Random updates

It's been a while since I've posted and I have a lot to talk about. First and foremost, my trip to L.A....on my previous posting my title is "L.A., we LOVE it". Well, after my experience there, I will be changing it to "L.A., we HATE it"! It was a crazy weekend with my friend SW. First, I get to the airport in KC and I'm in the "A" group on Southwest. I hate Southwest, but they are cheap. There are these two incredibly creepy women in line in front of me in the cattle call. They are clearly twins. They are also in their mid 40's. However, I really knew they were twins because they were dressed exactly alike!!!! EW! Who does that besides 5 year olds?!!! They had on the same outfit, the same hair and the same so-called accessories. They proceeded to take turns screaming into what appeared to be a shared cell phone...and I couldn't seem to get away from the creepy twins the entire ride out there. They somehow ended up next to me every time I turned around - especially in baggage claim. Again, EW!

I finally get there, no issues. End up having to rent a car as the resort SW was staying at turned out to be in Laguna Beach which is a fair distance from L.A. So I drive down there and made pretty good time for L.A. traffic. We are staying at the amazing resort - see picture in posting below. However the service was AWFUL. It was absolutely unreal.

Then, there were just some crazy experiences - for example: we go to dinner at this restaurant that is also a beach club for Laguna Beach residents only - however hotel guests can eat there. You have to take a little shuttle from the hotel down to the restaurant as it's right on the beach. Dinner was great, we had a table outside - lovely. Our shuttle was a multi-passenger golf cart. On our way back to the hotel, we had to go through the golf course path to get to the hotel. The sprinklers were on and one of them was turned so it was pointed directly at the path. Our cart passes right through it! We all get SOAKED! Which was funny, except not. Our poor little driver guy managed to turn his head right as we were going past the sprinkler and got shot right in the eye! Poor kid!

We finally get back to the hotel and there are a ton of people there for two very bizarre reasons: 1. the president of Vietnam was there for a big event and there were tons of protesters across the street with bullhorns, screaming and yelling. There were also Secret Service guys, snipers on the roof and helicopters swarming around...I kept thinking, am I really in Laguna or in Compton? 2. Chris Isaak was there performing on the main lawn for a benefit concert. As it was right outside our room, free concert for us!

The next day we leave the resort and drive back to L.A. via the Pacific Coast Highway, which is beautiful, provided you are not stuck in traffic, which we were. We finally get back up to L.A. and we are staying at the Biltmore. When I think of the Biltmore, I think of very fancy hotels, old money and a lot of history. This place was a dump. It was awful. Might have been a step up from a Motel 6. Not what I was expecting from a Biltmore. Now my friend SW works in the travel industry and she was NOT having it. So we ended up getting upgraded - I took serious notes while she was working the front desk manager! We are now on the "club floor" yet we really can't tell a difference. Whatever, for me it's only for a night - for her, it was 5 nights. Ugh.

That night we go to Santa Monica to walk around and we have a lovely time. The next day I have to leave. I leave for the airport a little over 2 hours early. Note to anyone flying in/out of L.A.X. - first of all, DON'T DO IT! Avoid it like the plague! If you can't, my advice is to get there EARLY - and I mean EARLY. I am taking the rental car back and there are not any gas stations near the airport or return area...so by the time I get to the terminal it's an hour and a 1/2 prior to my flight. I'm on the dreaded Southwest airlines and I've already checked in to the "A" group (thanks Mom) for a straight shot home...or so I think.

The terminal is backed up with lines snaking down and outside of the terminal. I don't have my boarding pass and had planned on checking my bag, so I try to find the right line - I end up deciding to use one of the kiosks and consolidate my bags down to carry-on, which means I have to throw out my toiletries (not happy). Then I have to get in the security line...the end of which is OUTSIDE AND HALFWAY TO THE OTHER TERMINAL! I kid you not. Then, all of the sudden, 8 fire trucks and other emergencies vehicles show up, bomb dogs and police everywhere. The terminal gets shut down because supposedly some lovely person decided to jump security and then the sprinkler system went off and no one could figure out of the two incidences were related. So, needless to say it was BEDLAM! I'm on the phone with Southwest telling them the terminal is closed and what is going to happen with me trying to make my flight. They claim they have no information that says the terminal is closed and my flight is still on time. Well, needless to say, by the time I could fight my way through the crowds, I missed my flight. Everyone missed flights so now we are all back in more lines fighting to get on rerouted flights. I call Southwest again and finally get on another flight but because they don't have kiosks in the terminal, I have to wait in yet another huge line to get my new "C" group boarding passes. Have I mentioned I hate Southwest. THEN, my new flight has a connection in Phoenix. By the time we get to Phoenix, we line up again and it turns out they have two flights arriving at the same time at the same gate and those going to KC will get the new gate. Then they won't tell us the new gate and our incoming plane gets delayed! Then finally tell us the new gate and it's the 500 yard dash to get back in a line again!!! By this point, I'm dead. I've been standing outside in the heat and the sun of L.A. for 3 hours - I'm sunburned, I'm exhausted, I've had nothing to eat since breakfast and I'm sweating my ass off. We finally leave for KC and I don't get home until 1am on a Sunday!!! Completely and totally shattered. I HATE L.A.

So I get to work on Monday late and I return to my desk after some meetings to see that I have a voice message on my cell phone...from my mom's cell phone. My mom doesn't use her cell phone, ever. I'm not really sure why she has one, until Monday. Turns out my Pawpaw has had a stroke and my poor mom found him. She called me from her cell phone on the way to the hospital. It's been a difficult week as he's still in ICU and we really don't know what is going to happen. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

The icing on the cake for me was Friday I had my accounting final. Yes, I know, you are all probably glad the 6 week accounting course is over too, just so I will stop complaining about it. Well, the final was HARD. I really hope that I scored well enough to keep my "A". I started my human resources class today, which I'm actually excited about.

My grad school team, if you remember, was sort of forced in to taking an additional member, one we definitely didn't want. Well, basically he did nothing for our accounting class. What he produced for our team case study and presentation was not only late, but was not quality MBA level. I ended up having to write his entire part over the night before and THEN he proceeded to READ my entire paper in the presentation instead of taking a few bullets and extrapolating. All I ever heard from him throughout the entire course was that he didn't have time, didn't have our phone numbers or emails, excuses, excuses. So, the entire team, including him, had agreed to stay late after our class on Saturday afternoon to determine the assignments, etc. The professor let the class go 20 minutes prior to the end and new team member comes up and says he's got a family thing and he's leaving. What the hell am I supposed to say? So the rest of the team and I basically decide we are cutting him off and out. If he wants to contribute then we will let him in, but we aren't giving him any help what-so-ever. I'm just so frustrated. It's clear this guy is not engaged and seemed content to ride our coattails. He turned in crappy late work! And we are all just waiting for a class that has more teamwork - the HR class is 90% individual - to tell him that we don't want him in our group anymore. We are all hoping that he will simply quit. This was the guy that the very first class I got paired up with him and he couldn't figure out how to use the search function in acrobat. I was annoyed with him from the get-go. Now I'm just pissed off. If he feels a "B" is acceptable for him great - but don't be screwing my "A". So there!

I am happy to be home and back in the swing of things at work. No plans for the 4th...especially as it falls on a Wednesday this year. I will more than likely spend it studying. You know you're jealous.

L.A.! We LOVE it!

For those of you that might remember the obscure 80s movie - Gotcha! my title: L.A.! We LOVE it is from a scene in that movie. If you haven't seen it or don't remember it, Anthony Edwards (aka Goose from Top Gun) stars in this movie right after he did The Sure Thing (another greatest 80s movie of all time) with John Cusak. I loved Gotcha! - it was a fun movie.

My point in referencing that - other than the trip down memory lane - is I am headed to L.A. this weekend. I'm meeting up with a former vendor/now friend of mine who I just love, SW. She's a blast so I know this weekend will be nothing but fast talking gossip and fun. Because she is out there on business, I get to reap the benefits as well. I am staying at the St. Regis in Dana Point, right on the beach. It's times like these that I miss my old job...staying in 5 star hotels, going to amazing resorts and locations. Sigh...

On the plane ride out there, I am going to be studying lovely accounting. I've resigned myself to getting a "B", which sucks as my company will only reimburse 100% if you get an "A". Way to reinforce the "loser" feelings guys.

My latest attempt in the weight loss arena is...da da dahhhhhh...I've signed up for tennis lessons. I know - for those of you that know me, I'm not exactly athletic. There are days I'm surprised I can drive a stick shift for all the hand/eye coordination I have. So this ought to be either a lot of fun or a great big giant laugh at my expense. I'm taking lessons with my friend JS. She's going to be all decked out in her tiny little tennis skirts looking cute. I, on the other hand, refuse to allow these thunder thighs to see the light of day and they will be ensconced like the fat sausages they are in appropriate work-out wear for the chubby. I don't want to scare my new teachers or tennis-mates, as, I'm sure they will be scared enough by my lack of skill! Wish me luck!

Paul Potts Rocks!!!

I have a serious case of the "I don't wannas". I don't wanna study for accounting. I've managed thus far by the skin of my teeth and through some serious help from my teammates. I shudder to think about what the final exam is going to do to me. We have a total of 900 points and the final is 200 of those 900!!! Even if I have perfect marks going into the final, I still have to do reasonably well to pull an "A". Reading the damn textbook is like reading stereo instructions.

My next course is Human Resources - at least I can BS my way through it, although I worry that the team and the class will look to me as the subject matter expert as I am in HR, however, I have no idea what I'm doing - both in class and in my job! I'm not saying its rocket science, but there are complexities to it that unless you have some foundation in HR, you might be a bit lost - as am I! Especially when it comes to what I am allowed to do. I have a tertiary understanding of the US regulations just due to working in the environment, no clue about our other countries. I'm trying to put together offer packages for people in the UK and Germany...thank God for my colleagues, I just hate being the ignorant loser out of the bunch.

I met my new boss today. Yes, she is young. We had a quick "hallway" chat today and have a real meeting tomorrow. She mentioned something about my heading over to Europe soon to meet with the peeps based there...I'm kind of excited in spite of my loathing to travel as one of the places to go is Paris! Woot Woot! I've only been to the south of France, I've never been to Paris - so that will be totally fun!

Update on the underdog Paul Potts - HE WON!!! He won Britain's Got Talent!!! He gets 100,000 pounds and gets to perform for the Queen!!! Hooray for the underdog!!!

Reality - My Favs

My favorite show right now is So You Think You Can Dance. Here are my two favorite couples:

Anya & Pasha


Lacey & Kameron


For those of you that may have seen this guy on GMA this morning, Paul Potts from Britain's Got Talent, he made me cry. From the looks of him, you would think you were going to see another William Hung, Paul Potts has got talent.

TAG!

Instructions:

Remove the blog from the top, move all blogs up one, add yourself to the bottom.
Absolutely Bananas
Smiling Mom
Playgroups Are No Place For Children
Scenic Overlook
Baby In The Corner

What were you doing 10 years ago?

10 years ago I was getting ready to move to Japan to teach English as a Second Language for what I thought would be only for one year which turned into three. My lease in NYC was up and I moved to the lovely Garden State of New Yersey (yes, I spelled that phonetically) to live on the floor of a basement apartment with my girlfriend DD. I was dating someone, the one that I used to play the "what if" game about for years after leaving.

Five Snacks You Enjoy

1. Popcorn
2. Cheetos
3. Chips and Salsa
4. Ding Dongs
5. Fig Newtons

Five Songs That You Know All The Lyrics To:

1. It Takes Two by Rob Base
2. Open Arms by Journey
3. Welcome to the Jungle by GNR
4. Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J
5. Nothin’ But a G Thing by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg

Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Millionaire:

1. Pay off all debts
2. Quit job
3. Go on holiday
4. Go on holiday
5. Go on holiday

Five bad habits:

1. Potty Mouth
2. Picking at my nails and the nail bed
3. Belching loudly (I could win the Nickelodeon contest)
4. Shopping when I’m bored
5. Road Rage

Five Things You Like To Do:

1. Sleep
2. Read
3. Watch TV
4. Eat bad for me food
5. A whole lot of nothing

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again:

1. A size 2
2. Acid Wash Jeans with Zippers & Bows at the Ankle
3. Neon
4. Shoulder Pads
5. Jellies

Five Favorite Toys:

1. Tivo
2. iPod
3. Laptop
4. The Cats
5. Digital Camera

I'm supposed to tag 5 people, I'll let you tag yourselves. Have fun!

Rehab - I said Yes Yes Yes

I am still completely shattered from my experience last week...so tired. I'd been trying to keep up with my real job while I was away last week and I wasn't so successful. So I went in early this morning - got there at 7am to try to catch up...by the time I took a breath it was already noon! Barely had time to snarf down some lunch before I was off and running again.

I am thankful that my boss said I can take some comp time for last week, so I'm going in late tomorrow. I'm going to divvy it up over the week...I have too much going on to take a full day.

I'm so sick of thinking about doctors and hospitals and today I get a letter from my GP saying she's no longer going to be seeing patients. That she's moving in a different direction...no idea what that means except I'm ticked! It's took me FOREVER to find her and now she's leaving me?!!! Two very important people in my life that took me such a long time to find were my hair stylist and my doctor! Now I have to start all over again with a new doc. Pain in the ass.

My former work husband, J, sees a doc he calls Dr. Feelgood who will write a scrip for just about anything...maybe finding a new doc won't be such a bad thing. Vicodin here I come! Woot Woot! Rehab is the "in" thing you know. Well, that and prison...but I can only follow the trends so far...

Tivo is my best friend

My SiL put her list on her blog and dared others to bare all on their Tivo Season Pass, even the embarrassing ones, of which I have many. I have nothing interesting to write about so here goes:

Wheel of Fortune - well, I don't Tivo it, but I watch it every night
Designed to Sell - again no Tivo, but watch it every night
Miami Ink - some incredible talents yet I'm sick of every person having some sob story as to why they are getting an angel tattoo. We get it.
The Deadliest Catch - everyone should watch this for the Bon Jovi theme song. These guys are a bunch of roughnecks, and some new boats/crews have been added this year to make it more interesting.
Midsommer Mysteries - I'm turning into my mother. I now watch this British crime series
Poirot - even more embarrased about this one, with the exception of Poirot being an Agatha Christie character.
Divine Design - I don't like Candice Olson, but I like what she does.
The Girls Next Door - Hef and his 3 girlfriends. Love it.
Any Real World/Road Rules Inferno/Challenge/Duel - I'm a child of the 80s/90s, RW/RRs will never die for me.
Studio 60 - to quote my SiL "I know it was canceled, but I want to finish it out".
CSI - In total agreement with my SiL - "Please let Sarah be dead. PLEASE!"
Bones - Love Angel - he will always be Angel, but he needs to take his shirt off more in Bones.
Project Runway - Fashion was my first love and major in university.
My Boys - It better come back!
Southpark - it truly is bigger, longer and better!
Dancing with the Stars - and last season, I voted for Emmitt every week!
So You Think You Can Dance - these people are weirder and worse than Idol tryouts.
Run's House - the best TV family since the Osbournes
Rob & Big - thanks to my friend, M. This season they've adopted a mini horse - insane!
The Daily Show - I don't Tivo, but try to watch every night

So, it's quite the bizarre list. I watch a lot of TV. I have already established that I have no life and here is the proof.

The Trauma Center

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I'm sure I'm not alone in seriously needing this long weekend, but thank the gods. The boys and I had quite the traumatic Friday and Saturday. Friday, I inadvertently shut the Terrorists right leg in the door on my way to work. The Terrorist and I have had numerous conversations about the fact that the door to the garage is off-limits. He doesn't listen...well, I am looking at the side of the door for him that I am closing so he doesn't sneak out and it turns out he's over by the side of the door with the hinges and decides to put his paw through the hinge opening, so when I go to close it all of the sudden I hear screaming and screeching! I open the door only to realize what has happened and he's clearly hurt, but he won't let me near him to see how badly. Schmoopie comes running over looking at me accusingly and then decides not to let me near him either! I'm bawling, finally get the Terrorist in hand and feel around - not finding anything broken at least to the touch. Call the vet, get an appointment for Saturday as I can't take off work.

So, as I have to take the Terrorist to check on his potentially broken leg, I am behind on taking Schmoopie in for his yearly shots. So, I think, I'll bring them both so I can kill two birds with one stone. With cats, especially mine, I have to play a big game with them just to get them in the carry cases. I have to shut the doors to the bedrooms, because if they manage to get under a bed, I'm screwed. I get them in the carry cases and shove them - facing each other in the back seat. They both proceed to SCREAM at the top of their lungs the entire ride - which is about 20 minutes. THEN, Schmoopie is so traumatized, that he pees in his crate - and is completely soaked. EW. So, I pull over and get the paper towels in the trunk and shove them in the crate - he's so upset. We finally get to the vet and we have to wait; we're early. With cats, you only get a certain window of opportunity to get them in the crate, so I figured better early than late.

We finally see the vet and she checks the Terrorist who's leg is swollen, but seems to be fine otherwise. He's walking and jumping on it - I figure he's pretty indestructible and it will heal. The Schmoopie on the other hand is a bit of a wreck. He's hyperventilating and freaked out and pissed off because he's pee'd in his crate and on himself. So, we get the crate and him cleaned up and he has to get his shots - traumatizing for both the Schmoopie and Mommy. Then, the vet and I are chatting about his teeth - he doesn't have that many...she's looking at him and she says to me that at some point - prior to my ownership - someone must have fractured the Schmoopie's jaw because not only does he not have certain teeth, but his bite is off - as if someone fractured his jaw and it never healed!!!!! I know I haven't gone through how I got the Schmoopie and his departed brother, but it was a very weird situation and they were clearly mistreated, but I had no idea to this extent! So, by this point, I'm practically in tears due to how crazy the last day and the morning had been. First, I almost break the Terrorist's leg, then I find out that someone might have seriously hurt my Schmoopie and that same person clearly never got him the treatment he needed!!! It's amazing that I was ever able to get him out from under the bed!

I've spent the rest of my weekend working on accounting - you know you are jealous. I've decided that I am completely and totally retarded when it comes to accounting. I'm a maroon, a nincompoop. I just don't get it. Today, I went over to my study team members house and "C" and I worked on 4, count them 4 problems for 4 hours!!! Sooooooo frustrating!

There's No Counting in Accounting...

I'm freaking out...I have just spent a 1/2 of a gorgeous day inside reading my accounting textbook trying to understand what the hell it is saying and then attempted to do a few of the assigned homework problems...well, I'm officially stupid. (I'm sure some of you are saying, it's been official as long as we've known you). I don't get it. I don't understand how reading a textbook is going to explain to me how and where I input numbers on various statements to get them to add up. I'm so confused as accounting feels like learning another language. There are 3 or 4 different names for the same stupid thing.

At least with the crappy MIS class, I could fake it. I could BS my way through technology infrastructure blah blah. You can't fake it with numbers - they are either right or wrong. It's very black and white. This is the reason I take my taxes to a professional. The fact that a debit and credit actually doesn't mean what I have historically thought they meant is difficult to wrap my brain around. I'm really scared. Out of my grad school team, none of us has any background or real world experience with accounting. And I'll admit, maybe I'm making this way too difficult, but I just don't get it. I'm not smart enough to pass this class...I was feeling good after these first two classes. Yes, they were a ton of busy work, but I busted my ass and put in the time and effort and it paid off with "A"s. With Accounting, I'm not sure even if I bust my ass it will pay off. I feel like I did in undergrad when I had to take all of those damn chemistry classes and that no matter how hard I tried, got tutored, I still never got it and barely passed each class. I think I need the Idiots Guide to Accounting...I don't think I can handle a MBA level accounting course...I don't think I can handle a remedial accounting course.

Sigh...on another note: I have to go to Utah for work. Utah - I've never been. I doubt I will get to see much of it. I have to spend a week at one of our client sites to be a "subject matter expert" during a solution upgrade conversion. Yeah...I have no idea what that means either. I think that basically it means I'll be in some hospital in Utah standing beside a nurse who is trying to input some data on a patient and expects me to know what to do if she gets stuck - god help me if it's our surgical or emergency room solutions. Knowing my luck, I'm going to be stuck on the night shift - 7pm - 7am shift and I'll end up in that hospital because I'll be psychotic from lack of sleep!

At least I have a few things to look forward to this summer. One of my friends that I used to work with, SW, invited me to join her for the weekend in L.A. in June. She's going to be out there on business anyways and called to ask if I could come and hang out. It's been ages since I've seen her as she lives in Miami, and I've never been to L.A., so I'm super excited!

Then, Mom and her fluff-dog Coco will be coming in town...more than likely sometime around the 4th...at least Memorial Day is around the corner and I can have a day off. The weather here has been amazing...hope it holds for that weekend. But, who am I kidding...it's not as if I'll have any major outdoor plans that require good weather. I'm sure I'll be sleeping, catching up on tivo or studying. Oh well, SFW.

Somebody Call the WAHMbulance!

Wah Wah - yes, I'm going to complain about grad school again! As I've mentioned, I am in a hybrid course of part on ground and part online. So tonight was the final class, on ground, of MIS - a class I have loathed for the last long 8 weeks. We, of course, were the best team. Gave the best presentation out of all the teams. THEN, our "final exam" was to answer 50 multiple choice questions. Our so-called professor gave us a study guide of 150 questions. From that he randomly chose 50 for our final exam. The exam was "open book" but NOT "open notes". So if you did the study guide, good for you - but you can't use it to help you on the test. So he emails everyone this oh...yesterday! So I spent last night going through my textbook highlighting page numbers and writing the answers on those pages. And now I will ask you what I have been asking myself for the last 8 weeks, have I learned anything?! NO! I have learned how to use the fricking Index in my textbook!!! That's about all! Asking me random verbatim questions from the textbook is not teaching me JACK! ARGH!!!! I'm getting an "A" - but I busted my ass in this class and it just feels like I didn't learn a damn thing. I only learned how to "beat the system". WTF.

In other news, still loving my job. I know. It's weird. But it's so cool to actually feel like people want you to work there, want you to work with them and value your ideas and opinions. I get excited to go in to work - not excited about the traffic, but very excited to go to work in mornings. So not only have I drunk the KoolAid, but I'm apparently on some really great drugs. Maybe when I went in to the campus clinic for my health check-up they injected me with something?

Stalker

For those of you that may care or remember, the guy that I went out with all of 2, count them 2 times way back in January that I told I didn't want to see again in January, CALLED ME AGAIN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know how I know it was him?! Because I have his phone number listed in my cell phone as "Do Not Answer"!!! THAT'S HOW!

This really creeps me out.

1 + 1 = 3

As of next week I will be finished with my second grad school course - Management Information Systems or MIS. I like to refer to it as Meaningless Informational Shite. MIS is my first 8 week course. The majority of my courses will be 6 weeks long but a few will be 8 weeks. This course was especially boring, not unlike reading stereo instructions. I practically killed myself the first couple of weeks to get ahead in the syllabus as I knew I would be changing jobs and was unsure of how I was going to be able to manage my time. My professor is a rat bastard - the most dis-engaged professor of all time. In the beginning he made a very snarky comment that if we only did what was on the syllabus we would get a "B". In order to get an "A" in a "master's level" course, we had to go above and beyond. WTF?! So, I bust my ass. Only to find that he could really care less. I am thrilled to be carrying 699 out of 700 points possible at the moment, but I'm starting to wonder if he's even reading my work. THEN! last week he decides that we don't need to complete our online threaded discussions for the last two modules! So for those of us that have actually done the work, we get full credit - AND those who have done half-assed work also get full credit!!! I'm so ticked off.

My next course is Accounting. I'm SO not excited. My brother, R, is the finance guy. He got all the grey cells in that department - not me! I don't even balance my checkbook - although I guess that's a bit irrelevant these days as I bank online and rarely write checks. I didn't do well in my undergrad accounting class and I'm quite nervous about this one.

I think my issue with math in general started in 7th grade. We lived in Japan again at that time and the school on base was grades 7 - 12. I know, weird. Well, I wanted to be with my best friend and all the cool upper class men in "B" lunch period, so I got talked into taking Advanced Algebra. It was a packed class with a professor who could have cared less. I never got the concept that semester and while I had a great time in "B" lunch, I never could tell you what "X" equalled. Math was all downhill from there. Seriously, Geometry? You're going to tell me the lines on my paper never end? Yeah right! I went to Undergrad to study Fashion Merchandising (yes, clearly a degree I'm currently using - very smart decision) and was initially quite happy as I only had one math course...little did I know that I would be stuck for the next 4 years struggling through 5 chemistry classes.

I always think of Forrest Gump, "I may not be a smart man..." I'm not book smart. I can study my ass off and make "C's". My professors in undergrad would get so angry with me as they knew I could do the work, I just couldn't take a test to save my life. So hopefully Accounting will be more than just debits and credits and income statements...but I doubt it. Regardless, I'm determined to pull a 4.0 through grad school. My new company pays 100% (well, up to a capped amount) if you get an "A", then 75% for a "B" and so on. I can do that kind of math.

Living Single

Change - some people really hate it. Whether it's good change or bad change, it can be really challenging to manage it. I just finished my third week as a new "ashowshiate" and still really love it. So, I guess one man's crazy is another man's sane.

I was out having lunch with my new team when the dreaded question always comes up: so what do you do on the weekends? As if my being single means I have some super-fantastically-fabulous life outside of work. Uh...that would be NO. I do the same stupid crap everyone else does...shop, read, watch a lot of TV, etc - I just happen to do all of this ALONE. My grad school group member, J, always asks me the weekend question every time I see him. It's as if they are trying to live vicariously through me...which is sad, as I have no life and there is nothing too exciting in my life. I'm sure it's a case of the "grass is always greener" theory. The grass is never greener, it's simply a different shade.

I've decided I'm on a break from dating again. I know, I'm sure in a few months, I'll go back online and try again. I know I'll see the same people out there that I've seen for the last 6 years. But, for now, I'm over it. So there!

Bratty Bratterson

I'm a military brat. I've spent most of my life moving from one place to the next, sometimes as often as every year. Out of the two kids, me and my brother "R", everyone thought that I was quite well adjusted to the process and even enjoyed moving. Apparently I was a great actress. It's actually ironic that today I'm quite the hermit and despise even the thought of moving and my brother has no qualms at all about it.

Now, I'm not talking about loathing the actual move - who doesn't. I'm talking about starting over, building a network. As a single person, I estimate this takes a minimum of three years. If you are married or even married with kids there is almost an instant network - whether it is your spouses work friends, your kids friends parents, the PTA, whatever. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, Single is as Single does, i.e., I do everything singly.

Tonight I had to go to a social activity for work. I'm not good at the mingling thing when everyone already knows each other and has cliqued up. I'm not the kind of person who will just break into a clique and start chatting. Not going to happen.

The biggest bummer this evening is it turns out that everyone is married. Apparently the company made an exception hiring me as it seems I'm the odd girl out.

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

There is major drama in my grad school class. Because I am doing a distance learning program, we all have to be in teams or groups. You can have a minimum of 3 people in a team or no more than 6. When we started out we had 2 groups of 4 and 2 groups of 5. Well, "Team D" a former group of 5 has now dwindled to 2. The group, in general, has always been the weakest group in terms of the performance of each member. None of us were really surprised when there were only 2 left, but now this has caused a bit of a problem for the rest of us as the other groups do not want to add one or both of the leftover members to their teams...and if they don't move into another group, the leftovers have to drop the course. AND because our groups are "self-governing" the university claims it cannot tell us what to do and it is each group's decision.

So the other team of 5, "Team B" has flat out said they will not accept another member. Their team leader sent out an email saying that they already have 5 members and didn't feel it made sense to add another.

"Team C" all work at the same company way up north of the river here, and claim they would welcome the leftover girl, but only if she can attend their Thursday meetings way up in Catholic saint land.

My team, "Team A" does not want either of these leftovers. We are quite happy that we are clearly the best team and feel either one of these leftovers will only weaken our team. That being said, when emails began flying around about this issue, as team leader and team spokesperson, I said we would prefer not to add anyone (not knowing how the other teams felt yet) but that we, as team, were still discussing.

I have since received 3 nasty-grams. 1 from Team B and 2 from Team C. The team lead of B wrote a very innocuous email stating "it just doesn't make sense" for us to add another member...but never even mentioned that as they have 5, maybe it would make sense to remove a member and add that person to create a team with the leftovers...nope, not interested.

Team C wrote saying they were very disappointed that no other group would take the leftovers as well as they felt we were being very "childish". As I mentioned, the discussion amongst the group has been we don't want the leftovers, but we never said that to the broader population. We said we would prefer not to add anyone but that we were still discussion. The other teams have made significant assumptions - granted they are accurate, but assumptions none the less. I'm also irritated as Team C are acting as if there is some sort of secret malicious intention going on...talk about childish. We're the only ones being honest. The rest of them are acting as if their hands are tied. Oh, we'd love to add you but we already have 5...6 is the max you know, not 5! Or, we'd love to add you, if you can make a standing Thursday 5:30pm meeting that is at a minimum an hours drive away from you. Yes, open arms indeed.

So long story short, my team is basically going to get stuck with one of the leftovers. Boo.

Momentary Lapse of Reason

As I mentioned, I am starting a new job. My current company is a little panicked about my leaving and I do feel bad about leaving my colleague in the lurch, but those are the breaks.

I signed my offer letter and mailed it back to the new company and never heard boo. So last week I start getting a little nervous...especially as I have given notice. What if the new company messed up and I can't start on the date I want? What if the new company doesn't consider it final until they do receive the signed paperwork? What if the post office lost my paperwork?!!! Uhhh!!!!!

Finally, yesterday I hear from the HR girl and she says, everything is fine. But we still haven't received your paperwork. Weird. Regardless I'm totally psyched about getting out of my current situation and into a new and probably equally crazy one. But it will be new and different crazy. One thing I'm really excited about is in spite of the fact that I love working from home - being able to roll out of bed, no shower, sweats and boot up my laptop, I miss the water cooler chatter. I miss seeing people on a daily basis and interacting. Eating lunch with people. Hell, I live alone so unless I make a point of scheduling a meal with someone, I eat alone all the time. I wonder if I actually remember any table manners?

My Humps

Alanis Morissette has recorded her own version of the Black Eyed Peas song "My Humps". It's fricking GENIUS!

Out with a Bang, Not a Whimper

You'll die from a Heart Attack during Sex.

Your a lover not a fighter but sadly, in the act of making love your heart will stop. But what a way to go.

'How will you die?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Mouse 1: Me 0

I have a mouse in my house. It always makes me feel as though I'm dirty or not a good housekeeper. I'm kind of okay with finding them in the winter - they get cold, try to find shelter, unfortunately it's my shelter, so I have to kick them out. But, finding one in the spring...nope, don't get it and don't want it.

I came home from grad class on Friday night to find my two boys going beserker in the study. I knew it had to be something, but something could have been an insect, a toy they were fighting over or worse case a rodent. At least it was a mouse - best case in terms of rodents. It could have been an icky huge RAT! Which I have had in my crawl space, a big mommy rat and her babies decided to take up residence under my bath tub and die! Merry Christmas to me - but it did lead to my major renovation projects and now I have a new loo! Woot woot for me!

So, I have no traps and am hoping that the boys catch him - that they don't eat him and that they don't decide to bring him to my bedroom to show mommy the present! I wake up the next morning to find no evidence that my cats have done their job. Slackers! Deadbeats!

I had to go to grad school class on Saturday morning and couldn't go out and buy traps until Saturday late afternoon - still no sign of Mr. Mouse. So either he wised up and moved on to another house or is living in the underbelly of my humble abode. I'm thinking the latter. I have to call the exterminator. Ugh. More money down the tubes.

I'm out this morning reading the

So the score is Mouse 1: Me 0.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I have had a pretty interesting week. Well, maybe not by every one's standards, but by mine. I have some decisions to make soon that I will write about after they've been made. Not to be all Ms. Dramatic, but I'm a big believer in the power of the jinx so suffice to say, I'm sending out as many positive vibes as humanly possible for someone who is usually quite the pessimist. So, if anyone who is reading this will do the same, I'm sure the universe will thank you later for it - and I'll return the favor any time you ask.

Tangent warning: do you ever get nervous when you don't receive a lot of mail? This week, I've only gotten like 2 pieces a day...where are all my catalogs?!

I think I'm one of the only people on the planet who does not watch Grey's Anatomy. I can't get into it. I don't think McDreamy is all that dreamy nor do I feel McSteamy is steamy. And why is it that we can only have television shows that center around 3 topics: lawyers, doctors and cops? Seriously, are there no other careers out there that have drama? And now the hot variation on the theme is the forensics aspect. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Bones and CSI (only the Las Vegas version) but does every show have be going in that direction? Forensics is now one of the hottest growing fields for undergraduate studies in America.

I'm a big fan of 3 comedy shows: The Class, My Boys and The New Adventures of Old Christine. I'm very excited because TNAOC just came back with a special 1 hour or 2 1/2 hour shows last week. The Class and My Boys better be coming back for a second season.

I was also a HUGE Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, and Angel too. I just heard that Joss Whedon, show creator, came out with a new graphic novel series that picks up where Sunnydale imploded. It's too bad the show ended, but I do want to get the comic books to see where he takes them.

There is a big St. Patty's day parade in KC this weekend. It will be pretty crazy, combined with all the March Madness, the bar scene will be out of control. Not that I would really know, as I'm not a fan of crowds. It was different when I lived in NYC and you could subway or cab it everywhere, these days you're driving out there with every other yahoo who is either on their way to get drunk or is drunk. I'm so old. But I am part Irish, albeit probably a small part, but I still have my Kiss Me I'm Irish T-shirt to wear this weekend. Mwah!

2 months down, 20 more to go

I'm not enjoying my grad school course at the moment. I just got a preview of my next course, Management Information Systems, and now I'm not excited about that one either. When I was recruited into this program, I was told the majority of the professors were adjuncts and that we would be studying "real world" cases. Well, thus far it has been a ton of textbook reading and individual essays and worksheets. Very little in the way of case studies.

I'm going to stick it out as I did make a committment, but all this has done is bring back all the reasons why I can't stand the world of academia. I've never agreed with doing activities just simply to check the box. I had really hoped to learn something during this experience and thus far I can't say that I have.