiosity killed the cat for me. A trip down memory lane to see who is married, what they are doing, how many kids they have, etc...it's interesting at times and odd at others. Recently, I've had an ex-boyfriend who I still think on fondly, that I dated in high school look me up. I can't figure out how he found me as we don't have any friends in common and we are not in the same groups on Facebook. Regardless it is fun to see that he is doing well and about to get married. All of my ex-boyfriends are getting married or are recently just married within the last few years and are starting families.

However, I also got a "friend" request from someone who's name seemed familiar but I could not place. So I said yes to the friend request as I have gone to 3 different high schools and have moved around so much I can't remember everyone. I have a lot of so-called "friends" on FB that I have no idea who they are but supposedly I went to school with them. I suppose it's flattering that they remember me, but I don't remember them and I can't find my yearbooks any longer to look them up.

The recent friend request is from BF. I was on FB today and BF used the instant message system via FB to write me. He immediately said, I bet you have no idea who I am - I'm like BINGO. So instead of just telling me like a normal person, he wants me to try to figure it out...ugh. So supposedly we met one night and had a smooch - clearly it was meaningless to me as I can't place him. I looked at his profile on FB and saw the fraternity he is with and was like, I didn't know any X's! So anyway, long story short guy wants to know if I'm divorced or gay - gee thanks, and then why I'm not married. Sigh...then asks if I've gained 200 pounds. Is that the reason I have no photos of myself online? Partly, yes. Haven't gained 200 pounds, but I don't want my photo up. Then asks repeatedly for me to send a photo. NOPE. The conversation was a bit odd as he is married with 2 children and I clearly have no memory of him. It kind of creeped me out.

This is why I dislike FB and why I don't have any photos of myself up. It's bad enough people are finding me now - people I don't necessarily want to find me without photos - with, forget it. I know you are thinking then just don't accept the "friend" request...well, I had no idea...like I said, I could have been friends with him and just forgotten...I suppose I can unfriend him if he creeps me out again.

Do you have a former crush who you are dying to find again?

Don't worry, I have a MBA.

2008-12-10T16:17:00.004-06:00

I'm so excited! This Saturday I will officially have my MBA!!! I finished my classes in October and managed to finish with a 4.0 GPA! This Saturday I go back to "walk" for the graduation ceremony.

I didn't walk for my bachelor's degree for a variety of reasons, the major one was my parents had just separated and divorced but also I had just moved to NYC and didn't want to go back. This ceremony really means more to me. Out of anyone in my family I was probably the last person that would have gone back to school. I still can't believe I stuck with it. For 22 long months I spent most evening studying. I now come home and it's weird not to have a paper to write or an exam to study for...now I get to do nothing! My favorite activity.

Win Free Shoes!!!

2008-12-09T18:52:00.002-06:00

Check out Absolutely Bananas to win a free pair of KEEN shoes!!

Blammed?

2008-12-08T20:47:00.003-06:00

Okay, I know I've been crap about writing this blog, however, as I don't believe anyone reads it, what difference does it make? It's only for me anyway, to rant and rave about whatever I feel like raving and ranting about that day.

I came back today to actually write something (I forgot now, probably more travel woes) only to see there were two comments on my last post almost a month ago. I knew there had been one comment. My SIL - she is the only one who comments on my posts. So I was suprised to see a second one. Well...color me surprised as I just got spammed on my blog. Here is the second comment:

Fortune Park Hotels Ltd said...
Bangalore is having a very strong contender as far as its IT development is concerned in the form of its neighboring city Hyderabad. The increasing number of hotels reservation, business hotels, and airport hotels very aptly point towards this fact. Business is booming in this city and hence travelers are increasing. Today Hyderabad is as much known as an IT hub as it was famous as a tourist destination. The fact that the rates are comparatively cheaper in this place has also helped in attracting business at a fast rate to this south Indian city.
4:31 AM

Really? Really? Occasionally I do check SiteMinder to see where people might be reading my blog...apparently they aren't reading my blog, they are trying to advertise on it! Unbeknownst to them, no one reads my blog!! They lose!

So what would being spammed on a blog comments be called? Blammed?

Travel Squeeze

2008-11-13T20:51:00.003-06:00

Do you ever look down and see that you've cut your knee and have no idea how it happened? I always seem to have random injuries - especially when I travel. I just got back from a work trip - my first one with the new company. I have bruises and now this random cut on my knee. Like I'm 5 years old. How ridiculous that I need to put a band-aid on my knee.

So I know I've complained incessantly about my hatred of travel in the past, but here we go again. I'm chubby. I know I'm chubby, however, I am not too fat to fit in an airplaine seat. I became a convert of the window seat a few years ago and this past trip was no different. I was in the window seat. My seatmate was a woman who was significantly larger than myself. In order to fit in the seat, she took away my arm rest. There was no choice. It was either that or she couldn't sit down. Which also means that not only did I not have an arm rest, I didn't have part of my seat. I'm pretty sure the seatbelt didn't fit, but she didn't ask for an extender. I felt bad, but on the other hand, I was ticked off. Between men who seems to think the only way they can sit is with their legs spread so wide they take up my leg room and the arm rest stealers and fighters, now I have to deal with losing my arm rest completely and being smooshed against the side of the tin can we call an airplane. I'm not a touchy feely person in the first place, much less do I want someone "spilling" over into me, touching me that way. To top it all off, it made it hot as flipping hell.

Prior to the hell squeeze that was the plane, I was standing in the security line, only to see Sam Champion, the weather guy from Good Morning America. It was a bit comical as both he and his travelmate were selected for additional screening. Hee. It was kind of nice to see that celebrities don't get special treatment all the time.

On another note, I hate blogger. Every time I try to select the entire text to do something like change the font, it deletes my ENTIRE post!!!! ARGH!

YES WE CAN!!!

2008-11-04T22:15:00.001-06:00

GOBAMA!!! How amazing!!! How historic! How incredible to watch the world's response - seeing Kenya partying like rock stars! I'm so proud to be an American!!

Vote

2008-11-03T20:36:00.002-06:00

I'm dreading the craziness and the lines tomorrow. I wish our polls opened at 6am instead of 7am. But I'm getting up early and doing my civic duty. I think it should be a national holiday to go exercise your right to vote. Regardless of who you vote for, I'm really excited to hear that there will be record turnout tomorrow, supposedly close to 100 million people will vote this year. I'm not sure what that translates to in terms of the percentage of eligible voters, but our total population is about 300 million...so you can do the math. Very exciting.

Let's hope for change. Positive change. We need it.

Secret Obsession

2008-10-30T19:24:00.002-05:00

I have a new secret obsession. I am obsessed with Roman History. I know, now that you have caught your breathe again, let me explain. It kind of started with watching a few programs on the History channel, then the movie the 300 came out. Now, yes, I watch it because of serioulsy hot men in leather bikinis, but I am obsessed with the story of the 300 - the Battle of Thermoplyae which is a true story. Then the HBO series, Rome, came out on DVD and I HAD to buy it. LOVED it. Especially the guy who is now Dr. McArmy on Grey's, Kevin McKidd.

Then, I got this great catalog called Great Courses. You can order courses on any number of subjects taught by some of the top professors from the top schools in the world. I've been reading books on Roman history and now I'm contemplating ordering a course on Roman history - specifically how military battles changed the course of the world.

Now if there is anything on television about Roman history, I am tivo'ing it. Perhaps I need a twelve step program.

Slurp

2008-10-28T21:40:00.002-05:00

Food - I love food. I love pretty much all food, and if I don't like it, I've tried it numerous times to ascertain that I really don't like it such as Indian food. I can't stand curry. It makes my bottom teeth hurt. Bizarre.

Speaking of bizarre, I watch Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. I watch food tv a lot. I watch it on the food network, on TLC, on Travel, on Fine Living, on PBS...you get the picture. I can't stand Andrew Zimmern. Not because he gets off on eating the weird and the nasty. But because he smacks his lips SO loud while eating that you can hear it on camera!!! Really?! Seriously.

The other day I was watching Anthony Bourdain, who at times annoys me but at other times his music and movie references make me laugh. I also love the way he "calls out" other chefs on his show. His favorite to make fun of is the ubiquitous Rachael Ray. I used to watch RR but all I want to do is tie her hands behind her back because she can't do anything without gesticulating like crazy. But I think the reason I discovered that I really love Bourdain was when he totally made fun of Zimmern's smacking. I thought I was the only one annoyed by it! Kind of like an old former relative of mine who sucked his teeth after every meal. EW!

I also still will never understand why I am supposed to want to eat the nasty bits of an animal. I am a carnivore. I could never be a vegetarian. I like to live the Ostrich Life and love the era that I live in that I can continue to bury my head in the sand and not deal with the realities of how that lovely prime rib makes it to my plate. Why on earth would I want to eat the "sweetbreads" aka brain and intestines? Quote from Zimmern, "You can taste the bile." Yummy. Oh yes, bring it on. Give it to me. I so want to eat something that is so foul that my body uses it to break down my food. Let's eat it again - properly regurgitating my food. Blech.

Know-It-All's

2008-10-27T21:23:00.003-05:00

Every Monday I faciliate orientation for new hires. I have a very casual facilitation style. At times I almost feel like the little turtle, Squirt, from Finding Nemo (read in high pitched voice), "Okay everyone, we're going to have a great jump today"! I have to walk everyone through the plant to get to our room and they need to follow me and pay attention because we have fork-truck's speeding around everywhere.

Obviously, you get a variety of people. You've got your bored hires, barely keeping up hires, politely interested hires and then you have the know-it-all's. I love how you can have just started with a company and feel that you should be able to "reiterate" what I have just said because apparently I haven't spoken clearly enough.

So annoying. This morning I had such person, Ms. PW. Or as I will call her PeW as in stinky. She arrived LATE and made an entrance like we were clearly waiting for her to show up before we could start. She then proceeded to "reiterate" everything I said, but calling me "she". God forbid she should know my name - or bother to look at the white board where it is written.

Then, when it was over, she looked at me and said, can you show me where my office is? Uh, no. You happen to be one of hundreds of people I see on a weekly basis. I do not know where you sit in the food chain, I do not care. I have no idea where your office is, nor do I care to learn. I'm like, can't show you as I have no idea who you work for or what you do. Imagine Ms. PeW's surprise! Wha?! How can this be?

I can't stand people like Ms. PeW who believe they are better than the rest of the world and were put on it to supposedly "lead". Very similar to when I worked retail in high school and college. I worked in a jewelry store and snooty PeW's would come in and say, "I'll LET you clean my jewelry for me". You'll LET me. Thank you ever so. Please sir, may I have another? Annoying.

First Snow

2008-10-26T12:43:00.002-05:00

Today is the first snow of the year in my new city. It's interesting to be this far north and have the seasons change a month ahead of what you are used to. It's dropped 20 degrees this morning and there are little flakes that melt as soon as they hit the ground. Winds are high coming in from the east, the snow flakes are blowing in sideways. A miserable day by all accounts, yet I'm pretty happy. It's still quite odd not to have anything to do. I obviously have things to do, but I mean no homework. I can loll the evenings and weekends away doing absolutely nothing. My favorite past time.

Work is work and I don't anticipate that changing. Working for the man is not fulfilling but it pays the bills. I'm in a reminiscing mood. Last night I went out with my fellow alums from my program that I went to Japan with. It was a fun trip down memory lane. It made me homesick for my students, the food, my apartment there, my hilarious downstairs neighbor who spoke the local dialect so fast I could barely keep up - who looked out for me, who wouldn't let me win the "gift war" whose granddaughter I often wonder about. I miss my crappy little car, the Pagan mobile. I miss my convenience store across the street. I miss riding my bike around the rice paddies, the vending machines that you could buy anything from steaming hot tea or coffee to eggs to huge bags of rice from. Most of all I miss the food. I miss the little local itzakayas that made you whatever was caught fresh or killed that day. I miss the seasonality of food. Being so excited for the various seasons because you only got the massive so-dark they were almost black grapes with huge seeds that everyone took great pleasure in spitting out once a year. Each winter looking forward to eating satsumas and persimmons. Melons in the summer - fresh from the farm at the random "on your honor" food stand where they had somehow rigged a refrigerator out in the middle of nowhere so you could take a half a cold melon. I loved the eggplant, how tiny and cute they were - so cute they were given a nickname. I miss my ramen noodle shop that knew as soon as I walked in the door what I wanted and served it not less than 5 minutes after I arrived. I miss the fair food, squid on a stick, the amazing corn on a cob smothered in soy sauce mixed with sugar. I miss the slabs of grilled pork on a stick. The syrupy soda that came in a bottle with a fun marble at the top that jingled as you drank it staring up at the sky to watch the fireworks. I miss the festivals that celebrate every season, every food and every tradition imaginable.

I am truly homesick after meeting all those that just returned from their stints in Japan. Every one's situation so different yet so the same. You can never go home again but I would like to go back.

Unofficial Transcript

2008-10-19T18:04:00.000-05:00

4.0 Baby!!!!

Return of the Martha

2008-10-15T21:40:00.002-05:00

So my car, Martha, comes home tomorrow. Seriously?! I dropped it off on Tuesday and they are already done with it? Not only that, but my insurance company waived my deductible on account the accident was not my fault - ha! Can you imagine?! I love this new company. So happy.

I offered to help out a colleague at work with a project that I knew was a nightmare. At least I thought I knew it was a nightmare. It's not just a nightmare, it's a Friday the 13th, Freddy Kruger nightmare! It is stupidly complex and tedious. I was supposed to work on it for 2 weeks, I just finally finished today (at least I think I'm finished) and it's been 4 weeks. I don't feel my colleague has managed the project well. I also feel she didn't manage my expectation well at all. I'm sure she thought, fresh meat! Because I feel abused and taken advantage of. I haven't been able to do my job due to the amount of time I've had to spend devoted to this one lousy project.

Now that I'm finished with school, I don't really know what to do with myself. I usually come home and get on the computer out of habit. It feels odd not have homework. I'm not sure if I am into any of the new shows yet. And shows that I have been into have lost their appeal, like Project Runway.

Is there anything new and good out there?

ID Theft

2008-10-14T19:38:00.003-05:00

So recently, about a month after I sold my home I received notification from my mortgage company that some loser sold my name and all of my info and I was the victim of identity fraud. So I have a warning placed on my credit report. Yay me.

This evening I got a call from a major credit card provider saying I have been chosen for a 0% card for 1 year with balance transfer blah blah. From the outset I'm a little freaked out because of the ID fraud and because in this economy the idea of any company wanting to give me something for free feels weird. I also got freaked out because they called me, no notice in the mail or email...but a phone call. How do I know it's a legit call? I just felt freaked out and was like, nope.

On a brighter note, last time I was in old city I was able to file to get my license plate tag money back and today I got my check. Woo Ha!

AND, very happy with my new car insurance company - thus far the service has been amazing, especially when compared to my previous one. But tomorrow the insurance adjuster for my broken furniture shows up...so we'll see if my streak continues.

Cursed

2008-10-11T21:04:00.002-05:00

I think my car Martha is bad luck. Since I bought her in August of 2007, I've had 4 incidents, not one of which was my fault.

1. Cut off on the interstate, guy slammed on his brakes, I slammed on mine and hit him and then got smushed by the guy behind me. Effectively sandwiched. Guy who cut in front of me took off. Guy behind me had out of state plates and no insurance.

2. Driving home from Starbucks and a tree limb that was being cut down lands on my car and knocks my passenger side mirror off.

3. HUGE white SUV scrapes the side of my car in the Costco parking lot.

Today 4. Rear-ended while waiting on a bicyclist to cross the street...the woman behind me slammed into the same side the SUV did in #3.

I have barely had this damn car 1 year and it's already beat up. I'm pondering trading it in just to get rid of the bad ju ju.

School's OUT FOREVER!!!

2008-10-05T19:14:00.002-05:00

To quote Alice Cooper - School's out forever!! I'M DONE!!! 22 months of MBA school and I finished on Friday night!!! So happy yet it feels a bit anticlimatic. I have so been waiting for this for so long.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with my time now. I can have hobbies again! I can READ ANYTHING I want - and NOT textbooks!!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

One more day left of school!!!

2008-10-02T10:56:00.002-05:00

Stolen from my SiL.

Take the list and bold what you HAVE done.
1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped (watched) an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band(orchestra)
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one
133. Gone kayaking in the ocean
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem not for school
159. Carried your lunch in a lunch box
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Gone deep-sea fishing
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime
200. Commented on a stranger's blog

Henri the Cat

2008-09-21T09:56:00.001-05:00

I PASSED!!!

2008-09-11T16:04:00.002-05:00

I finally sucked it up and took the driving test again today and I PASSED!!! It was getting to be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, I was so nervous I would fail again - it was embarrassing enough to fail the first time, albeit by 1 point, but if I failed again?! Sheesh. Then I would have to pay $10 for every time afterwards that I wanted to take it.

So now I am all set - new plates, new license. I'm officially a resident of new state.

Trips down memory lane

2008-09-06T17:32:00.002-05:00

So I totally wussed out and didn't go take my driving test on Friday. I felt like I needed more time to study - the flipping book is 95 pages long!! Anyway, I'll do it sometime next week I'm sure.

My SIL recently wrote a blog about "unfriending" someone on Facebook. She went to a really small high school and everyone has friended each other to snoop and keep in touch. I went to 3 different high schools of varying sizes. One in particular was quite small, so small it was actually 7 - 12. I went to it from 7 - 9. I am getting a lot of friend requests from people I don't remember. AT ALL. While it's flattering that people remember me, I know they just want to snoop on my life. There are also a number of people that I don't want to remember EVER. Not interested in going down memory lane with them.

I think I have this habit, especially after moving so many times growing up, that I tend to wipe the slate in my brain completely clean and forget people pretty quickly. I may remember the names of my best friends growing up, but I can't remember the name of the kid who I sat next to in Algebra.

Can you?

You're a loser who can't drive

2008-09-04T17:22:00.002-05:00

I'm paraphrasing the movie Clueless in my title. Allow me to explain. Last week I went to get my driver's license and plates for new state. Unbeknownst to me, in new state you have to retake the written (now computerized) exam. Uhhh!!! I didn't study, but thought, okay...so I took it. Uh, yeah...I scored a 74. Essentially failing by 1 lousy point! SERIOUSLY?!!

I was so humilated and embarrased. From talking with my colleagues at work, I know I am not the only transplant that this has happened to, but still. So I am going back tomorrow to retake it. If I fail again, I have to pay $10 to take the test again - AND they make you wait 3 days to take the test again.

Wish me luck.

The L Word

2008-09-01T13:02:00.002-05:00

Life in the new city is great. I'm really enjoying my new apartment and new location. Boxes are everywhere in the apartment and although I have only lost approximately 200 square feet downsizing from my 3 bedroom home to a 2 bedroom apartment, I feel as though I have lost 2,000 square feet. I have a lot of crap. And I'm tired already of unpacking. Boxes may become part of my decor.

This Labor Day weekend, there is a ton going on. I was planning on going to the state fair yesterday but I had to do homework. Boo. I hate being responsible. And I'm very talented at procrastinating.

One of my colleages from work is kind of like a Social Director - so that is what I will call her. SD knows everyone and brings lots of people together. She is really fun and young and is very smart. SD has taken me under her wing, which is funny as I'm much older than her, but she invited me to go out with her on Saturday evening. She wanted me to meet her partner. When she called she said she wanted me to meet them at a bar/club called Pi. Towards the end of the conversation she mentioned that it is a lesbian bar/club. Now I know that SD is gay. I have no issue with it and was happy to meet her partner as I have heard so much about her. I also have no issue going to a lesbian bar. I am secure enough in my sexuality that if someone assumes I'm gay, whatever. Frankly, it would be nice to be hit by anyone these days.

So I look up Pi online. This place is huge and has a lot going on from good food, to DJs, to an art gallery, to a pool hall and more. What is also has is various "themed" events. Such as Dildo Bingo. That's right Dildo Bingo. Now, I wasn't sure exactly what that means. A lot of images are going through my mind. Do you use the dildo as the marker? Are the cards shaped like dildos? Well, come to find out (hee - no pun intended) apparently my imagination is a lot better than reality, as you only win a dildo if you win bingo.

Otherwise, the bar/club was pretty fun. Good food, good music. But the people watching was the BEST. I am not overly familiar with the gay community. It was fascinating to me to see all these different women, the butchies, the femmes, the trannies, all in one place. The new city is very open and has a large community of GLBTs (Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Tran). The place was packed by 10:30pm. And no, no one hit on me. I didn't know whether to be upset or disappointed. I mean seriously, I looked cute. But I'm sure it was obvious I was just the straight third wheel.

Needless to say the evening was very educational. Maybe I'll go back for bingo. :-)

New A.P.T.

2008-08-06T11:42:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited!!! I found a place to live and I can't wait!!! I'm moving into the top floor, corner apartment with a fireplace and a balcony that has an incredible view of the city!!!! Although I'm only losing 200 square feet and I did sell quite a bit on Craig's List, I have no idea how all my stuff is going to fit in the new apartment. But it's a nice dilemma to have.

The packers are here today and it is so crazy that I just get to sit here while they do all the work. I'm trying to stay out of everyone's way. I'm hoping they are done by about 3pm, then I can pack up my car - which is going to be filled to the gills, especially with food.

I'm staying with a friend for a couple of weeks and am planning to move up the last week in August. Woot Woot!! The new job is being so cool about my moving.

So tomorrow everything gets loaded onto the truck and then I'm done. No more mowing the damn lawn. No more shoveling the damn driveway.

I don't remember the last time I have been this happy. I am so excited about this move, so thrilled to have a new start in a new city.

SOLD!!

2008-08-01T12:57:00.002-05:00

SOLD!!!

2008-08-01T12:19:00.002-05:00

IT'S OVER!!! MY HOUSE HAS BEEN SOLD!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I'm done!!! What a weight off of my shoulders! I can't believe I managed to survive for as long as I did being unemployed, getting a new job, selling my house...now on to packing and moving and finding a new place to live. I am beyond ready to move on. Through this process, I started hating my home - the home that I put my heart and soul into.

I am heading to the new city tomorrow morning to look for a new place to live. Wish me luck!!!

Under Pressure

2008-07-31T18:40:00.002-05:00

I have one major hurdle to jump and then I will finally be able to close on my house. Everything is happening all at once and really fast. I have so much to do and I'm freaking out. They are coming to pack me next Wednesday and move me next Thursday. I don't have a place to live in new city yet. I'm going up on Saturday and staying through Tuesday night to work and find a place. No pressure.

My boys are going to the kennel tomorrow. I feel bad on the one hand and happy on the other. I feel bad that they will be at the kennel for close to a month when all is said and one. I feel happy on the other hand as I feel I need a break - not a 4 week break from them, but a break after staying home with them since March will be nice.

I think one of the things I hate in life the most is the whole "hurry up and wait" stuff. I've feel like a I've been a hamster running on a wheel (if only I was getting the exercise benefits from it). But I'm very happy to say that I have mowed the grass for the last time!! Woot woot!! I no longer have to worry about that!! I'm very excited about the prospect of maintenance free living. No more shoveling the driveway! No more worrying if this is the last year for the damn furnace.

I really like my new company. They have been incredibly flexible in letting me work from home until I can get the house sold. Today I was on a conference call with the team. We were reviewing an agenda for a big team meeting in the UK in August. Yeah...our days won't start until 9am because everyone wants to work out in the morning. And we are ending early at least one of the days to do dinner and a play while we are there!!! Seriously?! I mean, sure I've done dinner in London with colleagues or drinks, but we've never purposely put the time in our meeting agenda!

Also today, I received a welcome basket from my new company. I know! Bizarre! I got a basket filled with tchachkis, but still, I love it! I got a mini-travel mouse, a jump drive, a clock, some cookies and a fleece blankie rolls up like a sleeping bag. How fun is that?! I'm sure some would say what a waste of company money, but I was so excited and it just really made me feel welcome.

Well, I'm off to clean out the kitchen of food as trash day is tomorrow. What a waste...but I can't give freezer and fridge food away. I will give the canned goods away. I just can't believe all of this is happening. I'm really moving. AHHHHH!!!!

Television with pity

2008-07-28T22:28:00.003-05:00

I know I've written before about how much television I watch - too much. Lately I have been really annoyed by certain commercials. So annoyed in fact that I'm thinking of switching to another provider when I move to the new city. One provider in fact is offer a new DVR system that allows you to record 4, count 'em 4, television shows at once!!

My habit is so bad that the other night, I woke up at 4am and had the new McDonalds ad for Big Macs in my head. I'm not even a huge fan of Big Macs. I'm laying there starving to death and thinking, it's 4am, they won't make it for me. Boo.

One commercial in particular annoys me. The ad is for Heineken, and the song in the background I think is supposed to be saying "it's love, it's love, la la la lahh, it's love". But in reality, all I hear is "it sucks, it sucks, la la la lahh, it sucks". You be the judge.

Maybe maybe maybe...

2008-07-24T18:02:00.002-05:00

Shhhhhhh!!!! Don't tell anyone, I'm risking a HUGE jinx here...but my home sale might go through!!!

The inspection was today and there are no real alligators with the house. So I'm hoping we can settle on a price for the repairs and I can MOVE!!!!!

I also think I've found an apartment that is in the location I want, the price I want and has all the utilities included!!! Garage parking, indoor swimming pool...high-rise living!! I can't wait to NOT be a homeowner!!! Woot Woot!!

Please keep your fingers crossed for me!!

What's in a name?

2008-07-23T19:52:00.002-05:00

When I lived in Japan, we had to get "honko" created for us which is essentially a stamp of our "signature". The signature consists of characters that are a translation of your name. My boss fretted over my Japanese name because the way you pronounce my name can have a variety of characters associated with it and each having a different meaning. My boss settled on 3 characters (3 syllables) that meant: Wise, Pearl, Jasmine. Pretty. My last name translated to War Lover or something like that. So we stuck my first name and had the wooden stamp created that had to go on all of my banking and official documents.

One of the other foreigners, I actually don't remember her real name, but her boss translated her name into "Shiny Pants". Hee! There is a comedian, Russell Peters, he is of Indian descent and is Canadian. He does this hilarious bit on foreigners with names that translate horribly.

I just got an email from my MBA school about graduation in December. The person's name is Wee Poh Chieu. The person signed the email: WEE POH!!! HEE!!! SERIOUSLY!!! I'm thinking it's either Wee Poh "Choo" or Wee POO CHOO!!! Hee!!! Sigh, I laughed so hard I was crying!

So check out Russell Peters talking trash about people's names. He's hilarious.

The Waffle is Half-Baked

2008-07-22T17:16:00.002-05:00

Well, the latest news in my saga is the Waffler managed to get off the FHA loan and back to a traditional loan so supposedly we are back on. The inspection is now on Thursday, no idea of when the appraisal will take place AND I don't feel like my realtor is on my side any longer. I am freaking out about getting movers here as you can't exactly ask them to show up the day before. I'm so pissed off and over this entire process. If the Waffler hadn't dicked around for so long this would have all been over and done with...

To top it off, my new work computer email program, the lovely Lotus Notes, has decided not to work for me. And we don't have webmail, so I can't do anything!!!

I'm so angry right now. ARGH!!!!

The Waffler Has Folded

2008-07-22T09:19:00.002-05:00

Well it looks like the home sale plans may have fallen through thanks to the Waffler's loan issues. I don't really understand all of this stuff, but apparently his lender thinks he's only buying my home to flip it so therefore it won't approve the inspection and appraisal. It was already tight trying to get all of this done by the end of the month and now it looks less and less likely.

On the bright side I sold my patio furniture last night! Woot Woot! I would have rather given it away than let the Waffler have it! Nanny nanny boo boo.

I'm feeling overwhelmed by all of this and am ready to just scream. ARGH!!!

Hi Ho, It's Off To Work, I Finally Go

2008-07-20T19:04:00.002-05:00

It's Sunday and I feel weird. I've been so busy since I've been back and feel like I haven't had a minute to even relax and now I actually have a job to go to on Monday. Well, I don't have anywhere to go per se as I'm working from home this week and the next, but still, I have stuff to do. It's so odd to have been in limbo for so long, now everything is coming at one time and super fast. The fact that I may no longer live in my house in two weeks is really freaking me out. I really hope it all works out because I'm very ready to move on with my life. I'm very excited about the new city and the new lifestyle. I'm actually practically peeing my pants over not having to mow the damn lawn anymore. Especially in this lovely 90+ weather. Summer has finally arrived and it's not letting go. Yesterday I was out mowing and when I was done I was laying on the deck trying to catch my breathe (damn asthma) when I look over and see that I've apparently had an audience. My two cats were both laying in front of the sliding doors watching me. They were probably taking bets to see if I would trip and fall while mowing or if I would pass out. Luckily to say, neither happened.

I have to go to the UK for two weeks. How on earth am I going to pack for 2 weeks these days? I'm going to be going all over the place, not staying in one place for the two weeks...I really don't want to be schlepping a huge monster around, especially if I have to travel via train. It's even more difficult as the Brits dress much "smarter" than we do...so it's not as if I can get away with really casual clothes. Usually there aren't irons and ironing boards in the rooms, so you have to send clothes out to be laundered. Guys have it a lot easier...a couple pairs of khakis and some polo shirts and you are all set. Girls have it more difficult with "business casual" or "business formal" dress.

Shoes...ugh. I have no idea which ones to pack and then having to keep my house in "show mode" doesn't make it any easier. Though I'm not sure it will be any easier if all my "stuff" is in storage should the sale of my house go through. ARGH. Too much too soon and too fast!

Life Moves Pretty Fast

2008-07-19T14:15:00.003-05:00

The Waffler and now fiancee came back with an offer that I have decided to accept on my house. I'm not losing my entire shirt, just half of it. It doesn't help that my professor, who lives 30 some odd blocks from me, sold her house in 11 days. I know it's apples to oranges, but it still ticks me off. At this point, I just want to get this all over with and get on with my life. The other thing is the Waffler wants to close by the END OF THE MONTH!! Because he dicked around haggling with me on price, we lost time and now it's going to be a miracle if I can pull this off. Not only did I just start a new job, but I'm traveling for half the month of August, two of those weeks in the UK.

So I think if I can get everything moved out I'll board the cats, put my stuff in storage and actually "move" the end of August to the new city. The timing sucks too because my car tag expires at the end of this month. So I have to renew it and fight with my current state to get the money back or drive on expired tags in new state and pay penalties. Either way, I'm screwed.

It sucks being an adult most of the time. Yesterday I got back from a week of orientation and training. New company uses Lotus Notes for email...seriously?!! I've been using Outlook for like 10 years, I have no idea how to use Lotus Notes and apparently new company is never changing, so new employee, me, better get on board. I've just ordered Lotus Notes for Dummies.

The other quirk of new company is interesting. There is no "web mail" option. For example, I go on holiday and don't want to schlep company laptop with me but want to check-in from hotel computer - NOT AN OPTION! Huh?! Also, no one except execs get smart-phones, okay fine. But if I had my own smart-phone, new company won't allow me to synch it with its laptop!!! Again - HUH?!!! So I can't check email while away and I can't access my calendar while away. I don't get it.

Yesterday I get home and have to clean the house, put all things away, fax documents to various people, sign more documents about home sale, had a home showing - hoping for a back up as I'm worried Waffler will fall through. I had been up since 3AM...can you say exhausted? Today, I'm trying to catch up on school and have to mow the lawn...yet again. I'm so tired of mowing the lawn, especially when it's 90+ outside. I have another showing tomorrow so if I don't do it today, I have to do it tomorrow. Boo.

I have some stuff I want to sell too...so I have to get it up on eBay. Wish me luck!

Rewriting the American Dream

2008-07-11T19:15:00.002-05:00

I recently watched a program that interviewed some people about whether or not they still wanted the "American Dream". Each said we needed to rewrite the so-called American dream. That it is no longer about bigger houses, bigger cars and bigger waistlines. My experience with being laid off and now trying to sell my home has led me to think about the American Dream stereotype, of defining myself by my job, my home, my car, my salary, etc...

I have decided to rent in the new city. I'm tired of home ownership. I fantasize about things breaking and not being responsible for fixing them. Of not having to mow the lawn, of not having to shovel the driveway in the winter. I'm not sure when or if I will buy again...

Perhaps I am cutting off my nose to spite my face. I don't really know. I feel, obviously, the home is the largest purchase anyone will make in their lives (aside from the yacht I plan to purchase, HA). If you can put in the time and have the money to start building your equity, it can still be the best investment to make.

I know I'm just bitter as I'm facing a loss with the sale of my home, but I can't help but think what did I really get out of my home the last 5 years? They are all money pits. People claim if you rent you are just throwing your money away, but as I'm facing a loss on my home...didn't I also throw my money away on it as well?

Held Hostage

2008-07-09T20:28:00.002-05:00

One of the shows I'm currently obsessed with is Locked Up Abroad on Discovery. It was produced by BBC and each show is a story of insane people looking to make a quick buck by smuggling drugs out of and into various countries and getting caught. Usually the Convicts tell their stories after they've done their time, but one episode is completely different. 3 U.S. tourists in Africa were taken hostage and forced to march for 9 hours in the jungle. 2 out of the 3 were hacked to death by their captors, the 3rd managed to stay alive and ultimately be released by promising to take a message from the captors to the US Ambassador.

I haven't been to Africa yet, but I have spent a lot of time in Asia and it made me think of all the times I traveled and how lucky I've been that nothing horrid has happened to me, nothing. I haven't been mugged, robbed, assaulted, my SCUBA boat was always there waiting for me...not that I have a deathwish and hope I'm not somehow jinxing myself, especially when I consider one of my former coworkers was mugged at gunpoint just down the block from my apartment in NYC when I lived there. Everyone I knew when I lived in NYC had been mugged at one time - one by hypodermic needle point! The guy said he had AIDS and would stab her with the needle if she didn't give him her bag.

When I traveled, I would meet tons of people, especially Europeans who would be "on holiday" for a year or more at a time. Usually traveling on their own. I have never liked traveling on my own - even for work. I would often think of how brave women were to be traveling on their own while on that type of holiday. I think it would be different to travel by myself to someplace like Hawaii and stay in a resort the entire time. That's different than trekking in Chang Mai, Thailand on your own.

I think I watch way too much television and read too many books...I can freak myself out faster than anyone else could. Coming up with all kinds of horrid scenarios. But I can't fathom what this guy went through in Africa - being captured by rebels and surviving simply out of sheer grit and luck.

The Waffler Will Cook!

2008-07-08T21:44:00.002-05:00

I received a completely SHIT offer on my house today. In addition to the offensive low-ball offer, Waffler wants the bed in my 2nd bedroom, my patio furniture AND for me to pay the closing costs!!! UH...let me think...NO - HELL NO!!! I realize this is a horrible market, but the fact that people seem to think it's open season on home owners SUCKS! I'm putting the patio furniture on Craig's List tomorrow!!

This is the same guy who had Mommy come by to look at the house before he could make an offer. If he's going to dick me around on the price, what the hell is he going to be like during the inspection phase?!! I swear, it's really reprehensible. When I bought I made a very fair offer and only asked for safety issues to be repaired. My asking price is more than fair.

So a Big F-U to Mr. Waffler. May he lose every house he bids on and have his balls fall off. PPPTTtttthhhhh!!!!

Faith in Humanity

2008-07-07T12:43:00.002-05:00

Follow up on my poor car, Martha. I took her in today to get her passenger mirror replaced this morning. I knew the part was X amount, but had no idea on the labor. All in all it was about half of what my deductible would have been. I had called Mr. Tree Man, the guy who cut the limb down that hit my car, and he said he would pay for it to let him know the cost of the part and that I was taking Martha in today. At least the phone number worked AND he answered.

The visit to the dealership is always interesting. The waiting area sucks. I was there so early, I nabbed a newspaper and was working the crossword puzzle when this old man sat down next to me to basically stare at my chest and comment on my puzzle skills (I'm guessing he thought this might relate to my bedroom skills). Annoying. I was there first, totally camped out and then sat there feeling icky as there was no where else to go and sit. Thankfully he left soon after. I always find it fascinating when I go to the dealership to get work done that they assume I'm dropping the car off. Nope, I'm waiting buddy. I'm here first, I want the work done and I want to wait, basically as I have no choice.

So Martha is finally done and looks great. I call Mr. Tree Man and tell him the total. He says he has to get the money and he's going to call me back. I'm like, HA! I'm thinking I'll never hear from him again. I have to go all the way across town to get a drug test for my new job and while I'm there, Mr. Tree Man calls and says he's got the money. We arrange to meet. I show up at his current job and he doesn't even ask to see the receipt for the work! I could have said it was a lot more than it was and he wouldn't have even questioned me. THEN, he proceeds to hand me cash, too much cash in large bills. I don't have change, he doesn't have change, so he says, I should take the cash and get change. SERIOUSLY?!!! I could have just run off with all the money. He only had my cell phone number...so off I go to get change, come back and give him the change. Unbelievable.

I can't believe the accident happened in the first place, then I can't believe he actually paid for the damage. As I was driving to get change, I felt so bad for the guy. He's a hard working, manual labor guy, trying to pick up work wherever and whenever he can, working outside in this heat, I felt bad. Just an honest guy, trying to make an honest living. It was an accident, it could have been a lot worse.

So two out of three ain't bad out of my accidents. I still can't believe the kid who rear-ended me actually showed up to court AND paid me my deductible back. And now I got paid for the limb hitting my car. The sideswipe at Costco...well, hopefully Karma will get that person back.

Update on my house: yesterday, a truck and a car pulled up to the curb of my house. All the people get out and crowd around the truck. Then, an older woman and a young boy walk up to the garage and around the front of the house. I opened the door and asked if I could help her...apparently her son, who I will call the Waffler, is interested in my house. He's seen it twice before, lives in the area, and according to my realtor I was in the top 3 of his home choices. His mother, the old woman, was in town for a day and came by to look at the house. So I showed her around, chatted up the house and all the work I've had done on it. As soon as she left I emailed my realtor to let him know. Waffler wants to see my house tonight for the 3rd time! Apparently the other two homes he was interested in have sold, so it's down to mine. He's a first time home buyer...taking his time. When I was a first time home buyer, I took my time finding the "right" home, but once I did, I moved on it and that was during a "normal" market. When it comes to buying, you really just have to jump. So, anyway, I'm hopeful.

This Saturday I start my next to last MBA class. I can't believe I'm almost done. I can't wait to be done. I'm not sure I will know what to do with my free time. I start my new job on Monday. Fly out for orientation. I'm totally bugging. So much change and trauma drama over the last few months...I'll be happy to settle down and get back to work. It's gonna be weird.

New Jack City

2008-07-05T09:59:00.002-05:00

My mom came to visit me to celebrate my new job and to go with me to the new city to check it out. So we drove to the new city and had a great time. It was quite the fun "free" time with my mom. She used her miles to fly up here and I used my points for us to stay in the new city. We got upgraded to the "concierge" level and proceeded to mooch all the free food - it was awesome.

The trip basically included me driving, mom trying to navigate and us getting lost as the new city is laid out on a grid, however, it's a numerical grid both north/south and east/west. So it's 2nd avenue running north/south, and 2nd STREET running east/west. Good times.

Aside from all of that it has enabled me to eliminate some areas in which I thought I wanted to move to. I'm a little nervous about the new city due to the weather, the new city is in the frozen tundra. Supposedly it can get to -20 in the winter. That's right, MINUS 20 sans windchill. To compensate the majority of apartment/condo complexes have underground HEATED garages. This is key on my list of requirements. Seriously, can you see me out there, scraping and scraping my car and praying it will start every day? Ugh...

The entire time we are playing in the new city, no one wants to see my cute house for sale. But of course, yesterday, the 4th of July, the day of our country's birth, a national flipping holiday, someone wants to see my house from 12:15 - 1:15!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY! I was so angry. We had just put the ham in the oven, were getting everything ready for our fun lunch only to be called with 30 minutes to clean the house up to leave. It just goes to show you how much of a buyers market it really is...no consideration for the sellers.

Because it pisses me off that they ask for a minimum of an hour window only to show up and half the time they just walk in and walk straight out of my home, I've started staking out my house. Unfortunately, my stake out managed to freak out one of my neighbors. I knew I freaked her out the last time I staked out the house as she kept looking at me and kept her dog really close. So yesterday, Mom and I are hanging out in the car, under my designated tree reading magazines drinking our coffee waiting on the rudeness to glance at my house, my neighbor walks over to the car to ask what the hell I'm doing.

As I am spending more and more time in my car these days, which is great because gas prices are only getting better, NOT! My poor little car has really taken a beating since I bought her. Poor Martha. I haven't even had her a year and she's already been rear-ended, technically sandwiched between two cars, completely violated. Then she was side-swiped in the Costco parking lot by a ginormous SUV that was probably angry that I get better gas mileage. And finally, while my mom was here, the third and hopefully final shoe literally fell on Martha. It was Saturday morning, the first morning my mom was here. I went for a coffee run, and of course, as it's just around the corner from my house (well, 10 blocks) I drove in my pajamas there and forgot to bring my cell phone. On my way back, I had the windows down and the sunroof open, I'm driving down the road minding my own business, when I pass this home that has two guys trimming trees. All of the sudden a HUGE LIMB comes out of nowhere to fall on my car!!!! First I feel lucky that my sunroof was open because it could have shattered it. Then I think what if it had been just a few inches over and it fell into the car through the sunroof and hit me on the head?!! Instead it hit the roof caused two dents and managed to shatter and break off my passenger side mirror. I pull into the home's driveway, talk to one of the guys who could care less, got his name, number and address. I should have called the cops, but I just wasn't thinking and I didn't have my cell phone and I was in my pajamas. The two guys of course aren't part of a company, it's just two random guys...I'm never going to see my money and you know it's going to be just under my $500 deductible so no point in declaring it.

Sigh...poor Martha. I shudder to think what will happen to her in the frozen tundra after I move. I think we are going to be together for a long time.

It's Official

2008-06-26T14:12:00.002-05:00

Well, it's official, I have accepted a new position and am moving!!! I am excited and nervous and just completely freaked out. Traffic on my house has picked up, but still no offers, so that is the last thing keeping me here. I am ready for the change in scenery. I think it's past time to move on.

Due to keeping my house in constant "show mode" I am now sick of my house and am quite over home ownership in general. I'm thinking of going back to renting. I have these fantasies about things breaking and not being responsible for fixing them. I may rent downtown...thinking of a nice high rise building with lots of amenities. We'll see.

My Mom is flying up tomorrow and then we are going to visit my new city together to check it out and look at potential places to live.

I can't believe I managed to get through these last 3 months without climbing into a bottle or spiraling into a deep depression. I did, of course, manage to gain some weight, but I'm a stress eater and it was either that or curl up in the fetal position and never get out of bed. Maybe the new city will inspire me to get in shape.

So wish me luck!

Side Swipe

2008-06-20T20:25:00.002-05:00

I had a home showing this evening and instead of staking out my house as I've been doing the last few times I decided to run to Costco. I figured it wouldn't be crowded as who the hell would be there on a Friday night besides other losers avec moi? I pulled in and got decent parking, did my shopping, came out filled up my trunk only to find the drivers rear side of my car had these scraps on it. I was in the last space in the row, when I pulled in there was a white SUV next to me. I noticed there was some white along with the scrap that was down to the base metal!!! The sad thing is the jackass in the big ass SUV probably didn't even know he hit me. I hope someone siphons his gas!!

I haven't even had Martha for a full year and I've already been rear-ended and now I've been side-swiped. Just caps off my incredible experience over the last few months.

Duece!

2008-06-18T18:58:00.004-05:00

After almost 3 months of being laid off, I now have TWO, count 'em TWO, job offers!!! I am still waiting on some details from one of the companies, but I can't believe I actually have a choice! This last year with the latest company has been a big blow to my ego. My self confidence has been at an all-time low. I feel like they broke me down and then laid me off with no regard whatsoever.

Now I am seriously freaked out about going back to work. I have spent every day for at least 6 hours a day looking for a job, parked on my sofa in front of the TV. Now I'm going to have to interact with people and execute. Scary.

I know writing this blog is risking a jinx, but I am so excited and happy. I was starting to allow myself to get into a funk and lay in bed all day and do nothing but obsess about money, mortgages, car payments and where I was going to go should it all fall apart. I realize there are worse things in life, but these last few months have been so difficult.

This was my third layoff in my life. I'm praying it's my last.

Chung Chung

2008-06-16T20:33:00.002-05:00

As I am unemployed and spend my days parked on my sofa in front of the television with my laptop looking for a job, I watch a lot of programs. I've become addicted to programs that I would never have watched previously such as Homocide. Homocide was the gritty Baltimore cop drama that I feel was the precursor to Law & Order (L&O). These programs are pretty incestuous with the character Detective Munch on Homocide moving to L&O SVU. There are some other crossovers as well. Daily I see my various L&O gang on Homocide. I watch all the L&Os, but am over SVU. Although Christopher Meloni is some good eye candy, I really can't stomach hearing about sex crimes anymore. I've started to get into Criminal Intent because of Mr. Big's character Logan. He at least has a sense of humor. And it seems to focus more on the Order side of the L&O. I'm not as interested in the Law part - the court cases are only the last 20 minutes of the show and half the time the baddie gets away with it.

Last night I'm watching an old Criminal Intent with D'Onofrio and the story goes the wife tried to blow herself and her 4 kids in her car with a pipe bomb because the husband was abusive. Long story short, they determine they can't charge the husband with any wrong doing. I'm laying there going, nu uh. If they had paid attention to the original L&O, Sam Waterson would have charged the husband with Depraved Indifference as he knew his wife was diagnosed with postpartum depression and was suicidal therefore she might cause harm to their children and did nothing about it which could potentially get him 7 - 15 at Rikers. Needless to say, when I protested with my clear legal solution, the TV did not answer me back. But how pathetic is it that I think I know this stuff? Between all the L&Os, Homocide and CSIs I feel like I could solve any crime. I have even started watching Cold Case - but I hate that main girls hair - and Without A Trace.

I don't get Without A Trace because I am clearly now a law enforcement and legal expert, I know you normally cannot report a missing person for a minimum of 24 hours, yet according to Without A Trace there is an FBI department that gets involved from the get go? It doesn't make sense. I mainly watch it because my friend GJBs sister is in it.

Anyway, it is clear I need to get a life or I need to go back to school to get my JD and become a criminal attorney. I'm barely hanging in there on my MBA. So I think I will stick to being an armchair criminal expert. Chung Chung.

Tivo is NOT my friend!

2008-06-12T22:00:00.002-05:00

Okay, I should clarify, I have a DVR, not a Tivo per se. I subscribe to a smaller cable company because I hate the big guy in town and the smaller company enabled me to bundle my service a lot earlier than Mr. Costly Big Guy. Therefore, I have Ghetto DVR. I don't have all the bells and whistles of other fake Tivo's like the people who have a dish or big guy cable. I only recently got the ability to record first run only's.

Tonight we had a huge storm. HUGE. I get it, the possibility of losing power is there. Why is it that I can DVR a program with the cable box off, yet if I'm watching it and lose power in the middle of watching said program, it doesn't continue to record?! I feel like I'm in that conversation with Billy Crystal and pal on that stupid New Yorkers go on a trail ride movie...what was it? Billy was trying to explain to his friend how it is possible to record a program on a VCR without the TV being on....anyway, so of course tonight is the season premiere of the show My Boys on TBS. I am ticked off that 1. it stopped recording the show in the middle and 2. it cut off at the end. Seriously!!! What is up?!! I thought DVR was supposed to be smarter than that. I am sick of DVR cutting off shows before they end.

THEN! I went to the My Boys website, thinking, I'll just watch the show online. HA! It's not up yet!!! I can only watch a so-called "sneak peek" which is moot as it premiered this evening!!! There is no sneak peeking as it's already peeked!

I get really freaked out in this weather because I think I'm the only person in the entire midwest that does not have a basement. I realize in hind sight this was not smart and is potentially the reason that my house isn't selling due to the worst tornado season in a decade, but wouldn't you think it would be a building requirement for all homes in this area to have a basement? It is not, therefore, I thought, no worries. I'll be fine. Yes, indeedy. Me and the cats sitting in the bathtub as the sirens go off only to find there is nothing, nothing coming at us for which I am eternally grateful.

I only had one non-negotiable when I was looking for a home previously, it was a garage. Now that I have my first home that list has gone up to a garage, a basement and a fireplace when I lose power/heat in the winter. I figure I'll just migrate from the top level to the basement depending upon the season.

Back to DVR/Tivo: why can you only record two programs at one time? It's really annoying.

No Cats Allowed?

2008-06-11T10:20:00.002-05:00

After spending the last 3 months without a job, I'm not sure how I will do if I actually get a job. The blow to my self confidence has been considerable. All the jobs I'm interviewing for are out of the state I'm currently located in...what if it doesn't work out and I get laid off again? New city, no support system? It's worrying.

I interviewed yesterday for a role in the UK. It would be quite the change obviously. Then I started to freak out about bringing my cats over. Previously the UK had a 6 month quarantine period. I think things have changed with that, but the possibility of not being able to have my boys with me in a new location is distressing. They are my safety blankets. Not having children with this whole process of being laid off allows you to live life without schedules. You can flounder around. But with the boys I do have to stick to somewhat of a schedule and they are quite demanding about their care. There are so many days when all I want to do is crawl into bed and not come out. The boys come and "check on me" aka annoy me and make me get up. I'm not sure how I would do without them.

Bleat

2008-06-05T18:25:00.002-05:00

In spite of my loving SILs suggestion that I stick an icepick in my eye to solve my headache issue, it has finally gone away only to be replaced by a serious stomach ache, which I recognize both are due to stress.

I just finished my marketing class and made an "A"!! Woot Woot! After all of this turmoil, school is still the constant pain in my ass and I am still carrying a 4.0!

The job hunt is going slowly and the house sale is not going at all. However, I was at the book store today hunting for a school book and found the most entertaining book I've read in a long while: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. Originally published in German, it has recently been translated into English and it is a quirky, hilairous delight to read.

Review from Amazon: "In this refreshingly original detective story from debut German author Swann, a flock of sheep investigates the murder of their beloved shepherd, George Glenn. Leading the effort is Miss Maple, considered the cleverest sheep in the Irish seaside village of Glennkill. She slyly "pretends" to graze while eavesdropping on suspects who come to search George's caravan for something he may have died for. When a long-lost ram recounts an incident that occurred upon his departure years earlier, Miss Maple uncovers the catalyst for George's death. The wooly troupe reveals the crime's solution in a near-Shakespearean mime at the annual "Smartest Sheep in Glennkill" contest. The author's sheep's-eye view and the animals' literal translation of the strange words and deeds of the human species not only create laugh-out-loud humor but also allow the animals occasional flashes of accidental brilliance".

If you can put away your sense of reality and go along for the ride, it's a fantastic read.

The Daily Grind

2008-06-02T17:39:00.002-05:00

So I've been waiting and waiting to hear back from a company as to whether or not they wanted to make me an offer...it's been almost a month since I flew out there and today I found out in the most round-about ridiculous way. Completely unprofessional and frankly I'm really more pissed off than upset. Fine that they don't want me, but so not fine that no one has bothered to be in touch with me and then casually mentions after multiple emails oh...I think they offered that to another candidate. Gee...you think? Could someone have let me know?!!!!

I was supposed to hear from another company on Friday, they said Monday latest...this morning I receive an email saying I'm still in the running but no word as to when they will make a decision. ARGH! I hate waiting!!!

I had an interview with a very small local company this afternoon and I find it hilarious that I did a ton of research on what little I could find on a small privately held company and the guy that I spoke with at length on the phone thought my name was LeeAnn. I asked about the small team and he said, well, it's me and "another LeeAnn", pause for effect. He stares at me...I'm like, that's great, glad you have LeeAnn, but that's NOT my name!

I've had a headache since Friday. I can't seem to shake it. Any suggestions, other than the obvious?

The Stuffie Massacre

2008-05-29T14:55:00.003-05:00

I was in Minneapolis yesterday interviewing for a job. Please keep your fingers crossed!

I was driving back to the airport when all of the sudden, scattered across the highway was a zoo of tiny tiny stuffed animals. I have no idea how they got there. I have this vision of a child in the back of a minivan throwing them out one by one angry at all of his/her stuffie's for some transgression or another. "Take that Mr. Lion"!

I was actually trying to swerve to avoid running them over...even running over a stuffed bunny felt icky and wrong.

Busted House

2008-05-25T16:32:00.004-05:00

I had yet another open house that was a complete bust. Not a single person showed up AGAIN! Sigh. I'm so tired of killing myself to keep the house in great "show" shape at all times only to have no one show up. Now my realtor is talking with me about lowering the price! I haven't even had it on the market a full month AND I can't get anyone to come look at it! So I'm not convinced that lowering the price is the right thing to do.

In spite of the stupid lack of open house, I had a very lovely day. I splurged and went to the downtown shopping area and had brunch at a great seafood restaurant. I had crab cake eggs benedict with a bloody mary. So nice. I sat at the bar and eavesdropped on the conversation next to me. This couple was arguing about Anthony Scalia...ugh.

Then, I went to the museum. One of the exhibits had the most amazing piece by an artist El Anatsui. He is from Africa and makes huge sculptural pieces out of liquor bottle tops that have been flattened and linked together with copper wire.

Saw some fun new exhibits, but of course, I enjoyed the museum gift shop the most of all. So typical of me. If I had a job I would have bought a ton of things to clutter up my house. :)

It's hot and muggy here today. I hope it rains soon. Since I've worked so hard today, I'm off to take a nap.

Home for Sale

2008-05-21T11:21:00.002-05:00

I finally had another showing last night. The realtor was really pushy and quite rude. Usually you give the realtor and potential buyer an hour window. They asked for a two hour window from 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Seriously?!! Where was I going to watch the finale of Dancing with the Stars?!!! And what kind of person doesn't watch DWTS or Idol?! Do I really want this person to buy my home?!

Needless to say, I haven't heard a peep from them and I doubt I will. I'm doing another open house this weekend Sunday. I think I'm going to our local museum to kill the day. I haven't been in years and they've done a ton of work on it. Plus I think it may rain...

Still no luck on the job hunting. Hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait.

Cookie Dough Cookies

2008-05-20T15:47:00.002-05:00

I'm very strange when it comes to desserts at times. I love chocolate, but for some reason have never really liked chocolate chip cookies (with the exception of my friend MWs whose cookies I affectionately refer to as "crack" they are so good). I love the cookies, but I just like the cookie part the best, not the chocolate chip part. I know, weird. So I started baking cookies recently - what else have I got to do? My recipe is quite different from MWs. I made some chocolate chip cookies for my family when they were in town and they turned out pretty damn good if I do say so myself. They are crispy on the edges and chewy in the center. But I kept trying to get the ones with only a few chocolate chips or popping the chocolate chips out. So recently I decided to make the recipe sans chocolate chips. I need a name for these cookies - the recipe is from The Joy of Cooking:

Heat oven to 375 - grease cookie sheets
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Whisk together
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
Beat until fluffy
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Add and beat with other wet ingredients until well combined
Then, stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until smooth.

This is where you are supposed to add chocolate chips and/or nuts. I have chosen not to.

Then, you just drop the dough on the sheets and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes.

I LOVE these things but need a better name for them than cookie dough cookies, although I guess that's okay. Any ideas?

Reprogram

2008-05-19T09:08:00.002-05:00

I got my new DVR box today. But of course I now have to remember everything I watch, which channel it comes on, what time...all the things I never have to remember because I have DVR!!!! What if I forget something major?! I suppose I can watch it online. There are all these cool gadgets now, sling boxes where you can watch your DVR programs on your computer. Now I hear you can have them sent to your handheld device too. I wish I had that when I used to travel all the time for work. I wish I had work. I'm so bored and feel so boring. The drudgery of looking for a job, the stress of keeping my house spotless for any random showing is killing me. I don't want to go out because I don't want to spend money. So I'm sort of stuck and the only thing I've achieved these days is managing to get carpel tunnel in my right arm.

DVR is now dead

2008-05-18T15:23:00.004-05:00

My DVR has died. The funeral is on Monday when the repairman comes to bring me a new one. I'm devastated. I was stacking up all the episodes of CSI to have a marathon this weekend. Anything I try to DVR shows up in pixalated format. At first I thought it was just that day/time period, but no, it's dying. I suppose it's past time. The menu doesn't really work. Sure I can see what is on, but I can't see anything more than that. Plus the remote-y has been dropped so many times that it now makes noise when you pick it up. I should have replaced it long ago.

I feel like I've gone back to the dark ages. I may as well just watch network tv. Seriously, I don't recall a time I didn't watch tv in DVR. What do you mean I can't fast forward? I'm so bored. It's a beautiful day. I should be outside, doing what I don't know. I mowed the lawn last night and had my first serious asthma attack. It sucked - literally. I couldn't catch my breathe, had to use my inhaler like 4 times. I have no idea what triggered it. It's not the first time I've mowed the lawn, but it was the first time I had to stop over and over again.

Picture me, sucking wind.

Dryer Tubes

2008-05-15T21:02:00.004-05:00

I hate showering. Why does it take forever to get in, wet yourself down, lather up, rinse off, shave, wash hair, cream rinse hair? And why do I have to do it everyday? Well, actually I don't do it everyday, much to most people's dismay. I should clarify, I really just hate washing my hair. I do try to shower daily (emphasis on try), I just don't wash my hair daily...maybe every 3 or 4 days. I have two old lady shower caps that I rotate. Very sexy. See, I have long hair, but I have a lot of hair. It's very fine textured, but there is a ton of it. It takes FOREVER to dry. I don't like blowing my hair out everyday because I color my hair and the constant blowing makes it brittle and dry. But it's been so flipping cold here for so long, I can't just wait around and air dry my hair. Back when I had a job that would have been unprofessional to show up with a wet head. I'm too chubby to cut it short. I love short hair, but right now that's not a possibility.

I just hate dealing with all the grooming. I can't stand it. After I shower, I have to lube up with lotions and deodorant. I hate the taste of toothpaste, I can't stand brushing my teeth because I swear at least once a week (because I'm a clumsy loser) the brush slips and I stab myself in the little piece of skin under my tongue that connects it to my jaw. Thereby rendering me speechless with a burning mouth full of toothpaste. I hate flossing. But after years of living in Japan where they let their children's teeth rot out of their heads, I'm quite obsessed with keeping my teeth healthy - in spite of hating what I have to do to keep them that way.

My entire of goal of every weekend, which is now essentially endless as I'm unemployed, was to stay in my pajamas and not bathe. I wake up whenever I want to, watch TV in bed until I must get up to go potty, then shuffle to the sofa to watch more TV and look for a job on the Internet. There I sit until I shuffle back to bed to take a nap, then shuffle back to the sofa to catch late afternoon/evening programs.

I'm so lazy. I love clutter. I love being sloppy. I love to wallow. So I hate having to keep my house in "show-mode". No dishes "soaking" in the sink. No clothes strewn all over my guest bed. No mail and paperwork stacked on the kitchen counters. No food set out on the counter tops or on top of the fridge. But the one thing I especially hate is making my bed. Seriously, of all the stupid things. I'm just going to climb back into it either for a nap or for the night.

Remember on Seinfeld when he and George talked about wanting to know where are the flying cars? I don't want to know where the flying cars are, I want to know where my instant drying tube is after I shower. I want to know where my Rosie the Robot is to clean my house. I have a Roomba, but she can't be out these days due to show mode, so what is the point? Where is my automatic food maker? Where is my automatic laundry folder and put-er away-er? Who cares about flying cars. Just means gas prices will go up even more. I want my dryer tube.

Slow Down

2008-05-15T10:41:00.003-05:00

Things have really slowed down for me with the job search. I'm in the waiting game. I hate waiting. I feel like it's all hurry-up and wait. I'm so ready (finally) just to move on. I have been trying to psych myself up about moving by looking at houses in potential new locations on realtor.com. I love to look at the photos and try to figure out what I would do with the various homes. My plan (when/if I ever sell my current home) would be to do something similar, buy a starter home and do some renovations to turn it into what I want. I would love to build, but who can afford it? I can't.

I'm really hoping things pick up for me in the near future as one of the largest employers in my city is about to do another round of layoffs, which means more competition for jobs as well as more homes going on the market. Meanwhile I keep hoping I'll win the lotto.

TV Madness

2008-05-12T20:57:00.007-05:00

I watch a lot of television. A lot. I think I've seen almost everything on TV. I have now watched so much tv that I have started to notice a few interesting things about some of the reality TV shows - and not just your Survivor type reality TV shows, but shows on HGTV and Bravo.

Recently since I've been laid off I started watching Clean House on Style. Love that Niecy Nash. They did an episode with a couple named Dave and Miriam. Miriam was not a nice woman on the show. I didn't like her. Turns out not only were they on Clean House to get rid of their clutter and to score free stuff, they also had their wedding done by Design on a Dime! Talk about pimping yourself out!

THEN! I was watching an episode of HGTV's Designed to Sell the other day and a random carpenter named Greg showed up who looked an awful like the new trainer on Bravo's WorkOut - IT IS!

Are there seriously not enough people in the world who want to be on TV that we are now recycling our so called reality TV stars?

I Quit

2008-05-12T12:58:00.002-05:00

That's right, I quit my retail job. After 3 days of killing myself and doing some higher math, I realized that I make more money by sitting at home collecting unemployment than I do by hobbling around fitting women for bras.

Had two great interviews today. One company wants to fly me out to interview in person. I've had a few home showings recently and have a broker showing tomorrow.

I'm hoping things are looking up for me. Fingers crossed!

My Dogs Are Barking

2008-05-09T15:42:00.004-05:00

Retail is a young girls game. My feet hurt so bad. I'm so NOT used to standing and running around for hours on end. My first day and I only worked 4 hours and I'm exhausted! Tomorrow I have to work for 6 hours and seriously after the first 3 today I was counting the minutes.

I find women hilarious. I had women ask me to help them with fit their bras. Now I have been measured for my fit before and I have no problem with that. But no, she wanted me to come in the dressing room and check the fit after she had it on. I mean, we all have the same parts, two eggs sunny side up, but I just felt a bit uncomfortable. I was like, how does it feel and she was like fine. I said, well, it looks good...was she expecting me to feel her up? I have no idea.

Then, I love it when people come in with something specific in mind. Do you have an avocado colored shirt made of lace? Are you HIGH?! No, I'm sorry we don't. Do you have a men's style button down shirt? No, but I'm sure the men's department in the big store on the end of the mall does. If you want a man's shirt, go buy one, we only sell women's clothes.

My favorite phrase working retail is when a customer says to you, "I'll let you...". OOooohh, you'll let me fit your bra for you? You'll let me hang up all the clothes you left on the floor? I feel so priviledged.

Anyway, in spite of my whining, I really enjoyed it. The ladies are nice and it's really just like shopping. I also get a SWEET discount right now, so even if I don't work there very long, I get like 55% off!! I'm SO taking advantage of that even if I am laid off and broke. I will get a job and I will need fun new clothes, so there!

Highs and Lows

2008-05-07T13:39:00.002-05:00

This posting is going to be a bit disjointed as my thoughts are pretty scattered...please bear with me.

Tomorrow I fly out to interview at another company. Last time I did that I flew in and out in the same day and that's what I'm doing again tomorrow. Ugh. I'm hoping I don't get home at 2am again. I still haven't received my ticket information from the company...I guess if worst comes to worse, I'll show up at the counter tomorrow an hour before the flight (they at least told me the times) and see what happens. Last time I went up and back in one day I only brought a change of shoes and I was miserable going home because the flight was so delayed, etc. I'm trying to decide if I should bring sweats or something.

I start my new job on Friday. I'm pretty excited. I'm sure I'll be exhausted. I haven't worked retail since college.

5 months after my car wreck, in which the kid rear-ended me and did not have car insurance, after a court date and months of waiting, I just got my reimbursement from the kid for my deductible!!! Woo hoo!!! Couldn't have come at a better time!

I had my first home show yesterday. I wish I knew what the person and the realtor thought of my home. It's my baby. I obviously think it's a fantastic home, but no idea what others may think of it.

Did I mention that throughout all my craziness of being unemployed and putting my house on the market, I managed to still pull an "A" in statistics?!!! Statistics!!! I know! Insane! Perhaps it goes to show what a crappy program I'm in but I'm still so proud! I, solely, wrote our teams final stats paper! Now I'm marketing and after marketing I only have 3 more classes to go! They are all mostly BS type classes, I can't believe I made it through accounting, econ, finance AND stats!!! I'm so happy I'm almost done! All my remaining classes are 6 week classes and they are hopefully just going to fly by! My last class ends on October 3 and I will seriously be partying that weekend!

It's been a tumultuous two years of change. I'm tired of change and ready to move on.

Win free stuff!

2008-05-06T17:54:00.003-05:00

That's right! I'm pimping the following blog: Chop. Stir. Mix.

Go here and win free stuff!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another note, I'm very excited to say that I was just hired on the SPOT for a retail job at the mall! I wasn't even planning to speak with the manager. I look like complete ass: no makeup, casual clothes, hair up in a clip...I was just going to drop off the application. The manager came up, we chatted and she said, "when can you start?". If only every other job I've applied for these days ended the same way!

So I have some interviews this week and I'm starting a job on Friday! I have something to do! Somewhere to go! Some worth! Some value! AND - A DISCOUNT!!!! :)

It's the Plumber, I've come to fix the sink

2008-05-06T12:58:00.003-05:00

I had to have a plumber come out today to fix my kitchen sink. I have done some minor repairs on my home myself. I was so proud, I even re-grouted tile! But I was too intimidated by the sink - and good thing I didn't do anything as he had to practically take the entire thing apart and put it back together.

So I've started applying for retail jobs to see if I can get a part time job. It's odd. I feel like I'm in the perpetual "weekend" state of mind. I feel like every morning I'm going to wake up and this will be a dream and I'll have a job to go to. It's hard to say I'm unemployed. It's hard to say I've been laid off. I know I wasn't fired, but it really doesn't feel like it. I've lost so much self-confidence and self-worth. I know it's not smart to have my entire identity wrapped around a job, but it is so much of who I am.

I keep thinking about what someone said, that maybe corporate america isn't the place for me...but where is the place for me? I keep trying to figure out if money was no object and I could do and be anything I wanted to in the world, what would it be...I have no idea. I thought I had a plan, getting my MBA, going back into HR. Now I just don't know.

It's easier to know what I don't want. I know I don't want to own my own business. I know I don't want to work retail, I know I don't want to be teacher again (at least right now)...obviously I could go on...I really just don't know what to do anymore. I'm open to suggestions.

Close House

2008-05-05T09:56:00.002-05:00

I had my first open house on Sunday. I'm not a believer in open houses when selling. When I was looking to buy a home, I never went to open houses. I didn't want to look at homes with other people fighting to get into rooms, etc. So low and behold not a single damn person showed up at my open house. I killed myself to get everything ready for the showing - mowing the lawn, etc, only to have no one show. Not even a flipping nosy neighbor?!! When I drove home one of my neighbors had taken a flyer and then she and a few other neighbors stood outside pointing at my house gossiping. Lovely.

THEN! To top it all off! My realtor set her purse down on my baker's rack and a bottle of wine fell off due to her setting her purse down and the bottle broke a clay pot of mine! This pot is called a nabe pot and I shelped that thing back from Japan. A friend of mine in Japan gave it to me for my birthday and I use it ALL THE TIME!!! I'm so upset. Seriously! What the hell! Keep your damn purse in your car! What do you need at an open house, your flipping cell phone and your keys, that's it! She writes me a note and says she'll replace it...I don't even know if I can replace it! Is she goign to fly one over from Japan?!

So I'm totally stressed out and freaked out. The companies that I speak with love me, but then they tell me they can no longer hire externally. The economy sucks. Now I won't be able to sell my house. All I want to do is lay in bed all day long and I can't do that on the off chance someone wants to see my house. WHATEVER. I'm so depressed.

Procrastination

2008-04-27T13:07:00.002-05:00

One of my many talents is procrastinating. I am supposed to be "decluttering" my house to put it on the market and I don't want to. It's not like I have to pack the entire place up yet, but I just really don't want to do it. I guess it is the reality of decluttering that makes me realize I have to sell my house and start over somewhere.

I hate moving. Growing up we moved almost every year. I am a complete and total clutter bug. I LOVE my stuff and I like to have my stuff around me at all times. I don't like having to start over. I put my heart and soul into my home, from decorating, to renovating and more. It's my sanctuary - probably too much of one at times, but I love it.

I'm really scared about the future and the unknown. This latest experience of being laid off has completely sucked. I feel so helpless and out of control of my own life. There are days I just want to lay in bed and pull the covers over my head. I feel like people think I'm a big slacker and that I am not trying to find a job. It's frustrating when I talk with some people, especially old colleagues who say things like, oh I would love to have the time off - as if I'm on holiday. Clearly I'm out shopping all day long.

I've been lucky not to have to really worry about bills when I have a job. I'm not used to clipping coupons and having to make life decisions at the gas pump. With prices going up all over, it's scary to try to figure out how I'm going to make ends meet. I'm completely depressed. It's hard to keep my spirits up.

I think it's just really difficult as I'm doing all of this on my own. I don't mean to say that I'm alone, as I have my family and friends, but the decisions I make, right or wrong, are mine and mine alone to live with. This time last year, I thought I was making the right decision to take a new job...less than a year later, I'm unemployed. I still think it was the right decision at the time, but with hindsight being 20/20, it's hard not to second guess yourself.

You always hope you are making the right decisions. But what is right at the time may not end up being right in the future. I hate the uncertainty and the unknown. So I'm procrastinating so as to put off reality. Everything is changing and I don't know if those changes are for the better.

Clean Sheets

2008-04-22T10:20:00.002-05:00

I've been working pretty hard to get my house in shape to sell. Since I'm exercising my inner domestic goddess I put clean sheets on the bed last night. The rule in my house is if you have clean sheets, you must have a clean body. What is it about clean sheets? I guess it's similar to pulling on jeans straight from the dryer in winter.

Update on my job search: well as I'm about to sell my home, it's not looking good. I am waiting to hear back from a company that flew me out to interview a little over 2 weeks ago. I hate waiting. The pickings are slim out there. More and more companies are laying people off. The economy seems like it's on a continuous downward spiral. The only bonus in my being laid off is not having to make the awful commute that I had as the price of gas is ridiculous as well as the bridge I used to cross the river is now under construction for the next 3 years.

Well, I'm off to watch the Price is Right.

Here Kitty Kitty

2008-04-18T21:40:00.002-05:00

I love cats. I didn't grow up with cats, but I always wanted one. When I lived in Japan there was a stray that hung out at my friend's apartment. We named him Fat Paul. For a while we didn't see Fat Paul and were worried something had happened to him...he showed up a few months later looking worse for the wear and had become known as Skinny Paul.

When I moved to the heartland, I got two cats. One passed away and about 18 months later I decided Schmoopie needed a playmate, so I got Little Man. It is now almost 18 months since Little Man joined the family and he and Schmoopie are finally getting along...for the most part.

I have contemplated getting a third cat, however, I feel that would make me the scary crazy cat lady and have resisted. I have also resisted as it was so difficult getting Schmoopie and Little Man to like each other, I can't go through that again.

I saw this video and thought it was pretty hilarious as I too use the corporal cuddling method of punishing my cats - they hate it when I smoosh them and kiss them...yet they always seem to come back for more.

For Sale

2008-04-17T17:28:00.003-05:00

As things are not going well with my job hunt, I've decided to move forward and put my house on the market. I'm totally bummed out as I L.O.V.E. my house. I have had a TON of work done on it and it is my cocoon. My realtor claims it will sell quickly even in this tragic of a market. I'm not sure what his definition of quickly is...most of my friends who've sold their homes (similar price ranges) have taken 5 - 6 months. I could probably stick it out for another few months...I don't know. I'm starting to FREAK out. The job market sucks and the housing market is worse. So please send positive thoughts my way.

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Okay, on another note, I'm a bit outraged by the Pope's comments regarding those molested by priests basically blaming it on US society's character! AND he "laments" US injustices against Black people and Indian people. Yes, I lament that as well, however does the Pope lament the Catholic Church's role in the Spanish Inquisition?! I'm positive we are not the only country to have priests taking advantage of boys and girls! At least today he finally met with the victims of abuse - which was not supposed to happen.

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So on a more positive note, I have managed to sell a few things lately. It makes me feel good to get rid of stuff, but also to potentially make a little money. I've never done a garage/tag/yard sale (whatever you call it in your world). I'm not sure if I like the idea of doing one. It seems like a ton of work for little profit, unless Niecy Nash from Clean House was running it! I'll probably just give more stuff to Goodwill.

Obsessions

2008-04-16T10:23:00.002-05:00

I'm spending a considerable amount of time watching television these days. I know you are thinking how is that different from before? Well, let me explain, now I get to watch daytime TV because I have wireless and I can look for jobs while sitting in front of the TV. I definintely have a routine now.

I have to watch GMA in the morning. Followed by Regis & Kelly only because my other options suck. I can't stand Racheal Ray and I hate the Today show. I watch Regis & Kelly to fill the hour until my favorite daytime show, the Price is Right, comes on. I am so in love with Drew Carey. I think whoever cast him as Barker's replacement was a fricking genius! He is the anti-Barker. He wants everyone to win and is so funny. Sometimes I think he still can't believe he has this gig. So, I am officially a Carey's Cutie. I love that the audience has embraced him too and everyone wears t-shirts for him now saying things like: Bob who? We've got Drew! I especially love the prime-time Price Is Right on Friday evenings. While the show frustrates me because people rely way too much on the audience and they can't make a decision on their own, it's so cool to watch people win things and hilarious to watch them win things like snow mobiles. They smile because they have won something but they have that fake smile, like, I live in Florida - what am I going to do with a damn snow mobile. Cracks me up. After I bought my new car, I would run around saying "A NEW CAR" just like they do on the show. I liked his sitcom and I liked his version of Who's Line is it Anyway?

I'm also obsessed with the show Clean House. I have no idea why I like it other than I'm fascinated by what color flower the host Niecy Nash is going to match with her outfit that day. Besides filling the hours between the morning shows and then the afternoon talk shows is difficult. I don't watch soaps, although it is becoming tempting. I used to watch Days in college. And before that it was GH. Who didn't love GH when it was Luke and Laura and Scorpio? But I don't know if I want to make the committment to a soap as I feel once I cross that line I will never get a job. I'll be living with my mom, collecting unemployment watching soaps.

Anyway, the job hunt is not going well. Everything is taking forever and the odds of my being able to stay in my house, in my town are quite slim. So I've been selling some stuff on Craig's list - which is a bit scary as it can bring out the crazies. And doing some minor repairs to get it ready to sell.

So I'm off to watch my obsession, the Price is Right.

Shattered

2008-04-04T23:28:00.002-05:00

I had a series of interviews on Thursday with a very large company in New Yersey. What seemed like a great idea at the time, of flying up and back for the interviews in one day, has turned into the most wrecked I've felt since the last time I was seriously wasted. I don't know why doing essentially nothing but sitting in a tin can for hours on end makes you so flipping tired, but it does. My flight up to New Yersey was actually early! Seriously! When is the last time you flew in to Newark and arrived 30 minutes early AND they had a gate for you?!!! NEVER! So I knew I was totally hosed for the flight home. After 4 back-to-back hour long interviews of having to be "on" for the day, I sat on the runway with a dog barking in the row behind me before we could take off. The fight, was of course delayed prior to the sitting on the runway part, so I didn't arrive home until like 1:30am. Bizarrely enough, as I was leaving my parking lot, the woman who was working the kiosk was the same lady that gave me my ticket that morning at the crack-o-flipping-dawn. I was like, we've both had long damn days.

I usually know how I've done, whether it's tests, interviews, you name it. I know in my gut if I've killed it or bombed it. But this time, I feel great about 2 of the interviews, good about 1 and decent about the last. So it could go either way which totally sucks. The are supposed to get back to me quickly, so at least I won't be on pins and needles forever.

Have two interivews on Monday, one with a big-wig of a company out California. The role would mean I would have to relo to L.A., not really ever a place I wanted to live. Seriously, how can anyone afford to live there? New Yersey is just as bad. It just sucks there aren't jobs in locations out in the middle of the country.

Since I've been spending all my time at home these days constantly looking for a job, I've been doing more "kravitzing" aka spying on my neighbors than usual. Today, I actually saw the bitchy neighbor catty-corner to me play with her kid for the first time in like 5 years! I was blown away. Usually she's screaming and yelling at them. She has a new boyfriend who now apparently has a key to the house - big doings. So I'm wondering when he will be moving in for good or she will sell and move with him.

I went to visit my mother recently and in her little podunk airport, I'm sitting waiting for my flight and guess who walks by? You won't guess, so I will tell you...Oliver flipping Stone! I know! WTF? Apparently he's filming there. Who knew?

You know how people say they've reached the end of the internet? I've reached the end of television. I've seen every show that is on TV. My only excitment is my tennis lessons are starting again next week. I had been working out since the new year. I gave up drinking the evil elixer of life called Diet Coke and was exercising every day - not so's you'd know it. But since the day I got word I was being "eliminated" I've been on a food and bev pity party from hell. No working out, guzzling DC like mad and eating whatever the hell I want. So, going back to tennis next week is going to suck because I'm a complete fat-ass and will probably hurl afterwards. Blech.

Long time no post

2008-04-01T19:53:00.002-05:00

Hi there...so I'm officially unemployed, again. Laid off as of yesterday. I feel like I'm in a constant state of deja vu. For the last three years I have either been laid off or felt under the threat of a lay off. At this point, I can see the warning signs from miles away, but it doesn't make it any easier. To say I am disappointed is an understatement as I had such high hopes and aspirations for my latest role with my latest company. While this isn't my first time at the "dance" - looking for a job, it is, if it's at all possible, a worse market this year than the last two. And my town doesn't have a helluva lot to offer, so it seems I may be moving. Yes, in an even more awful real estate market.

So with that, I am frantically looking for a new job. My severance, such as it is, leaves a lot to be desired. I have to make some hard decisions and even when/if I make them, it doesn't mean they will go as planned.

For the new year I gave up drinking soda, I quickly fell off that bandwagon once I got word of my job being eliminated. That's right, I was whole hog crazy on the juice again. You can't stop me. I'm a soda loving queen! I needs me some D.C. and I needs it now. I had been working out again - not that you could tell but still - that too quickly fell by the wayside. Now that I've had my pity party, I will start working out again.

I have two solid leads on new opportunities. One that requires me to relocate and one that may not. So please send good thoughts my way.

For you Idol fantatics who saw the most recent performance of David Cook singing the Chris Cornell version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, thought you might be interested in hearing the real thing. Very reminiscent of the Foo Fighters covering Prince's Darling Nikki.

People

2008-01-20T20:27:00.000-06:00

The End

2008-01-08T18:54:00.000-06:00

I'm thinking about closing down my blog for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one being that I have nothing to say these days. I have a gag order on work related issues, my friends and family read this blog (not that I would EVER say anything bad about any of you!) and really I'm just lazy.

School is stupid. I have my Econ final on Friday night and then I start Innovative Business Thinking on Saturday. I have to read this stupid book called How to Think Like Da Vinci...well, it put me to sleep. I'm thinking like him alright - he's dead and has no thoughts and now I don't either!

One of my new colleagues is trying to get me to get back into the dating scene...if only I could meet someone while playing Wii at home...oh well. We'll see.

So...you may not hear from me for a while, but that's not really new either. Basically I'm feeling boring and redundant.

End of Year MeMe - Courtesy of my SiL

2007-12-30T19:14:00.000-06:00

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Started graduate school.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?  The same resolution I make every year Pinky...try to take over the world!
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?  work friends
4. Did anyone close to you die?  My Pawpaw
5. What countries did you visit?  England
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?  an MBA degree
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?  December 18, the day I got in a car wreck.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  Getting a new job.
9. What was your biggest failure?  Not putting myself out there more
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  Sprained my ankle for the bajillionth time and now more than 8 weeks later, I still don't have full range of motion back. Going to the doc soon.
11. What was the best thing you bought?  Wii!!!!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?  My niece
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?  Our Congress
14. Where did most of your money go?  Bills
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?  Playing Wii against my brother!
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?  Gimme More - the tragedy of Brit Brit
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:  a) happier or sadder?  b) thinner or fatter?  c) richer or poorer?  Happier, same and poorer
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?  Enjoyed the moment
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?  Traveled
20. How did you spend Christmas?  In Florida with family
21. Did you fall in love in 2007?  With my cat Beckham who has moved from being called "the Terrorist" to now being called "Little Man"
22. What was your favorite TV program?  Life
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?  I hate my car insurance company
24. What was the best book you read?  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?  How much I miss satellite radio
26. What did you want and get?  To have my mom come for Thanksgiving and get to know my niece
27. What did you want and not get?  Can't say a single thing
28. What was your favorite film of this year?  The Bourne Supremacy - the best trilogy ending ever
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?  I had dinner by myself at my favorite Thai restaurant
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?  Spending more time at home
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?  Wear pink or die!
32. What kept you sane?  Phone calls to mom
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?  Daniel Craig & Jason Statham
34. What political issue stirred you the most?  Too many to name
35. Who did you miss?  My mom
36. Who was the best new person you met?  My new work friends - they are really awesome people
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: The reality of the karmic boomerang and being able to witness its impact on someone else.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays. You're the pretender. What if I say that I'll never surrender?

Wii Wii Wii - all the way home!

2007-12-28T16:19:00.000-06:00

Just got back from a fun Christmas with the family in Florida. My adventure started by leaving the lovely Midwest in a snow storm from hell - we weren't sure I was going to make it. I thought for sure I was going to end up spending the holidays at the Econo Lodge next to the airport! But low and behold I made it.

I got to spend some time getting to know my niece again. The last time I saw her was in April. She is now 14 months going on 16. She is hilarious and a bit of a dare devil. No real talking yet, but she sure can give you the "what for" if she doesn't like what you are doing!

I'd been thinking about getting a Wii for a while and haven't been able to find one. I had no idea that my brother and SiL had one. It is AWESOME! My mom played the bowling game and kicked butt! Hilarious! So I found one on eBay, thanks to my SiL and I am in love with the tennis game and the boxing game. Talk about breaking up a sweat! I think my next purchase will be the Dance Dance Revolution game - I'm totally obsessed!

The car drama with Martha hasn't really ended. Thus far the service I have received from my insurance company has been lackluster at best. An independent appraiser who missed the damage to my front end. I've been passed around to three different adjusters who all say something different about my claim. Getting them to authorize and reauthorize my rental car has been the biggest hassle. And now the rental car company, who picks you up, seriously sucks.

Prior to leaving for the holidays, I had a car that they gave me with no air in the tires and a car alarm that kept going off for no reason. Lovely. So when I returned it the kid said we'll upgrade you for free on your next rental. HA! He never put it in my account. So when they came to get me today in the most ghetto hoopdie-mobile you have ever seen (so dirty inside it was disgusting), I said, I'm supposed to be upgraded. They said, no record of that. So I pitched a fit. I am so tired of having to be a bitch to get what I want/need/deserve. But I'm so not going to take it anymore (that's right, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!). I'm tired of being shit on. So, I got upgraded. Not that I'm in some flipping Caddy mind you, but at least I'm not in a car that looks like it's been through the ringer.

After speaking with the body shop it looks like Martha is ahead of schedule and I may be able to get her back by the end of the week!! Woot Woot! Now I get to move on to the continued hassle of the insurance company, a criminal court date to see if the kid will pay up and then potentially on to a civil case. Happy New Year to me!

Car Talk

2007-12-18T22:36:00.000-06:00

I was in an accident on the way home from work this evening. I'm driving southbound on a four-lane interstate in the second to far left lane and some guy cut in front of me from the far left lane and then slammed on his brakes. So I slammed on my brakes and hit him and the kid behind me slammed into my car. Ba bam! Then the guy in front of me took off after I hit him! And joy of all joys, the kid behind me is driving without insurance. My car is not totalled but definitely not drive-able. So my tow truck driver gave me a ride home - actually as he was hitting on me the whole time, I'm sure he would have been happy to really give me a ride home. ;-)

So now I'm car-less. How bizarre is that? I feel trapped. Because I clearly was going to go somewhere tonight, not. But it's the fact that I can't go anywhere if I wanted to now. Also, the rental car companies in town are apparently suffering from a shortage and aren't sure I will be able to rent a car...there are no buses in middle America! And because I'm a flipping GENIUS, this is the first time in months that I didn't bother to bring my laptop home with me.

Sigh...it all could have been much worse. No one was hurt and it was an accident. At least I was not at fault. I'm sure I'll never be able to track the kid down his hit me from behind. Out of state tags and no insurance. Yeah right! Like I'll ever see him again. I have a court date for February - COURT!!! I've never been to court. Never been to jury duty. The policewoman who came to the scene was SO nice. I was so glad to get her and not some jerky hard-ass.

And who knows, maybe I'll get free tows for life now. :)

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Okay - have to spread the joy of this amazing new game. I was listening to NPR the other morning and this guy came up with this really cool vocabulary game while helping his son study for the SATs. Every time you guess the correct meaning of a word (you get four choices) the website donates 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to countries in need! It is the most addictive game AND you are donating to a worthy cause! In this time of year when we are constantly being asked to give (wish they would spread it out more) this is a really fun way to actually learn something AND give back! www.freerice.com

PS~I got up to level 41 and have donated over 2,000 grains of rice. So far the website has donated over 9 billion grains of rice!

Shovel It!

2007-12-06T19:58:00.001-06:00

The first snow of the season, well the first real storm of the season, hit today. While my Mom was here it did snow, but it was hardly any snow at all and none of it stuck. Today, we got 3 inches and it stuck. I was able to leave work a bit early and get home to shovel the drive while it was still daylight.

I was to go to one of those pay parties tonight and needless to say, I'm happy that the weather gave me a good excuse to not go. I like the girl who was throwing it, but I hate the fact that you feel guilted into buying even if they say you don't have to. This time of year is so out of hand with so many people asking for money whether it's the fricking girl scouts, pay parties or the fundraising done for very worthy causes - I'm tapped out! Hell, every time I go to the grocery, I'm hit up to donate there too. I'm going to make a t-shirt that say, I've donated my share!

I was so wishing it was Friday today. I'm sure I'm alone in that wish. I have a new appreciation for my car Martha. I easily forgot how much I dreaded driving my old car Suzy in bad weather. I only remember all the bells and whistles I've given up with Martha. But after today, driving in the snow, Martha wins. I had such trouble with Suzy and her so-called traction control that I felt like never really worked, my tires had trouble getting purchase and I was so afraid I would spin out or roll down a hill as it was a stick shift. While the roads weren't horrid, they were pretty slick and icy and driving Martha home was nice. No issues, no annoying "slip" light yelling at me. So...I'm not saying I've change my mind completely, but she has really come up a few notches in my book today.

I would also like to say how thankful and happy I am that two of my family members who had medical procedures this week, each went well and had good results. A friend of mine lost 3 of her family members in a head on collision the weekend after Thanksgiving. To quote Hill Street Blues, let's be careful out there. Be extra careful, especially in the bad weather.

Holiday Parties

2007-12-01T16:25:00.000-06:00

The dreaded company holiday party is tonight and I don't want to go. None of my direct colleagues are going for a variety of reasons, and the other teams going are quite clichy. The party is far from my house and although we didn't really get the bad weather everyone thought we were in for, I still don't want to go. Okay, truthfully, I'm being a baby. I don't want to go by myself. These types of parties are only fun if you have someone to bring with you - it's always Noah's Ark, everyone showing up in two-by-twos.

I really don't feel well either. I've been fighting off a cold for what seems like the last month. I've been Zicam'ing and Benedryling myself to death. Yesterday it seemed like I was having a sneezing fit every 15 minutes. So essentially I've talked myself out of going to the company party. I'm a wuss, that's right.

I also have a ton of schoolwork to catch up on. Also the last thing I want to do on earth.

Just feeling puny and lame. Oh well, back to the grind.

Perpetrated by the man

2007-11-27T21:30:00.001-06:00

Okay - seriously, Marie Osmond in the finals for Dancing with the Stars? And what a crap finale it was in general! Her doll routine creeped me out! Goes to show you how the fans can totally change the outcome of any show.

My econ course is kicking my ass. I've bombed 3 out of the first 4 quizzes. But apparently I'm not alone - the rest of my classmates are averaging about the same. My professors advice, you ask? Yes, read the text 3, count 'em - 3, times AND complete the study guide and then you might be ready to take the quiz!!! I am not a full-time student! I have a full-time fricking job! Who the hell has time to read a textbook 3 times?!! THEN do a full-on study guide to take a quiz that's questions aren't remotely similar to the study guide!!! ARE YOU HIGH?! SERIOUSLY?!

Now I'm having connectivity issues and my entire coursework is done ONLINE. I can't have connectivity issues. And they have nothing to do with accessing the internet - I can't access the damn school's webpages. Annoying and it's totally freaking me out if the help desk can't fix it!

So I haven't really gotten into any of the new shows and since the writers are on strike I guess it really doesn't matter now anyway. One shows concept that I really like is Samantha Who. I haven't watched it, but I love the starting over, clean slate concept. That is the only thing I miss about moving almost every year of my life growing up. I could always start over. Although at the rate that I keep changing companies, I suppose it's the same thing.

The only show I'm super excited about is the new tattoo show, London Ink. I keep contemplating getting a third and fourth tattoo...I'm just such a wuss about the pain. It always amazes me, watching the shows and people just lay there and have normal conversations while getting stabbed over and over and over again like it's no big deal. Besides, half of the places I'd like to get one are not possible as I work for the man! It's a conspiracy, C.O.N...spiracy! (Super bonus points if you can remember where that came from!).

The Road Never Traveled

2007-11-24T18:33:00.000-06:00

I often ponder about what I would do if I won the lottery. I have all these thoughts of being altrusitic - to a point - and then thinking I would travel. That it would be fun to buy one of those monster RVs and roadtrip. Who am I kidding? My Mom made it safely back home after a long 12 hour drive from my home to hers. I've driven that stretch as well and it is not fun. I remember thinking that roadtrips were fun, but in reality, they aren't. If you drive the "scenic route" you aren't going to get anywhere quickly and if you drive the interstate you aren't going to see anything at all. However, that drive between us is a bit of both the so-called scenic route and interstate and yet you still see nothing. It's a horribly long drive to do by yourself. At least Mom had her dog Coco with her - who too got tired of the road. Doing a trip like that is so not fun if you are by yourself. So, I'm going on record, if I win the lottery, no RV and no road trips. And who am I kidding, I never want to leave my house anyway, why would that change with money? I would become a full-time hermit, surrounded by a TON of stuff.

I don't like my new car Martha. She's perfectly acceptable, but I don't like her. She's boring, hence her name Martha - she's typical, she's usual, she's bland. I know I can be a bit (okay, a lot) snobby about many things, but previously I never really cared what I drove. Sure I envied the really nice cars, but I knew they were out of my league and that was okay. My first new car ever was Suzy and I got just about ever bell and whistle possible with her that goes with all the really fancy cars, yet in my price range. I know I did the right thing for my daily sanity during my commute, but I don't like my car.

Speaking of being snobby, I've decided that I only want to shop at the expensive snotty grocery store. The produce is so much better when compared to other grocerys as well as they have really amazing cheeses and deli products. Sure, I may have to skip a mortgage payment to continue to shop there, but at least I will be well fed when I lose my house and become homeless.

Thankful

2007-11-22T19:14:00.000-06:00

I know it's been quite some time since I wrote. I'm not feeling inspired or clever these days. I've been so crazy busy with work and school, I've been coming home and falling on my face into bed. Sometimes not even making it to bed. The other day, I fell asleep on the sofa and could barely wake up enough to crawl into bed.

My Mom has been here for the week and I couldn't really take much time off to be with her. It doesn't even feel like we've had any time together at all. She brought her "grandbaby dog" Coco with her which has been interesting as the boys have never been around a dog before. Coco hasn't exactly endeared herself to my boys either. Her only frame of reference is my Pawpaw's dog, Buddy, who went to my Mom after Pawpaw passed away. Buddy is very aggressive. Coco has therefore become a bit aggressive as well as only really wants to play chase - to chase and to be chased. Cats don't chase. The first couple of days the boys hid out in my room. Schmoopie and Little Man don't really like each other, but I think have bonded in solidarity against Coco. The boys were so scared at first they just hid. Now, they are still hiding out in my room, however, when Coco goes back in there, they hiss and growl back at her - I don't want to think about where things would progress to should Mom stick around much longer.

The video I added is what I imagine my boys doing in my room - discussing ways to enact revenge on Coco.

I just finished my Business Law class last week. I have been disappointed with the courses I've been taking and haven't really felt like I've been learning anything. This last class, law, really epitomized that feeling. I was traveling pretty heavily over the entire course and didn't have a lot of time to invest in the class and so the quality of work I produced was the worst I have done thus far and yet I still got an "A". What does that say to me? That it doesn't matter what I do as long as I do "something" and I will still get an "A". Everyone in my class gets "A"s. It's so ridiculous that we are graded on what seems to be solely on participation and not quality of work. I've started Econ...can't wait until next year, I'm done in October of next year.

How Nerdy Are You?

2007-11-11T21:15:00.000-06:00

I'm BAAACK

2007-11-11T20:12:00.000-06:00

I'm finally home. My trip was filled with the usual stupid travel woes, however, it all ended on a high note by being upgraded to B-class on the way back from London to D.C. (I had to connect to North Carolina). There is something so civilized about flying business class. It was so pleasant. I was even in a middle seat - but who cares in business class? I actually slept most of the way home. How can you not when you can actually stretch out and prop your legs up? It was lovely.

I'm so happy to be home. There is nothing like it. Of course, I manage to get sick this weekend. I woke up Saturday sneezing my head off and went downhill pretty quickly. Thanks to some mainlining Zicam, Benedryl and Advil PM, I woke up feeling pretty good. Took a nap today - what a treat. There is nothing like getting good sleep. I'm so old. Everyone has said it: you know you are old when all you talk about is how great sleep is compared with how you used to talk about how awesome partying was.

My ankle is getting better slowly but surely. Having to walk so much in London didn't help that much. Couldn't really stay off of it. But Friday afternoon, my friend GJB, came to visit me and we went to see a play, Avenue Q. Of course, as GJB would say, we end up sitting next to the "nutter", who talked and sang the entire play. The play itself was okay. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Frankly it was a bit creepy for someone who grew up on Sesame Street - Avenue Q is muppets and people interacting in "real life". It was the muppet sex that really threw me. Creepy and icky. Scarred for life, first we find out that Snufflelupgus is real and now muppets are having sex? What's next? Bert and Ernie come out of the closet?

After the creepy play, we went and had Korean food, something I can't get in my town. It was yummy and fun. Then we must have walked the entire city. I can't get over the weather we had while I was there. Every time I've been to London it's been grey and rainy. It was beautiful sunshine and about 65 degrees. I was walking around in jeans and a sweater. There was a possibility that I was going to go back at again at the end of this month, but that's not happening. I'm happy on the one hand, on the other, GJB was going to come back down and he was going to take me outside of London for the first time to Hampton Gardens and other places. Oh well, next time.

I'm currently avoiding doing my homework. I'm sick of school. I'm hating my current class - business law - which is over this Friday. Then I get to start the exciting economics class on Saturday - you know you are jealous.

I'm so ready for a holiday. I can't wait for turkey day. My mom is coming up - should be interesting as she's bringing her dog Coco with her. My cats are not going to be happy. Hopefully there won't be any blood drawn on either side.

My techno freak neighbors home is up for sale. They've done a lot of work on it - it looks great. The sign says "coming soon" and the listing is not up on any website yet. I hope they sell it quickly and for a lot of money. I unfortunately, still have the eyesore home next door to me, once owned by the old man hoarder whose family hasn't done a damn thing about it in three years. It is ridiculous to have a home sit empty that long.

Schmoopie has done nothing but sleep since I got home. It's almost as if he didn't sleep the entire time I was away. Little Man, aka the Terrorist, has matured hence his new nickname. He's mellowed out quite a bit - makes me very happy. He still likes to play and use the house as his obstacle course, but he now occasionally joins us in the living room and hangs out and likes to cuddle a lot more. I need to take some photos of them.

So nothing new in my life. Just can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving. A lot has happened in the last couple of years. This January I will have been here 7 years and in my home for 5 years with 3 companies and 4 jobs. I never would have predicted how happy I am to be here and that I would have lived here for this long.